Chapters Silence. Silence is all I can hear as I walked around the deserted city of Pripyat. It was a nice to see the rusting Ferris Wheel and rotting apartments that surrounded me but it all changed when I heard some yelling before some gunshots rang out. Pure instinct took me over which cause me to dive behind a rusted car and peeked around as I raised the Tar-21 (equipped with a Holosight) that was strapped around my shoulder and aimed in the approximate area of where the gunshots were heard.
I waited around 2 or 3 minutes before I saw a figure hop onto one of the cars that littered the streets and start to look around so I dipped down behind cover, hoping not to be seen but my hope soon died as I heard some shouting and a couple bullets hitting my cover. I pop out of cover and fire at the man who was shouting, I hit his chest causing him to fly backward and onto the ground. I look around to see more bandits coming around the corners of buildings but the downside is that there were too many to take on my own so I start making a mad dash the way I came.
The bandits were hot on my heels while shouting profanity at me in Russian as I shot at them with my CZ-75. I turn the corner into a building and went up the first flite of stairs I saw but could only make it to the second floor because of the debris blocking the 3rd flite of stairs so I entered the first room on the left which was a rundown apartment and was about to enter the bedroom but my Geiger counter starts ticking like crazy so I enter the room opposite of it and enter the closet.
I waited in the room for what felt like hours, hoping they have lost me but luck wasn't on my side and was cornered by two of them. They aim their weapons at me so I close my eyes and wait for the end but It did not come so I open my eyes to see the two bandits staring out the window. I stand up and look out the window to see the clouds have a reddish tint and weird forms of lighting followed by very loud thunder that shook the ground. The two bandits suddenly run away leaving me in the apartment alone.
A red beam of cloud and lightning shot down into the ground causing a shockwave of red clouds and lightning bolts to expand from the point of impact. My instincts kicked in and I started to block the one window with some debris and furniture before crouching down in the closet waiting for it to end. My head suddenly began to swirl as my Geiger counter began to tick rapidly as the building was enveloped in the red fog. I began to lose consciousness as the fog leaked into the room, my head began to pound from a force pushing it in till I finally passed out.
...
Everything felt cold.
...
Is this what death feels like?
...
If this is death then how can I produce thoughts?
...
"It is not your time"
The voice sounded familiar but I can't put my finger on it.
"They are heartless, brutal, without harmony. But you. You will be worse"
The voice seemed to distort as it said the words of the sentence but I paid no mind as I continue to float in the abyss.
"You have something special, something that none can compare"
I was confused by what it meant.
"Prepare for a new life, a new start... A new world"
The dark abyss started to fade from black to white, blinding my vision.
I fell on something somewhat hard but not like concrete hard, like grass hard. I reached out and felt blades of grass along my hand, I tried to grab it but my fingers felt numb. I open my eyes to see blue skies with a few birds flying around 'What happened to all the grey clouds?' I questioned my self in thought. I flipped over onto my stomach and push myself off the ground but I soon fell onto my back after I tried to stand up on my legs.
I look at my hands to see nothing but light grey stumps that looked like hooves so I look down to my feet to see that my legs were that of a quadruped and my feet were also stumps. "W-What... The ... FUCK?!?!" I began to have a little panic attack as I was not in my normal body. After I was done with the breakdown I took note of my surroundings: A couple trees, a lake, a city around 700 meters away- wait... What? Civilization?
I ran over to the lake to get a better look at myself but had some trouble in standing, I soon got the hang of it though. I looked at my reflection on the water's surface and to see that I'm covered in a light grey fur but the weird parts were that I had a horn protruding from my forehead and my hair which was spikey and white and lime green stripes. I looked backward to inspect my new body. I still had my worn-out green hood with the body armour underneath but I had no pants, I see a black coloured anarchy symbol on both of my hips which I don't think horse- wait, I'm too small for a horse so a pony? fuck it.
I step away from the lake and look back to where I woke up to see both of my weapons laying there so I ran back over to see the condition. After inspecting the guns, I concluded that they were alright. I saw my holster for the CZ so I try to pick it up with my hooves but failed to do so. I remembered the horn so that must mean I'm a unicorn which can use magic, I began to focus on the holster and pretend I was grabbing it with my hands, I open my eyes to see the holster floating with a dark green aura glowing around it.
I strap the holster to my leg which surprisingly worked so I use my knew-found telekinesis to pick up the handgun and place it in the holster. I pick up my assault rifle and hang it around my neck so the weapon is just resting at my side. After I had everything in order, I began walking towards the town in search of some answers
The town was thriving with activity. They were all ponies like myself which was freaky at first but then again, I've been through worst. I was wandering around what I believe was a market and observing what kind of society was going on here which seemed like the medieval times on Earth. I was starting to get a few glares by other ponies so I decided to ditch the market and walk toward a tree on the edge of town but as I walked closer to the tree, it turned out that the so-called tree was actually a house.
There was a sign hanging off the trunk of the tree that read 'Golden Oak Library' which spiked my interest 'Maybe I can learn about some history' I thought before opening the door with my new found ability. I walk inside causing a small bell to ring, inside I see around 5 rows of shelves carved into the wood which held lots of books, a staircase which leads upstairs as well as a staircase leading to a basement. I walk over to one of the shelves and start looking through the H category, after 3 seconds I already found a book which one the cover read 'History of Equestria', I assumed that was the name of the country so I walk to one of the tables that were placed in the room and sit down on the wood floor since there were no chairs and began to read.
After around a minute of reading, I hear some footsteps coming down the stairs but pay no mind as I continue to read. "Hello there" I hear a voice call out so I look to my left to see a light purple unicorn with dark blue and pink hair,
"Greetings," I say back as I continue to read.
She walks over to me and peeks over my shoulder "What brings you here?"
I pause for a second to think of something to say before answering "I just moved here and wanted to learn the history of this place but not having much luck" I can see her smile from the corner of my eye
She says "Well my name is Twilight Sparkle... Whats yours?" I pause my reading and quickly realized that I need a new name.
I quickly look at my backside to look at the logo etched into my fur before swallowing the lump in my throat and answering "Anarchy, Black Anarchy".
I look up from my book and look at her to see that she had a look of confusion on her face "Weird name" she says before walking off to one of the shelves. I find nothing useful to note so I close the book and head over to put it back where I found it. Twilight took notice of the weapons I had holstered so she walks up and asks "What is this thing?" She points towards the Tar-21 hanging off my neck
"None of your concern," I say before levitating it off my neck and eject the mag, putting it in one of the pockets in my body armour. I look at her with a smile before saying "I'd love to stick around and all that but I got to get going, bye" I start walking towards the door but as I open the door, I am tackled by a pink blur causing the wind to be knocked out of me
"Hey there! I don't know you which means you're new in town which also means I haven't thrown you a party, speaking of parties, I'm going to go get it ready" she randomly spurts out before she literally disappeared.
"Don't try to understand her" Twilight said, I get back up and look at my hooves to see a pink envelope so I levitated it up to my face and read it as I walked off. I ripped open the envelope and pulled out a card, I opened the card which read 'Come to the large gingerbread house around 7:00 PM. -Pinkie Pie' So that's the pink one's name. I put the card into the pocket of my hoodie and throw the envelope into a nearby trash can.
I was really getting the hang of the magic concept as well as walking but a thought kept entering my head 'I can't keep the secret for long'. I was suddenly pushed out of my head as I heard yelling, I look up to see a blue blur shooting right towards me so I step to the side before the blur hit the ground. The impact kicked up the dirt surface, leaving a crater in the ground.
A pony poked its head out of the crate, seeming a little dazed but quickly shook its head before seeing me and saying "Hey, why didn't you catch me?" I simply shrugged and started to trot away but was instantly tackled from behind, causing the both of us to roll a few feet before landing against a tree with her on me. "Don't walk away till you say sorry"
I was starting to lose my cool in this place so I say "I'm sorry" in a very sarcastic tone, I simply got a confused look.
She shook her head before she asked: "You're a dude? But you have the body of a mare".
I nod and ask "Is that bad?" She shrugs before I repeat her and shrug before saying "I've been through and told worse." I push her off and stand back up.
She gives me a glare before smiling and saying "You're alright, I'm Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria" I give off a chuckle which seemed to offend her "What? Don't believe me? I can go around 800 M/PH".
I was tempted to laugh but held it in for me to answer "I've seen faster, In fact, the fastest I've seen was around 4,500 mph" Her face was priceless, to say the least.
She shakes herself out of shock and says "I never got your name yet"
I chuckled again and said "Black Anarchy but I prefer Anarchy more" I hold out my hoof which she lifts her own and gives a quick bump before we put both our hooves down. I remember the party and say "I was invited to some welcome party by some pink mare, you know her?" her face seemed to lighten up more to my despair.
She answered "Pinkie Pie throws the best parties! When is it?" I pull out the card that 'Pinkie Pie' had given me before handing it to Rainbow Dash to read, she threw it behind her before saying "Prepare for the night of your life"
I ask Rainbow Dash "It says 'Come to the large gingerbread house.' What drugs does she take?"
My question caused a stifled laugh from Rainbow Dash before saying "She doesn't take drugs, she's just like that and the giant gingerbread house is a real thing" My sanity was surely very low by now but I couldn't care less right now.
I look up at the sun to see it near the horizon meaning it was around 6:50ish. "We should get going. Which way is it?" I ask which was answered by a small follow gesture as she started hovering with the wings I did not see before. I followed her till a literal giant gingerbread house came into view. I walked up to the front door, waiting a few seconds before entering the most likely fake gingerbread house.
Every light was turned off, leaving the place pitch black. I was beginning to think the place was just a setup before I was blinded by a bright flash.
Twilights POV
The lights are quickly turned on and everypony shouts "SURPRISE!". We see Anarchy standing in the doorway wide-eyed as well as completely motionless beside Rainbow. We waited for a reaction but he didn't express any emotion which struck a little worry. I slowly trot up to Anarchy to see if he was alright, as I got closer I could hear some whispering but almost unintelligible. I look backward to see everypony with either worried or confused expression.
I look back to Anarchy to hear the whispering a little louder "The b-bombs, t-they're a-a-all gone. They w-wiped o-o-out e-e-e-everything." his breath was quite shakey.
His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he seemed to faint and fall to the floor, everypony emitted a gasp as I went into a full panic mode. "We need to get him to the hospital!" I say before hoisting him up with my magic and quickly run out the door followed by my friends.
I set Anarchy on my back as I make it to the hospital. I burst through the doors, saying "I need a nurse!"
Nurse Redheart came by quickly and set him on one of the stretchers in the lobby before allowing another nurse to take him to a room. Redheart turned to me before asking "What happened to her?"
I glare at Redheart as I said "It's male and he passed out after he arrived at a surprise party meant for him", Redheart nods before trotting away to the room with us in tow. We arrive at the room after a few minutes of walking to see the nurse that took him exit from the room.
"He suffered a PTSD panic attack, whatever you did must have triggered an attack. We manage to wake him up but I suggest waiting awhile unless you want to see him now?" she says so I give a simple nod before entering the room and closing the door behind her for a second before opening the door again and letting us in.
We see Anarchy sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing his eye. He took notice of us and gave a simple wave before his eyes went wide again before asking "Where are they?"
The question left me confused so I asked, "Where is what?" He sighs before pointing toward the weird pocket that held one of the unknown objects.
I was suddenly startled by Pinkie when she popped out of nowhere with the strange objects before she asked "These things?" Anarchy nodded before grabbing the weird objects in the magic and securing the things to himself.
"I guess I have some questions to answer?" He asked which resulted in everypony in the room to nod their heads slowly, He sighed and said "I ain't telling anything till I know everypony in the room so let's start off with you"
He pointed to Applejack who simply said, "Ah'm Applejack".
He pointed to Rarity who said "I'm Rarity, The greatest dressmaker in Ponyville"
then he pointed to Fluttershy who said "I'm F-Fluttershy" surprisingly... Well, non-shy.
He waited a second before saying "I'm not really from this... world" everypony gasped but were quiet down by Anarchy letting out a shhh before he continued "I was living on a planet called earth and in the country of the United States of America, at least it was united till another country went to war with us. We underestimated them, they had weapons that could wipe out entire continents. They dropped 2000 nuclear warheads, spreading radiation and fire everywhere. I witnessed one of those bombs with my very eyes." it was quite sad to hear everything was taken from him because one war but was brought out of my thoughts as he continued.
"My other family members were left to burn outside of the shelter as the bombs tore cities to shreds and vaporized every creature in its path. The problem spread to other countries, the radiation went into the atmosphere and caused a nuclear winter for 2 years before it resided and was safe to go outside. I still can't get the pictures of the bright flashes, the mushroom clouds, the charred skeletons that littered the streets causing me to get PTSD I guess, never really knew till now".
We heard a sniffle coming from Pinkie so I look over to her to see that her hair was deflated and a darker tone to her fur, Pinkie Pie managed to say "This was my fault" I look back to Anarchy who had a sadden expression
He quickly said "Hey, hey, hey. It's not your fault, I would have told you if I knew it was a surprise" Pinkie smiled and lunged at Anarchy, giving him a hug.
Everypony emitted an awww before Pinkie said "You're a good friend" He froze up as he mouth the word 'friend?'
Ray's POV
Pinkie Pie released me from the hug and hopped towards her friends with her normal but creepy smile.
"How do we know this guy is legit?" Rainbow Dash asked before crossing her forelegs in front of her.
Applejack looked at me for a couple of seconds before she turned to the pegasus and said: "He ain't Lyin'." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes before saying "I'm outta here" and just like that she flew out the window. It was almost funny to see someone being impatient, she reminded me of the Russians except less shoot first, ask questions later.
I got off the hospital bed and asked: "So what now?" everyone- I mean everypony looked around but just shrugged afterward. I sigh and start walking out not before noticing the yellow one -that I didn't notice before- staring at me differently than the rest of them, I shrug it off as just being her and continued to the main lobby. I got all the necessary paperwork done and headed out the door with my 5 new 'friends' in tow.
Something entered my thoughts that were quite serious, where am I going to stay.
I stop in my tracks and turn around to see them looking at me confusingly before asking "Something just passed my mind. Since I am from a different world with no knowledge of this place, where am I going to stay?"
They looked around at each other before answering in unison "I don't know".
I shrug again and said "I can just make a house in that forest over there," I pointed to the treeline that was on the outskirts of the town but I don't think they agreed.
"You simply must not enter there, dear. There are plenty of dangerous brutes to eat you up" Rarity said with a twinge of worry in her voice.
I roll my eyes and asked, "What's the plan then?" They looked at each other again before Fluttershy moved forward a few steps
She hesitated but managed to say "He can stay with me... If he wants to." my heart nearly exploded at how adorable she was but managed to keep a straight face.
"Are you sure Fluttershy?" Twilight asked Fluttershy before she nods. I was beginning to see something but it's preposterous, She likes me?
I sigh and say "It's getting pretty late so I think we should get some rest" everypony nods and starts to walk away but was pulled aside by Twilight
"I want you at the Library tomorrow so I can get a bit of information on you and your world," she asked which was kind of creepy.
I thought about it for a few seconds before thinking 'What could go wrong' before nodding which triggered her mouth to form a smile
She nods before saying "Great, meet me at the Library the earliest you can and make sure to bring Fluttershy along, I have a feeling that the girls would want to hear as well" She turned and left, leaving me and Fluttershy in the middle of the street.
I look at the shy yellow mare and say "Lead the way" Fluttershy nods nervously before turning and begins walking down the road with me in tow.
The walk wasn't that long, the sun had just dipped below the horizon "W-We're here" I hear the soft voice of Fluttershy announce so I look up from the ground to see a small cottage like structure that was also made from a tree. She opens the door and enters the house so I follow and step foo- I mean hoof into the house. I see a few animals scattered around the house, making my stomach growl for food so I sat on the couch that was in the middle of the room and check my pockets till I found a vegetarian MRE I looted off of a dead Military soldier a few days ago but I guess I never got around to using it.
I suddenly thought of an idea, if I can use magic, can I duplicate things? I close my eyes and imagine me pulling the MRE in two, my forehead began to feel warm as well as some exhaustion from the spell. I open my eyes to see two MRE's floating in front of me, I smile as I realize that magic could make my life easier. I set down one of the MRE's and tear open the other with my teeth.
I look inside to see a packet of skittles, some lettuce, broccoli, and pieces of apple. I look up to see Fluttershy staring at the MRE with confusion so I say "It's an MRE or Meal Ready to Eat" He expression changes to her usual self as she realized I caught her staring. I chuckle as I take out the apples from the package and began to eat them as Fluttershy began to walk away. I finish the apples so I grab the skittles, tear open the package and began to levitate them into my mouth.
Fluttershy walks up to the couch and sets down what looks like a salad with daisies in it, she looks over to the packet of skittles so I ask "Want one?" she hesitates for a second before nodding her head so I levitate one in front of her. she places it in her hoof before throwing it into her mouth, she chews for a few seconds before her face lights up with a smile
She shakes the look off her face before asking "W-What are these called" I give off a chuckle as well as a slow shake of the head.
"Skittles, you want another one?" I answer to which she nods quite frantically so I place three more into her hoof.
She puts all three skittles in her mouth, I realize she really enjoys them so I place the whole packet in front of her as I zip back up the MRE for later. I remember the duplication spell and decided to use it on one of my mags for the Tar-21, I pull out the mag I had in my pocket and place the bullet that was in the chamber into the mag, making the magazine at full capacity.
I did the same thing with the MRE, I closed my eyes and imagined pulling the mag apart. I open my eyes to see that the duplication worked again, with every single bullet in the magazine. I look to Fluttershy to see staring again at the two objects so I say "I'll tell you when the time is right" She hesitantly nods and turns back to the Skittles and continues shoving them into her mouth. I place the two mags into the pockets of the body armour and soon realize that I was getting really tired, most likely from the duplication spell.
"Where will I be sleeping, The couch is fine if there is no extra bed," I ask to which she stops shoving the skittles into her mouth and looks at me.
She shakes her head no and says "I have a cot that I can set up". I nod and wait on the couch as she goes upstairs to get the cot, I throw the wrapper of the Skittles into a trashcan that was on the opposite side of the room and with luck, the wrapper hits the rim of the can two times before falling in.
I hear some grunting up the stairs so I walk over and ask "Need any help?" a groan from Fluttershy came down the stairs.
She quickly answered "N-No I got it" I shake my head as I walk up and help bring the cot downstairs which was surprisingly heavy but I was able to handle the weight. After we got the cot set up and ready, Fluttershy went to her bed with a good night so I quickly said goodnight and slipped out of my equipment before placing the pile of weapon and clothes at the foot of the cot.
I slip into the cot to find that it was extremely comfy since I usually sleep on the hard ground or shitty mattresses that were outside but now I could sleep safely without the chance of being attacked while sleeping or getting some disease from a dirty mattress, I was instantly out like a night and entered dreamland.
...
I woke up in a house that wasn't the one I was in before unless all the pony stuff was a dream...
I sit up and look at a very familiar room as well as a familiar body, posters painted the wall as well as some shelves that held some toys, a TV with a DVD player on the ground and a white drawer. I slip out of the bed to see myself only in underwear so I get some clothes from the drawer and head out the door of the bedroom, I walk out to a hallway that had a few pictures hanged along the wall except all the faces were blurred out.
I walk down the rugged stairs and enter the living room to see a few couches across from a TV, more pictures were littered along the wall with more blurred faces, I look at the TV to see nothing but static so with nothing interesting to see, I enter the kitchen to see a dog bowl on the ground as well as everything a kitchen would have. I look out the window to see a few people standing around so I exit the kitchen and exit out of the backdoor that was just beside the room.
I walk out and feel the smooth grass along my bare feet, I see more houses around the large patch of concrete in the centre, hinting that I'm in a townhouse complex but I change my attention the people standing in front of me. Before I could get a good look at their faces, a blinding flash occurs behind them causing me to cover my eyes but when I uncovered them all I saw was the dark silhouette of the 4 figures as well as a large mushroom cloud in the background, raising over the horizon.
I look at the 4 figures once more before I was hit with a speeding wave of cloud, making my vision go dark.
Author's Note
Thanks for your patience as I am really busy getting good grades in school and all that
Familiar but not Friendly
I woke up heavily breathing and drenched in sweat, I look around the room to see that I'm back in the pony world. I step out of the bed and stretch my back, I quickly put my kevlar vest and the black hoodie before strapping on my weapons. I hear steps going down the stairs so I look over to see Fluttershy with a white rabbit on her back "I'm going as fast as I can" She says while the rabbit looks a bit angry or disappointed.
Fluttershy enters the kitchen which was a separate room and after a few seconds she emerges but the rabbit is now chewing on a carrot. She looks at me and asks "Have a good sleep?"
I smile and answer "I hadn't had a good rest for years and finally without having to worry about diseases, mutants or bandits is lovely, to say the least," She giggles a little bit before placing the rabbit down from her back
Fluttershy smiles and says "G-Good to hear". I remember last night with Twilight about her wanting me to visit her to discuss my world and it's almost extinct species.
"Hey, do you know where Twilight's house is?" I ask causing Fluttershy to jump a bit
She recovered before quickly answering "Just go to the south side of town, you can't miss it" I nod and say goodbye as I exit out the door, I just got off the property before hearing some talking in what sounded like Russian coming from the forest which caused me to draw my handgun and aim towards the wilderness but there was nothing in sight so I holster the CZ-75 and continue walking.
After a 5 minute walk, I reached the town to see the Sugar Cube Corner. I look at the sun which was behind me and see that I'm on the east side of town so I take a left and start walking through the lively civilization. It was still weird to be in a really populated area since back in my world, There were no civilized towns or any civilized people, to be honest.
I see the Library so I knock two times and enter, I see a purple lizard organizing books on the shelves. The lizard looks at me and says "Can I help you?"
I nod and answer "I'm looking for Twilight" he sighs dramatically as he walks up the stairs.
After a few seconds, he comes back down and says "Just go up the stairs and enter the first room on your left" he continues with the books as I follow his directions
I enter the room on my left, the room seemed to be an office or study room "Hey Anarchy, just take a seat then we can start" I suddenly began to feel nervous like this was my first time at the doctors. I take a seat in one of the chairs across from her and she began "Alright, How old are you?"
I hesitate for a second before answering "I'm 16".
Twilight nods and writes few things in a notebook before continuing "What was your original species and what was your society like?"
I gulp because of how terrible my world is compared to this world but still answered "Our species were called Humans, we were bipedal, always wore clothes and act similar to your kind but our society was not the best. Technologically advanced but that caused a massive pollution problem which also causes global warming; War was a common thing, hell so common that we had 3 world wars where around 30-50 countries go to war but there won't be a forth since the third one pretty much ended the world"
Twilight had a pained expression but quickly wrote some more things before asking "What was the currency like?"
I tried to remember the last time I've seen actual money but I don't recall what they looked like or what they were called so I just shrug and say "Don't remember but we used seeds for currency because the uses for them were... useful" she writes some more notes down and was about to ask more questions but a scream was heard.
I quickly run over to one of the windows to see a few ponies being held hostage by 4 more ponies that were wearing balaclavas and brown hoodies with AK-74u's aimed at the civilians heads so I grab my Tar-21 and slam a mag in before pulling the action back and taking aim. Twilight takes my side "What's going o-" she saw what was going and says "We have to stop them" she was about to run outside.
I stopped her and said, "That's what I'm doing".
I held my breath for a few seconds to steady my aiming before I slowly squeeze the trigger till a click and a bang echoed throughout the town as the far left pony's head exploded into a puff of blood which caused Twilight to gasp and the other criminals to start heading to cover as everypony else started to run away. I run downstairs and burst out the door and began firing at the far right oppressor as I head towards a tree for cover. I hid behind the tree and peeked out behind the tree only for a few bullets to hit my cover causing me to pull my head out of harm's way.
I peeked out again and shot at the pony who shot at me, I hit him in the head causing his head to snap back with a red cloud shooting out of the new hole in the pony's head. I exit cover and gallop over to the right and slide under a cart, where my third victim was. The enemy saw me and turned around to fire at me but it was too late as I fire a burst into his body, making blood to splatter onto the cart and myself. I hear some rustling from behind so I unholster my pistol and fire behind me without looking before a scream was heard from the last thug.
I turn around and slowly walk towards the pony who now had a bleeding hole in one of his hind leg, he tries to crawl away but I pull him closer with my magic before lifting him up and pinning him to the cart
"Who are you and where are you from?" I ask the thug
His ears fold back "Я-я с земли, я всего лишь СТАЛКЕР (I-I'm from earth, I'm just a STALKER)" The Russian says in the familiar language
I sighed before saying "Как вы сюда попали? (How did you get here?)"
He thinks before a second before saying "Задуть (Blowout)".
I let go of him for a second before saying "Go" He tilts his head in confusion before starting to limp away but didn't make it far as I pull out my handgun and fire two bullets into the back of his skull causing the thug to fly forward, faceplanting into the dirt.
I sigh once more before turning around to see everypony starts to come out of hiding. I started to feel a rare feeling, guilt. The town looked at me with fear, I don't deserve this hospitality, I quickly sprint toward the treeline of the forest.
Author's Note
Fuck writer's block
I ran for what felt like hours until I came across some type of ruins, a large run-down castle to be exact. It was pretty dark with the sun down and the abnormally large moon. I don't know why I ran, to be honest. Was it because I'm afraid of the consequences of murder here? Was it because of not wanting to be looked at as a murderer in such a peaceful environment? The reasons flowed through my mind as I mindlessly walk over the crumbling bridge and into the ruins.
I entered what looked like a throne room, with a few corroding banners of a sun or moon. I sat on the stairs that lead up to the thrones and finally reflected my life. I was just trying to survive but the only way to do that is stealing and killing. But at some points, I could have spared them, let them live. I look at the mark on my hips and thought 'Was I made to cause anarchy?'. I suddenly start to hear hoofsteps, causing me to run behind one of the thrones.
I peak out to see a tall pony, the fur on the pony was a very dark blue with the mane flowing in the colors of space. "Quite a nice lodging isn't it?" the pony said causing me to shrink back down into my cover before I hear the voice again "I knoweth thou art behind the throne" I suddenly get nervous as I peak out again to the dark pony in front of the throne.
"Nay needeth to beest dainty, mine own dram pony," she said causing my anxiety to lower a bit. I slower inch my way out of cover to get a better look at who was confronting me. judging by the voice, the pony is female but the striking feature is the combination of horn and wings as well as the cat-like eyes and fangs in her small smile. "And who is't might thee beest, dram one"
I swallow the lump in my throat and think back to when I was learning history to remember the early English language before hesitantly answering "Black Anarchy, who might you be?"
Her facial expression changed to a mix of confusion and shock before following up my question "I am Nightmare Moon, ruler of the moon" I hear more hoofsteps coming our way so I slowly back up behind the throne, I peak out again to see the 6 girls I met staring at the princess with fury before the moon Princess shouted "I shalt showeth'r Equestria in darkness and th're is nothing thee can doth to stand ho me."
"You may think that but we have all something in common," Twilight says before each pony pulled out a small crystal before placing them on the ground.
I recoil in awe as I see the 6 crystals levitate and began spinning around their respective owners, unfortunately, the crystals fell to the ground and shattered causing everyone to gasp with the exception of Nightmare Moon "You fool! You think crystals can stop me?" she began a menacing laugh before her horn started to glow.
She aimed the horn at the group, obviously charging a harmful spell causing me to kick into overdrive and run up behind Nightmare before jumping onto her. I bite into her jugular, drawing blood from the pressure. She shakes me off causing me to fly towards the group "Doth thee bethink a measly biteth shall do hurt me?" I slowly get up and say "For a bit, yeah. But I know something that will." I draw my pistol and fire two rounds at her forelegs, both bullets hitting my targets causing Nightmare Moon to fall forward.
I turn around to the 6 ponies and ask "Can you finish it?" They nod so I step aside with my pistol at ready as they did their ritual.
"We don't need crystals, the elements are inside us," Twilight says before a bright flash emits from the group, my head gets heavy as those thoughts appear again but I easily shake them off as I continue to watch.
My companions had necklaces around their necks with exception to Twilight who says "We are friends, we are family, we are the Elements of Harmony!" A tiara appears on her head before her eyes flash white. They begin to levitate before a large rainbow beam travels up and drops down onto the Princess causing her to scream in agony while shouting "Nay, this can't beest happening! I shall maketh Equestria liveth in the night forever! foreveeeeer!" everything turns to a blinding white for a few seconds before my vision clears, allowing me to see.
I see a much smaller version Nightmare Moon was, still with the two wounds in her legs. I stay back as I watch Twilight and her friends walk toward the Ruler of the moon, I was about to step forward when another tall pony seem to come out of nowhere so I quickly hide behind one of the corroded pillars.
"Princess Celestia!" I hear Twilight shout so I cautiously peek around the pillar to see Twilight run up and hug 'Princess Celestia' causing my awareness to go down but I didn't want to stay long so I began to creep my way towards the exit but unfortunately, as I was about to exit, I was all of a sudden surrounded by a yellow aura as I was pulled backward against my will.
I began to rotate as the group came into view both princesses standing behind the six girls "Ummm... I have nothing to do with this?" I said with a nervous expression hopefully I won't be punished for injuring a royalty as well as the events earlier.
Princess Celestia giggles before saying "Don't worry, you're not in trouble" I swallow the lump in my throat as I look at all of them. "Twilight spoke of the Incident earlier and as I wish it was dealt with a different way, at least my little ponies are safe" she flashes a smile causing me to calm down due to the fact that I won't be hanged for murder. I was released from the magical grip as I fall to the ground softly.
I look at the blue mares scarred legs, wondering how they healed so quickly but quickly thrown that thought out of my head as I said "Sorry about shooting your legs and all Ms?"
She chuckles before saying "Don't worry about it, and the name is Princess Luna."
I nod and ask "What now?"
Princess Celestia smiled and said "Let's get out of here" before charging up a spell
She was interrupted by Pinkie who shouted, "WAIT!"
Celestia stopped the spell and ask "What is the matter?"
Pinkie pointed at me and said, "Since teleporting causes a bright flash, we can't do it with him. He has PTSD, due to his world being wiped out by these things called 'Atomic Bombs' and we can't have this poor thing" Pinkie wrapped an arm around me before continuing "Having another panic attack."
Both the Princesses seemed to tilt their heads at what she said before saying "Oh... I guess we can walk and you can tell us a bit about who you are"
I nod as everyone started walking as I stuck behind with the two Princesses. We exit the castle ruins before Princess Luna says "Stay wary of your surroundings, who knows what's out here at this time" I quickly use my magic grip to pull back the bolt on my Tar-21, earning a yelp from Twilight who looked over her shoulder giving me a glare before she aimed her head forward.
"Names Black Anarchy by the way," I say
Celestia smiled before asking "What was it like where you are from?"
frown as sad thoughts filled my mind before saying "It was nice for 12 years. I had a good childhood, a nice family. Another country waged war on us which caused more countries to get involved either with us or against us, soon the war ended but not without around 19,000 Atomic Bombs being launched around the world."
The emotion on both of the Princesses faces changed to sadness but also confusion before asking "What is an Atomic Bomb?"
I answer immediately "An Atomic Bomb is a bomb of course except its bigger than your average cannonball, one could wipe out a city in an instant. not only is it extremely big but it leaks this particle called radiation which is very harmful to be around unless you have the appropriate equipment."
They seemed very shocked but they went back to frowns before Luna asked: "I'm guessing the bright flash is what caused your PTSD?"
I nod before sighing and continuing "We somewhat deserved it to some extent, we were killing our planet slowly but our government didn't care. All they want is money and power" I hang my head down as we walked for a few minutes in silence.
Luna broke the silence once more "What are those contraptions strapped to you?"
I look at both my firearms before saying "Guns, a weapon also created for war but also in self-defence. The box at the back of the gun holds a small arrow called a bullet which fires a small lead projectile at fast speeds toward your target, incapacitating or killing them depending on where you aim. I always ended up on the wrong side of the gun, people robbing my possessions or tried to at least."
We reached the small town where we split ways, the Princesses teleport away and everyone goes home. I follow Fluttershy to her cottage in silence, we enter through the front door and was greeted by all her little pets and such. I face plant onto the couch, exhausted causing a stifled laugh coming from Fluttershy, she says "goodnight"
I replied with a muffled "Nighty Night" earning another giggle from Fluttershy before I hear her walk up to her bedroom and all the critters crawl into their hiding spots.
'At least I still have my sense of humour' I thought to myself as I passed out.
Author's Note
Not an exact copy of the battle but the best I can do
Another day began as I wake up to birds singing songs and animals coming out of their homes within the cottage "I've gotta get used to this" I thought out loud as I sit up and kick my hind legs over the edge of the couch. My head was pounding like I drank a whole bottle of vodka, not like I know how that feels but drinking alcohol is a common activity to avoid radiation poisoning.
I stretch out my forelegs, hearing several cracks from the joints, should've slept on the cot. I stand up and arch my back causing more of my joints to pop in protest, I sigh and sit back down before a set of hooves are heard walking down the stairs so I look over to see Fluttershy brushing her pink mane with a brush held in her wings as she yawns. "Good morning," she greets as she sets down the brush and sits down beside me.
I chuckle before asking "rough night eh?" she nods before letting out another yawn into her hoof.
Fluttershy sighs and says "Can you help me with renovating the shed? Unless you don't want to"
I smile and before answering "I'll help out, maybe we can retrieve some of your friends to help as well?"
Flutters -what an adorable nickname- smiles before saying "Thank you."
I nod and stand up before saying "Let's go" she gets up and we exit out the door toward Twilight's, figuring she needed to get out more. The walk to Ponyville was uneventful and also very quiet, we made it Twilights front door before knocking on it twice before entering. I see Twilight reorganizing the bookshelves with the small purple lizard helping out "Hey Twilight" I said causing her to yelp and spin around
"Oh... H-Hey Anarchy" she says before she sets a book on one of the shelves and walks towards us "What do you need?"
I look to Fluttershy who says "Would you like to come with me and the girls help renovate my shed If that's ok with you"
Twilight gives off a smirk before saying "Sure, Spike can do the rest of the books as I'm gone." I hear a loud groan behind Twilight before we turn and exit the Library. We planned on walking towards Rarity's boutique but halfway there, I was tackled by behind making my instincts kick in and unholster my handgun and press the muzzle of the gun to the forehead of... Rainbow Dash?
Her magenta eyes were pinpricks as the gun was still pressed against her noggin, I holster the weapon and sigh before saying "Maybe you can give me a little bit of a heads up before crashing into me" She nods as she seems to relax a little before I continue "You want to help out with Fluttershy's shed?"
She smiles while hovering up to her before answering "Sure, I'll tag along."
We reached the boutique so Fluttershy knocks on the door "Coming~" A feminine voice announces on the inside before the door swings open to Rarity with some measuring tape around her neck and some fancy glasses placed on her snout. "Oh, hello girls. How can I help you?" Rarity asks
Twilight blurts out "We are going to help Fluttershy with some renovating, care to join?"
Rarity releases a small frown before saying "I wish I could darling but I still need to have more dresses done by tomorrow"
We all nod before I say "Don't worry too much, it's only a shed" Everypony giggles, leaving me confused for a moment.
Rarity cuts the laughter "Alright, I'll most likely see you all tomorrow. Ta-ta~" she shuts the door so we carry on.
"The only available pony left is Applejack since Pinkie is in Canterlot with the Cakes for some contest," Rainbow Dash says so we start walking towards Applejacks house which I have yet to see. The walk was very talkative between Twilight, Rainbow and Flutters as I stayed back a bit but we soon came across an apple orchard with thousands of trees lined up in an orderly fashion but paid more attention to the girl's conversation as they talked about recent events or other things I don't know about.
I see an orange pony in a familiar hat with a bucket of apples sat on her back as she walked to a barn that was a disturbing shade of red "Hey Applejack" I announce causing her to jerk her head towards me with a frightening expression
She exclaims "Holly molly Anarchy, You frightened me"
I chuckle before Fluttershy reluctantly asks "If you're done, maybe you can help us out with renovating my shed if you want to."
Applejack set down the bucket filled to the brim with apples and said "Ah jus' finished mah quota so ah guess ah can tag along"
I nod and shout "let's get a move on." We began walking back to the quiet cottage and the walk was just like the walk here but halfway, Fluttershy stuck behind with me and we talked about my world a bit more.
We entered Fluttershys property and walked around the cottage to see a medium-sized shed that was made out of corroding wood and rusted metal causing me to ask "Guess you haven't used this in a while"
She replied "Never did, the previous owner left the shed untouched and left everything inside for some reason" I nod and walk up to the wood-rotted door, I pull the door but the hinges gave out and began to fall towards me so I quickly step to the side, nearly getting hit.
I peek inside to see six objects covered in dusty, white sheets. I carefully step inside and look around a bit, It was dark but still had some light from the doorway "Is everything alright in there?" I hear Rainbow dash shout
I quickly reply "Yep, could use some light though" I hear some hoofsteps behind me before the room was lit up by a purple light so I look behind me to see Twilight with her horn glowing. I thank her and walk over to one of the sheets before slowly pulling it off in my magical grab.
I smile as I see an acoustic guitar with an electric guitar beside it, both set onto a guitar stand, both were in quite a good shape so I pick both up with my magic and carry them outside with Twilight in tow. "Woah" Rainbow exclaims before she reaches for electric guitar.
I pull it out of her reach before saying "Ah Ah Ah. Finders, keepers" before I place the guitar back on the stand and place it to the side before heading back in with Twilight. I pull of the next sheet to find a Bass guitar also in good condition so I also place it outside and go back inside, the next object turns out to be a Microphone on a stand as well.
I place the Microphone outside and go back in to reveal the biggest item which turns out to be a basic drumkit (Snare, 2 toms, floor tom, bass drum, crash cymbal, ride cymbal, Hi-hat cymbal, 2 drumsticks) which seems to have no problems except for some of the stands having a little bit of rust but can be easily fixed with some aluminum foil and vinegar, I got Applejack and Rainbow Dash to help me move out the drums before I went back inside once more. I pulled off the sheet to the final object which happens to be an amp which also has a little rust on it but other than that, it seems in good condition.
I looked at all the instruments before turning to the shed. I had tools at the disposal but a thought sprang into my mind as if it was a message. It was a spell none the less so I figured I'd try it out "Hey girls, you might want to stand back as I try something" after they got some distance, I lower my head and start thinking of a black hole in the middle of the shed. My mind started to strain as my head ached and began to exhaust but once I heard a massive bang I look up to see the shed collapse on itself and shrink into a red orb.
Once all of the shed was gone, I let my mind ease as the red orb shrunk into nothing. I look behind me to see the girls with their jaws dropped to the floor, Literally. I sigh in exhaustion and sit down to rest, Twilight walked beside me before asking "How did you do that?"
I shrugged and answered, "Just popped into my head."
her eyes widened before shouting "SOMETHING LIKE THAT DOESN'T JUST POP INTO YOUR HEAD!" I chuckle before standing up and walking up to the planks of wood to build the shed.
After some time of building the shed, we finished it. I even built an extra room for the instruments I found so I can actually use them without disturbing the animals or Fluttershy herself, I set down the ride cymbal beside the floor tom before wiping the sweat off my forehead. I walk out of the room into the actual shed to see Fluttershy and her friends helping her with organizing the garden tools and other doo-dads. "Well that's the music room done, Maybe I can try my musician skills when we are done" Fluttershy's face curled into a small smile after she placed a rake on one of the shelves.
"I would love to hear you play!" Rainbow said before she began to hover but Applejack quickly bit down on her tail so she didn't wreck the shed we just made.
she quit flying and placed her hooves on the ground with an annoyed expression causing Fluttershy to giggle a little before saying "Well we just finished so it would be nice to hear you play" I smile and head back to the music room as I call it and pick up the acoustic guitar with my magical grip before realizing that I don't know how to play with magic.
I suddenly think of solution so I think that my hands are there and plucking the strings, Once I plucked a string with my non-existent finger, The guitar played a string which caused me to smile before strumming all of the strings to find that it's in tune so I walk back out and pull up one of the chairs in the room before sitting down and placing the guitar in my lap.
I look around to see the girls in a circle and waiting for me to play so I quickly think of a song before playing
I sang all the words and got all the strings right even though I was a bit rusty since I haven't played for a few months, their faces were priceless as I strummed the last note and placed my hoof on the strings to mute the guitar before levitating it over to the stand in the other room "That was amazing" Rainbow said in awe
I nod before saying "I think it relates to me when I was in the wasteland cause I had so many opportunities that I had to quit on because they were pretty much non-existent, the yellow and red came to be by the bombs that dropped when I was only ten" Their expressions changed from awe to sympathetic before Fluttershy walked up to me and wrapped her forelegs around me and pulled me into a hug.
My heart was nearly popping from my chest as I felt the warm embrace of her, I suddenly felt like crying as more of the girls joined in for the hug. After a few minutes of hugging, they let go and smile at me causing me to smile back and say "Thank you all, for your hospitality, for your kindness. This is a rare sight for a wasteland wanderer, and I thank *sniff* you" I felt the tears welling up in my eyes as memories of my carefree childhood flooded my mind.
I felt a hoof on my shoulder so I blink the tears out my eyes to see Twilight in front of me "Nopony should have to go through that, I'm surprised your mind is still in one piece after what you've been through" Twilight says causing I chuckle a bit before wiping the tears from my cheeks.
I say "A strong mind leads to a strong soul." Everypony giggles
Applejack says "Well ah need to get going, gotta buck some apples in the morning"
I smile one more time before saying "We all need some, It has been a long day" Everypony nodded in agreement.
The girls said goodbye and left, leaving me and Flutters alone in the shed. I close the door to the music room and walk out of the shed with Fluttershy, I look up to the sky to see the moon just rising from the horizon so I follow Fluttershy inside and sit down on the couch. I wait a few minutes before Fluttershy comes in with two plates of spaghetti only without the meat, We eat and conversate about what our lives were like back then.
When we finished eating, I did the polite thing and took both the dishes into the kitchen. I washed the plates before I put them in the correct cupboard, I head back into the living room and sat on the couch "Anyways, My mother was a metal head musician and same with my Dad. My mom worked as a Waitress at some restaurant that I can't remember the name of and my dad was a gun mechanic meaning that he built and repaired guns for a living."
Memories of my parents flowed through my head once more before I was brought out of those thoughts when I was tackled by Fluttershy, I regained my senses to see I was pulled into a cuddle as Fluttershy buried her head into my chest. I dragged my hoof through her mane as she whispered "You poor soul, I will always there if you need someone to talk to" Tears started to well up again as I placed my other hoof on her back.
We spent a few minutes cuddling till I heard the silent snore of Fluttershy, Indicating that she has fallen asleep so leaving me no choice, I drift off to sleep leaving my vision in pitch black void.
Morning came with the birds chirping and the sun shining in my eyes causing me to stir a little, I was looking up at the roof with an occasional bird flying within the house which I figure wouldn't be allowed inside but I could care less what they do. My chest felt heavy as well as a little wet so I look down to see Fluttershy with her head rested against my head with a line a drool dripping out of her mouth.
I smile a bit before placing my hoof on her head and lightly nudging her causing Flutters to stir before she opened her eyes, she looked at me for a few seconds before she blushed and asked: "We didn't do what I think we did, did we?"
I chuckle a bit before saying "Hell no, we just cuddled each other to sleep I guess" her cheeks darkened as she covered her head with her mane.
I stroke her head with my hoof before saying "You wanna get off me or are you enjoying this?"
Fluttershy's eyes shoot open before she falls sideways onto the carpet floor, emitting an "Ow" from her. I roll my eyes and sit up before stretching my forelegs out. I'm quite used to my body and society already, maybe I can get a job or start some shop up, I then realize that I still have knowledge of building homemade guns from the wasteland but I'm going to have to look at the laws before doing so and I need an actual structure If I'm going to do this type of business.
I can head to the Library and ask Twilight for a rule book or something, I look down to see Fluttershy still on the ground so I smile and reach my arms around her torso before lifting her up and sit her on the couch. She looks at me with confusion as I step off the couch and walk toward the door before Fluttershy says "W-Where are you going?"
I open the door and look back as I say "Going to Twilights, have an Idea but I just need to check if it's actually allowed."
I arrived at the Golden Oak Library and entered through the door, I Immediately look through the L section of a bookshelf but my search was cut short as I felt eyes looking over my shoulder so I look back to see Twilight looking at me "Hey Anarchy, What brings you here?" I smile before turning around and said "Hey Twilight, the girl I'm looking for"
She tilts her head in confusion before I continued "I was wondering about weapon laws and if they are allowed to be bought" hers face looks quizzical before saying "Everyday carries are allowed but It requires a strict background test and a license depending on the type of weapon, why?"
I sigh before saying "I just need some money and with my background being pretty much nothing special, I figured I could build and sell weapons to the locals just in case that incident happens again"
She gives an understanding look before asking "Do you even know how to build weapons?" I nod my head before saying "I bet I can duplicate my Tar-21 for starters and put a little attachment on it so non-unicorns could fire it then I would start making some weapons that came from my old world, I cleaned a lot of guns for business back in the wasteland so I know plenty of guns inside and out."
Twilight nods before exclaiming "I don't think your weapons are under license agreements so I won't be legal just to start selling weapons more dangerous than a battle axe"
she did make a good point so I nod and ask "Is there any way I can get guns signed under a license agreement" Twi -simple nickname- thinks for a moment before saying "We could arrange a meeting with Princess Celestia"
I smile a bit "We can do that."
Twilight grabbed a piece of paper off her desk and dripped a quill in some ink before writing out loud
'Dear Princess Celestia
My friend Black Anarchy (Who helped with the Nightmare Moon incident) has been wanting to open a weapon shop of sorts but his kind of weapons are not in any License agreements so I wish to arrange a meeting anytime possible
Your Faithful Student
When she was done, she called a name upstairs before seeing a purple lizard running down the stair. She hands the letter to it before the lizard burned- Wait, what. I look to Twilight before asking "Did he just burn the letter?"
she looks at me with a giggle before answering "No, he uses fire to send magic. It's not really explained yet but who cares."
My anxiety rises as a letter appears from thin air and floats into Twilights hoof, She opens it before reading out loud
'Dear my Faithful Student
I have got your message and I am very intrigued by your request so since I have some free time, I have sent a carriage down to Ponyville to pick you up
Sincerely,
PS. Bring your other friends along, I do enjoy their company'
I sigh in relief and look over to Twilight to see her writing on 5 pages at once before she gets the lizard to send them all. After 5 minutes of waiting, I hear a knock at the door causing Twilight to open it with her magic. All 5 of the girls walk through the door with confused expressions before Rainbow Dash speaks out "Why are we all going to Canterlot? I could be training for my audition into the Wonderbolts!"
Twilight sighs before saying "It has something to do with Anarchy and getting a job, I'll explain on the way there."
We wait around an hour before Twilight shouts "The chariot is here!" so I walk outside to see a large, purple chariot with two pegasi at the front. I get on the chariot and sit down beside Fluttershy who was fiddling her hooves. Twilight explained the reason I'm are heading to Princess Celestia, some of them agreed and said something about griffons while the others were still unsure about it.
During the Ride, everypony was chatty except for me and Fluttershy who was quiet the whole time. Flutters seemed very nervous to meet the Princess but I couldn't blame her, I was ready to jump out of the carriage. The town comes into view and I am blown away, The castle on the side of the mountain that defies all laws of physics and the buzzing activity in the streets below.
The chariot landed in a large courtyard, we stepped off before the chariot took flight once more. We started to walk toward the castle doors but I did the safe thing and stayed behind the group a bit, the doors were not that secure due to only two guards standing on each side, almost like statues.
We enter the castle to be met with another set of doors with two more guards "All weapons are to remain outside, you can retrieve them when you exit."
I look to Twilight before saying "That's what we are here for, My friend here" Twilight points to me before she continues "Are here on the behalf of Princess Celestia to see if we can make a new addition to the weapon licensing agreements."
The guard thinks for a second before saying "You may enter" I sigh in relief as the other guard opens the door, allowing us to enter. I followed the girls through the large corridors for a few minutes before we reached another large door, Twilight pushes the door before she walks in with everypony in tow. We enter a huge room with a raised platform with two thrones sat upon it, the two princesses were sat upon the thrones with eagerness placed upon their faces.
I stayed behind a little as Princess Celestia stands up and talks to Twilight before Celestia turns to me, I take a few steps forward before Celestia asks "You have the weapons Twilight talked about"
I nod and take the Tar-21 from around my shoulder before explaining the weapon "This is a Tar-21 Assault Rifle, loaded with a projectile called the 5.56×45mm NATO bullet which is held in a box at the back called a magazine and no it's not a book, the magazine can hold up to 30 bullets before you have to put in a new one. The gun works with a small hammer that hits the back of the bullet causing it to ignite the small amount propellant inside before the lead front dislodges from the casing of the bullet and into your target at dangerous speeds."
Princess Luna seemed intrigued by my explanation but Celestia seemed less believed "I would like to see a demonstration" Luna shook her head 'yes' frantically, excited to see what the guns could do.
I nod before asking "Is there some target I could use because all the objects in this room seem... Expensive." Celestia chuckles before answering "Of course, follow me to the guard barracks."
I and the girls followed the princesses for some time before exiting the castle and into a courtyard that was filled with a few tents and obstacle courses which were surprisingly vacant. Celestia led us to what looked like an archery range except instead of the circle targets you normally see, they had hay forms of ponies which had armour fitted on them, there were also a few guards at the range firing bows with their magic.
I walked ahead of the group and entered one of the booths which consisted of a table on the right side and a pinboard on the left with a piece of paper which had the rules of the range printed on it. The princesses and my friends -I'm still getting used to calling them that- catched up and watched from behind, I unholster my CZ-75 and set it on the table before loading a magazine into my rifle and taking aim at the target which was around 10 meters away but was interrupted when a guard to my right sarcastically asked "What that going to do? Vaporize the target" before giving off a laugh.
I roll my eyes before answering "We had something like that except we didn't use it to vaporize one pony, we vaporized cities and killed off 80% of my kind" his face turned to smart-ass to surprise before I continued "It's surprising what you can do with uranium." I give off a chuckle as I take aim and say "This is the semi-automatic mode. You pull the trigger, firing only one bullet out" Once I got my sights lined up, I squeezed the trigger causing the gun to discharge, scaring the audience.
I let off a laugh before looking at the target which had a bullet hole through the chest, definitely where the heart would be. I flick the fire mode switch to full-automatic as I say "And this is the full-automatic mode. you can hold down the trigger fire the projectiles at a fast rate, till you run out of ammo of course" I hold the trigger down for a second, allowing 5 rounds to fire before releasing the grip on the trigger. I look at the target to see three holes in the chest, one in the neck and one in the head. I look back to see the Princesses in awe as well as everypony else with exception of Twilight.
Celestia snaps out of her awe and says "Very... devastating"
I nod before I switch the safety on and set down my Tar-21 before picking the handgun and explain "This is a CZ-75, very small but still deadly. It holds a 9x19mm bullet, the magazine itself holds 17 bullets. the mechanism is a little different because the hammer is on the outside and the action slide is the top of the gun instead of a little peg that sticks out the side. The weapon only has a semi-automatic fire mode making it an accurate last resort" I pull the slide back and aim down the range before I fire 3 times, each bullet passing through the helmet.
I switch my pistol to safety and set it down on the table before turning around to the group and asking "Any questions?"
Only Luna's hoof shoots up so I point to her before she asks "I've been meaning to ask but how would you feel if you were to work for us? Those pesky Gryphons have been threatening us for years and this type of technology can set us a step forward from them."
This raised a few questions but they were cast away as a loud bell began to ring causing all the guards to run to their weapons and set up a perimeter around us so I quickly pick up both of my guns and put the handgun in its holster as I hold tightly to my assault rifle, waiting for the worse to happen. The sound of heavy wings is heard as a large brown wooded carriage that is being pulled by weird creatures.
The carriage landed before the back doors swing open to around 8 more of the same creatures holding what looked like STG-44's, They aim the weapons at us as another figure steps off the carriage, adorning two scars on the face and a brown coat with some medals pinned upon his chest. Celestia stared at them before letting out a stern voice "What is your business here? We told you that Equestria will not help the Gryphons in resources!" The Gryphons did not budge so I back up toward the table just in case of weapons.
The girls seemed scared shitless but stood their ground, what looked like the Captain of the Gryphons just let out a chuckle before saying "We no longer want resources, we want territory." I see that the Gryphons were putting their claws on the trigger of their weapons so I grab my Assault rifle and fire a full mag into the firing line causing some of the Gryphons to go down before the rest scattered for cover.
I grab my pistol before planting it in my holster and flipping the table for cover. The Princesses teleported away, selfishly leaving us with the Enemy. The girls run behind the table and duck their heads as bullets pinged off the metal table or whizzed over us with a crack of the sound barrier. I peek out from cover and aim at one of the Gryphons on the right side who was hiding behind some hay bales so I fire twice, both rounds hitting the chest of the opponent.
I switch my aim over to another Gryphon who was two booths down from us and fire one bullet into his head, I duck down before another volley of bullets fly by. Rainbow Dash looked determined before trying to fly up but Applejack quickly bit down my her tail to stop her from going anywhere, Rainbow was still out of cover so I tried to help pull her down but it was too late as she lets out a scream of pain before she flies backward about a foot with a stream of blood coming out of her chest. Applejack quickly pulls her by the tail into cover before I set her next to the table and checked for a wound.
Rainbow Dash was still crying and the reason was that of the bullet hole in her right shoulder so I quickly put pressure on the wound before asking Twilight "Put pressure on the wound while I go finish them off!" she nods before I release my hooves from Rainbows wound and hop over the table with my pistol drawn
Time seemed to slow to a crawl, I could see the bullets travelling towards me at a snail's pace. A voiced entered my head whispering "You are special, without remorse, without thought. You have a soft spot for people who care about you but you have an... evil side that wants you to slay everything in your path. Well, now the time to quench that thirst.
Time sped up a little, the bullets came at me faster but just slow enough to dodge. I strafed left and right as the bullets whizzed before firing the CZ-75 at the two Gryphons who were behind a tree to my right, both of them are hit in the head so I switch over to the final Gryphon before fire three bullets into him. I check around to see if any more were alive but there were none in sight so I relax and let out a shaky sigh before remembering the general.
I felt... enhanced, I could hear the wind brushing against the grass and the sharp breath of a scared Gryphon. I turn towards the direction of the breathing and slowly walk toward a tree with a dead Gryphon laying near it. I round the tree to see the general staring at me in fear. I could still hear the cries of pain coming from Rainbow Dash, triggering some sort of rage.
I unholster my pistol and shoot the Gryphon in the right foreleg causing him to buckle from the pain. I hear some yelling so I look out from behind the tree to see the Princesses and a whole platoon of guards clearing the area, I grab the wounded Gryphon before giving a swift headbutt to his forehead -which I now realize was a dumb idea.-
I grabbed the Gryphon's wing by my magical grip and drag him out toward the guards, the guards raised their spears as I walked toward the group so I stop in my tracks before throwing the Gryphon in front of me. The guards lower their spears a little as Celestia says "Stand down!" before she walks toward me, I felt some sort of hatred toward her as she had that 'soothing' smile of hers.
I looked into her eyes, we have a staring contest for a few seconds before she seemed to get a spooked expression. She stepped to the side, allowing me to walk over to the girls. I sit down beside the doctor that was working on Rainbow, the doctor was about to bandage the wound before I ask "Did you remove to bullet?"
The medic looked at me with a confused look before I ask "Is there 2 holes?" He shook his head so I sigh and ask "Is she asleep?" He gave a quick nod. I sigh once more before you have to remove the bullet or there will be more internal bleeding." The doctor was now panicking, he obviously didn't know what he was looking for so I push him aside and use my magic to feel around inside the wound.
Magic was still very weird, I could feel the magic touching but my body isn't even touching anything. After a few seconds of feeling around, I finally felt the bullet so I wrap my magical grip around the projectile before giving a big tug causing the bullet to fly out of the wound and onto the grass. Unfortunately, Rainbow seemed to feel it, causing her to scream in pain and the doctor unexpectedly fainting
I hear rushed hoofsteps from behind so I look back to see the rest of the girls running toward us, obviously from the scream. "Is everything alright?" Twilight asks so I nod and turn to Rainbow again who was glaring at me.
I wrap bandages around Rainbows gun wound before picking up the crushed bullet and holding it in front of Rainbows face "Want a souvenir?"
I hear the girls giggle behind me but Rainbow Dash didn't seem to find it as she muttered "Fuck you" causing me to chuckle before throwing the bullet away.
Luna came up behind me before saying "I can't thank you enough Anarchy, not only did you keep my ponies safe but we finally have the technology from the Gryphons to grow our technologic scale"
I smile before asking "Why did you teleport away in the heat of the moment?"
Her face seems to sadden as she answered "I am sorry about that, my sister was the one that teleported us"
I nod before saying "It's alright, I did have some fun" Luna giggled before taking a slight bow and turning away toward her sister. The girls were sitting in a circle, talking about what happened while the guards disposed of the bodies. I sat down under one of the blood-soaked trees before looking to the sunset
But one question still fills my mind 'Who... or what was that voice and how did I slow down time?'
Author's Note
sorry for the delay, My PC doesn't want to turn on so I had to get my crappy laptop from school. Hopefully, I can get my PC up and running again or I will be sad :(
Since the day was almost to an end, the princesses allowed us to stay for the night so I dropped my weapons in a guest room before going to meet the princesses for dinner which made me quite nervous. I walked with the girls with the exception of Rainbow Dash who was in the hospital, Twilight pushed open a set of doors which lead to a medium-sized room with a long table lined with chairs, both the princesses were at each end of the table patiently waiting for us.
They direct their eyes toward us as we sat down at random seats. I sat down on the right side of Luna and toward the middle of the table, right in the middle of Applejack and Fluttershy. Celestia smiles before levitating all the lids off the food trays, revealing lots of vegetarian meals and some refreshments. I take some salad and a few apple slices, I watch as everypony else reached for food before digging into my own.
We talked about random subjects as we ate before one question from Rarity seemed to cause silence "Why did your kind fight, darling?" I stared at Rarity, feeling somewhat offended. I ignore the question by taking another bite of my salad, the group seemed to get the awkward feeling so they began to eat in silence.
A song popped into my head which actually reminded me of why the humans fought, I began to quietly sing to myself to break the silence, everypony looked at me with confused eyes but my quiet singing was interrupted by Twilight "What are you singing?"
I quickly look at everypony who had their eyes on me so I quickly say "A song from my world" this seemed to spark the princesses interest when they smiled.
Princess Celestia cleared her throat before asking "Would you mind if you could perform it for us, I believe it would calm our nerves from the previous events"
I quickly thought about it and found no harm so I nod my head before asking "Could I borrow an electric guitar, left mine back in Ponyville"
Celestia smiled before her horn started to glow, seconds later, an electric guitar with an amp appears right beside me so I grab the guitar with my magical grip and levitate it in front of me before grabbing the pick that was placed conveniently between the strings and I strum a few chords to see if it was in tune. the second string sounded too low so I quickly tighten the string before giving it another strum.
The tuning was perfect so I pull up my memory music sheet and start playing the song.
Angels on the sideline, Puzzled and amused. Why did Father give these humans free will? Now they're all confused.
Don't these talking monkeys know that Eden has enough to go around? Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys, Where there's one you're bound to divide it. Right in two.
I look up from the guitar to see the girls swaying their heads to the rhythm, even the princesses were slowly bobbing their heads. I never knew how influential my playing could be, I take a few deep breaths before continuing to sing
Angels on the sideline, Baffled and confused. Father blessed them all with reason. And this is what they choose.
Monkey killing monkey killing monkey Over pieces of the ground. Silly monkeys give them thumbs, They forge a blade, And where there's one They're bound to divide it, Right in two. Right in two.
I look up for a few more seconds to see their faces filled with sorrow, I could see the sympathy in their eyes but I look back down at my fingering before singing once more
Monkey killing monkey killing monkey. Over pieces of the ground. Silly monkeys give them thumbs. They make a club. And beat their brother... down. How they survive so misguided is a mystery. Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven conscious of his fleeting time here.
I could almost feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I sang the last of the verse but simply shake my head before I sing
Cut and divide it all right in two (x4) Fight over the clouds, over wind, over sky and Fight over life, over blood, over air and light Over love, over sun, over another Fight for the time, for the one, for the rising
I look up once more to see tears in the girl's eyes, Princess Luna looked liked her dams were going to explode while Celestia frowned.
Angels on the sideline again Been so long with patience and reason Angels on the sideline again Wondering when this tug of war will end
Cut and divide it all right in two (x3) Right in two Right in two~
I let out a quivering breath as I hit the last chord before looking up to see the girls with tears in their eyes, they started to stomp their hooves one by one which I think means some sort of an applause. I give a quick bow before Celestia asks "Would you mind for an encore?"
I thought for a second before shaking my head no as I said "No, I don't mind. But I would require a distortion pedal"
Celestia nodded before her horn glowed once more, a pedal in the shape of a hoof spawned in front of me so I quickly hook it up to the amp before stepping on it and plucking a few strings, I turn a few of the knobs to my satisfaction before preparing to play .
I pluck a few chords repeatedly in distortion before stepping on the pedal as I sang
What's coming through is alive. What's holding up is a mirror. But what's singing songs is a snake it is Looking to turn my piss to wine. They're both totally void of hate, And killing me just the same.
I close my eyes as I sang, to be one with the song
The snake behind me hisses What my damage could have been. My blood before me begs me Open up my heart again. And I feel this coming over like a storm again. Considerately.
I turn on the distortion again as I bring the pick down hard on the strings and drag the pick up and down the strings causing a screeching noise before turning off distortion as I sang
Ven-o-mous voice tempts me, Drains me, bleeds me, Leaves me cracked and empty. Drags me down like some sweet gravity.
I look up to see everypony enjoying the music so far so I look back down at the guitar neck before singing
The snake behind me hisses What my damage could have been. My blood before me begs me Open up my heart again. And I feel this coming over like a storm again now [2x]
I take a 4-second break of strumming before turning on distortion as I raise my voice in my singing
I am too connected to you to Slip away, fade away. Days away I still feel you Touching me, changing me, Considerately killing me. [4x]
I look up to the group to see them blasted away by the sudden change of pace, I smile as I hit the same notes repeatedly until I sang once more
Without the skin Beneath the storm Under these tears The walls came down
And the snake is drowned and As I look in his eyes My fear begins to fade Recalling all of those times
I could have cried then I should have cried then
I feel a tear stroll down my cheek as I think back to my childhood but I push the thoughts away as I continue
And as the walls come down and As I look in your eyes My fear begins to fade Recalling all of the times I have died And will die. It's all right. I don't mind I don't mind I DON'T MIIIIND
I close my eyes as I scream all the oxygen out of my lungs and turn on the distortion once more. I become confused as I hear another pony screaming with me but I got rid of the thought as I start a guitar solo. I hit some high chords before sliding my magic up and down the neck of the guitar as If I had hands, hitting each note.
I am too connected to you to Slip away, fade away. Days away I still feel you Touching me, changing me, And considerately killing me.[3x]
I sang the last word before looking up to see slacked jaws and wide eyes which almost made me laugh but all that came out was a huge yawn from exhaustion, I set down the guitar and stretch out my neck and back before walking toward the awe-struck group. I give out a small chuckle before asking "How was it?"
Pinkie Pie suddenly screamed "HOW WAS IT!?! It's the best thing I've heard in forever!" I roll my eyes as I scratch the back of my neck.
Everypony seemed to agree with Pinkie which made me feel... different, It's been awhile since a pony or let alone a thing enjoyed my music. I smile as I approach the group before Celestia complements "That was a wonderful performance."
I nod and smile wider before Twilight says with a yawn "It's getting late, I think we should get some rest" Everypony agrees before they start walking out of the room. I was about to follow suit but I was held back by Luna and Celestia for a moment
Celestia smile turns to a poker face as she asks "Will you be willing to make weapons for us? We will pay a hefty amount for your services"
I smile before saying "If it helps this country then alright. I would also like you to get the weapons the Gryphons had so I can improvise with them, make more of a variety of weapons"
Celestia and Luna nods before Luna worryingly asks "you wouldn't know anything about interrogation, would you?"
I tilt my head in confusion before giving a nod but no before asking "What for?"
Celestia buts into the conversation by saying "The Gryphon general is not complying with our demands to give out information. considering your... violent nature, I was wondering if you could 'crack him open' for us"
I put the offer into the thought before agreeing "Alright, put him in a room where we can have some 'one-on-one time' for me please" I could see Celestia shiver before nodding. She calls over a Royal Guard before whispering into his ear, He salutes and speeds off which leaves me confused but I shrug it off and begin to follow the Princesses.
The walk was quiet so I decided to spruce it up with some idle conversation "I saw in a book that you're both called the Princesses of the sun and moon, why do they call you that?"
Luna gives off a light giggle before exclaiming "Because we control them, I raise and lower the moon and Celestia raises and lowers the sun, is that how it worked in your world?"
I shake my head no and explain "No, my planet circles around the sun and the moon circles around the planet. nothing controls them manually, same goes for weather, it happens on its own and is completely unpredictable"
Celestia and Luna seemed very interested but Luna changed the topic "Did you have any parents or siblings?"
My footing faltered a little when she said that but I go on with the question "I had parents but no siblings, My Father was a gunsmith and my Mom was a music lover. my Dad was always away on business trips but when he came home one day, He said there was an emergency and that we needed to head to the metros. I got into the metros but they were left out... forced to burn in the atomic fires."
My American accent was slipping, exposing my Russian accent more but I soon corrected it back to normal before continuing "I still hear the cries, the screams. I still see the faces of my parents before shut the doors to the metro" I look towards the princesses to see pure sympathy and sadness but I quickly look down to the floor to hide the tears welling up in my eyes.
The rest of the walk was silent until we reached the supposed interrogation room which had a cart with a white sheet over it. I walk up to the cart before taking a peek under to see a bunch of 'toys' I can use on the general, the door opens to a guard with blue hair and white fur comes out before saying "He is impossible" before sitting down in a nearby chair.
I look through the window to see the Gryphon with a smug grin on his face which somewhat angered me, Celestia quickly adds in "You can do anything to him but don't kill him please" I nod before looking back at the Gryphon.
To come think of it, he was wearing an outfit similar to a Nazi as well as the Nazi weapons his goons were using. I facehoof before exclaiming to myself "I'm dealing with Nazi's?" but I sigh before rolling my head and opening the door while pulling the cart in with my magic. I enter the all-white room to see the window was actually only one-way but I don't let that distract me as I set my eyes upon the Gryphon who has chained to the table. I let go of the cart before sitting in the chair across from the Nazi who seemed a little more uncomfortable but still kept his composure with the shit-eating grin of his.
I let out another sigh before asking "Listen, I can do whatever I want to you except kill you, so how about you tell me EVERYTHING you know before I wipe that grin right off your face" He did nothing but roll his eyes and chuckle so I grab his head with my magical grip before slamming it onto the table, I hop out of my chair before slowly walking over to his side before leaning my head down beside his before asking "How 'bout now?"
He spat on my face, causing me to chuckle before wiping the mix of blood and saliva off my face. I walk toward the cart and pull off the sheet, exposing the multiple tools. I see a notebook and inkwell and feather so I grab them to write down notes as I look over my options. I pick up a scalpel and look at the kraut with daggers for eyes, I walk over to the general as I hold his hand out with my magic.
I can see the terror in his eyes, he was beginning to crack. I chuckle a bit before asking "How about your name first?"
He lets out a shaken breath before saying "M-My name is Erich Von Birdstein of the A-Avian party"
I smile a bit before writing down his name as I ask "that wasn't so hard, now how about your parties plans?"
His face became stern before he began to shout "Fuck you, you Equestrian pig"
I shake my head before stabbing his hand with the scalpel. He screamed in pain as I twisted it around, grinding the flesh and widening the wound. I pull the knife out of his hand before walking over to the cart again, I set down bloody scalpel before grabbing some 'dental' tweezers and walking back to the sobbing general.
I let out another chuckle as I mock "What happened to the smart-ass general, all I see now is a crying bird that wants to be a Nazi" The sight of the bird seemed to awaken something within me, it was like a second mind in my head.
Yes, make him BLEED
I heard a voice which belonged to none of us, I seemed to lose control of my body as I walked over beside the kraut before saying "Now, give out that information before I TEAR a tooth out" My voice was not mine but was coming from me which left brought a lot of questions into my mind
He ceased his sobbing a little before saying "Ve p-plan *sniff* to take control of *sniff* Equestria" I seemed satisfied but my second personality didn't seem pleased
I slam my hooves down on the desk before shouting "YOU. ARE. HIDING SOMETHING!"
The bird began to cry once more "N-No I'm n-not" my body began to move without my control as I held the bird's mouth open with 'my' magic before grabbing the pliers and grabbing onto one of his molars. I began to pull on the tooth causing the Nazi to scream even louder than before, with one final tug the tooth came out with a spurt of blood.
I look at the for second before blurting out "You need to floss Erich" I toss the tooth away before asking once more "How about your secrets, or do I need to remove your hands before you tell me?"
His eyes went wide as he shook his head no "N-No I vill talk" He let out a sigh before continuing "Ve are making veapons with uranium" my eyes widen as pictures of the nuclear mushroom clouds flashed in my mind.
I soon got back control of my body so I write down some notes calmly before I punch the Nazi in the face as I yell "ARE YOU INSANE?!?"
He is a mistake, He will kill everyone. End him
I look over to the cart again to set my eyes on a very large cleaver, I was very tempted to grab it and slit this krauts throat but I look toward the 'mirror' and think of Celestia before deciding against it. I turn back to the Nazi before saying "You are playing with fire... What kind of weapons are you making?"
He sighs before saying "Bombs, what so bad about uranium"
I facehoof very hard (ow) before explaining "Uranium is highly radioactive which is a very toxic particle. If one of those bombs detonate, we won't be the only ones affected, Your country would get the radiation as well plus if one those bombs accidentally detonate, you could say goodbye to a city or two"
His eyes soon shrunken to pinpricks, realizing his mistake. I sigh as I walk back to the door before saying "Our time is up, be lucky your still alive... Kraut" I exit the room and shut the door, I turn to Celestia who is quite shocked herself. I shake my head before saying "I'm going to bed." I began to walk through the halls and eventually got to my guest room. I open the door before lazily swinging it such as I stumble over to the soft bed, I slip off my hoodie and body armour before collapsing onto the bed and passing out.
Author's Note
Kinda got addicted to Metro and STALKER for awhile as well as writer's block, sorry for the delayed update.
If you enjoy the story, tell me the reasons why and if it has some downsides, tell me what I can change.
You are strong
...
Even for a young one
Who are you?
I am you
Do I have some kind of disorder?
Wha- no, think of it as a second person in your body
How long have you-
I've been with you since you got to Equestria, it was like a connection by fate.
That's kinda weird
Meh, you get used to it
So that was you who was in my head earlier, with the Nazi?
Yes
And in the void?
No, That was my creator
Is he like a god or something?
No, a simple spirit that has been watching over you
Huh, hasn't been the strangest thing I've seen.
Let's change the topic
Alright, why were you so... violent with the griffon and did you take control of my body?
Let's just say I'm like the evil twin of your conscience, an inner demon. As for the taking over the body thing, it was only partial.
Whats the full take over like?
I become an unstoppable force, you can see whats going on but you can't intervene until I'm finished or get tired. Kinda like a take your turn kind of thing
So I can take back control when you're partially in control?
Yep, all you have to do is convince me.
That's reassuring.
...
...
That Fluttershy has quite the kicks for you.
W-What?
Are you thick-skulled? It fucking obvious.
Huh... Is it weird?
Elaborate.
Well, I was originally a human but I'm now a pony, should I still see myself as a pony or a human?
Jesus, why are you so dramatic sometimes.
Fuck you.
You wish you could. Anyways, I believe there is no way to get back to your world (Not like you want to go back) so I just go with being a pony.
Alrighty then.
...
Umm... you ok-
Someone is in your room, Wake up
Wait, what-
I'll answers more questions next time you fall unconscious. Just wake up
I eyes flash open before grabbing my handgun from the nightstand beside the bed and pointing it towards the figure in my room, A small whimper escapes from the figure causing me to lower the pistol "Fluttershy?" I look closer as my eyes adjust to the dark to see Fluttershy scratching her hoof in embarrassment. I look at the clock mounted on the wall to see it's 12:20 am so I ask "What are you doing here? Especially at this time of night"
She hesitates before whispering "I can't sleep" I suddenly feel guilty for some reason before patting the bed beside me. She hesitantly walks over and sits on beside me
I clear my throat before asking "What's wrong?"
She sighs before saying "It's about the a-attack earlier, I don't agree with such... v-v-violence but I thought it was right. I also feel that I-I owe you for saving me and my friends"
I shake my head before assuring her "You don't owe me anything, I was just trying to protect my self and my f-friends"
She smiles a bit before giving me a gentle hug. I feel blood rushing to my face as she whispers into my ear "T-Thank you, my friends are the most important thing to me and I can't imagine what I'll do w-without them" She sniffs as I wrap my forelegs around her and pat her back a few times before we let go of each other
I look at her face to see the red puffiness of tears staining under her eyes, I wipe one of her eyes with a hoof before she gives off a small smile.
She reluctantly whispers "Can I sleep with you tonight?"
I barely hear her so I ask "What was that?"
She clears her throat before asking again "Can I sleep with you tonight?"
I blush a bit before thinking no harm in it, then again I didn't want to hurt her feelings if she has a crush on me so I roll my eyes teasingly before moving over and patting the bed once more. She smiles before slowly crawling beside me and resting her head on one of the pillows, I join her and lay my head down before pulling the blanket over us.
I close my eyes before I open them up again after feeling something wrap around me, I look to my side to see Fluttershy cuddling me causing my face to glow red. After a few seconds, I roll my eyes and wrap my forelegs around her before finally falling asleep in each other's embrace
Sunlight shined in my eyes, It was another day in this way too peaceful place that I am beginning to like. This world had a relaxing aura to every place I've been and its... nice. I roll to my right to shelter my eyes from the sun but my face reddens as I come face-to-face with another pony in the same bed, Fluttershy. I remember last nights events so I let out a sigh and a quiet chuckle
She was still lightly snoring so I slowly slide out from under the covers and quietly step onto the ground before heading to my ballistic vest which was laying on the ground next to my green hoodie which I now see the full condition, It had holes in it with little dirt spots strewn about the sweater. I take a sniff at myself before reeling back at my own odour causing me to actually gag. I look to the second door within the room before opening it up with my magic to see a bathroom with a fancy looking... umm, what was it called? A shower! A fancy looking shower and a toilet with a sink right next to it.
I walk into the bathroom before a mirror above the sink catches my attention, I look into the reflection to see a better look at my features. I look back at the anarchy symbol pasted on my hip before taking note of the several patches of missing fur and large scars along my torso. I can feel my ears fold back as I realize how much damage I have taken over the six to seven years of the wasteland, maybe it was a good idea to wear the sweater. I look into the mirror to see my face, you could see the stress building under my eyes.
I turn to the shower before stepping inside and shutting the sliding door so the water wouldn't leak out, I look at the one knob before turning it 90o to the left. The water began to shoot down onto me, I adjust the water to my liking before looking around and spotting a bottle so I grab it and read the label 'Fur and Mane Shampoo.'
I shrug before reaching the bottle over my back with magic before squirting some of the soap onto my torso, I use my magic to spread and scrub the dirt out of my fur before squirting the shampoo into my mane and scrubbing around with my telekinesis. After some minutes of cleaning myself, I turn off the shower and step out before grabbing a towel and drying myself off. I look into the mirror to see my hair was very messy so I opened the mirror before finding a brush and brushing the green and white mane.
When I was finished, I placed the brush back where I found it before taking another good look into the mirror, I looked fine so I step out of the bathroom and was about to put on my kevlar vest but was interrupted by a loud gasp from the bed so I look over to see Fluttershy with a hoof over her mouth, I freeze in place as I try to think of what to say but I can't think fast enough before Fluttershy asks... No, demands "Come here"
I do as she pleases and approaches the bed at a stalling pace, I sit up on the bed and Fluttershy scoots towards me. She traces the scars with her hoof while asking "Is this what your life was like?" I give a slow nod as I look at the ground feeling guilty for her seeing me like this.
I quickly break the silence "it's nothing, really"
She seems to get furious before literally screaming "NOTHING? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH AN EXPLOSION!" I wince at the sudden assertiveness coming from Fluttershy
"I have been through a couple, I guess" I respond causing Fluttershy to loosen up a bit
"You can't hide this from the others," Fluttershy says making me tense up, I didn't want them to feel more bad for me than they already do.
I shake my head no but Fluttershy widens her eyes and stares into my eyes, I unexpectedly freeze up and actually feel fear by her stare. I see the devil in her eyes making my anxiety rise to unbelievable amounts. I change my mind and nod my head frantically causing her to stop the stare and smile softly. We were interrupted by a knock at the door so Fluttershy gets up and head to it before opening it up.
A familiar southern accent speaks from the door "Fluttershy? I thought this was Anarchy's room"
Fluttershy sputters out "O-Oh... I was just checking on him but could you get the girls, this is kinda i-important"
Applejack responds "Alright sugarcube but this better be worth it"
I sigh in relief as Fluttershy thanks her and closes the door. we wait around for a minute before another knock comes from the door before it opens to show the girls. I quickly cover myself up with the blankets, nervous to show my battle-scarred body to my newfound friends.
Twilight comes up and asks "Whats this all about Fluttershy"
Fluttershy then turns her head towards me causing everypony else to look at me, I feel my heart rate rise as I sit up with the blankets still wrapped around me.
"What's the holdup Anarchy?" Rainbow blurts out earning a glare from Fluttershy. I sigh before dropping the blankets, exposing my body to mares, earning gasps from each mare with the exception of Rarity who fainted. I hang my head low before earning two more gasps causing me to look up to see the Princesses eyeing my scars.
"So this is what your life was like in your home," says Luna causing me to nod my head slowly. I've had enough staring so I put on my vest before slipping on my hoodie and holstering my weapons. I walk out of the room leaving everypony behind, I needed some alone time... To clear my thoughts. I wandered the endless corridors before reaching a door leading the outside, I open the door showing a garden buzzing with plants and wildlife.
Being a good place to relax, I enter the garden before heading over to one of the trees and sitting under it, shading me from the sun. I lay against the trunk before something pricks me in the chest causing me to open up my sweater and checking through the inside pockets with my magic before pulling out a picture, the picture is of a brunette woman holding a child. Me and my mother, this was one of the pictures she took before the nukes were launched.
To set the mood
A song began to play in my head making me sing along to the lyrics
We listen to the tales and romanticize, How we'd follow the path of the hero.
Boast about the day when the rivers overrun, How we rise to the height of our halo.
Listen to the tales as we all rationalize, Our way into the arms of the savior.
Feigning all the trials and the tribulations. None of us have actually been there, Not like you...
I began to sway my head to the imaginary bass and drums as I close my eyes, continuing to sing
Ignorant siblings in the congregation. Gather around spewing sympathy, Spare me...
None of them can even hold a candle up to you. Blinded by choice, these hypocrites won't see.
But enough about the collective Judas. Who could deny you were the one who illuminated Your little piece of the divine?
And this little light of mine, a gift you passed on to me I'm gonna let it shine To guide you safely on your way.
Your way home...
I open my eyes and look at the picture before caressing the women with my hoof, feeling the tears welling up in my eyes
Oh, what are they gonna do when the lights go down? Without you to guide them all to Zion? What are they gonna do when the rivers overrun Other than tremble incessantly?
I raise my voice to a shout as I hold the picture to my chest
High is the way, But our eyes are upon the ground.
You are the light and the way. They'll only read about.
I only pray heaven knows, When to lift you out.
10,000 days in the fire is long enough. You're going home...
My voices quiver on the final note as a mix of emotions run through my head
You're the only one who can hold your head up high. Shake your fist at the gates saying, I've come home now!
Fetch me the spirit, the son and the father. Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.
I yell as tears begin to roll down my eyes
It's time now! My time now! Give me my Give me my wings!
I hum the guitar as I take one last look at the picture before putting it back where I found it
Give me my x5 Give me my wings
My voice echoes throughout the garden as I yell out the final phrase
You are the light, the way, That they will only read about.
I stand up as flashbacks of my childhood appear around me like a museum before my anger takes me over
Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance. Burden of proof tossed upon non-believers. You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence, Judith Marie, unconditional one.
I begin to look at all the still-photos of my life that surround me before I lower my voice and slow down the pace of my singing
Daylight dims leaving cold fluorescence. Difficult to see you in this light. Please forgive this bold suggestion. Should you see your maker's face tonight, Look him in the eye. Look him in the eye and tell him, I never lived a lie, never took a life, But surely saved one.
I feel my emotions cracking down on me as I let my tear dams collapse
Hallelujah It's time for you to bring me home.
I fall on to my rump before letting out a deep sigh, I was just about to get up and head back to the group but I feel a jab into my neck causing me to hop forward and look back to see a griffin with a smug grin. I still feel a stinging in my neck I grab whatever was there with my magic before pulling it out. I look at the object to find a syringe with the plunger pushed all the way down and a little bit of blood on the needle, my blood.
I begin to feel drowsy as I stumble side to side, I look at the Griffon to see it walking towards me so I try to crawl away but it's all in vain as I am too tired to move my limbs. My eyes begin to close as the last thing I see is the Griffon picking me up before I finally black out.
Fluttershy's POV
I and the girls have been looking for Anarchy for a while now and I've begun to worry that he got lost in the catacombs that they call hallway's, Luna soon breaks the silence "I think it would be wise to look in the Garden, I bet he went there to clear his mind" We agreed and followed the Princesses to the beautiful Garden.
After 5 minutes of following the Royalty, we finally found the Garden and stepped out into the open area. I feel a sense of where I should go, like a sixth sense telling me where to find him so I go with my gut walk to the nearby tree and sure enough there was Anarchy's green sweat-... His weapons and clothes are here but no Black Anarchy, I pick up his hoodie before a note with a picture attached to it falls out so I pick it up and pay no mind to the picture as I begin to read.
'On behalf of the Griffon Empire, we have captured your white and green-haired friend. If you ever want to see him again or at least alive again, come meet the Emperor at the Griffonstone capital at 5 o'clock tomorrow.
We will exchange your little pony for our General. If the exchange is not held or you are late, we'll send you his head.
Your best regards
My heart nearly stopped when I looked at the photo to see Anarchy beaten and bloody in a griffon's grasp with a knife held to his neck, I scream in terror as I drop the note and back up against the tree. The girls gallop up to me asking whats wrong before I point to the paper causing Celestia to pick it up and read it before her face goes to one of anger. "Let me and Luna talk about this, you shall stay for one more night before we head to Griffonstone. He won't get away with stealing my little ponies" Celestia barks before stomping off with Luna.
I could already tell this was going to be a long, painful month
Author's Note
School has been kicking up and all that and I'm trying to keep this story going but it's hard when you got an education to focus on but enough life problems aside, I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. See ya'll next chapter
Locked Away with a Monster
I head feels sore as I wake up in what seems to be a carriage, I get up and begin to survey my surroundings more: blood was splattered across the floor as well as a body with its neck slit wide open chained to one of the walls. I tried to get closer to the body to inspect it more but I was stopped by a tug on my left leg so I look back to see a shackle around my hoof.
After many tries of trying to get free, I give up and sit against the wall I'm chained to, waiting to get to my destination. An hour went by before the carriage stops and the doors open to Griffons, I shield my eyes from the sun but my forelegs are grabbed as my shackle is unlocked and I am pulled out of the carriage before being thrown to the ground, knocking the air out of me. I gasp for air but don't have any time to react as I am kicked in the stomach.
I feel shackles locked around my front hoofs before I begin to be pulled by the chain that linked my hoofs together. My underside begins to be scratched and stabbed my the gravel trail, I look around to see a cloudy sky and a bunch of little houses made from rocks and hay. I look out in front of me to see a large castle with armed guards surrounding the premises, I swallow the lump in my throat as the front doors are opened. I am dragged across the cold stone ground before being thrown forward once more.
I cough a few times from the impact before looking up to see a large stone throne with a Griffon sitting in it. "So you're the dog who wiped out my best squad" The Griffon spat as he rose from the throne before walking down the steps, He leaned down as his face came inches apart from mine.
I insult him by saying "Your best squad? they missed every shot" I begin to chuckle but am stopped by a sudden backhand across the face by the Griffon, he grunts before walking back up to his throne.
He rests his head on his claws before saying "Take him to a cell, we interrogate him more" I was about to protest but was too late as I was kicked in my stomach again before being picked up by my forelegs and dragged off. After a few minutes of being carried, I finally arrive at my 5-star suite which consisted of a rock slab what I'm assuming is a bed and a small window with bars blocking the way out.
my shackles are taken off before I am thrown into the cell and locked in, I hear the guards laugh and say things in a what I'm assuming is german as they walk off. I sigh as I look at my 'bed' before laying on it. I gotta say, I'm beginning to feel like I am back home on earth.
I chuckle at the thought before slowly dozing off, my vision fading to darkness as my eyelids shut.
...
Hello again
Hey...
You got yourself in a little... predicament
I can see that, smart ass
You flatter me
You're welcome
I guess I never told my name, I'm Soul Reaper
That's... kinda edgy
Says you, you named yourself Black Anarchy. That's pretty edgy too
I guess we have more in common than I thought
Heh, guess we do
We need to get out of here
No shit we do, we are going to die in here
Any ideas?
I have one idea
Care to explain?
Ok, they are most likely going to take you to interrogation so we can use that to our advantage
How so?
When we first get there, you're going to wait for the interrogator to try and crack you and then you'll let me take... CONTROL
Alright but only on one condition
Wait... you actually agree?
I got nothing to lose
Wrong, you have your friends
Oh shut it
Anyways about that condition
Oh yeah... I let you take control only if you give me back control when we escape
Deal
Great
...
The guards are coming, better wake up
...
I open my eyes to the door swinging open and the same two guards from yesterday come in, they throw cuffs on me and pick me off the stone slab. "Awww but I was comfortable" I sarcastically whine but didn't get a reaction as they continue to drag me through the halls of this stone maze. Minutes go by before I am thrown into a room and cuffed to a table that's bolted to the ground, one of the guards slide a ring onto my horn which feels weird as I feel my energy drained a bit making me a little concerned.
I sit on the metal chair closet to me and rest on the table, I laid my head down for a few minutes before I hear the whine of cartwheels which spiked my anxiety a bit. The door opened to a Griffon in a bloodstained apron followed by a cart with a sheet over it, this seemed all too familiar as he pulled off the sheet revealing numerous tools of torture.
I swallow the lump in my throat as the Griffon pulls up a chair and sits on the opposite end of the table, "Hello, I don't you but I hear you killed the kings best men" He chuckles as he leans forward staring into my eyes.
Give me some time
He got up from the table and went to the cart before pulling out a large bone saw and asking "So... What do you know about the Elements of Harmony?" I stayed silent which seemed to tick him off "You gonna talk or do I have to cut off a hoof so you'll scream the information?" I stayed silent still before smirking and sitting down at the table. "You got some balls kid, sucks I'm going to have to cut them off" He pulls my left hoof toward him before raising the saw.
I'm ready to pilot the ship, Captain
I nod my head before I can feel my senses being torn away as Soul takes control, I feel a burning sensation as I look at my hips to see ember flying off. I take a closer look to see the anarchy symbol has changed to a red pentagram before looking up to see the white in my hair has turned into black. I look at the Griffon to see his smug grin was replaced by a terrified expression.
IT'S TIME TO SHINE
Soul Reapers POV
I pull my hoof and break the shackle into pieces before kicking the table out of the ground and toward the griffon, He is crushed by the table giving me enough time to take the ring off my horn and smash it. I look over to the cart of weapons before picking up a large kitchen knife, I exit the room to see two shocked guards looking at me, scared out their minds.
I dash toward them and throw the knife at the further back guard, hitting him in the chest before jump kicking the closet into a wall. I pull the knife out of the wounded griffon before stabbing him in the eye, silencing him as the other guard tries to get up but gets nowhere as I trot up to him before sticking the knife into his neck and pulling it out causing blood to squirt across the walls.
I smile and walk away from the freshly deceased Griffons and down the corridors, I come across some patrolling guard who raise their weapons at me but I chuckle as I grab a hold of one of their STG-44's in my magic and force himself to aim the gun to his head before pulling the trigger causing his brains to eject out the top of his head.
The other guard began shaking as he freezes up, I give off a hearty chuckle before taking the dead guard's assault rife before aiming it at the remaining guard. My target drops his gun before running away but wouldn't get far as a bullet fly's into the back of his head causing him to face plant, leaving a blood trail where his face slid against the floor. I continue forward as I picked up the other STG-44, dual-wielding the two rifles.
I continued for a while longer before coming to the throne room, with a smile on my face I stand on my back legs before kicking open the door. The king was still on his throne but instead of his deadpanned expression, he instead wore one of disbelief. He stuttered "H-How did you get out?" He stood up as the guards aimed their guns at me.
I began to chuckle before calmly saying "Simple: I crushed your interrogator with a table, stabbed two guards and shot two more. Bit surprised you didn't hear the gunshots though" I could see that he was getting mad so I aimed the two STG's at the guards before firing both of their magazines into them, I could swear I made another guard shoot his buddy.
After all the guards were killed, I look back to the throne to see the king... gone? I look around to the Griffon in question fleeing outside, I throw the rifles away before picking up a trench shotgun and another STG off of dead guards as well as some extra ammunition. I give chase to the cowardly king but it was too late to stop him as he already alerted his goons and were waiting for me outside behind stone roadblocks.
I run to a nearby cart and use it for cover as a hail of bullets head to head towards me. Bullets began to shred the cart apart, shrinking my cover so I use my magic to throw the cart toward the squads of Griffons who are either crushed by the cart or shredded by wooden splinters. I take cover by a food stand that was luckily made stone, I hear bullets ping off the stone so I wait till there is a pause in the barrage before peeking out of cover and shooting three Griffons in the chest with the STG before shrinking back down.
I pull out the shotgun before coming out of cover, running to the remaining soldiers. jumping over the stone barriers before I lift the shotgun and shooting a griffon in the chest causing his chest to explode in flesh and bone, I aim the shotgun over my back before firing at the griffon's head behind me causing his head to disintegrate into brain matter and blood.
A griffon tried bayonet charge me with his Kar98k but I simply step aside and trip him causing him to fall but the gun faces up making the griffons head get impaled on his own bayonet. I can't help but laugh at his demise before turning my attention to the final three who were all pissing themselves.. literally.
I aim my rifle at them before unloading the rest of the bullets into them, I feel a sense euphoria as I see them slump to the ground with bullet holes riddling their body. I look around to see the town dead silent, not a Griffon in sight, did I really cause a town to evacuate? I begin to laugh but I stop as something catches my eye, a box with the stamp 'TNT' on it which gave me a bright idea.
4 hours later
I sit a distance away from the castle with a plunger detonator next to me, I take one last look at the castle before 'accidentally' leaning on the plunger causing it to push down. "Oops," I say before an earth-shaking explosion comes from the castle, sending debris everywhere, even some pieces of stone landed near me. When the raining rocks stopped, I began to walk back to the castle to check the aftermath.
I made it back to the castle to see it was no longer a structure, just a pile of rubble and a few pieces of fire. I sit on one of the one blocks in the road and wait for Ray's friends to arrive. Speaking of Ray, I let go of my control as I seep back into Ray's mind.
Ray's POV
I gain feeling again so I look at Reaper's doing, I saw what he did and to be honest I'm kinda mad but its better than dying so I guess its alright. I look at the castle to see it no more, this isn't going to look good with the girls. I inspect myself to see that the red pentagram changed to the anarchy mark that I'm used to and the black in my hair began to fade to the familiar ice white it was before.
I began to ponder myself before my hearing that has probably been enhanced by radiation picked up a familiar flapping sound, I squint my eyes to spot a Pink carriage coming my way.
Fluttershy's POV
I was terrified of what they were doing to Anarchy, I hope they didn't hurt him. My ears perked up as I hear the princesses and my friends gasp so I look toward Griffonstone to see pillars of black smoke as well as a lack of the castle, I was ready to have a panic attack as we got closer to the town which seemed to be more like a ghost town.
We landed some distance away from the castle where we saw what looked liked a box with a handle on top, there was a wire running all the way to the castle but when I looked at the castle itself, I spot a white figure sitting on a block of stone. When I look more, the figure seemed to look familiar- It's Anarchy. I go into a full gallop toward the Anarchy, I see him look up at me with confusion but I don't care as I pounce on him causing him to fall backward.
I wrap my forelegs around him and pull him into a hug, I hear him chuckle and feel him hug me back. I let go before getting off of him "I-I'm s-sorry for knocking you down" I apologize
He chuckles again before getting up and saying "It's ok Flutters, you just missed me" He pats my back before looking around "Now I know what this looks like-"
I interrupt him "I don't care what you did, at least your safe. What they did to Rainbow and you is unforgivable, I have lost all pity for those monsters" I hear him chuckle before we both release each other before he looks past me so I turn my head to see my friends cautiously trotting toward us, looking around.
Rays POV
I chuckle before saying "I can say the same" which also causes the Princess to laugh.
The girls stare at the Princess in confusion before Twilight almost shouting "How could you laugh when death surrounds us?"
Celestia pauses before turning to Twilight and responding in a motherly tone "Because it's always good to stay enlightened even in the... grimmest of situations." Twilight was about to talk back but was silenced by Celestia's hoof "You may think all this death is a bad thing but just think what would happen if we were to try reasoning with them, they would pillage our homes, commit mass genocide of ponykind. It would get ugly."
I suddenly felt the urge to apologize for them seeing this mess so I follow out my urge by saying "I'm sorry you guys have to see this, I guess I should say... Welcome to my world."
Author's Note
Sorry for being inactive, my laptop's hard drive killed itself so I had to get a new one. But I finally got a new one and got this chapter up.
4 Months Later
Life has gone exceptionally well, I've got a good paying job and no word from the griffons ever since I burned down the castle but I'd sometimes get this feeling in my gut that they are planning something, something big. I got used to Soul Reaper living in my head but his name felt weird to say and was too long so I now call him Elijah.
I was sitting in my shop's workshop, cleaning out one of the prototype AK-47's I was working on when one of my employees came in and sat by the door. Derpy was her name, she used to be a mail pony till she quit her job due to sexual harassment from her boss but she now works for me as a cashier "Can I help you Derpy" I ask, causing her to snap her head from the ground.
"Ummm, there's a friend for you outside" she responds so I set down the work in progress firearm before heading out into the display area, not before helping Derpy from stumbling into a wall. along the walls were guns placed in multiple locked glass cabinets with some melee weapons hanged up here and there. I look at the counter itself to see Twilight with her dragon companion, Spike.
"Hey Twi, what can I do for you?" I question as I lean onto the counter, resting my hoofs on the glass.
"Hey Anar- I mean Ray, I needed a little help with a problem that has been making people a little sick around in Appleloosa" She answered, I also forgot to say that I revealed my real name to them, though they were a bit distant from me at first besides Fluttershy who always stuck by my side, they forgave me and we went on as normal.
"Y-Yea what happened?" I ask again hoping for more of an idea of the situation.
"Well, there has been an unknown particle showing up around Appleloosa making the residents sick, I wondered if you'd have any knowledge of this," she says.
My anxiety spiked as I tell her "Wait here for a second" I retreat back into the shop before heading into my office, I go up to my personal gun locker before putting in the combination to the padlock and opening it up, my Tar-21 and CZ-75 were in their places but I ignore them as I look through the top shelf before pulling out a Geiger counter I used for my adventures in the zone. I look to the left side of the locker to see my trusty gas mask used for obvious reasons and grab it as well, stuffing the Geiger counter into my pocket before placing the gas mask into a saddle bag that Rarity made me.
I levitate the saddlebags onto my back before heading back to Twilight, I lean onto the counter again before asking "We should go check that out but just in case, I need to make you and the others devices made for what we may be up against."
Twilight tilted her head to the side but nodded before responding "Alright Ray, Come over to the Library when you're ready"
I nod as I give a slight wave goodbye with my hoof before retreating back into the workshop. I walk up to one of my other employees who was manning a workbench, his name was Blazing Heart; he had a red mane with purple fur. I call him by the nickname I gave him, 'Liam.'
"Hey Liam, I'm going on a little business trip in a bit so you'll be in charge till I get back," I tell him causing him to look up with his always relaxed expression.
"A'ight man," he says back before resuming on what looked like a Glock 17, guess the police are beginning to use firearms now. I go to my personal workbench and begin making the girls gas masks. Since I didn't know the size of their heads, I just made adjustable straps for the mask.
after 3 hours of cutting rubber and bending plastic, I finally made all six of them, I even painted all of their cutie marks onto the masks just for fun. I put all the masks into my saddle bags before realizing I need Filters so I grab the one in my mask and duplicate it so there are 5 filters for each mask. I stuff the filters into the bags before placing them on my back, I yell at Liam "I'm going out, keep the place clean!" I walk out of the shop and begin to walk to the Library.
What are you thinking? Elijah asks causing me to stop dead in my tracks
"I think something has crossed over from my world but I'm not sure until I check the source if there is any" I speak in my thoughts, I wait for a response but none had come so I continue to walk. After a few minutes of walking and waving to a few friends, I make it the tree Library so I knock twice before entering.
I walk inside to see everypony is here, they all greet me before Pinkie rushes up to me, squishing my cheeks as she speeds talks "I heard you have a surprise! I love surprises! What is it, what is it, what is it!"
I chuckle softly before lightly pushing her off of me "It's not much of a great surprise but it's... beneficial for what we might encounter in Appleloosa" Everypony begin to whisper upon themselves for a second before they all stare at me.
Twilight speaks up "Well, what is it?" I nod as I gently dropping saddlebags onto the ground before opening them up and levitating the 6 masks out of the bags. They let out an 'ooh' with the exception of Rarity who looked at it in disgust.
Rarity then blurts out "what are these AWFUL looking contraptions" everypony glares at her which causes me to chuckle as she shrinks back a bit.
"These are gas masks or respirators, they protect you from breathing in harmful chemicals and other things that could make you sick" I respond before I start handing them out to the correct owners "I even painted your cutie marks onto it" I look around before seeing that they were having trouble trying them on so I help each of them out a bit before they're all put on, I look around again to see they all fit perfectly so I reach back into my bag again and pull out the filters before giving them 5 each "These are the filters, this is the key part to the mask. They have a variety of minerals and other things that absorb the harmful chemicals so you don't breath it in"
Suddenly Rainbow Dash raises her hoof and asks "Hmm mm mmm mm?"
I chuckle as I pull out my battle-scarred mask before putting it on and pressing a button on the side with my hoof "press this button to talk" my voice emits from the speaker in the forehead, beside the hole for the horn.
Dash presses the button before repeating what she said: "Why do we need five?"
I quickly respond "They, unfortunately, don't last forever so you'll have to change them from time to time, I'll probably look into a spell that gets rid of the time limit"
Rainbow lowers her hoof before Twilight shoots hers up "How do we attach it?"
I roll my eyes with a smile before grabbing one of my filters and screwing it in "Just like this"
I take off my mask before saying "we don't need them now so give them to me and I'll hold onto them until we get there BUT don't put them on till I say so" They all nod before taking them off and handing them to me, I place them back into my bags before picking the bag back up. "When are we leaving?" I ask
Twilight answers "We are leaving soon, we got to wait for the train to arrive so I guess we can stay here for a bit" I nod so everypony goes to do their own thing as I sit down on a chair, I began to think if my theory is true then what would the cause be. I looked down in thought before I was brought back to reality by a movement to my side so I look to see Fluttershy sitting beside me, being her quiet self.
"Sorry I haven't been coming home much..." I say as I look at her to see her smiling
"O-Oh, It's okay, working can be hard... and all" She responds rather cheery
I smile as I give her a little side hug "Maybe after all this, we can hang out for once"
She giggles "Maybe?"
I chuckle back before correcting myself "Definitely"
She gives a little peck on my cheek before Applejack speaks up "Its time to go, grab what you packed and let's get going"
I stand up with Fluttershy and place my saddlebags on my back once more before following everypony to the train station, minutes went by before we reached the train station. The train was just on time but I was tapped on the shoulder so I look back to see Twilight who said: "I forgot to give you a ticket."
I smile before thanking her as I took the train ticket in my magic and stuffing it into my sweater pocket. I get in line and wait for my turn. When I finally got to the ticket stamper, a stallion raised his hoof toward me before asking "Ticket?" I nod before pulling out the ticket with my levitation before handing it to him. He looked at it for a second before punching a hole into the ticket before handing it back "Have a nice ride" the grey stallion said as I walk up the steps into the train.
I see the girls all in their own booth so I go and sit down in one of the booths which consisted of two sofas on opposite sides with a table held between the two. I pull out my war-torn gas mask and get a good look at the damage: The plastic eye protection was cracked in some areas while the rubber was burnt around it. I was pulled out of my inspection by a shift of movement in the cushions so I look to my side to see Fluttershy sitting beside me before looking forward to Applejack and Rainbow who were sitting down across from us.
It was silent for a good 10 seconds before Rainbow spoke up "Hey... Can I see your mask? I noticed some interesting things on it"
I smile before gently pushing the mask across the table "Sure, just be careful" She began to inspect it, tracing her hoof along the cracks in the plastic before I ask "Hows the shoulder?"
She looks up from the respirator before answering "It fine, no biggie" I roll my eyes with a smirk, knowing she's lying
We stayed quiet for another minute before Applejack broke the silence again "Ya wouldn't happen to have any stories of where you're from?"
I chuckle and answer "Alright." I began to tell stories from my adventures in the exclusion zones, Like the time I came across a child who was supposed to be in the tunnels but travelled out too far and got lost so I helped him back to his settlement. I told stories for a few minutes and they all seemed intrigued by them, even the others joined in on hearing my storytelling. "This man lived in a boat, he was a crazy guy but one day his craziness paid off. He somehow tamed himself a Pseudodog, a mutant with the mix of Dog, Human and Bear DNA. The craziest thing about it is that the mutant actually listens to him, does things on the man's command"
Everypony talked among themselves about the story, I looked out the train window to see the moon beginning to rise so I suggest "I think it's best we get our sleep for tomorrow" I say as I lean back on the cushioned sofa, they all agreed and started making beds for themselves on different couches. I find a comfortable position before wishing the girls goodnight as I slowly nod off.
Around 11:00 PM
I feel a hoof start shake so I open my eyes to see a sorrow looking Fluttershy, she looks down as she whispers "I-I had a nightmare..."
I let out a quiet 'Aww' before sitting up and patting beside me, signalling her to sit down. She sits down beside me before I wrap a foreleg around her, pulling into a soft cuddle as I quietly say "You're a lot like me when I was a youngin"
She quietly giggles as she asks "I was?"
I nod as I begin to tell her "I used to have night terrors, I would always seek my mom for comfort and she was there for just that. Eventually, they went away but I know someday they'll come back as my past"
She continues to smile as she leans her head against my chest "But you're strong and you won't be stopped by them" she says
I chuckle as I ruffle her hair softly "Maybe so..." I yawn before laying back on the couch with Flutters cuddled up to me, I wrap my forelegs around her as we slowly doze off into the night
Next Morning
Sunlight blared into my eyes as morning came around, I look down to see Fluttershy still cuddling me and the girls still asleep with the exception of Twilight who was reading one of the books she packed for our trip. I carefully slip out from under Fluttershy so I don't wake her up and trot over to the bookworm who was unaware of my presence, I look over her shoulder to see that the books she's reading were on particles, probably still trying to find out the answer for our situation.
I sit beside her gently causing her to look at me for a quick second before retreating her eyes back into the book as she greets "Good morning Ray."
I smile as I also say "Indeed... Still can't figure out the thing that's causing the sickness?" She nods as she flips the page swiftly before continuing to read. I sigh before asking "Do you know the symptoms of this sickness?"
She nods again before listing them "Well the letter from the Princess said that the residents were experiencing: Nausea and vomiting, sloughing of skin, fur and mane loss, Severe fatigue and many more" I shiver again as the symptoms are really familiar.
I sigh once more before saying "Then I guess my theory is right, I know what this is..."
She lifts her eyes up from the book and stares at me "W-What is it?"
I give a deep breath before answering "It's radiation... The symptoms are way too similar to be coincidental" She closes her book gently before looking outside to see that we were almost there so I shout "Time to wake up girls, we're almost there."
Author's Note
What the Gas mask looks like
We got off the train to see an old western town, which consisted of an aisle of buildings ranging from stores to houses, completed with what looked like a house decorated with apples. But what really stood out was the number of white tents spread out across the town. Twilight then stepped out the front and began to lead us to the house at the end of the street, I could already hear the Geiger counter ticking as we walked past the white tents but the girls didn't notice as they looked around to see the sick residents.
I managed to get a look into one of the tents to see a pony with chunks of his fur missing causing me to cringe slightly as I look back to Twilight to see we reached the front porch of the apple covered house. Applejack then walked to the door before knocking on it twice, some movement could be heard from inside for the door is opened to a pony who has a bluish-gray coat, two-tone black mane and tail, blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a blue star and white shooting star, he was wearing a hat with a gold stair pinned upon it. He stared at us with his frown before saying "Howdy Applejack... What brings Y'all back to this dying town?"
I hold down a chuckle at what I thought was a joke as Twilight begins to speak "We have come on the behalf of the Princess to sort out this problem you've been having with this sickness" Twilight then smiled with glee as the look on the sheriff brightened up a bit before going back to his glum state
"I don't think there is a way to stop this virus from claiming this town..." The sheriff said as he looked at the ground "I mean just look at everypony... Their skin is literally falling off"
Everypony with the exception of me shivered by the detail that was given before Twilight composed her self and says "Well that's why we brought Ray, He's kind of an expert with this stuff." She then steps aside so he can see me fully, the look on his face was priceless
"Y-You know what's tearing apart the citizens?" The sheriff asks with a surprised look on his face, I nod without saying anything before the winds begin to pick up causing my Geiger counter to slightly faster, finally getting everyponies attention. I lick my hoof before holding it up to see which direction it is coming from, I furrow my brow before saying "Let's get moving, keep everypony inside till we come back"
The sheriff nods before galloping away, leaving me and the girls. I turn to the left and hold up my hoof one more time to feel that I'm facing the direction the wind's coming from, "C'mon, The longer we wait, the more people get sick"
I start to lead the girls out into the desert wasteland, I wipe the sweat off my forehead as we walked past the various cactuses and animal bones here and there. The more we walked, the faster the counter ticked so I pulled it out of my saddle bag to look at the meter. I swallowed the lump in my throat as it began to reach around the 400 range so I stop in my tracks.
I took off my saddle bags before I begin to hand out the gas masks "The radiation is getting too high, just hope we are close to it and the meter doesn't go over 10,000..."
Twilight then asked as I handed her gas mask to her "W-What happens if it reaches 10,000?"
I let out a shaky sigh as I put on my saddlebags before answering "We will only survive around a few weeks before eventually succumbing to radiation poisoning..."
Everypony then shouted in unison "WHAT?!?"
I shake my head before trying to calm them down "The chances of us experiencing that high of a dose will be highly unlikely though."
Rainbow Dash then sarcastically butted in "Great, that makes me feel so much better"
I shake my head again as I slip on my gas mask, the girls see their queue and also put theirs on before Rarity pressed the speak button on the side of her mask and asked a question "Wait, why can't I just use a magic shield to block it out?"
I press the button on my mask before saying "Magic is a type of energy, so is radiation. If you put a shield around us, the magic will absorb the radiation, pretty much making your shield a microwave"
Twilight and Rarity gulped before we continued our walk in silence. Minutes felt like hours as we walked through the sandy desert, the Geiger counter slowly rising as we trotted along. The Geiger counter just raised above 1,000 as we came to a ditch, I hold my hoof up causing the girls to halt. I clear my throat before telling them "Stay here... I'll check this out"
They do what I ask and stay put as I slowly inch toward the small indent in the sand. After what felt like an eternity, I reach the edge of the ditch before I look down into it. A mountain of Grey coats, pants and boots were sitting inside, they looked familiar but at the same time did not... I searched throughout my memories to see where I've seen these before... The thought suddenly reached my mind, these were human fireman clothes, more specifically the ones used to clean the rubble out of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after it had the meltdown...
I stared at the clothes with shock, I couldn't believe it. Clothes from my world somehow appeared here, like me... I was snapped out of my thoughts as a scratchy voice shouted from behind "Whats in the gosh-darn hole?" I turn away to look at the girls, I couldn't see their faces but I could feel that they're worried.
I wave my hoof at them so they know they could come to me, they all got the message and slowly trotted over. Once they all got to the edge and looked down they gave confused tilts of their heads before they looked to me for an answer so I pressed the speaker button and gave them one "These are firefighter clothing from my world"
I could see their eyes widen as they looked back down to the mountain of clothing. Rainbow Dash suddenly asked, "Why are a bunch of clothes causing these problems?"
I was about to answer but Rarity also asked a question "And why do the fire brigade have such terrible fashion sense?"
I roll my eyes again before I say "I'll answer those questions later, we need to discard or contain this"
Twilight then asked, "how do we contain it?"
I roll my eyes before answering "Lead, water, concrete or all three." Everypony seemed to chuckle but I silence them before I ask Twilight "Can you send Celestia a message to send us a lead container" but felt like I didn't need to as she had already sent a letter, seconds later a large box with a letter on top flashed into existence.
Twilight picks up the parchment before reading it out loud
'My Faithful Student
I am glad you found the problem and the solution, I will send some guards to pick up the dangerous items and have scientists research these items. I will need Ray Joseph for this as he knows more about the items than anypony does, I will head to Ponyville in a weeks time for him.
Sincerely
I nod at Twilight before remembering to switch the gas mask filters, so I take off my saddlebag and pull out the filters "Switch them, just like I showed you" They nod before unscrewing their old filter before screwing in their new one. I look to the large wooden box Celestia sent with the letter before opening it up to see at least 3 inch thick plates of lead on each side of the box, including the lid.
I look the human clothes before trying to grab them with my magic, it burned a little but not enough to make me stop. I place the pile of clothes into the lead insulated box before closing it. I sigh as I shake my head to rid the stinging pain that has entered my horn, it worked a little bit as the pain slowly began to numb. I lift the box up before slowly walking back to the town.
The walk was uneventful as always, by the time we got to the town we already took off the masks, we arrive to see three Royal carriages landing in the middle of the town before 3 guards holding black AK-47M's get off of one of the carriages and walk up to us before one of them asks me "Are you Ray Jo...seef?"
I chuckle at his attempt to pronounce it before I correct him "Joseph, and yes I am. Guessing you here to pick up this?" I set down the lead box in front of him to which he nods and picks up the box in his magic.
"The Princess will see you next week," the guard said as he walked away with the box before stuffing it into the carriage and hopping into it with the other two guards in tow.
I smile before turning back to the girls who were being awfully quiet "Is something wrong?" I ask with a worried tone. They shake their heads no but I can see they don't want to be here any longer so I say "Let's get to the train, wouldn't want to miss it" They agreed with nods as they quietly walked with me to the train station, we bought tickets before heading to the last car on the train.
I sat down at one of the tables with a glass of water as everypony did their own thing, I remember their questions about the firefighting clothes so I ask "You girls still want me to answer your questions?" They seem to all stare at me for a second before trotting over to me. As soon as they all gathered around I began to answer Rainbows' question "Going back to Rainbows question, How did those clothes get to how they are now? Well, it began in my old world on April 26nd, 1986... There was a massive power generator called a Nuclear reactor power plant in a small town called Chernobyl, they were testing... something but with its production of a severely flawed Soviet-era reactor design combined with human error, they managed to send the whole thing into a meltdown. The meltdown caused the reactor to explode, blowing a hole in the facility's roof and leaking all of its radiation into the air"
I stop for a second to take a sip of water before continuing "After the meltdown stopped, They sent in scientists and firefighters. The scientists would calculate the severity of the meltdown while the firemen cleared the rubble so the scientists could go deeper into the facility to check the extent of the damage. When they got to the basement, they sealed their fate, the reactor grew so hot that most of the metal surrounding it melted into a liquid and burned through floor after floor before reaching the lowest level. They called it the elephant's foot... After just 30 seconds of exposure to the blob of metal, dizziness and fatigue will find you a week later. Two minutes of exposure and your cells will soon begin to hemorrhage; four minutes: vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. 300 seconds and you have two days to live." The girls gasped as they covered their mouths with their hooves
I take a chug of water before saying "And what of the firemen? They went in there with no protection at all, just their fire-retardant suits. After they cleared all the rubble and were no longer needed they went out, took off all their clothes and threw them into a room where they would remain for years, collecting radioactive dust. As for the firemen themselves... some died from radiation burns, most of them died from cancer while some survived till they died of old age."
"And well... If things my old world are getting here, then this might only be the beginning..."
Author's Note
YEESSSSSS, I finally got my laptop back and now I can write for you guys, I might be a bit sloppy at the moment so just bear with me, anyways I hope you're happy I'm back to writing and i'll write to you in the next chapter (probably)
I saw the mushroom cloud engulf the sun as it created its own.
The rush of radiated wind brushed through my hair as I could hear the screams.
They just wouldn't stop fucking SCREAMING, they burrowed through my ears and made nests in my head. My eyes were waterfalls as I saw the bones and ashes of people surround me, the sight burned into my eyes like a TV that was left on for a long time. I feel my skin scorch from the atomic heat as I see figures in the distance, I slowly walk towards them without a care in the world, the heat became hotter and hotter as I got closer to the strangers. The waterfall ceases to flow as I see more and more of the figures...
It was a family, two adults and a small child held in their arms. the adult's faces were blurred like nothing wanted me to see them but the child was unblurred, it looked familiar but I couldn't place my hoof on it. I wanted to look at them more but they faded into ash and floated away.
I hear a loud screeching causing me to spin around, I see a zombie-like person with a gas mask lunge at me with its arms flailing toward me, I step back and wait for it to pounce me but it freezes mid-air all of sudden. I tilt my head in confusion as I hear a woman's voice "It will be fine my subject, tis but a dream"
I wake up to a loud whistle and screeching breaks as the train comes to a stop, I sit up and look around to see that everypony else was also just waking up. I roll out of the sofa I was sleeping on as I pick up my sweater and put it on, leaving it unzipped as I strap on my saddlebags. I suppress a yawn as I lazily walk out of the train behind the girls who seemed to be fully awake already.
Rainbow and Flutters slow down a bit and walk beside me before Rainbow Dash asks me "Did you hear of the Talent show next week?" My ears perk up as I shake my head no "Well you should sign up for it, in fact, we should start a band!" Rainbow practically shouted, drawing a few eyes before they went back to their own things.
I chuckle at her enthusiasm before I answer her "That would be nice, could actually start a little career with that... But who is going to join us?"
Rainbow gives a big toothy smile before saying "Well, I could play the guitar and-"
She was cut off by Fluttershy who said: "I can play the bass..."
I raise my brows at Flutters who blushed and hid behind her mane, I chuckle once more before saying "You're free to join Fluttershy, So we got guitarist and bassist so all we need is a drummer..." I shrug before we finally arrive at Twilights library, we went inside to see Spike snoozing on a pile of comic books. I smile as I sit down on a couch as the girls talked about the little adventure we went on.
I felt the side of couch get weighed down causing me to turn to my right, where I see Spike sitting beside me, wiping the tiredness out of his eyes. I give off a slight smile as I lay back into the sofa, "I know we don't talk a lot but you seem like a pretty cool dude..." Spike says as he looks up at me.
I chuckle as I look back down at him before saying "If you've been through what I've been through, you would say I'm a god damn angel"
Spike laughs as he crosses his legs on the couch before asking "So you're pretty much an alien, huh?"
"You could say that, but I might just be a pony forever, sure is a hell of a lot better than being hunted down by everything..." I reply as I scratch my stomach, I look back to the girls to see them laughing at whatever they're talking about. I look to Spike to see that he was eyeing my hoodie, he realizes he was caught staring so he frantically looks away to hide his embarrassment. I roll my eyes as I say "Just ask it... It'd be pretty hard to offend me or make me mad"
He lets out a sigh before asking "Why do you wear that sweater all the time? You never take it off."
I chuckle as I respond "One, I like it" I take off the sweater, exposing the maze of scars lining my torso "Two, to hide these" Spike stared in awe as he reached out to touch them but I quickly put my sweater back on. I look at the clock to see it's nearing the 12 PM so I decided it would be best to get going, "I gotta get going Spike, I'll see you around."
I get up from the couch and head to the exit before saying to the girls "I gotta go, Blazing Heart can't make a shipment of guns by himself..." I was about to exit before I remember something "Oh, Flutters and Rainbow, come by the gun shop around 6. " They all said their goodbyes as I exit out the front door
I began to walk to my gunshop, greeting other ponies as I moved along. I look down at my hooves for a second before I feel somepony bump into me, I look up to see the local school teacher on the ground, dazed. I immediately feel bad so I apologize "Oh, I'm so sorry."
She shakes herself out of her daze before she looks up at me "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" She tries to get up but has a little difficulty so I help her up by holding her in my magic and placing her on her hooves.
"No it's my fault, wasn't looking where I was going," I say before offering my hoof "Names Ray Joseph but call me Ray"
She shakes my hoof as she introduces herself "My name is Cheerliee, the teacher at the school house and aren't you the alien who opened that new shop?" I nod my head with a chuckle before she looks to have a eureka moment and asks "You wouldn't have some time in your schedule? I'm sure the kids would love to hear some stories or teach them some things from your world"
I think about it for a second before realizing I can teach kids gun safety, I nod my head again as I reply "Sure, is tomorrow a good?"
Her mouth spreads into an ear-to-ear smile before saying "It's perfect, I'll see you tomorrow then" I nod once more before we both go our different ways.
After walking for a few more minutes I finally make it back to my beloved gun shop and I internally give a sigh of relief that it's not burnt to the ground, I open the front door causing a small bell to ring and Derpy to look up from the cash register "Oh, hey. How was your trip?" Derpy asked as she closes one of the counter cabinets.
"Just fine and dandy, though I could use a drink," I say with a chuckle which Derpy joins in on. I then ask "How many customers?"
Derpy takes a few seconds to think before answering "4 to 5 customers, most of them purchased melee weapons except for one. Vinyl Scratch came in and got a handgun, a... M1911 I think? She also bought two boxes of ammo and 4 magazines."
I raise my brow, since when did she get a License? I quickly ask "And her License was legit?" She smiles and nods so I nod back and say "Well keep up the good work, might consider giving you a raise." She seemed to get really excited about that as she was wearing a wide smile, I was paying her around 20 bits an hour which is surprisingly a lot in this economic system considering a bucket of apples is 8 bits so a double of her wage would be generous.
I walk into the workshop in the back and saw that Liam was working on something at his workbench so I trot over to him while saying "How goes it?" He turns around for a second before looking back into his work.
"It goes..." he says as he picks up a screwdriver before fiddling around with it. I look at what he's working on and see that he's making a gold-plated trench shotgun.
I go wide-eyed before asking "Who the fuck requested this?"
He shrugs before replying "Filthy Rich, the towns rich snob"
"Of course that asshole wanted something like this, His license good?" I say causing Liam to nod his head in agreement. I shake my head before asking "And how much is he paying?"
He places the screwdriver back where he got it before picking up and inspecting it "Around 3000 bits... I don't want to give him the gun but business is business, I think he's doing some kind of underground crime shit, Like the stuff you hear about in Manehatten. Wouldn't surprise me if he is working for some mob boss in that place."
I shrug before walking to my workbench, I set down my saddlebags next to it before sitting in the chair. I look at the untouched and unfinished Kalashnikov before I suddenly see my father holding it up for me to see, He would sometimes take me to his workplace and showed me some of the guns there. I shake my head lightly to rid my head of the memory flashback before whispering "Бог благословит вас, отец (God bless you father) ".
I suddenly think back to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash before asking Blazing Heart "Hey, do you know anyone who can play the drums?"
I look at Blazing to see him looking at me before he answered "I know who to play, been playing since I was 4"
Convenient. I nod my head before asking once more "So... I know two ponies who are trying to start a band, You maybe wanna join?"
His ears swivelled a bit as he thought before shrugging and saying "Why not, It'd be a good hobby besides building guns" We both chuckle before I begin to finish the AK-47. I worked on the Russian assault rifle for a few hours: milling out the metal, putting pieces to make bigger pieces, putting those pieces into the frame and so on.
I wipe my brow as I stare down at the completed beauty that is the AK-47, I smile as I head over to a small two stall firing range. I pull on the charging handle a few times to test it before loading a magazine with only one bullet in it. I chamber the round and aim for the bullseye on the target which was around 20 feet away. I slow my breathing before pulling the trigger, the gun successfully fires and I surprisingly hit the center of the target. I look at the rifle before giving it a kiss on the wood handle and saying "Beautiful"
I turn around to see Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash staring at me with their heads tilt in confusion, I smile and say "How's it going ladies?"
"It's going good, you seem to be... Happy" Rainbow said with Flutters nodding in agreement
I go to my gun locker and open it up, I take out my Tar-21 and stare at it for a second before asking "Hey Liam, want this?"
He looks up from the golden shotgun and sees my old assault rifle being offered to him, he smiles and takes it in his magical grip before gently placing it in his empty gun locker, he looks to his project before asking "Hey, what about the 2 ponies you said wanted to start a band?"
I was about to respond but Rainbow beat me to it "Those two were us, in fact, we were just picking him up so we could start our first jam session and practice for the talent show next week. All we need is a drummer"
Blazing smirked before saying "Well you got a drummer right in front of ya"
Rainbow smiled as she said, "Well what are we waiting for, let's go!" She zooms out the door with her wings and Fluttershy soon follows, leaving me and Blazing to look at each other before we both shrug and he walks out the door after them.
I look to Derpy and say "Hey, we're closing up early, lock it up and relax at home" Derpy nods before grabbing the door keys from under the cash register, I exit out the door with Derpy in tow and wait for her to lock the door before beginning my walk to Fluttershy's cottage. After the non-eventful walk to the cottage, I arrive to see all the creatures doing their animal things and the others waiting by the shed. I catch up to them and open the door to see multiple gardening tools but I pay them no mind as I head into the next room.
I open the door to the studio which was dark at first until I flicked the light switch. Inside were the instruments and equipment with sound foam covering the walls so the sound wouldn't disturb the animals. I walk in and wait for the rest of the band to enter. I hear Liam whistle as he goes over to the drumset which had a lot of stuff added to it
I chuckle before I hear a low strum so I look to Fluttershy to see the bass plugged in and held in her wings.familiar riff . I smile as I hear her play, I watch her feathers strum the strings as Flutters begins to bob her head to the timing. She stops playing and quickly hides behind her mane in embarrassment, I stomp my hoof as an applause and everypony else joins in on the applause.
I look to Rainbow who picks up the black and white electric guitar.riff , Dash giggles before they all look to me.
I tilt my head side to side before picking up the acoustic guitar.riff . I get a round of applause for my performance so I smile, I set down the acoustic guitar before saying "Alright down to business, what type of song do you guys want to do: Soft or heavy?"
"I want to do Heavy," said Rainbow Dash
"Same here," Blazing said
"I can do Heavy," Flutters said surprisingly
I nod my head before saying "Guess its settled. I learned a spell called memory insertion, I can essentially insert song tabs into your head to spare you from the frustration of learning and fighting over how to make a song." They nod so I begin the spell, my horn began to glow and strings of magic began to flow out of my horn and into everyponys head. After a few seconds, I stop the spell and I look at everypony to see if they are alright.
They seemed fine so I go to the microphone and turn it on before asking "Everypony got it?"
They nod so I look to Fluttershy to start the song , she hits a few notes before I begin to sing
"Choices always were a problem for you.
Blazing and Rainbow followed along to my singing perfectly so I give them a nod before I continue
"If you want to get your soul to heaven, trust in me now
Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow.
I began to sway my head to the beat as the others go along with the song, I brought my mouth close to the microphone and began with a whisper
"My God's will becomes me.
I raise my voice and roughen it up as the instruments kick up
"Jesus Christ, why don't you come save my life now
Jesus Christ, why don't you come save my life now
The tempo slowed down as Fluttershy strums some stings as I whisper
"If you want to get your soul to heaven, trust in me now
I bend the microphone forward as I raise my voice back up and the others follow along
"Jesus Christ, why don't you come save my life now.
Jesus Christ, why don't you come save my life now.
Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow,
I take the microphone off its stand and prepare my lungs as the next lyrics come up
"My God's will becomes me.
I hunch forward and scream until my lungs burn but I don't let that stop me and I go as long as I can before my voice slowly fades out, I swing around to the drums and begin to headbang to the guitar notes till the song ends. I wipe my forehead before laughing which I am soon joined by everypony else.
Fluttershy suddenly blurts out "That was fucking awesome" She covers her mouth and blushes.
I roll my eyes before walking over to her, I take the bass guitar off of her before picking her up in a hug "Fucking awesome it was and you were great" Fluttershy calms down with a giggle as I set her back down.
I look to Rainbow who was setting her guitar back onto the stand, she stretches and yawns before saying "Well, this was fun. If we are going to win this talent show, we'll need some animated backgrounds for that visual pleasure, routines, outfits and so on."
I nod and look to Liam who was looking at the drumset and walking around it like he was inspecting an art piece, he looks to me and smiles while saying "Great drumset, might add some design to it. When will our next jam sesh happen?"
I think about it for a second before answering "How about two days from now, gives us time to think things through"
They all agree with 'yeah' before Fluttershy yawns as well so I say "Guess we could use some rest, we all got things to do tomorrow." They nod so I turn off the microphone before waiting for everypony to leave the shed. After no one else was inside, I flick the light switch and turn the lights off while closing the studio door and exiting the shed.
Fluttershy and I say goodbye as Rainbow and Liam trot home. I look to Fluttershy who has already begun to walk to the cottage, I quickly catch up with her and follow her inside the cottage. Fluttershy opens the door and quietly steps in with me in tow, I sit on the couch with a sigh and I'm soon joined by Fluttershy with cups of water. "I think you would like this" Fluttershy says as she hands me the cup of water, I smile before taking a few chugs of water leaving the cup about a quarter full, I set down the cup and sigh once more before looking at Fluttershy who was taking a sip.
She sets down the cup before she looks me in the eyes. We stare for a few seconds before she sets her head against my shoulder, burying her nose into my neck. I sigh happily as I wrap a forehoof around her back. We cuddled each other for a few minutes before I feel a pair of lips against my cheek so I look to Flutters to see her with a smirk and half-lidded eyes, I smirk back before I lean in and give her a peck on the lips.
I try to lean away but I'm pulled back into a passionate kiss, taking me by surprise. I stare wide-eyed in a bit of shock at her for a second but I just go with it and close my eyes while I enjoy the kiss. I feel a wet muscle pressing against my lips, begging for entrance so I part my lips a bit and allow her to enter. We wrestle our tongues together in a tongue war, both of us trying to gain dominance over the other.
We go for around two minutes before we part the tongue kiss, letting air refill our lungs before I pick up Fluttershy in my hooves and carry her upstairs into her room, letting our primal instincts take the night away.
Author's Note
I'm kinda making up the economic system and going off things I've seen in the show since the conversion of Bits to CAD/US money not really clear. I had a brain fart and couldn't think of the name for a shed, irrelevant but funny.
Ash whipped against my face as the mushroom cloud stood tall among the horizon
It's nearly time
I hear a whisper but pay no mind as I am mesmerized by the orange glow of the atomic fires
You want to forget but it will always come back to remind you on that day
I raise my hands up and stare at my blood-coated palms before looking forward at the city that once stood
You want to forget the good times you had, to whisk away the bad thoughts that they bring
Heat skimmed my skin as a wall of red smoke and lightning began to emerge from the atomic cloud before it began to sweep the land in front of me and rush right to toward me.
You want to forget the ones who made your childhood the best time of your life, the ones who cared for you
The cloud was getting closer by the seconds before I was finally consumed by the wall of red
I wake up to the sun in my eyes like every morning, I remember I had a dream last night but couldn't remember what happened in it. I look around to see that I'm in a different room than usual, I look to my right to finally realize the yellow pony that was snuggled up in my arms. The events of last night finally came back to me before I smile with a quiet chuckle
"You made it big time Ray," I say to myself before trying to maneuver out of Flutters hold and after a minute of gently moving around, I successfully made it out of her snuggles without waking her. I dismiss my clothes and gear and walk downstairs quietly before heading to the kitchen and making some tea, I fill two cups up and pick them up with my levitation before heading to the living room and sitting down on the sofa. I place the two cups of tea down and wait for Fluttershy to wake up.
After a few minutes and drinking half of my cup of tea, I finally hear hoofsteps descend the stairs before Flutters come into view so I greet her "Good morning"
She looks up at me with a big smile before sitting down beside me and burying her nose into my neck softly while saying "Good morning, got anything planned for today?"
I kiss her on the forehead before answering "Yea, heading down to the school to teach the kids about firearms such as safety rules and stuff like that." She giggles and returns a peck on my chin before resting her head against my shoulder. I look at Flutters tea before asking "Are you going to drink that?"
She looks at her cup of tea before picking it up in her hooves and taking a sip, she closes her eyes as she seems to savor the flavor of the tea, Fluttershy then goes and chugs it all down. She sets the empty cup down with a sigh of relief before I look at the clock mounted on the wall to see that it was 8:20 AM, I didn't know when the school started so I asked Fluttershy "Do you know when the school starts?"
"It starts at 9:10, we have lots of time, unless you want to go early" She replies as she traces her hoof around my scars.
I chuckle before saying "I can stay for a bit." She smiles as she lays her head against my chest, I stroke her mane with my hoof as we cuddle on the sofa for about 5 minutes before I finally decide to go.
I kiss Flutters on the lips before saying "I'll be back around 4:00 PM." She nods before she leans off of me so I could stand up. I walk back upstairs and reach for my body armor but hesitate... Why am I hesitating? I shake my head and pick up the ballistic vest in my right hoof before strapping it on with my magic, I look to my trusty sweater but decide that I grab one of the newer hoodies that Rarity made me a while back.
I go back downstairs before looking in a little basket to see a pile of neatly folded sweaters, I look through a few before picking a black sleeveless hoodie that had a pair of 3 white stripes running across my sides to my rump. I stand up on my hind legs and slip on the sweater before heading back on to 4 legs. I tell Fluttershy that I'm going before heading out the door and heading into town, the walks to my destinations were always uneventful... Just like this one.
I make it to the stereotypical school house before walking up to the front door and knocking on it twice, I hear some hoofsteps from inside and the door cracks open to Cheerliee who peaked at me for a second before she fully opened it and welcomed "Ray! Glad you could come" She steps out of my way before continuing "Come on in, School should be starting soon"
I nod with a smile and walk in as I look around the classroom, It had desks in equal rows and had children drawings all over the walls while paper ornaments hanged from the ceiling. My thoughts are suddenly filled with images of my childhood school and my favorite classroom, I shake them out before any bad memories would show up and walk up to the front of the class while saying "Pretty neat place..."
Cheerliee chuckled while she sat at her desk "Thanks, though your alien schools were probably better"
I nod before replying "Well, I can't really say much since I only made it up to grade 4..."
She seems to freeze in place before looking at me with a furrowed brow "Why is that?"
I sigh before answering "The world go boom. no society, no government, just you or whatever group you were involved with."
She frowns before nodding and Asking "And what are you going to teach the children?"
I answer "I'm going to educate them on gun safety, can't have kids thinking they're toys" She nods so I grab one of the chairs that were big enough for me and sat in it while I waited, I whistled a tune while I waited for the students to arrive. After a few minutes of waiting and idle chat with Cheerliee, the bell finally rang and the kids walked in one by one. Once it looked like everypony was here, Cheerliee did class attendance before finally speaking "Good morning class, I know some of you are probably wondering who I have with me. Well this is Ray and he's going to teach you some things about his profession"
She looks to me and nods to I stand up and address the class "How's everypony going?" They all said their own ways of 'good' so I decided to continue "First I want to know how old you guys and gals are."
The class said the age range of 8 to 9 years old so I nod a few times before saying "Well my name is Ray Joseph and I'm going to teach you about firearm safety, How many of you have heard about the invention of guns?" Around half the class put their hoofs up so I explain what guns are to the rest "Well a gun or firearm as some call it, is a ranged weapon that can be used at any kind of distances. How a gun work is that you got this small metal arrow called a bullet that has an explosive powder inside called gunpowder, a small hammer like gear that is located in a gun hits the back of the bullet and it causes the powder to explode sending the front of the bullet forward and out of the front of the gun, sending the bullet fast than the speed of sounds at a target."
Most of the class seemed to get it so I ask "Any of you have questions so far? If so then raise your hoof and when I point to you, say your name then your question" Around a dozen hoofs shoot up so I point to a colt that was white with brown spots "What's your question?"
"My name is Pipsqueak and do guns have magic in them to power it or something like that"
I chuckle before saying "Guns don't have any magic involved with them, its all machinery and a bit of science I guess." Pipsqueak nods so I pick the next question and point at an orange filly with a purple mane
"My name is Scootaloo and can a bullet go faster than Rainbow Dash?"
I shake my head and say "I'd say no if Rainbow wasn't hit by a bullet but she was, that's why she came back to Ponyville a few months back with some bandaging on her shoulder. Scootaloo sits down with a grumpy look and her forelegs crossed causing me to chuckle before I pick the final student who was a yellow filly with a red mane
"My names Apple Bloom and do bullets hurt?"
I wince a bit at her question before answering "I guess it really depends where you get hit... if you got hit in the leg or something, it would definitely hurt, probably the worst pain you would ever feel. I would talk about bullets hitting ponies some more if you guys weren't so young, it's not pretty"
Applebloom seems to understand and sits down. "I got to move on, I'll answer more questions at the end of my little presentation... thing" The students giggle before I continue "Let's talk about rules: Number 1 - Always treat a gun as if it's loaded and dangerous, don't pick it up if you don't know how to use it or what it is and no I will not show you how to handle a firearm"
The class lets out a groan of disappointment but they stop as I continue "Number 2 - If you know how to handle for some reason, never point the gun at anything you are not willing to destroy, you or others could get hurt" The class nods in agreement so I say the final rule "Number 3 - If you know how to use a weapon and are in danger or just practicing, always be aware of your target and what's behind it. It could cause some collateral damage"
The class nods once more before I ask "Any more questions?" Not as many hooves from before popped up which was a relief, I point to a pink and purple filly who was wearing a tiara.
"My name is Diamond Tiara and why do you have a stupid name?"
Everypony in the class gasped as she giggled along with what I'm guessing was one of her friends before I retort back at her "I don't know, why are you wearing a plastic tiara?"
I smile as she seemed to fume with rage as she got out of her seat and stomp up to me before Diamond Tiara began to shout at me "How dare YOU INSULT ME! This is a real tiara that my dad Filthy Rich got me and costs way more than whatever kind of trash your wearing"
I frown at the entitled prick of a filly before a mischievous thought comes to mind. I grab the brats tiara in my magic before snapping it in half and saying in a dark tone "See, plastic... Your dad sure paid a lot of money for a custom built gun so I don't think he would mind if I told him about your spoiled behavior against me"
She shuts up and heads back to her seat while I throw the stupid tiara into the trash bin, I then ask "Do you guys have real questions or do you want to insult me some more? I've seen and been told a lot more things that are worst than your petty playground insults" No pony put their hoof up so I look to Cheerliee who was quite shocked, to say the least.
I sat to Cheerliee "I'm sorry about that, thanks for having me come by and teach these children the rules of guns and all that" I look to the class before saying "Thank you for being patient with my rambling and listening. If you come up with any questions, you'll see me around town." I walked to the front door and exited to schoolhouse before beginning my walk back to the cottage
That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?
Not now, Elijah...
Why such the mood?
Just an anniversary that's coming up...
Oh...
Elijah seemed to get the clue and shut up so I could walk in peace, I was about to walk to my gun shop but realized that I should head home first so Flutters wouldn't get worried so I started to walk to the cottage. I was walking by Twilight's library/home when I heard multiple girls giggling inside so I walk up and peak through the window to see the Fluttershy and the rest of the elements of harmony hanging around inside and seeming to be gossiping about stuff.
I enter the front door to the Library and everypony looks toward me before Twilight says "Hey Ray, How's it going?"
I nod and walk over to the circle they're sitting as I answer "It's going good, just heard you mares laughing so I couldn't help and join you in your little conversations. Got nothing better to do anyways..." They nodded as Fluttershy scooted over a bit and tapped the floor next to her, signaling me to sit down beside her so I do just that and sit beside her and Applejack before they continue to talk about what they were talking about.
Rainbow sees my new hoodie before saying "Nice sweater dude" I nod in thanks. A few minutes later of listening to their gossip Rainbow comes up with an idea "Hey, why don't we play spin the bottle. Less mushy than this gossipy stuff."
I tilted my head in confusion and ask "Whats spin the bottle?"
Everypony looks at me like I committed a crime before Pinkie bursts out "YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT TRUTH OR DARE IS?!?"
I nod and say "Just explain the rules to me so we can play"
Rainbow then proceeded to tell me "So we sit around in a circle like we are now then you get an empty bottle and spin it in the middle of our circle. When the front of the bottle lands on someone, you ask them 'Truth or Dare'. If you say 'truth', the person who spun the bottle gets to ask you a question and you have to answer honestly but if you say dare, the person who spun the bottle can make you do whatever he or she wants"
I understand the rules and nod so Pinkie pulls out an empty soda bottle from her mane before placing it in the middle of our circle, Rainbow then spins the bottle and waits for the bottle to cease spinning. The end of the bottle lands on Rarity first and so Rainbow asks "Truth or dare?"
"Truth" Rarity says
Rainbow then asks "What's the nastiest thing you've done?
Rarity answers "Well I would say that one time we went through the Everfree forest and I fell in a puddle of mud" Everypony including me giggles/chuckles before Rarity spins the bottle and the bottle lands on Twilight "Truth or dare Twilight?"
Twilight says "Truth"
Rarity continues "What's the most time you've gone without reading a book?"
Twilight then answers with a surprising response "4 hours, 32 minutes and 12 seconds." Twilight smiles with glee before using her magic to spin the bottle, the bottle then lands on Applejack so Twilight asks "Truth or Dare, my cowgirl friend?"
Applejack then replies "Dare"
I raise my eyebrows before Twilight tells her "I dare you to not eat any apples for 2 days"
Everypony laughs as Applejack gives an unamused face before she unenthusiastically spins the bottle, the bottle then lands on Rainbow Dash so Applejack asks "Rainbow, Truth or dare?" Rainbow Dash automatically goes for the dare option so Applejack sends a dare her way "I dare you not to use your wings for 2 days"
Everypony gives an 'ooohh' as Rainbow gains an angry expression on her face. Rainbow sighs as she spins the bottle, its spins for a few seconds before landing on me. I look to Rainbow who asks "Truth or Dare?"
I roll my eyes before saying "Dare"
Rainbow gives out an 'aww' before asking "I dare you to scream for as long and as loud as you can"
I nod before standing up for the full effect, I look to Twilight and say "Could you time this?" She nods so I clear my throat before playing a part of a song in my head, I immediately take in a deep breath before screaming and holding for as long as I can.
After a few more seconds of yelling my lungs finally run out of air so I stop and allow myself to breathe as I look at my spectators who were shell-shocked, to say the least. I look to Twilight who says my time "12 seconds..." I smile as I sit back down next to Flutters and AJ.
I spin the bottle and after a few seconds of spinning, it lands on Twilight who looks at me with a pleading look. I chuckle before asking "Truth or Dare?" Twilight gulps before picking truth so I ask her a question "Do you own any... porn magazines?"
I see Twilight flush from color before she coughs into her hoof and says "N-No, of course not..."
I look to Applejack who was trying to hold back her laughter but fails and bursts out with laughter while saying "S-She's lying! Hahahahaha!" Everypony else begins to laugh while Twilight hides her face in embarrassment.
I hush everypony down as I say "Okay, let's stop before she bursts a blood vessel... Again."
Twilight spins the bottle with her magic again and it lands on Fluttershy who gave out an 'eep'. Twilight asks Fluttershy "T-Truth or dare?"
Fluttershy surprisingly picks "Dare"
Twilight thinks for a second before looking at me with a malicious smile as she says "Fluttershy, I dare you to kiss Ray"
Silence fills the room as I look to Fluttershy who was surprisingly calm, Flutters turns to me as she leans herself toward and kisses me on the lips before leaning back into her spot. Everypony else was just astonished, I try to brighten up the mood by saying "Take a picture, It'll last longer." I was surprised by a flash that came from Pinkie who was holding a Polaroid camera.
I shake my head a bit before saying "Well... About what just happen-"
I was cut off by Fluttershy who says "We got together"
She smiles with a 'squee' as everypony looks between me and Fluttershy before Applejack says "I mean, we should have seen this coming... They spend the most time together." Twilight and Pinkie Pie nod as Rainbow seems to be broken.
I look at the clock to see that it was around 5:00 pm so I say "I think it's best if I and Flutters get going now, I'll see you all later" I get up and head to the door, Fluttershy soon follows while I say my goodbyes. I exit out the door with Fluttershy in tow and start to head back to the cottage but on the way there, I pass my gun shop and see Derpy with a sad expression while looking down at a piece of paper so I tell Fluttershy "Hey, I'll meet you at home, gotta check on something quick..."
I walk up to the front door of the gun shop before entering, Derpy looks up and puts on a fake smile while saying "Hey boss, How are you?"
I decide to play along "I'm doing okay, how about you?"
Derpy then tells me "I'm... doing good."
I shake my head before saying "I saw you looking depressed as hell through the window, tell me what's bothering you."
She sighs and discards the fake smile before saying "I told you about my daughter right?" I nod so she continues "Well, she's been getting bullied at school and my old boss is sending me death threats about me and Ditzy..."
I feel a surge of anger run through me when I heard that, I sigh and tell her "Everything is going to be okay... I won't let him touch you or Ditzy." She smiles genuinely and softly hugs me so I hug her back gently and after a few seconds of hugging, we let go of each other. "I need to grab something from the back then I got to go. Just be strong for me, okay?" I say causing Ditzy to smile, I smile back before heading to the back room.
I walk into the back of the workshop to see Blazing Heart working on that gold shotgun from yesterday, I go over to a safe and put in the button combination before opening it to stacks upon stacks of bits. I take out 3000 bits with my magic before grabbing a small sack and dumping the gold coins into it. I levitate the coins over to Liam who gives them a small glace before continuing to work, I look back at the safe and grab 2400 more bits and dumping them into another sack.
I hold onto the bits as I head toward my gun locker. I put in the combo before opening it and grabbing my CZ-75 while I strap on my saddlebags, I slide the handgun into the left side of my saddlebags before closing the locker and walking into the store part of the building. I drop the sack of bits in front Derpy whos smile gets larger while I say "Consider this a raise."
I tell Derpy goodbye and walk out the door and back to Fluttershy's cottage, After a few minutes of walking, I make it back to the cottage and head inside to see Flutters asleep on the couch. I chuckle before gently picking Fluttershy up in my magic and taking her upstairs and setting her into bed, she looks so cute that I just want to slip into bed with her but I have unfinished business so I walk back downstairs and take off my sleeveless hoodie before searching through the basket to find my least favorite sweater, I soon find a plain purple sweater and slip it on.
I take off my saddlebags and take out my pistol holster before strapping it on as I grab the CZ-75 and slip it into the holster. I sigh as I flip the hood over my head, hiding most of my facial features in shadow. I then head out the door and walk into town, many people were inside due to it getting late so this would make my job a lot easier.
I make it to Derpy's old bosses house so I go around back and test the door to see that it's unlocked, I slowly enter while I put a noise suppression on the house so nopony would hear a thing. The first room I enter seems to be a messy kitchen, I walk into the next room which was a living room and I see lines hanged across the ceiling like clotheslines but instead of clothes, pictures were hanging from them.
I grab one of the pictures from the line and look at it but immediately look away from the pedophilic pictures, It made me sick to my stomach. I place the picture face down on the ground and look to the stairs that lead up, I close my eyes and take a deep breath before opening them to see that I wasn't in a pony's house anymore but In a ruined house.
The house seemed familiar as I looked around a bit but I dismiss the thought and continue the mission, I walk up the stairs and check each room to look for the pedophile mailman. I pull out my CZ-75 as I enter the last room, I see a raider sleeping in a bed so I slowly walk up to him before grabbing the pillow under his head and pulling it out beneath his head. I push the pillow into the man's face before placing the pistol against the pillow and pulling the trigger.
Once I heard the gunshot, I suddenly flash back to the pony world as I hold a dead pony down with a pillow, the pillow had a hole in the middle and was beginning to soak up the blood from the bullet hole in the mailman's face. I stare at the dead pedophile for a few seconds before walking out of the room and heading downstairs. I walk to the kitchen before looking at the oven, it was a gas oven which means that it would leak gas if 'somepony' were to sabotage it.
I walk to the gas oven before reaching around back with my magic and pulling out a tube from the stove causing a light hissing noise to be heard, I quickly head out the back door before aiming through the open doorway with my handgun, I fire the CZ-75 causing the bullet to whiz into the house and strike the gas stove causing a spark which lights the gas on fire. I quickly gallop away before a part of the house finally explodes causing debris to fly everywhere and fire to spread to the rest of the house. I holster my pistol before heading back to the cottage.
I enter the cottage before quietly heading upstairs, I enter Fluttershy's room to her still sleeping. I sigh in relief as I take off my purple sweater and body armor before unstrapping my holster and sliding it into my saddlebags which were now on the ground. I yawn and slide into bed beside Fluttershy before wrapping my forelegs around her and drifting to sleep like nothing happened
Author's Note
The chapters seem to get longer... Neat. Also, we will be getting more action soon. I'm also working on a new story so I'll be writing two stories.
September 28th, 2025 - one week after the house explosion
I open my eyes to somepony shaking me so I look to my left to see a smiling Fluttershy, I smile back before giving her a peck on the lips and sitting up. I sit up and stretch out my forelegs before I kick my hind legs over the side of the bed and hop down onto all-fours. I go downstairs and sit on the couch but as soon as I sit down I hear a knock on the door so I stand back up and head over to the front door, I open it to see Rainbow Dash and Blazing Heart so I greet "Hey guys! Ready for the talent show?"
Rainbow Dash does a mini loop in the air before saying "You bet I am! We are going to win the prize and take home the gold!"
I chuckle as I say "Don't get your hopes up, anyone could sweep it away from beneath us"
Rainbow pauses for a second and lands on the ground softly as she asks "Where is Fluttershy?"
I listen closely behind me before hearing the faint noise of running water so I say "I think she's in the shower, should be down in a bit. Why don't you come in?" They both nod so I step to the side so they could enter, Rainbow sat on the sofa while Liam interacted with some of the animals that were roaming about.
I stare at the calendar to check for any upcoming events but my eyes immediately focus on October 7th and as I stare at the date on the calendar, my vision fades to black and fades back to the mushroom clouds that haunt me. I stare at the atomic mushroom for a few more seconds before I can't take it any longer and shake my head to rid the visions and thoughts that plagued it.
I sigh as I get a look of concern from Blazing, he slowly trots over to me as he asks "You doing okay? You kinda lost yourself for a second"
I nod as I answer "I'm fine, just in thought..."
He tilts his head to the side and was going to say something but we hear hoofsteps from the stairs so we both look to see Fluttershy descending the stairs with a hairbrush in her wing, brushing the knots out of her mane as she had a warm smile. Flutters noticed our two guests so she greets them "Oh, umm... Hi Rainbow, Blazing." Rainbow says hi back as Blazing gives a nod.
I look to Fluttershy and ask "You ready for the talent show?"
Fluttershy hides behind her mane as she says "I'm a little nervous..."
I nod before placing a hoof on her shoulder and saying "Don't worry, you do great in practice. Now to show the town what you're made of." My improvised speech somehow makes her a little more confident as she gives a little smile and comes out of her 'mane cave'. I smile back before checking the time, it was 11:32 am and the talent show started at 5:00 pm so we had plenty of time to do some errands before the performance.
I look back to Fluttershy and say "We have lots of time to pass, how about we feed the animals then prepare for the show itself."
Fluttershy nods as she looks at Blazing and Rainbow to ask "Would you two care to join us?" Rainbow Dash and Blazing Heart both nodded so I walk over to the front door and open it before I step aside to let everypony out first. After everypony left the cottage, I exit as well and close the door behind me with my magic before catching up to the others.
2 hours pass and we finished feeding all the animal's Fluttershy takes care of, I set down some bird seeds in the shed with my magic before sighing from relief. I look to the others who were chatting with each other, I smile at them talking but my attention is soon brought to a small ringing noise. I swivel my ears around to see the source of the weird ringing that was getting louder but it sounded like it was coming from every direction.
I look back to my friends to see that they've been replaced with three bandits and the scenery around them turned to a frozen wasteland with ruined building around us. I see one of them walk up to me and put his hands on my shoulders, he shakes me a bit while saying "ты в порядке? вы не выглядите слишком хорошо (Are you okay? you don't look too good.)" I blink to see myself looking into the eyes of Blazing Heart which had a glint of concern.
Rainbow who was behind him suddenly pointed to my snout and said: "Ray, you're bleeding!"
I touch my philtrum with my hoof and look at it to see a splotch of blood on my callus, I wipe my nose a few times to rid the rest of the blood before saying "I'm fine... I'm fine"
Fluttershy gains a sadden look on her face before asking "You had another episode... Didn't you?" I sigh and nod before Fluttershy came running over and hugged me, I feel my anxiety drip away as I return the hug.
I look to Blazing who was confused and Rainbow who had the look of sorrow on her face, Liam then asked "What episode, is there something I'm missing?"
Fluttershy releases me from the hug as Rainbow looks at me with a shocked face and exclaims "You didn't tell him?"
I shake my head no as Liam was looking between me and Rainbow Dash, He was more confused than ever at this point so I decide to get it over with and tell him "Well Liam... I may or may not have PTSD..."
He raised his eyes in shock before asking "Why didn't you tell me?"
I sigh and reply "I didn't want any more people worrying about me, I don't want people to feel bad for me but here we are... I have a flashback at a party and become friends with 6 mares which one of them in now my marefriend."
I smile at Fluttershy who smiles back but am distracted by Rainbow Dash "You should get some rest, just in case."
I nod and reply "Alright, just wake me when its almost time to go to the show" They all nod and say their goodbyes as I sluggishly walk back to the cottage, I open the door and lazily shut it with my magic before I lay onto the couch with a sigh. I hear the pitter patter of paws on the ground before I am greeted by a white rabbit at the foot of the couch.
Angel the bunny, the spoiled rabbit and number one pet of Fluttershy. I can tell the rabbit fears me more than anything, When I'm always at home, he is either hiding or watching me from a place I can't see. I chuckle as the rabbit stares at me with a scowl, I speak to the rabbit hoping to gain his trust "I know you don't like me and frankly, I couldn't care less but I really mean no harm even if you can smell the years of death that have been burned into my skin" Angels face surprisingly droops a bit as I continue "I know you love your mother very much, Hell I might just be your father since I'm with her but remember this, I will protect Fluttershy. You have my word"
Angels ears lay back as he nods and hops aways leaving me to fall asleep in peace.
I saw your freakout earlier...
Elijah slithered out of the darkness, he was a reflection of me but with black stripes in his mane instead of white and a Pentagram cutie mark
Yeah, I think the closer I get to October 7th, it will get worse
He puts a hoof to his chin
Hmm... You should tell them about it, make sure you don't shoot yourself all of a sudden.
You're right... I still worry that the griffons are planning something
And you're right to worry, the king is still alive and is most likely building his army back up
...
I could hear some creaking that seemed to come from all around
Shit, she's back
Who?
Princess Luna, she keeps on trying to enter our dreams whenever she can.
She can do that?
Apparently so...
Knocking was heard as a white door appeared from thin air. The door had multiple locks on it so anyone else wouldn't have a chance of getting in.
Well, what do you want to do?
Let her in...
But-
I said let her in!
Elijah sighs as he walks over to the door and unlocks every lock with his magic before opening it, showing a mildly frustrated blue alicorn waiting at the entrance
Finally, you let me... Am I seeing doubles?
She looks at me and then at Elijah before she shakes her head
Ummm... no?
Luna takes a few steps in and looks at the abyss that surrounded us
I expected your mind to be less... empty
Hehe... I like the silence but okay how about this.
The scenery changed from a void to a playground that looked brand new with houses surrounding the playground
Much better...
What is this place, if I may ask...
My home. Well what was my home anyways
And who is he?
Luna points to Elijah with her head tilted to the left
I'm Elijah, the voice that lives in his fucked up head
Yeeaaah fuck you too
Luna seemed to notice the lack of people around as she looked around at the houses that surrounded us
Where is everypony?
At school, you want to see?
Luna nodded with excitement as the scene changed to a large classroom with a bunch of human kids who ranged for 5-6 sitting on a carpet and a teacher drawing on a chalkboard.
This was my senior kindergarten class, I'm sitting over there...
I pointed to a kid with long brown hair which hung over his face and light skin, he was wearing light blue jeans and a blue long sleeve shirt which was being chewed on by the kid wearing it. I had the tendency to chew my clothes when I was nervous.
Why are you doing that, chewing on your shirt?
I did it when I was nervous, I lost the habit luckily.
a Bell rang and all the kids stood up and ran out a door which leads to a playground, we followed the scattering children till we reached a maple tree which one of the teachers from the school got from Canada and planted it here. You could see the human me sitting on one of the branches that hanged around 5 feet off the ground.
He was never really a social child from what I saw, only had 3 friends he talked to
Yeah, I never brought myself to talk to others. You could say I was shy
Luna looked around at the children playing before looking at my young self when the space around us began to darken, signaling that I was waking up
We will talk again soon, you should tell Twilight about the wedding her brother is having.
I tilt my head in confusion before everything was pitch black
I open my eyes to see Fluttershy opening the door to the cottage, I yawn which startles her but she composes herself and asks "How was your nap?"
I nod and say "It was fine, talked with Princess Luna for a bit."
Fluttershy smiles at me before saying we have to go now, we already moved all the instruments to the show so all we need to do is get there"
I get off the sofa and stretch out like a cat causing several pops to emit from my back, I walk over to Fluttershy and give a peck on the cheek before saying "let's not make them wait anymore" She nods in agreement before head off into town, we had to stop by Rarity's boutique to get outfits for our performance.
We arrive at the boutique and enter the building to see Rarity at a sewing machine, sewing cloth together (who would've known?) She turns her attention to Flutters and me before smiling, She sits up from the sewing machine and says "I guess you are here for costumes, darling?"
I nod and ask "Yup, you think you can make it to the show and see us perform?"
Rarity giggles as she uses her telekinesis to pull 4 sets of clothes and answers "Of course darling, I even heard that the Princesses are coming, wouldn't want to miss their reaction."
I widen my eyes as I grab the costumes and lay them across my back before shrugging and saying "Then they'll probably like the song we are doing"
Rarity lifts a brow before asking "How so?"
I chuckle and reply "You'll find out... Anyways we should get going, see you after our performance" I hand her a sack of bits before we say our goodbyes and exit the carousel boutique to begin another uneventful walk toward our destination which was the town hall.
We arrived at the event to see a huge but empty sitting area with a large stage standing proudly in front of it, I and Flutters enter the backstage area to see plenty of ponies going around to prepare for their turn to perform. I see Blazing Heart and Rainbow chatting in chairs right next to our instruments. I clear my throat as I step in front of them and hand them their costumes "Here you go, Hope they are alright."
Blazing and Rainbow Dash nod and begin to dress themselves up as I look to Fluttershy and hand her outfit to her. I wait a few minutes for everypony to finish putting their outfits on and finally get a good look at how they look, Fluttershy was wearing a hoodie which on the front read 'The Bird of Hermes shall eat my wings'. It wasn't much but our official outfits were still in progress. Rainbow was wearing a black tank top with spike bracelets on her front hooves and Blazing was wearing a T-shirt with a crow on the front of it.
With everyponies costume on and ready to go, I finally decide to put on my costume which was a sleeveless hoodie which had my cutie mark plastered on the front and a black luchador mask with 3 holes at the top, allowing my mane to spill through and my ears to poke out. I look into a mirror and see myself in the mirror, I blink and see myself in the mirror still but it was not a pony in the mirror. It was the human me staring back at me with a death glare. I blink again and everything was back to normal, the pony me staring back in the mirror.
I sigh quietly before putting on a smile and turning back around to the 3 band members to see their approval, Fluttershy and Rainbow smile while Blazing nods with raised eyebrows. I walk to the curtain and peak through to see plenty of ponies coming and sitting down in the chairs that were laid out, I sigh again before looking to Rainbow Dash and asking "When are we going on?"
Rainbow then handed me a piece of paper showing a list of ponies and the talent they're showcasing, I lift my brow as I see that we are the final performance. I take a seat in a chair that was next to Blazings, soon after Blazing Heart and Rainbow Dash sit in the seats they were in before but that left no seats for Fluttershy. I felt bad to let a girl stand so I go to stand but is immediately weighed down by Fluttershy who sits on my lap, I feel my face get hot as I look over to Rainbow and Blazing to see them stifling their laughs but they stop when I give them a glare.
Fluttershy leans against me and wraps a foreleg around my neck as she nuzzles into my neck so I return the gesture by petting her back softly. I look to my left to see Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity approaching us so I wave at them. They giggle at the sight of me and Flutters making me blush once more. Twilight is the first to stop giggling and say "Guess you guys have gotten super close since the last time we saw each other"
I roll my eyes before saying "Do you want to hear about our sex life as well or are you going to give us words of encouragement"
Twilight blushes as Applejack and Rainbow burst out laughing while Pinkie had an unreadable expression, Applejack says through giggles "Good luck on your performance sugarcube"
Applejack and Twilight leave but Rarity and Pinkie stay behind, Flutters hops off my lap and walks over to Rarity to talk about something as Pinkie leans towards me to whisper in my ear "You see them too?"
I tilt my head in confusion before asking "See what?"
Pinkie (who was still whispering for some reason) answers "The audience, the readers, the author. controlling our thoughts and actions through the press of key"
I lean away in discomfort as I say "No?"
Pinkie turns back to her normal self as she says "Oh okay, forget I said anything then." She hops off to where Twilight and Applejack were sitting, I sigh and shake my head as I walk over to the curtains that covered the stage and peak out to see the Princesses sitting at the back with Twilight.
I sit back down in my seat as the mayor goes onto a podium and announces the beginning of the talent show "I like to thank you for coming out to the town hall and watching ponies showcase their talents, our first performance is Sweetie Belle who is going to be singing"
I hear the singing but it's quickly drowned out by my thoughts as I retreat back into my head and think about how I'm going to tell the girls about the upcoming date... Well make that dates since my birthday is in November, November 30th to be exact. I sigh mentally as I play out multiple scenarios in my head on how their reaction could go down.
Having fun?
Be quiet, you aren't exactly making me feel better
I know how to make you feel worse, you're going to have to tell them about me as well.
I plant my face into my hooves and rub my eyes while I let out a dramatic sigh.
I'm going to have an aneurysm soon.
I can help guide you through it, I've been trying to find ways to split from you temporarily so like a 'copy of you always stuck 30 feet close to you' type deal. And maybe a permanent split because I bet you want privacy in your mind.
I don't really mind you being in my head but it would be neat to have it back, maybe you could learn to become a functioning member of society.
What? You don't trust me to make my own decisions?
You're a spirit with bloodlust problems.
Speaking of bloodlust, I kinda wish those birds would come back so I could quench my thirst for blood. By the way, it's almost time for you to go up.
Wait, what? Already?
It's just so the author can skip all the others performance because he is getting sick of writing this chapter.
NOT YOU TOO! You and Pinkie would be a great couple...
I am shaken out of my thoughts as I look up to see Rainbow who says "Yo, it's our time to go on."
I nod with and smile as I stand up from the chair before asking "This your first time performing live?"
She shook her head and answered "Nah, did a few gigs with some friends for some clubs before I moved to Ponyville" I nod before walking onto the stage which was dark, I see Rainbow Dash point to a raised platform on the stage while she says "That's your spot. Since there is going to be flashing lights and all that, you have a little safe spot in the back but there will be dim lights so the ponies can actually see you"
I smile before telling her "Just like we planned" I walk up some stairs that lead to the platform. On the platform was a microphone attached to a stand, the platform itself was around 5 ft high and had some walking space so I could move around.
I look to Fluttershy who was to the left of me, she looks back at me so I nod to her and mouth "You'll do great" She seemed to get the message as she smiles and nods back. I look to Rainbow Dash and Blazing who were to my right and nod at them, they nod back as they got ready to play.
Mayor Mare walked onto her podium and she announces "Again I thank you all for coming to this event and now for final performance. Rainbow Dash, Blazing Heart, Fluttershy, and Ray Joseph!"
The crowd gives an applause as the curtains open to the dark stage, I hear Blazing tap his drumsticks together 3 times before Rainbow begins to strum her guitar with her wings as an orange light shines upon her. 5 seconds later Blazing begins to play the drums in sync to the guitar before he cuts out as Rainbow strums the guitar strings for a few more beats before I grab the microphone stand and bring it close to me as I began to sing.
"Here from the king's mountain view
Fluttershy was bathed in a blue light as she began to play the bass so I continued
"But I, I would wish it all away.
Everything but the guitar cuts out as I sing a few notes before the instruments kick back in
"The devil and his had me down,
But you changed that all for me.
I pull the mic off of the stand and continue to sing as dim blue light shined down upon me
"Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn.
But I,
I lean forward as I sing the next lyrics
"So if I could I'd wish it all away.
I pull my bottom eyelid down and look at the Blazing Heart as I sing
"Damn my eyes...
I let go my eyelid as I look to Fluttershy who was slowly swaying her mane side to side as she played with a bright yellow light shining down on her before I watch Rainbow approach a microphone I modified for this song, she began to sing into mic causing robotic melodies to sound out of the speakers it was hooked up to. I look to Princesses as the drums start again and I speak
"Shine on forever.
Shine on upon the broken.
The guitar starts as a red light surrounded me, I began to sway around erratically and shout out
"Shine on forever,
Shine on upon the severed!
Divided I'm withering away!
Divided I'm withering away!
Shine on upon the many, light our way
I look around the crowd I could see the amazement on their face, I sway my head side to side slowly as I begin to whisper
"Breathe in union.
Silence, legion, save your poison
I drag out the final word as the instruments stop and all the lights turn blood red for a few seconds before I stop shouting and look at the crowd who were now out of their seats and stomping their hooves. I give a small bow and step down the stairs and off the stage, I see the Princesses and the girls walking up to us.
Pinkie Pie was hopping out of her skin as she said: "That was the best live performance I've ever seen! Rainbow is the second best guitar player I've ever seen"
Rarity also piped in "That was quite the show. Fluttershy, you were so good, darling"
I look to the Princesses and smile but a figure behind them catches my eye so I focus on the figure to see a twitching human with a blurred out face looking right at me. The sight of the biped causes me to flinch, closing my eyes in the process and when I open them, the human was gone without a trace. I look back up to the Princesses who both had a look of concern, Princess Luna asks "Are you alright? You seem a little shaken"
I shake my head and say "I'm fine, I'll tell you about it later."
Princess Celestia furrows her brow as she says "You can tell us, my little pony"
I sigh before saying "I don't want to ruin the mood, We'll talk about it later. We should see who wins"
Everypony looks back up to the stage as the Mayor steps onto her podium and says "As amazing as all the talents were, only one performance can come out on top..." She pulls out an envelope with her teeth before continuing "Anyways, the results are in!" She tears open the letter before pulling out a slip of paper and announcing "The Talent show's winner is... Ray Joesph, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Blazing Heart!"
Rainbow Dash lifts up with her wings before doing a loop in the air as she shouted "WE WON! WOOHOO!"
Fluttershy extends her wings out before letting out a quiet but adorable "Yay"
I and Blazing just look at each other and chuckle before we give each other a hoof bump, I was hugged by Fluttershy who said "Thanks for believing in me."
I look down at Fluttershy with a small smile before giving her a peck on the forehead "It was nothing Flutters. If anything, you believed in yourself"
Pinkie Pie pops in with "This calls for a PARTY! Let's go celebrate!"
Everypony started to head toward the Sugarcube corner so I started to follow before I was hold backed by a white hoof which belonged to Celestia, we stare at each other as Celestia tried to pick her words carefully "What's going on, are you okay?"
I look between Luna and Celestia before answering "No... I'm not okay Princess Celestia, I've been getting hallucinations more and more, I think I know why..."
Celestia looked more worried "And that reason is?"
I sigh as I hesitate to say before I finally spill the beans "on October 7th, 2019., the world ended. It's the 7th anniversary"
I saw her royal stature crack at me saying that, Luna placed a hoof on my shoulder so I look up at her as she says "We are so sorry, we wish we could do something"
I look down in thought before saying "You can help me by keeping an eye on me, Just in case they become too much..."
Celestia was confused before she realizes what I mean causing her eyes to widen, after a few seconds her eyes soften "Of course... I wish you the best of luck"
Author's Note
When in a dream sequence, I'll add colored text if there are more than two characters talking in the dream.
Stuff is going to turn dark, just a warning
Idk why but this took too long to make :/ sry
Where the Dead Lay and Where Some Crossover
I open my eyes to the cottage in view, smiling as I walk towards the humble abode. I say hello to all the animals that I walk by who which wave back and speak in the animal sounds they make. I see Fluttershy weirdly sitting in the lawn, slowly clawing at the dirt. I trot over to her and ask "Hey Flutters, What are you doing?" She ignores me as she continues to dig at the dirt with her hooves so I try again "Umm, Fluttershy? Are you okay"
This time she looks back but I wish she didn't, Her left eye was hanging from the socket and her jaw was missing. She was trying to pick what remained up of her lower jaw off the ground as she began to cry and gurgle cries for help. I go into panic mode and try to go to her side but everything turns black before a small light shines down in front of me with a dog bowl in the middle, the name 'Lulu' imprinted on the side.
Pictures of a black Yorkie dog run through my mind as I walk up to the bowl and pick it up before looking around the abyss. A faint barking is heard in the shadows so I look up to see the same dog that was from my memories right in front of me, the dog... no, MY dog sat down and wagged her tail as she looked at me with her tongue hanging out.
I smile as I feel my eyes tear up with the reunion of my dog but as I go to her, she disintegrates into ashes and ember right before me. I look at the pile of ash in front of me as I feel my heart shatter, I began to sob as I laid down next to the pile of ashes that was my dog and started to release all of the pent-up emotions that I kept in for years. My sobs died down to whimpers as I clumsily stand back up and wipe the tears from my eyes before looking back up to see the harsh ruins of Moscow, Russia.
My stare is attracted to all the building before I look down at myself to see that I am a Human again, I sigh before trekking on to the wasteland that was once my home. A glint of metal against light catches my eye as I look towards a rusty military Humvee, I cautiously step towards the vehicle to see a worn MP-443 Grach with 3 magazines sitting beside it. I pick up the handgun and see another mag in the gun itself so that makes 4 magazines, I pull the slide back slightly to see that it's fully loaded and ready so I release the slide and slide it into the waistband of my jeans.
I walk around the crumbling streets for what feels like hours before I come across 3 bandits looting a red pickup truck, I crouch down next to some sandbags and wait for them to go away. After 5 minutes I peak over my cover to see that the group was gone so I go to get up but I am kicked in the back, stopping me from standing up. I flip over and draw out my handgun before firing 3 bullets into my assailant, making him fall back with a trio of bullet holes in his chest.
Some yelling is heard so I stand back up to see 5 more thugs running toward me while firing their assault rifles at me so I duck back down, almost hit in the head by a bullet as it whizzes over my head. I pop out of cover before setting my sights on an opponent to my right and firing off 4 shots, 2 missing while one hits him in the leg and another hits him in the lung.
I take deep breathes to calm myself down before I run out of cover and fire 2 more bullets, both of them missing but causing the remaining foes to duck back behind cover. I slide into a rusty car and use it for protection as bullets begin to ping off the rusted metal or go straight through, nearly missing me. I stand up and fire another shot towards one of the thugs hiding behind a piece of rubble which went straight through his head.
I slide over the car hood before crouching behind a concrete roadblock, bits of concrete begin to shower over me as pieces of my cover are trimmed away by bullets. When the barrage of bullets pause, I stand back up and see two enemies trying to advance but are caught in my crosshairs so I unload 5 bullets upon then, 2 of them hitting one of the guys to my right and 3 hitting the one to my left. I crouch back down, just in time before the next volley of bullets coming my way.
Adrenaline pumping through my veins, I make a mad dash to the final bandit who was hiding behind a rusty SUV. I slip around the vehicle and surprise him by my sudden appearance before I shoot him once in the head. I look around at the downed thugs to see one trying to crawl away but was having a tough time doing so, I slowly walk up to him before emptying 3 more bullets into his back. The slide on my pistol locks back meaning the clip is empty, I sigh as I press the mag release causing the empty magazine to slide out before I shakily pull out another mag from my pocket and sliding it into the MP-443.
A sudden coughing fit erupts from my throat, the coughing goes on for about a minute before it stops. I take a few seconds to catch my breath before I spit out some mucus and continue to walk where my gut takes me, Another hour of walking goes by before I come across a small townhouse complex, memories of my childhood house passing by me like windows as I step onto the property. The temperature seemed to drop as my sight rested upon a single house. I slowly make my way up to the rotting house before looking through one of the windows which was connected to the kitchen, seeing no activity inside.
I walk up to the decaying door and slowly push it open and walk inside, I sigh as I slowly walk into the living room. A flat-screen TV was mounted to the wall as a grey couch sat from across the room with a rotten coffee table between the two. I sat down on the couch which caused dust and ash to puff into the air, I lean forward and plant my face into my hands as I let a long sigh. I sat there in thought for a few minutes before I feel someone take a seat beside me, I look up and turn my head to the right to see Luna with a saddened face.
She began to slowly rub my back with her hoof as I slowly morph back into a pony before I hear more hoofsteps to my left so I look to see my friends and Princess Celestia standing there with depressed expressions, even Pinkie's mane and tail was straight and darker than usual. I am soon tackled by a yellow blur so I look down to see Fluttershy sobbing into my chest, mumbling about how she's sorry and wishes she could help more. I hold Flutters close as I feel tears slowly rolling down my cheeks, Everypony else soon enters into a group hug except for Celestia who looks at me with sympathy.
Everything fades to black as I hear a rough male voice say "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts and I looked, and behold a pale horse and the name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him"
Author's Note
This chapter will be clearer in later chapters as its more deeper than a dream.
Based on a real dream I had.
I open my eyes to gun fire mixed in with faint screams that seem to come from nowhere. I slowly stand up but I nearly collapse, not realizing my fatigue from before. I sigh as I shakily walk over to the bathroom and stand at the sink, staring at myself in the mirror, examining the heavy bags under my eyes and the depressed frown I wore before I turn on the faucet and splash my face with the cold water.
As the water touches my face, all the screaming and gun shots cut to silence before I look at the mirror. I stare into the mirror before my skin appeared to be melt and boil off my bones, I shake my head to rid of the sight and step out of the bathroom. I look to the welcoming bed to see Fluttershy still sleeping, not wanting to disturb her, I slowly walk downstairs and look around for a piece of paper. I find one and grab a quill and ink before writing out 'Went out for a walk, I'll be back soon <3'.
I smile as I drew the heart out before placing the paper on the living room table, grabbing a blue sweater and walking out of the cottage. I began to trot towards town in thought but when I heard a click and the sight of a gun barrel out of the corner my eye, I quickly bring myself out of my thoughts and jump away from my attacker but when I look toward the pony in question, there was no one, not a pony around. I soon took in my new surroundings which appeared to be a forest, My eyes lay flat against my head as I realized that I was in the Everfree forest. I stand back up and dust myself off before looking around for any sign of Ponyville but any signs of smoke from chimneys where blocked by the leaves of the trees.
I sigh as I try to check up on Elijah because he hadn't said anything in a while "Hey Elijah are you-" I was cut off by more screams like the ones from earlier except they were way louder like ponies were screaming into my ears, I couldn't take it any longer so I ran over to the nearest tree and began to slam my head into it, hoping the blood-curdling screams would escape. After my head hits the tree 3 times, they stop but I feel a warm liquid trickle down my forehead.
I sigh as I randomly pick a direction and begin trekking in said direction, hoping I can get to civilization. I walk for a few minutes before I come across a clearing, it felt good to feel the sun but I still couldn't see any signs of Ponyville in sight. I sit down on a large rock and begin to regret leaving the cottage, the blood from my head wound was now dripping off my muzzle so I look around for any way to clean the blood off. Luckily there was a blue pond to my right so I trot over to it and dunk my head in and shaking my head a little before pulling my head out and shaking the water off but I open my eyes to the mushroom cloud I have come to known.
----Fluttershy's POV, 4 hours later-------
Ray has been gone for a worrying amount of time now, what if he got kidnapped by those griffons again? What if he injured himself and no one is around? I have to go look for him! I stand up hastily and gallop out the door toward Twilight's Library, I reach the front door and rapidly knock against a door till Twilight opens the door with an annoyed face "What is wrong Fluttershy?"
I quickly reply "Ray has been gone for a long time and I don't know where he is, have you seen him?"
Twilight's expression softens as she says "No I have not... Did he say what he was going to do before he left?"
I shook my head no before remembering the note he left "He left a note saying he was going for a walk but nothing else."
She then proceeded to call up to Spike "SPIKE! I'm going with Fluttershy to find Ray, send the other girls letters to meet at the Sugarcube corner"
Spike then walked down the stairs with a yawn before saying "Alright" as he heads toward a desk with parchment in claw.
I and Twilight then exited the Library and proceeded to walk to the Sugarcube Corner. After a 2-minute walk, we reach the fake gingerbread house and enter the bakery to see a few ponies sitting at tables eating treats and such while Pinkie sat behind the counter, giving Derpy her supply of muffins. Derpy spots us and greets us "Hey Fluttershy, Hey Twilight. Have you seen Ray lately, he hasn't been coming to the gun shop often."
I answer her "Ray has been going through a tough time this week, I was hoping you would know where he is."
Derpy frowns "Oh, Well sorry... If you do find him, Tell him that I hope he gets better"
I smile and say "I sure will."
Derpy waves goodbye as she leaves the bakery so we turn back to the task at hoof, Twilight and I walk up to Pinkie Pie who happily greets us "Hey you two! How can I help you?"
Twilight talks before me "Have you seen Ray around? He's been missing all day apparently."
Pinkie rubs he chin as she thinks before shaking her head no and saying "Sorry can't say I have, sorry"
I shake my head as I say "No, it's okay. I just hope he gets home safe from where ever he is..."
I hear the door open with the door chime ringing so I look back to see Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity walk through the door so I wave them over to a booth where we can sit and talk. We all sit down before Rainbow asks "What do you need us for? I was in the middle of napping when a scroll dropped on my head."
I roll my eyes and say "Ray is missing, he left a note this morning saying that he was going for a walk but never came back"
Everypony gave off expressions of worry before Applejack spoke up "We'll find him, don't worry Fluttershy"
I smile as everypony gave off a sign or word of approval but I could have sworn I heard a howl in the background...
----Ray Joseph's POV, 2 hours later----
I could hear the Timberwolves howl as I ran through this unforgiving maze of a forest. I just wanted to be back home with Flutters and not with these wooden mutts, I weaved through trees and vines as I could hear the paws of the Timberwolves hitting the ground from right behind me. I've been running for a while now and it's now taking a toll on me: my body was drenched in sweat with lashes along my torso from sharp branches, I had leaves stuck in my mane and mud caked to my legs which were really sore. I had tripped a few times, leaving clumps of dirt stuck in my fur. My blue sweater was ripped off earlier so I could feel the damp air against my scars and fur.
I was suddenly tackled from the side causing me to roll a few times with my assailant before I was eventually pinned to a tree. I look up to see a wooden wolf ready to take a snap at my neck so I try to push it away with my hooves but it just ended up clawing at my arms, leaving long claw marks which dug into my skin. Its snout was getting closer and closer to my jugular so, with my magic, I use the last of my reserves to launch fire into the beasts face. The best backs off and runs away while yelping from its ablaze face.
I stand back with some wobble before limping away before I am again pushed down by another Timberwolf and slashed at with its claws, I try to block my face from its attacks but it gets a good scratch at my face and half my vision goes dark. I whisper as I fight to keep the wolf away "Elijah, Where are you?" but I am soon clamped in the beast's jaw and shaken about before thrown right into another tree.
I fight to keep my conscience as I grab a branch with my mouth and tug it off the tree, I slowly limp toward blasted wolf as the wolf charges me. I waited till it was in reach before I side step and jam the sharp branch into the timberwolf's eye, causing it to yelp and fall to the ground. It squirmed around as I approached it and once I was close enough, I began to stomp its head in. The snapping of wood and my grunts filled the ambiance.
When the head was just a pile of lumber, I try to walk away but my body begins to sting in some locations so I look back to see the deep teeth and claw marks from the wolf that I stomped in with blood pouring out of the wounds, some of my flesh on the right side of my body was actually hanging off.
I sigh as I bear the pain and continue to walk through this wretched forest. After what felt like an eternity of pain and walking, I finally make it out of the forest. The sun was just setting and I could see Fluttershy but her voice was muffled and her face was horrified, I can only smile before my vision goes blurry and the world begins to spin before fading into black.
----Fluttershy's POV----
Ray is still gone and the day was about to end, terrible thoughts plagued my mind as I was walking toward my cottage with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. We were skimming the treeline of the forest when some rustling of leaves and bushes were heard from inside. Twilight and I back away as Rainbow leans down into a battle stance but what comes out was not what I expected, Ray was pushing aside some bushes before he notices me and looks up to smile but my eyes were locked on his closed eye which had a deep cut going diagonally over it.
His body was riddled with bleeding teeth marks and scratches along with patches of dirt stained into his fur, He soon began to wobble a bit before falling onto his side. Without any other thought, I sprint over to his side and held up his head. The world blurred and sounds around me were indistinguishable as I stared down at Ray's face which was caked in his own blood from his eye, I look to Twilight and Rainbow who were staring back before Twilight snapped out of her daze and told Rainbow Dash something but all I heard was muffled voices.
Rainbow soon flew off at light speed before Twilight galloped over to me and grabbed picked him in her magic, I let go as he is lifted up and taken with Twilight as she runs off. I sit there for a few seconds more before I shake myself out of my daze and go after Ray and Twilight. After a few seconds of running, I open my wings and begin to flap them before taking flight into the dusk sky.
I fly over to the Hospital and I see Twilight enter it so I dive down and land in front of the large building before galloping through the doors, I see Ray being pushed off on a stretcher with a few doctors by his side while Twilight and Rainbow sit in some chairs. I trot over to them and sit down, my emotions soon take me over as I begin to sob. I feel Twilight and Rainbow wrap their hooves around me in an attempt to comfort me but I couldn't get my self together so I just let it all out. I bury my head into Rainbows shoulder and continue to cry
----Ray's POV----
I was in the void from the time I first arrived in Equestria, floating about the peaceful aura that plagued the place until the same female voice from last time speaks out "Hello again, You and Soul have gotten along well"
My ear's twitch at the sound of Elijah's real name so I respond back "Indeed, he has been quiet for a while though..."
A child-like giggle sounded out through the void while I heard Elijah say "I was just visiting Mother, let us make the surroundings less ominous."
The void slowly morphed into an endless field with a bright sun overhead and a windmill on the horizon, I hear hoofsteps from behind me so I turn around to see Elijah with an Alicorn beside him, the said Alicorn was all-white except her mane and tail which was dark red and her dark blue eyes. She introduced her self "I am Queen Faust, Mother of Celestia, Luna, and Soul Reaper."
My eyes- Er, I mean my eye widened at the realization before asking "So Elijah is Celestia's and Luna's brother?"
Elijah chuckled a bit before he said: "I couldn't believe it either."
Faust tilted her head "You call Soul Reaper 'Elijah'? Why?"
I shrugged and answered "I thought it was a better name than Soul Reaper"
Faust put a hoof to her chin and said: "I suppose so."
I took in all this new information before realizing something "Wait, so are you a Goddess?" She nodded with a smile but I remember my predicament from before so I ask "How bad do I look?"
Faust and Elijah winced at my question before a mirror popped out of nowhere so I look into it to see a scar running over my eye as well, A memory from that terrifying dream came back to me as a picture of Fluttershy with her left eye hanging out of the socket entered my mind, meaning the dream predicted that this would happen.
Suddenly two bright flashes appeared from behind the mirror so I peek around to see Celestia and Luna dazed and confused. They see Faust and their confused expressions are exchanged with joy as they both shout "Mother!"
The Princesses ran over to Faust and both wrapped them in a hug but Faust easily stood a foot taller over them. Celestia takes a look at me and turns away but takes a double take before asking "Ray Joseph? What are you doing here," She looked over to Elijah and continues "And who are you?"
Elijah chuckles and says "Is that a way to greet your brother?"
Luna and Celestia became confused once more before Luna asked: "What do you talk about, Elijah?"
Celestia was even more confused as she says "You know him?!?"
I couldn't help to chuckle but it soon comes out as a coughing fit, my lungs began burned as I hacked up saliva also bringing the attention of Everypony around. Faust looked worried as she questioned, "Are you okay?"
I hit my chest a few times with my hoof before saying "Yeah yeah, I'm fine."
Celestia and Luna soon took notice of my state so Celestia asked: "What happen to you?"
I touch my now destroyed eye with my left hoof and say "Those wooden mutts got to me, I killed a few but one got the sneak up on me"
Celestia seemed to scan me with her magic before saying "Ah yes, you're in a medically induced coma right now."
I nod as Luna shook her head a bit before going back to the first question "Elijah, What did you mean when you said that you were our brother?"
Elijah nodded and said "I was created by Faust and just recently found out that she's your mother"
Celestia rubbed her temple before asking again "Who is he?"
I spoke up to answer the question "He's been living inside my head ever since I first arrived In Equestria."
Celestia seemed to try and clear out her ear before trying to confirm what he said: "Did he just say that 'Elijah' is living inside his head?" Everypony nodded slowly so she massaged her temples once more before saying "I'm gonna go process all this Information, It's really great to see you mother and I hope you get better, Ray"
I nod slowly as Luna speaks up "I shall come with, sister"
Elijah hilariously butted in "You don't give your brother a hug goodbye?"
Luna sighed as Celestia giggled and gave Elijah a quick hug before they backed away and disappeared. I look to Faust and ask "What now?"
Faust looked at me with a smile before getting close to me and wrapping a wing around me "Now you wake up young one."
One Week Later... October 7th, 2025. 1:34 AM
I open my eyes to a darkened room and a beeping to my side with a window to my side, the curtains were open so I could see the full moon in the sky. I was in a comfy bed with a white blanket over me, I sigh and try to sit up but I wince as a burning pain runs through my torso. I push the blanket aside to see that it is covered in bloody bandages. I look at the beeping noise to see a heart monitor, I chuckled but soon go into a coughing fit from my sore throat.
I hear the beeping on the heart monitor rise in tempo as the coughing went on for another few seconds before the coughing ceases and the beeps decrease to its normal speed, I go to rub my eyes but I feel a bandage over my left eye so I just rub my right eye and yawn. I sit in the silence for another minute before I decide to head back to bed, hoping to gain a few more hours of sleep. I lay back down and pull the sheet over with my magic, closing my eye in the process.
In the Morning... October 7th, 2025. 7:40 AM
I wake to that monotonous noise of the heart beep monitor and chirping of birds, I sit up and yawn while trying to stretch out my stiff spine. I let out a sigh as I relax against the headboard of the bed. I hear the door of the room being open so I look to said door to see a mare with white fur and light pink hair, she was also wearing a hat that had a red cross with hearts on it so I assumed she was a nurse or something. We stare at each other for a few seconds before she clears her throat and says "Hello?"
I nod and try to greet her back "H-Hello" My voice was very rough and my throat was pretty dry so I kindly ask the mare "Can I have a glass of water, please?"
She nods and says "Alright, I'll be right back sir." She backs out of the room and closes the door, leaving me to my thoughts for a minute. The minute goes by fast as I look at the door when I hear the handle turn, the nurse enters again with a cart that had a glass of water and 2 pancakes on it. I smile as she approaches me causing her to smile back and say "I figured you'd be hungry so I got you some breakfast"
I nod and thank her before she picks up a tray with her teeth and attaches it to the hospital bed before pushing the tray in front of me. She goes to pick up the plate but I say "No, I can get it"
She seems unsure but agrees anyways so I carefully pick up the water and plate of pancakes with my magic before setting them down onto the tray, I nod with a smile and she says "Is that everything?"
I nod again before a thought enters my head so I ask "How long have I been asleep and where am I?"
I go to take a sip from the glass of water as she says "You've been out for 8 days and you're in the Ponyville hospital, sir."
My eyes widen as I choke on the water and began to cough "Holy fucking shit!"
The nurse winces at my swearing but doesn't comment on it. She waits for a second for me to stop coughing before asking "Is this all you need?"
I sat and began to think of stuff to need before my brain focuses on a certain group of girls but I push it aside and say "That's everything."
The Nurse nods and says "Alright, just push the green button on the bed to call me if you need anything" I nod so she leaves the room and shuts the door, leaving me to my thoughts.
I rub my eyes and let out a yawn as I stare out the window of my room to see Rainbow Dash pushing clouds around, she looked depressed as she disappeared out of my view. I lay back and let out a sigh, closing my eyes for a few seconds before opening them but I was not in the hospital as I was before. I was now in a decaying bedroom, the paint on the walls peeling off and a layer of dust covering everything and the beeping of the machine gone.
The more I looked around the bedroom, the more it seemed familiar, the worn out posters, the rusty TV, the dust-covered toys littered about the room. An unknown male voice says to me "Seem familiar? It should"
But before I could inspect the room any further, I blink and I am back in the hospital room. The beeping of the heart monitor resuming which was already making me annoyed, I would see if there was some volume button but I didn't want to mess with it unless I wanted to pay for a new one. I look down at my plate to see that I somehow already eaten the pancakes I got a minute ago and half of the water in the glass cup was gone, My right ear swivels toward the door as I hear hoofsteps and the door handle turning. I see the nurse from before entering my room and clear her throat before asking "You have a visitor, do you want to see them?"
I nod as I take a sip of water, she nods and goes to get said visitor but I stop her and ask "Don't tell them I'm awake yet, I want it to be a surprise" The nurse giggles and nod before exiting the room to fetch the visitor, I grab the plate and cup with my magic before sliding them under the bed so any evidence of me being awake is gone. I go into a fake slumber and lay still, I wait a 2 minutes before I hear the door open and quiet hoofsteps approach my bed.
I hear a sniffle and feel somepony lay bury their face into my chest, I hear Fluttershy's voice speak up but its muffled by my chest so I couldn't properly hear her. I crack open my only eye to see the yellow pegasus quietly sobbing into my fur, I suddenly feel bad for not letting her know that I'm not in the coma anymore so I break the act and slowly stroke her hair with my hoof.
She freezes and slowly looks up at me, she stares into my eyes before smiling with tears in her eyes and lunging her forelegs around my neck. I feel a sharp pain in my side but stay quiet as I hug her back, Flutters begins to incoherently sob into my shoulder so I rub her back softly and quietly shush her like a crying baby "It's okay Flutters, I'm alright"
She lifts her head from my shoulder and says "I thought you weren't going to wake up, I waited here every day for you to wake up but you wouldn't!"
Before she could continue to ramble on about how she thought I was dead, I kissed her on the lips silencing her. The kiss held for a few seconds before we part our lips and look at each other, I brush aside some of her mane that was blocking her face before smiling at her. She takes a few deep breathes to calm herself before smiling back. I sit my pillow against the headboard and lay against it as I ask "What did I miss?"
Fluttershy then went on about boasting magicians and a bug infestation which was pretty wild to me. soon enough, a knock at the door was heard before it was opened by a yellow glow of magic and in walked Princess Celestia. She gave me a motherly smile as she walked up to my bedside, asking "How are you feeling?"
I nodded and answered, "Could be better but I'd say I'm pretty good considering the situation..."
Celestia stifled a laugh with her hoof before saying "You are indeed correct, do the others know of your awakening?"
I shook my head and replied "No and I'd like to keep it that way until I recovered a little more"
The Princess nodded before lowering her head in thought, after of few seconds she looked back up and asked: "How about you come to the castle for the wedding of Shining Armor who is Twilights brother and then you could reveal yourself when the rest of the elements arrive for the wedding preparations?"
I gave it thought before thinking what could go so wrong so I say "That could work... I just need to get a few things."
Author's Note
Yes, as you can probably tell if you have seen the wedding episode, more action is coming :D Just sit tight
Ray Joesph/Black Anarchy
Characteristics -Human
-Pony
Clothing -Human
-Pony
Weapons
Author's Note
I wanted to give out a detailed list of what Ray/Anarchy are equipped with and what he is wearing.
