the Six Heroes

Down at Sweet Apple Acers, the trees in the west orchard were being shaken and rumbled, as the ground shook with great force. With the arbor jig that the trees were doing, with each thunderous ground shake, the trees loose their crimson jewelry of apples which fall into the various baskets placed at the trees roots. Trotting around the trees and inspecting the baskets, and after seeing that the trees were bare of fruit, and the apples looked un-bruised, the two ponies turned to look at the towering metal skin giant.

“At this rate we’ll be done before it even reaches noon.” Applejack said as she trotted up to Steel, before patting him on the knee. “You really are a life saver Steel.”

“E’yup!” Big Mac said as he began loading the filled baskets into the wagon.

“Glad to help.” Steel said as he reverted back to his normal state, pushing back his dreadlocks behind his head. once his dreadlocks were brushed back, the young man looked down at Applejack, a slight concern look in his eyes. “How are you feeling AJ? Still a little shaken from what happened in Manehatten?” the farmer gave a small shutter as she thought back to that day, and what she and Twilight found in that old building.

“I’m…fine. For the most part at least, it’s just—”

“Not used to seeing that much death?” the farmer nodded.

“Nothing like that ever happens in Equestria.” Applejack shuddered again as she imagines her little sister among the bodies in Vermin’s lair. “But what I still can’t believe is that thing…was like you and your friends.” Steel gives a knowing sigh as he scratches his head.

“That’s the thing, nobody knows what powers they’ll develop till it matures, and sometimes whatever power the person gets ends up dooming them.” Steel said in a somber tone as he looks up at the sky. “Vermin and Dragonface just happened to end up with a power that they just couldn’t handle.”

The conversation on humans and the fate that their possible powers may bring them, was interrupted by the sound of a bell dining, singling to the two farm ponies and Steel, that an early lunch was ready for them. the trio then made their way to the farm house, where the smell of apple fritters and apple pie lured the hungry workers, but it wasn’t just pleasant pastries for lunch. There was a spread of sandwiches—flower free—a large bowl of mixed green salad, and a nice small bowl of dill pickles for Steel. The guy loves dill pickles. Once everyone has got their own plate of salad and sandwich, along with a fritter, the group sat on the picnic table outside, enjoying the nice weather as they eat. As they ate Granny Smith came trotting out with a pitcher of fresh ice cold lemonade, on her back with a few glasses.

“Whose up for a swig of lemonade?” all three workers said ‘Me’, getting a chuckle from the old mare as she dishes out the glasses, before pouring them their drinks. “Well Steel mah boy, how’s you liking being here in Equestria so far?” the old mare asked after pouring the young man’s drink.

“Definitely better than back home.” Steel said before taking a small sip of his drink, then munching away on a pickle.

“Well that’s good to hear. And you’ve certainly been a big help around the farm sonny.” Granny Smith then took her seat at the table, and began eating her own lunch. As the group continues to eat, making idle chat to help pass the time. “By the way sonny, have you found yourself a good mare yet?” the old ponies question caused Steel to nearly choke on his salad, and Applejack to nearly snort her drink out of her nose.

“What makes you ask that?” Steel questioned the old mare.

“If you’re sticking around permanently, I’d figure you’d be pretty lonely for ya. Even if you got your buddies and all, life would be better if you got yourself a lady friend to keep you company.” Steel blushed, more because of the awkward situation that the groups lunch has turned into, but even then…

“…I’m not quite sure if I’m ready for a partner.” Steel said as he scratched the back of his head.

“And why not?” Granny Smith asked. “You’re young, fit, and plenty reliable—”

“That’s not it Granny Smith.” Steel said as he cut the old mare off. “I just don’t know if I’m ready to, converge. If you know what I mean.”

“What do you mean sugarcube?” Applejack asked, genuinely curious about Steel’s statement.

“Well me and crew have only been in your world for about, two weeks or close to it, so…coming from a world where there were women around…finding a mare equally as, attractive. Is going to take a little more time to get used to.”

Applejack seemed to get what Steel is trying to say. If she was brought to another world, and decided to stay, she would find it hard to transition from finding the other race’s male, attractive. Although, ever since Steel and his friends decided to stay in Ponyville, and that he’s been working with her at the farm, Applejack has began to see Steel as appealing. His tall muscular form really strokes her in the right way, as she always did had a thing for stallions that have some muscle on them, as well as being very dependable.

The conversation then steered away from about Steel’s love life, or lack thereof, to other topics as the group finishes up their lunch. But as they continued eating, Steel started to wonder if whenever the time comes up, will he actually date a mare? Or even try to build a life with a mare? Thoughts like these never really came to Steel’s mind even when he had the option to date a normal girl, as he was more focused on not being caught by the government, or by their giant robotic units, the Collectors. But since he’s in a more safer world, and if a mare was interested, he might be able to actually have a relationship, even if his partner walks on four legs. Once lunch was over with, and the dishes were cleaned up, Applejack and the others went back to gathering up the apples from earlier, and bringing them to the barns apple cellar.

~~Sugarcube Corner~~

“Circus could you hand me the brown sugar and cinnamon.” Miss. Cake asked the young man off to her right, who was mixing up a fresh batch of coffee cake batter. Without answering Circus’s left hand detached from his body, and floated over to a cupboard and grabbed a bag of brown sugar, before bringing it to the mare then floated back to the cupboard to grab the bag of cinnamon.

“Thank you dear.”

“No problem.” Circus said in a dreary tone, something that the older mare took notice of.

“Circus, is everything alright? You been quiet ever since breakfast.” Circus stopped his mixing and let out a small exhale.

“Ever since Plasma and Wave came back from that little venture to the big city, and told us what happened, I guess it’s still bugging me.” Circus said as he turned to look at the mare, leaning against the counter. “I just don’t like hearing about other Un-Naturals being killed, it just…I don’t know, it just always gets to me.”

“Don’t worry dearie, if you don’t want to talk about it, then you don’t have to.”

“It’s not that it’s a sensitive subject or anything, It’s just…a lot of Un-Naturals—” Miss. Cake cut Circus off by patting his leg and giving him a comforting smile, the pair then decided to drop the subject and go back to finishing up their prep work.

After the afternoon rush came down to a crawl, and ponies were busy at their own work, Circus decided to take a walk around the town, and even though they didn’t continue to talk about the topic, Circus was still feeling a little gloomy about the fate of Vermin. The young man, as well as his friends, never liked hearing about an Un-Natural being killed, as the event is usually a celebration back on Earth whenever it happens. And the feeling is only worst whenever the group hears about an Un-Natural being killed, by another Un-Natural, which is an even rarer event. Shaking the unpleasant thoughts out of his head, Circus continues to wonder around town till his stomach started to grumble. Looking around his immediate vicinity, and saw the Prancing Pony restaurant across from him.

“Hope they got things other than hay and other pony foods there.” Circus quietly says to himself as he walks over to the building, where upon entering the establishment was meet with—

“Oh, hey Burner.”

“Hey Circus.” The brown haired human said to his friend. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing really, just thought I stop by for lunch.” Circus said to his friend. “You got any open tables?”

Burner nodded and brought Circus to a table near one of the windows, and as the two humans made their way to the table, a few of the ponies inside watched them past by with varying degrees of interest. Some of the ponies who aren’t from Ponyville watched them with greater interest, studying them like they were the most fascinating book in the world, one pony in particular off in the farthest corner was really interested with them. reaching the table Burner simply gave Circus a menu and wondered off to the kitchen, to get a drink for his friend something to drink, thankfully this world has the same drinks as they had on Earth. Circus was studying the menu to see what there was to eat, seeing a variety of different vegetable dishes, salads, and even some dessert and soft drinks, and surprisingly some dishes with fish in them.

As he continuous to think of what to eat, a gentle tapping sound causes the young man to glance to his right, and saw a pony looking at him. the pony was a light brown unicorn mare with a dirty blonde styled mane and tail, with a pair of black half-moon spectacles nestled on the ridge of her snout.

“Is there something I can help you miss?” Circus asked the mare that was looking up at him.

“Forgive me, I don’t mean to stare.” The mare said as she adjusts her glasses with her golden magic. “It’s just, I’ve studied every type of creature that exist in the world, but I’ve never seen you or your friend.”

“Well that’s understandable, since we’re from another world.”

“Another world?” Circus nodded to the mare, who seemed to have a small flash of realization. “Wait…are you one of those strange creatures, that came out of the sky during princess’s Cadence wedding?” Circus’s head floated off his body, and hovered in front of the now shock mare, all the while giving a cheeky smile.

~~Earth~~

Enigma was wondering through the streets of London, flanked by two men each wearing a trench coat, and appear to be looking for something. one a foot taller than the old man with short brown hair, light tan skin and glowing yellow eyes. The other man is of similar stature, but his complexion is of a darker skin tone, and his hair is long and unruly, his dark brown eyes focused and yet fidgety scouring the area.

“Sir if I may ask, why are we in London?” the brown haired man said to his boss as they continue to waltz through the streets of Whitechapel.

“We are searching for someone that I hope we can recruit for our takeover of—”

The sound of a woman screaming causes the three men to jump in fright. After collecting themselves, the three men ran to where the screaming came from, and upon reaching the end of street the three men saw the source. Staked to the side of a building, like the lord Christ, was a woman’s body, guts ripped straight out of her stomach and stringed about her body and the wall. Enigma and his two henchmen also noticed that the woman’s head was severed from her body, and that the flesh on her arms were ripped off to expose the muscle and bone…but what truly caused the following silence, was the large wings and halo painted on the wall. All made from the blood of the woman’s body.

“It would appear that we are on the right track.” Enigma said as he looked to his left. “Rabid, can you sniff out the one whose done this?”

The shaggy haired man took in a deep inhale through his nose, which he started to pick up various scent trails, but one got his attention, and that was the smell of blood. Not only was the scent emanating from the body, which was starting to have cops come riding in to check up on it, but it was leading the trio of men away from the crime scene. Maneuvering through alleyways, Enigma and his other henchman follow the one called Rabid, his nose occasionally sniffing the air. And after about a few minutes of following the scent of blood, the group came upon a rather unsuspecting building, where they could hear a voice from the backyard, which gotten louder and more clear as they made their way to the fence. Where the door was busted down and a large red hand print slathered on the door.

Entering the yard the trio saw the source of the voice, kneeled over a pool. The figure was a rather scrawny person, even under the somewhat baggy clothes he was wearing, they three men can tell he was really skinny. His clothes comprise of a loose jacket, a pair of dark blue jeans, but the sleeves of the jacket seemed to be torn, or ripped off. As they approached the figure, the three men heard the person talk more to himself.

“Another master piece…but there was still more to do, I could’ve made her better. Make her really shine like a real angel.” The figure muttered to himself, his voice young sounding…and clearly, deranged.

“But soon I will show the people that despite their—FILTHY LIVES OF HATERED—they can be works of beautiful artwork!” Enigma cleared his throat to get the young man’s attention.

The figure slowly rose to his feet, where the three men saw something being pulled out of the water, and when the figure turned to face them, they saw what came out of the water. Large muscular pitch black arms, as long as the young man himself who stood at 5’ft tall, slumped to the ground, where large hand laid palm up…with foot long razor sharp shining black claws extended out of the fingers. Enigma and his men looked away from the impressive arms, and looked up to the figures face, where a nearly pale face with a head of matted dirty blonde hair, and hollow looking blue eyes gazed at them. a twisted smile slowly growing on the young man’s face.

“And it would seem, I’ve found my newest pieces of art!” the deranged Un-Natural gleefully said with a wheeze of excitement, as he made his way over to Enigma and his men, arms being dragged behind him before being raised into the air.

“Now come to my loving embrace, and I will make you, beautiful.”