I suppose a lot of you are wondering who I am. To be honest, that’s a fairly good question. If you had asked me that a few years ago, I could have answered that easily. I would have said ‘Hey. I’m Jake Gray. I’m a twenty eight year old resident of Brooklyn. I am an officer with the NYPD. I enjoy reading, video games, and bike riding.’
At least, that’s what I would have said.
Before my life changed for the worse.
Let me explain. About eight years ago, a company called Dynamicorp was involved in making physical augmentations for police officers. I was one of the first twenty who were picked for the trial run of these augments. The augments were in the form of a pair of metal gloves that would go up to your elbow and a pair of metal boots that would go up to your knee. They were meant to enhance the user’s senses, strength, and reaction times. They were built so that they could be taken on and off at will. Something went wrong with the procedure, however. After the procedure and calibration tests, I was told to take off the augments. It couldn’t have been simpler. I just had to hit the release button and take them off like a normal pair of boots and gloves. But when I went to take them off, they wouldn’t move. It turns out that the doctors accidentally fried the circuits, and the release mechanism was jammed. For hours, the doctors tried to fix the problem, but to no avail. They were permanently attached to me.
Over the course of a few months, I learned to adjust to using the augments for day-to-day life. It was hard, to say the least, but with the support of my family I was able to begin being normal again.
The others, not so much. Over time, the other officers who were augmented were caught abusing their power, and dealing serious damage to people for things like shoplifting and traffic violations. Each time they were arrested and tried, the augments were found to be the source of the problems. After three cases, the augments were discontinued. Each officer was required to turn in their augments for disposal. I say ‘required’ because every one of the augmented officers that weren’t arrested went missing shortly after the order was given. I was the only one who didn’t go crazy with power, but they couldn’t take any chances, and I was kicked off the force.
I had no luck finding a solid career. The only thing I had wanted to do in life was become a police officer, but thanks to the augments no police force would take me. For a year afterwards, I did different odd jobs around town in order to make money. My family struggled, but we stayed strong throughout.
We stayed strong, until that one fateful day.
It was a clear night. The stars were sparkling in the sky, like tiny diamonds embedded in a black fabric. I was heading home from another odd job. I was tired, frustrated, and eager to get home to my loving family. As I walked through the streets, the world carried on. People walked, talked, shopped, and generally lived their lives. As I walked up to my door, I noticed that it was ajar, and the lock was broken. I immediately realized that this was a break-in, and sprung into action. I ran into the house, and found that everything in the house was either thrown or broken. Holes were punched in walls, and shattered glass littered the floor. When I reached the living room, I found a man dressed in full black, rifling through the drawers. I sprinted at him, hoping to catch him by surprise, but he blocked my right hook, spinning around and following through with a right hook of his own. I barely had time to raise my arm to block. As I blocked, I tried to get a good look at his face, but it was covered by a metal mask. His sleeve slipped down his arm slightly, and I got a look at what was under it.
It was a metal glove.
Just like mine.
I was so stunned I didn’t notice his knee eagerly making its way to my stomach. As the knee impacted, I lost my breath, and hunched over. He reeled his leg back in, intending to take full advantage of this prime opportunity. Before I could block, the knee sprung back forward and hit me right in the face. The force was enough to knock me back several feet and lay me down flat on my ass. As I laid there, the masked man walked towards me and knelt down, so he could speak to me face to face.
“Good to finally see you again...brother.” He sounded like he was talking through a radio, not unlike the stormtroopers from Star Wars. Seems kind of reasonable, given the mask. I was confused by him referring to me as brother, since I grew up as an only child. Whether it was from the concussion or the confusion, I said the first thing that came to mind.
“Joke’s on you, stranger...” After I said that, I punched him in the face, making him stagger back. I took this opportunity to get back on my feet. When I stood back up, I felt like I left my line from before slightly incomplete, so I decided to add onto it.
“I’m an only child.” There, that’s suitably witty enough. On with the action.
As i finished talking, He charged at me, winding his right arm back for a wild haymaker. I easily dodged and countered with a punch to the sternum, followed by grabbing his collar, pulling him close, and elbowing him in the face. I tried reeling back for another strike, but he managed to escape from my grasp. He jumped out of a window, yelling out “You will come to us one day, brother!” as he ran. I was about to follow him, but I remembered what was more important, and went to look for my family.
I searched through every room, and found nothing but broken objects and general chaos. But, as I neared the bedroom, I noticed a blood stain on the wall. It was in the vague shape of a hand dragging along the wall, as if the person the print belonged to was trying to grab onto something. I knew this wouldn’t be good. As I busted through the door, I found the worst nightmare any father or husband could conjure from the darkest depths of their mind; I found the motionless bodies of my wife and child, neatly laid on the bed, arms crossed over their chests, as if the killer had already held a funeral. All I could do was weep as I cradled my wife in my arms, cursing the absentee god that would allow such a thing to occur. At that moment, I vowed to find the killer, and make him pay.
Six years. Six...long...years. That’s how long it took to find this man, to get to this point. I had been looking for so long, following lead after lead to dead end, putting down various underworld bosses, but it was about 3 months ago that I finally caught up with the man who murdered my family. It was a long, drawn out fight, but at the end, when I had one hand around his chin and the other around the back of his head, he spilt everything. I learned more on that night than at any point in the past 6 years.
Apparently, the augments contained small needles, which would inject a chemical mixture that did two things. First off, it caused increased aggression and shortened temper. The plan was for the officers to go crazy because of the serum, causing them to be booted out of the police force. From there, the second part of the serum kicked in; mind control. Dynamicorp would control the minds of these former officers, making it oh so easy to transport them to their headquarters. When they arrived, the mind control was solidified, turning each of the officers into the company’s private army. The fuck-up during my surgery must have fried the circuits controlling the needles as well as ones controlling the release mechanism. Why this poor bastard told me all of this, I may never know, but i’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. As I snapped his neck, I thanked him for being so open.
Now that I knew the true culprit, I knew my plan of attack. For three months, I gathered what I would need, which could be summarized in three words; guns, ammo, explosives. Now, here I stand, In front of the Dynamicorp building, ready to give them hell. Time to go over my checklist, just to make sure...
Guns: Two M9 pistols
Ammo: Enough to overthrow a small country
Explosives: Just enough C4 to bring the building down. Also, a few Semtex grenades, just in case...
Outfit: Red hoodie, black balaclava, black track pants, gloves, combat boots, bulletproof vest. All good.
So, now to answer your question from before. Who am I? I am Bloodflow, and I am going to make these bastards pay...
Infiltrate and Exterminate
My plan of attack was simple: Go into the building, plant the explosives, kill the CEO personally, make my way out, detonate the bombs, and kill every bastard that tries to stop me. Couldn’t be more simplified if I tried. As I walked into the front lobby, I couldn’t help but admire the craftsmanship. The ceiling was easily two stories up, with beautifully carved pillars holding it all in place. Everything inside screamed ‘tasteful and civilized’, from the paintings on the wall to the chairs in the waiting area. The only positive point about the whole area was that I didn’t have to go down to the parking garage in order to bring the place down. I was greeted by two armed guards.
“We need to frisk you before we let you enter. Please raise your arms.” As instructed, I raised my arms, but I purposely let my sleeves slide about halfway down my arms, giving both guards full view of my metal gloves.
“Holy shit, he’s the-” Before he could finish his sentence, I brought my fists down on both their heads, cracking their skulls wide open. At this point, I expected most of the people in the area to either cower or run. What I did not expect was for most of them to pull out guns.
“It’s Bloodflow. Get him!”
“Kill the bastard!”
“Let’s get him!”
I immediately dove behind a pillar and pulled out my pistols as the air around me was temporarily replaced by lead. Almost everyone in the lobby was firing on me, and those who weren’t were already killed in the crossfire. At least I wouldn’t have any moral qualms about blowing the building up, seeing as it felt like everyone from the guards to the janitors had guns. All I could do was take pot shots every once in awhile. Luckily, I was a good shot, so I could put one enemy down almost every time. Eventually, the crowd was thinned out enough for me to run from pillar to pillar, placing bombs along the way. As I ran and shot and planted, their numbers started to dwindle. By the time I was done with the bombs, they were down to two security guards and a desk clerk. At once, I heard all three of their guns go click, and I knew that was the only chance i would get. I quickly closed the distance between us, killing the two people farthest away. As soon as the third guy was done reloading, I was already right in front of him. In a few swift motions, I disarmed him, tripped him, and broke his sternum with my knee. With them out of the way, I proceeded to the executive elevator, so I could meet with the CEO himself.
As the elevator went up, I reloaded my guns and checked my Semtex. There was no complicated thought process. No ‘What have I done?’ or ‘How am I going to do this?’. I already knew exactly what I was going to do, and exactly how I was going to do it.
I felt the elevator slow down, and prepared myself for whatever would be on the other side. As I trained my sights on the door, it opened and revealed a large circular room. It was filled with different machines and contraptions, but what I wanted was at the other side of the room, behind the desk, looking out at the city below through the wall of windows. The CEO spun his chair around and looked me dead in the eye. He was an old man, probably in his 50’s, but he was very physically intimidating. Over his large muscles was an expensive black suit. The nameplate on the front of his desk read ‘Walter Michaels.’
“Ah, Bloodflow.” Walter said. “Or may I call you Jake?”
I said nothing.
“Very well, Jake it is.” He got up from his chair and walked around to the front of the desk. “I assume you’re here to kill me, right?”
I silently nodded.
“Well, we can’t have that, now can we? Guards, take care of him!”
I spun around, eager to meet whoever was going to try and bring me down. When I did, however, I saw nobody. No security guards, no janitors armed to the teeth, not even one of those augmented puppets of his. It was then, I realized, that I had made a fatal mistake in combat; never turn your back to the enemy. I felt two pinpricks in the back of my neck, and after that I felt a few hundred thousand volts course through my body. For 15 agonizing seconds I was writhing in agony on the ground, electricity pounding every nerve ending. As soon as the pain was over, I tried to get up, only to have a knee collide with my face.
“You surprise me, Jake.” he said as he threw his taser to the ground, “After all those years in the force, along with all the crime fighting you’ve been doing on the side, I didn’t expect you to make such a rookie mistake. I guess I overestimated you. Guards, seize him!”
From behind me, two men in black outfits grabbed both my arms, while a third one ripped the taser darts out and frisked me, taking away my pistols, ammo, and Semtex.
“Now, at this point, I would put a bullet in your brain and be done with it.” he said, sounding more and more victorious with each passing second. “However, that would be far too good for the likes of you.” He looked around the room, eyeing each machine, as if he was trying to decide something. “No, I’m going to do something else...something much worse...” He pointed towards one of the machines, a metal circle hooked up to a console with a bunch of cables, and the guards dragged me in front of it.
“Do you know what this is?” He said.
“A piece of Stargate SG-1 memorabilia?” I retorted.
“Funny.” he remarked dryly. “Actually, this is something the boys down in R&D have been working on.”
He hit a few buttons, pulled a few levers, and almost instantly the machine sprang to life. The ring glowed orange, and a dark blue color filled the center of it.
“It’s a device that can be used for transporting things vast distances.” He said smugly. “We’ve already ran some tests with it - basically sending transceivers through it and seeing if we could get a signal back - and we have successfully sent transceivers as far away as Mars.”
“And let me guess,” I said, “you’re going to send me to the surface of the moon and watch my body pop like a bubble from depressurization?”
“On the contrary, I’m going to put in a few random coordinates,” as he said this, he tapped a bunch of different buttons. “and see where you end up.”
His guards lifted me up onto my feet and walked me over to the front of the portal. I knew I wasn’t going to make it out of the building alive. ‘Even if I did manage to escape the guards’ grasp,’ I thought, ‘I would be shot almost immediately. Even though I had increased reaction times, I would never be able to actually dodge a bullet. I could try to take some of my stuff back, but I would have to deal with the other two, and they would kill me before I had the chance. Even if I used the detonator, which they completely missed somehow, I’d be killed in the explosion and collapse of the building.’
“So, any last words, Jake?” he said, constantly sneering at me.
I said nothing.
“Very well, then. Guards, throw him in.”
I could feel the guards reeling back to throw me in. I closed my eyes, ready to accept my demise. As they pushed forward, they let me go. I didn’t resist. I didn’t fight it. I was pushing late 30’s, I was tired, I was done fighting.
‘What the hell are you doing!?’ my inner voice said, ‘Are you giving up!? After everything you’ve been through!? After what this bastard did to your family!?'
‘I’m done,’ I thought. ‘Nothing I can do now. I’m a dead man. As soon as I go out the other end of the portal, I’m going to end up in space, where I’ll die of asphyxiation.'
‘Ok, fine. You’re probably dead. That doesn’t mean you can’t take that slimy motherfucker down with you. Blow the building. You’ll die, but at least he won’t live.
‘Wait...you’re right. Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean that he should live!'
As I was going through the portal, I reached my left arm out, and grabbed the edge of the portal. I had a shitty grip to begin with, and the fact that the portal was pulling me in didn’t help.
“Hey! Walter!” I yelled. He turned around and raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Your guards forgot one thing!” I pulled the detonator out from my pocket and held it out above my head. His eyes grew wide in a mix of surprise and fear. Before he could say anything, I pressed the button. The building immediately vibrated, and I could see the floor slowly starting to sink. I let go of the frame and let myself fall back into the portal, flipping everyone the bird as I fell. The last I saw of Walter was him falling through the floor as the portal closed, and I was left in a void of nothingness.
‘Finally...it’s over. So tired...so...very...tired.’
I closed my eyes, waiting for the cold embrace of the grim reaper to claim me. I didn’t fight it. I welcomed it. There was nothing left for me. I had lost my reason for existing. I didn’t have a career, didn’t have a family, and I had finally exacted my revenge. I simply embraced my fate, and waited for death.
But death never came...
<==+==>
Princess Celestia had just finished this evening’s meeting with some diplomats from the Gryphon Empire. It was nothing serious, just some trade agreements that needed to be renegotiated. However, it was exhausting all the same. She couldn’t wait to just curl up into bed and get a long night’s rest.
The solar princess walked the halls with two of her guards on either side, trailing slightly behind. As she walked, she passed the different window murals of past events. She couldn’t help but admire the craftsmanship that went into each one, faithfully depicting each important scene in history, from the banishment of Nightmare Moon to the repelled changeling invasion.
After a few minutes, she arrived at the doors to her chambers. They were a solid gold, adorned with beautiful carvings and jewels. The two guards took position on either side of the door and stood tall, puffing out their chests and putting on their most intimidating neutral expression.
“Good night, gentlecolts.” Said Celestia. “Stay vigilant.”
“Yes, your majesty.” they both said in unison. They both popped a quick salute and opened the doors for their princess. As she walked in, they closed the door behind her and retook their positions, making sure to stay extra vigilant for their princess.
Celestia immediately removed her royal garments and threw them to the side. Then she hopped up onto her bed and levitated over her reading glasses and a book. She was reading the latest addition to the Daring Do series: Daring Do and The Secret of The Crystal Hooves. As she was reading, she could feel herself slowly drifting off to sleep. However, before she could, she heard an unearthly sound from her balcony. It sounded like a mix of electricity and the screams of the damned. She went to open the balcony to see what was going on, but before she could, something crashed through the doors and collided with the other end of the room, making a massive dent in the wall. As it slid to the floor, she noted that it was actually a living creature, but one unlike anything she had ever seen before. It had hands and feet instead of hooves, and was covered head to toe in clothes.
“Princess! What happened!?” The guards burst in through the door to find a huge mess, a startled princess, and some sort of creature dressed in red and black.
“Get this...whatever it is... to the doctor! Now!”
“Yes, your majesty!” Immediately, the guards scooped the creature up and ran with it to the palace doctor. Celestia followed close behind. Whatever it was, she just hoped it was still alive.
Author's note: I'm sorry this took so long. College has been quite demanding of me and my time.
The portal was like my own personal limbo. I had no way knowing where I was going to end up. For all I knew, I could’ve ended up on another planet, or about 20 feet from the portal. Talk about a gamble. All I knew was that I was moving. Fast. To where, I had no idea, but wherever that was, I was booking it there. It gave me time to ponder my thoughts.
‘Well, this is it, I guess. This is the end. What are people supposed to think when they die? What do they feel? Well, other than immense pain, of course. Am I even going to die? Hey, maybe I won’t die. Maybe I’ll end up back on Earth, landing on the street. Man, that would be convenient!’
‘...’
‘Ah, who the hell am I kidding? I’m dead. I assume that Walter wasn’t dumb enough to send me 20 feet away, so my only chance is to end up on a distant planet, never before discovered by humanity, that has liquid water and oxygen in the atmosphere. Now, really, what are the chances of that?’
As that thought passed through my mind, I could see a light at the end of the long tunnel.
‘Wait a fucking second, am I already dead? I don’t feel dead. Then again, a bright light at the end of a long tunnel usually signifies passing on to heaven, or something like that. Actually, now that I think about it, I’d probably go to hell about 5 times over before I ever went to heaven. Yeah, there’s no way that’s heaven. Hey, maybe this means I’m nearing the end of my journey! Well, time to see what becomes of me.’
The light grew ever nearer, and I braced myself for whatever was on the other side.
‘There’s WAY too much light for this to be empty space. Oh god, am I coming out next to a star!? Oh man, this is gonna SUCK!’
The light was 100 feet away. 50 feet. 30 feet. 10 feet. 5 feet. I crashed through the light with my eyes wide open, eagerly awaiting whatever pain was on the other side.
‘C’mon, Lady Luck! Deal the deck in my favour!’
When I went through, I was, to say the least, surprised. I could see forests, mountains, and buildings. I was soaring through the sky right over a city! From what I could see, the city was built on the side of a mountain. There were no skyscrapers, but towering over the rest of the buildings was an enormous castle, with majestic ivory towers adorned with gold and purple. I wasn’t able to admire it for long, though, because I was flying towards it at alarming speed. I saw where I was going to land, which was right through a balcony door, so I twisted myself around in order for my back to go through first. The wood splintered violently and the glass turned into tiny fragments as I crashed through the door. I sailed for a fraction of a second before I hit the wall. From there, everything went black...
<==+==>
When I came to, I was lying down on what appeared to be a hospital bed. Before I opened my eyes, I could feel that my clothes from the waist-up were gone. As I opened my eyes, I could hear voices on the other side of a curtain.
“Well, princess, it appears as though...whatever that thing is…is completely fine.” The first voice was definitely male, made gruff with age, and it had an air of professionalism about it.
“What do you mean fine? Have you seen the indent on my wall? It’s almost as big as me!” The second voice was, even in its apparent confusion, almost angelic in its sound. “There’s no way it doesn’t have at least a few broken bones.”
“Well, that’s what I was thinking,” continued the first voice, “until I saw the x-rays. Aside from some nasty bruises, everything’s intact.”
At the mention of bruises, I could feel a dull pain running up and down my back. Pushing through the pain, I lifted myself off of the bed to sneak a peek at the two voices on the other side of the curtains. I tried to keep my steps as quiet as possible, making sure that I silently tip-toed over to the curtains. As I slowly parted the hung sheets, I got a good look at something that, to say the least, scared the living shit out of me. Standing before me, clear as day, were two horses. One of them was charcoal brown with a grey mane, wearing a white doctor’s outfit (somehow), and had a horn on his head. The other one was bleach white, with a sparkling, multi colored mane, a pair of large, elegant wings, and a very large horn on its head.
I slowly closed the curtains and quickly looked around for my clothes. They were neatly folded on the bedside table. I tried to put my clothes on as quietly as possible, so as to not alert them to the fact that I was awake. Slowly and silently, I slipped on my shirt, then my hoodie, and finally my balaclava.
“Well, I should probably check on the patient.”
“I’ll come too. I want to see if it’s awake yet”
“Oh shit.”
I ducked under one of the side curtains into another patient’s area and remained completely silent. I could hear the clip-clop of their hooves hitting the tiles, inching closer to my bed. I slowly made my way to the front curtain, making sure I was ready to start running for an exit. The curtain rattled as it was opened. Both of them let out an audible gasp.
“It’s gone!” the male one said
“It has to be close! Guards! Get in here!”
I took that as my cue to run. Without hesitation, I ripped open the curtain and looked for an exit. Luckily, the exit was only a few beds to the left. Unluckily, two guards were coming in through that door.
“You! Stop!” One of the guards said.
I wasn’t about to listen. I started sprinting towards them, desperate to make it past them and through the door. They immediately brandished their spears and took formation in front of it. I wasn’t about to go through them, so I went over them. I kicked off of the floor with my left foot, then kicked off the wall with my right. They didn’t expect me to go over them and their stabs completely missed. As I landed, I heard the female call out to me.
“Please, come back!”
Once again, I didn’t listen. I used the door frame as leverage and turned right. The hallway was lavishly decorated with gold and purple. As I ran, I could hear the screams and cries of what I assumed were castle staff.
“What is that thing?”
“It’s a monster!”
“Don’t kill me!”
I paid them no mind. The only thing that mattered was getting out of wherever I was. I saw a flight of stairs coming up, and prepared to turn down them. However, as I turned, I caught a glimpse of a large group of guards ascending the steps. Immediately, I changed my direction to back down the hall.
“Damnit, I need an exit! Right now!” I thought. “Where to go, where to go...” As I was nearing the end of the hallway, with what seemed like a battalion of guards and a princess, I scanned my surroundings. I saw a table with a large, white tablecloth on it, and a large window. Quickly, a shoddy, extremely risky plan formulates in my head. When I reached the table, I grabbed the cloth off of it, and took either end of it in each hand.
“Wait, is it going to...?”
“Am I really going to do this?”
“...”
“Yup, I am!”
I sprinted as fast as I could towards the window and jumped. I curled up into a ball in order to break through more efficiently. As I went through, time seemed to slow. I could see every little shard of glass flying through the air. I immediately brought the sheet above my head, hoping to catch the air and parachute my way out. To my surprise, the makeshift parachute caught the wind and opened up.
“Haha! See you later, shitlords!” I yelled back at the guards, who were crowding against the window. As I was soaring through the air, however, I felt an unusual tug on the parachute, and I stopped moving. I looked up to find that the parachute had a golden aura around it. The parachute slowly tugged me back towards the window. I was still way too high to let go without breaking my legs, so the only thing I could do was let myself get pulled back to the window. I was met by the points of many spears and the scowl of a seemingly pissed off princess.
“Uh, hello again, shitlords...”
Explanations Over Breakfast
The situation I was in seemed less like reality and more like a stupid story one of your druggie friends would tell you. Dangling out of a window, hanging onto a tablecloth/makeshift parachute, while a bunch of horses point spears at me.
“Man, I’ve been in some weird situations,” I thought to myself, “but this takes the cake.”
“So,” the princess began, “Care to explain yourself?” Her scowl had changed to a slightly less angry look of unamusement.
“Just as soon as you stop dangling me out of a damned window.” I replied.
She reluctantly brought the tablecloth as close to the ledge as possible. I stepped onto the ledge and in through the window,. The guards remained suspicious (with good reason) and kept their spears at the ready. As I got a better look at them, I noticed they weren’t all the same. Some had wings, some had horns, and some just had neither of those. However, she was the only one with both, and she was quite a bit taller than the others.
“Now,” she continued, “why did you behave so erratically just now?
“Erratically?” I thought. “Erratically!? You wanna see erratic behaviour? Bitch, I’ll show you some erratic - no, Jake, calm down... keep it together...”
“Well, “ I responded, raising my voice slightly to get my point across, “I might not be in the greatest state of mind, all things considered. I was thrown from my world, landed on some planet that’s god-knows-how far away from mine, and I woke up on a hospital bed, being cared for by a bunch of talking horses! Oh, and these guys over here tried to kill me. Doesn’t exactly make for the most calming of situations, does it?”
“They weren’t trying to kill you.” She said, sternly. “They were merely trying to stop you from leaving the room.”
“So I’m a prisoner, than?”
“Of course not!” She said in shock. She seemed to be genuinely offended by what I said. “This is how your species treats somepony who tries to help you!? Baseless accusations and aggression?!”
“No, this is how we react when we have absolutely no damn idea what’s going on!”
For a few seconds, we stood there in deafening silence. All that could be heard was light breathing and the occasional rattle of armor.
“Alright, this is going to turn into a shouting match soon, and if push comes to shove, I’m going to get gored. I can fight, but even I can’t take on at least 20 people who already have their weapons aimed at me. I punch a couple, I get impaled by the rest. Plus, this...thing seems to have telekinesis. Maybe I should play friendly for now. I have no idea how to get back home, but maybe they do.”
“Look, “ I said, breaking the silence, “I think we’ve got off on the wrong foot, here. Let’s just wipe the slate clean and try again, shall we?” I began to take my balaclava and hood off, simply as a sign of politeness.
“I suppose that would be best. At ease, guardsmen.” The guards lowered their spears, but I could tell they were still very wary of me. “I am Princess Celestia, one of the two rulers of Equestria.” She seemed to ease up just a bit, but I could tell that she was still cautious.
“Nice to meet you Celestia.” I walked over to her and held my hand out for a hand/hoof shake. “The name’s Jake. Jake Gray.”
The guards tensed up almost immediately, ready to brandish their weapons and defend their princess to the death, if need be. She slowly put her hoof in my hand, still clearly unsettled about the whole situation. I gripped it firmly, and shook it a few times. As I let go, she actually started to smile somewhat.
“Nice to meet you, Jake.” She said. After my gesture of goodwill, the guards seemed to ease up ever so slightly. “I’d love to talk further, but I’m supposed to be asleep right now. I would like to talk with you further at breakfast tomorrow. Would that be alright?”
“That sounds fine to me.”
“Excellent. I shall see you tomorrow, then. Guards, please lead this...uh...”
“Human.” I said.
“Right. Please lead this human to one of our guest rooms.”
Most of the guards piled out of the hallway, but one of them turned around and addressed me. “Come this way.” He said. “I will lead you to your room for the night.”
<==+==>
It was a surprisingly short walk to my room. I opened the door and found a lavishly decorated room. High ceilings, giant windows, an oversized bed, all of it adorned in shades of white, purple and gold; It was like a designer’s wet dream.
“I hope that these accommodations will be suitable.” The guard said. “We shall wake you up in time for breakfast tomorrow. Good night.”
With that, he closed the door and left me alone in my room. Almost immediately, I threw off my clothes and collapsed in bed. It had been an exhausting day. From blowing up a building to meeting an army of alien ponies, I was ready to just fall right to sleep. My eyes fell shut, and I drifted off into a deep sleep.
o0o~+~o0o
The night sky was cloudy, and a torrent of rain fell onto the ground. I had chased the bastard all the way to the roof of the apartment building. For 6 years I’d been searching, and now I had him cornered with nowhere to go but down. We stood at opposite ends of the roof, waiting for the other to make a move. I knew that tonight would be the night I got some answers.
“So, here we stand, brother.” He said.
“There you go again with that ‘brother’ crap.” I replied. “It’s been 6 years, and you can’t come up with anything new?”
“But I speak the truth.” He rolled up his sleeve to reveal the metal augment underneath. “We both wear the augments, do we not?”
“That means nothing!” I yelled. “I didn’t abuse my power! I didn’t go around maiming innocents! The rest of you went insane! You killed people!”
“And you haven’t?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh don’t give me that, Jake. Dr. Menser, the doctor who murdered his patients. Estoban, the drug lord. How about Sandra, that woman who ran the underage brothel?”
“They were criminals! People who slipped through the cracks of the system for too long!”
“Face it, Jake. You’ve killed more people than the rest of the augmented put together.”
“It’s who I kill that makes it different! It’s who I kill that makes me nothing like you!”
We sprinted at each other as fast as we could. As we closed in on each other, I pretended to go for a wide right hook. He tried to block it, and I immediately swept his legs out from under him, making him land flat on his back. I tried going for a head stomp, but he rolled out of the way before I could bring my foot down. He quickly got back up and came at me with a flurry of punches. I tried my best to block all of them, but one got through, which lowered my guard enough to let more and more punches past. Eventually, I was turned into the human punching bag, taking hit after hit. He finished off his combo by kicking me into a wall. As I got my bearings back, I saw him charging at me. Quickly, I dove out of the way and let him punch the wall, getting his fist stuck. I took advantage of this moment by grabbing his head and repeatedly slamming it against the wall. He ripped his arm out of the wall and elbowed me in the back of the head, which caused me to stagger backwards. Before I could recover, he threw a brick at me, which collided perfectly with my head. I fell onto my back, dazed from the impact. Before I could get back up, He had his foot on my chest, pushing me into the floor.
“So weak...” he said quietly, “Can’t even take his lumps like a man.” As he said that, he put more weight on his foot, trying to crack my ribs. I screamed from the pain. Before he broke my ribs, however, he brought his foot back up, and sent it towards my head. The last thing I saw was the sole of a metal boot, and then it all went black.
o0o~+~o0o
“AAH!”
I jolted awake and sat up straight in the bed, clutching my chest. I was drenched in sweat, and my heart was pounding. As my breathing slowed, there was a loud knock on the door.
“Breakfast will be served in an hour.” The guard said, from outside.
“Ok.” I replied. “Thanks.”
“Best to not keep her waiting.” I thought. I tried to shake off that dream and made my way to the bathroom, quickly going through a simple morning routine. Once that was done, I went over to where I piled my clothes the other night.
“Not exactly dressing for success here, am I?” I said to myself. I decided to leave the hoodie and balaclava in the room, reasoning that it would be impolite to cover my face. With everything done, I exited my room to find the guard from the night before standing in front of the door.
“Follow me. The dining room is this way.” With that, he turned and led me through the hallways. As I followed him, I noticed that I was getting a lot of uneasy looks from the castle staff. Every time I looked at them, they would avert their eyes and try to look busy. I couldn’t blame them, really. Eventually, the guard led me in front of a large wooden door decorated with golden trim and assorted jewels.
“Here we are.” The guard said. “Princess Celestia is waiting inside.”
I slowly pushed open the door and peered inside. The room was, just like the rest of the castle, lavishly decorated in gold, purple and white. The wall to my right was pretty much a giant window overlooking the city, and in the middle of the room, there was a large, 10-person dining table, at which Celestia was sitting.
She looked up from her newspaper and smiled at me. “Good morning, Jake. You seem to have recovered well.”
“Ah, I’ve been through worse.” I replied. I took a seat at the table a few chairs away from her. “So, how’s your morning so far?”
“It’s been fine. How about yours?”
“Could be worse.”
We made small talk for a few minutes, during which I actually learned quite a bit about these ponies, such as the differences between the different species.
“Oh, so Unicorns have the magic horns, Pegasi have the wings, and Earth ponies are physically stronger.”
“Correct.” said Celestia.
“So, what does that make you?”
“I am an Alicorn. Well, the technical name is ‘Pegasus Unicorn.’ Alicorn is more of a slang term.”
“Say, I remember you saying something about two rulers. Where’s the second one?”
She looked over to the door. “I don’t know. She lowered the moon a while ago. She should be here by now.”
“Eh, maybe she got caught up with so- wait, what was that about the moon?”
“Oh, right. I forgot to tell you. Me and my sister have control over the sun and moon.”
I was, needless to say, dumbfounded by this statement. More so with how matter-of-factly she said it, as if this was common knowledge. I tried to form a coherent sentence that was sufficient enough to express my level of confusion, but we both heard the door behind Celestia open.
“Ah, that must be her.”
As the door fully opened, I saw what could only be described as the polar opposite of Celestia. She was a very dark blue, with an ethereal mane that resembled the night sky. Even her guards were completely different to the others, with grey fur and dark purple armor.
“Good morning, Tia, How are yo-” She fell silent as she saw me at the table.
“Ah, good morning, sister.” Said Celestia. “I’m fine, and you?” The other Alicorn just continued to gawk at me. Celestia saw her staring. “Oh, right, where are my manners? Luna, this is Jake. Jake, this is my sister, Luna.”
I got up from my chair and walked over to Luna. “Pleasure to meet you, Princess.” I offered my hand for a handshake, which she hesitantly took.
“Um...likewise.” She said. She was nervous, to say the least, and that attitude was reflected on her guards. Luna and I headed back to the table, while her guards took position on either side of the door. To try and make her a little more comfortable around me, I pulled her seat out for her.
“Oh, thank you.” she said.
“You’re quite welcome.” I replied.
“Well, now that we’re all here, we can begin the meal.” She clapped her hooves together a couple times, and a few unicorns and pegasi came out of the kitchen carrying various dishes and serving trays. In a matter of seconds, the table was filled with a variety of foods. Waffles, pancakes, eggs, various juices, some sort of hay/bacon hybrid, and a few other dishes I couldn’t recognize were arranged neatly across the table. Immediately, the princesses levitated different items onto their plates. I watched as foodstuffs and pitchers of juice flew around like they were possessed. I grabbed my share of food and began eating.
“So, Jake,” Celestia said, “We never got the chance to talk last night. Whe-”
Luna almost immediately cut her off. “Wait, what do you mean ‘last night’?”
I saw a sly grin come across Celestia’s face. “Well, “ she said, “It all started when he arrived in my bedroom.”
Seeing Luna almost do a spit-take was the highlight of the meal. “I’m sorry, what!?”
“Ok, manners or not, I gotta keep this going for a bit.” I thought.
“Yeah, I came in right through the balcony door.” I said.
Celestia quickly replied, catching on to the fact that I was keeping the joke going. “You know, you did leave quite a mess up there.”
“Well, I wouldn’t know, seeing as how I woke up on a hospital bed.”
“Oh yes, how are those bruises, by the way?”
“They’re still a little bit sore, but they’re healing.”
I looked over to Luna, and it took all the willpower I had to not burst out laughing. Her face was the visage of pure befuddlement. She was speechless, but her expression did all the talking.
Celestia broke the silence. “Oh, relax, Lulu, we didn’t mean it like that.”
“How did you mean it, exactly?” Luna replied. “What happened last night?”
“Well, I was reading on my bed when he came crashing through my balcony door and into my wall.”
“What sent him through your door?”
I decided to speak up. “That, I can answer. I was thrown through some teleportation machine, and I was sent here.”
“So, that means you came from somewhere else?” said Luna.
“Yep.” I replied. “From another planet, specifically.”
“You’re an alien, then?”
“I guess so, yeah.”
“Tell me about this other planet of yours.” Celestia said. “What’s it like?”
“Well, ” I started “it’s kind of like this planet, from what I’ve seen.” I got up from the table and slowly walked over to the windows. “There’s so much there. Grassy plains, jagged mountain peaks, lush forests, sandy beaches...of course, all that pales in comparison to the concrete jungles.” As I said that last part, I could feel a nostalgic smile appear on my face
“I’m sorry?” Princess Celestia asked.
I should have known they wouldn’t understand what I was talking about. From the looks of things, the only buildings that went past five stories were a few towers and the castle itself.
“It’s a term we use for our larger cities.” I replied. “We call them ‘concrete jungles’ because a lot of the buildings extend hundreds of feet in the air.”
“Really?” Celestia said.
“Oh yeah. A fair amount of them even go past the clouds.”
“Wow. From the sounds of it, this would seem pretty boring for you, wouldn’t it?” Celestia said as she gestured towards the city below.
I began to walk back to the table. “Meh.” I shrugged. “Sometimes, boring is good. Less people, more open space, less crime...”
Celestia cut me off before I could finish. “Not in this city, unfortunately.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. I took my seat back at the table.
Celestia heaved a heavy sigh. “Lately, crime rates have been climbing.”
“So?” I replied. “Crime rates climb every once in awhile.”
Luna interjected. “Not this fast, they don’t.”
“So you think it’s something bigger?” I asked.
Celestia nodded. “Something organized.”
“How do you know?” I questioned.
“Because the rise has been due to a few specific infractions.”
“Which ones?”
“Drug trafficking, Arson, and... murder.”
When I heard murder, I immediately got concerned. “How bad has the murder rate gotten?”
“We haven’t had a murder for about two hundred years. A few months ago, however, ponies just started dropping like flies.”
I leaned back in my chair. “I see...” I continued to ponder the situation.
“Alright, let’s take inventory here. They have a crime problem. I solve crime problems. Very effectively, in fact. So I have something to offer them... what can they offer me? hmm...
“Say, “ I started “since you know magic, are you able to teleport?”
A smile crept onto Celestia’s face, and her horn started to glow a bright yellow.
“I don’t know.” She said. Then, in a flash of yellow light and a puff of smoke, she was gone, only to flash into existence right next to me. “You tell me.” Her voice in my ear nearly made me jump out of my chair.
“Alright, I’ll take that as a yes.” I replied. “How far can that go?”
“Theoretically, as far as one would need it to. Why?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Because I have a business proposition for you two.”
Celestia teleported back over to her seat and observed me intently. “Alright, what is it?”
I leaned forward and put my arms on the table, crossing my fingers, and began talking. “You say that you have a crime problem, yes? Well, on my planet, I happen to be in the business of crime fighting.”
“Are you a police officer?” Luna asked.
“Not...exactly.” I replied. “I’m on the...less than legal side of crime fighting.”
“Vigilante?” Celestia asked.
“Yep. What I’m offering is a service in exchange for a service. I fight crime in the city of...” I trailed off in order for Celestia or Luna to offer up the name of the city.
“Canterlot.” Luna helpfully provided.
“Right. I fight crime in the city of Canterlot, and you find a way to send me back home.”
Celestia remained silent. Her face betrayed an expression of deep concentration. I couldn’t see any movement. I couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. Finally, after what seemed like ages, she spoke.
“I would assume you would need a place to stay?” She asked.
“Naturally.” I replied.
“With food and water provided”
“I would hope so.”
“And access to some sort of weapon?”
“Well, that would be a nice perk, but I’m capable of fisticuffs if need be.”
“Besides,” I thought, “I could probably pick a weapon up off a criminal.”
“Hmm...Luna, how soon would the astronomers be able to start looking for his homeworld?”
“Well, they’re currently working on a project now,” Luna said, “but they could start as early as next week.”
“Excellent. Jake, I think we just might have an agreement.” Celestia said.
“Awesome. I can start as early as tonight, if you need me to.” I said.
“That sounds lovely.” she replied. “The sooner you start, the sooner the problem can be solved.” She gave me a big smirk. “And the sooner you can pay off that window you broke. ”
‘Oh yeah...” I trailed off, looking embarrassed. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m just teasing, Jake.” She then pulled a folded piece of black paper from seemingly nowhere with a yellow sun emblazoned on the front. “When you go meet the police chief, give him this paper. It’ll explain everything to him.”
“Who?” I asked. “and, more importantly, where?”
“Go to the ground floor, head outside, and you should see signs pointing the right way.” She replied.
“Alright, then. Thanks for the info.” Suddenly, I could feel my eyelids getting very heavy. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go take a nap.”
“But it’s morning.” She said.
“I usually work at night, so I sleep during the days.” I replied. “I’ll see you later.” With that, I got up from my seat and exited the room. The guard that escorted me to the dining room was standing exactly where he was when I entered, never leaving his post.
“Heading back to your room?” He asked.
“Yup. Coming with?” I responded.
“Yup.”
The guard and I proceeded back down the hallway, retracing the steps that led us to the dining room. We passed by the hall I ran through the night before. I could see that some workers were busy replacing the window that I shattered.
“Hey, just wondering,” The guard asked, “what gave you the bright idea to jump out of a window?”
“I needed an exit, so I decided to make my own.” I answered. “If there’s one thing you learn after a few years of vigilantism, it’s improvisation.”
“I can’t believe you thought that would’ve worked.” he chuckled.
“Hey, it was working! I was floating on the breeze. I would have gotten away, too, if it wasn’t for Celestia.”
“Yeah, sure you would’ve.”
We walked in silence until we reached my room. After saying our goodbyes, I immediately headed for the bed. I noticed a clock on the bedside table and set the alarm for what I assumed was sundown. Placing my head on the pillow, I fell asleep, eagerly awaiting what awaited when the moon rose above the horizon, and every lowlife in the city came out to play.
Author's Note
Sorry this took so damn long. Read my blog if you want any information about that. Anyway, here it is. Hope you like it. It's less of an action-oriented chapter, since the rest of the story probably needs a setup chapter or two. No worries, Jake'll get back to fighting soon enough.
