I looked up at the pony in front of me. Grey mane, and a old-fashioned adventurers hat. I..........noticed................her....................... I flinched back from the ponies face suddenly in front of mine. I'd blacked out. This was bad. This was very, very bad. I'd lost way too much blood, and the infection was doing nobody any good at all. I felt myself slowly drifting away, my mind wandering back to how I'd gotten into this whole mess in the first place.
12;30 A.M., Day Zero
Los Angelos, California
2035 A.D.
A low rumble could be heard in the distance, slowly growing louder and deeper as whatever was emitting it drew closer. The apartment began to shake. Dishes began rattling loudly and violently in their cabinets. The rumble became a loud, blaring roar. A loud authorative voice could be heard clearly over the engine noise. A blinding light streamed through the window, right onto the occupants face.
"Remain in your homes. Anyone caught breaking curfew will be subject to immediate detaination. Stay in your..."
In the bedroom, a shape rose from the bed and began to stumble through the clutter and mess towards the nearests bathroom. As he stepped closer to the window, more of his features could be distinguished through the gloom. The first thing visible was his frosty blue hair stuck in perpetual bedhead. Next came the electric green eyes that almost seemed to dance with barely contained mirth, and, conversely, boredom. Soon, his whole body was revealed, and 19 year old James King scowled in annoyance. You could never get any sleep in this city, it seemed. Muttering in annoyance, he turned and stalked into the bathroom. Then flipped the lights on.
*click*
Nothing. He scowled in annoyance and flipped the switch again.
*click*
*click click*
*clickclickclickclickclick*
"Come on!" James growled in exasperation. "I paid my bills, but do they give me electricity? No, the richer guy gets it, and they just take my money and laugh." In the distance the incessant woop of sirens could be heard, along with angry shouts and the occasional gunshot. The sound of running water could be heard from the shower.
1:00 A.M., Day Zero
L.A., California
James' Apartment
James stepped out of the bathroom, letting whisps of steam escape with him. He wasn't much to look at. He was fairly skinny, and what muscle that migh have been obvious was shrouded by a black zip up hoodie with the Monstercat logo on it. A headset hung from around his neck, and his jeans had seen better days. He strectched and yawned, then moved towards his small "kitchen". Really, it was just a sink, refridgerator, microwave, and a small dinky little stove. He opened the fridge. Nothing.
"How surprising." He deadpanned to no-one in particular. "Let's see if I still have any ramen at all." Opening the cabinets revealed a single packet of the stuff. "Well, shit. I hope that Earth-Gov gives me a job soon. One that I get paid for would be nice, too." He shrugged, reaching into the cabinet and pulling out a bowl, a fork, and the lone pack of instant noodles. After they were ready, he took the bowl of steaming noodle over to the only table and chair in the small apartment that he'd been "given". As such, it contained the young hackers computer. The only way he'd been able to sustain himself at all was the fact that he was so good at hacking into the accounts of rich pricks and taking an insignificant amount of money from their accounts. It was barely enough to pay the rent and be able to buy something cheap from the street vendors. He gently paced the bowl on the table next to the state-of-the-art machine that claimed the table. He'd gotten it for free, as thanks for one of his missions. It had since been upgraded in innumerable ways, most of which even he didn't know were there. He stretched again, cracking his neck and his knuckles. He leaned forward over his precious computer and logged on.
~%*You have one(1) new message*%~
"Huh. Wonder who that is. Scyrus? No, wait...He'd want to meet face-to-face." Opening the message revealed that it was from Earth-Gov. It was short and blunt. It was also utterly vauge. It simply read:
James,
We've got a mission for you. Report at once.
He stared at it blankly for a few minutes, then sighed.
"Well, I did say I wanted something to do."
2:15 A.M.
L.A. Transit routes
James let out a "Whoo!" of pure joy as he knifed through the air, goggles covering his eyes. He made a sharp turn...to have something hit him in the face.
"Wake up! You need to wake up!"
Who?
"Come on!" Another blow to the face. It wakes me up.
????, Day 7
Equestian Jungle
I looked up at the tan pony, who continued to rain blows across my face, unaware that I was awake. I feebly lifted the arm not tied to anything and attempted to ward off the blows. The pony stepped back when it saw me attempt to wave it away.
"Gaah! I'm....awake, I'm awake!" This time I got a back...hoof? I don't know. But that mother HURT! "OW!" I gave the pony my best death glare. "What the hell?!?"
Immediately the rose-colored eyes grew wide, and the pony began to apologize. "OH! I'm so, so, very sorry!" She, I could tell by her voice, lifted one of her front hoofs to her head and began to grin sheepishly at me. "Instinct, I guess?" Her form began to waver, and my thoughts began to mimic her.
"'S Ok. Don't you two worry about it." Things started going black, and then a field of stars appeared. "Ooooh, look at the pretty stars........" I went out like a light. I barely heard the pony's voice. It sounded so far away. I began to slowly drift through fields of stars and planets. So this was death. How.... peaceful. Soon, something began to pull me back. I quickly came out of my reverie. The stars began to fade, replaced by an infinite black. However, I didn't feel threatened by the void, but rather.....calmed. Slowly, everything began to cease to exist. My last thought before being claimed by the black was, "I'm not dead yet."
Author's Note
What the HELL was I on when I wrote this?
Unknown time, Unknown Day
Daring Do's House
Daring stared down at the unmoving body of the creature, whose name she had learned was James King. There had been many things in the strange bag by him. She had almost had a heart attack when the strange tablet had begun to talk! It had explained everything to her, including what had to be done. She had passed out multiple times when she had had to cut off the arm, and thrown up many more during that. At the end she'd just been dry-retching. James wasn't even breathing anymore. She'd failed, and now he was dead. She began to move the sheets over his face, when he suddenly took a sharp breath. Slowly, his chest began to rise and fall. He wasn't healed, in fact he was still far from it. But, he was alive. That had to count for something.
2 days later
I sat up suddenly to find myself in a dark room. I sighed in relief, and sank back down into my bed. Just a nightmare, that's all. Just a nightmare. I ran my left hand through my hair, and shuddered at how cold it was. I began to rub my hands together, to try to warm up....and stopped when instead of flesh, my right hand touched metal. I began to feel along the length of my arm. I hadn't been dreaming at all. It had all been real. I began to move my new arm, to familiarize myself with it. It moved smoothly, as if I'd always had it. As it moved, it made slight whirring and clicking noises. As I sat there, the sun began to rise. I was not, as I had previously thought, in my house. Nor was I in the shelter I had made. I heard the sound of hooves and voices nearby. One of the voices was familiar. As they got closer, I was able to hear them. One was my A.I., Mal. The other I knew I knew from something, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what.
"I'm telling you, he'll wake up soon enough." That was Mal. I still had no idea [how, when, or even why I'd programmed him into my data-slate, but I had. "Don't worry. He's tougher than he looks."
"Are you sure? He didn't look so good last night." The new voice said. Wait....AHA! Now I remembered where I'd heard the voice. It was Daring Do from Season 2, Episode 16. Yeah, I was a brony. It was one of the few things left that the Corporations hadn't twisted and corrupted. It gave life to a dead world. The door opened, and immediately I turned towards it, unconsciously reaching for a weapon that wasn't there. I almost immediately relaxed, too.
"Oh, thank Celestia you're awake! I thought you were dead!" Daring seemed overjoyed at the fact that I was, indeed, not dead. I still wasn't thinking straight, because I said the first thing on my mind.
"I think...for a little bit there.....I was." She stepped back, shocked at the flat tone in my voice, I think. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm..."
"James King, I know. Your robot friend told me." The tan pegasus cut me off. "I'm..."
"Daring Do, adventurer, I know." I smirked at the confused expression she had. "Also, don't call Mal a robot. He doesn't like that." At that point the A.I. spoke up.
"Damn right, I don't! I, for your information, am an A.I., or Artificial Intelligence, named Malcolm, or Mal for short." He had a tendency to be rude to people who called him "robot".
"MAL!" I snapped at him. "Manners!" He emitted an electronic sigh.
"Sorry, boss. You know how I..." At that point I cut him off.
"Yes, I do, but that's no reason to...hng!" A sudden pain rushed through my arm. Immediately, Daring was at my side.
"Are you OK?" I looked at her dark pink eyes, which were filled with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine." My stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, reminding me that I hadn't eaten for a while now. "Uhhh....On second thought, some food would be nice." I turned and put my feet on the ground. When I tried to stand up, though, blood rushed to my head, and I almost lost my balance. Luckily, I caught myself on a dresser next to the bed. "Do you have a bathroom?"
"Uh... Yeah," the pegasus answered. "Here, I'll take you there."
"Thanks."
7:00 A.M., Day 12
Daring Do's House, Equestrian Jungle
Recovery Day 1
After she lead James to the shower, Daring went to her kitchen to make them some breakfast, still carrying Mal under her wing. As they went, she tried to talk to the strange being.
"Soooooo...." she began, but trailed off, unsure of what to say. After all, what did one ask an Artificial Intelligence?
"Mmmmyyeeeeeeeesss?" The A.I. replied, drawing out the yes, not in an uninterested manner, but rather in a way that implied that he had the answer to any question the adventurous pegasus might have.
"Ummmm....well....I-I, uhhh..." Finally, Mal just sighed and interrupted Daring.
"Oh, get on with it!" He snapped.
"What should I make to eat?" Daring said, putting on an excellent poker face. Mal could tell that that hadn't been what she had wanted to ask, however, he didn't push her. At that point, James, who had been sitting there for the last few seconds spoke up, startling them both.
"Weeelll, eggs would be nice. And maybe pancakes, too." Daring gasped and jumped up when the young human spoke up. She almost immediately turned towards him angrily, getting a good look at him for the first time. He stood at around 5' tall, he wore a black hoodie with a strange logo on it, a blue t-shirt with flames emblazoned on it, and baggy jeans that were faded and looked just about ready to die. He smiled warmly at her. "I'll answer any other questions over breakfast."
