<<<<<>>>>>

"GET OUT OF THE DAMN WAY, YOU OVERGROWN TODDLER!!!"

I swerved around the car that decided to go fifty on a seventy mile per hour speed limit highway, gaining enough speed to pass it and return to my casual eighty miles an hour on the highway, barely looking back at the lime green Mustang and its bald driver as I passed it while trying my hardest to suppress a few choice words for its driver.

People these days cant go faster than seventy miles on a highway?

Sighing to myself and turning up the radio, I let my anger fade away as I lost myself in the soothing melody of death metal.

"Turn right in six hundred yards and enter highway seventy-five for two hundred miles, then take a left." My GPS stated from my Bluetooth headpiece as I followed it instructions before reaching for the radio. But just as I was about to find another song to play, my phone began to buzz from its perch on the air conditioning.

Looking at it, I realized it was receiving a call so I swiped green and turned the radio down to zero.

"Yello?" I said as a laugh came through the speaker, a laugh I recognized the second a decibel was heard.

"Yo, Mitch! Wazzup man!" I heard a familiar voice ring out, making me grin a mile wide.

"Dennis, my man! How's Cincinnati's resident Apple king doing?" I asked him as I passed a black Toyota and went into the left lane.

You see, Before I left for college, Dennis had participated in a eating contest at our resident high school, one that had focused on fruits only. Dennis, being the living vacuum cleaner that he is, won by consuming almost two hundred apples in one sitting, earning him a big blue ribbon and a cash prize he blew on more food.

Probably helped that the fucker was three hundred pounds and stood at almost seven feet, the man was a BEAST! Hell, I think that's what amazed me the most when I first met him, honestly. I'd never seen a guy eat so much in such a small amount of time, and still haven't to this day.

"Hah! Did you know someone attempted to beat my record, Mitch? He only got to sixty-five apples before he croaked!" Dennis exclaimed as he howled with laughter.

"Some people don't know when their beat, bro." I told him as I returned to the right lane and slowed down to seventy due to several cops being on the side of the road up ahead. Thank the lord for a Jeep that can slow down and accelerate quickly, or I'd have been pulled over by now.

"Yo, I heard your done with college, is that true?" Dennis asked me as I smiled, picking back up to seventy-nine after passing the cops.

"Yeah, man. Just graduated last week with my diploma. I'm heading home right now, just about two hours out." I told him, allowing me to hear that stupid dying dog cry of a laugh he has again.

"Great, bro! Looks like we can get the boys back together one last time before we get overtaken by taxes and shit." Dennis exclaimed as I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"True that, man. True that." I told him as silence took over the car for a bit before he spoke up again.

"Speaking of taxes, guess who got a job!" Dennis exclaimed, making me look at the phone for a second in suprise.

"What?! No way! Doing what?" I asked him eagerly, pulling down the overhead mirror to block the sun's glare.

"I dont even know! But it was given to me by a rich looking dude, so its gotta be good!" He informed me, making me groan as I had an urge to face-palm, but couldnt due to their being a rough bit of traffic in front of me.

"You accepted a job...and didnt ask what it was?" I asked him as I could feel his nod from the other side while I slowly pushed through the traffic jam.

"Yup! Figures I should spice my life up!" He said with a laugh as I passed through the traffic and sped back up. "So, tell me about-" He went to continue before I heard what sounded like a doorbell on his end. "Oh! That must be him! See ya later, Mitch!"

"Alright, talk to ya when I get back!" I said before hanging up, allowing me to focus back on the road entirely...

...just in time to see a man standing in the middle of my lane waving me down.

Now, if I was on a normal road or even a residential area, I could've stopped or swerved out of the way. But I was going about eighty-three miles on that highway, and there was no way I was stopping or turning fast enough without flipping my Wrangler.

I clenched the wheel tightly, bracing for impact, as I was milliseconds from hitting the man when suddenly he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

As soon as he did so, the entire Jeep stopped cold, inches from him as he flashed me a smile.

Looking out my side and rear view windows I noticed every other car on the highway had stopped as well, even the ones going the other way.

What the hell was going on? I didn't hear the guy say Chaos Control!

Turning back to the man, I noticed him turn his hand around and flick his fingers in a "Come here" motion.

Getting out of the Jeep, I took a step towards him, looking him over.

He was a weird man, alright. The guy stood at at least seven feet and had almost grey skin that seemed to mesh well with his brown tuxedo and yellow tie. His fingers had nails about six inches long that somehow looked more like claws than parts of his hands. He had grey-ish hair that had a 2 strands of yellow in them that went down parallel with each other on his front.

The man smiled at me, waving at me as he pulled put a small bucket of popcorn, shaking it slightly as he lifted it towards me.

"Want some?" He asked his voice a mixture of a scratchy and a smooth tone.

I sat there for a second, completely dumbfounded, before my mind woke up, and I answered him with the most respect a guy can have.

"You pull some timey-wimey jumbo here by stopping my car, and all you do is offer me popcorn?!" I exclaimed as the man threw the popcorn off to the side with a groan.

"Fine then, no popcorn for you. It's so hard to please people these days." The man grumbled as I watched his popcorn bucket grow legs and walk off...Excuse me?

Before I could question it, the man had closed in on me in the blink of an eye, holding out what looked like a piece of paper.

"Tell me, human? Do you have any pressing matters that need ethereal assistance?" He asked me, causing me to frown and push him out of my face.

"No, I don't have any matters that I need help with, especially not from some random twat on the highway." I exclaimed as he gave me a twisted grin.

"Really? What about...her?" He asked me before pulling a small picture frame from the inside of his tuxedo, allowing me to see who was on it.

I looked at the picture for a second, recognizing the girl in the picture before looking back to the man, now not only confused but pissed as well.

"First off, that's not funny. There's no cure for what she has. Second off, you might want to leave before I kick your ass for even attempting to joke about something like that." I growled, balling up my fists as I saw a smirk appear on the man's face.

"Ah! You really are a firecracker of emotion aren't you? Seems Wrinkles was right about warning me of that temper of yours when your family is mentioned." The man said before shaking his head. "Nevertheless, I would calm down because for once in my life I am deadly serious and am the only...person who can cure the girl."

I gave him a death glare, but took a deep breath and relaxed my fists.

"Really? How the hell do you plan on curing something like that, because last I checked it doesn't have a cure." I snarked at him as he frowned and tilted his head.

"And what year is this?" He asked as I raised an eyebrow.

"Twenty-o-eight, why?" I asked him as he laughed again, though the smile he wore never reached his eyes.

"Amateurs, you've barely scratched the surface of medical providence, let alone a cure for something like that, though not a suprise considering you lack the magical touch necessary to evolve." He said before face-palming. "But look at me, I've gotten off topic...again. I'm such a disorganized rascal at times."

He walked over to me and gave the paper that literally said contract in big letters on its front. "You've already seen my power when I stopped your...automobile. So helping that girl is nothing for me. Simply sign the paper and I'll heal her immediately."

Looking between him and the paper I couldn't help but feel something was off.

"Really? What do I have to do in return?" I asked him as he pulled a pen from his jacket pocket and gave it to me.

"Oh, I just need someone capable of causing some fresh new chaos for me, and you seemed to be a good candidate. Don't worry, it won't be hard...for me anyway." He said with a laugh as I grabbed the pen and, with a deep breath, signed the paper.

I mean, its just a sheet of paper, right? And besides, what's the worst that can happen?

The man smiled widely, his yellow eyes gleaming as he snatched the document from me and stuffed it in his tux before turning away from me.

"Thanks for your cooperation. I'll be sending you to your designated workplace in Canterlot immediately. Do me a favor and make sure to mess with the princesses extra for me?" He said as I stepped forward and grabbed his wrist as he had went to snap them.

"Wait, where the hell is Canterlot? And princesses? What am I supposed to do?" I asked him as he suddenly winced and pushed me down, holding the wrist I had touched as I noticed it looked less colorful than the rest of his body after I touched it.

"Why did you do that! You stupid humans simply can't help but touch and not look, can you? You better hope my magic still works properly." He stated with a growl as he snapped his fingers.

Before I could ask him what he meant by magic the entire world began to close in on me, everything started fading to black while it felt like I was being encased in a small box with no way of knowing where I was going.

The last thing I remember seeing before the black overtook me was the man from before growing bigger somehow with...horns coming out of his head?

<<<<<----------->>>>>

*poke*

"Mhmmm...wake me up when finals are due, Toby."

*poke poke*

"Wha...why are you waking me up in the middle of the-"

*WHACK!*

"Shit!" I yelled out as I shot up quickly into a sitting position as I noticed three things right off the bat.

One: It was dark as hell wherever I was, and the only light I could see was this lamp that was on the ground.

Two: I wasn't alone. From the small lamp light I could make out two stocky figures on my left and one skinnier one on the right of me, though this one had a stick and was probably the culprit of my splitting headache.

Three: I was wearing everything I had one in my Jeep, which were a blue shirt and black sweatpants, but for some reason the image of a computer that was on my shirt was gone...weird.

"What are you?" One of the stocky sillioutes stated as the skinny one pointed the stick at my neck.

I squinted my eyes, trying to focus on any of them but the little light I was receiving from the lamp wasn't helping at all.

"What am I? Don't you mean who?" I asked them as I went to stand, but the skinny guy with the stick growled at me. "Why the hell are you growling? What are you, some sort of dog?"

For a second none of them said anything until one of the stocky one grabbed the lamp and lifted it up to their face, allowing me to see...

...What the actual hell?

The thing holding the lamp was actually a fucking dog! Even with the small lighting, I could make out his black fur and slightly mangled face. The thing kinda reminded me of a Rottweiler, with its pudgy face and wrinkly fur.

"What do you mean? We are dogs!" He stated in a firm yet slightly rough voice that would probably be synonymous with a caveman. He pointed to his two comrades and laughed in that weird pant dogs do when their happy. "We are all dogs here...except you."

Putting my hands up in a defeated motion, I gave them a innocent smile as I tried to show them I wasn't a threat. As easily as I think I could take one of these guys alone, I was outnumbered. Not to mention the stick the skinny one had looked sharp as well, and I was not planning on getting impaled anytime today.

"Ok Ok, no need to start ostracizing people because they don't have fur. If you could just tell me how to leave I'll be on my way." I said with a definite hitch of worry in my voice as all three of them laughed.

"Your not going anywhere, furless one." The skinny one with the stick stated in a slightly nasally voice as he walked past the lamp, showing off his golden fur and longer tail than the other two. "C'mon, you rats! We've got ourselves another seeker!"

The two big dogs, the second one was an almost exact twin of the other, grabbed me by the arms and began to 'guide' me after him. As they pulled me along I began to run the situation through my mind, trying to ignore the welling sense of panic in my chest.

Alright, so that crazy guy from before snapped his fingers...and now I'm here. How the hell did that happen? I tripped slightly over a rock I couldn't see, causing the two dogs to give me a warning growl.

And now Im being taken prisoner by dog people...that can talk and everything!!! Looking around me, I noticed several torches that lined up the walls, allowing me to realize that I was in a cave.

I looked ahead at the tall dog in front of me, deciding to ignore the fact I could feel what had to be a spider going up my leg as I couldn't do anything about it thanks to my arms being held by my bulky kidnappers.

And now I'm in some sort of underground cave system...is this that Canterlot the guy mentioned? And if so, am I going to meet real princesses?

I was shaken out of my thoughts as I was pushed into a small room and heard a chink sound behind me. Turning around I was met with bars, which only meant-

"You put me in a cell? Why?!" I exclaimed as the three dogs looked at me with dangerous grins on each of their faces.

"We can't have our workers running away!" One of the stocky Rottweilers stated as the taller dog that, thanks to the better light in whatever room they brought me to, I could tell resembled a German Shepherd, spoke up.

"You will help us find gems...or we will paint that cell red with your blood." He exclaimed with a cackle as him and his goons walked over to some other cages built into the cavern walls while I looked at my new living space.

There was some hay on the ground and a hole in the floor that had what had to be holding the dirtiest water I've seen in years. No bed, no toilet, and certainly no food anywhere.

Sitting down in the hay, I couldn't help but instinctively bring my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them.

What the hell did I get myself into? I thought to myself, shivering slightly from the chill in the air.

Author's Note

Well well well well! Look who decided to go and post a new story.

So, I'm not a big fan of the first chapters in writing things, so that's why it's kinda short. Don't worry, other chapters will (hopefully) be longer. That, and I feel...odd about this chapter. It's a good odd, but an odd nonetheless.

I'm hoping to get out a chapter once every week or two, maybe faster or slower depending on college work and life.

As is the usual, please comment about...well anything you want in regards to the story. All criticism is greatly appreciated, as long as it's not just "Oh, it's just a HiE, better downvote!"