Author's Note

This is my first dedicated/actual attempt at a fanfic besides just thinking “it’d be cool if this happened” but not expanding it further than a stray thought, and in all honesty this should be called a shitfic with how bad it is both structure wise and plot wise. I got 4 years worth of english classes to tell me I can’t write to save my life so yes I know it’s poorly written, yes I know I should probably have a proofreader, and yes I know I should probably get some help. I’m mostly attempting to mimic other good writers (I won’t name them cuz i don’t want to drag them down). I wanted to write a story that has an actual story, and not just a one off “what if?” idea that only gets a single chapter and doesn’t explore the idea further since it’s based entirely upon fridge logic.

I know GTA V has been beaten to death by R*, but still, just like MLP:FiM has its golden era, so did GTA, and I’ve had this tossing around my head for a while. This chapter is brought to you by self-loathing, some very basic writing advice from some of the bigger names on FimFic, and "The Battle of New Orleans Remix But It Never Ends.” This is also the most words I have ever written in my life, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but you can’t practice without making mistakes.

Otherwise, enjoy as I repeatedly slam my head into my keyboard because I have no idea what I’m doing, but I know I want to do it.

Chapter 1: A Titan of a Job

Twilight paced around the library’s basement for the hundredth time that morning, inspecting every rune, every etch, every single detail to ensure everything was in place while Spike sat to the side; checking off a checklist that was obviously not the first, or even fifth, one he had worked on.

“Twi, we’ve been at this for almost eight hours, and we haven't found any issues during the last 10 inspections.” Spike groaned as he marked off another item on the list. “Can’t we at least eat breakfast before the presentation? I’m hungry.”

“You can eat all you want today after the presentation, I promise. I just want to make sure everything is perfect for this; we are LITERALLY making history here Spike, we can’t afford to mess up right at the finish line!”

Twilight eyed a golden rune on the floor, before comparing it to some notes on a chalkboard nearby.

“If even a single rune is out of place or wrong, it could result in cascading failure, which could result in me missing the terminus by a dozen hoofs and placing me inside a wall. Princess Celestia has been funding this and nothing can be out of place.”

A slightly manic grin adorned Twilight’s face as she went about her explanation to the young drake, but Spike merely eyed her as he sighed dejectedly.

“I know Twilight, but it’s almost time for the presentation itself, and it wouldn’t be good for the mare of the hour to be late now would it?” Spike taunted the focused mare, hoping to get a rise out of her.

Twilight’s ears perked up at the info, causing her to pause her inspection and look at Spike. “Wait, it’s almost… But isn’t it…” Twilight didn’t finish her words as she quickly dug through the cluttered tables with her magic before pulling out a small clock that showed it was getting steadily closer to noon.

“When di- Nevermind, thank you Spike, that’s why you’re my number one assistant.”

Spike’s face soured at the remark before he grumbled under his breath “I’m your only assistant.”

“Now, let’s finish the last checklist Spike.”

**2 Hours Later**

Twilight paced around the library’s basement for the thousandth time that morning, her mane looking a little disheveled as Spike sat idly by on the stairs leading to the main level.

“They should have sent a confirmation by now, something must have gone wrong, something DID go wrong. I knew I should have been there to assist.”

Spike stood up as he looked towards Twilight and an ever growing indent in the floor.

“You should calm down Twilight, they’re probably just triple checking like you usually do, just not as quick. How about I get you a glass of water and a daffodil sandwich to calm your nerves?”

Twilight's head perked up at Spike's words, snapping her out of her spiral of insanity. Taking a second to compose herself and perform a breathing exercise Cadence had taught her, she looked over to Spike with gratitude on her face.

“Thanks Spike, you’re right, I should probably eat something to get my mind off of this. How about you also get yourself something to eat as well? Just no ice cream until evening, alright? You need to eat a proper meal.” A grin broke out on her face as she watched Spike salute her before dashing up the stairs and into the library.

As Twilight turned to take a seat at one of the tables, a sudden belch from upstairs caused her to pause.

Don’t tell me he’s been sneaking in gems while I wasn’t looking, that boy-

Whatever thoughts Twilight had stopped as Spike appeared in the doorway brandishing an open scroll.

“Twilight, it’s Princess Celestia! She says they’re ready for you now!”

Gasping, Twilight immediately went into scholar mode and got to work.

“Spike, get to the switch while I prime the runes.” Twilight lowered her head and started channeling magic from her horn into the golden runes, causing them to light up with the stored magic.

Discarding the letter, Spike ran down the stairs as fast as his legs could take him before dashing to the far side of the room and hopping on a perfectly placed stool that stood next to a piece of machinery with a lever on it. Grabbing the lever with his claw, he gave Twilight a thumbs up with his free claw.

Twilight finished priming the necessary runes before moving to the center of the runic circle. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she looked at Spike with a determined face.

“Alright, we’re all good to go, throw the lever Spike.”

“Here we go!” As Spike switched on the lever, he felt a rumble in his stomach as he started to get bloated, a telltale sign of another scroll inbound. Letting go of the lever, Spike balanced himself on the stool as he belched out another dragon scroll and caught it with one hand while the other deftly opened it. Reading the letter, Spike’s eyes widened at the words written on it, horror etching itself onto his face.

‘There’s a rune that was wrong, please give us a few minutes to fix it.’

When Spike threw the lever, the runes sparked to life as the primed magic flowed throughout the rest of the circle, channeling the ambient magic in the air through the solid gold lines and markings.

“TWILIGHT, STOP!” Spike’s sudden shout startled Twilight as she looked at him, immediately noticing fear and horror on his face as he looked at her.

“THEY AREN’T READY YET!” Spike immediately turned and undid the lever per her instructions on what to do in case of an emergency, but the spell didn’t die as planned. Instead of fizzling out, the spell continued to gain power, more power than what it was originally designed for as the golden runes and marks glowed a bright white. Twilight wasted no time in dashing away from the center before hitting an invisible wall right at the edge of the circle snout first.

“AUGHHHH, THE SAFETY BARRIER!” Twilight yelled in surprise as her nose started to dribble blood from the sudden impact. Shaking her head to steady herself and push past the pain in her snout, Twilight started to form a small teleportation spell in her mind, attempting to draw in the magic that flowed around her in a whirlwind. The only issue was the fact that the circle drew in what power she had stored, and ripped it from her; like a pony in a raging river, her magic was swept up and driven into the spell being cast by the circle.

“Oh sweet Celestia, Spike! I can’t get out! I can’t stop it! Why didn’t I plan an emergency shut off?!?! Why? Why? Why!?” Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground with every ‘why’ as she desperately searched for anything to use to help her escape.

Quickly running through the runes in her head, Twilight dashed to one and started to desperately chip it out of the floor with her bare hooves in an attempt to break the power flow before the spell completed. Spike meanwhile moved closer to her, pounding on the safety barrier that had made it become her prison as he watched her try and stop the runaway spell.

After a few seconds, Twilight had to stop due to the heat wafting off the gold, signaling the spell was reaching critical mass, more than what it was ever intended to channel. Moving on the tips of her hooves to avoid touching the now heated metal melting into the floor, Twilight moved next to Spike on her side of the barrier.

“Spike, listen to me, I’ll be fine, it’ll probably send me to the far side of the planet and I’ll just have to make my way back; a few weeks at most.” Twilight put a hoof on the barrier as she looked Spike in the eyes, tears welling in his eyes as he watched her talk.

“I’ll be fine, just contact Celestia and she’ll speed things up. I’ll be back before yo-”

Whatever Twilight was about to say was cut off as the spell activated; blinding the poor drake momentarily who could only call out and blink away the spots in his vision as he looked at the scorch marks from where the gold had touched the wood.

The whole ordeal had taken less than 30 seconds.

**Sometime Later**

Twilight awoke with a gasp, her head pounding as the lights in the room blinded her while the room itself spun, nearly causing her to vomit her breakfast. Looking around slowly, she was in a stone room, surrounded by strange bipedal creatures in some black with red military garb that loomed over her, encasing her in a ring of fear.

Turning away from the silent wardens, Twilight came face to face with another bipedal creature, this one wearing an obvious higher ranking military uniform of some kind, peering down at her with his sharp green eyes, a glare of dissatisfaction plastered onto his face. A garrison cap like that of the wonderbolts sat upon his head, hiding away his graying hair.

“How do you use the runes zero-one? How do you get to Equestria?”

Twilight screamed as she backpedaled as fast as she could, putting as much distance between her and the creature as possible before falling backwards over an edge. Landing upside down, she could see the half finished runic circle that had brought her here, except this one was made out of stone and steel, crude hammering forging an imperfect replica of her experiment.

Reorienting herself, she moved towards the circle in a mad dash to stop its completion but fell short when the floor gave way below her, dropping her into an endless hallway with metal doors lining the sides as she ran past them. The sounds of multiple footsteps could be heard behind her, chasing her down the hallway for what felt like an eternity until she finally looked behind her and saw nothing chasing, the sounds of footsteps stopping as quickly as they appeared. Pausing her run, Twilight looked back in front of her, startled by a rock wall that now presented itself in place of the hallway as an ominous chuckle drew her attention back behind her once more.

Quickly turning around, she could see the military leader looking down at her with a face of contempt, like she was nothing more than a bug to be stomped on.

“It seems you like it the hard way zero-one. Let’s do it the hard way then.” His green eyes twinkled as he spoke, a cheshire grin spreading across his face as he pulled out a stick that sparked lightning out of the tip, bringing it ever closer to Twilight.

She tried to get away, but the wall behind her pushed her ever closer, fear taking over she tried to run but her hooves were sunk into the ground, trapping her and slowly dragging her towards the electric tip that danced and leapt at her every second. Twilight screamed as the creature thrust it towards her, laughing maniacally at Twilight's fear and pain.

Twilight jolted awake before immediately gasping as her whole body ached and throbbed, any movement felt like needles on her skin and nerves as she tried to catch her breath. Every sharp intake of air was accompanied by a multitude of pain, causing a near infinite cycle as Twilight fought against her own body’s micro-spasms. After some time, much longer than she would have liked, Twilight was able to calm her breathing before taking in where she was, or lack thereof.

Twilight wasn’t a night owl by any means, regardless of what a certain young dragon would claim, but the darkness that surrounded her was that of a total lack of light. Even after keeping her eyes open in an attempt to adjust to the dark, she couldn’t see a single thing in this void of light.

With vision out of the picture, Twilight turned to her other senses, such as sound and smell. She could very clearly smell metals of some kind, with a distinct lack of any smells meant to freshen up an area that one would want to sleep in, reminding her of a trip to the Canterlot trainyard when she was younger. The heavy presence of machines and craftsponies were more of a match than anything else she had experienced.

Beneath her, she could feel metal under her as her prison rocked ever so slightly in a non-existent breeze. Slowly sliding a hoof around, she could feel cold metal that helped alleviate some of the pain, but also let her know that she could spread her hooves apart comfortably.

Her ears could pick up a deep and constant rumbling below her, like that of train tracks on a straightway, but much quieter (even without a sound canceling spell) than any train she had been on. In the distance, she could also hear a low roar that seemed to change shifts every so often at seemingly random intervals.

The smell of metal, lack of light, probably a train engine of some kind? Are they moving me somewhere? How long have I been out? What hap-

Twilight suddenly winced as she remembered her failed escape attempt, and groaned at the pain that accompanied the movement.

Don’t move Twilight, don’t move, you’ll be fine, you’ll be fine...

Hearing the rumbling below her slow down and stop, combined with the low roar ceasing to exist, Twilight summarized that they had reached their destination. She could hear voices come from outside, breaking up the intermittent silence that now surrounded her while she waited in the darkness.

Two figures sat in a small two door car across the airport tarmac from the open hangar where a semi-truck had just parked in front of a Titan plane. The driver of the car held a phone up to his ear while the passenger used his phone to investigate the hangar itself and take photos.

“Merryweather has been moving a lot of cargo through LSIA in the past month, and I want to know why. Get in there and steal the shipment Blake, oh, and make sure you deliver it intact this time.”

‘Blake’ in turn flinched at the emphasis on ‘intact,’ remembering the last time they had tried to jack one of Merryweather’s shipments, and how that had ended in flames, literally.

“Don’t worry Lester, James won’t use any explosives this time, I promise.” Blake glared at James while speaking, the latter holding his hands up in surrender at the jabbing before slipping his phone back into his pocket.

“You’d better. Call me when you’re airborne, I’ll have my guys meet you at the rendezvous.” The phone call ended with a click as Lester hung up the call, leaving Blake and James in silence as they watched the hangar.

Blake turned to James with a pointed look, “No grenades today whatsoever, alright?” James returned his look with a glare of his own at the pestering. “Now, how many did you spot over there? I saw about 15, I think?”

James held up one hand and stuck two fingers up before replacing it with five fingers.

“25? Jesus, that's more than their usual group. You think Lester’s right about them being up to something?”

James shrugged his shoulders as he adjusted the assault rifle between his legs, making sure he could easily pull it out once they got closer. Nodding his head towards the hangar was the only signal Blake needed before he started up the car and drove the duo around the runways and alongside the hangar, making sure to avoid being spotted by the guards inside. After parking, they stepped out and readied themselves, James wielding the assault rifle while Blake had pulled a Micro SMG from the console.

Creeping around to the front, James used a parked Merryweather SUV as cover to get a better angle on the guards inside while Blake stuck to the hangar door to get a better shot behind the plane. James grinned as he racked the slide, before looking expectantly towards Blake who cocked his gun while nodding.

James immediately jumped out and started shooting at the unsuspecting guards, nailing two in the head before the rest started diving for cover behind the crates and SUVs that littered the hangar. Shouts of anger and threats of violence were thrown towards the pair before being followed up with a barrage of shots. James got back into cover while Blake popped out, snapping to a mercs head and picking another off before hiding behind the wall again.

James used the distraction to dash towards the semi-truck, using it to cover his flank to the far side of the hangar as he ran around the cab and started picking off enemies, staying out longer than he should have as a few bullets found themselves at home in his plate carrier. Ducking back behind the cab, James waited until he could hear footsteps and blindfired, hearing a shout followed by some groaning.

Blake stepped out and fired off some shots, landing clean, as he quickly moved from the hangar door to the SUV James had hid behind previously. Hearing a bullet whiz past his face from above, Blake crouched down behind the truck and looked up, spotting three guards on the catwalk above him, pinning him down.

“JAMES! ABOVE ME!”

James finished his shots on the guards before moving back towards Blake, spotting the trio above him on the catwalk and some moving in from the rear of the plane. Aiming quickly, he fired up at them, nailing the first one while the other two changed their target to James. Aiming at the second one, James hit center of mass, dropping the guard but not killing him while the other peppered him with bullets; one cracking his armor while the second punched right through his side, leaving a small gash in James’ side.

James pulled back behind cover as he sucked wind to steady his nerves, feeling a trickle of blood seep down his side from his fresh new scar. Blake didn’t waste any time in peeking above the truck, popping another helmet before dumping the rest of his mag into the prone guard left on the catwalk. Reloading quickly, Blake barely spotted a set of boots under the car, ready to come around the corner. Aiming quickly, Blake gifted the mercenary with a trio of bullets, two to the chest and the third directly through his eye as he fell.

Two more guards moved in to flank Blake, but made the foolish mistake of being between the SUV and semitruck, letting James take the perfect shot to drop both of them in one fell swoop. Blake, hearing gunshots fired at him, whipped around and spotted where James was firing at the dead pair, before nodding to James and taking aim at someone moving in to flank James from the cab side. Nailing the guard dead center, the mercenary fell to the ground with 8 shots nestled warmly in his plate carrier as James turned around and placed one clean between the eyes.

Looking back to Blake, both listened for the sound of shouts or footsteps in the absence of gunfire. Hearing nothing for a few seconds, James gestured to Blake with his hand before pointing towards the rear of the plane. Blake nodded at the sign, quickly reloading before moving towards the back, keeping his gun trained for any remaining mercenaries.

James in the meantime moved back around the cab and flanked the plane from the opposite side of the hangar, stepping over the dead body of the mercenary he had blind fired earlier. Both of them were silent except for their breathing, Blake’s calm and collected, suppressing his adrenaline, while James was breathing heavily, the adrenaline in his system along with the now clotting hole in his side keeping him on edge with a grin on his face.

Suddenly popping up, a mercenary hiding at the back of the plane next to a metal crate snapped to Blake, firing a shot into his plate carrier before he was lit up by the duo, over 30 rounds making their new home in his chest and head. A few shots went wide at they trailed the falling corpse, hitting the metal cage and causing a female scream to ring out in fear.

“Hold on, did you hear that?” Blake looked to James who merely shrugged in response. Chalking it up to his rifle being chambered in 7.62 that he couldn’t have heard it while Blake was only using a 9mm.

“Keep an eye out, I wanna check something.”

James nodded at the request, reloading before sweeping the rest of the hangar with his gaze while Blake moved towards the metal container.

“The only metal container here, everything else is wood or polymer…”

Stepping up to it, Blake noticed how it was on a pallet jack, being lined up with the open ramp of the Titan before the firefight broke out. On top there was a padlock, and writing on the side labeling it ‘0-1.’ Tentatively reaching out his hand, Blake knocked on the crate while calling out to it.

“Hello?”

Listening carefully, he could hear what seemed to be a quiet gasp from inside, but otherwise there was no response.

“Hello? Is someone in there? Did Merryweather kidnap you?”

Just as Blake was about to give up and rejoin James, he heard a woman’s whisper come from inside the crate, “Please... please don’t hurt me, I won’t try escaping again.”

His eyes widening, Blake spoke again. “Don’t worry, we’re not with Merryweather, give me a minute and I’ll have you out of there.”

James looked back, raising an eyebrow at the situation while Blake stepped up the pallet, trying to force the padlock off with the butt of his gun before taking a step back after a flurry of attempts. Thinking quickly, Blake had an epiphany and turned to James who had his back to him, watching the entrance.

“James! The C4 from the last job, you still got it?” Nodding his head, Blake continued, “Good, go get it and give it to me.”

James, instead of moving towards their car, instead pulled out a brick of C4 from his hoodie pocket before tossing it to Blake who simply looked at him with a flat look of annoyance. Shrugging his shoulders, James moved back to get in cover behind a wooden crate in case of any debris that went flying in the blast while Blake pulled out a pocket knife and cut off a small piece of the brick. Pulling the fuse out of the main brick, Blake wrapped the small corner piece around the fuse before pressing it into the keyhole and moving away to crouch down next to James.

A small beep was all the warning given before a tiny explosion could be heard along with the sound of metal clanging on concrete flooring. Taking a look, the padlock had disappeared and one side of the crate was open, revealing a smaller crate with metal pull handles inside that rested on rails. Moving back to the crate, Blake called over James.

“Help me pull this out.”

James walked over to Blake as they both grabbed a handle and slowly slid the metal crate out, placing it on the ground next to the pallet jack. Undoing the latches, they let the side of the container drop to the ground in a loud clang, revealing a purple unicorn cowering in the corner of the crate with a hoof over its eyes.

The sudden opening of the crate left her with almost no time to adjust her eyes before Twilight found herself being bathed in a harsh white light from outside. Using her hoof to cover her eyes, she slowly adjusted as two figures slowly came into view.

Two humans stood outside the crate, both of their faces showing a mixture of surprise and confusion at the situation. The closest human had a fair build and was kneeling down, his face in an expression of shock as he stared at her with wide eyes. He had messy brown hair that was starting to grow long, hanging just past his ears in a natural bowl cut, almost hiding his blue eyes; his face was clean shaven besides a few hairs that were growing in to fill out his sideburns. He wore white shoes, blue jeans, a white shirt, and blue hoodie, a small T shaped object in his hand that he slowly placed behind his back into his jeans.

The other human stood a short distance away, ready to defend if they were attacked from the hangar entrance, but was focused entirely on Twilight. His black hair was slicked back in a pseudo mullet, revealing his brown eyes that seemed to glare at her while also staring in confusion. His face had a light stubble, the dark black hair contrasting with his light skin. He wore black shoes, blue jeans, a white shirt with a small trail of blood that dripped down his right side, and a gray hoodie.

The brown haired human was the first to speak, breaking the silence. “Uhhhh–” He shook his head to clear his mind, “--Were you..? What the heck?”

Twilight lowered her hoof more, wincing at the pain that sprung up from her chest where two small burn marks lay, remnants from the eclectic stick.

“Are you two… Are you really not with them?” Twilight asked, worry seeping into her voice as she spoke. A second passed as the two humans processed what she said, the first to react was the black haired human who raised the strange weapon and aimed at her like the soldiers had, while the brown haired human moved just as quick, raising his hand and opening his palm towards the other without so much as a glance in his direction as he slowly knelt down to be at her eye level.

“We’re not, my name is Blake, and this is James.” The brown haired human, Blake apparently, said while gesturing between himself and James. “We’re actually here because we were hired to, liberate, some of the supplies from Merryweathers shipments. Just… What… Who are you?”

Twilight looked between the two; ‘Blake’ had a look of concern like that of an older brother while James seemed entirely indifferent, his weapon was lowered but his eyes glared at her like one would at a pest who ruined their day.

“My n-name is Twilight Sparkle…” Twilight spoke slowly, fear filling her words as she spoke. They could have been lying about being with Merryweather, or maybe they were from a rival group who wanted to kidnap her and continue her research. Could she really trust them?

“Twilight Sparkle. That sounds like a nice name, Twilight. Could you tell me how you ended up here?”

Twilight’s mind flashed back to the last time she heard those words, fear flashing on her face as she relived the last few weeks in her mind. Blake noticed her expression and held his hands up in surrender.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but, do you want to stay here or would you like to come with us?”

Twilight looked hesitantly to Blake, trying to gauge what type of person he was and if she could trust that he wasn’t just another human who wanted to know how to get to Equestria. Opening her mouth to speak, she paused, what if they were worse than Merryweather?

“I- I thin–”

Anything else she was about to say was cut off as the sound of a bullet impact could be heard nearby, impacting on the hangars rear wall. James snapped around, aiming his rifle towards the tarmac where three more SUV’s could be seen rapidly approaching the hangar, mercenaries shooting through the front window or leaning out the side windows to try and hit the amateur thieves.

“Shit, reinforcements, James, push up and keep them busy, I’ll move around and try to flank them. Twilight, stay in cover and don’t get shot, I’m not sure we could get the bullet out.”

Without waiting, both Blake and James moved towards the front of the plane, James taking shots at the front windshield of the first SUV, nailing the driver and shotgun, causing the car to go careening into the cement blockade at the edge of the hangar before flipping on its side. The second and third cars quickly moved to put some cover between them and James, pulling up behind the semi-truck to block any further shots as eight reinforcements stepped out.

Blake made his appearance at the back of the semi, dumping his entire magazine into two of the guards before knocking down a third with the last few shots. James wasted no time in pushing up while reloading and firing from the cab of the semi, dropping another two while the remaining four grouped up between the cars, their plan of getting the cover being turned against them.

James openly pushed out into the open, firing suppressive shots while making his way out onto the tarmac and reloading. Blake on the other hand started to move in towards the group, spotting their feet under the car and taking shots, knocking a few down in the middle of their attempt to regroup. A flurry of shouts, yells, and screams of the dead filled the air as the duo finished off the mercenaries who barely had a chance against them. Looking to Blake, James gestured between him and one of the SUV’s while he hopped into the other, driving it off to the side to clear a path for the plane, the primary objective still on his mind. Blake, silently complying with the request, pulled the SUV around the back of the plane, leaving the semi to James alone as he wanted to check up on Twilight.

What he saw worried him. Twilight had stepped out of the metal cage and was standing just a foot away, staring at the still warm corpse of the guard who had used her cage as cover.

Twilight watched as Blake gave out quick orders to James, before they split up and each went to a different side of the plane. James, on the left, aimed his weapon at the metal carriages before loud cracks rang through the hangar, same as what she had heard before her crate opened, and flashes of fire erupted from the tip of the weapon.

”That weapon, they made those sounds! But I can’t feel any magic or…”

Twilight’s inner musings were cut off as she watched the lead carriage veer off into a concrete barrier and flip on its side, the screech of metal and glass grinding on the ground pulling her attention to what lay before her.

“Did.!? Did he just?!?!”

Twilight shook off her bout of terror, instead forcing herself to try and get away from the whole situation.

“Think Twilight, think! What would Shining do? He’d use his guard training to analyze the situation, figure out potential actions, and make a plan! First, analyze, a fight is happening, you aren’t trained for this, and nothing in your books could prepare you for this. Sounds right, so what’s next? Running away, stayin–”

As Twilight spoke to herself to help calm her nerves, she suddenly started smelling something metallic, like that of copper.

”Strange, it reminds me of when I had a nosebleed as a filly. Why woul–”

Twilight’s eyes widened as a horrible thought ran through her head, connecting dots that she had left unconnected. The loud cracks, screams and shouts, and then Blake and James appeared, along with the carriage crashing.

Twilight looked around, pushing away her tunnel vision that had clouded her mind before, noticing lumps of black, white, and red clothing scattered around the hangar before her eyes settled on one that was particularly close to her cage.

Slowly approaching it, the smell of copper got stronger and stronger, causing Twilight to gag and cough as she put a hoof up to her nose in an attempt to block the smell, as futile as it was, the smell of her unwashed coat was a blessing in disguise compared to what Twilight stared at.

The copper smell was originating from a black and red pile of clothes in front of her, red liquid pooling around it like that of spilled paint.

”No, not paint. Blood… But that means…”

Twilight’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she started to pick out details from the clump- no, human that laid before her. The arms and legs had holes that spilled rivers of blood while the head… Twilight could spot meaty flesh encased inside bone, revealing the inner workings of this human mind.

Twilight backed away, putting some distance between them as her breathing picked up, her sight locked onto the dead body that laid on a pool of blood. Fear gripped her heart, this human was killed in the fighting, and those humans now…

The rapport of cracks sounded like that of rain on the roof, distant and faded as Twilight’s vision darkened, blocking out first the hangar, then the crates, and soon the lights, leaving her with one of the dead humans who had once been her tormentor.

“Sweet Celestia, that’s… They murder one another! How could they do that to one another?!?!”

Twilight knew that death was a part of life, every time Celestia had delved into historical figures over the millennium, she always had a look of sorrow whenever she would talk about somepony she had known personally. But ever since the last war in 82 A.B. (After Banishment) or 82nd year of the Solar Calendar, death from fighting had been nonexistent, the only deaths arising from encounters with hostile wildlife.

Twilight teared up at the thought, the idea of killing another sentient creature was foreign to her as was this world, her breathing had turned into near hyperventilation while staring at the corpse. So lost in thought she was that she never noticed Blake approaching her, nor calling out to her until a hand touched her shoulder.

Shouting as she was snapped out of her trance, Twilight jumped away from the contact and spotted Blake who had flinched back from the harsh reaction, taking a step back and calling out to her once more.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Blake asked quietly, his voice calm and quiet so as to not spook her anymore. His eyes were widened in concern for his 3ft tall acquaintance. He had crouched down to her eye level, hand still reaching out from his attempt to gain her attention.

Twilight stared incredulously at him, noticing how he didn’t even seem fazed or concerned by the fact that there were DOZENS of dead bodies around them.

“Wh- WHa- They- He-” Twilight sucked in a breath to give her some composure, the adrenaline and fear coursing through her derailing her normally logical mind.

“Di- Did you two… Did you…” Twilight’s voice cracked as she spoke, her mind barely comprehending what she was about to say. “kill... everypony…”

Twilight’s voice was barely that above a whisper, as if she spoke any louder the world itself would notice and react. Twilight had to look at the ground as she said that, tears that had been budding now dropping to the concrete below. Twilight, no longer able to hold back the floodgates, started to cry openly as she buried her face into hooves, her mind reeling from everything.

Blake said nothing as Twilight cried, opting instead to let her process her emotions while he thought of a way to help her without lying to her. After a few minutes, Blake noted that James had finished clearing the path and was now closing up the plane, gesturing to Blake to get in with him. Blake instead chose to wave him off, knowing the car was still around the side for him to get away in.

James took one last look between him and Twilight before nodding in begrudging acceptance of Blake’s actions. As James jumped into the plane, Blake knew he had around a minute or two at most before the hangar was filled with the roar of the engines, drowning out any potential conversations.

Looking back to Twilight, he could see she had pulled her hooves away from her face, eyes now red and puffy as she sniffled to keep the snot from running everywhere, although there were a few streaks on her hooves already drying. Blake slowly sighed before speaking.

“Twilight, I’m not going to lie to you. James and I aren’t the, well, best of people. We were hired by someone to, steal this shipment from the shady PMC Merryweather, and they fought to the death over it. I’m not going to say that you have to come with us, or even should come with, but do you have anywhere safe to go? I can tell you aren’t from here, you don’t even look like you’re from this world, but I don’t want to see you hurt or in the hands of Merryweather to let them do God knows what to you.”

Twilight didn’t move besides to sniffle some more or wipe away a straggling tear as Blake spoke, listening to his words while her eyes were glued to the floor.

“Why… Why do you… You…”

Twilight paused her question to breathe, her slow breath shuddering from her nerves twitching sporadically.

“You… Regardless of the reason, that makes you a… a… a murderer!” Twilight rasped out, her breath catching on itself causing her to cough as she looked into Blake’s eyes.

Blake’s face became saddened, knowing that while she was right, she wasn’t from here and didn’t have the experiences he had. Looking into her eyes, he could see disgust, accompanied by fear and horror of what he had done.

“There’s a phrase that I heard long ago,” Twilight looked at him with skepticism as he spoke, “that if you kill a murderer, the amount of murderers stays the same. But, I feel if you keep killing murderers, then the amount of murderers in the world decreases, even just a little bit. You are right though, I am a murderer for killing them, but if I didn’t kill them, then they would have brought this plane and its cargo, which would have included you, to God knows where to do who knows what with it. There are plenty of countries out there that are happy to take their money and look the other way. I can tell that wherever you're from, it's peaceful, and isn’t engulfed in war, espionage, or secret government agencies working against its people.”

Twilight looked away from Blake as he spoke, choosing instead to look at the concrete to her left.

“Let me help you stay alive and free at the very least, but it requires you to trust me just a little bit, okay?”

Blake held out his hand, leaving it in the air as he looked at Twilight. Twilight for her part slowly looked at him, before looking around at the scene in the hangar and sighing. Slowly, and almost painfully, she raised her hoof to shake his hand.

“I’ll trust you, just… No more… This, around me.” Twilight weakly muttered out as she shook his hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you aren’t around anymore gunfights, but in the meantime we should get out of here before the plane ta–” The rest of Blake’s sentence was drowned out in the sudden roar of the four plane engines coming to life. With them being behind the plane itself, the wind buffeted them harshly, nearly sliding Twilight away as she tried to plant her three hooves to steady herself, the last hoof in the hand of Blake as he tugged her to the side of the hangar.

As the unlikely pair moved around the hangar, James started pulling the plane out onto the tarmac, opting to get it onto the larger runway and not risk crashing into one of the many lights or structures that dotted the airport. Swinging around a raised section of ground, James turned the plane to line up the runway slowly, before a shot rang out and brushed against his head. Looking towards the entrance of LSIA, he could see three more SUV’s inbound and filled with angry mercenaries. Frowning as he quickly shifted the plane into position, James set the throttle to max, slowly feeling and entirely hearing the thrust of the propellers pushing the plane forward painfully slowly at first.

Blake and Twilight had made it into the car and stopped to watch the Titan of a plane pick up speed, drawing the attention of Merryweather away from the hangar, and them as well.

“Will he be okay in that thing?” Twilight asked, eyes wide in both fear and curiosity as she watched the plane take off, ignoring the SUV’s that attempted to chase it to the end of the runway as Blake pulled out from between the hangars and over to the exit gate.

“Yea, he’ll be fine, I need to make a call though to let them know it’s on the way. After that we’ll be driving out there to pick him up and bring him home.”

Blake pulled out his phone and sifted through his contacts, reaching Lester’s name and dialing it. Keeping it on speaker so he could focus on driving around the highway by LSIA while letting Twilight hear, the call rang twice before a nasally voice answered it.

“I hope you’re calling with good news.”

“Of course, planes up and on its way, Merryweather had extra security on it and double the usual reinforcements.”

“Hmmm.” The sounds of a keyboard typing away could be heard on the other end of the line. “Seems like they’re really pissed that this shipment got stolen, did you see anything on it that might be the reason?”

Blake looked over to Twilight who was attempting to analyze the device in his hand before noticing that he was looking at her while driving leisurely through the city streets. Tension filled the air as Twilight pressed her lips together and hesitated to speak, choosing to mentally debate with herself instead for a few seconds. Hesitantly, and as quiet as she could, she whispered to Blake.

“If you trust him.”

Blake nodded his head and smiled warmly at her before speaking, “Yea, though that’ll be something I’ll tell you later, but we’ll need to meet in person for it.”

There was a pause as Lester went quiet, the only noise being that of Blake turning the car onto the western highway, or ‘Great Ocean Highway’ as it was officially called. Blake started to open his mouth to speak before suddenly Lester spoke again.

“Hmm, is this ‘something’ dangerous? Something that no government would want you to have?” Lester’s tone was perfectly level in its delivery, yet it was very obvious what he was thinking.

“No no, it’s not dangerous, it’s more like, ehhhh, something that Merryweather wanted to keep close to their chest. I promise it’s not what you’re thinking, hell even I wouldn’t think of this, but you can hold off on the payment until we meet up to discuss it. Scout’s honor, I promise.”

“...Alright, I’ll trust it for now, but if you don’t show up for the meeting…”

“C’mon Lester, I haven’t ever lied to you before, at least give me a chance now, that’s all I’m asking, please?”

“Fine fine, I doubt Merryweather would be stupid enough to ship anything crazy like this anyway. I’ll send you which park we’ll mee–”

“It has to be somewhere discreet, I can’t bring h- show it around in the daylight.”

“...I’ll text you the address, be there in two days after dark, got it?”

“Got it boss, see you then!” Blake cheerfully said, the tension leaving the air as Lester hung up the call and Blake focused on the road, picking up speed to start weaving past cars on the freeway.

Twilight watched Blake put the phone away, before looking at him, her ears low to her head as she thought about what to say. Time passed in silence, the only disturbance being the gentle shift in the car's weight as they took the bends or switched lanes while Twilight grew frustrated with herself.

Twilight took a deep breath before looking back to Blake, narrowing her eyes slightly as she finally built up the courage to speak to him.

“Why are you helping me? What do you gain out of this?”

Blakes eyes widened in surprise at the accusatory nature of the question, looking over at Twilight briefly in confusion before collecting himself to reply.

“Why am I helping you? I guess that’s a fair question, but it’s because it’s what I would want someone to do if I was in your position. I know how bad Merryweather is when out in public, I know it’s only worse when nobody’s looking.”

Blake’s mouth turned into a frown as he spoke the last sentence, his face becoming grim as he thought about the rumors of what went on at the black sites. Twilight, for her part, softened her expression as he spoke to her.

“And for what I gain out of this… Nothing really, a good story to tell years on, and maybe a friend.” Blake’s frown shifted into a gentle smile, ideas and hope for the future popping into his head as he turned onto route 68 just before the highway passed the military base.

Twilight eyed him, trying to gauge him but knew deep down that she lacked the ability to truly do so, else she wouldn’t have been fooled the first time. Ponies were the easiest to read, due to their ears and wide eyes, liars weren’t often, and when one was found, it was rare for them to be proficient enough to slip past the average questionnaire.

Twilight had also seen Minotaurs during her time as Celestia’s student, but due to her being so focused on studying, she hardly paid attention to their mannerisms when they would engage in conversation with Celestia. Human’s were closest to minotaurs in regards to their build, but even then humans barely expressed themselves.

”It’s almost like humans are natural liars, but…”

Twilight looked at the dashboard of the car, not for any particular reason, but because she needed something to steady her gaze on besides Blake, thinking about what he said.

“If you’re willing to go that far,” Twilight turned her gaze back to Blake, “then why do you…”

“Kill?” Blake offered the word in lieu of her saying it.

“Yes! It doesn't make any sense, sure some ponies make mistakes or hurt somepony else, but to do… that! There’s only been a dozen cases in Equestria’s history where somepony… D- Did that more than once! Almost everypony else would break down after doing that!”

Twilight took a breath after her rant, slightly panting as she tried to calm her nerves back down while mentally processing everything so as to not have an aneurysm. Letting the conversation die out, Twilight rested her head on her hoof as she took a look out the passenger window, passing a run down motel on the corner of two roads. Hearing Blake sigh, Twilight turned her ears back towards him.

“Years ago, I watched a movie with James, well, more like I dragged him there so we could hang out and take a break, but anyway. In the movie, one of the characters said a line that resonated with me. ‘Just because you are a bad guy, doesn’t mean you are a bad guy.”

Twilight looked at him out of the corner of her eye, her eyebrow raising as he spoke.

“Just because James and I do bad things, doesn’t mean we can’t control who we do it to. Yea killing is bad, but in San Andreas, everyone is either trying to kill one another, fuck one another, or fuck over one another, pardon my french.”

Blake hurriedly said the last part of the sentence, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment with a slight chuckle.

“But even in this crazy state, there are people here that are good people, who mean well, but sometimes don’t always do well, or can’t do well. Humans are complicated like that, one day you’re fighting one another, the next you’re the best of friends.”

Blake turned left, taking a wide turn around a bar as the Sandy Shores airfield came into view.

“It’s how me and James met anyway, and look at us now, two idiots in Los Santos trying to make a dishonest buck.”

Twilight saw a dilapidated and rusted out hangar come into view, while standing in front of it was James, smoking a cigarette while waiting for them. As the car stopped a few feet away from him, he threw it to the ground and stomped it out as he moved to hop into the bed of the car.

Twilight sat quietly on the passenger seat, normally she would be abound with questions on how this metal carriage worked, what moved it, what powered it, did everypony have one, how hard was it to replicate the design, who designed it, and a dozen other questions, but only one plagued her mind as Blake drove in silence.

”How can you be a murderer, but also not a bad pony?”

Twilight KNEW better than most ponies that you can make a mistake, end up on the wrong path in life, and still end up a good pony, but to k– to do THAT, nopony that would be willing to do that could be redeemable. Even Discord and Nightmare Moon, the two biggest threats to the world, they never actually… They had hurt ponies, yes, Celestia had told her after the Summer Sun Celebration that Celestia needed weeks to recover from their battle a thousand years ago, but the emotional toil it took on her lasted every day until Twilight and her friends stopped Nightmare Moon.

But even after everything they did, they still never went that far. They always knew to wound, to stop, to prank, but to, to… To kill… They knew to never cross that line.

Twilight hardly paid attention to where they were going until she spotted a vineyard that they had passed earlier, except this time Blake turned left and went south. Noticing the desert sand turning into lush green hills and cliff faces, Twilight looked around cautiously, noting that besides a few buildings, she hadn’t even been paying attention while they were moving, too engrossed in the conversation.

Taking the road all the way up into the mountains, they followed a river up the mountain before passing a gas station as they crested over the top; Twilight finally noticing how large the city was as its light encompassed the entire night sky, drowning out the natural starlight with light pollution.

Standing taller than all of Canterlot Castle, taller than the skyscrapers of Manehatten, Twilight watched buildings not only peak over the horizon, but ascend well past it, reaching towards the sky like mountains themselves. Lights could be spotted from within, dotting the buildings sporadically like a foal would decorate a Hearth's Warming tree. Lights could be spotted moving up and down a trio of towers, while Twilight could make out what seemed to be more metal carriages that moved below the towers.

“Never seen a city like this before?”

Twilight snapped out of her daze, realizing her jaw had dropped at some point. Closing her mouth and coughing into her hoof to hide her embarrassment, she looked over to Blake who seemed to be amused by her reaction.

“Well, it is a bit larger than my hometown.”

Not entirely a lie, it was bigger than Canterlot, and infinitely bigger than the small town of Ponyville she now called home, but best to keep that to herself.

“Wait until you see Vice City, or even Liberty City. Vice is pretty big, but I feel Los Santos is bigger, but Liberty? Nothing but skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, makes Los Santos look like a small time town in comparison.”

“I doubt I will ever be able to, or want to, visit those places.” Twilight replied curtly, getting home would take priority over any form of sightseeing.

“You might not be able to visit them yourself, but luckily we have the internet, and that will let you see them. Plus it’s a lot safer than trying to travel across the entire country.” Blake offhandedly replied as they drove into the outskirts of the city, the buildings blocking most of the view of downtown now.

Twilight elected to simply keep silent, the idea of this ‘enter-net’ allowing viewing of other cities yet still easily accessible, intriguing her inner scientist, but the rest of her wanted nothing else to do with this world.

Watching the smaller two to five story buildings pass by, and a strange one with a multitude of colors adorning its face while it appeared to be empty yet filled with similar metal carriages to their own, Twilight scrunched up her face slightly in confusion.

”How could such an advanced civilization still be filled with murderers? If the majority of ponies were busy fighting one another, it would be impossible for the world to survive.”

Twilight was jostled from her thoughts, again, when they pulled up to a small, two story blue building, with a large sign above it. An older woman holding a fan, along with some bracelets and rings next to her were accompanied by the large text saying “SELL GRANDMA’S GOLD!” above it. Twilight felt revolted at the idea of how one could casually think of something so horrendous as selling a family heirloom, even if they were in hard times, heirlooms were one of the last things ponies would sell due to the sentimental value alone.

Blake reached above him and pressed a button, a gray garage door sliding up and away as he pulled into the underground section of the building, backing into a garage that was dimly lit with an overhead lamp above the car and a single bulb light by the door to the stairs. Stepping out the two-door car, he called over to James who had hopped out of the bed.

“James, could you ge-”

Blake’s words died in his mouth as he spotted Twilight through the back window, her horn glowing purple along with the interior handle, as the passenger door opened by itself. James, hearing his name, stopped to look over before his eyes fell on Twilight hopping out the car and closing the door behind her. James’ eyes widened in shock at witnessing Twilight moving the door without actually touching it, while Blake dropped his jaw at the sight.

Twilight looked up at James, noticing his expression and instinctively backed up towards the front of the car, looking down at the ground to avoid his dumbfounded gaze.

“W-What’s wrong?” Twilight managed to say, her composure failing slightly.

Blake was the first to snap back to reality as she spoke, looking at her with wide eyes and barely contained excitement.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?” Blake so much as didn’t shout, but spoke quickly and excitedly.

“The door? Well, I saw you open it from the outside the first time, and then just now I saw you reach for the interior handle. It seemed simple enough so…” Twilight looked between Blake and James, confusion on her face at the question.

“No no! I mean with your horn! How did you move it without touching it!?”

Blake had started to lean over the back of the car to look closer at Twilight, his face smiling like a child who had witnessed their very first magic trick.

Twilight smiled nervously at the question, taking a few seconds to think before she decided to answer.

“Oh, magic? Well, all I have to do is use the ambien–”

Twilight was cut off as Blake literally jumped over the back of the car, although impressive as it was, still falling just short and tripping over the side wall of the bed and shoulder checking the concrete below. Popping up not a second later onto his knees, he starts badgering Twilight with questions, his childlike glee never leaving his face.

“OO OO, MAGIC? Like real, life actual, magic? What else can you do? Can you teleport? Turn invisible? Can you shoot lasers out of your horn? OH wait, what about flight? Can you fly with it? Could you make a shie-”

Blake was cut off as James smacked the back of his head, the slap echoing in the small space as Blake looked stunned for a second before glaring at James.

“Ow, what was that for?”

James simply pointed at Twilight who had moved away from Blake, now much closer to the workbench at the back of the garage that held spare car parts than the passenger door, nearly a three foot difference. Blake’s eyes widened once he realized he was making Twilight upset at the barrage of question,

“Ah, sorry about that Twilight, it’s just, REAL magic is sooo cool. I won’t bug you about everything magic can do if you don’t want to talk about it, how about we head upstairs and get you settled in, I know I’m tired from running around all night.”

Blake looked between Twilight and James, who for his part merely turned away without a word and proceeded through the door on the side of the garage. Blake looked sheepishly at Twilight as the sound of James’ footsteps could be heard climbing the stairs.

“C’mon, how about I show you our apartment, it’s probably better than anything Merryweather had.” Blake said as he used the car to lift himself up, flashing a hearty grin at Twilight before moving to the door James took.

Twilight slowly followed behind him, taking note of where everything was, just in case. Blake stepped through and held the door open for her behind him, which she graciously held in her magic as she passed through. The duo ascended the staircase as it wrapped back around before ending in a hallway that lead to a series of doors with numbers on them.

Twilight was able to recognize an apartment complex, unsurprising since they were in the city where space was limited and the only way to build was up. In the few seconds she looked around, Blake had already made way to the end of the hall, going up to a door and attempting to open it before realizing it was locked. Giving it a quick knock, Blake looked back at Twilight who was swiftly walking towards him to catch up and not be left behind.

As Twilight reached Blake, the apartment door swung open revealing James who simply glanced at Blake before stepping away to allow them unfettered access. Blake pushed the door open to its fullest before gesturing to Twilight to enter the apartment.

Twilight took a peek inside the apartment, seeing what appeared to be a, albeit very run down and poor, living room accompanied by a few couches. Stepping through the entryway revealed the full extent of the apartment, although calling it fit for three would be a stretch due to how little room there was.

The entryway where Twilight stood doubled as the dining area, fitted with a small table and two chairs to sit on, next to the kitchen taking up a small corner all the while dressed in a faded green color. A half wall separated the kitchen/dining area from the rest of the apartment, allowing access to the living room in the far corner where a TV sat in the corner where two couches faced it along with a lounge chair with a bong on the table between it all.

And to her left were two doors, one inset halfway down the wall while the other sat in the corner of the room. Blake stepped in behind her while closing the door, its gentle click alerting Twilight to its movement. Twilight scooted towards the dining table as Blake moved past her towards the fridge, opening it and shifting through its contents.

“James, you good with a beer?”

A simple grunt was the only reply from James as Blake pulled out two beers in one hand.

“What about you Twilight? We have some soda’s in here that probably won’t upset you, and some veggies, although we’ll have to go grocery shopping tomorrow to get a proper supply of food for you. Are you ok with cucumbers for tonight?”

Blake peaked his head over the fridge door, taking a look at Twilight who stood in by the front door still. Spotting Blake staring at her for a few seconds, Twilight jumped slightly as she thought of what he said.

“Uh, yea, cucumbers sound good? What’s soda?”

“Think carbonated water with flavors, it’s good, trust me.” Blake said as he pulled out a Sprunk can and a bag of cucumbers in his other hand. Holding them out for Twilight, she took them in her magic and opened the bag of cucumbers, their fresh scent wafting out as she pulled one out.

Blake, all the while, watched in rapt fascination, eyes wide in childlike glee watching her use magic again. A small cough from Twilight was enough to snap him back to reality as he laughed in embarrassment before moving over to the door in the corner of the room and opening the door, revealing a bathroom.

“This here is the bathroom, we’ll grab you some toiletries in the morning, don’t worry about that tonight.” Blake said as he moved away from the bathroom and to the remaining door halfway down the wall. “And this is the bedroom, feel free to use it, since we’re out so much, or so tired, we usually pass out on the couch and mostly use it for storage under the bed or in the closet. Plus, I’m sure you’d like some privacy as a woman.”

Twilight blushed at the comment, mumbling out a quiet “Thank you.” through her embarrassment.

As she inspected her temporary bedroom, she noticed the record player, along with vinyls and posters on the wall, saying things such as “LOS SANTOS OWNS YOU” and “An American Divorce” with the lead stars name just below it. The bed itself was a simple bed, with sheets and some pillows with a purple cover that was pulled back, only covering 2/3rds of the bed.

On the walls sat small bookshelves, filled with miscellaneous books and speakers, along with a small dresser turned TV stand with movies and magazines below it. A small lamp and alarm clock sat on the nightstand next to the bed. At the opposite end of the room stood a tall wardrobe, the right panel open enough for Twilight to spot some clothes hanging on racks, pants and shoes at the bottom, and a shelf near the top was filled to the brim with ammo boxes and magazines.

“Feel free to sleep for now, me and James usually pass out later since it's only 3AM.

Twilight turned to look back into the living room, spotting Blake handing James a ‘beer’ and taking a seat on the second couch before turning on the TV, Kung-Fu Rainbow Lazer Force splashing onto the screen as the duo watched the show with mild disinterest.

Twilight simply chose to close the bedroom door quietly as they relaxed, sipping on beer and laughing every so often. Taking a seat on the bed and placing the bag and can of Sprunk in front of her while she slowly munched on the cucumbers, she slowly took in her surroundings. The absence of threats, demands, or even harsh lighting that left her restless and without a proper night's rest left her feeling numb to the sensation.

No, not numb. Relaxed. I’m relaxed…

Twilight snorted at the idea, a strained smile gracing her lips for the first time in weeks as she thought of the idea.

I’m relaxed while I’m about to sleep in the same apartment as two murderers… Sweet Celestia, what has my life become?

Twilight moved the remainder of her meal to the TV stand, leaving it for later on when she awoke; choosing instead to slip under the covers, curl up on herself, and sleep properly for the first time since she arrived on Earth.