Chapter One: Target
View Online

Fifty shades of Grey Crusader

Chapter One: Target

Fifty shades of Grey Crusader
By Da Bunnana King

For Krass McWriter:I'm still better at BF3 than you

Chapter one: Target

= = = = =

It was an average day for me. I was patrolling the near empty streets of San Francisco with my M4 carbine. There was nothing special about the rifle besides the Human Liberation Force logo. Each logo was different from place to place. Ours was the standard upwards pointing fist holding a lightning bolt.

I like the rifle but I could care less for it. It was just an inanimate object that granted me power when ever I held it while wearing my uniform. Though my officer’s uniform did create most of the respect and the fear it bestowed in ponies and humans alike. Heck, I even earned a name ‘Ice’ for the blood that apparently ran through my veins. I quite liked the nickname they gave me, it was better than what they called me before.

The only thing the uniform didn’t have was an inbuilt air conditioner as I was sweating buckets. Well not really buckets but enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Thankfully I was arriving at my destination. The local watering hole.

It was a destination I had visited throughout my life, but it hadn’t changed a bit. It still had a saloon look to it, with it’s dusty paint color that made the establishment stand out from the grey corporate buildings it surrounded. The sign that hung above the door was made of a fake oak wood base that had its name written in red nylon lights.

"The Lonesome star," I said. I'd always wondered why it was named that, something to do with the old west and when the east and west hadn't even met. I think it was that transcontinental railroad that they built, I couldn’t remember what exactly it was but it had something to do with that and a whole lot of money.

I waltzed up to the door and unslung the rifle from my shoulder as I looked at the gruff bikie bouncer.

"Afternoon Ice," he said as I gently tossed the rifle in his arms.

"Yeah I know," I said as he took my rifle and placed it in the gunsafe behind him, "Any of those stupid ponies in there?"

"I know about twelve are in there and a few of them were talking about that group you always rant about after a bottle of whisky," the bouncer said as he rubbed his thick black beard.

"The Ponification of Earth's Rebirth are here!" I exclaimed as I hated them with my whole being.

"Yeah those were the ones, just no fights okay. I've already had to break up a fight between a blue unicorn, a burgundy earth pony and a drunken army gunner over who'd win in a fight," he said slightly disgruntled.

"Fine, but I'm not promising anything Greg," I said pushing the replica saloon doors open.

= = = = =

As I pushed through the doors the thick stench of smoke, beer and some sort of meat the cook was making. The room was mainly made up of a long bar that had a few patrons drinking; some were human, griffin, diamond dog and what seemed to be a young dragon. Then there was the tiny stage where on Thursday nights you could always see some drunk idiot trying to sing Country Roads, and lastly the restaurant part of the building.

It was populated with the same sort of creatures that sat at the bar, but in the corner of the restaurant sat three ponies, two earth ponies and one grey unicorn. The earth pony that sat on the right had a corn silk mane and a deep red coat, opposed to the other earth pony's black coat and silver mane.

But the grey unicorn, he looked familiar.

'I need to get a closer look, but I don't want to spook them... I know!' I thought to myself as I moved over to a table near the booth they sat in the corner of.

I could barely see the other two but I had a dead shot sight of the unicorn.

The grey unicorn had a light grey coat that nearly matched his light black mane. Even his strangely large eyes were a darkened shade of grey. Everything on him was grey, except his cutie mark. Strangely I couldn't see one, whether it be the low light levels or my poor eye sight. But it still clicked in my head who the stallion was.

"Grey Crusader," I said quietly, and as the words left my mouth his ears pointed in my direction.

I quickly snatched up a menu and pretended to read it as he stared in my general direction. I prayed that he didn't see the HLF emblem that I sewn on my arm along. If the leader of the PER saw me I feared for what he might do to an officer in the HLF, and I knew there was a fate worse than standard ponification.

"Did you say my name Jester?" Grey asked the black stallion next to him.

"No sir. Must of been the wind or something," Jester replied as he looked up at Grey. Or I think he did as all I could see were their manes and ears.

"Must have been the wind," Grey said as I could see his ears were dead focused on me.

'Lord please don't see me,' I begged as I could almost feel a bead of sweat form on my brow.

"Anyhow, as I was saying Krasnyjka, the officer is named Ice around these parts. You do know what you have to do, do you?" He questioned the red pony.

"Yeah... I hope, but do we have to-," the red pony began before being silenced by Grey's hoof.

"Sadly yes, if there were any other way I would tell you but sadly there isn't, and you'll be safe. When the raid is going on they'll be busy fighting and you'll be free to move around their base," he reassured the red pony as he removed his hoof.

"I... Alright," she said gulping, "I'll do it."

"Thank you Krasnyjka, you'll be forever in my debt. Now let's get a move on," he said as I could see all three heads move away from where the booth was as the sound of hooves colliding with the floor was heard.

When they were out of my sight I lowered my menu to see the empty booth, nothing was on the table; not even a jug of water and cups.

I sighed and stood up to face the exciting trio that were halfway to the door. I followed and had some time to process what they had said.

'Shit, they're going to attack the base and then try to ponify me. Dammit, if I stop them before they get to their base I can bag the two of them for the standard bounty and then claim the bounty of the head of Grey Crusader,' I thought to myself as I exited the bar, 'I'm going to get rich, aren't I?'

I pushed open the bar's main doors and looked at Greg who seemed baffled, but he knew I wanted to leave in a hurry. So he threw my carbine at me and gave a nod in acknowledgment as I pulled the bolt back on the M4.

I then pushed threw the last door into the bright daylight of San Francisco with weapon at the ready to bag the kill of a lifetime.

= = = = =

As I rounded the corner I could see them on the street trotting down the main drag. I would of taken the shot were it not for the crowd of people they were moving into.

"Clever little shits," I cursed as I broke out into a mad sprint to catch up to them. If I lost them here then the base and I were very much going up shit creek without a paddle.

I reached the edge of the crowd and began pushing through with the rifle still in my hands. Those that saw me moved quickly out of my way and the ones who didn't at first made sure to move quick. But it wasn't enough to reach them as the three moved quicker through the crowd and began heading towards the old town of San Francisco.

'Shit, they must be heading to their base or a safehouse, and there is no way in hell I'm going to make it them in a crowd like this. Maybe if I discharge a round... No, it will just make them run faster... Dammit Ice think,' I mentally said as I slung my rifle and just began pushing people out of my way.

"Hey watch it buddy!" A man in a Hawaiian floral shirt said as I shoved him.

"What the?!" Commented another who was next to him as the streets became more crowded.

I could only see the heads of them as I continued to push through the crowd.

I was about to shove the burly man in front of me were it not for him spinning around and trying to give me one hell of a left hook. Luckily I didn't get blind drunk at the bar so I was able to deflect it into his drunken friend.

"Hey," he drunkenly slurred, "Where you goin' mister army redject."

"Don't care," I said as I heard a clicking behind me.

"Tell that to mah ragin' bull here," he slurred once more as he let out a shot from what heard like a 44 magnum. I felt the bullet whiz past my head but all I heard was a defending ring from the shot.

I could barely make out the screams of the crowd as panic gripped it. It did however begin to clear the streets quicker than I could say 'shit has hit the fan'.

"Oh God! He's got a gun!" Yelled a frightened woman as I got back to my feet to see the three ponies running away.

"Like hell you are," I commented under my breath as I broke out into a full sprint.

I kept running after them as people left and right panicked as I moved deeper into the old city. As I chased the trio of ponies the streets began to narrow and become more dense. They then turned off into a back alley where it was very much empty and less innocent civilians moved through. It still wasn’t enough for me to land a few shots on them.

‘God dammit,’ I cursed to myself as I felt this could turn two ways. I could be running into a trap or if I bag ‘em I’ll get arrested by the cops. Either way I needed back up and fast.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small device that looked like a black USB. It was given to me like that by my old officer in the Air Force before he passed away, said it was a micro radio. It was an ancient piece of technology that he said had served him well when he did wetwork for the British Government. Didn’t know what it meant at the time, but I learned over time that this tiny device had saved my life a few times.

Saved me from bleeding out when I was in a car accident, saved me from starving to death when I was dropped off in the middle of the Savannah to do some advanced recon course for the Air Force and now. Now it was going to save my skin from turning into a pony’s hide.

I pushed on the small sliding latch that pushed up a small antenna and revealed a small green glowing light notifying me it was on.

With that out of the way I picked up the pace of a full on sprint as they rounded a corner in front of me.

I caught up to them and rounded the corner as they dived down a even smaller alley that looked like it was a dead end.

“Prefect,” I said as I slowed down and caught my breath. I slowly walked towards the alley while I unslung the rifle off my shoulders and held it up.

I pushed into the alleyway as I quickly checked my corners but at the end of the alleyway was just a stone wall and nothing else.

“What the fuck?” I cursed as I lowered my rifle down and scratched my head wondering where they could of gone to. I mean the alleyway was very narrow and the only way they could have eluded me was going through the wall or over it.

I then realized passing a small indent in the walls which was barely enough room for anyone to escape through, but just enough hide in.

Realizing this I quickly turned around with my gun unsteadily head in one hand ready to mow down the three ponies who dared try to ambush me.

It was at that moment in time life around me decided to slow down. Whether it be all the adrenaline pumping through my body or I was taking my time and savoring the last moments before I became a famous assassin for the HLF.

I could see the three ponies slowly galloping towards me as Grey’s horn lit up slowly to create a small ball of magic. Knowing that at one point it would hit me I slowly swung my gun forward and squeezed the trigger as a somewhat slow torrent of lead that slowly made their way toward the three.

The ball of magic began to speed up as it was on a dead set course for my rifle. I didn’t let up my side and continued moving the gun closer towards the trio of ponies whilst I was still shooting.

All though I kept up the heavy fire the ball of magic collided with my causing the rifle and my hand to go flying backwards. Time being the bitch it is decided to speed up all of reality around me and make the scene unfurl quicker than I would have wanted it too.

I was able to reach for my knife I hid in my boot for an occasion such as this but even then I wasn’t fast enough. Before I knew it I had a 150 pound unicorn on my chest ready to do god knows what to me.

I pulled the knife out of its sheath that was my boot and attempted to stab him but one of the other ponies kicked it out of my hand. It felt like he broke every single bone in my left hand when he kicked it.

“Ahh,” I screamed as I heard bones crack as I feebly attempted to make a fist, “You bastards, I’ll fucking kill you!”

“Right,” said Grey as he headbutted me.

It was a quick headbutt but I was out for a good three seconds. Just enough time for him to get off me and restrain me with his magic. The magic binding hurt and felt like he had placed me in red hot iron cuffs.

“Well, how convenient,” Grey said as he forced me into a kneeling position with my legs underneath me, “Looks like we didn’t even have to find him. Krasnyjka get the potion.”

“Yes sir,” the mare said as she pulled out an ostrich egg sized potion bomb.

“Don’t you fuckin-” I began before the potion hit me in my chest. When the potion collided with my skin two things happened. Mybinding were released and my every single inch of me felt like it was on fire.

“AAHHHH!” I screamed as the potion began to rapidly change my body.

“Come on, lets leave him to change. We’ve got better things to do,” he said as he led the group of ponies away from my agonizing pain brought on by the potion.

I felt my knees move backwards with a terrifying snap as the bones contorted with them. I could also feel my rib cage begin to expand as well as my face to become more narrow. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t catch my breath as I felt my guts move and change inside of me. I raised my hands as if I were praying for divine salvation from this pain. But all I could see was a ice white fur begin to cover my arms while my fingers sunk into my palm becoming more and more hoof like. I also felt something begin to emerge from... from... well, my butt. But I also felt something painful attempting to emerge from my back.

If felt like something was clawing it’s way out of my back. Bone began to pierce through my skin painfully but skin and muscle began to cover it. I don’t know what the hell it was but barely even a second later a massive push of bone and muscle pushed out two pair of bones that resembled the bone structure of a wing.

But the pain, the pain was too much for me to bear. I saw the world fade go to black and time almost halted to a complete stop. All my muscle in me just stopped and I fell face first towards the ground as I could see a muzzle begin to form where my mouth and nose used to be.

Just as the world nearly was over encumbered by darkness I had the slight feeling of a warm motherly embrace wrap around me and the words, ‘It will be okay new one, welcome to the herd,’ was left in my ears. I felt at ease with my force ponification for a second, right before I hit the ground with my face and passed out.

= = = = =

Author's Note

Made chapter one and two a chapter, and going back and editing. If I miss stuff then sorry.