Chapter 1. The change of ideals.
I wake up on my couch at exactly 11:30 pm. It's as dark as the inside of a trash bag, still I could see the calendar on the wall of 2012 which I still haven't changed to 2013 yet, but I knew it was wednesday, the 16th of january.
I got up from the couch and didn't have to bother to put on some clothes since I already wore them and started to walk through the dark apartment towards the kitchen. The lights from the refrigerator burned my eyes for a while before i had grabbed my leftover chinese food and closed the door.
At 11:45 pm the food was since long gone and I had taken a quick shower with some of my few special, scentless shampoos and soaps that made me smell like nothing.
I went through the dark apartment once more with nothing but a black towel around my waist, dark and black, dark and black. I entered my bedroom where I opened my closet and picked out a plain black t-shirt, a pair of black socks and some underwear.
When I was dressed in the named clothes I closed the closet and took one of my keys that was hanging around my neck, put it in the lock, tuerned, and opened what semed like a whole new wardrobe. I took out and put on my black winter pilot coat and my black chinos together with a pair of the groundskeepers special black leather boots.
With just a light touch one of the shelves in the wardrobe opened and revealed different kinds of weapons and gears together with a tool belt. I pulled out one of the big revolvers with the word "eraser" engraved on it and placed it on my bed together with a few flash grenades, a silver dagger and some other usefull things.
I suited up and hide my belt with its content behind the coat, looked at my self in the mirror to see that all was there. My gaze stayed at my face for a while. My dark brown hair had started to grow a bit to long, I couldn't remember when was the last time I cut it, my hand brushed it out of my pale and slim face wich was covered in a rugged beard stubble and my gray eyes met themselves in the mirror and I wondered what I had forgotten...
*That's right, my hat!*, I thought and grabbed one of the wide, flat, black hats which were as mandatory as the rest to where during patrol.
It's 11:58 pm, and I'm standing in the hallway, preparing mentally for the beginning of my shift. "Dark as night we are, and guardians of the night we will be. Work as one force of nature, so no one the creatures of evil will see. Walk in the dark, think of the day, live as them, and kill them you may.", I chanted and stepped out of my appartment at exactly 12.00 pm.
I plugged in my headset in my Iphone and stuck the headphones in my ears as I started walking in the cold and snowy city called Backstream, and even with the city lights it was dark. Dark and black, dark and black, nothing but darkness and blackness.
At 12:05 Am, I already got my first call from Goatee as the well known signal sounded in my ears. I picked up and heard Goatees wheezing whois say.
"Gray-eye."
"yes, I'm here.", I answered.
"I've got your first target of the night, there's signs of either a Slimer or a Brain-sprite up north close to the trains. You better hurry there's a train incoming, and if its a brain-sprite it can get nasty."
"Roger that.", I said and ended the conversation as I darted faster than any human could towards the train station as I checked my eraser with familiar movements for any faults that could lead to a mistake during the incoming fight.
I noticed some dirt that was probably from my fight with the ash beast a few nights before that had stuck around the cylinder and would probably after a few shots made the gun useless, but after a few swoops with a rag it was as good as new.
Contours of buildings were moving past me as I traveled faster and faster through the city, and soon enough I had reached my destination.
I took a step inside the empty and poorly lit station and looked for any signs of the creature. My legs slowed down to a light strowl and my eyes darted from place to place in search of any movements.The only sound was the eco of my steps sounding, tock, tock, tock. I inhale deeply through my nose and the air smelled like normal, floor cleaning products and paper. *No sweetness.*, I thought and felt uneasy. This meant that i could not be a Slimer. It was then I heard something else than the sound of my own footsteps.
*I love my job. I can fly how much I want,*, Derpy Hooves thought as she almost flew into a branch. *even though I'm not super good at it, it's still nice. I also get the opportunity to see everypony's happy faces when they get their mail.*
She soar freely for a while and decided to deliver one more letter before she took a lunch break. The lucky mare was Rainbow dash who was snoozing on a cloud as usual.
"Rainbow dash, Rainbow dash.", Derpy said in her childish way and bumped Rainbow on the shoulder with one hoof while holding the mail in the other.
"Mhn... Huh, what?"
"You got mail.",the gray mare said with a smile.
"Oh, thanks Derpy.", Rainbow said, accepted her mail and looked it through. She gasped. "It's a letter from the wonderbolt academy! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Maybe it's an advancement. Oh, celestia let it be an advancement."
Rainbow tore up the envelope and read the words with lightning speed. "YEEEEEES!!", the rainbow colored pony exclaimed and looped trough the air in delight.
Derpy was also happy. She always hoped for good news when she delivered the mail so that she could spread some joy into the lives of others, and this delivery was a success.
"I'm happy to help.", the wall-eyed mare said with a attention stance and were then on her way to the sugar cube corner for a well earned muffin.
Mr and Mrs cake greeted their favorite customer, (who didn't crash this time), with a warm welcome and half a dozen of her favorite banana and chocolate chips muffins for half price, just for her.
*This day keeps getting better and better.*, Derpy thought as she said good bye to the two bakers.
Derpy decided to walk to the park, where it should be peaceful an quiet and the trees should provide with a nice shade in the now powerful sunlight.
She waved gladly to all the ponies she crossed on her way and got a few waves and smiles back, this was certainly a good day according to Derpy.
The park was as good as empty when she arrived, and there was a nice and shaded spot next to a pond where she took a seat and munched on one of her muffins with delight.
A memory from when she was a little filly flashed in her mind. It was her first time making her own muffins, which got a bit burned and salty, but her mother still ate them, patted her little filly on the head and said. "Thats my little girl. Just as delicious as I thought."
The gray mare smiled a longing smile and thought that this day couldn't get any better. And well, let's say that she was right.
I turned around to face the imaginary threat when I heard a mans voice in the station speakers.
"Train 1902 to Greensville is arriving at platform 3, at 12:25 Am... I repeat.", the man said, repeated, thanked and then silenced .
I sighed and thought that I was getting way too jumpy for this, then I heard the employees only door open behind me. I turned around and saw a man who looked at me funny with tired eyes, and seemed like he was thinking intensly. Then several things happened st the same time. His tired eyes rolled up as his face hardened and filled with pulsating veins, loud cracking sounds filled the air as his whole body twisted and turned in all directions and out his mouth a loud gurgling shriek escaped and sent chills down my spine. I picked up my gun as fast as I could and aimed it against the man, but before I could fire my bullet a flash of electricity hit my chest and sent me flying through the air a few feet back.I quickly got back on my feet and saw that the man was gone.
"Brain sprites are some nasty little creatures.", I remembered, Red-nose once had said to me. "When they're in their normal form and without a host, they are easily taken care of. But, when they once have found a host, usualy a human, they kan do some serious damage, and if you want to kill it... No, erase it. You will have to erase the host to."
After that speech, Red-nose told me of how the brain-sprites lived, behaved and killed in horrible detail, and to look out for the fryers, which were the kind who used the electrons in the brain to electrocute people.
This wasn't good. I had to find it before it figured out how to use the power lines to fuel up even more. That had happened one time before, when I was out with Silver-tongue and Strong-arm, where a fryer had found a fusebox. It killed Strong-arm and burned of Silver-tongue's left hand before I found a way through the wall of lightning and put a bullet in the heart of the host.
"Where are you?", I said out loud and ran through the whole inside of the station while scanning for the brain-sprite.
I decided that the creature wasn't in the building, and with a silent swear I aimed at the door towards the tracks. But with my first step outside, I felt something gripping my ankle and I flew up in the air as my gun dropped to the ground. The sprites man puppet had extended its arms, and held a tight grip on my ankle. It smiled, laughed and jerked as it pumped shock after shock of electricity in me.
With lots of effort I reached for my silver dagger and stabbed the monster in its hand, which burst into flames. It dropped me and screamed in agony as the fire spread to its forearm. The effect of the silver would keep it busy for a few more seconds, and that was enough time for me to pick up my gun, aim and then fire. The bullet hit its target right in the heart and did what it always did, erased the abomination out of existence. 12 years on the job, and it still mesmerised me. The only way to describe it is to compare it to when you pull the plug in the sink after your done washing up, with the hole in the heart as center and with a whole display of colors slowly swirling around the phenomenon.
When the creature was entirely gone I contacted goatee who picked up on the first tone and greeted with his dry wheezing voice.
"Gray-eye, how did your hunt go?"
"The target has been erased.", I puffed. "Category, small elf. Race, brain sprite, a fryer. Time from encounter to elimination, 4 minutes and 27 seconds... I think. No casualties or bystanders except the host of the sprite."
I heard the tapping of fingers on a keyboard, and then Goatee who said.
"Congratulations, agent Gray-eye, your now holding the record on the fastest time on defeating a fryer. And good job in not bringing in any civilians. Now go on your patrol route, there are no activities picked up on the scanners right now so just do the usual."
Klick....
My feet moved on their own as I walked down town without leaving any signs of me being there, not even a footprint.
"Well, if it isn't Itsy, ditzy, Derpy hooves.", the unicorn bully known as Dirt kicker said as he walked up to Derpy with his three companions.
The gray mare went from the happiest pony in all of Equestria, to the most devastated little filly in the whole world in a matter of seconds. Dirt kicker used to pick on Derpy a lot when she was little, just because of how her eyes looked, how she spoke and how klumsy she was. He had made her cry, more times than she could count, and every time she had regained some of her confidence and started to feel good and comfortable around people, he was there to drag her down on the ground and then kick some dirt in her face.
"Still trying to watch your tail from two directions I see." He smiled a nasty smile.
Derpy swallowed her latest bite and looked down on the ground and said in her childish way.
"Please Dirt, not to day."
"Wow! wasn't that too big of words for you to speak, itsy ditzy? I think you need to take it easy on your tongue or your speaking capabilities may decrease even more."
He and his gang of unicorns laughed a few times.
"But what is this?", he continued. "I spy with my little eye, something delicious, just enough for me and the boys, and not for you."
His horn glowed as Derpy felt her hair being pulled, and with a rough jerk she fell backwards dropping her unfinished muffin in the pond. Four of the muffins flew out of the bag and into the hoofs of the bullies who ate them as they laughed at Derpy's face.
"Now, these are definitely from sugar cube corner.", he said with a pleased smile. "If they'd been your rat poison pastries like the last time... Well you know what would happen?"
Yes, derpy did remember the last time she had seen Dirt. It was about seven years ago, Derpy had just turned fifteen and it was the second year anniversary of her mother's death. She had baked a batch of her mothers favorite muffins which she had intended to place on her grave. Halfway there, she had bumped into Dirt and his gang who did what they always did. Called her names and said mean things, pulled her hair to hold her on place and then they took her pastries. But after their first bite they spit it out and Dirt's face became red as he shouted.
"What in Nightmare moon's prison is this supposed to be?!"
"My... my special bl... blueberry muffins.", Derpy had stuttered as she felt tears were starting to build up.
"Oh. Is that so. Because I could swear that they were filled with rat poison!", he exclaimed and threw the pastry in Derpy's face as hard as he could, and his gang did the same.
They grabbed her with hoofs and magic as they shoved the dirty muffins in her mouth so she would keep quiet and then in her eyes so they didn't have to see her ugly disfunktion. After that they kicked her over and over again and ignored her sobs and pleas. She woke up in the hospital two days after, where her father were furious with Dirt who was sent to the Gray wall establishment for troublesome young colts one week after Derpy woke up. The other bullies had let her be, but after just a few months they were back to picking on her again.
Just a few weeks before now she had heard that Dirt was back in town, and this was her first encounter with him since all those years ago.
"How has little Miss derp face been doing for the last seven years, huh? I can tell you how I've been doing. After the first three years I spent in Gray wall were supposed to be my only years locked up, but apparently I wasn't showing any progress, plus someone had told the warden what I've told people what I was going to do to you when I got back to Ponyville. The warden took these concerns seriously, he spoke with the board who decided that I had to spend four more years in the adult section on Gray wall." He stopped as he took another bite on the stolen treat and then continued. "Over time I decided that a quick and extremely painfull revenge was not the answer. No, I'm going to do it slowly and gradfully raise the pain under a long time untill you can't take it, and now... Your daddy is not around to protect you any more and you are to much of a coward to do anything about it."
He emphasized his last words by doing a realy rough jerk on her hair. Derpy cried silently and looked down at the ground when the colts laughed and mocked her.
"That sure was a good muffin Miss retard.", he said after he took his final bite. "Do you mind me taking the last one?", he asked with a sugar sweet voice.
Derpy looked up as if she was going to say something, but she hesitated.
"I didn't think so.", Dirt said, grabbed the muffin, did one last pull at her hair, turned about and walked away with his entourage who all laughed.
After they were gone, derpy did what she could to save the pastry she had dropped in the pond and put it in the paper bag. The tears have stopped for awhile, but she could feel that they were about to flow again. She didn't want anyone to see her cry and she wanted to be alone, so she decided to visit her special spot. She took off in the air and flew towards the everfree forest, and after a few minutes she had reached the high cliff she used to call comfort cliff. She sat down and went from crying to just staring into thin air for several hours till the sun was setting and her stomach sounded.
She took out the muffin mush and ate it as she watched the sunset. It was still good she noticed and one final tear went down her cheek.When the muffin was long gone and the tears had dried the sun was just about to disappear fully on the horizon, Derpy waited patiently and was rewarded for it, as soon as the last sunrays were gone the cliff started to glow in a burst of colors and bathed her in the light of a thousand rainbows.
This cliff had been Derpy's and her mother's secret when she was still alive, and on a few occasions they used to visit it together, just the two of them. Now it helped her remember all the good times as the light spread warmth to both her body and soul.This time it did just that but she still couldn't fully forget about today's incident, and a deep longing to leave everything behind emerged inside her. The yearning grew stronger untill she wished to dissapear from this world. She looked down directly at the crystal cliff and found a tiny black spot in the center of the light and the more she stared at it the bigger it got, before she knew it the tiny spot of darkness had taken over the light and she felt the sensation of falling... Faling in to the darkness.
It was 06:32 am, my shift would end as soon as the sun came up and it was just in a matter of minutes before the creatures of the night would scurry away and hide from the sun. Some of them hid in dark alleys or in graves, while some of them hid in houses and some times even inside of humans, and at 12 at night they would once again reappear on the streets and there was only a limited number of things and people that were there to protect the human race from them. There had been a total of three calls of extermination from Goatee this night, and two spontaneous encounters where both of them had been shadow lurkers, not the highest activity in my years but it was still higher than I would like, but I was somewhat happy that the night was soon over.
But before I was about to think about a warm meal and then bed I got another call.
"Gray -eye!", he said as excited as he could with the wheezing voice of his.
"Yes Goatee, what is it this time."
"We got a Jumper! I repeat, we got a jumper!"
"What!", I exclaimed.
"A rift appeared a few seconds ago at the town square, and something came out of it. Your orders is to check it out and if it's out of your control I got Silver-tounge and Hell hound on standby to back you up just five minutes away."
"Understood."
Click......
A Jumper was the worst of the worst, because you never knew what you would face. They were creatures from... well no one know where they come from, mostly because they never were the same thing or came from the same place. All we did know was that they do not belong here, and by entering our world they ripped through time and space to get here, and there by risking our world to collaps.
Now that you know this I guess you understand why I ran like the demons of hell were chasing me, I even used magic to boost my already supernatural speed and leg strength, because there were no time to spare.
In about two minutes I had entered the town square which was still empty and was overflowed with snow. With light but quick feet I searched the area for the Jumper, it started to snow again, the snowflakes acted strangely as the air looked like it was vibrating, the typical sign of a newly opened jumper rift.
I walked past the bronze statue of a wolf pack trapped in a never ending and silent howl and the only sound was the sound of distant cars driven by people returning to their early jobbs or late beds.
I looked down sidewalks and alleyways, streets and parking lots but there was nothing. I was just about to move on to the shopping districts when I saw a tiny, gray and partly blonde figure moving slowly and with doubtful steps towards the opposite of my direction.
As the groundskeeper I am i did not hesitate for a second, I started to run silently towards it, and in the heat of the moment i did a mistake only made by rookies.
"I got you now!", I yelled and didn't realize it until it was to late.
The creature turned around for a second and then started to run away. I picked up the pace and after it looked back a second time it took me by surprise by spreading a pair of wings and took of into the air. But as determined as I was to catch it I ran even faster, jumped up on the roof of a restaurant and jumped from building to building.
I was now close enough to try to shoot it and I pulled out my gun, aimed and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened... The cylinder had stuck.
"Damn it!", I cursed and almost threw away the gun.
I put it back in the holster and conjured forth a paralyzing spell instead. The creature started to rise, but I concentrated, aimed and then let go of the spell which found it's way to the target. The gray figure toppled down on the roof of a supermarket, and in a few skips I was there. Now that I could see the creature up close I saw that it was...
*A cartoon!? Under all my years... I've never seen anything like it.*
It was a cartoon pony... No, a pony pegasus with gray fur a blonde mane and tail, it also had some kind of picture of bubbles on its flank. This fascinated me, but also scared me In a way that there is no words to describe it.
The pony's eyelids wich had been closed fo a little while opened and it looked at me with a pair of yellow strabismus eyes, and soon after that it started to breath quickly and heavily. My mind was berserking but got interrupted by something I most certainly had not been expecting. It's teary eyed looked into mine as it spoke with a sweet, childish but scared voice.
"Please don't hurt me... I don't know what I did but I'm sorry."
I had no idea what happened to me, but those few words made my heart ache in such a way that I had to sit down on the ground to not fall.
"You?... What?..."
Once again the signal sounded in my ear, and not without hesitation I answered.
"Gray-eye, what's your status!?",Goatee almost shouted in my ear.
".............." I was speechless
"Gray-eye! Speak to me! What's the situation down there!? Should I send Silver and Hell?"
I dont know how I reasoned, but what I did in this moment was against every protocol and everything I was supposed to stand for, and still I did it.
"Calm down Goatee, the target has been eliminated. category, Jumper. Race unknown. Time from encounter to elimination, 6 minutes and 11 seconds. No casualties or bystanders."
For a few seconds I heard nothing coming from the earphones, then I heard the sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard as Goatee somewhat doubtful documented the fake story.
"Good work Gray-eye. I will need a rapport on this creature, its movements, abilities, etc, all together with a drawing of it within this week. Now go home and rest for a few hours."
Click......
"........ Now, here is the question of what I'm going to do with you.", I said more to myself than to it.
The pegasus just looked at me without saying anything.
"You see, I'm a groundskeeper and my job is to protect this world from sinister creatures and forces that threatens the very existence of humanity. And you, are what we call a Jumper, you are not supposed to be here and just by being here you are a threat. Now, by our code I am forced to eliminate you, but I will do something different in stead. You'll get a chance to tell me what and who you are, why your here and what you want before I decide to erase you. Do you understand?"
The pegasus nodded.
"Good, now who are you?"
"I'm Derpy.", the creature answered "What's your name?"
"You may address me as Gray-eye, but I'm asking the questions here. Now what are you?"
"I'm... I'm a pony."
"Yes, I can see that, but why are you a cartoon?"
I realised that that was a stupid question as I saw her confusion.
"Never mind.", I said. "Where do you come from and what are you doing here?"
"I come from the land of Equestria, and I don't know know what I'm doing here, i don't even really know how I got here."
"What do you want.", I asked with a shaking voice.
"I want to go home.", she answered and once again her eyes got filled with tears.
Now was the time of my decision and I didn't know what to do. The brotherhood had numbened our conscience by telling and showing us the evil and brutality of the monsters we faced. It was okay to eliminate them because of what they were. But this scared little pony was not even close to evil, I was sure of it. And probably I acted the way I acted because this little pony was the first glimt of goodness I've seen in years, and what I did was that I removed my coat, wrapped the pegasus in it, picked it up to carry it to safety, and I said with a soothing voice.
"Don't worry, I will not hurt you, are you warm enough?"
"Yes."
"Good."
Author's Note
Thank you for reading the first of three chapters of my third fimfic and probably my fourth or fifth projekt I'm currently working on. I will have to apologize if it will take some time for me to upload new chapters because of the other projects I'm working on, but don't fear, I have lots of free time ;). I'm also apologizing for the language in the text, you see I am from Sweden and even though I'm not bad at English I dont always know how to put the words right, and also I don't have an editor.
But If you do like my writing I sugest that you folow me and read some of my other stuff, like The journeys and adventures of Grand shield which I'm planing to make it quite long.
Also like and coment. Cya In the next chapter.
