Prologue
“Hey, everypony! GET DOWN!” The mortar hit the ground, the earth shaking, bits of dirt flying in my eyes. Ponies ran around me while I sat in the trenches. Bullets whizzed over the opening of the dug-out structure.
“Y’all have probably never heard of me before.”
Dirt sprang up into my eyes as I attempted to protect myself from the assaulters. My hooves trembled as I tried to hold my gun against me. A weapon has never made me feel so vulnerable.
“I go around everywhere, trying my best, and I’ve done everything for y’all, but you’ve never heard of me.”
My friend shook my shoulders, picking me up to sit up straight. “Hey, we’re in this together! Got that?!” I nodded my head, trying to hear over the gunfire. Lifting myself and my gun above ground level, I looked at the firearms aimed straight at me.
“But that’s no matter. We all have stuff that no one knows about.”
I grunted. Now or never, really. Putting my gun up on the trench edge and looking down the sights, I aimed at the easiest target. Even with intense training at Boot Camp, shooting a gun while you had no magic was still a difficult task.
“My name is Tuner Symphon.”
A bullet whizzed at full speed through the air as I aimed, skimming my cheek and leaving an instantaneous, nasty wound. Not horrible, but enough to make me drop my weapon and keel over in pain.
“And that… Wasn’t any part of my story.”
http://mirrors.rit.edu/instantCSI/
Chapter 1
A mare rose her hoof in exasperation, acting as if she was in a schoolhouse. Tuner shook his head, smiling. “Yes, you have a question?”
The mare, a unicorn with a yellow coat and conflicting black hair, questioned, “Then why did you tell that entire story?”
The dark blue pegasus leaned across his table, picking up his glass of bourbon before putting it to his lips, taking a small sip. His mane and tail was striped with light green and cyan, the mane long enough to settle over his eyes if he let it hang down. Tuner was slightly taller than most ponies, although not quite as muscular. He preferred agility and intellect over strength anyday.
He slammed it back down onto the table, shaking the glass’s content onto the surface. Tuner wiped his lips with his foreleg before replying back, almost sarcastically, “Dramatic effect.”He gave a hearty laugh, throwing his head back.
Another light green mare that was listening to the conversation pushed herself out of her seat, beginning to walk across the bar floor. “Yeah, I’m out. This drunk has nothing to say.” She grabbed a small handkerchief and quickly trotted to the exit.
Tuner made no attempt to stop her but merely held up his glass and stated, “I’m not a drunk. This is my first of the night.” He took a large swig of the smooth alcohol before finishing the said drink and slamming the glass onto the counter. “And my last. I appreciate my drink, and never treat myself to them as if they were dessert.”
The yellow unicorn spoke up again, the small crowd inside of the bar turning towards Tuner in anticipation of a good story. “Well, what’s your story then?”
The blue pegasus ignored her at first, turning towards the bartender and saying, “Barkeep, a water, please. Feeling dehydrated.” A cup of water slid over to him, hitting his hoof gently. Tuner lifted it, saying, “Gracias, amigo,” before taking a small sip and setting the drink back down. “Anyway…” He turned back to the mare, giving a welcoming smile. “That’s a long story, indeed. And an ever-growing one. I guarantee you, you probably won’t see me in this town again for a long time. By then, more ponies will know me and more will forget. But that’s besides the point.”
Tuner slid off of his stool, grunting slightly. “I’m not really in the mood for telling my story to a bunch of strangers at the moment. Some days I am. If you want to know my story, lemme hear yours.” He pointed at the 5-pony audience. The huge crowd provided no response, sitting in silence. “Well, that was expected, as always. I’ll be off, y’all.” Following suit of the light green mare from a minute ago, the pegasus began walking towards the exit, picking up a small sword contained in a sheath next to it.
One of the few colts paying attention noticed quickly and shouted from across the bar, “Do you always carry that sword around?!” This quickly made Tuner turn back around, strapping the sheath onto his back, the hilt of the sword close enough to his mouth that he can grab it by quickly reaching over.
“That is one question I will answer, dear audience.” Walking towards the bar visitors just a bit more, Tuner turned his body slightly as to show everyone his flank. “As you can see, no cutie mark. I don’t know why, but I thought that the sword might be mine. And, obviously, I can’t go around killing other ponies to see if I have a cutie mark for it. So, in case it is and I’m attacked or something along those lines, SLASH!” He grabbed the hilt, swinging the sword at full force, giving a nice, flashy spin to the effect, accidentally hitting one of the nearby stools and slicing it in half.
Tuner blushed at his obvious mistake, although slightly impressed in his ease at doing that. He quickly put away the weapon, stepping back to the exit. “And as you can see, I’m not half bad… And I’ll pay for that. True story.” His hoof hitting the exit, it signaled his escape with ease. “I lied!”
The Manehatten streets, despite being well past midnight, were still bustling in every sense of the word. In fact, it might’ve been more busy than during the day. Neon signs outshone the street lights like the sun, cars grinding bumper to bumper. Sidewalks were packed with traveling musicians, merchants, high-class snobs, prostitutes, and con-artists, their hooves wearing away at the concrete.
Passing ponies took notice of the weapon of Tuner’s back, some trying to ignore it as others pointed at me suspiciously. Normal behavior, of course, he thought to himself. A year ago, if I saw a pony walking down a Manehatten street with a sword on his back, I’d be worried too.
Of course, a year ago seems like a lot longer past than it is. I seemed to have matured more than a year should allow. Mentally, at least. He adjusted his strap slightly, beginning to stray to the right side of the walkway to avoid getting pushed over.
Reviewing his own life was something Tuner did often, both because of the psychological findings he discovers within his own mind… And the fact that he travels alone between cities and towns and become excruciatingly bored. And, again, the traveling alone is caused by two reasons: He is thrown into intense situations a lot and doesn’t anyone to get hurt, and a pony that travels from city to city without a cutie mark carrying a sword doesn’t seem all that friendly. Not to say he isn’t a friendly pony; he’s one of the nicest ones you’ll meet, as some would say.
The pegasus was still in deep trance of his thought as a pegasus pony, black as night from tail to mane with a knife and chest as a cutie mark and a purse in his mouth, came galloping through the crowd at full speed, knocking any bystander over. “Move out of the way, move out of the way!” Grunts and shouts were heard over the shuffling of hooves and screeching tires. The ruckus was normal for Manehatten, somepony always stealing something.
Being off to the side and being a street-smart member of society, Tuner didn’t even look at the runner… Or at least wouldn’t have if the thief with a purse in his mouth didn’t turn at the small alleyway Tuner was currently walking past and knock him over without as much as a recognition of his existence. The cobalt pony fell over in the dirt, completely unprepared for the hoofball tackle he just experienced. Tasting dirt and slight metallic tang of blood, the grounded pegasus spit onto the ground below him, getting back onto his feet. Being of the city’s stereotypes, not a single other pony helped another, treating them with ignorance as if to say, “Your own problem, filly.”
Best to just ignore it, Tuner, he thought to himself. Shaking off the dirt of him, he lifted his hoof to continue his walk when he heard a loud shout. “WAIT!” The yell was easily audible over the large crowd, expressing a sense of exasperation. “SOMEPONY HELP!” Tuner shook his head, sure that the mare yelling had something to do with the purse. Deciding to be nice (as much as he hated being so nice), he waited for the mare to reach him, the crowd managing to hold her back quite a bit.
She popped out of the crowd, instantly face-planting the ground in front of Tuner. The earth mare was slightly shorter than the average one, her smaller ears probably causing her to seem even shorter. Her coat was a deep cardinal red, her mane and tail halved with sage green and violet, causing an odd pallet of colors on one pony. As she opened her eyes, Tuner could see the deep sky blue color that he believed probably entranced many colts. The pegasus did his best to ignore her eyes, but it was quite difficult for him.
“Well, looks like everypony loves the taste of dirt today, eh?” The mare looked up spitefully, spitting out dirt as Tuner just did before, her red coat spoiled by the ground, making it an auburn color. Her mane and tail were surprisingly barely touched.
“Will you at least help me up?” the mare said strikingly, acting helpless on the ground. Ugh, mares sometimes.
“I’ll do more than help.” Starting to bat his wings, picking his hooves off the ground, Tuner put his hooves under the mare’s stomach and lifted her up onto her feet with relatively no problem, much like a crane. As quickly as he lifted off, the pegasus touched back down on the ground, barely making a sound. “You could’ve said please, though.”
She sighed, looking down at her hooves. “Yeah, sorry, just my purse got stol-“
“Yeah, I saw, the guy ran past me.” Tuner held a stern expression on his face after the initial smile, his face now becoming unreadable. In response, the mare looked past him to first get a glimpse at the alleyway behind him, but then noticed the sheath strapped to the blue pony’s back.
“Wow! You have a sword?!...And you didn’t stop him?!” She held out her hoof in disbelief, stepping forward accusingly. Even with her advancing on him, Tuner could still only notice the eyes.
“Well, I can’t exactly just clothesline somepony running beside me and get in no trouble with the authorities. Not exactly something that happens every day.” He shrugged, turning on his back hoof and landed facing the other way, quickly beginning to walk in the opposite direction of the mare. “Besides, they’re your problem, not mine.” HAHA! he thought to himself. I MANAGED TO BE NOT NICE!
Over the crowds of ponies walking on the sidewalk, the mare behind him had a unique gait that approached him yet again, making Tuner wince and grin in the inside at the same time. “So, you’re just going to leave a poor little mare alone out on the streets with no purse and no money?” Her tone was both accusatory and begging, almost in a sarcastic way.
“I wasn’t aware of your loss of money. I’m guessing you have somewhere to stay, though.” The pegasus expected a response right away, but the only response he received was the stop of the mare’s trotting. Sighing and turning around, Tuner saw the earth pony looking at the ground regretfully.
“Actually…I was moving over to a different hotel when this happened. With no money and no I.D., I can’t stay anywhere.” Her tone was softening with every sentence, as if the few moments of speaking with her as made a connection between the two. Tuner felt no different, but he was still unsure how mares worked completely.
The blue pony’s will shattered. I -HATE- being nice so much! Looking down at his hooves as well and barely being audible over the passing ponies, Tuner stated regretfully, “…You can come and stay the night with me.”
Upon looking up at the mare’s reaction to see if she was accepting, Tuner was greeted by a hoof to the cheek.
