It was a warm day thought out all of Equestria, the train sped down the tracks at full speed not stopping for anything. Damn it! How could I have forgotten to search the train before we got on. I’ve really slipped up now, this mistake could cost both of us are lives.
“Stay low” I whispered and without question she got down.
I could see his shadow thought the window of the second car from the car we were in. If we both stayed low we could still hide and I could get the element of surprise on him and take him out. I pulled out one of my pistols from my jacket and rested myself next to the door to our car and waited in the attack position. I could hear him getting closer and closer, with each step he took my heart raced faster and faster. The car door opened with a creak, I saw him enter through the door looking to find something.
“hel-” he said before I grabbed him, put my gun to his temple and covered his mouth.
He was different from the others, he wasn’t wearing a uniform like the rest. He wasn’t well build like the rest either, he was just a normal sized stallion. I felt his warm tears hit my hooves, he had started to cry. I let go of him and he fell to the floor of the car, I continued to keep my gun pointed at him as I got a good look at him. he was a young pegasus, with a navy blue mane and tail, and a crimson colored coat. His cutie mark seemed off too, It was a round white circle with blue waves inside, really didn’t seem like the cutie mark of a hired killer. He continued to sit in place shaking from fear and silently sobbing to himself, he couldn’t have been one of them, plus he didn’t have any weapons or anything on him. But why was somepony like him even doing on the train in the first place?
I lowered my gun and spoke calmly “Who are you and what are you doing on this train.”
He looked up at me with sad eyes, with tears still running down his face, wiped his face and said “I’m Jet Stream, and well... the reason I was on the train.... well because..... I was asleep.”
“What?” I replied
“Well you see..... I was on the train coming back from visiting my parent where they live..... and well it was a long trip.... and I ended up falling asleep...... and when I woke up the train was still moving and those ponies were shooting at us.... and thats the truth I swear.” he said
He seemed to be telling the truth, plus he seemed like your average harmless pony. I put my gun away back into my jacket pocket and help him up, he was now just as part of this as me and Twilight.
“So can you turn this train around and take me home?” Jet asked.
“No, sorry but I can’t.” I told him,
I explained everything to him just as I did for Twilight, I told him that they probably now knew his face and that he would be safest staying with us and if we did go back to Ponyville there would be a great chance we would be attacked again and I was getting dangerously low on ammo. I told him we would be stopping at Manehattan, there I could pick up more ammo and find a safe place for us to hide.
“Well... I guess Manehattan is nice this time of year.” Jet said trying to stay positive.
Twilight walked up to me and asked “Hey... can I talk to you in private please?”
“Yeah.... Hey Jet is it? can you wait here please?” I asked
Twilight led me into the second car of the train while Jet sat in one of the car’s seats, she still seemed upset and a little bit worried.
“Are you alright?” she asked
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I replied
“Really? Because you don’t seem like the same Ace I’ve know for the last few weeks!” she exclaimed.
“Well...” I paused “This IS the real me!”
“No it’s not!” she exclaimed “I’ve gotten to know you and I know you're a sweet and kind pony, because if you weren’t you never would have saved me in the first place, you’re just going through alot right now, we both are. We are a team now your problems are my problems and i’m glad to be at your side thought all this.”
“Yeah you’re right.” I apologized. “I’m sincerely sorry about everything i’ve put you through.”
Twilight went up, hugged me and said “It’s okay because you’re my friend and I really care about you.”
“Thanks, I really needed that.” I said “So what’s your opinion on this Jet pony?”
“Oh, I know him from around town he’s alright, harmless even, I don’t think he could hurt a fly. Plus he helps out a lot in town. I even think he used to be a swimmer.” she answered
“Well that would explain his Cutie Mark.” I said. well if he was alright with Twilight, he’s alright with me.
“So you okay now?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah I’ll be okay” I answered.
I was still really angry, at Phoenix Corps, at the world for dealing me this ugly hand, and myself for getting two innocent ponies trapped in this mess with me, I should be dealing with this alone. Twilight and I walked back to the first train car where Jet was still sitting, playing with his hooves. I sat in an adjacent seat from Jet and leaned against the window, Twilight went up and took a seat next to me. It didn’t take long for those two to fall asleep, Twilight had laid her head on my lap as she slept, I was unable to sleep, there was too much on my mind. instead I just stared out of one of the windows, Jet had started to quietly snore to himself. There wasn’t much to look at as the train speed by, just a lot of wide open plains and a cornfield or two. I saw Manehattan up in the distance quickly getting closer quietly I got up without disturbing Twilight and went over to the engine room and brought the train to a stop at the station. I went back into the passenger car and woke up both Twilight and Jet and we left the train unguarded. And there it was sprawled before us the great city of Manehattan.
I felt like years since I’ve last been here, but in reality it’s only been a few years. Nothing had hardly changed, the streets were still littered with ponies of all different shapes, colors, and races, I could never figure out how somepony would choose to live here, and the air had that same smell to it, the kind of smell that wasn’t really bad, but it was far from being pleasant. As we all walked the streets trying to avoid as much contact with anypony else, I could see it, the Phoenix Corps. building staring back at me, casting its shadow over everything else. I know there would be no way of attacking them head on, especially with my ammo and crossbow bolts as low as it is, I needed to find shelter and I needed a plan. There are several hotels and motels scattered around Manehattan, and I’m sure I could find one that was nice, yet still under the radar. Come to think of it, I know of the perfect one, “The Come and Stay” I knew the owner, even did some errands for him in the past, I he could probably get us a good room and keep us hidden.
I lead Twilight and Jet down the streets of Manehattan, I know my way around the city pretty well, but firsts thing first, I needed a drink. I was able to find the bar I alway visited when I was in town, before or after a mission or job, The sign read “The McManus Brothers Pub” and I headed inside.
“Where the hay are we?” Twilight asked. “I thought you were finding us a hotel.”
“I am.” I replied. “But first I need something to drink.”
“What!” She yelled. “That’s a terrible idea!”
“Hay, I worked better when I’m drunk.” I said.
“Oh, Just like the time you got your leg broken!” she said.
“That was different. Come on Jet, what’s your poison?” I asked.
“Um…. What?” Jet asked in confusion.
I sighed. “What do you want to drink?”
He answered. “I’ll just take a cola or something, If that’s okay that is.”
“A cola it is.” I said.
I walked up to the bartender as Twilight gave me a dirty look, and ordered myself a glass of Scotch over ice and a cola for Jet. Jet took a seat next to me up at the bar and started sipping at his drink, I then took mine and did the same, the bitter liquid entered my mouth and I swallowed it, and let a bit of a sigh of relief. Ather a bit I came to my senses, What the hell was I doing! Alcohol is what pretty much got us all here in the first place. I pushed my glass to the side and laid down the Bits to pay for our drinks.
“Come on we should get out of here.” I said.
Jet took his can of cola while I left my behind, and we headed back outside, Twilight was still outside looking upset at the decision.
“What happened to getting a drink?’ she said sarcastically.
“I realized how bad of an idea it was when we’re trying to lay low, so I stopped. So I think it’s best just to get a room and call it a night.” I said.
“Well good, I like you just the way you are, you don’t need Alcohol.” She said and smiled.
We all left the bar and slowly made our way across the city, I felt bad making them walk this far of a distance, but I really didn’t want us to take a cab or anything where we could be easily tracked, so we keep to the alleys and less busy roads. I could tell they were both getting pretty tired, which hopefully they could both just hang on a bit longer, we were almost there. As we all pressed on I noticed Jet had stopped at a wall, just staring at it.
“You okay?” I yelled to him.
He continued to stand there staring for a while before he responded “Um…. Sorry it’s nothing.”
He moved away from the wall and I saw what he was looking at, it was a poster for the band Fall Out Colt. Jet noticed me staring at the poster and said. “What? There my favorite band and they’re playing in Ponyville soon.”
I looked at him and just shrugged it off. It started to get dark out and even now I was starting to feel tired, my body grow heavy but I pushed myself to continue on, I needed to stay strong, I needed to show leadership for Twilight and for Jet. After about another 20 minutes of continuous walking, we reached the “Come and Stay” hotel, it was a lot more run down then I remember, and a bit less than half of the neon light on the sign were burnt out.
We entered through the front door and there to greet us was Cosmic Wonder, called Cosmo, or Cos for short, he was the owner and a bit a friend to me. He ran this hotel on the side, but his real talent was stage magic, He once had me take out some ponies that were dealing around his hotel and hurting his business.
“Ace! How the Hell are ya!” Cos said in excitement.
“I’m good Cos” I said. “Hey can we get your best Suite? I’ve got plenty of Bits.”
"Oh, I know the drill you pay me well and no questions asked, Right?" he asked.
"Yeah, you know me all too well Cos." I said.
"well you're just in luck, my best room just opened up" he said.
"Thanks, you're too kind to me." I said.
"Hay what can I, you've done me well in the past, it helps make us even." he said "now here's your key cards, the room is on top floor room 412."
"I took the key cards and said "Thanks" I handed one key card to Twilight and one to Jet and they headed up to the room while I stayed behind to pay.
Cos took my bits and asked “hey, who the new piece of tail you got there? she looks fine.”
“That’s Just Twilight, she’s a new friend of mine, we met under odd circumstances…” I said.
“I see there Romeo, I won’t anymore questions.” he said with a wink.
With my key in hoof I headed to the elevators, but first I stopped at the vending machines. I was getting hungry and I’m sure Twilight and Jet were to. I put about 20 bits into the machines and got a few bags of chips, some candy, and a soda for each of us. I got into the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor, and the elevator sprung to life, propelling me up to the fourth floor. the elevator doors opened leading out into a long hallway littered with rooms every couple steps, I walked down the hall looking for my room, there it was room 412. Using my key card I swiped it in the slot next to the door and the light went green showing it was unlocked, and I opened the door. The room was smaller than what you would expect from a suite, It only had one king sized bed and a fairly big couch, also there was a 30 or so inch TV and some paintings scattered across the room giving it the at home feeling. In the room as expected were Twilight and Jet, Twilight was watching the TV while sitting on the bed and Jet was watching it from the couch.
“here, I brought some snacks” I said and laid them on the desk next to the TV.
It didn’t take long for Jet to get up and grab a bag and sit back down on his couch. “Thanks.” he said.
After a bit of hesitation Twilight got up and grabbed her bag and went back to sitting down on the bed, with my soda and took my seat on the bed next to Twilight. “Now we should try to get some sleep, I think we all need some, we’ve all had a long day.” I said.
“Yeah I agree, I’m really tried to.” said Twilight.
I let them finish eating their snacks and went over and switched off all the lights leaving the TV on, but turn down the volume. I go over the the couch and give Jet one of the blankets and pillow from the bed, then I take my place in the bed next to Twilight. She proceeded to snuggle up close to me and whisper in my ear. “I think I love you, good night.”
“I think I love you” the word echoed in my head over and over again, It stuck with me for about an hour until I fell asleep, next to the mare I loved too.
The Devil's Got a New Disease
I opened my eyes in the deep dead of night but I am unable to see anything “Twilight!” I called. Nothing… “Jet!” I yelled next. Still nothing… I was unable to move my body. but I am able to feel a wetness next to me. “is it my sweat?” I thought “Or could it be urine?” Lightning flashed and continued to illuminate the room to reveal the ugly truth, it was blood. I turned my head to see Twilight’s mangled, lifeless body, then I could feel a second wetness on my face, I was crying. I turn over to the couch were Jet was, it was the same thing he was dead and bloodied. Then I heard an unfamiliar voice “There was nothing you could do, there was nothing you could do to save them. You will always fail, and you will always continue to fail again and again for the rest of your short, sad life!” the voice started to laugh, and mock me as I cried.
I woke up in a cold sweat, and I turned to Twilight who was alive and still sleeping, and so was Jet. Another damn nightmare, but I was glad it was just that and they were still okay. I looked over at the clock, it was 5:45 in the morning. It was time to get some work done, I slowly and quietly got out of the bed, not to disturb Twilight, grabbed my jacket and money and left the room.
I exited through the lobby and waved goodbye to Cos, and went outside into the cold morning air. It was still pretty dark but I could see the sun poking itself up over the horizon. I continued until I found the 24 hour convenience store I was looking for, as I entered I could hear the buzz of the ceiling lights and see the one pony working here that just seemed to hate his life, trying to stay awake. I started moving up and down the aisles of the store gathering everything I needed; men's razors, blond hair dye, some body paint, and finally red new red hoodie. I went up to the counter and paid for my goods and left the store. I then head over to an old storage center, and went to storage room 13 and brought up the key that I had for it and slid open the door. Inside I had several weapon from over the years, I took a duffel bag and started to fill it up pistol, rifle, and shotgun ammo and grabbed a new bag of crossbow bolts. I then grab my double barrel sawed off Remington, and an old hunting rifle, all of this should due in cased I ran into trouble, I zipped up my bag and closed up the storage room. The bag was heavy but I pushed myself back to the hotel, I finally made it back and it was only 6:30, I entered thought the hotel doors and Cos was still standing there, he saw my bag and just smiled and gave me a wink.
I headed back up to my room, where Twilight and Jet were still sound asleep. I headed over to the bathroom and switched on the lights and turned on the hot water, I hopped in the shower and quickly got cleaned up and toweled off. I then went over to the sink and turned on the water there, I opened my razors and stated to shave, looking up at myself I already started to look like a different pony. Next my mane, I took the bottle of temporary hair dye, it would only last a few days, buts that’s all I needed, I lathered it all over my mane and tail and looked back into the mirror and whispered to myself “Stay golden pony boy.”
One last step, changing my cutie mark,
