Within a deep, subterranean compound, a single ghost hunter found himself trapped within falling debris. Strapping the assault weapon he currently held to his back, he broke into a full sprint without hesitation. Giant stone statues of ancient warriors collapsed behind him, destroying former walls, breaking apart what was left of the secret project he had single-handedly toppled. Throughout, strange creatures exploded, dying in various ways that belied their malicious nature. A former doctor set down her SMG, staring at the balls of protoplasm left behind by the strange creatures. Soldiers stopped fighting when the creatures they had been fighting disappeared all together. Cheers echoed through the ventilation shafts as they found themselves free. Free from the issues of the project. Free from the tyrannical attitude their employer had adopted only a short while before.
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The hunter, however, was not celebrating. While they were walking out of the complex in the elevators, the hunter was trying to prevent himself becoming a red smear on the ruins that were fast gaining on him. Beautiful hieroglyphs, strange artworks and various other items... all were as nothing before the tide of destruction that followed behind him. He jumped from a ledge that had appeared to one across the way. Clambering up quickly, he watched the collapse. Standing up, he continued to sprint, his eyes wide-eyed. There was not even a dog's chance in hell that he was going to stay to see his work finish. A large opening appeared in front of him. Floating outside, a helicopter was floating with two figures in it, a brown-skinned man wearing combat armour, and a former doctor, who was smiling. The man in combat armour was holding out his hand.
“Come on! Jump!” The hunter pressed a single button on his wrist, two strange panels appearing from his back. His speed was increased as the panels boosted him forwards. Jumping, he grabbed onto the landing gear underneath the helicopter. “That, that was too close.” All three turned to watch a mountain collapse, the ruins of the strange facility falling out. Bodies could be clearly seen tumbling down, leaving nothing to the imagination. “At least we made it out alive, eh?” He stared down underneath the helicopter. The hunter was nowhere to be seen. A blue flash of light, and something below disappeared. The man did not notice it, just wondering what happened to his friend.
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If the hunter's friend had seen what happened to him, he would not have believed his eyes. The hunter, even though he had been hanging on for dear life with a death grip, a flash of energy from the roiling dust cloud below had zapped him, turning parts of him invisible. He tried to scream, but it was at his mouth before he could even open it. He lost his grip, falling rapidly into the dust cloud, disappearing in a blue flash.
“He's... gone. My friend's... gone.” The man sat down, his head resting on his hands. “Raimi's gone...”
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In a rather dark area, a flash of blue light occurred, followed by a loud slam. Raimi stared up, trying to discern what was going on. The light that would have been lit on his shoulder was crushed to pieces. He stood up, looking around. Another flash of light, and the weapon he had been using before crashed into a nearby solid barrier. He looked around. There were no lights, nothing. It seemed overcast overhead. Raimi shook his head.
How did I even get in this mess? One minute, I'm hanging on for dear life, and the next- flash and gone. I don't even know... He walked slowly over to where the weapon had hit the 'barrier'. He felt around in the darkness, locating it, along with what felt like a thick stone barrier, considering the imprint his weapon had made in it.
“Hey! I heard a noise over here!” Beams of light flashed around, the first light source Raimi had seen since the flash of light.
Hide! Gotta hide somewhere... but where? He looked up at the barrier. The clouds had just begun to clear, giving him a visible sign of what he was looking at. He had not been feeling a barrier, but a stone statue to some kind of hero. He gripped his weapon tightly, yanking it out quickly, but tumbling backwards in the process. As he stood there staring, something glinted in the corner of his eye. Can't be... As he sat there staring, the statue in front of him blinked. Wait- no! The statue began to move, a redux of what he had to face before, albeit much smaller. He rolled sideways, barely dodging a… hoof?! His brown hair was skimmed, barely registering on his already excited system. At that point in time, he had two options:
Option One was to obliterate this thing like he had the other two before, but then explain to whoever came about why some pony statue came to life and tried to murder him.
Option Two was to run from it as fast as possible.
Raimi pulled the slide back slowly. As it clicked back into place, he held his weapon steady.
All right... come on, you stone bastard! Come and get me! The stone statue, unable to see Raimi, began to stomp in various directions, attempting to crush the partial human. He turned his head to look over his shoulder. Those beams of light were getting closer. He did not want to endanger the civilians, but he remembered what he had been forced to do within the Volks Corp installation. He glared at the statue. If he let it continue its rampage, it would harm innocents, something that he could not abide. He looked at the statue carefully. There were glowing blue areas. He frowned. Weapons fire would alert the others to his position- the statue nearly stepped on him there. He hoisted it up, aiming. Well, let's throw caution to the wind. I'd rather protect innocents than my own identity.
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A short distance away, several unicorns were galloping forwards, their horns glowing bright with light. Rays of light shone forth, cutting through the darkness in front of them with ease. While one of them had heard what sounded like something impacting the ground. Nothing could have prepared their minds for what resounded throughout the area next.
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Raimi held the trigger, releasing a torrent of lead into the glowing areas of the statue. Pieces would fly off, allowing a moment's time to destroy. With the practice he had garnered from fighting the two within Volks' personal compound, he found it much easier to deal with the single statue. The statue stared down at him, its blue eyes locating him finally.
Gotta keep it occupied! Running out of ammo... gotta reload- wait! Spirit Grenades! Raimi reached his hand underneath, priming a small tube underneath. His trigger hand moved down the handle slightly, grasping the grenade handle. He stared, backing away. If I get too close to these, I might end up removing myself from my body! He backpedaled as fast as he could, launching off one explosive after the other. Just... one... more... patch... The last remaining blue patch had been uncovered. As Raimi backpedaled, he flipped over backwards. Staring up as he hit the ground, he was able to witness several... ponies? He made a mental note to get himself a shrink. They were staring at their beloved statue as it attempted to kill them. One stared down at Raimi, fear in his eyes.
“You were fighting this, weren't you?! If you destroy this abomination, we'll help you!” Raimi could not see his mouth move in the darkness, but the voice was definitely male. Raimi stood back up, the unicorn's head coming up to his chest. He stared at the statue. Two unicorns were thrown around as it rampaged, another ran in fear. He set his jaw in an unseen expression of determination, anger rising in his throat. His weapon raised slowly as he ran forwards, blasting off entire belts of ammunition. The statue appeared... frightened? Raimi could not tell its expression, but he did not care. Innocents were becoming injured, and that had to stop. The statue, under the hail of bullets, turned to run, exposing the uncovered blue patch. Each bullet found its mark. With a quick flick of his wrist, two panels flipped up from Raimi's suit, his speed and reaction time doubled as he entered Boost Mode. Everything was tinted with a blue hue as he fired off as many rounds as possible. As the last bullet found its mark, the patch exploded, the statue crumbling. Raimi stood still, the Boost deactivating. His breath was ragged, sweat pouring off his face. He had never felt so angered before. Then again, the people of the Volks' Corp installation, there had been no innocents. He was brought back to reality by the unicorns behind him cheering. A light flashed on him as one decided to bring some light on the statue. Something red was floating above the statue. Raimi aimed. It was a Project Z spirit, trained to possess and infiltrate. He hated them. He aimed, letting fly a grenade. Impacting the ground in front of it., the unicorns shrank away in agony as a high-pitched scream of God only knows issued from the spirit. It disappeared in a flash of yellow light. A unicorn approached Raimi, different from the other one. It was female.
“You're... you're a hero... Come with us. We'll give you something to eat. You must be starving.” Raimi, eyebrow raised, decided to follow them.
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Raimi just stared at the food in front of him. When they had brought him to a place to eat, he had not expected they would take him into their homes. The male was apparently White Hunter, white coat with grey mane and tail. He seemed older than the others. His blue eyes belied his true age. The female was White Heart. She was red, with a black mane and tail. Her red eyes were trained on Raimi the entire time.
“Is it not to your liking?” Raimi just stared with a look of 'You have got to be kidding me.' On his plate, they had pilled daisies, assorted other flowers, and hay. Hay. Consumables for a horse, not a human. He pointed at a pad of paper and a pencil in the corner. Nodding, White Heart floated it over to him, letting him write out what he wanted. Several minutes later, he was done. With a single thought, the pad was brought to her. She almost dropped it as she read it. Hunter appeared as if he was going to be ill.
“But-” Raimi crossed his arms.
“'What I want is to see who is in charge. Also, none of what you gave me is digestible for my kind.'” Heart stared down, thinking. With a quick flick of her mane, she looked back at Raimi with a pained look in her eyes. “All right. Well, if you mean what I think you mean, then we have to take you to see Princess Celestia. She'll know what to do.” Raimi shrugged, pointing at a bowl full of lettuce. When that was levitated over through the use of their power, Raimi dumped his entire plate onto another unicorn's, filling his with lettuce.
Better a salad than flowers. Too bad there are no dandelions. At least those are edible. He ate in silence, the entire event with the statue and the spirit of Project Z still fresh in his mind.
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The sun was out, revealing the sort of place Raimi found himself in. It was like he stood in Manhattan, except it was populated by ponies of various hues and colours. His weapon was strapped to his back tightly, a long cloak stretched around his shoulder.
“Well, there's the directions. I hope the cloak works out. We used an old saddle blanket to make it.” Raimi sniffed it. There it was, the scent of pony. He shook his head. This was already more strange than when he had fought against Wraith, the spirit that had originally taken his body after spirit separation. He nodded to the two unicorns that had shown him great hospitality. “Don't get lost in Manehattan! It's a great big city!” He laughed at that. Manehattan. They had their own version of Manhattan. He held a piece of paper in his hand. Directions to the nearest train station. If this had been closer in appearance to the Manhattan he knew, there would have been a subway station. He shrugged. There was no use dwelling on the past. He started walking, the cloak flowing around him. He stared around, looking at each structure. Although spartan in decoration, each structure served a clear purpose, although what that purpose was eluded him.
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After hours of searching, turning the wrong way down a street due to the directions he had been given, he eventually tossed the garbage piece of paper into a nearby waste receptacle. He tore off the cloak he had been wearing, tossing that away too. Feeling around in his suit, he removed a small Personal Data Assistant, reading the last information he had on it.
Volks Corp. A sinister company with ulterior motives, most in world domination. Alexander Volks, the maniacal, demon-possessed leader of said corporation. I killed him, and set him free.
Raimi stared down at that last entry. No one would know of what he did on Earth, nor, as he assumed, would they ever find out. He looked up to see a sign that, in clear English, declared “Train Station.” He shook his head. Reaching into another pocket, he removed the ticket that White Heart had given him. It was for a one-way trip to a location known as “Canterlot”. He looked ahead, making his way to the station. He was going to meet this “Princess Celestia”, and if he had enough paper, he would give her his questions, and a single demand.
Tell me why I am here. He stared down at the ground as he entered the train station. The train itself was a smaller version of the ones he would have been used to, but what was a bit of a shocker for him was the fact that the train was run by two teams of ponies dragging it along. He shook his head. This day was shaping up to be one of the strangest days of his entire life.