//------------------------------// // Ch1 “The sh*t’s going down” // Story: The Traveler // by Teush //------------------------------// Princess Celestia was sitting in her room with a stack of laws to be enforced in front of her. With a sigh, she grabbed another one and skimmed through it. Some noble wanted slavery to come back, so he could expand his cotton plantation and cut workers’ salary. She grabbed a red stamp, put it in the ink container and placed a big *DENIED* sign on said paper. Of course, there was A LOT more such as this one: enslavement, minimal payment cuts etc. She wasn’t expecting a guard suddenly barging into her office, winded, barely standing and with fear in his eyes. “Princess! *huff* Please forgive me for rushing in, but you ordered to be immediately informed if this was to happen…” He wizzed in one breath. “What is it?” She asked in her usual motherly tone. “It’s an order coded ‘Discord is just a trickster compared to this’.” Celestia’s eyes shrinked to pinpricks at the name of the coded alarm. “Call Princess Luna and Shining Armor to the Summoning Chamber. Tell them it’s an emergency worse than Discord. They’ll know.” And then she teleported out of the office. … “Are you sure this is enough? It’s just a train ticket and some change. Also you should take that to the hospital” Said the mayor of a small backwater town pointing to the still bleeding wound. The conversation was getting tiring. The man standing in front of him was… infuriating, to say at least. “I’ll be alright. There’s a werewolf raging in the next town. And there’s a full moon in three days, gotta hurry.” “If you say so, Traveler. Farewell then.” “Aaaaall aboard, train departs in one minute!” Conductor’s voice announced. The man slinged his bag through his back, adjusted the sunglasses sitting on his nose, sent a court nod to the mayor and moved into the train, searching for a vacant cabin. “I’ll never adjust to him. He’s so…” Started the mayor standing next to the conductor. “Not from this world?” The conductor finished. “Yes. He’s been helping get rid of monsters, abominations and maniacs trying to take over the world for five years now. No one even knows his goddamn name!” “I’ve seen him before in London. He was talking to professor Bernard Marlowe” “Bernard Marlowe? THE Bernard Marlowe? The guy, who is known from disappearing from London for over a year to travel around the world?” “The one and only. I overheard them talking about Transylvania’s woods. Something about saving from a pack of werewolves…” “A whole pack of werewolves? The guy is a beast.” “Ah, yes. There was ten of them. He truly is amazing.” A posh voice chimed in from behind them. “And how do you know…” Started the conductor turning around to see who had such an info about the mysterious fellow, but his jaw has met with the concrete at their feet. In front of him was standing the man he just mentioned. Professor Bernard Marlowe. An aging man, completely gray hair, a bit wrinkled, with eyes as sharp as a young student’s. “I do know, I was there” He said with a smile and eyes a bit distant. … After finding an empty cabin, he placed his bag in luggage space, then reclined on a bench, placing his legs on an opposite armrest. With a sigh of comfort, he pulled his hat to his face to get some sleep. His thoughts were already drifiting in the realm of dreams, when the shaking of the train has gotten stronger. That however, despite his light sleeping, didn’t wake him up. The cabin was distorted. Colors fluctuating around, changing from warm to cold, from white to black, clashing with each other. In a middle of colourful chaos, a portal appeared, sucking him and his luggage in. … Stirring from dreamless sleep, he stretched, hearing a satisfactionary *pop* from his spine, he groaned, pulled his hat back to its place. What he saw, wasn’t an opposite wall of a train cabin, but a wall of spears. Spears held by not humans, not werewolves or any mythological creature you could think of. The ones holding spears, white-furred humanoid abominations, clad in golden armour, with stumps resembling hooves instead of feet. His instinct was screaming at him, to jump back and get ready to fight. Instead, he sat in his place, both eyebrows rocketing up. “Huh, I’ve woken up to many weird things, but that’s new.” ... With cuffed arms and legs, he was being led the devil himself knows where. Through red carpeted, then golden carpeted, then silver carpeted halls, then into the dungeon like chamber. The armour clad creatures uncuffed him, just to chain him to the stone wall. Why wasn’t he resisting? He wasn’t sure himself, maybe a hunch telling him they weren’t going to hurt him, maybe because he wasn’t feeling intimidated by those horse/human hybrids. Probably the latter, because they didn’t even bother to disarm him. His revolvers were still hidden in his duster coat, fixed to the mechanism designed for him to quickly bring the guns out. Even his 7 inch hunter knife was still resting in its sheath. Maybe he had a grenade pocketed for good measure. Just maybe. Then there came another one of these creatures, this one however, obviously female, complete with wings, white coat, flowing mane and… a horn? Things are getting weirder by the second. He thought. Then, the female started speaking. “Hello, human. Please forgive us for the bindings, but we are in state of alarm and we need to be sure you aren’t going to hurt any of us.” “Alright. So… What do you need from me?” "First of all, I need you to swear you will not hurt any of my little ponies." Ponies. Things are getting really weird. "That I cannot do, ma'am" Her stoic face switched to a bit intimidating face. "Why is that?" "What if one of your so called 'little ponies' attempts to hurt myself? I'm not gonna have any means to defend if I accept this oath" She sighed. "It's an exception. If anypony attacks you, you're free to defend" Anypony? That's going over the edge. Are all things 'pony' in this crazy world? "With that, I accept. I won't hurt any living thing, unless it endangers me or any other. Now, a question. Why in the hell am I here?"