My Little Pony Tales: Quest To Babylon

by Phoxjes Rome


Teddy!?!

My Little Pony Tales: Quest To Babylon

Chp. 4: Teddy!?!

"What... What happened to you?" Sweetheart asked the boy right in front of her. She had a fairly long list of things to expect, given the activities over the last two days. However, that list did not include the possibility of one of her "friends" being turned into a new race of the same species.

He was literally just flying there, with his newly formed wings flapping constantly enough for him to be above the ground, and up to their height in the upstairs room.

Most of the group were shocked by this new body part he had suddenly obtained. But for one of them, ideally a tomboy named Patch, while this was a surprise for her, something looked familiar about his levitation limbs.

His wings were almost in the same style of Brightglow and her friends, with the only difference being his new wings had a key feature about them; they both had a sapphire crystal in the middle of them each, that both touched his wing wrist. This prevented his wings from doing complete flaps like theirs did.

Not only that, but he was also wearing a new outfit to go with his feathered feature.

Noticeably, the first piece of the outfit was a black leather jacket that he was wearing over his barrel and front legs, that seemed provide holes in the back for his wings to stick out of. Second was his new pants that he had on. They were an umber shade of brown, carried a leather belt around them and reached down to his fetlocks. Speaking of which, he could also be seen wearing a pair of black, white and blue trainers on his hind leg hooves. Lastly, his signature sunglasses were a lot more different then they were before, in a way that made them look bigger, equipped, stylized and even metal.

"We haven't seen or talked to each other in almost a few- I mean, full week, and THAT'S the first thing you say to me?" Teddy asked the pale white girl in front of him. "No "Hi"? No "Hello"? No "How are you"?"

The other six girls walked over to the window that he was, saw the differences that he apparently underwent, gasped, and let the two of them continue.

"You've got wings. You're flying!" She exclaimed.

"You've got legs. You're standing!" He sarcastically retaliated.

"Who did this to you? And what's with your outfit?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Why not?" Starlight piped up, walking up to him outside. "If this is what you look like from now on, then I think we're gonna need to know what happened to you."

"Hey Starlight..." Teddy began, before his eyes and mane lit up a dark brown shade, along with his whole body glowing dark purple, as he looked directly into her eyes. "I don't actually care what YOU think." He finished, gritting his teeth.

"Whoa, calm down." Starlight said, backing up a bit.

"Hmph." Teddy grunted, as he closed his eyes, and they turned back to normal. "What I CAN tell you though, is that I owe everything to my master. After he saved my life, I promised to do anything that he wants me to."

"Master? Why do YOU of all ponies have a master?" Patch asked the Pegasus in front of her.

"If you really want to know, then why don't you call Swan again? I'm sure that she can tell you everything that you don't need to know again. In fact, didn't you have a wonderful talk with her last night, when you forced her to call my number?" Teddy mocked them, as he pointed at Sweetheart, to which she blushed at.

"B-But how did you know that?!" Starlight asked him.

"Ha ha ha. A guy like me knows these kind of things. That, and Illiux told me. Granted, Swan had to tell him first, but I got the memo eventually. Oh, and that reminds me, Starlight." Teddy said, as he flew forwards a little, and into the room. He then went up to her, and folded his wings inwards, dropping himself onto the ground.

"Reminds you of what?" Starlight asked, looking at him in an annoyed way.

"My master told me that you have something that doesn't belong to you. Ideally, a little gem that some girl gave to you when you got hit by her own star shower. Where is it?" He asked Starlight, knowing full well that she knew what he was talking about.

"That's none of your business where it is." She said back to him.

"None of my business, eh? Starlight, there're more differences between you and me than anyone can count; your friends and family will stay loyal to you, keeping you and themselves happy, whereas I've only counted on myself for my whole life."

Just then, his eyes and body began to glow again, catching their attention. His smile only grew more evil, until it stopped.

"But unlike you, I can afford to have my life turned around. In fact, that's exactly what I want and need the most right now. All it would take is to show my master and my friends that I'm not the space-wasting failure you are."

"..." Starlight didn't reply to him, instead just looking mad.

"Now I'll ask again: Where is it?" Teddy repeated himself.

"I'm not telling you." She replied to him, right before he sighed.

"Okay then. You're little shop is in a little trouble, isn't it? You've got limited time before Illiux buys out the rights to it, if I'm not mistaken? So if I were you, I'd ignore what some stranger girl told you, and keep to what you know."

"So this Illiux guy is involved with you as well, then?" Starlight asked the colt.

"Involved?" Teddy asked, as he sprout his wings again. "These were his idea. He's more involved with this then I am."

"He turned you into Pegasus?" She asked.

"Is asking questions all you can do, you twit?" Teddy asked in response. Although none of them admitted it themselves, they all thought that he was acting a lot more aggressive than he usually does.

"What are you even doing here, Teddy?!" Patch asked, walking up to him.

"My master sent me here to get the gem that twit's new friend stole from us." He pointed at Starlight, indicating that was his name for her now.

"Well, looks like she doesn't have it, so get lost, birdie." Patch snarled at him.

"Call me that again..." Teddy's coat lit up purple again, and he sprout his wings even further. "And I'll make sure that those friends of yours from your old orphanage will end up living on the street, Patch!" He finished, the aggressiveness returning.

"Hey, leave my orphanage out of this! Besides, you don't even know who my friends were back then."

"Stylist, Party and Charmer? And Rosy, of course." Teddy said to her, as she looked at him in shock.

"Where did you get those names from?!" Patch backed up a little. The girls all looked at Teddy, as he smiled an evil smile.

"My master told me that as well. In fact, based of what I've seen and heard from them, I wouldn't be surprised if he found them by now."

Patch became slightly worried at what he was saying, fearing for her old friends.

"Anyway, if you don't like what he did to me, just wait until you see what happened to Ace and Lancer. Those two have been through way more changes than I have with their masters."

"Ace and Lancer? So they're in on this thing too?" Clover asked the boy.

"Teddy, I don't know who these master of yours are, but you guys picked the wrong side to join." Starlight told him.

"I couldn't disagree more; I chose the perfect side to join. But if you wanna settle this properly, then get that gem and meet me and my new buddies at the schoolyard in less than 40 minutes." He ordered.

"'New buddies'?"

"Yeah, the other Greasers." He answered.

"What Greasers?"

"The ones that hang out at the quarry."

"What quarry?"

"Look, just stop asking questions and get to the school; you'll see them when you get there."

"Why should we?" Melody asked him, trying to show him up.

"Because if you do then you'll see what's really been going on."

"And if we don't?" Bon-Bon questioned him. Before he answered, he reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out a little stick, looking like a toothpick.

"Well, you don't have to, but I would suggest you do..." He warned them, as he pulled his hoof to his mouth, and now the stick thing was hanging out of his maw. "...There might be a little barbieque goin' on over there later, and we wouldn't want you to miss out."

When he said this, the girls could clearly see what he had in his mouth, and what he was foreshadowing. It wasn't actually a toothpick.

It was a match.

"Y-You mean... You're gonna..." Sweetheart tried to get out, thinking of what could happen.

"Get to the school in less than 39 minutes, or the building goes up in flames. Got it?" He didn't give them a chance to answer.

Teddy made his way back over to the window, and made a jump for it. The girls looked on at him, noticing that he was now away from them, flying off into the distance.

He ascended for a second, before heading off in the daily school bus route, for the school.

'Mom.' He thought. 'Just wait for me a little bit longer.'

Meanwhile...

"Well, that went rad." Melody said to the girls, before turning to Starlight. "So are you gonna go?"

"I don't think I have much choice, girls." Starlight answered as she walked towards her bedroom door. "If he knows where the others are, and what happened to them, then I'm just going to have to do what he says. Besides, right now, anything could be our best bet."

Starlight was about to open the door, until she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned around to see Sweetheart with her hoof on her.

"Then you're not going alone." Sweetheart told her.

"We're going with you." Patch added.

"This is a team effort." Bon-Bon spoke up.

"You guys..." Starlight smiled brightly. "Thank you."

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"Well, we're here." Clover said, as the seven of them arrived at the school that Starlight loved so much. They took a closer look at the building, and they could already tell that it was much better-looking from the outside.

Most of the windows had graffiti on the inside of them, ranging from modern art to what one could label as poetry. The majority of the walls had cracks around them, and the front doors looked charcoal black, as if a fire had been set to them. Even the roof seemed to be included in the damage, as it looked like a bomb had been dropped on it.

"The school! Who did this?!" Starlight screamed, as she looked upon the building.

"Oh, right, because your friends gonna know de answer to dat, Runt." A deep-voiced Jamaican stallion told her, from the door frame of the school. Without even looking at who it was, Starlight walked right up to him, as if she wanted to take him on.

As she got up to where he was, she looked up and started to argue with him. However, the second she met his eyes, the adrenaline drained from her body, and she started to immediately regret trying to stand up.

He was medium brown colored coated, a pitch black pompadour mane, and dark brown eyes. He was also wearing a black leather jacket, over a red tank top, as well as semi dark jeans. In addition, he had light brown trainers on his hind hooves. Clearly at least 9 or 10 (physical) years older than the girls were, he had the word "intimidating" all over him.

Whoever he was, he was currently leaning against the door to the school.

"Someding you want say to me, liddle girl?" He asked the obviously scared girl in front of him, chewing gum in his mouth.

"Y-y-yeah, the-there is." Starlight replied backing up.

"Go on Den, I'm listening." He said to her, getting off the door and standing up straight. "You want know where mi boy Deddy is? Or what happened to Hackney?" The stallion asked her.

"Well, y-yeah. Where is he? H-h-h-h-he told us to meet us here, a-a-a-and he-" She stuttered out eventually, right before he walked past here, down the stairs and round the back of the ledge of the school.

He then reached down to grab something that he was keeping down there, and lift it into his hoof. The girls eyes widened when they saw what it was: A sledgehammer. It was a big one as well, so much so that the head of it was almost the same size as his own head.

Even more terrifying for her was the fact that he was now walking up to her up the four stairs again. However, her fear was quelled when he went past her, and up to the doors that appeared to be locked. He then lifted the sledgehammer up so that the equipment was above his head, and that the handle was facing the door.

The stallion then proceeded to ram his tool into the door, damaging it severely and waking up several neighbors in the process. He hit it again in the same spot, and the door was opening slightly. After that, he lightly pushed the door open and it stayed in position when it opened.

"Come on in, and brace 'self, Patch. Deddy is wait for you and your friends in the playground. Got it?"

"Okay?" Patch said, after taking in a deep breath, and prepared herself for the worst.

The 8 ponies made their way into the opposite side of the school, and he kicked the doors wide open to the playground.

Whereas this Jamaican guy looked happy at what he saw, the girls, once again, looked mortified at the sight of the playground being absolutely vandalized. The swings were burnt off the pole, the monkey bars all broken in pieces, the seesaw snapped in two, it all looked like a war zone.

"What's happening, mi boys?" He asked out load, to all the other boys here in leather jackets. They all looked at him and replied in their own ways.

"Hey, brother!" Teddy shouted to the stallion. The girls looked down to see him walking up to them, still wearing the same attire as before.

"Ursa, mi boy. What's up wid cho?" He asked the boy. They seemed to be close friends.

"Not much, Stonefort. I see you've brought my prey to my cave for me." Teddy replied as he looked at the girls. Starlight looked back at him in the eyes, similar to the time they did during the episode "Happy Birthday Sweetheart". Only this time, Teddy was smiling. "Anyway, you better get back to miss Hackney, while I get what our master promised me."

"Miss Hackney?!" Starlight exclaimed, her face turning from one of anger to one of worry. Stonefort walked back into the school, closing the doors behind him. "What did you do to her, Teddy?!"

"Nothing. Ace and Lancer are taking care of that old cow, while I get you all to myself." Teddy responded as he took a few steps back and down the stairs, before turning around and looking back at the girls.

"Are Ace and Lancer are here as well?" Clover asked.

"I've received more power than anyone could ever dream of." Teddy ignored her question.

Patch felt someone push her from behind, wanting her to go down the stairs up to him. She turned around to see a lighter brown pony in a leather jacket. She took the hint and walked down the steps. The other girls were about to follow her, but the biker pony blocked their way.

"Just you and me now, tough girl. Your friends aren't interrupting this time. But just to make sure of that, watch this!" Teddy shouted, as he reached into his jacket and pulled out one of those yellow glass panels that Illiux used the first time that the girls met him, and held it up high. "Babylon Mummu, God of Purity!"

"Say what?" Patch took a step back, as a purple barrier surrounded Teddy, and expanded rapidly until it fazed right through her. The barrier was purple, and had a symbol on the ground of it. It looked like a purple curve connecting from one side of the barrier to another, inside of a big V forming on top of the curve, touching another part of the barrier.

"What's going on, Teddy?!" Patch asked, as she tried to exit the barrier and get to her friends, only to realize that she couldn't leave the force-field.

"What's going on is that you're going down!" Teddy responded, as he sprouted his wings out, and flew over to the far side of the barrier, ready to face her. "But if you really wanna know, then you and I are gonna fight, right here, right now."

"Fight?! You?! No way!" Patch then exclaimed as she got up. "Not only am I not gonna risk my life in a one on one with you, but I've got a shop, a teacher and a girl to save! So why don't you get out of my way, before I have you and your friends reported to the police?"

"Sorry, Runt; you're not going anywhere until we're done! So get psyched up and get ready to die!" Teddy snarled back at her, with a smile on his face. Before anyone said anything else, the same ominous glow in his eyes reappeared for all to see.

"So what are you gonna do?" Starlight shouted to Patch, still being held back by the older pony next to her.

"Not a lot she can do now, kid." The pony in leather answered for her. He had a Fillypelphian accent with him. "Now that she's in that marked barrier, there's no way out until someone loses."

"Brake's right, dork. There's no escaping me, especially because now you have no idea what you're up against." Teddy aggressively said to her. Sweetheart looked directly at him.

"Alright then, I've really got no choice. Brace yourself Teddy." Patch said, walking up to him.

"In this corner!" Another pony shouted into a microphone. The ponies all looked on to the roof to see someone up there, with speakers and a microphone stand with him. The pony was bright gold, and had a pitch black spiky mane, matching his goatee. He was wearing a black and white stripped jersey, similar to one that a referee would wear in a match.

"We have our newest recruit, the youngest member of our Greaser faction of Babylon, one of Coltonville's three proteges, our enforced victim, Caxpe's motivation ponified, and the one who made all of this possible!" He finished, waving his hoof all over the playground, to which every other "greaser" cheered at, seeing what they did, clearly taking glee in the damage.

"I give you Ursa!" They pointed at Teddy, the cheering intensified and Teddy stood up and took a bow, taking in the glory.

"Thanks a bunch, Lucky!" He shouted back to him.

"Ursa?" The girls whispered and looked at each other.

"And in the other corner!" Lucky said, the crowd now booing instead. "Some girl I forgot the name of."

"Warm welcome." Melody said to her friends.

"We've waited an entire month for Ursa to rip the girl he told us about apart, and now, without further ado..."

The pair of opponents met eyes in a split screen shot. Determination filled their eyes and their hearts, knowing that the next word could very well mean that only one of them can leave alive.

"BEGIN!!"

Within a millisecond of this "Lucky" guy saying that one word, Teddy's wings deployed, and he flew off to his left. Before a second later, Patch tried to regain her sight of him, but failed when she saw that he was gone.

She backed up a step, but was quickly knocked to the ground by what felt like a pair of hooves kicking her. She sat up and turned round to see Teddy was levitating with his wings, and his back legs facing her. He flew back to his hooves on the ground.

"Get up, before I make you dork." He said to her, with a smile on his face, his body glowing purple and his eyes brown again.

Patch jumped onto her hooves, but stepped back instead of approached.

"Teddy, no matter how much the voice in my head is telling me to, I'm not going to fight you." She repeated to him.

"You say that now, but neither one of us can leave this barrier until the fight is officially over. And because these are Babylon rules that we're following, the fight can never be officially over until you hit me back." Teddy explained to her.

"So I'm trapped here?!" She exclaimed. He didn't speak to answer her, and just let his evil smile do the talking.

"'Ey, this ain't no school dance; rush into 'em!" One of the Greasers shouted from the sidelines.

Teddy heard this and looked straight at her in the eyes. He then flew back over to her with his new-found speed, then reappeared in front of her, floating and with his front legs crossed.

"Ahh!" Patch jumped, but quickly turned her fighting spirit back on, which was noticeable from the way she tried to hit him with her hoof. However, this failed when Teddy caught the hoof with his own without even having to try.

She tried again to attack like this, but he once again blocked her with his other leg. Even worse than that, Teddy then lifted her up with his own hooves, into the air that he was in. Even more worse than that, he was even able to smash his own face into hers, causing her to scream in agony.

"Throw her to the mash!" Another pony yelled to him, edging him on.

"Break her in half, then we'll go fix those bikes!" The Filadelphian pony shouted to him.

"Kick her teeth in!" Stonefort shouted as well.

Teddy then dropped her onto the ground, and left her lying there for a second or two. Patch tried to stand up after that, struggling to her hooves. Teddy found this amusing in his own way, a growing smile creeping on his face, making his way over to her.

"No no, please, don't get up." He laughed, kicking her back down onto the floor. She fell down again, holding her fore legs at her stomach at the spot he just hit.

"Teddy..." Patch wheezed out, looking up at him. "I don't know... What those guys did... But this isn't you..."

"Spare me this whole "Your being mind controlled!" garbage, runt. If you have to know, I chose to do this, not because I was forced, but because of what my master did and what this means to me."

"What... do you... mean..." Patch got to her knee.

"That doesn't matter to you. The only thing you need to be worried about is Stonefort." Teddy answered, walking away from her, and turned to look at the girls on the other side of the barrier he made. "As for you guys, you better get yourselves ready for the other ponies that are coming your way."

"'Other ponies'? There's more of them?" Starlight asked, walking closer to the barrier.

"Yeah, and all 6 of them are mad at you girls." Teddy explained to her. The others saw that Patch was starting to quietly stand up, seemingly without his notice.

"Us?" Starlight asked him stalling for time, so Patch could get the upper hand. "Why us? What have we ever done to them?"

"You got me." Teddy shrugged, still looking at her. "Apparently, they all have a bone to pick with you for personal reasons. I mean, I have no idea who wants to deal with you, Starlight."

"Why would anypony be mad at me? What would they want with me?"

"I'll give you 50 jangles if you don't ask another question for the rest of the day." Teddy replied with a smug grin on his face, ignoring the question.

"Fine, just answer it."

"I already said, I don't know wha- ah!" Teddy cut himself off when he felt Patch grab onto him. She was holding on to his back, stopping him from doing almost anything.

"There, I got you!" Patch said, clearly still weak from the previous attacks.

Teddy still struggled to get her off of him, trying to throw her back and forth. This proved to be of no avail, so he tried a new tactic. Emphasis on new, seeing as how the girls will have never seen this new move before.

The crystals in his wings began to light up, absorbing illumination all around them.

"Guess again!" Teddy said to her, as his wings expanded suddenly on their own. Then, out of them, a rainbow exploded horizontally. All seven different colors shot in a full 360 degree angle, sending Patch flying up into the sky.

While the girls all looked in fear and shock at the sight of what Teddy just did with his new power, all of the greasers roared in cheer at it. It was like nothing they had ever seen before, a pony shooting out a rainbow like that.

"Patch!!" The girls all shouted in unison, thinking that she could hear them. Barely a few seconds later, the tomboy crashed into the ground, making a crack in the ground, and a vibration in the area.

"Well..." Teddy said, sounding like he was out of breath. "There goes... *pant* The battle..."

He wasn't wrong. The other Greaser ponies were still cheering at what he just did, and some were even chanting his new name that they had given him.

"Ursa! Ursa! Ursa!" The colts/stallions yelled into the night, raising their hooves up and down as they did.

"Patch, are you okay?!" Sweetheart cried out, tears in her eyes from the fear that her friend might be seriously hurt. Or much worse than that, even... expiring.

"She don't look okay da mi." The Jamaican pony answered for them, walking up to the battle field. "Den again, you're de one who want be a nurse, Sweedeart, so you dell me."

Suddenly, their attention got transferred from him to the barrier, as it became brighter and a lot smaller. In fact, the barrier they were both stood in actually became so small that it over-passed Teddy, and started shrinking more around the unconscious Patch.

"Call it off, Ursa. I still need de girl for de princess." He said to Teddy, to which he nodded.

"INVERT!" Teddy shouted, and walked towards the older pony. The barrier disappeared entirely, and it looked like Patch was still not moving. However, now the girls could get to her and check her condition. Naturally, they did just that, rushing over to see her.

Luckily, she was still breathing, and nothing was bleeding. Starlight held her head in her front hooves, and leaned herself forwards.

"Patch, speak to me!" Starlight cried, looking over her injured friend. "Say something, please."

"Starlight..." Patch weakly croaked out, before closing her eyes again.

"Patch!!" Starlight yelled, tears in her eyes as well.

"She's not dying, she's just unconscious." Teddy's voice drew close to the girls, clearly symbolizing that he was walking up to them. "It's actually disappointing. I thought she could have lasted a lot longer than that." Teddy came to a halt.

"Teddy... You monster!" Starlight snapped at him, looking behind her at him.

"Ugh... Here we go again." Teddy muttered to himself, rolling his eyes, before turning around himself. "Alright guys, party's over. I'll see you later at the train yard."

With that comment, the greasers all jumped down from wherever it was that they were sitting, leaning, hanging or swinging on, and made their way out of the school.

"How could you do something like this? This is too low, even by your standards." Starlight started to walk up to him, looking as though she was gonna smack him in the face.

However, she stopped herself when he pulled his new sunglasses down from his head over his eyes. One side of the eye wear turned blindingly white, while the other became pitch black.

"Check this out!" Teddy called to her as he removed his hoof from the glasses, and suddenly two lasers intertwined with each other, both coming from one side of them each. The white side shot a white laser, and the black shot out a black one. They both danced around each other and were aiming for Starlight.

"Whoa!" Starlight shouted, dodging out of the way, causing the lasers to destroy the monkey bars in the background behind her. She looked back at him, and the laser stopped when he put his hoof back on them and tilted them up again.

"That was another question you just asked. You owe me 50 jangles, Starlight." Teddy smugly said.

"Teddy, be serious, can't you see that those grease balls are just using you for something!? Look at what they just made you do! You'd never do that to anyone you know." Starlight pointed at Patch.

Suddenly, Teddy's face turned from one of sarcasm to sadness.

"You want me to be serious? Fine."

Teddy flew over to the other side of the playground, in front of the school's back doors.

"It all started when I was born." Teddy begun.

"What started?" Starlight asked, as the other girls walked up to her, Sweetheart and Melody carrying Patch on their shoulders. They were all giving Teddy an angry look.

"If you shut up, I'll tell you. Now, when I was born, my family was all there. My dad, my big sis Dolly, and of course, my mom."

"What does this have to do with that?" Clover asked. Teddy didn't answer, but instead lowered his sunglasses to his eyes again, where they lit up again.

"Okay, I'll be quiet!" Clover saved herself, allowing him to continue and put them back on his head.

"Unfortunately, what you girls don't know is that not all of us made it out of there alive." The six of them had their faces change from anger to confusion. "My mom... Died... In childbirth."

The girls, specifically Sweetheart, looked mortified at what he just told them. Judging by the expression on his face, it was hard to believe that he was lying about something like this.

"That's right, she's gone." He continued, reaching into his jacket's inner pocket, and pulling something out. "And all I have left of her, is THIS!"

He pulled out a stuffed teddy bear. What five of the currently conscious girls didn't know, is that the toy he was currently wielding was something that he held dear. Sweetheart, however, knew exactly what that thing was all about.

"Before she died and while she was pregnant with me, my mom made me this. She wanted me to keep it during my foalhood. Which I did, seeing as how it's the only thing that I have of her."

The girls looked at each other, then back to him.

"But wait, it gets worse. Enter problem number two: my dad."

"He didn't die as well, did he?" Sweetheart asked, holding back tears.

"No, worse than that: he's still alive. But because he saw his own wife's life end right before his eyes, without even getting the chance to say goodbye to her, he never got over it. So, he did the only natural thing that anyone would do to find comfort: drink."

Again, the girls faces looked more and more distraught, especially because they could see where this was going.

"Teddy..." Sweetheart whimpered, the need to cry becoming more demanding.

"Now what you may not know, is that Alcohol eventually leads to violence. Violence that's inflicted by him at me and Dolly."

At this point, the urge to cry was too strong to resist, and so Sweetheart just let herself at it. Tears streamed down from her eyes, to her cheeks, to her chin, and down onto the floor.

"I'm not even done with my story yet. Dolly is 7 years older than I am, so she's at the "Rebel against my parents" teenage point of life. Meaning that she goes against literally anything that he tells her, making him more angry, leading to more violence and beating to me, and so on and so forth."

"Teddy... Is that why you act the way you do?" Starlight asked him, trying to muster the courage to walk closer to him. "You try to give other ponies the misery that you live with?"

"Yeah, I guess it is. Ponies like me don't just pick on others because it's fun, you know. We have to have a good reason to do what we do. Mine is that this is an outlet for me. My dad has always told me that I'm a failure, and that I'll never amount to anything that I try. That's the reason why I'm also a "Show-off", as you girls call me; so I can prove him wrong."

"T...Teddy..." Sweetheart whimpered again.

"Save it Sweetheart; I'm still not done. My life has only been made worse by some certain ponies, treating me like the bad guy that everyone thinks I am."

"Oh... Well, why didn't you say? Take out your anger and fear on them." Melody said to him.

"I already am. In fact, that's just what I'm gonna continue to do for a while now."

"Um... Melody? I think those ponies he's talking about are the seven of us." Bright-Eyes responded to her.

"Hey, know-it-all! I get that what I'm about to say might be a little difficult for you to understand, but you're wrong." Teddy responded to her. "It's not the seven of you; it's the eight of you. That stuck-up cow Hackney is also to blame for my miserable life. Whenever I get in trouble at school, to the point when she calls my dad."

"Oh no." Starlight said, having an idea about where this was going.

"Usually, the punishment he gives me depends on the time of day she calls him. If it's too early in the day, then he just locks the door before I get back from school, stopping me from getting in. If it's anytime near the end of school, then he waits for me to get in, before the beating comes."

"He locks you out of your own house!?" Sweetheart exclaimed. "That's horrible! Where do you go?"

"Normally, I go to visit my mom's grave. But, there was a slight change of plan last Friday."

"Last Friday? Why, what happened last-" Starlight cut herself off, her heart skipping a beat as she remembered. "Miss Hackney gave you a detention after-school. She called your dad, didn't she?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------Flashback---------------------------------------------------------------

"Teddy!" His much despised teacher called out to the only student remaining in the class, getting his attention.

"What?" He replied, knowing what she was about to say.

"What have you done to my schedule?" Miss Hackney asked him, looking as disappointed in him as ever.

"I tried to get them ba-"

'Don't bother, man. She won't believe you; she'll think your blaming someone else as an excuse.' His conscious told him.

"I... I felt like it." He reluctantly replied, knowing that he was lying. 'I'll get back at Patch later.'

Miss Hackey sighed at him. "Well, you know what that means, Teddy."

'Not again...' He thought, cringing at the thought of getting home tonight. He saw his teacher reach for the phone on the wall.

Meanwhile back at the broken-home residence...

"Argh!!" An badly-shaped stallion shouted, trying to get up of the couch. "Out of beer! Where's that stupid boy?! The useless little accident should've been here by now!"

Eventually he rolled of the furniture and headed for the fridge, when he heard the phone ringing. Grunting, he made his way over to it.

"What?!" He said impatiently.

"Hello. Is that Mr. Styles?" She asked.

"Urgh..." He groaned, rubbing his head. "Yeah. What'd you want? Make it quick."

"Well sir, I have no pleasure in telling you about having to report your son's unacceptable behavior." Hackney continued, hearing a grunt from the other end of the line.

"Then don't bother, grandma." He said, slamming the phone down.

The teacher stared at the phone wondering what was going through the father's mind.

"Now you've done it." Teddy spoke up, a cocky smile growing on his face. Hackney hung up the phone as well.

"Well, never-the-less, it's been an hour now. That'll be all." She said, sitting back down.

Reluctantly, he stood up and headed out the door. As he made his way to the front door of the building, his built-up anger got the better of him.

"Grrrrrraah!" He shouted, kicking over a trash can. "I hate this stupid school! I hope this place burns to the ground!.. With Hackney inside it!"

He kicked the doors open and left the school, walking across the yard. As he walked by the field, Patch and the rest of the after-school group saw him, and she held the soccer ball.

"Uh-oh, look out. Big man's on his walk." She said, mocking him as he walked by. He heard her, and saw the perfect opportunity.

Quickly, he walked over to the ball bucket and pushed it over, spilling them all everywhere.

"HEY!" Patch and several others of the shouted at him, as he laughed and ran off. Soon he was out of sight, heading for the trees.

Meanwhile, miss Hackney was observing this little feud between him and them.

"I do wonder what it is that troubles that boy." She said to herself, getting back to her work.

Suddenly, she felt a great pain in her head, as she felt something thwack her on the back of it.

"OW!!" She exclaimed, rubbing her head and looking over to see what, or rather who, just did that.

"Maybe it's down to having a bias teacher who looks down on him and expects him to fail." Someone standing next to her said.

"Ow. "Bias"? I'm not at all bias. I'm as fair as I can possibly be." She replied, getting a better look at the stallion.

"Yeah, to the girls." Brake said, holding his socket wrench over his shoulder. She still had absolutely no idea about who this guy was. "And to the rich boy. But with him and the golden boy, you couldn't care any less, could you?"

"That's not true at all! Who are you, and what're you doing in my school?"

Before she got an answer, his horn lit up and she was levitated into the air. He held her with his magic in a collar grab style, before pointing his tool to her face.

"I'm Pedal, and I'm here to relieve and evict you." He said, turning her around to face the classroom again.

"Excus-" She was cut off at the feeling of being dropped from his magic and falling back into her seat.

"Don't even bother trying to get away from here by yourself, Hackney." Someone else said, appearing right in front of her. He had his hood up, so his eyes weren't recognizable. But little did she know, these two had met almost every day for a few years.

"What do want with me?" She asked, somewhat worried for her own well-being.

"From you, we want the school. From Coltonville, we want payback." He said gritting through his teeth, sounding serious, despite his pink coating.

""Payback"? Now why on earth would you want payback on a whole town? Coltonville is a happy place." She argued to the pony.

"Happy when you've got a reason to be." He said to her, sounding serious. "But let me let you in on a little secret: to ponies like us, Coltonville isn't a good neighborhood to grow up in. Life isn't here to have a good time, it's here to test your will to survive."

Hackney now looked more puzzled at him.

"Now don't get me wrong..." He continued. "There's nothing wrong with having a bit of fun, regardless of if anyone's getting hurt or not. But, when it comes down to it, there'll be moments when you don't want to live anymore. And when those times come, someone's got to get hurt. Everyone gets hurt, innocent or not."

"That's not true at all." Hackney argued to the "stranger", before he took off his hood.

"How would you know?"

"Primrose!?!" Hackney exclaimed at the sight of seeing her former student all grown up right in front of her. "Pretty Primrose!?!"

"Yeah, it's me. You miss me, Grandma?"

"Dear me, Pretty." She gasped, almost completely lost for words. "It's been years since-"

He did a sidestep to show his flank to her, and unzipped his pants hole to reveal his flank and Cutie Mark to her.

"Since you thought this was funny? Since you just gave up on everything that you lied to me about, and went with the flow that the rest of those losers had!?"

"Pretty, it was not like that! I had only-"

"Gel, get her bagged, now!" The feminine looking pony demanded, as the teacher was turned around magically and came face to face with a green pony.

"I'm so sorry about this." Hair Gel nervously pleaded, placing a sponge bag over her head, right before Brake delivered a particularly hard hit to the head with his wrench.

Getting back to Teddy...

While the little episode with Hackney and the three Greasers was happening back there, he found his way home. He tried to open the door, but quickly discovered that it had been locked from the inside.

'Yep. Knew that was gonna happen.' He thought to himself, about to initiate plan B. After turning around, he walked away from the residence and headed for his mom's resting place.

"Hey baby bear!" He heard a mare's voice shout out to him. Teddy knew exactly who this was, so he looked up and behind him and saw his sister from her window.

"Looks like you're stuck out there! Must suck to be you!" Dolly taunted him.

"Yeah, I'm out here with the freedom! Have fun with dad all day, with his delightful body odor and wondrous acts of violence! See how many whacks it takes for him to make you cry this time; maybe you'll get past two!" He shouted back.

Recalling her memories, Dolly picked up an empty soda can, and threw it at her younger sibling.

"Better stuck in here, than wandering out there with no friends!" She yelled.

Hearing this, he pulled out his slingshot and fired a rock back up at her.

"Yeah, I've got friends as well, Doll! Difference is, mine don't just use me for a laugh!"

"At least my friends actually notice me!"

"You're just mad because you can't hold down a boyfriend for more than a day!" He retaliated, before heading for the cemetery.

"Right, whatever! Go have fun playing with your hair!" She finished, closing her window.

As he made his way over, he thought on his relationship with his sister, and how much it had descended ever since day one, and how much they hated each other.

'Stupid Dolly. Thinks she owns the world. I'll show her soon enough.'

By the point of being able to see where the graveyard was, he noticed some stallions with tools standing by the gates. But more importantly, he saw the 'No Entry' sign in front of them.

"Aw man. That's the only entrance and exit; now what'm I gonna do?" He asked himself, clearly disappointed. Upon turning around, he came across more problems.

Patch, and an understandably irritated group of ponies were approaching his direction. Luckily for him, he hadn't been seen yet, but he saw that he didn't have much time before they found him.

"Ohhhh, this ain't good." Teddy muttered to himself, as he took a few steps backwards.

"So, we were both there, but the last time we saw him, Ace made eyes at ME, not Melody." A filly said behind him. His heart sank at the sound of her. He took a 180 turn and saw Starlight and her friends walking towards him as well.

So by this point he was trapped in every direction; he couldn't go forwards because of the working ponies, going right wasn't a ideal move because of Patch and her friends, turning back wouldn't work because of Dolly and daddy, and to the left was a bad idea because of Starlight and HER friends.

If ever he needed a miracle, it would be now.

...

And what a miracle he got. In the form of a dark cloth engulfing him, and knocking him unconscious. Obviously he was startled when it happened, but his energy quickly drained like chloroform.

What was even better/ worse (depending on your perspective) about this was that nobody else in the area could see or hear this transaction take place. It was as if he had just disappeared.

"Maybe he's finally decided to give you a chance." Sweetheart said, in reply to Starlight's comment.

"Ohhh, I hope so<3" Starlight responded. "Maybe one day he''ll straight up ask me, and when he does I'll- Oh, hey Patch." The protagonist greeted the tomboy, not taking in anything about Teddy's sudden disappearance.

"Huh? Oh, hey Starlight. Hi Sweetheart." Patch said.

Skipping to 24 hours later, Teddy was slowly regaining consciousness.

"Urg..." He groaned, rubbing his head. Before he tried to open his eyes, he could hear faint voices conversing nearby.

"T...Que... Se... to 19... Ce."

"N...ds b... Ady... Thursd..."

"P...za... Rgers... Pie..."

Not taking the time to question who was speaking, he tried his best to get the blood pumping enough to move. Given a minute, he found the strength to sit up from whatever he was lying on.

Just then, he heard a few bangs on the wall and covered his ears.

"De boy's aweek." The Jamaican demolitionist notified the others, as Teddy's eyes slowly opened. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the light, but he saw his surrounding environment. It looked like the interior of a trailer. Probably because it was a trailer.

The pony before him looked over him, taking notice of his body condition.

"How ya feelin'?" He asked quietly. To Teddy, he looked so scary, like he wanted to maim him.

"Um... F-fine?" He answered, looking him over. "Who are you? And where are we?"

Before Stonefort got a chance to answer, the others walked into the trailer and looked strangely happy at the sight of Teddy alive.

"Hey, buddy boy." Brake greeted.

"What's buzzin', cousin?" Advanced asked him.

"Yo." Hacker said.

Teddy caught on to the fact that these guys were speaking to him as if they met him before. As far as he knew, none of these guys were familiar.

"You feelin' good?" 30 asked him. Teddy flinched at the sight of him, even without his fangs or antennae strands out. "I know, I'm gorgeous, you don't have to announce it. Look, we know you're gonna have a lot of questions for us, but stay calm, we'll explain everything."

"Who are you guys?" The colt asked again, as they all looked at each other.

"Where do we even begin?" Advanced rhetorically asked.

"From the beginning." Brake replied anyway. "Look man, long story short, we hate Starlight and her friends as well, the same way you do."

"What're you talking about? You guys don't know anything about me." Teddy retaliated, seemingly hostile to them, despite not knowing who they were.

"Your name's Teddy Styles, your sister's named Dolly and your dad and mom are called Stringent and Softfelt, the latter of which you named your little teddy bear after." Brake told him, making him go wide-eyed at the comment.

"H-How do you know that?!" Teddy asked the Fillydelphian Unicorn, before his brother spoke up next.

"You're from a broken home, with a drunk dad and useless sister. You're viewed as the bully at your school, reflected by the image of the tough guy that cha wanna be. You're friends with Ace and Lancer, but you know that they could turn their backs on you at any given time, mostly so that they can impress the girls they're after." Advanced told him, giving him more of a shock.

"Your momma died in childbirth, and what you really want more than anything is to see her again. Daddy never got over it and turned to drinking. You and sissy suffered the consequences for it, but you both know that you don't deserve it." Hacker added, getting the foal's attention.

"You sleep with your teddy bear close to you, partly to sooth over the pain and the anger you get from your life, partly to keep you feeling good at sad times, and partly to remind you that your mom is always with you, no matter what. You wear sunglasses because your dad gave them to ya on your eighth birthday; the only one he remembered that day's importance as something other than the day his wife died." Pretty followed up.

"You blame yourself dat your momma passed away, mostly coz your poppa told you so, but you got to see it's not cha fault. She died coz of natural causes, not coz of you." Stonefort finished with proving him wrong.

"That enough facts for ya, or should we elaborate a little more?" Advanced asked him.

By this point, Teddy didn't even reply. Instead, he just looked down in shame, thinking about everything that those guys had just said about him. Clearly they had been keeping a close eye on him for a while.

"Y-yeah, well... What'd guys want with me?" He asked, feeling guilty about the last comments.

"Well for a start, we want you to stop feeling sorry for yourself, and start telling yourself that it's not your fault. Nothing that's happened is your fault." Hacker answered.

"What are you talking about; of course it is." He quietly replied, feeling his army of tears fight their way up to his eyes.

"No, it ain't!" Brake argued. "Look, you only feel that way because it's what you've been made to believe, both by those girls and your own family. But it's not true; you don't HAVE to be what society labels you as."

"Brake's right, Teddy. Believe me, we've all been there as well: having nearly all of Coltonville opposing you for something that ain't your fault. The Babylon saved us then, just like it will you now." Lucky followed up, handing him his sunglasses.

Teddy saw them, and took them into his own hoof.

""Babylon"?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's where we are right now."

"Alright... So, what's this Babylon got to do with me? And what do you guys want?"

"Just what we said: to get back at Coltonville, after the way we've been treated." Primrose said. "After what miss Hackney did to me the day I dropped out of school, I was glad the Babylon got to me."

"You were in miss Hackney's class, too? What'd you make of her?" Teddy asked him.

"Firstly... Look at me." He replied, standing on his hind legs so he could see his body better.

"Y-yeah, I noticed, you're, uh..."

"I'm freaking pink! All over, and have been ever since birth; my parents were expecting a girl. And look at this; it's insult to injury!" Pretty then stood back on three legs, using the forth to unzip his side zip, opening it to reveal his Cutie Mark.

"Oh... I see..." Teddy said, trying to look serious and concerning, while at the same time, holding back tempting laughter.

"Yeah, even Clover's flower doesn't look this stupid." He said, zipping it back up.

"Clover? You guys know her, too?"

"We said already, didn't we?" Advanced answered for him. "We can't stand the likes of Starlight and team harmony either."

"But we have our own reasons for that, though; don't you worry about that." Brake added.

"Where I was." Pretty continued. "I was being teased, everyday, by the other ponies in the school about the way I looked, but Hackney always told them to stop it and to leave me alone."

"But you said she-"

"I'm getting to that, alright!? One day, when she was teaching us about the importance having our Destiny Signa- I mean, Cutie Mar- No, what'd they used to call them?"

"Hip Marks." Left spoke up.

"Yeah, having a Hip Mark. I hadn't gotten mine yet, until that particular lesson, when the whole class was poking fun at me, saying that mine was gonna be just as girly as I looked. Then, it arrived, and when I saw it, everyone laughed at me."

"So you're Hip Mark is a flower? That sucks."

"You're darn right it sucks. I was feeling so..."

"... Everything." Lucky finished for him. "I was there at the time, too."

"I wanted to just lash out at every single laughing person in the room, feel them bruising and bleeding from my kicks, their air getting cut off from between my hooves, their flesh piercing from my horn, knowing how justified it was." Pretty added.

"But miss Hackney...?"

"Everyone besides me and him were laughing at him." Lucky continued.

"... So?" Teddy questioned again.

Pretty just looked even more angry by the question.

"No no no." Lucky said, stroking his beard and clearing his throat. "EVERYONE besides me and him were laughing at him."

"Oh..." Teddy said, now clear on the story. "Wait, so, miss Hackney..."

"Ended up bleeding within an inch of her life by the end of the class." Lucky finished.

"But that's enough story time, this is about you, kid." Advanced carried on the conversation.

"... Right... Me."

"Yup. Reason why we got you down 'ere is coz we know what it's like to be painted as the baddy, when really all ya want is mama's love. And we, unlike Starswirlette and the brats, want to get cha outta the loop."

"I know, but..."

"If it helps, kiddo..." Brake added on, combing his mane back slightly. "Your dad's already in rehab, and your sister's right next door."

This got his attention again.

"They're here too?"

"Yeah, we persuaded them the same way we did you."

"But... You knocked me out and brought me here when I was unconscious."

"Thank you Ted, that was the joke." Left said, looking somewhat disappointed, as his face turned into that of an old mans.

"So you see, we got cha back, man." Hacker said, before the whole gang moved in unison, as they moved their sleeves down their legs to reveal their Brand Marks.

"And we got each others as well, y'know? We're like a big family of our own."

"And we've always got room for someone like you, lil' buddy."

Stonefort put his sleeve back and offered his hoof to him.

"What cha say?"

Ursa didn't know WHAT to say. Here he was, in a trailer with a handful of strangers, given the opportunity to have his life do a complete 180, depending on how much he trusted that what they were saying was true.

"I..."

So many things were going through his mind. His mom, his abusive family, his bear, these new ponies, Starlight and her friends (Mostly Sweetheart), Coltonville, etc. So much to consider.

"I..." He stuttered, starting to tear up, looking his teddy in the eyes. "I don't know!"

"We only wanna help ya." The pink stallion said. "We know how it feels to be out-casted. It's not nice; no one deserves that. But that's just how society works."

"..." He began to cry, letting the tears fall on his valuable toy.

"Think about your life." The brown unicorn told him. "All the times you've been hated and abused. Every name you've been called, all the moments you wished you could change, those times you had to run away to your cousins farm just to escape it for a day. Do you really wanna keep living like that?"

"..."

"C'mon, I ran away from home too. You know what the difference is between me and you doin' it? I didn't go back." The red Pegasus told the colt. "Now there's, um... Someone, living there at my old home. I know you hate her, too."

"..."

"Dis is it, mon. Yo' big chance; the moment you've been waitin' for your 'hole life."

"... Okay." He said, looking them in the face. "I'll do it! Where do I sign up?"

The ponies smiled at his answer, and the flashback began to fade.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yep, and he locked me out again."

"Well, in all fairness Teddy, during your detention, when she had to step out of the classroom, you did rearrange her planning schedule for next term." Bright-Eyes reminded him.

"Hey, that wasn't my fault! Patch kicked her soccer ball at the window, and the schedule pieces fell off. I thought I put them back in the right order, but clearly not." Teddy retaliated.

"Then why didn't you just explain that to her?" Bon-Bon asked the new Greaser.

"Oh, right(!) As if SHE was gonna believe ME(!) Anyway, back to the story. Last Friday, I got locked out, and while I was on my way to the graveyard, some ponies were working on fixing the statues at the front gate, blocking anyone from entering. And I knew full well that I couldn't just stay in the middle of town, in case any of you girls came along. In fact, you were all approaching my direction at the time."

"So you were trapped." Starlight said to him.

"That's right. I had literally nowhere to go, so I needed a miracle. And wouldn't you know it, I got one, straight from the heavens. I mean, you know, if the heavens were underground, because that's where those guys are from."

"Those grease monkeys took you in?" Melody asked him.

"Those "Grease monkeys" are my family now!" Teddy snapped back at her. "Thanks to them, and my master, I have a place to call home, and a life worth living. In fact, the reason why I'm over here now is because this mirrors my life almost perfectly: Me, against all of you. Before my master and the other greasers came along, there was no one in the world I could depend on besides myself. And if anyone said otherwise, then they'd be lying."

"So that's what you meant by they saved your life..." Bon-Bon added.

"You wanted me to be serious, this is the reply you get. I'm willing to do anything for them, if it means having a home and a family, and I... WE won't let anyone get in the way of my dream of seeing my mom again. And if anyone tries, they're going to down as well!"

"Teddy." Starlight began, walking up to him. "I think I understand now. You're right; you don't deserve to live that life. Nobody does. And I get that there's nothing we can do to save you, or even help you."

"Stop moving now!" He snarled at her, readying the new weapon on his face to fire once again. However, she complied willingly.

"I realize that there isn't a lot of options left for you in life, and teaming up with those hoodlums seems like the only way. But... It's not necessary. Life doesn't have to be this way. We don't really HAVE to be enemies; we can start over, treat you like our friend. You can speak with us calmly, come into the ice-cream shop, talk to us about anything, live a normal life. In fact, I'll even see if I can get my mom to give you a job in the hair salon. If you accept..."

Starlight made herself be quiet when she saw him deactivate his sunglasses.

"As much as I want to, I can't accept that offer." Teddy, walked up to her, and showed her his front hoof. There, where his Pastern bones met, was a symbol. Unknown to the girls, this was Caxpe's Mark of Babylon.

"I already pledged my loyalty to the Babylon, and master Caxpe. If I turned my back on them, I... I don't want to know what'll happen to me. But I don't want to find out. Besides, I don't exactly have a home in Coltonville anymore; Stonefort's letting me crash at his trailer, until I get a place to call my own. My dad is in rehab now, and he'll be in there until he gives up alcohol. The Babylon gave me food, shelter, friends, credit, identity, power, and even Rainbow magic."

"One of the five types of magic that makes up this world?" Starlight asked.

"That's the one. All I need now is that gem, and I'll finally have the life I deserve." Teddy's body then lit up in that same purple shade as before. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay any longer. The guys are expecting me now." He told her, preparing to fly away again.

"Okay... Until next time."

"...Yeah. Tell Patch that Stone's not done with her yet when she wakes up for me. And if she ever wants a rematch..."

"I will." Starlight answered, walking back to the girls herself.

"See ya." Teddy called, flying into the distance, a few wing feathers dropping off him, one landing on her head.

"Goodbye..." Starlight and the girls walked back into the school, before Starlight closed the door behind them, holding the blue feather, looking in the direction which he flew off into, and added "Ursa."