//------------------------------// // 5.Turbulence // Story: Locksmith // by QuartzScale //------------------------------// The doctor, Trotting, or whatever his name was came back with that Nurse, Adrenal I think her name was. After working through the boring paperwork they came to the hardest question I ever had to answer. “Would you mind explaining what your cutie mark means?” Now if I was actually a pony this would be easy to answer. Since I wasn’t I instantly let my mind race through dozens of explanations. I looked down with a smile, as forced as it was, and explained exactly what I wanted it to mean in the first place. If nothing at least I have a decent working imagination. “Well when I was young I found a meteorite falling down from the heavens and landing nearby. Suffice it to say, I was mischievous and immediately ran off to find it. After finding it I actually found the mineral composition of the remains from the impact. It was a mixture of copper, nickel and some other minerals. That’s when the mark appeared and took the shape it has right now.” “Don’t we all have a story like that. Thanks I’ll add the mark to the archives but for now you are fine. It’s the afternoon right now but you are free to leave.” I didn’t waste much time and trotted leisurely through the halls towards Raindrops who was reading the front cover of the newspaper. “Something wrong?” “Hm… Oh right. It’s, well something happened her in the city. Seems like somepony was dragged into the sewers and… Well something happened to them. They didn’t find the body though.” I went wide eyed at the news. Hopefully the blood wasn’t going to be tracked back to me. Still I endeavored not to let it appear to bother me… and failed miserably at it. “Y-y-yeah. That sound bad.” “Oh don’t worry about that. The guards are pretty well trained out here in Baltimare. Now if this were Canterlot I would be worried. Too many recruits in that area and most of them are kind of green.” I merely nodded as she began to trot outside the hospital. I kept quiet throughout our conversation. Even as we both flew off I kept my ears open for all the details she was speaking to me. After arriving in the small cloud building used as the weather factory’s Baltimare section I was introduced to the pony in charge. Unlike most jobs I had back on Earth there wasn’t really an interview. They needed help desperately for a late night worker. While I was only a temp it would pay somewhere around 200 bits for the three nights they wanted me to stay. There was also talk about a Summer Sun Celebration occurring in five days. There weren’t any contracts to sign and I began that very day. So far I was on my second day there and managed to at least have a slight lead in what I was going to do. I needed to travel to where the Summer Sun Celebration was and see if I can help without fucking up canon. My niece had made me watch a lot of the finales and openings because she liked the grand stories. I never will know where the hell she got that adventurous spirit because it sure as hell wasn’t from my sister-in-law. The first night was uneventful and I only had Raindrops chaperone me for two hours. Luckily after the storm finished I only had to move a few cloud out of the city. The first time I moved clouds I think I almost shouted obscenity after obscenity because it was an affront to established physics. Instead I bit my tongue and kept it shut. When morning came I received eighty bits. While I wasn’t one to question it I knew something was up. I was an unofficial worker and I’m pretty sure that they were paying me under the table. The reason I knew this was what they were doing also made it pretty obvious. The boss, whose name escapes me, left a bag of bits underneath the table where we discussed things. I wasn’t insulted about it though. When I asked him about it he got a bit scared for some reason. When I explained that I found it funny he gave off a forced laugh and shakily agreed with me. Regardless I went shopping that day gathering a saddlebag for about thirty bits. I don’t know if I was ripped off but the unicorn that showed me it, named Sassy Saddles I think, said it matched my coat really well. It was a slate gray bag and seemed to be camouflaged against my coat, Reluctantly I bought it and made sure it was equipped. Afterwards I went and gathered some food. Anything hay related was actually good to eat. As were the flowers that sometimes adorned the dishes I tried. I gorged myself on a moderate amount spending another ten bits for the meal. I found a small cloud to sleep on wanting to save the rest of my bits for something else and waited for my shift to begin. Everytime my eyes closed though I felt something dark watching me. Every once in awhile I even caught the shine of a blue reptilian eye staring at me from the shadows. I think that I had seen that eye in the season one opening episode but the name escaped me. It was watching me. I was deeply unsettled but slept anyways. While on the cloud I summoned my keyblade far from the prying eyes of the ponies below and examined it more closely. It looked exactly like the blade from the game but I couldn’t tell if it was real or not. A thought crossed my mind every single time I had swung my blade that night. Did God create a world that was specifically created to cater to our whims? A lot of people had been dragged away in the name of salvation but they ended up fighting. I would like to meet at least one of them just to figure out whether or not they are trustworthy though knowing my luck they’re probably all battle crazy and I have no way to keep up with the skills they probably negotiated for. I know how to use a keyblade but that doesn’t mean I know how to use it effectively. “This sucks… And it’s time for work…” I didn’t sleep. I wasn’t tired strangely enough as I put my keyblade away and looked around cautiously hoping no one saw the flash of light. I think a few ponies did look up at the cloud but most kept trotting along ignoring me… for the most part. Whenever I flew I always noticed a few mares, almost all pegasi, would stare at my wings. I don’t know whether to find this flattering or not mostly because aesthetics of beauty escape me in this world. I can understand staring at their flanks but most of the time that seems to be used to show off cutie marks instead so what it means escapes me entirely. The second night was just as boring. After several hours I nearly had fallen asleep. That was until I hear this weird pinging sound. I ducked instinctively from my experience with my cousin and his penchant for tossing water balloons at the back of my head a few times. A small energy projectile flew past my head. Looking behind me I saw heartless floating behind me with a sharp grin on their faces. Somehow ten of these heartless had snuck up behind me. They were all bat shaped and I felt they were familiar. The only problem with the familiarity was that these particular heartless only appeared in the final battle with Ansem in the first game. I think they were called Bit Snipers. They each tried to target me but I had gotten much better at flying at this point. “And it only took two aneurysms and a seizure to figure it out right…” Summoning my keyblade I swung at the closest enemy smacking it into another one. They answered the strike with several of their own shots forcing me to dive down and avoid them. I wasn’t exactly skilled in combat yet but I did know how to dodge well enough. The constant barrage should have alerted the town but something was off. When I was about to fly off to regroup I hit an invisible wall. Something was keeping me trapped with the heartless while not allowing anyone to see within. “Crap... ” I shook my head and charged back at the bit snipers smacking whomever was in range. Within that flurry of blows I had managed to get rid of seven of them. The trade off was that I was blasted with the energy beams a couple times. I could literally feel my health bar beeping that I was about to die. I’m pretty sure I was also bleeding even if I couldn’t see it. Part of me belligerently didn’t want to cast cure on myself mostly due to the enemy still trying to shoot me. Instead I flew off to one of the edges of the invisible sphere that surrounded us and managed to use the spell. I think it worked cause I didn’t feel like I was losing blood anymore. Instead I felt my MP bar was empty at this point and slowly started to recharge. “Seriously, I have game mechanics detailing my life. What the hell was I thinking before I technically died. Someone is going to pay for this stupidity… It’s gonna be me I just know it.” I charged back at the three bit snipers left and took great pleasure at watching them disperse. Before I hit the last one I led it back towards the cloud I had been sitting on during my shift and destroyed it in one swing. Nopony down below had seen what had happened… hopefully. Whoever was messing with me wanted that to be the case and went to great lengths to make it be that way. As I looked over my keyblade I cast another dose of cure on me just to make sure I didn’t miss any parts. God knows it would be difficult to explain why I had burn wounds on my body and the lack of reaction on my part. I looked at where I was hit and couldn’t see what was wrong with my body in any way, shape, or form. I also felt strange… well stranger than usual. Though for some reason it felt real good. “Did I just level up… Oh shit I think I did!” I instantly covered my mouth and mentally cheered for myself. While in a good mood I did look down on my weapon and note that I still didn’t know how to use the other ones I had received. As if on cue the keyblade glowed and disappeared. In its place was a book. It was one I recognized as Zexion’s weapon. I don’t think I could furrow my brow any harder as it was at that moment. The first weapon I received and it's the one that oozes with darkness. If I still had internet I’m pretty sure this would go on the FML meme page. Regardless I opened the book and noticed what it actually did. The Lexicon, as it was called, was created to hold a multitude of information for use in the organization to coordinate with the members that stayed in the World that Never Was and those at Castle Oblivion. “Well at least this could act as my journal like Jiminy’s did for Sora.” I looked at the character section and noted that all the pictures were 3D models and moved as a looped gif. I could even rotate the image. I didn’t though. There were even little blurbs about the ponies I met. The doctor, nurse, and mage specialists though were very sparse probably because I didn’t listen to what they did for a living. When I came to Raindrops though it was a bit more substantial. Sunshower Raindrops Pony in the Ponyville Weather Patrol. This mare is usually on loan for moving services and the Baltimare chain of the Weather Patrol. Has a tendency to rain on others parade when work needs to be finished but her sunny disposition makes it all in good fun. Is a bit clumsy but manages to work through that. “Well that was informative… I guess.” The section of the heartless was not as expansive either giving a small blurb on what they were and what they could do. The only interesting part was that they gave me numbers on how many I destroyed. Five shadows and ten bit snipers were on my kill scorecard I suppose. At least now I knew how to access my other weapons. Each was tied into the keyblade in some form. It was just like that one armor who managed to turn his keyblade into a bow and arrow set and a giant space laser cannon. I quickly switched between the two just to get a feel for it and managed to keep it as subtle as possible. After another two hours of waiting I was relieved of duty and allowed time to myself. The boss was pleased that I did so well watching for any wild weather and he handed me sixty more bits for staying awake for so long. I didn’t tell anypony that I did absolutely nothing that night for the weather and went back to the cloud I found and slept. The third night was more of the same. Strangely I wasn’t attacked again but I kept watching the skies for any other strike. Whoever targeted me was taking care to attack whenever I was alone. They were doing it for a reason but for the life of me I didn’t know why. Even if I have a keyblade, had they left me alone I wouldn’t have done anything to stop them because I literally knew nothing about what their plans were. My knowledge of Equestria was small and lacking. Something I plan to figure out later. As the dawn soon arose again I felt the same pointed stare coming from the shadows and it was still as unsettling as it had been the night before. Sunshower came to get me that morning and after a lengthy discussion with the boss I was recommended to stay on because of my fortitude as they called it. I call it me not being a lazy pony and staying awake throughout the night. I politely declined due to some pressing matters of continuing my journey. The boss was frantic but the stallion who had been shirking his duties finally showed up. While they ‘discussed’ his continued employment I left with Sunshower to avoid the yelling… ‘aggressive negotiations’. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay on call here? Being a weather manager actually pays a lot if you actually do the work. And it’s clear you can do the job.” “Sorry. There’s still a lot of the world left to see and it wasn’t that great of a start if I was admitted to the hospital on my first week out.” “I suppose… Hey I got to get back to my own home. I actually live in Ponyville. If you ever stop by make sure to look me up.” Before I could respond she kissed my cheek and playfully giggled before flying off. I didn’t know what to make of it so my first stop before I fall asleep is the library. I’m pretty sure it was probably because of a pegasi thing for wings. Groaning, I left to find whatever counts as a library here. If nothing I’m gonna at least get a map of Equestria. Several guards had gone down into the sewers and hadn’t reported back. Steel Front was the lead investigator and traveled down below to find his men. It had been a long day of few clues and no leads. As he made his way towards the sluice gate a small shadow jumped onto his back followed by several more. Eventually all that was left was a floating heart emblem. The first shadow to pounce greedily absorbed it transforming into a Soldier shadow. It was a start. The alicorn shadow chuckled as her reptilian eyes settled on the remaining guards who were still fighting. Soon enough she would have a much better force behind her.