//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Chaos in the Gears // by LucidTech //------------------------------// Dex walked slowly over the ground towards the small town of Shire. His instincts shouted at him to run quickly, but his mind reminded him of the rumors and that caution was of utmost importance. It had been said that a creature of unknown origin had taken up residence and sent fear into the residents. The people had run a whole day to inform the princess, speaking of a two-legged creature that stood eight feet tall and ate incomprehensible amounts of food as fast as it could get ahold of it. Beside the human knight, Sir Dex of the Solar Guard, were his two most trusted companions: Stone, lieutenant of the Canterlot castle guards, and Panacea, head nurse of Canterlot Hospital. They had crossed the border of the town a moment ago and met no response from whatever had struck fear into the population, but the trained adventurers were still on their guard for any attacks that might come from the shadows. All their caution was for not though, as they quickly reached the center of town and saw no possible attackers. Relaxing a bit, Dex let his grip on the ever-sharp katana slacken slightly. “Boy, what are you doing? We are in enemy territory, get that blade up!” Stone reprimanded as the human stood from his prepared fighting stance, letting his gaze drift over the individual roads. “Something feels... familiar...” was all that Dex could offer in response, trying to pinpoint the origin of this odd impression on his senses. “What do you mean Dex, familiar how?” That was Panacea, always curious. “I’m not.. quite.. sure..” Dex said as he turned to face a nearby building. The building was simple enough, its doors bearing a familiar image of a foaming cup as Dex recognized it as one of the bars he had been to when he had been here last. The human lifted his katana once again and walked carefully toward the bar door. With a nod to his companions, the human kicked the door open and immediately took a defensive position over the threshold. Sitting at one of the tables, directly in front of the door, was the creature that had been reported, devouring all the various foods he could get his hands on. “Hey, whatever you are! By order of Princess Celestia, I am here to arrest you for terrorizing this town. I ask that you give up now.” At Dex’s words, the creature stopped eating and put his hands in the air. The act triggered something in the back of Dex’s mind, but he shook it off so he could pay full attention to the being. Without warning, a chair was soon flying through the air, practically whistling as it sped toward the knight. This left Dex just enough time to bring his arms in front of himself to block the projectile. The wood splintered across his arms and Dex opened his eyes to see the biped suddenly planting a single hand onto the intersection of the knight’s crossed arms. The knight tried to break the hold, but found the grip of the right hand of the being to be insanely strong. Both bipeds stood at a stalemate; Dex was locked in position in the doorway with both his companions standing outside. He was prevented from moving into the building any further by the compression on his arms and if he tried to step back, well, Dex knew he would soon find himself airborne and flying back much farther than he wanted to. Despite the situation the knight couldn’t help but wonder why the creature didn’t just use his left arm to finish the fight if his right was this strong. As his gaze looked to the biped’s arm, Dex noticed that, thanks to some light leaking in through the wooden walls, it was a silver coat the creature was wearing. Remembering his training with Stone, Dex let his vision drift away from the singular act of watching the creature’s hand and witness what he was doing with the other. It came as quite a surprise to the human to find that this mysterious creature, who Dex now noticed stood only a little taller than himself, was actually quaffing a glass of apple cider as he kept the solar knight pinned. Dex discarded the height discrepancy as wild hearsay from terrified civilians and focused once more on the biped. With an inhale, the being stopped his guzzling and moved the drink, which had been obscuring his head, away from his face to see who had come to attack him. Drink promptly shot out his nose and sprayed lightly over Dex as surprise shot across the being’s face. Both stopped struggling with each other for a moment as they looked at one another in silence. Then, in unison, both bipeds shouted “A HUMAN?!” Dex, thanks to his combat training, was the first to recover from the shock and promptly lunged forward with as much strength as he could muster. The being was caught off guard by the sudden move and found himself flying backwards away from the doorway. The being tumbled head over heels backwards until he crashed into a table, leaving the table sideways and the biped slouched over the wooden furniture with the remainder of his drink soaking his silver coat. After a moment, the biped stood from his prone position to see Dex step fully into the building, allowing Stone and Panacea to enter as well. With a manic grin, the creature turned and quickly righted the table before sitting down. “I really do hate battles, all this needless fighting.” The biped shrugged as he looked depressedly into the empty tankard. “What say you we just have a few drinks to lighten the mood. Tell ya what, I’ll even answer any questions you have while we’re at it. How does that sound?” The creature raised his gaze and smiled at the trio before reaching down next to his chair and placed a small keg on the table, a tap already in the side. Dex warily sized up the other human before righting one of the various chairs that were scattered about the bar and placed it directly across the table from the man. Even if the creature suddenly decided to attack, Dex figured that, between him and his two friends, they could easily subdue the other creature if need be. “Pour me a drink then,” Dex said, slightly relaxing when the man did so and handed a tankard across the table to him. After a few sips the knight found it to be alcoholic in nature and was even more impressed by the lack of inebriation by the human opposite him, especially given the empty, scattered casks laying about the bar. “You drink like an Irishman.” Dex said with a grin. “I’m Dex.” The end was phrased in hopes to try and get the man across the table to say his own name; that hope was quickly discarded. “Pleasure to meet you, Dex,” The man said with a grin, toying with the other man’s patience as he retrieved a tankard from the debris of the bar floor. In short order, Stone received his own drink, never letting his gaze leave the human, even as he began to sip the cider. Panacea had declined the drink offered her; however, in response, the silver-coated man shrugged and quaffed the entire tankard easily before nonchalantly refilling his own and taking a few sips. Silence fell on the bar as Dex phrased the questions in his head and Stone started a staring contest with the other human. “Alright, first question,” Dex said after the matter of the drinks had been handled. “Fire away,” the man replied as he took a drink, breaking eye contact with Stone as he did so. “What’s your name, boy?” This interruption came from Stone in the form of a growl and the mysterious man in the silver coat raised his eyebrow at the pony. “Boy? I daresay I’m older then you.” “I doubt it.” “One hundred and thirty years, what you got?” “You’re lying...” “Am I?” The two fell into another staring contest, the air turning tense as they glared. Eventually, it was broken by a casual statement by Dex. “Just answer the question, Stone just calls everyone ‘boy.’” Dex paused briefly to look at Stone out of the corner of his eye. “Though he never told me why...” “Inventor, of - Oh, I guess that won’t mean anything here. Just.. Inventor.” “Of Earth?” “Of what was left of it.” “Left of it? What happened to my home?” Dex was assailed by memories of his family and friends from before he came to Equestria, a tight knot forming in his stomach. “It ended with a lot of nuclear armageddon. Now look, don’t get all teary eyed on me alright? Jumping dimensions is impossible without also jumping timestreams. Unless you have something to anchor you to the time you came from, when you go back you could be centuries off either way. I think. Depends on how magic contributes into the theorem of dimension jumping...” “Meaning?” “Meaning, it could be what happened to earth counteless millennia before you came here, it could be happening right now, or it could be in the very distant future.” “What year... what year was it?” “Spoilers.” Inventor said grimly. “You can’t just tell me that the world is going to end and then not tell me when. My loved ones could be dying right now!” “THEN I GUESS WE’RE IN THE SAME BOAT AREN’T WE!?” Silence reigned as Inventor dropped his gaze to the cider in front of him and took another drink. “Doesn’t matter anyway, since I can’t return,” Dex said soberly as he took another drink from the tankard. “J-Just tell me what you’re doing here. Princess Celestia ordered me to apprehend you.” “Ooooh, this is something that the princess will want to hear first hand, er hoof, whatever. What say you we go on a trip to Canterlot, hmm?” Inventor said as his insane grin graced his face once more. “That was the plan, but leaving you free doesn’t sound very safe, given that you almost overpowered me with one arm. I would rather we restrain you, in order to ensure you don’t do anything deadly while we’re on the road.” “Alright, I’ll take the deal. It’s too bad though, the chances of a changeling showing up for a second time to free me is probably very unlikely.” Dex returned a raised eyebrow at the statement and glanced around the bar for something to bind the man’s hands. Not seeing anything of use, the knight turned to Stone with a shrug. The guard sighed and pulled a pair of chiseled-rock handcuffs from his saddlebags. They were a bit larger than human handcuffs, but they still fit securely around the man’s wrists. It was at this point that Panacea spoke up, “Boys, if you’d like I can cast a sedative spell, for extra security, if you’d like.” “I’d rather stay awake and undrugged, if you please,” Inventor said with a glance to the nurse. Dex pondered over the security of letting the man stay awake, then slowly nodded. “But keep that sedative spell ready, just in case.” “If he keeps drinking like that, I don’t think we’ll need it.” Dex turned to the side to see Inventor currently drinking the remainder of the keg that he had placed on the table. Dex could only watch in amazement as the man placed the keg back on the table and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Alright then, let’s go.” The man said, a slight slur leaking into his words. “Wait wait, how did you do that and not die?” “I’m superman!” The man said with a manic grin as he posed, his right arm jutting into the air diagonally. “Right...” Dex said, turning away from the madman and leaning towards Stone. “Remind me to never pick up his tab, ever.” “Don’t worry boy, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”