Um, hello. I don't even know who I'm talking to but, if you're listening to me, hi. Wait, didn't I say hi before? Um... yeah... well, I'll present myself to you. My full name is Walter Theodore Waters but you can call me W. I am a 21-year-old guy that was born in Maretreal... the best city in Equestria and the whole world, baby! If you want to know more facts about me, I have brown hair, yellow skin, and at the moment I'm wearing some dirty jeans, black shoes and my beloved brown trenchcoat that belonged to my father. Oh, and I am also a gangster. Yes, you heard it right, I am a gangster. Let me tell you a story.
When I was 6 months old, my parents died in an assault in a little city called Wayneville. Since that day, I moved along with my elder brother, William, to an orphanage, where the Bluebloods, the family of Mortimer Blueblood, Canterlot's Governor, adopted my brother weeks later. I stayed in that orphanage until the day of my tenth birthday because of three guys who committed a heist... only to get me. That same day, I found out my parents were big guys in my town. My father almost controlled all of the streets of Maretreal until an unknown rival killed him and my mother. Those three guys who rescued me from the orphanage turned into my family, and their names are Jack, Abe, and Eye Patch.
Since the moment I knew my parents were murdered, I wanted to avenge them...I wanted to become a gangster. They taught me how to be a mafia man since that day, and now, I am a Maretreal fish (or maybe I could say, shark), eating any kind of prey that comes across me. I also want you to know that me and my buddies can do any kind of thing: heists against the biggest corporations, good ol' drug-dealing and also we can be hitmen (only if you pay because if you don't give us the money for what we do, you'll be next).
Now, I'm at a Maretreal party, the best thing ever. You look around with your red eyes filled with weed, and you can be in front of a naked lady or a bucket full of champagne. Crazy drugs may appear in the middle, like cocaine, fentanyl and my good old teenage friend, my boy LSD. I know this is something horrible for me, because I had had an overdose years ago, and I almost died. Jack and Abe want me to leave drugs, but the truth here is that I already left drugs, but they can't leave me because I'm a fucking drug dealer... Wait, does the thing I said make sense? Um... Come on.
It was almost 3 A.M. and a blonde girl with a nice dress appeared in front of me, she wanted me. She's almost on fire.
"Hello," she says. When I hear her voice, I instantly know she's drunker than ever. I only answer her with a smile. She looks at me with her dilated eyes. "Can I sit next to you, please?" she asks.
"Yes, of course," I answer.
She sits on the same sofa I am staying on right now. We are now together watching the colourful lights that are in the house along with the men and women inside it. Everyone is in their own world with rules. Lots of them are drunk, drugged or have already passed out. Other ones are junkies that want money to get something to eat for tomorrow, and the only option that they have is selling ecstasy. God, I hate those pills. "What do you think about this?" she asks me.
I laugh at her. What can I say about this party? I'm happy by now. I'm high and also drunk. I've lost count of how many shots of tequila I consumed. "Oh man, I'm starting to feel like shit..." I say, and I leave the party.
I'm now outside the house. It's cold, windy, almost foggy, a normal night in Maretreal. The only thing that remains is the typical group of junkies sharing their joint I'm gonna tell you about Maretree's junkies: There are only two types of them, good ones and bad ones. The good ones always stay inside a park all night and smoke their joints. The bad ones are different, they attack.
"Yo." I hear. His voice... it feels like he's in a hurry... I instantly know he's a bad junkie.
"What you want?" I tell him, in a very smooth voice. I feel bad as if I'm passing out. The man does not answer, and I know why. Jack's behind him.
Let me present to you... Mr Jack!!! Also known as Grumpy Old Man or the Cutie Inkless Pen. My best friend in this business. He's a blue-skinned 44-year-old guy who survived a lot of misfortunes during his life, such as his father's death or the fact he hasn't got laid since the 2000s. He can be thick as a brick sometimes, but he's a good friend that can hide all of your secrets. Besides, he has a pretty neat circle beard! Man, that's so cool! I wish I could have one, but my facial hair is almost invisible. "Hey, buddy," he says to the junkie. "Here you have." Jacky gives him a hundred bucks. The man looks at him, smiles while grabbing the money and runs away from there. "Great. You are so sane right now, W. Congratulations," I hear from Jack, while he starts laughing. You know what, buddy? I think... um... screw you.
"Jack, I need... I need... an antacid." He gives me one and carries me into a car, where is also my friend Abe. Or I could say... my superior Abe? I don't know how to say it.
Abe is different to me. He's a light, blue-skinned man in his fifties (or maybe sixties, no idea). He's tough, scary, has a cool orange moustache, and now, that Ron's on holidays, he is my boss. He's a tough grandpa with two granddaughters! One of them is Rarity, some kind of fashionista and then there is that other little girl who I don't remember her name. Maybe it is Sweetie Belle or something like that... Well, never mind. I'd like to add another thing here: Both girls were born in Canterlot, a city full of greedy, mean, selfish and idiotic people. It is not necessary to tell you that I hate Canterlot. Viva Maretreal, baby!
Um... well, let's go to another topic. No, really. I need to listen to some music, dude. I'm about to pass out and I seriously need to calm myself down. I'd better listen to the Travellers, that awesome and relaxing band from Manehattan.
"Jack, what do you think about our deal?" says Abe. He remains silent for a few seconds.
"Good," he answers. "The only problem here is... W." Oh... Despite the fact I'm drunk, I can hear them and understand what they are saying. I'm inside that deal, and if they say I am a problem there... that doesn't mean anything nice.
"Hey... W," says Abe to me. He's giving me that weird smile and I don't like that because I recognize it. Every time Abe gave me that smile I had a hectic time after. I know that the deal is not gonna be something I love to do. "I'm going to send you somewhere."
"Um... where?" I ask. I think they will send me to Klugetown, that shithole which is the poorest city of Equestria, to look for some drugs. You know my boss Eye Patch lived there for a while? Yeah, when he was young! And people in Klugetown know him! Now thank me for being your trivia.
"You'll go to a place you hate. A lot." A lot? Oh, I know what you mean, Abe... damn. "I'll send you both to Canterlot."
NO! Come on, kid, do the facepalm.
Why, Abe, why? What did I do to you? I release that long and disappointed sigh. Come on, Abe! Canterlot? The toxicity of that place is worse than any other city inside Equestria. Hell yeah, I even remember the first time I went to Canterlot. I was only 16 years old with the stupid illusion of passing by the best city of all Equestria but once I got out of there, I learned it was just a pathetic city full of rich kids.
"And I'll tell you why: My granddaughters were threatened by the Penknife Brothers. Looks like those damned sons of a bitch don't know how to deal with people without going for the innocent. I talked a bit with Principal Celestia a week ago about this problem."
Well, from my point of view, we have two bad things in that sentence.
First, the words Principal and Celestia. That's related to Canterlot High, as known as Canterlot's Butt (I called it like that... do you like it?). A school whose rooms are filled with the city's waste. What I mean with waste? I'm talking about those students who have that huge amount of Canterlot's greed and lust. Then we the second bad thing there, which is the word Penknife. Uh... those stupid Penknife Brothers, three weirdos that like to sell guns illegally in the black market. It looks like Abe didn't pay them what he had to pay and now I have to save their little granddaughters along with Jack. Of course, leave young W in the mud!
"The only thing I want you to do is to take care of my granddaughters. I know that you, W, are not the best babysitter in the world, but getting you out of Maretreal would be a big advantage for me."
Oh yeah, I love babysitting kindergarten children, Abe! I have a mother inside me, I have a degree in it! Wait, is that Sweetie girl something in kinder or not? Bruh, never mind. The important thing here is that now it's 3:15 AM and we are going to Canterlot while I'm listening to some jams. I begin to feel sober now and I'm not even complaining about my hunger. Thank Star Swirl the Bearded.
"Turn that junkie music down, W. You are making me crazy," says Abe. I want to answer him I won't but... no. I shouldn't. I turn off my phone.
I close my eyes and...
"Wake up. We arrived."
Wait, what? Did I fall asleep? What? Uh... Shit... I feel worse than before. I thought a little nap would fix me, but it didn't! I get out of the car and I look at two women. Oh, gosh, here we go. Principal Celestia and her sister Luna. I don't have many things to say about them... they are just... them.
Abe starts talking: "Principal and Vice-Principal, now that we have already talked about this problem that makes me sick... let me bring you some context. These men, friends of mine, will be only keeping an eye on my granddaughters. They will be at your orders so don't worry... and also don't worry about the boy," he says, pointing at me. "He's just had a long night like every stupid boy at his age."
Yeah, here we go again. I feel bad Abe, but that doesn't mean I can't hear you!
Well, after a long trip of not listening to anything that had been said at that time, I ended up taking a nap along with Jack in the janitor's room. They also told me that the janitor was on holiday. Yeah, you heard it: Janitor on holidays. Ha, ha. Now I'm the new one?
"Wake up, W. It's almost 10 A.M." says a voice. It's Jack, holding a coffee from the cafeteria, I think.
No, please.
I pinch myself to check if this is a nightmare, but nothing happens. It's real. I'm in Canterlot High. I can't even believe it, because it happened so fast... Yesterday, I was in a tubular (my apologies for saying that word) party, and now... Come on. I'm inside this? Really?
The first thing I do is get up of my mattress, which was very comfy, I admit. I don't remember anything from yesterday... not even what Abe said to the principals. Did they actually let us in? I look at myself on my old phone's screen, and I realize that my hair is completely messed up and my face is notorious for its massive eye bags. I try to wake myself up by stealing Jack's coffee and drinking it. He discovers me and punches me in the shoulder.
"How many times are you going to steal my coffee?" he says, angrily. "Now go to the cafeteria and look for another one!"
Well, at least that thing woke me up a little bit. I get out of the room and I look around inside a hallway full of teenage students. Please, no... PLEASE, NO.
Once I put one of my feet in that hallway everyone looked at my face. Holy moly, mom, I'm famous! Like Sapphire Shores! I go to the cafeteria to look for some coffee and I hear things about me. Is he a new student? Is he a professor? When am I going to listen Is he the guy who invented the vodkapple cider cocktail?
I enter the cafeteria and I find her.
I come across Rarity.
She looks at me and recognizes my face, something that makes her angry. I saw her several times in my life and everytime we crossed paths we didn't like each other. I am in the street, and she is in a dress (does that comparison even make sense?). He's along with a big, red-skinned guy with blonde hair who is wearing a red t-shirt and some jeans that look like they were made in 1969. Man, who in the hell is still wearing elephant-leg jeans? Update your mind, man! However, there's something that calls my attention here: looks like everyone inside the cafeteria is scared while looking at him. Who in the hell is that guy? A bully? God?
"You? What are you doing here?" asks Rarity to me.
"Hey, Rarity... Rarity, right?" I only say while raising a thumb like a child. "Good morning."
Rarity growls. "Ok, hello... um... what did my grandpa used to call you?"
Doesn't remember, oh no!! "Call me W," I say while nodding my head. "Or Photo Finish."
She only raises her shoulders. "What are you doing here?"
"I came here to take care of your booty," I say with a wide smile, trying not to defenestrate myself and escape from this hell.
The guy with the red t-shirt interrupts my conversation.
"Hey, you moron. You are talking to a lady."
His voice is rough and he also has a weird accent. And he told me... moron? I have to reply.
"I know... moron."
The weird guy next to Rarity exhales air from his nose as if he were a bull. Wait... what if he's a bull?
Oh! He grabs my trenchcoat. He's strong, pretty strong for a high school teen. "Listen to me, you babyface," he threatens me. "I'm the man who controls all this school so, don't piss me off or you'll pay... And I'll repeat you because you seem to don't understand... I am the man inside this school."
Wait, what? What the hell has just happened?
Did this guy tell me... that he's the MAN?
"What are you talking about?" is the first thing I tell him while drawing a smile on my face. "The man? You mean... the man in this school?" I shake my head and look at Rarity. "See, Rarity? This is why I don't like Canterlot. Look, in my city, Maretreal, when you say you are the man... it means you are a man. You are a high school teenager, dude, and from what I see... those elephant-leg pants really make you look like a stripper."
Some students who were listening to us in the middle of the cafeteria chaos laughed at my commentary but the red guy turned around and shut their mouths with his eyes. He has power and I can see it "Oh no, not again," says Rarity and she approaches me while raising one finger like the fashionista she is. "Last time we saw each other, which was a long time ago, you spent the whole time trash-talking about my town... and I didn't say anything about yours!" Come on! Maretreal is not that bad! It may be full of drugs and hitmen, but... it's a beautiful place!
"So... you are a trash-talker." Now the weird red dude whose name I still don't know takes his turn to spit on my face. "I don't give a damn about what you say but... let me present myself, dude... my name is Cattle Prod." Nice to meet you, Cattle Prod. He stretches his hand but I don't do the same. "Do you know who my uncle is? People call him Bloodswan."
... Oh no. What I was fearing all this time has come true. I'm getting scared in front of a stupid high school teenager. Son of a bitch.
Oh, shit. Bloodswan? Do you mean the real Bloodswan in flesh and bones?
I've never seen Bloodswan in real life but listen... if there's something I know about that madman, is that he's the ruler of Equestria... I mean, if I have to say who is the man of Equestria right now my answer will be him. He can control this whole country with just a finger snap... My younger self would say he was like the president of the gangsters. Abe and Jack always told me that people described him as an intelligent and ruthless psychopath who could destroy everything he wanted... even his own family.
"No shit." My back feels cold while looking at that boy. I can't see myself scared of him! I can't lose! "You are lying. You are not his freaking nephew."
Rarity raises an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"Wait a minute, Rarity... can you leave us alone for a minute?" he only tells her and then looks at me, chuckling like the devil.
She only raises an eyebrow. "Why, Cattle Prod? I mean, he's annoying but... he's not a threatening guy---"
Oh, thanks. Another one on my list: annoying. "Trust me," replies Cattle Prod and she leaves while rolling her eyes. We are now face to face while Rarity observes us from a distance (actually, sitting next to a table) "Are you sure you want to find out, dude? You wanna meet my uncle?"
"You've got to be lying, you sack of... sack." No, my words are trembling! "Everyone can say that... and if you say that Bloodswan is your uncle... tell me his brother's..."
"Chill Breeze." He interrupts me with what I know. What I thought he wouldn't know. He chuckles and nods his head. No, no. "Chill Breeze was my father, asshole. Did you think I didn't know my father's real name?"
This cannot be true. I am not talking to late gangster Chill Breeze's evolved sperm. When I was a child, that guy was one of the toughest along with his younger brother Bloodswan until he died in a gunfire in Manehattan, being what he always was... a mobster.
"This cannot be true," I only say. I'm appalled, defeated. "You can't be the son of Chill Breeze, I thought Sharp Baton was the only child of..."
"You thought, you thought..." he puts his arms on my shoulders. HE'S PUTTING HIS ARMS ON MY FREAKING SHOULDERS... if he was a normal dude I would have already put him inside a trashcan... but I can't. His eyes are telling me the truth. "You thought you were better than me when you passed by the door... but listen, Sharp Baton? He is also my older brother... and I am not as gentle as him so... I will give you a chance to turn around and leave Rarity alone."
"What do you have with Rarity, you son of a bitch?" I ask him, completely shocked. "Are you a friend of hers?"
He laughs at me and says: "I like her. She's hot." He puts a finger on his lips. "This is a secret, dude. Goodbye."
He offers me an insult that drives me mad: he softly claps a cheek of my face with my hand while smiling and leaves, getting nearer Rarity. I felt humiliated, destroyed. If that kid is Bloodswan's nephew... we are in fucking trouble, and when Abe finds out, oh no... I won't like that shit.
I begin to walk and my back is still shaking, so I take a deep breath and head to the place where coffee is served. I'm trying to forget it by asking for the coffee Jack told me he wanted, and when I do it, the old lady who works in there starts talking to me. "I saw you talking to Cattle Prod."
Shock comes again and crashes. "Cattle Prod?" I ask her, and suddenly, a young girl with rainbow hair, black pants, and a white t-shirt with a cloud and a rainbow appears next to me.
"You said that name?" says the rainbow girl while looking at me.
"Me, Rainbow Dash," says the lady from the cafeteria. "I saw this kid confronting Cattle Prod."
Oh, come on, I am not a kid. I'm already 21! This Rainbow Dash is now looking at me. "I hate Cattle Prod so much that I can't even see him... he's trying to flirt with my friend Rarity and I told her so many times to not listen to him but... she looks like she is also lost." She points at me while having a fiery look in her eyes. "And I looked at you for only two seconds... it's the first time I see someone doing that."
I nod my head. It surprises me the fact they are so surprised about it. Did somebody confront him face to face? That guy may be dangerous because he's Bloodswan's nephew but only people like me would understand that. Apart from this... he's just a stupid high school bully. I give them my opinion: "I don't understand something, is that guy a king in this place or what? People seem to be scared of him."
"He is an arrogant bully," says Rainbow Dash and she raises a finger. "Wait right here, please." Seconds later, Rainbow Dash brings a girl with purple hair and glasses who may be her friend. "Tell him, Twilight, what Cattle Prod did to you last week," says the rainbow girl.
The girl, Twilight, blushes in front of me. "Um... well, I unintentionally pushed him because... I tend to be distracted. He lifted me and told me that I shouldn't have done that... a-and Rainbow Dash came there to save me."
Rainbow Dash smiles at me. "Consider yourself lucky, Mister..."
"Call me W," I tell her.
"Well, consider yourself lucky, W!" You confronted Cattle Prod and you didn't finish your day with Nurse Redheart!"
Meanwhile, the old lady gives the coffee to me. I ask myself, what is Jack doing at the moment while I look at that boy again trying to flirt with Rarity but she looks like she is not even giving him any attention. Is she interested in him? "Hey, um... Rainbow Dash, right?"
She nods her head. "Yeah, what's up?"
"Are you sure your friend Rarity is interested in that Cattle Prod?"
I sit down in the janitor's room and I start thinking. Canterlot. A place I love and hate.
The city where I came across many things that were good, bad, and horrible. Being in this place only reminds me of two things. Two freaking things and I cannot stop thinking about them... the first one is my old and stupid (bold stupid) friend from Everton High School, Crescent Bunny, who tried to follow the same path as me and ended up in a body bag. All because he saw in me an image of his stupid little dreams. He had everything! A job, a degree... a great future ahead of him! He also had a girlfriend... the second thing I remember about this place. His girlfriend. I feel guilty about it. I will never forget the day I came across that beautiful woman: A lady I don't want to remember, but now that I am in Canterlot, I think of her all the time. She's here... come on, she works here.
"Jack, I have your coffee." says a familiar voice. It's W, what took him so long to bring me a damned cup of coffee?... but then I realize he doesn't seem like normal W. I grab that cup and instantly the bell rings. Lots of students get out of their classroom and I can see Rarity in the distance... but something's off. I see W and looks like he is not in a hangover, but shocked because of something else.
"What's going on?" I ask while drinking the cup and then I see a kid whose appearance stands out from above the rest of the students in that hall. I saw that kid somewhere but I don't remember anything... did I see him in a photo? Where?
"That motherfucker," says W, pointing a finger right to him. The students are not even watching us, they are watching that boy leaving the hall. "Listen... I was talking to Rarity in the cafeteria and he approached me. He told me he was the man in this school, and guess what..."
"What?" I say. "A bully? You... getting scared of a high school bully?"
"No, that fucker..." I hear fear and concern in his voice. "He told me he was Bloodswan's nephew."
Then I begin to remember. I saw that boy in a photograph. His red skin and clear hair stand out from everyone else... a little child next to his older brother and his late father, a tough businessman better known as Chill Breeze, who died almost two decades ago.
Chill Breeze was Bloodswan's older brother. Bloodswan is right now the man we fear the most. W has a point. "Bullshit," I say." I fastly close the door of the janitor's room and leave the cup on a table. My hand trembles out of nowhere. "This is... tell me he doesn't have anything to do with Rarity. At all."
"I asked that to a friend of hers," he answers while shaking his head. "It looks like... he has been trying to flirt with her several times... and she's slowly falling onto him despite the advice of her friends." Oh... this is great news. "However, another friend of hers, whose name was... um... Applejack, I think?... she told me she was doing that because she knows that if she gets along with Cattle Prod, then he will not harm her friends. I don't know."
I only shake my head. "Abe won't like this. This will fall on him like an anvil."
"Is he really Bloodswan's nephew, man? Tell me he's lying, Jack." He raises his shoulders and I don't know what to tell him. I still see in him that little kid I saved from homelessness. "If it is... I talked to the nephew of maybe the most powerful man in this country."
Suddenly this whole conversation gets interrupted and broken into pieces when four masked guys enter the room and close the door. From what I saw in that slow second that felt like an eternity, the portion of the hall I observed when these guys opened the door was empty. It felt like a desert. Half of that team lifts W and crashes him against the wall. I try to beat the other half up but they easily knock me out and trap me with his arms against the floor. I'm getting old... fuck my reflexes. If they do something to W, I swear I'm gonna kill them all.
"Listen, you sunshine!" says one of the masked guys to W, shouting at him while holding a small knife. "If I see you near Cattle Prod's lady again you are gonna pay!" Then he points at me. "He's gonna pay! Do you want to see him pay?"
"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOUR PAY!" shouts W. He is still not too talented at bargaining.
"Tell us you are not going to touch her!"
"I WON'T!" he replies and everything ends in a couple of seconds. One of the guys who trapped me punches me in the face and all of them leave. The last one grabs that cup of coffee of mine and spills it all over W, who lets out a small and compressed shout because it is still hot.
Goddamnit, this is the second cup of coffee I lose. They closed the door and I tried to chase them... but once I opened it they were gone. The hall is empty. There is no one there.
I close the door again and help W to stand up, saying nothing. He has been shaking his head since they left. "He told me he was the man, Jack," he says while looking at me with his stained trenchcoat filled with hot coffee. "Indeed, he fucking is."
I don't say anything... and I think again about my friend Crescent Bunny who died because he entered this world, just like me. Looks like we cannot escape from the mob. Never.
I've been waiting for this moment for almost an hour. I hate doing this because it makes me look as if I were a creep... but I have to. That motherfucker, Abe Flanks, has been mocking me and my brothers after that deal we made months ago. We won't tolerate anything else. Anything. We are the fucking Penknife Brothers, for Star Swirl's sake... people have to be scared of us! We can't be marionettes, dumb assholes!
I hide in the bushes again, while all the little students are coming out of the school. No, I hate this... I want to look for the older one but I can't find her. I don't know where she is and I can't enter the school. My older brother told me not to. In the middle of that stampede, only one girl calls my attention: Abraham's granddaughter. I think her name was Sweetie Belle. She's my objective right now.
She seems to be playing Hide and Seek along with her friends, like a normal child. Unfortunately, that's a big advantage for me. I don't want to put a child between the sword and the wall... but business is business, and Abe Flanks has to know that for real.
I have everything under control, my behavior, even hers. Now, she starts running and approaches the bush I am hiding. I have to be fast because nobody has to see me. I text my brother to come to the school, I also tell him that I am ready.
She's near me. The car stops behind and I grab her leg. I am about to vomit but my other two brothers get out of the car and we grab her. She shouts, but we fastly cover her mouth with our hands. She can't do anything, I feel tears touching my hand while we get her inside the car... and that makes me sick. So fucking sick that I also want to cry... but I remind myself once again... business... is business, and Abe Flanks has to know that... for real.
This is for you, Abe, from the Penknife Brothers. You son of a bitch, I tell to myself. I get in the car and we accelerate.
To be continued...