//------------------------------// // Level 1: Random Encounters // Story: A New Game Plus on Equestria // by HB_DS2013 //------------------------------// Sometime later, I woke up to a bunch of unicorn cops in golden armor, aiming their spears at me. I blinked and waited until my vision cleared enough to see the red earth pony from earlier towering over me and standing in front of the guards. There were a lot of ponies in fancy dresses and suits staring at me as if I was a freakshow. I blinked once and saw ghosts of humans hovering above the ponies. I tried to move when the guard closest to me glared at me with his spear at my chest. Nope. I laid back down for a moment and waited for the female red pony- the red mare to talk. A 20th-century cash register was on her flank and her short mane was tied in a ponytail. Not sure how that works, but I won't question it. "Stay right where you are, b****. " I heard a harsh, male voice bark and looked up at the beep. I blinked and looked up at the guard. "What... the b*** did you say to me?" I growled out and opened up my prosthetic arm. Wait, I meant f***! Strange... "If you stand up, I will be forced to kill you where you stand, mutt." The guard yell-whimpered while he aimed his spear at my neck. "Wait!" The red mare cried out. "She hasn't done anything." A grey winged pony with gold armor and a blue plume stepped forward. He looked like a captain, so I'm calling him Capitan for now. Capitan glared at the red mare and motioned for her to stepped back a curt head motion. "Step aside, citizen." "This mutt," Capitan spat while he aimed his spear and continued, "is in a non-pony, non-wealthy section of Canterlot. For that crime, her punishment is death." Good to know racism still exists. At least if I die, I'm gonna die fighting. I looked around and noticed a bar stool at the edge of my right hindpaw. I did a quick look-over with my eye and noticed that I was surrounded by six hostile ponies- all of them burly types who clearly sound like they think with their crotches too much. I was gonna beat them all to a pulp, but I'm not like Reggie with her low-key masochism, love affairs for chairs, coffee obsession, and overall crazy-awesome self. I clenched my prosthetic arm and stretched out my fist toward the hostile guard near me and grabbed him by the neck. I heard him gurgle and quickly tossed him towards Capitan, then I kicked the stool near me and bashed it on the second guard's head before he can do anything. It broke into tiny shards, knocking him down for the count. Capitan yelled for his fellows to pin me down, so I wasn't having any of that. At this point, all the bystanders have evacuated the bar. The building I had crashed into had a lot of round tables and bar stools. It was also stocked with a truckload of booze. Shame I can't get a drink now. Also, there was an old pony playing the Cantina Band theme, but in rag-time music, so that was a thing. I smelled a sour and acrid smell- I let out a quick sigh and rolled out of their lunge, in time to raise my prosthetic claw. Light erupted from my palm and cracked with blue sparks. I rushed past the guards about to pin me down towards Capitan and hit his chest with a palm strike. Capitan twitched as the sparks danced all over his body and let out pained moans and fell with an undignified groan. I grabbed a random scroll from Capitan's pack, tossed it towards the other guards and shot at it with a stun-gun shot. The scroll burned and erupted into a harsh light. I pulled the red mare towards my body, tackled the door and ran out of what used to be a bar. The ragtime piano stopped and it was replaced by a jazz piano mixed with rap. It was loud, but then I remembered that it came from a chip from my temple that had a truckload of 21st-century songs. I held the red mare like a football as I looked up ahead- the bar was a block or two close to the gates. I heard random ponies scream and shouting something about a barrier. I dodged incoming merchants and barreled through a couple of earth pony guards. I ducked to avoid the horned- unicorn guards' spells and ran in a zig-zag motion to avoid the pegasus guards' dive bombs. "I'm jumping off a cliff. You'll have to trust me on this." I warned the pony in my grasp as I ran towards the barrier and tackled more guards out of the way. "WHAT!?" The red mare gaped. "We're gonna di-hi-hi-hi-eeeeee~" "Not much choice, I'm afraid. Hold on to me." I shook my head and growled as the barrier came into view. I lowered my stance, leaned forward and dug into the ground with my legs. I jumped and landed on my hindpaws, using my own body to propel myself and the pony forward. The barrier started to close faster. If I can keep my slide tackle long enough to reach the rails- without running into a train, I'd be home free. I ignored the guards behind me as I focused on the rapidly closing barrier. My feet passed the barrier. My chest and the red pony surpassed the barrier. I felt pressure from above and eventually, I smelled the fresh mountain air as the barrier whizzed behind the tips of my floppy ears. I stood up to see a train chugging along. It was pink and the cars looked like baked goods. I considered dropping the pony, but decided against it. I looked down at the cliffs, then at the advancing train, and jumped off the cliff much to the pony's protests. It was a long jump, but my newfound large paws helped me slow down my descent. By the time I reached the base of the mountain, I looked up and wiped the sweat from my matted forehead, then looked down to see that the red pony had passed out. I continued to carry the red pony until I entered a forest. I found an open glade and sat down. "BWAH!" The red mare yelled. "I had the strangest dream." She rubbed her head and mumbled. "What is?" I asked while I fed the corpse of a wooden wolf into the fire. "There was a diamond dog with a metal arm, and we had to run from the guards of the south side of Canterlot." The red mare let out heavy breaths and shuddered. "...That wasn't a dream. I'm that diamond dog with the metal arm." I pointed to myself and frowned. "I'm not eating you, if that's what you're thinking about. " "Oh, good." The red mare let out a sigh of relief and spun around. "Where's my coin bag?" "I didn't have time to come back for your money." I pursed my lips and frowned while flicking my floppy ears twice. "Sorry if I'm busy trying not to die." "Oh..." The red mare rolled her shoulders and looked up at me with a resigned sigh. "That's okay, um... I can always earn the money back. It's not much." "Sure it is. I'm beat from all the running around." I let out a large sigh and rolled into a ball. "Miss Diamond D-Dog?" "Yeah?" I asked with a furrowed brow. "I never got your name." "Wolf- wait, no." I looked up with a small smile. "Just call me Sassy Parilla. I'm tired now, so you can ask me tomorrow morning, yeah. " I heard a yawn from the red mare and closed my eyes after I heard owlsong... "You talked! In complete sentences." The red mare gaped as she looked up. I raised a paw and frowned. "I don't see how that's a big deal. That being said, why didn't you want me to defend myself?" The red mare frowned. "Only ponies with combat cutie marks can handle the guards, plus violence is wrong. Why would you want to hurt somepony?" "Ah, you're one of those... As I was saying," I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh. "My friend told me once that violence is not an answer- it's a question. And the question is always yes if you want to live." "The name's Sassy Parilla, but I'm also known as Wolfsbane." I nodded. "Wolfsbane? Like the poisonous flower?" The red mare frowned while she looked down and rubbed her chin with a hoof. "What about Sassy Parilla? It sounds nicer. How'd you get your name, Sassy?" "One of my great-grandparents was a pony. She came from a family that handled drinks." I shrugged my shoulders. "She's seen a lotta s*** in her younger years, and it's a wonder how she was able to remember it all. It's from her that I learned not to tolerate prejudice of any kind. Incidentally, my former employer's a bartender. " "R-right... Do you mind not speaking... that kind of language in front of me?" The red mare gulped. "As my friend would say... f*** no!" I stood to my full height and crossed my arms. "You'll never get anywhere in life by being spineless. You gotta stand up for yourself, uh..." I trailed off and paused while I rubbed my chin with a claw. "G-Goldie Register." Goldie Register piped up. "My ancestor's a griffin named Anna. I'd want to be a merchant like her one day."