Chapter 9
With a sharp intake of air, I sat up, sweating heavily. My eyes darted around, taking in the dark landscape and the flickering fire. Not too far away, Bronwyn glanced up from her computer; she didn’t say anything, just gave me a nod and went back to what she was doing. I wiped my hoof across my face, noticing Lance was sitting up as well and staring blankly into the flames.
“You alright?” I ask as I sit up, shaking the blanket off of myself.
“Are you?” He asked in turn, not looking away from the fire.
Sighing, I shrug, “Yeah, just got a lot of memories that like to pop up in dreams.”
“I get that,” he says with a sigh as he finally looks at me. “I’m thinking about what happened in your mind.”
I raise an eyebrow at him, the light from the fire dancing across his features, “About Greg?”
He kind of rolled his eyes at that, “No. About what you and Bronwyn said to me, and how I acted in there.”
“Ah,” I lean back on my haunches, using a wing to rub my chin. “You acted like a teenager.”
Nodding in response, he sighed, “I’ve always been like that. I just never feel like an adult, know what I mean?” I only shook my head in response. “Oh. I don’t know what it is, I just like doing what I want and usually don’t think about it.”
“You need to work on that,” I replied evenly. “There are boundaries, and you need to learn to see them, and not cross them. And,” I lean towards him slightly. “You need to be nicer to your friends and forgive them.”
“You mean Greg,” he says with an annoyed sigh. “I’ll think about it, I guess.”
A frown appears on my face as I sit back, shaking my head at him as he averted my gaze, staring back into the fire.
After a long pause, with me staring at the side of his head, he looks back to me, “What will you do after we’re done here?”
“Once we save your friends and kill the Watcher?” I ask, to which he nods. “To be honest, I haven’t thought of it. My world is gone, everyone I know is gone. I guess Calypso and I will figure something out. What about you?”
He nods along as he listens to me, then smiles faintly. “I’m settling down finally. I’m going home to Twilight, and staying there. I’m done with adventures and fighting. I took her and my life for granted, and it only took me forty years to figure that out.”
“So, kill the Watcher and then go home? Just be a husband and father?” I ask, not expecting his answer to be so simple and mature.
“Yep, I miss my wife. I miss my kids. I’m just so damn tired, Scamp. I just hope you’ll stick around and join us, I’ve come to enjoy having you around,” he offered a smile.
I just sigh in response, “I don’t know if I have it in me to just settle down and stay in one place after everything I’ve seen and done.” At his falling ears, I add, “But, I will think about it, okay?”
This brought his mood up as he grinned, “Thank you. I want you to meet everyone properly once we’re all back home.” He held up his book, giving it a wave, “I left out ten years of time, so there’s a lot you don’t know.”
Seeing the book brought up a lot of questions I wanted to ask, but one pushed its way to the front, one that I’ve always been bothered by.
“Lance, I have to ask something,” I started, eyes narrowing slightly.
He noticed my narrowed gaze, “Uh… what is it?”
I crossed my hooves, “In your book, you talk about all the mares going into heat and attacking the stallions.” His eyes widened as he seemed to remember that he wrote about that. “Not only is that something that doesn’t happen, it’s just gross. Wrong. Did you make that up?” I don’t know what answer I was hoping for.
Lance lifted the book, staring at the cover. “There’s a lot in here that I shouldn’t have written about. That being one. But, that one is actually a really bad event.” He looked me straight in the eyes, looking serious. “The Heat events went on for five years before the truth came out. It was always Anarchy, from the very beginning even before we knew she existed.”
“What?” I asked in a flat tone.
With a sigh, he continued. “Annabel actually was the first human to arrive in Ponyville, beating me by minutes. But she, being a Draconequus, decided to remain hidden and just mess with everyone. The whole mares going into heat was her doing, she made everyone there think it was a normal process. It was one of the worst things she did.”
“That’s…” I shook my head, not wanting to get into that right now. “How did you find out? What’d you all do about it?”
“She admitted to it one day, during a prank war. She wanted to prove she was number one, so she told everyone about her ultimate ‘prank’. When we confronted her about that not being right, and asked if she realized just what she’d done, she just laughed. Annabel was truly a being of chaos. A prime example of what happens when you give a human unlimited powers.”
“Was?” I ask.
“We had to banish her to the moon,” he said, looking pained. “She didn’t learn from her mistake, and tried to do it all over again. So we made the painful choice to get rid of her.”
“How did Discord react to that?”
Lance smiled a bit, “He actually was appalled at her actions, and was the biggest help in subduing her. Despite everything, he’s one of the good guys.”
I sat back, thinking about what I’d been told. I had more questions about the incident, but I decided to let it go.
“I read the book,” Bronwyn suddenly said without looking away from the screen of her computer. “And I will say; that’s absolutely disgusting. I say you should have done worse to her, but I digress.”
He only frowned at this, but nodded in agreement. “I know.”
Wanting to change the subject, for his sake, I turn to Bronwyn on the other side of the fire. “So, what will you be doing after we kill the Watcher?”
She looks up at me, then shrugs, “Same thing I’ve been doing; hunt down the names on my list.”
“Your list?” I ask, her words peeking my interest.
Bronwyn just chuckles, “I have a list of names of the ones who betrayed us, or have caused great harm to come to those I care about. The top of that list is Lorenzo, the one I mentioned earlier. Your Watcher is also on that list, but much further down. Once we kill him, nothing changes for me. I’ll be here while you two return to your world.”
“I wish you’d come with us,” Lance said, looking saddened at her words.
She just looks back to her computer screen, typing away, “I’ve been alive for a very long time, Lance. I’ve made many friends in that time, but I’ve always stayed my path. So don’t take it personal.”
Lance’s shoulders just dropped as he looked back to the fire.
“Good news though,” she added, turning her computer to us. “I found one of your friends.”
“Which one?!” Lance asked in excitement as he jumped forward, looking at the screen.
“The one named Zorrow Bialeki, he’s a part of a movie studio as a main actor it seems,” she hits a button and the screen changes to a picture of him with two large creatures standing beside him as they walk through a crowd. “However, those two are members of Jakuz, an organization whose leader is on my list.”
“Does that mean he’s a prisoner being forced to act in movies?” Lance asked, looking disappointed for some reason.
She nodded, “The Jakuz focus on making profit, and are very well known for slave labor. They have used slaves in the past in their projects, so I’d say its safe to say Zorrow here is a slave.”
“So we need to save him,” Lance said as he looked at me. “Do you have the beacons from Ominus?”
I reach into my pocket dimension and pull out a strange red and white ball. “Yep, got them right here.”
Lance blinked at it, then burst out laughing, “He made them look like Pokeballs? That’s amazing!”
I stared at the strange ball, raising an eyebrow. I have no idea what a ‘Pokeball’ was, but Lance seemed to think it was funny.
“Well, pass out a few,” he said as he held out his hooves and wings, looking excited.
Rolling my eyes, I pull out a few more and give them to both of them. “Just remember, whoever we use these on will get sent to Ominus’s dimension, but they’ll also be banned from returning to the Eternal Plains.”
“Got it,” Lance said as he played with one of the beacons.
Bronwyn didn’t look hers over as she put them away, “I’ll have a plan in the morning for how to proceed.”
“Perfect,” I reply, pulling my blanket up around my shoulders, the chill finally catching back up to me.
Lance put his away and laid down, staring up at the sky. “I wish we’d found one of the others first. Like Fredreic or Peter.”
Bronwyn looked a bit pained as she glanced over to him. “Lance, I thought you knew this; anyone who died to the Watcher himself actually died. They’re not coming back.”
A sad look swept over his face at this revelation. “Ah, good to know.” He pulled his hat down over his face, hiding his face. Despite this, I saw the glimmer of a tear roll down his cheek.
I thought about consoling him, but I knew he just wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. So I chose to lay back down on my nest of blankets, staring into the fire and Bronwyn beyond them.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“This is what the Jakuz call security?” I asked as we sat at a table, looking across the street to a large compound filled with warehouse-like buildings. Four lightly armed bipedal creatures stood out front, laughing and talking to each other. Paying minimal attention to the world around them.
“No one messes with them,” Bronwyn stated, eating her food while looking the compound over. “They’re not seen as bad guys by anyone but myself and my friends. Perks of being in the entertainment industry, being able to do whatever you want as long as you give the people what they want.”
Lance, leaning back in his chair with his front hooves crossed, smiled, “So this should be incredibly easy than.”
“It will be,” Bronwyn confirmed. “You two will search for your friend, I’ll be heading for the tower in the middle of the compound. I’m going to pay the CEO a little visit. I’ve been putting this off for too long.”
I shoved more food into my muzzle before looking up again, “I can kill em all, so no worries, Lance.”
“No!” Lance suddenly hissed, catching me off guard. “We’re not killing anyone. Only hurt them enough so we can get to Zorrow.”
“That’s a stupid idea,” I finally replied, shaking my head as I went back to devouring my lunch, getting stared at by everyone around us.
“Maybe so, but no killing,” he replied firmly.
Bronwyn only rolled her eyes, not saying anything else on the matter. “Do what you must then. I’ll stick to my plan.”
Lance then looked back to the front gate with the four guards. “I’m sure we can sneak in…”
“Nah, I got it,” I said as I finished off my food and chugged my beverage. I looked to Bronwyn, who gave me a nod. I nodded back as I pushed myself away from the table and began to stretch. “Just keep up with me, Lance.”
“What’s the plan?” Lance asked, eyeing me in confusion.
“Save Zorrow, knock out and wound anyone who gets in my way.” I finish stretching and walk across the busy street to the four guards wearing business suits.
They didn’t turn to me as I walked up to them. Oh it would have been so damn easy to just kill them and run in.
After a few seconds of them not noticing me, I finally cleared my throat loudly, “Excuse me, gentlemen.”
Finally, they all turn to me, looking displeased at my disturbing them.
“What?” The closest one to me asked, looking very unhappy as Lance also joined me.
“We’re looking for a friend of ours, Zorrow Bialeki. A pony,” Lance asked, tipping his hat at them.
“The Zorrow Bialeki? Friends of his?” One of them asked before they all started laughing. “Get out of here, Equines.”
“So he is here?” I asked, a sly smirk appearing on my face.
“Of course he is,” another retorted, standing up straighter, flexing slightly. “Now get.”
“Where exactly?” I pushed, irritating them further.
The lead one stepped forward, towering over me. “As they posted on the Net, they’re currently filming. If you really were his friend, you would have known that. You’ve had two warnings to leave. If I have to say it one more time, then you won’t be leaving the way you came.”
I looked to Lance, who was frowning up at the imposing creature. “Oh no, Lance. He’s threatening us.”
Lance looked at me with a strange look, but I only smiled back.
In a flash, I teleported between all of them, my Ego blades flashing as I spun, attacking all four at once.
Screams filled the air as the four guards fell to the ground, missing limbs.
“SCAMP! I said no killing!” Lance yelled, looking completely shocked at my actions.
“They’ll be fine,” I chuckled as I kicked a hand out of my way, causing it to land on the face of its previous owner. Who just yelled and flailed around. “Just missing a few important bits.”
“I love it,” Bronwyn stated as she stepped over the screaming guards and headed for the doors. “See you two soon.”
I smile sweetly at a displeased Lance as I happily hop over the body parts and guards.
“Jesus, you two are psycho’s,” he mumbled as he lifted off the ground and flew over everything.
As I reached the door, Ayla appeared, giving me an excited smile as she bounced from hoof to hoof. “It wouldn’t hurt to ‘accidentally’ kill at least a few, right?”
I can only chuckle at this as I jump up to the door and walk in, entering the large compound.