//------------------------------// // Well, I Roam from Town to Town // Story: Rebirth of Magic: Law and Order // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// I charged through the streets of this alien city, trying once more to get my bearings. Look, I know I said I had lived here for a week, moonlighting as a pegasus. But that was a smaller bit of the city, trying to stay undercover as best I could. I had only learned the street layouts that led the way I had come. After all, I had no reason to think I'd be going the other way. Get in, arrest Sunny, drag her back to Maretime Bay (kicking and screaming if I had to), life goes back to normal, or as normal as it could be considering the crazy train my life has turned into. I stopped when I heard voices coming from round a nearby bend, and looked around it to try and establish what was going on there. I recognised the two of them pretty quickly. Sunny and Izzy. Partners in crime. No doubt celebrating their succesful theft. Well, not on my books. I may not have had jurisdiction in Zephyr Heights, and Izzy may have been a citizen of another country, but this was for both their own goods. I saw my chance to strike when Izzy spoke up again. "I think we lost them!" she said, clearly thinking she was in the clear. I then stepped out of the gloom and looked at both of them, quickly shooting Sunny a glare before switching my attention back to both of them. "No you didn't." Sunny looked legitimately baffled. "Hitch? What are you doing here?" "Taking you back to Maretime Bay," I replied. "You'd best come quietly too, Izzy." If they attempted to protest that they hadn't done anything, I could always use the litany of broken rules alluded to by the film as a reasonable excuse for an arrest. I'd left the warrant back at the station, but I could show it to them when we got back to Maretime Bay. Sometimes being a cop is so handy, you know? Izzy then spoke up. "What happens if I come loudly?" What? What was that supposed to mean? I coughed, before addressing her directly. She was really starting to get on my nerves with how bouncy and upbeat she was being. "You know what I mean. We're stuck in the middle of a city which seems to be at war and actively hates us. We're in a right mess." The enormity of those words sat in my mind for a moment. It was a sitatuation I had never been in before, and had sincerely hoped I would never be in, and yet here I was, stuck in that very situation, alongside others whose only common attribute to me was that they were in the same boat as well. Boy was this turning out to be a weird day. Sunny spoke to me, looking desperate. "Please, you have to let us go. What we have is vitally important to the future of the world!" Before I could say anything else, there was a loud crash from a nearby dumpster. I looked over, expecting to see a security guard, but instead my jaw dropped when I saw who it was. It was a blue unicorn with green and blue in her mane and tail, done up rather like dreadlocks. "I've... got... the... crown!" she panted, clearly out of breath. We're still in the movie, right? That means before Make your Mark released. So what in the world was Misty doing here? "Where's Zipp?" Izzy asked, temporarily shaking me out of my thoughts. It was only then I noticed that Zipp wasn't there. Wasn't she supposed to be passive aggressive with me and then deliver a sarcastic quip? If she's not here, how's that supposed to work? "She stayed back to stop the guards from capturing me," Misty replied. "The army's hunting the princesses." Just then, Pipp arrived, just as she did in the film, and hoo boy did she look a mess. She also had a crystal. But didn't Misty just say she had the crystal, or the crown with the crystal in it? This day was beginning to give me a headache. They argued for a bit before a broadcast suddenly came on Pipp's phone, from a shadowy looking guy. OK. Looks like I somehow ended up in a much darker version of the G5 universe than I'd thought possible. The coup in the film had just resulted in the Queen being put in a prison cell and the authorities eventually reinstating her, not this Stalin lookalike taking office and effectively creating a military dictatorship! I was now even more confused than I had thought possible, which may explain why I was suddenly shaken out of my thoughts when I heard Pipp speak again. "We have to go back! We can't just leave mom and Zipp with those pigs! Who knows what they'll do to them!" "We can't!" Sunny suddenly said. Wait, I'm sorry, who put you in charge, Sunny? "And why is that?" Pipp asked, looking like she wanted to throttle Sunny then and there. I didn't really blame her, to be honest. Whilst obvious killing somebody else is illegal, apart from under certain circumstances, Sunny had truly made a mess of everything that was going on here. "We can bring back magic, but we need the crystal." Sunny was being weirdly calm for the circumstances. Something else was clearly going on. It was almost as if she had knowledge she logically shouldn't have. "We get magic back, we save your folks. Deal?" Misty then spoke. "Uh, guys? Soldiers over there! We can't go back!" I looked over to see growing numbers of lights and ponies building up in the street. Right, that defeats my plan to just head back to Maretime Bay and get this over with. Pipp seemed annoyed, but otherwise acknowledged the situation. "Fine! I know a way out. Follow me." As we set off, I sighed and followed the others. Seemed that, against my will, I was stuck on the crazy train with a one way ticket to complete and utter havoc. I hate my life sometimes. As we continued to trek across the terrain, I was unhappy. I was being dragged along against my will through this crazy land by two crazy ponies who seemingly had no concept of asking others what they wanted. I trotted along near the back, trying to ensure the others were keeping up. Misty was in front of me, and Pipp had dropped back to walk in line with me. She seemed annoyed. No, that's not doing it justice. She looked to be absolutely furious, and was resisting the urge to go on a murderous rampage (though I thoroughly doubted she'd get very far- she didn't look all that muscular). "Nice to see somepony else is annoyed," she said, the first thing she had said the whole day. I glanced over. "What the buck are we even doing here?" I asked, rhetorically more than anything else. "Maretime Bay was all we needed. Now here we are roaming across fields and up and down mountains, with absolutely no clue where we're going, all whilst a madpony is plotting to blow up the world and we're looking for a crystal that probably doesn't even exist!" Of course, I knew it did exist, but I couldn't admit that to Pipp. She'd think I was also crazy, and she'd clearly been through enough for one day. She looked over at me. "It was meant to be the best show of my career," she grumbled. "Now the world's gone to Tatarus, and it's all because of those three idiots. I intend to give them a piece of mind, and hopefully they'll have the appetite for it." I watched the scene unfold. OK, I did not expect 'piece of my mind' to result in Pipp smacking Misty. I didn't see all too much of Sunny and Izzy treating Misty, but boy did that look painful. If Pipp's hooves are indeed fitted with metal shoes, that would make quite the mess. I hung back as Izzy bounced back in my direction. "Not a happy camper, are we?" "Wouldn't you like to know?" I replied. Izzy failed to spot my sarcasm. "Well, we're in an exciting new place, and look there! Some stuff from G4!" She then bounded away just as suddenly as she'd arrived. What did she just say? How would Izzy even know what G4 is? Only Sunny knows that the previous Generation of the show even existed, thousands of years ago! Either this was just some writer above in the clouds inserting fourth wall humour for some unseen audience, or maybe it was something more? Perhaps I wasn't alone in this world. What if there were other human turned ponies around I hadn't met yet? This was all getting too bizarre for words. Izzy having knowledge she shouldn't, Misty being around, nopony following the script and randomly goofing off... What in Faust's name was going on around here?