//------------------------------// // Marshall Law // Story: Strange New World // by Conor Colton //------------------------------// Strange New World Chapter Thirteen: Marshall Law Chris stood outside of Marshall’s building, panting heavily. He scanned the town laid out before him and felt the dark night looming overhead, as everything was tinted black, and small droplets of rain started to fall. The brony’s friends stood behind him, also scanning the area, noticing very little. Twilight walked up to stand beside Chris and muttered in his direction, “What do we do now?” Chris racked his brains, deciding what was the best course of action. “I’m not sure...there’s possibly a mind controlled pony on the loose, a missing stash of dynamite, and it’s pouring down out here...I need to think...” Chris stated as he struggled to come up with anything that could seem like a rational thought. Twilight however puzzled calmly over their next course of action, despite the situation. The mare came to a conclusion while the stallion was still thinking hard over what to do. The purple unicorn turned around to face her friends and announced her plan, “Rarity. Applejack. You two go check on the elements back at the hotel, we need to make sure those are safe.” She ordered as she pointed to each mare. They both nodded and started trotting heavily back to the hotel as the rain worsened, showing signs of there being some thunder in the air. “Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie. Zecora. You three go and see if you can find that dynamite. We need to have it secured.” Twilight commanded once again as the pegasus, earth pony and zebra saluted and got to searching, lightning cracking as they did. Twilight had to shout her next directions. “Chris! You and Rainbow try and find Slim! Rainbow! Take the air! Chris! Take the land!” She demanded as Chris stopped thinking and simply nodded. Rainbow Dash rocketed into the air and Chris started sprinting away. “Spike! You’re with me! C’mon!” Twilight directed as her and the little dragon made their way into town, passing Chris on the way, “Good luck!” She shouted. The rain began to worsen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rainbow hovered above the town, struggling to stay up in the stormy weather. It was making spotting very difficult. However she kept her eyes trained on Chris and the town. Chris trotted vigorously through the town, having no idea of where he should be going or where Slim could had gone. In this weather the stallion was lucky if he could see his own muzzle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rarity and Applejack burst into the hotel, running past Cherry Jubilee at the front desk, “Oh girls! Good news! That work team on the tracks got done before the storm! Y’all can leave in the mor-” She was cut off as the two mares slammed their room door and didn’t pay any mind to her words, “...-ning.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight and Spike ran their way into the town hall, bolting towards the front desk to meet a rather generic mare with a noticeably nervous look about her, “Excuse me, may we have a look at your records for Dodge, please? It’s very important!” Twilight said urgently. The mare simply reached into a drawer and gave the unicorn a key. “See for yourself, ma’am. I’m getting home before this storm gets any worse, s’making my skin crawl.” The receptionist stated as she bolted out the front door. The unicorn and dragon looked at each other, shrugged slightly and made their way into the records room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fluttershy, Zecora and Pinkie Pie were busy turning up every stone and leaving no nooks and crannies unchecked in the whole town. They rushed from building to building, home to home, and even barn to barn in an effort to find the missing explosives. Sufficed to say, their search wasn't turning anything up. The brony and pegasus continued searching the town for any signs of the escaped Slim. Rainbow was scanning from above whilst Chris looked in every alleyway and building he came across. He thought he would have had luck in the saloon but sadly, no Slim. They continued their search and the weather wasn’t letting up at all. Rainbow held a hoof above her eyes as she struggled to keep them open. She glanced left to right, directly above Chris. As she did, she spotted something. In an alleyway to Chris’ right, a strange darkened figure, no real defining features. She continued focusing on the figure, and then it looked up, revealing its face and distinct red eyes. Rainbow’s eyes widened as the figure looked directly at her. She looked down and shouted with all of her lung power down to the brony, “Chris! Alleyway! Slim!” She belted out as Chris looked up to see the rainbow mare pointing to his right. He quickly turned and also saw the red eyed figure, recognizing it as Slim. Slim gasped, and dashed behind a building, trying to make an escape. The brony scraped a hoof against the ground and started his pursuit. “Stay on him, Rainbow!” Chris shouted upwards as the pegasus nodded and kept the escapee stallion in her sights, directing Chris as he went. The brony matched Slim turn for turn. Direction change for direction change. Gaining fast. Rainbow was still overhead, “Slim! Stop running! It’s only making things worse!” Chris shouted over the storm. “Forget you, Chris! I know more than you ‘n I’m getting outta ‘ere if it kills me!” Slim exclaimed back as he threw various objects in our hero’s way that were strewn about the alleyway. Garbage cans, miscellaneous trash and the like. Chris continued pursuing but tripped over some of the items, due to the storm restricting his vision. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back in the records room, Twilight and Spike were looking through said records, digging frantically. They knew time was of the essence. “What are we looking for, exactly?” Spike asked, neck deep in paper envelopes. “We need to find something relation to that building where the dynamite was, look for anything having to do with Slim’s family and mining!” Twilight answered as she continually searched, “Come on, come on! Who organised these files?!” She asked angrily. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back in the streets and alleyways, Chris was still in hot pursuit. He signalled up to Rainbow and shouted, “Head him off! I can’t catch up with him!” He stated as the rainbow haired mare nodded and flew to nearby turn off on the alleyway Slim was running up. The mare poised herself, ready to strike when Slim came along. However, the fleeing stallion heard Chris’ plan beforehand. When he approached the turn off he reached over and grabbed a nearby garbage can. Rainbow went to take him down but instead had a cylinder of metal thrown in her face. Slim looked back, panting, and saw Chris catching up. The stallion looked around frantically, picking up the recently used garbage can off a dazed Rainbow Dash. He tossed it a nearby window to a building and hopped in after it. Chris stopped for a second to check on Rainbow. “Rainbow! You okay?” He exclaimed as the mare merely nodded and pointed towards the recently broken window. “Yeah I’ll be fine. Get after him!” She almost ordered, “I just need a minute, I’ll catch up!” She stated, shaking her head slightly. Chris nodded slightly and made his way into the vacant building through the window, being careful not to cut himself on the broken glass. He looked around to see the building looking strangely dark and empty. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Slim!...You can’t keep running! We need you to tell us where the dynamite is and then come with us! You’re only making it worse on yourself...” Chris stated as he stepped carefully through what looked like a closed restaurant, walking between tables and stacked chairs. “No, Chris.” A voice was heard from the darkness, no doubt Slim’s, “No you don’t understand, you wouldn’t understand, I just need ta get outta ‘ere. I don’t want no part in this anymore.” He pleaded. “You can’t just run, Slim...we can help...I know what the red eyes are...I can help you get through whatever’s going on in your head.” Chris argued as he continued looking around for any sign of the stallion. “You...you do...?...No...no you’re just saying that...nopony’ll ever understand...he told me...the, eyes told me nopony would understand...I thought...Applejack...she would, but...only pony I can help now is myself...and I’m gettin outta Dodge! Far away!” Slim stated, emerging from the shadows, behind Chris. He was holding a chair up. The brony turned around and caught a glimpse of the red eyes of Slim before attempting to block as Slim swung the chair. The block wasn’t very effective, and as Chris got the chair smashed across his head and he fell to the ground, Slim made a beeline for a staircase, climbing to what was presumably, the roof. Chris got back on his hooves a few seconds later and ran right after him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Honesty? Kindness? Magic?” Rarity asked back in the hotel room as Applejack finished checking and packing away the elements into a small bag. “Yup, yup and yup.” AJ answered as she checked to see if the bag had all six elements in it, depowered as they may be, “And generosity, laughter and loyalty. All safe!” She stated with a grin as she put the bag around herself, via a strap, for safe keeping. The two mares looked out onto the horrid night weather and looked at each other concerningly, “I do hope everybody is okay, like my Spikey Wikey or poor Chrissy out in this cold. He’s been so wonderful and I would hate to see him hurt, Chris I mean.” She stated as she frowned at the weather. “Yeah...yeah Chris ‘as been great...Celestia knows where he came from but he’s been one huge help this whole way...shame he’s getting all caught up in this. These are our elements, but...he seems to be okay with things.” AJ retorted as she too looked out at the weather. “He said he was from Manehattan though...” Rarity replied, having a confused look on her face as she turned to Applejack. “He doesn’t seem like the Manehattan type...I don’t buy it...maybe I’m wrong but...there’s something else ‘bout that boy...” AJ mused. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spike and Twilight continued looking frantically over any records they could find, sadly not turning up anything, “Ugh! Twilight! We’re wasting our time here! There isn’t anything here about Slim’s family owning a mining business, or that building!” Spike stated clearly. “I know I know! But it has to be here, we saw it ourselves!” Twilight reiterated, the small dragon turning his back on the whole thing. “For all these records tell us, it’s like the building or that business ever existed.” Spike replied. Twilight was noticeable phased by that statement. “Wait...never existed...then...Spike! Give me that copy of the town law charter!” She demanded as the small creature did just that. Twilight read over the document and slowly but surely, a light came on in her head. “That’s it!...We’ve got to find Chris and the others!” Twilight stated as she grabbed Spike and bolted outside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chris climbed the before mentioned staircase and made his way onto the roof to see Slim not too far away. The rain was pouring down like arrows, and while lightning and thunder raged in the sky, “Slim! Stop running! This ends right here, right now! You’re coming back and you’re going to help us fix what mess you caused!” Chris demanded. “No! Okay?! Just no! I didn’t cause any mess!...I’ll admit, I blew the train tracks, but I had no choice!” Slim responded as he backed away slightly from the brony. “You had a choice! You had a choice to not blow up any tracks! You didn’t have to pretend! You could have turned yourself in! Had some sense, for Celestia’s sake!” Chris stated over the storm, still not quite used to that last part. “I had no say in the matter, Chris! Like I said, you don’t understand and you never will! He would have killed y’all if I didn’t do it! He woulda killed Applejack!” Slim pleaded. “It doesn't matter! Shade’s got into your head and now he’s driving you nuts!” Chris shouted out. “...Shade?” Slim asked with a raised eyebrow of his now practically glowing red pupils. Chris was rather confused at the response. As he was about to ask further though, Rainbow Dash floated up onto the roof behind Chris, with a large grimace on her face. “Let’s see if a hoof hurts more than a garbage can.” The rainbow haired mare stated as she stared Slim down. Chris wondered why Slim looked confused upon Shade’s name being dropped. He didn’t have much time to contemplate though as Rainbow made a dash towards Slim. The deputy panicked and began to run across the roof, Chris too starting to sprint after the evading stallion. Slim quickly realized he was running out of roof though. When the stallion reached the edge of the small building he didn’t even hesitate, making a great leap off of the wet roof tiles. As Slim was in mid fall however, Rainbow intervened. The pegasus had flown forward and grabbed Slim from under his front hooves, dangling the stallion over the small, but now ominous, alleyway between the restaurant and Slim’s intended jump destination. Rainbow struggled to keep the stallion still though as Slim began wriggling in her grip, even reaching up with a free hoof to strike the mare in hopes of getting free. Chris watched this and knew he had to act quickly. The brony braced himself, took a deep breath in and leapt from the rooftop. Chris quickly reached out his hooves to grab Slim mid fall Rainbow just lost her grip. The blue stallion and the deputy fell onto the next building’s roof, Slim slamming down hard with his back against the tiled roof and Chris keeping the deputy down. Finally, the chase was over. Chris gave Slim a quick hook across the muzzle to subdue the currently immobilized stallion. The brony raised his voice over the storm and demanded with his next words, “Where’s the dynamite?!” the blue stallion stated before giving Slim another hook on the jaw, “Where is it?! Tell me, now!” Chris exclaimed. “Okay okay! You got me, just please don’t take me back! Please! I planted that dynamite, I blew up the tracks! I’ll help you find the dynamite, but please don’t take me back!” Slim pleaded as he stared up frightened at Chris, “I won’t run! Just don’t let that red-eyed freak have me again!” Slim almost sobbed. “How do you know Shade?! When did he contact you?! What did he tell you to do?!” Chris requested roughly, Rainbow hovering beside the two stallions. “Who or what in all of Equestria is Shade?! I don’t know what you’re talking ‘bout! I just wanna get outta here, just let me go!” Slim continued to beg. Chris was now more confused than ever. Twilight ran through the storm riddled streets of Dodge until she spotted her friends on the roof, she ran over and shouted up to the brony and pegasus, “Chris! I have something to tell you! Slim’s family never owned a mining business! That building never belonged to any mining company!” Chris turned his head to the mare on the street, the storm making it difficult to hear what she’d said “What?!” He shouted down to her. Twilight sighed, focused herself and teleported her and Spike up to the roof next to Chris and the downed Slim. “Slim’s family never owned that building. Slim never had access to it. That building was decommissioned ages ago, Slim couldn't have planted that dynamite there on his own.” She paused to take a breath, “Nopony in town has permission to enter buildings like that, except for one.” Everybody’s eyes widened at that point, except Slim’s. Chris could scarcely believe the outcome himself. Upon this realization, everybody was still stunned, except Slim. The pinned stallion shook a hoof free and gave Chris a large and powerful swipe across the skull, sending the blue stallion to the side and nearly slipping off the building. Rainbow Dash stopped Chris from falling, Twilight attempted to subdue Slim but the deputy had got to his hooves and broke everybody’s line of sight as he hopped down into a nearby alleyway. Rainbow made sure Chris was secure before taking a short break to ask what was happening. “Twi, did you mean what I think you meant back there?” The pegasus inquired. The unicorn nodded in response. “I think so.” The purple magical mare replied. Chris took a second before responding, rubbing his jaw from the recent hit. “Then we need to get to Marshall’s office, now!” Chris stated as everybody nodded. The rainbow pegasus picked up the brony and fluttered him safely back to ground level. Twilight and Spike traveled via teleporting, then all four of them sprinted for Marshall’s office. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rainbow Dash burst through the office’s door, staring down an imposing figure of Marshall sitting behind his desk with a grin. Chris, Twilight and Spike soon followed. Twilight was the first to speak. “Marshall, we know the truth.” The unicorn stated plainly but with great authority. “Heh...do ya now? Huh, I didn’t think you ponies had it in ya.” Marshall stated as he stood up from his desk, Chris practically feeling his spine tingling. “I knew y’all were trouble the second you stepped foot in this town but I never took ya for being soo slow.” The stallion continued. “Who you calling slow you no good, two bit, bomber maniac?” Rainbow retorted. “Oh I’m far from a maniac ya feathered freak! I’m the type of law this town needs, that’s what I am! I’m doing what I’m doing to keep this town alive! To make sure we have a town to go back to after all this! I’m just seeing who the winning side is and playing on their team!” Marshall replied. “By blowing up tracks and panicking everypony?” Spike questioned angrily. “Look I did what I had to do...I know y’all came from Canterlot, I know what you seen, what happened there. I don’t want that happening in my town. I make the tough choices and do the deals that need to be done!” Marshall replied once again. “So you blew up the train tracks to keep us here, to stall us so Shade could figure out some plan to get us? Is that it? You’re just a pathetic little puppet?!” Chris questioned rather angrily, honestly not knowing where this sudden strength had come from. “How dare you you little insignificant pile of cow pat! I’ve kept this town safe and I will keep it safe! By Celestia I will do what I need to in these troubled times! Even if that means a few explosions here and there!” The law pony exclaimed as he came from behind his desk. “So you knew what Shade did and you were scared for yourself, he got into your head and you struck a deal, you do what you can to stall us by getting Slim to do your dirty work to take suspicion off yourself. You’re not just pathetic, you’re a coward.” Twilight stated as Marshall finally lifted his head to reveal a sight most expected; his now red, glowing eyes. “HOW DARE YOU speak to me like that you horned little wretch!” Marshall shouted whilst grimacing. “You took dynamite from your evidence locker or some place and told Slim to blow up the tracks. He looked up to you, and feared you now so you could easily manipulate him. He blew up the tracks for you and you framed him by storing a bunch of dynamite in an old commissioned building only you had access to, forged a sign for it and left a trail from the crater so me and you would find it and arrest Slim. Slim refused to do anymore of your dirty work and left us a message to get our help, the message in the old building...” Twilight started, as Chris finished. “The red eyes weren't Shade...they were you, Marshall, under Shade’s influence!” Chris finished off as he pointed a hoof at the newly accused. Everybody was quiet for a moment, Marshall included. The law figure looked down at the ground, and then broke the silence with a progressive laugh. “Hehe...hehehehehe....ehehehehehe, ahaahahahaha, ahhhHAhaHAhaHAhaaHA!” The law pony exclaimed as he raised his head more and more with each chuckle before setting his head back down and looking right at Chris and his friends with his piercing red eyes. “Ohh well played, my little ponies, well played.” Marshall stated as he gave a slow clap with his two front hooves, “I must admire your deductive skills, I think I have given you all too little credit bravo, bravo indeed.” He continued. “Bravo?” Rainbow questioned. “I don’t think this is Marshall anymore...” Twilight stated. “Correct you are once again, Miss Sparkle. Like teacher like pupil...only you’re not dead yet..” The stallion grinned. “You...” Chris stated blankly with a hint of hatred. “Yes, me, Chris! Shade! Speaking to you from this, repulsive and equine form, I don’t intend to make a habit out of this...Either way, congratulations, you found out what was really going on. It took you some time but, yes, Marshall has fallen under my influence. Progressively but most definitely. He was so pathetic and easy. He ‘only wanted to protect his town’...well I’m a fair ruler, I give my subjects what they want...Well, except freedom” The ominous figure stated, everybody standing firmly against it. “First, the deputy. Such an easy scapegoat. He caused some general panic upon him blowing up the tracks, stalling you all was just a bonus. I was never really for protecting this place to be honest. I’d rather see it go the way of Canterlot. However my influence doesn't spread far enough that I can merely pick towns off of the map. So I had an inside pony, doing my plans for me.” The figure grinned. “What plans...?” Spike asked cautiously. “I’m glad you asked...remember those creatures that attacked Ponyville? I like to call them ‘ravagers’...however ravagers don’t come easy and require quite a bit of work on my end. It involves myself getting into a creature’s head, as I tried to do with you and your friends, Chris before some old ghosts poked their horns in.” Shade’s speaker continued “Once I’m in their head, I need only one thing to slowly corrupt them into ravagers from the inside out...fear. They must be afraid, they must be panicked. Now I ask you, what would happen if I say, hopped into pony upon pony heads through Marshall here and used a dubious amount of dynamite to instill some havoc on a stormy night such as this...ponies would be, afraid, wouldn’t they?” The figure once again grinned as he reached into Marshall’s jacket pocket and pulled out a small device with a button on it. “This town is a minefield...as we speak there are near as one hundred sticks of dynamite buried under the ground for maximum spread of destruction...and I hold the detonator...” The possessed Marshall stated with an even wider grin. “Think about what you’re doing here, Shade...” Twilight retorted hesitantly. “Believe me, I have.” The possessed stallion stated as he placed a hoof on the button and slowly pressed it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's note: This chapter was generously proofread by a good friend of mine, and I urge all you people out there to check out his stuff. It's very much worth your time ^_^ Don't forget to like him, favorite and subscribe, the guy deserves it. Thanks for reading, see you all next week ~ Conor Colton