Leaves crunched and hooves stamped the ground as two ponies galloped through the apple forest. The sun sat atop the sky centered in the blue sea of mystery. Trees laughed and gawked at the two ponies and their attempts to flourish their desires. A single name was repeated over and over, their goal rested upon physical sight.
“Yo, Doc Rivet! Where you at ya big puss puss?”
“Vice, I don’t think screaming his name is going to make him jump out at us.”
“Yeah? You have any better ideas? I’m not exactly up for running into another ambush; I’d rather just pound him and be over. Ever hear that crazy phrase, ‘cut off the head and the body will die’? Well essentially, if we were to look at this whole thing as a giant gay metaphor, the doc is the head and his henchmen are the body. We slug him and it’s over, downtown-old school style.”
“Okay.” Enzo continued to lag behind Vice on purpose. He let his partner scout ahead while he covered the back. This method seemed useless, but proved to be efficient as Enzo called for the duo to stop.
“Hey, what’s up dude? Got your panties tied in a bunch already? We only ran like-”
“Vice, shut it!”
The pegasus turned and put his hoof on Enzo’s shoulder, just next to his red scarf. “Why.”
“Listen!” Both ponies kept still and awaited any source of sound. “Hear that?”
“No, actually. I’m deaf apparently and I might as well be mute because you're not really explaining-” A laughing grunt halted Vice’s speech and his eyes grew in fear. “Ok-okay I heard that. What the hell is that?” Another laugh more sinister filled the forest air with dread.
“I don’t like this.”
“Of course you don’t like it, Captain Obvious! I think I know what’s going down here!” Vice saw an image of an orange creature zip by his sight and shrieked. “Holy-”
“I see him, Vice!” Enzo quickly double tapped his wrist band to reveal his curved blade. A sharp swiping sound countered the quiet forest as Enzo held his ground.
“Oh man, Christ!” Vice followed in his partners footsteps; he unfolded his metal tipped wings and arched them. “Where is he?” Another distorted chuckle, almost a choking sound was unleashed. “Great, he’s playin’ games. Love games, huh?” Vice clapped his wings together and created loud bangs. A laughing screech echoed and the pegasus jumped back.
Enzo watched Vice skitter about before noticing something amiss. He turned around and quickly sidestepped. Enzo landed next to Vice and held his partner in terror. Standing before the duo was the orange monster; its claw missed its mark and sunk in the ground.
It raised its glowing, pale yellow eyes and hissed. “Missed…” It frowned, yet still kept a faint smile before rushing towards the duo.
“Run!”
“What?”
“Enzo, run!” Vice turned and flung his body forward in a stumbling dash. Enzo swung his wrist blade in attempt to fake out the creature, but found himself dodging another swipe. He measured his odds and found himself sprinting back with Vice.
“Alright, I won’t question why we’re running.”
“Don’t have to, I got a plan.” Vice led Enzo deeper into the forest, sunlight slowly vanished. Shadows crept on the two and various sounds whizzed by. “We get far enough, I’ll distract, and you ambush.” He looked back and saw no sign of orange. “Okay, this is our chance. I’ll hang out here and-”
“Find!” The orange creature erupted from above and landed next to Vice.
“Halt!” a voice said. The orange creature paused before jumping back with a groan. “Well, well, Enzo. Seems as though your thirst for my blood will never end.”
“Enzo? What’s going on here; more bitches for me to slap down?”
“Oh great, another tough guy,” another voice said nonchalantly. “Enzo, we have unfinished business, remember?”
“Ah, we finally meet once more,” the other voice said. On cue, three stallions dropped from above and faced the duo.
“Jesus H. what is with you guys falling from the sky? Everyone around here is just miraculously appearing from heaven as if God himself sent down angels to strike us down.”
“Heh, you’re still talking shit huh?” A white stallion with a full face helmet stepped up and sneered. A blue wristband similar to Enzo’s was strapped on his hoof and his back supported a cyan metal box. The helmet shined pale gray and its blue eyes radiated with a bright lapis tint. “What? Shocked by my fancy tech?” His voice spoke with a slight echo.
Vice sighed heavily. “No, I’m shocked by your stupid outfit. They always say the uglies hide their effed up trash with a mask.”
“Keep insulting me, c’mon.” The pony raised his hoof and tapped a device on it twice. “Who’s got the gun in this situation, eh?” A miniature cannon had constructed itself and a blue ball of energy was already forming in the nozzle. He pointed it directly at Vice’s stone cold face. “I got the thing that goes boom-splat. Don’t fuck with me.”
“That’s enough, Joltaire,” the voice from before spoke. “Let me take care of this.” The pony known as Joltaire groaned and let his talker take the lead. Another stallion wearing an open faced helmet came forward. His head piece sported a large knife-like tip above the forehead and gleamed with a vibrant gold. Two golden wrist bands clinked with each footstep the pony made. “Ahem, allow me to explain what the heck is going on here. I am Sir Cutter X and-”
“WOW, WAIT!” Vice said smiling like crazy. “Sir Cutter…X? Yo, what the-oh my lord. Oh my lord and what the hell is with wrist bands?”
“What?”
“That’s the stupidest name I’ve ever heard. It could have been just Cutter. Cutter, that would’ve been cool. But adding the Sir and the X; it’s too much, bro. Maybe Cutter X? No, dude, no. You’re name is just failure.”
“Fuck?”
“Well I’ve managed to hear more curses coming out of you jackasses than myself in the past, eh, five minutes? Damn, I need to start dropping F bombs.”
“Listen here asshat, I am the one calling the shots here not you. If you think you’re in control right now-well you’d just be a dumbass.” Sir Cutter X’s grayish blue body shook with anger and his black eyes tried in vain to pierce Vice’s spirit.
“Well, Mister Douchwagon, it seems as though we have a problem then,” Vice said relaxing himself.
“Alright. Alright, shithead, let’s solve this problem.”
“God, you two are such children. I hate children,” Joltaire said. “Oh, I’m sorry, did I interrupt your tea party? Sorry, sorry, me and my gun will just-hey, Masquerade Blade, take it from here!” Joltaire pointed towards the remaining unknown stallion.
“…” The black pony addressed as Masquerade Blade simply looked up and stayed silent. Thin metal rings hung from his sides. He just stood and watched his partners do the talking. His light purple eyes steered towards Enzo and intensified.
“Right,” Joltaire said.
“Hold on.” Vice raised a hoof. “You can’t expect a guy like me to remember your names-let alone care about them. Cut me some slack, who are you?”
“Well let’s make this simple,” Sir Cutter X said. “You just officially met the bad guys.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“So, uh, you work alone,” Blitz said with his stroll next to Doctor Rivet.
“Not exactly. Of course now I have another pony assisting me, correct? But, I do have...superiors that over watch me. To be perfectly honest, I am quite fine with the transaction. They are a strange bunch though. They claim themselves to be the bad guys.” Doctor Rivet said the phrase with distaste. “I am not fond of that title.”
“I see.” Blitz continued his loose shuffled behind the doctor. Dead, quiet silence accompanied him in his walk. ‘Something’s obviously off, but if this guy’s working for-bad guys-then I need to get more information. I can’t bail now, everypony back in Ponyville might be in trouble.’
“So, what is your expertise in magic?” The question stung Blitz hard.
“Um...ice?” he responded cautiously.
“Interesting. A pony amongst our group proclaimed that he knew a unicorn that could perform ice spells.”
‘What is he talking about?’ A sudden image of Fuzzy Fry flashed in Blitz’s mind. He shut his eyes and winced, faltering back.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, no. I’m cool, I’m good.” Blitz suppressed the long haunting image and regained himself. However, he instantly lost his self composure once a faint chuckle was heard. “Oh, um sorry for being such a joke right now.”
“That was not me, my dear boy.”
Blitz eyed his left and rights before staggering back. “Well, who was it?” The laughing intensified and Blitz shuddered, he contemplated abandoning his quest right here.
“Bullet Buster, cease your shenanigans. You are scaring my newly acquired assistant.
“Oh boo hoo, Doc. Can’t let the crazy guy have his fun?” Blitz sensed movement behind him and jumped forward out of reaction. He landed next to Doctor Rivet and looked back to see something out of a nightmare. Standing before him was a pony with hooves beyond all comprehension. “Wassup sucka?”
“Hi!”
“Oh and it’s Bull It, doc. Bull It Buster, bulling the it!” The pony stamped his hoof and made a clang with the ground. Blitz analyzed the devices attached to the pony’s forelegs and gasped. “Wha? What you scared of? These malookas?” Bull It Buster raised his forelegs and snickered. Blitz then noted that the devices were literally the pony’s forelegs; each hoof was a giant cylinder-like mechanism to the knee joint. Both were spinning in place making loud, buzzing noises. Streaks of light blue started to light up within the machines and sharp chirping noises erupted.
“Calm down, Bullet Buster. No need to be pretentious at the moment.”
“Don’t you use your fancy wording on me.” Bull It Buster lowered his hooves, but kept standing on his two hind legs. He crudely adjusted his ripped, torn and worn black hat and let his equally destroyed cape flow wistfully behind him.
“Can somepony explain what’s going on,” Blitz said in a low whimper.
“Ah, excuse me. Allow me to explain. Bullet Buster is another work of my art.”
“Hardly, I came in with these big guns. You just lubed them up.”
“Right. Anyhow, I helped modify his hooves, or guns, so that they are magic induced. That is to say they can fire magic bullets within a few seconds of spinning up.
‘Guns huh? That’s just great. This means these guys don’t screw around. I have to find out what this ‘doctor’ is planning before…’ Blitz nodded as naturally as possible. “Okay.”
“No need to be scared little boy. I ain’t gonna fondle you.” Bull It Buster slowly started circling Blitz with vicious intent. His golden yellow eyes not only caused panic, but also induced curiosity. The pony’s eyes withheld a marking in the middle in paler yellow.
‘He has targets in his eyes? Why-no, how.’ Blitz kept his poker face sturdy against his two onlookers. “So, um, can you explain this plan of yours? I didn’t exactly get it,” he said as he removed himself from Bull It Buster’s jests.
“In time, Blitz, in time. You will know soon enough.”
‘Not the answer I was looking for.’ Blitz continued following Doctor Rivet deeper into the forest with Bull It Buster tagging close by. He could almost hear his breathing. ‘And not the bunch I’d like to be with. Darn, this isn’t looking well. To top it all off, I willingly walked into this and managed to get screwed over harder than when I coincidently met Trixie. But, I have to figure out what’s going on…for everypony back home.’
~~~~~~~~~~
“Alright, cockfaces, would you kindly go off yourselves? I’ll tell everyone that we got you-”
“Oh shut up already.” Sir Cutter X shook his head and gestured for his companions to surround the duo. “I get it. I get what you’re doing. You are being a cocky fag. You think that this is a joke; that we are a joke.” The armored stallion raised his two forelegs and clapped them together. As soon as he finished, metal began constructing around his forelegs. Within seconds the pony was wielding two blades engulfing his hooves. “Let’s see if we’re playing now.”
On cue, the black stallion known as Masquerade Blade reached behind and pulled out the metal rings hanging from his back. He rotated them in a position where he held a ring in each hoof. Joltaire still kept his wrist gun handy as the energy still surged towards Vice and Enzo.
“Well you’re right about that. You guys are big jokes. Plain and simple fools.” Vice crossed his arms and let his wings fold over his shoulders. “Now then, wouldja at least tell me who y’all are. Give me that much.”
“Hmph. Piece of shit never quits talking,” Joltaire said.
“Y’know what, this is kinda awkward without you knowing. I mean if Enzo didn’t tell you already…well what kind of friend is he?” Sir Cutter X smiled devilishly.
“Vice, I swear. I did not know they were here.”
“Enzo?” Vice uncrossed his arms and almost fell face first into the ground. “What-okay, tell me who these guys are! Who are you?”
“How tragic. Let’s just say we’re all old rivals of Enzo and we’ve still gotta settle the fight.” Sir Cutter X pumped his blades up righteously.
“Yeah, uh, I need to blow his brains out because of how hard he screwed me in the past,” Joltaire added. “Same with Masquerade, we all gotta bone to pick…or two.”
“What past, huh?” Vice spoke with difficulty.
“Oh I’m sure you know. That I guarantee.” Sir Cutter X shrugged as Vice deciphered his meaning. “How long have you been hiding How long have you been lying?”
“What the hell. What do you mean?” This time Vice’s voice almost broke, it came out as a whisper.
“Surely the people, or should I say goddamn horses, around here suspect something of your metal wings. But, I’ll just assume they’re all retarded and you’ve managed to slip by because everyone around here is an idiot.” Sir Cutter X now spoke with full force, emphasizing words to get his point across.
“Hey, don’t make fun of my-”
“Friends? Are you going to tell me that you seriously made friends? Enzo, Can you believe him?” Sir Cutter X laughed along with Joltaire, yet Masquerade Blade still kept silent.
Vice stayed silent, his eyes no longer met up with any of the stallions’ varying eyes. Enzo gritted his teeth at every word spoken.
“How long, how long, how fucking long have you been hiding your identity; who you are? Deceiving everyone around you to believe you are actually of this world, but no. You waltzed in here without warrant and pretended to fit in. You believed that you were actually created here; that you were born in this world.
“Stop.”
“You don’t belong in this world. We don’t belong in this world. Corrupt guys like us belong in hell for what we’ve did; for what we’ve seen. I know, anyone from the other side knows.”
“Other side.” Vice lowered his head then jolted upwards. “You’re-”
“From the portal.”