//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Gang Aft Agley // by The Phantom Man //------------------------------// Inter Terra, a poor country that resides in between Equestria and the Gryphon kingdoms. The country was full of ancient-looking and run-down buildings. The only one that actually looked nice was the king's castle. The king isn't very kind to outsiders nor his own subjects. A ruler who is only out for his own monetary gain. A dictator who doesn't know the meaning of mercy. His name...Lord Qwee Qwee. Yeah...stupid name, I know. Make no mistake, however, that he is not one to be trifled with. Ha ha...trifled. Stay on track, dammit! Okay, okay, sorry. It's just a funny word, that's all. Dude, we're meant to be telling a story here. Not pointing out funny words. Ahem, anyway. It is here that our tale begins. Our first hero, a pony named Steel Blade. Steel Blade...how original. Hey, you're the one that came up with the name. Oh, right. Anyway, Steel Blade is an Earth Pony who lives with his abusive drunk of a father. He makes money by participating in street fights. As a result he has quite a collection of scars all across his body. Also, a scar on his right eye that just screams "I'm a badass" Dude! Okay, okay. Jeez, I was just saying. All the money he makes, his father takes. Hey that rhymes. Oh, for the love of Celestia. Move aside. I'll handle the narration. What? Why? You said I could do it. Well you keep messing around. Move. Fine. Let's just cut to... oh, that's not good. What? What is it? It says here in the script that he's supposed to be in a fight right now. Oh, well. Cue the transition! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steel Blade paused for a moment to catch his breath. The fight had already gone on for at least five minutes. Steel knew he couldn't lose, there was a lot of money riding on this fight. His opponent, who was on the other side of the ring made of pony and gryphon spectators, stared at the earth pony as he was also regaining his stamina. Steel's black coat and crimson eyes gave an intimidating look about him. The scars that were marked around his coat and down his right eye added to the intimidation. However, when his opponent looked at his purple mane, he began laughing. "What's so funny?!" Steel said. "Nothing. I'm just thinking how good that mane of yours will look once I've sent you to the hospital," his opponent said. "You really think your going to get the chance?!" "Look at you, you're out of breath already and you've hardly laid a hoof on me. You're outta your league. Go back home and cry on your mummy's shoulder. Oh, wait..." His opponent and all the spectators began laughing. This remark hit a nerve. "You're dead," Steel muttered under his breath. Steel charged at his opponent, who was still laughing, and gave him a swift punch to the stomach, which winded him. His opponent fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Steel didn't relent, however, he just kept piling on the punches. "Okay, okay! You win! I give, I give!" his opponent was on the verge of begging. The cries fell on deaf ears, Steel didn't care. He just kept hitting. Eventually his opponents cries for mercy were silenced. Steel stopped and backed away, covered with blood. His opponent's body lay on the ground. All the spectators looked at Steel in horror. "Anybody else want to say anything about my mum? Huh?!" Steel shouted. Another pony broke through the crowd with a pouch in his mouth. It was the winnings for the fight. Steel snatched the pouch and walked away. Steel reflected on the fight, thinking about the areas he could improve on. He said to himself that what he did to his opponent was the right thing to do. He deserved it. Steel returned to his house grabbed another bag, put the pouch inside the bag and started to head back out again. "And just where do you think you're going?" Steel's dad stuttered. It was clear that he had been drinking again. "Out. Is that a problem?" Steel replied. "Now, is that anyway to talk to your *hic* dad?" "When he's a drunken moron, yeah." "Cheeky little brat." Steel's dad moved threateningly towards him. "Looks like you still haven't learned who's in charge around-" Before he could finish his sentence, Steel punched him across the side of his face. Knocking him out. With that Steel left the house. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, that does it for Steel. Whose next on the list? Robin. The gryphon. Oh joy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A gryphon flew high above Inter Terra. However, that gryphon is not Robin. We thought we'd just point that out. Robin was in his room, thinking about whether to leave the country or not. "Should I leave? It is fairly boring here. Then again, it's too much walking and flying. I don't want to make any effort, too much effort involved in making an effort." Robin was then interrupted by his dad walking into his room. "Robin, your friends are at the door." "Friends?" "Yeah, the gryphons from your school." Robin didn't have any friends from his own school. He was constantly picked on for being unnaturally small and having a "girly" red plume. Hence his name. So, he was obviously confused. "Yeah...you know that meeting you have today, dad?" "Yes." "Can I just go with you?" "I don't see any harm." Robin breathed a sigh of relief and tagged along with his dad. Oh yeah, his dad is in charge of the police force. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wait, we forgot to mention what he looks like. Dude, he's a gryphon. The only thing that makes him unique is his red plume. Oh, okay. Though it was quite short. Well he is a supporting character. Good point. Next. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Along one of the many run-down streets, a pony was being dragged off by two officers of the law. His name is Da- "Hey, I want to do my own introduction. Thank you very much." But- "No. No buts." *sigh* Fine, what should we call you then? We're going to have to re-write some of the script because of you. "Jay." Fine, "Jay". "Hey, get rid of those quotation marks." Fine, Jay. "Much better." Take it away, narrator. "Well, my name's Jay. I'm a pegasus. I have a yellow coat, a mane with red and white vertical stripes in a mohawk-like style, a jester hat for my cutie mark, my left eye is blue and my right eye is green." Thanks. "You're welcome." *sigh* "Hey, quiet prisoner. Who are you even talking to?" "The audience." "Quiet, fool. We are not in theatre." "That's what the authors want you to think. They're writing your lines and making you oblivious to the fact that you're just a character in a story." "Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" "Well, we were warned that he was insane." "Ah, what do you two know? You're just background characters." The two guards looked at each other and dragged him off into the distance. Where he couldn't interrupt the narrators again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I think that does it for him. I think there's only one more guy left, right? Yeah. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have no idea how to properly introduce the next character. So, we're just going to jump into his room say his name is Clever Dodge, describe his appearance and his hobbies. This pony's name is Clever Dodge. He's a unicorn. He has a teal coloured coat, a white mane with a dark blue stripe in it, dark green eyes and a quill and parchment within a love heart for a Cutie Mark. Clever enjoys reading and writing. That was a bit blunt. Well, we didn't really know how to introduce him. Fair point. Clever's father was the steward of the king. Every story that Clever wrote, his father took credit for them. This made his father greedy, and was always pushing Clever to come up with new ideas for a story. There was only one book that Clever was credited as the author. And that book was outside the country. It was actually a really successful book. Clever was currently trying to come up with a new idea for a story. He sat on his bed, deep in thought. It was then that his father barged into his room. "You thinking of any new ideas?" his father asked. "Yes, father," Clever replied. "Good, I have enough to worry about with trying to find a new guard to prevent you from leaving your duties. The other one I hired was completely useless." "I can't understand why you won't let me leave." "I told you before. You will come up with new stories and I shall be credited for writing them. In order to do that you will stay in the castle unless I give express permission that you are allowed to leave. Which, is never." "Until tonight," Clever muttered under his breath. "What did you say?" "I was just saying that I think I have an idea of who you could hire." "Oh, really?" "Well, in the few times that I have been out-" "Escaped, you mean." "Yeah sure, whatever. I heard about this pony who is meant to be quite tough. He's a street fighter." "A street fighter? You can't be serious." "Street fighters have been known to fight better than most royal guards. And I hear this pony is good at what he does." "Who is it?" "I think his name was Steel Blade or something." "Hm, yes. Well, I shall consider it. Wait, why are you telling me about somebody who'd make it more difficult for you to leave?" "Well, the more stories I write, the more money you get. And if I had somebody like that outside my door, I could ask him all sorts of questions regarding what it is actually like to be in a fight. Therefore, making some of the fight scenes in my stories more effective." "You make a valid point, boy." "Well, I did get my brains from you." "A fair point. Very well, I shall seek out this "Steel Blade" and see if he is as good as you claim to have heard." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yeah, Clever is quite the persuasive liar, isn't he? Anyway, I think that about does it for his introduction. That's it for the character introductions. So, let's recap. We have: Steel Blade. An earth pony who has spent his days as a street fighter. Robin. A really lazy gryphon. Jay. A pegasus who is quite insane (in a funny way). And Clever Dodge. A genius story writer who appears to be a bit on the cunning side. Quite the line-up of characters we have here, huh? The only thing left to do now is go on with the main story and finish the Prologue. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steel Blade stood, stoic, outside the meeting point he was told to head to. Clever had sent him a message about his employment as a personal guard. Steel knew that wasn't the case. He knew that Clever would have a plan to escape the castle. He always did. Steel couldn't think of how he did it. His little brother always did prefer brains over brawn. Plot twist! Shut up and continue writing! Okay, okay. Jeez! Anyways, yes, little brother. Well, half brother. Confused? let me explain. Make it quick, we have a story to write. Okay. Mummy and daddy are together. Mummy and daddy have a baby. Daddy becomes an abusive drunk. Mummy runs away and marries a rich lord. Mummy and rich lord have a baby. Mummy dies. The end. That looks like a morbid story you would tell a child. You told me to be quick. Nevermind, the guard is coming to escort Steel. Oh yeah. Steel was snapped out his thoughts when he heard someone address him. "Are you Steel Blade?" the guard asked. Steel didn't answer immediately, instead he scanned the guard. Finding no hint of deceit, he answered. "Yeah." The guard nodded and replied "Follow." Steel complied and let the guard lead the way. The trip was quiet and allowed Steel to observe his surroundings. Everything was cleaner than Downtown. The pavement was clear of litter, the buildings weren't covered in grime and the ponies and gryphons around him were dressed in clothing. Most of the high class lords and ladies stole a glance at the new pony among them. They either turned their nose up in disgust or turned to their partner and started whispering to each other about the new arrival. Steel didn't really care about pompous, stuck-up, arrogant, self-centred- For the love of Celestia, just keep writing. Right, okay, fine. In short, he didn't care about posh crowds. Before Steel had time to think about anything else, he was in front of the castle. Most would be in awe, and feel extremely privileged to be standing in front of such a spectacle. But, again, Steel didn't care. "Wait, here, peasant," the guard commanded, as he began heading into the castle. Steel's reply was pretty relaxed. "Whatever," he said. Steel turned around to look at the passers by. Most of them just ignored him. Then came a most peculiar sight. Steel watched as Jay was being dragged into the penitentiary. As he was being dragged away, Jay was whistling some sort of tune to himself. He then noticed Steel standing outside the castle. "Hey Steel!" he shouted. All Steel did was wave back, still confused about what was going on. He then heard one of the guards talking to Jay. "Shut up back there. First the whistling, now you're talking to commoners. Disgraceful." Jay mouthed words as the guard was speaking to him. Presumably mocking what the guard was saying. Jay continued whistling as he was being dragged off into the distance. At that moment, the guard returned. He was accompanied by the steward of the king. "So, my boy. You're the stallion known as Steel Blade?" "Yeah." "Excuse me. I am the steward of the king, and you shall address me as such," "Look, I've never really cared much for any royalty. Much less the king. So, if you don't mind, I would just like to start working," "Hmph, very well. But you would be wise to watch your tongue, boy." The steward led Steel through the castle, all the way to Clever's bedroom door. "Your only duty is to make sure that my son does not get out of the castle. If he comes out of the room for any reason, you are to follow him and make sure he does not try to escape. For a street fighter such as yourself, this job should be fairly easy. Do I make myself clear?" "Whatever." "Good. Now, go and get acquainted with my son. I must return to my...stewarding...duties." Stewarding duties? Seriously? Well how the hell else am I supposed to know what a steward does? In Skyrim they just stand around doing absolutely nothing. The only thing they're good for is buying houses. I think I see your point. Anyway, on with the story. With that strange end to their conversation, the steward walked away. Leaving Steel alone, in front of Clever's bedroom door. He opened the door, to which Clever turned around. Enthusiasticly. "Steel! Haven't seen you in ages." Clever rushed forward to give his half-brother a hug. However, Steel just pushed him away. "Quill, dude, you know how I feel about hugs." "Oh yeah, sorry. It's just that it feels like forever that we haven't seen each other." "I know. We still have to get out of the castle though." "I have a plan for that." "I know you do. You always do." Clever used his unicorn magic and brought over what appeared to be a checklist. He used his magic again and brought over a quill. "Okay, meet Steel, check." As he said that, he flicked the quill across the paper. "What is it with you and check lists?" "I like to be organised, give me a break. Next, we need to meet Robin." Steel looked behind Clever and noticed that Robin was hovering outside the window. "Sup," Robin said. "Well, that was convenient," Clever said. "Um, how long have you been out there?" Steel asked. "Long enough to know that you should check the second step of your plan off the list." "Okay, meet Robin, check. Now, we just need to meet Jay and we can go on with the main section of the plan." "Yeah, that might be a problem," Robin said. "How so?" Clever asked. "He's kinda in jail." "So that's where he was getting pulled off to." "No worries. It's all part of the plan," Clever stated, smugly. "Would it kill you to just let one unexpected thing happen in your plans?" "Well, we don't know that. It still has to happen." Steel face-hoofed as his sarcasm went unnoticed. "So, what is the plan, anyways?" Robin asked. "Well, all we have to do now is get Jay out of jail, creating a prison riot in the process. And then we escape the country," Clever replied. "You make it sound so simple." "That's because it is. The king will be too worried about the prisoners 'desecrating his sacred castle' and divert all his guards to controlling the prisoners." Steel face-hoofed. Because, once again, his sarcasm went unnoticed. "Let's just get on with it," Steel said. Steel, Clever and Robin gathered supplies together and made their way towards the penitentiary. From the outside, the penitentiary looked like a five star hotel. However, that was probably just so it matched the nice-looking area that it was stationed in. "Okay, seeing as how Robin is the only one with clearance to get into this place," Clever said, as he pulled out a letter and handed it to Robin. "That letter contains the code to allow access to the security room, so you can open all the prisoners' cells when we tell you to." "Okay, simple enough. What will you two be doing in the meantime?" "Well, I'll be waiting for you three outside. The guards back at the castle will probably already be looking for me. If not, they soon will. So, I'll be laying low until you get back." "So, what am I doing?" Steel asked. "You will have the difficult task of actually sneaking around the cell blocks. Once Robin makes it to the security room, he'll be tracking you and any incoming guard patrols, and he'll be telling you when and where to move," "And how are we supposed to-" "Communicate with each other? Way ahead of you." Clever reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a book of advanced spells. "Oh, reading a book are we? No worries, we're only trying to escape the country here. There really is no hurry," Robin said. "But there is a hurry. We need to get Jay out of jail, and fast," Clever replied, innocently. "Oh for the love of the ancestors. Do you not understand the meaning of sarcasm?" Steel said. "Sarcasm? I think I've seen that in a book somewh-" "Don't even bother. Just find what you were looking for and let's get out of this ancestors-forsaken country," Steel said. "But, I found it a while ago. You two just kept bombarding me with this 'sarcasm'." "Little brother, I swear to-" "Telepathy." "Telepa- what now?" Robin asked. "It's the spell I'm going to cast on you two," Clever replied. "And what will it do exactly?" Steel asked. "It will enable you two to communicate with each other telepathically." "Yeah, that doesn't exactly answer my-" Steel was cut off by Clever performing his spell on both him and Robin. The spell left them dazed for a little while. "What did that even do?" Steel thought to himself. "Hey, Steel. Would you be so kind as to get out of my head. Or I'm gonna have to ask you to start paying rent," Robin thought-said. "Okay, Clever, you want to explain why me and Robin can hear each other's thoughts?" "First of all, the correct term would be 'Robin and I'." "Quill..." "And second, that's what telepathy is. Telepathy is the ability to use each other's thoughts as a means of communication." "In English, please," Robin said. "But, I am speaking English." "Are you just doing this to annoy us?!" Steel shouted. "Can you explain what you just said, but in simpler terms?" "You can talk to each other using your heads." "Thank you." "So, you're saying that whatever I think, Robin can hear?" "Yes." "Hey, Robin. I was the one who ate the last cookie yesterday." "Oh, you son of a bitch!" Robin shouted. Yeah, I think that's something we have yet to mention. There's swearing in this. But since you're down here, I gather you already know that. Steel laughed as Robin rushed forward in an attempt to strangle him. "Guys, seriously. We have to get this done now." "Why? Do we have a time limit on this telepa- whatever you called it, spell?" Steel said, jokingly. "Yes, actually." Steel and Robin stopped in their tracks and stared at Clever. "You bein' serious, boy?" Robin asked. "Yes." "You're not pulling our legs or anything?" "No." "Oh, well...that's not good." "How long do we have left?" Steel asked. "Well it's been around five minutes since I cast the spell on you two. And it only lasts about half an hour. So, you two have about twenty five minutes to get Jay out of there." "Oh crap." "So, you two better get moving." Robin went into the penitentiary through the gates, saying hello to the gate guard as he did. Steel went off to find a way to sneak in, and Clever went to find a decent place to hide. Steel climbed over the walls in order to get in. Despite the fact that there was barbed wire at the top. By the time he made it fully over the wall, there were more scars marking his coat. More to add to the collection, I guess. Anyway, bottom line is, he made it in and he's a badass. Steel made his way throughout the prison until he reached a heavily guarded cell block. All the while he was playing a sort of secret agent theme in his head. "Remember, I can hear that," Robin thought-said. "Whatever. Have you reached the...room you were told to go to yet?" "Yeah, I actually just got there. Okay, let's see. The code is one-two-three-four." "Did your dad get a five year old to come up with that?" "It's my dad, he could've for all I know." "Hey Steel. Hey Robin." "Wait, what? Jay? How can you talk to us in our heads?" "I don't know about that, but I know how to speak in all italics!" For Celestia's sake, Jay. Stop messing around with the damn script. "Sorry." The guards outside Jay's prison turned to him. "Did you say something, prisoner?" "Nope." Meanwhile, Robin entered the security room, and started guiding Steel towards Jay's cell via the security cameras. "There's still a guard outside Jay's cell." "Oh, I wonder what this button does?" Robin pressed a big blue button that said 'DO NOT TOUCH'. Naturally, Robin touched it. Blue button? Isn't it supposed to be red? Hey, we're not that cliché. Oh yeah. And the 'DO NOT TOUCH' on the button isn't cliché at all? Shut up, don't question me. All right, fine. Anyway, as Robin pressed the button, every cell in the penitentiary unlocked. The prisoners cheered and thanked the ancestors. And then...they went on a riot. Some of the prisoners that Jay was cooped up with rushed forward and beat the guard to death. "Well, I guess that works," Steel said. Before they left, the prisoners that were with Jay shook his hoof and told him that he was possibly the greatest stallion who ever lived, and how happy they were that they got to know him. "What was that all about?" Steel asked. "Oh, I gave all the prisoners harmonicas. You can't have a prison without harmonicas," Jay replied. Steel face-hoofed. "Where did you even get the-. You know what, I'm not even going to ask." "Hey, Steel. I'll meet you back outside," Robin thought-said. "So, any ideas on how we can get out of here alive?" Steel asked. "I've been thinking about that. And I say, we sneak out in a cardboard box." "Are you being serious?" "Yeah." "What kind of idiot sneaks in and out of enemy territory in a damn cardboard box?" "Oh, come on. It'll be fun." "You said that last time, when you hooked us both up with a couple of mares. You ended up going back home with both of them." "Oh yeah, good times." "You got both of them pregnant." "All the more reason to hurry up and get out of the country. Let's go!" "Alright, let's- wait a minute. How did you know about our plan to escape the country?" "Clever told me in his letter. He said for me to get arrested and that it was part of a plan to escape the country." "Oh...well I guess that makes sense. For once." "You bet your blank-flank it does, now get in the box." "This is the worst idea you've ever had." "It'll work, trust me. I know a guy who does it all the time." "I'm not even gonna ask who." As Steel and Jay made their way through the prison...in their box...the shouting and yelling was starting to die down a bit. It sounded like the riot was being put down. "Sounds like we don't have much time," Steel said. "We'll be fine," Jay said. "What makes you say that?" "You're a main character. Nothing bad ever happens to the main character. Well, except in Shakespeare plays." "Shakespeare? What are you talking abou-," Steel was cut off by a guard walking around. The guard walked up to the suspicious-looking box. It was suspicious because it was the only box lying in the middle of the floor...and it was moving and talking. The guard began inspecting the box. "We are so screwed," Steel said. Just then the guard's expression softened. "Must've just been the wind," the guard said as he walked away. "These guards are idiots," Steel said. "I know, now let's move." So, they continued to shuffle along in that little box of theirs and eventually made it out of the penitentiary. Clever and Robin just stared as a box slowly shuffled its way out of the gates, which were unguarded at the moment. Robin hovered over to the box. "For me? Aw, you shouldn't have." He lifted up the box and revealed the two stallions concealed within. Clever walked over and joined the others. "Excellent, now that we're all here, we can get out of the country." "So, how are we going to do that? Blow up the outer walls? Kill every guard we see until we reach the exit?" Steel asked. "No, we go out through the gates. The prison riot has moved downtown," Clever replied. "How nice. C'mon, let's just go." The four of them moved into the downtown area. The place was lined with blood, bodies, partially destroyed buildings and fire. "Wow, these prisoners work fast," Robin said. "It's not just prisoners. Some of the more rebellious townsfolk have been rioting as well," Clever said. Steel walked over to one of the guard's bodies and picked up a Daedric Longsword. Dude! What?! What the hell do you think you're doing?! I thought that would be a cool thing to implement into the story. A sword I can deal with, not that. And besides, you're OC doesn't use weapons. He fights with his fists...or...hooves. Aw, I wanted mine to have a sword. Oh stop being a big baby and do what we agreed to do. Okay. "C'mon, we're wasting time here," Steel said. "Agreed," Clever said. As the group got closer and closer to the border, the sounds of rioting was getting louder. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Robin said. The focus of the riot was at the country's border. "Now can we destroy a wall?" Steel asked. "Well, actually, we can just walk around it. See?" Clever pointed out a route that was conveniently carved out from the riot. "We can just run through there and we're home free." "I don't know why you're saying it was convenient. You're the one that put it there," Jay said. Jay! "Okay, okay. Sorry." "Um, Jay? Who are you talking to?" Robin asked. "Nobody." "Okay. Before we leave, we have to make sure we have everything we need," Clever said. "I have the food and other essentials." "I've got the money that I won from my last fight," Steel said. "I have my dignity," Robin said. "I have...nothing. I just got out of jail," Jay said. "Okay, we're all set. To the border," said Clever. "And towards a new life," Steel said. "Woo-hoo," Robin said, in a somewhat delibarately dull voice. "C'mon Robin, put a bit more enthusiasm into it. Like this. Woooooooooooo-hoooooooooooo!" "You already did it for me, let's go." And so, our "heroes"- "Get rid of the damn quotation marks." For Luna's sake Jay, leave me alone. And so, our heroes made their way through the convenientally laid-out path. And eventually reached the border, and started journeying into the lands of Equestria. "I love it when a plan comes together," Clever said.