An indeterminate amount of time ago
“Is this really what you wanted?”
My mind was not my ally, and so, just like the remainder of my good standing, I cast it out. The thoughts evaporated into lingering clouds that pestered my vision instead as I panted out loud into the cold air.
The sugarcane-green fetlocks below was invaded by a high tide of red, which formed splotches that reminded me of an attacking griffin horde that wanted nothing more than to feast on my rotting body. I recoiled in shock, giving a startled yelp as I tripped over my own hooves and landed with a sloppy splash into the red puddle below.
I knew there was no going back now, and I’ve been telling myself that from the beginning. Ponies will avoid me; hell, they might even banish me from their towns and provinces once they find out I’m a murderer. Unlike the other murderers, however, I was perfectly justified in my cause to kill.
Some might argue that such a cause can never exist; that the value of a single life is too high for any sense of revenge or justice. Who are they to make such a rule in the first place? These are the same ponies who live their life without terrible strife, without a family that claims every damn day that you’re not worth the shit of a pig.
I mulled over my recent crime as I slowly raised myself up to my hooves, shaking the excess blood from my hair and taking off my working clothes. I no longer need these things to tie me down to Sugarcane Valley, the small-time farm my family operates.
I reached up and threw my poor-boy hat onto the brown earth, which earned me a wet slap and a spritz of blood to my face for my efforts. Directly in front of me rested the headless bodies of my father, mother, and big brother. Their names are irrelevant, just like their lives.
Did I feel remorse for my actions? Of course I did. Who could kill the mare and stallion that birthed them into the world and not feel anything? A monster, that’s who.
I didn’t feel anything for my twin brother, however, since he was nothing more than a musclebound braggart with nothing better to do then badmouth my good name and accuse me of being a failed abortion for the twenty years I’ve been alive. This motherfucker earned his spot in the dirt, which is ironically in the spot that was equal to my worth.
A pile of pig shit.
I couldn’t stop myself from giving a small chuckle at that. He was the one who said that in the first place.
Eventually the laughter stopped, and I found myself settling down into the dirt, laying on the soft expanse of my stomach. I reached out a hoof to grab my method of assassination, a recently sharpened combat knife I had picked up from a guy in Manehattan. I placed said weapon back into its sheath on my right leg after I cleaned it in the dirt, giving a sigh as I pushed myself back off the ground.
I turned on my hooves and walked the familiar path back to the homestead with the intent of grabbing a shovel to add to this crop’s manure. Ponies are gonna get suspicious when my mom and pop are found missing, but those are just the brakes on the train I guess.
The dirt of the path acted as a cohesive agent, soaking into the blood on my hooves and coat. A nipping wind battered against the warmth of my body, blowing the pink-grapefruit mane of mine all about, and it made no attempt in stopping the seductive wind’s advances. I squinted to keep most of the cold air out of my eyes, but it was as if each current was given grappling hooks to latch onto the eye skin and hold fast.
My mind eluded me still, but I feel it’s for the best. There’s no doubt in my heart that my mind’s become a dark place now, seeing as how my family is dead.
A couple of tears ran down my face, fleeing the dark thoughts from my mind like escaping victims in a horror film. My heart felt as if it was bucking my lungs, and I was finding it hard to walk straight as the familiar outline of my house came into view past a small clearing of wheat. Ominous black circles betrayed my will in staying awake as I stumbled from the wheat fields and entered the front yard of my farmhouse.
“I’m...so close.” My breaths were becoming slower as the circles expanded slowly, little cracks of black lightning crawling from the masses of darkness to cover my vision quicker. “If only pops had hit me in the temple...I would...be doing better than this.”
My back hooves dragged along the ground now, and I knew that my front hooves weren’t that far behind. I put everything I had into at least reaching the steps, falling face first into the cold embrace of light-green colored wood. My eyes fluttered like a crippling candle’s flame, and it was during this time of exhaustion that my mind decided to find me again.
“Is this really what you wanted, Sugarcane Orchards? You’re a criminal now. You might as well leave and never come back. Going into hiding is your only option now.”
“I...I can’t let him be right!” My response was voiced no higher than a croak of weariness.
“Sugar Stack’s opinion is below you. It’s been that way since forever, and that’s never gonna change.”
“Youse got some nerve...fucking brain.” My retorts are getting weaker and weaker, and my voice was having no problem following the decline.
“We’re one in the same. Don’t talk like we’re not.”
“...Fine.” And my vision and consciousness faded into oblivion.
I came to after what felt like hours later based on my sore neck as my head rested upon the bottom step, leaving my body laying raggedly on the unforgiving earth below. I gave a groan of pain as I stood myself up slowly, also giving a surprised yelp when my body didn’t want to do the same thing and caused me to stumble.
My face almost became reacquainted with the step, but through sheer force of will was I able to destroy that possibility from happening.
Now that I was on my hooves, I took a moment to compose myself before proceeding up the steps and onto the front porch, finding the shovel and...a cloaked figure!?
“What’s all this!? What’re youse doing here!?” I yelled in panic, watching with baited breath as the pony-shaped black figure got off the hammock on the porch from where it had been silently observing me. I backpedaled a step, the old boards creaking under our combined weight as the wood sang a song of protest.
“I saw what you did.” The voice was like that of a grown stallion. I could only make out an ash-grey muzzle and pale-yellow hooves below jagged fetlocks.
His words, however, sent my panic into overdrive. If he truly saw what I did, then he’s a witness to my crime and therefore, has to be snuffed like my family. I drew my sharp knife without a second word, charging the robed figure who offered a smile at my sudden attack.
Before the knife could reach his chest, the figure sidestepped soundlessly and found a way to connect a punch under my chin during the evasive move. My forward motion was halted, all momentum shifting towards my ascent into the air as a little blood and the knife left my mouth. My vision swam with stars as I flipped in the air, my back facing the ground now instead of my butt.
Another blow of otherworldly force slammed into my right side, once again stopping my momentum. From my recently hit side came enough force to send me through the wooden railing of my porch, making cry out in pain as three or four loud snaps came from the hit. I flew for about two seconds before I slammed into the ground like a boulder down a mountain face, rolling uncontrollably in obscene amounts of pain all the while.
I prayed that my body would stop before I ended up rolling into the-
My mouth let loose a constant stream of loud-voiced profanities as my side was introduced to rogue pitchfork that had been laying on its side. The pain was excruciating, but I willed myself to stay awake. I was wincing in pain as the cold metal dug into my flesh like a million frozen daggers, getting a pained hiss from me every so often.
I opened an eye just to find the robed mothefucker from earlier in front of my face.
“Didn’t mean ta kick ya so hard, mate! The knife had me ah little bristled in the bushes, ya know.” His voice suddenly became light, with a strong Ausmarian accent to it.
“...Grgh...Youse a dead stallion...” I growled out but hissed in pain right after.
“Listen ya little blighter, I’m not too big on the chunders, so you better not have the rumbles in ya gut! I can help ya out of this mess, seppo, but I needs a promise from ya’s that guarantees no more attacks. You got a Buckley’s chance of tearing me a new one, mate!” The robed stallion exclaimed happily, slapping a hoof onto his chest and smiling.
My response, of course, was to black out once more.
“...So you ended up bringing a bloody stallion into my cellar?”
“Well I couldn’t leave the bloke to cark it, right? Had to go somewhere!”
“Why not a hospital...Or that shady zebra mare you buy those Celestia-forsaken elixirs from? Did you forget that I run an orphanage here!? I have foals to take care of, and seeing some bloody stallion that’s passed out in the cellar is no good for their psyche!”
“Feeling clucky aren’t we, Mother Salve? Other members of Equinox come here to rest after wrapping up odds and ends! This is one corker of a hideout, and it’s the only place I could think of to bring him!”
“As long as he stays down here, Boomer, I’m sure I can let this transgression go unchallenged. Don’t pull any hogwash like this again, or it’s the O’Natural for you!”
“Crikey! Well, you best be going back to ya joeys upstairs, right? I’ll give this bloke the drum when he comes to.”
“Just make sure you leave no traces of what’s happening down here...and clean up that stallion for Celestia’s sake!”
“Ace! You can count on me, Mother Salve!”
“I bid thee good day then, Boomer.”
This conversation acted as the crane that wrenched my consciousness out of the abyss, making me blink rapidly and drop my jaw wearily. I was laying on some type of cold surface, but based on the way I felt my back hooves dangle, I can say that I’m on some type of cot or bed.
Surprisingly enough, my ribs and stab wound were absent of pain, making me question if I even had those injuries to begin with.
“Holey dooley! You’re a tough little blighter! Good onya, getting up as early as you did!”
“I can’t stand too much of that accent! Where the fuck am I!?”
“Woah there, skipper! I see tha’ panic written all over ya face! You gotta come off it, mate.”
I looked over my shoulder as my nerves begun to relax, for I had briefly entertained the thought that this motherfucker had dragged me down into his basement to cut me up. I don’t trust him too much, but I’m guessing he’s the one that dressed my wounds if the bloody bandages are anything to go by.
“...What do youse want from me? I ain’t got nothin to give but my name and breath!” I called out angrily, which brought the stallion into my field of vision quickly. He raised a hoof to his mouth and shushed me harshly, a glare from his cloudy white eyes accompanying the gesture.
“Woah, woah, woah, mate! She’ll be right, she’ll be right! No need to spit the dummy, you drongo! We’re above an orphanage, and it’s the little joey’s and sheila’s naptime right about now.” The stallion whispered harshly, making me wince at the noxious cloud of alcohol that spewed from his mouth.
“I have every right ta scream, ya bonehead! You practically mmpghm grgnnmm-” I was silenced by an ash-grey hoof that was shoved into my mouth in front of my teeth. I was thinking about biting him, but then again I don’t know what kind of fucking diseases this bum had.
“That bite of yours is about as useful as teets on a bull! Settle down, ya’ whacka!” The stallion whispered harsher than before, practically grinding the words out from his teeth. I glared at him, but his face didn’t change to respond to my look, which made me piece two and two together.
“Gret yoor huuph oot mah moof, mahte!” My demand was understood, and the stallion reluctantly removed his hoof from my mouth like I asked. I turned my head and spat a mixture of sweat, dirt, and spit onto the ground in disgust before turning my head to look at him again.
Now that the robe was removed, I could see everything this stallion wore. He had a soft face that matched his young voice, and his physique for a pegasus was huge. I mean, my pops won the Manehattan Iron Pony Competition two years straight, and I still think this dick had more muscle on him than my own pops! It wasn’t as extravagant as I I’m making it sound, but damn was he leaner than the bulls on our farm!
His ash-grey wings were folded on top of a white button-up shirt with black buttons.Two of the three buttons were fastened, but the top one was left untouched, which made his collar stick up like he was some sort of delinquent in those Neighpon comic books the nerds read in the coffee shops around Manehattan. His shirt dipped into a pair of dark-tan cargo shorts that stopped immediately below his knees.
Inclining my head back so that we were looking at each other, I noticed the dark-brown bush hat that sat atop his messy white locks.
As if noticing me checking him out, the stallion raised an eyebrow. “There a reason you crackin onto me, mate?”
“What the hell does that even mean!? Fucking aussies...” I thought with some venom as I shook my head rapidly before glaring at him.
“Can youse step-off, man? You’re kinda in my space right now.”
“I want your name first.” His reply was quick, and I did a double take when it assaulted my ears.
“Sugarcane Orchards, now get off,” I responded just as quick as he did, getting the stallion to back off like I wanted. Once he was out of my field of vision, I sat up onto my hooves and jumped off the cot he had laid me on amidst my unconscious slumber. “Two things: who the hell are you, and where the hell are we?”
“In a church-turned-orphanage, mate. It’s ran by Mother Salve, and she takes care of all the little tykes that run around upstairs. I can’t tell you my name unless you join me in an organization.” That last sentence he left hanging, like it was gonna get me to ask for more information...
...It did.
“Uh, what’s this organization youse talking about?” I turned away from looking at the darkness surrounding us, leaving my attempts at figuring out what lied beyond that veil of abyss. The only light in this room was from a swinging light bulb over my cot. My eyes locked onto his as I sat down.
“Equinox. I can’t say anything else, less the boss gets up my freckle. Last time he did that, I could see him doing it.” He tapped his eyes for emphasis, making me wince and back away a little bit.
“This is the weirdest shit that’s ever happened to me. I live on small-time sugarcane farm, so getting fucked up and then kidnapped is a little new to me. Well, killing my fam’ is new too.” I said with minor shock at how easily those last few words rolled off my tongue.
“Too right, mate; now, do you want to join Equinox or what? You say no, and you’re gonna have to cark it. Can’t let anyone know I exist, after all.” My eyes widened as the stallion spoke his claim like there was nothing to it, as if he’s done some fucked up shit like that everyday since he was born.
“Youse serious!? Hey, come on now!” I began backing up, but I nearly shat myself as he chuckled and followed me with a cocksure smile on his face.
“Well, let’s have it then! Whataya say, mate?”
“Holy shit! He’s gonna kill me off in this dusty-ass orphanage, in this dinky-ass basement, surrounded by all this damn darkness! I don’t wanna be offed by some weird-ass aussie fucker in a basement! I’m...I’m gonna accept!” My eyes felt like they were gonna go off on vacation, but they had good reason to leave, what with the way that stallion whipped my combat knife out from the baggy pocket on the left side of his shirt.
“Ere we go, mate~!”
“I’ll join! I’LL JOIN!” My screaming assent caused the stallion to pause before he threw the knife at me, which made me scream in terror as it sliced into my left shoulder blade.
“Bound by blood, it is! Alrighty then, mate, name’s Boomer! Welcome to Equinox!” He stated happily as I hissed in pain while glaring at him.
“Youse fucking threw a knife at me! How the fuck is that an initiation!?” My retort was ignored by Boomer, for he promptly turned towards the darkness and cupped his hooves around his muzzle.
“He accepted, blokes! Why dontcha show the joey why it was good for him to give Equinox a burl!” Boomer exclaimed as the rest of the long basement revealed itself to me in the bright flash of thirteen or so light bulbs turning on.
“This is a fucking nightmare.” My voice was weaker than normal as I looked on in disbelief, the robed figures of ponies, diamond dogs and griffins making themselves known in the light. All of them proceeded to raise a glass filled with-
“Oi, you fucking bogans! Save some of the piss for me,” Boomer interrupted, making me turn my wide eye gaze on him as he proceeded over to one of the tables and sat down, grabbing a mug that was filled to the brim with frothing lager, based on its color, and gulped it down in four seconds flat!
“Now that’s how you skull the piss, mates! Get over here, drongo, and have a go at these coldies!” Boomer turned away from looking at me, yelling at a red mare in a maid’s outfit to get him more booze.
“By Celestia’s ass and snatch, these fuckers are insane!” I whispered to myself in a scared manner. I got up, grabbed and pulled my combat knife out with my teeth, and carried myself and the knife over to Boomer’s table. The blind fucker didn’t see me coming as the waitress came in between me and him, but he definitely felt me sit down by the way I practically crashed my ass onto the cushion below.
“Oi, Shirley Temple, how bout a round for the greenhorn, eh?” Boomer’s request caused the red mare with deeper red mane to roll her fuschia eyes before turning around, taking on a face of surprise, letting said face wilt, and adopt a look of seduction. She winked before stepping away, and I’m not afraid of admitting that I followed her gait all the way to the bar, which was being run by a tan stallion with a greasy black pencil moustache and combed-back mane.
Said stallion conversed with Shirley for a moment, looked back to me, frowned like I hit the mare he just talked to, and went to work filling up a glass mug with lager from a barrel and nozzle. I let my head turn around to face Boomer, knowing that my booze was on its way.
“Not to rain on your booze parade, bozo, but what the hell is all this shit?” My rude way of asking was ignored as Boomer downed his fourth mug of lager and wiped his mouth with a hoof.
“Many blokes call this place ‘Refuge’, but I call it ‘The Down Under’. Whatevs’, right?” I opened my mouth to intervene, but he was too quick with his next sentence. “Oh, and mind you none that horrible scene at your home, mate. I buried them good, and here’s some proper advice too,” Boomer began as he indicated for me to move closer, to which I obliged. “Give up on that farm. You don’t look the roll, and you don’t fit the mold. I come from the Never Never, and I know a lot more about farming than you ever will.”
I harrumphed and sat back, crossing my front hooves over my chest and blowing a stray bang of pink-grapefruit mane out of my face. “Whatevs’, ya fool. It’s not like I can stay here forever, and everyone in Manehattan’s marketplace knows me by name! I can’t get away from this crime and you know it!” My angry retort caused Boomer to roll his eyes.
“Then you come up with a codename and dress up in the robes. My real name ain’t Boomer, mate, that’d be stupid. It’s my Equinox codename, and I suggest you get yourself one...and a new dagger too. That thing you got’s bloody bodgy.” Boomer, after saying his piece, put his hoof on one of the seven mugs Shirley apparently brought him and downed another one, giving the loudest belch I’ve ever heard soon after.
I grimaced in disgust as memories of my brother belching in my face when I was little sprung forth from my mind.
“Don’t mind Boomer none, sugah.” The silky smooth voice of a mare came up from my left side, revealing itself soon after to be Shirley Temple’s fine-ass. She had a ‘southern belle’ type of speech, which was only made more pretty by the fact she was about twenty-one, which is my age. “He can be a bit...uncouth sometimes. Oh! Here’s ya lager, honey.” Her red horn lit up in fuchsia magic as she levitated down in front of me.
“Thanks. The name’s-” I was immediately hit in the face by what felt like a glass mug, making me fall back while shooting my front hooves all about in order to grab something with the intent of stopping myself. I grabbed something soft. yanked it, and was promptly assaulted with the biggest red plot ever.
“Ah!” Shirley’s yelp of surprise was blocked out as she sat on my face, giving me an eyeful of red and white horizontally-striped panties.
I’ve had my fair share of naughty comics hidden under my bed, but reality destroys every fantasy that may have popped up over the years. My face heated up as Shirley got off of me, apologizing profusely and giving overexaggerated bows of repentance before slapping Boomer in the back of the head. She then strutted off with her nose in the air and a massive blush that bled through her face.
“Why the fuck would youse do that, fucking aussie faggot,” I roared in outrage, hearing the stallion give a couple guffaws of laughter before downing another pint. “She was obviously hitting on me, and it’s been a while since my first crush!” I picked myself up from the floor, grabbing the knife in my mouth as I did so.
I threw it at Boomer’s side of the table, watching the good-sized dagger embed itself into the black wood of the table right in front of Boomer’s mug. He raised an eyebrow before taking the knife in his own teeth, applying pressure, then shattering it like it was the easiest thing in Equestria to do.
My mouth, of course, hit the table in disbelief as he spat the metal fragments onto the table.
“I don’t believe in big-noting yourself, but my chompers are built tougher than most steel out there! Better think twice before throwing me your weapon, mate.” Boomer tapped the side of his head with a hoof, a smug grin on his face as he did so. This made me snarl.
“Go fuck yourself with a cactus.”
“Ha! ‘With a cactus’, he says! Shut ya trap, ya drongo, and come up with a nickname. That’s why I had to knock ya rocker earlier, because you almost gave up your government!” Boomer finished as he knocked back the last of his mugs, giving another belch of satisfaction.
“Stealth.” My response caused the stallion to do a spit-take with his amber liquid, wiping his maw with a front hoof as he promptly fell out laughing.
“You’re about as stealthy as a shag on a rock, whacker!”
“I’m sticking with it, you numbfuck. Now let me at least drink my lager in peace.” My response caused the stallion to laugh even harder, making me give another snarl of annoyance before I inserted my hoof through the handle of the mug and lifted it off the table to my mouth, which I then opened to let the amber alcohol fall into my mouth. The warmth traveled down my throat, and I began feeling a little light headed when I finished, slamming the mug down with an exhale of satisfaction.
“It has a fair ring to it, Stealth.” Boomer announced without his usual luster, making me raise an eyebrow at him.
“Something on your mind, Boomer?” My question hung in the air like a fog cloud, making Boomer shiver at it uncontrollably.
“Shivers, mate! I was just thinking about the piece of work you’re gonna have to meet later on. He’s the best in Equinox with sharp weapons, and if you want a good dagger and trainer, that’s your bull.” Boomer explained before getting up and walking towards the bar. I followed his path just to see him pass by Shirley Temple as she made her way over to me.
“Sorry about earlier, sugah. Didn’t mean to put my mother’s inheritance in your face like that.” I was put off by her statement- or odd attempt at a joke -but I breezed past it for her, helping to alleviate the awkward air around us as she sat next to me.
“Don’t worry about it! It was nice!” I immediately slapped my hooves over my mouth and widened my eyes, turning my head to face Shirley whose expression nearly caused my heart to blow into tiny bits and pieces.
“Did...Did you really just say that?” Her face was one of pure bewilderment, making me wince.
“Uh...yeah?” I tried with in hopes of alleviating that face.
“Oh, thank you!” I was wrapped up in a hug by the mare. “Everyone else thinks it’s too big, and that I might be a distant relative of Princess Celestia because of that fact! You’ve made me so happy!” As she said this, I tried raising a hoof to return the embrace but ran into squishy resistance.
My blush only deepened as I figured out what I just frisked. I decided to force my way through the fit but gelatinous expanse of flank to hug her back, which she sighed into.
“I’ve never gotten a hug from another stallion besides my father. It feels nice. Oh, and Boomer said to go in the back to meet your new trainer, sugah.” Shirley Temple let me go, gave me a peck on the cheek, smiled cutely and flitted her long eyelashes, then got up and left after picking up my mug in her magic.
I watched that ass like a hawk as it sashayed away, and I nearly choked on my breath as she looked back at me with a knowing grin.
“She knows she’s bad! Woo!” I thought happily before she pointed at an all black door past the tables. I nodded, smiled, and waved at her as I got up and made my way through the sea of tables and robed figures. They looked at me, some of them even laughing as I finally reached the door and opened it, coming into a room that was lit by a candle-covered chandelier.
The red light flickered back and forth, and I could just barely make out the hulking form of a diamond dog in the center of the brown flooring. The light glinted off the broadsword it had placed in front of its legs, and his husky inhales and exhales made my coat stand out as electricity coursed through my nerves.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the metal door shut loudly behind me, a loud clamor ringing out in the room that made all the lights go out. The only sound was the draft and my breathing, for I could no longer hear the diamond dog.
I walked forward only to have my neck slap something cold and metallic, and I nearly screamed like a bitch when the candles came back on to reveal the diamond dog from earlier looming over me with his broadsword in my neck.
“What pony want?” I took in his chestnut fur and hazel eyes as the hulking broadsword, which would be a claymore to a pony, seemed ready to take my life if I even blinked the wrong way.
“B-b-boomer said you could teach me how to use daggers!? H-he a-also said that I could pick up a better weapon from you as well!” At my exclamation of fear, the diamond dog raised an eyebrow and withdrew his blade, only to make me yell as he stabbed me right above the shoulder blade.
I was going to scream in pain, but my face betrayed my curiosity as to why I wasn’t feeling it. The sword was pinning me to the door by my shoulder blade, yes, but there was no feeling.
“I have gift with weapons. I stabbed between nerves. No pain,” The diamond dog explained expertly. “Boomer sent you? Asshole, he is. Dog can’t train alone these days. Bah, come pony, you’ve much to learn about blades.” He pulled the sword out of my shoulder blade and turned on his heel, walking back to the center of the too silently for something his size.
I’m four foot seven, and this guy was like half of me stacked atop myself.
“What’s your name?” My voice, like my face from earlier, betrayed my fear.
“Blade. I am blade and blade is me.” Blade explained while sitting down, making me raise an eyebrow before I rubbed at my sore shoulder.
“I’m...Stealth. It’s nice to meet you.”
“We begin training soon. Rest.” Blade commanded as if my previous sentence was irrelevant, but his voice was commanding enough to make me do what he said.
“What the fuck have I gotten myself into?” I thought in despair as I sat down and leaned against the metal door, the cold substance chilling me through my coat.
With all that’s happened today, it didn’t really surprise me when I fell unconscious quicker than I had expected myself to.