//------------------------------// // Flashback part one: fun at Manehatten // Story: Remembering a grim past. // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// ________*Manehatten hotel Vinyl Scratch and Storm Blitz's room*_______ Storm opened his eyes slowly to wake up in a bed, confused he slowly sat up to get a better look at his surroundings. He was inside a hotel room to be sure, possibly a Manehatten one due to the interior.....and the smell. There was two doors, one he guessed lead outside the room the other to the bathroom, he looked to his left and saw a sleeping Vinyl Scratch who was mumbling something in her sleep. Storm sighed as he stood up then walked to the bathroom. _______*the bathroom*______ Storm walked over to the mirror and looked at himself. He was covered in dirt from head to hoof and the bottom of his hooves were stained with blood, his wings were now ruffled and some feathers were gone, perhaps the thing that shocked him most was his eyes. Instead of having their usual colors they were now that of a normal pony's....only his eyes were now purple, instead of his eyes being just fully discolored blood red and forest green. Storm sighed and turned on the sink to wash his eyes. After he washed his eyes he turned on the shower and got inside it. As the water covered Storm the dirt was washed away and the blood started to come off Storm began to wonder. "Why would Vinyl risk her life for me? this makes me wonder if there is such a thing as a 'good' unicorn, Vinyl might be an okay unicorn, but I can't risk it, I cant just abandon my comrades, but I'm beginning to change my opinion of unicorns, even if its only Vinyl. " _______*two minutes later*_______ Storm stepped out of the shower and walked over to the mirror. He sighed as he looked at the mirror, he then vomited in the sink much to his surprise, he looked and saw that he vomited blood. Storm quickly looked up and was breathing heavily, he then rubbed his forehead in confusion. "Oh come on!" He cursed silently. Storm was now irritated until he just chuckled at the irony."heh, I overdid it again, I have to take it easy for a while, no eye powers for a bit." he decided. Storm walked out of the bathroom. ________*the bedroom*________ Storm walked into the room and walked over to his bed and sat down. "great.....three weeks or one year, then I can return, and of course I can use my eye powers." He thought. As Storm pondered his next move Vinyl started to wake up. Storm heard Vinyl wake up so he walked over to a nearby table then picked up Demise and then sat down and started to chant. Vinyl groaned and rubbed her forehead then slowly opened her eyes. She heard a voice speaking in an unknown language so she sat up, she saw Storm sitting in front of his bed holding his dagger Demise and was chanting. Vinyl stood up quietly not wanting to disturb him and she walked over to the table where all of their equipment was at and picked up her shades. She stared at her shades for a while before putting them on the table and picking up her new 'gun' Bullet Bill. Vinyl walked over to her bed and began inspecting the gun. As she inspected the gun she saw Storm staring at her out of the corner of her eye and she looked at him. Storm for one did look different, his eyes were now normal and they were now purple, but what shocked her was the fact that his coat was now gray and his mane and tail were white on one end and darkened until it was black at the other. Vinyl smiled. "Well well look who got a new look." She said teasingly. Storm looked at her in confusion but looked at his hoof when Vinyl pointed at it and stared in shock. "Heh, I haven't looked like this in a long time.....it feels good though." Storm said. Vinyl chuckled then stood up and walked over to the table and put Bullet Bill down while grabbing her hidden blade. The blade itself 'is' called a hidden blade, in fact there aren't many left, perhaps four, maybe six, definitely two......the blade was now bloody and the trigger to release the blade was jammed, she walked over to her bed and began repairs. Storm stood up and sheathed Demise under his wing and then grabbed the 'grenade launcher' as he called it and inspected it. "ok, two grenades and the launcher barrel has a hole in it, I wont be able to fire it until I fix it, unless I want to lose a leg" He thought as he started to fix it. Vinyl had paused fixing the blade and set it down on the bed then walked into the bathroom. _________*one hour later Manehatten streets*_________ Vinyl and Storm walked through the vast streets of Manehatten, they had agreed that they would stay until they were sure that they were not being hunted, and also the fact that Storm said something about having to wait a year until he could return home, but he seemed to be alright. Vinyl however was conflicted, sure she had enough bits in Manehatten to live here for a year because of her work, but she didn't have any time restrictions like Storm, she could leave at any time but Storm......well he was stuck here for a whole year for some reason. She looked over at Storm who was walking beside her....he was looking at the sights as it would seem to any others but in truth she could tell that he was keeping an eye out for anypony searching for them. Vinyl tapped Storm on the shoulder causing him to jump. "Storm you have to calm down, those apothecary's don't know what you look like now, besides we probably did enough damage to them they cant spare any guards to hunt us....ok?" Vinyl said reassuringly. Storm stared at Vinyl before sighing and shaking his head. "Fine but if we get captured I'm blaming you....now come on I want to get my debt out of the way." Storm replied. Vinyl chuckled as they continued on their way. "Hey Vinyl I'll be right back." Storm said to Vinyl while walking towards an alley. Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?" She asked. Storm pointed towards an alley and started walking towards it. Vinyl sighed and continued walking towards her destination. _______*two minutes later inside the alley*________ Storm walked through the alley and quickly heard some trash cans clanging behind him. He turned around to see a group of gang members. Storm chuckled, four in total, three unicorns and an earth pony, too easy. "Ok kid, you have two options, one you give us everything you have.....or two, we take it by force." The Earth pony said. The three unicorns levitated lead pipes as if to threaten. Storm smirked and began hovering and then shrugged. "Come and get it then you weaklings." Storm taunted while unsheathing Demise. Two of the unicorns teleported to two opposite sides of Storm while the earth pony stood behind him and the other unicorn attempted to immobilize Storm with his magic. Storm laughed as the magic bounced of his body as his runes activated, he then charged and stabbed the earth pony in the shoulder dislocating it entirely. He proceeded to fly up to one of the lead pipe wielding unicorns and double kick him hard enough to shatter the unicorns spine killing him instantly. The two remaining unicorns tried to combine their magic to immobilize Storm but it failed entirely. Storm laughed insanely as he threw demise right between one of the unicorns eyes. He then flew up and grabbed Demise before flying up to the last unicorns face and smirked as he picked him up off the ground. "You know, Equestria has an enormous weakness, it relies WAY too much on magic, and the same goes for unicorns, if I didn't know any better id say that the unicorn oppression is still out and about, but no its not, oh and by the way for attacking me....you die." Storm told the unicorn with hate. Storm plunged Demise into the unicorns heart and he flew down. He then searched the small gangs saddlebags for money and he got lucky. "forty bits huh?, well it looks like I did the city a favor." Storm said putting the bits inside his saddlebags, he then walked out of the alley. ________*five minutes later at a Manehatten liquor store*________ Vinyl leaned against the wall while waiting for Storm, she sighed. "hurry up, I don't want to stay here all day, besides I got a gig tonight." Vinyl complained mentally. She heard somepony clear their throat and turned around to see Storm smirking at her. Storm held out some bits. "Here this this should be enough for you to get a bottle, oh and get me a drink will you, one bottle for me and one for you." He said. Vinyl raised an eyebrow at him. "But your not old enough to drink." She replied. Storm walked towards the apartment. "So?" He countered while walking away. Vinyl sighed as she entered the store to purchase the drink. _______*later that day at the apartment.*________ Vinyl waited impatiently by the apartment door as Storm finished cleaning Demise. "Hurry up or ill leave you behind." She said impatiently. Storm sighed as he sheathed Demise and sheathed Bullet Bill as well. He walked over to Vinyl and smirked. "Come on its only day one and I haven't even drank any of that stuff you got me, don't be so mad at me, I have not done anything to you yet." Storm replied. Vinyl sighed and shook her head. "Alright fine you win, lets just go." She said walking out of the door. Storm chuckled and followed after her. "Hey by the way why did you want me to bring Bullet Bill along?" He asked. Vinyl looked at him. "Well for one its nice to have something to defend myself with." She replied. Storm shrugged and continued walking next to her. Vinyl just sighed and put her shades on. "Ok Storm just so you know we do not use my real name tonight, tonight until we get back you call me Dj Pon Three alright?" She asked getting a nod from Storm. Storm sighed as he stopped and closed his eyes. Vinyl turned around. "Storm what is it?" She asked. Storm sighed. "I am so going to regret this." He said opening his eyes to reveal his now forest green eyes. Vinyl was shocked, Storm had told her that if he used his eye powers he could end up wounding himself for days.....not to mention the fact that she found out about what he vomited earlier. She said nothing and continued walking. _______*ten minutes later Manehatten night club*_____- Vinyl walked up to the club bouncer and was let in. Storm went to follow when the bouncer blocked him. "Sorry kid no entry." He said. Vinyl leaned over to the bouncer's ear. "Look buddy he is here for my protection, not that I normally need it but if you don't let him pass I cant imagine what you will look like when they find you after he is done with you, just a thought." She said walking inside. The bouncer did not budge but soon found himself acquainted with the ground. Storm had knocked the bouncer to the ground and raced inside. The bouncer stood up with a mind to kill when he noticed ponies getting in line to go inside, he sighed and continued to do his job. "when that kid comes out....he is dead." He thought. ______*inside the club*______ Vinyl was setting up the sound system inside the club while Storm was at the bar. Storm was not annoyed by the fact that Vinyl did not want his help with the sound system, he understood as he did not know how to set it up anyhow. Earlier Vinyl had asked him what music he liked, Storm told her country was the only music he could actually listen to, she asked him what instrument he said banjo, Vinyl had insisted he hear her type of music and that she would not take no for an answer. After a few moments of discussion Vinyl managed to convince the bartender not to kick Storm off the bar as long as he did not cause trouble, Storm replied with. "No matter what I do trouble finds me, i'll try not to cause trouble barkeep." In his exact words. After what felt like five more minutes Vinyl had the entire setup complete and was ready to play. Vinyl pulled out a record and set it on the turn table and began to play.....loudly. Storm was startled at first but soon found himself liking the music, he soon found his rear hooves moving with the music against his will. Not too long afterwards the place began to fill with ponies, Storm was not startled or surprised by this, because there was alcohol, music, a dance floor and for those with sorrow.....a dark corner. ________*a few minutes later*________ Storm was now dancing to the music, the best part of these places was that nopony would notice you, unless your a colt in a night club, he noticed that some were staring at him but he paid them no mind, the best part for Storm was that the music was not affecting his detection eyes. Vinyl noticed Storm having a good time and smiled. "I see that you are having fun." Vinyl said to herself. _______*one hour later at the bar*_______ Vinyl had stopped playing the music as a new dj was playing music now, so Vinyl walked over to the bar and sat down. Storm had noticed her at the bar and sat down next to her. "Ok so you were right that Is some great music." Storm said. Vinyl looked at him and grinned like a mad pony. "I told you so, I knew you would like it." She replied. Storm nodded. "Yep I think it beats country music, also, I can see why you like playing the music though, not for yourself no, I think you do it to make the crowd happy." He prodded. Vinyl chuckled. "Am I really that easy? oh well its nothing." She replied before ordering a drink. Storm leaned on the bar then heard a soft thud to his right. Vinyl looked to her right and saw a brown stallion. "Can I help you?" She asked. The stallion opened his mouth like he would say something but closed it quickly and started to ramble quietly to himself. Storm got a better look at the stallion. The stallion had a brown coat a darker brown mane and tail an hourglass cutie mark and blue eyes. "Um, oh! yes that was what I was going to say, duck!" He shouted as he pushed Vinyl and Storm to the ground as a large metal pipe flew over their heads as all of the patrons started screaming. Vinyl landed hard on her shoulder and Storm on his back. "How did I not see that!" Storm yelled. "Probably because you weren't looking in that direction." The stallion replied. Storm stood up as did the stallion and Vinyl. Vinyl rubbed the shoulder that she fell on. "Actually it is weird, Storm was supposed to see it coming." She said. Storm rubbed his eyes. "Its either I was too distracted by our conversation or my eye powers are to dull, either way I should revert my eyes to normal." He said reverting his eyes to normal. The stallion stared at him for a moment before turning around to see a group of six guards. "Oh hello." The stallion said cheerfully. Vinyl and Storm recognized them immediately and Vinyl took her gun and aimed it at the guards. Storm unsheathed Demise and got ready for battle. The stallion however lowered Vinyl's gun and leaned in. "Run." He whispered. The guards charged and Storm, Vinyl and the stallion ran off. _______*outside*_______ Vinyl, Storm and the stallion ran out of the club and ran down an alley and the guards followed. Storm suddenly stopped. "What the hell am I doing?" He asked himself as he turned to face the guards. Vinyl and the stallion stopped and turned around. "What are you doing?" The stallion asked. Storm smirked as he charged the guards and killed three of them by cutting off their heads. Vinyl just realized how stupid she was and fired her gun at one of the guards killing him instantly. Storm stabbed another guard in the heart and Vinyl shot the last one. "Ok that was easy." Storm said. Vinyl chuckled. "Yep, ok now you." She paused as she turned to face the stallion while reloading her gun. The stallion now had a look of anger on his face. "You didn't have to kill them!" He yelled. Storm walked over to the two. "Yes we did." He replied. Vinyl sighed. "Your not helping Storm." She said. Storm looked at the stallion. "Whatever, now then, who are you?" He asked the stallion. "I'm the Doctor, just the Doctor." He replied. Storm raised an eyebrow at him but sighed and sheathed Demise. "Ok Doctor, perhaps now you could explain yourself, I'm not exactly patient." He said. "Fine the reason that you did not have to kill them was because we needed them to tell us why they attacked." The Doctor replied. Vinyl chuckled and started walking towards the apartment. "We already know why they attacked, but I didn't expect them to attack so soon." She said. Storm followed Vinyl. "If you want to know more follow, if not stay out of the way." He told the Doctor. The Doctor sighed and began to follow the two. "You know that the gun is not supposed to be in this land for say, one hundred years right?" The Doctor said to Vinyl. Vinyl chuckled. "Good then I'm ahead for an entire century." She replied. ______*twenty minutes later at the apartment*______ Storm entered the apartment and immediately threw his saddlebags on the floor under the table and then pulled out Demise and kneeled in front of his bed and started chanting. Vinyl walked inside and set her shades and gun down on the table. The Doctor walked up to the table and examined it. One grenade launcher two shells one gun with an eight bullet clip, forty eight total bullets, a hoof blade, two wing blades, an instruction list for the gun, two pairs of saddlebags, the dagger Storm has and a pair of purple shades. The Doctor was now confused. "What do you need all of this for? and what do you mean you know why they attacked you?" He asked. Vinyl and Storm turned around to look at the Doctor who had pulled out a strange metal rod and was now pointing it at their equipment. "Well for one that stuff is for our protection and two, those guards were sent to capture me and Storm.....and we have no intention of going back there." Vinyl replied. "Ok my turn, what is that thing?" Storm asked. The Doctor looked at him and pointed at the device receiving a nod from Storm. "Its a sonic screwdriver." He replied as though it were obvious. Storm just shrugged and went back to chanting. Vinyl however rubbed her eyes and stood up then walked over to the Doctor. "So why did you help us?" Vinyl asked. The Doctor shrugged. "Because I'm curious." He replied. Vinyl raised an eyebrow at him and went to ask him a question when the Doctor beat her to it. "Its my turn, so what is he doing?" The Doctor asked while walking over to Storm and activating his screwdriver. "If you must know I'm chanting, it helps calm me down, it also renews my runes." Storm replied while not even looking at the Doctor. The Doctor was looking at his sonic screwdriver with confusion and excitement. "This is incredible, what species are you?" The Doctor asked Storm who looked at him with an insulted look on his face. "Uh, i'm a Pegasus duh, and Vinyl is a unicorn so don't go asking her that." Storm replied. The Doctor was busy pointing his device at Vinyl to ask that question. "Very very odd, apparently you two are a fixed point, though I don't know why." He said. Vinyl slapped him. "Make sense already!" She ordered. The Doctor nodded and lowered his head and then began thinking before he looked up. "Ok then so why are those guards tying to capture you two?" He asked. "Its because we are their escaped test subjects and we have no interest in going back." Storm said standing up. Storm walked up to the table and pointed at him and Vinyl's equipment. "Also me and Vinyl decided too....'liberate' this stuff from them when we left, although I think they made me insane, not that I wasn't already but still." He added. The Doctor was now excited beyond belief. "Oh that's why your not registering as Pegasus and unicorn." The Doctor said. Vinyl shook her head. "Nope we weren't normal even before we were test subjects, take me for example, I go blind for a whole month every five months, and him.....well I actually don't know." She said. Storm shrugged. "So what? I'm a werewolf nothing special." He stated. The Doctor was now more excited. "Oh this is magnificent, its not often that you meet a werewolf, well especially since they are all but gone now, so how exactly did you get to the point where you go blind?" He asked Vinyl. Storm sighed and went to the bathroom. Vinyl shrugged. "How does anyone get sick at all? basically I did something stupid, but I'm thankful about one thing though, ever since it happened my hearing and general senses were improved, so what if I go blind for two months out of twelve, I feel more sorry for Storm though." She replied sadly. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked. Vinyl sighed and walked over to her bed and sat down. "For one he is stuck here for an entire year, me however I could leave at any time I want, but I'm going to stick around until then." She replied. The Doctor sat down on Storm's bed. "And why is that?" He asked. "It's because he needs my help even if he doesn't realize it......he also reminds me of somepony I knew, and...well, nevermind." Vinyl said trying to avoid the subject. The Doctor however was going to prod. "Who does he remind you of?" He asked. Vinyl chuckled. "A mare I knew a long time ago, her name was Prowler, heh she was a fun mare, she told me not to use her real name so you are not getting it out of me, she was fun though....in more ways then one, but she disappeared after her son went missing from the hospital." She explained. The Doctor was curious so he sat down next to Vinyl. "What happened?" He asked. Vinyl sighed. "I don't know, she told me that when she went to take her son home from the hospital he was just gone, I never saw her son, I couldn't make it to Cloudsdale fast enough, she did tell me her son's name though." She said. The Doctor was now listening. "What was his name then?" He asked politely. "She told me his name was Risky....I don't know what he looked like, she never said." Vinyl replied. The Doctor shot up. "Well then how would you like to find him? He asked. Vinyl raised an eyebrow and Storm came out of the bathroom. "What's up?" Storm asked. Vinyl chuckled. "The Doctor is asking us if we want to search for an old friend's foal, that is impossible we don't know what he looks like or where he is, we don't even know if he has a different name." She replied. The Doctor smiled. "Do you want to see how we can find him?" He asked. Vinyl and Storm decided to humor him. "Fine but we are going out armed." Storm said. The Doctor shrugged. "Come on then." He said leaving the room. Vinyl and Storm sighed and began to equip themselves. ______*ten minutes later at one of Manehatten's alleyways.*_______ The Doctor walked up to a big blue box and leaned against it. Vinyl and Storm just looked at him. "Ok where is your method?" Vinyl asked. The Doctor pointed at the box, and then opened a door and walked inside. "Its here!" He called from inside. Storm sighed and walked over to the door and opened it....his jaw dropped. "Vinyl you have got to see this." Vinyl walked up to Storm and looked inside the box, her reaction was the same as Storm's. "Well come on you coming inside or not?" The Doctor asked. Vinyl and Storm shared a look before entering the box. _______*inside the blue box*________ Vinyl walked up to the middle of the room in awe. "Its bigger on the inside....then it is on the outside." She said not really believing it herself. Storm was just looking around. "What is this place? He asked. The Doctor smiled. "Its called the TARDIS, T.A.R.D.I.S, it stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space." He replied. Storm just chuckled before clutching his side screaming in pain. Vinyl and the Doctor rushed over to Storm who was chuckling. "Oops I overdid it again, no more eye powers for a year for me." He said before coughing up blood. Vinyl picked him up and moved him over to a nearby bench while the Doctor grabbed a bucket out of nowhere. "What's wrong with you?" The Doctor asked. Storm coughed up some more blood before smirking. "It's a side effect of my eye powers, if I overuse them for too long this starts happening, nothing to worry about, as long as I don't use them for a year I will be just fine." He explained. Vinyl sighed and leaned up against the wall. "So Storm, was it worth it?" She asked. Storm nodded as he wiped his mouth with his hoof. "Yep, ok then Doctor, lets go eh?" Storm said with a smirk. The Doctor reluctantly started up the TARDIS as it began to move. "I hope this is not a huge mistake....if it is I could end up destroying a fixed timeline." The Doctor thought as the TARDIS began to phase into a different timeline. Storm however was very eager to see Cloudsdale again, while he knew barely anything about time travel, he knew to never talk to yourself or do something stupid. "Alright so Doctor I have one question." Storm asked. The Doctor looked at him. "Yes?" He replied. Storm smirked. "How is the TARDIS going to stay on the clouds?" He teased. The Doctor's eyes widened.