Drifting Through Realities

by Thadius0

Chapter 15 - I'm going to punch you so hard, you'll taste the color blue!

Drifting Through Realities

Chapter 15 - I'm going to punch you so hard, you'll taste the color blue!

The sight of the violet pegasus caused my left eye to twitch. I could feel my defenses prep before I realized my target wasn't a unicorn. I thought about it before realizing that energy conservation would be more important than intimidation. At least, in the sense of lighting up my clothes. I could still do something intimidating, though.

"HEY, ASSHOLE!"

I stood up from my seat with Fancy and quickly apologized for my vulgarity before rushing in front of Cloud Stuffer. Him and his two goons bristled at my approach, but Cloud scraped the floor of the club with his right forehoof. Splayed wings only made for a larger target after all...

"What the hell are you doin' in here, ya freak?"

I took stock. Pack and Origin are at Vinyl and Tavi's. I've still got a decent charge, but I've not got another lightning bolt in me. All I've got to go on are my robot parts and Xavier. If there were another two of them, this might be interesting.

"Vinyl said that you stay out of the club. I'm here to show you the door."

Cloud snorted. "The only door I'm interested in is the one that leads to Vinyl's booth."

My eyes narrowed and my vision went red in my right eye. It was decorative, but indicative of my anger. I felt the electricity in my right side surge a bit in response. I breathed deeply and calmed myself, and the electricity flow returned to normal. "Vinyl's said you're not to see her." I lit up my hoodie and glared. "Under any circumstances."

He laughed at that. He actually goddamn laughed! "Like I care what that little salt-licker says! My friends here will keep you busy while I go see her, see if she remembers me!"

Term stored.

KILL.

The red filter flashed once, and lines appeared. This was Combat-Mode. This identified potential threats and recommended ways to deal with them. It drew off my knowledge of a species' physiology and target's capabilities, and filled in the blanks with a whole lot of scanning. Sometimes the things I saw were things that medical personnel used machines to get an image of!

Too bad it only really responded to anger in flight-or-fight scenarios, I could really make use of it in the field if it would only respond to things like medical emergencies.

Cloud Stuffer was outlined in light red, along with his goons. The details were gathered and fed to me in a few seconds.

All three targets share same base physiology. Most effective way to disable temporarily: simulate wing sprain via applied pressure to second wing joint, then dislocate or break two of their legs. Most effective way to disable permanently: mount and use right arm to break spine, either by applying downward or upward force on vertebra.

I didn't even give it a second though: I went for the disabling method they could walk away from. The outlines on them vanished, to be replaced with glowing segments on their bodies to show me exactly where to strike to disable them. The fact that my eye had emitted a slight amount of red light while gathering this information is what probably led to them backing up a touch.

Having them afraid of me felt good, no lie.

First priority, Cloud Stuffer. Two reasons. First, he's the ringleader. If he falls in line, the others will as well. Second, he's threatening Vinyl. Nobody threatens her or Octavia. Not as long as I draw breath.

Priority target marked. Secondary targets also marked.

I crouched to lower my center of gravity, widened my stance a touch, glared even harder at Cloud Stuffer, let my right arm hang loose, and held my left one palm-up. "Last warning. Leave now, or I swear I will take you apart so thoroughly, the Guard will have to put you back together again while questioning me how I did it."

It took Stuffer a moment to respond. "You and what army, ya damn dirty ape?!"

I smiled a bit at that. Not a kind one. "Fine." I made the universal 'come on' gesture by curling my left hand a few times. "Come at me, then."

Goon one charged with his wings splayed and his front hooves extended. Probably hoped that he could catch me by surprise.

Thanks to Xavier, surprises don't surprise me anymore. I dodged out of the way of his attack and brought my left arm down on his right wing. There was a cracking noise, and he fell to the ground while hissing in pain. Taking advantage of his companion's momentary shock, I swept his legs out from under him with my right leg, chose one, and stomped on it with a bit of excessive force.

I'd almost repeated myself when Goon two got the drop on me. A blow to the left side of my head staggered me for a moment, which was followed up by two hooves to the solar plexus. I doubled over and wheezed, and then I felt a few more hooves impacting my head. Fortunately, this time they were on the right side, and they hit the part of the skull I'd had replaced. This gave me a moment, which I used to grab a hold of the goon and zap him with a taser version of the lightning. That oughta put him down for a bit, right?

He was singed slightly, with smoke curling off his form, but still capable of coming at me. Though, not quickly, if his twitching was anything to go by. I picked myself up slowly and stared at him in hate. He stared back at me in mild bemusement. And then my right foot impacted his chin at speeds in excess of fast and with force greater than necessary to knock him out. He did, however, perform a wonderful set of flips through the air until he landed on Fancy's table, out of the fight. Or any fight until he got out of traction, considering the way it splintered under him.

That was when I noticed Stuffer was gone. I cast my gaze around to see one very disturbing thing.

Vinyl's booth was opened, and then I heard the second thing.

Not the sound of music, but the sound of an emotional breakdown. One that had my unicorn friend screaming.

One thing was on my mind.

KILL!

-----

Vinyl was in a state of panic. How could he get in! She had his name on the do-not-enter list, she had a restraining order against this stallion, buck, Eric was working the door tonight! This guy should not have been able to get in!

But here this bucking reminder of her salt days was, staring her in the face!

She knew about Cloud Stuffer. Knew him very well. His mark wasn't just for compacting clouds. It was for concealing things. He had quickly turned to a life of less-than-savory pursuits at a young age, all of them technically legal as long as you didn't look too far past the ink. He was the one who had given her salt to begin with, and had kept her giving it to her, as long as she made him happy. Kept bragging to his cronies about how he liked having a party mare at his beck and call. Kept lacing his statements with innocent questions so that she didn't want to disappoint him by saying no, which made it hard to say no to anything he wanted from her. He'd gotten inside her bucking head and twisted it to suit him!

Thankfully, there were a few things he hadn't done to her, which Vinyl appreciated. It meant she could still share those things with her one day in the future special somepony, and they would still be special. But she'd always gotten the feeling that Octavia had found and dragged her away from Stuffer before he'd gotten the chance to try, and that he wouldn't stop trying. That he would be back to finish the job one day.

Which had led to him being put on the barred list, and the restraining order. And living with Octavia, who, despite being an orchestra mare, knew how to wield a cello. Which was why she owned three. 'One to play and one to spare, one to use to part Stuffer's hair.'

Stuffer opened his mouth, and then there was the sound of something far larger than him clearing its throat, and a shadow fell in the booth. Stuffer turned, and Vinyl saw something that she would later admit chilled, but also, for some reason, thrilled her.

Eric was standing there. His replacement eye was red, and both of them were fixed on Stuffer. They had glanced, briefly, at her in her corner of the booth that she'd retreated to in a panic, but upon seeing she was alright, had returned to Stuffer. His face was set in a harsher scowl than she'd seen yet. Even when he'd talked about that Vicky computer, he'd only been sad. This was mad. This was madder than anypony had been in a long while. Buck, griffons didn't get that mad! So that was the scared out of the way. But the thrilled?

Vinyl knew she hadn't told Eric about Cloud Stuffer. Likely, all he knew about this unpleasant blast from her past was that he was on the Barred list, that he'd somehow gotten in, and that he'd be allowed to use force to remove this guest. Especially if said barred guest had found his way to something critical to the running of the club, like the DJ booth. Ergo, Eric did not know how Stuffer had essentially ruined her, but was being...

...was being protective anyways...

And that thought set Vinyl at ease, even as Eric's robot arm grabbed Cloud's throat and lifted the stallion up to eye level with him. With his left, he grabbed a nearby microphone and growled into it.

"Cloud Stuffer, you are hereby charged with unlawfully entering a club when you were barred from it and harassing the DJ when she was the one to bar you. You are not permitted to make a plea, you are guilty, as I am holding you right here in the booth by your goddamn throat. And now, all of Canterlot knows what a fucker you are."

Eric strode out of the booth after tossing the microphone to the ground, causing a burst of static to echo through the club, and everypony flicked their ears, trying to alleviate the pain. After ten seconds, the front doors banged open, and there was a scream from Stuffer. And then Eric said five simple words.

"GET OUT AND STAY OUT!"

Ten seconds later, the doors banged open again, and there were two more screams. Eric shouted into the night again.

"AND TAKE YOUR DAMN LACKEYS WITH YOU, YA WANKER!"

Ten seconds after that, Eric appeared in the door to the booth again, his anger gone, replaced with concern. Vinyl looked up to him, drained of emotion, not knowing what to feel due to the whiplash. That was solved with Eric's next words.

"Vi, you okay?"

The fact that he was not only comfortable enough to call her by a nickname, but also ask about her well-being after fighting off Cloud and his lackeys...It caused an upwelling of emotion that she'd only felt once before.

Gratitude. Relief. But mixed with it was happiness, not sorrow. She'd been pulled out of a dangerous situation by the human who'd crashed into her home. The one she'd taken in had now saved her from Celestia-knows-what.

She rushed him, causing him to let out an exclamation and sit on the floor to avoid being completely bowled over. Vinyl then hugged the human and broke down, crying tears of happiness.

She had no illusions that Cloud was gone forever, but she had every faith that Eric would do his best to make sure he stayed at least throwing-length away from her.

And even as she cried happy tears that the nightmare was over for now, there was one thing she took notice of, something that Eric probably didn't understand just yet. Something that she'd have to explain to him.

The entire club was applauding Eric and his actions. The floor itself was vibrating with their praise, and Vinyl agreed with them. He deserved it, and probably a lot more, for saving her from Stuffer.

Comments

[ArcaneVisions]

Woo, kick his ass. Whoever let him in is gonna be in trouble.

[Phoenix999]

Woot! Love it!

I know you update rather frequently, but I can't help but want more after reading these.

[Mr 0]

Anyone wanna bet that Eric will have to "finish the job" he started with Cloud Stuffer later on in the story.

[hs0003]

He still draw breath, is Eric more bark than bite?

[Thadius0]

4853804

Nobody threatens her or Octavia. Not as long as I draw breath.

He was more interested in keeping Vinyl safe than causing permanent harm. Don't let the one-word redtext fool yah, that's just his protective instincts flaring up, now that he has someone to protect. They've been dead for so long, there's bound to be a bit of...overreaction when someone threatens something he holds dear.
4853797
Oh please, of course we'll be seeing him again.
...
Not for a while, now that his rep is trashed quite a bit...

[hs0003]

4853822 I was under the impression that taking someone apart has the potential to cause permanent harm and even death.

[Thadius0]

4853858
Dislocating all of a pony's joints is kinda like pulling them apart...
Of course, we may need a few test subjects to determine how best to do that...

[Mr 0]

4853822 By that I meant permanently.

[Thadius0]

4853918
I have a thread planned for Stuffer, later on down the line.
...
Half of my brain hates the half that came up with it.
The half that came up with it is singing demented nursery rhymes while painting with blood.

[tylerlego623]

4853927 Ooh, sounds like the Black Sacrament to me.

[Slayer 10321]

Oh please Thadius0, can you have Eric rip off Cloud Stuffers wings to make chicken wings and force feed them to him please?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Jarimor]

well now. this will get messy later.

[Moonshine-Dusk]

4853559 The other bouncer probably got overwhelmed.

[amiamera]

You know, I had planned on going to bed 3 hours ago...and then I stated reading this. Interesting story with the jumper theme. I like the character as well, even if he seems to forgive a bit easier than I would imagine someone who'd gone through some of the stuff I imagine he has.

[RealityCheck]

Argh.

I hate this trope more than anything.

Salt. Does not intoxicate. Ponies.

It's a necessary nutrient that ponies, like many ungulates, do not get much of in their normal diet, so when they find some (such as a salt lick) they go for it. It does not intoxicate them, does not make them drunk or anything else. It's just a nutrient.

This stupid trope got started off of ONE EPISODE, "over a barrel," where they had a saloon named "the Salt Lick." Australian bars are called "Billabongs," that doesn't mean Aussies get snockered off of drinking from muddy watering holes.

Look, there are dozens of things a pony could be addicted to. Like Locoweed. Or just throw in some fantasy drug--- call it 'magic salts' or the like if you simply MUST make a "salt" reference. But regular salt? No, please, just... STOP.

[Mr Good Guy]

4895155
Really? Wow. Thanks for the knowledge, R. C. ....

[Divine Path]

Such a wonderful night to show you can kill unsavory folks~