Devil's Due

by All American

Chapter 15: Meeting the Family

Author’s note:

<Slams head off of desk>

Sometimes I just can’t stand the foamy, violent pricks that comment on my story. I’ll just throw them a bone here.

<Rubs temples before getting back to work>

-

Ok, scroll down if you don't want to read this note but my editor (frieD195) wrote this and I thought it was informative and fuckin' funny:

"Editor’s Notes, Part 2, Electric Boogaloo:

I’m a little worried about your reaction to certain commenters and their demands. It seems a little much don’t you think? I mean were they late in paying you for writing this next chapter or something? Oh…they didn’t pay you? I was under the impression that they were paying you for a finished product and would sue if they didn’t get things their way. In that case FUCK THEM. Fuck them long, fuck them hard and fuck them with a large Saguaro Cactus and no lube and no courtesy reach-around! These idiots obviously don’t understand an author’s dilemma. You had a UNIQUE idea that you thought would work (and it did mind you), and you actually wanted to write it down and share it with the public. And these assholes come along and tell you how to write YOUR STORY (ZOMG, MOAR BLOOD, MAKE HIM KILL MORE PONIES!!! WHARGARBL!!!11!). I would feel extremely insulted if I were in your position. As a matter of fact, I DO feel insulted AND I’M NOT EVEN THE AUTHOR!!

Sorry for the rant. In short, DON’T pay attention to the trolls, to feed them is to breed them. And in the immortal words of the Ski Instructor from South Park:

“If you feed the trolls, you’re gonna have a bad time!”"

-frieD196

OK! Now that we go that out of the way, enjoy!
-------------

The morning was starting to be replaced by midday after the town slowly returned to life. My world was still tinted by my shades but I could tell that today was going to be another beautiful day in Wherever-the-hell-this-is Land. Dash was flying just above my head as I made my way towards the door to Twilight’s. As I had done many times before, I wrapped my hand around the door knob and let myself in. By this point, Twilight’s place had become my unofficial home. I hoped that I would soon be able to stay in my Hummer for the time being but I figured that without gas it would become uncomfortable in a hurry.

As I pushed the door in, I noticed that Twilight and another unicorn were sitting in a nearby room, talking with one another. The other unicorn seemed to know Twilight well by the way he talked to her. The unicorn was alabaster white, had a mane with a few shades of blue, and a mark that resembled Twilight’s in a way. It was a purple star just like hers. I took a few steps in before letting Dash in and closing the door behind her.

“I think somepony is here Twily.” The unicorn pointed out from the other room.

The unicorn obviously hadn’t seen me yet as I strolled into the same room as them. Dash walked over to my side and stopped. Twilight stepped forward and introduced me.

“This is Ryan, Shining.” She pointed out as she gestured a hoof at me.

The unicorn’s gaze narrowed as I took a step forward. I adjusted my suit leaned up against the corner of the room opposite of the group.

“How’s it goin’?” I asked nonchalantly.

The unicorn took a step forward before stopping in an aggressive stance. I just crossed my arms and tried to look as intimidating as possible. Twilight noticed the tension building in the room as I locked my gaze onto this new unicorn’s eyes. Even though I had my aviators on, his eyes still met mine with piercing accuracy.

Twilight took a step in-between me and the unicorn before saying “Ryan, this is Shining Armor. He is my brother and Captain of the guard.”

“A pleasure, I’m sure.” I said as I readjusted myself against the door.

“Twily, could I talk to you in the other room?” He asked motioning towards the exit.

“Uh, sure thing.” Twilight said as she and Armor made an awkward exit.

With just Dash and me in this room, I walked over to a nearby window and set my hands on the sill. This was almost becoming second nature to me. Dash stood in the center of the room with her dress from last night still on. Something inside my head wanted to compliment her, but I needed to keep everything under wraps at the moment. I didn’t know how much Twilight knew and how much Dash wanted her to know.

I sat at the window sill for a moment before I heard a bit of angry arguing coming for the other room. As much as I didn’t want to intrude, it was my job to make sure that these ponies didn’t get hurt. I sat up from the window sill and saw that Dash was staring at me.

“What?” I asked in an attempt to break the silence that had overcome the room.

“Nothing,” She explained “I was just checking out your suit.”

I shook my head and made my way towards the room where Twilight and this ‘Armor’ character were arguing. I slowly made my way over to the wall and pressed up against it. The voices were muffled, but I could make out the general gist of the conversation.

“He killed some of my guards and you just let him walk right in?!” Armor angrily said to Twilight.

“Those guards tried to hunt him down and they barged into my home!” She fired back.

As the argument continued, I instinctively snaked my left hand into my suit coat and retrieved my pistol.

“I don’t care! That is no excuse for murder!” Armor shouted.

“Why are you acting like this?” Twilight asked in a worried tone.

I figured that by the gist of this argument, Armor didn’t usually act like this. I slowly turned around and wrapped my hand around the knob. Out of nowhere, Dash appeared behind me.

“What’s going on?” She asked in a worried tone.

My cover was now blown.

Without a second’s warning, the door flew open and connected with my face. My handgun flew across the room and I shot back a few feet.

“Son-of-a-bitch!” I announced in the room.

I brought my hands up to my face and was tackled. I fell onto my back and my head slammed off the wood floor, dazing me.

“Armor,” Twilight said from the door “You have more honor than this!”

I removed my hands from my face and let them fall to my sides. I watched as Armor’s head turned to Twilight and spoke.

“This thing killed some of my guards and some of them were my friends!”

“Stop! You’ll only anger him!” Dash yelled from behind.

She was right. With Armor’s attention misplaced, I brought my knee up and felt it connect with his stomach. He grunted as I brought my left hand around and connected it with the side of his face. Armor grimaced in pain, but it looked like he was trained to handle it.

“It’s go time you ugly son of a bitch.” I said as I swung my right fist and knocked him off of me.

Armor fell to his side and I jumped on top of him. I repeatedly landed blow after blow to his face before Dash and Twilight yanked me off of him by my shoulders. Armor quickly regained footing and nursed his bloody nose. I could see the anger in his eyes and it made me laugh. It kind of reminded me of a seven year old being teased on the playground.

“Not so high and mighty are ya?” I said with Twilight and Dash still holding me back.

His eyes had a second wave of anger before he charged me. I quickly broke free of Dash and Twilight and ran over to my gun. I dove onto it, barely avoiding Armor. I snatched my handgun and watched as Armor realized the extent of his situation. I spun around and fired two shots into the wall behind him as he ran out the door.

“Oh no you don’t.”

I ran over to the door and ran in hot pursuit.

Dash ran to the door behind me and yelled “Stop! There is no need for this!”

I didn’t listen as I ran down the main street of the town after Armor. He had the advantage of speed but I had agility. The town was now alive and various ponies were blocking our paths. Armor had to stop and run around them while I just juked them, football style. My left hand still held the .45 as I ran after him. I held my handgun out before me and tried to line up the sights on him but the townsponies had begun to panic and were blocking my shot. I cursed and continued after him.

“Ryan,” Dash called from the sky “this isn’t worth it!”

I tuned her out and saw that Armor had stopped just short of an alleyway. I fired two more shots at him and watched as they connected with the wall next to him. He gasped and ran down the alleyway. Bad move. I turned in the alleyway after him and was relieved to see that the alleyway was devoid of bystanders. I leveled my handgun with his back, right leg and fired. Armor fell forward onto his face and skidded to a stop.

“Game-over you son of a bitch.” I called out as I slowly made my way over to him.

Armor tried to crawl away, but was met with a wall. He scooted up to it and realized that he was fucked. I smiled as I removed my glasses and snaked a temple into my shirt to hold them. Armor clutched his leg in pain as I slowly made my way over to him. He was bleeding, but nothing serious. I was less than 5ft from him when I stopped and looked him in the eyes. I could see not only see his courage, but his drive too. It wasn’t malicious but more of a desire to protect his own.

I leveled the handgun with his eyes. I watched as he mumbled something while he stared at me. My darkness wanted me to pull the trigger, but the gun began to shake in my hand. I shook my head and shoved my handgun back into my coat.

“Go clean yourself up.” I said as I turned around and began to walk away.

“Why didn’t you do it?” I heard him ask from behind me.

“Do you want me to?” I shot back as I froze in my tracks.

“No, but I want to know why you didn’t.”

“It’s none of your business.” I said as I made my way out of the alleyway.

As I was about to leave, Dash dropped down to chest level and stopped me.

“I told you that you aren’t a monster.” She explained before hugging me with all her might.

“I’ll take your word for it.” I said as I returned the gesture.

Without a second to spare, Twilight ran up with both worried and angry eyes.

“He is in the alley. Just wounded mind you.” I pointed out before grabbing Dash and hoisting her up on my shoulders.

“Anyone know where Ulik is?” I asked as if nothing happened.

“R-Rarity’s.” Twilight said as if she was confused.

“Go help Armor. He is going to need a doctor.” I pointed out before walking away.

-

As I walked along, Dash was latched to my head. I didn’t mind too much and I think I actually liked the contact somewhat. In only a few days here, these ponies had broken down most of the emotional wall that had built up over the years in Youngstown.

I listened to her heart beat as I made my way towards Rarity’s. Something about it made me feel calm. It had a nice and steady rhythm as I stepped up to the door and had to shake her off. I grabbed her by her sides and lifted her off of me and set her on the ground. She look up and me and caught my eyes. I felt like a monster but her eyes told me I wasn’t. In my mind, I was having a two-front war. One side was telling me to forgive and forget, while the other told me to find Armor and finish what he started. I set my hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair before opening the door.

As I opened the door, I saw that most of the boxes had been taken care of and Ulik sat patiently near the door. His eyes lit up as he saw me and ran over. He still had my old hat on as he ran over and latched onto my leg.

“He didn’t even move the whole time I was here.” Rarity said as she walked around the corner.

“Hey Rarity.” Dash said as she stepped forward into the room.

“I see that something… happened.” Rarity said with a slight giggle.

Dash walked up to her and hit her in the shoulder as I bent down and peeled Ulik off of me. Ulik immediately pointed his hand like my gun and mentally fired away. Taking this gesture as a question, I placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke.

“Don’t worry, everything is fine.” I pointed out.

He looked into my eyes and nodded. His eyes were bluer than the sea as he nodded and latched back onto me. Taking this as an invite, Dash flew over and followed suit. She wrapped her hooves around both me and Ulik. Ulik looked around confused before accepting it and burying his head into my chest. Dash followed suit and I felt onto my ass.

It was now that it hit me. No matter what I did, I now had two people that needed me. I could not falter now. I needed to stand up and set an example. It was my fucked up… eh… family, and I needed to protect it.

I finally had a clear purpose.

I closed my eyes and squeeze the two with all my might. Dash gave a squeak and Ulik didn’t flinch.

“I’ll just leave now.” Rarity pointed out before retiring to a nearby room.

“You do that.” I said.

Comments

[IncoherentOrange]

My premonitions: Dash rubs off on Ryan, leaving him more appeciative of morality and the value of friends, but is still badass and totally willing and able to do what has to be done in his line of work, and is still not very nice. Interesting stuff, Armor's gonna have to get over the fact that a murderer of his colleagues was going to be bodyguarding his little sister, wonder how it'll turn out.

[Alex Wadegrove]

Marvelous! I may have given you a already but what the hell! You've earned it!

[Dancing Dead]

>mfw new chapter

denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw4409-happy_pinkie1.gif

[VX]

582876

NO! HE EARNS THIS ruminations.com/site/images/users/AwesomeFace_icon.png

[Khorne]

The trolls be coming. Also:
i.qkme.me/52n2.jpg

[Molotov Delivery]

I woulda loved to see Armor die, but your logic behind not killing him is sound so I am only slightly disappoint.

[Olpoe]

i love your story friend. Don't let the naysayers or trolls make you want to change things.

[EvilEnchantress]

581784 .. that picture make me say this i don't gotta explain shit

[stinker mcpinkerton]

the pic for the story is an m9 but he has an m1911a1

[Vash_ts]

before reading the chapter, I must say, tell your editor that he is fucking awesome... ...and he is right, if your commenters make claims, take them as suggestions, and if they are rude, Ignore them...

...saguaro cactus, that sounds exotically painful...

[All American]

585057

Yes, yes, I know. Did you read the comments from earlier? I explained that I'm a gunsmith in real life. The cover art is just something that I pulled from google images because it fit my story's criteria. I currently have Frees working on some custom art work right now.

[Kitsuneisuki]

585276 I'm hungry! Care to feed me? :D

Good chapter btw. I think by saying "Foamy, violent pricks", you are referring to me :P

I have once again, been referred to!

[EvilEnchantress]

hmm not sure what to say so good job ( hate when all I can do is make boring comments like that

[saxon]

585202 you picture.......

[Redskull470]

I love this!!! The transition From dark is amazing. You sir deserve a medal.

[Rutter]

I like this story much because the human isn't some fucking pushover, and at the same time, he shows emotions.

[Aaron]

Not so high and mighty fucking hell shining got his ass handed