• Published 17th Dec 2011
  • 6,810 Views, 193 Comments

Saints of Equestria - Carlin



Gangs run rampant, it's up to a very special team to take them down. Nothing less than a saint...

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Chapter 1: Saying Hello

Chapter 1 – Saying Hello

It was a bright and sunny day in Ponyville. Cliché really… The sky was blue and the weather was cooperative with the pegasus charged with maintaining it. So cooperative, in fact, that she had taken to practicing her stunt flying early this day. It was the single most liberating activity available to the would-be Wonderbolt, a chance to get away from the horrors that plagued the streets below. Rainbow Dash treasured this time to forget and escape. Time was a precious commodity for the self-described ‘Fastest Flyer in Equestria’ as her services were normally in high demand. Not just managing the weather, but also side jobs for the newest business pony to move into Ponyville.



That pony was named Iron Hart.

Rainbow’s face twisted in a look of disgust and malice towards the self-described ‘entrepreneur’ when she thought of him. His methods were, in a word, vicious. If you refused to deal with him you ended up bankrupt or dead. If you refused a job offer you found the talents he admired in you taken away forcefully. This had resulted in many earth ponies learning how to live with a limp… After witnessing the consequences of resistance any pegasi with offers still standing quickly accepted. It took little imagination to figure out how a pegasus would be punished…

The weather pony threw herself into a series of lazy corkscrews as she thought back to the fall of Ponyville. Residents had quickly decided it was in their best interest to cooperate and hope to strike a mutually beneficial accord before an offer was even extended. It shattered the pride of the quiet village, but all agreed it was only a matter of time before karma caught up to the most hated stallion in the region. Even the town librarian Twilight Sparkle had been coerced into working as a record keeper after they heard about her famous organizational skills. The thought of her friend’s skills being perverted to aid a monster made Rainbow sick, but there was little she could do other than be a good friend to the unfortunate unicorn.

She could see the library from up here, now that she thought about it. The windows all look shut tight, the door closed and a sign hung from it that Rainbow could only assume read ‘Closed’. It was that time of the month again, apparently. Iron Hart would want a record of his financial activity in the village and that meant poor Twilight would be furiously pouring over documents and receipts to account for every last bit going in and out. Rainbow made a silent determination to see her friend in the evening when she would be finished. She’d need some support after dealing with Hart’s thuggish middlemen, his ‘homies’, that would be sent to pick up her work…


The month’s financial records were, in fact all, assembled and ready to be processed by the studious unicorn. However, they were not actually being processed. Instead they made a lovely door stops and dust collecting devices. The normally diligent Twilight Sparkle had more important business to attend to and managed to completely forget about her forced servitude. Not even her draconic assistant remembered it in the midst of the chaotic preparations before him.

“Twi, you need to slow down. Have you slept at all?”

“Yes! Wait, no, I think I did?”

The fractured mirror in the far corner of the library’s main floor shimmered slightly as a purple figure appeared in one of the shards. “You did, actually. You passed out for exactly 1 hour and 34 minutes while were discussing the necessary balance of loyalty to chaos we needed. We also determined we look adorable when unconscious on a pile of books.”

“Thank you, Three. See, Spike, I did sleep! Now help me move this desk out of the way. I have no idea how big the creature might be.”

“For the record, I still think it’s a TERRIBLE idea to be trying your hoof at monster summoning.”

“It’s not a monster Spike! It’s… a creature of alien origins and dubious moral standards. We’re in absolutely no danger at all! If we got the list right, anyway… And I don’t miscast the spell… And the creature is actually able to survive in our atmosphere… And isn’t some sort of carnivore that eats ponies… And –“

Spike stopped listening as his boss continued to list various ways this plan could be bucked before it even started. He knew this was a terrible idea but for some reason he just couldn’t help but keep moving the desk out of the way and move on to the next task Twilight needed complete before the big moment. Then again he’d always gone along with her crazy ideas and they hadn’t been killed horribly yet. Spike was sure the flawless record on non-lethal results would hold up. He just hoped she would stop talking already and get on with the spell. What was she going on about again, it sounded like she was saying-…

“SPIKE!”

“Ack! What!?”

“Are you even listening to me? I had to call you three times! Get the backups ready, we’re ready to cast.”

“Yes ma’am!” Spike saluted and felt an adrenaline rush. He knew what she meant by ‘backups’. If the spell failed there would be no more attempts today as Twilight would be left exhausted even by a misfire. No, these backups were in case the spell went right, but the creature didn’t…

Spike admired the creativity of the alternate Rainbow Dash as he looked at a really scary looking contraption RD had called a T.A.S.E.R. He couldn’t remember what the acronym stood for if his life depended on it but he sure knew how to use it. He could have sworn she mentioned it was a literary reference or something… But what he really wanted to know was how Twilight managed to trap a storm cloud in that jar without a pegasus around to help.

Next up was the ponification serum provided by Twilight Five. Guaranteed to turn any creature into a pony and erase any malicious tendencies at the same time, just in case the creature was unstable but knowledgeable enough to still be useful.

And the last contraption he was responsible for was a gas grenade of some sort. Twilight Seven claimed it was her pride and joy after she used it to cure her mayor of severe insomnia. It was a happy coincidence it just so happened to have other, more creative, applications.

But the time for preparation was over. The Farsighted-Mirror in the corner was now fully populated by their trans-dimensional audience, eagerly waiting to see the fruits of their labor. Now it was time to run through the final pre-cast checklist.

Twilight stomped her hoof once to get attention. “Ok everypony! Let’s recap, shall we?”

Spike cleared his throat and began reading from the book in front of him. “Spell: Trans-Dimensional Creature Summoning. Requirements: Creature must be in a state of recent death or near death to be acquired by summoning spell. Purpose: To acquire an ally to be used to fight back the street gangs in Equestria. Risks: Creature may be unstable and highly dangerous. Creature may be highly agitated given aforementioned ‘near death’ requirement.”

Twilight picked up where her assistant left off. She already knew this part by heart… “Possible complications: Creature may not be suited to survival in our world. Creature may not be capable of communicating in the same manner as ponies. Creature may still be in state of near-death after summoning. Creature may be comatose if death resulted in annihilation of creature’s original body. Memory loss and disorientation may be expected in such an event. Neurological changes may result in undesired behavior. Creature may be accompanied by additional creatures or items in its immediate vicinity. Additional creatures may be hostile and not subject to original features required of summoned creature. Use extreme caution if this occurs.”

“And finally…” Spike added with a rueful expression “it is highly illegal and stupidly dangerous.”

“Thank you for the input, Spike. Let’s begin.”

If Twilight had bothered to look back at the Think Tank she may have noticed several had grabbed popcorn and snacks… And Rainbow appeared to be placing a bet with Twilight Three. This room was just swimming in confidence…

Twilight didn’t notice as her horn began to glow. Sparks of pure magic short from the tip as an ethereal glow began to form on the floor of the library. For anypony else this would have been an impossible spell to cast alone. But this was no ordinary pony. THIS was Twilight Sparkle, protégé to Princess Celestia herself. The spell neared completion rapidly, the entire library flooded with magic.


Everything hurt.






It was very dark…





He couldn’t feel his toes…


He was still very pissed off at something, though he couldn’t recall what…



Now he started to recall. He should be dead. Was this hell? It should be hell, given the life he’d been leading. He even made sure he died with a case of his favorite toys next to him just in case he could take it with him. He wanted to see if demons knew the meaning of pain…


Everything hurt…




It was very bright…




She couldn’t feel her hooves.




What had she been doing before now?




Now she recalled. The spell! It had taken every ounce of energy to complete the spell but she did it. She had expected she might be incapacitated by the backwash, everything was taken care of. Her faithful assistance Spike would be around at any moment to revive her and deal with whatever it was they had just brought into the world.


He felt more or less fine.




It was moderately well illuminated. The windows were still closed.




He was kinda hungry.



Oh horse apples, there was something he should be doing right now wasn’t there. RIGHT! Revive Twilight. There would be time later to gawk at the pile of aliens and a weird green crate they’d brought with them. There were four of them total, weird there was only supposed to be one. Good thing they were all out cold or this could have gotten ugly.


Not a single jaw hadn’t hit the floor in the Think Tank. Twilight One had done it, she had really done it! All that was left to see was the personalities of the strange creatures.

“They’re called humans, everypony.”

“Five, how do you know that?”

“This is what we had originally created the ponification serum for, actually! In my world we used to coexist, but we eventually decided the humans weren’t capable of caring for their world effectively. Chaos, warfare, famine, greed… Pretty much all the things you’re fighting to stop right now, they had in spades. Be cautious when they come to. Or better yet give them the serum immediately. You’d do them all a favor.”

“That’s… kinda creepy, Five.”

“How so, Eight?”

“You just turned them all into ponies? ALL of them?”

“Pretty much, though it was strictly voluntary. …Mostly.”

“Still seems… extreme. You couldn’t just, you know, tell them to cut it out?”

“Some of them, sure. But the suffering we saw… We decided the best solution was out with the old, and in with the ponies!” Five looked very enthusiastic with her explanation. However, the rest were less than convinced. They all decided misanthropy should be discouraged in their own universes should the occasion arise…

Twilight One, meanwhile, was finally on her hooves again. She had to agree with the majority, but was deeply disturbed by the depiction of the human race. But then again, that’s exactly what she needed. “I’m gonna have to go with Eight on this one. Extinction seems a bit harsh. Let’s set that plan to the side for now… I’d like to have a chat with our new guests before we jump to conclusions.”


He heard voices. Female, multiple though similar sounding, gentle, very close by. Good signs, but raised more questions than answers. He was not dead, as previously predicted. His crate of ‘toys’ had come with him, however. This was fantastic news and a source of infinite comfort as his somatic nervous system kicked in again.

He opened his eyes. He regretted that and closed them again. It occurred to him they had neglected to pack any booze in the toy box. Didn’t matter really… He’d just have to find something that deserved it and murder it in the face. That always cured a headache.


The human closest to her was coming around! “Spike, get ready. One of them is waking up.”

Now that she was fully conscious and upright she had a much better look at her haul. The three humans in the rear were all obscured by shadows and partially hidden behind the large green crate that had come with them, but the closest human she had a full view of. He was respectably tall, for a human, which was at least two feet taller than she was on all fours. His black mane was well kept and continued onto his face, forming a full beard. It wore driving cap for some reason. Twilight hadn’t seen one of those in years. Not since her grandfather actually. The rest of his clothes seemed more modern, however. Dark but narrow sunglasses, a large brown coat that reminded her of a detective, a dark purple turtleneck sweater underneath that, black pants, and dark brown work boots. He looked quite sophisticated, actually, if a bit rough around the edges… Not at all like the barbarians Five had described.

Then her mind abruptly changed as he stood to his full height. He wore black fingerless gloves, which was currently hovering next to a holster at his hip. She had never seen a device like the one inside that holster but she instinctively knew what she was looking at.

It was a weapon, he was ready to draw it, and he was looking straight at her behind those sunglasses. She needed to say something, calm it down, but no words wanted to form. Even the Think Tank behind her was dead silent. Soon, however, the decision was made for her as the human spoke first.

“Right, I changed my mind. I’m never touching a bottle of booze again. If waking up to find a fucking pony in front of me isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is…” It spoke with a gruff deep voice and an accent she couldn’t place. Twilight Five immediately recognized it as being a deliberately fake cockney accent which caused to end of confusion for the poor mare.

Twilight One however was still hung up on what booze was… She’d heard that word somewhere before… oh right, alcohol! Did he think he was drunk? Made sense, he was sure to be disoriented, maybe he thought he was hallucinating. This she could respond to! “Umm, sir? I can assure you I’m not a hallucination. Though it would probably be a good idea of you avoid alcoholic beverages anyway. It’s not healthy.”

“…A talking pony? Roight I changed my mind again, I’m not drunk I’m high as a kite. Is that a purple lizard over there? Fucking hell I always wanted one of those.”

“Hey! I’m a dragon, not a lizard.”

“I’m gonna call you Puff the Magic Dragon.”

“My name’s Spike! And I’m not magic, she is.”

“It’s true!” Twilight beamed with pride as she prepared to launch into her explanation. “And I just so happened to have used that magic to summon you here!”

“Summon me?” The human looked puzzled and slightly frustrated as it tried to cope with new information.

“Correct. You see, we need somepony of your special talents to help us with a bit of a gang problem. You see the guards and police forces are kinda useless right now…”

“Always have been, that’s not new, luv.”

“Right… Well more so than usual, I suppose. Point is we have a gang problem and nopony to solve it. Will you help us?”

“…Where the fuck am I?”

“Ponyville. A village in Equestria.”

“And you’re a uhh… pony.”

“Right! A unicorn to be exact. We also have pegasi and earth ponies. Also griffons, dragons, and some others but I’ll let you focus on those for now…”

“Lemme guess. Factions no longer getting along are they?”

Spike quickly answered “You got that right buddy. The Brotherhood’s earth ponies, based in Manehattan, are hassling us here in Ponyville but it doesn’t stop there. The Barons are an all pegasus gang based in Cloudsdale, the Conclave is the unicorn gang in Canterlot, and The Family are all griffons. No clue where they’re actually based but they got their talons in everyponies business.” His explanation done Spike crossed his arms and looked frustrated. Just thinking about all the trouble they caused was riling him up.

The human in the room stared at the little dragon for a long while, deep in thought most likely. This was a lot of new information to digest and a normal man would be freaking the hell out right about now. Fortunately, this was not a normal man standing before them. “…Allright Puff, I’m going to along with this for now. I still think I’m hallucinating but maybe the best thing for it is to play along, eh?”

“My name’s Spike…”

“So Puff, pony lady thing, can ya tell me how me mates and I ended up here, exactly?”

“My name’s Twilight Sparkle, and I’d be happy to! What’s your name, by the way?”

“Not important right now… Explanations first, biography later.”

“Fair enough… Let’s begin.”


Meanwhile, in a meadow just outside Ponyville Rainbow Dash continues her practice.



“Pleeeeeeeease, just one more trick?”

“Last one, seriously! I need to see Twilight later.”

“YAY!”

Rainbow had been joined by a very energetic pegasus filly by the name of Scootaloo. Her number one fan was growing on the mare rather quickly. She reminded Rainbow so much of herself sometimes... “Ok listen up, This one is going to go fast so don't blink... This is gonna be sweet!

Rainbow took to the skies and ascended rapidly. This once was going to need a LOT of speed.


Back at the library, on the balcony overlooking Ponyville

“And that is how we get out Cutie Marks!”

It was a good thing the human had long since perfected his pokerface, because he was bored out of his fucking skull right now. Worst. acid trip. ever.


Rainbow Dash was falling, and falling faster. If she went much faster she’d risk doing a Sonic Rainboom but she couldn’t risk that this close to Ponyville. Something about window damage and noise ordinances or something. She didn’t really listen when the mayor was chewing her out.


“Is that a fucking Nyan Cat!?”

“A what?”

“Oh sweet, it’s doing a lood-de-loop! Best acid trip ever!”

“-ugh… these humans were weird-“ Twilight thought to herself.

“Check it out, mate! It just double backed on itself and created a double rainbow across the sky!”

“Yes that’s lovely, now abou-“

“WOOOOOOAH! So intense!”


Much later, still at the library




“And that’s pretty much the situation here in Ponyville. Iron Hart NEEDS to be brought to justice, and I think you are just the pony-sorry… Just the person to help put him away!”

“Makes sense… I am a badass after all. One thing that’s bugging me though.”

“Sure, what’s on your mind?”

“You’re the gang’s unwilling bean-counter, ya?”

“Right.”

“And they come to collect your work every month on the same day, right?”

“Correct.”

“And that day just so happens to be today if I’m reading your calendar right, yes?”

“That’s ri-…. Oh horse apples...”

“You’re fucked, luv.”

“Will you stop cursing like that! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh what am I going to do!? SPIKE! How much time do I have?”

The diminutive dragon was currently peering out the nearest window facing the street. “Well… seeing as I can see Slick and his cronies walking this way right now I’d say none.”

The Think Tank still quietly observing in the corner look horrified at this revelation and scattered. They could not risk being seen by an outsider.

“Ok… This isn’t a problem. I can just hide the humans, pretend I’m sick, and maybe I can get an extension. Step one! HIDE!” Twilight didn’t wait for a response before using her magic to envelop the three still unconscious humans and their phenomenally heavy crate and shove them into a side room, shooing the conscious human into a dark corner just in time to hear the most ungentle knock imaginable. It was as if they –wanted- to break the door down. Which with the second round of knocking they did, actually…

*CRASH*

Twilight stood frozen in place, a look of absolute terror on her face as the pony named Slick stood in her doorway, flanked by his two lieutenants. He was the shortest of the trio but somehow the most menacing. He had a dark brown fur with blood red mane and wore a bulky black jacket that obscured his cutie mark, a uniform and color scheme shared by his friends as well. Scars crisscrossed his face as evidence of previous, but successful, fights. His favored weapon is a switchblade that currently rested in his mouth, ready for action the instant he needed it.

“Miss Sparkle…” He looked to a far corner of the library where he could plainly see the stack of financial records, completely untouched. “I must say I am deeply disappointed in your work ethic.”

“P-please, I didn’t mean to! I lost track of time, you know how I am! Study study study and all that! I-I can promise to have the work done by tomorrow morning, please be patient just this once!”

“Tisk tisk Miss Sparkle… You know better than anypony that extensions don’t just grow on trees. We have policies in place for this sort of thing. If we just let you walk away after disappointing the boss… well it would set a bad precedent. Ain’t that right boys?”

The much larger and much dumber looking bouncers behind him chuckled with a sadistic grin on their faces. As if they already knew what was coming…

“Now I’m going to be a reasonable pony, Miss Sparkle. You’ve been very good about your work so far so I’ll cut you a deal. We will give you the extension. In fact I’ll make it tomorrow evening instead of morning, how generous is that! In exchange, you are going to uh… entertain… my friend here for the afternoon.”


In the dark corner of the library the unnamed human seethed with rage. From his vantage point he could tell the purple unicorn was very confused by that offer. She was naive, innocent, pure, and did NOT deserve the treatment she was about to receive. He had only been in this world for less than an hour but this Twilight Sparkle was quite friendly. And purple. He liked purple. Hard to explain, it was just his thing. And he wasn’t about to let some bruiser mess that up….


“E-entertain? Sure! Sure I… I can put some tea on, I have some comic books in the back I think.”

“You don’t get it do you, Miss Sparkle? Don’t worry, I’m sure my friend can explain it better than I ever could. Go ahead and demonstrate, I’ll give you two some space…”

The largest of the three stepped into the library as Slick stepped out. Twilight didn’t think she could be any more terrified than she was right now, but she was wrong. Slick closed the battered door behind him, and she was alone with a monster. NOW she couldn’t possibly be more terrified.


“So Slick, I give him maybe… ten minutes, tops.”

“Ten? HAH! Five at best.”

“Care to put your bits where your mouth is?”

“Oh it’s-“

*click*

*BANG*

From inside the library and muffled but very audible scream echoed through the streets of Ponyville. “RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! …Ow my balls!”







Slick looked disturbed. “That… doesn’t sound like a good thing…”

The bruiser of the group crashed through the poor abused door and landed outside with absolutely zero grace. He appeared to be clutching at his crotch where a pool of blood was rapidly forming on the ground beneath him. The look of pain on his face was… extreme.

When the pair of gangsters turned back around to face the doorway they found themselves at a loss for words. A very strange creature stood in the door holding a strange metal device in its arm. It looked pissed.

“Right, here’s how his is going to work, wankers. The librarian, is off limits. Period. You do not. fucking. touch. my bookworm. Although I highly encourage it as I’m a bit behind on my beatings quota for the day.”

Slick stopped listening shortly after the creature mentioned protecting the librarian. That bitch probably recruited outside help. Well if there was one thing Slick knew it was that the unicorn was inept and cowardly, and any help she could possibly recruit was bound to be useless. With this thought in his head he gathered the courage to speak his mind…

“I wonder… You’re clearly not a pony, but do you bleed just as easily as one?” His switchblade was drawn, its slender edge was quick and deadly in the right hooves. His hooves in particular were quite adept at guiding the blade into the neck of any pony foolish enough to cross him.

The human was unimpressed.

“And I wonder why my foot isn’t up your ass!”

“Take him out…”

Slick’s comrade moved swiftly to bring the creature to the ground. He didn’t need to know what it was in order to kill it. But what he did need to know was why his jaw hurt and why the world was suddenly spinning boy the sky sure was a lovely shade of blue today oh hello ground you sure are coming up fas-*clunk*

Slick was impressed, that kick sent his homie in a very nice spiral…

The human wasn’t done. The thug was face down and flank skyward. To a professional this meant the foe was ready to be subdued. To him, this meant his testicles were exposed for the world to punish.

Nut cracking was kinda his thing…

The glinting steel of his pistol was almost hypnotic as it soared through the sky, directly over the disabled earth pony. The human meanwhile dove to the ground and rolled, rapidly appearing directly behind him and was rewarded with a clear line of sight to the pony's reproductive organs. The airborne pistol hit the apex of its arc in the sky as the human reached out to grab it by the barrel. For the briefest of moments Celestia’s sun appeared directly behind hand and pistol, drawing a sinister black silhouette as time seemed to stand still for Slick and the lavender unicorn observing the performance from the doorway.


Several blocks away in the streets of Ponyville



“Hey Caramel, you allright? Why are you crossing your legs like that?”

“Don’t worry about it… Just.. just a sympathy pain is all.”

“A sympathy pain? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t worry, not something a mare could understand.”


Back at the library



Slick was bug-eyed and in pain. He hadn’t even been touched yet but he was in dire pain. He had never seen something move like that before. That maneuver required skill, strength, speed, and the focus of a professional to bring together mind, body, and steel in that well-orchestrated movement. And it had all been to knock a dude in the crotch… His friend was flat on the ground, his legs crossed, a look of horror on his face.

He wasn’t breathing.

“And that ladies and gents, is what I like to call testicular manslaughter! HAH! Who else wants some!?”

Twilight could hardly believe her eyes. She wasn’t even male but that STILL hurt just to watch. She didn’t have much time to dwell on it, however, as the remaining humans inside her library had apparently woken up. She was roughly pushed aside as a female, a male with dark skin, and what appeared to be a bear cleverly disguised as a human all walked outside to confront the source of noise and gunfire.

“Oi! About time you three woke up. Pierce, Shaundi, Oleg, that there unicorn is Twilight Sparkle. And this lil’ blighter is about to run back to his boss and tell him to back the fuck off.”

“W-What the buck are you things!?”

The human smiled… it was a frightening, sadistic smile. It was a smile that could haunt you for the rest of your life if you were on the wrong end of it.









“We… Are the Third Street Saints, bitch!”





















“Oh and tell ‘im hello, while you’re at it. Bloody wanker.”