Rising Hazard
Somewhere outside Equestria an elderly dirty-white stallion with a short mop of dark gray hair and in a brown kimono sat in his office.
The oval-shaped room, the design of the expensive interior in gold and dark brown tones, and the dim light of yellowish lamps seemed to highlight the golden surfaces of products and furniture, which abounded in this office. From the carpets on the floor to the writing materials on the table ‒ everything literally screamed about the wealth and desire for luxury of its owner.
The office owner's desk was littered with piles of papers and folders, behind which a black desk plate was hidden with gold lettering in bold: ‘CEO Cog Wheel’.
The director himself, his eyes narrowed, was writing hard and intently on parchment, occasionally pausing to put back on the bridge of his nose the large glasses with sharp-angled frames that were trying to slide down. The muscles in his cheekbones twitched, a vein throbbed in his temple, and the tip of the pen pressed so hard on the paper that it tore and left blotches.
Cog Wheel was very annoyed about something.
The next moment, the source of his irritation appeared in the middle of the office from a cloud of black smoke.
“Yo, boss,” said a warrior in scarlet armor with the sign of a cobra on his chest, imposingly plopping down on a low sofa and crossing his legs. “Sup?”
The director's eye twitched.
“Sup?” repeated Cog Wheel as if he'd heard an insult. “I should ask you what's up!” he mimicked Stalk, gradually rising to a higher pitch. “You don't seem to realize what happened!” Cog thumped his hooves on the table, and the papers flew in all directions like startled pigeons.
“What happened? What happened?” Stalk drawled as if he was being picked on for a mere trifle, while examining his fingernails, if he could see them under his gloves, of course. “Kaboom ‒ that’s what.”
“It's not just 'kaboom',” hissed Cog Wheel, “it’s a hole in my budget, wasted valuable specimens of plants and animals, as well as time and pony resources to catch some animals, like Ursa or cockatrice!” the director was furious not just because of what Stalk had done, but more because his response, if any, was slow to show through the turquoise visor. “Not to mention that you let them discover us!”
Blood Stalk sighed and leaned back on the sofa.
“It's not my fault that Princess Twilight is too smart for her own good. Besides, what did they find out? Except for the name itself, no-thing-at-all”
“If she's really that smart, especially as a student of Celestia, then you already put Faust at risk of being discovered!” Cog Wheel didn’t want to let that go, to Stalk’s greatest irritation. “Now our operations can become a hundred times complicated and all because of your carelessness!”
“Twilight is undoubtedly smart, but not that smart... And Celestia won't lift her cake-filled flank from the throne,” snorted Stalk. “So, Wheel, you worry too much, make sure that your pretty face won't get any wrinkles,” chuckled the Serpent at his own comment.
The director's expression changed to a sneer.
“Laugh all you want, Stalk, but don't forget to whom you owe everything you have now.”
“Yeah-yeah,” drawled the Serpent, getting up from the sofa and heading for the door, anticipating the logical conclusion of their little dialogue, “you pay ‒ you're in charge here.”
“That’s why you don't have to forget about it.” frowned Cog Wheel. “Now get out of my sight!” he made a dismissive gesture with his hoof.
“As you wish.” waved Stalk and hurried out of the office.
Once on the other side of the oak arched door, the Serpent did not hurry to go about his business. With his back to the door, he turned his head slightly to the right and said so that only he could hear:
“Yes, Wheel, you pay... but you don't OWN Faust.”
***
Newt's heart skipped a beat, his stomach felt like it was tied in a knot, his hands were shaking, goosebumps were running down his back, and sweat was running down his temples in three streams. The last time he'd felt this way was when he'd opened a college invitation letter or received test results. And now this feeling came back to him again, when he decided to sit behind the wheel of the gifted phone-motorcycle.
It was the day after their visit to the Station ‘Everfree’, just after noon, and Newt was standing in the middle of the dirt road that ran around Sweet Apple Acres in a big circle. He was looking at the vehicle below him like at rodeo bull that he has to hold out for at least eight seconds.
Giving up trying to find out something about the mysterious organization, Twilight returned to what she knows best ‒ teaching friendship lessons. She had put together a whole socialization program for Newt in Ponyville, and it began with the fact that young men had to spend the whole day with one of the princess's friends. Newt had nothing to do anyway, but getting used to the new world, like its inhabitants to human, is more a necessity than a whim. After all, the sooner ponies stop gawking at him like he is some exotic animal, the better.
To Newt's delight, Applejack was first on the list. He couldn't explain why, but for some reason the farmer mare felt closer to him, even though they had only exchanged a few words. Perhaps it was because Newt had always been attracted to ordinary people... or in this case, the ponies that went about their business, did not get into trouble, considering themselves better than others, and knew what they needed from life.
Of the Mane Six, Newt didn't want to spend time with Pinkie Pie alone, because a day with her, to his opinion, promised to be a hurricane of madness, colorful balloons and confetti, as well as the pink pony's ever-open mouth, as if she were at a dentist's appointment.
Newt was endlessly grateful to Rarity for the new clothes, but he found a little more common ground with her than none ‒ she was a prim upper-class girl, he was a typical representative of the middle class. The well-fed does not understand the hungry, as they say.
Rainbow Dash was a brash, arrogant, self-confident, and boastful tomboy, Newt didn't like this type of girls. Although personally he didn't dislike the cyan pegasus, finding her competitive streak, passion for winning, and love for rather cruel pranks tolerable to some extent.
With Fluttershy everything was difficult. She is so shy that trying to start a conversation with her is like talking to a rock. She immediately blushes, hides her face behind her mane, and is speechless. In fact, Newt thought it was kind of cute that the yellow pegasus was acting like an anime character, but it didn't help a productive contact.
Newt liked Twilight as a person too. It is clear that the title of princess did not spoil her in any way, and she still remained the overly inquisitive unicorn that Princess Celestia once took under her wing. You could talk to Twilight about anything that was, as Rainbow put it, ‘too eggheadish’. Newt considered himself a highly educated person, but in Twilight's case, sometimes she was an insufferable know-it-all. And that was both exciting and exhausting, especially when she says something in a language that only she could understand… But if anyone could explain this world to Newt, it was her.
”What's up with this Lyra Heartstrings?” Newt asked. “You said there are no humans in your world, so how does she know about them?”
“Yes, there are no humans in our world,” Twilight confirmed. “I'm not going to claim that I know still unexplored Far Lands, but certainly humans don’t exist in Equus. Yet there is one myth, as old as princess Celestia, about humans who once inhabited Eden. Lyra, let's just say, was particularly fond of it, but over time this hobby off hers turned into obsession... for which, by the way, she was expelled from the School of Gifted Unicorns. Because she has been driving crazy all the professors with her scientific works and propaganda of anthropology.
“It's hard to fight alone against the world,” the boy chuckled, somewhat sympathetic to the mint unicorn, but then he remembered another question that interested him: “And if I understood correctly your society is very tolerant of same-sex relationships.”
“You mean Lyra and Sweetie Drops?” Twilight asked. “Well everyone has their own opinion about this, but, in general, yes. This kind of relationship is more common among mares than stallions, because Equestria has experienced more than one war in the past, and stallions have died on the battlefield. Unicorns even invented a spell that allowed two mares to have foals, but as a result, only fillies were ever born, which further increased the gender imbalance.”
“How did Equestria not turn into the Land of the Amazons at this rate?”
“At a certain stage, a decree was issued according to which, as to the results of the population census, mares who are in a same-sex marriage received permission or not to have a child by magical influence. Stallions were not concerned, because they always took children from the orphanage, but many mares wanted one hundred percent their own children.
So today Newt had to spend the day with Applejack. Probably nothing unites two creatures better than working together in the garden. The boy did not have to knock his feet on the trees, from his height he could easily pick apples and put them in the basket. And in general, some of farm work was easier and faster for him, to surprise and envy of the cowboy mare. Newt himself, unaccustomed to hard work, was surprised at his stamina and slightly increased physical strength. Obviously, the Hazard Level is beginning to show itself.
At the same time, the young man met the Apple family. In addition to Applejack, her grandmother, older brother, and younger sister also lived on the farm. Granny Smith was a shriveled, splinter-thin old mare (Newt didn’t dare call her a nag); green in color, with orange-red eyes and an apple pie cutie mark, an orange handkerchief with red apple patterns tied around her neck, and her gray hair and tail were tied in a tight bun. I must say, the human did not particularly surprise her. I quote, “I've seen lotta strange creatures in my life, and you're not the weirdest yet, Newt” - end quote. After that, she continued to doze in her rocking chair.
Applejack's brother, Big Macintosh, was a massive red stallion with a yoke around his neck, a dark orange mane and tail, green eyes, and a large green apple-shaped cutie mark. Big Mac's surprise was expressed only in his gaze, and he was a colt of few words, mostly ‘Eeyup’ and ‘Nope’.
But there was no end to Applejack's little sister. Apple Bloom, that's her name, is a little filly about eleven years old, yellow coat, red mane and tail, a big pink bow on the back of her head, orange-red eyes like Granny Smiths, but she didn't have a cutie mark. The younger Apple, grinning from ear to ear, hopped around Newt like a grasshopper and bombarded him with questions as good as Pinkie Pie. In particular, she was interested in why the boy does not have a cutie mark, and offered to join Cutie Mark Crusaders. Applejack had to step in and find her something to do, otherwise Apple Bloom would not buzz off so easily. After that Newt was glad that he was not able to interfere with the younger sister of Rarity or Scootaloo. Although now these CMC surely won’t leave him alone.
It wasn't that Newt didn't like children, but rather that they existed in a parallel universe for him. Even having a little sister didn't change, if not reinforce, that attitude. Young man was in no hurry to become a father in his twenties, like his classmates in college... and had no one to do that with, for that matter.
After lunch, Applejack decided to relax under the shade of one of the trees, and Newt kept her company. The afternoon sun was still merciless, but trees of Sweet Apple Acres seemed to favor their owner and her guest, giving their shade with a welcome coolness. Then the guy remembered about the device that weighed down his pocket.
“BUILD CHANGE!”
The red motorcycle landed in the middle of a dirt road. Applejack lifted her hat from her face and watched the man's actions with interest. Newt walked slowly to the bike, as if he were about to tame a wild horse, swung his leg over the seat, and lowered it to the running board on the right. Paying attention to the touchscreen and remembering the button with the image of the helmet, the guy pressed it. A white motorcycle helmet with red stripes and a transparent visor materialized over the back of the motorcycle, which was an enlarged bottle with the image of a lion.
‘Hmmm, farsightedly,’ Newt thought as he immediately slapped it on his head. So there was at least a scanty sense of security.
There was a time in Terry's life when motorcycles became a temporary obsession. The guys were sixteen at the time, and Wilson Sr.'s garage had a pair of Kawasaki Z1s... well, the temptation was too much. Newt loved the feeling of freedom, the wind blowing in his face, the endless snake of the highway, and the excitement of racing with Terry. That's just one of the turns Moore Jr. did not slow down, as a result of the sudden braking boy went into a skid and ended up on the side of the road. That day Newt suffered more spiritually than physically, because his body got off with a bruised knee and a couple of abrasions, but he got such a scolding from his mother. He was grounded for two weeks and made to swear on the Bible that he would never get on this ‘suicide machine’ again in his life.
“Newt, what are you doing?” Applejack snapped the guy out of his memories.
Newt turned to the farmer mare, then seemed to come to his senses, “Oh, it's a motorcycle. A type of ground transport… Like a cart, but designed for one or two and not needing a harness.
“So it’s driving on its own?” the mare wondered.
“Technically, yes, but…“ Newt said with a mirthless grin, “you have to be able to ride it.”
“Can you?”
“Well, let’s find out,” the man sighed and began to remember how Terry had taught him.
‘So, we start the engine, remove the side rack, squeeze the clutch on the left, turn on the first gear with the pedal down, give in to the gas, smoothly release the clutch and start. A piece of cake.”
Well, as it usually happens, everything turned out to be much more complicated.
At first, Newt let go of the clutch too abruptly (worth noting that he was holding it with four fingers instead of two) which caused the bike to jerk forward just as sharply, and the engine stalled, the boy's legs clattered, almost toppling over on his side. His heart skipped a beat in surprise.
“Okay, take two,” Newt said to himself, catching his breath, and pressed the starter button again.
This time he managed to pull away and drive, gradually picking up speed. Applejack stared after him in awe. But even then newbie made a mistake − Newt sat with his elbows outstretched. The obvious consequence was that when the front wheel went into a hole in the road, the boy lost control, and the steering wheel in his hands began to shake. The bike went off the road, and Newt flew into the bushes. The vehicle was stuck in a dense thicket, and the man flew over the steering wheel, sprawled nearby on the ground. Felt more hurtful than painful.
“Newt!” Applejack ran to him. “Are you okay?”
Boy sat up, grunting, and threw off his helmet in annoyance.
“I… think so!” the guy said, rubbing his bruised back.
The farmer mare made sure he didn't break anything and helped him up.
“Is this really necessary?” she asked nervously. “Looks dangerous to me.”
Newt smiled as sincerely as he could, no one was laughing at him, but he still felt humiliated.
“You just have to get used to it.”
The man approached the stuck motorcycle and pressed the smartphone button on the screen. The transport jumped out of the bushes, shrank in size and regained its original appearance, landing with a fancy smartphone and a strange bottle in the palm of the guy's hand.
“That's enough riding for today,” young man said grimly, heading toward the farm. Dinner must be ready.
Suddenly, a gray pegasus with a blonde mane appeared in the path of the pony and the man, carrying a mail bag. Her flight was more like that of a butterfly... or a drunken swallow. In the next moment, Derpy (that's her name) was blown sideways and smashed right into one of the apple trees. The impact of her face against the trunk brought her normally slanted eyes to their natural position for a moment, but only for a moment. Dusting herself off and rummaging in her bag, Derpy handed the letter to Applejack.
“Urgent delivery,” said Derpy, and then she was gone, completely unaware that several letters had flown out of her bag.
Newt shook his head condescendingly.
‘How come she hasn't been fired yet?’
Derpy Hooves was known throughout Ponyville, and Cloudsdale including, for her legendary clumsiness. It wasn't her fault, of course, that she had to live with a squint, but who knew the details when a piano was dropped on his head? According to the Mane Six, Derpy is a sweet and kind-hearted muffin eater, a single mother to boot, who would die for her daughter, Dinky Hooves. That's just the lack of intelligence, light infantilism and clumsiness does not create a positive image of her.
Applejack tore open the envelope with her teeth and quickly ran her eyes over the letter. Her eyes widened as she read, until she suddenly took off abruptly and ran towards the town.
“Hey, wait for me!” Newt shouted after her, falling far behind his four-legged friend.
***
“So what's the rush, Applejack?” Twilight asked as the Mane Six, dragon, and human found themselves on a train bound for Appleloosa. “Can you explain, normally this time?”
Yes, the farmer mare was not generous with details. She literally stormed into the alicorn’s library, causing a commotion, repeatedly yelling that they need to get to Appleloosa urgently, and only calmed down when the whole group was on the train. It was a long way to this town, so there were rows of bunk beds on either side of the small trailer. Naturally, Newt had to double up to fit on one of them. The carriage was empty, so ponies, dragon, and human could talk late into the night without fear of interrupting anyone.
“Ah got letter from Braeburn. They have a new conflict with buffaloes, and it's not just verbal sparring,” Applejack said. “The situation was already tense, because of bad harvest town folks got fewer apple pies than usual, and bulls demand more and more. It comes to the point that they attack the town and cause minor damages.”
Newt was brought up to date along the way. Buffaloes, in humans understanding, were the local equivalent of the Indians, the natives, and the inhabitants of Appleloosa are pilgrims. Based on the name, the town was mostly inhabited by Applejack's relatives, including her cousin Braeburn, who actually sent her the letter. Territorial wars, in Newt’s opinion, were the most meaningless, because the parties most often argue not about who owns this or that piece of land, but rather whose pride and greed are greater. Pinkie, Rainbow and Spike were on the side of the buffalos at the time, the other on the side of appleloosians, but in the end the compromise won. So why are bulls now unwilling to understand and make concessions?
“But yesterday someone kidnapped the chief's daughter, Little Strongheart, and now Chief Thunderhooves is blaming the town folks,” Applejack continued.
“Did buffaloes see the kidnapper?” Fluttershy asked.
“They say that saw ponies in white suits and masks, and armed anthropomorphic figures,” repeated Applejack her cousin’s words from the letter. “But bulls do not bother: they stubbornly insist that no one but appleloosians are profitable to kidnap the chief's daughter. Do you think it’s…”
“Faust?” Twilight and Newt both voiced their thoughts at the same time.
“But why would they do that?” the boy asked.
“Why not?” snorted Rainbow Dash. “Very much typical of this Bran Stark character.”
The rest of the audience looked at each other, simultaneously snickered and laughed loudly under the puzzled gaze of the blue pegasus.
“Actually, its Blood Stalk, Dashie,” Pinkie Pie said through tears and laughter.
“Who cares?” the cyan pegasus rolled her eyes.
“Still, why would Stalk kidnap the chief's daughter?” asked Twilight Sparkle. “If he wanted to frame appleloosians, he would have done it quietly.”
“Or he was counting on the fact that, given the current conflict, buffaloes wouldn't be looking for anyone to blame for too long,” Newt said.
“What if Blood Stalk wants to do something to her like he did to Newt?” Fluttershy mumbled warily.
“Obviously, we won't find Stalk unless he wants to find us,” Twilight said, annoyed. “We'll have to go in from the other end. If we explain to buffaloes that they were wrong, I think they'll believe us.”
“Leave it to me!” Spike volunteered proudly. “They'll listen to me.”
“Let's hope so,” said alicorn. “In the meantime, let's go to sleep, because tomorrow is clearly going to be a busy day.”
All the lights went out at the same time, plunging the car into the darkness of the night. Ponies and dragon wrapped themselves in blankets and quickly fell asleep... but Newt had a little problem with that.
***
It wasn't a pleasant night for a human. Because of the position he was trying to fit into on the bed, the next morning everything hurt as if he was sleeping on the bare ground. And because of this ‘clackety-clack, clackety-clack’ it was simply impossible to fall asleep normally. Newt envied Rainbow because she was snoring like a tractor, and Rarity even had to put earplugs in her ears.
It was early morning, mares and dragon were still asleep, but the man saw no point in trying. He crunched his stiff joints and sat up, deciding to brighten up the wait by admiring the scenery outside the window. Picturesque green forests were replaced by the scenery for a Western-style movie. A barren desert with sparse cacti, rocks where lizards basked in the dawn sun, a lone bull's skull, and rolling tumbleweeds. It was hard to imagine that in the middle of this lifeless land, an entire city with an apple plantation was located like an oasis.
“Newt?”
The human turned around. He expected Applejack to be awake at this time, but she continued to sniff peacefully. Apparently, without roosters, you can't wake her up. Alicorn was sitting on the bed, covered to the waist with a blanket.
“Why aren't you sleeping?” she asked in a whisper, so not to wake the others.
“I can't sleep,” Newt said, deciding not to complain about the uncomfortable bed. “I can ask you the same question.”
“If I don't stay up late reading, especially since we didn't go to bed late last night, I wake up early.”
“How far is it to Appleloosa?” Newt asked, returning his attention to the scenery outside the window.
“About an hour.”
The man only grunted in response, expecting this hour to drag on like a snail. Silence wasn't going to make time go any faster, so Newt decided to strike up a conversation.
“I hope we're not too late, and something irreparable hasn’t happened.”
“I hope so,” Twilight sighed. “I didn't understand much about Blood Stalk and Faust... almost nothing, to be honest. Therefore, Stalk’s actions seem spontaneous and incomprehensible to me. It's clear that Faust is some kind of research organization, but for what?
“There must be other stations like the one we found in the Everfree Forest,” Newt said. “Though, it will be a waste of time to look for them at random. And Stalk obviously won't tell us about them. His lights are definitely not all on upstairs, but if he's a scientist, then his actions must have some logic that we don't yet know. And who is he is a million-bit question. It’s hard to believe that he is a human, like me... but you never know.”
“There's something else I'm interested in,” Twilight said. “How long has this organization existed? And why does it make itself known only now?”
“Do you remember the interior of the station?” Newt asked. “The equipment was new, but the building itself was slightly abandoned. So either it was there before, but was used for something else…”
“Or Faust has been around for a long time,” Twilight finished. “I went through all the archives at the Ponyville town hall, but the underground building in the Everfree Forest was never mentioned. And there are no records of what happened before Ponyville was founded.”
“How old is the town?” the boy asked.
“In Granny Smith's time Ponyville still didn’t exist, so it's about eighty years old, give or take.”
“Then it's really strange,” the man said thoughtfully.
***
A little later, our heroes arrived in Appleloosa. The town looked like a typical Wild West settlement: apartment buildings, a tavern, a sheriff's office, a post office, a couple of shops, and a clock tower. It was all made of wood and covered with apple patterns, as if to remind them of what the settlers were doing here. However, the picture of the beautiful town was broken by the defensive fortifications on both sides and the scaffolding that surrounded some of the destroyed buildings like a spider's web. Even the railway station got damage: part of the walls and roof were missing. Apparently, the day before the fight was serious.
At the exit of the train, pony, dragon and human were met by a yellow stallion with the same color of mane and tail, but with a darker shade, green eyes, also the image of a red apple on his flank. He was wearing a brown vest and hat. When he saw the newcomers, he broke into a smile, flew up to them and reared up, exclaiming:
“Welcome to Appleloosa!”
It must have been Braeburn. His positivity and overflowing energy caused confusion, especially in human. As if reading the group's thoughts, the smile instantly disappeared from face of Applejack's cousin.
“I am glad you have come at last, my dear cousin,” said Braeburn, turning to his relative with a grave expression. “I wish the occasion was different... especially for our new guest.” the stallion seemed to notice Newt just now, giving him a small smile.
Braeburn showed no fear or morbid curiosity, to which boy was both grateful and surprised. Had the news of him already spread so far? Apparently, in a society where there are no phones and the Internet, word of mouth works especially effectively.
“The town is now recovering from another raid,” Braeburn continued, beckoning the group to follow him into the town. “Buffaloes are doing more damage to the town every day, and they won't stop until we give Thunderhooves his daughter... which we don't have, and we're tired of telling him so! But he won't listen to anything!” the stallion's voice rose sharply to a shout.
The town was hit harder than ponies, but there were also those who suffered different injuries. Fortunately, fractures are the maximum.
“If this goes on, we won't be able to feed ourselves, let alone pay tribute to buffaloes.”
Then Braeburn showed them the town's apple plantation, which had been torn down like after tornado: here and there among the fruit-bearing apple trees were gnarled stumps, and somewhere trees were completely uprooted and felled. Applejack looked like she was about to faint.
“Seriously, what's gotten into them?” expressed Rainbow the general indignation. “We've come so far in our time to come to a compromise, and this is how they thank us?!”
“I remember that buffaloes are not very civilized, but this is beyond the pale.” Spike frowned.
“We need to put an end to this as soon as possible,” Twilight said firmly, stamping her hoof. “Spike, Rainbow, Pinkie, do you remember which way the herd is?”
“If they haven't moved anywhere, yes,” said the pink pony.
“Let’s not waste a minute then.”
But as soon as they were within the town limits, the ground vibrated under their hooves, and a long rumble came from somewhere in the distance.
“W-what's going on? Fluttershy asked nervously.
“It has begun.” Braeburn's eyes narrowed.
A bell rang in the tower, and the town ponies scurried in all directions, some standing on the defenses, and some hiding in their homes.
A wall of dust was rising from the horizon, and a dense ring of buffaloes could be seen rushing forward, sweeping away everything in their path. The town ponies prepared catapults, but this time the projectiles were not pies, but stones. The ponies waited for the herd to get closer, then let loose a hail of rocks in their direction. The gaps appeared in the dense formation of the buffaloes, and the fallen knocked the rest of their hooves, but even so a good number reached the city. The town folks on the defenses barely had time to retreat before the outer defenses were blown to smithereens, and bulls swarmed over the city like a locust. The town ponies, who had taken up positions on roofs or haystacks, threw stones, but this did not help much, because the angry bulls knocked down everyone and everything that came in their way.
“Run for your lives!” Braeburn screamed.
Mane Six, dragon, and human scattered, avoiding the sharp horns and heavy carcasses on their hooves. Twilight's magical shields helped her friends and town ponies avoid an unpleasant encounter, but soon the group split up, and everyone was on their own.
Applejack jumped on the back of one of the buffaloes, who kicked, trying to shake her off, but the experienced cowgirl only took advantage of this, directing it at its kin. Rarity ran into the tavern. Rainbow swirled around the bulls, confusing them and causing them to crash into something or collide with each other. Spike hid in one of the barrels nearby, only to be kicked like a soccer ball by one of the bulls, and dragon, screaming, flew off somewhere outside the town.
As for Newt, he dodged between the bulls, bounced out of the way, and basically did everything he could to keep his ass from being impaled on horns. His eyes were darting in all directions, adrenaline was pumping, breathing was ragged, and his aching muscles were already making themselves felt. It reminded boy of playing dodgeball in high school, when he somehow avoided being bombarded with balls. Only getting hit by the ball on the head is not a risk of getting a few broken ribs or being trampled to death.
Fluttershy had apparently forgotten how to fly in the heat of the confrontation, running back and forth or trying to hide under a cart, only to have her makeshift shelter shattered into splinters the next moment. As she ran to the side, she tripped over a piece of building and fell face down on the ground. Just then one of the buffaloes was rushing towards her, the distance between them rapidly closing, and yellow pegasus was in no hurry to recover.
“FLUTTERSHY!” Newt shouted, jumping out of the way and running towards her.
The pegasus rose slowly, but when she saw the bull charging at her, she only gasped and covered her face with her hooves, preparing for the inevitable. In the next moment, someone pushed her aside, the world around her tumbled, and Fluttershy only had time to notice how the buffalo that almost knocked her over collided with the human…
“NEWT!!!” she screamed with tears in her eyes.
However, something strange happened. The buffalo continued to run, and a cloud of dust rose in front of him, which covered everyone present, causing them to stop and cough. Finally, the bull stopped too, flopping to the ground as the dust began to get into his eyes and mouth. When the cloud cleared, everyone could see two furrows in the ground behind the buffalo. In front of him, Newt stood on both feet, clutching the horns in a death grip, looking dazed, panting and covered in a cold sweat. Young man finally seemed to peel off his hands and look at them. His fingers were trembling, and there were symmetrical burn marks on his hands. On shaky legs, Newt took a few steps in a random direction, his heart threatening to burst his chest, the boy continued to look at his palms, hardly believing in what had just happened.
There was a pregnant pause.
And suddenly, from somewhere above, there was a soft clap. Everyone present turned their heads and saw on the roof of the tavern a familiar anthropomorphic figure in scarlet armor with a turquoise cobra sign on his chest.
“Looks like you're getting stronger, Newt,” Serpent said, interrupting his sarcastic applause.
Even those who wanted to continue the brawl forgot about it and focused their attention on the new person.
“Blood Stalk!” Newt hissed, finding his voice.
“That’s me,” the scarlet warrior bowed mockingly, looking around at everyone present. “As much fun as it is to watch, I don't want you to kill each other. All the more so, Monsieur Thunderhooves...” he snapped his fingers, “I have just what you're looking for.”
Two stormtroopers (security robots from the station) appeared next to him, restraining a young red buffalo female, she was tied up, a gag was inserted in her mouth, but this did not prevent her from twitching and bellowing, but to no avail.
“Little Strongheart!” exclaimed the chief of the buffalos, and then instantly changed in the face, “Who are you? Why did you kidnap my daughter?” he asked sternly.
“Because I knew that little princess, her friends and my little experiment would be guaranteed to arrive here,” Stalk replied, undeterred by the bull's anger.
Newt clenched his fists and teeth in anger:
‘Experiment?!’
“I must admit it was amusing to see you savages so ready to attack the appleloosians, even though my ponies made a mistake and allowed themselves to be discovered. I haven't laughed like that in a long time!” Stalk laughed his icy distorted laugh that made goosebumps on everyone’s skin.
The town folk cast disapproving glances at the buffalos, who looked down guiltily and dug their hooves into the ground. Mane Six looked at each other in bewilderment, throwing lightning bolts at Serpent.
“Well, you got what you wanted... I don't really know why. Now let my daughter go!” Thunderhooves barked.
“Yeah-yeah, sure,” said the Serpent, jumping off the roof, the stormtroopers remained there, and one of them pointed the barrel of a rifle at the cow.
Everyone present gasped and tensed, ready to rush into battle at any moment, but they were afraid for the safety of the chief's daughter.
“I'll just check something,” said Stalk and took out a device from behind his back, similar to a handheld barcode scanner.
He moved a little closer to Newt, pointed the device at him, and pulled the trigger. A fan-shaped blue beam scanned the man from head to toe, then light evaporated, and the device beeped softly. The Serpent glanced at the screen, grunted contentedly, and tossed the scanner at the human's feet. On the small screen, there was only a number: ‘2.4’.
“You're close, Newt,” Blood Stalk said triumphantly. “Consider this another gift from me, so you can keep an eye on your Hazard Level,” he snapped his fingers, and the stormtroopers jumped off the roof after him.
Stalk extended his right hand to the side, his palm enveloped in a cloud of black smoke, from which emerged what looked like a black sword with a tangle of wires to match his gun, a pair of toggle switches and a red valve.
“Steam Blade,” the sword announced its name.
With a sharp swing that took everyone's breath away, Stalk cut the ropes that held Little Strongheart, and the stormtroopers let her go. The young buffalo female spat the gag out of her mouth and ran to her father. The Serpent managed to return to the roof with the stormtroopers while the crowd was distracted.
“See you soon. Chia-o,” he said, about to pull the trigger on his gun, but Twilight stopped him.
“Wait!” she shouted.
“What now?” Stalk asked with displeasure.
“I have some questions for you,” said alicorn. “What is Hazard Level? How do you transfer magic to someone? And most importantly, why Newt?”
Stalk gasped in surprise, as if he'd been waiting to be asked.
“Mind if I start with the second question?” the Serpent asked, bursting with desire to answer that very question, “As you already know, I've introduced a special gas into Newts body. But the question is what this gas is? Can you answer that, Twilight?”
Twilight paused thoughtfully, and Stalk looked impatient. Just as alicorn opened her mouth, he spoke again:
“Well, of course not.” Stalk suddenly became cold and seemed to lose interest in everyone around him. “This, my dear, was only concentrated natural ether, collected from all points of Equus and slightly modified by my humble genius. I named it... Nebula Gas.”
“Nebula Gas?” alicorn asked in surprise.
“And Hazard Level is two things,” Stalk continued, counting off his fingers. “The first is a natural susceptibility to magic, and the second is the power of magic itself. You see, Princess, the lower Hazard Level, the higher the risk of not surviving the instillation of Nebula Gas... No-no, the subject will not die, although this outcome is likely. He becomes a monster called Smash.”
Newt's stomach turned cold. It turns out that otherwise he could turn into god knows what? But where does he have susceptibility to magic, if his home world does not have magic at all?
“Newt here is just the rare case when he not only did not turn into a Smash, but can further increase his Hazard Level. Three point zero is the minimum threshold for what I have prepared for you.”
“And that is..?” asked the boy, who was getting tired of the guess-why-I-do-this-and-that game.
“What an impatient fella,” Stalk chuckled. “Do not open presents until Hearth’s Warming Day.” he threatened with a finger and laughed.
The ponies and buffaloes stared at him in bewilderment and a silent question: ‘Is he a few peanuts short of a nut case?’
When he had finished laughing, Blood Stalk took his pistol in his hand and pointed it away from him.
“Now I must take my leave.” and he disappeared into the black smoke along with the stormtroopers.
Everyone present sat in place for a while longer, as if digesting what just happened, while Little Strongheart cried her heart out in her father's hooves. From the horizon, the figure of a small dragon appeared, slowly waddling towards the town.
“I'm fine!” shouted Spike, then added to himself, “If anyone's interested.”
The rest of the day appleloosians and buffaloes spent clearing perpetrated damage.
“Please, accept my apologies,” said Chief Thunderhooves to the settlers. “Someone who is in debt is me. Ponies of Appleloosa owe us nothing.”
The buffaloes pledged to help town residents with rebuilding and cultivation of new apple trees. Mane Six, dragon, and human were also not standing on the sidelines. Little Strongheart didn't remember where she was taken when she was kidnapped, or where she was held, because most of the time Stalk put her to sleep with something.
***
The train to Ponyville took six mares, dragon, and human late in the evening. All the way to bed, Twilight couldn't get enough of the scanner Stalk had given them. The strange thing was that during this time, Newts Hazard Level had dropped to two point three, although it did not fall below. And when alicorn tried to scan herself or her friends, the device gave out an error, which there was no explanation for. Giving up trying to get anything out of the scanner, Twilight put it aside and began to think about everything that Blood Stalk had told her, taking into account today's events.
“If I understood correctly, stressful situations and strong emotions increase your Hazard Level,” Twilight said after a while. “It's like the average unicorn's magic is enhanced in a critical situation.”
“That explains why Stalk wanted us there,” Newt chuckled, looking down at his bandaged hands. “And if I was lucky enough to survive the procedure, does that mean he was abducting someone else from my world, or just comparing in general? Because there's no magic in my world, but somehow, according to Stalk, I'm receptive.”
“Maybe you're just a lucky chance, which is why Stalk is so interested in you?” Rainbow said, yawning.
“What he wants from me is what I can't figure out,” the boy said, frowning. “What has he prepared for when I will reach three point zero?”
“He won't tell us that until you've reached the right Hazard Level,” Twilight sighed. “But I hope he doesn't want to hurt you, since you're so important to him.”
Looking down at his hands again, Newt chuckled to himself, “Yes, he doesn’t. And if I were trampled alive, what then?”
Deciding to leave hard thinking till the morning, ponies, dragon and human turned off the light and went to bed.
***
Somewhere near the monitor, a warrior in scarlet armor sat and looked thoughtfully at the images of six well-known ponies, in the ‘Hazard Level’ column of which was written: ‘Error’.
“Very interesting,” Blood Stalk said thoughtfully.
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PLEASE CONTINUE THIS STORY!?! IT IS AWSOME!!!
10837644
Working on it... slowly and lazily
Please do, drive and fourze maybe my favorite riders but i got a soft spot for build. Plus i really wanna see newt get the build driver.
10838576
In the next chapter) I don't like Fourze and Drive won't fit in Equestria in my opinion. Not sure about other riders yet but I plan to introduce Newt to Decade or Zi-O, or both
I know, i was just saying that drive amd fourze are my favorite heisei kamen riders.
How do you plan on introducing build zi-o or decade. Are they gonna be the actual kamen riders or just more kids abducted fron newt's world?
10839395
No, actual Riders
Hmmm, hard to say. I could see decade "passing through" heh heh. But zi-o could be interesting. Ya got me. Wait! What about sento, the original build?
10839970
He is Build from another universe. Don't think I'll introduce Newt to him, though
Hey dude, i just had a killer idea for your story. What if later down the line twilight decided to tinker with the build driver and accidentally gave newt tk ability to use to organic/inorganic bottles at once? Kinda like with rabbitrabbit and tanktank. I personally wouldn't mind seeing stuff like dragon wolf and rocket gatling. You can call them strange matches or uncanny matches.
Oh and something you should know, they are best matches of past kamen riders. Like w, oooo,fouze, wizard amd gaim. Just thought id let you know.
Wonder how much trouble the group Faust will cause next?
Not fond of how Spike missed out AGAIN due to getting knocked out of town in a barrel. It felt pretty forced to make him miss the encounter of Blood Stalk on purpose.