A Dog and Pony Show
It feels good to be back in my own bed. After the Cutie Mark Crusaders were done with their performance and gone, I checked myself out of the hospital. The hospital staff advised against it but I was able to convince them otherwise. It’s been a couple days so not much has changed since. Right now I am making sure my house is alright, no foundation change or movement, no break-ins or attempts, and taking a more accurate inventory of all my supplies.
“Alright, 223 standard shotgun shells, 111 9mm pistol bullets, 17 compound bow arrows…”
Before I can continue, a few loud knocks interrupt my train of thought.
“Come in.” I invite my mysterious guest in without taking my eyes off the clipboard I’m holding. Although I slightly but slowly move closer to the pile of guns I have laid out, ready to grab my pistol just in case.
“Hey, Swift!” I recognize the happy voice. Twilight Sparkle’s faithful number one assistant and friend since she was a filly.
“Hey, Spike. Need somethin’?” He doesn’t seem like the type to just go over to someone’s house, especially mine, to hang out. Hopefully he does need something, it’s pretty boring here as of late so.
“No! Can’t a dragon come by and say hi to one of his friends?”
I smile at his attitude. Always the chipper dragon he is. But how come I have the feeling there is more to it than that.
“Oh, sorry. Hey, I’m just here taking inventory of all the supplies I’ve collected.”
“That’s nice.”
A few minutes pass, not a word being said. The only noise being the gentle breathing of our breaths and the occasional scribbling of my clipboard. “Soooooooo…” Spike finally says.
“Sooooooo…” I reply.
“Sooooo, you’ve got nothing to do today?”
“Nope. Been boring since the whole Cockatrice incident. No doubt Twilight must have told you?” I place the clipboard down on a table nearby and sit down on the couch. He nods in approval.
“She did. I also read the letter she sent to the Princess.”
I guess he has too. Being the main transportation and envoy for two important pony’s, I guess he has to make sure that nothing wrong is sent between the two.
“Anyway, do you think you can help me out with something?”
“Um, sure. I got nothing else to do.” The little dragon seems happy as he can be. I guess whatever he needs must be important, although it can’t be as good considering he needs my help.
“Awesome! Let’s go!” Before I can say anything, he takes off right out the door.
“Hey! Wait! Damnit.” I mutter the last part to myself. I quickly fasten my belt around my waist and sling my shotgun across my back and bolt out the door after him. “Spike!!”
“Over here!”
I look in the direction I hear the voice from and find Spike right next to a boulder. He takes off again before I can get close.
“Damnit Spike! I can’t go with you if I don’t know where you’re going!” I yell to myself but continue running.
I’ve been chasing after the green and purple dragon for I don’t know how long. If he was running in a straight line or something close to that, I’d be able to catch up but he’s bounding between giant rocks and trees so I can’t get up to the right amount of speed for my power to kick in. I finally decide to sit down right next to a boulder. “Spike… where are you?” I ask myself, not expecting an answer.
“Right here.”
I was wrong. I look to my left to him standing right there with a smile on his face. I’m tired as hell from all the running when normally I wouldn’t be, but considering I had to jump around a bunch of different obstacles right now, it makes sense.
“Come on, we’re almost there!”
Before he can take off again, I grab him by his tail and firmly hold him as he tries to run.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!! We’re walking so you can explain where we’re going and why?!” I firmly shout.
“Fine.” He pouts.
I smile and stand up. Spike leads as we make our way over to wherever it is we are going. A few minutes pass as we move farther and farther away from Ponyville. Being in the dark like this really sucks.
Time for some answers. “Hey, Spike?”
“Yeah?”
“What are we doing out here? And where are we going?”
“Oh, Right. Rarity’s got an order to fill for the famous pop star pony named Sapphire Shores! And she needs gems to finish making the dresses. So we’re going on a gem hunt!” He explains.
Well that explains the enthusiastic and fast demeanor he just had. That dragon is willing to do anything for that pony. I guess if I was as madly in love with another like him, I probably would do the same, except I wouldn’t leave my friends in the dark the whole time.
“Gem hunt?”
“Yeah! Gems are found in the ground, mountains, rocks and things like that. If you still remember, Rarity uses Gems to help her dresses and clothes… uhhhh…” Spike tries to come up with a word or saying.
“Stand out?”
“Yeah! That’s it! Anyway, we’re going pretty far from Ponyville so I wanted to get you in case anything bad happens.” I smile at Spikes preparedness.
“Got all your bases covered, huh?” I ask him with a smile.
He smiles and nods. “When it comes to… huuuuu… Rarity, definitely,” The love struck dragon says in a dreamy state.
I’ll probably never truly understand this world, but I’ll also never understand what it means to be in love as well. How the love between two people, or dragon and pony, can push them to heights far beyond anything that seems impossible to many. I haven’t been in love or anything like that, nor I’ll ever considering the position I’m in. But maybe I can…
“No, no! Get that out of your head man. Need to stay focused.” I mutter to myself.
“Hmm, did you say something?”
Unfortunately I was a little too loud.
“No, nothing. I didn’t say anything.” He looks unconvinced. “So how are we going to find these gems?” I decide to change the subject. I can’t be dwelling on my own feelings right now. I need to keep my head focused if I’m going to keep doing what it is Spike wants, basically to provide security for this little expedition.
“Rarity’s going with us.”
Well that answers another question. Still, the thing that sucks is that I know of the denizens of the Everfree Forest, but we’re not going to a forest. We’re heading to a small mountain nearby, and my knowledge of mythical creatures that reside in mountains is a little rusty. So I have to surely keep on my toes.
“Rarity’s going with us?” I asked.
She doesn’t seem like the type of pony to be bothered or even consider this type of work. The others have said that she’s always been a kind of clean freak when it comes to a lot of things. Being out here is no other exception. But I guess if you want something to be perfect, considering Rarity is making some dresses for a famous pop star, you need to know if you have the right type of stuff and enough of it for that matter.
“Yeah. She has a spell that helps her find gems that aren’t in plain sight. If we didn’t have that, we’d be wandering around for hours with either nothing or barely anything at all to show for it.” The little dragon explains Rarity’s involvement. Yet another useful spell I learn. If my people had the type of spell where you find whatever it is you want, lives would’ve surely been changed. No doubt about that.
We continue to walk for the next few minutes, the area becoming void of trees and grass, and more with rocks, boulders, dirt and dust. As we walk, I look up at the sun. The bright and shining glimmer coming off that massive form of energy is obviously something to love. Princess Celestia must surely feel happy and proud to be in charge of something that massive and beautiful.
“Argh!” I become blinded for a second. The sun’s rays I’m used to but something beamed right at my eyes. I look again but more carefully this time. Something is dangling from the face of a cliff nearby that’s shiny as hell. I can’t tell what it is however.
“Swift! Come on!”
I look back to see Spike is a fair distance ahead of me. I take one last look at the object before taking off again towards the enthusiastic dragon. Whatever that was… it can’t have been from here. No gem is that bright from the sun and it doesn’t look like it could belong to anypony. Nooo, that’s somethin’ else.
“How much farther?” I ask Spike once I’ve caught up to him.
He lifts his claw and points ahead, “Rarity should be right up ahead.” With that said, the next few minutes are quiet.
“Spiiiiike!!”
I hear the same voice from the pony that had first offered me a place to stay when I first came here. She has her faults here and there but she’s still and alright pony to be with. We bound around another rock and standing right there, next to a little red wagon, in an annoyed state is the Fashionista pony known as Rarity. Spike waves to her and so do I. All three of us walk right up to each other.
“Spike! There you are! Where did you go?” the dress making pony asks her love struck assistant.
“I just thought we could use some help while we’re out here,” Spike explains while pointing to me.
I give a sheepish smile and nod. Rarity’s annoyed demeanor turns to that of slight happiness.
“Ohhhhh, why thank you Spike. The extra help would be a welcome addition to our little expedition.” Her gaze turns to me, making me smile again, “Is that alright with you, Swift?”
I give her a slight chuckle. “Well, I wouldn’t be up here if I didn’t want to.”
“That settles it then. Let’s go!” Spike happily says and grabs the handle of a wagon we have here with his tail. He must have brought it up here earlier, otherwise we’d be carrying a whole lot of gems in nothing but our arms or on our backs.
“Good! Let us hurry! I need to finish those dresses post haste!”
And so we go.
For the next half hour or so Rarity’s horn lights up every so often to reveal the location of the different piles of gems hidden just under the surface of the ground. I’m kind of impressed on how Spike is one hell of a digger. When he isn’t using his claws he’s using his tail as either a shovel or a jackhammer, although the jackhammer part is pretty cool. The info I got before wasn’t kidding when it said dragons eat gems. I’ve seen Spike ogle gems as much as he does Rarity whenever he uncovers a cache of gems. And if the mouth watering, hungrily, teary eyed expression he gives, it’s quite obvious. Rarity kept promising Spike that she’ll give him one when they are done, then after she meets quota on how much she needs. When he finally did get it, he couldn’t bring himself to eat a gift given to him by the love of his life.
“Right here, Spike!” Rarity shouts, revealing another stash of gems. I watch as Spike quickly moves over to the spot Rarity specified and is about to start digging.
“Ooh! More over there!” Rarity points farther ahead. I see an even bigger stash of gems illuminate from under the ground a little ways away.
“I got this one. You two go over there.” I tell them.
The two of them nod and start walking off in the direction of the second stash. I kneel down close to the ground and get ready to dig. I try to cut through the dirt but its caked together pretty good with small pebbles and more dirt. If I continue to try with my bare hands, I’ll probably either cut myself or tear off my nails. I think for a second before an idea pops into my head.
I grab my shotgun and begin hitting the ground slightly with the butt of it, loosening up the gravel. Once the gravel has been pulverized loose enough, I place my shotgun down and grab my knife. I use the horizontal part of the blade to dig up the dirt until I hit my target. Once all the dirt and rocks are gone, I look at my treasure. Half a dozen clear cut gems lay in the small hole right in front of me. As I grab a ruby, I take note of its smooth feel; the texture is clear and beautiful, the sun’s rays just barely making a reflection of it. Never had I ever thought I would be holding such expensive and exquisite forms of jewelry, in my world I mean, at least not legally. I rub off the dirt and marvel at how it is. The most richly pampered people back in my world would pay a hell of a pretty penny to get there hands on these beauties.
The one thing I’m curious about is how these gems are already perfectly cut. It would take a jeweler a fair amount of time to be able to get this type of work done.
Don’t question it man. They have a pony that’s defies the laws of Physics, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they have clear cut gems that are naturally made in the ground. I chuckle at how this world is. I’ll never get used to it, and I think I’m fine with that.
“Preciousssss…” I hear a hissing sound nearby. I look around to try and find the source but there’s nothing. I grab the rest of the gems from the hole and place them in my pockets. “Precious… gems…” That’s same voice again.
I holster my knife and grab my shotgun. I hear some rustling sounds nearby. My aim is drawn to some bushes nearby to my right before they stop. I ready myself for whatever it is that could be behind the pile of leaves. I slowly edge myself closer and closer to it, keeping my guard up just in case something pops right out. I’m right next to the bush now. I slowly move my gun closer and closer, still ready to fight for my life if need be.
Bring it on you son of a-
“Swift!!” I look over to my left to see Rarity and Spike. The wagon’s payload is now twice the size as it was before. Rarity waves me over to come to them. I take one last look at the bush before I bring my gun back and walk over to my friends.
Keep Your guard up, guardian. Don’t take any chances from here on out.
“Sorry. I thought I heard something. Anyways, here are the gems I dug up.” I pull out the gems from my pockets and drop them into the wagon. Rarity moves closer to the wagon and inspects the cargo, no doubt taking an inventory of how much she has now. My eyes wander around, looking at the various shapes and sizes of the rocks, the bushes and trees nearby, along with the clouds in the sky and such. I stop looking when I see a cliff nearby. I’m curious to see if that cliff is the one I saw before that had that object at the top. “Hey, guys. I’m gonna go over to that cliff. I saw something over there when we were walking up here and now I’m curious. “
“Sure, Swift. I’ll just be a minute here,” Rarity replies. I look over at the dragon and he nods, agreeing with Rarity as well.
“Alright, then. Just be careful while you’re up here. I thought I heard something a while ago. It could just be my imagination but…” I give an unsure look as I take another look around, “I’m still not sure.”
“Don’t worry, Swift! We’ll be fine.” Spike tries to reassure me. He walks right up to me and begins pushing me, egging me on to go check what it is I want to check. “Go ahead.”
“You sure?”
Rarity turns to look at me. “Don’t worry, Swift. If anything bad happens, my little Spikey-wikey will be here to help.” Rarity says the little dragon’s name in a bit of a baby voice.
As much as I don’t want to leave them alone, I need to find out what that thing was that was shining. It could be something pretty important and useful for me or to my people. And so far, the stuff I’ve gotten so far from my world hasn’t let me down yet. Besides, if Spike is serious on protecting Rarity as much as my oath of protecting the town… he just might surprise me.
“Alright then. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Be careful up here.” I say before I start jogging over to the edge of the cliff.
“You too dear!” I hear the fashionista pony reply back. I slow down close to the edge and slowly look over. It’s a doozy of a height that I’m on. I can’t tell exactly how far I am up, but I know for a fact that if I fall, I’ll be spread out a good couple dozen feet. However, just a few meters down the cliff is my target. I still can’t tell what it is but it looks tangled in some dead branches.
I’m really going to try this: I’m going to climb down this sheer drop cliff, latching onto barely seen edges in the cliff itself, dead branches and bushes sticking out of the cliff as well, for something that may or may not be important to me.
Hmmmmm… aw well! I’ve done worse. I tried to break into a retired veterans house so I can snag some of his old war weapons. I’m just glad I was able to duck into the alley just in time before he blew my head off with his rifle.
I shrug my arms and rub my palms together, “Alright, *sighs* let’s do this.”
I take off my belt and shotgun and place them down onto the ground so they won’t weigh me down. I do, however take my knife just in case I do fall. I can dig it into the cliff face to slow or stop my decent, hopefully. I start the slow descent down the cliff, making sure to take a firm grip of whatever I can find and grab so I don’t slip and fall. I’m willing to die with a hail of bullets pumped into my body, I’ll die in a knife fight, I’ll be torn apart by whatever this world has to offer…
But I will NOT fall to my death for anything. Just feels a little too… cowardice, I guess.
“Just keep your head together man. One at a time. One… at… a… time.” I say in sync with my movement. Everything goes smoothly for a little while, nothing breaking or coming loose. Everything seems just peachy.
“Aaahhhh!!” I’m suddenly surprised by a loud but very distant cry. The voice sounds familiar.
“Rarity?” I ask myself. Something bad must have happened. I got to get back up there, now!
“Noooooooooooo!!” An even louder cry of pain and anger is heard, not loud enough to bust my eardrums, but apparently loud enough to make me lose my grip.
“Whoa! Whoa! Oh fuck!!” I shout as my hands come free from the cliff. I fall for a few feet before I grab my knife tightly in my hand and slam it into the cliff. I continue to slide for a little bit more until it finally stops. I just hang there for a few seconds, looking down at the distance I still have left to go for my impending doom and up for my salvation with my friends.
If they’re still alive. I plant myself firmly on the cliff again, this time making absolutely sure nothing will break and make me plummet yet again. I grip my knife again and slowly but carefully wedge it out of the rock. It takes awhile but I manage to. Whew, that was close
“Swiiiiiiiffffftt!!” I look up to just barely make out the purple dragon.
“Spike! What the hell happened up there?” I shout back up.
“Rarity’s been taken underground by diamond dogs! What do we do?!” the Dragon yells to me in a worried tone. Diamond dogs? What the fuck are diamond dogs?!
“What the hell-? Alright! Head back to Ponyville and get the others! If they’re underground, we might need the help!”
“Alright sure but…”
“But what?!”
“What about you?!” I look around for a second. I’m surprised as hell to find that the thing I was climbing to get is to my right.
“Well that was convenient.” I look back up to the dragon. “I’ll climb back up and get a head start on the search. The sooner we look for her, the better!”
“Alright. I’ll go find the others! Good luck Swift!” He said and he’s out of sight.
“You too, Spike!” I reply. Hopefully he heard me. God-… no. Celestia knows we’ll need it.
I look over to my right to get a closer look at what it is that’s caught my attention so much. When I finally move myself within arm’s reach of it, my angry and annoyed demeanor turns to that of happiness. Right there, laying on a couple other branches, is the world renown and powerful sword known as the Japanese Katana. How I can tell is simple. The sheathe it is in is long and curved, the blade that is sticking out is curved as well, the handle resembles that of the average katana as well. In other words what I’m saying is, I now have a very useful and awesome as hell melee weapon.
“Holy hell.” I voice my awe of the weapon in front of me. I’ve always been fascinated by this weapon. The different forging and pounding of different metals over one another to mold them together into this deadly blade is something that seems a hassle but is well worth it in the end. It helps to know that this weapon even has a chance to cut through an entire human body with one swipe, possibly even two or three body’s! I lean over the branches and try to grab the katana and it’s sheathe but it’s strap is tangled within the branches. I sigh and start the process of untangling the strap of the katana. It takes a while, much to my discomfort with how old and dead these branches are. If I were to lean my entire body into them, chances are they’ll snap. Gotta be careful.
“Come on. Come on, you stupid sword. Why couldn’t you have just made this easy and landed on the branches, not get tangled up with them!” I mutter to myself. With having only one hand to tug and pull on the strap, it’s pretty damn hard and scary at the sametime.
“Gotcha!” But my torment is over as I pull the katana free from it’s prison. I look at the revealed blade for a second before closing it and slinging it over my back. Now that that’s out of the way. I look up to the long climb ahead of me. I breathe in and out for a bit, calming both myself and my senses.
I’m coming Rarity.
After what feels like hours of climbing, I finally make it. As my entire right arm is slammed forward against the hard floor right next to my belt and shotgun, I feel really good. I quickly pull myself forward, rolling a few times until I know I am far enough from the edge of this damned cliff. I lay there, breathing in and out for a minute until I feel confident and better again.
“Alright… enough of that. A friend of mine needs me.” I click on my belt again and put my shotgun back where it was. Now I have the shotgun and sword crossing on my back. With all my equipment back, it’s time to get started. I grab my shotgun again and look around. My confidence slightly fades when I see the area is riddled with a lot of holes. And I mean a lot! I can’t count how many there are right now, nor do I care to. I just have to find the one that my friend was taken down.
“Rarity!!!”I shout loudly towards the ground, hoping my voice will carry further in.
“Swift?!” A voice I hear far down one of the holes. My best guess is the one right next to me. I aim my shotgun at the hole and get ready just in case something is there. There isn’t. It’s dark all the way down. I crouch down and move place my gun on the ground but still keeping a firm grip on it. I lean down to the hole and almost completely poke my head into it.
“Rarity?!” I yell again. No response. “C’mon, girl. Give me something.” I lean just a little closer. I’m far enough that if I lean in any closer, I’ll surely fall in.
“Grm!” I’m surprised as hell when a big gruff furry hand grabs my face. I quickly try to pry the hand off but it’s on me tight. “Mmmff!” I’m suddenly pulled in, being dragged through the tight compacted tunnel until I’m hit in the head enough times to lose consciousness…
My eyes slowly open to reveal I’m in a cave or tunnel system that’s lit up with a bunch of lanterns. I turn my head around to continue seeing the same thing around me. I try to move but my arms are stuck.
“What the-?” I mutter to myself. I sit up and continue to try and free myself but I find chains wrapped around my hands, and their stuck pretty good but not good enough. I quickly find my belt is gone and so is my shotgun and Katana.
“Ahhhh, finally awake.” I hear a gruff but slightly raspy voice. I turn around to see the source of the voice. Standing before me is three large gray furred gorilla thing. But it’s not just that, he also looks to be a bit of dog as well. I guess these are the diamond dogs Spike was telling me about earlier, and what must have grabbed me and pulled me in. I look around to try and find my stuff but it’s nowhere.
My eyes loom over one of the bigger and rough look diamond dog that’s covered in armor. He has my belt in one hand and my shotgun in the other. The second armored-up diamond dog has my katana in its sheathe in his hand. I slip my hands free and jump forward at my sword so I can try to grab the handle. Another diamond dog brings his arm back and backhands me, slamming me hard against the wall behind me, disorienting me a bit. Before I can regain posture, I feel something cold, metal and hard fasten tightly around my neck. I shake my head and look down to see an old rusted up collar has been placed on me. It’s so big and bulky that I can’t breathe as much as I used to, and I can’t move my head around as much. It feels like I’m some prisoner to someone, or some… pet. I try desperately to pry off this infernal thing, but how it is and what it’s meant for makes me really angry and pissed.
“Stop that!” That same voice from before. Standing between the two armored dogs is the leader, I think. He’s clearly much different than the others. He doesn’t have the same fur color but he’s not as big and is wearing a red sleeveless jacket with gems sticking out of the pockets and a leather collar around his neck, at least he has that on by choice.
“And why the hell shouldn’t I?!” I yell back. He gets an evil grin on his face.
“You were snooping around for a reason.” He snaps his fingers, “Is this the reason?”
I don’t know what he means, and I now I wish I hadn’t. A few more guards and diamond dogs come out from a doorway nearby and my eyes widen when I see Rarity walking with them. She’s miserable as ever with this large thing they have on her that’s making her pull a large cart of gems. She perks up at the sight of me. “Swift!”
“Rarit- Cah!” Before I can finish, I try to move forward but the collar I have on has a chain that leads to the hands of one of the guards that’s holding my weapons. I groan at this and look back to Rarity. Her happiness turns to slight sadness when she’s spots the collar on me. “Rarity… I’m going to get you out of here, you hear me? I’m going to- Gah!”
“Silence!” The leader dog punches me in the stomach before I can finish. I collapse onto my hands and knees, trying desperately to keep myself from spilling my lunch.
“Swift! Don’t you dare hurt him you brutes!” She tries to combat them with words. I chuckle at her efforts silently. She’s always been that type of pony. Guess that’s another trait that makes her unique.
“We won’t… as long as you keep finding those gems, pony!” the leader demands. So that’s what he wants. That’s why he kidnapped her. He and his kind want gems, and Rarity’s probably the best gem detector in the entire world. “We won’t hurt you two as long as you both find gems for us. Understood?”
I grit my teeth and clench my fists hard. No way would I ever do something for anyone without my consent! But another’s life is in my hands. As long as she does what they want, they won’t hurt me. The same the other way around. I give a defeated sigh, “Fine. We’ll play your game for now.” Rarity looks surprised at my words, but one look around the room, and she agrees.
“Excellent!” He turns to look at his first captive, “Now find the gems pony!” He orders her, not even acknowledging her name. Son of a bitch. You’re lucky I don’t have my weapons, otherwise I’d skin you alive.
She gives him a stern look before she lights up her horn. She brings it close to the ground and begins scanning back and forth and side to side like a metal detector. She lets out a surprised gasp as her horn points to me. I turn around to see a massive deposit of gems just a few feet behind the surface of the ground that forms the wall. I’m suddenly pushed hard against the wall with one push. I groan and slowly turn around to see the leader dog again with a cheeky grin on his face. “Now dig!”
A pickaxe is thrown at my feet. I look down at it once before looking back up to him. I stare at him with a look of death. Any rational person or pony could probably tell what it is I’d do if I stare at them like I am right now. His smile turns to a look of anger and looks back at Rarity. He brings his fingers up.
“Wait!” He turns back to me but doesn’t lower his fingers. I slowly lean down and grab the pickaxe. I turn around, bring the axe over my head and slam it hard down onto the dirt.
“Gooooood. Now keep doing that while we continue elsewhere.” He replies in a gruff voice. I continue to dig, anger fueling me right now. They captured me and one of my friends and intend for us to be their slaves. With the sound of wheels rolling, I roll my eyes over in the direction of Rarity. Her, the leader and the rest of the guards begin walking out some doors opposite from the ones they came in through. Me and Rarity share one last look before she’s gone.
“Damn.”
“Keep digging!” One of the two guards left here to guard me, and who also has one of my weapons, replies in a slightly deeper voice and pulls on my chain. I’m choked a little but I continue to dig.
God I hate this so fucking much! I hate being restricted like this. The imprisonment that they got me in is something I hate. They’ll mess up soon, however. And when they do, I’ll be on them with this pickaxe to their skulls.
Minutes pass, the only sound being made is the slow breathing of me and my guards, and the constant clanking of my digging. C’mon. Something happen already. Just one thing, one slip up and I can get out of here.
More minutes pass and still nothing. Something! Anything!
As time continues to go by, my angered demeanor slowly dissipates to that of being scared and frightened. If the others don’t find me, I could be stuck here forever, constantly doing the grunt work of these... things! Please no. Please, something help me.
“Swift?” I stop mid-air with my axe. I turn my head around to see the guards looking in the direction of a tunnel nearby, all my other friends there, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Twilight and Spike to be exact. A devilish smile creeps across my face as my fuel of anger returns. I turn my whole body around to aim at the dogs.
“Fuck…” One of them turns his head to me, “You.” With that last word, I strike. I bring the pointed part of the axe down on the dogs arm. He lets out a loud wail of pain as he collapses on his back and drops the chain and my weapon. The other quickly turns around but I tear the axe right out of the first dogs arm and swing into his side that’s not covered by his armor.
“Argh!!” He yells in pain and collapses as well. I kick my weapons away from the two of them and look up to my friends. They all have happy faces on them, except Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie who have pained and slight disgust looks on their faces. I look at myself to see that some of the guards blood has slightly sprayed onto me. I groan and look at my friends.
“Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike… close your eyes and cover your ears.” I say with no emotion in my voice. The mortified look they have on their faces breaks my heart, but it must be done. Those three are too innocent and sweet to witness what it is I am about to do. Unlike most of my kind, I don’t like this at all. The dogs begin to get back up. I give my friends one last look before they do just that. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash just turn their heads. They know what I’m about to do. If I don’t make an example not to fuck with the ponies of Ponyville, they’ll try again, especially since they know of Rarity’s unique ability. My captive guard looks at me once before jumping at me. Before he can get close, I swing my axe as hard as I can and slam it straight through the protective helmet he has on. It doesn’t kill him, just severely hurts him.
The second tries to do the same thing except I kick him square in the face, almost completely collapsing his nose in. He writhes on the ground in pain before I plant my foot on his chest and raise my weapon in the air. He gives me one last look before I end it. The pointed tip of the pickaxe slams hard and goes deep into the skull diamond dog. As I pull it out, he twitches once, so I do it again and again until I make sure he’s dead. I now have more blood splattered on me and on the ground. I grip the pickaxe tighter and get ready.
“Raaaahhh!!” I yell as I drive my pickaxe back around. My instincts were right, I felt a presence behind me, so I let them take over and drove the pickaxe into my attacker. I dig it almost to the hilt in one strike against him. He doesn’t move and I don’t either. I let go of my weapon and let his body fall back with the pickaxe still dug into his face. I wipe my face from any sweat I have on but I also smear blood across my cheek on accident. I look at my hands, seeing the blood that is smeared on them and the rest of me.
Images flash before my eyes. Those homeless people I killed before, the mangled corpse of the one that fell on the car, the bullet ridden bodies, the slit throated one. I threw up when I saw all that blood from the last one. Now… I don’t. Why am I not sick? Why aren’t I upchucking right now from the two lives I just took? Why?! I clench my hands in anger.
“Swift?” A soft voice breaks me from my personal internal rage moment. I look up to see Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Spike with their eyes closed and ears covered. The others are still looking away with pained look on their faces.
They don’t have their ears covered.
They heard what happened.
“Can we open our eyes now?” Twilight asks. I look around and sigh.
“No. Just… give me a sec to gather my things and… we can go save our friend.” I say trying to come up with the words. I can’t let them see this. They’ll never trust me again.
They nod and continue to do what is they are doing. I slowly reach down and begin gathering my things. Maybe that’s the reason why I’m not traumatized again. When I killed those people back in my world, I did it for myself. For only me to survive when I have nothing left.
Here… I’m fighting for something else. Protecting others who don’t deserve to be traumatized like I did back in my world. I click on my belt and place my shotgun and katana on my back. I stand up and slowly walk over to my friends. I turn around to see what it is I did, a tear forming in my eye. I have to be more careful, otherwise the thing I’m protecting my friends from… might just be me.
I wipe my hands clean of the blood on my shirt and wipe the tear away. I have to be above killing others. If I continue to, I’ll be just like the evil and demented that plague my kind. I gently place my hand in front of Twilight’s eyes. She opens them but is confused at first.
“Swift? What’s going-?”
“It’s fine Twilight. Just let me lead you away from here.” She’s tensed at first but slowly nods. I gently lead her away into a different tunnel, the one that I remember they took Rarity into. Once Twilight is through, I tell her to stay and I go to grab the others. Fluttershy is a bit harder to get moving but I manage to. Thankfully I didn’t get any blood on any of them. Once everyone is away from the view of the bodies, I turn my back to them.
“C’mon, we got a friend to save.” Everyone opens their eyes. At first there are little glad to see me but even without looking at them, I can feel their expressions on me.
And it’s not good.
“Sw-swif-swift? Wha-wh-what’s wrong? Are you-you alright?” Fluttershy’s voice is so scared and frightened. No doubt she and the others see the tint of red just off the edges of my figure. I don’t look at her or the others, I just signal them to follow.
“I’m fine, shy. Just… c’mon. Let’s go find Rarity and get out of here.” I can’t tell if they agree or not, but right now I have to get this damn collar off me.
“Twilight, can you come here a sec?” I hear small hoofsteps behind me until they are right next to me. I try not to look her in the eyes, in fear of what I might see.
“Can you… help get this thing off me?” I ask while holding the collar.
“Su-sure. Just hold it out and I’ll do the rest.” She agrees. I crouch down and grab the collar and pull it away from my skin. Out of the corner of my eye, she points her horn at me, making me a bit tense for a second. It begins to glow until a small beam of light shoots right out. I close my eyes out of instinct to feel pain, but I don’t. I look as best I can to see that Twilight is using some type of spell to shoot superheated energy out of her horn, almost like a welder’s torch. I can hear the sizzling noise of fire on metal from my rusty collar. After a few more seconds of welding, it’s done.
*Ping* With a loud snap, the collar comes right off. I quickly grab it and throw it off of me, making it hit hard against the rocky walls around us.
“Thank you, Twilight. Now let’s go.” With that said, the others follow, reluctantly.
A couple minutes pass again and I can see a much larger chasm of light ahead. “Finally! I bet that’s where they’ve taken Rarity!” Spike points out from on top of Twilight’s back. I grab my sword in my right hand and ready myself.
“That’s as about a good guess as any. Let’s move.” I pick up the pace a little more and so do the others. I’m pretty sure they haven’t forgotten what it is they think I did, but the safety of our common friend is top priority right now.
“Waaaaahahaha!” A loud whining, crying echo can easily be heard up ahead.
“Did y’all hear that?”
“Yeah, it sounded like Rarity!” The Rainbow Pegasus is right. I know no other creature that whines like that.
“Book it!” I shout and break out into a sprint with my sword pointed outwards to the right. We all come across the entrance of the large brightly lit room that has other tunnels leading out of it, but the most noticeable of all is the one with a door covering it in the front.
“There!” I point forward.
“She must be in there! Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash yells. I bolt forward so I can gain momentum and slam into the door.
“Aaaahhhh!” I stop dead in my tracks from the cry behind me.
“Guys?” l ask looking back. My eyes widen to see a rough tough diamond dog on each of my friends backs.
“More work horses!” One of them shouts as he and all his friends muzzle my friends.
“Hey!” I shout, catching the dog’s attention. “Get off my friends!” I shout while pointing my sword at them. They don’t do what I asked, they’re not even scared that I’m covered in blood! What the hell?
“Raaaawwww!!” Before I can react, a diamond dog jumps onto my back and grips me in a bear hug.
“Aaaahh! Get off me!”
“Not a chance!” I thrash and move about, doing everything in my power to shake this damn guy off of me! I can’t even swing or stab my sword back. I even try slamming him into the walls and stalagmites around me, even the door, but nothing. After one more slam against the wall, he finally lets me go. I breathe a sigh of relief for a second.
“Caah!!” I let out a choked grunt as the muzzle his friends used on my friends, he missed my mouth or it slipped and now I have a noose on my neck. He pulls back tight and my vision blurs for a second. He keeps a firm grip on me as he pulls back harder and harder each time, cutting off more of my air each time.
“Yeeeehaaaa! Get along little doggies!” I open my eyes to barely make out and see that all my friends were able to buck their attackers off them.
Alright, enough of this! I twist my sword around in the reverse grip, grab it with both hands and I stab back. There is a moment of silence for a second before a loud scream of pain is heard. My attacker lets go of me. I bring my sword with me to the ground as I collapse onto my hands and knees, trying to catch my breath at the same time. I tear off the rope around my neck and cough a few times as my vision returns to normal. I look around to see the diamond dogs helping their wounded friend up. Thank god I didn’t kill him. The others probably wouldn’t forgive me for taking a life like that right in front of them. But I was getting choked right now, soooo… They begin carrying him away but I get in between them and the tunnel entrance they are moving to. They stop in their tracks almost instantly when I have my sword raised up and pointed at them with my other free hand outstretched in front of me. They try to turn around but my friends are right behind them, cutting off their escape.
If anything, I’d expect my friends to move out of the way to let them escape.
And I wouldn’t blame them for it.
Instead, I step out of the way and point my sword down the tunnel. The dogs look at me once and then back down the tunnel. “Get the hell out of here!”
The dogs tense up and quickly make their escape without a single word uttered and not a look back. “And remember! If you come near Ponyville again, I won’t be as merciful!!” I shout after them. After that little outburst, I suddenly feel a little lightheaded. I slowly and gently lay myself against a wall and sit down.
“Swift! Are you alright?” Twilight asks me with worry on her face and in her voice. I gently nod and look over to the door.
“I’m fine. Just… phew… need to catch my breath. Spike, Rarity needs you now more than ever.” Normally I wouldn’t suggest such a thing, but enough blood has been shed today. Got to give a little trust in my friends to truly be called friends. I point to the door, “If I know you my friend, you can do it. Get in there and save that mare!” I sternly say and lay back.
“But what about you?”
I smirk at his concern for me.
“I’m in no condition to fight whatsoever right now. I’ve done enough damage as it is. It’s your time to shine now, man.” He looks at me with confidence. Coming from me, considering my position and power, that says a lot compared to him. He hops up onto Twilight’s back, who for some reason still has that stupid make-shift muzzle thing on, and grabs a stalactite from the ceiling above and holds it like a spear.
“Make me proud my friend.” he nods back to me.
“High ho, Twilight! Away!”
“And just what do you think you’re doing?” Twilight asks the dragon in an annoyed tone.
“Please, Twilight. Just give me this.”
“*Sigh* Fiiiinne.” she says, defeated. She rears up and charges.
I chuckle at Spike and Twilight’s gallant charge they do straight through the doors. They bust it into a million pieces without any sign of the two of them stopping. The others are still with me but I signal them to continue on ahead to help their friends. Their reluctant at first but they go. I stay sitting down for the next few minutes, laughing and being amused at the diamond dogs yelling and screaming, complaining about the whining pony. It’s funny as hell and I like it. I soon hear rapid footsteps coming my direction. Just a simple turn of my head and I see three diamond dogs running right at me, one of them being the leader. Well not at me specifically, past me to run down the tunnel the previous dogs from before went through
Time for some payback!
As soon as the leader himself is about to pass me, I quickly jump up and tackle him to the ground.
“Argh! Let me go! Let me go!” He frantically tries to shake me off but I’ve got him. I’ve got him real good.
I take my sword and gently slide it across his neck, not enough force or close enough to cut it but to know what it is that’s there. He stops struggling and looks straight into my eyes.
“Now I want you to listen carefully. If you ever! EVER! Try to hurt my friends again…” I press the blade harder against his neck. He groans and I can clearly tell he’s scared shitless. “Remember this feeling, because if you come after my friends again in the future… My face will be the last thing you ever see in this life, and the next.” I threaten him. I pull the blade away, much to his relief, but I drop my sword and grab him by the throat. “Understand?”
“Grrrr! Chhhh! Yes!!” He finally says through my grasp. I smile and let him go.
“Good.” As soon as I stand up, I grab him by the back of his collar and haul him up onto his feet. He struggles a bit but I plant my foot right on his back and kick, sending him stumbling and flying straight into his other friends. They grab him and all three look at me for a second, probably contemplating the plan of jumping me since I don’t have my sword on me. Giving them an aggravated stare, I grab my pistol and fire once at their feet, making them jump up in surprise.
“Get the hell out of my face!” I shout and fire more rounds at their feet, scaring them to hell as they all stumble and begin running like a bat outta hell. I watch as they all run and whine like dogs farther and farther away from me. One thought goes through my head right now.
I didn’t kill them. I could have killed him and all his friends right now. I could have slit his throat and chased the others down. I could have shot them all in the back as they ran away.
But I didn’t.
“Swift?” I’m broken from my thoughts at the sound of the voice. I look back to see all my friends standing at the door that led to the room that Rarity was held in. All of them, except for Spike, are attached to some rusty metal things used for horses to haul large heavy things. They are the things that Rarity was attached to earlier. They are pulling some giant carts filled gems, far more than what we were carrying in that dinky little red wagon we were using earlier. From their expressions, I think I can guess that they saw what I just did right now. I look down at my person, examining the dried blood I have on me. My shirt has a pretty sizeable amount but my pants just have a few specs, easily washable. I pull my shirt off and wipe my face clean of anything on that’s stuck to it. I can see a noticeable blush on some of my friends faces, making me smile at the same time. I’m not ripped or anything, but I’m not lazy, fat or a slob either. I guess to them it’s just a little weird for one of your guy friends to suddenly take off some of his clothing right in front of them.
“*Sigh*… let’s go home guys.” That gets some smile. They all nod and I look around for a second. My eyes stop at a small table with a lantern on it. I walk right over to it and nailed to the wall is a map of the entire tunnel system we are in. I tear it off the wall and examine it to try and find the position we are at.
“What’s that?”
“I think, it’s a map, Rainbow. Give me a sec to try and find… Ah! Here we go!” I find where we are on the map and plot the correct route out of here, but is also flat enough for us to get all these carts out as well. “Got us a route lets go.”
With that said, my friends nod and we make our way out of this place…
After about 15 minutes of traversing this place, getting lost a few times in the process, we are finally out and slowly making our way down the mountain side.
“I can’t wait to write to Princess Celestia about what you taught me today.” Our favorite purple unicorn says, knocking me from my thoughts.
“Meeee? What did I teach you?” Rarity replies back.
“Just because a pony is ladylike, doesn’t make her weak. In fact, by using her wits, a seemingly defenseless pony can be the one who outsmarts and outshines them all.” So true Twilight. Never ever judge a book by its cover. Plenty of people in my world have forgotten that rule all too many times.
“Mmmm, outshines is right. Naw you have enough gems to cover Sapphire Shores costumes.” Spike says through a mouthful of gems. I can only imagine the tantrum my people would make when they someone actually eating these beauts.
“Not if you eat them all Spike!” Rarity uses her magic and pulls a half-eaten gem right out from Spikes hungry maw. You can clearly hear the giant chomping sound he makes.
I and all my friends share a laugh at the display. Good friends having fun, shrugging off any type of fight or conflict we just went through. Even though of what my friends think I did almost directly in front of them, I hope they can truly forgive me in time. My intentions are good, but my method was not.
I stop walking by my friends and turn my head to the side to see the sun just off the horizon yet again. I now wonder if Princess Celestia purposely holds the sun in just the right moment for me to have these moments to myself, to help make me feel better about myself, and me being here. I slowly walk over to the edge of the cliff, taking in the rays of the sun that have blessed many for so long.
“You guys go on. We’ll just be a sec.” I hear Twilight’s voice just off behind me, yet it sounds like she’s far off than it seems. The sounds of chains and metal clanking together are just behind me, before the sound of those same objects hitting the rocky dirt floor. Hoofsteps are the next to come, moving closer and closer until I can feel the owner’s presence right next to me.
“Are you alright?” Her voice is just as beautiful and tantalizing in this environment than anyone could hope. I look down at her.
“No... You know what it is I did Twilight. Your ears weren’t covered so you… heard what I did.” She averts her gaze to the sun just as I do as well.
“Yes.”
“Even the evidence was plastered on my face and body.” I look down at the shirt I have in my hand. I extend my arm out and let go. I watch as the shirt unwinds in the wind and sends it flying off, not a care in the world as to where it winds up. “And I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Sorry for what? Protecting us? We can’t fault you for that, Swift.” She’s trying to make me feel better. How nice. I chuckle at her words as I slowly sit-down next on the edge.
“But you can fault me for my methods. I killed those guards from behind. They barely had time to react or plead before I attacked them. They were just following orders and I killed them because of it! How can you not be furious with me for that?!” I almost yell at her. I can already feel the tears welling up in my eyes again. This time I don’t suppress them, I just let it happen.
Twilight sits down next to me and snuggles against me.
“I can’t be furious with you because I can’t change who you are.” I look at her, “I can’t fully understand what it is your species has become. Yes, you’ve told me, the princesses and the rest of our friends so much about you and your kind, but we don’t know the minds that your people have. You’ve face plenty of hardship in your life, Swift. You remember that oath you said to yourself so many times?”
Protect the innocent. Protect my friends. Protect my family. Those who have done nothing bad… don’t deserve to have anything bad done to them.
“I remember.”
“And have you lived by that oath?”
“I have.”
“Then we can’t blame you for following something you promised yourself for so long.” She deserves the best. Here I am, sitting on the edge of a cliff, in a world I am unfamiliar with, the only one of my kind, and she, the apprentice and student of the god of this place, has decided to do what she can to make peace with myself.
“I guess you’re right. But that still doesn’t excuse me for what I did.” I sadly say. She taps me, making me look at her.
“Swift, you’ve been for a few weeks as it is. We can’t change you for what you are. Your specialty is fighting. And even though I’ve fought a few times… you’re capable of things that we are not. Regardless of what you think of Equestria, it’s not the most perfect place out here. You still remember our history?”
“The conflict between the Earth ponies, Pegasi, and unicorns? I remember.”
“We pushed through all that, but there are still others creatures out there that care little for us, and even though we have guards and the princesses powerful magic, most ponies just don’t have the heart to… take a life like you can. You’ll be saving a lot of lives if you continue to that.” Wow, I never thought she would say anything like that. Of course the guards have to be very strict if they want to do their jobs, protecting the innocent civilians of the towns they guard. And the princesses, they have to protect their subjects, the lives that have been entrusted to them for so long.
All work so hard to do what it is they’ve pledged to, protect and serve.
And that’s what I pledged, to protect and serve! I can’t help but smile a little from what I just learned.
But why do I still feel like crap?
“I… understand Twilight. I’ll continue to protect you and the others until the last breath draws from my lungs.” I say to her while giving a reassuring smile. She replies with a smile… and a hug. I feel her hooves wrap around my shoulders as she pulls me into a warm comforting embrace. I smile and wrap my arm around her, returning the gesture.
“Thank you, Swift.”
“No problem Twilight.” We stay like this for a few more seconds, staring out into the sun’s embrace as it continues to descend. “But I’m still not gonna take lives whenever I have the chance. It still feels… wrong here.”
“I won’t hold that against you. Just whatever it is that makes you happy and sleep at night.” We both share a short laugh. The moment is good. Talking with a friend, learning something new. It feels right you know. Maybe this is how she feels whenever she sends a letter to the princess. The thrill of new knowledge entering the mind, ready and willing at their disposal. It’s a feeling that not many like and usually take for granted.
“Still, the way Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked at me after... I did what I did, it hurt. I’ll only resort to that under the condition that I absolutely need too.” I state. If I’m still going to live here, I have to stand by that.
“I understand.” I glad she does. As much as I would like to continue this moment, all good things must come to an end.
“Alright, Twilight. Let’s get going. The others are far off ahead us, maybe even back home as it is! Let’s hurry up before they start to worry, and before it gets too late.” I propose to her. The sun is close enough to the ground as it is. It’s high time we get moving.
“You’re right. We’ve spent more than enough time here. Let’s go home.” We untangle each other from ourselves and get up. With a smile, we make our way over to the cart full of gems she left to go talk to me. She tries to hook herself back up but I stop her.
“Uh-uh. No. I’ve got this.” I grab the chains and hold them tight in my hands. I shiver as some of the dangling chains brush against my skin but I shrug it off.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. Let’s go.” As I try to pull the cart, I realize it was heavier than I first thought. I try to show no signs of discomfort as I pull the heavy but precious cargo filled cart behind me.
“Well, alright then Swift.” Twilight did a good thing for helping me come to peace with myself right now. If I can let off a little weight from her shoulders, back, whatever. I’ll do it.
For now, we head home, drop off the cart, and then head to our own individual homes, for a good night’s rest.
After all, I have a new weapon to master.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Bloody retarded piece of shit story. Horrible fucking grammer, bloody terrifying spelling, and a big ol' steaming pile of fucking unoriginality.
Just kidding. Except for the grammer/spelling part. And a little bit of the unoriginality. But, it's your first story, so whatever.
2298899
Yeah, I can make a somewhat good story, but I do have a problem with grammar. Besides, just think how many problems the story would have if I didn't get my proofreaders.
2402583
Thank you.
Enjoying it so far keep up the good work.
Katanas are nice, until the opponent wears plate armor or chainmail.
2475725
Good eye. It wasn't until Chapter 10 Sonic Rainboom that I started to use Proofreaders. So it's to be expected that there are some errors in the previous chapters. I'll fix it right now.
Okay, seriously? An M9, a Mossberg, a compound bow, literal shitloads of ammo, a grappling hook gun (that doesn't exist in reality, mind you), a Hummer, an airplane, and now a bloody katana?!
Where, exactly, are all of these weapons and vehicles coming from? It seems like they're just falling out of the sky whenever it's convenient. It kind of reminds me of dungeon crawling games (or to extent Legend of Zelda) where you come across the exact weapon you need for that exact situation. I mean, one or two weapons is fine, especially considering that magic can kill him. He needs some way to defend himself, after all. But this seems like it's going a tad bit overboard.
I'm not trying to sound like an asshole or anything, and for all I know you could have a really damn good reason for what's going on. But every time a new weapon comes into play I can't help but feel like this is just written to be some wish fulfillment power fantasy. And that's not really a good thing.
Or it could be SCP-572
I like how you made twilight understand that as much as we wish we didn't have hurt anyone some folks don't want peace and will hurt innocent people and we have to stop them before it is too late.