> SSAdventures: Spirit Awakening
>  by Spirit Shift
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> "Who the hell is Moonlight ButtTwerk?"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A young colt by the name Blazing Notes began to prance in place with excitement, the guitar bouncing on his back along with him. “Is this the place? Please Celestia, tell me this is the place!”

Bionic Force checked the mini computer attached to his foreleg. “Calm your junk, Notes, this is the place.”

A young mare named Coco Pommel began to blush uncontrollably. “I-I-I didn't realize that we would be coming to a place like this.” 

Spirit Shift looked up and tilted his head in confusion. “I thought we were monster hunters.”

Force continued to study his screen. “Well I thought we were researchers.”

Blazing Notes looked like he was about to rush in with the way he was dancing on his hooves. “I don’t care WHAT we are right now! This, right here, is the best moment I’ve had since we left home!”

Coco looked slightly shocked. “How could you say that?”

Notes turned to her. “Look where we are!” he said, pointing to the sign that read, ‘Plot Shaker’. “We are at an effing strip club you nobs!” He turned and pointed at the young colt. “Force, your a growing colt, you should be excited!”

The colt’s expression remained expressionless. “I would be more excited if the mares inside were all either ninth degree black belts, or automated cyborgs with triple digit intellects.”

Notes glared at him before turning to the blue pegasus on his other side. “Spirit, please tell me that you’re at least somewhat excited to be here,” he begged.

Spirit put down his action figures and turned to him with his usual bright smile. “Nope, I am incredibly bored right now!”

Notes threw his hooves in the air and groaned. He sat back on his haunches and began to rub a hoof on his temple “Not that I’m complaining, but please tell me why the hell we suddenly decided to go to a strip club. I just need to be sure that we won't get ambushed, or find out that every single mare in the place is a changeling or something…..” he shuddered. “....again.”

Spirit fell out laughing at the memory of Notes in the shower, frantically washing himself up and down, all while screaming stuff about the gunk not coming out of his coat.

“Well, simply put, we seem to be in dire need of financial stability?”

“Yeah, you never told me. How exactly did we suddenly go broke over the course of a single morning? We've been here 3 days, and this is the first I've heard of it.”

Force opened his mouth to reply but got cut off when Spirit jumped up in front of him. “Flashback time!!” he exclaimed before he began to make strange warbling noises while wiggling his hooves.




~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~




It was a normal day in little old Ponyville-

We’re in Manehatten.

I know, Coco just listen.

Oops, sorry, please continue.

Ahem, like I was saying. It was just another normal day in Ponyville, the birds were singing, the ponies were out and about, and the regular monster was on it’s way to attack the unsuspecting town. It hit like a bomb outta nowhere, immediately destroying the orphanage without warning.

BOOOOOOMUUUSHHHHH!! 

“Oh sweet Celestia no, not the orphanage!” a random mare cried out.

“What the hell is that!!” screamed another. Pointing over at the gargantuan body of an 8 tentacled starry skinned creature. It had one large eye that contained 8 unmoving pupils, and each of his slimy tentacles ended in a fist that was on fire. It stood clear over the city and randomly punched down, destroying all manner of homes and businesses. Every so often it would grab something and toss it into it’s never closing black hole of a mouth. The millions of rotating sharp teeth easily tearing it to shreds.

A brown colt’s eyes shrank to dots. “Sweet Shiva, It’s heading for the Gametrot!” 

KERBOOOOOOMMM!!! FAWHOOOOOOSHH!!

The brown colt wearing a spinning propeller beanie fell to his knees and screamed to the heavens, tears running down his eyes. “nnnnnnnnnnNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

A tan earth pony mare came up and comforted her son. “What kind of sick, BASTARD would destroy the games?”

The colt whimpered in his mother's embrace. “It was the only one in town. Who’ll save the princess now!?” he sobbed.

“Oh, won’t somepony help us!” the mare sobbed alongside her son.

Suddenly a super masculine voice rang out over the town. “Have no fear! Your savior is here!”

Everypony’s eyes were attracted the gleaming pony floating down in a ray of golden light, his wings spread wide. His hair was a calm blue surrounding a blazing red that matched his eyes. His coat was as blue as the azure sky, though the sky’s radiance paled in contrast to his own. “I’m here to save you!” His crimson cape flowing in the breeze like Celestia’s hair.

The entire town began to cheer his name, the ones who didn't gaped in awe. 

One grey mare with a dignified bow tie acted as the latter. “Who is that magnificent stallion?” she asked.

Another pony with violet shades and a white coat galloped up and smacked her upside her head. WHAP “How in Equestria could you NOT know who that is!”

The gray mare rubbed the back of her head. “I-I just-”

WHAP! Another slap. “NO! Shut up! There is absolutely NO reason for you to not know him! Shame on you!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry, you are forgiven.” She grabbed her by her cheeks, and forced the mare’s gaze toward the pony still hovering in a golden light. “That, my dear cellist, is Spirit Shift. The most radicalest, stylishest, awesomest, epicest, and all around amazingest monster hunter in all of Equestria… est,” she exclaimed.

“Wait, aren't awesome, radical, stylish, and epic all roughly the same in this context?”
 
The white unicorn merely deadpanned, slapping the other pony once more before turning back to me err I mean that great pony. “His deeds are legendary! His skills, unbeatable! I hope that he makes that thing his bitch!!”

The stallion in the sky turned to her and nodded. “Exactly! Watch as I, Spirit Shift, completely destroy that beast!” With that I turned and flew at mach speeds toward the monster creating two, no, three Sonic Spiritbooms in his wake

Spiritboom?

If that Rainbow Dash gets one named after her, I should too!

I sped toward the demon at mach speeds, gearing up to put the beat down on his ass.

BOOOM! SKUUUSH! WHAP!! WHATING! FALCON HOOF! FALCON HOOF! WHIPLASH! SPLASH!!! BUBBLEBEAM!! I pulled out all of my completely original moves to combat the beast.

“Spirit, what the hell are you doing?”

Until Force came in and ruined the immersion.

I put what I had in the best place I could think of on the fly, and turned around. “Sup Bi, just messin around till we leave.” I answered, completely normally.

My little brother, Bionic Force, stoically stepped into my hotel room and stared at me. “What are you yelling about, I’m getting complaints from the front desk. And for that matter, where have you been the last two days?”

“Nothing, I swear!”

“Uhuh, then why is there a lifelike scale model replica of what looks like Ponyville behind you?”

Okay, so I couldn't hide all of it behind my back, but I did what I could. 

“And what are you hiding in your hooves behind your back?”

‘Dammit!’ I thought. I looked down in shame and held them out.

Force looked down and saw the lifelike custom figures that I made of several different ponies. His expression didn't change, but I could tell that he was getting upset when his right eye started to turn from it’s normal grassy green like color to that mean red color that it gets like when he’s irritated.

“Spirit, where did you get these?”

I beamed and started to recount my story. I lifted up my hooves but he just sat them back on the ground.

“No flashback, just tell me where you got them.”

“Well, two days ago when we entered the city, I saw these figures of the Elements of Harmony in a store window. They were so lifelike and detailed, that I just knew that I needed to have one. So I went inside and talked to the owner about them. He said that they were just demonstrations showing his ability to make them for anypony. That was amazing, I thought. I just had to get some made for us. So I asked him about it, and he told that it’d be done by the end of the day. I came back and he was done! Awesome, right? 

I got the figures and left, but then I came across a scale model store with the Ponyville one outside. Without thinking, I instantly ran inside. This one was for sale so I bought it, but then I thought that if we were were all gonna play with it, I would need a monster, right? I thought that the monster from my dreams would be a perfect fit. I went back to the model maker and he said that he would need a picture of it. Well, I didn't have that, so instead I came back the next day and spent the entire day describing it to him,  It took a while, but it was definitely worth it.” 

I held up the creature from my dream named Benevelzhe, (no, like this, Be-ni-vel-zay) the one with the 8 flaming tentacle fists. “I mean, look at this detail!” It really was detailed, you could see the dried blood on it’s teeth and everything!

I then held up the figures of us. “I even made one for Soul Heart, do you think she’ll like it?”

Force, being the killjoy that he was, swatted away Soul’s figure, not our’s, just her’s for some reason. “That answers the question of where you’ve been the last two days,” he mumbled. His voice became more hollow than usual. “Spirit… how much did all this come up to?”

I looked down and tried to remember. “I’m not sure, when I asked how much it all cost at the end, he just wrote down some huge number on a piece of paper. I was like woah, but we got this. I just took out the group wallet, and sat it on the counter. His eyes almost popped out of his head and that made me fall over laughing. He said it was enough, so I ran back to the hotel and I’ve been here since.... Woah, dude, is your eye malfunctioning or something?”

At this point, Bionic’s robotic right eye was blazing red and smoke was coming out of his ear, the rest of his face stayed the same though. He simply closed his right eye and covered it with his hoof, mumbling something about overheating.

“Spirit,” he said, his voice all firm and serious, “you’re going to come with me, and we’re gonna return the Ponyville replica. We can’t take it with us, and frankly, I’m very curious to know how you even got it through that door. But I can ascertain and compare the dimensions of the two objects later. Secondly, we are going back to the doll maker and we are getting our bits back.” He began walking back toward the door, but I called out behind him. 

“Can we at least keep the figures?”

He turned back. “You can keep the ones of Notes and yourself, but I don’t like there being any sort of object made in my image. It just makes me want to open it up and look inside.”

“Wait, what about Benevelzhe and Soul,” I said, holding up those two. Force came back and picked up Souls figure. He stared at the earth pony, the hoof work completely accurate right down from her light pink coat, dark red mane and golden eyes, to her heart on her flanks. He even somehow managed to recreate the hoof shaped bruise in the middle of the heart, completing the cutie mark. Seriously nice stuff.

I thought that, as a scientist, Force would have to admire the time and effort put into it, so it took me by surprise when he just nonchalantly tossed it out the window. “You can keep Benevelzhe,” he said as he trotted out the room.

So we returned the Ponyville replica and got some of our bits back, though not much since Benevelzhe destroyed most of it. But we couldn't get into the shop because there was a note on the door that read something like. ‘Not here, won the lottery, out seeing the world.’

“Awe, lucky!” I groaned.

“Great, now were stuck here until we make some bits.”

“How are we gonna do that? I’m a fighter, I can’t do chores, mom said so! Oh man, I’d have to wear a fancy suit!” I began to panic at the thought of being stuck in one place, working. I started shaking Bionic back and forth. “Dude we need some bits! Have Notes put on a concert, play his guitar, sell some of your tech!”

Force simply backhoofed me across my face. “No, no and hell no. Let’s actually think here, we could-”

“Pardon me?”

We turned around to see an off-white coat and two-tone blue mane and tail. She wore a white-bordered lavender sailor collar with a scarlet tie and a tri-shade hair clip in the back of the- oh you get it! we saw you Coco. Jeez storytelling is hard sometimes. 

“My name is Coco Pommel. You two are fighters right? Mercenaries?”

I faked a look of offence.“Young lady, we are adven-”

“Yes, we are,” Bionic interrupted, “do you have a job for us?”

“Oh thank Celestia, we need some help here in Manehatten. There’s been a string of abductions, kidnappings, and attacks all over the city. If you would, I’d like to pay you to help catch him.”

Force stepped forward. “Why are you so concerned about this case? With a cutie mark of a lavender chapeau, I assume that you are not with the police.”

I smiled, leaned over and put my hoof around her neck. “Cutie marks don’t matter though, she could be whatever she wants to be.”

Coco flinched back and blushed. “N-no he’s right, I’m not. My sister was attacked, and I can’t stop hoping that whoever’s doing this gets put behind bars. It’s mean, I know, but I just can’t help it.”

“Hmm, a valid enough excuse I suppose. Come Spirit, we shall act as mercenaries for the day. It should provide at least some sort of experience to learn from.”




~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~



Spirit finished warbling and continued. “So we found out pretty quickly who it was; it was a stallion called Winnie O’Shank, weird name right? Apparently, he’s a recently escaped convict and homicidal maniac accused of working with the secret slave trades. Not usually our mark, but I was excited anyway. Force discovered that he used to own a some kind of shop, and that his ex wife still worked there. We pulled Notes away from some mare, and now were here!” he exclaimed throwing his hooves into the air.

Looking around, Spirit saw that nopony was around except Coco who was smiling and lightly stomping her hooves on the ground.

“That was a great story Spirit, I especially liked the sound effects!”

Spirit bowed with a bright smile. “Thank you! Thank you! Where are the others though?”

“Oh, they left after the spiritboom part. I chose to stay here so they told me to give you this.” She handed Spirit a piece of paper that he read aloud. 




“Spirit, we’re going inside to get info. Stay here, don’t move, don’t explore, don’t do anything stupid. If you see somepony run out, run them down immediately. Inquisitively yours, Bionic Force.


P.S Stop trying to imitate voices, you're bad at it, and it grates on my ears.


P.P.S. When we get back, tell me about the mares in your fantasy, they sound hot!  ~Blazing Notes




Spirit lowered the note. “Huh…… alright then. Hey, Coco, you wanna play with these figures?” he beamed, taking out the figures of himself, Force, Notes, and Soul.

She took one and lovingly gazed at it “Ohhh, alright!”



~~~



        Notes and Force trotted past the large bouncer and into the club. Once inside the sound proof walls, the blaring music instantly became more apparent. Notes eyes bulged when they landed on the many mares doing various lap dances. Looking further back, he could see that the ones doing sexy pole dance moves were protected by shatterproof glass, probably there to protect the mares from being pelted with bits.

        Eventually, Notes tore his eyes away and looked back at the small green haired colt next to him. His gaze was locked forward, almost as if the plethora of pony plot around them didn't concern him in the slightest. 

        Notes looked back at the burly guard that they just passed. He stopped them at first, but Bionic simply pulled a wallet out and showed him something. The guard stared at it for a sec then let them through. “Alright, I’ll bite, what the hay did you just show that dude to get us in here? I know for a fact that you’re not 18 yet.”

        “Magic paper, the second it’s opened it displays what you want them to see. Comes in handy when I need to bypass age restriction.”

        “Nice, mind if I-”

        “It won’t work for you.” 

        “Oh, is it like magically bonded to only-”

        “No, I specifically made it so that it won’t work for you. I just don’t trust you not to abuse it,” he explained as they made their way to the back room, showing the card to anypony that stood in their way.

        Notes glared at the smaller colt. “You’re a dick sometimes. You know that?”

        Force lazily glanced back. “Maybe if you stop thinking with yours, I’d trust you with more than just that guitar.” 

        “Whatever, who are we here for again? I want to get that outta the way before I begin enjoying my time.”

        “We’re here to find Shank’s ex wife, she might know something.”

        “Is she a stripper here?”

        “No, after Shank got arrested the first time, ownership went to her.”

        “Alright, sounds simple enough, what’s her name.”

        Bionic stopped in his tracks, annoyance flashed across his face. He sighed and kept walking. “Don’t worry about it.”

        “Come on, I’ll find out eventually, just tell me now.”

        The young colts left eye began to twitch, he mumbled something.

        “Err, come again?”

        Bionic sighed. “Moonlight... Twerk...”

        After dragging Notes’ laughing butt halfway across the building, the duo soon came to the owner’s room at the far end, the owner’s name plastered on the front of it. Notes nearly fell out laughing again, while Force frustratingly rubbed his head.

        Notes managed to get a few words out through his laughter. “I seriously hope that this isn't her real name. I mean, who comes up with this stuff.”

        “Don’t know, and for once, I don’t care.”

Without knocking Force stomped his way in, surprising the owner who quickly stashed away the bits that she was counting. She glared at the two and pointed an angry hoof at them.

        “Who the hay are you two? How did you get in here.”

        “Unimportant, we need information.”

        “The rates are on the wall, now get out!”

        Notes immediately reached for his wallet, but remembered the reason why they were here. 

        “No, are you… Moonlight Twerk?”

        “Yes, and?”

        “We need to know about a stallion named Winnie O’ Shank, what do you know?”

        The mare’s eye shrank, and without warning, she jumped out the window behind her, not caring about the glass that, no doubt, cut through her skin. Notes started forward, but one calm gesture from Force told him to wait. He led them back outside to where they found Spirit’s smiling face sitting on a struggling mare. Coco stood cowering some distance away.

        “I caught her! I caught her!” Spirit cheered.

        Notes hoof pumped “Sweet, are we done now?.”

        “No, we still need information.”

        The mare continued to struggle under Spirit’s weight. “I won’t tell you anything! You can’t make me!”

        Coco hesitantly moved forward, making her way next to Force and Notes. “Wh-what do we do now?”

        “We’re not going to torture her, if that’s what you’re wondering… I don’t have my saddlebags at the moment anyway.”

        Notes took a step forward. “Chill, bros, I got this. Spirit, get up.”

        Spirit obeyed, and before the mare could run, Notes grabbed her and dragged her back into the club.

        Spirit and Coco watched in confusion. “What’s he doing?” she asked.

        Bionic didn't answer.

        About 30 minutes later, Notes confidently strutted out of the club, his head held high and a self satisfied smirk on his face. “Alright, long story short, Winnie’s underground with the diamond dogs. They're helping him, but in return he sells them pony slaves. Good news is that he was coming out tomorrow to come see Moonlight. They’re still a thing apparently.”

        Bionic took this information and nodded. “Good job, we’ll come back tomorrow and wait for-" he suddenly paused and frowned slightly, "Spirit's gone isn't he?”

        Coco and Notes looked around and nodded. Notes didn't react but Coco began to panic.

        “Shouldn't we go look for him! This part of Manehatten is dangerous at night.”

        Notes patted her on her head. “He’ll be alright, he probably got excited when I mentioned diamond dogs.”

        “Oh… is that alright? Should we be worried?”

        Both Notes and Force shook their heads.



~~~Next day



        Notes groaned audibly. “Dude, we’ve been out here for hours! Couldn't we have at least brought Coco with us?”

        “No, shut up, just a few more minutes.”

        They continued to wait in a nearby alleyway. Bionic Force had his night vision lens on over his right eye, and Notes was messing with his guitar in wait. 

        Eventually, Force detected movement and signaled Notes to put his guitar away and move over to join him.

        The sewage cover in the middle of the street began shaking, soon opening to reveal a brown earth pony stallion with an extremely unkempt mane and tail. When he climbed out the duo could see that, on his flank, lie the image of a bloody knife, signaling to Force that it was in fact, their target. He looked around a bit before carefully making his way over to the strip club where he was to meet his wife. The second he entered the building, Bionic motioned for Notes to move out. 

        Notes’ job was to make sure that the entire place was to be empty for the confrontation, so it took him by surprise when the entire place was filled with both diamond dogs, and the mares from earlier. 

        Shank stepped forward and chuckled darkly. “Did you think that you could get the drop on me? This entire building is on my side!”

        Bionic just stared at him. “Alright… you’re still coming with us though.”

        “Like two children could capture me. You’re not going to leave here alive!”

        Force turned back to Notes and calmly explained. “This is why we didn't bring Coco…. Just in case you were wondering.”

        “Wait, you knew this would happen!?”

        “Of course. Not that it matters, we can take this many even without Spirit.”

        “I know… it’s just… I was kinda hoping to actually check out the club after this was all over.”

        “Well sucks to be-”

        “Do not ignore me!” Shank screamed. In a fit of rage he ordered all of the dogs and mares to attack the duo.

        Notes quickly pulled out his guitar, and batted away the first diamond dog that attacked him. However, when a mare rushed him, he completely dodged her. “Dude, I can’t hit a mare!”

        Bionic assumed a martial arts stance and began beating down on anything that came his way. “I can, send them over here.”

        Notes nodded, and threw the next few mares that attacked him over toward his friend who easily knocked them unconscious. Bionic, in order to not be overwhelmed, responded by sending a few diamond dogs back toward Notes to get their heads bashed in.
        
        The fight continued this way, Notes skillfully using his seemingly indestructible guitar to bash the heads of the dogs, and Bionic just not giving a damn, and mercilessly beating down on anything that moved with his jujitsu. Eventually, the one sided fight ended with Force and Notes alone in a room with dozens of unconscious bodies.

        Bionic stomped down on the head of a dog that tried to reach out, as Notes trotted up to him. “Where’s Shank? Did we beat him?”

        “No, he wussed out, and ran while we were fighting.”

        “Damn, what now?”

        “Now, we head home and wait for Spirit to get back.”

        “Then what?”

        Force made his way to the entrance. “Then we get our bits, and go.”

        Notes tilted his head in confusion. “Umm… alright… but before we go can I at least go see the other clubs in this city?”

        “No.”



~~~



        The next morning, Coco Pommel made her way up the stairs of the hotel that the group told her that they were staying at. She knocked on Bionic’s room door a few times before taking a step back and waiting. Eventually, the young colt opened the door a crack, just enough for one eye to peak out. Through the crack Coco could just barely make out all sorts of add misshaped contractions. She could hear bubbling noises and electrical surged coming from the small colts room. Her eyes scanned what they could through the crack before landing in the young colts forest green eyes. Immediately, she remembered what she came here for.

        “H-hello, how’d it go last night? Did you get him?”

        “...Hay, turn around for a sec.”

        Hesitantly, Coco turned around, not fully knowing why. Behind her, she heard the door close and jumped at the noise of what sounded like a building coming down. Glasses clanked together, pieces of wood flew out in front of her. This went on for t least five minutes before she heard the colts voice again.

        “Okay, you can come in.”

        Something in the back of her mind told her not to, but against her better judgement she turned and went through the now open door with her eyes screwed shut. Peaking one eye open she tried to get a look at whatever was causing the loud noise.

        Nothing, opening both eyes, she took a look around and all she saw was a completely normal hotel room. A bed, a television, a phone, the works. Her eyes made their way over Force who had quickly picked up a large empty flask, and somehow fitted it into his small saddle bags.

        “How did you do that?!”

        Force turned his gaze to her. “Do what?”

        “N-nevermind. I was asking you about last night.”

        “It went about as well as I expected. Winnie O’ Shank saw us coming, and set up an ambush.”

        Coco gasped and covered her mouth with a hoof. “Oh no, were either of you injured? Where’s Notes and Spirit?”

        Force looked down and thought for a second. “Hmm, Spirit should be back any minute now, Notes is probably ignoring me, and going to check out one of the other clubs in this city.”

        “What about O’Shank, did you capture him?”

        “No, and yes.”

        Looking at Coco’s confused expression Force decided to explain further. “Just watch.”

        “Hey Bi, I’m home!”

        Spirit’s loud voice caused Coco to jump forward in surprise. Turning around, she saw Spirit, completely unharmed, carrying a beaten and unconscious earth stallion on his back.

        Force was unfazed. “See.”

        Spirit made his way to the center of the room before dumping the body on the ground. “Hi Coco!”

        “I-is that…?”

        “Yeah, so funny story. I made my way over to the diamond dog hideout, really far underground by the way. And when I got there, a bunch of dogs just up and attacked me for no reason! I tried to tell them that I was just exploring, but I guess they were just stupid or something.” He pointed to the stallion in front of him. “Eventually, this guy showed up and pulled a knife out on me. I figured that if he was the only pony in a cave full of dogs, he might know something. So I brought him here.”

        Coco’s jaw had long since hit the ground. “Spirit, that’s Winnie O’ Shank! You caught him!”

        “Really? Awesome!”

        “Yup, good job.” Force began dragging the knocked out earth pony toward the door. “Now let’s go get paid.”

        “Isn’t Coco the one paying us?”

        “No, she’s broke, we’ll get our money from the police department.”

        Coco looked down shamefully. “I would've found away," she mumbled.

        Force continued to drag the stallion behind him with no apparent effort. “Really doesn't matter, now let’s go.” Coco and Spirit followed him out of the room, down the three flights of stairs, and all the way to the police department four blocks away.

        The second they went inside, every eye was on them, or rather, the stallion being dragged behind them. 

        “We’re here for the bounty on this one’s head,” Force announced.

        The cops simply stared at the colt for a few seconds before one stepped forward. He wore a badge signifying that he was the one in charge. “You caught him?” he asked in disbelief.

        Spirit eagerly raised him hoof. “Technically, I caught him!”

        The stallion turned to Coco. “These two telling the truth?”

        Coco shied back slightly. “Umm, yes…”

        “Alright. James, go get the reward money”

        One of the cops stopped gaping at the trio, and ran to the back of the building.

        “Also, I think you have somepony that belongs to us.” He nodded to the set of cells. The cop led them over to the second cell. Inside was a sleeping stallion with a gray coat and black mane, on his flank was the mark of a flaming guitar.

        “Oh hey look, its Notes!”

        Coco looked up at the police chief. “Excuse me, but why is he in jail?”

        “Well, Miss, we caught him harassing some fillies, he was asking where to find some strip club. Is he yours?”

        “Yeah, he’s ours.”

        The cop moved over and began knocking on the bars. “Blazing Notes! Wake up, it's time to go."

Notes woke with a startled snort. looking toward the noise he noticed that his friends were on the other side. "Took you nobs long enough," he scoffed.

"This is why you can't use the magic paper."

Spirit chuckled. "He'd probably go around saying that he was the booty inspector or something."

The cop cracked a slight smile and Coco began giggling alongside Spirit.

Notes rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Hahaha, very funny. Now get me outta here."

After they released Notes he went to go retrieve his guitar. The cop in charge of confiscated items visibly struggled to lift the object over the counter.

"Sweet, Celestia. That thing weighs a ton."

Notes picked it up with one hoof, twirled it, and strapped it on to his back. "Yeah, Bi got a bit carried away when he modified it."

Ignoring the stallions confused look, Notes made his way back to the others who had already received their bits and were on the way out.

Outside, Bionic weighed the bag of bits on the flat of his hoof. "Judging by the weight and size there's approximately 324 bits in here. It'll last us for a little while I suppose."

Coco smiled. "That's great but... are you three going to leave right now?"

"Seeing as we haven't payed the hotel we were staying at for the last two days, it would be wise to leave."

Coco looked slightly disappointed. Notes noticed and immediately rubbed up next to her. "Don't worry, you could always call on me if you're ever lonely! I'll come back in a heartbeat." 

The mare blushed and quickly distanced herself. "It's alright, really."

Bionic felt something whoosh past him. Calmly, he looked down at his empty hoof and sighed. "I have bionic attachments on 40% of my body… and I still can't keep up with him," he mumbled. Bionic shoved an envelope into Coco’s hooves before turning to chase after his brother.  "Notes, he's got the bits again, we need to go!"

Notes shrugged before saying a quick goodbye and running of after them. "Remember, Call me!" he yelled back. 

Coco giggled as she waved goodbye to the three random colts.



~~~



        The next morning, Coco woke up after what seemed like the best nights sleep in weeks. Probably because she was sure that Winnie O’Shank was behind bars. She got out of bed, and softly went about her normal routine. She brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and made some breakfast. Before she could eat her oatcakes, however, there was one small piece of business to attend to.

        On her counter, lay the unopened white envelope that was given to her by the colt from yesterday, Bionic Force. The reason that it was opened, was the fact that the words, “Do Not Open Until the Arrival of the Red Maned Demon,” were written in bold on the front of it. At first it scared her slightly, but Coco assumed that it probably wasn't that big of a deal. 

        She shrugged, and continued eating her breakfe-WHAM!!

        Looking up, she saw that her front door was now lodged firmly into the far wall, a single hoof mark dented into it. Turning, she could see a light pink earth pony mare standing in her doorway. Before she could react, that same pink color filled her vision, as well as the sounds of a nose sharply in taking air. She immediately realized that this pony was sniffing her, and backed out of her chair away from the crazy mare.
        
“Wh-wh-who are you!?” she stammered, now huddled against the wall.

        The pony continued to sniff the air, ignoring the young mare’s question.

        It was then that Coco noticed the pony’s fiery red mane. “Could this be who Bionic Force meant?” she thought.

        “Where is he?” the pony asked.

        “Wh-where is who?”

        The pony began to dash around Coco’s home, frantically sniffing anything and anything. “No… he wasn't here,” she turned and sniffed Coco once more. “You were around him!” she declared, thrusting her hoof out toward Coco.

        “Eep.” Coco bolted her eyes shut in fear. Eventually the sound of muffled laughter caused her to take a peak. The mare had her hoof over her mouth and was giggling uncontrollably.

        The strange mare held her hoof out to help her up. Hesitantly, Coco took it and pulled herself up.

        The mare gave a kind smile. “I’m sorry If I scared you. My name’s Soul Heart, I’m looking for a stallion named Spirit, sometimes goes by the name Shift. I smell him on you so you must have seen him.”

        Coco opened her mouth to answer, but instead, thought back to the letter on the counter. “One second please.” She quickly ran over to grab the envelope and came back. Opening it, she read the first lines and nodded. “This is for you, I think.”

        Soul eagerly grabbed the letter, her smile fading to a thin line as she continued to read, then falling further to a full on frown. Coco was about to ask her what was wrong, when suddenly the mares mane burst into flames, her face briefly contorting into one of pure rage. Coco found herself resuming her frightened position against the wall. 

        But as soon as the blaze came, it disappeared, Soul’s face turning back into one of kindness. “I have to go, thank you very much the help.” Dropping the letter, Soul dashed out of Coco’s home.

        Seeing that she was gone, Coco’s curiosity led her to pick up and read the contents of the slightly singed note.
        



Soul, if you’re reading this then you’ve probably tracked us down to the mare Coco Pommel’s house, and subsequently bucked her door in. If so, then you just missed us. But before you stupidly run off after my brother, Notes, and I. You should be aware that beneath the City of Manehatten, there lies one of the minor secret slave trades. This one run by the Diamond Dogs in the area and a pony named Winnie O’Shank. Shank is in jail, but the dogs are still free. Have fun.


~ Bionic Force




> "Why does the plot elude me?!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “Oh, thank the skies! Finally!” screamed Spirit as he eagerly hopped off the train. He quickly proceeded to stretch every part of his body, from his wings to his eyebrows. 

        Blazing Notes and Bionic Force trotted off of the train after him. “Dude, it’s just a train, calm down,” the former said.

        Spirit turned on him with an accusing hoof. “That thing is the Tirek!” His eyes tearing up, Spirit fell to the ground and started pounding it. “Why must you torture me like this?!” he sobbed.

        Bionic Force rolled his eyes and slapped his brother upside his head before stepping on top of it, forcing his face into the ground, “Shut up.”

        “Jeez, why does he hate trains so much?”

        Force took out a folded up device from his saddlebags. “It’s too confining for him.”

        Spirit jerked his head up, lifting Bionic Force into the air, “It’s a friggin coffin is what it is!”

        Stomping down, the small colt forced his brother’s face back into his face hole, “Shut up.”

        Blazing Notes began trying to stifle his chuckling, “Rubbish! Spirit doesn't even know the word fear!”
        
        “The word what?”

        “He’s not afraid, he just really doesn't like trains.”

        “Oh well, he’s gonna hate us in a few seconds then.”

        “Indeed.”

        “Why? What’s up?” Spirit mumbled from the ground.

        Force ignored him and continued to look at his device. Leaning back and fully sitting his haunches down on Spirit’s head, he unfolded it, projecting a full holographic image of Equestria, it slowly began to zoom in on their current location. “Nothing, stay down there for a few minutes.”

        Blazing Notes leaned over him and looked at the map. “So which way? There?”

        “No, not yet, closer this way.”

        “Skia? Sounds sexy.”

        “No, you idiot, below that.”

        “Oh, OH, alright. So, we have to take this one here to get there.”

        “Precisely.”
        
        “Gotcha.”

        Spirit groaned from his hole in the ground, “Can I get up now?”

        Blazing Notes looked around. “I think you should stay down there for now, mate.”

        “Aww c'mon!”

        Bionic Force hopped off his brother’s head. “Sure, you can get up if you want.”
        
        The result was instant, Spirit popped his head out of the dirt and took in a lung full of air. Once more he stretched but this time he actually took a look around. Everything seemed to look like a normal, town. There were rolls of buildings green grassy ground and random ponies going about their business. “So, where are we?” he wondered.

        Bionic Force handed the map to Spirit, “A town called Crossways, since its right below Canterlot, every train in Equestria comes through here at some point.”

Just like he said, the map indicated that the train station that they were standing at seemed to be copied in several different places in seven different edges of the city.

His brother came up next to him and pointed a few places out. “Theres one that goes to Ponyville, Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Canterlot, Manehatten, Trottingham and even Appleloosa.”

Blazing Notes tilted his head in confusion. “What about the Crystal Empire?”

Spirit and Force simply looked at him. “What’s that?” Spirit asked.

“You know, that new kingdom north of Canterlot?”

Force remained expressionless but Spirit looked extremely confused. “Never heard of it.” Force answered before turning back to the map. “Anyway, among others, those trains run through here at various times throughout the week.”

“NOPE!” Spirit instantly dropped the device and bolted into the sky. Stopping on a cloud he looked down “I am NOT gonna be stuck on one of those things again.” He yelled before flying off again.

The smaller colt picked up the device, inspected it for a few seconds, then stuffed it into his bag. 

“How long do you think it’ll take him to realize that we’re walking from here?” Notes chuckled.

“We have time. I’m gonna make a few preparations.”

“Like what.”

“Like none of your business.”

“Well I will go observe the local wildlife,”  he smiled, styling back his mane.

Force scoffed. “Good luck. Just don’t end up in jail this time.”

“Shut up, don’t be mad because you’re an antisocial wanker.”

“At least that’s the reason why I won’t be some stallions toy when I get sent to jail,” he replied, walking away.

Now alone, Blazing Notes trotted gleefully to town. With his head held high and a confident grin on his face, he was certain that no mare could resist his suave charms or his smooth accent.  

Once he reached a nice populated area, Notes activated his specialized tunnel vision skill, which eliminated everypony from his gaze except only the prettiest of mares. Turning his head, he took count of every mare in the immediate vicinity. “Hmm nice, nice, beautiful, ohh a redmane, ordinary, GORGEOUS! Immediately, he dropped the vision and dashed over to the supposedly gorgeous unicorn standing outside a nearby store.

She had a silky flowing pale pink mane with an even paler pink coat. She was tall, thin and had the build of a supermodel. On her well shaped flank lie three stylized lilies. She jumped slightly when the love struck pegasus appeared in front of her. 

“Hello,” he said as charmingly as he could, “might I say that YOU are absolutely beautifuUUGH--” Loverboy quickly found himself attacked by not one, but two black-coated earth pony stallions; both of whom burst out from the store’s windows. One had somehow pinned him to the ground without him noticing, and the other was holding his head in a choke hold. 

The mare gasped in shock. “Rough, Tough, not again, he wasn't attacking me! Let him go!”

One of the stallions looked up at her. “But Ms. Lis-”

“Now!” she ordered.

Reluctantly, both ponies released their hostage, who immediately began coughing and hacking. 

The mare gently leaned down and pat the colts back. “I’m very sorry, those two are a bit… excitable.”

Blazing Notes sucked in a large breath of air. “It’s… *COUGH* fine. *HEAVE*”

“My name is Fleur De Lis, these are my bodyguards; Rough Beatdown and Tough Beatdown,” she said, gesturing to the two stallions behind her. Notes managed to look at them and discovered that they were nearly as tall as Celestia… that is, if Celestia was built like a freaking tank. He also noticed that they were nearly identical to each other save for one small fact-. 

“Don’t look them in the eyes!” she warned when she noticed that he had begun examining them. Taking her word for it Notes averted his gaze.

Fleur let out a sigh of relief and helped the colt up. “Sorry, my boyfriend is really protective. Fancy just has to make sure that I’m safe when I leave Canterlot.”

So she has a boyfriend… challenge accepted! “Hello, like I was saying, My name is Blazing Notes. I wanted to tell you something, but first, quick question? Why, exactly, can’t I look into their eyes?”

“Oh they’re Blackjack bodyguards from the Deadtrot Islands, if you look them in the eye they have permission to break you,” she explained cheerfully. 

Blazing Notes, now thoroughly unnerved, backed away a few steps. “What!? Well why aren't they wearing sunglasses or something!? And what do you mean they have bloody permission!? Who gave them permission!?”

“They’re also ambassadors, and Celestia is aware of their condition but can’t do anything about it. So, in order to minimize casualties, they’re ordered to wear sunglasses or goggles when escorting me around. Unfortunately, they accidentally broke some time ago. In fact, they were just looking for some in this store here. Hopefully we can find some before somepony gets hurt.” 

Now he looked even more confused. “I have so many questions right now…”

One of the guards smiled a very disturbing smile; it was made even more disturbing by how jagged and sharp his teeth were, not to mention dirty. “We enjoy our job,” he said simply, as if that answered everything. Notes noticed that his accent, unlike his own, sounded extremely foreign.

Fleur turned to her guards. “Did you find any?”

This time the other guard gained an equally disturbing smile, though his was more of a smirk. “Fresh out,” he said, his accent and teeth identical to his brother’s.

Curious, the colt leaned over and examined the inside of the shop from the broken window that the two had come from. His eyes shrank as he took in the complete scene.

Inside contained literally nothing but broken objects, nothing. Everything had been broken in every possible way, including, but not limited to, every single pair of sunglasses and shades, the mirrors, the walls, the floorboards, the pictures on the wall, the carpets, the shopkeeper, the lollipops in the back, the register, and the business cards. Everything was broken in half. 

There were even a few broken bits sitting on the counter.

Blazing Notes calmly returned to his original spot, even though he was avoiding eye contact, he still noticed that the twins’ grins had grown some since he leaned over.

“Yup,” he squeaked, “fresh out.”

“Oh well. Let’s go somewhere else then. It was nice seeing you Blazing Notes, you know you could come back to Canterlot at some point.”

This shocked Notes out of his fear induced state. “W-what? You know who I am?”

“Well it’s hard to forget one of the three colts who blew up half of Canterlot,” she giggled. “You’ve become quite the good looking stallion by the way. Anyway, bye~,” she sung, trotting off past him.

“But I di--” Just as Notes was about to call back out to her, one of the guards shoved his face right into his. Luckily, his sharp reflexes allowed him close his eyes just in time. He heard the stallion suck his teeth in annoyance before lifting his face away. In front of him he heard the sound of wood breaking, and assumed that it was the previously unbroken front door to the shop.

Just to be safe, Notes sat stone still with his eyes screwed shut for a solid five minutes before he even thought about opening his eyes.

He thought about it, and decided to hold them shut for a few more minutes.

Eventually, he heard another grunt of a annoyance and a set of large hooves galloping off. 

Letting out the breath he was holding, he finally opened his eyes only to suck the breath back in when he noticed two deep red orbs glared into his. Throwing himself backwards, he tried to fly away only to realize that his wings were shut tight from fear.

Before he could begin begging for the demon pony not to kill him, he noticed that the pony in front of him did not have a deep black coat, but instead a soft blue one. He also noticed that the pony was currently rolling around laughing his butt off.

“SPIRIT! THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!” he screamed.

Spirit laughed only harder.

“Friggin mental pegasus, scaring the blood gotted hell outta me like that,” he muttered, wiping the dust off his grey coat from when he fell trying to escape.

“Y-you should’ve seen your face when you opened your eyes!” Spirit laughed.

“Yeah, I’ll get a mirror so you can see your’s bashed in. What do you want?”

Spirit got up and gave his friend a kind smile. “Nothing, I got bored so I came to see what you were doing.”

Notes looked at him suspiciously. “How much did you see?”

“I don’t know, I just saw this huge dude staring at you, and you had your eyes closed. What happened before that?”

“Nothing, now run along now, I have grown up business to attend to.” 

“What? You’re only like two years older than me,” he pleaded.

The pegasus ignored him and began literally shooing him away by waving his guitar in Spirit’s face. “Go on now, get. Go find your brother and ask him when we'll be ready to go!”

Spirit grumbled and listlessly flew away.

Notes watched him leave and sat the instrument back in it’s proper place. “Now that I’m warmed up and pumping, let’s try this for real.” After swearing up and down that this time didn't count, and that the next would be his first real attempt, he trotted back into town.

Activating his skill, he picked out a rather attractive subject slightly north of him. She had tan coat and a navy blue mane that gently fell down the sides of her face, only kept out of her eyes by two clips that were in the same shape as her cutie mark; two horseshoes. While not as drop dead gorgeous as Fleur De Lis was, she was still up there in his opinion.

“Hi there.”

Although slightly taken back by the colts sudden appearance, the pegasus still offered a kind smile. “Oh, hi…. Who are you? A traveling musician?” she asked, glancing at the acoustic on his back.

“My names Blazing Notes, but you, my dear, can call me Blaze.”

The mare was clearly unimpressed. “Charming, that’s a nice guitar, do you actually play anything or is it just a nice looking prop?” 

“My dear, I could play song that would set your heart ablaze”

“Oop!, lame pun alert! I’m out!” she said, quickly trotting away.

Notes ran up in front of her. “Alright! Alright. Sorry. What’s your name?” he asked, dropping the inflated charm.

“Shoeshine. So for, lets see, the third time; can you play guitar?”

“Of course, my name IS Blazing Notes.”

“Oh, I thought that just meant that you like to set your guitar on fire.” 

“Well that was how I got my cutie mark afterall.”

“So you think your hot stuff?” she teased.

“Occasionally.”

Shoeshine scoffed and stomped angrily. “Oh you are JUST like my ex-boyfriend!”

“I-uh-What?”

“Oh you may seem attractive with your silky hair, gorgeous mane, and Trottingham accent. But I see right through you!”

Notes looked stunned, “You really think I’m attractive?”

“SEE? RIGHT THERE! Thats the only thing your kind thinks about, how hot you are, and no matter how true it is, it’s still wrong!”

“So... are you hitting on me?”

Shoeshine only shook her head before angrily flying off flying off. “Jackass.”

The colt could only watch, still dumbstruck as she flew away. “Bloody hell…” he whispered.

“Well, that was fun.”

Blazing Notes turned just in time to see Spirit descend to the ground behind him.

“So, I’m guessing you saw the whole thing then?”

Spirit nodded happily.

“Be honest with me, am I bad with mares, or are all the ones I meet just utterly insane?”

        Spirit shrugged, and Blazing Notes sighed.

        “Yeah, I guess you wouldn't know; maybe I’ll just give up for today and go nap on some comfy clouds.”

        Spirit walked up and patted his friend on the back.“Oh c’mon, Blaze don’t be like that. It’s still morning, go try again.”

        After thinking for a second, he lifted his head back up and gave a confident grin.“Fine, I’ll try again.”



~~~



        Bionic Force examined his surroundings from the large hill at edge of the town overlooking Crossroads. “Alright…. so when the bomb goes off we’ll gather together here, here …  and over there,” he mumbled, pointing toward three heavily built stores. “Now, as for the radiation-”

        “OH SWEET CELESTIA HELP ME!!!!” cried out a faint feminine voice from the forest behind him.

        “...I’ll have to find a way to counteract it.” The earth colt thought over a few ideas, “Mmmno I really don’t want to do that...”

        “Please!! Somepony! ANYPONY!!” The voice seemed louder and even more frantic.

        Bionic Force seemingly paid it no mind. “Maybe I can come up with an alternative….. perhaps a-”

         “Agghhhh! It bit my leg!”

        “Perfect, I’ll create the poison immediately.” Finished thinking, the colt leisurely trotted downhill and back into town.

        The voice was crying now, “Ple-he-he-heaseee!”

        Sighing heavily, Bionic Force trudged back up the hill and into the forest toward the sound of the voice.

        Backed against a tree, the mare could only watch in fear as she was surrounded by timberwolves. She tried to see if she could maneuver around the tree but winced as she put pressure on her back right leg, which had large bite marks on it. Similar marks covered the majority of the mare’s body, leaving long red gashes along her dark green coat. Even some of her  black mane seemed to be torn out.

        “Im so dead, I’m so dead, imdeadimdeadIMSOSCREWED!!” she whimpered as the rest of her hope, and blood, left her body.

        “Shut up.”

        Along with those words came a small metallic orb that rolled out in front of the mare. Instincts kicked in and the mare covered her snout with a foreleg, just as a vapor spewed out of the orb. The vapor quickly obstructed everyones vision, timberwolves included. Through the smoke she could see a small shadowy figure quickly in between the large figures, every time the small one moved a large one disappeared. Several cracks and smash noises sounded out as splinters rained down around her.

        Eventually, the sounds stopped, and the figure began moving closer to her, now she could see that it was indeed pony shaped, and stood about two thirds her own height. However, whoever it was seemed to be getting fuzzier and the fog somehow suddenly grew thicker. It was at this point that she also realized that she was growing light-headed from holding her breath so long.

        “It’s not poisonous, you don’t have to hold your-”

        The mare took in lungfuls of air, gasping and breathing as hard as she could.

        “... breath.”

        The colored vapor quickly dispersed, allowing the mare to finally see her savior. Her brow locked in confusion when she saw that it was merely a colt most likely half her age. Yet somehow, he had easily took out the--her eyes widened as she remembered.

 “Watch out, the things can put themselves back together-aghh!!” she screamed as she jumped back, but once again falling due to her injured leg. 

        Bionic Force paid her no mind and simply examined the remains of the wooden wolves.

        The mare looked around and realized that the wolves weren't restoring themselves. “Wha-how?” A quick thought popped into her head. “What was in that smoke?”

Not seeing anything, Force grabbed a few choice chunks of wood and stuck them in his bag, “Experimental chemicals.”

        The mare quickly covered her mouth. “What the hell? You said it wasn't poisonous.”

        Bionic Force glanced at her. “I don’t remember contradicting that statement either.”

        “Alright,” she didn't know why but something about this colt irritated her, “so they did something to stop the timberwolves from coming back together.”

        “Judging from the situation it did more than that,” he said, taking out a pad and some paper he began writing things down. “It completely stopped regeneration, fusion, and interwolf communication. It was far more effective than I expected to be,” he mumbled, more to himself than to the mare.

        “I’m sure you get this a lot, but what?”

        “They won’t put themselves back together, call for help, or combine into a king wolf.” Having answered the mare’s question and put the tools away, the monotonic colt began trotting back to town. 

        “Wait, where are you going?”

        Bionic Force turned back to her, his voice still delightfully monotone as he addressed her. “Back to town to round up the idiots I came here with.”

        “Arent you going to help me?”

        “Didn't I just?”

        The mare glared at him, eyes narrowed suspiciously, “Somehow... I don’t think that I was on the top of your to-do list.”

        “Not by a long shot,” Bionic Force turned and continued walking.

        “Oh, ha, ha, now get back here.”

        Sighing, once more he trotted back to the mare, slightly annoyed, “What?”

        “I’m curious, why did you come out here, if it wasn't to save me?”

“To test out this mixture,” he answered simply, referring to the gas that he used on the timberwolves.

        “So you don’t know who I am?”

        “If I don’t then you must not be very important.”

        “HA! Wrong I’m incredibly famous. For I, am Foxtrot Fearless. You can call my Foxy.”

        “Didn't sound so fearless when you were screaming for your mother a while ago.”

        “I did not!”

        “Then why are there are still tears falling down your face?" 

        The mare instantly blushed and wiped her eyes, “Shut up! I’m an adventurer!”

        “Then what are you doing out here, there’s nothing in these woods, if there was I would've have already gone to dissect it.”

        Foxy looked at him, shocked. “Don’t you mean study?”

        “That’s what I said.”

        “No, you didn’t.”

        “Then what did I say?”

        “Dissect.”

        Bionic Force’s face actually looked confused for a second. “I… don’t understand, is there a difference between the two words?” The colt actually put his hoof on his chin and thought about it.

        Alright, there is definitely something wrong with this colt. Foxy thought, now more worried than shocked at this point. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, young one,” she exclaimed, trying to pretend that the entire previous conversation didn't happen. “A extremely rare beast lives in this forest. I hear that he sometimes comes out and terrorizes the town.”

        “...”

        “I’m serious! It has the body of a minotaur, and the scales of a dragon. Some say it’s some ungodly spawn of the two races, others say it’s another type of draconequus. I thought it looked pretty damn creepy if you ask me.”

        “So you’ve seen it then?” 

        “Yeah, I found it about a mile into the woods. It went into some kind of building, but while I circled his hideout I stumbled upon a pack of timberwolves. I immediately knew that I couldn't take them all on so I-.” she continued to rattle on, her simple story evolving into an epic tale.

        The mention of a building managed to pierce through Force’s apathy and piqued his interest slightly. “So, it’s intelligent. Damn,” he thought. Reaching behind him, Bionic Force pulled out the same map from before. The only difference was that this time, after inserting some commands, the map instantly split into three parts. After a few seconds, the second and third maps merged into one, and three colored dots appeared on the holo-screen. One green dot lie by itself, blinking but unmoving, and the black and red dots were moving rapidly away from the green one.

        Several thoughts passed through the small colt’s mind as he watched as his brother and friend made their way from the town. Somehow, one thought managed to stick out above all others.

        “How the HELL did Notes get Spirit on a train without knocking him out first?” he mumbled in genuine curiosity.

        Foxy looked curiously at the hologram but otherwise continued her story. “-so when I catch him I’ll finally be more famous than my arrogant treasure-hunting big sister. She thinks she’s SOOOOO hot, with all her amulets, and books, and rainbow-haired fangirls! I’ll show her!” she growled. Eventually, she managed to calm down. “Anyways, I plan on going back in there when I’m healed, so could you carry me back to town?” she asked, “I gotta clean these wounds and get patched up.”

        “Well, whatever…” he mumbled, stashing the device away after he figured out where his companions were headed. “Where did you say you saw a building?”

        “‘Bout a mile in. Looks like a big, brown building. You can come with. When I’m better of course.”

        “Ummm, no. I’m gonna go check that out.” Bionic Force turned and trotted away once more. 

        “H-hold on, what am I supposed to do? I can’t get back to town like this. I can barely even move!”

        Stopping, Bionic Force turned and sat in front of the mare. He pulled out two small boxes, one red and one blue, and held them both in each hoof. “These are storage capsules. Take one, you wake up, fully healed, and free to believe whatever you want to. Pick the other, and you’ll be sent down the path least trekked by others. Where you get to see just how far the well goes,” he said cryptically.

        Foxy looked between them. “Wait, aren't you going to tell me which one does which?”

        “No.”

        “Why not?”

        “Because it amuses me.”

        “Then why even tell me at all?! You should have just said to pick one!”

        Bionic Force shrugged. 

        Foxy groaned. “Why are you even doing this?!”

        “It was in my favorite movie, so call it a guilty pleasure. Now choose.”

        “Fine,” Foxy looked between the two boxes; they both looked identical to each other except for their colors. Wake up healed, or be thrust into something amazing. Her choice was obvious, being an adventurer and all. “I choose red!”

        “Why is that?’’
        
        “Red is the color of adventure and danger, obviously!”

        He shrugged again. “Whatever you say.”

        Sitting the box down in front of her, Force backed away quickly. Curious, Foxy leaned down to pick the box up, only for the top to burst open and a little red toy unicorn to pop out on a spring. Slightly taken aback, she glanced up at the colt, who still looked at her with that same bored expression on his face. She looked down and picked the box up, examining it from all sides. 

        “Is this a joke?” she asked. However, once she looked up, the unicorn’s eyes glowed white, and his horn glowed blue. Springing completely out of the box the tiny unicorn touched its glowing horn to Foxy’s forehead. The effect was instant, her entire body glowed a brilliant azure. Once faded, Foxy found herself lying on the ground, asleep, her entire body healed as if it had never been harmed. 

        “Shame, blue is my favorite color.” Turning, he began walking toward the building, nonchalantly tossing the blue capsule  behind him, directly toward Foxy.

        Hitting the tree and falling next to her, the blue box opened up the same way the other one did, with a small unicorn popping out. Eyes white and horn alight, a large magical hole opened right next to Foxy, sucking her and the two boxes in.


> "I do not think this is what you think it is..."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

~10 minutes earlier~



“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!”

*breathes*

"AAAAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!” 

This cycle of laughter continued relentlessly as Spirit and Blazing Notes slowly made their way through the town. The dark gray pegasus walked with a depressed posture while the light blue one tumbled along like a midair tumbleweed, literally rolling with laughter.

Blazing Notes himself sported a nice shiner, a bruised lip, and a reddened cheek. “Oh, will you stop!”

In his defense, Spirit did try to climb out of the pit of laughter he fell into, but one look at Blazing Notes’ face sent him back over the edge. “ppppfftttttAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHHA!”

Notes groaned and continued to move forward, with Spirit catching up soon after, still giggling. “I still can’t believe you did that!”

“Did what? I said one thing to her!”

“Yeah, man I really wish I was paying attention to what you said; but somehow, you managed to insult her mother, her father, AND her aunt!”

“It was supposed to be a compliment!!”

“Oh, OHH! What about when you called that other mare fat!”

Notes winced as he touched the bruise on his cheek. “All I said what that I admired her outwardly thick curvature. How is that calling her fat?” he whined.

“BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Spirit fell to the ground all four legs twitching in the air.

“That’s it,” he said, stomping on the ground, “I cannot stand this place, I am going elsewhere.”

Spirit tried to get up but his giggling caused him to stumble. “H-ahahaha-W-what about-hahaaaa Bi? Pfffftttt.”

“He knows how to find us. That gob’s probably got this whole town bugged. I’m going to another city, this ones got me feeling bad about myself right now.”

Spirit shook off the last of his giggles and flew up next to him, “Wait, you’re going to another town just to hit on some fillies?”

Notes looked positively offended. “No, I’m going to another town to hit on same mares. I’m not a pedophile.” 

“Wait… then what about that time whe-”

“AHHHH CHICHICHI NEEEYTTTT NO!” he yelled, drawing the attention of some of the ponies walking past. “We, have agreed, not to mention, that particular instance… again,” he hissed. “Now, I am going to Ponyville, are you coming or not?”

“I don’t know, Blaze, Bi gets really mad when we go off without him.”

“You mean he gets mad at you for running off.”

“Yeah, that, but this time he might get mad at you too.”

“Meh, it’s fine. What’s the worst he could do?”

~At this moment elsewhere~

After begrudgingly following the screams of some random mare, Bionic Force trotted through the forest until he stumbled upon a group of timberwolves surrounding an injured pony. Taking the opportunity, he threw out a small silver orb that began spewing out smoke. In less than a 10 seconds, the entire area became filled with the strange vapor. Putting on his goggles to see through the fog, Bionic Force quickly attacked the closest wolf. With one chop he shattered its skull. 

Turning quickly, he got the second one by hopping onto its back and snapping its neck, ripping it clean off. Using the head as a shield, he blocked one of the wolves who was biting around wildly; letting go, he let the wolf crush it in his jaws. Backing away, he reached up, grabbed the lower jaw of another Timberwolf, broke two of its teeth off, and stabbed them into the eyes of the first, disorienting both enough so that he could dispatch them easily.  Finally, he jumped high into the air and drop kicked the last wolf, crushing it completely. 



~~~

“I mean, he won’t kill us just because we ran off for a few hours.”

Spirit didn't look convinced. “I know, but I mean Bi gets really mean when he’s mad.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine, let’s go.” 

Spirit fidgeted nervously but ran to catch up with his friend. They walked a few blocks before a thought caused Spirit to come to a complete stop. “Wait, how are we getting to Ponyville? Are we flying?”

“No, Spirit, we will take the train, it’s faster.”

Spirit defensively flew high into the air. “Ohhh, no! No way. Trains are stupid. Small, cramped, and stupid. Why can’t we just fly there?”

Blazing Notes continued to trot forward. “A train will get us there in about 30 minutes; flying will take at least an hour and a half.”

Spirit flew down next to him and hovered forward at his pace. “But, Blaaaaaaaazzzzee! I can’t stand being in there, I get stir crazy!”

Blaze groaned. “Yes, believe me, I know. Don’t forget, I had to deal with you after you woke up on the train earlier.”

“See! So, race you to PonyTown?”

“Ponyville, and no need. We’re already here.”

Spirit cocked his head. “Really? We must have walked further than… oh.” Spirit looked up and quickly learned that his friend was referring to the train station, and luckily for them, one had just arrived to take them on their trip.

“Now, Ponyville isn't that far away from here so it should… Spirit?” Blazing Notes noticed that he was slowly backing away. “I asked if you were coming, and you said yes. Now get over here at once,” he demanded, clearly not in the mood to deal with his friend’s resistance.

The pale blue pegasus sighed and reluctantly followed his friend onto the train.


~~~


“Spirit! What the bloody hell are you doing!” Blazing Notes yelled as the train zoomed down the tracks.

“What’s it look like? I’m riding the train!” 

Blazing Notes stuck his head further out the window, looking up at his idiot of a friend, “You moron! This is not what I meant!”

Spirit ignored the irate musician and whipped the reins attached to his hooves. Somehow he had attached the ends to the front of the train. “HYAH! Faster train. FASTER!!” he ordered.

“You’re insane! GET DOWN!”

Another pony stuck his head out the window to see what the commotion was. What she saw was a blue pegasus riding on the head car, holding two reins that were attached to the very front somehow.“What the hell is he doing up there?”

“I don’t know!” 

The pony, whom Blazing Notes recognized as one of the train attendants, glared at him fiercely. “Well get him down! Do you know how dangerous that is!?”

“Don’t you think I would've if I could!?”

As the two ponies argued back and forth about how to fix this, Spirit sat above them on the trains roof, whooping and hollering and having the time of his life. 



~~~


Blazing Notes sat in front of the train station tapping his front hoof so impatiently that cracks began to form in the concrete below him. The tapping ceased when he finally heard the telltale signs of lopsided and unfocused wing flaps. Spirit clumsily crashed next to him.

Blazing Notes stood up and poked him in his red tinted forehead lump. “I hope that tunnel has your face print on it,” he said simply. Spirit gripped his head in agony, but still let out a pained smile.

“Totally… worth it, would do… again.”

“If you weren't already an idiot, I’d say you were concussed. Come on, we’re wasting marelight.”

Blazing Notes turned around only to leap back when he found himself face to face with what was possibly the only pony that he’s ever seen that was pinker than Soul Heart was. What’s worse, is that she managed to sneak up on him. Obviously this was impossible, as his mare sense would have immediately alerted him of any in the vicinity, and this one certainly would have registered.

The pink pony snorted and giggled. “Oh thanks.” Suddenly she let out a huge gasp. “You have a mare sense… and I have a Pinkie sense. That’s so super amazing,” she gushed.

The pegasus quickly regained his composure.“Wait what, how did you know I have a... you know what, nevermind. Ahem,” he began layering his charm. “My name is Blazing Notes, you may have heard of me I’m a-”

“Oh no wait! Let me guess! You’re a… travelling sales pony?”

Spirit began to giggle, but stopped when Blazing Notes sent a glare his way. “Well you’re half right I-”

“Because we’ve had a lot travelling ponies come through here and not all of them were good guys. We had con pones, non ponies, thief ponies, cheap ponies, creep ponies, mean ponies, cranky ponies--but he wasn't really cranky, he was just lonely--and a donkey. Power ponies, mad ponies, sad ponies, blue ponies, yellow ponies, purple ponies, white ponies, orange ponies, pink ponies, and party ponies!” she finished happily, “Which one are you supposed to be?”

While Spirit was behind him trying to sort out the different categories of ponies using only his two hooves, Blazing Notes just looked downright befuddled. “Umm… which one are you?” he asked uncertainly.

Pinkie giggled, this time even more loudly. “Oh me, I’m the party pony, silly.” She stopped to think for a second before continuing. “I guess I’m also the pink pony. Oh, OHH, I’m also the pick-me-up pony for those sad ponies. I’m also technically a power pony too, and a laughing pony, baking pony, skating pony, shaky pony-”

What was supposed to be a question designed to simply buy him a few seconds to pick up his fallen wits, turned into the trigger that set off yet another tangent from the pony with liquid sugar in place of blood.

Blazing Notes slowly backed up toward his friend. “Spirit?”

Spirit stopped his deep philosophical mental debate over the what he himself would be classified as and returned his focus to reality. “Yeah?”

“She’s still talking.”

“-my friends sometimes call me a crazy pony too, and I guess we can’t forget-”

“Yeah, she sounds fun, why aren't you talking to her?” he asked, confused.

“She appeared out of nowhere! I didnt have time to get line ready!” he hissed.

Spirit looked even more confused. “A… are we going fishing?”

Pinkie zoomed over to Spirit. “Ohh speaking of fishing, you have two pointy teeth. Are you some kind of bat pony, or vampony? We had a few of those running around on Nightmare Night, and there was this one time when we found out our friend Fluttershy, super shy pony by the way, became a Vampire Fruit Bat! It was so fun I thought she was gonna eat us. And then I remember that one time in Holloween Town where-”

Spirit poked his two slightly elongated fangs and looked towards Blazing Notes. “Am I part bat-pony? I always thought my teeth were Shift’s fault.”

The dark gray pegasus could only sigh, showing that he was obviously worn out. “I… I don’t know, you should ask your brother, not me.”

“You all right?”

“And then we used our keyblades to-”

“No, I can’t even get in a word--no wait, scratch that. I don’t even know what she’s saying anymore! No sense trying to hit on her If I can’t say anything.”

Spirit smiled. “Oh! Alright then.” 

“Spirit, what are you doing?” 

He was walking up to Pinkie, that’s what he was doing. “Hey Pinkie?”

“Spirit… what are you doing!?” he asked nervously.

“Oh my Celestia, how did you know my name! Are you psychic?”

“Nah, not today. I just wanted to let you know--”

Notes began to panic. “Spirit, what the HELL ARE YOU DOING!”

“--that my handsome friend wants to hit on you,” he said, pointing to the facehoofing pegasus behind him.

“He wants to WHAT?” Like a flash of polychromatic thunder, a cyan pegasus fell from the sky and crashed on the ground right in front of Blazing Notes, and immediately began to glare at him.

“SPIRIT! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DO!?”

“Quiet, you! I’ll deal with him later; but I heard what he said. What gives you the right to come into my town, and threaten to hit one of my best friends!?” she spat, jabbing him in the chest repeatedly as she spoke.

“What, I… we… her…. Look, I wasn't gonna hit her, I swear!”

“Yeah, you better not, or I’ll get the entire town to stomp yo ass!” Trotting back over to Spirit, she looked him up and down. He seemed harmless enough, with that stupid smile pasted on his face. “Nice goggles,” she said, before moving on.

Pinkie nearly fell out laughing at the scene. “Dashie, he didn't say he was gonna hit me , he said hit on me. You know, like ask me out?”

“Meh, same thing.” Dash took to the sky. “So, Pinks, you wanna go grab some lunch?”

“Alright, one sec, Dashie.” Pinkie trotted over and pulled out three homemade invites and handed all of them to Spirit; as Blazing Notes had long since used his fight-or-flight response to escape elsewhere into the city. The only thing in his spot now was his guitar. “Here ya go, give ‘em to your friends. We’ll be waiting~” she sang, bouncing off after her own friend. 

Spirit looked down at the gang of papers in his hooves and decided to check out the invitation first, dropping the rest and not even bothering to try and hold them all. “Hey Blaze, we’ve been invited to a welcome party!” he yelled into the sky.

“Are they gone?” asked a faint voice from high above.

“”Well no, they live here. But right now it’s just us.”

High into the air, Blazing Notes gave a sigh of relief before flying down to meet with Spirit. Immediately, he snatched his guitar up and dusted it off feverishly. 

“Bi’s gonna be mad at you for leaving that on the ground.” 

“Callate pendejo! That chica was hella scary.”

“Oh hey its Mexicolt Blaze, haven't heard that one in a while.”

Blazing Notes glared at him.

“What? I like it, you should do it more often. What’s the point of growing up learning two awesome accents if you only use one!?”

“Moving on,” he said, switching back to his Trottingham dialect. He moved to pick up one of the invites that Spirit let fall. “Seems that Pinkie Pie throws everypony one of these. Doesn't seem very special.”

“No, read the bottom!”

“Each party is tailored especially to the ponies being welcomed, from favorite flavor to favorite activity; including, but not limited to, chemical testing with Twilight, physical fun with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and...” Blazing Notes eyes widened so much that the sparkle in them could be seen by the mare in the moon. “Oh, we are so going to this party.”

“It’s two days from now.”

“Oh,” the colt frowned considerably, “bloody hell, we’ll probably have moved on my then.”

“I know,” he muttered, also a little dejected.

“Oh well, no sense lounging about here, we still have a few hours left until evening. Let’s go, Spirit,” he ordered as he headed back towards the train.

“What about Ponyville?” he asked. Surprisingly enough, they hadn't even made it into the town proper yet; they were still within reach of the station. “I wanna explore, I heard it has a wicked cool cursed forest with even more wickedly cool cursed flowers. I wanna eat a few!”

Already used to Spirits suicidal ramblings, Blazing Notes continued on his way, only bothering to answer the first question. “Well, I heard from Fleur that you and Bi are allowed back in Canterlot now.”

“Seriously!?”

“Yep, so lets go.”

Spirit eagerly flew after his best friend. “Awesome!”



~~~



“You know," began Spirit, "I think I'm gonna start my own sport for train riding."

“Anypony other than you would be dead by now."

"That means I have the highest score, right?"

Ignoring him, Blazing Notes sat down and began to focus, calling forth his all-seeing mare sense. Currently, there were too many to choose from. Of the approximate 500 ponies he could see, at least 300 were mares, and about 175 were worth noticing. Deciding that he had to thin the herd he narrowed his vision to ponies who didn't have their noses stuck in the sky’s plot. This brought the number down considerably. There was one coming out of a shop. one speaking with an invalid, and one… coming right towards him? 

Allowing the males to re-enter his sight, Blazing Notes relaxed and smiled when the mare really was running over to him. 

“Oh, Snap!” she cried.

“Must recognize me,” he reasoned.

She ran right past him and high hoofed the colt behind him, right in his face. “Itchy is that you?” 

Spirit instantly recovered and slammed her into a nearby building, causing several ponies to run away screaming. “Scratchy, what’s up!” he called after her.

Blazing Notes turned and began to ask a question, but found his throat dry when he realized who that mare was. Electric blue mane, white coat, wicked cool sunglasses? This was none other than DJ Pon-3 herself.

Said pony climbed herself out of the broken building and burst out laughing. Trotting over she high hoofed him, for real this time. “Dude, where have you been! I thought you died in that huge explosion.”

“Nah, I got banished… well, kicked out of Canterlot at least… is that the same thing?”

“Woah, rough, where’d you go man?”

Spirit put a hoof to his muzzle in thought. “Mexicolt… then Trottingham… then Mexicolt again.”

“Dude, you have got to stop looking for trouble wherever you go.”

“But it wasn't my fault!” he whined,  “Bi was the one who broke into the royal library!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, so whatcha doin back here?”

Blazing Notes dropped out of his stupor and stepped into the conversation. “Hold on, hold on!” he yelled, “Spirit, how the hell do you know, DJ Pon-3? And why the bloody hell did you buck her into a building!”

“Who?”

“DJ Pon-3!”

Spirit cocked his head. “Who’s DJ Pon-3?”

He pointed to the white pony with the huge grin on her face. “Her! How do you know her?!”

“That’s not DJ Pon-3, that’s Scratchy!” he said, smiling like an idiot, completely oblivious to the irritation spewing out of Notes. 

Almost robotically, he turned to face the white unicorn, his irritation only doubling when he noticed that she was just barely holding back her laughter. Her cheeks were puffed out, she was biting her lip, and her entire body was shaking, she would likely burst at any second.

“Go ahead, I don’t even care anymore.”

She burst.



~~~



Bionic Force finally made his way to the building; it was, as Foxy stated, quite aways in. During his trek, the lone colt had to fight 2 more Timberwolves, a baby manticore, and even went out of his way to beat down a cockatrice. 

Bionic Force hated cockatrice.

As he looked over the wide dark brown building, he began feeling disappointed. “Look at that,” he said to nopony, “that building isn't huge. It’s moderately wide if anything.” Stepping forward, he examined the building further. It was fully wooden and had a window on just about all four sides, and seemed like it was only one story tall with a high roof. It was very wide. Looking through the window, he discovered that there were no rooms, just a large area filled to the brim with boxes. In the corner was the creature that Foxy had described; a bipedal, horned beast covered in crimson dragon scales. The colt could tell easily that the scales were real with how they shined even in the dark, not to mention that the heat they radiated caused the air around it to shimmer. 


His interest now fully piqued, Bionic Force let a very small smile come to his face. Finally, something new and unknown. One of his reasons for setting out with his brother was just for this reason: to find creatures not yet discovered by even the princesses themselves. Maybe Foxy was on to something when she suggest- HOLD THE HELL UP! he screamed mentally, Something’s wrong here.

Throwing his goggles on, any semblance of a smile that was on his face immediately disappeared, then reappeared as a deep frown twice as long. Trotting over to the front door, Bionic Force blew it open with a heavy buck; immediately gaining the attention of the beast inside.

“Who are you?! Why have you broken down Deep Red’s door!” the beast screamed.

“So your name’s Deep Red?”

“What’s it to you?! Answer Deep Red’s question, runt,” Deep Red snorted out dark black smoke, “before he fries you up! All nice and crispy like.”

Bionic Force was not intimidated. “Heard you’ve been terrorizing the ponies. That true?”

Deep Red grunted and a tuft of fire escaped his nostrils. “What? Did those wimpy townsponies hire some kind of hunter?” The beast growled loudly, “I’ll BURN THEIR TINY VILLAGE DOWN!” he screamed, eventually he took a step forward. “But, Deep Red is gonna start with you!”

“You know, I hear a lot of huff-huff, but not a lot of puff-puff. If you’re gonna spit fire then do it,” he taunted.

The effect was immediate; Deep Red instantly spat a large burst of red hot flames that completely engulfed the small colt’s frame. However, once the flames stopped, Deep Red was stunned to see that the pony was none worse for wear. In fact, he was completely unharmed, and looking closely one could see a faint clear barrier around him.

Bionic Force actually looked disappointed. “Yeah, thought so. Real dragon flame is several hundred degrees hotter. Minimum. So now that that’s out of the way, I’m going to ask you a question. Who gave you that suit?”

Even though he was somewhat shocked that the pony was still alive Deep Red growled loudly, “Deep Red has nothing to say to you!”

Bionic Force began rummaging around in his saddle bag. “Oh, I think you do. You see, I like having my questions answered, and I get irritated when they’re not. I’m also slightly upset that you’re just some lump in a bionic suit made from dragon scales, rather than some undiscovered creature. Combine the two, and that means I’m pissed.” As he talked he pulled out a red box that was larger than his hoof, and sat it on the ground next to him. “However, I might not be pissed, if you answer my question. Now for the second time: who made and gave you… that suit?”

“Why do you want to know?!”

“I want to know how he, or she, incorporated dragon scales into the suit and where they got the scales. I suspect magic, but ya know, curiosity. Now, before I ask again. I will tell you this.” He gestured to the box. It slowly began unfolding until pieces were moving a rapid pace. By the end of this, a large cannon sat next to the earth pony, its barrel as large as the colt’s own body.

“This… is a photon cannon,” he stated simply, “It can pierce dragon scales as if they were the air itself. Now. Who... made you… that... suit?”

The sight of the cannon sent shivers down Deep Red’s spine; he wanted to just run down the pony, but the gun pointing right at him kept him back. After weighing his options, his shoulders sagged and he fell to the ground, defeated. “Alright! Alright! Don’t kill me, I’ll tell you.”

The cannon began charging, golden light emanated from deep within the gun. “Better hurry, the gun’s already activated.” 

Before Red could spill the beans, the roof to his home ripped off, exposing a large crimson dragon at least as big as the building itself. The dragon looked at the two figures before glaring directly at the minotaur wearing matching scales. He spoke in a deep, booming voice. “Wretch, how dare you!” he growled, fire spewing forth at his every word.

The colt looked back towards Red, seemingly unaffected by the dragons arrival. “Now that’s dragonfire! Learn how it’s done.”

The dragon continued. “So you are the one who’s taken my scales! And you have the gall to wear them as your own! You will pay!”

The once proud Minotaur fell back on his rump and nearly pissed himself in fear. “N-N-NO! I swear it wasn’t me! It was--”

“SILENCE!” the dragon screamed, causing Deep Red to fall completely to the ground and crawl himself over to Bionic Force. Even on his knees he was still slightly taller than him. “P-p-p-please, help! Use your laser thing or whatever. I’ll tell you everything,” he whimpered.

The colt scoffed. “You know what’s the most messed up thing? Not that this dragon came out of nowhere, but the fact that you actually believed I had a photon cannon.”

“What?! You don’t!”

“Pfft! Nah, it’s just a bluff I keep with me, something to scare my enemies.” Next to him the light inside of the gun died down and, after a few seconds, started back up again. Like a toy that had been reset.

The dragon, tired of waiting, grabbed the minotaur with his large claw. He screamed the entire way, cursing and yelling for help. “I will have my hide back!” he said, tossing the sacred beast into his maw and swallowing him whole.

Force looked down and kicked some dirt on the ground. “Damn, I didn't get the name of who made that suit… oh well.” Looking up, he realized the dragon was looking directly at him now. “What?”

The dragon snorted, and unlike Deep Red’s puny puffs, an entire black cloud was released. “That thief who took my scales woke me up from my slumber, therefore, that puny pony town will also pay for that thief’s crimes.”

“Oh, alright. I… guess I should stop you then?” Reaching into his pack once more, Bionic Force pulled out large blue colored box and sat it next to him.  

“This... is a laser beam cannon.”

> "It's not my fault they were bipolar!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


“HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!”

*breathes*

“AAAAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!” 

Blazing Notes groaned loudly as he found himself in a familiar situation. Only this time it was twice as annoying.

“Oh my Celestia, he said what to her?”

Spirit put on his best Trottingham accent, trying hard to both imitate and mock his friend, “Oh I say, I do so admire how plump your outside curvature looks, how do you do it… PPPPFFFTTTAHAHAHAHAAAA!”

The colt in question glared at them both. “Oh will you please stop bringing that up?”

“What? She asked what we were up to.” 

“Didn't expect to laugh this hard though,” she said, trying hard to stifle some remaining giggles.

“Alright, but you two still haven't answered my question. Spirit, how in the world do you know the legendary DJ Pon-3.”

“Who?”

Rather than getting upset, Blazing Notes simply looked over at the unicorn, silently begging her to end it.

Getting the message, the white mare turned to Spirit, who still looked slightly confused. “Dude, I’m a DJ now. DJ Pon-3 is my stage name.”

“Ohhhhhhh… neat.”

“Yeah I know right?” She turned toward Notes. “Sup, I’m Vinyl Scratch by the way. Itchy and I were friends back when this wrecking ball lived in Canterlot; back when we were foals. ”

“Blazing Notes, charmed.”

“I know you are. Any more questions? I know you have some, so let’s get ‘em all out of the way right now,” she said, wearing a knowing grin.

“Oh well I--”

“Also, no autographs, no demos, no free stuff. No I won't remove my shades, I do have a marefriend, and we have sweet, sweet, sexytimes pretty much every night. Any more?”

Blazing Notes cursed slightly under his breath. “Fine, one more, why do you call him… Itchy, and why Scratchy?”

Spirit jumped into the conversation before Vinyl could say anything. “Ohhh I remember this! I remember like it was just yesterday.”



~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARB- Vinyl gently put the colts hooves back on the ground. ”No, I got this, man,” she interrupted, “I’m kinda in a hurry.”

        “Awww...”

        Vinyl rolled her eyes behind her shades before turning back. “But it is a pretty funny story, so I have to tell you the whole thing later. Long story short. We used to run around and explore… like... a lot. One day we both… well we kinda got into some bad stuff, spent the next month with the worst itching sensation. Spirit’s parents wouldn't let him itch, so he spent the month complaining about how much it itched.”

        “What about you?”

“Nahh, I ignored my parents and spent pretty much every waking moment scratching my ass across the ground.” She looked upwards with a wide smile. “Good times. Anyway, everyone teased us and called us Itchy and Scratchy; he liked it, so we kept calling each other that.”

“Woah, what did you two get into?”

Spirit trotted up next to her, and glanced over at Vinyl. “It’s a secret.” She nodded alongside him. 

Before Notes could ask anything else Vinyl spoke up once more. “So, first day back in Canterlot?”

“Yep!” Spirit beamed.

“You 18 yet?”

“Yep!”

“Let’s go!” she said, trotting away.

Spirit immediately followed her but Notes stayed behind. “Wait, where are we going?”

“To get wrecked of course! I got a gig at this sweet club, and you two are comin with me!”

Now he was interested. “Hell Yeah!”



~~~



        “Welp… didn't expect this to be how my day went.”

        “GET BACK HERE!”

        Bionic Force feverishly dodged trees as he ran away from the 10 ton red hot lizard chasing him. Looking behind him, it seemed that his tactic of running through the dense foliage succeeded in slowing the dragon down. However he would run out of forest soon, and then he would have to figure something else out. “Why are you so upset?” he asked, far too calmly.

        “You have blinded me! My eye pains me, I can no longer look through it!” the dragon roared.

        “Well, in my defense I did warn you that I had a laser cannon… well I did, you crushed it. Technically, I should be the angry one here--”

        “RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

        “Uuup,” Bionic Force quickly dove to the side and made a sharp right turn in order to avoid the searing hot fire that spewed from the dragon. His barrier protected him from the fake fire, but not against a real dragon’s flames. He needed to come up with a plan. “Hmm, I’m gonna need some help here. Last time I checked, those two idiots were still gone.” Bionic Force sighed, still effortlessly dodging trees. “Damn, guess I have to.”

        Eventually, the forest ended and the small colt came out into the open field, the same one that held the hill overlooking the city. Stopping at the hill, Force quickly pulled out a small rose colored whistle, on it sat the initials SH. Blowing it, he let out an extremely loud, high-pitched whine, not a ringing noise like normal whistles. It was higher, almost a screech.

        The dragon broke out of the forest soon after, roaring and growling ferociously. Smoke billowed out of his teeth, and the left half of his face was completely burnt and damaged. “I have you cornered! If you dodge now, your precious town will go up in flames, not that it matters to me!”

        “Neat,” Bionic Force began to hear the screams of the town behind him, “Won’t make a difference if the town’s empty though. They can see you from here. In fact, the guards may be here in a few minutes.”

        “No matter, I will kill them and leave! My concern for now, is the one who has disfigured my face!” he snorted, black smoke completely engulfing the small colt.

        Luckily his thin barrier was enough to keep the smoke from affecting him. “Yeah, but the sad thing is… I’m in a hurry, we need to move on, and I have no time to fight you. Maybe if all three of us were here...” Force trailed off when he began to feel the ground under his hooves tremor and shake.

        “Enough!” the dragon roared. “I have had enough of this pointless banter.” Lifting his head, deep flames began to form in the back of his throat. Force, however, seemed to be more interested in the shaking of the ground.

“Die!”

        Just as the dragon threw his head forward to spit out his fire, the ground exploded beneath him. Something had rocketed into his jaw, cutting off the flames’ exit and causing it to flow out of his nose and ears. Now very much in pain, the dragon fell backwards snorting, sneezing, and coughing out flames and dirt.

        Meanwhile, the figure that bursted out of the ground fell through the air and landed nimbly right in front of the small colt. She was an earth pony mare, her coat so full of dirt that her cutie mark wasn't even visible. Like the dragon, she was also coughing and spitting out dirt. Once she was done her golden eyes frantically searched the area, a wide smile on her face. “Oh my gosh, you finally... Bi?” Her smile slowly dissolved into a slight frown of confusion.

        “Don’t call me that.”

        “Wait, I thought I gave that whistle to Spirit.”

        “Never mind that, I can see you got my note from Coco.”

        “Oh yeah, thanks for letting me know about that. It was… therapeutic.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, Soul, as you know, I blew the whistle.”

“The one that’s only supposed to be used by Spirit to call me, yeah. Kinda disappointed about that by the way,” she said, looking down at her hooves sadly.

“Spirit got eaten by a dragon.”

Soul Heart’s head snapped up in shock. “Again? Ugh, I finally catch up to him and he goes and gets eaten by another damn dragon!”

“Yeah. I need to go find Blaze, you mind beating that one down? It’s small so you should be able to get this.”

Soul turned toward the dragon who was quickly gathering his wits. She grinned and turned back, “Yeah, it’s midsized, probably not fully grown. I can take this. Go get Notes and I’ll get Spirit.”

“Awesome, see ya.” Immediately, he set down the hill and back to town. 

Soul looked down at her body, and for the first time noticed how brown she looked. “Oh man, I hope he doesn't mind that I’m covered in dirt. Oh well, he’s probably covered in gross sticky stuff, so at least we’ll match!” she squealed.

ROOOOOOAAAAARRR!!

After fixing her now even messier mane, Soul turned back and trotted up to the dragon’s body and looked directly up to him. From standing at his stomach she could see that he was only about two Celestias tall. “Spit him out.” 

Now angry beyond words the dragon angrily pulled his arm back to take a back clawed swipe at her. Swinging harshly, the dragon’s claw connected with Soul’s side, but he was stunned when he felt that the mare had not budged an inch.

Soul stood up on her hind legs and pulled back her right hoof. “Last chance… spit him out.”

Undaunted the dragon pulled back a fist and prepared to simply crush the ignorant pony. However, before he could swing he, found himself with his gut being blown inward as well as his entire body being blown back. Several trees broke when he knocked into them.

Soul stood there with her hoof stretched outward, a very mean expression locked on her face. “Welp, I tried. You’re not a diamond dog, so I’ll go easy on you.”



~~~



Ugghh, oh what the hell, my head. Blazing Notes thought as his mind struggled to focus, his vision remained blurry so he decided to close his eyes. Blazing Notes, in his delirium, could only make out a few things in all the chaos, he was on the ground, music was playing, and people were yelling all around him...

“You bastard, was that really necessary!?”

V...Vinyl?

“I come outside for the first time in 3 months and you get yourself knocked the fuck out. Pathetic… nice place though…”

 The sounds began to fade, and he eventually began to lose consciousness.

~~~

Slowly coming to sometime later, he quickly realized that it wasn't the same place, and even though he leaning against something, the entire world seemed to spin harshly. His head hurt, his vision was beyond blurry, and his thoughts were muddled. All he knew was that his entire body felt like it was wracked with pain. Next to him he could hear a faintly familiar voice.

“Ohh *munch* you’re up. *gulp* Awesome, we’re almost back to Crossroads.”

Blazing Notes slowly opened his eyes, he saw red, then blue, then shapes. Eventually, those three things combined and he saw his friend in front of him. “Spirit? Oh, what the gobshitted bloody hell happened, my head feels like mush right now,” he groaned.

Spirit giggled nervously. “Yeaaahhh… we had a pretty wild night,” he said, picking up another cookie.

“Wait,” Squinting he looked around and realized something important. “Are we on a train right now?” he asked, noticing the fast movement outside the window. He also noticed that it was late in the afternoon, which was weird because that would’ve meant that it had only been an hour, at least, since they had left for Vinyl’s club.

*Nomnomnom* “Yep, and they said that they’d give me these oreos if I didn't hop on the roof again.”

“Didn’t work, did it?”

“Nope!” Spirit struggled in his seat in order to emphasize the fact that his entire lower half was tied firmly to his seat. “But I got to keep the cookies!” he said, proudly holding up the plate.

Blazing Notes nodded slightly, his head still pounding. Oddly enough, it didn't feel like a hangover, since his head hurting was the only thing seriously wrong. “Uuuh, mind telling me why I feel like hell right now?”

“You don’t remember?”

Blaze began to shake his head but stopped midway, flinching from the pain. “Nah, last thing I remember was taking off with you and DJ P--…” Blaze looked at Spirit’s already confused face, and sighed. “Scratchy.”

“Oh… yeah that makes sense, you did get the living hell beat outta ya… at least that was what Scratchy said,” he muttered, grabbing another cookie.

“Well, where were you when I was getting my arse kicked!?” he said, flinching slightly.

“I was there,” he said simply.

“Shift?”

“Shift.”

The colt nodded in understanding. “Alright, but do you know what happened?”

“Oh yeah, they told me everything! Personally I thought it was pretty funny.”

Blazing Notes glowered at him, “You think everything’s funny. Just tell me, and let’s get some food when we get off.”

        Before he could reply, both colts jerked forward, a sign that the train had stopped. Looking out the window, both of them saw the small gray colt standing outside the train. “Hey look it’s Bi!”

Hopping out of the train, Spirit bounced right up to his younger brother and lifted him up in a large hug. Blazing Notes slugged himself out as well.

“Hey man,” he groaned.

“Alright, it’s been three days, where the hell did you two go?” he said, shoving himself out of his brothers strong grip. He took one look at Notes and added, “Told you so… chew toy.”

“Well, Blaze here was upset that he didn't have any luck with the mares in this town after he called this mare fat, so we headed to Ponyville to see if it was just a fluke. But it turns out that Blaze is just really bad with mares, cuz the one in Ponyville threatened to get the entire town to beat him senseless. I thought that was weird because Blaze is usually so good at talking up fillies, like remember that one time with the orphanage and--”

“SPIRIT!”

“Right, sorry… Anyway, then we headed to Canterlot and I met up with Scratchy for the first time in like 10 years-”

Bionic Force cocked his head slightly, as if trying to register that name. “Who?”

Notes answered. “Vinyl Scratch.”

“How does this idiot know Vinyl Scratch?”

Spirit rubbed a hoof on his muzzle. “Well, I think you kept yourself locked in your room most of the time experimenting with dragon eggs while we were playing. But anyway, then we found Scratchy, and we almost died from laughter after I told her what happened with Blaze and the fat mare. In the end she took us to this really awesome club where... Blaze did you say three days?”

“Yes, you left almost as soon as we got here. While I went to fight a dragon.”

Spirit immediately ran back into the train while Blazing Notes looked at the colt in disbelief, “You fought a bloody dragon?”

“Well technically Soul did; I just tricked her into doing it. Afterwards, I told her that I was wrong and that Spirit was in another dragon. One that took Spirit back to their nest. She ran off after that.”

“Oh, what the hell! I wanted to fight a dragon! It’s right there on my bucket list!” he whined loudly, ignoring his throbbing skull.

“Well, next time, don’t go running away cross country just to hit on a mare that you’d leave anyway to come travel with us. Seriously, what sense does that make? You gonna hit it and quit it? Shame on you.”

Blazing Notes shrank as he felt the sting of Bi’s lecture, “I know, I just lost a little bit of confidence when I struck out so much here.”

“The mares here are known for being bipolar, you idiot!”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” he said seriously. “There’s even a warning sign near the train station. Speaking of which, the train’s leaving.” True to his word, the train that Spirit had jumped back into began moving forward; slowly picking up speed. Eventually, just as it fully left the station, Spirit jumped out of one of the back car windows, rolling on the ground over to Bionic Force and Blazing Notes.

“What the hell were you doing, mate?”

Spirit got up and dusted himself off a bit. “I forgot something,” he said, holding out the pink invite. Bionic Notes plucked it from his hold. “If it’s been two days since then, Pinkie’s party would be tonight. We should totally go!”

“Hmm, I don’t know. My head’s still hurting.”

“If we go, I’ll tell you both what happened at Scratchy’s club.”

Blaze sighed. “Alright.”

“Yeah, sure.”
	
> "Keep scrubbing! I can still feel him!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
Spirit looked at Blazing Notes with an equal mix of curiosity and befuddlement, a common look for him, “Blaze? Whatcha doin?”

Blazing Notes kept his gaze moving, scanning the entire area as he slowly got of the Ponyville train station. It was nearly night now, late in the evening. The boys were on their way to Pinkie Pie’s party. “Keeping a look out,” he replied.

Bionic Force trotted past him, “I don’t blame you. There’s a monster attack here nearly every week.” He stopped and checked his hoof comp, “Although there isn't one scheduled today. What? Did you piss off a mare here?”

“No…. Maybe…. Yes, but It was Spirit’s fault!”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You told her that I wanted to hit her!”

“Ahah!”

Notes’ eyes barely had time to widen before he was tackled to the ground from behind. Rolling onto his back he looked up into the eyes of the same cyan pegasus from before. 

“I knew you'd come back. Heard it loud and clear. I got you this time.”

“But I didn't say anything!”

“You just admitted that you wanted to hit her!”

“On her. I wanted to hit on her!” he pleaded.

The mare turned from angry to positively disgusted, “That’s even worse! You just show up outta nowhere and try to sweet talk the ponies living here?” She jumped away from him in disgust, “Y-you're a pervert!”

“What!? I’m no--”

“Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. Ewwww! I touched you too!” she yelled prancing around. “I promised my parents that I’d never even be near a pervert!” She gasped loudly, “I gotta go wash my hooves!” With that, she flew off in a huff, letting a small scroll fall to the ground.

Spirit finally fell out and began pounding the ground in laughter. Blazing Notes sat there, jaw dropped, staring into space. Bionic Force was unaffected, having already known this from the beginning; picking up the scroll, he read the contents aloud.

“Dear, Rainbow Dash. 



	Later on, three weird ponies will get off the train station. Since they’re new, I decided to have a welcome party for them tonight. One of them is the pony you attacked this morning, and the other is the one with the cool headband thingie. They’re the guests of honor so don’t scare them off. Please wait for them and guide them to the party at Sugarcube Corner. All three of them are colts so you can’t miss them.

~Pretty Please with Pudgy pink (s)prinkles.

Pinkie Pie



“Well, that answers a few questions,” Force muttered. “However, you two came here alone and didn't mention me. How did she know there would be three of us? What if Soul came?” He began examining the letter closely. “Oh well, at least we know where to go now. I’ll simply ask her directly.”

Stowing the letter away in his Gi, Bionic Force turned to his two companions. One was still laughing, and the other was still mulling over recent events in his life. “Spirit, get off the ground. Blaze, I’ve been telling you this for years, face the truth and you’ll feel better."

“B… but,” he whimpered, “that’s the first time a mare’s called me that before.”

Sensing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with him, Force simply resorted to trying Blaze’s tail to Spirit’s. Spirit didn't mind and went about dragging his friend’s sulking form through town without a second thought. Eventually Force made his way over to the aptly named Sugarcube Corner.  Each of them stopped and had a single thought when they saw the candy house.

This place better actually have some lollipops that aren't just for decoration, Force thought, looking at the house with a quizzical expression.

I really hope we get to meet a witch! Spirit thought as he stared up at the building with large sparkling eyes.

I’m not a pervert…. Am I? Sure I like to flirt, but that shouldn't label me a pervert. I’ve never even...

Just then a Pink head popped out of the door and noticed the three colts. “Oh my gosh you're here! I knew you guys would show up! Well come on and get in here!” Stretching out her hooves she pulled all three ponies into the house in one go.

Once inside, Bionic Force realized that they were in the middle of the store, a good distance away from the entrance. Four mares plus the pink one all sat around a table in front of them. He took one glance at the door behind them before turning back. 

“I won’t even try to understand what just happened.”

Purple horse nodded wisely. “That’s probably for the better.” Purple horse got up and trotted over the the trio. “Hello, and welcome to--”

Pink horse jumped in front of Purple horse, “ Welcome to Ponyville!!” she yelled, tossing confetti into the air and causing the other ponies to hold their ears.

Spirit stared at her in wonder. “Oh, my goodness… where did you get this confetti!” he held one up to his face and whispered in awe. “It’s perfect…”

Pink horse giggled. “Thanks! I made it myself. My name’s Pinkie Pie! This one here is Twilight!” she said, hugging Purple horse. After letting go she pointed over to the table behind them where Yellow Horse, White Horse, and Orange Horse sat, “Over there’s Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack.” They all responded in kind.

Twilight quickly retook control of the conversation by levitating Pinkie off of her and back to the table. She gave the group a nervous smile. “Sorry about the small attendance. This was originally supposed to be a small get-together. But Pinkie wanted to turn it into a welcome party for you three. So we compromised and--”

“Yeah that’s great. Do you guys have any lollipops?” Force said, interrupting Twilight.

Twilight was taken back by the colt’s tone of voice. It sort of reminded her of Pinkie’s sister, but with slightly more expression evident on his face. “What flavor?” she asked.

“Orange,” he answered.

Using her magic she levitated a jar of lollipops from under the counter. “Would you like a blow pop? Or a regular one?”

Force narrowed his eyes and looked at her as if he were insulted. “Hell.... No,” he said simply. “Blow pops are just a stupid gimmick with nothing to offer except cheap gum stuffed down the middle. I’ll take a regular one thank you.” Finishing his rant, Bionic Force grabbed the entire jar and left only the blow pops on the ground. He then trotted up to the table where the other mares were sitting and sat down with a bored expression on his face. Even while all of the other mares stared at him with wide eyed expressions.

Deciding that she’d continue with that one later, she turned back around. Only to come face to face with a tall gray pegasus with a flirtatious expression on his face.

“Well, well, well, an alicorn princess. In this town? The honor is all mine, milady,” he said, bowing low.

Twilight blushed slightly, “Oh, no, no. Please don’t bow to me. I’m not special. Really!”

“Nonsense! You’re absolutely beautiful. You have this scholarly look about you that screams… oh, what’s the term… egghead. Yes, that’s it. My name’s Blazing Notes.” Gently, he took her hoof in his and kissed it.

“Oh…” she said blushing furiously, “Well thank you Bla--”

“My word! Your mane! It’s absolutely marvelous, like a cascade of velvet sitting upon the head of a goddess!”

Turning around, Twilight realized that he was already next to Rarity, complimenting her with the same amount of charm he had just shown her. She honestly couldn't tell if he was just a teasing flirt, or just very charming. Her thoughts were interrupted when she looked down and saw the third pony that was with him. His face was flat on the ground, as if he had been dragged somewhere.

“Sweet Celestia!” she exclaimed when she noted skid marks leading from the spot in front of her to the colt’s face. She also noticed that his tail was firmly tied to the gray stallion’s. he must have been dragged across the ground when he moved. Quickly she moved and magically untied the pegasus’ tails. “Are you alright, mister?”

Spirit lifted his head up, a bright smile still on his face. “Yeah, I’m good. I was looking around the store when I felt my head hit something. And now I’m here.” Jumping up like nothing was wrong, he began to dash around the room. 

“This place is awesome! What’s that smell? Do you live here? I wish I lived here! What’s this? What’s that? Can I have that? What do you do when the store’s closed? Who owns this place? Who are they? Do you own this place? If you do, how can you stay in one place for so long? I couldn't do that because I can’t cook, Mom said so. I can fight things, though. Can you fight things? What kind of things have you guys fought? That’s so awesome, I wish I fought that! I was underground with Bi when Tirek attacked.”

Pinkie soon joined in and started pointing things out and answering his questions.

“I know right! Cupcakes! Yes! It’s awesome! “A muffin! A whisk! Sure! I hang with my best friends! The Cakes! The ponies who live here! Nope! I don’t stay, silly! I move around like we are now! That’s sad, but I can teach you! Oh yeah, we fought a meanie named Tirek this one time!”

Twilight looked from those two, to the colt with the bored expression chewing a lollipop, to the one now working his magic on AJ.

“This is gonna be a long night.”


~~~


Finally Twilight was able to round up everypony, and sit them all in one large table. Five mares on one side, three stallions on the other, and one awkward silence between them.

Finally Rarity broke the silence, “I must say, I do so adore your goggles, they complement your color scheme nicely.”

Spirit reached up and touched his headgear. “Oh! Thanks. Bi made them for me.”

“Who’s Bi?”asked AJ. She looked over to Blazing Notes almost immediately.

“Woahohohooo. No, I’m straight as a frozen arrow. You want the grumpy colt sucking the stick.”

The small colt glared at him briefly before grabbing the pop out of his mouth. “My name is Bionic Force,” he said simply.

“Oh, I think that’s a nice name.” Fluttershy said, trying hard to contribute.

“Should be. I came up with the name myself,” he muttered, shifting the lollipop around in his mouth.

Twilight looked startled for a second. “Wait, you're the Bionic Force? The famous inventor?”

Force raised a curious eyebrow.  “No, I’m a mad scientist. Who told you I was an inventor?”

“You’re the one that keeps sending things to the Ministry of Science? Do you realize how much Equestrian science and magic have advanced because of you?”

“The ministry of… I thought that was a charity. I was just throwing away old prototypes and failed experiments. Mom made me. Hold on, I never put my name on anything. How did you know who it was in the first place?”

“Everything that showed up had Bionic Force written on a tag. They tried looking you up, but your name wasn't on any records so they assumed that it was a pseudonym. I never imagined that the genius inventor was, in reality, a small colt.”

“Ohh! Twily, you got some competition!” Pinkie squealed.

Bionic Force stopped listening around the part where everything had his name tagged on it. Almost like a machine, he turned to face his brother who was now sweating nervously; a guilty look plastered on his face.

“Spirit….” Forced right eye began changing over to red.

“HeymynameisSpiritShiftbbutyoucancallmeSpirit!” he blurted out, desperately trying to avoid his brother’s possibly literal fiery gaze.

Blaze glanced over toward his nervous friend, as he too didn't feel like dealing with Bionic's anger, “Hey, Spirit weren't you gonna tell us what happened at Scratch’s party?”

“Oh, yes, you all must have such interesting stories to tell. Being travelers and all,” Fluttershy added.

AJ began to look around curiously, “Hey, anypony seen Dash lately?”

“We are not done with this, Spirit.”

Not really knowing what else to do, Spirit simply opted to just go ahead and begin his tale. 


~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~WARBLE~


Twilight cocked her head in confusion, “What’s he doing?”

Force sighed and sat a hoof on his face. “J-just go with it. He does this when he’s about to tell a story or have a flashback.”

“I said!” ~WARBLE~ WARBLE~ WARBLE~ WARBLE~ WARBLE~ WARBLE~


So we had just left for Scratchy’s club, right?

Um… excuse me, but who is Scratchy?

Yeah, so it turns out that numbnuts here is actually foalhood friends with bloody DJ-Pon3 herself.

Seriously?!

Darn tootin’?

Wow.

Ehh. I prefer Classical over icky wubstep anyway.

Excuse me! I’m trying to flashback here!

Sorry.(x5)


“So, which club are we headed to?” Blaze asked.

“Only the bitchinest club in all of west Canterlot!” she whooped, eagerly trotting down the busy Canterlot paths. I don’t really like crowds, so I just flew over it all. “At least that’s what I’m being paid to say. Honestly, this place just opened up not too long ago. It’s called 'Project: Rise',” she finished.

“Not very creative, is it?” asked Blaze.

Scratchy looked back at him and shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s got this feeling around it. Like, you just know it’s gonna get up there, ya know?”

“I suppose.”

“I hope they have pizza!” I said. 

Scratchy just laughed, “You never change man. Always pizza with you.” She looked back at Blaze. “Whenever I wanted him to do something for me, all I ever had to do was offer him a slice. I swear, he would shun me for days if I didn't deliver.”

Blaze laughed too. “Yeah. I know what ya mean. This gob’s obsessed with the stuff. Hell, I bet he's thinking of some right now.”

“No!” I was. “And even if I am, Blaze always thinks about fillies!”

Scratchy stopped and gave him an odd look.

“Mare! Mares! For Luna’s sake, Spirit. I am not a bloody pedophile!”

“And Bi always wants lollipops!”

“Lollipops?” she asked, stopping in the middle of the street.

I shrugged, “The sugar enhances brain activity or something, I don’t know.”

“Huh, interesting.”

We kept walking for a little while. Scratchy kept talking about how cool being a DJ was, but how fun messing with her marefriend was so much funnier. I think Blaze was a little jealous about it.

Was not!

Shh! Storytime.

We made it to the club, I think around 9 at night. It was all the way across Canterlot, so it took us awhile to get there. Also, we had to stop for some food because me and Blaze were starving. Scratchy said it was alright because she didn't have to start ‘til 10.

We trotted up to the dark-colored building. It was already packed. I could hear the music coming from the place. She looked at me, confused, and said that she couldn't, and that the building was completely soundproofed. But I could still hear it. I guess I just have good ears like that. I could even feel it. I landed on the ground just to feel the ground beating under my hooves. There were lights shooting out from just about every window. 

Before we went in, Scratchy turned back to me, “Hey, Spirit?”

“Yeah?”

“How’s Shift by the way.”

“He’s rattling around somewhere. Bi gave me this to keep him under control.” I said, touching my stylish headgear. A very wise stallion once said: 'Headbands and goggles, are cool.'

“How long’s it been?” she asked.

“Three months,” Blaze answered.

“Whaddya say we let the little hellion out tonight. You don’t seem like the clubbing kinda guy anyway.”

I thought about it, then nodded. It has been awhile. So I took off my goggles. Like this.

Oh, no.

Sweet!

What’s happening?

His coat!

His eyes!

His teeth!

His mane… actually looks a little nicer now.

Sup, bitches.

Sup, Shift.

*Hoofbump* Hey man, your head better yet?

Who are you? Where did Spirit go?

Shut up, Purple Horse. I’m in the middle of a story. Now where was he? Oh yes, this is the part where I show up. I guess I should detail the transformation as well. 

Once he took off the goggles Spirit’s body began changing rapidly. The first thing to change was his eyes. The black pupils unwound to form spirals in his eyes. The irises themselves gained a darker red color. His coat began to drop in brightness until it became almost black, and the red in his mane overtook the blue. His voice became ever so slightly deeper and calmer. Oh, and let’s not forget the teeth. The rest of them became like his two front ones. Sharp, but not overly so. Just enough to unnerve those around me.

.
.
.
.

Yes, exactly like that.


“Oh Thank the skies. ‘Bout time I got some fresh air. Although, you would not believe the space in this dude’s head,” I said, stretching my limbs. “Still nice to get out though.”

“Nah, bro, I believe it! What up, mah pony!”

“Vinyl Scratch,” I said. Turning to face her, I gave a teasing grin. “Still alive, I see. I honestly thought you’d overdose on something by now.”

“Nah, I got a wife to nag me about that.”

I turned and hoofbumped Notes, “What took you guys so long?”

“Force didn't want you changing in public or some nonsense like that.”

“Tsk. Typical. Here hold on to these. Spirit will never shut up about it if either of us lose them,” I said, handing him the goggles. He tossed it so that they hung from the neck of his guitar.

“What about Bi?”

“What about him?” 

“Enough talk! I wanna party!”

So, all three of us trotted into the den of chaos.



~~~



“The inside was actually much--”

“Hold on!” Twilight interrupted.

“What? Can’t this wait?”

Twilight shook her head, “I’m sorry, but I need to know. Who are you?”

Shift deadpanned, “I’m Shift. Spirit Shift. Don’t you pay attention?”

Fluttershy slowly raised her hoof, “Excuse me, but… I’m also a bit confused.”

Applejack leaned back in her seat a disturbed look on her face, “Frankly, ah’m a mite scared.”

Pinkie jumped in her seat. “I think it’s cool. I wish Dashie was here to see this!”



~~~



“EwEwEwEwEwEwEwEwEwEw!” Dash squealed, viciously scrubbing herself. “I’ve got pervert on me!!”

Aloe sighed heavily. “Miss Rainbow Dash. It’s past closing hours.”

Lotus followed after. “Forget that, it’s nearly midnight!”

“KEEP SCRUBBING!”

Aloe and Lotus looked at one another and sighed. Together they went back to helping Rainbow Dash scrub every inch of her body.

“I'LL NEVER BE CLEAN AGAAAAAAIN!!” she cried.



~~~

        

Blazing Notes felt a chill spike down his spine. There was a disturbance. He could feel it with his mare sense. However, the scene in front of him was just too interesting to turn away from.

“Transformation spell in the goggles?”

“No,”

“Magic abnormality?”

“Possibly…. But most likely no.”

Twilight slumped back down in her seat, “I give up.”

“Split-personality manifesting as an individual consciousness.” Shift smirked.

Twilight lept back up, “That was my tenth guess!”

“No, you kept adding magic for some stupid reason. Sorry, just pure psychology on this one.”

Glaring, Twilight sat back down. 

“Can I continue now?”

Blaze smirked along with him, “Aww, but it was getting fun!”

Shift looked back at him, “I know but the author says we need to pick up the pace.”



~Warble warble or whatever the hell Spirit does.~
	
	
> "I just want a frigging drink!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
Like I was saying, the inside was actually much more spacious than you would expect. Pretty pimped out too. I could tell that it was more than just your typical rave club.

The second we opened the doors, the blaring music instantly went to work by slapping all of us in the face and nearly blowing out our eardrums. Lesser ponies would've been annoyed by the sudden volume increase, but me and pedo bear here took it like stallions.

“Not bad,” I said, admiring the music. It was a somewhat quality dubstep track. The timing was a bit off and the resonance could've be better, though.

“Oh bloody ‘ell! My ears! Why is the music so bucking loud?” Blazing Notes screamed, clearly not used to a proper club.

Vinyl smiled at him, completely unfazed. “Hold on a sec.” Using her magic, she shrouded us in a small bubble that blocked off some of the music, “There ya go. This won’t hold up long, so listen. You’ll get used to it soon, it’s actually not that loud.”

“Yeah, seriously. Stop being a wuss,” I added.

“I gotta go on soon so stick around and have fun. Don’t get beat up or thrown out though; cuz if I’m on stage, I ain't helpin ya.”

Blaze finally finished rubbing his ears enough to respond, “Gotcha, I see where the mares are gathering, so I’ll head there. Shift?”

“I’m probably gonna go wander off somewhere and enjoy the show. I’ll come grab you if I need something.”

“What show? You mean my set?” Vinyl asked.

“No. Look, here’s what’s going to happen. Blaze is going to trot up to some mare, probably the fourth or fifth one he’ll try. Then he’s gonna talk her up. Then her colt friend will beat the everliving cuss word out of him. Blaze’ll fight back, probably even win. Then he’ll get jumped, and we’ll have to leave. Now, before this happens, I need to grab a drink. So, Blaze, don’t move,” I smiled excitedly, “I have to see this, and I want to be comfortable while I do.”

I turned and walked away while Blaze looked at Vinyl with a concerned look. Vinyl just shrugged and smiled, “Well, you know him. If he says that’s what’s gonna happen I guess you’re screwed then.”

Blaze lowered his head and pouted, “Shift always could predict when a fight will break out…. Ahh, bugger all! Forget him! After the day I’ve had I need to relax, even if I have to fight something to do so.”

“That’s the spirit!” Vinyl dropped the wall and the music bore down on us again. I stopped listening in on their conversation and dove into the crowd.

~~~

“The End”

Everypony looked at Shift with confused looks.

“What?” Shift asked.

“What do you mean, ‘the end’?” asked Twilight.

“Exactly what I meant. My prediction came true and Blaze got his ass kicked. Few other things happened, but they weren't important.”

“Darling, you can’t just end the story there. You have to continue until the end.”

“Seriously? I mean, I can’t remember what happened so you have to tell me. Who was nob who beat me up. Please tell me it was a group and that I didn't get knocked out by a mare,” Blaze added.

Shift chuckled, “Nah, man, it was a group, and it was pretty funny. But you all know how it ends. I grabbed his ass and stuck him on a train. I hate trains so I put Spirit back in control.”

“Yes, but you can’t just end a story like that just because the ending is revealed,” said Twilight. “We need to know how it came about.”

“Well that’s lame.”

“It’s good storytelling,” Rarity rebutted.

Shift groaned, “Fiiiiinnnneeee!”

Frigging crybabies. *sigh* Like I was saying; after I left pedobear here, I dove right--

Alright, let me stop you right there.

Oh my god! What, Blaze?

Hold on, don’t you mean 'oh my Celestia?’

I don’t believe in Celestia.

If you don’t stop referring to me as a pedophile I will murder you.

*Eep*

My word!

Alright! Everpony, shut the hell up!

…

Good. Blaze, fine. Can we finish this now?

…

Thank you. I dove into the crowd. I had already gotten used to the sound, so by this point I was simply trying to figure out where the hell the drink table was. I was pretty sure that I saw it earlier, but the damn thing up and disappeared. I was basically just wandering around. Blaze is pretty picky with his first shot so I figured that I had some time. I decided to dance a bit as a way to work around the crowd.

Just because I could. I pulled out a move that I like to call ‘chocolate thunder’.

Sit down, Shift. Nopony wants to see your chocolate thunder. 

Spoilsport. Anyway, I danced a bit to pass the time. Luckily, while I was stealing the spotlight, I finally spotted the drink table. I stopped dancing and trotted in that direction. However, some asshole thought it’d be a good idea to get in my way. He was a green coated earth stallion about an inch and a half taller than me with a shaved mane and goatee.

“Sup, slik. Those were some ballin moves. You got sommin tah prove there, Jay?”

“Shut up, I know it. What’s a jive turkey like you stanin in my way fo, homie?”

He looked at me curiously. “Why’s you talking like that?”

I shrugged, “I dunno you said ‘slik’ and ‘ballin’ so I thought we were talking in ratched.”

“Whateva. I don’t like the way you took the spotlight, ya dig. I’m challenging you to a dance off.”

“OHHHHHHHHHH!” the DJ yelled. “What’s this I hear? A dance off, on my final track? Can this night get any better?”

My rather impressive hearing skills detected a slapping sound, and I realized that the target has begun his route. By my calculations, he would reach the ‘jumped’ point in no less than 30 minutes. I needed to maneuver past this obstacle and retrieve my beverage in order to achieve maximum pleasure while I stand by and watch my friend Blazing Notes get the underworld thrashed from his backside.

“Hey, asshole! Sit the hell down so I can get a motherloving drink and watch my friend get beat the hell up!” I yelled.

I was too late. The prick of a DJ cranked up the music just as I opened my mouth. 

The stallion in front of me began busting out a few opening moves. In one move he fell to the ground with all four legs splayed out and somehow rose his body back up without the use of any of them. His last move consisted of him spinning around a bit before pointing towards me, signaling that it was my turn.

“Check that, home-slice!

“Is this a joke? Or do you seriously talk like that normally?” I asked.

The DJ started whooping and cheering to rile up the crowd, “Ohhhhhhssssnap! Earth pony gots da moves! Now lets see what blackie got! Whoop whoop!” The crowd began hollering.

“Da’ hell did he just call me?” Now, I’m no stranger to insults. I can dish them out, and I can take them; with or without profanity even. But I take personal offence to the racist terms. I happen to just be a darker shade of Spirit’s normal coat thank you very much.

Hold on, I’m afraid I don’t follow darling. Exactly what was racist about--

Anyway… I jumped up and decked the DJ. I hopped into the seat and took the mic from his unconscious head. “Vinyl Scratch, please approach the DJ stage. Vinyl Scratch, please approach the DJ stage. It’s your turn to play.” 

She quickly made her way up to the stage and threw on a beat that melded with and took over the previous DJ’s. She nabbed the mic from me and yelled out into the stunned crowd, “How’s that for a turnover! DJ Pon3 in the Hizzouse! Mad thanks to Shift here for his part!” 

The crowd started cheering and she took off her mic and turned to me with what I assumed was an angry glare. “Dude! What the hell?” she hissed.

“I was offended so I took action,” I said lazily looking down at the fallen DJ.

She facehooved. “Bro, don’t go doing stuff like that or you’ll get kicked out. Now I won’t get to see how this turns out because somepony decided I should go on early.”

“Can’t you see everything from up here? Look I can see the drink table! Looks like they got some fanta,” I said hopping off.

“Make sure it’s not spiked!”

“Kay!”

That earth pony from before stepped in front of me as soon as I jumped down. He glared at me so I smirked at him. This made him glare even harder so I let out a small chuckle. By this point he was thoroughly pissed, “Yo, son, you ain't done here. Yous and me gots some unfinished business, capiche?”

“Bro, find an accent, and frggin stick with it!” I yelled. Seriously, everytime he started a new sentence he had a different, equally bad, accent to say it with. It annoyed the hell outta me.

“Aye, what the hay are ye talkin boot? Ah aint got no acksent,” he said, starting scolttish but ending southern.

You’re very good at doing imitations, Shift.

Thanks, yellow horse. I’m better than Spirit anyway. 

Since I had enough of the hole I simply shoved my way past him. On the way by I caught a glimpse of his mark, a tongue with a question mark. “Fitting,” I thought. I quickly relocated the drinking table.

I trotted over to the counter of thirst quenching, only to stop when a bunch of mares began crowding it. It took me a second to care, but when I did I noticed that they were all glaring at me.

“I’m never gonna get my drink am I?” 
	
> "Because I'm an asshole!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Despite my instincts, I trotted up to the mare standing in front of the group. “Miss, you seem to be barricading the drink table,” I said, as politely as I could.

“Nu-uh! Don’t you be talkin to me like that. I saw how you blew off my beau.”

I raised my eyebrow at the way she spoke. With a quick “Nope” from me and a quick jab to her neck, she was down like a sack of bricks. The other mares simply blinked in confusion. I guess they either didn't see me move or didn't understand what I did. I don’t blame them though, I needed to be quick so that she wouldn't scream. I supposed that they all must've thought that she fainted because they all quickly began fawning over her. I took this opportunity to move past them.

Finally at the drink table, I looked over the club’s selection. They had the basic setup; spiked punch, spiked vodka, bottles of Brew Daniels, pot brownies, and the like. I found the orange soda from earlier and took a sniff. I smirked, admiring the fact that somepony in this place had enough respect of the natural taste of soda not to lace it with alcohol.

I took a sip and sighed. It was worth the wait. “Now I just have to follow the sound of rejection,” I muttered.

Drink in hoof, I trotted back to the entrance of the place and looked around to find Blaze. My first guess was the bar, so I headed there first.  Upon arrival, I found the the entire section covered in a magical bubble. Apparently, it was just like Vinyl’s in that it muffled or lowered the sound. Over near the edge I saw Blaze hitting on some mare with a short blue mane. She looked uncomfortable so I figured that I still had some time left. I sat on a stool and called the bar keep over.

"Hey, man, you do refills?" I asked him.

A gruff looking unicorn turned to look at me, "That depends, you pay for that one?"

"Yes," I lied.

"Whatcha need refilled? We have a five drink maximum here."

"Orange Soda." I looked down and noticed the distinct lack of beverage. I didn't realize that I had already emptied my cup. 

He scoffed, "I thought we put that out as a joke. What kinda lightweight are you?"

I was about to reply with a snarky comment when the mare sitting next to me huffed in annoyance, "Brew Hard don't be rude. Just refill his drink already."

Blow Hard let out a low growl before taking my cup and leaving. I turned to the mare next to me and questioned her confused look. "But Seriously, you come to a club to drink orange juice?" she continued.

I scoffed in mock offence, "Orange Soda, thank you very much. I don't care for alcohol."

She raised an eyebrow, "How about cider."

"Not fond of apples," I replied.

What?!

While ignoring the orange horse's question, I continued my story. The mare continued to give me a strange look. "Then why are you here? Don't tell me it's the music."

I smirked, "Nah. Has a tall stallion with a black mane tried to pick you up yet."

She gave me a large frown that I took as a yes.

“Did he say something stupid?”

“I told him that I was with somepony and he said, and I quote, ‘challenge accepted’.”

"Did you slap him?"

"Yes."

"That's why I'm here. To see my friend fail and get the hell beat out of him."

She looked at me for a second before letting out a small chuckle. What's his face finally got back with my drink so I took a sip. I took another glance back at pedo-- er I mean Blaze. A fight wasn't breaking out yet so I guessed that it wasn't time yet. For lack of better things to do I turned back to the mare next to me, "So why're you here," I asked.

She sighed, "My marefriend wanted me to come."

"Well, aren't you loyal."

"To a fault. Mainly, I'm here to make sure she gets home safely."

"Yup, makes sense. Vinyl never could find her own way home half the time. I can only imagine what it's like when she's drunk."

"I know right! The least she could do is drink after she.... Hold on. How did you know I was talking about Vinyl?"

"Cuz you're the reason she's not dead."

"I don't follow. Do you know her?"

"Has she ever talked about a pony named Spirit before?"

"Yes, are you--"

"No."

"Then who are you." I could tell she was getting agitated. 

"I'm the reason she had to go on early."

"That was you on the microphone?"

I swiveled the liquid in my cup and thought of something fun.

"I'm the shadow in the moon at night, 
I'm the one filling your dreams with fright.
The seeker of darkness and caster of spells.
My name is Shift, and I’m the denizen of hell."

She gave me an unimpressed look. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"Well, Vinyl did tease me on how fun it was." I stopped swiveling when something caught my eye. I was watching Blaze near the corner of the bar chatting up some pony. Whatever he was saying, it was working because the mare was blushing and giggling like crazy. Out of the corner of my eye a stallion came out of the bathroom and immediately sent a death glare Blaze's way. 

A wide smile spread across my face, “Shut up. It’s happening.”

“What is… oh my,” she followed my gaze and watched the large stallion march his way across the club. “That’s one of the owners of the club, Mile High!”

My smile got wider and I hopped out of my seat. “I’m getting a closer look. You coming?”

She looked nervous for a little bit then got up after me. “I suppose. If things get hectic I could probably convince him not to call the guards.”

I grabbed my drink and started trotting over to the scene. “Personally, I hope the cops show up. I’m going for the record.”

She quickly caught up to me, “What record?”

“I want Blaze to get thrown in just about every jail in Equestria.” I took a sip of my drink and asked, ”That’s gotta be a record right?”

The mare sighed and shook her head. “You’re heartless, you know that? I’ve known you for all of 5 minutes and I know that much.”

~~~

I got close enough to hear Blaze finish his joke and laugh alongside the mare he was with.

“...so, then I held up a hoof in front of him and said ‘Sir? Please. Humption? Yes. Madame? Scoff. Blazinger? Of Course. Justsui? Perhaps. Now, by this point you have no idea what I’m talking about right?’ He dumbly nodded, so I took that chance to slam my guitar upside his head and run like mad. Poor zebra never knew what hit him.” 

I rolled my eyes and held out my hoof for the mare next to me to stop. I thought for a second that I should learn the mare’s name. I never did, so I must have dropped the thought. 

“Why did we stop, I can’t hear them from here,” she said.

“Really? I can. Oh well. Look, here he comes,” I said taking a small sip. Didn’t wanna run out too early.

The mare he was talking to had a blond mane and cream colored coat. I was about to check out her cutie mark when I noticed the stallion trot up behind Blaze.

“It’s happening!” I squealed gleefully. I didn't need to turn around to know the mare next to me was looking at me oddly.

“Why does seeing your friend get beat up excite you?” she finally asked. “Why won’t you help him?”

I ignored her and watched the scene unfold in front of me like I was watching a movie.

“Oh my, Celestia,” the mare giggled, “how are you still alive?”

Blaze shrugged, “I’m good at running. I usually let Spirit and Force do most of the fighting.”

I chuckled, “Bro you ain't runnin from this one.” The stallion was right behind him now, and practically fuming.

Everypony around Blaze quickly went silent while some started backing away. I watched him turn around and pale as he realized what was happening. “Well, it was fun while it lasted,” he muttered, reaching for his guitar.

The mare trotted up next to Blaze and held her hoof up, “Mile, this isn’t what it looks--”

“It looks like this spiky maned dwarf is talking to my mare.”

“So what?  He’s charming, he’s funny, and he likes to travel. I enjoy listening to his stories.”

Mile High ignored her and stuck his face in Blaze’s, “You fillin my mare’s head with nonsense? There ain't no way you’re a traveler, you’re too scrawny.”

One of his groupies cheered him on, “You tell him, Mile!”

“Come on, Mile, you should hear some of the stories he’s told me.”

Mile regarded his marefriend’s words carefully, “I was going to have him beat up and thrown out... but I suppose if he can tell me something interesting he can stay.”

My smile dropped like a sack of bricks. Blaze let out a relieved sigh and put his hoof down. “Well then, would you like to hear the same thing I told Golden here, or something new?” he asked.

“Lets see if you can tell us something different.”

“Fine, let me tell you about the time I--

I stopped listening and looked at the drink in my hoof. It was half way gone. Halfway gone and a fight still hadn't broken out yet. These was unacceptable circumstances.

“Looks like nothings wrong. That’s a relief I suppose. Back to the bar then?”

“Hold on, I have one more idea.”

The mare sighed and turned back around, “I know I asked already, but why?”

“Simple.” I turned to her and gave my widest smirk, “Because I’m an asshole!”

I immediately lobbed my cup toward where Blaze and his entourage was. Lady Luck must have been drunk at this club somewhere, because my cup slammed right into Blazes forehead. Like dead on. He fell backwards and the neck of his guitar slammed against the blond mare. She fell backward with a bloody nose, and the stallion, Mile High, flipped the hell out. 

A fight broke out when he jumped Blaze and started punching him. The music cut and everypony turned their attention towards the fight. Blaze threw him off easily and began fighting off bodyguards. Eventually, the entire club broke out in individual and group fights.

“There! Are you happy now?! Can we go help him?”

I finally began to stop laughing and tried to roll over on my stomach. “H-hold on a sec. Here comes Vinyl.”

“What?!”

Both of us looked over to Vinyl who had just stopped laughing. I guess her conscious kicked in, and she thought it was a good enough time to break it up. She ran backstage, presumably to get whomever else was in charge. 

I looked back over to Blaze. He had already knocked out several people but was in still in the middle of fighting several others. One tried to jump him from behind but he swiftly dodged and slammed his guitar on that dude's head.

Vinyl returned with this huge stallion that I assumed was either a royal guard or the other owner. He took a deep breath, lit his horn and screamed at the top of his lungs. “EVERYPONY SHUT THE HELL UP!” Just like that everypony stopped fighting and turned to him. The mare next to me writhed on the ground as if her eardrums exploded. “What the hay is wrong with all of you? Who started this?”

Several ponies looked around in confusion until Mile High stood back up and pointed to Blaze. “This asshole hit my mare!” 

“Now hold on a se-” 

SLAM!

Blaze fell like a sack of bricks when some random pony regained consciousness and slammed a stool over his head. There was nothing but silence until I fell out laughing. The fight restarted and nothing that stallion at the stage said could stop it. He gave a few orders to some ponies that weren't fighting and they ran off. After that, he too jumped into the fray.

Vinyl hopped down and ran over to the pony who did the deed. He was cheering until Vinyl grabbed him and screamed in his face, “What the hay, you bastard? Was that really necessary!?”

The mare next to me attempted to trudge through the chaos and get to the heart of the issue. I, on the otherhoof, finally calmed down enough to stand. “Welp, Blaze is out. I guess it’s time to go.” I hopped onto the bar table and high into the air. Using my wings, I flew over the crowd to where Blaze was. By the time I found him he was barely conscious. 

“Sup, bu~ddy! Told you this would happen. I come outside for the first time in 3 months and you get yourself knocked the hell out. Pathetic… nice place though. So, be honest with me. Did ya have fun?” He gave me a small smirk before passing out completely. I laughed and tossed him on my back. The mare from before finally broke out of the crowd and met us. She was out of breath and looking frantic.

“Shift? Where’s Vinyl?”

I looked around and pointed her over to the white mare currently beating down the poor stool throwing bastard from before. 

“Vinyl Scratch get over here right now!” she yelled.

I watched Vinyl freeze mid punch and the sound of a record scratching played through my head. She numbly trotted over to us with her head low. “Yes, Tavi?”

“We are going home. Right now, before the cops show up.”

Vinyl nodded, and we all left the club. After we left through the doors she turned to me and waved, “See ya, Shift.”

“Later, Scratch.” It was late at night by this point so I just rented us a hotel with the group's money till it looked like Blaze was gonna wake up.

~~~

Shift finished his story and smirked at the sight of 5 mares shocked expressions. Applejack put a hoof to her head and sighed exasperatedly. “I just…. I don’t even…. Why?”

Rarity started next, “I hate to sound like a broken record… but why did you go through so much trouble just to start a fight?”

“And why the hell did you throw your cup at me!?” Notes nearly yelled. “Everything was fine until you did that!”

“See, the answer to both of your questions is simple. Because it was fun. Anyway, looks like Force is done.”

Everypony looked over to the small colt for the first time. He had his head planted muzzle-down on the table and snored softly. The half empty jar of candy sitting next to him. Next to that sat a propped up note that said: “Boring and predictable.”

Fluttershy cooed and patted his mane, “He’s mane is really unique,” she muttered, examining the silver gray streaks that ran through Bionic Force’s green mane.

Shift hopped from his seat and stretched a bit, “Yeah, he’s something alright. What time is it?”

Twilight looked over at the clock, and winced when she saw that it was nearly 4 in the morning. She quickly made her way to the door, “I should get home before Spike starts worrying.” Turning back to Shift and Blazing Notes, she started to say something, stopped, looked for the right words, then started again, “Good story, I guess. Next time could you tell one that’s a little less… violent?”

Notes shrugged, “Of course, it was only violent because this one showed up.” Twilight left out the door and Rarity left right after.

Pinkie hopped out of her seat as well, “I loved it! It was all action-y and fun! I’m just glad that the yelling didn't wake up the Cakes.”

“Ah could do without all of that. Thank ya kindly. Ah should head home too. Nice meetin’ ya both. Shift… I’d appreciate it if’n ya don’t come around the farm on yer next visit. No offence.”

Shift smirked, “I’d take all of the offence... but I just don’t care enough.”

Applejack chuckled, hoof bumped Shift, and trotted out the door. Fluttershy meekly nodded and left as well.

“So, since we got nowhere to go at the moment I’m just gonna fall asleep here.” Just like that, Shift fell asleep in the same position as Bionic.”

Notes face-hooved and turned to Pinkie. “I really am sorry about those two.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just clean the table in the morning. Oh! That reminds me! I have to work tomorrow. Gottagogoodnightbye!” 

With that she zoomed up the stairs, leaving three colts asleep at a random table.
	
> "Forget your language! Speak Equestrian!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



“What the non-existent hell are we still doing here?” were the first words that came out of Bionic Force’s mouth when his eyes opened to see the large colorful array of decorative pastries under the counter. To nopony’s surprise, he awoke the same way he always did; his eyes opened to instantly analyze his surroundings. Whenever he woke up, he didn’t groggily rub the sleep out of his eyes over the course of a cup of coffee like a normal pony, but rather he was immediately awake and alert of his surroundings. 

One could never be too careful. Despite the several dangerous armed devices that protected him in his sleep, lethal hostility could always find a way through. At least, that’s what Bionic Force believed.

He lazily looked to the computer wrapped around his foreleg and saw that it was well past 11am. While Bionic was never one for schedules, he was one for never wasting time. It was Bionic Force’s personal belief that time was the one resource that should never be carelessly thrown away. This was coming from the one pony who once threw away several thousand bits worth of machinery, information and supplies on a near daily basis. It was also commonly known that Bionic Force was a severely apathetic pony who cared very little about most things, hated few, and enjoyed fewer. Unfortunately, wasting time was one of the few things he hated. You know, until he could invent a time machine that is.

This was the precise reason why Bionic Force wasted no effort in waking up both Spirit (who was still sleeping as Shift at the time) and Blazing Notes. Once they were up, Force was just as quick to drag them back to Crossroads so they could continue their pointless journey.

~~~

“And that’s why I choose to say colour instead of color,” finished Blaze. He gave a self-satisfied smile towards Spirit. 

Spirit simply continued to trot forward on three legs while somehow managing to scratch his head in confusion. “I still don’t get it…” he pouted. Currently, our three heroes were strolling through the outskirts of the forest beyond Crossroads, eager to reach their next destination: The Mysterious Foal Mountains. 

Whilst strolling through the familiar location, Spirit decided to bring up a topic that he had been wondering for a while. That is to say, what’s the best way to eat a chocolate cornet? From the bottom, or the top? 

While they were talking about that, Blaze ended up saying the word colour. This of course sparked Spirit into correcting him by saying color. An argument broke out after that concerning the correct pronunciation and spelling. Now that you’ve finally decided to pay attention and catch up, let’s continue. 

Blaze sighed and rubbed his temple in exasperation, “Spirit... mate. It’s all in the preference. The difference doesn’t matter. There is no difference in the meaning either.”

Spirit’s expression brightened up somewhat before lowing slightly in frustration, “Oh really? Well I still don’t like it. Everytime you say that word it confuses me when I think about what you really mean."

Blaze stopped to give him a confused look, “Wait. I don’t understand. How is that confusing to you? The--”

Spirit stomped the ground and looked up at him with tears in his eyes. “I can’t speak two languages like you can! I’m sorry!” he cried, looking disappointed in himself.

Blaze reeled his head back with an unpleasant look evident on his face, “It’s not a different language, you twat!” Narrowing his eyes at him suspiciously, he added, “You know, this still baffles me. There’s no difference in the pronunciation either. It’s purely a spelling thing. How can you tell which one I’m using?”

Spirit simply smiled and shrugged. Blaze opened his mouth to say something about his friend’s weirdness, until something more interesting came to mind. Standing tall, he moved forward so that the three formed a line with him in the middle as they all continued through the forest. Now Spirit couldn’t see his mouth move. “Oy, Spirit?”

“Yeah?” he answered, tilting his head to glance over at Blaze. Unfortunately, it didn't do much due the fact that Blaze continued to turn his head away.

“When we get to the next town, do you want to see if it has a theatre?” Blaze asked.

“Heck yeah! I love mov-- Wait what?” Spirit’s mouth briefly rose into a full blown smile before falling into a frown of confusion, “What’s a theatre?”

“You know, the place where we go see the movies,” he replied smugly, “The theatre.”

Spirit’s pace slowed until it eventually stopped. His eyes went wide and his voice lowered to barely a whisper. “Oh, sweet Luna, there's more of them…”

Noticing that his friend had stopped, Blaze turned back with what was now a smug look on his face. It wasn't often that Blaze found a new way to mess with Spirit’s almost abnormally cheery disposition. “Come now. As an adventurer you are honour bound to explore each and every town,” he urged as he desperately tried not to laugh.

Spirit slammed his hooves to his ears and shook his head frantically, “Stop it! It’s so confusing! Speak english!”

Blaze began to slowly circle his friend, chuckling all the while. He was intent to have his revenge for Ponyville. “Please,” he huffed in mock offence, “my language skills are at the epicentre of perfection!”

Bionic Force stopped in his own tracks. Spirit, however, began rolling around on the ground making loud, rapid-fire noises in an attempt to shut the noise out. “Lalaloopsylalaloopsylalaloopsylalalooleelooppylllalaaayyy!”

Blaze leaned down near his friend’s face with a small smile. “Spirit, what are you doing? What happened to your candour attitude?”

One of Force’s ears twitched. The rest of him did not move. At this point, Spirit had resorted to singing songs to force the noise away. “Do do dooooooo! Do do dooooo! Na na na naaaaa nanaaa  nanaaa!!” He cried.

When he started singing, that's when the dams burst open for Blaze and he threw his head back and laughed maniacally, “Accept it, Spirit! Accept these new words as your own!”

“N-No!” Spirit stammered. “They’re stupid and they make no sense! Why do you need a ‘u’ in candor anyway!”

Blaze stood tall and gestured to himself in a dignified pose, “It’s just not my fault that I enjoy flavouring my speech with flyers of glamour and droughty.”

“The words!” Spirit hissed. Due to the confusion that arose from Spirit trying to comprehend a completely different way of spelling, he began writhing on the ground in agony, crying, “They hurt my brain!”

Just as Blaze opened his mouth again, a solid hoof smashed up against his chin, quickly shutting him up. He turned to see Bionic Force next to him. “What in bloody Tartarus was that for?”

Bionic’s expression never changed but his right eye turned from it’s normal grassy green to a soft magenta. You could always tell his anger level by what shade of color the one unnatural part of his face was. “I don’t care if you torture Spirit with idiotic methods. By all means, do so. But you will at least use the right words.”

Blaze would only look down at him with confusion, his hoof absentmindedly rubbing the spot where he was slapped, “Umm… excuse me?”

From magenta to a soft red. “At this point, you aren’t even thinking of any good sentences. You’re just using any alternatively spelt word. Epicentre? Candour? Droughty? None of those words meant what you used them to mean.”

“Bi! Not you too!!” Spirit cried. Tears began to fill his eyes as his own brother turned against him. Never in his life did he think it was possible.

Blaze looked down at the colt in shock, “Since when do you care about the contextual meaning of words?” he asked in disbelief.

Bionic waved him off with a hoof. “I don’t. I just enjoy seeing Spirit like this. I told you, if you’re going to torture him with idiotic methods, as least do it with some degree of intelligence.”

“Oh, really then?” Blaze gestured over to Spirit who was slowly trying to crawl away, “Why don’t you give it a shot then.”

“Gladly.” Bionic began to slowly walk over to his fallen brother who had by then, managed to distance himself slightly. “I’m fine with exercising my encyclopaedic knowledge of cultural differences in an endeavour to exemplify the proper way to savour his laboured suffering. ” By the time Bionic reached the limp form of Spirit, his brother was knocked out on the ground with drool leaking from his mouth. 

Bionic turned around with a tiny smirk gracing his features. He gestured down to Spirit, “Like so.”

Blaze stood stock-still with an expression of utter amazement on his face. Snapping out of his stupor, he immediately fell into a low bow, “Teach me!”
	
> "All according to plan..."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


“Spirit, get down here!” Blazing Notes screamed, glancing up to the low-hanging cloud that followed some distance behind them. Despite his commanding tone, Blaze couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.

“Hmph,” Spirit huffed in retaliation. He turned his head away and frowned, obviously still angry with the groups earlier teasing. Ever so slightly, he flapped his wings so that the cloud he sat on would float along after the group.

Blaze chuckled quietly before trying to regain some composure, “Come on! It was just a bit of a joke. Come on down before you crash into a tree or something.”

Spirit’s only response was to swerve around the tree that he was about to crash into with his eyes closed. Blaze merely rolled his eyes and muttered, “Showoff.”

Bionic Force, whom had been silent after the ordeal, rolled his own eyes, “He’ll come down soon. He’ll have to.”

Blaze gave Bionic a confused look. “An’ why’s that then?” he asked.

Bionic Force glanced back at his brother as he walked and studied his height. The cloud was about 15 or 20 feet into the air, hanging just under the tops of most of the trees in the forest. “He’s up too high,” was his cryptic response.

Used to these kinds of half-answered responses, Blaze simply hummed idly before looking back up at Spirit and shrugging. Eventually, he’d find out what his friend meant. Turning forward, he realized that said time would be coming soon. They were nearly to their destination as a large mountain appeared in front of them. Foal Mountains stood extraordinarily tall, with various clouds hanging low--very low. Just above the tree line, in fact.

As they continued to walk, Blaze began to get an increasingly bad feeling, “Bi--”

“Call me that again and I’ll chop your carrot off,” the colt replied automatically.

“--it may just be me,” Blaze continued, “but do you notice anything odd about those clouds there?” He gestured towards the low hanging clouds.

Bionic took a glance upwards to examine the clouds, “Besides the fact that they’re far too low to have been placed by pegasi, reek of various unnatural gasses, and are full of deadly pony-eating eagle rays?”

“Yes, I thought so. No self-respecting pega--Wait what!?” Blaze screamed, hopping back some distance. Once he noticed that Blaze had stopped walking, Bionic turned to look at him. “Pony-eating eagle rays?!” Blaze questioned, slightly panicked over the chance of being eaten.

Painfully unworried about the prospect of being eaten, Bionic recalled some information. “Yes, technically they’re a magical species of manta ray that can fly through the clouds,” he explained, “They’re also endangered I believe. In fact, you can see them from here.” He nonchalantly pointed upwards. “They won’t reach us down here, though.”

Blaze looked upwards and realized that they had already entered the low-hanging cloud coverage. After looking for a while, he noticed the silhouette of a large arrow shaped body that was longer than his own. It did indeed resemble the giant of the deep. “But aren't manta rays harmless?”

“Usually, but this particular genus actually deserves the term ‘eagle’. They are omnivorous creatures that feed on anything smaller than them. However, they are only able to hunt within the area of their clouds.” Bionic looked up at the clouds thoughtfully, “It seems that they’ve made their nests around this part of the mountain.”

“Oh, my Luna! What is that!” Spirit called out from a distance. While Blaze and Bionic had stopped trotting, Spirit had continued to make his way toward the mountain. Eventually, a large blue creature descended and attacked him, completely destroying his cloud. Making a stupid decision, Spirit retreated into the clouds themselves for safety.

“You knew about this!” Blaze accused, “How do we get around it?”

Bionic took it in stride and calmly looked at the display on his hoof computer, “We were going to fly over it. But that’s no longer an option. We also don’t know how far these clouds stretch, as they don’t appear on my map. That leaves only a few options. I suggest that we take the third one.”

Blaze reeled back in shock, “Th-Y-You didn’t even tell me about one and two!”

“My thoughts exactly,” Bionic nodded. Pushing a button on his wrist com, he made the screen holographic and faced it towards Blaze, “I’m going to need you and Spirit to head to this city.”

“Guys!” Spirit screamed as three large creatures chased after him, “I might need some help!”

Blaze glared at the colt before turning his attention to the screen. There was a green marker hovering over what looked to be a pegasus city. “Skia? I remember that. Still sounds sexy.”

Bionic rolled his eyes. “Yes, and you’re still an idiot. I need you two to go to this city and get a magical repellant. It’ll keep them away long enough for us to fly up the mountain.”

Blaze raised an eyebrow, “They… sell spells?”

“In a way,” he replied. “Unicorns enchant items so that when worn or activated, they bestow that spell on the user. I think the repellent is in a sort of spray. Though I can’t be sure.” He shrugged. “In the end, you just have to go find it.”

“Wait, aren’t you coming with us?” Blaze asked, glowering down at him, “I know you have some sort of artificial wing set in that bag of yours.”

“No,” he answered simply.

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.”

There was a pang of silence between them. In the background, however, Spirit flew back and forth, screaming for help while three creatures snapped at his tail. Flipping backwards, Spirit landed on the back of one of them. Yanking on the ray’s antenna, Spirit forced the creature back into the clouds and out of view.

Blaze simply stared at the small colt with a blank look, “You aren't even going to say why?”

“I just did. I don’t want to. I could go with you. I just won’t. I’m making you two go instead. It’ll be nice and quiet for a while.”

Still deadpanning, Blaze sighed, “...You’re an arse, you know that?”

Bionic simply shrugged and pointed behind him, “I’m going to wait at the base of the mountain until you get back. Like I said, get the repellant. If you mess up, you’re going back again.” Bionic turned and began ruffling through his bag. The more he searched, the more frequently his eye changed colors; by the time he turned back to Blaze, his eye had turned from grassy green to light magenta. “Spirit has the money again…”

“Oh, for the love of--” Blaze stood up tall and looked around, “Where is that nob, anyway?”

Bionic also took the time to look around, “I don’t know. I heard him saying something behind me.”

Blaze turned in a circle and scanned his surroundings, “I figured that he was still angry. You see his cloud anywhere?”

Bionic shrugged as he continued to look, “If he was still on that cloud he would be dead. I thought he got off when we stopped walking.”

Blaze opened his mouth to respond when they heard an increasingly loud scream echo from above them. “LoooooOOOK OOUUUT!” Blaze and Bionic glanced up just in time to see a large silhouette form in the clouds.

Scrambling, both ponies moved out of the way as Spirit crashed one of the rays out of the clouds, smashing it onto the ground. The rash sent Spirit tumbling off of the creature's back. He rolled until he landed at Bionic’s hooves. Dizzy, he looked up at his brother, “Oh… hey, Bi. Wassup?”

Bionic put a hoof to his brother’s head to keep it from moving. “Hand me the money,” he ordered.

Shaking his head out of its dizziness, Spirit grinned sheepishly before pulling out a bag of bits from under his goggles. Immediately, it was snatched from his hold by his brother. Trotting over to Blaze, Bionic handed the bits over to him.

“Aww, what?” Spirit cried, “Why does he get to hold the money?”

Bionic turned back to him with a blank look, “He’s marginally more responsible with it than you are.”

Blaze raised his eyebrow as he took the bag, unsure of whether or not he’d been insulted. Though with Bionic Force, the answer should’ve been clear. “Umm, thanks?”

“But that’s not fair!” Spirit argued.

Bionic raised an eyebrow, “Oh, really. Let’s test that then. Blazing, what was the last thing you bought with our money in Manehatten?”

“Playcolt: Beach Edition,” he answered, not a drop of shame in his tone. “A quaint selection of tasteful photos.”

Bionic gave him a look before turning around, “Gross. Spirit, you?”

Spirit rubbed his hooves together nervously, “Lifesize… replica of Ponyville…” he muttered.

Bionic nodded, “Exactly. Equally stupid. Blazing’s stuff costed us less money though. Which is why, if he screws up, he won’t do it in a way that leaves us stranded

“I-I think. We just head left, then?” Blaze asked.

Bionic shook his head, “No, you need to fly slightly left while staying parallel to the mountain. Skew away from the clouds, though.”

“Got it!” Blaze announced.		

“Do you?” Bionic asked skeptically, “Or are you just saying that?”

Blaze ignored him and trotted over to Spirit, whom by that point had gotten bored and started poking the unconscious magical manta ray. “Come along now, Spirit,” he droned exasperatedly. It was almost as if he didn't want to do it. “Let’s go retrieve this repellant. It’s a spray, right?” he asked as he began to lead Spirit away from the ray.

Bionic nodded and watched Spirit and Blaze take off. Once they were a fairly good distance away, Bionic craned his head down towards the knocked-out creature. Staring at it for a second, he let out a malicious smirk before he began dragging it towards the base of the mountains.