> Pawn
>  by Ash_Kitsune
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Quarter Dollar Chess Piece
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter One: Quarter Dollar Chess Piece

“What? That I used two fourteen-year-old pawns to turn a knight and topple a king? It's chess, Daniel. Of course you don't understand. But then, you never really did.” - Vlad Plasmus, Danny Phantom

-May 1st, 2020, 1213 Hrs-

“Look, Mr. Q, I'm not trying to screw you here. I'm not an enforcer, I'm not a fighter, I'm the messenger. We've been playing this little song and dance for a while now, and I've laid out what the boss wants, and what he's willing to give you in exchange for this set of artifacts.” I growl out, feeling very frustrated as I glare down the odd man on the other side of the table.

The office high rise is very fancy indeed, a good twenty stories up in a very exclusive office building, the office of an art dealer only known by his moniker of 'Q'. I've been in yet another meeting with him, the fifth one this week in fact, and it's another God-Be-Damned long one. Seven hours of wheeling, small talk, pleasantries, veiled threats from both sides, and enough haggling to make a second-world country market place vendor faint from either joy or anguish because they're about to make a lot or loose much, much more.

All over five necklaces and a frigging tiara. Six art pieces. Stuff the Boss wants. And one way or another, the Boss gets what the Boss wants. Always. Comes with being the Boss of the Mob, yeah? Of course, Q doesn't seem to care, the salt-and-pepper haired man as aloof as he always has been. Just like every other time we start working on one of these negotiations.

Working for the Mob isn't that bad... at least, not all the time anyway. It's got it's up and downs, gang warfare or fights between the families, Mafiaso trying to muscle in on our territory here in Seattle, someone steals this, takes over that, takes over this drug ring, that prostitute ring got found out by the boys in blue, yadda yadda. It's a long story, old as America and it's been written since the Mob formed from the first Irish boys working on the docks, trying to get that dream, the American Dream. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. What a crock of bullshit.

Ah well, shit is what shit does, and that's festering all over this damned world. There's a few bright spots here and there, but they hold no place in this conversation, which my mind just wandered away from. Better pull myself together, got shit to deal with now first. The rest of the shit can wait, and we can burn those particular bridges when we get to them.

“Mr. McCloud, I'm going to be blunt- I understand what you're working with at the moment, and what your bosses offer is. I'm telling you that these artifacts are worth a bit more then the four million he's offered.” Q says, the smarmy bastard sitting back with a satisfied smirk on his face. His black-and-white pinstriped suit looking as perfect as it did when we started this farce, my own suit a bit wrinkled from sitting down for so damn long, his angular face hiding nothing and yet hiding everything.

“And I'm tellin' ye Mr. Q, yer' not going to get a better offer!” I say with as much force I can muster, which is quite a bit considering that my accent is actually starting to get the better of me. “The Mob is being very generous with our offer of four million. The mafiaso will just try to kill you to take it, and the private collectors won't offers as much as we will.”

I huff, taking a moment to look off to the side, glancing at myself in the mirror. Besides the annoyed look on my face, I look your standard rough and tough dock boy. Five foot eleven, broad shoulders that don't look like they should fit in the sharp black suit I'm wearing, messy brown hair tied back in a decently long ponytail, about to my shoulders, sharp blue eyes centered in a solidly jawed face giving me my own glare right back before I turn my attention back to Q. “It's our final offer Mr. Q. I have the briefcase right here. You can count the money yourself before I leave.”

“... Oh very well, you are trying so hard to drive this deal, Mr. McCloud.” The sharply dressed, if eccentric art collector says with a sigh as he closes the case containing the jewelry and softly pushes it across the table towards me, I lifting and pushing the briefcase over to him, snapping it open as I turn it around smoothly, holding it open by the handle with my other hand. Just like you'd see in the movies. I know, because I've been doing it for too damn long now and I've had plenty of practice. Gotta make it look good or no one takes it seriously.

“The money is right here, Mr. Q.” I say, letting the briefcase go as I stand, putting a hand on the jewelry case, and he starts counting his money. He's taking his bloody damned time doing so, but before too long he's closed the case and he nodded his consent.

“Very well Mr. McCloud. Go and tell your Boss that is has been, as always, a pleasure doing business with the Mob, and I look forwards to our next dealing.” The smarmy bastard, being all pleasant  after that bloody ordeal.

“A pleasure, Mr. Q. Good Day.” I manage to say in as pleasant and accent-free tone as possible before make my out of the building as fast as humanly possible, practically leaping down the stairs, carefully handling my package to ensure no damage is done to it, sliding it into a messenger bag. Before I reach the exit, I strip out of the suit, glad to be free of the stuffy thing and back into much more comfortable clothing for me, a tee-shirt and jeans. The moment I'm out of the suit, it's in the messenger bag as well and I'm out the door, quickly moving over to my motorcycle. A Harley Davidson Nightrider, specially made for me as a twentieth birthday present from the Boss. The smooth, curved lines of the bike helped to highlight the beautiful paint and trim of my ride, the chestnut brown coloring broken only on the tank, which had a clearly marked out name in white and black- The Pony Express.

When you're the fastest and most dependable messenger/delivery man/dealer around, you end up getting nicknames like that, and almost everyone in the Mob just called me Pony, or The Express. Only the Boss used my full title, and very rarely, my full name. Michael McCloud, the Third. Twenty-seven years old, twenty eight today. Seems like times passed too damn fast for my tastes. Too much shit to deal with.

My bike revs hard as I start it up, flipping my helmet onto my head and latching it in a smooth motion, the horses ready to fly as I lay into the handle and tear out of the parking lot like a bat outta hell, glad to be on the road once again as I tap my helmet, activating the bluetooth built into it. Gotta love technology these days, and hands-free operation beats the hell out of trying to hold onto a cellphone and ride at the same time.

*BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BE-Click* “This better be good news Pony.” The low growl of my Enforcer drifts into my ear. My best friend since before all this shit started, Brick. Stupid name, sure, but hey, never said he was named for anything besides how friggin' big the guy is. Built like a brick shithouse.

“Brick, do I ever give you bad news?” I drawl, sarcasm practically drooling from my mouth as I  weave around a sixteen wheeler and rev my bike harder. “I got the package, let the boss know that it's good to go and I have it covered. I'll deliver it personally, as usual, at the Meetup. One week.”

“Yeah yeah. Fine, good work Pony-boy, no one knows what you got or who you got it from, blah-blah. I'll let the Boss know.” Ahhh that's Brick for ya, blunt as his namesake. Pity, he's a great guy to party around, but here I am, in Seattle, while he's hanging with the Boss in NYC. “Oh, and Michael... Happy Birthday. Twenty Eight years is a long ass time. Glad to see you've made it this far.”

I chuckle and shake my head lightly. “Thanks Brick. It'll be thirty before you know it and then you'll be making fun of me instead of congratulating me.” I say before hanging up, letting out a breath as the wind whips against my body comfortingly. Personally, I think this is what flying, really flying, feels like. The roar of the wind against your body, the pressure of the speed your traveling at pressing at every inch as you move so fast, faster then everything around you.

Wish I could fly, heh. That'd be something to see, the amazing flying Irish Mobster. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue like the Flying Nun, but meh, we'll roll with it for now.

I quickly pull out of the main part of the city and start into the suburbs towards my apartment building (owned and maintained by the Mob, not that 60% of the people living there know that) when my bluetooth starts ringin', informing me I got a call from my little brother. Now -that- puts a smile on my face as I tap the side of my helmet to answer the call.

“You've reached the Pony Express.” I chuckle, a grin on my face as I wait for my brother to speak up.

“Big Brother! Finished that business deal finally? Another high-class art piece for that Museum in Boston, right?” The eager voice of my little brother echos through my earpiece, as high and as boyish as ever, even though he's turning twenty five. My brother, the man child. I shake my head, chuckling harder, almost laughter, as I reply.

“Yeah, finished it up. Sorry, I have to bring work home to the party, but hey, I'm bringing some other things too. Like your presents.” I hum, revving my engine a bit harder, that much more excited to get home.

“YES! Can't wait! See you soon BBBFF!” My brother crows through my earpiece, making me shake my head again. Several years off the air and he -still- loves that show. He tried to get me into it, and it's alright. I mean, Lauren Faust is spectacular, and her vision was pretty awesome, but it wasn't really my thing, especially with having to work all the time in order to provide for me and my little brother.

“Yeah yeah, see you soon Danny-boy.” I say, hanging up as my mind turns to the last fifteen years of my life. The death of my parents, after the adoption of my little brother, running from the law to avoid the foster houses, finding my Uncle, who my parents never wanted me to meet, to keep me away from the mob... I shake my head, clearing the dark thoughts of all the things I've done to keep my brother and myself safe.

A few more minutes of peaceful, mindless riding and I'm rolling into my parking spot, kicking out the stand and shutting down my bike, a low breath drifting from my lips as I open the seat to pull out a few carefully wrapped presents, a brown bag with a particular bottle of booze in it, and check that my messenger bag still has everything in it. As usual, no problems. This bag has never, ever let me down.

I walk up the stairs, whistling as I attempt to cheer myself and reassert the mask of the delivery boy/ business man that my little brother thinks I am. As my adopted brother, he's got the protection from the Mob, but no connections. He doesn't know, and as far as I am concerned, he will never know. He doesn't need to know, and knowing would only put him in danger.

I smile as I flick my key out, thinking about my brother. Danny was always the special one. Knew it from the moment I met him when I was six, when my parents adopted him. I was a little annoyed at first. All the attention that my parents had given me before was now going to him, or was split between the two of us. I had actually gotten into a row about it with my parents when I turned nine, and that's when my Dad pulled me aside and gave me a talk I'd never forget.

I love my Dad. He was a great man, the greatest man. The Marine, the fisherman, the story crafter, a horrible singer, teller of even worse jokes, and the strongest man in the world in my eyes. He sat me down and explained to me where he got the strength to do all those things. His love for my Momma. Love for Me. Love for my new little brother. Love for our family. All of our family.

Something changed that day. I don't know what it was, but I vowed that I would be there for my family. Be there for my little brother, from that day onwards. Twenty years is a long time to keep on a promise, but I haven't stopped yet.

That puts a solid smile on my face as I open the door, thinking of family, the good times, the bad times, and more importantly, that my family is safe, because of me. “Hey Danny-boy! Where you at little brother?” I yell out, looking around to avoid a sure-fire tackleglomp, mostly to avoid damaging my packages.

“Michael!” His excited tone reaches me as he whips around the corners, sliding across the wood floor of our apartment on his socks. Heh, ever the child, that's my little brother. Danny McCloud, twenty five as of today, chocolate brown hair, green eyes, pale white skin from sitting inside all the damn time, and gameing fanatic. He's always been a short, weedy one, five-three and thin as a bean pole. I grin at him as he comes charging hard and quickly put my bags aside as he tackles me with all one-hundred n' ten some pounds of him. Which is to say, he doesn't budge me an inch and instead glomps me in a big hug.

I laugh, hugging him back. “Happy birthday Danny, you got a delivery from the Pony Express.”  I grin, rubbing his head in a way that gets him to let go and pout at me. He hates it when I do that, but it's easy enough to get him to move as I grab the bags and make my way towards the kitchen. My little six room apartment really isn't that little. It's pretty big honestly, with a full kitchen and dining room, a large entertainment/living room that I call 'The Cave', my bedroom, the 'guest' bedroom, which is Danny's room, and a large bathroom/shower. Over all, a really nice place.

I drop the bags on the counter and check my watch. Thirteen-fifteen. Not bad for a seven hour meeting, and then a ten minute ride home. Good to be back. I smile as I hear Danny following me. “So, what did you get me, what did you get me, huh?” He asks, bouncing a bit, making me shake my head and sigh, a common action around my house considering my little brother is twenty five today and and acts like he's twelve. “Danny, come on bro, we haven't even started the party yet. Anyone else coming?”

“Nah, just us today. The guys from the card shop couldn't come because we had a tournament to run today, but the boss gave me the day off.” Danny says, shrugging as I set my messenger bag on the table.

“Huh, shame, those guys can be fun to have around, at least when you're not trying to get me into the yugi-ma-whatchits. But, if we're gonna get started, then your first present is to get to see... this.” I slide the jewelry box out and open it up so that Danny can look at it and he gasps.

“The Elements of Harmony!” He says, looking up and close at the beautiful pieces of jewelry. “This is what you were dealing over?”

I blink and look at the five necklaces and the tiara... crown... whatever the hell it is, once more. “... Huh. They do look like the elements, don't they?” I murmur. Didn't notice that while I was dealing. The golden necklaces and tiara all had the proper jewels and coloring. They were perfect. Literally perfect. Of course I knew that, that's why we were dealing so much for them.

“That's so cool! And they're a museum piece right?” Danny asks, marveling over them, reaching out to pick up one, though I smack his hand away. “No touch. And yes, yes they are. I'm not sure for who, or why they are though. They're very rare art pieces that are being donated.”

Lies. All lies. But lies that my little brother can believe. Lies that are important for him to believe, to keep him out of trouble, keep him away from the Mob. “The Boss figured they'd look really nice as a period piece, or just on display as a solo art piece. It's some of the finest jewelry we've seen, and yet it's all hand worked, no machinery was used on it. Makes it worth a small fortune, and yet it's just being given away.” I explain. “A labor of love that my boss just needed to have to display.”

Danny and I looked at the jewelry for a few minutes, Danny just  kind of looking blankly at them for a moment, like he was entranced. I frown, and snap my fingers in front of his face to snap him back into focus. He shakes his head like a dog and blinks a few times before looking back at the finely crafted art in front of him.

“Wow, that's soooo cool!” Danny grins as I close the box and put them back into my messenger bag, tossing my suit jacket and pants aside. “Hey, are you gonna set up the side car today? You promised you'd give me a ride!”

I hum. Danny had bought me a really awesome side-car attachment for my motorcycle, painted with a herd of running mustangs on the side of it, to go with the pony theme. I hadn't been planning on setting it up for a while, but I did promise that I'd take him for a ride in it when I did. “I'll work on it later Danny boy. So, cake, or presents first?”

-//-

-May 1st, 2020. 2254 Hrs-
The two person party went on without a hitch. Watched a few movies (including 'Equestria Girls'. Ugh. I still don't get his fascination with that show) and re-watched a few episodes of that show on his insistence. He loved his presents, a Princess Luna plushie that I had found in the discount bin at Walmart, (not that he'll EVER know that), and the newest Call of Duty game. Not the fanciest gifts ever, but he was happy, and wouldn't go anywhere without his plushie, so I figures it goes well.

Then again, Luna is his favorite pony. He's got enough pictures of her on his computer, so I figure he's more then happy to have her to cuddle with. Still a kid, needing a plushie to hug to sleep, but hey, no one else needs to know that.

I let out a deep breath as I recline on my couch in the lounge, smiling to myself. It was a good day, I had a nice, smooth glass of liquor as a birthday present to myself, we got the sidecar for my motorcycle set up, my family was safe, my bank account had a nice big addition to it for today's job, with the other half coming upon delivery... Yeah. Today was a good day. A easy chuckle slips from me as I watch the TV. An old episode of Star Trek, the Next Generation is playing, and Captain Picard is dealing with that old time lord loon that seems to find humans a fascinating play toy. I laugh loudly as Picard practically leaps out of bed when the time lord is laying there with him.

“Hah! I forgot how good this show was.” I snigger, rubbing my chin as I take another sip of my alcohol when a word slips from the TV that makes me spit it back out in shock.

“Damn it Q!”

Woah, wait, what? I refocus on the TV, putting my drink down and actually watching and listening. The time lord guy talks back to Picard, and the voice sounds very, very familiar, which spikes a little confusion in my mind.

Picard calls him Q again, and Q keeps talking, and the more he does, the more he sounds like Mr. Q, that damned auctioneer. The more he talks, the more similar the two are... What the fuck am I thinking?

I stand up, shaking my head as I turn off the TV and finish my glass of booze with a gulp. Nope, that's my last glass tonight, I'm connecting fictional characters with reality. I've officially had too much to drink.

Heh. At least my little brother had a good birthday. I guess I did too. I check my watch. Twenty-three hundred. Yeah, it's time to sleep. I chuckle as it hit's twenty-three-oh-one. My date and time of birth. I smile warmly, humming the birthday song to myself under my breath as I go to the bed room and slide under the covers.

Yeah, it's gonna be a good night.

-End Chapter 1-
> Starting The Game
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Two: Starting The Game

-May 2nd, 2020. Early AM-
I yawn as I slowly push myself out of my bed, rubbing the back of my head softly, wearily blinking as my hand slowly uncurls itself from the grip of my Thompson Submachine gun. Good ol' Tommy. Almost a hundred years old, and still works just as good as she did when she was made, my tomgirl. I smile and softly pat the pillow that it's hidden under, and after a moment, lift the pillow up to check the safety, check the magazine (forty round stick mag. I got a few drum mags, but they don't fit under the pillow), put her back down and away, and roll out of bed, yawning again as I get ready to start breakfast.

I stumble a bit as I get to the hallway. Damn, that was some quality liquor. Malt. As strong as 151 and as smooth as cream soda. The good stuff. I hum warmly, a little light headed but still ok as I get myself up and on the move, slowly walking forwards, walking down the hall past my little brothers room. He's sleeping peacefully... no, wait.

I freeze, looking at his door, and after a moment, press my ear to the door. Something doesn't feel right. A few moments pass, and I hear a quiet whimper. Shit, another nightmare. I curse lowly under my breath, mentally glaring at whomever runs the universe. He's been having on and off night terrors since the show ended, though he had always had some really rough nightmares even before then. That last episode... hell, I wasn't even a fan of the show and it spooked me. It was just off. I don't know what the hell had gone into the process of making it, it was just so damn dark, and more then slightly demented... like one of the writers had written it on LSD and Shrooms. Hallucinations and Paranoia. I slowly open the door, the whimper a bit louder now as I step inside.

Danny is curled up tightly under the covers, squeezing his new Luna plushie close. He's got tears on his face, fresh and still falling, and is shaking like he's in the middle of a blizzard. I curse, wishing that Mom was here. She'd be able to handle his nightmares. She was always good at calming us down, but Mom isn't here, so it's on my shoulders. I softly place a hand on his shoulder, and shake it, whispering urgently. “Danny. Danny. Danny! Come on Danny, wake up buddy, it's just a nightmare. It's another dream, wake up Danny!”

He wakes up with a gasp and a jolt, flinching away from my touch, and my heart breaks a bit as he looks at me in terror, exactly how I'd imagine he'd look at me if I ever told him what I really did for a living, who I really worked for. His eyes slowly start to focus and he bites back his whimpers and tears, wiping his face. “M-michael...”

A few moments pass before my hand drifts to his head, softly rubbing in in what I hope is in a soothing way. “Hey little brother. The dream come back? Come on, take a deep breath. It's just a dream. You're fine, you're safe, that stupid mythological creature ain't gonna come knocking round our door, and if he does, you know that your big brother's gonna break him.” I say, grinning at him warmly, comfortingly... or at least, I think I am. He shivers for a few moments more and sits up, shaking his head softly as he clutches at that Luna plushie. I take a moment to look around his room. His computer is blacked out. He must have turned it off. He always did prefer the dark to sleep in, and I can barely make out the posters and figurines from all kinds of anime and of course My Little Pony that adorn his walls and book shelves.

“It...” His voice makes my head rotate back to him, my focus fully on my quivering little brother, who lets out a soft breath before continuing, “It just felt too real Michael... it always does.” He mutters. “It felt... different this time though. More real... HE came... was laughing at me, because I was standing up against him, trying to keep him from... from Luna...”

The words pour out of his mouth as he starts to blabber about the dream, talking out the details. It's actually pretty freaky how detailed these lucid nightmares of his are. He's a pony in the dream, never can tell who according to him, and this pony ends up trying to fight Discord, only to watch in terror as the draconequus did something to Luna that made her vanish in a bright flash of white, and then to do the same to him.

I shake my head and softly rub his head again, trying to be as comforting as possible. I'm not quite made for this sort of thing. I've always bottled my own emotions, hid them and then let them out later. It's easier to keep focus that way, to get through the shit in life, with fine control and keeping a stiff upper lip so that the world doesn't try to fuck with you too much. “Hey, hey, calm down Danny boy. It's just a nightmare.”

“But it felt so damn REAL Michael! It always does!” Danny whispers, shaking his head again. I let out a hard sigh and lean back a bit, letting my hand leave his head.

“I know Danny. But it's a nightmare. It's your mind trying to terrify you or some shit like that. We know it sucks, but you need to get it together man. I know it's hard, but you need to let it go. Can you do that for me? Just for now. If you want to talk it out later, I hear ya, but at the moment I need you to get outta bed. I'm gonna start breakfast, and we need to eat if we're gonna make it to the zoo.” I say, Danny perking up a bit at the mentioning of the Seattle Zoo and Aquarium.

“We're going to the zoo?” He says, a bit of a smile coming to his face, seeming to snap outta his funk for the moment.

“Yeah, we're going to the zoo. Another adventure to be found, I'm sure.” I say, shaking my head. I hate the damn place, but he thinks it's awesome, and I did promise I'd take him somewhere. Besides, he always feels better after going to the zoo. Dunno what that's all about, but it seemed to do a decent job of chilling him out after a nightmare, so I guess it makes a pretty good deal all around.

I grin at him and offer my fist for a fistbump, which he gladly returns, a bit of a smile coming to his face before I turn and walk out the door to his room, heading back towards my kitchen to start up breakfast as I hear him walk out of his room and into the bathroom and start the shower.

That's one crisis solved. I smirk, feeling rather pleased with myself as I start making omelets.

---/|\---

Breakfast went pretty smoothly, after Danny came out of the shower, still clinging to that Luna plushie. I guess it's comforting to him, and I'm glad he's enjoying his present, I just hope he leaves it at home when we go out. No need for him to make a fool of himself or end up losing it. I'm pretty sure there aren't many of those plushies left if they aren't hand made by fans of the show. I mean, the shows been gone for five years now. I'd imagine it's difficult to find a fan who's still dead on for the show, who can make plushies, who's willing to make one for you.

We ate breakfast pretty slowly as I checked my watch again, eyes glancing over the digital display. Zero eight twenty. Perfect. I grin as I finish my food and put the dishes in the dishwasher and stand up, stretching. “Alright little brother. One more present for ya, and then we can get rolling.”

Danny hums, tilting his head as he looks at me. “Why didn't you give me it yesterday?”

“Well, it's a gift that you kinda need, and it is a gift, it's just not a really fancy one, and I'd figured that you'd like the plushie more.” I say as I walk over to the door, grabbing the last bag that I'd left there and bringing it over, pulling a old-fashioned motorcycle rider's helmet from the back and lightly tossing it to him. “Need a helmet if you're gonna ride.”

Danny breaks out in a massive grin, pulling the helmet on and strapping it as I pull my leather jacket on, stretching and checking to make sure that the internal hidden holster and my Browning high-powered is still there. Yep. Everything is as it should be. I snatch up my keys from the table by the door  and start out, Danny close behind, though he pauses for a moment to give his plushie another hug before leaving it on the table. I close and lock the apartment door after he leaves, and we make our way down to my bike, with it's new side car.

I don't like side cars that much. Don't let me ride as fast, nor as nimbly as I'd like, plus they always remind me of Mom and Dad. But Danny wants to ride, so a side car it is. He clambers into the car as I mount my steel stallion, grinning as I turn the engine on and listen to the horses rumble.

Side car or no side car, I love riding my bike, so we hit the road hard and smooth, the Pony Express on patrol.

The ride to the zoo was unremarkable, just a standard ride for me, minus getting used to the side car, but Danny seemed to be enjoying himself, whooping when I revved and cranked the speed up to quite a bit over the legal limit (slowing down before the cops saw us) and got us to the zoo in record time. I smirk at him as we ride, and as we pull into the zoo parking lot, chuckle lightly. “A bit better then going in that old beat up Dodge Durango, yeah?” I say, taunting his current car and lightly punching his shoulder as I turn the bike off.

“Hell yeah! That was great!” Danny whoops, pulling a big grin up onto my face as I dismount and take my helmet off, storing it in my bike. I hold my hand out for his helmet, which he doffs and offers to me. However, I end up stopping short of taking the helmet as I gawk at his hair for a moment before chuckling.

“Heh, did I do something that spooked you Danny-boy? You got some streaks in your hair.” I laugh, taking his helmet as I grin at him. He blinks, and tilts his head at me as I put his helmet away and check my messenger bag.

“Streaks? What are you talking about?” Danny blinks, looking at me in an adorably confused way that makes me chuckle and shake my head.

“Your hair has a lighter stripe going through it, like you were shocked into a lighter color dude. Hah, it's probably just a trick of the sun.” I grin, shaking my head at him. “Well, whatever, don't worry about it. Come on, the whole day is ours, lets light this firecracker.”

He smiles and nods, following me as we head into the Zoo and start to explore. A few minutes in from the gate, a big sign is posted up, boasting about their newest attraction. “Hello, what is this?” I murmur, looking the sign over. “Saudi Arabian horses? Neat. Want to check that out Danny?”

“What's the difference between those horses and normal ones?” Danny says, shrugging. “I mean, they're all horses right?”

I shrug. “I dunno. Lets go find out.”

With that thought, we start walking, Danny starting to chatter about the various animals and their traits, making me smirk. It was gonna be a long day at the zoo, but damn if it wasn't worth it to get his mind off of that nightmare.

----\||/----
-May 2nd, V/IV-
Blugh. Two hours of walking around the zoo and we finally came to the only thing that really caught my attention. The Saudi Arabian horses. They had them in a massive enclosure, in which a large group of horses were trotting around, eating, nickering at one another, and generally being, well horses. I have to admit, they were rather spectacular looking horses, more like prancing nobility then the work horses you see around when going cross country or the running mustangs that adorned the side of my new sidecar, tall and rather majestic.

Danny seemed to be in light awe, standing up on his tip-toes to get a better view of the horses as I snapped a picture or two of the horses in motion. Hmmm, gives me a few ideas for a project to work on once I 'retire' from the Mob. I've got plenty of money, maybe a farm or a dude ranch or something. Whatever a dude ranch is. I'm pretty sure it's a ranch where you have lots of horses. Maybe breed 'em for the track or something?

Well, whatever, Danny has been enjoying himself all day, talking my ear off about animals, horses, the show, some art piece he was working on, a image he saw online, a story that he was working on... just talking talking talking, non stop. I love my little brother, but sheesh, sometimes he can really blather. I glance over at him, and stop for a moment, before looking between him and one of the horses he's looking at.

His hair looks... longer, and that lighter brown stripe is much more visible now. Kinda like one of the horses down there. A little unusual to be sure, and I find myself staring at his hair, a little confused. His hair has always been a dark, chocolate-ish brown. The lighter stripe was really weird to look at. He finally stops talking and looks to me and notices my stare, and nervously runs a hand through his hair.

“What? Something on my head bro?” He asks, trying to find what's making me stare. I shake my head after a moment and chuckle. “Nah, nah, just the sun playing tricks on my eyes little brother. Nothing to worry about. Come on, lets get something to eat and then kick the pavement, I think we've seen just about everything.”

He nods, so we make our way over to one of the overpriced restaurants, ordering some hot dogs and two sodas. We sit down to eat, when Danny starts talking. “Thanks for this BBBFF, it's really cool of you to hang out with your little brother.” Danny grins. I shake my head. “It's no problems. I know I got a lot of work to do, but come on, I can take a week vacation to hang out with my brother. Besides, after this job, we're gonna be set for a while.”

It's true, the money from this art run was gonna be tight. From what the Boss told me, he was gonna throw in a bonus for me, as a 'thank you' for the years of hard work. Maybe a promotion. I'd been running the delivery routes for the Mob for several years now, doing everything from gun running to moving precious pieces of artwork like this, and I've got a perfect delivery record. Dollars to Doughnuts that I've impressed the Boss somehow and now I'm getting my pay for it.

I bite into the hotdog, not really paying attention to it when I notice something odd. A guy in a miscolored suit. Not really that big of a deal, but it was really weird. Don't see a lot of burly dudes walking around a zoo wearing a half-black, half-white suit. Especially when the white is on one half of the suit and the black is on the other, split right down the middle.

I try to put it out of my mind as I continue to eat, but something feels a little off about this guy. He's just looking around, and his suit really makes him stand out, the shades don't help. A few minutes pass and he starts moving away, pulling out a cellphone. I raise an eyebrow, and finish off my hotdog.

Dunno what his problem was, but whatever, he's not my business and isn't looking into mine, so I'll leave it be. No sense sticking your head into a hole in the wall just to have it cut off. “Alright little brother, ready to go?”

I glance over to Danny, who's only eaten a bit of his hotdog and has a slight frown on his face. He's eaten all the fries, but I guess the 'mostly pork' hotdog didn't agree with him. “Yeah, I'm good to go big bro. What time is it?”

I glance at my watch, reading the time and noticing the date idly in the back of my mind. May second, 2020. “Almost two o clock.” I say, feeling surprised. We spent a lot more time here then I thought we were going to. I look around at the crowd of people and families going about their day, and stand up, stretching yet again. A pretty common thing for me, it pays to stay limber.

I motion for Danny to follow and we make our way out of the zoo, walking out the front gate towards the parking lot. I have this weird, niggling feeling in the back of my head that something is wrong, but no matter how many times I scan around, I can't place it. I softly pat my jacket to make sure my browning is still there, which it is, and the feeling drifts to the back of my head, comforted by the knowledge that I can handle trouble if there is any.

As we walk over to my bike, I check my bag. Yep, everything's accounted for. The 'museum' pieces are still there, as well as my extra ammunition. I re-sling it on my shoulder and pull my helmet and his out of my bike, passing Danny's helmet over and pulling my own onto my head. At that point, my bluetooth starts ringing, making me let out a low, annoyed groan. I just wanted to enjoy a day with my little brother, is that too much to ask?

I mount my bike and start the engine as Danny climbs in, and tap the side of my helmet. “You've reached the Pony Express.”

“Ah, Mr. McCloud, good. I knew I had the right number.” I blink as Q's voice echos over the speakers, that uncomfortable feeling from last night while I was watching Star Trek returning. I gesture to Danny to be quiet because I have a phone call as I speak up. “Mr. Q. How did you get my number? Or I suppose a better question would be why, and why you called me? I know that I'm the primary dealer with anything of your involvement, but all negotiation is to be done in person, and meetings set up-”

“-Through your enforcer, yes yes, I know procedure, but you see, Mr. McCloud... I have a request of you.” Q cut me off and his voice made me freeze up for a moment. That voice is cold, malicious, and calculating, and immediately, that feeling of wrongness from before leaps up and grips me around my neck, making me shiver even as I push my bike back and start pulling out of the parking lot, head on a swivel. This asshole is really putting me on tilt...

“A request. Look, Mr. Q, all requests go through the Enforcers and then through the boss. I'm just the delivery man. That's why they call me the Pony Express. I negotiate prices and deliver final products. All deals are final unless the boss says otherwise. I don't do requests.” I growl, not pleased that my day was being interrupted rather rudely by this arrogant art dealer.

“Oh, but this is a request that I must simply -insist- that you oblige me with Mr. McCloud... you see, all I request is that you die in a fireball, and take those troublesome Elements with you! Au Revoir, my Pawn!” Q's voice is dark, demanding, and full of maniacal glee as he suddenly disconnects.

I immediately gun my bike, roaring out and away as fast as humanly possible. That set me way too far on edge, and I take those kinds of threats seriously. Danny yelps as he's pushed back into his seat, scrambling a bit to adjust to the sudden pressure before he turns and looks at me in confusion. I ignore him as I look around wildly, scanning for some kind of threat when I see it. A black SUV, Escalade from the looks of it, rolling after me, riding fast and looking to follow. It's going too fast and those windows are tinted out. Cliche maybe, but when you need a car to ditch after whacking a guy...

“Hey Danny, want to see some real riding?” I yell out so Danny can hear me. He looks confused but nods his head. “Sure, something up BBBFF?” He yells back, tilting his head.

“Nah, everything's fine, just hang on!” I lie smoothly as I rev the engine and then race off, pushing my bike for all the horsepower I can get as I start weaving tight runs through the slower Seattle Traffic, glancing back via my mirrors to try to see the Escalade.

Damn, for a SUV, it's hauling. As fast as I'm going, about seventy, definitely over city limits, the SUV is doing about seventy five and it's gaining, even in this traffic. I pull the bike and side car into a tight, looping left turn around a confused looking Taxi Driver, and the SUV follows. I curse as I look ahead. No cars in front of me, and glance back, cursing harder. There isn't a single car behind me, and we're on a straightaway that leads out onto the freeway- no turns for me to escape with now.

One of the SUV windows starts to roll down, and my eyes widen as I watch a man lean out the window, pulling some kinda AR-15 out with him, which he charges menacingly with one hand before bringing it around to aim at me and Danny.

I swear and veer my bike to the side, the telltale retort of a rifle being fired echoing as I see bits of the pavement to the side of me get ripped up before a bullet whips past my head and takes out one of my mirrors. I pull away from the side the guy's leaning out from, more in front of the SUV, swearing long and hard as I start to reach in my jacket, only to look at Danny and notice him looking at me wide eyed and scared.

I bite my lower lip. If I pull my pistol, Danny'll know that somethings up. But he already knows somethings up, because we're being SHOT AT. I told myself I wouldn't get him involved in this kind of thing, and I don't know what the hell kind of game Q was playing, but I needed to protect my little brother.

I pull my Browning from it's holster smoothly to keep it from catching on the holster as I draw, then quickly rack the slide and unsafe it, moving my hand back to and holding my throttle down as I aim back for a few moments. A quick double-glance to make sure I'm aiming generally where I need to, I growl and pull the trigger with a satisfying BLAM, .45 caliber death being slung faster then the speed of sound back at the SUV. It hits the windshield, making it shatter, and making the driver swerve and his AR-15 buddy move back inside and duck. I whirl back to look at the road as I move from rolling about seventy to ninety, wind ripping at me as I duck lower to the bike, behind my windshield.

“Michael!? What the hell is going on?” Danny yells, looking panicked as he grips the side car, ducking low.

“I don't know Danny, hang with me little brother, we're gonna get out of this, I promise!” I yell back, glancing to see if the AR-15 carrying asshole decided to hang out the window agai... well shit.

The guy is leaning out the window again, but this time he's got a fucking rocket launcher?! What the hell is going on? I scream bloody murder as I whip the bike and side car into a sliding U-turn as the guy fires the rocket. I watch as it screams by my head, inches from contacting my face, and carries on past as I roar forwards, U-turn complete as I zip by the SUV, firing my Browning at them the whole way past. The guy with the launcher jerks a few times and slumps, pretty much falling out of the SUV as we drive onwards, when a loud roar lets out behind us. I glance into my other mirror, only to grimace in horror as a good chunk of the road and sidewalk, as well as a lamppost and several windows are blown away by the rocket hitting the road.

“This is fucking insane. This is FUCKING INSANE!” I scream out, my heart hammering as I look back for the SUV, which swerved away down a side alley, and tap my helmet, activating my Bluetooth.

“CALL BRICK!” I yell, heart pounding as I look around for more trouble, more vehicles. It's like the world is deserted, there's nothing else around but me and Danny.

*Briiiing. Briiiiing. Briiiii-click* “This is Brick. What the fuck are you doing calling me right now Pony? You know this is Brick's personal time.” I barely resist the urge to facepalm as Brick picks up. He has this 'personal' time each day that he takes to do something really immature, like read a child’s story, or watch a cartoon, or something. I usually don't even think about it. But it's a big deal at the moment apparently.

“Brick! As much as I'd love to say I'm calling you simply to ask what you're watching today, WE'VE GOT BIGGER PROBLEMS!” I yell out, swearing as I pull another hasty U-turn as two more SUV's come into sight, guns and guys hanging out the windows. I swear as gunfire lances by and rips up the road and I crank the throttle harder, leaping from the seventy I was hovering at into the hundreds. A panicked cry comes from Danny as gunfire echos around me.

“What the fuck? Pony, what the hell is going on that you're got gunfire going off?” Brick says, sounding confused. Oh Brick, stop being stupid please. We got bigger shit to deal with right now.

“I'm being chased through downtown by motherfuckers in Black SUV that were sent by Q, who are shooting at me and my little brother for some goddamn reason, and they've got FIREPOWER THAT'D MAKE THE ARMY BLUSH IN EMBARRASMENT!” Ok, maybe it was a over exaggeration, but what can I say, I panicked.

“Holy shit, that explosion a few minutes ago was you?! I thought that report was exaggerated.” Brick says.

“YES, it was me, dodging a mother fucking RPG round. GET THE BOYS ROUNDED UP! I need to get back to my apartment and grab my gear so me and Danny can book it!” I yell into the bluetooth.

“Dude, I can't, I'm in NYC, remember? With the boss.” Brick says, sounding very worried.

“THEN CALL THEM. Something, anything! I didn't join the mother fucking Mob to get screwed over at times like this!” I say, panic creeping into my voice as I turn, firing the last few rounds in my Browning at one of the SUVs. It swerves away wildly and crashes into a building, so I'm guessing I hit someone or something important.

“OH! Right! Yeah, I'll get on it! Hang tight Pony, the Calvary is on the way.” Brick hung up and I prayed he realized how serious this was as I reached into my messenger bag to pick out another mag.

“B-Big Brother! What the hell is going on?” Shit... I forgot about Danny! I look over and my heart breaks. It's the nightmare look. It's that damned look that I always feared I'd end up seeing directed at me. He's scared. Terrified. Of me.

“Danny... Danny, it's gonna be ok. I promise.” I yell back. “Trust me, please little brother, I'm not gonna hurt you. They're not gonna hurt us.” I wince as my other mirror is blown away by a round of .556 that skimmed my ear. “I WON'T let them hurt us!”

“You... I.... you owe me an explanation b-big brother... the mob?” Danny says. I can barely make it out, but I can read his lips just fine, and I shudder.

“I promise... to explain, little brother.”

My heart sinks. I promised. I never break my promises.

“Then you really should wake up.”

What?

The question never leaves my lips as my head turns almost on it's own to gaze wide eyed into the looming stare of two yellow and red eyes that leer in a hungry fashion as a rocket skims towards my face...

-//-

-May 2nd, 2020. 1500 Hrs-
I cry out in surprise as I jolt upwards, clutching at my racing heart as I look around wildly. I'm suddenly tackled in my side with a crushing hug, and I look over at my little brother. “Wh-”

“Michael! You're ok!” Danny cries out as he hugs me tightly. “You were having a really bad nightmare big brother, worse then mine!”

I blink, rubbing my forehead softly as I look around. I wasn't in my bed, I was on the couch... guess I fell asleep watching Star Trek. That last glass of booze must have done me in. I shake my head. What a horrible dream...

“... Michael? What... were you talking about?” Danny asks quietly, looking up at me with soulful eyes. I wince.

I wanted to deny everything he might have heard out of hand, but I still don't know what was going on, so I look at Danny in confusion. “What are you talking about little brother?”

Danny pouts at me. “You never were a good liar Big Brother... how long have you been... been... a mobster?” Danny says, sitting back a bit.

I sigh softly. Yep. I was talking in my sleep. And apparently Danny was sitting for a while to listen. I glance at my watch. Fifteen oh five. Three o clock in the afternoon? Damn, I was really out of it. “I said a lot in my sleep, didn't I?” I say.

“How long?!”

I hang my head a bit and look at my little brother, blinking and frowning a bit as I noticed something... off. “Uh, Danny, a question before you grill me- What's with your hair dude? It's... longer.” I say, shivering at the vague sense of Deja Vu from the nightmare as I look at his much longer hair.

“I don't know, don't ask about the stripe in it either, you mentioned it while you were sleeping too. Now tell me!” Danny says, prodding me in the chest with a finger, making me wince and sigh again.

“... Since I started being a delivery man Danny. Uncle Jameson was a enforcer years ago, and his condition for his help was for me to join the Mob till I turned thirty.” I said flatly, sitting back.

“Thirty... you've been in the mob for almost fifteen years?” Danny says, sitting back, looking at me in shock. “What the fuck?! Why didn't you tell me? No, wait, how didn't I noticed? Have you actually killed anyone? Is it anything like the movies? Why BBBFF?” Danny stutters out, rapid-firing a few questions as he leans away from me slightly, which makes me growl before I finally bark out at him.

“To protect you!” I snap, probably with a big more force then I should have, as Danny flinched back from my outburst. “Because I needed to keep you safe, because I promised Mom and Dad, because I wasn't going to that damned foster house, and I sure as hell wasn't leaving you there! I swore on their death bed that I'd protect and provide for you little brother. The Mob was just... an easy answer. Besides, delivering messages and packages isn't dangerous... mostly.”

Danny frowns at me and softly picks up Luna from my chest. I blink, and after a moment, pull him and the plushie into my arms for a hug. He had given me his plushie to try to comfort me in my nightmare. I vaguely remember something about Princess Luna being able to protect dreamers from nightmares. Pity she wasn't here, I'd have appreciated the help.

Danny sighs. “Not exactly the greatest birthday present here big brother...”

I shake my head. “No, not exactly the greatest birthday present, for either of us.” I say with a light chuckle, hugging Danny. “I'm sorry for not telling you, but I'm also not sorry at all for not telling you, because honestly, I'd rather you never found out.”

The pair of us let out a sigh and Danny fixes me with a glare. “You owe me something for this.” He says, crossing his arms. I groan, shaking my head.

“Whatever you want little brother.”

“ANYTHING?”

I bite my lower lip. “... Yeah, anything. I mean, I've got enough money and time.”

“... Pony marathon.” Danny says, crossing his arms.

I fix him with a blank stare. “... A pony marathon.”

“Yep! Starting right now, you're watching the rest of the episodes with me. Season three onwards.” Danny says, a smirk on his face. “You never watched the rest of them.”

I groan, rubbing my forehead. “Alright... alright... if we must.”

Not the worst thing that could happen, but honestly, not how I wanted to spend today... Oh well, time to man up and face the music.

“Alright Danny, lets watch... ponies.”

Chapter End
> Opening Moves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Three: Opening Moves

-May 3rd, 2020. 0229 Hrs-
I groan and stretch, enjoying the cricks being popped out of my back as I stretch. Danny is happily curled up with his Luna plushie, watching the TV, where yet another episode of MLP:FiM is playing. Season... five, I believe. Twenty four episodes down... and so many more to go with him before he would be satisfied. The episode is actually pretty damn funny, reminds me of a horrible romantic comedy. Rainbow Dash going on a date that she doesn't realize is a date and the worst possible date EVER? I have to admit, the show's got it's moments, but this takes the cake. I find myself laughing and chuckling along with Danny as we watch.

“See, the best part is that Dash never realized that it was a date, even after words.” Danny giggles boyishly, kicking his feet a bit with a big smirk on his face. I haven't looked over at him in a while, focused on the TV as much as he was, and I hum in agreement, checking my watch before shaking my head.

“Damn... it's zero two thirty, really?” I mutter. We've been watching the show for close to twelve hours now, with no stop in sight. “Danny, I dunno about you, but I'm hungry. What's the plan here little brother?” I say, glancing over as the credits roll.

Danny hums softly before stretching and getting up from the couch in a rather unusual fashion. As he starts walking towards the fridge, I frown. “... Dude, why are you walking on your toes?”

He blinks and looks at me, and I notice that his hair looks even longer now then it did before, and it looks like he's got something hidden in his hair. “Huh?” He says, looking distracted. “What are you talking about?”

I sigh and point to his feet. “Dude, you're walking on your toes.” And he was, just arched up and walking on tip-toe, like a ballet dancer or a cat bugler. He blinks and looks down at his feet.

“Huh... I didn't notice.” He says, settling back down onto his heels and frowning at something before he settles back onto tip toe. “Doesn't feel right to be walking any other way right now.”

I shake my head. “Whatever bro. Grab me something from the fridge.” I say as I turn back to the TV, listening to him humming along with the music as the intro to the next episode starts playing. He comes back a few moments later, still walking on his toes, and tosses me an apple.

“Apples?” I says, chuckling. “Alright.”

Danny grins at me and sticks out his tongue playfully. “It's natures candy big brother. Come on, you know you love 'em.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” I say, shaking my head as I bite into my apple. Mmm, crisp and juicy Red Delicious, my favorite. Danny sits down and yelps, shifting around. I blink and look over at him. “You ok little brother?”

“Owww! I sat down on my tailbone!” Danny whimpers, standing up and rubbing his backside before frowning a bit. “Hm... hey, big brother, I need to see something. I'll be right back.”

I shake my head, wondering what he's up to as he walks off again, and I settle in to watch the show. I wasn't really paying attention to what this episode was about, but whatever it was, it wasn't quite as good as that last episode.

A few moments pass of me absently watching the flickering lights on the TV when Danny lets out a scream. I leap to my feet, snagging my jacket and ripping my Browning out of it's holster, swearing as it catches on it, slowing me down for a few moments longer before I finally pull it free and dash towards his room, slinging the slide as I go. “Danny! DANNY! Are you ok?!” I yell out as I skid into his room, looking around wildly for any danger, only to freeze up at the most bizarre thing I've seen all day.

Danny has slumped to the ground and is staring into the full length dressing mirror that I have in pretty much every room with a closet in the house, that is to say, his room and mine, because you should always know how to look presentable. His eyes are wide in shock and he's got something his his hands. A something that is connected to his tailbone.

It's a tail, a long, dark chocolate and brown chocolate colored tail, long and flowing, and as I stepped in, two things on the top of his head swiveled towards me. Ears. Two ears. Two big, triangular horse ears.

“D-danny?” I says, looking at him in shock. He whips around, panic in his eyes as he leaps up and runs to me, glomping tight. “B-Big brother! W-whats going on? I-I felt a little weird earlier while we were watching a-and then I couldn't hear and then could hear again, so I assumed I fell asleep and...”

I take a few deep breaths and softly rub Danny's head, my hand noting the distinctly different feeling of his hair and the... fur, on his ears. It's different, very different. But it feels nice at the very least. “Easy Danny-boy, easy.” I say soothingly. “Uh... wow, this is different.” I say, thinking back to my nightmare and the strange things that happened in it. Danny with the different hair. The comparison I made to the horses and him. Jesus, this is getting kinda creepy.

“Ok, lets calm down, think this over logically...” I start to say when Danny lets out a little pouty snort, which is honestly rather adorable when combined with the ear-flick that came along with it.

“I've got pony ears and a tail Michael, logic's got nothing to do with this!” Danny whines, and I sigh.

“Ok, ok, point made. Ummmmm...” I frown, rubbing the back of my head as I try to think of something to do. “Alright, alright, calling a doctor? No no, bad idea. As is calling my boss... or calling Brick.”

“Your old highschool buddy?” Danny says, tilting his head.

I nod. “Yeah, he's an enforcer. He knows more about Pony stuff then I do. I just... we got nothing here little brother! I mean, you have a MANE. A TAIL. And HORSE EARS.” I say, letting out another deep sigh, rubbing the back of my head harder before running both hands through my hair. “This is insane. Absolutely... crazy?”

I blink as Danny suddenly takes off, running for the TV, and I follow behind, wondering what Danny's up to as he starts cycling through the episodes, muttering to himself. “Danny, what are you doing?”

“The nightmare!” Danny says, continuing to cycle through episodes till it ends on one in particular. The show's finale. I sigh in distaste. The rest of the show was ok, but this episode always set me on edge. It was too short. Sure, the first half of the episode is pretty awesome, the big battle, but the last half is talking, Discord... well, killing Celestia for lack of a better term, and then that scene with Twilight being... vanished, I think the term would be.

The episode goes just as it always has, but Danny is frowning, moreso then he usually does after watching this episode. “Michael... something is missing.” Danny says, scratching behind one of his ears, which flicks up as he scratches  and flattens to the side of his his head to match the other one once his hand moves away. His ears had been laying back for most of the episode.

“What are you talking about? That's the whole episode, just as it's always been.” I reply, wondering what he's going on about now.

“No, no no, it's wrong. It's very, very wrong.” Danny says. “There's a whole scene missing! The nightmare. The pony that's trying to stop him from getting to Princess Luna. Blimey, the whole scene WITH Princess Luna is gone!”

I blinks. That's a new one from him. Blimey? Where the hell did that come from. I frown at Danny, but motion for him to go on. “Alright, tell me more about the nightmare then... I mean, what's happening during the nightmare that's such a big deal?”

Danny sighs, flicking his ears, and his tail flicking to the side. “Well... the pony that was with Luna... h-he was small. And... feeling very scared. He didn't know what he could do to protect Luna...” He says, looking very nervous now, and I feel a little niggling tick in the back of my mind saying that something was very, very wrong about how he was talking about the dream.

“He... he had to be brave. He had to be. Because... he needed to protect the best Princess. He had to protect Luna!” He says, stomping his foot lightly.

I softly grab his shoulder. “Danny, Danny, calm down. I... in this dream, are you the pony, or are you watching this unfold?”

“I... I'm the pony.” He whispers.

“Well, it's a start I guess, but I dunno if that causes more problems or solves them, but it sure as hell gives me a million and one questions.” I grumble, rubbing my forehead softly, “At this point, I'm tempted to just look online for anything that could help us.”

“Us?” Danny asks, looking at me confused.

“Last I checked, you're still my little brother.” I say firmly, smirking at him. “Partially Ponyfided Person you are, I'm still your big brother, and I still have a promise to keep. And you know that McClouds never make promises they don't keep.”

Danny brightens up at that and hugs me. I smile and hug him back, and softly pat his back. “Tell you what little brother. I'm gonna hit up the net, see if there's anything on this kinda thing happening. I doubt it, but I need to do something. You go ahead and keep watching ponies.”

“Alright!” Danny says brightly.

I sigh and make my way to the computer, checking my watch as I go. It's May 3rd, and four o clock in the morning. Great. I log on swiftly, tapping out several searches after I pull up firefox.

-//-

-May 3rd, 2020. 0701 Hrs-
Well, this has been a bust. Three more hours of searching and all I'm getting is bullshit and hearsay. A few messages around various forums have seemed genuine, but honestly, I'm not buying it. Too many chances for someone to find out too much involved as I log out with a annoyed grunt. Damn, things were just not going my family's way at the moment.

A few moments later, the silence I find myself in is broken by my cell phone ringing. The screaming guitar opening from 115 starts playing. I snatch up the phone from my pocket and glance at the screen, my scowl turning into a blank stare of confusion. Brick? What the hell is he doing calling this early?

I frown again, unlocking and picking up the call. “Brick, what the hell are you doing calling the Pony Express at...” I check my watch, “zero seven? It's barely even morning dude.”

“I'm back in Seattle. You need to meet me at the Windpower Cafe in fifteen.” Brick says, gruff and to the point.

I blink, feeling very confused as I hear him speak. “What the fuck are you talking about Brick?” The Windpower Cafe was an old fashioned cafe that the Mob ran here in Seattle. Not a horrible place, the little ol' lady who ran the joint was an old Nanny of the boss, and a lot of the smaller meetings around town took place there.

“Pony. Windpower, fifteen fucking minutes. I need your help. Now.”

Well, Brick's feeling pretty vocal today. I nod to myself. “Alright, alright, I'll be there.”

“Good.” With that, the line goes dead. I shake my head. That was definitely Brick, but what the hell was he doing back in Seattle?

I walk out of my room and head back into the main part of my apartment. “Danny, I'll be right back! Brick called, he said something was wrong.”

Danny pokes his head around the wall of the entryway to the living room and frowns, one ear flicking at me. “Mob stuff?”

I sigh. “Possibly. But I don't think so. He would have said other wise. I'll be right back, ok? If... well, if you figure out something, or anything else changes, call me IMMEDIATELY, got it?”

“Got it Govn'a!” Danny says with a salute and a bright grin. I shake my head and smile at him to hide my unease. Something about this really doesn't add up. I look at my messenger bag and after a few moments, carefully take the jewelry, (which I'm pretty sure aren't the actual Elements of Harmony, I mean, come on, it's a kid's TV show!) out of the bag, and put the case in the living room with Danny before walking to my room and pulling the Thompson out from under my pillows, putting it in the bag along with a drum magazine and my two extra magazines for the Browning.

I mean, nothing's wrong, but still, that nightmare really has me on edge. Nothing is gonna happen, I'm worrying over nothing, I'm just being paranoid over nothing... right?

In case you couldn't guess, that was me lying to myself, trying to convince myself that everything was ok, that Danny was fine, that Brick just wanted me to get something to drink with him, and that the boss needed me to get something else. But too many things were just stacking up. Danny's nightmares, my own nightmare, Danny's new appendages, Brick's sudden phone call while all of this was happening.

I didn't like it. All of this started with that meeting with Q... getting the jewelry. I wish I could get some bloody answers, but at the moment, it's all I can do to just keep my head on straight as I get on my bike and start it up.

-//-

-May 3rd, 2020. 0730 Hrs-
Traffic was bloody and nasty, as you'd expect from morning traffic rush in a big city. Nothing that I could make my way though with careful weaving and sliding between cars, but still, it was not pretty, illegal anywhere but Cali, and frankly, all the traffic was just making me more paranoid. I was glancing around, looking for anything that stood out, men in unusual suits, someone holding something in an usual way, unmarked vehicles, just anything... not right.

Eventually, that little cafe on the corner near the center of Seattle, the Windpower cafe, came into sight. I let out a deep breath, more of a hard sigh, of relief as I pulled up to a parking spot for motorcycles and set down the kickstand, turning my bike off as I dismounted, idly checking my Browning and my bag to make sure nothing shifted out of place during the ride, and then checked my watch. Zero-seven-thirty-three, not bad in the traffic.

I carefully picked my way inside, weaving past two hipsters looking for their fancy high class coffee that wasn't Starbucks, and looked around. The interior of the cafe was what you'd expect from a small, family run cafe. All wood, warmly lit for comfort, a small fireplace sitting in the corner, lots of comfortable couches and big, thick wooden tables. Frankly, they made for better cover, which was why they were there.

See, below the cafe was one of the safehouses for the Mob. Not a big one, maybe twenty people could fit inside. It was decently stocked, and was one of our command centers for the area. The lack of big windows and plenty of choke points made it easy to defend and was pretty much the first place I was to run to if one of the other families or syndicates were trying to muscle in on our turf.

What I didn't see, however, was the big, imposing figure of my highschool buddy, Brick. See, Brick was not someone you'd miss. I mean, he's big, bold, and built like a brick shithouse, as I've mentioned before. He probobly could walk through walls by taking the walls down, and he cuts through crowds like a hot knife through butter. And yet, I couldn't see him anywhere.

“Pony. Over here.” Aha! That's Brick! I'd recognize the low growl from anywhere. I turn, walking towards the voice. He picked the corner facing the door and away from the main store area, also away from the safehouse. Fits my paranoia pretty go- hang on a moment.

I freeze, blinking at the figure sitting at the table. That doesn't look anything like my buddy. For starters, this person is about two feet shorter then Brick, and maybe a fourth as wide. They're wearing a big sweater that looks like one of our old highschool hoodies, size XXXL. That's definitely Brick's sweater, but it's hanging off of this person like a draped curtain.

“Oh, sorry, I'm looking for one of my friends.” I say, giving the figure an uncertain smile, rubbing the back of my head. “I though I heard his voice over here.”

“That would be because you're looking at him, Pony.” The figure growls out. I jolt a little. This tiny figure is Brick?! That's certainly his voice, but...

“Pony, either stop staring, sit your ass down, and talk, or I'm going to stand up and put your head through the wall.” The-Figure-Who-Might-Be-Brick says flatly. I blink a few times and after a moment, move around the table, pulling out a chair and slowly sitting down, glancing at the door.

“I'm assuming that you're either Brick, or you have Brick on a cellphone on speaker, though it's got to be quality speakers...” I say, warily eying the hoodie wearing figure.

“It's me dumbass.” The figure says, sitting back in their chair. Now that I'm sitting, I can see a bit of a graceful, smoothed chin, and rounded, pouting lips that are set in an annoyed frown. I frown at them, and cross my arms.

“Bullshit. What are you doing back in Seattle? The Meetup is in four days and you're supposed to be with the Boss in NYC. You're definitely not Brick. Too small, though points for having his voice down. Who the fuck are you, how did you get my number?” I say, my hand creeping towards my jacket.

“Pony, I swear to fucking God that if you pull your Browning on me, I am going to break that hand, your arm, and your shoulder. It's me, damn it!” The figure that might be Brick hisses at me as they turn, allowing me a much better look at them.

A slender, graceful, and dare I say, feminine face looks at me. Smooth, carefully angled face, with bright, expressive sky blue eyes. A lock of unusually colored pink hair fell down in front of one of them, making the figure let out a light growl and brush it out of the way, revealing slender, but strong hands.

“Ok... ma'am, I'm having a real hard time believing you.” I say slowly, backing away as much as I can while in the chair.

The feminine face takes on a look of rage and lets out a deep, low growl before speaking up. “Fine. IF you're gonna go that way... You're Michael McCloud, You went to Rockridge Highschool, class of twenty-ten. I met you on your first day of freshman year for you, third floor bathroom, third stall on the right. I passed off a bag of weed for the Principal, a gift from the Boss to his cousin as a reminder that you were to be passed off as a nobody and to be left alone for shady dealings. The deal went down without a hitch and after that I lead you down the street to 14th and Main, where I introduced myself, Brick Farland, and introduced you to my big brother enforcer, Two-Cards.”

I blink, and frown. No one but me, Two-Cards, and Brick knew the whole set of details of that day, and I know that there are exactly four people who are still alive today who know Brick's last name. Those people are Two-Cards, myself, the Boss, and him, and he hates his last name. “... Ok, maybe I'm starting to believe you... what happened in the first firefight we got into?”

Maybe-Brick smirks at me, which was really discomforting on the slightly soft and feminine face, especially when that face was paired with his gravel-chewing voice. “August Second, Twenty-Fourteen. We were at the warehouses in the Bronx, just off the docks, and were setting a deal with the Triad. They wanted new guns, and they had a new set of explosives that the Boss wanted in on for money and for our own use. The Boss set up a trade meeting, and you were sent as the dealer, myself as your backup. You were packing that shiny new Browning HP and six magazines, with an extra round in chamber, and I had a AK47 with three extra mags, banana clip, thirty rounds each.”

I feel my jaw slowly drop as Brick continues, because I had no doubt that this odd figure was him, between the voice and the details that he was giving me. “The Triad had four guys show up. Two muscular dudes, one carrying a fucking ninja sword, the other had some kinda tactical bullpup that we never found out what it was, some Chinese knock off of an AUG. The other two guys were their dealers, two weedy thin accountant like dudes, coulda been killed by a stiff breeze, one of 'em spoke perfect English and the other guy didn't fucking talk at all. The deal went smoothly, and we had just finished writing up the documents and shaking hands when a grenade came in through the upper window...”

“... The Sicilians had found out about the deal and wanted to take everything for themselves, but we didn't bring any of it with us so they planned to kill both sides and make it look like we killed each other to start a war between the Mob and the Triads, maybe draw the Yakuza into the mix with a plant of some kind or another, but we wiped them out. One of the Traid's dealers was killed by the grenade, but we cleared out the Mafia guys. There were six. You killed three of them with the AK and the other guys got one a piece, but I got separated...” I mutter, finishing part of the story with Brick grinning and nodding as I put my jaw back in place.

“When I walked around that corner and saw you covered in blood, firing two full clips into a dead body, I thought you went nutso Pony-boy. You pulled yourself together pretty good afterwords. The Triad still call you the Blood Runner you know.” Brick says, leaning back and relaxing a bit, a smile on the feminine face.

“Brick... God damn dude, what the hell happened to you?” I say, looking him up and down. “You look like you've lost a good two tons.”

“Feel like it too. Weird shit is going down Pony, weird shit.” Brick says with a nod, glancing to make sure no one can see us as he pulls the hood down. I gasped, and felt my jaw drop again.

That oddly-colored hair continued much like my little brothers, long and flowing, and two distinct white furred ears stood on the top of his head. The very much female face was more exposed now, with eyebrows and lashes to match. The ears swivel softly as I look at them, slowly folding back as he pulls the hood back up.

We sit staring at one another for a good five minutes before I'm able to work up the voice to speak. “What the fuck... just... what... what the fuck?” I say, looking at him with wide eyes. “How the fuck do you have fucking horse ears on top of your head? Who did this to you? Did they do it to Danny at the same time?!”

Brick blinks. “Wait, Danny? Little Pipsqueak's got this happening to him too?” Brick says, leaning forwards.

“Horse ears and tail, and... well, I think he's got a mane, but I can't really tell, but his hair changed color.” I say, leaning back in my chair, idly aware of the door to the cafe opening and closing.

“Well... small favors then.” Brick mutters. “What is his cutie mark?”

I blink, looking at Brick in confusion. “His... cutie mark? What, like My Little Pony?”

Brick huffs. “YES, like my little pony! Come on, I know Danny is a brony, what is his cutie mark?”

I frown. “I don't think he has a cutie mark Brick.” I say. Danny didn't mention anything about a cutie mark. “At least, if he does, he hasn't said anything about it. He's just had the changes. What's going on?”

Brick sighs. “I don't know, all I know is that we were in the middle of a meeting when the boss mentioned that my hair looked lighter and I noticed it was changing color! I got one of the other enforcers to cover for me and discovered that my hair was still changing, and when I went to take a shit I found a big red cross on my ass. A cutie mark of a background pony. I took the rest of the day off when I noticed I was getting... shorter. I grabbed one of the trucks and started back for Seattle.”

I shake my head. “Why back to Seattle? It's only, oh, I dunno, on the other side of the fucking country from NYC.” I ask, looking as confused as I feel, I'm sure, tilting my head as I tap my fingers on the table.

“My safehouse is here, dumbass, and more importantly, most of the other field-docs are here. There's still business to be done, not all of us are going to the The Meetup.” Brick says with a flat glare. “I wanted someone from home to check me over. I started driving and kept on going, hopped a plane or two discreetly. Got back late yesterday when I noticed that... these... were here.” He says, gesturing to the ears. “I also felt uncomfortable sitting. I had assumed because I was traveling for so long, but instead, it was a bloody horse tail!”

I hiss at him, motioning for him to bring his voice down. We had gotten a glance from one of the nearby patrons. “Alright, alright, point made, drop the volume. So you were having these changes. Why didn't you call the doc?”

He falls quiet for a moment and then whispers back. “Because I woke up without feet and my penis this morning, that's why.”

… Well, it's official. That's the strangest thing I've ever heard anyone say about anything. Ever. 

“Wait, wait, what?”

Brick glances around and shifts. I prepare to cover up my eyes, mentally worried that he's gonna flash me when instead he lifts up a leg and shows me a great, big hoof. A horses hoof. Right were his foot should be. I tentatively reach out and touch it.

“Uh, wow. Ok.” I mutter, softly tapping the hoof again, just to confirm for myself that what I'm seeing is real. “So... no... uh... junk?”

“Just a equine vag.” Brick confirms. “No, I'm not showing you.”

“No offense bro... uh... dude...” I bite my lower lip, not quite sure what to call Brick right now, so I finish up with a lame, “Brick, but I don't exactly want to see your... not so normal pieces. Less then I want to see your normal ones.”

Brick snorts softly. “Right. So, what's the deal with your little brother? What happened to Pipsqueak?”

I sigh and lean back as Brick puts his hoof down... er, her hoof down, and I cross my arms. “Long story or short story?”

“Short.”

I smile. That was a bit of classic Brick there, short and to the point, and oddly, made me feel a bit better. “Well, you know the First was my birthday and Danny's-”

“It's mine too.” Brick says bluntly, interrupting me and making me start.

“What? But we always celebrated on the thirtieth.” I say, looking at her in confusion. She sighs, and gives me another light glare.

“That's because my family celebrates birthdays at the end of the month. It's safer that way. Actual date of birth was the first at noon.” Brick says, crossing her arms. Weird to associate that male voice with the female body... wait, wait, no, female body with Brick's voice! What the hell am I thinking?!

“Ok... weird. Wish you told me that sooner... maybe...” I hum for a second in thought and then shake my head. “Right, back to the story. I finished up with Mr. Q over that art deal, the five necklaces and the tiara. Afterwords, I called you, ran home, and had the birthday celebration with Danny. I ended up passing out on the couch, too much good malt. Wound up in a nightmare, a pretty nasty one at that. Danny woke me up, heard me talking too much, I explained what I dreamed, something about Q being that badguy from the MLP show.”

Brick holds up a dainty hand to stop me. “Wait, wait, back up. Mr. Q was Discord in your dream?”

I nod, shrugging. “Yeah. I dunno, it was just weird. Danny was having all these weird changes going on, longer hair and it was a different color, which turned out to be true, looked like a horses mane in my dream. We went to the Zoo because he installed a sidecar onto my bike...”

“Did that actually happen?” Brick asks.

“Yeah, it's his birthday gift to me. For easier package delivery and to give him rides. If you'll stop interrupting?” I say, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Sorry.”

“Anyway, I ended up getting a call from Q, and he told me that I needed to die in an explosive way, and take the Elements with me. I had no idea what he was talking about but some guys in mismatched suits followed me and started shooting at me and Danny while we were riding home. They were firing a M4 or something and then a fucking RPG. I think I killed the driver because the vehicle peeled off and then two more came up... and then Danny woke me up.”

Brick stares at me. “These guys in the suits... how do you mean, mismatched?”

I blink, and look at Brick. “Uh... well, black and white suits, but not pinstriped. I mean, like one half is white, one half is black, side by side, or they're wearing open suits, their shirts were half and half, and then their suits were half and half the other way, or just... mismatched. Usually in black and white. Kinda like Two-Face or his goons in the old Batman games and comics. Why?”

Brick lets out a slow breath. “What do you have in your messenger bag, right now?”

“Thompson, it's loaded with a stick and I've got a extra drum mag for it, and two extra mags for my Browning. Didn't bring the jewelry because I've been paranoid like all hell since the dream.” I say, sitting back.

“Good... good. Listen, don't react too quickly, but one of those guys from your dream is sitting at the bar right now.” Brick says slowly. I twitch lightly, but her hand leaps out and  is on mine in a flash, holding me back. “Hey. Relax. Don't draw yet. I'm letting the bartender know. I'm gonna take your messenger bag. I don't have my piece on me.”

I nod and look at her as she grins at me. “Listen. When I say go, this whole place is gonna go to hell. Don't shoot the guy, yet, but if he reacts strongly to you breaking and running, don't be afraid to shoot him. Where is your bike parked?”

“Right out front.” I say, forcing myself to calm down enough to not bolt or tense up. Tensing would be bad right before I ride, especially if I end up cramping up or something stupid like that.

“When you run, I'm right behind you. Start the bike, I'll jump in the sidecar. We'll make tracks for your place. You still got that hidden compartment above your bed?” Brick asks. Funny, her voice sounds lighter then it did a few moments ago. Higher.

I shake that thought, deciding not to mention it before speaking up, “Of course I do. We'll grab our gear and flee, right?”

“Our gear? Jeez, you're too giving Pony.” Brick teases with a sigh, shaking her head. I chuckle.

“Best friend in trouble, little brother in trouble... the family is in danger, and you know as well as I do that I made a promise.” I say, sitting up straighter.

Brick waves a handsignal, just two fingers held together that split apart, towards the bartender. I don't need to see the countersignal from the bartender to know that they know what's up, and the gesture to the oddly-dressed man in the suit, wearing shades inside... pretty obvious now that I think about it.

“And McCloud's keep their promises.” Brick says with a grin and gives me a warm, one armed, brotherly hug as she slides the bag from me and slowly unzips it. “On three.”

“THREE!” I yell, and bolt out of my chair, bolting for the door as Brick rips my Thompson from the bag, racking it and loading a round into the chamber as she starts right after me, slinging my bag over her shoulder as I reach into my jacket pocket.

The guy in the suit knows what's up apparently as he reaches into his own jacket, pulling out a frankly oversized piece, like he's trying to show off. Some kinda fifty-cal jobbie, probobly a Deagel, though why anyone would want to use that is beyond me. Overpowered piece of shit.

I dash past the guy in the suit, putting my shoulder into and through the front door, blowing it open with a loud crash as I  run for my bike, just as the guy with the gun prepares to open fire, the click of the safety coming off audible.

Well, audible for all of two seconds before the sound of a Chicago Typewriter spelling out another message of death is heard. I don't need to look to know that guy's going down the painful way as the sound of flesh getting ripped apart by .45 rounds and blood splattering hits my ears followed shortly by screaming and yells of surprise as I hit my bike and leap on, starting the engine and revving twice when Brick leaps into the sidecar.

“MOVE IT PONY!” Brick yells at me as I peel out, whipping the bike and sidecar around and leaping onto the road, cutting off a guy in a pinto as we make our way gone as fast as I can. We're pulling away and a good two hundred yards off from the Windpower cafe when I hear a muffled whup, and then an overpowering bang. Heat peels across my back as I whip my head around and look in shock as a fireball licks the sky, right where the Windpower cafe was.

“Brick!”

“Ignore it Pony, we got bigger problems right now!” Brick yells back, getting me to focus on the road again before she draws my attention again with a growling curse.

“Pony, what did those cars in your dream look like?”

“Big, black unmarked SUVs, some kinda Escalade or Cadillac!” I yell to her, mentally cursing.

“We got two following us right now!”

“FAN BLOODY FUCKING TASTIC.” I howl in annoyance, revving harder and swerving around a granny driver in an oldsmobile as I draw on all the horses hidden in my engine to take the road with a vengeance, the speedometer quickly climbing to highway speeds as I make a run towards the on ramp.

“Pony! Please tell me that you've made some kind of modification to this thing!” Brick yells as she moves to a more comfortable firing position, leaning against the front of the side car as she braces, aiming the Thompson behind us.

“No, I kept the Express road legal!” I yell back.

“Well, then you better be great at dodging!”

“Why?”

Bullets answered my question as one whipped by my ear and took out my mirror, just like in the dream, some kind of rifle caliber ripping up the road as we were fired upon. I curse, ducking my head a bit as I quickly check my ear. Didn't hit me, but it sure as hell got close. And this time I didn't have a bloody helmet on!

I grit my teeth as I hear the Thompson open up on the SUVs, Brick letting out a fierce yell as she fires at the black vehicles. I bite my lip, fearing that it was the nightmare all over again when a bit of the asphalt kicks up and hits me in the cheek, making me wince in pain. Yep, not a dream.

Brick fires off a few more choice shots before cursing, dropping the stick mag into my side car and pulling out the drum magazine. “Help would be nice Pony!”

“How? I can't exactly drive comfortably one handed, and I'm not some fucking action hero!” I say as I swerve the bike and sidecar, pulling us out of the line of fire, hopefully, as Brick works the bolt of the Thompson and starts firing again. She lets out a victorious yell as I hear tires screeching and the sound of metal crunching and scraping across the ground, and then the hard crash and breaking of glass of something heavy hitting something solid.

“HAH! Flipped 'em! Got the driver, and their buddy couldn't get around! We're clear Pony-Boy!” She crows. I let out a light breath as I continue riding hard. For some reason, I really, really doubted we were clear after only two SUV's.

“Hide the Thompson Brick, I'm gonna pull onto the highway. Keep out of the lime light, so to speak. No need to be around when the cops show.” I reply, veering towards the on ramp that I had planned to hit to try to outrun the SUVs before pulling up onto it, slowing down to the legal limit.

Brick nods to me, her ears swiveling as she stows my Thompson away out of sight but still in easy reach. I look around, glad to see that we aren't in any danger for the moment, minus my missing mirror, and we smoothly integrate into traffic.

Jeeze. That was just like my Nightmare, well, minus having someone that could use a weapon with me and other cars on the road. And having a real weapon with me. In fact, all that's missing is the phone call.

We make quick time down the highway, and we soon reach the exit towards the apartment complex when Brick reaches over and taps my shoulder. “Find a seven-eleven or something to pull up too!” She yells out. I nod my agreement as we roll down the off ramp.

There's a small convenience store right down the street from my apartment complex. Not exactly the biggest place in the world, and I'm friends with the owners, a little old chinese lady and her son. Her son is a good kid, he's gonna go places in the world. We pull in smooth, and I turn off my bike, dismounting and stretching a bit, Brick hopping out of the sidecar after putting the Thompson back into my messenger back as I look at my mirror.

“Damn, shattered... gonna need to replace that.” I sigh, shaking my head. It's not that bad, I can replace it myself once we get back to the apartment, but damn it, I hate having to replace my mirrors. I average about three every month, so it gets annoying after a while. Brick walks up next to me with a grin.

“Another broken mirror Pony?” She says with a light chuckle. I shake my head at her and then gasp.

“Dude! Hoodie! Hoodie!”

Brick blinks, tilting her head at me in an adorably confused way. “Huh?”

I groan and grab her hood and pull it up over her head, leaving enough for her to see. “Your ears Brick! Crap, were they visible for the whole ride?”

Brick blinks at me and then facepalms, cursing. “Crap, yes, my hood was pulled down by the wind!” She says, looking around. “I don't think anyone followed us though, so we should be ok.”

I groan, shaking my head. “Be careful man, we don't want people to notice. Less reason for us to be noticed, the better, especially after... well, that.”

Brick nods in agreement and starts towards the convince store when my phone starts ringing. I sigh and shake my head. Jeeze, seem to be doing that a lot recently. “Go on in Brick. I'll follow behind you after my phone call.”

She waves me off as I pull out my phone and unlock it, picking up the call. “You've reached-”

“The Pony Express. Yes, yes, I'm quite aware that I've reached you, Mr. McCloud. Now, that wasn't very nice, how you played with my toys.” My blood freezes as the voice on the other end of the line speaks up. A voice I've heard a few times recently. Once in person.

“Mr. Q.” I say, a chill going up my back.

“The one and only. Tisk tisk. Why are you getting involved Mr. McCloud? Oh, because I wanted you to! Such a willing Pawn as well. Taking the Elements with you wherever you go. Come now, did you really think I was going to let you walk away with those? And then you come back out into the open with the same messenger bag? Really, it was obvious.” Q says, smug and annoying as ever, but now, that darker tint I heard during my nightmare is much more focused.

“What the hell do you want Mr. Q? Your toys? You mean the guy in the suit that blew up the cafe and the ones that had that horrible accident?” I growl. My dream was right! Which makes me even more worried honestly, because now I'm dealing with a damned psychopath. Like I didn't have enough to be paranoid about.

“Oh come now, they weren't real. I don't have nearly enough influence in your world to have real people. But nor does most other magics. The Elements, for example. Twenty-Five years of no charge leaves them nice and dead. Ready to be destroyed! Not by my hand of course... no, they're in your possession. Their destruction is on your hands.” Q crows, obviously pleased with himself. “It was the plan, you see. The whole time. I've waited so long for my plan to come to fruition. And now, now, it's almost done!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I say, feeling a cold shiver of dread roll down my spine along with a unsettling feeling of unease.

“Hehehe... Heaahahahaha! MUAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAA!

FOR FIVE SCORE, DIVIDED BY FOUR!
YOUR MEMORIES REMOVED! YOUR BODY CONFUSED!

FOR YOUR INSOLENCE YOU MUST PAY!
CAST OFF TO A LAND FAR, FAR AWAY!”

I hiss, snatching the phone away from my ear. This fucker was LOUD, and more importantly, something about what he was saying was shaking me in the very core of my being. I gripped at myself as I threw my phone at the wall, as hard as I could. It shattered upon impact. And yet, the voice continued, hauntingly screaming through my ears.

“TO SCATTER THE SIX, JUST THE START OF MY TRICKS!
THEIR MINDS ARE WEAK, YOUR OUTLOOK'S BLEAK!

THEY FORGOT EVERYTHING AND SHALL LIVE AS FOOLS!
NOT EVEN YOU SHALL CHALLENGE MY RULE!”

The words scorched me. I felt like someone stabbed a knife in my chest, and let out a strangled, pained cry. Moments later arms wrapped around me and I felt myself pulled over to my bike, away from my phone, which was smoking before it shorted out with a loud POP.

“Pony! Pony! Goddess damn it MICHAEL! Deep breaths brother! Come on, calm down! You're gonna be ok!” Brick's voice filtered through my ears, about two octaves too high. I let out a pained whine, my feet scrabbling against the ground for something to grip onto, some kind of traction.

The fact that she actually said my name filtered into my head, making me shake and pull my head together long enough to look at Brick. Her face was written with worry and she was muttering under her breath, her hands flying over my body before pressing two fingers into my neck.

“Pulse is flying. Damn it Pony, talk to me!”

“B-brick... Q... I... wha...” I stutter, trying to regain focus before she pulls me up onto my feet.

“You had a panic attack, I- wait... you were talking with Q? Mr. Q? The same guy that you've been doing art deals with for the last six years?” Brick says, blinking at me.

“Yeah, the same Q. He... he was saying some weird shit. It felt wrong, like he was trying to attack my brain or something.” I say, panting a bit.

“... I've heard that before, what he said. Discord said it.” Brick says, “In the series finale.”

“Wait, in my little pony? What the hell are you talking about Brick?” I say, looking at him in confusion. Brick finally gets me stable and clambers into the side car.

“I'm not sure, but we need to get back to your place. Now. Get on and drive Pony. It's time to watch a cartoon.” Brick orders, frowning deeply. I shakily comply, way too rattled to argue, getting onto my bike and starting off as Brick pulls a carrot out of a shopping bag and starts quietly munching on it.

I blink at that, pulling out of my little moment a bit. Brick never was one much for carrots. Or veggies of any kind. But frankly, today has been weird enough without questioning eating habits, what with being shot at and having a cafe explode and... I suddenly have the urge to check my watch. I glance at my watch as I wait for a car to clear out of my way so I can pull onto the road and boggle at the time. It's not even thirteen hundred yet. Noon-Thirty. I groan, holding my head in my hand for a moment.

It's gonna be a long day.

Chapter 3 End
> En Passant
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4- En Passant.

-May 3rd, 2020. 1245 Hrs-
We rolled into my apartment complex quietly. Well, as quiet as you can be on a Harley, but still, quietly enough. No gunshots, no panicked racing. Just calm, cool, quiet driving, slowly rolling back in to my parking spot. I park with a deep sigh, softly hanging my head, taking in the momentary quiet.

Too much had happened in such a short amount of time. This was ridiculous, just absolutely insane. Nothing I expected and nothing that I wanted to deal with. Not right now. Not today. Not ever. But, my problem or not, it landed in my lap, and was affecting me whether I wanted it to or not. I take a deep, shuttering breath and let it out slowly, shivering for a moment, and raise my head a bit as I feel a small, slender hand rest on my back.

“Deep breaths Pony. You got through a nasty case of shock fairly quickly, but you're probably still feeling some of the after effects.” Brick says quietly, looking at me with soulful eyes. I give her a quirked half-smile.

“Yeah, still feeling it Brick. Thanks. Didn't know you knew so much about medical stuff.” I comment idly. She grins at me and pats me on the shoulder before climbing out of my sidecar, pulling my messenger bag with her.

“I've always been good with medical crap. You're just good at avoiding getting hurt Pony-boy.” She says, her voice smooth and alive. Much more lively then I've ever heard Brick's voice... you know, come to think of it, it doesn't sound anything like Brick anymore. At least, not the big buddy of mine. It's a female voice. I kind of like it actually.

“Heh, avoiding trouble is something I'm good at Brick. Apparently I can't avoid this.” I say, shaking my head. “Alright, come on in. Lets see how Danny is doing.”

Brick grins at me as I pull the keys from my bike and trot up the stairs to my apartment, unlocking the door and walking inside. “Danny? Danny!” I call out, looking around for him as I walk in the door. “Hey, didn't get any calls from you. I'm assuming nothing changed?”

A slightly squeaky, almost Nottingham accent calls from the living room. “Big Brother! Help!”

I bolt towards the living room, cursing and drawing my Browning as I go, Brick hot on my heels, clip-clopping with each step. “Hang on Danny, I'm coming!” I yell as I skid around the corner, aiming into the room, only to freeze at the sight before me.

Danny is strung up in the room, tied up in the handset cord of the old telephone I have, his arms tied up together and one leg plus hoof up there as well, and somehow got his tail tangled in there as well. He's also, somehow unsurprisingly if unsettlingly, smaller then he was when I left, and I'm left covering my face with one hand as I put my Browning away.

“... Danny, do I want to know how you ended up tangled in the phone cord?” I say blandly, Brick letting out a giggle behind me. I blink at the unusual sound before the light, squeaky voice of Danny snaps me out of the momentary daze.

“W-well, I was gettin' hungry, 'n I wanted an apple or somethin'. See, I was gonna just go the fridge, but when I got up, I feel outta my pajamas!” Danny says. I blink, noting that yes, he is wearing nothing but his boxers, which look like long gymshorts on him now, though the waistband is thankfully still wrapped to his body for the most part.

“Riiiight.” I say, looking over at the pajamas on the floor. “Go on.”

“Well, I figured tha' you'd want ta know that I was gettin' so small, so I was gonna make a phone call.” Danny says, trying to sit up to talk to me. “But I couldn'd reach the phone, so I went to the fridge, bu' I couldn't reach the 'andle for the fridge! So I ran back to the phone and climbed up to the phone...”

“Ok, stop there Pipsqueak. Hold still.” Brick says as she steps past me, rolling her eyes as she starts looking Danny over and checking him for injuries as she starts untangling him carefully.

“Lor' Blimy! You found another one big brother!” Danny says, smiling as he looks at Brick's hooves and ears. The hood must have been pulled down while we were running. “She's pretty!”

I snigger lightly to myself. “That's Brick Danny. I know she looks a little unusual now, but it's just Brick.” I nod.

Brick blinks and then looks over at me, raising an eyebrow. “Did you catch what you just said?” She asks, tilting her head, making her bangs sway over her eye again. I look at her in confusion.

“What, I just said it was you Brick, did I say something weird?” I say, frowning.

“You called Ms. Redheart Brick, big brother! That's not right!” Danny giggles, the much smaller twenty-five year old acting more in a manner of a teenager... so, normal. Brick huffs and blows her mane out of her face before finishing untangling Danny, who slides out from his position on his back and stands up. He's maybe three and a half feet tall now, and grinning like a loon as he dashes over to me, the traditional clip-clopping of hooves meeting each step as he leaps and nabs me in a hug.

I chuckle and hug him back, softly rubbing his head. Brick stands up, wiping her hands against each other as she stretches with a nod. “Right, well, now that the little crisis is handled, lets get some food in him and ourselves.”

That sounded very agreeable, so I heft Danny up onto my shoulder, and he giggles like a loon as I walk us into the kitchen and set him down on one of the chairs at my table before walking over to the fridge and pulling it open. “So, Apple, yeah?”

“Yes please!” Danny says with a grin. Brick lets out an affirming huff as she walks in. “I'd like one as well please Pony.”

I pull out an apple that I toss over to Brick, who catches it and starts munching away idly, and throw together a sandwich for myself. Danny grins at me as I settle down with my slapdash 'whatever is in the fridge' sandwich. “Here you go little brother.” I say, rolling the apple over to him. He grabs it with a big grin and starts chowing away as I start eating my sandwich.

We all fall quiet, lost in various thoughts as we eat, the only sound the ever present crunching of apples being eaten and the softer sound of my teeth ripping into my sandwich every once in a while. I let myself slump and eat with table manners that would have had my Mum in a rage if she ever caught me doing it, but after the start of the day, I didn't feel like eating properly.

Several minutes pass, before Brick makes an audible huff and breaks the silence, grabbing both Danny and my attention. “So. What was that whole ordeal about, Pony? You freaked out a bit there after the phone call you got from Q. I mean, I heard the end of that, and it was freaky, but until we see the season finale, I won't know for sure.”

I freeze, half-way through chewing another bite of my whatever sandwich. “...” I pause, swallowing before setting the sandwich down, very well aware of my little brother's gaze, emphasis on little, looking at me. “I... well, I'm not sure. I mean, I'm sure, but I'm not. There's a lot that happened there Brick. He was being- jeez, he was being deliberately confusing. Like he was taunting me.”

“Tell me.” Brick says, leaning back, crossing her arms across her chest.

“He said that I was... a pawn. That it was all part of some damned plan or another, that he wanted me to be in possession of the elements, something about him not being able to effect it or effect humans, but his 'toys' could, the guys in the suits. That they weren't alive.” I say, leaning back, softly clutching my forehead.

Brick nods, urging me to go on with a hand. I close my eyes, thinking back to the phone call, trying to remember everything I can before I speak up. “He said that the destruction of the Elements could only happen if they were in my possession. Something about them having no charge. Twenty five years.”

The words slip from my lips, unbidden and unwanted for the most part, but yet, there they were. “For f-five score... divided by four... their memories removed, their bodies confused-”

I stop, shivering, not wanting to say a single word more. Danny blinks at me, and quietly speaks up. “For your insolence you must pay-”

Brick then chimed in. “Cast to a land far far away.”

We finished it together, our voices in unison. “To scatter the six, just the start of my tricks, your minds will be weak, your outlook bleak, Forgetting everything and living like fools, you have all lost, now no one can stop my rule.”

Once we stop, we all shiver softly, and I lean back, letting out a slow breath before my spine stiffens for a moment with a cold chill. “... Oookay, that was freaky.”

“That's the words big brother- the ones from the nightmare.” Danny says, looking at me with his big, soulful brown eyes. Brick nods and speaks up. “I've heard those before as well... again, a nightmare.  I always thought they were just... words from a dream.”

“Mmm, Danny, who said those words? Your nightmare, it was Discord, right?” I say, looking to my little brother, who nods in agreement.

Brick frowns. “Then why does Q know them? That makes no sense.”

I hum, closing my eyes and crossing my arms, softly tapping my arm with my fingers as I do my best to think. Nothing came to mind, making me snort in frustration. “Damn it, there has to be something we're missing. A thread, some kind of connection.” I grumble, not pleased by the mental gymnastics that all of this was causing.

We sit there pondering for a while before I sigh. “This is getting us nowhere. I'm... I'm gonna take a break I'll see you in a few.” I mutter, standing up after a few more moments and making my way to the living room where I crash onto the couch, hitting the remote with my elbow on the way down. I grumble a light curse as the TV switches off of DVD mode and turns onto actual TV, the news in fact.

“-And it's absolute chaos here in downtown Seattle where a shootout took place outside of this small, family owned cafe. This is the second currently unexplained explosion to take place today, and police are on high alert for possible terrorist activity, as a bookstore was destroyed from the inside around midnight, and now a shootout took place outside the cafe. Thankfully, no bodies were discovered and it appears that all onlookers were able to escape the cafe without injury, though the owners are distraught at the loss of their property. Police have received an eyewitness report and pictures of two figures who fled the scene, chased by two large black SUVs. Similar reports come from a shootout on I-99, where two figures on a motorcycle with a side car were fired upon from and fired back at two unidentified black SUVs, causing the SUVs to crash.” The news woman is saying, pictures of the blacked corpse of the Windpower Cafe on the screen, followed by glimpsed cellphone pictures of my bike. Or rather, my back tire, the back of my left leg and a bit of my boot, a bit of the sidecar, and the long hair of Brick being whipped around by the wind. Thankfully, it missed my license plate entirely, and they didn't have any pictures of the shootout. Good. I let out a slow breath as the image on the screen switches to the SUVs, crashed on the highway.

They were riddled with bullet holes. Brick really went to town on them, the glass in the windows were shattered, and both vehicles were beaten to hell, having crashed into one another. A body in a mismatched suit was stone in a limp, rag-doll way halfway out the window, the body twisted in unnatural ways. He must have been hanging out of the window when the SUV rolled.

“Current casualty count is six fatalities from the highway shootout, all from the two SUVs, and three scorch and concussion hurt men from the explosion in the Windpower Cafe.” The lady finishes. “Seattle's Police Department has issued a request for any possible information for either of these attacks in order to find the cause of these possible terrorist attacks, though no claims for either attack ha-”

I turn the TV off with a softly shaking hand, shivering softly. They had pictures of my bike, but not enough to identify it or me. They had a picture of Brick, though it looked like you couldn't see more then her mane. Discord's... toy mobsters, I guess we'll call 'em, had caused some serious damage, and some people had gotten hurt because of it. I drop the remote on the couch and hang my head, softly gripping my knees.

It was my fault. I don't know how, I don't know why, but Q had planned this. He said as much. He was trying to kill me. He didn't care who got in his way, but he was trying to kill me, and destroy the fucking jewelry that looked like it was out of a kids TV show. For some crazy ass master plan that was threatening my best friend and my little brother. Today couldn't possibly get any worse.

I don't know how long I was sitting there, just hanging my head. A soft arm draped itself around my shoulders, giving me a soft squeeze. I slowly turned my head and saw Brick sitting there, trying to give me an encouraging smile. “Hey, come on Pony-boy. Don't be so down, we've been in worse scraps then this. Remember that one time in Denver?” She says with a firm nod.

I half-laugh as I nudge her with my elbow. “Yeah... but, I don't know right now Brick. Denver was an adventure, sure, but escaping from a drug-ring running gang is one thing. This is just... it's too much. I don't get it, I don't get what this plan of Q's is. I don't get why he's trying to kill me, and doesn't seem to care about killing others to get me. Hell, I...”

I pause and then groan, hanging my head again. “Fuck. The Meetup.”

Brick blinks and then blanches, shaking her head. “Damn it, I forgot about that as well. There's no way in hell you're gonna be able to get there if the Police are looking for suspicious individuals with the Elements on you.”

The Meetup. A bi-yearly event for the Mob, Mafia, Yakuza, and Triads, as well as some small time Gangs around the USA. It's one of the few 'peaceful' moments between the families. A time for making agreements, deals, adjusting old ones, discussing territories, and showing off the newest hardware we have, showing off power. Or, showing off the newest items we've acquired. Art pieces, stolen goods, new vehicles. Anything really fancy and showy, or rare, that we can show to prove that we're more powerful, have better connections. A big game, really.

I slowly stand up and walk over to the Elements of Harmony, carefully picking up the Jewelry box and carrying it over to my coffee table and setting it down, and after a moments hesitation, opening the box, looking at the five gorgeous necklaces and the beautiful tiara. I softly lay my fingers on the jeweled star adorning the tiara, letting out a thoughtful hum before I groan and hang my head. Q really did want me dead, and he had been planning it the moment I had negotiated for the Elements.

I look over at Brick, who's been showing much more emotion then I've ever seen her show before. She gives me a soft, worried frown, and stands up, walking over to my side. I sigh and slump back down onto the couch and after a moment, she sits down with me.

“You got something on your mind Michael. What's wrong? Did you figure something out?” Brick asks quietly as she prods my shoulder with a finger. I look at her, eyes moving over her slender face, bright, shining eyes, and perky ears, which are swiveled towards me to catch everything I say. It's kinda cute really, and earns a small chuckle from me before I sigh again.

“Yeah. Whatever Q's plan is, he was planning it for a while. He's convinced that killing me is important.” I say flatly, turning to look at the Elements again, gazing at the beautiful jewelry. “He's planning on turning the Mob against me. Actually, no, he already has.” I growl, gritting my teeth as a spike of anger rolls through my veins.

“What are you talking about?” Brick says, frowning. “The Mob would never just abandon you, you're family!”

“Yeah, family that has been photographed running from one of our safehouses before it exploded with a girl they don't know in my sidecar, and is skipping out on the Meetup without delivering a four-million-dollar deal that was gonna be a centerpiece for our showing this year.” I say blandly, hanging my head. “There's no excuse for it, and any explanation I could make is absolute bullshit.”

Brick opens her mouth to say something, but I stop her with a finger on her lips. “And I know that you'd speak for me, but Brick, you don't even sound like yourself anymore, and you're... well, you're not Brick. At least, not physically, and you know the Boss isn't just gonna accept a text or an Email from your account. You'd have to at least make a phonecall with a second to verify.”

Brick huffs at me, pouting, but she can't disagree. “So what you're saying is that we're screwed.”

I shake my head. “No, what I'm saying is that we have too many questions and too few answers. We need to figure out what's going on, who Q is, and then we need to find somewhere safe to start planning.”

Brick's ears flick at that and she tilts her head, looking at me curiously. “Planning? Planning for what?”

I grin a wicked, pain promising grin at Brick, feeling much more energetic as the oldest of human natures takes a hold of me, the desire to express my rage to the world. “Revenge, of course. Or getting him first.” I +snarl, punching my fist into my palm. “I'm not gonna lay down and let him fucking kill me, not without getting my shot at him first. Besides, he's threatening Danny.”

Brick grins back at me, baring her teeth, which makes me recoil slightly, as I notice that her canines are gone, and she's only got molars. “That sounds like an excellent idea Pony.”

“B-big brother?” Danny's voice comes up from behind the couch. I flinch and softly turn to look over the couch.

The much smaller little brother of mine looks up at me, his ears folded back and big brown eyes gazing at me mournfully. His tail is hanging out and is drooping to the floor. “Are you really gonna... fight? I mean, you could get hurt!”

I sigh softly, and after a moments hesitation, reach over the couch and pick up my little brother, lifting him over the couch and onto it, sitting him down next to me. He presses into my side and hugs me tightly, and I softly rub his head behind his ears, trying to think of the best way to word what I want to say as I just rub his head.

“... I know I could get hurt Danny. But that's why I got to do it. Because if they hurt me, then they could try to hurt you, and I can't let them do that. I won't let Q do that.” I say, softly clenching my free hand. “I promised.”

“But big brother...” Danny says, looking up at me again. “I don't... I don't think Q is behind this, who'ver this guy is. He's trying to destroy the Elements of Harmony, right?”

Brick hums thoughtfully and speaks up, “He's got a point Pony. He's not trying to kill you specificity, I don't think, he's trying to destroy the elements. He thought you had them on you after all.”

I raise an eyebrow at Brick, who blushes and turns her head a bit. Guess she heard more of the phone call then I expected, but she does have those new horse ears. She probably can hear a lot better then I thought. I make a mental note to be a bit more careful about where and how loudly I'm talking to keep too much to getting to Danny before looking up at the ceiling.

They did have a point though. Q wanted to kill me to destroy the Elements of Harmony. That's what he was saying. And that freaky speech at the end of the call... it was empowered somehow, those words. They still echoed in my head, making me shiver to my very core. Finally, I respond to the two partial ponies, still softly rubbing Danny's head. 

“Well, if it's not Q, then who is it? I mean, I've met him like fifty times. He seemed normal, if eccentric.” I question, looking down at Danny.

Danny twiddles his thumbs, looking down at his hands as he replies, “Discord of course. I mean, he and Q have the same actor.”

… Wait, what?

“Hold on, what do you mean, Q and Discord have the same actor?” I say, looking down at Danny.

Danny looks up. “Q is played in Star Trek by John D. Lacey, who voice acted Discord for the show. They're both chaotic characters, in their own ways, and love messing with people.”

My jaw drops a bit as I think that over. “So wait, you're saying Q is Discord?”

Danny shrugs. “It sounds like it could be.”

Brick facepalms and groans. “That sounds almost too obvious to be true, but before we draw any conclusions, we should watch the last episode.”

All three of us let out a displeased groan at the thought of watching that horrible excuse for a finale again, but Danny softly hops off the couch and trots over to the TV, his hooves making that telltale clip-clop of equine hooves as turns the DVD player back on, and then trots back, leaping up into my lap and snuggling against me as I turn the TV on and switch over to the HDMI port to bring up the DVD and start the episode.

We all cringe through the start of the episode. The opening battle is pretty cool, but the moment Discord turns on Celestia and starts spouting his evil plan, I shiver and shudder, softly reaching up and gripping at my chest again. That phantom pain had returned and my eyes were locked on the draconequus.

“That sounds just like Q.” I say softly. “I think you might be right, little brother.”

The rest of the episode passes without much thought or complaint, but both Danny and Brick are frowning after Twilight is taken by Discord's magic and the credits roll, just like they always do. “Yeah, the final scene isn't there.” Brick says, leaning back.

“Uh-huh! Where is his attack against Luna and... Pipsqueak?” Danny says, tilting his head. “They were in the castle, several rooms down from Twilight's chambers.”

“I'm more confused about why they took out the scene with Discord attacking the hospital with his chaos. He was going to 'fix' injured ponies when Nurse Redheart charged out and kicked him in the snout, and he attacked her.” Brick says, crossing her arms.

I frown. “Those scenes were never in the episode. It just ends like that, with Twilight getting vanished.”

Danny and Brick look at me with confused looks on their faces, and then look at one another, frowning before looking at me again. I shrug at them both and give Danny a hug before moving him off of my lap and standing up and after a moment rolling my shoulders, squaring them when I hear the doorbell ring.

I bite my lower lip softly and after a moment, start for the door. “Brick, grab the Thompson, hide the elements under the couch. Danny, stay out of sight for now. I'll answer the door.” I say firmly, taking a deep breath. Paranoid? Maybe, but at the moment, I didn't feel like taking chances.

I don't bother to check to see if Brick and Danny listened to me, and started towards the door, patting my jacket to check that my Browning was there. I slowly, quietly step up to the door, trying not to be loud so I can sneak away from the door if there's trouble behind it, and softly look through the eyepiece.

On the other side of the door is two girls wearing hoodies. One of them looks very nervous and is softly patting her hood, as if she's having issues keeping it in place, and the other is smiling brightly and slightly bouncing in place, a lock of curly, bubblegum pink hair springing up and down with each bounce, like she can't stay still.

Unusual, and at the moment, unusual is making me nervous. I take a breath, making sure that I can easily draw my Browning before I slowly open the door, making sure the chain latch is in place. “Hello?” I say, looking at the two girls.

“Ah! U-um, hello there. M-my name is... Tess, and this is my friend...” The girl that was nervously patting her hood starts when the bouncy girl bounces up in front of my face, grinning brightly.

“Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!” She says brightly, holding out a hand through the door to me, making me stumble back a bit for a moment before I look at her in confusion. They both sound very familiar in voice, but Pinkie Pie?

“Pinkie Pie. Like the cartoon pony.” I say flatly, shaking her hand after a few moments of the very unusual girl shaking it at me insistently.

“Uh-huh! I had a twichy-twich that told me that you were someone to follow and-” Pinkie's energetic speech was cut off by a hand covering her mouth, though she continued to chatter on though the hand, and the other girl looked at me warily.

“We... uh, well, we saw you on the highway, with the... other... um...” She frowns, biting her lower lip, obviously trying to figure out what to say before pulling her hand away from Pinkie's mouth and pulling her hood down, making my eyes almost pop out of my head.

There, right in the smack dab center of her forehead, was a gracefully fluted horn, and long bangs that were all shades of royal blue and purple. A haircut that I knew pretty well, considering that it featured pretty heavily in almost every single episode of a particular cartoon that my little brother and best friend were currently turning into characters from. I glance upwards, and perched on her head were two unmistakable horse ears.

I pause for a few moments, just staring before I slowly close the door. I undo the chain latch and open the door up fully. I stood about a head taller then each of the girls, and I cough lightly as I look down at them. Twilight fidgets under my gaze, and Pinkie smiles at me brightly.

“So, let me get this straight. You followed the guy on the motorcycle that was being chased by two big black SUVs and had a partially pony person sitting sidecar shooting at adversaries?” I say, unaware of my unintended alliteration, though the person who I could only assume was turning into Twilight Sparkle perked up a bit at that as the self-introduced Pinkie nods enthusiastically, her hood coming down and revealing a massive poof of bright pink curly hair which bounces all over with each nod, two more horse ears now visible and perked up in attention.

I rub my forehead. “And you thought this was a good idea... why? I mean, I'm sure you couldn't miss the fact that we were... not exactly chatting pleasantly and having tea n' crumpets or something like that. You've got to have figured out that I'm armed.”

“It's part of the reason why we came. We thought you might be in trouble, especially when we saw Nurse Redheart with you! And then I had three ear flops and a knee twitch which means that we needed to meet you!” Pinkie says, bouncing a bit more. Jeez, she really just couldn't stay still, could she? I stare at her for a few moments longer and groan, softly palming my face and shaking my head.

“You know what? Whatever. The last two days have been crazy enough. I'll accept Pinkie sense. Lord knows that it made about as much sense in the show as it's making now.” I grumble, looking at Pinkie who grins brightly at me. Twilight nods her head and softly coughs to draw my attention to her.

“Um, is it alright if we intrude upon your home for a little? There's four of us. Me, my sister, Pinkie, and Tom.” Twilight says, gesturing back behind her, where the others must be. I shrug lightly and wave a hand into my home.

“Yeah, yeah, come in.” I say, looking back into the house for a moment before looking to Twilight and... Pinkie? The pink-maned girl is gone, and I look around in confusion. Where in the world did she go?

Twilight sighs. “Don't ask, I don't know how she does it either.” She says as she graciously steps into my house after I back inside, walking with me towards the living room.

I step ahead of her and call out, “Brick, stand down, it's friendlies... I think. Danny, where are you?”

“Right here big brother!” Danny says as he climbs up over the couch and rolls over onto the cushions, sitting up with a bright smile before gasping. “Ms. Twilight!” He says, bouncing on the cushions a bit as he sees who followed me in.

“Heh, I guess. Hi Pipsqueak.” Twilight says, giving Danny a smile while I look at her in confusion, mostly because I thought it was an unusual nickname to call someone you don't know by. Danny grins brightly though, so I brush it off.

Brick lets out a deep sigh as she leans against the wall, holding my Thompson lightly, flicking the safety back on while Twilight watches her. “Twilight Sparkle? Huh. Well, that brings more questions, but glad to know we found one of the mane six.” Brick says, glancing down at the couch she's standing next to. Guess that's where the Elements are stashed.

A few moments pass in sightly-awkward silence before the cheery chattering voice of one Pinkamina Diane Pie echos through my house as a series of hoof-steps announce the arrival of the rest of Twilight's group, along with the sound of my front door closing. I cross my arms and sit down on the back of my couch as Pinkie walks in, still chattering away, followed by a very elegant lady with finely curled purple hair and bright white horse ears and a horn like Twilight, who I could only assume to be Rarity, and a big, strapping fellow with firm shoulders and a chiseled jaw, royal blue hair and two white ears, and of course, a horn.

A light snigger leaves me, making me shake my head. “Unicorns. Three bloody unicorns. And here I thought I had seen everything.” I say glibly, laughing a bit. The three unicorns give me a flat look and I grin back, giving them a light shrug. “Sorry, sorry, I'm just... well, it's been more then a little crazy, and now I've got three mythological creatures in my living room, along with my best friend who's apparently turned female and is shrinking, and my little brother that's lost half his height and is also turning into a cartoon pony.”

Saying it out loud like that made me twitch uncomfortably, as it sounded just insane, asinine even, but here we were. Twilight coughs a bit and then gestures to the other ponies. “Um, well, lets do introductions then? I'm Tess, this is my si... brother, Rachel,” 'Rachel' looks pretty unhappy with that title name, though I suppose suddenly having a penis instead of a vagina is as freaky as waking up without a penis and having a vagina instead, so I just nodded and urged 'Tess' on, who coughed lightly into her hand before continuing, “The other unicorn is Tom, and...”

Pinkie jumped up in front of me, making me yelp in surprise and back step before she grins and holds out her hand. “I'm Harry! Hiiiii!”

'Tess' groans and hangs her head, face palming and gestures to the bouncy pink one. “Well, yes, you've met Harry already.”

I blink and cross my arms. “Right. Well, I'm Michael, Michael McCloud, most people call me Pony Express.” I say before gesturing to Brick, who's stepped up to the group with Danny, who's trotting circles around the group in excitement before he leaps over and hugs my leg, grinning brightly at the four new... do I call them people or ponies, I wonder?

“This is Brick, don't ask about her last name, she doesn't use it and despises it, and don't ask about her first name, or you'll learn the hard way. And the little ball of energy is my little brother, Danny.” I finish kind of lamely, not sure how to continue.

Danny smiles and takes over for me, speaking up. “We should say our pony names! I'm Pipsqueak!” He says brightly, that Nottingham-esk accent lighting a smile on my face. “That's Nurse Redheart!”

Ahhhh. Suddenly that explains what 'Twilight'... or Tess I guess? Whatever, why she used his nickname so readily. That little pony from Trottingham with a fixation on Princess Luna.

I am barely able to withhold my urge to facepalm about how obvious that connection between the character and my little brother was, and glance over to my unfortunate friend. Brick sighs as Danny points at her, and she nods lightly. “Or at least, that's the cutie mark on my flank.” She says.

'Tom' rubs the back of her head, and speaks up, “I think I'm Rarity, as Redheart said, that's the cutie mark.” She says, followed by 'Rachel'.

“Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard.” He says, his voice strong and smooth. Very manly. Bet 'Rachel' isn't too happy with that, but I left it be for now as I turned to look at 'Tess' and 'Harry' who shrug. I pretty much said their names out loud already, but they confirm it moments later.

“Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!” 'Harry' says as 'Tess' follows up with a simple, “Twilight Sparkle.”

I nod and let out a breath. “So... uh, should we be using all of your Pony Names, or would you prefer human names, or...?” I look at them all.

The ponies fidget for a moment before Twilight looks at me pointedly. “What about you? I mean, aren't you...”

I shake my head, and wave a hand through my my hair. “No ears, no tail. Nothing has changed as far as I'm aware.” I say. “So human am I.”

Twilight mutters a curse, getting a startled look from me as she starts grumbling about 'broken patters of siblings' or something, and she starts pacing. Meanwhile, Shining Armor steps up to me. “Well, a pleasure to meet you Mr. McCloud. Thank you for letting us into your home.”

I shrug and offer my hand, which Shining shakes, and give him a light smirk. “Well, you all seem like you need some help, and my little brother is pretty fond of you ponies, so I guess I'll do what I can to help. Besides, if Discord's been working this plan of his against everyone, then he's gonna go after Danny at some point...” Danny softly elbows me in the leg and pouts at me, making me roll my eyes. “Sorry, Pipsqueak, which means he's gonna have to go through me.” I say, letting go of Shining's hand and crossing my arms.

The four new ponies give me a confused look and Danny hugs my leg a little harder. I sigh and rub my forehead. “Maybe we should all sit down and get comfortable? I think I've got a lot of talking to do.”

-//-

It's mostly organized chaos getting myself and the ponies sorted out and seated in my living room. We finally end up with myself seated on my couch, against the side arm, with Danny snuggled into my lap and Brick sitting next to me, Shining Armor and Pinkie Pie sitting across from me, Twilight and Rarity sitting on the other side of Brick. Everyone has some food of some kind with them after I walked to the fridge to raid it, because frankly, I wanted something to munch on, and I offered food. The ponies all had, well, pony food, so apples, carrots, and celery stocks... hehe, missing the colorful flowers though.

I sigh and rub Danny's head as I take a bite out of my apple, looking around at each pony as I chew and swallow before speaking up. “Ok, so, I guess I'll start with what I know information wise. Mostly because I don't know what you all know about what's going on, but I think I've got a bit more if only because I've actually ended up face to face with the big bad.”

This gets everyone’s attention, though Danny and Brick already know, and Shining Armor leans forwards. “Wait, you mean you've met with Discord face to face? How?”

I sigh. Well, the secret was already out, might as well go all the way with it. “Well, first of all, you should know that I'm a member of the Mob.”

This gets the expected reaction of surprise and slight disturbance from the four out of the know. I stick my thumb at Brick. “This one is too. Brick-” “Nurse Redheart big brother! Come on!” Danny interrupts me, making me sigh and shake my head.

“Right, right, NURSE REDHEART, is my best friend from Highschool and my Enforcer in the Mob. I'm a... well, more or less a business dealer and delivery man. An art dealer and weapons dealer, so to speak, gun runner, so on so forth.” I explain, rubbing the back of my neck. “Hence the nickname, 'The Pony Express'. Anyway, my last business deal was with an art dealer that had a particular set of jewelry that my boss really wants to show off. Four million dollars worth of fancy art here. Some of the finest craftsmanship I've ever seen.”

“Ok, I'm failing to see the connection here, though I do quite want to see these art pieces.” Rarity says with a soft flip of her head to get the hair out of her eyes.

I shake my head. “Oh, I'm sure you will. Anyway, the art dealer that had these pieces goes by the name of Q, and I had spent a good seven hours wheeling and dealing with him to get them. I get the art pieces, and not two days later I'm being shot at with my best friend who is turning into a pony while running from two big black SUVs loaded with guys who share the same taste in suits as he does. And then I get a phonecall from the guy.”

I look around at the whole group. “Q called me, and gave me this whole villain speech, ending with a series of lines... Five Score, Divided by Four.” I say. Everyone freezes, as if they're remembering those lines in their heads.

Shining speaks up quietly, “I've heard that before... Five Score, Divided by Four, Your Memories removed, your body confused.” He says, shifting uncomfortably. I nod my head.

“Yep. He gave me that whole speech, and honestly, it shook me to my core, like he was trying to cast some fucking hoodoo voodoo on me. Actually made my cellphone spark up and melt. Da... uh...” I pause, looking at Danny, who is looking and frowning at me, making me sigh before I say, “Pipsqueak, actually struck upon the connection between names. He thinks, and honestly, I'm fairly convinced, that Q is actually Discord, and the human form is one he's using to move among our... I can say our right? I mean, you all are still kinda human.” I say, looking around at the collection of manes, horse ears, hooves, tails, and horns.

This makes everyone shift around and act in a slightly nervous manner. I cough, taking over the conversation again. “Uh, well, anyway, it's the only way that he can walk around Earth. He was using it to set up the art pieces, to give them to a human, in order to destroy them.”

“Destroy what?” Pinkie asks, looking at me wide eyed.

I softly lift Danny... Pipsqueak, up, placing him on Brick's lap before reaching under the couch and pulling out the jewelry box. “To destroy the Elements of Harmony.” I say as I turn the box around and open it up while it's sitting on my lap, movie style, earning a gasp from the four ponies that hadn't seen them. Heh. Works every time.

“You have the Elements!” Twilight and Shining Armor say at the exact same time, and by say I mean shout, making me wince and nod.

“Yes, yes I do. At least, I think so. I can't see any flaws and they certainly feel real enough.” I say, rubbing the back of my head before softly closing the jewelry case again. “Q said during the call that the Element's destruction was in 'my hands'. That magic didn't have enough influence in our world or... something. He's planning on making sure I die, enough that he's turning the Mob, and most likely, all the other criminal organizations against me.”

All of the ponies, including my little brother, gape at me. Brick hesitates a moment, chewing her lower lip, and then softly lays a hand on my shoulder. I give her a soft smile at the comforting gesture before looking back to the rest of the ponies. “I guess he thinks that my death will somehow ensure the destruction of the Elements of Harmony. I doubt it, because frankly, it sounds stupid. But whatever, he's the God of fucking chaos, I guess he can think what he wants.”

The room falls silent as everyone contemplates what I've said as I shift a bit in my seat, uncomfortable under their gaze before opening the jewelry case again, softly turning it so I can look at the Elements again. They really are very nice. The colors of the gems are just amazing, polished and shining with perfect clarity as I let my fingers softly trace over each necklace and gem. The group starts talking again, but I'm not paying attention at all as I look at them.

The background noise fades away and I loose myself in inspecting the necklaces and tiara. I mean, seriously, something this beautiful shouldn't be able to exist. I'm not exactly much of an art lover, but even I can appreciate how beautiful and well crafted these are as I carefully trace each gem.

I can sightly hear someone saying something about 'did you see that?!' but I ignore it, assuming they're looking at the TV or something as I continue to gaze at the Elements. A few moments pass before a hand is waved in front of my face and I snap back into focus, looking up and shaking my head.

“Pony, are you alright? You kinda... blinked out on us.” Redheart says, looking over at me with worry crossing her face. I blink, and look around at the ponies, each one giving me a look of worry or confusion, with the exception of Twilight, who's got studious curiosity on her face.

I frown. “What are you talking about Redheart? I was just looking at the Elements.” I say, shrugging at her. She frowns at me, opening her mouth to say something before closing it, working her jaw before finally speaking up.

“Pony, you've been looking and tracing the Elements for about six minutes now. Are you ok?” She says, softly touching my shoulder. I sigh at her and shake my head. “I'm fine Redheart, honestly.”

Twilight stands up from her seat and walks over to me and the Elements. “Turn your head and look at me please.” She says, crossing her arms. I frown, wondering what she's on about, and look at her.

Twilight hums, tapping a finger to her chin thoughtfully, and says, “Well, he seems fine, his eyes are dilated, and his breathing appears to be smooth and steady, so he's at ease. Hands up please.”

I blink and sigh at Twilight. “What's this about?” I say, giving her a annoyed and confused glare as I lift my hands up for her. She takes them and flips them over so she can see the palms of my hands, studying my fingers.

“No damage, no scorch marks... hmmm, interesting.” Twilight says. I frown at her and pull my hands away, closing the Elements case, giving them one last glance before standing up, setting the case on the coffee table.

“Alright, well, that's enough weirdness for one day.” I grumble, stretching a bit. Twilight frowns at me. “Wait, before you go.” She says, holding out a hand for me to stop.

I sigh, stop, and turn to face her and the rest of the ponies. She coughs, blushing slightly, as if she's embarrassed about something. “I need you to drop your pants. Just the side, so we can see the flank of your butt.”

I blink at her. “... You're joking.” I say, shaking my head before looking at her.

Twilight just stares at me, looking rather serious, if embarrassed. The others are all looking at me now, same expression, though Pipsqueak looks confused as he speaks up. “Why do you want to see his flank Twilight?”

Twilight coughs softly. “Well, I'm trying to see if he has a cutie mark or not.”

Pipsqueak lets out an 'oh' as I look at them in confusion. “A cutie mark? What, like in the show?” I say. “Come on, I know you're all turning into the ponies, but you can't tell me that you actually have their cutie marks. That'd just be silly.” My mind's in such a haze... didn't Brick say something to that effect at the cafe?

The ponies glance at one another, looking decisively uncomfortable before Twilight sighs, as if she's taking charge, and turns to the side, her tail swaying as she grips the side of her pants and pull them down. I blush, turning to look away, when something unusual catches my eye. There, right on her flank, as clear as day, is her cutie mark. Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark.

I blanch, taking a step back. “What the hell...”

Twilight nods. “Right. That's why I want you to show me your side. We need to see if you have a mark or not.”

I bite my lip, and after a moment, turn so that my side is facing the rest of the group and drop my pants and boxers enough that we'd be able to see my 'flank'. I look away for a moment, afraid of what I might see there, but I eventually turn my head to look down.

What I see relieves me. Nothing. No mark, just my own skin. I chuckle lightly and pull my pants back into place. “See, nothing.” I say, shaking my head, only vaguely aware of the worried looks I'm getting from the pony people.

“If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna take a nap. I've been awake for far too long, and it's...” I glance at my watch, and sigh. “It's almost sixteen hundred. Wake me up tomorrow or something, please. Good... whatever it is, afternoon, night, whatever... Brick, you're welcome to raid my armory if you wish, please refill the Thompson's magazines...”

With that note, and a very weird glance from Shining Armor, I turn on my heel and make my way to my room, sliding into bed and crashing out after kicking off my jeans and dropping my jacket onto the chair in front of my desk.

I stretch and groan as I slump into bed, not even fully bothering with the covers as I pull them over my legs and grip one of my pillows, curling lightly to sleep.

Ugh... I dunno what I'm about to dream, but I'm not looking forwards to it. It's been a weird few days, that's for sure. I just wonder why I'm suddenly so tired... I mean, I'm just... so... tired.

Chapter 4 End.
> Jump Three, Over One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Five: Jump Three, Over One

The void. He who gazes into the abyss for long shall have the abyss gaze into him.

Or something like that. I don't know, I don't remember. Everything is too fuzzy. It hurts, thinking. I feel like screaming, in... something. Rage? No. That's not the right emotion. Nothing is. I'm constrained, tied down, unable to move, to think, to breath.

My eyes snap open as I struggle against the bindings. Thick, rust-red chains dig into my arms, leg, and neck as I struggle against them, a pained whine slipping from my lips, sparks from a burning fire leaping out from below my feet.

I'm chained to something, and it's holding me up like I'm about to be crucified. I'm told it's a horrible way to die, and the very thought forces me to struggle more, the chains pulling tighter.

“This isn't how it's supposed to be.”

I can't respond to the voice, nor the sounds of footsteps walking around me as the figure whispers, her voice low and husky as it moves behind me.

“Such a pretty little Nightmare. Oh you're just boundless. So much energy... one might think you'd make a perfect playtoy for that mismatched amalgamation of beings, yet all he wants is for you to die.”

Her voice sounds almost... excited, on the verge of sexual. It makes me want to struggle more, to escape, to flee. Another choked whimper escapes me before the chains tighten greater, digging into my neck and strangling me as I suddenly start to sink towards the fire.

“Don't worry... maybe I'll save you, and you'll be my playtoy... wouldn't that be nice?”

I panic, trying to cry out for help, for someone, anyone to save me when I see the twinkle of stars as my vision starts to cut out... and the fire's upon me.

-May 4th, 2020. 0013-

I cry out in anguish as I almost leap out of my bed, my hand clutching at my hammering heart and tears streaming down my face as my head pounds from suddenly getting up and becoming  lightheaded and my waking nightmare. It was too much. I slumped back down as the world spun, sobbing, gripping at anything close to me as I tried to calm down.

Something wrapped around me, hugging me from behind, a head pressed into my back and a soft female voice whispered soothing words, promising me everything was going to be OK. I was alright.  It was just a dream. Just a nightmare.

The words slipped from my mouth before I could even think anything else. “N-no momma, It was The Nightmare.” I whimpered out before the world fell away, barely registering the gasp as I fainted back into a world without sensations.

-May 4th, 2020. 0600-

“Is... is he ok, Redheart?”

Danny's voice slipped into my mind as I slowly started to awaken, my head still pounding and a momentary thrill of fear sliding into my veins as my nightmare hit me again, causing me to shiver from head to toe as my body reacted, forcing me up into a sitting posture as I groped for the Thompson that wasn't there.

A hoof softly pressed into my arms, holding them in place. “Easy there Pony-boy. You had a really bad nightmare. You need to calm down.” The soft, lifting voice I was starting to associate with Brick filtered into my head as I slowly opened my eyes, hissing a bit at the light from my bedside lamp filtering into my eyes, turning a bit as something pushed into my back and got me sitting, the hoof softly rubbing my shoulder.

“A hand doesn't work for rubbing shoulders anymore?” I mutter in a daze, still gripping at my shirt from the other day. Ugh... I sweated like a pig, the thing's dripping off of me.

“No hands to do so. So you'll deal with it Pony-boy.” Brick snorts as I frown in confusion before turning my head to the left to look at her. What I find shocks me, but after the rest of the crap that's happened so far, isn't really surprising.

A creamy white mare with a light pink mane and a red-cross on her flank is sitting next to me, her right forehoof rubbing my left shoulder as she sits next to me on the bed. A moment later I let out a huff of air as a slightly smaller bundle of brown slams into my gut, forcing the air from the lungs with a WHUFF and hugging me hard around the waist. “Big brother, you're ok! You were crying and screaming and I didn't, I couldn't wake you up!”

Danny was sobbing as he hugged me, and I quickly hugged the little colt back even as I gasped for air, a few moments of getting my air back passing before I could look him over. He was fully equine now, as was Brick. A very impressive four-point compass was on his flank, and he was burying his muzzle into me as best he could. I sighed, and shivered at the reminder of my dream.

“It's ok Danny. It... it was just Nightmare. That's all.” I mutter, getting a sharp look from Brick after saying so.

“Right. Come on, get dressed and come out to the living room. I was able to get the bug out bags loaded and set up and the mags for the weapons filled before... this.” She looks at herself with a disgruntled snort, obviously unhappy with the hooves before she stands up next to me, looking me in the eye.

“You need to shower. You reek. And it'll help you calm down.” She says. I roll my eyes as I glare back.

“Whatever you say Nurse.” I grumble before patting Danny's back. He sniffs and lets go of me before getting up to his... hooves, picking up the Luna plush with his mouth and running out of the room. As I shifted to get out of bed, Brick followed, and as I was getting a new shirt and boxers and making my way to the shower, I could hear a mostly quieted conversation take place.

“Is he ok?” That had to be Shining. Too deep to be Danny.

“He'll be fine once he cleans himself up. That must have been some nightmare...” There's Brick again. Still weird to hear that female voice.

“Does he often have night-terrors like that Pipsqueak?” Twilight. Inquisitive and intelligent from the tone of voice.

“N-no. Not since I was really little. He had a nightmare once and Momma woke 'em up and comforted 'im like she did fuh me all the time.” Danny informs, making me shake my head a bit as I close the door and start up the shower.

I remember that night pretty well. I was seven. I don't remember what the nightmare was about, but it was a rough one... I was a monster, and I had done something really, really bad, or something like that. Mom had been there, and softly rocked me in her arms. I frown a bit as I step into the warm water.

I don't remember a lot about my mother honestly. I know that sounds horrible, but with her job, being a writer and all, she didn't really spend a lot of time with me before Danny was adopted, and a lot less once he was there. But she was scary intelligent, and always told me I was destined for something greater one day. She told me something that day I've always hung onto, especially for helping Danny with his nightmares.

'Those who fight Monsters can become Monsters themselves, but becoming a Monster doesn't make you one.'

Weird thought, isn't it? But I like it. I feel like it means even if you're a monster, you can keep fighting monsters to keep others safe. Just like keeping my promise.

Just like being a McCloud.

I leave the shower a few minutes later, feeling much refreshed as I retie my long hair into it's usual ponytail, snorting in amusement at the relevance of the name of my hairstyle, my nickname, my job, and the current situation, and throw on the new boxers and shirt, an old teeshirt of the Elements of Harmony. Not the actual mares, the circle-and-gem symbol thing. Danny bought it for me for my twenty-fifth birthday. Funny time to be pulling that out of my dresser, but whatever. I throw it on non the less, and walk back to my bedroom, pulling on my jeans, new socks, my boots, and my jacket, double-checking my holster as I go.

Good to go. For now.

I step out again and walk into the Cave, looking around at the ponies, who are all shifting and looking a bit awkwardly at one another, like they're not quite sure what to talk about, especially now that I'm in the room.

I sigh and let myself slump into the couch like the big lump I am, looking around and then sitting up a bit, deciding to open the conversation. “So. Human names or Pony names? You never answered me last night. And Danny, I don't care how many times you say it, you're still my little brother and I'll call you what I please.” I smirk at the pout on the pinto colt's face. Gods that's cute. Sure, he might be a grown adult, but he looked like a teenage colt at the moment, and it's still cute.

“Pony. Simpler, not confusing, easy to remember, and frankly, a bit more comfortable at the moment.” Rarity says, looking elegant and dignified, even if she's laying on my couch.

“Ok, fair enough.” I say with a shrug, looking each one of them in the eye before looking at my table. The jewelry case is laying there, open, the Elements all in place. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly before asking the million dollar question.

“So. What now?”

Silence. It's awkward and unsettling, because really, no one knows what to do right now. There's no real plan, our timeline is getting really, really short, an interdimensional being is trying to kill me and have me take the Elements with me when I go, and people are turning into candy-colored equines. So we've got that going for us. Twilight bites her cheek a bit before speaking up, breaking the silence, “We need to find Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. The Elements need to be together, and I fear for their safety. On top of that, we need to find somewhere to... hide? Make a last stand? I don't know!” She throws up her forehooves in exasperation, and lets out an annoyed whinny before hanging her head.

“I'm going to kill that thought now.” I say firmly, sitting up and leaning forwards, thumping my hand down on the table. “There will be no last stands. Not here. Not now. Not ever. Last stands are for people who don't plan for escape routes. We are going to get out alive. Maybe not unharmed, but damn it, I don't care if that mismatched freak decides to poke his head in through my front door, he ain't gettin' Danny, the Elements, or any of you.”

I look each of them in the eye, making sure they're paying attention, even the slightly bouncing Pinkie Pie, and after a few moments, I sit back again. “Of course, that being said, I really don't know what else we can do at the moment... what I really need right now is a list.”

“A list?” Twilight perks right up and Shining Armor face hooves, muttering low enough that I almost missed that he said anything, “Oh now you've done it.”

“A packing list and a to-do list. The bug-out bags and weapons are set for the most part, but food, general supplies, possibly for camping...” I confirm, trailing off in thought for a moment, unaware of what I was about to get myself into before Twilight's horn lights up, making me look at her in confusion before my hand is wrapped in purple magic and I'm tugged to my feet and forwards after the prancing purple pony.

“Come on! There's a list to be made~!” She sing-songs as I stumble after her.

… And then it hit me that I just told Princess Twilight 'OCD' Sparkle I wanted to make a list. Even me, the non-brony, knew exactly what list making with Twilight Sparkle entailed.

Someone, anyone, save me!

-May 4th, 1005-

For the love of whatever anyone believes in, make it stop! PLEASE! I finally snap as Twilight starts filling out yet -another- piece of paper with a ballpoint pen, trotting back and forth with a clipboard held in her aura as she chatters away about 'triple-double checking the checklist, check!'. We've been at it for FOUR HOURS.

Enough was Enough. “TWILIGHT!” I barked, and that seem to jolt her into paying attention, and made her turn her violet eyes on me, blinking owlishly.

I take a deep breath, feeling myself wind up to start yelling at her, before it all just slumps out of me in a deep sigh. I don't really want to yell at her, I just want her to stop! “Twilight, I know you mean well, but we don't have time for a million-and-one lists. At this point, I just need to make a simple list to glance at. We're going to be leaving my apartment, today or tomorrow.” I say, glancing at the other lists that Twilight made while my little brother entertained my guests with, you guessed it, pony episodes and movies.

I could still feel the headache that Pinkie Pie's incessant, high pitched chattering, singing, often bringing Shining Armor and Danny, and surprisingly, Brick into it as well (and I note that Brick has a lovely soprano, and Danny does too, though I think he was a bit put out when Pinkie pointed it out), had brought on as I found myself trying to understand what she was chattering about on top of listening to Twilight drone on about how important lists and good planning is. 'Proper Planning Prevents Properly Poor Performance' after all.

AUGH NOW IT'S STUCK IN MY HEAD MAKE IT STOP!

“I need. Two. Lists. List one- The 'Split' Bags, which will contain all the traveling stuff, any paperwork I don't burn, and the contents of my armory, and List two- The Plan. Immediate to long term.” I say quietly, aware that Twilight is still looking at me with wide eyes, as if she's shocked at me for interrupting her.

“But... isn't that what I've been doing?” She says, gesturing with a hoof to her clipboard and my kitchen table, where papers are spread all about.

“I know, I know, but this is too much! I can't do anything with this, and I'm barely able to follow where you're going with your planning, Twilight. I'm a Courier! I know how to fight, I know how to negotiate, I know how to protect and keep my family safe. I follow very simple, easy to make and easier to modify plans, because most of the time, my plans go awry and I have to make it up on the fly anyway. And the easiest way to make a easy to modify plan that maximizes the chances of keeping myself and Danny safe is to follow the KISS principle.” I explain, noting her shocked expression has slowly moved into a more moderate, confused and curious expression, which was quite adorable, as she actually cocked her head slightly to the left, much like a puppy.

“What's the kiss principle?” She asks, keeping her head cocked. Gods that's cute. Wish I could take a picture.

“Not 'kiss'. KISS. More emphasis on it. It's an acronym which means 'Keep It Simple, Stupid.' In short, it's a reminder that super complex plans don't work unless everyone can keep up with it, so the simpler your plans, the more idiot proof they are, the more idiot proof they are, the more flexible the plan can be.” I decided that being blunt would probably be the best way to word this particular argument, and it seemed like I was right.

The purple mare blinks at me, and then slowly nods her head. I can almost see the gears spinning behind her eyes as she considers what I said and then sighs, hanging her head a bit. “I'm sorry, I guess I got a bit carried way.”

I give her a wry smirk, and drawl, not quite unkindly, but very sarcastically, “Naw, ya' think?” I chuckle at her pout, a wave a finger back and forth. “It's not that I don't appreciate the help, but as a general rule, the more complex the problem is, and the more pieces involved, the better a simple plan works for solving the problem.”

I cross my arms, unaware that Twilight had pulled out a new piece of paper as I continued lecturing, closing my eyes and listening to the clip-clopping of hooves. “For example, at this point in time, our primary objective, without fail, is survival. The Elements of Harmony, on top of you, your brother, Miss Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Bri... Nurse... Redheart and... Pipsqueak's survival is critical.” I slap my fist into my hand as if I had just realized something to emphasize the point.

“Well, I'm quite glad you think so highly of our survival, Mr. McCloud, but Darling, if I may be so bold... what of you?” I open my eyes at the high-class tones of Rarity as the white-furred unicorn looks at me from next to Twilight, softly tossing her mane a bit to rearrange it ever so slightly to keep herself looking fabulous, I assume. Or maybe just to keep the bangs of her mane out of her eyes. I don't think I'll ever be able to tell. Uber Classy women aren't my thing. Classy ponies doubly so.

I snort at her question and cross my arms. “What of me? Don't worry about it.” I wave a hand as if I'm passing on a art deal only to receive a scowl from the mare.

“Excuse me? Last I checked it is your home that is currently being occupied by six equines, one of them being your little brother and another your best friend notwithstanding, it doesn't change the fact that you're only involved because of us.” The classy mare points out, tipping up her nose a bit as her tone shifts to slightly annoyed.

I roll my eyes. “Lady, I'm gonna be real honest right now. I'm the expendable in this group. A high-value expendable, sure, because I can drive and do hand things, but ya'll seem to be capable of using that horn to do things that you did in the show, yeah?” I say, gesturing to Twilight. “Therefor, should a situation arise that someone or somepony needs to get left behind, the best option is always going to be me first.”

Twilight blushes, I'm not sure if in anger or embarrassment at me pointing her out specificity for being able to cast and use magic, and I don't care if I don't know what it is otherwise, it's magic till someone proves to me otherwise.

“Mr. McCloud-”

“Twilight, please, just call me Pony, or Michael. The only person who I know who's Mr. McCloud was my father, and every time someone calls me that, I look over my shoulder for him.” I say, making her twitch a bit and glare at me before I hold up my hand to stop the oncoming rant. “I insist. We're friends. Friends don't call each other Mr. or Ms. anything, right? They use each other's names or nickname.”

Rarity sighs. “We don't know each other well enough to classify ourselves as anything, Michael. We don't know you, and for all you might know of the show, which I don't even know enough about to say what's going on, you don't know us. Before or after...” She blinks, and circles a hoof, looking for a word to describe what has happened to her and the others.

“Ponification?” I supply, before crossing my arms and leaning back against my table. “And I agree on that. I don't know you. But that doesn't change the fact that my brother's the big fan, one of you ponified people, and more importantly, in danger from the fucker.” I growl, aware of the nasty scowl on my face as I think about Q... Discord, whatever the fuck he wants to call himself.

Classy-miss-makes-dresses huffs at me. “Such language is uncalled for Michael.”

“I feel it's warranted for the situation, Rarity.” I say, uncrossing my arms, my scowl deepening. “Think about it for a bit. You're a pony. A Pony! Hell, I'm fucking amazed that you all are as calm as you are right now, because I'm feelin' a bit like Alice down the gods-be-damned rabbit hole right now, only instead of a fucking white rabbit with a golden watch, I'm dealing with for all intents and purposes can be described as Frankenstein's abomination two-point-fuckin-oh! A FUCKING DEMIGOD OF CHAOS!” I'm yelling by the end of my rant, my fists clenched in rage and shaking.

“Pony-boy. Is everything ok?” Brick's voice yanks my attention away from Rarity and Twilight, making me look over to her to see the concerned faces of Danny, Pinkie, and Shining Armor. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, my hands unclenching as I let out my breath.

“... No. No it's not. But that's fine.” I grumble, shaking my head. “Come on, file in. We don't have time for this.” I turn to continue when I'm stopped by a mouth grabbing my right hand.

I turn and look down, and Danny's biting my hand. Not hard or anything, just gripping it, stopping me from doing anything before he lets go and looks up at me with big, soulful eyes. “Big Brother... please, stop it. You're panicking. You're always so strong and tough.” He whispers, so quiet that I'm straining to hear him even though I understand every word. “Mom n' Da knew you're better then lashin' out. We need your help. You need our help. Lets just talk it out.”

I pause, before looking around the room. Twilight's backed away from me, actually looking a little afraid from my outburst. Shining's moved over by her and is standing protectively in front of her and Rarity, who's moved over to Shining's side. Pinkie's just watching me, not moving surprisingly, and Brick's walked up up to me, standing next to Danny, and she softly wraps a foreleg around Danny's shoulders.

“Calm down Pony-boy. You're shaking.” Brick says calmly, gazing up at me. “Just sit down, lets talk like adults, and make a real plan, not discussing dying or otherwise. The Mob doesn't know yet, and we've got till the eighth till anyone really starts thinking about 'who is trying to fuck over the family.'”

“Language.” Rarity says again, making me snort before I sink down to the ground, sitting cross-legged, Danny quickly moving into my lap and snuggling up against me. I stroke his mane absentmindedly before letting out a sigh.

“Alright, lets talk then.” I say, looking around at the ponies. “For starters. Who are you four? Before all of this stuff.”

Twilight and Shining Armor looked at one another and Shining spoke up. “My name is... was... Rachel. I was a female college student.” He sits down. “Me and Tess, Twilight, shared a room. Twins. She's been my best friend since I could remember, and my sister before that... both here and in Equestria, maybe.”

Twilight follows up, sitting down next to Shining. “My name was Tess. Ditto to Rachel.” She doesn't say more then that, so I look to Rarity next.

Rarity sighs, and sits rather properly, looking graceful as she sits down. “My name was Tom. College Student, wealthy parents, and born into the upper class. I was male, and my father is quite the businessman. My parents... don't know about this.” She says.

Pinkie grins, bounding over and laying next to me, pressing against my leg. “I'm Harry! And Hairy! Heehe~” She giggles, making me roll my eyes before she continues, “But really, I'm Harry, I used to be a college student till I dropped out, I liked partying too much, adult parties more then Pinkie does, and best friend to Rachel and Tess! I used to have a peeny till I watched it shrink away to nothing and get replaced with me!”

I roll that little detail over in my head and then quickly shunt it out of my mind, deciding to ignore what she said about how she transformed out of my head. The less I know about that, the better for my sanity I believe.

“My name was Brick. I'm an Enforcer for the Irish Mob. I'm not the smartest around, but I know how to fight, I know how other people fight, and I know how to make them not fight anymore. I'm a decent medic, and I know a thing or two about how the human body works. And apparently about how ponies work, though these... images, memories, whatever they are, are vague.” Brick says, surprising the hell out of me because I think that's the most I've ever heard her tell anyone about herself in a single sentence, ever.

“My name was Danny! I'm a Brony, and my Big Brother is the strongest, toughest guy around! I work at the comic book store in downtown! Luna is still best princess!” Danny says with a firm voice and a serious face, making me chuckle.

Twilight smiles, shaking her head. “Luna to the end, huh Pipsqueak?”

I chuckle and nod in agreement. “Yeah, she's always been his favorite. I can understand why.” I smirk and nudge Danny, making him growl at me as I smirk at him teasingly.

The rest of the group looks at me before I shrug, speaking up again. “My name is Michael McCloud, and as stated before, call me Michael or Pony or Pony Express or whatever. I was, till this started, the top Negotiator, Gun/Drug/Item Runner and courier for the Irish Mob. I wasn't a brony. I'm not a huge fan of the show, I think Discord is a sick freak, and I don't fuck around when people threaten my family.” I say, leaning back with a huff.

“Now that we're acquainted, we need to know two things in particular.” Brick says, taking hold of the conversation. “First off, we need to know what everyone knows. So far, we've gotten that all of us have nightmares of the last episode, and see how the show ended differently, likely because we're seeing the different 'endings' of the ponies we've become... or are? I don't know.” She shakes her head, tossing it a bit to keep her mane out of her eyes. “The next thing we need to know... what in the hell happened to you last night Pony-boy?”

I blink. “Excuse me?” I ask frostily, gazing down at my friend. “What do you mean by 'what happened'? I had a nightmare Brick, it happens.”

Brick snorts softly before Shining Armor speaks up from next to Twilight and Rarity. “Redheart's right Michael. Twilight, could you go get the Elements?”

I raise an eyebrow, now confused as to where they're going with this, but sit and wait as Twilight turns and trots into my living room, quickly returning with the case with the Elements inside of it, floating it over to my lap softly. I look at the ponies, and then the case, and look up again, resisting the urge to snark out a 'Well? We're waiting!'.

“When you were looking at the Elements last night, you spaced out hardcore Pony-boy.” Brick says, poking my leg with a hoof. “Around half-way through your little blackout session, the Elements flared up and sparks started flying off of your fingers, as if you were getting shocked from them. After words, when we got your attention, no sparks, no marks on your fingers, no burn marks, nothing! So what happened?”

I blink and then scoff, flipping open the case to look at the Elements. “Just admiring the craftsmanship Brick. I don't know what you're talking about. I think I'd have noticed something like that.”

“Big brother... I don't think you were just admiring them.” Danny says quietly, making me glance at the colt with a light frown.

“But what you're all saying doesn't make sense. Sparks? The Elements glowing? Wouldn't I have noticed if it happened?” I say, sitting back with a huff before Pinkie bounces up to me.

“Well, why don't you try it!” She calls out with a grin, the rest of the Ponies reacting in the expected manner- negatively.

“Lets not, shall we?” Shining says, carefully pushing Twilight to the side as she's about to wind up into a rant, “I'm all for figuring it out, but there's too much we don't know to try to figure it out right now.”

“I'm with Shining Armor, Darling. It'd be nice to know, but at the moment, we have larger concerns, Pinkie.” Rarity cues in, and after a moment, Pinkie backs down with a sigh.

I groan and rub my head. “There's way too much we don't know, Rarity. And us continuing to go off topic, or forcing me into four-hour list making sessions-” I level a small glare here at Twilight, who at least has the decency to give me an embarrassed blush, “Is keeping us away from actively getting a move on and getting something done. Sitting around and talking is great, but to be honest, we've got a very short amount of time to solve a very large amount of problems.” I finish firmly, re-crossing my arms, the Element's case in my arms where it belongs as I look at the group.

“Now then... what does everyone know about this ponyfication business? I'll admit right out that I've got the least knowledge here. Danny... sorry, Pipsqueak, started to change after his birthday and a particularly whacked-out nightmare from me, on the 2nd.” I say, outright ignoring the questioning glances from everyone but Danny.

Danny nods. “Me n' my BBBFF were both born on the 1st! I was born in the afternoon, he was born really late in the night.”

This draws a very, very potent gaze from everyone, and more then a few startled expressions as I lean forwards, now curious as to what's causing the pause as the ponies look between one another before Brick breaks the silence. “I was born right near midnight on the 1st.” She murmurs, brushing her mane back from her face again.

“We were born on the 1st too.” Shining Armor confirms, looking at Twilight who nods in agreement, earning them a slightly shocked look from Danny and Brick.

“Me too, me too! We need a really, really big birthday party now!” Pinkie giggles, before Rarity sighs and simply nods her head as I sit back.

“... That... can't be a coincidence. How old are you all anyway?” I ask, casting a hand at the four ponies in front of me.

“Twenty Five.” They say almost at the same time, which makes a shock of ice roll down my spine.

I mouth the words before looking at Danny, who looks confused, and Brick, who is pondering this information before looking up at Twilight and the others, frowning for a moment before I realize that I'm the only one that seems to have gotten it. “Holy shit. Discord did it.” I say, slumping back a bit.

“Language! And what ever do you mean Michael?” Rarity scolds, making me roll my eyes as the group focuses on me.

“Five Score, Divided by Four. A 'score' is twenty. Five score is a hundred. Divided a hundred by four, twenty five. Five Score, Divided by Four.” I say, shaking my head. “That's what the whacked-out poem Discord barks out means.”

“Wait wait wait, let me get this straight. We're ponies because we turned twenty-five?” Shining says, looking a bit confused still.

Twilight takes over, shaking her head, looking a bit flustered now that she's gotten a hold of what I was trying to lay out. “No, he's saying we've always been ponies, but Discord's spell set us to live out a human life. That's what the whole spell says, almost explicitly.”

This makes the room fall quiet, again. Ugh, I'm actually starting to get really, really tired of these quiet pauses. It makes everything way too awkward, and I keep feeling like I'm sitting in the middle of a really bad movie or something. I look at the ponies, trying to gauge how they're taking things. Twilight seems the most surprised, if slightly chagrined? Huh, wonder what that's about. Five buck says she'll tell me.

Almost as if on cue, Twilight speaks up again. “How the buck didn't I make that connection before?! I mean, really! It's obvious once you think about it!” She rants, stomping a hoof.

I snort, leaning forwards. “Well, you recently got turned into a pony, discovered you can use magic, and watched a guy on a motorcycle with a sidecar get into a firefight with crazy motherfuckers in a unmarked black van wearing mismatched suits and carrying way more firepower then someone is supposed to reasonably get their hands on being gunned down by a partially ponified person with a fuckin' tommy gun. I'd say that kinda ruins your mental priorities a little bit.”

“Yeah! And of course there was also accidentally blowing up the comic shop when we stole the original manuscript for My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic!” Pinkie chimes in cheerfully, bouncing as she speaks, me nodding along in agreement before the words register and I look at her blankly.

“I... wait, what? WHAT?” I bark, looking at her in shock as Shining Armor hoof-faces, Rarity blushes and Twilight cringes, looking very sheepish. “What do you mean, 'BLEW UP THE COMIC SHOP? Stole the manuscript? What the fuck?!”

“Yeah! You didn't blow up my shop did you?!” Danny cries out, looking distraught before dashing out of the room, obviously going to look for his phone. Most likely wanted to see if the shop guys left any messages.

“It was a accident, honestly! We set off an alarm when we took the manuscript and I teleported, and it kinda... made everything implode. NOT EXPLODE, IMPLODE! There is a difference!” Twilight yells, still blushing hard as I palm my face in time with Brick, who facehoofs.

“Oh yeah, that really changes things there Twilight.” Brick snarks, looking over to me and raising an eyebrow. “Reminds me of that time you got into a shootout with that one Yakuza enforcer over if Asahi is a Beer or an Ale.”

And now it's my turn to blush, huffing a bit at that particular memory. Word of advice, if a guy doesn't speak English, don't argue over the few words he knows. One too many shots of Saki did NOT help that situation. Just... remember that next time you're in Japan, just saying.

“My experience with that punk aside, we're trying to grill these four right now Brick.” I growl at her, earning a cute giggle from her in response, which just makes me growl more before I sigh, hanging my head. “So, the fact that Asahi is a beer aside, explain yourselves. What the hell do you need that manuscript for? Why go to all the bother?”

“It's the original script darling, everything that Ms. Faust wrote when she wrote the series.” Rarity says, getting up to trot into my living room. “Just a moment, I shall return.”

I sigh, sitting back and waiting as Danny trots past Rarity, his phone in his mouth. He trots up to me and nudges me, and I take up the phone, quickly scrolling through his text messages.

Hmmm... a few more requests for him to come to a game night, a message about cats for some weird reason, and a joke about Ponies being real. I snort at that and shake my head, before glancing over to Danny, who's looking up at me with worried eyes. “Nothing about the shop blowing up Danny, I think your friends are ok.”

Danny sighs, looking relieved as he sits back down, and I set the phone on the table as Rarity trots back in, levitating a thick stack of paper that looks slightly worn but otherwise well preserved. “Here you are darling. The most important part of this is actually Ms. Faust's personal intro to the script. An Authoress note if you will.”

Twilight turns the pages over and then highlights the part she wants me to read with her magic. Impressive stuff with that horn for someone who had been using it for a few days. I glance down and start to read.

*“Over those years I had gone to many parties that her parents hosted. A few times I would break off from the rest of the adults and just play with this girl at her table. She was more than happy to show me her pony collection. She painted many of them to ‘look like they should’ as she put it, and then the girl would just spend an hour telling me all their traits, dozens of adventures they all went, and countless characters details. She even did voices for them and told me what most of them are supposed to sound like. She built such a vivid world that it really stuck with me. So, some ten years later when I’m in the Hasbro office, I start reciting some of the stories that girl came up with. I felt a little bad for the plagiarism, but the Hasbro execs loved it all. They told me to make episodes exactly like what I just described to them. I didn’t really want to just copy everything the girl said, but I sort of had to since I already put myself here. I was put in charge of hiring all the voice actors and picking their voices, designing all the characters’ looks, and writing the backbone for the whole show story. They told me other writers would fill in the details, but they wanted me to list out the overarching plotline. So here I am, and I can’t change any of the storyline now. For better or worse, it looks like I’m bringing life to the world this little girl told me about long ago.”
*[A/N- Directly copied from 5SD4.] 

I whistle after reading it over, leaning back. “Wow. That's... that is really something. So 'Twilight'.” I glance over at the pony, who lets her horn dim after Danny and Brick finish reading. “What was Lauren Faust like in person? Or do you not remember her that well?”

Twilight blushes and shrugs a bit with her wings, flaring them a little. “She was really polite and loved hearing me tell her the stories. Or what I thought were stories. I guess they're my actual memories.”

I shake my head. “Guess that explains why the final episode cuts off with Twilight getting vanished by Discord... wait.” I pause, frowning. “How did you know what happened to Celestia?”

Everyone freezes at that, eyes going wide before the ponies start chattering at one another.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh he's right! Twilight wasn't there so-”
“I don't remember anything about that I jus-”
“Then there's still a chan-”
“This calls for a PARTY!”

“NO!” I bark out, silencing the room. “NO PARTIES! Not yet anyway! Come on, focus! I know that this is a really, really big deal and all but come on, focus in!”

The ponies all glance at one another and then slowly start to settle down as I sigh, pulling out two pieces of paper and settling them on the table in front of me before pulling out a pen, twirling it around my finger as I deem this the perfect time to actually write the objectives list I set out to make originally before we got so side tracked. “Alright, here we go.”

I start writing, the ponies slowly moving to gather around me to look at what I'm writing as I go, the piece of paper on the left being my 'Plan of Action'. It read as such-

-The Big Plan-
Phase one- Collection
-Collect the Elements: Twilight Sparkle [x] Applejack [ ] Pinkie Pie [x] Rarity [x] 
Rainbow Dash [ ] Fluttershy [ ]
-Find/Discover the fate of: Princess Celestia [ ] Princess Luna [ ] Princess Cadenza [ ]
-Find Background/Low Priority Ponies.
Phase two- Fight or Flight
-Figure out how to Get Ponies back to Equestria
-Deal with Discord's Goons without getting killed.
-Secure a place for the ponies to hide from the Government, Mob, and whoever the fuck else.
-Rescue operations for captured ponies.
-Recruit friendlies?
Phase three-
???
Phase four-
-Profit.
-Discord Free Equestria, Ponies safe, Danny safe, Flowers and Sunshine and Rainbows for everyone, yaaaaaaaaaay.

I might have gotten a little sarcastic at the end. Maybe. Sue me, it's been a long day so far and I'm running really, really low on patience.

Brick snorts as she looks at the end of the list. “Really Pony?”

I snort back and lightly flick her ear with the tail-end of the pen, which causes her to flick her ear back at me with a unamused glance. “Absolutely. The sarcasm in particular, because if I don't, I'm gonna lose my mind.”

Twilight levitates the pen out of my hand and adds a note to my list under the Phase two- 'Discover what Michael's connection to the Elements of Harmony means.' “There. That actually seems quite adequate for planning if we're going to keep it simple, stupid.” She says, looking at me and sticking her tongue out.

I roll my eyes as I start scratching out a supplies list. “I don't suppose any of you know how to drive, do you? Or at least think they could manage with magic? Because I don't think I'll be able to fit all of you in my motorcycle, and we need a way to get all of you around, and a cover of some kind so that ya'll don't get pulled over by the Police.”

Rarity smiles wanly. “I think I have a solution to that darling. Maybe.”

I point at her. “Figure it, get some practice if you can, because if it works, we're rolling tomorrow, no later. We've got a lot to do, little time to do it, and the more time we spend here the more of a death trap it becomes. The Mob knows where my place is, most of the people who live here are Mob related, and it'll be all guns out the moment they figure out shit's gone tits up.”

Rarity nods and trots out as I glance down at the script and sigh before Brick take my pen out of my hand with her mouth and then nabs my other sheet of paper as well. “I 'ot 'ish.” She mutters through the pen and paper and trots out.

“I'll help you Redheart! Mr. Armor, you can help us pack too! My BBBFF can read the script and rest!” Danny says, leveling a little glare that was not only adorable but brokered no alternatives to his 'suggestion'. “Ms. Twilight can help him!”

“Oooh! I wanna see what Rarity's gonna do!” Pinkie croons as Shining turns to follow my little brother as he scampers off, following the two off them out with a bounce before I can say anything, and soon I'm left alone with Twilight, who's experimentally spreading and folding her wings.

I look over at her and shrug. “Whelp. I guess I'm no longer needed for my own plan.” I snort in amusement as I sit back. Twilight smirks at me as she spreads her wings once more and tucks them firmly into her sides.

“Well then, we can spend some time figuring out what was going on with the Elements!”

Oh joy, here we go again...

End Chapter
> Reset the Board
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Six: Reset the Board

“Alright Twilight. I've picked them up. I've worn them. Even the friggin' tiara. Nothing. Has. Happened.” I say slowly, glaring at the purple alicorn pony.

My mood has gone from sour to downright apocalyptic, and the unapologetic gaze I'm getting from the purveyor of my torture of the last thirty minutes isn't helping. Of course, that gaze changes a few moments later, and now Twilight's frowning, her ears flicking at me as she considers the jewelry hanging off of me.

“I swear that something should be happening right now.” Twilight says with a huff, sitting back on her haunches again. I shake my head and open up the Element's box again.

“Should be and Is are two different things, Einstein.” I point out with a firmly pointed finger. “I don't see you putting 'your' tiara on there, Ms. Element of Magic.”

Twilight waves her hoof. “And I'm sure that if I put the tiara on, something would happen, or I'd feel something, but it's not me we're questioning right now Michael, it's your connection to the elements that we're trying to determine.” The mad mare muses manically... ok, she's not really mad or anything, I just don't have the patience for this kinda crap. Science was definitely -not- my best class during high school, that's for fucking sure.

I sigh, rubbing my forehead with two fingers. “Well, whatever it is you're looking for, it isn't happening, and we don't have time for this right now.” I grumble, cracking my neck softly. “Look, lets just take a break, ok? We'll try again later, or something, but right now, we really need to make sure that all the packing is done so we can get the hell outta here.”

“Good timing then.” Brick... Redheart says as she trots through the door, giving me an appraising look. “You look good Pony. You need to wear jewelry more. You know, put all the bells on and go get yourself a stud.” She teases, eyes flashing her amusement as I roll my eyes and start taking off each element carefully, putting them away.

“Says the mare. I'll let you know if I find one that might catch your eye there sugar.” I grump back at her, rocking my neck from side to side, sighing happily as it cracks and pops. “You got good news?”

Redheart nods and grins, her tail lashing once. “Better then good, great news. Me and Shiny finished the packing. We've got the bug out bags set and ready, and we found all of the camping equipment. Your paperwork is waiting for ya, and we scrubbed any extra evidence about where or why we left.”

Twilight and I look at each other before I look back to Redheart. “And... what have Danny and Pinkie been up to?” I ask cautiously.

“I sent him to help Rarity and Pinkie, and from what he was blabbering about when he came back, it sounds like they figured out how to make it look like there's a normal person driving while Pinks works the wheel and Rarity works the pedals. Thankfully the bread-truck's an Automatic.” Redheart chimes, and I give her a flat stare.

“... You're going to be using the mail truck?”

Redheart shines me a butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth smile. “We're gonna -steal- the mail truck. They already got the keys. We just need to hoof the gear down, throw it in the back, and get the buck outta here. You know as well as I do that the family isn't gonna think much of it if you have to pull a bug out.”

“That's... pretty awesome, actually.” I mutter, tapping my chin. “I'm assuming I'm going to be driving my bike?”

“Of course, we're not just gonna leave it behind Pony-boy.” Redheart smirks at me. “Who's gonna do the epic God Damn Heroes moment if you don't have it or go all Terminator on that shit?”

Twilight looks back and forth between us, looking a bit bewildered as I palm my face. “You've been re-watching old shows and movies during your personal time recently, haven't you?” I sigh.

“Duh.”

“Fine, whatever, I'm not wearing my Brown Coat.” I snort at her as she trots out of the kitchen, laughing the whole way. I firmly close the Element's case, latching it shut. “Come on Twilight, we better join the others and get this show on the road.”

-//-

-May 4th, 2100-

Things picked up tempo after that, just a little bit.

Most of the remaining daylight had been spent double-checking the bags. We got all of my food from the fridge, and we all had a small, sit down dinner snack, not really an actual meal, due to time constraints and lack of food, and made plans to stop by a grocers the next day and stock up, and buy a cooler and ice.

Packing the mail truck was fairly simple. A pair of scissors and a levitation spell by Rarity was more then enough to knock out the camera that watched the truck, and the back was empty, so it was just a matter of sneaking back and forth as the sun started to dip below the horizon, loading the bags in quickly while I stood watch. I wanted to load the bags, but a human being would be better for being our warning sign then a pony would, because if the spotter was spotted, the whole gig would go up in flames.

Once the important bagging (food, bank documents and my dash-stash of cash, my collection of fake ID's, a thing of disposable cellphones, Danny's favorite posters and our computers, changes of clothing for me and for Pinkie, who apparently needed to be wearing a shirt for the illusion to work, which I found kinda ridiculous but seemed to work quite well when they showed me, especially when powered by Twilight so Rarity could work the pedals and the shiftier, thank whoever for automatics.) were stowed inside, Shining Armor started to look over my Motorcycle, due to the fact that he was going to be riding side car.

“So explain to me again why you're riding with me?” I mutter to him as I glance out the door to my apartment before slipping out, four gun cases slung over my shoulders, holding various rifles and the ammunition and magazines for them before motioning for him to follow. We quietly slid out and down the stairs, glancing about for any night-time smokers or other latebodies while making our way to the mail truck.

“Because Miss Redheart can't hold the Thompson anymore and having someone to help cover your back was deemed a good idea.” Shining says, rolling his eyes. “Come on, you were there when Twily laid out the plan.”

“I'm aware, I still think it's a stupid idea though. Non of you should be riding with me, it's too easy for any of you to be spotted.” I grumble.

I didn't like this part of the plan, not one bit. The general consensus between the mares plus my little brother, much to both Shining Armor's and my objections, were that the white-furred stallion and I were going to be riding buddies so that I had some kind of magical backup. If excrement hit the osculating rotary cooling device, Twilight, with Redheart's help, would defend the mail truck so that Pinks and Rarity could keep driving, and Shining Armor would defend me.

Frankly, I think they should stick to him keeping them safe. He surprised me in agreeing, but both of us were swiftly overruled.

“I agree, but that doesn't change the fact that we're stuck together Michael.” Shining comments as he floats the two other gun cases with slightly shakier but much more stable magic then earlier, tucking them into the truck with an awaiting Danny as I pass my bags in. “That's the last of 'em.” He says to Danny, who nods and steps back.

“Ok! Tell Miss Twilight that we're ready in here, Big Brother, and we'll leave when you're ready!” Danny says brightly, his tail almost wagging in his excitement as Shining gives him a bright smile in return.

I sigh and nod. “You might as well get in the sidecar now Shining.” I say, tugging on my messenger bag's strap again. Solid as always.

The Stallion and I part ways, and I watch as he trots over to the sidecar and lifts himself half-way inside, kicking his hind hooves as he tries to scramble in. I can't help but stand there and snicker as he works his way in before finally lugging himself into the side car, vanishing into it.

I nod to myself before I make my way back to my apartment. The last details are about to be handled, so we can get on the road and make tracks. Twilight is waiting for me in my apartment with Redheart, and the two ponies follow me to my office.

Redheart lets out a low breath as I take a last look around, softly running my hands over the trimming of my desk... Dad's old desk.

“You sure about this Pony?” She asks quietly, standing next to me in support, leaning into my leg.

“No other way around it Redheart...” I state quietly, noting how somber the mood felt and how my apartment didn't quite feel like home anymore.

“Yes, but...”

“No time for buts Brick. It's too late for that anyway.” I stop her firmly, turning and giving her a significant look. “You and Twilight get the truck, and lead the way.” I say, pulling out a pair of rubber gloves that were kept as part of the medical kit, pulling them on carefully. “Me and Shiny will be right behind ya'll. Call on the cell and we'll go from there. Got the map, Twilight?”

Twilight nods. She was going to be our navigator for this trip, and we needed to be out and away from Seattle as soon as possible. “Yes. Are you sure this is going to look like an attack from an outside source?” She asks.

I let out a deep sigh. “It better.”

The two look at one another worryingly before I shoo them out. I take a last look around before hanging my head, letting out a deep sigh, muttering an apology to my Da' under my breath as I pull out a zippo and flick it on, looking at the important documentation that I was about to set up in flames, idly noting the sound of tires against asphalt as the mail truck rolled away.

My connections to the Mob, my contract, the promises that I got from my Uncle and the Boss. All of it was about to go up in flames, and a small part of me screamed vindictively that it was more then they deserved, while a greater part of me raged against the necessity of the task as I lit the papers and left the lighter on the floor, still lit, and jogged out of my apartment.

The fire alarm would go off on a delay, and with Redheart's experience in setting up scenes like these, my apartment would end up looking like someone lobbed a molly through my window, pre-broken towards the inside with the assistance of one human elbow.

A light sound rolled through my head, much like a guitar strum as I pulled my helmet on and jogged down the stairs, leaving the front door to my apartment to swing closed on it's own, starting up my bike as I glanced down at Shining Armor, wearing Danny's helmet, which had been cut open on the top of the leather to let his ears poke out.

“Ready, Renegade?” I asked with a half-hearted attempt at a smile, which he returned as the guitar's swelled, and my motor let out a quiet purr as I carefully gave just enough gas to get out of the parking lot without waking up or alerting anyone, tailing after the mail truck that had been waiting for us to turn after them, noting the man with a crisp white button up and curly brown hair waving at us before it pulled away.

A few moments passed before a light roar and a pop could be heard as the window too my office suddenly lit up brightly with the loud woosh of air being sucked into a gasoline accelerated fire, and the guitars rolled in a gentle chorus line, bidding me to work the gas as we pulled away, and words slipped out of my mouth.

“Run away, away with me, Lost souls and reverie...” I sang softly, not noticing Shining's ears perk up as the sound of my motorcycle's engine slid out into the background, leaving the guitar and Shining's humming along.

“Lost souls, and reverie.” I hum out, hearing more voices join into the humming that Shining was doing as I sang, unaware of our travels as the song drowned out the world.

“Running wild and running free! Two kids, you and me!” I called out as I made out Danny's voice, and Redhearts, coming from the mail truck as we sang.

“And I say Hey, hey hey hey, Living like we're Renegades! Hey hey hey, hey hey hey, Living like we're Renegades, Renegades, Renegades!” We sang out, our voices mixing in the night before I felt an urge to wait a moment, Shining's voice suddenly ringing out clear besides mine.

“Long live the Ponies here! The Messanger, the Runners here! Go forth, and have no fear! We won't stop, the end is near!” Shining sang out, and this time with me humming in the background, enjoying the bliss of just letting the music sweep me away as it felt like the world thrumbed along with the music, the world passing us by without much worry, my mind idly noticing that we were out on the highway now.

“And I say hey, hey hey hey! Living like we're Renegades! Hey hey hey, hey hey hey, Living like we're Renegades! Renegades, Renegades!” The ponies chorused, and I felt the urge to rev my engine, smoothly pulling head of the mail truck.

“All hail the Underdogs! All hail the new pony! All hail the royalty! Take back our Destiny!” I sang out with abandon, letting the lyrics flood my very being. “It's time to make a move! It's time to make amends! It's time to break the rules! Let's Begin!”

“And I said hey, hey hey hey! Living like we're Renegades!” We chorus, as the guitars play strong.

Renegades. I like it.

-//-

May 5th, 0635

Our little caravan of two made our first pit stop at an out of the way Gas Station at around two in the morning, refueling (with cash) and buying snacks (nuts, berries and chocolate trail mix for the ponies, a energy drink and a protein bar for me) before we went back to the road.

Shining Armor and I had been quiet since the... moment, when we were pulling away, and I felt good. Really good. Great in fact. I felt liberated, like it was something that I had needed to do my entire life. The rising sun made a bright smile roll up onto my face as I gestured to Pinks that we should pull off the highway and find a stopping point so the ponies could get out and we could guestimate at where we were at.

Once I found a exit that lead to a small turn off point out of view of the highway, I pulled into the point and got out, stretching and rolling my shoulders as Shiny jumped out, trotting in place and stretching out as well. Having to lay-low in the side car in order not to be spotted by any passers-by wasn't the most comfortable position, considering that my side car was meant for a human being to sit in comfortably, not for a Pony to hide in.

The mail truck pulled up a few moments later and the rest of the gang spilled out, taking their own time to stretch as Pinkie Pie plonked up to me. There's no other way to describe that weird bouncing she does.

“You've got a really pretty voice Michael! You didn't tell me you knew how to Sing!” Pinkie accuses as she pushes her muzzle up into my face, which required her setting both of her forehooves on my chest. I blink at her and softly push her off by her chest-scruff.

“Everyone knows how to sing Pinkie. I'm just surprised you all joined in.” I commented idly, raising an eyebrow at her as I walked towards the mail truck, intent on getting a bottle of water, reveling in the feeling of stretching out in the sunrise before a small frown finds it's way across my face.

“Wait, how the hell did you hear me sing? Come to think of it, why were we singing?” I ask, now surprised and a little confused as I open up one side of the duel doors for the mail truck and pull out a water bottle, taking a swig of the life-giving liquid.

Pinkie blinked and tilted her head, looking much like a confused puppy, big blue eyes gazing at me. “Why wouldn't I?”

Ok, ow, just thinking of all the reasons why she wouldn't be able to hear me sing, much less thinking about that moment, is giving me a roaring head ache. I decide to just ignore it for now as I turn to the rest of our little 'herd', ignoring the heap of pony still laying in the truck that is my little brother. “Alright ponies, gather 'round, we gotta figure out where the fuck we're going next.” I say, crossing my arms lightly, looking over at Twilight and Rarity.

“Language, Mr. McCloud.” Rarity chastises again, earning herself another eyeroll as I wave a hand at her to move past it. Jeeze, its as if she's forgotten that she was human just a few days ago and probably used just as many curses as I do in everyday conversation.

“Right, anyway, where are we going? Driving around aimlessly isn't gonna do us any favors, especially once the end of the week comes along and the family realizes I'm not answering any calls.” I say, crossing my arms over my chest, drumming my fingers against my jacket's sleeve.

Twilight smiles and her horn lights up as she pulls out the map, unfurling it and holding it up for the four of us to see, Pinkie hopping up and down in place as she looks at it, Shining Armor off and away, still trying to stretch out from the first leg of our journey. “Well, based on the roads we've been following so far, and based on your desire to get out and away from Washington as quickly as possible, our first stop and search will be just a little ways away. We're currently in Idaho, just on the outskirts of Missoula, Montana.”

I click my tongue lightly. “Such a weird name for a town.” I mutter, but nod at Twilight. “That sounds like a good first stop. We'll spend a day in Missoula, mostly for resting purposes, and then we'll make a run for the boarder, so to speak, and make for Casper in Wyoming. I'll do some searching online to see if someone's panicking online, news reports, that kind of thing, and see if we can't pick up anyo- anypony else for our merry band of hooligans.”

Twilight gives an uncertain smile, but rolls up the map. “Sounds like a plan at the very least. Are you good to keep driving? We're about thirty minutes out of town, and I'm sure the state patrol officers will be bright eyed and ready for tired, swerving drivers.”

Huh, did I really look that tired to her? Bah. I wave her off with a snort. “I'm fine Twilight, don't worry about it. Thirty minutes, I'll get us a motel room and sneak you all inside, or something.” Maybe. Probably. Hopefully the roach motel I find doesn't decide to charge me out the nose for parking space.

End Chapter