When an ODST's drop takes him to an alternate universe and drops him into the middle of a world full of magic and other weird things, How will he survive?
Anthony Bell's drop was mean to land him on a Ring world but instead he crash lands in the middle of the Crystal Empire. Faced with adversity, magic and monsters, will Tony thrive and survive or end up being consumed by the new world he has arrived in.
This is a relaunch of a story i wrote many years ago and removed due to personal reasons. So i have relaunched while also taking the time to build on it and make it somewhat more enjoyable.
UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Current Location - Lower Flight Deck, ODST Armoury/ Launch Bay, Status - Under Heavy Covenant Fire, Boarded ODST's Orders - Abandon Ship, Locate Suitable Location for Forward Operating Base
The halls of the Pillar of Autumn were filled with alien chatter, screams of dying combatants and gunfire, the air was thick with the musk of sulfur and gore. The presence of human life was swiftly vanishing as the survivors quickly abandoned the ship. Soon the only remaining Humans aboard the star ship was a group of black armored marines.
These marines were known as Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or ODST’s for short, they were the special forces of the UNSC (If you exclude Spartans of course). The Group was divided into squads of four ODSTs each. Each squadron was given a specific task, the majority of the squads were located in the ODST drop bay while a select few squads had volunteered to run interference with the alien forces on the ship.
One of the few squads not preparing to drop was a small team of marines who were defending the only entrance to the bay. The squad consisted of one of the remaining Lieutenants and a trio of Warrant Officers. The commander of the squad was herculean in stature, standing at a height of 6 foot in height and by far the youngest member of the squad. His name was second Lieutenant Abraham “Irish” Murphy, his Onyx armor was spotless and undamaged. he wielded a Shotgun and a magnum along with a steady supply of grenades.
Kneeling next to him while using the doorway as a brace for her Sniper Rifle was Chief Warrant Officer 3 Julia Ling. Ling’s body type was nearly the opposite to Murphy’s, she was willowy in stature and stood around 5 foot 4 inches tall. Her armor was plain in appearance save for a moon painted on her torso. Ling was equipped with a sniper rifle, a silenced pistol and silenced smg, she would occasionally glance at the other two ODST who were stacked up against the other side of the doorway.
These Hell jumpers were set up in a similar way to Murphy and Ling with one standing and the other kneeling in front of him. The standing ODST was a well built man known as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jamie Peters and stood around 6 foot 1 inches. Like Ling and the remaining ODST, he had a moon painted on his chest plate which was well worn and mostly faded. He wielded a silenced smg, assault rifle and a trio of plasma grenades he had looted earlier.
The remaining marine was a muscular man though not to the same degree as Peters or Murphy. His name was Chief Warrant Officer 2 Anthony Bell who stood at a height of 5 foot 11 inches. He was holding a smg, magnum and an assault rifle while returning the glance back to Ling. The squad had volunteered to hold the door and wait for the remaining surviving squads to arrive and drop onto the mysterious ring world below.
The hallway that they were over watching was their kill box, with it’s grey walls painted mostly an electric blue color with splashes of dark purple. Managed alien corpses littered the hallway along with discarded weapons. The squads in the drop bay had already launched and the radio had been dead quiet for the last few minutes. The ammunition that the squad had stockpiled to use was nearly depleted along with the majority of their explosives.
“I think we may have to close it up sir and leave” Peters said as he looked to Murphy.
“Wait no there are still a few more squads to come” Ling protested as she looked between Peters and Murphy.
“I don’t think they are coming, Julia” Bell said somberly as he got to his feet. “We may be the last ones in Autumn and staying here longer than needed will only be a death sentence.” Bell said as Murphy nodded to him before he signaled Peters to seal the blast door. As he reached the controls, Murphy noticed the air in the hallway beginning to shimmer.
“Contacts!” Murphy roared as the group did their best to get into cover, though Peters wasn’t fast enough as a volley of glowing pink translucent spines pierced his chest, hip, left arm and his neck. Bell and Murphy began firing down the hallway as Ling lunged for the door controls.
Peters was on the floor, gripping the trio of needles in his neck which pulsed violently. He gurgled something out towards his squad mates but a mixture of blood filling his throat and the slight distortion from speaking through his helmet made it incoherent.
Ling managed to activate that door control as she noticed Peters waving to get their attention while the needles began to glow furiously. The sniper gave a confused look to the wounded man as he was pointing at his hip where half a dozen needles sat vibrating and glowing furiously. “Peters what are you doin…” Ling started before she realized that the needles had struck around the trio of plasma grenades attached to Peters’ hip. “Scatter!” She shouted moments before the spines detonated. As the spines detonated, Ling dove for cover while Bell turned and tackled Murphy behind cover and shielded him with his body.
A second passed silently shortly before the deafening explosion of plasma filled the area, the entire room rumbled from the force. The heat from the blasts filled the room shortly before vanishing along with the ringing. As Bell and Murphy regained their ability to hear, they were greeted with another disturbing sound.
The sound of meek sobbing and grunts of pain coupled with the sound of approaching footsteps. Without missing a beat, Bell was on his feet and preparing a frag grenade while keeping his eyes focused on the still partially open door and not the graphic mess that once was his long time friend. He took a single step forward before arcing the primed grenade between the gap shortly before it detonated. The sound of alien cries was heard as Bell pushed up to the door, checked his rifle’s ammo count before firing into the breach, finishing off the rest of the wounded advancing covenant.
Once the hall was cleared, Bell briefly inspected the ruined control panel and cursed under his breath. “Sir! The door is not going to close. We need a game plan.” Bell asked as he moved to find Ling. He quickly found her behind a mostly melted table, her armor was heavily damaged and her left arm had been all but melted away. The moment she noticed Tony, she whimpered louder as her entire body shook. “Hey, I got you” He said as if addressing a small animal as he knelt down next to her.
With the greatest of care he picked up his wounded friend bridal style and got to her feet as she sobbed in pain. “I got you, we are getting out of here” He repeated softly to her as he looked over the horrifying mess that once was Jamie Peters, a veteran ODST who was now only a mess of melted armor, bones and bits of viscera. “Sir! What is the plan?” Bell asked again as he looked around for his commanding officer. “Murphy!” Bell called out, the calm tone in his voice quickly turning to concern as he couldn’t see the young marine.
“J-Jamie… what hap-happened to him?” Julia squeaked out between grunts of pain.
“He’s gone, here let's find somewhere to lay you down and fix you up.” Bell said, his voice returning to a nurturing one as he carried the woman over to a large table. He gently laid her on top of the table and quickly inspected her injuries. Her left arm was missing from the elbow down with only bone and charred muscle up to her shoulder. The armor plating on her right leg, above her femur, appeared to have melted into her leg and exposed the bone.
Her chest plate was sizzling and her visor was shattered with large chunks of it missing. Bell’s heart sank as he inspected his friend before he removed her helmet and placed it next to her body. Once free, Bell saw that her once smooth features had been severely damaged from broken glass. Her once blonde hair was now stained red from blood while her breathing was shallow and more like wheezing.
“Hang on, I'll get you some morphine, then… then… you’ll be alright” He said as he gave her left hand a squeeze while trying to keep composed. Ling looked up at him, her blue eyes gave him a comforting look as she sluggishly lifted her hand out of his grip and to his helmet. Bell nodded to her and removed his helmet before smiling down at her softly as he took her hand once more. His ice blue eyes meeting hers as she gave him a smile. He had crimson hair, a few cuts on his face and a short beard.
“I-it’s fine T-Tony…” She wheezed out before coughing harshly.
“I’ll get you some morphine” He said to her, gaining a nod from her before he let go of her hand. Tony took a step away from the table and looked around for Murphy as he moved to the storage. As he approached the storage, he noticed Murphy was curled up into a ball where Tony had left him. The sight of the cowering commanding officer left a bitter taste in Tony’s mouth as he moved quickly to the storage.
Tony reached the adjacent storage room in a few moments, where he quickly grabbed several pen sized objects that had Morphine written on the side along with lots of words Tony didn’t know. He placed the morphine injectors and some bandages into his rucksack before grabbing several assault rifles, shotguns and placed them onto the storage room’s table. He noticed several wrist mounted PDA’s and attached one to his left wrist.
Tony then grabbed several loaded magazines and a couple of boxes of shells, which he put into his rucksack. Once his bag was back on his back, he grabbed the guns and carried them out into the main room quickly. When he reentered the room, he dumped the weapons and bag next to Murphy before retrieving an injector. He walked over to Ling and removed the armor from her left forearm. “It’s gonna be okay” He said softly as he took the cap off the injector and placed it against Julia’s now exposed skin before applying the painkiller and quickly bandaged her as best he could.
Julia seemed to quickly relax as she looked to the ceiling barely conscious. “Rest for now” Tony suggested to her before he moved to Murphy. As he stood in front of Murphy, he noticed that the lieutenant had removed his helmet. “Murphy” Tony said in a stern voice, causing the much younger man to look up to him as tears ran down his face.
“I… we… how are we meant to live through this?” Murphy sobbed, his voice breaking as he talked. Sighing, Tony knelt down in front of the man, grabbed the officer’s chest plate before lifting him to a standing position.
“Not by sitting and crying we won’t” Tony said in a calm, supportive tone of voice that seemed to catch Murphy off guard. Tony then placed his hands on Murphy’s cheeks and smiled warmly. “We’ll get through this, I know it” he said in a fatherly tone of voice, gaining a hesitant nod of approval from the young officer.
“What should i do?” Murphy asked, his composure returning.
“We load those weapons and i want you to kill anything that comes down that hallway while i set up the drop.” Tony said as he let go of the man and knelt down to start loading the shotguns and assault rifles.
“H-how do you stay so calm and focused?” Murphy asked as he knelt down next to Tony and started loading.
“Simple, I remember a phrase my father taught me.” Tony said as he placed a loading shotgun on the ground while Murphy looked to him patiently. “Would the Child you were yesterday admire the person you are today? If not, adjust for the desired result.” Tony explained as he finished loading another shotgun.
“It's just that?” Murphy asked curiously as he loaded the last shotgun.
“There is another.” Tony said as he got to his feet holding an assault rifle. “Duty and fear follow the same path, we must follow one and conquer the other” Tony explained as he loaded the rifle and loaded a round. Murphy nodded and picked up the loaded weapons and carried them to the doorway long with his supply of grenades. Tony walked over to Murphy and handed the lieutenant his helmet.
“I still don’t know how you aren’t terrified.” Murphy said as he put on his helmet while Tony placed his hand on his commanding officer’s shoulder.
“Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absences.” He said with a smile before putting on his own helmet. Tony picked up the barely conscious body of Julia and carried her to the launch bay. Where he strapped her into a drop pod and went to retrieve a new helmet for her. As he returned and put the helmet on her, she grabbed his shoulder and looked at him.
“I’ll see you on the other side.” She said as she squeezed his shoulder briefly before her grip seemed to fall limp. Tony leaned forward and checked her vitals only to sigh and removed her dog tags.
“Yes you will” Tony replied somberly as he stepped away from her and closed her pod before moving to the controls. Bell quickly put in the launch commands before he heard the briefest sound of gunfire followed by a cry of pain and a disperse of energy. “Shit!” Tony said as he unholstered his smg and moved to where he left Murphy.
As he stepped into the main room only to see Murphy was laying against the doorway with a inch wide slash on his chest running from his left shoulder to the right side of his hip. The edges of the slash were glowing brightly as the gravely wounded man attempted to remove his chest plate with one hand while aiming his pistol around the room.
Bell was about to approach when he heard a noise that made his heart sink, the sound of an energy sword engaging. He noticed the brilliant blue light suddenly come into frame to his left, causing him to dodge backwards. As he did a twin curved energy blade passed in front of him, barely missing him but managing to cut his smg in two pieces. He glanced at the attacker, only to see ripples in the air as he quickly back stepped and drew his magnum. As he moved back, the rippling air seemed to shift into an Elite warrior wearing purple armor.
The Elite lunged forward, but seemed to not suspect Tony moving forward and rolling between its legs. As Tony finished rolling, he pushed himself to his feet, turned around and started firing into the Elite. Although his first couple of shots were panicked and missed, the three following rounds struck home, resulting in the Alien’s armor to glow brightly with a spiderweb of energy. The Elite quickly rolled out of the way of the following shots before attempting to run Tony through.
Tony couldn’t react fast enough to get out of the way and felt a sense of dread overtake him only for a trio of sniper rounds to strike home into the Elite from behind Tony. The first round hit the Elite in it’s left shoulder, depleting the rest of it’s shields and putting a decent hole in the alien, the second scraped against the side of the Sangheili’s face, removing two mandibles. The last round struck into the Elite’s right arm, blew apart the arm, sending a way of purple blood over the floor, the elite and Tony.
The Sangheili was sent into a horizontal spin before crashing into the ground hard and sending it’s weapon to the ground by Tony's feet. Without missing a beat, the ODST grabbed the weapon, activated it and drove it into the spine of the wounded Elite, killing it. Tony released the handle of the blade, causing the energy sword to deactivate and send it onto the corpse beneath him.
The man’s heart beat fast as he took a few steps back and looked towards the person who shot the elite. He quickly noticed Murphy, who was leaning against the launch bay’s entrance with a sniper rifle in his hands which he was barely holding. Blood was quickly flowing from the man’s wound and pooled at his feet.
Tony approached Abraham, who slowly sunk down the wall with a soft hollow chuckle. As Tony was about to reach Murphy, the man fell quiet and still. Tony knelt down next to him and checked for a pulse. The man’s heart sank as he didn’t feel a pulse as he picked up Murphy’s body and carried it to an empty drop pod.
Tony gave a lingering look on the young man’s body before shaking his head, removing Abraham’s tags and closing the pod. “Load up and drop, this isn’t the time for sadness” Tony told himself as he collected Murphy’s sniper rifle, a discarded smg, ammo and rations. The ODST proceeded to load up his drop pod with the gear before setting up explosive charges in the ODST operations area.
“That should be enough” Tony said as he activated the launch protocol and returned to his pod, locking it shut and strapping himself in. After a few moments he felt the pod shift as it pulled backwards, as it was pulled backwards, he watched a huge group of covenant swarm into the operations room. This brought an evil smile to his face as he glanced down at the trigger in his hand.
He heard a familiar beep repeat a few times, steadying his breathing ,Tony activated the trigger as his pod was dropped. His entire pod shook as the explosion’s shock wave hit it while it dropped towards the ring world below. Tony felt his stomach drop as the pod entered the ring’s atmosphere, above a vast forest moments before a brilliantly blinding light and deafening noise flooded into his drop pod, causing him to look away and activate his visor.
“What the actual fuck?” He shouted, barely hearing himself as his Pod shook violently, forcing the man to grip the handholds to avoid getting thrown around as he felt the straps he was in straining. Soon the shaking stopped, along with the noise and blinding light. “Okay, okay it pa… the fuck?” Tony said as he noticed that he wasn’t heading towards a forest anymore, let alone a ring world anymore, he was landing in a frozen tundra on a planet.
“How the fuck did i miss a fucking giant ring!” Tony shouted as he descended.
Location - Crystal Kingdom Status - Under Siege
“My don’t you look tired?" a tall Unicorn expressed in an amused tone. The Unicorn was a dark grey stallion with a flowing onyx mane. His horn was curved with a sharp tip which was a deep red at the tip. He was dressed in segmented plate armor around his neck and legs with a crimson red cloak. His eyes were green with red iris’ with purple energy burning from them. This stallion was known as Sombra, and he stood proudly in front of a glowing pedestal which shrouded his features in darkness, making him seem more ominous. Laying next to him was a pair of ponies who were partially encased in black crystal. A alabaster Unicorn with a blue mane known as Shining Armour and the other was a violet Unicorn mare known as Twilight sparkle who had a dark purple mane that had a stripe of purple and pink running through it.
He stood proudly in front of an exhausted looking pink Alicorn mare and a terrified small light purple dragon who was clutching a pulsing crystal heart identical to the one on the pedestal that Sombra guarded. All the entrances were blocked off by black crystals and more quickly rose to protect the pedestal.
The Alicorn mare, known as Cadance, struggled to get herself standing straight, her mane was filled with dirt, snow, sticks and blood. Her wings were encased in the same black crystal as her husband and her sister in law. Her normally beautiful features were tarnished with scratches and cuts from recently crashing into the staircase leading to the pedestal. Her pink eyes locked on Sombra as she stood defiantly between herself and Spike the dragon.
“Well aren’t we determined? You may think you look menacing…” Sombra started before his horn glowed, illuminating his face before smiling revealing his sharp teeth. “... But you look like a strong breeze could knock you over.” He said as he took a step forward while his shadow seemed to extend out along the ground towards the princess, stopping short at her hooves. Candance refused to move as her horn weakly glowed in defiance, gaining a dark chuckle from Sombra before he looked to Spike.
“Come now child and give me the heart.” He said with a wicked smile. “So many have fallen against me without so much as scratching me, for the sake of whatever pride you have. Surrender the heart.” He said in a strangely comforting voice only for Spike to shake his head.
“N-no you are like super evil and i’ll never give you the Crystal Heart.” Spike squeaked out heroically, gaining a chuckle from Sombra.
“I am so sorry it seems I wasn't being clear.” He stated, the comforting tone melting away to an apathetic one as long needles made of black crystal rose from his shadow in front of Candance and aimed towards her. “Give me the Crystal Heart before I tear out hers!” He announced in a dispassionate tone.
“Spike, do what you have to do.” Cadance said in a determined tone of voice as she straightened her posture.
“My dear, you have failed just admit it… there is nothing in this world that can possibly stop me!” Sombra declared confidently moments before the crystal wall next to him detonated inwards, sending a strong gust of air into the area along with rubble. Sombra stood there slack jawed as Cadance dove onto Spike to protect him. “I just had to open my mouth didn’t i?” Sombra growled to himself as he glared at the heavy smoke cloud. A few moments passed before the sound of an explosion was heard and a large piece of metal flew out of the smoke and into the crystal protecting the pedestal, shattering it.
Quickly the smoke cleared revealing a black armored being stepping out of a large metal rock. The creature appeared to either be a cyclops or wearing an elaborate helmet as it pulled a pair of long metal items from the rock. Once it had obtained its weapons being turned and surveyed the room it was in, the black visor on its helmet vanished to reveal a face beneath it before the visor reactivated. The being seemed to quickly notice the group of ponies and dragons in the room.
“Help us please!” Candance called out to the being, causing it to raise its shorter weapon and point it towards her. “He means to kill us!” She sobbed as she pointed a hoof at Sombra, who was still trying to process what was happening. The being turned its attention to Sombra. “Please save us.” She sobbed out as the being looked back to her and gave a short nod before turning his weapon onto Sombra.
“Oh buck.” Sombra said as he summoned long black crystal spikes and pointed them towards the creature. “Walk away or... “ Sombra started only for the creature to fire it’s weapon at him in an intense volley of fire. Sombra’s crystal spears were shattered before he could launch them and his armor proved ineffective at protecting him against half a dozen bullets hitting him.
Sombra collapsed onto the crystal floor in pain as he praised and cursed his partial immortality for saving his life while he gasped for air. He could feel his body beginning to quickly regenerate from the damage when he noticed the creature had approached him. He tried to conjure up something to defend him as the creature stood above him but as his horn began to glow it was swiftly crushed under the creature’s boot.
He would have cried out if he could as he watched the creature unleash another volley of fire into him. “You are resilient, I'll give you that.” It spoke in an apathetic tone of voice as Sombra continued to curse his immortality which made him endure through the numerous mortal wounds that covered his body. He struggled to move away from the creature, only to gain another volley from it before it replaced a small black box on it’s weapon.
“You have to put the Crystal Heart on the pedestal or else he won't vanish.” Cadance called out, gaining the creature’s attention. It looked down at Sombra then looked to Spike and the Crystal Heart he was holding. The creature moved away from Sombra and gave a lingering look towards Shining and Twilight before approaching them instead. It knelt down next to the pair and reached out to Twilight causing Spike to get to his feet quickly and run over to it. The young dragon swatted the creature’s hand away and stood between it and his friend. “Spike!” Candace called out as she tried to run over to him but was too tired.
“Don’t hurt her!” Spike threatened, seeing his reflection in the creature’s visor. The creature cocked it’s head softly at the small dragon that was knee height to him and gave a chuckle before it removed it’s helmet. It placed the helmet in front of it and gave a heartwarming smile.
“I don’t mean her any harm, I am just checking to see if she is alright.” He stated in a gentle tone of voice before patting Spike's head and taking the Crystal heart from him. He pulled his helmet back on and carried the Crystal Heart over to the pedestal, stepping passed Sombra, who watched him, unable to move to stop the creature, which he had no intention to do anymore. The creature placed the large crystal on the pedestal, which caused a powerful ripple of blinding white energy to explode out, obliterating Sombra and all the black crystals.
The ODST looked back at the scene to see the dragon cuddling his friend and the Alicorn trying to make her way to her husband. Tony silently walked over to Shining, holstering his smg, and picked up the unconscious unicorn and carried him over to Cadance. The mare looked at him with a smile and tears in her eyes. “Thank you” she crocked out as Tony laid the unconscious stallion next to her before returning to his drop pod.
He tapped on a screen within the drop pod before downloading all the data it picked up during the drop onto his PDA. he grabbed all his things and made his way to the stairs leading to the city when he heard the mare call out.
“Please don’t go.” She said as she looked at Tony while cuddling her husband. “Please, we haven’t thanked you for saving the kingdom.” She said.
“I’m sorry but i have to figure out where i am and how i got here.” Tony replied.
“Twilight can help with that when she is up and so can my aunts.” Cadance replied, gaining a long lingering stare from Tony before he nodded and sat down on the stairs watching the city.
Equestria Location - Crystal Kingdom ODST's Orders - Information gathering
Tony was sitting beneath the warm sun as he tapped away on his PDA while occasionally checking around him for anyone approaching him. The man began to relax slightly as he looked over the city which seemed to me constructed from some kind of crystal. It was strangely nice to see a town that wasn’t teaming with soldiers and emplacements every second building.
A thought came to his head as he reached his hands up to the edge of his helmet and pulled it off slowly before placing it next to him. He gave a smile as the warm sun hit his face as he took a deep breath, enjoying the clean air while wondering when the last time he tasted it was.
The man sat there for several minutes with his eyes closed for a few moments enjoying himself before he was interrupted by the sound of something ceramic lightly clattering to his left. Tony reacted quickly as his right hand moved to his magnum as he glanced to his flank only to notice a small teapot, a cup and a plate of cookies sitting next to him on a metal tray. His eyes there moved to the one of the horses standing next to him in utter shock at his reaction. She seemed to be made of some kind of crystal that was somewhat shiny and translucent. She was a light blue color with a shimmering hot pink main and tail.
Realizing how he looked, Tony removed his hand from his weapon and raised his hand, revealing it was empty. “T-The Princess t-thought you might like something to nibble on.” The mare explained nervously.
“Oh… ah thanks.” Tony said as he gave a smile to the mare which seemed to relax her before she trotted off quickly. Once she vanished from view, Tony gave a few looks to the tray next to him before he returned his gaze to the sight in front of him.
“Cookies not your thing aye?” A confident feminine voice said aloud as a cyan Pegasus mare landed beside the tray, she had a rainbow mane, tail and magenta eyes. She looked him up and down, her gaze lingering on the still relatively fresh blood splattered up Tony’s arms and torso. She there looked to the face of the ODST and recoiled slightly from the man’s piercing yet inquisitive stare. The mare quickly collected herself as she nodded to the blood on the man. “You hurt or…?” She said, purposefully trailing off for Tony to add onto as she sat down.
Breaking his gaze from the mare, Tony looked down at this chest and gave a disheartened sigh. “No this belonged to a friend of mine.” Tony said somberly.
“Ah so it does speak.” The mare said sarcastically in an attempt to distract the hell-jumper.
“Apparently so.” Tony replied with a hollow chuckle.
“So you're going to answer my first question?” The mare asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, nah, I enjoy them but i'm a bit hesitant about accepting food from an alien species.” Tony replied, getting an inquisitive look from the mare.
“Is that so? Well I have another question for you.” She stated, making Tony roll his eyes.
“Shoot.” The marine replied.
“Okay so don’t get me wrong but why did you intervene?” She asked the man.
“What do you mean?” Tony asked her as he looked at her again.
“I mean, why did you attack Sombra… and why did you save Princess Cadance, Spike, Twilight and her brother?” She asked while watching the man’s facial features.
“I thought it was the right thing to do.” Tony replied without hesitation.
“Right.” She said with a slow nod. “And why should i believe that?” She asked.
“Trust me.” Tony replied to her.
“You want me to trust you? Somepony that won't trust us enough to eat a cookie?” She replied with a frown. Tony replied with a soft chuckle as he removed his left glove and plucked one of the cookies from the plate. Making sure she was watching, he took a bite from the cookie, chewed a bit and swallowed. “See was that so hard?” She asked with a smile as Tony rolled his eyes while returning the smile.
“Old habits die hard.” Tony said as he finished the cookie. “Damn these are really nice.” Tony said as he reached for another cookie.
“Yea they are.” The mare said as she wolfed down several of them, gaining a slight glare from the man. “You took too long.” She stated, gaining a chuckle from the man. Tony was about to retort when suddenly his PDA’s screen flashed, revealing an objective marker appearing on it along with a map.
“Well it was nice meeting you, but i have got to head off.” Tony said as he got to his feet.
“What do you mean head off?” She replied
“Trust me.” Tony said, gaining a scoff from the mare.
“Well can i at least get your name?” She asked as she stood up.
“Sorry, Anthony. People call me Tony.” Tony said as he offered his left hand.
“Rainbow Dash, ponies call me Dash.” She replied as she placed her hoof into the man’s hand before they shook.
“Well Dash, you get to finish off the cookies and tea.” Tony said as he pulled on his glove and helmet.
“Sweet.” She said as she sat back down while the marine took his leave and began towards the way point which stated on his HUD that it was at least a few dozen miles away from his current location.
Several hours later, 20 miles south of the Crystal Empire
The sun was setting, turning white landscape into beautiful shades of oranges and red as Tony arrived at the edge of a great gorge that seemed to stretch on for miles. He couldn’t see the bottom of the gorge as a heavy fog obscured his vision about 20 metres down. The gorge seemed to start relatively shallow before dropping off into the white abyss.
Exploring some more, Tony quickly noticed a ledge that seemed to run along the side of the cliff face a few metres above the fog layer. The ledge seemed to have several flood lights placed along it along with a partially complete railing system.
After a few more minutes of the marine investigating, Tony discovered a rope ladder leading down to the ledge and into the gorge. The excess vanished into the fog as he began to descend to the ledge. As he was about to reach the ledge Tony felt something tug on the base of the ladder causing him glance down into the fog. The ladder beneath him had become taught as he could hear the rope straining. A few crackles could be heard from above him as the anchors were coming loose.
Without a second thought, Tony leapt from the ladder towards the ledge 5 metres below him and rolled. His body hit the wall of the ledge hard as he quickly upholstered his smg and aimed it at the ledge. His breathing was steady as he waited for something to appear only to watch the ladder and anchors being ripped down into the fog below.
After a few cautious minutes of watching, Tony got to his feet with a pained grunt before he walked towards the flood lights. He moved slowly as he rubbed his side as he approached the floodlights he saw
After several slow tentative steps, Tony arrived at the lights to discover that their power cords had been frozen to the ledge in a few inches of ice. He flicked the power switch and was not surprised to see it didn’t turn on. “Well at least i know there were humans here” He muttered as he followed the frozen power cords.
The cords lead Tony several metres away to a small cave which appeared to have nearly the entirety of the inside of it scorched black. Tony activated his visor scan, revealing a partially destroyed generator, fragments of jerrycans and several charred human corpses. Any equipment that they once were wearing was long destroyed.
The man’s heart sank at the sight as he moved his hand from his side and onto his firearm as he continued down that path, hoping that there was someone here that could get him home. He moved slowly, doing his best to make as little noise as he could as he made his way closer and closer to his way point. The few miles he had left to travel took a great amount of time to the point that the moon sat in the middle of the sky as he reached a metal ramp leading down into the fog.
Tony looked at it and at his marker, noting that his objective was about 300 feet away from his in a downward direction. So he steeled his nerves and began slowly down the ramp, doing his best not to slip or trip down the ramp as he entered the thick fog.
Tony could barely see a thing as he moved down the ramp, even his scan didn’t help as he moved down the ramp. He got several feet down the ramp before something slammed into his side, throwing the ODST into the rock wall with enough force to daze him and cracking his visor.
Tony aimed his weapon and sprayed into the dense fog erratically as he struggled to regain his composure. He was about a third of the way through his magazine a colossal rock came into view racing towards him, forcing Tony to dive out of the way.
Tony hadn’t checked where he had dove to and landed on a large patch of iced over metal resulting in the man tumbling down the ram, hitting a few protruding pieces of metal, ice and rock as he did. An outline of a person appeared on top right of his HUD with red on the majority of the body. He noticed the highlights of his weapons on his hub vanish as he heard them clatter away.
As Tony’s body came to rest at the base of the ramp, he bit back the pain as his right hand moved his chest and drew his 8 inch combat knife which had the word “HARVEST” engraved on the blade as he painfully got to his feet. It took a great amount of willpower to not let his body collapse as he waited for whatever attacked him to have another go at him. He waited a few moments until an 8 foot tall white furred horned bipedal beast stepped out of the fog and approached the ODST. Tony noticed that the beast looked a bit like a horned white brute and the thought filled the man with determination to kill it.
He wasn’t going to let this creature take him without a fight as he primed his grenade and waited for it to make the first move. The beasts glowing blue eyes glared at the wounded man before it roared at him, revealing its massive apelike teeth as it slammed its knuckles onto the ice and charged.
When it was within a few feet of Tony, the man sidestepped the Brute and drove the hardened blade into the beast’s thigh before tearing it free, leaving a visceral wound behind. The creature gave a loud pained yelp as it face planted into the snow. The monster slowly pushed itself up but didn’t get far as Tony quickly approached it, kicked it’s wound sending the beast back down as he mounted it’s back.
Moving quickly, he held the weapon in his left hand, driving the blade into the middle of the creature’s back until it hit bone. The creature attempted to get Tony off but didn’t succeed as Tony slammed the palm of his right hand into the pommel of the knife, driving the blade through his opponent’s spine. With another yelp of pain, the beast’s arms and legs fell limb beside it as it whimpered.
Tony got off of the monster and looked around, noticing his magnum nearby. He wiped his weapon clean using the fur of the creature and sheathed it before walking over to the pistol and returning to the brute lookalike. “Fucking gorilla.” Tony said as he put several magnum rounds into the creature. Tony stood there for a moment before he inspected his injuries only to give an annoyed groan of pain as he noticed a large shard of ice protruding from his abdomen and several lacerations to his body.
“Great.” He growled as he reached to take off his rucksack only to realize it was missing. This brought a sigh from the man as he looked around for it for a few minutes before cursing when he couldn’t. He was about to continue to the way point when a powerful gust of wind ripped through the gorge, dispersing the fog and throwing Tony onto his back with a pained groan. As he laid there a hooded figure appeared into his frame of vision.
The figure appeared to be an 6 foot tall Elderly human man with snow white hair that hung down out of his hood that seemed to mix with his winter beard. He was dressed in light blue robes with golden fabric lining his attire. He had a mixture of bottles, bags and a tomb bound to his belt as his faintly glowing eyes stared at Tony. The man gingerly lent on a 7 foot tall staff that was wrapped in a series of leather, silk and scales.
The top of the staff was split open and seemed to wrap around a tear drop shaped transparent gemstone that was easily several inches tall, the gemstone interior of the gemstone shifted to look like people, almost as if it was a type of monitoring device. “I know you.” The man said in a deep somewhat pleasant tone of voice that seemed to pierce Tony.
“Good for you” Tony replied sarcastically as he struggled to sit up.
“Of course, I am required to pick an appropriate individual to assist in the coming calamity.” He said as he removed his left hand from his staff and offered it to Tony.
“So you brought me here.” Tony asked as he took the man’s hand.
“In a way, I recommended you be selected for a list of reasons.” the man said as Tony cocked his head.
“Why me?” Tony asked as the man pulled Tony to his feet while an amber energy coiled down Tony’s arm and around his wounds. “The hell?”
“Be calm, I am simply removing any recent damage to your person and equipment.” The man said as Tony gave a groan of discomfort as the piece of ice was pushed out of his body and the wound sealed itself shut.
“Oh shit, can it fix this?” Tony said as he raised his right arm.
“No unfortunately you will have to find alternative means to replace that.” He explained to Tony. “And to answer your question before, I have a list of reasons as to why you would be a good candidate to assist this world.” He explained as Tony waved his hand.
“Summarize it quickly.” Tony asked as he watched the crack in his visor vanish before his eyes.
“Alright, you are an experienced warrior with experience fighting against insurmountable odds, you have the ability to prepare others for this calamity, you possess certain qualities that will help you in future endeavors and lastly, it will be simple to get you to help if certain deals were to be made.” The man explained as Tony looked at him cautiously.
“What kind of deals?” Tony asked in a concerned tone.
“Well it is simple, while you may not be able to leave this world indefinitely, I can.” He explained as Tony gave him a slow nod. “And as such i can make sure that your surviving family like your two sons, Aunt, cousins and sister will survive any calamity that they may face.” He explained as Tony’s eyes widened.
“And how can i trust that you can even reach them?” Tony said as he crossed his arms.
“I shall retrieve something from your realm to prove my ability.” He said. “Anything in particular?” He asked, gaining a nod from Tony.
“Yes, do you have a pen and pa…” Tony started as the items he asked for materialized out of thin air. “Okay that is useful.” Tony stated as he quickly wrote down coordinates and handed them to the strange man. “There is a small bunker on the moon Luna, retrieve a small lock box from there and I'll believe you.” Tony said, handing the man the note before he disappeared.
Once he was gone, Tony shook his head “Fuck i either hit my head really hard or this place is far weirder then i thought.” He said as he looked around for his lost equipment. “But if that bloke is really and he can really do the things he is offering…” Tony muttered to himself as he stopped and looked back to the spot he last saw the man. “He was able to fix me up.” Tony added as he placed his hand against the area he was impaled.
He quickly discovered his rucksack and discarded weapons moments before hearing a soft pop from behind him. “Is this the item you sought?” The man’s voice asked as Tony turned to look at him and the 6 inch by 1 foot box in his hand. The metal box was blank in design save for a trio of bells on the top and locked with a combination lock.
“It looks like it.” Tony said as he took the box from the mysterious man and entered the code before hearing a sharp click form the box. The sound caught Tony off guard as he didn’t expect it to work before he opened the box to reveal a series of mementos and family heirlooms. The sight made Tony glance at the man.
“Believe my power now.” the man asked Tony who nodded his head repeatedly.
“Y-Ye… Yes it is, is it possible that you could give this to my boys?” Tony asked, his voice breaking for a moment before he composed himself. The man nodded and held out his hand for the box. “Great… ah do you have any more paper?” Tony asked as he looked around for somewhere to sit. The man raised an eyebrow before he materialized several sheets of paper out of thin air again and handed them to the ODST, who gave his thanks and knelt down, resting the box on his leg. Tony proceeded to rest a sheet of paper on the box and begin writing on it for several minutes before folding it and writing the name “ADORJÁN” on it before placing it in the box and starting on a second piece of paper.
He wrote the name “GUSZTÁV” on the top of the second letter before putting it inside of the box, followed by his own dog tags, a pair of golden wedding bands from within one of his pockets and a pendant. He stared at the content for several minutes before sighing and closing the box but not locking it. “Here, take this to them then… then we can discuss terms.” Tony said as he handed the box to the magical man, who nodded and vanished once more with the box. Once the box and the man vanished, Tony’s shoulders dropped as he let out a defeated sigh.
“This is bullshit.” Tony growled to himself as he glared at the unchanging scenery, his eyes scanning for something that could tell him that he was in a bad dream and that he would wake up soon. Several long minutes passed as Tony remained still, glaring at the frozen ravine that he was in before a faint flash of light emerged from thin air followed by a faint pop sound. As the light faded, Tony could see the man standing before him once more.
“Are you ready?” The man said, gaining a hesitant nod from the ODST before he lifted himself to a standing position. “Good, my name is Magia.” He said.
“Alright.” Tony replied as he started at Magia, arms crossed.
“So the terms I ask for are simple: You stay in this universe and work to counteract the coming calamity and in return I shall make sure that all your family in your universe live long happy lives.” He stated while watching Tony cautiously.
“If you tag on that you give me updates on them every so often then it's a deal.” Tony added, gaining a smile from Magia who held out his hand to the ODST.
“Naturally.” He said as Tony took the Magi’s hand with gusto. “The Deal is offered, for as long as you remain in this Universe, your family shall thrive long after your death… Do you, Anthony Bell agree to these terms?” He asked in an official tone as radiant energy coiled up down his arm and up Tony’s.
“I accept.” Tony replied as the energy tightened around the man’s arm.
“The deal is accepted by both parties.” He said as he released Tony’s hand, causing the magical energy to vanish.
“Now what?” Tony asked as he watched the mysterious man.
“Well now you must make your way towards defeating the calamity.” Magia stated.
“And how am i going to do that? I don’t know where I would even start.” Tony said as Magia rubbed his chin for a moment.
“Alright, I can transport you close to a town where you would have a decent chance at completing your mission.” He offered.
“Ah sure that works i guess.” Tony replied as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Wonderful, now i wish you luck Anthony Bell.” Magia said as he dragged the end of his staff in a circle on the ground, causing a brilliant blue light to rise from the ground. “Step inside the circle and you will be transported close to the town, but a piece of advice before you do. There will be someone in distress near where I will place you and it is up to you if you want to help them… Just know that if you don’t they won’t survive.” Magia said as Tony rolled his eyes behind his helmet.
“No pressure.” Tony said sarcastically as he stepped into the ring.
“No pressure at all.” Magia replied with a toothy smile before Tony vanished.
Seconds later, 3 miles Northeast of the Equestria Border Town “Sanctuary”
Tony appeared with an audible splash as the man dropped a few feet into knee high water. “Really?” He asked as he looked around to see that he was in the middle of a dense swamp. Cursing to himself, Tony checked his map only to discover he had left his mapped area by a few thousand miles. “God fucking damn it.” Tony growled as he removed his way point so it wouldn’t annoy him before he moved to a patch of solid ground.
Tony was thankful that he still had his visor active as it highlighted hoof prints in the muddy ground. They seemed to be heading a western direction towards what appeared to be a mountain a few miles away. “Hmm alright find this person and then head to the mountain to get my bearings.” Tony said as he raised his smg and followed the footprints carefully unaware of the series of events that he had unknowingly set in motion.
Equestra. Location - 2 Miles North of Sanctuary. Time - 5:48am
The normally quiet swamp, which was normally home to the sounds of swarming insects, bubbling sludge the occasional redneck version of a pony hollering was flooded with the sound of guttural groan, moans and the sound of loud crashes. In a dry clearing several hundred feet from the base of a mountain, a 10 foot wide toxic green transparent bubble sat in the middle of the clearing, illuminating it. Within the bubble was a dark green Changeling queen with a crooked yet sharp horn, several large holes on her limbs, mane and tail. Her horn burned with fire similarly colored to the barrier as a gargantuan plant brutally slammed vines into the barrier.
The plant had half a dozen large yellow flowers atop a mess of vines and pony corpses. The plant stood tall on a trio vines easily 2 feet thick each, surrounding it were several shambling solar guard zombies that seemed to be infested with vines and small flowers. There were a good half a dozen of them meekly wielding their weapons at the barrier.
The Changeling Queen did her best to stay standing and concentrating on her barrier as every few moments the Corpse Flower before her slammed three of its veins down onto the bubble with tremendous power. Each strike left faint cracks, which vanished quickly, and slowly pushed the barrier down into the muddy ground.
The Queen had several lacerations and cracks along her chitinous body as she begged for something to save her from the monstrous plant before her. After several long minutes she could feel her legs slowly sinking into the mud as her barrier was now pressing down against her body while spear and swords deflected off it’s surface. She watched the Corpse Flower prepare for another strike, making the Changeling grit her teeth as she would feel this next one due to the barrier being pressed against her body. As she watched the vines come down and strike the barrier with the force she expected, she felt the force of the blow rippled through her body causing her to cry out and collapse to her knees. With her concentration broken, her barrier quickly shattered like glass as the Changeling Queen laid in the mud helpless.
The first thing that hit the now exposed Changeling monarch was the putrefying smell of rotting corpses assaulted her nostrils, making her eyes water and causing her empty stomach to seize. Chrysalis felt her body shudder at the smell of the abominable hulking flower before her as the ground quaked under it’s vines unrooting themselves and reburying themselves closer to her. She blinked away the tears in her eyes as she meekly pushed herself up onto her hooves once more before attempting to retreat.
This didn’t go well as the moment she attempted to run, the infested Solar Guards charged in, launching crippling strikes with sword and spear, slashing shallowly at her legs, hindquarters and wings, sending her face first into the thick mud. She lay in the mud for a few brief moments waiting for the inevitable sharp pain to come, but it never came as she felt hooved legs wrap around her back legs. She gasped in pain as she was roughly handed and dragged backwards towards the rotting flower. She looked over her shoulder to see a pair of guards dragging her towards the Corpse Flower, which appeared to be waiting patiently for her. She began to cry once more as she begged whatever higher power would listen to save her from such a cruel fate.
On this day, one listened as a sharp deafening crack was heard from the tree line as one of the Flower zombie’s head detonated in a wave of viscera, blood, bone and plant material while the second one’s head was taken off of it’s neck as the bottom part of it’s head was turned into a cloud of matter. A tree on the far side of the clearing detonated as well, sending splinters flying in all directions as a trail of white smoke hung in the air for a second. The world seemed to be without sound as the crack vanished while the pair of zombies released Chrysalis’ legs before crumbling to the ground. Chrysalis looked to where the smoke trail came from as a second crack was heard as one of the Corpse Flower’s legs detonated in a section, causing it to collapse on top of a trio of it’s zombie minions and crushing them. Chrysalis was in shock at what powerful unicorn or magic user could create such powerful magic.
She soon discovered to source as a third beam slammed into the Corpse Flower, ruining a pair of it’s bulbs and making writhe in pain. The Changeling saw a tall black armored creature wielding a long weapon which it was propping up on an exposed root. Smoke raised from the long barreled weapon it wielded as it shifted it’s weapon and fired once more with yet another crack of noise which resulted in a confused zombie to be split in half as the round hit just behind it’s shoulders. Once the shot had been fired, the creature reloaded it’s weapon before slinging it over its shoulder before sprinting straight towards the Monarch.
Her eyes widened as she suddenly realized that she might be in more danger as she quickly got to her hooves once more, pushing through the pain and began to run away. Tony gave her a confused look as he tried to catch up to her but the moment he passed the fallen Corpse Flower, it shot out vines that wrapped around the ODST’s right arm and burrowed beneath the armor of his arm. “Hey! let go of me you overgrown salad bar!” Tony growled as he drew his combat knife and began hacking away at the vines as a larger one launched forward and slammed into his helmet, cracking the visor and stunning him. The force of the strike sent him down onto the mud and sent his firearms and knife away.
Chrysalis glanced back at the scene to see the unknown creature on the ground being attacked by the Corpse Flower as it was being pulled in slowly. She was about to keep running when she thought about the fact that the creature had saved her so the least she could do was return the favor.
Tony managed to compose himself as he blinked a few times as his helmet seemed to be stuck in it’s night vision mode as he started to pull against the vines, causing his right arm’s armor and under suit to begin split and peel away. Tony could see his top’s long sleeve as he suddenly got an idea before drawing a frag grenade from his belt and putting it in his right hand. Tony pressed the trigger tightly as he continued to pull away from the flower, causing his armor to continuously be peeled off. Tony was finding it more and more difficult to pull as his boots slipped in the mud until he felt a strange sensation wrap around his torso which pulled him backwards sharply. Tony gritted his teeth, hit shoulder feeling it was about to be ripped out of his torso as his shirt showed incredible durability.
He quickly looked around and saw his knife in the ground near him so he knelt down, took the blade and slashed at his arm, tearing the fabric and allowing the rest of the sleeve to tear as it was peeled away into the Flower with the rest of his arm’s equipment and the now smoking grenade.
Chrysalis pulled with all her magical might, flinging the armored being about 40 feet away from the Flower, making it land hard in the mud seconds before the Flower detonated in a way of floral gore, chunks of meat, shrapnel and pollen. The creature raised it’s oddly shaped right arm in front of it’s visor while curling up as shrapnel splattered the area he resided.
His armor held up against the high velocity metal pieces along with his arm though Tony felt several pieces pierce shallowly into his left arm, belly and legs. A few seconds passed before Tony lowered his arm and sat up, looking towards the ruined husk of the Corpse Flower before he pulled his helmet off. The man looked around, letting his eyes adjust to the light difference while he wrinkled his nose at the smell of the swamp.
Tony looked around and noticed the Changeling Queen he had just rescued watching him cautiously from the tree line. He gave her a 2 finger salute before pushing himself to his feet and inspecting himself, noticing several pieces of shrapnel sticking out of his armor and several more sticking out of his body shallowly. “Could have been worse.” Tony muttered as he picked up his helmet and attached it magnetically to his hip before he went to collect his weapons.
As the Trooper collected his weapons, he heard soft steps approaching him from behind. “Are you doing alright?” He asked as he turned to look at The Changeling Queen, who stopped in her tracks the moment they locked eyes.
“A...Ah yes i am, a bit sore but nothing serious.” She said as her eyes moved from his to inspect him until they moved to his right arm. “How can you move your arm if it stripped the flesh off?” She asked confused as Tony looked to his right arm and inspected the Prosthetic limb, noticing the scratches he had put into its surface with his knife.
“Don’t worry, it’s not a real arm, it's a prosthetic.” He said as he showed her the limb and wiggled it’s fingers.
“I haven’t seen any prosthetics that advanced, they are mostly wooden limbs.” She said approaching closer to Tony and reached out a hoof to poke his right arm.
“Well lets just say I come from a culture that is quite advanced.” Tony said as he wrapped his metallic fingers around her hoof and shook it. “Anthony by the way.”
She blinked at him confused for a few moments before smiling meekly and shaking his hand in return. “Chrysalis and Thank you for saving me.” She said as Tony let go of her hoof and smiled at her.
“No worries.” He said as he noticed the Corpse Flower slowly pulling itself back together. “We should probably have this conversation somewhere safer.” He added.
“Follow me, i have shelter.” Chrysalis stated.
“Alright just let me grab by bag first.” Tony said as he moved to the tree line and collected his rucksack. He quickly checked his equipment before returning to the Changeling, the adrenaline from the fight fading and the pain of his injuries beginning to set in made him hesitate slightly before he reached her. “Let’s go.” He said with a warm smile as he gestured for her to lead the way.
Crystal Empire Location - Crystal Palace Dining Hall Time - 7am
The dining hall was silent as the near dozen individuals sat in silence after the Princess ofLove had finished explaining what had transpired the day before. The shock of a creature falling from the sky and not only saving the kingdom and defeating Sombra was shocking but also the fact that it had left shortly after into the frozen tundra. The Alabaster and Midnight Blue Princesses listen with a mixture of curiosity and doubt as the recount was told, of the creature’s compassion and aggression.
The Alabaster Alicorn was most perplexed about the idea that the creature had crashed to the planet in a metal coffin which her student had mentioned that it originated from high atmosphere due to the heat damage on it. She had heard stories of creatures coming from the heavens to smite evil when they were desperately needed before they settled beyond Equestria’s borders. Their kind were the forefathers to Elves, Earthans and Gnomes which rarely traveled into Equestria.
“And you say it seemed sad?” Celestia asked, looking at Rainbow Dash with a curious look.
The Rainbow maned Pegasus suddenly blushed and shrank under the Alicorn’s gaze, unprepared for the sudden attention. “Well kinda, it had blood on it and when i asked if it was hurt and he said it was his friend’s and got down.” She explained as she rubbed her neck. “Oh and it’s name is Tony!” She added getting a raised eyebrow from Celestia and her Sister.
“Tony? That wasn't what i expected” Luna asked curious.
The sun was rising over the horizon as Tony and the Changeling Queen pierced the tree line and moved towards a relatively well-maintained Victorian-era home. It lay on the outskirts of a large town that was slowly waking to the new day, people of many different species were slowly leaving their homes to go to work. Ranging from ponies to even elves. Tony was a bit hesitant to enter the township but with further reinforcement from the Changeling the man pushed himself into the massive clearing towards her home, he was glad that it was early morning and that it was near deserted as they swiftly arrived at the building.
Chrys’s horn ignited, causing the door to open before she gestured with a nod for the ODST to enter the house, which he did with a brief hesitation. He was still unsure of if he had to follow the mysterious man’s instructions but after a few seconds of consideration, he entered the building, briefly followed by Chrys, who collapsed on a nearby couch, sighing of exhaustion.
The queen of Changelings managed to fall asleep within a few moments leaving the man in a state of awkwardness as to what to do as he placed his damaged helmet, rucksack, and long arms down. Did he try and wake her or did he simply rest with her and figure out what he was to do the moment he awoke with her also conscious. The thought drifted away quickly as there was a faint thud from the second floor, causing the man to look up to see a balcony for the second floor. Upon the floor was a shadow figure that quickly retreated once Tony saw it.
“I guess there isn’t any rest for the wicked” Tony stated while he stared at the location where the figure was moments ago before looking at Chrysalis, who was sleeping soundly on the sofa. “Better to deal with it now.” He muttered as he left the room and moved to the staircase he noticed when the pair entered the house.
Cautiously he ascended the staircase, his hand resting on his sidearm as he came to what appeared to be a secondary lobby on the second floor that overlooked the lounge room which Chrysalis was sleeping within. He inspected the balcony where he noticed the shadowy figure to find some ash residue on the carpet. He looked around the room and quickly noticed that the temperature had dropped severally to the point he could see his breath. He was still focused on the temperature change when he caught the briefest of movement in his peripheral vision, making him turn and look to see a door slowly opening with a faint squeak.
“Yea, totally not creepy.” He said as he pulled his magnum from his hip and checked a round was chambered before approaching the door. Once at the door, he took a quick breath before he quickly moved in and scanned the room. The room was pitch black save for the sunlight streams piercing the moth chewed curtains and the light coming from the doorway coming from behind Tony. The room appeared to be a large study with bookcases lining the walls that were filled with books along with a large wooden desk that sat at the opposite end of the room from Tony. a pair of couches sat in the middle of the room along with a coffee table that seemed to be made from the same wood as the desk.
Tony took a few slow deliberate steps in the room before the door behind him suddenly slammed shut and locked, making him glance behind him before returning his gaze to the room as something seized him by the neck and slammed him back against the door several feet off of the ground. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust enough to see the spectral creature before him that seemed to be wrapped in black flowing cloth that covered its body from head to toe save for its face and its hands. Its face was mostly covered in long wet black hair that covered all but it’s mouth
Its exposed skin was bluish pale in color and cold to the touch while its nails and lips were as black as night. It had long nails that were slowly digging into the ODST’s neck as he pressed his boot against the creature’s chest.
“YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE!” it hissed at him as Tony could feel the phantom begin feeding on what little energy he had left. It was at this moment that Tony remembered that he was holding his M6G Magnum as he leveled it with the creature’s head.
“Fuck off.” He growled at it as he pulled the trigger, sending the high speed 12x40mm round through its head with a loud bang quickly followed by the explosive round detonating the phantom's head. Blue flames and ashen tendrils were in the place of gore and blood as the creature was forced back several feet. Its grip loosened as it hit the floor, allowing the trooper to get free and move away from the vampiric wraith.
The wraith howled and screeched as its head slowly began pulling itself back together while its body rose from the ground once more. Without hesitation, Tony leveled his sidearm with the creature and placed his left hand onto the weapon also. The creature had barely reconstituted itself before Tony fired twice more at it, the first striking true against the creature's chest, blowing a decent-sized hole in its chest and sending it further back while the second slammed into its neck, nearly decapitating it. It wailed in a mixture of pain and anger as its head hung from its body by a few strands of cloth.
Smoke emitted from its wounds as it pulled itself back together once more as Tony continued to fire, emptying his magazine as four rounds hit their target, blowing large holes in its body and leaving its limbs dangling by threads of cloth while the fifth round missed and slammed into the window's curtain railing. The railing exploded into a shower of wood chips, metal and dust as the curtain crumpled to the floor and flooded the room with sunlight.
The spirit wailed in horror and agony as the sunlight came in contact with its body. The most recent wounds Tony inflicted upon its form stopped healing when the creature was drenched in sunlight as It attempted to move away from the light, inadvertently moving in front of the second window. Taking note of its reaction, Tony reloaded his weapon before he charged forward and spear tackled the vampiric spirit through the second window, only realizing that he was on the second floor once the pair had smashed through the window.
The phantom wailed as the two plummeted through the sunlight towards the ground as its body began to become incorporeal, resulting in it slipping out of Tony's grasp and retreating inside of the house. While this happened Tony was about to hit the ground when suddenly he stopped mid-air a few feet above the ground.
The ODST's body was encased in a vibrant green aura as he floated motionlessly. "Are you okay?" A nervous yet concerned voice asked. Tony would have looked at it if he could move as he was slowly lowered onto the ground and released from the aura.
"Yea, just dealing with a… I honestly don't know what that was." He said as he got to his feet looking at the house while rubbing his neck, which was tender to the touch.
"Looked like a Wraith, would make sense seeing the place is haunted." The voice said as a grape green unicorn mare with a braided vanilla mane stepped up next to him.
“Of course the place we decided to hold up was haunted," Tony growled as he rubbed his face.
"We?" The mare asked curiously.
"Yea myself and Chr… ah fuck." Tony started only to remember about the sleeping Changeling. He started walking back towards the house as the mare followed him until he heard the Changeling scream. "Fuck!" Tony shouted as he broke out into a sprint, ignoring the door and leaping through the Lobby's window.
Inside Chrysalis had awoken to the sound of gunfire and sat up. She was scanning the room for the Soldier as she heard wailing from above and the sound of shattering glass. "The heck?" She asked, confused.
"Abomination." She heard a voice hiss from above her, causing her to look up and see the Wraith slowly defending from the second floor, its body covered in heavy damage with blue flames writhing from the wounds. "You shall assist me." It said as it lowered itself quickly towards Chrysalis, pinning the weakened Changeling Queen to the couch and began to drain her.
The Changeling panicked and screamed in fear at the phantom, causing it to smile and revealing its curved black teeth. "Yes Scream, no one shall…" it started only to once again be interrupted as the window detonated and a wave of sunlight flooded the room. The Wraith recoiled in horror as it watched the ODST roll into the room, acquiring his sniper rifle before leveling it with the Wraith and firing. The powerful round found its home in the belly of the Wraith before it continued through, with enough force to bisect the phantom and throw it back into the darkness.
"Chrys, outside now," Tony ordered as he collected his gear before he noticed that Chrys could barely get up. "Hold on a sec." He said as he slung his sniper rifle and collected the Changeling before hopping back out the window.
"Is that a Changeling?!" The green mare asked in astonishment.
"Yeah, here she isn't doing too well." He said as he laid the barely conscious mare by the Unicorn before he unslung his weapons.
"Ah okay… I know that Changelings feed on emotions… mostly love so… ahh dang…" the unicorn said as she began to panic.
“Focus," Tony said, clicking his fingers. "First things first, how do I put this thing down?" Tony asked as he gestured to the house as he noticed the unicorn had a tattoo of several books and a magnifying glass on her hips.
"Ah dang… ah well, finding and destroying what binds them to this plane would allow it to die from any injury you deal… sunlight hurts them and also stops them regenerating… normally only magically infused weapons can hurt them but it would appear your weapons are powerful enough to counteract their immunities… also they regenerate by feeding on the souls of their victims" She explained while looking between Tony and the house as Tony nodded and checked his bag.
"Right, find the thing they live in. Destroy it and then what? Does it die or do I have to kill it?" Tony questioned as he took stock of his ammunition and noticed four purplish-blue orbs in his pack amongst his rations, pt clothes, and medical kit. "Why do I have… I mean I'm not made but still." He muttered as he pulled one of the Alien ordinances from the backpack and slipped it into one of his pockets. "Does it need to be fired or will extreme heat work?" Tony asked also as he removed all his magazines and inspected them.
"Ahh if I remember correctly, it will die after several hours if its totem is destroyed although it can extend this by feeding… I'm not sure about extreme heat but seeing as they innately cool the air around them then I think the heat may also work." The mare explained as she sat down next to Chrysalis and pulled her into a hug.
"What are you doing?" Tony asked as he glanced at the pair.
"Oh well as I said, Changelings feed on emotions and have to be in physical contact to feed, so I am hugging her to let her feed… mostly because she seems important to you and you are very frightening." She explained making Tony nod slowly before finishing his equipment stock take.
"One full magazine for the Sniper with a partial on loaded, two full Pistol magazines with a full-on loaded, and five full magazines of Assault Rifle ammo with one loaded." He muttered as he put his ammunition away before drawing his grenades. "Two left… shit I didn't even think about this." He growled at his poor rationing of munitions before flinging his bag and Sniper Rifle. "Look after her," Tony asked as he pulled his helmet on.
"Will do, be safe." The mare asked, gaining a nod from Tony before he entered the house with his AR raised. Scanning the sun-filled room, Tony noticed a trail of ash and burn marks leading to the basement.
"It's a start." He muttered as he approached quietly while scanning the area. His damaged helmet didn't pose an issue due to being stuck in his VISR mod. Upon reaching the door to the basement, he swung the door open to see total darkness before his VISR scanned the room and gave him a visual display of the room. This included the Wraith watching him from the roof, unaware that he could see it. He began to descend to stairs as he scanned the room, noticing a plethora of corpses that appeared to be mummified around a wooden carving of a woman. He noticed tendrils of cloth around the room that connected up to the wraith in the form of a trap. "Hmm fuck this." He muttered as he produced the Plasma Grenade, activated it before he lobbed it at the totem.
The glowing blue ordinances struck him on the chest of the totem and dropped to sit at its feet, gaining a scream from the wraith who appeared to be offended by the Trooper through stuff at its totem. "HOW DARE YOU! I'LL KI…" It screeched as it crawled along the roof towards him but was cut off once again by Tony.
"That's a bomb," Tony said pointing at the Plasma Grenade that was beginning to flare up. The wraith did a double-take before rushing for its idol. It got within 2 meters of its idol before the grenade detonated in a nearly 4-meter radius of blue flames, consuming the totem, wraith, and corpses while a wave of heat slammed into Tony and the rest of the room. Tony leveled his weapon at the explosion to see if the wraith survived as the room began to burn.
Tony was surprised when he saw the Wraith attempting to crawl away. The majority of its body was in ruin as it attempted to flee its burning nest. The trooper didn't say anything further as he walked down the steps and over to the phantom before he kicked it onto its back. It attempted to grab him with its remaining hand but Tony grabbed its wrist with his prosthetic hand. The servos in his hand whined faintly as his hand locked around the wrist of the monster as he slung his AR and drew his Magnum, aiming at its head and pulled the trigger.
The creature's head split like a watermelon before it quickly turned to ask, leaving behind little to no trace of it existing in the first place as Tony unlocked his hand. "Let's hope that's the end of that." He stated as he looked at the flames which were quickly dying away due to the lack of fuel in the basement. He waited until the flames had completely died before he exited the basement, holstering his weapon and removing his helmet as he did.
He emerged from the basement to hear a lot of commotion outside as he clipped his helmet to his waist. "Here we go." He muttered as he approached the window and stepped out while glancing at the green mare, the changeling, and the slowly forming crowd of people that had heard the explosion. They were a mix of ponies, dogs that stood on their hind legs, lean humans with pointy ears, short stout humans, and griffons.
The crowd gawked at the trooper and muttered amongst themselves as he slowly approached the green mare while hearing the crowd talk about him. “Did that Elf slay the wraith?” once asked.
“I don’t think that is an elf, look at his ears.” Another voice said.
“What is he wearing? Are those weapons?” a nearby griffon asked as a dog folk noticed his arm.
“What’s up with his arm?” The dog asked as it pointed at Tony’s prosthetic, making the man grit his teeth.
Tony quickly stopped and sighed quietly, he was exhausted, sore, and hungry along with being completely out of fucks as he drew his AR and raised it to the sky. The crowd continued to question each other until the roar of Tony’s weapon silenced them all as several hot shells landed onto the damp grass. “All of you quit your gossiping and fuck off,” Tony growled at the crowd, which quickly dispersed before he continued to Chrys and the Mare, who was looking at him in shock. “Wraith is dead, do you have any idea who the owner of this house is?” Tony asked as he slung his weapon once more and gestured to the house.
“Ah well, the funny thing is that the mayor had set up a reward for killing the wraith, which was the house… so it’s yours.” The unicorn replied.
“Oh… well that solves one issue… wish I knew that before leaping through the window.” He said, muttering the last part quietly before he looked at Chrysalis. “How are you doing?” He asked as he knelt so he was at eye level with her.
“Shaken but I'll survive.” She said quietly, gaining a nod from Tony.
“That is good.” He said with a smile as he looked at the mare. “My name is Anthony by the way.”
“Oh right, my name is Star Note, the local Biologist, and Librarian.” She said with a smile as she offered her hoof which Tony accepted. “It’s amazing to meet a Human in the flesh.” She said, gaining an odd look from the man.
With a tired groan, Tony landed onto the old couch with a content sigh as he leaned his head back. "I feel like death." Tony groaned loudly as he looked at the ceiling. He heard a similar noise come from next to him as Chrysalis climbed onto the couch and sat next to him.
"The feeling is mutual." She stated as she sluggishly held herself up.
"So Star, while we both have a metric ton of questions for each other… I'm exhausted and probably gonna sleep for the next day so can we pick this up like tomorrow?" Tony asked as he looked at the Mare.
"That's understandable, I'll speak to my sister about getting this place updated while you both rest." She said with a smile.
"Your sister?" Chrysalis asked curiously as Tony tiredly pointed at her in a manner that said he seconded her question.
"Yes well my sister is the Mayor, she is super nice and I'm sure she would be more than happy to assist you both in getting settled… though she will probably ask you to cull some monsters." Star explained as she gestured to Tony.
"Sure, that sounds agreeable." Tony said as he felt the Changeling Queen leaning against him.
"And she won't have an issue with me being here?" Chrysalis asked in a faintly venomous tone of voice. "She isn't going to report me to Celestia?" She asked, making Tony turn to look at the entity next to her with a confused look.
"No no, she wouldn't after I explain that you and your partner are here to help." Star replied, causing Tony and Chrysalis to look at each other.
"Eh, I don't know if I'd tap that." Chrys said with a smirk.
"I see how it is." Tony said with a chuckle.
"Wait, you both aren't a couple?" Star asked, making the pair shake their heads. "Oh, I'm sorry for assuming."
"It's fine." Chrys said as she shifted her body, leaning more of her weight against the human for support. “He has saved me a few times but we have only just met recently… like an hour or so.” She explained as Tony shifted, allowing for the Changeling to get more comfortable against him.
“This is simply because we are both exhausted,” Tony said as he gestured towards the closeness of the pair.
“Sure, well I'd best be off,” Star said as she climbed off her seat as Chrysalis’ horn ignited, causing the window to quickly repair itself.
“I have a question before you go, how do you know about Humans?” Tony asked the mare.
“Oh well it would take a huge amount of time to explain but the short story is that we have discovered many old sites that belonged to them where we have scavenged technology to integrate into our society.” Star Note explained as she gestured to the kitchen, lights, and vents on the walls. “They have made life easier for all species but most we haven't been able to explore due to being protected by some kind of unified automaton.” She explained as Chrys patted Tony’s knee, making him look at her.
“Alright, I'll ask you for more information tomorrow then,” Tony said as he took the Changeling’s hint.
"Okay, well I hope you both rest well," Star said with a nervous smile as she quickly left through the front door.
"Finally some peace and quiet," Chrys said with a tired sigh.
"Yea, I'm gonna go inspect the master bedroom to see what condition it's in," Tony said as he got up, causing Chrysalis to collapse on the couch.
"Don't leave me here." She asked him. Causing him to groan and pick up the Changeling after he collected his equipment. "Thank you." She said with a smile.
"Don't get used to it." He retorted with a chuckle before carrying her upstairs to search for the master bedroom. He felt like he was about to collapse from a mixture of exhaustion, pain, and the adrenaline in his system fading as he pushed open the third door to discover the main bedroom. The room was in decent condition with a massive king-sized bed, a large dresser, a large walk-in wardrobe, a small seating area in the corner by a bookshelf and fireplace, and a set of double doors leading to a balcony.
"Nice, the old owner paid for enchanted linen," Chrys said as Tony put her down.
"And that helps us how?" Tony asked as he followed the tired Changeling.
"Well they have been enchanted to not rot, spoil and they protect the mattress, blankets, and pillows with this magic also." She explained as she climbed onto the bed and stretched out.
"Alright, well I'm gonna find a…" Tony started before the door to the room was surrounded by Chrysalis' magic aura and closed. "Chrys."
"I'm sorry but I don't want to sleep in a room without you in it incised we are attacked." She explained as she patted the space next to her.
"That's fair, let me get changed," Tony said as he walked over to the edge of the bed and sat on it. "It feels like forever since I have taken this off," Tony said as he undid his chest plate, arm armor and dumped it on the floor. This was wrinkly followed by the top half of his undersuit, which he tossed across the room.
He sighed as he stretched, feeling the cold bite of the air against his skin. "Fuck it’s cold." He groaned while he stretched, causing several pops and cracks to be heard from his body as he felt weight against his back. He looked back to see Chrysalis had moved her body against his as she wrapped her hooves around his neck. "What are you doing?" Tony asked, confused.
"Helping, though I need to feed a bit before I can… if that's okay." She asked the ODST, who nodded to her.
"Sure, help away." He said as he patted her hoof before undoing his boots and removing them. "Fuck me." He groaned as he flexed his toes. "You have no idea how good that feels." He chuckled as he felt a warm sensation cover his body as he was covered in her aura.
"Hold still." The Changeling instructed as the shards of shrapnel pushed themselves from Tony's body before flying into a floating orb in front of the pair. He watched as the wounds healed quickly before the green aura faded. "There, that should help." She said in an exhausted tone as the orb was compressed and placed onto the bedside table as a solid mass of material.
"Thank you, you can start feeding now if you like. Tony replied as he patted her hoof.
"I have been, like, quite solidly draining you… you didn't notice?" Chrys asked, confused.
"Wait really? Aren't I meant to get super exhausted like how Star Note did?" He asked her.
"Yea… normally." She replied.
"Huh, well I guess if it doesn't exhaust me, then I guess I may be a good source of food for you." Tony chuckled sarcastically.
"Wait, you're willingly offering to be a source of Emotion for me?" She asked, shocked, gaining a shrug from the man.
"Sure, I don't currently have a use for it at the moment so go ham." He said as he removed his leg armor.
"Why's that?" She asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"It's a long story, like really long… and I don't really want to be a buzzkill right now so maybe another time." He said as he turned his head to look at her. "Besides I gotta change my pants." He said as he patted her hoof, causing her to let go of him as he stood up. He walked over to his rucksack and pulled out his PT shorts before he walked to the ensuite.
"What are you doing? I thought you were changing?" She asked him confused.
"Well, believe it or not, I'm not super keen on getting naked in front of a woman I just met, even if she is from another species," Tony explained, gaining a snort of amusement from the mare before entering the bathroom and closing the door behind him.
The room was dim, only lit by a few fogged windows and a fogged skylight. "Fuck." Tony sighed as he rubbed his eyes, trying to process the last day. He stood for a few minutes before he checked the shower and discovered that there was working plumbing and hot water. "Nice." He said with a smile before he removed his pants and underwear. "Need a towel before I can shower." He muttered as he pulled on his shorts and inspected the room.
"What's taking so long?!" He heard the Changeling Queen call out.
"We have running hot water and decent pressure with the shower, just looking for a towel!" He called out as he heard the door open behind him.
"Wait really?" She asked surprised.
"Yea really." He replied as he checked another cabinet and discovered towels. "And we have towels." He added with a smirk.
"Oh my stars, I'm having a bath." She announced excitedly while trotting over to the bath.
"What happened to being exhausted?" Tony asked with a chuckle as he leaned against the counter.
"I was but then I fed on you and well let's just say you're very filling," Chrys explained with a smirk and a wink, gaining a hollow chuckle from Tony.
"Good to know," Tony said as he dumped two towels on the counter before inspecting himself in the mirror. His eyes drifted across his chest and arm at the myriad of scars and burns, coupled with a few tattoos, ranging from insignia to a tattoo of a planet over his heart. His fingers traced his body where the shrapnel had been as he heard the water running behind him.
"You know, I'd you want I can make the rest go away." He heard Chrysalis say tenderly behind him, making him smile as he touched the heavy bruising around his neck from the wraith.
"It's alright, I have had many chances to have them repaired but I have kept them as a reminder that I'm a survivor." He said as he glanced back at the Mare, who smiled at him. "I'm curious, how good are you at shape-changing?" Tony asked curiously as he turned and sat on the bench.
"Well, I am an extraordinary Changeling Queen, one of the few that could successfully shapeshift and mimic an Alicorn." She said in a prideful tone, achieving short applause from the marine.
"Can you turn into bipeds?" He asked curiously.
"You know I haven't tried, maybe one day." She said with a coy smirk. "I mean if you are lucky." She added, making them both chuckle as She climbed into the bath and gave a satisfied sigh. "This is amazing, care to join?" She asked with a smirk.
"As much as I would love to, I fear I'd fall asleep in it." He responded with a smirk of his own as he got up and walked past her.
"Really? That's your only reason for not climbing into this bath with me?" She asked curiously along with a smirk.
"Yea, I don't wanna fall asleep in the bath." He repeated with a smile as he exited the room and walked over to his bag. He collected it and sat on the edge of the bed with it before opening a side pocket to grab one of the 24-hour MRE and proceeded to prepare it and consume it. He left a few packs of chocolate, fruit drink mix, and coffee aside for when he woke up as he finished the rest of the pack. "Really can't nail chili, can they?" He complained chuckling to himself. He collected the remaining pair of rations packs and dumped them on the bedside table.
“Let’s see what I packed, can't really remember what I put in here since Reach,” he muttered as he put his bag onto the bed and began emptying its contents, finding the medical supplies he packed on the Autumn, the plasma grenades, a spare sets of his combat undersuit, a small pack of tools, some underwear, a spare full canteen a few small bottles of pills and a few pictures. Upon finding the pictures, the man felt his chest tighten before he put them back into his pack. “I can’t… I need to keep… I don't know.” He sighed as he ran his hands through his hair before he collapsed backward onto the bed. “What is the actual fucking point anymore?” he asked the room, which responded with a deafening silence. “Why am I still fighting when I have nothing left?” He growled as he clenched his fists and sat up. He could feel himself getting agitated as he went over all the choices that led him up to his current point.
“Fucking should have made that wizard send me home… Doubt he would have… not that I even have a fucking home anymore.” He quietly hissed as he stood up off the bed. “I should have protected my team in the Autumn better, but I wasn't good enough and…” He growled as he noticed his helmet laying on the floor before he walked over to it and collected it off the ground. “I should have gone to earth with the boys but my god damn fucking pride got in the way and now she is dead and I’m ALONE!” He shouted as he threw the helmet at the wall with enough force to get it lodged in the drywall.
He took several short rapid breaths as he glared at the new wall decoration, “I should have been better, should have been stronger… I should…” He continued his rant, his voice beginning to shake like his body began to. “ I should have been a better Father and Husband when I had the chance.” He said quietly as he stood there for several minutes before his eyes slowly drifted to his magnum that lay with the rest of his equipment. “What’s stopping me?” he asked as he walked over to it and collected it before he returned to the bed, sitting on its edge near his rucksack. He sat there quietly while inspecting the weapon, repeatedly having the barrel of the weapon pointed towards him. “Just a simple pull of the trigger and bang, no more problems.” He said with a somber smile, which quickly melted away as he lowered the weapon. “Anna wouldn’t be too happy with me if I did.” He signed as he removed the magazine and pulled the slide back, ejecting the remaining round in the weapon. “Besides, I doubt that wizard would hold true to our deal if I popped myself,” he said as he dumped the weapon on the bedside table with the pile of food.
He continued to sit in silence for what felt like an eternity before he repacked his backpack, save for one of the bottles of pills and his canteen. “At least I packed these,” he muttered as he popped the bottle and retrieved two oval pills, put them in his mouth, and washed them down with a few gulps of water. “Should help me sleep.” He muttered as he hid the bottle of pills and properly got into the bed.
He stretched out on the large bed, silently thanking the universe that it wasn't pony-sized as his body began to go numb and his consciousness began to fade. As he was about to fall asleep he heard the bathroom door open. "That was quick," Tony called out.
"Quick? I was there for nearly two hours." Chrys replied as she climbed onto the bed.
"Really? Huh, fair." He said as the mare rolled her eyes before her horn flared, lifting the covers off of Tony. "What are you doing?" He asked her as she moved over him and lowered herself on top of him.
"I want to completely feed and I think we both need someone to cuddle as well." She explained as she laid her body on his, her hips against his with her hindlegs holding him tightly. Her front legs wrapped around his neck as she rested her head next to his while he wrapped his prosthetic arm around her.
"Yea I guess that's true, just let me know if my arm gets uncomfortable for you." He said, gaining a nod of approval as he felt the changeling hold him tightly.
"Okay." She said quietly as she noticed the man’s helmet sticking out of the wall. “Ah what happened?” She asked, gesturing to it, gaining a shrug.
“Wanted to decorate.” He replied sluggishly before he passed out.
“That doesn’t help” She grumbled as she used her magic to remove the piece of equipment and repair the hole it made. “I was expecting an actual answer from you, not sarcasm.” She said with an annoyed tone of voice as she placed the helmet onto his armor before getting comfortable and quickly falling asleep.
Equestra. Location - Sanctuary Time - 1pm
Chrysalis awoke with a start, her horn flaring as she sat up, sweat forming on her brow as she glanced around the dimly lit room. Her breathing was erratic as she scanned the room for threats only to find nothing but the Human that saved her life still restrained between her thighs. She allowed herself to relax as she inspected the soldier beneath her before noticing she had changed.
"Wow, I would have expected this to take longer, I guess he is a good source of food." She said as she inspected her limbs, noticing that the holes were completely gone. Her body was more filled out to a similar body shape to Princess Celestia if not a little thicker in places. "I haven't felt this good in a while." She said with a smile as she flexed her wings before noticing the man beneath her shiver slightly from the sudden lack of her body heat. She shifted and carefully laid back down his chest. Doing her best not to put too much of her renewed weight on him. "I'm happy you found me." She said quietly as she nuzzled him, gaining a groan from the man.
She laid there watching him sleep for a few moments before her eyes drifted to the bruising on his neck, causing her to remember the wraith attacking her and how helpless she felt. "I'll protect you as you have for me." She promised him quietly as her horn flared, causing the bruising to quickly heal. "I wonder how you will react to how I look now?" She asked him quietly with a smile before her mind drifted to the nightmare she had. "I also hope Celestia doesn't find us." She said as she gently squeezed the man. She was about to fall asleep when she faintly heard knocking from downstairs and a voice calling out.
"Hello! Anyone home?!" A voice called out, making the Changeling groan. "It has even been 12 hours yet." She growled quietly as she climbed out of the bed and used her magic to cover the human with the covers. "I'll be back." She said to the softly snoring man before teleporting to the front. Her frustrations at being taken away from the warm bed were quickly destroyed by shock as she pulled open the door fully.
Outside the house was a group of ponies, 6 were dressed as Solar Guards, they were armed with spears and swords, and were mostly unicorns. The seventh alabaster unicorn stallion was dressed in similar golden armor with purple trim to it.
Besides the mob of guards was a pair of mares. One was Star Note wearing a pair of saddlebags and smiling sheepishly at the Changeling while standing next to a second unicorn mare with a vanilla coat and grape green mane that was tied back in a bun. She wore a pair of silver glasses on her nose and had a pair of saddlebags on as well which covered her cute mark. Star Note mouthed an apology as Chrysalis' eyes drifted to the radiant form of the Alabaster Alicorn that stood behind the entire crowd. The Alicorn's magenta eyes quickly locked with the Changeling's as she smiled.
"It has been a while, Chrysalis. You are looking well" Princess Celestia said in a warm tone of voice as the alabaster unicorn guard gave the Queen a venomous look.
"Crap," Chrysalis said loudly before glaring at Star Note.
"Oh don't blame her, I have been monitoring your movements since you were blasted away," Celestia explained as she stepped forward.
"Wait what? You have?" Chrysalis asked, confused. "Then why have you suddenly decided to rock up?" She asked.
"Well simply put, you are with a creature I would very much like to meet." The princess explained, gaining an untruthful look from Chrys.
"Why?" She asked, cautious of the monarch's motives.
"I shall explain, but first may we come inside for some tea. I have brought some with me and some snacks." Celestia explained.
"Okay, but they stay outside." Chrysalis accepted while pointing at the Guards.
"Naturally," Celestia replied, her smile never leaving her face.
"Princess, you can't trust…" the alabaster guard attempted to warn but was stopped by the Alicorn as she raised her wing.
"Shining please, Chrysalis is restored so honestly, you all wouldn't make much difference if I am being honest," Celestia explained politely, much to the visible offense the stallion took. "So wait out here, beside we can't have your history clouding the judgment of any decisions made." She added in a polite yet direct tone of voice without breaking eye contact with the Changeling.
"Yo… yes your highness." He begrudgingly agreed while taking a step back.
"Wonderful. Now shall me?" Celestia said while gesturing inside with a nod.
"Sure, but any funny business and you are out." Chrysalis threatened.
"Naturally." She replied with a kind smile before the two unicorns and the princess entered the house. Once inside the house, Celestia used her golden magic to close the door as the group walked into the sitting door.
"Also I'd advise not to be loud," Chrysalis said as Celestia walked next to her.
"Of course, you are my host." She explained as she sat down on the couch along with Chrysalis while the two mares nervously sat in armchairs. While Celestia was being polite, an aura of power surrounded her.
"I have to say, it is a nice place you have here, a bit run down but a fixer-upper." Celestia compliments in a coy tone of voice as her horn glowed faintly. The sight of her horn glowing made the Changeling tense up moments before a low mahogany coffee table appeared in the room with trays of finger food, a large teapot, and several cups. "As much as I would love to small talk, I doubt you want to," Celestia said as she floated a biscuit to her mouth.
"Your doubts are correct," Chrysalis replied as she eyed the platter, raising an eyebrow at some containing cooked meat. The Solar Princess noticed and smiled politely.
"I had those prepared for our Human friend seeing as they are omnivorous." She explained as she poured four mugs of tea with her magic.
"How do you know that?" Chrysalis asked, curious as she accepted one of the mugs as it hovered in front of her.
"Well, I have been alive for many, many centuries and I have seen much." She said as she sipped her tea, causing Chrys to sip her own. "The last time I encountered a living Human would have been about 400 years ago, give or take a couple of decades… she was delightful," Celestia explained, reminiscing for a few moments. "She died, however, as a majority of humans do."
"Old age?" Star Note asked, gaining a somber look from Celestia.
"Oh heavens, I wish that was the case but no. " The princess started as she lowered her mug. "Unfortunately it is due to Magical intolerance. Humans from realms where magic is foreign don't tend to live longer than a few months unless direct action is taken." She explained, gaining the full attention of the room.
"And what would that action entail?" The unnamed unicorn asked.
"Simple, during a moment of near-death DNA of a decently magical person is introduced into the body before the human is magically healed. They are left in a place of great magical power in hopes that their body absorbs it correctly." Celestia explained.
"And if they don't absorb it correctly?" Star asked curiously as she was scribbling down notes.
"Oh well, they detonate." She replied bluntly, causing the three other mares to look at her in shock.
"Come again?" The unnamed unicorn asked.
"Their body absorbs the magic, but it isn't integrated into their cells. Which results in large amounts building up until they explode in a dangerous flare of magic. " Celestia explained further. "That's if the initial transfusion works, which it doesn't always." She added as she ate another biscuit.
"Wait, hold up a second, so are you telling me that he is going to die but going through the method to save his life could also kill him?" Chrysalis asked, trying to quickly organize the facts she was given.
"Yes, unfortunately, first we need to find a sufficiently powerful magically inclined individual but not too powerful as that will reduce his chances even further, also it can't just be a regular Unicorn because the average range of power is simply not enough for this method," Celestia explained.
"Wait, how come we can't use somepony who is powerful like an alicorn or Changeling Queen?" Chrysalis asked curiously, gaining a sigh from Celestia. "You attempted it with that female Human didn't you?"
"Of course, I was head over hooves for her and wanted to save her… it didn't end well," Celestia said, deflating for a moment before shaking her head. "Anyways, I have a few leads on some sufficiently powerful individuals," Celestia said to the Changeling.
"Okay, but why are you putting so much effort into a person you haven't even met?" Chrysalis asked.
"Well that's simple, he saved my niece so in turn, I shall do what is in my power to save him." She replied in a determined tone of voice.
“Alright, but what's going to happen to me?” Chrys asked as she placed her teacup on the table.
“It all depends on the Human’s response, seeing as he is asleep I shall return at the later point.” She said as she finished her drink. “Do try to stay out of trouble,” Celestia remarked as she got off the couch. “I’d hate to see you be swatted once more.” She added before she vanished in a radiant flash of light, along with the table, the two mares, and presumably the group of guards outside.
“Bitch.” Chrysalis hissed at where the Alicorn just was. “She must have an ulterior motive to just return a favor.” She added as she got off the couch. Her horn ignited in a brilliant green fire as she created a powerful hidden barrier around the house to stop the Alicorns from watching them or teleporting in.
“That should hopefully keep both Sun and Moon out.” She stated as she walked to the front door, enchanting it to stop it from being forcibly entered along with the windows. Once she had made some rounds of the entire house, she returned to the master bedroom to discover her roommate where she left him. “I have a feeling that nightmare earlier was Moon bitch waking me up to talk to her sister.” She growled loudly, gaining a noise of complaint from the human as he sluggishly sat up and rubbed his face. “Sorry, I didn't realize I was being noisy.”
“No, it wasn’t you… I was having a weird-ass dream about moons, a blue horse, and gorillas when it suddenly ended.” He explained as he blinked slowly and inspected the Changeling. “You got fat.” He added as the pillow next to him suddenly flew into the side of his face with a loud crack. “Ow”
“Don’t be rude, this is what I normally look like… when I'm not starving,” Chrysalis said in a hurt tone of voice.
“Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting to wake up and see a thicc horse.” He added with a chuckle.
“Thick?” She asked, confused.
“Yep, with two Cs,” He said with a chuckle as Chrysalis simply stared at him in utter confusion.
“I… what?” She asked
“I’ll explain another time, so who’s a bitch?” he asked as he stretched and yawned.
“Oh just… well… I just had a meeting with Princess Celestia, who runs this country with her sister, Princess Luna.” She explained to Tony, who nodded slowly.
“Okay cool… I have no idea who those people are but okay.” Tony nodded.
“That’s fair, so pretty much Celestia wants to save your life because you saved her niece.” She explained.
“Okay… and why does she need to save me?” He replied as he scratched his chest.
“Well, because you may be suffering from Magical Intolerance which is apparently fatal,” Chrys explained.
“Oh okay, and how is she going to do that?” Tony asked curiously.
“Well by nearly killing you and putting you through a procedure which has a decent chance of killing you and then putting you in a magically rich area and hoping you don’t explode,” Chrysalis explained to him, as he looked at her as if she just told him she was pregnant with his kid. He sat there looking at her face to see if she was joking and when he got no sign of her teasing he ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath.
"This is a lot to work with." Tony said as he laid on his back while staring at the dull grey ceiling. He would have happily fallen back asleep before but now his mind was now aflame with what Chrysalis had just explained to him.
He rubbed his face with his left hand as he sat up once more. “I understand that it is a fair bit to take on all of a sudden.” Chrysalis said softly as the man got out of the bed and stretched.
“Yea but still… fuck sake, like how am i meant to process this?” He asked as he ran his left hand through his hair as he suddenly felt a weight against his hip. He looked down to see the Changeling giving him a soft smile.
“I wish I could give you an answer but I can't.” She replied, gaining a soft hollow chuckle from the man.
“It’s alright… I need some air so you can rest until I get back.” Tony said as he stepped away from her, collecting his backpack as he did and entered the bathroom. He heard her attempt to protest but he simply closed the door and sighed. “It's one thing after another… Well, I guess I can go around town looking for anyone who needs help or just go to the mayor to see if she has anything.” He said to himself as he dumped his bag on the counter and turned on the shower.
Once he got the water just the way he wanted it, he stripped and climbed in and enjoyed the feeling of actually being able to clean himself after what felt like an eternity. Under the steady stream of steaming water Tony rested his forearms against the wall and pressed his head against the cold tile wall. The cold ceramic seemed to help his thoughts congregate into a form which he could work through them as the hot water sprayed down onto his back.
"Why can't shit be simple?" He asked softly to the empty room before he sighed and washed himself. He began to formulate a plan for the day, first find some work then go see the Mayor and then chase up Star Note for information. He nodded to his plan before stepping out of the shower and drying himself off. "Alright… hopefully someone is having a shitty enough day that they need my help." He said as she got dressed in his spare undersuit and underwear. He inspected his attire before he opened the bathroom door to see his armour floating above the ground in a familiar green aura. "What are you doing Chrys?" He asked as he stepped out, looking at the Changeling.
"I am reaching into the ether to find an imprint of what this armour was like 24 hours ago." She explained as the armour slowly repaired itself.
"That's awesome… So what can you do that infinitely?" Tony asked as she lowered his equipment onto the bed.
"Unfortunately no, there are multiple conditions that are required before I can, such as this technique has a range of 24 hours and 20 miles." She explained, gaining a nod from Tony.
"I see, but still that is incredibly helpful." He replied before noticing the mare sweating. "You okay?" He asked as she walked over and placed a hand on her.
"Yea… just this technique takes a lot of magical energy and the fact that I don't know what the items are made of or how they are made meant it was even more draining." She said as she leant against him for support.
"Thank you." He said warmly to her as she stroked her side, gaining a few murrs of approval.
"This is nice." She added with a smile before shaking her head. "I'm coming with you." She added.
"Chrys, i…" he started before she looked at him with a frown.
"Like Tartarus am I going to let you go out into a town by yourself with no knowledge of any of the races that reside here." She explained to him, making him sigh.
"Fuck it, I'm not gonna argue with you, so do what you wish." He said as he stood up and walked over to the bed and began putting on his armour and boots.
"Good boy, now what do you wanna do first?" She asked him as she hopped onto the bed next to him as he pulled on his chest piece.
"Well first we need money so I was gonna look for people who need help…" Tony started before a flash of green light filled his vision as a weight landed in his lap. He heard the jingle of metal against each other as he looked down at his lap to find a large sack of coins.
"I have a bit of a horde from when I turned into a dragon… downside of changelings is that if we turn into powerful creatures then we have a chance to take on aspects of the creature." She explained.
"Okay. So this is this world's currency… interesting." He spoke in a curious tone of voice as he picked up a couple of coins before he stopped. "Wait Dragon!"
"Yea, I was apparently pretty… Thicc." She said with a coy smirk.
"I shouldn't have taught you that word." He chuckled as he put the bag next to him.
"What? You don't want to see a thick Dragoness?" She teased him as the man thought for a second.
"I didn't but now that you mentioned it… maybe later." He explained with a chuckle as he waved his hand. "Anyways, back on topic. Seeing we have funds, we can focus on seeing the Mayor to see if there is anything we can do to make her more willing to accommodate us seeing I'm guessing we are both a rarity." He explained, gaining a nod from the Queen.
"That's an understatement." She added.
"Yea, and lastly we go see Star Note and get some answers to my questions." He said in a decisive tone of voice.
"And then if we have time, we go shopping." Chrys added.
"Yea… wait what do we need?" He asked her.
"Well when I was setting up the barriers for the house I noticed most of the house was in poor condition so we currently need a brand new Kitchen, furniture, new carpet and other shit like that." She explained gaining a curious look from the man.
"When did you start saying shit?" He asked her as she rolled her eyes.
"I picked it up from you… you are a bad influence on me" She said as she jabbed his side with her hoof, making him jump.
"I see how it is." He replied with a smirk as he finished putting on his equipment and stood up. "Shall we?" He asked her with a smile.
"Of course." She replied with a smile as she put the bag of coins into the man's rucksack. "You get to carry that though." She added with a cocky smirk.
"Oh geez thanks." He replied with a chuckle as she hopped.
"Come on, we don't have all day." She replied while looking at the man.
"Yea yea I know." He said as he pulled on his backpack, collected his weapons, including the discarded magazine and bullet before he walked over to the door with her.
"Is that necessary?" She asked him as the pair exited the room and moved down the stairs.
"The last fight we were ambushed when we were trying to relax so from now on, guns stay with me at all times." He said as he put the magnum round back into its magazine and loaded it into the weapon.
"This is true, but now I'm fully restored so we don't have to worry about that." She replied.
"And what if we encounter something resistant to your magic?" He asked her.
"I mean it's unlikely but not impossible. Also those are called guns?" She asked, gesturing to the man's weapons.
"Yea, that's one name for them." He said as the person reached the front door, to which he opened the door for them and closed it behind them. "Ah… we don't have a key, how do we lock it?" He was confused as Chrys' horn ignited and a series of clicks were heard within the door. "Ah, well let me rework the question… how do I get in without a key?" He asked.
"I guess you will have to keep me around." She said with a chuckle as she bumped his waist with her hips. "Let's go, we don't have all day." She exclaimed as Tony followed her into the Township. It was a decently sized town that appeared to be in the middle of reconstructing large portions of the buildings that appeared burnt.
There were streets that appeared to be completely void of buildings save for blackened foundations and ash. The smell of sulphur and soot hung in the air as the pair moved to the town centre where fewer buildings appeared damaged. The residents watched the pair with caution as they moved, it was clear that Tony's act earlier didn't go over well with them. The pair soon reached a large fountain in the centre of the town, to where Chrysalis stopped and sat down on the concrete edge.
"Looks like this town has been through hell." Tony said as he looked around, noticing what appeared to be the bank had dozens of guards around the entrance. The guards were a large group of ponies. Several of the pegasus pony guards were harnessed up to carriages out front of the bank.
"Yes, by the looks of it, it was most likely a Dragon." She explained as she looked to the bank. "Maybe this wasn't a good day to come to the centre." She said, gaining a confused look from Tony.
"What? Why?" He asked her.
"That damage is recent… and looks like they are attempting to move money out of the bank to reduce the chance of another attack… However, by the looks of the bank, I'm guessing it's enchanted to protect against it." She said as she gestured to the pristine porcelain white walls. Tony inspected the building as a large group of guards came out holding chests of what he suspected was coin.
"So what you're saying is that the Dragon may be waiting for this to happen?" Tony asked as she gestured to the carriages.
"Most likely, so I'm gonna teleport us back to the house and we are gonna leave." She said as her horn ignited but she stopped when Tony raised his hand.
"No... if we want them to trust us then we will help them." He said as she checked his weapons before approaching the guards.
"Tony!" She called out to him as he ignored her. "I fear he will be the death of me." She said as she galloped after him.
"Don't come any closer!" One of the Earth pony guards said to Tony as she noticed him when he was about twenty feet away.
"Hey, don't mean to cause trouble, but wondering if you need some extra security?" He asked in a light tone of voice with a polite smile on his face.
"Right, well as you can see we have plenty of guards here and besides what can one elf do?" She asked him as Chrysalis arrived by the man's side.
"I'm not an elf and I'm not alone." He said as he gestured to Chrys.
"Don't rope me into this." She said as the guard looked at her with surprise.
"Wait, is that a Changeling Queen?" She asked.
"Yes I am, is there an issue with that?" Chrys asked back while partially using Tony as cover.
"No, it's just we got a briefing from the captain about one taking up residence in the haunted house with an unknown warrior that took out the wraith." She said as her gaze shifted back to Tony and pointed a talon at him. "Was that you?" She asked.
"Yea that's me, I have a reputation for putting down things that are hard to kill." He explained.
"Ahhh give me a sec and I'll go ask the Captain." She said as she held up her hoof before she turned and looked around. She noticed someone in the crowd of guards that were loading chests into the carriages. "Captain! I have an issue!" She called out.
"Look at you, causing trouble and we haven't even been in town for 30 minutes." Chrys said as she stepped out from behind Tony.
"I try my best to set records." He replied with a chuckle as a stone grey Unicorn stallion clad in silver armour similar to the rest of the guards walked over. His armour was trimmed with magenta colour metal that was heavily scratched away. His left eye had an eye-catching over it with several long claw marks along that part of his face.
"What's the issue Private?" He asked in a calm yet direct tone of voice as Tony felt Chrysalis take his hand and tug him backwards.
"We can still leave." She offered it to him.
"Sir, this individual has offered his support... it also appears that he is the one that killed the wraith on the edge of town." She reported while gesturing to Tony.
"So it does." He said as he looked Tony up and down with his steel colour eye before he nodded. "Captain Stone Wall." He introduced himself with a nod.
"Anthony Bell." Tony replied with a nod. “And I am more than willing…” Tony started before The captain gave a loud snort, cutting him off.
“Right, like anypony could help, you have to be a specially trained guardsman to do this.” Stone Wall declared as he puffed his chest out. “Besides, we don’t want the likes of a bugbucker in our mits.” Stone Wall said in a disgusted tone as he turned away while gaining a few sneer remarks and chuckles from the crowd of guards
“Bugbucker?” Tony asked, confused as Chrys looked upset by the term.
“Why yes, you seem to have that terrorist hanging around you and the only logical reason is that you are bucking her.” The private said while chuckling louder as several of the other guards continued their vulgar remarks about the Changeling.
Chrys could feel her face turning pink as she listened to their laughter while tears began to form on the edges of her eyes. She was about to pull Tony away to leave when she heard a barely audible sound of metal squeezing against itself. She looked to Tony and could feel an overwhelming cold sensation that she could identify but had felt when the ODST had fought the Corpse Flower and Wraith.
“You know what, you are right, you don’t need my help.” Tony said in a cold tone before he turned and began walking away as he continued to hear several remarks being thrown at him, some even by the captain himself.
“So what’s the plan now?” Chrysalis asked the man as she could feel the coldest melt away to anger.
“Ah, fuck well… shit how about he go see the Mayor.” Tony replied as he composed himself, gaining a nod from the Changeling as he placed a hand on her neck. “You alright?” He asked her.
“I-i’ve heard worse.” She replied while leaning against him.
“I’m sorry.” He said in a compassionate tone of voice while giving her neck a gentle scratch as she remained quiet. “Let’s go.” He said as he pulled his hand away and began walking to a large ornate building that he guessed was the town hall. He heard the sound of the Changeling walking next to him along with her clearing her throat.
“I thought you were going to hit them.” Chrys said to him.
“I was tempted if I'm honest.” He replied as they passed a few market stalls.
“Why didn’t you?” She asked him with a mixture of curiosity and disappointment.
“Simple, if they think that they are able to defeat whatever did this to an entire town then who am i to stop them.” He explained to her with a shrug.
“But you went to offer your help to them.” Chrys added.
“And they refused and attempted to insult me so fuck’em” Tony replied with a cold tone of voice as they arrived at a sore set of steps leading up to the Townhall that had large baby blue banners which depicted a pair of Alicorns circling a sun and moon with stars bordering them.
“They are going to die.” Chrys added in a calm tone of voice.
“Yea probably but hey, they didn’t want our help and that's on them, if the dragon returns then i will try my hand at killing it but if i can’t then we can leave.” Tony explained to her as they walked up the stairs.
“Alright, that sounds like a solid plan… and I know a few places that we could go.” She replied to him as he held the oak doors open for her. “Oh, thank you.” She said with a smile as she entered with him following behind her. Passing the door was a medium sized room with a teal couch against the western wall with a coffee table covered in magazines in front of it. A bookcase sat along the eastern wall and a desk opposite the entrance where a Unicorn sat. She had a faded pink coat with a short indigo mane that was tied back in a bun. Off the sides of her desk were doors leading to the rest of the building. She looked up from what had her focus on her desk and looked the pair over. Behind her sat a large bookcase, filing cabinet and a large noticeboard with several flyers pinned to it.
“Hello, how may I help you?” She asked with a dulcet voice, her bright honey coloured eyes watching the pair.
“We are here to possibly see the Mayor.” Tony explained as he stepped forward.
“Alrighty, do you have an appointment?” She questioned as her horn glowed followed by the sound of a book opening.
“No we don't, is it possible to book one?” Tony asked her as he reached the counter.
“Let's see.” She started as she looked through the pages and frowned. “Looks like she is pretty booked up for this week… the earliest I can do is Thursday next week.” She explained gaining a frown from Tony.
“Damn… what is today?” He asked, gaining a confused look from the mare as she glanced at a hidden item on her desk.
“It’s Wednesday.” She replied as she returned her gaze to the man.
“Shit, welp not much we can do… Can I book one for Thursday next week then?” He asked her politely.
“Certainly, does 2:30 pm work for you?” She asked him as her horn glowed a vibrant yellow color and a pen lifted up, surrounded in her aura.
“That works for me.” Tony replied to her as he glanced back at Chrys, who was seated on the couch with a magazine she had discovered on the coffee table.
“Wonderful, may I get your name sir?” She asked him.
“Anthony Bell.” He told her.
“Spectacular, alright you are all booked in Mr Bell.” She said with a smile
“Thank you, also what's with the board?” He asked, pointing to the notice board, causing the mare to turn her head and glace at the notice board.
“Oh, that is our Bounty Board, it's set up so any Bounty Hunters or Mercenaries can easily collect work.” She explained, gaining a nod from the man. “Granted this isn’t all of the notices, just the ones that offer large enough rewards to garner attention.” She explained as Tony walked closer to it to inspect it.
“So there are more than these four?” He asked while reading a few.
“Yes, quite a few but I won't be handing them out to just anyone… I want to make sure the individual doing them is trustworthy.” She explained to Tony as the man’s eyes stopped on one notice that was for a Stallion.
Wanted
Thread Stake
Alive - 80,000 Bits
Dead - 100 bits
“Alright, well how about this one?” Tony asked as he pointed to the notice, noticing the mare visibly deflate.
“Oh, the bounty for Mr Stake… that bastard of a noble’s bounty continuously reappeared after each capture… all for different crimes.” She explained as Tony plucked the notice from the board.
“Who keeps putting the bounty up for such a huge margin of difference?” Tony asked, confused.
“Mr Thread’s brother, I don't understand why it's a dead or alive order when it’s quite obvious that he is wanted alive.” She explained as Tony walked back in front of her.
“Okay, kinda weird.” He said looking at the image of a Alabaster unicorn Stallion with a vibrant red mane. Below the picture was a sketch of the stallion’s Cutie mark. “Any idea what this guy has done this time and the previous times?” He asked, causing the mare to look around the room, locking her eyes on Chrys, who was reading a magazine. She leant forward close to Tony.
“He is a Rapist, murder and pretty much every evil bucking thing under the sun that has ruined a mare’s life... the only reason he isn’t in jail or dead is because of his brother.” She explained quietly, gaining a nod from Tony.
“Right… on an unrelated note, how do I submit a dead bounty?” Tony asked her while scratching his chin
