People think that strength comes from many different things: bravery, confidence, protection, spirit, justice. Anything they want it to be. But you can break it down as much as you'd like, it's all the same. Power is the one and only thing to give you strength. And my dream is to be the strongest there is. So imagine my surprise when a red haired woman says she can grant that dream. Now I'm stuck in a world or multi-colored ponies, and I'm no longer human, but an anthromorphic phoenix instead.
I greed for power, to be the most powerful is a burning hunger of mine, one that won't be quenched until it is fulfilled. I won't allow anyone or anything to interfere, beating down those who will get in my way and crush those who stand against me. That is my dream! But to be the most powerful mortal won't satisfy me, I will even aim higher. Once none are left standing against me, it will be GODS who I'll target next until I'm the last standing.
For those who don't catch on quickly, I'm not the good guy in this.
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Part of Chess Game of the Gods started by BlackWing and Rust. Rated teen for mild (maybe won't be so mild. I dunno how I'll play it out) gore and language. Edited by Thardoc Approved by: RLYoshi Barrel-of-fun 7-4 Current picture just a substitute until I can get an artist.
I leap the fence, clearing it perfectly. Some made it fine, but others are having a more difficult time. I run down the street and took a turn into the alleys. Some may say that heading into enemy territory is a bad move, but that all depends on what the terrain is like. The alleys are slim and narrow only allowing two or three of my pursuers to lead at a time, not to mention their mazelike qualities.
One turn after another I eventually shake them off me, hearing their shouts and cries grow fainter.
“There he is!” I hear one yell behind me. Looks like they caught up to me. They really are determined to catch me, aren’t they?
“Damn,” I curse myself after taking a wrong turn, like I said, their territory. Two brick walls are stationed on either side of me, and a chain linked fence in front. Before I can correct my mistake, the jerks block the exit.
“Got you now, Trevor.” The tall one in front says, Jack, the leader of this motley crew of wanna-be thugs. “Probably not your brightest move, eh?”
“I disagree, now step back, you know that you’re no match for me in a fight.” I warn him.
“You’re right about that, but what about all of us?” The other members of his gang fan out, enclosing me in a semi-circle. They hold blunt instruments and knives in their hands, with Jack at the center and me in the middle. “Now, shall we begin?”
“Jack, Jack, Jack;” I scoff at him. I snap my fingers and five of his eight guys turn on the others, disabling them by going for lethal or non-lethal blows, their choice. The surprise was so fast that none of them, not even Jack, had any time to react and fight back. They were all on the ground in pain in no time at all.
“Guys, what the hell is this?” Jack yells at the traitors. “We’re friends. We’re practically family. You don’t turn on your family!”
“We’re sorry Jack, but he’s got dirt on us, on all of us.” The guy holding him down answers.
“Yup, took some time, but I finally got enough blackmail to force these guys to do as I say.” I pick Jack up off the ground and throw a left hook in his face. “You think this was a random act of revenge? This was planned out idiot! This is punishment for what you did to my little brother!” I punch him again, and again, and again, and so on so forth until his face becomes discolored with blood. “I warned you Jack, I warned you that you’d live to regret this!”
“I’m sorry,” he weeps through a bloody face. “I’m sorry. Mike was my friend, I didn’t mean for it to happen. He found out, yeah, but I didn’t want that to happen to him. I swear.” I know he’s telling the truth, I know that he didn’t mean for that accident to happen. But that doesn’t mean I’m any less pissed. Because of him my little brother’s dream was crushed. Because I couldn’t protect him.
My anger builds up more, and I continue beating him over and over again. I don’t kill him, that would just be taking it too far, but I make sure he knows his place.
“Okay, you got what you wanted, now keep your end of the bargain.” One of the guys who I'm blackmailing says trying not to sound desperate.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll return them. But I’ll be keeping the copies I made.”
“What? You bastard! That wasn’t apart of the agreement!” A second yells, sounding rather pissed.
“Say what you will, I may have use of you guys again.”
“Yeah? Well how are you going to do that when you’re dead?!” One of them swings his bat at me, sad fool. I step backwards, dodging the swing with ease. He swings more violently the next couple of times, each completely missing its target. I spot an opening after he swings wide again, and rapidly punch him in the ribs, making him cringe and abandon his attack. I grant him no time to recover, I bring my leg up and kick him in the gut. He drops his bat as oxygen races out of him in an audible “whoof” and folds over, holding his stomach.
I twist so my body comes next to the side of his face. Pulling back a quick jerk of my right arm, I elbow him in the face. I hear a satisfying cracking sound as blood pours out of his nose. With the short time I have, I twist around again and grab his face, slamming his head into the dirt. His other friends have enough of the horror show and think they can help him by joining in.
“Hold it!” I warn them. They wisely listen and stop dead in their tracks. “Now before any of you take one more step, use your brains for once. What I’ve been able to do so far is blackmail the five of you and force you to turn on your own friends, beat Jack half dead, and took this guy down without breaking a sweat. Now tell me, how do your chances look? Even four on one? Remember, I have a bat now too.”
An eerie silence passes by. I let them make the first move, and theirs was the right one. Each one picks up their friends, including Jack and the poor sob who tried cracking my head open, and drag them away.
Fear, possibly the greatest power a person can possess. Greater than physical strength or intelligence. Life is controlled by fear, fear of being too fat, fear of having no friends, fear of not succeeding at something. Which also makes it the most dangerous thing a person can have, it can make them unstoppable if they can master its use.
“Very nice,” I look up to see a woman applauding on top of the fence behind me. I never heard or saw her climb up there. She jumps down - almost glided actually - and lands with almost unnatural grace. “That was quite the show you put on.”
“Listen sweetheart, I don’t know how much of it you saw, but I suggest you keep quiet about it.” Looking at her appearance, reminds me of Misty from Pokemon. Wearing short jeans cut off even shorter to reveal more skin, a loose orange shirt that showed her stomach, and a pair of suspenders over top of that shirt. She even had red hair, and I mean that it was red. The slight other differences was that she had amber eyes, giving her a rather fiery complexion. And to top it all off she did not look ten in the slightest, possibly mid-twenties, a little bit behind me.
“No no no, you have me all wrong pal, it was rather enjoyable to watch.” Okay, odd thing to say. “Listen, a couple of... friends are having a game. And lately, more and more people have been joining in this game. And I thought to myself, ‘hey, why not join in the fun?’”
“And this has what to do with me?” I ask getting slightly annoyed, yet strangely intrigued.
“Well, the thing is, it’s a representative sort of game. So I need someone to represent me. Which would be where you come in.” She can tell by my expression that if she doesn’t make things exciting soon, I’m leaving. “Look it’s a simple game, you’ll pick up the rules and what to do instantly, and trust me, you’ll have more fun playing this game than doing anything else in your entire life.”
“Well, things are sounding rather interesting. But there’s a catch, isn’t there?”
“And you could tell that how exactly?” She asks looking so impressed that I was able to catch on so quickly that she mirrors me by crossing her own arms.
“Well, you just saw everything that happened here, and you know diddly squat as to why I did it. For all you know I could be a thug; someone who beats up people for no reason and kicks puppies for the hell of it.” I would never harm a dog, they’re man’s best friend.
“Well I was going to tell you anyways, no sense signing up a participant against their will. If you agree, you’ll be leaving your entire life behind and starting a new one in a new place. You can change your identity if you like, hell, some have even changed their entire personality. Just about every person has gained more than they have lost agreeing to this, can’t tell you if all of them have, too many to keep track of.”
If I said that I thought long and hard on this, that would be a complete lie. “No dice, pussy cat. I have other plans for my life than throwing it all away.” I tell her turning my back and walking away. Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind starting a new life, it’s not like I have any more ties to this town anyway. But that would also mean that I’d have to start at rock bottom again and work my way up the food chain. I’ve established territory in this town, I’ve established what dominance I have and what I intend to gain.
“You want power, don’t you?” I stop mid-stride, that most certainly caught my interest. “I can give you that power. I can give you a lot of power if you agree to this.” I spin 180-degrees and face her again.
“Ma’am, you had my interest. Now you have my attention.” A sly grin spreads across her face as I walk back to her, the kind of smile you get when your prey takes the bait. “You didn’t even try begging or bribing me. You went straight to the temptation, straight to what I want. You know how to play your cards. So, where am I going, and what kind of power are you implying?”
She pulls my head in to her’s and kisses me, I was too surprised to process what was happening. That, and her rose red lips tasted of strawberry. She breaks the kiss and leans in to whisper into my ear, “let it be a surprise.”
After that, my stomach crumples and all air races out of my lungs as my solar plexus was nailed. I know that feeling, the feeling of getting sucker punched in the gut.
The first thing I feel as I regain consciousness is my throbbing head. The second is the fact that I can’t move my arms or legs. Don’t ask, but I know when I’m being bound by leather straps. The best I can tell as to my current surroundings is that I'm in a dark room, with a lot of test tubes, burners, and a bunch of other sciencey crap. My heart pounds faster as fear sets in, what did that red haired bitch do? Where did she take me?
“Good morning! Or afternoon. Or possibly evening. Sorry, haven’t checked on the time since Tuesday, I think it’s Saturday now. Anywho, glad to see you’re awake!” A freakish face pops in front of me. I may have said that the room was dark, but it wasn’t pitch black, just dimly lit by candles and creepy science machines. From what I can tell, it was some flamboyant, cartoonish, horse... thing.
“Where am I? What am I doing here? What is all this stuff?” I demand, wrestling to try and get away. But it was futile, the straps held me down nice and tight.
“Boy, you do ask a lot of questions, don’t you? Oh, and there I go asking questions myself. But isn’t that what science is, one great big question?” He begins laughing like a crazy senile scientist, which I’m very convinced he is! “Now, you don’t mind just lying there while I continue my experiment, do you? It’s quite rare to see something like yourself around, and you look like an anomaly at best!”
“Up yours and untie me!” I shout at him. He merely ignores my threat and runs around his laboratory. I hear fire heat up, bubbles quickly pop in chemicals, machines start up. Everything is a scene out of Frankenstien. I struggle harder to free myself from the straps, but of course I can’t break these things, they’re too thick.
“Now, just stay still while I get everything ready.” He says putting a machine above me, it resembled black box with a lense looking down at me. Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a scene from James Bond, but instead of the laser slowly slicing him in two from crotch up, it’s going to drill me a third eye!? I thrash around even harder, the thought of me dying forces my brain to panic and my body to fight harder with a rush of adrenaline. “Hey, hey, hey! I said stay still!” He nags putting something in my mouth and on my head. He then proceeds to put one arm around my neck and pushes his face next to mine, his other arm over a lever. “Now, say cheese!”
‘I can’t believe what I’ve been dragged into! That crazy bitch gave me to a psychopath! I’m going to die!’
I wait for a laser or something to shoot out of the lense, closing my eye so as not to see my death coming at me.
“DAD!” I hear a woman’s voice shout from across the room. I can see that brighter lights were flipped on from behind my eyelids. “I turn my back for a second and you two are gone after I specifically told you, ‘keep away from him’!” The woman’s voice flares again.
I open one eye to see that the room did indeed, get lighter as hanging light bulbs were turned on.
“Yes, well you see dear, when colts go mad, they tend to lie a great deal to make others think that they’re still sane.” The crazy horse-thing tries rationalizing. I feel my bonds come off. I spit whatever's in my mouth out and spring from the table and onto my feet, knocking the box out of the way. “Hey, I was using that!”
“Stay the hell away from me!” I warn them. I warn the two flamboyant cartoonish horse-things. So there’s two of them, and they are most definitely drawings. In fact, everything looks to be a cartoon drawing.
“See? This is why I didn’t want you near him until he wakes up, you’ll scare him.” The female horse scolds, acting like this is an everyday occurrence. “I’m sorry for my father’s actions. He can be rather... unreasonable at times.”
“Are you saying that getting party photos of a giant phoenix while it’s passed out is unreasonable? Because I don’t see where this conversation is going.” The girl sigh and rolls her eye as though she expected no other answer. The male horse lifts the black box off the ground without even touching it. It was wrapped in a green mist, the same mist that covers a horn on his head. The mist is only a shade lighter than his fur, with a white frizzled mane that looks the same as Doc Brown's. The girl has a horn on her head too with yellow fur and a short-cut aqua blue mane.
I notice that the black box he’s levitating is actually a large camera. I grab for the thing that he put on my head and pull it off. Turns out to be a party hat, the very same kind that little kids wear at a birthday party. As many may guess, I was having a very difficult time processing any of this. Talking horses -- scratch that -- taking unicorns that are also colorful are talking to me. And one seems to be a crazy nut-job.
“Hey, you alright?” My attention goes back to the girl. “You seem kind of off. Though I suppose my father did give you quite a scare, one I am incredibly sorry for.”
“Who are you and where am I?” I demand once more, more confused and dumbfounded than angry this time.
“Don’t you know where?” I reply with a simple shake of my head. “Mm, well you were unconscious when we found you. So who knows where you came from, it’s rare to see a phoenix.”
“Phoenix? You mean the mythic bird of fire? I’m not a phoenix!”
“Well you certainly are different than other phoenixes, but yes, you are.” She points a hoof to a nearby mirror hanging on the wall. Cautiously to make sure that I’m not once again tricked and wake up somewhere unfamiliar, I walk over to the mirror she points at. And what I see back when I look into it, was not me. It's not even human.
At first I thought it was a costume, but upon closer inspection - ignoring the rational part of my head screaming at me - I’ve been turned into a bird with orange, red , and yellow feathers. Or at least a bird’s form, I still have my human shape. Two feet to walk on, hands and arms, a chest, the works. To put it plainly, I’m an anthro bird. I brush my hand, or my claw as I should say, down my face.
Red feathers cover my body, they turn to an orange shade closer to the center of my torso. My eyes are a solid yellow, no pupil to be seen. The feathers stop covering my arms halfway up my forearm, letting my black claws show. Same thing with my legs, the feathers cutting off half way down my shins, giving the impression that I wear red tattered pants. Larger orange feathers bunched up and hang from my head looking like hair, it was long and a bit shaggy with two black horns to accompany it. Two large wings hang on my back, the frames are red while the rest is orange then turning a shade of yellow at the outer edge. What’s more, I now possess a tail. It looks to be covered in fur, but if you look closer it’s actually small smooth feathers surrounding it with larger feathers on the sides at the tip of the tail looking like a fin. My body is less muscular than how it used to be, but I never relied too much on my physical strength.
“So what’s your name anyway? Mine is Seam Stitch, and this is my father, Professor-”
“Mr. Professor.” The mad horse corrects his daughter.
“Mr. Professor Crank. Pleased to meet you.” I don’t answer her, still in shock and awe as to my new form. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think I am.” I answer with a shudder of glee. ‘She asked my name. Should I keep it, or make a new one for myself? The red haired woman did say that others changed their names, now I suppose why.’ I quickly contemplate in my mind which to do, until after the entire one second passes and I decide. I choose a new name, an emotion I’ve rather liked. “I’m Greed, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Well, mister Greed, you must be awfully hungry. Would you like to have dinner with us? Perhaps you can tell us your story.” The professor offers. At the mention of food my stomach growls.
“Aye Professor, food does sound wonderful at a time like this.”
Despite all the food being vegetarian, I wolfed that stuff down. I thought it would be hard for me to eat with a beak, turns out things aren’t so different.
“Gee, you certainly are hungry.” Seam Stitch comments.
“Yeah, can’t explain why though.” I say in between bites.
“So, Mr. Greed, you say that this body of yours isn’t the one you were born with? And you come from a different world?” The Professor asks almost sceptical. We’ve been exchanging information throughout dinner. From what I’ve learned, I’m in a country called Equestria, ruled by two sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The inhabitants are ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. In exchange I’ve been telling them about myself and my world.
“Yup, wasn’t covered in feather’s, didn’t have a tail, wings, claws, or a beak. Body structure is accurate though.” I grab my fourth apple and begin munching down on it. My appetite finally subsiding after five servings of vegetables and fruits. “And I was never so hungry in my life!”
“Well, I hope you don’t eat like that every day, nearly cleaned out our stocks. You could very well eat the entire countries food supply in just a few short weeks.” The Professor get’s a twinkle in his eyes at his daughter’s comment, one that spells bad idea. Good thing she catches the twinkle as well. “Dad, don’t you dare get any ideas on that. At least not ones that you’ll try.” A yellow mist wraps the plates, utensils, and bowls on the table and float into the sink.
“How do you do that?” I ask amazed.
“It’s a simple levitation spell. Basically the first thing a unicorn learns when practicing magic.” Seam Stitch answers.
“So there’s magic this world?”
“Yes, isn’t there any in yours?”
“Nope, sleight of hand and illusions were the closest thing to magic back where I came from.”
“You’re taking this rather well Mr. Greed, does something like this happen often?” The Professor asks yet another question. But this one’s the least sporadic, and he sounded calm asking it.
“No Professor, it isn’t. I suppose I’m not flipping shit because I’m no stranger to change. Certainly, this is on a totally different level than the usual things, and surprises me just as much if not more, but I can adjust. Just like how I always do.” His ears perk up to my reply, though they’ve been doing that to just about everything I tell him.
Seam get’s out of her chair and walks to the sink where she just placed the dishes. As she turns on the tap and fill the sink with soapy water, I notice a tattoo on her ass. It was a threaded needle going through two pieces of fabric in a perfect design. “Is that some ink I spy?”
She looks at me confused for a moment, but blushes when she catches the direction my eyes are gandering to. “No, it’s a cutie mark Greed. Everypony get’s one on their flank at some point. It identifies who they are, what they’re special talent is. I found mine out while making clothes for my mother when she was...” Her voice trails off a bit and goes quiet. I notice that the Professor has a saddened expression on his face too. “But anyway, after it appeared I figured out how well of a seamstress I am. I’ve been making clothing ever since.”
“Everyone has one of those? Even you Professor?”
“Yup!” His expression changes back the very moment I ask him the question. I regret ever asking him because he decided to show me by shoving his ass up over the table. I avert my gaze in fear of seeing something I don’t want to, keeping a close eye on his cutie mark and nothing else.
“Dad, put your butt down this instant!” Seam orders. Grudgingly, he does as told, but it was kept up long enough to make out what it was: a brain with five lightning bolts striking it.
“So Mr. Greed-”
“Professor, you can stop calling me Mr. Greed. Greed will do just fine.” I interrupt.
“What are you going to do now?” His question catches me off guard.
“Well Professor, seeing as though I’ve been around for nearly an hour, I haven’t thought much about that. I suppose I’ll need to find a place to stay for some time until I can actually do that.”
“We’d be happy to have you as a guest for the time.” Seam comments from the sink. “But I’m afraid it won’t be for free, you’ll have to earn your keep.”
“That’s fine with me, I understand that it won’t be a free ride.” I shrug.
“Does that mean I get to perform some experiments on him?” The professor jump on the table with hope.
“Dad, no experimenting with guests!” He pouts and sits back down. His ears perk up when he notices me giving out a giant yawn and stretch my arms.
“Jeez, I’m actually kind of tired.” I rub my eyelids. “If it’s all the same to you, I wouldn’t mind hitting the sack.”
“Really? It’s only 7:30.” Seam indicates to their clock hanging on a wall. That is strange, I haven’t been tired this early since I was a kid. “Guess I should show you where you’ll be sleeping.” I follow Seam through her home. It is a large place, not so easy to get yourself lost, but make a wrong move you will get turned around.
“Well, here we are. Make yourself at home.” I’m greeted with queen sized bed. Not much to say about the rest of the room though, a night stand, window, closet. Looks normal enough, nothing that makes it stand out. “Have a good sleep Greed, you probably need it, don’t you?”
I answer by collapsing face first on the bed, soft. Seam closes the door behind me saying how she’ll see me in the morning. I roll onto my back, it felt uncomfortable with my new wings in the way. I cover my eyelids with my forearm and chuckle.
“‘I don’t know’? ‘Haven’t thought much about it’? ‘Find a place to stay’?” I laugh some more, I find the lie to be funny for some reason, like a personal joke. “Of course I know what I’m going to do.”
“Oh, and what might that be?” I spring from my bed to the opposite side of the voice and ready for whatever attack they may try. But to my surprise, it wasn’t someone who wanted to harm me. “So how you liking the new body?”
“Nice, I suppose.” I flex my muscles in gratitude. “So how’d you do it Red?”
“Believe it or not, but I’m a god.” The same red haired woman who sent me here answers. “Something like universe transfer and biological remodeling are easy-peasy for me.”
“A god, huh? Why does a god need a mortal’s help?”
“Sorry, but that’s a hush-hush business. But you can ask me something else if you want.” She puts a finger to her lips.
“Okay, what are you doing here and which god are you?”
“As to which god I am, your kind doesn’t have a name for me yet. Have you ever wondered why some cultures worship some gods but not others?” I nod my head, that question has always puzzled me. Why did the Romans believe that Jupiter was the King of gods while the Norse believe Odin to be? Even today some cultures refuse to acknowledge other gods. “Some gods only allow their existence to be known in some areas at certain times. That’s why the Greeks believe in the gods like Zeus, Gaia, and Hercules while the Egyptians believe in Ra, Osiris, and Atum. It’s because those groups of gods allowed themselves to be known to those certain cultures. Whereas I and my kind have yet to allow ourselves to be known, maybe we’ll present ourselves in a couple thousand years when the Mayan gods die out. Just like how the Japanese gods took over when the Dermin gods died out.”
“The who?” I ask never before hearing of these Dermin.
“Exactly.” Guess that means I just proved her point. “But for the time being, just call me Red. As to why I’m here, I’m not allowed to interfere with you directly. But that doesn’t mean I can’t come and visit. Some gods like to stick with their representatives, others are fine with just observing on the side lines. Me, I’m in between. I’d like to know what you’re up to and what you’ve been doing, and I’d like to see it from your own point of view, not by watching from behind your back. So I’ll be dropping in every now and again to hear what you’ve been up to.”
“Makes sense I suppose.“ I shrug. “Now, you said you would give me power. So what power is this?”
“Are you so ignorant?” She sighs. “You’re a phoenix, Trevor-”
“Greed.” I correct her. “Before sending me here you said that some people have changed their names. So I changed mine to Greed.”
“Greed, I like it.” She smiles “Back to my point before it got derailed. What are phoenixes most known for?”
“Being able to set themselves on fire?”
“Exactly. Do you know why I gave you the form of a phoenix? For their fire! A phoenix’s flame isn’t normal, it’s a very powerful and magic element. So awesome that it has its own magical properties that allows it to burn virtually anything!” Well, isn’t that some pleasant knowledge? To be able to burn just about anything, I like that. “So, you have any more questions?”
“What happened to me?” The unnamed goddess looks at me sideways, unclear of my question. “I mean the me back on Earth. I have a new body, but my mind, and soul if those exist, are in this one. So tell me, did you dump my thoughts into a body you crafted from scratch, or did you stretch and mold my old one into this? And if this is my old body, what happened to me?”
She let’s out a suspended breathe and sits on a chair next to the wall. “Not many, if any of you humans, have asked that before. This body is yours, is in a sense, your old one; but at the same time it is not. It’s hard to explain to a mortal, but it’s kind of like if I were to tell you that your old body is that one but is also in a subspace dimension at the same time, while your mind is anchored here.” Now it’s my turn to look at her quizzically. I’m sure it’s true what she said, it is difficult to explain to a mortal who doesn’t understand godly things. “Look, it’s the best explanation I can give you so let’s just leave it at that. On to the second part of your question, you’re dead.”
“‘Scuse me?”
“I myself thought it best if you ‘died’ back home. If you just went missing questions would raised. Who would look for a dead man?”
“That’s kind of you to think, Red. But dead or not, no one would have come looking for me. No one would have missed me if I were to suddenly go missing. And if someone were to notice, they’d either not care or be relieved.” She doesn’t speak, just gives a curious look as to why I would say that. I suppose being a god doesn’t mean you’re omnipotent of knowledge.
“Well, I think that’s enough for today Feathers. I drop by in a couple days and see how you’re doing.”
“Hey Red,” I stop her before she disappears. “There are other humans around, aren’t there?” I take it that her silence means yes. “Are they strong?”
A wicked grin plays across her face. “That’s why I like you Greed. I’ve been answering your questions, but you never answered mine. What are you going to do?” I greet her grin with my own.
“Tell me Red, what does everybody want to be in America? President of course. And why’s that? Because they want power, they want to be the most powerful figure and will lie through their teeth if they have to to get that. That’s what I’m going to do Red. Why do you think I chose the name Greed? Because I want it, I want it all! The money and women, that shit’s just a bonus. But what I will stop at nothing to achieve is power! I’ll defeat any and all who would get in my way! I care not if they bow to me, just as long as they acknowledge my might and learn their place! That’s what I’ll do Red, I’ll become the most powerful to exist!” I start laughing maniacally, my wings unfold to their farthest length in response to my mood.
“Greed?” Seam Stitch knocks on my door. “You okay in their?” I look at the door in fear, I can’t let Seam see Red. But to the surprise that I should have seen coming, she was missing from the chair.
“Uh, yeah Seam.” I call from inside the room. “Sorry, I just sort of thought of some from my home. Personal joke that you wouldn’t understand. Everything’s cool.”
“Right, just go easy on the crazy laughter. I don’t think this house can hold to crazies.” I hear her hooves getting fainter as she walk away. I slump back down in my bed, the knowledge that other strong human around excites me. But knowing that the humans here are not the only things that are strong excite me even more.
The Professor and Seam told me a lot about this world, and the rulers, Celestia and Luna. Apparently they don’t rule just because their of royal blood, but because they haven’t yet been beaten and overthrown. Which means that only they can be the most powerful beings around.
I begin laughing maniacally again, but much softer this time. The awesome power of those two jitter me up so much that I no longer feel tired. I lay in bed for just thinking of what kind of power they,and everything else in this world has to offer me. Thinking of what I’m to face and what I can face. But I can’t rush in blindly, I need a strategy and information.
I need to know strengths, weaknesses, schedules, everything. But first I need to figure out how to control my own power, I need to figure myself out all over again. Perhaps the Professor can help?
“You know Greed, there’s a right method and a wrong method of learning to fly.” The professor hollers up to me. “And I personally believe that this is the most entertaining method!”
“Dad, you really shouldn’t encourage him with something like this, he could die.”
“Well we just spent the last two hours teaching him everything we know about magic and still he can’t even generate a pitiful little poof of smoke. And when he was putting his all into it, it just looked like he was constipated.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” I mumble to myself. “Okay, you ready?”
“Yes,” Seam answers, prepared to catch me with a levitation spell if I-when I- fall. “But Greed, I really think you should listen to me before you-” I don’t hear her last words and jump off the high tree branch, spreading my wings to their full length. I begin gliding on the air current, a difficulty at first but I force myself to stay level. But no sooner am I gliding through the skies does gravity take over. The jerk.
My body stops short of the green grass as I’m suspended in the air, a yellow mist wrapping itself around my body.
“- Jump.” Seam continues on as she let’s me drop. “I was about to say that I’m going to be heading into town soon to drop off some clothes. A friend of mine would be more than willing to teach you how to fly.”
“You guys never told me of any town,” I stand up and dust myself off.
“Yeah, we don’t live very close ‘cause a good number of dad’s science experiments can seem rather…”
“Dangerous?”
“Unethical, actually.”
“Blow one laboratory up and have various and questionable fluids rain down on the entire town and you’re banned from ever doing so again without ‘proper supervision’.” He pouts.
“You blew up a laboratory?” I chuckle.
“Several, actually. The residents got fed up with me after the fifth or so lab.” He smiles like he’s proud of it.
“But because dad was too proud of his work, the only way he could continue was if he did it in seclusion. Far, far away from the town.” Seam rubs the bridge between her eyes in annoyance.
“Well, I’ve been around for nearly twenty-four hours and don’t find that surprising in the least.”
“You catch on quick,” She comments. “Come on, I have pieces to drop off anyway.”
I begin loading a lot of clothes in a wagon, noticing that there are no pants.
‘So they’ll go around naked, wear clothes at times, but don’t include the pants?’
“Guess who get’s to pull the cart.” Seam says rhetorically with a sly grin. I smile back at her horrible attempt at being funny. I find it weird as well that even with a beak I’m capable of making facial expressions, suppose the law of physics is a little more slack here. “Okay dad, I’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t go running off trying to capture something like a bear for an experiment; don’t blow up, burn, vaporize, dismantle, destroy, or do anything at all that would alter our house in the least; if you’re hearing voices and I’m not around, ignore everything they say; and please, please, be here when we get back.”
“Hmph, claim that little voices in your head are telling you to grow fur on a reptile one time and everypony thinks you hear them all the time.” The senile pony pouts again. She gives her father a hug and a kiss before going. We walk in complete silence, minus the rattling noise from wooden wheels I’m pulling behind me.
“So if you don’t mind me asking, has your dad always been looney toons?” I ask her breaking the ice. The aura from her changed to sullen sadness.
“No, no. He was once a dignified professor. Had a stable job working at a university and everything. No psychological problem, no random experiments, completely sane. But things all changed when mom died.”
“My condolences, when’d it happen?”
“Twelve years ago, I was no more than a little filly. Mom caught a virus of some kind, nopony knew what it was because they’ve never seen it before, so curing her was more than a problem. Dad got the best medicine, doctors, and modern day science we could afford. He even put his all into trying to save her life. But in the end, they never found a cure. The only thing I’m grateful is that the virus died with her, never getting a chance to spread or move to another victim. Even the samples gathered from mom died. Kind of like a flower that doesn’t get water, it just shriveled and died. So when she died, dad’s sanity went with her. After that, he lost his job, we moved towns, his experiments got more complex and dangerous. Everything really hit the fan. I’ve had to look after him ever since.”
“Sorry I made you relive that part of your life.”
“Mm, it’s fine I suppose. After long years I’ve come to realize that what’s in the past is the past, nothing I may do can change it. Mom’s dead, and that’s how it is. I have no choice but to accept that.”
‘Move on and accept the problems that plague you’re family? If only I were able to do the same…’
“So what about you big guy, you have any sob stories?” Seam’s mood lightens a bit, nudging me in the side.
“Yeah, a few I suppose. Maybe I’ll tell some to you one day.”
"‘Maybe’? ‘One day’? Oh no buster. I just told you one of mine, you have to tell me one of yours. Call it a part of your payment. ‘Sides, we’ve a long way until we get to town.”
“Okay, okay, here’s one: I had a friend named Jerome. Me, Jerome, and our other friend Jack were as thick as thieves, nearly inseparable. And as much as we loved Jerome, the older we got the more divided he became. We were no strangers to playing hooky once and a while but Jerome practically stopped going to school altogether, started meeting new people, began having sporadic moods, had a new girl with him every week. Short story, he was going on the fast track to Shitsville! One day I heard he never went back home, I just shrugged it off as it’s something he’d done every once and a while. Five days later I see his name pop up on T.V. saying that his body was found in a dumpster after ODing on heroine.”
“Honestly he was becoming a serious asshole so it didn’t surprise me in the slightest. But yeah, not a day goes by that I don’t remember the good old days.”
The rest of our stroll was quiet. Neither of us wanting to talk anymore, but hey, it got me to enjoy the scenery. And I must say one thing about this world: the nature here is overwhelming! Everywhere I look, green grass and strong trees, nothing like home. Then again, I was always a city boy that only ever saw a tree in the local park so I’m not sure whether to be amazed or disgusted about all this.
But after what seemed like a forever and a half we finally get to the town. And let me tell you something about it: it was nothing special.
Seriously, each house looked the same with stone or wood walls and what looks like hay for roofs. Yet the shops around are 21st century. Still though, nothing really impressed me about it.
Though I received curious stares from the townsfolk, who were all ponies, no shit. Can’t say I expected anything different, Seam and the Professor did say that I was an anomaly and that this was a country inhabited and ruled by horses. All of which are one of three different kinds, unicorns, pegasi, and normals.
Seam tells me to stop as we come up to a clothing store named The Right Fit and levitates out most of her clothing. “Alright, grab the rest and follow me inside. Once we drop off this load I’ll introduce you to that friend of mine.” I do as instructed by her, starting to feel more like a pack-mule at this point.
“‘Bout time you got here girl, I was beginnin’ to wonder where you wer-” A blue mare with short orange mane stop mid sentence. She had a tattoo, or ‘cutie mark’ as they preferred calling those stickers on their ass’, was a gold sparkly coin. Her amber eyes are locked on me. “Oh for the love of... Seam, did your dad try genetic splicing again?”
“Nah, don’t worry about Greed, dad had nothing to do with him.” She answers her.
“So if yer old man didn’t make him, what is it?”
“I’m a phoenix,” Coin gives me a surprised look. Yeah, I’m definitely going to be getting a lot of those. “And I’d appreciate that you’d stop staring at me like that.”
“He talks too, now that’s just something.” She grabs the clothing that I’m holding and puts them in the back room where Seam put the ones she was carrying. “A giant talking phoenix to boot. Now ain’t that somethin’.”
“Shiny Coin, this is Greed. He’s from out of the country and is staying with us for a while until he’s figured out what he’s gonna be doing with himself. Greed, this is my friend Shiny Coin, she owns this store and gives a cut of the profits she makes from my outfits.” Seam introduces us.
“Speaking of, here’s payment for last month.” She’s handed a bag of coins.
“That’s it?” Seam looks disappointed.
“What can I say? Not a lot of ponies pass through here and even fewer buy stuff.” My eyes comb the shop, all manner of suits, dresses, and clothing are being displayed, none of which are the exact same.
“Hey Seam, did you make all these?”
“Nah, Stitchy just makes the really good stuff I put on display,” The shop owner points out.
“Stitchy?” I smirk looking at the flustered mare.
“I told you not to call me that!” She glares daggers at her friend.
“Come on sweetie, you know I love to tease. So what you have planned for the rest of the day?”
“We’re going over to meet Sky High”
“Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?” Seam’s face turns to a shade of red.
“We’re not going to get a drink! Greed needs to learn how to fly and I thought Sky might be willing to teach him.”
“What, dude, seriously? How have ya gone yer whole life without being able to fly? I mean, you do know that’s what those wings on yer back are for, right?”
“Really? And here I just thought they were there for decoration.” I exclaim sarcastically. Shiny Coin hoots in laughter.
“Yeah, you an’ I are gonna get along just fine.”
“Come on, let’s get going.” Seam practically starts pushing me out the door
“Hang on, lemme get my key.”
“You’re coming with us?” Seam asks. “Shouldn’t somepony mind the store?”
“Eh, my store, my rules. ‘Sides, I wouldn’t mind getting a drink.”
“I thought you said that is was too early.”
“Pfft, I never said I disapproved of it.” She locks up the store behind her and changes the sign from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’. Making the trek to meet this Sky High wasn’t a long one, the bar she works at was a mere three block from The Right Fit. The Water Bucket, as it was called, was in a desperate need of a new coat of paint. And by the looks of things, it has been repainted, several different times with different colored paints peeling off. It just looked atrocious and ugly, plain and simple. The one thing I did like about it was the swinging double doors just like the ones saloons have when you see them in the old western films, too bad that was the only western thing about it.
The place was dead still, no customers except for a drunk passed out on a table with several emptied mugs scattered around. “Well, well, well, it’s unusual to get customers this early in the day, let alone it be you Seam Stitch.” A male pony said behind his counter. He wore a black vest over his white bartenders suit, complete with a black bow tie and a pair of round spectacles sat on the bridge of his nose. A green four-leaf clover brooch with gold trimmings was pinned on his vest. His combed back mane was evidently losing its luster much like his greying green coat.
“And you’re friend is…?”
“Not something the Professor cooked up if that’s what you’re asking.” I reply sharply, starting to get annoyed at how much of a shock my appearance is.
“Fine with me,” He answers with ease. “So, what brings you two here? Come to get the third member of your trio?”
“If it’s not too much to ask of you, we need her help. Greed here needs to learn how to fly.” The bartender looks at me, his jaw slack and one eyebrow up. Then begins bursting out in laughter.
“Oh Celestia, a phoenix who can’t fly!” He hollers in between breaths. He eventually settling down and regains his composure. “You’ll have to forgive me sir, but that’s like saying that a dog can’t bark.”
“Just, please, get us this Sky so she can teach me to fly.” I rub my forehead in frustration.
“Sure thing, Sky! Get out her would ya!” The man calls to the backroom. Out pops a white pegasus with a tray of mugs in her mouth and her cutie mark a single wing over a set of clouds. Her long yellow hair trailed down like a golden waterfall.
“Yesh bosh?” She asks with the tray making it difficult to speak. That when she notices me. Let me just shorten what happens in the next minute. She stares at me, probably thinking I’m one of the professor’s projects. I say a hello, she’s baffled, Seam introduces us and explains the situation, and she starts giggling at the fact that I can’t fly. This shit’s getting old really fast!
“Sorry, sorry, it’s just uncommon to hear such a thing.” She calms down from her giggling. “Sure, I’ll help you out. If it’s okay with you boss?”
“Go on girl, I can handle things on my own here. Just be back when things start getting busy.” The old man says kindly.
“Hey, as much as I’d like to stay and watch I think I should go home. I’m certain dad’s fine, but…” Seam leaves her sentence hanging as we get outside.
“But he’s your dad.” Coin says bluntly.
“Exactly. You’d be able to find your way back to our place can’t you Greed?”
“Just follow the dirt path and take the right coming to the for in the road.”
“Great, and why don’t you have this.” She tosses me the coin purse the Shiny Coin gave to her earlier. “I’m sure you wouldn’t mind a drink.”
“Lemme help you get that cart hitched on ya.” Coin offers, leaving Sky High a myself alone.
“So Greed, how much experience have you had at flying?” She asks.
“Does falling from a tree count?”
“Right, so you’re fresh off the bus. This is going to take longer than expected.” She murmurs to herself. “Okay, we’ll need more of an open area, the streets won’t do with all the bystanders around.” She leads me to an area on the outskirts of town where we begin.
“Okay, first thing you should know about flying is that it’s more about feeling the motion, not just flapping your wings up and down desperately. It’s more like a reflex than a body motion, once you get the feeling…” she spreads her wings and takes to the sky in demonstration. I watch closely as she flies around and gently lands on the ground. “Your body will do the rest of the work.”
“So kind of like riding a bike, you get the movement then you get the motion.” I crouch down to lower my center of gravity and spread my wings out like how Sky did. Giving myself an extra boost by pushing myself off the ground with both feet and wings I manage to stay afloat. Sadly to say, I did not feel it and fell to the ground on my butt.
“Well, that was a good first try,” Sky High awkwardly praises me. “But perhaps you might want to try flapping your wings once more after you get off the ground.”
I crack my neck and roll my shoulder blades. “No time like the present.”
