Disclaimer: GASP! SID WAS DISCORD ALL ALONG! I know, not that surprising eh? Then again, I made it obvious on purpose since I won't insult the intelligence of my readers ^_^. Though I am curious on what his plan is, let's find out!
Chapter 33: Sewers, Ghosts, and…whut?
"You know, yah really need to work out your issues with passing out from an injury or exhaustion" spoke Jacks inner jackass as he chastised himself for allowing himself to lose touch with the world around him because of some small injuries. "Yeah, well maybe if you toughened up, and allowed me to fight longer I wouldn't have run out of steam" he argued back. "Pfft, that's only because of how weak you are, and how you ne..wait, why am I arguing with myself"?
Then he awoke.
Opening his eyes to see the familiar pink sky, he grumbled with heavy sarcasm "Oh gee, it turns out all that was real. I guess I should get up and deal with it". Sitting up hastily, he immediately regretted it as he touched his tender chest; slowly looking down his shirt to see that his wound had been banged up. Surprised that the girls had been able to patch him up whilst he was out, he looked up to thank them as he noticed only Rarity, Twilight, and Pinkie we're their whilst Dash, AJ and Fluttershy were gone. "Uhh, hey girls" Jack spoke up, as they were looking the other way and hadn't noticed him.
"Jack" cried out Rarity happily as she threw herself at him, pulling him into a bone crushing hug; immediately letting go as she heard him gasp at the pain that was brought to his chest. "OOoh, sorry. Forgot that you were still tender" Rarity smiled sheepishly. Getting serious, she spoke "We we're able to get you to another place to rest since we didn't want the criminals waking up to see you out of it" she admitted, as she pointed to where they were.
It was at that point that Jack realized where he was, as he looked up at the pink sky through..a skylight. Glancing down, as he stared over a multiple desk all lined up, bulletproof glass set up that blocked a stand, computers everywhere, and a radio dispatcher..ahh, they were in a police station. In a way, it was comforting to be in a place where justice "prevailed" but it didn't seem like justice was gonna be knocking at the door anytime soon..least not yet.
"Yah Yah, we've been looking around this place and I gotta say that you humans sure have some weird stuff! What's that over there, and what's this here and..oooh, what's this" Pinkie asked, as she reached into one of the desk and pulled out what appeared to be a .45 Colt!
Jack jumped to his feet, ignoring the pain in his chest as he slapped it out of her hooves. "Don't" he sternly growled, watching as Pinkie's happy-go-lucky expression deflated. Letting out a sigh, he apologized "I'm sorry but this thing..this is extremely dangerous and it's one of the things that we humans use to cause and prevent wars so..it's best that it be in the hands of a human" Jack stated bluntly as he picked it up, snorting as he threw it across the room. "Not that it would do me any good because one, I got fire powers, and two; I doubt a guns would do us any good in this crazy world…so where's Dash, Shy and AJ" he questioned.
Twilight spoke up at this, as she informed "Oh, their outside doing some scouting I guess you could call it since you were out of it and…well, we wanted to see if we could find out abit about this city on our own to show that we could help out in..umm." Twilight became silent as she realized she was babbling. "They should be back soon, but if not then we'll have to go looking for them. But seriously though Jack, are you alright"?
"I'm fine, all things considered; chest still aches yeah, but I'll live" Jack admitted as he ran a hand through his hair in weariness. Looking up, he grumbled "Oh man, it's really strange looking at New York like this he thought to himself…I really do wish that. Wait, what" Jack gawked as suddenly Rainbow Dash, AJ and Fluttershy busted through the front door; panting widely as they tried to catch their breathe. "W..what's going on" Jack demanded, getting to his feet as he brushed off the pain in his sides.
"We…it's a..its a…" Applejack tried to get out, but was having trouble catching her breathe from the rush that they had just gone through. Glancing behind them, she managed to get out "We're in real trouble here. We need tuh get to a new location right now; else we're gunna be ata" she was cut off as suddenly the window shattered; glass going everywhere as in came..tiny miniaturized air planes piloted by squirrels in airplane helmets..shooting acorns that exploded?
"ACK" Jack cried out as one of the acorns struck him in the chest, knocking him onto his back as he hissed at the pain the tiny explosion did to him. Staggering up, he slapped up at the airplanes as he shouted "We gotta get out now" he managed to get out as he staggered to his feet, helped by Pinkie and AJ. Shooting a glance outside, he had to do a double take as he saw what was approaching! What looked like..gummy bears, all in different colors; wielding candy cane swords alongside gingerbread men holding chocolate covered guns!
"Oh god, this is like a twisted version of Candy land coming to kill us" Jack shouted as he ducked to avoid having a tiny explosion hit the back of his head. Shrugging off Pinkie and AJ's grip, he staggered out towards the back; kicking the door open as he found to his relief a manhole covering. Whilst a part of him was apprehensive about taking the sewers whilst the city was in this state; another part was relieved. He knew New York's sewers, so this was a huge advantage!
"They're starting tuh get closer" AJ informed as she didn't quie know what it wus they were gunna do! Throwing Jack a glance, she noticed the sneaky smirk on his face as she couldn't help herself but question "Jack? Whuts with that look"?
"We're going into the sewers" he stated in an almost blunt tone. His proclaim was met with a mixture of disgust, awe, and even some praise as he responded "I know the sewers, and how we can use them to get to the MetLife building. It cuts across town and I'd rather take my chances in a confined place, rather than in the open where we can get attacked by anything".
"Hmmm, it certainly sounds the most logical. We can avoid the main bulk of whatever forces Discord has prepared for us, so that way we can focus our efforts on taking out the main threat itself" Twilight nodded in agreement to Jacks plan. It certainly was solid enough.
"Hey, what I wanna know is if we'll come across anything living in the sewers that will wanna piece of us? Cause if so, than I'm defiantly up for it" Dash grinned, clomping her hooves together to emphasize her want for some violence.
"Don't know" Jack admitted, as apart from some hobos, he never really encountered anything that wanted to kill him..part from the gators living down there that was.. Looking over to Rarity, he noted her disgusted look as he spoke "It's safer this way…".
"Oh I don't doubt that Jack, don't worry" she smiled weakly, as she continued to stare at the sewers. She wanted to protest on the idea of going down into a dark, dank, filthy disease infested tunnel that led towards even more tunnels. But any protest she was getting ready to let out died in her throat at the sound of the candyland brigade coming. "I suppose I'll have to make do..bleh" Rarity made a face as she opened the manhole cover and jumped down.
"I can't believe she jumped down first" Jack laughed in amusement, clearly not about to let Rarity hear the end of this so easily. Sliding down the manhole, Jack was immediately greeted by the accurate scent of shit water hitting his nostrils hard. Cringing in disgust at the scent, he grumbled "Oh yeah, this is really what I need to smell right now". Glancing back to see the last one slide down, he observered as Twilight used her magic to close the manhole cover, shrouding them all in darkness.
Silence fell for a few moments, as Twilight and Rarity used their magic to light up the sewers, the violet glows illuminating the multiple handrails that connected towards other tunnels, below them disgusting sludge water that bubbled and had a rather foul soul coming from it. "I've been down here many times before when I used to live here…so I'll lead the way" Jack nodded to the others, who voiced what had happened.
"What were those things? Gummy bears with swords" Rainbow Dash spat out in irritation as they walked, constantly eyeing the disgusting waters. "We're trying to stop Discord from destroying both our world, and this one; and it's all one big joke to him! How does he take anything seriously" Dash snorted.
"Question is, does he take anything seriously? A'h mean he could kill us all right now, he's probably listening in on what we're talkin about since hes got nothing better to do; or fer kicks. Sides Dash, your talkin bout a guy who went and turned this city into sumthin outta one of those old foal board games ah played when ah was younger" AJ pointed out.
"Maybe we can use that..to our advantage" Twilight said softly to herself, immediately getting questioned about how they could turn Discords little messing around to an advantage. Staring silently, she responded "Tell you all later…I just need to think it over abit more" admitted Twilight. As they continued to walk, she noted the insulation of the sewers as above them was a powerful fan that blew fresh clean air from above. "Well I have to admit, the way you humans manage to get rid of such foul scents is really fascinating" Twilight noted.
"Not really, you guy already have it but just figured it out better" shot back Jack, as he pointed towards a metal ladder that led to one of his little hidey-holes. Climbing up it slowly, he came across a metal door; smiling with satisfaction at his find. Kicking it open, he nodded at the sight of one of his many spots. "Well, if we were all not gonna do anything about Discord, then I'd suggest staying here" he pointed out towards the small room complete with a sofa, two chairs and an old TV with a fridge. Opening the fridge, he removed all the sodas he could get his hands on, pausing as he found a frozen hamburger still fresh.
"But since we're on the move, just some stuff we can use if we get thirsty" he spoke, as he hid the burger before handing out some of the drinks to the others. "Now over here" Jack pointed out, as he opened the exit from his hidey-hole "Is where we have a huuuuge room with a single bridge, so we just gotta cross that; avoid stepping in shit and we should get to the other side. After that well…we'll see".
Indeed, the room he spoke of was probably a good hundred, two hundred yards long and pretty wide to say the least. A small running waterfall was flowing sewage water downwards, avoiding the single metal bridge that led straight across; on either side the water which looked…very unsettling. "Well, best be goin now" Jack commented as he slid down the ladder to reach the metal bridge.
"Umm, I hate to be abit of a killjoy, but my Pinkie sense is tingling and its reaaaaaly, really telling me we shouldn't cross that bridge" Pinkie pointed out, as he tail started shaking and her ear started twitching rapidly. "It's telling me that theirs danger in the water" she informed.
"That's just your imagination" grumbled Jack as he glanced left and right, trying to spot signs of any danger lurking and waiting for them. Glaring suspiciously into the water, he grumbled to himself that there was nothing to worry about, that any fear that was running through his mind and telling him to be cautious was not necessary. Yet a small part of him couldn't help but admit that Pinkie was defiantly right; something was up!
As the other ponies joined Jack, Fluttershy blinked as she saw movement down below. Shyly peeking over the railing, she could see a pair of yellow eyes; glaring up at her menacingly. However from her perception, those eyes resembled those of puppy dog eyes as she cooed "Aww, that nice". Leaning down towards the water to get a better look, she let out an eep as she was yanked back by Rainbow Dash.
"Look alittle closer Fluttershy" Rainbow insisted, as suddenly movement came to the surface, several logs floating silent in the sewage water. They looked like logs, but anyone with a brain could figure out what they really were.
"Huh, we got gators" Jack commented ideally as he scratched the back of his head, before he was interrupted by a low roar that echoed throughout the chambers. Wiping his head around rapidly for the source of the noise, he froze as suddenly in the middle of a few of the logs…a huge triangular fin rose up. "A shark…a fucking shark…" Jack hissed in annoyance as he looked down at his friends in worry before glancing up. "You know what…let's do this quietly" he whispered as they started to cross the long bridge.
The gang was silent for a while, ideally glancing at the floating logs, and fin that seemed to be moving in a zigzag motion; like it was looking for something. Rarity shivered as one of the logs disappeared, and a clear yellow belly emerged before vanishing as fast as it had appeared. "Gaaahh, the thought of these beast swimming around and enjoying the smell, and feel of the water…it makes me sick to my stomach" she gagged softly.
"Sum critters jus love the feel of getting dirty" commented AJ.
"Hey Jack, is there anything in particular that we're gonna be looking for once we get past the bridge" Twilight asked as she wanted to know exactly how far they were until they were out of the sewers. Receiving an answer of how they wouldn't have to go very far; she rolled her eyes in response as she remarked "Very cryptic".
"What can I say, I like being a dick" smirked Jack, as his attempts to lighten the mood fail as suddenly the fin vanished from sight. "Hey, where'd he go" Jack asked, as he leaned over the railing for a moment to get a better view..just as a gator lunged from the water, and tried to tear his throat out as he stumbled backwards in shock . "SONOFVA" Jack spat in fear as he fell onto his rear; hearing a loud crunching sound as he whirled around .
"LOOK" Pinkie pointed in alarm at the sight of the shark, a great white from the looks of it emerged from the water as it sunk its teeth into the other end of the bridge, ripping at the steel as it tore apart the bridge; chewing away at the steel. Glaring at the group of ponies and human, it started to chomp over and over; swimming towards them! The way they came from had become a "moving-chomp-of-death"!
"Oh crap! RUN FOR IT" Jack shouted, as he turned and started to dash as fast as he could across the bridge, stumbling every so often as the bridge shook from the sharks constant biting. If he didn't watch himself; he was gonna get himself killed!
"Wait, there was something..GATORS" Jack shouted in alarm as they attacked!
This shout got the pony's attention as suddenly, gators started to lunge out in surprise towards the heroes; eager to get a bite in and taste some of their flesh. Applejack wrestled with one that got too close, as she jumped back to avoid having her head removed from her body. Getting angry at its attempt, she gripped it in a bear hug as she used her incredible strength to lift it overhead! "Bout time sum one gave you the boot" she hollered as she tossed the alligator and ended up smashing his head into the bridge.
"OOOoo, German duplex" Jack commented as he cringed at the look of pain on the gators face. Before he could makea witty retort, he glanced to his left as "JAWS" tried to take a bite outta his arm! "Quick robin, use the bat shark repellent" Jack called out in a faux Adam West voice as he watched as the shark stopped moving…unable to get his teeth free from the bridge. "You're stuck aren't you…heh" Jack grinned as he placed a palm against the sharks cold snout, as he started to turn up the temperature in his hand.
Watching as the shark flailed for freedom, he asked "What's wrong? You look scared". The table turned however when JAWS got free and managed to slice his tooth against Jacks palm. "OWW" Jack seethed, as he backed away; gripping his palm. Looking up at the others to see them fighting the gators, he tried to see some humor in the situation as Pinkie had somehow managed to stuff a gator into one of her random party cannons before shooting him out into a wall.
Clenching his knuckles as his blood mixed with the fire, the components suddenly made his powers surge for a moment as he retaliated against the shark by whirling and firing a powerful torrent of pyro power, missing due to the fact that he wasn't aiming well. It skived against the sharks left side of his face, burning the flesh off completely.
Rainbow Dash laughed, as she whirled around and hoofed a gator in his jaw, laughing as she was on a pure adrenaline rush. Aw yeah! Nothing could stop her! "That's right, that's right! You can't teach this, I'm just too..gack" she was cut off when a gator snuck up behind her and managed to nip at one of her wings, grounding her for the moment. Cradling her injured wing, she turned around in time to see the monster roar in her face as it was about to get her when suddenly it was blasted in the back by Twilight Sparkles; sending it back into the water.
"As much fun as it is fighting these things, maybe we should go" Twilight asked everypony aloud, receiving a nod of agreement. Galloping towards the end of the bridge, she smiled in relief when she reached the other side and finding it free of monsters. "Let's get goin" Twilight called over to her friends, as they all ran towards her one by one.
"Just a sec, me and Dashy are just…alrighty, take this" Jack shouted, as he lunged towards Dash who bent down and sat up, shooing Jack into the air as she charged and rammed herself into the sharks jaw, whilst Jack came down and punched his fist into its nose. Watching as it sunk, a white flag rising from the water in an almost cartoony manner; Jack raised his fist towards Dash. "Pound it" he smirked, they fist/hoof pounded.
As the last of the gators dispersed, Jack chuckled as he pointed "Hey, check it out" he smirked as he jabbed a finger at the nearby ladder. "We've gone pretty far sooo..let's see where we are exactly huh" he asked the others. Climbing it, he felt something warm on his palm. Why was..ahh yeah. Well, he'd take care of that in abit. Removing the manhole, he peeked up as he expected to find more buildings and skyscrapers.,
Rather, he found himself on an old road in the middle of the dark woods. "Huh, are we in central park" Jack questioned, climbing out as he looked around for any sign that would indicate where they were. Spotting a sign, he muttered "Whisky Hollow, Baldwinsville…oh crap".
"What, what is it" Twilight questioned as she noted the look of terror on Jacks face before he quickly masked it. Either the environment itself was creeping him out, or there was some sort of story to this place? Maybe abit of both. "Jack what is it" repeated Twilight.
"This place is accordingly haunted" Jake stated bluntly, receiving an eep from Fluttershy in response. "It has a pretty evil history. It is said that back in the old days,devil worshipers and members of the KKK used to worship here in the woods, and kill children as sacrifices" he stated softly, as his eyes viewed left and right as he tried to find sight of any upcoming danger. Luckily, there wasn't anything of the matter at the moment.
"Wait, uhh..whut's the KKK" Applejack questioned, not gonna like the answer.
"Buncha white supremacist who believed that anyone who wasn't like them was scum and deserved to die. Got it in their head that they were the dominating race" Jack grumbled lightly to others, not surprised by their mixed reactions of disgust, shock, and sadness.
"That's horrible. Why would you hate someone just because they look different than you" Twilight questioned softly, stunned by more of the cruelty of humanity. She had known Jack for a long while now, and knew that not all humans were cruel, yet she was surprised that a majority or minority could be so..so…
"Cause we're assholes with overinflated egos" Jack bluntly stated as he shot a glance back at Twilight. "We get these fanatical notions in our heads that we need to teach the world something, and believe that we're always right once we get a crowd of similar thinkers. Once that happens, we think that we're entitled to do whatever the hell we want; even if it means murdering people who didn't do anything wrong apart for the crime of being different". Finishing his speech, he looked back as they continued through the woods. "It's said that these woods are still haunted by their ghost…but don't worry, that's all myth cause..".
What he had to next was cut off by a ghostly howl that echoed through the forest, causing the ponies to huddle up next to one another as Jack gulped. Wait, this was Discord they were talking about. The guy who made New York city into a freak show! Why couldn't he make ghost? "Stay calm" Jack whispered, as he could see something start to fade into existence. The silhouettes of men in white mask, and clothes. "They're not real, so they can't hurt you" Jack insisted.
"Are you sure about that" Rarity shivered as she watched them become clearer, slowly approaching her as one of the ghost reached up and removed his mask; showing a deformed, grey mattered, zombie face with red burning eyes as the monster opened his mouth to reveal jagged teeth. "AIIIIIEEEEEEEE" Rarity screamed in alarm, as more of the ghostly, evil men started to appear.
"Alright you punks! Ima about to send you all back to wherever it is that you came from, so if you don't back off; I'm gonna knock your block off" threated Rainbow Dash to the ghost. Watching as they either didn't hear her or didn't listen, she shouted in a wavering voice "I..I'm warning you guys! Ba..Back off" she demanded angrily as she tried get them to leave. "Alright, you asked for it" she shouted, lunging at the ghost in front of her as she went..right through it as expected.
"See, their not real so they can't tou..what the" Jack gasped as one of the ghost reached out and grabbed Jacks arm, physically touching him. "We can't touch them, but they can touch us" demanded a seriously freaked out Jack as the ghost placed his hands around Jacks throat, and started to strangle him. Gasping for air, Jack collapsed to his knees as he tried to burn the evil beings hands off and yet his flame powers weren't working suddenly.
"EEEK! GET OFF! GET OFF" shouted Fluttershy in fear as two of the members had gotten a ghostly rope around her neck, trying to drag her away as she struggled against the monsters!
"Le..let go of me" Jack growled, kicking and punching for his freedom as he couldn't believe that this was really happening to him! Apart of his mind was yelling that this wasn't real, that everything that was trying to kill him or do him in was just a figment of his mind. Yet feeling the cold, icy feeling of death from these ghost made him rethink his opinion as he struggled to breathe; feeling his world starting to grow dark, as the blackness threated to overwhelm him.
"Th..This isn't fun! This isn't fun at all" Pinkie wordily stated as she backed away in horror, as these monsters were really, really weird! And scary! Taking out her party cannon from nowhere, she aimed and fired at the ghost..and gawked as the blast went straight through the ghost.! No, no fair" Pinkie thought!
Feeling the spirit loosen its grip for a moment, Jack managed to rip free as he back flipped away. Furious that he had been humiliated in such an easy fashion, he aimed his palms at the spirits; shouting "BURN" letting out a spew of fire as it rocketed and enveloped the spirits! "Yeah that's right! HOWD YOU LIKE…oh shit" Jack gasped, as the spirits flew through the flames, one of them flying high into the air before coming down and got his hands around Jacks throat once more.
"Jack, don't worry! I. I'll save you" Rarity screamed at him, as an ear piercing sheik entered her ears. Glancing to the left, she gasped in terror at the sight of more ghost appearing, surrounding as her friends started to disappear one by one, and vanishing in a group of encircled spirits! "Leggo, let go of me! Im not going to be..ACK" she gasped as a they started to pill ontop of her, some of them raising torches high into the air as they let out a ghostly howl!
Jack collapsed to his back, panting as he could hear his heart beat slowly get slower, and slower as he couldn't breathe! Watching as the spirits encircled them, they reached down with their hands as they started to obscure Jacks vision. "No….N..Noo…o…." Jack gawked as he reached up with a weakened hand for air as his vision slowed blurred and then…nothing.
I apologize for the abrupt ending. I felt that it was the best place to end on a cliff hanger. This week has been hectic with all the moving, and studying I've had to do. Not to much the constant rpping. But hey, that's life. I hope next week Ill be able to get it longer. Till next week, read and review.