Chapter 1: Pregame

A little red colt sat at a grand dining table across from his mother. The table was set with a dinner that could feed an army of ponies for a year, but there were no others around to share in the feast. His mother was saying something, but he couldn’t hear her. The other side of the table was so far away. He strained his ears, standing up in his chair to try to hear what she was saying, but the table seemed to stretch, and a heavy bank of smog settled over the edge. Soon, he couldn’t even see her anymore, and he was lost in the thick folds of smoke that roiled around him. He called out desperately for somepony to come and guide him out of the encroaching darkness, but no one heard. He didn’t know any of the household servant’s names, his mother didn’t seem to care, and his friends... His friends were made of cotton stuffing and imagination. He heard something rustle behind him, harsh in the otherwise silent gloom, and he screamed, running as fast as he could away from the unseen terror that stalked him. The chair tipped over, something caught hold of his chest and...

Leaf’s eyes snapped open, the covers twisted into a rope wrapped around his small frame. “Dammit Leaf! Do you know how expensive these sheets are?” A mare’s voice said. Leaf looked down at the twisted mess of his nighttime panic, and tears started to gather in the corners of his eyes. Gentle Touch, his mother, put a protective hoof on his mane.

“Now, now, Leaf. Every foal has bad dreams now and then. It’s natural.” she told him, brushing his mane softly with a hoof. Leaf inspected his room again, like every other time he’d had this nightmare. Red walls with gold frill, expensive looking chairs and carpets with the same crimson-yellow the bed had, a chest of finely crafted, expensive toys he had never touched. He sighed, hearing water running from a faucet and splashing hard into a foal-sized basin. Leaf grabbed his shampoo and his firetruck and went to clean himself.

It was a daunting task, cleaning a truck with such intricate parts with only the clumsy hooves of a foal, but it was a task he’d gotten quite deft at over the few months of him coming to live with his mother. He’d never been let out of the house after that, and he’d always watch the fillies and colts on the street play around with a ball until they got shooed away by the house’s guards. Leaf sighed again, rolling the firetruck along the narrow edge of the basin. A white hoof snatched it away.

“You know you’re not supposed to play with this in the tub, Leaf! You might hurt yourself!” Gentle Touch scolded. Leaf held out his hooves, staring silently at the truck moving away from him. He finished washing and was immediately greeted by three servant mares who wrapped him up in towels and dried him off. He’d gotten used to it, but it still didn’t bother him any less.

When the servants had found him suitably dry, he looked around for his truck, spotting nothing but giggling mares and his mother. She had the firetruck wrapped in a saddlebag. Leaf frowned. She smelled of the fine wine she had en-masse in the cellar. He couldn’t picture her without a bottle of one.

“Oh there you are darling!” Touch said, giving an exaggerated kiss on his forehead, which he hastily brushed off. She ignored this. “It’s time for lunch. Are you all clean?” she asked.

One of the servant mares piped up, “Yes, ma’am. Cleaner than Celestia, ma’am.”

“It’s your favorite, Leaf! Creamed Chipped Hay with toast!” one of the more friendly mares said. She was nice to him, but she was conniving, always reporting everything he did to his mother. Leaf nodded slowly, giving a glare from beneath his mane to her as she turned away.

He didn’t even bother to try pulling out a chair. Wherever he went, there were ponies to cater to him. He slouched into the chair, pulling out a book titled ‘Space Mares’. One of the servants casually snatched it away. He liked this one, however. Hay Bale, who was three times the size of the colt, would read to him and explain anything Leaf asked him about. No dancing around the subject, no tact, just cold, blunt facts. Leaf slouched lower.

“Sit up straight, dear.” The white mare sitting far across from him chided. “Wipe your mouth, sloppiness will not be tolerated in this house, young buck!”

Leaf wiped his mouth with the fur of his hoof. Gentle Touch recoiled at the display. “How dare you! Go to your room, mister! We’re going to have a serious talk about your behavior as of late!” she punctuated late by throwing her hoof into the air.

He looked at the table around her, taking three bottles of Chateau-de-Creme into count. Leaf sat there, angry. He picked up one of the silver forks and stabbed it into the table. Gentle Touch sat mouth agape. She reddened under her fur, instantly appearing in front of Leaf. He raised his hooves to block the smack. Her breath smelled of grape and alcohol. He rolled off the chair and to the left, tripping on some of the finery.

“I hate you! Leave me alone!” Leaf cried, dashing out of the room. The servants tended to his mother, not even bothering to check him for bruises. Charging up the stairs, he stumbled over some more of the red finery that adorned the floors. He lashed out against the carpet, as if it were the shadows in his dream. Screaming fury brought to an end by the sound of hooves charging up the stairs. He bolted for his door and locked it, only getting a moment’s respite as he slid down to the base of the door before slamming startled him back up.

“Get out here! Get out here right now! Leaf! Leaf! Get out here right this instant young buck!” mother’s voice screamed through the thin wooden bulwark separating him from fear and punishing hooves. He’d been through this quite a few times. Today was her birthday, and she drank herself into stupidity and rage. All of the finest wines in the house, and she didn’t even bother to use a cup. The red colt curled into a ball against the door, nestling his head into his forehooves. A hard blow to the door tilted him to the left, and he plopped on the floor.

For what seemed like a few seconds to the little colt managed to spread itself into hours. His sleep penetrated by the sound of a heavy thump on the floor outside his room. Leaf opened the door, seeing his mother snoring. He started to creep over her, but he paused, going back into his room.

He fell into his bed, anticipating the morning. He smashed his hooves into the bed with a grunt, his eyes watering despite himself. It was going to be a long night.

------

He was in his mother’s room, and she was lying on the bed beneath a glass dome. He began walking cautiously forward, and his hoof struck something- an empty bottle of his mother’s favorite wine. Looking up, he saw that the bottles were everywhere, stacked in great heaps in every corner. Filled with dread, he approached his mother’s still form, and was greeted with the sight of her totally submerged in alcohol inside of the glass tank. He gasped, horrified, and started pounding on the glass with both hooves, trying to free Gentle Touch before she drowned. The glass cracked, and the sour smell of wine came pouring out. The lid of the case came loose, and Leaf heaved it off. He was about to reach in to pull his mother out, when her eyes snapped open, and she screamed soundlessly under the wine. She lashed out with a hoof, grasping Leaf by the back of his neck and hauled him into the case. He struggled, but she held him in, and he was helpless as she dragged him down with her, deeper into the abyss of liquor...

Leaf awoke slowly. His head was stuck in a pillow case. No mother to greet him, no servants to appease him. He got out of bed and tip-hoofed slowly into the hallway. He could hear crying and screaming. He could see silver and gold platters and crystal cups flying into the hallway, servants running into the room with leather-bound Zebra tomes and fancy cuisine.

He rolled his eyes and stepped into the washroom. A metal basin again greeted him with foamy water. He put a hoof in to test it, and it was colder than the moon. Leaf looked around for some soap and shampoo. He found the latter, and quickly plunged into the tub. The freezing liquid took his breath away, and he poured way too much shampoo on his mane. He dunked his head and scrubbed. Quickly, because he heard his mother and her entourage stampeding towards him. He managed to get half the shampoo out before his mother reared up and grabbed him with her hooves. “Leaf! Don’t do that! You could drown!” she cried. Leaf flailed a little bit before taking a dour expression.

He turned his head towards her, glaring. “I wish I would!” he screeched, suddenly flailing hard. She dropped him into the tub, stumbling back. Her eyes watered.

“Even my own son hates me!” she screamed, falling into a heap on the floor. A couple of servant colts started patting her and rubbing her. Hay Bale pulled the soaking red colt out of the bathtub with his teeth, walking out calmly. They went to his room, Bale softly closing the door.

“Leaf. Did ya really mean that?” he asked. Leaf crossed his forelegs and huffed.

“Yes.” He replied.

He rubbed his chin, then walked out of the room.

------

Leaf sat at the end opposite of his mother at the dining table. He sat straight, ate properly, wiped his mouth with the fancy napkins. His mother smiled, a sad grin that gave empty promises of peace and love. Leaf didn’t look at her once. She smiled harder. Leaf presented an empty plate to a servant mare, who took it gleefully. Two other servant mares helped him climb down from the chair, patting his head and nudging him for his compliance. Leaf slowly trotted up the stairs, shuffling his hooves. He happened to notice a red metal truck with a ladder in his mother’s room. His ears perked slightly, but his expression did not deviate from sullen. He let the door close with a soft click, plopping on the bed.

“Leaf?” came a voice and a knock. “Leaf, I just want to talk.” Her voice was cracking. Leaf shuffled out of bed, and made his way to the door. Gentle Touch perked up at the sound of her son’s hooves. A telltale click of a lock and the shuffling away made her tear up. “Please Leaf. Please open the door.” There came another soft knock. “Please?” her voice caught, nearly a sob. Leaf allowed himself to remain oblivious to her begging.

A few hours had passed, Leaf bolted awake. His plan would come into fruition tonight. He opened the door as softly as he could, careful not to nudge her. He beamed when he saw she was fast asleep on the carpet.

Quickly but quietly, he ripped half the sheet off his bed, tying it to a stick and stuffing his pillow in it. After that, he crept over his mother and shuffled down the stairs. Sneaking was hard when you had hooves, but the carpets softened the sound quite a bit. On his way down he stopped by his mother’s room. Three passed out servant bucks lay on her bed, smelling of the same perfume she wore and of the same wine she threw against his door. He shook his head vehemently. It wasn’t his door. This wasn’t his house, she wasn’t his mother. No real mother could ever act like that. He grabbed the firetruck by it’s ladder and snuck out.

He made his way to the pantry, ignoring what he didn’t know he could eat or not. He grabbed packets of powdered food, cans of fruit and pastas, and some fancy water bottles with the fizzy water. He crept out of the pantry, stopping dead as he saw a servant mare walking towards him.

“Oh shoot. Did I leave the door open again?” she said to herself. She reached a hoof to the door and pressed it closed. It bumped his hoof, and it swung slightly back open. The mare’s head was turned, and Leaf could make out screaming and crying from upstairs. The mare sighed and galloped up to his mother, once again active and angry. He knew he couldn’t wait this out much longer.

He charged for the door. His mother charged down the stairs. He got lucky, she charged just a bit too fast and slipped on her own livery. He heard a crack. Screaming. Leaf turned his head to look back one last time. His mother reached a hoof out and screamed something.

He didn’t hear it. He slammed the door.

All that greeted him was a cold tundra. Freezing, bitter cold that spread quickly over Coltago and all of it’s residents. The cold, white powder reached to Leaf’s knees. He shivered and ran. He ran as far away from the accursed house as his little hooves could take him.

------

After an hour, Leaf sat down next to a dumpster in an alleyway near the center of the city. Dangerous looking ponies had already robbed him of all but his favorite toy, which had a large, hoof-shaped ‘U’ in it after one of the ones dressed up as a chess piece stomped it and took most of the food.

He heard a rustling next to his dumpster, and knees knocking against one another, Leaf dived into the rotten waste that was discarded by the ponies who lived there. It was warm, warmer than his house for some reason. He peeked out of the dumpster, seeing nothing. Then, a glowing orange light engulfed the lid of his hiding place, forcing it open no matter how hard Leaf pulled. A pony with dark orange fur, an ash-white mane, and a cutie mark obscured by a black bishop symbol now looked down on him. The only part of his head visible was the top, and so the orange mare took it to be a strange looking piece of garbage. Then it moved, and she was immediately on guard. Only one of his eyes was visible, and it was wide with terror. The mare relaxed, rolling her eyes and lifting the colt out of the trash by his mane with her magic.

“What’re you doing in there?” she asked suspiciously. “Where are your parents?” Leaf couldn’t answer, his face a sullen red contrast to her dusky orange coat. Her gaze softened a little, and she rubbed his mane. “Now why don’t you be a good little foal and run home?” she said, dropping Leaf on his flanks. Leaf shook his head. She raised an eyebrow.

“Why the moon not?” she asked. Leaf didn’t answer. She growled to herself, Leaf curled into a fetal position.

“Why?!” she yelled, raising a hoof. For a moment, she was white and red, and Leaf spasmed into a tighter ball for a second. Her glare softened even more, her anger losing it’s edge.

“Where’s your family?” she asked softly. Leaf shook his head. She paused for a minute, thinking.

“C’mon.” she said simply, grabbing Leaf in a warm sphere of magic. “I’ve got someone who might want to meet you.”

Leaf nodded.

“Name’s Burnt Umber, or just Umber if you decide to be friendly. Call me ‘Umbie’ and you’re dead.” she explained.

Leaf nodded.

“Can you talk?” she asked.

Leaf nodded.

“Then why don’t you?” the mare pressed.

Leaf shook his head.

She sighed. Leaf felt her increase her speed to a trot, angling for a broken-down apartment building with very few windows left. At least nothing could be worse than living with his mother, he reasoned.

------

A pegasus foal sat secluded from the freezing wastes of the city by four drab walls, almost the same shade of grey as his coat. A much-dented red firetruck passed between his hooves, slowly rolling back and forth. He heard a voice and a bang from the cheap plastic-metal door swinging closed. It could only be his sister, or their landlord, coming to collect the rent. Nopony else ever came through that door.

The foal crawled into a fortress he had made of the sparse furnishings in the apartment, which mostly consisted of a pair of splinter-ridden chairs and the thin mattress he shared with his sister. This was how he spend most of his days, huddled under the fort like it was a prison.

A warm voice rang out from the narrow hallway. “Stee-eel! I brought you something! It’s a surprise!” Umber called out, hoping to goad her little brother out of his self-imposed confinement. It worked, a bit. He poked his head around the corner, eyes glazed with disinterest. He saw his sister, someone who gave his life light. His protector, his mentor, and his only friend, even though she had to work most of the day to keep the two of them housed and fed. Then he turned a little to the left. A red colt with a lighter grey mane than his, with the same dead eyes. Leaf looked up almost at the same time, and the look of astonishment was mirrored in both their faces. In an instant, their eyes lit up, showing real life for the first time in what must have been years. It had been too long since either of them had a real friend close to their own age.

A colt to play with, they both thought. Giving no regard to either of them having any social contact outside their matriarch figures, they charged towards each other, inspecting manes, pulling ears, tails, and whatever else they found interesting. Leaf’s mouth held a firetruck that mirrored Steel’s. Both smiled wider than they ever had before.

“You two have fun! I’ll be back in a little bit, I have to go collect my pay.” Umber said.

The colts ignored her, jumping around and screeching and laughing. Ramming the firetrucks into one another and making explosion noises.

“I’m Leaf.” Leaf said simply. Steel jumped into the air and landed on his back hooves. He pumped a hoof to his chest. “I’m Steel Grey, defender of Coltago!” he boasted. Leaf laughed. He climbed up on the rail less gracefully than Steel and announced;

“I’m Tobacco Leaf, the destroyer of Coltago! Raaar!” he beamed, puffing out his chest. “Whoa, whoa-!” he panicked as the chest puffing put him off his already delicate balance, falling towards the floor. A grey bolt swooped him up.

“You’re going to jail, Tobacco Leaf!” Steel’s raspy little voice announced.

“Nu-uh! I have a secret weapon!” Leaf’s clear, effeminate voice countered.

Leaf dropped down, grabbing a firetruck. Whether it was his or Steel’s, he didn’t care. He was having pure fun for the first time in his life.

“Pew! Pew! Pew!” Leaf sounded. Steel did a mock death, putting his hoof over his heart and falling backwards. “I win!” Leaf cheered.

“Nuh-uh!” Steel shouted back, a firetruck held in his hooves in the same manner.

“Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!” Steel sounded. Leaf ducked behind the couch for cover. “You’ll never win, Tobacco Leaf! Surrender now!” he playfully announced.

“Never! I have a secret lair!” Leaf countered, “and you’ll never find me!”

Steel paused for a second. “Hey! I know the perfect place for your lair!” he hopped and bounced. Leaf stood up, putting the firetruck in his armpit. “Where?” Leaf asked, bouncing and hopping.

“There’s this place Umber told me never to go to! It’s called the Cornerstone Mall! It’s perfect for a secret evil lair!” Steel said. Leaf looked puzzled.

“What’s a mall? Where is it?” he asked.

Steel perked his wings. “Follow me!”

The pegasus colt lead his companion through a twisting maze of back alleys, abandoned apartment complexes, and empty streets, through blistering winds and soft snow, until they both stood at the entrance to a massive, ugly concrete building. The structure had been condemned due to poor design and cheap materials. Gang violence during the recent years had also contributed to the doomed outlet, making its mark via graffiti, broken windows, and heaps of trash in every corner.

“If you’re not s’posed to go, how come you can find your way here so good?” Leaf asked. Steel shrugged.

“I come here all the time.” he said, patting a hoof on Leaf. “‘sides, I never see why I can’t come here.” he finished as he opened the door.

“Welcome to Cornerstone Mall!” Steel announced grandly. A gray inner courtyard with hundreds of neon signs and curtains to hide their lights. Steel curtains quarantining sections of the mall, hiding what to two poor foals was treasure and wealth. Leaf followed him down the stairs and through the littered hallways, avoiding scattered rubble and trash. Parts of shattered glass from looted stores, even a few scattered bullet casings, which Leaf made a point of picking up.

“It’s really fun her-” Steel started, then he jumped on top of Leaf and hid behind a box. He kept a hoof on Leaf’s mouth.

“Ssssh...” Steel hissed quietly. Leaf nodded. Steel slowly craned his head out to the edge of the box.

“So you got my pay?” a gruff voice asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Like always. I swear you say that just to be corny.” a gruff female voice responded.

Steel couldn’t see them very well. He couldn’t let bad guys like this get away, and so he felt the need to get a good look at them. He reached his hoof slowly over...

*Clang!*

A discarded Red Buffalo can rolled away from the two colt’s hiding place. Leaf hissed in alarm, and Steel held his breath.

“What was that?” one pony asked. “Did you hear that?”

“It came from over there!” one said, pointing a hoof in the vicinity of the young ponies.

Steel gulped. “Leaf...” He whispered nervously, “I think they have guns. Real guns.”

A particularly large yellow stallion detached from the group, holding a metal tube in his mouth. Just a few more steps, and they would be discovered...

Steel reacted first, jumping through a half curtained window. He reached a panicked hoof to Leaf, but recoiled as the yellow stallion shouted, “It’s a colt! A red colt!” he laughed. The stallion poked Leaf with the barrel of the Thompshoof.

“What’re you doing here, ya little shit?” he asked, blowing putrid cigarette smoke on him.

Leaf shook his head. The buck smacked him with a hoof. “Are ya stupid or somethin’? I asked you a question!” he bellowed. The cigarette fell out of his mouth. Leaf yelped as the burning end caught him on the neck, his eyes misting with tears.

A mare with steel tipped wings smacked the buck. “Big stallion you are. Picking on a colt.” She chastised. She brushed his mane with a tender, dirty hoof. “You alright? Red Harvest hurt ya bad?” she asked in a voice straining to sound motherly. Leaf curled tighter; she still sounded like she wanted to murder him.

“See? He’s scared. He’s not a fucking spy, Harvest.” she yelled. The yellow pony shrugged and looked to Leaf, making a line over his throat with a hoof. The mare looked over to her compatriots, nudging her towards Leaf. “Get him some food, Luna Dammit!” she said.

Leaf felt hooves around his neck. He was pulled into the store by Steel, who kept a hoof firmly in his mouth. He started sneaking away, Leaf following closely behind him. A buck shoved the curtain aside.

“There’s two of them!” he shouted. Leaf and Steel dropped their pathetic stealth attempts and ran as hard as they could. Steel shouted something, Leaf couldn’t hear. The pounding of blood in his ears drowned all other sounds out. The stallion who he’d heard called Red Harvest crashed through a door in front of him, catching him with a hoof to the side of the head.

“Thought you could get away, didn’t you, ya little pinprick?” He snarled, raising a hoof to strike him again. Steel charged in, yelling incoherently, but the much larger stallion batted him away almost casually. “Get away, twerp! I’ll fix you later.” Steel hit the wall with a thud, and collapsed in a heap on the floor. He didn’t get up.

Red Harvest pulled out a nasty looking razor, his eyes glinting wickedly. “Right now I’ve gotta make sure you won’t be tellin’ on our hideout... Or talkin’ much at all, for that matter.” He leered at Leaf, chuckling evilly. “Boss ain’t here to keep me from havin’ fun this time, either. Now open wide, foal. Don’t want me to cut too deep, do ya?”

The stallion had a new cigarette stuck between his teeth. Leaf flailed out with a hoof, kicking up a shard of glass. Desperate, he jabbed at the larger pony with the meagre weapon, catching Red Harvest in the eye by sheer dumb luck.

“RAAAAGH! MY EYE! YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

A shadow fell over the stallion. he didn’t notice, too intent on forcing a terrified Leaf to expose his neck.

*CRACK!*

Red Harvest gave a deep sigh, his remaining good eye rolling back in his head as he toppled to the side. A black stallion with a green mane stood over his prone form, holding a pipe wrench in his teeth.

Leaf stared, wide-eyed at his savior. The stallion’s cutie mark looked like it had been burned off, and replaced with a branded letter ‘A’.

“Wh... Who are you?” asked the colt, still shaken.

The pony had to spit out his weapon before he answered. “No names. You call me Ace of Clubs. You alright kid?”

Leaf nodded slowly, standing up on wobbly hooves.

Ace looked him over, finally nodding, satisfied the colt hadn’t been seriously injured. “That was some quick thinking there, with the glass. You got a fast mind.”

Ace eyed him critically. “A bit scrawny, but put some meat on your bones, and you could make a fighter. Let me tell you what, kid,” The black stallion reached down and hefted the pipe wrench over his shoulder, walking out of the building. “You make it through today alive, you’ll be eligible to join the Cards. If you’re interested, look for The Cornerstone. It’s a drugstore on the corner of Tumbledown Avenue and Brook Street, ‘bout three blocks from here. Tell ‘em I sent you and they’ll let you in.”

Leaf nodded again, watching in awe as the stallion disappeared around the corner. When he was gone, Leaf ran to where Steel Grey lay, shaking him. “Steel! Steel, wake up!”

The other colt groaned and stood shakily, balancing himself with his wings. “Wha...? Leaf? Where...”

Leaf shushed him, motioning towards Red Harvest, who was also starting to come to. “We need to get outta here!” he hissed urgently.

Steel, seeming to grasp the situation, nodded, and they both started tip-hoofing out of the building, then ran the entire way back to the apartment through the freezing weather.

------

Game set.

END - To be continued.

Next Chapter- Opening Move