Even during the later hours of the night, Manehattan was busy and crowded, and this couldn’t be more true in its restaurants and bars, especially the smaller and seedier bars like the one Annie approached. Had it not been for a small, neon light of a martini glass over the window, Annie wouldn’t have made heads nor tails of what establishment it could be. The building itself couldn’t have been higher than fifteen feet high or longer and wider than thirty feet, and it stood cramped in between two ancient apartment complexes.

Annie walked inside, smelling the stale, musty stench of old cider and floors that hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. If anything, it made her feel right at home. Spotting an empty stool, she made her way to it. The patrons, who considered almost entirely of stallions with dirty, stained coats and messy manes and tails, all eyed Annie with shock, as if Sapphire Shores herself had appeared to them.

Annie still didn’t care for the extra attention she was given when going out to bars, but at least the atmosphere was more similar to Earth’s than Trotsky’s in Canterlot. Annie finally straddled over and sat down at the bar. The yellow unicorn bartender, who was in a raggy, plaid vest that needed a desperate cleaning and stitching with a greasy, slicked back mane and tail, instantly slid over in front of her.

“Oh my goodness!” he wheezed in a thick, raspy accent, picking up a glass with a moderately clean rag and wiping it. “I can’t believe the human is sitting down at my bar!”

“Well,” Annie sighed, “with the prices at the other bars in this city, where else am I to go?”

“A wise choice of words, ma’am. Now, what’s your pleasure?”

“The best crystal you’ve got, on ice.”

“Coming right up!”

The unicorn turned to his meager collections of liquors at the back of the bar, looking for just the right stuff for her. Annie scanned the place about, seeing all of the ponies looking at her as if she was an impossibly beautiful mare that they would never get to see again. Annie scowled, a sound resembling a grunt escaping past her lips.

“Can’t I just enjoy my drink in peace?” her icy voice said.

The ponies instantly returned to their business, talking with their friends or sipping their own ciders and cocktails.
________________________________________________________________________________________

The blue earth stallion and the white unicorn stallion from the plaza stood about a crummy, dirty alley of the city, hidden deep within from the sights of the city streets. Both the flanks of the ponies were covered in thick powders whose colors matched their coats. The white stallion wore a pair of dark sunglasses and a fedora on his head. He stood patiently still and looked about his surroundings while the blue pony paced in circles, huffing nervously.

“Calm yourself,” the white unicorn calmly ordered. “You’re acting like this is like your first time.”

“Shut up,” grunted the blue stallion. “Why did we have to do this job while she was in town?”

“Who? You mean that human from the Royal Guard?”

“Yeah! What if she catches us?”

“First,” the white stallion listed, walking towards the blue stallion threateningly, “if she catches is, it will be because of that loud mouth of yours! Secondly, from what I’ve heard about her fondness for crystal, she’s probably at the hotel bar enjoying herself. Thirdly, and most importantly, a job is a job, no matter who happens to be in the same city as us.”

The blue stallion, taking his partner’s words into account, took a sigh of relief.

“Yeah,” he relented, “you’re probably right.”

“I know I am,” the white unicorn responded. “Now just wait patiently.”

“How much longer until he comes?”

“Any minute now…”

As the white unicorn stood back away from his partner, the blue pony stood straight and still, awaiting whomever was coming for them in the dim, chilly alley.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie swirled her ice inside her glass, sloshing the crystal with the melted water. Annie took another sip, and her lips puckered over the strong sting on her tongue. It was certainly the worst crystal she had in her life, but it was no worse than the worst vodka back home.

“Hey, ma’am,” the bartender wondered, looking at Annie’s disdainful face, “are you alright? Not a fan of crystal?”

“Never mind,” Annie said, “it’s nothing. My drink is fine.”

“I’d be more than happy to take that drink off your bill and get you something on the house for you.”

“Like I said, I’m fine. My world had far worse than this.”

The bartender’s eyes perked up, realizing the doorway of possibility that he opened.

“Your world?” he asked. “Pardon if I pry, but what is it like on your world?”

“Strangely enough,” she said, “it’s much more primitive than yours. Your technology is more advanced, your cities cleaner, your liquor is better, and the inhabitants… much kinder.”

“I, uh, I…” he stammered, his cheeks blushing at her unintentional compliment. “Thank you, I guess.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.”

“So, you’ve made a lot of friends while you’re here?”

“No. The only friends I have on this world live in Ponyville, and my comrade from the Royal Guard who came here with me… well, he means well, but he’s a social misfit.”

“Ah, that’s a shame. How long are you planning on staying?”

“Until tomorrow morning.”

“Well… here’s to a safe trip home.”

“Yeah,” she said, lifting her glass up.

Annie knocked the glass back, taking every drop of liquid along with a couple of the almost-melted ice cubes. The sting was in full force now, and Annie hunched over the counter with her fist to her mouth, coughing heavily. The bartender and some nearby patrons looked at her with sympathy as she tried to keep her drink down.
________________________________________________________________________________________

A bright flash appeared between the white unicorn and blue stallion. Emerging from the flash, unconscious on the ground, was a cream colored earth stallion with a combed and styled light-brown mane and tail. His cutie mark resembled a musical eighth note.

Standing beside the unconscious stallion was the red unicorn from the plaza. Like the blue and white stallions, his cutie mark was concealed by thick powder that matched his coat. The blue stallion, seeing the pony lying before them, smiled deviously and ground his front hooves into the asphalt.

“Patience, Bruiser” ordered the red stallion. “He’ll wake up very shortly. Then he’s all yours.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” dismissed the white stallion. “You may go now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Doctor charged his horn and was covered in a bright blue light before the light burst, the red unicorn disappearing where he stood. The unconscious stallion had begun to wake up. Once his vision had completely restored, he was not only frightened to find himself in the cold and in an unfamiliar place, but also upon the two ponies whose mercy he was under, the blue one already hinting his bad intent.

“Let me apologize in advance,” greeted the white stallion. “It’s nothing personal.”
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie reached into her front pocket, pulling out her purse and fishing for gold bits inside of it. Finding the right amount to pay for her drink, she piled them in a small stack and pushed them to the bartender.

“I think I’m just going to go to bed now,” she said to him. “Thank you for the drink.”

“No,” bid the bartender, “thank you! Happy Hearth’s Warming!”

Annie stood up and put her purse back into her pocket, walking towards the exit. The ponies watched her respectfully as she left, going out back into the streets, which still bustled with life. Annie turned right and headed down the sidewalk. While it was the opposite way to her hotel, she figured that a long walk about the city would help calm her nerves in a way that the terrible crystal couldn’t.

What relaxed Annie even further was that the streets were not very crowded down where she went. Perhaps a moment of tranquility was still within her grasp.

Annie continued on, passing an alley, but was soon off put by the faint sound of fists or hooves pummeling into flesh from deep within. Annie badly wanted to dismiss the sound as either her imagination or something completely trivial, but it felt like a disservice to her responsibilities to the Royal Guard.

With a sigh, she turned right into the narrow, trashy alley and walked briskly, yet quietly, as to avoid being noticed. Surely enough, the sounds of beating were even stronger as she went on, furthering her suspicions.

After a sharp turn left followed by a sharp right immediately after, she found the blue stallion viciously stomping the cream-colored pony into the ground, the latter bleeding badly from his face and belly. Annie was soon about to step out and stop the fight, but gasped upon seeing the white unicorn standing to the left of the blue stallion.

Everything about him matched the description Gilda had given of him perfectly. His short black mane and tail, his blotted-out cutie mark, his glasses, his fedora. If his appearance and the current situation was any indicator, this was Black Glass himself, with what looked to be his new partner.

“Step aside,” Black Glass told Bruiser, pushing him away and standing before the cream-colored stallion. “You did well. Now it’s time to finish the job.”

Black Glass charged his horn, a poof of brown smoke appearing next to him. Floating in the brown aura of his grasp was a switchblade with the blade already retracted out. The cream-colored stallion stared at the weapon with whimpering fear, although nothing seemed to escape his mouth.

Annie sprinted out from behind the cover of the corner she was hiding from, he eyes aimed at Bruiser’s side. Black Glass and Bruiser heard the sounds of Annie’s footsteps approach, but before they could turn to face the witness of their crimes, Annie had already jumped up into the air and began thrusting both feet forwards at Bruiser’s ribs.

With their surprise overrunning their reflexes, Annie flawlessly jammed the soles of both feet into Bruiser’s side, satisfied with the loud, muffled crack she heard inside his chest. The combination of her force with Bruiser caught completely off guard threw the blue stallion off his hooves, sending him crashing onto Black Glass.

Both Annie and Black Glass feel to the ground, Bruiser body pressed and holding down the latter, causing him to relinquish the knife from his magic grasp. Annie shot to her feet and ran to the knife on the ground, pulling her sweater sleeve over her hand. As she ran around Bruiser and Black Glass, she looked to find the knife right in front of the latter’s face.

“Bruiser!” grunted Black Glass. “Get off me and get rid of her. Hur–”

Annie kicked Black Glass in the head, knocking him out cold. Bruiser rolled off of his unconscious partner as Annie picked the knife up with her covered hand, swung the knife back into the handle, and placed it into her pocket. The animalistic roar of Bruiser alerted her to him as he charged her from the right.

Quickly putting herself into her fighting stance, she raised her right arm back below her head, stepped left, put her right arm behind her back, and reeled her right leg back for a kick. Annie was far too fast for Bruiser to react, as she swung her leg down onto the shin of Bruiser’s front right leg.

Annie allowed Bruiser’s momentum to push her leg back and swing her around to the side, letting Bruiser crash into the ground and roll into a trio of garbage pails. Annie looked down to see Black Glass still unconscious and bleeding from where she kicked him. She then turned to Bruiser, who tried getting up, but fell down upon putting weight on his right hoof, wincing, grunting, and rolling about in agony.

Annie then turned fully around to see the scared-and-confused cream-colored stallion looking up at her. Walking to him and standing above him, the pony cowered, unsure of what she would do to him.

“Can you walk?” she asked.

The pony looked up at her, still wrapped up in his shock.

“I said, can you walk?” she demanded. “I’ll help get you to a hospital.”

The pony tried to stand up, but found his front legs wobbling like reeds in the wind.

“Come on,” she encouraged, kneeling down and scooping her head underneath the stallion’s right arm.

Standing back up, she slung the stallion’s arm over her neck and hugged his upper back and torso with her left arm, bringing him to his hind legs.

“Let’s go,” she ordered.

Annie and the stallion walked quickly to the turn of the alley where Annie had come from. Annie was glad to hear no footsteps following her as she continued to carry the wounded pony to the street. Exiting the alley, she looked out into the street, seeing a taxi carriage coming down at them. Quickening her step, she led herself and the stallion into the oncoming lane, frightening the stallion once again.

“TAXI!” shouted Annie.

The burly grey earth stallion pulling the yellow-and-black carriage skidded to a halt just inches from Annie as she walked around the and to the left side of the carriage.

“Listen, lady,” scolded the taxi driver, “you can’t just– oh my gosh! What happened to him?”

“He was being mugged,” explained Annie as she stepped into the carriage and pulled the wounded stallion inside, “was almost killed. No time for an ambulance.”

“I’m guessing you want me to take him to a hospital?”

“Yes. Preferably the closest one to the Maretropolitan Correctional Center.”

“You got it.”

“Thank you!” she said as she stepped back out from the right.

The stallion in the carriage mustered the strength to sit inside the carriage and turn to Annie.

“Thank you,” the stallion sobbed. “I owe you my life!”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Annie assured him. “I’m just doing my job. Now hurry!” she shouted at the taxi driver.

“Yes, ma’am!” the driver shouted.

The taxi driver quickly galloped down the street, the stallion safely in tow. Annie stood and waited until the taxi went out of sight, ensuring that nothing bad would befall it as long as she was there to see it. Once the taxi turned a corner and became invisible. She turned back and ran back into the alley.

Annie juked through the corners of the alley and looked to find both Black Glass and Bruiser, the sight she was greeted with instead causing her to freeze in her tracks. Neither Black Glass nor Bruiser were there. The only traces of their being there were the small pools of blood that were leftover from both the two beatings that had occurred.

Annie then continued running deeper within the alley, hoping to find Bruiser limping away to his supposed freedom with the unconscious Black Glass on his back. As she ran further in, she only grew more hopeful, knowing they couldn’t be that much farther. With another turn into the alley, she found herself face to face with the back wall of another building.

A complete dead end.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered, jerking her body around.

With no other option to turn to, she ran the other way down to the alley, keeping her eyes peeled at all times to ensure that the next turn wouldn’t see her running into either of them. Inversely, each new turn she took coming out filled her with more and more dread, feeling that the next turn she would take would land her straight into her grasp.

She had finally reached the straightaway where she had first confronted them, feeling more at ease with the high possibility that they would not attack her this close to the public. Turning right then left, she ran back out from the alley and into the street, just barely dodging a carriage as it drove down the road.

“Hey, watch it!” the driver of the carriage yelled out.

Annie ignored him as she continued sprinting down the middle of street, staying as visible as possible, hoping that one would attack her and reveal herself. Otherwise, she was safe to go to her next destination.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Gilda slept in her cell unsoundly, tossing and turning as she awaited the miserable day of sentencing set for her the next morning. Two police stallions sat on stools at the back of the room on both sides of the door, struggling to stay awake as they watched the prisoner struggle to stay asleep. Their ears perked up to the sound of loud cacophony of feet tamping on the floor and towards the room.

The door slammed open, frightening the two officers onto their feet and jolting Gilda awake. As Annie and two more officers, one of them being Cuffs, the lights turned on, making Gilda groan loudly as she rubbed her eyes.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Can’t a griffon get some sleep here?!”

Her eyes then looked at Annie, and instantly, she shut her mouth and backed up as far as her chains would allow her to go.

“Miss Leonhardt!” exclaimed Cuffs. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I demand the release of the griffon Gilda,” Annie declared, panting. “She is innocent and is also in grave danger.”

Gilda, unsure if she heard Annie correctly, scooted closer to the bars of the cell cautiously, keeping her curious eyes set on Annie and the other officers in the room as the murmured loudly over Annie’s ridiculous request.

“What is that supposed to mean?” asked one of the other officers. “How do you know this?”

“At approximately eleven o’clock tonight,” Annie shouted, “two ponies, a bulky blue earth stallion, and a white unicorn, whose physical features match the ones listed by Gilda earlier today as Black Glass exactly, were attacking a cream-colored stallion with a musical note cutie mark in an alley along Stagnant St. and attempted to murder him with this.”

Annie reached into her pocket and threw the switchblade down on the floor, the other ponies looking at it quizzically and surprisingly.

“I engaged the two ponies and incapacitated them to allow me enough time to escort the wounded stallion to a taxi where he could promptly be taken to a hospital. I told the driver to take him to the closest hospital to this location, which should be St. Piper’s Memorial. Go talk to him. He’ll tell you the same exact story. I guarantee you.”

Gilda stood awestricken by Annie’s firm defense of her while the other guards were stunned.

“But here’s the thing,” concluded Annie, “they’ve escaped. After ensured the taxi had taken off without a hitch, I went back into the alley to find out that they have disappeared. They couldn’t have come out of the alley without being seen by me, and the other side of the alley was a dead end.”

“But that would mean…” Cuffs speculated.

“That this Black Glass knows teleportation, and is skilled enough with it to transport both himself and another pony twice his size. Only one other pony that I know is that good with magic, and she’s a student of Princess Celestia herself.”

“Princess Twilight,” gasped the other officers in the room at different times as they looked at each other.

“Whomever this Black Glass is, he’s no loan shark, and is certainly more dangerous than one, and will more than likely stop at nothing to ensure that his name is cleared, even if it means killing both Gilda and myself, the only witnesses to his crimes.”

The other guards looked to each other, unnerved by this prospect.

“So,” wondered Cuffs, “what should we do?”

“As I said before, you are going to release that griffon from your custody and into mine so we can leave Manehattan before Black Glass and anyone else who happens to be working for him have time to mobilize. Then you are going to send a message to the Grain Central Station that the Royal Guard needs their train to Canterlot prepared and ready to leave as soon as possible.”

“Blue Pride?” Cuffs called, turning his face to an officer with a badge for a cutie mark.

“On it, sir!” he relayed as he left the room.

“Lastly, I want the police finding the pony that I rescued and protecting him by any means necessary. He’s still in as much danger as we are. Allow only doctors and immediate family, check his food, drinks, whatever treatments they give him, keep watch on it all and make sure that he stays alive at all times.”

“We’ll send some officers promptly,” Cuffs assured.

“Now, hurry and release her. We can’t let her or any information of him that she has die.”

Cuffs wordlessly tossed a ring of keys from his belt from his mouth into Annie’s hand.

“The cell doors four from the right,” explained Cuffs. “The key to each of her braces is three from the left.”

Annie nodded and walked to the door, fanning the correct key for the door and grabbing hold of it. With a turn, she pulled the door open with her hand on the bar. Gilda watched passively as Annie knelt beside her next to her right talons. Annie picked the correct key for the braces and placed the key in the lock, turning it and snapping the brace open. Gilda presented her left talon to Annie, who promptly performed the same task, the clasp coming off, freeing Gilda. The astounded griffon rubbed her wrists, unable to believe that her bonds were actually off.

“Come on,” Annie said to Gilda as she walked out of her cell, “we need to get my partner and get to the station.”

“Uh… sure!” Gilda said, breaking herself from her trance. “Well, smell you guys later!”

With a smug giggle she waltzed out of the cell door and followed Annie through the exit of the room, staying close behind her. Cuffs and the two remaining guards watched as the door closed behind her.

“Well,” Cuffs shouted at the other two. “Get to the hospital!”

“Yes, sir!” they shouted as they briskly trotted out of the room.

Cuffs turned back to Gilda’s cell, finding it empty once again. He could only imagine that if Annie’s story were true, and he had no reason to doubt her, what a mess would be created with Black Glass trying to bring her or Gilda down.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Flash Sentry nestled comfortably in his hotel bed, the only lights entering the room was the ambiance of the city as it streamed through the balcony door windows and filtered by the drapes. Unbeknownst to him, large wingbeats were heard outside and a light landing of feet was made on the balcony. The door opened, unleashing the full noise and light from the city inside the room with Annie’s body pushing the doors open.

“Hurry,” whispered Annie as she walked inside the room “get inside.”

Flash Sentry, awoken by the nightlife of the city, stood up in the bed, his hair messy and unkempt. Annie’s semi-silhouette walked over to the tableside lamp in between the two beds the room had. Her body blocked Gilda from Flash’s sight as the lights came on, revealing the red covers and rustic-yellow paint on the walls.

“Annie,” grumbled Flash Sentry, “what are you doin…”

Annie stepped aside and walked to the closet to reveal Gilda standing in the room as she observed her surroundings. Flash Sentry jumped up and pressed his back against the wall.

“Oooh,” exclaimed Gilda, “sweet digs.”

“Sweet Celestia!” he gasped. “Is that Gilda?”

“Yes,” answered Annie as she took her dirtied sweater off and tossed it on the floor.

“Annie? You do realize that’s the same Gilda that…”

“Don’t. You. Dare say it,” threatened Gilda.

“It’s okay, Gilda” Annie assured her, taking her pants off as well and revealing only a bra, panties, and ankle-socks. “Flash, Gilda is innocent. You know that stallion, Black Glass, that she described earlier today? Well, he exists, and I watched as he tried to beat and murder another pony in cold blood.”

Annie walked over to the dresser across from the beds, Gilda moving to make way. Opening the drawers, she found her white pants, white hoodie, and her gold harness and sash.

“So, what is she doing here?” asked Flash Sentry.

“As I went to get the beaten, but still alive, pony sent to the hospital,” explained Annie, grabbing her pants and slipping her legs through them, “he and his partner had disappeared, no doubt to formulate a way to stop us.”

“But why bring her here?”

“If one of them decides to attack us in the next minute,” she continued, putting her hoodie on, “I need to have my Manuever Gear. I managed to defeat them with the element of surprise. I doubt they’ll fall for it again.”

“So, should I get my armor on?”

“No,” Gilda responded coldly and sarcastically, “you should just stay in bed and get yourself killed.”

“Gilda!” Annie yelled, throwing her harness on. “I know your last encounter with Flash wasn’t very good, but he’s going to protect you now that he knows you’re innocent. Isn’t that right, Flash?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded with a salute, before getting up and to the closet.

“But of course,” she warned, finishing with her harness, “you have to show respect to one another, especially you, understand?”

“Why should I–?” Gilda began before looking into Annie’s glare. “Yeah, fine.”

“Good,” Annie responded, grabbing her gold sash.

Gilda turned her head away and rolled her eyes, knowing the agreement wouldn’t be easy. Looking out at the open balcony, a slight glimmer caught her eye, making them shrink in fear.

“Once we get back on the train,” continued Annie, wrapping the sash around her waist and tucking it into her pants waistband, “I need you to tell me everything you know, and I mean the tru–”

“Look out!” shrieked Gilda, diving onto Annie.

Annie was about to resist, only to see two black wings soaring towards their room. Annie fell back and let Gilda fall atop her. Along the way down, the pair of wings flew just over Gilda’s back, a metallic shing sounding out right above them. Gilda winced as she caught herself, supporting her body over Annie as both of them looked to see their assailant land between them and Flash Sentry at the closet.

The attacker was a pitch-black pegasus mare with her mane and tail dyed the same exact color as her coat. While the light of the room helped define her contours and body, her deep purple eyes were still the only bright thing about it, giving off a frightening appearance. Running along the outsides of her front legs were two bladed cestuses which glimmered bright in the glow of the table lamp.

The attacker spoke not a word as it lunged again, only letting out a heaving grunt as she pushed off the ground. Annie quickly put both feet against Gilda’s stomach and pushed off with her right leg, throwing Gilda towards the balcony doorway. As the assassin flew for Gilda, Annie threw her left leg to the side, catching the inside of the pegasus’s arm and pushing it into the dresser, the blade sticking into the wood.

With the same momentum, Annie tucked her legs back with her right leg still partially extended out. Going into a backwards somersault, Annie kicked the assassin in the top of the head, sending her body straight into the ground.

As the assassin pulled her blade out of the dresser, Annie tucked her legs back and rolled onto her knees over the pegasus’s back, making her wince in pain. Annie, now upright, stood to her feet, seeing as the pegasus was aimed right for Gilda. Annie quickly bent down and grabbed at the pony’s tail just as she tried to take another attempt at Gilda, making her trip and fall to the floor again.

“Gilda!” shouted Annie. “Close the door, hurry!”

Gilda quickly did as she was told, slamming them shut from any other invaders. Gilda turned her head to look at her back, which had only two minor scratches running along the center in between her wings.

The assassin, realizing her predicament, hopped into the air and twirled to face Annie, raising her arm over her head to swing down. Annie smirked, whipping her arm and the assassin’s tail to her right, forcing her body swing to her right. Annie used the assassin’s disorientation to leap forward and drill her in the stomach with her left fist, sending her flying towards the doors.

Annie ran after the pegasus even as she rolled around to the doors. As the pegasus got back to her hooves, facing the by-standing Gilda. At that moment, the assassin felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she was lifted off the ground and at the door. Gilda watched in sheer amazement as Annie’s kick sent her flying through the door, shattering it in a plethora of splinters and shards.

The assassin looked onto the furious face of Annie as her body flew over the balcony banister and began to fall. The assassin hissed in failure as it flapped its wings which, like her body, were impaled with various small pieces of wood and glass. She grunted as she flew out and away from the hotel as fast as she could, her wings spraying her blood down below as she was camouflaged by the night sky from the onlookers down below.

Annie ran out to the balcony to ensure that the assassin had really gone, all while a group of ponies gathered below at the mess they had created. Annie huffed indignantly at the result of the scene: a trashed bedroom and a crowd of scared, confused citizens. Annie knew there was nothing to do now, and she headed back inside to the amazed stares of Gilda and Flash Sentry.

“Holy cow!” exclaimed Gilda. “That was one of their best killers!”

“Best killers?” Annie questioned, her voice sounding pissed and nearly lethal.

Gilda shied away into the corner of the room, knowing she had said too much.

“Yeah,” sighed Annie, “we’re really going to need to talk once we get on the train.”

Annie turned away from Gilda and back to the closet where she left the case for her 3D Maneuver Gear. Gilda stood back up straight and looked as Annie rashly and quickly placed her case on the floor before the still stunned Flash Sentry, who finally went back to the closet to gather the rest of his armor. Gilda smirked and scoffed, his apparent clumsiness defusing her fear of him.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Two police officers, one a stallion, and one a mare, both unicorns, stood at the entrance to Grain Central Station. Night life had finally begun to die down, the ponies walking around and the carriages going by dwindling by the minute. Looking up, the two officers looked up, seeing something flying towards them in the distance.

Flash Sentry, his saddlebags on his sides, flew alongside Gilda, who carried Annie with her 3D Maneuver Gear on her back as they lowered themselves down towards the sidewalk. The few ponies that were out looked up to see Gilda hovering down safely to the sidewalk, screaming in fear as the supposed murderer was standing right before them. Annie dismounted Gilda as several ponies ran in fright while some collapsed to the ground, their legs unable to carry them in their shock.

“MPD!” shouted the mare, standing in between Gilda and the terrified ponies with badge in her magic grasp.

“MPD!” the stallion officer shouted, running to the opposite side before the citizens. “Stand back.”

“The doors are open for you!” called the mare officer. “Go! Hurry! It’s waiting at Terminal 25”

Annie nodded to the officer before she, Flash Sentry, and Gilda ran off up the stairs and inside the station. With trains not running that late at night, the entirety of the station was empty and silent, minus the sounds of their feet, hooves, talons and paws running down the stairs.

“Wait,” Gilda whispered, continuing to follow Annie, “what if one of them is hiding in here?”

“Even so,” said Annie, “we have to keep moving. A moving target is always harder to hit than a still target.”

Annie, Gilda, and Flash Sentry made it to the bottom of the stairway, running across the empty lobby and to the terminals of the station. Starting on the left end, they found that the leftmost terminal was numbered 40. Annie and the others turned right and hastily counted down each number they passed.

Finally seeing Terminal 25, Annie looked down to see the door to the terminal wide open for them and their train waiting patiently at the station. Annie, Gilda, and Flash Sentry turned inside and ran to the train.

“Flash,” called Annie. “Help me get the back car open for Gilda.”

“Got it,” he responded.

Annie and Flash Sentry ran ahead to the last car just ahead of the caboose. Reaching up, both of them managed to slide the latches holding the door out, allowing it to swing down onto the platform and form a bridge. Gilda ran up and looked inside the car. The floor was covered in a bed of straw, the front fifth of the car was barred off, much like Gilda’s cell.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” shouted Gilda. “You’re not putting me in that jail cell! Not again!”

“Gilda,” Annie snapped, “This is the only car that can fit you. And if it’s any consolation, there is a thick layer of steel within the walls of this car, and the windows will magically close on the first indication of fire, gas, and magic. This is easily the safest car on this train, and I need you in it.”

Gilda looked back at the car and then at Annie’s stern, but honest face.

“Whatever,” Gilda scoffed, stepping onto the platform to the car. “The princess is going to hear an earful about this when we get to Canterlot.”

“I’m sure she will,” Annie sarcastically remarked back.

Annie and Flash lifted the door back up and closed it, shutting and locking the latches back in.

“Are we almost done?” called a conductor from the engine of the train. “I shouldn’t even be working tonight!”

“Tough,” Annie spat, walking up to the front passenger car with Flash Sentry. “We weren’t supposed to be getting attacked tonight either. Just take us back.”

“Aye-aye,” he responded with a tired salute.

Flash Sentry climbed into the car while Annie took out her operational device on her Maneuver Gear, aiming it at the ceiling and pulling the trigger. Her hook launched into the overhangs and with another press, she lifted herself up and over the car, detaching her hook and landing on the roof of the passenger car. Annie slid her operational devices over the bases of two blades inside her sheaths and pulled out, fully prepared to attack.

“Just go,” Annie ordered. “I’ll be on the lookout for anything suspicious.”

“All aboard, then,” he shouted out, pulled a lever on the floor of the train forwards.

With a puff of smoke from the stack, the train moved forwards, the sudden jerk still unnerving Annie. The train went on as Annie knelt down, avoiding the lower supports as they came up over her. Every few seconds, Annie turned her body in each direction, ensuring that no one else was there to attack her.

The train finally exited the station and outside into the dark outside, illuminated only by the bright light of Manehattan. Annie stood to her feet and watched over the colorful luminance of the city, trying to keep herself from becoming hypnotized by its beauty. Annie looked about over the carriages and ponies still about on the streets nearby.

Rifles were banned in Equestria, and physical spells required much energy if they were to be fired from long distances as to avoid being witnessed. On top of that, in the darkness of night, a spell like that would be bright enough to see before it had a chance to strike. This meant the only way for Annie to be attacked would be a close range or in close combat, which no assassin would be dumb enough to attempt out in the open. From this point forward, it seemed like Annie, Flash Sentry, and Gilda were safe.

Annie stepped forwards at the front of the car and hopped down into the engine, surprising the conductor.

“Hey,” he shouted, “don’t jump me like that!”

“Sorry,” Annie said. “Everything seems to be fine. I’m going back in. It’s getting cold.

Annie walked back into the doorway, closing it behind her.

“Speak for yourself,” huffed the conductor, pulling his cap tighter over his head.

The train continued down the tracks and turned towards a long bridge connecting the city’s island to Equestria’s mainland. While Annie and Flash Sentry were too busy inside to see, it seemed that their trouble in Manehattan was over as their train left the city and the dangers within it.