Chapter 9

Jim takes the AR-15 and a couple of extra clips with him as he goes to recon the warehouse. He moves silently towards the building, slipping up on it like an assassin creeps up on a victim. Once he reaches the wall he presses himself up against it and sidles along to each window, carefully peering into each one before moving on to the next.

Shortly after Jim reaches the rear corner of the building and turns it, I see someone come out of the front of the warehouse and light a cigarette. I whistle quietly into the headset and then whisper, "One guy just came out the front, he's standing there smoking." I hear two short taps come over the line in acknowledgement.

The guy stands there smoking for several minutes. He finishes his cig and drops it to the ground, stepping on it. He walks to the corner, fiddles with his belt, and then starts to piss on the building. He finishes his business and zips himself back up. He's about to turn to go back inside when he looks down and seems to see something. He decides to investigate, walking along the wall towards the back of the building.

"Jim, the smoker is heading towards the back of the building. I'm not sure if he saw a footprint or what, but you may have been made. He appears unarmed," I say quietly into the headset. I hear the two taps of acknowledgement again.

I watch as the smoker continues along the side of the building. Just as he reaches the corner, Jim steps out from the shadows and wraps his hand around the guy's mouth while he pins his arms to his chest with the other arm. Jim then adjusts his grip to cut off the guy's air. Jim struggles with the guy for several minutes, until he finally passes out from the choke hold. Jim gently lowers the guy to the ground and then drags him around the back of the building.

A few minutes later Jim breaks the silence, quietly saying, "Irony, I can see Kate. She seems okay, but they have her tied to a bed. There's a curtain blocking the window, but there's enough of a gap for me to see her. We need to regroup and figure a way to get her out of there."

"Are you sure she's okay?" I ask, keeping my voice down.

"Yeah, she seems fine...wait, there's a guy coming into the room. Oh shit! No you don't you bastard! I'm going in! Irony, call the cops or something!" he starts yelling obscenities and I hear glass breaking. Then I hear several shots from the AR.

My fear and panic turn to anger in a heartbeat and, without any further thought, I'm leaping out of the truck, grabbing my mace and shield in the process. I race across the open ground and slam into the door, with my shield raised in front of me. It explodes open and I barrel through it, shield-checking the guy who gets in my way. An audible crunch can be heard from his chest as he flies backwards and hits the ground hard, landing in a heap that doesn't move.

I barely register that he's out of my way before the mace is up, crashing down on another dude's head. His skull splits like an overripe watermelon, gobbets of blood and grey matter come spraying out, painting the wall in gore, almost like a slaughterhouse movie.

I stalk down the corridor, my rage keeping me moving. The hall opens into a large bay area. In this area I see several cars in various stages of disassembly. I spot my 442 in a far corner, seemingly untouched. It isn't important, so I ignore it as I make my way further into the large bay, looking in all directions to get my bearings.

Several mechanics spot me, but they turn tail and run, so I let them go unmolested. I hear another gunshot from across the bay, drawing my gaze that direction. I see there is another corridor leading off from the bay on that side. I start jogging toward the hallway. As I come within 15 yards a man appears, leveling a 9mm pistol at me.

Just as his finger begins to tighten on the trigger I leap, hitting the ground with my shoulder and rolling with it as I hear the bark of his pistol and the bullet pass above me. I finish my roll and bound to my hooves, the mace already swinging in a wide arc. The head of the mace takes him in the left hip, splintering bone and pulping his flesh. The resulting scream echoes around the shop louder than the pistol fire. He whimpers as he falls to the ground with a thud.

I stand over him, my mace raised over my head, and yell in his face, "Where the fuck is she?!"

"Fuck you, bitch!" he retorts, trying to bring his 9mm to bear on me. I lash out with the shield, knocking the pistol from his grip, breaking all the fingers on his right hand in the process. He cradles his now mangled hand against his chest with his left. "Who--what the fuck are you?!" he cries as he gets a good look at me.

I threaten him with my mace, holding it against his chin as I rage in his face, "You can call me Irony, Irony Shieldbreaker. And if you don't tell me what I want to know, you won't ever call anyone anything again. Talk, you slimy piece of shit!"

"Okay, okay, anything! Just don't hit me again!" he pleads.

"Good," I point at the 442 with my mace and then tap his chin with it again and say, "there was a girl with that car. Where is she now?"

He very carefully points back down the corridor he'd emerged from and pants out, "Down that hall, 2nd left, 3rd door on the right. Look, I didn't touch her, I swear!"

My eyes narrow as I look into his, "What do you mean, you didn't touch her? Who touched her?!" My voice quavers with rage.

He pales visibly as he replies, "The boss claimed her for his own. I don't know what he did with her!"

I swing my mace and feel the explosive force as it crashes down.  I look down to see the concrete next to his head shattered, spraying the side of his face with broken chips. He has slipped into unconsciousness from either the pain or the fear. He'll live, I decide, straightening up and heading down the hallway in the direction he'd shown me.

I race down the corridor at full tilt, my hoofstrikes echoing down the halls. In my haze of rage I don't care, nothing matters but reaching Moon Shadow before anything else happens.

Despite all the noise I am making, I still manage to hear a door open behind me. I spin, my arm straight out at, my mace at shoulder height. Shoulder height for me is head height for him. The foe has no chance to react as the metal connects with the top of his head, shearing his scalp away from his broken skull. His buddy is slightly luckier, managing to get a shot off before I ram the mace, tip first, into his chest, caving it in like a rotten pumpkin left out too long after Halloween.

I continue down the hall, leaving their still bleeding corpses in a heap behind me. While I am still a few yards shy of the turn I'm supposed to make, I see two guys with pistols in their hands come out of a door further down the hall. In a snap decision, I leap across the hall and crash through a door. I enter low, in case there is someone on the other side of it, but the room is empty of anything living. There is, however, a plethora of junk piled in the room, mostly broken office chairs and a smashed up desk.

I quickly throw a few of the broken chairs in the path of the door, not blocking the door itself, rather the pathway from the door. I push the desk over closer to the wall to create a hiding place and then I stand behind where the door will open.

It's a simple trick, but rather effective. The two goons, having obviously seen me, open the door cautiously. Their attention is on the desk, assuming I'm hiding behind it. They are taking aim at it when I kick the door closed and attack them from behind.

The first one doesn't even get himself halfway turned around before the mace takes him in the back of the neck, severing his spine where it meets his skull. As he falls bonelessly to the floor I am already turning to the second man. As he completes his turn, I bring my shield up in a devastating blow, catching him under his chin, tearing through his jaw like cream cheese. The edge of the shield becomes lodged in his nasal cavity, so I kick him in the chest and yank the metal disc away from his face.

Without bothering to look upon the carnage I have caused, I leave the room, racing down the corridor and skidding around the corner on my hooves.

Careering around the corner, my body slams into another man, knocking him to the floor. Looking down, I see that he is very well-dressed, in a suit which I can only assume is Italian. I also notice that he is holding a P90-LV SMG in his right hand. As he is still recovering from the collision, I shield-bash his right arm out of line and step on the elbow with my left hoof, crushing the joint.

As he screams I drop my mace and seize him by the throat, lifting him up with my right arm until his toes dangle inches above the floor. I growl into his face, "What did you do to Moon Shadow?!"

"Who?" he barely manages to choke out, his left hand slowly reaching toward the P90, which is hanging at his right side from a single-point strap.

"Moon Shadow!" I scream in his face, slamming him into the wall with enough force to dent the metal. "My friend! My mate, you fucking piece of shit!" I cry as I twist and ram his body into the wall on the other side of the hall, leaving an impression there too.

"Irony!" I hear from down the hall. I look in that direction to see Kate being propped up by Jim as they walk towards me. I drop the senseless man in a pile by the wall and leap to her side, dropping my shield to pick her up in both my arms. I hold her to me as I bury my face in her hair, tears coming unbidden to my eyes.

"Moon Shadow, oh my Moon Shadow," I say over and over into her hair as I caress her back with my hand. "Thank Celestia you're okay!"

"Irony, you came! I was so scared! I didn't think there was any way for you to find me!" she says, leaning her head back and showering my muzzle with kisses.

"I will always come for you, no matter what! I promise," I say with true feeling as I gaze into her eyes. "I was so afraid I was too late."

"Jim shot the guy who was about to rape me," Kate says quietly.

I look over at Jim with gratitude in my eyes, he simply nods in reply. Then he steps over to the guy in the suit and slams the stock of the AR into his head, knocking him out. He then removes the P90 and hands it to me. I take it, slipping the strap over my shoulder and letting it hang at my side.

While Jim kneels down to start going through the unconscious guy's pockets, I collect my shield and mace. Kate stays at my side every step of the way, which suits me just fine. Jim pulls something out of a pocket and tosses it to me. Catching it, I find that it's the keyring with the keys to my car.

"Looks like he decided to keep it for himself," Jim says, "not that I can blame him."

I take Kate's hand in mine and, pulling her around to face me, look into her eyes and ask, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you in any way?"

"No, they didn't hurt me," she answers, shaking her head. "I don't think they'd decided what to do with me. The one Jim shot was giving me lecherous looks all day, but he'd been ordered to stay away from me by that guy," she points to the unconscious man in the suit. "Evidently he got tired of waiting for permission."

"He paid with his life for it, too," Jim says, standing up as he finishes going through the pockets.

I look at Jim pointedly, "Thank you for saving her from that."

"You would have done the same, for anyone," he says, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

I nod, and then say, "Let's get out of here. Moo--Kate and I will follow you in my car." I close my eyes briefly at my slip as I realize I'd been calling her Moon Shadow since we found her.

Kate smiles up at me, squeezes my hand, and says, "Yeah, let's go."

We make our way back to the bay where all the cars are. I stop by the goon I got the information out of earlier and kneel down next to him. I check for a pulse and find he's still alive. I search his pockets and come up with a phone. I flip it open and dial 9-1-1.

"Please state the nature of your emergency," the operator says in my ear.

"There are injured and dead men at the chop shop at this phone's location," I calmly say and drop the phone on top of the unconscious guy's chest before the operator can reply.

I open the passenger door to the 442 and help Kate inside, then make my way to the driver's side and, putting the shield, mace and helm in the back, get in. I start her up and pull to the overhead door leading outside. Jim hits the button next to the wall and slips out, the AR at the ready. We drive over to the truck and wait for Jim to get in and start it. Then we follow him as he heads for home.

"I'm sorry I took off," Kate says after several minutes of silence, staring out the window.

"Don't be sorry for that. You needed some space, which I understood. I'm sorry that me giving you the car got you in trouble," I reply.

"It probably wouldn't have, if I hadn't driven so far that I got lost. I stopped to ask for directions at a shitty little gas station. When I went back outside, two of the thugs had guns and grabbed me. They kept talking about how rare it was to find one of these in such good shape," she says quietly.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't handle the news very well. Some part of me knew, but I didn't want to admit it to myself," she continues. "I spent a lot of time thinking, before and after I was caught. Do you know what I realized?"

"No, what?" I ask.

"I realized, after a lot of thought, that there is one very big reason for me to be glad that I will turn into a pony," she says, turning her head and smiling at me.

"What's that?" I ask her.

"You're a pony too," she answers, reaching out and taking my hand. I squeeze her hand tightly in mine. "In the end, that's all that matters to me anymore. You and I are together. Both of us being ponies will make it that much easier."

"Kate, I'm just glad you're okay, and that we're together again. It scared me to my core that you might not want to have anything to do with me. I even worried that you blamed me for what's going to happen to you," I say, sadness and relief warring on my face, a tear finally slipping free to glide down my cheek.

"How could I blame you? It's not like you infected me or something. This change is going to happen whether I'm here with you or somewhere else, right?" she says to me, I nod in response.

"One other thing," she says in a low voice, smiling beautifully at me, "call me Moon Shadow, please? I love you, all of you, and I know you love all of me too. I don't remember anything about being a pony, but I know that I am one now. I want us to always be together, and I accept who you are, which makes it silly for me not to accept who I am. Not when it feels so right to hear you say my name."

"I love you, Moon Shadow, and I'm never going to stop. This much change in our lives is a really big shock, but I know we can do it together. I'm glad you're here," I whisper to her, not trusting my voice to go any louder.

We drive in companionable silence for a while after that, just holding hands in the dark. I guess this day didn't end so horribly, I think to myself. Though I suppose it's really the beginning of a new day instead. Really, that's more fitting anyway.

As we get closer to home I look over at Moon Shadow and finally say, "I haven't told Jim and Sherry yet. After what happened...I just wasn't sure I should, you know?"

She nods slowly, finally saying, "I think that's wise. I know we decided to tell them, but I didn't handle it so well, and I already had an inkling about it. I'm not even sure they'll believe us until it starts happening to them."

"I'm not sure it'll matter in the end, either way it's going to be a big shock. At least to Jim it will be. I almost think Sherry will welcome it..." I say, remembering how interested Sherry had been in my changes.

"I think you might be right, Jim will probably have a much harder time with it than Sherry will. At least we all have each other, and we're together. Imagine what it would have been like if we were all apart," she replies.

I shudder at the thought of being all alone for this. It would have driven me insane to face these changes alone, I think.

"Yeah, I'm glad we're together in this," I finally say.