“Why did ya have to do that?” Babs muttered. She was lying on a dirty mattress, breathing heavily. “Why…”

Raspberry didn’t answer. She was still bound and gagged, with an anti-magic ring on her horn. She also felt that the question wasn’t addressed to her.

It’d been two days since Cracker dumped the body of the filly into the bay. Since then, Babs didn’t come home – she was staying constantly in an abandoned warehouse, guarding Raspberry.

Babs got up and looked around, at all the empty bottles surrounding the mattress. She felt a dull pain in her head – she’d spent most of the money they’d stolen on alcohol, but she still couldn’t forget what happened.

Staggering, she trotted to Raspberry. The filly shivered, seeing her. Babs wasn’t surprised – after all, she’d witnessed her killing her friend and getting wasted afterwards. Babs didn’t exactly remember, but she felt that she’d also seen her having rather rough, drunk sex with Hedgehog.

She shook her head and removed the gag from Raspberry’s mouth. The filly took a deep breath, wincing when the smell of the warehouse assaulted her nostrils.

“If ya’re gonna beg me to release ya, I’m gonna put it back,” Babs said. “And I won’t believe ya sayin’ that ya won’t tell anyone…”

“W-what happened to Golden Sunset?” Raspberry asked.

Babs froze. So her name was Golden Sunset… she thought. “Still dead,” she replied.

Raspberry’s eyes widened. “W-will you kill me too?”

“No,” Babs replied. “If that’s any consolation, I didn’t want to kill Golden Sunset either…”

“Then what will you do with me?” Raspberry thrashed against her restraints. “M-my dad has money… I’ll never tell anyone…”

“Someone really wants to be gagged again…” Babs muttered. “I don’t need your money and I’m sure that first thing ya’ll do after we release ya will be goin’ to the nearest station to tell the guards exactly how we look like…”

“Then kill me…” Raspberry said in an emotionless tone, avoiding her gaze. “That pegasus was right… Are you going to keep me here forever?”

“Maybe,” Babs replied. “I’m not a killer, Raspberry. Golden Sunset…”

“Screw Golden Sunset…” Raspberry muttered. “I never liked her.”

“With such friends…” Babs rolled her eyes. “Listen, idiot, I’m not sittin’ here with ya because I like it or because I’m afraid that you’ll escape. I’m guarding ya because Hedgehog wants to kill ya, and Cracker wants to rape and kill ya. Not necessarily in that order.”

“Then maybe you’d set me free?” Raspberry asked. “I can keep my mouth shut.”

For a moment, Babs wanted to take her knife and cut the ropes tying Raspberry’s hooves. Then she heard a voice behind her.

“Babs! I was looking for you– Raspberry?”

“White Dove?” Raspberry’s eyes widened when she saw the white unicorn approaching her.

“Fuck…” Babs muttered. Suddenly, she remembered that tomorrow was supposed to be the day of Dove’s special delivery. “Listen, Dove, I told ya to–“

“Wait…” Raspberry interrupted her. “Do you two know each other?”

“Y-yes…” Dove muttered, backing away. “Why is she here? And where is…”

“Golden Sunset is dead,” said Raspberry coldly. “Your friend killed her. And I have a feeling that I know who told those fuckers to rob us…”

Dove shuddered. “B-but…”

“Golden Sunset is dead because of you!” Raspberry cried. “You little shi–“

Babs had enough. She took the gag and forced it into Raspberry’s mouth, almost making her choke.

“You killed Golden Sunset?” White Dove asked. “Why?”

“It was an accident,” Babs replied. “Listen, we have a bigger problem now and–“

“I’ve heard that the guards found a puddle of blood… Was it Gol–“

“Shut up!” Babs interrupted her. “Listen to me: get the fuck outta here. I don’t want ya to be involved in this…”

“I can guard her,” White Dove said. “She saw me. I’m already involved…”

Babs sighed. “Remember that ya have that special delivery tomorrow. Ya have enough of your own problems…”

“You can’t sit here forever…” Dove looked at Babs, wincing. Babs could see why – her mane was sticky from sweat; there were still some bloody stains in her coat, which already started to stink.

“Okay… Stay here for a few minutes, I’ll go and wash myself…” Babs said with a sigh. She stood up and stretched her hooves.

She wanted to go home and never go back to that old, half-ruined warehouse. She didn’t want to see any of her friends anymore. Even Hedgehog – recently their relationship was nothing but getting drunk together till she could touch him without getting sick and quick, disappointing sex.

Babs left the warehouse and trotted through the dirty street. She barely paid attention to her surroundings. She walked a few blocks, then she took a shortcut to the nearest underground station and got on the first train she saw. It was almost empty – it was early morning, but most of the ponies were already at work. She sat on one of the few seats that weren’t dirty and looked through the window, at the walls of the tunnel, adorned with graffiti and colourful wires.

She’d killed a pony. Just like the Sleepless Killer, the Canterlot Vampire and many more, she’d taken a life. She expected to feel something because of that, but she felt nothing. Bad dreams, thoughts about guards, bloody flashbacks – she didn’t experience them.

She thought about her parents. What would they say? Probably nothing. They’d never asked her what she was doing when she was spending whole days away from home. If the guards took her, they’d probably just shrug it off and go back to their chores.

Babs remembered what happened to her sister – she also started to disappear from time to time. Those periods were getting longer till Sunflower finally moved out. It took a month, before her parents realised that.

“That’s sick…” Babs muttered to nopony in particular. “Why did they even make a second kid…”

“No money for condoms,” some homeless pony standing next to her replied. “Then there’s too many ponies and no work. Riots, unemployment, and war – it could be avoided if the condoms were cheaper…”

“Oh, fuck off…” Babs muttered. The pony gave her a nasty glare and trotted to the other side of the carriage.

He’s right… Babs thought, looking at him. We’re all unneeded… Me, Hedgehog, Cracker, Raz, even White Dove… We’re like cancer… No perspectives, just vegetation in the lungs… Till the whole organism chokes on us…

She straightened in her seat. Equestria may choke on me, she thought. I can’t even bring myself to giving a fuck about that.

The door opened. Babs stood up and trotted out of the carriage. Then she went through the almost desolated neighbourhood, not looking around.

There was nopony at home. Babs thought that her parents were at work. She threw her jacket on the chair and trotted to bathroom to wash the smell of vodka, cigarettes, blood and the underground off of herself. Then she walked to her room and lay on the bed. Everything was spinning and Babs thought that it could be some long-term effect of pepper spray. Then she faintly remembered that it was about forty-eight hours since she’d last slept.

She closed her eyes and fell asleep, hugging her pillow.

“I’m worried… You’ve heard about those fillies…”

“They said that they were unicorns. It wasn’t Babs…”

“Still, she shouldn’t disappear like that. She goes somewhere on Saturday evening and–“

“She’s here,” Babs heard her mother’s voice. “I see her jacket.”

The sound of door to her room being opened.

“She’s sleeping,” Babs’ father said. “Once she wakes up, I’ll talk to her.”

Babs opened one eye and looked through the window. The sun was setting. Babs turned in her bed. She didn’t want to talk with her parents. Not about that.

She felt grumbling in her stomach. She turned in her bed and rubbed it, noticing how thin she became over the last couple of days. Usually, she was slightly chubby, but the lack of sleep and diet consisting mostly of alcohol caused the skin on her sides to hang loosely. Babs groaned and got out from bed. She trotted to the kitchen and saw her father sitting at the table.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hi,” Babs replied and opened the fridge.

“We need to talk.”

“I’ve heard,” Babs muttered, taking some cheese and lettuce from the shelves. “I’m not gonna walk out at night anymore. I’ll be coming home right after school. Okay?”

“Okay,” her father replied. “I’m glad you understand that. By the way, where did you go on Saturday? We were worried…”

“Oh… I just had to go and help a friend,” Babs said, smiling sheepishly.

“That one who came here recently? He didn’t look, umm…”

“No, of course not,” Babs replied. She finished making a sandwich and sat at the table. “He’s an idiot.”

Babs’ father looked at her as if he wanted to say something, but he shrugged, seeing that she was now focused on her food.

On Tuesday, Babs went to school.

It was weird to enter that old building smelling of dust and chalk. Her old seat at the back of the class was empty so she sat on it, not even bothering to take off her jacket. Some of her classmates looked at her unsurely, but seeing her expression, they quickly went back to what they were doing.

Babs had to think for a while before she recalled what lesson was supposed to be first. Then she shuddered.

It wasn’t math that was scary. Babs always liked math and was rather good at it, especially when it came to counting money. The math teacher, however…

“Good morning, Miss Seed,” she heard the sarcasm-dripping voice behind her. “How wonderful that you’ve decided to visit us today…”

The students stood up, watching the blue unicorn standing in front of them. He looked back at them, focusing on Babs for a moment. Then he looked at the flag of Equestria hanging on the wall and began reciting the pledge.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of Equestria,” Babs muttered together with the rest of the students. “Blah, blah, fuck it, three tribes under the Princesses, friendship, something, and justice for all.” She sat back on her seat, ignoring the looks of a few students near her.

“So, as Miss Seed probably doesn’t know, we already started the systems of equations with two variables,” the teacher, Mr. Venn Diagram, said. “Maybe Miss Seed will show us how to solve one?”

Babs stood up and trotted to the board. She looked at the numbers and gulped.

5x+3y=3
8x-6y=48

Babs scratched her head. She knew the x; such equations were easy. But the y? Also, there were two equations. For a while, she stared at the numbers and an idea appeared in her mind. She took a chalk and wrote:

5x=3-3y

She looked at Mr. Diagram unsurely. He was smirking, but it wasn’t that kind of smirk he was making when he caught a student not knowing what they were doing. Babs decided to go with it. She divided the first equation by 5.

x=(3-3y)/5

“Now, it’s time for the y...” she muttered to herself. She looked at the second equation, rewrote it and began to solve it:

8((3-3y)/5)-6y=48

8(0.6-0.6y)-6y=48

4.8-4.8y-6y=48

-10.8y=43.2

y=-4

Babs smiled. Now, when she had the y, everything was easy. She looked back at the first equation and put -4 in the y’s place.

x=(3-3(-4))/5

x=(3+12)/5

x=15/5

x=3

“Done,” Babs said.

“Good.” Mr. Diagram nodded his head. “But you lost lots of time. It’d be much easier this way…” He levitated the foam and wiped the equations, leaving only the first ones:

5x+3y=3
8x-6y=48

Then he multiplied the first one by two. Babs looked at the numbers on the board and noticed some regularity:

10x+6y=6
8x-6y=48

“And that’s what we learned on the last lesson you, of course, didn’t attend,” Mr. Diagram said, levitating the chalk to write a single equation:

18x=54

x=3

“Now, we can put 3 in the x’s place and solve the rest of the equation much faster than you did. Sit down, Seed,” the teacher said.

Babs trotted back to her seat. She noticed the disappointed look on Mr. Diagram’s face and thought that it wasn’t over.

Surprisingly, the rest of the lesson was calm. Babs had to solve a few more equations, but once she got the basics, it became much easier.

The next few lessons – biology, history of Equestria and physical education – were similar; the teacher’s surprised expressions upon seeing her and a continuous blur of hard work.

Babs was just helping her team win a hoofball game, when she saw a large cloud of smoke hanging on the sky. Some other students saw it too – they gathered together, pointing at it.

“What’s that?” one of the colts asked.

“It’s a bomb!” the other replied. “The zebras attacked!”

“Ya read too much comics,” Babs said. “There’s probably a fire nearby… Let’s play and let the fire department do their job.”

Ten minutes later, the lesson ended. Babs stayed outside during the recess. She wasn’t hungry – during the lessons, she was too busy to think about what White Dove was doing, but now it all came back to her. Was she still in prison? Or maybe she got caught? Babs sat on a bench and looked at the ground, thinking about what’d happen to her.

“Hey, Babs!”

She raised her head and saw Raz standing on the other side of the fence. He was throwing nervous glances around.

Babs trotted to him. “Hello,” she said. “Any news?”

It took a while before he spoke. “Cracker got caught. Someone saw him throwing the body into the water…”

Babs’ hooves started to shake. “D-did he s-say something about–”

“No,” Raz replied. “He knows the rules.”

Babs nodded. They were friends and in case one of them would ever be caught, they were supposed to protect the others. Cracker would rather go to prison than say that she’d killed Golden Sunset.

“They also think he burned down the warehouse,” Raz said.

Babs furrowed her eyebrows. “What warehouse?” she asked. “Our wa– Oh, fuck!”

Several students looked at her, but when she glared at them angrily, they turned away.

“It was our warehouse?” Babs asked frantically. “S-so R-raspberry… holy shit… And I left White Dove t-to guard her…”

“White Dove went to the big guy,” Raz said. “I don’t know where she is now.”

Babs sat on the ground. Raz went away, leaving her alone. For a moment she was just sitting there, thinking what could cause the fire. Was it Raspberry herself? Or maybe it was just an accident? The warehouse was old and dangerous anyway…

Babs got up and slowly trotted back to school. She was just passing by the gate when she saw a familiar white unicorn filly.

“White Dove!” she exclaimed. “You’re okay!”

“Okay, yeah…” Dove muttered when she approached Babs, who noticed that she was walking a bit awkwardly. “My rump hurts… But the guards didn’t notice anything… And then I solved everything...”

Babs froze. “You solved what?”

“Everything… That, umm… problem.” Suddenly, White Dove started to avoid Babs’ gaze. “N-now you’re clean…”

“I’m… what?” Babs suddenly remembered the cloud of black smoke from the warehouse. “Dove, did ya…”

“I switched something in the electric box…” Dove said. “Those wires started to spark…”

Babs lowered her voice to a whisper. “White Dove, did ya fuckin’ killed Raspberry?”

After a long while, White Dove slowly nodded. “I did it for you…” she muttered. “I don’t want you to get caught…”

Babs felt the tidal wave of fury rising in her. Her muscles tensed; she started to shiver. The rest of the world didn’t matter; she saw White Dove standing in front of her and all she wanted to do was to make her wallow in pain.

In a swift sequence of moves, perfected during the numerous fights, Babs stood on her front legs, made a quick turn and bucked White Dove in the face with her hind legs. The filly screamed when the momentum threw her backwards. Before she could get up, Babs ran to her and punched her blindly.

“Seed!” someone behind her shouted. She blinked and looked at White Dove who was lying in front of her, crying, with a black eye and bleeding nose.

“What the hay are you doing, Seed?” Mr. Diagram exclaimed, trotting to her. “You will go to the principal… Now!”

“I don’t give a fuck…” Babs muttered. She could still hear “for you” and “clean” between White Dove’s cries.

“You will, Seed…” Mr. Diagram said. “You will…”

Babs stood up and trotted dutifully behind him. She didn’t care about what the principal could tell her. She used to be a frequent guest in his office and it seemed that it’d start again. Also, whatever punishment was awaiting her, it couldn’t be worse than prison. Babs thought, that in some sense, White Dove was right.

She was clean.

Author's Notes:

This is where I realised two things:
a) My story doesn't count without something big burning down (throughout my stories I burned several airships, Carousel Boutique, Sweet Apple Acres, filly scouts camp, a whole changelings' nest, Trixie's wagon... Someone take those safety matches from me).
b) After over six years of not learning math, I finally used my equation-solving ability for something not connected with school.