Chapter 25- Vengeance

(Moonlight Shadow)

Everything just stopped. Or maybe it was just me. All I remember for sure was looking down and the sight I saw caused my jaw to drop open and my magic to sputter to a stop.

Johnny’s eyes were open and he was looking up at me. His whole body was glowing. A bright yellow radiance that filled the whole room. All the while he just kept looking at me with this cocky grin on his face as if to say ‘yeah, back from the dead, no biggie, now give me a REAL challenge’.

I was about to say something. Probably something mushy and romantic that he would hold against me for years to come, but then he started to change.

The glow from his body intensified. His fur began to grow back. The remains of his metal runes fell away from his body and healthy skin took their place which was quickly covered over. His mane and tail grew back, long and luxurious, and his entire body seemed to me to be more toned, more fit, as if it had been optimized.

He sat up on the operating table, even as the glow began to fade. His sardonic grin softened, became more genuine. I leaned forward without even realizing it. I was going in for a kiss that would rock his world, but then the mood was killed by the nearly insane cackling of Doctor Suture.

“Mwahahahaaa!!! They called me mad! They said I was crazy to think that any pony could do it! But I’ve proven them all wrong! In your MUZZLE Equestrian Board of Medicine! Pull MY medical license will you! Hah! Hahahahahaa! How do you like me now! I did it, I raised the dead! Ahahahahaaa!”

(Johnny)

My first thought was I was drowning in the ocean. That the strange vortex that had sucked me into it’s maw had flung me out into the sea. When I managed to open my eyes I realized that the salt water that was raining down onto me was caused by Moonlight’s tears. She was standing over me with a frankenpony contraption on her horn that could only belong to Doc Suture and she was pouring magic into it all the while crying a river down onto my face.

I was really touched.

And really wet... Eww.

“Sheesh Moonlight, knock it off. Are you trying to give me a bath?”

Oh, the look on her face!

On the other hoof, I had just come back from the dead. I suppose that any pony would wear a similar expression.

Hold on… wait a minute… I just came back from the dead! Holy Celestia! I’m alive! Woohoo! I could feel my grin softening. I was alive. I was dead, but now I’m alive. And oh my stars is she leaning in to kiss me? No, No I shouldn’t. I need to think about Twilight. Oh smeg, it looks like there is no stopping her now…

“Mwahahahaaa!”

Thank Celestia for small favors. Doc’s ravings seem to have broken the spell. I’d better get up and figure out the situation. My body may feel better than it ever has, but unless things have drastically changed, there is still a mad would be alicorn that needs to be stopped. As well as the bastard that shot me. HIM I want to send on a visit to Sombra. Oh Sweet Sky Stallion, Sombra! Ugh, I suppose I need to get a message to Celestia about that. I’d hate to be Blueblood if Sombra ever manages to get free. Okay, first thing first, need to get my bearings.

“Um, sorry to interrupt the manic ranting and all, but I need to know. Just how long was I, ahem, dead?”

“Doc Suture stops in mid rant. “Hmm, let’s see now. Eleven point three minutes for the procedure, then there was the examination, Moonlight attacking my nurse, estimated travel time from Victory park, I’d say roughly Thirty-two minutes, give or take five minutes for pointless grieving.”

At that Moonlight cuts him a glare that could melt steel. I need to head THAT off quickly.

“All right Doc. I hate to resurrect and run, but there’s a mad pony on the loose, and we are the only ones available to stop him in time.”

“What? No, no, no no! I need to run tests, need to record my findings. This is the most important procedure in medical history! You can’t just leave.”

“Sorry Doc. The tests will have to wait. The fate of the city is at stake, monsters, wanna be alicorns, that sort of thing. Not sure what the bill is for bringing somepony back from the dead, but whatever it comes out to, send it to Celestia. Trust me, she’ll cover it. Moonlight? It’s time to go, and we need to hurry.” I say, as I all but drag her out into the hallway.

Once we are well out of earshot, I ask her, “Um, this is a little embarrassing, but would you mind teleporting us back to my apartment?”

“What? Oh, of course Johnny. Of course you wouldn’t be feeling one hundred percent. That’s totally understandable after being, well, dead and all.” She says in sympathy.

“Uh, no. That’s not it. Actually I feel better than I’ve felt in my entire life. Not only has my body been healed, but even all my old scars and aches are gone. I think actually, that I am literally in perfect health.”

“Then, what’s the problem with teleporting?” She asks curiously.

“Ah, well, to tell the truth. I’m not really all that good at magic.”

“WHAT? But, but, all the things I’ve seen you do! You held up an entire building for Celestia’s sake!”

“Well, not exactly. See most of all of that was just skillful usage of my spell runes. I’m really good with magical tools. But as far as raw power, I’m pretty weak on my own. Without my runes all I have is my training, which is still pretty impressive by itself, but magically I’m not going to be a match for anypony at this point.”

Moonlight looks at me strangely for a moment. I think she just realized that this image she had of me as this unbeatable super pony was just a fantasy. Instead I am merely a regular unicorn, who had an impressive bag of tricks.

“I… see.” She says finally. “Well, getting us back to your place wont be a problem. But what will we do once we are there? I saw those monsters you were fighting. I assume there will be more than was sent after you. And you mentioned a would be alicorn? And then there was the assassin, not to mention the fake Doctor Brass. And now with you helpless...”

Okay, THAT was unfair. I wait until she teleports me back home before I reply.

“Helpless you say? Helpless? Agent Shadow if that’s what you think of me, then you obviously don’t know me at all. You actually based my worth on the amount of magic I was slinging around? Really?”

“W-what? No, no, that isn’t what I meant. I-it came out wrong, of COURSE you are more than just your magic.”

“Damn right I am!” I say from the kitchen, as I open the cupboard under the sink. Then I proceeded to have a word with my garbage disposal.

“You awake Junior?” I ask softly.

“Huh? Pop, is that you? Yeah, I’m awake, what’s up?”

“Feel up to a little action this morning?”

“What? Really? Heck yeah I am. All this sitting under your sink is starting to make me fat. You really got a job for us? Something I can finally cut loose on?”

“Yes son I do, today’s the day you get to make your old man proud. Both of us. Now climb aboard and let’s get suited up!”

“You don’t have to ask me twice!”

And with that my garbage disposal waddles out from under my sink, and crawls its way up onto my back. Sheesh, he HAS gotten bigger since the last time we did this. That’s fine with me. Bigger in this case means stronger, and the stronger Junior is, the better.

I feel a brief sting as he extends himself into my body. “Bio-link confirmed. Proceeding to sync memories. This may take a few minutes.”

“So mature you sound. It’s hard to believe that this is the same baby command bug that Bob gave me all those years ago. You were such a cute little thing.” I chide.

“Memory sync complete. And oh look, I have access to all those memories of YOU as a colt. Just where IS that pastel blue blanky you used to carry around everywhere you went? I’m sure you still have it. Remember how it always kept those monsters in the closet at bay?”

“Hey, don’t give me sass about that, Mr. Sky was awesome!” I retort.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Okay Pop we are tuned in and turned on.”

I could feel Junior’s nannysprites covering my entire body even as he spoke, in less than a minute I was fully encased in thick black armor.

“Let’s do this!” he says enthusiastically into the neural link.

“Johnny, I can’t hear you very well from in the kitchen. Were you talking to somepony?” Moonlight asks from the living room.

As I step toward the entrance way to the living room Bob Junior blares the opening to Black Saddle’s song ‘Iron Mane’ from the speakers. Just as it gets to the good part I can’t help but to add my own voice…

“I AM IRON MANE!” I say, clomping heavily into the living room.

Moonlight’s jaw falls open and her eyes go wide as she all but falls onto my sofa. Inside my armored helmet I am grinning like a fool.

And with good reason. See Junior doesn’t really take after his dad. Bob’s exosuit was sleek and lean, born and bred for stealth and speed. Junior on the other hoof is like a walking tank. His armor is five times as strong as Bob’s, and his enhancement of my strength and speed are comparative. Also, thanks to all those ponaudio serials he’s been listening to, his arsenal is nothing short of fantastic. He would forever be asking me to bring back little tidbits of this and that for him to eat. Each time he did he would learn it’s chemical composition and be able to reproduce it at will. His most recent morsel was a tiny fragment of that stable explosive crystal that I sent to Celestia. He’s been chuckling to himself ever since.

“W-what in Equestria am I looking at?” Moonlight asks from the sofa.

“Second generation Nannysprite technology.” I reply flexing an armored foreleg. “All the abilities of the old, with all the enhancements of the new.”

“Celestia kept up with the program after all.” Moonlight says, taken aback.

“Celestia doesn’t know anything about this, and I plan on keeping it that way! Junior was given into my care by a dying partner. There’s no way I plan to let the lab boys back in Canterlot get their hooves on him.”

“You tell ‘em Pop,” Junior’s pre-adolescent sounding voice chimes in.

“I see.” Moonlight says, regaining her composure. “And this nannytech, it’s strong enough for the two of us to storm Night Industries?

“This suit is strong enough for ME to storm Night Industries alone.” I retort. “Junior here is strong enough to rip a wendigo in half.” I say, remembering back to when I finally tracked down Axle Grease, and Junior got his revenge for his father. “The only reason I haven’t trotted out Junior before is that I wanted to keep him under a low profile. I’d rather not word of his existence got out. But since we have a bit of a situation at the moment with all of my usual arsenal gone, I don’t really have a choice.”

“Very well.” Moonlight says, rising to her hooves. “What’s the plan?”

(Bon Bon)

“What’s the plan?” I ask Celestia, as we load the civilians and the injured onto her chariots.

It had been a harrowing last hour, ever since we made our escape from Night Industries. Easy Money was exactly where Johnny said he would be, and yes, he was able to provide us a ‘discreet’ way of leaving Whinnyappleous, but it involved tunnels and Diamond Dogs, and the back of smelly steam trucks. Add to that, coaxing along a bunch of scared and frightened ponies, and making sure those two injured officers didn’t over tax themselves. Let’s just say that I was never happier to see mom than I have been in years.

But as for mom, she looked terrible. Her eyes were red, her cheeks were wet. It looked like she had been crying all the way here. What in Equestria could have happened?

“Mom... Are you okay?” I ask as she lands.

“No.” She replies tersely. “No I’m not.”

“What happened?”

“Later.” she says harshly. “Let’s get this taken care of first.” she says, going over to the others, her face transforming into one of compassion and caring.

I’ve seen her do this before. Mom has put her mask on. Her ‘public’ face. Something truly terrible must have happened to her on the way here.

“Okay. What’s the plan?” I ask, as we begin to load the civilians onto her two chariots just as she catches sight of Sable Shade, helping his colleagues onto her spare.

“Sable Shade?” She asks in surprise. “I had been wondering what you had been up to since moving to Whinnyappleous. Still have a muzzle for trouble I see.”

“Totally not my fault ma’am.” Sable says once he gets the detectives settled. It literally came out of the darkness and found me. I was actually looking forward to a nice peaceful retirement.”

“Riiight.” Mom says sarcastically, as she rolls her eyes. If I recall correctly, not only were you the most decorated pony in my Solar Guard, but you were also the most reprimanded.”

“Just trying to keep things balanced out ma’am.” He manages to say with a straight face.

“Well, in any event, I’m glad to see you here.” She says as she rummages in a side compartment on the inside of her chariot. A moment later she extracts a quill and a blank scroll with her magic and begins to write. After she is finished she inscribes it magically with her seal.

“Here, takes these to Hindsight and Fact Finder respectively as soon as you arrive in Canterlot. Fact Finder will verify that they are genuine, and Hindsight will assist you in any way you need.”

“Assist me?” Sable Shade says in confusion. Assist me with what?”

“I just granted you authority over the Solar Guard. I want you to assemble the Flare, Lightning, and Firestorm brigades, and have them join me in Whinnyappleous as fast as they are able.”

“You aren’t coming back with us?” He asks.

“No. You should be safe enough with the guards that have accompanied me. Myself, Sweetie Drops, and her armored friend are returning to Whinnyappleous as fast as we are able.”

“Why? What else has happened?” I chime in.

She pauses and takes a deep breath to steady her nerves.

“Johnny got in over his head. His enemy attacked him with an army. He was forced to use his alpha, and omega runes. And although he defeated his attackers… A-although...”

Mom stops, unable to go on. I’ve never seen her like this. EVER. I began to feel a dreadful horror creeping up on me. Like my subconscious realized something but doesn’t want the rest of me to know. But then mom manages to finish what she was saying, and my world fell apart.

“Johnny’s dead.”

(Johnny)

“You are SO dead Johnny!” Moonlight all but yells as she dangles beneath me. “I could have simply teleported us back.”

“We’ve been over this Moonlight. By now Night Industries is probably on full alert. They will have every magical detection device they own scanning for intruders. Fortunately, Junior doesn’t USE magic, and his stealth mode rivals the best invisibility spells out there. Trust me, they’ll never see us coming. Well, unless you keep squirming around until you fall to your death.”

“I’m squirming around because I’m covered in thousands of tiny living nannysprites. And I wouldn’t fall to my death if you and Junior wouldn’t be flying so blasted high.”

“What can I say? Junior doesn’t get out much. And he hasn’t gotten to use his new turbine propelled flight engines yet. What did you call them Junior? Flutters?”

“Jetters.” Junior corrects. “They cause a jet of high powered air making me able to fly faster than the fastest Pegasus. I’ve been working on the design for awhile since my armor makes flying with wings really slow and ponderous. But ever since you gave me that crystal sample, I’ve had all kinds of applications for it’s energy output. Thanks a lot Pop.”

“Don’t mention it kiddo, glad you are having fun with it.”

“Am I suppose to understand ANYTHING the two of you have been saying?” Moonlight snipes testily from below.

“No worries Mrs. Shadow. Just guy stuff.” Junior says feigning innocence.

“Boys and their toys.” She mutters as she starts squirming once more. I can’t help but wonder if Junior is having his sprites irritate her on purpose.

In a matter of minutes we have flown our way back to Night Industries. It took me a few MORE minutes to locate the hidden ramps that led down to The Butcher’s slaughterhouse. I suppose I had been taking those photographic memory runes for granted along with all the others. Being a mere mortal was obviously going to take some getting used to.

Still we did eventually find it. Just before we made our way inside I couldn’t help but to notice that a patch of the sky to the east had begun to get lighter. Then I remembered what I had done. I had shattered Luna’s time spell. Dawn would soon break upon Whinnyappleous for the first time since Luna took over. Ugh, I was going to have some explaining to do. I did NOT look forward to that conversation.

I held Moonlights hoof to maintain contact and keep her cloaked in Junior’s stealth field as we creeped our way inside. To my surprise nothing seemed to have changed in the half hour or so since I was gone. I had to assume that Dr. Double considered me dead, and that his plans still had time to come to pass. This suspicion was confirmed as we got closer to the other side of the room where we could hear two ponies talking.

“And are you sure that is EVERYTHING?” The first voice asked. Clearly Dr. Double’s voice.

“For the fourth time YES! That’s everything I know about Johnny Appleseed! I have no idea how he was able to transform himself! Maybe I COULD have learned something, if you hadn’t forced me to kill him!”

This was a pony I didn’t know, but considering what he was saying, I felt I would very much like to.

“And while we are on that subject Doctor. You may be interested to know that I tried very hard NOT to kill him, but SOME how my hoof pulled the trigger anyway. You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

Wait, this was interesting. So was my assassin really my assassin?

“Ah, I was wondering when you’d finally figure it out Ebon.” Dr. Double says smugly.

“So you admit it! Some how, some way, you managed to get me into that brainwashing machine of yours! How long? How long have I been your puppet?” The pony I assume to be Ebon Shard yells.

“How long? You simple minded buffoon! You were mine from the very first time you came to me for treatment! You think I used that crude Changeling machine of Brass’s for my work? Don’t be naive. That monstrosity is nothing more than a hammer. The device I constructed, once I understood the principles of the original, far surpassed it in every way. Haven’t you ever wondered how I control all of my experiments? My mind control device is built into every tank!

Yes, I can see you understand now. Ever since you came to me for help for your weak and sickly body, you have undergone subtle mental conditioning, even as my chemicals did their work. In the end you were improved in every way, both mentally and physically.”

“What are you talking about? What did you do?” Ebon asks wide eyed, filled with horror.

“Why, I did what you asked. I made you better. Stronger, faster, more powerful. But what use were all my physical gifts when your mind was still so stunted. Justice, morality, honor. They held you in shackles stronger than steel. Ah, but I did away with all of that. And I did it so skillfully that you never even noticed. Do you think the old Ebon Shard could stomach killing any pony? Let alone become the best assassin in the city? Of course not. He was a member of the Night Watch. And a particularly squeamish one at that. Ah, but now you kill for me without a thought. Obey my orders and don’t think twice about why. Even now, despite knowing everything, you’ll still do whatever I say, you can’t help it. Your will is mine!”

“No! I refuse to believe it! I can think. I can reason! I’m no ponies dog! Least of all yours!” I see Ebon lunge toward Dr. Double, as I silently cheer him on.

“Sit!” Double says simply. And Ebon immediately lands rump first on the floor.

“Foolish unicorn. You are mine, body and soul. Once I am sure you know nothing more about Appleseed I will simple order you to forget that you ever discovered your conditioning. Then things will go back to the way they were before you went out to kill him. Who knows? Perhaps first I will order you to lick my hooves, just to keep you in your proper place. Perhaps I will make that a compulsion. Yes, that sounds fitting I think. But first, tell me once more everything that happened after you left the building in pursuit of Johnny Appleseed.”

I think I have had just about enough of that kind of talk. “Hey Junior.” I sub-vocalized. “You think you could blow out Ebon’s eardrums from here with a sonic attack?”

“You thinking if he can’t hear Double’s orders then he won’t have to follow them?” Junior asks.

“I give it a fifty-fifty chance that it’s only spoken commands.” I reply. “Either way it couldn’t hurt to try. Wait until my signal then fire it off. I think it’s about time that we go on the offensive.”

“You got it boss.”

“Moonlight, this guy is dangerous. He isn’t anywhere near Celestia’s or Luna’s true power, but he’s way more powerful than any normal pony. We need to incapacitate him before he can free any of his horror show army from these tanks. Then we need to destroy the creatures in these tanks somehow while they are still dormant.”

“Actually, I have an idea about that boss.” Junior interjects.

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

“Well, while we have been sitting here my sensors have been analyzing the tanks around us. The creatures inside them are kept dormant by the liquid in the tanks, and alive and able to breath by a supply of liquid oxygen that permeates the other chemicals. If I can hack into the controls for the tanks, I can adjust the amounts of liquid oxygen being fed to them.”

“So, you could cut off their air supply and kill them all at once? That’s brilliant!” I say with pride.

“Ah, well, we COULD do that I suppose.” He says reluctantly. “But on the OTHER hoof, we could saturate each and every tube full of liquid oxygen, then cause a small electrical short...”

“Oh sweet Celestia!” I exclaim as realization dawns on me at what he’s suggesting.

“What? What would that do?” Moonlight asks. “I don’t understand.”

“Liquid oxygen, when added to a suitable material such as carbon, becomes EXTREMLY explosive.” I explain. “Like twenty times more powerful than dynamite. Junior is proposing that we turn this entire floor into one huge bomb.”

“What?!?” No! We can’t do that! Who knows how many innocent ponies work here?” She whispers back harshly.

“No, I don’t think you understand. Count the tanks. An explosion that big would take out more than this building, it would likely take out everything for a half mile radius around it.”

“One point seven square miles around it.” Junior says with pride.

“Absolutely not!” I order. “We are NOT going to bomb Whinnyappleous!”

“But Dad...”

“No ‘buts’ son. Your real father would be ashamed of you! We are here to PROTECT the innocent. Not set off bombs that would accidentally kill who knows how many of them! You need to start thinking about the consequences of your actions, not just about how big an explosion you can make.”

“I-I… I’m sorry. You’re right, I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. I- it’s just that I don’t get to go on missions with you much. I just wanted to make you proud. Blow up the bad guys, save the day. I’m sorry...”

“Oh son, of course I’m proud of you. You don’t have to blow up a city block for that. I’m proud of you just for being you.”

“Thanks Dad.”

“Are we done?” Moonlight says impatiently. “If so I’d like to focus on the problem in front of us.”

Is she… jealous? She sounds jealous. Weird.

“So here’s what I have come up with while you were bonding over NOT killing everyone in a two mile radius.”

“One point seven mile radius.” I interject.

“Whatever!” She huffs. “Listen. After Junior hits Ebon with his sonics, keeping him from taking orders, I’ll attack Dr. Double and draw him away from the controls. Then Junior hacks the controls, locks Dr. Double out of access to them and shuts off the air.”

I was feeling left out of this plan.

“I’m feeling left out of this plan.”

After Junior finishes with the controls you can give me backup IF I need it.”

“Wow. Sounds better than one of Pop’s plans.” Junior says impressed.

“Hey! There is nothing wrong with my plans. I make really GOOD plans.” I say defensively.

“Very well,” Moonlight says. “Then what is YOUR plan?”

“My plan is… that we go with Moonlight’s plan.”

“Really?”

“What? It’s a good plan. No sense wasting it. Now let’s get a move on. Junior, take out Ebon’s hearing. Moonlight, better cover your ears.”

Junior wastes no time directing an extremely amplified version of a bat ponies sonic screech directly at Ebon Shard. Both he and Doctor Double fall to their knees clutching at their heads. As soon as the sound waves die down Moonlight sheds her nannysprite cocoon, and steps into view. She shouts some challenge at Doctor Double which I can’t quite make out due to my still ringing ears, and this was in spite of the soundproofing in my armor.

Obviously Double still understood her however because his perfect equine features curl up into a snarl, and he shouts and order for Ebon to attack.

Ebon however, who had looked up toward Doctor Double at the sweep of his hoof, just sat there on his knees unmoving. After a moment a smile slowing spread across his muzzle as he realized what had been done. He looks over toward Moonlight, nods, and gives her a hooves up sign. Then he crosses his forelegs, looks back toward Doctor Double, and gives him a loud rasberry, causing Double’s face to go red with rage.

He wastes another moment yelling orders at Ebon, apparently he was used to being instantly obeyed. Ebon merely sits there, not helping, but not hindering him either. I assume that Double had already put orders into his head against ever harming him. It’s what I would have done.

Unfortunately for Double, the last thing he should have done was turn away from Moonlight. Before he can finish his rant, Moonlight had grasp him in her magic, and flung him into the nearest wall. No, I mean that literally. She flung him INTO the wall. For the next few seconds all we could see where his rear legs wriggling frantically, as he tried to extricate himself. Ebon gave her a round of applause.

It was time for me to move.

Dropping my stealth, I made my way over to the control station for that Double had used to free his monsters to attack me. Ebon saw what I was doing and came over to me.

“I don’t know who you two are,” he said too loudly, due to his lack of hearing, “But I owe you both my thanks.”

I nodded at him, and went to work. One hoof of my armor formed into an ax, and I began ‘hacking’ the system. Once I had a large enough hole, Juniors nannysprites made their way inside and began to work on the controls. If I wanted to, I could have seen everything through their tiny eyes down the link I had with Junior, but I trusted him to do the job, and I wanted to keep my own eyes on what was going on in case we were needed.

Ebon was still talking.

“My name, in case you didn’t know, is Ebon Shard. I gather you understood that I was being controlled by that mad pony trying to get himself out of the wall.” He gestured toward the lunatic in question, which was almost free. Moonlight was being sporting, waiting until he got himself out to attack again. She’s a better pony than I was. I would have blasted ‘Creeping Death’ right up his-

“As I was saying,” Ebon interrupted my train of thought, “I can’t thank you enough. I’d love to help you take him down, but I find that I can’t lift a single hoof against him, or betray any of his secrets. Nor do I know of any way to break his control.”

I remembered the original changeling mind control machine, and what had happened to Sweetie Drops. I pick up a clipboard off of the control station and a nearby pen and write, ‘There is a way to break his control. After we finish with all of this, I will take you to Celestia, she has seen this sort of thing before.’ I show him what I wrote, and watch his expression change to one of pure joy.

“Oh merciful Goddess! This is more than I could have ever hoped for! Listen, I may not be able to betray Doctor Double, but nothing keeps me from talking about anything else. There’s some thing you need to know. Double ISN’T the real danger...”

I listen intently to Ebon’s terse message. Somehow I should have saw this coming. When he finishes, I give a quick nod, letting him know I understood. Then I turned my attention back to the fight.

Double had extricated himself from the wall and shed his lab coat. He rose onto his back hooves and flared his wings. I assume he was trying to invoke awe into Moonlight at the sight of an unknown alicorn god.

Moonlight was having none of it.

During the time it took for Double to free himself, she had been gathering up all of the knives from the various rending stations that were used to butcher up Double’s experiments. She now proceeded to hurl them at him one at a time, at great speed, with her magic.

Double quickly raised a shield, and the first three bounced off of it harmlessly. That was when Moonlight increased the power of her throws. The impact of the next two were audible. The third shattered his shield, and the next four pinned him to the wall beside the hole where he had just freed himself from. He screamed as blood ran thickly from his damaged wings. In a rage he tore the blades free with his own magic and sent them flying back toward Moonlight, as he quickly healed his wings.

Moonlight didn’t even bother with her magic, she just swatted them aside with her hoof.

Double seemed shocked. So far he was on the losing end. Something I’m sure he wasn’t used to. He pointed his horn at Moonlight and did… something. I’m not exactly sure what. The air around Moonlight blurred and shimmered for a moment. The beginnings of a smirk had formed on Double’s face, but died as he saw that whatever he was doing was having no effect on Moonlight.

Instead, Moonlight merely smiled in return, and made two quick slashing motions with her hoof. The air around Double blurred briefly, and a moment later he screamed once more as his two neatly severed wings fell to the concrete floor, blood gushing from their stumps.

“This… this is impossible!” He roared. “I am an alicorn! I am perfection! How are you, a lowly unicorn, able to DO this to me?!?”

Moonlight did not even bother to respond. At least not verbally. Instead she swung her hoof, again and again, and again. First one leg, then another fell to the floor. Followed by the last two. Her next swing took of his horn, and the next his tail.

She trotted up to him, and looked down at him in scorn. I barely registered Junior telling me that his job was done, and the monsters in the tanks were no more. Even Ebon was looking horrified at Moonlight’s grim visage as she proceeded to ‘butcher’ The Butcher.

“Y-you can’t do this to me!” Double said, his voice cracked and his muzzle trembling. “I- I am a God. A GOD!”

“You kill and torture and twist good ponies into evil. This by itself proves you are no God, you are a demon. But then you dared to try to kill one of MINE? One of the ponies that I love and cherish? For that you’ll find no mercy in my heart. Instead all that you have earned is a cold, cold, demise.”

Moonlight’s eyes gleam like the moon itself, as she raises her head for a moment before she glares down at Doctor Double’s helpless form once more.

“GELID STARE!” she shouts.

Immediately Double’s body frosts over where he sits. Blood is frozen in mid-spurt. I could literally hear the grinding sound as his flesh and blood body instantly freezes itself solid.

With a contemptuous snarl she strikes out with a forehoof, shattering Double’s body into a thousand icy shards.

“And that is how justice is mete out in MY city.” She says, looking down at Double’s shattered remains.

The silence stretches out for several seconds, before Junior manages to say...

“B-boss?”

“Yes Junior?”

“Let’s be sure to never, ever, EVER, make Moonlight angry with us.”

“Duly noted Junior. Duly noted.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry this took longer than normal.
I'm afraid the next chapter may take longer than this one though. I'm heading to the beach for a week starting the 31st. And while I plan to do some writing while I'm there, I can't promise when the next chapter will be finished by. I will however do my best to get it done in a timely manner.