Pip bro-hugged Spike as they were now at the front door of Pip’s house, finally back in Canterlot from their trip. “Thanks for lettin’ me tag along for this trip, mate. It was a blast.” He said with a smile. “I’ll see ya tomorrow, hopefully.”

“Definitely. I’ll call Mac up, too, and we’ll hang.”

Pip grinned, liking the idea of a day just hanging with his friends and no brutal workouts. “Sounds good. See ya then.” With that, Pip picked up his bags and walked inside his house, Spike getting back in Twilight’s car as she drove to their apartment.

Pip didn’t bother greeting his family, as he knew they probably wouldn’t care he was back, anyway. He went to the laundry room to drop off his bag of dirty clothes, Putting away the ones he hadn’t used on the trip. After that, he took a quick shower, followed by some much anticipated relaxation. Pip was laying on his bed inspecting the pistol he had picked up from the gang member that jumped him, Spike and Mac in L.P. He smirked as he noted the magazine was full and the weapon as a whole was in perfect condition; the gangster had probably just stolen it himself that day. Pip walked over to his dresser and opened up the smallest drawer, where he kept all of the other things he’d found that he wasn’t supposed to have, most of which were illegal; switchblades, butterfly knives, brass knuckles, mace, several different calibers of bullets, casings, and gun magazines, and other small, easy to hide weapons were stuffed in the small drawer. Of course, Pip would never use them on anybody, he just found them very cool and since they were hard to come by, he kept whatever he found that was shiny and couldn’t usually be found for sale anywhere except on the black market. He took a moment to look at his impressive collection as he thought to himself, ‘Heh, bet Spike would get a kick outta this.’

Pip quickly shut the drawer and laid on his bed, turning on his PlayStallion 4, and entering an online lobby in Colt of Duty: Buck Ops III. He put on his headset and smirked before announcing to the entire lobby, “You scrubs are gonna get REKT!” He smirked as he heard no responses, and he began to laugh when people started exiting the lobby. The empty spaces were quickly vacated, so the countdown for the next match began, and he now noticed that only one person from the first batch of nametags was still in the lobby besides him: G4m3rGirl420.

His smile quickly turned into a scowl as he saw an icon pop up next to her name, indicating that she had plugged in a mic. He was about to mute her, but his thumb froze over the buttons on the controller as he heard an unplaceable yet somehow familiar voice.

“Yeah, Right! You’re gonna eat my dust, dweeb!”

Pip scoffed, and shot back immediately, “We’ll see about that, love.”

Gilda chuckled as she sat on her bed in nothing more than a sports bra and boy shorts, Almost able to taste victory already as the first 10 seconds of the match started with her sniping Pip in the head from atop a building.

“Headshot, bitch!” She laughed into the mic, which only caused Pip to become more motivated, and after respawning he quickly ran past her and blasted her in the chest with a shotgun, blowing her now dead avatar several feet away.

“Don’t get cocky because of one lucky shot; you’re playing like an absolute jobber now! At least put up a half decent fight!”

“So you’re actually gonna make this somewhat of a challenge? Thank God! I was almost beginning to think you were gonna stand there and let me farm points off of you, like this!” Gilda said, as she had snuck up behind him after respawning, and domed his avatar with a revolver, then barely giving him a chance after he spawned again, blasting him with a sticky grenade and watching his virtual guts fly everywhere.

“Fuck’sake!” Pipsqueak yelled into the mic before growling angrily. “Quit sticky-bombing my spawn, you nutter!” He continued before mowing down her avatar with an LMG several times in succession as he hid behind her team’s respawn point, not giving her a chance to move out of the way before turning her character into bloody swiss cheese.

Gilda growled back, very annoyed at this. “Oh, now you asked for it, loser!”

This went on for about fifteen minutes, the two yelling insults back and forth whilst killing each other, and at the end of it all, the match had ended in a draw.

“Bullshit! My team obviously should’ve won!” Gilda yelled into the mic, tossing her controller aside as she began her rant. “You cheated! Spawn camping is such a chickenshit move! If you actually played the game how you’re supposed to, I would’ve destroyed your pussy-ass team!”

“But the fact is, you didn’t, love.” Pip said with a prideful smirk. “Guess it’s true after all; girl gamers are inferior.”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!” Gilda yelled into her mic, her blood boiling as the Trottingham teen insulted her #MLGL337SK1LL5.

‘Heh.’ Pip snickered to himself, ‘Gotta love the friendly people you meet in online play.’ he joked silently.

----------------------

A piercing light scorched Pinkie’s vision as she lay on the cold floor, the light above her only creating a small circle of visibility around her. “Where am I?” The pink-haired girl asked to nobody in particular as she slowly stood up. “Hello?”

“Hello, Pinkie.” A cold, gravelly voice responded, followed by a dark giggle. Pinkie froze in fear, as she knew that voice all too well.

“W-Why are you here?” She asked in an uneasy tone. Giggles echoed off the walls of the room which she could not see.

“What do you mean, why am I here? After all, this is where YOU put me in the first place. I should be asking you what you’re doing in MY home.”

“I-I didn’t want to come back.” Pinkie managed to choke out through quivering lips.

“Is that so?” The voice asked in a mocking tone. “Are you sure about that? After all, you brought me back out to reality just the other day.” The voice reminded Pinkie.

“N-No I didn’t mean to-”

“You didn’t? Aw, what a shame, Pinkie. I thought maybe you wanted to be friends again.” The voice interrupted, as it’s owner finally stepped into view. It was Pinkie. But at the same time, it was not. Her whole body overall was much darker, grittier, even. her hair was straight and hung over one eye, the one visible to Pinkie was filled with everything horrible; Hate, rage, the want- no, the need- to hurt others. Pure bloodlust.

Pinkamena giggled darkly before putting her hands behind her back and leaning forward, looking into the girl’s eyes. “Wouldn’t that be the best, Pinkie? To be with your old pal again? Just picture it...” She said as she roughly held Pinkie by the chin. “You’ll no longer have to see this dark room every time you close your eyes. You’ll have someone to talk to who knows everything about you. And best of all, we can finally go through with my plan...” The dark menacing girl snapped her fingers and the floodlight above them went out. Pinkie gasped in fear, and seconds later dim lighting flooded the whole room. Pinkie could now see the walls, smeared with blood. Pinkamena smirked evilly.

“My plan to kill everyone you love."

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Pinkie screamed, covering her ears as she sat up in bed, her eyes squeezed shut as tears fell down her face. Rainbow heard her girlfriend’s scream from the kitchen and darted into the bedroom in worry.

“Pinkie?! Pinkie, what’s wrong?!” Rainbow asked she held her girlfriend by the shoulders. Pinkie leaned forward, sobbing into Rainbow’s chest.

“She… Sh-She wants to come out...” Pinkie sobbed. Rainbow held her close.

“Pinkie, it’s okay. I’ll protect you from her.” Rainbow knew exactly what Pinkie meant. On the drive home, Pinkie had reluctantly told Rainbow all about how sometimes Pinkamena could take over her mind and make her do horrible things, and that it took so much willpower to keep her locked away for as long as she had been. Rainbow hugged her girlfriend and gently shushed her until her sobbing had calmed down a little. “I’ll protect you from her, no matter what it takes. I promise.”

Pinkie continued to cry into Rainbow’s embrace for the better part of an hour, repeatedly insisting that ‘She’ will come out, and that Rainbow and her friends should get away from her. Being the ever-loyal girlfriend that she is, though, Rainbow just continued to slowly and gently subdue Pinkie’s episode, holding her and slowly rocking her in a loving embrace, and insisting that everything would be alright. Pinkie soon had her emotions under control again, breathing normally as Rainbow kissed away her last wave of tears. She then kissed Pinkie’s cheek and then smiled softly. “Hey, Pinkie. Wanna bake some cupcakes?” Pinkie giggled softly at this and nodded.

“Yeah, Dashie. I think that’d be nice. Can we use funfetti batter?”

“Heh. Of course we can, bubblebutt.” Dash said with a small laugh.

----------------------

“Well, shoot, it was mighty fine havin’ y’all stay th’week.” Braeburn said with a smile as he drove down the highway leading back to Canterlot. “Ah sure hope y’all come back soon t’visit again.”

Granny Smith smiled, her wrinkled lips curving upward. “It was more fun’an bobbin’ fer apples, Braeburn. Next winter, the whole Apple Family’ll visit fer Hearthswarmin’,” Applebloom heard this and nodded in response, chipping in from the back seat of Braeburn’s truck.

“That sounds like it’ll be a hoot! Ah cain’t wait t’see ya again, Cousin Braeburn!” She said, a look of pure, childish enthusiasm on her face. This caused Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle to laugh before they both put in their two cents.

“Thanks for letting us stay with you, Mr. Braeburn! It was really fun!” Sweetiebelle chimed.

“Yeah, this week was awesome!” Scootaloo echoed, her voice cracking loudly as she ended her statement.

Braeburn chuckled as he was happy to have been a good host. “Darn tootin’ it was! Everyone’s guaranteed a good time in…” He rolled the window down and hollered out the window, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPALOOSA!”

Braeburn’s trademark Appaloosa outburst drew fits of laughter from the three friends in the back seat, and Granny Smith gave a small chuckle. After another thirty or so minutes of driving, they had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. They all got out and Big Mac and Applejack greeted their cousin happily.

“Thanks fer takin’ care of the kids an’ Granny this week, Braeburn.” Applejack said as she hugged her cousin. “we really appreciate it.”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac added before giving his cousin a hug as well.

“T’ain’t nothin’, you two. Anytime you need a sitter, jest call up yer favorite cousin!” Braeburn responded with a million dollar smile.

After Braeburn had finished his sentence, Rarity pulled up in her car with pop music blaring from the radio. She got out and walked over to the group with a smile. “Hello there, everyone! This week certainly was an adventure, wasn’t it?” She smiled and looked down at the three elementary schoolers. “I hope you three had a good time as well.”

“Yeah!” They all said in unison, causing everyone to chuckle.

“Hm, yes, it looks like it. Anyhow, Come along, Sweetiebelle! You too, Scootaloo, I’m taking you back to your house.”

The two girls hugged Applebloom goodbye and quickly said farewell to the others before hopping in Rarity’s car. Braeburn got in his car and left as well, waving to them as he pulled out onto the road The Apple Family waved him off, save for Granny, who had a curious look on her face.

“What in tarnation is he doin’ drivin’ away?” Granny Smith asked Applejack in genuine confusion. “Ah thought he was stayin’ a few days with us.” Applejack looked perplexed at Granny’s question.

“No, Granny… He was just droppin’ you, Bloom, and the other two kids off. Why did y’think he was stayin’ with us? ”

“Oh, I don’t know, just got a little mixed up, Ah reckon.” Granny said with a small laugh before making her way inside the house, leaning on her walker. Though Applejack didn’t rightly know why Granny thought Braeburn was staying overnight, she just marked it up to her old age. She walked over to Applebloom and hoisted her little sister up to a sitting position her shoulders.

“How was it stayin’ with Cousin Braeburn?” She asked her little sister with a smile as Big Mac walked alongside Granny Smith back to the farmhouse.

“Aw, sis, it was the best! Ah had so much fun with Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle and Cousin Braeburn! We played hide and seek in a hay maze and we even went on a tour of Appaloosa!” Applebloom responded as she giddily bounced up and down on her big sister’s shoulders. The eldest Apple daughter laughed at this before responding.

“See, what’d Ah tell ya? Ah knew you an’ yer friends would have a barrel of fun with Braeburn. What about Granny? Was she alright?”

Applebloom nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yup! She had a hoot seein’ all our relatives again!” Applebloom said before she cocked her head to the side, a curious look crossing her face. “It was weird, though… she kept repeatin’ herself a whole lot. Me an’ th’girls tried to make a game out of countin’ how many times she said, ‘Thank you, Ah’preciate that.’ when someone did somethin’ nice for her… But we lost count around forty.”

“Oh, wow…” Applejack furrowed her brow in slight worry at the mention of Granny repeating her words. “She usually don’t repeat herself a whole lot.” Then she shrugged, “Maybe it was just a little overwhelmin’ t’see everyone again.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Applebloom said before the joy and wonder of her memories with her cousin returned. “Oh, I cain’t wait to tell Big Mac about the fun stuff we did with cousin Braeburn! Let’s go inside so I can tell him, AJ!” Applebloom said before grabbing her sister’s pigtails and playfully tugging on them like reigns. “To the house! Hi ho silver!” Applejack gave a chuckle before running into the house with Applebloom on her back. They got into the kitchen and could see that Big Mac was already starting on dinner. Applejack put Applebloom down and walked up to her brother.

“Smells great, Mac! What are we havin’ tonight?”

“Country-fried steak an’ mashed taters.” Mac said simply.

“Oh, mah favorite!” Applebloom said before bounding over to her brother and adding a request. “Can ya make some gravy, too? It’ll go really good with the p’taters.” Mac chuckled and gave a nod before gently tousling his little sister’s hair.

“Eeyup.”

----------------------

As Twilight and Spike finally finished putting all of their clothes in the wash, the bookworm turned to her boyfriend to kiss his cheek with a smile. “Thanks for helping with the laundry, Spike. I’m gonna go up to the study to read for a bit, okay?”

Spike smiled back and nodded. “No problem. I’ll keep the volume of my music player down, then. I feel like listening to something mellow, anyway. I’m thinking takeout for dinner tonight, is that okay?”

“Sure thing, as long as you get the veggie rolls this time.” Spike chuckled at this and gave Twilight a quick kiss on the lips.

“Veggie rolls, got it.”

Twilight giggled and spoke as she walked up the steps to the study. “You’re the best, babe.”

“I know.” Spike answered with a laugh before he plopped down on the couch and played some mellow, feel-good reggae music. He bobbed his head to the slow beat for a few minutes, only stopping when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. he pulled it out to find an incoming call from an unfamiliar number. Not wanting to be too loud and risk interrupting Twilight’s reading, he stepped outside before answering the call. “Hello?”

He immediately recognized the gravelly voice. “Hey, buddy,” It said sarcastically. “Been a while. How ya been?”

Spike’s eyes turned to slits and he spoke through gritted teeth. “Garble.”

Garble chuckled before responding in a menacing tone. “That’s right, ya little fucker. It’s me. The guy who got thrown in juvie because of your snitch ass.”

“You know that what you made me do was wrong.” Spike responded nobly. Garble chuckled at this again, though this time the string of gruff laughs was interrupted by smoker’s coughs. After Garble’s hacks subsided he roughly cleared his throat before continuing.

“Well, duh! You think I was dumb enough to rob a store myself when I had a stupid, snot-nosed brat like you who’d do it and take the fall in my place? But it seems you even fucked that up for me, didn’t you?” The teen responded in a guttural, extremely aggressive voice. His expression and tone softened slightly, turning from a tone of detestation to one of sarcasm and mockery. “Anyways, just letting you know that me and my boys will be visiting your school soon. I heard you’re on Canterlot’s varsity team starting next season. Good luck against my school’s team, you’re gonna need it. And hey, worst comes to worst, your sister will be watching you get wheeled back to the locker room on a stretcher. Hope you’ve got good medical insurance.” Garble concluded with a devious snicker.

Before Spike could reply, a dial tone sounded off, indicating that his antagonist had already hung up. Spike’s arm dropped to his side in shock. Wordlessly, he headed back inside, unceremoniously flopping down on the couch, staring off into space as his mind reeled. He knew Garble could hold a grudge but this was ridiculous. And he even threatened that he would ‘visit’ CHS soon. That scared Spike. A lot. Who knew what Garble was capable of now that he was older? He was probably exponentially stronger and more bestial.

After what felt like an eternity of contemplating scenarios repeatedly in his head, Spike heard a familiar voice call to him from the study.

“Spike, I’m done reading! It’s getting late, let’s order that takeout before we get too tired, okay?”

“Yeah… Be up in a minute.” Spike replied. he slowly walked upstairs to the bedroom that he and Twilight now shared. As he slowly drew closer, his expression began to harden, transforming from a look of fear to one of determination. His final thought on the subject of Garble was formed when he opened the door to see Twilight smiling lovingly at him. ‘It doesn’t matter what Garble does to me.’ Spike thought to himself. ‘He can punch me, kick me, beat me to a bloody mess...’ He smiled at Twilight, who was on her phone, getting ready to order dinner for them. Spike’s mind was still focused on the same train of thought as he sat down next to Twilight and held her in his arms protectively. ‘But no matter what happens…’

‘I won’t let anything happen to her.’

Author's Notes:

OH MY BUCKING GODS, FINALLY! It's been forever since the last chapter came out... it's good to be back! I'm really sorry for the massive delay (college is eating ALL of my time! And don't even get me started on work... eugh.). Anyhow, lets hope such a huge holdup doesn't happen again. For now, I'm just glad I can finally be back to the ol' grind again! I'm working on a few extra projects at the moment right now as well, so that's a thing. Unfortunately, that's all I'll tell you guys for now. I'm so mean.

As always, I hope you enjoyed! If you haven't already, check out my co-writer's page, he's AWESOME!

I'm uploading the next chapter as soon as this one goes up.

Deuces, guys!