Mare-Do-Well: Regeneration

by Mark Garg von Herbalist

First published 24th of May, 2012

Trixie, Pinkie Pie and Shining Armor risk everything to protect Equestria from government corruption and a powerful, home based terrorist organization seeking the nation's absolute destruction.

Technically completed, but is now going through much needed edits and rewrites.

Stay tuned for the edits!

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Set ten years after the Changeling attack on Canterlot, Equestria faces a new threat. This time it is not from supernatural beings, but from its own citizens. Social degradation and political strife have become the norm for what was once the city on the hill, and there is no end in sight. However, three lives -a disgraced magician, a weary captain, and a lost Element- will risk everything to save Equestria.

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Revised with the help of Cade YYZ
Rated Web 17- For strong violence, language, and sexuality throughout. All involving colorful ponies. You have been warned.

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Arc 1- Fully Edited
Arc 2- Fully Edited

Have some music

Arc 0- 01- Condemned -EDITED-

“...And after Blueblood’s funeral, Princess Celestia locked herself in her chambers without so much as a peep. Princess Luna-”

Click.

“...The Changelings must’ve had something to-”

Click.

“...And I say to you, forgiveness is for everypony! No matter your sins, the Goddess of the Sun will always have room in her heart to forgive you! But you must first forgive yourself! Forgive yourself and others can forgive you!”

Click.

The room becomes silent without the voices of the radio as the hoof of an azure stallion with a silver pen cutie mark slides off the dial radio. Only the pattering of rain and a faint howling wind provide the resident with company, and it only reminds him of the death coming to claim him.

The unicorn stallion's azure coated hoof runs through his silver mane, messy with weeks of minimum care, and his glazed, bloodshot eyes drift down to the wooden flood boards. At one point they had been clean and without as much as a scratch, but now he doesn't need light to show how much it has degraded. He can feel the scratches and carpet of dust under his hooves with his hoof, and he can care less about it. His end is nigh, and he as nothing left, anyway, so there is no point in keeping his prison tidy.

A flash of lightning rips through the sky and thunder shakes his window and bones as a screech of wind and barrage of hard rain assaults Canterlot's growing skyline. A moment later, his chest tightens and an unpleasant feeling crawls up his mane.

He swallows nervously and turns around to see a shadow of pony standing in the corner, watching him. Despite the fear poisoning him, he still approaches the intruder with tears pooling in his light purple eyes.

“I am still unforgiven, aren't I?” asks the unicorn to the shadow.

“That is not my decision to make, Eclipse,” says the shadow with a deep, fatherly tone. The visitor steps forward, turning into a solid mass of black in the shape of a unicorn stallion as his hoof steps echoing in the loft. “I know your sins are unforgiven by most mortals, but I cannot speak for the Higher Powers. Their judgment on you is entirely up to them.”

The azure stallion, Eclipse, turns around and grabs a half empty bottle of hard cider from his glass coffee table and takes a large swig.

“I prayed and done all the other rites for what I’ve done, but all I’ve endured was more pain!” sobs Eclipse while swinging the bottle around in exaggerated movements, splashing the floor and expensive furniture with liquor. He takes another gulp of his drink and sits down with an audible thump on his once snowy white, fluffy couch, now covered with old liquor stains. “What point is there for begging for forgiveness if all my mistakes still take me to this place?”

The shadow pony’s horn glows and gently takes the bottle away from Eclipse and sets it down on a place mat on the glass table. Eclipse reaches out with his magic, but the strange pony gently puts his hoof on his shoulder, convincing the distraught unicorn to stop and look at him with watery eyes.

“Eclipse, I know your pain and how you wish you could take it all back, but you must understand that creatures such as yourself possess free will, therefore are not bound to forget or forgive,” says the shadow pony.

Eclipse hunches in his seat, covering his face with his hooves and begging through his whimpers as the visitor steps away from him.

“I am sorry, Eclipse. I can try to guide your daughter to a better path, but I cannot save you from him,” says the shadow pony.

Eclipse's hooves slide off of his face and he opens his mouth to suck in some air and speak to the visitor, but when he looks, he sees that the shadow pony is gone. There is a flash of lightning that lights up the room, followed instantly by the deafening thunderclap that rattles his bones and shakes his loft.

The wind howls like a tortured animal and a wave of rain beats against the patio window, completely distorting the outside world with a watery wall. It is at that moment that the door is shattered, leaving just a few slabs of broken wood on the hinges while the remains fly towards Eclipse.

Eclipse shields his eyes from the wood and hears the pieces of his door skid across his floor. When he lowers his hoof, his ears droop and a releases a loud, terrified whimper as he backs up, trembling violently with tears rolling down his cheeks that platter to the floor.

Standing in the doorway is an imposing stallion whose features are nearly completely hidden by his drenched poncho. Only his beige colored wings are exposed, and they are given a hard flap as he snorts hot air and scuffs his hoof against the floor.

Eclipse slumps to the floor, vision blurred with tears and lips trembling. “Forgive me.”

The intruder charges and-

Eclipse screams and jolts upright in his bed, body soaked in sweat and face wet with tears. He scans his room, heart thumping in his ears and breathing ragged, and when he sees nothing, he wipes his eyes and muzzle and blinks to get the tears out of his eyes. As his eyes adjust to the darkness he can see his lavish, imported dresser, the expensive oil painting of himself looking proud of his life’s achievements, and his many exotic sculptures of dragons in various poses. All mean nothing to him, though.

Eclipse looks to his window when thunder rumbles after a flash of lightning, and after swallowing some spit, he slides out of his bed and walks to his living room. He does not bother turning on the lights since he is provided enough from the lightning and the night lights that dot his abode.

When Eclipse is by his glass coffee table, he levitates a half empty bottle of hard cider and takes a sip of it while staring at the storm that is raging outside from his glass patio doors. He can’t see anything and he can hear his grandfather clock ticking louder than it should be over the storm, like a sick reminder that his time is running out. When the grandfather clock chimes at midnight, he walks towards it, opens up the glass case protecting the pendulum and forces it to stop using his hoof while he chugs the last of his drink. He doesn’t want to hear the clock. He already knows he’ll be dead soon.

Eclipse trudges towards his kitchen, tossing the empty bottle in the trash along the way, and raids his wine cooler in hopes of getting a decent drink. What he finds instead are bottles ranging from half empty to just mere drops to completely dry. and pulls out an almost empty bottle of wine. He takes a swig of it and his face contorts to that of disgust and he scowls as he pours the disgusting drink down the sink, upset that one of his final drinks tastes disgusting.

As the red liquid swirls down the metallic tube, Eclipse puts his hooves on the sink and watches it disappear with morbid fascination. It looks like blood, and it sends a shiver up his spine. He only breaks away from his trance when only a thin layer of red bleeds into the drain, and only then does he return to the wine cooler in hopes of getting a drink that tastes good. However, after a quick inspection and removal of the bottles that might as well be empty, nothing strikes his fancy so he slams it shut and pours himself a glass of water instead.

With a glass of water in his magical grip, he shuffles into his living room, towards his stained white couch, and stops when he is by his dial radio which rests on a fancy nightstand next to his couch. He stares at it, contemplating if he should listen to some music before Charon comes to claim him.

The return of lightning and thunder helps Eclipse make his decision.

His hoof presses the power button and the radio crackles to life. At first there is static, but after making some odd hissing and popping sounds it finally gets to playing.

“...And after Blueblood’s funeral, Princess Celestia locked herself in her chambers without so much as a peep. Princess Luna-”

Eclipse pales and uses his magic to turn the radio's knob. It clicks to the next station.

“...The Changelings must’ve had something to-”

“No. No no no no, please Celestia, no,” whimpers Eclipse while magically turning the knob again. Another click, and the channel changes. “Please, Celestia...”

“...And I say to you, forgiveness is for everypony! No matter your sins, the Goddess of the Sun will always have room in her heart to forgive you! But you must first forgive yourself! Forgive yourself and others can forgive you!”

“No!”

Eclipse rams his hoof against the radio power button and it breaks upon impact, creating a sickening crunching sound with sparks that shoot out. The noise drones to silence and Eclipse repeats himself in sorrowful whimpers as he slides to the ground, sobbing and shaking.

“No, please Celestia, don’t-please don’t let it end like this,” he begs quietly.

He looks up at the ceiling, waiting for a divine voice to tell him that everything will be okay, that he will be safe from any harm. But all he hears is the rain battering against his windows and the howling wind to accompany them.

He moans and lies on the floor, covering his head with his hooves. He knows he has been forsaken.

As he squeezes his eyes shut in a useless attempt to escape his fate, he thinks about his how he deserves what is coming. But in spite of what his humble side is saying, he really wants to run and live out his days in hiding, but someone like him can’t stay hidden for long. Especially from the one hunting him. Just like he found his associates, the guards in his pocket, his informant. He found them all, and now he’s coming for him.

Eclipse looks up at the ceiling again. “Please... save me...”

Nothing.

Eclipse sniffles and nods his head in reluctant understanding. He warily stands up and walks towards a small bookcase filled with records and as he searches through them, he notices a picture of him with his wife and child. He smiles sadly and wipes tears from his eyes as he grabs it with his magic, then he finds the record he wanted nestled against the case's wall. He gently pulls it out with his magic and carries it to the gramophone. After setting it up, he puts the large, vinyl disc on and let’s the music play. There is a small crackling at first, but it soon turns into the sweetest melody he has ever heard.

He carries the picture to his couch and sits down, gently stroking the framed photo with his hoof as the soft string instruments and wordless hymns fill his loft with one last sense of serenity before the inevitable. He takes a deep breath and hugs the picture to his chest and closes his eyes as the violins from the track became louder and more peaceful. Not even the dreadful storm outside can interrupt his last moment of peace, but his ears twitch when he hears a floorboard creak from outside his loft door. He slowly opens his eyes and sees a shadow taking up the light shining under his door from the hallway.

His heart speeds up and his throat clogs with the wet lump. He knows who it is, and he knows his time has run out.

“Forgive me,” begs Eclipse quietly.

The door is destroyed by a solid kick that leaves only splinters on the hinges while the door's remains scatter across the floor and fly towards Eclipse. The azure stallion flinches and trembles violently as he hugs the photo closer to him without making any attempt to run. He knows its pointless.

The intruder expands his beige colored wings and snorts hot air as it scuffs imposing stallion stomps in snorting hot air and scuffing his hoof against the floorboard. His facial features may be hidden by his drenched poncho, but Eclipse knows who it is.

Eclipse closes his eyes, bows his head, and tears roll down his cheeks as he rubs the framed photograph for the last time. “Forgive me.”

A middle aged grayish-purple unicorn Night Guard with a small, rough beard and wearing a drying poncho over his lavender armor stares over the splintered railing of Eclipse’s loft. Judging from the damage, he is suspecting that Eclipse hit it before falling to his death. If was even alive by that point.

The Night Guard looks up for the briefest of seconds as the pegasi clear the storm clouds away from the apartment before looking over the edge again. Now that the clouds are cleared away he has the moon and stars to give him some light so he can better see down below. There is a growing crowd that is being kept at bay by a yellow tape and rookie guards while the more experienced ones inspect the gory pancake on the sidewalk that had once been Eclipse.

The unicorn huffs and passes through the remains of the patio door, which is just a thin, broken border of decorative wood with jagged glass on its edge. He carefully steps past the broken glass and wood, and then inspects the trail of blood leading up to the balcony while other Night Guards collect evidence by taking pictures and placing little markers at the points of interests. These points are areas where the furniture is shattered, the walls are damaged, the remains of the front door, and, of course, the bloody trail.

A Night Guard pegasus approaches the old unicorn, who is now inspecting the pool of semi-dried blood that is covered by glass from the smashed coffee table.

“Detective Jerkins, we talked to the neighbors and no one saw anything. They only heard the fighting,” says the pegasus.

“Figures,” mutters Detective Jerkins while wiping snot from his nose, cold courtesy of the horrible weather. “There never are any good witnesses.”

“We talked to the doorpony, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, either.”

Detective Jerkins wants to groan, but gets a particularly painful sneeze instead. He swears under his breath and sniffles as he levitates a handkerchief from his poncho pocket and wipes the snot from his nose. He grimaces at the mucus on his handkerchief and carefully folds up the piece of cloth and sticks it back in his pocket. The grayish-purple unicorn almost wants to whine about how much the cold sucks, but that won’t get him anywhere. Besides, he wants to keep the stoic attitude he’s known for. It makes it easier for him to ignore stupid things, like frivolous conversations and horrible jokes.

While the sick unicorn inspects an indent in the wall that has a little bit of blood on the edges, an earth pony stallion almost half of Detective Jerkins' age trots in with a proud smile. The newcomer has a gray coat and a slicked back green mane and tail, and his wet helmet is hanging next to him, no doubt ignoring any uncomfortable feelings he's getting.

“Hey, L. Roy, I found something!” says the stallion energetically.

“Put your helmet back on, Kicker,” orders Detective Jerkins. “And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me L. Roy when on duty?”

“More than I can count.”

Detective Jerkins rolls his eyes.

“Anyway, I found that the emergency exit has been forced open from the outside,” says the younger stallion, Detective Colt Kicker.

All eyes turn on Detective Kicker and he smiles proudly while slipping on his helmet. When Detective Jerkins looks at the other guards, though, they resume their business and he goes back to looking at his partner.

“Are you sure it was from the outside?” asks Detective Jerkins skeptically
.
Colt nods his head quickly. “Yep, I did all the stuff. I looked at the scene, studied the scene, looked at the door, asked about the door, looked at the door again, labeled the door and then told the nice lady up front how she reminds me of a lunar rose.”

Detective Jerkins frowns. “Kicker, I swear to the Celestial Sisters, you are hopeless.”

“Thanks. I try my best.”

“Definitely hopeless.”

Detective Kicker goes outside to peek over the balcony, completely oblivious to his partner’s statement, and makes a low, drawn out whistle as he looks at the mess dozens of stories down.

“Wow, somepony really had it out for this guy,” says the earth pony carelessly.

Detective Jerkins walks next to him. “What did you expect? He was a crime lord. Crime lords have rivals. And this rival wiped out his entire empire before giving him the window treatment.”

Detective Kicker’s ears droop slightly as he looks at the older unicorn. “You think a rival did this?”

“Possibly. I know Grizelda’s moving into town and she’s making room to make her little self nice and cozy in our town. We all know griffins are violent. Especially the bad eggs like her.”

“Where’s the ‘but’? There’s always a ‘but’.”

“But we’ll have to see what the evidence says before pointing hooves.”

Detective Jerkins walks back inside without another word, followed by his partner seconds later.

“Hey, L. Roy,” calls Detective Kicker.

Detective Jerkins stops and sighs heavily as he turns to give the earth pony a very annoyed look. “What is it, Kicker?”

“Do you think this whole thing-” Detective Kicker waves his hoof around at the mess “-was supposed to be symbolic or something? I mean a crime lord was tossed out his window and splattered in front of a crowd.”

“Message or not, this whole thing should blow over quickly. Nopony is eager to figure out who murdered one of Equestria’s crime lords.” Detective Jerkins starts towards the exit. “Besides, we should thank whoever did this. This was the last of the Eclipse Mob.”

“One less crime ring to deal with, then.”

“Precisely.” Detective Jerkins sneezes explosively, causing some heads to turn, but once he looks at them they are quick to look away and resume their work. With that said and done, he looks back at Detective Kicker. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a cold to take care of.”

Detective Kicker waves farewell to Detective Jerkins, and when the unicorn is out of sight and his hoofsteps are gone, Colt lowers his hoof and looks out the destroyed patio door at the ever growing, skeletal Canterlot skyline, shrouded by night and rain. Then he glances at the broken oil painting of Eclipse that has fallen to the ground. After unenthusiastically studying the picture for a few seconds he walks over to a display case that has surprisingly been spared of any damage. He takes note of all the little figurines locked safely inside, all of which are some kind of dragon with a moon varying in poses and sizes.

Detective Kicker pulls away and lets out a depressed sigh and smacks his lips. “Nightmare Moon. Discord. Changelings. Crime rings. Assassinations. Murders... Yeah, Equestria’s going to crap.” He looks around and scuffs his hoof on the floor to put his boredom at ease. It doesn’t work. He groans quietly and scans the area before he nudges the pegasus Night Guard. “Hey, I’m going to grab some coffee, you want some?”

The pegasus looks confused by the sudden offer. “Um... no thank you, sir, but if you could grab me a donut that’d be nice.”

Detective Kicker smiles. “Sure thing, buddy.”

When he turns to leave, though, the pegasus steps after him.

“Excuse me, Detective Kicker, but do you think that this whole thing is symbolic... or something?” asks the pegasus meekly.

Detective Kicker stops and his whole body visibly droops as he scans the crime scene before looking at the Night Guard. “I do. And call me paranoid, but I think whoever did this is far from being done. Let’s hope I’m wrong.”

Author's Notes:

Chapter has been edited on 26 Jun 2014

ARC 1- END of the OLD -Cover-

Arc 1- 01- Sunshine -ADDITION-

Ten Years Later...

A starved Trixie Lulamoon wearing a ratty gray cloak is jolted awake by a sudden bump that sends her in the air a few inches before landing with a thump on a wooden floor. Around her, contents shake inside the crates and boxes they are stuffed in, and a small square package of hay almost lands on her. A quick hoof keeps that from happening, though, and she wiggles away from it before letting it fall beside her.

Trixie yawns and barely raises her head to peek over the wall of the bed of the vehicle she secretly hopped on at a rest stop. She catches a worn sign with faded words that spell: Welcome to Barnville.

In most cases, the sign would be welcoming, but since someone has drawn devil horns and red eyes over the happy farmer, Trixie gets the feeling that she should not stay long.

As the vehicle trudges through, leaving a trail of dark gray exhaust in its wake, Trixie notices that Barnville has a strong resemblance to Ponyville. Everything has an eerily similar design, only the colors have been sucked away by neglect and now splintering wood make up the walls and the dirt roads are nothing but muddy paths with inconveniently placed puddles of icky water.

Some thunder rumbles in the distance and Trixie looks up at the thick layer of corpse colored clouds covering the sky. She squints her eyes, frowning with drooped ears when a droplet of water splashes against her muzzle.

When the motor wagon screeches to a halt, though, Trixie lays flat on her stomach, ignoring the splintering wood and large bolts that dig into her ribs, now somewhat visible from lack of food. The vehicle shifts as the driver gets out and starts talking to someone else in Nieghican.

“Hola, señora! Tengo el paquete de su hermano y el dinero de Gilda,” says the driver with a heavy Spanish accent.

The other, a female, speaks through the nose with her light Ozark accent. “Muy bien. Espere aquí, así puedo decirle.”

Trixie does not wait to see who comes out, so she crawls on her stomach to the other side and keeps herself pressed against the bed's wall as tight as she can as she crawls over its edge. She yelps when she falls over the other end and lands on her back, creating a splash of mud that covers her entire back in the wet, grainy substance.

Trixie groans quietly and shifts in the mud from the unpleasant feeling on her back, but she pulls herself together rather quickly and rolls to her hooves and gallops to a nearby alley. Once in the safety of the alley, she slides to a stop and sits against the brick wall, panting from her minimal energy's quick usage and looks at a mirror that the universe placed in front of her as a form of mockery. Granted, it may be cracked with black spots all over it, but she still sees enough of herself for it to make her stomach churn and her throat to clog as tears burn her eyes.

Ten years ago, she never would have been caught dead in public her state, and it is somewhat try to this day, but now she is more trying to avoid those with petty grudges than have her nonexistent public image tarnished. Thick layers of mud, gunk and other things she'd rather not think about are caked on to her light blue coat and knotted silver mane and tail. Her mane and tail, in fact, are so disheveled that they no longer have a curl, but look more like a tangle of wires rolled, pulled and twisted to make some hair. It is ugly, and as much as Trixie wants to hate how much she has fallen, she has given up on trying to fix her appearance. It never lasted long enough to be worthwhile, anyway, and besides, the more the former Great and Powerful Trixie thinks about it, the more she realizes she deserves this.

It is her fault, after all, that Ponyville's mentally challenged colts brought an Ursa Minor into their town based off of her lie. And with that one little lie, all of her hard work came crashing down and no one offered the kind of help she needed to get out of her mess. Exactly as her father predicted when she started on her short lived career as a traveling magician.

She can just hear her father's words plainly as if he is talking right next to her. I told you nopony would help you. A celebrity is worth only as much as their image, and if they have none, they get nothing.

With those words tormenting her, Trixie slumps into the mud, whimpering and pressing her muddy hooves against her folded ears in a feeble attempt to stop the mental harassment. It only traps the pain inside, though. She can only think of her cart being destroyed with one step and her self-inflicted exile to get as far away from her humiliation as possible, traveling nonstop for ten years using every means possible. From hoof to hitching rides, and hiding in trains to becoming stowaways on boats, she did it all to ensure that she stay out of public eyes as much as possible. She is, after all, a once beloved magician whose very foundation was based on a lie. Or so the public was led to believe.

Through her travels, Trixie did discover something that most of the stuckups at Canterlot and sickeningly humble ponies of Ponyville have not. The farther away from Canterlot, the dirtier everything is and the more distant the ideals of Harmony are.

The ever so pleasant ponies Ponyville thought she had a bad attitude? Well they would go into a state of comatose from the horrible mannerism that the ponies of Detrot deliver. And the water? It’s sparkling clean in Canterlot and clear in Ponyville, but past the Everfree Forest, near places like Stalliongrad and Fillydelphia, there had been times where she wondered if the cities even had sewage treatments plants to filter out the grime. The ponies near the capital of the Solar Empire of Equestria are so blinded by their utopian lifestyle that they haven’t realized that Harmony only exists near Celestia, and the farther they are from Her presence, the more distant Her teachings become.

Trixie's hooves slide off of her ears, leaving streaks of mud on her coat and knotted mane, and she looks down at the mud as her hooves splash in it on impact with the rain growing heavier. She sniffles and glances to her side to see a ratty tarp covered in paint and scratches spread out over a pile of boxes with brick holding down the corners.

Not really caring what's in the boxes, she shuffles towards them, pushes and pulls some out so she has enough space to lay, then she does just that. She curls under the tarp in a ball, brings her tail up to her face and rests her head against her hooves as she closes her eyes. She only gets five seconds of peace before a strung gust of wind rips the tarp away and carries it down the road.

Trixie jolts up from the sudden chill of rain water pouring down on her and soaking past her cloak, and she watches with a slack jaw and tear filled eyes as her cover disappears into the colorless maze of Barnville. As soon as it is out of sight, she looks down and realizes that the bricks must not have been placed on that good since they appear to be unmoved, and with that sight, she scoffs and curls up on the muddy ground again, hoping the rain will melt her away into the nothingness she has always been.

Trixie blinks some tears away and tries to think about something good. Anything will do for her at this moment. Such as, the mud is comfortable and the rain is giving her a free shower. A comfortable mud bed and a free shower against her loss of wealth, fame, image, and basically everything she had.

“Now what’s a sweet lil’ mare like ya doin’ out here in tha rain for?” asks a stallion with an Ozark accent.

Trixie looks up and sees a slender, yellow eyed pegasus stallion in his early forties with a sickly green coat and a yellow tail with no mane smiling down at her with a twitching nose. He is wearing a ratty poncho that covers most of his body and his smile is ruined by the crooked and rotting teeth infecting his mouth.

Trixie remains silent as she looks at the strange pony, in her prime she would be repulsed by the stallion’s nose-burning bad breath, but nothing surprises her now. Trixie rests her head on her hooves again to stare at the watery mud she’s lying in, refusing to give him the benefit of an answer. However, the stallion simply chuckles lightly and lays down in front of her and cocks his head in a playful attempt to get a better look at her face.

“Do I scare ya? Sorry if I do. Years at Shattered Hoof Quarry did a number on mah lungs and looks, if ya know what I mean,” he says with a chuckle.

Trixie closes her eyes and turns her head away, wishing for the stallion to go away so she can finish her muddy, rain cleansing in peace. Though, her wish is not granted since her unwelcomed visitor extends his hoof to her face.

“Mah name is Sunshine Cloud,” he says happily. “I was a big fan of yer shows, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie.”

Trixie's ears perk and she stares at him, dumbfounded. “You-you know who I am-I mean who Trixie is?”

She then mentally kicks herself after asking that dumb question, but Sunshine snickers.

“Darn right I do,” he says lightly, “and I see ya still got that charm of yers.”

Trixie’s blush is hidden behind the mud caked to her face, but she’s still glad that she’s finally recognized by someone who does not want to bust her teeth in after a decade of being alone! She can almost squeal like a happy little filly about this turn of events!

Sunshine stands up with a groan and gently helps Trixie to her hooves, frowning deeply when he realizes how starved he is.

“We need ta get some food in ya,” says Sunshine. “Farmer Maggot's scarecrows look healthier than you.”

Trixie's heart continues soaring, now for the idea of food from a kind soul, but she quickly remembers one very critical problem. “But I-Trixie doesn't have any money.”

Sunshine blows raspberries an waves his hoof dismissively while he extends one of his wings to use it as an umbrella to cover Trixie's head. “What kinda stallion would I be if I let a homeless mare go without food?”

“But-”

Sunshine's hoof snaps up to her muzzle, almost touching it with its thick, muddy bottom. “Nah ah ah. Don't wanna hear it. Money or not, I'm gonna take care o' ya.”

Trixie nods her head quickly, grinning broadly and failing to stop a tiny, filly-like squeal of joy from escaping her as she walks next to Sunshine. As they walk down through the rain, Trixie steals a glance at her courter's wing and notices that it isn’t like normal pegasi wings. It is slightly deformed and some of the fathers fall loose just by the rain droplets splattering against them.

“What happened to your wing?” asks Trixie, hoping she isn't being rude by asking.

“That ol’ pieces o’ junk? I haven’t gotten the slightest clue,” chuckles Sunshine after a quick peek at his appendage. “I was takin' care o' some business up at Shattered Hoor when there was this explosion that sent me flyin’ tail over hoof. Last I remember was face plantin' a pile o' rocks and waking up tha hospital next day with only one wing. So, now it is just me and this guy here to keep the pretty mares safe from the rain.”

At the end of his monologue, Trixie realizes that she has been taken to the same spot that the wagon stopped in front of, which is a named Cloudsdale Rejects, and when he lets her in, she sees it is not much different from outside.

Like the rest of Barnville, the pub is poorly kept, with vulgar graffiti and grime covering the walls that are already crowded with neon signs and retro advertisements. Barely a pace in, and something splatters in front of Trixie like a water balloon filled with mushy turd, making her gasp and recoil. When she and Sunshine both look up, her jaw drops from seeing only Celestia knows what plastered on it, all while the pegasus remains neutral with his expression.

“Huh, I should get Scarlet to get rid o' those,” he says nonchalantly. He then smiles at Trixie and gently nudges her forward. “Anyways, let's get you somethin' t' eat.”

Trixie nods and follows Sunshine through the pub, noting the thick trails of muddy hoof prints all over the worn floor and the miserable lot of ponies hunched over the bar counter and tables drinking hard cider and licking blocks of salt. Some are so drunk or dehydrated that they have collapsed on the floor or passed out at their tables. Despite the sad scene, Trixie still wishes that she had the bits to buy herself a drink and a meal, if only to repay Sunshine so she isn't a freeloader.

Just then, as the universe's way to torment Trixie, the double doors to the kitchen open and an attractive pegasus mare in her early twenties steps out, carrying a platter of freshly pressed hay bacon and a pitcher of cider. The mare has a scarlet coat and an orange mane and tail, with her mane braided and her tail tied into a ponytail, and she is wearing a well kept poncho that covers most of her body.

The waitress is using her mouth to carry the tray, and when she passes Trixie, her stomach growls and her mouth waters as she trails the feast across the pub. In doing so, Trixie sees one of the more intoxicated stallions reach out to touch the waitress's flank, but he gets swift tail whip to the face that send him reeling and his buddies howling with laughter at his fail. Though, when the scarlet pegasus shoots a glare at the group, their laughing dies instantly and they avert their eyes, shamefaced, and she continues her trek.

Trixie watches the waitress slide the platter in front of an earth pony stallion sitting in the corner, watching everyone with paranoid fueled scrutiny from his vantage point. He is in his late fifties, has well defined crows-feet around his eyes, and is surprisingly well dressed in a brown trench coat that covers his dark suit, and a fedora of the same color as his coat that he has lying in front of him on the table. The stallion has brownish-gray fur with a fading black mane and tail and black spots that surround his eyes and muzzle. After the mare unenthusiastically sets the plate down the stallion gives her a few bits and she takes them and heads towards Sunshine. When she reaches Sunshine she gives Trixie a dirty look before ignoring her completely.

“Gray Muffin is back,” says the mare coldly.

“He won’t cause any trouble,” assures Sunshine. “By the way, Scarlet, this is Trixie Lulamoon. Trixie, this is mah sister, Scarlet Cloud.”

Trixie extends her hoof. “How do you do?”

Scarlet looks at the hoof with disgust, then glares at her brother. “As if you need more tramps.”

Trixie looks down and strokes the muddy floor to hide the pain, that statement was like a rusty knife plunged into her heart.

“Now, now, Scarlet, what have we talked about with that language of yers?” Sunshine says firmly while hugging Trixie around her neck and pulling her close for a sympathetic hug.

Scarlet scoffs and walks back to the kitchen with her nose in the air. When she is out of sight Sunshine sighs sadly and rubs Trixie's back, making her flinch a little from the unexpected touch.

“You’ll have ta forgive mah sister. She’s a bit grouchy most of the time,” says the deformed stallion.

Sunshine turns his attention Gray Muffin and Trixie follows suit. The old earth pony is eating his hay bacon, but is also keeping an eye on his surroundings as if searching for possible assassins.

“There's a shower upstairs, last door on tha left. Why don’tcha get cleaned up and I’ll get ya somethin’ ta eat.” Sunshine says in a darker tone. He then pecks Trixie on the cheek and gently nudges her towards the rickety stairs.

A shiver run up Trixie's spine because of the quick kiss, but she pushes her uneasiness aside and proceeds up the stairs to find the shower. As she quietly walks up the stairs she tries to keep her mind focused on the warm shower and the desperately needed food, but her paranoid part is telling her to run away and catch the next cart out of Barnville. Trixie stops midway up the stairs when she hears Sunshine and Gray Muffin speak, and it is at that point that she realizes just how quiet The Cloudsdale Rejects really is. Curiosity gets the better of her, and she suppresses her inner guardian screaming for her to run and leave the forsaken town behind as she watches the two stallions have their conversation.

“Still mad about what happened that night, are ya?” teases Sunshine as he takes a seat in front of Gray Muffin.

“I’m always mad at you,” remarks Gray Muffin with a gravely voice.

“Ahhh, I see. Why are ya here, Mr. Muffin?”

“You know why I’m here.”

“Nope, can’t say that I do.”

“I know you got paid for sending those drugs to Gilda, and I know about your slaves.”

“Ohhhh, that. Well, you see, Mr. Muffin, it is all just business. What me and the griffins have is special, and those slaves are being paid, so they ain't slaves, which is somethin' uppity folks like you don't want to understand.”

Trixie puts her hoof to her to her mouth and takes a step back, heart pounding rapidly in her chest as her trust in Sunshine is completely destroyed by the his casual statement.

Gray Muffin pushes his platter aside and leans forward, growling. “Sunshine, you broke our agreement, and if there is one thing that my organization does not like, it is being stabbed in the back.”

Sunshine chuckles dismissively. “It sounds like you are making a very empty threat, Mr. Muffin. You may have this 'organization', but this is mah town and mah business, and what I do with mah products concerns only me and mah sister.”

There is a tense moment between the two where not a word is spoken, and Sunshine meets Gray Muffin's glare with a taunting smirk while Trixie silently watches. She hears some chairs scrape against the floor and sees that Scarlet is ushering the patrons out.

As the leaving guests pass, Sunshine drags Gray Muffin's platter towards his side and helps himself to a slice of hay bacon. “You know what I think, Mr. Muffin. I think yer boss has got ya a little wound up. All that work, all that stress, it's gotta be hell on ya. So, I'll tell ya what, why don'tcha have a night with one of mah girls for free as a token of our friendship? Or a week at half price, even? What's yer type? Unicorn? Pegasus? Earth pony?”

“Neither," growls Gray Muffin.

“Hmm, are ya into goats, then? I got a couple o' those and some zebras and griffins, too, if ya wanna have a crack at 'em.”

Gray Muffin's eyes narrow. “Sunshine, your very existence is a disgrace to every living being, and if I had my way, I would kill you on the spot and be done with it.”

Sunshine exposes his rotting teeth with his sick, twisted smile. “Mr. Muffin, ya really shouldn’t be so rude in mah house. Besides, what would yer boss say if ya crushed mah neck? 'Cuz last I checked, ya need me fer mah 'shrooms and killing me will do ya a big disservice to yer business.”

Gray Muffin remains silent, meeting Sunshine's rotten grin with a murderous stare. The stare down last only a few seconds before Gray Muffin makes a low growl and leaving the pub without another word. Sunshine waves at Gray Muffin, singing a farewell, and the old earth pony stops in the doorway and turns to look at Scarlet, then at Trixie. He leaves as soon as Trixie shrinks away and when the door shuts behind him, Sunshine gets up and with Scarlet by his side he approaches a group of three lowlife stallions that have yet to leave.

Trixie watches him, and when he reaches the trio, he whispers something to them and they leave in a hurry. The two watch them leave, then Scarlet mumbles something and heads towards the kitchen while Sunshine chuckles lightly and makes his way to the stairs.

Trixie's heart nearly explodes from how fast it starts beating and her lungs feel heavy as she gallops towards the bathroom. It is exactly where Sunshine said it would be and she slams the door shut and locks herself in, spotting the only window in the bathroom, which just happens to be above the tub. Then she twists the knobs as much as they can go to give the illusion of showering and jumps in the tub. She had not realized how hot she put the water on, though, and almost jumps out because the temperature blisters her skin under her coat. But, biting back tears and the desire to scream from shock and pain, she persists. Trixie bangs her hooves against the window, muttering and swearing with her whimpers as she occasionally flings her wet mane out of her face, but she can’t get the window open. It is built solidly into the wall and is a thick block of solid glass.

“Oh no. No. No no no no no no!” whimpers Trixie as she frantically bangs against the window with her hooves, each slam getting weaker and her vision more clouded with tears as the steam chokes her.

Then there is a light knocking on the door followed closely by Sunshine’s creepy voice. “Trixie, how are ya doin’ in there, darlin’?”

Trixie’s heart stops and she stares at the door, whimpering and her trembling body collapses in the boiling water when Sunshine rattles the doorknob. She is too terrified to care about the boiling water splashing against her hide or the urge to vomit rising in her throat. The only thing she cares about is that she is trapped inside a bathroom with a drug dealing slaver on the other side.

When the doorknob shakes again, Trixie sinks into the tub, silently praying to Celestia that she will help her, and her voice trembles when she speaks. “I-I’m doing fine, thanks!”

There is a slight pause before Sunshine asks: “Why is the door locked?”

“I like my privacy,” says Trixie while wiping a mix of sweat, tears, and scorching hot water off of her face.

“Ahhh, I can’t say I blame ya there. Listen, I jus’ realized that I forgot ta put soap in tha bathroom. I just bought a new batch since I ran out earlier. Now, if ya want, I can send Scarlet in ta hand ya the new soap and she can help ya wash up."

“No, that-that’s quite alright. I-I’ll just rinse myself off.”

Trixie stands on wobbly legs in another failed attempt to open the window again, this time with her famed magic, but this “famed magic” turns out to be worse than pitiful. Her horn sputters pathetically and her stomach growls to reminder that her energy is too depleted for her to use even the simplest of spells. She collapses in the water again, creating a splash and she covers her mouth with her hoof and squeezes tears out of her eyes as her shoulders buckle from her quiet, terrified sobbing.

“Please, Celestia, help me,” sniffles Trixie, now pressing herself against the tub's edge that is flush with the wall, hoping that the wet tile will allow her to seep through and escape.

“Nonsense!” says Sunshine theatrically. “A pretty mare like yerself must always look her best. I’ll get Scarlet, she’ll get ya cleaned up, and we’ll have a nice dinner!"

Trixie hears Sunshine’s hoof steps fade, and when she no longer hears him she wipes tears and snot away and quietly approaches the door. She takes a breath, cringes when she opens the door and peeks out into the hallway. She doesn’t see or hear her captor anywhere. In fact, she doesn’t hear anything except for the howling wind and the rain banging against the walls. Trixie also hears the wood creaking under the weight of a couple of ponies casual walking about. She approaches the stairs, takes a breath and puts her ear to the floor. The classic trick for better hearing is one she learned when she resorted to theft to snag necessities, and hears Sunshine and Scarlet having a conversation amongst themselves downstairs.

“Why didn’t you just kill him and get it over with when he was here?” asks Scarlet.

“I didn't want ta make a scene. It's no big deal, anyways, since I sent those three to take care of him, remember?” replies Sunshine lightly. He groans as if stretching and lets out a relieved sigh. “When they take care o' him, I'll just explain ta Mr. Shock that a rival gang got a hold o' him. Their organization's got a lotta enemies, after all.”

“He's not going to fall for it, Sunshine! We have to get out of here because those three are going to fail and Gray Muffin will come back to settle the score!”

Sunshine's voice darkens and starts to shake. “Mr. Muffin threatened me and I won't let that stand, and they won't fail 'cuz I told them to bring plenty o' friends. Besides, Mr. Shock's gang ain't gonna lay a hoof any o' us. They need us, just as Gilda needs us. We are untouchable.”

“You're being an idiot! ”

Trixie has to put a hoof to her mouth to cover her gasp when she hears an echo of hoof colliding with skin and metal clanging to the floor over Scarlet’s yelp.

“DON’T YELL AT ME! DON’T YA EVER YELL AT ME!” screams Sunshine.

Trixie hears Sunshine aggressively screaming at Scarlet as she desperately tries to apologize. While they are distracted Trixie makes a move to run to the door, but when she’s halfway down the stairs, Scarlet slides across the floor, still wearing her poncho, and her head bangs against the door with enough force to shake it and leave a crack. Trixie stops and backs up the stairs, and she shrinks down when she sees Sunshine walk into view foaming at the mouth with his eye is twitching. Curiosity is what keeps Trixie in her spot as she watches the horrifying scene unfold.

Sunshine relentlessly slaps his sister, with each strike against her cheek sending her to the ground, shrieking and sobbing as a fresh bruise form on her cheek and draws lines of blood.

“I TAKE CARE OF YA! I FEED YA! I HOUSE YA! AND YA REPAY ME WITH SCREAMIN'!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?” yells Sunshine viciously, slapping her relentlessly with every couple of words spoken.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!” sobs Scarlet over Sunshine's wrathful shouts, yelping in pain with each strike against her bloodying cheek.

Sunshine does one last slap and Scarlet's head collides with the floor, and she curls up, weeping and bringing her hoof and wing up to her bruised face while her brother towers over her, seething. Drool seeps past his exposed teeth and his nostrils flare as his chest heaves and muscles twitch, but, much to Trixie's surprise, his expression melts to horror.

“Oh, Scarlet,” gasps Sunshine. He drops down next to her and scoops her up, gently shushing her and nuzzling her as he rubs her disheveled, orange mane. He sniffles over her whimpers and has her sit on his lap as he hugs her tighter, and she, in turn, buries her face in his shoulder as he rocks her back and forth. “I'm sorry, Scarlet. I'm sorry. Ya know I get a little worked up over some things.”

Scarlet whimpers indiscernible words and tightens her grip on Sunshine.

“Can ya forgive me?” asks Sunshine sincerely.

Scarlet sniffles and pulls away so he can see the streaks of bruises on her cheek, and her puffy, watery eyes lock on to his and she nods, quietly speaking. “Always.”

Sunshine smiles with relief and embraces her once again. “Thank you, darlin'.” He hesitates. “Listen, can ya do me a favor and help Trixie clean up?”

Scarlet nods again, lowering her eyes and still talking low after swallowing. “Ye-Yeah, I’ll go do that.”

“I’m gonna fix dinner. How does a salad sound?”

“...Sounds nice.”

“Good. Run along now, we don’t want to keep our guest waitin’.”

The two pull apart and Trixie scampers back into the bathroom, locks the door, and pretends to be cleaning herself once again. A minute later the door opens up and Scarlet walks into the bathroom with a key in her mouth. The lighting brings out the disgusting blueish, black and red streaks on her cheeks, and Trixie looks away as the pegasus sets the key on the sink.

Trixie watches Scarlet step step out to bring a bucket of shampoo and other body care products, and looks down at the water when she returns. The door closes and Trixie looks at Scarlet nervously and sees her staring hatefully at her, and with the fire in the mare's eyes, Trixie realizes that she knows that she had watched what happened but did nothing to help.

“If you’re going to sneak around, you really shouldn’t do it with wet hooves,” says Scarlet snidely as she sticks her hoof in the water to test the temperature. She is quick to pull her hoof out and swear about the water’s insane temperature, then she stares at Trixie with a bewildered expression. “By Celestia! How are you not cooked in that water?”

Trixie struggles to come up with a coherent answer but Scarlet dismisses Trixie’s babbling with a wave of her hoof and jumps in the tub with her without taking off her poncho. Trixie flinches as the area is splashed with the steamy water while Scarlet bullies her way behind Trixie in the tub. Trixie is about to protest Scarlet's behavior, but ends up wincing when the pegasus starts scrubbing off the grime that has covered her body with hard, painful strokes using what feels like a heavy duty scrubber. Each stroke makes Trixie wince and when Scarlet uses the shampoo and conditioner, she scrubs with the same force and same brush. However, despite the painful ordeal, when she’s done, Trixie’s shine from her years as a performer returns.

Mostly.

Her coat and mane have dulled from years of neglect, but Trixie still feels a lot like the Great and Powerful Trixie from a lifetime ago.

Then comes the painful process of brushing out the knots. Trixie releases tiny winces or yelps from strands of her mane and tail being ripped out from the brushing, and Scarlet grunts and throws in some colorful words to voice her annoyance. It takes her almost twenty minutes, but when Scarlet is done with Trixie, the unicorn's mane and tail have regained the curl from her performance years.

“Feel better?” asks Scarlet grumpily while tossing the disgusting scrubber and hairy brush back in the bucket.

“Much better,” replies Trixie softly with a slight quiver in her voice.

“We should head downstairs, my brother is waiting.”

Trixie nods and shakily follows the pegasus downstairs, and when they are in the lobby, she glances at the front door.

“Don't try it,” says Scarlet, barely looking at Trixie over her shoulder. “The door is locked and we got two guards outside.”

Trixie's eyes dilate, and she swallows and her heart spikes as her steps become wobbly with the worst coming to mind of what will happen next.

When they walk into the dining room, which is in a room sealed off behind the kitchen, Trixie sees a rickety old table with three chairs around it, with salad on it and a cup of water for each spot. In the middle of the table is a big salad bowl and hanging above it is a cheap chandelier with missing lights.

Sunshine is sitting in the middle chair, facing the doorway, and when he sees the two mares walk in he smiles, stands up and helps Trixie into her seat. Trixie tries to smile politely at him, but her nervousness betrays her and she sits down, shaking so much it vibrates the chair and table.

“Ya okay, darlin'?” asks Sunshine, now helping Scarlet into her seat.

“I-I'm fine,” says Trixie, her nervous smile remaining, and she gulps when Scarlet glares at her and Sunshine hums and sits in his chair.

“Yer not doin' yer third pony talk,” points out Sunshine. He sits down and opens his mouth to say something, but clamps it shut and shakes his head with an exaggerated sigh. “I'm sorry, Scarlet, I shoulda told ya ta remover yer poncho before I sat ya down.”

“Do I have to take it off?” whines Scarlet.

Sunshine's eyes narrow. “It ain't polite ta wear work attire at the table, especially if its wet. Now take. It. Off.”

Scarlet huffs and reluctantly stomps towards a hook where Sunshine's ponco is, and she slides it off and hangs it up at the proper hook. It is at that moment that Trixie sees that Scarlet doesn’t have a cutie mark. When Scarlet sits down, she glares at Trixie, and when Trixie looks away she glares daggers at her brother.

“Happy?" grumbles Scarlet.

“Very. Now, let us eat!” says Sunshine with a broad smile.

They eat in silence for a couple of minutes before Sunshine decides to get a conversation going. The conversation goes as smoothly as it can for a few minutes, which, during that time frame, Sunshine manages to convince Trixie to do her “third pony talk”.

“I betcha yer wonderin’ about mah scars,” says Sunshine slyly to Trixie.

“You already told Trixie about your wings,” says Trixie carefully, trying with great failure to keep the fear out of her voice.

“Mah wings, yes, but not about the scars over mah cutie marks.”

Trixie, against her better judgement, leans over her chair and sees that there is a grotesque scar that completely covers the area where Sunshine’s cutie mark would be. She cringes and sits back in her seat, trying to forget what she just saw.

“Mah sister, as ya know, still doesn’t have her cutie mark. It’s quite tragic,” begins Sunshine casually, “but the other fillies and colts made fun o’ her at our school in Cloudsdale. She came home cryin’ to mah... our... our parents every day about the bullies and so we decided it was best t’ move to Barnville. They needed pegasi for the weather, we needed t’ get away from Cloudsdale. It was perfect. But mah sister still got bullied, and so one day, when I was workin’ in the blacksmith’s place, I brought all her bullies with me for a lil’ trip, jus’ t’ show how things are done.”

Sunshine takes a bite of his salad before he continues his story with a mouth full of half chewed leaves, flowers, and hay.

“The lil’ fillies and colts were excited ‘cause of all the stuff and I told them I would tell them ah secret. They wanted the secret, they didn’t know what the secret was about, but it was a secret nonetheless. At the end of mah li’l tour, I brought the kids t’ the back, and this punk named L Roy said ‘What’s this secret ya were talkin’ ‘bout?’ and I said ‘Watch’. And I took ah hot slab o’ metal and burned mah cutie mark clean off!”

Trixie chokes on some salad she was trying to eat as the mental image of Sunshine’s insane action invades her mind.

“They all screamed and cried and I told them that if I can burn off mah cutie mark without hesitation, then what makes them think that I won’t hesitate to burn theirs off! I told them that if I found out that any one of them said ah word to mah sister about not havin’ her cutie mark, I would drag them back to the blacksmithin’ place and burn theirs off!”

“He got fired and grounded for a year the same day,” says Scarlet dryly.

“I did, but they never bothered mah Scarlet ever again. Can ya guess what the secret was?” Before Trixie can respond, Sunshine answers his own question. “Good luck guessin’! I completely forgot what it was!”

Sunshine laughs and claps his hooves, and Scarlet rolls her eyes while Trixie painfully forces herself to smile.

“Trixie finds this salad delicious. What’s in it?” says Trixie in a poor attempt to hide her uneasiness.

“Oh, now ya flatter me, darlin’,” chuckles Sunshine. “It has mah own special recipe that mah friends and customers love.”

Trixie steals a look at Scarlet, silently pleading for help, but she eats her salad like it was any normal day. Trixie eats a bit more salad and then decides it is time to try to convince Sunshine that she has to leave.

“This food was great, and Trixie is grateful for the shower, but she really must be going," says Trixie anxiously.

Sunshine shakes his head in mock disbelief. “Oh but Trixie, where ever will ya go?”

“I-Trixie travels, so she’ll find a place to go. She always does,” replies Trixie, eyes shifting between Sunshine and Scarlet.

Sunshine’s smile fades and Scarlet quietly gets up and blocks the doorway like his own personal puppet. Then Sunshine pushes his seat back and slowly stands up, eyes narrowing and jaw setting, which sends warning bells ringing in Trixie's thoughts.

Trixie's ears droop and she shrinks in her seat. “But if there is anything Trixie can do to repay for your kindness she will gladly do so,” she says meekly and desperately.

Sunshine’s smile returns and walks over to Trixie with his tail swishing. “Anything, eh?”

Trixie nods, but she’s not liking what his tone is implying. Sunshine runs his hoof along Trixie’s back, making her shake and whimper, and her takes extra care to feel her curves. When he gets good feel for her freshly cleaned pelt he grins, licks his lips, and stares at her cutie mark.

“Well, ya could spend the night here. That would mean the world to me and mah sister,” whispers Sunshine lustfully.

Trixie gulps and tries nodding while her body shudders from his touch, but it comes out more as a subtle head motion. “You sure that is all Trixie can do for you?”

“I’m positive!” replies Sunshine with a sudden burst of energy and pulling away from Trixie, grinning. “Scarlet, darlin’, could ya prepare the guest room for the Miss Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Scarlet leaves without saying a word and Sunshine’s smile twists into a frown when he notices that Trixie has yet to touch her water. “Yer cup is still full...”

Trixie stares at the water, heart thumping in her ears and throat sandy dry. “Trixie apologizes, but she just wasn’t that thirsty.”

Trixie then looks up and attempts a reassuring smile, but that doesn’t do anything to ease the apparent emotional pain Sunshine is in.

“That water is filtered five times, and I have ah unicorn who specializes in cleaning sanitize it even more,” says Sunshine hurtfully.

Trixie levitates the cup to her mouth hesitantly. “Look, Sunshine, I appreciate what you did, but I can’t stay.”

“Where are ya gonna go?” asks Sunshine. “Ya got no money, no home, no pony here knows ya, and I can’t let a jewel like you sleep outside in the muck."

“I’ll find a way.”

Sunshine sighs. “Well if that’s what ya want, I can’t really stop ya now can I?”

Trixie once again finds herself forcing herself to smile and nod. Sunshine also nods and then drinks the water from his cup in a single gulp.

“Could ya at least have a drink before ya go?” begs Sunshine. “The water out there is like drinking shit.”

Trixie licks her lips and hesitantly raises the glass to her lips with her magic and slowly sips the drink. The water is ice cold and feels good, but after she is done drinking it, her world starts spinning and fatigue takes over. She tries to move her legs, but they collapse under her like a tower of jelly and she tries to keep up by grabbing the table, but it only delays her falling to the floor. With her cheek against the cold floor, Trixie fights to stay awake, but her eyelids feel like they are made of stone and with every blink her world becomes more blurred and darkened.

The last thing she sees before blacking out completely is Sunshine standing over her, grinning and saying: “Let’s get ya t’ bed.”

Author's Notes:

Split from "Justice Is Absolute"
Added 7 Jul 2014

Arc 1- 02- Justice Is Absolute -EDITED-

Trixie is barely five years old, and is pressing her ear against a bland, brown office office, listening to her father have a conversation with another stallion he has hired to help her. It has only been a month since they hired him, but with the tone of the conversation, it sounds like her father is not too happy.

“Nebulous, I am paying you to help her with her magic so she can be the best she can be!” says Eclipse sharply.

“Believe me, I know. Your bits gave me this suit,” says the other stallion, Nebulous, his tone completely relaxed. “But you can throw all the bits in the world at me and it still will not change the fact that your daughter is special.”

Trixie's ears perk and she uses one of her hooves to press herself harder against the door, curious as to what Nebulous meant by “special”. She has heard it a lot, and a smile spreads across her muzzle with the growing hope that maybe she excelled at the various tests Nebulous and his friends gave her. If that is the case, then she knows her father will be happy with her.

“What do you mean?” says Eclipse, his chair squeaking as he adjusts his position.

“What I mean is that after all the tests my colleagues and I have given your lovely daughter, we have discovered what we call a learning disability,” says Nebulous.

Trixie's smile drops. She has no idea what this “learning disability” is, but every time the d-word has been used by her father or mother, the conversation always had a sour or sad undertone to it.

“She can't really wrap her little brain around things and will have trouble catching on to the rigorous courses at the School for Gifted Unicorns,” continues Nebulous.

“So, you're calling Trixie an idiot?” accuse Eclipse.

“No, just special. Now, that goes without saying that she is not a lost cause. I can still help her, but she will never be the magically great filly you've wanted, and putting her in Celestia's School will do more harm than good for her. I would actually recommend the Starswirl Academy for her magical training.”

Trixie's hoof slides off of the door, and her whole body slumps as the words from her teacher sting her heart. Her eyes water and she swallows a lump in her throat to keep herself quiet, and right as she stands up to leave, ears drooped and head down, she hears a mare call her.

“Trixie, sweetie, what are you doing?” says the mare, her voice warm enough to melt the coldest of hearts, but in this case, she is speaking raised whisper.

Trixie turns around to see a unicorn mare with a curled, dark brown mane, a blonde coat approaches, and a C clef shaped cutie mark approaches her with an amused smile.

“You know your father doesn't like it when you spy on him,” says the brown maned mare, named Braille Lulamoon. She notices Trixie's puckered lips and watering eyes, and her smile fades. “Trixie, what's wrong?”

“Nothing,” sighs Trixie sadly.

Braille snorts and walks next to Trixie. “Nothing, huh?” She flashes a playful smile and lays down so she is eye level with her. “I guess that means we don't have to go get mint ice cream sundaes since nothing is wrong, then.”

Trixie's eyes widen and her ears perk, then she shakes her head and musters all of her sadness for the best pouting look she can give. “No! I lied! I am very sad! I'm super sad!”

Trixie can hear Eclipse and Nebulous's conversation stop, but she does not care. Ice cream is so close to her she can almost taste it! And she only wants it more when Braille tsks and shakes her head.

“But, Trixie, you just lied to me, why would I give you ice cream now?” she says, putting a lot of emphasis on her fake disappointment.

Trixie whines and scampers behind her mother and pushes against her rump to get her up, getting slightly annoyed when she chuckles without moving so much as an inch. “Please, mom! I'm sorry I lied!”

Braille gets up with an exaggerated sigh and picks up Trixie with her magic to place her snugly on the small of her back. “Well, since you apologized, I guess we can go to Klumsy K's for your ice cream sundae. I'll just settle with a salad, though.”

“What? Mom, you don't have salads when you're supposed to be having ice cream!”

Braille laughs with Trixie and walks down the hall while the filly clutches her tightly around her neck. She gets nervous when her mother descends the stairs and hugs her tighter, getting yet another laugh from Braille.

“Since your father is going to be a grouch today, we're going to have a girl's day out. Just the two of us. What do you say?” says Braille, glancing at Trixie out of the corner of her eye.

Trixie nods with an eager smile. “Sounds like fun!”

“Good to hear.”

When they reach the bottom of the stairs, though, she sees a strange sight. There is an all black unicorn standing in front of the large double doors, and he looks to be a solid shadow since he has no face or features, other than the horn on the top of his head. Trixie immediately becomes uneasy and buries herself against her mother's neck while Braille appears to oblivious to his presence, as marked by her constant pace.

“Mom...” begins Trixie, her voice and body shaking and heart thumping in her ears.

“It's going to be a good day, Trixie, you'll see,” says Braille optimistically.

“It's time to wake up,” says the shadow pony.

His horn then gives off a soft, white glow and-

Trixie wakes up with a start in a comfortable, queen sized bed that has a basic set of sheets and pillows. Normally she would want to remain in the comfortable bed, but the room she is in bodes ill will. It has no windows and no other furniture, and only a single, overpowered light bulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling provides light. The only way out of the prison is a thick wooden door with a trio of deadbolt locks on it. The whole layout makes her mane itch and her body tingle with uneasiness.

Trixie pushes the dream out of her mind and jumps out of the bed, gallops to the door and inspects them to see if she can get them open. She quickly finds out that they are specially designed to keep ponies in since he bolts are just solid slabs of metal, but that does not stop her from trying to escape, though.

Trixie attempts using her magic to unlock the deadbolts, hoping that her meal had replenished some of her magic, but her horn sputters and shoots out pathetic sparks. When she tries again, nothing happens except for a splitting headache and tears. With this horrible reaction, Trixie starts hyperventilating and hastily pacing in circles as she tries to figure out a way out of her room.

“No, no, this can’t be happening,” whimpers Trixie under her breath with building tears and a shortness of breath. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening! Why is this happening!?”

Trixie stops in mid pace when she hears a trio of deadbolts unlocked, and she takes a couple of steps back when the door creaks open. As soon as it is wide open, mocking her with a view of the hallway, Sunshine eagerly trots inside with Scarlet remaining behind, fully composed. When Scarlet remains standing in the hallway, making no apparent move to enter, Trixie furrows her brows and she stomps her hoof as hard as she can, despite the fear infecting her.

“What did you do to me!” demands Trixie

“I gave ya an antidote,” says Sunshine casually as his sister closes the door behind him. “Ya were traveling for so long out there ya probably caught somethin’ nasty.”

“I blacked out!”

“For only fifteen minutes. Ya must’ve been really sick. Poor, poor Trixie. Luckily good ole Sunshine is here to take care o’ ya, right?”

“Why is my magic gone!”

Sunshine pshaws and waves his hoof dismissively as he speaks. “Oh that? That’s not permanent, it’s merely a side effect that tha medicine has ta clean yer system.”

Trixie’s heart skips a beat when she hears the door locks click again and sees Sunshine's tail flick and an anticipating grin stretch across his muzzle.

Trixie forces a growl and her quivering legs almost give out as she tilts her body to aim her horn at the deformed pegasus. “Why not take me to a hospital?”

Trixie silently sends another prayer to Celestia, hoping her magic will come back, but when the headache returns and Sunshine's licks his lips, she gets the crushing feeling that she has been forsaken.

“Hospitals are expensive, darlin’,” coos Sunshine as his eyes scan her body with lustful desires.

“Health care is free!" retorts Trixie.

“That don't mean much if ya got outdated clinics."

“What did you drug me with?”

Sunshine laughs and stomps like it was funniest thing he’s heard in a long time. “This is a cute little interrogation, eh, darlin'? But ta answer yer question, it ain't a drug. It’s a crop that grows around Barnville and tha Macintosh Hills. Folks around here call them the healin’ ‘shroom. It’s a ‘shroom that fixes jus’ ‘bout anything at the expense of flight loss for pegasi, magic loss for unicorns, and loss of energy for them earth ponies. Side effects last only a day. I really don't see why yer so upset. I got ya cleaned up, inside and out.”

“You put it my water without my knowledge!” screams Trixie, her voice furious and cracking with fright.

Sunshine's eyes instantly flare with pure wrath and his wing snaps open with foam escaping from his vicious snarl. “DON’T YELL AT ME!”

Sunshine lunges at Trixie and before she can so much as shriek, the deranged pegasus tackles her square in the barrel, pushing the air out of her lungs and her head and back cracking against the floor. Her lungs and eyes burn, and her vision is clouded with tears as she brings her hooves up to protect herself from Sunshine's onslaught.

“I HELPED YA OUTTA THA MUCK! I CLEANED YA! I FED YA! AND YA REPAY ME WITH SCREAMIN'!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YA!?”

Trixie can barely hear herself beg or sob over his terrifying rant, and every slap against her face sends a sharp, burning slice across her cheek and her head snapping side to side. She screams at Sunshine, apologizing and begging through her wails for him to stop, and when his hoof slashes her cheek with one last slap, her head snaps to the side and he stands up, panting and drooling.

Trixie curls up on the ground, pulling her tail to her bleeding face, sniffling and trembling with her eyes squeezed shut. The salty tears burn her wounds and her throat feels tight and her lungs hurt from her cries and its attempt to give her oxygen. She whimpers and tenses when Sunshine's slobber falls on her cheek, and she hears the stallion backing away, sighing regretfully and wiping his mouth. She dares to open her eyes and sees Sunshine sitting next to her, eyes to the floor and wing drooped.

“Sorry, darlin',” says Sunshine quietly. “I just get a little worked up over some things.”

He looks at Trixie again and gradually extends his hoof, stopping when she releases a whine and inches away from him, shaking and sniffling with bloodshot eyes. His ears droop and his hoof lowers slightly as he offers the best reassuring smile his rotting mouth can give.

“It’s okay, Trixie, I ain't gonna hurt ya again. Yer too precious t’ me,” he says.

Trixie shakes her head. “Just let me go, Sunshine, please!"

Sunshine ignores Trixie’s plea and stands up to look down at her again, licking his lips and tracing every curve on her body with the returning drooling lust polluting his smile. Trixie's ears droop as low as they can go and her eyes widen as she tries backing away from him without getting up, but he matches her every step.

“Yer a beautiful mare, ya know that right?” says Sunshine lecherously, his wing expanding in such a way that Trixie recognizes as a sign of wanting.

“No, Sunshine, please. Please, don't,” whimpers Trixie, still backing up and releasing a terrified yelp when her backside bumps into the wall.

Sunshine stops his advancement, leaving just a pace between them. But even at that distance, Trixie can still smell his awful breath and hear his heart beating with excitement.

“Ya know, I have always loved ya ever since I first laid mah eyes on ya,” begins Sunshine, chest swelling slightly. “I remember I was visitin’ Canterlot and I saw ya performin’ fer the first time. The folks said ya was amazing, but they were wrong. You were beyond that! You had it all. The looks! The will! The talent! I loved everything about ya and I couldn't get enough of ya. I followed ya around, from Canterlot t’ New Yoke City and even traveled t’ Ponyville t’ see ya perform.”

Sunshine chuckles and flaps his wing excitedly, and Trixie shrinks back as far as she can go, sweating and shaking and heart ready to explode in her chest from how hard it is pumping.

“Please, just-just let me go...” begs Trixie quietly.

“I loved how ya upstaged those pretties in Ponyville,” continues Sunshine, licking up his drool and his rapist grin growing. “And I was so eager t’ finally have tha courage to ask for yer autagraph, but then I had t’ leave back to Barnville since mah father needed mah help with the weather. But then I heard them folks accusin' ya of bein’ a fake, and I knew that they were LYIN’! They were all lyin’ because the Great and Powerful Trixie IS unbeatable! And they knew it well, so they did the only thing they could do t’ destroy you. They made ya out t’ be a villain!”

Trixie yelps and squeezes her eyes shut, no longer able to push her body into the wall, and she quietly begs through her sobs for Sunshine to let her leave, but her plea falls on deaf ears. She smells and feels Sunshine’s warm, stinky breath brush across her coat and push some of her mane away. Trixie whimpers and trembles harder and sits up to press her hoof against him, even though she knows that it is hopeless.

“And their crimes, these rumors, against ya made ya feel worthless didn’t it?” whispers Sunshine, pushing against Trixie's hoof until their muzzles are almost touching. Trixie slowly opens her eyes and sniffles, but doesn’t give a response, and Sunshine leans next to Trixie’s ear. “I’ll make ya feel valuable again.”

Trixie shakes her head, trembling and begging when Sunshine drags his slimy tongue up her cheek and nips her ear.

“Please, Sunshine, just please let me go!” cries Trixie.

“No can do, darlin’. We need each other,” whispers Sunshine huskily.

Trixie screams and pushes Sunshine back with as hard as she can. He stumbles back and she makes a mad dash to the door, but he is quick to recuperate and jumps on top of her and slams her head against the floor. Her head throbs and her ears ring while her hooves scratch against the floor in a hopeless fight to squirm her way out from under the deformed pegasus.

“Don’t fight it. Don’t fight it.” says Sunshine between his excited panting while putting more weight on top of Trixie to keep her down. “It’ll only be more painful for both of us if ya do."

Trixie screams for help and Sunshine puts his forehoof under Trixie’s chin and forces her to look into his sick eyes. She tries to fight back again, but he pushes down harder on her and forces her head against his chest. Now she can’t move and her only escape is her closing her eyes and thinking of something other than her being raped. But she can’t think of or hear or feel anything other than Sunshine’s perverted eyes, his panting, and his icky coat and hard muscles.

“No pony is comin’, Trixie,” Sunshine says through his eager, heavy breathing.

Then he presses his lips against Trixie’s and forces his tongue into her mouth. Trixie’s eyes shoot open and she sobs and kicks her limbs wildly as the slimy muscle swishes around her orifice to get as much of her as it can. He licks around her teeth, slides across and pushes her tongue down, and after what seems like hours, Sunshine pulls away, leaving a trail of saliva between the two, and Trixie collapses to the ground, shaking, sobbing, and gasping for air.

Sunshine climbs off of Trixie and she quietly begs through her tears as he traces her spine with his hoof and stops above her tail.

“Nopony is comin’. It’s jus’ us, darlin',” says the deformed pegasus.

Trixie yells in defiance with tears clouding her vision, and she wiggles her way out from under him. Sunshine bites on her tail and she yelps and starts pawing on the floor as he drags her across the floor. Trixie turns and yanks her tail out of his mouth, leaving some strands of it in his mouth, and she turns and slugs him in the eye. There is a loud crack and he stumbles back, swearing and clutching his eye, then he turns and growls at her, lowering his hoof to reveal the fresh bruise under his twitching eye.

Trixie gulps and takes a couple of steps back while Sunshine stomps forward. His steps are quick and heavy, and when he is upon her, she tries to swing at him again, but he blocks her and slams her against the wall. A sharp cry of pain escapes her and her vision is bathed in white, and when she is on the ground, the room is spinning and her head is throbbing.

Before Trixie has a chance to recuperate, Sunshine slams his hoof down on her ribs, sending another wave of pain through her, and as she cries out and tries defend herself, he stomps her gut. All the air is forced out of her lung and she curls on the floor, coughing with the taste of copper in her mouth and mind buzzing with panic.

Trixie wants to give a silent prayer another chance, however, as soon as she begins begging Celestia for help, she feels Sunshine bite down on her mane, then her head is snapped up. She yelps in pain with the horrible pain of having slumps of her mane ripped out and her neck nearly broken. Sunshine's pull had forced into the sitting position, and when he starts dragging her back towards the bed, growling hungrily and eyes burning with lust, Trixie screams and digs her hooves into the floor.

“No! No! No no no no! No! Stop!” screams Trixie, her voice mixing with her terrified weeps as tears pours down her cheeks and her hooves losing their footing. Sunsine grunts something and throws her against the bed. The front half goes over the bed and her hind legs dangle off, barely touching the floor, and when Sunshine presses his hoof on her back and forces her body against the sheets and presses himself against her, she tries bucking him off, screaming as loud as she can. “NO! PLEASE! SOMEPONY HELP!”

“SHUT UP!” roars Sunshine, leaving Trixie's ears ringing. Trixie bites her tongue, but that does not stop the whimpers and trembles. “Ya need ta stop fighting and let me take care of ya! I’m tryin' ta be yer friend, yer one friend in Equestria, and I can't do that if yer bein' stupid! Now, hows 'bout ya be smart and let me be yer friend?”

Trixie remains still, but as soon as Sunshine growls her name, she reluctantly raises her tail, sobbing quietly and silently hoping that her cooperation will prevent more harm from falling onto her. She makes a quiet, painful grunt when she feels her tail being curled around his hoof and yanked to the side.

“That’s it. Good girl,” coos Sunshine.

He flicks his tail excitedly and Trixie's heart thunders in her ears and her lungs tighten as her muscles tense from the stallion stroking her side with his rough hoof. Then she releases a raspy gasp when she feels his slimy tongue touch her cheek and slowly drag upwards until he reaches her ear. Once he is at the tip of her ear, he flicks it and makes a throaty chuckle.

Trixie buries her face in the sheets, muffling her defeated sobs, and her hooves dig as deep as they can go into the bed when she hears his heart thump excitedly in his chest and feels his backside press against hers. A moment later, Sunshine adjusts himself and Trixie braces herself for what is to come by squeezing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth as hard as she can.

Sunshine chuckles again and licks his lips as his hoof goes another round at Trixie's pelt, barely touching her and giving her a tingle that makes her fur stand. His hoof then goes over her flank, taking extra care to rub it in wide circles and knead her wand cutie mark as best as a hoof can do. The feeling makes her legs tremble and electric tingles surge through her body, leading to an involuntary groan. After groaning, though, Trixie's eyes widen and she bites down on her hoof and watches Sunshine's sick smile widen with joy.

“Oooh, yer gonna like this a lot, I can already tell,” snickers Sunshine, giving her a slap on her cutie mark that makes her jump and yelp and him grin broadly. “Oh, yeah. We're both gonna have a lotta fun.”

Scarlet is taking out all of her frustration on the pub's disgusting interior. Cleaning up the remains of the salt bricks, hay and spilled drinks is quick and easy, and did little to satisfy the anger she has against Sunshine. While she is slaving at preparing the sinks, collecting dirty dishes and cleaning up his pub, he is upstairs having fun with his newest toy without bothering to ask her if she would like to join in.

However, once Scarlet gets to cleaning the floor, the stubbornness of the mess proves to be a very efficient therapeutic tool. Every hard stroke against the muddy hoof prints chips a bit away at her anger and leaves the prints broken, and the odd combination of murky, soapy water bleeds all over the floor, giving her more time to cool of. As she scrubs the floor, though, she just happens to look up and see the unpleasant gunk stuck to the ceiling.

Scarlet pauses and studies it, unsure if she should be mad, annoyed, or feeling something else about it. Seconds of scrutiny pass and she sits up, eyes squinted for a better look, muttering: “What the hay?”

There is a sudden creak behind her, and right as she turns her head to inspect the noise, she is greeted with a hoof to the face, followed by instant darkness.

Gray Muffin steps over Scarlet's limp body, her tongue hanging out of her muzzle and a perfect hoof print on her face. As he travels towards the stairs, his bruised face contorts slightly with the many pinches of pain, and he leaves a trail of tiny red dots in his wake that come from a red blotch that bleeds from his shoulder down to his hoof. He ignores the pain, though, and keeps his focus on on the target. The sooner he completes the mission, the sooner he can get out and-

A mare's sudden shriek of pain freezes Gray Muffin and his thoughts, and when the screaming continues without any sign of stopping, he breaks into a full gallop up the stairs. His injured shoulder aches in protest, but he pushes it back and when he gets up the stairs, he hears Sunshine talking and making pleased groans and grunts while the mare cries and begs him to stop.

Gray Muffin runs down the end of the hall and finds a room where all the noise is coming from, but it is sealed with three deadbolts. Without hesitation, he turns and bucks at it, but it does not budge and from the sounds of it, Sunshine is getting more demanding physically and emotionally while the mare becomes more worn out.

“STOP YELLING!” shouts Sunshine, followed instantly with a loud slap of hoof on skin and the mare crying out in pain.

Gray Muffin's heart beats faster and he bucks against the door again in tune with a flash of lightning and wall shaking thunder.

“Just relax, darlin',” says Sunshine heavily over the mare's sobs. “This is supposed ta be fun. This is what friends do, and we're friends, right?”

Gray Muffin grits his teeth and kicks the door again, this time with two sets of cracks and a very unpleasant sprain in his hind hooves.

“Please... Please... No more,” begs the mare weakly.

“Alright. Just a few more minutes, then, darlin', and I'll let ya sleep it off. How's that sound?” says Sunshine.

Gray Muffin growls and raises both of his hind legs, and with the strongest buck he can muster, his hooves collide with the door. There is a satisfying sound of wood splintering and he turns around to see bits of wood on the locks and hinges, but the rest is a shattered mess on the floor. Away from the mare, bright red, sweaty and panting, is Sunshine. The azure mare he has been having his way with slumps off of the bed and curls up on the floor, her messy silver tail tucked against her lower body and her sweaty, disheveled mane hanging in limp clumps as her bloodied face is buried in her hooves.

She is sobbing and gulping for air, Gray Muffin's vision turns blood red as he stomps towards Sunshine.

As soon as the door breaks down, Sunshine leaps away from Trixie, freeing her from his suffocating embrace, his sweat, smelly panting and the tongue that loved to lick her everywhere it could. She hears another set of hooves enter and she slides to the ground, body sore and trembling uncontrollably as her fight for air and peace from the pain seems to be a losing battle.

“What the hay are ya doin' here, Muffin!?” yells Sunshine, his tone furious, but laced with fear.

Trixie risks opening one eye, and through her sweaty locks and hazy vision, she sees the old earth pony from earlier stepping in front of her. Granted, he looks muddy and has blood on his hooves, but his stance is sturdy and defensive, and his hoof paws the floor as a low growl rumbles from him. She looks past his hooves and sees Sunshine taking another step back, now visibly terrified.

Gray Muffin steps forward and Sunshine takes another step back, trying to look intimidating by snarling and flapping his wing as hard as he can. However, despite Sunshine's attempts, Trixie cannot see any form of fear in the old stallion, and from the looks of it, he is watching the pegasus very carefully.

“ANSWER ME!” screams Sunshine, now standing still with a direct line of sight on Trixie.

Trixie sees his eyes flick to her, and she looks away and scrunches herself tighter, shaking and feeling the pain in her lower body intensify.

Gray Muffin blocks Sunshine's sight of Trixie. “I killed your rats when they tied to kill me in the alley.”

Sunshine’s eye twitches. “Ya killed them all?”

Gray Muffin's eyes narrow and he rolls his injured shoulder. “All twelve of them. And my acquaintances freed all two hundred of your slaves, burned your safe houses and prisons to the ground, and we found the unmarked graves of those you and your scumbag friends murdered.”

Sunshine shakes his head and laughs nervously. “There’s no way ya-”

“Old Scoob's Pub in the Dodge City slums, the Marshall's Inn at the edge of Appleloosa, and the mansion and abandoned warehouse off of Copperhead Road. All of the guards and your customers who took pleasure in the misery of your slaves have been chained to the furnaces and doused in cooking oil before we sent them to Tartarus. And your slaves have been freed and taken to the nearest Royal Guard station for treatment.”

Gray Muffin moves towards Sunshine, and the pegasus steps back and off to the side a little bit, recreating the circular movement between the two.

Gray Muffin keeps his steps steady and his eyes do not break away from Sunshine as he continues. “The two million bits found in Bronze Coin's Pawn Shop in Dodge City, the two million bits stored Big Barrel's Warehouse in Appleloosa, and the one million bits at the Baltimare Motel is now ours. We made sure to burn those down and kill all of your goons there, as well.”

Gray Muffin stops and back tracks so he is in front of Trixie again, and Sunshine growls and flaps his wing and paws the floor.

“We have also figured out how to properly grow your mushrooms,” adds Gray Muffin. “You are no longer needed and your crimes against the innocent will be paid with your blood. Need I explain more?”

Sunshine's yellow color drains after hearing this and his wing falls to his side. His lips move like is trying for a rebuttal, but he comes up with nothing and looks down at the floor with a shimmer of tears in his eyes.

He takes a deep breath and then looks at Gray Muffin pathetically. “...What about Scarlet? Did yer boss order her ta be killed as well?”

Gray Muffin scrapes his hoof against the ground like a bull preparing for a charge. “There is a spot in Tartarus for her, too.”

Sunshine’s eye twitches and he screams with psychotic rage as he charges Gray Muffin with furious flaps of his wing.

Gray Muffin's front hoof is a blur when he snaps it forward to strike Sunshine in the chest, breaking some of the pegasus' bones and forcing him to stumble back. Before Sunshine has a chance to recuperate, Gray Muffin does a quick spin and bucks the pegasus in the chin, sending him flying into the wall with some of teeth flying out. After hitting the wall, Sunshine crumbles to the floor, leaving a huge crack from where he landed.

Trixie whimpers and slides under the bed with her tail tucked between her legs. It is cramped and she brings her hoof to her face, sobbing and shaking as she watches Sunshine push himself up and spit out loose bits of his teeth. She screams in fright when he snarls and charges Gray Muffin again, exposing what's left of his destroyed teeth and the bloody pooling and dribbling out of his mouth.

“Ya can't take Trixie! Ya can't take Scarlet! They're mine! MINE!” bellows Sunshine viciously, sending droplets of bloody slobber flying out of his mouth to stain the floor.

Gray Muffin braces himself again, and when Sunshine is close enough, panting with possessive insanity in his eyes, the earth pony side steps him and brings his hoof down on the back of the pegasus' head. Sunshine lands nose first on the wooden floor in front of Trixie and Gray Muffin stomps on his back, snapping more of his bones and making him howl in agony. Trixie also screams and pushes her hoof to her muzzle, sobbing and sliding farther back under the bed until she is poking out on the other side.

Gray Muffin continues stomping all over Sunshine until blood splatters all over his hooves, the wall and the floor. The whole time, the earth pony grunts and swears as Sunshine flinches and screams in pain with increasingly weaker breaths, and when he is done a minute later, the pegasus is lying still and Trixie is still under the bed, shivering with fright. Gray Muffin is panting hard and staring down at his work, and Trixie moves out from under the bed, peeks out from the other side of the mattress and pales at what she is seeing.

Crimson dots cover Gray Muffin's attire and face, and strands of his dark mane hang in front of his eyes while his fedora lies off to the side. He casts a quick look at her before he scoops up his fedora and places it snugly on his head.

Trixie's eyes dart between the old pony and the destroyed pegasus at his hooves, and at first she thinks Sunshine is dead, but it changes when he lets out a weak wheeze. Gray Muffin turns his attention back to Sunshine, and like a fleshy puppet, the old earth pony lifts his hoof above the destroyed pegasus's neck.

Blood droplets fly from Sunshine's mouth as he coughs and wheezes, and his legs slide lazily along the floor, staring at Gray Muffin with unmistakable fear while his blood soaks his yellow coat.

“There is only black and white,” begins Gray Muffin.

“No... No, wait ... Wait a minute...” wheezes Sunshine weakly with tears trailing down his cheeks and his labored breaths becoming more ragged with panic.

“There is never gray.”

Sunshine shakes his head, whimpering: “Mr. Muffin... please, mah sister...”

“For Justice is absolute.”

“NO!”

Trixie gasps and shrinks back when Gray Muffin brings his hoof up and slams it down on Sunshine’s neck, popping it open and showering the earth pony's hoof and the ratty floor with blood. The older stallion stares at the mess for a few seconds, then he at Trixie. She’s staring, horrified at what she just saw, and slumps to the floor in a state of disbelief that she was raped and witnessed an execution in the same day.

Gray Muffin walks around to the other side of the bed and looks at Trixie, his expression soft with concern. “Are you alright?”

“You-you-you...” stammers Trixie.

“Did what I had to do.” Gray Muffin rubs his hoof on the sheets to get the blood off. “The afterlife will not be kind to the likes of him.”

“He... You killed him.”

Gray Muffin's expression hardens, prompting Trixie to shrink back. “And he raped you, sold hundreds of kidnapped innocents as prostitutes and murdered dozens more. What did you want me to do? Give him counseling?”

Trixie looks around the corner of the bed at Sunshine’s lifeless eyes and the blood pool seeping its way towards them. She feels her dinner swelling up and she runs into a corner and pukes against the wall. By the time she is done puking, she has to press her hoof against the wall and tries to shake her mind clear of the gruesome scene, but it is imbedded in her.

Trixie opens her eyes and looks over her shoulder, not really sure what she wants to do next, but she did not expect to see Gray Muffin gone.

She swallows and walks towards the destroyed door, keeping her tail tucked between her wobbly legs. She looks at Sunshine, feeling her stomach acid swell up again, but grateful that he is facing away from her. She looks back at the doorway, and after a deep breath she walks out just in time to see Gray Muffin start down the stairs.

“Wait, where are you going?” asks Trixie, meekly following and stopping at the top of the stairs.

“Home,” replies Gray Muffin bluntly without slowing his steps.

“Aren’t you going to hide the body... or something?”

“No.”

“Who are you?”

Gray Muffin stops at the bottom of the stairs and looks at Trixie with some annoyance. “You already know who I am. I saw you eavesdropping on my conversation with Sunshine.”

“B-but what do you do? Are you a hitpony or-or a... what are you?”

“If I was a hitpony you would be dead, too."

“But-”

“We’re done here.”

Gray Muffin continues towards the kitchen without another word and Trixie remains standing alone at the top of the stairs with a corpse a hundred feet away from her. She looks at the direction of the gory scene, then at the swinging door from where Gray Muffin disappeared behind, contemplating on whether or not she should go after him. If she stays, then she can tell the Barnville Guards what happened with how Sunshine had tried to rape her, but was saved when Gray Muffin brutally executed him. But, a fear grows saying that the guards will arrest her because they think that she murdered Sunshine. Then she goes on to wonder what would happen if they do believe her. The Barnville Guards would no doubt go after Gray Muffin and toss him in the dungeons, and that would be the worst “Thank you” gift of all time. That brings her mind to wonder if Gray Muffin is a criminal since his “organization” had been doing business with Sunshine that ended on a very bad note.

The unexpected heavy banging on the door and the gruff shouts of a stallion outside demanding the doors to open makes Trixie's heart and body jump and her mind snap to a decision.

“Gray Muffin, wait!” hollers Trixie.

And she gallops down the stairs after her hero.

Author's Notes:

Partially Edited On 7 Jul 2014
Fully Edited On 13 Jul 2014

Arc 1- 03- Think Twice -EDITED-

Trixie's hooves splash into the watery mud as she runs into the grungy alley, and through gray of heavy rain, she barely sees Gray Muffin disappear around the corner. She calls after him and gives chase, but right as she rounds the corner she is slammed against the wall and has a muddy hoof put over her mouth. Her muffled screams might as well have been silent with the hard rain pouring down around them and her attempt to pry the hoof off are useless.

“Quiet!” orders the stallion.

Trixie stops, realizing that the stallion that pushed her against the wall is Gray Muffin, but even though he saved her life, she still trembles from seeing his eyes up close. Something about the downpour falling off the brim of his hat makes his brown eyes more absolute in his resolve. And after seeing what he did to Sunshine, she does not even want to think what wrath he will bring upon her if she defies him. So, not wanting to get stomped to death, her ears droop and tears pool in her eyes as she nods her head quickly.

Gray Muffin peers around the corner, hoof still over Trixie's mouth, and seconds later, he looks back at her. “I’m going to release you, but you need to stay quiet or I will leave you at the mercy of the guards. Are we clear?”

Trixie nods her head again and carefully watches him move his hoof from her face. She collapses with a splash in the mud, shaking and biting her tongue and ignoring the taste of mud so she does not whimper as Gray Muffin looks around the corner, then does a quick scan of the area. Once he is finished, he links his hoof under Trixie's, helps her up and puts his hoof to his mouth to motion her to stay quiet. Again, Trixie nods and she trails him as fast as her battered body will allow when he trots through the alley.

Trixie is led through a maze of alleys and abandoned buildings, and it amazes her at how, despite his age and his injuries, Gray Muffin is able to keep them both hidden from the swarm of ponies searching for them. When they get to a weathered, wooden bridge over a murky, misty river running at the edge of Barnville, Gray Muffin peers over the splintering railing while Trixie anxiously watches the guards scurry about.

“Over here,” whispers Gray Muffin.

Trixie looks over her shoulder and sees Gray Muffin motioning her to come to him. She trots forward and sees an old boat covered with banged up metal plates and a faded symbol in the shape of a wrench in a lightning bolt painted on the side. There are a couple of unicorn mares wearing all black, full body suits looking at them, too, as well as other ponies wearing similar garb working on different parts of the boat in almost total silence.

Gray Muffin looks at Trixie and tilts his head towards the boat below. “Jump.”

“You-you want Trixie to jump?” stammers Trixie.

“Did you just... Never mind. Either you jump or I throw you.”

Some guards shout indistinctly and both ponies turn their heads and see a small army running towards them with their lights breaking through the rain. Gray Muffin turns to Trixie and yells for her to jump with a vicious snarl. His shouts makes Trixie jump in her skin and yelp, and when she hears the stampede go on the bridge, she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and jumps over the railing.

Instead of feeling cold, murky water or a hard deck like what Trixie had been expected, she feels invisible tendrils grab her and gently lower her on the rough wooden dock on the boat. She opens one eye and sees that she’s safe on the boat, and that a green, magical mist evaporates from her and her other eye opens when she sees Gray Muffin next to her with an orange mist fading away from him. The unicorns quickly give them rubber boots and when Trixie sees that everyone is wearing them, and that Gray Muffin is putting them on at great speed, she slides them on without question.

Trixie is surprised to see Gray Muffin run towards a diamond dog clutching a large steering wheel with his clawed, gorilla like hands driver, and when he orders him to get them airborne, her mind goes blank. She would like to ponder on how a boat can fly, but the group of guards that run up to the railing and order them to stop puts a damper on that.

Trixie looks up at the small army lined up, and her ears droops and she backpedals when she sees various rifles and pistols being levitated and aimed towards them. Then she hears a whirring sound followed closely clicks and groans coming from the boat, and she watches in wonder as the back of the boat splits open and a Tesla coil rises from the back. The murky water is pushed up as a pair of turbine engines on a ball-and-joint system on each side of the boat roll out, screaming and spraying mist over everyone and everything. A bright flash of blue light appears in the center of the engines and the boat lifts itself out of the river with a deafening roar and throwing the murky water at the guards.

The guards scream, and some cower while others are knocked down by the splash, and some even gallop full speed away from the vehicle. Trixie can’t blame them though, she’d probably be one of the ponies screaming and running if she saw something like this rising out of the water. When the headlights on the vehicle flicker on, she can only imagine them looking like giant glowing eyes of a monster.

Again, her thoughts are interrupted when one of the ponies on the deck tosses Trixie a rope attached to a rubber coated bar.

Trixie stares at it blankly for a couple of seconds before the pony that tossed her the rope says: “Tie yourself to the pole, you idiot!”

Trixie awkwardly uses her hoof and mouth to tie the rope around her body, and for good measure she also wraps her hooves around the bar and holds on tight. The ship lurches forward with a thunderous BOOM and Trixie eyes are forced shut as the wind pushes against her face. If she shrieks or screams or makes any sounds, she doesn’t hear it over the rushing wind and crackling electricity.

A couple of minutes later the pilot lowers the speed to a level where ponies can walk around as comfortably as an open stroll at high altitude will allow. Trixie doesn’t need to open her eyes to know that her mane is a mess, she can feel it plainly, and when she opens her eyes she tries to push the loose clumps of hair down, but it is fruitless. Deciding not to waste any time trying to fix her mane since she is covered in mud, blood and bruises, she leaves her mane a mess and checks out the Tesla coil, wincing slightly from her sore hindquarters reacting. She can feel her fur and mane stand up as she approaches it, and as cool as it is to look at, she knows touching it is out of the question, so she sits down and stares at it, instead.

“Do you like it?” asks Gray Muffin with a barely noticeable hint of smugness in his voice.

Trixie nods. “It’s amazing.”

A small, satisfied smile flickers across Gray Muffin’s face and he turns around and orders the crew to do some technical stuff that Trixie doesn’t catch. Trixie continues staring at the Tesla coil in a trance like state, marveling at the artistic nature of the electric currents visibly snaking around the coil and discharging into the gray sky is artistic in its own way. When her eyes start hurting from looking at the bright light she peeks over the edge and watches the trees pass under them. Another wondrous sight to behold after escaping an unpleasant fate.

Trixie then frowns when the image of Sunshine’s lifeless eyes flash in her mind. She knows that Sunshine was vile, but she still can’t believe that Gray Muffin killed him, and the brutality of the execution was so horrifying that she almost forgot about what almost happened to her.

“Something bothering you?” asks Gray Muffin suddenly.

Trixie eeps and jumps around to look at Gray Muffin while clutching her heart. She tries fixing her mane casually in a poor attempt to act like nothing is wrong. “Trixie is fine.”

“Third pony talk again?” teases Gray Muffin.

“Well... Um..."

“Just don’t get too comfortable. If you talk down to my colleagues I’ll kick you off.”

Trixie’s eyes widen and can clearly picture Gray Muffin stopping the ship and kicking her off without hesitation. So she acknowledges his statement with a rapid nod. Gray Muffin returns the nod and turns around to do something else, but Trixie stops him and asks: “Actually, can we talk? Preferably somewhere private.”

Gray Muffin stares at Trixie for a couple of seconds before motioning her to follow him. She follows him down into the bowels of the ship, which is incredibly crowded with beds and steam and gem powered technology, and he leads her to the very back. Trixie looks around nervously, and when she hears something suddenly scrape against the wood she jumps and expects something other than a stool being pulled out by Gray Muffin.

Gray Muffin points at the stool. “Have a seat.”

Trixie sits down and tries to think of how to tell her rescuer that she is grateful for helping her escape, but doesn’t approve of the killing. While she thinks about this, Gray Muffin looks at her intently, like he’s trying to read her mind.

“Mr. Muffin, what you did was heroic.” Trixie says as she looks down at the rough floor.

“I was just doing my job.” Gray Muffin says humbly while pulling out a stool for himself.

“But Trixie is a little bit concerned about your methods.”

Gray Muffin sighs and sits on his stool. “You do not approve of me ending his life?”

“Why did you have to kill him?”

“Why are you upset that I killed him? He raped you and yet-”

“Okay, I get it!” says Trixie irritably with a wave of her hoof. “But the way you did was... It was horrible.”

“He was scum and deserved more than what he got.”

“But couldn’t you have tied him up and left him for the guards or something?” Trixie says uneasily.

Gray Muffin shakes his head. “The system is broken. Ponies cannot rely on the Equestrian government to protect them anymore.”

“And let me guess, ponies can count on you? A pony who murders and steals from other ponies who murder and steal?”

“You were saved by us, were you not?”

“Um... Trixie guesses so.”

Gray Muffin leans forward. “Trixie, I know from your viewpoint, I am just another criminal. Yes, I killed Sunshine and yes we stole his assets and destroyed his empire in one fell swoop, but you must understand that we are not criminals and that there are ponies out there that do not want what is best for others. They are fueled by vice and want nothing more than to destroy what little purity is left in Equestrian. What I do, what my colleagues do, is brutal, but necessary for the Greater Good and the protection of the innocents.”

“Trixie is not following. What do you mean?”

Gray Muffin sighs exasperatedly and rubs the bridge between his eyes as best as his hoof will allow, then he looks back at Trixie, clearly annoyed by her question. “Ponies like Sunshine exploit the desperate, such as you, for a promise of somepony taking care of them. They are taken in, cleaned up, and then sold as slaves. Drug dealers flood the streets with narcotics and poison the minds and bodies of the youth, promising them an escape from the Tartarus that Gray Area Logic wrought unto society -a form of Tartarus that we allowed into our lives. The corrupt schools, politicians and media moguls fuel this by teaching foals that there is never a right or wrong answer, only a convenient one. Those who believe in True Harmony and the moral responsibilities that come with it are quickly silenced by the sheep who are dumb enough to believe their shepherd's demonizing campaigns. Which, unfortunately, is nearly everypony now.”

Trixie bites her lip in thought about this paranoid rant, and decides to play along, even if she is not buying it completely about the corrupted schools and politicans. “But what about Princess Celestia? She can fix this, right?”

Gray Muffin scoffs. “Celestia and the Solar Council endorse Gray Area Logic. It becomes easier to enslave a group when they are promised a life without responsibility in exchange for shackles.”

Trixie looks down to ponder Gray Muffin’s claim, again skeptical of his words. “What about Princess Luna?”

“Luna understands the symbolism and strength behind True Harmony and the responsibility of virtue,” replies Gray Muffin proudly, but then he deflates and looks down. “However, she does not have the power nor the influence to make the changes to save this country. And even if she did, nopony will trust her because of her past actions.”

“Are you talking about Nightmare Moon?”

“Among many things, yes.”

Trixie nods and tries to think of something to say. As grateful as she is for him rescuing her, she still doesn’t like the fact that Gray Muffin killed Sunshine, but given his obvious conspiracy theory type paranoia she knows there will be no reasoning with him on that matter. However, she believes that he did have a point when he labeled her as a victim. She thinks about Sunshine’s hooves all over her, his nasty tongue in her mouth, and how he had his way with her in his specially built prison.

“I don’t want to be a victim anymore,” whispers Trixie, shaking and tearing up as the horrible event plays back in her mind. She doesn't care about Gray Muffin's conspiracy theories, all she knows is that this stallion in front of her saved her from an unpleasant fate, and she will be damned if she lets anyone ever do that to her again. When she looks up at Gray Muffin, though, she sees him staring at her with a hint of skepticism in his eyes. “What Sunshine did to me was horrifying and I don’t want that to ever happen to me again... Can you help me?”

“How?” says Gray Muffin with an arched brow.

“You can... um... Oh, I know! You can train me!”

“Train you? You criticized me of killing your rapist a minute ago, you clearly do not believe me about what is happening, and now you want me to train you?”

“Please! I-I can’t let that happen to me ever again!”

“We are fighting an endless war, Trixie. Even though the League of Justice fights to protect the innocent, we cannot be everywhere at once.”

“But I can help! And if you look at it from a, um, another perspective then you'll benefit from me joining because you'll have one less victim to worry about and you'll be getting a new member for your club! See? Benefits!”

Trixie jumps off her stool and approaches Gray Muffin with a pathetic, pleading smile. Gray Muffin only stares with his usual stone faced expression and when Trixie is right in front of him she sits down and broadens her pleading smile, making a small, squee noise.

“No,” says Gray Muffin bluntly.

Trixie forces her smile to stay, but her ears droop and her eyes lose the hopeful glint. Then her smile twists into a pout. “Why!”

Gray Muffin frowns.“Because I know you won’t be able to handle it. If you didn’t want to see your violator killed, what makes you think you’ll be suitable to fight for justice?”

“Ha! But, you see, Trixie can handle anything you throw at her!”

“Enough with the third pony talk.”

“But it’s true! You underestimate the Great and Powerful-” Trixie sees Gray Muffin glaring at her and she shrinks back, smiling sheepishly. “Me.”

“No, you overestimate yourself, Trixie. Trust me when I say the League of Justice is not for you.”

“Hey! Trixie-”

“Third pony.”

“I’ve been through a lot over the years and I need this!”

“No, you want what has not been offered to you.”

“But I-you-you saved me without breaking a sweat! I-I want, no I need to be like you if I want to-”

Gray Muffin snarls and immediately storms out of the room. When the door slams shut, Trixie cringes and looks down with her ears drooped and body sulking, realizing that she said something stupid.

“Smooth, Trixie. Real smooth,” she mumbles irritably.

She then takes a breath, slides off her stool and trots to the desk. The deck still has some activity, but most of the crew is milling about, conversing cheerfully amongst themselves while the diamond dog remains steering, completely lost in his concentration. It does not take long for Trixie to spot Gray Muffin walking around, retaining his slight limp, and checking on those that are working.

He gives approving pats on the shoulders and praises, and occasionally fixes a small problem before moving on. Trixie tries to get his attention by calling his name, waving her hoof in front of his face, and walking in front of him, but he ignores her each time. Finally, after a good five minutes of badgering on Trixie’s part and Gray Muffin checking, double checking and triple checking the double checks, he stops in front of the Tesla coil and stares at it intently while she stands next to him and tries to look at his face.

“Gray Muffin, did I say something to hurt your feelings?” asks Trixie.

“You said something arrogant, and your word choice was very childish,” replies Gray Muffin harshly.

“What did I say?”

“You said you needed to be like me. But you know nothing about me. All you know is that I kill and steal from others. Tell me, Trixie, how exactly does that point to somepony that should be looked up to?”

“Well... You said you were protecting the innocent, so that part seemed good,” says Trixie meekly.

Gray Muffin snorts. “It seems good, but this path I have chosen is more of a burden than a blessing, and the only reason I have not abandoned it is because my country needs me more than ever.”

Trixie is silent for a moment as the words seep in, especially the last part, but knowing that she had obviously struck a sore spot with her rescuer she tries to make amends. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said, but, the thing is, I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I am tired of running and begging and-and I’m just sick of being afraid of what tomorrow will be like, and you look like a pony who has no fear.”

“No pony lives without fear,” says Gray Muffin, and then he turns to Trixie and she looks down to hide the shame in her eyes. “But if you truly want to free yourself from being a victim and join something greater than yourself, then you must understand that commitment to the League is lifelong. There is no backing out and corruption will not be tolerated on any level. Do you understand the gravity of what you desire?”

Trixie looks down and scrapes her hoof against the rough deck as his words sink into her, and a moment later, she takes a deep breath and looks into his eyes, nodding. “I understand.”

A few minutes later the airship lands in a clearing in the forest and Trixie is levitated off of the ship and gently lowered on the wet grass below. Gray Muffin is also lowered next to Trixie and he escorts her away from the ship, near the tree line with a group of ponies standing around in a defensive perimeter. Trixie is a bit uneasy seeing the weapons being levitated or held in their mouths of the ever watchful guards.

“Do you remember what I said before I killed Sunshine?” asks Gray Muffin sternly.

“Trixie thinks so,” says Trixie hesitantly, putting her focus back on the old stallion.

“Repeat it.”

“What?”

“Repeat what I said before I killed Sunshine.”

Trixie looks at Gray Muffin, then at his ship, then at the guards, and back at him again. He stares back at her expectantly and she takes a deep breath and goes on to reciting what Gray Muffin had said before he crushed Sunshine’s neck. “There is only black and white. There is never gray... For justice is absolute.”

Gray Muffin stares at her, neither saying a word of recognition or disapproval, and when the seconds start ticking by, Trixie gets nervous and starts sweating profusely while stepping back, preparing herself for a run in the forest. Finally, after what seems like an eternity of silence, Gray Muffin nods approvingly.

“Good, now, if you really want what you say you must do two things. First, you must find the manor that resides in an abandoned dragon cave with a waterfall on either side of the entrance. Second, once you find it, you must repeat my final words to Sunshine and they will let you in. If you don’t they will kill you,” instructs Gray Muffin.

He turns to and starts back towards the ship, and Trixie's jaw drops and her heart races with panic as she trots after him.

“Wait, aren’t you taking me with you?” asks Trixie, her voice cracking with a terrified whine.

Gray Muffin keeps walking. “No.”

“Why!”

Gray Muffin stops and looks at Trixie over his shoulder. “I think it’s obvious.”

“...A test?”

Gray Muffin nods subtly and coolly walks back to the ship, barking at the guards to return aboard. Trixie yells at Gray Muffin, asking him for a general direction, but all he does is turn, flash a quick smirk, and then he and his guards are levitated on the aircraft. Seconds later, the turbines turn at full speed and Trixie shields her eyes from the dirt and blades of grass kicked up and when the ship is above the trees, it speeds away and disappears from view within a matter of seconds, leaving Trixie alone in the field. She looks around the clearing and paces in circles for a few seconds before swearing under her breath and deciding her best choice is following the ship. She takes a deep breath to collect herself, and then boldly marches into the forest.

Trixie has been trekking through the forest for hours, she had traveled all night and the day is now reaching afternoon. During her walk she had asked anyone she came across for directions to the manor Gray Muffin described, but the responses were either: “I don’t know”, “You’re crazy”, “Turn around and go home”, or “If you blow me I’ll tell you”. Needless to say, the pervert that said the latest said lost his front teeth after Trixie bucked him in the mouth.

Nearly a full forty eight hours of hiking later, and she finally reaches the area with mountain with the waterfalls cascading down on either side, creating a mist at the bottom that shrouds the base of the mountain. Trixie smiles with relief and takes a seat by a tree to catch her breath, but that smile of hers fades when she realizes just how steep that mountain is and how slick the water has made it. Just from her spot at the base she can tell that it is almost completely flat in certain areas and that alone makes her stomach churn and a thought crosses her mind to call quits and go about her merry way to another random direction. However, she stops herself, remembering that she is doing this so no one will ever take advantage of her like Sunshine did ever again, and if that means climbing a slick mountain with her bare hooves, then so be it. Though, that does not mean she will enjoy the climb, though, and she groans and forces her exhausted legs to move, staring resentfully at the mountain.

This is going to be fun, she thinks sarcastically.

Trixie walks into the mist that reduces her visibly down to just a few feet, and shivers when the freezing dew clings to her coat. She instinctively shakes the water off, but she feels like a water magnet because as soon as she shakes the dew off, twice as many attach themselves onto her. She grits her teeth and tries to ignore the numbing cold, but ignoring it goes right out the window when she falls in neck deep frigid water. She’s briefly submerged, but quickly rises back to the surface and gasps for air and coughs out the icy water in thick globs. Trixie's hooves pedal frantically under the water and her teeth chatter and her voice quivers as she spews a stream of swears while her eyes dart around in desperation to search for any way out. But when she cannot find any besides the way back, she does the only thing she can do besides retreat. She swims blindly until she reaches the mountain.

After swimming out of the freezing body of water, Trixie pulls herself out on the mud, curls up tightly and shivers uncontrollably while her teeth chatter so hard she’s afraid they’ll break. Trixie rubs her hooves together and blows hot air into them, then creates a spark from her horn that briefly ignites the ground in electrical flame.

She stops and shoots another test round, and when it is met with success, she laughs and nearly cries with relief as she hops to her hooves. Despite her desire to rest, she still gallops around the area and gathers as much wood and mulch as she can, dries them up using her weak magic to do so, and then creates a small fire. Trixie sits by the fire for an indefinite amount of time before her bones and muscles no longer feel frozen, and when that happens she braves the mountain once more.

As she climbs, she's constantly bombarded by the water cascading down, and the slick rocks cause her to slip and slide more times than she can count, and the accumulated bruises are equal in number. It also doesn’t help that every step she takes makes her muscles and bones scream and beg for her to stop because of those injuries, but she ignores those and presses on, determined to reach the top.

It takes Trixie at least six hours to reach the cave Gray Muffin described, which thankfully has a flat entrance and some natural stairs made from intermingled tree roots and stone. She has to use the last bit of her strength to climb up the stairs, and when she’s safe inside the cave’s mouth she rolls on her back, panting heavily and ready for a much needed nap. She can’t even tell the difference between her sweat and the water from the waterfalls, and frankly she doesn’t really want to think about it.

Trixie looks to her side and smiles victoriously when she sees the manor. Its built directly into the cave with an elegant network of small towers and wooden tubes connecting to the main household. Hanging from the towers is the same wrench in lightning bolt symbol she has seen on the boat and the entrance is made of a giant set of oak doors with justice scales carved into them.

Trixie groggily wipes the sweat and dew off of her face, forces herself to stand and proceeds to approaching the manor with the grace of a three legged pony with crooked eyes. As she walks her mane gets a small itch and her eyes shift between the towers of the manor. Trixie stops walking and looks around, but doesn’t see anything, so she gulps and continues walking, but this time with more caution. After reaching the doors she takes a deep breath, waits a minute to recollect her miniscule energy and then knocks on the door. All it takes is one knock for the door to open. It groans in protest as it grinds across the stone floor, making a nasty scratching sound that hurts her ears.

When the doors fully part, Trixie sees a dark hallway with small pockets of light made from weak torches. She swallows her fear and walks inside while mumbling Gray Muffin's quote quietly, over and over again. When she’s a few paces in the door suddenly seals itself shut and Trixie turns around just in time to see a unicorn mare levitate a rectangular stone slab hiding in the ceiling in front of the door.

The mare has the same color scheme as Gray Muffin, only her hair is darker, longer and combed to the side to partially cover her eye, and she doesn’t have his black spots. She also has a stone for a cutie mark and Trixie can’t help but laugh at the inside, thinking how much it would suck to have such a cutie mark. The unicorn, after finishing putting the boulder in its place, stares at Trixie murderously, and she, in turn, continues to walk down the hallway with the unicorn closely following her. She looks at each of the torches and sees that they have the same design on them as the banners.

“Keep walking,” orders the unicorn.

Trixie gives the unicorn a dirty glare. However, when the unicorn charges her horn and the rocks on the floor break apart and reform to a dozen small sharp blades, Trixie instantly apologizes and practically runs down the hallway, no longer wanting to laugh about the unicorn’s cutie mark.

Finally, after walking for five minutes down the hallway of Tartarus with the blade wielding unicorn trailing her, Trixie enters a large extravagant room brightly lit with electric light. Sitting in the back of the room on a simple wooden throne is a beige pegasus stallion wearing dark armor and a crimson cape held in place by the lightning bolt and wrench clip. Standing next to the pegasus is Gray Muffin, wearing his usual outfit, but he appears to be free of any injuries he sustained before.

The pegasus stands up and walks towards Trixie, flashing his wings challengingly for just a moment, and since she is depleted of all of her energy, she collapses on the floor and watches the pegasus approaches.

“Who are you!?” booms the pegasus’s voice.

“There is... there is only black and white. There is never gray... For-for justice is... absolute,” says Trixie weakly, now on the brink of passing out.

“Who are you!?”

“I... My name is Trixie... Trixie Lulamoon.”

“Why have you come!?”

“I... I came to... I came to learn how to defend myself and... and to learn to fight injustice so... so that I won't be a victim ever again.”

“Who told you about my residence!?”

Trixie nods towards Gray Muffin and then briefly loses consciousness, but when her eyes snap open she’s staring right into the angry, blue eyes of the pegasus.

“I’ve heard of you, Great and Powerful Trixie. You are an egotistical, lying, tramp and the daughter of the late Eclipse Lulamoon, the greatest crime lord of Equestria,” sneers the pegasus. “I am not even surprised that you came here with nothing but selfish desires when the League of Justice is about selflessness for the Greater Good.”

Trixie looks down to hide her shame, even though she knows it’s hopeless. It seems everyone that knows about her can only think ill of her.

“I was that,” whispers Trixie sadly, she then looks at the pegasus with tears in her eyes. “But I... Please, can you help me?”

Roar Shock kicks Trixie away, sending a sharp pain in her side and yelping in pain as she rolls across the floor. After coming to a stop, she coughs roughly, giving her the taste of copper and her legs struggle to hold her up.

“To fight injustice and evil you must abandon yourself to complete selflessness!” yells the pegasus.

He rams Trixie in the chest and she skids across the floor, coming to a sharp halt when her head bangs against the wall. She has a horrible ringing in her ears and a smart pain tearing at the back of her head as a warm liquid trails down her neck.

“Here, we are the shadows of the innocent! We have no name! No identity! And like all entities, the criminals and corrupt fear what they cannot see!” bellows the pegasus as he rapidly approaches Trixie.

Trixie stands up, but is quickly knocked down as the pegasus' hoof collides with her jaw with an echoing sound of hoof against skin. She screams in pain and clutches her jaw with one hoof and holds up her other towards the pegasus.

“Wait! Wait!” cries Trixie

The pegasus stomps on Trixie's side, and she feels some of her ribs snap and her agonizing wails echo in the chamber, but nobody moves to aid her. Not even Gray Muffin.

“Evil waits for nopony!” snarls the pegasus.

He stomps Trixie’s gut and she cries out again and curls in the fetal position, sobbing and coughing blood while the thoughts of being beaten to death like Sunshine plague her mind.

“Please, stop,” wheezes Trixie in weak, raspy breathes, her vision turning to haze with tears and darkness and her shaking hoof barely raised.

Trixie hears Gray Muffin say something, but with everything fading around her she doesn’t understand a word he says, ands he looks up and sees her attacker bringing his hoof up, slightly distracted by Gray Muffin. The final moments of Sunshine play in Trixie’s mind again and a burst of adrenaline goes through her veins, refusing to die like him in some cave in the middle of nowhere.

Trixie turns her body slightly so her horn is aimed at the pegasus and she shoots him in the chest with a telekinetic blast that launches him backwards, all the way into the ceiling. He bounces off of the ceiling and lands belly first on the throne, shattering it into mere splinters of what it once was and covering him with fallen debris made up of loose rocks, timber, and lighting fixtures.

Trixie is surprised that she is able to do such a feat, and that fuels her will to stand up and fight some more, even if she is going to be on the defensive with nigh nonexistent energy. Her eyes, droopy with exhaustion, dart around the room as more creatures -equines, goats and griffins- wearing armored outfits step out to confront her. However, even though everything may be fading into darkness at a faster rate now and her slaughter imminent, she figures she might as well go down fighting.

Trixie, relying on pure adrenaline, uses her magic to grab a table and swing it in front of her like a torch against wolves.

“Come on!” she yells defiantly, heart thumping like speedy drums in her ears and breathing ragged as her vision fluctuates more sporadically.

She is surprised to see the group stop their advancement, but when she hears the earth rumble and stone break and mash against each other, she turns to the source and loses her train of thought. All she can do is stare with drooped ears and a slack jaw at a pony sized, spiked mace floating above the unicorn that let her in.

The mace wielding unicorn flashes a devious smile and swings the mace towards Trixie, who, in turn without much hope for surviving, holds the table in front of her like a shield with her eyes squeezed shut. But, instead of feeling pain and being dragged to Hell by Charon, she hears Gray Muffin yelling at the unicorn.

“Terra, stop!”

Nothing happens. No spike blowing Trixie's head apart. No complete pulverization. No death. Only silence.

Trixie opens one eye and lowers the table, wincing when the stone scrapes against the wall, and when she lets the table drop, she sees the face hovering above her head. With that visual, she falls to her haunches, short of breath and heart beating like the wings of a hummingbird.

The unicorn, Terra, looks at Gray Muffin, bows and lets the mace fall next to Trixie and crumble to the ground. Upon impact, the stones melt into the ground, leaving only small bumps to let others know of the manipulation the unicorn had used on the ground.

Meanwhile, Gray Muffin helps the pegasus out of the pile of rubble he's under and whispers something to him.

The pegasus nods and tries to make himself look presentable while he limps towards Trixie. “Trixie Lulamoon, I am Roar Shock, head of the League of Justice. My faithful student, and closest friend, Gray Muffin, has advised me-”

That's nice, thinks Trixie with relief. Then her eyes roll back and her vision blacks out as she collapses to the floor, completely unconscious, with the last thing she hears is the table she tried to use as a shield fall and break next to her.

Roar Shock huffs in disbelief as he stares at Trixie's limp, beaten figure with disgust. “That was rude.”

Gray Muffin, however, calls for a medic as he gallops towards Trixie. He nearly pushes Terra away when he is by her side and checks to make sure she didn't die on the spot. He breathes a sigh of relief and silently thanks Luna when he sees her chest rise and fall slowly, then he glares at Roar Shock.

“What is wrong with you? You nearly killed her!” says Gray Muffin furiously.

“I should ask you the same question, seeing as how you told a Lulamoon where I lived,” remarks Roar Shock coldly.

“She isn't Eclipse!” A team of medics approach Trixie with a cot levitated in front of them, and Gray Muffin steps back to let them work. He then sits down, removes his fedora and runs his hoof through his mane, sighing deeply. “We'll have to bring Redheart over and get some healing mushrooms just so she doesn't die over night.”

Roar Shock simply rolls his eyes and limps away, calling Terra to follow him. She is quick to gallop after him, leaving Gray Muffin to supervises the medics putting Trixie on their stretcher. Once she is on, Gray Muffin follows them on their careful trip to the infirmary. They go past a few rows of cots, all occupied by trainees, ranging from zebras to ponies, griffins to goats, and even a diamond dog and a caribou, all injured in some way. They watch in silence as the small group takes the cot next to a heater bolted into the stone wall with vent shafts and wires snaking up into the ceiling. The medics gently put Trixie on the cot and are dismissed by Gray Muffin after they cover her with a sheet, and after they leave, the old stallion pulls up a stool and calmly waits for her to wake up.

Author's Notes:

Edited 19 Jul 2014

Arc 1- 04- The War On Corruption -ADDITION-

“And that is why you should buy this blender,” concludes Pinkie Pie cheerfully while pushing a large futuristic blender towards Nurse Redheart.

Redheart smiles nervously at blender, she’s not really sure what think of the blender, and truthfully, it was the last thing she was expecting. Redheart had let Pinkie Pie in after she spent a good minute frantically knocking on the door, thinking it was something important, like Rainbow Dash breaking her wing (again), or spraining all her legs (again), or anything to do with the pegasus hurting herself in some way, but she is mistaken. Apparently Pinkie Pie is trying to start a company and she’s using blenders as her base selling product. The blender that Pinkie Pie is trying to sell to her has forty two settings, forty two speeds, and has a radio with forty two channels. And, according to Pinkie Pie, it can walk so it can come to the customer should the need arise. That part slightly disturbs Redheart.

“Ms. Pie, this blender looks... um... nice,” says Redheart with an uneasy smile.

Pinkie Pie’s puffy mane and tail deflate. “You don’t like it, do you?”

Redheart cringes and tries to reiterate what she had said. “I-I didn’t say that! It’s a nice blender, and I’m sure it has a lot of uses, but I didn’t get a price. How can I buy something that has no price?”

“You’re just saying that so my mane and tail can inflate.”

“No! I mean, yes! No, um uh, but-uh I mean, I want you to be happy, but um-”

There is a hard rapping on the door and Redheart excuses herself and goes to check to see who’s at the door while silently thanking Celestia for the distraction. She peers through the peephole and takes back the thanks when she sees the last unicorn she wanted to see.

Terra.

Terra knocks on the door again, her patience dwindling rapidly, and Redheart tells Pinkie Pie that they’ll have to cut their session short.

“Ooh, do you have company?” asks Pinkie Pie, her mane and tail explode to their original puffiness as a huge grin stretches across her face. “Maybe they’ll want a blender!”

“Yes, Ms. Pie, I have company, and no, I don’t think they’ll want a blender,” says Redheart patiently.

Redheart opens the door and Terra walks inside without wiping her hooves on the welcome mat, not that they are muddy or anything, but Redheart still finds the gesture rude. The nurse coughs obnoxiously and points at the rough mat on the front door. Terra rolls her eyes, backtracks and wipes her hooves on the mat and then steps inside again.

“We need you back at the Citadel,” says Terra bluntly.

“HithereI’veneverseenyoubeforeareyounewhereI’mPinkiePiedoyouwanttobefriendsordoyouwanttobuyablender?” says Pinkie Pie as she jumps uncomfortably close to Terra.

Terra stares at Pinkie Pie, trying to comprehend what the obnoxious pink pony had just said. The only thing she really caught was something about buying a blender... and she does need a new blender. She looks past Pinkie Pie's shoulder and spots the most amazing blender she had ever seen. The light shining past the windows give it a holy glow and her eyes widen with starry sparkles as she imagines all the smoothies she can make with it.

“How much for the blender?” asks Terra quickly and hoof aimed at the gift to ponykind.

Pinkie Pie grins. “Three hundred bits.”

“Deal.”

Terra produces two bags of bits from her saddle and tosses them Pinkie Pie, and in return, Laughter zooms away, grabs a roll of bubble wrap, mummifies the device, then gives it to her. Redheart’s jaw drops and she stammers gibberish as she tries to comprehend what just happened.

Pinkie Pie giggles and she wraps her hoof around the nurse’s neck. “What you just saw was a satisfied customer.”

“But she didn’t-You didn’t-Nothing happened! She just bought it!” stammers Redheart.

“I know a good blender when I see one,” says Terra says defensively. “Now, if you’ll excuse us whatever your name is, me and Redheart need to talk.”

Pinkie Pie puffs out her chest proudly. “The name is Pinkie Pie. But you can call me Pinkie, or Ms. Pie, or back to Pinkie Pie, but never Pinkamena”

“Uh huh, well, Pinkie Pie, me and Redheart need to have a private conversation. So scoot!.”

“Scooting!”

Pinkie Pie plops on the floor and literally scoots out of the house, leaving Terra staring at her wide eyed and Redheart rolling her eyes dismissively. Once Pinkie Pie is outside, though, Terra shakes her head, closes the door with her magic and peeks out the window to make sure the pink pony is out of sight. When Pinkie Pie stops in the middle of the road and shouts after Time Turner, going into a full on gallop when he runs in the opposite direction, Terra closes the blinds and turns to Redheart.

“Who’s the unlucky one this time?” asks Redheart dryly.

“A mare you should be familiar with. Trixie Lulamoon,” replies Terra casually.

“And what exactly did you do to Ponyville's only blacklisted pony?”

“Nothing. Daddy is the one that beat her to a pulp, and then he told me to come down here and pick you up so she doesn't die in the infirmary. So, here I am. Let's go.”

“Well, I can’t go. Besides, you got plenty of medics in that place, so why not use one of them?”

Terra face hoofs. “Oh my goddess, Redheart, why do you have to be so difficult?” She stomps the floor, glaring daggers at the nurse. “You have a responsibility to the League, and since you work for my daddy you have to do what he says! And he says you have to come back and patch up Trixie!”

Redheart points at herself, body shaking slightly at Terra's threat. “Ponyville is my responsibility, and on top of protecting it, I have to help run a hospital to keep my cover. Besides, even if I find the time to leave, the trip will take two weeks, both ways, not including the days I need to treat her.”

Terra snorts and turns her new blender in every which way she can, squinting hard to try to see past the bubble wrap. “Redheart, you seem to forget that my daddy is a genius. He’s already expanded and improved his fleet, and you have to come with me. Once you’re in, there’s no getting out.”

“I’m not denying my duties to the League. What I’m saying is that I can’t go because of the situation I’m in.”

“Ponyville is an easy place to guard, Redheart, and even then, there is Mare-Do-Well to help keep the vandals in check,” counters Terra, frowning in disappointment when she fails to see past the wrap.

“I hate to burst your bubble, but Mare-Do-Well hasn’t been seen ever since that Eclipse fiasco ten years ago.”

“Uh huh, well you’re still coming. Whether you like it or not.”

“What am I supposed to tell the hospital? ‘Sorry, I have to go. Trixie had her flank kicked in a hidden mansion so I have to fix her up’?”

“We already took care of that. They are very sympathetic when you have a funeral to attend.”

Redheart’s jaw drops. “You told them somepony in my family died!”

“No. We said you had a funeral to attend with no specifics. However, they will be wondering about the funeral so I suggest that you get your story straightened out before you return. And the trip will take about a half a day of flight, so you’ll be back quickly.”

Terra hops off of the couch, stuffs the blender in her saddlebag, with a good portion poking out, and magically opens the door and flashes a wicked smile at Redheart.

“And since I am done arguing with you, you're either going to come with me willingly or I'll gag you and use some bondage techniques I learned from Wazza. Either way, you're coming,” says Terra impatiently.

Redheart's face flushes bright right and her ears droop at the unpleasant imagery of Terra carrying her away bound and gagged through Ponyville. Not wanting to be in such a situation, Redheart sighs in defeat, sluggishly gathers her medical gear in her saddlebags, and reluctantly leaves with the unicorn. She tries to look inconspicuous as she locks the door and offers a friendly smile to passerbys when she and Terra walk down the main road, passing election signs calling for Mayor Ivory Scroll's reelection or the election of Golden Harvest. The two walk for about an hour before they meet up with a group of ponies guarding a steampunk-ish ship made of wood and metal that strangely looks like a dragonfly sitting in a clearing inside the Everfree Forest.

Redheart stops and marvels at the ship's design. It is resting on six, metal bug-like legs with its long back tilted to the ground and its backdoor open to create a ramp. The front is rounded with two tinted, orb-shaped windows, it has four thin wings that are made up of a network of pistons, joints and metal beams with thin sheets of metal as it canvas, and on its back are two turbine engines on a ball-and-socket joint system.

Redheart is so entranced by its design that she does not realize that Terra is still walking, and she only looks towards the unicorn when one of the guards speaks.

“What’s with the blender?” asks the guard.

“None of your business!” snaps Terra. She then looks at Redheart after the pony mumbles an apology. “Come on, Redheart, you have work to do.”

Redheart nods and enters the ship through the back, where she quickly finds out just how crowded it is with gem and steam powered engines, cables and vent shafts, and a dozen chairs lines up along the wall with four Gatling guns aimed towards the ceiling. In front of each turret sits an armored pony, and they nod politely to her and she flashes a nervous smile in return.

Redheart takes a seat near the cockpit, as per Terra's instructions and is strapped down to her seat. The unicorn mare that strapped her in tests her restraints to make sure is snug, and when the tests show that the nurse is secured, she nods and moves to work on Terra.

“Roar Shock has been busy, huh?” says Redheart uneasily.

Terra smirks. “Daddy's always busy.”

Redheart nods, then tenses up with her hooves pressing tightly against the harness and her body squishing into the seats as the ship roars to life. Every turning gear, every sparking battery and rush of steam and gem powered energy can be heard, and it is deafening. She can barely hear Terra giggle at her current, terrified state.

“Lift off in twenty seconds!” yells a pilot over the chaos.

“You hear that, Redheart? We'll be flying in twenty seconds!” yells Terra excitedly while the remaining ponies rush to their seats.

Redheart, meanwhile, groans, squeezes her eyes shut and tries to force herself further into the seat, praying hard that their ship will not crash and burn.

In a time span that can no way be twenty seconds, the ship jerks and the metal groans as it lifts off the ground, and Redheart whimpers quietly as she feels everything start to spin. Next thing she knows, there is a sonic boom and everything feels like it is being tugged back as the ship zooms off into the sky.

Hiding in the thick, dark green leaves of an Everfree tree, watching the ship speed away into the clouds through a pair of binoculars, is Pinkie Pie wearing a safari outfit. Once the ship is out of sight, she lowers her device and rubs her chin quizzically. “Interesting...”

She then pulls out a pen and notebook from her shirt pocket pocket and scribbles down some notes and makes a crude drawing of the ship. After that is done, she quickly puts away her pen and notebook, spreads her forehooves out and lets gravity tug her off the branch. She falls out of the tree and lands on her back with perfect accuracy on a mattress that she had placed next to the tree a while back, being sure to have it completely hidden by the bushes that surround it.

“I knew I would need that one day,” giggles Pinkie Pie, still on her back, grinning from ear to ear.

Then she rolls on her hooves and bounces away, humming a nice tune to herself.

A little over an hour later, Pinkie Pie finds herself back in Ponyville and orders herself a strawberry milkshake from the Sugar Cube Corner. She’s still wearing her safari outfit and has yet to shake the leaves and twigs off, but no one is questioning why Pinkie Pie looks like a messy safari pony. To them, she’s just being herself.

Pinkie Pie sits at a covered table outside Sugar Cube Corner, and watches the ponies chat amongst themselves as they enjoy the spring weather. She sips her milkshake and goes to studying the picture she drew of the dragonfly ship she saw Redheart get into, but her session is soon interrupted.

“EXTRA! EXTRA! MAYOR OF BARNVILLE ASSASSINATED!” shouts an earth pony mare wearing a plain newspaper delivery cap.

The mare tosses out a stack of newspapers to a newspaper kiosk out of the back of a vehicle that looks like a small steampunk train with a flatbed on the back, treads for back wheels and fat, rounded wheels on the front. After tossing half a dozen stacks of thickly bound newspapers, a crowd of pedestrians converge on the stacks and the unicorn stallion operating the stack gets visibly annoyed as he tries to use his scissors the cut the bindings off.

Pinkie Pie looks up from her notes to watch the crowd buy the paper, chucking their bits at the kiosk operator, who, by now, is red with annoyance.

“Everypony, wait your turn! There is plenty to go around!” yells the operator over the confused, energetic chatter of the growing crowd..

“Shut up and take my money!” says a stallion with a white shirt and red jacket.

The stallion in the red jacket throws a big bag of bits at the operator, and it hits him in the face, exploding on impact and showering him with way too much money for a simple newspaper. The operator, however, is not too pleased with this and stumbles back, swearing up a storm while clutching his muzzle, and the idiotic stallion grabs a newspaper with his mouth and runs off.

Pinkie Pie sees this as a great opportunity to grab a newspaper for herself and she bounces towards the kiosk. Once there, she removes a tiny bag of bits from her safari shirt pocket, drops a couple on the kiosk counter and then hops back to her table with a newspaper in her mouth.

Once Pinkie Pie is back at her table, she spits out the newspaper, thankful to get the foul taste of rough paper and ink out of her mouth, and quickly immerses herself in the terrible news.

MAYOR OF BARNVILLE ASSASSINATED!
By: Quill Pen
Barnville- In a wave of violence that has left authorities stumped, one of Equestria's most feared criminal enterprises, the Cloud Cartel, has been completely eradicated overnight. According to anonymous sources, the violence that has left well over a hundred dead or injured and dealt B750 thousand in damages has been at the hubs of Cloud Cartel activity.

Hit hardest with the violence was the town of Barnville, the largest town in the Macintosh Hills and the stronghold of the Cloud Cartel. Among the many killed in a wave of has been described as “tactical violence” due to the minimal civilian casualties, was Mayor Ignacio Lugar and his cabinet, all under investigation by the Equestrian Investigation Bureau and the Royal Guard for corruption. According to witnesses, the city hall was stormed by a dozen masked individuals wearing combat gear and who were quick to execute the Lugar Cabinet during their quarterly session.

“It was terrible,” said a survivor that wished to remain anonymous. “They made it a point of making it a show by going through the front door and holding us hostage just so we could see [Mayor] Lugar and his Cabinet killed in front of us. After they killed them, they told us our town was free of corruption, then they left without another word.”

Among the many killed in the Barnville violence was Sunshine Cloud, who was found dead in one of his establishments with his sister, Scarlet Cloud, reportedly missing.

Witnesses in Barnville have stated that fleeing their town was what they could only describe to be a flying boat.

Captain Shining Armor Sparkle has announced plans to move five hundred Royal Guards to help the local guards combat the growing violence and corruption in the Macintosh Hills. Only time will tell if the numbers will either dampen or enforce the Royal Guard's growing incompetence.
-Continues on 11A

Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail deflate, and she rubs her head in disbelief. Over the past year there has been many small scale skirmishes between rival gangs, with the new superpower, the Grizelda Mob, coming out on top. However, this is the worst act of violence Equestria has seen in nearly five years, and Pinkie Pie gets the sinking feeling in her gut that this is only the beginning of what is to come.

In a feeble attempt to lighten her mood, she gingerly sips her strawberry milkshake, and it has some positive effects since her mane and tail inflate slightly. But with every hard suck against the delicious treat, the ideas in her mind turn like unruly gears, with each sip giving the a hard jerk in motion. Without taking her mouth off of her straw, she exhales through her nose and stares droopy eyed at the passing mail wagon. Then a particularly hard suck gives her mouth a burst of delicious strawberry goodness that sends joy surging through her, inflating her mane and tail with an audible poof and making her eyes pop.

“Mmmmmmm,” hums Pinkie Pie blissfully. Then her smile turns into a frown as the feeling of an icepick stabs her brain, and she breaks away from her treat and squeezes her eyes shut and rubs her head. “Owwwwie!”

She pushes her drink away, rubbing her temple with soft, circular motions, quietly cursing herself with childish profanity. And right as the pain subsides, a bright light shines in her brain with an idea.

Pinkie Pie gasps from the sudden realization her mind has bestowed upon her and tosses the empty milkshake container in a nearby garbage can with pinpoint accuracy. She then runs into her room in the Sugar Cube Corner with her copy of the newspaper in her mouth. Once in the safety of her room, she spits the newspaper on her plush bed and burrows herself underneath her bed until her backside is poking out, and she frantically rummages under her bed. She tosses aside everything from party supplies to rubber chickens, and cookbooks to a book called Business Building for the Mentally Inferior, until she comes across what she wanted. A plastic tub with thumb tacks, glue, scissors, and pens and highlighters, a book with snippets of newspaper articles, and a board that has the map of Equestria with various pictures and notes tacked to it.

She pushes the map against her wall and goes on to dissecting and storing the useful parts of the article, especially the highlighted part of “free of corruption”. She then goes on to adding her findings to her map and carefully draws a red line to connect with the other notable clippings. All the clippings she has, has highlighted segments regarding crime lords, investigated officials and masked assailants proclaiming liberation from the corruption.

All the dots are dated and marked the locations of the various assassinations, sudden violence or bombings, and it all started shortly after the famed Eclipse Incident in Ponyville, which Pinkie Pie has marked. It is a web with a front page article of the Ponyville Gazette titled: Mare-Do-Well Returns!

On the newspaper is black and white, artistic interpretation of Mare-Do-Well standing proudly on top of a roof top with an explosive background that fills the viewer with wonder. Around the article are more articles talking about Eclipse Lulamoon trying to move his operations into Ponyville, the rise of corruption and, of course, the clash between Mare-Do-Well and his goons in various locations. Two of the largest articles being around Sweet Apple Acres and Jubilee's Comfy Hotel.

Pinkie Pie can't help but get a nostalgic smile from thinking about the adrenaline rush she faced ten years ago on a near daily basis for trying to keep Eclipse and his criminal empire at bay with the help of her friends. All except for Rainbow Dash, anyway, who absolutely refused to wear the Mare-Do-Well costume and went in wearing something else that had been... flashy.

Memories aside, after Eclipse's defeat in Ponyville with the help of a mysterious masked mare at the Comfy Hotel, things did not get better. With the Mare-Do-Well clump is another line that leads to a Fillydelphia based newspaper article naming Eclipse the number one suspect of a deadly arson that took the lives of an entire family, with a daughter and the father missing, also presumed dead. Three months after that, everything revolving around Eclipse and his criminal empire had been systematically destroyed. From suspected guardponies in his pocket to his lieutenants, to accountants and suppliers, even lowly runners and basic enforcers. Total war destroyed his empire and it ended with him being tossed out the window.

Spreading from the Eclipse murder is another line that connects the article to another blotch surrounding the destruction of another major criminal enterprise, known as the Toolbox Mafia. The same pattern of systematic destruction of the Mafia's foundation follows, leading up to what an article titled The Manehatten War. In it, it explains how Manehatten, Baltimare and every major coastal city became a war zone between what Shining Armor has called rival gangs vying for control of the drug trade. A few days later and the violence ended with Toolbox's cliff side mansion suddenly collapsing into the ocean when the cliff crumbled, which investigators claim they found magical residue on the remains of the cliff.

Now only one major criminal empire remains, and that is the Grizelda Mob, which has grown exponentially strong with the destruction of the other two. And now there is a red line connecting a cluster of newspaper articles surrounding the said criminal superpower, with the one pertaining to Barnville and the Cloud Mafia being the newest addition.

With that addition, Pinkie Pie steps back and stares at the map intently, looking for more correlations between the recent attack and past attacks. All of them have something to do with criminals and corrupt government officials, most have been killed in the public or have their bodies left in public areas, and those that are hard to reach are usually blown to pieces by a crafty explosive. The final similarity between all of them is that strange flying vehicles have been sighted near the sights of the attacks. From ice cream trucks that have Gatling guns sprouting from the roof to flying boats, there is always something strange to go with the incidents.

Pinkie Pie huffs, flicking her red marker up and down in her mouth as her brain works to predict what this mysterious organization's next move is. As she thinks, her eyes drift back towards her newspaper and she notices an article about Ponyville that is showing through one of her cutouts. Thinking it will help her think or that she will at least see an advertisement about a carnival or other fun events, she opens it up, only for those dreams to drown in an flood of dread.

Mayor Ivory Scroll: Friend of the Public or Friend of the Griffins?

Pinkie Pie's jaw drops, and with it, her marker, and her eyes grow as she brings the newspaper closer to her face. After re-reading the article accusing Mayor Ivory Scroll of making deals with Gilda Grizelda's criminal empire to let Ponyville be a “drug highway” in exchange for generous sums of bits, she drops her newspaper and zips back towards the map and goes through the events again. She pays particular special attention to the Grizelda Mob's section of her map, noting how the Cloud Cartel had a very special alliance with them and how they had been a major supplier of narcotics. A closer look on the map shows that Barnville shares a highway with Ponyville, which shares an entrance with Canterlot, which just so happens to be where Gilda's base of operations is located. And seeing as how Ponyville has grown in size, it has become a major hub with roads and tracks branching out in just about every direction, making it a perfect launching point for businesses, legal or not.

And now Ponyville is on the map of being one of Gilda's major hubs of activity with their mayor being accused of sharing a bed with the griffins.

Pinkie Pie does not want to believe it, but the pattern is clear. Ponyville may very well be the next battleground in Equestria's shadow war.

Author's Notes:

Added on 20 Jul 2014

Arc 1- 05- Fun In The Infirmary -EDITED-

Trixie struggles to open her eyes, but it seems that every time she opens them they slam shut on her like a bear trap. Each time she tries, her eyelids get a little farther up and her vision clears just a bit more. Finally, after an exhaustive, literal eye opening experience, she is able to see clearly. The very first thing she sees is the stone ceiling and the dim light above her, buzzing with electricity. She groans and tilts her head to the side, wincing from the pinches and sharp tugs all over her sides and limbs, and she gingerly presses her hoof against her head to stop the throbbing. She is not too surprised when that does nothing to help, though. After rubbing her head and releasing a pained sigh, she notices Gray Muffin sitting on a stool with his eyes closed and his head bowed. To Trixie, it looks like the old stallion is sleeping, and just to make sure she extends her hoof to poke him.

“Don’t touch me,” grumbles Gray Muffin.

Trixie retracts her hoof, and immediately regrets it because of the sharp pain that shoots up her hoof and forces her to bite back tears. She swears under her breath and Gray Muffin lifts his head to look at her.

“Did you enjoy your nap?” asks Gray Muffin, his posture relaxing slightly and his voice softening.

“It was... Pleasant?” says Trixie hesitantly.

“That sounded more like a question than an answer.”

“Well Trix-” Gray Muffin’s eyes narrow. “I would have enjoyed the nap better if I wasn’t nearly beaten to death.”

“Roar Shock is like that. He believes the best way to train somepony is to test them when they least expect it. But it is quite surprising to see you are awake after your trials. Our specialist hasn't even arrived yet to heal you and you are already awake.”

Trixie can't help but feel a little bit proud of that, and it shows through her thin smile. “I guess that's good, then. But couldn't that guy cut me some slack? I just got there and he acted like I was Tirrek's daughter.”

Gray Muffin remains silent and Trixie looks back towards the ceiling, groaning and rubbing her face with gentle motions of her hooves, but even then those movements cause great discomfort.

“Am I going to be experiencing a lot of those sneak attack things?” asks Trixie, hooves still over her face and tears building in her eyes as she questions just what the Hell she got herself into this time.

“You will experience Blitz Training Sessions, but not for a while. Now, you need to rest and heal, and only when I think you are ready will I allow the Sessions.”

Trixie tries sitting up on her cot. “How badly am I-Yeeeoow!!!”

A surge of pain rips through Trixie's ribs and limbs and her head feels like it is going to explode into flaming shard. She whimpers and slumps back in her bed, covering her face to hide the fresh tears as her body quivers from the pain while Gray Muffin towers over her, looking down at her sympathetically.

“This sucks,” sniffles Trixie.

“I warned you,” remarks Gray Muffin instantly.

“It hurts to breathe.”

“Then stop breathing.”

Trixie glares at Gray Muffin and he gives her a quick, teasing smirk before he strolls towards the exit.

“There will be a specialist coming to help you heal, shortly,” he says casually, his voice echoing plainly off of the walls. “In the meantime, stay in bed until you are excused by the specialist.”

“Got it,” grumbles Trixie, turning her focus back to the ceiling.

“And when you are out of bed you are to refer to me as ‘Sir’.”

“Got it, Sir Muffin.”

Trixie chuckles at her lame joke, but quickly winces and clutches her side while mumbling colorful words as the pain returns to serve her a nasty reminder of her condition. Gray Muffin keeps walking and smiles thinly at her joke, though, and once he leaves the room, Trixie huffs painfully and decides that while she’s bedridden she might as well have a quick look around.

Gritting her teeth to stave the pain, she lifts her head up to get a better view of the room, but it quickly becomes too much and she slumps in the bed, seething from a mix of anger, annoyance and pain. However, she does catch that most of the beds in the infirmary are empty, except for a couple of ponies lying in the back in full body casts. The room also appears to be carved directly into the mountain, and electrical lightning and strategically placed heaters give the room figurative and literal warmth.

Trixie tries to relax in her bed, but with the growing pain over taking her body it’s next to impossible. She groans and tries to think of anything to keep her mind off of her broken state, but when she does, it is replaced with emotional torment as she remembers the Hell she narrowly escaped from. Just when Trixie is ready to scream out of sheer aggravation, the door to the infirmary swings open and Trixie hears Terra walk in with someone else.

“Redheart, it’s not our place to question him, alright?” says Terra irritably.

“I’m just worried is all. This organization has changed a lot over the past ten years,” says Redheart sadly.

“Grow up, Redheart. Nothing ever stays the same.”

Trixie glances at the approaching mares out of the corner of her eye and she sees Terra escorting a white earth pony mare with a tied back pink mane.

The two stop talking when they are in front of Trixie’s bed, and the earth pony speaks in a kind voice. “Hello, Trixie, I am Nurse Redheart and I’m going to be treating you of your injuries.”

Redheart walks closer to Trixie and gently brushes her hoof over her body, and Trixie immediately tenses up and her breathing becomes ragged as she remembers Sunshine feeling her up in a very similar way. Trixie trembles as she watches Redheart's hooves move along her ribs and when she starts going down towards her flank, the unicorn bats the earth pony's hoof away and scrunches up on her bed, snarling with terrified tears forming in her eyes.

“Just what do you think you are doing!” yells Trixie.

Redheart takes a step back and holds up her hoof defensively. “It's okay, I'm just trying to do my job.”

“Feeling up Trixie is your job!?”

“Wha-what! Oh, dear Celestia, no! I’m checking the extent of your injuries!”

“Use an X-Ray machine. Don’t touch me.”

Redheart looks at Terra curiously and the brown unicorn stomps towards Trixie with a murderous look in her eyes. Trixie meets the hostile gaze with one of her own, but pulls the sheet up closer to her chin, still shaking and eyes now getting red and puffy as the tears build from remembering Sunshine's hooves all over her.

“Listen here, you little tramp, get over yourself and let Redheart do her job or I will use these rocks to hold you down!” yells Terra.

Trixie wants to chew out Terra for calling her a “tramp”, but a part of her is afraid that the unicorn might stab her if she does. That, and she also notices some mushrooms poking out of the evil unicorn's saddlebag.

Trixie levitates one out and holds it up to her eyes, and Terra makes no objections to her actions. “What is this?”

“It’s a healing mushroom,” replies Terra coolly.

Trixie pales and throws the accursed fungus away from her as far as possible. Then she scrunches up tighter on the back of her bed, thus inviting an ungodly amount of pain to attack her body, and her heart beating too near exploding point as her throat clogs. She knows exactly what those things can do and she will be damned if she ingests another one ever again.

Redheart steps forward, a look of worry clear on her face and hoof extended carefully. “Trixie, you need to relax. We only want to help.”

“No! You are not giving Trixie any of those abominations!” screams Trixie, her voice cracking and quivering with tears drenching her cheeks.

“The mushrooms will help you heal quicker,” says Terra sternly.

Terra and Trixie spiral down into a heated argument that eventually draws Redheart in. All three ponies bicker amongst themselves with Trixie wanting healing magic to fix her, Terra wanting Redheart to fix Trixie with the healing mushroom, as ordered, and Redheart wanting to do things her way, which does not include magic or healing mushrooms. They only stop bickering when the infirmary door flies open and Gray Muffin stomps in with a mechanical gauntlet covering his forehoof. The odd device has little Tesla coils around the bottom and gems running up between them, stopping short of his elbow, and little sparks of electricity snake their way between the coils, jumping from one to another every so often.

“What’s going on!” bellows Gray Muffin, the sparks seemingly growing with his volume.

Terra points at Trixie accusingly, whining childishly. “Trixie is being difficult.”

Trixie gives Terra a dirty glare, but it only gets worse when Redheart backs up Terra’s statement, though in a more professional wanner. Gray Muffin looks at Terra and Redheart, and then at Trixie, who is staring at him, sniffling with watery puppy eyes.

“Is this true?” asks Gray Muffin.

“Well... um I-I-I wouldn’t um-” stammers Trixie nervously while pushing her forehooves together.

“Trixie, we need you fixed as quickly as possible.”

“But Trixie doesn't want to use-!”

Trixie doesn’t get the chance to finish her sentence because Gray Muffin shoves the hoof with the weird gauntlet into her chest and she gets the shock of her life, blacking out a second later.

Redhear stares at Trixie, eyes bulging and jaw gaping. Gray Muffin had zapped her with enough power to have her fur and hair stand up, and now she is lying limp on her bed with her tongue hanging out and thin smoke rising off of her body. She blinks, clamps her mouth shut and looks at Gray Muffin with a little voice in her head that is demanding she lecture him about possibly doing a great deal of harm to a fragile patient. However, she decides it is a better idea to keep her mouth shut seeing as how the areas around his eyes appear to be darker because of his scowl.

“Fix her up with the mushrooms as ordered, then give me a report of everything in Ponyville,” orders Gray Muffin.

“Yes, sir,” says Redheart quietly.

Gray Muffin snorts and leaves the infirmary without saying another word, leaving Redheart alone with Terra and Trixie. Once the door shuts, though, Terra breaks the silence with a snicker.

“That was cool.”

Author's Notes:

Edited on 20 Jul 2014

Arc 1 -06- Commitments -ADDITION-

Trixie wakes up a few minutes after being zapped by Gray Muffin.

Or was it a few hours? Or perhaps a day?

Trixie doesn’t know how long she had been unconscious, and it doesn’t help that she’s underground without a clock in sight. But despite those things, Trixie feels like she had been given a new body and that she can fight an army with her bare hooves. Not even the odd aftertaste of tingly dirt in her mouth can crush the feeling of revival gracing her. However, like all good things she has, this does not last.

Trixie tries to stand up, but her hooves remain firmly planted to her sides and only her head is able to be lifted. When she raises her head with great strain, though, she sees an open door, painted blue with stars on it, and it leads to a hallway that is bathed in bright light with two shadows, one of a mare and the other of a stallion.

Trixie's heart thumps loudly in her ears and her throat tightens as her lungs struggle to give her air from the panic sucking it all away. No matter much she tries to fight it, no matter how hard her muscles flex and her teeth grind, the straps remain firm.

“Eclipse, I know you're sad, but she is still our little girl,” says the mare.

“Mom?” whispers Trixie. She grunts and fights harder in her straps that are now digging into her skin, rubbing off her azure coat and burning her skin. Tears swell in her eyes from the peeling sensation. “MOM!”

“I know she is my daughter, and that is why I want her to be better than she is now. I don't want her to be a failure,” says the stallion, sounding suspiciously like Eclipse.

Trixie stops struggling and stares at the shadow that sounds like her father. His words of not wanting her to be a failure hover around her like a poisonous smog, her throat clogging with a wet lump and tears burning her eyes and sliding down her cheeks.

“But you should not force her to be who she is not,” says Braille.

“And why should I not help her change to be better than she is now?” counters Eclipse sharply. “What can she possibly gain from being weak and dependent on everypony around her? What kind of father would I be if I raised a daughter that uses her disability as a reason to be a leech?”

Trixie stops fighting and collapses on her bed, eyes staring straight at the ceiling and the glow in the dark moon and stars painted above it. Her lips tremble and the straps break off, allowing her to curl up on the bed, feeling smaller. She starts trembling and she squeezes tears from her eyes, whimpering quietly with her ears folding against her head.

She hears more voices come from the shadows, all whispering over each other, their tone demeaning and snickers mocking her. She presses her hooves over her ears and curls up tighter to stop the flood of cruel whispers flooding into her mind, quietly begging for them to stop.

“Why should we stop, Great and Powerful Faker?” sneers one of the voices. This is a stallion with horrendous breath, and his voice travels around her as he paces around Trixie, but she refuses to open her eyes. “Why should we give the wicked like you rest? Why do you deserve solitude when your actions have brought fear and pain?”

“Please, leave me alone,” begs Trixie, feeling drained of all her regeneration and now small and defenseless against the onslaught.

“But you've always wanted attention, right?” says a mare harshly right in front of Trixie's face, making her scrunch tghter. “You always have to show off. You always need to be the center of attention. Now you are getting it!”

“I gave ya attention, darlin',” says Sunshine, making Trixie's eyes snap open to see a black mass before her smiling at her with glowing red eyes and bright white teeth. He leans forward and licks his lips, sending a chill all over her body, and she shrinks back, shaking her head and whimpering her begs that he meets with excited chuckles. “Are ya ready for another round?”

Trixie yells and jolts upright, heart racing and shaking body soaked in sweat. Tears stream down her face and her chest heaves with her panting as her eyes dart around the room in search of Sunshine. When she sees no one but Redheart, she pulls her blanket to her chin and bows her head, sniffling and shaking even more.

“Oh my goodness, are you okay!?” Redheart asks worryingly.

Trixie ignores Redheart’s attempts to figure out what had happened, but her silence only pushes Redheart to ask more questions.

“It sounded like you were having quite the nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?” asks Redheart.

Trixie shakes her head, still trembling and sniffling, but she is quick to notice that she no longer feels any physical pain, in which she silently thanks Celestia for that. However, when a cool rag dabs at her forehead, her muscles lock and she jerks away, staring at Redheart with big eyes that are still soaked with tears.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” assures Redheart with a kind smile.

“How do I know that?” asks Trixie, her voice quivering and her eyes searching the nurse's face for signs of malice.

Redheart sighs patiently, puts the rag in a bucket and sits down next to Trixie. “Because I took an oath to protect and heal others, and besides, my special talent is in fixing up broken ponies. I can promise you, I would never want to hurt you or anypony else.”

“Unless they deserve it, right?” says Trixie quietly, her eyes drifting to the thin blanket and new tears dripping off her cheeks.

Redheart opens her mouth to speak, but quickly clamps it and looks down, obviously unable to answer the question.

“How long was I asleep?” asks Trixie as she tenderly rubs her head.

“Let’s see here... I’m going to say about fourteen hours,” says Redheart, eyes rolled up to the ceiling and hoof to her chin to emphasize her thinking.

Trixie's eyes bulge. “Fourteen hours!?”

Redheart shrugs. “Give or take a few minutes.”

Trixie is about to say something, but she notices that she has the same weird aftertaste from her dream. When she tries getting rid of the taste by scratching her tongue against her teeth, she notices the satchel of mushrooms Terra had earlier is resting on the ground. Empty.

Trixie tries to use her magic, but when all that comes out is a pathetic spark, she pales and leaps off the bed, away from Redheart and steps back when the nurse gets up, very much concerned.

“What's wrong?” asks Redheart carefully.

“What's wrong? What's wrong!? You poisoned me those mushrooms!” shouts Trixie.

She hears Redheart say something, but the words are a jumbled mess of gibberish since all Trixie can hear is her ragged breaths and racing heart. Then her eyes dart between Redheart and the infirmary door as her brain tells her to flee while she still can. She made a mistake thinking that she can trust them, but now she sees them for who they are. Crazy ponies who like drugging, beating and zapping their prisoners! She knows she has to escape while she still can or else they will keep her for their sadistic tortues!

“Trixie, you need to calm down or you'll end up hurting yourself,” says Redheart calmly, her voice clear enough for understanding now.

Trixie doesn't say a word and instead tries to bolt past Redheart in a mad dash to get to the door. However, before she can even pass the door, Redheart sticks out her hoof and close-lines Trixie full on in the barrel. She flies off of her hooves and lands on her back with a loud crack and a flash of white to go with the smart pain attacking her skull.

Trixie seethes and her eyes snap wide when Redheart pins her down. Her heart races and she struggles to free herself from the earth pony, but the nurse's natural strength overpowers her and keeps her pinned, leaving her only able to suffocate in panic.

“Let me go, you bitch!” shrieks Trixie.

“You need to calm down this instant!” says Redheart sternly.

Trixie grits her teeth and tries pushing Redheart off again, but the nurse presses Trixie's forehooves against her chest and lays down on top of her as hard as she can to keep the unicorn from moving. Trixie's almost explodes from her chest and her lungs burn as she relives the horrible even of being trapped by a superior predator without any means of defending herself. She closes her eyes and tilts her head away, shivering and whimpering with tears falling to the stone floor as the nurse's breath brushes her coat. She can only think of Sunshine at that point, and she swears she can hear her rapist giggling in her ear.

“Please, let me go. I don't want to be here,” sobs Trixie weakly.

“Look, we aren't going to hurt you here. You are safe, okay?” says Redheart. Her hard expression softens and she climbs off of Trixie, scoops her up in a hug and rubs her hoof along the unicorn's spine in gentle motions, shushing her in her ear. “It's okay, Trixie. We're your family, now, and we won't let anything happen to you, I promise.”

“You shouldn't make promises. They are too easy to break,” says Gray Muffin, his solemn voice echoing off the walls.

Trixie opens her eyes, sniffling, and sees Gray Muffin wearing his usual attire walking towards them with the same hardened expression she saw in Barnville. After Redheart looks over her should and sees the stallion, she releases Trixie and stands up, offering a salute, which he politely returns.

“The mushrooms have fully healed the patient, but I'm afraid she didn't react well to them emotionally,” says Redheart.

“As expected,” says Gray Muffin. “Normally I would let nature take its course, but we simply do not have the time for slow recoveries. But now that she is awake, Redheart, you are to go to Roar Shock's chambers. He needs to talk to you immediately.”

“...Yes, sir.”

Redheart's hoof snaps to a salute and just like last time, it is returned in kind. The nurse gives Trixie one last look before she heads out, and once she is out of the room, Gray Muffin looks at Trixie, who is keeping her eyes on the floor, shaking and sniffling.

“You said you didn't want to be here, correct?” says Gray Muffin.

Trixie nods, barely able to make so much as a whimper.

“Even though I warned you that commitment is lifelong and that there is no backing out once you walked through those doors?”

Again, Trixie nods, but adds in a faint whisper: “Yes, sir...”

“Let this be a lesson for you, then. Each action you take has a reaction, and depending on what you do, you can either shape your moment or your life and you must deal with the consequences. Not run away from them.”

Trixie looks up at the earth pony, eye twitching slightly with boiling rage as she thinks about her old life and how the consequences of her actions led to her ruin. She wants to chew him out and tell him all about how she tried to deal with the chain of events after the Ursa Minor in Ponyville, but seeing his stony expression, her rage quickly retreats and she looks down, submitting defeat with a nod.

“Follow me,” orders Gray Muffin. “It is time for you to meet your other trainers.”

Trixie nods and wordlessly follows Gray Muffin out of the infirmary with her head down and tail dragging. The hallway they walk down is mostly dead, with just a few stragglers strolling through, and on the way, Trixie notices wires stapled to the walls that lead to various lights and gem and coal powered heaters. With the amount of heaters the hallway feels just a little bit stuffy to Trixie, though, and she wonders how Gray Muffin can stand walking around with his outfit on top of his fur and the long line of heaters.

They walk in silence for a couple of more minutes before Gray Muffin opens up metal door leading to a massive, circular chamber with benches and candles surrounding a large mat. She stares in awe at the scope of the room, and she feels really tiny, like a foal looking at the dark tip of the sky, when she sees the domed roof. It has electrical lights hanging from sturdy beams, heaters and ceiling fans, and color coded wires snaking up the wall like vines. She then notices an observation box sitting on top of a twenty foot tall stand with stairs leading up to it and tinted windows hiding whoever may be inside. Then there is a terrible cry of pain and Trixie squeaks and retreats behind Gray Muffin while he continues forward, barely looking over his shoulder to order her to follow him.

Trixie swallows and walks after the stallion in shaky steps, cowering slightly when there is another thud followed by a scream of agony.

“Twenty nothing!” boasts a stallion with an exotic voice.

At this point, Trixie is looking at the source of the commotion and sees a zebra stallion with a freshly cleaned pelt standing smugly with his hoof pressed on the back of a fallen unicorn. His victim's eyes are closed and his tongue is hanging out as he groans, and around the zebra is a circle of more ponies, a couple of griffins and an ibex. All of them look like they can barely move and are muttering complaints of pain. Some more colorful than others.

“It looks like Adanz is having his fun,” says Gray Muffin dryly.

Trixie looks at the zebra, watching him with a mix of fear and wonder as he flashes a cocky smile and waves his hoof challengingly at a group of four pegasi. The group exchange looks, nod, then they take flight in different directions. What happens next makes Trixie seethe and fold her ears down in response to the thuds, screams and breaking objects, all while Gray Muffin snorts in disgust and walks along the edge.

“Adanz, you can't keep showing off like that. It is unhealthy,” lectures Gray Muffin.

Trixie finds herself silently agreeing with that statement.

The zebra, Adanz, looks at Gray Muffin, grinning deviously as he keeps one of his hind legs pressed between a pegasus' wings and holds the other in a choke hold. The other two lay on the ground, moaning, with one rubbing his wing and staring at Gray Muffin with big, beady, watery eyes, much like a hurt puppy. The second one is lying on his back on top of what remains of a bench and is now the helpless target of ridicule from the audience.

“But, Master Muffin, showing off is a crucial part of being me,” says Adanz with nigh uncontrollable giggles.

Then he sees Trixie and his eyes bulge and with an excited gasp, he throws the choking pony aside and makes a few big leaps towards the pair, stopping short of Trixie and grinning from ear to ear, making her stumble back fearfully.

“Another unicorn!? Fascinating!” says Adanz energetically. He grabs Trixie and turns her for a profile view, making her yelp in shock. “Nice cutie mark. A specialist in magic, yes?”

“I-I-I-” stammers Trixie, sweating and shaking uncontrollably as her heart races and throat clogs from the hoof going all over her.

“Be gentle with her. I saved her from Sunshine,” says Gray Muffin as he moves Adanz away from Trixie, keeping him bay with his hoof.

Adanz's excited smile disappears and he gasps in shock. “Oh my. You poor pony. You are lucky Gray Muffin saved you from a terrible fate.”

Trixie barely sees Gray Muffin's eyes lower, but before she can make an attempt to think what that means, Adanz's hoof shoots out, grabs her from her neck and pulls her in for a tight hug. Her whole body tenses and she looks at Gray Muffin, silently begging for help when the zebra starts nuzzling her.

“It's okay, though. You're in good hooves, now,” assures Adanz.

“Let her go, Adanz,” orders Gray Muffin. The zebra is quick to obey and Trixie stumbles back, shaking while the earth pony speaks to her. “Adanz and Wazza are our hoof-to-hoof specialists. They will be training you on how to engage in close up combat, which is what you will be experiencing most of the time. And speaking of your brother, where is he, Adanz?”

“Right here!” blurts another exotic stallion right next to Trixie's ear.

Trixie nearly jumps out of her flesh as she shrieks and leaps away from the voice, unintentionally bumping into Gray Muffin. When she looks at the source of the voice -fur straight up, mane frazzled and heart racing- she sees Adanz with Terra standing next to him. She blinks and looks to her side and sees Adanz smiling at her, then she looks in front of her again and still sees Adanz. She looks back and forth with quick snaps of her head as the gears in her mind spin and smoke and send sparks of confusion to blind her thoughts. She can't think! She has absolutely no idea what's going on and it is driving her crazy!

“What?” squeaks Trixie pathetically.

“Moron,” scoffs Terra. Trixie glares at the female unicorn version of Gray Muffin as she waves her hoof between the two zebra stallions. “They're obviously twins and it looks like you broke something trying to figure that out.”

The Adanz clone, Wazza, tsks and lightly pats Terra on the back. “Must you be so insensitive to others, my little mud jewel?”

Terra snickers and rubs herself against Wazza, looking him in the eyes with a sideways glance and a alluring smile, complete with a tail brush. “You know I must, my striped pony.”

The two giggle and Trixie grimaces, and she looks at Gray Muffin when the psycho mare in front of her scratches the underside of the zebra's chin. The older stallion stares at the two with a growing frown, and they only stop when he clears his throat.

“Save it for off time,” orders Gray Muffin.

“Uncle, it is my off time,” points out Terra flatly.

“And mine, too,” adds Wazza quickly with a raised hoof.

“Then save it for some place private!” says Gray Muffin sharply.

The sharpness of his tone makes Trixie jump, but the only effect it has on the couple is a burst of excitement as marked by their exchanged grins. The two then gallop off, leaving Trixie's mind like a completely blank black board, completely devoid of everything. Not even a chalk smudge of thought can be concocted. Once the two lovebirds are out of sight, her mind and body manage the greatest feat of the minute. A blink.

Adanz smirks at Gray Muffin, he is glowering at the doorway with his thin fur bristled, grumbling about the meeting not going as planned.

“Fret not, Master Muffin, Trixie and Wazza will have plenty of time to get acquainted in the Arena,” says the zebra lightly.

Gray Muffin snorts and turns his glare to the zebra. “Adanz, I told you too many times that the Arena is no place for that kind of activity. We do not need any distractions here. Especially that kind.”

Adanz snickers and slithers behind the earth pony and places his hooves on his shoulders. “You and Master Shock are too tense for your own health. Here, let me rub you all over with this technique my dada mkuba showed me. It really releases the tensions in the muscles and will make your positive energy flow better.”

Trixie puts a hoof to her mouth to hide the growing smile when Adanz's hooves start kneading Gray Muffin's shoulders with smooth, tender motions. Seeing the hardcore killing machine in front of almost completely melt into the working hooves of another stallion, even though he is obviously trying to resist the temptation of relaxation. However, as soon as Adanz starts humming a relaxing song in the old stallion's ear, his eyes become heavy and he sits on the floor, breathing softly through his nose and his body swaying in its spot. Adanz slides behind Gray Muffin and continues his massage and therapeutic lullaby from his better position, and he glances at Trixie and gives her a mischievous wink.

Trixie can't help it at that point. A small, childish giggle escapes her, and quicker than she has ever seen him, Gray Muffin's snap open and he spins to face Adanz with a glare and his hoof jabbed against the striped chest.

“Do not do that to me ever again!” says Gray Muffin angrily in a near shout, which scares Trixie's smile away but does absolutely nothing to faze Adanz.

When the zebra opens his mouth for a rebuttal, he is cut off by the earth pony pointing at the cadets that he laid waste to just minutes before.

“Collect your trainees and show them how to defend themselves properly this time,” orders Gray Muffin.

Adanz bows theatrically. “As you wish, Master Muffin. Then we will resume your massage when you have your off time.”

“No we will not.”

The zebra ignores him and does an about face, then prances on the Arena mat while calling all his pupils to a circle. Trixie watches the battered and bruised recruits stagger on to the mat, most able to walk by themselves, but some needing help from their companions to walk. As the group sits down, a pony wearing a white hat trots out dragging a cart behind him, and he so kindly levitates ice packs to each recruit. While this happens, Gray Muffin motions Trixie to follow him, and she does so without question or desire to ask how the massage was.

She does without question, and takes a seat next to him, where they both silently watch Adanz explain a fighting style called Fallen Ceasar. Even though the zebra is moving slowly against the recruit he is using as a dummy so the others can see how the maneuvers work, she still finds the tactic terrifying. Especially when Adanz explains the effects of well placed hooves with the proper amount of force to the neck.

“And there will be blood everywhere and you will be sick unless you are prepared,” says Adanz, trying very hard to be stern with failing results. He pats the recruit on the back and returns him to his spot just so he can give another recruit a chance at public humiliation. “Now, this method is not lethal, but if done right it will make your target puke.”

The recruits chuckle and Trixie spots a small smile from Gray Muffin out of the corner of her eye.

“Adanz and Wazza love that one,” says Gray Muffin.

“The puking thing?” asks Trixie.

Gray Muffin nods and silence falls between them again as they watch Adanz give instructions.

“Can you tell me about the League?” asks Trixie hesitantly a few minutes later. When Gray Muffin glances at her out of the corner of his eye, she swallows and looks down at the floor, pawing it nervously. “I-I mean if that's okay with you. I'm just wondering since... since I'm, um, part of this thing now.”

Gray Muffin stares at her for a few more seconds before looking back at the recruits. Trixie can see the old pony's gears turn in his mind, but she doesn't know if he is thinking about a history lesson or if he is trying to decide if he should deny her or not. Another few seconds pass and her question is answered, starting with a deep breath from the stallion.

“The League of Justice has been around for a long time,” begins Gray Muffin. “It was founded by Abigail Pansy shortly after the founding of Equestria. Our nation was still new, so there were... complications. Corruption, disputes, and injustice was rampant and threatened to dismantle everything the Founding Three worked towards. Abigail Pansy was always quiet and timid, but she knew what had to be done. She knew that sometimes in order to fight evil, to fight injustice and corruption, matters must be taken into our own hooves, and against the will of Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever and Princess Celestia, she did just that.”

Adanz orders everyone up, puts them in pairs and has them stand across from each other to create a path for him to walk through. As the zebra walks down his path, he gives instructions on how everyone is going to exchange “gentle blows” of the methods they have just learned.

“Abigail Pansy formed the League of Justice, and with every member of every tribe and groups of every race in our land, they silently purged those who were fueled by their own vices rather than the Greater Good,” says Gray Muffin, his tone neutral and his gaze fixated on the recruits who are now hesitantly going at it with awkward and embarrassingly bad movements. “Prosecutions were made and the guilty faced exile or imprisonment. But despite our best efforts, we could not stop the Lunar Revolt. In Luna's quest to achieve her dream of True Harmony, she became Nightmare Moon and our organization was nearly destroyed by the war. Some sided with Celestia, some sided with Luna, most wanted only what was right for the people, but the Loyalists and Separatists believed that there was no neutral ground and that crippled us with division.”

Gray Muffin's tone drops and he leans forward slightly, staring intently at Adanz as he patrols the pairs practicing, shouting orders and directing those who make a mistake with their maneuvers. The zebra is patient and seems to have a lightness in his steps and an eagerness in his demeanor when he gives his instructions.

“But we have always been fighters,” continues Gray Muffin, his voice grim and wrinkled eyes squinting at the fresh recruits. “We have survived everything and will continue to do so, for we will always be the shadows of the defenseless, ready to act as their sentry when needed. Unfortunately, we had no choice but to abandon Pansy's original creed of bloodlessness. After your father failed taking over Ponyville, we realized that we could not be the silent guardians Equestria needed unless we strayed from our original path. Now, criminals and corrupt officials live in fear of us because we show no restraint in removing the likes of them from our society.”

“So, I’m guessing I’m going to have to, uh... To take a life, huh?” says Trixie uneasily after a moment of silence.

Gray Muffin nods slowly. “I warned you of what was ahead, but you didn’t listen. At least you’ll be killing evil ponies.”

The two resume silently watching Adanz guide the recruits through the motions with his hoof-on training, and a minute later, a thought strikes Trixie. Now that she’s part of this special group, no one will mess with her, and she’ll be fighting evil. Although the thought of killing is still uncomfortable to her, she has a feeling that she’ll get used to it and probably get brownie points for the Afterlife for stopping evil ponies. She’s never been the religious type, but she’s wondering if this is the chance of redemption she has been praying for, for all the years she’s been homeless. It certainly seems like it.

Trixie sees a better future for her, and she’s certain that Gray Muffin, despite his dark characteristics, is the mentor she’s been searching for, and needing, since her mother passed away. He did save her from Sunshine after all and she knows he is being protective of her. With those thoughts in mind, she smiles and relaxes in her seat to enjoy the show, prompting Gray Muffin to give her a quick glance before doing the same.

Redheart steps inside a large, domed roomed with stone walls and various electric cables, heating units and lamps placed in strategic places. Her steps echo as she goes further in, and her eyes drift towards a massive map of Equestria with Barnville, Dodge City, Appleloosa, Detrot, Stalliongrad, Fillydelphia and Canterlot all circled. Barnville, Dodge City and Appleloosa are X'd out, as well as multiple spy-cam shots of Sunshine and dozens of other ponies, griffins and zebras. There are more pictures of various others, mostly griffins now, each in a cluster above a city with the largest picture being of Gilda. Her black and white photo is just above Canterlot, and with it a picture of two more griffins -one female and the other a scarred, buff male- and what looks like a unicorn-zebra hybrid.

Redheart looks away from the map and sees a brown diamond dog with a head of gray hair sitting next to Roar Shock. Next to the diamond dog is a rusted and dinged up metal box with a faded red cross on it, and he is gently holding the pegasus' hoof with one hand while the other skillfully positions a syringe filled with brown liquid over a vein.

“Are you ready?” asks the diamond dog, his low voice being amplified by the stone walls.

Redheart steps closer and notices that Roar Shock's blue eyes have lost their color to a gray mist just before he closes his eyes. Once the pegaus has closed his eyes, he takes a breath of courage, nods, then braces himself with his head resting against his throne.

“Do it,” orders Roar Shock.

The diamond dog hesitates, then injects Roar Shock's vein with a brown liquid and the pegasus tenses with teeth clenched tight and a trail of tears leaking past his squeezed eyes. When the syringe is empty, he releases his breath, deflates on his throne and looks at the diamond dog with a grateful smile while rubbing the injection point.

“Thank you, Doc,” says the beige pegasus, the blue returning to his eyes as he speaks.

“No problem, Mister Shock. Is there anything else I can do for you?” says the diamond dog.

Roar Shock shakes his head and the diamond dog, Doc, packs up his equipment and strolls out of the room, nodding politely to Redheart along the way. Once the diamond dog is out, she takes a deep breath and trots forward.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” says Redheart uncertainly, her voice bouncing off the stone walls.

“How is Trixie?” asks Roar Shock venomously.

“She fully recovered with the healing mushroom as expected, but her magic will be gone for at least a day.”

Roar Shock humphs. “Good news, I suppose.”

Redheart silently nods and the pegasus in front of her narrows his eyes at the map, putting his attention on Ponyville and a picture of Mayor Ivory Scroll. There is a moment of silence between them, but when the nurse takes a breath to speak, Roar Shock starts talking.

“Redheart, when you became a nurse, you took an oath to protect and heal the injured, correct?” he says condescendingly.

Redheart nods again. “Yes, sir.”

“I also took an oath. After all these years I barely remember the words to it, but I still remember the message. The promise I made. I promised to defend Equestria from any and all enemies, whether they be foreign or domestic. Every day I fight because of this promise, and now you must fulfill yours in a new way.”

“I don't know what you mean.”

“To you, protecting is fighting diseases and infections, and healing the injured is about mending their broken bodies.”

“Yes...”

Roar Shock taps his hoof against the nightstand next to his throne. “There is an infection that must be removed.”

Redheart swallows nervously and her legs feel like stone as she walks towards the nightstand. She takes a breath and turns the file to herself and flips the folder open to see black and white spy-cam photos of Mayor Ivory Scroll in various situations talking to the pair of griffins whose photos have been tacked to the wall with Gilda and the zony. Stamped above the profile detailing her name, age, gender and the rest of the basic information is a skull and crossbones.

“This is the mayor of Ponyville,” says Redheart in disbelief.

“The greatest criminal of Ponyville,” says Roar Shock with a disgusted sneer, “and when she is out of the way, Golden Harvest will get her seat. She is a mare of superior standings and will put the town on a path of healing.”

“But there is no guarantee that she will get the seat if something happens to Ivory Scroll. There will be investigations and-”

“Save your excuses for somepony who cares. We need to put Golden Harvest in, and that is final.”

“But why her? I know she's running for mayor, but she has absolutely no experience in anything! She's a carrot farmer for Celestia's sake! I don't even think she attended school!”

Roar Shock holds up his hoof, a saddened frown growing and a faint mist tainting his eyes as he observes his hoof like he is searching for a hidden map on his own fur.

“She and I share more than just similar views,” continues Roar Shock quietly. He exhales and drops his hoof to look back at the map. Specifically at Ponyville. “She is not as... Extreme, you can say, but she understands that there are codes and responsibilities in life that cannot be infringed upon. We both found that out the hard way and what we need are leaders who understand these codes, these responsibilities, and leaders that have virtues that can guide us back to what made our nation great in the first place.”

There is a moment of pregnant silence between the two, and it only ends when the pegasus releases an explosive sigh, drops his hoof and stares at the map critically.

“All that aside, you haven’t been paying attention to your duties, Redheart, and because of your laziness Ponyville has succumbed to the same corruption that is destroying Equestria. You will help save it, thus bringing this country one step closer to the paradise it once was,” says Roar Shock firmly.

“But you can't mark Mayor Scroll for death! She's a good mare!”

Roar Shock narrows his eyes and Redheart gulps and steps back when a growl rumbles through his throat and his muscles twitch, aching for a charge. When he tilts his head so he is looking at the nurse, she sees nothing but pure hatred and blood-lust churning in his eyes. She takes another step when he leaves his throne and walks towards her with slow, meticulous steps, ruffled feathers and bristled fur.

“You speak as if you have been paying attention to Ivory Scroll's deeds,” sneers Roar Shock. “But you are so incompetent of your most basic of duties that you do not see that vice is her virtue and that she has blood on her hooves. Ponyville needs you to do your duty just as it did ten years ago when Eclipse tried to take it over. You will free Ponyville from the Grizelda Mob and from Mayor Ivory Scroll and her administration's corruption, and that is non-negotiable.”

Redheart stares at Roar Shock with drooped ears, wide eyes and a tight throat, fighting against every muscle in her body to keep herself from shaking. When Roar Shock turns away from her to go to the other side of the throne, she exhales and drops her head, only to jump into attention when a heavy container is dropped in front of her seconds later. Redheart looks at the strange, rectangular case, and when Roar Shock pops the box open with his hoof and nudges it towards her, she peers inside. Inside the box is an earpiece attached to a backpack that has a folded down antenna, a mechanical rectangle with a large Tesla coil and batter pack, and a pamphlet for a funeral service held for a cat named “Mittens”.

“Your new gear and proof of your funeral attendance. Dismissed,” says Roar Shock.

Redheart swallows and her heart thumps slow and hard as she looks between the pegasus and the weapon.

“Do I really have to do this?” asks Redheart softly, her eyes moistening with the building tears.

Roar Shock's only answer is a harsh stare, and Redheart sighs heavily and nods after wiping tears from her eyes. She then reluctantly picks up the items and profile without further protest and trots towards the exit with her head down. She briefly stops to look at Roar Shock in a silent plea for him to reconsider, but his cold demeanor says enough.

Author's Notes:

Added 10 Aug 2014

Arc 1- 07- Warnings Unheard -EDITED-

Pinkie Pie is literally tossed out of the Town Hall of Ponyville by a couple of oversized stallions, with Mayor Ivory Scroll standing between them, looking worse for wear. Pinkie Pie sits on her haunches and holds her forehooves up pleadingly.

“Please, Mayor, you have to listen! You’re in danger!” says Pinkie Pie frantically.

“Pinkie Pie, there have been no threats made against me, or Ponyville, and the Town Hall is clean. So do everypony a favor, and stop with the conspiracy theories!” says the Mayor angrily.

“But they never make threats or give any warnings! They just do it!”

“Oh, for the love of Celestia, this is getting ridiculous. Can somepony please send Pinkie Pie home?”

And right on cue, Twilight Sparkle, unicorn extraordinaire and proud student of Celestia, gallops to the Mayor with Spike following close behind her, both of them are panting and sweating from their run. Twilight is carrying a saddle bulging with scrolls and other trinkets while Spike is carrying a backpack that probably has adult magazines in it. Over the past decade, Spike’s gotten bigger and he has an odd walking style where sometimes he’ll walk on two feet or on all fours, and his tail and snout have grown too.

“Sorry I’m late, Mayor,” says Twilight in between heavy breathing, “I just got back from Canterlot. The train was late and the Guards were searching everything and everypony because of what happened in Barnville.”

The Mayor merely dismisses Tara’s reason for being late with a wave of her hoof. “Yes, I heard about what happened. It’s tragic, but I’m glad you’re here. Pinkie Pie needs to leave and sleep off her sugar rush. She is losing it.”

“I’m not losing it!” snaps Pinkie Pie, her mane and tail now flat.

“Pinkie Pie, please,” Twilight says sternly while holding up a hoof, then she smiles nervously at the Mayor. “I’ll have Spike take Pinkie Pie home, and I actually have a note from my brother addressed to you. Perhaps we should discuss this inside.”

The Mayor looks at Twilight skeptically when she summons the scroll, and after a moment of awkward silence, she nods and motions Twilight to follow her. “I’m sure I know what this is about. We can’t be too careful nowadays.”

“Funny, that’s what my brother said!” chirps Twilight.

She giggles awkwardly and when the Mayor looks at her unamused, her awkward giggling fades away and ends with her clearing her throat.

“Let's get inside,” says Twilight sheepishly.

“Yes, lets,” says the Mayor unenthusiastically.

“Spike, take Pinkie Pie home. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Spike does a cheesy, two fingered salute. “Sure thing, Twilight.”

When Twilight, the Mayor and the guards walk inside the Town Hall, the doors slam shut and Spike and Pinkie Pie stare at it for a few seconds before looking away. Spike looks at Pinkie Pie while she looks at the ground.

“Are you okay?” asks Spike carefully while putting his hand on her shoulder.

Pinkie Pie pulls away. “No, I’m not okay! Nopony is listening!”

Pinkie Pie stands up and shuffles back to the Sugar Cube Corner with Spike following close behind. She rambles on and on about a mysterious organization attacking the criminal underworld with extreme prejudice, and she talks about what she had found with just newspaper clippings and how she believes that the Mayor is the next target. Her ranting causes some heads to turn; most were quick glances, but others struck up a brief conversation with other ponies in regards to the Element's babbling.

“Why do you think the Mayor is a target for... assassination?” asks Spike uneasily. He’s fully aware of all the stuff that has been happening, but he still has a hard time believing that something horrible like an assassination can happen in Ponyville.

Once outside the Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie stops walking and looks into Spike’s eyes, making him slightly uneasy when he sees the genuine fear in her eyes.

“They think the Mayor’s corrupted,” says Pinkie Pie, her voice trembling a little bit.

Pinkie Pie leads Spike to her room and when she pulls out her map and scrapbook of newspaper clippings, Spike facepalms and grumbles something under his breath about the party pony turning into Twilight. Pinkie Pie pushes the map against the wall and as Spike halfheartedly studies the map, Pinkie Pie opens up the scrapbook to show Spike her findings.

Pinkie Pie starts flipping through the pages. “This organization has been around for a very long time. Like thousands of years long time.”

“So this is an ancient group of assassins?” says Spike unconvinced.

“Well, they weren’t always assassins.”

There is a loud banging noise, making Spike jump slightly and when he turns around to see what made that noise, he sees Pinkie Pie searching through a large encyclopedia in the middle of the room.

“Some of their largest operations took place during the Lunar Revolt. Then they had little spikes during famines, wars, and general times of chaos.” Pinkie Pie closes the encyclopedia and leaps towards her map. “They didn’t kill anypony, or at least they didn’t try to kill anypony. Their targets were specific, like the high ranking jerks in the criminal underworld.”

“Right... so what makes you think this same group is responsible for all that is happening now?” asks Spike while sitting down like a dog, and scratching his ear like one too.

Pinkie Pie frowns at Spike’s careless attitude on the situation. “A lot of stuff, but these ponies followed a pattern, and because of that pattern I was able to track them all the way to their origins from Pre-Lunar Revolt to now. Do you remember what happened to Eclipse?”

Spike snorts. “Yeah, how can I forget that guy. Last I heard he got tossed out of his loft in Canterlot. The newspapers wouldn’t stop talking about it for weeks!”

“Do you remember what he was accused of?”

“Besides trying to take over Ponyville ten years ago?”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes become half lidded and her ears droop, obviously not impressed with Spike’s answer in the slightest sense.

Spike chuckles nervously and scratches his chin while searching his brain for anything related to the deceased criminal lord. When he comes up with nothing, he silently shrugs and Pinkie Pie turns the pages in her scrapbook until she reaches a ten year old, small article that talks about a mysterious fire at the home of a small business owner in Fillydelphia. The summary of the small article is that three dead pegasi were found in the ruins of the fire; a mare, and two fillies. The owner and his third child were nowhere to be found and presumed to be dead. Eclipse was the prime suspect of the atrocity, but further articles showed that there wasn't enough evidence to hold a case against him.

After finishing reading the article clips, Spike rubs his forehead, mumbling: “Oh man.”

Pinkie Pie stares at the map, specifically, at all the attacks the mysterious group has made. “Eclipse’s murder was a declaration of war, and not just against criminals, but against corrupt government officials. And he wants everypony to know what happens when they are on the wrong side of the law.”

“But isn’t vigilantism, you know, illegal? Especially this kind?”

Pinkie Pie sits on her bed and nods in agreement. “Yeah, but whoever this guy is thinks that they are doing Equestria a favor.”

“So how do you plan on stopping this guy?”

“What makes you think I’m going to stop him?”

Spike smirks. “C’mon, Pinkie, I’ve known for a while now. You got all this stuff, and you obviously got the smarts to track this guy down and you aren’t the kind of pony to sit around while that nut is on the loose.”

Pinkie Pie smiles devilishly at Spike and her mane and tail inflate to their cotton candy look. “Oh, Spike, you do know me.”

“So what’s your plan? I’m sure Twilight can help.”

“No, Spike, I don’t want any of my friends getting involved.”

“But they can help.”

“The less they know, the better. This guy means major business and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if any of you guys got hurt because of me.”

Spike walks over to Pinkie Pie with the scrapbook in his claws and gently tosses it on the pink pony’s bed. “But I know or at least have an idea of what you plan on doing. So you might as well use my help.”

Pinkie Pie drags the scrapbook closer and taps her chin a couple of times. “Well, there is one thing you can do...”

Fluttershy is sitting in her living room, reading the depressing newspaper while her radio plays some soft orchestral music. She needs the soft music to help calm her down. With all the attacks going on, she’s afraid to go out of her cabin, and barely has enough courage to walk around Ponyville. At least in her cabin she feels safe and has Angel and the other animals to keep her company.

“We interrupt this music session with a message from Princess Celestia,” says the radio suddenly.

Fluttershy glances at her radio for a second, disappointed that they would interrupt her musical therapy. But since it is Princess Celestia speaking, she decides that she should not be upset by this. The Princess always has nice things to say, after all.

“Hello, my little ponies, this your Princess speaking,” says Celestia, her voice retaining its calm, motherly tone. “I know many of you are scared about what is happening and I cannot say when the attacks will end. But I promise you it will all be over soon. Every branch of the Equestrian government is working in full cooperation with each other in finding those responsible.”

Fluttershy turns the page and reads a blurb about Shining Armor’s response to the most recent attack. He’s calling for a massive joint operation with every level of the Equestrian government to find the terrorist leader, but they don’t have a name and finding those who work for this particular group is like chasing shadows. Or so the rumors go.

“But we cannot let these terrorists divide us. We must remember that a united Equestria is a strong Equestria. We must be strong.”

There is an energetic knocking on the door that makes Flutteshy jump and squeak. When the knocking resumes, she cautiously approaches the door, suspicious as to who would be coming by her cabin at this time of night.

“We must remember what it means for Harmony to reign.”

Fluttershy takes a deep breath and then opens the door. Her eyes widen when she sees who’s standing in her doorway with the always present smile. “Oh, hello Pinkie Pie. What are you doing here?”

Pinkie Pie greets Fluttershy as she bounces in the cabin. Fluttershy peeks out out of sake of putting her paranoia to ease before closing and locking the door. When the door is locked she turns around and sees Pinkie Pie going through her closet.

“And above all else...”

“Um... are you okay, Pinkie Pie?” asks Fluttershy, head cocked slightly.

“I’m fine, I just need to grab something real quick,” says Pinkie Pie cheerfully.

Pinkie Pie’s smile broadens and she pulls out her Mare-Do-Well costume, looking just as good as when she and her friends retired from this sort of business ten years back.

“We must be vigilant.”

The sun is barely setting by the time Nurse Redheart enters her home. As much as she is happy to be home, she is too exhausted to show it. Her new task is eating away at her like a swarm of termites on rotten wood, and the paranoia closing in around her is not helping her mood. She is certain someone has been watching her, and she knows she got some strange looks from the mingling townsfolk when she returned with the metal casing on her back.

Redheart wearily locks the door behind her and peeks out her window to see if anyone is watching before she shuts the curtains tight. She then carries her belongings up to her room, moves her bed out of the way and puts the weapon in a large, hidden safe built into the floor. After locking her gear away and pushing the bed back in place, she goes to her kitchen to make some tea, despite her body telling her to take a nap instead. But before she can get the water prepped, she hears a frantic rapping on the door.

“That better not be Pinkie Pie...” grumbles Redheart to herself.

She peers through the peephole and her eyes bulge when she sees Twilight’s number one assistant standing in front of her, panting and sweating.

She opens the door and just a bit so only her face can show. “Spike? Are you alright?”

“Redheart! Ye-You gotta come quick! There-There’s a uh a poor pony who’s hurt really bad and-and needs your help!” says Spike urgently.

Redheart doesn’t hesitate to follow Spike. They oddly run through the alleys, like Spike doesn’t want to be seen with her. Redheart’s gut is telling her that she’s being led to a trap, but she pushes aside the doubt since Spike is a trusted member of Ponyville. Besides, why would he lie about someone being injured? However, Redheart’s nagging doubts become more vocal when she realizes that they are on the outskirts of Ponyville, and when they are in Whitetail Wood, she skids to a stop and orders Spike to stop. He immediately stops and looks at Redheart innocently.

“We’ve been running for a while now, and I’m starting to think that this whole injured pony thing is fabricated!” accuses Redheart.

“You’re right, I made it up,” admits Spike.

Suddenly, a familiar masked purple vigilante drops out of a tree and lands next to Redheart, prompting the nurse to leap back and coil her body in a defensive stance.

“Mare-Do-Well,” sneers Redheart.

“Spike, you can go. I got this under under control,” says Mare-Do-Well in an obviously disguised voice.

“You sure?” asks Spike.

Mare-Do-Well nods and Spike hesitantly runs away without another word. When Spike’s out of sight and earshot, the two ponies start circling each other, each of them ready to pounce in an instant.

“You were the one following me, weren't you, Mysterious Mare-Do-Well?” says Redheart coldly.

“Team effort, actually, but I don't want to fight you or anything. I just want to talk.”

“What makes you think I’m going to talk?”

“Intuition.”

Redheart scoffs. “Wow, great answer there. Bravo. Bra-vo!”

“I know that you’ve been given an order to assassinate the Mayor.”

Redheart stops walking and glares at Mare-Do-Well. How this vigilante wannabe figured out her mission is beyond her, but that just adds to the number of threats she has to deal with now. There’s no telling how much she knows.

“You aren’t a killer, Redheart. I am begging you, don’t carry out the order. Ponyville is one of the few places where your organization-”

“I have no choice!” snaps Redheart. She coils her body in preparation to charge Mare-Do-Well, who, in turn, braces herself for the coming attack. “Ponyville is my responsibility and I let things slip up, and now I have to fix it!”

“Redheart, there is another way to do it, though! You don't have to do this!”

“Yes I do!”

Redheart screams and charges Mare-Do-Well, and the masked vigilante gracefully side steps the charge and does a flip that defies the laws of physics. She lands on Redheart’s back, kicking up mulch when the nurse's body is slammed into the ground. Redheart squirms underneath the masked mare, but when a hoof strike her on the neck, she feels all of her muscles become lax and she finds herself unable to move. Now she starts panicking. If she wasn’t paralyzed she’d be shaking right now.

“You can’t stop us, Mare-Do-Well,” chuckles Redheart anxiously as she’s turned on her back, her body covered in leaves and twigs. “You may have captured me, but they’ll just send somepony else. And after they deal with Mayor Scroll they’ll come after you for meddling with our business.”

Mare-Do-Well presses her hoof against Redheart's collar. “Tell me where your boss is!”

“Not going to do it. As much as he has changed, I will never give him up.”

“Ponies are dying! Doesn’t that mean anything to you!?”

“Of course it does! I’m a nurse for Celestia’s sake! The last thing I want to see is a dead pony!”

“Then why continue to work for him?”

“I have no choice... commitment is lifelong and besides... it’s for the Greater Good.”

Mare-Do-Well steps off of Redheart, and she tries once again to move. She can move a little bit, but not all she can manage is a wiggle, but that is enough to give her just a little bit of relief, knowing that the damage isn’t permanent.

“I’m handing you over to the guards,” says Mare-Do-Well as she stands next to the nurse's head, “and maybe while you’re there you’ll think about how expensive this ‘Greater Good’ is.”

The last thing Redhart sees before her world goes dark is a boot to her face.

Author's Notes:

Edited 10 Aug 2014

Arc 1- 08- Lessons -EDITED-

Trixie runs into one of the public bathrooms and empties her stomach contents in the closest toilet. The stomach acid burning her throat and the taste of regurgitation leaves a very unpleasant feeling in her mouth. She shakily wipes her mouth and flushes the toilet, watching the tan water swirl away into only Celestia knows where, but at least it’s not going to be near her.

Trixie moans and wipes her sweaty mane out of her face, she didn’t think that she was sweating that much until her hair stuck her hoof and she had to use her magic to pull it off. She grimaces at the fact that she’s a sweaty, stinky mess and she closes her eyes and rests her head against the toilet lid. The nice cool toilet lid that is her nice cool pillow that will cool off her head and-

Trixie’s eyes open up and she furrows her brows in disbelief that she had just allowed herself to sleep on a toilet lid after puking.

“Wow, I guess training with those zebras was too much for a tramp like you,” mocks Terra.

Trixie silently stand up and turns to face the unicorn that has been giving her trouble ever since she got here. Terra has a smug smile on her face and is gently rubbing a couple of stones together while sipping what looks like an amazing smoothie. Smoothie aside, Trixie remembers the good days when she wasn’t called a “tramp” and how she would embarrass any pony that had the guts to call her one, or have a strapping stallion take care of the problem. But she’s too tired to get in a confrontation with Terra, and even if she wanted to, she knows the news will make its way to Roar Shock which will only tick him off and cause more trouble.

“Did Gray Muffin send you?” asks Trixie wearily.

“Is that a serious question?” says Terra as she raises an eyebrow.

“Is that a serious answer?”

Terra’s eyes narrow and she approaches Trixie while morphing her rocks together to form a sleek blade. Trixie takes a step back into the stall and charges her horn defensively, hoping and praying that she won’t get stabbed to death in the stall.

“Listen here, tramp, I don’t know why Daddy would allow somepony like you in with us,” says Terra harshly. “If you are on a soul searching quest, take it up with the church and maybe if you’re lucky Celestia will take five seconds to hear you cry.”

“What is your problem with me!” cries Trixie.

“I don’t like how a fake skank like you thinks that they can waltz in here and be one of us. Once you’re evil you’re always evil.”

“Oh right, and once you’re pure, you’re always pure.”

“Once you’re better, you’re always better is more like it. Do yourself a favor and go hang yourself. The world doesn’t need you, and the League of Justice definitely doesn’t need you.”

Terra stabs the wall behind Trixie, making her yelp and slightly cower. Terra chuckles evilly, yanks the blade out of the wall and then leaves the bathroom. Trixie slouches on the floor and tries to calm her nerves enough so that she can actually move. She accomplishes this a few minutes later, and after washing sweat off of herself as best as she can with faucet water she leaves the bathroom. Once in the hallway she takes a couple of steps before Gray Muffin calls her. Trixie stops walking and turns around to see her mentor casually walking towards her. From the looks of it, he had just finished a brief conversation with Terra, most likely an assignment since her walking went from a smug piece of dung to that of purpose and determination.

“You’ve been sitting in the bathroom for ten minutes,” states Gray Muffin matter-of-factly.

“Sorry, sir, I just got tired,” says Trixie apologetically, although some of her annoyance does slip out.

“I see. Would you like some rest?”

Trixie is taken back by this and her mind goes blank for a second. She’s not sure if she heard the old stallion right, and if she did -which she’s sure she did- she’s wondering if he was feeling okay. That entire sentence seems like an anomaly to her.

Trixie sputters words to form a sentence, a sentence that no one, not even Trixie, can understand.

“You’ll have to repeat that. I don’t speak retard,” says Gray Muffin bluntly.

“Ye-Yes, sir, that-that would be great,” stammers Trixie, still in disbelief of what she had heard.

Gray Muffin’s tail suddenly wraps around one of Trixie’s hind legs and tugs it back, and as she stumbles to catch herself, he uses one of his front legs to trip her. She lands on the ground with a thud and she lets out a pathetic grunt, and while the hallway spins Gray Muffin pins her to the ground by pressing his hoof against her chest.

“If you want to rest, you’ll have to strike me three times,” says Gray Muffins.

Trixie rolls her eyes, but the negative thoughts on the matter are replaced with some concern. “But what if I pass out from exhaustion?”

“Then you’ll get your nap,” replies Gray Muffin in a barely noticeable teasing tone.

He helps her up, and right as Trixie is about to thank him, he strikes her in the chest, causing her to gasp in pain and stumble back, and then he bucks her against the walls.

After falling to the ground Trixie coughs and gags and clumsily pushes herself up. “Are we seriously doing this now?”

A swift kick to the face, and the bloody nose that follows, answers her question.

“That’s it,” growls Trixie.

Trixie blocks another one of Gray Muffin’s attacks, then she scrambles away from him and rams him against the wall, smiling victoriously when she realizes that she has him pinned.

“There’s one,” huffs Trixie.

“That isn’t a hit, that’s a pin,” says Gray Muffin smugly. He then headbutts Trixie, and as she swears and puts her hoof over her face, he pushes her back and kicks her in the side. She falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes. “That is a hit.”

“You’re too hard,” whines Trixie as she shifts on the ground, trying to rub her growing collection of bruises.

“Three strikes is all you have to do and then you can rest.”

Trixie pushes herself to her feet, and with an enraged scream she charges Gray Muffin. When she leaps in for the tackle he does something she doesn’t expect. He lies down on his his back and when she is over him, he uses his hooves to fling her clean over him and she lands on her back a good dozen or so feet away from him. Add in the sliding distance and it’s about twenty feet.

‘What the hay was that!’ wonders Trixie angrily while wincing from the burning pain in her back. ‘Fine, if we’re going to do tricks, then trick it is!’

Trixie groans and tells Gray Muffin that she can’t move, which isn’t too far from the truth. Her bones and muscles are aching, and any more punishment and she’s sure she won’t be able to move. And then she’ll have to deal with those cursed mushrooms again. She closes her eyes and pretends to go limp as she hears Gray Muffin walk towards her.

“Are you seriously trying to fool me?” asks Gray Muffin.

Trixie suddenly opens her eyes and uses her horn to blast Gray Muffin. The blue beam she shoots out hits him in the chest and sends him flying backwards into the ceiling. There is thud and he belly flops on the floor, motionless.

Trixie laughs victoriously, albeit with some strain, and she clumsily stands up. “Ha! Take that!”

But then she hears Gray Muffin growl and he stands up while giving Trixie the glare he gave Sunshine before executing him. Her ears droop and she takes a step back while stammering about not knowing she wasn’t supposed to use magic. As Gray Muffin walks towards her, she walks backwards, and with each step she takes she cowers further into the ground.

“You-you didn’t say anything about not using magic!” says Trixie defensively, now almost lying down on her stomach.

Gray Muffin is soon towering above Trixie, and she’s too scared and shaky to move. She closes her eyes to prepare for either a tongue lashing, a pummeling, or both.

“That’s one,” says Gray Muffin in a surprisingly calm voice.

Trixie opens one eye and sees Gray Muffin smiling proudly, and after taking a few paces back he motions Trixie to stand up. Trixie gulps and stands up, she’s still worried about will happen next since she doesn’t trust his smile.

“You are a unicorn, Trixie. Not using your natural gift is like a pegasus refusing to fly, or an earth pony refusing to use their legs,” says Gray Muffin. “You still have to strike me two more times before I allow you your rest. However, I want you to try something different besides your magic.”

Trixie takes her eyes off of Gray Muffin for just a moment to think what else she could do, that proves to be a big mistake. When she looks back at her trainer, he’s practically in her face and he tackles her to the ground. They both roll over each other down the hallway like a ball, and when they come to a stop, Gray Muffin is on top of Trixie and he has her head pinned so that her horn is away from him.

“Never take your eyes off your target!” growls Gray Muffin. “The moment you take your eyes off your target is the moment that have a chance to escape or harm you.”

Trixie’s eyes dart around the hallway to see if there’s anything she can use against Gray Muffin, but the hallway is completely bare. Then she gets an idea that is sure to work. Her horn glows and Gray Muffin is covered in her magical mist, but her plans are shot to dust when he strikes her horn at the base, and sends a horrendous amount of pain that surges through her head. The pain can be compared to a stallion getting kicked in the gonads, and to make it worse, her magic disappears.

“Do not keep to the same routine. It will make it easier for your enemies to combat you. And always know your target’s weakness and strike there every chance you get,” instructs Gray Muffin over her cries of pain.

Trixie bites back her tears and cries, and comes to the conclusion that since her magic is gone she’ll have to resort to dirty fighting. To her relief, Gray Muffin is in the perfect position, and so is her hind leg. Trixie kicks Gray Muffin in the crotch and his eyes bulge, and he groans while rolling off of Trixie.

Trixie gets to her hooves and after taking a couple of deep breaths she proudly says: “That’s two, right?”

Gray Muffin nods and gradually gets up, wincing in the process. “Fighting dirty, are we?”

“One more and I get my nap.”

Gray Muffin nods and is about to charge Trixie again, but stops and stares down the hallway with an irritated scowl. Trixie is almost skeptical of his scowl, but she looks over her shoulder anyway and sees Roar Shock trotting towards them. He completely ignores Trixie and walks towards Gray Muffin with the proud pegasus demeanor. Trixie swears that pride is genetically built into pegasi, because just about every single one she’s met has had some sort of ego problem.

“Let me guess, I’m late,” says Gray Muffin dryly.

“They are fully charged and won’t be testing themselves,” remarks Roar Shock.

Gray Muffin nods and looks at Trixie. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to cut this session short.”

“So do I get my nap?” asks Trixie carefully.

“What?”

“Do I get my nap, sir?”

“No, you struck me twice. I said three times. Go train back to the Arena and continue training with Adanz and Wazza.”

Trixie huffs and kicks imaginary stones away as the two stallions walk away, talking quietly amongst themselves. She doesn’t want to go back to the Arena with the zebras, last time she was there the two zebras made her puke! Why anyone would want to make their target puke rather than knock them out is beyond her. Aside from the puking nightmare, they also tried to show her Fallen Ceasar, and it was by far the most painful thing she had experienced. But, nonetheless she must return to the Arena to train lest she wants Gray Muffin to zap her again, and as she reluctantly heads towards the arena she silently prays to Celestia that the zebras are not there.

After getting “lost” for a few minutes, Trixie finally walks into the training arena, and lo and behold Celestia did not answer her prayers. The zebra twins are meditating on the mat with a circle of candles surrounding them. The smoke rising from the candles are colorful and they give off sweet smells that make Trixie’s nose tingle. But she doesn’t want to interrupt their meditation, she heard that interrupting a zebra’s meditation could possibly be deadly due to them experiencing what some have described as “mindbuck dreams”.

Trixie sits down outside the circle of candles and impatiently watches the twins do their session. This goes on for a couple of minutes before she tries to sneak away, but as soon as she stands, one of them speaks.

“You have come for more training, yes?” says Adanz -or maybe Wazza.

“Not because I want to,” says Trixie wearily. She sighs irritably and sits back down, trying to relax before her day is ruined by a world of hurt the zebras will no doubt deliver to her.

“You sound tired, are you weary?” asks Wazza -or maybe Adanz.

“You have no idea,” laughs Trixie.

The zebras open their eyes in unison, making Trixie all the more uneasy about them. The first zebra stands up and walks towards Trixie; she is about to stand up but he orders her to stay seated. She forces herself to obey and watches the zebra nervously as he paces around her.

“But we already trained, yes?” says the zebra.

“Yeah, but I was ordered here,” says Trixie quietly.

“I see, Adanz, what shall we go over with Trixie, this time?”

Adanz, silently stands up, cracks his neck and approaches the two. “How about a balancing exercise, Wazza.”

“Very good idea, I will get the rods for you.”

Trixie watches Wazza gallop to the edge of the mat and bring out a roll of rods. He turns them over to Adanz, who quickly sets them up to make an odd rectangle looking thing that has the width of a pony, but stands a dozen feet tall. Wazza smiles proudly at his brother’s handy work, and then he grabs a ladder and pushes it next to the structure and orders Trixie to balance on it.

“You can’t be serious,” scoffs Trixie.

“You’re right, four is too much,” says Wazza. He nods to Adanz, and he removes one of the legs and smiles at Trixie with Wazza. “Three legs to balance on is better, yes?”

Trixie groans and climbs on the ladder, then, using gut wrenching precision, she stands on the monstrosity. She shakes and whimpers as she tries to keep her balance, and for some reason it looks like everything is ten times higher than it’s supposed to be. The zebra twins look like ants and the candles are merely dots on the floor. Trixie starts hyperventilating and shaking, thus making her wobble and the weird thing she is balancing shake to the point of collapse.

And collapse it does.

The whole thing crumbles to the ground and Trixie’s screaming comes to an abrupt end when she lands on her face. Her groan is muffled since her face is pressed into the mat, but it’s still a loud groan. Thankfully the zebras are nice enough to help her up.

“That was pointless,” moans Trixie while tenderly rubbing her face, briefly wondering if her magic is back yet so she can zap the two.

“Of course it was, we just needed a laugh,” giggles Wazza.

Trixie levitates a rod with ease and lets it drop to the ground a second later with a small, satisfied smile. Though, that smile of hers disappears when she she realizes what Wazza said and she glares at him while he and his brother chuckle at her misfortune. “Ass.”

The two zebras stop laughing instantly and stare at her hatefully, and she returns the look in kind for the pain they brought to her face.

“We are part donkey,” says Wazza.

“I hope you’re happy,” sneers Adanz.

Trixie’s jaw drops and she stammers “Oh-oh I am so sorry, I-I had no idea you were-you were part donkey. You don’t look anything like donkeys!”

“Are you saying that we look nothing like our ancestors?” asks Wazza accusingly.

“Typical intolerance towards our kind,” says Adanz while shaking his head sadly.

“What! No! No, I-I didn’t mean it! It has been a long day and it was just a slip of the tongue,” says Trixie defensively.

“She said such horrible things to get back at us for making her puke, didn’t she?” says Adanz sadly to Wazza.

“Indeed she did, brother. Come, let us leave her intolerance behind with some orange juice,” says Wazza.

The twins start walking away and Trixie stammers a massive wave of apologies, and just when she’s about to collapse from loss of breath due to how many desperate apologies she spewed out, the two zebras stop and turn to her, grinning from ear to ear.

“We were only joking with you, silly pony,” says Adanz.

“Only donkeys see other donkeys as attractive,” adds Wazza.

“So... You aren’t mad?” asks Trixie carefully.

“No, of course not! We are full blood zebra! Would you like a hug?”

“No that won’t be necessary.”

Wazza and Adanz urge Trixie to loosen up and give them a hug as a way for them to apologize for messing with her. They emphasize this by standing on their hind legs and spreading their front hooves out. It only lasts a couple of seconds before they go back on all fours, but it still amazes Trixie that they were able to do that. After a minute or so of playful badgering Trixie finally gives in and goes to hug the twins. That turns out to be another big mistake.

Trixie staggers out of the Arena five minutes later, having to use the wall for support. Her mane and tail are ruffled into a knotted mess, is covered in fresh bruises and plagued with the new aches and pains that come with such bruising. She limps down the hallway and each step she takes she has to fight the urge to voice her pain, but instead lets her quiet seethes and twitching eye mark her unpleasant mood. When the demented twins walk next to her, untouched and grinning, she tries to ignore them, but they flank her and try to strike up a conversation with her with disgustingly cheerful voices.

“So what did we learn today, my little pony?” asks Adanz teasingly.

“Never trust a zebra when they want a hug,” fumes Trixie.

“She has a good point, Wazza.”

“I guess you’re right, brother,” says Wazza, “but did you learn anything else other than racial paranoia, Trixie?”

Trixie stops walking, and swiftly strikes Wazza in the side. He grunts and stumbles back, then his face turns into an odd tint of green and he gallops down the hallway, all while Adanz points and laughs at his brother’s misfortune.

“I finally remembered that move,” sneers Trixie.

And while Adanz is distracted with laughing at his brother, Trixie grabs the back of his head and slams his face against the wall, knocking him out cold. Then Trixie continues limping down the hallway, feeling just a little bit better.

“I need a drink,” grumbles Trixie under her breath.

When Trixie finally makes it to the cafeteria, she searches for anything that can serve as an alcoholic beverage, but all they have is juice, milk, and water. She curses under her breath and pours herself a shot of apple juice in one of their plastic cups. The way she sees it, if she can’t have alcohol then she might as well pretend that she’s having some.

She downs her drink and slams the cup down, and then she pours herself another one and gulps it down just as quickly as before. She repeats this silly act a couple dozen times before she gets bored, and disappointed for the lack of wanted drinks, and smacks the cup away with a loud, aggravated groan.

She really wants her nap! But she doesn’t know if she can take one since her so called training was just her getting her butt kicked by the zebra twins, and Gray Muffin told her that she needed to strike him three times yet she only has two. After about five seconds of contemplating on whether or not she should take a nap here or do something else to kill the time, she decides to play it safe and buck Gray Muffin in the mouth.

She marches with determination down the hall, demanding every pony she comes across to tell her where Gray Muffin is. Most do not know, but a couple of pegasi are smart enough to tell her that he’s testing something in the “Birdcage” and doesn’t want to be disturbed. However, Trixie’s persistence gets them to tell her where the Birdcage is and she wastes no time in finding it. She is determined to hit Gray Muffin!

When Trixie reaches the entrance to the Birdcage, she finds that the door is unguarded and easily pushes it open, then her eyes nearly pop out of their socket when she sees its design.

The Birdcage is another hollowed out room shaped into a dome that is hundreds of feet high and round with the floor being at least a hundred feet deeper than the entrance. There is a flight of stairs, but they don’t look trustworthy, leaving the only safe way down to be a cargo elevator. The Birdcage also has weird bars, rings and tunnels hanging from from the ceiling. Trixie also notices that there are scorches, scratches, and small craters littering the walls, ceiling, and floor. Even some of the things hanging from the ceiling are damaged.

Suddenly there is the whining of a small turbine engine, followed by a small boom and a blur zooms straight into the ceiling, and whatever it was that zoomed up lands gracefully on one of the bars. Trixie squints her eyes and realizes that the something is Gray Muffin wearing a full body jumpsuit with two turbine engine jetpacks latched on his back. The turbine engines have gems lining up on the sides of the engine, and the harness attached to the engines is clasped around his chest, which also has a large, glowing gem in the center.

“How’s the acceleration?” yells Roar Shock.

“Better!” yells Gray Muffin.

“Well, play with it some more!”

Trixie gasps when Gray Muffin jumps off the bar without activating his jetpack. And when he falls a few dozen feet the gems glow and his jetpack activates. Trixie is speechless as she watches the old pony skillfully fly around the auditorium in his dual jetpack. Sure it leaves an icky trail of fiery smoke, but his twists and turns leave amazing patterns in their wake. It’s like watching the Wonderbolts perform, except with two Wonderbolts performing ridiculously close to each other in perfect harmony.

Tixie watches in awe when Gray Muffin runs along the wall with the jetpack still going, and then he jumps off of the wall and spirals down to the ground. Right before he hits the ground he pulls up in such a way that would make a skilled pegasus jealous. She hears Roar Shock laughing and stomping on the ground in applause while cheering on Gray Muffin. That catches Trixie by surprise since every time she’s seen that pegaus he looks like he want to murder someone or destroy something, but here, he’s laughing like a foal and cheering.

Gray Muffin turns off the jetpack by pressing his hoof against the gem on his chest when he’s a safe distance above the ground and trots to a stop. Roar Shock gallops next to him and eagerly helps him remove the jetpack.

“I can’t believe it actually works!” says Roar Shock excitedly.

“Was there ever any doubt?” asks Gray Muffin smugly.

Trixie takes a step back after hearing her own phrase, certain that it wasn’t said out of sheer coincidence.

“I wonder if Trixie enjoyed the show,” says Gray Muffin loudly as he looks up at her.

Author's Notes:

Edited 10 Aug 2014

Arc 1- 09- Expendable -ADDITION-

Terra walks up to the Ponyville Guard Station wearing a simple disguise. She has her mane tied into a ponytail, is wearing a simple business dress with some slender glasses, and has her cutie mark covered up by a fake one in the shape of justice scales. She’s also wearing a fancy saddle. Terra walks inside confidently and approaches a bored stallion earth pony guard with a brown coat, silver mohawk shaped mane, and a police badge for a cutie mark. His name tag says “Vigilance”. He looks bored filling out all the paperwork at his table and disgusted by having to use a pencil to do so.

“Hello there,” says Terra sweetly, “I’m Justice Scales and I’m here to see my client.”

Vigilance looks up from his work and studies Terra, not to check out her looks, but to see if she’s fooling with him.

“Who’s your client?” asks Vigilance gruffly.

“Redheart Ball,” replies Terra while levitating a folder out of her saddle to show him Redheart’s file.

“Let me see your cutie mark.”

“Excuse me?”

Vigilance sighs irritably and grumbles about how he knew that the new law was stupid. After his grumbling he walks out from behind his desk and stands in front of Terra. Terra looks up at the well aged, buff pony and finds herself on a sudden hair trigger from his imposing figure.

“The ‘Special Talent Act’, signed in by Princess Celestia and put into full force this Monday states that ponies are assigned to their careers by their cutie marks. I need to check your cutie mark and verify that you are, in fact, a lawyer. Shouldn’t lawyers know this?” Vigilance says suspiciously.

“Oh certainly, my apologies, sir. I just got in from Canterlot so my mind is somewhere else,” says Terra politely as she turns to show him her fake cutie mark.

Vigilance looks at her cutie mark for a few seconds before he asks to see her credentials. After showing him all that he needed to see, he leads her down to the sparkling clean hallway to the dungeon and explains that Redheart is being charged for conspiracy to assassinate Mayor Ivory Scroll.

“Has this all been proven, or is my client a victim of the state’s witch hunts?” asks Terra accusingly with a generous amount of self-righteous snob thrown in.

“Lady, I just hold prisoners. How they get in here is none of my concern,” replies Vigilance with a roll of his eyes.

Redheart is sitting on her cot in her prison cell, too worried to be bored. The cot shouldn’t even count as a cot in her opinion, since it is just a slab of wood with a thin layer of hay over it, and a ratty blanket and pillow to go with it.

The solid slab of oak that the guards call a cell door is pushed open and Redheart glances over to see who’s visiting her. Not to her surprise Vigilance is one, but it takes her a moment to realize that the other is Terra.

“Oh great,” mumbles Redheart.

“Aren’t you happy to see your lawyer?” asks Terra.

“Sent by the state or a friend?”

“Yes.”

Vigilance looks at Terra with even more suspicion now, and Terra smiles innocently at him.

“Could you be a dear and give me and my client some space?” asks Terra sweetly.

“Sure, just knock when you’re done,” says Vigilance.

“Thank you.”

Vigilance leaves and locks the door behind him, and when that happens, Redheart hops off her bed and cautiously approaches Terra.

“What are you doing here,” demands Redheart.

“We heard what happened, so I was sent in to -oh how should I say this?- fix the problem,” says Terra snobbishly.

Terra levitates a couple of stones out of her saddle, and casually spins them next her head. Redheart carefully watches the rocks spin and when she asks Terra to put the rocks away, she thankfully complies without an argument.

“So, how’s Pinkie’s blender working?” asks Redheart casually

“That blender is working miracles. I haven’t had smoothies as good as what that blender made in a long time,” says Terra blissfully.

“So you got your money’s worth, eh?”

“Yep, but enough about me. How are you holding up?”

Redheart chuckles and sits on her bed while Terra casually paces around the room

“C’mon, you and I both know you aren’t that nice,” says Redheart.

“I came here to check on you, didn’t I?” remarks Terra.

“You aren’t that kind of pony. Why are you really here?”

Terra walks towards Redheart with a very strange smile until their noses are practically touching. The nurse can smell the mouthwash in Terra’s warm breath, and the way that the unicorn is looking at her is unnerving on every level. She may be smiling, but that smile reminds Redheart of something evil, plotting something just for the sake of causing trouble.

“I think you know,” says Terra quietly.

Redheart just stares at Terra awkwardly, and after a minute of silence, Terra sighs and folds her glasses away.

“I want to know where you’re keeping our property,” clarifies Terra.

“Bust me out and I’ll show you,” says Redheart.

“I can’t. I’m disguised as your lawyer, remember?”

“So.”

“So, I can’t compromise this disguise. What if I need it for later?”

“Fine, keep that stupid excuse, but what makes you think I’m going to tell you if you aren’t going to get me out?”

“The mission depends on you telling me where your stuff is.”

Redheart sighs and looks around the cell for a few seconds before bringing her focus back to Terra.

“How can I trust you?” asks Redheart harshly.

“Because we’re on the same team. Duh,” says Terra with a roll of her eyes.

“That doesn’t make you any less of a psycho”

“Look, just answer the question, and I swear I will do what I can to get you out, as long as it’s beneficial to our covers.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good, because if you don’t get me out of here then I’m going to be sent to Singsong and I don’t know how long I’ll last in there.”

Redheart instantly covers her mouth with her hooves, regretting what she had said, and Terra stares at her suspiciously, then her suspicious stare turns into a threatening one.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asks Terra threateningly.

“Nothing,” squeaks Redheart.

“Did you let something slip?”

“I’ve been interrogated for twelve hours without any sleep, Terra!”

Terra snarls viciously and slams her hoof over Redheart’s mouth and then pushes her down on the cot with enough force to crack the wood. Redheart whimpers and tears build in her eyes from a mix of pain and fear as Terra presses harder against her mouth. She is sure that if Terra presses any harder her bones will crack.

“Don’t use my real name!” growls Terra. “How much do they know!”

Terra releases Redheart’s mouth to let her speak, but still keeps her pinned.

“Nothing, I swear,” says Redheart anxiously, on the verge of tears.

Terra’s pulls out her stones and forms them into a blade and then presses it against Redheart’s neck. Readheart begins sweating profusely, and her heart beats so fast it feels like it’s going to pop when Terra traces the knife over her jugular.

“Terra, wha-what are you doing?” whimpers Redheart.

“How much do they know,” repeats Terra in a low, dangerous tone.

“They don’t know anything! By Celestia, how many times do I have to repeat myself!”

Terra searches Redheart’s face for any signs of deception. A few seconds later she releases Redheart and apologizes, then tries to justify her actions by claiming she only did that because she doesn’t want the Royal Guards to figure out about the League of Justice.

“I don’t want to hear it,” sniffles Redheart with a wave of her hoof, “Just get the stuff, and get me out of here. We need to have to have a word with Roar Shock about your state of mind, too.”

Terra nods. “I understand, just tell me where the stuff is so we can get this done and over with.”

“It’s in a safe, under my bed, the combination is one, four, zero.”

“That’s a stupid combination.”

“Well that’s where the equipment is. If the Ponyville Guards hasn’t found it yet, then it should still be there.”

“‘Should’?”

“It will be there. Happy?”

“Very.”

Terra suddenly lifts up Redheart in a bone crushing embrace and the nurse gasps as she feels a sudden sharp pain in her back and piercing in her lung. Terra then twists the blade in Redheart’s back and gracelessly tugs it out. Redheart tries to scream, but all that comes out is a weak gasp. While Redheart panics and struggles to call for help as blood fills her lungs, and Terra throws her on the cot like a piece of garbage. Tears roll down Redheart’s cheeks as her grunts and gasps become weaker, and the blood fills up more of her lungs. The doomed nurse’s cries for help might as well be nonexistent compared to Terra’s gentle shushing noises.

“I’m not sorry it had to come to this, Redheart. You’ve compromised enough already,” whispers Terra sinisterly into Redheart’s ear.

Tears soak Redheart's cheeks as she gulps for air in vain with the light fading around her. Blood fills her lungs and bubbles in her throat, and she weakly raises her hoof, begging with almost silent whimpers and wheezes as Terra pulls a blanket over her head. After the blanket covers her, Redheart closes her eyes for the last time.

After adjusting the blanket over Redheart’s body, Terra casually adjusts her glasses and suit, then she bangs on the cell door to let Vigilance know that she’s done. Vigilance looks at her suspiciously as she walks out, and when he’s about to check inside the cell she clears her throat, thus distracting him for a moment.

“Care to show a lady out?” asks Terra with an innocent smile.

“After I check on the prisoner,” says Vigilance while peeking inside the cell.

“Why would you need to do that?”

Vigilance looks at Terra, eyes narrowed and hoof scuffing the floor. “Why don’t you tell me, Terra.”

Terra’s eyes narrow and she swiftly slits Vigilance’s throat, killing him instantly. She catches his body with her magic before he can hit the floor and drags him inside the cell. There, she unceremoniously dumps his body next to Redheart’s corpse and leaves them there to rot. She even goes as far as breaking the key in the lock before leaving the station.

Once Terra leaves the guard station, she immediately goes to a public bathroom located inside the train station and cleans the blood from her rocks and remove her disguise. When her disguise is removed and tossed in the nearest dumpster, Terra casually walks to Redheart’s house. She sneaks past some locals and goes to the backyard. She checks the backdoor to make sure its locked, and upon seeing it locked, she scoffs and morphs her stones into lock picks. After making sure no one is around to see her, she picks the door open, then coolly strolls inside and quickly finds the safe. After unlocking the safe she removes its contents and leaves through the backdoor without any delay, being sure to lock the door, too. Then she puts on the communicator in the box and strolls down the cobblestone street of Ponyville.

While Terra casually walks down the main street of Ponyville, she checks out the construction sites of the booming town. More specifically a towering skeletal structure that is surrounded by a chain link fence with a sign that says “FUTURE SITE of EIB PONYVILLE HUB'. Just the construction site alone is huge, and when it is done, it will easily be the largest building in Ponyville, and probably all of Ponyville County.

Terra continues her stroll, passing Filthy Rich and his daughter, Diamond Tiara at the electronics store along the way. The young mare is whining about wanting to get a backpack radio, and points to Terra as an example, and the clerk at the counter looks like’s she is about to lose her temper, though, despite Filthy Rich’s best efforts. Terra rolls her eyes and is about to continue her scouting when she spots a sign for smoothies at the gingerbread looking house called the Sugar Cube Corner.

Terra's eyes grow and drool collects in her mouth as her heart races from excitement. At long last, she can have another smoothie!

Terra gallops across the street, nearly getting run over by a blocky motorized wagon in the process, and she pushes the door open hard enough for it bang against the wall. The fat mare behind the counter jumps and Terra runs straight to the counter and slams her hooves on it, getting as close to her as she can without leaping over the barrier.

“One extra large banana smoothie, stat!” orders Terra.

The mare, Mrs. Cake nods quickly, albeit with some shock, and turns to face the kitchen. “Pinkie, we got one extra large banana smoothie!”

“Be done in a jiffy!” shouts the mare in the kitchen

Terra is surprised to recognize the voice, and a minute later, when the pink pony that sold her the blender trots out with a banana smoothie balanced carefully on her freakishly poofy mane they both lock eyes. Terra takes the banana smoothie with her magic and drops the appropriate bits on the counter. She then grabs the straw with her tongue and obnoxiously slurps at her elixir that fills her body with joy and sunshine while watching Pinkie Pie with half lidded eyes and a devious smirk. To Terra, it looks like the Element is about to have a seizure from their staring contest.

Terra releases the straw with a wet pop, licks her lips, then arches a brow, still keeping her smile. “Something wrong?”

Mrs. Cake looks between the two mares and flashes a nervous smile as she gently guides Pinkie Pie away from the counter.

“Pinkie, please go help Carrot with the dishes,” says Mrs. Cake in a hushed tone.

“Okie dokie lokie,” says Pinkie Pie slowly, still trembling as she slowly backs away, eyeballing Terra suspiciously.

“I’m sorry about that,” says Mrs. Cake with an anxious chuckle when Pinkie Pie is out of sight. “She’s our best employee and isn’t normally like this. Just a lot’s been going on is all.”

Terra smiles and walks away without saying a word, and she keeps on walking and enjoying the growing colorful town and the ponies learning to drive the revolutionary steam powered motorized vehicles on the fresh paved asphalt roads. Well, revolutionary by the public’s standards. Terra merely chuckles at how primitive they are compared to her father’s work. Then she comes across another place she needs to be. The giant tree house that also serves as the local library.

Terra strolls inside and is greeted by a purple unicorn and her dragon assistant that she recognizes as Twilight Sparkle and Spike. Knowledge courtesy of constant newspaper coverage. Terra politely returns the greeting and heads towards the reference section. Along the way Spike comments on how cool her radio pack is, which Terra is quick to remember her manners and thanks the purple dragon. Then she starts searching for a map of Ponyville while Spike goes to count some books on a shelf, keeping a notepad and pen handy.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” asks Twilight eagerly with equally excited steps.

Terra smiles with feigned awkwardness and turns to the lavender mare. “Well, I was looking for an updated map of Ponyville, the tourist maps are gone.”

“Oh, let me get that for you.” Twilight’s horn glows and a folded map is bathed in a lavender mist and carried to them. “There you go, a fully updated map of Ponyville.”

“Oh thank you, can I keep this?”

Twilight beams. “Of course you can. I got hundreds of those things.”

“Twelve, actually,” corrects Spike as he casually scribbles on a pad after taking an inventory of the books on the shelf he had been looking at.

Twilight sighs and looks at Spike with an unimpressed frown, and he just shrugs innocently. Terra, on the other hand, giggles excitedly and puts the map in her saddlebag.

“Thank you, Twilight, I don’t care what they say about you, you’re pretty cool,” she says

Terra turns and leaves, and Twilight smiles and waves farewell to her.

When the door closes, the visitor’s words seep in and Twilight’s smile twists into a frown and she looks at Spike.

“What do they say me?” asks Twilight suspiciously.

“What do who say about you?” asks Spike, genuinely confused.

“You know they and what they say about me.”

Spike scratches his head. “Yeah... I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Terra snickers as she quickly trots down the newly built sidewalk while activating the radio pack. When it’s on, she puts on the headset and uses her magic to turn the dial to the appropriate channel.

“Hey Daddy, it’s me, I just got to Ponyville, and I’m on my way to the inn right now. I should be back home sometime tomorrow. Is that okay?” says Terra in a bubbly voice.

“That is fine by me, sweetie. I can't wait to hear how your trip went,” says Roar Shock on the other end.

“Thank you, Daddy. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

The radio goes silent and Terra checks in at a place called Jubilee's Restful Inn for a one night rental at the highest room. The inn is small compared to the newer buildings sprouting up around Ponyville, but it does have a rustic, homey feel to it that Terra loves. It makes her feel welcomed in the home of her next victim. The room that Terra rented for the night only has a bed and a radio, but she is perfectly fine by that. All she really cares about is the perfect view of the Town Hall and the stage being set up to announce who the next mayor of Ponyville will be. But Terra already knows who the winner will be, and she grins and pretends to fire a gun, silently vowing to rid Equestria of one more corrupt politician.

Author's Notes:

Added 10 Aug 2014

Arc 1- 10- The Beginning of the End -EDITED-

Shining Armor is at the Royal Guard Train Station, overseeing a hundred Royal Guards being loaded up on a train painted white with the Sun of Equestia on it. The Equestrian government has finally made it mandatory for all guardponies to be equipped with a brilliant invention called a “battle saddle”. Granted, ballistic weapons have been in their armory for a while, but they are notoriously hard to handle, especially by non-unicorns and something needed to be done, especially after the waves of violence that started tearing through Equestria.

But luckily something did appear in the defense industry. After the ibex nation of Bernese developed a saddle with weapon capabilities, the Royal Government quickly commissioned the Flim Flam brothers to design one for them. They delivered quickly and efficiently, so now anyone can control their choice of weapon with a simple, yet effective, bit that acted as a joystick. The battle saddles have not been out long, but they had been produced at a large scale and it took the largest retraining in Equestrian history to get the soldiers up to speed.

With the new weapons, the morale in the soldiers jumped exponentially and Shining Armor has heard the newer batch of Royal Guards joke about how they would like to see the terrorists try to pull off any attacks now that they have battle saddles. However, the Captain would really like it if the terrorists just surrendered, but that’s just as likely as the sun suddenly imploding.

The train station has been seeing a flurry of activity recently when Shining Armor drafted up plans to fortify cities where the violence has dramatically increased, or where important events are being held. He, Celestia, and a few other high ranking officials have also crafted a plan that would slowly replace local guards patrolling their state borders with the Royal and Night Guards. The Royal and Night Guards are better trained and more reliable than the local guards, anyway, so it had been an easy choice for Celestia to make. However, when being forced to give up nearly twenty thousand of his guardponies because their cutie marks said they were better at gardening than protecting, it makes the task more difficult than it should have been. On top of that, the news of their growing presence is not being taken too well by most, especially in the small towns or country cities like Ponyville, which is where he is going to personally oversee the election.

About forty five minutes later, Shining Armor finds himself watching the scenery zip by the window in a blur, listening to the casual conversations taking place between his soldiers. The conversations are built around basic questions. Questions such as what they plan on doing when their tour is over, or which celebrity they’d marry if they got the chance, or if anypony has heard of the fatal poisoning of dozens of griffins in Detrot. The last part butchers the good mood on the spot and brings in a silence that remains for most of the trip after a couple minutes of heated debate surrounding the said incident.

A few hours later, and the train comes to a grinding halt at the Ponyville Train Station. As the soldiers hop out with their jumbo battle saddles and gleaming gold armor, they are met with suspicious gazes. Most of the soldiers ignore them, but some of the recruits thought that now would be a great time to hit on the locals, obviously forgetting about the presence of Shining Armor and their commanding officers. But after a quick scolding, the rookies regain their senses and head towards the temporary base being set up.

Terra is sitting in her rented out room, caressing the mechanical box found in Redheart’s safe. She watches the soldiers march into town and she chuckles softly while levitating the box over her back. When it is above her back, it splits open in the shape of a saddle and wraps around her back and chest, and when she a pushes a large button on its chest a cannon with gems and Tesla coils on the side attached to a rod on a ball-and-joint system slides out from the side. A multi-jointed appendage also pops out from the robotic saddle and she grabs it in her mouth like a bit. She tests the cannon by swinging it around on its swivel and charging the cannon without firing it. The cannon makes a satisfying humming noise, and an electric orb appears at the end with the crackling and popping sounds of powerful energy. Then it all goes silent. Terra pushes the button again and the cannon retracts to the suit and she spits out the bit, which also retracts to the suit, and she smiles at the chances she’s getting to test such a powerful weapon.

Pinkie Pie silently goes through her journal of doodles for ideas while trying to listen to the happy-go-lucky party music she’s famous for blaring at basically every event. But the music is almost completely silent to her, her mind is too busy going places that no mind normally goes to. She heard about Redheart and Vigilance’s murder, despite the local guard’s best efforts to keep it quiet. Pinkie Pie is certain that it was the unicorn who bought her blender is the assassin, her Pinkie Senses nearly made her lose it at work when she saw her in front of Mrs. Cake the other day. She is certain that it was the same organization that Redheart worked for that ended her, and they never leave a job unfinished. With that thought in mind, she hopes she can find and stop the new assassin before anyone is hurt.

Pinkie Pie looks out her room window a moment to watch the Royal Guards marching in the street in uniformed formation with their new battle saddles. She sighs depressingly and goes back to her journal to look at her plans for a better Mare-Do-Well outfit. Armored and more high-tech than the simple jumpsuit that the current design has. It will still hold the same color scheme and basic design, but the way she has it planned out is that cuirass and leg pads will provide the protection, but will be equipped with little gel pads that help break the falls and reduce trauma. As for the jumpsuit in general, it would be made with reinforced stitching, like wearing a sandwich of material. Bottom, regular cloth; middle, chainmail; top, regular cloth again. The cape will also be more suited for gliding and made with memory fabric, rather than flapping around. She likes the cape and figures it will be better if it served a purpose rather than just a piece of decoration. The only downside she sees for the suit is that it’s expensive. Incredibly expensive.

“Spike! Spike! Get up!” yells Twilight excitedly.

Spike groans and groggily rolls out of his much larger, round bed while his massive jaws open as wide they can with his tongue flexing as he yawns. Once out of bed, he cracks his back and reluctantly walks down the stairs while rubbing his eyes.

“So much for my afternoon nap,” mumbles Spike.

Twilight teleports in front of Spike's eyes with a very large, excited grin, making him scream and jump back. He clutches his heart and glares at Twilight as she lands in front of him, staring up at him with that admittedly adorable grin she gets when she’s so excited she can barely sit still.

“Don’t do that!” scolds Spike.

“Guess what, Spike!” says Twilight, completely missing the anger in his tone.

“Uh... A stallion finally asked you out?”

Twilight’s smile instantly disappears and her ears droop and she looks down, pouting. “No, but that would be nice. Seriously, I followed every step down to the letter in all the dating secret books and books on how to get a stallions attention.”

Spike scratches his ear like a dog, uninterested in Twilight's lack of dating skills. “Uh huh.”

“And what do I get? Mares hitting on me!”

Spike stops and looks at Twilight with big eyes as his leg slowly drops. His interest has been peaked and his hormones can’t help but picture Twilight and another mare making out in the library. His mind then wanders into the realm of pure fantasy when he imagines Twilight and Rarity getting really frisky on the library floor.

“Go on,” say Spike while leaning forward, eye ridges raised in anticipation for what's next.

“I mean, don’t stallions like strong, independent, intelligent mares?”

Spike frowns in disappointment and resumes scratching his ear. “Obviously not.”

“What?”

“What?”

Twilight eyes Spike suspiciously and he smiles innocently, doing his best not to let his nervousness show. A few seconds into it and Spike starts feeling like Applejack when Pinkie Pie practically interrogated her at her own barn that one day she forgot about her birthday.

“Today’s Election Day!” says Twilight happily and completely unexpectedly.

“Yeah, I forgot about that. Silly me,” says Spike with a yawn.

“Are you still tired? I let you have a nap in the middle of the day.”

“What can I say? I’m still a baby dragon at heart.”

If Spike hadn’t helped Pinkie Pie catch Redheart before she carried out her attack, then he’d be in a completely different mood. Like uptight, worried, and very jumpy, but at least the threat is locked away in jail so now all he has to worry about is the cramps he’ll be getting from Twilight’s checklist. He doesn’t really mind, he’s actually used to getting the cramps, but he really wishes that Rarity wasn’t touring Equestria with her new line up. He’s glad that her years of sleepless nights, sweat and tears have finally paid off, but still, he has more fun with the fashionista than Twilight in most cases. Plus Twilight is more willing to let Spike go if Rarity needs or wants Spike’s help, and the two also share a fondness in ice cream.

“Spike, snap out of it.”

Spike blinks and looks at Twilight with a duh expression. “Huh, what? What’s wrong?”

“You were zoning out. I was saying we need to help organize the reading of the results and then we have to say our greetings to Shining Armor. Oh, I’m so excited to see him again! It feels like it it’s been forever!”

“Right. Organize and say ‘Hi’ to big bro and then sleepy time. But, Twilight, I got a quick question.”

“Sure thing, Spike. What’s on your mind?”

“Oh, nothing much, I was just wondering if we could grab some ice cream or something before we do anything today?”

Twilight giggles and walks out the door with Spike following close behind.

“Oh Spike, we already relaxed today. We have work to do. But I promise that we’ll get some after all this is over,” says Twilight lightheartedly.

Spike pretends to be crying as he closes the door behind him, this actually makes Twilight turn around with a worried expression, but when she sees him grinning at her, she rolls her eyes amusingly and holds back a laugh. However, their good mood is ruined when they start walking through Ponyville.

Spike gets a nervous feeling when he sees what the Royal Guards are doing. Even though Redheart had already been arrested, the Royal Guards are forcing ponies living near the Town Hall to leave their homes and other buildings to inspect the places for anything unusual. There are protests, but the Royal Guards are quick to silence them with harsh language and threats of arrest for not cooperating. Twilight also seems concerned about this, but she refuses to question why her brother is allowing this to happen.

“What the heck is going on? Didn’t the news say that the would-be assassin was arrested?” asks Spike worryingly while staring a group of soldiers guarding a scarred family while another inspects their home.

“Spike, I know this looks bad, and I’ll talk to Shining about it later, but he doesn’t do anything without Princess Celestia’s permission and she always has a good reason for what she does,” says Twilight.

Spike is unconvinced, but it is no use in trying to convince Twilight that what’s going on is a cause for concern. Just implying that Celestia could be in the wrong is enough justification for her to chew you out and then ignore you for a week.

Shining Armor is overseeing the Royal Guards setting up the command center for their temporary base. At this point he is almost too exhausted to stand, not due to lack of sleep, but for the lack of help. He knows his position calls for a lot, but some of the fresh Royal Guards seem to lack common sense, and oil and water get along better than the Ponyville and Royal Guards. This means he is a mediator every five minutes and has to double check his triple checks that he already double checked earlier that day. Only to find out that somehow someone messed up something that should not have been ruined in the first place, leading to him having to babysit and give step-by-step and hoof on instructions so they can fix it.

Though, his mood brightens considerably when he hears the cheerful voice of his sister calling him.

“Shining!” squeals Twilight happily.

Shining Armor instantly turns around to see Twilight bouncing towards him with Spike and a couple of Royal Guards casually walking behind her. He laughs and they hug each other in a tight embrace while Spike stands back and tries to look cool with his arms folded across his chest. The duo had shown up at the temporary base and with their high prestige they were able to get inside easily and got a personal escort to Shining Armor.

“Aren’t you supposed to be doing homework?” teases Shining Armor.

“I thought I’d take a break,” says Twilight with the same tone.

“That is not like you at all. You’re getting lazy.”

Twilight and Shining Armor share a chuckle, and then Shining Armor excuses himself so he, Twilight, and Spike can talk without being in the presence of the other soldiers. He leads them to the cafeteria, which isn’t much, just a bunch of fold up tables and chairs. The food is not even out yet. After taking a seat in the back, Shining Armor asks where the rest of her friends are since they’re almost always together.

“Well Rarity finally got her big breakthrough and is now showing off her lineup with other fashion designers around Equestria. Last I checked she was in Detrot and she already got a deal with three big clothing stores to sell her stuff in,” says Twilight proudly.

“Oh that’s nice,” says Shining Armor with a smile. “What about the others?”

“Rainbow Dash also had a big breakthrough. She’s off training with the Wonderbolts,” says Spike.

Shining Armor grins and can imagine the joy Rainbow Dash got from getting that acceptance letter. He remembers when he was accepted into the Royal Guard he fainted from the immense joy, that almost made the Royal Guard change their mind, but that’s another story. The Captain wonders if Rainbow Dash fainted when she got the letter since, despite all the claims the colorful pegasus makes, she can be quite the drama queen.

“Well if anypony deserves to be a Wonderbolt, it’s her,” says Shining Armor cheerfully.

“Yep, and Applejack actually went to visit Braeburn, and Pinkie Pie is trying to start a business selling blenders. Speaking of Pinkie Pie, we haven’t seen her all day, have we, Spike?” says Twilight.

“She’s probably trying to keep Fluttershy company. You know she’s almost living in complete isolation because of what’s going on, and Pinkie Pie doesn’t like seeing others alone,” says Spike casually.

Shining Armor sighs and looks down. “Yeah, I can’t really blame her for being afraid.”

There is a moment of silence before a Royal Guard approaches Shining Armor and informs him that the temporary command center is fully functional now. Shining Armor thanks the Royal Guard and then looks at Twilight and Spike.

“Sorry, guys, I gotta cut this conversation short. Duty calls,” says Shining Armor.

“Oh it’s alright, Shining, me and Spike have some work to do too,” says Twilight sympathetically.

“Oh the joys of hand cramps,” quips Spike.

The three chuckle and go their separate ways.

A group of four Royal Guards march up the stairs to the inn where Terra is staying. Before kicking out the caretaker, she told them that she was staying there and they just wanted to tell her that the inn will be off limits for the duration of the reading of the results. When they enter her room they find her staring out the window in a trance like state.

“Ma’am, we’re going to have to ask you to...” begins the lead Royal Guard.

The Royal Guards notice the odd saddle she’s wearing and they aim their weapons at her nervously when they hear it hum and see a barrel with Telsa coils sparking around it. When she turns around and gives them a devilish smirk, they take a step back. It is like her very presence sucks all the goodness out of the atmosphere.

“Ask me to do what?” asks Terra innocently.

She pushes the button on her chest and the cannon pops out, and before the Royal Guards can fire, two rocky daggers fly forward and impale two of them in the neck and then her cannon shoots the third in the chest with an electric beam. The beam burns through his armor and his organs easily and is dead before he hits the ground. The surviving Royal Guard is so terrified that he drops to the ground, whimpering, as Terra walks towards him. The knives are yanked out of the corpses and float next to her, dripping blood all over the floor.

“Please don’t kill me,” whimpers the Royal Guard, obviously fresh from camp.

“Base to Team Four. Is the inn clear? Over,” says a pony on the radio.

“Tell them that the inn is clear and that you are requesting to stay to keep a high ground,” orders Terra.

The Guard nods and after taking a gulp he says into his radio: “This Private Hayseed. The inn is clear... And base... Bass is requesting we stay in the inn.”

“Why? You’ll get your cider when this over. Over.”

“Um well-well the inn has a-has a uh great view of where the reading is and-and we um we would like to use it as a vantage point to-to keep watch... Over.”

A minute passes before the radiopony makes contact again. “Captain Armor says it’s a good idea. Also, Hayseed, is it?”

“Yes, sir. Private Golden Hayseed.”

“Private Hayseed, relax.”

“...Yes sir.”

“Base out.”

The radio clicks off and Terra smiles and rubs her hoof across Hayseed’s cheek in smooth strokes. “That’s a good boy.”

“Wi-Will you let me live?” asks Hayseed pathetically.

Terra taps her chin. “Hmm... Nah.”

Before Hayseed can say another word, Terra stabs him through eye and then pushes his corpse away.

Back at the temporary base command center, Shining Armor is using his magic to put on a battle saddle with a radio pack attachment while giving out orders. The reading of the results is in just an hour and he needs his soldiers to have the area quarantined. The Ponyville Guards are also involved in the quarantine, but they seem distracted and he really does not need that at this crucial moment.

Thirty minutes later, Shining Armor heads out with his escort to the Ponyville Town Hall. When they get there, he can tell Twilight and Spike had been busy. The whole Town Hall courtyard is decorated with exquisite decor that would make Rarity proud. There is even an orchestra band playing upbeat music to keep the crowd lively. The ponies that arrive have to undergo an extensive and embarrassing search by the Guards, which leads to a lot of disgruntled civilians. Shining Armor sees Twilight and Spike coordinating a last minute touch up, Ivory Scroll chatting with Golden Harvest on the stage, and a purple blur jumping across the rooftops. The blur actually makes Shining Armor jump in his spot, and he fumbles with radio for a few seconds before he gets in contact with the pegasi patrolling the sky.

“Sky Patrol, do you see anything on the roofs?” asks Shining Armor through his radio as he squints his eyes, trying to find the blur again.

There is a few seconds of silence before he gets his answer. “Yes sir, we’re seeing civilians on the roofs with cameras and Hail said he saw a purple thing dart into an alley.”

“Get the civilians off the roofs and find this ‘purple thing’.”

“Yes sir.”

Pinkie Pie, now wearing her Mare-Do-Well costume, ducks under a motorized wagon to escape the Royal Guard Sky Patrol. She knows that they would find her suspicious for wearing a full body costume and sneaking around during a major event, and if they catch her, then she’ll more than likely be detained. She cannot allow that to happen since there will be a big commotion and while the Guards are distracted the new assassin could strike. Also, she needs to get closer to Shining Armor so she can signal that she’s not an enemy, and that will only be all the more difficult if she is captured.

When she sees the Sky Patrol leave her general area, she crawls out from under the vehicle and sneaks around the town to find a good spot to get her signal out. After short while of sneaky searching she does find a vantage point on the roof of newly built flower shop. She has a perfect line of sight of Shining Armor, and even from her distance she can see how tense he is.

After Pinkie Pie does a quick check to make sure she is alone, she pulls out a slingshot and a ball covered with sticky goo that has a note attached to it.

“Sorry about this, Shining,” says Pinkie Pie to herself.

The event has already started and Shining Armor is waiting in the back, scanning the crowd for any suspicious activity. Then he feels something sticky smack against his head hard enough to jerk it, followed by Guards swearing and laughing. Shining Armor takes a deep breath and yanks off whatever hit him with his magic and sees a note tied at the end of it. He ignores the snickering and reads the note quietly while grabbing a random rag to wipe the goo off of his cheek.

Hey Shining,

You and I are on the same team so please keep your guys off of my back.

Sincerely,
Mare-Do-Well

P.S.
Sorry about the goo, but a paper airplane just wouldn’t work and a slingshot has better range.

Shining Armor groans, remembering when Twilight talked about how she and her friends dressed up as a masked hero to teach Rainbow Dash a lesson, and how they donned the costume again to fight back Eclipse’s criminal empire. It does not take him long to realize that it is Pinkie Pie that is dressing up as Mare-Do-Well again. Rainbow Dash hates the costume, Rarity and Applejack are away, he’s looking at Twilight right now, and Fluttershy is too cowardly to do something like this. Besides, only Pinkie Pie would use a slingshot to shoot someone with a sticky ball that has a note on it to get a message across.

“Sky Patrol, ignore the purple figure,” orders Shining Armor over his radio.

“You sure about that, sir?” asks a Sky Patrol pony.

“Yeah, she’s a friend.”

“Roger that.”

The Royal Guards around Shining Armor stop their giggling and cock their heads, curious about his sudden change about the purple thing, and Shining Armor looks at them.

“What?” asks Shining Armor coolly.

The guards murmur different phrases that translate to “Nothing” in unison and continue to look around to make sure sure everything is okay. Shining Armor sighs and looks at the stage where the candidates, Twilight, and Spike are. As he observes the group he notices that Ivory Scroll's posture looks a little too confident.

“And the winner of this year’s election is... Ivory Scroll!” says Twilight triumphantly.

The crowd stomps the ground in applause and newly reelected Mayor Ivory Scroll walks towards the podium with a smug smile to give her acceptance speech as streamers and confetti float down around her. Shining Armor watches the crowd suspiciously, and then time seems to slow down when he sees a faint, blue, electric glow coming from the top floor of the inn. At first he is confused, but when it grows bigger and sends electric bolts snapping in all directions, he acts on pure instinct and runs straight towards Mayor Ivory Scroll and Twilight with his horn charging.

The charge of Terra's cannon lights up the room in blue, tingling her fur with its raw power and singing the wood around her. When Mayor Ivory Scroll starts towards the podium, completely oblivious to her end, a maniacal grin stretches across Terra's face and giggles madly when she sees Shining Armor bolting towards the fraud. But she doesn't care. Nothing can save them, now.

“Have fun in Tartarus,” snickers Terra.

Then she fires.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 11 Aug 2014

Arc 1- 11- The Stone Reaper -ADDITION-

“Get down!” shouts Shining Armor while tackling Twilight and using his magic to drag Ivory Scroll to the ground.

The mares scream in protest, but when Shining Armor's rose colored shield barely goes up in time to block an electric beam, they almost fall into a state of comatose from sheer fear. A muffled thud and ripples of of blue and bright red energy spread across the shield from the electric beam's impact, and the terrified screams of the crowd are overpowered by a barrage of more electric attacks.

Shining Armor stands protectively over Twilight, growling viciously as the onslaught continues, and very impact from the weapon makes his sister flinch and whimper. He expands his shield to cover all of Town Hall and orders a squad of soldiers to take Twilight, Ivory Scroll and Golden Harvest somewhere safe before activating his radio.

“They’re in the inn! Take them out!” barks Shining Armor into his radio.

Terra swivels her cannon at the incoming pests, growling and stepping back as their bullets whiz past her and chew apart her cover, sending splinters of wood and glass flying and the torn curtain flapping.

With the pegasi flying like locusts, she is having a hard time aiming, but when the bullet's start slicing past her, covering her body in burning scratches, she pushes all aiming aside and fires wildly. Dozens of thin streaks of concentrated energy streak into the sky, piercing the armor of the soldiers like knives against tissue paper, sending them falling with burning holes in their chests and missing limbs. She then turns her wrath on the soldiers bogged down by the stampeding civilians and rapidly fires on them, uncaring how many unarmed that are gunned down.

“That's right! Come to Terra!” cackles the insane mare.

She shoots a few more soldiers, forcing them to scatter, and spots Shining Armor putting her target into the safety of the Town Hall, which she knows she cannot breach the shield that surrounds it. Snorting, she backs away from her window and makes her way out of the room, disgusted that her target gets to live another day.

Shining Armor is having a lot of trouble keeping his hooves from shaking. He can see the fear in everyone's eyes. His sister, his soldiers, Ivory Scroll, Golden Harvest. None of them were prepared for this. He even has doubts that the anonymous sender of the letter warning them of the attack knew that this would happen.

“Sir, we got dozens of casualties, most still on the field waiting for help,” says a Ponyville Guardpony.

Shining Armor nods. “Get the shield specialist and take injured off of the field and put them to the medical center.” He turns to one of the Royal Guard officers while waving his hoof towards his sister and the candidates. “Keep those three in here. Nopony will be able to get in, so it is safest here.”

“Yes, sir!” says the guard, hoof snapping to a salute.

Shining Armor returns the salute right as his radio pack crackles with a stallion's static voice. “Captain Sparkle to Staff Sergeant Crumbles, we are moving in to engage the enemy. Over.”

Shining Armor presses his radio. “Roger that. Use extreme caution and apprehend terrorist for interrogation. Over and out.”

Shining Armor releases the radio's button and sighs loudly, running his hoof through his mane, trying to calm his racing heart so he can think clearer about this mess. However, when Twilight starts screaming for Spike over the commotion, his heartbeats jump tenfold and he whirls to Twilight to see her pacing in circles, ears perked and eyes wide with worry as she cranes her neck over the crowd.

“Spike!” calls Twilight again, her voice cracking and tears filling her eyes. “Spike!”

Twilight starts moving between the soldiers and civilians, begging for information about Spike's whereabouts, becoming more and more distraught with every clueless response. When she grabs a guard's shoulders and starts screaming at his face about not knowing where Spike is, Shining Armor runs forward and pulls her away from the guard. He puts his hoof on her shoulder

“Twilight, relax,” says Shining Armor, even though his heart is racing as well since he has not seen the drake anywhere.

“Relax? Relax!? How can I relax when Spike is missing!” cries Twilight frantically. “What if he's- Oh, no! He's still out there, isn't he!? I have to go out there!”

Her horn glows and Shining Armor quickly flicks it, making her yelp and stumble back, tenderly rubbing her horn and whimpering

“No, you need to stay in the shield where it is safe. I will find Spike,” says Shining Armor firmly.

“But, I-I have to find Spike!” stammers Twilight.

“Stay in the shield! I will find Spike, but I need you to stay here, okay?”

Twilight wants to say something, he knows she does by the way her mouth opens and shuts with her whimpers and big, purple eyes begging him to let her go. However, his resolve stands stronger and the stare down between her whimpered pleas and his silent glare leads her to lower her head, nodding in defeat.

“Okay,” whispers Twilight.

Shining Armor's expression softens and he puts his hoof on her shoulder and tilts her head up, not smiling, but not glowering, either. “I promise, Twily, I'll find Spike. Just please stay in the shield. It is too dangerous out there.”

Twilight nods again, blinking the torrents of tears and repeating: “Okay.”

Shining Armor hugs Twilight and rubs her back gently. “I'll be back with Spike. You'll see. I love you, Twily.”

Twilight returns the hug with a trembling hoof. “I love you, too. Please stay safe.”

Shining Armor nods and moves away from her to assemble his team.

Terra limps out of the room, leaving a trail of bloody dots in her wake with her mane hanging past her eyes in sweaty clumps while her magic adjusts the power dial of her weapon. She continues down the hallway and when a group of five Royal Guardponies gallop into view, she fires.

Their screams disappear when their flesh is burned away in a beam of blue, and the wall behind them explodes in a display of fire, sending burning wood and smoke billowing out into the alley. She keeps walking to the stairs, though, and she fires another overpowered shot that leaves the stairs a black rail of jagged wood with three burnt bodies at the bottom. Her horn glows and her stones mold into four small, curved blades, then she levitates a table towards her position and uses it as a platform to lower self down to the next level while her cannon spews sparkling exhaust and glows red at the barrel. As soon as she sees the remaining ten guards in the lobby, she unleashes her blades, cutting down all ten in quick strokes to their throats, filling the air with the sounds blades slicing flesh and bloody gurgles, and sending sprays of red all over the establishment.

The stone blades reform into two rocks and float next to Terra as she hurries towards the back exit using the kitchen. She uses a telekinetic blast to blow the door off of its hinges, where it shatters against the brick wall, and she steps into the alley, ready to make her escape. Though, as soon as she steps outside, someone dressed in a full body suit, mask and large fedora consisting of different shades of purple has the audacity of ramming her to the ground.

Terra's world spins and her ears ring, and when she pushes herself up, she is greeted with a hoof to the face that sends her back peddling into the kitchen with a gratuitous amount of blood gushing from her nose. She regains herself quickly, though, and when the assailant goes for another swing, she blocks it with her hoof and lights up her horn, only for the masked fighter to jab it.

Terra swears painfully and goes airborne when her attacker grabs her and slams her body against a metal rack containing pots and pans. Pain erupts in her ribs upon impact, and it spreads all over her head and back when the dishes and rack fall on top of her, sending the dishes clattering to the floor.

Terra growls through gritted, bloodied teeth as she glares at the masked fighter, sneering when she gets her limbs to push her body up. “Who the hay are you supposed to be?”

“I’m Mare-Do-Well,” she says in a disguised voice.

“Well, Miss Well, Charon awaits!”

Terra shoots at Mare-Do-Well with the electric cannon, but she rolls out of the way in a purple blur, sending the electric ball tearing across the kitchen and blowing apart a stove. The stove disappears in a flash of fire and smoke that sends metal, wood and Mare-Do-Well flying. Terra ducks slightly and covers her face with her hoof to block the flying shrapnel, and when she hears a thud and more dishes fall to the ground with metallic bangs, she looks over her shoulder and sees her opponent on the ground, covered in soot with red seeping past the dozens of cuts.

“Well, that wasn't much fun,” grumbles Terra, groaning when she stands up and shakes herself loose. Then she gallops out into the alley, wincing with each spike of pain going all through her limbs and ribs as her magic picks up her stones and activates her radio. “Sky to Ground, the mission went downhill and I need immediate evac.”

“We can tell. You made quite the mess down there, Terra,” says the radiopony.

“What you call a mess, I call art, now get your lazy asses to the warehouse!”

“Roger that.”

Outside, in the midst of the chaos, Spike ducks behind a concession stand when a squad of pegasi are shot out of the sky. He shrinks down even further, swearing and pressing himself against the stand when thin streaks of electrical beams decimate soldiers and civilians alike. It only lasts a few seconds, and when the shooting stops, he gulps and peeks out from his cover, watching with a racing heart and big eyes as a group of soldiers charge the inn. The few refraining from the charge scramble to help those injured by the barrage.

The soldier leading the charge barks some orders before he uses his magic to activate his radio. “Captain Sparkle to Staff Sergeant Crumbles, we are moving in to engage the enemy. Over.”

Spike cannot hear the rest of the conversation because Staff Sergeant Crumbles and his squad go inside the inn. The drake looks over his shoulder at the rose colored shield, gulping, knowing full well that there is no way he can get past one of Shining Armor's shields. He is about to leave to seek shelter somewhere safe until this whole crazy event blows over, but his muscles lock when the inn's interior explodes into chaos. He cannot see it, but he can definitely hear the gunfire, both ballistic and electric, and he sees a plum of smoke rising from the alley end. Just as quickly as it begins, though, it ends with a deathly silence.

“Oh man,” gasps Spike fretfully, claws gripping his cover tighter as he thinks about how many terrorists must be crammed inside that inn if that much damage is being caused. Then he sees a purple blur leap across the roof tops and land on inn's roof. He cringes when the costumed figure slips a little, but whoever they are, they quickly regain their footing and scramble to the top, where they disappear to the other side. The costume looks familiar, and it takes Spike a moment to process where he's seen it, but when he remembers what it is and has a good idea who's wearing it, his eyes bulge. “Oh no.”

Spike runs inside the inn and the first thing he sees are the mangled bodies lying pools of blood and the obliterated staircase. He spots a trail of blood leading from a table that goes into the kitchen, which is billowing smoke. He takes a deep breath, clenches his fist and runs into the kitchen. He spots the open door immediately and makes a run to it, hoping that he can catch up, but he slides to a stop when he hears a familiar groan. He looks to the source and sees Pinkie Pie pushing herself up, wincing in pain.

“Pinkie!” calls Spike.

The costumed figure looks up. “Spike?”

That voice confirms the drake's suspicion, and he runs over to her, almost slipping on the tile when he skids to a halt.

“Pinkie, are you okay?” asks Spike as he gently helps her up.

“I’m fine,” says Pinkie Pie while wincing quietly and cracking her back.

“Where are the guards? Where’s the assassin?”

“I... I don’t know. I think I heard her say something about ground and sky and pickup at a warehouse before I blacked out.”

“The Flim Flam warehouse is on the outskirts of the town and is big enough to land something on it. I’ll go stop the assassin-”

“No, Spike.”

“And you get yourself taken care of.”

“Spike!”

Spike doesn’t let Pinkie Pie finish, he runs down the alley towards the Flim Flam warehouse as fast as he can. The chaos of the stampeding crowd trying to escape the chaos and the soldiers trying to calm them down and help the injured doesn’t make his run any easier, and when he finally makes it there, he gets an uneasy feeling in his gut. He knows the assassin is nearby because a piece of the chain link fence surrounding the place has a hole burnt through it where the edges are still glowing red hot.

Spike takes a deep breath and goes through the hole. As he approaches the warehouse and searches as quietly as he can for the assassin, coming to a stop and fighting to keep himself calm when he hears her in a large, near empty chamber.

“What do you mean you’re having problems?” says the assassin.

Spike takes a double take at the vague familiarity of the voice.

“Well, shoot them out of the sky, you morons! Terra, out!”

Spike gasps when he realizes that the assassin is the mare with the cool communication device that was at the library yesterday. But right after he gasps, the ground shifts under his feet, causing him fall on his face. He is then grabbed by a magical force and launched into the ceiling just to be slammed into the ground. Luckily Spike is a dragon, otherwise his bones would’ve been shattered. At the most they are bruised, but it’s still high on the list of the most painful thing he’s experienced.

Spike groans and his eyes shift up to Terra’s sick, twisted smile.

“Hey I know you!” says Terra excitedly.

Spike swallows his fear and coils himself, growling with his array of razor sharp fangs exposed.

Terra arches a brow. “Is that supposed to be scary?”

Spike lunges at Terra, and she leaps out of the way, barely dodging his swinging tail. His claws scratch against the concrete floor as he slides to a stop, and turns to face her once agai, still snarling and puffing green smoke.

“C'mon, boy, use your fire! Use your fire!” coos Terra. She lowers herself with her hind end raised, wagging her tail like a canine wanting to play. “C'mon, use your fire!”

Something about Terra's theatrics strikes a real sore spot on him, and he takes a deep breath, still on all fours, and shoots a roaring jet of green flame towards her. She merely laughs and rolls out of the way of the flame that scorches the concrete, whooping and laughing while her run just barely keeps Spike's flames out of reach.

“Ooh, look at you go!” cheers Terra.

Her horn then glows a chunk of the floor next to Spike erupt with a ball of stone flying up to hit him in the jaw. Spike's flames are cut off with a yelp and he stumbles before being knocked off his feet by a telekinetic blast. He rolls and skids across the floor, coming to a sliding stop, only for Terra to jump next to him and stomp on his side, pushing all the air out of him. He clutches his side, coughing and swearing in pain, all while the unicorn stares down at him with that same evil smile.

“It's not too often I get to toy with my prey, and you are actually the first dragon I ever fought,” says Tera. She grabs Spike's head with her magic and forces it up so he can look her in the eye as she leans muzzle to muzzle with him. “Not very impressed, by the way.”

She slams Spike's against the ground, making him grunt and spit blood from his mouth. He’s regretting ignoring Pinkie Pie and is now hoping she ignored him and is one her way to stop this lunatic. Maybe with Twilight or Shining Armor tagging along to help.

“Does Mommy Twilight know you're out playing cops and robbers?” continues Terra in her demeaning tone.

“She’s not my mommy,” growls Spike.

“Ohhh, I see. Your marefriend then. Does Rarity know your cheating on her with a naughty librarian?”

Spike screams as he breaks free from Terra’s magical grip and he tackles her to the ground. He has her on her back and throws in a few amazing punches before he tries strangling her. But as soon as he tries strangling her, she stabs him in the side and watches with a satisfied smile as he rolls off of her with one of her blades sticking out of his ribs. He gasps for air while clutching his injury and Terra giggles as she slowly pulls the knife out, enjoying the sounds of his painful cries.

“Aww, what's the matter? Is the poor wittle dwagon hurt?” says Terra with puckered lips in phony sadness.

Spike growls and jumps towards her again, but Terra grabs him with her magic and slams him down on the ground, kicking up dust and sending a thud echoing through the warehouse.

Spike groans again, feeling his wounds sting as the dust collects and rough concrete rubs his injury. He glares at Terra, panting and flexing his muscles to their limit as he pushes himself on is four limbs despite the psycho's magic.

“You’re a monster,” pants Spike, clutching the stab wound to keep his blood from flowing, but it still seeps past his fingers and patters to the floor.

“Oh, yes I am, and I love it!” hollers Terra shamelessly.

Terra bucks Spike on his injured side and when he’s on his back, howling in pain, she stomps on his gut and her teeth and eyes glow in the dim light as she grins and keeps her eye just barely above his eye. Spike pushes against her, but with his blood loss, his muscles are weak and trembling and his eyes cannot break away from the knife threatening to pop it open any second.

“There is nothing more exciting than taking the gift of life and crushing it with your own hooves!” claims Terra.

She starts tracing the outer area of Spike's eye, leaving white scratches on his scales. He feels the knife's tip scraping against him, and his heart races as he tries harder to push her off, but she lays down on top of him and wags her tail in excitement as she pokes around the edges, barely able to sit still, much less contain her giggles.

“Daddy is funny, though,” says Terra. “He has this thing about life. Corruption does not deserve it, but purity does. It's all about end corruption, kill corruption, spare purity, save purity, and yadda yadda yadda. But what fun is there in taking sides when you can purge everything equally in glorious hellfire!”

With an unexpected burst of energy, Spike swiftly swipes his claws against Terra’s face, leaving a trail of nasty cuts from her cheek to her forehead and ruining her right eye. She screeches in pain and rolls off of him, clutching her eye and kicking her legs wildly while he crawls to his feet. Terra sobs and thrashes on the ground, swearing in agony as blood pours past her hooves, drenching her face, neck and hooves in dirty red. When she manages to get up on wobbly legs, energy explodes from her horn and she stomps the ground, shaking and destroying the concrete as jagged slabs of stone pop up around her. Spike gulps and steps back, clutching his injury when she turns to him, panting sharply, grinning with her good eye large with its pupil dilated and her injured eye closed with what's left of her eyelid.

“You still got some fight left, huh!?” yells Terra in a mix of pain and fury as blood continues gushing out of her wounded eye. “Then let's fight some more, big boy!”

Her horn sparks again and the stones that erupted from the ground mold into large, sewing needle shapes and lunge at Spike. He tries to retreat, but he barely takes a step before they stab his limbs and side, going clean through him and impacting the ground behind him, where they shatter behind him into crimson soaked shard. He barely has a chance to scream from the pain before Terra leaps towards him with a barbed blade that pierces his scales and shreds his lungs.

He gasps and stumbles back, and he falls to his knees, soaked in his own blood as more fill his lungs and dribble past his mouth. Terra has yet to remove her blade, and tears soak Spike's eyes and cheeks, and he whimpers weakly, as the her electrical cannon charges, bathing them both in electrical light that makes her fur stand and his scales heat up.

“Enjoy Hell, dragon!” cackles Terra.

Pinkie Pie hears the commotion of fighting and Spike's screams bounce off the concrete walls of the warehouse. She outran Shining Armor and his troops seconds after they started moving, but now her legs feel like they are about to rip, her lungs burn and her throat is scratchy and stuffed from her raspy breathing and the panic shaking her.

Every fiber in her body is telling her that Spike is in danger, but she cannot find him anywhere! The noises seem to be coming from every corner of the structure, and the shadows play tricks on her mind, making her see the ghosts in the dark that are not really there. These distractions are making it more difficult to for her to find him, and when Spike's cries go silent after three electric shots, Pinkie Pie skids to a halt, panting and pacing in circles, trying figure out where the shots came from.

“Spike!” calls Pinkie Pie frantically.

Silence.

Pinkie Pie's heart beats like terrified hummingbird and her lips tremble and her eyes swell with tears as she does a short gallop in a random direction, sliding to a stop in a small opening.

“Spike!”

More silence.

Pinkie Pie is about to move again, but she does not even take a pace when she hears approaching hooves. Her ear twist to the source, then it tightens and she barely turns her head in time to see a blood soaked blade flying towards her. Pinkie Pie yelps and stumbles back, narrowly avoiding it, and it impacts the wall behind her.

Pinkie Pie looks at the knife, now stuck in the wall, then snaps to the one who threw it and takes a step back, trembling and swallowing nervously as the figure chuckles in a mix of pain and madness. She recognizes her from Redheart's house and the Sugar Cube Corner, only in a lot better condition. The state the unicorn is in now, with a missing eye and face drenched in blood amongst the bleeding scratches all over her body, it is terrifying to see she is still standing. And walking. And grinning with another knife floating next to her and her electric cannon sparking with its miniscule energy.

“Hello again, Mare-Do-Well,” giggles Terra, her one good eye focused on Pinkie Pie and filled with a lust for blood. “Are you looking for someone?”

“What did you do to Spike!” yells Pinkie Pie.

The blade is yanked out of the wall and lunges at Pinkie Pie. She dodges the blade and it circles around Terra before coming to a stop next to her head. Terra steps forward, grinning dementedly, leaving a trail of bloody dots in her wake and giggling.

“I broke your toy,” says Terra between her chuckles.

“WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SPIKE!” screams Pinkie Pie.

“You should’ve heard him begging for his life.” Terra mimics a cry before returning to her bloody, toothy grin. “Does Twilight know you got her lover killed?”

Pinkie Pie screams and charges Terra, her body buzzing in warning as the psychotic unicorn meets her charge with a smirk.

Right when Pinkie Pie jumps toward Terra, the unicorn shoots both of her blades at her. By pure reflex, Pinkie Pie bats the first blade away, slides under the second one, and leaps forward and punches Terra’s injured eye. As Terra shrieks and stumbles back, dropping her weapons, Pinkie Pie bucks her into a rack of supplies. An avalanche of the items cover Terra and create a deafening ruckus that bounces off the walls. Pinkie Pie watches the pile for a few seconds for any signs of movement. When there’s nothing Pinkie Pie turns to look for Spike, but stops dead in her tracks when she hears the ground cracking and a loud rumbling noise radiating from underneath it.

“You thought a kick would stop me?” sneers Terra while rising out of the pile on top of a levitating rock platform. “I'm the Stone Reaper! It's going to take more than a kick to knock me down!”

Pinkie Pie takes a step back and her jaw drops as she watches Terra rise up with more chunks of stones breaking out from under the floor to rise up around her as satellites. The stones are morphed into circular saw blades and then shot at Pinkie Pie in rapid secession.

Pinkie Pie gallops down the warehouse aisles, dodging each of the crude saw blades and making them shatter against the ground or impale into a wall or one of the stacked containers. She looks over her shoulder and ducks down, rolling on her back and watching with a sick stomach as the saw blade spins past her muzzle, barely missing it by an inch, and slices off a piece of the brim of her hat. The blade impacts the wall behind her, shattering into pieces but she cannot relax because her senses buzz again, giving her just enough warning to roll out of the way of pony sized spear head that breaks apart her cover. The pillar she had been hiding behind barely a second ago crumbles with pieces of the ceiling falling down with a cloud of dust and dirt from the roof.

Pinkie Pie leaps to her feet and resumes galloping, ducking and making every sharp turn she can as molded stones of various blades and hammers slice or smash through the aisles.

“Are you running? How cute!” laughs Terra.

Pinkie Pie's tail twitches right as she is about to circle a corner and digs her hooves in the ground, barely avoiding a maw full of hoof. Terra jumps from cover, grinning psychotically, and takes another swing at Pinkie Pie while throwing one of her knives at her with the use of magic. The Element sacrifices a punch in her side to avoid getting stabbed in the head, but the punch sends her doubling over, coughing with a bruise forming on her side. She is then put in a headlock and smells Terra's breath and feels her blood dripping on her from their close proximity.

“C'mon, tough girl, let's see your moves,” sneers Terra.

Terra uses brute strength to keep Pinkie Pie in her grip as she runs full speed towards the remains of a rack that has been crushed by one of her attacks. Pinkie Pie tries to dig her hooves on the rough floor, but Terra levitates her just enough to keep her off the ground and rams her head against a wooden crate.

Pinkie Pie's hears ring and her world becomes disoriented as she falls to the ground, leaving a head sized hole in the box. Terra moves in for another attack, but Pinkie Pie's hind leg snaps outwards and collides with her jaw, sending her stumbling back. Pinkie Pie then turns, leaps and brings her hoof down on her head before upper cutting her. The unicorn staggers backwards and the earth pony lunges forward again, hooking her neck to trap her so she can send punch after punch to her face. After the fourth punch, Pinkie Pie releases Terra and does another round-house kick to her chest, knocking the unicorn off her hooves and into the air, where she crashes back down, flat on her back, panting and laughing.

“Oh, wow! I love your brutality!” laughs Terra, groaning loudly when she gets back up. She whoops, shakes herself off and wipes blood off of her face, even though it does next to no good because of her wounded eye. “Daddy would love you, too! I'll tell you what. Let's call call a truce and you can come with me and together we can do all the-”

“No!” interrupts Pinkie Pie.

Terra snorts. “Well, okay, then.”

Terra's horn bursts with energy and a stone mace bursts from the floor next to Pinkie Pie, showering her with concrete and stone shards that beat against her body and dig into her skin.

Pinkie Pie bites her tongue to keep herself from crying from the burning scratches and blunt trauma as she leaps over the summoned weapon. She twirls in the air, watching with wide eyes how close the blunt object is to her nose as if time itself has slowed down to show her her luck. However, when she sees the deranged unicorn's demented smirk and feels her spine vibrating, she has a very strong feeling that she is in for a world of hurt. That prediction is proven to be painfully true a second later when something round and hard strikes her in the back like a cannon ball.

Pinkie Pie barely has a chance to scream from the trauma on her spine and the crushing pain on her back before she lands face first into the concrete and rolls across the floor. She comes to a stop by another pillar, coughing, trembling and whimpering on the dirty ground with the dust of the floor being grounded in her bloody, sweaty suit.

“You were a lot of fun, Mare-Do-Well,” says Terra, her shoulders buckling and her voice shaking from how hard she is chuckling as her eye gleams in the dirty light like an illuminated blade. Terra steps forward, putting a lot of emphasis on each step as she lifts two maces and two blades with her magic. “Too bad I have to kill you. You actually made things interesting.”

Pinkie Pie pushes herself up on wobbly legs, blood dripping through her lips and past her mask. Her hat is nowhere to be seen and one of her mask lenses has shattered, cutting her brow and exposing her droopy, narrowed eye to Terra.

“I'm not done yet,” wheezes Pinkie Pie, blinking blood out of her eye and gritting her teeth in response to a sharpness in her back when she prepares for a launch.

“Oh, yes you are!”

Terra lunges with all of her weapons flying towards Pinkie Pie, and in turn she tenses her muscles, bringing tears to her eyes from the burning and agonizingly tight feelings. Her eyes zero in on Terra's horn, waiting for the perfect moment to dodge the attack and shatter the appendage.

“Freeze!” barks Shining Armor suddenly.

Terra freezes, both blades stopping just shy a few feet of Pinkie Pie's heart and the maces coming in from two directions to crush her head. The grotesquely wounded unicorn slowly turns her head, grinning to expose her bloodied teeth at the Captain and his troops.

“Captain Sparkle? What a surprise!” says Terra sardonically.

“Disarm your weapons and get down on the ground!” orders Shining Armor.

The soldiers he brought spread out, carefully forming a circle around Terra. Pinkie Pie does not look away from Terra, though. Despite how much her battered body is shaking and how fast her heart is beating from the adrenaline rush, she can still tell that Terra is planning something.

“My daddy is a fan of yours,” says Terra eerily, her good eye twitching and grin widening. “He really loves how you are trying to end the corruption destroying our society.”

“That's nice. Now, get on the ground!” says Shining Armor sharply.

“But I am not my daddy.”

With a vicious yell, Terra launches her two blades the nearest guards while simultaneously swinging her maces against two more. The two hit with the blades drop to the ground with slit throats while the ones hit by the maces fly off with crushed chests, crashing somewhere out of view.

Pinkie Pie screams in rage and gallops forward at full speed, mane flattening and hot air blowing from her noses. The last two escorts are killed with a stab to the eye and a caved in skull by the time Pinkie Pie manages to tackle Terra to the ground. The two roll over each other in a blur of purple and brown with sparks showering around them. They both snarl and deal swift, brutal punches to each other, with Pinkie Pie trying to shatter the horn and Terra blocking and retaliating.

Every punch to Pinkie Pie's face shakes her vision and blinds her white and a flash of pain, but she still keeps on hitting with barbaric ferocity, hoping to tire down Terra so her defense can fall. But, right as she is about to land another blow, the unicorn's horn glows and a solid punch of pure energy strikes her in the chest, sending her soaring into the air and belly flopping on a crate. It shattered on impact and Pinkie Pie rolls on the ground, shifting weakly and straining herself to watch Terra roll to her hooves and shoot at Shining Armor with her cannon. Pinkie Pie brings her hoof up to shield her eyes when he puts up his shield, making the electric shot burst on impact with a blinding display of light that burns the concrete around him.

“Oh, sure! Now you work right, you piece of crap!” snarls Terra. She fires again and again, with each shot meeting the same resistance. “What's the matter, big guy? Scared of a little girl!”

Pinkie Pie seethes quietly and pushes herself up on her hooves, stumbling over to a pile of rubble where she collapses on her stomach again.

Terra continues shouting her taunts and shooting her cannon at Shining Armor, and Pinkie Pie reaches for a slab of concrete attached to a rebar, using it to help her stand.

Suddenly the crack of a rifle rings out and before Pinkie Pie can comprehend what happened, Terra's cannon explodes and her right side is engulfed in electric flame.

Pinkie Pie watches in horror as Terra shrieks in agony and thrashes on the ground as the electric fire burns through her coat and melts her flesh down to the bone. The unicorn's skin and muscles drip off quickly, leaving charred bone behind, but before the fire can consume her completely, it is blown out by a wave of magic.

Shining Armor's shield drops and Pinkie Pie looks at him in utter shock as he marches towards Terra destroyed, smoking body with a deep scowl and a lust for vengeance in his eyes. The injured unicorn tries standing up, but he kicks her down so she is lying on her back and he steps on her chest and tilts his battle saddle towards her muzzle.

A tense silence passes between the three of them. Shining Armor glares down at Terra, his breathing heavy and furious tears swelling in his eyes, and she, in turn, looks back up at him with her good eye darting to random points on his body. She is trembling and wheezing with a half charred skull face grinning back at him, and Pinkie Pie looks between the two, waiting to see what will happen next.

“Resist arrest. I dare you,” says Shining Armor darkly.

“Oh-oh-okay-okay, big guy. Ye-You want-you want me to. You want me to, huh?” chuckles Terra through pained gasping.

Shining Armor furrows his brow and Pinkie Pie tenses, neither liking the way she’s laughing at him. Terra’s horn unexpectedly glows and one of her stone blades shoots clean through the bone of the leg holding her down. Shining Armor screams and collapses to the ground and Pinkie Pie yells for Shining Armor while Terra clambers on top of him and starts stabbing at his armored chest. Despite his best efforts to fight her off, she still overpowers him and starts stabbing his blocking hoof while beating his horn with her hoof until it cracks, nearly snapping it off in her assault.

“Ha-ha-how-how do you like that! How’s THAT for resist, huh!” screeches Terra’s horribly distorted, scratchy voice over Shining Armor's screams of pain.

Terra yanks her blade out from Shining Armor's hoof and she lifts it above his eye right as Pinkie Pie swings her crude, rebar-concrete weapon against the side of head. Terra stumbles off of Shining Armor, cackling and squirming, and Pinkie Pie screams and bashes it against her head again. This time she falls silent and limp like an old rag doll.

Pinkie Pie holds the weapon above Terra's head, panting and shaking with dilated eyes and her sweaty, flat mane sliding in front of her exposed eye as a clumped mess. She really wants to bring that weapon down and watch Terra's head explode on the floor for all that she has done and what she would have done if she had not stopped her.

'Just one more swing,' says the voice in her head. A toothy grin spreads across Pinkie Pie's muzzle and tears clean a trail of blood and sweat off her cheek as the weapon shakes from her trembling hoof. She is so close to ending this she can taste it. 'One. Quick. Little. Swing. And that is one less meanie for you to deal with.'

“Pinkie,” coughs Shining Armor weakly.

Pinkie Pie blinks, her eyes back to normal, and she looks at Shining Armor, jaw dropping at the sight of the Captain. Blood and a translucent rose colored fluid flow down his damaged horn, matting his blue mane to his face and wetting the grime on it. His destroyed hoof is pressed against his chest, covering his armor in a sleek layer of blood, and his stabbed hoof is extended to her.

“Pinkie, don't. She's done for,” says Shining Armor through his heavy breathing, with his eyes glazed and tears of agony rolling down his cheeks.

Pinkie Pie stares at Shining Armor, wordless about his request. Then she looks down at Terra and sees how horribly scarred she is. Half of her body is covered in third degree burns, with some burnt bone exposed and all her wounds cauterized in disgusting black scabs, and the entire right side of her face is a charred skull. Not even her eye remains and the cracks from the concrete's impact are seen spreading out around her cheek in a spiderweb pattern. If she is not dead now, she will be in just a few minutes.

Pinkie Pie gasps and drops her crude weapon and stumbles away from Terra, hoof to mouth and tears flowing down her cheeks. Seconds later, her muffled sobs echo in the warehouse that turned into a battlefield.

“I-I killed her,” whimpers Pinkie Pie. “I just killed somepony!”

Shining Armor shakes his head. “We both did, but it had to be done or else she would have killed both of us and who knows how many more.” He winces and shifts on his spot. “Help me up. I need to find Spike.”

Pinkie Pie's ears perk and she looks at Shining Armor, shaking her head. “No, you can't move! I-I will find Spike, you stay there and call for help.”

“But I need to find Spike! I promised Twilight I would find him!”

“I need to find him, too.”

And with that, Pinkie Pie gallops off, ignoring his calls, and runs to where she first encountered Terra. She needs only to take a peek down the hall to see the destruction and Spike's body lying in the natural light shining in through a dirty window.

“Spike!” Pinkie Pie runs towards Spike and sees him lying motionless, lying in a thick pool of blood blood with more coming out from the multiple stabs over his limbs and body. She whimpers and scoops him up in her trembling hooves, shaking her head in disbelief at the sight of his destroyed body and the three large, grotesque holes burnt into his chest. She hugs Spike tighter and nuzzles him as her sobs echo in the building, not caring about all the pain she is in or the drake's blood soaking her. She wants to hug him and never let go, hoping that doing so will bring him back and prove that all this is just a nightmare. “Oh, Spike, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.”

She stops crying for just a second when she hears Spike take a weak breath and drape his arm around. She opens her eye to see Spike looking at her, barely able to keep his eyes open and a weary, and curious, smile slowly stretching across his face.

“Hey, Pinkie... How'd we do?... Did we get her?”asks Spike weakly, managing to make his tone light.

Pinkie Pie smiles and removes her mask to reveal her bloodied and bruised face, nodding and sniffling. “Yeah, we got her.”

Spike coughs blood and tries to hold her tighter by digging his claws into her shoulder, but he is so weak he barely presses the fabric of her costume. “That's good... I... I think I'm ready... For my nap.”

Spike closes his eyes and presses himself as tight as he can against Pinkie Pie's barrel. In turn, Pinkie Piecloses her eyes and lowers her head as she runs her hoof along his spine, letting her tears run freely with her teeth grinding and eyes squeezing shut as her whole body quivers with her whimpers.

“Sleep well, Spike,” sniffles Pinkie Pie.

She sits there for an indefinite amount of time, whimpering and rocking Spike back and forth, wishing herself to wake up on her bed so the two of them can do something together. Maybe play a prank on Twilight or have an ice cream eating contest. Spike's breathing becomes weaker each second and his heartbeats become heavier and more parted, and Pinkie Pie continues hugging and nuzzling him, apologizing every second her breath will allow. But her apologizing and hugs come to an end when she hears a crackle of energy down the hall.

Time does not exist in the shielded town hall. It has not been existing ever since Shining Armor and his assembled team left the shield to find Spike. Minutes blur to seconds and seconds to microseconds. There are no hours or security in the shield, only worry.

Worry is all Twilight can feel as she anxiously paces in large circles, ears flicking and eyes darting every which direction they could. The soldiers are zipping to and fro like frenzied ants, Mayor Ivory Scroll is staring straight ahead, stuck in a state of shock, and Golden Harvest's eyes are particularly large and following everyone's movements like Twilight. Though, her eyes are gliding along like she is taking her time taking in the details as she rubs her hoof, like she is suspicious of everyone around her.

Twilight strains her ears for any verbal clues of Shining Armor and Spike, but she cannot get much but basic responses and brief glances in her direction. She whimpers and goes to the nearest soldier, grabbing him with her magic and pulling him close to her.

“Have you heard anything from my brother, yet?” asks Twilight.

The soldier shakes his head. “No, ma'am.”

Twilight releases him and grabs another soldier, who just happens to look like an officer.

“Have you heard anything from my brother, yet?” she asks desperately.

“Classified,” replies the officer bluntly.

He shrugs himself away from Twilight and presses his radio with his magic as he trots away from her. “Roger that. Send Sentry's unit for perimeter security.”

Twilight's colors drain and collapses on the floor, staring straight ahead into the enothingness. She has no idea what's going on, and the guard's blunt “classified” response with him talking about perimeter security is sending her brain in a more panicked state. Did something happen to Spike? To Shining Armor? Are the hurt? Are they...?

Twilight does not finish her thought. She does not even want to think about such a horrible fate. She knows that they are alive. They have to be!

But, her gut is telling her that they are not alright. She can feel that something is wrong, like they are hurt. How bad, she does not know, but she knows that Shining Armor went to find Spike, and as much as she wants to split herself in two to find them, she is below that power. Twilight whimpers and looks around, trying to think what she should do.

'You need to find Spike!' scolds her subconscious. 'Let Shining get mad at you, but Spike is your son! Find him!'

Twilight nods to her thoughts, knowing that they are right. It is not fair that Shining Armor is out there, looking for Spike in all this when she is the one that has been taking care of the drake since he was an egg. He is her responsibility and sitting in the chamber, fidgeting for an indefinite amount of time is near criminal behavior for neglecting him. She will find Spike, with or without her brother's approval.

Twilight takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and blocks out everything. A light purple mist oozes out of her horn as she focuses solely on the memory of her and Spike. Everything moves in a near blur, from waking him, to him poking fun at her about a breakfast mishap, and on to leaving Golden Oaks Library to set up the election ceremony. Then comes him sneaking away from the stage to get a strawberry ice cream cone and him enjoying the said cone while she announces Ivory Scroll to be the winner. And then comes the attack.

The imagery of he civilians and soldiers alike being slaughtered makes Twilight cringe, and is confused when Spike converses with someone in a Mare-Do-Well suit. She really wishes she could hear what they are saying, but whatever they said makes Spike run through the alley, past the retreating crowd, all the way to the Flim Flam warehouse. There, she sees the tourist that went to her library wanting a map of Ponyville.

Never before has Twilight seen such evil. Discord and Chrysalis cannot compare, and the joy that unicorn is getting from Spike's pain and his desperation to stay alive is terrifying. Twilight wants to stop the spell as she sees through Spike's eyes the psychopath stabbing and shooting him with a bloody grin, trembling and single glowing with glee from the slaughter. Tears soak Twilight's cheek and she grinds her teeth, shaking her head, not wanting believe that Spike is lying on a warehouse floor, bleeding to death while she is safe inside a shield.

Her horn glows brighter, and in a blinding flash of light purple and loud pop, she disappears. Her body turns to dust in the magical vortex and at speed rivaling light, she travels over Ponyville and lands inside the warehouse. Being reconstructed lasts only a second, but it is still odd and leaves her feeling tingly all over, but when she has not an ounce of care about that. She opens her eyes and finds herself in the warehouse. Or what's left of it.

From her position, she can see the destruction of crushed and sliced racks and crates, crushed floors, broken pillars and light pouring in from the caved in portion of the roof. She gulps and trembles as she looks around, knowing she is close to Spike and is hoping that she is not too late. Twilight does not need to look long, though, for when she steps forward and looks down the hall, she sees Spike lying out in the open, limp and bloodied.

“No,” gasps Twilight, shaking her head and legs feeling weak at the sight of Spike's limp form. Twilight gallops forward, tears flowing down her cheeks, heart racing and suffocation threatening her the closer she gets to her surrogate son. “No. No, no, no, no! No! SPIKE!”

Twilight stops by the pool of blood and the crimson hoof prints leading from it, whimpering and pacing around Spike, trying to see if there is any sign of life. She collapses next to him in his blood, weeping and whining incoherent words while her hooves pay at him, grabbing him so she can feel him with her own hooves and not her magic.

“No, please, no,” whimpers Twilight, dragging Spike closer to her and hugging his head against her chest. Her hole body trembles and she hugs him tighter, then she tilts her head up and screams, then she hunches over and weeps over Spike's body.

From the corner of the next hall, Pinkie Pie watches Twilight sobbing over Spike. She takes a step, wanting to call Twilight and give her comfort, but she closes her mouth and steps back, not sure how she would comfort her friend. Especially in a death that had been her fault. With that thought, Pinkie Pie closes her eyes and runs away as fast as she can.

They had won, they had defeated the League of Justice and saved Ivory Scroll's life, but had it been worth it?

From what Pinkie Pie has seen, the answer is no.

Author's Notes:

Added on 5 Sep 2014

Arc 1- 12- Fallout -EDITED-

The back door to the Sugar Cube Corner is slammed against the wall and Pinkie Pie stumbles in, whimpering and shaking to where she can barely stand. She takes a few steps before she leans against the counter, wheezing and coughing. She yanks off her mask and fedora and throws them off to the side, revealing her flat mane matted with sweat and her bloody, scratched face, then she collapses by a garbage can and pukes in it, burning her throat with the pure acid. Her whole body trembles violently, and when she pukes again, her grip cannot keep her legs up and she falls to the floor, taking the can with her and spilling its contents all over floor.

Pinkie Pie shakes her head, wanting to throw the imagery of Terra's slaughter and Spike's mangled body out of her mind. She drags herself to the wall and presses her hooves against her face and screams as she kicks her hind legs out.

“I'm sorry,” sobs Pinkie Pie.

'Don't be sorry. Be afraid,' taunts the voice in her head. 'You got one of your friends killed. How's that going to look? I'll give you a hint: It's kinda on the pretty bad side.'

“I didn't mean to,” sniffles Pinkie Pie.

'They won't care. All they will see is Spike's blood all over your hooves.'

Pinkie Pie's eyes gradually open, growing larger as she looks at her bloody hooves, shaking and feeling light headed as the new tendrils of panic strangle her and squeeze her heart.

'His blood is all over you,' continues the voice in an eerie singsong tone. 'And you know what? That is a mark of the end of your friendships.'

“No,” whimpers Pinkie Pie in disbelief.

'Yes. Spike was sooo lovable and adorable and his stupidity got himself killed, but those fakes you call friends will blame you!'

Pinkie Pie once again closes her eyes and shakes her head. “It-It was... I tried to get him-”

'His blood. Your hooves. I think it's time for a shower, Pinkie. You smell like a dead dragon.'

“NO!”

Pinkie Pie jumps up, eyes still closed, and feels her body collide with another body and someone shout for her in a tone she cannot make out. She does not care about the pony she bumped into, though. All she can see is Spike's bloody body, feel his weak claws trying to hold her and hear that awful voice in her head.

'Wash up, Pinkie,' taunts the voice. 'Wash away the bad stuff. Then you can sing and dance your troubles away like Laughter is supposed to do!'

Pinkie Pie hits a table, knocking it over and collapses on the floor along with a chair she tried to grab to keep herself up. She barely hears her name being called again over her sobs and gulps for air. She feels a hoof go on her shoulder and another wrap around her barrel to help her up.

“Pinkie, are you okay?” asks the pony.

Pinkie Pie whimpers and sniffles and opens her eyes to see Cup Cake staring at her with worry, and tears in her eyes as well. The older mare grabs Pinkie Pie's hooves, her worry turning to fear and her jaw dropping and her breaths becoming short.

“Oh my goodness. Is this blood?” asks Cup Cake.

As soon as those words are spoken, Terra's blood-soaked, grinning face flashes across Pinkie Pie's eyes as if her physical form had manifested in between the two, making her jump and retreat, trembling and whimpering.

“No, nonononono,” whimpers Pinkie Pie quickly.

Cup Cake moves forward carefully and puts her hooves on Pinkie Pie's shoulder. “Pinkie, what happened to you? Is this your blood?”

'She'll go against you, too. Just you wait,' claims the voice.

Pinkie Pie closes her eyes and lowers her head, sniffling and suffocating as tears mix with the blood and fall to the floor as pink, hazy droplets.

“I'm sorry,” says Pinkie Pie when she gulps for air.

“Pinkie, please tell me what happened,” begs Cup Cake with tears rolling down her cheeks and her hoof gently cupping Pinkie Pie's face while her other hoof rubs her shoulder.

Despite her gentle touch, it still stings the bruises and cuts all over Pinkie Pie's face. Soon, Pinkie Pie breaks down and collapses to the floor, wailing, and Cup Cake scoops her up and hugs her tight, unaware of the pain her hug is putting on the Element's back. Pinkie Pie is too broken to care about her back, though. She got Spike killed. This pain is the least she deserves.

“Please don't hate me,” cries Pinkie Pie, her hooves hooking around Cup Cake and burying her face in the older mare's shoulder, staining her coat in sweat, blood, tears and grime.

Pinkie Pie's hooves paw at her surrogate mother, trying to get a better hold as Cup Cake gently shushes her and runs her hoof through the flattened, messy mane.

“It's okay, Pinkie, I got you,” says Cup Cake softy, shushing her again and stroking her mane as she weeps and shakes in her grip.

“Please don't let me go,” sobs Pinkie Pie, her shoulders buckling and her body feeling weaker by the second as misery and guilt sucks away everything she has. “Please don't- Please don't hate me. Don't- Please don't hate me. Please, please, please.”

Cup Cake takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and bows her head over Pinkie Pie's and continues rubbing her back while rocking her back and forth. “It's going to be okay, Pinkie, I promise.”

Pinkie Pie opens her eyes and tries to look into Cup Cake's eyes, hoping for a light in the darkness. “Pinkie Promise?”

Cup Cake hesitates. “I promise.”

A few hours later, Pinkie Pie finds herself sitting on her bed, staring at her map in a trance like state, still wearing her damp Mare-Do-Well costume, minus her mask and hat. Her mane and tail remain deflated, her face is covered in bruises and band-aids and her body is throbbing all over, each bruise like its own separate pulse. Spike's last tortured breaths and Terra's cackles torment her of ever second. Ever passing tick and tock is another opportunity for Terra to taunt her and for Spike to fight a hopeless battle for his life. She can still feel his claws on her when he held her in his last minutes of life.

'Don't be so gloomy. You told him not to go, but he went anyway. It is all his fault,' returns the voice in her head.

Pinkie Pie bows her head and squeezes her eyes shut, only for a flash of Terra's mutilated face to appear right before she had whacked her in the back with the mace. With that, comes a burst of pain in her back and she opens her eyes quickly, shivering and whimpering. All the damage that has happened today, all the lives lost and ruined, is because of her, this she knows.

If she had just let the League carry out their assassination without her interfering then Spike would still be alive, Shining Armor would not be crippled, and dozens would have been spared. Ivory Scroll had been -and still is- their target, and as she thinks about it, she believes that she should have just let the League kill her. After all they do target criminals and corrupt government officials and it would have been just the Mayor that suffered. Not her friends and dozens of other. But because Ivory Scroll lived, the League will be back and there is no telling what they will do ensure that she is killed or what acts of retribution they will carry out against the town.

As that phrase echoes in Pinkie Pie’s mind in sick loops, she looks at the junk on her floor and realizes that Redheart was right. The League of Justice is willing to go any length to accomplish their goals, and now that she has sabotaged their mission and killed one of their soldiers, they will be coming after her and Ivory Scroll in full force. She doesn’t need her Pinkie Sense to tell her that her end is near.

Pinkie Pie rubs her eyes, and the moment of her bashing Terra on the side of the head with the crude weapon flashes across her mind. She can’t scrub the image of Terra's destroyed face and the sick smile that accompanied it from her mind. It is like Terra didn’t even care that she was gravely injured. She had an objective and she was willing to kill anypony-

No. Anyone.

Pinkie Pie sniffles and lets her hooves drop to the comforter. She can only imagine the fear that Spike had felt when Terra attacked him, and the bodies... All those bodies. All the lives that Terra ended without hesitation. Terra’s demented laughter returns to taunt her, and the smell of smoke from the strange weapon tortures her nose.

The fight, the pain, the bruises and cuts that accumulated in their scuffle, and all the blood and mangled bodies cloud Pinkie Pie's thoughts so much that she barely hears a knocking. She thinks it is just her imagination, and actually hopes it is. She cannot bear to look at anyone for what she caused and what more pain will come because of her.

The knocking continues and a shaky voice calls her from the hallway. Pinkie Pie looks at the door, recognizing the voice to be Twilight’s, and she gulps and reluctantly approaches the door. Her legs feel like jelly and her throat tightens with her racing heart on her shuffle over, and when she opens the door partly, she sees Twilight.

Her friend's lavender coat and mane are a mess, covered in sweat and tears, and her eyes are large, red and puffy from the tears they are soaking in. More tears trail down her cheeks as she looks at Pinkie Pie, nearly on the verge of another emotional break down.

“Twilight...” is all Pinkie Pie can say. She knows what happened and wants to apologize, but she doesn’t know how to.

“Pinkie Pie, I have bad news,” says Twilight, still in the hallway, she takes a ragged breath and says: “Shining's been hospitalized and... And Spike’s dead.”

Pinkie Pie lightly bangs her head on the door frame, tears swell up in her eyes and she feels the weight of the world coming down on her. She had just gotten one of her friends killed; a friend that was like a son to Twilight.

“I-I’m sorry, Twilight,” says Pinkie Pie between her sniffles, “it should’ve never happened... It all went wrong...”

“Wha-What do you mean?” sniffles Twilight.

Pinkie Pie lets Twilight in her room, and her jaw drops when she sees what Pinkie Pie has been doing. and when she sees Pinkie Pie wearing her Mare-Do-Well costume she clenches her jaw and breathes heavily while smoke rises off of her.

“I only wanted to help,” says Pinkie Pie quietly, “I... I never wanted Spike to get involved. But he did it willingly... He died a hero.”

“You dragged Spike into this?” asks Twilight accusingly.

“No... I mean yes, but he-he helped me catch the first assassin and-and he went after the other one.”

“You got Spike KILLED!”

Pinkie Pie is slammed against the wall with enough force to leave large cracks in it and bits popping out. She yelps and squeezes her eyes shut, not wanting top open them when she feels an intense heat that singes her fur and costume and leaves her feeling dry, accompanied by roaring flames.

“LOOK AT ME!” screams Twilight.

Pinkie Pie reluctantly opens her eyes, sniffling and whimpering at the sight of her friend. She has only ever seen her in this state once, but she had hoped never to see it again because of how furious she was. Now, she is back. Her coat is white hot and her mane, tail and fetlocks are made of dancing flames that burn the ground and air around her. The floor darkens and peels, sending flakes of ash to circle around her with the burning pieces of paper and the Mare-Do-Well hat and mask.

Pinkie Pie whimpers louder and shrinks into her spot on the wall, hoping that Cup Cake will barge in and put a stop to this.

“WHY DID YOU DRAG SPIKE INTO THIS!” yells Twilight, every tear from her fiery eyes that rolls down her cheek quickly turning to vapor.

“I- I tried- I tried to stop him but he- he wouldn’t-” sobs Pinkie Pie

“BECAUSE OF YOU HE’S DEAD!”

“Twi, I’m sorry!”

“SORRY WON’T BRING SPIKE BACK!”

“Twilight, I-I’m sorry,” stammers Pinkie Pie. “I-I was only-only trying to do what was right.”

“Don’t even bother coming to Spike’s funeral.”

“What! Twi, please!”

Twilight throws Pinkie Pie to the ground and presses her hoof on her chest. Laughter squirms under Magic's wrath, wincing and trying to touch her hooves to pry her off so her chest does not burn away. However, Twilight's hoof is too hot, so all Pinkie Pie can do is lie there and accept her punishment for breaking apart Twilight's family.

“Don’t you ‘Twi’ me!” snarls Twilight.

“What are you doing!” yells a mare furiously.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie both turn their heads to look at the source right as Cup Cake shoves Twilight off, unfazed by the fact that the unicorn is engulfed in flame. Twilight stumbles back, mostly out of shock of what has happened, and Pinkie Pie stares at Cup Cake, breathing heavily and trying to swallow what little spit remains.

“Get out of my house!” orders Cup Cake, her hoof aimed at the door and a snarl scrunching up her muzzle. “You are not welcomed here anymore!”

Twilight takes a deep breath and returns returns to her normal form, sweating and panting with her mane a mess. She exhales and wipes her sweaty bangs out of her eyes, then she hastily walks towards the door, stopping and looking at Pinkie Pie when she is in the doorway.

“Consider our friendship over,” growls Twilight.

She slams the door shut with her magic, making Pinkie Pie cringe. When the footsteps fade and the front door of the Sugar Cube Corner is opened and slammed shut, Pinkie Pie meekly looks up at Cup Cake, trembling. The older mare is still staring at the door with a tight jaw and narrowed eyes, silently daring the rest of the world to come in and cause trouble.

“Are you alright?” asks Cup Cake seconds later.

Pinkie Pie shakes her head, sniffling and wiping the tears from her eyes. “No. I... I just want to be alone.”

Cup Cake looks at Pinkie Pie for a few seconds, then she reluctantly nods and walks out, giving her one last look before gently shutting the door. Pinkie Pie waits until she hears Cup Cake's hooves fade before she stands up and looks out her window. She barely see's Twilight rounding the corner and many heads have turned while more ponies speed-trot away from her general direction. Some guards pass by their house, ordering the pedestrians to return to their homes, and Pinkie Pie slides back to the floor, covering her face and whimpering.

A moment later, she throws down her hooves, gulps for air, then she bites down on the Mare-Do-Well pin and yanks it off with a hard tug, causing the cape to fall to the floor in a jumbled mess. After that. she spits the pin into her hoof and holds it up to her eyes, studying the curvy 'M' with growing disgust. She grits her teeth and throws it to the ground, and angrily watches it bounce and roll to a stop under her map. Then she tears off her tattered Mare-Do-Well costume and shoves it in the clown shaped trash bin, screaming and swearing incoherently as she beats the ruined cloth until it is flat. Then she kicks garbage can over and throws it across the room, screaming madly, where it shatters the mirror attached to her dresser. The glass shards cascade down and shatter against the dresser and floor, and the remains of the mirror tip over and snap upon impact. After doing that, Pinkie Pie lies on her bed and closes her eyes, sobbing for what seems like a few minutes, but when she opens them there is only darkness. Not even the light f the moon can be seen through the thick canvas of clouds and she has a feeling that the sounds of a chugging engine and the lights that follow belong to the military doing their patrols.

Pinkie Pie sits on her bed, staring at the dark spot where her mirror used to be for a few minutes before she forces herself out of her bed. Then she walks towards her dresser and opens up one of the drawer to pull out a headset and lift up a dial. She slips on the headset and presses a little lever where the device rests and sighs when she hears clicks and hums on the other end. She then takes a deep breath and begins spinning the dial in the sequence of numbers. She stops at the last number, not really sure if she should complete the sequence. But after a few seconds, a ding alerts her of the time limit and out of reflex, she turns the dial to the last number. Immediately after, the other end starts ringing.

And it keeps ringing. And ringing. And ringing.

Pinkie Pie closes her eyes and bangs her head against the dresser top, whining quietly. Then the other end beeps and her ears and heart spike. What comes next, though, makes her heart sink.

“Hi, you’ve reached Octavia. Sorry I’m not available at the moment, but if you leave your name and number I’ll call you back as soon as I can,” says Octavia, her years in Canterlot have given her the ‘Royal Canterlot Accent’.

The other end beeps again and Pinkie Pie takes a nervous, deep breath before she leaves her message. “Hey, Octavia, this is Pinkie. We haven’t spoken in a while and... And I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for not being a good sister to you and... And I love you.”

Pinkie Pie hangs up, takes another deep breath and wills herself to dial another number. Every ring that follows makes her stomach churn and sends a tear down her cheek, and just when she’s about to hang up, an old stallion answers.

“Who’s this?” asks the stallion gruffly.

Pinkie Pie is unable to answer.

“If you don’t talk, I’m going to hang up,” threatens the stallion on the other end.

“Hey, Dad, it’s me,” says Pinkie Pie nervously.

“...Octavia?”

“No, Dad, it’s me... Pinkamena.”

There is an awkward, heavy silence that passes, and then Pinkie Pie sniffles. This gets her father talking.

“Pinkamena, what’s wrong?” asks her father worryingly.

“Nothing’s wrong... Just... I just want to apologize,” says Pinkie Pie, stifling a sniff.

“For what?”

“For leaving... And missing all those birthdays, and not being there when you needed me after Mom-”

“Pinkamena, there’s nothing to apologize for. You lived your life.”

“But I-”

“I don’t want to hear it, young lady. I live on a rock farm, I can’t get hurt, remember?”

Pinkie Pie forces a chuckle while her father genuinely laughs at his joke. She then wipes her nose and stares at the ceiling, trying to get herself to smile at the sound of her father’s voice. At least she’ll be speaking to one member of her family until her end.

“Now tell me, what’s wrong,” her father says sympathetically.

“I wanted to surprise you this year on your birthday. You know, get Octavia, Maud and Limestone and celebrate your birthday as a family for at least one more time,” says Pinkie Pie. She breathes heavily and wipes her eyes.

“I guess I am getting old, and it would’ve been nice if it was an actual surprise.”

“I guess I let the surprise slip.”

“I’ll pretend that I didn’t hear it. But what’s bothering you?”

“I just lost a friend, probably all of my friends actually...”

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. What happened?”

“I was only trying to do the right thing and... And now I don’t think I’ll be able to get our family together for your birthday.”

“You’re not making much sense. Why don’t you come down to the rock farm so we can talk about it together, face to face?”

“No, dad, I don’t want them to hurt you. Just know that I have always loved you... Do you still love me?”

“Pinkamena Diane Pie, I will always love you no matter what, you hear?”

Pinkie Pie nods and whimpers softly. “I guess that was a stupid question.”

“What did you mean when you said you didn’t want ‘them’ to hurt me?” asks her father.

“I have to go. I love you.”

“Pinkie-!”

Pinkie Pie hangs up, and is about to go back to her bed, but when it starts ringing again, she runs back to the device, yanks out the headset and tosses it away. The ringing stops and she trudges back to her bed, head down and tail dragging. After crawling on her bed, she curls up in a tight ball and squeezes her eyes shut, hoping that this is all just a horrible nightmare, and that when she wakes up everything will be back to normal.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 10 Oct 2014

Arc 1- 13- The Mission -ADDITION-

Trixie takes a deep breath and listens to her surroundings. She is blindfolded with a thick piece of cloth that won’t allow even the smallest rays of light in. The zebras are trying to teach her to listen to her surroundings, and she can understand why they are doing it, but she really, really wants her heart to calm down. Its beats sound ten times louder than normal and it feels like it wants jump out of her body and run away.

Suddenly, a very blunt object smacks against the back of her head and she face-plants the mud.

“You’re too busy worrying,” says Adanz. Or maybe it is Wazza.

Trixie pushes herself out of the mud. “I can’t see anything!”

“That’s the idea, silly pony,” says Wazza . Maybe Adanz.

“But Gray Muffin said I should always keep my eyes on the target!”

Trixie is hit two more times, once in the leg to make her lose her balance and the other to her side. She once again falls in the mud, and she has a sudden urge to bust some zebra gonads when she hears the two laughing at her painful misfortune.

“Ah, yes, keep both eyes on target. Good advice. I like it,” says one of the twins.

“But what happens when you cannot see your enemy? What happens when your eyes deceive your or the shadows become your foes?” says the other twin.

Trixie spits out some mud, it tastes more foul than last time she got a mouthful of the wet dirt.

“I was a magician, I know deception,” she says irritably before scratching her tongue against her teeth to get the taste out.

“You know deception in the art of entertainment, but not in the art of combat,” says Adanz or Wazza.

“Now, little pony, sit still, stay quiet, relax and listen,” says Wazza or Adanz soothingly.

Trixie sighs and sits still. Very still. She hears Wazza or Adanz repeating their order for her to relax, but he’s too far away to strike her. When Trixie still can’t get herself to relax, she hears Wazza or Adanz humming what sounds like a zebra lullaby.

What ever the zebra is humming, it is so relaxing that Trixie feels her muscles slack on top of her breathing and heart rate slowing down, and everything becomes clearer. She hears and feels everything, from the gentle humming of machinery to the separate grains in the mud, and even the light from the light bulbs feels warmer.

Then she hears it.

Soft, almost inaudible steps coming towards her, quickly. It’s like the hooves are gliding over the floor and she can hear the assailant jumping. She shifts her position slightly, turns towards the source and shoots out her forehoof. She feels it connect with the attacker’s body and he attacker gaks and splashes in the mud next to her. Trixie smiles when she hears Wazza or Adanz stomping the ground and cheering.

“Excellent job! Excellent job, Trixie! You may remove the blindfold!” says Wazza or Adanz.

Trixie uses her magic to yank off the blindfold and sees Adanz lying on his back in the mud with a red spot on his neck. Trixie instantly feels sorry for him and apologizes while helping him up with her magic. He clears his throat before talking.

“There is no need to apologize,” says Adanz while rubbing his throat .“You did well, hopefully next time my brother won’t have to use the lullaby to get you to relax.”

Trixie looks at Wazza, and he smiles broadly while walking towards them.

“That was amazing. Can you teach me that lullaby?” asks Trixie hopefully.

“You’re interested in putting ponies to sleep, yes?” teases Wazza.

“N-no, I just think it’ll be helpful for future exercise. Relaxation and all.”

Trixie smiles and makes a small squee sound. Wazza and Adanz stare at her for a few seconds before looking at her, then they look at each other, then back at Trixie, and then at each other once again.

“I hate it when ponies make that noise,” says Adanz.

“Yes, the adorableness is hard to resist,” says Wazza, then he looks at Trixie. “Yes, I will train you in the art of zebra lullabies, but you must not rely solely on soothing music to keep yourself calm. You must train your body how to relax without external influences.”

Trixie nods her head excitedly, and then the door opens and Gray Muffin walks in the room, looking like he’s ready to explode. All three take a step back as Trixie’s mentor approaches them, and the closer he gets the clearer the fires of hate in his eyes are.

“Is something wrong, Mister Muffin?” asks Adanz with worry.

“Trixie, wash up and meet me outside Roar Shock’s chambers,” orders Gray Muffin, his tone gruffer than usual.

Trixie nods and leaves quickly, not wanting to test Gray Muffin's patience in any way. She goes straifght to the showers, and while she washes the surprisingly resilient mud off of her coat she ponders on why Gray Muffin looked ready to murder someone. Sure, she’s seen him angry before, but last time she saw him as angry as he is now he stomped a pegasus to death.

Just thinking about watching him stomp Sunshine to death and popping his neck open with his bare hooves makes Trixie shudder. To distract her from the gory death that her rapist suffered, and to distract her from the memory of Sunshine's very existence, Trixie closes her eyes and tries to focus on the water. She wants to think about how the warm water massages her body, washing away the mud and relaxing the sore muscles that are the results of training with the twins and Gray Muffin.

Trixie sighs and runs her hoof through her mane, wiping away excess water from it and her face. After that, she sits on the floor with her eyes closed and head bowed as her whole body feels relaxation coming in, beckoning her to sleep. She start swaying in the shower with water pooling around her, and-

“Careful now, darlin', ya don't wanna fall asleep in the showers. Ya never know who may be lurking,” says Sunshine, his voice echoing in the shower.

Trixie’s eyes shoot open with a yelp, and she looks over shoulder to see a silhouette of a pony on the other side of the shower curtain. Trixie's heart races and a whimper builds her throat as she extends a shaky hoof towards the curtain. The shadow figure remains, and her heart pounds inside her chest, nearly at an exploding point when her hooves touch the fabric. Then she yanks the curtain aside and sees and hears no one, save for a bluish-gray earth pony mare with a flat powder-violet mane and a diamond shaped rock as her cutie mark.

The pony has a look made of pure apathy as she strolls in, and Trixie watches her carefully as she walks in, goes to a shower stall and walks back out with a rock in her mouth. The strange pony looks at Trixie, blinks slowly, then leaves without a word. After the said earth pony leaves, Trixie blinks, shakes her head, then turns off the shower and shakes herself off, more to get the jitters out than actually dry herself off.

“Pull yourself together, Trixie,” she tells herself.

To emphasize the point she’s making to herself, she slaps herself across the face and then shakes her head. After that, she walks as fast as she can towards Roar Shock’s chambers, trying to make up for the lost time of almost falling asleep in the shower. She reaches Roar Shock’s chambers and sees Gray Muffin and the zebras are waiting for her. The twins nod to her and Gray Muffin immediately opens the large doors and orders everyone inside the huge, dimly lit room.

Trixie looks at the zebras and sees that they have grim expressions on their faces, and when she looks around the room she sees all the gizmos Roar Shock has built, some finished and other not, one of which is a metallic shell of a pony. Her eyes then drift to the wall and sees that it it completely covered with projected pictures of some costumed hero wannabe and the Mayor of Ponyville. She does one more look around in search of the League's leader, but comes up empty and confused.

“Um, Gray Muffin, sir, where’s Roar Shock?” asks Trixie hesitantly.

“Working,” snaps Gray Muffin, then he turns to the group. “The attack on Ponyville was a failure. A major failure. We lost one of our ships, two of our ponies died in the crash and Terra is has been taken by the government.”

Trixie’s jaw drops and she looks at Wazza and Adanz, they merely nod at her, further enforcing Gray Muffin’s claim. Gray Muffin steps towards Trixie, and she instinctively takes a step back.

“What happened today will lead the Equestrian government to do whatever it takes to shut us down,” continues Gray Muffin, “but this will not stop us from fighting injustice. That being said, your first test, Trixie, is to kill Mare-Do-Well.”

“Who?” asks Trixie blankly. The loud sighs from the twins and Gray Muffin's face-hoof make her feel small, and she shrinks down slightly with drooped ears as she looks between the three. “What? What did I do?”

“You seriously do not know who Mare-Do-Well is?” asks Wazza.

“Should I know?”

“Mare-Do-Well is a Ponyville legend,” begins Adanz.

Wazza slithers in front of Trixie and waves his hooves dramatically in front of her face, making her recoil slightly. “They say she is able to predict the future because she is always there at times of trouble and nopony can land a hit on her.”

Adanz moves next to Trixie's cheek, once again making her retreat a couple of steps. “They also say that she is an alicorn because she can fly and perform magic and is able to stop a runaway trolley with her bare-hooves!”

“A-an alicorn?” whimpers Trixie uneasily.

“The Alicorn of Time,” whispers Wazza dramatically, adding in a hoof wave as if he is spelling the title in the air for more effect.

Adanz and Wazza then grow mean-spirited smiles as they move closer to Trixie, and she steps back, shrinking ever so slightly until she is lying on the ground, trembling under their vicious smiles.

“And you know what else?” asks Adanz, speaking in a husky whisper in her ear.

“Wha-What?” stammers Trixie, peering straight into Adanz's eyes and trembling so much her bones are heard rattling.

“She. Can't. Die.”

Suddenly a pair of hooves grab Trixie's waist and a horrible yell punches her in the ear. “BAH!”

Trixie shrieks and jumps in the air, and when she lands, her fur and mane is standing straight up and her heart is beating a mile a second. But while Wazza and Adanz are howling with laughter, Gray Muffin is the exact opposite

“Enough!” snaps Gray Muffin, killing the zebras' smiles on the spot. He then glares at Wazza. “For somepony who was supposed to care about Terra, you taking this a lot lighter than you should!”

“I'm just coping,” claims Wazza in a sad mutter, averting his eyes and pawing the ground a little.

Gray Muffin snorts. “Your way of coping is disgusting. As for you, Trixie, Mare-Do-Well has proven that she does not have the interest of the common good in her heart and mind. She was the reason why Redheart was captured, and intercepted messages report that Captain Shining Armor and Mare-Do-Well engaged Terra before her capture. She is as much an enemy to us as the criminals and corrupt politicians and once we figure out who she really is you will kill her under my supervision.”

Trixie gulps and nods her head. She doesn’t like how Gray Muffin has given her an assignment to kill someone that could just very well be an invincible alicorn. The alicorn part is bad enough, but the invincible part? That sends shivers all over her body and the idea of refusing to fight such a foe seems to be a very good idea, however, she also does not want to disappoint Gray Muffin. He did save her from Sunshine, after all.

“Oh-okay,” says Trixie shakily. “But what if I can't finish it? Like what if she does some weird alicorn stuff on me or... Or breaks all my legs or... Something?”

“I will be there to assist you, but only when I am certain that you need help. This is your big test, Trixie, and it is the biggest test we have given to any recruit, so you will need to be trained very hard for this,” replies Gray Muffin almost immediately. Then he looks at the zebra twins and their eyes snap to him. “Double shifts for her. Make it as rigorous as you can.”

The zebras nod, but Trixie squeaks pathetically.

“What?” she says.

“It’s for your own good, Trixie,” says Gray Muffin. “I will not have you or any more of my ponies die. Not under my watch. Dismissed.”

The zebras bow fluidly, but Trixie is too dumbfounded by this turn of events to bow. That is until Wazza clears his throat and Adanz gently guides her body down until she bows, and once they are done, they leave Gray Muffin in Roar Shock’s chambers. When they are in the hall, Trixie looks over her shoulder just in time to see Gray Muffin’s shoulders sulk and his hoof rub his lowered head before the door shuts.

“Wazza, what did you and Gray Muffin talk about after I left?” asks Trixie as she looks at the door.

“I’m sorry, Trixie, but we have strict orders not to tell you,” says Wazza grimly.

“We must not falter, I’ve only seen him this way once and it was a terrifying sight,” says Adanz.

“Right. Come, Trixie, we must teach you how to relax.”

Trixie nods and follows the zebras back to the arena. She knows she’s going to have a hard time with their relaxation lesson with Gray Muffin in a state that even terrifies Wazza and Adanz.

Author's Notes:

Added 12 Oct 2014

Arc 1- 14- Challenged -EDITED-

Incompetence From Royal Guard Kills Dozens
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By: Quill Pen
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PONYVILLE--- Ponyville has been struck with great tragedy. The terrorist organization known as the League of Justice enacted their twisted ideology against the peaceful, tourist attraction. The Royal Guard have reported that they got word of the attack at the last minute, but also claimed to be unprepared for the devastation of said attack.

Luckily, though, the Equestrian Investigation Bureau is working where the supposed defenders of Equestria have failed. Under the guidance of Director Brisk Wind, the EIB is working tirelessly around the clock to find any leads to the League of Justice and their whereabouts. Captain Shining Armor has stated that he is willing to work with the EIB to ensure that the LOJ is rooted out from Equestria.

But we must ask ourselves, how much longer can we rely on the Royal Guard’s to protect us? Especially if they are being led by a stallion who allowed the changelings to attack Canterlot, criminal lords to take over our cities, couldn’t prevent Prince Blueblood’s assassination and now failed to stop the attacks all over our fine nation?
With the incompetence running rampant under Captain Shining Armor, we can only hope that Director Brisk Wind and the Equestrian Investigation Bureau can restore order and stability to our nation.
Continued on Next Page

Fluttershy is trying to enjoy the warm weather by feeding her chickens with Big Mac keeping her company, or as much company as the reserved stallion can give. He may be at her cabin, but he’s so quiet that he’s almost invisible. He does help her out whenever she asks, but he’s not one for conversations and he does what is asked so quickly and efficiently that the most Fluttershy can say is a quick, one or two word praise that he replies with a nod or one word answer. Due to the amazing work of the two, everything had been completed a lot earlier than Fluttershy had expected, so now all she has to do is feed her chickens. Thankfully Big Mac did not leave, so now the massive stallion is relaxing in the shade, waiting for her to ask him of something while diligently keeping an eye out for any trouble.

A couple of minutes of peaceful silence pass before Fluttershy notices a trio of pegasi stallions wearing suits and badges landing gracefully in front of her cabin. The lead pegasus, a beige pony with a slicked back, dark gray mane and slightly grayed eyes, flashes a pleasant smile and greeting, which Big Mac meets with a paranoid glare. Fluttershy, noticing Big Mac's unpleasant look, stops feeding her chickens and stares at the three uneasily.

A beige pegasus approaches her while the other two stay back, with one casting an uneasy look at Big Mac and the other remaining stoic. When the beige pegasus is at the fence surrounding the chicken coop, he places his front hooves on the fence and leans in a little while Fluttershy steps back, shielding her face with her mane.

“Pleasant morning, eh, Miss Breeze?” says the beige stallion.

Fluttershy feels the hairs on her mane crawl from just hearing his voice, and her throat goes dry when she sees faint markings slithering out from under his hooves. In an attempt to get some moisture back, she swallows her spit and nods for the sake of appeasement.

“It is a good day, Mister... um...”

The stallion chuckles. “You may call me Agent Bolt, Miss Breeze.” He taps a badge hanging from his breast pocket. “I am with the Equestrian Investigation Bureau, personally sent by Director Brisk Wind to investigate a vigilante known as Mare-Do-Well.”

Fluttershy's muscles tighten and her pupils turn to dots. “Oh, um, I-I don't know anything about Mare-Do-Well.”

The stallion's easygoing smile becomes more unnerving, and Fluttershy gulps when she notices his pupils are pulsating. Behind him, Big Mac has approached the two agents and is studying them without saying a word. From the looks of it, he is studying their badges, and the two pegasi become increasingly more uncomfortable from his staring.

“Really? You wouldn't be lying to me now, would you?” asks Agent Bolt.

“Um... N-No... No, sir,” stammers Fluttershy.

Big Mac suddenly snorts and stomps towards Agent Bolt and Fluttershy, barking: “Fluttershy, get away from him!”

The severity of his voice makes Fluttershy jump and she reels back, kicking up some grass along the way and shivering when Big Mac stomps next to the EIB agent.

“Interfering with government work is not a good idea, civilian,” says Agent Bolt, his smile now contorted to an aggravated scowl and barely giving the earth pony titan a glance.

“It ain't a good idea impersonatin' government folks, either,” retorts Big Mac. “I'm gonna have t' ask ya t' take you and yer cronies and get outta here before things get ugly.”

Agent Bolt wipes his muzzle, making a quick sniff, then he turns completely to Big Mac and tilts his head up so he can look him in the eyes. Fluttershy extends her hoof, wanting to call Big Mac and put a stop to the growing tension, but her words get stuck in her throat, so all she can do is squeak his name.

“Do you think you can boss agents of the EIB around?” remarks Agent Bolt.

“Ya must think I'm stupid 'cuz I live out in the country, but I know a fake badge when I see one,” counters Big Mac.

Agent Bolt narrows his eyes. “Observant one, aren't you?”

Big Mac blows hot air from his nose and paws the grass. “I ain't gonna repeat myself. Go away or else yer gonna get hurt.”

“Big Mac...” whispers Fluttershy, her voice shaking with her body when she spots a red glow coming from underneath Agent Bolt's hooves after he cracks his neck and flexes his wings.

“Well, it looks like somepony's going to get hurt, but it won't be me,” says Agent Bolt.

“But, Pinkie, where will you go?” Cup Cake asks while helping Pinkie Pie pack up some of her belongings in a cardboard box.

“I don’t know, but I can’t stay here,” says Pinkie Pie dolorously.

Cup Cake shakes her head subtly and picks up one of the blenders to pack away, but Pinkie Pie forces a giggle and gently rejects it and tells her that the blender will be her parting gift. Cup Cake chooses not to argue with the pink mare and sets the blender on the now desolate dresser, which is also staying behind. A couple of minutes of grim silence passes by before Cup Cake suddenly stops packing and embraces Pinkie Pie in a loving, yet grieving, hug, and stifles her tears. Pinkie Pie returns the hug, also crying softly.

“If this is about what happened to Spike...” begins Cup Cake.

“It’s more than that,” says Pinkie Pie softly.

“What do you mean?”

Pinkie Pie doesn’t know how to answer that question. How can she tell one of her oldest friends, her mentor and surrogate mother, that she was responsible for Spike’s death and that a group of assassins is coming to hunt her down for interfering with their business. Pinkie Pie doesn’t know how to tell Cup Cake that she has to leave because she just put everyone she knows in danger. Everyone in Ponyville just experienced what this dangerous group is capable of and how far they are willing to go to get their job done. Now she’s the job, and she can’t stay for everyone's sake.

When Pinkie Pie is about to give a vague answer to Cup Cake’s question, her phone rings. Both mares look at the communications rig. Pinkie Pie tries to ignore it, but the phone still rings. And rings. And rings. And rings. Finally after a minute of ringing, Cup Cake marches towards it, grumbling colorful words and unenthusiastically answers it.

“Hello, who is this?” asks Cup Cake, greatly annoyed.

There is some chatter on the other end and Cup Cake and the stranger exchange some words for a few seconds before she hands the phone to Pinkie Pie.

“It’s for you,” says Cup Cake says with some worry.

“Who is it?” asks Pinkie Pie while carefully taking the phone.

“He wouldn’t say.”

Pinkie Pie hesitantly puts the headset on. “Hello?”

“Am I talking to a Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie this time?” asks a stallion on the other end with a bit of a teasing tone.

“Who is this?”

“You ran into some of my colleagues when you defended the corrupt from justice. Perhaps you know one of them as a unicorn able to manipulate the earth under her hooves.”

Pinkie Pie’s pink coat pales and her knees suddenly feel like they are made of jelly. She knew the ones responsible for the attempted assassination would find her eventually, but she wasn’t expecting them to find her this soon.

She looks at Cup Cake and asks her to leave with a shaky, nearly impossibly to hear voice. Cup Cake reluctantly nods and leaves the room without saying a word and closes the door behind her. When her footsteps fade away Pinkie Pie stares straight ahead, choking on her fear.

“Who am I talking to?” says Pinkie Pie, barely able to speak from the bulge in her throat and her speeding heart.

“I really don't feel like giving out my name, but I do have a friend of yours that would love to speak to you,” says the stallion.

There is some movement on the other end, followed by the stallion ordering someone to speak. Pinkie Pie’s mind races to figure out who the stallion is holding, but when she hears whimpering her heart races. She knows that voice, and when the stallion yells at her to speak, the pony on the other end lets out a terrified squeak. Pinkie Pie slumps to the floor with her hoof pressed against her mouth and closes her eyes. Tears roll down her cheeks and she mentally murders herself for making Fluttershy a target for these ponies.

“P-Pinkie?” stammers Fluttershy on the other end.

“Fluttershy, I’m so sorry,” cries Pinkie Pie quietly.

“Okay, that's enough. She heard your voice,” says the stallion theatrically.

There is screaming and begging and sobbing on the other end, followed closely by the sound of a body being dragged across the floor. Pinkie Pie collapses against the rig and puts her hoof to her mouth, shoulders buckling and tears flowing past her shut eyes as she cries in her hoof.

“Let her go! She has nothing to do with this!” sobs Pinkie Pie when there is some more screaming.

“On the contrary, she does. She is guilty by association and unless you want another one of your friends killed because of you, I'd suggest you get your tail to Miss Breeze's abode in no more than forty five minutes,” states the stallion. “And just so you are aware, if you bring the guards or anypony else with you, you can expect a bloodbath.”

“I can’t make the run in forty five minutes!”

“Fifty minutes then. That is all your getting. If you are not here in that time, you can expect to find your friend dead and the bodies of those you care about start staking. I suggest you leave right now, lest you want to be responsible for the death of more of your friends.”

Pinkie Pie slams the headset back on its perch and runs out of the Sugar Cube Corner, ignoring Cup Cake’s barrage of questions and the ponies that stop and stare at her as she bolts down the road.

The sun is already setting, and the trip to Fluttershy’s cabin is undeniably long, but Pinkie Pie knows she can make it in what many would deem an impossible time if she goes full speed. She plans on doing that, but not without picking up a couple of things at the hardware store first. After confusing the customers and employees with pink blurs, missing items and a stack of I.O.U's on the counter, Pinkie Pie zooms towards Fluttershy's cabin with tape around her hooves and her steps a bit awkward.

By the time she reaches it, the cabin is shrouded in darkness and many of Fluttershy's animals lay dead on the ground, and near the fence of the chicken coop is a pool of blood being absorbed by the dirt. From the looks of it, the victim has been dragged inside the cabin, which has its door wide open, and the cabin is completely dark and still. Even the tree it is built into looks dead. The sight makes Pinkie Pie's pupils shrink and her throat becomes dry as her heart bashes its cage like a terrified beast wanting to escape.

'Don't go in there. Just run,' says the voice in her head.

Pinkie Pie ignores the voice and enters the cabin. It is nearly pitch black inside, save for what moonlight enters the windows, her eyes dart around in search for any movement until she hears a sniffling. She tries to turn on the light, but the light switch doesn’t work so she cautiously walks further inside towards the source of the noise.

She steps on something warm, wet and fluffy, and reels back with a mortified gasp when she realizes that what she stepped on had once been Angel, who was stomped flat. She looks up, feeling sick in her stomach, and sees that the place is ransacked. and she can smell death that matches perfectly with the eerie silence. As she gets farther inside, the sniffling and whimpering gets louder, and she spots two figures huddled in the back corner. Pinkie Pie squints her eyes and is barely able to make out that the figures are Big Mac and Fluttershy.

Big Mac is lying on the floor, bloodied and unconscious, with Fluttershy hugging him and crying. She also looks like she’s been attacked, but not as severely as Big Mac. The closer Pinkie Pie gets to her, the more she sees that Fluttershy’s mane is a mess and that she’s covered in mud with some blood mixing in from a scratch on her head.

“Pinkie, I-I’m sorry,” sniffles Fluttershy when she looks up and sees her friend staring at hr.

“No. No, I’m the one that’s sorry, Fluttershy. I... This should’ve never happened to you,” says Pinkie Pie as she hurries over to her friend's side.

“They-They were going to kill him. They-They already killed Angel and-and I just couldn’t...”

“So, at last we got the face of Mare-Do-Well,” says the stallion that called her.

Pinkie Pie jumps to face Roar Shock dressed as his EIB agent persona as he materializes out of the shadows with his escorts by his side. None of them are showing any signs of pouncing, much to Pinkie Pie’s amazement.

“So, you figured me out. I guess I didn’t try hard enough to hide my identity,” says Pinkie Pie with a threatening edge to her tone as she walks closer to the beige pegasus.

“No, not really,” remarks Roar Shock with a mocking shake of his head.

“So, is this the part where you guys kill me for meddling with your business?”

“Well, that all depends. Do you want to cooperate and accept my challenge to a duel, or are you going to be difficult and die tonight with your friends?”

Pinkie Pie cocks her head, blinking in confusion. “You did all this just to challenge me to a duel? That's... pretty terrible and stupid and you should feel bad.”

Roar Shock shrugs. “What can I say? I enjoy the stage and theatrics. There is just a magic in those that we all crave.”

The pegasus slides next to Pinkie Pie and wraps his hoof around her shoulder for a one arm hug, and she tenses up and glares at him out of the corner of her eye as her mane deflates. She then glances at his hoof that he linked around her and notices strange marking coming from the bowl and fading near his ankle.

'Punch him in the throat!' urges the voice in Pinkie Pie's head.

“And now that we are talking about stages, I'm thinking that the EIB construction site at the edge of your cute little town in... Oh, let's say two weeks will suffice for a death match arena,” continues Roar Shock as he rolls his eyes to the ceiling.

“Does your boss know that you’re doing negotiations with his enemy?” asks Pinkie Pie, giving Roar Shock a harsh look with a raised brow.

Roar Shock laughs obnoxiously and pats Pinkie Pie on the back, making her stumble a bit and shoot a glare at him as he trots in front of the door, blocking her way out. The guard that isn't bogged down keeping watch over Fluttershy and Big Mac moves slightly and keeps his eyes locked on her. Pinkie Pie feels her body buzzing and her muscles dying to move, and her eyes flick between each of the three pegasi, watching how they move and observe her and their surroundings. She can hear their breath's and heartbeats, and her mind blurs as it plays scenario after scenario of what can possible happen. Two of the pegasi seem normal, but when she looks at Roar Shock, her internal warning alarms go off and bang pots and pans in her skull, ordering her to avoid confronting him at all costs.

“Does my boss know? Oh, yeah, he knows alright!” says Roar Shock loudly. “He would be a terrible boss if he didn't, and he's actually loving the idea of this duel because he really wants to test one of his recruits. Perhaps you know her? Trixie Lulamoon.”

“Trixie? Trixie’s with you?” asks Pinkie Pie after thinking for a few seconds. She does not remember much about Trixie, aside from her being completely desperate for attention and then getting blamed for a rampaging Ursa Minor.

Roar Shock tilts his snout up snobbishly. “The one and only. I myself am giddy to see how a fight to the death between a former showmare and an Element will go, because no matter the outcome, I will still be happy.”

“So she’s been trained to become a monster like you?”

Roar Shock huffs. “Monster? Really? Grow up, Pinkie. I am not a monster, and neither are my sons and daughters. We are monster hunters. We hunt the real villains. Those criminals and all those public servants they have in their pocket. You know, like Mayor Ivory Scroll, who abuses her power with the help of the Grizelda Mob?”

Pinkie Pie narrows her eyes and Roar Shock sighs and rolls his neck while flexing his wings, then he stares at the clock. His eyes bulge, then he squints and leans a little bit closer, then resumes a more normal stance and blinks a couple of times.

“Oh, well, would you look at the time? It is getting late, and I get back home to the kiddos,” says Roar Shock. “So, let's wrap this up before I talk you to death. Construction site. Ten hours after noon. Friday two weeks from now. Agreed?”

Pinkie Pie takes a deep breath and nods. “Agreed.”

“Good, that was easy,” says Roar Shock with a smug smile. “But to prevent any interference you must Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony about what is to happen. That goes for you too, Miss Breeze.”

Fluttershy squeaks and shrinks further behind Big Mac’s wrecked body.

“Do you Pinkie Promise to keep this to yourself?” asks Roar Shock, his tone light, but threatening.

“I promise,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Let me hear you say it.”

Pinkie Pie is silent and Roar Shock nods towards the guard next to Fluttershy. The escort knocks her on her to the ground and then presses their hoof against her head so that she can’t look at them. Pinkie Pie takes a step forward but the pegasus increases the pressure on Fluttershy’s head, making her cry and beg in pain and thrash on the ground as she tries to push him off.

“Let me hear you say it,” repeats Roar Shock, his tone becoming more grim as Fluttershy's painful cries grow louder.

'Let me at 'em!' shouts the voice in Pinkie Pie's head.

“Pinkie, please don’t do it!” begs Fluttershy.

“Shut up!” snaps the pegasus holding her hostage.

The pegasus stomps on Fluttershy's side, making her gasp explosively and curl up on the ground, coughing sharply and pressing her hooves against her side. The pegasus then steps on her head and wing and squeezes them against the hardwood floor. Something cracks and Pinkie Pie screams for him to stop over her friend's agonizing wails, watching with murderous rage that makes her body tremble when she sees blood pooling from underneath the Element of Kindness.

“She's not going to do it,” says Roar Shock as he taps his hoof and stares impatiently at the clock. “How disappointing. Just kill them both.”

The free guard snaps his hoof holster up and grabs his pistol, but before he can even aim, there is a pink blur that zooms in front of him and socks him right in the chest with a metal orb held to the Element's hoof bowl via tape. There is a loud collection of snaps and the pegasus flies back into a nightstand, breaking it upon impact, and he falls to the ground, coughing blood and wheezing for air as his shifting brushes splinters and shard of glass over the floor.

The second pegasus swears and tries to bring up his weapon, but by the time his hoof holster is within mouth reach, he is face to face with a mare's whose pink coat has darkened and whose mane has become completely flat. Then he gets a metal ball to the muzzle that shatters his teeth and crushes his nose, dousing his face in a thick layer of blood.

The stallion backpedals from Fluttershy and howls in pain, kicking his legs wildly as he presses his gushing wound, and Pinkie Pie clambers on top of him and starts wailing on him.

“You! Do not! Hurt! My friends! You meanie!” screams Pinkie Pie with each punch while Fluttershy begs her to stop while simultaneously trying to crawl away from the brutal scene, watching with disbelief and terror as the pink pony's hooves and face are splashed with speckles and streaks of red.

Every punch from Pinkie Pie is met with a crack and a cry of agony from her victim, and she's too caught up in her assault to notice her ear buzzing for the first second or two. When she does notice, though, she turns and barely deflects a sparking punch from Roar Shock. As she deflects the punch, she notices a glowing symbol in the bowl of his hoof. It looks like two omegas crossing over each other, with one inverted and the other facing the proper direction, and coming from those are thick lines that snake around his hoof and fade at his ankle.

The deflected punch goes into the wall, cracking and scorching it, and the pegasus snarls and buckles when Pinkie Pie slams her hoof down on his skull. When she goes for another punch, Roar Shock bats his wings to push himself away so she punches the floor, then he rams her into the wall hard enough to shake and dent it, and he slams his glowing hoof into her chest.

Pinkie Pie's eyes snap wide open and screams in agony as an electrical current goes through her body, making her feel like buzzing knives are slashing at her lungs and heart and makes her fur stand. The two's shadows are like sharp, sporadic dancers that move along the walls with the red light, magnifying the insanity in the pegasus and the resurgence of fear in the earth pony. When Roar Shock pulls his hoof away, Pinkie Pie slumps to the ground, coughing and gasping for air with short, scratchy breaths while smoke rising from her chest. She curls up on the floor and clutches her injury, feeling the warm of blood mixing with the cold of sweat all over her body, and she looks past her flat, sweaty locks at Roar Shock as he inspects his dimming hoof. She is both terrified and confused about what he is since he appears to be a pegasus, but is using magic in such a way that not even a unicorn can.

“Stupid medication made my curse is not nearly as strong as it could be,” claims Roar Shock with a shake of his head. “Nonetheless, this attack should have ripped you apart considering what it did to that red oaf, so you're lucky. However, as for your cute friend over here... How lucky do you think her broken body will be?”

“Wait...” coughs Pinkie Pie, her hoof weakly extending towards Roar Shock as he takes slow, meticulous steps to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy whimpers and shakes her head, and uses one hoof to drag herself away as her wing hangs limp and blinks blood out of her eyes as Roar Shock steps closer to her.

“Please, don't do this,” whimpers Fluttershy weakly, hoof extended and tears soaking her coat along side her blood.

“Blame your friend, Miss Breeze,” says Roar Shock, ignoring the begs from Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. He then kicks Fluttershy's barrel and presses her down so her back is to the floor and his hoof is crushing her neck. Fluttershy gaks and wheezes and tries pushing him off, but he proves to be too strong and increases his pressure as his face twists to an angry, blood-craving sneer. “She could have just said her little promise and nopony would have gotten hurt, but now it looks like I'll just have to kill all of her friends. Starting with you.”

“Wait! Stop! I'll do it! I'll do it!” cries Pinkie Pie. Roar Shock and looks at her, and she continues with quivering lips and a shaky voice as trails of tears soak her cheeks. “Please, don't hurt her... I'll do what you want.”

Roar Shock removes his hoof from Fluttershy's neck, letting her gasp for precious air and massage her neck.

“You will?” he asks skeptically.

Pinkie Pie nods and after sitting up with some struggle, she reluctantly says with the motions: “I... I Pinkie Promise I will do your challenge... Nopony will know.... Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Roar Shock grins, his teeth gleaming like polished blades in the dim light. “Good, now your turn Miss Breeze.”

The pegasus allows Fluttershy to get up and she also does the Pinkie Promise with the motions.

“Thank you ladies, it was a pleasure talking to you,” says Roar Shock with a smile. Then he looks at his two fallen escorts. The one with the crushed ribs has stopped moving, but the one with the broken face is whimpering, and seeing such a sad sight, he sighs rubs his forehead. “Well this is awkward. My two guards are here, unable to move because somepony was difficult, thus jeopardizing everything.”

He sighs, walks over to the discarded pistol and picks it up with his mouth, then looks at each guard before putting one round each in their heads. Fluttershy shrieks with Pinkie Pie over the gunshots and they hug each other while Roar Shock spits out the weapon and kicks it aside.

“Oh, relax, you aren't meant to die today,” says Roar Shock dismissively. Then he walks towards the door and stops when he is in the entrance and looks at the two terrified mares and flashes a toothy grin. “But, if you two will be so kind as to figure out a way to explain the mess without breaking our agreement that would be wonderful. Thank you and have a good night, ladies.”

Then he walks away and closes the door behind him, leaving Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Big Mac alone in the dark cabin. When they see Roar Shock's silhouette fly past the window, Fluttershy’s grip tightens around Pinkie Pie and she weeps into her fellow Element's shoulder. Pinkie Pie closes her eyes and hugs her friend as tight as she can and rocks her like how a mother would when comforting her daughter, and she runs her hoof through her mane, also crying.

“I’ll fix this,” sniffles Pinkie Pie. “I promise I’ll fix. You’ll see.”

Fluttershy shakes her head without removing her face from Pinkie Pie's shoulder. “N-No! You-You can’t do what they want! They’ll kill you!”

“Fluttershy, don’t worry, I'll think of something. I’ll stop these ponies, no matter what it takes.”

Author's Notes:

Edited 6 Nov 2014

Arc 1- 15- Power -ADDITION-

Trixie is sitting in the middle of what was once a lavish loft. The walls had expensive paintings, furniture was made with the highest quality material, and dishes so clean and pretty that they looked as though they were carved from crystal. But all the beauty of the apartment has been scarred with a brutal scuffle. The furniture and paintings are smashed, the walls have cracks and dents, and the dishes have shattered to millions of pieces, giving the floor a sparkling shine. But Trixie doesn’t care about the destruction of the loft, she’s actually smiling. Her smile is stretched across her face like it’s her greatest victory and she’s staring out the hole that was once a glass door that lead to a patio.

She’s happy to see the sight, and too happy to feel the blood trickle from her head and down her cheek, staining her silvery mane and coat in red. When the droplets splatter on the floor she chuckles quietly, and madly, while looking down on the little red circles. Then she looks at the balcony again.

“You deserved it, father,” chuckles Trixie. “Every broken bone, every drop of blood spilt, every ounce of fear. You deserved it all.”

“Do you want to claim your inheritance?” asks a mysterious a stallion.

Trixie looks over her shoulder and sees the featureless shadow pony staring at her, but she feels nothing but cynical pride and joy. Her father -the great Tirek of her life- has met a fitting demise, and now she will have nothing to do with him ever again.

“Trixie doesn’t want his money. He is gone and Trixie wants nothing of him,” she says, her tone matching the cynicism inside her.

“But you’ve been through so much already, and he wants you to have it as his gift and apology to you,” says the Shadow Pony.

Tears swell up in Trixie’s eyes and yet she still keeps her smile.

“His gift to me? The Great and Powerful Trixie?” says Trixie, her voice is cracking

“Yes, his gift to you,” says the stallion.

“He never wanted anything to do with me, and I with him. Now leave me be.”

“Trixie-”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

A small shock wave shoots out from under Trixie, blowing a circle of shattered glass and other pieces of garbage away from her. She hyperventilates and sniffles, then tries to swallow her tears to keep her smile, but she is failing, despite her best efforts.

“If only I could see his eyes,” whispers Trixie, her smile twists into a frown before continuing. “If only could see the fear in his eyes... He knew he’d be going to Tartarus... and I... I will soon join him.”

Trixie stands up and walks towards the shattered glass doors, leaving a trail of tears and blood behind to stain the floor. The sounds of the city become more faint and the storm louder and stronger the closer she gets to the door.

“Trixie, wait!” says the Shadow Pony, his hoof extended in panic.

“It was always meant to be,” says Trixie in a trance, the city is now silent and the raging storm is all that she can see and hear, drenching her coat with the freezing rain and assaulting her ears with the thunder. “Celestia played me from birth to see how miserable I can be. She did it... She won. She made the Great and Powerful Trixie despise everything about herself. She made me hate me.”

Soon she’s standing on the balcony, and she closes her eyes and feels the cool wind whip through her mane and cool off the warm blood.

“Trixie, please don’t do this,” begs the Shadow Pony.

She smiles sadly as she balances herself on the railing, she trembles for a few seconds before she is able to stand on it firmly, despite how wet it is. She sniffles and looks at the Shadow Pony.

“Trixie’s final act!” says Trixie to her one audience member while trying to use her infamous boasting tone, but her voice is quivering and now tears are streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably. “She will make the life of a menace! A fake! A boastful, greedy tramp!... Disappear!”

“NO!”

Trixie throws herself off the edge and watches in wonder as the lights from the buildings zip past her in a blur, and the howling wind rushing past her brings her comfort, knowing that her miserable existence is soon to end. She doesn’t care that she’ll be going to Tartarus for this, for who she had become. It was all part of Celestia’s game after all and Celestia always win. Plus, the world would be better off without her, all the sneers and stories of her evil prove that she’s nothing but an enemy. Her death will make everything better. One less villain to deal with.

She closes her eyes right before she feels her body connect with the pavement, and-

She wakes up in the infirmary with a bandage with a red splotch on it wrapped around her head. She raises her hoof and touches it, and quickly retracts her hoof, wincing, when finding out the hard way that her injury is still tender.

“You are a crazy little pony, you know that, right?” teases one of the zebra twins.

Trixie shifts in her spot and sees only one zebra sitting next to her bed with a warm smile. His twin is nowhere to be seen, though. This seems odd to Trixie since the two are inseparable, but she’s not too worried about that at the moment. Right now she wants to know how she ended up in the infirmary with a head injury.

“What happened... Wazza?” asks Trixie groggily.

“I'm Adanz.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It is alright, but you do not remember Mister Muffin throwing a rock at your head after having a magical outburst?” says Adanz quizzically.

Trixie furrows her brows, completely lost and not remembering a single thing about that. “Um... No.”

Adanz shifts in his seat and takes a deep breath before explaining. “Every pony and zebra has a potential for great damage. Our mood affects the magic in all of us. For pegasi, their mood determines the weather for the cloud they are on. Sadness brings rain. Rage brings storms. Earth ponies and zebras are not special when it come to sadness, but when enraged an earth pony can become a nearly unstoppable force. While a zebra is a species that has minor psychic abilities that can be extremely dangerous if left unchecked.”

“You mean like lifting things up and all that stuff?” asks Trixie with big eyes and trying to imagine Adanz lifting up a train with pure brain power.

Adanz chuckles and shakes his head. “No, that’s telekinesis. A zebra’s psychic ability is what led to all the stories about our witchcraft, which holds some truth, but we have done our best to keep the mind control down to self defense only. Some zebras have completely renounced this, most are weak in it, but we all have it.”

“And what about unicorns?”

Adanz leans forward and gives Trixie a stern, yet worried, gaze. “When a unicorn is facing extreme emotional trauma they exert a lot of magic. Because of the diversity of unicorns your species is the most unpredictable and dangerous when it comes to this.”

“Oh, no. What did I do?”

“Some can change their physical appearance, others can manipulate matter around them, others are living bombs.”

“Adanz. What. Did I. Do.”

Adanz sighs and pats Trixie’s hoof sympathetically. “You are a living bomb, Trixie. We were trying to get you test your magical level by hypnotizing you to release your emotions. Wazza tapped a sore spot and you went on a small rampage.”

“Oh my goddess,” gasps Trixie while pressing her hoof against her mouth. “Is Wazza okay? What about the others?”

“Everypony is fine. Mister Muffin was able to knock you out with a brick to your head before you caused too much damage.”

Trixie is relieved that no one was hurt, but now she’s worried that Gray Muffin is mad at her for her emotional meltdown.

“I can assure you that your mentor is not upset with you, Trixie,” assures Adanz with a thin smile. “In fact, he was actually pleased by your power and wishes to speak to you as soon as possible.”

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” says Trixie eagerly, she feels a hundred times better now that she knows that Gray Muffin is actually proud of her rather than the opposite.

Trixie tries to get up, but Adanz holds her down and points at the bandage on her head.

“You aren’t going anywhere with that bump on your head,” he says sternly.

“Oh, come on! Please let me go!” pouts Trixie.

“No, a warrior needs to know when to fight, when to relax, and when to heal. You need to heal, so I will grab Mister Muffin for you, yes?”

Trixie sighs heavily and nods, and Adanz smiles and leaves the room without another word. She is so eager in her wait for Adanz to return with Gray Muffin that she fidgets in her bed. She drums her hooves on the mattress, her eyes dart around the room, and she even moves pillows around the infirmary with her magic to keep her mind busy.

Thirty seconds turns into a minute. One minute turns into two. Two to five. Five to ten. Ten to twenty. Twenty to forty five. Forty five to an hour. Trixie groans in frustration and slumps on her bed, and then proceeds to using her magic to throw her pillow in the air and catch it in her hooves, then she repeats the process. Finally, after nearly two hours of waiting, Adanz returns with Gray Muffin and Wazza in tow. When Trixie sees Wazza the first thing she notices is that his fur is almost completely black. Her jaw drops and she points at the poor zebra.

“Did I do that?” asks Trixie meekly.

“You did, and you are forgiven,” replies Wazza.

“Trixie, you and I need to talk,” says Gray Muffin, he does an amazing job of hiding this “pride” Adanz mentioned earlier.

“Of course, sir,” says Trixie quietly, suddenly feeling uneasy.

Gray Muffin glances at the zebra twins. “You two, prepare for the next session.”

“Yes sir,” says Wazza and Adanz in unison.

The two zebras bow and speed walk out of the room, and Gray Muffin waits patiently for the door to close, then he waits a good minute before he decides to speak.

“What you did earlier today was both amazing and terrifying,” says Gray Muffin, pride is creeping into his voice now, this makes Trixie smile. “I have never seen anything like it before. Terra was the best unicorn I had, but she preferred up close brutality over using her raw power. But you, on the other hoof, exerted immense power that destroyed the Arena and left dozens of my ponies injured in some way. It was only by sheer luck no pony needed to be sent to the infirmary, save for you.”

“Adanz said I was a um a ‘living bomb’, what did he mean by that? I do not remember the teachers explaining this in school,” says Trixie.

“I think it’s best I show you what Adanz meant. It really is a great sight.”

“But he said-”

“You will find that me and Adanz do not necessarily agree on everything, but if you would like to stay in bed perhaps I can give you some pointers on how to be a proper bed leech.”

Trixie immediately hops out of bed and lands in front of Gray Muffin and grins broadly, despite the evil monkey in her head banging her skull with a metal pan.

“Trixie is no leech! Trixie wants to see that Adanz thing!” she says eagerly. That smile of hers disappears, though, when she sees Gray Muffin staring at her with an unimpressed frown, and she takes a step back and coughs awkwardly in her hoof. “Sorry, sir.”

“Next time you refer to yourself in third pony, Gray Muffin will do the same,” remarks the older pony.

Trixie frowns and feels just a bit strange about that sentence. She also has a strong feeling that her mentor is in a bright mood, considering how their conversation has gone so far. No further words are exchanged about Trixie's third person talk, though, when Gray Muffin starts leading her towards the Arena.

As they walk down the hallway Gray Muffin explains to Trixie that most Equestrians, particularly unicorns, don’t know about the powers they possess. He claims that the Royal Government reserves this special knowledge for their elite soldiers so that they actually know how to control it should the situation arise. He also explains how the few that figure it out, figure it out either by chance or are well informed. When Trixie asks Gray Muffin what he means about her display of “raw power” being terrifying, his answer is something Trixie is glad to hear, but now fears losing control of her emotions more than ever.

“Since unicorns have direct connection to magic, they face more severe side effects when they lose control of their emotions. Temporary psychosis is the common of these side effects, such as multiple personalities or hallucinations,” says Gray Muffin.

Trixie gulps at the mention of “hallucinations” and she unconsciously looks around for any signs of projections of Sunshine. She doesn’t see him directly, but she swears she see his shadow melt into Gray Muffin’s. Gray Muffin notices Trixie shaking and he stops and puts his hoof on her shoulder in probably the most intimate way she has ever seen him. This day is really turning out to be quite strange.

“Are you alright?” asks Gray Muffin.

“I-I’m fine, sir,” says Trixie.

She smiles uneasily at him and his hoof slides off her shoulder and they continue their walk.

“In cases where unicorns unleash an extreme amount of energy due to emotional distress, such as what happened to you, there is a chance for them to blackout and lose themselves in their alternate state,” continues Gray Muffin. “This is most common with unicorns like you Trixie, unicorns that are living bombs.”

Right as Gray Muffin finishes his lecture they enter the Arena and Trixie sees first hand what she had done. There is a crater in the middle of the arena with charred floor around it, and pieces of the ceiling have collapsed, revealing sparking wires and damaged pipes. Trixie’s jaw goes slack as she explores the damaged room. The floorboards creak and groan in protest, threatening to snap apart, under her hooves, and she leaves a faint trail of hoofprints in her wake. She stops by the edge of the crater and looks down. It is not big, but the idea that she did that amazes her, and a part of her wishes she could remember doing it, but another part of her is afraid that she’ll get nightmares from it.

“We are all capable of good and evil and all posses great power, Trixie, but no matter who we are or what side we are on, our greatest enemies are -and will always be- ourselves. As long as we know how to control ourselves, nopony can break us,” says Gray Muffin.

“I did this?” whispers Trixie.

“Yes, and if we can help you control your power, I believe you can kill Pinkie Pie.”

Trixie is lost in the crater, but when Gray Muffin’s message sinks in, she snaps her focus onto him, completely shocked that he has tasked her with killing the Element of Laughter.

“Wha-What do you mean ‘kill Pinkie Pie’, sir?” stammers Trixie.

“I mean exactly what I said. Roar Shock figured out she was Mare-Do-Well and arranged the duel between the two of you,” says Gray Muffin sternly.

“What? A duel? That's... No, I just can’t kill her even if she is Mare-Do-Well! She’s the Element of Laughter!”

“There is nothing left to laugh about, not while the vile rule Equestria with their deception.”

Gray Muffin kicks some loose floorboards away and his face contorts to disgust as he watches the piece of wood tumble deeper into the crater.

“We have become a society of slaves, Trixie. Slaves held by golden shackles, but we all still bow down to the corrupted government and their criminal allies,” says Gray Muffin distantly. “Pinkie Pie contributed to guarding the evil that has taken hold of Equestria. Laughter or not, she is an enemy of justice and has to be killed if we are to reach a state of True Harmony.”

Gray Muffin kicks off another piece of floorboard and watches it slide down, snorting in disinterest when it crumbles at the bottom.

“You know better than most what evil lurks in the shadows of Equestria.” Gray Muffin looks at Trixie out of the corner of his eye. “Few hold more pain than you, but what Roar Shock endured served as a revelation as to what must be done. He has something planned that will save Equestria and if you succeed in ridding the world of the corrupted Element, then you will have his trust and be a part of our grand plan.”

“What are you talking about, sir?” asks Trixie uneasily.

“I wish I could tell you, but Roar Shock wants to make sure that you are truly loyal to us, and his judgment is all that matters.”

Gray Muffin then walks towards the exit in a hurry and orders Trixie to follow him, which she does with some difficulty keeping up.

“We have a lot of work to do. We only have two weeks until your big test,” says Gray Muffin quickly.

“So, what's this training exercise going to be? Magic?” says Trixie while chasing after him.

Gray Muffin nods and rounds the corner, speaking from the hallway. “Yes.”

Trixie enters the hallway, too... Then gets tackled to the ground and put into a pin by Adanz, giving her sore head an even bigger headache and sending her world in a tailspin. When Trixie does regain some sense, she starts screaming and swearing as she awkwardly tries to wiggle her way out of Adanz's hold. This only makes the zebra cackle madly while Wazza and Gray Muffin stand next to each other smirking at Trixie's misfortune.

“I also realized that we hadn't had a blitz session in a couple of days, so I figured it would be a good idea to have one,” adds Gray Muffin with a smirk. Then he turns and walks away, saying: “Go easy on her. We still need to train her on her magic.”

“I -GAK!- I hate you guys!” yells Trixie furiously.

This only makes the zebras laugh and she swears she hears a chuckle from Gray Muffin, too. This is definitely going to be another long day.

Author's Notes:

Added 6 Nov 2014

Arc 1- 16- End of the Old -EDITED-

“Hey there guys, DJ-Pon3 here, back from my break with some news! It seems that the Ponyville Weather Patrol has finally let out the big storm that everypony’s been waiting for, for what? Two months? Yeah that sounds about right. What do you care though? Well, you should care since the Canterlot Weather Patrol is going to be assisting our friends down there, and that means nature will have to handle our weather for the day! The horror!”

The disc jockey fakes a horrified scream before laughing her tail off. She resumes her business after her laughter dies down due to a scratchy cough and an equally scratchy clearing of her throat.

“Okay, kidding aside, I got some serious news for you about what's what in the rest of Equestria,” continues the DJ. “For starters, do not go to the Macintosh Hills. Ever since Sunshine Cloud's little cartel went bye-bye there's been one of those power vacuum things and the guards have been fighting a bunch of well armed crooks for the past few weeks. For the folks living up there, you're in my thoughts and prayers. More to come as the news gets rolling. Moving on!”

Some pages are flipped close to the microphone to give authentic rustling.

“In light of all that crazy shit that went down in Ponyville a couple of weeks ago, evidence surfaced of Ivory Scroll's poor sportsmanship,” says DJ-Pon3, mimicking a professional news anchor's tone. “It turned out that Golden Harvest was right when she accused Ivory Scroll of voter fraud to go with her long list of accusations. So, now an investigation is being opened by the EIB to look into this stuff while Ponyville does all that desperately needed rebuilding after those nuts shot up the quaint little town. You know who I'm talking about, right? League of Justice? Friends of the commoners and lovers of justice? Yeah, nothing says friend of the commoners and lovers of justice like shooting up a bunch of unarmed civilians and butchering a town icon in a warehouse! Assholes.”

There is a moment of silence

“And speaking of town icon, a memorial service is being held for Spike Sparkle on Sunday, but Twilight is still refusing to let Pinkie Pie in,” says DJ-Pon3, her voice heavy with extreme aggravation and disgust. “I mean, its bad enough that she barred her from the funeral, but now the memorial service to further honor Spike and his deeds, too? C'mon, Twilight, pull your head out of your ass. I know you're hurt, believe me, I know what it's like to lose a friend in a horrible way, but you should know that Pinkie would never ever hurt anypony or anyone. I'll say it again, pull your head out of your ass, clean the shit from your brain and figure out the truth before you lose your friend for good.”

DJ-Pon3 takes a moment to clear her throat in a raspy cough, and after she is done, she takes a breath, whoops, then takes another breath before muttering incoherently.

“Anyway,” she continues in a more somber tone, “friends are family, and everypony needs one, especially in a time like this. And that's all the preaching I feel like giving out today. Now, who's ready to listen to some TwoRepublics?”

Pinkie Pie silently watches the fires of the bakers oven in the basement of the Sugar Cube Corner with an umbrella hat on her lap. She is keeping her attention dedicated towards the oven, ignoring the howling wind and rumbling thunder that haunts the outdoors. The lights from the fire dances along the walls, stretching and contracting Pinkie Pie’s shadow and the shadows of other objects, and as the hellish display goes on, her mind races through all the things she had that she will now lose. All of her friends, her family, the parties she made for everyone's happiness. It is all going to buried, just like her. Just like Spike.

When her mind wanders to Spike, she lowers her eyes and strokes the umbrella hat, thinking about how his blood is on her hooves, just like the blood of all those innocents hurt and killed by that psychopath. If only she had not warned the guards about what was to come, if only she let Redheart do her job and remove a corrupt official, then none of this would have happened.

There would only be a funeral for Ivory Scroll, and maybe her corrupted deeds would have been exposed. But Spike would still be alive, the dozens killed would wake up and enjoy another day and those injured would be free of a harrowing experience.

'You shouldn't have butted in,' says the voice in her head. 'But, look on the bright side, at least you know that I was right all along about those fakes. We can move on to sunshine and rainbows, now.'

Tears roll down Pinkie Pie's cheeks and splatter on the hat and her hooves, and her body trembles as weak sniffles are left unheard in the dark as she thinks about how it all fell apart so fast. How everything she knew and cared about rotted away to reveal the ugly nature of reality that she tried to hide with her smiles and parties.

Her so called friends would rather remember Spike as a child than a hero, and her being the reason why he died instead of finding the truth.

They only wanted to see half the truth. No, not even half the truth. They didn’t want anything to do with the truth for the truth is not good enough for them. To them, Spike needs to always be defenseless, pure “Spikey-Wikey” and Pinkie Pie must be the reason for his death.

Because of her, Rarity nearly killed herself with alcohol poisoning, then blackballed her from her shop and life, just like Twilight forbid her from Spike's funeral and memorial services. All attempts to explain what happened had been met with rage and violence, most notably when Rarity nearly cracked her skull open with a sewing machine. And After Big Mac and Fluttershy were put in the hospital because of the League, she and Applejack’s friendship took a nosedive and landed on a solid rock. The attack against Big Mac and Fluttershy led Applejack to side with Twilight, and the only ones who continued to stand by her were Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

But with Rainbow Dash's new career, she could not stay long, and Pinkie Pie has a feeling that if her best friend stayed any longer than she had, she would have sided with Twilight, just like the others. As for Fluttershy, she is too kind to abandon anyone, but Pinkie Pie knows that underneath the timid pegasus' caring exterior is a little monster inside that has grown to reject her.

Pinkie Pie knows that it would have only been a matter of time before her two remaining acquaintances became her enemies. And it would only be a matter of time before the League of Justice hunts them down and kills them all to find her. So she knows she has no choice but to end this herself, unless she wants to be the one to bear the responsibility of more bloodshed.

With her plan now ready to go in motion, Pinkie Pie sighs heavily and leaves the Sugar Cube Corner to brave the storm outside, carrying with her, her umbrella hat and a note tucked inside.

Pinkie Pie heads over to Twilight’s house with her umbrella hat on, fighting the storm with every strenuous step. She keeps her face lowered to avoid the fakes she thought were her friends. Just passing each house and business makes her throat hurt more from the tears building, for they serve as a reminder that none of these ponies came to her aid. None tried to help her, and if they did support her, she never heard about it.

They are all fakes, all of them.

None of these so called friends truly cared. They only wanted her parties and treats. Just like Twilight and the other Bearers.

'Fakes,' sneers the voice in her head.

As soon as Pinkie Pie reaches the Golden Oaks Library, she feels like she is going to be sick. She has a disgusting feeling in her gut that tells her that she will have to face Twilight one last time, and with that thought, she swallows her sickly spit and moves to the door. Her hooves shake with her steps and her body shivers from the rain soaking through her coat. When she is under the protection of the thick branches that shield her from the rain, she takes a breath, then pushes against the door.

It's locked.

Pinkie Pie's ears droop and a confused whine escapes her as she tries again. The door shakes, but does not open, and when she presses her ear against the door, she does not hear anything on the other side. Realizing that Twilight must not want to speak with her, Pinkie Pie nods in understanding and places her umbrella hat in front of the door, hoping that no one would steal it and the note she has inside it. Then she takes a breath, blinks the tears out of her eyes, and whispers her farewells to Twilight's door. Then she turns and heads back into the storm, unwilling, but ready to play her game with fate.

Twilight Sparkle flips through the numerous files in Ivory Scroll's safe, located inn her office. The older earth pony sits in a chair, propped in a corner, watching the unicorn nervously as her expression shifts from disappointment, to anger, to disgust with each passing turn of a page.

“Twilight, I can explain,” begins Ivory Scroll meekly.

Twilight holds up he hoof, her scowl focused on bank statements that record a lot more money than a mayor should be making in a month. However, as much as she wants to get in the Mayor's face and demand answers, she knows it will be a waste of time. All the dates and numbers are in Ivory Scroll's safe, condemning her to a life in prison for years of corruption.

“There is nothing to explain,” says a stallion with a deep voice.

Twilight glances away from the records to see Ivory Scroll gulp at a muscular, unicorn stallion with a tan coat, a dark blue mane and a cutie mark in the shape of a key over an eye that is approaching her. He is wearing a pressed, dark blue suit and has a badge hanging down his neck. On the badge is a symbol consisting of a circle with olive branches on either, a hexagon in the circle's interior, basic gems color coded to each Element of Harmon at the hexagon's tip, and EIB in the center of it all. This is Lead Investigator Lock N. Key.

“Tell me, Ivory Scroll, what compelled you to go against your oath? Was ruling a town not good enough for you? Do you love money so much that you would forsake all those who trusted you to disharmony?” says Lock.

“Investigator Key, I swear I did this out of the goodness of my heart!” says Ivory Scroll defensively.

Lock snorts. “There is no goodness in greed.” He then turns to Twilight and says: “Thank you for your assistance, Miss Sparkle. You are free to go.”

Twilight nods and the door opens up again, except this time a group of royal guard ponies walk in, with one donning a blue uniform with lavender and gold trim, and a golden sun pinned to his collar. Lock and Twilight turn, and Ivory Scroll shrinks further in her seat as the officer and his entourage walk in.

Twilight immediately feels her cheeks and ears warm up as the officer walks in, proud, but disciplined, with dark brown, gray streaked mane and tail combed and cropped to military standards, and his amber coat groomed to perfection. On his flank is a cutie mark depicting a sword going through a shield.

“Major Fuller, I was not expecting to see you here,” says Lock.

“I was personally asked by Celestia to assist in the investigation revolving around Mayor Ivory Scroll and her connections to the Grizelda Mob,” says Major Fuller, his voice as disciplined as his stature. His lips curl to a thin smile when he looks at Twilight. “Though, with her Most Faithful Student around, I think we will be having an easy time.”

Twilight giggles awkwardly and rubs the back of her neck as her face ignites at the sight of the well-built, older stallion. “Well, I-I won't be here much longer. In fact, I think I should go and let you guys finish your work since all I had to do was organize some files for them.”

Lock snorts disapprovingly and Fuller merely looks at him with a neutral expression.

“Investigator, until further notice, I will lead the investigation into Ivory Scroll's connection with the Grizelda Mob,” he says. He levitates an envelope from his uniform pocket and gives it to Lock, who carefully reads it and grows more agitated by the second. “The EIB will be put in secondary investigative positions unless authorized by Princess Celestia, herself.”

“Fuller, you know Brisk Wind won't like this,” says Lock, now sealing the contents back inside the envelop and giving the Major a harsh glare.

“Then she can take it up with the Princess.” Fuller turns to Twilight. “As for you, Miss Sparkle, I am thankful for your assistance, and, as Agent Lock has said, you are free to go.”

Twilight stares at Fuller, brain dead, and the older unicorn looks back at her, raising a brow slightly.

“Unless, of course, you would like me to send a quick message to Celestia to see if there is anything else she would like you to help with,” says the Major.

“That won't be necessary, Major. The two of us can handle everything else from here,” says Lock sourly. “In fact, I am sure Miss Sparkle would like to get home before the curfew kicks in. Isn't that right, ma'am?”

Fuller and Twilight both look at Lock, with Fuller's expression hard to read, but Twilight confused if she should be annoyed or thankful for the ill constructed warning of the new law. When the two stallions look at her, though, she grins nervously and takes a step back.

“Oh, um, right. Yes, I, uh, I should really be getting back home,” says Twilight.

“Would you like an escort back to your residence?” asks Fuller.

“No! No, no, no, that won't be necessary. I can actually teleport there, myself.” Twilight's now burns with the blush, and she clears her throat and looks at Lock in a pitiful attempt to hide it. “If you need me, send the mail to the Golden Oaks Library.”

“Dully noted. Leave, please,” replies Lock.

“Right. Goodnight, everypony.”

Twilight takes a breath, and with a bright glow of her horn, she disappears in a flash of bright purple, leaving the room free of her presence.

After Twilight disappears, Fuller looks at the spot where Twilight once stood, impressed how she managed to teleport without leaving a trace. However, he is not there to marvel at Twilight's ability, and he turns to Lock to say something, but ends up looking at a pair of guards when they make their idiocy known.

“Dude, she totally digs you,” snickers a yellow guard, nudging a black furred, red maned unicorn stallion.

The black unicorn grins slyly and pumps his hoof. “Aw, yeah~”

Fuller and Lock both shake their heads and turns to the Mayor, both muttering: “Imbeciles.”

Twilight appears in front of the Golden Oaks Library in a flash of light, and she is about to walk inside to get a nice cup of tea going, but stops in her tracks when she sees a familiar object lying in front of her door. Confusion settles in, and she frowns as she carefully picks Pinkie Pie's umbrella hat, wondering why it is at her home. Without taking her eyes off of the hat, she strolls inside, inspecting the object by turning it in her grip. That is when she sees a folded piece of paper tucked inside.

Twilight sighs, puts the hat on the table, and removes the parchment and carefully unfolds it. Her scowl breaks down to wide eyed shock when she sees a mouth-written note, dotted with tears that bleed the ink and shrivel the note. The words are shaky and hard to read, but as she reads it, her eyes get bigger and wetter and she brings her shaking hoof to her muzzle to stifle a tearful whimper.

Dear Twilight,

I know you hate me for what has happened, and I know no amount of apologies will ever bring Spike back. But before I go for good, I want you to have this umbrella hat as a reminder of our friendship before everything became rotten. I’m sorry for what has happened, and I can only ask that you try to forgive me and remember that Spike died a hero. I know that our friendship is over, but when I am gone, everything will be okay and you won't have to worry about you or anypony else getting hurt because of me. I will make it all right. I Pinkie Promise.

~Pinkie Pie

After reading that last line, Twilight drops the letter and collapses on her haunches, eyes squeezed shut and shoulders buckling from her quiet sobs fueled by guilt. Eventually, she curls up on the floor, weeping and holding her tail close to her face, with her world growing colder and dimmer at the realization of what she has caused.

“What have I done?” moans Twilight.

She sits on the floor, alone and sobbing, for a few minutes before she grabs the hat and hugs it close to her. Her tears drip and roll down its plastic top, and her hoof awkwardly rubs it as she silently condemns herself for her sins against one of her oldest friends. But as she strokes the hat, she notices the cup cake on the top of the colorful umbrella hat, and she blinks tears out of her eyes while sniffling and wiping her nose. She then stands up and stares at the hat, her gears slowly turning and picking up pace until a new task pops in her mind. A task she knows is a matter of life and death and that she cannot afford to fail.

Twilight teleports in front of the Sugar Cube Corner and gallops inside, slamming the door against the wall while doing so. She is met with a burst of warm air, and the lone patrons inside jumping in their seats. It is Filthy Rich with some pegasus mare half his age enjoying cups of coffee and hot chocolate, and they both glare at Twilight as she hurries over to the counter and frantically rings the bell.

“I'll be with you in just a minute!” calls Cup Cake.

Twilight fidgets in her spot, chewing on her lip and whining quietly, and when Cup Cake steps out of the back room, Twilight calls her, but she is met with a scowl and the pudgy mare quickly leaves. Twilight's jaw drops and she places her hooves on the counter, straining her neck to see where the mare went.

“Missus Cake, please! I need you to let me talk to Pinkie Pie!” shouts Twilight desperately.

Instantly after, hushed, arguing voices come from the kitchen, and stools scrape against the hard floor as Filthy Rich and his date get up to leave. The older stallion puts on a saddle with a folded umbrella and leaves first, pulling on a string to open up the umbrella and shielding the two from the rain.

After the two patrons leave, the argument intensifies and Twilight's ears droop with a wince when she hears Cup Cake ordering Carrot Cake to talk to her or else she will be “breaking off some horns”.

A few seconds later, Carrot Cake warily walks out of the kitchen and offers no pleasant greetings to Twilight as he goes towards the counter. Behind him, Cup Cake glowers at Twilight, making her feel small, and when their pegasus child peeks out of the corner, he gets scolded by his mother and ordered back into the kitchen.

“Um, we really don't want you here,” says Carrot Cake uneasily, bringing Twilight's focus back to him.

“I know, I just need to talk to Pinkie Pie right now. It’s really important that I do,” says Twilight with haste.

Carrot Cake shakes his head and Twilight gets a fresh, all consuming flame of sadness, guilt and worry. She never realized through the fog of her despair what she had done or caused, but now that she has seen the parchment and a prized possession of her friend waiting for her as a goodbye, she cannot take no for an answer. She must talk to Pinkie Pie before its too late!

“But I need to talk to her right now, so can you please let me see her,” says Twilight desperately.

“That's not gonna happen,” says Carrot Cake with a shake of his head.

Twilight’s wet eyes narrow and her nostrils flare, loathing how ridiculous this situation is, and how stupid they are for not letting her see her friend.

“But you don't understand how important it is that I talk to her, so you need to let me see her right now!” yells Twilight furiously and slamming her hoof on the counter top, making the stallion flinch.

“Twilight...Pinkie’s gone,” says Carrot Cake.

Twilight’s annoyance is instantly replaced with pani, and her jaw drops with a whine of disbelief as she slides away from the counter, searching Pinkie Pie's surrogate father's face for deception. But there is none. He is sincere all the way through and on the brink of tears because of it.

“Wha-What do you mean gone?” stammers Twilight tearfully.

“She said her goodbyes and left about thirty minutes ago. I’m sorry, Twilight.” Carrot Cake says apologetically.

A vehicle that looks like a delivery mini-train travels cautiously through the storm, just outside the Ponyville construction site. It’s headlights illuminate only a dozen feet in front of it before the hard rain envelopes everything in a wet darkness, and the wipers do little to keep the window clear of the falling water.

Inside the vehicle, Trixie, Gray Muffin, Roar Shock, the zebra twins, and a few other ponies are patiently waiting for what’s to come. Wazza is driving the vehicle while Adanz is being his guide. The latter has a map in his possession and is quietly giving instructions on where to go.

All of them are wearing plain hooded ponchos, except for Gray Muffin, who is wearing his trademark attire. Trixie glances nervously at Gray Muffin and he gives her a quick, reassuring smile before staring off into space.

“How do you cope with it?” asks Trixie after a pregnant pause.

“Cope with what?” asks Gray Muffin, looking at Trixie out of the the corner of his eye.

“You know... Taking lives?”

Gray Muffin sniffs. “I forget about them,”

Trixie blinks in surprise. “So, you forget all of it?”

“No, not all of them," says her mentor with a shake of his head. "Some stick with you no matter how much you want to forget, and in a way, every life you take defines you, which is why we only go after those who do harm the innocents. Our methods are extreme, but because of who we target, we are not terrorists, but guardians of the innocent. A role that our government cannot or will not do, now.”

Trixie nods and looks out the front window. She can barely see anything, the buildings are silhouetted in the storm and there isn’t a soul in sight, and very few stores are open. It is so dark out from the storm that she does not even know what the time is, but she figures time is not a concern, otherwise they would have told her.

Besides, she also trusts Gray Muffin, Wazza, and Adanz with her life. She doesn’t really hold that connection with Roar Shock, though, but only because she hardly sees him and when she does he looks like he wants to kill her. Granted, Gray Muffin has that same murderous look most of the time, but it’s never directed towards her, and has isolated himself when he has shown signs of great impatience with her and her inability to grasp certain things. Plus Gray Muffin always takes the time to explain his actions to her, whereas Roar Shock murders her with his eyes and ignores her every chance he gets. Not that she minds being left alone by him, since she hates that psycho's guts, too.

“How nervous are you?” asks Gray Muffin suddenly, completely derailing Trixie’s train of thought.

Trixie gulps. “Very.”

“That’s good. When you’re nervous you are careful, just don’t let your emotions get the best of you. It’ll only draw things out and make it more painful than it has to be.”

Wazza stops the van behind the construction site and turns it off.

“We’re here,” he says casually.

“Team Three to Team One, we are in position,” says a stallion over the radio.

Shortly after, four more radio transmissions go through, and after Roar Shock gives his acknowledgments, he puts his radio back on the hook and looks at everyone cramped inside.

“Everypony, you know what to do. We'll meet up with the other teams on the Appleloosa Highway when our task is done, got it?” says Roar Shock. There is a series of “Yes, sir's” and Roar Shock turns to Gray Muffin and gives him a hard look, which is met with a quick nod, then he looks at his ponies with a thin, eager smile. "Let the purge begin."

The group exits the vehicle with great haste, Trixie squints her eyes, watching the ponies in poncho spread and disappear in the tired town with great difficulty. It does not take long for the assassins to disappear from view, and she looks at Adanz when he puts his hoof on her shoulder and gives her a reassuring smile.

“Don't worry, little pony, Mister Muffin will take care of you,” he says.

“A nice party will be waiting for you when you pass your test,” adds Wazza with a smile.

Trixie smiles nervously and nods quickly. “Okay.”

Gray Muffin opens the door, and seconds later, the equines inside are drenched in cold rain water and their ears are tormented by the hellish winds outside.

“Come, Trixie, we have work to do,” says the old earth pony.

Trixie swallows nervously, nods, then sulks out of the vehicle, trailing her mentor and looking uneasily at the skeletal monolith that will be marking someone's grave tonight. She glances over her shoulder when she hears a door close, and she stops to watch their transport drive away, and keeps watching it until it rounds a corner, completely out of sight.

Her ears droop, and she swallows and looks back at Gray Muffin, who is waiting for her by the gate. She forces another breath out of her lungs, then starts forward.

“Celestia forgive me,” whispers Trixie.

Twilight stammers and taps her hooves on the floor in a nervous dance while her mind races to figure out where Pinkie Pie went. Carrot Cake is now away from the counter and had flipped the sign to Close so nobody walks in. Not like anyone would be coming since curfew sets in in five minutes.

“You just let her go!?” cries Twilight, furious and distraught.

“It was her final wish. We tried talking her out of leaving, but she wanted to go. Everything she had, she sold or mailed or destroyed,” says Carrot Cake solemnly.

Twilight groans and begins smacking herself on the head with her hoof, getting a cringe from the older earth pony. “C’mon, Twilight, think! Think! Think! Think!”

When Twilight starts whining and clawing at her mane, Carrot Cake rushes over to her and forces her stop by calling her name repeatedly and grabbing her hooves. Twilight, now sitting on her haunches, collapses against Carrot Cake's barrel, shaking and whimpering.

“Please! There must be something!” cries Twilight. “Anything will help! Please, you have to help me find Pinkie before she hurts herself!”

Carrot Cake cringes, and after a moment of hesitation, he quietly says: “Well, Pinkie did say one thing before she left.”

Twilight gets a burst of hope and eagerly asks: “Yes! What did she say?”

“She, um... She told us not to follow her, or not to tell anypony where she went. Specifically you if you came by. Not that we know where she went since she didn't tell us in the first place.”

Twilight’s hope fades and her ears droop. “Oh.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” says Carrot Cake sympathetically while placing his hoof on her shoulder, “but Pinkie Pie just doesn’t want to be found... Especially by you.”

Twilight nods and turns to leave, but then a light bulb turns on in her head. A bright light bulb. Pinkie Pie doesn’t want to be found. Found as in locate. She doesn’t want Twilight to find her. Twilight as in unicorn. Unicorn as in magic. Magic as in spell.

“I got it!” blurts Twilight suddenly.

Her sudden outburst makes Carrot Cake jump slightly.

“Got what?” he asks curiously.

“I’ll find Pinkie and bring her back using the Locating Spell! Spell number sixty two!” says Twilight, her joy swelling in her voice.

“Um... Miss Sparkle-”

“Quiet, please. I need to concentrate.”

Twilight sits on the floor, closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and blocks out everything. A light purple mist oozes out of her horn as she focuses solely on the memories of her and Pinkie Pie. Like a film stuck on fast forward, she sees it all. From the very beginning when they first met with Pinkie Pie screaming and zooming off, to giggling at the ghosties in the forest and defeating Nightmare Moon and the adventures and parties after.

Then it goes into the roller coaster of emotions as the ups and downs of life becomes more defined, especially in the past ten years, leading up to the last few weeks.

When it goes to Spike’s death, his funeral, and the arguments between Applejack and Pinkie Pie and her just standing by, it becomes almost too painful to watch. But then it all stops when she sees what Pinkie Pie sees, a dark skeletal building building soaked in rainwater. A flash of lightning illuminates the sign: Future Sight of Equestrian Investigation Bureau Hub.

Twilight’s eyes snap open. “I know where she is.”

Before Carrot Cake can formulate a response or a question Twilight’s horn lights up again and she disappears in a ball of bright ligh.

Twilight appears in the construction site in the same ball of bright light that violently pushes water and loose materials away. She doesn’t know where Pinkie Pie is in the desolate place, but she knows she has to be close. When the chill from the rain sets in Twilight shivers and shakes the dew off her coat and proceeds with search for Pinkie Pie. She doesn’t have to look far, however, for Pinkie Pie is in the other room staring out the window, mane soaking and flat, and her stature tense as if she is waiting for something or someone.

“Hey, Twilight,” says Pinkie Pie glumly without looking at her.

Twilight stops in her tracks and Pinkie Pie turns around; as soon as she turns around lightning flashes behind her, lighting up the place like a camera flash, followed by the rolling thunder. Both mares look at the storm in all its terrifying beauty for a couple of seconds before looking back at each other.

“You shouldn’t be here,” says Pinkie Pie.

“What are you doing here, Pinkie?” asks Twilight as she carefully approaches Pinkie Pie.

“I’m doing what I said I would do in the letter. I’m going to make things right.”

“Look, Pinkie, I don’t know what you’re up to, but let me help-”

“I don't want your help.”

“But, Pinkie, I want to help you. I'm your friend and I don't-”

“Oh, so now you're my friend!” snaps Pinkie Pie, her whole attention on Twilight and her teeth grinding with her snarl as her legs quiver.

Twilight takes a step back, she also thinks she deserves that for how she had been treating her friend for the past week, but no one is ever prepared for it.

“Now you want to listen to me? Now you want to be, like, 'Oh, Pinkie, we're bff's forever and every other ever!'? What changed, Twi!? What! CHANGED!? 'Cuz I'm still Pinkie Pie! I still got Spike killed! His death is still my fault, you made that super clear, just like Rarity and Jackie and Flutters and Dashie! All of you fakes made it crystal clear that you hate Pinkie!” screams Pinkie Pie viciously and without taking a breath.

Twilight looks down and Pinkie Pie glances up, they both ignore the roaring wind and heavy rain that is soaking them and the construction site.

“Pinkie, I’m sorry... We're all sorry,” says Twilight softly. She steps forward and extends her hoof pleadingly. “But, please, stop whatever it is you’re about to do and come back with me to the library. We-We can talk it over. All of us. You, me, Applejack, Rarity-”

“NO!” interrupts Pinkie Pie with a stomp. Twilight stops talking and Pinkie Pie marches over to Twilight with a furious glare and each step being just as angry. “You had your chance to let me talk and give my side about what happened to Spike, but you guys didn't want to hear it. What makes me think you want to hear it now?”

“Pinkie, if you'll just listen to me then I can help you!” says Twilight desperately, tears flowing from her eyes and her hooves on Pinkie Pie's shoulders. “I'm sorry about what I did. I know the others are sorry, too, but you need to let us in so we can apologize and fix this before its too late. Just please come back home with me. Please, let me help you!”

Pinkie Pie shrugs Twilight away and takes a few steps back, her frowning lips trembling and eyes brimming with tears. “It's too late. You showed me your true colors. Now get out of here before you get hurt, either by me or the guys coming to get rid of me.”

Another bolt of lightning flashes by, illuminating the tears in both mares' eyes as they stare at each other. On one side, Twilight looks at the friend that could bring a smile to anyone, broken and doing the one last thing she hopes will make everyone smile again. On the other side, Pinkie Pie glowers at Twilight, lips sealed shut and her nostrils flaring from her ragged breaths that shakes her body.

Twilight can see the pain clearly in her friend's eyes. A pain that she caused because of her sorrow and her unwillingness to listen. Something she has condemned others for, for their ignorance of letting their emotions get the best of their judgments. Now here she is, paying the price for her hypocrisy.

Twilight steps forward cautiously and extends her hoof pleadingly to the broken Element.

“Pinkie, please come back,” whimpers Twilight.

Pinkie Pie's hoof snaps to the doorway behind Twilight. “Go!”

Twilight jumps back, shaking and sniffling, and Pinkie Pie's furious look breaks down into sadness as she slumps to the concrete floor, tears making her pleading, blue eyes glow in the storm. Her shoulders buckle and tears platter to the wet ground, her whine barely heard over the wind storming through the construction site.

“Please, be a friend at least once and let me make this right, like I Pinkie Promised,” begs Pinkie Pie weakly.

Twilight opens her mouth, but closes it when Pinkie Pie squeaks out another broken plea. Twilight swallows the lump in her throat, nods and takes a step forward, but Pinkie Pie recoils and points to the door. Twilight stops, looks at the doorway, then back at Pinkie Pie, and nods reluctantly before walking away with her head down and guilt as her companion.

After Twilight disappears, Pinkie Pie pushes her wet mane out of her face and lets out a loud sigh before sniffling and wiping her eyes of tears. A couple of minutes later, a pair of ponies appear, and Pinkie Pie recognizes them as Trixie and Gray Muffin, thanks to memory and lots of reading regarding the League of Justice.

She studies each of the ponies in front of her, muscles twitching and eyes flicking to every part of them for signs of the attack she knows will come. She sees a pistol holstered on Gray Muffin's hoof, and the trench coat and fedora he is wearing along with his disciplined steps gives him the appropriate appearance of a noir-eque assassin. Trixie, on the other hand, is sulking and shaking under her drenched poncho.

“You guys must be the ones who get to kill me, today,” says Pinkie Pie with a wry smile when they are a few paces away from them. She brushes her shaking hoof across her barrel like she is brushing off lint and notices how both of them tense, and her smile grows just a bit bigger from this. “I think this weather is appropriate. Dark. Rainy. Miserable.”

Gray Muffin snorts and Trixie levitates her poncho off, shaking more so than before and looking like she is going to be sick. She looks at Gray Muffin with big, pleading eyes and drooped ears, but all he does is nod and motion her forward. Trixie gulps and walks towards Pinkie Pie, and in turn, the Element flashes a big grin corrupted by her tears at the unicorn.

“It’s been awhile hasn’t it, Trixie?” says Pinkie Pie.

“I’m sorry, but I don't think we've ever met. I only heard of your deeds... And great parties,” says Trixie meekly, now stopping just shy a few feet of her.

“Oh, we met that one time when you brought your show to town. I thought it was cool what you did with all those lights and fireworks and tricks. I would've loved to have you come back, but after what happened with the Ursa and your cruddy luck, I didn't think we'd meet again, but we did under a very cruddy scenario. That's pretty sucky, I think.”

“Enough stalling. Pinkamena Diane Pie, you have been brought here today to atone for your crimes against the commoners as a defender of corruption,” says Gray Muffin.

Pinkie Pie nods carelessly with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Yeah, yeah, I got that last time your justice loving pals threatened to execute Fluttershy and Big Mac if I didn't do this.” She then rolls her shoulders and neck, and shakes her muscles loose of tension. “Buuuuut, in my defense of the whole corruption thing, I was trying to be a good citizen since last I checked assassinations are kinda illegal.”

“Save it!” snarls Gray Muffin. “You were supposed to be a guardian of the commoners, not of corruption! But you have obviously been twisted, and tonight, you will die, either by Trixie's hooves or mine!”

Pinkie Pie looks at Trixie and flashes a wide grin. “Okie dokie lokie! What are we waiting for, then? Let’s get this shindig rolling!” Then she lowers her body with her back end raised, and eyes narrow as she licks her toothless smile with anticipation. “Your move, Trixie-Trix.”

Gray Muffin backs up until his eyes glow in the shadows, and as this happens, Pinkie Pie wags her tail and splashes some water around by pawing the floor while Trixie braces herself. Despite Trixie's apparent determination in her coiled body, Pinkie Pie can see the terror in her eyes and see her body vibrating the water off her coat. She can see a faint glow on her horn, too, and notices her leg is twitching for her to move.

“Remember your training, young grasshopper,” teases Pinkie Pie.

Trixie freezes and blinks in confusion, which is all Pinkie Pie needs to launch herself forward and slug the unicorn in the chest, sending her off her hooves and landing on her back with a good sized splash. Before Trixie has a chance to get up, Pinkie Pie gallops over to her and body-slams her, making the unicorn's limbs and head jerk up with an explosive, painful gasp. Pinkie Pie then pushes her body down harder against Trixie's and presses her hoof against her neck and leans in close so their muzzles are almost touching, with droplets of water rolling down Pinkie Pie's muzzle and splashing on Trixie's face.

Despite Trixie's gags and best attempts to push the earth pony off, Pinkie Pie's natural strength keeps the unicorn pinned. Though she does not want to kill Trixie, she still feels her heart rate picking up and her eyes dilating as a twisted smile stretches across her muzzle and her soaked mane feeling more flattened by the second.

“You aren't remembering your training,” snickers Pinkie Pie grimly.

Roar Shock hums to himself as he marches towards the towering structure of the Town Hall, keeping the firing bit in his mouth and ignoring the downpour soaking his face and wings. Not a soul is in sight and that is just the way he likes it. The lights from the building are far and few in between, but when he sees light shining through the curtains of the Mayor’s Office, his marching turns into an eager trot with a wide smile growing. When he is close enough, he sees two guards standing under the balcony roof in a pitiful attempt to stay dry, but with the crazy wind they are still getting wet.

Roar Shock slows his trot down to a regular walk and locks his eyes on the two guards, which are staring at him suspiciously, with one speaking into his radio. He keeps going, though, and one moves to the stairs and points his hoof at him.

“This area is off limits! Turn back now!” orders the guard.

Roar Shock responds by shooting two electric beams at the guards, leaving his poncho singed and a cannon barely exposed from under his wing smoking as the two guards collapse with smoking holes in their chests. The first shot knocks the farthest guard into the wall while the second one sends the closest rolling down the stairs, where he splashes into the mud, motionless and wide eyed. When Roar Shock walks past the corpse in the mud he nods halfheartedly to him and charges up an electric ball from the cannon barely.

“Sorry, gentlecolts, but I got a date tonight,” says the pegasus.

Then he reduces the door into a cloud of flaming splinters and smoke with his charged weapon and strolls inside, whistling and unloading a barrage of thin electric beams that cut down the disoriented guards inside.

Trixie slugs Pinkie Pie's temple, and the earth pony rolls off, clutching her head, then Trixie scrambles to her hooves and tackles the earth pony into a pillar. The Element seethes as her back impacts the concrete structure, and with both mares on their hind legs, Trixie brings her hoof against Pinkie Pie's head again and again and again, and keeps going until she collapses on the ground. Trixie goes back on all fours, panting and shaking as she feels the blood of her victim staining her hooves, and she watches Pinkie Pie quiver and cackle on the wet floor.

“Oh, pain is beautiful,” giggles Pinkie Pie madly as blood slithers down her head from the cuts she got from Trixie's beating. She looks at Trixie and flashes a maniacal, toothy grin, with her teeth and bright blue eyes shining in the darkness and the fur around her eyes darkening. “Why don't we share the pain!?”

Trixie gulps and tries to take a step back, but as soon as her hoof leaves the floor, Pinkie Pie lunges at her and she feels weightless in a spiraling world. Seconds later, she lands on her back with a loud thud and an explosion of pain all over back, ribs and the back of her skull. Trixie's are shut and she seethes from the pain, and when she opens her eyes, Pinkie Pie lands next to her and stomps on her gut.

Trixie curls up with a yelp of pain, then her mane is grabbed by Pinkie Pie's teeth and she cries out in pain as she is tugged back on her hooves. Immediately, her heart works a million beats a second and her throat contracts as her lung and eyes burn from the chokes and tears of panic. All she can think of is when Sunshine grabbed her by her mane and then had his way with her in the locked room.

“No! No, please no!” sobs Trixie, her hooves scrapping into the rough floor and vision blurring with tears as hairs from her mane is ripped from the roots.

With a vicious growl, Pinkie Pie throws Trixie into a drywall. Her head goes through it, but before she can even finish a cough, she is yanked out and slugged in the face by a pink hoof. Her vision flashes white with the pain, and she falls to the floor, coughing and sputtering dots of blood all over her muzzle and floor. She tries crawling away, but she hears Pinkie Pie walking after her with her steps matching the beats of her panicked heart.

“Oh, this don't look good darlin',” says a voice that sounds too much like Sunshine.

The voice freezes Trixie in her tracks, and her blood freezes as her eyes snap around the shadows in search of her rapist. When her eyes lock on a dark figure with red eyes staring at her, her remaining breath goes into a terrified whimper. Then she feels Pinkie Pie pounce on her back and wrap her hoof around her neck and violently yank her head up, choking her of air and crushing her bones and windpipe.

“Do you really think I'll just let you kill Pinkie?” sneers Pinkie Pie eerily into Trixie’s ear, over the unicorn's strangled breaths.

“Get off of me!” screams Trixie hoarsely, feeling terrified from Pinkie Pie's imitation of Sunshine.

She bucks her back against Pinkie Pie give her some space, but when that doesn’t work, Trixie channels some energy through her horn and burns Pinkie Pie’s hoof to the point where it looks like a smoking, burnt hotdog. Pinkie Pie cries out in pain, releases Trixie and waves her smoking hoof around madly. Trixie then wraps Pinkie Pie in a cloud of sparking energy, polluting the air with the scent of burnt fur and hair, and she throws Pinkie Pie into the ceiling, then slams her back down on the floor.

With the first cycle, part of the ceiling tile fall around the mare and clatter around her when she is slammed to the floor.

Trixie does not give Pinkie Pie a chance to stand or breath, for she still keeps her wrapped in her magic and throws her against the ceiling and floor five more times before finishing with a hard slam that leaves cracks on the floor.

After the final round, Trixie falls on her haunches panting and shaking with tears rolling from her bloodshot eyes as she stares at Pinkie Pie. The Element is completely still, face pressed against the floor and her limp mane covering all but one closed eye.

Seconds of silence pass, and Trixie sighs with relief, glad that the task is done, but her relief turns to mortified shock when she sees Pinkie Pie shift on the ground.

“Ow...” groans Pinkie Pie slowly, her voice no longer on the insane tone, but light like when they first started. She looks up at Trixie, face bloody and covered in scratches, and she winces as she pushes herself up, which prompts Trixie to backpedal with her jaw to the floor and ears ready to fall off from how far they drooped. After shaking herself off like a dog, she continues.“You sure play rough, Trixie.”

“How are you still alive!?” cries Trixie.

Pinkie Pie flashes a bloody smile. “What can I say? I'm full of surprises. Speaking of which-”

Pinkie Pie becomes a blur of pink shades, and before Trixie can even blink, there is a strong pressure in her chest with a pain snapping across her ribs. Trixie is once again airborne, and while she is going through the air, Pinkie Pie slams Trixie into the ground, and grazes her cheek when she brings her burnt hoof down for a punch that cracks the floor next to her head. However, Trixie has a sinking feeling in her gut that the pony known as Mare-Do-Well missed on purpose just to toy with her before she kills her.

“Are you ready for more of them?” taunts Pinkie Pie.

Ivory Scroll shrinks behind her desk, shivering with fear while the exchange of gunshots and dying screams of the guards echo down the hallway. Then it all suddenly stops with the last electrical buzz and thud of a falling body.

The black and yellow guards in her office look at each other nervously and when Fuller motions them to look at the door as he levitates his pistol, they do so nervously. They don’t hear anything outside, there is only dead silence. The yellow guard shifts his position slightly and the black one creeps forwards with his weapon at the ready. Then he steps on a loose floorboard.

Immediately a thin beam of electricity burns through the door and strikes him in the throat. He gags and falls to the ground, pushing his hoof against his injury and Fuller orders the Mayor to get down as the yellow guard sprays the door and walls with bullets.

After his spray, the guard breathes heavily while waiting for a response, but the response never comes. Not even a thud from a body falling.

Ivory Scroll gulps and slides further behind her desk, and she screams when the door is suddenly reduced to burning splinters and the yellow guard is flung off of his hooves, burnt to a crisp. Fuller dodges the flying corpse, but takes two rounds in his chest that knocks him to the ground. He starts wheezing and shifting weakly on the ground when Roar Shock strolls in with a satisfied smile, and the pegasus puts another shot in the unicorn, making him jerk, then fall limp with his eyes closed.

After shooting the Major, the pegasus smiles at Mayor Ivory Scroll and powers his smoking canon down.

“Ivory, Ivory, Ivory, how pleasant to see you again after all these years!” says Roar Shock, his demented voice ringing in the chamber.

Ivory Scroll backs up, crying and stammers incoherently as Roar Shock walks towards her with the lust for blood in his gleeful expression.

“Love Joy, is that you? What happened to you!?” stammers Ivory Scroll, now backed into a corner.

“Don't you remember? You killed him by the lake all those years ago when you took her from me,” says Roar Shock, his tone becoming more grim and his steps heavier. “Now, tell me this, Ivory, do you remember her name? Or the names of all those you ruined because of your deal with Grizelda?”

“I... I...”

Roar Shock snarls and stomps the floor. “You don't even care enough to know their names!?”

"Please, you-you don't understand! Nopony else has to get hurt! Just let me explain!" cries Ivory Scroll.

“That's what all you filth want!” growls Roar Shock. He stomps towards Ivory Scroll, eye twitching and wings flapping as her cries of mercy and begs of an audience are blocked by his overworking heart. “What you took from me and the good ponies of Ponyville will be be paid for in your blood and the blood of everypony in your administration. And now-”

He lunges at Ivory and she screams in terror and pain as he slams his hoof against her face, sending her crashing to the ground. She whimpers and tears drench her cheeks as the pegasus lifts his hoof up from her bloody face to reveal to her eyes the two crossing omegas inside the circle in the bowl of his hoof.

“Now Tartarus awaits,” growls Roar Shock, his showing signs of graying and the symbol on his hoof becoming outlined in a red haze.

Then he slams his hoof down.

Trixie jumps away from another one of Pinkie Pie’s insanely fast attacks and shoots a lightning bolt at her. The earth pony sidesteps the attack and kicks a small tool cart at Trixie. It slides across the floor and hits Trixie’s legs when she tries to jump over it, causing her to roll over the top and land on her face on the floor, leaving a nasty feeling in her legs and head. As Trixie blinks the stars out of her eyes, she is flipped on her back by Pinkie Pie, and then her head is trapped when the Element places her hooves on either side of Trixie’s head.

Pinkie Pie and Trixie are both breathing heavily and are covered in cuts and bruises, and blood drips on Trixie's face from Pinkie Pie's muzzle. But in spite all the damage she’s taken, the pink mare is still going strong while Trixie can feel herself getting worn out.

“Playtime’s over. You have to stop them,” says Pinkie Pie hastily. “Push me off.”

“What?”

“Zap me!”

Trixie shoots a bolt of lightning into Pinkie Pie’s chest, sending her crashing into a scaffold. The scaffold splinters on impact and covers Pinkie Pie in a clutter of broken wood and supplies. Trixie gallops over to Pinkie Pie and brings her hoof down on her, but she blocks it surprisingly well with an X across her barrel, and the Element flashes a begging smile at her while doing this.

“Trixie, I know you're not really a bad mare. You don't belong with those jerks,” whispers Pinkie Pie urgently. “I’m pushing you off now.”

Before Trixie’s mind can comprehend what Pinkie Pie told her, the Element of Laughter pushes her off, then tackles her as she tries to regain her footing. They both fall over the edge of the floor and land on a series of scaffolds multiple stories high. The scaffold they landed on snaps loose and and falls down on another one, and both mares frantically try to escape the cascade of falling materials that resulted in their trip down.

Pinkie Pie’s maneuvering is surprisingly graceful as she hops from one piece to another, but Trixie's is sloppy. Her hooves barely grip the scaffolding as she slides down, and almost falls off when a paint bucket barely misses her head and splashes its pink contents all over her mane and body. When they both land on the floor, four stories below where they originally were, Trixie lands awkwardly and trips over herself while Pinkie Pie lands with the grace of a pegasus and disappears somewhere, virtually untouched by their journey down.

Trixie shakes the disorientation away and her ears droop and her muscles lock as she sees an avalanche of debris falling towards her. Her senses return just in time right before she’s about to be crushed by building materials and tools, and she closes her eyes and pushes all the materials away from her in a blue shock wave. She opens her eyes and watches with a mix of pride and wonder as the tons of construction materials are pushed completely back and crumble to the ground or tumble over the edge dozens of feet where she’s standing. The noise is so loud that surely the town will be woken up by such a ruckus.

Though, the cheer and applause from Pinkie Pie catches Trixie off guard, and she whirls to her side, wide eyed to see Pinkie Pie standing next to her.

“Wow! That was cool, Trixie!” says Pinkie Pie gleefully.

“Ah! What the hell!?” yells Trixie.

Pinkie Pie jabs at Trixie's, making her yelp in pain and stumble back, all while she cheerfully says: “Boink!”

Trixie promptly slugs Pinkie Pie in the mouth, and while she backpedals, hoof to her bloody mouth, Trixie pounces on her and they both roll around near the edge, dealing vicious blow after vicious blow to each other. When they come to a stop, Pinkie Pie is on top, one eye shut with a bruise oozing blood above her eyebrow, and Trixie is below, also bloody.

“Promise me you’ll stop them,” begs Pinkie Pie hastily over the howling wind.

“What? I’m the one that has to kill you,” says Trixie, confused as to why Pinkie Pie is trying to get her to stop her new family, even though they have been nearly successful in beating each other to death.

“Its a funny world, isn't is? The victim asking their killer do to something for them. It's got a dramatic ring to it.” Pinkie Pie hawks a glob of blood over the edge and smiles at Trixie. ”But enough chit-chat. You gotta kill me. I gotta die. Everypony will be happy except for you, because you aren't a killer. Not yet, anyway.”

Trixie grunts and squirms under Pinkie Pie's grip, but the earth pony shushes her and presses harder against her so their stomachs are pressed against each other and their limbs and tails are intertwined.

“Ahahah! Not so fast, Trixie,” chides Pinkie Pie. “Trust me on this. I promise, no I Pinkie Promise you, when you kick me over the edge, you will realize how evil your friends are and how expendable you are to them.”

“No, they are my family! They kill only evil ponies and I'm helping them make Equestria better!”

Pinkie Pie's eyes narrow and flash sinisterly in the dark with the lightning. “Spike was innocent. So were all those ponies and guards your chumps gunned down. Your family killed my friend and-” Pinkie Pie presses her hoof down on Trixie's neck as her mane flattens and a vicious snarl wrinkles her bloody face “-the only reason you aren't dead is because you didn't kill Spike. Now, today time to choose the song you're going to dance to, Trixie. Kick me off.”

Trixie looks past Pinkie Pie, still squirming and choking for air, and she sees Gray Muffin approaching from the shadows with a pistol in his mouth. Pinkie Pie's eyes flick to the older earth pony, and she snarls and looks back at Trixie.

“I said. Kick. Me. Off,” hisses Pinkie Pie.

Trixie gulps for air.

“You need to stop those fakes from ruining everything! Now, kick me off!” orders Pinkie Pie.

Trixie sees Gray Muffin take aim, and something clicks that tells her to obey Pinkie Pie, and she grits her teeth and uses every ounce of strength her hips and hind legs have to buck the mare off of her. The Element flips over the edge without another word and silently plummets to her death, and Trixie falls limp and coughs painfully. Moments later, she sucks in a large amount of air before resuming her scratchy coughing fit while rubbing her neck and looking over the ledge.

She barely sees Pinkie Pie lying on her back on a pile she can't quite make out, but her victim is motionless and her eyes are closed, and last she checked, falling from a few dozen feet is a great way to die.

Seconds later, Gray Muffin steps next to Trixie, weapon now holstered, and offers her his hoof. She looks at him quizzically, blinking tears out of her eyes and still taking in gulps of air. After he motions her to grab it, she does let him help her up.

“I was getting worried,” says Gray Muffin. He then flashes a thin smile after doing a quick look over at her collection of cuts and bruises, and the massive pink stain covering her body. “It looks like you will be needing a shower and some soup when we get back.”

Trixie chuckles nervously and nods, her hoof rubbing the bruise on her neck, and she slowly trails Gray Muffin to the hallway when he tells her that they will be regrouping. However, thinking about Pinkie Pie's words and the massacre surrounding Ponyville, she stops and lowers her eyes to the floor, shivering from the cold rain beating against her. Shortly after, Gray Muffin stops and looks at her with a raised brow.

“Is something wrong?” he asks.

Trixie swallows, unsure how Gray Muffin will react to this, but after taking a breath of courage and another look at the floor to get her question in order, she looks at her mentor, ears drooped and eyes wet.

“Gray Muffin... sir, what happened in Ponyville? What happened here with Terra?” asks Trixie.

Gray Muffin silently stares at Trixie, and when he walks towards her, she takes a step back, gulping fearfully and tensing for whatever confrontation will come. However, what she gets is a sigh.

“Terra is believed to have died at the hooves of Captain Sparkle and Pinkie Pie after she went on a rampage here,” explains Gray Muffin. “She killed and injured those who were not targets, one of which was Spike Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle's surrogate son and a well admired member of this town. His death -and the dozens that came with him- should not have happened. But they did, and now we have to deal with repercussions of her actions while fighting to restore Equestrian purity.”

Trixie stares at Gray Muffin in absolute shock. Partially because of his easy confession, but also because what she was told was true. She feels a bit uneasy, now, about this situation. If someone like Terra can be sent on missions and kill so many innocents just for fun, then how many other bad eggs does Roar Shock let loose to deliver justice? How many of their victims were truly innocent, but target just because the League fell behind on a purging quota?

Trixie flinches when Gray Muffin puts his hoof on her shoulder, and she takes a step back when he calls her name. Seeing her step back brings a glint of pain to his eyes, but she does not care. She does not know if she can look at anyone in the League the same way again. She does not know if she can look at Gray Muffin the same way again.

How many innocents did he kill? Has he ever been on a rampage that killed those who did not deserve it in the name of justice?

Trixie's legs start to wobble and a teary lump forms in her throat as her eyes glaze over, and she takes a step back when her mentor steps forward again.

“Trixie, you need to understand that what Terra did was unacceptable, and she would have been punished had she not fallen,” says Gray Muffin. He then looks at the growing town shrouded in rain and deflates slightly with a deep, sad breath. “It was tragic what she did, and I warned Roar Shock of how unstable she was, but he would not listen.”

“And what about when you guys threatened to execute the other two ponies Pinkie Pie mentioned?” asks Trixie.

Gray Muffin hesitates. “I do not know what happened with those two, for I only know what I am told and what I see. I do not know what Roar Shock did or why, but I can only hope that your demons do not do to you what they have done to him, to Terra. Or to me.”

Roar Shock strolls out of Ivory Scroll’s office, his hooves, face and poncho splattered with the dead mare's blood, and the gray and red glow fading from his eyes and hooves. He turns around to marvel at the gruesome scene where the Mayor’s barely recognizable body lies in the middle of the floor, where her blood has seeped out and soaked itself into the carpet and is spreading further along the floor. Not only is the office covered in the Mayor’s blood, but her collection of alcohol has been splashed around the room, with some parts puddling up an others dripping down the walls and curtains.

Roar Shock sighs in bliss, aims his cannon at a puddle of alcohol, then says: “Justice has been served.”

He then shoots the puddle with a ball of energy and a large wave of hellish fire instantly spreads throughout the office, engulfing the corpses and the furniture in a matter of seconds. He squints his eyes when he sees a flash of green light appear from the office, but before he can investigate, a sudden burst of flame that erupts from the source makes him jump back. He curses under his breath, but his shock quickly changes to an anxious chuckle and runs his hoof through his mane.

“That was fast,” he says to himself, and then he takes a breath and trots down the hall while the flames spread out like speeding vines, ensnaring and dissolving everything it touches. He decides it is a good idea to gallop out when sparks start popping out from exploding lights and circuits and parts of the ceiling collapse in an inferno with the whole building groaning.

At the construction site, Gray Muffin sees the light from the fire at the Town Hall shine like a beacon in the storm, and Trixie easily sees it when she realizes what he’s looking at.

“It looks like Roar Shock completed his task, as well,” he says.

Right as Gray Muffin turns around, time seems to slow to a crawl and his eyes widen when he sees a flaming beam flying straight towards Trixie, much like how a dragon's flame would incinerate its target. There is no time to think, only react, and his legs spring into action, catapulting him to the mare.

“Get down!” barks Gray Muffin.

He barely reaches Trixie in time to push her down, but the flame strikes him in the chest and engulfs his body in a flash of searing pain with power that pushes him across the ground and rams him against a wooden pillar. The impact nearly snaps it in half, and it shakes loose some construction supplies, covering him with wood and plaster. More pain erupts across his shoulder, ribs and back from the abuse, and through his wheezing and pulsating vision he can hear and see Trixie screaming for him with her hoof outstretched from her spot on the ground.

Gray Muffin coughs, tasting copper in his mouth, and he grinds his teeth, seething from a sharp pain in his chest when he pushes some wood aside, worrying too much about Trixie instead of the smoke rising from his burnt jacket and fur. As Trixie gallops towards him, another unicorn steps out, fur bright white and her mane, tail and hooves engulfed in flame, turning the water around her into steam.

“Behind you!” cries Gray Muffin hoarsely.

Trixie looks over her shoulder, and yelps and dives for cover when the attacker shoots at her again, this time blowing apart the floor she stood on just seconds before. The resulting explosion flings Trixie in the air, and she turns head over tail before landing halfway on a scaffolding. The wooden platform shatters and Trixie spins and lands on her stomach on the ground, resulting in a splash with debris and paint equipment falling around her. She remains motionless with her eyes closed and more blood dripping from new cuts on her face and body.

“YOU KILLED PINKIE PIE!” screams their attacker.

Panic starts to infect Gray Muffin as Trixie's eyes flutter open with her hoof weakly sliding across the concrete floor. A flare explodes from the attacker, dissolving wood in fiery embers and burning metal until it is red hot and bending, Gray Muffin grits his teeth again and stifles a cry as he pushes the rubble off of him. It feels like his muscles are tearing apart and his bones feel cracked, but he is determined to get up and get Trixie out. He will be damned if more of his ponies die on his watch!

As soon as he gets up, his heart thumps hard and slow in his chest and his breathing is sharp and ragged, but that does not stop him from picking up a piece of broken concrete with his hoof.

“YOU KILLED SPIKE!” yells their attacker.

Trixie's eyes are fully open this time, and her ears droop and her mouth falls wide open as she tries to back up without standing, but it does nothing but make the flaming mare advance quicker. The fiery mare yanks away a hot piece of jagged metal and aims at Trixie, and right as she is about to throw it, Gray Muffin chucks the concrete piece at the mare's head. There is a crack, a howl of pain and the crude weapon she had goes off course, barely missing Trixie and disappearing over the edge as the newcomer stumbles.

“Run!” orders Gray Muffin.

Trixie stands up on shaky legs and is about to run to him, but before she can do that, or before he can order her to go in another direction, his vision is blinded by a flash of white, then darkness comes in.

Trixie stares in disbelief as Gray Muffin flies over the edge on fire with other pieces of flaming debris. Where he once stood is now almost completely gone. All that remains is an edge of glowing, jagged metal and smoldering concrete.

“No,” chokes Trixie. She shakes her head in disbelief, her breath quivering with her body as tears roll down her cheeks. She swears she can hear a taunting laughter echo in her ears, and she grits her teeth as her blood boils and the lust for vengeance takes a hold of her. “No. No. No, no, no, no! No!”

Trixie slams her hooves on the floor, cracking it with a powerful shock of energy and she wails at the top of her lungs and whirls around to meet the one who killed Gray Muffin. She narrows her glowing eyes at the mare whose fur is white like hot metal and her flaming mane and tail whipping at the air. When the attacking unicorn's horn sprouts a fireball, Trixie launches an electric beam at her, striking her in the chest and sending her down the barely started corridor.

Th mare's trail is marked by a mix of blue bolts and red flames, and stops when it reaches the end of the hall, blowing out a cloud of rain and debris that shrouds everything. Trixie does not care about the choking atmosphere, though. She marches straight ahead, seething and burning everything he hooves touch with the whips of electricity. Along the way, she hears the laughter return and her heart spikes when she sees a silhouette of a pegasus with red eyes trot next to her.

“There she is! There's the feisty mare I fell in love with,” snickers the shadow that carries Sunshine. “Are ya gonna finish her like what ya do to all yer other enemies, my love?”

Trixie tries to ignore the voice, but it bounces in her mind, from one in to the other, and back again in a hellish roulette. When the shadow slithers past her to get to the other side, she growls and picks up pace.

“Although, from one lover to another, I wouldn't get too close to her. She seems a little upset,” warns the shadow.

Trixie does not have a chance to heed the shadow's warning, for right after he says it, she is enveloped in an aura of purple and red and flung into the ceiling. Trixie yelps as her back breaks through the panels and she hits the other ceiling before landing on her stomach on the floor above where she originally came from. However, she barely feels a thing, and she quickly pushes herself up, now surrounding herself with a bubble of electrically charged clouds, and she uses her magic to grab an assortment of building supplies and tools and has them orbit around her like satellites.

There is a burst of energy not far from her, and the mare that killed Gray Muffin appears. Trixie snarls and stomps her hooves, shooting more sparks and zaps the area around her.

“COME ON!” roars Trixie.

The attacker's horn glows and all of Trixie's satellites vaporize in a flash of red, and all Trixie can do is widen her eyes in shock before the attacker teleports in front of her, hoof extended for a punch. It is at that moment that Trixie recognizes the face behind the murderous snarl, and only one thought comes to her mind: 'Oh, shit.'

There is an explosion of flames and electricity shrouded in flaming and charged clouds, and Trixie's world spins to a blur as sh rolls and bounces across the floor with flying rubble. She comes to a stop after skidding on her back a couple dozen feet, her cloud shield now reduced to clingy vapors.

She seethes and rolls on her stomach, the pain still minimal, but the shock of what is going on very much dominant on her mind. After barely getting on her hooves, Twilight teleports in front of her again, hoof engulfed in flames and coiled for another strike.

Despite the panic from her situation, Trixie still watches the hoof carefully and feels as though time slows down for her as her eyes trail the incoming attack. At the perfect moment, Trixie slides out of the way, wraps her hooves around Twilight's hoof and with a war cry, she stands her hind legs and flips Twilight on her back.

The flaming mare lands with a loud and Trixie creates an electric orb in her hoof and slams it against Twilight's stomach. The air is forced out of her target's lung with a pained gasp, and both supercharged mares fall through the floor with a ring of debris falling around them.

The fear from Trixie dwindles from her victory, and in its place looms pride and with it, the return of justice for what Twilight did to Gray Muffin. And with what she did to her all those years back when she ruined her life in this very town that is being purged of corruption by her new family. With these thoughts, a sinister smile stretches across Trixie's muzzle and the protective cloud barrier reforms around her.

“Hello, Twilight, do you remember Trixie?” snarls Trixie, her eyes glowing so intensely that her pupils have become shrouded in its light. She grips Twilight's hoof harder, ignoring the heat building against her body as she bends the hoof in a direction it should not go and ignoring the pained growls from Twilight as the bones crack. “Do you remember ruining my life!?”

Twilight vanishes in a flash, then reappears just as quickly and tries to blow Trixie away with a ball of flame. Her cloud shield holds, but the power of the attack pushes Trixie back, despite her digging her hooves into the floor.

“My turn!” yells Trixie.

She takes a deep breath, and reels on her hind legs before stomping the floor and shooting a thick beam of raw power at Twilight. Trixie's opponent puts up a shield, diverting the attack in every which direction it can go, snapping and burning apart the floor, ceiling, walls and support pillars in an amazing display of blue and white lights. Pieces of the construction site start collapsing around the two mares, groaning and screaming with the breaking metal and crumbling concrete, but Trixie stands her ground. She actually takes a step forward, brows scrunched and teeth exposed for her vicious growl and screams when she puts more power into it, blinding her and thinning out her storm cloud barrier.

Trixie smiles gleefully when she sees Twilight's shield shrink and her position falter. She can feel her own heart racing and a mad cackle escaping her with tears of joy as a realization comes to mind. She will finally beat Twilight.

After all these years of Twilight being praised as a hero and Trixie being driven into social exile because of two idiots, she will finally have her revenge! She will finally show everyone that Twilight Sparkle is not as great and powerful as she seems! A traveling magician ridiculed to ruin by the actions of the Element of Magic will finally prove you do not need to be trained by a goddess to master magic!

She will be great and powerful, once more. She will finally matter again!

Trixie takes another step forward, uncaring of the floor dissolving around her, panting and sweating from her energy use and laughing at the changing fortunes. However, like all good things in her life, this one comes to an abrupt end.

Twilight stops moving back, and stands her ground, straightens herself out, and to Trixie's horror, the Element starts absorbing her attack into her shield. Twilight's eyes glow bright gold through the flames, sparks, haze and debris, and Trixie swears she sees a pair of small wings made of flames extend from the mare.

Trixie's eyes widen and tears flow down her face as the looming defeat wraps around her throat and heart, squeezing her of air and life.

“No,” whimpers Trixie, then she breaks down in tears and sobs wrathfully as she marches forward, past the falling rubble and stumbling a bit as the floor breaks apart around her. “No, Trixie- I-I can't be defeat by you again! I can't! I CAN'T!”

It is at that moment that Trixie's attack is sucked dry in the orb shield around Twilight, and a second of silence there is a shock wave and a sonic boom from Twilight that tears apart everything like a chainsaw on a stack of paper. The force pushes Trixie off of her hooves and sends her tumbling through the air with chunks of the construction site.

Twisted metal beams, chewed up concrete, broken wood and everything else used to build the structure is pushed in every direction from a rainbow colored, circular explosion. Trails of flames fling in all directions, sending the burning debris crashing through roofs and breaking the ground on impact. Through the deadly shower, a single pony flies out and hits the ground with a loud crack and a shriek of agony as she bounces and skids across the ground, leaving a trail of blood.

When Trixie stops, she is by a small clock tower that is on 5:05, with a sign under it saying “Broken”. Not too far from her is Golden Oak's Library on Magic Street.

Trixie lies on the ground, fading back to her normal form, whimpering and shaking and choking on tears and blood. She coughs out blood, broken mentally and physically, and she feels a sharp pain in her neck as she cranes her neck to see the construction site collapse on itself in a screaming inferno.

Some sirens echo in the distance, and Trixie lets her head fall to the pavement, feeling cold from more than just the rain washing the blood from her gashes. She feels weak, every bone feels broken or cracked in someway, and her breathing is like trying to find air through a wet towel while her world becomes dimmer.

Excruciatingly long seconds of pain and despair of failure pass before Twilight appears in front of Trixie, and she looks up at the Element with eyes burning red and face soaked in tears and blood. Twilight stares down at Trixie, frowning and her body somewhat back to normal. Her mane, tail and hooves are still glowing from the remnants of the flames, but she mostly has her lavender colors back.

“Why, Trixie?” says Twilight, her voice bitter, but her teary eyes and the lump being swallowed showing the pain. When Trixie answers by looking at the ground, watching her blood seep into the road to be assaulted by the rain, Twilight limps forward and stares harder at her. “Why did you kill my friend?”

“I just wanted to matter...” whispers Trixie, her weak voice cracking and her heart beating slower as fresh tears wash the blood from her face.

Twilight looks at Trixie wordlessly, and a moment later, a unicorn stallion in a suit steps next to her with a group of ponies in white outfits that have red crosses on their shoulders near him. Darkness now bleeds quicker into Trixie's eyes, and the cold and fear becomes all she can feel, now.

“I'll take her from here, Miss Sparkle,” says the unicorn stallion.

“Thank you Agent Locke,” says Twilight, her voice now a faint whisper and the environment almost completely dark.

Agent Locke nods, and the last thing Trixie sees before the darkness claims her is the unicorn approaching her and the group of medics following close behind.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 05 Jan 2015

Arc 1- 17- Memories of the Departed -ADDITION-

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Trixie's ear twitches with every beep of the clunky machine strapped to Braille Lulamoon. Every beep is met with a hiss, click and whir, and another segment of jagged lines are printed out on a thin roll of paper that collects in a bin on the floor. The doctors already changed the bin three times and took the printed sheets away, looking more concerned and worried with each collection.

So, when a unicorn stallion walks in wearing the doctor's coat, Trixie's heart sinks even lower. Especially when he rips the paper out of the machine and slides a fresh basket in its place.

“Eclipse Lulamoon?” says the doctor.

“Yes?” says Eclipse quietly, refusing to break eye contact with Braille.

“I apologize for doing this, but I need to have a word with you in private about your wife,” says the stallion hesitantly.

Eclipse looks at the doctor, then at Braille. The mare's eyes are barely open, and her curly dark brown mane has fallen limp with clumps missing, and her blonde coat has become pale, with her fur and fuzz missing on and around her horn, revealing dark, crystalline spots around the fluted extension. Trixie has been laying in front of her for hours on end, refusing to move and barely eating, like her mother.

Eclipse sighs and reluctantly stands up. He gently grabs Braille's hoof and pats it, sniffling when she swallows and barely places her other hoof above his, giving him a tired, toothless smile. He then rubs Trixie's mane and starts towards the door, where an earth pony stallion wearing a suit stands.

“Keep an eye on them, please,” says Eclipse.

The stallion nods and stands in front of the door as Eclipse and the doctor exit, leaving Trixie and alone with Braille. She stands up on the bed and watches him with massive, wet eyes, ears drooped and a terrified whimper leaving her.

“Daddy,” calls Trixie, her voice cracking and lips trembling with her legs.

Eclipse stops and turns, placing his hoof against the door frame, and he smiles reassuringly at Trixie with a shimmer in his eyes.

“I'll be back, Trixie. Keep mommy company for me, please,” he says.

Trixie sits down on the bed and nods, and Eclipse leaves. The stallion looks at Trixie and Braille for a few seconds before stepping out of the room and closing the door.

“Trixie,” says Braille faintly.

Trixie snaps to Braille and cranes her head up to look into her eyes, a smile of relief spreading. She is talking, so she must be getting better!

“Yes, mom!” says Trixie eagerly.

Braille coughs in such a way that it sounds like someone is ripping at her lungs with a fork, and swallows what can only be a glob of mucus. Just hearing those horrible sounds and seeing the pain in her expression and eyes brings Trixie's smile down and her eyes water as she searches her mother's face for signs of something good. She finds no such things.

“I know you are sad... and I know you are afraid... but don't be,” whispers Braille, her voice light and wheezing sickly with each passing breath . She smiles wearily at Trixie and her baggy eyes struggle to stay open, much less focus on her as her hoof brushes her silver mane. “Mommy will be better, soon, I promise.”

“When? When will you be better?” whimpers Trixie, not believing her mother's words, but not wanting to say that aloud, either.

“I don't know, sweetie... but I know it won't be long.”

Braille takes a deep, shaky breath and swallows heavily as she blinks tears out of her eyes and feebly pulls Trixie close to her. The filly thoughtlessly climbs closer to her mother and nuzzles against her chest while placing a hoof on her shoulder and looking into her sickly eyes.

“Promise me you will always be a good filly,” says Braille, her voice growing weaker by the second.

Trixie swallows and her little body trembles as she hugs her mother and cries quietly against her neck, wetting her cheeks and Braille's neck with her tears. “I promise, mama.”

“Good,” sighs Braille. Her eyes drift shut and her breathing becomes hoarse and shallow as her hoof struggles to pat Trixie's mane.

The little filly can feel her mother shake and hear her heart beating slower as her movements become sluggish, and she looks up at her with beady eyes shining in the light. Braille's eyes are closed, and lines of tears shine on her cheek as her last movement is her hoof sliding around Trixie's body for a hug. The machines still beep, but the little mountains printed on the paper are far and few in between, and Trixie's beady, wet eyes dart between Tears roll down her cheeks and she whimpers as she crawls up Braille's body so that her little hooves are on her shoulders and their noses are almost touching.

“Mom,” whimpers Trixie.

She shakes her Braille's shoulder, her heart beating faster and her eyes and throat burning as tear pour down her face and her shaking becomes more frantic, more desperate to see her mother's eyes once more.

“Mommy, wake up!” wails Trixie.

“Let her rest,” says a stallion from behind.

Trixie looks over her shoulder, then gasps in fright and curls up as tight as she can on her mother's lap, hoping she will wake up and chase the Shadow Stallion away.

The Shadow Stallion is standing in the doorway, but he makes no movements. He only stares at Trixie with his solid black face, no signs of eyes or lips or a nose. If he had not had a horn protruding from his head, he would actually look like an earth pony made of onyx.

“She will not leave you, and neither will those that truly care about you. You will see this when you are able to forgive yourself and find your way back home,” continues the Shadow Stallion.

“Wha-What do you mean?” stammers Trixie fretfully. “Did I do something bad? Did I hurt mom!?”

The stallion's horn lights up to create a soft glowing, white orb on its tip that blinds Trixie. “It is time for you to wake up.”

Trixie's eyes snap open to the painfully bright light of the sun burning through the window, searing her eyes with its cruelty.

Trixie groans and lifts her hoof to rub her eyes, only for it to stop abruptly with a clank!

She blinks and looks to see a metal cuff holding her down. In fact, all of her limbs are cuffed to the metal railing of a hospital bed, giving her just enough room to wiggle, and her body is covered in a thin, blue sheet. She also has IVs all over her fore-legs, sensors strapped to her body to measure her vitals, and her body feels like someone shattered her bones, glued them back together, then threw them on the floor to see if the glue would hold. As for her muscles? They feel almost the same, only replace glue with stitches and and floor throws with a washer machine filled with metal beads. But the worst of it all is the pinching feeling she has on the base of her horn.

She does not know what it is, and while it is not as physically painful, it feels strange and makes her sick in the gut from a sense of helplessness and alarm. Wanting to get rid of the pinch, she closes her eyes, focuses on the source of the pinch, and tries to remove what ever it is with her magic. What she gets is an electric zap right at the base of her horn that makes her brain feel like it has been stabbed with a cattle prod.

Trixie yelps from the intense pain and slumps in her bed, whimpering as fear, panic and pain claw at her brain, stuff her lungs and beat at her heart. She whimpers and tries to shake herself free with frantic movements, rattling the bed with her, but the pain becomes too much and she collapses in the sheets, crying softly.

“Ya ain't goin' anywhere, miss,” says an orange earth pony stallion next to her, his eyes lifting from a book with a white cover and a golden sun stamped on it. He as a heavy Ozark accent and is wearing an armored vest with a stetson sitting not too far from him on a nightstand. “And even if ya do manage to break out of the bed and take me out, ya still gotta deal with the twenty agents, local guards and hospital security. So, you should probably relax while ya still can. Besides, ya might tear a stitch, and that'll be nasty.”

Trixie stares at the stallion, her tired eyes widening in disbelief of what she is seeing before her. Aside from his perfect pelt, the color of his gorgeous eyes remind her of pistachios, which is a bit of a downer because she hates pistachios, but it looks amazing on him. His mane and tail, while messy like a controlled bedhead, has a great blend of amber and blonde, and his figure is not freakishly buff or sickly skinny, but she sees not one ounce of fat on him, either. His build, his muscles, his relaxed face, his sexy accent, it is all perfect!

Trixie never thought she would see such a sight, but she has. She has laid her eyes on the sexiest stallion of all time.

Now she is kicking herself mentally because she is cuffed to her bed and the stallion is wearing an EIB badge, so that says enough about him. She is a prisoner, and the universe has decided it would be hilarious to have her guarded by someone she cannot ogle at lest things get really weird.

“Er, are ya done starin' at me like that?” asks the stallion uneasily.

Trixie averts her eyes sharply to the light blue blanket covering her bruised and scratched body.

“Sorry,” she mutters, sheepishly running her bandaged, sensor and IV covered hooves over the cheap fabric. Seconds later, she dares to look at the Agent, if only for a second. “Where am I?”

“Well,” begins the stallion, closing his book in the process, “yer at Hollow Shades District Hospital, about to be transferred to prison once we get you to a point where ya won't die in the cart. You should be on your way to prison very soon, though, seein' as how the docs think yer good enough for travel.”

Trixie's countenance falls to a gloomy frown. She recalls kicking Pinkie Pie to her death, then witnessing Twilight roast Gray Muffin to a charred pony right in front of her eyes.

“Its a miracle that ya didn't die on the spot, but miracle or not, ya got yourself in a whole helluva a lotta trouble,” says the earth pony sternly.

“I know,” sniffles Trixie.

Right after, the door opens and a unicorn stallion enters. He is in his forties with black spots covering his white coat enters, and a cutie mark of a hat sitting on top of sunglasses, like a cartoony spy. On his persons is a vest and a radio pack like the earth pony.

The Agent and Trixie both look at the newcomer, only the earth pony smiles and nods politely, and Trixie glares as hard as her beaten body will allow, which isn't much. She looks more like a weary drunk who had her tail yanked out and shoved down her throat in some alley than a recruit for a militant vigilante organization who got her flank handed to her.

“Apple, we're moving out,” says the unicorn, carrying with him a Trottingham accent.

“Gotcha, Boss,” says Agent Apple, quickly hoping to his hooves and slinging a revolving rifle across his back, much to Trixie's surprise and worry.

The machines speed up with her accelerating heart and print out rolls of tighter packed jagged lines on the thin sheet, which Boss completely ignores while Apple casts a worried glance at her. A moment later, a team of doctors and nurses come in with EIB escorts and the medics quickly free Trixie from the machines and IVs, save for one connected to a medicine bag on a rolling pole.

She swallows nervously, looking at all the guns and cold expressions around her, and when the cot lurches forward, wheels squeaking and items clanking against each other, she shrinks into her bed. Her ears droop and she feels as though she is going to puke out her frantically beating heart.

The one known as Boss moves next to her when they go out in the hall, guarded by more ponies in armored vests, all armed with mini-Gatling guns, and he uses his magic to press a button on his headset.

“This is Suit. We are bringing out the prisoner,” says the unicorn. He nods a second later, replying to the other end with: “Roger that.”

He sighs, orders the agents to move forward, and with the help of the doctors and nurses, Trixie begins her long journey down the hall, her spirit sinking lower and lower, and her mind racing faster as each room passes.

She wonders where the League is. Shouldn't they be here by now? Shouldn't Adanz or Wazza be here rescuing her?

So lost is Trixie in her panicked thoughts that she barely notices that they have gone through a large set of double doors to the outside world. She only registers this when acold rush of wind freezes her colt, and her eyes widen to mortified shock at the convoy of ten armored vehicles with the EIB seals on them guarding an ambulance.

With this open area, surely the League will come out of hiding, ambush her captors and rescue her from their custody.

A pair of stern looking ponies dressed in white hop out of the ambulance and quickly move down to the back.

A smile of hope spreads across Trixie's face and her heart starts feeling lighter. This has to be them! They will open the door and her new family will hop out, gun down everyone and take off with her to their headquarters!

The pair of ponies open up the ambulance, and Trixie's smile drops to an open mouthed whine of disbelief. It is completely empty.

She has been abandoned.

Again.

The cot stops in front of the back of the ambulance, and the pair of ponies quickly work to load her up, with Agent Apple standing guard outside and Suit hopping in next to her so he can lean over her.

“Well, Lulamoon,” says Suit, “are you ready to go to Hell?”

“No,” squeaks Trixie, shrinking as far as she can go into her cot.

“Too bad.” He nods to the pair of ambulance ponies. “Lets move!”

“Yes, sir,” says one of ponies.

Suit hops out and slams the doors shut, leaving Trixie locked inside the vessel taking her to her new home. Her eyes quickly fill with tears, and when the vehicle lurches forward with a booming pop, she bangs her head against her pillow and screams in anguish, then breaks down into terrified sobs as she desperately shakes in her cuffs.

But on her trip to Hell, no one hears her cries and pleas for mercy.

In the distance, watching the prison convoy speed away from the hospital using a pair of binoculars, is a lone earth pony mare. No one can see her cutie mark underneath the red, body length dress with a black belt looped around her waist, but they can see her other features. The simple dress also covers her front hooves almost completely, leaving only the very bottom exposed. She has a mint green coat and a wavy pink mane and tail, with her mane having a sunflower clip, and around her neck is a smiling sunflower pendant.

The pony lowers her optical enhancement device and smirks mischievously to herself. Then she packs her item in a small saddle and limps down the road towards a trolley stop where a group of other ponies wait, some more patient than others. She winces as she eases herself on a bench, and then she casually takes a schedule from a nearby slot. After, she glances in Canterlot's direction to look at the rising skyline, and the skeletal structure of a massive building in its baby stages being built near the palace.

She hums with some interest and looks down the other direction, cocking an eyebrow with some exaggeration. After seeing nothing for some time, she nudges a pale white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane, sporting sunglasses.

“Hey, isn't the trolley supposed to be here by now?” she asks.

The unicorn snorts a goodhearted laugh. “You must be new here. This trolley is always late. Just give it another fifteen minutes.”

The mint green pony smiles coolly and relaxes in her seat, watching storm clouds in the distance loom over Ponyville. “Okie dokie loki.”

Rainbow Dash stares at a casket sitting on a raised platform before her, her eyes hollow from the despair eating away at her. Hard rain patters on her blue and gold trimmed formal Wonderbolts uniform, soaking it to her body, and the Equestrian flag resting on top of the pink and dark pink trimmed casket droops over its edges, covering the engraved balloons. She barely notices the gathering crowd, but when she sees Celestia and Luna approach with a two rows of Royal and Night Guards flanking them, that gets her attention.

The two alicorns are wearing black attire with pendants representing their respective celestial bodies hanging around their necks, and large hats cover their faces and manes from the cold rain. In between them, a mare and a very old stallion Rainbow Dash has never seen before move to the casket's front, directly in front of the wreathed picture of Pinkie Pie, and they are flanked by four guards each from the Celestial Sister's entourage.

The mare looks to be a few years younger than Pinkie Pie, has a gray coat and a dark gray mane and tail. She is wearing a long black dress with a white undershirt and a pink ascot scarf wrapped around her neck to keep her warm, as well as a saddle with an umbrella attached to it that shields her and the considerably older earth pony stallion from the rain.

The stallion accompanying the mare has to be at least in his late seventies, and his old knees tremble, threatening to put him to the ground. His near white mane and tail have balded, leaving strands of mane and a stubby tail, and unlike the mare, who is holding back her tears, his golden eyes are bloodshot and drenched in tears. Rainbow Dash also notices that covering his old suit and balding head, is a layer of ash, some of which has formed streaks along his face and suit from the falling rain that got to him before the umbrella could.

Rainbow Dash studies them for a few more seconds, trying to figure out who they are, but when her mind comes up with a blank answer, she looks back at Celestia. She is talking to the Ponyville General Hospital manager, Doctor Horse Heartbeat, and from the way their backs are turned and how Celestia has lowered herself, she is guessing that the conversation is a private one. Not that Rainbow Dash's numb mind has any words formulated to say to the Sun Goddess, anyway.

The Element of Loyalty looks to Luna and notices that she is staring at the casket. A few seconds later, Shining Armor is taken to it in his wheelchair with the help of Cadence pushing him and Twilight walking next to them. Luna spares just a quick glance at the three before she looks back at the casket with a growing frown.

Like with the gray mare, the Sparkles and Cadence have umbrella attachments on their saddles, with Shining's just big enough to cover him and his chair, and the mares covering their bodies. Twilight and Cadence are wearing dark dresses, with a dark lavender trim on the unicorn and dark pink for the alicorn. Shining Armor is wearing his military uniform, but has bulging casts covering his right fore-hoof and horn. His eyes are distant and his frown is deep. The regret is clear and the sadness driving him closer to madness is growing, but he tries to hide the guilt and heartache with his angered look. It only makes him look more defeated, as his eyes are red and swelling with tears, and sickly, dark brown bags sit underneath his eyes. His nostrils flare with his breathing and his body trembles as cheeks move like his mouth wants to open, but is not being allowed to.

When everyone is in place, a white and gold mare in her early fifties makes her way to the podium in front of the casket. She is wearing a white robe with a blue trim around the collar and solar flare like patterns on her attire's trim. Unlike the majority of the mourners, she is going without an umbrella, and she removes from her pocket a waterproof book.

“We stand here, in this day of mourning, as friends and family of Pinkamena Diane Pie, the Element of Laughter and trusted associate of Princesses Celestia and Luna,” says the white and gold pegasus, known as Mother Glory. “To say we are upset will be... an understatement. But, while our sadness and anger and confusion drives us to the darkness of our hearts, we must remember that this day is a day of rejoicing, for she has found her way home at last.”

The priestess takes a moment, watching the expressions of the mourner. Rainbow Dash does not look at her, though, for her eyes are focused on the framed picture of Pinkie Pie. Her big, blue eyes make her smile all the more brighter, but with the rain pattering against the photo, it looks like her friend is crying, even in the Afterlife.

“The Book of Paradise says the Kingdom of Paradise is made of rolling green hills, and a city paved of gold with eternal warmth and happiness,” continues the robed mare. “I believe it. I believe Pinkamena has found her way to Paradise. So, let us grieve for losing a great pony in this world, but ultimately, our sadness must be put aside for joy, for she has been called to the greatest place anypony can be. Let us be happy that one more pony is free of the tribulations of these trying times.”

Rainbow Dash stares at Mother Glory, not sure if she should hate her or agree with her for her words. Pinkie is dead, that is no call for joy, and if the Higher Powers of Paradise truly cared than none of this would have happened. But, if anyone deserves a house in Paradise, it is Pinkie Pie.

With that thought, Rainbow Dash lowers her eyes, thinking of another scenario. Maybe all the good ponies are being taken away so the bad ones will suffer judgment like the overly religious wackos proclaim is coming very soon. Which, if that is the case, Fluttershy should be dead, too, or dead soon.

That thought is quickly expelled from her mind with a shudder, though. That, and Mother Glory's voice breaking through the downpour brings her out of the sadistic pit she has explored.

“Father Igneous Pie and his daughter, Octavia Philharmonica, have traveled from Miner's Country and Canterlot to give their final words,” says the white and gold pegasus. She nods to the old stallion and steps away from the podium. “Father...”

Rainbow Dash and everyone else at the funeral look to Igneous and Octavia, watching with interest and sympathy as his daughter helps him to the podium, protecting him from the cold rain with the umbrella.
Once in position, she bows her head and swallows the tears that try to escape, and he nods to the priestess.

“Thank you, Mother Glory,” says old stallion, Igneous.

Igneous puts a hoof on the podium, but quickly retracts it and takes a breath. His labored breathing is heard over the falling rain from the place speakers around the mourners, and his glazed eyes scan the crowd.

The gray mare puts her hoof on the old pony's shoulder. “Father, if you-”

Igneous shakes his head. “No, Octavia, let me do this.” He takes another breath and focuses on the casket when he starts speaking. “Life... Life is both cruel and gracious.”

He takes a moment to swallow and wipes the tears from his eyes and the snot from his nose.

“My happiest memories are the ones I have with my wife and daughters, and my most painful are when they left this world,” continues Igneous, his voice cracking and fresh tears rolling down his wrinkled cheeks. “We are never sure when it is time for our loved ones to leave. All we can do is cherish what we are given because of them. All we can do is treat them with more love than we give ourselves, and be grateful for the blessing that they have given us.”

He pauses, his eyes shifting between the crowd and coffin, mouth moving, but no words leaving.

“I will forever be thankful for the memories Pinkamena has given to me,” says Igneous shakily. “I know she has touched the lives of many at home and in Ponyville and all of Equestria. She was always there for us, always ready to cheer us up and always did right by others. Her kindness is unforgettable, her generous spirit unmatched and her loyalty unbreakable. She prided herself with honesty, and her desire to make others laugh and to be their light is a magic that can never be replaced. May we never stop laughing and seeing the sunshine and rainbows that she has shown us. Be in peace, my child... My Pinkie Pie.”

The crowd is once again silent, save for the sniffles of sadness or the plague of cold going through the crowd. It is hard to tell which, but Rainbow Dash remains silent, staring back at the coffin, fully agreeing with every word of the old pony.

“Would Miss Philharmonica like to say anything?” asks Mother Glory.

Rainbow Dash looks at the gray mare, as do the rest of the mourners, and she gulps and reluctantly steps forward. She stares at the crowd, completely still and trembling with tears trickling down her cheeks. After almost ten seconds of silence, she sniffles and shakes her head, her hoof to her mouth and eyes closed.

“I wish I knew her better,” says Octavia.

Then she and Igneous leave the platform, and once she is on the ground, she collapses on her rump and weeps loudly. Her father is next to her the whole time, so he sits next to her, scoops her in his embraces and hugs her as tight as she can, letting her cry in his shoulder.

Rainbow Dash averts her eyes to look at the casket again, wishing her last memory of her murdered friend had been something more meaningful.

Rainbow Dash hurries down the polished hallway, heart racing at seemingly a hundred beats a minute as her hooves clip-clop and squeak against the tile. Past her on the brick wall, in a place where pegasi go to train, are signs ordering no flying. She really does not understand why such a stupid rule is in place, but with her time short, she does not waste any time complaining about stupid rules.

She veers the corner, doing a short spin around a passing stallion and bumping into a mare, both wearing the blue and gold Wonderbolt trainee uniforms. She offers a quick, halfhearted apology and completely ignores the curious looks the two pegasi give her. She takes another turn and uses her shoulder to push open a door with a silhouette of the new communications device popping up all over Equestria, only for her to screech to a halt and drop her jaw at the sight.

The dim room is completely packed! Every cushion, every bulky communications device and their headsets are occupied by recruits and instructors chatting with whoever on the other end. The dozens of voices talk over each other like ecstatic seagulls devouring leftovers from a beach party. No matter how much she strains her neck or no matter where her hooves take her, she cannot see an open slot. This is like getting sucker punched in the gut by minotaur, and it drops her to her rump as a distraught squeak of disbelief leaves her lips with her eyes watering and her ears and wings drooped.

“Rainbow?” asks a familiar voice.

Rainbow Dash's head turns like a rusted Lazy Susan and her eyes grow in shock of who she sees in front of her, wearing the skin tight, blue and golden lightning uniform of a Wonderbolt Trainee. He has tired bags under his eyes, making his dark coat look pitch black, and his gray mane is shorter than she remembers, but here he is. Lazy Thunderlane. Sitting in front of a communications rig. Staring right at her.

“Thunderlane? What are you doing here?” asks Rainbow Dash.

“I was about to call Cloudchaser to see how she and Rumble are doing,” says Thunderlane.

Rainbow Dash blinks.

“My marefriend and brother...” says Thunderlane slowly, like he is gently easing information back into her.

Rainbow Dash frowns. “I know who Cloudchaser is. But you? What are you doing here at the Academy?”

“...Training to be a Wonderbolt...”

“Dude, you aren't the soldier type, though! You had a hard enough time waking up on time for work!” says Rainbow Dash, practically yelling at the surprise she is having a hard time swallowing.

Thunderlane chuckles awkwardly and rubs the back of his neck. That chuckle fades to a painful cringe and his golden eyes find a great spot on the floor. “Yeah, that got beat out of me pretty quick.” His eyes suddenly snap to Rainbow Dash's and he points at the rig. “Do you need to use this?”

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash cringes and steps back. “I mean, yes! I mean, I can wait, even though its very important that I use it so, yeah, can I borrow it?”

Thunderlane nods and is about to get up, but stops when Rainbow Dash holds out her hoof.

“Wait, are you sure you won't mind me using this?” asks Rainbow Dash. “I mean, I can wait-”

Thunderlane forces a chuckle. “Oh, no, I don't mind. Nope, not at all. Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll just use it tomorrow. I actually have to-”

“Yo! Lame Lane!” blurts a stallion suddenly. He has an olive drab coat and dark mane, also wearing a Wonderbolts Trainee uniform, and he pulls Thunderlane away from the rig with a vicious, one hoof buddy hug around the neck. “I just talked to my girl, and it turns out she isn't cheating on me! She said so herself!”

“Glad to hear,” says Thunderlane, his voice straining with a wheeze as he tries to pull away from the stallion. “Can you please let go, Bolt?”

Bolt snickers and starts walking without releasing Thunderlane. He does not even pass Rainbow Dash when he says: “Dude, a little advice from a fellow stallion. Don't flirt with lesbos. They're hot only in fiction.”

Rainbow Dash's face scrunches and her teeth grind as her face turns blood red with steam wanting oh so much to pour out of her ears. She really wants to tear into Bolt to give him a vagina of his own, but the only reason she does not try is because another mare tries to take the seat Thunderlane gave her. She is quick to zip in front of the would-be thief and jabs her hoof at her chest.

“Hey, back off! This one's mine!” snarls Rainbow Dash.

The mare holds up her hoof and backs away, and Rainbow Dash sits down and dials the appropriate numbers as fast as her hooves will allow. Once it starts ringing, she anxiously taps her hoof on the counter, muttering for someone to pick up.

“Sugar Cube Corner. How can we help you, today?” says Cup Cake.

“Hey, Missus Cake, its Dash, can you put Pinkie on please?” says Rainbow Dash worryingly.

“...One moment, please.”

There is a little commotion on the other end, followed by a moment of silence. The seconds drag on by, and as the time crawls by, her chest feels heavier with dread and her throat feels tighter. However, when a familiar voice sounds off on the other, end she exhales with relief.

“Hey, Dashie,” says Pinkie Pie, her voice tired and congested.

“Hey, Pinkie, how are you doing?” asks Rainbow Dash, feeling her eyes water with tears and a smile creeping across her muzzle.

“...Fine...”

There is a moment of silence between them, and Rainbow Dash's smile fades as she looks down and licks her lips, struggling to formulate the proper words. When the silence becomes nigh unbearable, she takes a deep breath and just goes with what she has right now.

“Look, Pinkie, I heard what happened,” begins Rainbow Dash. “I know what's been going on, and I just want you to know that what happened with Spike was not your fault, no matter what Twilight or Rarity or anypony else says.”

The other end goes silent, and the silence carries on for many seconds, taking with it an ever growing burden of concern.

“Pinkie? You there?”

Pinkie Pie sniffles on the other end. “Have you made any new friends at the Academy?”

Rainbow Dash scrunches her brow, very concerned about the distant voice her normally energetic friend has. “Uh... Well, I got my wingmates, but you are my best friend, Pinkie, that'll never change no matter what, alright?”

“...I think you should make some new friends.”

“What? Pinkie-!”

The phone clicks off on the other end and a dial tone rings in Rainbow Dash's ears, with that final sentence being the last she hears of Pinkie's voice.

Rainbow Dash glares at the coffin as it is gently lowered into its hole, silently cursing the ones who did this. Wanting nothing more than to see the ones who killed Pinkie Pie shot on the spot or strangled. That goes for the ones who brought her friend, her best friend to the point of willingly letting those monsters kill her. And for what? An event beyond her control?

Some friends they turned out to be.

Applejack cannot look away from the coffin as it descends into its pit, taking Pinkie Pie to her final resting place. The poison of regret is flowing through her veins in an uncontrollable surge, making her sick down to her soul. Out of all the things she has done, of all the things she has regretted, nothing tops this.

She knows she brought this day to them. She convinced Pinkie Pie to charge head on into Charon's grasp, and for that, there can be no solitude for her. It is a guilt she will always carry, and no amount of grace will save her from it.

Applejack sits next to Big Mac in the dim hospital room hours after the sun set with her stetson in her hooves. Fluttershy is curled up on the floor next to her with a bandage over her head and using a large cushion as a blanket. However, Big Mac is lying on a cot, covered in a paper thin, bright blue cloth sheet and bandages all over his limbs and face with sensors strapped to him. The sensors show everything to be steady, which Applejack is grateful for, but her teary eyes are focused on the scars that poke out from the bandages from around his eyes, ears and mouth. They are like burns that seared his red fur completely off and left jagged scabs of burnt skin.

Just thinking about the injuries and how Fluttershy described Big Mac getting them from a pegasus that used his hoof to generate dark magic sends a shiver up her spine. That thought leads to her looking down at her hooves and shaking from more than just the sadness inside her. She feels panic swelling up, too, and it is choking her. It is squeezing her heart and clogging her throat, and tears pour down her face as she hunches over and coughs into her hoof. It is a scratchy cough that leaves the taste of copper in mouth and tiny red droplets on her orange coat, serving her a reminded of her own problem.

Applejack's blood drains from her face and her hoof shakes as she quickly goes inside her saddle to grab a small container with a cork sealing it shut that is resting next to a fully loaded six shooter. After removing the container, she bites off the cork, spits it into a nearby trash bin and chugs its contents all in one sitting. Her trembling hooves barely keep it steady, but once the lukewarm, apple flavored elixir goes down her throat, the dozens of scratches inside fade and the copper taste is replaced with apples.

She gasps for air and her hoof still shakes as she wipes her mouth, but the shakes are quickly fading, and within seconds, she is back to her moping self.

“Jackie...” says a familiar voice.

Applejack looks over her shoulder and frowns when she sees Pinkie Pie standing in the doorway. She has a thin bandage around her chest, for she apparently suffered the same thing that Big Mac did, but how she is able to walk with just a flimsy bandage is beyond Applejack’s comprehension. It actually makes the farmer furious that a little mare like Pinkie Pie can withstand something her house moving, titan of a brother could not.

“Shouldn't ya be in bed?” asks Applejack crossly as she puts the empty container back in her saddle.

Pinkie Pie lowers her eyes, nodding. “Yeah, but I wanted to check on Big Mac and Flutters since this whole thing was my fault.”

“I know its your fault, and if ya keep bugging us, Big Mac and Fluttershy ain't gonna get any better.”

Pinkie Pie looks at Fluttershy. The pegasus still has not made so much as a twitch in her sleeping, and she looks surprisingly peaceful for someone who recently suffered a traumatic event, and Applejack does not want that ruined by anyone for any reason. She also does not want Pinkie Pie near her or her brother or Fluttershy in case those nuts that hurt them with their black magic come after her again.

“Applejack, I just-”

Pinkie Pie stops when Applejack gets up from her seat, and backs up with her ears drooping and her eyes widening in fear when the farmer marches towards her, glaring the fire of pure hatred into her skull.

“Apologies ain't gonna work, this time, Pinkie,” sneers Applejack. She jabs the pink pony in the chest with her hoof hard enough to make the earth pony wince and step back. “What ever ya did, what ever mess ya got yerself into, it got Spike killed and now ya dragged my family into it! Now, I swear on mah parents' graves that if those lunatics come back and hurt Apple Bloom or Big Mac or Fluttershy more than they already have, then I'll personally escort you and the lot of them to straight to Hell, ya got it? Now, get on outta here before ya bring more trouble.”

Pinkie Pie opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, trying so hard to speak, but all she can do is stare at the emerald orbs, lit with the flames of rage burning through the farmer's being. Applejack sees the pain in her ex-friend's eyes as well as the growing tears and terror. What ever happened, whoever hurt Big Mac Fluttershy, it all revolves around Pinkie Pie, and they both know this.

They both know that she is to blame for Big Mac and Fluttershy's condition, and if Apple Bloom had been around, she would have probably wound up horribly injured, too, or worse. Applejack can't have Pinkie Pie around her, her friends or her family so long as she is still in whatever mess she got herself into. That means that she cannot even check up on them or else her brother and friend will be put in the crossfire again. However, despite this knowledge, and the strong hint that Pinkie Pie should not be near anyone she cares, she still stares at Applejack, frozen and shaking and her cheeks drenched in tears as her lips quiver.

“But, Jackie, I-”

“Go!” interrupts Applejack, her hoof pointing straight at the door that her former friend entered in.

Pinkie Pie remains still, but silent, and only when Applejack takes a threatening step forward, snorting and narrowing her eyes, does she turn tail and leave in a hurry. Applejack stares at the doorway, listening to the panicked scampering of hooves on tile in the dead tile. She hears Pinkie Pie sobbing, and only when the metallic thuds of a door opening and shutting reverberate from down the hall does Applejack relax enough to realize that she is shaking as well, and that tears have trailed down her freckled cheeks.

Applejack sniffles and slumps to the floor, and swallows a lump of air that forces more tears out of her eyes. She tries to get rid of them by blinking and wiping her eyes, but they keep coming and before Applejack can think about what has just happened, her vision is clouded with tears and her lungs start burning from lack of air.

Applejack takes another breath and rubs her chest as she slumps against the wall, choking on her tears and biting her hoof to keep her cries quiet so not to wake Fluttershy or Big Mac. They need their rest. They need to regain their strength. They can't afford to see her cry.

“The unforgivable sin,” mutters Applejack.

She adjusts her stetson and sulks away from the coffin, stopping by Big Mac's side and keeping her eyes on the drenched grass that continues to be beaten down by the rain. She sees Fluttershy carefully approach her, and once the pegasus is close enough, she pats her shoulder, then pulls her in for a hug.

Applejack closes her eyes and rests her head against Fluttershy's shoulder, returning the hug by lightly draping her hoof around her friend's neck. Seconds barely pass before her whole body trembles and tears flow past her shut eyes, her hooves gripping at Fluttershy harder as more tears rush out and rob her of her breath. Not even with help from the pegasus can Applejack's legs keep her up, and she collapses in the ground, taking Fluttershy with her and weeping uncontrollably into her shoulder.

“I'm sorry,” whimpers Applejack. “I'm sorry!”

“I know,” whispers Fluttershy, her hoof running up and down Applejack's back. “It's going to be okay, you'll see.”

Applejack wants to believe her, but she has a hard time believing it. The stone of guilt shoved down her throat is choking the life from her, and her lugs and gut feel like they are being ripped apart by little monsters, taking joy in the pain of her sins, turning her crying into raspy coughs.

She hears Big Mac gently order Fluttershy out of the way, and her big brother lays in front of her, cupping her face with his hooves. She opens her red eyes, having trouble focusing on him through the watery blur of her tears, and keeps her mouth shut to hide the hot, crimson liquid that wants to come out.

Fluttershy watches Big Mac brush Applejack's mane, and he winces slightly as he reaches in his saddle and pulls out a small container with a cork top. He bites the top off and hands it to Applejack, which she takes with shaking hooves and chugs it all in one gulp. The farmer hunches forward, gasping and shaking as her hooves dig into the wet grass.

“I hurt her,” whimpers Applejack, her cheeks soaked in tears, with more splattering on the grass. “I... I did this. I did this and I can't fix it.”

Fluttershy swallows and looks at the sinking coffin, her heart dropping lower into an abyss of misery with each crank, wishing her final moment with Pinkie Pie had been one of great joy instead of misery.

Fluttershy creeps down the hallway of the upstairs of the Sugar Cube Corner, wearing a bandage around her head. When she entered, she had asked Carrot Cake if she can see Pinkie Pie, just to talk. However, Carrot tried to dissuade her, saying that Pinkie Pie has not been herself lately, choosing to be a recluse and warning others to stay away from her. Even the twins told her that Aunt Pinkie has been acting strange and took a sudden liking to knives.

Fluttershy, despite the advice and her survival instincts telling her to flee, continues to walk slowly down the hallway. It feels longer and darker than it should, and she feels lightheaded as the walls give off an eerie vibe, like it wants to grab her and rip her limb from limb. She presses on, though. Her steps slow, her heart heavy with a mix of fear and determination, and her throat clogging as she gulps from the odd presence.

Once she is by Pinkie Pie's room, as marked by the balloon painted on the door, she raises her hoof to knock, but stops when she hears a conversation on the other side.

“I told you they were fakes,” says Pinkie Pie eerily.

“I know, but I was really hoping they were real friends, this time,” says Pinkie Pie again, though, in a tone that is burdened with pain and no trace of malice heard.

“But, but, but. Always a but. C'mon, Pinkie, you know out of aaaaaaaall your so-called friends, I was always there for you. I was aaaaaaaaaalways there to keep you safe from all those meanies and fakes, and because you ignored me THEY HURT YOU!”

There is a loud thump that makes Fluttershy gasp and recoil with her wings expanded and a sharp blade of fear piercing her heart. The screaming voice that comes from the room is made of pure malice, like an angry demon stuck inside the body of a child. She wants to run, now. She wants to fly down the stairs, get Twilight and tell her that Pinkie Pie is sick, but before her legs can move, the door creaks open, and Fluttershy is covered in the bright light of the room and the shadow of Pinkie Pie.

The yellow pegasus gulps and shrinks down, staring at the sick eyes of Pinkie Pie. Her mane is flat, and the fur around her eyes seem darker as she frowns tiredly at Fluttershy.

“Hi, Flutters,” says Pinkie Pie in the burdened, saddened voice she heard before.

“Pinkie? A-are you okay?” stammers Fluttershy,making the mistake of looking past Pinkie Pie to see a knife stuck in the floor, right next to a chessboard with all its pieces in the wrong spot.

Pinkie Pie shakes her head and lowers her eyes. “No...”

Fluttershy swallows nervously and looks for any signs of anyone else in the room, but she sees no one. “Who were you talking to?”

Pinkie Pie look up at Fluttershy again, frowning and her hoof grabbing her door. “Another fake friend.”

“Another...?” Fluttershy's eyes grow wide and she cautiously gets up and walks towards Pinkie Pie, hooves shaking to near collapse and her stomach churning to where she feels like she is going to vomit. But her friend needs her more than her comfort right now, and she tries to ease closer to Pinkie Pie by offering a weak, but genuine smile. “Pinkie, I-I am not a fake friend. I'm real. We can talk, if you want... I-I mean, I want to talk, but only if you want to talk to me about how you feel.”

Pinkie Pie steps back and grips her door tighter, her whole expression darkening with a defensive snarl. “Like I'm going to fall for that joke again.”

Then she slams the door shut in front of Fluttershy's face, trapping herself in the room with whatever is lurking inside.

Fluttershy looks away from the coffin, choosing to look at the grass instead, torn from the guilt of not trying hard enough to stop her friend's madness, and she barely lifts her eyes look at Applejack. She is still sitting, but is now rubbing her chest and has her head bowed with Apple Bloom and Big Mac rubbing her shoulder.

She looks at Rainbow Dash and sees her head following the coffin down, refusing to let Pinkie Pie out of her sight. The yellow pegasus brings her attention to Rarity and sees she is also looking at Applejack with great concern, but is not moving. She wants to move, Fluttershy can tell, but her legs will not work for her. That being said, Fluttershy sighs and looks down at the ground, feeling helplessness looming over her and wishing she could do something to bring everyone together for this tragedy.

Rarity glances at the Applejack's group, wanting to say something to them, but her eyes drift to Rainbow Dash. She really wants to apologize to her, for she had been closest to Pinkie Pie out of everyone. Their bond had been something that would appear to be unbreakable, but with the coffin lowered, she sees a look in her friend that she thought she would never see.

Loyalty's narrowed eyes are watching the coffin with unbreakable focus, her nostrils are flaring and her cheeks pulsate as her legs and wings tremble. It is a rage that she has never seen before in her friend. A rage that demands blood.

Rarity gulps and turns her focus to the cranking and squeaking system of simple machines lowering Pinkie Pie's casket down. She can't even bare to look at her dead friend, much less remember her last act towards her.

“You got spike killed!” screams Rarity while throwing one of her sewing machines at Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie barely dodges the large device in time, and it crashes into the wall, leaving a massive dent in it that exposes the guts of the wall. Sweetie Belle screams at Rarity and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo also shout at her to calm down as they physically block her from approaching Pinkie Pie. She is now huddled on the floor in her bandages, staring at her former friend with wide, bloodshot eyes and a face soaked tears.

“Rarity, I'm sorry!” sobs Pinkie Pie.

“You think sorry will make things better!” screeches Rarity, trying to bully her way past Apple Bloom and Scootaloo while levitating a wine bottle. However, with Apple Bloom on the scene, she can barely move against the young earth pony while Scootaloo is there for support, her wings batting uselessly for some addition strength, and Sweetie Belle is tugging at the bottle with her own magic.

“Hey, cool it!” barks Scootaloo.

“None of this is her fault, can't you see that?” yells Apple Bloom.

“No, this is all her fault! Spike is dead because of her! Fluttershy got hurt because of her! And those psychos will come back and finish what they started and they will kill more ponies because of her!” rants Rarity.

It is then that her world is knocked into a blur of colors as a flash of pain erupts across her cheek like heated ball of metal. She collapses on the ground, too shocked to scream in pain. All she can do is press her hoof against her cheek and watch in morbid fascination as blood dribbles past her lips to stain her floor.

She lifts her eyes to Scootaloo and sees the teenage pegasus staring down at her, her eyes cold and unforgiving and the feathers of her underdeveloped wings ruffling in challenge. Her two friends also stare at her, surprised beyond words about what happened, and Scootaloo looks at them, also surprised, but for her own reason.

“What? She deserved it,” says Scootaloo.

Rarity looks to where Pinkie Pie had been laying, panting and blinking tears of pain and anguish out of her eyes, but sees only an open door. Her friend is no more.

Rarity rubs the spot where Scootaloo struck her as she watches from her peripheral vision the rest of the coffin disappear from view. She knows she deserves more than just a punch from a teenager, and now she's thinking she should just walk up to Rainbow Dash and let her beat her to death for what she did to her closest friend.

By this point, the rain has eased to a miserable patter. It is not enough to soak ponies down to their bones like before, but it is just enough to annoy those caught in it without an umbrella with its random pokes against the body. The rain, being as irritating as it is, does a fabulous job in souring Rainbow Dash's mood. She still does not know why the Pies allowed Twilight and the others in, or these other ponies, for that matter.

Rainbow Dash leans over the hole of the coffin, watching a picture of Pinkie Pie and her family flutter down to land on the sun and balloons decorating it, only for a clump of mud to splatter over it. She looks up, scowling at the pony who did that, but they do not care. The stallion looks bored shoveling the dirt in the grave, as do his companions.

A quiet sniffle reaches her ears, and she looks to the source and sees Octavia laying in front of the hole with Igneous next to her, his hoof draped over her and his body pressed against hers. He is resting his head on top of hers, and while he is crying, too, is gently shushing her and telling her that everything will be alright.

Rainbow Dash shakes her head and glances at the other mourners, noting how they have spread out to mingle about the good times they had with Pinkie. She briefly wonders how many actually knew her, or how many were only there because she gave them food and parties. It is through her scanning that she notices a mini-train painted in all black with tinted windows pull up.

She watches curiously as a pegasus in her fifties with an ice blue coat and a fading blue mane and tail bearing a slight curve crawl out from the vehicle. She is wearing a black suit with a white blouse underneath and frowns with distaste at the light rain. Why she chose to take a vehicle and fly is beyond Rainbow Dash for the most part. In fact, the only reason she can think of for the taboo entrance of the winged pony is that her wings are frail, which will be tragic. A pegasus who can't use their wings is hardly a pegasus, after all. However, the closer the newcomer gets, the more Loyalties eyes narrow, for her whole appearance just boasts a haughty attitude with a disgusting amount of pride. The fact that she showed up at the funeral does not give her any brownie points, either. If she is even supposed to be here, in the first place.

So transfixed is her gaze on the ice blue mare that she does not notice the surviving Element Bearers stepping next to her, also staring at the newcomer. When she is in front of them, she takes a breath like those of a hike would once they find a resting spot ad flashes a quick, relieved smile at the group. That one second of a smile really pisses off Rainbow Dash to the point of an eye twitch.

“Ladies, you have my condolences for your loss,” says the aged mare.

It is then that Rainbow Dash notices the other Elements besides her, and she gives each of them a dose of heated looks before giving her wings a quick flap and frowns at the elderly pegasus.

“I apologize for arriving late, but I have a hectic schedule and must return to work as soon as possible,” continues the mare. “My name is Brisk Wind, Director of the Equestrian Investigation Bureau, by the way.”

She sticks out her hoof, and each of the Element Bearers take turns shaking it, some more enthusiastic than others, each offering their own greetings in their own style. Once the formalities are out of the way, Brisk Wind sighs and lowers her hoof.

“So, you're the head of the new spy agency?” asks Applejack, her tone darkening to scrutiny.

Brisk Wind smirks. “If you are referring to our undercover operations in our Civilian Defense Agency branch, then no, we are not spies. The EIB and her branches serve as the protectors of Harmony, seeking only nothing but safety for the public and the efficiency of the royal government and its role in the lives of its citizens.”

Applejack raises an eyebrow, appearing more hostile towards the Director while the others seem complacent. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, ruffles her feathers and moves forward with heavy steps.

“Okay, you're a hotshot of some government agency, who cares. What do you want? It can't be for the funeral because its over,” says the vibrant pegasus, her energy fueled by growing annoyance and a desire to punch that smug look right off Brisk Wind's face.

Said pegasus offers an apologetic sigh. “I actually intended to attend the funeral, but work has kept me busy.”

The mares exchange looks, with Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity seemingly able to understand the Director's plight, Applejack not impressed and Rainbow Dash completely unforgiving.

“But, I do have good news,” says Brisk Wind. “I came to tell you that you do not have to wait long for justice for I have in custody the one who murdered Pinkie Pie. She's been hospitalized, but has recovered enough for a transfer to a proper prison instead of a comfy hospital bed.”

Twilight's eyes practically explode from her eyes from the sheer shock of the news, and for once, Rainbow Dash smiled. It is an evil, revenge mostly satisfied kind of smile, but a smile nonetheless. That smile is quick to go, though, as she is sure Pinkie Pie would not like her smiling about a hospitalized pony going off to prison. She knows Fluttershy is mortified by that news just by looking at her. But feelings for others or not, she is still wanting the one who took her friend from her to suffer, and the ones who put Pinkie Pie down the path to suffer just the same.

“So, you got them, huh?” says Rainbow Dash, her feathers ruffled and jaw set tight as vengeance swirls like a fiery cyclone in her eyes. “Why are you keeping them in prison when you could just have Celestia turn them into stone?”

“Rainbow!” gasps Fluttershy, horrified by her friend's words.

Rainbow Dash glares at Fluttershy, making her squeak and shrink into Rarity's protective hug, and the Element gazes at all of her fake friends, thinking about how all of them need to be bludgeoned and tossed out of a building.

“For a crime as serious as this? It would shock me if petrification is denied,” replies Brisk Wind, her tone as grim as Loyalty's expression. Seconds later, Lock and Fuller walk up to the group, and she looks at both stallions for only a moment before returning her attention to the remaining Bearers. “I best be going. I have much work to do. Lock, you ready?”

“I waited a whole funeral for you to arrive,” replies Lock dryly, using his magic to adjust his suit for no apparent reason.

Now Rainbow Dash wants to punch two ponies, but through the almighty grace of Celestia, her hoof does not become acquainted with a pair of jaws. Meanwhile, Brisk Wind rolls her eyes and walks away with Lock in tow, leaving Fuller behind.

With Fuller next to Twilight, she looks up and down Fuller's body, more than likely searching for signs of injury since Rainbow Dash heard he had been shot the night Pinkie Pie died. However, if the Major has any injuries, his medal studded uniform is hiding it very well.

“You... recovered well. I think,” says Twilight, looking up and down Fuller's body for signs of injury, which none are present.

The older unicorn smiles thinly. “I have had worse injuries.” His expression shifts to remorse and he looks at all of the mares. “But I am not here to discuss my injuries. I am here to offer my thoughts to you, as all of you are suffering through a difficult time. I know what it is like to lose friends in such terrible ways. It never is easy.”

For some reason, that statement makes Rainbow Dash's blood boil. Maybe it is because of his voice sounding devoid of emotion, maybe it is because he is trying to flimsily connect with a bunch of ponies he barely knows. Maybe it is something else, entirely.

“Yeah, did you have asshole friends that made your best friend kill themself by going to a bunch of terrorists to get beaten to death?” says Rainbow Dash, earning shocked expressions from everyone except Fuller.

“Not quite,” replies the Major deadpanned.

“Then you don't know what it's like, so zip it!”

“Rainbow!” gasps Twilight. “He's trying to be polite!”

“Oh, fuck you, Twilight!”

“Rainbow Dash, really?” scolds Rarity.

“Yeah, really, Rarity!” snaps Rainbow Dash. “Egghead over there is talking about being polite, when you guys are the reason Pinkie killed herself, which is pretty fucking rude!”

“Rainbow, I'm sorry,” says Twilight, her hoof going on the blue pony's shoulder.

With a vicious snarl, Rainbow Dash bats Twilight's hoof away and steps back, teeth exposed from her growl and her wings expanded threateningly as trickles of tears slide down her cheeks with the rain.

“Don't touch me!” yells Rainbow Dash furiously. She points at Twilight and moves her hoof between Applejack and Rarity when they step forward. Fuller remains standing where he is, though, and the original Cutie Mark Crusaders arrive with Big Mac a moment later, curious about the scene. “You three stay the hell away from me!”

Twilight extends her hoof pleadingly. “Rainbow, I-”

“No! Just shut up! This is all your fault! This all your guys' fault!”

“Rainbow, I tried to make amends! I tried to help her!” cries Twilight as she points at herself. “I tried to get her to come back to talk with us, but-”

Rainbow Dash stomps her hoof on the wet grass. “She tried talking to you guys before she got herself killed! But I guess I was the only one with fucking ears!”

“Rainbow Dash, please don't yell,” begs Fluttershy as she walks up with Big Mac, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo following close behind, all carrying looks of concern.

“I agree with your friend. Your outburst is a very unnecessary escalation,” says Fuller calmly.

“I have every right to yell!” screams Rainbow Dash, her face red and eyes watering with tears. “Just like I have every right break in every one of your fucking skulls in!”

Fuller cocks a brow, and all but Applejack take a step back, gasping in shock. Applejack remains steadfast, but she has removed her hat and pressed it against her barrel, meeting Rainbow Dash's eyes with her emerald eyes shimmering in the light rain. The falling water has beaten her mane down to partially cover her eyes, but the earth pony does not make any motions to free her vision of them.

“Rainbow Dash, I admit I was hasty in my condemnation, and I wish I could change it all, honest,” says Applejack, her hoof now shaking and getting attention from everyone. “But, if ya wanna go and run off and never see us again for what we did, I'd fully understand.”

Twilight and Rarity balk at Applejack, and Big Mac and the original Cutie Mark Crusaders exchange worried glances at each other.

“What! But, Applejack-” starts Twilight.

“Say whatcha want, but she's right. We're all guilty of Pinkie's death and that ain't ever gonna change,” says Applejack glumly, her eyes now having trouble looking at anyone or anything. “The Elements broke as soon as we turned against her like we did. None of us are worthy of being the Bearers. I refused to listen to the truth and I turned my back on a friend, and nothin's ever gonna make that right.” Applejack removes from underneath her attire her Element of Honesty necklace and gives it to Twilight, which she reluctantly accepts. “Give this back to Celestia for me, will ya. There ain't no way I can look her in the eyes, now.”

Applejack looks at each of her friends, then looks at at Fuller, who is staring at her intently, unblinking with a neutral expression. The farmer swallows nervously and places her hat back on her head, tilting it with a shaking hoof and quietly uttering a farewell. She then sulks away with Fluttershy, Big Mac and Apple Bloom, leaving just the unicorns and pegasi.

Rainbow Dash watches the farmer leave, scowling and flapping her wings to get some of the accumulated water off.

There is a moment of heavy silence that comes between the group. No one says anything, and the light rain pattering against the stone and grass amplifies the misery in the air. The Element of Loyalty knows that these so-called friends still want to talk to her, to try to play the pity card, but it will not work on her. They betrayed Pinkie Pie, they betrayed one of their own. That act in itself is unforgivable. It is the unforgivable sin.

“Rainbow Dash?” asks Scootaloo suddenly, her voice meek like her demeanor.

Rainbow Dash looks at Scootaloo, frowning impatiently. “Yeah?”

The teenage pegasus swallows and runs her hoof on the grass. “Um... I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere else? You know? Take your mind off of this and make you feel better?”

A very dangerous growl rumbles in Rainbow Dash's throat and she turns her glare on the stallions shoving dirt on top of Pinkie Pie's coffin while ruffling her feathers. “My best friend is dead, Scoots. Why would I want to take my mind off of that?”

Scootaloo opens her mouth, but no words come out, and she lowers her eyes and scraps her hoof against the grass, ears and wings drooped. Sweetie Belle swallows a lump in her throat, approaches her friend and gently pats her on the shoulder before escorting her away from the others. The two unicorns watch the teenage ponies leave, and when they are a good distance away, Rarity takes a deep shaky breath and steps forward.

“Rainbow Dash,” she starts, her voice quivering.

Rainbow Dash snaps her glare to Rarity and expands her wings explosively, visually threatening her with lots of pain shoulder she move one step closer. Rarity stops and quickly backs up into Twilight, who hugs her fellow Element tight while scowling at Rainbow Dash. Fuller steps forward, too, and stands in front of Twilight, his eyes locking on Loyalty, but his expression remaining the same.

Not saying anything, the Element of Loyalty bats her wings and rockets into the sky, soon to disappear in the gray canvas blocking the warmth of the sun.

Not too far away, near a mini-train that is being guarded by an earth pony mare with a yellow coat and brown mane wearing a black chauffeur outfit, is Brisk Wind and Lock. The three watch Rainbow Dash disappear into the sky, and the Director snorts and turns to the vehicle, which Lock opens with his magic.

“Always a showoff,” mutters Brisk Wind.

She crawls inside, followed closely by Lock, then the earth pony mare. Brisk Wind shifts in her seat, grunting in annoyance from the flat seat's lack of comfort, and makes a mental note to have her vehicle worked on. Which, now that she thinks about it, all of the EIB vehicles can use an overhaul. And some typewriters. Especially typewriters. It'll make the paperwork less of a bitch and more of an annoying skank.

“Gear Wheel,” calls Brisk Wind, her hoof dragging out a rag from a bucket she has bolted on the wall near her.

“Yes, ma'am?” replies the earth pony, her blue eyes looking at the Director through the rear view mirror.

Brisk Wind starts cleansing her hooves of the wet grass that clings to her hooves with hard strokes. “Take me and Lock home.”

Gear Wheel nods. “Yes ma'am.”

The mini-train sputters and hums as a combination of heated water, steam and magical energy flows through the pipes circling the vehicle. There is an explosive pop that makes Brisk Wind's heart miss a beat, and a puff of black exhaust flies from the back pipes. The vehicle trudges forward, following the caravan of other vehicles down the winding road leading out of the cemetery.

Brisk Wind sighs loudly and wishes her bones will disappear so she can just melt on the seat. It may be uncomfortable, but that pop before the go always makes her think someone is taking a shot at her. Which, given recent events, she knows it will happen soon. She is actually partially insulted that no one has tried to shoot her yet, but, either way, it is a relief that she has not been shot by a crazy person.

Brisk Wind moans and slams her head against the seat, ignoring the flash of discomfort and the odd look her unicorn passenger is giving her. “Oh, what a day, Lock, what a day.”

“It has been, but there is something you should know,” says Lock.

Brisk Wind groans in annoyance and resumes cleaning her hooves. “Is this about why you called me to Ponyville instead of going to Canterlot?”

“To be fair. You were in the next town over.”

“So? We have a headquarters for a reason. We could have waited.”

“Actually, it could not wait, for we got a tip from a named source who claims to be with the League of Justice.”

“Oh? And what is this tip?” says Brisk Wind disinterestedly, putting more focus on her cleaning.

Lock removes from his inner pocket of his blazer, an envelop, which he then pulls out a folder with the EIB seal on it. “The location of the League of Justice's headquarters, including the names and addresses of their associates and lieutenants in Miner's Country.”

Brisk Wind freezes, tosses the used rag in a trash bin hanging next to the bucket of rags and grins excitedly at Lock, hooves pressed together and a loud squee coming from her.

“Is the information reliable?” asks Brisk Wind, her voice raising and her eyes glowing with addictive anticipation.

Lock smiles thinly and looks down at the folder of information. “I believe so, considering she marked herself as the head of operations in Miner's Country.” He closes the folder and looks at Brisk Wind. “Should we inform Captain Sparkle and Princess Celestia about the information?”

Brisk Wind immediately shakes her head. “No, Lulamoon might know something this informant does not, and I'd rather give them the full picture instead of scraps.”

Lock raises a brow critically. “You do realize that Lulamoon is a rookie and the one we spoke to claimed to be the leader of the Miner's Country branch of the LoJ, right?”

Brisk Wind snorts. “Everypony knows something, and if the information for Miner's Country proves reliable, then we'll have more evidence against the League's headquarters for Sparkle to mount his assault.” The pegasus grins and rubs her hooves connivingly. “Besides, the more rats we catch, the more we'll find through them, proving the EIB's worth. Who is the informant, anyway?”

Lock opens up the folder again and scrunches his brow as he scans the file. “According to this audio transcript, she said her name was Maud Pie.”

“Pie?” Brisk Wind cranes her neck to look past Lock and sees Octavia and Igneous conversing with Celestia. A thin smile spreads as a giddy feeling runs through the Director's body that makes her want to shout joyously and prance around, probably give Lock a big, wet kiss for this news. She restrains herself, though, if only because she respects Lock just enough to not intrude on his preferences. Besides, she really cannot prance around in public. She has an appearance to keep, after all. “Oh, I do love it when there is a blood feud. It makes things all the more exciting! By the way, was she warned about the dangers of making her tip not-so anonymous?”

“We did.”

“And?”

Lock smirks and shows the transcript to Brisk Wind, and she can't help but giggle at that, too.

“That response is almost unreal,” she says.

“I doubt she will last long if they figure out what she did, though. The League of Justice has already proven to be populated by psychopaths,” says Lock as he puts the file away again.

“Well, with a response like that and her rank, I have every reason to believe she can take care of herself.”

12 FEB 12 LR

MCGEE: Ma'am, if I understood you correctly, you said your name was 'Maud Pie'?

MAUD PIE: Yes.

MCGEE: Ma'am, I am obligated to inform you that giving out your name for such an... immense amount of information without anonymity can be very dangerous.

MAUD PIE: I know.

MCGEE: Would you like to come in and talk in person? Perhaps we can discuss options regarding your safety. Does that sound good?

MAUD PIE: No.

MCGEE: But, ma'am, Miss Pie, without any form of Witness Protection, the League of Justice might find out about the information you gave us, and what will you do when they come for you without us to protect you?

MAUD PIE: Let them come.

Author's Notes:

Added 15 Feb 2015

Arc 2- MARE-DO-WELL RETURNS -Cover-

Arc 2- 01- Maud -ADDITION-

In a dark room with a single light shining above a table sized map of Equestria, Roar Shock stares at the Miner's Country bloc, which is colored gray with a red outline. All of their safe houses and the homes of their operatives have been marked with x's, and circles have been drawn around the locations of guard and Equestrian Investigation Bureau hubs.

With Roar Shock is Adanz and Wazza, and both are uncharacteristically quiet as they watch their superior study the map, the tension clear in his wrinkled face and the fire burning brightly in his eyes. They have already been with him for a little while, and he knows they want to tell him something, but they have yet to say what is on their minds. Not that he can blame them since they will probably bring up something stupid and the last thing he needs in light of Ponyville's fiasco and the Miner's Country raid is something of low intellect. However, there comes a point in time when staring gets more aggravating than idiotic phrases.

“Are you going to speak or get out?” asks Roar Shock without looking up.

The zebra twins exchange looks, and one nudges the other to speak seconds later.

“There have been talks, Master Shock,” says Adanz or Wazza hesitantly.

Roar Shock looks up from his table map of Equestria, having to do a double take to figure out which of the zebra twins spoke to him. Only when Wazza points at Adanz and say his name does the beige pegasus give him his attention. It is cross, but mostly because he got left with half a sentence instead of an explanation of these so called talks.

“Everypony talks,” says Roar Shock impatiently.

“This is the bad kind of talk. We got a crisis on our hooves,” says Adanz.

“Will you spill it out, already!”

“We might be facing a schism because of what happened in Ponyville,” says Adanz carefully. “There is a rumor talking of removing you from your seat for abusing your power, corrupting the League with your -by their words- barbaric warfare and for allowing somepony as unstable as Terra to represent us on the field. Make no mistake, my brother and I support you and you have many supporters who will fight for you, but an equal number want you gone as well, and both sides are... energetic about it.”

Roar Shock snorts. “A schism? We aren't a church. We don't schism.”

“Technically, you don't have to be a church to schism,” points out Wazza.

Roar Shock glares at the zebra, and he immediately looks down, swallowing anxiously. The pegasus sighs and looks at Adanz, keeping his sour expression while the zebra pats his twin on the back.

“Definitions aside, this is the last thing I need. Despite the setbacks, the final war against our nation's corruption will continue, and if those traitors have any common sense they will know that we cannot afford a split,” says Roar Shock. He points his hoof at Miner's Country. “We already faced unacceptable losses with Ponyville and now that massive raid in Miner's Country has crippled our hold on that region. It was very sudden and too coordinated to be based off of simple observations. They hit us everywhere. Every safe house, every meeting location, every operative we had is gone.”

“Save for a few,” says Adanz. “I know Cheddar and Mullet escaped, and so did Maud, as well as half a dozen others.”

“Did they report to any of our outposts?”

Adanz points at a highway marked on the map. “All of them, save for Maud, arrived at Soda Pop's safe house between Appleloosa and Ponyville and are awaiting your orders.”

Roar Shock hums and reclines in his seat, eyes flicking between Miner's Country and the Great Prairie where Appleloosa lies. “What of Maud? Where did she report to?”

“She reported to our hub in Hollow Shades, but we have reason to believe that her intentions are not to regroup.”

Roar Shock raises a brow. “What do you mean?”

Adanz sighs shakily. “Our technicians are saying that her phone at the Miner's Country hub was used to contact the EIB. And numerous safe houses and stashes bordering Miner's Country have been, well, destroyed. Bits, weapons, structures, all gone, and we have many fighters that are now in custody of the government. Maple Leaf is trying to repair the damage, but she's losing ground quickly.”

Roar Shock stares at Adanz, searching his eyes for any hints of deception, but when he sees only sincerity, he breathes heavily through his nose and looks at Hollow Shade's place on the map. He stares at the named dot, thinking about why a call to the Equestrian Investigation Bureau would come from Maud's phone. Experience has taught him many things, and right now his experience his telling him a truth he does not want to believe, but knows he can't ignore or deny for even the smallest of moments. Maud had all the knowledge of Miner's Country and with the recent events she has a right to be mad, but no right to turn against him.

“She's taunting us,” says Roar Shock with a rapidly growing frown.

“Sir?” “Master?” says the zebra twins in unison.

Without taking his eyes off the map, Roar Shock continues. “She used her own phone to call the EIB, and now she kicking out pieces of my hold in Logger's Country. She wants me to know that she turned against me for ordering her sister's death, and now she is moving to dismantle our influence like the vengeful wench she is.”

Roar Shock leans forward, tapping the map and staring deeper into Hollow Shades' marking like how a scientist would through their microscope. He really wants to go to Hollow Shades and handle the situation himself, but he is needed here, at the Citadel, more than anything else. His projects, his plans, they require his time and ever since Trixie came along things have gone to the Tartarus in a mouth basket. His agents told him of her arrival in the main hospital in Hollow Shades, and he sincerely hoped she would die in the bed, but, like every bug, they don't die when you want them to. They always find a way to live and make your life miserable.

That goes without saying that she won't last long in prison. She'll be a shower-time favorite before she meets her father in Hell. Then Maud will follow, or maybe she will follow Maud. Roar Shock can't be sure, but he knows both will die, if not by the League's, then by their long list of enemies just because they are guilty by association.

“Sir?” says Wazza.

Roar Shock sighs, his patience tearing like tissue paper. “Tell Maple Leaf to kill Maud and bring her head to me. Once that is done, we will move on to killing the rest of the Pies, then we'll have to restructure the Hollow Shades segment.”

Wazza's jaw drops. “Kill all the Pies? But, sir, we cannot punish a whole family for the crimes of just two!”

“I can and I will,” snarls Roar Shock.

Wazza's eyes grow wide, begging Roar Shock to reconsider his judgment, but when the pegasus shows no sign of faltering, he averts his eyes to the floor. Adanz pats his twin on the shoulder and looks at Roar Shock with a hateful glare, but the beige pony ignores this and keeps his attention on the map, his countenance rotten with scorn.

“I will not be foolish like Eclipse. I will make sure Maud is dead before I kill her whole family,” says Roar Shock. “Once she is dead then the Pie's will have no way to defend themselves and there won't be anypony around strong enough to go against me. Adanz.”

“Yes, Master?” says the zebra, his expression still hard, but out of reluctant obedience.

“Have Maple Leaf bring Maud's head to me, but before you go, I want you to bring in the ones talking about my removal if they are here. I wish to talk to them about why it is important that I remain in power. I'm hoping we can keep it civilized, but if not, tell the guards to keep their weapons fully loaded.”

Adanz looks at Wazza out of the corner of his eye, seeing the begging look his brother is giving him, but he does not listen to him. He sighs and looks at Roar Shock in the eyes, swallowing fearfully. “It will be done.”

Roar Shock narrows his eyes and places his hooves in front of his face like a teepee and glares at the map. “Good. Dismissed.”

Maud Kaminsky Pie walks through the small aisles of a refueling station. Most complain about how dirty and ugly these stations are, but most do not know what it is like to work with rocks, much less coal and gems. When products of the earth are directly involved, there is a very good chance that cleanliness takes a backseat, despite all the best efforts of the workers.

Aside from the coals and gems at the station, there are also large tanks of water to refill the boiler engines that is powered by the heated coal. Said coal is warmed up the charged gems, which is only possible through means that only a mechanic can possibly know.

For Maud, she hates these new vehicles that are sprouting up quicker than weeds all over Equestria and the rest of the world. She does not mind their looks, for they serve their purpose well, but they are noisy, bulky, need a lot of maintenance and are expensive to fuel. Plus the insurance and motor payments are bank breaking. Then there is the biggest reason of them all.

She cannot drive. At all.

No matter how many times she was shown, no matter how many manuals she read, she cannot control the motor wagons. So, why is she in a refilling station?

As much as Maud wants to avoid the refilling station for reasons of having absolutely no vehicle to refill, it is the closest place around that offers food and she's hungry, and her rumbling stomach won't stop reminding her.

So, here she is, going through the aisles, browsing their selection of bagged flowers, hay jerky, and cereal. It does not take her long to snag a small box of Little Fruity Rocks cereal. There is just something about that happy dinosaur eating the bowl of colorful flakes that compels her buy it. Maybe it is due to the copious amount of joy in the little cartoon character, or maybe it has to do with the color. Either or, she's getting Little Fruity Rocks and she's getting it now.

With the box in her mouth, Maud goes to the register to buy her evening meal, but stops and stares at a certain earth mare that limps in through the door. She has seen the same smile on the mint green pony's face before, and the simple, red frock with the black belt looks ridiculously similar to the gray dress Maud has on, now. The wavy pink mane and tail is also familiar, as are the eyes, and the eyes, like the smile, is one she has seen before. It is the same smile that Pinkie Pie used when she did not want anyone to know how miserable she was, and it was a look that she carried with her quite a bit and rarely allowed it to falter.

Maud walks over to the mint green pony, watching her shift uneasily on her injured leg that she is keeping covered with the dress.

“You still sell trolley ticket packets right?” asks the mint colored mare.

Maud quickens her pace.

“Yes, ma'am, we sure do,” says the clerk, who just happens to be a colt barely in his teens.

“Cool, I'll take one,” says the mare.

The colt pulls out a packet of trolley tickets and the mint pony pays, then she turns to leave, only to bump right into Maud. She steps back, giggling nervously and offering an apology as she brushes the nonexistent offenses off of Maud's dress.

“I'm sorry,” says the mare again. “I can be so clumsy some... times...”

Her voice drifts off and she stares at Maud, and Maud stares back, and without taking her eyes off of the colorful pony in front of her, she puts her box of cereal in her hoof and looks her over. Now the apologetic smile of the mare in front of her shifts to a nervous one.

“Nice dress,” she says.

“I had a sister that tried her mane like yours one time,” says Maud, ignoring the compliment and the staring colt.

The pony giggles and rubs the back of her neck, now sweating buckets and her eyes shifting at anything other than Maud. “Oh, really? She must have had good taste.”

Maud nods. “She was trying to be who she was not to impress some colt. It didn't end well for either of them.”

The pony in the red dress locks eyes on her and audibly swallows and takes a step back. “Are you... Are you trying to tell me something?”

Maud side steps towards the counter and places her cereal on it, still ignoring the colt, who has become quite intrigued with the conversation.

“I already told you something,” says Maud.

“Oh, okay. Have a nice day then, Miss...?” says the colorful pony.

Maud looks at her with an unimpressed frown. “Pebble Sprinkles.” The mare's green pelt pales and Maud goes to pay the clerk for the cereal. “With that trolley packet you should visit Miner's Country. It's nice this time of year and there's plenty of nice ponies down there you can meet.”

Maud barely finishes her sentence before the front door to the establishment opens and shuts hard enough to knock the Open/Close sign off. Maud takes the bag containing her food and watches the pony limp away quickly, fighting every muscle in her body to go after her, but she knows she cannot. She has some work to do in Hollow Shades, but once she is done, she will have to adjust her original plan, for she now has a new target.

Maud casually approaches a white, block shaped building with dirt caked on its windows and paint. The sign above the entrance reads: Maple Logging, and driving on the muddy paths that lead to the asphalt roads are massive motor wagons with enormous flatbeds that are hauling stacks of chopped trees. The cabin of the vehicle looks like it should be on an actual train, instead of the regular mini-train, which has a scaled down front, and the exhaust being pumped out through its pipes are just as thick and brighter with the glittering residue of the gem's energy.

Maud is careful to stay on the very edge of the road as the tree-hauling vehicles drive past her, squishing the wet dirt with their mix of treads and wheels, and leaving streaks of mud on the road they pull on to. Maud goes on a poorly placed sidewalk and walks past a short collection of motor wagons that are covered in dirt and fading paint. Once she reaches the building, she coolly steps inside.

Like the outside, it is dirty, but not for the lack of trying. There is only so much a vacuum can do against constant, muddy hoof prints, and with all the schedules, safety guidelines, workers rights posters, general rules and company and local event posting, the walls are all cluttered. Then, there is the old equipment that has not been thrown away for some reason that takes up space and leaves little room for the desks ill-suited for clutter.

As Maud travels down the main hall, she sees ponies of all types watching her from the safety of their personal bubbles. Some are scribbling notes, others are chatting about work or their social life, and one is trying to fix a heating unit that has been gutted. All of them have poorly concealed weapons, like they are expecting to combat a raid. Not that she can blame them since the unexpected purge at Miner's Country wiped out their influence there in one fell swoop.

Maud goes into the kitchen and grabs a bowl and pours herself some cereal, then goes to eat it dry by licking up the colorful pebbles of cooked grain. Many would see this as repulsive, but she does not care because the “many” are unicorns who do not seem to realize that for hornless ponies, using utensils is a bigger pain than necessary, and not only that, but she forgot to buy milk. Not that the milk thing is a huge problem because she hates milk, anyway. It tastes weird, and the fact that she is essentially drinking breast milk harvested from sapient beings stuck in large buildings doesn't help her opinions on it, either.

Milk and personal philosophy aside, Maud is enjoying her snack, but that does not stop her from glancing around. The room is empty, but she does see one of the so-called lumberjacks walking by the doorway with a sawed off shotgun slung across his barrel, then another pony steps in. He is a unicorn stallion with a light gray coat, dark gray mane and an ax cutting a log as his cutie mark with a pistol tucked in a holster that is strapped to his front hoof. His cutie mark seems fitting for him since his name is Wood Chopper, and from what Maud has heard about him, he is the second in command of the Loggers Country branch of the League, and he can be a real problem to those around him if he is having a bad day.

“Where have you been?” asks Chopper, grimacing when she licks up the fruity flavored cereal bits.

Maud swallows the cereal she licked up. “Getting food. Why?”

“We got food, here.”

“No we don't,” says a random, tan and brown earth pony stallion as he pokes his head in the room, looking agitated from this. “That is unless you count dish soap and moldy coffee as food.”

“Shut up, Cracker,” snaps Chopper.

Cracker holds up his hoof defensively and backs out of sight. Chopper then sighs and looks back at Maud, shaking his head.

“Some ponies,” he says. “Anyway, Maple wanted to have a word with you, but you slipped out before she could talk to you.”

“She can wait longer. I'm eating,” asks Maud, tapping her bowl of cereal for emphasis.

“No she can't. It is important we talk to you about Miner's Country.”

Maud takes another lick, wordlessly pushes her bowl away and reluctantly stands up, nodding along the way. “Okay. Take me to her.”

Chopper leads Maud into a well lit office with a window that has its curtains pulled open to let the light of the setting sun and give everyone a fantastic view of the spanning forest. In the distance, Maud can see the mountain where Old Canterlot is built, and the skyline of New Canterlot surrounds it. With that is a layer of smog that clings to the tops of the new, towering structures. Maud has yet to visit Canterlot, but if the view is any indication, then she knows she will hate it.

“Maud, how are you doing today?” says a mare.

Maud turns to the source and sees a light red pegasus with an orange mane that has been cut to give her a tomboy look. Her build, like the vast majority of pegasus mares, is slim, and she has a maple leaf as her cutie mark.

“I'm alive,” says Maud.

The pegasus nods. “That's a good start. Have a seat.”

Maple points towards a single chair sitting in front of a large desk that is free of any sort of clutter, save for a picture of her and a little, white colt with a black mane mashing cheeks together to get in the photo. From what Maud can see of the minimal background, they are at a fair of some kind.

“Sit,” orders Chopper, his tone threatening.

Maud looks away from the picture, pulls out the chair and eases herself in it, now looking at a locked file cabinet out of her peripheral vision.

“How's your son, Maple?” asks Maud, now adjusting herself.

Maple chuckles lightly and sits in the larger, more comfortable chair across from Maud. “Oh, he's doing fine. He's still trying to get his cutie mark and getting in all kinds of trouble along the way. Foals will be foals, after all. Besides, I'm sure you remember how restless you were when you got to that age where you wanted your cutie mark more than anything else.”

“I was never restless. There was only work on the farm, and I didn't even realize I got my cutie mark until dinner.”

“Oh. That's kind of sad, actually.”

“Why?”

“Well, you know...” Maple's voice drifts off and she sighs and slouches in her seat. “Never mind. We're having a lot of problems here, but I wanted to talk to you about Miner's Country. The ones who escaped fled to the proper fallback point, but you. You came here. Why?”

“It was closer. And I had reason to believe that they would hit our fallback point if they raided Miner's Country as efficiently as it appeared.”

There is a faint discharge of energy and a click that comes from behind Maud, but she forces her ears not to twitch. It is slightly uncomfortable, but still she forces her ears still, even when she hears metal sliding against scabbard.

“And what makes you think they didn't hit this place?” asks Maple, her hooves folded under her chin and her eyes locking on to Maud's. “I mean, we're already getting raids here and it is only a matter of time before they hit this place.”

Maud keeps her eyes steady and barely tenses her muscles. “It was a gamble.”

“A gamble?”

“A gamble.”

Maple nods. “Okay, fair enough. We'll have to look more into the Miner's Country raid, because it was... well, it was bad, and we have reason to believe it was because of a breach in security, so we might have more questions for you.”

Maud looks at the window, and she barely sees the reflection of Chopper aiming his pistol at the back of her head. “Understandable.”

Maple sighs and relaxes in her seat again. “It is getting late, so I'll let you go, but only after I ask one more question.”

Maud tenses her muscles, watching the faint reflection of Chopper walking closer behind her, pistol still up. “Go ahead.”

“Are you mad about us having to kill your sister?”

Maud earth pony blows slowly through her nose, her muscles tense like pulled wire and her eyes focusing on Maple.

“What kind of sister would I be if I wasn't mad?” asks Maud, her tone even, but her half lidded eyes glowing like smoldering, vengeful ores.

Maple's easy demeanor stiffens and her eyes zero in on Maud as her feathers ruffle. “Good point.”

The pistol in Chopper's grip clicks and-

A single gunshot rings out from the office building. Then another gunshot comes. And then another. And then another. And soon there are screams and shouts of pain on top of a barrage of gunfire ranging from slow firing pistols, explosive blasts of shotguns, and buzzes of automatic weapons. With the gunfire and cries of the victims, sporadic light flashes from the shattering windows and chunks of the white walls of the building are blown out. Just as quickly as the chaos happens, it ends, leaving the street in near total silence with only a dog barking and faint sirens wailing in the distance.

Almost a minute later, the front door is knocked off of its hinges from Maple flying out and she rolls down the stairs, grunting and bones and wings snapping as she bounces down the concrete stairs. When she lands at the bottom of the steps, she gasps in pain and wheezes for air, eyes and mouth wide open as blood dribbles past her lips in thick ropes. She crawls on the ground, dragging her hind legs and crooked wings behind her, leaving a trail of blood from her broken feathered appendages. Her heart races and her vision clouds with tears, and when she hears slow clops of hooves on concrete, she looks over her shoulder and sees Maud walking after her. Maple whimpers and tries to stand, but the feeling of a bony blade saws at her thigh and she is forced to bite her tongue lest she wants to scream, leaving her only to crawl as fast as she can. Nothing can stop Maud's approach, though, and Maple knows that there is no escape. Her fate has been sealed.

A hoof suddenly slams down on Maple's tail, bringing the injured pegasus' crawl to an abrupt halt. Maple shivers and peeks over her shoulder again, only to howl in agony when Maud kicks her in the ribs, turning her over on her back so she can look straight up at the darkening sky. Maud then presses her hoof down on Maple's chest and leans forward so she can look into her eyes.

Maple gulps for air and coughs blood every chance she gets, trying not to look at the turncoat, but she can't help it. The entire side of Maud's face is soaked in blood from a gash on her forehead and her shoulder is bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound, but her injuries barely slowed her down from beating everyone inside senselessly. Her frock is stained with crimson and sticking to her from her blood and the blood of others, and her straight mane is now disheveled and matted to her forehead and neck. Despite her bored expression, the fires burn brightly in her eyes, and her face still twitches slightly from the pain of her insane brawl.

“Please don't kill me. I don't wanna die,” whimpers Maple as she stares up at Maud, her tears cleaning streaks of blood from her cheeks.

Maud presses her hoof down, and Maple coughs blood and tries to pry her hoof off, but it only encourages her assailant to press harder.

“Please don't,” wheezes Maple, her tear soaked eyes looking up at Maud pathetically. “Please, I-I didn't kill your sister. I didn't... I had nothing to do with Pinkie!”

Maud continues pressing down and Maple screams louder and thrashes harder under her hoof, but her strength is failing her and she is losing the battle to free herself.

“Please!” sobs Maple.

“I'm not going to kill you,” says Maud, suddenly pulling away from Maple's chest, letting her greedily suck in air and turn on her unbroken side so she can cough and sputter. “I'm going to let the guard's find you, and when they do, they will decide what to do with you and everypony else after they find all the information here.”

Maple looks at Maud, and the last thing she sees before everything goes dark is a hoof to the face.

Maud steps away from Maple's limp form and she looks up to see flashing lights in the distance being accompanied by sirens rapidly approaching the complex. She quietly hobbles away as quickly as her injuries will allow, disappearing into the forest next to the facility and seeking shelter behind a thick tree that has fallen over. Seconds after she crouches down, she pulls out a pouch that is hanging around her neck and sighs with relief when her little pet rock, Boulder, rolls on to her hoof.

It is at that moment that a dark purple, armored wagon spewing a trail of sparkling exhaust speeds around the corner and screeches to a halt in front of the building. The vehicle barely stops before a pair of guards hop out, and one runs to Maple's side while another ducks back in to call for ambulances. Seeing them occupied, Maud slips Boulder back in its pouch and treks farther into the forest.

Arc 2- 02- Singsong -EDITED-

“We interrupt this program to bring you important news from the Royal Equestrian Government. In light of the increase of attacks by the terrorist organization, the League of Justice, Equestria is now under martial law by royal decree until further notice. Complete cooperation with the royal government is strongly advised. Thank you for your patience and may Celestia bless Equestria”

Trixie walks through the mess that was once her father’s loft. She carefully steps over shattered glass and splinters that were once his exquisite collection of dishes and furniture. The howling wind blows through the gaping hole in the glass patio doors, pushing up the expensive curtains and blowing in specks of rain and pushing away light pieces of garbage.

Trixie looks down at the floor and sees a streak of dried blood stopping just shy of the patio door, or what’s left of it anyway. She remembers how she felt joy upon hearing her father had “passed away” and how she had shown up late at his closed casket funeral. She arrived just in time to see him buried and that was so she could show her last and greatest way of showing how much she hated him. She also remembers how she was one of only six at the funeral, and not a single tear was shed. It actually pleased her to see such reactions to a vile pony like Eclipse, but now that she’s looking at the blood all over the smashed loft, she is overwhelmed with grief.

Her eyes water and she brings her hoof up to her mouth as she scans the room, ears drooped and legs shaking. The lump in her throat is choking her, but as much as her body demands she cry so she can breathe, she refuses. No one should have to cry for the late Eclipse Lulamoon. None should have to show remorse to the monster he became.

Then the memory of her throwing Pinkie Pie off the edge of the construction site flashes by and Trixie closes her eyes tight and tries to get rid of it. It works, but Pinkie Pie’s promise of her saying how expandable she is to the League of Justice bounces around in her mind. She does not understand why Pinkie Pie thought she could stop the League, stop the ponies that saved her from Sunshine and took her in so she can learn to defend herself. She has absolutely no idea where such an idea came from, but now that she has the blood of a corrupted Element on her hooves, she is hoping that her family will rescue her, soon, for she killed a national icon and she doubts the state will show her mercy.

Though, a part of her believes that she has been abandoned. Again.

The League could have rescued her at the hospital when it was easy. They could have freed her on the road when it was easy. They could have saved her while they were still in Ponyville. They could have done all these things, and yet, they didn't. Just as her father had predicted, no one has bothered to help her, and the only reason the League let her join their ranks was because Gray Muffin appeased them, and now he is dead.

Trixie slumps to the floor and stares at the bloody streak leading to the patio, whimpering and shaking with tears trailing down her cheeks. She wants to believe that Adanz and Wazza are looking for her or are planning her escape. They were like brothers to her, and a family does not abandon their own. They stick with each other through thick and thin, that is how it is supposed to be! That is how it is supposed to be and yet after the death of her mother, all she has seen is the fallacy of family and friendship.

Trixie takes a deep, ragged breath, wipes some tears from her face and then looks up to see the great view of the capital of Equestria after forcing the lump in her throat down. The tall buildings that shroud the older, smaller structures light up the sky with tiny dots from their windows, and a single zeppelin flies in lazy circles over the Royal Palace. She then looks at the full moon and the stars that accompany it and finds their beauty mesmerizing. Luna has done a great job with the night sky tonight.

Trixie walks towards the patio and notices the railing is splintered where her father had hit it before tumbling to his death. She gulps, hesitantly walks towards the edge of the patio and looks down. She doesn’t know how high she is, all she knows is that she’s on the very top floor and the building stands easily thirty stories high. The passing vehicles look like glowing ants and the ponies walking around for a casual nightly stroll are barely visible dots that can only be seen when they pass under the streetlights.

“Are you still thinking about ending your life?” asks a familiar voice from behind.

Trixie knows who it is, so she doesn’t give them the benefit of eye contact.

“Every day,” mumbles Trixie.

“I see."

The Shadow Stallion takes a spot next to Trixie, and she waits for a moment to see if there is anything more, but seconds of silence convince her to add to the conversation.

“Are you going to say something encouraging?”

“You lasted this long without taking your life. Let's see if you can go another thirty years.”

Disappointed with the answer she received, Trixie huffs and slumps over the railing to watch the dots below do their thing, all while the Shadow Stallion stares at the heavens. The two silently listen to late night noises of the city and enjoy the wind blowing around their bodies, but even in the oddly peaceful silence, Trixie can’t help but think about what happened at Ponyville.

The more she tries not thinking about what she did, the more vivid the recollection becomes. She remembers all the colors, the textures, smells, and worst of all: Pinkie Pie begging her to stop Roar Shock before he hurts innocent ponies. But Trixie does not understand how Pinkie Pie can ask her of such a thing when she knew that she was the one who had to murder her. She does not understand how Pinkie Pie can ask her to betray the very ponies that helped her. Worst of all, she does not understand how can she protect the innocent if she is killing off Elements and being driven mad by revenge and a lust to be loved.

“You know, when I killed Pinkie Pie, I... I thought- I thought I was doing the right thing, but I am only confused, now. Everypony seems to be a bad guy in some way, and I don't know whose side I should be on,” says Trixie distantly. She sniffles and wipes stray tears from her eyes and continues watching the ant sized ponies down below going about their business. “I wish it was back to the simpler days when I had my stage and ponies adored the Great and Powerful Trixie and I didn't have to worry about being killed or killing or somepony trying to hurt me. I wish all of this wasn't... here. I wish everything was black and white like it is supposed to be.”

The stallion puts his hoof on Trixie’s shoulder. “Trixie, even back in the days you long for, not everything was black and white.”

The suffocating lump returns in Trixie throat, and she sniffles and blinks the tears out of her eyes again. "It was to me."

The Shadow Stallion's hoof slides off of her shoulder. “Everypony has a story, Trixie. Everypony does what they do because, while all of you are born with pure hearts, the events and your reactions to them shape you. They shape your thoughts, your heart, even your soul. It is hardly as clear as many assume.”

Trixie looks at her companion, trying to search his featureless face for signs of deceit, but with a pure black mass staring back at her, she gets nothing. During her staring, her tears flow freely down her face and her heart beats heavier in her chest.

“What are you saying?” says Trixie.

“If you carry on to fight injustice, then you cannot let your demons control you,” says the Shadow Stallion. “You have already seen what turmoil did to Roar Shock and Gray Muffin, and if you let your anger and sadness control you, you will become like them, blinded by hate and confusing the lust of blood for justice. You don't know everypony's story, and mercy is your greatest tool, and if you use it properly, you can save yourself as well as many others.”

“I don’t know... Maybe... Maybe some ponies don’t deserve mercy. Ponies like me!”

The pain becomes unbearable, and Trixie collapses on the patio and weeps into her hoof. All this death is haunting her in ways she never thought possible. She never really thought about how her mother had died in the hospital with her, for she spent so long trying to suppress that memory. Trixie was glad to hear of her father’s death, and just when she thought someone could take his place, he gets blown off the roof by the one pony that took everything she had left away from her. Then with Sunshine, his lifeless eyes and bloodied, mangled corpse is forever burnt into her mind. Now she killed the very living embodiment of laughter. She became a killer like Gray Muffin, Roar Shock and the others. It seems that death follows her wherever she goes like her own shadow.

Trixie cannot form coherent words cannot from her weeping, and her heavy breathing makes it hard to breathe. Through her sobbing, the Shadow Stallion gently shushes her and brings her close for a hug.

“Everything will be right in the end,” says the Shadow Stallion gently in her ear as he strokes her mane lovingly.

Trixie looks up at the Shadowy Stallion with her eyes red and coat soaked in tears; his features are still nonexistent. This only makes her feel worse, her only source of comfort in the Hell she had built herself has no face.

“I promise in the end you will find happiness,but you need to carry on and fight through the days as you have always done,” continues the stallion.

As much as she wants to, Trixie does not believe his words. She knows she’s been forsaken, ever since birth she had been the target of Celestia and her games of torment, from taking her mother from her, then her father's love and the life she wanted, to being lost and abused in the world's true, ugly form. All attempts to make her life better after her failed career have been met with failure. From hopping between jobs and being downright homeless and resorting to theft and other means to survive, and the one pony she thought of as the father she could have died right in front of her by Twilight's wrath. Thinking about the fury of Twilight brings Trixie to thinking Pinkie Pie and how she had to kill her for abandoning her role as a defender of all things good so she can protect a corrupt mayor. Then she thinks about how she kicked the Element over the edge and the prophetic words of betrayal by the League's hoof that came before it. Which brings her back to Gray Muffin.

Gray Muffin said the first kill was the hardest, but now that she thinks about it, he was right when he told her when he said that she would think twice about him if she knew him more and that the League was not for her. She saw the anger he carried with him and how he became numb with killing, like killing came as easy as breathing for him.

Trixie already killed in the name of justice and ending corruption, and she hates it. She hates the burden it has on her shoulders, she hates the suffocation and crushing heart that comes with her thinking about killing Pinkie Pie. How anyone can continue to kill willingly is beyond her, and after seeing the pain and lust for blood in Twilight and the shell that Gray Muffin became because of his demons, doesn’t want to be a killer. But she knows that she can't get what she wants because there is no taking back a kill. She will have to live with the guilt of killing the Element of Laughter until her days end, and even then, she doubts she will be forgiven in this world and the next. There is no such thing as forgiveness for villains.

Villains like Mayor Ivory Scroll.

Villains like Eclipse Lulamoon.

Villains like her.

Trixie tightens her grip on the Shadow Stallion and buries her face in his shoulder, her body shaking more and her sobs muffled in his body as tears soak her cheeks and shoulder. Her lungs and eyes hurt, and her cries are barely heard over the storm.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” whimpers Trixie.

“I know,” say the Shadow Stallion.

He tightens his hug around her and Trixie suddenly feels a new sense of warmth and comfort on the cold patio, despite the rain beating against them. Eventually her breathing slows down and her sobs turn to sniffles as the rain calms to a light patter. Soon after her breathing slows, her eyes remain closed, but not tightly. Instead they are shut like they are taking a much needed sleep. Trixie snuggles against the mysterious stallion’s warm embrace, keeping her ear pressed against his chest so she can hear his beating heart and steady breaths, and hoping he will never let her go. She doesn’t know who this pony is, why he is a shadow, or why he is in her dreams, but she feels safe in his embrace.

She feels loved.

She feels forgiven.

They sit there, together in a comforting silence for a length of time that is unknown to Trixie, but when she feels a warmth wash over her and sees a light burn through her eyelids, she cracks her eyes open to see the source. Her eyes are still red and wet, much like how her face is still damp with her tears, and she looks up at the glowing white orb above the Shadow Stallion's horn.

“Its time for you to wake up,” says the Shadow Stallion.

Trixie wakes up in a pitch black room. All the warmth and comfort disappear from existence and become replaced with nothing but cold and fear.

Trixie stands up, feeling the slight pinches of pain all over her body from her brawl with Twilight just last week. Or maybe it was two. She does not know and last time she tried etching tally marks on her jail cell's concrete wall using her hoof it only left her sucking on it to get rid of the pain.

Trixie winces as she paces around the cell, marked 5-05-L, trying to pass the time. Like every time she wakes up in the total darkness of her cell, all she sees a black void with a faint silhouette of her bed and the small bathroom. If she looks up she can make out a square of lights in the ceiling, and if she tries rubbing her horn, the thick cuff around her base will zap her. It only took her three tries of poking and trying to pull it off before she gave up. Lastly, there is the thick collar around her neck and the thin, orange jumpsuit that has 11112010 stitched on it in bold, black patch numbers. The collar feels like a yoke and the jumpsuit is so thin it is like wearing a bed sheet. And not the comfortable kind, either. It is the kind that always pops out of the corners and brings people close to insanity.

As Trixie paces around her new home, she comes to a stop by the massive, steel door keeping her in. Her hooves trace the grooves, finding the slot for the food delivery and the other for viewing. She frowns and presses her ear against the food slot, which is the thinnest part of the door, and listens. The only way she can get the position to work even remotely well is if she tilts her head down and raises her rump slightly, and even then, she can barely hear the guards patrolling outside. She hears them talking, but cannot make out what they are saying.

With her head tilted, she is looking to her side and has her brows scrunched as her ears strain for clarity. She hears a little bit more, which proves to be an uninteresting conversation about some Canterlot hotshot dropping by. However, Trixie's eyes snap wide when she sees something shift in the darkness out of the corner of her eyes.

“You look gorgeous, darlin',” says Sunshine.

Trixie gasps and backs up into the corner, trembling and eyes brimming with tears as panic overloads her speeding heart. The shadowy figure in front of her expands its one wing and a faint, red, toothy smile expands and an equally weak flare of red for his eyes appear.

“Didja miss me?” says Sunshine.

Trixie shakes her head, whimpering.

“Daww, where's the feisty girl from those weeks back?” taunts Sunshine.

He steps closer, his hooves sounding very real and solid as the clip-clops echo in the room. Trixie whimpers louder and tries to make her escape by running along the wall, but Sunshine's hoof slams on the wall, blocking her. Before she can react, his other hoof pushes her back into the corner.

“I love a submissive mare, but you got a fire in you that I adore. So beautiful, so unpredictable,” says Sunshine. He moves his hoof down her chest and stomach, panting like a dog over her thumping heart and raspy breathing as he anticipates what he’s about to do to her. “Can I see that spark again?”

Suddenly a bright light turns on and Sunshine’s shadow vaporizes into nothingness and forces Trixie's hoof to her eyes so she is not blinded, but they prove to provide minimal protection. Her eyes feel like they had been burned out of their sockets and the aches and pains all over her body are not making this unpleasant situation any easier to cope with.

A minute later, a series of locks click, some gears turn and the thick door scratches against the floor as it slides into the wall, making a horrible grinding-screeching sound. The sound hurts Trixie’s ears and yet the mares that walk in do not appear to be affected by the noise at all. Both of them are Royal Guards, unicorns, and behind them is an escort party of six more heavily armed Royal Guards.

One of the mares pulls out a chain clamps it on Trixie’s collar with her magic, saying as she walks in: “Time to go.”

She gives it a quick tug and Trixie lurches forward, taking the hint to follow the guards down the hall without any resistance. As they walk through the soulless environment, they pass more solid steel doors with numbers painted on them, like “5-04-L”, “5-03-L” and so on and so forth until they reach the end of the hall, which has an elevator guarded by two more Royal Guard unicorns.

Without saying a word, one of the guards turns around to pull down a lever, which makes the elevator door open. The elevator door is actually made up of three doors. The first being the standard slide to the side one, and the second is a gate that the other guard pulls up using a pulley, and the third is another sliding door that required another lever pull to open.

Trixie is pulled inside the elevator, but due to the compact space in the elevator she doesn’t go far, and only her and the two unicorns that picked her up from her cell can fit inside. When they are snug inside the dimly lit elevator, the multiple doors seal shut and it slowly descends the structure. As they go down Trixie tries to disappear into the wall, but the cold metal keeps her locked inside with the two stoic guards. The lights from the elevator shaft lazily slide past them and each pathetic ding indicates when they go down a floor. After a dozen dings, the elevator comes to a jolting stop, making Trixie stumble for a second in her spot, but the others barely flinch. Trixie quickly recollects herself and when the doors open she is once again in the presence of a group of heavily armed Royal Guards.

The escorts lead Trixie outside where the rosy colors of dawn color the sky and give the towering prison walls an interesting hue. Trixie looks around nervously and sees the Royal Guards replacing the Night Guards on the walls and in the guard towers. The unkempt courtyard is bare of all activity and the way the barbed chain link fences surround and cut pieces of the courtyard into sections reminds Trixie of a labyrinth from Hell.

The escorts move Trixie through the passages made from the fences and take her towards a medieval type structure in the back with a large clock tower overlooking everything. The windows to it are barred and an Equestrian flag is hanging down from the bottom of the clock and going down about five stories. Above the main entrance to the little castle, which is a couple of large steel doors, is a preserved engraving that says: FORT SINGSONG.

They stop in front of the door and talk to a guard on the other side via intercom, and a few seconds later there are a series of clicks and the door open up. It groans and grinds against the pavement as it opens and the first thing Trixie notices are the dozen guards patrolling the lobby floor. Then she spots a dozen more on the upper level, some of them looking at them suspiciously and aiming their weapons towards them.

The group keeps walking towards their destination in silence. They pass through a few more checkpoints and walk down more hallways, and pass through more steel doors. Unlike the tiles and concrete of the outside, this section is carpeted and lit with warm lights. Trixie guesses that they are trying to give off a comforting feel, but all she feels is worry and sickness down in her stomach.

A couple of minutes of walking later, and Trixie is led inside a rectangular room that has an elderly pegasus mare surrounded by four unicorns wearing all black. The pegasus has an ice blue coat with a fading blue mane and tail with light gray streaks running through them, and her cutie mark is a scroll and hammer crossing over each other. The room, like the hallway, is carpeted and well lit, but Trixie also notices a one way window on the wall and four standing rings bolted to the floor. The guards also have cuffs and chains hanging around their necks. Trixie gulps and is tugged further inside the room, despite her knees trying to lock her in place.

“Director Brisk Wind, we have the requested prisoner,” says the unicorn holding Trixie’s collar.

Trixie lowers her eyes and the pegasus steps forward, sporting a victorious smile.

“There’s the mare of the hour. How are you doing, Lulamoon? Did you enjoy your cell?” Brisk Wind says.

To Trixie it sounds like a verbal warning of an oncoming kick to the ovaries, but despite the harsh undertone of the voice, Trixie remains is silent. She is letting her glare show everyone that she is not amused by Brisk Wind’s so called joke, instead.

Brisk Wind tuts and casually orders the guards to cuff Trixie to the floor, which they do very quickly and efficiently and leave her in such a way that her back is to the door. Trixie tests the chains and finds that they barely give her enough room to move her hooves. She looks at Brisk Wind again, and the pegasus flashes a thin smile and approaches her. When she is in front of Trixie, she shakes her head in disappointment, then excuses the unicorns that brought her in. After they leave she turns to her guards and orders a couple of them to grab a nurse named Golden Heart. The two agents leave without a word and the other two stay put, completely still and stone faced. If Trixie's hooves had not been cuffed down she would have waved in front of their eyes just to make sure they were not mannequins.

“Lulamoon, I want to talk to you about your most recent choices in life,” says Brisk Wind in a terrifyingly cold voice.

Not wanting to say anything, Trixie swallows nervously and splays her ears back as she tries to back away, but the chains hold her tight.

“According to our files, you were a small time traveling magician,” says Brisk Wind.

Trixie nods, her eyes brimming with tears and her throat getting a lump from the memories of the good old days with her cart, fireworks and stage garb that everyone loved. She tries yet again to free herself, but the result is the same as last time.

“It also says that your grades were very poor in the Royal Academy for Standard Magic. With some of the teacher comments politely saying how much of an idiot you were. Still are, in fact, since you thought you could get away with murder and terrorism with the EIB keeping watch over Equestria,” says Brisk Wind.

With her heart banging against her chest and her throat clogging, Trixie shifts her teary eyes between the guards and the pegasus. She really does not want to remember her grades, or the tongue lashing her father gave her because of her “lack of intellect”.

“Lulamoon, I'm talking to you, not the floor, so focus on me,” says Brisk Wind, annoyance spawning in her tone.

Trixie snaps her eyes back at Brisk Wind, trying to blink the tears out of her eyes and to keep her legs from wobbling. The older mare looks quite intimidating for her age. It may be the lighting, or the small, disgusted frown on her face, but whatever the case is, Trixie really does not want to be stuck in the room with Brisk Wind, especially cuffed to the floor with no way to move.

“I don't think you have any common sense in that pathetic brain of yours,” says Brisk Wind, her tone growing more insulting. “From the looks of it, you had a lot of talent in the magic show industry, but refused sponsorship. You relied solely on the change ponies tossed in your silly hat to feed and cover yourself and restock, and then you just disappeared after one bad review? You didn't have the money to pick yourself up and you chose to run. We got you on jail time for selling stolen goods, stealing food and blankets, and even selling yourself for a quick bit to an undercover in Appleloosa, and now you are a terrorist. Did the League promise you a nice paycheck, Lulamoon?”

Trixie shakes her head. “N-no.”

“What was it, then?”

“I... I just wanted to matter. I wanted a family,” whimpers Trixie. “They gave me that. They helped me.”

“You wanted a family?”

Trixie nods.

Brisk Wind nods and looks around the room, lips puckered in mocking thought. “Oh, a family. That's... That's good.”

Brisk Wind starts circling Trixie, being sure to stay uncomfortably close so the trapped unicorn can smell her shampoo and feel her breath when she speaks.

“Who wouldn't want a family?” asks Brisk Wind. “Who wouldn't want that special connection of having a supporting father and loving mother? Who wouldn't want some brothers or sisters to play with or talk to after a long day or school or work? Who can condemn such an innocent dream of wanting a family? Even if that dream leads to murder and chaos.”

The close proximity and the voice brushing all over her body and rubbing inside her ears sends crippling shivers along Trixie's spine and limbs. Even her throat and lungs feel like they are filled with sludge as she gasps for air from the growing tears, and she finds herself fighting to stay standing, despite wanting to sit.

Brisk Wind stops when she is in front of Trixie and hardens her mocking looking into a cold gaze of an unforgiving nature.

“Lulamoon, I am going to be honest with you. I love order. I love being able to control things because where there is lack of control there is chaos. I hate chaos and anypony that tries to bring it. You fall in that list that I hate, and I will get what I want from you to ensure that this discord ends,” says the Director dramatically.

Trixie wordlessly stares at the pegasus, following her movements with her ears drooping farther and her heart thumping harder in her chest as she senses a coming pain.

“It is basic fact that things cannot advance from chaos,” continues Brisk Wind. “It is only through the powers of harmony that we can see advancement. The tricky part, however, is perfecting harmony so that advancment comes quicker. And in order for there to be perfection, rats such as you and your anarchist friends must be rooted out, and believe me, I will find them all and they will either die or spend the rest of their lives behind bars. It really depends on how much they want to fight.”

Trixie remains silent, and Brisk Wind studies her face, her impatience becoming more and more visible with each passing second.

“Lulamoon, you are going to be here for a very long time, but I am willing to go easy on you if you just tell me what you know about the League of Justice,” says Brisk Wind.

Trixie shakes her head and Brisk Wind starts pacing around her again, as if thinking that the answer is somewhere tattooed on her body or hidden on her collection of scars.

“No? It's easy. Just give me some names, some places you visited or heard, some descriptions, anything really. The more you tell, the less pain you will face,” says Brisk Wind.

“I-I don't know... I don't know anything,” mutters Trixie quietly.

“Speak up, Lulamoon, I cannot hear you.”

Trixie pathetically whimpers. “I don't know.”

Trixie forces herself to look at Brisk Wind as she leans towards her. The unicorn's nose wrinkles when the stench of the strong, minty mouthwash Brisk Wind uses burns her the hair out of her nose. With their noses nearly touching, the Director wraps her hoof around the back of Trixie's head and holds her tight.

“I said speak up!” screams Brisk Wind, her gaze and voice becoming more ornery by the second.

“I don't know!” cries Trixie.

“You don't know anything about the ponies that trained you to kill an Element? Do you think I'm an idiot!”

Trixie shakes her head quickly, whimpering and trembling as she tries to back up, but with the chains holding her down, she can only fall on her rump and feel trapped, just like when Sunshine had his way with her.

Trixie stammers: “N-no, I-I-”

“Then why are you treating me like one!?” says Brisk Wind.

Brisk Wind searches Trixie’s face, and when she tries to look away, the EIB Director yanks her head back and forces her prisoner to look at her. Trixie squirms but that only makes the situation worse for her.

“LOOK AT ME!” barks Brisk Wind.

Trixie’s eyes lock on to Brisk Wind’s, trembling, whimpering and sniffling and trying to keep her wet eyes from blinking so she does not look away.

“You know everything I want to know, Lulamoon, and if I have to crack your skull open and pick apart your brain for that information then I will,” says Brisk Wind in a quiet, menacing voice over Trixie's sniffling. She wraps her hoof around Trixie's mane and tugs the unicorn's head back so her head is tilted painfully far and Brisk Wind peers into her eyes. “You can cry and beg and sob and weep and do whatever it is you little fillies do when you're afraid, but guess what? That will not save you. It is just you and me, and when I am through with you, I will be your bucking goddess, are we clear?”

Before Trixie can squeak an answer, the door opens up and a few ponies walk in, but she is too terrified to look away from Brisk Wind to see who entered. Brisk Wind, however, sighs tiredly and with drooped ears and eyelids and turns to the doorway to observe a unicorn mare in a nurse's outfit with a pale coat and dirty blonde mane walk in, pushing a metal cart with her magic. Seeing the nurse actually brings a smile to the Director's face.

“You better start talking, and start talking quickly or I will hurt you,” says Brisk Wind. The nurse stops and Brisk Wind opens the cart to have a peek at its contents, and without looking at Trixie, she continues. “In fact, just so we get some ground rules so you don't get cute with me, I will tell you right now that if you lie to me, I will hurt you. If you give me partial information, I will hurt you. If you do not cooperate with me in any way that is not satisfactory, I will hurt you. Are we clear?”

Brisk Wind carefully holds up a syringe in the light, and Trixie tries to see what it is, but all she can make out is a red tint and a very long needle. She gulps and tries to sink into the floor when the Director nods approvingly and gives it back to the nurse. The nurse steps forward, levitating the syringe, and Trixie's eyes shrink as she tries to back up, but, just like last time, the chains keep her down.

“Wha-what is that?” asks Trixie.

“That is the pain I was telling you about if you continue to be a bad filly,” says Brisk Wind. She looks at the nurse and points at Trixie. “Nurse Golden Heart, if you'll please.”

The nurse nods and steps forward, but stops when the door is pushed open by magic, much to the surprise of Brisk Wind. A bigger surprise for everyone in the room appears as four royal guardponies clad in gold armor with lavender trim walk in, and between them is the pair of ponies that left earlier.

“We're sorry, Director, we tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen,” says one of the ponies.

Before Brisk Wind cannot play the pronoun game, for the speaker is moved aside by a hoof and a white unicorn stallion nearing his fifties limps in, wearing a sturdy splint on top of his thick cast. If not for his thick, wrinkled, black bags under his eyes, his military appearance would have been perfect with his combed, electric blue hair and tidy red and white cuffed uniform. He even has the scowl down to par. However, while Trixie feels intimidated by this newcomer, Brisk Wind merely sports a cocky smile and coolly approaches the stallion.

“Captain Shining Armor, I'm surprised to see you are walking after such a dreadful injury,” says Brisk Wind.

“Is there a reason why you are doing this interrogation behind my back?” says Shining Armor, his voice weighed down by fatigue.

“Behind your back? Captain, this is not behind your back. This suspect has been captured by EIB, therefore the EIB will handle everything regarding her.”

“Nice try.” Shining Armor looks at one of his escorts, and the escort's horn lights up to levitate a folder with the Equestrian sun on it, and it flips open to the proper page and is turned to Brisk Wind. “Do not think of me as an idiot, Director. Trixie Lulamoon stands accused of being a member of the League of Justice, therefore is to be handled by the military as an enemy combatant, as stated by Royal Decree Fifteen-Fifteen Two, Section A, Clause One.”

Brisk Wind frowns, closes the folder and pushes it back to the guard while it is still floating in front of her face. “Well, if this is such a big deal then why are you here and not one of your fancy lawyers?”

“Because you're here.” Captain Armor looks at the levitating syringe that Nurse Golden Heart has. “And what is that?”

“None of your business.” Brisk Wind slides in front of Shining Armor, places her hoof on his shoulder and turns him to face Trixie, ignoring the slight wince he makes. “But now that we are here, why don't we have some fun, eh? Why don't you have a crack at Lulamoon? After all, she is your toy as well as mine since she is a terrorist, which gives me as much jurisdiction as you, as stated by the second clause of that Royal Decree.”

Brisk Wind tilts her head up and slides her hoof around Shining Armor's neck to pull herself up a bit higher while forcing his head down to meet her eyes.

“It's good to share, Captain. So let's share,” she says with a husky voice and a wicked smile.

Trixie's eyes shift between the two, her brain dying from what she is seeing, from the bordering flirting look of a succubus from the Director and the uncomfortable shifting of the Captain. Seconds of awkward silence later, Shining Armor frowns and pulls away from the pegasus and limps towards Trixie. The disgraced pony stares back at him pathetically. She has no words to say to him or Brisk Wind. She just wants to go back to her cell and put this day behind her.

As Trixie looks up at Shining Armor from her spot on the floor, the Captain of the Royal Guard stares down at her. His gaze is still tired and she can see the anger in his tired eyes, but it is restrained very well. Probably due to his injuries, or maybe it is his military bearing. Whatever the case, Trixie is glad that he and his guards are not beating her to a pulp.

“Do you have a lawyer?” asks Shining Armor.

Trixie lowers her eyes and shakes her head.

“Do you want a lawyer?” asks Shining Armor.

Brisk Wind snorts rudely, and Trixie keeps her head down, contemplating on the lawyer option that Brisk Wind conveniently left out. However, as she thinks about it, she remembers how her father was a lawyer at one point, and how he charged a hoof and an ear for everything, only to give them the short end of the stick if they were poor. And seeing as how she is dirt poor...

“The lawyer will be paid by the state,” says Shining Armor, like he got a peek in her mind.

Trixie shakes her head again. “I don't want one.”

Trixie looks up just enough to see Shining Armor and Brisk Wind exchange looks before the stallion sighs and hobbles closer to her. When he is directly in front of her, Trixie lowers her eyes again to stare at the floor. Her throat and mouth feels like all of the moisture has just been sucked out and her heart feels like a slow banging drum filled with rocks.

“Trixie, do you realize how much trouble your in?” asks Shining Armor wearily.

Trixie nods, whispering: “Yes.”

"So, you know you can stay in Singsong Prison for life without parole because of your affiliation with the League of Justice?”

“Yes.”

Shining Armor nods. “Okay, that’s good. Now, Trixie, I’m going to be honest with you, staying in here for the rest of your life is probably what will happen to you unless you give us something. Anything, really. You help us, we help you.”

Trixie looks down, wondering how she will fare with her life behind bars. She becomes even more uneasy when she realizes that she will lose all sense of privacy and will have to put in a two hundred percent effort to not drop the soap. If the past week of shower room encounters have been any indication of anything.

“We know you were one of their newest members, but everything you know can help us, and I promise you, if you give us anything in regards to the League that proves valuable, I will help you out of this,” continues Shining Armor.

“Oh, goddess,” groans Brisk Wind. “What kind of soldier are you?”

Shining Armor ignores her. “What can you tell us, Trixie?”

Trixie keeps her head down. She knows that the League of Justice targets only bad ponies, and knows that their methods are extreme. She’s seen what they are capable of just from word of mouth and actual experiences. But she also knows that they are only doing what the Equestrian government cannot or will not do. The government had its chance to stop corruption, to stop the gangs, the cartels, the violent rapists and murderers. The Equestrian government had its chance, now it is time for the shadows of the innocents to be the sword and shield, and Trixie is willing to give her life so ponies like Sunshine are kept off of the streets. Permanently.

“Nothing,” sniffles Trixie. “I won't tell you anything.”

Shining Armor sighs and runs his hoof through his mane while Brisk Wind arches an eyebrow.

“Are you sure about that, Lulamoon?” asks Brisk Wind skeptically.

“They're my family. I... I won't betray my family,” says Trixie.

“Bad news for you, Lulamoon. Your family abandoned you. You're alone with us, now.”

Shining Armor glances at Brisk Wind and Trixie's heavy heart sinks as the EIB Director motions Nurse Golden Heart over.

“I am on a tight schedule, and so is the Captain, so we are going to speed things up,” says Brisk Wind.

Nurse Golden Heart approaches Trixie with the syringe, and the former showmare's heart races when she sees the thickness of the needle and the brown, semi-pulpy liquid in the container.

“What is that? What are you doing?” asks Trixie, her voice shaking with her whole body and her muscles tensing as she tries to pull away.

Nurse Golden Heart's horn glows and she whispers a quick apology before zapping Trixie with a spell that freezes her body in place. All Trixie can do is move her eyes and watch helplessly as the nurse rolls up the front sleeve of her jumpsuit and prod her hoof for a good vein. After she finds a good spot, she positions the needle over it and Trixie whimpers and tries to move, but she feels like a soul stuck inside a rock, unable to move and do anything to anyone.

“You see, the benefit of being the director of the Equestrian Investigation Bureau is that I get privileges. Lots and lots of privileges,” explains Brisk Wind.

“What are you doing, Director?” demands Shining Armor.

“Interrogating.”

Nurse Golden Heart injects Trixie, and the unicorn's eyes bulge as the pulpy liquid shoots inside her veins and dissolve in her bloodstream. From there, the feeling of dozens upon dozen of little bugs chewing on her veins spread from its injection point. Tears pool in Trixie's eyes, and she manages a grunt as she stares at the ponies in the room. Specifically at Brisk Wind and that terrible smile of satisfaction she has.

“Are you going to talk, now, Lulamoon?” asks Brisk Wind, still smiling.

Trixie shakes her head. “No.”

Brisk Wind's smile disappears instantly. “Really? Well, that's okay. The EIB is always prepared. Nurse Golden Heart, inject Lulamoon again.”

“No! Nurse Golden Heart, stand down!” orders Shining Armor.

The nurse stops, but-

“Ignore him. You are not employed by the Royal Guard,” says Brisk Wind.

Nurse Golden Heart reluctantly levitates another syringe of the brown liquid to her and after another quick search, she injects Trixie again. This time it feels like a dagger has been stabbed her in the point of injection. The unexpected increase in pain makes Trixie scream in pain, and she falls to the floor when the imaginary blade twists in her veins.

“What you are feeling is the sanitatem fungus, also known as the ‘healing mushroom’,” says Brisk Wind while looking down at Trixie's trembling form. “They really are great. They can be used for medicinal purposes, or as a poison if used at the proper point.”

Brisk Wind lays in front of Trixie, cups her head in her hooves and forces her to look up. Trixie seethes painfully with sweat dripping down her forehead and muzzle, and glares at the Director.

“What you have inside is near expired mushrooms, ground up really good so they dissolve in your blood,” says Brisk Wind. “In due time it will fade, but the more we put in, the worse the pain will get from your nerves overloading. So, how about you tell us what you know about your so called family?

“You can’t-You won’t make me talk,” says Trixie, the pain is clear in her shaking voice.

Brisk Wind smiles and stands up. “I’ll admit, Lulamoon, I kinda like you. Most ponies could only go through two before saying they’ll talk, but you’re still clinging to your false sense of hope. It really is making things quite interesting. It’s no matter, though, I will break you. Me and Captain Shining Armor will get what we want, but the question is: How much pain are willing to go through to protect the ones that abandoned you?”

“Go to Hell!”

Brisk Wind sighs and shakes her head. “Nurse, inject her again.”

“Director, that is enough! This is torture!” says Shining Armor.

Brisk Wind frowns at Shining Armor. “Pull your head out of your ass, soldier boy. If you want to stop the League of Justice, this is the way. Now let me work and keep your damn morals out of this!”

Nurse Golden Heart injects Trixie with another dose of the fluid in a fresh syringe. Trixie feels the fluid slither into her body and spread out, just like the previous ones, then she feels the pain. This time it feels like someone stabbed her in the point of injection with a blade and the blade is spreading open like a flower right under her skin. Trixie shrieks and thrashes in her chains, sobbing and begging in her incomprehensible babbles to make the pain stop.

“Please! No more! Make it stop! Please!” sobs Trixie.

The agents and guards in the room exchange worried glances, and while Brisk Wind stares at Trixie without a shred of decency or sympathy, Shining Armor runs to her side and lays next to her with his hoof on her back. She can barely see or feel him, though, since her eyes are squeezed shut and every time she opens her eyes, it is just a crack and everything is a wet haze. Her body feels like it is splintering and her injected hoof might as well be stuffed with jagged, hot rocks that shift around inside her, cutting up all her muscles, bones and veins.

“It will stop when you talk to us,” says Brisk Wind.

“Trixie, please tell us what you know,” says Shining Armor.

Trixie remains quiet, save for a weak sniffling and the chains rattling from her shaking. Seconds later, she mutters something and Shining Armor and Brisk Wind both lean closer.

“What did she say?” says Brisk Wind.

“Trixie, can you repeat that?” says Shining Armor.

Trixie lifts her head up and forces her eyes open so she can stare at Brisk Wind with her bloodshot eyes. Her sweat soaks through her jumpsuit and large beads drip from her ruined mane and off her muzzle, but she still stares defiantly at the Director and grits her teeth as she shifts in her spot.

“They're my family...” seethes Trixie agonizingly with strands of thick drool bleeding past her teeth. “I can't betray my family.”

Brisk Wind hums. “Such a shame you're on the wrong side. I would have loved to have somepony like you on my team. Nurse, inject her again.”

Shining Armor scrambles to his hooves to approach Brisk Wind, cringing from a sharp pain in his injury. “You can’t be serious!”

“Captain, I think it is time for you to leave.”

“I am not leaving her here with you!”

“But you've let me do quite a bit to her despite you standing in here, so all you're doing is wasting space and getting on my nerves.”

As the two officials bicker, Nurse Golden Heart sits next to Trixie and prepares her hoof for another injection. Trixie’s whimpering, quiet begs and weak thrashes do nothing to faze her, and when she is injected again, the feeling of the hot, sharp rocks inside her explode to dozens of splinters that slice and rip apart everything inside her hoof. Trixie's eyes snap wide open and she feels her lungs struggling to work as her throat closes off as she chokes for air to scream, but then everything becomes dull. Her heart tightens, her lungs harden, and her eyes roll to the back of her head as she collapses to the floor. Then the darkness claims her.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 03 May 2015

Arc 2- 03- Minty Sprinkles -ADDITION-

Journal of Shining Armor Sparkle
06- Jun- 12 ALR

Equestria is going to crap. There is no other way to put it. The politicians, the reporters, the whoevers of the whatevers can spin it however they want, but Equestria is going on its last limb and there is nothing we can do about it. Even though Brisk Wind has had an insane amount of success in combating the League of Justice, I don't think she is giving me everything. She is hiding something. It can't be the torture since I was there. Or maybe she tried hiding it, but couldn't after I showed up. It makes me wonder how many were tortured in her custody.

Speaking of torture, Trixie Lulamoon finally talked after almost two weeks of nonstop interrogation. I sent Flash Sentry to oversee the guard's interrogating to make sure that they don't try to copy the EIB, who sent some hotshot named Lock over to continue what Brisk Wind started. On top of Trixie's confession, Brisk Wind failed to notify me of the said confession and apparently the guards and EIB agents got into an argument that almost turned into a hoof fight. The good news is that despite the friction between us, our combined reports have given us the League of Justice's headquarters. I want to be there at the battle when we root them out, but in my condition, I'd only be a hindrance, so I am going to ask General Ji to lead the charge in my stead. His Frontier Watch ponies are worth twenty guards easy. No offense to Royal Guard, but they are not ready for this. Equestria has not faced a crisis like this in a thousand years and we need a way out fast and sending an unprepared force against any enemy is asking for a disaster.

When this is all over, I hope that things can go back to the way they were. I hope Twilight can go back to her cheerful self and I hope harmony can return to Equestria so we can do away with the EIB and the CDA and the dozens of other life-sucking agencies we have now. But, with the way things are going, I don't think even the Higher Powers can save us.

P.S.- Mouth writing sucks. How can non-unicorns do this?

BRIEF PSYCH-EVALUATION FOR: Trixie Beatrix Lulamoon (PN: 03231 / CN: 5-05-L)
Filed By: Dr. Note Pad
Date: 06 June, 12 ALR
Report:
Trixie Lulamoon shows symptoms of night terrors, paranoia and possible dementia. I believe she has manifested her fears into an entity named “Sunshine”. She says Sunshine frequently visits her and makes lewd comments and likes to keep her trapped in a corner. She has also been showing intense mood swings, ranging from guarded reservation to aggressive outbursts -many times physical- both in the office and in the commons with me, the guards and other prisoners. I believe that she will need somepony near her at all times for her safety as well as the safety of others should she be released from state custody. Until then, solitary confinement and strong medications are recommended and will be listed below.
Suggested Course(s) of Action:
Transfer to solitary confinement under close supervision by trained medical personnel
2- 25mg of ef̱tychisménos i̱liofáneia with every meal
-NOTE: This will combat her mood swings and ensure a more pleasant nature
-NOTE: Last meal must be biggest. Very important!
-REPORTED SIDE EFFECTS: Increase in energy, excessive happiness, energy crash, munchies
1- 30mg of fengári paidí with last meal
-NOTE: This will help her sleep at night, and if taken with the ef̱tychisménos i̱liofáneia, she will sleep through the night with no trouble after the crash.
-REPORTED SIDE EFFECTS: Drowsiness, minor loss of motor functions
1- 30 mg of afaíresi̱s fántasma with first meal
-NOTE: This will remove hallucinations and lasts up to 24 hours
-REPORTED SIDE EFFECTS: Tingly tongue, leg cramps, twitching eye, floppy ears, itches on rump, uncontrollable tail flicks, temporary color blindness has been reported in 5% of users, ringing in the ears, numb tongue, tooth pain, watery eyes, muscle spams, estrus flash for 1% of mare users, sterilization reported for 2% of stallion users, and addiction to gambling

In a small day care center designed like a Wild West saloon, a group of foals are crowded around a pair of decorative swing doors, waiting in anticipation for the arrival of a mare that has kept appearing and disappearing right before their very eyes. The teacher -an earth pony mare in her thirties with a white coat, a rusty red mane tied into a bun and a piece of chalk as a cutie mark- children can only smile at how easily the kids are amused and how they are oblivious to the azure hooves that are not covered by the door.

“Wheeere’s Trixie?... Here she is!”

A thirteen year old Trixie pushes open the doors, wearing her star studded pointy hat and cape, grinning brightly at the group of little foals. The group giggles, cheers, and awkwardly clap their hooves together, and then Trixie disappears behind the doors after pulling them shut. The foals stop clapping and stare at it, and some sniffle while others wonder out loud where she went.

“Wheeere’s Trixie?”

The foals eyes widen and sparkle with anticipation.

“Here she is!”

Trixie pops out yet again and the foals cheer and clap as loud as their little bodies can. Feeling exhausted from doing such a simple act so many times, Trixie lies down on the ground by a pile of Ursa Minor and Major plushies, which just happen to make excellent pillows. However, the foals crowd around her, begging for more of her amazing disappearing act, so she can't rest as much as she would like. She is not annoyed, though. She likes those little rascals and all the attention they are giving her.

Trixie giggles and snuggles up with an Ursa Major plushie while hugging an Ursa Minor to her chest, keeping her eyes closed but her lips curved to a playful smile. “No, I’m sorry, but I already did that fifty times. I’m tired and must sleep to regain my disappearing powers.”

Then she pretends to snore, and the foals inch closer to her and start poking her all over her body, starting from her face, and moving down to her sides, and eventually her cutie mark. Trixie is using every bit of willpower she has to stop from giggling, especially when they poke at her wand cutie mark, but that task is easier said than done. Every time they poke her cutie mark, there is a surge of ticklish jolts that radiate from the magical marking and takes over her whole leg. In spite of all her best efforts to pretend to be unaffected, her leg still kicks and every time she pulls the leg in, the foals poke it out. Not even tucking her hind leg under her body and covering it with her silver tail can spare Trixie of the onslaught of the amused pokes.

“She’s ticklish,” whispers another foal.

Knowing what's coming, Trixie tries in vain to hold back her smile and giggle.

“TICKLE ATTACK!” yell the foals.

Suddenly, an army of little hooves rub Trixie all over her body, overwhelming her with dozens of tickling sensations in every spot the hooves touch, and she bursts into a trashing, laughing fit that makes her face turn a shade of crimson in seconds. Trixie is soon on her back, flailing her hooves in the air and struggling to breathe through her laughter, and during the tickle assault. The foals continue their relentless tickle attack against Trixie, ignoring her begs to make them stop, not that she could be understood easily since her laughter is turning her words into something less coherent than gibberish.

The eternity that is only a couple of minutes of tickling is brought to an end when the teacher approaches the group and gently shoos the foals away from Trixie. With the kids gone, Trixie is left lying on her back, breathing heavily, sweating, and still giggling sporadically from the overdose of joy that the attention brought.

The teacher helps Trixie up and brushes the loose paper and chewed crayon bits off of her star-studded cape. “Sorry about. These foals hardly had anypony entertain them until you came along. They just can't get enough of you.”

“Oh no, it’s alright, Miss Aural, I love entertaining these little guys,” says Trixie while levitating her hat back on her head.

The teacher nods and heads over to her desk with Trixie following close behind. “I am actually surprised you're still here, to be honest. You will be amazed how many professionals conveniently find more profitable clients to attend after spending a day with those little animals.”

Trixie shrugs and takes a seat in front of the desk, watching the children now wreck a little town made of colorful blocks and little pieces of wood with the Ursa plushies. “Well, their loss.”

Miss Aural pulls out a small bag of bits. “It's not a loss to them. Why spend an hour here for ten bits when you can get four times as much for half the time just by going down the street?”

With that, Miss Aural hands Trixie the bag of bits, which she takes with a grateful smile.

“Well, you won't have to worry about me going anywhere. I will be back tomorrow to entertain these kids again.”

Miss Aural smirks. “Unless you get detention again for cheating.”

Trixie's smile flips to a frown and she points defensively at the teacher. “Hey, I was not cheating. I was using my resources.”

“Well, where I come from, stealing the answers to the wrong test is not only called 'cheating', but 'screwing up', too.”

Trixie's eyes narrow. “The price for the shows just went up to fifty bits, Miss.”

Miss Aural frowns and squints challengingly at the Trixie. “Is that so?”

Trixie nods slowly and steps closer, having to strain her neck a little to look up at the mature mare, who is frowning down at her. This goes on for a few seconds before Trixie's stern gaze cracks into a smile and a snorting laugh. Miss Aural follows suit and the two mare giggle with each other as they go to the exit, with Trixie saying her farewells to the now confused foals. That confusion turns to sadness when they wave goodbye, but changes to happiness when they are assured that Trixie will be back the next day.

“Same time, tomorrow?” asks Ms. Aura as she holds open the door.

“Same time, same pay,” replies Trixie with a smile.

“Okay, good. I'll see you then. Have a safe walk home.”

Miss Aural and Trixie exchange quick hugs, and then the aspiring magician steps outside to the cobblestone streets of Canterlot. She takes a moment to breathe in the fresh air consisting of freshly watered grass and newly bloomed flowers, and feel the warm rays of the sun warm her body.

The inside of Miss Aural's daycare center is at least ten degrees cooler than it is outside, and Trixie loves the warmth of the sun more than the coldness of the inside. After taking in the wonderful feelings for a few seconds, she takes a deep breath and begins trotting down the street, cheerfully greeting the vendors and passerbys along the way. However, someone, or something, catches her eye in an alley.

The pony is familiar, but why he is watching her from the alley instead of walking up to greet her is quite peculiar to her. So, Trixie does the only reasonable thing when a featurless shadow pony is watching someone from an alley. She grins from ear to ear and trots towards it.

“Hey there, Shadow Pony! What are you doing?” says Trixie as she slows to a stop in front of him.

“Watching you enjoy a pleasant memory,” replies the Shadow Stallion.

“Oh...”

“It is nice having ponies that love you, isn't it?”

Trixie nods, but her smile fades to a disgusted frown. “Yeah, but I'd like my father to love me, too. He probably doesn't know that I'm gone since he's always in his office or on the road.”

The Shadow Stallion hums. “I hope one day you can forgive him for his terrible parenting skills.”

“That is probably the biggest understatement of the century, and it will be a cold day in Tartarus if I ever forgive him.”
“Hopefully that cold day comes soon. Your happiness cannot be burdened with grudges.” The featureless pony's horn glows, and before Trixie can do anything besides stepping back, he says: “You need to wake up.”

The glow of his horn blinds Trixie and-

She wakes up on the cot of her new cell, which is a little over half the size of her old cell. Trixie has been his problem for almost three weeks now, and she meets it like how she has been meeting it for the past two weeks. Yawning, curling underneath the thin blanket, and using the worn out pillow as a soft barrier between her head and hoof.

She wants to go back to sleep so she can go back to her happy place, but she is wide awake and is only keeping her eyes closed in the hopes that she can force herself to sleep. There is not much to do in her new cell besides, eat, sleep and stare at the wall. Sometimes the guards will slide a book in with her meals, but Trixie hates reading, especially books that get mushy with all the friendship is magic junk, which is apparently the only kind they have. Trixie would rather stare at a wall than read that kind of garbage.

The only bright side to her situation is that with all the medications they have given her, she no longer sees Sunshine and she feels virtually stress free. With the happy pills, she does not mind being in the cell as long as she gets to pace in circles and think about wonderful rays of sunlight and the colorful bands of rainbows. Another good effect of the collection of pills is that she barely feels the scab ring around her eye, her split lip or the collection of bruises she obtained from her scuffles with the prisoners and guards. She hardly cares that her mane and tail are a mess, too.

As she thinks about the joys of pill induced happiness, the solitary cell door opens and a pair of guards walk in, with one carrying a chain leash and the other carrying a baton. The one holding the leash clips it to Trixie's collar and she makes a whine of disapproval when they gently nudge her up.

"What did Trixie do this time?" whines the mare.

“Nothing. You got a visitor,” says the guard with the leash.

Trixie gasps and her eyes sparkle with amazement and joy as a wide smile spreads across her scarred face. “A visitor for Trixie? Where? Where is this visitor for Trixie? Trixie must know at once!”

She starts pacing in circles again, but with much more vigor and excited giggles and hops, and after the guards manage to get her under control using a combination of colorful vocabulary and threats, they leave the cell. The guards escort Trixie through the passages on the outside of the courtyard, and the prisoners leaning by the fence jump away from Trixie and those that are passing through with their own guard escorts scrunch up against the wall as much as they can. Trixie just smiles and waves, though. She has a visitor! She does not have time to play with the others.

It takes a few minutes for the guards to lead Trixie to a long room separated by a wall with thick glass panels showing what’s on the other side. There, she is brought to the very back where an odd visitor is waiting for her on the other side of the glass. She is an earth pony mare with mint green coat, a wavy pink mane and tail, and she’s wearing a flower necklace and a flower clip in her hair as well as a basic, red frock with a black belt.

Trixie giggles at the amusing sight and pushes a small button on the floor that turns on the intercom for their spot. “You look funny.”

The earth pony smiles and turns on her side of the intercom, replying in a carefree, bubbly voice: “Genetics, gotta love it.”

“Are you Trixie's visitor?”

“Yes, ma'am, I am.”

“Do you want to be Trixie’s friend?”

“Actually, I am already a friend of yours, Trixie.”

Trixie taps her chin, humming. “Hmm, I don’t seem to remember you, though. Did we go to school together at some point? Are you Ribbon Wishes? Oh, no wait, Clarence? You're Clarence, aren't you? You look like a Clarence.”

The earth pony shakes her head, smiling patiently. “No, my name isn't Clarence, silly filly. My name is Minty Sprinkles, and I'm an associate of Princess Celestia.”

“Ohhhhhhhh...” says Trixie, eyes big and her head moving up and down just as slowly as the lone word leaves her lips. “... Minty Sprinkles .... Minty Sprinkles...” Trixie suddenly clops her hoof against the counter and points at the colorful pony in front of her, grinning from ear to ear. “Math class at the Academy! Missus Calculus, right? She had that ruler and that face and nopony liked her because she was a meanie butt-face!”

Minty Sprinkles shakes her head. “Nope. I got-”

“But how can you be Trixie's friend when you haven't shared math class with Trixie?” whines Trixie.

Minty Sprinkles sighs. “I promise I'm your friend Trixie. Anyway, I got-”

An eager smile sprouts on Trixie's muzzle. “Mint?”

Minty Sprinkles cocks her head to the side, brows scrunched and lips pursed. “Mint?”

Trixie nods. “Yeah, mint. You're Minty Sprinkles, you must have mint. Trixie loves mint. Especially minty stuff, like minty gum, minty cookies, minty frosting, minty toothpaste, minty soda-”

“Trixie, how would you like freedom?”

Trixie snorts a laugh. “You’re funny, Minty. Haven’t you heard? This is Singsong Prison! Nopony gets out of Singsong!”

“Not easily, Trixie, that is until now,” says Minty while giving a quick wink. “You see, me being your friend, I had a very long talk with Celestia and now the Princess is like: ‘Gee, maybe Trixie isn’t all that bad’. Now, I'm here and soon you'll be home in a comfy ghetto apartment in Canterlot.”

“Oh, Minty, quit pulling Trixie's tail.”

“I'm not pulling your tail. When you get out, I’ll be acting as your caretaker and we'll be living together in an apartment until we think you are a good pony.”

Trixie's smile disappears and her ears droop as she points at herself with sinking eyes, whimpering: “You don't think Trixie's a good pony?”

Minty sighs and scratches at her mane, contorting her face in response to obvious discomfort. “Well, I think you're a good pony who made some bad choices, but everypony else thinks you're a mean, rotten pony.” She stops messing with her mane and flashes a bright smile at Trixie. “Which is why we're going to show everypony how good you are when you get out of here. Kind of like a super big trust exercise... I think. It might be something else.”

Trixie grins and nods. “I like trust, trust is good. Trust is very good. Just like candy. Do you like candy? I like mint candy.”

“We’ll buy you all the mint candy you want, how’s that sound?”

Trixie squeals joyfully and claps her hooves together. “Oh yay! This is great! I get candy! Lots and lots of candy!”

Minty motions Trixie to push the intercom button and the imprisoned unicorn quickly pushes the said button.

“Do you want Trixie to repeat what she said?”

“Nah, I can read lips,” says Minty Sprinkles with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “But, the process to get you officially out of here will take me a little while, so sit tight and soon you’ll taste the freshness of sort-of freedom. Which is better than the no freedom you’re getting.”

Trixie nods her head quickly, her messy mane bobbing up and down with her motions. Minty smiles and tells her hang tight and then she leaves in a flash. Trixie presses her face against the glass to try to find her, but all she sees is wood and a boring brick wall. She does not stare long, though, because the guards take Trixie back to her solitary cell where she waits patiently for her freedom bringing mare to come and get her and give her candy.

And freedom, too.

Hours later, Trixie is still sitting in her solitary confinement cell, stomach rumbling and face twitsted to an aggravated scowl aimed at the dreaded steel door holding her in this prison in a prison. The drugs have worn off, leaving Trixie feeling empty and hateful. She has lost track at how long she has been in this prison, and being locked inside a box with no way to tell time has not done her any favors. Still, there is no Sunshine, which is nice for her, but she is hungry and miserable and wants those happy pills.

No, she needs those happy pills.

Without them, she is left with only the truth. The cold, hard truth that life sucks then you die. It is a truth she does not want to deal with and at least with the pills that come with her lunch -which should be coming very soon- she does not have to deal with this reality. She can live in another one that is full of joy and love and everything that this world is not. Besides, there is also Minty Sprinkles.

Trixie has been sifting through her memories for any clues about the strange pony ever since they parted ways, and she is left with nothing but a desire for ice cream with mint sprinkles. It actually makes her mouth water and a part of her hopes that they will stop by an ice cream parlor and get some mint ice cream with the cool sprinkles, but she also does not want to get her hopes up.

She does not trust Minty Sprinkles.

Maybe her drug-persona does, but not her sober, absolutely miserable state that needs the drugs. Why would a random pony come out saying she was a friend? Why would Celestia pardon her of her crimes even though she leveled a construction sight, killed Pinkie Pie and assaulted Twilight? Did Celestia finally realize how much Twilight sucks and is willing to pardon her for beating the snot out of her prized pupil? Is Minty Sprinkles actually Twilight Sparkle in disguise and is she going to stab her in the back and leave her to choke on her own blood somewhere in an alley where no one will find her?

So many possibilities, so many things not right with this sudden release.

Trixie shifts her position again and continues to stare at the door, waiting for the grungy steel barrier to open and for the guard to drag her along that leash of theirs like she is a dog. Minutes later of staring and tummy rumbles later, Trixie looks at the floor and realizes how dirty it is. The worn concrete is bleeding rust in spots and the cracks in the wall and the sounds of water rushing through the pipes add to the dread she’s feeling. And it does not help that the weak light bulb is constantly flickering on and off.

She really needs those pills. They will take her out of this Hell in no time.

Right as that thought ends, the door opens and Trixie's ears perk as she looks up, hoping for a lunch and some more pills. What she gets is a pair of guards with the leash and no lunch. Her face falls and her stomach groans in disappointment. She stays still and quiet like a petrified animal as the chain is clipped to her collar, and she gets up with a low grumble and a stomach rumble as she is led out to where more guards are waiting.

Trixie’s mind goes blank as they lead her to a bathroom, where they give her a quick wash that makes her sparkle. Well, almost sparkle. She would be if it was not for the large amount of bruises and scratches she has sustained from her stay, but at least her mane and tail got their natural curl and shine back.

After the guards wash her up, they remove her collar, the cuff on her horn with plenty of unicorn guards watching to make sure she does not do anything stupid and her prison garb. When that is taken care of, they give her a month’s supply of her prescription drugs that were issued to her by Doctor Note Pad, and then they take her to Minty, who is waiting for them on the other side of the prison's main gate. Minty is alone and beaming at Trixie with obnoxious, frantic waving and shouting of greetings, which makes Trixie feel all the more uncomfortable and suspicious. After all, how can Celestia employ a loon?

The guards lead Trixie up to Minty, who's smile disappears when she sees Trixie's grumpy look, and she stares at the guards curiously as she points at the newly released pony.

“Did I get the right Trixie? Because the one I talked to was a happy-go-lucky filly,” says Minty.

“She's the right one,” says one of the guards.

Trixie grunts.

Minty looks at Trixie, demeanor sulked slightly. “Aren't you happy to be sort-of free?”

Trixie frowns at Minty. “The circumstances are suspicious to me.”

Minty's smile returns. “Yeah, the circumstances are odd, but at least you’re getting your kinda freedom right?”

Trixie is silent and Minty moves next to her and playfully nudges her side with her elbow as the guards leave, and said nudged pony scowls and inches away from the crayon-baby pony.

“Right?” says Minty.

“Yeah, I guess so,” grumbles Trixie.

“Good! Joe is waiting for us just around the corner in the parking lot.”

Minty grabs Trixie and pulls her in for a hug, causing her eyes to bulge and her muscles to tighten and body to tremble as her heart rate increases tenfold.

“Next stop, Canterlot!” proclaims the crazy mare, completely oblivious to her body vibrating from Trixie's shakes.

Trixie's stomach roars and grumbles and rumbles, and Trixie freezes and scrunches her mouth and averts her eyes to the sky as Minty looks at Trixie's stomach, smile gone and eyes bugged out. That lasts only a second before Minty points to the sky, grinning again.

“Never mind! Next stop, Donut Joe's!”

Trixie sighs and lowers her head.

She has a feeling she is in for a long day.

Author's Notes:

Added 10 May 2015

Arc 2- 04- Day One of the Rest of Her Life -EDITED-

Author's Notes:

Edited on 10 May 2015
Final edit on 07 Sep 2015

Trixie begrudgingly follows Minty Sprinkles down the sidewalk that lines the towering, concrete walls of Singsong Prison. With the afternoon sun beating down on her and no clouds to cover the massive ball of burning gas, Trixie feels like she is roasting alive, but Minty Sprinkles looks just peachy. The candy looking mare does not have a bead of sweat on her, and not even the slight limp she has stops her from a light skip. It aggravates Trixie that her parole officer is so damn happy for no reason.

The two round the corner, and much to Trixie's surprise the parking lot looks dead, with only a few motor wagons placed in random spots. There is one large vehicle that is close to them, though, and at first she ignores it, but when Minty stops and points at the behemoth, Trixie stops, like her heart, and quietly begs Celestia not to make her fear a reality.

Naturally she is ignored.

“And here's Joe!” says Minty proudly.

Trixie's eye twitches and her knees quiver as she stares at the desecrated mini-train before them. The king of road vehicles still has its scaled down train engine and cow-catcher with the exhaust pipe directed towards the back, but it is all painted yellow and blue. With the pipe yellow and the body blue. Positioned behind the engine is the rectangular, polished wooden cabin with slanted windows, and hanging down from the roof are the window wipers and large headlights, and behind the driver carriage is a truck bed that is six feet long. Also, the tires are fat, very fat, and the windows have pink curtains on the inside. To make the puke of colors more terrible for Trixie's eyes, there is décor hanging down in the cabin of fuzzy dice, as well as a disco ball with a bumblebee hanging from it. Truly, it is a sin to all vehicles.

“You can't be serious,” says Trixie, dumbfounded.

“You don't like Joe?” says Minty, her smile fading to disappointment.

“No! Look what you did to it! You-you made it look gay!”

“Well, duh! How else am I supposed to start off on a happy note if my vehicle looks like it wants to kill somepony?”

In a flash, Trixie's ears are splayed against her skull and her eyes are slits and aimed at Minty, and Minty, realizing her blunder, smiles sheepishly and backs away, giggling awkwardly.

“Oops. Sorry about that. That was a tongue slip.”

Trixie scoffs and sulks towards the abused mini-train, dreading what she will see inside. “Whatever.”

Minty shakes her head and walks after Trixie. “You got a really bad attitude. Like, rotten egg kind of bad. I mean, you just got out of prison! And not just any prison. Singsong Prison! Seriously, that is like the second worst place to be, next to that Snowflake place. And you're all prude-y about it.”

Trixie frowns at Minty, unimpressed. “What did you want me to be like? A singing filly that pole dances on lamp posts?”

“Well... yes.”

Trixie face-hoofs. “I hate you, already.”

“Well, that sucks, because I love you already”- Minty grabs Trixie's cheeks and pushes them together, puckering her lips like a fish and ignoring the ex-inmate's glare -“my cute little unicorn soistra.”

Trixie exposes her grinding teeth with a rabid growl, and her horn sparks as her whole trembling body becomes coiled like a trapped badged. “Get your hooves off of me.”

Thankfully Minty is smart enough to retract her hooves in a blur of motion, and Trixie can care less about the wide eyed, sealed lip look her parole office has. She meets the obnoxious pony's shock with a glare, and without taking her eyes off of Trixie, Minty unlocks and opens the door, and waves her in.

“After you, Miss Lulamoon,” says Minty.

Trixie looks inside, expecting it to be either be covered in glitter puke or cramped like when she was with the League, but it is surprisingly spacious. The fluffy chairs are professionally tailored to that of a pony, and the spot free dashboard is made of wood and has a very basic assortment of tools in front of the driver seat. Tools such as the steering, the speed lever, and gauges measuring the speed, fuel level, and engine systems in between the two. On the other side of the steering orb is a giant keyhole and a button for a horn, which Trixie is certain will blare polka music instead of honk like a normal horn.

After Trixie climbs inside the first thing she notices, besides how comfortable the seat is, is that there is a hole for her tail to go through. Trixie looks over her shoulder to make sure her tail is not going somewhere that it shouldn’t, and finds a lot of empty food containers, bottles, a book titled “How To Speak Peltish In Three Months”, lottery tickets and a notebook with a pen clamped to it stuffed in the back. While she does get some relief that Minty does not have a gun and ski mask with her, Trixie still finds the language book odd and the notebook just as strange.

Using her magic, Trixie grabs the notebook and is about to open it, but a mint green hoof slams down on the item, yanks it away from her and then an equally green butt sits right on top of it.

“Nope! Not for you!” says Minty.

“What's in the book?” asks Trixie.

“Its not for you, so don't worry about it.”

“But-”

“Private, Trixie. Its private.”

“...Is it your diary?”

Minty opens her mouth with her hoof raised, then closes it with a scrunched brow and looks straight ahead, hoof still raised slightly. She and Trixie remain silent for a strange three seconds before Minty nods.

“Yes. Yes it is my diary, so don't read it or I will be really, really, really, really angry with you, okay?” says the earth pony, casting a warning look at Trixie.

Trixie nods her head quickly, her stomach growling again.

“Good.” Minty grins straight ahead and shoves her key in the ignition slot and presses it down with a click. “Now let's get you something to eat.”

The vehicle rumbles and belches thick black smoke out the back, and then it moves forward, slowly at first, but it gradually picks up speed. In seconds, they are zooming away from Singsong Prison at speeds that rival a professional racer, but for Trixie, is not fast enough.

Trixie frowns at the door mirror, watching the prison shrink in the distance with hot tears stinging her reddening eyes and her throat clogging with a wet lump. As the distance grows between her and the prison, the memories of her stay latch on to the front of her mind like a tick. From the needles being injected into her, to the prison fights, getting dragged around like a dog and subjected to psychological treatment as if she were a bratty child. She knows she will never be able to get rid of these tumors in her memory. No matter how many pills she takes, no matter how many times she tells herself it is over, she knows the truth. They killed a part of her in that forsaken place and left her corpse there to rot, and it will never end for her.

“Good riddance,” mutters Trixie.

She then slouches in her seat and stares ahead at the snow capped Canterlot mountains, sniffling and blinking the tears out of her eyes. Minty looks at her for a moment before offering a sympathetic smile and gently patting her on the shoulder. Trixie flinches and glares at her parole officer, and, in turn, she quickly retracts her hoof and keeps her eyes on the road.

Trixie's eyes drift back to the road, as well, and barely notices the flat landscape passing them by, but she does take note of the sign that alerts them of Canterlot being fifty five miles away. Seeing that sign, Trixie groans inwardly and slumps further in her seat, knowing she is in for a long ride for her sort-of freedom.

Trixie has her head resting on her hoof, lips curled to a frown and tired eyes staring ahead at the long line of blocky motor-wagons going bumper to bumper, honking and revving their engines as they trudge through the smoggy streets of Canterlot.

She remembers when Canterlot was the cleanest city in all of Equestria. The white walls and gold roofs of the buildings always made things bright, even at night when the polished lampposts would take over, but now all she sees is a very strange sight of metal monoliths sprouting from the dirty walls, like snakes shedding skin.

To Trixie's great disappointment, the cobblestones are nearly completely replaced with a substance called asphalt, supposedly invented at a Flim Flam Corporation lab a few years back. All it looks like to her is ground up black rocks glued together, though. It is not nearly as pretty as the old cobblestone, and all she can really describe it as is tacky. Icky comes to mind, too, since it looks like it is bleeding black in some parts.

Another thing that bugs Trixie is how crowded Canterlot has become. The capital of Equestria has always been one of the more populated cities, but back then Trixie knew the good from the bad, and even then the bad had not really been that bad. The government homes looked nice, the wealthy had nicer homes, the public schools looked great, the royal academies looked better.

Now?

Now all Trixie sees is a big slum with graffiti and worn posters of events plastered on the decaying walls and rusting lampposts. Everywhere she looks there is dirt, grime, bumper to bumper traffic and various races too reluctant to pass each other for their own good. Especially in regards to the griffins.

The part where Minty and Trixie had ground to a near halt is next to a block of a building made of wood with peeling red paint and a purple flag with a red stone surrounded by a gold flame as the symbol. Above the heavy wooden door is a sign surrounded by tubes of light with Alázatos Roost written in fancy calligraphy, and guarding the said door is a pair of griffins watching every passer carefully. Unless said passer is a griffin, then they smile and shake talons and let their fellow cat-bird thing in.

“Looks like the griffin population grew,” says Trixie.

Minty nods and looks at the Roost with a cautious eye. “Yep. Altai is a mess right now, so we got a lot of griffins coming here to get away from all that junk in their homeland. Their population actually got big enough to where Celestia is allowing meat into the city.”

Trixie closes her eyes and shudders at the disturbing thought of skinned and sliced up animals being delivered to Canterlot. All those poor bunnies and pigs and squirrels, all having their skin sliced off and their guts torn out and drained of all their blood in a cold, cramped room full of hooks. How anyone can eat meat is beyond her.

“And since we're talking about griffins, I am going to tell you right now to avoid them at all costs,” says Minty sternly.

“I planned on it,” replies Trixie dryly.

“I'm serious. The griffins got a monopoly on Canterlot's criminal underworld, so you don't know who is really good and who is really bad. So, play safe, and if you just happen to run into one, be polite, smile and get out of their way. Don't give them a reason to stab you in the face with their fingers.”

“I get it! Jeez!” Trixie bangs her head against the passenger window, growing more agitated by the minute and really wishing she can run out of the vehicle without getting in any trouble. “Is there a short cut we can use to get out of this mess?”

“Nope.”

Trixie groans and slams her head against the window. Again.

“--And Steve Tackleloski tackles Swing Stick in a spectacular cougar pounce and has his head pressed against the ground and is keeping his hindquarters- Keeping Stick locked in place with his hindquarters! Stick is wrestling, he's wiggling, he looks like he's almost free and-”

BZZZZT!

The sudden buzz is like a vibrating pen being stabbed in Trixie's ears, which jolts her eyes open from the unpleasant noise. She could feel herself drifting to sleep, but even though her eyes were closed, she still heard everything, but the terrible buzzer really ruined her chance for a nap.

In a weak attempt to comfort her ears, Trixie folds them down and tenderly rubs them. She looks at Minty, expecting to see some discomfort, as well, but what she sees instead is her parole munching on the popcorn she found, looking intently at the radio and barely paying any mind to the road.

“The buzzer has spoken and Swing Stick is now the tagger,” says the stallion over the radio.

Another stallion pipes in. “Yes, and Steve Tackleloski still leads the match by three points, and if Swing Stick wants to have any hopes of getting at least third place he'll have to step up his game.”

“True, but it looks like we'll have to wait and see how the next round goes. The rest signal was just put on, so we're going to go to commercial break while our athletes take a breather. Stay tuned.”

Another stallion goes on air, but his voice sounds like an odd jock trying his hoof at advertising with a little too much enthusiasm and not enough talent. “Equestrian Tackle Tag League is brought to you by Flim Flam Corporation. Building the world together!”

An advertisement starts playing with whimsical music and a narrator starts speaking about advanced science that Trixie does not care about.

“What was that?” asks Trixie.

“What was what?” asks Minty, looking out the window in search of the mysterious thing Trixie asked about.

Seeing the mare react like that really compels Trixie's hoof to find a crash course on the earth pony's nose, but she settles with a sigh and facehoof. “What was on the radio?”

“Oh, that was tackle tag.”

“Tackle tag?”

“Tackle tag.”

Trixie rolls her eyes and looks out the window again, somewhat relieved to see that they are not in such a dirty spot. It looks like they have entered a middle class neighborhood, at this point. “Sounds stupid.”

Minty gasps way too loud to be serious about her reaction. “Tackle tag is not stupid, Trixie Lulamoon!”

Trixie sneers at Minty. “Did you just use my full name?”

“I would ground you for saying something so stupid, but I won't. You are obviously ignorant and in need of guidance.”

Trixie's jaw drops. “Ignorant? Ignorant!? Trixie is not ignorant! Trixie should let you know that Trixie has traveled all over Equestria, far and wide, east and west, north and south, performing and telling great tales and enjoying the local cultures!”

“And yet you never heard of tackle tag.”

“What the hell is tackle tag!?” yells Trixie, her voice cracking to a high pitched whine.

Minty jabs at the radio, getting visibly annoyed, now. “The thing you just asked about on the radio.”

“No shit, Starswirl! But what is it?”

“Its exactly what it is. Tagging with tackling. Ponies run around on a field, one is the tagger, and the tagger has to tackle somepony and keep them pinned for ten seconds. Once the tagger successfully tags another pony, they get a point and the first one to five points wins the round and however many rounds there are depends on whoever is in charge of the game or through vote or whatever. Most points win. Unlike golf. Which is boring and stupid.”

Trixie scoffs. “Oh, so something as uncouth as ponies wrestling in grass for points is entertainment, but golf is not?”

Minty's eyes narrow and Trixie's sour look fades to one of concern, and an audible gulp runs down her throat when she sees her parole officer's eyes narrow and darken and her muscles tense with a creepy frown.

“You are starting to remind of an unpleasant pony I once knew,” says Minty, her voice low, dangerous and laced with a wolfish growl. She stops at a red light and gives Trixie her full, undivided attention, and the ex-inmate shrinks in her seat, pupils tiny like dots and body scrunching at the vicious glare she is receiving. “Do you really want to get on my bad side on your first day out, Trixie?”

Her body now as scrunched as tight as it can go without imploding, Trixie quietly shakes her head hard enough to wave her mane, and Minty's mood suddenly brightens with a big grin as she looks ahead.

“Glad to hear. Now, let's get some lunch,” says the parole officer.

The light turns green and Minty speeds on, leaving Trixie dumbfounded at what just happened.

Minutes later, Minty pulls into the parking lot of a quaint restaurant called Donut Joe's Donut Shop. It holds a classic, Nifty Fifties design with glass blocks for a wall, shiny, stainless steel doors and gem powered tubes of light snaking on the roof.

“--And speaking of hoofball, that is where tackle tag came from. You know, I still remember how I used to play tackle tag with my sisters all the time, nearly every week when we were young,” says Minty over the radio, which is still be broadcasting the obscure game.

Trixie groans and pulls her ears down with her hooves and shuts her eyes. Ever since their conversation at the red light, Minty has not been able to keep her mouth shut about the strange subject. It is like she is on nostalgic overload and does not know how to stay quiet. Trixie is certain she did not talk this much when she had a life, and she briefly wonders how oblivious Minty must be to talk so much that she does not even realize that her passenger is getting red faced and about ready to shatter her teeth from how hard she is grinding them.

“Though, my little sister hated it because she was so small and we always pinned her down easily, so she started messing around with instruments instead of playing with us. She really loved those string instruments, like violins and cellos and harps and banjos and basically anything with a string. She could play a mean fiddle, too, and could knock the colors off of you with her mad skills with a violin and cello. She was -and actually still is- really good with banjos, which her first banjo was actually a gift from some family up from Ponyville that was given to my oldest sister and she gave it to her as a hoofydown Hearth's Warming Eve gift,” continues Minty.

Trixie presses her hooves harder against her ears and shuts her eyes tighter. 'Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.'

“Speaking of my oldest sister, she's all... She's all wow.” Minty's eyes pop wide for reasons mysterious to Trixie as she pulls into a parking spot. “I mean, with tackle tag or hoofball or wrestling you could not keep her down for anything! You'd tackle her and BAM!” Minty bangs her hooves together and giggles, ignoring Trixie's rapidly intensifying glare. “You were on your back and she was gone like the wind! She even benched two three hundred pound, rock hard muscle stallions at the same time ten times. Ten reps! Ten!”

'Please, Celestia, have her choke on a bug or something!'

Minty taps her chin in thought. “Maybe that's why all the colts wanted her on their sports teams, but she actually hated sports and only played tackle tag with us to make us happy. She was actually a bookworm. A really, freakishly strong bookworm that loved hitting the gyms. And she was a big health nut, too. Like a coconut kind of big nut, and those are big, big nuts, too. Have you ever seen a coconut, before? I mean, they get-”

“SHUT UP!” screams Trixie. She grabs Minty's shoulders and starts shaking her as hard as she can, whipping the officer's head back and forth like a dysfunctional bobble-head, screaming at the top of her lungs with wild eyes and a face as red as a red hot chili pepper. “JUST SHUT UP! SHUT! UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! SHUT! UUUUUP! Goddess damn.” Trixie shoves Minty into the door and turns away, panting and twitching. “I mean, shit. Do you even hear yourself? I mean... holy shit.”

Minty stares at Trixie, mouth sealed shut, ears drooped and eyes too big for her head, and Trixie remains staring straight ahead. She quickly notices a couple of passing ponies staring at her, though, but all she has to do to get them to stop is roll down her window and yell at them.

“You wanna go!” shouts Trixie with half her body out the window. The two ponies pale and gallop away and Trixie shakes her hoof at them. “Yeah, you better run!”

“You know, I could technically arrest you for assaulting an officer of the law and threatening harm on two individuals,” says Minty deadpanned.

Trixie scoffs and slumps back in her seat, not bothering to look at her parole officer. “You? An officer of the law? Please, don't make Trixie laugh. You have candy on your ass. That's not guardian material.”

Minty frowns. “Okay, that's it. I'm getting sick of your crap, already. You got one strike, Trixie. Two more and I'm cuffing you and tossing your tail back in Singsong for another year.”

“Oh, I'm sure you will,” counters Trixie with a roll of her eyes as she folds her hooves across her chest.

Then her ears perk with the sounds of metal clanking together, and she looks out of the corner of her eye, still frowning, and sees Minty holding up a set of horn and hoof cuffs. Trixie's eyes bulge and she turns all the way to see Minty's eyes are narrowed and ready for a challenge, and her frown has gotten more intense, whereas Trixie's has faded to pure fear, and she flinches and inches back when Minty shakes them again.

“Test me. I dare you,” says Minty darkly.

The earth pony gives the cuffs another shake and Trixie whines quietly and pushes herself into the door, heart racing and sweat sucking her dry as ghostly cuffs press on her neck, limbs and horn to remind her of Hell.

“You don't want to test me?” says Minty.

Trixie shakes her head.

“Are you sure? I love being tested.”

Trixie shakes her head again.

“So you aren't sure if you want to test me or not?”

Trixie is in the middle of shaking her head again when she suddenly stops, tries nodding, but stops again and looks at Minty with big eyes glowing with the purest form of confusion. “What?”

Minty sighs and drops her eyelids halfway with her drooping ears and opens up her door, keeping the cuffs hung around her neck. “Never mind. Come on, Trixie, lets get something to eat.”

“Can't you bring me something and I'll just eat it here?” asks Trixie meekly.

Minty walks to Trixie's side and opens her door, giving her a stern stare. “No, you’re my responsibility and I have to keep my eye on you at all times. Besides, you'll probably run off. Now get out and help me eat some donuts!”

“But you're mean to me!”

“What are you, five? I'm a candy colored messiah compared to who you had to deal with, and as your messiah I am ordering you to get out and eat donuts with me!”

Trixie shakes her head and slides further back, and Minty sighs, grabs the unicorn's hoof and pulls her out, despite the weak protests, both verbal and physical. Trixie tugs away from Minty and tries grabbing on to the seat of the mini-train, but her hooves paw useless at it and she almost gets a face full of cushion when her parole officer bites down on her tail and starts pulling. Both mares grunt and pull against each other, with Trixie resorting to wrapping her hooves on the seat belt and Minty digging her hooves into the pavement.

“Minty, I will buck you in the face if you don't let go!” yells Trixie, her stomach instantly growling angrily at its lack of needed nutrients and her reluctance to get some.

“You buck me and its ten strikes!” says Minty, her voice muffled by the mouth full of tail. “You need to eat, so get inside and help me eat donuts!”

“But I don't wanna go inside!”

“You're doing a great job of testing me!”

“I promise I won't run away if you get me a little bag to munch on!”

“Let go of the seat belt!”

“No!”

Minty spits out the tail, growling. “That does it.”

Trixie relaxes for just a second when she feel her tail slide free from the spit soaked cavern of Minty's mouth. However, Trixie is not quick enough for her to get back on guard, for within a blink of an eye Minty's full body weight comes crashing down on her back, pressing her into the seat, and next thing she knows-

She and Minty walk right into the donut shop, manes and tails ruffled and tangled, fresh shiners on their eyes, both fuming and Minty's frock a little ripped around the collar with cuffs on Trixie's limbs, neck and horn with the chain leash in Minty's mouth. That gets the attention of everyone in the shop, but both mares ignore the stares as they limp towards the counter, where a stocky, light amber unicorn stallion with a brown mane is standing, waiting to take their order.

“So, is this strike two?” asks Trixie sourly, her head lowered and her hate filled eyes drifting over the patrons.

“I'm upping it to five. Be grateful,” grumbles Minty, now coming to a stop in front of the counter.

“Then why am I in cuffs?”

“Just in case you strike out in the next five minutes.” Minty then flashes a bloody smile at the unicorn, whose name tag says “Joe”, props half of her body on the counter and with a fail of a flirtatious look and in a sweet, polar opposite of annoyed voice with an odd giggle to go with it, she says: “Hey there, stud muffin. How you doing?”

That gets a brow raise from Trixie, and Joe shifts uncomfortably in his spot and leans back a little when Minty bats her lashes a little too quickly at him.

“Uh... I'm fine,” says Joe. He looks between the two mares, getting a little bit more concerned when Trixie coolly approaches the counter and uses fancy hoof work to shove a napkin up her bloody nose. “Shouldn't you two be in the hospital? Or taking her to jail or something?”

Minty takes the chain out of her mouth and clumsily wraps it around her hoof. “Nah, we're fine. We just had a minor disagreement about how we should eat out.”

Minty giggles awkwardly and starts trembling a little bit with a twitch in her eye, and Joe looks at Trixie, getting more concerned as the seconds tick by. But it is ambiguous as to whether or not the concern is for his safety or the patrons. Noting his uneasy expression, Trixie sighs, steps back with her head down and hoof up.

“I don't know her,” says Trixie.

“Not yet you don't!” blurts Minty. She quickly pulls Trixie into a one hoof hug, tugging the unicorn off balance and snapping their bodies together, smiling brightly and giggling more madly with a slightly twitching eye as Trixie tries to wrestle away from her and Joe takes a step back. “But soon we're gonna be fridge magnets and we're gonna eat donuts together and can we have a lot of donuts, handsome man!?”

A few minutes later, Trixie is sitting at a table near the exit with Minty across from her. The earth pony still has Trixie's chain wrapped around her hoof, but her gaze is on the platter of a dozen donuts, consisting of four chocolate glaze, four regular glaze, four with sprinkles on one side and four with mint frosting. However, those four mint donuts quickly drops to three since as soon as the two mares get comfortable, Trixie's hoof snaps out like a cobra and pulls the pastry to her. She squishes half of it in the process and leaves crumbs splattered all over the table and platter, but she is not in the least bit concerned since when she bites off half of it it tastes just as good as she thought it would. Minty, meanwhile, calmly takes her chocolate and sprinkle donuts without making a mess.

“So, what was that back there?” says Trixie suddenly, her mouth full of slobber covered, half chewed, yummy goodness.

“What was what?” asks Minty.

Trixie swallows. “That flirting. Or screaming. Or meltdown. Or whatever it was that you did.”

“I wasn't flirting. I was talking to him.”

“So, leaning up on the counter, batting your lashes and giggling like a retarded filly and then having a meltdown is how you talk to all stallions?” Trixie shoves the other half of her mint donut in her mouth. “You really suck at flirting.”

Minty balks and Trixie smiles smugly at her parole officer while swallowing the delicious pastry she has graced her tongue and stomach with.

“I do not!” whines Minty.

“Uh, yeah, actually you do,” remarks Trixie.

“Well, I, uh, I... um... uh... Do you like sports?”

Trixie scrunches her brows with her hoof extended to grab another donut. “What?”

“Sports. Do you like sports?”

Trixie stares Minty suspiciously, her hoof still extended. “Are you trying to change the subject?”

Minty turns slightly and coolly inspects her hoof, smiling just as smug as a successful jock. “I like sports. Especially tackle tag and those martial arts competitions.”

Trixie groans and presses her face into her hooves. “Please don't start on tackle tag again.”

“So, martial arts it is! One time when I was at a petting zoo-”

“Minty, please don't talk.”

Minty snorts disapprovingly. “Okay, fine, I'll stop. But what about you? What sports did you like?”

Trixie lowers her hooves to give the officer sour look. “I was a magician.”

“And I was a health inspector for candy factories, so what's your point?”

“I never got into it. I was busy with my shows.”

“Ohhhhh, okay. What was your favorite trick?”

Trixie shrugs and looks down at the table, ears drooped and a slow, sad exhale leaving her. “I don't know. I guess I liked making light shows. You know, like making animals and ponies out of lights and setting off fireworks.”

Minty hums and rubs her chin, nodding slowly. “Okay, I gotcha. But did you ever, you know, lure anypony into your cart for some fun after doing some tricks? Or do any after show specials for the VIPs?”

Trixie scrunches her nose. “No.”

“You mean to tell me that as long as you had been on the road, you never tried bedding a stallion? Not even once? Or twice? Or two at once?”

Trixie's face starts heating up and sweat rolls down her, and she shifts uncomfortably in her spot, watching the patrons and hoping that they are not hearing the conversation. Some quickly turn their heads when they see her looking, and she whimpers quietly, despite a choking lump in her throat and looks back at Minty with burning, wet eyes.

“N-No, I never... No, I didn't...” stammers Trixie.

“How about mares?” asks Minty

Trixie's eyes bulge. “No!”

Minty holds up her hooves defensively. “Hey, relax, I don't judge if you go that way. I thought my best friend was a lesbian for the longest time, but, wow-ee, talk about an awkward surprise when walking in on her and that stud. On my bed. When she was supposed to be babysitting. It was messy. They must've been pent up for quite some time.”

Trixie throws down her donut and shields her averted, blushing face with her hoof. “Oh, ew! Come on, Minty, I barely know you and you're doing this to me, already!”

Minty looks down at her donut plate with a small frown and a distant look in her eyes. “It really is awkward coming home early from a trip and hearing the kiddos say: 'Auntie, our babysitter is making funny noises in your bedroom'.”

Trixie slams her hooves down and glares at her parole officer. “Minty!”

Minty looks up, confused. “What?”

“Stop that!”

Minty looks down again, sighing sadly and poking at her plate. “I'm sorry. I just wanted to get to know you, but I guess got a little distracted.”

Trixie scoffs with tears sliding down her cheeks. “A little?”

Minty nods. “Yeah, a little. But, I mean, these criminal profiles are very impersonal and most of the time they only tell you what they want without the whole story. Kinda like modern journalism.”

Trixie averts her eyes and sniffles and wipes her nose, and in turn, Minty flashes a toothless, easygoing smile at her.

“But I know you aren't all that bad, Trixie,” she says, prompting the ex-inmate to look at her reluctantly. “You got a little rough streak that made you a bit moody, but its nothing a nice spa trip or a sleepover with some friends can't handle. You know, loosen you up and all that?”

“I don't want to loosen up,” says Trixie, her eyes narrowing, teeth grinding and more tears flowing down her cheeks. “I don't want any friends. I don't want sleepovers. I don't want spas. I don't want to be touched by anypony for any reason. I just want to be left alone! Got it?”

Minty hums and pulls out her notebook, leans back so Trixie cannot see what is inside, and props it on her hoof and uses her mouth to guide the pen. “Well, that's not gonna happen since you made some horrible errors which means we can't leave you alone, but luckily I'm here to help you get back on track. It'll be tough, and you and I got a lot of work to do, but-”

Trixie suddenly slams her hooves on the table, and with tears pouring down from her bloodshot eyes and soaking her fur she screams at Minty: “TRIXIE DOESN'T NEED YOUR HELP!”

Instantly, the establishment goes dead silent, and Trixie looks around, seeing the various looks of confusion, concern and fear in the eyes of adults and children alike. When she sees Minty's shocked expression, she slumps in her seat, folds her hooves on the table and buries her head in them, whimpering and sniffling.

“Trixie's fine.”

Arc 2- 05- Candy -ADDITION-

“Trixie, are you okay?” asks Minty, giving Trixie a worried glance out of the corner of her eye as they drive down the dirty Canterlot streets in Joe.

Trixie is once again sitting in the passenger seat of Minty's desecrated vehicle, her head resting on her hoof and her moody, lidded eyes staring straight ahead at the passing scenery with a deep frown on her face. There is a few seconds of silence, with Minty casting a concerned glance at Trixie and the unicorn fighting every muscle in her neck to keep herself from looking at the rude pony next to her.

“Are you going to talk to me?” says Minty.

“I don't want to talk to you,” grumbles Trixie.

Minty sighs sadly. “Look, I'm sorry I got a little carried away back there, but the file they gave me said you were arrested in Appleloosa for prostitution, so I was just trying to see if this was some kind of habit of yours that we had to deal with.”

Trixie glares at Minty. “Habit? Oh, great. Just great. So I'm a skank on top of a convicted terrorist, now? How nice.”

“Trixie, I'm not saying that-”

“Oh, yes you are.”

“No, what I'm saying is that-”

“I'm a killer slut with no talent? Got it.”

“Will you let me-”

“Did that fancy file tell you that when they arrested me I was half starved and having to eat food out of a dumpster?”

“...No.”

Trixie scoffs and slumps against the window again. “Of course not. I sold myself so I could eat real food. Not that broth with grass bits that they serve at the soup kitchens. I was tired of eating out of the dumpsters and begging for money and food, but you know what? I'm glad I was arrested in Appleloosa because there, I at least had a home, three meals a day and an actual bed and blanket and showers for a year and nopony tortured me on a daily basis.”

Trixie sniffles, blinks wet haze out of her eyes and swallows a lump in her throat with great difficulty. Minty does not say a word, though. The officer's ears have drooped and her eyes have become blanketed with sadness. Trixie sees Minty wanting to say something, but she can barely move her lips, much less make a sound. When Minty Sprinkles lifts her hoof off the speed lever to pat Trixie on the shoulder, Trixie tenses and squishes herself against the door, not wanting to look at her parole officer or the world around her. She just wants it all to fade away. All of the misery, all of the false friends, all of the betrayals, all the memories. She wants nothing but a shell, for at least when she was a shell, no one noticed her, and nobody can hurt what they can't see.

Minty glides to a stop at an intersection, and she takes a deep breath, looks down, swallowing, then lifts her head to look at Trixie, who has yet to pull her bloodshot eyes off of the metropolis. “Trixie, I know things are rough, right now, but I promise you that when this is all over you will have a happy ending.”

“What makes you say that?” says Trixie.

“Because if it isn't sunshine and rainbows, it ain't the end.”

The next few minutes have been quiet, which is fine by Trixie. She is glad that Minty has not gone on a tangent on tackle tag or asked her perverted questions, or talked to her in general. The silence is a welcoming companion to her, and her brain has shut down for the most part. Not a thought has slithered into her mind and her eyes may see the outside world, but they are not buildings or ponies or vehicles that she sees. All she sees are colors without faces or personalities. Everything is blank and simple, and she loves it. But her peace and quiet is shattered when Minty Sprinkles' voice invades her ears.

“Now, Trixie, before we settle down for the night we have to do two things,” says Minty hesitantly. “Thing one, Princess Celestia wants to talk to you. Thing two, we gotta get you a job. Luckily for you, I know a cool guy that’ll give you one.”

“What does Celestia want to talk to me about?” asks Trixie moodily.

“Just some stuff. I already did most of the talking on your behalf, so you two are mostly cool, but she just wants to have a few words with you personally.”

“About what?”

Minty sighs. “I don't know, Trixie. Maybe she just wants to see if you're not as bad as the world says you are.”

The two fall silent again, with only the wooshing of passing motor wagons to fill the void of silence. When they enter a particularly crowded metropolis street, Minty has to slow down and Trixie finds herself actually taking in the scope of the towering skyscrapers and the zeppelins displaying patriotic messages floating above the metal spires. But her moment of marveling at the strangeness of comes to an end when Minty releases a loud, aggravated growl, and Trixie looks at her, then ahead and realizes that they slowed to a crawl because of a small motor wagon dragging its weight in front of them while the lanes surrounding them are filled with vehicles passing them with ease.

“What the heck is up with this driver?” says Minty. She honks her horn and pokes her head out of the truck to glare at the motor wagon in front of them. “Hey, buddy, the speed limit’s forty! Start moving or go in the slow lane!”

A mare pokes her head out of her vehicle and shakes her hoof at her. “Buck you!”

The mare pulls her head back inside and continues on with her turtle speed, and Trixie cringes when Minty’s eyes narrow with yet another growl.

“Oh, no she didn’t,” sneers Minty.

“Um, Minty, are you okay?” asks Trixie uneasily.

“I will be in a moment.”

Minty starts speeding up and soon the front of the truck is bumping up against the little car in front of them. Minty cackles psychotically and Trixie’s ears droop and shrinks down in her seat while shifting her eyes side to side nervously. She swears that she’ll book it if Minty squishes the car in front of them. When she hears metal grinding against metal she shrinks down even further and prays that nothing will happen.

“Little lady better speed up,” says Minty.

The little vehicle suddenly shoots forward and weaves through the other cars, making some of the vehicles swerve out of the way and ponies jump to safety. Horns honk and insults are thrown out almost instantly, and Minty sighs with relief and her demeanor relaxes as Trixie remains scrunched and trembling in her seat and staring nervously at her.

Minty takes another breath, runs her hoof through her mane, then smiles reassuringly at Trixie. “Don’t worry, no pony was hurt.”

“Are you sure about that?” asks Trixie.

“Yep. Oh, there it is!”

Minty suddenly swerves her way through traffic, narrowly avoiding half a dozen collisions, jerking Trixie in her seat-belt constraint and not caring in the slightest of screeching tires and angry honks and yells. The officer does another sharp turn, dodging more oncoming traffic, ripping up a stretch of grass and getting brief air before landing with a couple of bounces in a crowded parking lot. After that, she does yet another turn where the tires screech against the asphalt and she stops with a perfect parallel park in between two other vehicles, leaving Trixie's adrenaline oozing out of her via sweat and her face getting a taste of the dashboard, which has a lemon flavor to it of all things.

With them perfectly parked, Minty yanks the keys out, cheers, and claps her hooves together with a massive grin. “That was fun!”

Trixie whimpers and rubs her muzzle as she pulls away from the dashboard. She glares at Minty for only a moment, but that moment is short for the bonbon design of the building they are in front of catches her eye and replaces her annoyance and pain with confusion. While Trixie stares in bewilderment of the strange design, Minty leans over, uncuffs Trixie and tosses the chains in the back.

“We're going to start over. No strikes, no resentment. All bad feelings just water under the bridge, okay?” says Minty.

Trixie can only nod, but she feels a weight lift off her chest since she does not have to deal with the chains at the moment. Meanwhile, Minty eagerly hops out of her truck, trots to Trixie’s side and pops open the door and smiles brightly at her.

“Come on, Trixie, we gotta get some candy for the Princess!” she says.

Not wanting another scuffle in a parking lot and risk getting chained up again, Trixie reluctantly gets out of the truck and follows her to the store with her head down.

As soon Trixie steps inside the store her whole body is blasted with frigid air, giving her a frosty, prickling sensation from horn to tail, making her shiver and shakes herself, but Minty goes on forward, without care. Trixie has to go into a slight trot to catch up to Minty, and when they get into the actual shopping area they are miserably greeted by a unicorn mare in a clown costume who was born with an aquamarine coat and cyan mane and tail with white highlights.

“Hi, welcome to Bon Bon’s Bonbon Land. Home of bonbons and other yummy candies and baking goods and other junk,” says the unicorn.

“Thanks!” says Minty cheerfully before snatching a store basket.

“Um, enjoy your day,” says Trixie quietly, still keeping her head low.

“Uh huh,” grumbles the unicorn.

Trixie keeps her head down and bites her lip nervously with drooped ears and a face red as heated ore as Minty escorts her through colorful crowded aisles overrun with eager foals, aggravated parents, and stallions complaining about finding the perfect candy for their picky mates. The good news is that everyone is distracted, so they are not looking at the cuts and bruises that plague Trixie's body or peeking inside her soul to count her sins. The better news is that Minty is able to find what she is looking for, which is the chocolate and caramel candies, and she does not hesitate in grabbing dozens of bags of each kind and stuffing them in the basket.

“Princess Celestia loves chocolate and caramel,” says Minty brightly.

“So, I’ve noticed,” mumbles Trixie, shifting anxiously in her spot when she sees a couple of stallions staring at her. They are quick to resume their business, though, and she swallows and inches just a little bit closer to Minty with a heavy beating heart and dry mouth. However, despite her move, someone still taps on her flank, causing her to shriek and jump. But when she looks to the source, she sees a small colt with a white coat, brown spots and a brown mane and tail staring at her.

“Sorry, ma’am, but I was just wondering if you were okay since you got bruises all over you,” he says in a Trottingham accent with a deceptively older voice.

Before Trixie can answer, a similarly colored and obviously older mare hurriedly pushes him away with her hoof.

“Pipsqueak, what have I told you about talking to those kinds of ponies?” says the mother sternly, her voice carrying a thicker accent than the colt.

Trixie frowns at the mare, and while the two ponies have a small argument Trixie inspects herself. Sure she’s covered in bruises and scratches and has a horrible scar ring around her eye, but some sympathy would be nice rather than rash judgment.

“Awww, but mother!” whines Pipsqueak.

“Don't you 'mother' me, mister! Get back to shopping for your candy or else you'll get no birthday party!” snaps his mother.

Pipsqueak huffs and walks away with his head down, and Trixie shakes her head and turns around to see how much more candy Minty can grab. Only to see a filly and her mom in place of her parole officer.

Trixie's eyes bulge and her mouth instantly goes dry as her heart threatens to blow out of her chest cavity and run away screaming down the aisle while ripping off shreds of itself. A worried whimper escapes her throat as she looks to the left and right and forward and back in search for Minty Sprinkles.

She snakes up and down the aisles, checking everything, from candy bars to candy pops, rock candy to powdered candy, soda to smoothie mixes, and lollipops to jawbreakers. No matter where she looks, no matter how loud she yells for Minty, that eccentric pony is nowhere to be seen or heard. Her replies are the chatters of the patrons too busy shopping to care about her plight.

After calling Minty again with no luck by the jawbreakers, Trixie whines and stomps her front hooves repeatedly on the tile as hard as she can with her heart and lungs ready to pop and eyes close to melting.

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” yells Trixie.

Some employees carrying stock and shoppers look at her, but they do not stop to see what the problem is. They just keep walking, albeit a little bit faster than before, and Trixie groans and slumps against the wall, rubbing her face and shaking enough to shed herself.

“Great. Just great,” says Trixie to herself, loathing her situation of being alone in a city she no longer recognizes with an outstanding criminal record and no idea what to do about it. However, little does she know, she has plopped herself right next to the manager's office and has a great seat in listening in on a conversation she should not be hearing.

“Look, Bon Bon, you’re a nice mare, and me and Grim like you a lot, but the point is you haven’t paid Gilda in what... four months?” says a female with a light Stalliongrad accent.

“Sounds about right” says a gruff male with thicker accent.

“Look I’ll pay Gilda, all right? I just need more time,” says Bon Bon, trying to be brave, but clearly terrified.

Trixie's ears perk and she looks at the door, not being able to see anything due to her angle and the fogged glass blocking everything.

“Four months is a long time not to pay and now your asking for more time?” says the female.

“Yes, I have employees to pay and stocks to, um, restock,” says Bon Bon.

“Look, Bon Bon, I’m a patient griffin, a very patient griffin, and the only reason why Gilda hasn’t had this place shot up is because I said: ‘Look, Gilda, Bon Bon is a good mare, she’ll pay up’. And Gilda said: ‘Winny, get her to pay by the end of the week or she’s dead’. It’s the end of the week and I can’t protect you any longer.”

There is a moment of silence, and Trixie slides closer to the door and hears uneasily shuffling.

“But Sunday is the end of the week,” says Bon Bon.

“No, Friday is,” says the female, Winny.

“But I base all my schedule on Sunday being the end of the week.”

“And we use the griffin calendar when doing griffin stuff, which includes you. So we’ll be seeing you tonight. Don’t leave town unless you want that unicorn friend of yours to be your replacement.”

The door suddenly opens and Trixie quickly backs up and pretends shopping for some candy as the two griffins walk out. The female is slender and has red tips on her head feathers with red eyeshadow. The male she is with is a heavyweight of solid muscle, has an eye-patch as well as a huge bald spot on the top of his head to go with a collection of healed scars all over his body. They look at Trixie suspiciously and she smiles uneasily at them as the male griffin steps forward to confront her, but Winny grabs his shoulder and shakes her head.

“Leave her, Grim. She's just shopping for candy,” she says.

“Bullshit,” says the male, Grim. He then looks back at Trixie and jabs her in the chest with his talon, making her wince and stumble back. “Whatever you heard, you did not hear, and if you did hear what you heard, you are dead, got it, shitbird?”

Trixie gulps.

“Grim, that's enough. I'll meet you at Gilda's,” says Winny sternly.

Grim glares at his female counterpart for only a moment before he stomps away, muttering to himself and using unnecessary roughness to grab a box of jawbreakers. Meanwhile, Winny, shakes her head and smiles apologetically at Trixie.

“Sorry about that. My colleague can be rough, sometimes,” she says.

Trixie forces an awkward giggle and rubs the back of her neck as her eyes flick around in search of Minty. “It's fine. This is just another Tuesday for me.”

“Today's Friday.”

“...No it isn't.”

Winny frowns and inspects Trixie's closer, making her step back and widen her eyes slightly.

“You do not look so well. Is someone giving you a hard time?” asks Winny.

“Me? No!” Trixie giggles anxiously, shakes her head and backs up into a wall of gumballs while shaking her hoof dismissively. “No, I-I'm fine, really. I just fell down some stairs and hit a doorknob, and there was this cat with big claws, and it was all like rawr and-and-”

Winny holds up her hand. “Okay, I get it, you're afraid of someone, but if you want it all to end then I can help. Just drop by the Alázatos Roost on Dream Boulevard and let the doorman know that Winny invited you, and if I'm not there, I will be soon, okay?”

A shiver runs up Trixie's spine as she gulps and nods her head. “Sure. Sounds good.”

Winny grins and pats Trixie's cheek. “Very good. Hope to see you, soon.”

Winny then leaves in the direction of Grim, and after the griffin is out of sight, Trixie breathes a sigh of relief and slumps to the ground.

“What did I tell you about talking with griffins?” says Minty right next to Trixie with her basket of candy at her hooves.

Trixie yells and leaps away from Minty, heart racing and eyes bugged out again. “Minty, what the hell!?”

“You mad?” asks Minty with a smirk.

“Yes! You left me in a candy shop looking like-like an escaped convict! I'm surprised nopony tried a citizens arrest on me! Or that nopony tried snatching me or-or-or-”

Minty grabs Trixie's shoulders and holds her still while the unicorn hyperventilates and trembles with tears in her eyes. “Relax, Trixie, relax. I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. I just wanted to see what you would do and you did not disappoint. Except for the griffin part. I told you not to talk to them and you go and talk to them.”

“But they started it and I heard them talking and I think they're going to kill somepony and-”

Minty shoves her hoof in Trixie's mouth, turning her words into muffled gibberish. “Shushy shush. I gotta buy this stuff and then take you to Princess Celestia so she can talk with you a little bit, w porządku?”

“But what about-”

“I'll call it in. You just need to relax and help me get this stuff out of here so we can get this day over with.”

Trixie is about to protest, but stops herself and lowers her head with a defeated sigh and a scuff of her hoof against the floor. “Fine.”

Around ten minutes later, Trixie and Minty finally get to the checkout line, but they would have gotten there sooner if Minty had not decided to pick up baking goods and puzzle books. A few minutes after that, the duo is outside carrying bags of candy, baking supplies and puzzle books, and Trixie's mind, for the most part, is in overdrive about hearing the death threat and wondering what Gray Muffin would do if he were in her horseshoes.

“--And so then I said yes, he said no, I said yes, he said no, I said yes, he said no, and finally I shoved the cherry pie in his face and figured out he was allergic to cherries. I felt bad about it and apologized and made him cards and stuff, but he still dumped me,” says Minty.

Trixie stops and looks at Minty, her low powered mind now more confused than ever. “Wait, what are we talking about?”

“I was talking about failed relationships. You were just being quiet. By the way, have you ever had a boyfriend, Trixie?”

Trixie thinks for a moment, then her body sulks. “Once. A long time ago.”

“Ooh.” Minty unlocks the door to Joe and opens the passenger door for Trixie. “Was he cute?”

Trixie rolls her eyes. “No, he was butt-ugly.”

“Aww, looking at the heart.” Minty hugs Trixie, making her gag and tense. “See, I knew you weren't all bad.”

Trixie frowns, pushes Minty away and hops on her seat. “That was sarcasm, Minty.”

“Oh.” Minty's ears droop and she slithers on over to her side, speaking again when she is inside and buckled up. “So, what happened?”

“He didn't dump me over pie if that is what you're asking.”

Minty frowns. “Um, no. I was just wondering why you're single, now.”

Trixie looks at Minty.

“Besides the obvious.”

Trixie continues staring.

“You know, with the homelessness, jail time, terrorism and... um...”

Trixie keeps staring and Minty's voice drifts away.

Minty clears her throat awkwardly and starts her vehicle. “How about we go see Celesita?”

Trixie sighs moodily and rests her head on her window, wearily replying: “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

Minty pulls out of the Bonbon Land parking lot and Trixie stares at the glamorous white towers of the Royal Palace that overlook Canterlot like a benevolent entity. But Trixie doesn’t care about the godly features of the palace or the divine orange and blue glow it has from the sun setting behind it. She just wants some answers as to why she was suddenly released from prison. And now was the time to get some.

Author's Notes:

Added 07 Sep 2015

Arc 2- 06- Investigating the Investigators -EDITED-

“Gooooood afternoon, Canterlot! DJ-Pon3 here to bring you the news about what’s going on in Equestria! I know, I know, you’re all thinking ‘But DJ, we could care less about the news! Give us some music!’ and I say unto you: Relaxeth, for thou shalt getteth thy music. It's going to be a special day, anyway, since you guys get to hear some local music as well as some songs from national rising stars, including some by the adorable Sweetie Belle, Three Barns Up and a Solaria band called Ghostie Hunter. Don't change the channel because of them, though. They are metal! But, um, anyway, lets uh get you the daily dose of news first, then you can get your music.”

DJ-Pon3 clears her throat and for dramatic effect shuffles papers in front of her microphone.

“Let’s see here. First thing’s first, the Martial Law that’s in effect is to be taken very seriously. That means don’t screw around with the guards by throwing fire crackers at them or run at them screaming at the top of your lungs like a zebra savage. Its a great way to get cuffed and interrogated. Trust me, I would know. Secondly, we all know about the League of Justice and how they are the pinnacle of morality and we need to respect them because they are only misunderstood or some bullshit like that. Well, my chumps inside told me that the Royal Guard, under the orders of Captain of the Guard Sparkle and the command of General Ji attacked the League's HQ -which was quite literally in our backyard- and have been, I quote, ‘Eradicated with extreme prejudice’. End quote. That’s right! Those guys that have been terrorizing our beautiful nation have been taken out by our guardians! So, be sure to show them our gratitude and if your special somepony wears armor they deserve a special thank you. Hint hint. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Thirdly, there are talks of the Civilian Defense Agency branch of the EIB breaking off to become its own entity. Who will lead is beyond me, but I got a bad feeling about this one, folks, even though Celestia thinks it is a good idea for 'Harmony's sake' or something like that. Lastly, and this one is interesting, there is a rumor that Shining Armor is opening a full investigation into the Equestrian Investigation Bureau. This linvestigation is definitely ruffling Brisk Wind’s feathers. Let me see if I can find a quote from her in this messy pile of... of... junk. And here it is!”

DJ-Pon3 clears her throat before she talk again, this time she’s using a poor impersonation of Brisk Wind’s voice.

“‘I’m sure Shining Armor is a nice colt with the best intentions, but there are places for brawns and there are places for brains. Our ponies protect the citizens of Equestria using brains while Captain Armor’s ponies use brawns. We do not try to understand why the Royal Guard does things their way and they should not try to understand why we do things our way’.”

DJ-Pon3 makes a drawn out whistle, followed by a seethe, and when she talks again, she is using her normal voice.

“I don’t know about you guys, but Brisk Wind sounded snappy there.” DJ-Pon3 hisses like a feisty cat, then chuckles. “Also, a little FYI, Celestia does not like the idea of Captain Sparkling Big Guy to investigate for some bullshit reason. I'll update on that as soon as I can. And I got one last piece of news for you before I give you guys your daily dose of music. The EIB's Rehabilitation Program is in full swing! Yep, you heard me right! Under a plan crafted by Brisk Wind, herself, the Rehabilitation Program will take jailed ponies who are deemed worthy of an early release and reintroduce them into society with the help of parole officers to retrain them to be better citizens. Sounds weird to me, but what do I know? I'm not a politician or a guardian, only a DJ. Anyway, send me a letter or give me a call about what you guys think about this move. But not now, now is the time for music!”

Shining Armor limps into a large, brightly lit, crowded room with ponies in the approrpiate workplace uniforms doing analytical work. With the recent victory against the League of Justice the analysts have to deal with a flood of audio recordings, notes, and apprehended data from the terrorist organization's headquarters. There is a lot that they have to go through, crowding the room to near suffocation levels with large tables that have tape recorders playing back audio recordings, tables with ponies comparing notes -and in some cases, deciphering horrible writing, and then there are the ponies with the most mind numbingly boring of jobs. Organizing and storing all the data. Because there is so much activity going on in the already stuffed room, Shining Armor has ordered the air conditioning to be put on at full blast. The cool rush of air being pushed down from the ceiling from the giant fans does not do much, but it is enough to keep the workers from collapsing due to heat fatigue. If anything, the sudden brushes of cold air might jolt them out of their boredom induced trances.

Shining Armor continues limping through the numerous rows of analysts, occasionally listening in to what they are saying, but mostly to see if they are doing their jobs. His movements are even more sluggish, the bags under his eyes are more defined, his eyes are distant, and now his mane and tail are not as well kept as his uniform, which is also failing in its pristine appearance.

When Shining Armor gets to the very back of the analyzing room, he enters a smaller room where Brisk Wind, Major Fuller and an earth pony mare are waiting for him. The earth pony, by the name of Aural Wave, has a yellow coat, a green mane and tail with red streaks and her a cutie mark depicting a megaphone.

Shining Armor stops and looks at Brisk Wind and Major Fuller warily, and while Brisk Wind is shaking in her hide, she still manages to flash a smile that rubs him like a rusty, steel combed brush. Major Fuller, on the other hand, looks like he is bored.

The three ponies greet Shining Armor and he returns the gesture before turning his focus to Aural.

“What did you find?” asks Shining Armor.

“I don’t think Roar Shock is dead, sir,” says Aural uneasily.

“What do you mean?”

Brisk Wind tilts her head down and rubs her brow. “Its not a riddle, Captain.”

“I think it is best if Captain Sparkle hears the tape,” says Fuller.

Shining Armor looks at all of them, then frowns at Aural. “You played the tape without me?”

“By my orders after her repairs due to your lack of appearance,” says Fuller, now stepping forward. “However, I assure you that Brisk Wind has not heard the tape, so it was only me and her. That said, I strongly advise that we keep what we hear next a secret from the general public.”

Brisk Wind huffs. “Fine. Secret stuff. Whatever. Just play the tape.”

Aural Wave looks at Shining Armor, and after taking a breath, he puts up a shield around the room, then nods approvingly.

“Do it,” orders the Captain.

Aural nods her head quickly and presses down on the play button. The device clicks on and the tapes whir inside the casing as they spin on the tracks. A few seconds later the audio plays. It starts off as a jumbled mess at first, but Shining Armor can make out someone talking, and after a minute passes by, the audio is clear enough to understand, despite it being plagued with crackles, pops, hisses and other anomalies.

“So this is the Bird Cage, huh?” says one of the soldiers in the recording.

“Oh, man, just look at the size of this place,” says another soldier whimsically.

“Okay, enough gawking. Let's get inside and clear it out. I don't want to keep General Ji waiting,” says yet another soldier.

There are jumbled responses that acknowledge the order, and the group listens to the soldiers make their way down some stairs. Suddenly the hoof steps seize, though, and Shining Armor's jaw tightens and both Brisk Wind and Aural tense when turbine engines roar to life over the audio.

“Contact! Eight o'clock!” barks one of the soldiers.

Then all Hell breaks loose.

Brisk Wind's eyes grow rapidly and her feathers ruffle from the sounds of yelling soldiers and the rattlings and pops of small arms fire crackle over the audio. The bullets bounce and ping off of a metallic surface, and the whirring intensifies, followed by a sonic boom, a static charge, and an explosion with screams of agony and falling rocks.

Despite the shiver up his spine, the cold sweat on the back of his neck and his racing heart, Shining Armor cannot take his eyes off of the spinning tapes. He is mesmerized by the sounds of electric shots colliding with the ballistic fire, the electric flames crackling and falling rocks, and the screams of the dying crying out over the terrified ponies shouting orders.

A close explosion sends the one with the audio recorder airborne, meshing his terrified screams with the rushing wind and wooshing flames. But it only takes him a few seconds to fall silent with a sickening crunch, and the audio cuts off.

The three ponies stare at the audio tapes, watching them spin with some life left on them, and right as Brisk Wind is about to say something, the audio returns with a pop and hiss and the engines return, although distorted. When the turbines stop, there is a metallic thud, followed by steady and very heavy and metallic hoof steps.

The steps stop by the recording device, and all Shining Armor can hear is electric crackling, and he looks at Aural and Fuller questionably, as does Brisk Wind. The earth pony looks at the two anxiously, but Fuller remains emotionless.

“It is clear,” says a stallion on the other end, his voice being magnified, yet slightly distorted by speakers.

“Excellent,” says another stallion, this one charismatic. “Please, guide me to the wall. My sight has gone from me, again.”

The steps retreat, then there is an earthly rumble, followed by a deafening split and more stones falling and crashing down below. Second later, all that lingers are loose rocks trickling down and the echoes of breaking stone.

“Is everybody ready?” asks the charismatic stallion.

More steps come forth, and there are a series of acknowledgments, ranging from eager to terrified, with some wanting to stay and fight.

“Brothers, sisters, I know this is a terrible loss for us, and we can never return, but I promise you we will win in the end,” says the stallion, his tone losing none of its energy, but that energy is manifesting into rage. “Evil will never prevail, and in due time, our cause will prove that. But in order for our mission to succeed, we must first flee and regroup and rebuild. Their reckoning will come by our hooves, and when we strike back, Equestria will be restored to purity, as it once was, as it should be, and as it will be once more!”

The crowd cheers, and then the audio abruptly ends, leaving Shining Armor staring at the tape as it lazily slows to a stop.

“According to the reports no tunnels or any sort of opening were found. Only bodies and carnage,” says Aural.

“What was that thing that killed them?” asks Shining Armor.

Major Fuller steps forward. “We believe it is a robotic suit of some kind. We discovered many blueprints for advanced armor, weapons and vehicles that are at least fifty years, maybe a century ahead of our time. One such suit was labeled as 'Kairos', and was depicted to use gems to power electric based weaponry and engines, which coincides with the damage and audio. There are other designs for advanced zeppelins, weapons, morphing vehicles, as well as advanced medicine. I have had all of these blueprints taken to Hoofington for research.”

Shining Armor shakes his head in disbelief. “Fifty years ahead? How is that even possible?”

“That is what I'll be finding out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.”

Major Fuller nods politely to Brisk Wind, thanks Aural Wave for her help, then offered a salute for Shining Armor, which is returned quickly. After the farewells are said and done, Fuller leaves the room. A moment later, Shining Armor dismisses Aural, as well, leaving just him and Brisk Wind alone in the room. The very first thing he notices about the icy blue pegasus is that her coat is paler than usual and her eyes are transfixed on the the tapes.

“Brisk Wind,” says Shining Armor.

“Hm?” replies the pegasus.

“We need to tell Princess Celestia that Roar Shock is still alive.”

“Yeah, I know... Why don't I tell her the news? You don’t look so well,” says Brisk Wind, still staring at the tape recorder.

“We both need to tell her.”

Brisk Wind turns fully to Shining Armor, frowning and ruffling her feathers. “Uh, no. Captain, look at you. You look like you’re about to collapse on the job!”

“Now is not the time for naps, Director.”

“You're running on an hour's worth of sleep! That means you will say stupid things, run into doors and make yourself out more of a fool than you already are!”

Shining Armor furrows his brow and meets her demanding stare with a glare of his own. “Director, I appreciate your concern for my well-being, but this is a matter that pertains to national security on the highest levels and I must be present to tell Celestia of this issue.”

Brisk Wind stomps her hoof. “You don't get it! You are in no condition to meet Celestia. You need to go home to your wife and do this wonderful thing called sleeping. Trust me, you’ll feel and look much better once you do.”

Shining Armor sighs and drops his head in defeat. “Fine, I’ll go home.”

Brisk Wind smiles.

Shining Armor lifts his head up with a conniving smile. “But only if you give me the files I requested.”

Brisk Wind’s smile is instantly replaced with a large frown and her eyes narrow to that of slits. “Are you serious?”

“If I’m going to be relaxing at home then I might as well do some work,” says Shining Armor coolly.

Brisk Wind's jaw drops. “What the- No! That’s not how relaxing works! When you relax, you go home and you sleep! You don’t go asking for more work! Especially when that work is an investigation that Celestia doesn’t want you doing!”

“Technically she didn’t say she doesn’t want me doing it, she just doesn’t like the idea.”

“Which means you don’t do it.”

“Director, in this time we must be cooperative and our departments must be open to one another.”

Brisk Wind cranes her head back, groaning obnoxiously. “You’re unbelievable. Cooperation doesn’t mean investigation.”

“Right, cooperation means we’re open to one another. You show me what you have and I’ll show you what I have and together we can get Roar Shock.”

“And what could you possibly have that will be of value to me?”

Shining Armor smirks and limps out of the room without saying a word, leaving Brisk Wind to stare at him skeptically. He can feel her condemning gaze burning the back of his skull, but to him, it feels like a neck massage, and it brings a smile to his face.

With the door closed and the music of air conditioning, scribbling pens and shuffling papers bringing comfort to his ears, Shining Armor feels a sense of peace. However, that peace quickly goes when the door to the audio room is flung open with a resounding bang that halts all work, and all but Shining Armor turns their heads when Brisk Wind marches and shouts after the Captain. While Brisk Wind calls him, a smile grows on Shining Armor's muzzle, but he sticks to his course and keeps his mouth shut.

When Shining Armor is near the exit, Brisk Wind flies over him and lands right in front of him, blocking his way out. Shining Armor stops and yawns for the first time in hours while Brisk Wind ruffles her feathers in a public display to show her dominance. But all that really happens is that Shining Armor yawns again and everyone resumes their work without giving her a second thought.

“Captain Shining Armor Sparkle, you will tell me what you know right this instant!” orders Brisk Wind.

“Give me your files then,” says Shining Armor.

“Fine, I’ll send them to your office, but I want what you know on my desk no later than tomorrow.”

“Deal. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to tell Celestia about the threat.”

Shining Armor winces and his horn sputters pathetically as weak magical sparks shoot out the tip and rose colored magical fluids trickle down through the cracks on his horn. Brisk Wind is briefly covered in the rosy aura of his magic, and she shifts slightly to the left of the doorway, but not enough for him to pass. His attempt to move Brisk Wind only leaves him with a skull splitting headache and the fond memory of him at the hospital being told to keep magic use to the bare minimum. Shining Armor grumbles and rubs his horn, it has a throbbing sensation in it now, and this time it’s Brisk Wind’s turn to smile smugly.

“Oh, it looks like that horn of yours is giving you a nasty headache. You really need to rest,” says Brisk Wind sardonically.

“You don’t say?” says Shining Armor, returning the tone.

Then, with a quick motion of his good forehoof, he slides Brisk Wind out of the way and she scoffs hatefully as he limps past her and into the polished hallway with decorated pillars. Then something clicks inside her a moment later, and Shining Armor smirks to himself when he hears her walking after after him.

“Captain Armor, stop walking this instant!” orders Brisk Wind.

Shining Armor looks over his shoulder and watches Brisk Wind hurry after him with a fire in her eyes and her wings flapping hard. Despite how hard she is flapping her wings, though, she barely is able to lift herself off the ground and the strain is enough to make her sweat. It is a pathetic sight, and Shining Armor looks away from her to continue his trek.

When Brisk Wind finally gets next to him, she is panting and her wings are twitching, and from the looks of it, she has decided to run the rest of the way after him.

“The deal was I give you what you want and you go home and sleep,” says Brisk Wind angrily. “So if you go to with me to tell Princess Celestia about Roar Shock then I will declare our deal null and void.”

“Who said I was going in pony? I’m going to my office to write a letter to the Princess, addressing the situation, and then I’ll send it and be on my way back home,” says Shining Armor.

“That wasn’t the deal!”

“No, the deal was I wouldn’t accompany you to Celestia’s chambers in exchange for information on both of our accounts. I won’t be going physically but I will still tell Celestia via typed letter of what’s going on because that is the responsible thing to do.”

“You’re giving Celestia a letter telling her what she’ll already know is just plain stupid, Captain, and... Did you say typed?”

“I sure did, and I'm sure Celestia will be impressed with how neat and tidy it is, too, unlike with your sloppy quill pens, Director.”

Brisk Wind stops dead in her tracks, her jaw drops in disbelief as she makes a pathetic squeak of disbelief. Shining Armor, on the other hand, continues his limping with a victorious smile.

"How come you get a... But I... That's not fair! I asked for one first!" says Brisk Wind.

“Take it up with Celestia. I got a letter I need to type and I don't want any distractions,” says Shining Armor.

Brisk Wind is frozen in place, eye twitching and teeth grinding and as rage rocks through her body, demanding she scream and buck the Captain of the Royal Guard in the face as hard as she can for the unfairness of this situation. She does not make such an attempt, though, since there is a group of guardponies looking at her. When Shining Armor disappears around the corner, however, the dam shatters and she screams and sporadically stomps her hooves furiously until her mane is a hanging mess in front of her wet eyes and her tail and feathers are frazzled.

By the time Brisk Wind is done throwing her fit, she is breathing heavily and her body and lips are trembling as tears roll down her cheeks. The icy blue pegasus then glances at her side to see the guardponies staring at her. She knows that they want to laugh at her behind their stoic, stone still expressions, and she would rather not deal with that, so she does the only thing she can do. Storm off before they can get a chance to mock her.

Shining Armor walks into his grand office for the sole purpose of typing the letter to Celestia. His office has a great view of Canterlot, and before the population boom that led to the towering steel buildings dominating the view he would enjoy staring out the window to look at the elegant buildings. But now he only sees huge, not-so-elegant buildings and zeppelins floating in designated paths with their messages displayed for all to see. Plus, with all the combustion engine vehicles driving around the once white city now has a layer of smog over it that gives the place a slight gray tint to it.

Shining Armor sighs and closes the curtains, blocking the view and all sunlight and leaving his only source of light to be the crystal chandelier hanging down from the decorative ceiling. He is glad to finally have a fabled typewriter in his possession, even though it forced him to get another desk since the device takes up just about every bit of space he had on his original desk. The typewriter would be a metallic eyesore for ponies of high standards, but confound those enormous hooves! They are the reasons why the buttons are so big in the first place! And the big size does make it a bit awkward to use since some of the buttons require him to lean forward to push. Then there is the blocky bulge on the typewriter’s backside that serves as the ink cartridge. It has already leaked on him twice, leaving a dried puddle of ink that dripped down the back of the desk and stained the carpet. But despite its aggravating flaws, he can see why earth ponies and pegasi would want to own a typewriter. He has had nothing but horrible experiences with mouth writing with.

After Shining Armor sits down in his velvety seat in front of the typewriter and stares at it with one word on his mind.

Sleep.

But he refuses to sleep, and even if he wanted to, he cannot. What happened to him and in Ponyville cannot be allowed to happen to anyone else, and after what he saw and allowed the EIB do to Trixie is also completely unacceptable. He has a load of problems that he needs to fix and wrongs he needs to right, and sleeping will only slow him down.

Shining Armor grumbles under his breath about his injured horn as he levitates the sheets of paper into the designated slot in his typewriter. He is about to push the first, jumbo sized button on the typewriter, but stops and bites his lips to think for a moment, and then his ears droop and he hobbles over to a large picture of him, his parents, Twilight, and Cadence hanging up on the wall. He nudges it aside, opens up a decent sized safe, and uses his teeth to pull out a stack of paper wrapped in a brown wrapping paper and tied together with thin string. He carries it back to his desk and yanks the string off with his teeth, which leads to the brown wrapping paper to roll open to reveal a stack of papers on the inside, labeled as:

Shining Armor smacks his lips together and looks at the typewriter and realizes that Cadence is going to kill him since he will be in his office for a while.

He is about to type again, but he is once again distracted. This time it’s by a light rapping on his office door.

“Door’s open,” says Shining Armor as he starts his letter.

A young unicorn mare with an orange coat, a flat, dark green mane and tail, and a notebook with a hat as a cutie mark walks in with a box of files and a bag of supplies levitating in front of her. She flashes a kind, sympathetic smile as she approaches, and Shining Armor returns the smile.

“Good evening, Case Study. Do you have something for me?” says Shining Armor.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” replies Case Study cheerfully as she carries the items to his desk. “I got the files you requested. Every last page. Plus I got you more paper and ink.”

“And that's why you're my go-to girl.”

Case Study rolls her eyes, but still smiles as she places the items in their respective places. “Don't let your wife hear that.”

“Nah, she don't mind me having a favorite worker.”

Case Study shakes her head, chuckling and finishing her work. “Well, if my Uncle Grape thinks a stallion twice my age is flirting with me he'd go on a rampage.”

Shining Armor rolls his eyes. “Hardy har har. I'm married, Case. I'm not allowed to flirt, remember?”

“Uh huh. Well, you're all set with the files, so finish up what you gotta do and get home and get some sleep, okay?”

“Alright, alright. I just have to finish this letter and then I'll go home, okay?”

“Sounds good.” Case Study smiles again and pats Shining Armor on the shoulder. “Take it easy. I'm going home.”

Shining Armor nods and wishes her a good day, and after Case Study leaves, he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and relaxes. With this, his body might as well have sung him psalms proclaiming how merciful he is, since his eyelids have been feeling like they have the weight of Equestria pushing down on them and the rest of him felt ready to fall apart into a messy pile. And now that he has closed his eyes, his whole body is washed over in a blissful, relaxing sensation.

But when he opens his eyes, he feels like someone has smacked his cheek with a board, his mouth feels dry, and his cheek is stuck on the desk with an embarrassingly large puddle of drool originating from his mouth and seeping over the end with droplets splattering on the carpet below. When he lifts his head up, his cheek refuses to leave the desk for a moment, giving him an awkward tugging feeling. He stands up, shakes himself off and opens up the curtain to find none other than a cloudy night sky and a city locked down from curfew.

Shining Armor sighs, rubs his eye and heads back to his seat, then he goes back to staring at his typewriter.

“Yep, Cadence is going to kill me.”

Author's Notes:

Edited on 07 Sep 2015

Arc 2- 07- Meetings -EDITED-

Brisk Wind has been talking to Princess Celestia in the palace courtroom for the past few hours after her conversation with Shining Armor. As suspected, Celestia did not take the news of Roar Shock’s survival lightly, nor did she like the fact that Brisk Wind had brought that to her attention rather than Shining Armor. With such terrible news, and the method of how it was delivered, the Princess of the Sun's attitude has effectively been soiled, leaving her regal appearance covered in the manure of anger, disappointment, fear and possibly depression. However, despite seeing the alicorn fighting to keep herself calm, Brisk Wind cannot help but smile on the inside.

“Your Majesty, I know the Royal Guard has failed for the most part,” starts Brisk Wind, “but there is still a way out of this mess. We can capture Roar Shock if you put more funding in the EIB and CDA.”

“The Royal Guard has not failed for the most part, Director,” says Celestia. “They eradicated most of the League of Justice's fighting forces with a single operation.”

“Yes, with the aide of the EIB and information gathered from the operations of our Civilian Defense Agency sector.”

“Which Shining Armor is questioning how you obtained such information so swiftly.”

“Is he accusing me of foul play? Because if he is, I assure you, Your Majesty, that I am loyal to Harmony and the future of this nation, and every act I take, I take to protect others from discord. How can I be loyal to Harmony if I am... uncouth?”

Celestia sighs and presses her back against her throne. “Brisk Wind, being a guardian is just as dangerous as being a villain. You could very easily become the monster you are fighting if you feel your cause is just enough. I have seen it too many times, with one being a very close friend of mine and another my own sister many centuries ago.”

Brisk Wind swallows and bows her head slightly. “I promise you, Celestia, I am not as bad as Shining Armor says I am.”

“For your sake, I hope you're honest. Now if you'll please exit the throne room. I am about to have yet another important meeting.”

“But what about more funding for the EIB and the CDA?”

Celestia merely stares at Brisk Wind silently with an unimpressed frown, and the pegasus steps back and nervously clears her throat.

“Right. Wait and see. I'll get going, now.”

Around thirty minutes later, Brisk Wind pushes open a set of double doors and marches furiously through a long, rectangular room filled with ponies sitting at oak desks, filling out boring paperwork. No one notices her crabby mood, however. They are all too busy working at their desks, complete with their own private light and ceiling fan to keep them cool.

As Brisk Wind heads to her office, she takes a look at the seal of the EIB that has been painted on the wall. She designed it herself, choosing to keep it simple with a hexagon that has orbs on the corners colored as the Element Bearer's coat colors with an olive branch on either side. Unfortunately for her, though, as she marvels at her design, she runs right into her door, which gets everyone to stop and look at her. However, a sharp glare from her gets everyone working again, and when the sounds of scribbling and shuffling papers fill the silence, she grits her teeth and hastily unlocks her door.

“Figures,” mutters Brisk Wind.

Brisk Wind slips inside her office, slams her door shut and goes to her almost totally bare, imported desk. She sits on her fluffy, spinning chair and stares at a black and white photo on her desk in silence. The photo is of her and three dozen other pegasi sitting in front of a simple cloud building that has a Cloudsdale Orphanage sign hanging behind them, with the staff next to the group on either side. Everyone is smiling, including Brisk Wind, but she still remembers how painful it was to act like Hell was Heaven when the picture was taken.

“Still mad about how nopony took you in?” asks Lock.

Brisk Wind glances up from the picture and sees Agent Lock N. Key standing in the doorway, carrying a stuffed saddle with his EIB badge hanging around his neck on the outside of his suit.

Brisk Wind pushes the picture down and rests her head on her hoof, staring at the blank white wall next to her. “Who wouldn’t be, Lock?”

“You should burn that picture so you aren’t constantly torturing yourself.”

Brisk Wind scowls at Lock. “Then you burn it.”

“Not my past to burn.”

Brisk Wind rolls her eyes, and Lock closes the door and approaches her desk as he levitates a folder out of his saddle.

“In regards to burnings, the mission was a success,” says Lock.

Lock uses his magic to flip open the folder and turn it so Brisk Wind will not have to look at it upside down, and she smiles when she sees the picture of a familiar mare, dead in an alley from three gashes in her neck. Next to the gruesome picture is a profile of the nurse that injected Trixie with the toxin during her interrogation.

“Nurse Goldheart was fatally robbed in an alley by a narco-user,” states Lock, his tone implying that it was anything but that.

Brisk Wind tuts. “Poor, poor, Goldheart. I kinda liked her. She was such a pushover... Please tell me that her damage has been contained.”

“Her apartment was searched and everything she had against the EIB was shredded and burned.”

“Excellent.”

“So, what do we do now?”

Brisk Wind slides under her desk to put the folder in a safe built into the floor, and she speaks again when she is back in her seat. “Keep finding out who’s been talking to Captain Armor and take care of them. And do try to keep the fatalities to a minimum. It’s suspicious enough that a whistle blower suddenly died.”

“As much as I am flattered in your confidence of my abilities, I will still need help in this matter.”

“Get our friends to help you. Equestria's survival depends on the EIB and CDA, and we cannot let it be hindered in any way.”

Lock nods. “Of course. But Captain Sparkle did witness what you did to Trixie in Singsong. How will we handle that? We cannot just kill him or bully him into not talking.”

“Just keep Shining Armor's witnesses quiet. As for the Captain, himself? Well, we've got our mutual friend that'll help me handle him.”

Lock stiffens and his disciplined demeanor breaks into nervousness. "You better not be talking about who I think you are talking about."

Brisk Wind smirks. "I am."

Lock frowns and places his hooves on her desk, looking deep into her eyes with fear and anger infecting every part of him. "Brisk Wind, I told you he was bad news!"

Brisk Wind frowns. "He wants Equestria saved as much as we do, Lock."

"No he doesn't! He-" Lock stops himself, sighs, then slides his hoofs off of the desk and runs his hoof through his mane. "This pony that contacted us is not who he says he is and does not want what he told us. He's dangerous, and you just put everything we are working for in jeopardy."

"Your paranoia is dully noted. Now leave and let me work. I got Harmony to perfect."

Lock stares at Brisk Wind, and she stares back, unwavering and eyes getting colder by the second. When the seconds seem to crawl to minutes, Lock sighs submissively and heads to the door, stopping when he has it opened and he looks at Brisk Wind from over his shoulder.

"For your sake, as well as mine, I hope you get rid of him before he gets rid of us," says Lock.

Brisk Wind waves. "Bye, Lock."

Lock snorts and slams the door shut behind him, and Brisk Wind sighs, reclines in her seat and rubs her eyes.

"Oh, why does everything have to be so dramatic these days?"

Trixie and Minty Sprinkles approach the throne room with brisk steps from down the decorated hall, with Minty carrying a bag of chocolate and caramel candies. Trixie is certain that Minty would not be so much in a rush had they not been interrogated at the security booth at the entrance because of her lack of ID and the fact that she looks like she has been in a fight or two. To make it worse, after Minty quite literally spelled out that Trixie does not have an ID, they and their mode of transportation was searched, found to be clean and then let go. Unfortunately because they were searched, all the good spots were taken and they had to park at the very top of a parking garage and speed walk. Now, here they are, half galloping-half trotting down the royal hallway, passing Royal Guards in their improved armor, royal accountants, politicians and interns in their fancy suits, and royal janitors in their grungy jumpsuits. All of which are giving them royally confusing looks.

Trixie is thankful that they are not stopped because Minty has been spewing about running behind the whole time and she is fairly certain that the mare will flip out if they are stopped again. When they round the corner, Minty sighs with relief upon seeing that there is no line, but Trixie's steps slow considerably and she groans loudly.

“Oh, no.”

“What?” says Minty.

Trixie points ahead at a group of three stallions in armor at the throne entrance. “Its my ex.”

Minty looks at the stallions, one of each race and each wearing golden armor, and she specifically looks at the unicorn. “Him? I thought you said your ex wasn't ugly.”

“No, not him.” Trixie points to the pegasus, who has a gamboge coat and a blue mane. “Him.”

Minty looks at the pegasus, who is busy talking to the earth pony guard about what has to be a work related subject. “Him? Ooh, he's eye candy.”

Trixie glares at Minty. “Really? You're eyeballing my ex?”

Minty looks at Trixie. “What, he's good looking. Plus, I can totally eyeball him since there's a six month rule with exes, and its been how long?”

“Twelve years.”

“Even better... Wait, have you been single for twelve years?”

Trixie's eye twitches, but before Minty can say anything, a stallion calls Trixie, and the two mares turn and realize just how close they are to the entrance when the pegasus approaches them with an uneasy smile. The pieces of his gold plated armor clank together and gleam in the light, like the turquoise star on his vest. The armor looks thicker, however, and he is wearing a slender battle saddle with a radio pack, and when he is close enough, Trixie notices that “Sentry” and his blue shield and yellow lightning bolt cutie mark has been printed on his armor, just above his heart.

“Wow, it's been a while. How have you been?” asks the stallion.

“My day was getting better until I saw you, Flash,” says Trixie, beating the stallion's smile down to a frown.

“Wow, you've changed for the worst.”

The air immediately turns to stone as the two ponies stare at each, linked by pure hatred and their thoughts suffocating from the loathing of fate bringing them together. Their eyes narrow and Trixie feels her muscles twitching and her fur bristling while Flash ruffles his feathers.

Minty and the two guards exchange looks, and the colorful mare forces herself between the two. Specifically close to Flash with her hoof extending to touch his equipment.

“Trixie's just had a bad day, is all. This is some cool gear, by the way,” says Minty in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood.

Flash holds up a hoof, effectively blocking Minty's advance. “Don't touch the gear. And I'll need to see some identification, please.”

Minty retreats a couple of steps. “Look, I'm running late to see the Princess, so can you move outta the way and-”

“No. I need to see some ID from both of you.”

“You know who I am,” sneers Trixie.

“Rules are rules.”

“You're just being an ass.”

“You should talk.”

Minty and the two guards exchange looks, and the parole officer slides between the two ponies to act as a fleshy barrier. “Trixie does not have an ID at the moment.”

“Why not?” says Flash.

“Because-”

“Don't tell him!” blurts Trixie.

Minty huffs. “Because reasons.” She then holds up her badge. “But look at this. See, I'm Minty Sprinkles, candy associate of Princess Celestia here to bring Trixie Lulamoon to see her as per royal request, and we kinda got a little behind so you need to scoot out of the way and let us in, pronto!”

Trixie raises a brow at Minty, and Flash studies the badge, then looks at the unicorn guard, who is flipping through a levitated log book. When he finds what he is looking for, he closes the book and nods to Flash.

“She's in here, as well as a Trixie Lulamoon, sir,” says the unicorn.

Flash goes over and double checks, then he sighs and looks at the mares, apparently really loathing his day, now. “So it seems.”

“So, how's Miss Ketchup and Mustard doing? Does she still have poor taste?” asks Trixie.

Flash frowns. “Sunset Shimmer was unfaithful, so she's gone, now.”

“Ha! Serves you right, you butt-wipe!”

Flash rolls his eyes and opens the door. “Whatever. Just get in there and see what Celestia wants.”

Trixie sticks her nose in the air and walks forward with Minty. “I will.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

“FINE!” The door slams shut behind the two mares and Trixie scoffs, flicks her mane and trots towards the throne. “Dick.”

“That went downhill fast. Was he seriously that bad?” asks Minty.

Trixie frowns. “Between his ROTC stuff, band practice, math club, racing, calligraphy courses, tutoring, working at the library, community service, being a teacher's assistant, geek stuff and learning Spanish and Nieghponese, he did not have enough time for me.”

“Wow.”

“But he sure found plenty of time to rut Sunset Bitchface behind my back. So, I took his guitar, smashed it over his head and then I lit all of his stuff on fire.”

Minty's eyes bulge. “Were you arrested for that?”

“Nope. My father somehow got the situation solved without bringing the courts in. It was the only good thing he d-ehhhh-d... Whoa~”

Trixie’s jaw drops when she actually registers the grandeur of the throne room. The chamber can easily fit hundreds of ponies; the large, decorative, storytelling stained glass color the rays of sunlight in cheerful colors; and a good portion of the polished tiles on the floor are blocked by the thick, velvety rug that stretches from the base of the throne all the way to the double doors. Trixie cannot see the details of the throne just yet, but she does marvel at the white pillars and their golden bases that line the walls.

Celestia chuckles. “Like what you see?”

“Uh huh,” says Trixie dumbly.

“Oh, she loves it!” says Minty enthusiastically. “Just look at her face! I mean it’s exactly like everypony else that walked in here for the first time!”

Trixie’s eyes glide towards Celestia and is once again stunned by beauty. The slender alicorn is easily the tallest pony in Equestria. Her almost white, pale pink coat has a small glow to it and her light, multi-colored mane and tail flutter freely from raw magical power. Even her posture is majestic! The way she sits and the way her magenta eyes stare at them show a loving mother waiting to hear from a visiting child. However, the thing Trixie finds the most astonishing about Celestia is the armor she’s wearing. The golden armor is laced with gorgeous leafy patterns that surround a lavender gem, adding to her shine and making her figure look all the more beautiful. Only when Celestia awkwardly clears her throat does Trixie avert her eyes and offer a sharp bow. Minty doe the same, but her bowing is more graceful than Trixie's swift, robotic motions.

“You may rise,” says Celestia.

The two ponies stand, and Celestia smiles apologetically down at them from her vantage point.

“I'm sorry, normally I will put more time into talking with invited guests, but seeing as how you two are late and that I do not have much time, I will have to make this quick,” says the Princess. “Minty Sprinkles, are you up to the task of being Trixie Beatrix Lulamoon's parole officer for the needed duration of the Rehabilitation Program?”

“Of course I am,” replies Minty.

“Do you swear to uphold the law and guide Trixie to become a better citizen of Equestria for one full year?”

“Yep.”

“Very good.” Celestia turns to Trixie. “And Trixie Beatrix Lulamoon, do you swear to obey all of Officer Minty Sprinkles’ orders within reason for the duration of your one full year in the Rehabilitation Program?”

Trixie nods. “I do.”

“Do you swear to write me a letter every day chronicling what you did?”

“...I... do? Yes, yes I do.”

“Very good. You two are now dismissed.”

Trixie’s jaw goes slack and she stares at the Princess with a mixed bag of annoyance and confusion. She turns to Minty in hopes of getting an answer, only to find her parole officer casually strolling to the exit of the courtroom. Trixie looks back and forth between the Princess and Minty, making odd sounds as she struggles to form a coherent sentence, causing the other two to look at her curiously. When the released convict is able to piece together some words, she glares at Celestia.

“That’s it?” asks Trixie.

“Yes,” replies Celestia. “Like I said, normally these events would be longer, but, unfortunately I do not have time to make this occasion 'cool'.”

“Bullshit!”

Trixie marches towards the throne with a fire in her eyes, and Celestia simply sighs and reclines in her seat, patiently waiting out the storm.

“I want answers about what's going on and I want them now!” demands Trixie furiously, her voice echoes in the empty courtroom.

Minty gallops to Trixie’s side and tries to push her towards the door. “Okay, that’s enough, Trixie. It’s time to go.”

Trixie shrugs Minty away and starts up the steps with even more determination for answers. “No, this whole thing is stupid! I want to know what's going on and nopony is telling me anything!”

Celestia sighs and calmly points to the throne room doors. “Minty Sprinkles, could you please leave the throne room so I may have a word with Trixie in private?”

Minty reluctantly nods, drops off the bag of candy she brought in, and leans close to Trixie's ear. “You done goofed, girl.”

Then she gallops out of the room, but Trixie does not turn to watch her go. Instead she keeps her eyes on the goddess, only flinching slightly when the doors open and slam shut. Celestia keeps staring at Trixie, and barely moves her focus when she summons a day planner and pen and scribbles something down.

“Well, Kibitz is not going to be happy that I'm late for a meeting with Mr. Shimsham. And it is all because you-” Celestia closes and teleports her book away “-could not accept that you were released from prison. Why is that?”

“Hey, I'm the one asking questions around here!” shouts Trixie defiantly.

Trixie is suddenly blasted off of the stairs by a pulse of golden energy, and she lands on her back on the floor, wincing and groaning as her ears ring and a pain ripples all over her back. When her eyes open, her vision is blurry, but she sees just enough to see Celestia making her way down the steps. Slow and steady. Wings spread and a fire smoldering in her eyes.

“Last I checked, I am the one who rules this nation and commands the sun,” says Celestia.

Trixie whimpers and tries backing up, but golden chains wrap around her body and squeeze her tight, forcing the air out of her to where her lungs are squished and her throat is aching from failed cries of help.

“And last I checked, you have been charged with terrorism and the murder of Pinkie Pie, whom was a close friend of mine,” continues Celestia.

She then drags Trixie all the way to her so that she is looking down on the unicorn, and she places her armored hoof on the unicorn's chest. Even though she is barely touching, Trixie can still feel the weight on her, like a one ton anvil being held up by a string of thread, and she looks up at Celestia's burning eyes, whimpering and shaking with tears snaking down her cheeks.

“So what makes you think you are in charge?” finishes Celestia with cracks appearing in the purple gem on her breastplate.

When Trixie's only response is a terrified sniffle, Celestia slowly steps away and releases the chains holding her.

“Your silence says plenty, so now that our roles are officially established, we can have a decent conversation,” says Celestia while returning to her throne. After she sits, she continues. “Now, what is that you wanted to ask before your poor attitude set us back?”

Trixie hesitantly rolls on her stomach and looks up at the Sun Goddess with drooped ears and beady eyes. “Why me?”

Celestia raises her brow. “Why you?”

“Of all the murderers, rapists, thieves, and other lowlives in Singsong you picked me to be released. You picked me to be reintroduced into society even though my actions are horrible. Some might say I am beyond saving... And I think you and I are some of them. So, why did you let me out of Singsong?”

Celestia hesitates. “Trixie, you were chosen because of potential. Nothing more, nothing less. Now wait outside while I have a private word with Minty Sprinkles.”

“But I-I killed one of the Elements of Harmony, and now you're just letting me go. I don’t see how that makes any sense!”

Celestia’s eyes narrow. “It does not have to make sense to you. It does not even make sense to me, because I wanted to put on a remote island in the middle of the ocean, but a pony whom I trust very much sees something in you and has begged me to release you. I released you under the Rehabilitation Program as a favor for her, not for you, so take this opportunity with a grain of salt and do not make us regret this.”

“But I just don’t understand why you would even consider letting somepony like me have a second chance. I mean I killed the Element of Laughter and-”

Celestia holds up her hoof. “Trixie, stop right there. I know what you did and like I said, my original decision was much more severe than what you faced in Singsong. But one thing you must understand is that you did not kill the Element of Laughter. You merely killed its host.”

Trixie cocks her head quizzically, more confused than ever, now. She knows she killed the Element of Laughter. She remembers watching Pinkie Pie fall to her death. She remembers how lifeless she looked when she checked on her. And if Pinkie Pie was the host then how can the Element of Laughter still be alive if it has no host?

Seeing the confusion plastered on Trixie’s face, Celestia continues. “The Elements of Harmony are beyond the comprehension of a normal pony, but for the sake of simplicity we are going to go with ‘symbols’. The Elements are symbols for the pieces of Harmony and they chose a being to act as their host so they may walk amongst us. But they do not abolish free will, for that would destroy Harmony. Instead, they let the goodness inside direct the lives of the host while giving them some benefits, even though, like all things flesh and blood, it can be corrupted and killed. Corruption can be fixed, but when its host dies, the Elements leave and wait for more worthy hosts, for they cannot operate alone, only as a team. So, when you murdered Pinkie Pie, you killed the physical host of Laughter and broke the bond the Elements had with the physical world, but you did not kill the Element of Laughter, itself. Laughter will always be around, even in the darkest of times, for it is a symbol and symbols do not die. Now, my question for you, Trixie, is are you willing to change for the better?”

Trixie takes a moment to ponder the speech, and a few seconds later she nods and lowers her eyes. “I will change, Your Majesty.”

“You may rise, my little pony,” says Celestia with a wave of her hoof.

Trixie quietly stands up, but still keeps her head down to avoid eye contact with the deity.

“Trixie, I have lived a very long time, and I have seen good ponies do terrible things and terrible ponies do good things. Free will gives us the ability to condemn or redeem ourselves, and if you truly want to redeem yourself, then I advise you follow Minty Sprinkles faithfully. If not, I still have my eye on that remote island, are we clear?”

Trixie nods her head again, quietly saying: “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Good. You are dismissed, but bring Minty Sprinkles in. I'm already running late as it is, but I might as well have a word with her before I go.”

Trixie nods and quietly leaves the courtroom with her head down. When she enters the hallway, she notices that Flash Sentry is still there, as well as Minty Sprinkles, but now he has a ring of unicorn guardponies with him and they are all keeping an eye on her while Minty is reading a phone book.

Trixie opens her mouth to say something, but when Minty turns the page, she gives off a vibe that says she is in deep concentration. Trixie opens her mouth again, and closes it again a second later. When Trixie opens her mouth to speak for the third time, Minty suddenly slams the phone book shut and hops to her feet, making Trixie jump and miss a heartbeat.

“Did you and Celestia have a nice talk?” says Minty.

“Not really. She wants to talk to you, by the way,” says Trixie.

“Really? I guess I better do a stretch, then.”

Minty then stretches herself out like a cat, and a small series of pops that comes from the colorful mare’s back echo in the hall, making Trixie grimace, and she sighs blissfully while her eyes roll to the back of her head and her tongue rolls out. After that, her whole body relaxes a little too much for a couple of seconds, giving off the appearance that she had just killed herself with a stretch.

“Oh that felt good,” moans Minty, then she meets Trixie's repulsed expression with a reassuring smile. “My back’s been killing me lately, so I gotta stretch it out every now and then.”

“Why don't you see a chiropractor?” asks Trixie.

“I will in six months.”

“Why not get it sooner?”

“You know how the system works, silly.”

“Actually I don't...”

“Sucks for you, then. I’ll be right back.” Minty trots forward, stops, then turns over dramatically to Trixie with her hoof raised. “Oh, and, um, don’t mind the number of guards watching you. It's just some safety stuff.”

Minty walks away, humming a happy tune to herself, and Trixie looks around at the unicorn Royal Guards watching her with piercing eyes and stone cold expressions.

Trixie sighs and looks at the phone book Minty was reading earlier with the intent of finding Bon Bon’s address. The book is enormous to say the least, and when she runs her hoof over the page, she instantly hates the rough feeling it has, so she decides to use magic. As soon as her horn is covered in the grayish magenta aura, the guardponies light up their horns and aim their battle saddles at her. Trixie glares at them as the pages of the phone book gradually turn, filling the silent hallway with the sound of crackling paper. Trixie silently flips through it and gets more and more agitated as the guards continue to stare at her.

A few seconds later, she slams her hooves down and shouts: “Stop looking at me!”

“No,” says Flash bluntly.

Trixie groans and slams her head on the book.

Celestia stares at the throne room entrance, trying to be patient, but finding herself losing said patience rapidly. With the schedule going out of whack, Roar Shock's escape, Shining Armor's accusations against the EIB and Trixie being difficult, it is all a big headache for her that she knows she should be able to handle with ease, but cannot at the moment.

Celestia's chest tightens suddenly, bringing her hoof up swiftly to bring comfort to the sore spot. Along the way she brushes her purple gem, which sends a flash of pain through her chest and head that leaves them feeling swollen and hot. Celestia closes her eyes and bows her head, seething and pressing her hoof against the gem as her ears fold down. She hears cracking and opens her eyes to see a green glow from underneath her hoof.

Her eyes grow, her heart beats quicker and her mouth becomes dry as she pulls her hoof away from her chest to see large cracks on her stone, revealing more of the green underlayer. Celestia's heart and eyes nearly explode from panic and she quickly casts a spell on the gem that covers it in a golden haze. When the haze disappears, the gem is back in its full purple and Celestia sighs with relief and relaxes in her chair.

Then the door opens and Celestia snaps into the proper royal position, burying her anxiety with regal discipline as Minty trots towards her with a cool smile. Once the earth pony is a respectable distance away, she stops and offers a dramatic bow.

“Good evening, Princess. What can Minty do for you, today?” she says brightly.

“You can be Pinkie Pie around me. There are no prodding eyes or ears,” says Celestia, masking her uneasiness with a well practiced smile.

Minty Sprinkles, a.k.a. Pinkie Pie, stands straight and removes the pink wig to reveal a cropped, dark pink mane underneath. “Then I hope you don't mind me taking this wig off. It's been itching like crazy!”

“Pinkie Pie, we don’t have much time. I'm already running late with an important meeting with Mister Shimsham, but I wanted to have a word with you about Trixie."

Pinkie Pie sits on her haunches and scratches behind her ear with her hind hoof. “Whatcha need to know, Princess?”

“How are you going to keep Trixie under control? She is not exactly the most stable of ponies.”

Pinkie Pie dismisses Celestia’s worry with a wave of her hoof. “Oh please, Princess. I've read her file on top of spending some time with her, so got a good idea of how I'm going to handle her. Besides, I’ve got everything planned down to the dot at the end of her thought, so Trixie won't be a problem.”

“Pinkie, plans don't always work.”

“Give me some credit, I'm smarter than I look or act. I didn’t plan five moves because that’s too little. I didn’t do ten because that’s normal. I planned twenty moves! There’s no way anything is slipping by Auntie Pinkie. Maybe that’s why Twilight never wanted to play chess with me. Either that, or she thought I was too much of an mush brain to be a challenge, which is odd because the Manehatten Institute of Technology begged me to join their institution. Which proves I am not a mush brain. I wonder why everypony forgets about that letter?”

“Maybe you should have shown them the letter in the first place rather than pretending it did not exist.”

Pinkie Pie tenses and averts her eyes. “Good point.”

“But enough about that. How are your Pinkie Senses?”

Pinkie Pie's solemn look is replaced with a proud grin. “A whole lot better! It’s far from being perfect since its only general predictions that are based on things I spot when I pretend not to care. Stuff that happens soon, like instant to twenty minutes, is when I get the really good twitches. Kinda like when you get injected with pure caffeine at a rave party.”

Celestia smiles thinly. “Good. I know its hard for you, but I urge you to keep with your meditations to further hone in on your gift.”

“That's what afternoon naps are for,” says Pinkie Pie with a wink. “But nopony knows I'm alive right? I mean, if anypony finds out about me then the League might go after my family to get to me, and that can't happen.”

“Your secret is well contained, Pinkie Pie, but even then, the League of Justice is weak and depleted. Their threat to Equestria and to you has been brought down to the bare minimum, and with every level of the military and EIB hunting them there will soon be nothing left of them.”

Pinkie Pie shakes her head. “You may have made them homeless, but every bone, muscle, nerve, cartilage, and hair in my body is saying that this war is not over. They will be back and this is something that we cannot handle conventionally.”

Celestia opens her mouth to counter Pinkie Pie, but the formerly pink pony continues.

“But Trixie has been with them, she knows the ins and outs of their group,” says Pinkie Pie confidently. “Plus, she has seen some real crap over the years, so she'll be like a rabid dog that'll rip them apart once I let her loose! All we gotta do is make her think we're her friends and-”

Celestia holds up her hoof. “Stop right there. Are you telling me that you are going to use Trixie to combat the League?”

Pinkie Pie cocks her head and stares at Celestia, dumbfounded. “Uh, yeah. What else did you think I meant when I wrote in my letter that I wanted to guide Trixie to become a better mare so she can save Equestria from an impending doom?”

Celestia shakes her head. “Pinkie Pie, this can go wrong in so many ways. Just seeing Trixie's eyes is enough to see the turmoil in her, and you pretending to be he friend will only make it worse. She is emotionally unstable as it is, and I know she will react viciously if she finds out you played her.”

“Well, I can't fight the League. My back and hoof's all jacked up. Jackie won't leave her farm, Flutters won't leave her room, Rarity is Rarity and Twilight is Twilight, so we don't have a lot of choices here.”

“You don't have much faith in your friends.”

“They killed my faith in them.”

There is a pregnant pause between Celestia and Pinkie Pie, and the two stare at each other, with the alicorn expressing pity and the earth pony looking grim from unpleasant memories. Seconds later, Celestia sighs and lowers her eyes.

“I am disappointed in my Most Faithful Student and her friends for how they treated you, but I cannot apologize for them, no matter how much I want to,” says Celestia. “And as much I hate to admit it, you are right, with their actions against you, my trust in your friends has been shaken and I fear just as much as you that they will not be able to handle the viciousness of the League's remnants. However, we still have the EIB and the Royal Guard to handle them. All you need to do is rehabilitate Trixie and let us finish the fight.”

Pinkie Pie pops up next to Celestia, making the alicorn flinch. “Princess, you're going to need all the help you can get, and I'm giving you a golden opportunity on a gem platter, here. Trixie was a part of the League and she is a fighter. Heck, she tore apart a building trying to kill me and Twilight. She won't quit or hide from some jerks. She will go right up to them and punch them right in the mouth.”

“And what if she determines we are the enemy?”

Pinkie Pie slithers in front of Celestia and sits directly in front of her throne with her hooves in an uncomfortable spot on the cushion between the alicorn's legs. With her position, Celestia scrunches back and swallows as she fights to keep an embarrassed flush from forming on her cheeks while wondering if Pinkie Pie even realizes where she just placed herself.

“She won't,” claims Pinkie Pie, apparently oblivious to her position and uncaring that she has to crane her head back father than usual to see Celestia's face. “She'll think of us as friends, realize the League is filled with jerks, save Equestria, and then have a happy ending. Probably find a stud and get a cute baby and all that other happy ending stuff.”

As gently as she can, Celestia pushes Pinkie Pie off of her throne to reclaim her personal space. “How can you be sure that your manipulation will work?”

Pinkie Pie pouts and sits in front of the floor. “That is a mean word. I'm not manipulating. I'm retraining.”

Celestia frowns. “The question remains the same.”

“Trust me, my Pinkie Sense is telling me that it'll all be sunshine and rainbows in the end.”

“I’m going to need you to do better than that.”

“You ask ponies to have faith in you and now I ask that you have faith in me. It’s only fair.”

The two stare at each other in total silence. Celestia’s mind is completely blank due to Pinkie Pie’s insane plan and her assurance of its success, and Pinkie Pie’s unwavering stare is not helping her brain get back on track, either.

“Just think. When have I ever failed you?” asks Pinkie Pie seconds later.

“There's a time when everypony fails somepony,” replies Celestia hesitantly. “But even though this plan of yours is ridiculous, I’ll trust you to reform and keep Trixie under control. However, I will not cease any operations against the League or any other threats against Equestria, and I will adjust operations as I see fit.”

Pinkie Pie puts on her wig. “Gotcha.”

“And if Trixie proves to be too dangerous to be with civilians I will not hesitate to take the appropriate measures.”

Pinkie Pie grins. “Don't worry, I got this. Anything else?”

“No. You are dismissed.”

“Cool, I’ll see you around!”

Pinkie Pie does an about-face, then trots out of the room, and after the doors slam shut, Celestia sighs and sulks in her seat. After that, she rubs her gem and hopes that she has made the right choice.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 07 Sep 2015

Arc 2- 08- Fancy Pants & Octavia -EDITED-

After another boring drive filled with terrible scenery, Trixie hops out of Minty’s mini-train and follows her down a parking lot as they approach a two story building that is painted white with plenty of windows and a radio tower propped on the top. Above the entrance is a large sign that says: FANCY ENTERTAINMENT.

“This is where you'll be working,” says Minty.

“Looks boring,” says Trixie.

“I think you will find yourself right at home, soon enough.”

Minty opens the front door for Trixie and guides her inside, and once Trixie enters the building she sees yet more blandness. The walls are white, the radio is playing classical music, and the only color in the lobby is from the brown chairs, a potted tree, and a stack of newspapers and pamphlets. Minty excuses herself and approaches the receptionist, and Trixie trudges over to the stack of pamphlets and grabs one with her magic. What she sees on the front page snaps her pupils to tiny dots and her eye twitches as her brain grinds to a halt, leaving a smoky haze of burning wrath wanting to be released through a righteous scream and possibly a chair through the window.

Never before has she seen such a stuck up pony before. Those half lidded eyes of his and the accompanying grin he has plastered on his face reminds Trixie of a gigolo wanting to score some tail, and with his lavender cape and top hat, and red gem studded collar it is apparent he goes only for the high class. With the colors of the picture, his powder blue coat and dark blue stripes appear to be shining from the fireworks in the background. And to make matters worse, he has decided to call himself the “Magnificent Monte Fountain”.

Trixie's jaw drops and her tongue cannot work properly as the shock of the obvious theft of her stage name and attire is staring right at her with the mocking grin. She barely hears Minty finishing a conversation with the receptionist, and when she turns around, she sees Minty leaning against the counter, eyes to the floor, studying her hoof as if she is inspecting it for damage. But she does not care. Minty needs to see the crime that Trixie has spotted.

“Minty, look at this!” says Trixie as she stomps towards Minty with the pamphlet in her grip.

She holds the document up to Minty's face and the officer's expression shifts from complacent to confusion as she studies the offensive picture.

“What am I looking at?” asks Minty.

Trixie jabs her hoof at the purely evil smirk of the pictured stallion. “This jerk is ripping me off! See? Hat, flashy cape, bedroom eyes, fireworks, magnificent! Which is another word for great and powerful! How can he say he's magnificent when he has to rip me off to gain attention!?”

Minty shrugs. “Maybe he doesn't realize he's ripping you off. Capes and hats and stage names seem to be popular with magicians.”

“Only stupid magicians use hats and stage names.”

Minty smirks, and Trixie instantly clamps her mouth and flushes with embarrassment.

“But not me,” says Trixie quickly. “I wasn't stupid. I was awesome and cool and-and... great and powerful... and...” Trixie looks down, huffing and turning away. “Never mind.”

Minty pats Trixie on the shoulder. “Nice save.”

Trixie groans and sulks away with the pamphlet floating next to her. “I'm going to sit down.”

Minty nods and resumes looking at her hoof. “You go do that.”

After Trixie sits down, her parole officer suddenly perks and approaches a familiar stallion well into his fifties, but still looks like he is a gift from the heavens. It takes a moment for Trixie's brain to remember where she had seen the stallion, but when she does, her eyes get little sparkles and a wide smile grows as she takes in the thin crows feet around his eyes small streaks of gray running through his wavy, powder blue mane and tail. Then there is his excellent physique hidden underneath his sharp tuxedo, and even his monocle and relaxed smile adds to his character in every way positive. In fact, he looks a whole lot better than the last time she saw him over a decade ago.

“Fancy!” squeals Trixie.

Minty and the stallion, Fancy Pants, stop talking and Trixie scrambles out of her seat and gallops to him, her heart racing and her wide grin about to rip her face in half. Before Fancy Pants can react, he is in a hug that squeezes the air right out of him. He grunts and stumbles back before he is able to awkwardly return the hug with one hoof while Trixie giggles and nuzzles her cheek against his neck. The older stallion chuckles and rubs the back of Trixie's neck from top to shoulders, and when he sees Minty's confused look, he shrugs with a smile.

“Okay, what'd I miss?” asks Minty.

“I used to give Fancy sandwiches when he was a hobo,” says Trixie, still nuzzling him and flicking her tail a little. She pulls away just enough to look into his eyes. “Can I live with you?”

Before Fancy Pants has a chance to get beyond the surprised stammering, Minty tugs Trixie away.

“No you cannot,” says Minty, getting a disapproving whine from Trixie that she ignores while smiling sweetly at Fancy Pants. “So, a hobo, eh?”

“It was a sad chapter in my life I would rather not want to talk about,” says Fancy Pants. He looks at Trixie, and even though she is grinning ear to ear at him and shaking in her spot, not even her enthusiasm can hide her body's current state. “But, Trixie, what happened to you?”

Trixie's smile fades. “What?”

Fancy Pants pushes Minty aside and hurries to Trixie's side, where he then grabs her tight and forces her to turn so he gets a profile view of her. “You're covered in bruises and scabs.”

Trixie instantly tenses from the rough touch, and her heart beats become heavy and her throat is blocked with a wet orb as she tries to pull away from him.

“I'm fine,” says Trixie nervously, her eyes now shimmering and ears sagging.

“Fine? No, you aren't fine! You're a mess!” Fancy Pants glares at Minty. “What happened to her?”

Minty cringes. “A rough streak...?”

“A rough streak?” Fancy Pants grabs Trixie again and pulls her close to him, getting a surprised yelp, and he points at a fading scar around Trixie's eye. “That is not a rough streak! That is a brawl injury, and she is covered in them!”

“Hey, give me a break, will you. I'm helping her get back on track,” says Minty defensively.

“She is,” says Trixie, then adding nervously: “Can you let go of me, please?”

Fancy Pants keeps Trixie in his grip for a moment, but when he does reluctantly release her, she sulks behind Minty while he stares at the two mares with a frown of his own. “Please tell me you're going to get those injuries taken care of.”

“Of course we will,” says Minty. “I promised to take care of Trixie, so that is exactly what I'm going to do. Now, how's about we do the whole rehab-job thing that we talked about?”

“Right. Follow me, ladies.”

Fancy Pants takes the lead and escorts the mares down the hall to his office. It is a quick walk, and the office itself is brightly lit, but barren, and after they take a seat in the guest chairs Fancy Pants closes the door.

“Can we leave the door open?” blurts Trixie.

Minty and Fancy Pants look at her quizzically, and Trixie shrinks in her seat and looks at Fancy Pants pleadingly.

“Please?” she adds with a slight tremble in her voice.

Fancy Pants nods and opens the door, and after that he sits in a larger chair behind his plain desk and smiles at Trixie.

“It's been a while hasn't it, Trixie?” says Fancy Pants.

“Yes it has,” says Trixie, returning the smile, albeit smaller than his.

“I want to apologize for when I grabbed you out there. I felt you tense up, but you have to understand that I meant no harm. I was only worried about you.”

“I know,” says Trixie quietly after swallowing and looking down.

“Well, you got nothing to fear, Mister Pants. Trixie is in good hooves so she won’t be getting any worse,” says Minty confidently.

“Just Fancy Pants, Miss Sprinkles. But I haven’t seen Trixie in a very long time and it pains me to see her, or any pony, in such a state. I am grateful that you are helping her, though.”

Minty blushes and waves her hoof dismissively. “Nah, its nothing. But I am glad that you're allowing Trixie to work for you. I'm sure it'll help improve her self-esteem issues.”

Trixie glares at Minty, and the officer merely shrugs in response. All the while, Fancy Pants smiles and nods.

“Nothing like a good job to boost morale, eh?” says the stallion.

“Yeah. It's too bad that I can't be there with her when she works, though,” says Minty.

“Rest assured, I’ll have my managers take good care of her when she’s on the clock. Now, Miss Sprinkles, I am going to have to ask you to step outside for a moment so me and Trixie can get the last of the paperwork sorted out.”

Minty stares at Fancy Pants cautiously and Trixie’s eyes dart between the both of them as they continue their staring contest.

“Is there a problem, Miss Sprinkles?” asks Fancy Pants

“Trixie is my responsibility,” begins Minty, “and she has had a very bad rough streak that has put her on a hair trigger. But -like I said- I can't be with her when she is working, so I'm kinda trusting you to help me out, here. I mean I'm sure you already got some crazy employees because of your role in the whole Rehabilitation Program shindig thingamabob, but just to be safe, I think that Trixie needs to be watched carefully more than others. She's kinda emotional and prone to outbursts.”

“What!? No I'm not!” says Trixie with a high pitched whine.

Fancy Pants and Minty stare at Trixie quietly, and she looks at both of them, just as quiet, before sitting down with a grouchy huff and her hooves folded across her chest.

“Trixie's fine,” mutters said emotional unicorn.

“See what I mean?” says Minty, smiling thinly and getting a condemning glare from the parolee.

“I do,” says Fancy Pants, now getting a glare of his own, but he ignores it completely. “But I promise you will have nothing to worry about with Trixie. I take good care of all of my employees.”

“If you say so. But keep in mind I’ll be watching.”

“I thought you couldn’t be around when Trixie works.”

“There’s more than one way to watch somepony.”

To Trixie's surprise, Fancy Pants eyes Minty in such a harsh way that almost seems like a dare for her to say something else to dig her grave. But, naturally, Minty seems oblivious to this look, and she slides out of her chair and pushes Trixie closer to the desk, much to the unicorn's surprise, and she flinches when the earth pony pats her shoulder.

“Well, I'm sure you got some boring paperwork to do, so I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,” says Minty with a wicked smile.

The insides of Trixie's cheeks bursts into flames and she groans in embarrassment as she hides her face in her hoof while Fancypants says something about being married. Minty then giggles and exits the room, and even after she is gone, Trixie still keeps her face covered, not wanting to look at Fancy Pants while her face is still red hot.

In the hallway, Pinkie Pie sits next to the doorway, out of sight, and eagerly listens in to the conversation between Trixie and Fancy Pants.

“So, it’s been a while,” says Fancy Pants.

“Yes it has,” mumbles Trixie.

“You can stop hiding your face.”

“I’ll wait until I’m back to my normal colors.”

An awkward silence passes, and when Pinkie Pie hears an uneasy shift, she guesses that it was Trixie that did it.

“Are you going to tell me what happened to you?” asks Fancy Pants suddenly.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” says Trixie shamefully.

Fancy Pants nods and relaxes in his seat. “Fair enough. We barely knew each other from the beginning, anyway, so sharing tragedies may seem strange.”

Trixie looks up at Fancy Pants and smiles sheepishly, her cheeks losing their blush. “Well, I did give you the bits every week to buy yourself a sandwich. So we’re at least acquaintances.”

“Indeed.”

“Well...” Trixie says while looking around the room nervously. “You’re famous now, huh?”

“That I am, and so were you for a little bit.”

“Yeah, but I kinda got carried away and... well...” Trixie points at her face and forces herself to chuckle. “This is what happened.”

Fancy Pants sighs sadly. “I’m sorry what happened to you, Trixie. I wish I could’ve done something as a way to repay you for your kindness, but, if it makes you feel any better, I admit that I got a little bit carried away with my celebrity status, too.”

“You let fame get into your head?”

“Going from nothing to everything in a few short weeks can have quite the effect on somepony, but after meeting a beautiful mare I snapped back, I guess one would say. Seeing the way that mare and her friends partied and had a grand old time made me realize how suffocating I’ve been after my rise to fame.”

He adjusts his position in his seat before continuing with his monologue.

“Sure I had what I always wanted. Money. Fame. A beautiful wife to call my own. But I spent so long trying to fit into Canterlot society that I became a stick in the mud. A bore. I think it was that day when those mares from Ponyville arrived that I started to realize that money only rents happiness.”

Trixie frowns at the mention of “Ponyville”, but when Fancy Pants pulls out a simple folder that has a few sheets of paper in it, she is quick to replace the frown with a smile.

“Now then, enough about me and on to your employment,” says Fancy Pants as he flips the folder open and turns it to Trixie. “With the Special Talent Act your choices are severely limited. However, even without the said law your choices would still be limited since all you’ve ever done were magic shows.”

“Hey, I've done odd jobs here and there for a while,” says Trixie defensively.

“Like what?” asks Fancy Pants.

“Well... stuff. Grocery store stocking, fast food, garbage collector, bartereress. You know... stuff.”

Fancy Pants arches a brow. “Bartereress?”

Trixie flashes a nervous smile and shifts in her seat. “You know, a female barterer. Sell or trade stuff to other ponies for cash or other stuff.”

“Uh... huh.” Fancy Pants slides the folder to Trixie and levitates a pen her way. “Anyway, I got you a position with my Canterlot branch as an Entry Level Employee, and the good news is is that they just started their newest contract, so you will go in fresh and learn the ropes from the beginning, and it'll be with a big time magician so you'll be in familiar waters.”

“What will I be doing, exactly?” asks Trixie as she studies the paperwork, filling out the basic portions of name, birth date and gender, but going completely blank when she sees slots regarding tax information. Specifically when she sees a whole lot of numbers and stuff that might as well have been written in Greek.

“You’ll be delivering production equipment and help the crew set up the show,” explains Fancy Pants. “I try to keep the work days at eight hours, but sometimes things happen where ponies work as long as twelve hour shifts. I compensate them accordingly.”

“How much?”

“Seven bits an hour, plus another three for every hour worked overtime. I also have free lunches for my employees.”

“Sounds cool,” says Trixie, her eyes becoming more bugged out and her brain more strained by the confusing wording and numbers on her paperwork. Soon enough, the gibberish on the document morphs into a blob of archaic gibberish, and she furrows her brows and bites her tongue as she starts moving her pen in brisk strokes that go well over the designated lines. Seeing this, Fancy Pants' relaxed demeanor fades to confusion and he leans over his desk to see what she is doing. When she is done, she looks up and droops her ears as the older stallion stares at the paperwork with massive eyes.

“Trixie, what did you do?” asks Fancy Pants.

Trixie shrinks in her seat, shamefaced. “I didn't know how to fill out the paperwork, so I drew an elephant.”

Fancy Pants smack his lips, levitates the paper away from Trixie, crumples it, and tosses it in a trash bin labeled “Burn”, and he sets identical paperwork in front of her.

“Well, you are definitely going to need some help,” says Fancy Pants.

Pinkie Pie hears Trixie approaching the doorway so she quickly slides down the hall and when Trixie walks out, she pretends to be admiring something splendid. When Trixie finds her, she looks at her quizzically, and then stares at what she’s staring at. Then back at Pinkie Pie. Then back at the object again.

“Um, what are you looking at?” asks Trixie.

“This magnificent paint job,” says Pinkie Pie casually.

“Yeah, because they did such a great job painting the wall white.”

“They sure did.” Pinkie Pie looks at Trixie. “So, what took you so long?”

“Oh, um, I had to redo some paperwork, but I start working at ten in the morning tomorrow. I have to show up here so he can introduce me to the team.”

“I see... Hang on a sec.” Pinkie Pie sticks her head inside the office and shouts: “Hey, Fancy, when does Trixie work!?”

Fancy Pants jumps in his seat, then he answers Pinkie Pie with a dirty stare. “Trixie works tomorrow morning at ten.”

“Here?”

“Yes, and then she’ll be leaving with a team to do some work at the Card Casino.”

“Okie dokie lokie. Remember what I said.”

“I will.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.”

Fancy Pants then uses his magic to slam his door shut and Pinkie Pie jumps away just in time, but right as she jumps away, a painfully uncomfortable crick in her back appears. Pinkie Pie immediately curses painfully under her breath, and then she stretches out her back and sighs with relief with her eyes drooping and tongue lolling out when the pain fades to relief after some obnoxious, but satisfying pops. She then looks over her shoulder and sees Trixie looking at her, grossed out again.

“Sorry about that, Trixie, but it would make for an uncomfortable ride if I didn’t do that,” says Pinkie Pie.

“What happened to your back, Minty?” asks Trixie

The two mares start walking down the hallway and Pinkie Pie’s mind races for a good idea, but most are ridiculous and unbelievable, all except for one.

“I fell when I was trying to fix something that I broke,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Like a gutter?” asks Trixie.

Pinkie Pie hesitates. “Yeah, it was a gutter.”

“You broke a gutter?”

“Yeah, I broke a gutter.”

“How'd you break your gutter?”

“It was just one of those things where you do something stupid and you hurt yourself trying to fix it.”

Trixie looks down, brows scrunched and eyes flicking left and right as her brain clearly tries in vain to figure out the problem. “So, what stupid thing led to you breaking your gutter?”

Pinkie Pie sighs. “Can we drop the gutter, please?”

“But I wanna know about the gutter!” whines Trixie.

“We can talk about the gutter at another time, okay? But right now, we gotta make one more stop and then I gotta get you home so you can crash for the night.”

Trixie puckers her lips in a pout and looks down, snorting. “Fine. I didn't want to know about your stupid gutter, anyway.”

Pinkie Pie cannot help it. Trixie's reaction creates an amused smirk that cracks across her muzzle, and she shakes her head and chuckles quietly to herself.

“No, y'all so caught up in this new-age junk that yer gladly tradin' everything for security!” says an angry mare with a thick country accent over a dial radio. “It ain't ever gonna end 'cuz if the government becomes yer goddess, yer gonna do everything ya can to please her. Even giving her more power that she don't need and gilded chains to trap us to her so ya can continue to feel good 'bout yourselves.”

“Ma’am, I have to say your paranoia is amusing,” says a stallion. “This is an age where traditions must be replaced for the greater good. Certain rights must be restricted or rewritten for the sake of security, and some positions must be monitored and handled accordingly so this new age of enlightenment and tolerance can prosper. I know it is hard for the uneducated to understand, but you'll thank us in the end.”

“Uneducated? How 'bout I shove my business degree and my Epsilon Pi Kappa hat in your face, ya cretin!”

“Let's try to keep this civil, Miss Apple,” says another mare.

Octavia sighs and clicks off her radio and then runs her hoof through her messy mane. Normally she would keep her mane well kept, but she is at home, away from paparazzi and fans, so she can let her hair down and relax. Well, she still needs to do the relaxing part. She has been attempting to write a new symphony for the annual Gala at the request of the Royal Orchestra Committee, and all she has to show for it is a blank sheet of high quality paper and an unopened box of pens and ink.

Octavia sighs, closes her eyes, and lets her head fall on her aged work table, covered in stains of spilled ink, dried tears and indents where her hoof or head has made frequent contact. Her brain is like a genius locked in a steel box, buried six feet below with a house built on top with absolutely no chance of getting the fresh air of inspiration, and it is bugging her to near mental meltdown.

Without taking her head off of her table, Octavia drags one of her expensive sheets towards her and stares at the blank lines from her awkward position. Her frown grows as her brain clicks worthlessly like a broken clock. Moments of blank thoughts and depressing silence later, and Octavia lifts her head up and blows some of her dark mane out of her eyes, but it doesn’t do much except for shift slightly out of her vision.

“I need a drink.”

Octavia sluggishly slides out of her seat and trudges into her kitchen, purposefully dragging her hooves across the thick, wavy carpet along the way to get that soft feel under her hooves. She loves the feeling of the thick hairs of the carpet rubbing against the bottom of her hooves, and she also finds it oddly fascinating how her hooves leave dark streaks where they go. When she enters her kitchen, she grabs a cool bottle of wine from her win cooler, hoping it will encourage her brain to work so she will not be humiliated on the most important day of her life. She takes the bottle, grabs a cup, then pauses and stares at the fancy glass before her. It does not take her long to put the cup back and bite off the cork and chug the alcohol straight from the bottle.

After taking a couple of big gulps, she smacks her lips and scans her living room, taking in the lavish furniture, expensive artwork, the radio and heater. The view of the city and her patio is a plus, too. Then her eyes fall on her prized possession. A phonograph with its red case decorated in dark flowers and vines, and its bronze speaker polished and aimed towards the door. Below it is her collection of vinyl disks containing only the best of classical music. Not a single piece of that horrendous rock n' roll, rap, metal, jazz, country or any other poor excuse for music can be found in her collection.

Octavia goes over to her phonograph set and pulls out a record of one of her idols, the late Braille Lulamoon. She carefully sets the record on the turntable, and with even more caution she adjusts the arm of the device. There is a brief crackling, but soon heavenly music fills Octavia’s apartment and she feels all of her troubles melt away.

Octavia's stressed expression melts away to a smile and her muscles relax as she plops on her couch. However, when she notices a box wrapped in duct tape on every side with the Sugar Cube Corner and her address scribbled on it in crayon, that smile fades and relaxation dissolves into grief.

She remembers getting the box from a lazy-eyed pegasus who said she was a friend of Pinkie Pie's. At first she did not believe her because no one in their right mind would hire a pegasus that can't see right and crashes into balcony doors like a dumb bird to be a mail carrier. But she had the uniform, the credentials, and Pinkie Pie's mouth writing was all over the insanely sealed box, so now here it is. Sitting in her living room, collecting dust, and reminding her every day that her sister was murdered.

The only reason Octavia has not opened the box to inspect its contents is because there was a note instructing her to leave it alone and let a pony named Minty Sprinkles take it when the time is right. Fortunately, Pinkie Pie left a very detailed description of Minty Sprinkles, but so far there has been no sign of the said pony.

Octavia stares at the only thing left of Pinkie Pie as she nurses her wine until there is nothing in her cup. When she finishes her wine she has a brief mental argument on whether or not she should have another glass. She chooses to leave her glass empty and get back to work. Octavia is about to head back to her workplace, but is stopped short by a sporadic knocking on the door that reminds her of a hooligan doing a knock-knock-ditch game. She carefully approaches the door and peeks through the peephole and sees a very colorful pony standing in front of the door with someone else behind her. The colorful pony is freakishly similar to who Pinkie Pie described as the one who would take the box.

The visitor knocks on the door again. “Octavia, I know you’re home. This is Minty Sprinkles, Royal Government Agent.”

She holds up her badge to the peephole, giving Octavia an up close look at her visitors credentials.

“You see that? Of course you do, you’re right in front of the door. Looking right at me. Open up please.”

Octavia reluctantly opens the door a smidgen, and the colorful pony by the name of Minty smiles at her while the pony she is with appears antsy. It does not take Octavia long to realize who the other pony is, though.

“Is that Trixie?” asks Octavia.

“Sure is,” says Minty proudly. “Hey, Trixie, you got a fan.”

Trixie's expression perks. “I do?”

“I’m not a fan. I just recognize you,” says Octavia.

Trixie’s ears droop. “Oh.”

“Octavia, I understand you got a package from the late Pinkie Pie shortly before her passing,” says Minty.

“Murder,” growls Octavia.

Trixie instantly shrinks behind Minty and visibly becomes more nervous, and Octavia eyes her suspiciously while Minty bites her lip and nods apologetically. Octavia also notices that the government agent has also become unsettled.

“Can we come in?” asks Minty.

Octavia is hesitant, but she steps back to Minty and Trixie entrance into her apartment. As the two enter, Octavia studies their demeanor, noting how both have a burden on them, even though they try to play it off as they study her lavish furniture sets. In Trixie's case, she has a fascination with the phonograph and its music while Minty looks around at the walls, looking at the fancy oil paintings of various natures on the walls and the framed awards that neighbor them.

“You don't seem to be very close to your family,” says Minty.

“What makes you say that?” says Octavia as she closes and locks the door.

“You don't have any personal pictures.” Minty stops and stares at a pictures made of acrylic squares and rectangles of various natural colors that are meshed together. “What's this supposed to be?”

“Its abstract art, so its whatever you want it to be. Why are you here, exactly?”

Minty tilts her head to the side and squints her eyes in what Octavia can only describe as obnoxious. “Me and Pinkie Pie talked for quite some time before her death. She had a lot of good things to say about you and she also said that she gave you a package.” Minty turns and does a quick scan of the room before locking her eyes on the taped up box and pointing at it. “Is that the package?”

“She was murdered. I don't understand why that is so hard for you to say. And don’t touch that!” yells Octavia as she stomps towards Trixie.

Trixie instantly retracts her hoof from the phonograph and backpedals quickly as Octavia checks the device to make sure nothing is broken or that none of the records have been misplaced. After finding out that nothing is wrong, she sighs with relief and then glares at Trixie murderously, making the unicorn sulk next to Minty with drooped ears. Minty, on the other hand, inspects the box and smiles when she sees no signs of tampering, save for the part where the note was pulled off. As this happens, Octavia closes her eyes, breathes through her nose and tries to settle her heavy heart and a lust for blood.

“Forgive me for being a poor hostess. Things have been stressful for me, lately,” says Octavia in a less than hospitable tone. “Would you two like a drink?”

“I think we better go,” says Trixie uneasily.

“Oh, I would love one! Do you have fruit punch?” says Minty a little too enthusiastically.

Trixie sighs heavily and Octavia frowns.

“No, I only have wine and cider,” says the musician.

“Cider it is!” says Minty excitedly. “Come on, Trixie, have a seat.”

Minty ushers Trixie to one of Octavia’s couches, much to the ex-convict's annoyance, and Octavia goes into her kitchen to grab extra glasses and a bottle of her cheapest cider.

“This is some nice music you’re playing. Who’s the composer?” asks Minty.

“That would be Braille Lulamoon,” says Octavia.

“My mother,” adds Trixie with sad a mumble.

Minty smiles and positions herself on her part of the couch so that her back gets the most comforting experience possible while Trixie looks down solemnly at the floor. Meanwhile, Octavia carefully sets the cups of cider on a bland tray and carefully enters the living room. After setting the trays on the coffee table in between the couch her guests are on and her chair, she speaks.

“Your mother was very talented. It was tragic how she passed so soon. She had so much potential,” says Octavia.

“It was tragic,” says Trixie, her eyes narrowing slightly as she uses her magic to grab her cup.

“Well at least Braille left a nice legacy,” says Minty before snatching her cup with her hooves and gulping the whole beverage down in one sitting. “Wow, this is some good stuff. What is it?”

“Sweet Apple Acres Cider,” answers Octavia, letting her repulsiveness of Minty's behavior be known through her tone after taking a ginger sip of her drink.

“Oh very cool, I’ll have to be sure to buy myself some.”

“Indeed, you should.”

“Making a mental note, right now.” Minty chuckles awkwardly while Trixie rolls her eyes, and then she sets her empty cup down on the tray and clears her throat, her tone becoming more serious. “Anyway, I know this is going to seem out of the blue, but what did you think of your sister?”

Octavia immediately stops herself from taking another sip of her drink, and a painful lump rises in her throat as she lowers her eyes and gently sets her cup down on the tray. She tries to swallow it down, but all it does is leave her choking and her eyes wet and burning. When she lifts her eyes to her guests, she has to blink tears away, and as much as she wants to tell them some stories about her murdered sister, those fading memories are all she has left, and she will be damned if she shares them with the ones responsible for her death.

“We drifted apart after I left home. Everything I heard about her was from the newspapers or word of mouth,” says Octavia coldly. “I know only what the media tells me and that is where my judgment of her character ends.”

Octavia's cold stare silently combats with Minty's shocked expression while Trixie's confused eyes snap between the two earth ponies. The only sound in the room at this point is the faint traffic noise outside and the music being played from the phonograph, which just happens to have a tragic tone to it for Octavia's ears. Octavia then notices that Minty sipping at the nothingness in her cup, and the cup itself is shaking from her trembling hooves, and the officer's eyes are becoming increasingly red with a trail of tears snaking down her cheeks.

“Would you like more cider?” asks Octavia, uncaring of Minty's state.

“No, no I’m fine,” replies Minty. “It’s just that, like you, I didn’t know Miss Pie very well, and...” Minty smacks her lips together looks at the ceiling for a moment before bringing her gaze back to Octavia. “Well, when I talked to her, she spoke very highly of you. She thought you were very accomplished and she also wondered if you got those letters she sent you?”

Octavia looks down at her carpet, caught off guard by the question and feeling like she got sucker punched in the liver. She remembers getting those cards, but she always hid them under her bed and never opened them because they were not up to par with the standards she had developed. She also did not want her new friends to see them since she has seen first hand how they treat those who are not in their tax bracket. But, in spite of those things, she has grown so fond of the Canterlot lifestyle that she has tried to forget her roots. She enjoys having a home with electricity, hot and cool air, a door that is not warped, floors not creaking and something more than just rocks to look at. She enjoys not having to get up at the crack of dawn just to go to church. She enjoys being able to buy clothes and dine out, go on dates, have a fling or two, and she loves having a bed that actually keeps her warm and comfortable.

Her old life offered none of that, and only gave her denied wishes. The wealth of her new life answered her prayers and gave her everything she wanted. But thinking about it now, she knows no amount of money in the world can reverse death or return the time lost between her, her father and her sisters.

“I know Pinkie was a strange pony, but before she died she did not stop talking about you,” says Minty quietly, bringing Octavia out of her thoughts.

With those words spoken, Octavia glares at Trixie, knowing full well she had something to do with her sister's murder, and her drooping her ears and shifting in her spot only solidifies that fact. The fact that Minty Sprinkles is chauffeuring that murderer around is enough to get her trembling from pure rage, regardless of Pinkie saying that Minty is trustworthy. From what Octavia is seeing, Minty betrayed her sister and is now letting Trixie off easy.

“But one of the things she wondered was why you or your other sisters never answered your letters,” continues Minty. “I don’t know if you couldn’t or wouldn’t get in contact with her, but she loved you, she couldn’t stress that enough before she died.”

“Did you try to save her at least?” asks Octavia, trying to keep her tone from betraying her desire to enact some Miners Country justice on the murderers before of her.

Minty hesitates. “I did what I had to do.”

Octavia stares at Minty, her jaw setting and wet eyes narrowing as red snakes slither in to poison her purple eyes. Her heart beats faster and her breathing becomes shallow as her muscles tense when Minty and Trixie stand up, with Minty asking Trixie to carry the box for her.

“I think we better go,” says Minty. “Have a good day, Miss Pie.”

Octavia stands up and approaches Minty. “Wait, what did you mean by you did what you had to do?”

“I meant exactly what I said,” replies Minty while walking towards the door. Then she turns her head slightly and smiles sadly. “The hospitality was great, the cider was good and that couch was awesome, but now we have to get going. I got a lot of work to do and only a New Yoke minute to do it.”

“Did my sister at least give you a message to say to me before she died?” asks Octavia.

At this point, Trixie is in the hallway and Minty is in the doorway, but with Octavia's question the parole officer freezes and looks down. Octavia notices the colorful mare's body trembling, and when she turns to look at her, the officer's eyes are glistening and burdened with guilt, and she has to swallow a lump in her throat before she walks to Octavia, sniffling.

“She did. Two things actually,” says Minty.

Minty then pulls Octavia in a tight embrace and the musician tenses and stares ahead with bulging eyes as she is squeezed. The officer's hooves start rubbing her back in a comforting manner, but Octavia still remains tense and unable to move, not even to return the hug.

“She also said not to worry. It’ll all be sunshine and rainbows in the end,” says Minty gently.

Minty reluctantly releases Octavia seconds later and hurries out of the apartment while Octavia stares at the ground, stunned beyond words of hearing her dead sister's pick-me-up phrase. Hearing those words, Octavia’s eyes start to swell with tears, her lips quiver, and she gasps for air as a suffocating lump pushes into her throat. When the door closes, she curls up in the middle of the floor and cries into her hooves, realizing what she sacrificed for the sake of her new life.

Pinkie Pie looks over her shoulder at Octavia’s door, listening to the quiet cries of her sister, and wipes her nose while blinking tears out of her eyes. She does not know what is worse. Having to keep her identity a secret, or the fact that she was hugging and talking to her sister, but she did not recognize her voice.

“You okay, Minty?” asks Trixie.

Pinkie Pie nods and looks at Trixie, forcing herself to smile. “I’m fine. Let’s get you home.”

As much as it hurt for her, she knows it is best that Octavia does not recognize her. For everyone's sake, it is best that they think she is dead until the League of Justice is completely destroyed.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 07 Sep 2015

Arc 2- 09- Bonbon Land Brawl -EDITED-

The elevator dings and its doors lazily slide open to reveal a hallway barely adequately lit with florescent lights. The walls are covered in peeling white paint and the large windows that show an amazing view of Canterlot are in desperate need of cleaning. Most of the great view being possible because the apartment complex is resting on the crest of a hill.

Trixie quietly follows Minty Sprinkles down the hall with the box still in her magical aura while the officer is carrying a bag of candy from Bon Bon's shop. They do not have to walk far since they are the fifth apartment on the floor, labeled “505”, and while Minty works to unlock the door, Trixie takes the moment to look out the window.

The orange colors of the setting sun give the bustling city a peaceful hue, and as Trixie looks at the growing skyline of Canterlot, she notices a huge construction site in its skeletal phase on the outskirts of the city. It is the largest of the buildings, even in its early stages, and the only reason why the Royal Palace is above it is because of its vantage point on the mountainside.

“Hey, Minty, what’s that over there?” asks Trixie as she points at the distant site.

Minty looks at what Trixie is pointing at. “That would be the Celestial Spire.”

“What’s it for?”

Minty opens the door and trots inside the apartment. “Not a clue. It’s probably going to be a monument of some kind. But forget about that thing. We have an apartment to explore!”

Minty shows Trixie the living room first. Its a decent size with dark gray carpet, a ceiling fan, and a glass table with a love seat and a couple of chairs, and next to them on a nightstand is a dial radio. After that is the kitchen and dining room area. The kitchen has all the basics, but only one pony can fit in there comfortably, and even then it will still be somewhat cramped. The dining room is next to the kitchen and has a wooden table with a lighting fixture above it and cushions surrounding it. Trixie is then taken to the bathroom. It has all the necessities, nothing more, nothing less, and has just enough room for one pony, just like the kitchen. And finally there are the two bedrooms that come with a small closet, a single bed and a window with a curtain that shows them a great view of the urban jungle. However, while the apartment is quaint and has a humble touch, the apartment, the number of rooms is the extremely unsettling for Trixie.

“Um, Minty, why are there two rooms?” asks Trixie quizzically.

“We're going to be roommates,” replies Minty. “And I call dibs on this room!”

Minty balances the box from Octavia's home on her head and skips inside the nearest room, leaving Trixie to stare straight ahead. Pale and trembling with Minty's words echoing in her brain like mocking demons who take joy in her misery.

“Roommates, huh?” says Trixie.

“Yep! We're gonna have a blast!” says Minty from inside her room.

“Yeaaaah... Fun times...”

And then Trixie faints.

“Trixie~” says Minty, her voice smooth and echoing inn the vastness of Trixie's darkness like an angel calling a lost soul to the light. “Oh, Trixieeee~~”

The voice is so smooth, so calming, so peaceful. It is nowhere near as annoying as Trixie remembers and-

“WAKE UP!”

Piercing cold water suddenly splashes all over Trixie's face and she screams and jumps to the sitting position, teeth chattering and her soaked body shaking as her vision is completely blocked by her drenched mane. She wipes some of her mane away from her eyes and sees Minty tossing an empty bucket into the kitchen. That really gives her a strong desire to sock Minty in the jaw.

“I had to get you up somehow,” says Minty.

“You didn’t have smelling salt?” says Trixie through gritted teeth.

“You slept through it, so I had to use ice water, instead.” Minty then grabs a towel that she has draping over her back and offers it to Trixie. “Towel?”

Trixie frowns at Minty, but still takes the towel with her magic and pats herself dry as she explores her room in a feeble attempt to calm her nerves. All it takes is one stare and a two second closet inspection to see all that the room has to offer.

“Homey, right?” asks Minty, her smile now forced.

Trixie sighs and looks down, nodding as she drops the towel on the floor and approaches her bed. “Yeah. Homey...”

Minty sighs and leans against the doorway, her smile gone. “Look, I know you’re eager to go out on your own and put your mess behind you and all that, but Celestia is just worried that you might do something bad if we left you on your own. So I got to watch you until we think you are ready.”

Trixie silently presses her hoof on her bed, and the springs squeak and groan loudly in protest, and she can feel the lumps in the mattress, too. But despite the poor condition, she loves how comfortable it and the sheets feels, and can easily see many good rests with her new bed.

“But when you think about it, this set up isn't too bad,” continues Minty. “I mean, we have a great view of Canterlot and we’re on the top floor so we don’t have to deal with anypony up top. There's also a trolley stop a block down, lots of stores nearby and plenty of ponies in the neighborhood. You can start over. Write out the old you, put the new one in and make a lot of new friends, here.”

Trixie looks at Minty out of the corner of her eye, frowning. “Friends are unreliable.”

Minty stares at Trixie, unmoving, and Trixie looks at the bed again, testing the purple fabric with her hoof, noting its thickness.

“Hey, Trixie,” says Minty.

Trixie looks at Minty and almost misses a box of mint gum that is tossed at her, and she looks at the box for a moment before looking up at her parole officer, who is leaving the room, now.

“I’ll be in my room if you need anything,” says Minty.

Trixie nods and after hearing Minty close her bedroom door, she sneaks up and presses her ear against it to see if she can get an idea of what is going on. She hears the box being cut open and some stuff being taken out and sorted, and Trixie tip-hooves back to her room and stares at the bed sheets as she carefully opens up a box of mint gum. Her eyes then drift to the window and after realizing how dark it is getting, she hurries over to her bed and yanks off the blanket with her teeth while simultaneously using her magic to pull off the bottom sheets.

After some trial and error, she finally manages to wrap the sheets around her body to where it keeps her the majority of her body hidden, leaving only her hooves exposed. To cover her mane and tail, she pulls off the pillow case from her pillow and with the help of magic, she ties her mane in a bun and sticks the cover over it, and does something similar with her tail. Once that is said and done, she tests her movements in her cheap disguise and smiles at the fact that it works great, with the only major problem -besides the lack of protection- being that it feels stifling. However, she cannot afford comfort at this point, and despite her feeling like she is going to be sick from what she is about to do, she knows she has wasted enough time. Bon Bon is in danger and there is no telling how much time she has left.

Pinkie Pie's mouth carefully guides the brush on one of the leg pads from a set of hoofball pads she had stuffed inside the box she mailed to Octavia. Every stroke leaves a shining layer of dark purple paint, and she thinks it is coming along nicely, but she pauses when she hears a window slide open and click shut. She gratefully spits out the foul tasting paintbrush and looks out her window to see a pony in bedsheets slithering her way down the fire escape, then leaping off at a good height and awkwardly landing on a dumpster. The bang from her impact echoes in the alley, same her very colorful choice of words to vocalize her pain, and the disguised pony rolls off the dumpster and gallops down the street in silence while a random dog barks in the distance.

Pinkie Pie hums, cracks her back, and then she grabs her keys and hastily exits the apartment.

“What are you up to, Trixie?”

In the manager's office of Bonbon Land, Bon Bon hastily stuffs the last of the small bags of bits in her safe. With every bit of her financial resources pulled, her safe can barely close, but while she is nauseous with panic and can barely think straight, much less concentrate on what is in front of her, there is a little voice in the back of the head that is telling her it will all be okay. That little voice is not strong enough to stop her from wanting to vomit, though.

“Hey, Bon Bon, you ready to go?” hollers Lyra from somewhere nearby.

Bon Bon quickly slams her safe shut, spins the dial, and turns just in time to see Lyra poke her head in the doorway, looking beaten by the rough day at work.

“Yeah, I'm almost ready,” says Bon Bon with a smile that is ruined by a sickly gurgle in her gut and a thick layer of sweat on her face.

Lyra's tired, beaten state has concern stacked on top of it as she steps in the room. “Are you okay?You look a little sick.”

Bon Bon nods quickly. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just had some bad food, is all.”

“You didn't eat at that donkey restaurant did you?”

“I, uh, did, actually...”

“Dang it, Bon Bon! I told you donkeys are dirty, and now you got food poisoning because they can’t keep their stupid place clean.”

“I'm sorry, Lyra, but I like donkey food.”

Lyra sighs. “Sure, whatever. Do you want me to reschedule the dates I got set up? I mean I'm not going on a double date with just me and two stallions. That'll give them the wrong idea and I really don't want another Neigh Orleans night.”

Bon Bon sucks in some air to calm her queasy stomach. “You don't have to reschedule anything. Just tell the guys I'll be late.”

Lyra arches a brow critically. “Late as in Neigh Orleans late or late as in late-late.”

“Late-late, Lyra.”

“Good. I don't want to wake up on a hotel floor surrounded by ten different stallions and needing a wheel chair to get around again.”

“Jeeze, Lyra, I get it! I won't stand you up on your date nights again.”

“Our date nights. Seriously, you need to get out more and loosen up, because, believe it or not, too much work can lead to your face falling off. Just ask my Aunt Larry up in Townsville.”

Bon Bon huffs and sits down on her chair, rubbing her sweaty head and swallowing bile. “Lyra, I don't even know how this double date thing is supposed to work with the curfew in effect.”

Lyra smirks mischievously. “Don't worry. I already got it all figured out.”

Bon Bon sighs sickly. “Of course you do.”

Lyra's smirk changes to a worried frown, and she steps forward and places her hoof on Bon Bon's shoulder. “Are you sure you're okay?”

Bon Bon nods hesitantly. “I'm fine. Really. I just got to do some last minute work before I go.”

“Do you want me to stay and help?”

“I'd rather you not. This is something I have to do by myself. But I'll meet you at your place, okay?”

“You sure?”

Bon Bon nods and swallows a lump. “Yeah.”

“I mean, I can stay if you want me to. I got no problem with that.”

“Please just go home, Lyra.” Bon Bon's eyes water and her hooves rub against each other as she looks at her friend. “I'll catch up with you, I promise. But I gotta do this alone, okay?”

“Okay. I'll see you later.”

Bon Bon nods and Lyra reluctantly heads towards the backdoor. Bon Bon does follow her friend to make sure that she does in fact leave, and when they are outside the cool night air feels good on her burning hide, but the comfort does not last for she sees predatory eyes staring at her from an alley. To her relief, Lyra does not notice, but she does turn and flash Bon Bon a quick smile.

“So, I'll be seeing you at my place when?” says Lyra.

Bon Bon sighs. “When I'm done.”

Lyra does an about face and starts trotting away, smiling broadly. “So, forty five minutes, then. Got it.”

Bon Bon's jaw drops and she holds out her hoof. “Wait, it might-”

“I'll see you soon, Bonnie!”

And Lyra keeps on walking, leaving Bon Bon frozen in place with her hoof outstretched and her heart racing. She really needs to puke, but it is only by sheer willpower that her stomach is holding all her contents in.

Though, as soon as Lyra is out of sight, a group of six griffins swoop down from different areas of the dark city. Bon Bon gulps and steps back, mind racing to figure out why so many griffins are needed to grab some money. She is just an earth pony, after all. She does not contain magic like a unicorn or can fly like a pegasus. She is stuck.

The only griffins she recognizes are Winny -who is carrying a holstered pistol- and Grim. All of the others are new faces and they all look the same to her with their build and plumage, save for a frail, male, white griffin covered in dirt and losing feathers with a bad case of twitches. There is another griffin that stands out, and she is a female who is slender like Winny, but with a Polaroid camera hanging around her neck. Bon Bon is not sure why they brought a camera with them, but she does not get a chance to ponder or ask because as soon as Winny steps forth, she tries to put on a brave face and open with pleasantries.

“Hey, Winny, how's it going?” asks Bon Bon.

Winny ignores her. Instead she points at two griffins and orders them to guard the front of the store, and after they fly off she turns to the dirty griffin. “Nasty Hick, cut the power and lock the door behind us.”

“Oh, none of that is necessary, Winny. I got all your money waiting for you, so you can grab it and leave, and we can forget everything,” says Bon Bon.

“Let’s get inside and get this over with,” says Winny.

Bon Bon nods and leads them to her office, flinching and looking over her shoulder when the back door slams shut. She gulps when Nasty Hick locks it and makes his way to breaker box, but she forces herself to look ahead and once she is in her office, she opens her safe and points at the bags of bits, straining herself to smile.

“See? I got the money. It's all there. We're okay, right?” says Bon Bon.

Bon Bon looks at Winny hopefully, but the griffin does not move. She keeps her head down and her breathing is slow and labored, and when Winny glances at Grim, he grunts.

“We're okay, right?” repeats Bon Bon, her voice cracking and eyes moistening as she takes a step back.

Winny takes a deep breath and looks at Bon Bon, eyes glistening in the dim light and her talons flexing. “You’re a good mare, Bon Bon, you always have been. You just made some mistakes, like all of us do, but this mistake is going to cost you more than just money."

Bon Bon pales and takes another couple of steps back, bumping into the wall with her rump as her eyes swell with terrified tears. “What are you saying?”

“I told you that Gilda ordered you dead unless you have the money.”

“And I have it.”

“She changed her mind. She wants you dead with or without the money.”

Bon Bon shakes her head in disbelief, and she slumps on the floor. “This can’t- How can she do this? You don’t have to kill me! I can leave town and never speak a word of this!”

“Sorry, Bon Bon, but I told you I couldn't protect you anymore.”

“Look, I have the money, okay! It’s in the safe! Just check!” sobs Bon Bon desperately. She looks at the griffins for any signs of mercy, but she finds none. “I have Gilda’s money! I told you I would get it and I got it! You don’t have to do this!”

Winny stares at Bon Bon as she cries and begs them to take the money and leave, but when Bon Bon notices Winny tapping her talon against the carpet with regret crushing her features, her trembling becomes more severe and is barely able to push herself into a corner.

“N-No! No! You-You can’t be serious!” sobs Bon Bon. “Winny, please!”

“I’m sorry, Bon Bon, but I have my orders,” says Winny.

And then the lights shut off, covering the entire store in a blanket of darkness.

Trixie sneaks behind a parked motorized wagon that is across the street from Bonbon Land. She strains her eyes for any signs of movement inside the dark building, but after seeing nothing sneaks across the street and hides by some shrubs and takes another peek. Again, there is nothing, save for a pair of griffins taking a spot outside the entrance, lighting cigarettes and quietly talking to each other.

Trixie makes a run to the far side of the lot and sticks to the shadows, but rather than scurrying across, she runs as fast as she can while trying to keep her steps light. The worst case scenario plays out in her mind and she goes from sneaking, to running as fast as she can. Fortunately for her, the griffins are too distracted to notice her when she slides to cover behind another parked motor wagon. After waiting a moment to see what the guards will do, Trixie crawls on her stomach and keeps herself low to the ground and close to the wall while the griffins continue failing at their task.

“Do you ever think we suck at life?” wonders one of the griffins.

“What do you mean?” asks the other griffin.

“I mean, think about it. Here we are, smoking cigarettes while our comrades rob a candy store. Doesn't that seem a little messed up to you?”

The second griffin thinks for a moment. “Yeah, we could be robbing banks or something more profitable.”

The first griffin shakes his head. “No, I mean we should be doing something meaningful with our lives. Like rescuing puppies or feeding the homeless or learning opera.”

The second griffin turns completely to the first, frowning disapprovingly. “Why the fuck would you want to learn opera for?”

The first griffin faces his partner, now getting annoyed. “Because its fucking opera.”

“I know its fucking opera. That's why I want to know why you want to learn fucking opera.”

“You're a fucking asshole, you know that?”

“Well, you're the fucker that wants to learn opera like a fucking douche bag.”

“Oh, fuck you, man!”

“No, fuck you in your rectum, bitch!”

And so a vicious argument erupts between the two. But little do the two squabbling griffins realize that while they are arguing about opera and rectums Trixie has sneaked her way to them, and she has coiled her body and-

Nasty Hick is casually walking around the store, ripping open random bags of candy and popping each delectable in his mouth and chewing obnoxiously loud. His wet smacks echo loudly in the building, and when he gets to the front counter he breaks open each cash register to see if there’s money in them. All twelve of them were empty. Sighing in disappointment, he shoves a handful of candy in his mouth and tries to take a peek at a gossip magazine with its headline claiming that the Royal Palace is a whorse-house. However, with the dim lighting all he gets is a headache from straining his eyes.

Huffing in aggravation, Nasty Hick continues his boring patrol of the front of the store, barely paying attention to anything. But his boredom comes to an abrupt end when he sees a pony in a cheap costume pounce on the two griffins outside beat them senselessly. One of the griffins tries to fly away, but the disguised pony uses their magic to pull them down by their tail and then they tackle them out of sight.

Nasty Hick stands frozen in place, too terrified to move. But after a couple of minutes of silence and no movements, and against the voice in his head, he shakily approaches the entrance to the store.

“I'm a fierce griffin. I'm a big scary griffin. Nobody messes with a griffin,” he mutters anxiously to himself. He presses his talons against the door and slowly pushes it open. “I got claws. Ponies have hooves. I'm scary. They're-”

A blur of purple suddenly socks him in the face and he black out instantly.

In Bon Bon's office, Winny puts the last of the bags of bits from the safe into another bag being held by Grim, all while the one with the camera leans against the door frame, admiring her recently taken photograph. Next to Winny is Bon Bon, lying on the ground with deep gashes in her neck with Winny’s talons coated in her blood.

“Damn it, she did have the money,” says Winny after tossing the last of the bits in the bag. Then she runs her bloody talons through her head feathers and sighs while patting Bon Bon's corpse apologetically. “I'm sorry Bon Bon. Hopefully you have a house in Paradise.”

“Are we done?” says Grim.

Winny nods with lowered eyes. “Yeah, we're done. Let's get out of here.”

The griffins then quickly make their way down the aisle with Winny in the lead, Grim in the middle with the money in his possession, and the camera griffin in the back. They do not get far before Winny comes to an abrupt halt and turns her head towards an approaching gallop; and right as she turns around she catches her camera griffin's back getting stomped on by a costumed pony that has leapt right on top of her.

The camera griffin squawks painfully and her body buckles from the sudden weight, and as she flops to the floor, wings flapping madly and talons digging into the tile, the pony brings their hoof down on the back of her head, smashing it into the floor and making the griffin go still. Winny barely registers what has happened before Grim tackles the equine off of the fallen griffin, and the two start rolling head over tails over each other, both snarling viciously.

Grim slices and claws at the pony and the costumed menace deals sharp blows to him and burns him with bolts of lightning flashing from their covered horn. Both are crying and snarling with pain as skin is sliced and flesh is burned from their dueling. In seconds, Grim has the pony pinned underneath him and he raises his talons for a killing slash, but the pony yells and slams their hoof against the front leg that is holding them down. The result is a snapping bone, Grim's wrist popping in a direction it should not, and the large griffin howling in pain and collapsing on top of the pony. The unicorn then shoots Grim in the chest with a telekinetic burst, blasting him backwards into the ceiling. His back breaks apart the ceiling tile and breaks loose a lighting fixture, and when he falls back down with the raining debris, the back half of his body hits the top of the aisle shelf, sending him spiraling awkwardly down and landing on his back, still and silent, while the shelving starts to tilt over.

Winny is about to make a run for it just so she is not killed by shelves full of candy, but the attacking unicorn stops the heavy shelves from crushing them. What the magic does not do, however, is stop the boxes and bags of candy from sliding off and falling all over the floor. But Winny would rather have a carpet of boxed cavity bombs than a crushed head.

After the costumed unicorn straightens the shelf, she sighs with relief, then looks at Winny, and in turn, she narrows her eyes and flexes her talons as she drops the bag of bits to the floor, hoping the stranger cannot see her sweat. If there had not been any moonlight shining through the windows and shooting sparks from the broken wire, then Winy would not be able to makeout the pony in front of her. But with the minimal light offered, she is able to see the feminine build, the blood trickling from her wounds, and the fabric soaking it up.

The mare is huffing and shaking, too, but Winny does not know if it is from fear or fatigue. But what she does know is that this pony has made this night more complicated than it had to be.

“Whoever you are, whoever you think you are, I'm going to give you this one chance to walk away,” says Winny. "Walk away right now, or I will hurt you badly."

The pony replies with a snort and a scuff on the floor.

Winny's body coils and she expands her wings. “All right. Have it your way.”

She then rockets towards the pony, blowing aside debris with the wind tunnel she makes and tackles her target into the back wall, eliciting a painful, feminine grunt from the pony, now covered in broken plaster on top of the blood. Winny brings her talons down, but the mare blocks it with her hoof, screaming in pain as the sharp claws dig into her flesh and quickly soaking her cheap costume in red.

But to Winny's surprise, the mare manages to twist their bodies around so her back is slammed against the broken wall with enough power to shake it. The mare then snarls and punches Winny in the jaw, and as her world shakes and a splintering pain erupts across her beak, the mare yanks her hoof away from the talons that dug inside her, crying out in pain as she does so and stumbles back, holding her bleeding hoof to her chest.

Winny, meanwhile, staggers around, breathing raggedly and clutching her beak, and glares at the pony as she licks off her own blood from her beak. The pony goes for another punch, but Winny grabs the pony's hoof and twists her body so she throws the fiend to the ground with a loud crack. She can see the pony's eyes roll as she clambers on top of her, and after dealing a couple of punches to her muzzle, her target's fabric is drenched in blood and the tears in her terrified eyes shimmer in what little light is offered while a thin pool of blood oozes from under the back of her head. Not in the least bit moved by the pathetic display, Winny grabs the pony by the neck, and with a vicious yell she swings and releases, sending the unicorn sailing through the air and crashing through the office door, spraying shards of wood and glass all over the office and Bon Bon's corpse.

Winny growls and pushes aside the remains off the door, and then she stomps inside the office, barely able to avoid touching Bon Bon's mutilated body. Her eyes gleam in the dark as she stares down at the bane of her evening, and the pony whimpers and presses her injured hoof against her chest as she squishes herself against the wall, knocking a chair over along the way. Winny can see the pain and terror in the pony's glistening eyes, and when she draws her silenced pistol from her holster, the pony stiffens and shakes her head.

“N-no. Please don't,” begs the mare, her bloody hoof extended and shaking with droplets of blood pattering to the floor.

“Stay down,” growls Winny.

Then she shoots the unicorn three times in the chest and the equine jerks with each shot and slumps to the ground, curled up and shaking with weak, choking cries. Seeing such a sight, Winny sniffs, holsters her weapon and takes one last look at the disguised pony before shaking her head and walking out of the room.

“Fucking idiot,” grumbles Winny.

Winny can still hear the sniffles of the mare as she sluggishly walks towards the bag of money in the middle of the aisle, noting how her partners are still out cold. She almost wants to wake up at least one of them before she makes her escape, but as she contemplates on whether or not that will be a bad idea, she hears a rumbling engine and tires screeching to a stop outside. She stops walking and looks out to the parking lot to see blinding headlights bearing down on the store like a pair of supernovas. With a racing heart and a new-found shortness of breath, she snatches the bag of blood money, hurries to the back of the store and opens and closes the door as quietly as her trembling talons will allow. Once the door shuts with a quiet click, she takes off into the night without looking back.

Pinkie Pie carefully walks through the mess that is now Bonbon Land. Her hooves crush pieces of candy and she steps around limp griffins while her eyes follow a trail of blood. With all the blood on the floor, panic assaults her in full force and her steps become quicker as she continues following the trail. Her heart thumps sporadically in her chest and her mouth goes dry as her eyes water and thoughts swirl in her mind like a hurricane. All those thoughts bring her back to finding Spike bleeding to death by Terra's hooves, and tears roll down her cheeks as she imagines finding Trixie laying dead on the ground.

“Please, no, not another one,” begs Pinkie Pie.

She rounds the corner and comes to a stop when she sees Trixie in Bon Bon's office next to the remains of the door, hunched over and sniffling with the her silver mane matted to her head by blood and more dripping blood from her hoof. Sitting on her lap is Bon Bon. Limp with three gashes in her neck and her colors drained from all her blood being spilled all over the carpet and tile.

“Trixie?”

Trixie tenses, then slowly turns to Pinkie Pie, face shimmering from the crimson, face bruised and cut and eyes hollow and broken. She stares at Pinkie Pie, whimpering and gasping for air as tears wash away the blood from her face. “I was too late.”

On the corner of a street with a failing lamppost, Winny slides inside a booth with a communications rig inside. She slams the door shut, yanks the surrounding curtains close, and after dropping the bag of money at her feet she slides a coin in the machine and hastily dials the needed number. As the phone rings, she taps her talon nervously against the platform and peeks out the window with a racing heart, not feeling even a drop worth of solace when she sees nobody around.

“Come on, pick up pick up pick up pick up,” mutters Winny.

“Canterlot Local Guard,” says a mare on the other end.

“I'd like to report a robbery-homicide at Bonbon Land. One dead, six injured with one in critical condition. Hurry!”

“Ma'am, stay calm. I'm going to need your name and-”

Winny hangs up in a snap and bolts out of the booth, and then with one powerful flap of her wings, she launches herself off into the night sky and disappears from sight.

Hours later, in their new apartment, Trixie staggers to the bathroom, covered in band-aids, gauze and tape, with three welts on her chest, leaving Minty alone at the dining room table to clean up the mess of bloody materials. Materials such as blood soaked rags, empty containers of rubbing alcohol, a bloody clothes iron, and a rolling pin bit to hell and back. The sheets she had used to cover herself have been tossed into the garbage can, and Minty mentioned how they needed to be incinerated and will need to bleach the floor to get rid of the blood. Ideally they would have used the kitchen or the bathroom, but seeing as how the spaces are too small, they had to play hospital in the dining room.

After Minty's operations, Trixie feels more pain than before that builds with every step she takes, but she is too broken to cry. She only feels hollow, and the scabs of burnt skin and the throbbing of her covered scratches and swollen eye and lips are just outside forces trying to break the shell she is. Not that she cares. She knows she deserves this. She failed to protect an innocent from death and made a huge mess out of it in the process.

She knows even Minty is disappointed in her since she has not been able to say a word to her the entire night besides the simple instructions relating to their spur of the moment hospital. The disappointment in Minty's eyes is clear as the window to her room, and Trixie cannot blame her.

When Trixie reaches the bathroom she stares at herself in the mirror, emotionless at the pathetic reflection of herself. Her mane is a mess and coated in red, her face is swollen and cracked with red lines around her lips and eye. The gashes on her hoof from Winny have been seared shut with a hot iron, which nearly caused Trixie to break the rolling pin when she bit down on it, and after, it was rubbed with lotion and covered in a lot of gauze and tape. The stench of burnt fur and skin still lingers in Trixie's nose, like the remnants of the blood all over her face and hoof that Minty had tried to clean off.

No matter how hard Minty tried, the blood would not come off of Trixie's fur, and in that situation, Minty appeared downright desperate to scrub it off. Her voice had cracked into terrified gibberish and tears went down the parole officer's face as she scrubbed until Trixie's felt raw. Trixie never saw anything like that, and it is after she failed at getting rid of the crimson stains that she reluctantly put the bandages on.

But Trixie knows she deserves this.

She deserves to be covered in her own blood and covered in her injuries. They will remind her greatly that comfort is not acceptable if she cannot protect an innocent person. She knows Gray Muffin would not allow himself to rest if he could not protect an innocent person from harm if he had the ability to.

She knows if Gray Muffin were with her, they would have been able to save Bon Bon.

But Gray Muffin is not with her. Only her failures. Only Bon Bon's lifeless eyes and gaping wounds in her neck seared into her mind.

“I failed,” whimpers Trixie, now hyperventilating with tears running down her face. “I failed... I failed. I failed. I failed. failed. I failed. I failed. I failed.”

Trixie closes her eyes and bows her head, trying desperately not to cry, but she’s failing miserably. She sobs quietly and forces her eyes to stay shut, not wanting them to open for any reason.

“Ya should’ve killed them,” says Sunshine.

Trixie freezes, and shivers as she reluctantly opens her eyes and looks in the mirror to see Sunshine’s shadowy face and demonic red eyes covering her reflection. She stares wide eyed at the entity as a coldness covers her from horn to tail.

“How are you here?” says Trixie.

Sunshine snickers. “Ya didn't think a simple wound would keep me from you, did ya now?”

“You're dead. I saw you die. I saw Gray Muffin kill you!”

“I'm as alive as you are, darlin'.”

Trixie backs up, shaking her head as terrified tears wet her face. “No, you’re dead. You can't be here. You're dead.”

“Am not.”

“You’re dead!”

“Nope.”

“You’re dead!”

“No, I’m not.”

“You're dead!”

“I'm still here.”

Trixie screams and smashes her injured hoof right in between Sunshine’s red eyes, shattering the mirror and destroying the shelves of the medicine cabinet hiding behind it. The containers inside and shards of glass cascade down and bounce off her hoof and sink, and Trixie slumps to the floor, breathing heavily with fresh tears swelling in her eyes and rivers of burning pain trailing all over her throbbing hoof.

“Just leave me alone,” says Trixie.

“Why would I do that when we were meant to be together?” says Sunshine.

Trixie stares at the bits of bloody tipped mirror, sobbing quietly as blood trickles from her open wounds. She can see her tear soaked face in the bits, all crying and looking at her, telling her that she has failed, and because of her failure an innocent had been killed.

Then Trixie notices that lying on the floor not too far from her is the container of pills that her psychiatrist at Singsong prescribed to her to combat the hallucinations. She uses her magic to bring the container to her eyes. The pills inside are so small, yet they banished Sunshine and the realities of the Hell she built. They made her happy, and wanting that happiness again, she opens the container and pulls out one of the pills.

“Tryin’ to escape reality, eh?” chuckles Sunshine.

Trixie glares ahead defiantly and she expects to see Sunshine in front of her, but even though she sees only a sink, she knows he is still there. She can feel him watching her and she will have no more of that.

Trixie pops the pill in her mouth and then drinks from the faucet to help swallow it down, and when it is down the effects are immediate. Trixie grins from ear to ear, and her whole body relaxes as her eyes dilate and her breathing and heart rate slows to a blissful calmness. Then she sees the mess and her smile twists into a frown.

“Did Trixie do this?” wonders Trixie out loud. “This cannot stand!”

Pinkie Pie is sitting in the dinning room, filling out her notebook with everything she can remember about Bon Bon's office. She heard Trixie’s commotion earlier, but has decided to do nothing about it since she has more important things to do rather than giving Trixie a hug. Things like figuring out who ordered Bon Bon killed and why. She knows it’s the least she could do since she knows she holds the blame for Bon Bon’s death.

Pinkie Pie stops her writing and her ear twitches when she hears Trixie singing and glass being swept up. She turns slightly and the pen drops from her mouth when she sees Trixie half walking-half dancing holding a broom and a dustpan full of broken glass with her hoof rewrapped and covered in band-aids. Her eyes are also red and puffy from her crying, yet she has a giant grin, so it looks like she was crying for joy.

“Sweep-a-dee-doo-dah! Sweep-a-dee-ay! My, oh my what a wonderful day!” sings Trixie in a very bubbly, yet horrible singing voice as she does her dancing past Pinkie Pie. “Something for a rhyme here! Sweep-a-dee-doo-dah! Sweep-a-dee-ay! My, oh my what a wonderful day!”

“Trixie, what are you doing?” asks Pinkie Pie.

Trixie dumps the glass in a garbage can and bounces towards Pinkie Pie with a huge grin on her face, leaving the broom and dustpan behind.

“Hey, Minty! Trixie kinda broke the bathroom mirror when Trixie was sad so Trixie cleaned up the mess and now the bathroom is clean and Trixie is happy.” Trixie takes a deep breath and smiles again while brushing some loose strands of her mane away from her face. “Wow, that was a mouthful.”

“Sounded like it. Why don’t you go to bed? You have work tomorrow.”

Trixie gasps. “You’re right, Minty! You are absolutely right! Trixie shall go to bed and enjoy her beauty sleep, for tomorrow she shall be employed!”

Trixie then gallops to her bedroom and Pinkie Pie sighs and trails her, shaking her head slightly.

“Hold on, you should take my blanket. I’m going to have to buy you a new one since you kinda ruined yours,” says Pinkie Pie.

Trixie slides to a stop and smiles at Minty. “Oh, how sweet of you Minty. Did you know you’re Trixie's favorite pony?”

“Glad to hear,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Everypony else is mean to Trixie, but you're nice to Trixie. You broke Trixie out of jail and bought her candy and-”

Pinkie Pie goes to her room to grab her sheets while Trixie rambles, and then she brings them to Trixie's bed to fix them up in ways that are suitable for a pony. It does not take long for her to do it, but it takes Trixie only a fraction of the time to completely ruin it.

“Tallyho!” hollers Trixie.

Pinkie Pie is nearly knocked over from Trixie's running leap, and the unicorn giggles like a filly as she bounces on the bed.

“Trixie can't believe that Trixie gets to sleep on a real bed again!”

“Yeah, its nice, isn't it?” says Pinkie Pie.

Trixie rolls on her back with her hooves pointing straight up and she starts rubbing and contorting her back on the sheets as if she is a canine rolling in a lush lawn. Just as fast as she started her antics, she quits and flops to her side and hugs the pillow close to her chest.

“This is comfy,” giggles Trixie.

Then the azure unicorn scrambles to her feet and pace in circles on her bed like a cat looking for a good spot to lie down. When she finds her spot, she spends another minute or two shifting her position before yawning obnoxiously and closing her eyes while grabbing her pillow again and pulling the blanket over herself with her magic.

“Nighty night, Minty!” says Trixie happily from under her covers.

Words elude her for the proper response, so Pinkie Pie sulks back to the dining room. Once there, she is tempted to sit down and finish her work, but seeing Trixie like that only confuses her to a complete halt. She wants to be happy because seeing the burden being lifted from Trixie's shoulders is a great sight, even if it is temporary. But that moment of happiness gives her some hope that Trixie can be helped, and in turn, there is hope for her to find the end of the tunnel she is in.

However, that said, that happiness is drug induced. It is only an illusion. A fake light in the night brought upon by madness and a desperation to feel something other than despair. A need to escape, but the only escape from Hell is a lie of Heaven existing. A Heaven that can only be achieved through the deception of pills. That in itself is a depressing thought for Pinkie Pie, for if Trixie can only be happy with drugs, can she only find false happiness as well?

An obnoxious sound of a chainsaw trying to slice rocks suddenly comes from somewhere behind makes Pinkie Pie jump and whip her head around, expecting to see a masked psycho charging her. What she sees instead is Trixie's door wide open, her roommate's muzzle poking out from underneath her blanket, and her mouth wide open and drooling. As her mouth closes, the horrible noise dies down, but when she opens it again, the noise returns.

Pinkie Pie watches Trixie snore with nothing short of amazement, and after a couple more cycles of the worst snoring she has ever heard, she shakes her head, trots to the bedroom and closes the door. It does little to damper the sound, but at least it is marginally less unbearable at this point.

With a loud sigh, Pinkie Pie shuffles back to the dining room, plops on her cushion and stares at her notes. The longer she stares at her notes, the more the weight of what happened bears down on her shoulders. The more she stares at the roster and the numbers that inhabit it, the more they blur into meaningless symbols covered by the haze of tears.

With the tears pattering down on her paper and spreading the ink, Pinkie Pie is seeing another life that ended because of her choice. She did not believe Trixie about what she said about the griffins and Bon Bon, and now she is lying in a morgue.

First Spike. Now Bon Bon. And Trixie almost suffered the same fate as them.

It all points back to her and her choices.

Pinkie Pie's injured hoof starts to throb, and closes her eyes and tries to comfort it with gentle strokes, but all it does is make her back hurt and make her heart feel weak.

The tears flow down her cheeks, burning her eyes and soaking her face, and she falls to the table, shivering and clutching her hoof tighter. And underneath the only light let she cries alone.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 07 Sep 2015

Arc 2- 10- The Magnificent Monte Fountain -EDITED-

Trixie lays on her back, body wrapped in the sheets and her mouth wide open, tongue out and drool soaking the sides of her mouth and pillow as her sickly snoring shakes the room. Her chest rises and falls with every cycle, and every so often, one of her hind legs, which both are pointing straight up like rolled over road kill, will kick at an invisible foe as her forehooves grip her pillow tightly to her chest.

She is so peaceful. So comfortable. So oblivious to Minty sneaking in her room with a maniacal smile that takes up her whole face. She is so lost in her slumber and loving the feeling of no pain that she does not realize that Minty's hooves are now pushing against her body. What she does feel, though, is a sudden roll, followed by a long drop and a face full of carpet with a thud echoing and shaking in her room. The resulting pain is like getting a face full of concrete and someone punching every bruise and scab on her body at the same time, like a sadistic ninja, and Trixie lets everyone know how much pain she is in by a loud yell, colorful swears and vicious kicks to get herself untangled from her sheets.

“Ow! Son of a bitch! Minty!” cries Trixie with tears in her eyes and muzzle scrunched from her snarl.

She hears Minty giggling and the bed bounce, and when she turns to the source, she sees Minty standing on her bed, grinning from ear to ear wearing a decorative dress. However, nice dress or not, Trixie is not happy, and the sheets will not let her go from their tangled grip, and she wounds up screaming and flailing her hooves madly while her horn sparks, leaving small singes on the sheet.

“What the hell? I was sleeping!” says Trixie, now with one hoof free but her whole body throbbing and feeling like it is being torn by the seams.

“You gotta be at work in an less than an hour, so I had to wake you up,” says Minty.

Trixie stops fighting the tyrannical bed sheet, and she groans and flops to the ground with her free hoof over her eyes, wincing as her head feels like it is pulsating. “Can't I call out? I don't feel so good.”

“You can't call out on your first day, that's just bad. Besides, its a two hour minimum to call out.”

Minty hops off of the bed and frees Trixie from her tangled mess with one pull. The pull spins Trixie in the air for a quick moment before she belly flops the floor, leaving the unicorn laying on the floor, whimpering and shaking from more pain in her abdomen, and Minty patting her on her back does not make her feel any better.

“You'll be fine. I made you some breakfast to get you going,” says Minty.

That just makes Trixie mad, but all she can do is growl into the carpet. She does not stay face down on the carpet because Minty grabs her and helps her to her hooves and escorts Trixie out of her room.

Trixie cringes with every limping step, for they bring numerous, small pin pricks all over her body as well, and the part that was cauterized feels like the scab is rubbing off. Trixie wants to scold Minty more for not letting her sleep and not letting her call out, but when she actually looks at her parole officer and registers what she is wearing, curiosity gets the best of her.

“What are you wearing?” says Trixie.

“This is a dress I got a little while ago when I was in Miner's Country,” says Minty.

She giggles and turns gracefully, showing off the lightweight and flowery fabric of the skirt and the dark corset with the gold and pink flowers that covers the pink under layer, also made of light fabric. The under layer covers her front legs and the flowery skirt covers all but the tip of her tail. Trixie as to admit that it looks good on her, and it really does cling to her body in a way that keeps her natural curves showing while remaining respectful.

“It cost me a hundred bits and I had it mailed here. It just came in this morning. What do you think? Good? Bad? Ugly? Great? Mediocre? Bland? Frufru? Manly?”

Before Minty can say another word, Trixie's hoof shoots up, and the unicorn sighs and rubs her temple with her hoof while her head dips and her eyes close.

“Its... nice.” Trixie looks at Minty, biting back tears as she rubs the back of her tender head. “Are you going on a date or something?”

Minty shakes her head. “No, I'm meeting somebody.”

“So, a date, then?”

“No. Not a date. A meeting.”

“Like a drug deal kind of meeting?”

Minty frowns. “Really, Trixie? Why would I go to a drug deal looking like a flower pony?”

“I don't know. Deception? Its a common trick. Somepony acts nice and friendly, and then they lure their prey in and next thing you know you are poisoned, locked in a room with no way out and on your way to becoming a slave!”

When Trixie is done, she is hyperventilating and her heart races as she has Minty's shoulders in her hooves and her eyes are locked to Minty's. All her parole officer can do is stare back at her, eyes wide and mouth sealed, but a moment later, her confused look melts into one of discomfort as her eyes shift between her dress and Trixie's face.

“Did my dress trigger something?” asks Minty.

Trixie sighs and slides off of Minty, shaking her head and feeling an uncomfortable weight in her chest and throat. “No, I... I don't know. The dress is nice. It really is. But, I guess I'm still on edge after almost getting killed yesterday and not being able to save Bon Bon.”

Trixie sulks past Minty and heads to the kitchen, wincing as her sore muscles tighten, reducing her walk to a limp, and her parole officer walks after her.

“Yeah, about that,” says Minty. “If you're going to be fighting crooks -which I seriously do not mind you doing- do me a favor and tell me before you go out and wear some pads. We can't afford to be constantly buying new sheets or turning the kitchen into a hospital.”

Trixie rolls her eyes. “Well, if you got some pads then I'll gladly wear them.”

Right as Trixie sees the small dining room she spots a collection of cupcakes sitting on the table. More specifically, the green frosting spiraling up in a perfect twist. She can smell their deliciousness all the way from her spot and has to swallow her saliva collecting in her mouth from the anticipation and desire, lest she wants froth to come out of her mouth like a rabid animal.

“Can I have one?” asks Trixie meekly, her hoof aimed at one of the mint cupcakes.

“Of course you can, silly. That’s why I baked them,” says Minty, smiling broadly.

Trixie snatches one of the mint cupcakes and takes a seat at the table, with Minty sitting across from her and taking a strawberry frosting. Upon biting into the pastry, Trixie's body shudders from the holy taste on her tongue, but that feeling doesn’t last too long. She remembers how Minty was so angry with her last night that she could barely talk to her, but she did not throw her tail in jail and she helped patch her up. So, she knows Minty deserves an apology from her for being so careless, and a thanks for her helping her out.

“Hey, Minty, about last night,” begins Trixie.

Minty holds up her hoof. “Don't.”

“But I-”

“I know, and everything will be okay once we get the ones who killed Bon Bon and turn them in.”

“So, you're okay with me going after criminals late at night and you are giving me permission to go after the ones who killed Bon Bon even though I almost died last night?”

“I'm pretty sure I said that indirectly a couple of minutes ago.”

“...What kind of parole officer are you?”

“One of a kind.” Minty points at the trio of bruises on Trixie's chest from when Winny shot her. “How are those feeling, by the way?”

Trixie looks down and inspects herself, wincing from the pain of her movements. “Well, not too bad compared to yesterday. Either those bullets sucked or I was born bullet proof.”

Minty rests her chin on her hoof while Trixie takes a bite out of her cupcake.

“I doubt you were born bulletproof," says Minty. "Do you remember what the griffin that shot you looked like? Maybe we can track them down and get some answers out of them. Who knows? Maybe that griffin was the one that killed Bon Bon.”

“I actually know her,” says Trixie, her mouth now full of half chewed cupcake. “Her name is Winny and she wanted me to visit her at some place called the Roost that's somewhere on Dream Boulevard.”

“That was actually a way better answer than what I thought I would get. I'll see what I can find about Winny, and maybe she can tell us what the deal was between the griffins and Bon Bon. But, before we do that...”

Minty gets up and heads to her room, and a moment later she returns with something draped over her back and her notebook in her mouth. She spits the book on the table and tosses the draped item on Trixie's face, covering her vision in a gray cloth that feels delightful on her coat.

Trixie purposefully pulls it off slowly so the soft fabric can rub against her, and when she has it in her hooves she quickly realizes that it is the same outfit that Minty wore yesterday. Not sure if Minty is serious or pulling her tail, she looks at the earth pony with a raised brow.

“Uh, Minty, why did you give me your dress?” asks Trixie.

“Its not a dress, its a frock, and I gave it to you so you don't walk into work looking like poorly stitched doll,” says Minty.

Trixie blinks, looks down, then shrugs and puts it on, thinking Minty has a point. Then she looks at the notebook when Minty opens it up to a very detailed picture of Bon Bon’s office. Including suspected body location and the injuries Bon Bon sustained, the open safe, location of binders, contents of loose papers and special events marked on the calender. with everything labeled and sheets of paper with numbers and names on them. This fries Trixie's brain and her ability speak and blink, and Minty coolly scribbles down “Winny- Roost- Dream Blvd.” in her notebook, and then closes it and grabs her keys.

“Come on, Trixie, I got to get you to work,” says Minty.

Trixie nods, grabs a couple more cupcakes with her magic, and winces with the first few steps, but after those few steps come and go, the pain subsides to a tolerable level. When they reach the elevator they have to share it with an older earth pony stallion with a grayish amber coat and a gray mane and tail with three bags of money for a cutie mark. The tie on his suit is carelessly put on and his suit is a mess, along with his mane and tail. The two mares look at him as he whistles casually, occasionally glancing at the two. Trixie thinks nothing of it, but Minty gets an evil smile and she leans towards the stallion.

“It sounded like you and that Misty girl had a great time, last night, Mister Rich. You should invite me next time,” says Minty.

Filthy Rich’s whistling instantly stops, his whole body stiffens, and his face quickly turns redder than a red delicious apple as he looks at Minty out of the corner of his eye. Trixie’s eyes also widen and she looks at Minty, who appears to be enjoying herself a little too much. When the door opens up to the lobby the stallion bolts out of the apartment complex and disappears into the crowd of ponies making their commute to work.

“What was that all about? Do you know him?” asks Trixie while stepping out of the elevator.

“I recognized him as one of the business-stallions whose financing the Celestial Spire. But he kept me up all night with his rutting. It sounded rough to be honest,” says Minty casually.

“Okay, I don’t want to know.”

“I mean it went on for hours. Just when I thought they were done they went at it again! I mean, us earth ponies got stamina, but his was ridiculous!”

“Minty!”

“What? I’m just saying.”

Minty and Trixie step into the parking lot, and sudden morning sunlight hurts Trixie's eyes and her head drifts up to look at the clouds. They are far and few, but what little there is are white and fluffy, adding a sense of peace to the morning rush.

They walk towards Joe in silence. Minty with her bounce and Trixie sluggishly following her behind, munching on her minty cupcake. When they get in the vehicle they start their trek to Fancy Entertainment with the radio playing. Currently a slow rock song is playing, but under the pretenses of it being boring, Minty changes the channel. This time it goes to an actual rock song, and in no time Trixie finds herself singing along with the super manly voice that is singing alongside the epic electric guitar.

“LiGHT thE waAay and let me gooooOOH! Suh-focaaAte inside! I will break and watch you craaaawlll! BURHEY meeeEeE alive!” sings Trixie.

Minty looks at Trixie, utterly repulsed from how her singing voice makes nails on a chalkboard merciful, and she quickly changes the channel, much to Trixie's annoyance.

“Hey, I was listening to that!” whines Trixie.

“I'm sorry, the channel wasn't coming in good,” says Minty.

“Change it back! The channel was just fine!”

“Mmmm, no. Lets see what else is on.”

Minty changes the channel again, and she keeps doing this every few seconds, barely giving Trixie's brain to register the music and words, and leaving only a festering rage inside her that she is not hiding well.

Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch.

Trixie's eye twitches.

Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch.

Trixie's jaw tightens.

Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch.

Trixie feels her teeth grinding against each other.

Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch.

A very loud growl rumbles in Trixie's throat and her muscles tense as her ear flicks and her teeth feel like they are going to crack.

Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch.

“STOP THAT!” yells Trixie, her hoof blocking Minty from abusing the channel button any further.

“There's nothing good on,” says Minty defensively.

“You're not even giving it a chance to play anything.”

“Just eat your cupcakes and let me drive.”

“Says the mare who's messing with the radio in heavy traffic. What if we crash because of you?”

“Hey, I'm a great driver!” claims Minty as she runs a red light, heading straight into traffic.

“MINTY!”

“JEEZE!”

Minty swerves around the oncoming traffic, and they luckily slam on their breaks and turn so that Joe is not double t-boned, filling the air with honks and screeching tires. When they are in the all clear, Minty pokes her head out the window and shouts an apology while the drivers shout at her and shake their hooves or honk their horns at her. After that, she meets Trixie's shocked look with an uneasy smile.

“I mean I'm a good driver,” says Minty.

“You almost got us killed!” says Trixie, her voice cracking and her body pressed against the door as her heart beats like a trapped hummingbird.

“I did not.”

“Yeah you did!”

“No.”

“Yes!”

“No I did not! You're just overreacting. And, yeah, go ahead and lean against the door. I'm sure you'll have fun falling out and getting hit by traffic.”

Trixie gulps and straightens herself out, and for safety, she checks her seat belt and sighs with relief when she finds it secured. Then she looks at Minty with a small frown.

“You're morbid, you know that?” says Trixie.

“You know what else I am?” asks Minty.

“What?”

“Master of the radio.”

Before Trixie can react, Minty changes the radio channel again, but instead of changing it like Trixie thought she would, she stares at it, shocked with a clamped mouth. She occasionally looks up to guide Joe through the traffic, but her focus is mostly devoted to the country mare speaking over the radio. The mare is getting worked up over something and from the way she is talking it sounds like shes on a roll.

“-I have found that those that say we should love and tolerate all the most are the biggest hypocrites there are, compared to those who use it sparingly. They use those words as words of convenience, and I am tired of it,” says the country mare. “For one, love, real love, is having the guts to go up to somepony and tell them that their behavior is wrong, and tolerating is disagreeing, but accepting that they are different. This nation was built on the harmony of ideas, but what I am seeing is the condemnation of ideas that point to a higher moral standard of living. If we can only provide the love of careless parents that let their foals do whatever the hay they want and tolerate only the ideas that agree with this moral anarchy, how much longer until tyranny moves in just so we can continue to live in the comfort of this pigsty?”

Minty's curious look instantly changes to much annoyance and she changes the channel, muttering about said mare being an 'obłudne Bicze'. Trixie has no idea what that means, but with the tone and expression she guesses it is not a friendly phrase, and with the channel changed, another pony comes on. This speaker is a stallion, and unlike the worked up mare, he sounds like he is in control of his emotions.

“-Revisionist history is the destruction of society,” claims the stallion. “It dumbs us down, makes us stupid to our own heritage and enacts what can safely be called a cultural genocide. For example, the Lunar Revolt. A survey taken said that ninety nine percent of the populace believes that it was about eternal night versus proper cycles. But in the Forbidden Archives, there are countless documents that say otherwise. Yes, eternal night and proper cycles were involved, but there was more to it. There was the expansion of power, there was economics, clashing philosophies, even race relations and struggles of regions and their ruling houses were involved. The heritage of these regions and their philosophies were distorted and destroyed, leaving only a hollow shell of their cultures and what the ruling elite, their messengers and servants want to teach us, and passing their truth as absolution. But then that leaves the question, which truth is the real truth and which one is a lie?”

“Oh, for Celestia's sake, is there anything good on?” says Minty, and once again she changes the channel. This time there is a familiar voice.

“Gooood evening, children, DJ-Pon3 here for some quick news and music! First off, last night somepony donned a costume and kicked the crap out of a gang of griffins-”

Minty instantly shuts off the radio. “Nope. Forget it. The radio sucks.”

“Hey Minty, can you turn the radio back on?” asks Trixie nervously a moment later. Minty looks at her and a few seconds of tense silence pass before Trixie nods towards the radio. “I just want to hear what DJ-Pon3 has to say.”

Minty sighs and it takes her sweet time to reluctantly turn the radio back on.

“-So whoever you are, I stand behind you, and anypony who is sick of the criminals running the show here would stand behind you too. And Bon Bon, rest in peace, we’ll miss you and your delicious candies. Now ho wants to hear some Three Barns Up?”

Minty turns off the radio again and Trixie looks down and her whole body sulks, what DJ-Pon3 said added to the guilt of failing to save Bon Bon.

“Don’t worry, Trixie, we’ll get to the bottom of Bon Bon's murder,” says Minty.

A few minutes of silent driving later, they pull up to the Fancy Entertainment parking lot, which is nearly filled to the brim with motorized wagons and a two wheeled vehicle that reminds Trixie of bulky, mechanical bicycles. The vehicle has thick wheels and little boiler engines in the belly of its main part. The back wheel looks like a thick tire, but the front is shaped like a ball, and it has a large light on the front and a couple of smaller ones on the back as well as a radio antennae. Also, from the looks of it, the pony lays down on it and sticks their forehooves in a couple of slots to control it. Minty is kind enough to tell her that they are another Flim-Flam Corporation product called “the bee”.

“The bee?” says Trixie as she looks at the strange vehicle.

“Yep, the bee,” says Minty. “Those things are all the rage with the greasers. I personally like mini-trains better. No one screws with a mini-train, and one wrong move with a bee and your corpse will be mopped off the road.”

Trixie grimaces. “Thanks for the visual.”

“No problem.”

Trixie and Minty walk inside and are immediately greeted by Penny Chart from behind her receptionist desk and a blast of cool air.

“Hey, Penny, Trixie here needs to check in,” says Minty.

“Okay,” sighs Penny Chart. She puts away some paperwork with heavy motions and looks at Trixie with an annoyed look. “Follow me.”

Trixie suddenly finds herself with cold hooves and looks at Minty nervously.

“I don't like her,” says Trixie.

“So? You don't like me and yet we still hang out,” says Minty.

“Well, you... you're... Can't you come with me?”

“No one besides employees is allowed beyond the desk,” says Penny Chart.

“Well, that answers your question,” says Minty. She pats Trixie on the shoulder and heads to the door. “Have a good day, Trixie. I'll be back in a few hours to pick you up.”

Trixie watches Minty leave, completely speechless, and when her parole officer is outside, she practically leaps inside Joe and almost burns out as she zooms out of the parking lot. Trixie does not know how to feel about that, but a big chunk of her is thinking that Minty was glad to abandon her here for a few hours to go on her date.

“Let's go, Trixie. You have to get clocked in,” says Penny Chart.

Trixie nods and follows Penny Chart to a smaller room that has a machine that looks like a box with a slot for a sheet of paper to go in. Connected to it is a clock, and next to the device is an area of the wall where slips of paper are tucked in neatly in their own slots, and each paper has someone’s name on it as well as little numbers on them to show when they arrived and left.

Penny Chart pushes a button on the ground and a fresh slip of paper pops out of the wall, next to Trixie. She then pulls it out with her mouth and scribbles Trixie’s name on it.

“This is your time sheet; you’ll need this to determine how much you get paid” explains Penny Chart. “If you forget to sign in or sign out it’ll be bad for you. If you forget to sign in, you don’t get paid for the hours worked, unless you can get somepony that is not on your team to vouch for your presence. If you forget to sign out, we’ll pay you for a full work day but without any of the overtime pay, even if you did work overtime.”

Trixie nods and Penny Chart puts the slip of paper in the slot of the machine, and it is sucked up and a horrible, screeching and shredding sound echoes in the room. Trixie cringes and her ears fold down in a feeble attempt to block out the noise.

“Don’t worry about that!” yells Penny Chart over the noise. “It shows that the Stamper is working!”

When the Stamper stomps, the slip pops out with a little ding and Penny Chart pulls it out and puts it in Trixie’s slot, labeled with her name and “505” next to it, and then they start heading towards Fancy Pants' offic.

“Fancy Pants told me to bring you to his office when you get checked in,” says Penny Chart.

Trixie once again nods, and when they reach the blandness that is Fancy Pants’ office, the old stallion is wearing a headset connected to a bulky communications device that is built into a cabinet of some kind with his back turned to the door.

“...It would be great to spend an evening with Rarity and her friends. There is that Pre-Gala at the Palace in a week so maybe we can catch them there,” says Fancy Pants.

Penny Chart clears her throat and when Fancypants turns around she says: “Trixie’s here.”

“Thank you, Penny Chart.”

Penny Chart leaves without another word and Fancy Pants turns back around while Trixie stands in the middle of the doorway, listening to his conversation and feeling dumb.

“Sorry, dear, an employee had a quick message,” says Fancy Pants. A few seconds later he chuckles and reclines in his seat. “Well, I can’t wait... Fleur, I have to go now... I love you, too... Bye.”

Fancy Pants hangs up and sighs with a content smile, but once he sees Trixie that smile instantly disappears and he leaps out of his chair.

“Trixie, what on earth did you do to yourself!” cries Fancy Pants.

“I, uh, punched a mirror and uh tried to do a back flip off my bed,” says Trixie while rubbing her bandaged hoof shamefully, which is thankfully covered by the frock.

Fancy Pants stares at Trixie, and she tries to smile innocently, but the beads of sweat rolling down her head are a dead give away she is lying. She knows that he knows that she is lying, too, just by the way he is staring at her.

“You’re a horrible liar,” says Fancy Pants.

Trixie looks down, ears drooping, and after making a claim that they will discuss the issue later, Fancy Pants orders her to follow him so she can meet her team. She quietly obeys and stays close to him as they travel to the loading area of the building where a large mini-train and a few chubby motorized wagons are waiting with ponies casually conversing amongst themselves as they wait to get their tasks. The group consists of eight ponies -four unicorns, two pegasi, and two earth ponies- and out of that group, there are only two stallions; a unicorn and a pegasus.

After Fancy Pants taps his hoof on the pavement, the group instantly halts their chatter and looks at him in sync. Their uniformed motion sends a chill up Trixie's spine, but she cannot leave because Fancy Pants has tugged her close so she is flush with his body.

“Ladies and gentlecolts, I would like you to meet your new team member, Trixie Lulamoon,” says Fancy Pants.

All eyes move on Trixie, and she lowers her eyes quickly and tries to back up, but Fancy Pants keeps his grip tight on her and he pulls her back in place, making her grunt in annoyance.

“Now, I expect you all to treat her with respect and train her appropriately for your line of work,” continues Fancy Pant. “And Hank.”

“Yeah,” says the male unicorn unenthusiastically. He has a gray coat with a short, sky blue mane and tail combed to give the bedhead look, and his cutie mark is a five point star with circles at the ends of each point, and for the life of Trixie, she cannot understand why he is giving her the stink eye.

“Since you are in charge I expect you to make sure she’s treated and trained properly got it?”

“Sure.”

“Good.”

Fancy Pants then nudges Trixie towards the group, and she cringes and droops her ears as she digs her hooves in the pavement, not liking the way Hank is trying to strangle her with his eyes. After Trixie is nearly hoof to hoof in front of Hank, she meets his scowl with a nervous smile while Fancy Pants lightly pats her on the back.

“Have fun, Trixie,” he says casually.

Then he disappears inside the building, making Trixie flinch when the door slams shut behind him. With Fancy Pants gone, Trixie swallows and shrinks down, looking at all the strange faces who have yet to blink.

“Okay, listen here, Trixie, I will not have any of your egotistical, ‘Great and Powerful’ bullshit here. Here, we are a pyramid unit, where I’m at the top, and Crispy Creme is my second layer,” says Hank.

“That I am!” says the male pegasus proudly while puffing out his chest and freshly preened feathers. He has a white coat with a red and blue mane and tail, and his cutie mark is a cake, and the mares are ogling at him because he just happens to be really, really, really, really ridiculously good looking. Even Trixie can't help but stare at him with a bit of lustful drool in her mouth.

Though, Hank regains Trixie's attention when his hoof takes up her whole face so she sees him pointing at the unicorn mares.

“Those three unicorns -Dusty, Starlight, and Opal- are the third layer of my pyramid. The fourth layer is made up of the other three,” says Hank, and then he points at the last three ponies. “And the two earth ponies are Cinder and Clover Field, and the pegasus is Clockwork.”

“So does that make me part of the fourth layer of your ‘pyramid’?” asks Trixie.

“Nope, you’re the new layer. Number five. Basically all of us get to boss you around. So if Clover Field wants you to pick flowers-”

“Oh that’s me!” giggles Clover Field; this earth pony has a dark green coat with a puffy, light green mane and tail and a clover as her cutie mark.

“You pick those flowers; and if Cinder wants you to burn those flowers, you burn them with a smile.”

Clover Field whines and looks down while Cinder glares at Hank, completely unamused by his horrible joke. She has a charcoal coat with white spots all over and her black and white mane and tail have a wild look to them. Her cutie mark just so happens to be a campfire, too.

“Got it?” says Hank

“Yeah, so what’s next?” says Trixie, trying to keep herself calm from the increasingly creepy field manager.

“We’re off to the Card Casino to help set up Monte Fountain’s show. We’re on a tight schedule, so no lollygagging, no trying to upstage anypony, and for the love of Celestia’s plot stay on the work site.”

Trixie grumbles an acknowledgment under her breath, and few minutes later the group piles into their respective vehicles and starts on their road trip to the Card Casino. Trixie shares on of the chubby motorized wagons with Clover Field, Cinder, and Clockwork. Clockwork has a clock as her cutie mark, and she has a sandy coat with a red braided mane. Unlike Cinder, who appears to hate life, and Clover Field, who won’t stop smiling, Clockwork seems content with the situation.

“So, how did you banish the Ursa Major?” asks Clover Field.

“Didn’t you hear that I didn’t do that?” says Trixie.

“So what did you banish?”

“Nothing.”

“Not even a chupacabre?”

“I don't even know what that is.”

“Oh, its this cute cuddly thing with these beady eyes and a cute face and you just want to hug it and snuggle it all day. Its cute!”

“Look, I didn't banish anything, especially cute things, so can we please drop it?”

“But the chupacabre...”

“I didn't banish a chupacabre! I didn't banish an Ursa! I didn't banish anything! It was a lie and that lie ruined my life, so shut up about the banishing crap and leave me alone!”

Clover Field looks down and sniffles while Cinder pats her on the shoulder, and Clockwork glares at Trixie.

“You know, you don't have to be rude about it,” says Clockwork.

“Easy for you to say,” says Trixie.

“Still, if you're going to be a jerk, you're going to have a hard time around here. We don't like jerks.”

“Good. That means I'll be left alone. Just the way I like it.”

“Fine then. Have fun being alone.”

“I will.”

Trixie then rests her head against the window and ignores the others for the rest of the trip, letting them have fun in their own little bubbles of blissful ignorance.

After about thirty minutes of driving through horrible traffic they reach the Card Casino. It towers four stories, has two large cards crossing over each other at the front door, and on the edges of the building are giant spotlights. Then there is the tower on the roof that reminds Trixie of a cigar, which adds another ten stories to the establishment. Not too far from the Card Casino is a walled off enclave of Slavic design with multiple towers surrounding a larger tower, and Trixie cannot help but notice a small group of griffins leaving the Casino to fly to the establishment, probably intoxicated judging from how they are flying and laughing idiotically.

The convoy pulls around the back of the Casino and stops in front of the loading area, and once they get out Hank calls Trixie over. Not wanting to make her bad start worse, she reluctantly approaches him with her head down to hide her frown.

“Yeah?” says Trixie.

Hank gives Trixie a blue hat with FE stitched in white as its design. “I forgot to give you your hat before we left. Wear it at all times and keep your horn covered.”

“What?” Trixie looks past Hank and sees the other unicorns have their horns exposed and wearing their hats like gangster wannabes. “What about them? Their horns are showing.”

“You cover your horn with your hat.”

“But it’s uncomfortable, and you’re not even wearing a hat!”

“You cover your horn with your hat.”

“But-”

Trixie is interrupted when Hank growls forces the hat on her head himself and purposefully shoves it down so her horn and a generous portion of her face is covered. Growling, Trixie adjusts her hat so that she is not blinded by hat fabric and so that Hank can see her smoldering orbs.

“Keep your horn covered and get back to work,” says Hank while walking away from Trixie.

“Aren't you supposed to train me, oh dear leader of mine?” says Trixie.

“You aren't worth my time. Tell Clockwork to train you.”

Trixie sticks her tongue out and then stomps back to the group she rode with. They are unloading some boxes and smile gratefully at her when she uses her magic to help them carrying the boxes out.

“Hey, Miss Moody,” says Clockwork while she scratches off items from her list. She is the only one wearing a hat out of the group.

“Hank says you have to train me,” says Trixie grumpily.

Clockwork rolls her eyes. “Oh, joy.” She sighs and looks around for a second before she points at a pile of boxes. “I guess you can start by taking the boxes to the backstage in the area marked with yellow tape.”

“And after that?”

“Take out the stuff. Sort them out and let the other guys handle the rest.”

Trixie sighs and sulks towards the stack of boxes, watching with a tiny bit of envy as Clover Field and Cinder exchange some laughs, each pulling a little wagon that is full of boxes. She looks at the boxes again and takes another breath before grabbing a good amount with her magic. After grabbing the boxes she follows Cinder and Clover Field to the backstage and places the boxes in the marked area, and when they go to get more, Cinder holds out her hoof, stopping Trixie.

“Why don't you stay here and unload? Me, Clover and Clockwork will bring the rest,” says Cinder.

Trixie's demeanor slouches with a huff. “Fine.”

The duo leave and Trixie takes a spot in the back and starts unloading the boxes. Her job would be a lot easier if the suppliers actually packed things in uniform, but each box is like a stocking stuffed by someone on high on drugs. Overpriced gimmicks are with napkins, fireworks are with light bulbs, mannequins are packed with fliers, and multi-colored cloth is sharing a box with various, brightly colored liquids.

It does not take long for Trixie's movements to become robotic and for time to blur around her. She does not hear the conversations or see the ponies around her. All she sees are the products, her piles, and the ponies who take the piles to do what ever it is they need to do with them. She barely realizes that someone is towering above her until she gets a very uneasy feeling up her spine. In response to that, she stops unpacking and looks to her side and sees Clockwork looking down at her.

They stare at each other for a few seconds in total silence, with Trixie confused as to why Clockwork is looking at her and the pegasus looking worried for some reason.

“Hey, are you doing okay?” asks Clockwork.

“Yeah. Why?” says Trixie.

“Well, I noticed the injuries you got and how you look like you're in a lot of pain, and I realized I was kind of a jerk back there since they were probably the reasons why you're moody.”

Trixie resumes unpacking in a shaky manner, completely silent and doing what she can to push down a lump in her throat and to keep her eyes from watering. Seconds later, Clockwork sits next to her and starts unpacking as well.

“You're new, here, right?” says Clockwork.

“I used to live here a long time ago, but everything is different, now," says Trixie.

Clover Field and Cinder appear out of the blue and start their unpacking, as well, and do a great job of ignoring Trixie when they greet Clockwork.

“Well, Trixie,” starts Clockwork after the greeting, “I know both of us got off on the wrong hoof back there, with you being crabby and me being crabby back, and you're newish here, so I think we need to start over. You look like you need a friend, so why don't you meet up with me, Clover, and Cinder at Donut Joe's for a bit?”

Clover Field and Cinder stop packing and talking and look at Clockwork, shocked and mouths clamped shut. Trixie looks at them nervously, then back at Clockwork, and then she resumes her work.

“I-I don't know. I can't really do stuff like that,” says Trixie.

“You can't hang out with us at Donut Joe's for some snacks and drinks?” says Clockwork.

“Hey, that's our special time!” says Clover.

“Yeah, besides she's rude,” says Cinder, looking right at Trixie.

Trixie swallows and turns her back to the group, her motions more shaky, the lump in her throat thicker, and eyes becoming wet as she unpacks and stacks the goods.

Clockwork, meanwhile, scolds them. “Really guys? We're all jailmares, and we were all rude to each other when we started this rehab program thing, so what makes her any different?”

“Well, for one, she's a unicorn,” starts Cinder.

“And two, I wasn't that bad,” says Clover. She points at Trixie. “She's just straight up mean, and look at her! She looks like she's part of a fight club, and what's the first rule of fight club? Don't talk about fight club. So, she's like a gladiator with secrets that will probably stab us if we look at her funny.”

"Actually, you were a pretty big bitch when we first met," says Clockwork.

Clover thinks for a moment. "...No~"

Clockwork frowns, but before another word can be said, Crispy lands in front of the group on top of a crate, specifically in front of Trixie. Trixie yelps and jumps back into Clockwork and puts her hoof to her chest to calm her racing heart. The others also flinch, but smile with hearts in their eyes when he flashes his toothy smile.

“Ladies,” says Crispy charismatically, “I just want to say you are doing a fantastic job. In fact, you’re all doing so good that if you can get this all taken care of within three hours I will treat you gals to dinner. How’s that sound?”

The girls all gasp and get eager smiles, and Trixie is particularly surprised by Cinder acting like an obsessive fangirl, but overall, she is not impressed with what is going on, so she blocks out the conversation and continues unpacking. A couple of minutes of flirting later and Crispy leaves with his grin even wider than before, and that is when someone more obnoxious than Crispy invades the scene.

“No! No! No no no no no no no no! No! What are you doing?” yells a stallion.

“Putting up the lights like you said, sir,” whimpers a mare while she shrinks away from him.

The pony that is yelling at her is none other than Monte Fountain himself, and he is wearing his show outfit and it looks as though he is ready to blow a gasket.

“I said red lights, these are green. You see the difference?” sneers Monte while holding up the color sheets for the lights. “This is red. Reeeeeed. And this is green. Greeeeeen.”

“But you said the green lights are supposed to be up front and the red in the back.”

“I said no such thing. You’re just an idiot. How am I supposed to-”

Monte sees Trixie staring at him and when he flashes a wicked smile her way while shoving the colored cards back to the mare that screwed up the former Great and Powerful quickly goes back to work.

“Oh-ho! I can't believe this! This is too good! Too, too good!” says Monte.

Monte hops on a crate and cranes his neck to look over the working ponies, and while Trixie tries valiantly to ignore him by focusing on unloading light bulbs, it proves to be in vain. She can feel his eyes on her and hear him shouting over the banging, sawing, and the other chaotic sounds of the work site nonstop.

“You there!” shouts Monte. “Hey! Hey you! You there! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey, missy! Pony of opposite gender! Ma'am! Ma'am, missy, pony, individual! Hey hey hey! Hey, pony lady!”

Trixie's eye twitches and a glass bulb that has trusted her to protect it shatters in her aura, but neither Monte or anybody else notices.

Monte's horn glows and his voice overpowers the workplace as he yells: “Equus to the mare ignoring me! I demand your attention!”

Everyone stops and exchanges looks, except for Trixie. She has hunkered down even more in her fortress of light bulb boxes and is doing everything she can to not look at anybody. Clover, however, looks at Monte with a wide, eager smile and points at herself.

“Are you talking to me?” she asks.

Monte points behind her. “No, I’m talking to the one who looks like a pile of crap!”

Clover's ears droop with a disappointed frown and she looks at Trixie. “Oh. Trixie, he’s talking to you.”

“I'm not here,” says Trixie.

As soon as she finishes that sentence, she is covered in a tingly sensation all over her waist, and she yelps as she is plucked from her spot and dropped in a small throne straight out of a poker player's dream. After falling in the throne, Monte's front hooves go on top of Trixie's, pinning them to the arms of the throne and his massive grin takes up her whole vision and is close enough to where she can see herself reflecting off of his eyes. She can smell his minty mouthwash, his expensive cologne and his own body heat, and in a feeble attempt to escape, she shrinks in the seat, sweating and shaking.

“Hey, Trixie, do you remember me?” says Monte.

“No,” says Trixie as she squishes herself even further into the throne’s cushion.

“I didn’t think so. I don't bother remembering the names of those I upstaged, either. It's a nice little connection we have.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

Monte puts his hoof over Trixie’s mouth and shushes her, and in turn, her eyes widen and her muscles tense up, and when Monte’s smile grows wider she starts trembling.

“Relax, you don't have to lie, anymore. I'm not mad at you, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie. You are still a ‘Miss’, right?”

Trixie nods her head quickly and Monte grins and hoof pumps.

“Yes,” he hisses quietly, and then he continues in his regular voice. “Okay, I’m going to need you to stay here for a moment while I grab Hank. Sit tight. I’m serious. Don’t. Move. From this spot. At all.”

Monte does a dramatic spin, his silky cape brushing against Trixie face, and after adjusting his hat he trots away screaming for Hank. Trixie shifts in her seat and a minute later, when she tries to move, Monte’s hoof goes over hers, making her scream and jump in her seat, and Monte slides into view with Hank standing behind him, grinning wildly.

“Found Hank, and he said I could borrow you for a minute,” says Monte.

Trixie looks at Hank nervously, but he is already walking away to do whatever it was he was doing earlier. Monte, in the meantime, uses his handy magic to tilt the chair so Trixie slides out, and he escorts her to the back of the audience area, apparently oblivious to her sulked and cautious demeanor.

The place they go to is brightly lit and has red carpet with casino game symbols stitched all over the floor in seemingly random locations, and the seats are all black with the tables being blue and each having their own little lamp. The back wall is lined up with booth that also have the little lights, and Trixie cannot see what the second story of the audience area holds, but is guessing that it holds more tables judging from the decorative lamps poking above the railing. When Trixie sits in one of the booths, the seat lets out a wheezing noise and she feels some air brush against her coat as it escapes from the chair. She looks at her spot quizzically while Monte coolly slides next to her.

“So, Miss Trixie, I noticed you look a little,” Monte waves his hoof around to point and the difference bruises and scratches on Trixie’s body, “crappy. The frock looks nice, though.”

Trixie scowls and moves away from him. “Thanks.”

Monte chuckles, slides closer to Trixie, and levitates both of their hats off and sets them down on the table. "You're welcome. How about some drinks?"

"No, I'm okay."

"Too bad."

Then he whistles at a colt wearing a vest that is walking by. When the colt approaches their table, Trixie is baffled to see that it is none other than Pipsqueak.

“Oh, how do you do, ma’am?” says Pipsqueak politely.

Before she can reply, Monte butts in.

“She’s fantastic. Give me and Trixie some of that Dr. Dew soda that you foals love so much,” he says.

“On the rocks?” says Pipsqueak.

“With the umbrellas.”

“Limes?”

“Of course.”

“Got it.”

After Pipsqueak walks off, Monte smiles at Trixie. “Anyway, it is so nice to see the pony who upstaged me and my brother in town face to face again after so many years. Its like a nostalgic overload!”

Trixie looks down and bites her lip, but Monte chuckles and pats her shoulder, getting her to tense and slide away from him, eying him uneasily.

“Relax, like I said, I’m not mad,” he says. “If anything, I’m grateful for what you did since after you upstaged me I found all my flaws, purged them and became famous. But you? Wow, you fell clean off the map just when I was about ready to offer you a partnership, and I was sad. And now here you are! Right in my casino, in front of me, like a dirty jewel just begging to cleaned and pampered and ready to shine for the world again. It’s like Celestia has personally delivered me a gift in a golden box with a gem studded bow... thing.”

Trixie frowns. “That was stupid.”

“You just don't appreciate poetry. So are you interested?”

“In what?”

“A partnership. What else?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Trixie, we both know you want all that fame and fortune back. You want to be respected and loved again, just like the good old days, and I can help you get back on track. Better pay, better benefits, shows on a biweekly basis with an income so sturdy you can build a freaking mansion made out of gold if you wanted to! So, whaddya say? A little teamwork between you and me and you get your life back. Sounds good, yeah?”

Trixie narrows her eyes and Monte's cocky smile becomes more forced and anxious.

“Just say yes,” says Monte through his pearly white teeth.

“You said I looked like crap earlier,” says Trixie.

“Well, you do.”

Trixie scoffs in disgust, and she leaves the table in an instant and starts her march back to her coworkers, ignoring Monte's call. But when she hears glasses tip, drinks spill, and a table shake, she looks over her shoulder and stares at Monte with eyes big enough to see the smoke inside her fried brain as the magician runs over his table, leaps towards her and slides to a halt next to her. She takes a step back, nose wrinkled and ears splayed back when he steps in front of her, smiling broadly and fueled by nothing less of the finest desperation anxiety and self-doubt can conjure.

“Wait wait wait, Trixie, hold on just a second and hear me out, okay?” says Monte.

And then comes silence.

And more silence.

And even more silence.

And a stallion coughing awkwardly somewhere out of Trixie's line of sight to go with the massive amount of silence coming between the two ace magicians.

“Well?” says Trixie.

“You got a talent, Trixie. An amazing talent with magic and wooing crowds and making shows fun without looking like a bimbo,” says Monte. “I mean, you had that flashy cape, that cute third pony talk, and holy crap can you make dreams with that body and those eyes of yours.”

Trixie's eye twitches with an uncomfortable feeling bubbling in her gut and rising to her throat, and she takes a step back from Monte, even though every strand of her muscles have tightened.

“But you had this thing with your shows that we all loved,” says Monte. “We need that back. The magic industry needs you back because in your fifteen minutes of fame you have left an impact that not even I have been able to top. So, what do you say? You want to jump back in the ring and have another crack at magic shows?”

“No,” says Trixie instantly.

Monte's smile remains, but his ears droop. “What?”

“No.”

“Oh, come on! You'll get lots of money, and fame and respect and ponies adoring you again! That's what you want, right?”

“No, I don't want that, and besides, you just want me so you can get better sales because you suck as a magician and you think reintroducing an old star like me will help. Well, joke's on you, buddy. I'm through with magic. I'm through with the spotlight. I just want to live my life without the bullshit of fame.”

Trixie starts walking and Monte calls her again and yanks on her shoulder. What he gets as a reward is Trixie yelping and her hoof colliding with his face with enough power to drop him to the floor. Like a flipped switch, everything stops and all eyes fall on Trixie, and even though her heart is racing at a million beats a minute and her body is shaking, she realizes she just made a blunder.

A very, very big blunder.

Trixie barely moves her eyes to see Monte laying on the floor, shifting and holding his face, and groaning in pain. She taps his hindquarters with her back hoof, and is relieved to hear him respond with a longer groan.

“Monte, can you get up?” asks Trixie.

“I can't feel my face,” moans Monte.

Hank then starts storming to Trixie, glaring the fires of all the rings of Tartarus and the other Hells of every alternate dimension in the known universe and beyond, and Trixie gulps and shrinks back, eyes huge and ears about ready to fall off from how far they have drooped. She knows the rest of her day is going to suck, now.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 19 Sep 2015

Arc 2- 11- The Job -ADDITION-

Minutes after the Trixie fiasco, an elevator door on the Casino's very top floor dings and slides open, and out steps Monte and Hank, with Monte levitating an icepack to his jaw and Hank ready to murder someone.

“Holy crap, she punches hard,” says Monte as he briskly walks down the hall.

“You've been saying that for the past ten minutes and its starting to piss me off,” says Hank, his steps in tune with Monte's.

“Yeah, I know, but she punched me. I've been slapped, had drinks thrown in my face, a beehive tossed on my bed and I've been taken to court, but punched? That's a first.”

Hank rolls his eyes. “Surprisingly. I still think it is stupid that you didn't call the guards on her. Her tail should be in jail after that stunt. And I will be filing a complaint and have her fired.”

“Relax, Hank, it was just a misunderstanding, so no complaints or firings are necessary.”

“She nearly punched your jaw off.”

“Well... Yeah, you're right. But what was it that Dad always said?”

“You suck.”

“No, the other one.”

“You've got a mare's ass.”

“Definitely not that one. It was the one that was actually useful.”

“Three strikes and you're out.”

“Right. And Trixie has two, with the upstage and now the punch. One more and I'll have my buddies teach her a thing or two about manners.”

“You won't do that.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you're you, and every time you say you're going to teach somepony a lesson or send one of your friends to teach them a lesson you never do and I end up being the one to break their legs in an alley.”

Monte stops and looks at Hank worryingly. “You're not going to break Trixie's legs in an alley are you?”

Hank stops and looks at Monte, eager for some brawling. “Do you want me to?”

Monte shakes his head and continues walking. “No. I still need to convince her to join me so my sales can go up, and you breaking her legs won't do me any good.”

“Fine. But if she touches you again, I will hurt her badly and I will have her ass in jail, with or without your approval.”

“Sure you will.”

Monte and Hank round a corner, and the very first thing Monte notices is what he is sure is a mare wearing an admittedly nice gray colored cloak. She has her head down and is sitting by his door, and she barely lifts her head, keeping her features hidden for the most part when the two stallions stop.

Seconds of awkwardness later, and the two walk forward, and Monte kneels down so he can look under her hood. When he sees who it is, he smiles, stands up and pats Hank on the shoulder.

“You better get back to work. I'm sure your crew misses you,” says Monte.

“I doubt it. Is that a friend of yours?” says Hank.

“She friend zoned me a while back and we've been acquaintances ever since.”

Hank stares at Monte skeptically, and in turn, Monte shoos him away.

“Get back to work, Hank. This is me time, now.”

Hank grumbles in protest, but leaves anyway, and once Hank rounds the corner, Monte takes a breath, unlocks the door and waves the cloaked mare inside, smiling brightly.

“After you, my dear,” he says.

The mare silently walks in, and after giving the hall one last look, he slides inside his abode and locks the door behind him.

His loft holds true to the theme of his casino. Everywhere there is space, there is something dedicated to the wonderful worlds of gambling or magic shows, whether it be posters or encased statuettes, and the top tier magician cannot help but smile smugly as his guest observes his expensive décor. Now, if only the visitor would take off her cloak then the retreating, natural lighting bathing his living room from his windows would make her look more stunning than she already is underneath that piece of cloth.

Monte's smug smile turns into a devious smirk and he walks towards the mare. “Relax a little. Take your cloak off. Curl up on my couch. Take it easy. I'll even make us some drinks.”

“Oh, Monte~” calls a mare.

Monte freezes, and with his head barely moving, he looks out of the corner of his eye and pales from the sight of an earth pony mare poking her head out of his room with a wanton smile.

“Are you coming back in for more fun?” she asks.

Before Monte can reply, a pegasus mare pokes her head out of his room and wraps the earth pony in her wing, bringing her to he side and giggling lewdly. “Yeah, we're waiting for you.”

“I'm sorry, I completely forgot about them,” says Monte to the cloaked mare, his face now turning red and his body feeling an uncomfortable combination of arousal and embarrassment from the different tones of stares he is getting. He looks at the pair in his bedroom doorway, straining his muzzle with his forced smile as they stare back at him, with the pegasus rubbing her wing along the side of the earth pony, getting her partner to shudder and bite her lip to stifle a moan. The scene sends his heart and temperature spiking, and he swallows his spit before holding up his hoof. “Ladies, I'm going to have to call this short. Some work came up and-”

A third mare appears, this one a unicorn, and with hungry eyes and a predatory lick of her lips, her horn glows and she starts to pull on Monte by his collar. “No excuses, Monte. We need you, my delicious hunk.”

The pull is just hard enough to force Monte's hooves in the carpet, and the unicorn's words bring nothing but pain to his ears and an inferno of embarrassment to his cheeks and ears. And he can hear his guest face hoof, too.

“Why'd you have to make things weirder than they already were?” says Monte. His horn glows and the magical grip on his clothing disappears in a pop, and he takes a breath before forcing an easygoing laugh. “Ladies, like I was trying to say before I was interrupted, you need to go. Like right now. I have work to do and I'd like to get it done pronto.”

“But we were just about to have a pillow fight,” pouts the earth pony.

“Yeah, that sounds really sexy, Cherry, but for the third time, some work came up and I really can't have call girls around. I'll get distracted too much to think.”

The earth pony frowns. “My name is Vanessa.”

“Oh.” Monte squints and studies each mare carefully. “Which one of you is Cherry?”

“None of us,” says the unicorn, now frowning, as well as the pegasus.

Monte seethes. “She must've been yesterday,” he says under his breath, and then he speed walks behind the mares and starts herding them to his door, trying with rapidly dwindling willpower to resist the three different pheromones assaulting on his scenes. “Okay, it was nice meeting all of you. We had a blast and call me sometime, but now you ladies need to get out.”

The mares all talk over each other, all various levels of red faced rage as their hooves dig into the carpet, much to his annoyance. They sound like angry hens clucking over each other, eager for overpriced corn, and when he manages to get them to the door, he uses his magic to open the door and a mix of magic and strained muscles to push them into the lobby.

All three stumble out and almost trip over each other, but when they regain their footing, they all turn and glare at Monte, with the pegasus snarling and expanding her wings.

“Where's our money!” demands the pegasus.

Monte groans loudly and throws out his bag of money at their hooves, spilling the bits all over the decorative floor like a water balloon filled with cash. “Here, take your money and let me work! Jeeze!”

Before any of the mares can respond, Monte slams and locks the door shut, and then he takes a deep breath, flashes a smile at his guest and trots to his room.

“I just have to check something really quick,” he says.

When he sees his room, his smile disappears. The sheets are all a mess, the drapes have been wrapped around his bedposts -which he remembers that scene being tied to something very uncomfortable- and there is spilled food and wine everywhere, staining his carpet and expensive sheets in an ugly assortment of colors. But the very worst part of it all leaves his jaw slack and his eyes wide, for on the collar of his twelve thousand bit casket jacket is a very ominous, dried up, white blotch.

Monte levitates the jacket and carefully sniffs the stain, hoping that it is a cinnamon roll and not what he thinks it is. When it turns out to be his worst fear, he groans and drops the jacket.

“Oh, man. That is not coming out,” he says to himself.

Monte sighs, shakes his head and throws the jacket in the bedroom garbage can on his way to his kitchen, begrudgingly thinking about the cleaning bill that will surely murder his bank account. As he goes to his kitchen, he uses his magic to close the bedroom door and a great deal of willpower to put on a friendly face.

“Have a seat. You're making me nervous,” says Monte while he walks over to his wine cooler.

The visitor sits on the couch and quickly removes her cloak, sighing with relief while doing so, and Monte carefully pours wine for of them in elegant glasses.

“It’s a little hot to be wearing cloaks, don’t you think?” teases Monte when he takes a seat next to his guest with the glasses floating beside him.

“I didn’t want anypony to see me,” says Octavia as she adjusts her mane.

Monte gives Octavia her wine glass. “So, what’s this visit about? Do you want to perform at one of my shows? Do you need a magic show at one of your shows? Or do you need some money?”

“I need to speak to Gilda about a job.”

Monte's face falls from disappointment. “Oh. What makes you think I know her?”

“Everypony knows you’re in with the griffins.”

“Speculates, Octavia. Everypony speculates that I’m in with the griffins. But its not my fault the griffins love this place. It is the haven of vice, after all, and everybody loves vice.”

Octavia sips her wine and her lower eyelid twitches slightly, but Monte takes a huge gulp of his drink without any visible effects.

“What if I told you that if the job is done right I’ll give you ten percent extra on top of what Gilda gives you,” says Octavia after she successfully suppresses the urge to hurl.

Monte’s ears perk up and he grins excitedly. “You know me well, Octavia.”

“So, will you tell Gilda my message?”

“I have to know what the message is first.”

“I want to her to grab a couple of ponies.”

Monte winces and leans back. “A double kidnapping? Octavia, that kind of job isn’t cheap. I mean to hold somepony ransom is loaded with all kinds of costs and logistics, and it is also very risky and fragile. Its not like locking your sibling in the bathroom over hoofball cards.”

Monte finishes with a sip of his drink, and Octavia shakes her head.

“I’m not interested in a ransom. I want Gilda to grab these ponies and bring her to me so I can kill them myself,” she says.

Monte is in the middle of finishing off his wine when Octavia tells him that, and he spits out his wine, leading him to painful coughing and hacking fit that leaves tears in his eyes. After that small show ends he manages to recollect himself.

“Okay, first off, who are these ponies, and what did they do to you to want them killed? Secondly, what you’re asking for is a very special order. It requires planning, lots of money, and you to have a steel gut to do a double murder,” says Monte.

“The first is Trixie Lulamoon, she murdered my sister, and the other is Minty Sprinkles, she allowed it to happen and is now chauffeuring her around,” says Octavia.

“Ah, well you see about Trixie, I kinda need her alive so she can help with my sales. Nostalgia value and all that.”

“She killed my sister!”

“Yeah, but... Wait, you had a sister?”

“Her name was Pinkamena Diane Pie.”

Monte puts his glass on the table and forces a chuckle. Then he mumbles gibberish under his breath and then looks at Octavia, still trying to keep his smile. But when Octavia’s stare becomes more stern his smile disappears.

“Are you serious?” asks Monte.

“Very,” replies Octavia.

“But you said your last name was Melody.”

“I know. But that's actually my second middle name. My real last name is Pie, and Pinkamena Pie was my sister, who was murdered by Trixie and Minty, and they need to die.”

“Okay, I get the kill part, but what you're saying is that you not only lied to me about your name, but you also lied about not having a sister that could have helped my sales with her parties or her very appearance.”

“I know, but-”

“Is there anything else you lied to me about? Like, I don't know, your gender or your distaste for the banjo?”

“Monte, you know first hoof that I'm a mare!”

Monte frowns and points at her. “You just admitted to lying to me about important details of your life, and you're expecting me to be cool about this? No, my mockery is fair game. You know, I could've had an Element trophy wife that would have guaranteed me a generous surplus of income if you've done your part like a good sister.”

Octavia bats Monte's hoof away and jabs him in the chest, her face getting red, her body shaking, and her teeth grinding against each other. “Trixie killed my sister and Minty was supposed to protect her, but she didn’t, and instead of helping me, you're making stupid comments and turning my dead sister into some kind of desired possession!”

Monte slides back and holds up his hooves defensively with his head down. “Okay, I'm sorry, but-” Monte grabs Octavia's hooves with his and looks into her eyes, watching his desperation reflect back to him from her angry eyes. “Maybe now would be a good time to implement the whole forgive and forget thing. I mean, I know you, Octavia, you're as sweet as you are beautiful and this business... well, this business gets ugly very fast and makes pretty ponies ugly even faster.”

Octavia pulls away from Monte. “You expect me to forgive and forget about the ones who killed Pinkamena? You might as well ask a fish to breath in the middle of the dessert.”

“Is there a pond in the middle of this dessert of yours?”

Octavia gets up and trots towards the door, growling. “Never mind. I'll just off them myself without any help. At least then I'll be saving myself some bits!”

Monte stammers idiotically and sloppily gets off of the couch, tripping over himself in the process, and he gallops in front of Octavia, stopping her when he puts his hoof out.

“Wait! No no no no no, don't do that. Don't do that,” he says. He takes a breath and places his hooves on her shoulders and looks into fiery eyes. “Listen, and listen good, Octavia. The life I got and the life you got don't mix well. You do not have the stomach to do this, and if you go at it alone you will hurt yourself and probably not get what you wanted done done in the first place.”

“Then get the griffins to help me.”

“Did you not hear the first part? You are not meant for this, and by contracting Gilda's help you are basically offering to dance with Tirek. She is not good. She is heartless. She will have no problem killing you if you do anything to threaten her business, which includes skipping out on bills and wasting her time.”

“They need to pay for what they did.”

“But you don't even care about your family.”

Octavia stomps her hoof. “I care, now!”

Monte jumps a little bit, but still keeps his eyes on Octavia as she looks him in the eyes with tears rolling down her face and her chest heaving from wanting her to scream again. A moment of silence passes, and Octavia looks down, whimpering and sniffling as tears patter to the carpet.

“I care, now.... Before, I wanted to erase them and pretend that my roots were different,” says Octavia shamefully. “I didn't want anything to do with my father or my sisters because I had a newer, better life than what they gave me and Canterlot made me special. But now that I know I will never see my sister again, I will only have vague memories of her to look at. I don't have any hope of seeing her again to make new ones. I don't have a chance to... to tell her how stupid and selfish I was for pretending she didn't exist! I have to do something to show that I cared about her... I have to make this right.”

Monte sighs and rubs his brow. “Wow. That was dramatic.” He lowers his hoof and shake his head. “I mean... wow. Is there any way I can change your mind?”

“No. There must be justice, and if I have to go to Gilda with or without you to see it done, then so be it.”

Author's Notes:

Added 26 Sep 2015

Arc 2- 12- Gilda Grizelda -ADDITION-

Author's Notes:

Added 25 Oct 2015

Gilda Gabriela Grizelda, Equestria’s most powerful crime lord, is sitting in her top floor office behind her large oak desk. Her freshly sharpened and polished talons rest in front of her face as a pyramid, and her golden eyes are narrowed on her fellow griffin, Winny.

With the glass door to her patio all the way open, a cool breeze wafts into the office, but it is not enough to cool the fire inside Gilda. All that is keeping her from ripping out Winny's throat is her discipline and lack of manpower. Though, anyone can plainly see the thirty year old griffin's muscles twitching underneath her fur. It does not matter that Gilda got her money. It does not matter that a problem has been solved. All that matters is that a simple solution to a simple problem had an outcome that should not have happened and has left her with a deficit rather than a surplus. And the story behind it all is absolutely ridiculous.

“Do you take me as an idiot?” says Gilda.

“No,” says Winny.

Gilda keeps her focus on Winny, but she does grind her talons together, like a butcher rubbing his knives. To Winny's credit, she does not flinch. Much. But Gilda can still see her tense and she spots a single drop of sweat sliding down her worker's head.

“I think you think I'm an idiot,” says Gilda.

“I don't think that,” says Winny.

“And yet you expect me to believe that a mare dressed in bed sheets beat up five griffins by herself and left you alone.”

Winny shakes her head. “She did not leave me alone. She went after me, and I kicked her ass and tore apart the store doing it.”

“So we all heard. Was it Lyra?”

“Probably. She's the only mare I can think of that would risk her neck trying to save Bon Bon.”

“Let's pretend that I believe you, but now there is another question. How come you let the guards take away Grim and the others?”

“I couldn't wake them up, and if I stayed I would have been caught and you would be out four thousand bits.”

“My guys on the inside said someone called in the fiasco. A female. Very anxious. And when the guards got there the bodies were one short. There was no pony and when you got back here you were shedding.”

“No shit! I almost got my beak busted off in a brawl by some nut in bedsheets! It is possible that the mare left and died in an alley somewhere. Celestia knows I fucked her up enough.”

“That is a very stupid story and you know it. Now, Sparkle sending a rat in here to fuck up everything and you making up fairy tales to cover your tracks? That is a believable story.”

“Are you accusing me of beating up my own crew?”

“Damn right I am. I know you were kicked out of the Stalliongrad Guard Academy and I know you come from a family of guards and crooks alike. I also know that Sparkle sent in undercovers and my business was doing just fine until your ugly beak popped in here.”

Winny's jaw drops. “Gilda, I have been loyal to you. I changed lives for you and had to clean others blood off of myself countless times and now you're accusing me of being a rat? What the fuck, Gilda?”

Gilda reaches under her desk and pulls out a double barrel shotgun with a gold grip and a strap attached to it. The wood is polished and decorated with vines, thorns and skulls, and the barrel has tally marks etched into it. Currently there are fifteen tally marks.

Winny remains steady when Gilda places the weapon on the desk and aims it at her chest, keeping her talon just on the outside of the trigger. Gilda knows Winny is afraid, though. She can smell it, see it in her eyes, see it in her tense muscles and ruffled feathers, and the most damning of all, the growing number of sweaty beads rolling down her head.

“I've killed before, and I got no problem doing it again,” says Gilda, her eyes narrowing and her talon brushing the trigger. “Before you showed up, I took fragments of the Lulamoon Mob and the Toolbox Mob had and made something of it. But ever since you showed up, my whole Detrot branch was wiped out by a poison, I lost Ponyville County, the guards took back Stalliongrad and now I'm losing ground in Canterlot. And the twist? You have been to all of those places at least once.”

Winny points at herself, shaking and sweating more than before but still keeping her brave face. “Gilda, look at me. I know I'm new, but I promise you, I am not the rat.”

“That's what every rat says before they die.”

Suddenly the phone rings and Gilda mostly ignores it, choosing to keep her aim on Winny, but it keeps ringing, and ringing, and ringing. Finally, after the fifth ring, Gilda slips on the headset with one hand while keeping the weapon held in the other and with a simple flick of a switch on her desk, her end connects.

“Who's this?” Gilda says, being sure to make her annoyance known to the whole world, and now using both hands to hold her weapon and adjusting her aim when Winny steps back.

“It’s Monte. Did you miss me?” says Monte, his tone so bright it makes the sun seem dim.

Gilda frowns without breaking eye contact with Winny. “What do you want, Monte? I'm in the middle of something.”

“Well, I just had a nice conversation with a pretty little mare, and she wants to place an order of some of your top notch services. Double order actually.”

Gilda lowers her weapon and points at the door behind Winny. “We'll talk later.”

“We will?”

“Not you. A troublemaker in my office who needs to get out right now before I blow her brains out. And if she even thinks about skipping town Hell will be comfortable compared to what I will do to her.”

Winny takes the words to heart and leaves the room quickly, and once the door shuts Gilda turns around to stare at the Canterlot skyline, her mood too soured to take in the beautiful sunset.

“Anyway, this girl you mentioned, is she looking for a cleanup crew?” asks Gilda.

“Actually a delivery,” says Monte after a slight pause.

“A double delivery?”

“Yeah, she wants to take care of the packages herself, though.”

Gilda sighs heavily and runs her talons through her freshly groomed feathers, and her annoyance gets worse her door opens and she turns around to see Winny coming back in with a unicorn stallion trailing her. Gilda mouths some profanity directed at Winny, and all Winny does is shrug apologetically and point at the guest. Gilda rolls her eyes, points at the stallion and then her guest chair, and she points at Winny and shoos her away. The two obey without a word and Gilda looks at the scenery again.

“You there, sweet cheeks?” says Monte.

“Call me sweet cheeks again and I'll shove a pole straight up your ass,” says Gilda. “And whoever this girl is, you tell them I want to meet them so we can lay down some ground rules. Before we meet make sure she knows how we do things in my town because from the sounds of it we’re dealing with a dweeb whose got something to prove.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go as far as calling her a dweeb, but she definitely has something to prove.”

“Okay, whatever. We’ll meet on Tuesday at ten after noon at the train yard. Tell her there’s no deal if she's late. I don’t care if she’s a minute late. And if she brings anyone other than you I will kill her and whoever else she brings and then it’ll be your hide. Got it?”

“Don’t get your pretty plumage gunked up. I got this.”

“You better.” Gilda then hangs up and turns to the stallion that entered her office. “What do you want this time, Lock?”

Lock summons a list consisting of names, pictures, and addresses and places it on her desk. “I am in need of some assistance, Gilda.”

Gilda begrudgingly pulls out a pair of reading glasses from her desk and puts them on. After she puts them on she glares at Lock to make sure he isn't showing any signs of being amused from her visual handicap. With his stoic expression remaining steadfast, she drags her talon down the list, looking at each name carefully and when she’s done she looks at Lock.

“If this is a hit list, you better have won the lottery,” says Gilda.

“No, it’s not a hit list. The ones on this lust have become problematic or will become problematic with the EIB and our operations, and they need to be told to stay quiet. The EIB will pay you in the usual manner,” says Lock.

Gilda pushes the list away. “Not my problem.”

“It is since you’re connected with us.”

“Not by choice.”

“Still connected.”

Gilda ruffles her feathers and stands up, and her talons dig into the table, leaving gashes in them, but Lock shows no signs of being intimidated. “Listen, asshole, I’m already pulling more than my fair share helping you and your agency clean up your messes. And I don’t have your funding and I already lost a lot of good griffins.”

“You have my condolences, but that doesn’t excuse you from your task.”

Gilda sits down and starts counting her money again, but rather than doing that to see how much she has, she’s doing it to keep herself from pouncing on the agent and ripping his throat out. Lock can see her anger plain as day too, given that her predatory eyes are honed in on him and her muscles and talons are flexing and twitching eagerly under her fur and feathers. However, Lock can’t help but smile on the inside at the idea of a griffin with reading glasses is threatening him with her gaze.

“Do you at least know who poisoned my griffins in Detrot?” asks Gilda in a low growl. “I would like to turn them into a big dinner.”

“All we know is that they were poisoned with a fungus of some kind,” says Lock.

Gilda slams her fists down, causing the table to shake. “Well that’s just fucking great! What’s the point of this cooperation if I’m doing all the work and losing my guys and your doing whatever the hell you guys do?”

“Take it up with Brisk Wind. As for this list, don’t kill anypony on it, just scare them into not talking.”

Lock turns around to leave, but Gilda calls after him and when he turns around she walks up to him, eyes narrowed and feathers still ruffled. When she’s directly in front of him, she takes off her reading glasses and jabs him in the chest.

“I won’t be doing anything without a tradeoff,” snarls Gilda.

“Amnesty for your services, that’s the tradeoff,” says Lock coolly.

“I won’t be doing anything for you until you get Winny’s group out of the dungeons.”

Lock sighs and looks squarely in her eyes. “You work for us, and you being an asset means we have to take care of you. But we have to keep our connection a secret, so that means we will not be releasing any of your griffins to our streets. The most we can do for their freedom is deport them back to Altai. However, what we can do is figure out who this masked pony is and get them out of the way so they won’t interfere with your business any further.”

Lock turns around and walks towards the exit.

“Don’t worry, Gilda, we have everything under control, we just need you to play your part.”

When Lock is out of the room and her office shut off from the rest of the world, Gilda slams her fists on her desk, swearing. A few seconds of fuming later, she grabs the list Lock left behind and gives it a look over. She counts at least two dozen names, and one of them is Trixie Lulamoon.

Arc 2- 13- Ink Well & Afternoon Meetings -EDITED-

Author's Notes:

Edited on 19 Sep 2015
Edited on 26 Sep 2015
Edited on 25 Oct 2015
Edited on 26 Oct 2015

Pinkie Pie’s mini-train grinds to a halt outside of Donut Joe's Donut Shop. The parking lot is almost completely empty, save for half a dozen other vehicles. When Pinkie Pie hops out of the vehicle she grabs her saddle, carelessly puts over her back, and upon entering the building she finds that it has a clever mix of techno and contemporary design. While Pinkie Pie waits patiently for a patron she listens to the music being played over the radio. It’s a simple, yet catchy, techno tune.

“Welcome to Donut Joe's Donut Shop,” says Donut Joe brightly. “What can I... Oh, its you again.”

Pinkie Pie grins and leans up against the counter, squinting her eyes and stretching her smile until it hurts. “That's no way to talk to a guest, stud.”

Donut Joe steps back a little. “Are you hitting on me?”

Pinkie Pie forces an obnoxious laugh that get the attention of the few patrons and bangs her hoof on the counter. “Am I hitting on you? No, I'm not hitting on you. I don't hit on any pony. I just talk to them like normal talking ponies who talk to other ponies. By the way, do you like my dress?”

“Uh... yeah, its very nice.” Donut Joe smiles nervously. “Why don't I recommend something that won't ruin it. Like water or a donut with no frosting?”

“How about an extra large strawberry milkshake and a dozen chocolate donuts smothered in strawberry frosting, instead?” says Pinkie Pie.

Joe blinks. “Um, okay then.”

He scribbles down the order and after Pinkie Pie pays the appropriate amount he gives the order to one of his workers and starts on making the milkshake.

“Where's your friend from yesterday? Is she at a hospital? Or in jail?” says Joe, having to yell over the screaming engine of the blender.

“No, she's at work. Maybe if I'm lucky she didn't get fired,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, okay. It just looked like she was part of a fight club and I was curious is all.”

“Well, if she is part of a fight club, she doesn't talk about it.”

The blender stops and Joe pours the drink in the proper cup, puts it on a tray and slides it over to her. “There you go, Miss. We'll have your donuts fresh for you in just a few minutes, so have a seat and relax a little.”

Pinkie Pie thanks him, takes her drink and heads to the farthest corner of the store, silently thankful that there is hardly a soul around to listen in on her and her meeting partner. Once she takes a seat, she starts sipping her drink, shuddering at the cold deliciousness of the strawberry, ice cream and milk mix, and she takes out her notebook and flips it open to her Mare-Do-Well design. She studies it for a few minutes, but spends the remainder of her time daydreaming of fighting robots and aliens in the suit with Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity by her side in an epic battle worthy of biblical tales.

Thinking about the thrill of saving ponies from disasters and the rush of fighting criminals way back then in their suits brings a smile to her face and quickens her heart with excitement. But then she thinks about Terra's mutilated face and horrific cackles and Spike's blood all over her and how all of her so-called friends became her enemies in a fortnight. She swears she can feel Spike's sticky blood all over her hooves and chest again, and to be certain that she is not covered in blood she looks down, relieved to see just her sleeves and dyed fur.

'Do you really want to wear blood again?' asks the voice in her head.

Pinkie Pie closes her eyes and bows her head, shaking her head with drooped ears.

“No,” whispers Pinkie Pie.

“This isn't your order?” asks a stallion, his voice overly manly, yet Pinkie can picture it to be extremely emotional in a matter of seconds.

Pinkie Pie snaps open her eyes and sees a large, white, muscular pegasus stallion with amagnificent wingspan balancing a tray of her donuts on his bald head. He also seems to be sparkling in the light and has an epic, gold mustache that covers his lips. But Pinkie Pie does not ogle at his physique for too long since she is more concerned about her food.

“No, sorry, I was just talking to myself. Put the donuts right there, please,” she says, smiling apologetically and tapping the table.

The stallion carefully places the tray on the table and takes a peek at her drawings, which has the basic Mare-Do-Well design, only covered in armor plating and a jet pack. Said armored Mare-Do-Well is fighting a robot tentacle monster powered by a demonic pickle in a teddy bear suit.

“Impeccable skill in the art of doodling. Surely you must have a talent in drawing,” says the stallion.

Pinkie Pie places a hoof over her notebook and shakes her head, forcing a smile. “No, I just doodle when I'm bored.”

“What a coincidence, so do I! In fact, the art of doodling has been passed down the Biceps line for generations! Perhaps we can exchange doodles sometime over coffee?”

Pinkie Pie seethes and leans back slightly, her ears drooping and her hooves drumming on the table nervously. “Uhhhh, I don't...”

“Strong Biceps, stop flirting with the customer and get back to washing dishes!” shouts Donut Joe from behind the counter.

Strong Biceps snaps to Joe. “Apologies, boss! I shall return!” He looks back at Pinkie Pie and nods courteously. “Enjoy your meal, madam, and may your doodles continue to be a blessing on notebook paper.”

“Er, thanks,” says Pinkie Pie slowly. She watches the stallion leave, and once he is out of sight, she sighs with relief and adjusts her wig while eying her meal. “Jeeze, and ponies think I'm weird.”

“Guten Tag, Frau Sprinkles,” says a male with a heavy German accent barely a few seconds later.

Pinkie Pie jumps slightly from the sudden voice and looks up to see a middle aged, gray furred, black haired ibex standing at her table with a pressed suit and an expensive saddle strapped to his back. She quickly establishes a fancy composure that she has seen Rarity do countless times at the table and nods politely to the ibex.

“Witaj, Ink Well,” says Pinkie Pie.

She motions him to have a seat and when he does, she relaxes in her seat and offers him a donut, which he politely refuses.

“Hmm, I didn't realize you were Peltish. Your name hides those roots,” says Ink Well.

Pinkie Pie shrugs. “Names change, but my family has roots going back to Germaneigh and Peltland. Its kind of a weird looking tree, but my father's side is more Peltish than Germane and my mom is more Germane than Peltish, so I'm trying to get back to the Peltish roots. Besides, I have a cousin slash old friend now turned enemy that is mostly Germane, so I don't want anything to do with her or her whatevers.”

“Even at the expense of denying a piece of your own lineage?”

Pinkie Pie frowns. “Let's not get on that subject. I got to pick up somepony in a few hours, assuming she didn't flip out and beat up somepony over something stupid and lose her job.”

“Of course.”

Pinkie Pie takes a bite out of her donut and speaks with her mouth full. “How was the flight to Equestria?”

“Hectic. The zeppelin port security is nothing like Bernese. Ponies here are paranoid. Do they honestly think someone will be dumb enough to take down the same vehicle they are flying in?”

“I think our fear is justified. You’ve heard what’s going on here, right?” says Pinkie Pie after swallowing her food.

“Yes, but quite honestly I am not interested in the turmoils of your nation. I am only interested in the transaction.” Ink Well removes from his saddle a folder and slides it to Pinkie Pie. “As requested, Frau Sprinkles. Everything you wanted is there and awaiting your approval. Everything except for the jet pack, though. Iron Will said it was impossible to make without lighting the suit on fire, so we left it off.”

Pinkie Pie studies the blueprints inside the folder, which consists of all the materials for her dream suit and costs for each part. She is disappointed that they could not put on the jet pack, but after she looks at the price, she gets an idea that fate made it so to make the blow to her wallet's groin a bit easier to take.

“Is this all, or are there hidden fees?” asks Pinkie Pie, her eyes not being able to tear away from the 300,000b printed in the total box.

“Frau Sprinkles, where I come from it is considered dishonorable to have hidden fees. It is actually very much illegal,” says Ink Well.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Ink Well sighs. “No, there are no hidden fees. All together, this suit you are requesting is three hundred thousand bits. The price includes the labor fee.”

“I can see that. Does it really have to be a hundred thousand bits?”

“Its only business, Fraue Spinkles.”

“Yeah, a blood sucking business. Jeeze.”

“If you are not happy with the price-”

“I'm not happy with the price, but you're actually the cheapest I found, so I have no choice but to take this.”

Pinkie Pie traces her hoof down to look at each of the materials and does some quick math. Ink Well’s price is one hundred percent correct, but the labor fee puts her in a pickle. Not too much of a pickle, though, since she knows a certain pony in her custody has a fat inheritance waiting for her and can easily afford it. She just needs to convince Trixie to fork up three hundred thousand bits of her inheritance for her special suit.

“Listen, I don’t have the money for this, but I will soon enough,” says Pinkie Pie while returning the folder to Ink Well.

Ink Well furrows his brow and puts the folder away. “My colleague and I were under the assumption you already had the money for this commission, Frau Sprinkles.”

“Hey, I got bills to pay, too, you know? Besides, I'll have the money soon enough, so don't worry. Just relax and enjoy the sites.”

“I took a zeppelin from Bernese to get here. I spent a small fortune getting tickets and a hotel room and a rental, only to find that this has been fruitless, and you expect me to relax?”

“Um... Yes?”

“Frau Sprinkles, I am going to need one good reason from you about why I should stay and push this commission to Iron Will. If you do not provide, I will leave and make sure everybody knows of your ill character.”

Pinkie Pie holds up one hoof, and with the other, she grabs her milkshake, takes a deep, long sip, resulting in her scrapping the bottom of the cup. Her brain feels like it has an ice spike being shoved in it from her nose, but seeing Ink Well's twitching eye is more than enough to make it bearable.

After finishing her drink, he takes a breath, wipes her mouth, clears her throat, and the folds her hooves on the table and leans forward slightly.

“Well, Ink Well, I don't think Iron Will would like you walking away on a three hundred thousand bit deal,” begins Pinkie Pie.

Ink Well grunts, and Pinkie Pie slides over by his side, dragging her chair with her so it scratches on the floor, once again getting the ibex visibly annoyed by her antics. This time it is a cringe. Once Pinkie Pie is next to him, she grins and places her hoof under his chin and makes him look into her eyes.

“But let's leave Iron Will out for just a second,” she continues. “That one hundred thousand bits in 'labor' translates to about one hundred and twelve thousand coins for you after that currency thingy. I'm just going to assume that Iron Will gives you twenty percent profit, so that'll give you twenty two thousand and four hundred coins for you to buy a house, a new wagon, pay some debts or invest in the market or put in for retirement.”

Ink Well rolls his eyes.

“Also, you need to think about the reputation you and Iron Will will get from this thing,” says Pinkie Pie. “This is no normal suit, and when it is done and put in use, people all over are going to be all: Whoa, who made that?”

Pinkie Pie slinks her hoof around Ink Well's shoulder and pokes him lightly in the chest, grinning from ear to ear.

“And I'll say, this guy and his boss, Iron Will, made it at a great price. And in comes all kinds of cool commissions and you two will be raking in the dough and Iron Will can quit his crappy seminars and make those awesome suits for a living. In no time you guys will be millionaires fifty times over, sitting on your beaches with scantily clad girls and an endless supply of martinis, and it will all be because you did not walk away from a deal of a life time.”

Ink Well is silent, but it is obvious to Pinkie Pie that his gears are turning if the subtle twitches in his face and the tiniest tugs of his lips say anything and twinkle in his eye say anything. But Pinkie Pie still sighs with exaggerated disappointment and pulls away from Ink Well.

“But, if you are impatient and leave, all that money you could have gotten will go bye-bye,” says Pinkie Pie.

Ink Well's tiny speck of hope dims, and Pinkie Pie leans against the table, her head on her hoof and her other hoof poking at her plate.

“Just think, you'll be stuck with your crappy house, crappy wagon, crappy debt, and you won't be able to pick up chicks because they'll see a loser who was too impatient for the deal of a lifetime,” says Pinkie Pie sadly. “And all the pretty goats will go with the other guy who's a complete douche, but nobody will care because he made a lot of money because he was patient for a lifetime deal.”

Pinkie Pie finishes with a sad sigh and looks at Ink Well with big eyes misting over and her lips puckered to a pout. The goat remains stationary in his seat, still as stone, but a moment later he takes a breath and pulls out a planner from his saddle.

“How soon is soon enough, Frau Sprinkles?”

Pinkie Pie grins.

A few minutes later, Ink Well has left and Pinkie Pie finishes up her donuts. A chunk of her wants to stay a bit longer to try more things on the menu and in no way, shape or form ogle Joe for any reason whatsoever, but that plan of hers changes when a pair of pegasi enter the building. Both are familiar and well built; the stallion has big limbs and tight abs -truly a great specimen despite him being almost twenty years older than the mare; and the mare has gotten bigger the last time Pinkie saw her. She still has her lean figure, but she is no doubt built up with bigger muscles than before, and her rainbow mane has been cropped so it just barely stays above her shoulders, and it is tied into a ponytail for some reason.

Pinkie Pie stiffens in her spot, and her throat feels like it is being invaded by her heart in its attempt to climb out and run away. All she can do is watch and swallow nervously as the couple chats away, with the mare giddy as a filly and the stallion anxious and stumbling over his words.

When they reach the front counter, Pinkie Pie takes the opportunity to high tail it out of the donut shop. She packs up her stuff as quickly as she can and speed walks to the exit, shaking all the way. It is at the moment when she is behind Rainbow Dash does her fellow Element turn around and bump right into her, muzzle to cheek.

The two mares grunt and stumble, and Rainbow Dash rubs her muzzle, chuckling uneasily, and smiles at Pinkie Pie.

“Whoops, sorry about that,” says Rainbow Dash.

“It’s okay,” blurts Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Dash's body locks with wide eyes and Pinkie Pie gallops out of the building, biting her tongue until she tastes blood, and she runs even fast when she hears Rainbow Dash calling her.

Rainbow Dash watches the minty colored pony that she bumped into run in the parking lot and practically dive into her obnoxiously colored mini-train and zoom away, leaving black marks on the asphalt. She blinks a couple of times, swearing that pony she bumped into looked and sounded like Pinkie Pie. Though, she does remember seeing her friend being buried, no thanks to what the others did, and for that, her curious look devolves into an angry snarl and she turns around, shaking her head and mentally telling herself that she is not seeing dead ponies.

“Snap out of it, Dashie,” mumbles Rainbow Dash.

“What?” says Soarin, looking over his shoulder with a bag of bits in his mouth.

Rainbow Dash shakes her head again. “Nothing. Just get me one of those chocolate and strawberry donut things.”

Arc 2- 14 - Letters -ADDITION-

Dear Princess Celestia,

As you know, ‘Operation: Balefire’ was a success. It was a hard fought victory, but a victory nonetheless. We estimate that the Frontier Watch had eliminated 90+% of the League of Justice's fighting force, and are now doing joint operations with the Royal Guard in tracking down the remaining forces in the unpopulated areas while Director Brisk Wind is investigating the populated areas. However, records show that two major figureheads are still alive and currently on the run. The first being their leader, Roar Shock, and the second being one of his Lieutenants, Adanz Sky. I have attached detailed profiles of both of the terrorist leaders to this letter.

We are currently working through the testimonies of the soldiers that participated in the operation and captured enemy combatants as well as cross referencing fallen enemy combatants to clarify if, in fact, Adanz Sky is alive. However, the evidence pointing towards Roar Shock’s survival is overwhelming and I strongly believe that he fully intends to carry out his original plans against the Solar Empire of Equestria. All government agencies need to be open towards one another if we are to contain and eliminate this threat as quickly as possible.

Also, after the successful assault on the League of Justice’s headquarters we discovered technology that surpass ours by decades, possibly a century. We have sent their vehicles and weapons to the Ironhide Weapons Facility in Hoofington for further testing. What we have discovered will revolutionize technology if we are able to reverse engineer what they constructed. I am recommending that you put more funding into the Research and Development Department for such a task.

And my request for a full investigation of the Equestrian Investigation Bureau still stands. Director Brisk Wind has been more open in releasing some of the requested files, however, there is evidence that that she manipulated the copies is keeping the originals stored. As Captain of the Royal Guard it is my responsibility to protect Equestria from threats, both foreign and domestic, and I sincerely believe that the EIB is violating the laws of the land, and therefore, poses a threat. I have listed grievances against the EIB and Director Brisk Wind to the letter, and this time I am requesting you actually read it instead of dismissing it as “paranoia”.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Cpt. Of the Royal Guard Shining Armor Sparkle

Shining Armor’s ear twitches when he hears a soft melody seep into his ears. The sweet music like candy for his ears, and it puts a smile on his face. A smile stretches across the Captain's face and he shifts his position under his silky blanket, bringing his fluffy pillow closer to him for a loving hug.

Then he remembers that he does not have a silk blanket or a fluffy pillow in his office, and his eyes snap open to see the ugliest, frilliest green pillow he had ever seen taking up all of his vision. He pushes the pillow away like it is a carcass and carefully climbs out of the bed, making sure his bandaged hoof is the last to land on the carpeted floor, which he realizes is also green. Just like the walls. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything is green with really boring oil paintings of natural scenery framed in frames that look like dried vines wrapped around tree bark. Frankly, he thinks the room looks tacky and thinks whoever designed the room has poor taste.

The stallion sighs and looks at his grumpy reflection in a leafy mirror propped up on a dresser that appears to have be overly aged. He doesn’t even care that his mane is a mess or that his eyes have sickly bags under them. He wants to know whose house he is in and why he is not in his office getting his important work done.

Shining Armor glares at the radio next to the bed, the music now pissing him off, and uses his magic to shut it off. Just that simple spell is like getting stabbed in the forehead, causing him to hiss out a swear and rub his horn. After his pain subsides, he limps out of the room and sees... his living room.

Shining Armor looks back at the ugly room and then back at the living room, completely confused as to what is going on.

Everything is where it should be. There is the large oil painting of his parents, him, Cadence, and Twilight over the fireplace. Photos of him and Cadence over the years. The expensive furniture is exactly where they were placed when they were brought in, and even their expensive radio-phonograph is looking as good as when they first bought it.

“The government don't got a right to spy on us. It ain't ever had that right and it should never get that right, just like it should not force the countries in its union to do what they don't want to do. Especially with housing obvious illegal agencies,” says Applejack over the radio.

Shining Armor ignores Applejack's tangent and limps towards the kitchen with every intention of finding Cadence and asking her why he was in such an ugly room. Upon entering the kitchen, Shining Armor is once again blindsided.

His sister is sitting at the dining room table with Cadence, and both of them are talking quietly while drinking some kind of tea with a fresh pot of coffee simmering on the back counter. The smell of coffee and the wonderful sounds of the machine working its magic is enough to jolt Shining Armor awake, and speaking of awake, Twilight is the first to see him up from his slumber, and she beams and gallops towards him. When close enough, she leaps and hugs him tight, but is careful enough not to touch his injured hoof.

“Shining, I’m glad you’re awake!” says Twilight.

Shining Armor smiles and returns the hug. “Jeez, you make it sound like I was in a coma.”

Twilight giggles and leads him to the table, but when he tries to go for the coffee, she forces him to sit down using her magic and grabs the coffee for him. Shining Armor sighs and looks down, feeling worthless.

Cadence sees the uneasiness in his expression and moves next to him and hugs him with her wing, and Shining Armor returns the smile while Twilight puts the cup of coffee in front of him. The smell of coffee and the fluffy feathers rubbing against his back are enough to make him at ease. He closes his eyes and his stiff body feels like it melts as he slouches over from the great feelings he’s getting. He completely forgets about the hideous room and all the troubles for the time being. It is just him, his beautiful wife, and his amazing sister, and, of course, his coffee.

“Did you sleep well?” asks Cadence.

“It was good,” says Shining Armor. “But can you explain why I was in a room I’ve never seen before?”

“Oh, that was me,” says Twilight with a nervous smile. “I arrived at Canterlot early this morning to see Rarity and Celestia, and you as well. With all the stuff going on I figured you’d be in your office and I was right. But you were sleeping and your assistant, Case Study, told me you’ve been there for almost the entire week, only leaving for lunch. So we called a cab and we brought you home before I went to see the others.”

“And the room?”

“Like that when we dropped you off. Cadence told me she wanted to test the bed so we decided it should be you to hold that honor.”

“I redesigned the room, myself. Isn't it beautiful?” says Cadence, smiling proudly.

Shining Armor wants to cry on the inside. “Yeah, honey. Its... beautiful.”

“See? I told you he would like it,” says Twilight.

“Yeah, I, uh, I love it.” Shining Armor coughs in his bandaged hoof. “But what did you mean by redesigned?”

Cadence sighs in mock annoyance. “Oh Shining, I can’t believe how dense you can be at times.”

“And how dense was I, this time?”

“Actually, I can’t really blame you since you’ve been working so hard and you’re barely home as it is. But then again, this is a whole room we’re talking about.”

“Cadence...”

“That room was the study we never used, so I turned it into a guest bedroom.”

“Oh.”

Shining Armor sips some coffee and immediately regrets it. He doesn’t know which one of the two mares did it, but they somehow managed to ruin a cup of coffee beyond salvation. He feels poisoned by it, but he can't spit it out because Twilight and Cadence are looking at him and smiling expectantly. So, he forces the vile fluid down his throat and feels a part of him die on the inside, but neither Twilight or Cadence seem to notice his green face.

“I knew he would like it,” says Cadence to Twilight.

“Do you want a refill?” asks Twilight, levitating the coffee pot to Shining Armor.

“NO!” says Shining Armor unintentionally loud, getting a shocked look from the mares. He quickly clears his throat and smiles sheepishly as he gingerly lifts his cup for another dose of poison. “I'm trying to cut back on my coffee. My old heart can't handle the caffeine as well as it used to.”

Twilight frowns skeptically. “You're fifty five.”

“That's senior age. I even get senior discounts at the buffets.”

“Its true, he does. My cute old coot,” says Cadence, grinning and playfully rubbing his mane.

Shining Armor waves Cadence's hoof away, grumbling to himself while she and Twilight giggle, and then he notices the time on the miniature grandfather clock hanging on the wall.

His eyes grow to the size of saucers and slams his forehooves on the table with enough force to shake the table to stand up. “I’M LATE!”

What happens next it a shattering pain that takes up his bandaged hoof and surges all along his spine and up his horn, like super growing electric thorn vines. He swears even louder and slumps in his seat while rubbing his damaged hoof with his good hoof.

Twilight and Cadence cringe and Twilight immediately wraps his hoof in a some kind of magical purple blob thing that numbs the pain while Cadence rubs his shoulder. He doesn’t want to look at them, though, despite their kindness. He just feels too stupid right now.

“Relax, Shining. I told Celestia that you need some time off and she gladly gave you a week,” says Cadence.

“We should call a doctor to see if you hurt yourself,” says Twilight, controlling the blob so it massages his hoof.

“I did hurt myself,” growls Shining Armor.

Twilight rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Can’t you just use one of your seventy-ish spells to fix this?”

“I may be the Element of Magic, but I would feel more comfortable if somepony who’s actually trained in medical magic came by to check up on you.”

“I’ll call Dr. Oath,” says Cadence.

Shining Armor groans and when Cadence is out of the room he slumps in his seat table and stares straight ahead at the wall, fuming and his hoof feeling like it has a throbbing heart inside it while Twilight works her magic.

A couple of seconds later, the silence between Shining Armor and Twilight becomes awkward, leading to Twilight looking away and Shining Armor to look at the blob covering his hoof, which, admittedly, feels really good. Like a cool liquid pillow that is applying just the right amount of pressure to his wound.

“So...” begins Shining Armor, “how is it Ponyville? Are things getting better?”

Twilight sighs and looks at the floor, visibly upset. “No. We’re still trying to fix the damage done by the League, and Applejack is being stubborn as a mule.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, after Celestia signed the Equestrian Farm Enhancement Act, Applejack flipped her lid. She’s refusing work on ‘Government Acres’ and is even getting the civilians riled up.”

“Government Acres, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s what she’s calling Sweet Apple Acres now that it’s in control of the state. I’m glad that Celestia sent in more Royal Guards, though, because after EFEA was signed, Golden Harvest authorized Applejack to rally the town militia to create a blockade to prevent the agents from reworking the farms. Thankfully the Royal Guards were able to clear them away before anypony got hurt.”

Shining Armor's heart tightens. “The Royal Guard was involved?”

“...You didn’t know?”

“No, I wasn’t told,” says Shining Armor, his vein throbbing and face turning red.

“I thought you knew. They are your ponies after all,” says Twilight, her ears drooping slightly.

“Well, I know what me and Celestia will be talking about today,” says Shining Armor, his head now plopped on his hoof and his eyes glaring at a picture of Celestia blessing him and Cadence at their wedding.

“But the Princess said you needed to rest,” says Twilight uneasily.

Shining Armor looks at Twilight again. “I know what the Princess said, but this is unacceptable. The Royal Guard is my responsibility and if what you said is true, then I cannot afford any rest. And if I have to chew out a goddess for using my soldiers without my knowledge then so be it. Is there anything else I should know about Ponyville?”

“But you need your rest! You’re going to work yourself to death if you don't take it easy!”

Shining Armor’s eyes narrow and he leans forward while Twilight shrinks back a bit. “Twilight, what else is there?”

Twilight is silent, but she is sweating and fidgeting in her spot. Shining Armor continues to stare at her, and he can hear Cadence talking to someone over the phone. He can’t hear exactly what she’s saying, but he can tell by her tone that she’s almost done.

“Twilight,” says Shining Armor sternly.

“Princess Celestia requested that I allow an Equestrian Investigation Bureau hub to be built in Ponyville,” says Twilight quietly and after a slight pause.

The news makes Shining Armor’s eyes widen and his heart fall in his stomach.

“She also put me as a liaison between Everfree Country and Canterlot, and I had to convince Golden Harvest to allow the EIB and CDA hubs to be built there as well,” continues Twilight.

This time Shining Armor’s coat becomes even more pale and his jaw drops.

“I successfully convinced Golden Harvest, too,” says Twilight meekly.

“You did what!” yells Shining Armor furiously.

“Shining, I know how you feel about the EIB, but with their presence in Ponyville, ponies will be safer.”

“No they won’t! Twilight, I can’t believe you would do that!”

“It’s not like I had much choice! Everything is falling apart and you and I both know that we must make sacrifices to keep Equestria safe!”

“The ponies you 'convinced' Golden Harvest to let in will not make make anypony safer, Twilight. They are more dangerous than any crime ring or terrorist network, and if Applejack is getting civilians riled up over a farm takeover how do you think they will react when they find out that they are being spied on?”

Twilight doesn’t respond, so Shining Armor leaves the dining room as fast as his injuries will allow, completely storming past Cadence and ignoring her when she calls after him.

“Where are you going?” calls Twilight.

“My room!” says Shining Armor.

Luckily, none of the mares follow Shining Armor, and when he reaches his room he slams the door shut behind him, goes to his dresser and pulls out a sheet of paper and a quill pen with his magic. He ignores the pain in his horn as he furiously scribbles a simple note, and when he’s done he slams the pen down and prays that Brisk Wind will understand his message.

Director Brisk Wind,
Stay away from my sister and family. This is your only warning.
-Shining Armor

Author's Notes:

Added 05 Dec 2015

Arc 2- 15- Brutal Brawls Before Bedtime -EDITED-

Author's Notes:

Edited- 27 Dec 2015

“Hey there everypony! DJ-Pon3 here for a weekly wrap up of what’s going on in Canterlot! But I’ll reading some fan mail first, and we’ll be starting with...”

Some paper rustles and DJ-Pon3 clears her throat.

“‘Dear Vinyl, will you date me?’ Sorry, buddy, I’m too busy keeping the music and news flowing to date. Next we have: ‘Dear DJ, enough with the political stuff. Play the music!’ Okay, first off, normally I don’t care for politics, but what Equestria is going through is too important to be ignored, even by a political hating filly like me. Secondly, screw you! I’ll run my station how I want to!”

More rustling.

“Okay, lots of mail... Lots and lots of mail... More mail than usual... Tsh-tsh-tsh, okay, I’ll read this last one before I play some music from Fifty Bits’ new album, ‘All Things Fall’ , which I know you rapping fans will love! Anyway.”

DJ-Pon3 clears her throat.

“‘Dear Ms. DJ-Scratch’ -aww, that’s cute- ‘Are you going to do more news on the mysterious vigilante? My foals love hearing you talk about her.’ Well, missy, while the vigilante thing has been going on for a few weeks, I don’t really have much on her. Sure, this pony is beating up the muggers and taking on the griffin thugs, but all I got are rumors and anonymous guard reports. So, peeps,that means I need your help in bringing me the stories about this pony. Good ones, too, not that weird crap that says they're an alien or a member of the League of Justice. Those are just bullshit. Real stuff, guys. Real stuff. Now, for some gender degrading, moral bashing, momma hating, gang loving music!”

Late at night, the door to the Roost is opened up for Pinkie Pie by the griffin outside, and is escorted in by another griffin. She looks over her shoulder when the door is closed, and then nods with a polite smile to other griffins that sit around table, smoking or drinking. They return her courtesy with either confusion, disdain, or, in the case of a couple of male griffins sitting in a corner, smirks and bird calls.

“Far from home, little pony, eh?” says one of the griffins.

Pinkie Pie says nothing, but flashes a smile at them, and continues walking, noticing multiple weapons, ranging from ballistic to hand held are nearby the patrons at all time. Off the bat she spots a dozen griffins in the red lit lobby, and her nose wrinkles from the stench of old cigars and cigarettes.

Her escort leads her up an elevated dining area that is walled off by a solid railing decorated with repeating patterns of a gold, fiery wing wrapped around a red orb that connects to a talon. The separated area has an oil painting of a male griffin with breath feathers and plumage, posing with a purple scarf around his neck and a gold crown on his head, and below that picture is Winny.

She is sitting at a booth, her back against the wall with four other griffins, and she is eating chicken meal and has an assortment of sauces at her table. Winny, and all the griffins stare at Pinkie Pie and her escort intently, and Pinkie Pie's eyes drift to the revolver by Winny's plate. It is turned to her and she is willing to put money on the table to say that it is loaded.

Winny says something in her national language that Pinkie Pie cannot understand, and the escort replies in the same language. A moment later, Winny waves them forward.

“So, you are Ms. Sprinkles?” says Winny as Pinkie Pie walks up to the table, smiling all the way.

“That I am,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Tell me, what business do you have with us?” says Winny.

Pinkie Pie eases herself in a free chair, watching all the griffins with absent minded carelessness as she turns a container of hot sauce towards her so she can look at the label.

“Raging Dragon Hot Sauce,” says Pinkie Pie. She squints her eyes and leans a little bit closer. “Made with peppers of over one million Scoville heat units. Wow, I would hate to get that in my eyes.”

“Answer the question. Why are you here?” says Winny impatiently.

Pinkie Pie looks up and smiles sweetly as she drags the container closer to her. “You met a friend of mine at Bon Bon's place a little while ago. Beat up unicorn mare, blue and silver in color. If I remember correctly you said she could see you if she had a problem.”

“Well, you aren't her and I didn't invite you.”

“I am speaking on her behalf. That is how we do the fancy business talk, right? Am I right?”

Pinkie Pie looks around, noting the four new griffins that arrived and how everyone is now brandishing a weapon. Her mouth goes dry and a trickle of sweat goes down the back of her neck as a second thought of this being a bad idea crosses her mind. Her whole body, every muscle strand, every bit of fur, feels like a pulled wire or a static charged sock, all just waiting to pop, and her eyes flick around to the griffins, zeroing in on every possible part she can, noting their shifts, their nervousness in some and annoyance in others. This had been a bad idea, but there is no turning back, and with a self loathing sigh of her pickled situation, she looks back at Winny.

“I guess not,” says Pinkie Pie.

“So, if you are speaking for this mare, why is she not here?” says Winny.

Pinkie Pie smirks. “She's got a life.”

The griffins chuckle, but Winny remains stern.

“If your friend has a problem then she can come to me, but I will not let you be her voice. You are more than welcomed to be her bodyguard, but not her tongue,” says Winny.

“Oh, why not?” says Pinkie Pie.

“Words are easily twisted by the messenger if they have an ulterior motive.”

“Really? All me and my friend want to know is who killed Bon Bon and why.”

Winny snarls, leaps from her chair and points at Pinkie Pie. “Get her out of here!”

The griffin closest to Pinkie Pie grabs her by her shoulder, and before anyone can count to three, she grabs the hot sauce, twists her way out of his grip and smashes the container against his face. The glass shatters and slices his face, and red and green sauce mixes with blood as the griffin shrieks in agony and clutches his face. The stench of boiling eye juice stinks up the air and his sobs make Pinkie Pie's shaking worse. And while all the griffins leap back, swearing up a storm or going completely speechless at the sight of their friend writhing on the ground, she smiles nervously and drops the broken bottle.

“Can we try this again without anybody getting hurt this time?” says Pinkie Pie.

The griffins look at her, and one by one the shocked expressions change to a lust for blood, and growls and snarls mix with the cocking of weapons and the beating of blunt weapons against palms. Pinkie Pie looks to her side to see Winny spinning a revolver, and when it clicks shut, she swallows the tiny amount of spit in her mouth and looks at all the griffins again.

“I guess not.”

A few minutes later, Pinkie Pie is scrubbing blood off of her hooves in a grungy sink of a dim, graffiti infested bathroom that has a flickering lights. Her breathing is frantic, her eyes are wet, and her skin and clothing are ripped and covered in blood. She breaks open the paper towel dispenser and uses tape from the office to bandage her wounds. The paper towels quickly turn red and she uses all of the tape to keep them on. Once she is done, she adjusts her wig, takes a deep breath and flashes a nervous smile.

“Round three, here we go,” she says.

Pinkie Pie steps out of the bathroom and into the ransacked Roost. Nearly all the tables and bottle are broken, covering the ground in shards of glass, splinters, puddles of alcohol, and all of the attendants are unconscious and tied to pillars. Bullet holes and indents also wreck the walls, railing and window, and in the main lobby, a ceiling light dangles, flickering on and off. The front door has also been locked, the sign has been flipped to “CLOSE”, and to make things a bit more secure, she blocked the back entrance with a fridge.

Pinkie Pie ignores the other captured griffins and walks up to Winny, who is the only griffin tied up and alone at the back of the establishment, and she pats her cheek to wake her up. The griffin stirs, but is still unconscious. A quick jab to the cheek fixes that.

Winny swears and her eyes shoot open, and when she sees Pinkie Pie, she struggles to break free, but she is tied in such a way that it is almost impossible for her to move.

“Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Right, you just beat the crap out of me and my gang and tied us to poles!” says Winny. “Do you realize what Gilda's going to do to you?”

“I got a good idea.” Pinkie Pie sits in front of Winny. “Now, I have a question for you. They are very simple and only need simple answers, and if you’re good I’ll give you a cupcake. How’s that sound?”

Winny scoffs. “Sounds stupid.”

“So, can you tell me who put the hit on Bon Bon and who killed her?”

“Are you kidding me? Have you been living under a rock?”

“So, it was Gilda who ordered Bon Bon killed, after all. But who killed her.”

Winny rolls her eyes. “Santa Hooves, dip shit.”

Pinkie Pie punches Winny on the side of the head, and her captive squawks painfully as her head jolts to the side with a gash over her eye.

“What the fuck?” cries Winny.

“That was mean,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Mean? You think I'm mean? No, I'm a damn saint compared to Gilda, and you'll find out very soon what I mean.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, really. You're getting a closed casket funeral, you know that right? Dead!”

Pinkie Pie snorts. “Lady, I've already had one closed casket, and I won't mind getting another one.”

Trixie ducks behind a dumpster in a grungy alley next to a spray painted mural of an all white, winged crescent moon with its points facing downward. She’s about to move, but shrinks back when a patrol vehicle passes by, shining a light in her direction. Luckily the dumpster shields her from the light, and when the vehicle passes, she makes a mad dash across the street by a small, single story, building with a radio tower on it that has 86.5 Scratch FM painted on the windows. There are radios playing a tune on the window display, which the windows have steel grates over them, as well as the door. Trixie also notices that the station appears to be acting as a home, too.

“...That was some good music wasn’t it?” says DJ-Pon3 from the radios pushed against the window. “But now that that is done and over with, I’m going to be finishing off with the usual.”

Trixie looks around to make sure no patrol is coming before she approaches the window. As she peers through the window she can make out all kinds of radio equipment and faint glow from the back room with someone’s shadow along the wall. And another thing she notices is a navy blue flag with the same symbol she saw in the alley stitched to it hanging over more equipment.

“And that means the lecture and then some lullabies. Let’s face it, in this day and age, we all need a lullaby to help us sleep and a lecture to help us think. Don’t worry, tonight's lecture will be soft, and these will just be words of encouragement more than anything else.”

Trixie forces herself to leave before she gets too wrapped up in what DJ-Pon3 has to say, and disappears from sight. After a few minutes of snaking through the grungy alleys, she finds Pipsqueak standing in front of a gang of eight mares, one of which is a pegasus perched on top of a motorized wagon to act as their lookout.

“Just give us what’s in the saddle and you can go on home to your mommy,” says the lead mare, who is an earth pony with a silver coat and a crazy mane that has obviously been dyed to look like rainbow puke.

“C’mon, Teaspoon,” groans Pipsqueak, “we’ve already been through this.”

“That was last week!”

“Yeah, and you took everything so what makes you think I would have anything now?”

“You little-”

"Hey!” yells Trixie.

The gang and Pipsqueak look at Trixie, and then Teaspoon glares at the pegasus.

“Some look out you are,” says Teaspoon.

“But I didn’t see her!” says the pegasus.

Trixie marches towards the gang, clearing her throat and grumbling to herself to get a perfect disguised voice. The whole time the gang is staring at Trixie, Pipsqueak cautiously inches to the safety of a dumpster.

“Eight fully grown mares against one small colt? You must be proud,” says Trixie in her disguised voice, which is really gruff and raspy.

“You sound like you have throat cancer,” remarks Teaspoon, making her gang laugh.

Trixie stops and looks at each of them, and one word can accurately describe all of them: Butch.

“Great, I walked into a gang of violent lesbians,” mutters Trixie in her normal voice.

“What was that?” says Teaspoon while turning her head slightly and leaning in closer. “You got something to say about me and my gang?”

“Yeah,” says Trixie, back to her disguised voice. “I see a group of cowards who are so afraid of a little colt that they have to gang up on him. You must really suck.”

“The only things we suck at is... um... SHUT UP!”

“Wow, even your insults are horrible. Why don’t you go home to have a pillow fight or something before you get hurt.”

Teaspoon laughs, as do the others, and Trixie’s eyes narrow and she scrapes her hoof along the pavement.

"I mean it. Beat it!" says Trixie.

“Now why would we listen to you?” laughs Teaspoon. “You’re covered in bedsheets!”

“Last chance. Either you leave or I leave you as bloody pulps for the guards."

The gang stops laughing and ooh at her while waving their hooves like cheap ghosts. Teaspoon, however, glares at Trixie and wipes her maw.

“Look, whoever you are, just get on outta here and let me and my gang put that shrimp in his place, or else we’ll break your legs and make you watch us beat him to a pulp,” says Teaspoon.

Trixie’s blood starts boiling and she takes a threatening step forward, which must have given off a vibe that she’s not messing around because the whole gang takes a step back.

“Very last chance,” says Trixie.

Teaspoon laughs nervously as she scratches her hoof against the pavement. “Oh, I love this guy.”

“Gal.”

“Whatever.” Teaspoon turns to the crook closest to her. “Take care of this clown, please.”

The mare hesitates, but still charges Trixie at full speed.

Trixie watches every step of the attacker, and Pipsqueak’s eyes widen when it appears that she will take the punishment of the potential head butt. But at the last second Trixie turns around and bucks her attacker full on in the maw. She feels and hears the bones break underneath her crushing blow, and the mare sails through the air and lands on her back on the pavement with another sickening crack. The rest of the gang stares at her, eyes wide and jaws open, as Trixie’s victim lies on the ground, sobbing with a bloody, destroyed face, barely able to move.

Teaspoon takes another step back and points at Trixie, stammering: “Wha-What are you waiting for? Kill her!”

Five of them reluctantly charge, but the pegasus flies to the safety of an apartment balcony and watches the scene unfold.

Trixie and the five mares charge each other, and the first of the five mares rears up to crush Trixie’s skull with her forehooves, but Trixie tackles her to the ground. Before the others can react, Trixie smashes her target’s voice box, and she instantly clutches her neck while gagging and curling up. Then Trixie jumps out of the way as the second brings her forehooves down, but instead of hitting Trixie, she ends up stomping her fallen comrade’s gut.

Trixie bucks the second mare’s front leg and it pops the bone out backwards at the lower portion, and the attacker shrieks and falls to the ground, trying to cover her injury with her other hoof. As the second mare cries on the ground, another mare jumps on Trixie's back and wraps their hooves around her throat.

Trixie gasps for air and pushes herself up so that she’s standing on her hind legs, and then lets gravity take over. The choker is sandwiched between Trixie and the pavement, and she smiles under her cheap mask when she hears a cracking noise and the mare grunt painfully. However, that smile is short lived as another mare stomps her in the gut. All of the remaining air is forced out of Trixie’s lungs, and she coughs painfully and twists sporadically to get her choker off as the attacker relentlessly tries to stomp her to death, with each stomp sending a surge of sharp pain around her gut and sides. When the stomping mare brings her hooves up for another stomp, Trixie turns just in time for the hooves to land awkwardly on her choker’s side. The pony choking her cries out in pain and Trixie hears her bones snap like twigs.

The pony releases Trixie, and she levitates the one that stomped her off of the ground and throws her away. She screams as she flies back, but her screaming comes to an abrupt end when she hits the corner of a brick wall and lands on her face on the sidewalk with a nice blood splatter on the wall and ground. The pony that choked Trixie earlier crawls on the ground, gasping for air and coughing out blood, but a quick hoof to the head is enough to put an end to her noise.

“Hooooaaaaaahhh!” yells the remaining attacker.

Trixie turns around and sees the remaining attacker is a unicorn that is spinning a bunch of knives around her with magic while making weird cat sounds and flailing her hooves idiotically. Trixie sighs, dips her head, and then one quick spell later, a small storm cloud appears above the unicorn's head and zaps a huge bolt of lightning that leaves her on the ground, twitching and smoking. When that is done and over with, Trixie turns to Teaspoon, only to see her bolting down the road.

“Oh no you don’t,” growls Trixie.

Trixie gallops after Teaspoon, ignoring the pain in her abdomen, and when she is in range, she takes a flying leap and lands on top of her target. Both ponies roll end over end of each other, and stop when they hit a motorized wagon. The vehicle shakes in its spot and Trixie does her best to ignore the worsening, splitting pain in her side.

Teaspoon clambers to her feet and attempts to buck Trixie, but Trixie dodges the attack and Teaspoon’s hoof ends up going through the wooden door of the vehicle. Trixie’s hoof collides with Teaspoon’s jaw soon after, and the thug yelps and falls to the ground with her teeth knocked loose and a hoof covered in splinters from the door, which now has a huge gash in it from the leg being awkwardly yanked out.

Now laying on the ground, coughing and spitting out blood and teeth, Teaspoon looks at Trixie, her whole body shaking and eyes wide with panic. “Who are you?”

Instead of answering with words, Trixie knocks out Teaspoon and drags her broken body to the others. When they are all in a pile, she launches a ball of bright light from her horn. At first its nothing special, but then it explodes in the sky like a firework, lighting up everything, and soon after, sirens are heard wailing in the distance.

Trixie then turns to Pipsqueak, who is still hiding by the dumpster, and she extends her hoof to him. “Let’s get you home.”

Pipsqueak nods and after Trixie helps him up, he follows her through the maze of the alleyways. As they walk Trixie ignores the soreness all over her body and the terrible pain her ribs are suffering from, and the silence between the two becomes awkward to say the least. The only real sound in the city now, aside from the approaching sirens, are the clip-clops of their hooves meeting the ground. The whole time they are walking, Trixie keeps herself on high alert.

“So...” says Pipsqueak uneasily, “what brings you around these parts?”

“What kind of question is that?” asks Trixie, being sure to keep her voice disguised, which is now hurting her throat.

“Yeah, that was a dumb question. So what’s you’re name?”

“I wear a disguise for a reason.”

“I know. I was just wondering what your superhero name was.”

“My superhero name?”

“Yeah, you wear a costume and fight crime, you must be a superhero.”

Trixie rolls her eyes. “I don’t have one.”

A sharp pain then stabs at her side, and Trixie winces and leans against a wall to get a breather. She coughs painfully, and to add salt to the wound, each cough feels like a claw digging into her lung, and it brings her to the ground, wheezing for air.

“You okay?” asks Pipsqueak.

He grabs Trixie's hoof and tries to help her up, but she waves him away and bites her lip when she stands up, having to use the wall for support.

“I don’t need your help. I’m fine,” says Trixie, forgetting to disguise her voice.

“I don’t know, that fight looked brutal, like changelings in a gladiator match or something.”

Trixie stares at him for a moment before she shakes the thought of gladiator changelings out of her mind and proceeds to walk down the alley.

“So, where do you live anyway?” asks Trixie.

“I live across the street from Bon Bon Land. I’ll show you the house and maybe mum can fix you tea and crumpets!” says Pipsqueak excitedly.

“No.”

“Awww, but it’ll be a token of gratitude for your services.”

“No.”

“Oh, I get it.” Pipsqueak gets a sly smile. “Tea and crumpets are not a snack for the Dark Mare. You would want something like cider and hay bacon.”

“Look, I appreciate the offer, but I can’t because if I have tea and crumpets then I would have to take off my mask, which would defeat the purpose of this disguise.”

“You’re wearing bedsheets, though.”

Trixie stops and glares at him. “So!”

Pipsqueak also stops and looks at her apologetically. “Miss. Sorry Miss, but with those bedsheets you kinda look like those unicorn supremacists who burn totem poles outside earth pony homes.”

Trixie’s jaw drops. “I am not a racist! And those ponies wear white sheets. This is not white, it’s more of a dark brownish color.”

Pipsqueak cringes, then his ears perk up and he stares at Trixie quizzically. “You sound familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

Trixie’s jaw locks shut and she starts sweating nervously. “No, and I don’t know you either.”

Pipsqueak eyes Trixie suspiciously, but still nods and walks ahead of Trixie. “I guess I’ll lead you to my mum’s place, then.”

“Why are you out past curfew, anyway?” asks Trixie as she walks next to him, cringing and resisting a need to cry with every step taken.

Pipsqueak looks at her out of the corner of his eye. “Why are you out past curfew?”

“I’m doing a service. What are you doing?”

Pipsqueak hesitates. “I was at the park, fell asleep, and woke up past curfew so I tried to get back home before I ran into trouble. It obviously did not work very well.”

Trixie doesn’t believe him, but she does not feel like interrogating him, so they walk in silence for a few more minutes until they arrive at a basic duplex with flowerpots on every step of the staircase and a lovely welcome sign hanging on the front door.

“Well, this is where I live,” says Pipsqueak while walking up the stairs, but before he goes inside he turns to face Trixie. “Thanks for your help, Dark Mare.”

Trixie smiles behind her mask and does a courteous nod, and when Pipsqueak goes inside, Trixie instantly hears his mother shouting: “Where have you been?”

“I fell asleep at the park and almost got mugged, but I was saved by the vigilante DJ-Pon3's been talking about. Honest this time,” says Pipsqueak.

“Poppycock! I'm getting your father! Davenport, get over here!”

Trixie takes that a the queue to leave and she disappears into the neighboring alley.

After an hour or so of aimless travel, Trixie staggers into one of the city parks, complete with trees in full bloom, cobblestone pathways, small playgrounds, and a fountain with a statue of Celestia posing on the top with the Bearers looking up to her with wonder in their carved eyes. Trixie collapses by the fountain and is barely able to grab the edge. The tip of her hooves go in the water and she closes her eyes as the cool air and the calm trickling of water fills her with a sense of peace. However, that sense of peace is ruined when Trixie coughs again, and this time she pulls off her mask and hocks a ball of blood into the crystal clear water.

Trixie gets a sickening feeling as she watches the blood spread out, and then she feels the pain in her side strike at full force. She grunts and slumps to the ground underneath the Pinkie Pie statue, and starts gasping for air as she holds her side and rests her sweaty head against the marble, cursing herself for allowing those scumbags to get those hits on her.

Trixie closes her eyes and really wishes she had some of her pills to help her combat the pain that is overwhelming her mind and body. Then she hears a vehicle pull up and she peeks past the fountain and sees Minty’s vehicle stopping just shy of the fountain, and her parole officer hops out seconds later, grinning and trotting towards her.

“There you are,” says Minty. “I just drove by a small army of Night Guards and paramedics loading up some of messed up gangsters. They pulled me over, but luckily I had this little baby with me.“

Minty giggles and holds up her badge, and Trixie smiles wearily and looks ahead at the dark scenery, still keeping her hoof on her side.

“I might’ve had something to do with that,” says Trixie.

Minty is about to say something, but when she sees the blood in the fountain she slides next to Trixie and starts inspecting her. When she touches her ribs, Trixie winces and bats Minty’s hoof away.

“That hurts!” snaps Trixie.

“You’re going to a hospital,” says Minty sternly while helping Trixie up.

“We can’t go to a hospital, it’ll be too easy to connect me to the thingy I did.”

“Your late night vigilantism?”

“Yeah... that. Ow.”

Minty stops and thinks about it for a second, then she helps Trixie into her vehicle and has her lay down. After Trixie is as comfortable as she can be, Minty drives down the road seemingly without direction, and a few painful minutes later, Trixie passes out.

Arc 2- 16- Origins -ADDITION-

Author's Notes:

Added- 27 Dec 2015

“This is my life!” cries Trixie.

She throws a bottle of wine at a unicorn stallion standing in front of her. He has the same color scheme as hers, but with pudgy mane, and his cutie mark is a hammer and scroll crossing over each other. The unicorn ducks as the bottle flies overhead and shatters against the wall behind him, leaving a red splash all over like a little pony had splattered.

“You did nothing for me!”

“I did nothing? I did nothing!? I gave you everything! Food! Shelter! A chance to be somepony great, and what do you do? You squander it with you stupid shows!” screams the stallion.

Trixie tries to throw another bottle at him, but his magic overpowers her and he throws it to the ground next to her. Upon shattering Trixie jumps away, and while she’s distracted the stallion pushes her to the ground and presses his hoof against her chest. Any attempts at resistance are quickly crushed.

“I tried to help you! I tried to get you to the best school I could afford, but you failed and let the Sparkle’s take what was rightfully the Lulamoons. You failed all those exams in the academy. You failed yourself and the Lulamoon Family.”

Trixie closes her eyes and sobs, and when the stallion releases her she curls up on the floor, not wanting to see him or the accursed mansion that they are staying in. The stallion shows zero signs of remorse as he walks away, leaving Trixie to cry on the floor. A few minutes later she hears a thump and the floor shakes next to her head, she opens her eyes and sees a suitcase in front of her and the stallion behind it. Trixie sniffles, wipes her eyes, goes into the sitting position, and stares at it blankly.

“Get out,” says the stallion. “You want to be alone? You want to travel the world and perform like a court jester? There is your ticket. You obviously want no part in the Lulamoon Family, so will have no place for it.”

Trixie’s jaw drops and a new bubble of anguish rises up in her throat. “Father?”

Her father’s eyes narrow and he lifts her and the suitcase up with his magic and tosses her out of the mansion, into the cobblestone road. Other ponies in suits look at Trixie and then stare at her father, completely horrified with what they are seeing. And as Trixie awkwardly gets up, her father trots outside and one of the guards approaches him.

“Eclipse, don’t you think-”

“Shut up!” snaps the stallion, then he glares at Trixie and she shrinks under his gaze. “All your life I have shielded you, but now I see just how ungrateful you have been. If you want fortune and fame, you will do it by your own sweat, and when you fail, do not come crawling back to me for escape!”

Eclipse turns tail and marches back into the mansion, using his magic to slam the doors shut, leaving Trixie to weep on the ground. When she looks at the guards for help, but they all either look at her with pity or look away, some even pretend to go on patrol. Seeing their negligence, Trixie grits her teeth and stomps on the ground, prompting more tears to roll from her eyes.

“Fine! I don’t need you! I don’t need any of you! Trixie will be better than all of you!” She then turns to the mansion and sees her father staring at her out of the safety of one of his rooms. “I hope you die a horrible death,!”

Eclipse looks down slightly, and Trixie picks up her suitcase with her magic and walks towards the gate, making sure to give each guard a taste of her wrathful gaze. The guards step aside and a couple of them push open the steel gate, which she eagerly trots through, and blindly goes down the road, never looking back at the mansion on the hill.

“Trixie will be great. Trixie will be powerful. Trixie doesn’t need anypony. Trixie just needs herself,” mutters Trixie to no one in particular.

She continues her walk down the road, it is all but dead with the only life being the trees planted along the sides. Normally they would give shade, but the sun is blocked by a thick layer of gray clouds, and when a strong wind blows through the trees, Trixie shivers and puts on her stage cape and continues her trek.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will matter, he will see, oh yes, he will see.”

An hour of walking later, Trixie comes across a trolley bus stop, and she goes inside for shelter. Her timing could not have been any more perfect, for as soon as she goes there is a rumble of thunder and rain starts falling. The pattering noise that the rain makes against the cover is peaceful, but the chilling air and being disowned by her own father kills the mood for her.

“You’re too late, the last trolley came and went thirty minutes ago,” says a familiar voice.

Trixie looks up and sees the Shadow Stallion again, and she furrows her brow and pushes her suitcase against the edge of the bench. “Well, it looks like Trixie is going to be enjoying a nice bench for the night.”

The Shadow Stallion steps inside, strangely not wet from the rain. “You do know that your father loves you, right?”

“Sure he does, that is why he disowned me.”

The Shadow Stallion takes a seat next to Trixie and looks straight ahead at the mountains. Or at least Trixie thinks he is doing that. It is of hard to know where someone is looking when they have no face.

“Why don’t you have a face?” asks Trixie.

“It is the way I was created. Nothing more. Nothing less,” answers the stallion.

“That is a really dumb answer. Can I at least get your name?”

“Custos.”

“What kind of name is that?”

“It’s the name that was given to me and a name I’ve held since the inception of time.”

Trixie chuckles and shakes her head, now looking at the pouring rain.

“Wow, creepy,” she says mockingly.

Custos has no reply. He just sits there in total silence, and Trixie sighs and sits up to look at him directly. She opens her mouth to say something, but the question she wants to ask disappears, leaving her with a blank brain, so she frowns and lays against her suitcase. A few more minutes of silences passes before Custos turns to Trixie.

“You do know that your father loved you, right?” he says.

“What?” says Trixie while glancing at him irritably out of the corner of her eye.

“Your father. He has always loved you.”

“Didn’t we talk about this a few minutes ago? Oh yeah, we did, and no loving child disowns a child!”

“If you could only see-”

“Him fight for his life? That would be nice.”

“Are you sure?”

“Oh yeah, I would love nothing more than to see him squirm and beg. I think it’ll be great. He’ll deserve every ounce of it.”

Custos is silent, but a couple of seconds later he gets up and stands in front of Trixie. She stares at him defiantly, but she’s secretly terrified that he might do something to her, and when his horn glows her fear becomes uncontainable.

“What are you doing!” demands Trixie while frantically backing away from Custos.

“You wanted to see his death. Now you shall see.”

The glow from Custos’s horn engulfs the whole bus stop and blinds Trixie. When she can see again, she is in her father’s Canterlot loft, and everything has been destroyed with the utmost brutality.

Trixie can feel that most of her bones are broken, her breathing is labored to the point where it is almost impossible to breath, and the overall pain is so unbelievable that she just wants to scream, but she can’t. She cannot even move, and when a bloody and shaking hoof is raised, it is not by her command, even though it has her color.

“What's going on?” asks Trixie, terrified by what she is seeing and feeling.

There is a flash of lightning and a storm outside shakes the windows with its rain thunder. When another flash appears, Trixie sees a dark figure wearing a cloak towering above her. She cannot even see his eyes or fur.

“Custos, get me out of here!” begs Trixie.

“You wanted to see him suffer, and I am granting your wish,” says Custos, who is nowhere to be found.

“P-Please... d-don’t...” begs her host.

Trixie recognizes the voice, but she does not know if the panic and weak heart is hers or... “Father?”

Her father’s weakened heart starts racing and Trixie feels tears wash the blood from his face in little streaks as the figure towering over him stares down at him. But she also feels more than just fear, she also feels an empty shell breaking down and not knowing if it should be thankful or terrified of the end that has come.

Eclipse turns to his side and stretches his hoof out towards a picture nestled in a broken frame. A picture of him, Trixie, and her mother at the hospital the night Trixie was born. Eclipse looks overjoyed and Braille, while tired, is smiling down at a sleeping baby Trixie.

“There is only black and white,” says the figure after another flash of light deafening thunder.

The picture is smashed under the intruder's hoof, and Eclipse cries out as if he just saw his family murdered in front of his eyes, but due to his near death condition it comes out more like a weak whimper trying to scream. His vision, as blurry as it is, becomes even more so from the tears to where Trixie can barely see anything.

“There is never gray.”

The attacker slides the picture out of reach, and he kicks Eclipse on his back, shattering some ribs and making Eclipse cough out blood. Eclipse gasps for air as he turns to his stomach and tries to crawl towards the picture again. The barbaric growl from the attacker is enough to send a shiver down even the bravest of souls, and in the blink of an eye there is a back-breaking stomp and Eclipse stops moving, hoof outstretched towards the picture. Trixie can still hear him breathing heavily and whimpering.

“For justice is absolute.”

Trixie wakes up screaming and flying into the sitting position; she tries to calm her racing heart by putting a hoof over it, and she wipes sweat off of her face and mane with a shaky hoof.

“It was just a dream,” whispers Trixie with little to no relief.

“Trixie!” calls Minty.

She looks at her blanket and sees that it’s covered in her sweat, then she realizes that she has a tingly taste on her tongue. She scratches her tongue against her teeth to get the taste out and she becomes even more panicked when she tries to levitate the blanket off. Her horn sputters, but doesn’t work.

“Oh no,” whimpers Trixie. When Minty bursts into the room Trixie jumps off of her bed and scrambles into a corner, crying and pointing an accusing hoof at Minty. “What did you do to me!”

Minty skids to a stop and carefully approaches Trixie. “Trixie, I-”

“You gave me those mushrooms, didn’t you!”

Minty approaches Trixie and when she tries to run out of the room Minty grabs her and hugs her, tightly. Trixie immediately slumps to the ground, crying into Minty’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Trixie, but I had to do it,” she says over Trixie’s sobs while gently rubbing her back. “If I -if something had happened to you I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”

Trixie’s body shakes as she cries, remembering what Sunshine did, and tried to do, to her, then unwanted memory of the pain she endured from Brisk Wind’s torture with those plants return.

Minty continues her attempts to comfort Trixie with a warm embrace and soft strokes while apologizing. A minute later, Trixie pulls away from Minty, tears soaking her face, and hurries to the bathroom. Once inside, she closes and locks the door and pulls out the container from the medicine cabinet, which now has plywood instead of a mirror covering it that has “You’re Beautiful” written on it in marker.

Trixie has trouble getting the cap off without her magic and ends up breaking the container in half by smashing it against the sink. The pills fly out and a good portion roll down the sink, much to Trixie’s panicked dismay, while the rest scatter all over the floor.

“No, nonononono, please no!” cries Trixie while frantically trying to prevent the pills from falling into the sink’s abyss.

She manages to save a few and pushes them over the edge of the sink so that they fall to the floor, and she drops to the ground and licks two off of the floor and swallows them dry. The dry pills taste horrible and sickly feeling of wanting to puke surges up instantaneously, but with the way her throat closes up, that will not happen. Trixie slumps to ground and coughs violently into her hoof, and a few seconds later, it all ends like flipped a switch. Her throat relaxes, the coughing fit goes away, and all despair is replaced with bliss.

Trixie smiles broadly and relaxes by the bathtub.

“Wow, Trixie feels so much better now.” She picks up the broken container and holds to her chest, her blissful smile growing bigger. “Trixie loves you, pills, Trixie loves you all.”

Trixie gets up a moment later and heads back to her room with a skip in her steps, and she stops dead in her tracks when she sees a box at the foot of her bed. She cocks her head and cautiously approaches the box, and when she’s towering above it, she opens it up to see a costume inside.

“Oh, cool!” says Trixie.

She giggles and she eagerly takes them out like a child opening her gift on her birthday. The costume’s jumpsuit and cape are dyed dark purple with messy stitchwork all over them, and the cape is being held by a simple clip. The pads are hoofball pads that have been painted black and there is a large fedora that has been stitched around a bike helmet as well as durable goggles worn by Weather Patrol, and to top it off, it has a black apparatus that goes around her muzzle.

After taking a few difficult minutes to put on the suit, Trixie does a test run by galloping around the room, jumping on and off her bed and fighting invisible ninjas. When she is done she stands proudly on the edge of her bed, puffing out her chest and sticking her nose in the air like the proud slayer of evil she knows she is.

“The Dark Mare cometh,” Trixie says in her disguised voice, which is muffled by the apparatus around her muzzle, followed by a cackle.

Then she looks over the edge of her bed and imagines herself on the rooftop of one of Canterlot’s gleaming skyscrapers. Trixie grins and turns around so that her back is to the edge of the bed and-

Pinkie Pie is slouching on her bed, completely dumbstruck about what happened. She hadn’t known Trixie would react in such a way after finding out she was fed the healing mushroom that she had stolen from a clinic, which, in itself, took forever to find a clinic that even had them.

Pinkie Pie is trying to figure out a way to apologize to Trixie for her mistake, however, with Trixie running around like a filly on a sugar rush in the other room, it makes it a little difficult to think. That, and Pinkie Pie is fairly certain that there are quite a few ponies who are clutching pillows around their ears and gritting their teeth, thus adding to her worry that she’ll be getting a “friendly reminder” to tone it down by the staff and neighbors. But Pinkie Pie’s train of thought is derailed when she hears a THUMP, a few seconds of silence, and then Trixie groaning: “Ow.”

Pinkie Pie immediately jumps off of her bed and runs into Trixie’s room and sees that her roommate is lying on the floor, on her back, and wearing the suit that she made. Pinkie Pie is about to help her up, but stops when Trixie starts laughing, which makes it hard for Pinkie Pie to not laugh because the sight of a vigilante clad in store bought armor, laughing like an idiot, is something one does not see every day.

“They can’t call me a liar now!” laughs Trixie.

Pinkie Pie walks over and helps Trixie sit up, smiling and brushing her off. “What do you mean?”

“I told Fancy Pants that I was covered in boo-boos because I punched a mirror and did a back flip off of my bed.” Trixie pulls off her helmet, apparatus and mask with some difficulty and smiles at Pinkie Pie. “And now I have punched a mirror and done a back flip off of my bed.”

Pinkie Pie sighs and stands up with Trixie, and while her roommate talks about how amazingly comfortable and flexible the suit is, she starts to wonder what exactly is in those pills that she takes.

“This suit awesome! Why didn’t I get this earlier?” asks Trixie while bouncing around Pinkie Pie in such a way that it painfully reminds her of how she used to be around her fake friends.

“Well, you see, I was going to give it to you earlier, but I ran into some snags,” says Pinkie Pie. Her whole body sulks when she thinks about all the time that had been wasted and the risks Trixie took due to these complications.

Trixie starts chasing her tail. “What was wrong with it earlier?”

Pinkie Pie watches Trixie spin in circles and when the unicorn stops, she wobbles in place, making a sickly moaning sound. Trixie then coughs and gags like she’s going to puke, even going as far as keeling over with her tongue hanging out, and just when Pinkie Pie is about to grab a bucket, Trixie swallows the puke. Pinkie Pie cringes in disgust and Trixie’s eyes widen she she realizes what she had done, but that doesn’t kill her mood by any means.

“So, the Great and Powerful Trixie demands to know what was wrong with the previous suit!” says Trixie using her degrading tone from her years as a showmare. Trixie bursts into a laughter a second later and falls on her back, kicking her hind legs in the air while clutching her gut with her forehooves. “Wow, Trixie sounds funny. Do you think the Great and Powerful Trixie sounds funny?”

Pinkie Pie arches an eyebrow, her concern now reaching new heights. “Um...”

Trixie stands up and dismisses Pinkie Pie with a theatrical wave of her hoof. “Of course Trixie does. How crappy was the last suit?”

“I had to get those pads replaced and reinforced because when I tested them they kinda didn’t last long. But, these ones are more durable,” says Pinkie Pie, and to emphasize her point, she punches Trixie’s chest with enough force to make her stumble backwards. “I also did some work on the cape, but I don’t think its a good idea to test it out right here.”

Trixie laughs and looks down at the chest pad.

“I didn’t feel a thing!” says Trixie happily, then she looks at Pinkie Pie with a challenging smile. “We should wrestle.”

Pinkie Pie tilts her head. “What?”

“Wrestle! It’ll be fun! Trixie gets to test out this super cool suit and you get to be a good friend and punch me!”

“Um... I don’t think friends punch each other. I mean punching like what you want, because when I punched you that was to show you how well the suit is. Besides its late -or technically early, and we-”

Trixie lowers herself and swishes her tail like a predatory feline ready to pounce. “C’mon, Minty, you know you wanna do it.”

“I don’t know. I might hurt you or something.”

“Scaredy cat.”

“No, I just-”

“I triple dog dare you to wrestle!”

Pinkie Pie smirks and cracks her back. One cannot turn down a triple dog dare, after all.

“Okay,” says Pinkie Pie, now shaking any tight spots out of her body, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you when I have you pinned.”

“That’s why we have rematches,” says Trixie with an eager smile.

“Okay, fine, we’ll do best two out of three.”

Trixie jumps to the sitting position and claps her hooves together.

“Yay! You make an awesome friend, Minty!” cheers Trixie.

Pinkie Pie’s smile fades and she looks down, a motion that Trixie is too excited to notice.

“Sooooooo, is that a yes?” asks Pinkie Pie hopefully while bouncing next to Applejack so the farm pony can see her with her peripheral vision.

Applejack sighs and bucks one of her apple trees with the usual amount of force that shakes all of the apples loose. All the apples landed in the buckets around the trees perfectly, as usual, and she starts loading each one on a steam powered cart with a decent sized flatbed that has more than its fair share of apple filled buckets.

“Sooooooo, is that a yes?” repeats Pinkie Pie.

“Look, Pinkie, Ah’d really love t’ help ya out an’ all, but Ah already have t’ help Twi with her spell thingamajig, Dash with her practicing, Fluttershy with disciplining Angel, and Rarity with her dresses,” says Applejack.

The farmer gags and shudders after mentioning having to help Rarity with dresses, but this makes Pinkie Pie grin from ear to ear.

“AJ helpin’ Rarity, eh? What will you to be doing? Will you be trying on different dresses?” asks Pinkie Pie.

“No,” says Applejack.

“Making dresses?”

“No.”

“Is it something athletic and you guys are just using dresses as an excuse?”

Applejack glares at the pink pony while pushing one of the baskets farther back. “Ah’m just tryin’ to explain to Rarity the ‘fashion’ of us simple folk since she’s lookin’ fer rustic ideas.”

Pinkie Pie snickered and gobbled up one of Applejack’s apples in one bite; the farming mare did not take too kindly to that.

“Dang it, Pinkie! How many time do Ah have t’ tell ya not t’ eat mah apples!” scolds Applejack.

“Oh relax, you’re just as uptight as Rarity when it comes to your apples,” teases Pinkie Pie. “What’s the big deal anyway? It’s only one apple.”

“Well that one apple is life or death!”

“En garde!” shouts Trixie as she charges Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie quickly side steps and rams Trixie on the side, thus knocking her over to her back. Then Pinkie Pie stands over Trixie and holds her down with her forehooves.

Trixie laughs. “That’s one!”

Pinkie Pie stares at Applejack, completely shocked by her words and now feeling like a jerk for eating that apple. A moment later, Applejack climbs in her vehicle and Pinkie Pie hops in the passenger seat.

“Ah’m sorry fer snappin’, Pinkie, but finances are tight fer me and mah family,” says Applejack with genuine regret.

“What do you mean?” asks Pinkie Pie. “I know you said you were trying to save some money, but you look like you're well off.”

“Ah don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because Ah don’t and that’s final.”

“Don’t make me go into a tangent about cherrychangas again.”

Applejack looks down, and when Pinkie Pie opens her mouth to unleash the cherrychangas, Applejack is quick to explain her situation.

“Ah found a great place fer Apple Bloom t’ go to so she won’t be stuck on this here farm. She can get a proper education and go somewhere and do somethin’ meaningful with her life.”

“Oh, that’s nice. What school is it?”

“The Smoky Mountain Architect Academy, but Ah still have t’ pay fer the expenses of Granny’s funeral, and Big Mac is payin’ some hotshot from Canterlot t’ fix the problems he and Cheerilee have. Sixty bits an hour is the cost, Ah believe.”

“Wait, Big Mac and Cheerilee are having problems?”

“Eeyup.”

“They don’t need a somepony in a suit with glasses to tell them how to fix their problems, what they need is a party! Yeah, a party to remind them how much they love each other!”

“A party won’t fix this one. This whole thing with him and Cheerilee has driven mah brother to drinking and now I have to help him pay for rehab after he did that stool thing with Vigilance.”

“Ooh, I didn’t realize he was drunk when he did that.”

“Big Mac is terrifying when he’s drunk, so Ah have t’ do this before he hurts himself or any other pony. Also, add that to the repair costs, maintenance, employee payments, the dozen and a half bills and new taxes, and the one thousand pages o’ regulations and mah family is left with crumbs. So fun and money is something Ah need, but don’t have a whole lot of right now. Every apple counts.”

When Applejack finishes her venting, Pinkie Pie notices she is trying to hide the tears in her eyes, so she quietly pulled out a bag of bits from seemingly thin air and plops them on Applejack's seat.

“What is that?” asks Applejack with a raised a brow.

“My chess tournament winnings,” replies Pinkie Pie. “Why didn’t you tell any of us that you were having this much trouble?”

“It wasn’t yer guys’s concern. This is mah problem, and it wouldn’t be right t’ bring others into a problem that ain’t theirs... And when did you play in a chess tournament, anyway?”

“When I visited Donut Joe in Canterlot when he needed my help in making one of his cities. I got to make little marshmallow ponies that had all the clothes and everything! It was hard making the little sugar dresses, but it was worth it.”

Applejack smiles. “Sounds like it was quite a sight. Did it taste good?”

“Oh yeah! It was like a eating a rainbo-ohhh nevermind, rainbows are spicy. It was like eating all of the candies in the world baked inside all of the pastries in the world and then mixed inside a mixer that put in all the flavorings of the world and it was so good that I hallucinated from its goodness.”

“Say what now?”

“By the way, that’s yours.”

“What is?”

Pinkie Pie points at the bag of bits. “That is.”

Applejack stops the vehicle and points at the bag. “That bag of how many bits?”

“Two thousand three hundred and fifty four. It was originally three thousand, but I bought some gifts for all of you guys and a vet visit for Gummy.”

Applejack continues to stare at the bag of bits, eyes wide in a trance, but a moment later, she shakes her head and gives the money back.

“Ah’m sorry, Pinkie, Ah can’t accept it,” says Applejack. “It’s yer money and ya can't blow it all on one pony for charity. Just ain't smart.”

“I’m using my money how I want to, which is helping a friend who needs it more than me. Besides, a nonexistent business can wait. Existing payments can’t,” says Pinkie Pie.

“But-”

“Take the money or I’ll slap you to last week!”

Applejack’s eyes widen, and she leans back as if she is afraid Pinkie Pie has such devastating powers to breach the space and time continuum with a mere slap. Pinkie Pie then pulls Applejack in for a hug, and at first the farmer is uncomfortable at first, but then she loosens up and returns the hug. A moment later she starts crying, and tightens her hug, and Pinkie Pie does the same. She closes her eyes and pats Applejack on the back as her friend trembles in her embrace and her tears trickle down her face.

“Thank you,” Applejack says softly. “You have no idea how much this means t’ me.”

Trixie tries to tackle Pinkie Pie again, but she once again uses her superior speed and agility to move out of the way. However, the sudden bursts of movement causes a spike of pain in her back, which is only made worse when Trixie jumps on her. Pinkie Pie buckles under the sudden weight, but manages to push Trixie off. While Trixie flops on the floor like a fish out of the water, and Pinkie Pie pounces on her and pins her down again.

“That was two out of three, time for bed, Trixie,” says Pinkie Pie sternly.

“Awww, but I don’t wanna go to bed!” whines Trixie.

“But you have to, you have to go to work tomorrow.”

“But I’m not tired!” Trixie bangs her hooves on the floor and pouts. “This is fun! Aren’t you having fun?”

Pinkie Pie sighs and reluctantly releases Trixie from her pin.

“You want to talk about the good old times?” asks Pinkie Pie.

Applejack pulls away and wipes the tears off of her eyes. “Like what?”

Pinkie Pie shrugs. “I don’t know... Some of our whacky adventures. Like the time we fought all those changelings.”

Applejack smiles. “Or when we took a trip to Los Pegasus.”

“And we swore to never let you near a casino ever again.”

“Too honest for poker!”

The two of them burst into laughter, remembering the good times they had at the casinos. Such as Rainbow Dash trying to count cards, leading to them being kicked out and almost getting arrested, or worse. Applejack trying her hoof at Palomino Hold ‘Em, which lost them all their money that Fluttershy thankfully won some back. Rarity and Pinkie getting trashed at a bar and almost marrying a couple of Saddle Arabians, and Twilight being too scared to try any of the casino games because none of them were in her favor. Then they talked about how broke they were after their horrible gambling spree and how Fluttershy managed to convince a bus driver to take all of them back to Ponyville free of charge.

“Do you know what Fluttershy said or did t’ get us back t’ Ponyville?” asks Applejack.

“Nope,” says Pinkie Pie coolly while leaning in her seat, “but she was one happy little filly for a while.”

“Ain’t no denyin’ that.”

The two share another laugh, and then they fall silent. Both of them stare at the seemingly endless supply of apple trees and the beautiful sunset, which is giving everything a more peaceful feel to it. Add that to the warm, summer breeze and anyone could fall asleep on the spot. It is moments like this that remind Pinkie Pie why Applejack likes to sleep outside.

“Hey Applejack, do you miss it?” says Pinkie Pie suddenly.

“Miss what?” asks Applejack.

“Playing hero.”

“‘Playing hero’?”

“Yeah, you know that whole Mare-Do-Well thing? Do you miss it?”

Applejack scoffs. “Nope.”

“Really?”

“Pinkie, it may have been fun fer you guys, but it wasn’t for me.”

Pinkie Pie sits up and leans closer to Applejack. “Why not? You did great when we did that whole thing with Dashie and was awesome when Eclipse came to town.”

Applejack sighs and shifts her position so that she could start the vehicle. “Well fer one, we made Mare-Do-Well to mess with Dash, and Ah never really forgave mahself fer that. Ah mean, what kind o’ friend does that t’ another friend?”

Pinkie Pie looks down to ponder Applejack’s remark.

Trixie lays on the ground for a couple of more seconds before she gets a devilish grin and prepares herself for another pounce. Pinkie Pie merely tuts and wipes her nose with the hoof that Trixie burnt during that fateful night.

“Are you seriously going to try it?” asks Pinkie Pie.

Trixie nods. “Oh yeah, and you’ll soon feel the wrath of the next great hero!”

Pinkie Pie goes in the sitting position and spreads her forehooves out, and then Trixie charges Pinkie Pie, but with one swift swipe to the unicorn’s head, she goes down like a sack of potatoes.

“And another thing,” continues Applejack, the vehicle now rumbling to life. “Ponyville got all screwy with the sudden accidents when we put on those costumes. It was weird and every time Ah think about it Ah get the shivers.” To make her point Applejack shudders for a second before regaining her composure. “Thirdly, we never thought about protecting Ponyville, it was all t’ mess with Dash. Sure her attitude reminded me of the Great and Powerful Trixie, or whatever she called herself, and we had t’ take care of it, but what we did was... awful and downright rude, to put it lightly.”

Applejack starts driving towards the enormous barn where she stores all of her apples.

“And finally, Ah woulda liked t’ have somethin’ more than a towel between mah noggin and a hoof, like a suit o’ armor worn by Captain Equestria or somethin’,” says Applejack.

“What do you mean ‘towel’?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Yer jumpsuit didn’t feel like a towel?”

Pinkie Pie shakes her head. “Nope. It felt like I was wearing somepony else’s skin.”

“...That’s creepy.”

Pinkie Pie leans over Trixie and pokes the side of her head, prompting an obnoxious snore from her.

“Okay, let’s get you to bed,” says Pinkie Pie.

She tries to wake up Trixie again, except this time with a shake, but all that does is make her mumble something about mint gum. Pinkie Pie sighs and drags Trixie to her bed, but does not bother taking the costume off, and when Trixie is tucked in, she heads back to her room and flops on her bed.

Pinkie Pie stares at the doorway as if expecting someone to walk in, and the more she stares, the tighter her jaw and the wetter her eyes become. She never really thought about Applejack’s words that day on the farm. She just figured that the farmer was being pessimistic, but now that she thinks about it, Applejack was right. Mare-Do-Well was never a hero. Her very design was for humiliation, they never had the intention of protecting anybody from anything, only to break down Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie presses the sides of her head with her hooves, closes her eyes and whimpers. Now that she thinks about it, she wants to save Equestria using a lost soul who doesn’t even know what she’s being conditioned for while using an idea that had a vile inception. Pinkie Pie starts trembling and she shakes her head, not wanting to remember all those nights she had to comfort Rainbow Dash for what she had only viewed as a prank. She understood why she was upset at first, but never grasped the severity of it until just now.

Then the memory of Spike bleeding all over her returns, as well as the pain that Twilight and Rarity went through. She can hear both of them crying and Spike’s heavy breathing, and she can practically feel his blood on her, and the heat from Twilight’s fire, and the shock wave from the building collapsing in Ponyville.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes slowly open and she looks at her hooves, hyperventilating, expecting to see blood on them. She starts to tremble and rock herself back and forth while her lips quiver and tears pour out of her eyes as she curls up on her bed with her tail to her face, sobbing and stroking her tail, ignoring the pain she’s putting her back through.

She knows she is responsible for Shining Armor’s condition and all those killed and injured in the name of defending Ponyville from harm. Everything she did led to Spike's death and the deaths of the guards and innocent people, and Big Mac and Fluttershy almost getting killed, and Twilight getting hurt when she fought Trixie. It is all her fault what has happened, and there is nothing she can do to fix it.

“I’m sorry,” whimpers Pinkie Pie . “I’m sorry... I’m sorry... I’m sorry... Please forgive me.”

Arc 2- 17- The Pre Gala -EDITED-

Author's Notes:

Edited- 29 Dec 2015

Shining Armor blinks tired tears out of his eyes and scans the ballroom of the royal palace. The ballroom has probably close to two hundred ponies in it, all in their own enclaves. Politicians in one area, talking like they know how businesses operate because the visited a restaurant. Celebrities in another, thinking they know everything about politics because of an opinion article. Businessponies drifting between the groups, trying to lobby for favors or strike up endorsement deals. And finally, the military personnel, staying in their own happy corner and rejecting anyone who tries to get them to support their campaigns, buy from them, or convince them to come to their next show.

Through the clumps, Shining Armor can see the tables of food and beverages lined up along the walls, and beyond the enormous windows are the silhouettes that is the Canterlot skyline and the glowing zeppelins that float around them.

Shining Armor looks around a little bit more and easily spots the batpony Night Guards watching the party from the second level and their patrols on the ground floor. As he inspects the area, he hobbles between the enclaves, picking up bits of their conversations.

“I did meet the Vigilante! He's totally a dude with throat cancer,” says a passing Night Guard.

“Uh, no, the Vigilante can't be a stallion because the body structure is clearly a female unicorn between 180 and 190 pounds, making her somewhere in her late twenties or early thirties,” says the Guard's partner.

“Bullshit. Next, you're probably going to say she's a unicorn or something stupid like that.”

“She has a horn!”

The two bat ponies pass and Shining Armor passes a drink table where a reporter is talking Major Fuller, who is wearing his uniform and nursing his freshly poured fruit punch. Though, his eyes are not on the reporter, but at a table where Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash and Soarin are sitting and talking.

“How did you survived the League's attack on Ponyville?” asks the reporter.

“Luck,” replies Fuller.

And then the Major leaves and nods politely to Shining Armor when he passes him, and he returns the favor and continues limping along, investigating the scene. The next notable area Shining Armor passes is where a goat is talking to the Flim Flam Brothers and Brisk Wind.

“Seminars to weapons and armor seems to be quite the change, though,” says Brisk Wind.

“Self-help seminars are not pulling in the income they used to,” says the goat. “Plus, his father died and he had to take over the family business.”

“We can always use an expansion in Bernese. Maybe Iron Will and his family can help convince your government to let us in since they're so influential,” says Flim or Flam. Shining Armor can never tell who's who with them.

But, conversations aside, Shining Armor keeps on walking, and is about to inspect another area when a hoof suddenly grabs and turns him, making him jump and his heart spike. He relaxes when he sees that it is only Case Study, though.

“There you are. Cadence has been looking for you,” she says.

Shining Armor blinks a couple of times and looks her over. Case Study is wearing her military dress uniform with her blue blazer and skirt, white blouse underneath and blue tie, and like every mare in uniform, she looks good. However, as good as the young mare looks, a question lingers.

“Where did you come from?” says Shining Armor.

“You told me to come here so you can have help with the reporters, remember?” says Case Study.

Shining Armor scrunches his brows. “I did?”

“Yeah, and you seem to be quite popular with them, for some reason. I must have intercepted a dozen by now.”

Another hoof grabs Shining Armor and spins him, and once again he jumps and is old heart is put into a beating frenzy as he is brought face to face with Mi Amor Cadenza. She is smiling and wearing a light pink, flowing dress with a blue collar and a gold heart pendant.

“There you are! I've been looking all over for you,” says Cadence.

“You have?” says Shining Armor.

“Yes, and I had to get your secretary to help me find you.” Cadence smiles at Case Study and extends her hoof. “Thank you for your help.”

Case Study returns the smile with some nervousness and presses her hoof against Cadence's. “It was my pleasure, ma'am.”

“Excuse me, Captain Armor!” says a stallion with a nasally voice suddenly.

The trio turn and see a unicorn with a trench coat and stetson approaching them quickly, levitating a pen and notepad.

“Scribble Scrabble of the Manehatten Courier. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time,” says the stallion.

“Uh,” starts Shining Armor, his eyes darting in every direction it can possibly go in hopes of finding a distraction.

Luckily Case Study butts in and gently turns the reporter away and escorts him away in the opposite direction.

“Captain Armor is a bit tired, so I can answer some of your questions,” says Case Study.

“Well, gee whizz, that's mighty swell of you, miss. I can probably move out of my intern level with this interview,” says the stallion.

As the duo walks away, Case Study looks over her shoulder and flashes a smile at the Captain, and he nods in thanks. Once they are out of sight, Shining Armor sighs with relief as some burden fades from his chest.

“That was close,” says Shining Armor.

“Yeah, it was. That Case Study is a good mare. And cute, too,” says Cadence.

“Yeah, she is... Wait, what?”

Cadence chuckles and pats Shining Armor on the back and leads him through the crowds. “Relax, honey. I'm only teasing you. But, seriously, I'm glad you have some help. Celestia knows you'd work yourself to death if you didn't.”

“Uh huh,” says Shining Armor absentmindedly, for his attention is once again on the crowd in search of trouble.

“Speaking of aunts. Have you seen Luna?”

Shining Armor shakes his head. “Nope. I haven't seen her anywhere all night.”

Cadence sighs and rolls her eyes. “Great. She's being a loner again. I guess that’s a good thing, though, since she probably would have pulled a messy prank on the party. Like last year with the balloon inside the cake.”

Cadence shudders and ruffles her feathers, and Shining Armor grins at his wife.

“Come on, you didn't think that was funny? I thought it was funny,” says Shining Armor.

Cadence frowns. “I cut the cake, remember? It exploded all over me and ruined my dress and mane.”

“Captain Armor!” calls a mare.

Shining Armor and Cadence stop, and look to the source and spot a yellow mare with a well groomed red tail and mane, wearing simple, yet admittedly beautiful, dress and a hat with a notepad tucked in it. Seeing the notepad and pen, and her eager smile and trot, Shining Armor groans and face hoofs, all while Cadence frowns at the reporter.

“Quill Pen of the New Yoke Times. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time,” says the mare.

“No, we're busy,” says Cadence.

“How busy? Scale of one to ten?”

“Cadence, don't answer her. I'll just get this over with and fulfill my interview quota for the night,” says Shining Armor.

Cadence balks at Shining Armor. “What? But you spent all night trying to avoid the reporters. You even brought your secretary as a decoy!”

“Yeah, and this one caught me, so I'm taking one for the team. Besides, it won't be too bad. It'll only be like five minutes or something. So, why don't you go hang out with Twilight and her friends a little bit and I'll catch up?”

Cadence looks at Shining Armor with an annoyed frown, and then she looks at Case Study with a bigger frown. The reporter matches her expression with a calm smile, and when Cadence looks at Shining Armor, he gently dismisses her, and she reluctantly leaves with a huff. When Cadence is out of ear shot, Quill Pen steps closer, but Shining Armor holds up his bad hoof before she can speak.

“Before you ruin my sanity, let’s move over by the wall,” says Shining Armor.

“Sure thing, Captain Armor,” says Quill Pen with a sly smile.

The two walk over by a wall that has a two pony table, and after they take a seat, Quill Pen pulls out her pen and notebook with her magic.

“So,” begins Quill Pen innocently, “the citizens of Equestria have a lot of questions and I am here to ask them.”

“You don’t say. How many questions are there?” asks Shining Armor as he strokes his injured hoof.

“Not too many. I promise they’ll be quick and seeing that your condition is a little questionable I won’t ask the hard stuff.”

Shining Armor stops massaging his hoof and glares at Quill Pen. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You know, you’re hoof and horn is ruined and Director Brisk Wind said that you’re an insomniac now, which we all know insomnia screws with the brain. So I’ll try to keep them simple, starting with how you are faring with your injuries. It has been almost a year since you engaged the League of Justice, so are your wounds getting any better?”

“I had my hoof shattered and my horn almost snapped off. The pain is never going to go away,” says Shining Armor deadpanned and glare remaining.

“So, on a scale of one to ten we're looking at...?”

“You talking to me brings the pain to eleven.”

Quill Pen frowns and scribbles something down on her notepad that he can’t see and hen she is done, she forces herself to smile.

“Next question,” says Quill Pen, her tone heavier than before. “There has been reports of increased violence in the rural areas regarding locals caught in the crossfire of criminal power plays in the Macintosh Hills and the Royal and Night Guards stationed at the region's towns. Some have accused the guardponies as being, I quote, unnecessarily brutal and using lethal force, and in some cases using lethal forces against unarmed civilians. What is your response to such acts?”

“What do you want me to say?” says Shining Armor. “My soldiers have a right to defend themselves, so if they feel threatened they will act accordingly. And believe me, I am doing everything I can to stop the violence, but we can only do so much with our limited ponypower.”

“Many don't think you are doing enough, though. In fact, your approval rating is barely breaking the double digits in every category. Including Ostentation Fair's looks and charisma categories, making your approval rating matching Blueblood's before his passing.”

Shining Armor's jaw and muscles tightens. “Why don't you sit in my chair for a week and see how easy this job is?”

Quill Pen chuckles and scribbles on her pad. “No thanks. I love my job too much.” Quill Pen turns to a fresh page on her notepad. “Last question, and then I'll let you go.”

Shining Armor slides off the chair, grunting from the uncomfortable feeling on his injured hoof. “How about I go, right now?”

“No, this will be the last one, I promise,” says Quill Pen, her hoof extended and pen still in her mouth, and when Shining Armor sighs and reluctantly stays put, she continues. “You made it public that you oppose the Equestrian Investigation Bureau and its sister agency, the Civilian Defense Agency. Care to explain your position?”

To help himself think of an appropriate response, Shining Armor scans the crowd and and he sees that Brisk Wind is still talking to the Flim Flam Brothers, but the goat is nowhere to be seen and the Director's eyes are at Twilight’s table. He moves his focus to the table and sees Fuller standing in front of Twilight, saying something to her that is making her giggle and blush, and Rarity and Cadence seem to find the scene cute while Dash is rolling her eyes. Soarin is too busy enjoying his pie to notice.

“Captain Armor, you still there?” says Quill Pen.

Without breaking eye contact from his sister, Shining Armor replies: “I oppose the EIB because of their violations to basic pony rights, and I oppose the CDA because it is an organization that would make fascists proud. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go.”

Before Quill Pen can respond, Shining Armor marches towards his table, but then Brisk Wind just happens to take a sudden gravitational attraction to him and bumps against his shoulder. The impact sends pain like crystals splintering under his hoof. Tears swell instantly in his eyes, and he grinds his teeth as he turns from her, stomping his good hoof as his heart speeds up.

“Motherbucker!” yells Shining Armor through his teeth.

Ponies around the two stop talking and look at Shining Armor, and while he is looking down, growling, Brisk Wind merely smiles calmly and places a wing on his back and looks at the patrons.

“Nothing to see, here. The good captain just hurt himself,” says Brisk Wind.

“You hurt me, you damn psycho,” says Shining Armor.

Brisk Wind starts to escort him away from Twilight’s table, and the other guests resume their conversations.

“Let's get some fresh air. You look like you can use it,” says Brisk Wind.

As they walk through the crowd, Shining Armor notices that Quill Pen is talking to Case Study, and his assistant is frequently averting her eyes or rubbing her hoof with a slight blush on her face. He can only imagine what questions are being asked, but any attempts to think beyond the pain are futile since every step is an agonizing throb in his hoof, and he finds himself sweating from the pain, too.

“I saw you talking to that lovely reporter over there,” says Brisk Wind when they reach an entrance to the balcony.

“You mean the one you sent to me?” says Shining Armor.

Brisk Wind chuckles and leads Shining Armor outside, cooling him on the outside with the gentle night breeze, but it does nothing for the fire inside him.

“I thought Ms. Pen was a lovely mare when she interviewed me,” says Brisk Wind as she closes the door, and she continues when she turns to look at Shining Armor, who is glaring at her. “Believe me, if I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t have allowed her near you.”

Shining Armor scoffs. “For some reason I think you’re lying through your teeth.”

Brisk Wind smirks and walks uncomfortably close to Shining Armor, forcing him to crane his head back when she is nearly touching him and looking up into his eyes.

“Captain, you and I are on the same team,” says Brisk Wind, her hoof brushing his uniform and her feathers fluffing. “We need to trust each other if we are to fix Equestria.”

Shining Armor quickly pulls away from her. “How can I trust you when you won’t give me the files?”

“I did give you the files.”

“Ruined files.”

“Just like you gave me what you had.”

“What you gave me was covered in coffee stains and black bars!”

“Did I mention how grateful I was for those files?”

Shining Armor shakes his head. “You’re evil. I’m starting to wonder where your loyalties lie.”

Brisk Wind frowns. “My loyalties are to Equestria and the principles of Harmony, Captain.” Then Brisk Wind smiles again. “But I can understand your concern, my methods are strange in the eyes of a pony such as yourself.”

“I have this thing called ‘morals’, you should try getting some. They’re free and easy to use.”

“I can see why Cadenza fell for you, you can be quite charming even when you act like an ass.” Brisk Wind then heads to the ball room entrance, and opens the door partially and looks over her shoulder. “Well, I'm going to go back inside to enjoy the party. Why don't you stay out here and cool off? We wouldn’t want your stress to ruin your night, after all.”

Shining Armor's glare intensifies at her and when she closes the door, he sighs and folds his forehooves over each other and slumps against the balcony railing, looking at the skyline of the home he no longer recognizes.

After an unknown amount of time passes, Shining Armor reluctantly heads back inside the ballroom, but as soon as he enters, he is almost knocked over by Rainbow Dash storming past him. Soarin is following her, but neither of them notice him.

“I don’t care what they are saying! I know what I heard and saw!” says Rainbow Dash furiously.

“Look, I know what it’s like to lose somepony special, but you can’t be obsessing over her like this. It isn’t healthy,” says Soarin.

Shining Armor watches the two argue as they hurry their steps and when Rainbow Dash is almost out of earshot, he hears her say: “Pinkie is not dead!”

Shining Armor scrunches his brows and starts after them, but with his injury he cannot keep pace and they leave the ballroom well before he does. He pushes open the door the two went through and steps into a polished hallway, but all he sees instead of two pegasi is another balcony door slamming shut. He walks as fast as he can that door, even though he has a strong feeling that the two will be long gone, but when he is halfway there, Cadence calls him, halting him in his tracks.

With a deep, disappointed sigh, Shining Armor turns to face Cadence and the two Night Guards by her side, and all of them are walking towards him with quick steps.

“Cadence, shouldn’t you be enjoying the party?” asks Shining Armor when she and the Guards stop in front of him.

“Brisk Wind told me that you hurt your hoof and some reporter was a jerk to you,” says Cadence, her voice heavy with concern.

“I'll get over it. Just go back and enjoy the party with Twilight and the others. I have some work I need to do, anyway.”

Cadence shakes her head. “No, you spend enough time in your office. You need to relax with me and your sister. Look, I even found the officer in charge and told him to keep the reporters away from you, so you won't be bothered for the rest of the night.”

Shining Armor huffs. “But I can't relax when drug gangs are turning the Macintosh Hills into a warzone, terrorists running around and our military outdated and shooting up unarmed ponies!”

“Well, you can't fix these problems if you work yourself to death, can you?”

“Somepony's gotta do it and that somepony is me-PH!”

Cadence shoves her hoof over his mouth, turning his words into an unintelligible, muffled mess. Once he stops talking and finishes with a deep sigh, Cadence sighs herself and walks behind Shining Armor.

“Cadence what are you doing?”

Cadence starts to push Shining Armor to the door by pushing against his backside, and the stallion’s cheeks turn slightly red as he digs his hooves into the tile. But due to how ridiculously polished the surface is, the only thing he manages to accomplish is a loud screeching noise that quickly becomes painful for the ears, and he also hurts his bad hoof again. To add to his embarrassment of getting pushed around by his wife, he can see the Night Guards smirking, and one is even fighting a losing battle to keep his chuckle in. During the ordeal, Shining Armor tries desperately to sweet talk his way out, but his words fail miserably because Cadence stonewalls every syllable.

“Shining Armor Sparkle, you will go to that party and you’ll like it!” says Cadence, annoyance seeping in her tone.

“And if I don’t like it?” asks Shining Armor.

“Then you’re sleeping on the couch.”

Shining Armor sighs in defeat and reluctantly walks the rest of the way and opens the door with Cadence by his side. “After you Mrs. Mi Amore Cadenza Sparkle.”

Cadence smirks and walks inside with a proud trot and nose in the air as a mockery of Equestria’s elite class. “Thank you, Captain Shining Armor Sparkle.”

Shining Armor can’t help but smile as he closes the door behind him, and while he’s trailing Cadence, his eyes drift to her flank, which she seems to pick up almost immediately. She stops walking and Shining Armor, being too distracted with the view, bumps into her. He blinks and tries to act innocent by humming to himself and looking around the room, but he can feel Cadence’s smile on him.

“You’ll get some if you behave,” says Cadence slyly.

“Get what? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” says Shining Armor.

Cadence giggles and brushes her tail under his chin. “Don’t play Mr. Innocent with me.”

“That’s Captain Innocent, to you.”

Shining Armor follows his wife to Twilight’s table, relieved to see Fuller is no longer flirting with his sister. While he thinks about the promised treat if he behaves, he involuntarily picks up the conversation between Rarity and Twilight. They are too distracted to see him or Cadence approach them, though.

“Have you seen the sketches of the Vigilante? She is taking after our Mare-Do-Well suit,” says Rarity as she uses her magic to pluck out the cherry in her Classic Manehattan.

“Really?” says Twilight, looking pretty grumpy with her voice having a slur, which Shining Armor suspects her attitude has something to do with Rainbow Dash storming away.

“Yes, but they are using hoofball pads and leaving just about every pony and griffin they fight in the hospital with broken bones or nearly dead.”

Twilight snorts and sips her drink through her straw, which, from what Shining Armor can tell, is a Gin and Tonic. Much to his disdain, he sees multiple empty glasses of her drink and her eyes are already looking red and distant.

“It sounds like somepony has anger issues. Or a drug addiction. Or a mental condition,” says Twilight. She takes another long sip. “Heck, it might be all of the above for all we know.”

“We used to do the Mare-Do-Well stuff, but we aren't mentally handicapped,” says Rarity. “Honestly, I feel flattered that we have a copycat. I only wish they didn't nearly kill everybody they touched, though.”

Twilight takes a bigger sip of her drink, and aims her hoof limply at Rarity as she sways and blinks oddly in her spot. “The difference between us and the copycat is that we didn't wear hoofpads and snap bones like that brutish pansy. We're old school. Skin and cloth, baby! Whoo!”

Rarity frowns and levitates Twilight’s drink away. “I think you have had quite enough, dear.”

“Hey, girls, how's it going?” says Cadence as she and Shining Armor sit down.

“The evening was going well until Rainbow Dash made a comment about seeing Pinkie Pie at Donut Joe's,” says Rarity. “Then Twilight and Rainbow Dash argued, Rainbow Dash left, and Twilight got herself drunk off of tonic and gin, of all things.”

“Hey, all I said was that Pinkie would have to have been be a zombie if she was at the donut place, but zombies are fake,” slurs Twilight, and then she hiccups. “Just like the future and love.”

Shining Armor raises an eyebrow. “Uh, Twi, how much did you have to drink?”

“A liter and some ice cubes.”

“Yeah, we're cutting you off.”

“Why don't we change the subject to something more peaceful?” says Cadence while wrapping her forehoof around her husband’s neck and bringing him closer to her so that their bodies are pressed together. “Shining needs to relax, and talking about brutal vigilantes and alcohol won't help him any.”

“Thanks, Cadence,” says Shining Armor with a roll of his eyes.

Rarity gasps happily and puts her hooves on the table. “Idea! We should talk about fashion!”

The girls all voice their agreement on Rarity’s idea, but Shining Armor flat out says: “No.”

This, in turn, causes him to be the focus of three pairs of disapproving eyes that are demanding he listen to them talk about dresses. Though, one of the eyes is having trouble looking at him and the pony it belongs to is apparently forgetting how to sit in a chair. However, drunk ponies aside, Shining Armor caves in almost immediately.

“Fine,” he sighs.

Cadence and Rarity cheer and immediately get into a conversation about dresses while Twilight and Shining Armor listen, with the stallion quickly becoming bored out of his skull.

He feels lucky when a waitress walks by carrying a tray full of wine glasses with her magic, and he snatches one of the glasses and downs it one gulp with the help of his magic, caring very little of the pain. Then another waitress walks by with the same tray of wine balanced on her back, and Shining Armor repeats what he did with the previous waitress. And the same thing happens at least a dozen more times, with each glass making him more woozy, his vision more blurry, and everything becoming increasingly hilarious. But no one seems to notice the incredibly stupid smile plastered on his face or how much he’s wobbling. Shining Armor does not care, though. He is having fun being drunk, right now, and he looks at the three Rarities talking to his two and a half wives.

“So then I had to tell her that the armscye was too tight and that the midday collar was-”

Shining Armor suddenly laughs obnoxiously loud and points at Rarity, causing heads to turn to him, Rarity to raise an eyebrow, Cadence to face-hoof, and Twilight to giggle.

“Shiny's drunk, too,” says Twilight, and she takes another big sip of her drink through her straw, which she reclaimed from Rarity since the fashion pony was too distracted with the conversation.

“She said midday collar!” laughs Shining Armor.

“Oh no,” groans Cadence.

“I fail to see the humor,” says Rarity dryly.

The crowd murmurs and watches the scene unfold while some of the Night Guards carefully approach him. Quill Pen runs closer to the scene and gleefully scribbles on her notepad while Brisk Wind walks next to her, smiling at what she’s seeing. As she stands by Quill Pen, the two exchange smiles and the Director gives each of the waitresses that passed Shining Armor a small bag of bits. Fuller arrives next to Brisk Wind a moment later and calmly watches the scene unfold with a cup of fruit punch and a plate of cheese and crackers floating next to him.

“Major,” says Brisk Wind.

“Director,” says Fuller. “What did I miss?”

“Shining Armor is trashed.”

Fuller sips his drink. “Oh.”

Shining Armor hears Brisk Wind, and he spins to face her, almost falling over in the process, and then he hobbles towards her. His eyes are having an extremely hard time focusing on his nemesis, and for reasons he cannot quite put his hoof on, the ground seems to be shifting underneath him.

“You... You. You. Youuuuuuuu,” slurs Shining Armor while pointing at one of the three Brisk Wind clones. “You’re a- You’re a bad-mean pony.”

“Shining, I think you had a little too much to drink,” says Cadence worryingly.

Shining Armor chuckles and looks at Cadence, saying: “I didn’t have too much to drink. I had too little!” He then turns back to Brisk Wind. “I have had just enough to... I have had just enough of this fine-fine-fine... fine ole... fancy cider stuff to work up the courage to tell EVERYPONY how much of bitch you are!”

The crowd gasps and Shining Armor looks genuinely confused while Brisk Wind looks amused and Fuller appears bored.

“What? We were all thinking it. Ms. Quilly Penny write that down. Director Brisk Wind is a big fat bitch!” says Shining Armor.

Quill Pen points at herself. “Are you talking to me?”

“Well duh!” Shining Armor laughs and almost falls over, thankfully Cadence, now fuming, catches him. “Thanks shmoopy doo, I’ll have to privately thank you under the covers.”

The crowd groans and quietly express their disgust with the Captain’s vulgarity. The only two who did not seem surprised and upset by what Shining Armor had said are Brisk Wind and Filthy Rich, who has made his way in between Brisk Wind and Fuller. He also appears to be a bit tipsy.

“Ooh that’s a hound dog,” says Filthy Rich. He looks at Brisk Wind and momentarily checks her out before he grins from ear to ear and extends his hoof. “Hi, I’m Filthy Rich.”

“You’re not my type,” says Brisk Wind instantaneously, her smile gone along with Filthy Rich’s. His eyes actually tear up and he looks down, sniffling, while Brisk Wind looks at Shining Armor again, her smile returning to its former smugness.

“Ya know somethen,” slurs Shining Armor while levitating another glass of wine with his magic. Cadence immediately tries to yank it away which quickly devolves into a tug of war between the two that ends in Cadence’s victory and Shining Armor scoffing in a sickly puking noise. “Ya know somethen... when I was just a little colt in the Royal Guard, I heard that the earth pony soldiers said-had this little quote thingamajiggy thingy that they would say before their little battles.”

“Okay, time to go,” says Cadence as she tries to pull him away from the table.

Shining Armor laughs and stands on his hind legs and wraps his forehoof around Cadence in a tight hug while quickly using his magic to down Rarity’s drink before Cadence can stop him. This makes the two mares gasp, horrified by what had just happened, while Twilight snickers and chugs more of her drink through her straw.

“They would say: Eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die! BE MERRY EVERYPONY!”

Shining Armor then cheers and falls backwards on the table, smashing it under his weight and sending the empty glasses flying into the crowd. The crowd gasps and backs away while the Night Guards quickly pick up Shining Armor with the help of Fuller, and they carry him out with Cadence, Twilight, and Rarity trailing close behind. The group makes a hasty exit, but the crowd is mostly silent, completely baffled by Shining Armor's antics. But the silence is broken by Filthy Rich’s stomping ovation.

“Bravo! Bravo!” he exclaims, all eyes turn to him, but he is too drunk to care. “That colt knows how to party! Whoo!”

Filthy Rich then looks at an attractive pegasus mare with a yellow coat and a black mane and tail standing next to him, looking a little concerned for her well-being, and he smiles and extends his hoof.

“Hi, I’m Filthy Rich.”

Arc 2- 18- Deterioration -EDITED-

“Good morning, Canterlot!” says DJ-Pon3 enthusiastically over the radio. “Today is going to be a busy day, busy-busy day. Especially for me since I got all kinds of mail asking me all kinds of stuff. Stuff like Captain Shining Armor Sparkle getting trashed at the Pre-Gala a week ago, the protests in Ponyville apparently turning violent with threats of arson and bombing, and, my favorite, the Vigilante cleaning up the streets. There is also this whole thing of little Woona acting up by the elite standards by partying with us commoners. I'll talk about all that stuff, but before I do, I got a message for the Vigilante.”

DJ-Pon3 coughs and spits, and after apologizing for that, she speaks, though her voice is now gravely instead of upbeat.

“Vigilante, if you're listening, I love what you're doing. I love you cleaning up the streets and how you kick ass and take names and all that, but word on the street is that Gilda is gunning for you, and if I know our griffin, then she’ll use every lowlifer and guard in her pocket to get your head. Which brings me to my next point. If any of you betray the Vigilante I swear to Luna I will rain down an unholy firestorm straight from the ninth ring of Tartarus! I’m not playing, I will buck you up! Now, who wants to hear some ‘3 Barns Up’?”

Click.

Pinkie Pie shuts off the radio and takes a seat at the kitchen with the daily newspaper, The Canterlot Times, in her mouth. She spits it out next to some bills and flips it open to the front page story, titled: “Cpt. Armor's Closet Alcoholism. What Else Is He Hiding?”

The front page has a picture of the drunk Captain sitting down with an ice pack pressed against his head. Pinkie Pie shakes her head sadly as she reads the article, which was written by none other than Quill Pen, the renown journalist who has a knack of humiliating ponies to the point where their lives are ruined beyond redemption.

The oven dings and Pinkie Pie hops out of her seat and carefully takes out a tray of a dozen freshly baked cookies and sets them on the counter to cool off. The heavenly scent makes her mouth water and she just wants to pounce on the goodies and eat them all. Though, if her years at the bakery taught her anything, it was the of ways restraining oneself, but she was never really good at that, and she proved that to herself when she snagged a cookie and ate it in one bite. As Pinkie Pie chews the cookie, she comes to the conclusion that she is disappointed with how they came out and makes a mental note to put frosting on them later.

After that, she walks back to the table and flips through the newspaper once more, passing over sports articles, entertainment reviews, the opinion column, and so on and so forth.

She skims an article about the Vanhoover Penguins winning the Equestrian Hockey Bowl. A review about the life and times of Eclipse Lulamoon. An article calling for extra government regulation and security measures to protect Equestria's freedom. Another article talking about the election season in Bernese and what the outcome means for relations between them and Equestria. Griffin refugees flooding in is another article that she passes. And lastly, there is an article talking about anarchy in the Ponyville area with threats of arson and bombings made against government buildings with Applejack apparently endorsing the behavior.

Normally Pinkie Pie would be quick to condemning the reporter as a liar, but after what happened between her and Applejack, she realized that Honesty has a dark side. And since her farm and way of life has been threatened, Pinkie Pie is willing to put money on the table to bet on Applejack's violent behavior being genuine.

Pinkie Pie stops reading when she hears the shower start, and then she cringes from the pain in her ears when Trixie starts singing like a dying canary with throat cancer. In a desperate attempt to block out the horrible singing and to cheer herself up, Pinkie Pie reads the comic section of the newspaper and then tries her hoof at some crossword puzzles. The puzzles aren’t too difficult, but they still bring a smile to her face as she scribbles in the letters. However, the farther into the puzzle she goes, the smaller her smile becomes and the bigger her frown gets. When she’s finished, she’s scowling at the rough, marked up parchment. Not because she’s mad at her work, but because it’s serving as a reminder of what she threw away all because she didn’t want to leave her fake friends behind. And as a sick joke on the universe’s part, there is an advertisement for the Manehatten Institute of Technology complete with a picture of a smiling mare holding a diploma in her mouth while standing on a pile of bags of bits. Pinkie Pie shoves the newspaper off of the table, bangs her head on the table and just leaves it there, giving her a fantastic view of the wood’s natural patterns.

A few minutes later, the shower stops and Trixie’s horrendous singing with it, and the unicorn comes out a couple of minutes later still damp with her silvery mane and tail retaining their natural curl and smiling brightly. Her eyes even have a sparkle to them that reminds Pinkie Pie too much of Rarity when she feels fabulous.

“Good morning, Minty,” says Trixie. “Ooh, goodie. Cookies!”

“Trixie, don’t-” starts Pinkie Pie.

Too late, Trixie is already digging into the cookies.

Pinkie Pie huffs. “Eat the cookies. Crap.”

Trixie turns around with cookie crumbs around her mouth while chewing on a cookie and holding another with her magic. “Something wrong?”

“I didn’t have a chance to put frosting on them. But they taste good bland anyway, so eat away.”

“Cool, thanks!”

Trixie eats the cookie and Pinkie Pie’s ears droop while her eyes become half lidded, just on the verge of vocalizing her annoyance of her roommate's inability to comprehend sarcasm.

“So, Minty, what are you going to do today?” asks Trixie.

Pinkie Pie looks at a bills unenthusiastically. “I have to run some errands.”

Trixie trots to the living room and turns on the radio. Pinkie Pie hears Trixie switching the stations on the radio, going from rock to country, country to rap, rap to pop, and pop to rock. She leaves it on the rock channel and starts singing along to a song called “Cloudsdale Castaway”. Once again, Pinkie Pie has to restrain herself from giving spontaneous singing lessons, but she does scribble down a note to enroll Trixie in a singing class, as well as buying more ear plugs and medication for the ears.

“WHOEVER’S SINGING, SHUT UP!” yells a stallion from behind the wall.

Trixie scoffs in disgust, places her hooves on a nightstand and leans towards the wall.

“HEY, BUCK YOU, BUDDY! THIS IS MY APARTMENT!” yells Trixie.

“I’M NOT YOUR BUDDY, GUY!” yells the neighbor.

“I'M NOT A GUY, FIEND!”

“YOU SURE SOUND LIKE ONE, BUDDY!”

Trixie slides off and rolls her neck and shoulders, snarling like a rabid animal. “Oh, that's it. I'm kicking his ass.”

Trixie starts towards the door, nostrils flaring, horn sparking and hoofs smoking, but thankfully Pinkie Pie intercepts her and shoves a cookie in Trixie’s mouth, effectively stopping her.

“Okay, Trixie, time to get you to work,” says Pinkie Pie. “Did you take your meds?”

“That guy was a jerk,” huffs Trixie, mouth still full of chewed cookie.

“I know, but did you take your meds?”

Trixie's eyes pop wide and with a horrified gasp, she gallops to the bathroom. Once there, Pinkie sits down and patiently waits as Trixie rummages through the medicine cabinet. Seconds later, Trixie cheers, there's a rush of water, and then she emerges, smiling again with dilated eyes.

“Trixie's happy, now,” says Trixie in eerily cheerful tone as she trots towards Pinkie Pie.

“Glad to hear. Now let's get you to work. We're running late,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Jadear!” says Trixie with eyes wide, and she wraps her hoof around Pinkie's neck in a half hug and points at the door. “You’re right, Minty Sprinkles! We must not falter further, for the Great and Powerful Trixie’s employment is on the line! Away!”

And Trixie bolts out into the hallway, soon to crash into a pony carrying groceriers, knocking her and all of her purchased goods to the floor, making a mess of food, yells and speedy apologies.

Nearly four hours later, Trixie and her group are slaving at the Card Casino and wanting to bash in Hank and Monte’s skulls. Their verbal whippings spare no one, and their annoying urgency to get the show prepared has dwindled the effectiveness of Trixie’s happy pills. Also, ever since Trixie was force fed those mushrooms, leading to her bruises and cuts to disappear, she has been getting a lot of unwanted attention. Particularly from Monte, and his version of giving her attention is the worst of the lot, because apparently using her his test subject for his cheap magic is a special way of flirting.

“I've seen him flirt with other mares, before, but he's different with you. He totally a schoolyard crush on you,” is what Clockwork had said shortly after arriving. “He teases you like a colt to a filly on a playground.”

That statement has been on Trixie's mind all day, and she knows deep down that Clockwork is wrong. Monte is a pain in the ass, simple as that, and today is no different.

“Now just hold still,” orders Monte.

Trixie sits still in the middle of a circle of decks of cards that have lines connecting each of them to form a pentagram. Trixie personally finds the symbol creepy, but Monte has repeatedly called it “cool”. Monte closes his eyes and his horn glows, and with it, all the cards. The cards rise up one by one and as Trixie looks at them her pupils shrink and she finds herself cowering in fear as the bladed cards rise up around her like demented petals of a flower. Soon she is completely encased in a bubble made up of the creepy, bladed cards, which she notices that the suits, numbers and faces having an occult twist to them.

“And here. We. Go!”

The stage suddenly opens up and Trixie yelps as she falls down, landing on her back on a mattress where a couple of security guards and crew members are. The cards fold away and she hears Monte triumphantly shout: “And she’s gone!”

After a weak applause Monte pokes his head down, flashing a mean spirited smile.

“Did I scare you, Trixie?” says Monte.

“Yes!” snaps Trixie. “What the hay are you doing with bladed cards, anyway?”

Monte taps his chin. “I dunno. Maybe because they’re cooler than silly fireworks.”

Trixie’s eyes narrow and he chuckles.

“Not that I’m taking a jab at your short lived fame or anything,” says Monte.

“You’re an ass,” says Trixie.

There’s an aggravated scoff and Trixie turns to her side to see a scornful female donkey walk away muttering colorful words. Trixie groans and face-hoofs, and then the mattress buckles as Monte lands next to Trixie, grinning.

“You really should be more sensitive,” says Monte. Trixie tries to walk away from Monte, but his persistence to annoy her is boundless. “My offer still stands, too! And I think it’ll be great for you since you look a million times better, you’ll surely draw crowds with just your looks alone. Did I mention that if we work together you get discounts at the buffet and special VIP passes?”

Trixie tunes out Monte after that, and when she is out of the Card Casino underbelly she heads back to her group, eager to have a daisy sandwich that’s being handed out by Fancy Entertainment’s catering crew. But, naturally, something goes wrong where she finds herself stuck in place by magic.

“Monte, I swear to Celestia,” starts Trixie angrily while turning her head, “that if you are holding meeeee-ohh... Hi.”

“Hello, Trixie Lulamoon, I am Agent Lock N. Key of the Equestrian Investigation Bureau. I have a few questions for you,” says a large stallion unicorn with an EIB badge hanging around his neck. He has four other unicorns, all mares, surrounding him and all possessing EIB badges.

Lock releases Trixie from his magic, and she looks past the agent and sees Monte and Hank talking to a couple of other EIB agents. She looks back at the agent and smiles, but her knees buckle and sweat coats her forehead and the back of her neck.

“Something wrong, officer?” asks Trixie.

“Agent,” corrects Lock.

“Right. Agent. Sorry.”

“Follow me, please.”

The EIB agents lead her to a secluded table in the back of the audience area and Lock pulls out a folder, flips it open, and shows her sketch artist pictures of her cheap costume. Next to the sketches are the familiar faces of ponies and griffins she hospitalized.

“Over the past few weeks we’ve been searching for somepony who has been referred to as the Vigilante by DJ-Pon3,” says Lock. He shows more sketch pictures of her newer costume. “We believe that this is the same pony in a more upgraded costume. The funny thing is, is that whoever this pony is has been compared to the fabled Mare-Do-Well.”

“Cool story, but what does that have to do with me?”

Lock’s eyes narrow. “Do not play us as fools, Lulamoon. Last week a group of thugs were battered by somepony wearing the former suit. It was reported that they got a few good hits, and a short time after a clinic was robbed of a single healing mushroom, and you return to work cured of all bruises and scars.”

Trixie shrugs and keeps her eyes somewhere other than at lock. “Maybe I had a really good night’s sleep.”

“A pony we interviewed about the incident said he recognized the Vigilante’s voice, but couldn’t pin where he heard it before. And the injuries match Fallen Ceasar, a favorite style of the League of Justice. You just happen to match the profile of trained in such an art and suddenly lost all serious injuries.”

Trixie’s eyes snap to Lock’s. Her body becomes tense and her mouth dry, and she sinks in her seat as Lock's gaze becomes more threatening.

“Are you fulfilling your obligations to the League of Justice, Lulamoon?” asks Lock. “Not that it matters, anyway, since you’d be the last of your pathetic organization and we can easily bring you back to Singsong. That is if, in fact, you are roaming the streets at night.”

Trixie gets an uneasy feeling in her stomach that makes her want to puke. “What do you mean?”

“The League of Justice is dead, and if you are breaking your parole contract the last of it will die with you in Singsong.”

The news of her being the last of the League of Justice not only puts a rock in her stomach, but all she can imagine is everyone she knew -the same ponies and zebras that helped her- lying dead somewhere. And she didn’t know about it until now.

“Are we done?” asks Trixie, her voice barely audible over her efforts to swallow her tears.

“Of course,” says Lock. “Just stay in town in case I have more questions for you.”

Trixie nods, slides out of her seat and walks away with her head down, now feeling too sick and broken to care for a sandwich.

Lock watches Trixie sulk away and he smiles to himself while he puts his files away. Trixie was ridiculously easy to read, making the interrogation the easiest he’s done all year.

“Why didn’t you use your magic on her?” asks an agent.

“I didn’t need to. Her body language told us everything we needed to know,” answers Lock.

After getting packed up, he exits the Card Casino with his escorts and once outside they are greeted by the warmth of the sun. Lock takes a moment to take it all in, but when a shadow of a zeppelin flies over he looks up to watch the graceful vehicle glide past him with the Solar Empire’s propaganda decorating its side. Then, just for the heck of it, he looks at the Celestial Spire in the distance and watches barely noticeable dots flying around and the cranes guiding steel beams to their respective places. When his sight seeing is over he enters a black motorized wagon that is designed like a limousine with the EIB seal on the side while the escorts go into other vehicles.

“Well?” says Brisk Wind while shifting her position to allow Lock more space.

“Our suspicions were proven to be correct. Trixie has been interfering with Gilda’s business,” says Lock.

“Oh, that makes things easier on us, then. But what about Minty Sprinkles? What do you have on her? You said you’d tell me after this little field trip of yours.”

Lock sighs. “She’s a ghost. Her personal records have been completely fabricated. The only solid thing we have are her purchases and, of course, her friend here.”

Lock and Brisk Wind look at a cuffed and gagged Ink Well. Lock uses his magic to remove the gag and when Ink Well is finished coughing and swearing in his native tongue, Lock speaks.

“Ink Well, we know you and Minty Sprinkles talked, but we want to know about what.”

“I am a citizen of Bernese! You have no right to do this!” says Ink Well.

“Our nation. Our rules. Now speak,” orders Brisk Wind.

“This is not Equestria! This is Tartarus!”

Lock and Brisk Wind look at each other as Ink Well rants about tyranny and other kinds of mumbo jumbo associated with political paranoia. Brisk Wind orders Gear Wheel to take them away from the convoy, and Brisk Wind has to personally use the radio to tell the others to buzz off since they cannot comprehend directions. After a few minutes of driving and listening to Ink Well's ranting and demands for a lawyer, Brisk Wind orders Gear Wheel to stop at a riverside road in an empty part of the city. When the vehicle stops, Lock shows Ink Well the plans for the advanced Mare-Do-Well suit he had been carrying with him, and the ibex smiles while Brisk Wind narrows her eyes.

“It’s a nice picture, isn’t it?” says Ink Well.

“You do realize that vigilantism is considered a form of terrorism in Equestria, right?” says Brisk Wind.

“Only for those who have wronged others,” retorts Ink Well, his tone matching Brisk Wind’s.

Brisk Wind stares at Ink Well, her eyelid twitching and her jaw tightening. Then she takes a deep breath, leans over Lock and pushes the door to the limousine open. After that, she bites down on Ink Well’s ear and drags him out, ignoring his pained screaming and swearing and Lock's calls for her to stop. When Brisk Wind has dragged Ink Well in the middle of the road she stomps on his side, snapping his ribs. He howls of agony echo down the dead road, and both Gear Wheel and Lock jump out, mortified with Gear Wheel covering her mouth and Lock unable to look away.

“We wrong no pony!” screams Brisk Wind.

She stomps on him again.

“We protect Harmony from lunatics like you!”

Brisk Wind stomps on Ink Well repeatedly, and only stops when Ink Well is barely able to twitch and his blood has been splattered all over her hoofs and the road.

Brisk Wind looks down at Ink Well's destroyed body, huffing and trembling with her mane a mess over her face. Ink Well, despite him bleeding to death and wheezing, stares at Brisk Wind with a weak snarl.

“There's a special place in Hell for you,” says Ink Well.

Brisk Wind growls and holds out her hoof to Lock. “Give me your gun.”

“Ma'am?” says Lock.

“Give me your gun!”

Lock reluctantly gives his gun to Brisk Wind and she forces Ink Well to look at her. “We know Minty Sprinkles ordered the suit. Tell me who she really is and what she is planning and we'll let you go.”

“No you won't,” wheezes Ink Well.

“Tell me!”

Ink Well laughs, coughing out blood a moment later. “What’s the matter? Scared that her actions will bring down your little empire?”

“My ‘little empire’ is going to perfect Harmony!”

“You? Perfecting Harmony? No, you’re destroying it. You are no guardian. You are a terrorist. A filthy rat!”

Brisk Wind immediately unloads the clip in a sloppy spray all over Ink Well’s body. When the clip is empty she spits out the pistol and stares at the corpse on the ground, breathing heavily and not even caring that his blood is circling around her hooves or has splattered on her uniform and face. She takes a deep breath and wipes her sweaty mane back before looking at Lock and Gear Wheel. She is fine with Lock holding it in, but Gear Wheel sniffling and on the verge of tears is annoying her.

“Get back in the car, Gear Wheel,” says Brisk Wind.

Gear Wheel stays frozen in place.

“Now!” barks Brisk Wind.

Gear Wheel squeaks and slips inside the vehicle, and Brisk Wind looks at Lock when he holsters his pistol.

“Who are we?” asks Brisk Wind in a dangerously cold tone.

Lock looks at her with a blank expression while carefully cleaning the bloody dots and slobber off of his pistol with a rag. Brisk Wind’s eyes narrow and she stares directly into Lock’s eyes with the fires of Tartarus in her.

“Who are we, Lock?” says Brisk Wind.

“We are the Equestrian Investigation Bureau,” says Lock quietly and cautiously.

“And what do we do?”

Lock gulps. “We protect Equestria and the ideals of Harmony from threats that reside within.”

“Exactly.” Brisk Wind looks at the corpse. “We are not terrorists. We are the defenders of Harmony, and that will never change.” She looks at Lock again. “Toss him in the river.”

Lock nods, silently uses his magic to toss Ink Well’s body into the ridge and then he goes inside the vehicle where his boss is waiting. When he is inside Brisk Wind orders Gear Wheel to drive as she awkwardly wipes the blood from her hooves using the rag Lock used earlier. It actually takes Brisk Wind to give the order twice for the driver to actually starts driving.

“Gear Wheel, I like you, so if you saw anything I will be very sad,” says Brisk Wind.

“Yes ma’am,” sniffles Gear Wheel.

“And Lock, can you be a gentlecolt and help me get the blood off of my hooves?”

The question is more of an order, and Lock is not interested in being crippled in a limousine, so he quietly uses his magic to guide the rag to wipe the blood off of her hooves. Brisk Wind is apparently ticklish there, too, which made the whole ordeal awkward and terrifying at the same time. When the blood is off of her hooves, Lock tosses the rag out the window and an increasingly uneasy silence takes over for the rest of the trip back home.

“Octavia has a vendetta with Sprinkles and Lulamoon, right?” says Brisk Wind casually.

Lock nods.

“Excellent,” says Brisk Wind. “We’ll deliver them to the griffins as a sign of good faith, have Octavia kill them, and then we’ll investigate their murder, pin it on one of our whistle blowers and reveal that the dead were vigilantes. That will give a nice public service message to the ponies out there that being a superhero is bad for your health.”

“Technically they aren’t superheroes,” points out Lock.

Brisk Wind rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean. Besides, the griffins were going to scare Trixie into not talking to Captain Armor anyway.” She chuckles as if she had just heard an amusing joke and she steps out of the limousine with a dreamy look in her eyes. “It’s going to be a great day when all of this is over.”

Trixie looks up at the stall door when Clockwork lightly knocks on it. She hears the pegasus say something, but she can’t hear it over the thoughts swirling in her mind about the League’s fate. The sniffling doesn’t help her case, either. She does not even know why she is upset. They abandoned her after her use ran out, just like everyone else, but she feels like Lock has just told her family just died again and was glad doing it.

“Trixie, you’ve been crying in there for an hour. Can you please tell me what's wrong?” says Clockwork with concern.

“No,” moans Trixie.

“Why?”

Trixie wipes her nose and tears from her eyes. “It’s complicated.”

“Did you break up with somepony?”

“No.”

Clockwork hesitates. “Did somepony die?”

Trixie looks at the door and feels a new bulge bully its way up to her throat, and next thing she knows, she on the ground sobbing hysterically and finding it hard to breath.

“Trixie, I’m coming in,” says Clockwork over Trixie’s wailing.

Trixie would say something about the stall being locked, and would use magic to keep it that way, but her crying and the miserable thoughts accompanying it are making it hard to speak or concentrate on even the simplest of magical tasks. However, after a quick test, Clockwork nimbly climbs over the stall like a feathered bug. When she lands on the toilet with as much grace as she can muster, she scoops up Trixie’s huddled and shaking figure and hugs her tight. Trixie instinctively hugs the sandy colored pegasus back and cries in her shoulder.

Clockwork gently rocks Trixie back and forth while stroking her mane and gently shushes her in a soothing voice. Trixie cries harder and soon her eyes run dry of tears and her sobs are reduced to wailing, and she hugs Clockwork tighter, begging for comfort.

“Everything, everypony dies around me,” whimpers Trixie. “Its not fair. Its not fair. Why can't I be happy? Why am I always dead? Why are they always dying? Everything, everyone is dead and dying. Its all wrong!”

“Trixie, come here,” says Clockwork gently.

Clockwork hugs Trixie tighter and rubs her head against Trixie’s. The disgraced magician squeezes her eyes shut and buries herself into Clockwork, shivering and gulping for air. Fresh tears trickle down her cheeks and wet Clockwork's shoulder, and Trixie feels her teammate's hoof rub her back gently.

“They want to send me back to Singsong,” whimpers Trixie. “I don't want to go back there. I can't go back there.”

“Its okay. Everything is going to be okay,” purrs Clockwork, “I promise.”

“See? Everything will be okay, Trixie. She promises,” echoes Sunshine.

Trixie gasps and pulls away from Clockwork, her eyes and ears perked and heart racing as she frantically looks around the stall.

“Aw, why'd ya stop? That was cute the way you two hugged,” says Sunshine.

Trixie blasts the stall door open with her telekinesis and looks around for the demented entity. She barely hears Clockwork asking her what’s wrong as she breaks stalls open and looks in the garbage cans. When Trixie climbs on the bathroom sinks and tries to get into the ceiling, Clockwork pulls her down and holds her shoulders, looking her in the eyes with worry.

“Trixie, what’s wrong?” asks Clockwork.

“You don’t hear him?” says Trixie.

“Hear who?”

“Sunshine! You didn't hear Sunshine!?”

“No! Trixie, I don't even know who that is!”

Sunshine's chuckle echoes in the bathroom, and Trixie backs away, trembling and shaking her head.

“No, he's here. I... I have to go. I have to go!”

Clockwork grabs Trixie. “Trixie, wait!”

“Let me go!” shrieks Trixie.

She shots Clockwork in the chest with her telekinesis, blowing both of them off their hoofs, and while Clockwork struggles to get up, Trixie rolls to her hooves and gallops out, not looking back. She zips through the employees of the casino and Fancy Entertainment, and out into the busy streets of Canterlot.

She doesn’t know how long she has been running, but when she reaches her apartment her body wants to shut down right then and there and sleep because her lungs are burning, her muscles are sore, and her bones feel like they’re ready to snap at any moment. However, with Sunshine’s twisted chuckle and taunting ringing in her ears, passing out is not an option. And even if she wanted to, she wouldn’t, it would only leave her trapped in whatever sick room he has in store for her.

Trixie bursts into the lobby of the apartment and frantically pushes the button to call the elevator, sweating and panting from the amount of energy she exerted and from the fear plaguing her. She whimpers and dances nervously in her spot as she watches the numbers of the elevator go down seemingly slower than usual. When it dings open, Filthy Rich steps out with a pegasus mare. Both of them are smiling stupidly with their manes and tails ruffled and their clothes sloppily put on. But their smiles are replaced with shocked expressions and they yelp when Trixie uses her magic to throw them out of the elevator.

The elevator shuts and Trixie whimpers as the lights buzz and flicker on and off.

“That wasn’t very nice,” says Sunshine, his voice echoing and his appearance being known with every flicker of a shadow. “Ya really need t’ be more considerate.”

Trixie closes her eyes and shrinks in a corner while covering her ears. “Go away! Please, go away!”

“Now, why would I do that, darlin'?”

The elevator doors open on her floor, and Trixie wastes no time in galloping to her apartment. Upon entering, she runs straight to the bathroom, leaving her front door wide open, and grabs her pills from the medicine cabinet. As she struggles to focus her magic on grabbing the pills, her mane gets a crawling feeling like she’s being watched. Her breathing becomes shallow and her heart races as she slowly turns around to see Sunshine standing in the doorway, grinning, looking as hideous as he was the same day she first met him. His sickly green coat, yellow tail, and lustful eyes and smile are all there. Plain as day. Solid as a living pony.

“Hello, darlin’.”

The elevator doors to Trixie and Pinkie Pie’s apartment floor lazily slide open and Pinkie Pie walks out with some mail in her mouth, two of which are personal invitations to see Princess Celestia and Shining Armor immediately. Pinkie Pie is already dead tired from all the work she had to do, such as getting the paperwork for passports, scheduling places to stay in Bernese, and making sure that they actually get to Bernese without any interference. But thankfully Ink Well was able set up a way to get a place for her and Trixie to stay, all she really had to do was offer extra money.

Pinkie Pie’s body starts getting an uncomfortable buzz when she sees the door to her apartment open. Not knowing what to expect, she puts the mail by the door, and cracks her back and shakes away the weariness in her. Then she jumps in and sees Trixie in a complete mess by the toilet. Her azure coat is ghostly pale and soaked in tears around her face, she is trembling, and her mane is a sweaty mess. And the worst of it, she is eating her pills by the hoof-full.

In a blink of an eye, Pinkie Pie is wrestling the pills away from Trixie. The sudden burst of speed has left her burnt hoof and injured back screaming, but she pushes that pain aside. She cannot afford to feel it when Trixie is trying to kill herself.

“NO! I NEED THEM! I NEED THEM!” screams Trixie through her sobs as Pinkie Pie pushes the pills away from Trixie.

“You don’t need them!” says Pinkie Pie, trying to yell over Trixie.

The distraught unicorn’s crying and thrashing, and all around brutal behavior to get those pills scares Pinkie Pie, so she does the only thing she can do. She hugs Trixie and lets her cry in her shoulder, while gently rocking her and shushing her.

“He’s going to get me!” sobs Trixie, still trying to get to the pills.

“Who’s going to get you?” asks Pinkie Pie.

“Sah-Sunshine! Sunshine... He won’t leave me alone. Why can’t he just leave!?” cries Trixie.

Pinkie Pie sniffles and rubs Trixie’s back, and seconds later Trixie trembles and mumbles.

“He’s always there,” says Trixie. “Always... Always... Always. I NEED THOSE PILLS!”

Trixie lurches forward, catching Pinkie Pie off guard, and she almost grabs the pills that spilled on the floor, but Pinkie Pie is able to regain control of her.

“HE’S GONE WHEN I TAKE THOSE PILLS! LET ME HAVE THEM!” screams Trixie furiously, returning to her vicious behavior. “I NEED THEM!”

Pinkie Pie holds fast, and a minute of thrashes, screams and insults later, Trixie breaks down into sobs and clings to Pinkie Pie, curling on her lap and crying into her shoulder.

“They're dead,” whimpers Trixie. “Everypony is dead. I'm dead. I'm going to die. I'm going back to Singsong and Sunshine and Brisk Wind are going to get me. I don't want to die. I don't want them to get me. Please don't let them get me.”

“I won't let them get you,” Pinkie Pie says softly while stroking Trixie’s mane and letting her cry into her. “I'll keep you safe, Trixie.”

Pinkie Pie closes her eyes and leans against the wall, still hugging Trixie, and tears roll down her cheeks as she thinks about all the friends she lost and how she had gotten Spike and so many others killed. Pinkie Pie gulps back her tears and opens her eyes, which are now bloodshot, and looks down at Trixie. She whimpers, closes her eyes again and bangs her head against the wall. Now her tears are flowing freely with Trixie's. A short while later, Pinkie Pie takes a deep breath and softly sings.

Trixie is still whimpering and shaking, and Pinkie Pie’s holds her tighter and rubs her mane.

Pinkie Pie looks down, Trixie is still shaking and burying her face in her chest.

Her soft singing seems to be calming the wrecked unicorn down, so she continues singing and stroking Trixie’s mane.

Trixie stops trembling, but is still sniffling and mumbling to herself, but Pinkie Pie is glad that she has calmed Trixie down this much and continues holding her. She sighs and bows her head so that it is resting on the top of her friend’s head, humming the Smile Song. She doesn’t care how long it takes, she’ll stay with Trixie until she feels better. Princess Celestia and Shining Armor are just going to have to wait.

Author's Notes:

Edited on 28 Feb 2016

(Formerly Betrayals [A])

Arc 2- 19- Ultimatum -ADDITION-

Shining Armor levitates a folder with the Wonderbolt seal on it and checks its contents. Needless to say he’s very surprised by what he’s seeing. He knows that the pony in front of him has immense talent, and even though she had some problems adjusting to the military structure and taking orders, she quickly got that fixed. Now with her skills on top of military discipline she has been personally recommended by the Wonderbolt higher ups to test the newest piece of technology, courtesy of the team that reverse engineered Roar Shock’s technology.

Although his body language is calm and collected, inside he’s prancing around like a colt on a sugar rush. For once something is going right! Out of all the witnesses for his case against the EIB dropping like flies, the growing unrest in Equestria, and him getting crucified for having a simple drink, he’s finally getting favorable results from Research & Development. And on top of that, the Wonderbolts handed over their most promising recruit to date over to him on a silver platter with next to no questions. He also seemed to have gained some popularity among the grunts, because apparently he knew how to party hard.

Shining Armor puts down the folder, looks up at the mare in front of him and gives her a warm smile. “It’s been awhile hasn’t it, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash gets a small smile and nods, but even though she is in the presence of an acquaintance she is constantly shifting and the little beads of sweat roll down her neck and face. In an attempt to lighten the mood Shining Armor turns back to the paper to look at her achievements.

“Well Rainbow Dash, I have to say that you have an impressive record,” says Shining Armor. “Your scores are in the top ten percent range in just about every section, and they clocked you as the fastest flier in Equestrian history. Probably the fastest flier in the history of the world.”

Rainbow Dash’s smile shifts to a slightly smug one as she relaxes in her seat. “Yeah, I’m pretty awesome like that.”

Both of them exchange a chuckle, and when she is comfortable being in his office after a casual conversation, Shining Armor has to admit that when he’s actually close up to the pegasus he finds himself gawking just a little bit. Not only does her colorful figure make her stand out, but her toned body fits perfectly with her uniform.

“So,” says Shining Armor, trying to keep himself from staring at the Element of Loyalty for too long, “now that we are comfortable, let’s get down to business.”

Shining Armor takes a sip from a glass of water he’s keeping by his typewriter.

“Right. So, what’s next?” says Rainbow Dash.

It is at that moment in time that the water he’s drinking decides to take a detour. Shining Armor’s eyes bulge and he coughs up the water, dropping his cup in the process. Rainbow Dash cringes and shrinks back in her seat with her nervousness returning with reinforcements. Shining Armor beats a bubble out of his chest, and when that’s done and over with he leans over, wheezing.

“Oh man! I’m sorry, I don’t-I didn’t mean to make you freak out!” cries Rainbow Dash, now sweating like a hot pig.

“It’s fine,” wheezes Shining Armor with a wave of his hoof.

“Please don’t get mad!”

“Rainbow... relax...”

“If I screw this up the others would never forgive me!”

“Airmare Dash, it’s fine!”

Rainbow Dash stops, but is still worried sick, while Shining Armor repositions himself and tries to regain his bearings.

“It’s fine. The water just went down the wrong pipe is all,” says Shining Armor.

Rainbow Dash nods and tries to keep her cerise eyes locked on him, but her eyes keep shifting away from the Captain. Shining Armor, on the other hand, is trying to figure out why fate decided to embarrass him like that.

“You okay?” asks Rainbow Dash uneasily. When Shining Armor doesn’t respond due to him trying to fix himself back to par, the hopeful pegasus frowns sadly and sulks in her seat. “If this is a bad time we can reschedule... or something.”

Shining Armor gets himself back to his normal, proud appearance he smiles casually at Rainbow Dash.

“No, it’s fine,” says Shining Armor, he even chuckles to alleviate the newfound stress between them, but his chuckle does not put the cyan pegasus at ease. “I’m going to ask you some questions, and I need you to answer them truthfully, okay?”

Rainbow Dash nods. “Yes sir.”

“Good. Question one: Are you willing to push yourself above and beyond for the protection of the Royal Family, their subjects, and the Solar Doctrine, the supreme governing document of the Solar Empire of Equestria?”

Rainbow Dash straightens herself out, and puffs out her chest and feathers.“Yes, sir,”

“Question two: The Chrysaor Program requires supreme loyalty to the Program and to the Royal Family. Are you willing to spend your life serving the Royal Family, the Solar Empire Royal Guard, and the Chrysaor Program of the Wonderbolts?”

Rainbow Dash hesitates before she nods. “Yes sir.”

After nearly an hour of questioning, Rainbow Dash leaves Shining Armor’s office feeling beaten, and her nervousness about everything that has happened doesn’t make her feel any better. She is certain she botched the test, and she knows for a fact that Shining Armor was not impressed when she explained her favoring bull rushing tactic of fighting over slow and time consuming take-downs. Plus, she is still shaken up about Shining Armor’s reaction to choking on his water, so she makes a mental note to warn Soarin on the dangers of water consumption.

Instead of walking down the hall, she decides to take the faster method and fly. Once she’s by the elevator she waits impatiently for it to arrive. She finds herself tapping her hoof on the tile and wishing that there was a balcony nearby so she can just fly out, but there isn’t. The place like a tomb.

When the door finally opens, Rainbow Dash pushes back her claustrophobia and is about to step inside, but familiar faces are there. One being a unicorn she never wanted to see again, and the other being the minty green pony she ran into at Joe's.

Rainbow Dash unfurls her wings and glares at Trixie with clenched teeth. “Pinkie, what are you doing with this little snot!”

The pony she knows is Pinkie Pie pales and her eyes widen while trying to push Trixie out of the elevator. She has to strain herself, though, since Trixie is digging her hooves into the floor and is trying to close the elevator door by frantically hitting the emergency close button.

“I’m not Pinkie Pie, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says as she manages to shove Trixie out of the elevator. Trixie is quick to hide behind the earth pony like a pathetic foal, complete with the drooped ears and shakes.

“I never said ‘Pie’!” says Rainbow Dash, grabbing the pony and looking into her eyes, now ignoring Trixie completely. She can see her reflection plainly in those eyes -the eyes that she knows belongs to Pinkie Pie. And despite seeing her friend alive and well she is still pissed off. “What’s the deal, Pinkie?”

“I’m not Pinkie! I’m Minty Sprinkles! Candy Associate of Princess Celestia!” says this so-called Minty Sprinkles.

Rainbow Dash tightens her grip, veins now throbbing and her blood boiling.

“Enough with the games, Pinkie!” shouts Rainbow Dash. Then she finds all her anger evaporate and sadness take over. She starts sniffling and shaking, and her voice cracks and her grip softens. “It’s me, Pinkie. It’s Dashie. Your friend, remember?”

Minty sighs, releases herself from Rainbow Dash, and then she puts her hoof on the pegasus’s chest and gently guides her backwards into the elevator.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not your dead friend,” she says.

Rainbow Dash tries to push her way out, but the earth pony holds fast, and her desperation increases tenfold when her friend pushes her into the wall and hits the express button to the basement floor.

“Pinkie Pie, ya gotta listen to me! What happened was not your fault!” says Rainbow Dash desperately. “It was not your fault what happened to Spike, okay? Please stop this! I’m begging you, please!”

That seems to have struck a sore spot as she sees Pinkie Pie’s eyes glisten in an instant.

“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash,” says Pinkie Pie, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Pinkie, no!”

Pinkie Pie steps back and the doors slide shut before Rainbow Dash can put a hoof in it. Rainbow Dash screams for Pinkie Pie and when the doors click shut and the elevator begins its descent, Rainbow Dash tries to stop the elevator, but express really did mean express. The elevator shows no signs of slowing down, and Rainbow Dash screams in a mixture of sadness and frustration as she watches the numbers on the dial drop. Then she swears, punches the wall and slumps to the corner of the elevator, and then buries her face in her hoof. A few seconds later, her wings sulk and a small whimper escapes her lips.

Pinkie Pie stares at the elevator for a couple more seconds before she wipes her face and looks at Trixie. She’s still looking petrified about what had just happened, and the gathered crowd doesn’t help either of them relax.

“I seem to be running into a lot of old faces in this city,” says Trixie.

Pinkie Pie nods her head in agreement and wipes the tears out of her eyes.

“Let’s go see what Shining Armor wants,” says Pinkie Pie.

Shining Armor stares at the photo taken of him and Cadence when they went to the Crystal Kingdom for their honeymoon. He is wearing his uniform while Cadence is wearing a flowing dress, and they are both smiling lovingly into each others eyes while the Crystal City shimmers behind them, adding to the glow they have. He smiles as he remembers the good days, where they laughed and snuggled every chance they got. He remembers how they played games, talked about their day, and how she was kind enough to give him back massages every day after work. The smiles they shared on a daily basis was enough to make him believe in love and the goodness of the world.

He misses the days when ponies smiled and where being a Royal Guard meant protecting royalty from something as asinine as a pony getting a little too excited. He remembers how ponies had a great time even after the Changeling attack. He remembers how fear was really just nervousness. Nervous about a job interview. Nervous about a date. Nervous about being in a new place, only for it all to go away with a welcome wagon. He remembers it all.

Ponies were honest.

Ponies were kind.

Ponies were generous.

Ponies were loyal.

Ponies were laughing.

All these things were the magical elements that held Equestria together, but what is left now? Liars, haters, thieves, backstabbers, and tears, all disguised to be something better than what once was in a twisted world where everything is believed to be okay because the old morals are not appropriate anymore. Ten years, and it all went to shit.

Shining Armor places his hoof on the picture and traces Cadence’s smile; he wants to smile, but he cannot. There is nothing left to smile about.

Shining Armor puts the picture down and stares at the Equestrian flag he has in his office. He wants to believe in Equestria, and the ideals of love and tolerance and the harmony it created, but he knows that it is all gone. Equestria was poisoned, and he knows its nearing its end. One thousand years and the Equestrian way of life will finally die in flames.

There is a knock on the door and Shining Armor wipes his eyes and says that the door is open. Case Study walks in with two ponies behind her, and she introduces them as Minty Sprinkles and Trixie Lulamoon. When Shining Armor sees Trixie he is surprised at how much better she looks. It looks as though she’s never been injured at all. The scars are gone, bruises are nowhere to be seen, and her curly mane isn’t a mess. The only thing that is really wrong is that she is pale. Very pale. Also, her expression hardens into something that reminds Shining Armor too much of a pissed off Manticore.

But looks and pissed off expressions aside, Shining Armor is glad that she has answered his call. Now all he has to do is see if she’s willing to cooperate with him for his investigation into the EIB.

“Is this about the EIB?” asks Trixie.

“Yes, Ms. Lulamoon, this is,” says Shining Armor, standing up to meet the two mares. “And you must be her parole officer.”

“That is correct, Captain. You can call me Minty, or Minty Sprinkles, whichever you prefer,” says the mint green pony, forcing a smile.

Shining Armor notices that, aside from the clear anger, Trixie looks saddened, as well as her parole officer.

“Is everything okay?” asks Shining Armor.

“It’s fine,” says Minty, “I have to see Princess Celestia on important business. Take care of Trixie till I get back. Cool. Thanks. Bye.”

And with that, Minty leaves before Shining Armor can say anything and when the door shuts behind her, the remaining two ponies take their respective seats.

“You watched,” says Trixie in an angry, low voice, her head tilted down so he cannot see her eyes.

Shining Armor sighs sadly and leans forward to try to look at Trixie’s eyes. “I know, and I know no amount of apologies will fix what I didn’t do, but I can fix this. I can help you if you’ll let me.”

Trixie is silent, and Shining Armor waits for her to answer, but she doesn’t. She keeps her head down and eyes locked on her hooves. A moment later Shining Armor gets out of his seat and sits on the floor next to her. She remains still, and up close he sees faint, fresh bruises along her body and a shimmer in her eyes.

“Trixie, please, let me help you,” begs Shining Armor.

Trixie swallows and a tear falls to the floor, but still she refuses to look at him, and he carefully puts his hoof on her shoulder and tries to look her in the eyes.

“Please, Trixie,” says Shining Armor softly. “Please, let me make this right.”

After Pinkie Pie leaves Shining Armor’s office, she heads towards the throne room to meet with Celestia. As she walks she greets the guards, maintenance crew, and other castle employees along the way. When she reaches the massive double doors she stops and stares at one of the last ponies she wanted to see. Rarity.

Rarity is sitting down, waiting patiently for someone, and when she sees Pinkie Pie, she nods politely at her. Pinkie Pie returns the nod, silently thanking Celestia for her disguise’s effectiveness, and takes a seat across her former friend. Rarity stares at Pinkie Pie and she looks away, trying to look at anything other than the Element. A moment later Rarity gets up and takes a seat next to Pinkie and continues her staring.

Pinkie Pie tries to ignore her, but the constant staring is making it increasingly difficult for her to do so. Finally, after a couple of minutes of awkward silence on Rarity’s part and silent aggravation for Pinkie Pie, the fashionista decides to speak.

“You look familiar,” says Rarity. Pinkie Pie’s heart skips a beat and she starts to become nervous, fearing that Rarity has seen through her disguise. “Are you related to Pinkie Pie, by any chance?”

“I don't know who that is,” says Pinkie Pie innocently.

“You've never heard of Pinkie Pie?” says Rarity skeptically.

Pinkie Pie shakes her head. “Nope, can’t say I have. Is she a baker or something?”

Rarity skepticism grows. “She was, actually. She was also the Element of Laughter.”

Pinkie Pie blinks, putting on her best confused face. “I'm sorry, but I don't listen to hip hop.”

Rarity's lips curl into a deep frown. “No, darling, she was one of the Elements of Harmony. She was Laughter, just like I am Generosity. Or, was, since the Elements are no more.”

Pinkie Pie clops her hoof, as if she just had an epiphany. “Oh, yeah! I remember, now! The Elements of Harmony were a group of friends that protected Equestria, right?”

Rarity smiles, appearing to be relieved to see some intelligence. “Yes, that's what we did.”

“There was Twilight Sparkle, the know-it-all, OCD chick that nobody liked dating because she was a weirdo with a book fetish.”

Rarity's smile fades.

“Then there's Applejack. The crazy, backwards, racist bigot, right?” says Pinkie Pie.

“Where on earth did you get that idea from?” says Rarity, her jaw to the floor.

“She's a farmer with a twang, ain't she?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“Then there was Rainbow Dash, the dyke,” says Pinkie Pie. “Wasn't she in love with that Pinkie Pie filly that got your dragon lover brutally killed by a psychopath?”

“Miss, can you-”

“Nah, forget about them. What about, oh, what's her name? Fluttershy. She was a model wasn't she?”

“At one point, yes.”

“I wonder how much porn there is of her out there. Probably a lot, huh?”

Rarity gasps in disgust. “How can you say that? What is wrong with you!?”

“And speaking of gratuitous sex. You must be Rarity, the fashion extraordinaire and subject to lots of raunchy rumors.”

Rarity blushes furiously at the mention of “raunchy rumors” and tries to hide her face from Pinkie Pie while stammering flimsy defenses that only get worse.

“Hey, don't feel bad,” says Pinkie Pie, giving Rarity a playful slap on her shoulder. “You're just living up to your Element, Ms. Generosity.”

Rarity's face ignites into a hot red, and her whole body shrinks while Pinkie Pie smiles about her victory. However, before she can do anything else, the massive doors to the throne room swing open and Twilight walks out, looking smug and proud. Then Pinkie Pie hears her alias being called so she has no choice but to skip out on her original on-the-spot, mentally-torture-Rarity plan.

“Before I go, I gotta tell you that I heard that Buttonbelle just came out with a new line of sewing machines,” says Pinkie Pie.

Rarity’s embarrassment dissipates in an instant and she gets a huge smile with sparkles in her eyes as she leans closer. “Really? You must tell me what they are! You must! You must! You must!”

Pinkie Pie taps her chin in a mockery of thought. “I don’t remember their names exactly, I just know that they are durable. Like really durable. So durable, in fact, that they won’t break.” Pinkie Pie leans closer to Rarity and her innocent smile turns wicked. “Even if you throw them at somepony’s head.”

Rarity’s whole body stiffens and pales to pure white, and as her eyes grow and water, her ears droop and her lips barely move, yet make no sound. Minty Sprinkles is called again, and Pinkie Pie struts towards the chambers, being sure to give Twilight a tail whip to the face as she walks past her.

“What was that for?” says Twilight, giving Laughter a terrible glare which has replaced her smug expression.

“Tell Fluttershy that a fan of hers says ‘Hi’ for me,” says Pinkie Pie without looking over her shoulder.

When she is in the chamber the doors close, and Pinkie Pie takes a deep breath and approaches the goddess sitting in her fancy throne, smiling proudly all the way. When she is a good dozen or so feet away from Princess Celestia, the alicorn raises her hoof and orders her to stop. Pinkie Pie complies and bows.

“How are you doing, Your Majesty?” says Pinkie Pie.

“I just talked to my Most Faithful Student, and I had to lie to her,” says Celestia.

The tone in the Princess’s voice makes Pinkie Pie wince, and she stands up, looking at her benevolent ruler with concern. “You sound upset, Princess.”

“That doesn’t begin to describe my mood.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“For starters you can cut your charade and tell your friends that you aren’t dead.”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes narrow and points an accusing hoof at the doors behind her. “You mean your surrogate daughter and her horny friend? Sorry, but I think you’re mistaken. They aren’t my friends anymore, they are just a bunch of fakes.”

“Says the pony who created a false life after faking her death.”

“I have to be dead!” cries Pinkie Pie with a stomp of her hoof and tears clouding her vision. “I have to be dead so nopony else gets hurt! And even if I didn't, those guys don't deserve to know that I am alive! They sucked as friends and don't deserve to be called Bearers!”

“And neither do you!” booms Celestia's voice, her whole body flaring and blackening her throne and the red fabric that surrounds it.

Pinkie Pie shrinks back, ears low and eyes wide, and a sickening feeling of pain and nausea drowning her as Celestia approaches her. When the alicorn is towering over her, the flames are gone, but the stench of burnt fabric lingers in the heavy air.

“Laughter chose you to be its host, but I am not laughing at your jokes or your puppet. Your act has gone stale and needs to end,” says Celestia.

Pinkie Pie risks standing. “Celestia, I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Don't play dumb with me, Pinkamena. You may hide your brilliance well from others, but I know you, and I am tired of this discord. I am tired of you using Trixie as your puppet for the nonexistent threat. I am tired of letting Equestria believe that the Elements are broken. Most of all, I am tired of lying to Twilight. Either you end these games, or I will, and trust me when I tell you that you do not want me doing that.”

Pinkie Pie looks at Celestia defiantly. “Princess, these are not some games we play. The things I'm having Trixie do are going to help her fight what is coming.”

“You’re going to get her killed! Is that what you want? Do you want to see her die from your paranoia?”

“It’s not paranoia!”

“It is paranoia!”

“I’m trying to save your kingdom!”

“Equestria does not need to be saved by you or your puppet!”

Pinkie Pie falls silent and looks down, feeling the whole world crushing her as Celestia paces around her with no light of sympathy in her eyes.

“Pinkie, what you’re doing now is not right and will lead to dire consequences. You’re not only toying with your friends, your family and with me, but you are puppeting the life of somepony who thinks she has freedom. Cruelty at its best. And what will you do when your past catches up? Will you fake another death? Find another drifter to manipulate? The Elements of Harmony trusted you to be Laughter and the only joke I’m seeing is the one your playing on the lives of others!”

With that, Celestia stomps her hoof on the tile in front of Pinkie Pie, making a deafening BOOM that echoes in the throne room and hurts her ears. Celestia stares down at Pinkie Pie, waiting for an answer, and when she doesn’t get one, she snorts and goes back to her throne and watches Pinkie Pie look at the floor in silence.

“You have two days to tell your friends that you aren’t dead,” says Celestia.

Pinkie Pie’s full attention snaps back to the Sun Goddess. “What? But Princess-”

“Either you tell them, or I tell them. If you tell them then I’ll see to it that Trixie Lulamoon is pardoned of her vigilantism and I’ll make sure your back is properly taken care of ahead of schedule.”

Pinkie Pie hesitates. “And if I don’t?”

“Trixie Lulamoon will be punished to the full extent of the law and you’ll have your turn for surgery docked two months. The choice is yours.”

Pinkie Pie glares at the Sun Goddess and her jaw tightens as she stands up.

“So let me see if my ears are working right,” says Pinkie Pie. “You -the benevolent, thousand year ruler and master of the sun- is blackmailing me -a loyal subject doing everything in her power to save your kingdom- into announcing my identity, even though it will put my family at risk from the very same ponies that are plotting Equestria’s destruction?”

Celestia nods, still holding her harsh gaze, and Pinkie Pie scoffs and starts pacing in circles.

“Unbelievable,” she mutters; she stares at the princess with eyes that would bore into the soul of any normal pony. “Unbelievable! Just please, pretty please, tell me that if I do this you’d at least let Trixie have her inheritance.”

“No,” says Celestia sharply.

“No?”

“Eclipse Lulamoon was a criminal, so the money in his inheritance was obtained by illegal means. Think of us taking Trixie’s inheritance as a means of us reclaiming our property.”

Pinkie Pie stomps the ground. “That’s five million bits you’re stealing from her! Since when are you a dirty, grubbing, diamond doggy thief, huh?”

“The money was obtained unlawfully. Anything purchased by Eclipse Lulamoon and his associates must be reclaimed by the state, as stated by the Solar Doctrine. Any piece of property or sum of bits that was in Eclipse’s will was never his to begin with, therefore it wasn’t his to give to Trixie. And before you say anything about my actions being cruel, take a look at yourself. We are merely taking back what is ours, while you are manipulating a lost soul for your own gain.”

Celestia’s horn lights up and Pinkie Pie watches the double doors swing open out of the corner of her eye. Then Celestia stands up and approaches Pinkie Pie once more, her stern demeanor becoming impossibly more imposing.

“Our conversation is over. Tell your friends that you are alive themselves and this madness will end and nopony else will suffer from your mistakes.”

Those last words stabbed Pinkie Pie in the heart and all she can think about is Spike dying on her back.

Those words -Spike’s last words to her- bring tears to her eyes and the painful memory causes her legs to give out on her and make her sit on her haunches. Pinkie Pie’s widened eyes are now flowing with tears, and her jaw is agape and she’s breathing heavily, like someone punched the air out of her. It is then that Celestia’s stern gaze melts into that of shock, and she steps forward and tries to put her hoof on Pinkie Pie’s shoulder.

“Pinkie, I-” starts Celestia.

Pinkie Pie slaps the hoof away. “You’ve made your point.”

She then gets up and hurries to the door without giving Celestia a farewell or a glance. She really wants to say something snarky, something spiteful that will tear out her goddess's heart, but all she can think about is Spike's blood all over her. The blood she caused to spill by her own carelessness. The friendships that she broke because she got Spike killed. His blood. Her hooves. Just like the rest of them.

Celestia watches Pinkie Pie hurries out of the throne room, wanting to call out to her and bring her back to embrace and apologize for her words. Her tongue does not work, though. Her legs cannot move her and her wings cannot propel her. Not even her horn will generate the magic needed to pull the lost Element back to her. When she is able to lift a hoof, it is too late. The door is closed. Laughter is gone and all that stares back at her is the large sun engraved on the door that seals all noise and life on the other side.

Celestia sighs heavily and slouches in her throne, no longer caring about her royal appearance, and feeling resentment against herself for being so careless about her subject. Her friend. And so she sits in silence, staring at the lifeless sun before her, wanting to rewind the clock and take back her words. And it is during this period of miserable silence that the doors part ways with the magic of the guards outside, allowing Major Glimmer Fuller to march inside, dressed in his dress uniform.

As usual with the unicorn, his steps are placed quickly, yet carefully, from decades of muscle memory, and his eyes do not break from Celestia. When he is at the appropriate distance, he stops and bows, rising when she gives him permission to do so.

“Your Majesty, the problem in Ponyville has been contained, as per your orders,” says Fuller.

“Thank you, Major Fuller,” says Celestia, mentally breathing a sigh of relief of having some good news. “Was anypony hurt?”

Fuller shakes his head. “The CDA and EIB took care of the troublemakers without any issues.”

“And what of Applejack?”

“She is fine.”

Celestia eyes him skeptically. Fuller may have an impressive record, but with how emotionless he appears, she wonders if the trauma his record shows has corrupted him on what the definition of delicate is.

“I assure you, Princess, we are treating her with extra care. You do not need to worry or feel guilty about what had to be done,” says Fuller, his stolid expression not faltering.

“I know, but I have known Applejack for a long time and seeing her act out like this and what she forced me to do has placed a burden on me that is hard to carry,” says Celestia.

“Princess, will you allow me to be frank with you?” asks Fuller after a pause.

Celestia nods, even though there is some worry. “Go ahead.”

“You are placing an unnecessary burden on yourself. Applejack may have been your friend, but friendship is dangerous and in the end it only brings pain. You need to let go and focus on what is at stake, not something as destructive as friendship. Think about the country and the millions of ponies, here. Not your friends.”

Silence. Silence and disbelief at what she has just heard. At first she really cannot find a good reason why someone would think like that in terms of friendship, but then a thought crosses her mind.

“Were you hurt by your friends?” asks Celestia.

Fuller stares at Celestia, and she stares back, waiting for an answer. His gaze is neutral and his stature solid. With his lack of emotions, Celestia gets an uneasy feeling running along her spine, worrying that she might have unintentionally triggered another unpleasant memory.

“Pain has it uses,” says Fuller finally. “Are there any other orders for me to tend to?”

Celestia shakes her head. “No, that will be all for today. I’ll be in my chamber for the rest of the evening. I do not want to be disturbed.”

Fuller nods and Celestia stands up, spreads out her wings and her whole body becomes encased in a warm glow. With that, she disappears in a flash of light that momentarily fills the room with blinding light. When the light fades, Celestia is nowhere to be seen, leaving Fuller alone in the emptiness of the throne room.

Seconds later, Fuller heads to the door. His steps are heavy and his focused eyes harden at the sun engraved on the massive doors, and speaking in a barley audible whisper, he says: “How unfortunate I was to know them.”

Author's Notes:

Added on 28 Feb 2016

(Formerly Betrayals [A])

Arc 2- 20- Betrayals -EDITED-

Author's Notes:

Edited on 06 Mar 2016

“Trixie, I’m grateful for what you told me, but I have to warn you, if the EIB found out that you talked to me, then they will come after you,” says Shining Armor as he puts a tape recorder in his safe.

“Why not convince Celestia shut them down if they are targeting innocent ponies?” asks Trixie, not really caring, she just wants to get out of the office. “You are the Captain of the Guard, after all. Isn’t that the next best thing to Royalty?”

“I tried, but she won’t listen. She’s been really reluctant to let me do an investigation into them. Especially after the Pre-Gala.”

“So, you’re doing this behind her back?”

Shining Armor hesitates. “Just be careful. If they come after you, you run and hide and don't look back. Don’t tell anypony where you are going. Not even Minty Sprinkles or your boss or coworkers. I’ll come find you.”

“How?”

Just then the door opens and Case Study enters, carrying a bag of food and a saddle full of paperwork, and Shining Armor smiles.

“I got my ways.”

Honesty Missing!
Applejack & MacIntosh “Big Mac” Apple
disappear from Ponyville Estate
__________________
By: Featherweight Light
__________________
PONYVILLE--- Ponyville has once again been struck with a tragedy. Two staples of the Ponyville community, Applejack and MacIntosh Apple, disappeared late last night from their home with little to no clues of their whereabouts. The Local Guards are coordinating a search effort with the citizens of Ponyville and the Equestrian Investigation Bureau to search for the Apples.
“Rest assured, the EIB is doing everything in its power to assist Ponyville and to find the cherished members of their community,” said Director Brisk Wind. “Apple Bloom Apple will be taken into EIB custody until we can find a suitable home for her or until her relatives are recovered.” Unfortunately Ponyville’s list of missing has grown over the past week. The Whooves also went missing a few days ago and their daughter, Dinky Whooves, was also taken into EIB custody. Despite best efforts by the Ponyville City Council and the EIB, paranoia has taken a hold of the once peaceful town.
“I don’t like it,” said somepony who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t like the EIB here. I don’t like whatever that CDA hub is. And I don’t like that ponies that speak out against the Royal Government disappear within the next couple of days.”
The Apples and Whooves worked closely together to protest the increase in Royal Government mandates. More specifically on the issues of nationalized farms and the Special Talent’s Act, which led to Sweet Apple Acres’ change in management and encouraged Derpy Whooves to resign her position as head of the Ponyville Post Office and taking over management at the Cloudsdale Bubble Factory.

Continued on Next Page

Pinkie Pie rereads the newspaper article for the umpeenth time. Every word sends a shiver up her spine, and the whole thing stinks worse than an overflowing septic tank. On top of the uneasiness she’s getting from the article, her mane is also itching and her body is getting tingly. It has been doing it for the past hour and it leaves her ill.

Pinkie Pie looks over her shoulder and sees that Trixie’s door is shut. It has been for the past few days ever since Trixie had her meltdown and almost killed herself with pills. Trixie has not left her room for anything, save for the bathroom. She barely ate, did not leave to beat up any criminals and has yet to shower. She has kept herself locked in her room, mumbling about Sunshine, Brisk Wind and Singsong and ghosts. Every time Pinkie Pie has seen Trixie, she had been pale and her eyes kept shifting. On top of that, she has been a roller coaster of every negative emotion there is. One minute she is weeping, the next she’s screaming, and other times she’s cowering in the corner.

Pinkie Pie is not sure what happened between Trixie and Shining Armor, though, and every time she has asked in the past twenty four hours, she got a nasty tongue lashing about it. That usually followed by Trixie crying and begging for someone to hold her. In an attempt to keep Trixie calm, Pinkie Pie has kept the radio turned to Scratch FM. Right now a hard rock song is being played over the radio, but Pinkie Pie has not heard much from Trixie. In fact, she has been completely silent for a little while and Pinkie Pie is hoping that it is because she is sleeping. The uneasy tingles get worse the closer Pinkie Pie gets to the door, though, and she has to muster the courage to knock.

“Trixie, are you okay?” asks Pinkie Pie.

No answer.

Pinkie Pie opens the door and sees Trixie is in the corner, staring at the Mare-Do-Well costume, eyes red and coat soaked in tears.

“You okay?” asks Pinkie Pie.

Trixie sniffles. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

Pinkie Pie sits in front of Trixie. “Of course I do. Why?”

Trixie shakes her head, and then she closes her eyes and trembles. “I don’t know. I hear Sunshine, but ghosts don’t go away with pills.” She forces a chuckle. “I’m going insane.”

“Trixie, it’s going to be alright, okay?” Pinkie Pie hugs Trixie. “It’s going to be sunshine and rainbows in the end, you’ll see. Whoever Sunshine is will soon disappear and you’ll be left with something a million times better than a warm summer day. You’ll see.”

Trixie tenses up and glares at the costume. “Sunshine and rainbows. That is what Pinkie Pie told you to say to Octavia, right?”

The itching and twitching gets worse, sending Pinkie Pie’s heart into a beating frenzy, and the itching and tingling gets worse, but still she nods.

“That’s right,” says Pinkie Pie carefully.

Trixie suddenly pushes Pinkie Pie away and backs out of the corner, towards the middle of the room, and stares down at Pinkie Pie, fuming.

“That pegasus thought you were Pinkie Pie, but I killed her. I watched her die, and now I’m wearing this suit. Her suit.” says Trixie.

Pinkie Pie tries to say something, but Trixie talks over her in a dangerous voice that demands answers.

“Why did she call you Pinkie Pie?” says Trixie.

“Mistaken identity,” says Pinkie Pie quickly.

Pinkie Pie has to use her hind hoof to scratch at her mane and behind her ear, because now the itching is getting intense and the tingles are more like dozens of sharp blades constantly poking her. It actually brings tears to her eyes, but Trixie is merciless in her interrogation.

“Who are you?” says Trixie, her eye twitching and horn flaring as she levitates the suit next to her. “Candy Associate. Trying very hard to get away from that pegasus. Brought to tears by the mentioning of Spike. Who are you, really?”

“I am Minty Sprinkles. Your parole officer and Candy Associate of Princess Celestia.”

Trixie throws down the costume. “DON’T LIE TO ME!”

Trixie steps towards Pinkie Pie, and she backs up, feeling nothing but sheer terror upon seeing Trixie’s wrathful sparks and her grinding teeth. Pinkie Pie holds up her hoof defensively, and now the itching in her mane and the tingling in her body is becoming too painful to ignore.

“Trixie, I need you to calm down,” says Pinkie.

“Calm down? Calm down!? YOU USED ME!” screams Trixie.

“It’s not like that!”

“Then what is like, huh? Tell me, because I would really like to know!”

“Trixie, I’m trying to help you.”

Trixie scoffs and runs her hoof through her mane. “Help? Yeah, that’s what they all say. Help. Help. Help. Help. Help. Everypony wants to help Trixie just so they can fuck her!”

Now Pinkie Pie’s body is really acting up. She is practically dancing in her spot and her eyes are darting to every noise there is. Is she hearing flapping? Cars pulling up? That can’t be right. It’s curfew. Her Pinkie Sense is going crazy now.

“Trixie,” starts Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah, I'll help Trixie. Let me just drug her and fuck her in a locked room, first!” rants Trixie.

Pinkie Pie runs towards the window, ignoring Trixie at the moment, and sees three EIB vehicles outside the apartment with ponies hopping out, all unicorns, wearing armored suits and carrying weapons. Then she notices a griffin land next to a unicorn stallion. They talk for a couple of seconds before the griffin flies off.

“And now I’ve been played like a fool by you!” yells Trixie.

Pinkie Pie grabs Trixie and looks her in the eyes. “Trixie, I know you’re a little upset right now, but we really need to get out of here. Like right now.”

Trixie bats Pinkie Pie’s burnt hoof away, causing her to wince. But pushing all pain aside, she looks out the window again and sees a griffin flying towards their window. And it’s picking up speed.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” sneers Trixie.

“GET DOWN!” barks Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie tackles Trixie to the ground right as a griffin armed with a small Gatling rifle flies through the window, showering both ponies with shards of glass. As the griffin skids to a stop, Pinkie Pie turns and close-lines him in the gizzard. The griffin falls flat on his back, disoriented, and for good measure Pinkie Pie she socks him in the head, knocking him out cold. Trixie looks freaked out with no signs of anger now and Pinkie Pie turns to her.

“Run!” yells Pinkie Pie.

Another griffin flies through the window and tackles Pinkie Pie to the ground. The griffin is quickly blasted off of her by Trixie's magic, leaving him slumped against the wall with a good sized indent behind them.

Pinkie Pie pushes herself up and shakes the pain away. “Put your suit on.”

Trixie nods, and with the help of magic, she is able to suit up very quickly, and once that is done, the two bolt out into the hallway, with Trixie's helmet clipped to her side and the Gatling rifle slung across Pinkie's back. But when they run into the hallway, the elevator doors slide open and four EIB ponies march out with their battle saddles aimed at them.

Pinkie Pie bites on Trixie’s tail, throws her back inside and then slams the door shut while Trixie uses her magic to barricade it with their fridge. Soon after there is thumping and the door starts cracking and the fridge slides forward, but Trixie’s magic is holding it in place.

A trio of griffins rush in from Trixie's room, but they are quickly acquainted with Pinkie's hoofs, leaving them sprawled out in a wrecked living room. Pinkie Pie, however, obtained a few injuries of her own, and she is hunched over, shaking with sweat and blood dripping off of her, and her back and injured hoof screaming.

“Trixie, do your super form thingy!” orders Pinkie Pie.

“I can’t!” cries Trixie.

“What do you mean you can’t!?”

“It only works-” the fridge starts getting pushed back by magic and Trixie yelps and tries harder to keep it in place while Pinkie Pie pushes against it. “It only works if I’m mad!”

“We just got sold out! That doesn’t make you mad!?”

“No! It’s makes me scared!”

“Oh, so me lying to you ticks you off, but getting sold out makes you scared!”

Trixie strains her magic to keep the fridge in place.

“Now is a bad time to argue, Minty!” whines Trixie.

“Unbelievable!” cries Pinkie Pie. “You got defense mechanisms! Use them!”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

Pinkie Pie growls and when bullets tear apart the door and barely miss Trixie, she pulls her down and glares at her with shrunken pupils.

“Being difficult,” says Pinkie Pie. She unslings her weapon, puts it in her mouth, and sprays the wall and door with lead. The agents outside swear and some bodies drop, but Pinkie Pie doesn’t know -nor does she care- if they were shot or just dove for cover. What she does care about, though, is the pain in her mouth. She angrily spits out the smoking weapon, mouth now bruised and bleeding. “Aaahow! Jeez, how can anypony shoot with their mouth?”

An EIB agent pokes her head through the hole and aims a pistol at Pinkie Pie, and she quickly jumps on top of the fridge and slams the agent’s face against it. The impact leaves a nice, bloody dent in tit and the agent falls to the ground without a peep. When that’s done, Pinkie Pie jumps off of the fridge, runs into the kitchen and grabs a fire extinguisher.

“I toss you, you shoot,” says Pinkie Pie.

“What?” says Trixie.

More bullets go through the wall and door, and one pierces Pinkie Pie’s shoulder, pushing her off of her spot and leaving her on the ground, screaming through her teeth with her eyes shut and her hoof pressed again the gory hole. Blood seeps out from under her hoof and more bullets go through the door and wall, forcing her and Trixie to lie on the floor with their hooves to shield themselves from the flying splinters. Soon the door is nothing but mere splinter hanging from hinges and the wall is nearly useless. The two trapped ponies can see the EIB agents outside, and show their respects to a fifth one that had just arrived. The newcomer is a stallion, and he doesn’t sound too happy about the situation.

“Be careful! They’re supposed to be alive!” barks the stallion.

Not wasting any more time, Pinkie Pie grits her teeth in response to her pain, grabs the fire extinguisher, and then chucks it.

“Now!” orders Pinkie Pie right as it goes airborne.

Trixie shoots an electric beam at it and the wrath of an exploding fire extinguisher in unleashed. All the ponies are blasted off of their feet. Some crash into the walls, others are tossed down the hallway, and from what Pinkie Pie has heard, someone is going to have a nasty fall if the shattering glass is any indication.

Pinkie Pie bites back her pain and looks outside and sees that the EIB agents are unconscious and that the window in the hallway is gone. She then taps Trixie on the shoulder, making her flinch.

“Let's get out of here before more goons show up,” says Pinkie Pie.

Trixie nods and follows Pinkie Pie out. Pinkie Pie winces with each step and when they enter the stairwell she can only think of colorful, profane phrases as she looks down the flight of stairs. Walking down those is going to hurt, plain and simple.

“You okay, Minty, or whoever you are?” asks Trixie.

Pinkie Pie forces and tries to look at the bright side of the situation as she looks over the railing, but she finds only one good thing about the situation. “Oh, yeah. I’ve had worse.”

Lock’s ears twitch when he hears the stairwell doors shut, and he groans and opens his eyes to see the mess. His agents are all sprawled out, unconscious, with a broken window leading outside. He looks outside and counts two dead agents below, laying awkwardly on the concrete below. Lock then levitates his pistol while arming his battle saddle and walks towards the door with his already deteriorating calm demeanor fading quicker. When he opens up the door he doesn’t see his targets anywhere, but he does see a trail of blood and begins his pursuit.

Trixie watches in awe and fear as Minty beats down a group of griffins easily. She shrugs off their scratches and bullet grazes with only the slightest acknowledgment of pain, and every squawk and cry of pain is met with a mad cackle from Minty that grows in volume and insanity. By the time the last griffin has been beaten to a bloody pulp, the hallway is destroyed with broken floors, walls and ceiling, mangled bodies are sprawled and the hanging lights flicker with sparks sprouting from their wires. As Trixie watches Minty breathing and dripping blood and sweat, the chuckles of a deranged pony linger in the air, and when she sits on the floor next to a twisted griffin and looks at the blood on her hoofs. Minty's shoulders buckle and her eyes and teeth glow in the flicking light, and against Trixie's beter judgment, she approaches.

“Minty?” says Trixie, her voice hoarse and shaking. “Minty, are you all right?”

“They can't hurt you, now,” says Minty in an eerie voice Trixie has never heard before.

“Minty?”

Minty Sprinkles looks at Trixie, still grinning, and Trixie gasps and backs up, wanting to scream and run, but she is too scared, too stunned to do so. The smile, the eyes, both of them form the same twisted smile Pinkie Pie gave her shortly before she murdered her in Ponyville.

“You and Pinkie are safe from the meanies,” says Pinkie Pie.

“No... No... I-I killed you! I saw you die!” cries Trixie fearfully.

Pinkie Pie starts walking forward with a sway, her creepy smile growing with each step. “Don't be afraid, Trixie. I am your friend. Would you like a party? Parties make everypony feel better.”

Trixie backs up into the stairwell door, and her heart feels like its going to explode from how fast it’s beating and she is sweating so much that her suit is clinging to her. Her ears droop and she lets out a little whine when the lights above Pinkie Pie’s head flickers off for the last time, yet her blue eyes are still seen clearly in the darkness.

“You can't be Pinkie. I killed Pinkie. I saw her die. I saw you die!” whimpers Trixie.

“Maybe a game? Games are just as fun as parties,” says Pinkie Pie. “I personally like tackle tag. Maud loves tackle tag. Do you want to play tackle tag?”

Trixie shakes her head and Pinkie Pie pouts.

“You aren’t a boring old drag queen like Twilight are you? Or Rarity? Bleh. Those two are sooooo uptight, ” says Pinkie Pie. She sits on her haunches and nuzzles her bloody cheek against her hooves, poorly mimicking Rarity’s voice. “So much fashion. I must sew clothes, darling. Lots and lots of clothes are needed for my new line up: Pinkie is a Meanie.”

The lights flicker again and Pinkie Pie stomps on the head of a griffin that has the misfortune of groaning. The sickening stomp quiets the griffin, and from the sounds of bone crunching under her hoof, she probably ended their life.

“And Twilight and alllll of her studies,” continues Pinkie Pie now doing a poor impression of Twilight. “How many ponies would it take to subdue Pinkius Piecus? Must do more research. More. More. More studies and notes. Lots and lots of notes!”

“This can’t be happening,” says Trixie quietly.

Sunshine’s chuckle echoes in the hallway. “Oh, it is, darlin’.”

Pinkie Pie grins. “It is, best friend, and I want to play a game.”

Trixie blinks, but that gives Pinkie Pie enough time to knock Trixie through the door and on her back in the stairwell. She winces as her back collides with the hard concrete, and when her eyes get back to focus she sees Agent Lock approaching them from the top of the stairs, keeping his weapons trained on them.

“And I want to play it with you. So, what game do you want to play, Trixie?” asks Pinkie Pie, her crazy eyes locking onto Trixie’s. "Any game. Any game you want. I love games."

Trixie looks back at Pinkie Pie and tries to push her off, but has no luck. “Minty, Pinkie, whoever the hell you are, snap out of it!”

“Silly filly, ponies can’t snap. You need fingers to snap. Minotaurs have fingers, they can snap.”

“It’s over, Minty and Trixie, give up,” says Lock after cocking his weapon.

Trixie looks at Lock, overwhelmed with fear. “Lock, get out of here! Minty's-Mmph!”

Pinkie Pike puts her hoof on top of Trixie’s mouth and puts her bloody hoof to her mouth. “Shhhush. Shhhhush, Trixie. You'll scare him off.”

Pinkie Pie looks at Lock with that insane smile, making him take a step back.

“Hey there, strong guy, do you wanna play a game with me and Trixie?” she says.

“I want you to surrender,” says Lock.

Pinkie Pie snickers and gets up and cracks her back. When she crawls off of Trixie, she approaches Lock and Trixie runs down the stairs into the next level down. Seconds later she hears a struggle, gunfire and a body rolling down the stairs. Then comes the silence.

Trixie turns and stares at the door, her heart is threatening to burst out of her chest and her vision clouded with tears. She watches a silhouette of a pony appear in the foggy stairwell glass and she takes a step back as the shadowy figure stays there. Then the door is blasted open and Lock steps into the hallway, panting and face and neck sleek with blood, and he glares at Trixie with his weapons trained on her. Trixie’s eyes bulge and she dives into the hallway curve as bullets tear apart the area she was at moments earlier.

“Get back here!” yells Lock furiously.

Trixie scrambles to her feet and runs down the hallway, listening to Lock’s determined gallop after her. Trixie runs as fast as her protesting muscles will allow and right as she is about to go through the emergency exit, Lock fires a shot right into her leg. Trixie screams and falls to the ground, and when she tries crawling away, leaving a trail of blood in her wake, Lock stomps on her back. She cries out as she feels the hoof crack her vest.

“Trixie Lulamoon, you are under arrest by the authority granted to me by the Royal Government of Canterlot and the EIB,” says Lock. “Your crimes against the state will no longer go unpunished.”

“I was trying to help!” cries Trixie painfully, shifting her legs and wincing when her shot leg gets a surge of pain.

Lock kicks Trixie on her back and presses his hoof down on her chest. She gasps and she feels the air get pushed out of her, but it is while she is on her back that she notices Lock's unprotected part of his body.

“Vigilantism is terrorism, Lulamoon, and for that you- GRRRK!”

Lock falls over and curls up, holding his precious gonads, and Trixie rolls to her hoofs and bites back her tears as she limps towards the door. However, Lock pounces on her again, and her body is squished between him and the floor. She starts screaming and thrashing and clawing on the floor to escape Lock as the thoughts of Sunshine having his way with her invade her mind.

“No! No! No! No! Please, no!” sobs Trixie, panicking and screaming louder even more when she feels Lock press against her.

“Ooh, now that’s kinky,” snickers Sunshine as he walks in her line of sight, grinning. “A hero and an officer of the law, t’gether fer some steamy fun. Mind if I join?”

Trixie screams and slams the back of her head against Lock's muzzle, getting a yelp of pain from him and him losing his grip on her. With him no longer holding her, she bucks him off, uses her magic to pick him up, and then she throws him against the wall. He grunts and plaster rains down all over him, covering him white and splinters, but when Trixie tries to escape again, she feels a tingling cloud wrap around her. Her eyes bulge and everything becomes a blur as she becomes weightless and gets a face full of ceiling panel. Splinters scratch her face and her landing on her back knocks the wind out of her, leaving her shifting on the ground, on her back, coughing and groaning with ringing ears and blinking blood out of her eyes.

“Resisting arrest is a felony punishable up to two years in the dungeons,” says Lock, his steps following his voice.

“Get up and fight, Trixie,” urges Sunshine. “I wanna see some action!”

Trixie groggily pushes herself to her feet, only for magic to lift her up, slam her back into the ceiling, and when she hits the floor she gets tossed into the wall, leaving a pony sized. She coughs blood as drywall and other bits of debris fall around, and over the ringing in her ears and thumping heart, she can hear Lock demeaning her.

“So, this is the one who killed Laughter and became the champion of vigilantism?” says Lock.

Lock stomps on her side and she cries as she curls up; the armor did next to nothing on his stomp. The power of his stomp has cracked the suit and left her ribs cracked.

“I guess you really are just a nopony with something to prove,” says Lock.

Trixie's vision suddenly turns red, and she growls through her gritted teeth and she stands up, panting and ignoring the burning pain in her legs and the poking feeling in her chest. Lock goes for a swing, but she blocks it and uses a telekinetic blast to knock him into a door. The door nearly snaps in half, but he quickly recovers and when he tries to shoot her with his battle saddle she zaps it with a lightning bolt, blowing the weapon clean off. Lock coughs and staggers with smoke rising from his burnt clothing and skin, and before he can recuperate, Trixie punches him to the ground.

Lock scramble back up and tries to use his telekinesis to knock Trixie back, but her horn lights up as well and two balls of energy mold into one in between them, mixing their aura's into a strange blob. Both unicorns grunt and strain themselves as their blob grows and pushes away anything in its range. Debris is pushed across the floor, and it, the walls, and the ceiling groan and sprout fresh cracks that snake out across every solid surface.

Trixie grits her teeth and closes her eyes for concentration, trying to think of anything she can use against Lock. And when she opens her eyes she sees her opponent diverting some of his magic to aim his pistol at her.

Trixie steps forward, and with an enraged scream she flicks her magic to the ceiling, which guides Lock’s magic up with it. The result is the ceiling exploding outward, and then collapsing on top of both of them and covering everything in debris and dust.

Lock loses all concentration on his magic and brings his hoof to cover his nose and mouth, coughing sickly, while Trixie ignores the burning in her lungs and eyes and charges Lock. By the time Lock sees Trixie leap for him she is already on him and does three quick jabs and one hard buck that sends him skidding backwards on the messy floor.

Much to Trixie’s surprise, Lock doesn’t stay down long. While Lock coughs and recollects himself, Trixie puts on the helmet, and when Lock sees Trixie glaring at him from behind the goggles, he wipes the blood from his maw.

“Impressive. But that still won’t won’t save you,” says Lock.

Trixie roars and charges him with her horn sparking, and he quickly yanks out his pistol from the debris with his magic and fires three shots. The first shot grazes her shoulder, the second blows a hole in her hat, chipping off a piece of her horn, and the final bullet rips through her hoof, squirting the area with her blood. Trixie screams in pain as she tumbles end over end and lands on her face, but not without zapping Lock first. The bolt of lightning strikes him in the chest and sends him flying backward, and he falls with a grunt and black smoke rising off of his chest.

Trixie sobs out of anger and pain as she pushes herself up and glares at Lock. Her whole body is wobbly from her injuries and her blood oozes through her mask and costume, leaving red dots all over the floor. Even her horn is seeping grayish magenta magical blood from the chip and covering her forehead and face.

Lock is lying on the ground, motionless, and the reek of burnt flesh and cloth is leaving a bad taste in her mouth. Trixie wants to make sure that Lock will not be getting up anytime soon, but the door opens up and more EIB agents rush in while two more griffins break through the windows to the hallway. They waste no time in shooting at her.

Trixie shoots off a couple of lightning bolts, which proves to be a horrible idea as it leaves her feeling like someone shattered her skull with sledgehammer and leads to her getting more grazes and another bullet in her leg. Trixie swears up a storm as she limps into the emergency exit stairwell, and her enemies continue to shoot at her with their seemingly endless supply of ammo.

Once inside the stairwell, Trixie collapses from the pain, and her vision clouds with tears and blood as she crawls away from the door. The bullets shatter the glass and tear the door dozens of new holes, and Trixie tries to grab the stair railing for support, but her blood soaked hoof slips and she tumbles down the stairs, coming to a hard stop when she hits the wall on the bottom. She pushes herself up and forces her body to move, leaving streaks and dots of red as she limps outside. Once outside Trixie sees genuine EIB mini trains and she collapses against the wall from shock. Shining Armor had been right, and now Minty is dead and she is dying from the EIB betrayal. She honestly does not know why she is surprised, though, but she does not want to think about it since survival is more important than being surprised at her own surprise.

With the pause taken, Trixie feels a cold, heavy weight ease itself on her, and she once again wills her weak, broken body to move. A part of her wants to stay and fight to avenge her roommate and closest thing she has had to a friend in a long time, but her intelligence is telling her that she is as good as dead if she fights them in her condition. So she limps away in the darkness of the alley and does not look back.

Lock once again finds himself groaning and under a lot of pain. His chest feels tight, his jaw hurts, and his neck stings where Minty bit him. As he groggily inspects himself, he is helped up by a group of agents while the two griffins they arrived with stand around, looking bored.

“Sir, the Night Guard is on their way with SWAT,” says one of the agents.

“Where’s Trixie?” demands Lock after shrugging the agents away.

“She got away,” says one of the griffins.

Lock growls and looks at the agent that told him of the Night Guards. “When will they arrive?”

“We estimate less than ten minutes,” replies the agent.

Lock sniffs, wipes some blood off of his face and then turns around and shoots both of the griffins in the head. The agent jumps back and he looks at all of his agents while the griffins crumble to the ground with holes in their heads and bloody circles splattered on the wall behind them.

“Kill all the griffins. Alibi is that we were trying to save Trixie Lulamoon and Minty Sprinkles from Gilda’s muscle and things took a turn for the worst. Leave it at that,” orders Lock.

“But aren’t we working with the griffins to help?” asks an agent.

“No, and if anypony so much as hints at otherwise to anypony then there will be consequences. Now, let's go.”

The agents nod and reluctantly follow Lock outside when he orders them to follow him. Outside the griffins and agents are sealing up the EIB truck and Lock whistles for everyone to give him their undivided attention. The griffins and agents look at him and Lock aims his pistol at the nearest griffin and fires.

Trixie leans against a dumpster and thinks of passing out right then and there. The pavement is comfortable anyway. Then there is a single gunshot. Then there are more gunshots and her ears stand up as she uses the dumpster for support. The gunshots sound like a small battle, and as quickly as they came, they are gone.

Trixie slumps to the ground. Her legs feel like jelly, the pain in her horn makes her want to crawl in a hole and die, and she feels like she’s going to be sick. But as much as she would like to mope and think about how her situation sucks, she knows she cannot stay. And when she hears the sirens and sees the lights of Night Guard vehicles speeding towards the apartment, she disappears into the alley, leaving a bloody smear on the dumpster.

Vinyl Scratch, a.k.a. DJ-Pon3, a.k.a. “Tenant Who Needs To Pay Rent”, is sitting inside her sanctum, listening to her music and projecting it for all to hear. All of the radio equipment a pony could possibly dream of is stacked in this dimly lit room. No pony’s radio is safe from her scanners, no music update is left unchecked, no news left unheard, no pony without entertainment from Canterlot all the way to the Frozen North and the edge of the Badlands. But not only is there every type of radio equipment on the market in her possession, she also has an overabundance of reminders of who her sponsors are. Ranging from posters from energy companies, to figurines belonging to toy lines, and empty bottles of alcoholic beverages and energy drinks. And to finish off her decorations, she has a gift from the Lunar Society. It is a navy blue flag with the white, upside crescent moon with wings that she has hanging on the wall behind her bed.

“Now if I could just win the damn lottery,” mumbles Vinyl Scratch.

It is true she has a lot of money, but keeping the station up to date with every bit of information is expensive. From maintaining contacts with other stations, to scheduling talks with agents to see what’s going on with celebrities, and, of course, keeping her scanners a secret from the government. All that leaves barely enough money money for rent and food.

When the song ends, Vinyl Scratch wipes some of her mane out of her bright red eyes and leans towards the microphone.

“You guys liked that, didn’t ya? Of course you did. These guys are rocking out the music industry! But now it’s time to stop rockin’ and time to put you guys to bed.” Vinyl Scratch flips a switch, puts the dial to “Loop” and sweet, soft music starts playing over the radio. The music is so heartwarming, so soothing, that she almost passes out right on the spot. “Here’s a lullaby called ‘Hush Now’, sung by Equestria's kindest mare. Sleep tight everypony.”

As the music plays through the speakers all over her abode, Vinyl Scratch yawns and climbs on her flimsy cot, pulls her ratty blanket over herself and shuts her eyes for a good night’s sleep. But her rest barely lasts a few minutes before it is disturbed by a weak knock on her door. At first she tries to ignore it, but when the knocking persists, she gets up with a grumble, grabs a bat with her magic, and approaches the door.

“I swear if its the tax man or landlord...” grumbles Vinyl.

She looks out the peephole and sees no one, but the knocking continues. That is when the DJ realizes that it’s coming from the side door. She huffs, puts the bat away and after digging through a field of paper cups, crumpled paper, and half eaten sandwiches she levitates a double barreled shotgun from under her cot and cautiously approaches the side door. The knocking stops and Vinyl Scratch peeks through the peephole to see absolutely nothing.

“So, they wanna play that way, eh?”

She puts on her glasses and flings open her door with her shotgun at the ready. She doesn’t see anyone around, but she does notice bloody hoofprints sliding down her door and when she looks down her jaw drops, for lying on the ground, lying in a pool of blood, is the one and only Vigilante.

Arc 2- 21- Midnight Massacre -EDITED-

Author's Notes:

Edited on 07 Mar 2016

“Oh boy, we’re pretty high up,” says Applejack nervously over the chilling wind while peeking over the edge of the upgraded Griffin Chaser, peddling her part of course, with Pinkie Pie up front and steering with unbeatable determination.

“Of course we are, silly,” says Pinkie Pie. “Have you ever heard of a pegasus that was afraid of heights? I mean pegasi live on clouds and if they were afraid of heights they wouldn’t be much of a pegasus. They’d be like a tofu pegasus, and tofu is nasty.”

“So yer saying that a pegasus that’s afraid of heights is nasty?”

“And bland. Just like tofu.”

“And what if Ah told ya that Fluttershy was afraid of heights?”

“Fluttershy is a special, tasty kind of tofu. Oh, goodie! Here we are!”

The clouds part like curtains to reveal Rainbow Dash’s towering household. The Romanic architecture and rainbow waterfalls give it a warm, welcoming appearance, and Pinkie Pie and Applejack peddle faster and the Griffin Chaser ascends to the uppermost level where Rainbow Dash’s room is. The balcony is conveniently wide open, giving both mares a clear line of sight into Loyalty’s messy room. They can see the pegasus’s body rise and fall underneath her Wonderbolt blanket with each snore, but her tail is poking out from under the blanket, occasionally twitching with a sleepy giggle.

“Sure, I can do both,” says Rainbow Dash, followed closely by some undercover shifting.

Pinkie Pie snickers while Applejack shivers and rubs her hooves together, teeth chattering and thin, earth pony fur standing.

“I wonder what she’s dreaming about,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Can we hurry this up, please? I ain't really interested in gettin' a cold,” says Applejack, getting a sudden spasm to shake the shivers away a second later.

“Sure thing, Jackie! Do you have the lasso ready?”

Applejack unclips her rope from the side of the Griffin Chaser. “Got it right here, Pinks.”

“Excellent,” says Pinkie Pie. She pulls out a megaphone, turns it on to the maximum volume and aims it at Rainbow Dash. “GOOD MORNING RAINBOW DASH!!!”

Rainbow Dash screams and flails under her covers until she’s standing upright on her bed. Her mane and tail are plagued with the effects of early morning bed-head, and her wings are outstretched from the surprise of Pinkie Pie’s obnoxious morning greeting.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes dart around the room until they focus on the two mares on the Griffin Chaser, then her eyes turn to angry slits and she burrows herself under her covers once again.

“Way to ruin my nap, you guys,” says Rainbow Dash from under the sanctuary of her covers.

“BUT, DASHIE, TODAY IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY AND WE NEED YOU ASAP!!!” says Pinkie Pie.

“Go away!”

Pinkie Pie sighs and puts the megaphone away, and then she looks at Applejack with lidded eyes. “Do it.”

“One grouchy pegasus comin’ up!” says Applejack.

Applejack carefully twirls her lasso so that it does not get caught in the propellers, and then she skillfully throws it over Pinkie Pie’s head. It avoids the Griffin Chaser’s propellers and goes around Rainbow Dash’s tail, and with one quick tug the lasso tightens around the colorful tail and Rainbow Dash is yanked out of her bed and dragged across the floor. The pegasus swears and tries to grab anything her hooves can get a hold of before remembering she has the gift of flight. She tries to fly away, but the rope is on her good and tight and is quickly subdued by Applejack and Pinkie Pie through an airborne hogtie that leaves her tied to the Griffin Chaser.

“Let me go!” orders Rainbow Dash, ferally thrashing in her bondage. They don't release her, so she screams and calls for help to the ponies down below, causing some to look up and -unfortunately for Dash- wave with giant smiles on their faces. One of which is a teenage Scootaloo. “Scootaloo, get help! I’m being kidnapped!”

“Hi, Rainbow Dash!” hollers Scootaloo, waving enthusiastically.

“Get help!” cries Rainbow Dash desperately. “Help!”

Scootaloo gallops down the road. “See ya around, Dash! I’m late for practice!”

“No, don’t go to practice! Get help!”

It takes them another few minutes to reach the big, red barn that serves as a staple for Sweet Apple Acres, and during the whole trip they had to deal with Rainbow Dash’s protests and threats. Pinkie Pie lands the Griffin Chaser at the front and Applejack unties Rainbow Dash just enough so that they can take her off of the aerial vehicle. After that, the farmer carries her fellow Element to the barn and pushes the door open while Pinkie Pie locks her prized possession to a tree. Once Pinkie is inside with the two, Applejack closes the door, covering the whole barn in darkness.

“What’s going on here!” says Rainbow Dash harshly.

“Will ya just relax, already,” says Applejack.

“Relax? Relax! I was kidnapped by you lunatics at only Celestia knows what time!”

“It was noon, Dash.”

“Yeah, do you know how early that is?”

Pinkie Pie hears Applejack face-hoof, but she does not care. Dash needs an explanation, so she will get one.

“But, Dashie, we had to become lunatics so that way we can congratulate you on your latest achievement!” says Pinkie Pie.

“And what achievement is that?” says Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly, the barn is lit up by colorful flashes of light that match Rainbow Dash’s vibrant color scheme and confetti falls from the ceiling like raindrops in a storm. The light show illuminates the tables of punch, cider, and cakes, cupcakes and cookies as well as wafers with bowls of pudding next to them.

“SURPRISE!!!” shouts all of her friends and a dozen extra guests from Weather Patrol and around town.

Rainbow Dash screams and backpedals, but since she’s still tied up in rope, she ends up tripping over herself and lands on her back with a loud thud. Applejack chuckles nervously and quickly apologizes before undoing her work. Once Rainbow Dash is free she scrambles to her hoofs and is about to chew them out for scaring her, but her scowl turns into a wide eyed wonder when she sees HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAINBOW DAS written in crayon on a large banner.

Twilight walks up to the three with the cake levitating in front of her, smiling brightly too. The cake is huge and covered in blue frosting with lightning bolts all along the sides. There is also a cluster of lit candles on the top.

“Happy birthday, Rainbow Dash,” says Twilight. “Ready to blow out your candles?”

“Today’s my birthday?” asks Rainbow Dash.

“Um, yeah. Don’t tell me you forget about your birthdays, too.”

“Well, technically today isn’t Dashie’s birthday since she was born on a leap day,” says Pinkie Pie matter-of-factly. Everyone goes silent and stares at her, and her response is a big smile and a hug for the birthday mare. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate your birthday!”

“Um, thanks. But you said you had to congratulate me on my latest achievement... So, what is it?” says Rainbow Dash.

“Turning another year older is an achievement.”

Rarity steps forward. “But keep in mind that it also brings you one year closer to getting gray hair. Luckily for you, I got you some great products that will help you keep your magnificent colors.”

Rarity hands Rainbow Dash a basket the size of her head that is filled with fur and mane care products, as well as hoof polish, general makeup, new brushes and combs, perfumes, bath oils and salt, and twenty four hour odor protection lady speedsticks. Sports edition.

Rainbow Dash forces a smile and gingerly pats Rarity's shoulder. “Gee, thanks. I like it. I like it a lot.”

Rarity beams and Twilight chuckles nervously and uses her magic to wipe sweat off of her face.

“Can you please blow out the candles, now?The wax is getting all over the frosting,” says Twilight.

Rainbow Dash takes a deep breath and blows out all but one candle, which she blows out a split second later. The ponies cheer and stomp the ground in applause, and Pinkie Pie stands on her hind legs and shouts: “LET’S PARTY!”

The guests cheer once more and the celebration goes in full swing. The music is blaring so loud that ponies have to shout just to hear each other speak, the food and drinks quickly vanish in the stomachs of the guests, and everyone is generally happy.

Pinkie Pie does her part in the party. Such as dancing with random guests, refilling glasses out of the blue, and “accidentally” pushing Fluttershy into in Big Mac after said shy pegasus gives Rainbow Dash a book on tortoise care. When that ordeal is taken care of, Pinkie Pie makes her way to Rainbow Dash, who is moping in the corner away from the party for some reason.

“So, Dashie, how are ya liking the party?” asks Pinkie Pie, the enthusiasm in her tone is enough to make anyone around her smile. Anyone but Rainbow Dash, that is.

“It’s good,” says Rainbow Dash, forcing herself to smile.

Pinkie Pie’s smile fades away and she wraps her hoof around her best friend in a sympathetic hug. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Wonderbolts?”

“Haven’t responded yet.” Rainbow Dash clenches her teeth and looks down at the floor to hide her aggravation. “It’s the same thing every year. Whenever I go to try out, something either happens where they get knocked out, my wing gets broken, they all mysteriously get food poisoning, or they find somepony ‘better’. Maybe I dreamed too big or something.”

Pinkie Pie hands Rainbow Dash a mug of Applejack’s famous cider, and the birthday mare chugs it all down in a matter of seconds. Pinkie Pie is quick to refill it while Rainbow Dash continues with her depressing chatter.

“I mean I just look around and-”

Pinkie Pie hands her the refilled mug.

“Thanks. I look around what do I see? Everypony else having their whole world handed to them on a silver platter. Applejack’s farm and the Cakes’ are growing into even bigger businesses. Rarity has shops and deals popping up left and right. Twilight’s got her own little whatever in the royal court because of her fantastic connections. Fluttershy has her vet, now. And what do I get?”

Rainbow Dash chugs the cider in one sitting and wipers her mouth of the leftover foam.

“The same old crap, just a different night. Is it seriously too much to ask to join the Wonderbolts? I mean I’ve been training my whole life for them and I’ve been going to their tryouts every chance I get! And I get rejected. Every. Single. Time!”

Despite Rainbow Dash being close to tears, Pinkie Pie still smiles, and in a provoking tone, she says: “So, all you’re asking for is some Wonderbolt love?”

Rainbow Dash nods. “Yeah, but I guess it’s too much to ask for, though.”

Pinkie Pie giggles, hugs her best friend in a loving embrace and points at the barn door. “Well, Dashie, it’s as my Papa Pie used to say: ‘Ask and ye shall receive’.”

And right on que, the door flings open and Scootaloo walks in with pride radiating off of her as she escorts two very important pegasi wearing military uniforms. Soarin and Spitfire. The music grinds to a halt, making a comical scratching sound, and all eyes fall on the trio as they walk in. The Wonderbolts nod politely at the guests, and Soarin slows down for a moment when he spots a freshly baked apple pie, but Spitfire nudging him with her wing brings him back up to speed. Rainbow Dash’s eyes become dilated, and when the three pegasi are in front of her, all she can only sweat and shake in her spot.

“Here she is, the one and only Rainbow Dash,” says Scootaloo proudly, flashing a toothy grin and pointing at the subject.

Soarin reaches into his side pocket and pulls out an envelope with the Wonderbolt insignia on it and hands it to Rainbow Dash. It takes Pinkie Pie nudging Rainbow Dashfor her muscles too unlock, and the pegasus is quick to take the letter from Soarin with her mouth. Her cheeks burn red from being so close to him and for having their mouths so close together, and her blush doesn’t go unnoticed. Spitfire rolls her eyes while Soarin shifts his gaze nervously, also flushing a little.

Once Rainbow Dash is holding the envelope, Soarin says with a proud, albeit nervous, smile: “Welcome to the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash.”

The crowd bursts into a deafening cheer and applause and Rainbow Dash’s eyes and smile widen to impossible levels and she cries tears of joy. In fact, she’s so happy that she faints, and when she hits the ground-

A piercing slap goes across Pinkie Pie’s face, waking her up completely, and she blinks the daze away and focuses her eyes on the group of upside down griffins in front of her. She feels trickles of blood seep out from her previous injuries and the new scratches on her cheek, and when she looks down she wants to puke from seeing the puddle of her blood underneath her.

The griffin that slapped her smirks and turns to Octavia and Winny.

“That woke her up,” he says.

“Octavia?” groans Pinkie Pie, her eyes trying to focus on her sister, but she cannot since the slap has put her body in a sickly swinging and twirling.

“Hello, Minty Sprinkles,” says Octavia coldly.

“What’s going on? Who are these guys? And why am I upside down? Where’s Trixie?...”

Pinkie Pie looks around, realizing that she’s trapped in a chain cocoon and in a grungy, abandoned warehouse that still has mostly empty racks and random pieces of garbage here and there.

“What’s going on?” says Pinkie Pie, tears building in her eyes and a wet bulge clogging her throat.

“Trixie bled to death an alley, unfortunately. So now it is just me and you,” says Octavia. She then grabs her head and forces her to look at her eyes. “You did what you had to do, remember?”

“Octavia, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” says Pinkie Pie, sniffling and tears mixing with her blood.

“LIAR!”

Octavia’s hoof strike’s Pinkie Pie in the jaw, splitting her lip and more than likely cracking some teeth. Pinkie Pie grunts and awkwardly spits blood out of her mouth as sobs and begs her sister to listen.

“Octavia, please!”

Octavia strikes her again, this time Pinkie Pie starts spinning, and the more her world spins the stronger her need to puke becomes. And she does puke out a bloody mess, and a tooth falls loose too, making the griffins laugh and taunt her.

“She trusted you!” screams Octavia.

“Octavia, please just listen to me.”

Octavia growls, grabs a metal bar with her hooves and swings them against Pinkie Pie’s side. She cries out in pain as she feels and hears her ribs snap. Pinkie Pie sobs and tries to get Octavia to listen to her through her labored breathing, but she won’t hear any of it.

“She trusted you and you fed her to the timberwolves!” yells Octavia over Pinkie Pie’s desperate begging, and then she turns to the griffins, wiping some of her sweaty mane out of her eyes. “A fitting punishment would be having these griffins beat you to a pulp before I put a bullet in your head.”

The griffins look eager to go along with Octavia’s plan, but Winny steps forward, looking pissed.

“Octavia, that is enough!” says Winny. “It is bad enough we’re tarnishing griffin honor with this-” Winny motions to Pinkie Pie “-but I refuse to let you use my griffins for something as barbaric as turning a pony into a pinata! Just kill her already so we can go home!”

“Aw, c’mon!” whines a griffin.

Octavia’s eyes narrow, she points at Winny. “They are not your griffin’s. They are Gilda’s. Also, I am employing you to make Minty Sprinkles suffer for what she did to Pinkie! Now either you let them beat her to a pulp or I’ll pay each griffin separately to do so!”

“Octavia... I’m... I’m...” whimpers Pinkie Pie weakly.

“SHUT UP!” Octavia looks at Winny. “Well?”

Winny ruffles her feathers and flexes her talons, but the prospect of getting paid individually for beating their victim pleases the other griffins to where they eagerly step forward. Winny points at them and barks an order in her native tongue, the griffins stop and one shouts back in their native tongue as well, and soon all the griffins are having a massive argument as them versus Winny. The argument only stops when Lock limps in with his agents, blood caked on his face and neck. All of his agents are unicorns and are armed with tentacle gear and carrying automatic weapons, which makes the griffins and Winny visibly uncomfortable.

“Enough babbling! We still have work to do and arguing will only take up time,” says Lock, and then he glares daggers at Pinkie Pie. “Not that anypony is coming for you anyway.”

“Inspector Key, your services are no longer required. I’ll give you the bits tomorrow,” says Winny.

“My business has yet to conclude with this pony, and she will not become a bucking bag until I’m finished with her,” says Lock while approaching Pinkie Pie with his escorts trailing him. “So, Minty Sprinkles, it looks like tonight me and Director Brisk Wind will finally be getting the answers we seek.”

When he is directly in front of Pinkie Pie, his eyes lock onto hers and kneels down so that his horn is touching her bloody forehead.

“You’re like a ghost. Finding anything on you was nearly impossible, but now you’re here and I can finally figure out who you are before Octavia has her revenge,” says Lock.

Pinkie Pie’s only response is a heavy, shaky sigh of defeat. She can barely understand what anyone is saying, and her Pinkie Senses seem to be the only things working properly. Her whole body is tingling and shaking, and her eyes keep drifting to the different weapons and potential weak spots for the targets. She uses what little energy she has left to strain her neck to look up, and she notices that they chose a very poor spot to hang her in. The chains are wrapped around a rusted steel beam that is poorly connected to rotting wooden beams that cross the hole dotted ceiling.

“So you won’t talk? That is fine. I do not need to hear you to figure out who who you are,” says Lock, his horns sprouting a small orb at the tip that sends pinpricks up Pinkie Pie’s spine and around her forehead.

A small beam shoots out of Lock’s horn, straight into Pinkie Pie’s forehead, blinding her and filling her with immense pain. It feels like someone has taken a chisel and hammered it into her brain, and then shot shards of ice into it. Pinkie Pie screams and thrashes and sees everything from her life go in rewind from today all the way back to the night she died.

Pinkie Pie groans and opens her eyes just in time to see a giant fireball roll out from the construction site, launching burning debris and equipment all over the place. Her eyes widen when she sees a burning table saw and wooden beams fall towards her, and She rolls out of the way just in time to avoid getting splattered. The burning splinters fly in every direction upon impact and the blade from the table saw bounces past her, almost slicing her leg. Then she sees Trixie fly backwards, out of the construction site, and land on the ground with a sickly crunch.

At first Pinkie Pie thinks she died, but when Trixie shifts on the ground, she is nothing short of amazed. And then Twilight appears in front of Trixie while guards and agents swarm the fallen mare, and Pinkie Pie tries to get up, but an intense pain in her back drops her to the ground.

She lays there, moaning and whimpering, and eyes burning like her destroyed hoof. But she knows she cannot stay. They guards are closing in, and if she is caught right now then her plan will fall apart. She cannot afford to lose this game, so she bites her tongue to keep herself quiet and crawls away into an alley, and keeps her eyes focused on the Royal Palace.

Lock gasps and pulls away. Both he and Pinkie Pie are breathing heavily, and she is sweating and trembling profusely with her eyes closed and her body ready to shut down at any moment. Lock's eyes, on the other hand, are the size of dinner plates and his heavy breathing is loud and shaky. He takes another step back and wipes the sweat from his mane and waves at the agents.

“Get her down,” orders Lock.

The agents step forward.

“What are you doing? Don't take her down!” says Octavia.

The griffins snap their weapons up and the agents stop and aim their weapons at them while charging their horns.

“Take her down, right now!” orders Lock.

“No! You are being paid to kill her!” yells Octavia.

“The deal is off. We're taking her in.”

Octavia growls. “Minty killed my sister, and she will pay for it!”

Before Lock can say another word, the structure shakes with a deafening thud and pop, and all of the lights go out, blanketing everything in darkness. The agents get into a defensive circle around Lock, horns glowing like ghostly lanterns and their weapons and eyes scanning the darkness, and Winny pulls Octavia close to her while shouting orders to the griffins. The other griffins reluctantly go into the darkness, occasionally calling each other to see if they are okay or if their area is clear.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie, now as alert as her battered body can be, strains her eyes and ears to observe what’s going on. She can hear the heavy breathing and beating hearts of those near her, and as the silences becomes more intense, the voices become more nervous.

Suddenly there is a pained squawk and something metallic and fleshy crashes to the ground. All the griffins and agents swear and start shooting wildly in the dark, their muzzle flashes acting like flickers of sunlight that illuminate parts of their body.

Pinkie Pie gets a burst of adrenaline and starts shaking in her chains, desperately trying to get them loose while the nightmarish flickers, whizzing bullets and tracers, and painful screams send her senses on overload. When she does manage to break free she lands in her blood on her head, disorienting everything with a blurry, double vision and a ringing in her ears. Pinkie Pie also feels a spike in pain on her side and neck, and as she struggles to free herself from the chains, she coughs out a glob of blood, which feels like another stab to her side. When the chains are off she wipes the blood and puke off of her mouth with a shaky hoof and hobbles towards her targets.

Through her blurry vision she can barely see the silhouettes of griffins and unicorns falling one by one. They are getting knocked off of their feet or out of the air and falling to the ground or on objects with bone crushing velocity by a mysterious pony she cannot make out. The barrage of gunfire mixed with agonizing screams and bullets ricocheting off of metal or breaking off pieces of the walls make Pinkie Pie’s heart race and her breathing even more painful as she hyperventilates. But when she sees her three targets, the pain and fear disappear. All that remains is rage.

The battered pony’s hobbling turns to a walk, and from a walk, to a trot. And soon, in spite of all her body’s demands to tell her to lay down and rest, she charges. If she wasn’t nearly dead she’d be screaming in rage at the trio next to her.

Her mane and tail deflate, her eyes shrink to that of pinpricks and her vision turns blood red as she gets a crazed, bloodthirsty smile and maniacal laugh. Winny and Lock are too distracted to see or hear her charge them, but Octavia sees Pinkamena leap towards them and she screams and makes a mad dash from the psychotic pony.

When Lock turns, he swears and turns his weapon towards her, but before he fire his pistol Pinkamena shatters his horn with a harp punch. His painful scream causes Winny to turn her head just in time to see Pinkamena buck him in the chest, sending him crashing into a rack of old materials.

Winny tries to shoot her, but the crazed pony reaches her first and destroys her beak with a single punch. Winny clutches her beak, sobbing, and then she is bucked into the wall. After impacting the wall, she falls to the ground, completely still and silent. Then a bullet tears into Pinkamena’s shoulder and she grins maniacally at the source, which is Lock with a pistol in his mouth, who is barely standing from how much he is trembling.

Pinkamena laughs. “Oh, does the strong guy wanna play a game?”

Pinkamena charges him again and when Lock pulls the trigger there is an ominous click. The colors do not get a chance to drain from Lock before Pinkamena uppercuts him in the jaw at the expense of an intense burning pain in her shoulder. She ignores the pain and cackles madly he falls to the ground, his mouth filled with blood and destroyed teeth. Then Pinkamena jumps on top of him and starts pummeling him, despite his best efforts to fend her off.

“You’ve been a bad pony!”

She shatters his jaw with a powerful punch.

“You were mean to Pinkie!”

She punches him in the eye, popping it and the surrounding bone.

“Just like Twilight!”

She grabs his head and slams it down on the pavement with a sickening crack. He weakly pushes his hoof against her head while making gurgling blood, leaving her face streaked in red.

“And Rarity!”

She slams his head down again. His hoof drops and the pupil to his good eye expands in shock.

“And Applejack!”

She slams his head down again and he stops moving and breathing, and the life leaves his remaining eye.

“And sweet ole Tia!”

BANG!

Pinkamena is knocked backwards as a searing hot object tears into her chest. She struggles to stay standing, and when she turns to the shooter, ready to pop their head open, another shot rips into her, knocking her on her back and leaving her gasping for air and choking on her warm blood.

She can hear the gunfire and squawking fading away. In fact, everything is fading away. Her hearing. Her vision. Her sense of touch. And warmth. The only thing that she seems to hear clearly is her heartbeats and ragged breathing.

Pinkamena presses her hoof on her most recent wound and holds it up to her face, giggling by what’s she’s seeing. Her blood. Lots of her blood. And more pool around her, warming her cold body. She looks away from her hoof when Octavia steps into view, and she chuckles at the sight of her with a smoking pistol in her mouth. The musical pony is doing a terrible job of masking her fear, and Pinkamena wishes her limbs would move so that way she can teach the bratty mare a lesson.

Pinkamena chuckles. “So, are you really doing this, Inkie?” She removes her wig with her blood soaked hoof, to reveal her cropped, dark pink mane. “Are you really going to shoot your own sister?”

Octavia’s jaw drops, and with it the pistol, and she slumps to the floor, crying and covering her mouth with her hoof, and hardly able to talk with the suffocation her crying is bringing her.

“What’s the matter, huh? You don't want to shoot Pinkie? You don't want to shoot your own sister!”

Octavia sobs and presses her hooves on top of one of the injuries she inflicted on her sister and cries over Pinkamena’s insane laughter. “Pinkie, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!”

“Pinkie!” cries Rainbow Dash.

Before Octavia can react, Rainbow Dash tackles her to the ground from the air and they roll over each other, and when Rainbow Dash gets the upper hoof, she ruthlessly beats her. Over the impacts of hoofs on flesh, Octavia screams and sobs.

“I'm sorry!” she says. “I'm sorry! I'm sorry.”

“So much... blood,” chuckles Pinkamena weakly, stretching out her hoof towards her eyes, ignoring her sister’s rapidly weakening and increasingly more painful screams. “Sorry, Pinkie, it looks like... you're is really dying... this time.”

Pinkamena snickers and her eyes focus on her bloody hoof without a care in the world. Everyone dies eventually so she sees no point in resisting. Might as well smile in the face of death.

Octavia is now barely able to whimper. “Please...”

Rainbow Dash growls and brings her bloodied hoof up for another strike, but when she tries to bring it down, a hoof grabs it and another rockets into her side. Rainbow Dash gasps explosively and rolls off of Octavia, coughing and wheezing and wings flapping with no effect.

“What the hell did you do that for?” says Rainbow Dash, glaring at the responsible pony.

Maud stares down at Rainbow Dash, her brows slightly furrowed and a tiny frown on her face. She is wearing her frock dress, but on her front hoofs are metal gauntlets that are emitting a pale orange glow underneath.

“I brought you here to save my sisters, not kill them,” she says.

“Sisters?” Rainbow Dash looks at Pinkamena, who is cackling weakly, and then at Octavia, who is bloodied and bruised and barely able to whimper. Then she looks at Maud and her face falls to disbelief as she carefully hugs Pinkamena. “Man, your family is really screwed up.”

Maud burrows herself underneath Octavia and rolls her on her back, but says nothing when she groans in pain and spews off a faint line of apologies. With Octavia on her back, she looks at Rainbow Dash.

“Get Pinkie to the hospital quickly. She won't last long without professional help,” says Maud.

“Got it.” Rainbow Dash lifts Pinkamena off of the ground and looks at Octavia with disgust. “And where are you taking her?”

“I'm taking her home.”

“And where's that?”

Maud gallops off without answering, leaving Rainbow Dash in the warehouse alone with Pinkamena in her grip. Pinkamena giggles and waves farewell to Maud while Rainbow Dash mutters something, and when she looks up with heavy eyes, the last thing she sees in her cold world is the Element of Loyalty smiling at her. Her smile is forced and tears lace her eyes, but what is not fake is her grip. Rainbow Dash is holding her tight, not caring of the blood staining her, and when she starts her accession out, she tightens her hold until they are nuzzling with no chance of Pinkamena slipping out.

“It’s okay, Pinkie, I got you,” says Rainbow Dash gently. “You're going to be fine. I won't let you go. Just please stay with me.”

Pinkamena's eyes close and darkness moves in, and the only things she can hear are two heartbeats and the voice of her loyal friend.

“Stay with me. Please.”

Arc 2- 22- End of Watch -ADDITION-

Author's Notes:

Added on 07 Mar 2015

An hour after the deadly brawl, Winny groans and pushes herself to her feet. Her whole body is aching and when she tries to move her beak she immediately screams, clutches it tight and falls to the ground sobbing. She feels the pieces of her beak get pushed down by her talons, making her cry even harder and kick her legs wildly. After what seems like an eternity of crying and attempts to move, she is finally able to limp towards the exit. But she trips over something and falls to the ground in a warm, sticky puddle. She’s able to fall on her shoulder to prevent more damage to her beak, but she starts trembling when she realizes that she fell in blood and that the body she tripped over belongs to Octavia’s. Winny whimpers and scrambles backwards, only to slide into more blood and trip over another body. This one is Lock, or at least it looks like Lock.

Winny starts hyperventilating and staggers towards a fallen EIB pony with a radio set. She fumbles with the equipment, being sure to keep her destroyed beak clamped with her talon, and when she has the appropriate frequency, she puts on the headset.

“This is Undercover Guard Oksana Wasyl. I need help. Medical help. 443 Wash Street,” says Winny, her voice muffled and strained with the pain from her destroyed beak. “Please, bring lots of help!”

There is fuzz on the other end, and when the voice on the other end speaks, her heart sinks.

“Repeat. We cannot understand you,” says the stallion, his voice garbled and covered with fuzz. “We need your name, number, and location.”

Winny whimpers and wipes her face, leaving streaks of red, and then she speaks in a quivering, more pained voice. “Oksana Waysl. ID number-”

The door suddenly flies open, sounding like a gunshot echoing in the forsaken structure, and Winny stiffens and scans the darkness with her hazy eyes. She hears multiple hoofsteps and voices giving out orders, among other things.

“She's been here, all right. I know her work,” says a stallion.

“Thank you, Chopper,” says another stallion, his voice exotic. “Fan out and find Maud! Kill her on sight!”

The others acknowledge the order and Winny grabs the pistol Octavia held and aims it at the doorway, which now has beams of light chasing away the dark.

“Someone's here. Send backup. 443 Wash Street,” says Winny quietly.

“Repeat. We cannot understand you,” says the stallion.

Winny gets up to leave, but freezes with the sound of a safety clicking off. She gulps and turns, heart racing and thick beads of sweat rolling down her face, and she sees a group of ponies wearing armored body suits painted black with a red wrench inside a lightning bolt on their vests. Leading them is a tan and brown earth pony, and beside him is a familiar unicorn mare, and she is aiming a revolver at Winny's head.

Winny sighs and blinks tears out of her eyes as she slumps to the ground, knowing it is all over, and she glances over shoulder when light falls on her and sees a zebra leading a group of more ponies. One of which is a light gray stallion with a dark gray mane.

“Is this her?” says the tan pony.

Lyra Heartstrings nods, tears rolling down from her bloodshot eyes and her weapon shaking. “Yeah, that's her.”

“Lucky catch. We got one of Gilda's top muscle and the one that murdered Lyra's friend.”

“I can see that, Cracker,” says the zebra. He looks at Lyra. “I believe the honors should go to you, Madam Heartstrings.”

Lyra and Winny lock eyes, and a few seconds of heavy silence later, Winny stands up, tall and proud, like a proper griffin.

“Just know that I’m sorry... I'm sorry for everything,” says Winny, the talking bringing more tears to her eyes.

“Sorry won’t bring her back,” says Lyra.

Then she pulls the trigger and the last thing Winny sees is the flash of the gun.

Lyra lowers her weapon, sniffling and shaking as she stares at Winny's corpse. There is a hole in the griffin's head, and a pool of blood creeps towards everyone in the room, but no one moves. No one except Lyra. Her legs give out and she falls to the ground crying in her hooves, and only Cracker offers a comforting hoof, but she does not look up. She keeps her eyes shut tight and trembles at the thought of what she had just become in not even a second’s time. She can hear other sets of hooves carefully go past her, and following them are methodical gunshots going into each body.

“Repeat. We cannot hear you,” says the stallion over the radio. "We need your credentials and location."

“This is for life, right?” sniffles Lyra. Another gunshot makes her cringe, prompting the hoof to give her a light, comforting rub on her shoulder.

“Unfortunately,” says Cracker.

“Do not be upset, Lyra,” says the zebra.

Lyra and Cracker both look at him, and he smiles and holds his hoof out to her.

“You are doing great things,” he says, “ and Roar Shock will be proud of you.”

Arc 2- 23- Looming War -EDITED-

Author's Notes:

Edited on 01 May 2016

Brisk Wind stares at the photos given to here at the warehouse crime scene. The pictures are gruesome, all of the victims were beaten and then shot, but even if they weren’t shot there is a good chance they would’ve died from their other injuries. She had heard that Rainbow Dash had arrived screaming for help at the Canterlot Royal Hospital with Minty Sprinkles bleeding to death in her hooves. But she highly doubts that Rainbow Dash could take out a two dozen people by herself, especially if half of them are griffins. It is obvious that Rainbow Dash had help, and Brisk Wind had informed Major Fuller of what the rogue Element had done.

When Brisk Wind looks at the mess in the pictures her vision turns red as she wants to make those responsible suffer, especially for what they did to Lock. He got the worst of it and she almost puked when she saw his once beautiful face destroyed beyond recognition. His horn had been completely destroyed, parts of his skull were poking out, and then someone had the audacity to shoot him in the head even though it was quite clear he was dead. Whoever was responsible for the massacre was obviously soulless. But not only is she worried about losing her top agent, she is worried by what Gilda would do. She lost her lieutenant and over twenty of her griffins. Then there is Shining Armor. She knows he will be poking his head in her business.

Brisk Wind sniffles and closes the folder with all the crime scene photos and then looks at the orphanage photo Lock had commented on way back when. She scowls and pushes it in the garbage can, and then stares off into space with wet eyes and a tight throat, wishing she had one more moment with him. Perhaps a moment that would have spared his life so they can have more together.

“Sorry, Lock,” she says quietly.

Seconds later there is a knock on the door, and she sluggishly straightens herself out, puts the files in her drawer and then wipes the tears from her face.

“Door’s open,” croaks Brisk Wind. The door opens and shuts with magic, and Brisk Wind's emotionally battered face melts to a deep frown when she sees who has entered. “Oh, its you.”

“Yes, its me,” says Fancy Pants. “I hope you have a fantastic explanation as to what the hay happened because you are in a mess with more than just the press.”

Brisk Wind narrows and ruffles her feathers, but Fancy Pants doesn’t falter as he stomps towards her desk.

“I already know about Celestia's disappointment,” says Brisk Wind coldly.

“Don't forget about me,” says Fancy Pants, his tone matching hers. “You come to me for help with your rehab program, then you harass one of my employees to where she leaves in tears, and then she goes missing after her apartment is shot up by your agents! That warrants for an explanation!”

“You have so many employees, Mr. Pants. How am I supposed to know who you are talking about?”

“Do not take me as a fool, Director. Where is she?”

“Who?”

“Trixie!”

“Her name doesn't ring a bell.”

Fancy Pants stomps the floor. “Do not play games with me, Brisk Wind! You better tell me what you did to Trixie or so help me I will end you!”

The air becomes thick and heavy, and after a long, cold pause Brisk Wind exhales slowly and approaches Fancy Pants, having to crane her neck slightly so her reddened eyes can look at his eyes.

“I do not like being threatened, Fancy Pants. Especially by a filthy scumbag like you,” says Brisk Wind. “And I also have a friend who does not like it when his friends are threatened. I can tell him what you said to me and you and your wife would suffer a terrible accident very fast.”

Fancy Pants’ jaw tightens as he scuffs his hoof against the floor, but Brisk Wind shows no signs of intimidation.

“But, I am merciful, so here is what I will do,” continues Brisk Wind. “I won't tell my friend what happend, but you will apologize to me and drop what happened to Trixie, or I will find evidence that links the Grizelda Mob to your business and Trixie as the unfortunate dame who stumbled upon something that she should not have. It really should not be too hard since you and Gilda both worked for the late Eclipse Lulamoon at some point. The choice is yours of what happens next, Fancy.”

Fancy Pants glares at Brisk Wind for a few more seconds before snorting and storming out, slamming the door shut along the way. The loud bang does make Brisk Wind flinch, and when Fancy Pants’ stomping fades away she collapses in her chair and she rubs her temple.

“This is going to be a bad day,” grumbles Brisk Wind.

Then there is a dinging of a bell, and Brisk Wind begrudgingly pushes a hidden button on her desk and a small communications contraption rises out of the floor with a headset hanging on the side on a little hook, wires that disappear into the floor, and a dial with numbers on it. The bell on it dings again and Brisk Wind puts on the headset.

“Brisk Wind,” says the pegasus, her head laying limp on her hoof.

“Our partnership is through,” says Gilda on the other end.

Brisk Wind’s feathers ruffle and her teeth clench together. “I told you never to call me on this number.”

“Why would I care what a backstabbing bitch like you wants?” says Gilda. “I’ve done everything you wanted and yet you still killed my griffins!”

“Let me remind you who you work for, Gilda. You work for me!”

“Not anymore.”

“Gilda, there is still a chance for you to make amends.”

“Fuck that shit. I'm coming for you, Brisk Wind, and when I see you, I'm going to rip your fucking wings off!”

Brisk Wind slams the headphones back on their hook and pushes the button to retract the phone. Her heart is racing and her has mouth has gone dry while sweat trickles down her shaking body. Moments later she pushes another button on her desk and there is a slight crackle before she gets a response from the other end.

“Andromeda,” says the mare on the other end.

“Andromeda, prepare the strike teams. We’re bringing down Gilda Grizelda,” says Brisk Wind.

“When?”

“Now.”

“Now?”

“Just do it!”

Brisk Wind releases the button and places the files in her desk safely in her floor safe, and then she goes to her wall. She pushes another button and the wall slides open to reveal barding with the EIB insignia on it and a large revolver hanging next to it with a box of ammo beneath it. She puts on the barding, checks the revolver and ammo before holstering it and storing the rounds in pouches, and then she leaves her office with steps heavy and fire in her eyes.

Several minutes later Brisk Wind steps into a large hangar bustling with activity. Ponies are running around, doing last minute check ups on EIB vehicles, loading up gear, checking equipment and attendance, and other things whereas nobody but the ones doing it know what they are doing. She walks up to a small army of EIB unicorns standing at attention in front of three black, armored, covered mini-trains with the EIB logo on them. All are wearing barding with the EIB logo on it and are armed with a battle saddle and headsets connected to radio packs on their backs.

Brisk Wind hastily approaches the unicorn mare doing last minute inspections and waits for her to be noticed. The mare in question is a black unicorn with a mane made up of different shades of gray and she is armed with a standard battle saddle and barding.

“Andromeda, I trust your ponies are ready to go,” says Brisk Wind seconds later.

The black unicorn turns around and her golden eyes widen from surprise. “Oh, Director Wind, I didn't realize you were here. Actually I really wasn’t expecting you to come along on this mission.”

Andromeda chuckles nervously, which Brisk Wind meets with a frown, and the unicorn's chuckle fades to a cough and apology.

“Did you brief them?” says Brisk Wind.

“With every bit of knowledge we had on Gilda and the Griffin Enclave as fast as thirty five minutes would allow,” says Andromeda.

“Good.” Brisk Wind turns to the line of unicorns. “You all already know what to do, and I apologize for having this such short notice, but after last night’s fiasco we cannot take any more chances. Gilda needs to go down. And she needs to go down today.”

Brisk Wind starts to pace in front of the group and they remain at attention.

“Now just to recap. Griffins are dangerous, very dangerous, and if you let them they will kill you, so immobilize them before they can touch you,” says Brisk Wind. “If you have to, kill them. Gilda is located on the highest point and we’ll strike in two places. Andromeda will lead the ground team to storm Gilda’s manor and I will lead the pegasi to take them from the sky. Clear?”

The group acknowledges her simple recap of the briefing. When that’s said and done, Brisk Wind dismisses them and heads towards the EIB pegasi.

“Excuse me, Director,” says Andromeda.

Brisk Wind stops and turns around with a roll of her eyes. “What is it Andromeda?”

Andromeda paws the ground. “I was just wondering why we’re rushing to do this. I mean, this is the kind of operation that cannot be rushed.”

Brisk Wind steps dangerously close to the black unicorn, making her shrink back. “Are you telling me how to do my job?”

“N-no, ma’am, I’m just worried that this thing will go wrong since we’re rushing into this.”

“Nothing will go wrong. The griffins won’t know what hit them. They’ll be done with by the end of the day and Equestria will be one criminal empire safer. Now get to your group.”

Andromeda nods and trots back to her group while Brisk Wind uses the stairs to get to a catwalk to overlook the main attraction of the hangar, ignoring the strange looks she is getting from everyone. Once there, she stares at a massive armored zeppelin sitting before her in the hangar with a small smile as it is loaded up by the crew. The zeppelin’s cylinder is covered in metal sheets and the back has four fins, each facing a different direction like a basic compass. In between the fins are turbine engines and underneath the cylinder is the area where the passengers reside, which is a couple of stories tall. To top it off, the big ship is decorated in a base of white with gold decorations all along its hull with an eloquent sun and the EIB symbol painted on either side of the cylinder.

Moments of gawking later, and a pegasus mare wearing an air captain’s uniform flies towards the catwalk Brisk Wind is on.

“Ma’am, we’re ready to launch,” says the mare when she lands next to Brisk Wind.

Brisk Wind smirks. “Excellent, Captain, we’re leaving immediately.”

The Captain nods and flies down, alerting the crew and passengers of the order. Brisk Wind winces from her muscles being pulled when she expands her wings, and after taking a gulp of courage she glides down to the floor. Once stumbling to a landing she quickly straightens herself out and trots towards the zeppelin’s bridge, located on the front of the ship for an excellent view of the journey that entails. The bridge’s floors are polished, the observation dome glass is clear, and its sleek instruments are being skillfully operated by its pilots. It is a sight to behold, and while Brisk Wind is marveling at the feat of engineering she’s standing in, warning alarms ring out in the halls. A fast moment later, and there is a muffled whine and boom, and Brisk Wind has to grip the railing for support when the ship lurches forward. She looks around the deck, relieved to see no one staring at her, and when she looks outside her eyes widen in wonder at the front seat view of the ship's steady ascension into the sunny sky.

“Ladies and gentlecolts, we are off!” says the Captain proudly over the intercom.

The ship’s halls echo with cheers and praise and while Brisk Wind still has yet to release the railing she still smiles to herself, knowing that one more thorn will soon be removed.

Arc 2- 24- Honesty and Loyalty -ADDITION-

Author's Notes:

Added on 01 May 2016

Originally part of Looming War

“WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

Pinkie Pie, glowing from her perfect health, jumps off of a giant rubber ball and launches herself into the air, closing her eyes and grinning from ear to ear as the wind rushes past her ears. When she lands, she lands in a field of flora made up of everything, from candy canes to bonbons and lollipops to gumdrops. It is all there and waiting for her to consume with complete disregard to the risk of diabetic shock.

Pinkie Pie licks up some gumballs and chews them obnoxiously before moving on to gnawing on a banana flavored taffy tree with sugar coated leaves. But while she’s doing that, something so amazing happens that it makes her stop and stare with wide eyes and a huge, toothy grin. The clouds are made up of pink cotton candy. She giggles excitedly as she climbs to the top of the taffy tree to get a closer view of the wispy treats hovering in the sky. When she reaches the top, she balances herself on her hind legs and extends her forehooves authoritatively towards the sky. She’s about to say something, but stops, thinks for a moment, then reaches down and pulls out a random candy cane staff. Once that is in her grip she resumes her authoritative stance.

“By the power invested in me, I command thee to rain chocolate milk!” orders Pinkie Pie.

The command is met with instant gratification. Tubas echo with deafening magnitude as the clouds rain down thick droplets of tasty chocolate milk. Pinkie Pie leans her head back and opens her mouth wide with her tongue hanging out, gladly drinking up the chocolaty goodness. When she has had her fill she leaps off of the tree and lands perfectly in an enormous pile of popcorn. But this pile of popcorn is a special pile. It has more than just the classic butter. It has caramel, cheddar, chocolate, spicy, apple, mint, and fat free popcorn in it, leading to a fantastic mixture of the best snack in the world.

Pinkie Pie eats her way out of the popcorn pile and when she pokes her head out she sees another amazing feat in the slice of heaven she is in right now. Her eyes and grin widen to impossible lengths as she sits on the ground to stare at the amazing feat.

“I can’t believe it,” says Pinkie Pie in a joyful whisper. “It is a field of muffins!”

Pinkie Pie cries like a warrior ready to eat every pastry in the name of her queen as she charges the field. She gobbles up chocolate muffins, banana muffins, blueberry muffins, strawberry muffins, and muffins made up of cookies. Every type of muffin imaginable is in the field of muffins, and snaking through the field is a river made up of strawberry milkshakes.

Pinkie Pie skids to a stop by the milkshake river and stares at in wonder, dumbstruck by the beauty of the thick, frothy pink drink. She thinks for a grand total of three seconds on how she I supposed to drink the milk shake river before deciding to stick her head in, slurping up much of the threat as she can.

When she has had her fill she sighs blissfully and falls on her back on a random patch of grass that has grown behind her. She looks at the clouds, loving the way they come in many different shapes and sizes. Strangely some of them look like her ex-friends doing some kind of activity. One cloud looks like Twilight reading a book with Spike when he was a baby, another looks like Rarity sewing, and the one that looks like Applejack looks like she’s bucking apple. Then there’s Fluttershy sitting with her animals, and Rainbow Dash speeding through clouds.

Pinkie Pie frowns and shifts her position so she doesn’t have to look at the clouds. While shifting her position the ground rises up and turns into the bed she had at the Sugar Cube Corner. The bed is complete with the fluffy sheets, soft pillow, and warm blanket that covers her without her having to raise a hoof.

She lays there for an unknown amount of time, watching anything but the clouds, but no matter how hard she tries, she cannot stop seeing those fakes that she had called her friends. She hears them thank her for her parties, for cheering them up, or accepting her random acts of goofiness with laughter. She also swears she can hear Octavia’s cello in the warm wind. Pinkie Pie huffs and turns to the other side of the bed to change the view, but instead of seeing a never ending field of muffins or taffy trees, she sees her Element of Laughter necklace floating in front of her, glowing.

She stares at it and the jewelry stares back at her. They continue to stare at each other for a few more seconds before it floats over to her and rests in front of her face. She sits up on her bed and stares at it some more. A minute later she picks it up and gently runs her hoof over it, smiling. It brings tears of joy to her eyes as she feels all that is good fill her up. All the joy from laughter, from making others happy, and from being selfless in helping others find happiness flood back to her.

Pinkie Pie chokes back her tears and hugs the necklace tightly with her head bowed and eyes closed. The bed is gently lowered into the ground until she is sitting on grass again, and she continues to hug her necklace, not wanting to let it go for fear that she’ll be miserable again without it.

Then she hears faint noises, like some ponies are conversing with each other in the sky. Pinkie Pie clamps the necklace around her neck and stands up to stare at the clouds. The faint noises get louder every second until she can tell, without a doubt, that someone is speaking.

Pinkie Pie stares up at the clouds as the voices echo, blocking out all other sound and thought. The voices are muffled, though, and soon only one voice is left, and whoever is talking sounds like they are breaking into tears. She can hear the sniffling over the muffled words, and as the voice continues it becomes clearer.

“...I just... I don’t even know if you can hear me. They say ponies in comas can hear when somepony is talking to them. If that is true, then we need to talk... I just only wish it wasn’t like this.”

Pinkie Pie sits on the ground, tears swelling in her eyes. She knows that voice and the pain she is hearing is her fault, she just knows it.

“I’m sorry, Dashie,” whispers Pinkie Pie as she looks down on the ground, tears trickling down her cheek. When the tears land on the grass, their green color rots away into a hideous brown.

“If you can hear me, promise me you’ll stop blaming yourself for what happened. Spike made his choice, and we all... we... I miss you. You have no idea how much I can use one of your party’s right now. Or Fluttershy. She can really use somepony like you to cheer her up.”

Pinkie Pie wipes her eyes as she looks back up at the sky, hoping that she’ll see the face of her best friend. But all she sees are gray clouds swirling around the cotton candy ones, battling each other for dominance of the sky.

“You know, I want to stay mad at Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack for how they treated you, but I can’t. If you could only see what I see you would know that they are sorry. Twilight hasn’t been the same ever since you faked your death and Rarity has been nearly working herself to death. I know Applejack feels like crap for how she treated you, and-”

“Airmare Rainbow Dash,” interrupts another voice; this one belongs to a stallion lacking emotion.

Pinkie Pie gets worried and looks around the clouds for any sign of this newcomer, but she doesn’t see them or Rainbow Dash anywhere. The only thing she sees are the darkened clouds moving in with greater speed and becoming more aggressive with her happy, cotton candy clouds.

“Major Fuller, what are you doing here? And who are they?” asks Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie puts her hoof to her mouth and slumps to the ground. She can picture Rainbow Dash going defensive with how pegasi expand their wings to make themselves look bigger. Some thunder rolls in the distance and the dark clouds become dangerous storm clouds, overtaking the cotton candy and blanketing her world in gray.

“Dashie, please don’t do anything stupid,” begs Pinkie Pie.

“They are with me, and you need to come with us immediately,” says Major Fuller.

“I’m not leaving Pinkie’s side,” growls Rainbow Dash.

“Airmare Dash, I suggest you report back to base with me right now or you will face more charges,” says Fuller.

There is a pregnant silence, and the gray clouds start taking over and the chocolate rain turns into icy cold water droplets that freeze on her coat. Pinkie Pie jumps up and down, waving her hooves, trying to get their attention.

“Dashie, just go! I’ll be fine!” yells Pinkie Pie over the rolling thunder and pouring, hoping and praying that something will happen outside to get their attention.

“Do you really want to throw away all that you worked for, for a seat by a vegetable?” says Major Fuller.

Pinkie Pie hears Rainbow Dash scream and there is a lot of commotion that she can only guess is fighting, judging from the yelling and sounds of stuff falling to the ground. She then hears an order for the guards to hold Rainbow Dash down and when the turmoil ends there are multiple ponies breathing heavily and her friend is sobbing.

“She’s not a vegetable! She’s my friend!” cries Rainbow Dash. “I thought somepony like you would understand the values of friendship!”

Another moment of silence.

“You know nothing of friendship. Get her out of here,” orders Major Fuller.

“Pinkie, I’ll always be your friend! No matter what!” yells Rainbow Dash over the other ponies yelling at her to shut up.

Then the door clicks shut, the freezing rain turns into a freezing sprinkle, and all Pinkie Pie can hear are the beeps, clicks, and whirs of the hospital machines working to keep her alive. Each time the machines make a noise a ball of color explodes in the sky. A couple of seconds later, she hears and feels Major Fuller’s warm breath. The feeling part creeps her out to no end.

“Hey, buddy, can I get some personal space? Jeeze,” says Pinkie Pie while inching back from, and trying to push away, the invisible foe.

“I pity you, Pinkamena,” says Major Fuller. “The Higher Powers chose you to bear a great burden with no reward, but at least you saw the truth of friendship, which is something I cannot say about your other acquaintances. I hope you hold fast to the truth and do no let go of it, because I promise you, the moment you forget that friendship is the greatest lie there is, it is the moment that what is left of you will rot away into the nothingness. Take my word for it. There is nothing left of me because of my foolishness.”

Pinkie Pie feels an invisible hoof rest on her shoulder.

“If you ever wake up, I hope you will remember the truth,” says Fuller. He then pats her shoulder gently. “Sleep tight, Laughter.”

Arc 2- 25- Mare-Do-Well Returns -EDITED-

Author's Notes:

Edited on 01 May 2016

Trixie Lulamoon, magician extraordinaire, is enjoying reading a review about her show in the New Yoke Times in the comfort of her easy chair in her show wagon. The wagon itself is nothing too fancy. It has the necessities for a small living quarter and enough space for her to store all of her eye-popping, jaw-dropping, all around entertaining equipment. Even with all of her fireworks, sparklers, smoke bombs, and random nick-knacks she still has enough room to move around comfortably.

Trixie snickers to herself as she reads the review. Whoever wrote the review is saying that it was one of the best show’s they had ever seen. The review loved everything about her presentation, especially with the third pony talk, and is hoping for more of her shows in the future. Trixie is barely able to keep her excited giggling in check as she uses her magic to carefully tear the article out and stick it in her stash of other articles praising her for her shows. After she stores the article, she notices another article titled “Gilda Grizelda Makes Fluttershy Cry!” with a black and white picture of a griffin trying to hide her face from the cameras.

Trixie shrugs and reads it because she really has nothing better to do, and besides, she needs to rest and what better way to put herself to sleep than by reading a boring article? Dragging the show wagon is strenuous work, even with some magic that lightens the load. However, being a traveling magician does have it perks, such as choosing one’s own schedule and having to pay no property taxes.

As Trixie suspected, the article is boring and more than likely a filler made from an intern, but right as she is about to toss it aside she notices one particular name. Twilight Sparkle.

Trixie’s eyes narrow and she leans in closer as if bringing her nose to the parchment will make her see Twilight. That mare that stole her future, and always ignored her whenever they passed by each other in parks or in other public areas or played stupid when she asked for help. The mare that got everything handed to her on a silver platter was now getting more attention than ever before.

First, taking her spot in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Something that the Lulamoon Family fought tooth and hoof to get... and something that she blew. Then being personally trained by Celestia herself while she gets stuck with the inept teachers. Add in the fact that magic comes so easy to Twilight that she is a literal physical representation of it while Trixie is but a traveling magician. A magician without a mother and a father who disowned her with all of her possessions in her cart.

Trixie scoffs and tosses the newspaper to the ground and folds her hooves across her chest to keep that pompously smug ass named Twilight out of her mind. If any pony deserves to be smug it’s Trixie! She built up everything herself! Nothing was handed to her on a silver platter!

“Stupid Twilight,” grumbles Trixie under her breath.

Then an idea strikes her, and with that idea comes a terrible grin. She will head over to Ponyville and prove to Twilight and all of Equestria that she, the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon, is better than Twilight! She does have raw experience under her star studded cape while Twilight has, what, books?

Experience trumps paper, after all. Upstaging Twilight will be her greatest feat because if she can beat Twilight, then she can prove to everyone that she is the best and not some studious bookworm.

Trixie finds herself giggling and rubbing her hooves together at the thought of getting revenge on Twilight after all these years of shadowing her. It is going to be great to finally beat down Twilight and show her father that she is not a failure or a nobody. She can finally show everybody how great she really is!

During Trixie's internal rambling and day dreaming of her bright future, three unexpected knocks shake her door. Trixie glares at her cart entrance, wondering who would disturb her at such a late hour, and she huffs when the knocking continues. Finally, after a third round of knocking, she contemptibly approaches the door, and when she answers it she sees a worn out mare wearing a cheap saddle. The mare is panting heavily and dripping with sweat, but one thing that surprises Trixie to where she’s speechless is that the pony in front of her is one she has not seen in years.

“Ms. Aural?” says Trixie.

Ms. Aural flashes a tired smile and waves, and Trixie laughs and jumps out of the cart to hug the old mare.

“Ms. Aural, what a pleasant surprise!” says Trixie, squeezing the mare tight in her embrace.

Ms. Aural awkwardly returns the hug, and takes a deep breath when Trixie releases her, and gladly steps inside when Trixie offers her her home. Once inside, Trixie lets her sit on her chair while she hands her a cup of water. As Ms. Aural drinks the refreshing beverage, Trixie notices that she has not aged well. She has noticeable crows feet and her mane is frayed and graying, plus her once beautiful coat is fading. When Ms. Aural notices Trixie staring at her, she is quick to avert her eyes to her lovely stash of fireworks.

“It’s been a while, Trixie,” says Ms. Aural.

“Yes it has,” says Trixie with a small, nervous smile. She does not know what to say to her old friend or how they should begin catching up. It has been years since she saw a familiar face. Well a familiar face from her childhood anyway. Most of the familiar faces she has seen were magicians she upstaged trying to get her to work for them.

“I see you’ve made quite a bit of an impact,” says Ms. Aural, nodding towards the box of newspaper clipping.

Trixie chuckles nervously and uses her magic to close the box.

“Um, yeah, I guess you can say that,” she says. “So, you look... nice?”

Ms. Aural sighs. “There no need to pretend, Trixie, I know what I look like, and nice isn’t one of them.” Then she reaches into her saddle and pulls out an envelope with her mouth and stretches her neck to Trixie. “Thith ith for you.”

Trixie levitates the envelope out of Ms. Aural’s mouth and reads the sender's address. As soon as she sees who it is from she scowls and throws it the garbage can. Ms. Aural’s whole body droops as Trixie glares at her.

“Is this some kind of joke?” says Trixie.

Ms. Aural shakes her head quickly. “No, Trixie, your father gave me that note personally.”

“If he wants to talk to me he can find me himself!”

“But he told me that he needed to talk to you.”

“Oooh, so now father needs his disowned child? Why should I care what he needs? He never cared about me!”

Ms. Aural blinks tears out of her eyes as she looks down, sniffling. “Trixie, I know you are still hurt by what your father did...”

Trixie holds up her hoof. “You can stop right there, Ms. Aural. I don’t need your pity.”

“But, Trixie, if you’ve only seen what I have you would know he is not the same. I don't think he is well. I think he might be sick.”

Trixie stands up and points accusingly at Ms. Aural, making her shrink in her seat and whimper.

“How much did he pay you?” asks Trixie.

“N-nothing,” stammers Ms. Aural. “He-he begged me to find you.”

“How much?”

“He didn’t pay me anything.”

“How much!”

“Nothing! He paid me nothing!” Ms. Aural jumps to her feet, tears rolling down her cheek and breathing heavily. “He knew you wouldn’t give him a chance so he asked me to come to you in his place.”

“Maybe he should’ve thought about me not giving him anything before he disowned me! But I didn’t need him anyway!” Trixie waves her hoof around the cart at all of her possessions. “You see this? This was all me! I did this all by myself! He took away my home so I built a new one! He took away my fortune, so I made my own! He thought I was a failure, but I’m not!”

Trixie slams her hoof on the ground and points at an elaborate promotional picture that rolls down from the ceiling of herself, looking smug and ready to take on the world.

“I am not a failure!” yells Trixie with tears blurring her vision and soaking her cheeks. “I- I am not worthless! I am special! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Ms. Aural’s jaw drops and she shakes her head as she backs away from the picture. “Trixie, what happened to you?”

“I’ll tell you what happened,” sneers Trixie. “I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, proved to my father and all those mules at the Academy that Trixie is not stupid! They said that I couldn't be anypony because of some stupid disability, but I showed them! I showed all of them! And once I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, defeat Twilight Sparkle, all of Equestria will know that I am valuable!”

Ms. Aural stands up and looks at Trixie pleadingly. “Please, just read Eclipse's note. I'm begging you. He is not the same and he needs you, just as you need him.”

Trixie shoots a small bolt of lightning at the note, burning it, and all of the garbage with it, in a matter of seconds. While Ms. Aural watches the garbage burn, Trixie gets a menacing shadow cast over her as she glares at the old mare.

“I think you better leave,” says Trixie dangerously.

Ms. Aural opens her mouth to say something, but when Trixie uses her magic to open the door, she closes her mouth, nods, and quietly leaves. Trixie scoffs, slams the door shut when Ms. Aural is outside and then tosses water on the fire she made. It makes a hissing sound and smoke covers the interior of the cart, forcing her to open her door again. As the smoke escapes into the cool night, Trixie pokes her head out to make sure Ms. Aural isn’t anywhere to be seen. When she doesn’t see her anywhere she sniffles and goes back inside, but when she turns around she screams and jumps back.

“I hope this is a lesson for you,” says Custos, standing in the corner.

“Wha- How- What are you doing in my cart!” demands Trixie, horn glowing and ready to zap the intruder.

“It’s your dream, how I got in is entirely up to you.”

Trixie’s horn dies down and she sits down at her chair and flips open a newspaper to read any article that will distract her from the mysterious pony in her wagon. She is in no mood for arguing or his cryptic shenanigans, anyway.

Custos sighs and stands in front of Trixie. “You have a knack for driving away those who care about you.”

Trixie flips a page. “Trixie doesn’t need anypony. Trixie is doing fine all by herself.”

Custos silently scans the small living space. It barely has enough for her to sleep in and most of her possessions are for her to use for her shows. Nothing personal is found, except for her star studded hat and cape. Custos shakes his head and looks at Trixie, she’s still fighting to ignore him by using her newspaper.

“Do you really want to die alone?” he asks.

Trixie throws down her newspaper and stares hatefully at Custos. “I never said that!”

“You’re father believed he didn’t need anypony, and he was alone and dead before he was murdered.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“It does when you understand that there is more than one way to die.” Then a glowing orb appears above his horn, blinding Trixie. “It’s time to wake up.”

Trixie jolts up in her bed, soaking in sweat and gasping for air. Her vision is fuzzy and spinning, and her hearing is muffled, but one thing she does notice is a voice being projected off of some speakers and someone sitting in the room with their back to her speaking into a microphone.

“...So, I hope that music woke you guys up, I know it worked miracles for me, especially after last night’s fiasco,” says the mare working the radio equipment. “Anyway, I looked in my trusty little hat and it said I should play a single by Shattered called ‘March into Nothing’. Bleak, I know, but I drew it from a hat, so don’t hate me for chance.”

Some electric guitars start playing over the speakers, and a few seconds in the singer, a stallion with a pleasant voice, starts singing some incredibly depressing lyrics. Trixie groans painfully and gingerly touches her horn, releasing a wince when her hoof brushes over the chip, which has some cheap gauze taped over it. She looks around the room she is in and instinctively scrunches her nose when she sees all kinds of stuff that point to a health hazard. There are empty bleach bottles, crushed lime, old food and bloody rags scattered all over the floor as well as empty sewing kits, used lottery tickets and a Mentally Inferior's Guide to Household Hospitals. However, despite being in the hazardous bedroom she is relieved that she did not wake up in a jail cell after nearly getting killed again. Or wake up dead.

Trixie groans quietly again and rubs her eyes, and while lowering her hoof she realizes that there is a colorful blob of subpar stitch jobs where she was shot, making her pale and want to puke. She looks all over her body and sees little stitches here and there that closed up scratches she didn’t even know she had, and every move is like a stapled thread pulling on her flesh. She really wants to cry.

“Well good morning, Princess, did you enjoy your nap?” says the mare from the room.

Trixie turns to the mare and her eyes bulge and her jaw drops as she stares at the pair of big red eyes the unicorn in front of her has. She has only seen red eyes like that on predators and pictures of albinos; both equally creepy.

"This is why I wear my sunglasses,” says DJ-Pon3 with a frown as she approaches Trixie.

She then levitates Trixie off of the cot and gently lowers her to the ground. Trixie has to sit because her legs give out almost immediately. It doesn’t take long to switch out the sheets and when that is done and over with, she levitates Trixie back on the cot and puts a new blanket over her before sitting in front of her, glaring.

“What? You’ve never seen an albino before?” says the DJ.

“No,” says Trixie shamefully, looking down and rubbing her hoof over her stitched up forearm.

The pale pony grins and lightly punches Trixie in the shoulder, making her wince. “Relax, I’m just messing with you. I know the chances of meeting a pony with my condition are slim to none. So, what do you think of your stitches?”

“You suck at stitching,” says Trixie with a weak smile.

“Well excuse me, Princess, but you’re the one that knocked on my door, bleeding all over the place with the EIB, the Guards and the griffins looking for you,” says the pale pony, completely missing Trixie’s playful tone.

Trixie closes her eyes and sinks in the cot, not wanting to remember that horrible night. Everything just suddenly crashed and burned with little to no warning. Sure she knew Lock was on to her, but him using a criminal organization to bring her down was just insane. And now, after getting betrayed by the EIB and Minty getting killed, here she is, dying in a radio station. She is hoping that this is all just a horrible nightmare, and she wants to cry because of the amount of pain she’s in, especially around her horn.

“Thanks for your help, DJ-Pon3,” says Trixie wearily, wanting to go back to sleep if it means escaping the agony.

“No problem, but you can just call me Vinyl or Vinyl Scratch. DJ-Pon3 is my work name,” says her rescuer.

Trixie smiles, but it goes away in an instant and she regrets shifting her position in search for a more comfortable one as pain takes over her whole body.

“By the way, you owe me,” says Vinyl Scratch.

Trixie shoots her a hostile glare. “What? What kind of rescuer tells the rescuee that you owe them?”

“The Canterlot Fire Department and Royal Guards do that with our tax money. As for you? You owe me bleach and a shitload of lime.”

Trixie stares at Vinyl Scratch with eyes wide open and shock and confusion all over her face. The DJ doesn’t want bits, or her to take out some competition, but bleach and lime instead? Now Trixie is really confused.

“Don’t you want bits instead?” asks Trixie carefully, and wincing when her body tells her that it was a mistake by the pain in her chest.

“I used all my lime and bleach to clean up your bloody trail and to keep those guys off of our back. And don’t even get me started on all the disinfectants I had to use on you and those threads.”

“Did you sleep?”

“On and off, but you kinda took my bed, covered it in blood, and then almost died on it, so I didn't sleep as well as I would have liked.”

Trixie is silent for a moment before another idea question pops into her mind.

“Hey Vinyl, how much of the trail did you... you know... clean up?” asks Trixie.

Vinyl Scratch grins. “Not too much. Just up to the nearest sewer cover. Then I popped that sucker off and ran back here. Oh man, If only I could see their faces now.”

Vinyl Scratch snickers and walks to her radio room when the music stops and is replaced with dubstep. A few seconds later, the dubstep stops and Trixie sees Vinyl take a quick swig of what looks like cider before speaking into her microphone.

“Good afternoon, Canterlot!” she says with all the charisma in Equus backing her. “I’m back from my break and I’m sure you guys are eager to hear about the amazing Vigilante. Well I got some news for you. It was Gilda and her griffins bribing two vans of EIB agents to get Canterlot’s hero!”

Vinyl Scratch smiles and winks at Trixie, and she groans and covers her eyes with her hooves, feeling nauseous.

“But don’t you worry, the Vigilante is alive and well! That’s right folks, the crooks lost her when she escaped to the sewers!” Vinyl Scratch chuckles. “Have fun down there, boys and girls, but you’ll never find her.”

Vinyl Scratch cackles and then says something about playing some music before Trixie blacks out.

When Trixie wakes up a few hours later, she’s greeted by something steamy and smelling like a slice of Paradise at the moment. She opens her eyes and sees Vinyl Scratch levitating a bowl of soup in front of her, and when she glances out the window she notices that it is almost evening. Then she looks at Vinyl Scratch and sees that she has a curious smile stretched across her face. A very curious smile. A smile that demands a story.

Trixie tries to grab the soup with her magic, but a sharp pain in her horn kisses that notion goodbye. So she takes it with her hooves, whimpering quietly, instead. Vinyl Scratch’s smile fades away and she sighs sadly as she looks at the ground.

“That really sucks about what happened to your horn. I don’t think you’ll be able to use magic to your full capacity ever again,” says Vinyl Scratch.