[Lyra Heartstrings] “When I joined the League of Justice, Roar Shock promised me that.. that things would get better. He said that as an Agent of Justice I would protect the innocent and put Bon Bon to rest by bringing her killer to justice. He didn't tell me the rest of the details, but I think that was his plan all along. I was just... I just wanted to do what the Guard couldn't. I wanted to take the fight to the ones that took my best friend from me.”

[Translator Plätzchen] “And what were the other details, if you don't mind me asking?”

[Lyra] -Sigh- “He didn't tell me that this... career, as he called it, turned us into something else. It's like he wants us to take our anger, our fear, our sadness and turn them into weapons. He didn't say that what I would do would fuel my demons. And now I don't think I'll ever be happy again. I see them every night. They beg and they beg, but still I kill them! Still I shoot them in head and drop their bodies in the rivers! Still I tell myself that they aren't sorry, that they are only apologizing because they want to live! Scum are never sorry!”

[Lyra Heartstrings sobs.]

[Inspector Happy Doodle] “I think that is enough for now. We will continue this another time.”

[Guards move to return Lyra Heartstrings to her cell. They are about to cuff the suspect when she speaks again.]

[Lyra Heartstrings] “But I know that some of them are genuinely sorry, like my first one. She was sorry, she really was, I saw it, but ignored it. Inside I forgave her, I just wish I had the strength to put down my weapon and let her go.”

[Inspector Happy Doodle] (to the Guards) “Stand down.”

[Translator Plätzchen] “Who was sorry?”

[Lyra Heartstrings] “Adanz said that her name was Winny Honorpelt, and now I see her and Bon Bon when I sleep. It makes me wonder if Roar Shock sees his victims. But in all honesty, I-I don't think he does. I don't think can tell who is innocent and who is corrupt. I'm afraid that everypony is an enemy to him. And all of his enemies die.”

Ponies of all ages cheer and stomp the ground in applause as a burst of spectacular lights illuminate the night sky with flashes, sparkles and colorful smoke. The booms, pops and crackles make the kids squeal with joy and babies cry from the loud noises. Some parents chuckle and try to calm the crying foals down while the older kids play in circles. Others carry large trays of food and beverages on their backs and deliver it to their company with proud and cheerful smiles, and their groups take the treats and drinks like eager scavengers.

Sitting not too far from the crowd, watching with a smile and leaning over the railing on the roof is Pinkie Pie with Spike. While Pinkie Pie is grinning and giggling with the show, Spike is thoroughly confused.

“So, what did I miss, here?” asks Spike, his eyes trailing an ice cream cart hungrily.

“Harmony Day,” replies Pinkie Pie.

“Harmony Day?”

“Yeah, you know that day when Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the moon? Yeah, we celebrated that day in this town and it used to be a lot bigger day in the church, but the new guys thought that the day was offensive for some reason and renounced it as a holiday. We didn’t care, though. It was Harmony Day! Getting rid of Harmony Day would be like getting rid of Hearth’s Warming Eve!”

Pinkie Pie’s smile evaporates when she sees a painfully familiar sight. Her whole demeanor slouches and she slumps over the railing, watching two young ponies going through the crowd. One is herself, barely out of high school, and the other being a Glamor Canvas. Pinkie Pie watches her younger self bounce along and chat breathlessly with the hazel stallion, completely ignorant of his anxious state.

Pinkie Pie hops off of the roof using a stairway of stacked crates and trails the two young love birds. Spike is too busy ogling the ice cream cart to notice her leave, but when he does, he runs and calls after her. Pinkie Pie doesn’t answer, though, she keeps her focus purely on herself and Canvas and expertly trails them through the party. The laughing becomes faint, the fireworks’ thunder fades to distant thuds, and chatter turns to faded whispers. She barely hears Spike calling for her. The only things that aren’t affected by the fading ambiance is Young Pinkie Pie and Fuller, and she stops and hides behind a slab of stone with hieroglyphics skillfully carved in depicting Celestia’s victory over Nightmare Moon.

Spike slides to a stop next to her and leans over her shoulder. “You know, you really shouldn’t leave your guests behind in your dreams. I almost lost you.”

“Sorry, I got distracted,” says Pinkie Pie distantly, her eyes still locked on the two ponies now secluded from the crowd and keeping their respective roles in the one sided conversation.

“So, what are we looking at now?” asks Spike.

Without answering, Pinkie Pie points at the two, and it takes Spike to realize who they are, specifically the Young Pinkie Pie. He's not too surprised to see Young Pinkie Pie wearing a bright dress with candies stitched to them. She's the polar opposite of Canvas, who is wearing a pressed suit in a pseudo-military fashion.

“So, is it true?” asks Canvas.

“What is?” asks Young Pinkie Pie curiously.

He looks down, swallowing nervously. “The rumors.”

Young Pinkie Pie arches her brow and her expression hardens like stone as her puffiness deflates. “What rumors?”

Canvas swallows. “Your... problems.”

The young mare scowls and steps closer to Young Fuller, making the stallion step back, audibly gulping until his rump hits the wall behind him. Young Pinkie Pie continues approaching him until he is scrunched up on the wall and their noses almost touching.

“Are you telling me that you think I am a nut?” asks Pinkie Pie dangerously.

“I just want to know if they are true,” says Canvas anxiously.

“Who cares if they are true! Don't you like me?”

Canvas pales and he stammers incoherently as he tries to calm Young Pinkie Pie down. The whole time the two argue, Pinkie Pie finds it harder to watch while Spike can’t take his eyes off of the scene.

“Pinkie, stop!” yells Canvas with a burst of ferocity that completely catches her off guard. The two Pinkie Pies wince and Spike whistles quietly while Canvas brushes his dark mane back. “Look, I like you, I really do, I just don't think that I'm ready to deal with somepony in your condition.”

“Oh, my condition!” sneers Young Pinkie Pie as she points to herself. “What about your condition! I looked past your stupid blank flank so why can't you look past Pinkamena?”

“My blank flank is not a sociopath!”

Young Pinkie Pie gapes at Canvas and he shakes his head and steps back, mumbling something she doesn't understand, and he carefully walks past Young Pinkie Pie, stopping when he's a few paces away to look over his shoulder.

“I'm sorry, Pinkie, but...” Canvas finishes his sentence with a heavy sigh and trots away with his head down.

Young Pinkie Pie stares blankly at the wall, her ears drooped and her eyes watering. She whines quietly as tears roll down her cheeks and she slouches over in the dirt, crying softly in her hooves. Pinkie Pie walks over to her younger self and tries to put her hoof on her shoulder to comfort the young mare, but her hoof goes through like air, and beneath the skin she feels frost biting her. Pinkie Pie slowly recoils and she stares at her hoof, now encased in frost that is melting away. She stares down at her younger self again, who is now quivering and crying louder, but no one hears her over the cheerful music and excited chatter.

“It's funny how Laughter hides the pain, isn't it?” snickers Pinkamena as she slithers around Pinkie Pie like a serpent. “Poor little you. You cry every night but a smile is the greatest disguise. Nopony sees it, but I do and if you let me, I could end it all right here. Right now.”

Pinkie Pie's ears droop and she looks at Pinkamena, more specifically at her bright green eyes. They are filled with malice and stand against everything Laughter is for.

“Ignore her,” orders Spike.

Pinkamena and Pinkie Pie both look at Spike, though Pinkie Pie's plagued with worry and while Pinkamena is ignored.

“Ignore? Seriously?” scoffs Pinkamena. “That is all Laughter does is ignore. Ignore the pain, but don't deal with it. Is that your guys' motto?”

“Pinkie, you have to understand that that was one guy,” says Spike firmly, now trying to ignore Pinkamena. “I know you want everypony to be your friend, and it sucks when you get turned down, believe me, I would know, but did you even let anypony else get close to you after him?”

Pinkamena glowers at Spike as she wraps her hoof around Pinkie Pie's neck in a less than loving way. “Duh, of course she did, and look where that got her. Or you for that matter.”

Spike bares his fangs and points a threatening claw at Pinkamena. “You need to back off!” His expression softens when he turns to Pinkie Pie. “Come on, Pinkie, did you give anypony else a chance to love you the way you wanted?”

Pinkie Pie stares at Spike, and he looks at her without any falter. Eventually Pinkie Pie breaks eye contact and watches ponies eat their treats from behind the safety of the window of a Donut Joe Donut Shop. Unlike the rest of the environment, which has an impoverished small town feel to it, the shop is sparkling and the sidewalk outside of it is clean with a fancy lamp post on its corner. Essentially, it looks like someone grabbed Donut Joe's shop from Canterlot and stuck in the middle of the town as a cruel joke.

Pinkie Pie caves in with a heavy sigh and looks down with a shake of her head.

“No, but how could I let anypony get that close to me with you inside,” mutters Pinkie Pie distastefully as she glares at Pinkamena out of the corner of her eye.

Pinkamena smiles smugly and inspects her hoof. “I'm only protecting you. They are all like Canvas, anyway. 'I love you' turns to 'I hate you' pretty quickly with them, you know?”

“Man, you need to shut up,” snarls Spike.

Pinkie Pie looks up at him with a sharp glare tarnished by tears and says: “Would you stay with somepony like me if you knew what they were.”

Spike smiles gently and kneels down in front of Pinkie Pie, cupping her head in his hands and gently forcing her head up. Pinkamena gags and looks away from the scene.

“I can't speak for everypony else, but I don't see a 'what'. I see a 'who',” says Spike, his thumbs running over her cheeks in soft strokes.

Pinkie Pie looks down, sniffling. “Yeah, you aren't everypony. You are just you and I am just me and everypony else is everypony else, and everypony else sees a what. Including me.”

“I can guarantee you not everypony thinks like that.”

“Yes they do,” interjects Pinkamena casually.

Spike shoots Pinkamena a glare of his own, and looks back at Pinkie Pie when she speaks.

“They will when they find out about Pinkamena. And they always find out about her,” she says sadly.

“Says who?” asks Spike, annoyance now seeping into his tone.

“Says experience.” Pinkie Pie pulls away from Spike and walks away from the scene with her head down and tail dragging in the dirt, the crowd oblivious to her misery. “Pinkamena told me he would leave, just like the others did, and she was right. She won. She knows that I was never happy and that the Elements of Harmony made a mistake. Friendship, love, and all that good glittering stuff in life is just a trick. It just took me getting you killed to realize it.”

“That's right, I won!” cheers Pinkamena with a victorious hoof pump, then she laughs viciously as she hops around Spike. “I'm a winner and you're a loser! I'm a winner and you're a loser! I'm a winner and you're a loser!”

And on and on she chants without pause, her victorious voice echoes over the town and the colorful fireworks detonate as if to commemorate her. Pinkie Pie stops and looks over her shoulder to watch Pinakamena hop around Spike, and he does stare down at the psycho with a snarl; almost as if the dragon inside is ready to strike and gut the pony for a meal. But when he looks at Pinkie Pie, his snarl disappears and is instead replaced with disappointment. He shakes his head and walks the opposite direction from Pinkie Pie, and she looks down at the gravel and starts walking again. Thunder booms in the distance and chocolate rain pours down around her, but she doesn't care about the chocolate rain anymore. She doesn't even hear herself. All she hears is Pinkamena's triumphant chanting.

“I'm a winner and you're a loser! I'm a winner and you're a loser! I'm a winner and you're a loser!”

Young ponies dance together under the neon lights pulsating with the beating music in the night club. They are all dancing or trying to have decent conversations by yelling over the music, and their features flash in and out due to the colorful lights moving with the blaring music.

Sitting at a safe distance away from the dance floor, on the second level in a booth closest to a bar, is Shining Armor. He feels horribly out of place since he is still in his uniform while most everyone else is dressed funky in neon jewelery or silly hats. He takes a sip from his hard cider as he watches the crowd below, wondering how anyone could enjoy an environment like that. He can't even hear himself think, much less understand what anyone is saying. To him, the crowd sounds like a cage full of retarded birds yelling at each other.

“I wouldn’t be too surprised if she turned out to be a succubus,” says Colt loudly.

Shining Armor looks away from the scene to put his attention on Colt and L. Roy. Colt is slurping his cider through a glowing fun straw and L. Roy is being his grouchy self with a water and a bowl of hay. The earth pony is wearing a bright pink shirt that says “Real Stallions Wear Pink” and L. Roy is plain; no uniform, no shirt, just his birthday suit. When Colt finishes his sipping, he uses both of his hooves to push the cup away childishly and leans towards Shining Armor.

“Have you been feeling drained of love recently?” probes Colt in a mockery of Freud psychology.

“Ha ha. Very funny,” says Shining Armor sarcastically, though he does admit to himself that he has been feeling more drained physically and emotionally in the past few weeks. However he won't admit that to anyone, especially Colt, since the explanation is logical. With the wedding, the threat of attack and having to maintain a citywide shield while making sure the new military system works properly would drain anyone short of a deity.

“No, I’m being serious,” says Colt. “A succubus finds somepony with a lot of love and sucks all the love out of them, and when the love is gone they suck out your life and when they suck out your life they eat your corpse and when they eat your corpse they-”

“Why do you think Cadence is a succubus?” interrupts Shining Armor. “There are no such things as succubuses!”

“I don't think that's the right plural for them,” says L. Roy casually, prompting Shining Armor to give the stallion a dirty glare.

Colt sips his cider again before continuing. “Think about it. Cadence was all nice and giddy and playful and sexy, but she became mean and cold but still sexy when you offered the ring. Succubus. Even L. Roy agrees, right?”

Colt turns to L. Roy expectantly and the stoic stallion barely looks at him, grumbling: “My first wife was like Cadenza near our first wedding. And much worse on our second.”

“And now you don’t have a personality, side effect of a succubus attack. You were lucky you got rid of her when you did.”

L. Roy stares at Colt for a few seconds before he raises his eyebrows in seeming agreement and resumes his meal. Shining Armor scoffs and shakes his head in disbelief at what he just saw.

“You can't be serious. You actually believe him!” exclaims Shining Armor.

L. Roy looks up from his dish. “As much as I hate to admit it, Colt is right some of the time. And all the time when it comes to botanical things.”

Colt smiles smugly at Shining Armor and the Captain sighs heavily and takes a big gulp of his drink. As the Captain drinks, Colt looks side to side suspiciously before leaning over, making both unicorns raise their brows.

“Sparky, if Cadence isn't a succubus there can only be on other explanation... She's a changeling.”

Shining Armor slams his hooves on the table, making Colt yelp and jump back and L. Roy stare at his spilled hay with a disappointed frown.

“Colt, stop it! Cadence is not a succubus or a changeling!” yells Shining Armor irritably.

“A changeling is like a succubus, though, and you are suffering from a succubus or changeling attack. Heck, she might be both. A succuling!”

Shining Armor frowns and levitates his cup. “I’m getting some air.”

“Think about it! The signs are there!” calls Colt as Shining Armor walks away from the table.

Shining Armor shakes his head and briskly makes his way through the crowd of dancers, being extra careful to keep his drink safe by having it float high above his head. He can already feel the effects of the alcohol since his legs are slightly unruly. They tremble and he finds it slightly difficult to keep them on a straight path. He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees the entrance to the considerably less crowded balcony, and when he opens up the door he bumps into an unsuspecting mare, causing both of them to stumble and for his drink to land right on top of her head, drenching her electric blue mane and sunglasses in hard cider.

“What the buck!” yells the mare furiously as she whirls around to murder the Captain.

Shining Armor's pale coat turns impossibly white as he stutters a wave of apologies, and his cheeks flare like red stars when the crowd outside points and laughs at him. The mare's teeth are bared like a rabid wolf and Shining Armor backs up until his rump hits the cold brick wall.

The mare jabs him in the chest and says with a snarl: “Dude, you better run or else I'll...” she pauses and cocks her head quizzically, her snarl gone. “Wait a minute. Is that you Big Guy?”

Shining Armor blinks at the mare below him. She does look oddly familiar, especially her mane and coat which led to a rumor of them being related. When he realizes who it is, Shining Armor forces himself to laugh with her as she steps back to get a better look at him.

“Vinyl, is that- Wow! What a surprise!” laughs Shining Armor anxiously.

“Yeah, how long has it been?” asks Vinyl Scratch with a smile.

“Since you dropped out of college.”

Vinyl Scratch puts on a fake pout. “Well it was too expensive, remember?” Then she smiles and lightly punches him in the shoulder. “You never wrote me!”

Shining Armor scoffs playfully. “You never wrote me!”

Vinyl Scratch chuckles and guides Shining Armor away from the door towards the edge of the balcony. Normally one would be able to see the night sky, which has become noticeably more beautiful after Luna's return, but since Shining Armor has put a shield around the whole city, all they can see is a faint rosy bubble.

Vinyl Scratch sighs and leans on the railing to look at the massive shield while Shining Armor sits down on one of the cushions, casting glances at anyone that dared to look at the couple.

“Have I ever told you how funny your magic looks?” asks Vinyl Scratch in a teasing tone.

“All the time when we dated,” replies Shining Armor with a smile. “So, what do you do now? I mean, I thought you wanted to do orchestra music or something like that but I haven't heard anything from you.”

Vinyl Scratch shrugs. “Meh, it lost its appeal. Mom and dad were disappointed, sure, but I felt my calling was with the electric stuff.”

“Like the crap playing in there?”

Vinyl Scratch snaps to Shining Armor with a nasty glare, but when she sees his playful smile she returns it with a small one of her own and looks back at the shield.

“Always the joker. At least you got what you wanted, right? A military career and soon-to-be prince. Hard to believe that you were that drunk that puked on me during one of those crazy frat parties.”

Shining Armor looks down, wanting to wipe that particularly embarrassing moment from his life. He also wants to believe that everything is fine and dandy, but with the way Cadence has been treating him the past few weeks on top of his mountain of responsibilities, he feels dead inside. Most days he finds it hard to get out of bed, much less attempt to care about maintaining the integrity of the Guard. He feels isolated when he's at work, and when he's not at work and with Cadence he feels like dirt holds more value than him. Not even a night out with friends stave the loathing he feels around him.

“Hey, you okay?” asks Vinyl Scratch.

Shining Armor's eyes flick to her for a moment's notice. “Yeah, just thinking.”

“Must be pretty depressing stuff, then. C'mon, lighten up! Have a drink!”

“I spilled my drink on you, remember?”

Vinyl Scratch grins. “Well, it looks like you need another one, then. C'mon, I know the bartender. She'll hook us up.”

A few minutes later, both unicorns are sitting back on the balcony, each with a cup of alcohol and a large basket of hay fries with bottles of ketchup and mustard. They reminisce on the fun times they had when they dated. The memories of the college fun he had with her puts a smile to his face and makes him feel more alive than he's felt in weeks, possibly months. When their conversation dies down after nearly an hour of catching up, silence comes between them. But it is not an awkward silence, it is relaxing. It gives both of them the chance to simmer in the good memories. They eat and drink quietly, both taking sneaking glances at each other like they are partially worried one might fade away.

“You know what's funny,” chuckles Vinyl Scratch suddenly. “This kinda reminds me of a project that I wanted to do, but was turned down because it was 'uncouth' or some bullshit like that.”

“What do you mean?” asks Shining Armor.

Vinyl Scratch sighs. “When I was taking the courses, me and this gal, Octavia, wanted to do a joint concerto thing. Mesh two generations of music together for an electrica-orchestra thing, you know? We thought it was cool, but our teacher? Not so much. We both had to do classical. I passed with a 'C' and she got an 'A plus' and a free position in the Royal Concerto Society.”

Shining Armor thinks for a moment, but his mind draws up a blank slate. “So, how does this remind you of that?”

Vinyl Scratch chuckles again, this time a bit nervous and rubs her mane. “Well, you're the snobby elite -no offense- and I'm the little guy, yet we get along just fine. Elite equals classical and little guy equals electric. Unity through music!”

Shining Armor laughs. “Wow, that was kinda cheesy, Vinyl. Have you been reading B-rated books?”

Vinyl Scratch shrugs. “Not much else at the library but those.” Shining Armor nods in agreement and the albino raises her glass. “Cheers to cheesy quotes.”

Shining Armor grins, taps cups with Vinyl Scratch, and both chug their drinks and-

Clop.

Shining Armor paces in front of Vinyl Scratch, his panicked whimpers equal to the briskness of his steps. Outside, the music of the wedding party shakes the ground and the colorful lights bring colorful flashes into the sky. However, while everyone else is enjoying the party, Shining Armor feels like his heart is about to explode. He is sweating and whimpering, and his state is not put to ease by Vinyl Scratch's calm posture.

“No, you don’t understand, that was a mistake!” exclaims Shining Armor, the panic in his voice equal to his restless pacing. “We’re done, Vinyl! Done! We aren’t kids anymore, so please don’t make this difficult.”

“I’m not making this difficult, you are,” points out Vinyl Scratch casually before sipping her beer.

“How? How am I making this difficult?”

“By acting like this. All you gotta do is come clean and tell Cadence that you had a little fling with your old sweetheart when Queen Ugly was impersonating her and you’re sorry. If you two love each other the ways I think you do then you will figure a way out of this mess.”

Shining Armor stops and looks out the window, ears drooped and eyes glazing as he watches his newly wedded converse with Lyra and Bon Bon. Lyra is holding out a tray of candy and Cadence looks like she's enjoying the treat while Bon Bon talks gleefully without pause.

Shining Armor looks back at Vinyl Scratch, now more worried than ever. “Now? On our wedding night?”

Vinyl Scratch snorts. “Not unless you want to die. Just wait until the honeymoon is over and then let it all out. Trust me it is better to come clean than to let the other find out.”

Shining Armor slouches in his seat and grabs his head while looking down. “I can’t do that. She can’t know. We need to bury this and pretend it never happened.”

“Because that always works well with the conscious,” says Vinyl Scratch sarcastically before taking a generous sip of her drink.

Shining Armor glares at her. “Excuse me, but I’m not the nympho, here, so don’t talk to me about conscious.”

Vinyl Scratch frowns and slightly lowers her sunglasses, more out of being unimpressed than angry. “I’m not a nympho. Maybe if you weren’t so –oh, I don’t know- stupid you wouldn’t have let your dick control that supposed brain of yours. But you did and now-”

Clop.

“It shouldn’t matter how I found out, what matters is that you didn’t tell me!” cries Cadence.

Shining Armor’s head rises from staring at the concrete floor and he glares at his wife. While she is looking pristine with a freshly groomed body and preened wings, he is grungy and hasn’t had as much as a decent shower. She smells like roses, he smells like sweat. Her eyes are soft and vulnerable, and his are hard and desiring freedom. She is standing on the other side of the bars holding him with unicorn guards flanking her, and he is stuck in a concrete room with guards behind a metal door, watching him. They are polar opposites, and right now Shining Armor can’t believe that his wife came all the way to Bernese to tell him that she found out about an affair rather than telling him something good.

“Are you bucking kidding me right now?” seethes Shining Armor. “I am in a goat prison and you came all the way from Equestria to tell me that you found out what me and Vinyl did years ago when I thought you were a being a soul sucking bitch.”

Cadence shakes her head. “A part of me says that I shouldn’t be mad about it, anypony would’ve wanted comfort if they were in your hooves. But most of me is mad. I understand why you did it, I really do, but…”

Cadence doesn’t finish her sentence. She looks down swallowing and wiping tears from her eyes, which leaves streaks of her eye shadow marking her cheeks.

Shining Armor wipes his nose and looks at the ceiling for a fraction of a moment before looking back at his wife. “So why are you mad if you shouldn’t be?”

Cadence jabs at her barrel with fresh tears running down her cheeks. “Because you didn’t tell me, Shining! You didn’t tell me you had an affair when Chrysalis impersonated me! You could’ve told me and I would’ve…” Cadence sighs and looks down, sniffling and again wiping tears from her eyes. “We could’ve worked it out, but I don’t know if you didn’t trust me or were too ashamed or what, but you didn’t tell me and I had to find out the hard way. Now… now I’m having a hard time seeing the stallion I fell in love with.”

Shining Armor’s eyes narrow and his jaw tightens as he approaches the bars. The dim lighting magnifies the rage in his twitching eye and his heavy breathing through the nose echoing off the concrete walls. Cadence takes a step back, ears drooped and a small whine escaping her throat and her guards move up.

“Is there something you want to tell me, Cadenza?” says Shining Armor in a threatening rumble.

Cadence swallows. “You had an affair with your old marefriend. You tortured some poor girl for information.”

“I did not torture Trixie!”

“But you might as well have since you stood by and watched her get tortured! And maybe you did kill Quill Pen-”

“Don’t you dare do that to me!”

“-Since you killed all those people!”

“Don’t you-Don’t do this to me, Cadenza! Do NOT do this to me!”

Cadence backs away, shaking her head. “I don’t know who you are anymore,” she whimpers, tears soaking her face. “The stallion I married didn’t torture. He didn’t kill. He didn’t point guns at his friends. He would’ve told me of his mistakes. He wasn’t you… I don’t know you.”

“You do know me,” growls Shining Armor. “You married me! You married me, Cadenza, you know who I am! I am not a changeling! I am not Brisk Wind! I am your husband! I am Shining Armor!”

Cadence backs away, shaking her head, and Shining Armor growls and bangs his hoof on the cell bars. The metallic bang makes Cadence jump and yelp and her guards get in front of her defensively while charging their horns. Shining Armor is too livid to care that his hoof hurts or that he has become the target for magical attacks. The fury in his eyes and bared teeth are like that of a vicious wolf and he is panting and drooling like a rabid dog. Cadence whimpers something he can’t quite understand as she backs up, and he snarls and bangs on the cell bars again. The door behind him bursts open and the ibex guards rush inside his cell towards him and he viciously fights to keep himself close towards the bars as the guards pile on him.

“I did those things to protect you and this is how you repay me!”accuses Shining Armor furiously over the guards’ shouts, tears of rage and betrayal now building in his eyes.

“I don’t know you,” whimpers Cadence as she puts her hoof to her mouth and backs up slowly.

Cadence’s guards guide her out of the room and the ibex guards fight against Shining Armor to keep him under control. He pushes some away and bangs on the bar again, only to get dragged away and have a leash clamped around his neck. Cadence is almost out of the room, she isn’t even looking at him now, but he can still hear her crying. Only her guards spare a look before they open the door for her.

“Don’t you dare walk out that door, Cadenza!” threatens Shining Armor with a snarl and tears running down his face. She barely turns her head to look at him, eyes red and cheeks wet, before she leaves with her head down. Shining Armor’s hooves scrape against the concrete floor as the guards drag him out of the cell. “CADENZA!”

Clop.

Shining Armor stirs awake when yet again a clop echoes in the cell. He grumbles and turns to his side. His eyes adjust to the minimal light provided by the covered moon to see Colt’s back to him and the same clop meeting his jerking shoulder. Shining Armor scowls and sits up on his bed and glares at the earth pony, who is completely oblivious to the Captain’s stare.

“Colt, what the hell are you doing?” demands Shining Armor in a hissing whisper.

Colt stops and casually turns his head. “Tapping the wall.”

Colt faces the wall and continues his “tapping”, something Shining Armor believes to be exactly what Colt is not doing.

“It sounds like you’re clopping,” says Shining Armor.

“Well I’m not,” grumbles Colt moodily as he continues his activity.

“Colt, I swear to Celestia if you are clopping again I will punch you in the mouth!”

Colt turns to Shining Armor again, clearly annoyed. “I’m not clopping!”

L. Roy awakens and sits up to look at the two arguing ponies

“I heard you clopping,” accuses Shining Armor.

“Okay, if anypony is clopping it would be L. Roy! He’s the one that can’t stop clopping when he dreams about Andromeda!”

L. Roy glares at Colt, though snuggles a bit self-consciously in his blanket, and brings his gaze to Shining Armor when the Captain realizes he is awake and gives him with a quizzical raise of his brow.

“What?” asks L. Roy, a bit of his anxiety seeping in his tone.

“Were you the one I’ve been hearing clopping?” asks Shining Armor curiously.

“No.” “Yes!” says L. Roy and Colt in unison, though L. Roy’s ears and cheeks flush whereas Colt has mental crosshairs locked on the unicorn.

Colt points an accusing hoof at L. Roy. “You are a very lonely man.”

“I am not,” snaps L. Roy, and when the other two give him skeptical looks he gulps nervously. “I’m not.”

Colt snorts. “Sure you aren’t. That’s why you wanted Andromeda to sit on you.”

L. Roy pales and lies down with the blanket acting as his shield. “That was an innocent dream. I just wanted to show her something.”

“Yeah, I bet you did.”

“Enough!” barks Shining Armor. He slides under his blanket and puts his pillow over his head. “Let’s just try to get some sleep, okay?”

“Hey, L. Roy, tell your girlfriend I said ‘Hi’,” sneers Colt provocatively.

“Good night, Colt.”

Colt mutters gibberish, curls up with his ratty blanket and glares at the wall. Shining Armor tries to get some sleep, but after the whack dream and brief conversation he had, he finds himself to be wide awake. He stares at the fabric covering him, trying to think of something other than the months of Hell he’d been through.

Shining Armor continues to stare at the poor stitching making up his ratty blanket for an unknown amount of time before he growls in aggravation and tosses his blanket off. He sees Colt glance at him out of the corner of his eye, but he pays no mind to him. He keeps his eyes fixated on the ceiling, glaring at the discoloration seeping from the cracks. He hears Colt’s cot squeak and his steps approach the side of his bed. Shining Armor ignores him, though, that is until the earth pony pokes his shoulder.

“Hey, Sparky,” whispers Colt.

“What?” grumbles Shining Armor.

“What’s that?”

Shining Armor refuses to look at what Colt is pointing at, even when he gets poked in the shoulder again. And again. And again. And again. He doesn’t want to have a look at what Colt is seeing since he’s certain it is nothing important. Shining Armor then hears L. Roy shift in his cot and his hooves clang against the bar, muttering something that the disgraced Captain does not really care to translate.

“Sparkle, something is coming. And coming fast,” says L. Roy.

Shining Armor sighs heavily and sits up on his bed to look out the window, now barely hearing the whining of dual turbine engines. Other prisoners murmur amongst themselves as they get out of their cots to investigate the strange object speeding towards them.

Shining Armor squints his eyes and approaches the window. It takes him a moment, but after observing the glowing orb and the twin trails of smoke in its wake, his eyes widen as the voice of the injured soldier from Fort Macintosh replays in his mind to describe the menace that razed it.

“Get down!”

Shining Armor pushes L. Roy away from the window and knocks Colt to the floor while diving down and covering his head with his hooves. A tiny ball of electricity appears in front of the rapidly approaching object, and with a crack and sonic boom, the ball turns into a beam. The sparking beam screams as it tears across the night sky, illuminating all in its way like a weak star. The beam impacts one of the guard towers and its tip disappears in a flash of light and burning smoke.

Trixie’s cheap cape flaps behind her as she gallops over the rooftops of the sleeping city. Her hooves glide over the tiled roofs with barely a sound, and her purple shaded costume almost makes her invisible in the darkness. When she stops on top of a church, she leans against its steeple to catch her breath. Trixie yanks off her goggles and mask with her magic and slumps against the brick tower, panting and wiping sweat off of her mane and brow.

The steeple rings, and Trixie looks up, barely seeing the bell poke out as it rings in the night with the hymns being sung inside the cathedral. She can’t understand a thing said, but she finds the tune relaxing. When the bell stops ringing, she puts her mask and goggles back on and continues with her mission.

She leaps over the gap separating the cathedral and the building over, and rolls to her hooves when the dip turns out to be bigger than she initially thought. The landing wasn’t too bad, but now Trixie’s heart is racing and her breathing is shallow from the close call. After recollecting herself, she runs to the other end to find a way down. As she scouts the area, she sees a mammoth of a mini-train chugging through the quiet street. She can’t make out any details, but she knows that it isn’t normal, especially when she sees a glow coming from the inside.

Trixie growls and runs faster across the roofs, not even caring about playing it safe now, and she picks up her pace when the vehicle picks up speed. Though she took quite a bit of pain killers, she still feels the discomfort caused by her injuries making a comeback as she strains herself way past clinical recommendations. She grits her teeth and wills herself to run faster when she hears the vehicle whirring, which she knows is something that a ground vehicle should not be doing. She steals glances at it every chance she gets, but her head snaps towards the guard station when she hears a distant thunder. Her eyes widen and the image of a fireball rolling into the night sky reflects off of her visors. Alarms blare and gunshots ring out, and Trixie swears and takes a massive leap towards another building.

She almost misses the distance and barely grabs on to the ledge, grunting when her dangling half smacks against the brick wall. Trixie screams through gritted teeth as she pulls herself up, pulling loose roofing tile and letting them shatter on the pavement below. When she manages to pull herself up, she doesn’t hesitate to run up the inclined roof. Once reaching the top, the night sky is stained with fiery smoke and the silence obliterated by gunfire and sirens. Trixie runs down and leaps towards another building, and right as she is in the air, she hears a series of whirs and clicks echoing in the streets.

She lands and looks down and watches the sides of mini-train split open and a set of turbine engines on chubby wings slide out. The engines turn slightly and the vehicle lifts off, and as it passes Trixie, a set of two Gatling guns unfold from the sides of the cabin and its wheels slide inside. It lurches forward, leaving a trail of icky exhaust from its engines and a deafening boom to mark its presence.

Trixie’s jaw drops as the huge vehicle speeds over the rooftops, and all she can really think is: “Oh shit.”

Alarms ring as prisoners shout and bang on the bars chaotically. To Shining Armor, it seems like the whole prison is shaking from the excitement. He steps away from the bars when a group of guards run past his cell wearing full combat gear with the lead barking orders into his radio.

Another explosion shakes the halls, and much to Shining Armor's horror, the observation room is completely destroyed. A pop of fire blows out all the windows from the room watching the cell block, raining glass and frame and a burnt body down four stories to their death. Then the all the lights turn on, only instead of being a depressing glow, they are a sinister red that flash on and off with a new alarm blaring down all the halls. An army of clicks ring out in unison and hundreds of cell doors grind against their metal railing. The prisoners waste no time in flooding out, cheering and stampeding down the hall like a swarm of ravenous barbarians.

“Well, that ain't good,” says Colt in a unnaturally calm tone as he slides behind the unicorns.

The three ponies duck slightly when a barrage of gunfire strikes the hole that was once the observation room. The shots, however, are quickly put to rest when the machine retaliates with a well placed electric beam that zips across the cell block and detonates against the wall behind the guards, flinging them over the ledge. Their terrified and painful screams come to an abrupt end when they hit the concrete below.

Shining Armor turns to Colt and pushes him out the cell with L. Roy close behind. Colt whimpers and digs his hooves into the ground, wincing from the unpleasant friction between hoof and concrete.

“What are you doing?” grunts Shining Armor as he struggles to contend with earth pony strength. Despite Colt being small for an earth pony, he still is putting up a remarkable amount of resistance.

“I can't go out there!” whines Colt.

L. Roy gallops out, only to slide to a stop and lie down for cover when the machine flies out of cell block, blowing a hole in the ceiling to do so.

“Why... NOT!” shouts Shining Armor, his voice straining with his muscles as his struggle with the sudden boulder becomes more apparent.

“Because I'm all institutionalized and shit! I won't know how to live in the outside world!” claimsColt.

“Oh, bullshit! We're all getting out of here and you'll like it!”

Trixie slides to a stop at the edge of a building not too far from the guard station. She is panting and drenched in sweat, and her legs wobble to the point of collapse. As she lies on the roof, she watches helplessly as the strange airship slides side to side, its massive searchlights shine on the wall and its two Gatling guns lay waste to anything in its path. Windows and brick are reduced to shards, and their pieces cascade down to the river below.

When the ship rises higher, Trixie gets up and paces along the edge to find a way down. She can't see any way down other than jumping into the water.

Trixie swears in whimpers as she dances anxiously in her spot, and when she sees lights turn on and crowds of civilians rush out of their homes, screaming and crying over the explosions and gunfire, she decides now would be a good time to take the leap before her brain stops her.

She walks towards the opposite side of the roof, fighting a losing battle to keep her breathing in check in the process, turns towards the station and takes on last deep breath before she gallops towards the edge. Right as she reaches the end of the roof she leaps off, closes her eyes and curls up in a ball. Within seconds, the wind rushing past her ears is overcome by an explosive splash and water rushes into her ears and weighs her costume down.

Trixie's eyes snap open and panic overtakes her as she pedals vigorously towards the surface. The current carries her down the stream and when she pokes her head out, she uses her magic to pull off just enough of her mask so she can cough out the water flooding her lungs. Her hooves instinctively snap to a dock beam and she wraps her body around it, coughing and gasping for air, and clinging tighter to it when an explosion echoes from the building.

Trixie takes a deep breath and looks up at the sky, now dark crimson from the fiery smoke rising from the station with LoJ gunship glowing like an angel sent from Tartarus. She then slides her mask back on and climbs out of the river.

Trixie is now galloping down the hallway of the guard station; she has long since lost her way to finding Pinkie Pie and it seems she has stepped into Hell. Everywhere she went, the lights were flickering and bodies were in the hall, some moaning and begging for an end of their pain while others lay dead. The walls are covered with bullet holes and scarred with shrapnel while blood stains the once bright paint.

Trixie pushes the door open to a hallway and gallops mindlessly until a group of guards run around the corner. She skids to a stop and nearly falls on her rump as her hooves screeched against the tile. They shout at her, more than likely an order to stay where she is, but when blinding light shines at them through the windows with engines sounding like tornadoes, Trixie pales.

She snaps back towards the guards and shouts: “GET DOWN!”

Too late.

The ship's Gatling guns whir to life, cut down the guards in seconds, splashing the wall with their blood as they are shot to pieces, and the line of gunfire swivels towards Trixie.

Trixie dives to the floor and covers her head with her hooves as the screaming from the massive weapons overtakes the sounds of brick and glass shattering and her terrified screaming. Trixie musters the courage to army crawl across the floor as the shards of debris and sparks rain down around her with tracers illuminating the night sky and the hallway. When the ship stops shooting, Trixie dares not poke her head up, rather she quickens her crawl with the water from the damaged pipes now flooding the floor. She tries to avoid the fresh corpses and the growing pools of blood, too, but that becomes increasingly difficult.

Search lights scan the hallway and she hears the whirring turbine engines follow the light. Then the ship turns and the remains of the wall crumble as the back of the ship breaches it like a battering ram.

Trixie scrambles to her feet, and when six League of Justice ponies -four earth ponies and two unicorns- hop out with their battle saddles and floating weapons ready to go, two thoughts dominate her mind. One, how far was Roar Shock willing to kill Pinkie Pie? And two, how far was she willing to go to protect her? The answer to both questions is: As far as they have to.

The soldiers looked surprised when they see Trixie charging them, and they bring their weapons up, but Trixie’s pain killers are able to trick her body into thinking that she is a super hero.

She attacks the unicorns first. She pushes the weapon down right as it fires, ignoring the kicked up shrapnel from the bullet striking the floor, and she punches the unicorn in the horn. The soldier screams in pain and stumbles back as she gingerly rubs her horn. In flash, Trixie is on the next unicorn. She swings the butt of the first weapon into the unicorn's face. There is a sickening crack as the unicorn's head jerks to the side with a spray of blood and some teeth flying out of her mouth. She collapses to the ground unconscious, and Trixie whirls towards one of the earth ponies and shoots her hoof. She shrieks and falls to the ground and Trixie once again swings the weapon against another earth pony. This one manages to jump back, but the former showmare's melee still grazes the control bit, thus disconnecting it from the battle saddle. The earth pony doesn't seem to realize this, though, since she bites down on the device and gets a look of confusion that switches to shock, then fear.

Trixie smiles behind her mask and brings her hooves down on the earth pony's head. The force smashes her to the ground with a crack and her victim lies motionless. The last earth pony stares at Trixie and she looks at her. The staring contest doesn't last long, though. The last pony turns tail and runs. She runs even faster with a yelp when Trixie zaps her tail with a bolt of lightning.

Watching the pony run makes her smile, and she casually knocks out the pony she shot when she tries to get back up. But then she hears the whimpering and sees the unicorn she hit earlier still rubbing her horn. Trixie approaches the unicorn as she backpedals, and when she has her cornered, the unicorn shrinks down.

“Who are you?” whimpers the mare.

“I'm Mare-Do-Well.”

Then Trixie cold-clocks her and she jerks to the ground, unconscious. Trixie smiles again, but that smile fades when her back is bathed in the bright light and she shields her eyes from the light with her hoof to get a better look at the metal monster flying in front of her. She can’t see any features because the orbs of light outshine everything, but she does hear its weapons spinning to life once more. She swears and gallops towards the stairwell, and the airship fires at her again, reducing what remains of the wall into more jagged edges and chopped chunks.

Trixie’s horn glows and the stairwell door flies open and she jumps inside, sliding and rolling down the stairs as the massive slugs easily pierce the brick wall. When she stops rolling, she groans and groggily rolls on her back, wincing as the fresh bruises and cuts riddle her body with the pain of abused bones to go with it. She stays on her back, panting and blinking sweat out of her eyes for a few seconds before groaning and gradually rolling on her hooves.

Pinkamena looks up towards the ceiling, grinning when another explosion echoes down the corridor. The shooting is still sporadic, and the two guards that are keeping watch over her appear to be getting more nervous with each passing minute. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath while spreading her arms out like she is welcoming a divine power into her life.

“Dramatic effect,” whispers Pinkamena.

There is another explosion and chain of gunfire and the guard closest to her pales and backpedals until his back clanks against the bars. Upon hearing the clank, her eyes snap open and in a blink she has her hooves wrapped around the guard’s neck and starts crushing him between her and the bars. He tries to scream for help while attempting to pull away, but her grip is too strong.

“Shushshushshush. It’ll all be over soon,” coos Pinkamena over the guard’s desperate gags and attempts to free himself from her deadly grip.

The guard bangs on the bars as he thrashes and pulls, but her grip is only tightening. A wide, predatory grin spreads across her face when the other guard rushes over and jabs her with an electric rod. She winces slightly from the burning and surge of electricity spreading from the focal point, but she still presses and twists, cracking the guard’s bones like celery. Her victim falls limp and silent, eyes wide with terror, and Pinakemena lets his body crumble to the floor. The second guard swears jams the rod harder towards Pinkamena, but she bites down on it, covering the intense pain in her mouth with a psychotic cackle. She pulls the rod towards her, bringing the guard with it and his head cracks against the bars. He still tries to keep hold, though, even though Pinkamena keeps tugging him back against the bars with cracks and metallic bangs echoing in the halls over the gunfire. When she finally gets the rod out, she spits it out, turns it in her hooves and jabs it towards the guard’s mouth before he can recover. The rod breaks past his teeth and gets stuck on the back of his throat. He stumbles back, his agonizing screams muffled from the object stabbed in his mouth, the blood flooding him and the tiny electric storm sparking out. When he collapses, the rod is barely sparking and the stench of burnt flesh and blood rises with the charcoal smoke.

Pinkamena rubs her tongue along the inside of her cheeks, her teeth, and finally her lips before she spends the next couple of minutes using a skilled combination of hooves and tongue work to get the keys. Once she gets the keys, it takes her another couple of minutes to free herself from her cell.

As she slides the cage open, she takes a deep breath that is timed perfectly with a distant thud of an explosion and she looks up, grinning.

“It’s party time, Shocky.”

Shekel and Doodle race down the hall, past dead and injured guards, most unarmored and looking as if they were there for just paperwork. They duck as low as they can go as bullets blast through the wall and shatter glass. They have yet to fire their weapons, but Doodle has his pistol in his mouth whereas Shekel still has his holstered.

Shekel pushes open a stairwell door and runs up the stairs, the adrenaline flooding his veins are the only things keeping his aged bones and muscles from aching. Both stop and duck slightly when they hear the dual screams of the Gatling gun activate and decimate everything in their line of sight, including some guards that attempted to fire back. They drop to the floor with their hooves when the stream of lead slides towards their side, raining chopped brick, glass and mortar around them. When it stops, there is a ringing in Shekel's ears and he dares not move while its search lights shine through the gaping holes.

Doodle tries to poke his head up, but Shekel grabs his neck and forces him down, shaking his head when the donkey looks at him. When the ship glides towards another spot. Shekel waits for a few more seconds before he releases Doodle and gallops up the stairs. It takes the donkey a moment to realize he's free to move before he goes after the veteran.

“[Whatch the hall ith that thung!]” exclaims Doodle, his voice distorted by the pistol in his mouth.

“[It’s the terrorists wanting your suspect!]” replies Shekel.

“[It'sth got ta be tha griffinths helping! There isth no way terrorisths can get that tech!]”

Shekel pushes open the door to the next level and both inspectors run in only to skid to a stop. Both of their eyes widen and Doodle tightens his grip on his weapon. The walls are splattered with blood and bullet holes, and the lights flicker on and off, giving a strobe effect to the gruesome imagery. Unarmed officers are lying dead, either on the ground or over their desks with the paper soaking up their blood, and in the middle of the room is a circle of armed guards. All of them are dead and looked as though they had shot each other in a suicide ritual.

Shekel steps forward and inspects one of the bodies. He recognizes him to be the rookie he talked to a short while ago when Doodle asked for his help. His eyes are still open and his chest has been blown apart. Shekel closes the rookie's eyes and then slumps to the floor with his hoof over his mouth, his eyes watering as he looks at the massacre. He sees one of the oldest officers in the building slumped against the wall, his blood splattered all over a home made banner wishing him a happy retirement.

Shekel's ears jerk when the airship fires again and he turns towards Chief Leuchten's office. His door is nearly gone from all the bullets put into it, and through the next to nonexistent window he can see the glow from the airship flying below, still gunning down every living thing it could.

Shekel's eyes narrow and he approaches the window, jaw tight and breathing ragged with a light slowly brightening from his hoof. Everything around the small mist surrounding his hoof lifts up, lifting higher the brighter it becomes.

“[He has to be here],” says Doodle in the distance, oblivious to the phenomena occurring, but Shekel doesn’t look at Doodle for he keeps his eyes on the airship's light.

Shekel barely hears Doodle or the machine over his thumping heart and raspy breathing. Threads of the carpet are tugged loose and the floor groans under Shekel's steps. With each step the ibex takes, his vision becomes more red and a sharp tingling he felt only once before returns with the floor cracking around him.

“[This has to be Adanz],” continues Doodle. “[Lyra told me that he had mind control powers and briefly turned Iron Will against everyone before Fluttershy broke the spell with some kind of super stare.]”

Shekel steps into the office and closes his eyes. Doodle's voice fades away right as he mentions Adanz while Shekel recounts that day he lost everything in a flash.

The day was bright and the wind was gentle and warm. The sky was barely dotted with beautiful clouds and the sun warmed everything in its touch. His wife and daughter, the two most beautiful ibexes he ever laid his eyes on, were sitting with him at a simple outdoor cafe. He was laughing at some ridiculous story with his daughter that his wife just told him.

When they finished laughing, Shekel nudged his ice cream bowl closer to his wife and playfully begged for her to try some. She refused with a smile and a wave of her hoof and went back to her salad. Shekel pretends to sigh in disappointment and looks to his daughter, who is sharing his fondness in the desert.

“[Her loss],” he said, making his daughter giggle and his wife roll her eyes with a smile.

A newcomer took a seat behind them, right in the middle of the crowd of ibexes relaxing in the comfortable sun. Though she had a suitcase with a gold star painted on it, he thought nothing of it. She was young and more than likely part of her youth-in-revolt phase. He knew he was like that when he was her age and he got out of it in time.

His focus went back to his daughter when she begged him to hear a joke. He smiled and leaned his head on his hoof, listening to her speak. The joke she told hims was about some guy who came to visit a doctor. The doctor found nothing wrong with him, but the ibex told him that he had been feeling sick and sad almost everyday. The doctor told him that it was all psychological and that he should see Macaroni the Clown since he can make anyone feel better. That was when the patient said: “But, doctor, I am Macaroni the Clown!”

Shekel personally found the joke depressing, but the other two thought it was hysterical. He looked at a clock tower and swore under his breath when he saw the time. It was five minutes after five after noon, he was cutting close to an interview with Leuchten about his promotion to becoming an Inspector for the Buchtseite Guard.

“[I'm sorry, honey, but I have to go],” said Shekel with some anxiousness creeping in his tone.

His wife put her hoof over his and smiled. “[Relax, you still have two hours.]”

“[But]-”

“[No, buts. Sit and relax just a little longer with us.]”

“[I can't. I have to go and make sure everything is prepared.]”

“[At least let us go with you, then. I'm sure Leuchten wouldn't mind seeing us around. He never has before.]”

“[No, it's okay, you two stay here and have a girl's day out on me.]” Shekel said with a forced broad smile while leaving a large sum of bits for her.

His wife stares at him for a moment with sad eyes before she sighs and reluctantly drags the currency towards her. “[Okay, but you better be back at home at a reasonable hour. Don't go bar hopping with your friends, you hear?]”

He smiled and kissed her lovingly on her forehead. “[That's only a weekend thing.]”

They both laughed and he rubbed his daughter's mane before going up to the counter with the receipt for the meals in his mouth. He spat it out on the counter top and turned to wave to his wife and daughter one last time as the clerk did her math. His smile faded when he noticed that the newcomer was leaving without her suitcase. Her steps were quick and she kept glancing around nervously. Anybody could see her coat shining with sweat, too. His heart raced as his eyes trailed the stranger, who soon hopped on a bus and disappeared from view. When she was gone, his eyes snapped back to his wife and daughter.

Shekel shouted: “Goldie! Narina!” with a wave of his hoof and panic in his tone. Something wasn't right. He could feel it.

The two females looked at him and his wife, Goldie, motioned his daughter forward while she grabbed her things. Narina trotted towards him, completely oblivious to what was going on, and then everything disappeared. The gold starred suitcase, the furniture, dozens of bystanders, Goldie, all gone in a flash of light. It was not how it was described in entertainment. It was not made of fire or lasted many seconds. It was a sick cloud of fire that disappeared in a blink, flinging everything and everyone that wasn't consumed by its wrath like dead leaves in a strong wind. The force of the blast knocked him off of his feet and into the wall behind him, and when he hit the ground the last thing he saw before blacking out was Narina landing with a sickening crunch in front of him.

“[I did some research on our sorcerer friend and found out that he made a group of Equestrian soldiers do the exact same thing],” echoes Doodle's voice. “[Damn animal.]”

Shekel cornered a suspect of the attack in a hotel room, stepping past limp and bloodied bodies with their blood all over his suit and cheap mask. The suspect he was after was sobbing and pale with fright. She trembled as she shrunk down in a corner by the balcony, begging for him not to hurt her as he towered above her. He recognized her as the one who left the suitcase at the cafe. It was because of her that he couldn't get a casket for his wife since she was vaporized. It was because of her that his daughter lived out the rest of her days in agony.

Shekel raised his hoof and her wet eyes widen and her jaw drops as she is enveloped in his magic and lifted off of the ground. His eyes are glowing, his hoof tingles like thousands of blades poking at him. He heard her scream in pain as her limbs were stretched out. Over the cracking glass and wood, he could hear her bones snap and her skin tear, but he held no remorse. Pieces of the ceiling collapsed and light bulbs popped with the shattering of the patio door and breaking walls and floor. She screamed and writhed in his grip as snakelike trails of blood slithered down her, but he didn't care. He refused to care. She was an animal and animals need to be put down.

“Did you enjoy it,” growled Shekel.

“Wha-What?” stammered his prey, screaming in agony when her skin starts to visibly rip in spots.

“Did you enjoy it!” screamed Shekel. “Did you enjoy killing and maiming all of those innocent people!”

“N-No, I-”

“LIAR!”

Shekel's eyes snap open, engulfed in silver light and with a terrifying scream his gifted hoof extends and Leucthen's wall and his furniture explode with a sonic boom. Thick chunks of brick and metal frame fly into the night with the splintered remains of furniture. They tumble down and bang against the airship. Its roof dents and large cracks impossible to see through plague the windshield as the rubble bounces off. A piece of the wall falls into one of the turbine engines and immediately after a fireball shoots out of it with burning smoke pouring out to choke the sky. The engine's blades screech and scratch against each other and the ship spirals out of control, leaving twirls of red smoke in the night.

As the ship spins, it scrapes against the wall, and in some cases breaks through the window and pries loose brick and mortar. Shekel steps towards the edge, hoof still glowing and everything around it lifting up and shredding into nothingness. Shekel watches with a snarl as the ship spins, and he extends his hoof once more.

The ship jerks to a stop as it is covered in a silvery glow, and as Shekel grits his teeth and tightens his muscles, the metal and wood groan while bending and snapping. Sparks and flames escape to lick the night sky, and window explodes outwards as the pilots inside make a desperate leap to the river. It takes less than a minute to roll the scourge of the station into a tight, burning ball of twisted metal and snapped wood. Shekel holds the burning wreck in place, now sweating and body trembling from fatigue, and with one last burst of energy, a silver glow zips through his gifted hoof and explodes outward, ejected the wreckage like a ball launched from an air cannon into the river.

A massive splash of water shoots into the air when the used-to-be airship stabs the river, and when the water settles, there is nothing left of it. It had been swallowed by the dark water.

Shekel collapses, panting and sweating while his gifted hoof trembles violently with more of his fur dropping around him in white flakes. He stumbles as he tries getting up, but collapses against the wall. Shekel gulps and closes his eyes, only opening them when he hears careful steps approach them.

Doodle is standing in the doorway, jaw wide open and his face pale. The wind rushing through the gaping hole blows paper around and cools off Shekel, but he still feels a strong presence of anxiety clinging to him as Doodle stares at the scene. The donkey closes his mouth and looks at Shekel. The aged inspector can see emotions clearly. His fear. His rage. His confusion.

“[You... You're a Telekinetic?]” stammers Doodle finally.

“[Doodle, I-]”

“[Oh fuck me! You- You- A damn Telekinetic right in this station! How did they not catch you!]”

“[Will you shut up!]” snaps Shekel. “[I just saved yours and who knows how many more lives for Luna's sake!]”

Doodle wipes his nose. “[Gruber, you know what Bernese does to your kind. You have to leave before they catch you and lock you up with those crazy white coats!]”

Shekel shakes his head. “[I am not leaving until I have Trixie in custody.]”

Doodle stomps his hoof and screams: “[For Luna's sake! I will arrest Trixie for you, but you have to get out of here while you still can!]”

Doodle runs to Shekel's side and helps him up. The ibex protests, but Doodle won't hear any of it. Shekel partially leans against Doodle as he is guided towards the exit. The donkey's eyes and floppy ears are constantly searching for anyone that might have seen what he had just saw, and when he reaches the doorway he orders Shekel to stay and he checks down the hallway. Shekel slides to the floor, his body is still shaking and he feels like jelly from the amount of energy he put out to crush the vehicle. He massages his bald hoof, too, trying to keep himself calm when reality seeps in on the terrible consequences for his actions.

“[Get yourself the first ticket to Germaneigh or the Crystal Kingdom or anywhere but here. If word gets out what you did then-]”

Doodle suddenly stops and becomes stiff and slowly backs away from the doorway. Shekel looks up, still panting lightly and is about to ask Doodle what the problem is, but when he sees the donkey's eyes dilated and an armored zebra with gold glowing eyes step into the room he doesn't wait. He already knows what happened.

Shekel springs off of his feet and dives over a table, knocking over to act like a shield when Doodle yanks out his pistol and shoots at him. The bullets pierce the walls and table easily, and Shekel's hoof snaps out, barely glowing and having the strength to push the desk towards Doodle. Doodle is too slow to dodge the attack.

When he tries dodging it, half of his body is hit and he spirals in the air before face planting the carpet. Adanz shouts something in Roaman and Doodle charges Shekel. Shekel barely has time to stand up before the much younger opponent tackles him in the chest. They roll over each other with Doodle getting the upper hand and Shekel holding him up with one hoof while the other blocks Doodle's hoof.

“[Doodle, snap out of it!]” shouts Shekel desperately.

“Silly goat, he cannot hear you,” chuckles Adanz and Doodle; though Doodle's voice is void of anything real.

Shekel snarls and punches Doodle off, and while the donkey recuperates on the floor, he runs towards Adanz with the brunt of his horns aimed at the zebra. Adanz smirks and before Shekel has any time to change his course, he stomps the ground, sprouting blades from his gauntlet and he casually steps aside and stabs Shekel. Shekel stops cold, coughing blood and gasping for air as Adanz holds him in place. Shekel trembles and grunts as Adanz grabs his head and turns him to look into his eyes.

“This is nothing personal,” assures the zebra. Then he yanks out his claws and slams Shekel into the wall with enough strength to leave a dent in it. Shekel collapses to the ground gasping and quivering with a layer of plaster and dust clinging to the fresh blood seeping from his gash. Adanz puts his hoof over Shekel's head and offers a smile that only a reaper would love to see. He looks away for just a moment, his smile replaced with a curious frown before he looks down at Shekel once more. “It is just Justice.”

His hoof goes down on Shekel's head and he blacks out.

Trixie pushes the stairwell door open and runs down the hallway, mind racing to figure out where Pinkie Pie would be kept. She is glad that the airship is destroyed and is silently grateful that the guards are busy with the League; with them distracted with each other her work will be easier.

“So, who might you be,” echoes Adanz’s exotic voice over the chaos.

Trixie slides to a stop and turns to watch one of her trainers trot towards her with a smile and a slight limp. Trixie is hoping that her costume can hide the gulp when she notices how Adanz is wearing the same armor from Gilda's loft, albeit a lot more damaged than the last time she saw it. Adanz and Trixie start to circle each other like wolves in the middle of the hall. Trixie keeps her shaky steps in tune with the zebra’s, while his steps are fluid and his smile eerily confident.

“I’m the new Mare-Do-Well, who are you supposed to be?” taunts Trixie, her disguised and snarky tone masking her desperation to stay calm.

“An Agent of Justice.”

“An Agent of Justice attacking a guard station? Kinda ironic, don’tcha think?”

“We have no qualm with Bernese, it is just how the events unfold. But you are the new Mare-Do-Well? Interesting. I guess Pinkie Pie’s stupidity has a way of drawing in the moronic.”

Trixie launches herself towards the zebra and tackles him dead in the barrel. He grunts as the air is forced out of his lungs and both equines roll over each in a ball of armor and cloth. When Trixie is on top, Adanz uses his hind legs to thrust her off, and she lands with a crack echoing in the hall as her back smacks against the tile. Her vision is filled with stars and she coughs and groans quietly as she rolls to her hooves.

Adanz bucks her in the chest when she tries standing again, and her lungs feel like they have flattened under his hooves as she sails through the air. Another crash and she slides across the ground, coughing and tasting iron. Trixie struggles to get back on her hooves, but with the pain surging through her legs and ribs, she is finding it hard to stand, much less breath. She tries to think of something Gray Muffin would do, but her mind keeps snapping back towards the “I'm in pain, it is time to go!” option; an option that Trixie is unwilling to entertain.

“You are injured, I can hear it,” says Adanz snidely as he approaches Trixie. “It is stupid to fight when your own body demanding you rest.”

“I can do this all day,” says Trixie between her pants.

“Is that so?” says Adanz with a sinister smile. Trixie takes another step back, but soon finds her legs locking and her muscles tensing up, dreading the moment he chooses to strike again. “Let's make this interesting, then, shall we?”

Shekel's eyes gradually open, his vision hazy at first, but a few blinks later he sees everything clearly. His sides burn and he feels his own blood wetting his coat and attire. He barely lifts his head up, grunting and his hoof stretches out like it is trying to grab a life line as he attempts to drag himself across the floor. Then he pauses, ears drooped and jaw open as tears swell in his eyes and trickle to the floor.

Laying nearly in front of him is Doodle, eyes open and normal, but throat slashed and his body laying in a pool of blood. Shekel whimpers and he pushes himself up and hobbles towards Doodle, collapsing by his side to turn him on his back. He wants to shake Doodle awake, he wants to call him to see if he'll stir, but he knows it is hopeless. Doodle has bled out.

Shekel closes his eyes and pushes Doodle's lids shut.

“[Be at peace],” he whispers.

His eyes then open, his eyes and cheeks stained red with blood and tears, and he clenches his jaw shut as he pushes himself up. His hoof glows and Doodle's pistol levitates next to him.

In the courtyard, Shining Armor gallops with L. Roy and Colt through the mad mob of escaped convicts. Over the triumphant shouts and explosive thuds, the Captain can barely hear himself think, much less focus on what's going on. All he knows is that Colt and L. Roy are next to him and that is good enough for him right now, especially after all the sweat and sore throats it took to get the earth pony out of the cell.

While running, Shining Armor sees the machine take to the sky again, only this time it looks like it is holding something or someone, but it quickly changes course and veers towards his group. The other two see this and Colt's jaw drops as he skids across the gravel in an attempt to change direction, and L. Roy tackles him to the ground, using his own body as a shield while an electric beam burns past him and pops the ground behind them.

The blast knocks Shining Armor on to his back, and while the ringing is in his ears he barely hears Colt shouting. Shining Armor stands up, his pounding heart and raspy breaths echoing with the ringing, and he looks at his two friends as he blinks blood out of his eyes. Colt is helping L. Roy up, who is now bleeding and having trouble standing, and the machine lands behind them, cracking the ground up impact. Colt turns and cowers in the presence of the machine as it marches towards.

“Run!” screams Shining Armor, his voice sounding more faded than it really is to him.

Colt looks back at Shining Armor, and he repeats himself, this time his throat hurts and everything snaps back how it is supposed to be. Deafening and terrifying. Colt slings L. Roy on his back and gallops away while the machine continues its walk, completely ignoring the other two.

Shining Armor stares defiantly at the machine as it approaches him. He paws the ground and snorts hot air, inadvertently snorting out bloody bubbles. The machine continues its cool walk, its mechanical and heavy stomps dominating all other noises. When it is shy of a few paces from Shining Armor, it stops and aims its weapon at him. The gems on its cannon spark and become enveloped in burst of electric bolts as each one glows in a rail to finally stop at the tip. The tiny claws aimed at the barrel’s Tesla coil glow and shoots streams of electricity down to collect and form into a bright, glowing ball. Shining Armor keeps his defiant snarl and paws the ground again with his horn aimed at the menace ready to charge, but inside he knows he is absolutely screwed.

He knows that this thing wiped out an entire base without hesitation and had just blown through a prison defense to get to him and whoever it was it was holding earlier. Every one of its victims wore armor of some kind and its weapon still burnt through them easily and reduced brick to dust in a flash. But he sees that as no reason to die lying on the ground.

Shining Armor roars a war cry and charges the monster with his horn acting as a spearhead and when the machine fires Shining Armor is tackled to the ground from his side. He and the mysterious savior roll and slide across the ground as the ball travels over their heads and detonates at the gate. A gaping hole appears in a show of fire and tossed metal that rises into the night sky, illuminating everything around it. Shining Armor scrambles to his feet, swearing he hears the machine growl and when he goes to help up the one who saved him, he nearly loses his train of thought when he recognizes her to be one of the bridesmaids at his wedding.

“Lyra?”

Lyra stands up, trembling and whimpering and yet she still stands in front of Shining Armor protectively as the machine marches towards them, preparing for another shot.

“I told you to stay put!” bellows the machine.

“If you kill him I won’t go with you!” exclaims Lyra. The machine stops and looks at Lyra, if it had eyebrows one would be raised. Shining Armor looks at her, too, then back at the machine. Lyra is still whimpering and shaking so much that Shining Armor can hear her bones rattle and see her legs about to give out on her. “I’m serious!”

“You will come with me, regardless of what you want the ultimatum to be,” rumbles the machine. Its weapon is fully charged now, and the electric storm at its tip leaves small scorches on its armor and the ground, but it does not care. “Leave him and come with me, that is an order.”

Lyra is now sniffling, but takes a step forward, something Shining Armor is finding remarkable.

“Not unless you agree to not kill Shining Armor,” says Lyra with weak boldness.

“You do not negotiate with me!” shouts the machine, its speakers screeching in feedback and the ground cracking with its stomp. “He is dead and you will live and that is final!”

Shining Armor gets in a defensive stance and Lyra looks at him for the briefest of seconds, swallowing tears, before she looks towards the ground shamefully. Shining Armor tries to keep an eye on the machine, but finds himself captivated by the way Lyra approaches the machine.

When Lyra is nearly in front of the machine, she sees her reflection in its visors and takes a breath to break a barrier suffocating her throat. Lyra looks at the ground again and paws the gravel, trembling with tears cleaning dirt off of her cheeks.

“If you kill him,” she begins quietly, “then you will have to take me kicking and screaming.” Lyra looks up, shame in her eyes and tone, saying: “And you wouldn’t want Roar Shock to find out that you hurt me, would you?”

The machine stares at Lyra, and then it looks at Shining Armor. Shining Armor glares back at the machine, still in a defensive stance. This goes on for another few seconds before a low rumble emits from its speakers and when Shining Armor sees the weapon dim down he wants to sigh with relief, but finds it impossible to relax. Then without any warning, it lunges at Lyra like a starving predator on a hapless prey. Shining Armor hears Lyra yelp and he gallops towards them, screaming for Lyra, but it is too late. She is already wrapped in that thing’s mechanical hooves and it rockets towards the sky, leaving a trail of fiery smoke and kicked up dust and gravel in its wake.

Shining Armor skids to a stop and coughs and squeezes his eyes shut to protect them from the floating rubble. When it clears away, his lungs burn and his eyes hurt, but other than that, he is okay, Shining Armor mutters and walks in circles around where the machine left while he cranes his head towards the sky, but when the speeding speck disappears from view, he swears and stomps the ground.

Trixie gasps for air as she awkwardly clambers to her hooves, only to be rammed against the brick wall and have a hoof brought down on her head. She drops like a sack of stones with the pain of a sore neck and an abominable headache plaguing her. With the ringing in her ears, she can barely hear or understand the villain make his speech about being an Agent of Justice. Trixie’s legs threaten to give out on her as they wobble violently under her strenuous attempt to stand, but when she does manage to stand up she takes a deep breath and braces herself for another attack.

“You wouldn’t know justice if it bit you in the ass,” grunts Trixie, eyes narrowing on Adanz when she hears him snort. “You are a fiend, and I will gladly take you down myself!”

“Please, you are but a nopony with a stupid ambition,” sneers Adanz.

Trixie's eye twitches and she screams furiously as she charges Adanz. She summons an electric ball in the bowl of her hoof, jumps in the air, and brings it down on Adanz’s head. There is a small, electric explosion and Adanz stumbles a bit, grunting, his shocked expression masked by his face contorting to the sudden pain. Adanz swings at Trixie, but she bats the hoof away and brings her electrically charged hoof to his cheek. His head jerks to the side as he yelps and falls to the ground like an invisible rope tugged him down with a sudden jerk. His head cracks against the tile and blood escapes through his damaged lips and teeth as smoke rises off of his burnt cheek. The zebra coughs and makes an attempt to stand, but Trixie leaps towards him and brings both of her forehooves down on his back for a crushing stomp. A blue, electric shockwave erupts from under her hooves and Adanz is pushed into the ground, motionless with a smoking burnt scar on his back.

Trixie’s hooves stop glowing and she falls on her haunches, panting heavily and blinking excessive sweat out of her eyes while simultaneously trying to ignore the light smoke rising from her hooves and horn. Her horn feels empty, too, like a shell drained of all of its contents. Trixie pushes herself up with an exhausted grunt and glowers at the League of Justice zebra while he shakily stands up.

“I am not a nopony,” snarls Trixie.

She charges Adanz again and rams him through a door leading to a large room filled with uniformed desks. Both equines are a mess of fur, cloth and armor as they roll over each other across the center aisle. When they stop, Trixie is on top and she lands a couple of punches to Adanz’s face before he kicks her off. Trixie flips over his head and lands with a grunt and swirling stars in her eyes. Her rolling eyes widen when she feels a sharp tug on her tail, and she shrieks in pain and fear as Adanz flings her in the air. She glides over a desk, knocking off all of the papers and baskets, and rolls across the ground, coming to a stop when she hits another desk.

She stands up with the help of the furniture, and rolls over it just in time as Adanz leaps at her with his talons extended. The talons break the desk apart and stab the floor, and Trixie gallops into the hallway as the zebra gives chase to her.

With her heart racing and sweat soaking her costume to her coat, Trixie slides to a stop outside and slams the door shut. Her horn barely sparks as the door clicks, but that doesn’t stop Adanz. His bladed hoof breaks through the door easily, showering Trixie with shrapnel of wood and shattered glass. Trixie yelps and backpedals until she falls on her back. Another slice through the door and she scrambles to her hooves and gallops down the hall, swearing up a storm as the door is sliced and bucked into splinters.

Shining Armor limps through the mob, shouting for L. Roy or Colt, but he has a sick feeling that they can't hear him over the screaming, emergency sirens and all around chaos. He slides to a stop and shields his eyes with his hoof when a helicopter flies overhead, kicking up dirt with its vortex, with the searchlight blinding the crowd and the pilot shouting in his native tongue.

Shining Armor ignores the helicopter and continues running, seeing how many of the prisoners are flooding out of their cells and attacking the guards like rabid timber wolves. They are beating guards to a pulp, tossing them over ledges for them to splatter and somehow lighting some of them on fire. There is a distant thud and another gate opens and more prisoners come out, chanting with some of them carrying bed sheets in their mouths that have crudely painted gold stars on them. The already loose prisoners cheer and applaud the ground with their hooves with the sudden new wave, but their celebration does not last.

There is pop, and another, and another, and within seconds there are terrified and painful screams, and Shining Armor realizes to his shock that the pops are marked with muzzle flashes. The prisoners scatter, and Shining Armor swears and slides to cover behind a bench and watches with horror as the guards ruthlessly gun down fighting prisoners. They are mostly targeting the ones making an attempt to escape past the wide open gate, but the guards are also gunning down prisoners on the playground that try to resist.

Shining Armor ducks and runs to another bleacher when a stray bullet strikes the wall above him. He can barely hear the intercom blaring orders over the shouts of the prisoners and guards, the helicopter and the chaos of gunfire.

Shining Armor shrinks down farther when the helicopter unloads a merciless stream of lead on to a crowd of prisoners. He spots a clear opening in the defenses that is taunting him with the open field and sees L. Roy and Colt run through it with a group of convicts. He calls for them, but they can’t hear him.

Trixie swings at Adanz, but he slides out of the way and bucks her in the chest, sending her flying a good dozen feet or down the hall and landing with a bone rattling BANG! Upon impact, Trixie’s world goes white and the ringing returns in her ears. Gradually everything returns to normal, and just in time for her to see the deranged zebra towering above her with his hoof falling towards her face.

Trixie rolls out of the way, barely avoiding Adanz’s devastating stomp. He goes for another stomp, swearing in his native tongue, and Trixie barely avoids it, too, but only by a hair's length. She actually felt the zebra's bladed hoof slice just the fabric and send a wave of nausea through her. Trixie scrambles to her feet and leaps out of the way again as his claws shred the tile and when he turns to her for another strike there is a thunderous pop and everything goes silent and still.

Trixie and Adanz stare at each other. The zebra's face twist to shock and fear as his footing becomes wobbly. Both look down and see the droplets of blood dripping from him. Another pop and Adanz drops to his knees, coughing blood and gasping for air. He reaches towards Trixie, eyes pleading for help, but four more pops ring out and to Trixie's horror, the zebra jerks with each shot until he collapses on the ground. The zebra’s eyes are wide and his jaw snaps for air between his gasps as a pool of blood seeps from under him.

Trixie's ears swivel and she turns to the source of shallow breathing and heavy steps that accompany empty shells clattering to the floor. She takes a step back with each step Shekel takes in his march, bleeding and heavy eyelids nearly covering the burning hate in his eyes. His hoof is glowing and floating next to his head is a revolver that he is slowly reloading with the use of magic.

“I knew you would come, Lulamoon,” wheezes Shekel.

Trixie holds up her hoof cautiously. “Inspector, put down the gun,” she says in her regular voice.

Trixie continues stepping back as the ibex limps forward. When he is next to Adanz he stands above him snarling down at him, and Trixie sees Adanz afraid for the first time. Shekel takes another raspy breath and Trixie runs forward when he aims his pistol at Adanz’s head. Adanz is barely able to lift a hoof when-

“WAIT!” screams Trixie.

Trixie skids to a stop when the thunder of Shekel’s weapon echoes in the hallway.

Adanz stares at the ibex, lips trembling and weakening eyes filled with relief as the smoke rises from the hole in the floor next to his head. Trixie stares at Shekel, jaw open and heart racing. She gulps and takes a step back when Shekel turns with his weapon trained towards her, muttering in his tongue.

Trixie gulps and takes another step back when she sees Sunshine in the hallway entrance, watching intently.

“Don't you fucking move!” screams Shekel, breaking into a bloody coughing fit after.

Trixie freezes and Shekel nearly collapses, only being held up by the brick wall, and when he pulls away there is a red, paintbrush like stroke of his blood along the wall. Trixie's eyes drift to Adanz when his raspy breathing marks him trying to reach a packet of syringes labeled with the international medical symbol just waiting to be used.

“I can heal you, Inspector,” says Trixie as calmly as she can muster while cautiously approaching the zebra’s pouch. “I can-There is a medical kit right there and I can treat you of your injuries!”

Shekel laughs painfully, still wobbling towards Trixie. “A terrorist with a heart? That is the best oxymoron I have ever heard.”

“I'm not a terrorist.”

“Liar!”

Trixie steps back when Shekel’s weapon starts trembling as cracks slither from under his glowing hoof. The scarred ibex grits his teeth and hobbles closer to Trixie, leaving a trail of tears and blood, and ready to pull the trigger at any second.

“Why do you terrorists claim to be people when you are all monsters!” yells Shekel wrathfully with tears cleaning trails of blood off of his cheeks. “People do not do what you animals do!”

“Inspector, please! We're on the same side!” cries Trixie.

Shekel drops to the ground, coughing blood into his hoof. His body trembles as he wipes his bloody lips and his magic aura flickers until it disappears completely, causing his weapon to clatter to the floor. Trixie levitates the medical bag away from Adanz, ignoring his whimpers, and walks towards Shekel as he tries standing up, muttering in his native tongue, with each attempt being a failure that adds more blood to the floor around him.

Shekel reaches for his pistol with a shaky hoof, but Trixie gently presses her hoof on it and slides it out of his reach. His ears droop for a fraction of a second before he looks up at her, growling a last act of defiance, and Trixie she looks down at him with pity. She can see what he feels. She has seen it in herself, and she saw it in Gray Muffin and Roar Shock. Though his eyes are heavy and filled with hate, she recognizes the hate rests mostly on himself. She sees it in herself and she saw it in the two stallions that trained her. The weight Shekel carries on his shoulders is the same kind she saw in Gray Muffin’s heavy strides. She had seen how her old mentor had become numb with what he had done, and she sees the same with Shekel. Though, unlike Gray Muffin, Shekel wants to keep that flame of hatred alive since it is all he knows now, much like Roar Shock. He doesn't want to be numb, he wants to feel alive and with a purpose. But he is also tired. He wants it all to end; he just doesn't know how to let it.

Trixie lies next to Shekel, grimacing slightly from the warm blood she is sitting in, and uses her magic to removes the only good needle from Adanz’s pouch, the others being destroyed by one of Shekel’s slugs. Shekel coughs more blood and tries standing, but Trixie gently rests her hoof on his back, which is enough to make the hardened ibex’s knees buckle. He collapses, coughing and groaning while still managing to glare at her. Trixie ignores it, though, and pops off the safety cap and taps the air bubbles out.

“Just a warning,” says Trixie as she looks at Shekel, her sympathetic eyes barely showing behind her visor, “this is going to feel weird.”

Before Shekel can protest, Trixie injects him with the syringe and he gasps and his eyes bulge. Trixie is glad that she doesn't see the bullet holes sew themselves shut or the bones mend, but she does get grossed out seeing the skin and muscle stitching themselves back together. Within seconds, Shekel is no longer pale, but he is still covered in blood, and he watches Trixie in disbelief as she stands up. He inspects himself with sporadic movements, muttering in his tongue as Trixie walks away with Adanz reaching for her, begging in moans and coughs. When Trixie is halfway down the hall, he stands up and stares at his pistol, but makes no attempt to pick it up.

“Why?” asks Shekel quietly.

Trixie stops and turns her head slightly so she can see him out of the corner of her eye. “I told you, I am not a terrorist. I'm Mare-Do-Well.”

Trixie gallops towards the door before Shekel can respond, but she skids to a stop when the door is kicked open and an armored pegasus she had been dying to meet strolls in with his cannon charging. Trixie’s initial fear and shock is replaced with rage and she snorts and paws at the ground, her horn and hooves crackling with electricity. Her mask is hiding her gritted teeth and narrowed eyes streaming with tears, but anyone can hear her heavy panting and low growl. Trixie charges, not even caring that Roar Shock’s weapon is active and the pegasus also gallops to meet her. When Roar Shock sees Adanz clinging to life, though, he screams and fires.

Trixie and Shekel barely dodge the electric ball. Trixie feels the heat from the attack burn her cloth and leave her sweating as the bolts tug at her like they want to stay. The ball travels across the hall and blows out the wall, showering the hallway with a cloud of burning plaster, brick and smoke. The sprinklers turn on, covering the floor in a pool of water in a matter of seconds, and Trixie leaps in air and brings her electrically charged hoof on Roar Shock’s head.

Shining Armor calls for Colt again over the chaos, this time his friends are in the field with a small band of prisoners and he is sure that they can’t hear him, but much to his surprise Colt stops and turns, and L. Roy lifts his head soon after. Shining Armor smiles and gets a new burst of energy. He feels like he is going to rip himself to pieces about how fast he is running, but he doesn’t care. He is grinning and tasting the freshness of freedom.

Right as he is about to pass the gate, a bullet rips through his leg and he collapses and flips head over tail and comes to a stop, bleeding profusely from a through-and-through wound. Shining Armor screams and swears over his sobs as he tries to stop the bleeding. His head then cracks against the pavement as a hoof stomps on him, and over the ringing he can hear the guard shouting and more guards coming towards him.

Shining Armor cries as he pushes himself up and socks the guard in the head. The guard stumbles and Shining Armor slams the guard’s head against the wall, knocking him out cold. He is tackled to the ground by the reinforcements and through all of the hooves beating him, he sees L. Roy running towards him. His eyes widen and panic overtakes him as his fight to free himself becomes feral. He brutally knocks the guards off of him, pushing some into the wall, slamming others face first to the ground, and clambering on top of another to wail on him.

When he sees Colt getting dangerously close, Shining Armor holds up his hoof, yelling: “GO!”

Colt stops and Shining Armor is tackled to the ground again

“Go on, get out of here!” yells Shining Armor desperately with a wave of his hoof, hoping that he will get the idea. Colt stares at him for another couple of seconds before he reluctantly backs away and disappears into the field.

Shining Armor’s eyes are clouded with hooves stomping on him, his ears ring with pain and shouts, and massive pain ripples throughout his body. Nothing is spared in his beating. They stomp on his sides, his legs, his back, his face and gut and when they pull away, he is curled on the pavement, covered in bruises and blood and coughing more out. The guards pull away just enough for him to see the field. He sees the crescent moon, the cloudy sky and silhouettes of prisoners running through the field towards freedom, but no L. Roy or Colt.

Shining Armor chuckles in bitter joy as a guard steps into his line of sight, and the last thing he sees before blacking out is a hoof to his face.

Trixie pounds on Roar Shock like a fleshy drum, screaming and swearing in nigh in-comprehensible words. Her electric and blood lust punches leave burnt rings of fur and dried blood on Roar Shock’s face and burnt scars on his armor, and when she slams him to the ground, he lands with a grunt. Then Trixie levitates her former master by the tail and swings him over her head as if he is a lasso and throws him down the hallway. He slides, bounces, skids and rolls to a stop nearly on the other the end of the hall and goes still, not even a groan escapes him. Trixie pants heavily and collapses on her haunches, desiring so much to take off her mask just so she can wipe the sweat pooling on her brow and dripping down her face. But she doesn't for Adanz is still awake and she doesn't want him finding out who she is.

Trixie stares at Roar Shock, disappointed that he isn’t moving, then she looks at Adanz and stands up with shaky hooves when he looks at her with wide eyes. “Yeah, I went easy on you.”

Shekel cautiously approaches Roar Shock, and when his hoof and cuffs glow the aura flickers and dims away. He stops and looks at Trixie with a sharp glare.

“Why is my gift gone, Lulamoon?” he asks with a near homicidal snarl.

Trixie chuckles uneasily and rubs the back of her neck. “Side effect of instant healing?”

“You took my gift away!”

“How about a: ‘Gee, thank you so much for saving my life, Mare-Do-Well, you sure are swell’?”

“Nobody talks like that!”

“Well guess what?” Trixie points at herself. “Trixie does, smart ass!”

Trixie instantly clamps her mouth shut when she realizes the stupidity of her statement, and when she hears Roar Shock chuckling she really wishes she hadn't said something so stupid. Trixie looks at Roar Shock and takes a couple of steps back when the pegasus stands up with a grin. He cracks his back and neck and flexes his wings, then starts walking towards her.

Shekel growls and takes a step forward but Trixie holds out her hoof and tells him to wait. Shekel stops and looks at her out of the corner of her eye and asks her why.

“Because he is really good at what he does,” replies Trixie.

Shekel snorts. “I know that. We'll subdue him together if it comes to it.” The ibex looks at Roar Shock once more. “Roar Shock, you are under arrest for acts of terrorism against the Lunar Republic of Bernese. Anything you say-”

“Shut up, rock-head,” snaps Roar Shock. “This is between me and the Great and Powerful Trixie.” He puts a lot of mockery into Trixie's title as he snobbishly presses his hoof against his barrel with his nose raised. Then he starts walking again. “From a whorish showmare to a cockroach. It looks like my training paid off, hasn't it, Trixie?”

“Gray Muffin trained me,” growls Trixie, horn sparking again and eyes flicking towards the hallway when she sees Sunshine smiling with anticipation.

“So he did, and I’m sure he would've been glad to see you.” His eyes narrow and his voice turns to the predatory tone she heard when she first saw him. “But your crimes against the League must be paid in blood.”

Before Trixie can make any reply, the brutish pegasus launches himself at her, knocking aside Shekel like a doll and tackling her square in the chest. Trixie grunts and flies off of her hooves, splashing in the water. She tries to stand, but Roar Shock leaps next to her and brings his hoof down on her head, causing another splash as she is knocked back into the water, this time with faint red bleeding from her mask.

Trixie greedily sucks up whatever air seeps through her soaked mask as her head jerks out of the water after Roar Shock is rammed by Shekel. The pegasus flies into the wall, and while Trixie stands up, she sees out of the corner of her eye Shekel and Roar Shock battling it out. Though it is hard to follow their movements, since they are a mess of fur and feathers, Trixie comes to the conclusion that Roar Shock is winning. When Roar Shock punches Shekel in the throat and bucks him to the ground, Trixie's legs find the energy to sprint towards them, but she arrives too late. While Shekel is on the ground, Roar Shock takes a second to look at Shekel's gifted hoof before stomping on it, shattering it completely. Shekel howls and cradles his injury as white bone pokes through his skin. The water becomes stained with his blood and silvery liquid and they circles the injured ibex.

Roar Shock brings his hoof down on Shekel's chest, sending an echo of snapping bones over another cry of pain that quickly devolves into desperate gasps of air. Trixie yells and shoots Roar Shock into the wall with a telekinetic blast. Roar Shock grunts from the brick breaking impact and Trixie gallops up to him, pushes him back into the wall and strikes him with a furious barrage of punches. Roar Shock’s head jerks from side to side with each punch Trixie sends to his cheeks before he is able to block and head-butt her. As Trixie stumbles back, head throbbing and ears ringing, he kicks out her footing and brings his hoof on her head.

Trixie collapses in the water, groaning as the throbbing in her back and fatigue threaten to overtake her. Her legs tremble as she makes a frantic attempt to stand, but before she could get all the way up Roar Shock hoists her up by hooking his hoof under her neck and tugging her up. She feels a fresh bruise forming from his maneuver and right as her horn charges he punches her in the maw which sends her spinning into the water.

Trixie clambers to her feet and tries to swing at Roar Shock, but he deflects her punch and puts her in a lock where he punches her in the side until she collapses. As soon as Trixie falls in the water, Roar Shock spares her no seconds to let her catch her breath or think. He lunges at her battered figure and repeats his hook-punch maneuver on her three more times before switching the fourth to be a hook on her neck and then a swift uppercut. The final punch sends her crashing to the tile on her back and her world goes white with ringing and waves in her ears. As her focus gets better, Trixie watches helplessly as Roar Shock stands above her, hoof raised for the killing blow. Just like when he stomped her father flat.

“Hey!” calls an all too familiar voice, making Roar Shock look towards the general direction. “Aren’t you the guy looking for me?”

Trixie pales behind her blood soaked mask as Pinkie Pie walks towards Roar Shock with a confident trot. However, rather than the puffy hair and bright expressions that she used to be associated with, Trixie sees the twisted smile and flat mane that reminds her of when a whole hallway of griffins and EIB agents were slaughtered by her hoof. Trixie also realizes that Pinkie Pie is heavily scarred and wearing a damaged advanced Mare-Do-Well suit with the helmet dangling on her side.

Roar Shock pulls away from Trixie and marches towards Pinkamena, weapon charging and veins throbbing from the rage consuming him. Pinkamena’s grin is hidden when she slips her helmet on in one fluid motion.

“You killed my daughter,” growls Roar Shock.

“And it was fun,” giggles Pinkamena as she adjusts the fedora, then she wags her hoof in a come-on fashion. “Now let’s do the hoky poky, Shocky.”

“Pinkie, no,” gasps Trixie sorely, her voice barely heard and her hoof extended pathetically towards her friend. However, her extended hoof sends a sharp spike of pain through her side and she winces and curls up on the floor, clutching her side.

“Oh, relax, Costumo,” snickers Pinkamena, her voice now deep and gruff, “this is going to be fun for both of us. Besides-” she cracks her neck and back “-me and Shock-A-Lot have some unfinished business.”

While Roar Shock approaches Pinkamena, the psychotic earth pony giggles and hops up and down in her spot, coming to a stop with her back end raised and tail wagging like an excited dog.

“Oh goody, are we going to play tag? I love tag!” giggles Pinkamena.

Trixie winces again and limps towards Shekel; his eyes are wide open and blood is dripping out of his mouth as he wheezes for air. She uses her magic to gently lift him on her back and carries him to safety inside an office while the other two combatants have their stand off. Once inside, she carefully sets him down by the door and peeks out to see what the other two are doing.

In the hallway, Pinkamena and Roar Shock circle each other. Both refuse to back down or break eye contact, and while Roar Shock is snorting and flapping his wings in powerful thrusts, Pinkamena is giggling.

“You look mad,” giggles Pinkamena. “Is this because I killed your ugly marefriend?”

Roar Shock screams and punches Pinkamena in the jaw. She falls, laughing, and when she pushes herself up, she is rammed into the wall and Roar Shock punches on her head repeatedly with heavy strikes, panting and sobbing with each punch until she is flat on the ground. Then he continues his ruthless pummeling. When he goes for his dozenth punch, Pinkamena blocks it, twists his forehoof back awkwardly and slams his face through the window. It shatters as his head goes through it with ease, and when she pulls him away, his face is rapidly being covered in a layer of blood seeping from the gashes, and the jagged edges of the windows are tipped with his blood.

Pinakmena holds him at hoof's length and tugs him closer for a punch in the jaw. The crack of the collision echoes in the hall and Roar Shock crumbles to the ground, coughing blood and shifting in the water as he tries to stand up. Pinakmena snickers and paces around him, and she stomps on his back when he almost stands up, pushing him hard into the ground.

“I will admit, your little angle had quite the punch, but I was better. She was better than Pinkie Pie and almost killed her, but I came in and saved the day!”

Roar Shock squirms and when Pinkamena jumps in front of him he tries to swing at her. His swing is weak and she blocks it easily before pushing his hoof against his barrel and knocking him on his back. Then she climbs on top of him, still keeping his hoof pressed against his chest and she leans down while putting her whole body weight on him so he can see his reflection in her visor. He tries to escape again, grunting in the process, but all it does is make her laugh.

“She tossed sweet little Pinkie around like an ugly doll. In one room and out the other. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. Through a wall. Into a ceiling. Oh my goddess, talk about a mess!”

Roar Shock squirms again and moves his head away so he won't have to look at his grotesque reflection, but Pinkamena grabs his head with both of her hooves and forces him to look into her visor while pressing harder against him.

“Ah ah ah, no no no. Look at me, Shocky, look at me, it's story time,” coos Pinkamena in eerie eagerness. When Roar Shock stops squirming, she smiles behind her mask. “I tried to get Little Ms. Pinkie to let me out earlier, but she wouldn't listen, and I decided to take matters into my own hooves when the fight got in the kitchen. Terra thought that if she stabbed my hoof into the floor I would be stuck. She was wrong and... well, let's just say that she never expected me to stab her in the neck with her own knife while it was still in my hoof. What a surprise!”

Roar Shock's eyes widen and Pinkamena's psychotic cackle echoes down the hall. Then with a burst of rage fueled adrenaline, Roar Shock yells and pushes Pinkamena off. Pinkamena continues laughing when Roar Shock runs her to the ground. All Pinakmena can see are Roar Shock's hooves on her visor and tiny cracks snaking around the edges. And right as Roar Shock lifts his hoof for another strike, a purple blur tackles him in the side. Pinkamena rolls to her hooves and watches in morbid fascination as the two ponies battle each other like rabid dogs. They are rolling over each other, snarling and sending sparks and hooves towards each other with feathers and smoke lightly clouding them.

Pinkamena trots a good distance away and watches the two bloodied and bruised ponies fight in front of the used-to-be window for another couple of seconds before she smiles and charges.

Trixie and Roar Shock stand on their hind legs and lock hooves in an attempt to knock each other back, both snarling viciously and using all their might to push the other back. Trixie is losing quickly, but when Pinkamena is right on top of them, both ponies eyes widen and they swear over her laughing as she tackles Roar Shock out the window, taking Trixie with them.

Pinkie Pie sulks through the street of the impoverished town; the bystanders are completely ignorant of her state for they are too busy laughing and having a good time. Pinkie Pie stops when she hears a sweet melody of a cello play over the ambiance of the town. She looks to her side and watches a scene plucked from a Canterlot theater taking the place of the town stage. A group of high class ponies dressed in fancy garb watch in wonder as Octavia plays the strings of the instrument, her eyes closed and soul pleasantly lost in the world she had built with the music. Pinkie Pie can't help but marvel at how beautiful her sister looks on stage with that bow tie and the way she lets her mane flow freely, and the spotlight on her is warm, too, like a blessing from Celestia herself. When her music ends on a moving note that leaves a lump in Pinkie Pie's throat, the crowd lightly applauds and Octavia, eyes still closed, bows respectfully. When she lifts her head back up, her eyes open and looks directly at Pinkie Pie. And smiles.

An announcer trots on stage and shakes hooves with Octavia before she leaves while the announcer turns to the crowd, saying: “And so concludes Octavia Philharmonica Melody Pie's 'Sunshine and Rainbows'. Next up is...”

The words of the announcer are drowned out by a deafening rumble that no one seems to notice but Pinkie Pie. She looks up at the sky when the noise returns like it is rolling through the clouds. Her ears droop and takes a step back, gulping when the ground starts to rattle and the dreamscape starts to tilt, but again everyone is oblivious to the strange occurance. They are still enjoying their lives even when everything is inclining and causing everything not nailed down to tumble and break against each other.

Pinkie Pie’s hooves dig into the gravel as she tries to keep herself steady, but in no time at all the incline becomes to steep and she tumbles through the gravel, screaming and grunting with pain as she bounces down the gravel. She comes to a sudden, and extremely painful, stop when she belly-flops on the Harmony Day Monument. Pinkie Pie moans and rubs her stomach as she turns on her back.

Before she has a chance to catch her breath, she is suddenly rocketed out of her spot by an unknown force that might as well have launched her from a cannon. Pinkie Pie spins through the air, shrieking and hooves flailing, and feeling her stomach contents churning and ready to burst out of her mouth with how fast the world is spinning. Pinkie Pie clenches her mouth shut and her cheeks puff out as they turn green, and right as she’s afraid she’ll be lost to the clouds, Spike snatches her hoof and pulls her close to him. She immediately turns away from him and pukes her guts out, groaning with disgust when the greenish-orange chunky liquid zips into the sky, never to be seen again.

She looks at Spike, and his smile widens as he adjusts his grip on the light pole he is grasping. Pinkie Pie wants to laugh and cry for joy and hug the dragon, but all she can muster is a sick smile and a warm hug.

“Feel better,” snickers Spike over Pinkie Pie's: “I can't believe you stayed!”

“Leave no friend behind,” recites Spike proudly.

“But you left earlier,” accuses Pinkie Pie. Spike offers a flimsy excuse about giving her some space, and when she looks down she gasps and wraps her hooves tighter around Spike while staring at the perfectly vertical world. “Holy cheese and Celestia, what the heck is going on!”

Spike shrugs. “Not a clue, but my hands are getting tired so can you tell your dream to straighten out just a little bit.”

Pinkie Pie looks at Spike with a teasing smile. “Since when do ghosts get tired?”

Spike looks at Pinkie Pie with the same look, only with the warming touch of a dragon added on. “Since they were able to hold ponies.”

Pinkie Pie is about to rebuke Spike, but when she hears what sounds like water rushing through a tube she looks down at the interesting scenery, straining her eyes to see the source of the mysterious noise. And that is when all the windows explode and all the doors burst off of their hinges with thick jets of water violently spraying out and covering everything in a flood. Pinkie Pie and Spike scream over the rushing waves and crumbling bricks as the water viciously swallows everything in its path. Ponies, wagons, vending stands and buildings, nothing survives the wave and when it reaches the two danglers with all the debris in its watery grasp, Pinkie Pie closes her eyes and-

Wakes up under water, the moon distorted in ripples and its light fading the deeper she goes in the dark depths. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees two ponies struggle under, but she doesn’t turn towards them, she keeps her eyes on the moon. It is very pretty, mesmerizing in fact. She doesn’t feel Pinkamena or pain or fear, she feels weightless and at peace. Water fills up her mask and she smiles, not caring that it is cold, and her hoof extends graciously towards the moon, wanting to touch it like when she was young and tried to catch light flies. Pinkie Pie closes her eyes for a moment, and when she opens them, her face is completely submerged, but she is glad that the last things all she hears is the serenity of water in her ears.

Pinkie Pie’s back hits the muddy banks, shooting up a cloud of dirt that conceals the moon’s light from her, but it doesn’t last. The dirt fades and the rays of Luna’s light shine down on her. Her eyes drift shut again, and when she opens them once more, her lungs are already flooded and she can feel the weight crushing her, but she doesn’t care. Even with her lungs filled with water she feels at peace. After all the Hell that has happened she is finally finding tranquility in the dark water and the light of the moon. She barely sees something torpedo in the water and swim towards her, but she doesn’t keep her eyes open long enough to see who it is.

Fluttershy gasps for air when she burst out of the water with Pinkie Pie in her grip. Her mane is soaked over her eyes and she spits out globs of water, coughing and gasping as she swims towards the shore with frantic pedals. She falls under for a moment, submerging her world in darkness, and when she rises again, she screams for help. She whimpers and pedals harder towards the lights illuminating the wagon while trying to keep Pinkie Pie from slipping from her grip.

When she falls again, she is wrapped in a soft, tingly aura and carried out of the water with Pinkie Pie still in her grip. As soon as she is safely on shore, Fancy Pants' horn stops glowing and the other two ponies land to the group, dripping wet. Fluttershy shivers and wipes her wet mane out of her eyes while Pinkie Pie lays limp on the ground.

Fluttershy whimpers incoherently as Iron Will and Fancy Pants run by her side. The minotaur gently pushes her back and kneels next to Pinkie Pie while Fancy Pants stands at a heightened state of alert, his ears constantly twitching and his pacing brisk as he keeps a look out for more trouble. Specifically more League of Justice ponies.

Fluttershy runs next to Pinkie Pie, and lays next to her, sobbing and shaking her.

“Wake up, Pinkie! Wake up!” cries Fluttershy.

Iron Will is in the middle of taking off the pink pony's helmet when Fancy Pants barks at him to get the suit off. Iron Will swears in his native tongue and with speedy precision, removes each of the components of the suit. The limb pads are removed first, followed by her cape and vest. Once those are removed, all that is left is the light purple jumpsuit underneath, bleeding water and blood from reopened injuries. He unzips the suit and with the help of Fluttershy it slides off, revealing the Element of Laughter beneath.

Her eyes are closed and her mane and tail are weighed down by the water, and just like her pale and scarred body they are covered in sand like fine sugar sprinkles. Fluttershy leans over Pinkie Pie and presses her ear to her nose, then her chest, and when she looks up at Iron Will her eyes are wide and running with tears.

“She's not breathing!”

Before Iron Will or Fancy Pants can say anything, Fluttershy starts pushing her hooves on her friend's chest. One, two, three. Then she presses her mouth against Pinkie Pie's and breathes heavily down her throat before returning to her pumps.

One, two, three. Breathe.

One, two, three. Breathe.

One, two, three. Breathe.

And on and on it goes without any falter. When Iron Will touches her shoulder, she shrugs him off violently and returns to her CPR. She hears Fancy Pants demanding about Trixie, but she doesn't answer. She saw Trixie, but didn't have the time nor the strength to save both her and Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy didn't have time to ponder the morality of choosing one life over the other. The choice had been clear to her. Thinking meant the death of her friend.

She's already seen Pinkie Pie die once and she'll damned if she let her die again!

One, two, three. Breathe.

Fluttershy is panting and gulping tears back as she presses on and breathes into Pinkie Pie. She hears Fancy Pant and Iron Will arguing, and it quickly escalates into terrifying shouts and nasty snarls. But still she presses on. She's already seen Rarity condemn Pinkie Pie and Twilight has lost herself to work just as Rainbow Dash had lost herself in her new career. Everything is all wrong and there is no going back now.

One, two, three. Breathe.

Fluttershy remembers being with Big Mac the night he disappeared. She remembers watching the black vehicles shining their lights on the Apple Family farmhouse. The symbol of Celestia -the very symbol she trusted- painted on the sides of the wagons and masked ponies in black kicking down the doors and storming the place like the Apples were war criminals. She begged Big Mac not to go, but he left anyway to protect his family. And she watched helplessly as the servants of Celestia beat him to the ground.

One, two, three. Breathe.

She watched as they tussled him and carelessly tossed him in one of the mini-trains.

One, two, three. Breathe.

She watched them drag Applejack out of her house, bound with a black bag over her head. Applejack somehow managed to fight back, but all she could do was watch her friend get quickly and ruthlessly beaten down while Apple Bloom's cries pierced the night as she was dragged into another vehicle. Apple Bloom's screams became silent when they slammed the door shut. Fluttershy thinks about when she curled up on the ground, too afraid to cry or move as the symbols she trusted drove apart, each taking an Apple in a different direction.

One, two, three. Breathe.

She watched her friends get taken.

One, two, three. Breathe.

She watched her friends get beaten.

One, two, three. Breathe.

She watched.

One, two, three. Breathe.

Now she is done watching.

One, two, three. Breathe.

Pinkie Pie coughs out a sickly amount of water and phlegm that splashes out of her mouth and all over her chin and face. She coughs and hacks painfully and tries to curl up, but Fluttershy scoops her up and hugs tight while crying for joy.

The pink pony tenses up, but when her eyes open Fluttershy holds her away so she can see her smiling face. Pinkie Pie's eyes widen like it was the first time she had ever seen Fluttershy; and it is the first time she had ever seen Fluttershy dripping wet, shivering and panting. Pinkie Pie's lips tremble and she gulps for more air and to hold back the tears threatening to come out. Fluttershy, on the other hand, let's her tears flow freely.

“Flutters?” Pinkie Pie says in a pained soft voice.

Fluttershy hugs Pinkie Pie and cradles her on her lap. “It's okay, Pinkie, I'm here. You're safe now,” she says softly into Laughter's shoulder.

Pinkie Pie's hooves weakly wrap over Fluttershy's shoulders and pats her on the back.

“You saved me,” says Pinkie Pie in a near whisper and disbelief.

“What are friends for?” remarks Fluttershy between her light pants.

With those words, Pinkie Pie's shocked expression melting away to a smile of relief as tears slide down her cheeks from her closed eyes. Kindness had saved her from drowning.

Fluttershy's ears twitch and she feels Pinkie Pie's grip tighten when she hears Fancy Pants growl viciously. She hugs Pinkie Pie tighter when there is a loud pop followed by wood splintering and glass shattering. Kindness reluctantly looks over her shoulder, body trembling from more than just the cold now, and she whimpers when she sees Iron Will lying on the ground, motionless and Fancy Pants galloping down the riverbed.

A moment later, Iron Will groans and sits up with his hand pressed against a gash on his head, and he stares at Fancy Pants, understanding, but also mad that he had overreacted about the issue thus leading to his vehicle getting damaged.

His gaze then falls on Pinkie Pie, and to Fluttershy he says: “Let's get her in the wagon.”

Innumerable bubbles of all shapes and sizes gather around Trixie and Roar Shock as the two equines struggle under water. The mask is glued to Trixie’s face and her lungs flood with all the water breaching her throat, and Roar Shock’s movements are crazy, erratic. Desperate. But she is determined to hold him under.

Despite Trixie’s best efforts, Roar Shock is still able to climb on top of her, pushing her farther down and pokes his head up, hungrily gulping all air he can. Trixie slides out from under Roar Shock, causing him to dip under the water and she pokes her head up, using her magic to yank off her mask so she can taste the sweet air and cough out globs of water. Trixie is pulled under again, and her vision is blanketed with the darkness of the water and ears clouded with the under currents and muffled, frantic cries of her nemesis. She sees him unclipping his armor and his damaged weapon and watches them disappear into the darkness with the light from the gems slowly flickering away.

Roar Shock kicks Trixie away, sending her spinning under the water and he pushes himself up once more. Trixie launches herself towards him and bites down on his tail right as he is about to take flight. Roar Shock screams painfully as the weight of a second pony and her crushing bite hold him down, and he flaps his wings as hard and fast as he can to escape. He does get air, but he is dragging Trixie along with him. However, once Trixie start scrapping on the riverbed, she digs her hooves in the mud and tugs Roar Shock down.

He yelps and crashes into the water with a huge splash, and Trixie immediately waddles towards him, her sparking hooves and horn creating a cloud of steam from their intense heat. Roar Shock coughs and sputters water as he stands up, and whimpers when his footing gives out, giving him a mouth full of murky water. Right as he stands up again, Trixie roars and strikes him in the head with a punch, sending him back into the water. She pulls him up and punches him again into the water and she keeps punching him, even when he is completely submerged. Within seconds, she is wailing on Roar Shock, oblivious to all shouts and the water splashing towards her, or Sunshine watching from the shore with a sadistic grin.

Sunshine walks towards Trixie as her hoof collides with Roar Shock’s maw with a nasty crunch and a spray of blood.

Trixie grinds her teeth and tears of rage and sorrow start building up once more.

Sunshine is now behind Trixie, watching her raise her hoof again, his grin expanding when her wrath strikes her former master again. He barely releases a grunt as his head snaps back, and Trixie doesn’t care that her hoof is coated in the blood gushing from his nose.

Tears are rolling down Trixie’s cheeks and her tormented scream echoes over the waves and sirens. Her tears drop down her cheek and onto Roar Shock’s destroyed face as she continues to relentlessly pounds his face raw.

Sunshine stands behind Roar Shock, watching with a proud smile as Trixie continues her assault. Roar Shock’s blood is all over her hooves and she doesn’t care. She wants his blood all over her. She wants him to beg for forgiveness so she can deny it. She wants to see him as the pathetic worm he really is!

Another punch sends Roar Shock in the water. Barely seen air bubbles rise up with his blood. Bloody water splashes up with Trixie’s hoof and dots her face and costume while she raises and beats Roar Shock in and out of the water, with every intention to pummel him to death.

Trixie’s punches become sloppy and weak, but Roar Shock doesn’t move, and he is silent as Trixie sobs over him, wishing he would fight like he did in the station. She wants him to resist. She needs him to resist. Her sobbing turns to wails and her tears flood her vision. She can’t see anything now except for a bleeding stallion under her hooves that took her father from her. A greedy, lying, killer who cared only about himself, and yet he still tried to right his wrongs, but was never given the chance to.

There is a ring of blood around her and Roar Shock now, but the defeated pegasus isn’t moving, his swollen face stares at the night sky as blood pours through the gashes she left on his face, spreading out in the water like wings. Sunshine walks next to Trixie and looks at Roar Shock, beaming and putting his hoof on her back. Her trembling turns to shivers as the feeling of frost spreads from where his hoof is, and she can smell his horrid breath when he speaks next to her face.

“Good job, darlin’,” he says proudly, “now finish him off. It is what you wanted, right? He killed yer pops and betrayed ya and marked ya fer dead even though you were his good little toy.”

Trixie hoists Roar Shock up so that they are eye level, though his eyes are nearly swollen shut.

“WHY!” she sobs. “WHY DID YOU KILL HIM!”

Sunshine rolls his eyes. “Oh please don’t do that. That is annoying and pointless.”

When Roar Shock doesn’t answer right away, Trixie punches him in the maw and lets him fall into the water and holds him down. His struggle is almost nonexistent as he pushes against Trixie’s face with his hoof. She lifts him out of the water and he gasps and sputters bloody water.

“ANSWER ME!”

Roar Shock wheezes and Trixie punches him again, this time she lets him float in the water as she glares down at him, panting and gulping for air between her sobs.

“Should the day come… where you have children… you will understand,” wheezes Roar Shock, his weak voice barely heard over the waves.

Trixie stares at Roar Shock, gasping and crying, and when the grotesque aftermath of her brutality seeps in, she stumbles back and collapses in the water, covering her mouth with her hoof and weeping louder.

Her father ran a criminal empire and he bribed, extorted and killed to keep control. Roar Shock stood up to him, and he took what mattered most to him. In retaliation Roar Shock killed him and everyone he knew, but Trixie was the daughter of his nemesis. Roar Shock took her in not only because he saw her as a weapon, but because it would be the ultimate form of spite. Her father the criminal. She the vigilante. Roar Shock groomed her to be everything her father wasn’t, and yet they all had one thing in common. All three of them killed.

Her father for crime.

Roar Shock for justice.

Her for Monte.

“I’m no different from you,” whimpers Trixie. “I’M NO DIFFERENT FROM YOU, NOW!”

She lunges at Roar Shock, but Fancy Pants rushes to her side and hugs her away from him. Fancy Pants hugs her tight and gently shushes her as he rocks her and strokes her mane. Trixie buries her face and sobs in his shoulder, quivering in his embrace and repeating herself in unintelligible whimpers while gripping Fancy Pants tighter.

“I don’t want to be him,” sobs Trixie between her gasps for air. “Please don’t let me be him. I don’t-I can’t-Don’t let me be him. Please.”

“You'll never be him,” whispers Fancy Pants. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”

Trixie’s weeps and tortured breaths of air is all anyone can hear. Fancy Pants closes his eyes and continues his loving attempts to comfort her with soft strokes on her, not even caring about the bloody water staining his attire or the limp figure floating beside them. Trixie’s eyes flutter open and she gulps when she sees Sunshine standing not too far from her, scowling. She stares at him, whimpering and hugging Fancy Pants tighter, and Sunshine shakes his head in disappointment as he walks away from her, disappearing into the darkness. She closes her eyes and snuggles against Fancy Pants, hoping he could protect her from the never ending darkness.

Trixie opens her eyes again when she feels a tingling and weightless sensation engulf her body, and she sees Fancy Pants’ horn glowing and her being levitated to his back. She doesn’t resist, she welcomes it openly and goes limp upon landing on the curve of his back. She trembles at the sight of the bloody water surrounding Roar Shock, and turns her head to the shore and sees a set of headlights coming towards them, but she doesn't feel any form of panic or fear. She just feels numb.

The vehicle pulls to a stop and Iron Will gets out and approaches the two with brisk and heavy steps.

“You better be giving me a new wagon and sheets for my birthday, Fancy!” says Iron Will angrily.

“Let’s get you home,” says Fancy Pants to Trixie gently, completely ignoring the minotaur.

Trixie nods and closes her eyes. The comforting darkness of sleep comes seconds later.

Darkness. That is all Shekel can see. There is no ground, no up or down, no clouds or stars to behold. There is nothing there and he is floating in it. However, he does hear whats sounds like flapping wings echo in the scape.

He sees something in the dark, but can't quite make it out. To him it looks like the someone of a midnight color is landing not too far from him, and she's glowing a bit, too, but just enough so he can see her features. She is tall, slender and gorgeous. Her mane and tail swirl in the dark, painting the void with stars, and her elegant steps leave colorful dusty footprints in her wake. Her wings spread out majestically and her horn glows with her garment.

Shekel dares to step closer to the being with his hoof extended slightly, like he desires to touch her but is afraid to do so..

“Luna?” whispers Shekel.

Luna stops in front of Shekel, and he cranes his head up so he can gaze into her eyes. They are deep with an unending cycle of turmoil churning, but in all that, there is resolve. And that resolve is enough to make her beautiful eyes glow as a benevolent beacon.

Shekel is at a loss for words, and the thought of him dying comes to mind. He wants to believe that he is not dead since Trixie healed him and all he had was a shattered hoof, and that doesn't cause death. Does it? He looks around the void, watching in wonder as the stars float from Luna's hair and find their own places. It is hypnotizing, and he's sure he lost track of time because when he looks back at her, she is staring at him. Her expression is patient, but it doesn't stave the awkwardness he is feeling at the moment. He stares at her, silently, for another length of time, trying to muster up the courage to ask her the grand question.

“[Am I dead?]” he finally asks with a gulp.

Luna smiles warmly, closes her eyes and dips her head towards Shekel. His hooves lock and his eyes widen when she presses her muzzle against his. Her lips are tender, and her taste pleasant. And in all honesty, being kissed by Luna completely embarrasses Shekel to the bone. While keeping their lips locked, Luna barely opens her mouth, eyes still closed, and breathes into Shekel's mouth. Shekel gasps at the feeling of air being forced down his lungs and Luna pulls away from him to stand at her full height.

As her eyes gradually open, Luna says in a voice soft like a gentle breeze: “Skopós sas den échei akómi ylopoiitheí.”

She then gently puts her hoof over his eyes, and they shut instinctively, but they open soon after when her touch fades away. Now more sounds surround him and things start to take shape in the strange land. He hears clamoring and cries over the sirens, and faint shouts directing others to their tasks. Silhouettes of figures slide along the edges like ghostly shadows under uniformed stars, and soon the shadows turn to emergency workers speeding past him in the destroyed halls of the guard station.

Shekel's eyes drift to his side and sees a medic in combat gear next to him. She sees him awake and her moment of shock quickly dissipates as shouts about the medicine working and for someone he can't see to grab Leuchten. Shekel looks towards his front, watching as a soldier gallops down the hall, and he realizes that he is on a stretcher with his destroyed leg bandaged tightly and stained with crimson and silver, and a medical bag hanging from a pole attached to his stretcher. The medic tries to get him to look at her, but his head tilts lazily to the other side to observe local guards lined along the wall, all bleeding or bruised in some way while the thin number of medics race to treat each one. He stares at their expressions. Most are blank, but some are crying into the comfort of the closet shoulder while the other is burdened with trying to stay strong.

The stretcher stops next to a line made of more stretchers, each holding an ibex too injured to move on their own. Some are resting, others are trying to rest, and one is blabbing incoherently as a soldier clutches his hoof, trying to give him words of encouragement while a medic attempts to stop the bleeding.

Shekel's observation is cut short when his head is grabbed by a pair of hooves and his eyes blinded by a mini-sun aimed directly at his eye. It shifts to the right. His eyes go to the right. It goes to the left. His eyes follow. It continues swaying to the left and right, and his eyes follow it subconsciously. Then it suddenly clicks off, leaving blotches of colors floating around, obstructing his view of the medic and a large ibex next to her. He is built bigger than any normal ibex, and with his red coat and burly figure one could easily mistake him for an earth pony if they were too stupid to notice his large horns.

Shekel swallows and tries to raise his hoof in salute. “[Chief Leuchten, Inspector-]”

“[Save it, Telekinetic, you have a lot of explaining to do, but that will come later],” interrupts Leuchten. The Chief's venomous use of his words sting Shekel, and the injured Inspector is too weak and too ashamed to keep his eyes on his superior. However, that doesn't stop Leuchten from speaking. “[Luckily for you, we captured Roar Shock and Adanz Sky, but Pinkamena Pie has escaped and Trixie Lulamoon is still missing.]”

Shekel looks back at Leuchten, mentally recounting the brutal fight between Trixie and Roar Shock.

“[Do you have any idea where they might be?]” asks Leuchten.

Shekel thinks quietly to himself, recounting how Trixie helped stop Adanz in her own way, and how she healed him and nearly died protecting him from Roar Shock.

Shekel shakes his head, muttering: “[No sir, I do not.]”

Leuchten appears to be skeptical, but Shekel doesn't care. He knows the truth. They caught the real enemies, and while he still wants Trixie to pay for what she did, he has no idea where she or Pinkie Pie could be. Shekel looks back at Leuchten and with a weak motion of his hoof, he beckons the large ibex closer to him. The Chief leans over so that he can hear Shekel's faint voice.

“[I'll do this for you],” is all Shekel says in a pained whisper.

Then with great difficulty and loud whimpers to accommodate the pain rippling through his ribs and limbs, he manages to push his badge free from its pocket. Shekel carefully holds the badge out and Leuchten hesitantly holds out his hoof. Shekel drops the badge in his superior's grip and closes his eyes, letting the void of his slumber take him once more.