I left that same night without much fuss. It wasn't particularly hard to get a train ticket, and while first-class accommodations are preferred for long overnight trips like the one I was in for, I was perfectly fine with sleeping on my bench. Not like I had to worry about staying sat up, not many ponies took the train I was on.

Trains weren't too big a deal to me, though I made sure to keep my suitcase close. You never know when you're being targeted, and while I heavily doubted that anypony knew exactly what was in that second smaller suitcase of mine, it always paid to be cautious. The calm rumble of the train moving along the tracks was actually a good way to lull me to sleep, and the night passed me by rather quickly thanks to it.

Unfortunately, even first-class didn't have a whole lot of insulation to make the last dregs of this trip more comfy, despite the sun just starting to peek over the horizon. I woke up and shivered at the chill in the air, but for the most part my suit and my fur, thin as it was, helped to keep me warm enough. I grabbed the coat I'd brought along from my luggage and slipped it over myself, the black coat hanging low and partially covering my hindlegs when I stood up.

My first stop was Ice Shade Station, an old military outpost that got turned into a kind of crossroads location for trains to pass through. It was located close to the Frozen North, but not quite so far that way that my balls would be tucking back into my body just to stay warm. On the contrary, Ice Shade Station was located in the middle of a decently-sized forest, not particularly thin in trees, but not immensely overgrown either. The outpost was originally built to be a kind of scouting base for ponies to work out of, using the forest as good cover, but as Equestria's borders expanded, it became far less useful as an outpost, and got repurposed into what it is now.

I would have taken some other way to Stalliongrad if there were any other options, and if I didn't have business there. This old outpost was and still is far more popular than most others, because it's the only connecting point between the more hospitable center of Equestria and areas closer to the Frozen North. Because of that, you can bet your ass that the hotel they've got out here is...well, not first-rate overall, but the staff certainly are! They usually have to keep up with a large crowd going to and from the shithole that is Stalliongrad, among several other locations.

I mean I suppose I could've gotten a chariot ride, but that would be equal amounts arrogant and stupid of me. Do you have any idea how cold it gets, as high up as those things tend to fly? I don't care how insulated the chariot is and how contained it is, temperatures can get below celsius this far north and last I checked, I wasn't a cold-resistant pegasus. Plus, I'm heading into the poorest city of Equestria. How much of an asshole would I be, showing up in a big fancy chariot? It's not like I wanted to announce my presence to everyone anyways. I was traveling pretty low-key, all things considered.

I pulled my coat a little tighter around myself as I stepped off the train, and thankfully, the forest was doing a wonderful job to act as a windbreaker for the outpost. The wind was always what got me when it started getting colder outside, especially when I was younger. Even with as cold as it was, I could smell the tall pines growing all around the area, clouds of breath billowing out from my nostrils with every exhale.

The hotel was accommodating as it had always been, though if they recognized me from back when I was a little filly, they made no mention of it. They had a unique setup, allowing for temporary rentals of their rooms for traveling ponies that weren't planning on staying overnight. Way too cold to just let ponies stand around outside in the cold while waiting for their trains.

I got my room and took the time to brush my teeth, take a shower and get some breakfast in me. After that, well...I was mostly just hoping to find a way to kill some time. There was supposed to be a train heading for Stalliongrad later that evening, and that left me some time to track down my contact. There wasn't any particular rush to finding him just yet, I could always try to track him down more thoroughly on the way home, but I had little else to do at the time, so why shouldn't I try to find him?

Thing was, as I learned after working with him a few times, he was a hunter. Remember how I mentioned that ponies don't usually get into that sort of thing? Well, he was one of the few that still made a living off of it. Really, the wilds were his bread and butter.

I spent a couple hours of the morning in the hotel's lounge. Given it was the only hotel in this crossroads location, it shouldn't surprise you to find out that this place is amazingly big. While it wasn't common for them to have a lot of travelers staying there all at once, it did happen once in a while, usually around the time festivals and holidays came around. Once those times hit, well...this place became a lot more energetic.

As it stood, I found myself kicking back in the lounge, chatting up a rather attractive young mare while enjoying one of my cigars and having a few drinks, the gentle hum of jazz music making for a lovely backdrop to it all. Nothing too strong, I needed my mental faculties present later in the afternoon, but for now it was nice. The mare wasn't exactly stunning, but she had that cute kind of charm to her. I'd give her a seven out of ten. Above average, but nothing stellar. I suppose I could only be thankful she didn't recognize me, and I was in no hurry to let her know she was being hit on by a brand-new hero of Equestria.

I went out for lunch around noon, leaving the pleasantly light music and chatter of the hotel lounge behind in favor of finding a smaller establishment to grab something a little more low-class. Seriously, I love hayburgers. You don't even understand, alright? Hayburgers and I have a relationship going on, and it's very intimate in nature. I know hayburger is bad for me, but I loooove her!

Ahem. Anyways....

After lunch, I whiled away my time walking around the town. Yeah, it was cold out, but I'm not some prissy wimp that can't handle a little icy chill. The old outpost was charming in its own way. 'Charmingly rustic', as Fancy Pants often said about such places. The buildings were old, many of them still built out of old logs and only updated with fresh insulation to keep the wind out. I wonder if those buildings still burned wood for warmth? I couldn't exactly just wander into one of those houses and check.

There was a specific time and place I had in mind, and once three o' clock neared, I headed straight for a small-time bar near the outskirts of the town. There were maybe three in the entire town, but this one was special. It was discreet, and it was a favorite place to burn away what remained of the day after hunters get paid for their hard work. That was where I needed to be between three and three-thirty, just to be sure.

I didn't order a drink this time around. I'd already drank enough earlier that day, and I was already feeling slightly buzzed from it. You know, that slackening of muscle sensation you get, similar to soreness, but it fades as you adjust to it. At least I didn't feel light-headed. The crowd inside wasn't anything special, though there were a couple of drunk ponies milling around. Not quite the crowd I was waiting for.

That, of course, didn't stop one of the stallions from hitting on me. Blatantly, and clumsily. Plus, I think he was in his thirties. I'm all for older stallions as much as I'm for older mares, but when they're so drunk that they go beyond 'breaking down inhibitions' and they enter 'saying really stupid slurred shit they'd never normally consider acceptable if they were even remotely sober' territory, that's when my pussy dries up.

I had to rebuke his advances five times before the bartender stepped in because he was starting to make a scene about it. I guess a stallion like him didn't take rejection very well. One of his work buddies finally came over to try to make him stop, and he actually took a swing at the guy. That was the only swing he took before I nailed him square in the jaw from his blind spot. It's the ones you don't see coming that knock you to the floor and keep you there.

I gave the valiant gentlecolt a wink and blew a kiss his way, and the way his cheeks lit up brought a smile to my muzzle. Stallions, I swear.

Only a few minutes after he'd carted his unconscious friend out the front door, a certain group of hard-working wilderness enthusiasts came around, boisterous and loud about the game they'd caught out in the forest. One of them even had the essence of a Timberwolf's eyes stored in a glass vial.

See, hunting's a bit different in Equestria. Unlike other parts of the world, we tend to have recurring monster problems. Manticores, hydras, quarray eels, tatzlworms...the list goes on. Unlike places like the Griffonstone Empire, hunting here isn't just hunting wild game for food. Hunting's become more of a pest control service, if you consider a hydra a 'pest'. Usually that sort of thing is relegated to the Royal Guard and the military to help them keep their recruits sharp and capable, but in some places, the old job of a hunter is still alive and well. Ice Shade Station pays particularly well for hunters to keep the timberwolf population thinned out, lest they begin to encroach upon the town.

I mean, there's still normal hunting, but considering the majority population of Equestria consists of herbivores, it's far less common than monster hunting.

The group consisted of a hodgepodge cadre of pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, two zebra and a minotaur. It wasn't very often you saw a minotaur outside of their Republic, but they were definitely quite an asset in that job. If there was any creature in the world that could match a trained earth pony in physical prowess, it'd be those hulking beasts. Plus they've got actual physical hands, and as has been stated previously, that's a remarkable advantage over ponies.

It only took a couple minutes for their rowdy nature to die down, and moments after that, someone sat down next to me. I mean, someone was already seated on the other side of me, and making conversation with one of the mares next to him, but the pegasus that sat down and ordered a whiskey on my left was the one that mattered.

A dark gray coat of fur, marred with signs of scars and covered in splinters from what was no doubt a recent skirmish with a rogue group of timberwolves, covered his entire body. Guess none of them got a chance to wash up before going out for drinks. Par for the course, in other words. His mane and tail were a rather lovely shade of royal blue, it mixed wonderfully with his fur color.

The feathers of his wings were what earned him his name. Closer to the base they appeared the same color as his fur, but just after the base, they began to blacken in color, reaching a total pitch-black at the tips. His parents named him Shady Wings because of it. Can't blame them, it sounded appropriate, and why wouldn't you emphasize such a unique part of your son's anatomy? It was something to be proud of, very fetching. If circumstances had been different between us, I'd have taken him for a ride years ago.

He had a form-hugging suit covering his barrel, a set of leather armor, but what kind I couldn't tell. It was of a darker purple color, bordering on black, and it looked particularly thick. At his hip, a single low-caliber pistol sat secured in a leather holster, and another larger holster rested on his back, with straps keeping it firmly in place, secured tightly around his torso. It wasn't the same rifle I remember him having, far too shiny and new, but it was clearly some new model of hunting rifle.

I looked over at him, then reached over to knock on the leather armor. "Good stuff, feels solid. What is that, drake leather?"

"Hydra, actually. Wearing drake hide would be horrible," he muttered, taking a deep swig of his booze. "The fuck you doing here, Twitchy?"

Ugh, that fucking nickname. What's with ponies giving me nicknames all the time?! Is my name just that easy to make a nickname for? At least 'Twitchy Sparkle' was his invention instead of someone else's.

"Right to the point then," I muttered, turning and slipping out of my seat. "C'mon, let's talk somewhere a bit more quiet."

I could feel his eyes on me all the way out the door...along with a few others. I waited outside of the bar while some of the hunters gathered around the area made a fairly contained ruckus outside. I watched an earth pony challenge another to a hoof wrestle and win, and then a pegasus and a unicorn started up a drinking contest. Shame Shady stepped out just after it began. I didn't get to see how it ended.

Without a word, he led me around the side of the bar, out of sight between it and another, taller building. I couldn't make out any particular sounds, but something felt...off. I glanced back towards the entrance of the alleyway, and no one was following us, so....

I heard wings flapping in front of me, and I snapped my gaze forward just in time to see the barrel of a gun pointing directly between my eyes. Shady was just a few inches off the ground, wings working to keep him airborne while he leveled his pistol at me.

"Shady, why is there a gun in my face and why shouldn't I blast you halfway to windigo country for it?" I asked calmly, glaring up at him.

He scowled and pulled the hammer back on his pistol. "You made it real clear, last time we saw each other. You ever come here, I need to be real careful, 'cuz they might've found me out. That what this is, Twitchy? You here to clean up the mess you made?"

"I don't work for them anymore. If you picked up a newspaper, you'd know that."

"Papers can say a whole lot of bullshit, depending on who's in charge. I trust the news about as much as I trust you, no offense," he said, his gaze softening only for a moment. "You stuck your neck out for me, and swear to Celestia, I don't know why you did what you did, but I owe you for that. So you be straight with me Twitchy, and you tell me exactly why you're here, talkin' to me."

I stared at him for a moment, the tension of the situation almost palpable while I considered what to say. It wouldn't do to tell him all of my plans, but...the basis of it all might just be intriguing enough for him to cool his jets. I let out a small sigh and shrugged.

"I want to pick the Mafia apart, piece by piece, until there's nothing left," I said, looking directly at the gun. "Now can you get that stupid gun out of my face, you old fart?"

He looked at me like I'd grown a second head. I couldn't blame him for that. It took him a minute to decide whether or not I was actually telling him the truth before he pointed his gun away and lowered the hammer on his pistol so it didn't go off by accident.

"Well. Sure does sound like your kind of crazy," he muttered, shaking his head and holstering his weapon, landing in front of me. "Talk. Also, I'm only forty-six, you bitch."

"Not much to say," I muttered, reaching into the inside pocket of my suit to pull out my cigar case. "I want to take them down, piece by itty-bitty rotten piece, until I have all the information I need to expose them to the world. Want one?" I asked, floating two cigars out of my case and offering one of them to him.

He took the cigar in his hoof and turned it over a few times while I clipped my cigar case closed and tucked it away again. A quick flick of my magic sheared off the ends of both our cigars, and another burst lit them. He took a few puffs and I did the same, and soon the pleasant flavor of cherries assaulted our senses in the most deliciously acrid way possible.

He blew the smoke out into the air and removed the cigar from his mouth for a moment, looking down to it and humming his approval. "Damn fine brand you got here. Must've been expensive."

"Twenty bits each."

"Shit, Twitchy!"

I chuckled at his disbelief and rolled my eyes at him, letting a long puff of smoke billow out of the corner of my mouth. "Oh, relax! I wouldn't have offered one if I couldn't afford to share the wealth."

He looked down at the cigar, then back to me, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of us for a few moments. Eventually he shrugged it off and slipped the cigar between his lips once more, making a dismissive motion with his hoof next to himself. I heard some shuffling from above, and looked up just in time to spot the barrel of a rifle in someone's hands disappear past the edge of the roof.

"Huh. So, they work for you?" I asked, not turning my eyes away from the roofs.

He shook his head and stepped up next to the bar, raising up onto his hindlegs and leaning his back against the brick the building was made out of, idly puffing on his cigar.

"They work with me. Big difference," he said, smiling a little and tilting his head back to blow a line of smoke straight up into the air. "Advantage of having friends, Twitchy. I tell them someone's come lookin' for me, they've got my back without a word."

"Bit more than just friends, if you ask me. You're all a team," I said, joining him in leaning against the wall. "That's the kind of team I need."

He hah'ed and grinned a little. "You're gonna need more than just a team to take down the Mafia. Fuckin' crazy for even thinking you can pull it off. They're just about everywhere."

"Therein lies my advantage," I retorted. "I can come at them from so many different angles, they'll have a difficult time figuring out how to stop me. They block one avenue off, I work on three other openings."

"Sounds pretty vague. Nothing like the Twitchy I used to know."

I shrugged. "I don't have any current information to work with. All I've got is money at my disposal. I need ponies I can count on before I can even start."

"And you came looking for me...well, I'm flattered," he muttered, looking over at me. "What've you been up to, anyways? Must be doing well for yourself if you can afford cigars like these."

"You mean you don't know? Shit, I didn't think you were serious about what you said about the news."

"Yeah yeah, just gimme the short version."

"Well, let's see," I said with a smug smile. "I got out of the game."

"Mmmhmm."

"I tried to join the School for Gifted Unicorns and had a magic surge so titanic that I hatched a dragon egg, and the resulting hatchling is now officially my son."

"Mmmhm-wait, what?"

"Then Celestia took me on as her personal student."

"........"

I grinned at the dumbfounded look on his face. Oh, it was satisfying to see him in such disbelief! The cigar hung low from his mouth, his teeth barely keeping it in place.

"Aaand then Celestia's sister returned, I'm sure you heard about that at least."

"Yeah, kinda...kinda hard to miss night lasting way longer than it's supposed to." he mumbled, his eyes never once leaving me.

I nodded. "So, I went into the Everfree Forest with five mares I barely knew, we made our way to the old castle where Celestia and her sister used to rule Equestria from, and then discovered that we were all the Elements of Harmony," I explained quickly, looking at him with a playful smile. "We blasted her with a rainbow, helped her come to her senses after a thousand years of isolation, and now we're all heroes of Equestria."

"Uh...huh."

I nodded sagely and took a long drag of my cigar, slowly letting the smoke billow out of my nostrils a second later. "So that's what I've been up to."

"...I think I should go buy a newspaper," he said, narrowing his gaze at me suspiciously. "I feel like it'd spout far less bullshit at me."

"Fuck you." I responded curtly, my smile fading only a little.

We stayed there for a time in silence, just enjoying our cigars together for a time while he processed what I'd told him. His facial expressions ranged from thoughtful to disapproving, and after my cigar was about halfway down, maybe a little past that, he finally spoke up again.

"Twitchy...if you're out of the game, why would you ever get involved in any of that again? If you're not bullshitting me."

I shrugged at the question. "Because I'm nuts?"

"I'm being serious."

I nodded and pulled my cigar case out, dousing the fire on the end of my cigar with my magic and tucking it away right where I'd gotten it from in the first place.

"I hate them all, Shady. I hate them with every fiber of my being and I want to burn them all at the stake for ruining my life," I stated firmly, looking up at the sky. "The fact that the world would be better off without them is just a happy bonus."

"Yeah, but you got a kid now. You got...shit, you're the Princess's student, and you saved the world!" he exclaimed, looking down at his almost-gone cigar. "Why would you even consider getting into that again?"

"I just told you why."

"Yeah, and you seem to think that's enough for me to just uproot myself and help you out."

I sighed slowly and thunked the back of my head against the side of the building. "Every time I look at Spike, I think of what they might try to do to him to get to me. Maybe they'll attempt to recruit him, or they might try to turn his mistakes into blackmail to keep him under their control. Just another political pawn for them to use until they've gotten all they want or need out of him. Then they'd kill him, if they could get away with it."

"Spike?"

"My son."

"...Ah. Now see, that line of thinking makes a little more sense," he muttered, crossing his forelegs over his chest. "Strange to see you being all maternal."

I closed my eyes and nodded. "I know. It's just...they got to ruin my life because someone didn't stop them last generation. If I gave up on the idea just because my life's going great now, I'd be welcoming the chance that they might do the same thing to Spike. On top of wanting to kill every last one of them, I can't just sit back and risk that happening."

"I get where you're coming from Twitchy, really I do. But you're askin' me to give up what I've got right now, and frankly, I'm happy with my life," he said, reaching up to run his hoof through his mane. "I know I owe you, but...damn."

I shook my head slowly. "I'm not demanding anything from you. You wanted out, I got you out, end of story. I'm not going to drag you back in kicking and screaming."

"Damn right you did. Turned a shitty situation into my benefit, faked a burnt body and everything!"

"That entire raid was a set-up, I just couldn't prove it. Gave me a chance to give you a chance though, so I'd say it was a net gain all around," I muttered, smirking at him. "Hey, remember how you came up with that annoying nickname?"

"Yeah! I got assigned to some smartass little filly who thought her shit didn't stink, who'd been placed in charge of a drug deal with Neighponese Yakuza!" he said, his face splitting into a grin.

"Yup! But you knew there was something dangerous about me. You always had keen instincts."

"Yeah, and when those drug dealers wouldn't take you seriously because you were just a little filly, and kept trying to badger you into giving them more of a cut than they deserved, your eye started twitching...."

I grinned at him and gave him a nudge with my knee. "And you were the only one that had the good sense to take a step away from me."

He lowered himself down onto all fours again and pointed at me. "Hey, can you blame me? What was it you and I did after that? I do believe it was something along the lines of you going in there with nothing but a pistol and putting a bullet in their heads while they were boarding their ship to run off back to their fancy island!"

"Come on, you shot a few of them too. You and that old rifle of yours."

"'Cept for that sea dragon that got the drop on you."

"Until I grabbed his head in my magic and bashed it against a wall until he stopped moving," I said, licking my lips as the memory came to the surface, as if I'd done it just yesterday. "Then I tied a chain around his ankles, attached it to the ship's anchor, and tossed it overboard."

Shady visibly shuddered. "I heard him screaming all the way, that thing just dragged him off the deck of the ship like it was nothing."

"You didn't even know they needed to breathe air too! You thought they had gills!" I said, barking out a laugh.

"How was I supposed to know?! I was born in the Republic, they don't give a shit about Neighpon."

"Formal education, Shady. Knowledge is power," I teased, tapping the side of my head with my hoof. "Well, that and the creative use of extremely heavy metals, but mostly knowledge."

"Yeah, yeah, you always had a plan, always thinking, always outsmarting the competition," he droned. "Tell you the truth, thinking back on it, I don't think your boss intended for that drug deal to end well."

"I don't think he did either. That was only my third time being involved in a big deal like that, and it was my first time being in charge of one. As usual, they used me to optimal effect," I muttered. "Really pisses me off."

I pushed away from the wall and lowered down to all fours once more, turning to walk towards the entrance of the alleyway again. Shady followed me just the same, pensive and quiet as ever. I had a feeling I knew what had him so deep in thought, so I decided to take a stab in the dark, see if I hit my mark.

"Look Shady, I'm not going to demand anything from you. You wanna stay out of this, that's your choice, and I wouldn't blame you," I said, stopping at the alleyway's entrance, turning to look at him. "But if you choose to help me...head into Canterlot, and duck into my old safehouse. You remember where it is, right?"

He stared at me while we left the alley behind, that minotaur buddy of his waiting just around the corner. He had loyal friends that had his back...I appreciated that. I wasn't the only one that learned the value of having friends you could count on, despite the cards life dealt me. That was at least a little uplifting to think of.

"Yeah, I know where it is," he answered slowly, nodding up at his friend. "We're good, Buff."

The minotaur gave him a thumbs-up, though he still cast a suspicious glance my way. I simply nodded to him while he headed back into the bar.

"I gotta think about it, Twitchy."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," I responded, waving to him while stepping away. "If I don't see you in Canterlot, I'll assume you decided not to help, and I'll make some other plans."

He nodded to me and waved me off. "Uh-huh. Just be safe, you hear me?"

"Gonna be nigh-impossible, but I'll give it a shot!" I called back to him before heading off down the street, out of his sight.

I went back to my hotel room for a time, just resting while waiting for the time to tick by on the clock, idly flipping through the channels on the television provided with my room. When the time neared six in the evening, and the sun had almost set, I gathered my things and headed out for the train station.

Soon, I was on-board and watching the snowy scenery pass me by, idly hoping against hope that Shady would make the immensely stupid decision to help me out. When it came to ponies I knew I could depend on...he was the only one I had. For the time being, anyways.

Author's Notes:

Hey there everyone! This took longer than I expected it to, given the overall length of this chapter....

Here, have some nice lounge music!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qhenDOMV7w