“We need to talk. Get down here to the library.”

“Can’t right now. My hands are a bit full.”

“With what? What’s that splashing?”

“Washing dishes. I’ll be over in a bit.”

I hung up my burner and slipped it into my pocket, all the while keeping my left hand submerged under the bubbling, violent surface of the water in my plugged sink. I checked my watch, taking note that about a minute had past. I waited a few more ticks, then tightened my grasp on Lyra’s hair and yanked her from underwater.

“It’s nice, catching up like this,” I said. I could hardly hear myself over the sound of her coughing and hacking. “We should have done this ages ago.”

Lyra fell onto the floor, coughing as much water out of her lungs as possible. She weakly crawled for the door, stopped when Regal gently but firmly planted her shoe onto Lyra’s pant leg, effectively pinning her to the floor.

“Call me old fashioned,” said Celestia, taking a sip of the tea she had prepared while I was “catching up” with my old friend. “But I'd wager that a simpler, more efficient method would be the tried-and-true bullet between the eyes.”

“I don't want to kill her. Yet. Besides, Lyra isn't afraid of being shot,” I said. I grabbed Lyra up and manhandled her back to the sink. “She's afraid of drowning. Deathly afraid. Her biggest fear, she told me.” I glared at Lyra, wishing my fury could cause physical harm. The more ways I could hurt this sneaky, two-faced, traitorous coward, the better.

“Twilight…” hacked Lyra. “Lemme explain. It's not how you think, it's—” I grabbed her by the head and back of the neck, then plunged her head beneath the water’s surface.

“And back into the drink,” I said, pressing her head as far down as possible. I held her down for nearly two whole minutes before pulling her back up. Before she could suck in a much-needed breath, I harshly introduced her gut to my knee.

“It's funny. You trusted me enough to tell me the thing you feared most,” I said, nudging her with my foot. “And I've betrayed that trust. Isn't that ironic?”

“Boss, I swear—”

“Call me that again and I will personally feed your limbs to the sharks.”

“Twilight… Let me explain,” begged Lyra. “Come on, I'm your friend!”

I was going to let her speak. Just get it out of her system before I decided exactly how I'd kill her. But, she said that, and I froze. And I was angry.

“I beg your pardon?” I said.

“Look, I just—”

“Get up!” I grabbed her by the collar and dragged her to her feet. “I didn't catch that last part. You're my what?”

“Your… your friend.”

“You're my friend? Is that what you think? Friends don't stab friends in the back,” I snarled. “Friends don't betray friends’ trust. Friends don't royally fuck friends over! So you're a lot of things, Lyra. A coward. A snitch. A dead mare walking. But not my friend.”

“Twi, I swear, let me explain,” coughed Lyra.

“If you shut up, I might even make it quick for you,” I snapped. My original plan was to drown, yell at, then shoot Lyyra in the head. Right now… I might kill her with my bare hands.

“Twilight, come on, this isn't like you,” coughed Lyra. “Think about what you're doing. How far back we go. I helped you get that job at the library, the perfect cover. I helped design your mask. You can't just kill me!”

“Watch me…” I growled. I pulled my revolver from my holster and pressed it to Lyra’s temple.

“A bit of warning would be nice before you pull the trigger,” said Celestia. “I find the sound repulsive.”

“Then you might want to leave, Senator.”

“Twilight, wait! Wait, please, I'm begging you, please don't kill me!” begged Lyra.

“You ruined my operation. Shining is on to me because of you!” I reared my gun back and slapped her across the face with it. “I can never see him again because of you. Mythos has all but fallen apart, and it's all because you gave me up! You couldn't sit tight just a bit longer, and you fed me to the wolves!” I clicked the hammer down and pressed the barrel in between Lyra’s eyes. “And you have the guts to ask for mercy.”

“I… didn’t snitch…” Lyra spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. “I swear to god, I didn’t snitch…”

“So Shining just pulled my name out of thin air? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“No, I… Well, I guess I did give you up.” I pressed my gun against her head with a bit more force. “But they already knew! Moondancer snitched first, I wouldn’t have said anything if they didn’t already know!”

I wanted to ignore her and pull the trigger. There were few things I wanted to do more than kill the sniveling, cowardly traitor. But what she just said… That was very interesting, and I wanted to know more.

I lowered my gun, but kept my hand wrapped around her throat. Not tight enough to choke her. Just enough to show that I meant business.

“Explain,” I ordered.

“Alright, alright. Shining came in and grabbed us, told us there was a complication with our case or some bullshit.” Lyra spoke lightning-fast, no doubt so I wouldn’t get bored and shoot her. “He gave us an ultimatum; give up Medusa or die in prison. And I was gonna stand by you, tell him to go fuck himself, but Moonie cracked! She cracked, and she told them who you were and they asked me to corroborate the story. If I said nothing, I would’ve had my sentence doubled and Moondancer would run free. I had no choice, my hands were—”

“Stop talking.” I closed my eyes, trying to decide if she was lying or not. As much as I hated to admit it, I didn’t think she was. Lyra knew me well enough to know that I can smell deceit, so it’s unlikely that she’d even try. Plus, she knew how I felt about liars.

But, in the same breath, I didn’t really care if she was telling the truth.

“Say I believe you,” I said. “Let’s just say, for the sake of saying, that I believe that Moondancer cracked and you didn’t. So what? You still confirmed her story. Still betrayed me. So why is your life worth saving?”

“Because I can give you the one who’s actually responsible,” said Lyra. “If you promise me protection, I’ll hand you Moondancer on a silver platter.”

That sneaky bitch.

“So, let me repeat this back to you real quick, just to make sure we’re on the same page,” I said. “You and your friend stab your boss in the back, your boss who really hates people who betray their friends. That boss threatens to shoot you dead and your idea is to beg for your life by offering to betray your other friend. Is that correct?”

“Look, you don’t want me. You feel it in your gut. Revenge counts for dick if it’s not on the person responsible.”

Oh, how I wanted to ignore everything she said and shoot her dead. It made me angry how much sense she was making. This was supposed to be my one chance to act brashly, just kill the person who wronged me for no other gain than my own personal pleasure, yet here this traitor is forcing logic into things.

“Senator, if you wouldn’t mind terribly, I’d like a word with my old friend in private,” I growled.

“Of course. I really must get going, in any case. I have an appointment in Canterlot in just a few hours,” sighed Celestia. She stood up from her seat and pulled out her phone, no doubt to text her sister. “Ms. Sparkle, as usual, it has been a pleasure. Whether you eliminate Ms. Heartstrings or not… I trust that you know what you’re doing.” She bowed slightly. “Until we next do business. Farewell.”

I never took my eyes off of Lyra as Celestia showed herself out. After I heard the door click shut, I dragged Lyra by the hair over to the table. I shoved her into a chair, keeping my gun trained on her at all times.

“You promised me Moondancer,” I said. “Bring her to me.”

“I can’t,” said Lyra. I think my eye must have twitched, because she very quickly amended her statement. “Or, what I mean is, I can’t get her right now. She’s out of town. Won’t be here for a couple of days.”

“For her, I have all the time in the world,” I said. “Make the call.”

She slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone. I grabbed a chair and stuck it right next to hers, then lowered myself into the seat. As she dialed the number, I pressed my revolver against the back of her skull.

“I doubt I have to say this,” I said. “But one wrong word and my floor will get painted with the inside of your head.”

She nodded gently, then brought her phone to her ear. I leaned up against it, hearing the faint ringing of the line. I didn’t expect it to take long for Moondancer to answer, and I was not disappointed.

“Lyra?” she said. The voice of my former friend made me want to vomit. “What’s the matter? Why are you calling me?”

“You need to get back home, as soon as possible,” said Lyra. Her voice contained a convincing amount of panic, which was no doubt due, at least in part, to the loaded gun pressed against the back of her head. “I’ve been swimming the channels, looking for work and—”

“No! Nothing like that!” Moondancer was whispering, which probably meant she was in public. Having a conversation like this on a bus or something was a careless mistake. “We agreed that we’d do this legit.”

“I know, I know, but shut up and listen! I was looking around, and I heard some chatter from some big players. Some legit dudes who wouldn’t just throw rumors around,” said Lyra. “And word on the street is that our former employer… Well, she’s not happy with our exit strategy.”

Moondancer was much like me; calm, quiet, reserved. If not for Mythos being my idea, she might’ve been the leader. She had a level head, though clearly not to the same extent as me. She also never, ever swore. All the thirty plus years I’ve known her, she’s never cussed more than a “drat”.

“Fucking shit!” hissed Moondancer. I smirked to myself. The fact that she was scared made me very happy, indeed.

“Yeah, that’s what I was trying to tell you,” said Lyra. “Get your narrow ass on a train and be here as soon as you can!”

“Jesus… I have appointments until Thursday…” Moondancer started muttering quickly under her breath, a sure sign of her stress. “I’ll be there soon, I swear.”

“If I end up dead because you took too long, I will haunt your ass for all of eternity,” said Lyra. “Hurry up.” She hung up the phone and put it in her pocket. “There. She’ll be here in a few days. Probably Friday.”

“Good. Now get up. We’re going for a ride,” I said. Lyra’s face paled in horror, the full gravity of her situation hitting her like a freight train.

“B-but you promised,” she stammered. “I gave up Moonie, you’re supposed to let me go!”

“Get up,” I repeated.

“You lied to me!”

“Get the hell to the car before I move you there in pieces,” I snapped. After a short second of terrified thought, Lyra stood up. I slipped my gun in my holster, but kept my hand near it at all times. “Car. Now. We’re going for a ride.”

I followed Lyra out of my apartment and to my car, all the while internally snickering at a few things. First, how stupid Lyra was acting. Did she really think I’d shoot her with an unsuppressed handgun in my own apartment? That’s just another mess for me to clean up. I also found it funny at how scared she was. I decided to let her keep thinking she’d die, at least for now.

But, most of all, I was laughing about how much fun it’s going to be to kill Moondancer.