It was a strange feeling; that same mish mosh of excitement and nervousness. I always though  butterflies in your stomach was just an adage; turns out there really was a butterfly in my stomach, still don’t know how he got in there….but still I’m really nervous to be back in Canterlot.

Rarity was talking with her friends while I met some of Tyler’s fellow agents.

“So what exactly is the problem?” I asked

“If you must know there has been rioting, faction wars-“

“Gangs you mean?” I asked; there were lots of gangs in Newark; the last place I wanted to see tainted with that was Equestria

“Not exactly; they were originally gangs, but now there like families…you know about the mob right?”

O I see, because I am Italian I know everything about the mob from wise guy to consigliere?

“Yea” I said

“Well there like that, families fighting each other and the government. Our duty here is to stop the families and bring peace back to Canterlot. Seems easy enough right?” He said

“As long as you don’t piss any pony off of course” I said

Tyler laughed “You really thought I pissed every pony off already?”

“Knowing you, you probably pissed every faction off already” I laughed

“Just watch when we walk into Canterlot I’m going to be a hero” He said

A rock flew through the window at that very moment, shattering the glass and slowly rolling across the floor.

“Is it normal for people to throw rocks at their heroes?” I asked; I looked out of my window to see the metropolis, exactly how I left it alright. All I could see was massive sky scrapers, busy streets, and that one pony who was a taco vender on Sundays.

Whoever tossed that rock obviously ran before we stepped out of the train; but still it was concerning that someone was throwing stuff at us. Could we be in danger? Or will they just kill Tyler?

When we got out we saw several mean looking stallions staring at us from across the street; they all wore a kind of those Balmorals bonnets and matching red bandanas covering their faces.

“See those stallions over there?” Tyler said, obliquely pointing to them “They are one of those factions ‘The Red Hooves’.”

“Were they the ponies who threw the rock at you?” I asked

“Probably” He said with a chuckle “Of the many factions they are my main enemy it seems, even though their not the most powerful they are ambitious, which makes them dangerous. This is why I need people like you Vespi. I need people I can trust, people to take these noobs down.”

I was relieved when the 3 stallions left their position and wandered off, I still was concerned about all of this work though.

“Okay so what do we need to do?” I asked

“We need to throw a PARTY!” Pinkie screamed; I didn’t expect her to walk up behind us and just jump out at us.

“Good to see Pinkie Pie is still Pinkie Pie” Tyler chuckled “First thing first let me show you to your apartment where you are staying”

***

What an apartment! This was more like a house! It was one of those new aged houses; it was on top of one of the skyscrapers and had a wonderful view, especially if you looked out of that one window. This window was more like a glass wall; you could see all of Canterlot for miles through it, everything seemed brand new and exceptionally good; whoever was paying for this house (God bless it wasn’t us) didn’t mind spending extra dosh.

“Nice place” Rarity said with a smile

“Sure is” I said jumping on a nice comfy looking couch

“So why did Tyler pay for all of this stuff again?” Rarity asked

I had to be honest with her; it’d be pretty hard to disguise what I was really doing considering she was my wife “Well Tyler needs some help over here in Canterlot and wanted me to help out” I said; I didn’t mention the 3 stallions or the faction war.

“Whatever; I’m going to go sightseeing with the mares” She said levitating a hat on

“Already we just got here though” I asked

“Ehh Rainbow Dash and Twilight have been begging me to show them around the city the entire ride here; so I finally relented. You don’t mind do you?” She asked

“No go ahead; I got to get to work anyways” I said

I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and she headed out. Several minutes later I headed downstairs to meet Tyler in the lobby.

“Okay so what do we need to do Tyler?” I asked

“Just follow me” He said; we headed outside and began walking down the street. It was a surprisingly chilly autumn day; perhaps only 50 degrees; strange for September.

“Where are we going?” I asked

“We are going to give our friends the Red Hooves a visit” He said

So much for non-violent solutions; then again it was Tyler.

We walked for maybe 20 minutes; heading North in a straight direction, I couldn’t help but notice how everything began to slowly turn more and more impoverished. The skyscrapers remained in some places but the houses went from middle class to ghetto. I could see why the Red Hooves owned this part of the city.

We abruptly stopped at one house; Tyler tapped the door 3 times quickly, then waited a second and tapped again. For a second the sun reflecting off a visor blocked my vision; but I couldn’t help but smile at what I saw, it was good old Ayan the juggernaut.

“Sup Vespi” He said “Your working for the good guys now?”

“I guess so, what happened to secret agent?” I asked

“I’m still an agent; just working for a different cause” He said; his Juggernaut suit was modified. Instead of the Kevlar protection that it was originally made out of there were now painted metal pieces clogging myriad small bullet holes. It then hit me that apparently ponies didn’t have Kevlar. Eventually Ayan wouldn’t have a bullet proof bio suit, but instead he’d just be walking around in a metal death trap.

“Follow me guys” Tyler said

The 3 of us walked again, heading into the Red Hooves’ territory; several times we saw stallions watching us from the roof tops. Before we could do anything though they’d just fall back and jump from roof top to roof top, just like that smuggler.

“So I guess that’s how they get around?” I asked

“Yea that smuggler was a Red Hoof; this is part of their training” Tyler said, warily checking the roof tops

Before long we stopped again; this time at a random crate in the middle of the road; Tyler apparently claimed it is, opening it. I was stunned to find 3 assault rifles in it.

“Since when did ponies have guns?” I asked

“Since I invented them” Ayan said “I am a genius after all”

“Shut up Ayan” We both said in unison.

We walked some more maybe 5 minutes before we eyed 2 Red Hooves watching us from a particularly high rooftop; that didn’t both very much, I assumed they were just watching us again; then I heard a gunshot and saw something ricochet off Ayan’s helmet.

I immediately saw Tyler jump off the street, followed by clunk Ayan who received several more shots from the attacker.

“Okay so what the hell happened Tyler!?” I asked

“We got shot at bro!” He said wiping a bead of sweat off of his face

“Actually I got shot but you know” Ayan said; good thing he hadn’t taken a second bullet in the visor, that visor looked already looked half broken.

“Okay I got an idea guys” He said “Ayan you’re going to walk out in front and get shot at”

“Okay…” Ayan said with a nod

“Me and Vespi will stay behind you and shoot at whoever shoots at you, m’kay?”

“M’kay” Ayan repeated, he actually followed orders, walked straight into the middle of the street.

“Okay on 3 we move to that lamp post, okay?” Tyler said pointing to an alcove on the opposite side of the street. I could now see tracers flying as Ayan tried his best to fire back at the attackers.

We were about to make a run across the street when I realized Ayan was in the middle of a street; coming towards him was a carriage carrying heavy looking crates. While Ayan was returning fire the carriage hitting him; the aloof driver fell out of the carriage and landed next to Ayan. The entire carriage on the other hand glided a few feet, crushing the 2 ponies and gliding sideways, causing a wall going from side to side of the street.

“Well that was something” Tyler said

“Sure is” I said, stunned at what happened. I could see 2 figures running across the roof tops, at leastly that was 1 problem solved.

“We got to keep moving though, forget about Ayan!” Tyler said; I gave him a boost over the carriage and then I flew over (Yea I know I have wings, what you thought I forgot?) warily watching the roof tops like Tyler.

“This is the place” Tyler said pointing to an abandoned warehouse, but it wasn’t abandoned. I saw a flag waving on the top of the roof; it was a red flag with an apple on top of a kite shield under it was their slogan “Life over death”

“They sure do have a creative slogan huh?” I asked

“Yup” Tyler responded “Come on we have a job to do”

“What is our job anyways? You never told me” I said it must be something important since we are being shot at.

“We just got to steal some important intelligence about this faction.” Tyler said “Stay on your hooves this isn’t going to be easy”

***

“That was pretty easy” I said; it seems they forgot to put guards in their evil lair; typical stupidity.

“I didn’t expect that; they must be all on their lunch break at the same time” Tyler said

“I doubt even these guys are that stupid” I said

Before Tyler could respond we heard several ponies walking up the stairwell

“You know it would be a lot smarter if we didn’t have lunch break all at the same time” One said

“Ehh if you ask me it is better that way;” A 2nd said

Well these guys were officially stupider then me and my friends.

“Quickly let’s get the intelligence and get out of here” Tyler said

We quickly searched several rooms in the house; I felt like I was in Assassins Creed. There were 3 guards; we had to kill them or sneak by them without letting the other 2 know it; if one found out, yelled, or did anything to cause the entire faction to run upstairs then we were screwed.

Finally we found the winning room; inside a dinky small closet was a locked briefcase

“This is it; let’s get out of here before we attract any attention”

“Attention from what?” I didn’t say that

“Vespi attention from” Tyler turned around; right behind us was a Red Hoof with a shotgun in his hands.

Desynchronized

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