"The Badlands, just my luck..."

Monty sighed heavily as she lowered her scarf somewhat, winds of dust and debris were common in this deserted landscape, it was best to wear some sort of coverup. She gazed around for a bit, taking in the sights, even though there wasn't much to see. She'd just left Dodge City, a little ways up north from where she was, and made her way to a large run down town in the Badlands, practically at the southern tip of the Equestrian borders. The many buildings and houses were barely standing, pieced together by rusted metal and rotten wood, some molded rock, everything looked so worn and old. Even the inhabitants, ponies of many different types, but they all looked like the bad types. Majority of them were ex-cons, escaped prisoners looking for a way out, or denizens doped up on funky magic. Monty was a law enforcer, but she knew she couldn't take all of them, it was best to lie low until she found what she was looking for.

"Hey..." an anonymous voice muttered as she felt a hoof pat her shoulder. She jumped in surprise then turned to see who it was, she was welcomed by the friendly smile of Gale, a middle-aged earth pony with a light brown coat and dark black mane, also a long time friend. "By celestia Gale! You scared the buck out of me..." Gale couldn't help but laugh "I'm sorry, I would of thought your senses would be hardened by this point." Monty looked at him with a crooked smile and twitching brow, Gale laughed some more as he looked on ahead "so, you think he's here?" Monty nodded "oh I know he's here, we just got to find him." Gale seemed very concerned with Monty's wellbeing, but nodded in contempt. "So, shall we look for an inn of some sort, we could use a place to stay while were here." Monty gave a nod of approval. As they trotted forward steadily, deeper into the broken city, they remained silent. They began to slow down as they heard some sort of commotion going on in the distance, then there was the sound of somepony screaming, Monty's eyes widened.

"AAAAAAH! P-Please! Get off of me!" In the distance, a young earth pony mare was being harassed by two haggish looking gryphons. Their feathers were dirty and their faces were rough, their beaks chipped in some areas. One of the gryphons could only grin in satisfaction as he took a good grasp of the pony's flank "what a sweet find! She'll make for a decent workout for the boys!" The other gryphon ran his tongue along the firm edges of his beak, as if craving the young pony "you bet! I'm looking forward to scoring this one!" The young earth pony looked ragged, her yellow mane and brown coat in tatters, she to looked dirty, tired, scared and hungry. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she tried to get away from the two gryphons who surrounded her, touching her in an affectionate, violating manner.

Monty gazed around at the many onlookers, majority of them were simply ignoring the entire thing. Some were even smirking, or grinning, as if approving of it. Monty's brow furrowed, her nose wrinkled in disgust, Gale put a hoof on her shoulder, whispering to her "Monty, I know it's hard but this isn't our city, this doesn't concern us."

Monty shot a petrifying gaze towards Gale, she was infuriated, she shoved him back in discern, it was nothing personal, she was just an officer by heart. She then uttered "buck that shit!" as she made her way towards the defenseless pony and the somewhat intimidating gryphons.

"Hey, you perverted bucks! Get off of her!" yelled an enraged Monty. Gale just stayed back, he sighed heavily, he knew Monty could handle herself but this might draw some unwanted attention.

The earth pony sniffled as the two gryphons set their gazes on Monty, they raised their brows. They weren't sure what was more funny, the fact that somepony in this god-forsaken dump was actually defending these pieces of meat or that it was some spoiled looking pegasi. They began to laugh hysterically. Pointing at her with their talons, they had trouble catching their breath. "Aha, and what's some pegasus gonna do about it?" one managed to say under his hoarse laughs. The other choked "yea, what're you gonna do? Scream us to death!" They were practically dying from laughter.

As they continued laughing Monty nudged her head at the earth pony, signaling her to take this chance to leave. She looked puzzled at first but soon understood. She then took the hint, sneaking off as the Gryphons attempted to regain their composure. Monty gave her an affectionate smile then looked back to the Gryphons. She scoffed "heh, no, more like beat the shit outta you two, then go about my business."

To this many onlookers and passerby's looked at Monty, stopping in place to observe her and the gryphons. The gryphons immediately stopped laughing then looked at Monty as if she were insane, snarling somewhat like dogs. "What, you think you can take us on, a little pegasus against two gryphons?" Monty scoffed once again, raising her head in confidence "hah! No, not think, I know I can!" The gryphons looked highly offended as they nodded to each other, they then charged Monty who just smirked at them as they rushed at her in blind yet confident rage. Gale sighed, he kept his eyes closed as he knew Monty was very skilled in the defensive arts, being a law enforcement officer in Manehattan afterall. The onlookers stared in awe as the two supposedly mighty gryphons were taken out swiftly. Monty parried their talons, dodged their intensionally lethal attacks with ease, she dealt with scum like this all the time back home, it was only natural.

They grunted in pain as they laid upon the rocky, dusty ground, not even a minute later. Monty padded off her hooves as she kicked one of them in the beak, then trotted on ahead. Gale just shook his head then gave her a faint smile as he made his way beside her. "You know this might come back to bite us in the flank right?" Monty rolled her eyes "grow some balls Gale, it's you and me remember." She nudged him affectionately as he sighed, in a way she was right, she usually was.

As they trotted and conversed, they stopped by a couple of shops. Majority of the places they'd visited here were worse for wear, practically rubble, one shop they entered in particular was absolutely depressing. The windows were cracked, large cabinets were strewn across the place randomly, the owner was attempting to sell food to the hungry but, it seems business wasn't so hot. The cashier just remained motionless at his spot, a grim expression his face. Monty and Gale didn't pay him no mind, they knew the ponies here were either scumbags, or lost to despair, this caused Monty to give the cashier a deep look of sorrow, she felt sorry for him. She nudged Gale "let's get out of here" Gale didn't question it, he just followed her out the door.

The two ponies trotted down the center of town, keeping to themselves this time around. Monty looked in the distance, past the multitude of crummy houses and horrendous buildings, and noticed large wooden ships. So there is a docks here, do you plan to flee the island? she'd thought to herself. Suddenly she felt a light poke, it was obviously Gale, letting her know he'd spotted the inn with a twitch of his brow. She understood and then took one last look at the giant ships in the distance, then proceeded with Gale into the inn. Once inside, they're eyes widened in surprise, the place was much more homely and organized than they'd expected. By the looks of it, you'd be surprised this sort of inn wasn't closer to Canterlot. The many wooden tables to house guests for food and drink, the counter where ponies could conversate in privacy as if they were hanging at a bar. There was a door towards the back that led to the kitchen and further down into the basement. There was also a cozy fireplace on the far wall to their left, the dimmed lights gave the inn a luminescent orange glow. The pair of stairs obviously led up to the guest rooms.

As Gale and Monty just stood there, a little mesmerized by how much this inn stood out compared to the rest of the city, they were soon greeted by an old stallion, a earth pony to be exact. He laughed in his deep husky voice, he emerged from the kitchen, cleaning some glasses with a white cloth. "Ahahaha, same expression everytime." The two ponies remained silent for a few more seconds before Gale shook his head, finally speaking up "hah, yea, totally nice place you got here sir." Monty nodded a bit nervously, she wasn't so good at casual talk "yea, totally." The old stallion just smirked at the two, leaning upon the counter with a sly expression. He just sighed humorously "come you two, no need to be nervous, and don't give me that sir bullshit, it really gets old ya know, call me Darel. So, what can I do for you two new fellas?" Monty smirked back at him softly, this was her type of stallion, Gale laughed as he rubbed the back of his mane. "Well, for starters we'd like to rent out two rooms, then maybe afterwords, we could grab something to eat?" Gale gave a cheesy smile as Darel shrugged "sure thing, that'll cost you some hefty coin though." Monty raised a hoof with a somewhat cocky smile "hah, no worries about the price Darel, we got it covered."

Darel's eyes widened as he laughed somewhat "alright, I got ya, well here you two go." Darel tossed them two golden keys each, these would get them in their rooms. The two ponies nodded at Darel as he simply nodded back, they proceeded upstairs as Gale looked to Monty "hey, i'm gonna go wash up real quick, i'll meet you downstairs." Monty gave a simple nod as Gale proceeded into his room, closing the door behind him.

As Monty entered then stood in her room, she looked somewhat lost, dwelling on past memories as she proceeded to the bathroom, she slid off her scarf. She washed her face and ran her hooves through her mane gently, cleaning out the dirt and grime caught in it from the wind. She sighed looking in the mirror, her bright yellow coat and orange mane, and amber eyes, she seemed focused on something, as if looking at herself drew her back to that something. She shook her head, and then turned out of the bathroom, made her way to the bed, plopped down upon it then rolled over and stared at the ceiling.

After a few seconds, she broke the silence "damn this is boring...."

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As the hours crept on, it was only inevitable that night would soon follow. Monty hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep until she heard loud knocks on her door, accompanied by the voice of gale "hey monty! You still alive in there?" Monty's eyes shot wide, as she leaned up, hurriedly stretching then yawning, her orange mane ruffled as she fluttered over to the door, opening it with an exhausted expression. "Yo, Gale, what time is it?" Gale sighed heavily, tapping her gently "comon, it's time to eat, Darel cooked up some delicious veggie surprise." Monty yawned once more before nodding to him, still hovering somewhat while flapping her wings. She followed Gale back downstairs as she joined him at the counter, Darel served them up some veggie surprise, a bowl filled with a variety of chopped vegetables and some broth with spices.

Gale licked his lips eagerly "oh my gosh, this looks absolutely delicious!"

Darel smirked as he closed his eyes giving a cheesy smile "I take pride in it, I call it Natures Call!"

Gale munched on his food, speaking with a mouthful "well it's calling me alright!"

Gale was already digging in as Monty seemed a little distracted at the moment, she sat, her head resting upon her hoof, the other crossed as her food just remained in front of her, untouched.

Darel looked at her curiously, raising a brow "so, what brings you two younglings so far down south anyway? You two never really were open to share that with me."

Gale looked at him somewhat hesitantly as Monty raised a hoof "it's fine.." she muttered. Gale remained silent and continued to eat as Monty looked at Darel with a smile. "We never really introduced ourselves anyway, i'm Monty, and this is Gale, we came from Manehattan, northeast of here, were officers, going rogue detectives for a bit." Darel's eyes widened as he looked quite fascinated "wow, you two came all the way from Manehattan? And detectives you say? To bring you down here, you two must be pretty serious about whatever case ya got." Monty had a look of melancholy, smiling somewhat "you could say that."

As Gale continued to eat, he shot her a quick glance, a little saddened by her words.

Darel smiled "well, who're you two trying to catch, I know a lot of folks that come and go, you two seem nice, I'd love to help anyway that I can."

Monty peered up at him "he goes by Reddam, a crimson unicorn, you seen him?"

Darel looked at Monty, disappointment in his expression as he shook his head "ah, sadly, can't say I've come across a fellow by that name before. Sounds pretty funny, what a peculiar thing to be named."

Monty sighed "tell me about it, it's not so much a name as it is a title I hear. I can't even figure out if it's his real name or not, for a filthy murderer, he sure gots a lot of support." Monty winced her eyes in anger as Gale sighed heavily. "I guess it makes sense he's in some town where sexual harassment is ignored!"

Darel's eyes widened a bit, as he sighed once again, leaning atop his counter. "Ah that, sigh, so another one was taken huh." Monty shot him a puzzled look "what? What do you mean taken? Nopony was taken? Ponies are taken!?" Darel shook his head "not just ponies, any defenseless females in particular, the thugs snatch them up and take them to the docks, what they do from there, I don't really wanna know." Monty's eyes widened as she grew infuriated, she slammed her hooves on the countertop "what! There's ponynappings in public and you ponies don't say anything about it?!" Gale immediately grabbed Monty "hey, calm down!" Darel shook his head "its quite alright, I understand the discern. Listen, i'd do something if I could but i'm just some old pony, I don't got the old spark like I used to. I've attempted countless times to contact support for this rundown city, but, we've always come up empty." Monty looked at him as her expression slowly sunk, she gritted her teeth somewhat but knew where he was coming from, Equestria was a shithole, all the Guards and high security remained in the main cities while everywhere else in the world was left to fend for themselves. Only the royalty, and spoiled bigots of the big cities such as Manehattan and Canterlot got any sort of law enforcement, although Manehattan was still pretty much a place of hell, Canterlot however, Monty didn't even want to think of that snobbish place.

She merely sighed "I understand..."

She then shot him a determined glance "you said they take em to the docks?"

Gale looked at Monty wide eyed "what do you think you're considering?"

Darel nodded, but looked hesitant to confirm "yea, but don't get too hasty now, it's dangerous little lady!"

Monty smirked "keep an eye on things Gale! I'm going to check this out!"

Gale gasped as he attempted to grab her, she predicted that, propelling herself out of the way with a smirk. She bolted to the door, her powerful wings carrying her swiftly through the air as she flew upward into the sky, further out of distance and towards the docks. Gale gritted his teeth running out the inn and screaming in the direction she flew "damnit Monty! Damnit!"

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Monty couldn't allow those poor mares to be used like pleasure-buns and playthings. She looked towards the large wooden boats in the docks, she played out the situation in her head, it would make sense, these thugs shipping them to entirely different regions to be used like slaves. Monty flapped her wings as fast as she could, soaring through the night sky over the large darkened town. As she approached the docks, she could hear the loud crashing waves coming from the ocean.

She landed discretely upon the wooden pier, padding softly towards one of the boats. She fluttered along the sides of the large ship, avoiding ground patrols and sneaking aboard. She could overhear two of the guards talking near the center mast, they were chuckling a bit, making no attempt to lower their voices. How fortunate, to happen to sneak on to the boat you were looking for, she chuckled at the thought.

"Yea man, I swear some of them got a striking resemblance to celebs, gonna take my time with those ones."

"You serious? Gah, the boss needs to shorten these shifts, after mine i'm heading straight downstairs and getting me some of that delicious flank, MMPH! Hey did any of em look like that Fluttershy chick a few years back? I always wondered why she stopped modeling."

"Can't recall...yo, let's head off the ship for a bit, could use a change of scenery."

With that the two guards departed, walking down the wooden plank that lead off the ship.

Monty's nose wrinkled at the sound of them, pigs, she thought. She smirked, she now knew the mares were being held below, and supposedly this leader, would be somewhere on here, but she'd worry about him later. As the guards passed by her location, she remained hidden, then at the first chance she got, she dashed for the opening that led to the lower decks.

As she descended down the wooden steps, it was as if she were in a vast room, beautiful rays of moonlight pierced inbetween the plaques of wood that formed the top deck. This provided little light for whatever what was down here. As she continued to make her way deeper into the ship, she passed by large cargo crates of the sorts, nothing but useless junk she thought. As she continued her descent, she eventually found the area she was looking for, basically the lowest level of the ship, it was like a large storage space or cargo hold, vast, with small pairs of stairs leading up to little balconies. Monty rested upon a small balcony that connected to the stairs that lead her here. Her eyes widened as she noticed the mares, locked in cages like wild animals.

Monty gritted her teeth, she noticed three figures were down there in particular. Her eyes widened as she focused on them, a large brown ox and the two gryphons she'd encountered earlier today.

The gryphons were complaining "yea boss, this chick just got the jump on us!" "Let's get her! Oh how i'd love to teach her a lesson, make her feel sorry for what she's done!"

The ox crossed his arms and snorted angrily "shutup, how do you two get beaten by some little mare?"

Monty continued to observe them so that's the boss huh?

"Yea he's pretty big isn't he?"

Monty's eyes shot wide as she looked to her left, her heart raced, whose voice was that?! She raised a brow as she saw what appeared to be a baby dragon. The voice was quite high but you could tell it was a baby male. He was much smaller than Monty, but obviously a dragon. Monty couldn't help but find the creature fascinating & adorable at the same time, he had a beautiful albino color, his scales looked like as if they were diamonds. He just sat there, peering down at the direction Monty was staring it. The baby dragon had an innocent look, curiosity overwhelmed her "aw, she's gonna be so disappointed, they're boring."

Monty raised a brow, she? Who was this, she, he was referring to. Monty shook her head then crawled quietly towards the dragon, somewhat cautiously, she poked him as the dragon looked to her, eyes wide with curiosity. "Yes?" Monty blinked, gosh was this dragon so innocently adorable, Monty placed a hoof beside her mouth "be quiet okay, we don't want to be caught." The baby dragon giggled softly as Monty sighed "where did you come from little one? Aren't you supposed to be in the smoky mountains or something?" The baby dragon shook his head "nope, i'm okay here! I just wanted to watch, there's nothing to worry about." Monty looked absolutely puzzled, this baby dragon spoke in riddles, it was getting quite annoying. She whispered to her "why are you even-" suddenly there was a scream.

Monty peered down as one of the mares in the cages was losing it. She was pulling on the bars, tears streaming down her cheeks as she was crying frantically, begging, stomping her hooves. "Please! I'm so sorry, I'm sorry for all the stupid decisions I made! By celestia i'm sorry! Momma, Poppa! I wanna go home, please come save me! Please, I don't want to be used as some nasty piece of meat, I want to tend to the farm again! I'll never ask for the city life! Please! Somepony, anypony! Get me out of here!" The other mares tried to calm her down as the ox snorted once more "will one of you two idiots shut her up?!"

The gryphons nodded as they smirked, curling their talons. "We'll make sure she's stays quiet alright, hah, this one isn't that pretty anyway." They began their approach to the cage with the screaming mare.

Monty gasped as she gritted her teeth about to rush down, suddenly the baby dragon grabbed her softly, shaking his head at Monty. "Shhhhhh..." Monty raised a brow as she shook her head "what? Ah I don't have time for-" BOOM!

Monty scurried backwards as suddenly there was a large crash at the lower levels where the cages were. Dust from the smashed debris filled the air. Monty stared curiously at the scene as the gryphons coughed, gacking somewhat as the ox yelled in an irritated tone "what the hell was that?!"

The top deck apparently caved in, there was a large gaping hole. Something apparently was so heavy it caused the wood to break.

Monty gazed over at the baby dragon who simply smiled while looking down at the situation unfold.

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As the dust settled, and began to clear, there was a ray of moonlight that pierced through the entire ship all the way down to the bottom. A gaping hole from the top deck, if one looked up from the bottom they could see the night sky.

As they all gazed at the point of origin, they noticed something frightening in particular. Pools of crimson began to pour down from the hole, like a tiny waterfall, pellets of red began hitting the wood. It took the ox and gryphons some time to gather their thoughts, they weren't exactly sure what they were staring at. Littered upon there floor was now a multitude of body parts, chunks of meat. Familiar from ponies and some of their guards alike. Blood was smeared on the floor like butter, all in a matter of seconds. It was like bodies were stacked topside and just caved in, falling all the way down to the bottom.

There was a large grotesque pile towards the middle, horrifying to say the least.

As everypony was overwhelmed with shock and confusion, there was suddenly a light laugh that came from the top of the pile of stacked corpses. "So, this is where you boys were hiding aye?" the voice was female, stern, and intimidating. As they all took a look at her, one of the mares in the cages screamed. It was a crimson unicorn, her mane a beautiful white, as her eyes were a gorgeous yellow. Monty felt like her heart stopped, she could barely breath A crimson unicorn! The mares in the cages began crying frantically in fear, as they scurried to the back of their cages. The horrifying scene laid out before them could haunt one for years, if not their entire life.

As the crimson unicorn began her descent down the pile of corpses, one could hear the disgusting noise her steps made, as if she were trotting through a field of mud. She hopped down onto the wooden floor with a smile, smirking at the gryphons and ox who were just staring at her, still a little in shock. The crimson pony shot her gaze around the room, her intimidation overwhelming. She smirked, then began to chuckle, then burst into laughter. "HAHA, you guys should see the looks on your faces! I mean, seriously! I really should go for the whole badass routine, because it definitely works." She lost that look of intimidation, and suddenly looked, friendly?

To this practically everypony raised a brow, they looked at each other, some of the mares in cages were just trembling, looking at the floor of their cages. The gryphons and ox were still on alert, staring at her.

She suddenly raised a brow "oh yea, almost forgot!" her horn suddenly began to glow a crimson red as two large cleavers flung themselves out from the mass display of corpses. They levitated, resting at her sides as she also levitated some chunks of meat from the leftover bodies, she began twirling her cleavers around her slicing the leftover chunks into even smaller chunks as she gave the ox a bored look. "Yo, so your guards, no offense, but they totally sucked. I mean seriously, they at first fell for the whole 'oh, i'm a defenseless wittle mare, pwease don't hurt me!' act then when they fought back, oh, it was just awful. I'm not bragging, i'm just saying you could've done better, I mean already this whole situation is kind of cliche."

The ox gritted his teeth as he muttered to the two gryphons "is this the bucking mare you two were talking about?"

Their voices trembled as they responded "n-no, no way boss, i've never seen this one before."

The crimson mare just continued to happily chop up chunks of meat, humming a little tune as she did it. The ox screamed at her "so! What did you come here for? You a mercenary? You come for the mares, well you can have them!"

To this the crimson mare's eyes widened, her expression sunk to utter disappointment. She looked at the ox as her jaw dropped, whining in moans of discomfort "whaaat? You're giving up? Now that's just annoying, how boring! I mean, look how big you are, you should be all confident and speak in some intimidating voice all like 'yoooo, you come for my mares?! imma beat your flank!' and stuff, this is just weird." She crossed her hooves, looking a little frustrated, she puckered her lower lip childishly "and no, i'm no mercenary, nothing like that, I just came to have some fun."

The ox knew the situation was bad, he gulped somewhat as he muttered "you're psychotic..."

The crimson mare sighed rolling her eyes with a shrug "what next, you gonna tell me i'm crazy, yell at me in utter rage saying I shouldn't be allowed to roam and stuff, will you three hurry up and do something."

The gryphons suddenly couldn't stay composed any longer, they only saw a negative outcome to the entire situation, they attempted to block out all the fear in their minds and just went straight for the charge. They screamed as they dashed at the crimson mare. She blinked a bit then chuckled happily, her eyes wide with interest, her pupils dilated. "Now that's what I wanted to see! Impressive, i'll make it quick for you two since I like ya."

One of the gryphons attempted to slice the mare with his talons, she sidestepped him in a swift yet elegant turning motion. She had a smile as one of her levitating cleavers appeared at her side in a spinning motion, it swiftly flung itself down chopping off the gryphons talon. The crimson mare raised a brow lowering her voice somewhat as if impersonating somepony "feelin, disarmed?" she said comedically. The gryphon screamed as his partner tried to take her out from behind, she ducked as her cleaver flung itself past her, it went straight for the lurking gryphon as his eyes widened. His head flew clean off as she laughed a little. "Sorry, it was just too cool to pass that up." The other gryphon continued to scream as the crimson mare looked down at him, she puckered her lower lip "aw, i'm sorry, I promised id make it quick." One of her cleavers loomed over his neck like a guillotine and just plopped down slicing his head clean off as well. The mare smiled somewhat as she looked at the ox "your turn big guy..."

The ox was trembling as he pointed at her, the mare rolled her eyes "oh here it comes..."

The ox screamed "you're crazy! You should be locked up in some asylum! How can somepony like you even exist, this, this is madness!"

The crimson mare chuckled a bit shrugging "hey, listen pal, I love what I do, what can I say. Also that thing you just said, totally reminds me of 300, and also, I love anti-heroes, what'd you expect?"

The ox trembled, her mad ramblings were beyond comprehension. "You truly don't realize how crazy you sound!"

The crimson mare sighed "this is what sucks about most stories, you guys lack awareness."

The ox attempted to run as the crimson mare sighed, her levitating cleavers just flung themselves right at him, she muttered "ya big baby..." followed by the sudden sound of slicing meat. The ox fell to the floor, split in half.

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The mares in cages just stared at the crimson mare, shocked. They couldn't speak, as she didn't speak to them either. "Hey scrappy! Scraps, where are ya little guy? Come on out."

Monty was trembling somewhat from the hidden balcony, she couldn't really comprehend what she just saw. This, this was who she'd been chasing since the Manehattan massacre? Not only was she a mare, but she was completely psychotic, delusional, and obviously very powerful. She suddenly noticed the dragon, happily flapping his tiny wings and descending towards the crimson mare. He landed on her back as she laughed "haha you have fun? Also, burn these corpses..." Scraps nodded as he used his tiny breath to cause a decent sized fireball, the bodies began to catch fire as she yawned "welp, let's head out!"

"WAIT!"

The crimson mare halted as she turned around, there pacing heavily was Monty. A few feet from her, the crimson mare raised a brow at her as the fire began to spread. Monty gulped, her voice a little shaken.

"Y-You're under arrest Reddam, for, for, the murder of innocents in the Manehattan Massacre, and, Deus Bravemane."

The crimson mare blinked a bit, then eyed scraps "wait, what did she just call me? Aha...AHAHAHAHA" The crimson mare burst into laughter as she shrugged at Monty "Reddam huh? Sounds pretty cool, anyway, sorry cop, you're not gonna arrest me, you know why?" Monty remained silent, as the room was growing hotter by the second "because this room is burning up, and you're the good guy. So you're gonna go over there to that ox's body and grab the key, and save these mares." Monty eyed the mares, as they trembled in the cages. "Ya see, this is why being the goodguy blows, always gotta make the tough decisions. Anyway, i'll be leaving now." Monty yelled at her "w-wait!" The crimson mare ignored her plea, and just continued trotting away "also, thanks for watching over scraps." Monty's voice trembled, even she was a bit overwhelmed by this entire thing, she gazed at the corpses, her eyes tearing up somewhat, nopony deserved this, no matter how bad they were "why?..." To this the crimson mare halted as Monty continued "why, why do you do this?.."

The crimson mare chuckled a bit, gazing back at the mare "because I love it..."

Monty's eyes widened.

"I love the sound of splitting flesh, the feeling of taking a life, the pools of crimson. I love it all." The crimson mare turned around to look at Monty "I wasn't any depraved filly, I had a good life, I was spoiled, hell I lived in Fillydelphia! I had a loving family and everything, no tragedies, I just wanted to live like this. I came for the ox because he was well known in these parts, that's all."

Monty was disgusted by her words, her brow furrowed as the crimson mare simply sighed "hey, you asked..."

The crimson mare turned back around and raised a hoof in farewell "later cop, I'm sure i'll catch you around sometime."

With that the mare disappeared into the shadows. The smoke was gathering as Monty began to cough, the smell was dreadful, she heard the mares panicking in their cages as she ran over to the ox's corpse, snatching keys from his split waist. Monty covered her mouth with her hoof and hurried, unlocking the doors of the cages. She coughed, barely getting out the words "go, go go go! Head for the stairs! Keep going up until you get to the surface, and hurry!" The mares nodded as they all ran for the stairs, Monty went in the direction the crimson mare left in as she found an extra set of stairs leading upward.

As she reached the surface, there was no sign of Reddam, the mares in the cages made it out safely though. Monty and the mares hurried off the boat, as soon afterword it caved in on itself, sinking into the water. The mares were all happily grateful and hugged Monty left and right, Monty wasn't negative about the praise but she wasn't in a happy mood either. Her main target was gone, once again, and now she wasn't even sure if she could ever apprehend such a crazy mare.

As the chaos ended, soon Gale would come sprinting from down the pier "MONTY!" he yelled. Monty turned to face him with a smile as he embraced her in a hug "by celestia, did you do this?!" Monty shook her head, but remained silent. Monty sighed as she began walking down the pier, back towards land. Gale sighed "so I see you saved the mares, good on you." Monty was still silent, Gale looked at her worriedly "Monty?" Monty just muttered "were going back to Manehattan.." Gale's eyes widened "why?!"

Monty just sighed "were gonna need some help.."

This was all so sudden, but Gale knew whatever Monty was planning, this was the best course of action. He knew she'd seen something on that ship that likely provoked such words, he simply nodded "alright."

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As the crimson mare and Scraps were already heading north out of the badlands. The crimson mare spoke in a humored tone "hah, Reddam, what a weird thing to call me." Scraps smiled "I think it's interesting." The crimson mare gave a soft smile towards her companion "you think everything is interesting." Scraps looked at her, as if puzzled as the crimson mare smirked, then looked forward again.

"Well, I guess it's pretty cool, I can go by that for awhile..."

Scraps questioned her curiously "so where we off to Reddam?"

Reddam smirked as she trotted ahead "I don't know, I always wanted to check out Tall Tale."

They continued down the road, disappearing into the distance.