Monster

Fluorescent scarlet light shone from the ceiling as a smiling stallion in a suit strode onto the stage, swinging his saxophone from side to side. Dancers dressed in silky satin swung silently around shining, silver poles as sensual, smooth jazz spilled from the stallion’s instrument, fusing with the applause of the mass of ponies who were thrusting bits at him, stomping and screaming for his soulful music.

I bobbed my head with the beat of the drummer in the background and smiled shakily. The music was actually really nice. It was passionate yet elegant at the same time, with just a hint of a ragtime influence that made me feel oddly nostalgic. It was almost worth the risk of getting caught and getting thrown into Tartarus for all of eternity.

Actually—I quickly glanced around before I thrust my head back behind my mane and hunkered down. No, it wasn’t. I raised the bar’s menu to cover my face and quivered. When was Rainbow Dash going to get here?

After a few moments, I peered over the menu to look at the bartender, who looked expectantly at me whilst handing a pony a glass of some kind of alcoholic drink that I didn’t recognize. I looked back down at the menu. I had seven bits. The cheapest thing on the menu that I could see was a ten-bit glass of beer. I glanced at the appetizers. Well, there was also a bag of crackers with cheese for seven bits. My eyebrows rose almost of their own accord. Seven bits? Who’d actually pay seven bits for a bag of crackers?

A little piece of bark brushed against my eyes. I pushed the stray hair back into my mane, my hoof rubbing against fragmented bark and stray leaves. I sighed. At least I wouldn’t have to dye my mane anymore. But I had to wonder: if my mane was still leafy, then was Pinkie Pie still melting? I really hoped Zecora was doing something about that.

Looking around once more, I tapped my hoof against the bar stool impatiently. Where was Rainbow Dash anyway?

I glanced nervously at the bartender, who stared at me expectantly with a stare that bordered on suspicion. I looked down and pretended to look at the menu again. I would have bought something, but I really, really didn’t want to waste the only money I had on seven bit crackers. I put my hoof to my chin as if considering something and glanced at the door.

Finally, the door opened, and a cyan pegasus pony stepped in. It might have been the rainbow-colored mane and the rainbow-striped lightning bolt on her flank, or it might have been the way she rolled her eyes and glared at me like she was annoyed that I had managed to find my way here, but something about her told me this was Rainbow Dash. I waved at her. She might not have been glad that I was here, but I sure was glad that she was here. The bartender had looked like she was about to kick me out.

Rainbow Dash walked to me, a sneer affixed to her face like it was her natural expression. “So you can open your eyes,” she commented, jerking with her head for me to follow her. I got up. She stared at my face for a moment, before turning away. “Freaky glowing eyes? I can see why you keep ‘em closed.” I stood up and silently walked behind her, eyes on the floor.

We walked past a bouncer to a room in the back of the bar. The place looked grimy, and I smelled something sour and rancid and strangely familiar in the air. I shuddered. There was another room to the side, but the door was closed, and I could hear something moving around inside. I heard a muffled scream, and then some banging. I glanced nervously at Rainbow Dash, but she didn’t seem to notice. She stepped through the doorway, past some velvety red curtains and propped herself up on a cushy red couch with only one armrest. I gulped and followed her inside.

“Close the door,” Rainbow Dash ordered lazily, waving her hoof in my general direction. I obliged, gently pushing the door. It barely moved. I grit my teeth and pushed harder. What did they need such a heavy door for?

Finally, the door closed with a heavy thunk. I turned the latch, and it was just the two of us in a room with the door locked. I frowned down at the latch. Why would they make it so it was lockable on the inside? This room was probably used as some kind of criminal hangout. Either that or it was for extremely shy ponies who wanted to pay for seven bit crackers.

I reached into my mane with my wing and pulled out a flower. Holding it away from my face, I ran my hoof along its greyish green stem. I didn’t like this. Any of this. I had trapped myself with this pony that I knew nothing about, other than that she was a jerk—admittedly a jerk who had saved me from a bully, but a jerk nonetheless. Hadn’t I learned anything from last time? What was I even doing here? I didn’t owe these ponies anything. I should have been asleep back home, or singing a lullaby to the squirrels, or frolicking with the owls. I could have been—

“The hay’s your name, anyway?”

“Um.”

I obviously wasn’t going to tell her my real name, but I didn’t know whether I should tell her my real fake name or if I needed a new fake identity. I didn’t trust her one bit, but I also didn’t know what Shade had told her, and I definitely didn’t want to start the conversation getting caught in a lie.

“It’s…”

But why would she ask for my name if she already knew? Spies in movies never used their real names, and I felt kind of like a movie spy. I didn’t really know why spies didn’t use their real names, but it wasn’t like I was using my real name anyway.

“Um.”

But if I told her my real fake name, wouldn’t that just be lying anyway?

“Um.”

Rainbow Dash groaned, punching the couch impatiently. “What? Don’t you know your own name?”

That worked too. I ducked my head and hid my face behind my mane.

“I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “Can you count? Do you know how to play hoofball?” she snarled, flaring her wings and slamming the couch with her hind hooves. “Do you know anything?”

"Stupid, worthless, piece of trash! What kind of pegasus can’t fly?! You know what you are? You’re shit with wings. But since you can’t fly, you might as well just be shit!” Slammer was screaming into my ear again, like he always did. And it always hurt, no matter how many times he did it.

I flinched and turned away, hiding behind my mane. I could feel a tear gathering in my eye and quickly wiped it away. I didn’t know why I was crying. I knew how to do all those things. I did! I mean, I wasn’t very good at hoofball, but I knew the rules. Well, some of them. The important ones!

I took a deep breath. She was just being a jerk. I shouldn’t let it bother me. She was the one saying I didn’t know anything, but I was the one fooling her.

So hah!

I sniffed a little and raised my hoof to hide a small smile. And now I was being mean. My smile disappeared.

I looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was lying on the couch, her lips pressed into a thin line.

“You done being a crybaby?” she asked, shaking her head. “'Cuz I’m literally dying over here,” she gasped, flopping over with her hooves on her heart, before she got back onto her hooves and glared at me.

“I’m sorry,” I said again. My voice trembled, but I didn’t cry.

She sighed, rubbing her hoof against her head. She cracked a smile and said, “You know what, I’m sorry. I told Gilda you asked me out on a date and I said yes, just so I could ruin it for you.” She snickered, waving her hoof at me. “I don’t want to actually ruin your night, though. We’re in this together.” She turned her head to the side and gave me the evil eye. “No matter how much you suck.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything.

She glanced at the door. “Alright. Well, I’m here. They’re here. What’s the plan?” She looked at me expectantly.

“They?” I frowned. “Plan?”

“The plan!” She pressed her hoof into her forehead. “The feathering plan! You know, like I tell Shade everything and she sends”—she made air quotes with her hooves and spoke in a snooty voice—“‘somepony experienced in resolving such matters.’”

She flew forward, putting her hooves on my back before I could react. “You know I could get killed for telling her anything, right? Come on; gimme something to work with here!”

I flinched back from her touch. “Shade didn’t actually tell me anything,” I said, ears flattening against my head, “I’m sorry.”

Rainbow Dash pressed her forehead harder. “Shade didn’t tell you… anything?” Her voice squeaked a little at the end.

“Well,” I began, tilting my head, “She said there was a gang called the Rainbow of Light”—Rainbow Dash glanced at the door—“and they were moving into Ponyville. And one of the Princess’s protégés is involved somehow.”

Rainbow Dash was nodding along with everything I said, but at the mention of the Princess’s protégés, she stopped and frowned. “Wait, what?”

I shrugged. “That’s what she told me.”

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Well, that’s just great. Actually, that does explain a lot.”

I raised my eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Rainbow Dash exhaled. “Let me guess. You’ve been living under a rock and you don’t have any idea what’s been happening in Cloudsdale lately.”

“I’m sorry.” I nodded, looking down at her shins, sorely tempted to kick them. Maybe I wasn’t what she had hoped for, but did everything that came out of her mouth have to be some kind of insult?

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Alright. Well, as everypony knows, Cloudsdale has always had gangs. They sell drugs, mug people, run rackets… You know. Little stuff like that. I had a lot of friends who joined up in one gang or another, doing stuff like that. I wouldn’t do anything illegal like that though; I’m saving myself.” She grinned, a spark of excitement in her eye. “I’m gonna join the Wonderbolts!”

I frowned. Why did that sound so familiar?

“I’m gonna join the Wonderbolts!” a rainbow-maned filly shouted, jumping on top of her desk, staring down at the rest of the class as if daring anypony to challenge her. I stared up at her in awe. I couldn’t explain why, but the sheer conviction in her voice just made me believe in her. I smiled. Maybe if I just believed in myself a bit more, I could be a better flier. Maybe if I just believed… everything would be okay.

I blinked. Oh. I fiddled with my hooves as I stared at the pony I had idolized in flight camp. It looked like she didn’t recognize me. But then, I had never worked up the courage to talk to her then. She had been such a nice pony. Well, maybe not nice, but she had never been… she had never been such a jerk. What had happened to her?

I shook myself out of my reverie. Rainbow Dash was talking, oblivious to my introspection.

“—did mostly the same small stuff. But then something happened. They got their hooves on—the griffons have this thing called a ‘gun’ that they use for war. You just point it at somepony and pull a trigger and it kills them!”

I frowned as something cold and sickly crept up my spine. I shivered. “Just… kills them?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah! I don’t know how it works or anything, but it just rips a hole right through you and you’re dead! Just like that! They’re not even magical, so the police can’t detect them! The Rainbow Mafia got their hooves on a bunch of them about a year ago, and started making all the other gangs join up with them. Any gang that said no…” She held her hoof up and pointed it at me. “Boom!” She pressed her hoof against her heart, eyes rolling up as she fell back on the couch.

She leapt back up, flying at me. My hooves failed me as I fell back onto my flank. Flaring her wings, Rainbow Dash leaned over me, hoof on my chest, and leered. “It took ‘em just a week to take over all of Cloudsdale. They called them the Days of Discord,” she finished.

I shivered, pushing myself away. “The Days of Discord?”

“I used to have a lot of friends in Cloudsdale,” Rainbow Dash’s expression darkened as she turned away and threw herself onto the couch again. Her voice cracked a little. “Most of them are gone now.” Her tail swished, and she turned away from me. “Pretty accurate name,” she muttered.

I wanted to say something comforting, but there was nothing to say, so I just stared at the ground in silence instead.

After a moment, Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and moved on. “After that, they started taking over everything else. The police couldn’t stop them. If you want to go out at night without getting mugged, you gotta pay their ‘tax’. I quit my job as a delivery mare because half the stuff I was delivering was drugs, and the Rainbows took the other half as a ‘delivery tax’.”

She slammed her hoof onto the armrest. “I just got fed up and left, you know. Fricken’ Rainbows. I mean, why did they have to call themselves the Rainbows? I should’ve had a copyright on the name or something.”

She stood up and paced along the floor. “You know, I was gonna change my name to something like Awesome Dash or something, just to spite them. But oooh nooo! If you want a name change, guess what! You gotta pay them for that too!” she shouted, kicking the couch into the wall.

Rainbow Dash leaned towards me, panting, eyes narrowed. I backed away until my back hit the wall. Her eyes looked sharp as daggers, and I really didn’t like the way she was pointing them at me.

Rainbow Dash sighed and took a deep breath, calming down before speaking again. “Look, no one knows how they got the guns, but if what Shade told you is right, then I think Twilight Sparkle is the answer!”

I frowned at her, shaking my head. Where had that come from?

“Think about it,” Rainbow Dash whispered, “About a year ago, Twilight Sparkle becomes the Princess’s new protégé. I mean, the press wouldn’t shut up about it. Then, a few weeks later, the Rainbow of Light suddenly gets a bunch of guns. That can't be a coincidence. I think the mafia got Celestia to make Twilight Sparkle the Princess’s protégé, and in return Twilight Sparkle gave them all guns using her new job!”

I frowned. “How would the mafia get Celestia to pick Twilight—oh.”

Rainbow Dash leaned in like a timberwolf that had spotted its prey. “What?”

I bit my lip. “I talked to Twilight Sparkle earlier today. She said the Princess picked her because she won some kind of award.”

Rainbow Dash smirked triumphantly. “See? What did I say? The mafia buys her some fancy award, and she gives them all guns!”

I coughed. Well, that sounded possible. Except… “How would she know Celestia would make her her protégé?”

Rainbow Dash waved her hoof dismissively, jumping up and pacing around the room. “Who cares? It must have been a pretty big award or whatever. You go figure it out. I brought you here tonight ‘cause there’s a big meeting at midnight tonight.”

I leaned forward. “Meeting?”

She leaned forward until our noses were touching. “Out in the lounge, there’s a stallion wearing a top hat and a monocle with a book cutie mark. He’s gonna be with a mare with a silver tiara and a green scarf.  Both pegasi. They’re both capos in the Rainbow of Light.”

“Capos?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, turning away. “Like, lieutenants in their army. They’re the ones running the operation here.”

"Oh," I said, nodding.

Rainbow Dash scratched her face, pacing around the room. “Let’s see. There’s four capos in Ponyville, and each of them commands a group of six or seven soldiers, so that’s… uh…”

“About thirty mobsters in Ponyville,” I finished for her, feeling the beginnings of panic squeezing my chest. “Do they all have guns?” I shook my head, hoping she would do the same. Thirty? I definitely couldn’t deal with that many on my own, even if they didn’t have guns. And if they did…

Rainbow Dash frowned. “The capos probably do. The soldiers? Well, I don’t have one, so I’m guessing most of the other soldiers don’t, but—”

I leaned back. “Other—Other soldiers?” I asked, pressing my hooves together, suspicions confirmed. This was a trap. I reached with my wing into my mane. “You’re—You’re a—”

She frowned, stalking towards me, her face reddening. “Oh, don’t give me that. You weren’t there. When a bunch of ponies with guns walk into your house and tell you to work for them or die, I’d like to hear you say no.”

I frowned. I had told Shade no, but that wasn’t really the same thing. Also, wasn’t I here doing what she had told me to do anyway? I lowered my wing. “I guess…”

Rainbow Dash harrumphed and stalked back onto the couch. “Anyway, the capos are gonna meet somewhere at midnight tonight. I dunno where, but the ones I told you about do. Follow them, and do whatever it is you do.” Rainbow Dash slumped back, head settling onto the armrest. “And don’t rat me out when you get caught.” She closed her eyes in clear dismissal.

I stared at her, my lips pressed into a thin line.

“Aren’t you going to help me?” I wanted to ask, but didn’t. Of course she wasn’t.

Jerk.

I sighed. “Well, thanks for the help.”

I pushed myself out of the chair and walked away. As I unlatched the door and pulled it open, Rainbow Dash called out, “I’m gonna tell Gilda you were a terrible lay. Just so you know.”

I nodded, waving my wing in her direction like I was swatting away a fly. I didn’t know what that meant, but I was sure it was something insulting. I stepped out into the main area, my eyes sweeping around the corners of the room.

A dancer was wrapping her hooves around a stallion who held a bag of bits in his mouth. Little hearts popped right out of his starry eyes and acidic disdain dripped from hers. Her tongue slid against his cheek into his mouth, making him drop the bag of bits. I hurriedly looked away, cheeks burning.

A waitress was serving out martinis with little umbrellas in them to an elderly couple. A group of middle aged stallions in business suits smiled and laughed with each other as they raised their glasses and clinked them together. A lone plum-colored earth pony with bloodshot eyes leaned over a table, hooves wrapped around an empty wine bottle as she desperately tried to guzzle down one last, non-existant drop of alcohol.

Finally, I spotted the ponies I was looking for. A mare in a silver tiara and a stallion with a book cutie mark. I stalked closer, burning their faces into my memory. The stallion dropped a bag of bits onto the table, nodding at the mare and gathering his belongings. They were about to leave. I had to act quickly.

I moved forward, pretending to scan the crowd for a while, before putting on a disappointed expression and turning to face the bar. I glanced at the clock on the wall by the sink. There were about fifteen minutes till midnight. I glanced back. The two capos were standing up.

I walked to the exit and left the bar, shoulders hunched. I glanced around. The streets were grey and colorless, but I could see every detail just as sharply as I could in the day. Whatever Shade had done to my eyes had given me the ability to see in the dark. That was something I could thank her for, at least.

I flapped my wings and took to the skies, feeling the air rush by me as I spiraled higher and higher until finally I reached an errant cloud. Throwing myself onto it to use as cover, I looked down at the two ponies.

The two were tilting their heads at each other, unspoken words passing between them. The mare turned around and walked back in the direction of the bar as the stallion kept walking forward. They were splitting up. I frowned and pushed my cloud forward, deciding to follow the stallion. He walked forward for a while, before he glanced around and then ducked into an alleyway. I pushed my cloud directly overhead and peered down at him as he slunk through the alleyway, disappearing out of sight. I hesitated for a moment, before raising my wings to take flight. He reappeared a little way away, and I shoved myself back down, watching him.

He walked a little further, before finally he came to the edge of Ponyville. He glanced around, raised his wings, and took flight. I flew after him, dragging my cloud along for the ride.

He was faster than I was but, fortunately, he didn’t fly very far. Just as he turned into a speck in the distance, he landed next to a small barn next to a grove of apple trees. I flew closer, raising my cloud for cover. Two more pegasus stallions walked out to meet the stallion I had been following. Slowly, I pushed my cloud forward to hear what they were saying.

“—and make sure no one’s snooping. Got it?” the stallion in the top hat was saying.

The two new stallions nodded and took flight, circling around the barn. I drifted my cloud closer. One of them glanced in my direction. I ducked behind the cloud and looked around. The nearest other cloud was miles away.

Nonononononono!

“Of course. They’re pegasi too. Fluttershy, you silly filly,” I muttered, reaching into my mane and pulling out my flower. Of course they would check the clouds. Hadn't I used this trick when I was a little filly, hiding from bullies? And how many times had it worked back then? Was I still just the same silly little pushover, still using the same old tricks to run away from the big, bad bullies?

No. This time, I was ready. This time, I was strong enough to fight back. Well, maybe not strong enough. But I had a plan in case Rainbow Dash had lead me into a trap. This was close enough, wasn't it?

I placed the stem of the flower in my mouth, carefully making sure the stalks were facing away from me, and lay down as if I were sleeping.

“Hey! Lady!” the stallion shouted behind me. I didn’t move. A hoof rapped against my back.

My heart pounded in my chest as I slowly turned around. A small gust of cool air brushed against my sweat-covered back, making me shiver.

“Mmm… Wha?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes, as if waking up.

“This is private property, ma’am. You’re not supposed to be here.”

I looked around. The other guard was looking over at us with an amused expression on his face from a distance away.

I scuffed the ground with my hoof. Maybe I could have knocked both guards out if they had come together. I had the element of surprise, after all. But they were standing so far away from each other. If I acted now, I would only be able to take down one of the guards before the other called for help.

I couldn't do anything right now. Maybe, if I pretended to be lost, they would let me go. But I couldn't just leave. I had to come back. I had to find out what they were up to. I had to see for myself if they really were bad ponies. So I would come back.

But if I left now, this would be my last chance. If I came back, they would know something was up. If they saw me again, I wouldn't have any way to talk my way out.

But then, they would never see me again, would they?

The taste of blood filled my mouth. The blood of the pony who had hurt me. It tasted like victory. It tasted like superiority. It tasted awful.

My stomach lurched. That was why I was here, wasn’t it? I wasn't really coming here to find out if they were bad ponies. I knew they were. Rainbow Dash was one of them, and she knew they were bad ponies. I was here to kill them.

They were selling drugs to fillies. They had killed Rainbow Dash's friends. The hospital had looked like a war zone. And all because of these ponies. They were monsters.

My hooves trembled. I couldn’t let the capos destroy Ponyville the same way that they had destroyed Cloudsdale.  They were monsters. I had to stop them, didn't I? I was the only one who knew. I was the only one who could.

I didn't know for myself that they were bad ponies. Well, they were gathering at midnight at a barn and trying to make sure nopony followed them, so they probably weren't up to anything good.

But for all I knew, Shade had set this up as a trap. Actually, scratch that. I knew this was a trap. Of course this was a trap. Shade had sent me to Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash had sent me here. And neither of them were good ponies. I mean, it was quite obvious that Shade was evil. I wasn't stupid. Nopony who wore a shadowy veil and controlled timberwolves and blew up ponies' homes and threatened innocent ponies was a nice pony.

But Rainbow Dash? She was a jerk, but she didn't seem evil. She hadn't been a jerk back in flight camp. She had been... not quite nice, but definitely not a jerk.

But now? Now there was something about her eyes, something about the way she had looked at me when she talked about the Rainbow of Light, that made me wonder what they had done to her. Her eyes had looked so haunted. So alone. So hurt. And so angry.

I didn't want anypony else to look at me with those eyes ever again.

I wouldn't let those monsters hurt anypony like they had hurt Rainbow Dash.

Bright, bubbly blue eyes twinkled on an innocent, pink face with a grin so wide I felt I could fall into it, and so pure and free that I wouldn't mind the fall. The darkness and the gloom of Everfree Forest twisted the world around us, but we walked in our own little world, and here, we were happy. I smiled, and Pinkie Pie's smile widened even more.

I bit my lip.

Especially not Pinkie Pie.

I spat the flower out in between my hooves.

“Oh. I’m s-sorry. Uh, I’m a little lost,” I said, a sick, numb feeling spreading through my chest.

I held my suddenly clammy hooves to my cheeks and looked away from the stallion. I wanted to wipe the sweat from my eyebrows, but that would draw attention to it. And then they would wonder why a pony who had just woken from a nap was sweating. But if I didn't wipe the sweat away, then I'd just keep sweating. And then—

"Calm down, Fluttershy!" I told myself, raising my hoof and running it through my hair, before letting my hoof fall back down, wiping the sweat from my eyebrows as I did so. "Just think of them as timberwolves. That's all they are."

I glanced up at the guardpony, who stared at me with an almost kind expression. But there was something in his eyes that reminded me of that cherry vendor, who had also seemed nice enough, before he—

I closed my eyes and shook my head again.

Sure he was a monster with a kind face, but a monster nonetheless. And sometimes, to stop a monster it takes a bigger, scarier monster. And I had to be that monster tonight.

I gulped.

“Well, Ponyville is that way.” The guard pointed behind me, his face the picture of an exasperated adult dealing with a particularly silly child.

I sighed and clutched the cloud beneath me to my chest. “Um, I’m a little scared to fly at night by myself. I hear there are bad ponies around. Could you—I mean, if you don’t mind—”

His smirk grew wider and wider until it threatened to engulf me entirely.

A crooked grin bore down on me, widening in delight as I tried to squirm deeper into a corner with nowhere to run. "Now what’s stopping me from gobbling you whole?" the monster asked, claws wrapping around me, pinning me in place.

I shuddered and closed my eyes for a moment, before opening them again.

The guardpony had turned to the other stallion, whose amused expression turned into a scowl. The guardpony turned back to me and bowed gallantly.

“Well, I can’t fly you home, but I can fly you to Ponyville,” he said.

I smiled at him. “Oh, thank you mister. You’re such a nice pony.”

And I was going to take advantage of his innocence, just like that cherry vendor had taken advantage of mine. Something cold coiled around my heart, squeezing harder and harder with every word I spoke. At least he wasn’t completely innocent. At least I could tell myself that he was a monster too.

He rubbed the back of his neck and guffawed. “Aw, you’re makin’ me blush. Anyway, let’s get you home, eh?”

I nodded, turning my head in the direction of Ponyville and away from him. I had the feeling that the longer I looked at him, the worse I would feel when the time came. We took off, flying towards Ponyville.

“So what’s your name?” the stallion next to me called out.

I glanced back. We were almost far enough away that the other guard couldn’t see us. Probably. I slowed down. “I’m…”

Ugh. I was starting to regret not coming up with a new name. I would have told him my real name, but there was a chance that he might escape, and that was one thing that I couldn’t let anyone know. I glanced around, but saw nothing but grass, trees, and a single ray of moonlight peeking through a layer of clouds in the night sky.

“I’m Night Sky.”

Night Sky? I resisted the urge to slap myself in the face. That was terrible. Why would I even be named Night Sky if my mane was all wooden, and my coat was neither blue like the sky or black like the night? Nothing about me had anything to do with the night sky. There was no way he would buy it.

I glanced at him. He was nodding. “Night, huh? I’m Lambert. Lambert Cherry.”

I turned my head away as I raised my eyebrows.

He actually bought it?

Somehow, that actually made me feel worse. He was just a silly, gullible pony. And me? I was a monster, leading him with lies into my den, where I would destroy him. Just like that monster had done to me. I really was no different.

I glanced at Lambert's cutie mark. Sure enough, it was a pair of cherries. Maybe he was related to that other pony I killed. Fate had a cruel sense of humor.

Maybe the two of them would meet in some kind of happy cherry vendor afterlife?

I frowned. I hoped it wasn’t too happy for the other cherry vendor.

I shook my head. That was mean. Was it mean? I mean, it was mean, but… Oh, what did it matter? He was dead, and soon Lambert would be too.

I bit my lip. Okay, that was definitely mean, and not just a little bit horrifying.

Shaking out of my thoughts, I turned to face Lambert, who was staring at my cutie mark. He wasn’t saying anything, so I turned to face Ponyville. We were getting pretty close.

I slowed down even more, pretending to pant heavily. “How about… we walk… the rest of the way?”

He nodded, his eyes still examining my cutie mark. Was it really that special? He was probably wondering what it had to do with the night sky.

We landed on the ground. “I really appreciate you taking me back home,” I said, fiddling with the flower in my hooves. “I want you to have this.” I pushed the flower’s stem into my mouth and pointed the flower at him.

He didn’t seem like a bad pony. I didn’t want to hurt him. But even if he wasn't a bad pony, he was in the mafia, guarding bad ponies, and he had seen me. He knew who I was. And if I let him live, then he would tell his superiors, who certainly were bad ponies, and they would hunt me down and kill me. And I just couldn't let that happen.

As he smiled and leaned down to take the flower from me, I squeezed down on the stem. The flower let out a small, barely audible puff. Lambert staggered around for a moment, before crumpling to the ground with a light thump.

I looked down at him, smiling sadly. He looked so peaceful. As I pushed the flower back into my mane, he opened his mouth and let out a loud snore. I giggled. He just looked too cute when he was sleeping. I bent down to his sleepy head and tilted it back, biting my lip until I could taste blood.

I sighed. The least I could do was make it quick.

I gingerly ran my hoof up his throat until it was over his trachea. He let out another snore, his heavy breath crawling against my hoof like a million maggots wriggling around in my fur.

A thought occurred to me. I didn’t have to do this. I could have just left.

A sudden spike of guilt impaled me in the chest, and I reeled backwards, yanking my hoof back so hard that I fell over and my head struck soft dirt.

What if he was like Rainbow Dash? What if he was just being forced to be in the mafia? I could spare this one pony. Maybe he wouldn't tell anypony about me. Maybe, if I asked nicely, he would just leave the mafia and we would all just go home and live happily ever after.

I pushed myself back up, looking down at the sleeping body beneath me, and then back at the speck in the distance where the barn had been. At least four more ponies were going to die tonight. That wouldn't change.

I looked back down at the body under me. I didn't have time to ask nicely. The other pony would wonder where he was if I didn't finish this quickly. If I let him go then more ponies would die. He knew who I was; he would tell the Rainbow of Light, and they would kill me, and then who would save Ponyville? I couldn't afford to let him live. If I hadn't messed up and gotten myself caught, maybe I could have let him go. But I had messed up. And now it was either him or me—I mean Ponyville.

My gut twisted as I picked myself back up, tilting his neck back once more.

I wasn’t going to kill him because I was afraid for my own safety. He wasn't going to die because I was selfish or scared, or because I liked doing things like this. He was a threat to Ponyville. Shade had said she caught a pony selling drugs to foals. He was one of those bad ponies. I was doing it for the foals. For those poor, innocent fillies and colts that these horrible monsters were going to hurt. I wasn't evil. I wasn't a monster like them at all.

And maybe, if I just kept telling myself that, I might actually believe it.

My shoulders shook as I pressed my hoof down into his neck. His breathing stopped, and his eyes contorted, as if he was having a bad dream. I bent down, whispering words that came unbidden to my lips.

“Hush now, quiet now

It's time to lay your sleepy head.”

I didn’t remember where or when I had heard the song I was singing, or who had sung it to me. All I remembered was that it used to calm me down and put me to sleep when I had had a bad dream. Now it just sent a shiver down my spine and a raw pain through my chest. But maybe it would help him sleep a little better. I pressed down harder, eyes falling to the stallion beneath me. His face was so peaceful, so still. He was just so relaxed; I couldn’t help but relax too.

“Hush now, quiet now

It's time to go to bed.”

I yawned, my eyes drooping. It was time to go to bed, wasn’t it? I slumped down onto Lambert’s body, closing my eyes. Today had been such a long day, and I was so tired. I smacked my lips and turned my head, pressing it onto Lambert’s chest, enjoying the peaceful silence of the night.