The hooded mare raced down the alley way as fast has her hooves would carry her. Behind her, over a dozen armed pegasi and earth ponies remained in hot pursuit. Cries of “Stop, thief!” and “I’m going to gut that bitch!” assaulted the mare’s ears; she paid them no heed. Hidden by her hood, the strange horn-like protrusion on her head began glowing with an ethereal pink aura.

Her pursuers, however, saw something vastly different. The night sky turned a deep shade of crimson while their prey seemed to fade from view. The walls of the alley way grew taller and more sinister. The ponies could no longer see or hear the road at the alley’s end. Even the very ground they stood upon no longer seemed stable. Panic started to overcome the mob. A few of the more cowardly souls turned to make a “tactical retreat,” but found their path to be blocked by what appeared to be red glass, glass that most definitely was not there a second ago.

On the opposite side of the barrier, there stood a different mare. Her white coat was marred with countless scars. One of her eyes was solid black, the other a murderous crimson. Her mane and tail burned like fire; even across the barrier, the nearest ponies in the mob could feel the heat radiating off of her. A red glow enveloped her horn. Nearby, a flaming sword, enveloped in the same red aura, hovered in mid-air.

“IT’S THE DEMON OF MANEHATTAN!” one brown coated stallion screamed. At his outburst, the mob panicked, retreating in the opposite direction. Said “demon” calmly followed them, passing harmlessly through her own barrier. Screams burst from the crowd as they fled for their lives down the illusion-warped alley.

Of course, their flight was short lived. The pegasi who had tried to flee upwards found that the glass wall was actually a dome, one that was steadily shrinking and pushing them towards the ground. The earth ponies who had started running found their path blocked by a tremendous figure, nearly nine times the size of the Empress herself. The scales, claws, and teeth could only mean one thing: dragon. “Th-Tha-That’s imposible!” the same brown coated stallion cried; dragons were supposed to be extinct!

The very-much alive dragon pounced, claws extended and fire flowing. His burning unicorn companion lunged at the same time; her flaming sword cleaved off the head of one stallion while she dashed towards another. The “demon’s” white-hot hoof flash boiled the skin off the face she had punched, killing the stallion instantly. In a matter of seconds, fourteen souls had joined the ranks of the dead.

Observing their work, the flaming unicorn extinguished her mane. Purple strands replaced orange flames and her white coat darkened to a pleasant shade of lavender. The mare’s one red eye faded and became purple as well, but the solid black artificial eye remained unchanged.

The dragon, however, wasted no time observing the carnage. Heads were severed from corpses and packaged into a box. The corpses themselves found their way down his gullet. A breath of green flame burned away the remaining blood and excrement, from where their victims had soiled themselves.

It was then that the illusion obscuring the alleyway broke, revealing the hooded blue mare. “I always hate watching you work, Twilight. You and Spike always have the creepiest smiles while you commit mindless slaughter.”

“You’re welcome to stay home with Shining Armor, Trixie,” Twilight said.

“And not keep the Knights of the Empress off your flanks? No thanks. The Great and Powerful Trixie loves using her illusions to screw with the minds of lesser ponies,” Trixie retorted. Twilight only gave a huff of annoyance, then picked up her sword and the box of severed heads and stowed both within her pocket space.

“If you two ladies are finished,” Spike said, “we need to be heading back. Aunt Orange is expecting your delivery, Trixie, and I want to cash in the bounties on this lot’s heads.” The dragon focused on his internal magic and began to shrink himself down. When he reached nearly a quarter of his former size, Twilight cast an illusion on the dragon to make him appear as a rather large minotaur. Though he could not cast the spell on his own, Spike was more than skilled enough to seize control of the spell and sustain it with his own magic supply. A moment later, both unicorns had hidden their horns within an illusion. Two earth pony mares and a minotaur walked out of an ordinary alley.

“Fourteen armed stallions and not a single scratch? And you did it without alerting a single Knight? I’m impressed,” the mare affectionately known as “Aunt Orange” said. Nopony knew what her real name was, although she really was the head of the Orange earth pony clan. The crime syndicate that she ran controlled the entire city of Manehattan and several of the surrounding villages. Nothing went on within her territory that she did not know about. The Mayor, city council, and police force were all her puppets. The only thing she did not control were the Knights of the Empress. Recruited, trained in and dispatched from the Equestrian capitol of Trotlantis, the Knights were considered “incorruptible” by organized crime.

Twilight, her older brother Shining Armor, her adopted sister Trixie, and Twilight's adopted son Spike had all worked for the syndicate from a very young age. Officially, their job titles were “Private Defense Contractor,” “Janitor,” “Secretary of Materials and Relocation,” and Secretary of Accounting, respectively. In other words, Twilight was a mercenary, Shining Armor was an assassin, and Trixie was a master thief. Spike was the only one whose title was literal; who better to trust to guard and invest your money than a dragon, even one as young as Spike? Collectively, the quartet was known as the “dirty hooves” of the Orange Family.

“Spike,” Aunt Orange addressed the young drake, “the collective bounty for those heads is fifteen thousand bits. Miss Trixie is to receive ten thousand for the stolen goods. You know what to do.”
The dragon gave a polite bow. “Yes, ma’am,” he said in his deep, rumbling voice before using his flame to carry himself to the underground vaults.

“Now, Twilight, in four month’s time, my nieces and nephew are hosting a family reunion in Ponyville for the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration. Since this is a literal family reunion and not a business meeting, it should be a simple affair. Still, Apples and Oranges are not on the best of terms right now. I would like you to accompany my husband and I so that I might… show you off, so to speak. Your family is invited, of course,” said Aunt Orange.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I won’t be taking any contracts for that time.”

“Relax, my dear. There’s no need to be so stiff around me when we are alone. Oh, do keep your street fighting to a minimum. I know you love practicing your skills, but I don’t want you too bruised when you visit cousin Applejack.” Aunt Orange gave a light chuckle. “You know how strong that mare’s hugs are.”

The unicorn mare returned the chuckle. “She’s both an Apple and an Orange. If her body is half as strong as my mind, as I suspect it is, she’ll pop me like a Grape,” Twilight said. Aunt Orange did not miss the insult to the rival Grape clan. “It’s been ages since I last saw her. Come to think of it, wasn’t she blank the last time I saw her?”

“Tee hee hee, you are right, of course. I hope your son doesn’t mind cleaning up grape jelly. You are the right color for it, too. Has it really been that long since you to have seen each other? The years blur together,” Aunt Orange said with a sigh. Handing Twilight an envelope, Aunt Orange spoke, “Anyway, this is your next contract. Some of my associates wish for a bodyguard to escort their trade caravan to Trotlantis. Since their merchandise is less than legal, they wish to cut through Whitetail Woods and Everfree in order to avoid the main roads. They want your standard bandit and monster protection. The Caravan will not be stopping in Ponyville. Understood?”

Twilight saluted her boss and mentor figure. “Crystal, ma’am.”
“Good. The envelope also contains your brother’s next hit and your sister’s next target. I’ll award both of them a bonus if they can do it with extra flair. Dismissed.”

“Fourteen armed stallions and not a single scratch? And you did it without alerting a single Knight? I’d expect nothing less from my cute little sister and her awesome son,” Shining Armor said. He rubbed his lavender sister’s head, then took a drink of his hard cider.

“Yep. It’s funny, Auntie said the same thing when I told her.” Twilight knocked back a shot of salt whisky. “Ah, thash teh good shtuff,” the mare slurred. To her left, Spike chugged his vodka as only a dragon could. Considering that he looked like a minotaur at the time, the feat was quite shocking to the bartender.

Said bartender, a skinny pegasus mare named Hops, was silently preying to the Empress that she wouldn’t have to deal with a violent or lusty and hyper-drunk minotaur. Of course, considering that the mare next to him just claimed to have murdered fourteen armed stallions with the help of her son and had not gotten a single scratch, Hops was not too keen to be standing anywhere in the bar at this time. The fact that the purple mare’s brother seemed to be encouraging that sort of monstrous behavior left Hops nearly in a panic. Her shift could not end fast enough.

Author's Note

*Ding* Have a new story!

This is slightly A.U. In this world, until Shining Armor was born, there were no such things as unicorns. Magic was completely internal (Pegasus/Earth pony magic). The ruling caste is the pegasi. Celestia and Luna are physical gods that take the form of Earth-Pegasus hybrids (normal body minus the horn). Instead of raising the sun/moon with magic, they push the celestial bodies like pegasi push clouds. Since unicorn culture was not the defining influence when the government of Equestria was created, the country takes after the ancient Roman/Greek methods of ruling instead of the feudal European system (I think) it had. Hence the coastal city of Trotlantis (Atlantis) instead of the mountain city of Canterlot (Camelot). The royal sisters are Empresses instead of Princesses. Knight of the Empress = Royal Guard. The Wonderbolts are the elite Knights and the most honored profession in Equestria.

Also, most characters will be canon in terms of personality and appearance, except where it has to deviate because of the changes I have made. Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and the unborn Pumpkin Cake are now an Earth ponies. All other canon!unicorns are now Earth Ponies. I'm also going to say that Rainbow Dash is already a Knight-in-training, but dreams of working her way up to Wonderbolt status.

Also, Shining Armor is 27, Twilight is 25, Trixie is 24, and Spike is 18. Since Twilight hatched his egg, Spike imprinted on her and sees her as "mother." However, Twilight views Spike as somewhere between "son," "brother," and "best friend."