The scene in apartment 7D, had any sane pony been forced into it, would have been described as nightmarish. Well, they would describe it that way if they looked closely. The furniture was covered in burns and claw marks. The drawers were filled with unknown medical instruments. Medical and martial arts books lined the shelves. The spice cabinet had some really toxic herbs that most definitely would not go on your friend's salad. Yet, if you ignored those details, apartment 7D looked just like any other in the run-down complex. Family photos decorated the walls while knick-knacks and oddly-valuable art pieces decorated everything else.

Upon entering 7D, a pony would see two of the apartment's residents performing the most evil of all sins: triple-checking a checklist.

"Swords?"

"Check."

"Knives?"

"Check."

"Poisons?"

"Check."

"Rations?"

"Check."

"Armor?"

"Che- Wait," Spike blinked, then looked up from the checklist in his claws. "Twilight, you don't wear armor. It melts right off."

The unicorn chuckled. "Gotcha, Spike. Anyway, did I pack my books? I can't forget those. Oh, and my spell journal and medical textbook, too."

Setting the requested items in the pile, Spike said, "Check, check, check! That's everything! Now, go knock some heads!"

Twilight levitated her supplies and stowed them away in her pocket space. She made to turn towards the apartment door, but paused as she was struck by an after-thought. Glancing over at her good friend and adopted son, the mare cleared her throat. “Spike, please keep the Great and Powerful annoyance out of my room while I’m gone, will you? I don’t want the thief taking any of my stuff, or, Celestia forbid, the notes on any of my incomplete battle spells. We don’t want another incident again, do we?”

Spike paled. “No, no, I’ll keep her out,” he hurriedly said, waving his claws around for emphasis. “Although, I think that monster cat deserved it…” Spike trailed off, lost in his wishful thinking. “Hey, you think Shining Armor could kill that thing? I bet it wouldn’t be hard for him.”

Twilight snorted in amusement as she walked towards the door. “He’s tried. Repeatedly. Lost every time, too. How do you think he got all those scars as an assassin when he is never on the front lines? That cat is the only hit Shining has ever failed, to the point where my brother has started calling Tora his ‘Eternal Rival,’ or some such nonsense.”

Suddenly, there was a muffled crash and a thud. The entire apartment complex seemed to shake. A muffled cry from apartment 6D, directly below, said, “NO, TORA! BAD KITTY! COME BACK! MUMMY JUST WANTS TO GIVE YOU A HUG!” A simultaneous shiver went down the spines of both occupants of 7D. One shared glance between pony and dragon said a thousand words.

“Well, it’s not like I was in any hurry to leave,” Twilight deadpanned. “I guess I can wait until the beast calms down.”

“You know,” Spike mused, “I almost pity that cat, living with someone like Mrs. Fig. Almost.”

The city of Manehatten functions under an interesting dynamic. For one thing, both the government and police force were under the control of the Orange family. Close to four decades of careful policy control and bribery had caused crime to collect near the south end of the city, while the wealthier citizens had moved north. Extra police patrols in the north and reduced patrols in the south had almost guaranteed that the scum of the city was relegated to one end.

The south end could be further divided into three sections: the industrial center, the gang territories, and no-pony’s land, affectionately known as the Abyss. In the Abyss, if there are not at least four murders a week, then the gangs are preparing for war, in which case, the next week will see at least twenty murders.

In the heart of Abyss territory stands Silver Tower apartments, which is decidedly not silver. The Silver Tower’s claim-to-fame is that it holds the record for cheapest apartments in Manehatten. Of course, to anypony in the know, the Silver Tower is the home to the “Demon of Manehatten,” Twilight Sparkle. In fact, the grey, dilapidated apartment complex had been her home for the past nineteen years, ever since her brother had gotten enough of a job to get them off the streets.

However, since only four of the tower’s residents knew that Twilight held that title, most of the denizens feared another above all else: Tora the Cat. When Tora was lose, nopony left the building.

So, an hour after she had planned to leave, Twilight Sparkle worked up the courage to leave apartment 7D. Treading carefully to avoid loose floorboards, she made her way down the hall. The mare paused for a moment to look down through a hole and observe the floor below. Six bodies were strewn across the hall. Two were passed out, drunk, but alive. Three may-or-may-not be playing dead to avoid the cat’s wrath. The last body, however, was obviously dead. No living thing could survive that much blood loss. ‘Poor guy. He couldn’t wait until Tora was calm,’ Twilight though. Shaking her head, Twilight resumed her trek to the poorly lit stairwell.

Drawing her weapon out from her pocket space, Twilight strapped the sheathed sword to her back. It would not be proper for a mare to be seen in the slums without her trusty weapon. There were more than enough creeps on the street to warrant being armed; it was not like the police would actually do anything down here.

Twilight, under the illusion of being an earth pony, trotted down the sidewalk. Every few minutes or so, she would have to step down onto the street to avoid stepping on some sleeping hobo or passed-out salt-licker. One such drug abuser was not quite that intoxicated and grabbed Twilight’s hoof as she passed. “Hey there, pretty thing,” the pegasus cooed, “ya like swords? How’s about you come with me and help me polish mine?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively as he took a step closer to Twilight.

“Tempting, but how about this,” Twilight replied. “You, back off or I shove my sword in your flank. Then I’ll cut off both of your heads. Got it?”

“Ohh, feisty. I like it,” the stoned stallion said. Ignoring her advice, the pegasus stepped forwards again. “Come on, mud pony, let me show you what a pegasus can do. I’ll-“

Whatever the racist stallion was about to say was cut off as he let out a scream of agony. Twilight’s sword was embedded up to the hilt in the pony’s ass, just as promised. She grabbed the weapon with her hoof and pulled while simultaneously reapplying the illusion over her horn; said illusion had broken with Twilight’s impulsive use of telekinesis to assault the stallion.

Continuing with her promise, the unicorn kicked the wounded pony over, cleaved off his family jewels, and then removed his head from his shoulders. Never let it be said that Twilight Sparkle was not a mare of her word.

Twilight gave her weapon a flick. The enchantments on it used the iron in the blood to repair the slight wear on the blade while the rest of the blood just slid right off. Re-sheathing her blade, the unicorn continued on her way. Thanks to this distraction, Twilight was now even later for her meeting with her client. Aunt Orange would scold her for being so unprofessional. The unicorn gave a slight nod to the officer in the alley across the street before turning the corner. She did not fear being arrested even with the cop witnessing her murder; the Manehatten police were that corrupt.

“You’re late.” Silk Road, a mint green mare, looked down upon Twilight. Being half a head taller helped the pegasus in that regard. Twilight could easily see the annoyance painted on her employer’s face.

“I’m terribly sorry, ma’am. You see, there was this cat and-“

“Save it. I don’t want to hear your excuses,” Silk Road interrupted. “Twilight Sparkle. You are not what I expected. When I paid Aunt Orange for protection, I expected a team of burly stallions, preferably pegasi. Instead, I get a lone earth pony mare that’s shorter than I am.” Turning back to the wagons that are being loaded up, Silk Road started walking away. “You better be worth my fucking money.”

Twilight huffed in annoyance. Channeling her inner Trixie, Twilight thought, ‘So, she’s not impressed? I can fix that.’ Dropping the illusion obscuring her horn and scars, Twilight drew her sword, spun Silk Road around using her telekinesis, and promptly set herself on fire. “I assure you, ma’am, I am enough.”

“WHAT IN THE FIRES OF TARTARUS ARE YOU?” Silk Road screeched. Reflexively, she jumped into the air and back-flapped away. Standing in front of here was a pony strait out of Manehatten urban legend. Any pony who had been in Manehatten for more than a week had heard of the Demon’s exploits. Hearing is one thing, but to actually be confronted with the scarred form of the local equivalent of the boogie mare was another matter entirely.

“The Demon of Manehatten, at your service,” Twilight said smoothly. At that moment, Twilight decided that scaring ponies was almost as fun as inventing new spells.

Author's Note

*Ding* Have a chapter.
Anyone watch Naruto? I definitely drew some inspiration from there for this chapter. For instance, Tora and Mrs. Fig:

Twilight's Sword also repairs like Kubikiribōchō.

So, this is a little bit of Twilight's back-story and some world-building. I think there would be a little bit of friction between the two tribes. As for Twilight, she cannot maintain her horn covering illusion while casting magic. I cannot have her being too good, now can I?

For this story, I think that the main plot line will focus entirely on Twilight, with an occasional omake/one-shot for Trixie, Spike, and Shining Armor. Oh, and Tora will be back.

Twilight's client, Silk Road, is named after the black market website in the deep web. I've heard that you can buy drugs and hire hit-men on that site.