Lion Hearted

Chapters

Chapter 2: Another's Company
Chapter 3: The Caged Lioness
Chapter 4: Tension Over Falafels
Chapter 5: Escape from Manehattan
Chapter 6: Gilda
Chapter 7: The White Slicer
Chapter 9: Chilling Regret
Chapter 10: Onslaught of the Fates
Chapter 11: The Master
Chapter 12: Labyrinth
Chapter 13: A Winter's Thaw
Chapter 1: Crystal on Ice
Chapter 8: Blood on the Tracks

Chapter 2: Another's Company

Annie made her way down the winding stairs that led her to the hallway to the main chambers, where she would begin her day and end it like every other day. Dressed in her proper uniform and equipped with her Maneuver Gear, she reached the end of the stairway and continued to her destination. As she continued walking down the hallway, ignoring the glances that came her way from the other day and night guards that stood around the hall.

As she neared her destination, she could see as Celestia and Luna both stood outside the doorway to Celestia’s throne room. Both were talking amongst one another, but once Luna saw Annie come, they stopped talking and turned their bodies to face her.

Annie knew at once that they were waiting for her. Without hesitation or betraying any sense of shame for whatever actions she committed that night, Annie approached the two princesses as they looked at her with equal emotionlessness, keeping any pretense of their conversation hidden. Annie stopped before Celestia and Luna and saluted them both before returning her arms to her side.

“Your highnesses?” Annie questioned, prodding for the answer.

“Come,” Celestia ordered softly, opening the door to her throne room with her magic. “There is something we wish to discuss with you.”

Celestia and Luna both walked in, Annie following close behind. The room was vacant minus the three of them, a large, elevated platform with a staircase leading to a marble throne up on top in the back of the room. Without showing it, Annie felt a pang of nervousness creep into her gut, unsure of how the princesses would talk to her about the previous night in the privacy of their own chamber. With the door finally closing shut, Celestia breathed in, ready to speak.

“Annie,” Celestia cooed, “we knew life for you in Equestria would not be easy coming out of the gate, but we had hoped that by now, you would have made a few friends in the Royal Guard, especially on Hearth’s Warming.”

“I apologize, your highness,” Annie responded, “but I’ve never been good at making friends.”

“Neither did the earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, but even they could put their differences aside and unite in friendship and harmony. It’s what this wonderful holiday is all about.”

“Might I ask the reason for you bringing me here?”

Celestia and Luna both looked at each other. Luna stepped forwards and produced the Manehattan letter from the previous night and levitated it to Annie in her magic aura. Annie read the letter carefully. It appeared to be a report of a homicide. Annie didn’t care for the full semantics, but she read the things that were of most importance to her and presumably the princess.

The murder had taken place the night before the last in the city of Manehattan, inside an alley between Ridolph Ave. and Bittle St. The pony killed was a Mr. Stinkin’ Rich III. The cause of death was caused by deep lacerations on the chest and throat caused by distinct talon markings that could only come from a griffon.

The captured suspect that they had in their custody was named Gilda, a griffon about twenty-two years of age, who was spotted leaving the alley around the time the pony had been killed. She was currently being held in custody inside Maretropolitan Correctional Center until she could be properly transported to the Canterlot dungeons where she would be imprisoned most likely for life. Annie continued looking over the information, surprised that such a crime such as murder could exist in this world.

“I know how… accustomed you are to such violent circumstances,” Luna responded, “which is why Celestia and I thought you’d be capable for this job. This could also allow you to see the world while using your incredible physical abilities.”

“How can a prisoner escort require my physical abilities, if you don’t mind my asking?” asked Annie.

“Prisoner escorts, especially those from the cities into Canterlot, are extremely rare and extremely dangerous. The convicts that are involved in these are usually very violent and can be deadly if handled incorrectly.”

“That is why,” added Celestia, “I thought you would be perfect for this mission. You are easily one of the best fighters of either Luna’s guards or my own, and I couldn’t imagine that a prisoner of Gilda’s caliber, even if she is a griffon, can stand a ghost of a chance against you.”

The logic behind Celestia’s request was heavily mounting, and Annie herself couldn’t fight it. Finally, she could leave the city and involve herself in something more than drunken stallions at bars and the occasional thief. For once, something in her brain begged her to go forward with this, and saying yes was becoming more and more impossible for her to resist.

“Princess Celestia,” declared Annie. “I accept this mission.”

“Excellent,” responded Celestia. “I knew you would be up for it. Now, before we go, there is one other pony who will be joining you.”

“Who’s that?”

“He should have been here by now,” Luna said. “I wonder where–”

“Sorry!” exclaimed Flash Sentry as he trotted around the corner and into the room. “I had to use the bathroom. I’m here now.”

“Wonderful,” Celestia responded. “Annie, you’ve met Flash Sentry, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” Annie said with slight disdain, “we have.”

“To let you know what is going on,” Luna said, “we had a chance run-in with him earlier this morning, and he asked me if there were any advanced missions that he could go on. In light of this recent crime, as well as his background, I thought it would be wise to have him accompany you on this mission.”

“Why do you say that?” Annie asked. “Isn’t Flash Sentry only a rookie?”

“Yes, he is,” Celestia responded, “but there are many contributing factors as to why we have decided to bring him along with you. For starters, Flash Sentry was born and raised in Manehattan.”

“And proud of it,” Flash Sentry chirped with his head held high. “That way, I’ll be able to show you all around the city real easily.”

“Next, Flash Sentry is looking to earn his own Maneuver Gear, and I said to him that if he completes this mission by your side properly, that I’d allow him to have one.”

“You don’t need to worry about me, Annie,” added Flash Sentry. “I was one of the top soldiers in my trainee class, just like you from what I heard!”

“Plus,” concluded Celestia, “I thought that this mission could be a great bonding experience for you and Flash Sentry. I hope that spending some quality time together will have you becoming friends in no time.”

Annie breathed softly through her nose, successfully masking her contempt for the idea.

“Flash Sentry,” Luna spoke up, “Annie may be younger than you are, but she certainly has the most experience in the Royal Guard. She is your superior for this mission. You will follow her orders and be under her command. Do you understand?”

“Yes, your highness!” Flash Sentry answered.

“Anyways,” Celestia finished, “I’m glad to see that both of you are up for this mission. Now, go upstairs and pack. Your train leaves in less than two hours, and I hope for you to be in Manehattan well before sundown. I’ll leave a copy of the letter for each of you to bring with. You are now both dismissed.”

“Yes, your highness!” declared both Annie and Flash Sentry, saluting both Celestia and Luna.

Both Flash Sentry and Annie turned on the soles of their feet and hooves as they walked to the exit of the throne room.

“So,” Flash Sentry spoke, “murder in Manehatten. Pretty scary stuff there. I sure hope you–”

The second Annie and Flash Sentry walked outside the room, Annie sharply turned right to the hallway towards her room, splitting apart from Flash Sentry’s path to the left and leaving him alone. Flash Sentry opened his mouth to call her back, but didn’t utter a sound. Flash Sentry then brought out a small, smug smile. They’d be much closer once they got into the train.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie sat on a bench on the platform of the Canterlot Train Station. She looked at the ponies standing along the edge, waiting for the early morning train from Ponyville to arrive any minute. After that, her and Flash Sentry’s private escort train would arrive and take them to Manehattan. Beside Annie, sitting on either side of her feet were two cases, the long, slender one being for her 3D Maneuver Gear, the large, thicker one being her clothes.

Some of the foals and older ponies turned to see Annie standing there, surprised to see her for themselves. Before they could stare on any longer, a loud, low-pitched whistle came running towards the station. Emerging from a mountainous tunnel was a pink train engine pulling brown coaches with roves ranging from yellow, blue, and pink with a similarly styled caboose on the back.

With the train nearing the station, the ponies gathered to the edge of the platform to greet the ones who would be coming off. The train finally pulled into the station and stopped with a steamy wheeze. The doors opened up, allowing its passengers to pour out onto the platform. Annie watched indifferently as she watched stallions or mares greet their partners with loving embraces or kisses.

Continuing to watch, Annie didn’t realize as the lavender alicorn Twilight Sparkle and her purple baby dragon Spike walked off the train, followed by the rest of her friends, marveling at the yuletide decorations that adorned the roof and walls of the station. As she looked about, she found Annie sitting by herself at the station, continuing to pony-watch.

“Annie!” called Twilight, trotting towards her with Spike following closely.

Annie turned her gaze to Twilight and sat up alertly as she came.

“Twilight,” Annie responded. “What are you doing here?”

“Princess Celestia requested for some help in setting up this year’s Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant,” Twilight answered. “I played a part in last year’s production, so I know the ropes. What about you? Are you going somewhere?”

“Yes,” Annie answered. “I’m going to Manehattan on a very important mission.”

“Cool!” exclaimed Spike. “What kind of important missiony stuff are you going to be doing there?”

“Nothing that’s any of your business.”

“Ah,” responded Twilight, “I see. Well, despite that, I think you might enjoy Manehattan. Next to Canterlot, it’s the most beautiful city around Hearth’s Warming.”

“I’ll be sure to remember.”

Flash Sentry stepped up to the platform from behind and looked to find Annie there. Dressed in his armor, he also had a pair of brown, leather saddlebags equipped below each wing.

“There you are, Annie,” called Flash Sentry. “I thought we’d leave the palace togeth–”

Flash’s words were stopped as he looked at Twilight as she and her friends looked at him from his entrance. His eyes went wide as he examined her large, beautiful wings and her spotless lavender coat and expertly brushed mane. Flash Sentry walked up to her blushed, completely smitten. Twilight cocked her head, unsure of the stallion’s intentions.

“Wow, uh…” Flash Sentry guffawed nervously, “I’ve never met you before personally…”

“Twilight,” Annie responded. “This is… Flash Sentry, my partner for the mission.”

“Flash Sentry?” Twilight said, obligatorily extending her hoof to Flash Sentry. “You wouldn’t happen to know Shining A–”

Twilight’s words were halted as Flash Sentry placed his hoof underneath Twilight’s and lowered his face down, giving Twilight’s hoof a tender smack. Twilight blushed and let out a nervous smile. She had seen royal guards extend their respect and honor similarly to Celestia and Luna, but to have it done to herself since her ascent to the title of princess was almost flattering, even if she wanted to be treated like any other pony.

“A most wonderful pleasure, Princess Twilight,” addressed Flash Sentry, his suddenly flirtatious voice, making Twilight’s smile even more uncomfortable. “Hey, I was wondering, we’ll probably be back way before Hearth’s Warming Eve, and I just want to ask…”

Twilight watched as Flash Sentry twiddle his hooves, finding his gesture odd and somewhat pitiful.

“…if you’re going to attend the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant,” Flash Sentry wondered, “would you mind if I, say… accompanied you?”

“As in…” guessed Twilight, her cheeks blushing pink, “a date?”

“Well… yeah.”

Twilight took a step back as her entire face became bright and flushed. Rainbow Dash, almost offended, flew up to Flash Sentry, whose body arched back , but refused to give Rainbow Dash another inch.

“What’s your deal, guy?” she asked. “You’ve only known her for a couple of seconds and you want to date her? Who does that?”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight scolded, pulling Rainbow Dash by her tail back to the ground, “it’s alright. I can handle this.”

Twilight stepped up to the smitten Flash Sentry, unsure of how she herself would respond.

“Flash Sentry,” Twilight said politely, “listen. You seem like a really nice stallion, but I’m not really looking for a date right now, especially with someone I’ve known for, as my friend put it, a couple of seconds.”

Flash Sentry tried to keep his smile up, wanting not to look devastated in front of Twilight.

“Look,” Twilight added, putting her hoof on his shoulder, “don’t take it personally. I’ve just got too much time on my mind to even think about a special somepony. I’d definitely like to get to know you, just… try not try to rush it?”

Instantly, Flash’s spirit’s lifted, his forced smile returning to a genuine one.

“Yeah!” Flash Sentry exclaimed. “That sounds great! I’ll see you then.”

“Yeah…” Twilight groaned, her awkward smile still upon her face as she looked away, putting her hoof on her chin in thought. “What else was there?”

“Ooh! Ooh!” chirped Pinkie Pie, jumping over Twilight and landing before Annie. “We were also sending our Hearth’s Warming cards to our friends back on Earth!”

“Oh, right!” Twilight replied, perking back up. “Annie, is there something that you want to say to Eren, Armin, or anyone for that matter?”

“Nothing in particular,” responded Annie.

“Oh, come on. I’m sure you can think of something.”

Annie sighed, wanting to get done with it.

“Have a happy Hearth’s Warming, I suppose,” she said.

Twilight frowned a bit, off put by her unenthusiastic answer.

“I’ll just…” Twilight searched, “put something in for you. Is that alright?”

“Whatever you want,” answered Annie.

“If that’s that, I don’t want to keep you two waiting any longer. Have a pleasant time in Manehattan!”

Twilight and her friends all walked away from both Annie and Flash Sentry, heading off the platform and towards the streets of downtown Canterlot.

“Sure thing!” Flash Sentry called back. “Hey, my family lives in Manehattan! I’ll be sure to say hi to them for you!”

Twilight and the others were already out of earshot. Flash waved as a final attempt of getting Twilight’s attention, only for them to disappear into the crowds.

“Listen,” Annie advised, Flash Sentry’s head turning back to her, “you’re never going to earn a mate by acting like a fool like you did back there.”

“Do you think she and I have any kind of chance?” queried Flash Sentry.

“Acting the way you did, no way in Hell.”

“Hell? I’m… guessing that’s a bad–”

“It means you have no chance.”

Flash Sentry only seemed to dip his head down and droop his ears, his lips quivering in shame and defeat. Annie, finding Flash Sentry’s attitude distasteful, stood to her feet.

“Stand up straight,” Annie ordered. “You’re a soldier of the Royal Guard. Act like it.”

“Uh…” he fumbled, slipping on his hooves to stand back up straight, “yes, ma’am.”

“If there’s one thing women don’t like in men, it’s those who mope about like children.”

“Yeah,” sighed Flash Sentry. “I understand.”

A train came into the station from the west. The ponies that were on the station marveled at how much different it looked compared to the passenger trains that had been coming in and out all day. Annie bent down and picked both of her cases up, knowing that their train had arrives.

The engine was much like the passenger train. However there were only three cars and a caboose. The first car looked like an average passenger car. The middle car had no windows on the walls. The third car had tiny windows up near the top and center of the sides of the car, both of which were barred. The roof even looked like a dreary, metallic grey.

“Well,” Flash Sentry said, “this looks like us. At least we’ll have the whole car to ourselves, right?”

Annie stepped towards the train, ignoring Flash Sentry’s remark. As soon as the train stopped, the door to the middle car slid open, allowing the two unicorn royal guards to exit from it and stand on both sides. With each of them giving Annie and Flash Sentry a salute, both Annie and Flash Sentry stepped inside.

“Thanks, guys,” Flash Sentry said.

Both guards huffed proudly, happy for some appreciation from someone. Inside the car, Annie placed both her Maneuver Gear case and luggage case on the floor while Flash Sentry slid his saddlebags off his bag and began to remove his armor and horseshoes.

“Do you have everything you need?” asked one of the guards outside.

“Yes,” answered Annie. “Thank you. We’re ready to leave now.”

“Very well, Annie,” the other guard huffed. “Good luck to you both.”

As the guards closed the door, Annie let out a bothered sigh. While the convicted griffon sounded dangerous, it was still a simple prisoner transport. For her, luck was unnecessary. Flash Sentry walked past her, revealing more of his features to her without his armor. For one, his mane was also a royal-blue, slicked back behind his back. On his flanks, he had a cutie mark of a blue shield with a yellow lightning bolt upon it.

“Come on,” Flash Sentry beckoned, walking towards the door that led to the passenger car. “I need a drink.”

As Flash Sentry slid the door open and walked inside, Annie followed him. Hearing Annie’s footsteps, Flash Sentry left both the luggage and passenger doors open with his back leg and shoulder. Annie nodded once in appreciation as she stepped through, holding the door for herself as Flash Sentry moved to give her room.

Annie looked about the room seeing a row of booths to her right. On her left, there were two booths facing each other with a table in between them. On the right, there looked to be a tall pantry. At the back left corner, there was a cylindrical cabinet built into the car, featuring three sliding glass doors with spinning shelves.

The top shelf housed about half-a-dozen full decanters of liquor. The middle shelf had a variety of glasses and cups with a frosted ice bucket in the center. On the bottom, there appeared to be glass containers of brightly colored liquids, clearly juice and an enclosed pitcher of milk in the back.

“Mmm,” Flash Sentry hummed, “I’ll be taking that orange juice.”

“Great,” Annie responded, pushing both the top and middle doors open.

Grabbing a smaller glass with her left hand, she pulled a decanter of clear liquid from the top rack, popping the top off with her thumb where it landed back on the shelf. Annie sniffed the liquid inside, pulling her head back. It resembled the smell of gin, a liquor that Annie did not particularly care for.

Setting the glass back on the middle shelf, which Flash Sentry swiftly snatched with his teeth, Annie grabbed the top and placed back on the decanter, trading it with the other container of clear liquid. Annie took the top off again and took another investigative sniff. Realizing that it was crystal, she reached down to the middle shelf and felt around for a glass.

After finding the correct glass, she pulled it out and poured the glass about a third full. Reaching towards the ice bucket, she took the lid off and grabbed three ice cubes, dropping them into the glass and filling the liquid up to halfway. Once she put the lid back on and put the closed decanter back on the shelf, she closed both cabinet doors and walked to the booth and table with her drink. As she sat down, Flash Sentry took a seat across from her with a full glass of orange juice.

“Best we be sitting down for a while,” Flash Sentry advised. “The train should be starting up any second, and we don’t want to lose our–”

Flash Sentry’s words were cut off by Annie tilting her glass up and letting each drop of the crystal drain into her mouth.

“…balance,” he finished, astounded by her feat. “You know, you shouldn’t drink crystal that fast. You’ll get sick.”

“I’ll be fine,” she responded. “It’s just to help calm my nerves.”

“Nerves? Nerves over what?”

The sound of metal clinking from the locks on the car doors and the whistle from the train sounded off. As Flash Sentry put his arms by his side and held himself in by his seat, Annie gripped the table as hard as she could with her free hand. The train lurched forwards as it slowly pulled out of the station, reaching gradually faster speeds each second. Flash Sentry could see the anxiety on Annie’s face as she held on the table seemingly for dear life.

“Oh…” sighed Flash Sentry. “I see. You’ve never been on a train before, have you?”

“No, I haven’t,” Annie spat, angered at her obvious nervousness.

“Not to poke fun, but I’m quite surprised. Being that you can use one of those Maneuver Gear things like that, I thought a train would be child’s play for you.”

“Amazingly, no. And when each of us humans learned how to use these things, it was certainly frightening the first time. The difference there is that I was in control. God forbid this heap of wood and metal crashes along these mountains. What happens then?”

Flash Sentry leaned back, finding the statement rather pessimistic, but surprisingly profound and astute.

“Well…” Flash Sentry thought aloud, “I guess I’d catch you, hehe…”

Annie could not find the humor in the joke, but likewise could not blame him for trying to cheer her up. As the train began to regulate its speed, Annie took a comforting sigh and stood up from her seat, heading back towards the cabinet.

“Hey, Annie,” Flash Sentry quietly called, “where are you…”

Flash Sentry’s answer came in the form of Annie opening the top drawer of the cabinet and pulling out the decanter of crystal. Flash looked nervously as Annie pulled the top off and poured herself another drink.

“Annie,” wondered Flash Sentry, “don’t you think you should settle down on the crystal?”

Annie put the top back on the decanter and placed it back in the cabinet, closing it. Annie carried her refilled glass back to her seat, swirling the melted ice water and the crystal around with the ice still maintaining its form inside.

“It’s going to be a bit of a ride,” Annie said, “so we might as well make the best of it together.”

Annie held her drink in front of Flash Sentry, supporting her arm on the table by her elbow. Flash sentry glanced back at Annie and then her drink, unsure of her intentions.

“Cheers?” she finally asked.

Flash Sentry, surprised by her sudden wish to connect, smiled and grabbed his orange juice with both hooves.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “cheers!”

Annie and Flash Sentry brought both of their drinks forwards to each other, clinking them together on the edges. As Flash Sentry guzzled the contents of his glass, Annie took a smaller sip of crystal, preserving her drink for the long travel ahead of them.

Chapter 3: The Caged Lioness

The cell of Gilda the at the Maretropolitan Correctional Center was brightly lit by torchlight and guarded on both sides as well as its door by three brown police stallions, each of them unicorns, wearing formal, blue police jackets. Even with it being as early in the afternoon as it was, the prisoner inside slept soundly, her only peace and tranquility in the cage she was kept in.

Gilda’s cocoa-brown lioness fur, back paws, long eagle wings, and tail were unkempt and mangy, and the white feathers that made up her chest and eagle-like head were ruffled and dirtied. Her frontal talons were chained tightly at the wrists, preventing any chance of escape. The other remarkable features about her were the light-purple specks on her chest, the purple shading around her eyes, and the three feathers that extended out from her forehead, each one with faded, purple tips.

As she continued her nap, stretching her back paws out and curling them back up, the loud banging of a baton interrupted her and shot her to all fours. Gilda rubbed her eyes with balled talons in annoyance, watching middle guard bang his baton against the bars with his magic.

“Alright, murderer,” he honked, “wakey-wakey. The Royal Guard is coming to see you, so you best be on your best behavior.”

Gilda’s rage intensified. Ever since that day, that’s all she heard from anyone refer to her as: a murderer.

“For the last time,” Gilda growled, “I didn’t murder nopony! I’m tellin’ you the truth!”

“Do you need me to show you the pictures again, you monster?” shouted the police stallion at the right.

“Keep calling me names, and I’ll really show you a monster.”

“Go right ahead,” the police stallion on the left. “It will make your sentence all the easier.”

“You bozos are nothing but a bunch of rotten pigs, you know that?”

“Says the cold-blooded murderer,” taunted the center stallion.

Gilda leapt forwards at the bars, grabbing them and yanking at them, frightening the police stallions back.

“What did I tell you?” shrieked the livid griffon, as she whipped her body to and fro. “What did I te–”

The center guard hit Gilda with a light-blue colored spell, knocking her to her side. As Gilda tried to get up, she found the that neither her voice or her muscles could respond, as she slumped completely over, panting nervously as she fought to stay awake.

“On second thought,” chortled the center guard as he looked down at her through the bars, “you can continue that nap of yours if you want.”

As the other two guards laughed at his joke, Gilda let out a tear as her eyes closed, the spell lulling her back into an involuntary sleep.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie felt a flat end prod into her ribs as she slept, Flash Sentry’s voice only an echo in her ears as consciousness returned.

“Annie,” called Flash Sentry’s voice. “We’re almost there. You should get up.”

Annie’s eyes finally came open all the way as she sat up and lifted her body off the table. Looking at the window to the other side of the car, the numerous tall skyscrapers began to appear on the horizon. Annie slowly moved to the other side of the car, amazed by the height and numbers of the buildings that made up the city of Manehattan.

Even with the stunning architecture of Canterlot, the size and scope of the city far surpassed that of Canterlot, even that of Stohess or Trost. Even with the overcast sky spoiling what could have been a perfect view of the skyline, the might of the city was nothing to scoff at.

“Pretty amazing, huh?” asked Flash Sentry. “Manehattan is the largest city in the entire world.”

“How many more minutes until we arrive at the station?” Annie responded.

“About twenty minutes. Why?”

“I need to get my Maneuver Gear on. If we’re dealing with a murderer here, we should each be well-protected. You have your armor, and all I have is my leather jacket. Let me have that at least.”

“Alright. Do you need any help?”

“Nah,” she answered, standing up and walking to the middle car. “I can handle myself.”

Annie opened the doors to the next car down, walking inside and towards her Maneuver Gear case. Flash Sentry entered inside as well before they doors could close.

“I don’t want to sound too pushy,” mentioned Flash Sentry, “but what are our plans for today?”

“What do mean?” asked Annie, as if he knew what the obvious answer was.

“I mean, you’re not going to carry that thing around with you all day, are you? Are we going to stop at the hotel afterwards? What happens after that?”

“Right now, we’re going to go visit Gilda at the prison, and then we’ll stop at the hotel to rest up. What we do from there we’ll discuss at a later time. Right now, I want to attend to our initial business before we get to have our night on the town.”

“Whatever you say, ma’am,” Flash Sentry sighed.

“Listen,” Annie sounded, her voice bordering on scolding, “I know how much you love your city, and when it comes time, I’ll let you show me around, but for the next hour or two, we focus on our mission. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, sounding much more affirmative.

“Now, could you let me put my equipment on?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Flash Sentry turned around and walked back into the front car, leaving Annie alone. Annie watched the door for a few seconds before she walked back towards her case. Kneeling down to it, she flipped the latches off the sides and lifted the top up, revealing her sheaths, the two crystals that powered her device, her blades, the operational devices, and the main body of the machine. Seeing that everything was in check, Annie removed her main body from the case.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie and Flash Sentry’s train pulled into the leftmost platform Manehattan’s Grain Central Station, with about two dozen tracks and stations to the right of it, half filled with trains either entering the station or leaving it for other cities. The grey, otherwise drably industrial interior of the station was livened up with festive holiday lights and floral decorations, making the spirits of each pony equally bright and colorful.

As the train finally wheezed to a stop, two earth police stallions rushed over to the middle loading car, standing on both sides of it and opening the loading door to let the human and stallion inside of it off. Once the door was drawn down, Annie and Flash Sentry, who was now wearing his armor and saddlebags while Annie carried both of her cases, walked from the train and onto the platform.

“Good afternoon, Miss Leonhardt,” greeted the stallion behind her. “Good afternoon, Mr. Sentry.”

“A good afternoon to you too, sirs,” Flash cheerily replied. “I trust there’s a carriage awaiting out front?”

“Yes,” the stallion before them responded. “We shall take you to the Maretropolitan Correctional Center immediately and drop your luggage off at your hotel.”

“That sounds fine,” responded Annie. “How far is the correctional center from here?”

“It’s about a twenty minute ride, Miss. Although if it’s anything to you, I can’t see why you can’t just fly there on those giant toasters on your legs.”

As both stallions chuckled at the jab, Annie glared back at them, which they both seemed to ignore. Flash Sentry, seeing this, tensed up in fright before putting on an angry scowl.

“Hey!” Flash Sentry barked. “You give her some respect. She might not be a pony, but she still holds more authority over you. I suggest you treat her with some respect, or she might just force you two to carry us to the correctional center.”

Annie’s eyes widened up in shock at Flash Sentry’s threat. Likewise, both the police stallions looked at each other with apprehension and regret, running toward the double-doors that led into the lobby of the station and opening them, keeping them open.

“After you!” both stallions spoke in canned joy as Annie and Flash Sentry walked past.

“Thank you,” Flash Sentry bid, his kinder demeanor returned.

Once Annie and Flash Sentry had passed, both the stallions ran back out in front of the two of them, awaiting to clear the next obstacle for them. Seeing the mass amount of ponies around made Annie quicken her pace, leaving the two escorts before her to hurry and Flash Sentry to walk quickly beside her.

Annie took a look around the unfamiliar building, noting massive size of the interior. In the center, housed a large, round collection of monitors that kept the statuses of train arrivals and departures in check, the long line of ticket booths to the right, a small coffee bar and diner on the left, and a giant staircase that lead to the outside world. Off on the right side, beyond the glass doors, there was an open-top carriage with two male police stallions tied and mounted to the front, ready to pull.

By the time Annie had seen enough of her surroundings, they had already began to ascend the stairway and to the exit. The two stallions ran ahead and opened both doors leading outside, allow both Annie and Flash Sentry to continue to the carriage.

Annie threw her luggage onto the front bench of the carriage and grabbed onto the side to climb in. Flash Sentry flew up into the carriage, seating himself on the back bench, facing forwards.

“Hey, Annie,” Flash Sentry spoke as Annie put her feet over and into the carriage, “your stuff is on your seat. Where are you going to…”

Annie answered him by climbing to the front edge of the carriage and sitting down, the sheaths of her Maneuver Gear, protruding out over the side.

“Oh,” finished Flash Sentry. “I see…”

“Is everything ready, ma’am?” asked one of the police stallions coming from the station entryway.

“That should be it,” responded Flash Sentry. “We’re ready to go.”

“Very well. Guys!” he called to the stallions mounted to the carriage. “You’re off!”

At once, the stallions began walking, pulling the carriage forwards. As Flash Sentry kept watch over their path and journey, Annie’s gaze was kept up, looking out at the plethora of skyscrapers and buildings that they passed.
________________________________________________________________________________________

The doors to the entrance of the Maretropolitan Correctional Center opened, Annie and Flash Sentry both entering it. The carriage driving them rode off down the street, carrying Annie’s luggage and Flash Sentry’s saddlebags.

The lobby of the building was bustling with police stallions and police mares, the numerous murmurs of Stinkin’ Rich III’s murder a hot topic amongst them. Annie and Flash Sentry ignored them, walking to the receptionist’s desk near the back of the room, the door leading to their prisoner on the wall behind her.

Standing before the counter, Annie looked to see the cream-colored mare with a black mane and tail typing a form on a typewriter, the base having only two large pads with which she rested her hooves on.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” spoke Flash Sentry, “the Royal Guard has arrived to speak with Gilda.”

The receptionist peered up with widened eyes to see none other than Annie and Flash Sentry standing behind her desk.

“Of course!” she chirped. “My sincerest apologies. Cuffs?” she called, turning her head towards one of the crowds of ponies to the right of Annie.

Stepping from the group was a similarly dressed an colored earth-stallion with a pair of handcuffs for a cutie mark.

“You rang?” he gruffly responded.

“The Royal Guard is here to see Gilda now. Could you please escort them to her cell?”

“Certainly.”

The receptionist turned back to her typewriter and resumed her work.

“Follow me,” Cuffs instructed, walking towards the door at the back wall.

Gripping the knob with his teeth, Cuffs turned the knob and pulled the door open, allowing himself, Annie and Flash Sentry to walk into a long, grey hallway with thick, glass windows on the right of the hall. Annie looked at each room. A couple of them housed nothing more than a metal table and two metal chairs. One room had a long wall in the back with black lines labeled by height recordings.

The hallway then slightly shifted right, the hallway continuing on until there were two hallways on the end that led to the left and right, as well as a metal door in the back. Cuffs continued to lead Annie and Flash Sentry down the hall until he stopped before the door, prompting them to stop as well.

“Now,” warned Cuffs, “be careful with her. She’s extremely volatile and she’s been going on about this pony that she says killed that banker. Don’t believe a word of it; she’s just going to try and wring sympathy out of you with her cheap lies.”

Flash Sentry was about to respond as he opened his mouth, only to be cut off by Annie.

“I appreciate your concern, sir,” she said, “but we’ll determine the truth from the lies for ourselves. That is why we’re here, after all.”

Cuff shifted his neck back, almost offended by Annie’s disregard. With an exhausted sigh, Cuffs knocked on the door.

“It’s me, Cuffs,” he called. “The Royal Guard is here to speak with Gilda. Let us in.”

The sound of hoofsteps behind the door came closer. With a quick turn of a lock, the door was opened via magic by a unicorn police stallion on the other side. Annie stepped inside as soon as the door was finished opening, observing her surroundings

Standing at the back wall were two other stallion police stallions as they looked at the cell that comprised the other half of the room. Before the bars was a small metal table with two chairs, there being plenty of space for both Annie and Flash Sentry. On the table was a stack of sheets of paper, and a quill sitting in a well of ink.

Annie’s eyes were set on Gilda as her legs refused to budge and her mouth was agape with wide eyes. Gilda sat tiredly on a metal chair in front of the cell’s bars looking at Gilda as she too looked upon the alien creature in wonder. Annie read Gilda’s eyes intently. She could clearly sense fear inside of them, much like an animal who had spotted a hunter aiming his rifle at it. Flash Sentry walked up beside Annie, looking at her rare state of awe.

“Is there anything else you need?” asked Cuffs.

“The four of you,” requested Annie, “leave us be.”

The four police stallions were aghast at Annie’s demand.

“What did you say?” asked one of the other stallions.

“It’s clear that you show some prejudice towards this creature,” explained Annie, turning her head back to them. “If we’re going to talk to her, I want us to trust each other, and I don’t want your presence agitating her.”

Gilda was stunned at Annie. After sharing just a glance with each other, it seemed that Annie had capacity for kindness in her. The guards, knowing their place, turned towards the door and stepped towards it. Cuffs pushed it open as he and the other guards began to file out.

“Very well, ma’am,” Cuffs said before slowly closing the door.

Annie watched as the metal click of the door dithering with a shrill echo, awaiting for the silence to emerge.

“Wow,” Gilda said with kind respect, “that was really cool of you. Maybe you’ll finally listen to me, unlike those bozos.”

Annie and Flash Sentry walked towards their table and took a seat, facing Gilda as she looked at their emotionless faces. The lack of clarity frightened Gilda, unsure of what they were really thinking.

“You don’t think I killed that guy, do you?” Gilda asked desperately.

“I honestly don’t know,” Annie said as she pulled a quill from the well and a sheet from the stack before her. “The evidence against you is very strong, but I’m not here to pass judgment.”

“So you do think I did it?” she suddenly growled, her fists on her legs squeezing tight.

“All we’re here to do is to collect your version of the story. What happens from there all depends on how well we talk to each other, and judging by your temper, you’re off to a poor start.”

Gilda huffed anxiously as she sat back in her chair, crossing her leg over the other and folding her arms together.

“So what do you want to know?” Gilda asked.

“Tell me everything,” said Annie, “from the beginning.”

Gilda cocked her head, unsure of Annie’s request.

“What does that supposed to mean, ‘from the beginning?’” she wondered.

“Why were you at the scene of the crime?” Annie questioned. What reason did you have to be there? And if it’s true that it wasn’t you who killed this Stinkin’ Rich, then who did, and why did they frame you?”

Annie could not tell behind the plumage on Gilda’s face, but she could tell at if her skin was visible, her brow would be sweating. Annie continued to study her face, noting whether it was pressure eating away at her, or searching in vain for a false story to hide behind.

“Answer her questions,” Flash Sentry demanded, his voice and face stern and expectant.

“Okay, okay!” Gilda yelled back. “Jeez, I’d like to see how you’d handle being accused of murder.”

“I have,” Annie stepped in,” and unlike you, or maybe not, I was entirely guilty of my crime.”

Both Gilda and Flash Sentry looked at Annie with fear and a new understanding of her. Annie looked indifferently at Gilda while both she and Flash continued to stare at the person they thought they knew.

“W– Well…” queried Gilda, nervously turning her head away, “what did you–”

“I do believe I am the one asking the questions here,” Annie interrupted. “Now please, tell me what you know.”

Wanting to look strong for her, Flash Sentry turned his eyes from Annie and back to Gilda, awaiting her answer. Gilda took a deep breath, both disturbed and relaxed that her story would probably not top hers.

“Black Glass,” Gilda whispered, leaning towards the bars. “He’s the one who put me here.”

“Black Glass?” Annie wondered, scribbling the name on the paper.

Flash Sentry watched as Annie continued to write, and wanting to keep the pace going, he cleared his throat.

“Describe what Black Glass looks like,” Flash Sentry instructed.

“Uh…” Gilda thought aloud, rubbing the back of her head, “he looks really white, but in the dark, he looks dark-grey.”

“You don’t say…” mumbled Annie as she continued writing.

“Please,” Flash Sentry requested, “continue.”

“His mane is cut really short and low to the back of his neck,” Gilda resumed, “and his tail is super short.”

“What color is it?”

“Black. Incredibly black.”

“Any distinguishable cutie mark?”

“That’s where things are going to get tricky. He was very secretive and he kept certain things… under wraps. He wore a thick powder over his butt to conceal the cutie mark, so I couldn’t tell you if I tried. He also wore a thick pair of sunglasses over his eyes and wore a black fedora on his head.”

“So you used to have a relationship with this stallion?” asked Annie, having finished jotting down her notes.

“Huh?” Gilda asked in an offended tone. “What, like you’re saying that we were special someponies or something?”

“No, but you seem to be acquainted enough to know his name. So, again I ask. Did you know this stallion for very long?”

“Kind of. We did work with each other for about a year.”

“So, these things he did: cover his cutie mark, his eyes, the top of his head; did he always appear to you like this?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait,” interrupted Flash Sentry, slightly waving his arms to stop the discussion. “What species of pony was he? Earth pony? Pegasus?”

“Unicorn.”

“Huh…” pondered Flash Sentry as Annie continued writing down information. He sounds like quite a distinguishable fellow, doesn’t he? Did they do a background check on this guy?”

“Of course they did!” yelled Gilda, punching the bars, earning nary a reaction from either Annie or Flash Sentry. “But they couldn’t find anything; said I was making it all up to save my hide! Plus, he stays hidden, so of course he’s not going to show up any time soon.”

“Getting back on track,” Annie said, “he seems like quite a suspicious character. What kind of ‘work’ did you and Mr. Glass work on during this year. What were you doing that caused you to be near Stinkin’ Rich that would bring about his murder?”

Gilda scratched at the side of her neck, unsure of what to say to her.

“Black Glass and I…” thought Gilda, “made loans to richer ponies in Manehattan and collected off the interest. Yeah, that’s it…”

“You don’t sound too sure of it,” Annie said, her icy glare pointing at Gilda. “You almost sound as if you’re lying.”

“Listen,” excused Gilda, “I wasn’t too sure of the details myself.”

“Even after a year of working with him?”

“Yeah, just listen to me! I was just a loner that got kicked out of my home in the Griffon Empire way east of Equestria. I was just looking for a way to not go hungry every night. That’s when Black Glass took me under his wing, so to speak, and let me help him out.”

“So if you’re unfamiliar with his line of work, what did you do for Black Glass then?” asked Flash Sentry, trying his hardest to sound as intimidating as Annie.

“Lots of the ponies we gave loans to didn’t pay back on time, so I had to be the brawn to make sure that they did.”

Gilda’s punched her balled-up talon into the palm of her other talon, giving Annie and Flash Sentry plenty of information to understand her role.

“So just to clarify, you physically abused Black Glass’s clients so that they would pay him his money?”

“That’s right? For a time, it was really cool, because I’d always get a higher cut of the cash when that happened. But I suppose in hindsight, it just wasn’t right.”

“I’ll say,” Flash Sentry agreed. “He was a loan shark in every sense of the word. You’re out bleeding and the beast just eats you.”

Annie glanced at her partner as she wrote, somewhat intrigued by his metaphor.

“Do you know where Black Glass got his money from?” asked Annie.

“He never really talked about it,” responded Gilda. “All I know is that we continued to make a killing off of our interest rates, and that helped.”

“I see…” Annie sighed, putting down the last sentence. “Now, tell me about Stinkin’ Rich. What happened that night?”

“Alright,” Gilda said, “you might want to get some more ink there, because I’m going to be saying quite a lot.”

“Shoot,” she shot back, dipping her quill in the well.

Gilda took a deep breath, hoping this final piece of information would sell them.

“Stinkin’ Rich was one of our clients,” she explained. “He owns one of Manehattan’s largest… firms or whatever on Stable Street. I’m not sure if you’ve been hearing in the news lately, but this firm of his hasn’t been doing very well. He asked us for a loan to get him and his company back on his feet so he could jumpstart it. It didn’t work so well for him.

“Mhmm,” dismissed Annie as she wrote, pressing the griffon before them to continue on.

“That night, me, Stinkin’ Rich, and Black Glass met in a secluded alley so we could collect the payment. He said he couldn’t pay and his company was losing more money than ever. Before I could go over and beat him senseless, Black Glass just told him that it was time to put him out of his misery. That’s when he did this spell with his… unicorn’s magic. In front of him, he had this weird looking glove thing made of metal floating there. It looked a lot like my griffon’s talon.”

“Right…”

“Before the guy could scream, Black Glass cut him up and killed him. I had never seen nopony murdered before, and I asked him why he did that. He simply told me that he couldn’t afford to pay me for my beatings, and that this would be a simple way for me to get out of the picture without having to get himself in trouble from either himself or me. Before he disappeared, he told me one last thing before I ever saw him again: ‘No one will miss you anyways.”

Annie looked up as Gilda paused her story to sob quietly and shed a single tear, breathing deeply to resume her story.

“After that, ponies had begun to gather around the alley, unsure of the flash of light that came from the teleportation. They saw me standing by the body, and after finally seeing them, still scared stiff, I tried to escape, only to be shot down by a unicorn officer. And now I’m here.”

Several seconds passed as Annie got the last few details of Gilda’s story. Flash Sentry glanced over to his partner, making sure she had everything. Gilda sat on her seat impatiently, twiddling her thumb-talons and awaiting Annie’s word.

“Gilda,” Annie finally said, leaning back in her chair and putting her full eye contact with her, “that’s quite a story you have there. However, in light of certain things, it just doesn’t add up.”

Gilda, who was waiting an affirmative answer, stopped moving, and lead closer to the bars to hear her correctly.

“I’m… sorry?” asked Gilda.

“I have a very difficult time believing that some lowly swindler like whom you have described could have made such money from interest. If these upper-class citizens are having trouble paying debts, my guess is that they’d need a lot more money than what this Black Glass could afford, and I certainly don’t think this interest could cover him.”

Gilda’s nervousness returned, which came out in a squirming grimace. Before she could speak, Annie continued on.

“And why would Black Glass just decide to kill one of his clients if all they were in trouble for was missing their payment? None of this makes any sense.”

“Well, why would I have any reason to kill Stinkin’ Rich, huh?” Gilda stammered.

“In the eyes of the public, simple… you’re a just a violent griffon who murdered someone. No other motive needed.”

Gilda’s fright turned back to anger.

“I didn’t murder nopony!” Gilda shouted, standing on her hind legs and grabbing the bars. “What do I have to do to make you believe me?”

“Tell the truth,” responded Annie, not moved in the slightest.

“What?”

“You and I both know that there’s something even bigger here. So you didn’t murder that pony, maybe you did. All I know is that the events of the crime are false. Tell us the truth so we can help you.”

“What part of, ‘I didn’t murder nopony,’ isn’t getting through to your thick skull?”

“Gilda…”

“You’re just the same as the cops!”

“Gilda.”

“You’re just bullying me and riling me up, because I bet behind that stupid little face of yours, you’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Gilda!”

“While that pony goes free and probably kills somepony else, I’m in here getting beat by you stupid bozos! Yeah, that’s all you guys ever are, just a bunch of dumb dweebs and bozos!”

Gilda panted loudly, catching her breath from her furious rant. Flash Sentry looked at Gilda with slightly-suppressed rage, as if she had insulted one of his close family members. Annie, however, continued to look at Gilda with a mixture of apathy and sympathy.

“Then I suppose that’s it,” Annie said, standing up and placing her quill back into the well.

“W– wh– what are you doing?” Gilda asked nervously as Annie sorted and organized her notes.

“You aren’t helping us, so I can’t help you. Your story is clearly a fabrication, whether it’s you trying to cover up your crime, or a blanket over something bigger, either way, I’m not going to sit here and have you insult the law with your lies. Flash Sentry?”

“Yes, ma’am,” responded Flash Sentry as he pushed his seat back and stood beside Annie as they walked to the exit.

“Wait!” Gilda yelled. “You said you would help me! How is this helping me? Get back here, you dummy!”

Flash Sentry paused in his tracks as Annie went on. As Annie began to knock on the door to have the police stallions let them out, Flash Sentry turned back and trotted over to Gilda. Gilda was unsure of Flash Sentry’s motives, but as he came to the bars, he reeled his arm back and thrust it forward at Gilda’s face.

The base of Flash Sentry’s hoof struck the bar with a deafening clang. Gilda squeaked in fright as she pulled her body away from the bars and fell onto her rump. She looked up at Flash Sentry, whose face now showed unbridled contempt. Cuffs and the three other police stallions ran into the room and towards the cell.

“Stand back!” called Flash Sentry, pulling his hoof behind him toward the four officers. “I’ve got this.”

Flash Sentry put his hoof gently back down, his eyes still trained on Gilda.

“You have to be some kind of moron to call my partner a dummy,” he seethed. “She was doing her best to help you, and she could have, and all you’ve been doing is lying in her face. Why should she help a dumb dweeb who betrays her trust?”

Flash Sentry’s face moved in closer on Gilda’s level, his condescending attitude and the other stares she received from the other officers making Gilda huddle into a defensive ball. Annie couldn’t help but see the frightened tears that began to pour from the griffon’s eyes.

“There’s no helping you anymore,” spoke Flash Sentry, standing back upright and walking to the exit. “May Celestia have mercy upon you. We can leave now, Annie.”

Annie felt compelled to continue with Gilda, knowing there was a whole other story behind her sad face and angry façade. But like Flash Sentry had said, there was no helping her anymore; she wouldn’t tell this supposed story, even as her life depended on it.

Annie turned away from Gilda and led Flash Sentry out into the hallway. As one of the police stallions closed the door behind her, neither Annie nor Flash Sentry looked back, their curiosity over her fate extinguished by their unfortunate exchange.

Chapter 4: Tension Over Falafels

Annie, in her casual turtleneck outfit, sat at a furbished picnic bench amongst a plethora of other picnic benches at a large marble plaza outside a large, black skyscraper, each one filled with several ponies as they ate their dinners. Surrounding the tables in a colorful ring were tents and stands that were serving food from all corners of the world. Annie looked over at the unarmored Flash Sentry who was awaiting at the counter of a gold-colored stand that read “Saddle Arabia.”

A thin, but tall purple unicorn mare carried two trays of food to the counter with her magic. The contents of the trays were hidden by the massive group of ponies lined up to order their share. Flash Sentry nodded and extended his wings. The mare at the stand lifted the trays off and placed them on his wings, where they balanced without the slightest tremble.

Flash Sentry walked around the crowds and back to his and Annie’s table. Annie could finally see the food that Flash Sentry had gotten. Discernibly, there were two cans of lemon-lime soda on the front right corners of the tray and a small basket of freshly prepared potato chips on the lower left hand side. Sitting in the center, was a mound wrapped in aluminum foil, keeping whatever was inside of it warm. Surrounding the metal packages were several tiny tubs of a both a white, creamy sauce and what looked to be a dark-green relish with red pepper specks inside.

Flash Sentry finally approached Annie at their table, squatting down on all fours and tilting his right wing down, allowing the tray to slide off and in front of her, displacing none of the items upon it. As Flash Sentry walked to the other side of the table with his dinner, Annie tore the foil wrapping off the center package. Stuffed into the pita inside were falafel dumplings sitting inside a bed of a tomato-and-cucumber salad, dressed with a creamy sauce with chopped parsley. Annie raised her eyebrow inquisitively.

“What is this?” she asked Flash Sentry.

“It’s falafel,” Flash Sentry mumbled with his front teeth clamped onto the foil on his tray, tearing it open and taking out his own. “The best in the world. I mean, they bring them all the way from Saddle Arabia, so you know it’s gotta’ be good.”

Annie looked into the filling inside the pita. While nothing inside of it looked disgusting, she wasn’t sure how this would translate to pony cuisine.

“Relax,” cooed Flash Sentry and he held up his own falafel. “There’s nothing in there that you can’t eat. I checked.”

Flash Sentry gave Annie a wink as he lifted his sandwich to his face, taking a large bite out of the center. Flash Sentry swooned as he put his hooves back down, revealing large splotches of sauce on the front of his muzzle.

Annie picked up her own falafel, slowly raising it to her own mouth. With an experimental nibble, Annie took a piece of both the pita and the dumpling inside. Annie gasped, realizing how good it tasted. Flash Sentry smirked as he saw a pleasant smile appear on Annie’s face.

“See?” pressed Flash Sentry. “I told you it was good.”

Annie took another, larger bite of her food. As she chewed she looked at Flash Sentry with the flattest expression she possibly could, as if trying to make a point to him.

“Come on,” he jeered, “you can smile around me. I mean, we’re pals, right?”

Annie swallowed her entire bite, grunting as the massive ball of chewed food slid down her gullet.

“We work together,” Annie said. “I don’t quite see how that makes us friends.”

“What about Twilight and those other ponies we talked to at the station? How did they come to be your friends?”

Annie was about to protest, but seeing Flash Sentry’s expectant face, she knew she couldn’t hide the truth so easily.

“They saved me from death,” she answered. “I owe them my life and I couldn’t be more appreciative of their company.”

“They saved your life?” asked Flash Sentry. “That’s another thing. You said that you were guilty of murder when we interrogated Gilda. Is that true?”

“Every word,” Annie answered, popping the lid on her soda can and taking a sip.

“What happened?” he asked. “…If you don’t mind my asking?”

“Do you really want to know?” Annie responded.

“Of course, I do. Shouldn’t I be allowed to know things about my friends?”

Annie sighed and looked to her left to one of the city street, seriously considering running to the nearest taxi and spending her day alone from him. However, as her partner, now and more than likely in the indefinite future as long as Celestia was concerned, he had a right to know.

“The world where I come from,” Annie explained, “there was a war between mankind, and giant beasts known as titans. I had fought on the side of the titans, being granted the ability to turn into one myself. Through my actions, I had killed dozens of soldiers who tried to stop me. It was after Twilight and her friends stopped me and rendered my powers useless that they offered me salvation.”

Flash Sentry looked at Annie with complete incredulity, his falafel falling from his hooves as his mouth hung open.

“So…” wondered Flash Sentry hesitantly, “if you did these things, how could they have forgiven you?”

“I’m not entirely sure myself,” she answered. “It’s as if they all could sense the good in others, while all everyone else sees is the evil that they have done or still do.”

Annie sighed as she looked away from Flash Sentry again.

“I envy them,” she admitted.

Flash Sentry piqued up, finding Annie’s statement profound.

“What do you mean by that?” he responded.

“I mean,” she said, “that I wish I could return the favor. For the crimes I committed, I should have been sentenced to death back on my home world. I don’t want all that those ponies did for me to all be for nothing. I too want to try and make a positive impression on others.”

“Well, beating ponies in bars isn’t exactly going to help that, especially if they knew what you’ve done, you know?”

“That’s just it. No one knows me quite like you do, but the less they know of me, the better.”

“You make a pretty positive impression on the rest of us guards back in Ponyville. That must count for something.”

“We all work together; we’re supposed to make good impressions on each other. What I want is to help someone who seems beyond help, through their actions or words, it doesn’t matter. Someone like… me, who can equal the penance I’ve had to do.”

“Well, who do you have in mind?”

Flash Sentry took a second to study Annie until she could provide him with an answer. After a few seconds, his eyes widened and he nearly jumped out of his seat.

“You mean Gilda?” he exclaimed.

“Shh,” hissed Annie, waving her hands at Flash Sentry as discreetly as possible.

“But she was totally lying back there,” he whispered. “And you said it yourself. Her only motive was violence.”

“I said that as an possibility. Something didn’t feel right about her story.”

“Besides the fact that she was lying out her flank?”

“No, it’s about what she was lying about. Her story wasn’t one of someone trying to cover up her murder, it’s sounded like she was trying to cover up something even bigger.”

“Bigger? Like what?”

“I can’t be sure, but perhaps she was into something even more dangerous than just a simple loan shark. Perhaps she was scared that if she told the whole truth, she would still be held accountable for her association with whatever she was hiding… or maybe she was scared that if she spilled whomever was behind this, her life would be in even graver danger.”

Flash Sentry continued to look at Annie, calculating her logic and intuition. After compiling it all, he suddenly chuckled loudly, earning a stern reaction from Annie.

“Look,” Flash Sentry reasoned, “as valid as that may seem, there’s still not a lot that makes sense to this. Even if Gilda was part of some ‘association,’ don’t you think that her murder outweighs something like that? And for that matter, if this association was nervous that Gilda would reveal them, don’t you think that they’d kill her much sooner than that?”

Annie also took time to understand what Flash Sentry had said, finding his own assessment to be quite reasonable as well.

“I agree with you on the last part,” she said, earning a proud smile and raising of the head from Flash Sentry, “but there’s still the slight possibility that whatever she was entangled with was even worse than the murder that she committed.”

“Hmph,” Flash Sentry huffed. “Doubt it.”

“Like I said, a slight possibility.”

“I suppose…”

“And what about you?”

Flash Sentry, now the target of Annie’s scrutiny, raised his head up alertly and looked into her eyes respectfully.

“What about me?” he asked.

“You seem very intent on keeping her behind bars. I saw the way you looked at her and spoke to her at the end, and you had a face and voice that just wished for her to rot in that cell. After all this time, you never struck me as that kind of pony. After the way you talked to me last night after our shift and this morning before we left, and how you approached Twilight at Canterlot.”

“Yeah, I’m not the most socially… keen pony in Equestria, but I didn’t really have many friends either.”

Annie sat up straight, already hearing an intriguing parallel between Flash Sentry and herself.

“Yeah, I was born and raised here, but I grew up very poor. My parents barely had the money to feed me and themselves and keep a warm roof above our head, and while my parents went and worked, I was left to the mercy of the neighborhood I was unfortunate to live in.”

“For someone who loves their hometown,” interrupted Annie, “you seem to be shedding a negative light on it.”

“Yeah, well, I got a job as a papercolt to help make ends meet. It was great for a foal like me; I got to see the better parts of the city, I learned how to read and write by reading the papers I sold, I learned some basic math by counting the bits I earned each day, and I taught myself how to fly by watching the other pegasi in the city flapping their wings. Other than the fact that friends were few and my only form of company were the customers who would buy from me, it was probably the best way to grow up for somepony as poor as I.”

“But what about your neighborhood?”

“Right… that. The foals there were real jerks. I was much scrawnier than the stallion you see today, so I was beaten up by them a lot. Lots of times, they would steal the bits I earned selling papers. That was the worst. I had no problem giving up my blood and a couple of my baby teeth, but it was when my bits that were keeping me and my family alive got taken that was the toughest.”

Annie nodded, completely sympathetic with Flash’s story.

“Finally fed up with their treatment of me, I finally decided to train myself using the wooden light poles at night for posts to kick and punch, using my own covers as pads. I went at this for weeks before I knew I was ready, even letting my bullies continue beating the snot out of me, both to keep them from wanting to beat me harder if I fought back, and to keep them in the dark for what I would do to them.

“One day, a small filly happened to be walking home from school when my bullies began to surround her. I knew that I couldn’t let them do anything to her, and there was no need for any dramatic entrance. I flew in like, well, a flash and kicked one of them right in the jaw, just, pow!”

Flash Sentry punched his front hoof into his other hoof for dramatic effect, which Annie didn’t seem to react to.

“The other two tried surrounding me,” continued Flash Sentry, “but I took out the other one with just a couple of hits and the other one with a well-aimed punch, like, yah!”

Flash Sentry thrust his fist to Annie’s face, who continued watching nonchalantly, even as the bottom of his hoof was inches from her face. Flash Sentry pulled it away and went on like it was nothing, lost in his tale.”

“At that moment, the girl thanked me and ran away, and as I saw her leave safe and sound, this baby appeared.”

Flash Sentry stood up and turned the side of his flank to Annie, presenting his cutie mark for her.

“Well… good job,” she said.

“Thanks,” he responded, sitting back down on the bench. “As I got older, I moved up in the newspaper business, delivering stacks of papers all over the city and earning more bits, which allowed me to purchase more books so I could educate myself further. Finally, I had saved enough so that I could move to Canterlot, where I hoped to one day enlist in the Royal Guard and hold true honor and justice for Equestria.

“After leaving home and making a new one, I landed a job as a courier for a wealthy household in Canterlot based off of glowing recommendations that I received from my boss here. Once I was old enough, I was finally able to enlist. Then, once you came on board, I was only more excited to join. Now, to think, I’m actually getting to work and eat with you.”

Annie then looked down at her falafel, which only had her one large bite visible in her grasp. Picking it back up and taking a bite, she moaned, realizing that it had gone cold on her tray. Annie began wrapping her meal back in the foil.

“You’re not going to throw that out are you?” he asked, almost insulted.

“No, of course not. We have a fridge at the hotel. I was planning on going out for a drink or two later tonight. It might come in handy when I get back.”

“Well, with the way I’ve seen you drink, you’re probably right. Sorry, for spoiling your meal, though.”

“It’s fine. I wasn’t all too hungry anyway.”

Flash Sentry looked down at his falafel, knowing that it too would be too cold to eat enjoyably. With a disappointed sigh, he pulled out the wax paper out of his untouched chip basket and attempted to cover his own falafel with his teeth and hooves, but with no success.

“You don’t mind, do you?” she asked, reaching for his food.

“No,” he agreed as she grabbed it, “please.”

Annie began covering and wrapping his falafel with precision. Flash Sentry took another regretful sigh as his dinner was wrapped up after only one bite.

“Yeah,” he grunted, “again, I’m sorry about the rant. It’s just that I get very riled up about things like that.”

“Clearly,” Annie said. “You shouldn’t beat yourself too hard about it. I’m just as guilty; after all, I started it.”

“It’s just after my childhood, nothing pleases me more than criminals getting the punishment they deserve, especially if they continue doing it again and again.”

Annie didn’t say a word, only looking at Flash Sentry blankly as he looked up and saw her, realizing who he was saying these words to. He deflated into his seat, giggling nervously with his back hoof in his mouth.

“Uh… no offense,” Flash Sentry squeaked.

“None taken,” Annie responded coolly.

“What I meant to say is that whatever punishment Gilda gets from Celestia will probably be too good for her.”

Annie still looked at Flash Sentry without a hint of confirmation or disagreement, a look that irked Flash Sentry.

“And you still don’t think she did it?” asked Flash Sentry.

“I still don’t know. I’ve never been the best liar, so I couldn’t read people well to save my life.”

“You called her bluff at her cell, but you still don’t know whether she’s lying or not?”

“No, I know she was lying; even I could tell. It’s just my intuition; something feels off about the whole thing.”

“I hate to break it to you, Annie, but unless you find one or more of these guys from this ‘association’ tonight, Gilda’s probably never going to see sunlight ever again.”

“Yeah,” she responded, standing up with a napkin and wiping her chin before tossing it next to her chip basket. “Would be a shame if she was innocent.”

“But it would right if she isn’t,” added Flash Sentry, wiping his mouth with the side of his forearm.

Annie picked up her soda and chugged it dry, crushing the can upon the last drop leaving the can. Dropping it on the tray, she picked up Flash Sentry’s chip basket and dumped the potatoes into her own, filling it to the brim. Picking up both her and Flash Sentry’s falafels and placing them on her tray, she took her tray and carried to it to the garbage can behind her.

Annie picked up the two falafels and the chips and cradled them in her arm, dumping the rest of the tray into the bin before placing the tray atop a stack of them on top. Annie stepped aside as Flash Sentry brought his tray over and dumped all of his contents inside and placed the tray atop of Annie’s.

With their dinner postponed, they walked away from the plaza and towards a brightly lit, white hotel that shone like a beacon in the dark winter afternoon. Hiding amongst the middle of the set of picnic benches alone and far from their sight, there sat three stallions that eyed Annie as she and Flash Sentry crossed the street.

One pony was a long, slender, dark red unicorn. His blonde mane and tail were brushed and fluffed while his goatee was groomed perfectly. His eyes were light blue and he had a cutie mark of a medical syringe. The second was a burly earth pony that sat next to the red stallion, having a dark-blue coat that shared a similar darkness to the other’s. His only article of clothing was his ragged, black-leather vest, adorned with metal chains and zippers. His long mane and tail were pitch black, but looked greasy and unwashed. His cutie mark resembled two metal cuffs with spikes along the edge.

The third stallion, a unicorn, sat alone on the other side of the bench. His coat was white, and his black mane and tail were cut so sort that minus the thick black line running down his back and the tuft of fur on the end of his tail, he otherwise looked completely bald.

His eyes were dark brown and his cutie mark resembled a red, exploding firework. Watching Annie and Flash Sentry enter the hotel together, the white unicorn lifted his can of soda to his mouth with his magic and tilted it towards him, taking a quiet, relaxed sip as she and her partner disappeared behind the hotel’s doors.

Chapter 5: Escape from Manehattan

Even during the later hours of the night, Manehattan was busy and crowded, and this couldn’t be more true in its restaurants and bars, especially the smaller and seedier bars like the one Annie approached. Had it not been for a small, neon light of a martini glass over the window, Annie wouldn’t have made heads nor tails of what establishment it could be. The building itself couldn’t have been higher than fifteen feet high or longer and wider than thirty feet, and it stood cramped in between two ancient apartment complexes.

Annie walked inside, smelling the stale, musty stench of old cider and floors that hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. If anything, it made her feel right at home. Spotting an empty stool, she made her way to it. The patrons, who considered almost entirely of stallions with dirty, stained coats and messy manes and tails, all eyed Annie with shock, as if Sapphire Shores herself had appeared to them.

Annie still didn’t care for the extra attention she was given when going out to bars, but at least the atmosphere was more similar to Earth’s than Trotsky’s in Canterlot. Annie finally straddled over and sat down at the bar. The yellow unicorn bartender, who was in a raggy, plaid vest that needed a desperate cleaning and stitching with a greasy, slicked back mane and tail, instantly slid over in front of her.

“Oh my goodness!” he wheezed in a thick, raspy accent, picking up a glass with a moderately clean rag and wiping it. “I can’t believe the human is sitting down at my bar!”

“Well,” Annie sighed, “with the prices at the other bars in this city, where else am I to go?”

“A wise choice of words, ma’am. Now, what’s your pleasure?”

“The best crystal you’ve got, on ice.”

“Coming right up!”

The unicorn turned to his meager collections of liquors at the back of the bar, looking for just the right stuff for her. Annie scanned the place about, seeing all of the ponies looking at her as if she was an impossibly beautiful mare that they would never get to see again. Annie scowled, a sound resembling a grunt escaping past her lips.

“Can’t I just enjoy my drink in peace?” her icy voice said.

The ponies instantly returned to their business, talking with their friends or sipping their own ciders and cocktails.
________________________________________________________________________________________

The blue earth stallion and the white unicorn stallion from the plaza stood about a crummy, dirty alley of the city, hidden deep within from the sights of the city streets. Both the flanks of the ponies were covered in thick powders whose colors matched their coats. The white stallion wore a pair of dark sunglasses and a fedora on his head. He stood patiently still and looked about his surroundings while the blue pony paced in circles, huffing nervously.

“Calm yourself,” the white unicorn calmly ordered. “You’re acting like this is like your first time.”

“Shut up,” grunted the blue stallion. “Why did we have to do this job while she was in town?”

“Who? You mean that human from the Royal Guard?”

“Yeah! What if she catches us?”

“First,” the white stallion listed, walking towards the blue stallion threateningly, “if she catches is, it will be because of that loud mouth of yours! Secondly, from what I’ve heard about her fondness for crystal, she’s probably at the hotel bar enjoying herself. Thirdly, and most importantly, a job is a job, no matter who happens to be in the same city as us.”

The blue stallion, taking his partner’s words into account, took a sigh of relief.

“Yeah,” he relented, “you’re probably right.”

“I know I am,” the white unicorn responded. “Now just wait patiently.”

“How much longer until he comes?”

“Any minute now…”

As the white unicorn stood back away from his partner, the blue pony stood straight and still, awaiting whomever was coming for them in the dim, chilly alley.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie swirled her ice inside her glass, sloshing the crystal with the melted water. Annie took another sip, and her lips puckered over the strong sting on her tongue. It was certainly the worst crystal she had in her life, but it was no worse than the worst vodka back home.

“Hey, ma’am,” the bartender wondered, looking at Annie’s disdainful face, “are you alright? Not a fan of crystal?”

“Never mind,” Annie said, “it’s nothing. My drink is fine.”

“I’d be more than happy to take that drink off your bill and get you something on the house for you.”

“Like I said, I’m fine. My world had far worse than this.”

The bartender’s eyes perked up, realizing the doorway of possibility that he opened.

“Your world?” he asked. “Pardon if I pry, but what is it like on your world?”

“Strangely enough,” she said, “it’s much more primitive than yours. Your technology is more advanced, your cities cleaner, your liquor is better, and the inhabitants… much kinder.”

“I, uh, I…” he stammered, his cheeks blushing at her unintentional compliment. “Thank you, I guess.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.”

“So, you’ve made a lot of friends while you’re here?”

“No. The only friends I have on this world live in Ponyville, and my comrade from the Royal Guard who came here with me… well, he means well, but he’s a social misfit.”

“Ah, that’s a shame. How long are you planning on staying?”

“Until tomorrow morning.”

“Well… here’s to a safe trip home.”

“Yeah,” she said, lifting her glass up.

Annie knocked the glass back, taking every drop of liquid along with a couple of the almost-melted ice cubes. The sting was in full force now, and Annie hunched over the counter with her fist to her mouth, coughing heavily. The bartender and some nearby patrons looked at her with sympathy as she tried to keep her drink down.
________________________________________________________________________________________

A bright flash appeared between the white unicorn and blue stallion. Emerging from the flash, unconscious on the ground, was a cream colored earth stallion with a combed and styled light-brown mane and tail. His cutie mark resembled a musical eighth note.

Standing beside the unconscious stallion was the red unicorn from the plaza. Like the blue and white stallions, his cutie mark was concealed by thick powder that matched his coat. The blue stallion, seeing the pony lying before them, smiled deviously and ground his front hooves into the asphalt.

“Patience, Bruiser” ordered the red stallion. “He’ll wake up very shortly. Then he’s all yours.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” dismissed the white stallion. “You may go now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Doctor charged his horn and was covered in a bright blue light before the light burst, the red unicorn disappearing where he stood. The unconscious stallion had begun to wake up. Once his vision had completely restored, he was not only frightened to find himself in the cold and in an unfamiliar place, but also upon the two ponies whose mercy he was under, the blue one already hinting his bad intent.

“Let me apologize in advance,” greeted the white stallion. “It’s nothing personal.”
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie reached into her front pocket, pulling out her purse and fishing for gold bits inside of it. Finding the right amount to pay for her drink, she piled them in a small stack and pushed them to the bartender.

“I think I’m just going to go to bed now,” she said to him. “Thank you for the drink.”

“No,” bid the bartender, “thank you! Happy Hearth’s Warming!”

Annie stood up and put her purse back into her pocket, walking towards the exit. The ponies watched her respectfully as she left, going out back into the streets, which still bustled with life. Annie turned right and headed down the sidewalk. While it was the opposite way to her hotel, she figured that a long walk about the city would help calm her nerves in a way that the terrible crystal couldn’t.

What relaxed Annie even further was that the streets were not very crowded down where she went. Perhaps a moment of tranquility was still within her grasp.

Annie continued on, passing an alley, but was soon off put by the faint sound of fists or hooves pummeling into flesh from deep within. Annie badly wanted to dismiss the sound as either her imagination or something completely trivial, but it felt like a disservice to her responsibilities to the Royal Guard.

With a sigh, she turned right into the narrow, trashy alley and walked briskly, yet quietly, as to avoid being noticed. Surely enough, the sounds of beating were even stronger as she went on, furthering her suspicions.

After a sharp turn left followed by a sharp right immediately after, she found the blue stallion viciously stomping the cream-colored pony into the ground, the latter bleeding badly from his face and belly. Annie was soon about to step out and stop the fight, but gasped upon seeing the white unicorn standing to the left of the blue stallion.

Everything about him matched the description Gilda had given of him perfectly. His short black mane and tail, his blotted-out cutie mark, his glasses, his fedora. If his appearance and the current situation was any indicator, this was Black Glass himself, with what looked to be his new partner.

“Step aside,” Black Glass told Bruiser, pushing him away and standing before the cream-colored stallion. “You did well. Now it’s time to finish the job.”

Black Glass charged his horn, a poof of brown smoke appearing next to him. Floating in the brown aura of his grasp was a switchblade with the blade already retracted out. The cream-colored stallion stared at the weapon with whimpering fear, although nothing seemed to escape his mouth.

Annie sprinted out from behind the cover of the corner she was hiding from, he eyes aimed at Bruiser’s side. Black Glass and Bruiser heard the sounds of Annie’s footsteps approach, but before they could turn to face the witness of their crimes, Annie had already jumped up into the air and began thrusting both feet forwards at Bruiser’s ribs.

With their surprise overrunning their reflexes, Annie flawlessly jammed the soles of both feet into Bruiser’s side, satisfied with the loud, muffled crack she heard inside his chest. The combination of her force with Bruiser caught completely off guard threw the blue stallion off his hooves, sending him crashing onto Black Glass.

Both Annie and Black Glass feel to the ground, Bruiser body pressed and holding down the latter, causing him to relinquish the knife from his magic grasp. Annie shot to her feet and ran to the knife on the ground, pulling her sweater sleeve over her hand. As she ran around Bruiser and Black Glass, she looked to find the knife right in front of the latter’s face.

“Bruiser!” grunted Black Glass. “Get off me and get rid of her. Hur–”

Annie kicked Black Glass in the head, knocking him out cold. Bruiser rolled off of his unconscious partner as Annie picked the knife up with her covered hand, swung the knife back into the handle, and placed it into her pocket. The animalistic roar of Bruiser alerted her to him as he charged her from the right.

Quickly putting herself into her fighting stance, she raised her right arm back below her head, stepped left, put her right arm behind her back, and reeled her right leg back for a kick. Annie was far too fast for Bruiser to react, as she swung her leg down onto the shin of Bruiser’s front right leg.

Annie allowed Bruiser’s momentum to push her leg back and swing her around to the side, letting Bruiser crash into the ground and roll into a trio of garbage pails. Annie looked down to see Black Glass still unconscious and bleeding from where she kicked him. She then turned to Bruiser, who tried getting up, but fell down upon putting weight on his right hoof, wincing, grunting, and rolling about in agony.

Annie then turned fully around to see the scared-and-confused cream-colored stallion looking up at her. Walking to him and standing above him, the pony cowered, unsure of what she would do to him.

“Can you walk?” she asked.

The pony looked up at her, still wrapped up in his shock.

“I said, can you walk?” she demanded. “I’ll help get you to a hospital.”

The pony tried to stand up, but found his front legs wobbling like reeds in the wind.

“Come on,” she encouraged, kneeling down and scooping her head underneath the stallion’s right arm.

Standing back up, she slung the stallion’s arm over her neck and hugged his upper back and torso with her left arm, bringing him to his hind legs.

“Let’s go,” she ordered.

Annie and the stallion walked quickly to the turn of the alley where Annie had come from. Annie was glad to hear no footsteps following her as she continued to carry the wounded pony to the street. Exiting the alley, she looked out into the street, seeing a taxi carriage coming down at them. Quickening her step, she led herself and the stallion into the oncoming lane, frightening the stallion once again.

“TAXI!” shouted Annie.

The burly grey earth stallion pulling the yellow-and-black carriage skidded to a halt just inches from Annie as she walked around the and to the left side of the carriage.

“Listen, lady,” scolded the taxi driver, “you can’t just– oh my gosh! What happened to him?”

“He was being mugged,” explained Annie as she stepped into the carriage and pulled the wounded stallion inside, “was almost killed. No time for an ambulance.”

“I’m guessing you want me to take him to a hospital?”

“Yes. Preferably the closest one to the Maretropolitan Correctional Center.”

“You got it.”

“Thank you!” she said as she stepped back out from the right.

The stallion in the carriage mustered the strength to sit inside the carriage and turn to Annie.

“Thank you,” the stallion sobbed. “I owe you my life!”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Annie assured him. “I’m just doing my job. Now hurry!” she shouted at the taxi driver.

“Yes, ma’am!” the driver shouted.

The taxi driver quickly galloped down the street, the stallion safely in tow. Annie stood and waited until the taxi went out of sight, ensuring that nothing bad would befall it as long as she was there to see it. Once the taxi turned a corner and became invisible. She turned back and ran back into the alley.

Annie juked through the corners of the alley and looked to find both Black Glass and Bruiser, the sight she was greeted with instead causing her to freeze in her tracks. Neither Black Glass nor Bruiser were there. The only traces of their being there were the small pools of blood that were leftover from both the two beatings that had occurred.

Annie then continued running deeper within the alley, hoping to find Bruiser limping away to his supposed freedom with the unconscious Black Glass on his back. As she ran further in, she only grew more hopeful, knowing they couldn’t be that much farther. With another turn into the alley, she found herself face to face with the back wall of another building.

A complete dead end.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered, jerking her body around.

With no other option to turn to, she ran the other way down to the alley, keeping her eyes peeled at all times to ensure that the next turn wouldn’t see her running into either of them. Inversely, each new turn she took coming out filled her with more and more dread, feeling that the next turn she would take would land her straight into her grasp.

She had finally reached the straightaway where she had first confronted them, feeling more at ease with the high possibility that they would not attack her this close to the public. Turning right then left, she ran back out from the alley and into the street, just barely dodging a carriage as it drove down the road.

“Hey, watch it!” the driver of the carriage yelled out.

Annie ignored him as she continued sprinting down the middle of street, staying as visible as possible, hoping that one would attack her and reveal herself. Otherwise, she was safe to go to her next destination.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Gilda slept in her cell unsoundly, tossing and turning as she awaited the miserable day of sentencing set for her the next morning. Two police stallions sat on stools at the back of the room on both sides of the door, struggling to stay awake as they watched the prisoner struggle to stay asleep. Their ears perked up to the sound of loud cacophony of feet tamping on the floor and towards the room.

The door slammed open, frightening the two officers onto their feet and jolting Gilda awake. As Annie and two more officers, one of them being Cuffs, the lights turned on, making Gilda groan loudly as she rubbed her eyes.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Can’t a griffon get some sleep here?!”

Her eyes then looked at Annie, and instantly, she shut her mouth and backed up as far as her chains would allow her to go.

“Miss Leonhardt!” exclaimed Cuffs. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I demand the release of the griffon Gilda,” Annie declared, panting. “She is innocent and is also in grave danger.”

Gilda, unsure if she heard Annie correctly, scooted closer to the bars of the cell cautiously, keeping her curious eyes set on Annie and the other officers in the room as the murmured loudly over Annie’s ridiculous request.

“What is that supposed to mean?” asked one of the other officers. “How do you know this?”

“At approximately eleven o’clock tonight,” Annie shouted, “two ponies, a bulky blue earth stallion, and a white unicorn, whose physical features match the ones listed by Gilda earlier today as Black Glass exactly, were attacking a cream-colored stallion with a musical note cutie mark in an alley along Stagnant St. and attempted to murder him with this.”

Annie reached into her pocket and threw the switchblade down on the floor, the other ponies looking at it quizzically and surprisingly.

“I engaged the two ponies and incapacitated them to allow me enough time to escort the wounded stallion to a taxi where he could promptly be taken to a hospital. I told the driver to take him to the closest hospital to this location, which should be St. Piper’s Memorial. Go talk to him. He’ll tell you the same exact story. I guarantee you.”

Gilda stood awestricken by Annie’s firm defense of her while the other guards were stunned.

“But here’s the thing,” concluded Annie, “they’ve escaped. After ensured the taxi had taken off without a hitch, I went back into the alley to find out that they have disappeared. They couldn’t have come out of the alley without being seen by me, and the other side of the alley was a dead end.”

“But that would mean…” Cuffs speculated.

“That this Black Glass knows teleportation, and is skilled enough with it to transport both himself and another pony twice his size. Only one other pony that I know is that good with magic, and she’s a student of Princess Celestia herself.”

“Princess Twilight,” gasped the other officers in the room at different times as they looked at each other.

“Whomever this Black Glass is, he’s no loan shark, and is certainly more dangerous than one, and will more than likely stop at nothing to ensure that his name is cleared, even if it means killing both Gilda and myself, the only witnesses to his crimes.”

The other guards looked to each other, unnerved by this prospect.

“So,” wondered Cuffs, “what should we do?”

“As I said before, you are going to release that griffon from your custody and into mine so we can leave Manehattan before Black Glass and anyone else who happens to be working for him have time to mobilize. Then you are going to send a message to the Grain Central Station that the Royal Guard needs their train to Canterlot prepared and ready to leave as soon as possible.”

“Blue Pride?” Cuffs called, turning his face to an officer with a badge for a cutie mark.

“On it, sir!” he relayed as he left the room.

“Lastly, I want the police finding the pony that I rescued and protecting him by any means necessary. He’s still in as much danger as we are. Allow only doctors and immediate family, check his food, drinks, whatever treatments they give him, keep watch on it all and make sure that he stays alive at all times.”

“We’ll send some officers promptly,” Cuffs assured.

“Now, hurry and release her. We can’t let her or any information of him that she has die.”

Cuffs wordlessly tossed a ring of keys from his belt from his mouth into Annie’s hand.

“The cell doors four from the right,” explained Cuffs. “The key to each of her braces is three from the left.”

Annie nodded and walked to the door, fanning the correct key for the door and grabbing hold of it. With a turn, she pulled the door open with her hand on the bar. Gilda watched passively as Annie knelt beside her next to her right talons. Annie picked the correct key for the braces and placed the key in the lock, turning it and snapping the brace open. Gilda presented her left talon to Annie, who promptly performed the same task, the clasp coming off, freeing Gilda. The astounded griffon rubbed her wrists, unable to believe that her bonds were actually off.

“Come on,” Annie said to Gilda as she walked out of her cell, “we need to get my partner and get to the station.”

“Uh… sure!” Gilda said, breaking herself from her trance. “Well, smell you guys later!”

With a smug giggle she waltzed out of the cell door and followed Annie through the exit of the room, staying close behind her. Cuffs and the two remaining guards watched as the door closed behind her.

“Well,” Cuffs shouted at the other two. “Get to the hospital!”

“Yes, sir!” they shouted as they briskly trotted out of the room.

Cuffs turned back to Gilda’s cell, finding it empty once again. He could only imagine that if Annie’s story were true, and he had no reason to doubt her, what a mess would be created with Black Glass trying to bring her or Gilda down.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Flash Sentry nestled comfortably in his hotel bed, the only lights entering the room was the ambiance of the city as it streamed through the balcony door windows and filtered by the drapes. Unbeknownst to him, large wingbeats were heard outside and a light landing of feet was made on the balcony. The door opened, unleashing the full noise and light from the city inside the room with Annie’s body pushing the doors open.

“Hurry,” whispered Annie as she walked inside the room “get inside.”

Flash Sentry, awoken by the nightlife of the city, stood up in the bed, his hair messy and unkempt. Annie’s semi-silhouette walked over to the tableside lamp in between the two beds the room had. Her body blocked Gilda from Flash’s sight as the lights came on, revealing the red covers and rustic-yellow paint on the walls.

“Annie,” grumbled Flash Sentry, “what are you doin…”

Annie stepped aside and walked to the closet to reveal Gilda standing in the room as she observed her surroundings. Flash Sentry jumped up and pressed his back against the wall.

“Oooh,” exclaimed Gilda, “sweet digs.”

“Sweet Celestia!” he gasped. “Is that Gilda?”

“Yes,” answered Annie as she took her dirtied sweater off and tossed it on the floor.

“Annie? You do realize that’s the same Gilda that…”

“Don’t. You. Dare say it,” threatened Gilda.

“It’s okay, Gilda” Annie assured her, taking her pants off as well and revealing only a bra, panties, and ankle-socks. “Flash, Gilda is innocent. You know that stallion, Black Glass, that she described earlier today? Well, he exists, and I watched as he tried to beat and murder another pony in cold blood.”

Annie walked over to the dresser across from the beds, Gilda moving to make way. Opening the drawers, she found her white pants, white hoodie, and her gold harness and sash.

“So, what is she doing here?” asked Flash Sentry.

“As I went to get the beaten, but still alive, pony sent to the hospital,” explained Annie, grabbing her pants and slipping her legs through them, “he and his partner had disappeared, no doubt to formulate a way to stop us.”

“But why bring her here?”

“If one of them decides to attack us in the next minute,” she continued, putting her hoodie on, “I need to have my Manuever Gear. I managed to defeat them with the element of surprise. I doubt they’ll fall for it again.”

“So, should I get my armor on?”

“No,” Gilda responded coldly and sarcastically, “you should just stay in bed and get yourself killed.”

“Gilda!” Annie yelled, throwing her harness on. “I know your last encounter with Flash wasn’t very good, but he’s going to protect you now that he knows you’re innocent. Isn’t that right, Flash?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded with a salute, before getting up and to the closet.

“But of course,” she warned, finishing with her harness, “you have to show respect to one another, especially you, understand?”

“Why should I–?” Gilda began before looking into Annie’s glare. “Yeah, fine.”

“Good,” Annie responded, grabbing her gold sash.

Gilda turned her head away and rolled her eyes, knowing the agreement wouldn’t be easy. Looking out at the open balcony, a slight glimmer caught her eye, making them shrink in fear.

“Once we get back on the train,” continued Annie, wrapping the sash around her waist and tucking it into her pants waistband, “I need you to tell me everything you know, and I mean the tru–”

“Look out!” shrieked Gilda, diving onto Annie.

Annie was about to resist, only to see two black wings soaring towards their room. Annie fell back and let Gilda fall atop her. Along the way down, the pair of wings flew just over Gilda’s back, a metallic shing sounding out right above them. Gilda winced as she caught herself, supporting her body over Annie as both of them looked to see their assailant land between them and Flash Sentry at the closet.

The attacker was a pitch-black pegasus mare with her mane and tail dyed the same exact color as her coat. While the light of the room helped define her contours and body, her deep purple eyes were still the only bright thing about it, giving off a frightening appearance. Running along the outsides of her front legs were two bladed cestuses which glimmered bright in the glow of the table lamp.

The attacker spoke not a word as it lunged again, only letting out a heaving grunt as she pushed off the ground. Annie quickly put both feet against Gilda’s stomach and pushed off with her right leg, throwing Gilda towards the balcony doorway. As the assassin flew for Gilda, Annie threw her left leg to the side, catching the inside of the pegasus’s arm and pushing it into the dresser, the blade sticking into the wood.

With the same momentum, Annie tucked her legs back with her right leg still partially extended out. Going into a backwards somersault, Annie kicked the assassin in the top of the head, sending her body straight into the ground.

As the assassin pulled her blade out of the dresser, Annie tucked her legs back and rolled onto her knees over the pegasus’s back, making her wince in pain. Annie, now upright, stood to her feet, seeing as the pegasus was aimed right for Gilda. Annie quickly bent down and grabbed at the pony’s tail just as she tried to take another attempt at Gilda, making her trip and fall to the floor again.

“Gilda!” shouted Annie. “Close the door, hurry!”

Gilda quickly did as she was told, slamming them shut from any other invaders. Gilda turned her head to look at her back, which had only two minor scratches running along the center in between her wings.

The assassin, realizing her predicament, hopped into the air and twirled to face Annie, raising her arm over her head to swing down. Annie smirked, whipping her arm and the assassin’s tail to her right, forcing her body swing to her right. Annie used the assassin’s disorientation to leap forward and drill her in the stomach with her left fist, sending her flying towards the doors.

Annie ran after the pegasus even as she rolled around to the doors. As the pegasus got back to her hooves, facing the by-standing Gilda. At that moment, the assassin felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she was lifted off the ground and at the door. Gilda watched in sheer amazement as Annie’s kick sent her flying through the door, shattering it in a plethora of splinters and shards.

The assassin looked onto the furious face of Annie as her body flew over the balcony banister and began to fall. The assassin hissed in failure as it flapped its wings which, like her body, were impaled with various small pieces of wood and glass. She grunted as she flew out and away from the hotel as fast as she could, her wings spraying her blood down below as she was camouflaged by the night sky from the onlookers down below.

Annie ran out to the balcony to ensure that the assassin had really gone, all while a group of ponies gathered below at the mess they had created. Annie huffed indignantly at the result of the scene: a trashed bedroom and a crowd of scared, confused citizens. Annie knew there was nothing to do now, and she headed back inside to the amazed stares of Gilda and Flash Sentry.

“Holy cow!” exclaimed Gilda. “That was one of their best killers!”

“Best killers?” Annie questioned, her voice sounding pissed and nearly lethal.

Gilda shied away into the corner of the room, knowing she had said too much.

“Yeah,” sighed Annie, “we’re really going to need to talk once we get on the train.”

Annie turned away from Gilda and back to the closet where she left the case for her 3D Maneuver Gear. Gilda stood back up straight and looked as Annie rashly and quickly placed her case on the floor before the still stunned Flash Sentry, who finally went back to the closet to gather the rest of his armor. Gilda smirked and scoffed, his apparent clumsiness defusing her fear of him.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Two police officers, one a stallion, and one a mare, both unicorns, stood at the entrance to Grain Central Station. Night life had finally begun to die down, the ponies walking around and the carriages going by dwindling by the minute. Looking up, the two officers looked up, seeing something flying towards them in the distance.

Flash Sentry, his saddlebags on his sides, flew alongside Gilda, who carried Annie with her 3D Maneuver Gear on her back as they lowered themselves down towards the sidewalk. The few ponies that were out looked up to see Gilda hovering down safely to the sidewalk, screaming in fear as the supposed murderer was standing right before them. Annie dismounted Gilda as several ponies ran in fright while some collapsed to the ground, their legs unable to carry them in their shock.

“MPD!” shouted the mare, standing in between Gilda and the terrified ponies with badge in her magic grasp.

“MPD!” the stallion officer shouted, running to the opposite side before the citizens. “Stand back.”

“The doors are open for you!” called the mare officer. “Go! Hurry! It’s waiting at Terminal 25”

Annie nodded to the officer before she, Flash Sentry, and Gilda ran off up the stairs and inside the station. With trains not running that late at night, the entirety of the station was empty and silent, minus the sounds of their feet, hooves, talons and paws running down the stairs.

“Wait,” Gilda whispered, continuing to follow Annie, “what if one of them is hiding in here?”

“Even so,” said Annie, “we have to keep moving. A moving target is always harder to hit than a still target.”

Annie, Gilda, and Flash Sentry made it to the bottom of the stairway, running across the empty lobby and to the terminals of the station. Starting on the left end, they found that the leftmost terminal was numbered 40. Annie and the others turned right and hastily counted down each number they passed.

Finally seeing Terminal 25, Annie looked down to see the door to the terminal wide open for them and their train waiting patiently at the station. Annie, Gilda, and Flash Sentry turned inside and ran to the train.

“Flash,” called Annie. “Help me get the back car open for Gilda.”

“Got it,” he responded.

Annie and Flash Sentry ran ahead to the last car just ahead of the caboose. Reaching up, both of them managed to slide the latches holding the door out, allowing it to swing down onto the platform and form a bridge. Gilda ran up and looked inside the car. The floor was covered in a bed of straw, the front fifth of the car was barred off, much like Gilda’s cell.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” shouted Gilda. “You’re not putting me in that jail cell! Not again!”

“Gilda,” Annie snapped, “This is the only car that can fit you. And if it’s any consolation, there is a thick layer of steel within the walls of this car, and the windows will magically close on the first indication of fire, gas, and magic. This is easily the safest car on this train, and I need you in it.”

Gilda looked back at the car and then at Annie’s stern, but honest face.

“Whatever,” Gilda scoffed, stepping onto the platform to the car. “The princess is going to hear an earful about this when we get to Canterlot.”

“I’m sure she will,” Annie sarcastically remarked back.

Annie and Flash lifted the door back up and closed it, shutting and locking the latches back in.

“Are we almost done?” called a conductor from the engine of the train. “I shouldn’t even be working tonight!”

“Tough,” Annie spat, walking up to the front passenger car with Flash Sentry. “We weren’t supposed to be getting attacked tonight either. Just take us back.”

“Aye-aye,” he responded with a tired salute.

Flash Sentry climbed into the car while Annie took out her operational device on her Maneuver Gear, aiming it at the ceiling and pulling the trigger. Her hook launched into the overhangs and with another press, she lifted herself up and over the car, detaching her hook and landing on the roof of the passenger car. Annie slid her operational devices over the bases of two blades inside her sheaths and pulled out, fully prepared to attack.

“Just go,” Annie ordered. “I’ll be on the lookout for anything suspicious.”

“All aboard, then,” he shouted out, pulled a lever on the floor of the train forwards.

With a puff of smoke from the stack, the train moved forwards, the sudden jerk still unnerving Annie. The train went on as Annie knelt down, avoiding the lower supports as they came up over her. Every few seconds, Annie turned her body in each direction, ensuring that no one else was there to attack her.

The train finally exited the station and outside into the dark outside, illuminated only by the bright light of Manehattan. Annie stood to her feet and watched over the colorful luminance of the city, trying to keep herself from becoming hypnotized by its beauty. Annie looked about over the carriages and ponies still about on the streets nearby.

Rifles were banned in Equestria, and physical spells required much energy if they were to be fired from long distances as to avoid being witnessed. On top of that, in the darkness of night, a spell like that would be bright enough to see before it had a chance to strike. This meant the only way for Annie to be attacked would be a close range or in close combat, which no assassin would be dumb enough to attempt out in the open. From this point forward, it seemed like Annie, Flash Sentry, and Gilda were safe.

Annie stepped forwards at the front of the car and hopped down into the engine, surprising the conductor.

“Hey,” he shouted, “don’t jump me like that!”

“Sorry,” Annie said. “Everything seems to be fine. I’m going back in. It’s getting cold.

Annie walked back into the doorway, closing it behind her.

“Speak for yourself,” huffed the conductor, pulling his cap tighter over his head.

The train continued down the tracks and turned towards a long bridge connecting the city’s island to Equestria’s mainland. While Annie and Flash Sentry were too busy inside to see, it seemed that their trouble in Manehattan was over as their train left the city and the dangers within it.

Chapter 6: Gilda

Gilda lied down in her hay bed, grumbling as she picked loose strands of straw from her fur and plumage. The door to the front entrance of the car opened up, Annie and Flash Sentry appearing through it. Flash Sentry lied on his stomach on the left of the car while Annie stood at the center door.

“Alright,” Annie spoke. “Now that we’re in the clear, I want you to tell me the truth, and not the version you gave me back at the correctional facility.”

“Hey,” complained Gilda, “I’ve been stuck in a concrete room for the past two days. I haven’t gotten much sleep, and that’s just what I want to do.”

Gilda began to lower her head onto the hay, sparking Annie’s anger. Drawing her sword from the sheath of her Maneuver Gear, she clanged the side of the blade against the bars, shooting Gilda to her feet and throwing hay all about her cell.

“You listen here,” Annie seethed, “I was almost killed twice tonight for your sake. The least you can do is respect me.”

“Hey, whoa,” Gilda said, putting her talons up defensively, “who said I didn’t respect you? I thought what you did at the hotel was pretty cool.”

“Do you think it was pretty cool that I was attacked by someone that I couldn’t prepare for because you told me a lie? Do you really think that’s respectful?”

Gilda began to realize that an argument with her would be pointless and even more heated if it continued. Gilda opened her beak for a rebuttal but found that none could come out.

“So,” Gilda said, shying down at last, “what do you want me to tell you?”

“Unless you were lying for most of the time,” Annie said, “everything.”

“Okay… I’ll tell you. Then will you let me go to sleep?”

Annie looked at Gilda, seeing that she was determined to do anything for some rest.

“If I find your story sufficient enough,” responded Annie, “my partner and I will leave this room and let you go to sleep. Deal?”

“And if my story isn’t… ‘sufficient’ enough,” Gilda scoffed, “I’m guessing you’re going to keep me up all night?”

“All you need to do is tell me the truth. It’s that simple.”

Gilda nodded. At this point, there was no use lying, and as of that moment, sleep was even more precious to her now.

“Let’s see,” Gilda began, “a couple of years ago, in the summer, I had been looking for work after my plans to stay in Ponyville were dashed.”

Annie raised her eyebrow, perplexed by her choice in words.

“I first went to Manehattan, which is the second most city populated by griffons.”

“Pardon my digression,” Annie said, “but what is the first, then?”

“Baltimare. Both are cities on the eastern edge of Equestria, further east is the griffon kingdom, so when a griffon does come by, that’s the city they come to. Of course, Baltimare is much rougher and grittier than Manehattan, but I knew the pay there would be lamer, so I hit up Manehattan first.

“It was then that I met Black Glass. He said he could offer me a lot of money, but the job was dangerous. And before I tell you what this thing is, don’t get mad at me. I didn’t take part in anything these guys did.”

“What guys?” asked Flash Sentry.

“They were called the Fates. They were a very small, but very elite sect of assassins-for-hire. Obviously, you met three of them.”

“Before we go any further,” Annie said, “I’d like you to tell me everyone you know in that group.”

“Alright. Black Glass, I didn’t make his name up. He was the head of the Manehattan branch of the Fates.”

“Branch you say? So there are more of these ponies in other cities?”

“Nah, they only had two branches, one in Manehattan and one in Vanhoover. Vanhoover managed all jobs west of Canterlot. Manehattan managed any jobs east of Canterlot as well as Canterlot itself.”

“Speaking of jobs, what was your line of work?”

“I was a courier for them, flying requests for jobs, payments, whatever from the eastern towns and cities and back to Manehattan so the ponies in the Manehattan branch could do them, or I would send ones for the western towns all the way to Vanhoover.”

“So, after Black Glass, who else was there?”

“That black pegasus you met was named Slicer. Her specialty is jobs at night, because she blends so well into the darkness and shadows, and her weapon of choice are those blades on her arms.”

“Is Slicer her real name, or just a pseudonym?”

“A pseudowoodo?”

“A nickname,” explained Flash Sentry, “an alias.”

“Right, right,” she chuckled. “In that case, no. No one, not even amongst each other, were they allowed to reveal their real names. That way, if one happens to get caught, they won’t be able to reveal a single name to the cops.”

“I see,” sighed Annie. “Brilliant, really…”

“Then there’s Bruiser, that bulky blue stallion that was with Black Glass tonight. He usually teams up with Black Glass or Slicer to disguise their killings as simple muggings. Last, but certainly not least, there’s Doctor. When he kills, he uses poisons and these really weird things where he’ll punch someone somewhere and it hurts them really bad or even makes them freeze up.”

“Pressure points,” Annie whispered to herself.

“When he’s not killing,” Gilda said, “he k.o.’s their targets and sends them to one or more of the assassins to kill, and then places them in a spot where it would look more likely for that pony to have been, much like what happened last night.”

Annie’s eye twitched angrily over the new piece of information

“You knew about this murder?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t going to tell you then!”

“And why the hell not?” she bellowed, grabbing the bars of the cell. “We could have prevented an innocent pony from becoming hospitalized!”

“And tell what to you? That I was working with a bunch of paid murderers and killers?”

“Yes! You never killed anyone, so you would have gotten a much lighter sentence.”

“No,” Gilda shuddered out, “you’re wrong. I did kill somepony.”

Annie let her hands go off the bars and stepped back, giving Gilda some space. Flash Sentry looked at Annie and then Gilda again, as if asking her if they should put her back in cuffs.

“So…” Annie reiterated, “there was something even bigger.”

“Yeah,” Gilda sadly answered, “I was already being put away for murder. Why add another crime to that?”

“What happened?”

“Over the couple years, minus some days, that I spent delivering messages for the Fates, they had trusted me enough that they wanted to make me an honorary member. As if I could refuse; they’d just kill me!”

Annie nodded, understanding the plight. Flash Sentry still couldn’t keep his mad glare off of Gilda’s face.

“That’s when I started hearing about the ponies we’d be killing;” Gilda explained further, “the letters that I used to deliver were now being delivered to me. However, one of the first letters that I got was an assignment that shocked me to the core.”

“Why?” asked Annie. “Who was it?”

“It was… a friend, that I had made in Manehattan. Yes, I worked for assassins, but I still had a life from that one. I couldn’t believe what I had read. I was being made to kill my friend!”

Gilda pounded on the hay hard enough to hit the wood and metal beneath, making a loud noise that shocked Flash Sentry.

“Sorry,” apologized Gilda. “But it was that moment that I hated myself for what I had become. I traced the letter back to the address it was sent from.”

Annie placed her thumb beneath her chin and her curled index finger atop it, suddenly coming to a realization.

“The murdered pony wasn’t by chance Flash Fly from Fillydelphia, was it?”

Gilda nodded shamefully.

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “That unsolved case last month, that was me. But you know what? I’d do it again!” she growled running up to the edge of the cage and standing on her hind legs, her talons gripping the bars. “I wasn’t going to let my good friend die!”

“Gilda.”

“What if one of the others had gotten the letter and sent it to Vanhoover? Then what?”

“Gilda!”

“They wouldn’t have cared!”

“GILDA!”

Gilda settled back on her fours, panting and looking genuinely frightened. Flash Sentry now looked upon this griffon with a newfound respect, now empathetic with her cause.

“I’m sorry that that had happened,” said Annie. “Please, tell me what had happened next.”

“It didn’t take too much time for the other Fates to know that it was me who killed him,” Gilda continued, “but they couldn’t tell the authorities about it lest they exposed themselves. The only option had to be to get rid of me. And that’s just what they tried to do.

“Two nights ago, I was asked to accompany Dark Glass to our next job, Stinkin’ Rich III. And while his business was failing, the reason for his death was entirely different. His brother, Madly Rich, did not want to see his brother driving their father’s firm into the ground, and wanted to take it over. Of course, Stinkin’ had to be out of the picture.

“I was so-called ‘subbing’ for Bruiser to make the murder look like a mugging. That’s when Black Glass pulled out that griffon claw thing, killed Stinkin’ Rich, and then left me to make it appear like I did it. So stupid.”

“Why do you think they framed you instead of just killing you?”

“I don’t know! I guess they wanted to do the job and get me out; kill two birds with one stone, or something!”

Annie looked at Gilda, and she was absolutely flustered, both from her traumatic recounts and her exhaustion. Annie looked into Gilda’s pleading eyes, finding the truth boring from them like geysers. Flash Sentry was now gently smiling at Gilda, finding trust in her unabashed honesty.

“Thank you, Gilda,” she said. “I just have three more questions for you.”

“Yes?” asked Gilda.

“Do you know the pony that I rescued today? I mean, did you know what he was being targeted for?”

“No. Us members of the Fates handle our own assignments and only talk to the ones who we include in the assignments.”

“Alright,” Annie sighed, “and I’m surprised we didn’t talk about this sooner: Who are the members at the Vanhoover branch?”

“I’ve never met them, but they, like the Manehattan guys, have their own Slicer, Bruiser, and Doctor. However, their leader is named White Glass.”

“Okay. Last one. Is there a central boss for both branches?”

“Yeah. He only goes by Commander, and only Black Glass and White Glass can report to him, no exceptions. Who this Commander is, I have no idea. I literally know nothing about him except for the name.”

Annie and Gilda stared off as the former searched for any last questions she thought she would need. However, Gilda had a very exhausting day and had given away plenty of information that she deemed useful for her purposes. Annie closed her eyes and let out a relaxing, conclusive breath.

“Wait here,” Annie told Gilda as she turned to the door and opened it.

Gilda watched as Annie left the car, closing the door behind her.

“Wait,” Gilda called, “where’s she going?”

“Not sure,” answered Flash Sentry, whose voice was entirely humbled by her story. “So… yeah, I just want to say… I’m really sorry for what happened to you. And I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time this afternoon at the end there.”

Gilda looked into Flash Sentry’s eyes, and his sincerity shone from them. Even though Annie was away, her words and presence rung strong in her head.

“Don’t sweat it,” she said, fanning her talon. “I shouldn’t have lied in the first place.”

“You’re right. If I know the princess like I do, she would have been happier that you killed for a friend and were still sorry about it than killing in cold blood.”

“You really think so?”

“Why don’t you ask Annie when she comes back. I’m sure she’ll vouch for me on this one.”

“Where did she even go, anyway?”

“I might have a feeling…”

Annie emerged from the entrance to the cell car, two glasses filled halfway with ice and crystal pinched in her thumb and index fingers. Annie grabbed one of the other glasses with her left hand and knelt down before Gilda.

“Is that crystal?” Gilda asked, offended. “No fair! How come he gets some and I–”

Annie began to lift the glass in her right hand through the bars of the cell and hold it out in front of the confused griffon.

“Maybe if you didn’t get so hostile and just waited,” scolded Annie, “you would have known this crystal was for you.”

Gilda prowled to the front of the cell and slowly reached for her drink.

“Come on,” Annie egged. “You don’t want the ice to melt before you drink it, do you?”

Gilda huffed at her remark and snatched the drink from Annie’s hand. She immediately took a sip, savoring the taste of the liquor with a deep, calming breath.

“Where did this stuff come from?” asked Gilda. “This is really good crystal.”

“It was given to us on the train,” explained Annie before taking a sip herself. “Canterlot gets shipments of crystal straight from the Crystal Empire, so I’m guessing this is where it comes from.”

“Nice. Just one of the perks of being on the force, huh?” she responded with a cheeky smile.

“You can say that. In fact, let's start over from this point forwards. My name is Annie. Annie Leonhardt.”

Annie reached her hand through the bars towards Gilda. Seeing her harmless and friendly endeavor, Gilda smiled as she clasped her talon around Annie's palm.

"Gilda," she responded. "It's... really cool to meet you."

Annie soon pulled her hand away and stood back to her feet.

“Well,” Annie said, “it’s getting late, and we all need some rest before we get to Canterlot tomorrow morning. I just want to say… thank you, Gilda. You’ve been a very great help.”

Gilda smiled at Annie and raised her glass to her before gulping the rest of the crystal down. She suddenly realized how stupid a decision that was when her face contorted into nausea and she erupted into a huge coughing fit, overpowered by the strong drink.

“Careful there,” Annie said. “We don’t need you choking to death on the train.”

Gilda chuckled as she wiped her beak with her arm, Flash Sentry watching her as he held the door open.

“It’ll take more than a little crystal to kill me,” she gagged.

“Right. Well, good night anyways.”

Flash Sentry walked into the next car up while Annie followed him into the entryway. Gilda saw as Annie too gulped the last of her drink, but did not react as violently as Gilda did. Gilda found her feat to be quite incredible. Once the door closed, Gilda let out another smug smirk and scoff, pushing her glass out of the cell and letting it slide to the floor.

“Not bad,” she muttered to herself as she curled her body up and lied down upon the hay. “Not bad at all…”

Gilda felt a wave of calm and tranquility wash over her as her eyes quickly shut, finally happy with a comfortable place to sleep.
________________________________________________________________________________________

A train, which consisted of only an engine, one small boxcar, and a caboose, had sped off the Manehattan Bridge and onto Equestria’s mainland. Snow had begun to fall from the sky, lightly frosting the grass and glistening it with white. As the train ran by, the snow whipped off the ground and swirled in the air behind it as it passed.

Inside the boxcar, a light from the center shone down Lying down on their sides, both Black Glass and Bruiser groaned in discomfort. The side of Black Glass’s head contained an icepack, which also covered his left eye. Bruiser lay on his left side while a hefty amount of bandages covered his right forearm. Doctor held a pair of tweezers in his magic grasp, carefully removing the small shards of glass and wood that were still lodged into Slicer’s skin. With each piece pulled out, Slicer let out a small squeak as she bit a cloth.

“She’ll pay for that,” grunted Slicer. “That human and that griff– AH!”

Doctor pulled a sizable piece of glass from Slicer’s wing, placing it in a large glass beaker along with the other blood soaked pieces.

“Calm down,” scolded Doctor as he wiped the gash clean with a damp and blood-stained towel. “Your aggression will only make the procedure worse.”

“Yeah, well,” mentioned Bruiser, “that girl broke my ribs and my arm! She also made the fates look like a bunch of tots! Do you expect us to be fine and dandy about that?”

“I expect you to shut up and let the medicine do its work.”

Bruiser huffed angrily as he laid his head back down onto the floor of the car.

“And we’ll be healed by tomorrow morning?” asked Black Glass.

“Yeah,” agreed Slicer. “I can’t do anything with my body like th– AHAHA!”

“I told you to calm down,” Doctor ordered as he discarded another piece of glass into the beaker. “That serum I gave you was very expensive and I don’t want you wasting it. It will speed your healing significantly, but only when bodily activity is at a minimum.”

Slicer let out another hiss as a piece of wood was pulled from her flank, keeping her teeth clenched on the cloth.

“How much faster can we go?” asked Bruiser. “They’ll be in Canterlot way before we will.”

“It doesn’t matter,” assured Black Glass. “Whether through the greatest luck or the worst misfortune, we will get them before then. After all, not everything goes according to plan…”

Black Glass gave his comrade a confident, toothy smile, leading both Bruiser and Slicer to give him a smile as well, knowing that they could have full faith in their leader. Doctor, still preoccupied with Slicer’s wounds, pulled another shard of glass from her body, making her wince in pain once again.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie snoozed comfortably on the booth at the left side of the car facing the back of the car with her glass from the night previous upon the table, only a layer of melted ice water left inside. Her 3D Maneuver Gear and sheaths were organized and set on the bench across from her.

Flash Sentry was out of his armor and strewn across one of the booths of the right side of the car like a dog, sleeping as peacefully as his human partner. Sunlight leaked through the closed blinds, but could not distract Annie nor Flash Sentry from their sleep.

The sound of screeching brakes and a sudden forward jerking of the train stirred Annie from her sleep. While the lurch pushed Annie and Flash Sentry into the backrests, Annie’s Maneuver Gear shifted off the bench and fell to the ground with a loud, surprising clang.

Annie and Flash Sentry both shot up at the sound and finally heard the full extent of the screeching and the feeling of slowing down. Annie began to walk her way to the engine, but found herself slamming into the car’s door instead.

“Are you alright?” shouted Flash Sentry over the screeching.

“Yeah,” grunted Annie. “Check on Gilda! Make sure she’s alright!”

Flash Sentry fought the forwards force as he made his way to the back of the car. Annie slid open the door into the entrance to the engine and let the force of the continual stop pull her in, seeing the scared face of the conductor inside.

“What is going on?” asked Annie.

“Look!” the conductor responded.

Annie peered through one of the front windows on both sides of the engine, and the sight that she saw made her seize with fear herself. Up ahead, about fifty yards, a wooden bridge that looked to be passing a small waterfall and cliff on the right was destroyed, a boulder set on the left side of the bridge, wooden and metal debris scattered all about it.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Annie gasped.

The train finally came to a stop about thirty yards from the end of the track. With the train finally stationary, Annie ran as fast as she could to the passenger car, stopping at her booth and sliding her disarrayed Maneuver Gear from under the table. Being that it was already constructed, Annie didn’t have too much trouble putting it on.

Once it was fastened and secured, Annie ran back to the cell car, just managing to continue running as she opened both the front, then the back doors of the storage car. Annie burst into the cell car, seeing Flash Sentry kneeling beside Gilda on the other side of the bars, who rubbed her head in response to the extremely rude awakening.

“What in the hay is going on up there?” Gilda groaned. “Why did we stop?”

“The tracks have been destroyed,” Annie said. “A boulder rolled down the cliff and took the bridge out.”

Gilda shot to her feet, despite having a face of crippling depression.

“What?” she shouted.

“This can’t be a coincidence,” Flash Sentry reasoned angrily. “Gilda, you tell me, how fast do you think it would take for the Vanhoover Fates to get here?”

“For all of them?” asked Gilda, flustered by the time-ticking away. “They’d need to get here by train too, and that wouldn’t be for a couple more hours… but…”

“But what?”

“Their Slicer, I’ve heard she’s a very fast and enduring flyer. She could have very well came about an hour ago and set off that boulder.”

“I see. That settles it then.”

“What are we going to do? Those guys are going to catch us!”

“Calm down,” ordered Annie. “I have a plan. Flash, I need you to put your armor on, grab your saddlebags, empty whatever’s in there, and fill both bags with as much food and water as you can.”

“On it!” confirmed Flash with a salute before turning to the door.

“Wait!” called Annie. “Bring the crystal too.”

“Annie,” hissed Flash Sentry. “This is no time to be drinking.”

“We’re going to be going up against trained killers. If, God forbid, one of us gets hurt, that crystal is the only kind of disinfectant we have. Bring it.”

“Uh… yes, ma’am!”

Flash Sentry ran back into the next car up, going off to run Annie’s plan. Annie began to follow Flash Sentry into the next car.

“Hey,” shouted Gilda, “where are you go–”

Before Annie went into the next car, she slipped through the left space in between the cars, confusing Annie. From inside, Gilda could only hear a burst of gas, followed by footsteps landing on the roof of the car above her.

“Annie?” called Gilda. “Be careful… she might be out there.”

“I’m aware,” Annie said. “But we need to get you out of there first.”

Hearing the clambering of Annie’s feet and knees above her and approaching the left side of the car, she heard a clicking of the latch holding the side door open.

“Now, Gilda,” called Annie, “when I open this door, I want you to fly up to the roof with me, can you do that?”

“Yeah, sure,” she responded.

“Alright then, get ready.”

As Annie crawled further back to get the last latch, Gilda lowered herself down and unfurled her wings, ready to fly the second the door swung open. With a final click, gravity opened the door down and exposed Gilda fully to their surroundings. As quick as instructed, Gilda leapt out of the car and opened her wings, allowing her to loop backwards and land atop the roof beside Annie.

As Gilda looked up at the cliff on their right, ensuring that an attacker wasn’t present there. Annie looked out to the left. The snow from the previous night had left a thick blanket over the small hill that led to the forest up ahead. Right below her, the left edge of the tracks to the train dropped off in a steep slope. Just further up and on the right, the mountain on which Canterlot stood rose high into the sky.

“Follow me,” Annie said, jogging atop the cars and to the passenger car. Gilda followed her lead, making it to the car with her.

“What’s going on?” asked Flash Sentry from inside, his voice slightly muffled by the roof.

“We’re heading out on foot,” Annie said. “We need to leave in less than three minutes.”

“Alright, I’m packing the food and drink now.”

“Hey, Annie,” suggested Gilda, “wouldn’t it be easier if we just flied to Canterlot?”

“No,” Annie said. “If the one who stranded us out here is a pegasus, and is as fast as you claim, we’ll be nothing but a moving target to her. If we get stranded up on that mountain, we have no chance of making there by foot after that.

“It will take much longer, probably overnight, but we can cut down on her flight capabilities by going into that forest and moving on from there. However, this means that engaging with the rest of the Fates is more-than-likely inevitable.”

“So, like, fight them? Are you nuts?”

“Perhaps, but if it means survival, it’s our only option. Besides…”

Annie placed her operational devices over the bases of two blades and drew them out, taking Gilda aback.

“…I’ll ensure that those bastards are given justice… my justice.”

The door to the storage car slid open, and Flash Sentry flew out of it and landed right next to Annie, putting her in between him and Gilda.

“You’re going to kill them?” Gilda asked, flabbergasted. “That’s not very guard-like of you.”

“If it’s for the good of ourselves, as well as any innocents they will prey on next, I know the Princess will forgive me.”

“Annie,” reasoned Flash Sentry, “just think about this for a second. You’ll be going up against trained, hardened killers.”

“So will they,” Annie responded, rendering Gilda and Flash Sentry silent. “I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that Gilda gets to Canterlot. Conductor?”

“Yes?” called the conductor from the engine.

“Obviously, you’ll need to stay here to send a distress signal for other trains trying to pass through here and keep them from crossing that bridge. This means you’ll more than likely have to come across the ponies trying to chase us when they come by.”

“Well,” he stammered, clearly nervous, “what should I tell them?”

“Tell them exactly where we are.”

“WHAT?” Flash Sentry and Gilda shouted at the same time.

“We’re going to be engaging with them whether he leads them off our trail or not. What I want to keep from happening is this conductor getting killed when they find out he’s lying. So, just tell them what they need to hear, and they’ll leave you be. Understand?”

“Y– Yes, ma’am!” the conductor called back.

“That’s that then. On my mark, we get off this train and take cover in the forest. Then we make our way to Ponyville?”

“Ponyville?” Gilda asked, poorly concealing her shock.

“Without climbing that mountain,” Flash Sentry explained, “it’s the closest town from our location.”

“That’s right,” Annie confirmed. “Once we make it there, we can take a train back to Canterlot and get Gilda to safety. Now then, are we ready?”

“Yeah,” Gilda and Flash Sentry answered in tandem, Gilda sounding more reluctant.

“Then we go now!”

Annie hopped off the roof of the train and down to the embankment. Both Flash Sentry and Gilda leapt off and glided down to the ground. Annie landed upon the top of the steep slope and slid down, leaving two wide, deep tracks of snow where her feet had passed. Upon reaching the bottom of the hill, Annie sprinted up and towards the forest.

Gilda landed down behind her while Flash Sentry continued to fly behind Gilda, turning around to be Annie’s eyes from behind. As he looked back, seeing nothing amiss, he looked at the boulder that had destroyed the bridge. On the side of it, there was a black, wavy ring upon it. Flash Sentry huffed, realizing that it really wasn’t coincidence.

A bang sounded from the train, and a red ball of light flew high into the air, leaving a pillar of smoke in its wake. Flash Sentry, already realizing the certainty of the Fates’ arrival, glanced behind him to see the forest within only a few yards. Landing back on his hooves, he galloped behind Annie and Gilda and disappeared into the cover of the forest with them.

Chapter 7: The White Slicer

Annie, Gilda, and Flash Sentry tread carefully through the forest, keeping their eyes peeled in all directions for the Vanhoover Slicer. Annie’s ears took in every noise of the ambiance, waiting for the slightest disturbance to prepare herself.

A kicking in the snow to her right shot Annie’s eyes open, forcing her to stop and take an offensive stance with her swords. Gilda and Flash Sentry stopped in their tracks as well, certain that they heard something as well. With the silence of the three, Annie could continue hearing small kicks in the snow coming from the right in fast beats.

Following the sound with her eyes, Annie watched as a rabbit bound through the snow as fast as its legs could carry it. While Gilda and Flash Sentry relaxed, Annie’s body still tensed up, angered by the uncertainty of when the ambush would come.

“Hey, easy there,” Gilda chuckled, “it was just a rabbit. Nothing to go all scaredy-cat about.”

“She’s out here,” Annie whispered. “I can feel it. In fact, I bet she’s watching us right now, waiting for the right time to strike.”

“I understand, Annie,” Flash Sentry said, “but it was still just a rabbit, nothing to get riled up about.”

Annie stood still, finding the right thing to say in response, also listening to the wind to hear anything amiss.

“Alright,” Annie quietly relented, “but keep quiet and listen out–”

The near-silent whistle of metal flying through the air could be heard by Annie from her left. Spinning around and leaping to Gilda’s left, she swung her sword up. As Gilda and Flash Sentry turned, they could see what Annie heard and now too saw: an eight-inch dagger flying straight towards Gilda’s chest.

Before Gilda could even wince in defense, Annie’s sword struck the airborne dagger at the base of the blade, batting it up where it flipped and twirled up and over Gilda. Annie turned to the source of the blade while Gilda turned to watch the first one land in the snow.

Another swish sounded off but it came from the right. Annie looked to see a second dagger flying towards her face. Annie formed a cross with her blades in front of her face, hearing the blade of the knife bounce off her steel and land blade first into the ground.

Annie heard another whiz come from the left, seeing another knife flying towards Gilda’s ribs. Annie leapt forwards and put her blade out, the hilt of the dagger catching itself on Annie’s blade, leading it to swing around the blade and fall to the ground.

Annie heard a wind rush from the source of the last dagger over the trees and land off to Gilda’s right, out of sight in the shade of the trees. Annie swiftly placed her right blade and operational device into her left sheath, squatted down to pick up the fallen knife by the blade and leapt up. Over Gilda’s back, Annie could see a glimmer in the faint darkness.

Annie rolled her back over Gilda’s and landed upon her right side. Using the momentum of her roll, Annie whipped the blade out towards the location of the glare. Annie did not care about the direction of the knife she threw, only the one her attacker would respond with. Sure enough, another knife came whizzing straight for her.

Keeping in line with her movements of her throw, Annie reached back for her operational device in her sheath and grabbed hold. With an upward swing, Annie brought the blade back out and deflected the attacker’s blade. At the same instant, a distinct slicing sound and a painful yelp could be heard.

Annie made a triumphant huff as she ran out to find the assassin. As Flash Sentry looked out for any others, Gilda was too stunned over what she had seen Annie do to move. Annie found a shadow lying in the shade, which only became more defined as Annie moved closer.

The shape appeared to be a pegasus pony, whose white coat was stained red with its blood coming from the left wing. Annie could see that the pony was a mare, and equipped to her sides were two large bags with slots on the bottom front. Each side had the handle of a knife poking out from it. On both of the pegasus’s arms were two metal and leather cuffs, each one with another circular slot out on the inside.

Annie carefully observed her wound, which appeared to be a deep gash in the wing which continued to spurt with blood. The pegasus looked up to Annie with a spiteful scowl and glare. Immediately, she hopped back and away from Annie.

Annie thrust forwards at her, her arms out to swing. The white pegasus reached towards her bags with both hooves, slipping a blade handle inside each sloth on her cuffs and awaiting Annie’s move. As Annie swung her blades out, the white pegasus slipped her knives from her bag.

With the dagger in her left hoof, she pushed Annie’s right blade out and away from her, following the swing. In her right hoof, she blocked Annie’s left sword entirely, forcing it back. Annie gasped as she found her torso completely exposed. With a smirk, the pegasus kicked her right-back hoof forwards, nailing Annie in the chest and hurling her away.

“Annie!” shouted Flash Sentry.

Annie still managed to land safely on her feet, as did her assailant. Annie panted, feeling the soreness in her torso as she stared the white pegasus down, who also panted to alleviate the sting at the base in her wing, which she folded and tucked behind her bag. Her two knives were still in her cuffs but the slots were turned backwards so the blades pointed behind and away from her, allowing her hooves to be upon the ground.

“You must be the Slicer from Vanhoover,” Annie remarked.

The White Slicer scoffed and smirked proudly at the title.

“A wise assumption,” she stated. “You know, the Manehattan Slicer had told me to take extra precaution with you. I suppose even that wasn’t enough of a warning.”

“It will be your last,” threatened Annie, “because I’m ensuring that you do not leave this forest alive.”

The White Slicer scoffed and smirked, amused by Annie’s words.

“Flash Sentry,” called Annie, still keeping her eyes on her enemy, “take Gilda and go. I’ll catch up. Just let me deal with her.”

Gilda gasped slightly, frightened over the prospect of losing their best protection. Flash Sentry walked around and in front of her.”

“Gilda,” whispered Flash Sentry. “You heard her. Let’s go.”

Annie heard Flash Sentry and Gilda both run off to Annie’s left. She took a quick glance to the left to see the two of them going directly east. With Annie seemingly distracted, the White Slicer galloped forwards, jumping high into the air. Annie’s body quickly became taut, turning her gaze back to the White Slicer.

Swinging her left blade in an upward arc, Annie watched as the White Slicer’s dagger flipped out from her right cuff and locked into place, the blade pointed down with her hoof. Both blades met in a flurry of sparks and sharp ringing that pressed both of them away.

Annie kept her ground while the White Slicer was hurled to Annie’s right. On the way down, the left knife flipped out as the White Slicer reeled her arm back. With a precise, underhanded chuck, the White Slicer’s dagger flew through the air towards Annie’s face. With her sword still completing its swing, and her right sword too far away, Annie jerked her torso and neck back, just managing to miss the blade by mere inches.

With her shift, however, Annie felt her body fall to the ground and onto the snow just as the White Slicer fell onto her back. Annie rolled onto her stomach to see the White Slicer twisting her body to the right, her right arm held behind her to throw. Annie began to roll right and away from the predicted path of the knife.

The White Slicer threw the knife right into the path of Annie’s roll. With a gasp, knowing that she couldn’t dodge it, Annie put her swords up. The blade of the dagger hit the sword, bouncing off behind her. Annie put her hands down on the ground and pushed off with her feet and hands, jumping up and landing again on her feet.

Likewise, the White Slicer twirled about onto all four hooves. Looking back to Annie, the White Slicer saw her charging with both swords held down at their sides. The White Slicer stood on her hind legs and inserted two new knife handles into the slots in her cuffs, whipping them out of her bag and flipping them forwards, pointing the blades out.

Annie arced her right sword over her head and moved it right alongside her left. With a swing to the upper right, Annie blades aimed for both the White Slicer’s chest and neck. The White Slicer jumped up and put her knives out to block the blades. The force was such as to send the White Slicer flying and flipping towards a tree.

The White Slicer was prepared, landing on the bark of the tree and pushing off. Annie crossed her swords defensively, awaiting the next attack. The White Slicer threw both daggers at Annie’s face, which she easily blocked with her swords. With Annie’s blades blocking her vision, the white slicer flipped back forwards and drilled Annie in the right hand with one of her back hooves, knocking her to her back.

In pain, Annie dropped the sword out of her injured hand, letting it fall to the snow. As the White Slicer landed ten feet from Annie, Annie gasped in realization. While the White Slicer stood up, equipping new blades onto herself, Annie grabbed hold of the base of the wire connecting her disarmed sword to her Maneuver Gear.

Swinging to the right, Annie pulled her sword on the wire and had it swing out towards the back of the White Slicer’s right leg. Annie hit her mark just as the White Slicer was about to turn and face her. The blade cut in halfway through the leg just above the hoof. A hefty spurt of blood from the wound and a shrill scream brought the pegasus down to her side.

Yanking her wire back, Annie’s sword flew back towards her and into her hand. The White Slicer rolled onto her stomach, trying to get herself back up despite her now useless back hoof. Annie leapt towards the White Slicer, her arms and blades held out to the left, ready to slash. Using the strength in her remaining three limbs, the White Slicer hopped up and swung her body right, ready to intercept her.

Annie swung hard against the White Slicer’s weak and faulty swing, and with the right accuracy and speed, her blades hit the White Slicer’s wrists, cutting both her cuffs and her hooves from her body. The White Slicer let out another shriek as Annie hit the ground and rolled to her feet. As the White Slicer writhed in agony, Annie ran to the hopeless pegasus as she rolled to her stomach. Before she could move any further, Annie held down the White Slicer on her back and swiped her sword down through the back of her neck, ceasing her screaming and movement.

Annie looked down at the corpse she created, seeing the blood pouring from her hooves, wing, and neck, as well as the sprays leftover on the snow and the pool forming around the body. Annie hissed, knowing that Princess Celestia would be angry with her killing. Looking back to the side of the forest where she, Gilda, and Flash Sentry had come from, Annie knew that the Manehattan branch of the Fates would be arriving soon.

Without a seconds thought afterwards, Annie turned back to the direction where Gilda and Flash Sentry had gone to. Pressing the triggers on her Maneuver Gear, she shot two hooks into the trees, reeling herself away from White Slicer’s slain body and far away from the Manehattan Fates. Within seconds, she disappeared from sight.
________________________________________________________________________________________

As the conductor for Annie and Flash Sentry’s train waited for a response to his distress signal, the sound of another train came up from behind. Looking from inside the engine and peering from the side, the conductor saw the single-car train come into sight.

The conductor galloped from the engine and swung around to the side of the passenger car, climbing the ladder and up onto the roof. He galloped back along the roofs of the cars and then the caboose standing along the edge of the back of the train. The conductor saw the train continue approaching, leading him to wave his arms.

“Stop!” he shouted. “The railway is down!”

The train began to appear around the bend, its brakes already screeching to a halt as the engine appeared closer and closer to the caboose. The conductor stood still and cautiously as the other train’s engine dangerously approached. With the cowcatcher just inches from the coupling of the caboose, the train came to a halt.

Poking out from the side of the engine was Black Glass, disguised in a conductor’s uniform. The boxcar behind the engine opened up, Slicer, Bruiser, and Doctor, each equipped with saddlebags, hopping out and sliding down the embankment in the snow.

“Pardon me,” Black Glass asked, “do you know what happened here?”

“I’m afraid the bridge’s been destroyed,” answered the conductor. “Where were you going?”

“Look!” called Bruiser. “Hoofprints! They look like those human’s feet too!”

“It doesn’t concern you,” Black Glass claimed to the conductor. “Feel free to take our train back. We’re done using it.”

Black Glass jumped out from the engine and slid down with his other three comrades. Together, they ran off towards the forest, leaving the nerve-racked conductor on the roof of the caboose. With his life now in safety as the ponies Annie referred to disappeared into the forest, he jumped across the roofs of the caboose onto the engine to Black Glass’s train and climbed in, preparing to reverse onto a safer line.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie made it to the end of the forest, landing back on her feet, putting her blades and operational devices back in her sheaths. Running fast along the hilly area towards the base of the mountain where Canterlot stood on, Annie looked about for any sign of Gilda and Flash Sentry.

As well, Annie looked up and about her surroundings, waiting for the Manehattan Slicer to appear before her. Annie’s lungs were burning with the frozen winter air, and her limbs started to show signs of aching. Despite this, Annie continued to run over each crest and dip of each hill, hoping that she would be reunited with Gilda and Flash Sentry soon.

The sounds of crashing waves and rushing water soon became audible to Annie. She realized that she was approaching a sizable ravine where a wide river ran through. The slope looked steep, but there looked to be shores on both sides large enough so that Gilda and Flash could sit and wait on her. Annie ran up to the edge, looking left and right for Gilda and Flash Sentry. She was unable to see them, even after checking once more.

“Annie!” shouted Flash Sentry.

Annie looked further down, only to see the griffon and orange pegasus below her on her right. With a sigh of relief, Annie faced away from the river and jumped feet first. Grabbing her operational devices and leaving the blades inside the sheaths, Annie pulled the triggers, shooting both hooks into the rock wall, catching her.

Clicking the bottom triggers, Annie rappelled down the cliff and onto the stony, sandy shore, which was hardened with the cold. Annie walked up to Gilda, who had a well-picked carcass of a salmon at her talons while Flash Sentry chewed on an apple. Both of them were elated to see her.

“So what happened?” asked Gilda. “Where’s that Slicer?”

“I killed her,” Annie responded as she put her operational devices away into her jacket.

Both Flash Sentry and Gilda’s relatively happy demeanors vanished, instead replaced by fear and slight sickness.

“You… killed her?” Gilda asked, gulping in fear.

“It was my life or hers, and unless you want to try and get to Ponyville without my help, I think you can guess which option was best for us.”

Gilda breathed through her nostrils and looked away, shamefully acknowledging that Annie was right.

“Annie,” hissed Flash Sentry, stepping forwards, “what do you think the princesses will say if they find out you killed somepony?”

“She won’t just find out,” Annie declared. “I’ll tell her myself. If she wants, I’ll tell her how I cut her wing, her leg, her hooves, and her neck.”

Gilda and Flash Sentry gasped, shocked by Annie’s accepting nature of her actions.

“It won’t end here either,” Annie said. “The rest of them will come for us and they will ensure that we die before we get to Ponyville. Not only will we not allow them that chance, but we will not allow them to hurt anyone ever again.”

“Annie…” Flash Sentry whispered, wanting to get his point in.

“We can just avoid them!” exclaimed Gilda. “If you really did kill the Vanhoover Slicer, then we should be smooth sailing to Ponyville if we fly there!”

“Wrong,” Annie corrected. “With the time wasted fighting her, and you two waiting for me, the Manehattan Fates are probably close behind us. Flying would only make us more visible, especially with the other Slicer about.

“Make no mistake, they won’t stop. They won’t stop looking for us, and they certainly won’t stop killing. Even if we make it to Ponyville, we have no way of tracking them down after that. All we have are physical descriptions of them, incomplete ones at that. Once we escape, they’ll scatter right back into the shadows, never to be seen again. Gilda, as much as I want to ensure your safety, you must know that you will never be safe as long as a single one of them lurks around.”

“So what do we plan to do?” asked Flash Sentry. “Let them find us so we can kill them all?”

“That’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’ll continue our path to Ponyville and more than likely run into the rest of the Vanhoover Fates. Then, we’ll wait for the Manehattan ones to come and then we finish them off.”

“But what about Commander?” Gilda asked. “Won’t he still be hiding?”

“I doubt it. If both branches are out here, I’m almost certain their leader will be among them to better instruct them. Either way, you needn’t worry. We’re going to kill the rest of these bastards, and we’re going to get you home safely. Alright?”

Gilda, still surprised by Annie’s resolve, couldn’t help but find her courage motivating. Slowly approaching her, Gilda looked right into Annie’s eyes.

“For what it’s worth,” Gilda said, “I’m all on board with this. I’m not letting them take us down without a fight.”

“Flash?” questioned Annie.

Flash Sentry looked to Annie and Gilda, unsure of how to respond. Then looking at Annie, his speech at the plaza in Manehattan had come back.

“No,” he relented, “you’re right. If justice won’t bring them down, we will.”

“That’s good,” Annie said. “I can see that you’ve already eaten.”

“Well, we’re in for a long trip, and we needed to eat breakfast anyway. What about you? Do you need anything.”

“No time. We need to get moving now.”

“Annie, you need something.”

Flash Sentry began to dig through his bag, much to Annie’s annoyance and impatience. Finally, he pulled out a small, rectangular package in an orange, metallic wrapping. With a flick of his neck, Flash Sentry tossed the package to Annie, who caught it in one hand.

“Granola bar?” asked Annie.

“Yeah,” confirmed Flash Sentry. “It’s portable enough that you can eat it on the go.”

“Fair enough,” Annie said, placing the bar into her jacket pocket. “Then pack the bags, Flash, we need to go.”

“Yes, ma’am!” he responded.

Flash Sentry began fastening the belts on his saddlebags together while Annie turned back to Gilda.

“I won’t be able to get across this river on just my Maneuver Gear,” Annie said. “I’ll need you to carry me over.”

“You got it!” Gilda proudly exclaimed as she sat herself down.

Annie straddled over Gilda’s back and stood still, allowing Gilda to stand herself back up so Annie sat firmly on her back. Flash Sentry slid his saddlebags onto his back, fully prepared to leave.

“Are you ready, Flash?” Annie asked.

“Yes,” Flash Sentry responded. “We’re all ready.”

“Great. Gilda, to the other side, please.”

Gilda flapped her wings and lifted herself off the ground. With a slight dip, she gained speed across the freezing torrents. Flash Sentry leapt up and flew close behind them. Annie’s sights were kept on the top of the ravine, the place where their journey would resume.

Gilda swooped up to the edge of the cliff as Annie hopped off, both of them landing on their feet. Flash Sentry came up and landed beside Annie’s other side. Annie picked the granola bar from her pocket and unwrapped the top half of it. Taking a hefty bite from the thick and chewy mound of oats and sugar, Annie began to run along the west edge of the river with Gilda and Flash Sentry beside her, unsure which adversary they’d come across next.

Chapter 9: Chilling Regret

The whole of the Manehattan Fates and White Glass finally arrived at the Baltimare/Fillydelphia railroad. Immediately, White Glass eyes spotted the slaughtered corpses of the remains of the Vanhoover Branch. Heading down the hill, the others finally saw them too, both shocked and appalled by their deaths.

White Glass trotted to the body of the Tan Doctor, following the trail of blood he left behind, while Black Glass examined the slain Black Bruiser. Black Glass hummed, already knowing what had happened.

“Looks like the griffon got him,” Black Glass mentioned.

“And this one,” White Glass called, “hoo boy, does this one look interesting. No doubt he was hit by the train, but what’s this wound on the back and front of his neck?”

“Perhaps the human had a projectile and shot him,” wondered Slicer, “and then he stumbled onto the tracks.”

“No,” interrupted Doctor. “I’ve seen that device of hers work before. She has hooks that can fire off and grab onto higher places and they pull her up. My guess is that she shot it at your Doctor and pulled him in front of the train’s path with her wire.”

“But look at this,” Black Glass said, picking up an empty syringe and the box it came in. “It seems he hit someone with the cockatrice lilac, but they found his antidote.”

“No doubt that griffon helped. And to think, we might have actually been able to kill one of them.”

“And we’re still set on capturing them?” asked Slicer, irritated.

“Yes,” answered White Glass. “This human must be brought to Commander on his orders.”

“But she’s just going to kill us if we try,” Bruiser said. “I say we just end them and get it over with.”

“Do not fret, Bruiser,” said Black Glass. “From this point forwards, we are all going to attack the two of them at once. Five of us versus three of them, neither of them can wield magic while three of us can; there’s no contest.”

“So then what is the plan?” asked Slicer.

“Here is what we do,” he planned. “White Glass, Doctor, and I will take care of Annie and the guard. You and Bruiser take down Annie. Bruiser, you keep that griffon on the ground, Slicer, you make sure she stays down.”

“Hgh,” she groaned, “yes, sir.”

“Of course,” mentioned White Glass, “the human is the most dangerous of the three, so we need to take no chances with her.”

“What about the guard?” asked Doctor. “He will still need to be dealt with.”

“Yes… but I would not worry so much about him. As long as that human is able to fight, we are all in danger of being killed. She’s already killed at least two of my ponies, and she will stop at nothing to make sure we reach the same fate. Once she’s out, Gilda and the guard will easy pickings.”

“I have only one question,” Slicer asked.

“Yes?” Black Glass wondered in an annoyed tone.

“When do we go? I want to make the human pay for what she did to me.”

Black Glass looked down at the human foot prints that were in the snow.

“These markings look somewhat fresh,” he said. “We should go now if we want any chance of catching them.”

“Then let’s,” Slicer agreed. “Commander does not like being kept waiting.”

Black Glass, White Glass, Bruiser, Doctor, and Slicer galloped into the woods, leaving their fallen brethren behind.
________________________________________________________________________________________

The snow had finally stopped and a large patch of blue had appeared in the sky, allowing the sun to shine its light over Equestria as it began its descent to make way for evening.

Gilda, Annie, and Flash Sentry ran to the top of a tree-laden hill, nearly slipping and falling on the thick blanket of snow that had begun to settle on the land. Once they reached the top, Gilda’s left-back paw slid underneath her, causing her to topple over onto her left side. Gilda let out a loud groan and lied down to breathe. Annie and Flash, seeing her, stopped and turned back.

“Gilda,” shouted Annie, “get up!”

“I can’t!” Gilda groaned.

“Yes, you can! Now, hurry!”

Gilda spat on the ground away from Annie and Flash Sentry.

“I still taste blood in my mouth,” grunted Gilda, “my ribs and face hurt, I’m tired, and I’m sick of this. At this point, I’d rather be dead.”

Annie ran back to Gilda and knelt at her side.

“Don’t say stupid things like that,” Annie scolded. “We’ve already come this far; if you really wanted to die, we could have just left you rotting in Manehattan.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Gilda complained. “I took that hard of a beating from an earth pony. I won’t stand a chance against Slicer or the unicorns.”

Gilda was on the verge of tears, consigning to her fate. Annie squinted, knowing she’d have to reveal herself.

“If you die,” asked Annie, “how will you be able to see your friend in Ponyville again?”

Gilda gasped, knowing that she had figured it out.

“But…” said Gilda. “I said my friend lived–”

“In Manehattan,” interrupted Annie, “I know. However, on the train last night, you had said that if you hadn’t received the letter that targeted your friend, it would be sent to Vanhoover. If your friend lived in Manehattan, then the Manehattan Fates would take the job. Hell, they’re stationed in the same city.”

Gilda knew she had caught her, and just bowed down as Annie continued to uncover the truth.

“And you had also told me that you were hoping to live in Ponyville at the beginning of your investigation. Seeing as how Vanhoover takes care of the Ponyville jobs, you must have been concerned for the safety of a friend who was living there… perhaps the one you were hoping to stay with.”

“Alright, alright!” shouted Gilda, raising her hands guiltily. “You found me out. Yeah, my friend lives in Ponyville; sue me!”

“So… you still lied to me?”

“What would it have mattered? Once you brought me to safety, I would go on living my life like normal. I would never see or think of her ever again… not that I want to.”

“But you care enough for her that you killed somepony for her sake?”

“Shut up!” Gilda shouted, her eyes red and wet. “You don’t know anything!”

“Then tell me,” Annie said. “Who was this pony? Why would you kill for her?”

Gilda clenched her teeth, not wanting to tell her anything, but fighting the guilt she would feel by withholding it. Finally, Gilda let out a defeated sigh and admitted it.

“Rainbow Dash…” she mumbled.

“Huh?” Annie and Flash Sentry both questioned.

“Her name is Rainbow Dash. The only friend I ever had.”

Annie, while shocked to know that one of Gilda’s friends was also one of her friends, kept quiet, knowing that it had no point in this discussion.

“The only friend?” Annie asked.

“Yeah,” she admitted, sitting herself up. “My mom and I lived in Cloudsdale when I was a cub, and I had joined the flight camp there. Being a griffon among a bunch of ponies is really hard, especially when you’re the only one…
________________________________________________________________________________________

Gilda, much much younger, walked about the military-like environment of the flight camp, a metal lunch box held in her beak. However, with the fluffy buildings and numerous obstacle courses, Gilda looked wondrously and excitedly at her surroundings, finding it much like a giant amusement park.

*PTWPK*

The browned core of an apple struck Gilda in the cheek, causing her to drop her lunchbox on the cloudy surface. As she rubbed the sore spot, the sound of two colts laughing turned her head towards the sound.

One of the colts had a light-cocoa-colored coat with a brown tail and a very stylish mane. The other was a darker, desaturated brown with a sandy-colored mane and tail, his mane draping over his eyes. Neither one had their cutie marks. Gilda watched hurtfully as the two colts approached her, the light brown pony blocking her front, the dark-brown pony from behind.

“Whoa,” the dark-brown colt spoke, “who let the freak of nature in?”

“I’m no freak of nature!” Gilda defended. “I’m a griffon!”

“And what’s that supposed to be?” the cocoa-colored colt asked. “A cross between a cat and a chicken?”

“Lion and eagle…” she tried to correct over the two colts’ laughter.

Gilda, feeling herself overpowered, began to crouch down into submission, tears forming in her eyes. The laughing of the light-brown colt was replaced by a hard oomph as he fell down to the ground by the buck of another foal.

Gilda looked up to see a light-blue filly with a messy rainbow colored mane, several of the hairs loosely sticking out. The filly looked furious as the pony she hit got herself up.

“Why don’t you leave her alone?” she called out. “What did she do to you?”

The dark-brown colt, running to his friend, stood before the filly with him, unsure of who she was.

“Who the hay are you?” asked the light-brown pony.

“My name’s Rainbow Dash!” she declared. “Remember it, because I’m going to wipe the floor with you this summer!”

The two colts looked at Rainbow Dash with a mixture of anger and fright. As badly as they wanted to take her, they did not want to get in trouble with the teachers if they won, or with their fellow ponies if they lost.

“Whatever,” the brown-pony grumbled. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Both ponies sulked away, defeated and holding whatever piece of their dignity they had. Gilda, seeing the bullies leave, stood up and meekly approached her savior.

“Wow,” she said, “that was really cool of you to do that.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Rainbow Dash assured her, brushing her back hooves on the cloud. “Those guys were jerks. Say, who are you? I’ve never seen anything like you before!”

“Me? Well, my name is Gilda. I’m a griffon. I’m like a mix of a lion and an eagle.”

“Cool! We should totally hang out!”

“Really? You want to?”

“Of course! It’s not every day that a pony gets to be friends with a griffon!”

“Sure! I’ll… hang out!” she said with a nonchalant shrug.

Rainbow Dash ran around Gilda and picked up her lunchbox, carrying it in her own mouth. Gilda made a happy smile as the two of them walked around the campgrounds together, talking and giggling away.
________________________________________________________________________________________

“Funny thing is,” Gilda forced out a chuckle, “we were two of the worst flyers in the camp. Those two would continue picking on us, calling her ‘Rainbow Crash’ and me ‘Gil-duh,’ putting more energy in the ‘da.’

“It didn’t matter how many times we failed on those first few days. We still had each other’s backs, and that’s all that mattered. We would sleep over at each other’s houses all summer, practicing our drills and lessons until we each became two of the better flyers in the camp by summer’s end. After that, we went to school together, and then we both went to do the next level of camp the next summer.”

Flash casually listened in on Gilda’s story while Annie continued to stay by her side.

“It sounds like you and Rainbow Dash were really close,” Flash Sentry spoke

“It really sounds like you were close to her,” Annie said. “What happened between you two?”

“It’s a bit of a long story," stated Gilda, "but you deserve to know…”
________________________________________________________________________________________

Gilda flew down to the camp, seeing all the older fillies and colts looking up at her. Landing on the cloud, she turned about her to look for Rainbow Dash, only to not see her anywhere. Looking and walking around, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Gilda stopped, wondering where her friend might be.

Just then, both the light-brown pegasus colt and the dark-brown colt came out before her, each one sporting a cheeky, taunting smile. Gilda, seeing them, snarled viciously. The light-brown colt now had a cutie mark featuring three basketballs while his companion had none.

“Where’s Rainbow Dash?” Gilda demanded.

“Oh, her?” confirmed the dark-brown pegasus. “Last I heard, she got kicked out. Something about snoozing in class.”

Gilda found herself staggering back, devastated by the news.

“What?”

“Yeah,” confirmed the light-brown pegasus. “Looks like your friend ain’t coming back to protect you now.”

“Which means you’re all ours,” added the dark-brown pony.

Both colts began to approach Gilda, who was fighting tears as they snickered in their victory.

“St– Stop!” cried Gilda. “I’m warning you!”

“What are you going to do?” asked the dark-brown colt. “Cluck us away?”

“Or maybe she’ll lay an egg!” joked the light-brown colt.

Gilda couldn’t move back any further, fearfully cowering down as they approached. As their laughs grew louder, Gilda’s tears began to stop and her sadness began to morph into pure anger. Hearing their hoofsteps come closer, Gilda’s eyes shot open, sighting the dark-brown colt.

Gilda leapt onto him with a shrieking roar and pinned him to the ground. The loud noise attracted the other foals as they gathered to see the fight. The dark-brown pony wailed in agony as Gilda’s balled talons struck his face, neck, and chest without mercy or foreseeable end. The light-brown pony could only watch in sheer disbelief as Gilda laid waste to his partner.

A teacher, a light-orange pegasus stallion broke through the crowd of loudly-murmuring children and wrapped his arms around Gilda. Even as the two were separated, Gilda continued to thrash her arms at the gasping, bloodied colt. As Gilda was dragged further away, the students looked upon her with fear at the monster that she had turned into.
________________________________________________________________________________________

“After that, I was expelled from the camp too. I later found out that Rainbow Dash wasn't even expelled; she was just sick that day. I suppose they had to try and kick one of us out.

“My mom was furious with me; said that none of the other schools in Cloudsdale would take me for what I did; scared for their own foals’ safety. She then shipped me off to go to the Griffon Empire where my uncle lived. I never even got to say goodbye to her.”

Annie kept silent, wanting Gilda to carry on.

“For most of my days, I lived in the Griffon Empire. Sure, I was respected more there for being a griffon like them, but... my days in Equestria made me, as they liked to put it, a ‘softy.’ It didn’t seem I couldn’t go anywhere without being made fun of, but it was home at the time. Once I was old enough and got a decent enough education, I left for Ponyville again to look for my old chum.

“After finding one of the old employees still working at the camp, they told me that Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville as part of their weather team. Seeing her again was one of the happiest days of my life. That was when she showed up.”

“Who?”

“Pinkie Pie, one of Dash’s newer friends. Gosh, just the way she’d laugh all the time; so annoying, and only reminded me of the laughter I faced in flight camp.”

Annie nodded, remembering Pinkie Pie in her old world well.

“Admittedly, I treated the ponies there like dirt, much like how they once treated me, and Rainbow Dash broke off from me after I tore at Pinkie Pie in front of her and several of her friends. Sure, I might have tried to look cool on my way out. Truth is, I cried all the way back to Cloudsdale where I reunited with my mom.”

“And I assume this is where you went to Manehattan and joined the Fates?” asked Annie.

“Yeah. Like I said, for a time, I really liked it. The pay was good, I got to travel a lot, and, for a time, it was a good outlet to vent my hatred for the ponies who led me to where I became. Then, soon enough, that’s when I was inducted as a member myself, and I found the letter that requested the killing of Rainbow Dash.

“It was then that I realized what a mistake I had made. I felt like I could never forgive Rainbow Dash back then, but I didn’t want her dead. That was just too far. Soon after, I flew down to Baltimare where the letter was sent. I had a bone to pick with him…

“And that was Flash Fly?” asked Annie.

“Yeah. I broke into his house that night and asked why he would do such a thing. He merely responded that his niece got humiliated by her at a Wonderbolts training camp. That moment, I snapped, both from Rainbow Dash going on to better things without me, and the fact that someone wanted her killed for being a great flyer, which I always knew she was.

“I flew him to his dock behind his house and held him under the water until bubbles had stopped. I then burned the letter and flew back to Manehattan, hoping that no one would be the wiser. But they had found out, and they framed me for Stinkin’ Rich’s murder, and now I’m running for my life with you and Flash.”

Annie could see that Gilda’s tears were once again starting to form in her eyes.

“I really despised Rainbow Dash for picking her pony friends over me,” Gilda choked up, “but not enough for her to die. I could never do that to the only pony who showed me any kind of friendship. I bet she’s over in Ponyville right now, and she doesn’t even care where I am.”

“Gilda…” cooed Annie.

“I’ve made so many dumb mistakes in my life, and I deserve to die… I just don’t want to die without telling her I’m sorry…”

Gilda dug her face into the palms of her talons and let her eyes drain into them and onto the snow. At that moment, Annie’s heart broke for the forlorn griffon. Like her, she had experienced a cold life and could not communicate with others, except for the one person they truly cared for. While Annie’s loved one was already dead and gone, Gilda’s was still alive. Much like Twilight had done for her on Earth, her purpose was clear now.

“Gilda,” Annie cooed again, slowly wrapping her arm across Gilda’s back and onto her shoulder, surprising her, “I won’t let you die. Even if I die trying, I guarantee you’re going to be able to tell her you’re sorry.”

Gilda looked to Annie, whose face looked honest and determined; a face she could trust as much as she could trust in a true friend. Gilda leaned into Annie, taking comfort in her sympathy. Annie gently rubbed Gilda’s soft fur as she restored her strength and will to fight.

Flash Sentry smiled, finding their bond even more heartwarming than before. At that moment, a glimmer caught Flash Sentry’s eye. Approaching them from behind, hidden by the faraway trees, he could see White Glass, Black Glass, Bruiser, Doctor, and Slicer approaching them.

“Guys!” Flash Sentry warned as discreetly as possible. “They’re here! They’re coming up the hill!”

Annie and Gilda brought themselves out of their embrace and turned to see that the five assailants were indeed on their tail. Annie and Gilda stood up, knowing a fight would take place soon. Signaled by their full appearance, Slicer flew high above the trees and into the sky, her bladed cestuses on her arms.

“Leave her to me,” Gilda said. “I’ll show her who she’s messing with.”

“You sure?” wondered Annie.

“Just go!”

Annie back up slightly before she darted down the front side of the hill with Flash Sentry, hoping to lure in the others. Gilda and Slicer locked eyes as the three other unicorns ran along the bottom of the hill to go after Annie. Even as Bruiser galloped up the hill, Gilda was ready for Slicer and Slicer only.

Slicer lunged down with her arms to her side, maximizing her speed. With a mighty pounce, Gilda launched herself at Slicer, talons out and ready to strike.

Chapter 10: Onslaught of the Fates

As Gilda flew towards Slicer, she watched as she brought her arms from her side and crossed them before her, her right above her left, ready to cut Gilda like a giant pair of scissors. Gilda, in response, crossed her arms left above her right. Right as Slicer began her swing, Gilda caught her hooves by the base and pulled Slicer’s arms out.

With her head exposed, Gilda thrust her face forwards into Slicer’s forehead. The blacked-out Slicer lost all movement in her body, allowing Gilda’s pounce to push her off and to the ground, rolling down the hill. Before Gilda could land on her feet, Bruiser came up the top of the hill and tackled her down, driving both her and himself into the snow.

Gilda used the momentum of the slide to roll over and toss Bruiser off of her, allowing her to stand back up. Gilda quickly scuttled to the left of the hill, watching as Bruiser stood back up to his hooves while Slicer, her forehead dripping with blood, galloped up and joined Bruiser’s side. With a toothy grin, Gilda acknowledged them both with a glance.

“Biggest mistake you’ve ever made…” panted Gilda, “is that you let me live.”

“Don’t worry,” Slicer responded, “we aren’t making that mistake again.”

Scowling furiously, Bruiser and Slicer charged at Gilda, who crouched down for another vicious pounce.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie sprinted through the woods, glancing behind her to see Flash Sentry tailing her, with Black Glass, White Glass, and Doctor appearing just beyond the backmost set of trees. Annie herself knew that she was no match for three unicorns at once, yet alone the one that nearly killed her previously. If she was to fight them, it would have to be on her terms.

Annie looked up ahead for the best possible place to use her Maneuver Gear, only able to see small tree after small tree. Up ahead, as the trees began to dwindle, there was the tall face of a cliff, with a narrow, but equally tall and moderately long stretch of rock running alongside of it, providing Annie with a ten-foot crevice in between both rock fixtures.

Annie gasped happily increasing her speed as fast as her body would allow. Upon entering the clearing, Annie launched a hook into the top of the front end of the narrow rock wall, flying up towards it. Flash Sentry flew up beside Annie as she bounded over the top of the wall, her body arcing over top.

Landing on her feet, Annie twisted her body around and drew both blades from her sheaths, awaiting the coming of the three unicorns. Flash Sentry landed behind her, his eyes scanning the area to the back of her. Annie breathed as she watched the three ponies approaching the end of the forest. Just as all three could exit, White Glass’s horn began to glow, where he disappeared in a puff of yellow sparks.

Annie watched as Black Glass and Doctor continue to run, Black Glass into the crevice and Doctor to the left of the wall. Flash Sentry, keeping his eyes peeled, watched as White Glass appeared at the top of the cliff further down, his horn still charged.

“Annie!” shouted Flash Sentry. “Behind you!”

Annie turning her head around, watched as a yellow ball of light shot out from White Glass’s horn, leaving behind a faint tail. Annie leapt back and rolled across Flash Sentry’s back, crossing her blades in a defensive shield. The spell crashed into the center of Annie’s cross, where it dissipated in a dusty burst.

At that moment, two spells were cast from both sides below her, one brown, the other blue. Annie dove forwards as the spells passed behind her and crossed off in two directions. Aiming his horn at Annie’s stopping spot, White Glass launched a spell at that direction. Annie, becoming upright as the spell came towards her, kept her right arm back for a swing. Right as the spell could hit her, Annie swung the blade at the ball of light, slicing it in half where it puffed into another cloud of dust.

From below, Black Glass and Doctor huffed angrily, charging their horns and disappearing from their spots on either side of the rock wall.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Gilda flew to the open right side of Bruiser, readying her talons to slash. Bruiser leaned in and put his hoof out, causing Gilda to collide her face into the base. The strength was enough to send both of them to the ground. Gilda found herself on her back with the corner of her beak bleeding as Bruiser tried getting up.

Slicer leapt over Bruiser with a loud battle cry, her arm reeled back for a punch. Gilda rolled over to avoid the hoof as it drove into the snow. Whipping her arm back out, Slicer’s blade caught Gilda on the wing near the base. Gilda let out a shrill shriek as she stood up right, feeling the immense sting. Gilda didn’t need to see that it was bleeding; she knew it would. Folding her wings in, Gilda reeled back for another pounce.

“Whatever,” scoffed Gilda. “Like I need my wings to deal with the likes of you.”

Bruiser managed to stand on his hooves, shaking his hurt right arm as he stood before Gilda with Slicer by his side. Gilda charged at Slicer, who began to ready herself for her attack. Just as Gilda looked ready to jump Slicer, she juked to the right at Bruiser, who put his arms up to block, but was knocked off his back hooves and fell down off the hill.

As Gilda and Bruiser rolled down, Gilda kept hold of Bruiser’s wrists with the tips of her talons, breaking the skin at each point and making each puncture bleed. As they reached the bottom, Bruiser managed to twist his body so that he and Gilda began to spin like a wheel down the hill. Once Bruiser found his back hooves planting into the ground, he threw his arms out. Gilda, her talons still in Bruiser’s arms, tore down the rest of his arm and hooves as her grasp was eventually relinquished.

Gilda somersaulted backwards and to her fours, looking upon the red, wet, and meaty strips running down Bruiser’s front hooves. Bruiser was seething mad as his blood trickled down and onto the snow. As Gilda and Bruiser stared down, she was unaware of the black pegasus speeding up behind her.
________________________________________________________________________________________

A brown burst of light appeared before Annie as Black Glass stood in front of her. As he charged his horn, Annie rolled off the edge of the cliff and shot her left hook at it. Black Glass tried to keep his aim, but his spell only managed to whiz over the edge as Annie retracted her wire and swung along the edge of the wall.

Doctor appeared on the other end of the wall in a blue burst, awaiting for Annie to come around to him. Annie, noticing his appearance, wound her right arm back and reeled herself to the top as her arc continued. Right as she was came up over the wall, she swung her sword out, going online with Doctor’s neck. Doctor quickly produced a small shield to block the blade. Being too weak to fully deflect, Doctor was hurled off the wall, teleporting quickly into his fall.

Annie landed back on the rock wall to see Black Glass firing another spell at her. As with the very first, Annie crossed her swords and blocked the spell away, only for the force of the spell to break Annie’s blades off near the base.

Without missing a beat, Annie threw her arms out and clicked the hammers at the back of her operational devices back, hurling the small blades out of the handles ant at Black Glass. With a glowing horn, Black Glass produced a shield, the swords bouncing harmlessly off and to both sides. As Black Glass was distracted, Annie slid the bases of two more blades into her handles, pulling them out of her sheaths and rearming herself.

Before Black Glass could launch another spell, Flash Sentry flew out from the crevice, flipped over, and kicked him in the side. Black Glass began to topple over, disappearing in a burst of light before he could fall.

“Flash!” called Annie.

Annie ran to Flash Sentry as he landed, panting exhaustedly. She then looked to see a line of blood run down Flash Sentry’s face from the side of his forehead, making her gasp slightly.

“Flash,” spoke Annie, “you’re…”

“It’s alright,” he chuckled. “Gotta’ take one for the team, right? At least I landed a hit on White Glass and Doctor.”

“We haven’t been attacked in a while,” Annie speculated. “They must be exhausting their magic from their teleportation.”

“Then we have this in the bag. Let’s do it, Annie.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Let’s do it.”

Flash Sentry leapt back into the crevice while Annie jumped back down on the outside of the rock wall, spotting a panting Black Glass in her sights.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Gilda leapt high into the air, arcing back to be face to face with Slicer as she barreled towards her. Realizing the danger of her approach, Slicer arced up and away from Gilda. With plenty of momentum to spare, Gilda completed her backflip and landed back on her fours, only for Bruiser to plow into her, hugging her arms down tight and pinning her into the snow.

Gilda struggled to break free as Bruiser squeezed tighter and tighter, grunting as she found difficulty breathing. Looking back up, she found that her face was very close to Bruiser’s. With a quick stretch in her neck, Gilda’s beak scooped into Bruiser’s eye socket, and with another quick jerk, plucked the eye right out, the optic nerve dangling from her mouth like a worm.

Bruiser let go with a loud yell, rolling onto his back as he put his hooves over his eye. Gilda, not taking another chance, rolled over onto Bruiser and sliced his throat with her talons. Gilda gasped for air as she watched Bruiser bleed out, his screams of anguish becoming sighs of mortality.

Gilda, despite her adrenaline and anxiety, could perfectly hear Slicer’s soaring as she came to fly up from above. Gilda hopped back just as Slicer’s blade whished over her head. Pulling up, Slicer landed and faced Gilda. Slicer looked at Bruisers lifeless, bleeding body, gasping at the macabre appearance.

“You want some too?” asked Gilda. “Then come on. I’m right here.”

Slicer, her breathing mirroring the likeness of a bull towards a matador, pushed off the ground and lunged at Gilda, who crouched down to ready her next move.
________________________________________________________________________________________

As Annie swung to the side of the rock wall, she saw White Glass standing and waiting. Annie could note that he was visibly tired, as told by his panting and lax stance. Annie readied her blades for a swing as White Glass noticed her. Just as she swung, White Glass teleported once more, escaping her blades.

Annie hissed as she reeled herself back to the top of the wall. Turning around, Annie saw White Glass standing on the back end, looking absolutely spent. With an angry huff, White Glass lifted his saddlebags off his back, opening the right one. Being pulled out from it was a series of six small blades, each connected by links, unfolding to create a long chain of blades. Tossing the bag to the side, the blade-chain began to orbit White Glass as he stood defensively, waiting for Annie to advance.

Annie walked slowly towards White Glass with her blades held down, unsure which of her steps would be the trigger for him to attack her. Annie was already half the distance to the end and White Glass was still as a statue. Annie then took a running step, but stopped herself. It was all she needed.

White Glass broke his chain’s orbit and hurled an end at Annie’s chest. Annie swung both blades up, crossing to catch the end blade in the middle, following through with her swing to toss the chain up. White glass huffed as his magic grasped the bottom end of his chain. Following the top end of the chain’s momentum, the bottom end of the chain swung and shot out at Annie’s exposed abdomen.

Annie used her front foot to leap back, but the blade managed to slice into her hoodie and cut her. Annie winced at the sting as she watched White Glass return his blades to orbit him. Placing her hand over her stomach, she looked at the blood that she had grabbed. It was a thick line, but nothing to suggest a deep cut.

Regardless, Annie could see her predicament. While it seemed he was too tired to use teleportation, his telekinesis was still more than handy, and his weapon also made for an excellent shield. Annie knew that approaching him was the only chance she had, as his weapon’s range would only serve to keep her further back.

As she took a step forwards, White Glass kept the front end of his chain with him while the other five blades uncoiled and swung out, creating a long blade that Annie knew she couldn’t block without the blades getting her. Jumping to the right, Annie leapt off the rock wall and into the crevice, the blades managing to only cut a few hairs on the top of her head.

As Annie swung to the back end of the rock wall, coming face to face with the side of the cliff, she fired another hook at a wall of rock above the top of the cliff, reeling herself high up to it. Running up the cliff face, Annie pushed off while detaching her hook, flipping high over White Glass, keeping her blades held over and behind her head.

As White Glass prepared to swing his blades up to Annie’s level, she hurled her arms down and pulled the hammers of her operational devices back causing the blades to fling out from the handles and down towards White Glass. By the time White Glass noticed the glimmer of the blades coming at his face, it was too late to provide a shield.

The first of Annie’s blades slid into his body through his shoulder, the second going through his head, right between the eyes and breaking his glasses apart at the bridge. Annie landed back on top of the rock wall with a bounce in her knees to soften the landing. Annie just managed to look up as White Glass leaned towards the outer edge of the wall, falling limply to the ground below.

A burst of brown light came onto the top of the cliff across from the back end of the rock wall. Annie seeing his likewise tired appearance, inserted new blades into her operational devices and unsheathed them, preparing to take him down as well.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Gilda juked to the left right as Slicer came towards her. As she reached out with her talon, Slicer managed to cut the side Gilda’s wrist with her bladed cestus. Gilda ignored the wound, managing to grab hold of Slicer’s wing. With Slicer’s speed and Gilda’s grip and footing, Gilda could hear the pop of Slicer’s wing as it dislocated from the socket.

With Slicer’s flight stopped, Gilda swung her arm up and over her head with Slicer still in her grasp, arcing her up as Gilda’s arm came own towards the ground. The back of Slicer’s head and neck slammed into the ground, where her body violently contorted to the pain and massive stress to her spine.

Slicer, finding herself on her stomach, tried to crawl away, using her cestuses to anchor her to the ground. Gilda walked beside Slicer and leaned her head down towards the back of her neck. Enveloping the back of her neck with her beak, Gilda bit down and jerked her head to the side, hearing the satisfying crack of Slicer’s neck as her body went motionless.

Gilda stood over Slicer, chuckling triumphantly as she looked at her and Bruiser’s bodies. Gilda spat another wad of blood from her mouth as she took a moment to breath.

“Don’t worry, Dash,” she whispered to herself. “I’m com–”

The feeling of a painful prick in her neck stopped her musing, making her arch her neck out in reflex. Reaching to the spot, she felt a dart stuck in the side of her neck, pulling it out and observing it. Turning behind her, she found Doctor with a small riffle with a wide barrel in his magical grasp.

Gilda, realizing what had happened, began to run towards Doctor, who merely smirked and stayed perfectly still. Before Gilda could reach him, her legs began to wobble as the buckled underneath her, making her trip and slide headfirst into the snow. She tried moving her arms, only for them to feel like weights.

“Don’t worry,” Doctor tauntingly cooed, “we aren’t going to kill you… can’t say the same about Com…”

Gilda’s vision and consciousness faded as she failed to fight the sleep, succumbing to Doctor’s poison and closing her eyes peacefully.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie lunged towards Black Glass on the cliff, ready to fire her hooks and leap across to him. Just as she neared the edge, she spotted an orange pegasus flying towards her out of the left corner of her eye. Annie noticed that his speed wouldn’t let up.

“Flash?” she silently wondered.

Flipping his back hooves up, Flash Sentry put his right leg out, aiming towards Annie’s face. Annie, overcome by shock, didn’t react as Flash Sentry’s hoof collided into her face, knocking her off the rock wall and towards the cliff. Annie, disoriented, crashed the other side of her head into the cliff and continued to fall down into crevice.

Annie was out before she even hit the ground.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie’s eyes fluttered open to see Gilda lying beside her, unconscious, but breathing. Shifting her body up, she gripped her head as pain and pressure filled her skull. Annie, although groggy, could also feel that her Maneuver Gear was removed from her body, devices, sheaths, and all.

“Careful there,” called Flash Sentry’s voice.

Annie looked up to see Flash Sentry and Dark Glass standing along the outer face of the rock wall. The streak of blood on Flash Sentry's face looked to be wiped clean. Annie looked around further, seeing Gilda to her left and three bloody sacks laid off next to each other, each one looking to have a body inside. Next to the line of bodies was Annie’s Maneuver Gear, completely destroyed and broken with Doctor standing beside the wreckage.

“Yeah,” Flash Sentry apologized insincerely, “sorry about that. Letting you have that thing on you anymore was only going to make our job more difficult. I might have faked that little... injury I just got,” he said, tapping his forehead, “courtesy of Doctor...”

Doctor nodded to Flash Sentry in response.

“...but I'm certainly not going to get a real one.”

“Flash,” panted Annie, “what is going on? What are you–”

“What, you still haven’t figured it out? Boy, you’re dense.”

“You… you’re working with the Fates?”

“There we go!” he cheered, clopping his front hooves together. “I knew you’d figure it out!”

“Flash… why? How?”

Flash scoffed with a smug smile, as if he still found her lack of understanding amusing.

“Why?” he asked. “Easy. Pays a lot better. How? Well, you remember that little sob story I told you when we were eating dinner together?”

“Huh?”

“Well, guess what? I. Lied! Total liar-liar-pants-on-fire story. I wasn’t getting my flank beat by the neighborhood colts. I was the one doing the beating! Haha!”

Annie felt a pang of nausea hit her stomach, devastated by Flash’s change.

“Eventually,” Flash Sentry continued, “I got so good, that my good ol’ buddy Black Glass,” he said, wrapping his arm around Black Glass’s neck, “let me join the Fates. However, Commander had different plans for me. You see, I was a big top-classified secret disclosed only to both White Glass and Black Glass. They falsified my records and shipped me off to Canterlot to become part of the Royal Guard, where I would send them all the sweet, juicy secrets that the Royal Guard held.

“And like the morons they are, my first couple of months were spent managing the shipments that came from your world to ours. They might as well have just shipped their steel to the Fates themselves and presented it to us with a pretty little bow on top!”

“You skimmed our steel?” Annie hissed.

“Uh, yeah! How else do you think we get the metal for our weapons? By melting down soda cans?”

Flash Sentry laughed again, causing Annie’s fists and scowl to go taut.

“And then there was you two,” Flash Sentry said, his voice changing into one of vindication. “To think, if you had just continued playing dumb and just let that dumb griffon get locked up in the Canterlot dungeons for the rest of her life, we wouldn’t even be here. You’d be back in Canterlot, drowning your sorrows in crystal for the rest of your life.”

“So that’s why you wanted to come,” Annie muttered. “It wasn’t so you could earn your own Maneuver Gear. You wanted to be sure that I didn’t find out the truth.”

Flash Sentry pursed his lips and widened his eyes open in genuine surprise, nodding slightly.

“Check out the big brain on Annie!” he said to Black Glass, who responded with a confirming nod.

“Then why?” she asked. “Why didn’t you just try and kill us earlier.”

“Well, think about it, Annie. It’s you, me, and that griffon on the train, right? Who am I going to blame? The conductor? Yeah, that lie would hold up for long. And then once we were in the forest, I wasn’t going to be able to attack you with both of you around. Either one of you would have tried to kill me if I attacked the other. But, like I was going to let you just waltz into Canterlot and let Gilda spill the beans.”

“Then… that boulder.”

“That’s right! I flew aaaaall the way over to those falls and blew the boulder that destroyed the bridge, with some sticks of dynamite that I found in the storage car, no less. By the time you noticed the bridge was out, it’s not like we had enough time to see that they were missing.

“Of course, I was hoping some of us were going to kill you, but you and Gilda… AH!” he screamed, throwing his head up. “So annoying! But, whatever. We managed to take both of you down, and you’re ours to do as we please.”

“So,” Annie asked, “this is where you kill us?”

“Pfft. I wish. No, Commander would actually like to have a word with you and Gilda before then. However, we should be leaving now. It’s going to get dark soon… and Commander does not like to be kept waiting.”

Annie fought every urge to attack Flash Sentry as he chuckled. Before she could even think again about trying, Black Glass charged his horn and cast a burst of magic at Annie’s head, knocking her back into the snow where she was rendered unconscious immediately.

Chapter 11: The Master

Annie woke up to find herself riding an animal. With her eyes adjusting to the quickly darkening landscape, she could tell by the orange coat and blue mane that she was rested on Flash Sentry’s back. Annie also felt that her arms were held behind her back and bound with rope. Feeling her slight struggle, Flash Sentry turned his head to look at her.

“Don’t even try and make a run for it,” Flash Sentry warned. “I don’t care what Commander will do to me; do not force me.”

Annie sighed, knowing that Flash was right. Turning her head back as her body would allow, she watched as Doctor and Black Glass walked side by side with each other, Gilda, now awake, draped over their backs. Her wings held down with rope, and her talons and paws were tied together.

Annie winced shamefully for the fate of her friend. Looking to the south, she made better acknowledgement of her surroundings: a large expanse of snowy fields with a sparse number of trees. Much further down the hill was the eastern river that ran along Ponyville. Surely enough, further south from the river was Ponyville itself. While still small enough that it looked like a large speck, she could still see the town and its colorful holiday lights clearly.

“Look, Annie,” Flash Sentry taunted. “It’s Ponyville. You were so close!”

Annie took a sigh, watching as their safe haven was off in the distance, and she was now powerless to get her and Gilda there.

“Gilda,” Annie spoke, turning her head towards her. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Annie,” called Gilda. “You did more than anyone should have for me. Before we die, I just want to say… I really consider you a true friend. Thank you.”

Annie gasped, never having heard Gilda mutter those words before. It was true that she couldn’t fight her mutual feelings for her, but to have them returned by her almost felt like an inconsolable pain in her heart. Annie’s eyes began to water as she began to feel her end approaching.

“Aw,” gushed Flash Sentry sarcastically, “isn’t that adorable? And now you two lovebirds are gonna’ die together.”

Annie, her anger towards her former partner returning inside of her, quelled her oncoming tears and furrowed her brow.

“We’re not dead yet,” Annie stated, “and the longer you let us live, the better our chances are for killing you.”

“Wow!” Flash Sentry exclaimed. “You really are one dense broad. You’re going to be a riot when Commander cuts you down.”

“If he cuts me down.”

“What… why you– ugh. Just shut up.”

“Or what? You’re going to kill me?”

Gilda couldn’t help herself as she snickered to Annie’s egging.

“No,” Flash Sentry snapped, “just shut up. We’re here.”

Annie shifted her neck to look past Flash Sentry’s own neck. Over the hill, a grand, massive, but abandoned looking hotel was nestled into the side of the mountain, overlooking the hill that led to the river that separated the rest of the land from Equestria. Off to the left of the hotel was a large plateau where a sizable hedge maze covered the entire area.

“What is this?” Annie asked.

“It was the Equestria Overlook Hotel,” Black Glass explained. “It was one of Equestria’s most lavish hotels and tourist attractions. However, with the construction of the Canterlot Hedge Maze and the founding of Ponyville, business sharply declined and it was forced to close its doors.”

“This,” spoke Doctor, “is where you and your friend shall be executed.”

“Look on the bright side,” Flash Sentry snarled, “it’s certainly a much better place to die than where you killed the rest of the Fates.”

Annie snarled back, knowing that talking would neither prolong nor bring their deaths sooner. After a short, silent walk, Flash Sentry, Black Glass, and Doctor finally approached the large, wooden double doors. Using their magic, both Doctor and Black Glass opened the doors, the creaking making a resounding echo inside.

Despite it being relatively dark outside, lit torches lined the walls and provided ample light to allow Annie and Gilda to observe their surroundings. They found themselves at a large lobby with an upwards staircase that split off to the left and right and continued to the next floor, which wrapped around the walls and lead to two hallways at the left and right of the front.

On the left side of the room next to the staircase, was the check-in counter, and to the right, a collection of beaten and torn sofas and couches sitting around a chipping piano. At the back of the room were two large double doors that led to what appeared to be a glass-domed ballroom which could be seen through the windows in the back above the staircase. The entire place was scattered with cobwebs, many of them bunched and/or strewn about the floor.

Flash Sentry jerked his body to the left, dumping Annie to the floor with a hard thump. Annie despite the sharp pain in her head and stomach, managed to roll to her knees. Black Glass and Doctor lifted Gilda off their backs and set her down beside Annie. Black Glass stepped up ahead of the two of them and upon the stained red rug that led to the staircase.

“Commander!” shouted Black Glass. “We have come with Gilda and the human!”

The echo rung throughout the hotel for what felt like hours. Annie could only sit quietly and wait for this Commander’s appearance. Soon enough, the sound of hooves came towards them from inside the ballroom. What struck Annie as odd was that they were too hard to be human feet, but whomever was coming was certainly bipedal.

The right door opened, and now visible before them was the true identity of Commander and the leader of the Fates. It was a brown, female minotaur who looked slim, but intensely lean. The very short hair on her head was a much darker shade of brown, nearly appearing black.

Her breasts, appearing on the same spot as they would a human, were covered by a steel bra. Her lower region was concealed by matching metal undergarments that went around her lower back and between her legs, a slot making way for her long, waving tail. Strapped to her left side looked to be a sheath for a medium-length, but wide-bladed sword.

Doctor, Gilda, and Annie were both stunned by her appearance, completely unsuspecting a minotaur be their leader.

“Commander is a minotaur?” Doctor whispered to Flash Sentry.

“If you wish to speak, Doctor,” Commander boomed, “you can do it before me now. Now, what is it you wished to know?”

Doctor actually appeared nervous in front of her, something that Commander seemed indifferent to.

“My apologies, Commander,” responded Doctor. “I was just unaware that you were a minotaur.”

“And female, I presume?” wondered Commander. “I’m certain that Black Glass has referred to me as ‘him’ and ‘he’ to you, hasn’t he? I assume it’s to be expected. Why would a bunch of strong ponies want to take orders from someone who isn’t a pony and isn’t male? Perhaps that human that killed most of you off could serve as a reminder.”

“Reminder?”

“That females can be just as fearsome as males. But I digress, I see you brought her and that griffon to me.”

“Yes,” Flash Sentry said, “we have.”

“Human,” Commander asked Annie, “would you mind telling me your name?”

“My name is Annie Leonhardt,” she declared, “soldier of the Royal Guard.”

“You know, you’ve killed a lot of my very good stallions and mares.”

“Don’t pin it all on her,” Gilda spat back, “I killed a few of them too.”

Commander made an amused huff, smirking at the bound griffon.

“Even when tied up and about to die,” Commander spoke, “you still have quite the tongue. Perhaps I should cut it out and let you bleed to death.”

Gilda winced, frightened by the painful prospect.

“It certainly would be symbolic, though.”

“Why?” Annie seethed. “Why would you go and start something like this? Preying on innocent ponies like you do?”

“Innocent?” Commander laughed. “Annie, darling, no one is ever completely innocent. Judging by that griffon over there, I think you and I can certainly agree that ponies can be just as cruel as anyone.”

“But they haven’t killed anyone.”

“Don’t go off being high-and-mighty yourself there, Annie. You clearly have had your share of drawing blood by your blades, so to speak.”

Annie sat back down on her knees, knowing that an argument was pointless.

“As for you,” Commander said, redirecting herself to Gilda as she walked towards her, “you’ve really caused me a lot of trouble. From killing one of our clients to killing several of my Fates.”

“Don’t act all innocent yourself,” grunted Gilda. “I only killed them because your sick little group almost got my friend killed.”

“Friend? You still consider that rainbow-maned freak a friend? Do you seriously think that she’d welcome you back after what you’ve done, or what you’ve become?”

“Annie certainly has. And if she can, so can Dash.”

Commander leaned her face close to Gilda’s, although the latter showed no signs of flinching or retreating.

“It’s too bad you can never find out for sure,” she answered.

Stepping back to the center rug, Commander looked at Annie, who looked furious with her.

“What’s the matter, Annie?” Commander asked. “You look troubled.”

“In what way do you think this is going to work for you? All of the cops of Manehattan will soon know about you, they’ll find you, and they’re going bring all of you to justice. And Flash… you stupid sack of shit…”

Flash Sentry began to glower at Annie, but her face read that she was not done by a long shot.

“What story do you think you’re going to tell Celestia when you go back to Canterlot without Gilda and I?”

“Simple, dummy,” Flash Sentry spat. “I’ll just tell Celestia that after the tracks were blown, the Fates got the better of you and Gilda and I got away.”

“How are you going to explain that you lived? You ran away? I wonder how Celestia’s going to look upon a coward within the ranks of her Guard.”

Flash Sentry’s face began to contort in anger once again.

“They spared you?” Annie pressed. “Why spare you of the three of us? Do you really think Celestia’s going to buy that dumb excuse?”

Flash Sentry felt his hoof rising above the ground, struggling to keep it planted as he tried biting his lip as his brow furrowed.

“There’s no way this is going to end well for you, Flash,” warned Annie. “Sooner or later, the Manehattan police are going to discover that you’re working with them, and then you’ll be running for the rest of your life. So… who’s the fucking dummy now?”

Flash Sentry couldn’t hold himself back any longer. Turning to Annie, he raised his hoof up and drilled it into her face, sending her flying into Gilda, making her grunt from the force. Flash Sentry made a gallop back to Annie, hoping to strike her again.

A tug on his tail pulled him away as he turned to look into Commander’s glare above him. With a low hook, Commander’s fist drove into Flash Sentry’s cheek, sending his helmet flying off his head and his body to the ground. As Flash Sentry woozily brought himself to his feet, Commander wagged her hand.

“Don’t blame her for your poor judgment,” Commander demanded. “Yes, they will know who we are. All we can do at this point is what we’ve always done: keep in the shadows and not be seen nor heard.”

“And look at how well that turned out,” Annie hissed. “Where do you hope to hide? Before me, no one knew you existed, but now that there are others looking for you, do you think that you won’t be found now? You and your sect of murderers are done, and you will spend the rest of your lives running like the dogs you ar–”

*PTT*

Commander’s hand slapped itself across Annie’s face, silencing her. Annie stretched her mouth open to try and override the sting on her cheek.

“You shouldn’t concern yourself with us,” said Commander. “However, I’m really getting sick of both of your mouths. I believe it should be time to end this. Black Glass, Flash, Doctor? Come.”

Commander turned back and headed towards the doors to the ballroom. Black Glass picked up Gilda with his magic while Doctor picked up Annie with his. With Black Glass placing Gilda on her back and Doctor placing Annie on Flash Sentry’s, the three ponies followed Commander to the ballroom. Commander held the door open for the ponies as they stepped inside.

Like the lobby, the ballroom looked equally run-down and desolate. Each of the tables were set to the sides and back of the room with the chairs stacked upside down on top, large white sheets placed over each table. The bar to the left was barren and dirtied, and the stage was scattered with litter with its curtains torn and stained.

Commander walked her stallions further into the room and onto the dance floor, which was caked with dust from years of isolation. The only thing beautiful about the room was the glass dome up on top, which provided a great 180° view of the hotel behind it and the snowy mountainous wall ahead of it.

Commander stopped, prompting Flash Sentry, Black Glass, and Doctor to stop. Black Glass, using his magic, lifted Annie and Gilda off the ponies’ backs and set them down on the ground before Commander.

“Now,” Commander asked. “Which one wants to volunteer first for the chopping block?”

The silence only made it more uncomfortable for Annie, leading her to open her mouth to speak.

“I’ll go,” Gilda suddenly blurted.

“What?” Annie shouted. “Gilda, no, let me–”

“I’m not scared anymore. I don’t want to watch you die knowing you did so for my sake.”

“No,” Commander reasoned, “I agree.”

Commander walked over to Gilda and grabbed the ropes bounding her arms. Annie watched with streaming tears as Commander dragged Gilda across the floor away from her.

“That way,” Commander stated to Annie as she set Gilda back down, “you can watch her die, and realize your failure in saving her.”

Annie tensed her hands as Commander reached for the handle of her sword.

“That,” Gilda agreed, “and so you can have more time to try and save yourself.”

“Zip it,” hissed Commander, drawing a gladius from her sheath. “There’s nothing that can save you now. Now, Gilda… say goodnight.”

Flipping the sword in her hand so that the blade aimed downwards, Commander held grasped the blade in both hands, savoring her kill as each finger wrapped around. Annie knew it couldn’t come to this. If she was going to die anyway, it might as well be done trying to save her in whatever way she could.

Right as she began to stand to her feet, a glass panel of the dome shattered. Looking up, Annie saw as a white pegasus stallion with a blue mane and tail equipped with gold armor and a Maneuver Gear swooped down and towards the shocked and confused Commander. Flipping his body back up, he bucked Commander in the gut, sending her flying down the dance floor.

With Flash Sentry, Doctor, and Black Glass confused by the sudden appearance of the guard, Annie sprung to her feet and ran to Gilda.

“Hey!” Flash Sentry shouted.

As Black Glass charged his horn, a second pegasus guard with a Maneuver Gear flew in through the hole created by the first guard. With equal swiftness, the second guard swooped down towards Flash Sentry and flipped his back hooves forwards, bucking Flash Sentry in the wing, launching him at Black Glass. The added force also knocked the two of them into Doctor just as he was firing his spell.

With his aim thrown off, Doctor’s spell was now aimed at the bar to the left of the room. Striking the back of the counter, where a plethora of half empty liquor decanters sat, the magical explosion broke many of the decanters and set them alight, producing a large fire behind the bar as it spread inside.

With the three Fates and Commander incapacitated, both guards landed beside Gilda and Annie one keeping their eyes on Commander while the other watched over the three remaining Fates. Annie and Gilda both looked wondrously at their impromptu saviors.

“You alright there, Annie?” asked the guard watching the Fates.

Annie gasped, recognizing the voice.

“Gauntlet?” she asked, facing the guard, then turning to the one watching Commander. “Spearhead? What are you both doing here?”

“Got word from the Manehattan police about your troubles,” Spearhead responded, “and then heard about the Manehattan tracks going out. Celestia sent us down to help.”

“Well,” Gilda spoke, “you couldn’t have come at a better time!”

Flash Sentry weakly stood to his hooves, facing Gauntlet. His the feathers of his wing were bending off in different directions and was twitching like mad.

“Gauntlet?” Flash Sentry responded in a feigningly betrayed voice. “You broke my wing! Why would you–”

“Zip it!” Gauntlet snapped. “We know all about your involvement with this group, thanks to the fine stallions and mares from the Manehattan Police Force. You’re an absolute disgrace.”

Knowing his bluff was called, Flash Sentry grunted, realizing his predicament. Behind the bar, more decanters broke, spreading the flames outside the bar and towards the tables. As the flames reached the cloths covering them, the fires spread over wildly.

Flash Sentry quickly turned on his hooves and ran to the exit. Annie, feeling her rage return, sprinted off towards him. Gilda and Gauntlet, seeing her out in the open, quickly ran after her. Doctor and Black Glass aimed their horns at Annie’s head, knowing that he wouldn’t let her escape again.

“Stop!” Gauntlet shouted, jumping his front legs up, reaching towards his sheath, and inserting a blade into his operational device shoe.

In the same stride, Gauntlet flicked his arm and ejected the blade out, sending it flying in the air towards Doctor’s horn. The end of the blade pierced inside with a sickening crunch and splatter of blood, stopping the aura surrounding his horn. As Doctor screamed in sheer anguish, Black Glass kept his aim up, completely unaware as Gilda leapt up and towards his head.

Gilda rammed into Black Glass, throwing Black Glass’s aim as his spell whizzed just behind Annie’s head as she made her way to the exit. Doctor continued to shout out as Annie left the ballroom and went after Flash Sentry.

Gilda pinned the disoriented Black Glass down on his back and bit down on his horn with her beak. With a strong bite and twist of the neck, Gilda heard it crunch under the pressure, forcing Black Glass to scream out as he tried to produce magic, the only things coming from his cracked horn were sparks and spurts of blood.

“Let me show you how a real griffon kills their prey,” Gilda growled.

Grabbing at the shoulders and digging her talons into his flesh as far as she could, Black Glass shrieked as Gilda tore all the way down the arm, taking long, thick, bloody chunks of meat with her. The exposed bones in his arms were quickly concealed by a torrent of blood as Black Glass’s body shook and convulsed to the pain and shock, his body shutting down with the sheer loss of blood.

Lifting her right talon out of his left arm, Gilda swung at his chest, slicing in deep and revealing his rib cage. The pain and blood loss was too much for Black Glass to handle, his body ceasing to move and lying forever still. Gilda shot up off of Black Glass and panted contently, her vengeance exacted.

Gauntlet pulled a pair of cuffs from the side of his armor as he pinned down Doctor onto his stomach with his arms folded behind him. As Gauntlet managed to get the first cuff on the right hoof, Doctor flicked his left molar out of its socket with his upper jaw where it and a capsule landed on his tongue. Swishing the capsule around to the right side of his mouth, Doctor bit down, breaking it and releasing the powder inside.

Doctor’s body began convulsing as foam escaped past his lips and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Gauntlet, seeing the foam escape his mouth, pushed off of him, knowing there was nothing else he could do. Turning back to Spearhead, he watched as he put himself in a fierce standoff with Commander, who held her gladius with both hands, awaiting the opportune time to strike.

Flames engulfed the entire left side of the ballroom, filling the area with an uncomfortable, bright heat.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie chased Flash Sentry up the lobby stairs, each one of them bounding up several steps at a time. Flash Sentry stopped at the middle of the staircase, unsure of whether he should go up the left or right staircase.

Hearing Annie’s footsteps come closer, he began to turn left, leading Annie in the same direction. Making a lunge towards him, Flash Sentry pushed off to the right staircase, evading Annie and running up the steps. Undaunted, Annie pushed off as well and continued to chase him up the stairs.

Turning right into the walkway towards the front and left into the hallway, Flash disappeared. Annie followed the same path, keeping her eyes peeled for him. Flash Sentry continued to lose Annie as they both ran down the hallway. Reaching the end, Flash turned left into the next hallway. Picked up her pace, knowing that sooner or later, he’d reach a dead end.

Turning left into the next hallway, Annie found the hallway empty, but spotted another hall on the right which led into the hotel’s eastern wing. As she ran towards it and prepared to turn right into it, she was met with Flash Sentry’s right back hoof as it struck her face, sending her flying into the left wall, her head smashing up against it.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Commander charged up at Spearhead, who pulled two blades out of his sheaths with his operational device shoes and raised his arms over his head. Falling back down, Spearhead brought his blades down on Commander. Commander matched his strike by swing her sword upwards, catching both blades.

With her strength plus the strength of her weapon, Spearhead’s blades shattered from the force, shocking him. Following her momentum, Commander spun her body to the right, flipping her sword to hold it upside down, allowing her swing to stab at Spearhead’s neck, slicing into the exposed front and slitting his throat. From the back, Gauntlet widened his eyes in shock as Commander continued to advance, running towards him and Gilda as his partner and friend fell dead to the floor.

“Gilda!” shouted Gauntlet. “Run!”

“No!” she protested. “I’m not going to run away!”

Gauntlet had no time to argue as Commander held her sword back and swung around and down onto him. Gauntlet, with no blades in his device shoes, tucked his head in and tackled Commander, her elbows striking the back of his armor and making her drop her sword and land at Gilda’s talons. With a desperate swat, Gilda slid the sword across the dance floor where it slipped under one of the tables, the handle slightly sticking out.

As Gauntlet tried to bring Commander down, she wrapped her arms around the top of his neck and jerked back, forcing her to her back and Gauntlet’s face to the floor, where his momentum flipped him to his back. With her grip still on Gauntlet’s neck, she twisted his neck to her right, snapping it and rendering Gauntlet motionless.

Gilda flew out at her, ready to land on her talons first. Commander thrust her legs up, kicking Gilda in the bottom jaw with her hooves, making her roll down the dance floor and away from her. Both Commander and Gilda rolled up and to their feet, standing before each other, the last two survivors.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie tried to get back up, only for Flash Sentry to mount her on her stomach and reel back for a punch. As Flash Sentry’s hoof was brought down, Annie tilted her head to the right, making Flash Sentry punch the ground. Reaching in between his forelegs and placing her hand on his left side, she pushed out, forcing Flash Sentry off of her and making him land on his broken right wing.

With a grunt, Flash Sentry began to stand on his back legs. Annie, twisting her body to the left, kicked the tip of her right boot at Flash Sentry’s knee. The force of the kick snapped Flash Sentry’s leg in towards the right, making him yelp and cry in agony as he was forced onto his broken wing again.

Annie somersaulted backwards and rolled onto her knees and feet, standing over Flash Sentry as he tried to get up on both forelegs. Annie, her fury undying, performed a fast sweep at Flash Sentry’s upper arm, breaking it in the center as he buckled back onto his sides, the pain running tears down his face.

“Annie,” rasped Flash Sentry weakly, “please, sto–”

*PTFK*

Flash Sentry’s words were ceased by Annie slamming the sole of her boot down on the side of Flash Sentry’s face, spraying blood from his nose and mouth. Flash Sentry’s head bobbed in a disoriented fashion before Annie’s foot was brought down on him again, this time knocking him unconscious.

Annie slammed her foot again, this time, making blood leak through his ears and eyes. Annie continued to stomp repeatedly, each footstep sounding less and less like hitting flesh and more and more like crunching bones. Annie huffed through her grit teeth on each stomp, feeling Flash Sentry’s skull eventually cave in under her foot, spraying blood all over the floor.

Annie refused to let up, grunting louder as Flash Sentry’s face was systematically flattened on the floor. Soon enough, the crunching of bone was replaced by the squishing and sloshing of brain and blood on the carpet, allowing her to stop and breath. Annie looked down and saw nothing but a scattering of eviscerated flesh, fur, and muscle lying in a small pool of blood, resembling nothing of her former partner.

With her deed finished, she backed away slowly, unable to keep her gaze off of the unforgivable bastard. With a slight, triumphant chuckle, Annie turned around and ran down the hallway back towards the lobby.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Gilda charged at Commander, who stood perfectly still as she awaited Gilda’s arrival. With outstretched talons, Gilda jumped towards Commander, who simply sidestepped left, grabbed Gilda by the right talon, and roundhouse kicked Gilda in the gut. Gilda fell back to all fours, clutching her stomach with her talon.

Using her pain to her advantage, Commander swept her leg to Gilda’s face, knocking her to her side and rendering her unconscious, her right wing weakly unfurled and spread out on the floor. Panting, Commander walked over to Gilda and stood above her wing. Stepping down on the bar with her hoof, she pressed her full weight down, crunching it, twisting it in for good measure.

“Burn well, Gilda,” Commander ordered Gilda.

Turning to the exit, she saw as right exit of the ballroom was already engulfed with fire. Commander ran to the left set of double doors, exiting them and resigning Gilda to her fiery fate.

Chapter 12: Labyrinth

Annie appeared from the hallway and ran to the railing to the lobby below. She just managed to catch Commander as she left the ballroom. Noticing her from below, Commander quickened her pace and ran out though the doors to the outside of the hotel. Annie hopped over the railing and down to the lobby, rolling over to soften the landing.

Annie stared at the doors as they began to close, only to hear the roaring fire from the ballroom. Turning back towards the staircase, she saw the harsh red glow of the flame already coming into the lobby from the doors to the left of the staircase. Annie ran to the right set of doors, bursting through them and being pommeled by the slight backdraft. Annie crawled to her knees to see the damage that had been done: Gauntlet, Spearhead, Doctor, and Black Glass dead on the floor and Gilda lying on the ground, unconscious.

Annie shot to her feet and ran to Gilda, the closest to her and knelt back to her, laying her ear over her chest. Annie was glad to hear a heartbeat prompting her to stand up and go behind Gilda. Crouching down and grabbing Gilda from under her arms, she dragged Gilda towards the unscathed exit, watching as the flames rose up to the ceiling and slowly spread to the last set of doors.

Annie managed to pull Gilda out and into the lobby, almost snagging her outstretched, broken wing on the door. Annie continued dragging Gilda out until she was able to pull her outside the hotel and the cold winter weather. The sun had completely set, the only light available being the glow of the fire from the ballroom behind the hotel, and the faint glow of torches surrounding the hedge maze.

Looking out, Annie saw the barely distinguishable figure of Commander at the maze’s entrance. Upon noticing her spotting her, Commander ran inside the maze and disappeared. Annie, carefully setting Gilda down, ran back inside the hotel.

Annie ran to the right set of doors, the left side of which were already spilling flames. Opening the rightmost door, she reentered into the hot, smoldering room. Annie looked to Spearhead and could already see that he was dead from blood loss. Running over to Gauntlet, she slid towards him on her knees and put her ear over his heart. Unable to hear a heartbeat, feeling the subtle, but unnatural curve of his neck, she could already assume his fate.

Standing back to her feet, Annie looked to the doors, seeing as flames already began to eat at the right door. Annie then caught a glimmer from the right corner of her eye. Turning right, she saw Commander’s sword handle poking out from under one of the tables. Jumping at the opportunity, Annie ran back to the table and picked the sword up. As she ran back to the exit with her weapon in tow, she stopped and looked to her fallen guards one last time.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Hearing the roar of the fire increased, Annie darted back towards the exit as the fires started to envelope the last door. Kicking it open, Annie rushed out of the room for the last time. With her free left hand, she pulled a torch from its holster in the wall and ran to the hotel’s exit. As she left, she found Gilda continuing to lie still at the hotel entrance. Kneeling back down and checking her pulse with her ear, she was glad to both hear her steady heartbeat and breathing.

“Stay put, Gilda,” cooed Annie. “We’re almost done here.”

Annie hopped back to her feet and ran into the darkness, the hedge maze her beacon. With the light of her torch keeping her path illuminated, she looked down, trying to spot whatever traps she could. Annie panted heavily; her body was becoming tired from all the running and fighting and hurting. But if it were for this last one and would save countless ponies in the future from her and her deeds, it was worth the exhaustion.

Annie’s pace refused to let up as she finally reached the entrance to the labyrinth. With her torch still in hand, Annie navigated the path, following the fresh hoofprints in the snow. Annie suddenly had a sickening feeling of déjà vu. It felt much like running through the alleys in Manehattan for Bruiser and Black Glass. However, she knew there would be a fight at the end of this tunnel, and while she was fighting to be able to stand on her tired bones, Commander was relatively well rested, and with her abilities outmatching Gauntlet, Spearhead, and Gilda, she was clearly in for the fight of her life.

Turn after turn, Annie made her way further into the maze, each turn only continued to feed her dread, knowing that Commander could appear from either one. Annie pace finally began to falter, her body begging her to stop. However, with another turn, Annie found the next corridor of the maze led her into what appeared to be the center; torches lining the walls of the spacious area, marble benches and statues. Her fight would begin and end here, and she would finally…

Just then, Annie remembered Flash Sentry’s ambush inside the hotel, already fearing the worst. At that moment, she thought of a plan. Quickening her pace, Annie came closer to the entrance to the center of the maze. At that moment, Annie thrust her torch forwards, stifling the grunt that her exhausted body would make. Sure enough, Commander’s arm swung out, ready to clothesline Annie once she entered.

The end of Annie’s torch struck Commander perfectly in the wrist, making her recoil and bray out as Annie passed through. Annie ran closer to the center to give her space from Commander as well as some time to breathe. Commander glared at Annie as she held her burned arm in her other hand.

“Commander,” Annie shouted in one exhale and breathing in more air. “I’m here now… It’s time I… put an end… to your sick… game.”

“Annie,” growled Commander, letting her wrist go, revealing the ravaged and bubbled skin, “death is no more a game for me than it is for you. You and Gilda both killed to stay alive, much like I must kill you and Gilda to do the same.”

“Then you should have just killed her.”

“Yes, I saw you drag Gilda outside the hotel. She’s quite heavy, isn’t she? And it also looks like you found my sword. I’m guessing that you ran back in and retrieved it? And then you followed me all the way out here into this labyrinth. Sure, I could have killed Gilda, but my time was already ticking away dealing with those annoying guards, and why waste time and allow you to corner me inside that ballroom when I could easily have you running around for me instead?”

Annie gasped suddenly, realizing her strategy. Both the frightening epiphany and her exhaustion made her knees wobble.

“Between your trek to Ponyville,” she continued, “the killing of my mares and stallions, and you chasing me into the labyrinth, all in this, I bet you’re very tired by now. Meanwhile, I’ve spent most of my day in that hotel waiting for you. I’m completely rested, while you’re barely able to stand on your own two feet.”

Annie held her sword out, aiming its point at Commander. Commander merely chuckled, advancing towards her. Annie kept her footing firm, not letting Commander take an inch.

“And you think that because you have my sword I should be frightened of you?” Commander asked. “I’ve disarmed stronger enemies that were further from Death’s door than you.”

“You clearly haven’t fought me yet,” Annie snapped.

Commander was all but a few steps from Annie now, but Annie kept her scowl up, refusing to show any sign of surrender.

“Defiant even as death comes walking closer,” Commander said. “You’ll definitely be one of the more fun ones I’ve ever killed. And then, once I’m done with you, that pesky griffon is next. But… first things first…”

Commander started to lunge towards Annie’s sword. Pulling the sword away, Annie swung her left arm with her torch still in it and towards Commander’s face. Prepared this time, Commander blocked Annie’s arm with her right forearm, the force knocking the torch out of Annie’s grasp where it fell to the snow and fizzled out.

Annie spun right and away from Commander’s body, just managing to avoid Commander’s grasp for her sword. Annie kept the blade of the sword online with Commander’s neck, only to be stopped by Commander’s right hand. Using her turn’s momentum, Commander punched at Annie with her left hand.

The punch was inhumanly quick, too fast for Annie to avoid. The punch plowed into Annie’s face as Commander let go of her arm, sending her off her feet and down several feet from her. The blow was disorienting enough for Annie to drop the sword at Commander’s hooves.

Annie rolled to her feet and backed up several steps as Commander equipped herself with her weapon. Commander turned to face Annie, who put her arms up above her head with her left foot stepped forwards; her signature fighting stance.

“And now that you’re without a weapon or any strength,” sneered Commander, “you still hope to fight?”

“A gift from my father,” Annie grunted. “Let’s see how your fighting compares with mine.”

“Fine,” she responded, grabbing the sword in both hands, “your funeral.”

Commander ran forwards with her handle held towards her waist, going for a thrust. Annie waited until Commander’s right hoof came down towards the ground. Moving her right arm behind her back, thrusting her left elbow up and moving her right leg back, she thrust her leg forwards, her shin colliding with Commander’s.

Commander felt searing pain run through the bottom half of her leg, gasping at the power of Annie’s kick. Undaunted, Commander continued to thrust her sword towards the side of Annie’s waist. Annie using the tilted angle of her body, leaned back, avoiding Commander’s blade by inches as it flew over stomach.

Commander, still in pain from Annie’s strike, fell forwards to her stomach while Annie landed backwards on her hands and knees in a crab stance. Annie spun her body left, extending her right leg out as it swung over and down towards Commander’s back. Commander quickly rolled left as Annie’s foot struck the snowy ground, blowing some up into the air.

Annie pushed back on her left leg and stood upright with her right foot out, putting her arms back up into her stance. Commander stood to her hooves, looking to see Annie fully prepared once again. Commander hissed loudly, enraged at Annie’s persistence. Annie merely stood like a statue, waiting for Commander to take another shot.

“You really are nothing but a pest,” Commander seethed. “Just won’t accept your fate.”

“If my fate means dying at the hands of a filthy cow like you,” Annie retorted, “like hell I’m going to accept it.”

Commander, taking offense to the word “cow” charged once again. Annie observed as Commander raised both hands above the right side her head, coming for a slash. Annie shifted her body to the left, moving her arms to dodge Commander’s swing.

Annie swept her outstretched right leg out, avoiding Commander’s proximity and facing her once again. Commander swung out to the left at waist level. Annie fell flat to her left side, dodging the blade once again, before she could fall, Annie caught herself on her left forearm and thrust her right leg out, kicking Commander in the stomach and pushing her back.

Annie rolled up to her back and pushed off the ground with her hands and up with her legs, flipping her to her feet and allowing her to assume her stance once again. Commander looked upon her nearly unbeatable enemy, studying her and predicting her next move based on her own.

Commander made another run at Annie, circling her arms down behind her and around for an odd stab towards Annie’s left side. Annie began to shift her body right, anticipating the strike. Mid-swing, Commander stopped, shocking Annie. Commander followed through in the opposite direction, swinging up and behind her, going around to swing up. Sliding her right leg underneath Annie between her legs, Commander’s body was allowed to follow through with the swing.

Annie shifted her head and neck as far back as her body would allow. While Commander’s swing missed the head and neck, the blade was able to slice through the flesh, from the side of Annie’s rib cage all the way to her shoulder.

Annie yelped at the sting, but saw Commander’s back exposed. Lifting her left leg up for a roundhouse kick, Commander was already beginning her own sweep towards the back of her knees. Commander made her mark, making Annie wince and grunt even harder, throwing her kick off as it went over Commander’s ducking head.

Annie fell to her knee, but fought through the pain to use her momentum to spin around and stand on her left leg, keeping as much weight off her right foot as possible. Annie tried putting her arms back up, but could only lift her right arm halfway.

Annie wheezed painfully, knowing that the fight could not continue much longer in her condition. Commander laughed happy to see the fight finally turn in her favor.

“Look at you,” scolded Commander, “you’re falling apart. Now it’s going to be just too easy to kill you. How I’d love to drag you out in your condition back to Gilda, and have you watch me kill her as originally planned… but I can’t afford to take any more chances. So, if you could just stay still…”

Commander thrust her sword towards Annie’s heart with her right hand, going for the ultimate kill. Annie leaned right and pushed to the left, ducking under Commander’s sword and arm and picking herself back up on the right side of the arm. Twirling her right arm in the same fashion, she managed to grab Commander’s wrist and push outward, spinning Commander’s back to her.

Reaching over Commander’s shoulder and grabbing her face with her left hand, Annie shifted her weight back to her right, shouting out to fight the pain in her leg. Lifting her left leg behind her, Annie kicked Commander in the back of the legs and followed through, lifting Commander off her hooves and swinging her body up. Annie’s hold on Commander’s burned arm forced Commander’s momentum to twist it about, the sword slipping out of Commander’s grasp.

Annie let go of Commander’s wrist caught the hilt before it could fall. Commander landed on her back, knocking the wind out of her. When Commander opened her eyes, she could see as Annie, kneeling on her right knee, held the sword blade up as she swung it over her head and down towards her neck. Commander reached up to block, but the sword passed through the gap in her arms too quickly, allowing Annie to drive the blade into Commander’s throat and out the back of her neck.

Annie watched as Commander’s eyes bulged out as she gasped, scared of the death she now faced. Annie twisted the blade in the neck, mangling her spine and killing her completely. Annie looked down at the slain minotaur, the final remnant of the dreaded Fates.

Pushing up with her left leg, Annie managed to bring herself to her feet. Annie slowly limped to the side wall of the center of the hedge maze, turning around and leaning onto it, allowing herself a small rest. Annie breathing slowly, in and out, the cold breeze feeling prickly inside her lungs. Looking at the wound on her right side, she hugged her breast with her a right arm and held it tight with her left. With nearly nothing left to do, Annie hobbled towards the entrance back into the hedge maze. Leaving Commander’s corpse inside her makeshift tomb.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie made it back to the entrance to the hotel, seeing the orange light visible through the cracks in the door as light wisps of smoke crept out of it. Gilda was still lying in the same spot she was when Annie pulled her out. Annie looked at Gilda’s broken wing, her face frowning in regret at what had befallen her.

Finally making it to her side, Annie dropped to her left knee, slowly getting to her right knee as well. With exhaustion fully enveloping her, Annie gently laid her body onto the side of Gilda’s waist next to the base of her wing. Annie silently wept as tears streamed from her face and onto Gilda’s fur, both from the pain her body was in and in the hope that Gilda would finally wake up.

With Annie’s weight on Gilda, the griffon began to stir. Feeling Gilda begin to roll to her stomach, Annie shot up and backed up, giving her space. Gilda’s right wing moved to fold itself back in, only to stop suddenly as a contorted look of pain shot on Gilda’s face.

“Ow!” she cried. “What in the hay happened to my wing?”

Annie began to breathe heavily, happy to see Gilda finally awake. Gilda, seeing the blood oozing out from the cut in her jacket and hoodie, gasped.

“Annie?” questioned Gilda. “What happened?”

“Commander got me good,” she panted.

“What happened to her?”

“…She’s gone. You’ll never have to worry about the Fates again.”

“R… really?”

“Yeah. I also got Flash Sentry good too.”

“Nice… Hey, come to think of it, what am I doing out here?”

“Commander knocked you out, broke your wing, and left you for dead. I managed to pull you out.”

“You… you did?” Gilda responded, tears flowing from her eyes.

“Yeah. Now, could you help me up? We have only a half-hour’s walk to Ponyville.”

“Sure thing,” she responded, wiping her eyes with her talons. “Hold on.”

Annie draped her left arm around Gilda’s lower back as the griffon stood on her talons and then to her back paws, groaning to the pain in her gut. Annie stood to her left leg and began to stagger behind Gilda to the other side.

“Looks like she got you pretty good,” Gilda said.

“Yeah…” answered Annie. “She did.”

“Need a lift?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Annie managed to swing her right leg up and around Gilda’s back, and with a gentle jump, Annie mounted Gilda, lying her tired body across her back.

“Don’t get too sleepy there,” warned Gilda. “Don’t want you falling off along the way.”

Annie carefully grabbed onto the base of Gilda’s left wing, giving it a gentle squeeze to let her know they could go. Gilda ran at a comfortable pace south of the hotel and down the hill towards the train tracks that connected Ponyville to Canterlot.

As Gilda strode through the snow, Annie looked behind her, seeing the center building of the hotel glow bright as a pillar of smoke rose from the ballroom behind. Leaving the final corpses of the fates behind in both distance and in the back of her mind, Annie laid the side of her face on Gilda’s back, calmly closing her eyes and relaxing her taxed body.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside a small hospital room with seafoam-green walls, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity surrounded a bed with a sick-looking Spike on it, snuggly under the covers. While Fluttershy and Rarity looked genuinely concerned, Twilight stared at the baby dragon with disappointment and bemusement.

“Ugh,” Twilight groaned, “this is the last time I study poison crystals after dessert.”

“Don’t be so harsh on the poor dear,” reasoned Rarity. “They do look quite a bit like emeralds.”

“Hardly! Emeralds are… well, emerald colored, and those crystals were at least two shades brighter!”

“Just be thankful that he didn’t eat too much,” Fluttershy cooed.

“Yeah, it could have nearly killed him.”

“Come on, Twilight,” groaned Spike. “I said was sorry.” *CUKH* *CUKUKH*

“Spike, you should just focus on not opening your mouth for a little while.”

Twilight looked to Spike’s bedside drawer, seeing an empty glass pitcher save for the few water droplets inside of it and a glass that was a quarter full with water.

“Rainbow Dash,” asked Twilight, “can you go and refill the pitcher?”

“Sure thing, Twilight,” she responded.

Rainbow Dash walked over the drawer and picked up the handle in her teeth. Rainbow Dash carried it out of the room. Rainbow Dash turned right towards a drinking fountain, only to see two unicorn ponies roll a stretcher down the hall, making her scoot to the side and let it pass.

As the stretcher came by, Rainbow Dash was shocked to see that it was Annie being carried on the stretcher. Her clothes and boots were dirty and stained with blood, her hoodie slashed at the abdomen and the right side along with her jacket. Despite the cuts on her body and the bruises on her face, Annie’s face looked relatively calm and complacent.

Rainbow Dash kept her eyes on Annie as she passed by her. As Annie’s stretcher was pushed further through the hall, the sound of gasping to her right brought her attention there. Rainbow Dash turned to see Gilda standing before her, still and shocked at having not seen her friend in so long. Rainbow Dash’s mouth hung open, causing her to drop the pitcher and shatter to the floor.

“Gilda?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Gilda pursed her beak, hoping to remain as collected in front of her old friend as possible.

“Hey... Dash,” she greeted nervously.

Chapter 13: A Winter's Thaw

The sound of the shattering glass from the pitcher brought Twilight and her other friends out of Spike’s room. The others, seeing Gilda, were equally stunned as Rainbow Dash. Immediately, Fluttershy squeaked in fear and hid behind Rarity in the very back. Gilda, remembering her face, looked away guiltily.

“Gilda?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Gilda?” questioned Pinkie Pie. “You mean meanie-pants-who-was-a-total-jerkface-to-everyone-moved-away-became-a-murderer-only-for-her-to-be-a-not-murderer-in-the-end-Gilda?”

“Yep,” Gilda answered sheepishly, “you know me.”

“Gilda,” Rainbow Dash questioned, sounding hurt and confused, “what’s going on? I haven’t seen or heard from you since that party I threw for you, and then I heard you murdered somepony, and then you turn up innocent in today’s newspaper. Gilda, what happened to you?”

“It’s a really long story. One that I don’t feel comfortable sharing out here.”

“And what were you doing with Annie? Why was she on that stretcher?”

“It’s all part of the story, and I promise that I’ll tell you everything… when Annie gets out of surgery.”

“Surgery?” wondered Applejack. “What in Sam Hill happened to her?”

“We were taking a train from Manehattan to Canterlot. We were attacked, and Annie and I barely managed to escape with our lives.”

“Then why are you here in Ponyville and not Canterlot?”

“Applejack,” Twilight spoke, putting her hoof on her friend’s shoulder, “I’m just as confused as you are, but I’m sure Annie will help shed some light on whatever happened too. We’ll just have to wait.”

There was an awkward silence that followed, leaving the ponies aiming their eyes in different directions as they searched for a new topic to talk about.

“Please, guys,” Gilda begged, “I know we’ve had our differences in the past.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Pinkie Pie spat angrily.

“Yeah, right. Listen, I’m sure Annie’s your friend, and she’s a friend of mine too. Right now, we need to be there for her. She’s really hurt and I don’t know what’s going to happen to her.”

Twilight and her friends looked at each other, and knowing that they all shared some common ground now, they nodded in affirmation.

“We’ll be there for her,” Twilight decided.

“Thank you,” Gilda said, bowing down in appreciation.

“Do you know where her room is?” asked Rarity.

“Yeah,” Gilda answered. “They said it was down here.”

Gilda walked down the hall, leading Twilight and the others to follow her. Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both winced the second they saw Gilda’s broken wing, which had been hidden from them since seeing her.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie’s eyes slowly came open. Her vision was colorful, yet fuzzy as it tried adjusting to the sunlight streaming through the windows. In the room. As Annie’s sight finally came to, allowing her to see Twilight and the rest of her pony friends, including a much healthier Spike, standing around her bed, sighing in relief that she was alright. Annie looked down to see that she was out of her uniform and in a green surgical smock

Gilda, however, sat right beside the left side of her bed, her talons gripping the edge of the mattress. Annie could see that Gilda’s wing was properly folded in and bandaged. Annie’s bed was inclined so that she was sitting almost completely straight up, allowing her to comfortably view everyone inside the room.

“Hey, Annie!” greeted Spike cheerfully. “What’s up?”

“Everyone,” Annie spoke. “You’re all here.”

“And what were we supposed to do?” Applejack jested. “Let you spend your hospital healing time alone?”

“That would probably hurt even worse!” Pinkie Pie added.

Annie smiled, gladdened to be in the presence of her friends.

“Thank you,” she said. “I bet you all have many questions.”

“As a matter of fact,” Twilight responded, “we do. So much has happened, yet we don’t understand a lick of it.”

“Like,” Rainbow Dash butted in, “why was Gilda accused of murder and then proven innocent? And what happened to her wing?”

“I suppose we’ll be in here for a while,” Annie said, “and I believe you all deserve to know.”

Annie gave one last quick glance to Gilda, who gave her a sure nod, knowing that her story had to be told.

“From what I understood,” Annie began, “Gilda had arrived in Ponyville quite some time ago and had put herself on bad terms with the locals.”

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were quick to respond with a nod.

“After that, she had moved to Manehattan for work, and she was given a job with a group of ponies named the Fates. The Fates were an elite group of assassins for hire that functioned in both Manehattan and Vanhoover, dividing their work between the cities east and west of Canterlot.”

Twilight leaned forwards, engrossed by Annie’s story, while the other glanced to Gilda, wanting to know her part.

“Gilda’s job was to carry the letters from towns all across Equestria of ponies that would be targeted by others. After working for them for nearly two years, Gilda was accepted to join as a full-fledged killer. Fueled by her hatred of ponies from both her bullies at flight camp, the rest of her education in the Griffon Empire, and her time in Ponyville, Gilda happily took the job. However, the one of the first letters she had received was a hit to be put out… on Rainbow Dash.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash shouted as her friends looked to her in shock. “Gilda? You tried to kill me?”

“Rainbow!” yelled Annie, quieting her down. “That’s not at all what happened. Yes, she admitted that she still felt bitter over you taking Pinkie Pie’s side that day, but she did not hold such resentment that she wanted to see you killed.”

Rainbow Dash, finding this news to be overwhelming, fanned her face with her hoof.

“Tracing the letter back to its source, a wealthy pegasus stallion by the name of Flash Fly, she murdered him, hoping to prevent any payment to the Fates that would result in her death.”

Rainbow Dash and the other ponies turned with frightened faces to Gilda, who still looked rather traumatized and ashamed about the whole series.

“So…” Rainbow Dash nervously croaked nervously, “you killed Flash Fly?”

“Yeah,” Gilda choked, trying to keep her emotions in check. “I don’t care how bad the terms I left on were, I couldn’t allow something like that to happen to you.”

Rainbow Dash herself began to fight tears, both angered and traumatized over what her friend had become.

“Angered with Gilda’s actions,” Annie continued, “the Fates framed her for their murder of Stinkin’ Rich III those couple of days ago. That was where Flash Sentry and I came in,” she said, resisting the urge to cringe on the name “Flash Sentry.” “We were sent to Manehattan to retrieve her and send her to Canterlot, where she would most likely be tried and imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit.

“The night before we were to leave,” said Annie, “I found two of the Fates attempting to kill someone in a seedier part of the city. I managed to stop the murder, but the two of them got away. Seeing that one of the Fates matched the description of one of the ponies that Gilda gave during her testimony, I realized that she was indeed innocent and we freed her, promptly heading back to Canterlot before the Fates could track us down. However, we were sabotaged.”

“Sabotaged?” the ponies and Spike asked in unison.

“That guard that had accompanied me,” Annie said, “it was revealed he was a Fate working as a spy in the Royal Guard, using his position to gain secrets about the Guard as well as stealing shipments of steel for use in their weaponry.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide, finding the prospect of being fancied by a killer somewhat disturbing.

“What happened to him?”

“Along with the rest of the Fates, we killed them.”

“What?” the ponies each shouted.

“The previous morning, Flash had used dynamite to blow a boulder off a waterfall and collide into a bridge, destroying the tracks. We decided to advance on foot to Ponyville, the closest town at relatively equal elevation, where the Manehattan Fates chased us and the Vanhoover Fates tried to push us back and slow us down. Gilda and I managed to kill most of them before we ourselves were captured by their last two survivors… and Flash.

“And that’s how you got hurt so bad?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Partially. They then brought us to an abandoned hotel north of Ponyville, where their leader, a minotaur, attempted to kill us. It was then that two of my fellow guards came in and saved us, although causing the fire that has probably burned a good portion of the hotel down by now.”

“Annie went off to kill Flash,” explained Gilda, “and me and one of the guards got the other two… well, one of them killed themselves with this stuff that made their mouth foam after the guard tried arresting him.”

“Cyanide capsule,” Twilight spoke to herself.

“The minotaur then killed both of the guards and knocked me out and broke my wing, leaving me to burn there.”

Rainbow Dash squirmed, feeling guiltier and guiltier about Gilda’s predicament.

“After taking care of Flash and pulling Gilda out of the hotel,” Annie continued, “I found and managed to kill the minotaur, getting my body cut up and my leg injured in the process. Gilda then carried me to the hospital where we all are now.”

As if she had already forgot, Annie peeked into the neck hole of her smock, seeing that the right side of her body was stitched up.

“And now at least you two are safe and sound,” Applejack said.

“Yeah,” Annie agreed. “But there’s one more thing that has to be done while we’re here.”

“What’s that?” asked Rarity.

Gilda then stood on all fours, turning to Rainbow Dash. The moment of truth finally arrived, and with the revelation of what became of her, Gilda’s sobs were becoming harder and harder to control, surprising Rainbow Dash.

“I’m so sorry, Dash!” cried Gilda, bowing her head and letting her tears roll off her face and to the floor. “I made so many terrible mistakes! Getting expelled from flight camp, being a jerk to you and your friends, joining those stupid Fates and killing Flash Fly!”

As Gilda continued sobbing, Rainbow Dash’s eyes too began to water. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy too even looked sympathetic with Gilda as she poured her soul out before them.

“I don’t care if I get thrown in a dungeon for the rest of my life for what I’ve done,” Gilda continued. “I just want my friend Dash back.”

Rainbow Dash, overcome by Gilda’s words, galloped to her, choking on her own sobs as well. Leaping forwards, Rainbow Dash hugged Gilda’s neck and pressed her face into her plumage. Gilda caught her as well, pulling Rainbow Dash close and holding her tight.

“I forgive you,” bawled Rainbow Dash. “I’m never letting you go away again! Don’t you worry.”

As Gilda and Rainbow Dash continued their embrace, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stepped forwards too. Gilda, seeing them, looked down, unsure of what they wanted.

“Hey,” Gilda greeted, setting Rainbow Dash back down, sniffling. “You don’t think you could forgive me for what I did to you, can you?”

“Are you kidding?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Of course we forgive you! Anypony who goes through all that just to say sorry has to be one of the best friends anypony could ever have!”

Gilda couldn’t help but chuckle with Pinkie Pie’s supporting words.

“Um,” Fluttershy quietly spoke, “and I guess I forgive you too.”

Gilda then surprised both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy by wrapping both of them in her arms and giving them a hug. Gilda and Pinkie Pie laughed together in their moment of love and forgiveness, while Fluttershy seemed more scared and reluctant at the surprise. The other ponies and Spike all laughed too, finding the scene uplifting and heartwarming.

Annie couldn’t stifle a smile either, glad to see that Gilda’s reunion with Rainbow Dash turned out alright. However, reflecting back on what Gilda had said, they would still have to report to Celestia and the crimes that Gilda did commit, including her murder of Flash Fly and the Fates. Annie did not know what fate was in store for her, but it seemed that Gilda would certainly be in some trouble, making Annie frown solemnly.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside an empty boxcar that rattled about with the movement of the train on the tracks, Gilda lied down on a large, plush bed as she watched the little of the scenery she could through the small square windows. Annie sat beside her, dressed in her Royal Guard attire, stroking Gilda’s neck and across her stomach underneath the wing.

Standing at four corners of the room were four Royal Guards, each of them unicorns. While Gilda smiled laxly, appreciating Annie’s petting, Annie looked unsure and nervous about Gilda’s future and what would become of her when they faced Celestia.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside Celestia’s throne room, Celestia stood before Gilda and Annie as Annie explained all that had happened to her, receiving ambiguous and indifferent nods from Celestia as she recounted the events. Finally, upon finishing, Celestia looked to Gilda and Annie, not saying a single word. The silence was agony to both of them, and the pain became akin to a stab in the gut once Celestia breathed in to speak.

“So although you were not responsible for the death of Stinkin’ Rich III,” confirmed Celestia, “you were the one who murdered Flash Fly. And you admit to this?”

“Yes,” Gilda said without a single trace of pride or valor. “I admit to his murder.”

“And on top of that, you were an accomplice to many of the murders these Fates have committed through the delivery of the letters. Is that correct.”

“Yes. It’s all true.”

“Lastly, there are the deaths of the ponies Sandy Dow, also known as Bruiser for the Vanhoover branch of the Fates, Whip Wing, also known as Slicer for Manehattan, Blue Bar, also known as Bruiser for Manehattan, and Fire Spark, also known as Black Glass. Does this sound correct?”

“I have never heard their real names before, but by their aliases, yes. This is correct.”

“And Annie,” Celestia spoke, turning her gaze to her, “you are responsible for the deaths of Cirrus, also known as Slicer for Vanhoover, Bunsen Burner, also known as Doctor for Vanhoover, Silver Tongue, also known as White Glass, the former guard Flash Sentry, and the minotaur Ivory Horn, also known as Commander, the leader of the group known as the Fates. Is this correct?”

“It is,” Annie answered.

Celestia bowed her head, trying to find the proper judgment for both of them.

“As far as I can see it,” Celestia said, “the deaths of each of the Fates were in self-defense, lest you be killed yourselves.”

“That,” Annie confirmed, “and also to prevent them the chance of killing innocents ever again.”

“I see. I know killing is a very serious offense in Equestrian law, but given the circumstances, as well as future atrocities that those ponies would have continued to commit if let loose, I shall pardon both of you of all killings of these ponies.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Annie responded bowing down.

Celestia turned to Gilda, who was finishing her bow. Annie knew that trouble would arise from this, feeling scared for her friend.

“However,” Celestia said to Gilda, “your actual involvement with these Fates as well as the murder of Flash Fly is a different case. Being that there was no self-defense involved with either matter, and that you can say that you’ve actively assisted with the killings that these ponies have committed, I really wouldn’t be in my right mind to pardon you for these crimes.

Annie grunted, realizing now that Gilda would be convicted.

“I completely understand,” Gilda said.

“But,” resumed Celestia, “I have received word from Twilight and her friends about your regrets and how you were able to patch things up with them since your first coming to Ponyville. They pleaded that I give you a lighter sentence, and being that your acts have saved one of them, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Annie stood stiff, awaiting Celestia’s verdict while Gilda waited calmly and patiently.

“Gilda,” Celestia declared, “I sentence you to two weeks inside the dungeons of Canterlot, effective immediately.”

“Two weeks?” Gilda questioned, baffled by the surprisingly short number.

“Of course,” Celestia said with a wink. “You wouldn’t want to be inside a cell for during Hearth’s Warming, do you?”

Gilda’s face went aglow, completely astounded by Celestia’s benevolence.

“On the morning of Hearth’s Warming Eve,” concluded Celestia, “you shall be free and absolved of your crimes. This meeting is adjourned.”

Celestia slammed her hoof to the ground, prompting two pegasus Royal Guards to come in from the front of the room towards Gilda.

“Hey guys?” questioned Gilda. “You mind if I have a couple of words with Annie?”

“You may,” granted Celestia.

“Well,” Gilda said. “I guess this is goodbye for a while.”

“Right…” Annie said, still feeling sad about Gilda’s leaving.

Gilda then wrapped her arms around Annie’s arms and back and pulled in her in close for a hug, standing on her hind paws for balance.

“Thank you so much for helping me,” Gilda said. “I’m so grateful to have someone like you as a friend.

Annie, touched by Gilda’s actions and words, gently hugged Gilda just above the waist.

“Yeah,” she whispered back. “So am I.”

Gilda finally let go of Annie and walked back towards the awaiting guards.

“Okay, boys,” she said, “lead the way!”

With the guards on both sides of her, the three of them walked outside the room through the double doors and right down the hallway, Annie and Celestia watching.

“You looked so worried,” Celestia lightly chided. “Did you seriously think I would allow myself to lock your good friend away for such a long time?”

Annie smirked, also thankful for the kind and merciful judgment of Princess Celestia.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie stood patiently outside a large tree surrounded by the German-styled buildings that made up Ponyville. At the base of its trunk was a red door featuring a lit candlestick. All around the trunk and the snow-laden branches and leafs, there were windows as well as two balconies along the top floors. Much like the rest of the buildings in Ponyville where the tree sat, the top was strewn with flashing colored lights and was generously wrapped in holly and wreaths.

Annie brushed a small touch of dirt from her white turtleneck sweater and dark-khaki pants, awaiting for her friend to arrive before she could enter. She looked about; not a soul in sight. With Hearth’s Warming in full swing, the ponies would be inside with their families, as they should.

The sound of large wings flapping sounded behind Annie. Turning around, she saw as Gilda, her right wing fully healed, gently landed beside her. Folding her wings in, Gilda looked at her talons, making sure they looked proper.

“So,” Annie asked. “How’s your mom?”

“She’s doing great,” she said. “Was quite a bit of a surprise dropping in on her like that, though.”

“Is that why you’re so late?”

“Come on, I haven’t seen my mom since I before I first tried moving to Ponyville. We had a lot to catch up on!”

“Fair enough. How’s Rainbow Dash?”

“We’re doing great now. Getting a house built next to hers; thinking about finding a job soon too.”

“Really? Where at?”

“I think I’m going to take a break from mail for a while. Gonna’ see if Dash needs any help at the weather patrol.”

“Great. So you’re really on top of things now.”

“Yeah,” Gilda said. “It’s about time, too.”

“Come on,” Annie said, walking towards the red door.

Gilda followed her around as Annie gave the door three hefty knocks. Almost immediately, Pinkie Pie opened the door, revealing the inside. All around the room were bookshelves filled with various tomes. About the floor, there were tables filled with bowls of snacks, boxes of candies, a large bowl of punch, and a record player playing festive music.

Much like the outside, holly and lights were lavishly strung about the walls. From inside, the faces of Twilight, Spike, and their other friends were aglow with their arrival.

“Hey, guys!” chirped Pinkie Pie. “You made it!”

“‘Bout time you guys showed up!” Rainbow Dash said. “Certainly wouldn’t be a party without you.”

“Well?” Twilight beckoned, “come in!”

“Don’t mind if we do,” Annie responded as both she and Gilda stepped in.

“Mmm,” hummed Gilda, “I’m starved. What do we have for eats around here?”

“Well,” Pinkie Pie began, bouncing beside Gilda as she rattled off her list, “we have popcorn, some festive Hearth’s Warming taffy, Spike’s famous punch, cookies, nuts…”

As Pinkie Pie continued listing their menu, Twilight’s magic closed the door to the library, fully enveloping Annie and Gilda with the warmth of their merry company.

Chapter 1: Crystal on Ice

The air was of a most comfortable chill in the late afternoon of Canterlot; cool enough for snowflakes to fall from the clouds, but not so cold that ponies couldn’t enjoy the majesty that the winter season had to offer, especially at this time of year. Wreaths and holly were strewn across each streetlamp, each tree was decorated with glittering ornaments and colorful lights.

Ponies left brightly-lit stores with boxes wrapped in ornate paper and tied with ribbon. Fillies and colts rolled around the soft mounds of snow and at often times, threw some at each other. Not a frown could be seen on any of the ponies, as they were in the full swing of the Hearth’s Warming spirit.

If there was one sight that was prettier to look at in all of Canterlot on such nights, arguably even in Equestria, it was the palace where the Princesses Celestia and Luna made their home. Outside the gates, loving couples and families large and small gathered before the gates of the palace, a photographer standing before them with his camera on a tripod. With the bright flash, the camera captured the moment that would last in their hearts for generations to come.

As more ponies awaited their turn in line, two pegasus royal guards stood outside the gate, smiling fondly at the unbridled joy the holidays brought in them. On their waists was a 3D Maneuver Gear minus the main body, and their hooves were equipped with operational device shoes.

For the royal guards, standing outside the palace gate was even better than being within the comfort and warmth inside the castle, as the warmth they felt in their hearts seeing the happy citizens was far warmer.

Beyond the opposite side of the gate, it was a much different story. The guards marched stoically throughout the palace, also wearing 3D Maneuver Gears, keeping their eyes on any oddities about the area that would require their attention. The unicorn guards had their Maneuver Gears’ operational devices attached to pockets on the side of their armor. Sitting along the top of the large, metallic sheaths, there rested a long, slightly-glowing blue crystal with a wire drilled into it that connected it to the Maneuver Gear’s main body and devices.

Even though the courtyard and the outside of the castle was just as, if not, more ornately decorated than the city streets, in here protecting and serving the princesses was a far higher priority.

Further inside the castle, the carpets featured festive gold designs stitched into the sides and each pillar was strung together with long strands of holly, mistletoe, and golden bells. Despite the atmosphere of the room, the guards continued patrolling about, not seeming to pay any attention to the decorations that surrounded them at each possible angle.

Also walking throughout the castle was Annie Leonhardt, wearing a uniform very similar to the one she wore when she was in the Military on planet Earth. However, as opposed to the brown leather jackets, sashes on her waist, and boots, they were all colored a bright gold, just like the armor of the guards. Upon the back, the side of her shoulders, and the left pocket of her jacket was a light-blue star, much like the one that was at the center of the chest on the guards’ armor.

Visible on her chest and legs, was a harness that was tied tight. On the side of her body, she was also wearing a 3D Maneuver Gear, a long, blue crystal also fastened atop each sheath, the wires connected to them running into her main body and the operational devices inside the holsters on her.

As she walked about the castle, making sure a single hair or ornament wasn’t out of place, a bell rung throughout the palace. The guards all stopped and turned their head towards the bell tower east of the building they stood in. At this moment, the guards dropped their stone-faced expressions and became looser and relaxed, walking down the hallway to the south and chatting casually with one another.

As the ponies talked happily amongst each other, Annie followed them, her stoic expression still on her face and walking with firmness and stature.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Standing in the equally decorated main chamber of the palace, Annie and the guards awaited Princess Celestia to relieve them of service. Annie looked to her right and left. For months, she was the only human woman amongst a force otherwise comprised of strong, burly stallions with white coats and blue manes and tails.

None of the guards would dare look at her funny or with an air of disdain; like they did their fellow guards, they respected her as if she was one of them. She was a fearsome fighter, and she did her job and did it well. Only an idiot would cross her.

Annie looked amongst the ponies and saw one that always managed to be an eyesore for the past month since he joined the Royal Guard. He was an orange-coated pegasus that shared a blue-colored tail. His cutie mark and hairstyle were hidden by his armor. Unlike the other guards, he did not have a Maneuver Gear on his body.

Before she could look at him any further, the doors to the chamber opened, bringing the attentions of the ponies back to the center. Walking down the hallway was Princess Celestia, inspecting each of her loyal soldiers with ease.

“Good evening to you all,” Princess Celestia addressed.

“Good evening, your highness,” each of the guards replied, including Annie and the orange pegasus.

“You have each put in a long day’s work. You are all relieved from duty for the evening. Have a pleasant night.”

“Thank you, your highness.”

At that moment, the guards dispersed, several of the ponies gathering into small groups and discussing their plans with each other. Annie walked straight to the end of the hall, following Princess Celestia to the exit. Before she could pass through the doors and to her locker room to pack up, the orange pegasus stepped out in front of her.

“Oh, hey there!” he greeted pleasantly. “You’re that human, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Annie answered. “What about it?”

“It’s just… my name is Flash Sentry. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

Flash Sentry put his hoof out before Annie, and with slight hesitation, she shook it.

“And, I’m sorry,” apologized Flash Sentry, “I didn’t catch your name?”

“Annie Leonhardt,” she responded.

“Listen” Flash Sentry whispered, getting close to Annie, “I’m new here to the Royal Guard, and I don’t know too many ponies here. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me treating you to dinner tonight and getting to know each other. So, what do you say?”

Annie looked down at Flash Sentry’s smile, trying to make her feel at ease.

“Sorry,” Annie said, walking past Flash Sentry. “I have plans tonight.”

“Oh…” he responded shamefully.

Annie continued down the hallway and turned down the corridor, disappearing from Flash’s sight.

“Well,” he called, “perhaps tomorrow maybe?”
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie continued walking down the hallway, the only things on her mind were a hot shower and a cold drink. As she made her way to her locker room, she saw Princess Celestia standing in the center of the hall. Annie wanted to sigh despondently, but knew that doing so in front of the princess would be unwise. With swallowed pride, Annie approached Princess Celestia, wondering what she wanted.

“Good evening, Annie,” greeted Celestia.

“Your highness?” Annie responded, her left arm at her side with the side of her right hand placed diagonally on the right side of her forehead.

“Why do you look so glum? It’s the time of Hearth’s Warming.”

“I see. I suppose I’m still getting used to life here.”

“Annie, there’s no need for you to play coy with me. Hearth’s Warming is a time for friendship and being with loved ones.”

Annie couldn’t suppress a slightly angry scowl as she heard the term “loved ones.” Celestia, catching herself, gasped in slight embarrassment.

“My apologies,” spoke Celestia. “I didn’t mean to prod, but I was just concerned that you’re walking out here by yourself instead of making plans with your friends in the chamber.”

“I’ve never been good at making friends,” she responded.

“I… see.”

“Your highness, is this the only reason that you stopped to talk to me? To discuss my inability to be social with others?”

“Annie, please understand. When I converted your death sentence to an exile, I hoped that you would use this opportunity to start afresh. I know how hard life was for you on Earth, but I hoped that the more accommodating nature of Equestria would allow you to open up.”

“I try my best, your highness.”

“Annie, please, tell me what I need to do to help you. All I want for you is to be happy in this world. Just say the word, and I’ll do my best to make it happen.”

“Your highness,” Annie said, “may I please go to my locker room and change?”

Celestia was taken aback by her answer, but wished to respect Annie’s feelings.

“Very well,” Celestia said, stepping aside. “You are dismissed.”

Annie wordlessly walked past Celestia as she continued her journey into some more comfortable clothes.

“Have a pleasant evening,” Celestia called.

Annie didn’t respond, only continuing her walk until she disappeared around the contour of the hallway. Celestia looked out at Annie, forlorn for her indifference and apparent sadness.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie stepped through the doors of a modest bar and lounge, where many tables were filled with jolly patrons and holiday music floated through the air from a grandiose piano on a small stage in the corner. The brown stallion in the tuxedo jacket played each note with gusto, his hooves drifting across the keys like a soft winter’s gust.

The ponies eyed Annie in her white turtleneck sweater and dark-khaki pants with formal brown boots. Despite having been in Equestria for several months, many of the ponies marveled at the alien creature that frequented there. As always, she headed for the bar, looking at a vacant row of stools. Ignoring the glances of the ponies, she made her way to the middle of the row, isolating herself from the other ponies sitting on the stools and sitting down.

A cream-colored unicorn with a stylish brown mane and tail with a martini glass for a cutie mark walked up to her. In his soft-blue aura, he wiped the inside of a glass with a white silk cloth.

“Hello, Annie,” the bartender said in a raspy English accent. “Crystal on the rocks, I presume?”

Annie gave a nod to the bartender, and immediately, the bartender slung his cloth over a hook at the front-bottom rung of the liquor cabinets. Opening the icebox at the center of the back of the bar, he scooped four medium-sized ice cubes with a metal ice scoop, pouring them into the glass with muffled clinks as they settled. As Annie watched the bartender make her drink, she was unaware as two muscular white pegasus stallions with cropped blue manes and tails walked inside.

Opening one of the cabinets, the bartender took out a long, but beautifully carved decanter made of glass filled three-quarters full with a clear liquid. Pulling the top off, the bartender poured the liquid into the ice-filled glass until it was filled a third of the way. The bartender carried the drink to Annie and picked up a napkin from the back bar and placed it on the counter before Annie, where he delicately placed the glass.

“Your drink, ma’am,” the bartender silently announced.

“Thank you,” she said.

She took a sip, savoring the acetic taste of the liquid. It heavily reminded Annie of drink back in her world that the people called vodka, except the taste was much stronger and it went down smoother. Bottles of it were taken from the easternmost lands of Earth and stocked with the people she used to affiliate with. It proved a relaxing elixir before she went out on missions as the Female Titan.

The pungent taste only served as a reminder of the people she mercilessly killed, but the comfort she felt afterwards far outweighed the pain she felt drinking it. Annie took another generous sip of the crystal, blinking hard as the liquid practically evaporated on her tongue.

Just then, the two royal guards took the seats on both sides of Annie sitting down and leaning on the counter of the bar. The stallion to her left had a cutie mark of two of the golden shoes that the guards wore. The stallion on the right had three spears emblazoned on his flanks, two of them pointing up to the left and right, the center and third one pointing straight up.

“Annie,” the guard on the left happily grunted, “so this is where you’ve been hiding.”

“Gauntlet,” she greeted to the stallion, then turning to the one on her right. “Spearhead.”

“Say,” spoke Spearhead, “why’d you come here by yourself?”

“To be alone,” Annie answered simply as she took another sip of her drink.

“Hey,” Gauntlet responded playfully, “no one should be alone on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“But I want to.”

“Well, since we’re all here, I thought that maybe we could order some food and have a nice night together.”

Annie glared at Gauntlet, who could already feel her eyes trying to push him away. Gauntlet, however, kept his spot.

“I’m being serious here, Annie,” Gauntlet pressed on. “We at the Royal Guard really respect you and think really highly of you. I’ve never seen someone your size be able to throw one of us onto our backs.”

“I appreciate your compliments,” said Annie, “but I just wanted to sit down and enjoy my drink in peace.”

Both Gauntlet and Spearhead looked at each other with pity on their faces.

“Well…” wondered Spearhead, “we can still sit here, can’t we?”

Annie glanced at Spearhead, looking upon his slightly hurt face. Annie didn’t look swayed by Spearhead’s melancholy, but she knew she had no real reason to keep them from sitting where they wanted.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Just leave me out of it.”

“No promises,” Gauntlet chuckled, nudging Annie in the arm with his elbow.

Annie glanced a sharper glare at him, one that genuinely frightened the living daylights out of him. Leaving well enough alone, he quickly turned his head back to the bar, awaiting the bartender for his order. Soon enough the bartender came, and as he asked for Gauntlet and Spearhead’s orders, Annie swirled her own drink around, mixing the liquor and melted ice together. As she set her drink back down, a conversation going on behind her interrupted her next sip.

“No,” the voice of a young mare spoke defiantly, “I’m just going to go home now!”

“But I told you, babe,” the belligerent voice of a stallion slurred, “I don’t got no money. How else am I going to pay for these drinks?”

“You’re a grown stallion, you figure it out. I’m tired of being your bank.”

“I left my bit purse at home. You can understand, can’t you?”

“That’s what you always say.”

Annie had seen this seen this several times before from ponies at this time of night, and more times than not, it culminated into something much uglier. As the bartender brought Gauntlet and Spearhead their drinks, Annie picked up her glass and tilted it towards her mouth, draining the glass of all the crystal and melted water.

Annie turned to walk to the source of the argument, leaving Gauntlet and Spearhead stunned over her ability to drink so much alcohol at a time. Annie scanned the tables and found a distraught looking couple of ponies sitting at one of the tables behind the booths that lined up at the front of the bar.

The mare was a creamy-lavender pegasus with a royal blue mane and tail. Her cutie mark were two masks: one smiling and laughing, the other frowning and crying. The stallion was a dark green earth pony with a messy black mane. His cutie mark was a rolled up blueprint. His lazy eyes and loose lips screamed intoxication.

Annie, keeping her eyes on the couple, walked around the booths towards the stallion. As the argument got louder, the other ponies in attendance looked more distraught, their spirits dampened by their lack of merriment.

“Do what you want,” the flustered mare spoke, getting out of her seat, “but I’m through with you. I’m going home.”

The stallion stood up before the mare and glowered over her, frightening her into submission.

“Sure,” he grunted, “you can leave me, but not before paying for our drinks.”

“Hey,” Annie’s voice called, “let her go.”

Both the mare and stallion looked up to see Annie standing before them.

“Get out of here,” demanded the stallion, waving his arms away. “You’re off duty. This doesn’t concern you.”

“You’re causing a scene,” Annie responded. “This concerns everyone in here.”

“Just shut up,” he dismissed before turning back to the mare.

Annie, her face now in a furious scowl, put her right hand on the left shoulder of the stallion.

“I think you should leave now,” she said.

“And I think you should just–”

The stallion grabbed his glass with his hoof and turned to toss it back at Annie’s face. With lightning-fast reflexes, Annie took her hand off the stallion’s back, caught the glass by the rim and wound her arm all the way to the left, dropping the glass where it fell to the ground with a chipping sound and a thump as it hit the carpet.

With her arm still wound up, she swung the back of her fist into the side of the stallion’s head, sending him flying off his chair and to the floor in front of a booth of four stallions. The sound and sight of Annie’s strike brought shocked gasps all around the room, even bringing the piano player to stop his ditty.

Before the stallion could come to his senses and get up, Annie ran to the stallion, and kneeling down on her right knee, she pinned the back of the stallion with her elbow and grabbed his bicep with her hand. With her left hand, she held the wrist above the ground locking him in place. The pegasus mare continued to watch the scene with both frightened shock but respectful amazement.

As the bloodied stallion struggled to fight Annie’s hold, both Spearhead and Gauntlet ran around the booths and stood behind Annie.

“Annie,” gapsed Spearhead, “are you alright?”

“Yeah,” she panted, “but he certainly won’t be. One of you, find a night guard and have them arrest him.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Gauntlet responded as he galloped out of the restaurant and into the city.

“I’ll take it from here,” Spearhead responded. “Here…”

Spearhead carefully placed his hoof where Annie’s elbow had been and pinned the stallion’s arm down with his own hoof, allowing Annie to stand up, walking to the petrified mare.

“You stupid foal,” grunted the stallion. “You’re going to get nailed for assaulting a citizen.”

“You shut up,” ordered Spearhead. “I saw you throw that glass at her first. Looks like you’re going to be in much more trouble than not paying your bar tab.”

Annie, seeing the situation had solved itself, walked over to the mare that continued to observe the whole thing. Once she saw Annie stop before her, the mare looked to Annie with continual shock.

“You aren't hurt, are you?” she asked the pony.

“N– n– no,” the mare whimpered.

“That’s good. You can leave if you want. He’s not going to do anything more to you.”

As the mare turned to head to the door, Annie eyed the glass that she had dropped right in front of the pegasus’ hooves. A small piece of the rim of the glass was broken off and a crack ran down to the center of the side.

“Watch your step,” advised Annie.

The mare looked down and saw the glass. Carefully stepping over it, the mare trotted out to the door and outside. The patrons and pianist were still too stunned over the ordeal to resume their drinks and playing.

Annie bent down and picked the broken shard up, flicking it inside the glass. Annie stood up as she picked up the glass by the bottom. Spearhead continued to hold the struggling stallion down as Annie walked around the booths and placed the broken glass on the counter in front of the still-stunned stallion. Annie then reached into her back pocket and pulled out a leather coin purse, fishing around for the proper coins inside.

“Here’s for the drink,” she said, placing five golden bits on the counter.

Annie reached into the purse once again, but grabbed a large handful of coins from it and spread them out over the counter.

“And here’s for the glass I broke,” she said.

Annie turned her body to face the house, scanning her head from side to side to address everyone.

“I’m sorry for spoiling your evening,” she apologized. “I’d best be heading back. Happy Hearth’s Warming.”

Annie walked her way to the door, placing her purse and her hands into her pockets, ready to face the chilly winter night outside again. The ponies still watched silently as Annie pushed the door open and left the building. Even after she was long gone, it was clear that the good moods the ponies had felt would not be returning anytime soon.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie walked through the streets of Canterlot. Being late at night now, the once bustling nature of the city had died down as ponies were probably at home in their warm beds, a place that Annie wanted to return to as soon as possible.

Annie’s breaths were hurled from her mouth as the vapor floated up into the air before it disappeared. All Annie wanted was a quiet evening, and if it hadn’t been for that drunken stallion…

*PFF*

The side of Annie’s head was struck by a thick ball of snow. Most of it exploded off in many directions, but a decent amount still clumped in her blonde hair. Annie turned her entire body to see who threw the snowball, her eyes wide open and narrowed to reveal her fury.

Standing along the side of a building were four foals: three colts and a filly. The colts were a red unicorn, a dark-blue earth pony, and a white pegasus, respectively, with a black mane and tail, a brown mane and tail, and a blonde mane and tail. The filly was a pink unicorn with a sky-blue mane and tail. Each of them were wearing hats and scarfs for the cold, but they had no cutie marks; the foals had to be quite young. The four of them looked at Annie with remorseful fear on their faces.

“We’re sorry, ma’am,” whined the pink filly.

“Yeah, I just got my aim thrown off,” responded the white pegasus.

“Please forgive us!” cried the red unicorn.

Annie settled down, her eyes relaxing to a normal state. There was no way she could forgive herself for punishing children when the only crime they could have possibly committed was being children. Annie closed her eyes and breathed a relaxing sigh as she calmed herself even more.

“What are you doing this late at night?” Annie gently scolded. “Get to your homes immediately.”

“Yes ma’am!” the four foals responded in tandem.

Like cockroaches, the ponies scattered off down random streets back to their houses, not even being able to say goodbye to each other. With the streets cleared, Annie ran her fingers through her hair, brushing the snow off as best as she could. Looking about all sides to ensure that there was no more trouble, Annie walked down the streets back to the Canterlot palace where she could finally get some much wanted rest.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Celestia sat on a large, comfortable rug in the middle of her bedroom by a roaring fireplace. Surrounding Celestia were a plethora of various papers: contracts, letters, permits, etc. Along with managing her responsibilities in her own country, she also had to manage several of the affairs with Earth, whether they be the trading of goods on Earth or a meeting with a council comprising of herself, the king, Dallis Zacklay, and the Commanders of the Military, the extra work left her up later at night.

The door to her chambers came open, and Celestia looked up to see who was entering. Princess Luna stepped forwards, knowing that company with her sister was always allowed. Celestia looked at Luna, who had a very disturbed look upon her face and a rolled up parchment in her magical grasp.

“Dear sister,” Celestia responded. “What troubles you so?”

“I had just received a letter from Manehattan,” Luna said, “and was just on my way to give it to you. Before I could, a pair of my guards had just arrived from Trotsky’s downtown with a bloodied earth pony in their tow.”

“Oh dear! What happened?”

“According to the report given to me by Spearhead and Gauntlet, two off-duty day guards who were at the establishment, the pony had been harassing a female patron about paying for his drinks. And then… Annie, who was also at the lounge, stepped in to intervene.

“Spearhead claims that the pony tossed his glass in Annie’s face, in which Annie responded by striking the pony in the face and restraining him. Spearhead then stepped in for Annie while Gauntlet ran off to call the on-duty night guards. Annie paid for both her drink and the broken glass and then left soon afterwards.”

Princess Celestia sighed. This wasn’t the first time that the ponies that were brought into the Canterlot dungeons were bloodied or bruised by her fists.

“To be fair, sister,” excused Luna, “had she not intervened, he more than likely would have done something awful to that mare, and the stallion tried striking her first; she had every right to use force.”

“I realize, Luna,” Celestia responded, “but she acted rashly… not to say I can blame her.”

“Hmm?”

“Annie has had a troubling life on Earth. She made little friends and the only person she could consider close to her died in the Battle of Shiganshina. I don’t expect her to fully get used to life and customs here, but she’s clearly acting out through her aggression. I don’t want her killing one of my ponies, no matter what crimes they’ve committed.”

Luna frowned and looked away, already haunted by the very possible prospect.

“What do you suggest we do?” asked Luna.

“Not coincidentally,” Celestia replied, “Annie seems to find the most enjoyment during training and sparring practice. It’s the only time I see her display any kind of passion or emotion. It may be too early, but I think we should send Annie abroad.”

“What are you saying?”

“Luna, do you know of any upcoming missions that might require the involvement of our more… elite guards?”

“Now that you mention it, one did just come up.”

“You don’t say?” Celestia asked, raising herself to her hooves and walking to Luna. “Where is this mission you speak of?”

“The mission in question… was sent to me in this recent letter from Manehattan. And if you thought the news about Annie’s confrontation at Trotsky’s was troubling… just wait until you read this.”

Luna unrolled the parchment, allowing Celestia to walk by her side and read it. As her eyes scanned the letter line from line, Celestia’s eyes got wider and wider and her mouth became more open with each word she read. Once she was finished reading, she rolled the parchment back and looked up, making a short, but decisive huff.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie slept face up in her bed, the only light her room was given being the moonlight that streamed in through the large, glass balcony doors. Her uniform was neatly hung inside her open closet and her casual night attire from that night was tossed in a pile next to her mahogany dresser. Annie writhed and squirmed in her bed, moaning and grunting, clearly troubled by whatever dream she was having.
________________________________________________________________________________________

The Female Titan ran through the Forest of Giant Trees. As it chased after Eren and Levi’s Special Operations Squad on the path, two Scouting Legion soldiers raced to stop it. To its right, the Female Titan could hear the sound of a wire shooting towards the back of its head. The Female Titan dodged to the left, seeing the wire whiz past it.

With its right hand, the Female Titan grabbed the wire and pulled out, yanking the soldier with it. With perfect timing, the Female Titan juked its body into the closest tree to its right, squashing the soldier flung next to her in between itself and the side of the tree.

The Female Titan, seeing the next soldier fly forwards, twirled its body around to the left. Using its body’s momentum, it grabbed the soldier’s wire with its right hand and pulled the wire out to its right, pulling the soldier towards it. With its left arm swinging around, the Female Titan caught the soldier in its hand, squeezing and crushing him to death.

The Female Titan threw the body behind it, continuing its pursuit of Eren. At that moment, Levi, Eren, and the other soldiers split up on the path, running into the forest. As it looked about for Eren, the Female Titan could hear something running towards it. Looking up, another Female Titan came sprinting at her from the opposite direction.

Before the Female Titan could react, the duplicate of the Female Titan dove its body forward. The duplicate’s head suddenly grew to a massive size, opening its mouth and dislocating its jaw. The gaping hole of its mouth was enough to engulf the Female Titan as it ran straight in, hearing a shrill, ear-piercing scream as her vision was overcome by darkness.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie screamed as she shot her body out of bed, her messy hair flying out over her eyes. Annie supported herself by her hands next to her sides, panting heavily as she felt sweat cling to her white, collared pajamas with matching bottoms as well as dripping down from her brow.

Annie looked about the room, finding herself back in the safety of her bedroom. The darkness frightened her. The space of the room frightened her. Both of things combined only made her realize how alone she was.

Annie curled her legs into her chest and hugged her shins tight, burying her face into her knees. Her loud sobs were muffled in her legs as she was left alone and afraid in the dark, empty room.

Chapter 8: Blood on the Tracks

Snow began to lightly fall over the land, and as Annie, Gilda and Flash Sentry bent away from the edge of the riverbank and going eastward around the mountain, the roaring rapids were replaced by the serene breeze as it carried the snowflakes through the air. Annie’s hands were deep within the pockets of her hoodie with her hood placed over her head. Despite some shivers from Gilda and Flash Sentry, they managed to tread through the snow without issue.

“You know,” Gilda joked, “you should have packed some gloves for yourself.”

“Frankly,” Annie hissed, “I was planning on being inside that train for the rest of the time.”

“Relax! I was just kidding.”

“Well, you have a very poor taste in humor.”

“At least I know how to smile,” Gilda shot back.

Annie slowly breathed out, finding some bitter truth in Gilda’s words.

“Gilda,” Flash Sentry scolded, “I think that might have been uncalled for.”

“It’s alright, Flash,” assured Annie. “I’m just a little short from the cold.”

“You’re right,” Gilda added in. “You really are short, ya’ pipsqueak.”

Gilda’s chuckling and well-timed remark began to tickle Annie somewhat. Covering her mouth with the bottom of her hood, she let out a light chuckle.

“Gilda!” Flash Sentry exclaimed. “Stop it!”

“You stop it,” Annie demanded. “I have to admit… that wasn’t too bad there.”

“Well,” Gilda proudly scoffed, “it seems one of us has a good sense of humor.”

Annie smiled slightly again, knowing her words were directed right at her. Gilda certainly seemed to be a very tough pony heart-and-soul, but she seemed to mean well by her. The feeling that someone respected her despite her position was very heartening. It was almost as if the biting air felt a bit more tolerable.

Passing over another hill, Annie and Gilda recognized another set of train tracks that went north and south. Stopping atop the hill, Annie looked about the tracks and thought intently. As Gilda and Flash Sentry passed her, they too stopped upon realizing her stillness.

“What gives?” asked Gilda. “Aren’t you coming?”

“This is where we’ll stop,” Annie responded.

“Stop?” Gilda asked. “Why stop? Ponyville is only about another three hours away.”

“This is where we’re going to wait for the next set of Fates.”

“Here?” asked Flash Sentry. “Why here?”

“These should be the tracks that connect Canterlot with Fillydelphia and Baltimare. Unless the Vanhoover Slicer also damaged this railway, the trains will still be running through here. To them, it will appear as if we’re waiting for the next train to take us to Canterlot. It will appear less like a trap waiting here than at another random location.”

“So you’re really set on this? You really want to lure a bunch of trained killers to us?”

“That’s not the only reason. We need to get some rest, and we can have another opportunity to eat and drink before they find us.”

Annie came down the hill, passing Flash Sentry and Gilda as she came upon the crest, kicking away as much snow as she could and making a small circle of grass for herself.

“Annie,” said Flash Sentry as he followed Annie to the bottom of the hill. “There has to be a better way to bring these killers to justice.”

“Then name one,” challenged Annie as she sat down. “If you think we can safely arrest them all and bring them all to Canterlot for questioning, I’d very much like to hear your ideas.”

Flash Sentry seized up, knowing there was no real way to answer given Annie’s other reasoning beforehand.

“Flash,” Annie said, “I know you’re a rookie, and the going into something like this can be frightening, but you must also know, that as a guard, you have to make this choice, no matter how hard it is: kill one pony, or let hundreds more die by their hoof.”

Flash Sentry winced, realizing the moral dilemma he found himself in.

“Furthermore,” Annie added, “if you want to ever spend another Hearth’s Warming with your family again–”

“Yes!” relented Flash Sentry. “I get it now. It’s just that not all of us are used to killing somepony as you are.”

“Y’know,” Gilda mentioned, her curiosity piqued as she turned back to Annie, “I’ve always wondered, how did you get to be such a good fighter and… y’know, killer?”

“I’ve done some things I’m not proud of where I come from,” Annie answered simply.

“That’s another thing,” responded Gilda, lying herself down in front of Annie, “what is it even like where you come from? How bad were things there that made you into what you are?”

Annie could see Gilda’s comfortable stance, knowing that she was expecting a tale.

“I asked Flash Sentry this before I told him,” asked Annie, “but do you really want to know?”

“Yeah,” Gilda pressed, “I’m genuinely interested.”

Annie found Gilda’s answer to be quite somewhat childish, but sincere and genuine. With a deep breath, Annie prepared to recount her story a second time.

“Where I come from,” Annie began, “there was a war that went on for over a hundred years between the humans, like me, and these giant monsters called titans. However, I did not fight for the humans. I was on the side of the titans.”

“Whoa,” Gilda said. “So you were… a bad guy?”

“Yeah… I certainly was. I was granted the ability to transform into one of these titans. You joke about my size back then, but in my titan form, I was roughly fourteen meters tall, and housed the strength to level a row of stone buildings in a single kick.”

Gilda stayed silent, finding Annie’s story unbelievable, but captivating. Flash Sentry looked at Annie oddly, noting the amount of detail in Gilda’s telling of the story over his.

“Six ponies from Equestria came to assist the humans as the titans pushed their backs into the wall. At this time, I, along with two others, had infiltrated the human Military and joined their ranks. For a while, these ponies saw me as their friend, until they discovered who I was.

“After a fierce battle, the humans and ponies worked to finally defeat me, also managing to rid me of my titan abilities. However, instead of killing me right then and there, like anyone with sound-mind should have, the ponies forgave me and convinced the humans to let me fight with them in exchange for my exile here. And as part of my condition, I was to join the Royal Guard under Princess Celestia’s command.”

“Whoa,” Gilda gasped, both haunted and mesmerized by the story, “whichever pony got sent to your world must have had some connections.”

“Of course. Celestia was the one who sent them in the first place. In fact, they live in Ponyville, so I’m certain they’ll help us out when we arrive.”

“Right… Ponyville…”

Annie couldn’t help but note the reluctant and somewhat bitter tone of Gilda’s voice upon saying Ponyville. As Annie was about to question her, Annie’s stomach began to grumble.

“Sounds like that granola bar wasn’t enough,” Flash Sentry said. “There are some potato chips in the bag. I’ll get you those.”

Annie huddled her legs close to her aching stomach, making the cold feel even chillier. Gilda noted the shivering breaths that escaped from Annie’s mouth as they escaped her mouth in repetitious puffs of vapor. She watched as Flash Sentry approached the freezing Annie with a bag of chips and the decanter of crystal.

“Here,” cooed Flash Sentry. “The crystal will help relax you.”

Gilda stood back up to her talons and paws, putting attention to her as she began to approach Annie.

“This might also help,” Gilda said.

Gilda walked around and right behind Annie so that her right side brushed up against the side of her hair. Setting herself back down onto her stomach, Annie’s back lying across her side, Gilda unfurled her right wing and held it up. Her wing folded back in, but with Annie’s body tucked in between the wing and body, snuggling her into Gilda’s fur.

“Comfy?” Gilda asked.

Annie was suddenly struck by the warmth of Gilda’s body and wing, feeling much more comfortable and calm.

“Yes,” Annie said. “Thank you. Flash? Those chips?”

Flash Sentry approached Annie and Gilda, placing the bag and decanter on the snowy ground next to Annie’s thigh. As Annie grabbed the decanter of crystal, Gilda pinched the bag of chips with her talon and dragged it along the top, ripping it open. Gilda stuffed a talon-full of chips in her mouth while Annie pulled the top off the crystal decanter and took a greedy gulp. Annie panted exhaustedly, wiping her lips with her sleeve.

“Careful,” Gilda warned, passing Annie the chips, “even if you can swallow a mouthful of crystal like that, you should do with some food in your body.”

“Right,” Annie agreed, reaching in for a handful.

As Annie ate the chips and Gilda stole a sip of crystal, still unable to keep from squirming from the strong taste, Flash Sentry looked upon them and smiled, his heart warmed by their companionship.

“Guys,” called Flash Sentry, “I’m going to keep watch for the other Fates, alright?”

“Yes,” Annie said, “thank you, Flash.”

Flash Sentry nodded as he walked closer to the tracks while keeping a safe and reachable distance from Gilda and Annie.

“So tell me,” asked Gilda, “where did you get the stomach to drink that much crystal?”

As badly as Flash Sentry wanted to listen in and join their conversation, he continued to look across the tracks, waiting for the next fates to come after them.
________________________________________________________________________________________

The Manehattan Fates emerged from the forest in a brisk trot. A wrapped up, bloodied sack was carried on the back of Bruiser, who looked furious as he was led by Black Glass. Likewise, Slicer was angry as well, her face fixed into a snarl. Both Doctor and Black Glass looked rather stoic, continuing on their trek.

Finally, they came to the large river, and standing along the edge of the cliff before them was a black coated unicorn stallion with a grey mane and tail. His two saddlebags strapped to his sides were filled to the brim. Upon his head over his eyes, he wore a pair of bright, shining glasses that looked like they were made entirely from mirror.

Upon recognizing him as White Glass, the four Manehattan Fates galloped up towards him. Hearing their hoofsteps come closer, White Glass turned to greet them, allowing them to stop. Immediately, White Glass’s head turned towards the bloody sack on Bruiser’s back.

“I assume she didn’t make it,” White Glass asked.

Bruiser walked up ahead of his other Fates and turned around. Lowering his back, the sack dropped off into the snow, unraveling to reveal the cut-up corpse of the White Slicer. White Glass sighed disappointedly, lowering his head.

“It’s a shame that she did not gain the experience of fighting her like you have,” White Glass spoke.

“Experience hardly has anything to do with it,” Slicer hissed. “She was a great fighter, and that ape killed her like a dog!”

“I suppose you’re right, but I also suppose you’re wrong.”

Slicer cocked her head, unsure of what White Glass meant.

“She was a great fighter, but do not mistake yourself, she fought a valiant battle; at least, the Slicer I know would have. Even with the warnings you gave us, it still wasn’t enough to clearly express how dangerous this human is.”

“The way she charged at us back there,” said Bruiser, “it was as if we were nothing more than foals at a playground; no fear at all! She’s a monster I tell you!”

White Glass sighed once more, again in the same disappointed fashion.

“No,” he disagreed, looking at the White Slicer’s corpse, “she is merely a very skilled killer, just like us. She just so happens to be more skilled than others.”

Bruiser huffed, unnerved by White Glass’s logic.

“White Glass,” spoke Black Glass, “why have you come alone? Where are your other Fates?”

“Looking for them, I presume,” White Glass answered. “Commander is still awaiting the death of Gilda and the human at the hands of the western Fates. Seeing as she’s already killed one of them, that leaves our Bruiser and our Doctor.

“Commander has said that if they manage to kill Gilda and the human, we will dispose of their bodies, wipe our hooves of this, and pretend that these twelve hours never happened. If Gilda and the human manage to kill them, then he has ordered that we all go out at once and capture them and bring them to him alive. I assume that he would like to have the honors.”

“What about that Royal Guard?” asked Slicer. “What are we supposed to do with him?”

“Ah, yes… him. Commander has specifically requested that we capture him; whatever the outcome of Gilda and the human might be. Understand?”

“Yes,” spoke Black Glass. “We understand.”

“Good. However, we should still make our way out. I predict that my Bruiser and Doctor should be finding them very soon now. Now, if I could just have your assistance Black Glass. We need some way of getting across this river.”

Black Glass nodded, coming towards White Glass. Doctor, Bruiser, and Slicer all came closer as well as they surrounded Black Glass and White Glass. Touching their glowing horns together, Black Glass and White Glass’s auras began to turn a bright white. An orb formed from their magic and began to encase the five of them in a large bubble. At once, the bubble popped, leaving no trace of anyone inside.
________________________________________________________________________________________

The snowfall had begun to increase, and as Gilda and Annie stayed close to each other, Flash continued to be on the lookout. Annie and Gilda would occasionally look behind them as well, unsure if the Manehattan Fates would arrive before the Vanhoover Fates. Gilda shook her body lightly, shaking the small sheet of snow that was dusted on her fur. Annie’s hood was tight around her head, keeping her even warmer.

“Yo, Flash!” called Gilda. “See anything?”

“If I did,” he responded, “I would tell you.”

Gilda settled herself back down, her groaning vibrating her chest, which Annie could distinctly feel.

“Patience,” advised Annie. “For the most part, we’re still out in the open. It might still take some time for them to find us. It certainly helps that we’re by these tracks. One of the branches, whether it be Vanhoover or Manehattan, are going to take these tracks straight to us.”

“A wise assumption!” called a voice beyond the blizzard and down the tracks.

Flash Sentry jerked his body to the source of the voice while Gilda and Annie both shot up from their spot, looking along the tracks to see who was coming. Two ponies walked along the tracks towards, them, neither Gilda or Annie recognizing them.

The pony on their right was a burly black earth stallion with a short light brown mane and tail. Beside him was a tan-colored unicorn stallion with a brown mane and tail. Both of them were each equipped with their own saddlebags which were stuffed with whatever contents were inside. Both arms of the black earth pony were covered in a thick, but flexible metal armor. Two sheaths also stuck out from behind the tan colored unicorn, two swords visible out the front.

“It’s the Vanhoover Bruiser and Doctor,” Gilda deduced out loud. “They look nothing like the ones from Manehattan.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Annie said. “If they’re going to try and kill us, we kill them first.”

“Right.”

“You take the bruiser, Flash and I will take on the Doctor.”

Annie and Gilda walked down towards the tracks, Flash following them, keeping his eyes on their two assailants. As Gilda stopped on the left track before the Black Bruiser, Annie and Flash stepped before the Tan Doctor.

“Hey there!” exclaimed the Tan Doctor. “You haven’t let us introduce ourselves!”

“No need,” Annie said, drawing both swords out of her sheaths. “You’re here to try and kill us, but we’re going to kill you first.”

“I see. In that case…”

Using his magic, the Tan Doctor drew two sabers from his sheaths, each dripping with translucent blue oil off the blades.

“…let us skip the formalities.”

Both the Tan Doctor and the Black Bruiser ran forwards at their enemies. Annie jiggled her swords in her hand, preparing for her opponent’s first strike. Gilda reared back, ready to intercept the Black Bruiser. Flash Sentry scooted away, allowing Annie and the Tan Doctor room to fight.

The Tan Doctor’s swords flew towards Annie in a swing from the left. Annie swung her blades at his swords to deflect, only for the force of his swing to lift her off her feet and throw her towards Gilda. The Black Bruiser, seeing this, slid to a halt and let Annie collide into Gilda. Annie rolled off of Gilda as both tried to get up. Gilda’s preparation was stopped when the armored right foreleg of the Black Bruiser kicked her in the gut, putting her back into the ground.

Annie, back on her feet, charged at the Black Bruiser. Thrusting her swords forwards at his chest, the Black Bruiser swung his arm to the right, blocking Annie’s attack. With another quick movement, the Black Bruiser’s arm swung left, ramming the side of his armored hoof into the side of her head. Annie was left flying once more, her stomach landing on the left rail of the tracks.

Annie, despite her head bleeding above the ear, shot her head up to see the blade of one of the Tan Doctor’s swords thrusting at her. Annie rolled to the right, the blade colliding with the track in a ring and burst of sparks. Unbeknownst to Annie, both the thrusting sword and the second sword were had lifted up and were ready to swing down on her. Before he could, the Tan Doctor was struck by Flash Sentry, who tackled him to the ground and broke the concentration of his spell.

The Tan Doctor’s swords fell over Annie as she rolled away another time. As she tried to get up, the tips of one of the swords caught the left edge of Annie’s left hand, making her hiss in slight pain. Shaking the blood off of her hand, she picked herself back up and grabbed the Tan Doctor’s swords. Turning back, she tossed the Tan Doctor’s swords out and over the hill and away from the fight.

The Black Bruiser approached Gilda, who was now able to stand up in time thanks to Annie’s distraction. Gilda took a pounce upon the Black Bruiser, who stood up and blocked Gilda’s talons with his plated arms, picking Gilda up. Swinging her back paws forwards, her claws came out and latched to the top of the Black Bruiser’s abdomen. Pushing out, the claws tore deep within his flesh. Before Gilda could follow through, the Black Bruiser threw his body and arms forwards, slamming Gilda into the ground as she made a piercing shriek.

Annie picked up her own swords from the ground and turned back to the Tan Doctor, who was wrestling with Flash Sentry as he tried to pin him down and hold him in a lock. Using his magic, the Tan Doctor threw Flash Sentry off of him and down back into the snow. Just as Flash Sentry got up, Annie ran across the tracks and swung her swords down at the seemingly distracted Doctor.

Right as the swords would hit him, a blue shield appeared before the Tan Doctor, the swords hitting and sliding down it. Annie noticed that the force had knocked her sword from her left hand. Annie bent down to pick it up, only for the sword to slip out of her grasp. Annie panted nervously, noticing that her hand began to feel numb and would not move. Annie then noticed that blue veiny lines began to appear around her hand, making her panting grow louder.

“Do you like it?” the Tan Doctor asked. “It appears that one of my swords got you after all.”

Off on the other side of the tracks, Gilda fought off the Black Bruiser as he pinned her paws down with his back hooves, trying his best to hold her talons down with his front hooves.

“What is this?” Annie asked.

“It’s oil from the Cockatrice Lilac,” explained the doctor as he approached Annie, making her back away. “It spreads through your body, paralyzing you until you’re still as stone. I’ve never thought I’d be able to witness its effects on a creature as rare as yourself. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to wait…”

The Tan Doctor began to charge his horn, while Annie prepared herself to dodge. Flash Sentry galloped to the Tan Doctor and spun around on his front hooves, thrusting his legs back to buck. The Tan Doctor spun around to face Flash Sentry’s back hooves, his horn glowing and a shield appearing front of his face. Flash Sentry kicked back, his hooves hitting and bouncing off the shield. Flash Sentry’s body was covered in blue sparks as his body was sent limply flying back into the snow.

The Black Bruiser headbutted into Gilda’s face, bloodying her beak and face. Disoriented, Gilda could only cough and heave as her face collided with the Black Bruiser’s once again. With another thrust, the Black Bruiser brought his face down. Gilda quickly shifted her neck left and opened her mouth, catching the Black Bruiser’s mouth on the right side of the jaw.

Annie, using Flash Sentry’s distraction, placed her right sword back in her left sheath. Bending down, she yanked the wire to her left sword towards her, picking it up with her right hand. Annie held her sword up defensively as she came towards the Tan Doctor.

Noticing her, the Tan Doctor turned to Annie and blasted a spell at her chest. Annie, with no way to block it, was thrust off her feet with her back landing on the right rail of the track. Annie squirmed and shouted in pain, but found herself unable to move. Annie grunted as she realized that her entire right arm, and the right side of her chest and neck were already numbed by the poison.

Gilda continued to hold on to the Black Bruiser’s mouth as he yelled in anguish. He thrust his head left, but Gilda held him down, resolving to bite even harder, blood pouring from the wound and into and onto her beak. The taste of his blood in his mouth compelled Gilda to bite even harder, waiting for him to try another method to free himself.

Annie turned to the left, seeing smoke billowing in a pillar not far off from the distance and coming towards her. Realizing what was coming, Annie moved her feet to the left rail while trying to push off the right rail with her still working hand.

“No, no, no,” chided the Tan Doctor.

Using his magic, three blue auras covered Annie’s calves and forearm, lying them flat on the tracks and pinning her down.

“Now,” said the Tan Doctor with a happy sneer, “let’s sit back and watch your final moments.”

Annie could see the headlight of the train as it came forwards, the whistle blowing loudly to try and warn Annie to get away. Annie hissed through her teeth, feeling the imminence of her death approaching.

The Black Bruiser, raised his right arm up to punch Gilda off, but with her own arm freed, Gilda thrust her left talons at the left side of his neck and placed the tips on. With a forceful arm, Gilda’s talons dug into the Black Bruiser’s flesh and tore through his neck in a bloody splatter.

Gilda sat herself up and pushed the fast-bleeding Bruiser off of her, where he landed in the snow, weakly gurgling his final breaths as his blood cascaded from the three wounds and down his neck to the ground.

Gilda turned left upon hearing the whistle, seeing the passenger train come closer. Turning right, she watched as the Tan Doctor pinned Annie down to the tracks. Flash Sentry weakly got up, seeing as Gilda ran to Annie in her predicament.

“ANNIE!” she cried.

Hearing Gilda’s voice, Annie aimed the front of her operational device at the Tan Doctor with her wrist. Pulling the trigger, a puff of gas escaped from the main body of her Maneuver Gear and a hook shot out towards the Tan Doctor. Unable to see it even coming, the hook pierced through his neck and exited through the back where it latched on.

In shock and pain, the Tan Doctor’s magic disappeared off Gilda’s body, but Annie looked to see that the train was too close for her to escape. She let out a confident smile, consoling herself with the fact that he would go down with her.

Just then, Annie felt her body pulled off the tracks by the hood of her hoodie. The Tan Doctor felt the wire in his neck tugging him towards the tracks, seeing Gilda quickly shuffling back with Annie's hood in her beak. With Gilda’s strength outnumbering his, he was forced onto the tracks just as the train came speeding towards him.

With a raspy, weakened shriek, the Tan Doctor’s head and body was rammed into the train, blood exploding out his face and chest. Annie clicked the bottom trigger, retracting the wire from his neck just before she could be pulled along with him. Annie turned her neck right to the train’s cowcatcher throw him back onto the left side of the tracks as the train continued its way down the line.

Flash Sentry brought himself to his feet as the back end of the train passed, allowing him to run across the tracks to Gilda and Annie. Flash Sentry, stood beside the panting Gilda, both looking at Annie to see if she was hurt.

“Is she alright?” asked Flash Sentry.

Gild looked at her left hand and her neck, seeing as the blue lines were spreading.

“No,” Gilda shuddered, fearing for her companion’s life, “that Doctor poisoned her. Where is he?”

Gilda turned to find the Tan Doctor’s corpse lying in the snow further down on the other side. Gilda sprinted towards his body, leaving Flash Sentry alone with Annie. As the lines spread over her neck and towards her face, she began gasping for air, feeling her body begin to shut down to the cold.

“Gilda!” shouted Flash Sentry. “Get back! She’s not going to make it!”

Gilda tore the Tan Doctor’s saddlebags off of him, dumping the contents to the floor, which appeared to be wooden boxes with various labels on them, half of them broken and shattered from the train.

“Shut up!” Gilda shouted back. “I know what to do!”

Panicking as she scanned, she found an unharmed box featuring a turquoise flower resembling a lilac and a bold, red cross below it. Gilda breathed a relieved sigh as she picked the box up and ran back to Annie with it.

“What is that?” asked Flash Sentry. “What’s happening to her?”

“It’s cockatrice lilac,” explained Gilda as she opened the box, revealing a prepared syringe with a clear liquid inside of it. “The doctors always bring an antidote of these poisons in case someone tries to use it on them.”

“And that one you have there will save her?”

Gilda took the syringe from the box and slid the cover off the needle.

“Let’s hope.”

Gilda carefully lowered the needle towards Annie’s neck, inserting it into one of the lines in her neck. Pulling the plunger out, Gilda was relieved to see blood pulled into the syringe, allowing her to inject the rest back into her body.

Gilda and Flash Sentry watched as the lines began to recede, Annie’s skin returning to a normal color. Annie’s erratic breathing became more controlled as she regained strength and consciousness. Annie looked to Gilda and Flash Sentry, who both looked gladdened for her safety.

“Gilda,” whispered Annie. “Good job, there.”

Gilda couldn’t help but chuckle, flattered by Annie’s compliment. As the last of the blue lines disappeared from Annie’s Hand, she suddenly tensed up, her teeth grit in what appeared to be pain.

“Now what’s happening?” asked Flash Sentry.

“The blood’s coming back into her arms,” Gilda said. “It’s like her arm fell asleep. Nothing wrong at all.”

“We should get moving. The rest of them are probably not far behind.”

“I thought we were supposed to wait here! Annie’s not even healed yet.”

“No,” objected Annie. “Flash is right. We barely just survived that encounter. If we run, we can scatter them; take them on one by one. Flash, help me up.”

Flash Sentry lowered his upper body down, allowing Annie to swing her arm around his neck. Sitting up as he stood back up, Annie was brought back to her feet. She quickly placed her blade and operational device back in her right sheath.

“Let’s hurry,” Annie said, “they’re probably not far behind.”

Annie, Gilda, and Flash ran across the tracks and into the woods ahead. Gilda took one last glance at the Black Bruiser before the trees could block him. Spitting out a ball of blood and saliva, Gilda turned forwards once again and followed Annie and Flash forwards.