Hotline Manehattan

"Who are you?"

"You're a bad pony, good ponies don't hurt others."

"Do you even know who you are?"

"Do you even have a name?"

"I hope you die!"

You turn around at the sound of a knock at your door. You swing off your bed and stretch out. Your head is throbbing for some reason, you can't even remember what happened last night.

You walk into your entry and stumble to your door. You try to open it, but something is blocking the other side. You push hard and crane your head out of your apartment. A small cardboard box is sitting in front of your door.

You levitate it inside to avoid having to see any of your neighbors. You walk it into your kitchen and set it on the table. It can wait until you find something to eat.

You rummage through your fridge and find some leftover salad. You don't know how old it is but you decide to take a chance. You sit and start eating, a glass of water helps to sooth your sore throat and clean up the fog that has been hanging over you since you woke up.

The cold salad is rather bland, but just the thing to settle your stomach. You finish the simple meal and levitate the box over.

A large blue stamp on the box tells you who it's from. You slowly pull it open and pull out a folded note, a knife, and a diamond dog mask out. You set the knife aside as you look the note over. The same blue seal hard pressed into the back of the note means that this is official.

The note is almost completely blank. Two addresses, times, and the words, "It's time" all printed in a royal looking font.

You realize you can't put it off anymore and slowly pull yourself into the bathroom. You step into the tub and find a large bottle of black dye they gave you when you first agreed to this. You quickly soak yourself with the shower head and start pouring the dye over your body. once your coat is a steely jet black you use another navy blue dye on your mane and tail. Not that anyone is going to see your mane with the mask, but sentiment is sentiment.

Once dry you look at yourself in the mirror, you look just like the two ponies that brought you into this in the first place. You can barely remember what happened that day, only that after it you kept getting letters.

You don't like looking at yourself, deciding to go and get a jacket on and try and cover what you can before heading out. You pack everything into a saddle bag and head down to your cart. You throw everything in the back and start off down the cobblestone road towards the train station.

You reach the station at midnight. The last train pulling into station just as you unhook yourself from your cart. You hurriedly pull off your jacket, pull on the mask, and pull your knife along with you. You walk calmly towards a duo of rough looking ponies blocking the entrance to the train station, "Whoa there colt, you don't wanna go in there." One stepped forward, stomping his hoof, bringing attention to the large metal shoe he was wearing, "Might get hurt."

The other one walked over laughing, "You do know it's not nightmare night right kid? Cause ya look like an-" he was cut off by a sudden surge of blood from his neck. You dug the knife in deep before tearing it free of his flesh, hacking apart his throat and sending him rearing backwards before toppling onto his back.

The first stallion stared in awe as blood sprayed the cheap rubber mask. You feel like laughing as you feel the warm liquid spray into your coat. So enthralled are you that you completely forget about the other pony standing next to you.

You feel an amazing pain as you are tossed roughly to the floor. Your right eye knocked free of the socket and now staring at some cobblestone. Your mind goes blank as you realize what has happened. You manage to swing your head around just in time to catch a second stomp with your muzzle. You taste copper as the stallion starts putting weight on the side of your head. You feel him rear up and get ready to stomp your brains into paste when you release your spell.

Your broken bones knit themselves back together, the stallions throat mends right in front of your eyes. You're back, having just pulled the mask on with the knife hanging magically beside you.

You clear your head and walk to the duo, "Whoa there co-" You waste no time in driving the knife into the steel shod one's chest, yanking it through his flesh and pulling it deep into the second stallions throat. The first dies on impact with the ground, the second flailed weakly as he pressed his hooves into the gash, only managing to let more blood flow as the cut widened.

You ignore his garbled screams as you hurry into the train station. You take your time, not wanting to have to repeat your previously excruciating lesson. You peak around a corner and see a mare bashing a vending machine with a piece of pipe. You find a nearby bottle and hurl it into the wall behind on your right. The mare's ears perked up at the sound, her curiosity calling her over to investigate the shattered glass.

She leans in, mumbling something through the pipe in her mouth. You bull rush her, sending the pipe across the floor and the mare into a wall. She sits there daze while you hurry over, forcing her head against the wall and slashing her throat wide open. Her head falls like a puppet with the strings cut, slouching to the side and falling into a puddle of blood.

You find the pipe and carry it and your knife with you further into the station. You hurry through each room, ending when you find three ponies standing on the edge of the platform. You decide to get to it, charging like a maniac and swinging the pipe into one of the ponies skull, splitting their head wide open before getting bashed by a large spanner. You can see your blood pooling in the muzzle of the mask as you cast your spell.

Once again standing in plain view of three ponies, you see them charge. You just stand there, eventually hurling your knife into one of the charging duo. They fall in horrific pain, screaming and trying to pull the dagger from their flesh.

The other one with the spanner winds their head up, you quickly bring the pipe down on the spanner, shattering their teeth and forcing the spanner to the ground. You take no chances and swing the pipe into the side of their head, the metallic thud causing the last, unarmed pony to flinch. You walk towards her, kicking the knife deeper into the dying stallion as you bear down on the terrified mare.

"Please, you don't have to do this!" You bring your pipe up and let it rest on the side of her head before reeling back, "Please! I don't wanna die!" You ignore her and slam the pipe into her head. Blood showers you and the wall behind you. You levitate your target away from her grasps. A hard leather case now sits stained with blood as you press the pipe into the dying mares flesh.

You slowly increase the pressure, impaling the mare with the narrow head of the pipe and tearing apart her organs as you sink it through her stomach. A sputtering red cough and a small seizure later and she stops dead. Satisfied with your carnage you pick up the case and run out of the building.

You throw the case and the mask in the back of your cart and pull the jacket around your chest. Your flank still stained with blood and dye, you decide to make a quick pit stop in someponies yard and hose yourself down. The cold water shatters your rage, a sudden sickness wells up in your stomach.

You manage to rush into some bushes and vomit a green paste before staggering back to the hose and cleaning yourself off. The dye runs off your coat and tail and into the grass. The blood swirls around the puddle of dye as you finish and hop the fence to get back to your cart.

With yourself cleaned up you hurry to the second address. You pull up in front of a large club, pulling the case out and hurrying behind it. You tuck the case behind a dumpster and turn to go back to your cart.

A boyish voice of a mare breaks your concentration, "Hey! I can hear you back here!" In a moment of panic you hop onto the dumpster and hurl yourself over the adjacent wall, falling over it and landing in a back alley. You can feel pebbles and sticks in your back as you pull yourself upright and rush to find your cart.

You reach your cart, strap in, and bolt into the night.

You walk into a slightly busy pizza place, "Hey there pal, welcome." The stallion behind the counter smiles at you as you reach him, "Say, I know you, you're that stud with the dame. You know the one!"

You just stand there and wait impatiently.

"Yeah, you and that mare with the tail. Where is she? You two didn't break up did ya?" He finally got the hint after looking at my scowl long enough, "Okay then...the usual it is." He hurries back and tosses a large box onto the counter, "For a friend of Flim and Flam it's on the house."

You ignore him and take your pizza to your cart. With everything done for the day you head home to eat and get some well earned rest.