The Conversion Bureau: A Man's Revenge

Chapters

Ambush
One
Two and Three
Revelation
Four

Ambush

By: no sh*t sherlock

“This is Nick. You guys read me?” A voice called. I put my binoculars down and picked up my radio from the concrete floor.

“Jordan here, Go ahead.” I answered back.

“I’ve acquired the target. Hes in a black SUV.” Nick said. Nicholas Diaz was our lookout, a perfect job for a pegasus. Keeping up with targets in cars was way too hard for us ponies that had to walk, even in the congested city streets. But he was able to inconspicuously follow them, posing as just any other pegasus soaring about the sky.

“How’re they looking?” Another voice asked. It was Carly. She was the leader of our little group as well as the oldest at 26 humans years old. We had known each other the longest and it was her that convinced me to join the PER. In our city the PER was separated into smaller division that would all come together every once in a while to discuss plans of action. The one decided on a few months ago was to save the more well off and prestigious families. Thats what we were doing today.

“They’re coming straight to you. 30 seconds.”

I looked out the window and down the street. Sure enough, there was the target’s car stuck behind a stop light. Luck was with us as it was the first car in the line.

“Get your weapon ready.” Alisa said. She was the unicorn next to me and was the one who set the spell trap for them. I looked my gun over. The specially made item would hold 14 darts. All five of us in the group had one.

“10 seconds guys.” Nick alerted.

I breathed quickly. As a grouped we had saved dozens of people on the streets, but this was different. This was a chosen target, that took careful planning. What we all hoped was that if the general public saw the wealthy going pony, then they might go to a bureau to be saved themselves.

“...2...1...hes in position!”

The SUV rolled into the street we intended. The perfect chosen spot on the target's daily route. A small street in the middle of two abandoned apartment buildings that had nearly no vehicle or foot traffic. Two ponies in the windows of either building with two traps in the street to block their path in front and behind. It was a simple ambush and so far it was working out good and our luck continued.

When the car passed a certain street light, a magically wall formed a few yards ahead of it. The driver slammed on the brakes and the vehicle skidded to a stop, bouncing off the wall only slightly.

That was our cue.

Alisa and I leaned out the window at the same moment as Carly and David and fired a quick burst of darts at the back windows. I wasn’t completely surprised when they bounced harmlessly off the glass.

“Bulletproof.” I sighed heavily.”We gotta get down there."

The driver was trying to leave. He threw it in reverse and hit the gas. They went a few yards backwards until they hit the newly formed opposite wall. When they realized they were stuck, the doors on the right side opened and two men in suits jumped out.

“PER! One shouted as they pulled pistols from holsters on their waists and began firing at Carly and David. They weren’t aware of us.

The first one was hit from above by Nick. He fell to the ground and started convulsing as changes began almost instantaneously. I shot the second in the back when he paused to check the status of his partner.

The driver had sped forward again. He drove onto the sidewalk aiming for a small gap between the wall and the building. But he didn’t make it.

I’m not sure what he hit exactly. Maybe he knocked over a trash can and it somehow got underneath the right front wheel or something. But the right side lifted off the ground. The weight of the other side brought it to slowly flip on its side and then onto its roof.

“Oh Crap!” Alisa shouted as we left the windows and headed for the stairs.

The two of us made it to the overturned Escalade at around the same time as Carly and David. The driver had unhooked his belt and was trying to crawl from the window. Carly got him easily. Nick had landed and along with David, was dragging the converting driver away from the vehicle.

I crouched and peered inside the window. Sitting in the back was a small boy, around ten or eleven, still suspended by his seatbelt. He didn’t look hurt, but I swear his eyes were as big as golf balls and he was whimpering and shaking in fear.

“Shh… We’re not going to hurt you, son. We’re here to help. Your daddy just can’t see that this will be a good thing for you. We’re helping your entire family, okay?” I spoke in a soothing voice with a hoof stretched out in an attempt to calm him. He pulled back anyway, but I still moved forward. “I got to get you out of that seat.” I said in the same voice. I hit the red release button with my hoof and the boy fell onto the car’s ceiling.

I looked to Carly who nodded in approval then turned back to the boy with my dart gun ready. The boy was staring at me and had started to cry.

“Its okay, its alright. There's no pain.” I stuck him in the leg before crawling back out of the car. “Its done.” I told everyone. Carly began to smile at me, but it was stopped by the sound of sirens approaching.

“Good because we gotta go!” Carly said before taking off into the air with Nick following close behind. “We’ll meet up at the safe house later!” She shouted before accelerating to her full speed.

The rest of us nodded in agreement. Alisa took down the walls and we all fled the scene.

One

“Ah yes thank you.” I said to my waiter as he set my drink down on the table.

"You’re welcome." He said politely. "Are you about ready to order now sir?"

“Not quite, but tell you what.” I pointed to the exit to restaurant. There was an older white man, around 50 to 55, standing near the doorway. He had his hands in his pockets and his eyes darted around from table to table as he searched for someone. "You see that lost look fellow in the sport coat? Could you direct him over here, please?"

“Of course.” He said as he walked over to the man and pointed him in my direction.

"Are you the Wizard?" He asked when he reached my table.

I sighed. “ Yes I am." I nodded and lied to him.

I hated the god-awful nickname. Every time it was used, it made me feel as if I was some kind of fucking cosplaying nerd who spent every waking minute playing videogames or watching stupid shows. It was one of a few names of or relating to “The Wizard Of Oz". Oz was another one I got frequently which I actually preferred. I suppose I was associated with that because I was known to help people with their problems. “Take a seat Mr. Stevens.” I said as I held my hand out to him.

“One of my associates brought you to my attention. have something for you.” He said anxiously after I’d taken a long sip. I’d been examining him the entire time. Mr. Stevens didn’t look to good. His clothes were unironed. He had missed a button or two in his lightly stained shirt and his hair was going in all directions as if he’d hadn’t slept for a while.

“What’s troubling you?” I asked calmly.

“The PER!” He said a bit too loud. Anger he had been holding inside came out in his facial expression. The table shook as he slammed a fist on it. The restaurant wasn’t too packed, but it went completely silent for a few moments as the patrons, both ponies and humans, turned towards us. However the look I gave them made most of them look away after a few seconds. When they had gone back to their own business, Mr. Stevens continued, but a more hushed voice.

“Those PER fucks ambushed my youngest son on his way to school!” His fist on the table shook with rage and his face was rapidly turning red. “They fuckin’ converted him!. They converted him and just left him in an a wrecked car like he was fuckin’ worthless! Those fucking assholes!”

I felt bad for the guy. I’d heard stories of parents getting calls telling them their children had been in a PER attack and weren’t coming back home as humans. I’d done things that’d make most people cringe, but hearing things like that always struck a nerve with me. And I didn’t even have children, so I couldn’t imagine how parents must feel.

I nodded sympathetically. “How many heads we talking about here?” I said leaning in close.

“My boy says he saw five. Two pegasi, two unicorns and an earth pony.”

“He tell you anything else, male/ female, color, cutie mark?”

“Nothing, hes still pretty shaken up. Police couldn't get much from from him either. All we know for certain is that it was a male unicorn who actually did it to him."

“Thats not much to go by.” I said disgruntledly, shaking my head . “But I do have my ways of finding things, be it people or ponies. I will find them. Now, on to other matters… I need 50 per head. Cash. Delivered to my garage. ”

“Done.” Mr. Stevens said almost immediately, making me realized that I could’ve asked for even more. “I’ll throw in an extra twenty thousand if you do something special for them.”

I raised an eyebrow. An extra hundred thousand dollars did sound appealing. “What do I have to do?”

“Kill those fucks one by one. I want them to know my anger. Make them feel haunted by what they did to my son.”

I almost smiled. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll start right away and contact you when I have an update.”

“If you need anything just let me know.”

I thought for a moment if I would need anything from him. Only one thing came to mind. “You have $50 on you?” I asked. He took out his wallet and took out three bills. His expression had changed from anger to heavy grief. “Thanks." I said, taking the money. "And I wouldn't worry too much about this. I'll get the fuckers."

]*************************************

"I know this is long overdue, but because we're all together now, I feel we should do it anyway. What we did on Monday could really change things around here. I think it really opened up the door for similar things in the future. When the public sees the rich going pony, maybe they'll finally see that its not just an option for lower class people who can't make ends meet. I also want to congratulate each of you for the job well done. We were quick, everything went exactly according to plan and so far the police have no leads on us. And maybe its too early, but for now I’d say were in the clear!”

The four of us cheered at Carly's short speech and held up our cups. After I had converted, I stopped drinking. It was part of my attempt to rid myself of problems I had when I was a human. However, tonight I hung my rules, this was a special occasion. This was the first time the five of us had been together since we had successfully completed our task. We were together in our "safehouse" which was really just a nice apartment with some extra beds brought in.

"We really do deserve this." Alisa said after she had downed her drink. "Everything went exactly how we planned it."

"I just hope one day the kid will see what we did for him and be appreciative." Nick said.

I laughed. "You know that will never happen. People will never see what good we do for them."

"Yeah your probably right." He said again. "But we'll keep going anyway!" He said proudly. That was something I could drink to. We took ours at the same time. The taste was bitter and warm, but I quickly remembered it. It was super expensive a bottle as it was made of so I was sure to drink all of it. Nick must've loved it because he landed just to pour another glass.

"Don't get too much, Nick." Carly said serious, but with a playful tone. "We still need to plan for our second hit."

"So soon?" David asked. He had absolutely no reservations about drinking and was always going to bars and getting drunk. He blamed his drinking on his lack of gaining a cutie mark. "Can't we have a little more time to celebrate our first one?"

"I suppose..." She said slowly. "But I really want to at least have another one planned out before the end of the week. Plus we all know how you get sometimes..."

"Aw come on, Carly!" David pleaded. "I'll be fine tomorrow. You know I don't get hangovers anymore."

"Fine." She beckoned out the door. "Go ahead. But be careful out there!"

David was gone. He had grabbed his keycard to the apartment, tossed it in his saddlebag and was out of the apartment.

Nick was also a drinker and he was getting visibly antsy when David left. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore. “Imgoingwithhimbebacksoon.” He spat as he flew out the door.

******************************

When I left the restaurant, I got right to work. I brought my keys out and moved quickly across the parking lot to my car. When stuck the key in the lock, I had to jimmy the handle so that the door would open. Needless to say it wasn’t one of my best cars. A POS 1993 Toyota Camry.

However the reason I choose it as my ride tonight wasn’t to impress anyone. I used it as my work vehicle. It was so completely ordinary and plain on the outside that it hardly attracted attention. If I was going to be out all night, this was the car I wanted to be in.

When I started it up, the clock read, “10:47 PM”. It had been approximately 38 hours since Mr. Steven’s son had been converted. Each hour that passed would make it that much harder to track down the ponies responsible. But luckily I already knew the first place to go.

By the time I had reached my destination it was 11:16 PM. I parked my car in the huge lot and headed for the building’s entrance. I found it funny that I had been in the establishment dozens of times, but never once for what the place actually offered.

“Welcome to The Conversion Bureau!” A red unicorn said brightly at me as I entered. I simply nodded to him. The guy had to have known who I was, seeing as I’d came in there and left so many times. Perhaps he thought I was simply one of the humans who would chicken out right before they made their final decision.

The front of the Bureau was made to resemble a doctors office,which is to say it was really just a big waiting room. Rows of chairs faced the long countertop that divided the two ends. At this time of night, there weren’t too many people waiting, but when conversion was performed by the professionals, it took at least an hour or two.

I really didn’t like coming to this place. Waiting in the seats were a mom and dad with a few young kids who were playing with some stupid looking toy made of bent wires and various objects with holes in them. They all looked too thin for their age and they were wearing clothes that had gone at least a few weeks without a wash. This was most likely either a homeless or really poor family, and thats what pissed me of about the whole conversion thing. It wasn’t some great thing that people looked forward to like the ponies made it seem. For many it was simply a last resort. Desperation drove them to the choice of ultimately starving or changing their species. Desperation could make people do crazy things. Hell, Its what fueled the majority of my business.

There was a small line of people waiting to sign in with the pony who worked the desk at this hour. Had it been another night I might’ve waited, but not this time.

“Excuse me. Pardon me.” I said coldly to them as I pushed my way up to the front. No one really stopped me. I wasn’t a terribly big guy, but I had a persona that kept most people at bay. “I don’t wait in lines, sorry.”

Working the desk was an orange earth pony with a medical hat on. This was Teresa. She had been back and forth on the streets before she was converted. Selling drug, prostitution, robbery, she did whatever to stay afloat and in doing so, she came to know many people. But she was more devious than she let on. She was good tricking people into talking about things that they normally wouldn't. Couple that with her good memory and you could have dangerous mix. I think that's part of the reason I liked her.

“Um excuse me, sir, but there is a-”

“Cut the bullshit. I'm in a hurry. ” I said taking out the fifty bucks Mr. Stevens had given me and sliding it across the counter. She swiped the money as soon as it got close and pushed it somewhere below the desk.

“What do you want, Oz?” She asked.

“Jeffrey Stevens.” I said softly. “What do you know about him.”

“He was a cute little boy. I saw some of his pictures on the news last night. He's the son of some millionaire, though I forget what he does. But anyway he got ambushed and converted yesterday morning and became the PER's latest victim."

"Police say they have nothing. They want to write it up as just another PER attack and leave it at that. But I know you got something."

She sighed then beckoned for me to come in closer. "So last week I'm in this shitty bar called The Froggy Bottom and this guy walks in. Gets real drunk and tries hitting on me. I do my stuff and get him talking and he says he's with the PER. Says that him and some friends have something big planned for the next Monday."

I took out a small sheet of paper and used the pen chained to the counter. "What did this pony look like?"

"He's an earth pony. Orange coat, but a little darker than mine. He didn't have a cutiemark yet, which was weird because he was definitely in his twenties. But get this. He told me that if it things worked out then he would go back to that same bar tonight!"

I pushed away from the counter. "Thanks." I said. I thought we were done, but when I turned around she tried to stop me.

"Wait, you're not going there now are you? That place is like PER central."

I sighed. "I know."

***********************************

Before I went to The Froggy Bottom, I had to gear up. I owned a small garage only a couple minutes away from the Conversion Bureau.

I drove my car right inside after I'd unlocked the chain fence. I knew I probably wouldn't be back to the place until morning, so I got everything I would need.

I opened one of my gun lockers and threw some things into the backseat. A shotgun with a few boxes of shells, some brass knuckles and a pistol with a suppressor which was placed in the glove compartment. I also took a cheap prepaid cell phone from a desk drawer which I had gotten a morbid idea for.

That was it for the legal items. I took out a pair of keys and put them into a hole in the floor. When I pushed down, a section of the floor slid back revealing a short ladder to the small room of my illegally owned items. I grabbed the smallest block of C4 I had, maybe a tenth of the full size, and put it in a case. A remote trigger and detonator went in the car too. The last thing was housed inside a large black trunk. I dragged it out and slid the slab of floor back up.

Before I put it in my trunk, I couldn't help but look at it again. So I popped it open and inside was my semi-automatic 7.62mm sniper rifle. I had acquired it as a bonus from a job a few months ago. I had only fired it a few times and the thing was still nice and clean, but with a sandy brown camo on it. i didn’t even know if I’d need it, but I packed it in anyway.

Later…

My car was parked along the street with the pony's bar. Every other building seemed dead compared to the bright lights and loud TV volume from it. I could hear ponies cheering and laughing and talking, most likely watching some Wonderbolts event or something. They were so obnoxious I wondered how the neighborhood could stand it.

I was sitting in the passenger seat of my car with everything turned off. I was few cars down from the entrance and from here I could see everything. I watched each and every pony who entered or exited, making sure they didn't fit the description I was given.

In some many ways finding ponies is easier than humans. The main thing I had to go on for people was race, gender and good estimate for height and weight. Ponies had, gender, race, color and their cutie marks(or lack of) were dead giveaways and they were infinitely easier to identify at a distance.

But if the pony I wanted was in there, it didn't look like he was leaving. I checked my watch, it was 1:12 on Wednesday morning. I slumped even lower in the seat.

"Jesus Christ..." I sighed. Part of me wanted to slip my mask down over my face, jump out of the car and run in there. But Teresa was right, this area had a really strong PER presence. Most of the forced conversions happened in this neighborhood. Becoming a New Foal tonight was not something I wanted. I still had five ponies to kill.

It was another 35 minutes before I saw the pony I wanted. He stumbled out of the bar with a pegasus who was way more drunk. His altitude changed randomly and there were times when he would stop flapping his wings completely for a few moments. I could hear them talking as they stood outside the entrance.

"Thawa sagood race!" The Pegasus said in a drunken slur. The other pony nodded as he leaned against the wall. So far he was a match. An orange, male, Earth pony. Last thing I needed to check was his cutiemark which I couldn't yet see.

"Yous ureyo uwantto walkb ack byyourself?" The pegasus asked.

"Yeeeeeah, Im fine. I'm fine." He kept repeating.

"Alright, man." The pegasus said. "I'llllllllllllllll seeyouathehouse." He shot off down the street, narrowly avoiding buildings and leaving his friend alone.

Luckily for me, the pony began walking down the sidewalk coming towards me. I slipped the brass knuckles in my pocket and had my gun in my left hand. My right was on the door handle, ready for me to pounce. My parking space was specially chosen. Directly to my right past the sidewalk was a dark dead end alley.

As soon as he was close, I could see that he had no cutiemark. This was my pony. I pulled my cheap mask over my face. It was more to frighten him than to keep my identity secret, because he wasn't going to leave the alley.

When he was adjacent to me, I sprang from my car. I grabbed him in a bear hug and clasped a hand over his mouth as I pulled him into the alley.

He was screaming against my grip on his mouth and I was praying he didn't vomit. At some point I was able to get behind him. I repositioned my gun hand around his neck and hauled him further down.

When we’d reached the end, I pushed him away into the wall. I slipped my brass knuckles around my fingers and punched him twice in the mouth.

“Aggh! What do you want?!” He screamed when I was finished. I extended my arm and pointed my pistol at him.

I decided to play a hunch and assume him responsible. “What did you do Monday morning?!” I shouted at him.

“What?!” He shouted. “I...I...I was in class! I have an early session on Mondays!”

“Hmm.” It might've been the truth, but then again, he perfectly matched my description. Teresa wasn't known to be wrong and it wasn't the first time I'd been given false alibies. I punched him four more times. “Don’t lie to me! Where the fuck were you?!”

He started sobbing then told the truth. “I did a conversion!! It was kid, some rich guy’s. Please don’t hit me again!”

“You converted a kid!? Someone’s child!” I hit him a few more times. When I was finished, he was cowering on the floor.

“...Yes! We did, yes!”

I put the knuckles back in my pocket, feeling that I'd roughed him up enough, and leaned in close to him. “Who is we?” I whispered.

The pony told me everything. Carly, Jordan, Nicholas and Alisa, I now had the names and descriptions of the rest of my targets. He also told me why the PER was specifically targeting the children of more wealthy families. This disturbed me. The PER did some fucked up shit, but everyone assumed that there was some kind of unwritten rule about purposefully converting people kids. Once he swore under threat of more punches that he didn't know anything else, my job was pretty much done. Unfortunately for David there was really one thing left to do.

I pointed my pistol to the still whimpering pony and flipped the safety off. His face was bloody and his eyes red from crying.

"Wait don't kill me, man. Please!" He cried his eyes wide with surprise. Unfortunately I had to lie to him and say that I’d let him go if he told me what I needed to know.

I sighed and shrugged. "Sorry man, but I'm on the clock."

*THWUMP*

He slumped down dead against the wall. that was one down.

As I was about to walk away, there was something that caught my eye. His saddle bag. It had flown off after one of my initial punches. I picked it up and took it back to my car which I quickly entered and left the area.

I parked behind a gas station a few blocks away. I dumped the contents of the bag into the passenger seat and started sorting through it. It was mostly just junk, pieces of trash, old receipts, packs of crackers. There was only one thing of value I found in the bag. A keycard for an apartment room. The address, room number and floor were all on it. I grinned as I put it in my pocket. I had my next destination.

Two and Three

I might've overslept. The red digits of the alarm clock read "11:20" when I woke up and bright light was peering through gaps in the curtains. I rolled over laying on my back and my eyes blinked as they adjusted to it.

I was still in the shitty single bed room at the shitty motel on the edge of the city. I had wanted to continue working last night, but David had already given me everything I need to find the rest of my targets before I'd killed him, so I felt I deserved a little rest.

Things were actually going much better than I thought. I only had four targets left and had names and descriptions for each of them. If things continued at this pace, I could probably finish my task and have nearly one third million dollars in my metaphorical pocket. I figured I should call Mr. Stevens and let him know of my quick start on exacting his revenge.

I turned over to the night stand beside my bed and dialed the number. As it rang I noticed the two keycards on the stand. One was mine to the motel room. The other belonged to David and looking at it reminded me of where I had to go next.

"Hello?" A voice on the phone asked. I had Mr. Stevens personal number, but it wasn't him who answered. It was one of him associates, the one who had originally contacted me about his boss needing my assistance. I knew I could trust him to relay my simple message.

"One down, four to go." I said before hanging up.

I slid out of bed after the call, took a shower and got dressed. It was time to get back to things. I placed the correct card on the front desk as I checked out. Once I was in my car, I sat for a moment in the parking lot as I typed the address on David's key card into my GPS.

Half an hour later I was standing in front of the entrance to Fisher Tower, a decent sized apartment building. The black trunk containing my rifle and wheels and a handle and I was pulling it behind me like a suitcase.

I decided to bring it because my car wasn't close. I had the option of valet parking from the tower on mere presentation of the card. However I thought it best if I left it in a parking garage a few blocks away.

Now I only had my rifle, C4 and its needed triggering components in my backpack and a knife, just in case. When I showed my card to the pony at the front desk, he simply nodded and waved uninterested at me before he turned back to I walked to the rear of the building where the elevators were and pushed the up button.

****************************

"Alright the owner said he never saw David up here last night." I said to Carly as I walked back to her in the elevator. We were on the 44th floor of our apartment building. On this floor was a bar that we all knew David visited frequently when it was very late since he didn't have to leave the building. We I reached her, she tapped the 23 floor button.

"I know. Nick just called me and said they didn't come up here. He said they went to The Froggy Bottom." Carly said as he she hit the down button "We're going to meet Nick and Alisa in the lobby and spread out in tha area. "

"Why're we going back to the room?" I asked.

"I don't think its smart to jump to any conclusions, but I think we should have some protection while we're out there. "She said as the elevator came to a stop on our floor. We walked down the hallway to our room and collected four of our PER weapons from the countertop and placed them in saddle bags. Once we had filled up with enough darts, we left and headed back out.

However as we neared the elevator a carriage opened, revealing a lone human inside. I'd never seen him in the building before,and he was carrying a large black trunk behind him. He was probably new to the building and was one of the humans trying to take advantage of the drastically lowered rent. If one of my friends hadn't been missing, I might have thought about opportunities where we could welcome him to the wonderful pony world.

As we entered the carriage, he patted himself down and cursed and asked us, "Going down?" We both nodded and he shuffled his bulky trunk back into elevator with us.

We rode mostly in silence until we neared the bottom.

"So I think we should split up when we get there" Carly said. "You go with Nick and I'll search with Alisa."

I nodded. "Sounds good." I said as the door opened up to the lobby where they were waiting for us.

"I just.... I should've been with him." Nick said to me about 20 minutes later. We'd just left the Froggy Bottom with no more information on David's whereabouts than we came in. We'd asked around the street, knocked on doors and still nothing.

"It's alright, Nick. It's not your fault."

"I was with him, Jordan." He said, tearing up. "I should have kept an eye out for him." I didn't he know what else to say to him, so I remained quiet as we continued down on the sidewalk.

"I'm never drinking again." He groaned to himself.

Good idea, I thought. "You want to check down here?" I asked pointing to a dark alley. "Maybe he needed a place to pass out?" Nick nodded and we both to a left into the alley. We didn't make it far before we both froze in our tracks at what was sticking out from under a cardboard box and some old newspapers.

**************************

I hit the up button on the elevator again. I had already gone to the floor that was printed on the back of the card, but just as I was about to get out of the elevator, two ponies were coming towards me. Both of them fit my descriptions and I identified them as Carly and Jordan.

I decided to take the elevator back down with them, so I put on a show and acted like I needed to go back down. I could have killed both of them easily well before we reached the lobby, but I wasn't completely sure it could have been a clean get away. During the ride they were very clearly distressed about something. My guess was that they were nervous that David hadn't returned last night. They mentioned that they were all going to go look for him which gave me a golden opportunity to examine their room.

I walked through the hallway of the 23rd floor, nodding politely to a few ponies I passed. I examined the ceiling and found that were only cameras watching the elevator and fire escape. When I reached their room, I took a pair of gloves from my pocket and slipped them on. I took the key out, dropped into the slot and the door opened with no problem. I pulled in my gun case and rested it by the door as I stepped inside what the police call a PER den.

I'd been inside other ponies rooms and houses before, but this place was felt different to me. Most of it looked like it could belong to any other typical pony. Equestrian cuisine books were on their kitchen island. There was hay and other pieces of salad on the floor around the table, no chairs anywhere and different pony formal attire in the closets. However, there was no mistaking the things that the PER owned.

Cans of red spray paint they used to deface buildings with their message were under the kitchen sink. Equestrian magic books on different kinds of trap and combat spells lined a book shelf. A few of the higher level ones had "Property of Alisa Brooks" written on them. Conversion darts littered the top of one counter along with one of their weapons. For a brief moment I thought about taking it, but I didn't want that stuff leaking in my bag. However, something that actually shocked me was on the desk in one of the bedrooms.

There were pages and pages of full names. As I flipped through the sheets, one page had a small section that was circled in red. There was an arrow coming from the bubble and pointing to the words, "30 mile radius." There were a few of these names that had been gone over with a highlighter, but only one that had an 'X' next to it.

"Jeffrey Stevens." I read outloud. All of pages were a list of PER targets. Under the list were more pages except these had pictures on them. Most were stolen from class pictures or cut or circled from copies of family photos. All were of kids, the very oldest looking of them barely looking 14. "Jesus christ." I sighed, shaking my head.. At that moment I realized that when I killed these ponies, I would be helping out way more people than just Mr. Stevens. The PER couldn't be allowed to do this.

I tore myself away from the desk and got back to work. I searched looked around for something that I could use that matches the mental image of the plan I had. I found what I needed in the bathroom. A small brown wooden box was above the toilet's tank. I dumped out the tissue and soap that was inside and brought it into the living room. I placed it on the kitchen table and dragged both into the center of the floor living room floor. I stuck the remote detonator in the small block of C-4, activated it and placed it in the box. The prepaid cell phone went in as well. The finishing touch was their circled picture of Jeffrey that I placed on top.

With that done, I walked over the window and pulled open the curtains. I smiled at what was in front of me. Two streets down was a building whose roof rose almost exactly to the floor I was on. I could see a structure on top with a door. If I could get to the roof of that building, I'd have a direct line of sight over the smaller in building in between and into the room. It would be especially useful if my C-4 didn’t work as intended.

I realized that today my goal was the pegasi. If I triggered the C-4, they would undoubtedly know that someone was after them. If the pegasi managed to flee, there would be very little chance of picking up their tracks along with killing the unicorns. By the time I'd caught up to either race, the other would have ample to disappear.

With everything set up I got prepared to leave. I made a quick stop in the bedroom and stuffed the list and all of the maps and pictures on the desk into my bag. Someone needed to see these. The police proved ineffective at dealing with the PER problem time and again. On the other hand, the Human Liberation Front could be just as crazy as the PER, but I trusted them to actually act on the information I had over the rapidly dwindling police force.

When I had had everything I needed, I grabbed my weapon case and exited the PER den.

*************************

Carly unlocked the door and we all filed gloomily inside. We were stuck. We couldn't go to the police. Those human supremacist bastards would ask too many questions and if they found out we were PER, wed'd be screwed. However we knew couldn't move David's body without drawing attention and Non PER pony we brought in might start to wonder about the two bullet holes in his body. So for the time being, we left him there. It was so wrong, so disrespectful. Of course we were saddened and confused about our friend's death, but we were scared more than anything.

What really frightened us was the fact that we had absolutely no idea who had done it. Granted, it could have just been a case of a human exerting more senseless violence on another living creature. Celestia knows that happens far too often. But the fact that we had just done the first of many planned jobs had us feeling paranoid.

“I need some water.” Alisa said distraughtly as she headed for our kitchen.

"We have to contact the other PER groups." Nick said flatly turning to Carly. "Tell them we need assistance."

"We don't need to call anyone." She shook her head trying to ease us. "We have no idea what's going on right now and I don't think the first thing we should do is panic and make a mountain out of a molehill

"Carly, are you kidding me? David is dead!" Nick shouted. "He's still rotting in that alleyway where someone executed him! We need some help. I don't want to run to the other bigger PER groups, but this is beyond us.”

"Calm down Nick!" She said firmly. "We're not dealing with some contract killer or hitman or whatever. We all know humans are becoming more desperate and violent, but an excecution is not what's happening here. Most likely a someone was waiting for an easy target to victimize. Along comes David and they try to mug him. Maybe something went wrong and they ended up killing him. Thats the most plausible scenario."

"But Carly I-"

"Umm excuse me guys, but...where's the table?" Alisa interrupted. We all turned around. She was levitating her glass in her hand, standing in front of where our table used to be. Nothing but a few pieces of salad lined the ground where it once was. I took a quick look around and found it.

“There." I pointed with a hoof to the center of our living room area. I frowned. "I didn't move it, did any of you?" Everyone shook their heads slowly in response.

It seemed as if the moment we noticed the tables change in position, a wooden box on the top began vibrating.

*Hrmmmm Hrmmmm*

"What the?" Alisa said. She started to move forward but Nick stopped her.

"It's sounds like a cellphone." He said and looked to each of us with a worried expression. "None of us own a cellphone, so If one of you has been keeping a vibrator, just admit it now.”

*Hrmmmm Hrmmmmm*

He started moving slowly closer to it, stepping very lightly and watching his path.
"Nick, what are you doing!?" Carly asked and tried to move up with him.

"No!" Nick warned and waved a hoof motioning for her to stop. "You guys get back, I’ll check this out."
The three of us retreated back to the door as Nick reached the table. He stood on his hindlegs and rose up to the box.

*Hrmmmm Hrmmmm*

He stared at something on the top for minute before sliding a piece of paper off and holding it up to us. I swallowed down fear when I saw the photo of Jeffrey Stevens. He placed the picture on the table then lifted the top to the box.

I heard two things before the explosion: Nick gasping and three loud rapid beeps.

It happened very fast. There was Nick, the table and the box in front of him one second and a bright flash of light the next. There was a deafening 'BANG' as a bright light seemed to engulf Nick until he disappeared. I felt a strong pressure that caused me to fall over and a great heat on my body for a split second. A few moments after it happened Carly grabbed me and dragged me behind our kitchen island.

I wasn't moving and she shook me to get me to respond. Her hair was covered in splinters and blood dripped down her face. It couldn't tell if it was hers or Nick's.

"...............Jordan! JORDAN!" She said shaking me as the ringing in my ears faded. She was crying.

"I'm alright, I'm okay." I said. "Wheres Alisa?"

"She teleported!” Carly said tears in her eyes and panicking. "We got to go too!"

"Alright just- just give me a second." I breathed heavily. She stood me up onto the counter and I leaned on it to catch my breath. Carly looked around at the destroyed room in front of her. I was recovering from the shock when I noticed something next to me. A green dot snaked across the marble and crawled up Carly's body, stopping once it reached her neck. I took a peek out of the window to see a black figure on a roof top about two buildings away.

I saw a small flash of light that was followed immediately by the glass in our window shattering. I ducked down quickly, realizing it was a gunshot, when I felt something wet and heard a thump.

I opened my eyes and screamed in horror at the sight of Carly’s body next to me.

“Carly?” I shook her shoulders in an attempt to wake her up. I knew it was futile as there was a large area of her neck that had been blown open and looked like a blood soaked washcloth. “Carly! Oh God!” I screamed as scrambled over to the exit. She was dead!, I cried as I ran out of the door.

Revelation

It was time to leave. I packed my rifle into its case and collected the ejected casings from the roof top. The last 24 hours had been amazingly successful and personal record for quickest kills. David, Carly and Nick had all been scratched off the list. Jordan and Alisa were the only two left.

I had chosen to go with a very loud plan in the PER's hotel room. It was more dramatic and struck fear in the hearts of the ponies, but it also, without doubt, alerted them that someone was definitely after them. And that's where things got difficult. After my bomb went off, the pegasus Jordan, along with another, ducked behind something in the kitchen. I popped the female that was with him, but he managed to scramble out of the room.

Even worse, a unicorn was with them who teleported the moment it exploded. That was wasn't good. If Jordan got flying, it'd be tough, but I could still track him. As long as she had energy, this unicorn could hop away any time she wanted. Also, unicorns that knew how to teleport most likely knew some pretty powerful self defense spells. I'd need another plan to get her.

However right now I needed to flee the scene. I took the service stairs quickly to the ground floor and walked calmly through the lobby. Even after years of conversion bureaus' there was still a pretty good amount of humans on the street. The people and ponies were and if any of them actually glanced at my rifle case, all they'd see was an musical instrument case. They were all rushing to get a look of what had happened a few streets away. My car was stashed in the garage in the same direction they were going, which was a major plus. All I had to do now was move at the same speed they did. When I neared my street, I easily slipped away from the crowd and continued calmly to my car.

*************

The hallway of our hotel room was a blur as I ran down it. It seemed as if I'd teleported to the elevator doors. I smashed the control panel at least a dozen times, hitting both the up and down buttons. It didn't matter to me, I just needed to go somewhere. It had only been about ten seconds, but I couldn't take just standing still. I kicked open the door to the fire escape stairs and used them instead.

I grabbed the railing as I descended to swing quickly around the turns. During the twenty-three flights of stairs I tried to wrapped my head around what had just happened. Nick was just walking forward and then "BOOM", he was gone. Christ, Carly was gone too! My best friend had been standing right next to me and I had left her in that room. I wanted to go back, I knew I should, but my legs kept taking me down the stairs.

Alarms and flashing white lights were going off in the lobby and a few people were still evacuating. I followed them out the front doors and into the forming crowd of humans and ponies outside. I was covered in splinters and other debris from the explosion as well as Carly's blood. The mass of onlookers gave me a wide berth as I moved past them. They covered their mouths in shock and gave me frightened looks, but no one stopped me.

I heard sirens in the distance and they were getting closer. I quickened my pace and tried to get as far from our building as I could. I didn't want a bunch of human authorities prodding me for answers on what happened. It was no secret that the police weren't fond of ponies and if they searched our apartment and found out I was a member of the PER, things would get really bad.

Once I was a few blocks away, I desperately wanted to rest against the side of a building. But I knew I couldn't. Someone was after us and I had to get somewhere safe.

The different PER groups within the city operated mostly independent from each other, but members were always welcomed in any of the groups. The closest one I knew of was about a mile away. This group was comprised of older members, mid thirties to forties. They were some of the first to join the PER and I was hoping they'd have some idea of what was going on.

Later...

"And that's when Carly was shot?"

"Yeah." I said dryly. I was wrapping up the events that took place that morning.

"And you were already gone when this happened?" A brown unicorn, Ryan, the leader of this group, pointed to Alisa. We both had the same idea to come here and she arrived shortly after I did. They had taken us into room deep inside of their building that had bricked up walls and no windows.

She nodded. "I panicked and teleported to the roof. After that I couldn't focus and I was jumping all over the place."

"Did you manage to get any glimpse at all of who was shooting at you?" He spoke to me again.

I shook my head. "I just know the shot came through the window a few seconds after the bomb went off."

Ryan pulled back and shared a worried look with the pony that was next to him. "Okay the way I see it there's two possibilities. First one is that some gun crazy human is just taking his violence out on ponies and it is unrelated to your last assignment." The way he spoke, I could tell even he didn't believe it one bit.

"And the other?" Alisa said worriedly.

He sighed. "The other is that someone has hired a hitman to track you down and kill you." He said bluntly.

My heart sank and I felt like I was going to pass out. I closed my eyes and my head hung low as I tried to process the news. I couldn't believe and yet, it made perfect sense. We save a rich guy's son and suddenly David doesn't make it back home. Then the next day Nick and Carly get killed. This couldn't be random. Ryan was right someone was trying to kill us.

"What?!" Alisa cried. She was taking this news a bit different than I was. " That's not true. That can't be true! How would you even know that. How could you know?!" There were tears in her eyes and her horn was lighting up.

"Alisa, I'm very sorry about the death of your friends. We know how this feels." He pointed to his buddy. "We speak from experience."

Alisa's crying stopped for a moment and I sat my head up waiting for him to elaborate.

"A few months ago, two friends of ours from another group said they had some acquired some very high value targets. They said that converting them would do wonders for our cause. I could tell they were both pretty excited. So we both asked them if they would need our assistance, but they declined. Two days later we found out that their mission was successful and after another two days one of them was found tied up around a fire hydrant with two gunshot wound to the chest. The next day our other friend runs in here saying that some human fired at him with silenced pistol. And as hes telling us his story a bullet comes through the window and catches him in the side of his head. That's why we're talking in here. If it is the same person, and this is a big if, but if so, he knows where this place is."

"Oh my god..." Alisa held her head in her hooves.

"To be on the safe side we’ll get you two out of the city. On Friday we’ll have a convoy take you the countryside. Our group is quite a bit larger than yours, so you should have good protection."

I took a deep breath and thanked him. This had already been the worst day of my life with everything going to shit in such a short amount of time. Thank Celestia Ryan was going to help us. I hoped at least that Alisa and I would be safe.

Four

I foot my foot down and accelerated. I had hung back at 50 mph long enough. I had allowed there to be some distance between me and my two remaining targets. My engine whined as the speedometer's needle steadily rose until it hit 130. I was going well beyond the speed limit, but I was in little danger. Years and years of ponification had left most highways almost completely empty. On the long interstate highways like I was currently on, you could go 10 miles without seeing another car.

After a few minutes, I slowed down again. My targets once again came into view as I reached the top of a hill. If they had been traveling alone, I would have sped along next to them, stuck my gun out the window and ended it quickly. However that was not the situation I had in front of me.

It was a convoy. A convoy of PER ponies. Six vehicles in all: A tour bus, two utility vans and three sedans. A team of five Pegasi stood atop the bus' roof and kept watch. I was quickly gaining on the group and, not wanting to give them a reason the come after me, slowed to a crawl at the top of the hill. As I tried to think up a game plan as to how'd I'd cap Jordan and Alisa. My mind took me back to my attack on their building.

********

After I'd nailed Carly right in the neck, I quickly fled the roof and the building. By the time I made it to the street , sirens were already audible. There was a huge crowd of terrified looking converted ponies and humans standing in the street. They were all looking up at the smoke pouring from one of the buildings windows. I l moved through the crowd and easily spotted Jordan as he was the only pony trying to move in the opposite direction of the growing mass of onlookers. I started to following him, my gun case still rolling behind me.

However as more and more people joined the crowd, I had trouble keeping pace with him. My case kept knocking against people and slowing me up as I tried to move quicker. The fire engines and police showed up a few moments later cutting through my path and causing me to fully lose track of Jordan. I was going to keep heading in his direction despite the distance he had gained, but the police had begun doing crowd control and I didn't want one of them having a look at me twice. Almost anyone could get off on violence against ponies, but blowing up an apartment would definitely get one in some pretty hot water.

"Fuck." I spat out as turned around to head back to car. I was pissed Jordan managed to get away from me on foot. Thats when I realized that Alisa was still out there. Still it wasn't a bad day. Two hundred and ten thousand dollars was already mine with another 140 grand quickly on the way.

Or so I thought.

I grabbed my car and headed back to my tiny motel room and crashed. I woke up a close to two o' clock in the morning. I decided it was time to start my search again. That began my three day dry spell.

I had no leads. No where to begin searching. I called every contact I had and every one of them fell through on any information. All saying things like "Nah, I haven't heard nothing man." or "Things have been quiet around here."
Later around noon I drove over to the Conversion Bureau to find Teresa, thinking surely she'd know something. However her replacement at the desk informed me she'd taken a sudden leave of absence and that she was unsure when she would return.

I returned to my motel room and sat on the bed unsure of what to do, when an idea it hit me. I ran to my bag and pulled out the documents I had swiped from the ponies apartment. One of them was a map of the metro area. Large sections were outlined and shaded in with light green marker with darker green dots and one orange dot in them. A few smaller areas were outlined in red. My knowledge of my city allowed me to deduce that the single orange dot was the City's only conversion bureau. From there i guessed that the green dots were locations that were significant to the PER.

And my guess was right. For the next 28 hours I staked out seven spots on the map. It was tedious boring work. Sitting low in my car and watching PER meetings happen small apartment buildings or alleyways where I witnessed a drug deal-like exchange of conversion darts and weapons. I would observe them for two or three hours and then move on to the next spot. I was leaving one spot in a PER heavy part of time that I was very familiar with. I rolled passed one street when something came to mind. I had completed a job some in the vicinity a fews prior. I pulled to side and checked my map. There were no more green dots in the area, but I knew there was some kind of PER safe house close by because I'd assassinated a pony through the window of it.

After a few twists and turns I ended up a block away from the building I had remembered. I was about to do a slow drive by of the place, just to see if it was still active, when a giant tour bus coming from the right cut me off and turned down the street. It was followed closely by a few more vehicles. They all stopped adjacent to the building and dozens of ponies exited and flooded into the building. A few pegasi flew unto the bus' roof.

"Oooh shit." I said in awe as I gazed upon the PER platoon in front of me. I floored it and turned to the right, absconding back my garage. The PER was moving out and I just knew in the back of my head that my money, I mean targets would be with them.

I wasn't about to try to pursue them in a Camry so I swapped it for my CTS V when I returned to my garage. I had an emergency full jerrycan in the trunk in case I had to fill up while I was on the road. The trunk had an assault rifle and pump shotgun while the back seats had a bunch of handguns and ammunition, a taser, and knifes in a dufflebag. When I returned to the a PER’s apartment block, the two sedans in the front were just being to pull out from the curb. Fast forward three hours later and we’re still on the highway.

The PER convoy showed no signs of stopping. Since I’d been on the highway, I had tried to think of some kind of plan. However I couldn’t think of anything. Attacking them on the road would almost certainly lead to either ponification or death, neither of which was ideal. I still had no definitive proof that Jordan and Alisa were even on the bus, though I was willing to bet most things I owned that they were. However if they weren't, I would most likely lose their tracks for good. It was a gamble, but I was supremely confident that they were somewhere in the convoy, however they was no way to tell which vehicle they were in. I could only hope that one of the vehicles would run low on gas and be forced to exit the highway.

After another half hour I had to stop to fill my tank with the Jerry cans. I used damn near all of what I had and would be in trouble if I ran out again. However I knew that if I was empty, then at a least of couple of the PER vehicles had to be getting close. I hit 150 mph as I hurried to catch up to them again. And as luck would have it, I managed to see the last sedan in the group taking the off ramp.

"Finally!" I exclaimed as I followed. I had a smile on my face as we exited the highway. They each took a left and I thought they were heading for a Shell station. However my smile dissipated when they continued past it and turned right into the parking lot of a medium sized restaurant.

"Damn it." I sighed as I pulled into the Shell. I paid and filled up my Jerry cans, watching as the ponies exited the vehicles. The buses parked on the street and as there ponies stepped off, I was given two good pieces of news. Firstly the bus was certainly not filled to capacity, carrying only around fifteen. The second was that I spotted both Jordan, leaving a van and Alisa, steeping out of a sedan. I made a special note of which ones.

When all the PER ponies left the parking lot, I crossed the street and parked very close to the side of the building. I made sure to get a spot that was out of view from the windows. I sat in my car for a while thinking about what I would do. I didn't have a plan and that made me nervous. I always had an idea for something. While in my thoughts I looked out of my window and found my self staring at a PER propaganda poster. And there were dozens more covering the brick wall. Great. A bunch of PER ponies inside what was definitely a PER controlled business.

But I still had two targets left and I wasn't going to let them go. If I let them get back on the road, there was no telling where'd they'd go next. I'd heard rumors of PER strongholds in the countryside. If that was the case I might as well just shoot myself. However I couldn't just waltz into a PER establishment with guns blazing, I didn't have near enough for that. I'd have to do it stealthily. But how could that happen within a room full of ponies?

"Fuck it." I spat out. I reached into the duffle bag behind me and picked out a few small items and stuffed them into my pockets. The only weapon I grabbed was my black bladed combat knife. I slipped the 7 inch weapon into a sheath strapped to my right leg. I exited my car and walked around to the restaurant's front door. I took a deep, slow breath before I grabbed the handle.

The door made a loud creaking sound as I entered which drew heads towards me. I couldn't tell if the conversation actually died down or if it was just my imagination.

"Shit." I said to myself. There were dozens of ponies in here, way more than had exited the convoy vehicles. Thats when wanted desperately wanted to facepalm. I was just now processing that there were at least six or seven more cars in the parking lot, not with the convoy.
I tried not to pause for too long and quickly found a seat at an empty table. When I sat down things seemed to return to normal.

My heart was beating quickly. It felt strange to me and I then realized I hadn't been in a situation that made me nervous in a long time. I scanned the restaurant for either pony, but with the very poor light, all of them seemed to look the same.

"Whatchu want?"

"Excuse me?" I looked up suddenly, realizing that that someone was standing over me.

"What do you want to eat, human?" The waitress said in an annoyed tone.

I stared at her for a moment trying to process the ridiculousness of her last word. It was even dumber to me considering that she herself was a young human female. But it suddenly made sense when I saw the PER tattoos she had on her arm. They usually kept a few of their new recruits as humans, thinking that they were useful for certain tasks. There were a few human patrons in the restaurants that had been drivers for the convoy.

"Ill take, lets see here..." I hadn't even picked up a menu yet. Instead. I just looked at a near by table to see what they were eating. In doing so I saw Jordan. He was sitting at a full table near the back where the restrooms were. There was an empty table very close to his. "Just give me whatever nonvegetarian item you have. And can I sit over at that table? I think this one's dirty."

"Whatever." She said without concern as she walked backed to the kitchen.

I sat down at the other table and observed Jordan while I faked looking at the menu. He still looked pretty disoriented and wasn’t engaging in the conversation with the others. He simply stared blankly ahead just slowly sipped from his cup. He was at a circular table occupied by four other ponies and one human. I slightly turned my head to each side, but I couldn't spot Alisa. I did see some angry expressions pointed in my direction. I turned away from them at put my face into my menu. I started to hear the hisses of whispers about me and I started getting a little sweaty. I was sure that at least a few of them could pop me with a dart and not think twice about it. The longer I stayed in the restaurant the more appealing that might look to them.

I could leave just yet though. I needed to take out Jordan. I glanced at him once more. He seemed agitated now, a slightly pained look on his face and rubbing his back hooves across each other. After a few moments he whispered something to the older looking pony next to him. He responded something and patted Jordan on the back.

Thats when I saw an opportunity open up to me. Jordan moved from the table and turned into the boys bathroom. I smiled and began to rise from the table. I bumped into the waitress again who gave an annoyed huff.

"I forgot to ask what you want to drink." She said. "We've got a special blend of tea today."

"Yeah right." I thought to myself. I wouldn't be around long enough to enjoy my half tea, half conversion potion. I turned to her with a forced smile and with a finger lightly tapping her shoulder said, "I think I'll take all my food to go."

"We're not that kind of restaurant, asshole!" She shouted at me as I pushed open the heavy door to the restroom.

It was cramped and dirty, certainly not a place I'd want to spend my final moments, but then again Jordan didn't really have a choice. I saw his pony legs in one of the stalls. I took the one next to his and waited. There was a human at the urinal who was still going strong.

However the peeing in the next stall was slowing to a dribble. If the other guy didn't leave the bathroom before Jordan, I'd be fucked. I was sure I could kill them both, but definitely not without a noisy struggle. The door to the restroom did seem pretty heavy and I guessed that it could suppress sounds decently well. I waited a moment then peeked from the stall door and saw that the human was finished and was now shaking some the remaining piss from his dick. He finished and was zipping his pants up when Jordan exited the stall.

It was now a race to see who would get to the sink first. I was confident at first when it looked as though the human would reach it and Jordan would have to wait. However they awkwardly bumped together as the human finished fixing his junk in his pants. The contact allowed Jordan to get to the sink first.

I was about to curse and spring form my stall to take them both out when something unexpected happened. The human walked right on out of the bathroom without washing, the dirty dick bastard. Though it did leave me and Jordan alone for some quality time.

I pulled my blade from my leg and opened the stall slowly and thought it was fitting the door had a creak to it. Jordan had his head pointed down in the sink and was splashing water in his face. I quietly moved in position behind him and he when he looked up into the mirror, his face wet from washing and tears, I spoke.

"Hey there, Jordan. " I said menacingly. He had a confused look on face, like he had on idea what was about to happen. " Does the name Jeffery Stevens mean anything to you?" Before he could say a word I clasped ahold of his mouth with my left and hand pulled his head up exposing his vulnerable ares. My right hand plunged my knife into a middle spot just below his neck. A pained gasp escaped his mouth as I buried it to the hit.

Jordan started to thrash around, but he was going no where with my arm firmly around him. I saw the horrible terror in his eyes as his life left him quickly. I decided to get one last word in.

"His father didn't quite appre-" My line was cut off by Jordan leaning back and putting his hind legs on the sink. He pushed off with pretty great force and sent us both flying back into the stall door. The piece swung back and clanged and reverberated loudly against the wall. It bounced back and hit my back again, making even more noise.

The hit came as a surprise to me and took me a moment to recover. We were on the ground now and Jordan was stamping his hooves wildly across the tile floor. "Shit!" I exclaimed as I grabbed the knife again. I twisted it and dragged it across his chest area. After this his movements rapidly came to a stop and, after a total of maybe 40 seconds, my fourth target was dead.

I slid his body off mine and stood up. My back hurt from the hit and my hands and shirt were covered in blood. I was about to wash my hands when I was jolted back to the situation in the restaurant. I moved to the door. It was pretty heavy and I told myself that perhaps no one heard us. I cracked the door ever so slightly and took a tiny peek out.

I slowly closed it again and chuckled as a shook my head. Damn near the entire joint had PER weapons drawn and aimed towards the bathroom door.

"Come on out of there so we can end this, human." A pony outside said in a normal voice. The door hadn't muffled a thing.