Invincible

After sitting in the dark for what seemed like hours, Candy Apple's eyes were instantly blinded by the invasion of light from a light bulb she didn't even know existed . Granted, the room was so dark she wouldn't have even seen her hoof if she tried to hold it out in front if her face,save the fact both her front hooves were tied behind her back. Candy Apple closed her eyes tightly, facing away from the uncomfortable bright light.

Candy Apple suspected the light was being used to prevent her from seeing the unexpected visitors who's hoof steps she could hear walking in right after she shielded her eyes.  The sound of hooves hitting the ground were too many for only be one pony entering the room."Hey, she's awake!" A voice that echoed with each word said. It had to have came from a female, it's tone was far too sweet to be a male, but too sweet to trust. Her voice was like a rose: beautiful, sweet, desirable, but dangerous if you ignore her hazardous thorns."Yeah, that was the expectation I had when I flipped the switch." A heavier and definitely more masculine voice commented. Being at Manehattan not too long ago, Candy Apple took a wild assumption where the voice hailed from."Will the two of you shut up? Boss said he'll have our heads if we screw this up again." The third and last voice said, echoing it's every word just like the first one, but with a tone that sounded like it would stab you in the heart if you weren't careful enough .Candy Apple, however, couldn't help but snicker at the term "again".  "Ya'll have done this before and failed?" Despite the amount of danger she was possibly in, Candy apple couldn't hold back a laugh. Her eyes were still shut and facing away from the light, but she wished she could see the faces on the incompetent ponies who had captured her."Way to go. Now she knows we suck at our job." The Manehatten accented voice said to the other male. Candy Apple didn't even try to hide her laughter now. The "thugs" who had captured her and taken her as a hostage were no more hostile than a chicken hawk in a griffin's nest.There was a heavy clicking sound that was swiftly identified after the echoing male voice spoke. "In that case, let's just hit the shit out of her and call it a day. I'll go first, if you don't mind."Candy Apple ceased the laughter and wiggled in her chair, taking notice that her hind legs had been tied to the chair as well. "No, no, wait! "Stop! Ah'll talk!"There was a soft slap to Candy Apple's cheek that reminded her of the shape of a pony's hoof, but this hoof was way too... big. "Now that's a good pony." The echoing male voice complimented. "We'll let you out of here as soon as you tell us how we can get the money you owe us."Candy Apple gasped once she realized who these "ponies" were.Several weeks ago, a bunch of parasprites had unfortunately attacked Candy Apple's farm, leaving her with little to almost no business left. Had it not been for the parasprite exterminators how were conveniently driving by her farm, Candy Apple would have lost her entire farm in a matter of just a few more minutes.Sadly, the word humble was not a virtue the exterminators were familiar with, or even cared for. They warned Candy Apple they would collect their full payment in one way or another within the next three weeks. Without a doubt, the ponies in the room with her now were affiliated with the same ones who saved her farm."Those parasprite critters weren't at my farm by accident, were they?" Candy Apple didn't get an answer for quite some time as the others inside the room were too busy exchanging glances."She's quite the brightest apple in the tree, isn't she?" a completely alien voice, that Candy Apple didn't even know was in the room, said.Surprisingly, Candy Apple wasn't the only one who was caught off guard by the new voice. All three heads that were holding Candy Apple hostage turned their heads in the direction of the stranger. "Who in the hive was that?" the female changeling known as Evening Primrose asked."There's not supposed to be anypony else in here!" Jack Knife, the pony with the accent, said."Kill 'em, whoever they are." The male changeling everyone called "Mid-Knight" said. He raised his hoof pistol up to his eye and fired random shots to where he thought the owner of the voice was. Jack Knife assisted in the loose firing with a hoof pistol of his own as well, with Evening firing a single burst of her changeling magic into a dark corner that illuminated the entire room in an eerie green. The heat from Evening's demonic green burst of magic broke everypony in the room into a small sweat.When the firing finally came to a halt and Evening's bright spell died out, the voice came back again in a different location than last time and much closer. "I am the terror that flaps in the night.""We missed?" Mid-Knight stomped down in anger, damaging the expensive lens on the small scope of his hoof pistol. "He's fast as Tartarus!" He and the others spun around the room like tops looking for their intruderThe stranger continued with their trade mark introduction, speaking in a slow dark tone, "I am the red stain on the back of your wedding dress.""....umm eww?' Evening gagged at the visual representation her mind was playing in her head. As hard as she tried, Evening couldn't shake the image of a bride walking down the aisle unaware of the red eye on the back of her white dressing staring at every guest as she passed by them.Falling from the ceiling above, the hidden voice finally revealed itself and came crashing down right next to Candy Apple. The stranger's wings were long and dark enough to recreate the visual of a pony wearing a cloak. The stranger lifted their head and revealed two rows of flawlessly white teeth that pierced the dark easier than the light bulb. "I am Dark Wing!" The intruder introduced, finally revealing himself from the shadows in an intentionally cinematic slow walk.The character known as Dark Wing had a very slender athletic build, not distinctive enough to determine whether Dark Wing was female or male. The question of Dark Wing's gender was even harder to answer by the mix between a male and female's voice each time Dark Wing spoke. Dark Wing's eyes  even shared the same dagger sharp pupils a dragon would have, surrounded by a green iris that could be mistaken for glowing in the dark, narrowly doubting the suspicion that Dark Wing was even a pony.The spark at the tip of Evening's horn faded as she took a better look at Dark Wing. "What are you supposed to be? Nightmare Moon's bastard child? You completely stole her eye style." Evening illuminated her horn further and took a better look at Dark Wing.Dark Wing buffed out her chest and roared, "What?! No, these are completely original." Dark Wing pointed to her face with a sharp hoof, nearly poking herself in the eye. "Nopony else has these eyes!" Dark Wing had went through several eye designs before her costume designer had finally agreed on one, and now this changeling was mocking her outfit.Evening's eyes rolled and drifted down to Dark Wing's wings, taking in the ridiculous unnatural length. Evening snorted a chuckle and bumped her brother, Mid-Knight, in the ribs. "Hey, Mid-Knight." She started before illuminating Dark Wing's wings with light from the direction of her horn. "Think she/he is compensating for something?"Evening and her brother both shared a laugh together as they continued to pick Dark Wing's choice of attire and bad color scheme. Dark Wing's face burned red with steam coming from her rock star green mane.As Evening's laughter began to die down, she couldn't help but notice something incredibly odd about Dark Wing's black coat that seemed a little off. Evening payed closer attention to Dark Wing's face and noticed the mask over their face. "He's wearing an illusion enchantment. Aim for the mask.""Uhh...Look a distraction!" Dark Wing shouted quickly as she ducked down and dive rolled back into the darker back of the room to hide, her deep black coat easily concealing her.Evening shot another green spell in the direction Dark Wing had rolled off to. The impact of the spell impacted the back of Candy Apple's chair, tipping her over in a screaming outburst as she collided to the floor and surprisingly received minor damage. Snapping her head to her brother, Evening shouted, "Mid-Knight, shoot her!"Mid-Knight pulled the magazine out of his pistol and tilted it towards his vision. "I'm out." He tipped the empty magazine in Evening's direction for her to see for herself."Same." Jack Knife nodded. Sliding his hollow magazine back into the pistol, Jack Knife shared an idea, "I say we close the door behind us and trap her inside wi-" The door Jack Knife had just mentioned slammed behind him, with Dark Wing leaning against it.Seeing how quickly Dark Wing could move in the room, Jack Knife doubted that he would survive for much longer, much less the three of them."You guys should really stop saying things like that out loud." Dark Wing said, rubbing her hoof on her chest to rid herself from the dust she collected after sliding from the far wall to the door."Thanks for the advice." Mid-Knight mumbled before placing a curve bladed spell between Jack Knife's eyes and sending it through the back of his head. He gave less than no warning to his co-worker about his mistake before Jack Knife could even see Mid-Knight's spell in his peripheral vision.  Jack Knife fell to the ground, his body splashing into his own pool of blood made by his half severed head. Swinging back to Dark Wing, Mid-Knight admitted, "I always hated him anyways."Dark Wing was caught off guard by the betrayal and jumped in her coat at the sight. It was no surprise that these thugs cared about little else than money and/or power, but not so much so that they'd killed one of their own to show it. Dark Wing felt somewhat responsible for Jack Knife's unfortunate death but in no way disturbed by it. She was by no means saying whether Jack Knife's death was well deserved or not. Silver Lining, Jack Knife's death meant one less pony to deal with and it did make her job easier.Mid-Knight's horn sparked up in sync with Evening's horn as they both fired green spells at Dark Wing.Using her wings to assist her, Dark Wing shot her body upwards and narrowly dodged the two blasts, with her hind legs feeling significantly warmer after the heat emitting from the spells breezed past her. She fell back down hard and used her front legs to pull herself forward, sliding on her chest  in between Mid-Knight and Evening. With her strong wings, Dark Wing tripped over the two changelings easily due to the bad posture both of them had.Dark Wing propped herself back on all four legs and rolled onto Mid-Knight's back, using her weight to pin the changeling to the ground. She stretched out her hoof and grabbed Mid-Knight's right front leg. At the same time, Evening rose up to a knee and aimed a wild shot for Dark Wing.Instead of trying to roll or dodge out of the way of the spell, Dark Wing pulled quickly on Mid-Knight's right leg and threw the changeling's body over her own, turning him in a blanket of safety from Evening's magic.Like all changelings' bodies, Mid-Knight's was a hard shell on the outside, like an ant's, protecting themselves with a small layer of natural armor from minor spells and light impacts.Evening shut her eyes closed from how brightly her spell shinned after the first shot. She continued to fire shot after shot in the same direction, not wanting Dark Wing to get up after she was finished with her. She had know idea that Dark Wing was using her brother as her own personal living shield.When her magic finally tapped out from the consistency of her fired spells, Dark Wing pushed the unconscious Mid-Knight away from herself and stepped up to stand over Evening Primrose in an assertive pose."Wait, wait!" Evening pleaded. She slowly raised her hooves over her face, not realizing how fatigued she was from tapping out her magic. Her legs felt disturbingly heavy as she held them over her head. "I'll let her go. She's free, okay? No debt. She doesn't have to pay anything."Dark Wing titled her head and twitched her ears. "Who?""That'd be me over here, pardner." Candy Apple answered. Her muzzle was in between the floor and the rest of her body as she laid on the floor.Feeling a bit embarrassed from forgetting about the apple pony who needed to be saved, Dark Wing ducked her head between her shoulders and hid her shame behind her wings and away from Candy Apple. "Oh, right, you." Dark Wing took one last look in Candy Apple's direction and brought her lips uncomfortably close to Evening's ear. In a whisper too quiet for Candy Apple to hear, Dark Wing told Evening, "I'm actually here about Said-So. Honestly, I didn't even know about Candy Cane.""Said-So?" Evening repeated. She pulled her hooves to the side of her head and pushed to keep Dark Wing at a more comfortable distance from physically touching her. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to tell you where he is."Dark Wing rolled her eyes and offered Evening a suggestion, "I can give you your freedom back, help you go off the grid! Nopony would even remember you.""Lies!" Evening shot down Dark Wing's offer  and pushed herself out from underneath Dark Wing finally. She got up and nearly fell over from the weight she'd put on her legs. Tapping out her magic not only left her defenseless, but it also took it's toll on her entire body. Then again, seeing how quickly Dark Wing moved, she didn't think she would get very far anyways.  "Why should I trust you?", she asked rotating her shoulders.Dark Wing draped her hoof over her mask and pulled it off his face with as much drama and suspense he could, imitating the same way every hero did in the comics. Revealing his true face, the illusion the mask cast over Nimbus left him as fast as a window shattering and falling to pieces. "I"m giving you one last chance to take this offer, or you can go downtown with your brother where you'll be spending a long time at." Nimbus didn't like forcing ponies into interrogation by any aggressive means and always chose to  talk in a calm tone, but he needed to pry what information he needed from Evening. "What's it gonna be? Freedom or your Loyalty?"***Pulling back on the pipe in his mouth, Said-So shifted it to the far left corner of his mouth. "It didn't do anything when you grabbed it?" Said-So asked, referring to the ancient wand wrapped in linen on the table in front of him, "Not even brightened up or made sparkles?""Nothing, sir." All four ponies said together, who he hired to steal the wand from a museum in Manehattan.Said-So's toned frame could be seen as he stood up strongly, leaning forward on his desk. "Then how can I be so sure that you brought me the right one?"The eldest and more experienced pony of the group swallowed hard before speaking and stepped forward. "Well, S-Said-So, we suspected it was the one you mentioned since it was the only thing in the museum that had it's own active security after closing hours."Said-So puckered his lips and shrugged in understanding. In his own opinion,if the museum wanted to keep the secret of the wand discreet, they shouldn't have tempted the value of it by keeping the damn thing guarded heavier than the Canterlot Castle. "Hindsight." Said-So spoke out loudly."Sir?" The eldest pony asked."Nothing." Said-So shook his head. "Ponies are just stupid these days." He reached under his table and began to pull out a saddle bag he struggled to lift onto his table, careful not to place it on top of the wand. "Now we agreed on ten-thousand, correct?""Actually, uhh..the boys and I", The eldest one spoke up again.Said-So's eyes went dark as he slowly lifted them from the saddle bag to the group. His breath could be seen in the cold room as he anticipated what the pony was going to suggest next. Not to his surprise though, the eldest pony kept his mouth shut and chose to speak no more on the subject. The same could not be said for one of his less seasoned comrades though."No, this is bullshit, Said-So!" The more impulsive pony of the group argued. He gestured a rude middle feather at Said-So before pointing at him with the same feather. "Who died and gave you the right to determine how much of our cut you get?""I think my name alone states who was in charge far before you were even born, boy." Said-So mentioned with no intention to fake the smile upon his face."This was a big ass job! You weren't there. Far as I see it, all you do is bark orders and have others do your shit for you. It's about time you step down or step in. You do nothing!"There was no hairs or goose bumps standing on the young pony's body as he called out to Said-So. Respectfully, Said-So was impressed with the stallions courage and bravery. He walked out from behind his desk and around, reaching and grabbing the impulsive young pony's shoulder like a proud father would."You remind me of myself when I was younger. What do they call you?" Said-So now had his leg wrapped around the pony's shoulder, but what the eldest pony could see, Said-So's horn was still glowing brightly."My parents named me Eye Spark, but everypony just calls me Sparky.""Sparky! I like that." Said-So said energetically, rubbing the back of Sparky's neck with the hairs standing up from the static. "Now." Said-So pulled Sparky closer towards him. "You think your "boys"-" Said-So mentioned the word "boys" in a manner some would consider HIP. "-deserve a bigger cut, right?""Without a doubt." Sparky agreed strongly."Well..." Said-So nonchalantly pressed the knife he was floating behind Sparky's head to the side of Sparky's neck. "Like I said, you remind me of myself when I was younger."Sparky finally dropped his dominance act and stared down at the knife pressing his neck in. "H-hey, there's no need-"Before Sparky could finish, Said-So pressed and painted a red smile across his neck from the left to the right using his knife. Sparky's body twitched and spilled across the floor before his blood could leave his body.Looking at the knife he was flicking the blood off of, Said-So told Sparky one last thing. "The only difference was I knew how to keep my mouth shut when I was your age. There's your cut though."A slow heavy clap sounded from the only door way in and out of the room. Standing there was a large framed earth pony whose shoulders were wide enough to hang laundry from. "Very, very original, Said-So, but you forgot to ask him if he was happy after you made the clown smile across his neck.""Talitha" Said-So's pronunciation of Talitha's name was battling between whether or not he should be happy to see her after all this time."The one who taught you that trick? Yeah, that'd be me." Talitha pushed past one of the other two ponies who were closer to the door out of her way."How'd you get in here? How'd you know where to find me?" Said-So's horn was still glowing from holding the knife he still had, but when he tried to reach for the gun behind him he felt a significant amount of weight standing on it. He turned around to see an adorable pink filly with a backwards hat looking him in the face."Hey, how's it going?" the pink filly giggled before bopping his muzzle."That creature behind you is Sugar Bomb. Don't worry though, she's not yours." Talitha reassured Said-So. "The one you WOULD have, if you had one, would be much older." She looked to the three ponies Said-So had with him in the room. "You're really pinching as many bits as you can with these high school drop outs. They can't even lock a door behind them when they walk into a building."Said-So sighed the word "Dumbasses" before addressing Talitha. "I doubt you're here to kiss and make up?""Or small talk" Talitha added."Look, I'd love to play twenty questions, but-"Talitha nodded to Sugar Bomb and gestured her to come to her. Doing as she was told, Sugar Bomb gave a small salute and snatched up the wand wrapped in linen between her teeth before scurrying past the timid thugs who had more fear in them than a mother learning she might have a stillborn."-I've got what I came for." Talitha grabbed the wand from the clutches of Sugar Bomb's jaws. She held it between her hoof and held it up in the air.Just as Said-So was going to deliver a threat to Talitha, gun shots could be heard several floors below them.Talitha stepped closer to the closed window on her left. "Expecting company, or is that a  high-school dropout shooting at soda cans that you call targets?"Said-So ignored Talitha and smashed his hoof down on the intercom that allowed him to speak in the room Mid-Knight should be in. "Mid-Knight, what are you doing down there? It's an interrogation not an execution. If I don't get my money, I'm going to have your a-"More shots were fired, except this time a few pierced the floor below at an angle and catching two of Said So's remaining henchmen in the chest and throat. Both bullets hit vital parts of the body of both ponies, dropping them both to the ground. Another bullet from below hit a soft spot in the ground and ricocheted the steel frame around the window, making it's final hit into Talitha's ribs.Talitha swore loudly as she gripped her right side, dropping her sword on the same side to the ground so she could properly reach the wounded area. She immediately took the stray bullet for hostility and gripped her fallen sword by the handle between her teeth. She took no time to hesitate and charge Said-So with a leaping attack.While Talitha was mid-air, Said-So re-equipped the knife he held earlier and threw it in Talitha's direction, missing her barely. He anticipated the strike from Talitha's sword and flinched. To his relief, Talitha hadn't leaped high enough to get over the table between her and Said-So. Using his magic, Said-So pushed the table and pinned Talitha to the wall. The concrete wall crushed Talitha's back and forced her to grunt in pain and drop her weapon.Without having to be ordered to, Sugar Bomb jumped and reached out for Said-So's knife before he could pick it back up. Even though Sugar Bomb had used her weight to prevent Said-So from picking back up his knife, she had not anticipated him to pick her up as an alternative.Spinning Sugar Bomb in a full circle, Said-So slammed the tiny filly into the wall beside Talitha. Like Talitha, the impact of the wall prohibited Sugar Bomb from holding onto her weapon. Now both ponies were defenseless and cornered. If Talitha's ribs didn't have a bullet between them, she would have already tried and pushed the table away, but she couldn't even hold her front left leg out without retreating it back two seconds later. The bullet had either made a small bone fracture or was stuck in between the bone.Taking advantage of the situation, Said-So picked up both Talitha's sword and his knife, holding the edge of the weapons in both opposing ponies faces. His breathing was heavy from the quick castings of his magic, despite them all being low consuming spells. It could be seen from both sides of the weapons he was wielding that Said-So was struggling to keep them levitated. Thrusting both weapons forward would be an easy and quick task if Said-So had not liked to hear himself talk to his victims before finishing them off."You really thought you could walk into my place-"Before Said-So could even start speaking, he heard another voice, louder and echoing from every side of the room.Hanging outside from a window in the room, Nimbus used one of the various creative spells his friend, Nora, had enchanted on his mask to make his voice sound like he was at multiple places at once. "I am the thing that goes bump in the night."Talitha sucked in her stomach and squeezed herself out from behind the table, while Said-So was too distracted by Nimbus's signature Dark Wing introduction. Unlike Said-So, Talitha was familiar with Dark Wing's childish catch phrase more than she would've wanted to, due to the fact that Dark Wing was a huge inspiration with children. Especially with Sugar Bomb, Dark Wing appealed to the little filly due to the fact that her toy line came with DIY (Do it yourself) kits Sugar Bomb endlessly enjoyed.Sugar Bomb was glowing with absolute delight. Her inspirational role model was going to come in at any moment and beat the crap out of one or out of the three of them...or all."I am the pony at your door at 6 am to tell you the word of Celestia!" Nimbus said before muscling his way up the window and launching himself between and past Said-So and Talitha before realizing he had jumped too far. "I. AM. DARK...."Turning his head left to right and his long fake feminine mane slapping the opposite side of his face with both turns, Nimbus peeked over his shoulder to see Said-So still holding the edge of both his weapons to ponies that weren't there anymore.Nimbus cleared his throat heavily and whispered to himself, "I’m am facing the wrong way." He spun around and caught sight of Talitha sneaking away from Said-So to tend to her wound. "Evil Doer!" Nimbus directed to Said-So, "I am Dark Wing! The gust that busts, the wind of glory, the zero that goes to infinity and beyond!"The fact that a freak wearing a mask and having a ridiculous name had found him so easily didn't put Said-So's mind too much at ease. He blinked slowly, hoping the comic book ripoff vigilante would disappear once he opened them. "I've got bounties on my head from five different major cities, two of them from a different country, and not even twenty four hours of  coming into Canterlot, I'm discovered by Bat Mare."Nimbus's cheeks glowed red beneath his mask and blurted out, "I"m not freakin' Bat Mare!" He flared out his nostrils, bowing his head and adding, "I wish everypony would quit saying that.""I believe in you Dark Wing! Woo Hoo!" Sugar Bomb cheered, flailing her arms in a fashion that made them look broken, now that she was on the opposite side of Said-So and his weapons. The filly jumped down from the book shelf she was standing on and landed near the wand Said-So had dropped off the table. The torn linen exposed the ancient wand underneath and allowed the wood of the wand to show it's permanent shine.Nimbus gasped deeply and barely caught his breath when his eyes locked onto the wand Sugar Bomb was reaching for. It had been years since Nora and he had searched the underground library in Canterlot to find their first wand. Standing in front of a new one now was completely nostalgic and reminded him of the events that occurred later that same night. He hoped nopony, or Said-So at least, could see his knees shaking as he could hear Rainbow Dash's crying going back and forth through his ears. The sounds drove beams into him that uncomfortably increased his heart rate."Nora was right, there ARE others.", Nimbus whispered to himself. This one was shaped differently however, as it was dramatically twisted with three branches that looked like a triple bladed claw at the tip.  He caught Said-So noticing him looking at the wand. Nimbus shook his head and warned Said-So. "Don't, please. I don't want to hurt you.""We all don't get what we want." Said-So said, before reaching behind his back for what looked like a weapon.Like all the times before, whenever Nimbus was in trouble, everything slowed down around him. He still didn't understand why this always happened whenever he needed it most, but he still appreciated it none the less. He breathed in through his nostrils and closed his eyes before looking at what was happening before him. Behind him were the two strange ponies who Said-So was about to deal with before he butted in. Said-So was about to pull a...magical item of some sort. It looked a glass ball of Zebra magic, but it lacked all the "natural spirits" look to it and was made completely out of glass and shiny metal, far too luxurious to be Zebra. Just off to Said-So's left was a giant gap for Nimbus to rush attack Said-So's open defense.Nimbus ducked his head to his shoulders and Zero Shifted over to Said-So faster than a fly could flap it's wing. Right as Nimbus was just about to loop his right arm around Said-So's right arm, Said-So vanished and teleported to the other side of the room. Nimbus lost his balance and fell over, smacking his chin to the floor. His teeth clattered together, making him hiss instead of screaming.The speed at which Said-So had vanished was remarkable. Teleportation must have been second nature for Said-So to have activate and execute the spell so fast. Not only that, but he must have anticipated Nimbus to move quickly before Nimbus even thought about doing so.A burst of magic appeared over Nimbus and brightened. Seeing the connection between the spell and spark above Said-So's horn and the snarl on his face, Nimbus doubted that the spell was going to shoot sunshine and rainbows. He focused on the open area to his right and dodged the spell barely. The heat of Said-So’s spell warmed him only and did nothing more.Nimbus felt a huge rush of blood going back to his legs as he found himself standing back up on all fours and watching Said-So's spell burn a hole into the ground. He panted and turned to see if the unicorn was going to charge up another spell. As he anticipated, Nimbus did see Said-So charging up a spell, though not a hostile one or aimed towards him, fortunately.Said-So was holding the glass magic ball in his yellow glow of magic that emitted from his horn. The ball was held a few inches above the wand before it shined a blue area of light around it and captured the wand inside of it.Rotating his neck and shoulders once around, Nimbus mumbled, "Magic Lock Ball." He huffed and looked at the ball grasped in Said-So's magic. The ball brightened up a blue glow and hummed quietly now that it contained something inside. Nimbus kept his eyes on the ball as he watched Said-So struggling to carry it.Said-So's stamina was low as his magic began to flicker from bright to dim. He knew that he wouldn't be able to make it past the door in a full sprint, not with Dark Wing and Talitha both in the room with him. Not as long as they were both still breathing.Playing the card of chance, Said-So teleported behind Dark Wing, dropping the magic lock ball where it previously was. He tried to pick up the knife he had earlier, but Nimbus caught sight of Said-So's intentions and faced his hind legs towards his chest with a swift donkey kick. All four of Said-So's legs were lifted off the ground as he ascended and crashed into the window behind him.To Said-So's benefit, the frame of the window was small enough to catch and prevent him from falling out of it. At least that would have been the case if Talitha hadn't taken the opportunity to headbutt him right in the chest and push him completely out with the window frame still snug around him.It was too dark and high up to see where Said-So had landed, but Talitha made the assumption that Said-So didn't survive, or at least she hoped. For the time being, this was her only chance to take the wand for herself. She looked behind her at where she last saw it and noticed it had been taken by Dark Wing already. She growled angrily and flinched as she tried to put more weight on the side she got shot. Ignoring the pain while charging a stable target was easy. Trying to put weight on her right side while static, not so much.Nimbus tucked the magic lock ball under his wing. It was cold to the touch between his wing and breast, but it was safe and secure. Once he got far enough and away from Talitha, he could remove his mask and held both the mask and ball between his hooves while flying comfortably.The blood-flow coming from Talitha's open wound was slow, but that was due to the fact that there was a bullet lodged in her. She would need to remove the fragment if she wanted to properly heal. The window behind blew warm air into her mane, something that wasn't there when she was outside earlier. The sun was on the rise soon and it wouldn't be hard for somepony to look up at the broken window in a room full of dead ponies. She needed to get out of here. Talitha searched out for Sugar Bomb and balanced her right leg across the filly's small back before making her way out the door.Sugar Bomb could feel that Talitha had accepted defeat by the way her leg hung loosely on her back. Talitha was good at hiding it in her facial expression though as she still remained to keep the same aggressive look on her face. Talitha had them both moving at an uncomfortable pace so she wouldn't have to look at Dark Wing any longer than she wanted, but before she could lift her hoof to take the stairs down, Dark Wing stood in her path."Who are you?" Nimbus asked Talitha, remaining to keep his mask on unlike he did with Evening Primrose. Unlike Primrose, Nimbus didn't know what Talitha had on the line if she tried to reveal him.Grumbling a few curse words in an order Nimbus had never heard anypony use before, Talitha shoved him out of her way with her good shoulder and breathed the title "Star Killer." That's when Nimbus noticed that the image of her cutie mark was an exploding star. She leaped down each step with a flinch and hiss. When she finally reached down to bottom one, she turned her head to him one last time. "Don't lose that ball. I'll be coming back to get it."***Slash released some of the pressure he was putting on his hooves on top of the table by leaning back. The story Candy Apple had just told him was wild and would sound completely insane if he tried to sum it up. "So," He said, catching a glimpse of Candy Apple picking her head up. "He just...let her walk away?""Yes." Candy Apple nodded. "Or..." Candy Apple looked down to the floor and shrugged lightly. "...at least that's what he told me.""Nimbus, right?" Slash asked specifically.  "Nimbus, the stallion pegasus who disguises himself as the female vigilante Dark Wing?""Ayup". Candy Apple confirmed in her natural accent."Who knew you owed money to-""Actually, no, he didn't know I owed money to them at all. He just happened to be there at the right time. He, he." Candy Apple gave a small laugh as she remembered that Nimbus actually had to come back an hour later once he realized he had forgotten about her a second time.Slash took suspicion to Candy Apple's answer. "You answered that pretty fast, Mrs.Apple.""Oh, well." Candy Apple smiled and slid down in her chair. "Ah just knew what you were going to ask." She couldn't help chewing on the end of her hoof a bit. Like when she was being held hostage a few days earlier, she wanted to get out of this room as quickly as possible. The only difference now was that Slash's room had a table."Right...." Slash replied before taking his hooves off the table completely and walking a path behind Candy Apple. "You haven't asked a thing about the criminals who abducted you."Candy Apple remained in her seat as Slash walked around her like a shark circling it's prey. "What urination would I ask about them? One of them died, one was knocked out, and the other Nimbus let go.""How do you know he let her go?""Umm, Ah was there?!" Candy Apple asked in a aggravated tone. "Seriously, haven't you been listening to what I said?" Candy Apple rose up in her chair and sat straight up. "Now, I want to go back to my farm.""Why?" Slash asked quickly, still circling around her chair with his eyes remaining on her. "Why the hurry?""I don't think you know how much work goes into a farm." Candy Apple said with her arms crossed against her chest. "I have a lot of apples to look-""I was at your farm this morning, Mrs.Apple. You only have three apple trees after the parasprites attacked. When I was there, you had your cousin, Big Macintosh, look after the farm while you were here at the station. I had to ask him a series of questions, like where you were. I found out that you were already here at the station before I had even asked to see you. I can't help but feel that you're hiding something, Mrs.Apple." Slash's steps around Candy Apple were heavier and faster now. She could even feel them rocking her chair a bit.Candy Apple swallowed an apple sized lump of air down her throat. "Ah...Ah just wanna go home now, please. I've answered all your questions-""I don't even think you're who you say you are!" Slash cut off Candy Apple. "And as a matter of fact, I've been listening very closely to every single word you said! Your accent has been coming and going since you started talking. You've forgotten how little apples you have left at your farm." Slash finally walked in front of her and tilted her chair forward to meet eye to eye with her at point blank range.Slash could hear Candy Apple's breathing pick up."And, for the record, the Apple Family says 'what in tarnation' not 'what urination', Miss Primrose." Slash pushed Candy Apple away to watch her change from the farm pony she was trying to impersonate and into her normal changeling self, Evening Primrose. There was only one way out of the room, and that was through the door behind him. He had taken on changeling's before and dragons five times that size. This young little creature before him held no candle to him."I thought you changelings were supposed to be able to impersonate voices perfectly." Slash remarked as he watched Evening Primrose jump down from her chair and onto all fours. "And I thought the Queen was the only female in the hive."Evening Primrose fluttered her wings in the standing position, not moving her body and inch. "In my hive, the majority are female while the king is the only male."Now a new question popped in Slash's head. "What about your brother, Mid-Knight?""He's from another hive, not my actual brother. That's just what we call each other." Evening Primrose fluttered her eyelashes in sync with her wings. "As much as I'd love to talk about changelings and how we live, I made a deal with a friend, and I really need you to turn around.""Pfft." Slash knocked on the breastplate of his armor proudly. "I been doing this for a long time. You're going to have to use a different trick.""Cool." Said a cold voice breathing on Slash's ear. "Let's try one of mine."Slash reacted, drew and slashed his famous green bladed sword behind him to find out there was nothing behind him. "I swear-" His ears twinged when there the sound of something crackling behind him began to grow louder with each second. He switched back to Evening Primrose to find her already throwing a eerie changeling spell at him. "Clever girl." Was the last words Slash said before being knocked out unconscious.The spell was low consuming, but Evening still let a heavy breath once Slash went unconscious. She wasn't expecting Slash to turn back around at the sound of her spell being charged. Her heart had nearly skipped when she saw how quickly he could draw a weapon. The door that Slash was guarding from Evening swung open and revealed Nimbus in his Dark Wing disguise."I didn't think your voice-change thing could be used like that." Evening Primrose commented as she walked and stepped over Slash carefully.Nimbus placed his hoof over his his face and removed his mask. His mane was slick with sweat and his face was just as wet. "It's actually called a voice transmitter. My friend, Nora, made it for me. There's even a feature that let's me-""She's the one who helped you clear my record, right?" Evening asked quickly to avoid hearing Nimbus talk about a spell she really didn't care about."Oh." Nimbus stretched his neck into the bag strapped to his side and pulled out a folder for her. Inside was a completely new identity for Evening to use, birth certificate, and a bonus letter that Nimbus had as a surprise for Evening. "Yeah, uh Nora said everything you need is in here. It's all legitimate." He gave the folder to Evening gently while she looked like a foal pulling a gift from under the tree on Hearth's Warming Eve.Opening the folder quickly, Evening nearly missed the small tiny envelope that fell out. She bent her neck down to look at it and pick it up as she set the folder on the desk behind her. "What's this, and who's Reverb?""Reverb is a good friend of mine. He's the owner of a club between Ponyville and Canterlot. Once you're ready, he said you should come down there and he'll set you up with your own recording."Evening opened up the envelope skeptically without taking a look at Nimbus. "Recording of what exactly?" She wasn't sure what to expect out of this Reverb guy. Not long before Nimbus asked Evening to impersonate Candy Apple, he had taken a very forward approach with asking her out...and then asking her to impersonate Nightmare Moon for reasons she wanted to forget about.As Evening read every word of the letter slowly, she gasped with delight once she understood that Reverb was inviting her to his studio to record her singing. She brought down the letter to her chest and asked Nimbus. "How do you know I sing?! I never talked about it!" Evening had actually made it a priority to avoid talking with Nimbus completely if it didn't involve getting her a new life."Nora read that you and Mid-Knight had taken into hiding as a couple of actors when you fled from your hive. After some digging, she found out you were pretty talented. I talked to Reverb and he said he would totally do it. Oh, and uhh..." Nimbus stumbled around her to point the name on her identification. "I thought it would be fitting to call you something close to what you'll be doing."Evening set the letter to the side to take a look at the birth certificate. Above the line where her new name was it read "Octave". Like Nimbus said, she did find it quite fitting, and it helped her with trying to decide what she should do for a cutie mark since she can't really be walking around as a changeling."I was going to change Octavia, but that was taken. I've never even heard of that mare, but apparently she's a pretty good musician." Nimbus shrugged. By how widely Evening was smiling and the way she was going back from the letter to her new identity, he wasn't sure if she was listening to him."I don't know what to say..." Evening was blinking away tears and fought hard not to stutter her words."Thank you is a good start." Nimbus hinted as he began to brush his chest clean ready for a hug.Evening nodded her head and began to assume a new look. A flash of green light shined her entire body as every part of her body began to change. When she finally finished, Nimbus couldn't recognize who's look she had taken, which was probably best since the last thing Evening needed was to run into the pony she was pretending to be."You're right, Nimbus. I'll tell Nora thank you the next time I see her, and Reverb too when I first see him."Nimbus's ears dropped down along with his wide smile. "Yeah, I'm sure they'd like that." It was hard for Nimbus to say that happily. He would've liked to bring up the fact that if he hadn't brought her to Nora in the first place, or even given Evening a second chance, none of this would have happened, but he didn't feel that would be appropriate or the right thing to do.The last thing Evening asked before putting everything back into her folder was, "How did you break into a police station?"Nimbus flicked his hoof and explained, "Pfft, that was easy. Just wear a mail pony outfit and carry some flowers, they'll think you're somepony delivering flowers for his wife."Wondering where the flowers and costume went, Evening asked Nimbus, "Is that how you plan on getting out of here?"Nimbus shrugged. "Pretty much, except without the flowers this time. You can just walk out of here looking like that. They shouldn't ask questions. Plus, it's lunch time so nopony is in there anyways.""Ah." Was all Evening said. She peered her head out the doorway and looked around to make sure nopony would notice a different looking pony coming out of the room. "You're sure-" She was about to ask Nimbus if she really could walk right out looking the way she did, but he was already gone. There was no clue as to where he had gone. To make matters worse, Slash began to groan and twist a bit. Evening leaped over him one last time, making sure not to drop her folder or anything inside before booking it all the way outside.There really was no direction Evening Primrose was heading at the moment, but she did want to find Reverbs' studio so she could at least express her interest, but she didn't want to stop and ask for directions right in front of the police station.Up above, watching Evening leave, Nimbus was perched on the very top of the police station, low to the ground. If anypony were to look up, he would just look like a strange bump on the roof. They'd have to stare at him directly for a good while to recognize that there was a pony on the roof. He wouldn't be up there too much longer anyways. He just wanted to make sure Evening left the premises safely.Once Evening was out of his eye sight, Nimbus crawled to the back side of the police station, managing to keep a small silhouette before anypony had enough time to see him.  He checked around the area when he finally reached the end of the roof, making sure nopony would see him take off. Nopony was around from what he could see, now he could stand fully and open up his wings.When Nimbus finally did stand at the edge of the roof with his wings fully erect, he leaned forward and dropped himself off. He didn't allow himself to soar until he was a few inches away from the ground. Soaring a few inches above the ground was an adrenaline rush for Nimbus and was a great way for him to keep his reflexes up. There had been many close calls where Nimbus had scraped his chest across the ground and his legs hung too low. He only flew low like this for a few more seconds before pulling up and ascending higher to the clouds where it would less likely for somepony to see him.Despite it being the middle of the day, Canterlot seemed rather quite. Most everypony was probably at the food court area on the other side of Canterlot since it was lunch hour. It would give Nimbus the opportunity to walk around the garden area without his mask for the first time in awhile, as long as he avoided the picnic area. The farthest part of the garden was Princess Luna's section.While Princess Luna's section was open to the public, mostly everypony avoided it since a Nightmare Moon statue had been placed there. The statue was said to be cursed with...something scary, but Nimbus had never come across anything wrong with it. If anything, he felt a bit of a connection with the Nightmare Moon statue. Like her, he felt far from home because of the one mistake he made.Nimbus's mistake was nowhere near as drastic as Nightmare Moon's was, but he did like the isolation it gave him because of it's presence.When he finally did land in Princess Luna's garden area, he immediately removed his mask and casually walked towards his favorite spot underneath the statue. "How's it going?" Nimbus asked the snarling statue. "Oh, yeah...sorry."Talking to statue always put Nimbus at a lower level of stress than when he got there. Sure, he could have talked to Nora or Sky Forge, but Nora would always just pitch in all her problems and make Nimbus feel worse for complaining about his, and Sky Forge would always bring up that he should go see Rainbow Dash. Even though he really wanted to, he was too scared to. It had been so long since he’d seen her, and he didn't know how she would react. He knew she'd be happy to see him again, but...he was too scared that she had moved on, unlike he did.Nimbus looked back up at the Nightmare Moon statue to see it hissing at him. "I know, I know! The longer I wait, the worse it'll be. I just...don't want her to kick me out of her life like Celestia did with you." Nimbus sighed and felt an unexpected strong breeze blowing against the back of his head. There was an ungodly amount of wet leaves slapping him all around his body from trees that came out of nowhere to be seen. He held his hooves up to Nightmare Moon and apologized, "Umm no offense...hee hee."The wind died down immediately to a calm breeze and blew Nimbus's mane barely off his shoulders. Even though the statue could only convey the one same expression, he felt like the snarl had become a little less aggressive. He brushed the leaves that got caught in his mane out and leaned his back at the legs of Nightmare Moon."I wonder how she's doing, though.." Nimbus asked out loudly to the statue, not expecting an actual response. The clouds that once were blocking the sun had moved and the sun now shined warm light onto Nimbus legs outside the shadow of the statue he was resting under. "Yeah, I guess you're right. She's probably doing great." He turned to rest on his side and hugged one of the bottom legs of the statue. "Or at least I hope she’s doing fine."