//-------------------------------------------------------// Harmony Co. -by knut124345- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// new job, new friends part1 //-------------------------------------------------------// new job, new friends part1 Fluttershy was leaning her arms against a fence of the ferry looking over the blue ocean. The sea breeze felt soothing in her pink hair and whispered gently in her ear. Her green dress danced in rhythm with the wind and a gentle smell of salt filled her lungs and tingled her nose. Once she exhales she looked down at the foam bean created by the ferry meting the waves. She was a skinny yellow mare. As relaxing as it was she was not out on vacation, this was a business trip and she was only going to deliver some documents and then she was going straight back home. At the horizon a small boat started to take shape as it drew ever closer to the ship. She didn´t notice the boat approaching as she was standing on the other side and the thumping of the various engines drowned out the approaching boat. The silence and calm that Flyttershy had enjoyed was broken by the bark of a single gunshot followed by a voice enhanced by a megaphone. “ALRIGHT MUTHERFUCKERS WE HAVE TAKING OVER THIS BOAT AND IF ANOYONE OF YOU COOCK SUCKERS THINK OTHERWISE FELL FREE JUMP OF, IF YOU DON´T WANT TO GET YOUR HEAD BLOWN OF! NOW EVERYPONY WHO LIKE THERE HEADS ATTATCHED TO THEIR SHOULDERS WALK TO THE FRONT OF THE BOAT!” She wasted no time and ran up the front of the boat and saw the other passengers and crew getting herded by a single cyan mare with rainbow colored hair wielding two Mark I desert eagles. The mare was wearing a black tank top. On her legs she was wearing a pair of jeans cut off at her knees. “Right, everypony sit down.” She holstered both of her guns and pulled out a small paper. “Which one of you is Fluttershy?” Fluttershy shacked with terror and hoped that no pony would answer. One stallion raised slowly and looked the mare straight in the eye. “We are not afraid of brutes like you” The mare sighed while slapping her palm against her forehead, slowly dragged it down and growled in frustration. She pulled both her guns and blasted both of his kneecaps off. The stallion fell down on his ass, screaming in pain at the bleeding holes in his legs. “Is there anypony else here who wants to feed me BULLSHIT LIKE THAT!?” Nopony answered. “Good. Now could somepony tell me who Fluttershy is before I get really angry?” Fluttershy gathered courage and slowly stood up. Her hands shaking with terror and her heart beating in her troath. “I am Fluttershy” she whimpered out in a quit gentle tone, looking down afraid that the mare would shoot her too. The cyan mare looked at her with the left eyebrow in the middle of her forehead. “Okay… do you have documents from…?” She looked at the paper. “The Flim Flam Company?” She nodded her head in response. “Good, come with me.” “What!?” Fluttershy froze. In a lightning move the cyan mare pulled out her desert eagle Mark I and pressed it against her forehead. “Do I really look, the kind of pony you talk back to?” she coldly remarked. Fluttershy shook her head. “Good, now come with and don´t talk back to me.” the mare sternly said while leaning closer to Fluttershys head. The cyan mare lead Fluttershy to a metallic colored speed boat. It was about 100 feet long and 30 feet wide with 4 inch bolts reinforcing every window. On the side facing the cyan mare and Fluttershy an orange mare with golden blond hair was standing on the gunnel while leaning the cabin. The mare was wearing a brown Stetson hat and a red shirt with a jeans skirt. “Ah, take it that this, here´s fluttershy?” she lifted her head and pointed at the pair. “Yeah, this is her.” The cyan mare responded. “You get the documents?” Fluttershy nodded and reached down her pocket and held out a CD casing. “Alright, come aboard.” the mare turned and walked to the rear of the boat. Fluttershy followed without hesitation. Once she reached the rear the orange mare took her hand and sat her down on a bench. The cyan mare climbed inside the cabin as the orange mare opened a beer. “Here, ” She held the beer in front of Fluttershy. “You look like you could use something to calm your nerves” Fluttershy grabbed the beer and chugged down half of it before she stopped to breathe. “What´s going to happen?” she asked nervously. “We are going to set up a trade with your company and then we will send you back unharmed” “So you are taking me hostage?” Fluttershy whimpered. “See it more as an extended vacation. Which reminds me,” She reached out her hand “Name´s Applejack.” Hesitantly Fluttershy shacked her hand and heard the engines starting. “The cyan mare running the boat is Rainbow Dash but y’all know her already and…..” Applejack looked around “Hey Osborn!” She stomped her boot against the floor. “What?” a male voice responded. “Get up here and say hello to our guest!” “Coming” a green stallion wearing a dark brown leather vest and black jeans came out of the cabin. On his head he had a sand colored outback ranger hat and his face was framed with a blue colored beard. “G´day.” he said with growling tone and reached his hand towards Fluttershy. “Name´s Osborn but mostponys call me Oz.” Fluttershy shook his hand. “I am Fluttershy.” “Pleasure to meet you Fluttershy. Now if you will excuse me, I am gonna try and contact the Flim Flam Company.” The green stallion turned and walked into the cabin again. “Oh, thank you, sir.” Osborn didn´t respond. He probably couldn’t hear over the sound of the roaring engines. Applejack opened the cooling bag and grabbed another beer. “Osborn am not too good at handling radios, so it´s going to take him an hour or two to get in contact with them. Until then welcome on board Harmony.” the yellow mare held out her beer towards Fluttershy. Suggesting they would cheer. Fluttershy meet her can with Applejacks. “Cheers.” “So Fluttershy has been taken by pirates?” a stallion asked his fellow board member. “Yes, according to witnesses she was taken by a cyan mare with rainbow colored hair.” “Rainbow dash, she is part of the Harmony Company.” “Harmony Company?” “They aren’t pirates,” The stallion paused to light a cigarette “They are a gang of mercenaries and psycho that do delivery services in the southern ocean. This is far from the first time they have caused me trouble.” He inhaled, forcing the cigarette embers to wander towards the filter. “When they contact us to set up a trade immediately, perhaps we can get rid of them once and for all.” “Fluttershy I got your company on the line.” Osborn walked out of the cabin while reaching a headset for her. “Oh, alright.” She put on the headset and heard the familiar voice of her boss, misses Berryshine. “Hello, miss Fluttershy?” “Yes.” She whimpered. “Oh good, are you alright?” “Oh yes, they have been nice to me.” “Okay, tell them that we are willing to set up a trade.” Fluttershy turned to applejack “They say that they are willing to trade.” “Hand me the headset.” She did as she was told and applejack put it on. “Howdy, this here´s the Captain of Harmony. You said you were willing to trade Fluttershy, how much are you willing to give for her?” “1 million bits.” Applejack choked on her beer before answering. “How do you want to do it?” “Meet our contact at Lighter bay in 5 hours. He will give you the money and you will give up Fluttershy deal?” “Deal.” Applejack removed the headset and looked over at Osborn. “Rainbow Dash set course for Lighter bay. They are willing to give 1 million bits for her.” “Sweet orgasm, Applejack!” Rainbow Dash yelled before starting the engines. “Looks like your extended vacation is gonna get pretty cut short Fluttershy.” Applejack smiled at her. “Oh my, ” Fluttershys whisper could not be heard over the sound of the roaring engines. For 4 hours there was nothing but an open blue ocean with no clouds and no birds until a little island slowly raised on the horizon. “Is that Lighters bay?” Fluttershy asked Osborn while smoking in front of the cabin. “Nah, it´s at the far end. About 2 miles north, but we are there soon.” “You know, if you don´t mind me asking, but why do you do the things you do? You don´t seem like the kind pony to do something like this.” Fluttershy asked gently while being terrified of what he might say. “I managed to piss of both the government and the mafia at the same time, I then fled to the edge of the world and managed to do even dumber things-“ “Until yours truly stepped in and saved him” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Now quit the shitty storytelling and help me sink this.” She said, shaking a bottle of tequila in her left hand. “Sure.” Osborn reached out and took 2 gulps before wiping his mouth on his arm. “Did you save him?” Fluttershy with a soft whisper, but Rainbow Dash could hear all the same. “Yeah, it took the skill and awesomeness of the one and only Rainbow Dash to save this fucking idiot from himself. But enough of that shit we got tequila to drink.” Faster than she pulled her guns Rainbow Dash yanked the bottle from Osborn and started drinking. The liquid in the amber colored bottle stepwise disappeared down her throat. “Here, ” She held it towards Fluttershy, shaking it in a suggestive way. “Oh, I don´t know.” “Don´t tell me you’re one of those dull pussies who can´t drink. Come on, there is only enough in there for one chug at most.” “Fine.” She said trying her best to sound harsh and swallowed the last of the tequila. It was stronger and meaner than Fluttershy anticipated. She bend over and forced herself not to cough up her stomach content. The cyan mare chuckled while slapping her on the back. “It´s a tough one to sink isn´t it?” Fluttershy nodded in response. “When we get back to the drowned shark I gonna drink until I forget who I am. What are you going to do with your share Oz?” “I don´t know, living out in the forest I don´t spend much money on other things than bullets.” “Seriously, Oz you need to stop living out in the forest and come into town, meet someponys.” “Maybe I will, maybe I won´t, either way we are here now, ” he pointed up and the 2 mares now noticed that the island started folding in on itself, forming an almost complete circle with an opening about 200 feet long. The waterline met by a thick mangrove forest, on the other side of the bay a large river could be seen releasing murky brown water into the clear blue bay. “The contact should show up soon.” The cyan mare pulled out her guns, visible disabled the safety and put them back into the holster. Fluttershy looked at this with fright, Rainbow Dash noticed this and didn´t say anything. Osborn reached into his jacket and held out a revolver that was noticeably bigger than Rainbow Dashes guns. He checked the magazine and removed the safety before putting it back into his jacket. “Let´s go.” Osborn stood up and started walking down the gunnel. Fluttershy followed him to the rear without a word, Rainbow Dash walked down on the other side. The sound of seabirds and a whispering wind was broken by a humming engine. A bigger boat than Harmony moved into the bay. This one also had reinforced bolts and a metal color. It slowly turned to stand parallel with harmony. A muscular white stallion stood in the rear. “Is that Fluttershy?” he asked with a deep voice while pointing at Fluttershy. “Yeah.” Rainbow Dash responded while closely eyeing the stallion. “You got the money?” “Of course.” He reached down and the sound of a metal clicking against each other followed. “GET DOWN!” Osborn threw himself on top of Fluttershy, her face meet the metal floor and a surge of pain traveled through her head. Rainbow Dash whipped out both her guns with the same speed as before but it was too late. The white mare started shooting with his AK-47 before she even pulled the trigger. One bullet hit her in the leg, but she stood her ground and put a bullet square in his shoulder. More stallion started running out of the cabin all armed with AK-47. “Stay low.” Osborn padded her on the back before standing up and fired back at the other boat. “Applejack get us out of here!” Rainbow Dash screamed after her leg gave weight and she fell down before next to Fluttershy. The boat's engine stared with a jerking motion and Osborn almost fell off the boat. Applejack violently turned towards the opening of the bay. “TORPEDO AT NINE A CLOCK!” Osborn yelled. Applejack locked on her right and saw a large shadow with a stream of white foam following it. She instantly turned the other way and ended up turning into the bay. In order to escape, she took aim towards the river outlet and forced the gas down so hard she could feel the lever bending. Once the boat got into the river a water pillar raised out of the water followed by a deafening explosion. Fluttershy kept lying down afraid of moving, screaming or doing anything at all. Not knowing what was going to happen next. //-------------------------------------------------------// new job, new friends part 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// new job, new friends part 2 After going up the river for a good few minutes Applejack slowed down realizing that they were out of harm’s way for now. She turned off the engines and walked out of the cabin. Once out she saw Rainbow Dash clutching a bloody wound on the inside of her thigh, Fluttershy curled up next to her and Osborn leaned against the railing while a stream of blood was running down his head. She immediately walked over to Rainbow Dash and pushed down on her wound. The cyan growled in pain. “You okay Oz?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, just a minor headache.” he answered while putting his hat back on. “Then fetch the med kit” She kept pushing down on the wound with her left hand while shaking Fluttershy´s shoulder with her right. “Hey, you okay?” Fluttershy looked up. She saw Osborn walking into the cabin before looking up at Applejack. “W-what happened?” “Looks like your company decided that killing you was cheaper than paying up. Dammit, I should have known, a company would never pay that much for one person.” “We all should have fucking known.” Rainbow Dash said, trying to sit up but Applejack pushed her down. “Don´t move, you will just hurt yourself more.” Osborn came out of the cabin carrying a white box with a red cross on top of it. “Alright, let´s get started.” “The bullet went clean through and missed the bone, you got lucky Rainbow. One inch the other way and you would have bled to death by now.” Applejack gave Rainbow Dash a reassuring slap on the shoulder. “Will it make any difference?” Rainbow Dash asked with a melancholy tone. “We stuck here and those fuckers will either wait us out or come here and blow us up.” “One thing at the time RD, we will fix you and then deal with those assholes.” “Um… I was just wondering if-” Fluttershy paused when Applejack turned to her “Couldn´t we continue upriver and come out on the other side?” “Nope, it gets real shallow up river and there is only one way out is the way we came in.” “Alright, Rainbow I’m gonna clean out the wound and it´s going to hurt” Osborn moistened a rug with rectified spirit. “Here bite down on this.” He handed her an orange hard plastic tube. She put the tub in her mouth and nodded her head towards Osborn. The rug sent a burning pain in her leg and she gave of a muffled scream has she bit down on the tube. Rainbow Dashes teeth started digging into the plastic and while it resisted, she could still feel her jaw closing. “Do you have any idea of how we are going to get away from here?” Fluttershy asked. “I´m thinking we throw out everything we can spare and make mad run for it.” Applejack responded. “Do you really think that´s gonna work?” Osborn said while holding down Rainbow Dash. “We already know that the wankas got heat seeking torpedoes. Do you really think we can outrun it?" “If you got any other ideas I would love to hear them, sugarcube.” Applejack responded. “I bloody don´t but all it will take is that on torpedo nudges us and we will be going straight to the moon.” “Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh” Fluttershy clutched her head and felt her fingers shaking. Osborn turned his attention Towards Rainbow Dash and cleaned her wounds. “Done.” Osborn put the bloody rag away and picked up a small curved needle and a clear string. “I am gonna stitch your wound, it´s also gonna hurt.” Rainbow Dash spat out the tube. “Just get it done.” She knew that the needle was going to feel like a mosquito bite compared to the fiery pain in her leg. “Hey, Fluttershy you still got your lighter?” Osborn looked up at Fluttershy. “Yes.” She stopped the shaking and started digging around in her purse for when something occurred to her. “Fire… heat.” She mumbled. “Yes, fire produces heat. Could you give me the lighter so I can fix up RD?” Osborn said with a stern tone. “Oh, sorry” Fluttershy handed over the lighter and played with her hair as she kept mumbling. “Fire… heat… torpedo.” “What are y a thinking, Fluttershy.” Applejack asked. “You said that they have heat seeking torpedoes, Osborn?” Fluttershy looked at Osborn has he cleaned needle with fire from the lighter. “Yeah” He responded has he started to clean the surgical thread with alcohol. “So?” “And we still have Alcohol?” Fluttershy turned to Applejack “Yes, we still have 3 bottles of tequila. Why do you ask?” Applejack said. “What if we sent their Torpedoes back at them by making them warmer than us?” “And how in tarnation do you suppose we do that?” Applejacks crossed her arms and her eyebrow jumped straight to the middle of her forehead. “We set them on fire with a Molotov cocktail.” Fluttershy answered confidently. “Oh, that´s just great, fluttershy. Now how do you propose we get close enough to them to throw a Molotov cocktail at them without us blowing up?” Applejack rolled her eyes. “Wait a minute…” Osborn said after a few moments of consideration while he patched up Rainbow Dashes wounds. “I it could work. Think about it, they should be positioned at the opening of the bay in order to block our escape. When they fire another torpedo we could avoid it by following the shore of the bay until we get close to them.” He made a semicircular gesture with his hands. “It will probably take the torpedo a few seconds to turn and by that time we should have gotten close to them.” “Hm…” Applejack mumbled. “Maybe, but when we get close they are going to start shooting at us with all they got.” “If Fluttershy throws the Molotov, I could do some covering fire.” Osborn answered. “I mean RD can´t do anything with her leg.” Rainbow Dash stood up and tried to hide her pain. “Fucking hell!” She fell down and clutched her leg. “Oz is right, I am going to have to pass this one. Shit.” Applejack looked over her crew while rubbing her chin until her mouth formed a somewhat confident smile. “Alright, let´s do it. Oz, you make a Molotov, Fluttershy help Rainbow Dash below deck and I will load up the M16, alright? Any questions? Good, get to work.” She walked into the cabin and Osborn Followed her down. Rainbow Dash leaned against the cabin and looked at Fluttershy with the same cold eyes has on the ferry. She waved her hand for her to come closer. “Help me get down” Fluttershy put the cyan mares arm over her neck and tried to hold her up. She was heavier than Fluttershy expected and she almost tripped when they walked down the stairs into the cabin. “Go to the right.” She pointed towards a gray metal door. “Open it.” Behind the door Fluttershy found a small bed and beside that a sink with a mirror cabinet over it. She helped Rainbow Dash sit down on the bed. The cyan mare lay down on the bed and pointed at the cabinet. “Get some Painkillers.” Without a word Fluttershy opened the cabinet. Inside, she found multiple white pill bottles. All of them with strange names that she couldn’t pronounce or make sense of, except one Analgesic. She knew that these were painkillers. She grabbed the orange bottle hand handed it to Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare yanked the bottle out of her hand, took out three pills and swallowed them without water. Fluttershy decided to leave Rainbow Dash alone, partly because she thought that she wanted to rest, but mostly because she was afraid of her. Before she could walk out the Rainbow Dash grabbed her arm and clutched it tight. “If you miss up there, you little fuck. I´m going to make sure that the last few seconds before we blow up will fell longer than your entire life.” Her tone was cold has ice and her eyes were sharper than needles. Fluttershy felt her heart jumping in her ribcage, she tried to move away, but Rainbow Dash held her firmly in place. She wanted to scream for the others, but all she could get out was quiet whimpering. The cyan mare let her go and Fluttershy sighed heavily when she got out of the room. Not knowing where anything was on the boat and afraid of disturbing any of the other crewmembers she walked back to the rear of the boat and sat down with a heavy thud. Her breaths felt heavy and she lighted a cigarette. The warm smoke felt good in her lungs, but she could still feel her heart drumming in her ears. Applejack and Osborn walked out of the cabin, holding a metal gray rifle and a brown bottle with a white rug pushed into the bottleneck respectively. Osborn walked up to Fluttershy, took the cigarette out of her hand and threw it into the water. “Be careful with fire around Molotov’s.” He pointed on the rug. “When this starts burning, it´s gonna take three minutes until the rug´s gone and then we’re gonna have real problems.” He put the bottle in her hand, Applejack handed him the rifle and walked into the cabin. Osborn sat down next to her, looking down the barrel of the gun and checking the sights. “When we get out into the bay Applejack´s gonna drive along the right side of the bay and the torpedo will follow us. Once we get close to them I´m gonna start giving you covering fire. Now, this next bit is really important: when I say “now” you are gonna stand up and throw the Molotov at the boat. Until then you will stay down and don´t look up, got it?” “Are you sure this will work?” Her voice shacked nervously. “No idea.” He said calmly while disabling the safety on the rifle. The familiar sound of the engines started humming and Harmony slowly turned. Osborn gently pushed Fluttershy of her seat until her head was just below the edge of the boat. He down on his right knee and pointed the rifle out of the boat. Harmony turned until it was facing the opposite way and then moved forward. Before rounding a corner Osborn used the lighter to set the rug on fire. “What are you going to do when I say “now””? He asked. Fluttershy took a deep breath and let it out with a slow sigh. “I am going to throw the Molotov at the boat.” “Good, and don´t do anything until you hear me say that. Ignore everything else you hear. Now grab a hold of the railing.” He pushed the rifle against his shoulder and his eyes narrowed. Harmony reached the end of the river and Applejack could see the other boat in the opening of the bay waiting for them. Her right hand tightly on the speed control and her left hand gripping the steering wheel so hard her finger nails started digging into the leather. She looked at the boat. “Come on… come on.” She said to herself. “Fire the darn torpedo.” Moments after saying that the familiar shape of a dark shadow followed by a stream of foam started heading right for them. Her right hand pushed the lever down and she yanked the steering to her right. Fluttershy lost her grip on the railing and fell back. She expected to hit the deck, Osborn stooped her fall with his left arm. He didn´t give her any time to react, instead he pushed her back to the railing and placed her hand back on the railing. He then put his own hand back on the barrel of the rifle and prepared to fire. With a firm grip on the boat Fluttershy looked down at the bottle has the burning rug flapped in the wind, the little orange flame danced back and forth on the white cloth. The boat was now in range and Osborn could see the stallions waiting, their guns pointing right at Harmony. He pressed the trigger and released a burst of 3 bullets at them. All of the stallions ducked in fear of being hit. He fired again to keep them down as they came ever closer to them. 100 feet away now. He shoot a third time when one of the stallions peeked out and started firing. The bullets hit Harmony, resulting in a combination of sparks and noise. Before returning fire Osborn took aim on his head and the stallion disappeared behind the cover. Osborn wasn´t sure whether he had hit his target or not but it made no difference has 3 stallions stood up at once, resulting in a storm bullets coming towards him. He didn´t duck instead he fired back and kept checking on how close they were. Only 20 feet now. He shoot 2 of the stallions before pausing to check the distance again. 10 feet now. “NOW!” he screamed and shoot at the final stallion. Fluttershy immediately jumped up and threw the Molotov at the boat, using every ounce of strength she had. It hit the front of the boat and a blanket of fire wrapped itself around it. In a heartbeat Harmony went past the boat and the trail of foam turned towards the boat. A pillar of fire and smoke consumed the boat and Fluttershy felt the Shockwave hitting her a moment after. “WOOHOO! That´s what fucking get ya bloody fruitshopowners!” Osborn screamed out with joy. Fluttershy paused for a few moments before she joined him. “We did it!” She yelled. “Those motherfuckers never knew what hit them!” Applejack walked out of the cabin. “Did we hit them?” Her question was answered when she noticed a burning wreck where the boat used to be. “Holy cowbells that was a close one.” She sat down and dried nervous sweat from her forehead. Osborn sat down next to her and started fanning himself with his hat. “Really close one.” He looked at Fluttershy. “You were good there. Really good.” Fluttershy felt a sense of pride and achievement has he said those words. She felt strong and brave before it dawned on them how close they were to being the flaming pile of metal now sinking into the ocean. “Well, as nice as it is being alive and all we still have documents to deliver. Luna might get angry if we are late.” Applejack stood up and walked into the cabin. “True.” Osborn put his hat back on and followed her with the rifle on his back. Fluttershy stayed behind, still drawing heavy breaths and her blood still boiling with adrenaline. But only took a few moments for it to disappear and she found herself looking out over a giant blue ocean. The stream of foam and small waves they left behind disappeared just as fast, as if nothing ever happened. They came to an old cargo port and were met by a tall, dark blue mare with sparkling hair of the same color. She wore an oversized military uniform over a purple suit and on her face you could clearly see a scar running from her forehead, over her left eye down to her cheek. She was accompanied by 6 stallions all wearing similar uniforms to hers. Applejack walked over to her with the disk. The blue mare took it and looked at her wristwatch. “On time as always.” She talked with a disturbingly calm voice. “But look a little beaten up, and may I ask where Rainbow Dash is and who is the new mare?” She looked at Fluttershy with emerald green eyes. “Long story, Luna.” Applejack responded. “Let´s say we got greedy and got burned, but if it wasn’t for her you would have to fish that disk out of the mud at lighter´s bay.” “I see.” Luna handed the disk to one of her stallions. “Well, if you got the job done, I couldn´t care what you did in the meantime. A pleasure as always.” She slowly walked away and sat down in the back seat of her car. One of the stallions sat into the driver’s seat and drove away while the other stallion went in other cars. “Well, flytters.” Applejack looked over at Fluttershy. “What will you do now?” “Hmm… I am not sure.” She responded hesitantly while kicking some gravel at her feet. “Ya could get yourself home from here and get back to your job at Flim Flam Company, I´m sure they will be glad to hear that you are alright. Or you could start a new career on Harmony Co.” She nudged her arm with her elbow. “Would you really?” She asked with anticipation. “Yes. Do you take the offer?” Applejack responded. “Yes” “Well then, welcome to your new job on-board Harmony Co.” Applejack shacked her hand. //-------------------------------------------------------// my inner savage //-------------------------------------------------------// my inner savage Fluttershy sat in the car with Applejack driving in to a parking lane. Osborn and Rainbow Dash sat in the back seat. She looked out the window and saw a neon colored sing sitting on the second floor balcony flashing “The drowned shark” in red and blue. Underneath it she saw a large wooden door that looked oddly undamaged compared to the rest of the building which was scared by bullet holes and burns. “We are here.” Applejack stopped the car and turned off the engine. “Finally,” Rainbow Dash eagerly climbed out. “Come on.” She was still somewhat limp after the shutout at lighters bay but she could walk fine. Osborn and Applejack followed, but Fluttershy paused has she climbed out of the car. By looking into the windows on the side of the door, she could see the other pony’s inside. Most of them were stallions sitting around tables drinking an amber colored liquid out of tall glasses. Apart from her and few barmaids she couldn´t see many mares. The group sat down at the counter of the bar, she quickly joined them and before she could order anything she noticed an orange stallion beating a red stallion. The red stallion´s massive frame dwarfed the purple stallion standing next to them, repeatedly checking his wristwatch. The red stallion didn´t seem to be bothered by the orange stallion’s punches, saying “Nope.” Each time he was hit. Once Osborn noticed it, he immediately walked over to the purple stallion. “What are the rules?” he asked curiously. “You are not allowed to kick him, no punches under the belt and no usage of tools.” The purple stallion responded sly smile. “And what do I get if I knock him out?” Osborn folded his arms and drummed his fingers. “Free drinks for you and your friends, but it will cost you ten bits to try and you only have one minute to try.” The purple stallion smirked at Osborn. “No problem.” Osborn reached down his pocket and handed the stallion a ten bit bill. “Alright,” He put the coin bill his pocket. “Now just wait for your-“The purple stallion was interrupted by a small beeping noise coming from his watch. “Never mind, it´s your turn.” The orange stallion walked away, panting with a frown drawn over his face. “Good luck to you.” He muttered and walked back to his friends. “Alright.” Osborn stretched his arms in preparation. “Osborn can never resist a challenge, can he?” Applejack chuckled and nudged Rainbow Dash. “No, and if he pulls this one off we get a free bar round tonight.” Rainbow Dash responded while biting her lip in anticipation. “Do you think he can do it?” Fluttershy asked Applejack. “I sure hope so, it would save RD a lot of money.” Rainbow Dash looked back and chuckled at Applejack. “Ok.” Osborn cracked his knuckles. “Start the timer.” The purple stallion pressed a button on the side of his watch and a 60 second counter began counting down. Osborn pulled back his fist, took aim at the stallion´s jaw and just before his fist reached the stallions face, he unlatched his fist, took a gentle grasp of the stallion's head and forced his tongue into his mouth. The red stallion was stunned by chock and stayed motionless while the jaw of everypony who watched hanged by their skulls. He kept sucking on the stallion’s lips for a few moments, until he slowly pulled his mouth back and rammed his fist right into the stallions jaw. The red stallion turned to face the wall and hit the ground with a loud thud. Osborn wiped the drool from of his mouth and turned his eyes to the purple stallion. “Does that count?” He asked with a smug grin. “Uh… yeah it counts.” The purple mare looked at Osborn with his eyes wide open and his mouth hanging. “Drinks on the house, gang.” He said while walking back to the counter. He sat down next to Fluttershy and she stared at him, not sure what to make of him. “Pffffffhahaha!” Rainbow Dash roared with laughter. “Fucking genius move there, Oz! Let´s hope I don´t get drunk enough to forget it.” She waved at the bartender. A blue stallion wearing a Hawaiian shirt with blue parrots. “Give me the hardest and most expensive liquor you have.” “And what will the rest of you be having?” The bartender asked with a bitter tone. “Give me the darkest ale you got.” Osborn said. “I´ll have a whisky with rocks and you Flutters?” Applejack padded Fluttershy´s back. “Oh… I´ll just have a cherry martini.” The bartender grabbed a black bottle from the massive collection placed on the shelf behind him and poured some of it up in a glass before handing it to Rainbow Dash. He then poured a brown whiskey into another glass, placed 3 ice cubes into and placed it in front of Applejack. For Osborn he simply gave him a tall glass and filled it with a pitch-black substance. It was so thick and slow-moving that Fluttershy thought the bartender was giving him dark syrup mixed with coal. The bartender then proceeded to mix gin with dry vermouth and poured it into a traditional martini glass, but replaced the olive with a red cherry. He placed it in front of Fluttershy and she started sipping it. It had a clean and dry taste with just a hint of the sweet cherry, just the way she liked it. It had been a long time sense she had a good cherry martini so she found it rather surprising that she would get one she well done in a place like this and for free. She looked around and noticed a collection of stallions sitting around a table singing in a language she couldn´t quite make out, but their accents sounded Russian or at least eastern European. “What are they singing?” Fluttershy asked Applejack. “I don´t know.” Applejack replied. “Hey Oz, do you know what they are singing?” Osborn put down his black ale flickered his ear toward the stallions. “It sounds like they are singing the national anthem or something. Not sure I can´t make out too many words. What´s the date?” “It´s the second off March.” The bartender responded. “Well, that explains it. They are celebrating their national day. Luna most has given them the night off.” Osborn returned to his ale. “How do you know they work for Luna?” Fluttershy asked. “Everypony with a Russian accent in this town works for hotel Mesec and Luna is and has been the leader for hotel Mesec since…” Applejack scratched the side of her face. “For as long as any of us have worked here at least.” She drank the last sips of her whiskey and shacked the empty glass towards the bartender. He reluctantly filled it back up again. A small grin started growing on Applejacks face has the bartender filled up the glass. The sound of the door opening echoed through the bar and 5 stallions carrying sub machine guns walked in. “Shit!” Applejack grabbed Fluttershy and leaped over the counter. Osborn and Rainbow Dash followed her the moment before the shooting started. The bartender dived down with them. “The fucking trixers!” Applejack shouted. “They must be here to kill the Mesec soldiers.” “No fucking shit!” The bartender grabbed a double barreled shotgun from underneath the counter and pressed his back against the counter. “Piss, we should have brought our guns.” Osborn said. “What!” Fluttershy yelled over the gunfire. “You didn´t bring your guns?! What the hell do we do now?” “A little something called improvising.” Rainbow Dash smiled and yanked the shotgun from the bartender. She winked at Osborn and leaped over the counter and fired off one barrel midair, taking down one of the stallions before somersaulting behind a flipped table. “Our turn Oz!” “Bollocks to it.” Osborn pulled a knife out of his boot and grabbed a bottle from the wall. The stallions started firing towards Rainbow Dash and Osborn leaped out. He smashed the bottle in the head of the first stallion he could reach. He stabbed the next stallion in the throat and held him in place in front of him. The stallions started shooting at him, but the bullets were blocked by the body Osborn held in front of him. Rainbow Dash leaped out from the table and took out one of the remaining stallions out by shooting him right in the head. Only a bloody stump remained as he fell to the floor. The final stallion turned to shoot Rainbow Dash but his gun only clicked. “Out of bullets, wankah?” Osborn growled. Rainbow Dash gave off a small giggle and dropped the shotgun. She slowly walked up to the stallion, her eyes dead focused and the corners of her mouth pulled up to the middle of her chicks. The stallion put down his gun and raised his hands. “I surrender.” He said. She punched the stallion in the stomach so hard that he fell to his knees. In one movement she grabbed his head and twisted it. The sound of bones cracking and dislocating followed before the stallion´s corpse hit the ground. “Those fucking cocksucker!” The bartender looked over the mess. “How many times is my bar going to get shot to pieces?” “So what now?” Fluttershy asked Applejack. “You get out of my bar and I will call a cleanup crew.” The bartender answered and picked up his phone. “What do you say gang, we call it a night?” Applejack asked and Osborn, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy all nodded in agreement. “Alright, then let´s go.” The following morning Fluttershy woke up in her apartment and looked out the window. She took her usual morning cigarette and let the smoke fly out the window up to the sky. The little glowing marker on the white paper slowly crawled closer to the orange filter and turned it into gray ash. The gray smoke spilled out of her mouth and danced away on the passing winds. It didn´t take her too long to finish the cigarette and get going to the office. It was a small 2 storey building with their office on the top floor and an empty drugstore beneath. On the other side of the street was another 2 storey building. On the way there she had stopped and bought a bag what she assumed was some kind of potato or an exotic fruit. Either way the bag was heavy or she had to carry it with both her hands, so when she reached the door, she tried to open it without putting down the bag. Before she could get it the door opened and Applejack stepped out. “Going out?” She asked. “Yeah, I’ve got a few errands to run. Be back in few.” Fluttershy continued up the stairs and walked into the office. To the right of her was a small kitchen with a coffee machine and a small refrigerator. Next it was a gray gun cabinet. On her left was living room table with 2 sofas on either side. Rainbow Dash lay in one of them reading a magazine with her head resting on the elbow support. Osborn stood leaning against the wall next to the window, his arms folded and his hat tilted over his eyes. She sat down in the couch put the bag on the table. Rainbow Dash looked up from her magazine. “Hey, fluttershy.” She looked at over at the bag. “Throw me one, will ya?” She reached out her hand over the table. “Sure.” She picked one the fruits out of the bag and threw it towards Rainbow Dash. She took a bit out of the fruit and quickly spat it out. “Blech! What the hell is this shit? Did you buy it off a street vendor?” “Yes.” “Well that fucking explains it,” She sat up on the sofa. “In Rajkrud everypony who doesn’t have any money are constantly trying to rip each other off, it´s a place that attracts international criminals and maniacs and if you trust random ponys you meet on the street you’re not going last long here.” “I guess not.” Looked down at the fruit and took a bite. It tasted sour and bitter. She took a deep sigh before sinking into the sofa and looking up into the roof. Rainbow Dash looked over at Osborn. “Hey Oz, wake up!” He lifted up his head. “Uh?” “Taste this.” She threw her fruit at him and he caught it. He took a quick look at and smelled the flesh left barren by Rainbow Dash. He bit down on it and his face paled to the point where he almost looked grass green. “Was it that bad?” Fluttershy asked while Osborn forced the bite down his throat. “Well, tastes better than camel piss, I’ll give it that.” “Sorry.” “Ugh, I am going to need some strong coffee to wash this down.” Applejack walked into a restaurant called Castello. It was a rather big place with lots of seats and tables, but only at one table was occupied. In it sat 1 blue mare wearing a star striped coat eating a fruit salad. Behind her stood 2 stallions, both with guns visible holstered in their belts. Applejack walked up to the blue mare and sat down in the chair in front the blue mare. “You wanted to see me, Trix?” She asked. “Yes, the great and powerful Trixie wants to talk to you about that cut up bitch and what she´s been up too in my territory.” Trixie said at the top of her voice. “You mean Luna?” Applejack raised one of her eyebrows. “Yes, she´s been taking over my hotels and stealing my drugs. If it goes on like this, she´s going to take me out completely.” Trixie frowned and leaned forward. “How´s any of this my problem?” Applejack leaned back in the chair. “Let me spell it for it for you, you stupid cowgirl. If you don´t stop working for that honor less Russian whore and start doing our shipments, it´s going to become your problem.” Trixie´s eyes narrowed. “I don´t hold grudges and I don´t like tough costumers, but when it comes between you and Luna I think I prefer the one who doesn’t shoot up random places in the hope that one bullet will hit the enemy.” “Your crew killed my stallions.” She growled. “We did, and like I said I don´t hold grudges. We´ll make your shipments when we can make them.” She rose out the chair and started walking to the exit. “Applejack!” Trixie slammed her fist into the table. “If you leave now I will wipe you and your pathetic crew from the face of the earth!” Applejack exited the restaurant. It only took her a few minutes to get back to the office and once there she wasted no time. “Crew!” She walked in the office. “Trixie´s gonna attack us for working with Luna.” She turned to Osborn. “Oz, I need you to set up shop on the building across the street.” “Roger, captain.” He walked over to the gun cabinet opened it, pulled out a machete knife and put it in his belt below the revolver he had holstered under his arm. “RD, you and I will take ground level.” Applejack walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a grenade launcher and handed Rainbow Dash her desert eagles. “What do I do?” Fluttershy asked. “You just stay in here and stay out of trouble, don´t worry, we’re gonna teach Trixie what happens when you cross the Harmony Com.” Applejack loaded the grenade launcher while Osborn walked out the door. “You ready RD?” Rainbow Dash loaded both her guns and pulled back the slides before putting them into her chest holster. “Oh yeah I´m ready.” “Let´s go then.” Applejack and Rainbow Dash walked out the door while Fluttershy stayed behind like she had been told too. Looking out the window she could see Osborn on the roof of building across the street. He crouched down on his knee and looked to his right. She looked to her left and saw 2 cars coming towards the building and one jeep equipped with a machine gun on top of it. A mare was sitting behind the machine gun with her finger on the trigger and aiming at the building. They stopped in front of the office and 7 stallions holding AK-47´s came out of the cars. 3 of them standing on the sides of the cars facing the building Osborn crouched on. The other 4 started making their way towards the door leading to the staircase. Osborn leaped of the roof with his machete in hand. He landed on the stallion closest to the jeep and stabbed in the back of the neck. He then used the force of the fall to summersault into the next one. He cut the backsides of his knees, causing him to fall backwards. Osborn stopped his fall by slamming his knee into his back and then stabbed him in the chest. Before the third stallion could start shooting Osborn drew his revolver and shoot him in the head. The mare in the jeep took aim towards Osborn and started firing. Moments before the bullets started flying Osborn darted down the street. A row of bullets hit the ground and quickly made their way towards him, he skidded around the corner of the building and pressed his back against it. The mare kept firing and at his position keeping him pinned down. “Your turn RD.” Applejack padded Rainbow Dash on the shoulder. Rainbow Dash smiled and leaped out of the staircase door, into the street with both her guns drawn. She shoot 2 of the stallions standing closest to her before she hit the ground. Upon landing on her side she rolled over to the car in the center of the road and shoot the reaming 2. Applejack leaned out of the door with and fired the grenade launcher at the jeep. It flew towards the jeep with a grey trail of smoke following it. The grenade it the side of the jeep, it immediately exploded and flipped the jeep onto its side. Black smoke started pouring from it and soon it exploded for a second time has the fire reached the gas tank. As fluttershy looked down on this she wondered what was worse: the things that made these ponys what they are or the fact that she watched all their actions with aww. “Shit!” Trixie stuffed a travel bag with money and clothes. “Fucking Luna, Fucking Applejack and her Harmony Company! I gave those fucking idiots had one fucking job, kill the entire Harmony Company! Is that too much ask?” She forced the bag to close and turned to leave her apartment. Before she opened the door the handle turned on its own and a dark blue mare accompanied by three stallions wearing brown coats steeped in. At the site of her Trixie stooped breathing and backed away from the door. She felt her heart jumping to her throat with such force she almost gagged. “Well, well going away on short notice is always a hassle perhaps this Russian whore could help you?” She said with a warm, gentle tone. “I don´t know what you have heard, Luna but I am sure that if we just sit down and-“ Luna punched her in the face and Trixie fell to the ground, numbed by her broken nose and feeling warm blood ran down her lips. “Listen you little `suka, we didn´t come her to listen to your bullshit, we already know.” She lifted Trixie up by the collar of her coat and looked at her with unflinching, sharp eyes. “Talk, that’s the one thing you have always been good at.” Applejack was sitting in the office cleaning her grenade launcher when the office phone rang. Fluttershy picked it up. “Hello.” Her eyes widened and her head tilted. “It´s for you Applejack.” She took the phone. “Yes, it´s Applejack.” “Hello Applejack, it´s Luna. I just wanted to thank you for the tips and let you know that Trixie won’t be a problem anymore.” The muffled sound of an explosion came through the phone. “That´s nice to hear, Luna.” She leaned against the cabinet. “But I don´t think you called me for just that.” Luna giggled. “No, she gave us the names and locations of some valuable cargo and I need you to get some of it.” “Just have a somepony meet us down at the docks and will see to it.” “I´ll have it done.” Applejack hanged up the phone. //-------------------------------------------------------// runs in the family //-------------------------------------------------------// runs in the family Fluttershy sat on the office by the docks drinking pitch black coffee while going over the company’s incomes and spending´s, in a very similar way to her old job. The sounds of papers folding and typing from the calculator made her somewhat nostalgic for her past before she remembered that she wasn´t so much an economist as an obedient little dog. Following her master while he insulted everything about her that wasn´t up to his perfect standards. She remembered running around her old office like a hen without its head, constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure her boss wasn´t around to scream at her if she did the slightest mistake. Her feet felt sore in her high heels and her thighs where thumping with pain. In her arms she tried to balance four heavy binders, while her sweaty hand started slipping the binders back and forth forcing her to lean backwards and put the weight on her back. With the binders blocking her sight she couldn´t see where she was going and ended up colliding straight into something. The binders fell onto the floor and she could see what it was she had crashed into. It was her boss, a fat grey stallion with multiple chins folding under his jaw. Looking at his shirt she could see that the collision had spilled out his coffee all over his white shirt. Fluttershy knew exactly what would come next. She shook the memory out of her head, took a deep breath and tried to focus on her work. Going through the economics of an organized major company was one thing but checking the receipts with hardly any ink left on them and the numbers Applejack gave her was quite another. The incomes and outcomes often didn´t match up and for some reason she still counted with tax reductions. She growled in frustration at it all. I need a break. She told herself and got out to take a smoke. The harbor was largely empty with only a small boat going across the horizon and Harmony coming right towards the dock where she was standing. When the torpedo boat came closer she could see Rainbow Dash standing on the front with a thick rope in her hands. The cyan mare threw the rope towards Fluttershy. She put out the cigarettes and tied it the dock. Applejack walked out with her hair hanging lose and black bags visible beneath her eyes. She expected Osborn to follow but instead a white stallion wearing rugged clothes jumped of the boat. His hands where cuffed and his thin face had a pink line going from the forehead down to his jaw, the upper lip was split in line with the scar showing a black pit where teeth had once been. Osborn came up behind him and pushed him. “Move.” His voice was bitter and cold has he led the white stallion to the office. Fluttershy knew they had been out to fetch a prisoner and she didn´t know why but she did know for who. The Diamond Vultures, probably the richest gang in town and the most exclusive. Their currently leader Rarity or the widow as she was known in the streets had come to power by marrying the youngest son of the former boss. The other sons all died just a few weeks after their weeding and her own husband didn´t last longer than a week before he was found dead. Word on the street is that she strangled him in bed on the first time he tried to touch her. After the white stallion and Osborn where out of sight, Fluttershy started questioning the reason for Rarity wanting him. The Diamond Vultures mostly dealt in money laundering, ponysmuggling is not something she had ever heard them dealing in and why only this one? Bang! Screech! Fluttershy let out an involuntarily yelp at the gunshot and Rainbow Dash started laughing in her usual cocky way. “Pffft, ha, ha! Your still afraid of gunshots Fluttershy?” she giggled. “Yes.” She responded with a small voice. Shootings happened so often in this town that Fluttershy felt embarrassed for admitting it. “Bloody fucking hell!” a growling voice roared. Flyttershy immediately recognized it has Osborn. He ran towards them, his hand pressed at a bloody wound in his left shoulder. “What the fuck happened?” Rainbow Dash asked. “The fucking wanka broke out of his cuffs somehow, shoot me with my own gun and drove away in the car!” Osborn pushed is hand into his armpit and started feeling around. “He won’t get far in your car though.” “Which way did he go?” Applejack asked. “He went up, north” Osborn started digging his fingers into the wound and pulled out a small cylindrical piece of metal, the blank metal shaded in crimson red. “Towards the center of the town.” “Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy head after him while I patch up Oz.” Both of them started running up the street and thankfully they found the car just a few blocks up. The bright orange Volvo stood parked in the middle of the road with the driver’s door left open. Anypony who didn´t know how to drive that old car would always get an engine stop. Rainbow Dash got up the car first and looked inside. Her eyes darted around. “Fuck,” She turned to Flyttershy and slammed the door. “He´s not here.” “What do we do know?” “Start asking around, an ugly son of a bitch like him ought to stand out.” Flyttershy had always had problems talking to strangers and trying to ask random ponies on the street if they had seen a white stallion with a massive scar on his face didn´t make it easier. “uhm… excuse me?” She tried to catch the attention of a group of prostitutes. Applejack once told her that prostitutes pick up most of the gossip in towns. “You wanna have a good time?” One of them walked up to Flyttershy and looked at her with soft blue eyes. She was a slender blue mare dressed in pink skirt and green tank top that looked two sizes too small. She traced her hand along the side Flyttershy´s face, her nails gently scratching. Flyttershy felt herself blushing and the blue mare giggled at the sight of her red chicks. She forced the mare´s hand away. “If was wondering if you had seen a white stallion with black hair and a scar down the right side of his face?” Flyttershy tried to force to blush away, unsuccessfully. The mare gave her slightly disappointed look before she answered. “No, I haven´t.” Fluttershy questioned the other prostitutes but they all gave similar answers and dismissive looks. She tried to talk to a few other ponies on the street but half of them didn´t seem to notice her and the other half she didn´t dare talking to when she saw the guns they had holstered. “Hey, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash called behind her. She turned to face the cyan mare. Before she had time to answer the cyan mare she asked. “Found anything?” Fluttershy felt embarrassed to tell her that she hadn’t asked anypony besides the prostitutes but she told her anyway, figuring that it was best to be strait up honest with her. “Shit,” Rainbow Dash looked concerned. “If the whore’s didn´t see anything odds are that nopony did. Come on let´s head back to the docks, maybe Applejack has heard something.” They drove back in the car and headed straight back. On the short road back Fluttershy started going over things in her head and two things stuck in her head. How he managed to get out of the cuffs and how he managed to disappear without anypony seeing him, or at least nopony noticing him. Did he pay of Osborn to let him lose? But why did Osborn get shoot then? She didn´t get much time to think about it, has they got back after only a few moments. Inside they were meet by Applejack stitching up Osborn’s wound. Applejack turned to face them and when she saw that they were alone Fluttershy could see her face palling, though she did a pretty good job hiding it. “So the prisoner got away?” Osborn Asked. “Yeah, good news is we got the car back. What little good that does.” Rainbow Dash responded. “Car or no car I´m gonna have to call Rarity and tell her about this.” Applejack cut the thread she had used to saw and walked over to the phone. “Let´s see how pissed she gets.” Applejack talked on the phone for a few minutes. “Yes, I understand.” Applejack put the phone down and faced her crew. She took a deep sigh and rubbed sand out of her eyes. “Here´s the situation, gang. Rarity is not only refusing to pay us unless we bring this guy back but she is also putting a bounty on his head, meaning if somepony beats us to it we won´t get paid at all.” “Ah, fuck.” Rainbow Dash growled. “Bloody brilliant, now we have competition on top of losing the guy.” Osborn put on his shirt to cover the wound. “Well we’re not gonna go anywhere by standing here bitching.” Applejack said. “How are you holding up Oz?” “I can live with the pain, but if I move around too much I might hurt myself even more.” He tested his shoulder by moving it around, looking surprisingly unbothered by the wound. “Go tracking then.” She looked at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “Well split up. You two take the car and look around while I dig around my contacts and see if I can´t find anything, alright?” “Sounds good to me come on, Flutters.” Rainbow Dash responded. Fluttershy followed without even bothering to answer. She spent most of the car ride looking out the street and not saying anything. Why is Rarity so eager to get this one stallion? The question kept popping up in her head. “Why do you think that Rarity cares so much about this guy?” She asked Rainbow Dash. “How the fuck should I know? She probably wants him to carry tea trays or polish her china.” “Would you go to so much effort to get a guy if you were gonna have him polish your china?” “I don´t have any china, and hell she´s always been a drama queen.” She looked thoughtfully while turning the car. “But you do a pretty good make a point, it is pretty strange that she goes to so much effort for this one guy.” “Do you think we should ask her ourselves?” Fluttershy asked not entirely sure that would be a good idea. “And what would it do to make her tell us, if she didn´t tell us from the start who this guy is and why she wants him, what’s gonna make her tell us now?” “A lie,” Flyttershy answered. “We say that we know where he is and can go get him but we want to know who he is and why she wants him considering all the trouble he has caused us. And maybe we can press her for extra money.” “Yes, I like that idea.” Rainbow Dash said with a dangerous smile. “Let´s do it.” Rarity lived in a white house surrounded by a spiked fence. A golden vulture holding a crystal the size of an apple adorned the front gate. It´s eyes blood red rubies polished to the point where the sun blinded Fluttershy when she looked at them. Rainbow Dash parked next to the gate and the red stallion standing on watch walked up next to the car as she got out. “What are you doing here?” He asked. “We´ve got some important news for Rarity about the ugly son of bitch she wanted but we want something from her in return.” “What do you want?” His voice had a hint of annoyance. “A bit of information and a lot more cash than she promised.” Rainbow Dash responded with boosting confidence. “Hang on a minute.” He pulled out a radio and talked with somepony on the other end. “Alright I´ll let you two trough.” “Come on Flutters.” Fluttershy followed Rainbow Dash into the house. The inside looked like a jewelry store, monitors with necklace’s and earrings made of what she assumed was solid gold, watches made of shining silver and snow white wallpapers with exquisite patterns drawn to form wild growing branches covering every wall. “So who are you and what is that you have to tell me?” A voice said with a cold and irritated tone. Fluttershy turned to face the voice and saw a white mare with purple hair dressed in a purple dress entering the room. Her hair waived of her head forming into curls on her shoulders, on her feet she whore high heels with little diamonds sparkling, forming a heart on her toes. Fluttershy assumed that she was Rarity. “We work for AJ and have found your prisoner but we won´t take him unless you pay extra and tell us why you want him so badly.” Rainbow Dash answered. “Is that so?” Rarity answered with a smug tone. “Yeah, AJ is sitting right outside his holdout.” Rainbow Dash boosted. “But considering he almost ran our car into the ground and shoot Oz, me and Flutters think we deserve to know what it is you want with him.“ “Ah, yes I heard that Osborn got shoot. Shame that Cupid didn´t kill him.” Her voice gave of a bitter ting. “Cupid, that´s his name?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Yes and I guess you want to know more about him, very well. He was one of my allies before I married my late husband. A good stallion, he grew up on in this town and thus knows every inch of it. I assume that´s how he escaped you.” “So why do you want him taken prisoner?” Fluttershy asked. Rarity looked at Fluttershy with her ocean blue eyes. Fluttershy felt tenser than usual with Rarity looking at her with eyes that looked inviting and off-putting at the same time. She tried her best not let her anxiety show, she bit her lip and tried to keep her eyes locked on hers. “He raped me.” Her voice was drenched in anger and Fluttershy felt the metallic taste blood in her mouth. “Multiple times and my useless husband didn´t even notice it.” “So now we are hunting a rapist in town full of thieves, murders and what else?” Rainbow Dash budge in. ”Oh yeah rapists.” Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash, her blue eyes almost changing to red in anger. “What are you trying to say, Rainbow Dash?” “That we live in a city notorious for being one of the worst crime centers in the world and a rapist isn´t gonna shock me, especially not one so ugly and with poor taste to boot. What I want to know is how dangerous is he.” “Very dangerous particularly if he sees you coming, he might have already noticed Applejack so you better get there before he figures out that you are coming.” Rarity turned her back on them and waved her hand before she left the room. “Let´s go Flutters.” Rainbow Dash said and they both went out to the car. “Know anypony who might know where he might be now that we know his name?” Fluttershy asked just before they got into the car. “Yeah, the mayor. She knows practically knows this town’s history like I know my guns.” Both got in and Rainbow Dash started driving. “What was that thing Rarity said about it being a shame that Cupid didn´t kill Oz?” “He and Rarity used to be an item before they had a bit of fallout and I ended up saving his sorry ass. We´ve gotta move fast now flutters if Rarity calls on our bluff we will probably have bigger problems than not getting paid.” She pushed down the gas pedal and car growled so hard Fluttershy felt the car vibrating her seat. Rainbow Dash made some turns so sharp Fluttershy could see signs passing close, they might take the mirrors of. When they came out on a straight street she drove so fast she thought she was trying to kill anything walking on the street. At one point when they came upon a car crash she drove right up on the side walk without hesitation, making everypony on it jump away in panic. Fluttreshy herself felt scared but she didn´t say anything because she remembered the short fuse Rainbow Dash had and then there where her guns to boot. The mayor’s office was a relatively small building compared to the houses that the gangs of the town held. It was probably the oldest to, with the rust brown iron bars inside the concrete surfacing roots next to a tree. Fluttershy started doubting this was an office at all when she got inside and saw multiple ponys either drunk or high on something lying in a hallway leading up to a door with the word “Mayor” written on it and sing underneath saying “In”. Rainbow Dash walked briskly up the hallway paying little mind to anypony lying there and even steeping on one at one point. At first the blue stallion she had stepped on with her heavy boot didn´t seem to bother him has he stared dead into the wall in front of him, but then he slowly moved his head too look on his hand. On the back of his hand the boot had left a red print of its pattern. He looked at her with a strange affection and looked over at Fluttershy as she went by. He had tired golden brown eyes with bags underneath them so dark that they were almost purple. He took his eyes back to his hand before he started starring at the wall again. “You in there mayor?” Rainbow Dash bashed the door. “Oh, yes come in Rainbow Dash.” The voice of an old mare responded. It had the gentle and kind tone that surprised Fluttershy. Almost everypony she had meet in this town were hardboiled or acting tough which reflected in their tone of voice. Rainbow Dash opened the door with some force and walked in. Flyttershy lingered for moment before she decided to follow. The mayor was an old grey mare with visible wrinkles drawn across her face and a small sack of skin hanging from her neck. “What´s on your mind Rainbow Dash?” The mayor asked. “We need to know about a stallion called Cupid, he´s a white stallion with black hair and a scar running across his face and one of his teeth are missing.” “Cupid you said?” The mayor answered thoughtfully. “Yes, I know of him he used to be Rarity´s partner. Supposedly a street orphan of this town but not even I am certain of that.” “Know where he used to live or any other place we might find him?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Yes, down at Hammerstreet he used to own an apartment at the third floor, but now it´s been shoot up so many times that only hobos and junkies live there now.” “Good, let´s go Flutters.” Rainbow Dash turned to walk away. The mayor slammed her cane into the floor, causing Fluttershy to jump. “Are you going to leave without making a donation?” Her gentle and kind tone was replaced by a far harsher and mean voice. “How the fuck could I forget.” Rainbow Dash reached down into her pocket and pulled a hundred bit bill out of her wallet. She placed it on the shelf next to the door. “Thank you.” She tried to hide her anger with the gentle tone from before. Outside the blue stallion was gone but all of the other ponies where exactly where they were before. Must have gone too fix his hand or get some new drugs. Fluttershy thought to herself. Back in the car she started going over things once again has Rainbow Dash drove at her usual breakneck pace. Could it be that Osborn set Cupid free, took a bullet to make it convincing in order to sabotage something for Rarity? Rainbow Dash said that they used to be an item and she had to save him. Was this the stupid things he mentioned at Lighter´s bay? She didn´t dare tell this too Rainbow Dash, she was afraid that she wouldn´t believe her over Osborn. Probably best to wait until we have him and then I might spill his guts about the whole thing. The apartment building at Hammerstreet truly was what the mayor had told them and more. Walls where either missing or had massive holes in them, shattered glass was spread across the ground like sparkling snowflakes. When Rainbow Dash walked over the glass with her boots the glass made crushing sounds that send uneasy shakes across Fluttershy´s body. “Wait here.” Rainbow Dash pulled out one of her guns. “I´ll take this fucker down.” Fluttershy didn´t protest, she would probably be more of a problem for Rainbow Dash now than anything else. Fluttershy felt somewhat relaxed as Rainbow Dash entered the building. As she waited she lit a cigarette and leaned back in her seat watching the smoke dance about before slowly dispersing. Click. A cold metallic object pressed against the side of her head and her heart skipped a beat. “Drive.” A tired and desperate voice said. She looked to her side and saw a white stallion with black hair and a scar running down his face standing next to her on the street, it was Cupid holding Osborn’s revolver. Somehow he knew they were coming. The blue stallion? Did he tip him of? “Get in the driver seat, now.” He growled and pushed the revolver to her head. Fluttershy climbed to the other seat and Cupid jumped into the passenger seat. He probably thought that Fluttershy knew how to drive the car since he didn´t come more than a few blocks before it stopped, but fluttershy was the only one in the harmony company who didn´t know how to drive this car. She tried desperately to recall how Rainbow Dash drove. At first the car drove like any other car but she soon started to notice sounds of the engine coughing and was afraid that it would stoop. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Cupid roared into her face. “You don´t know how to drive this fucking car?” She tried to muster an answer but the words got stuck in her throat like a nervous lump, her hands started shaking and car started jumping. Fuck! Not know. She jerked the key and hopped against hope that the car would start up again. It gave of a few horse growls before the engine started again. Flyttershy drew a small sigh of relief before she realized that the car might stop again at any time. “What are you going to do?” The question jumped out of her in one quick breath. He took a few moments before answering. “I am going to get my revenge on Rarity.” Revenge for what? She wanted to say. You raped her didn´t you? She remembered what Rainbow Dash told her. “Ponies in Rajkrud who don´t have any money are constantly trying to rip each other of.” And what will those with money do to keep their money? “Pull over.” He said as Fluttershy drove past a corner. She parked outside a small apartment building. “Move it. If that damned rainbow mare shows up I will need a hostage.” Cupid and Fluttershy walked into an abandoned apartment and Cupid pushed her to sit right next to the wall. He looked out the window while pointing the gun at her. Even with his white skin he looked pale and droops of nervous sweet gathered on his forehead. Fluttershy considered her options, fighting him was out of the question and trying to run away would probably get her killed even faster, she could hope that Rainbow Dash would find her but there was no telling what she would do if she did. Think, Fluttershy what could you use against him? “Why did your friends take me back here?” The question surprised Fluttershy and it took her a few moments before she answered him. “We were tasked by Rarity to do it. It was just a job.” “Well it wasn´t to her.” He glanced out the window with the revolver kept close to his face. Fluttershy sat with her back against the wall, wishing she had a cigarette. “What is it you want revenge for?” She asked. “What did she tell you?” he turned to her and looked at her with narrow eyes. “She told me you raped her.” Multiple times. She added. “Is that what she told you? Did she tell you the part where she tried to have me killed after I got rid of her husband’s older brothers?” “What, why?” “Because I remind her of a fact she hates.” For a brief moment Fluttershy didn´t know whether he was telling the truth or making a very believable lie. “What is that fact?” “I am her brother and we are both the offspring of a whore.” “So she wants you dead because of your looks?” “Not just this.” He traced his fingers on the pink scar, from his forehead down to his chin. “Our mother died of some illness when Rarity was 15 years old, and already she knew how to make money of herself. But a life living on the street and dying like our mother wasn´t enough for her so she got her eyes set on one of the richest gangs in she knew and decided to become part of it. Or rather she wanted become the head of it. Now that she´s become the head of the Diamond vultures she wants to erase the last traces of her street life.” “And now you want revenge on her?” “Damned right, I´m gonna tear the Diamond Vultures to the ground and kill her with my own hands. Something she would never have the balls for.” Good luck doing that with only one gun. Fluttershy wanted to say. “Shit.” Cupid grabbed Fluttershy by the arm and ran out the building with her. She never managed to see what it was that scared Cupid but she reckoned that Rainbow Dash must have fetched Applejack. If I could only get the gun away from him for a moment this would be over in a heartbeat. He dragged her down an alley to an old garage door with a padlock keeping it down. Upon seeing it Cupid shoot the padlock of with the revolver and tried to pull it up. At first he couldn´t do it with one hand, so in order to get it open he put the revolver at his side and started tugging with both hands. The gun was lying in front of Fluttershy. She made one quick jump for it and pulled back the hammer back. “Wait!” Cupid said when he turned to her. If he felt any fear at all he did not show it. “Just walk away with the gun and I will take down Rarity myself none of your friends have to be involved in it.” Fluttershy stood still for a few moments considering letting him go. Bang! A single bullet flew threw and went right through Cupids skull. Blood spattered on the ground as his corpse fell down. Fluttershy stood frozen looking at the barrel of the revolver. No smoke? Then what-. She turned to see Osborn standing at the end of the alley with a small handgun with grey smoke steaming of the barrel. A white bandage was wrapped around his left shoulder. He walked up to Fluttershy and took the revolver from her. “Why didn´t you shoot?” He asked. She looked up at him, his harsh eyes judging her. “H-he told me to wait.” Was the only answer she could muster. “Let me give you a tip for about living in this place, Flutter; if you got your target in sight you shoot to kill because they rarely give you the same luxury.” Osborn put the revolver into his holster. The night was cool and still, a street light blinked outside the office while Fluttershy finished the calculations she worked with that morning, adding a significant profit from their latest job from the Diamond Vultures. Finally. She walked outside to get a smoke and found Osborn leaning on the building, his hat folded over down eyes not, paying no mind to her. “I thought you were working with him to get revenge on Rarity.” Fluttershy stated has she lit her cigarette. Osborn gave her a puzzled look before answering. “Trust me, flutters, if wanted Rarity dead I would have done so a long time ago and I wouldn´t have relied on a complete stranger like him. I may not like Rarity but it takes a lot more then breaking my heart and trying to kill me to make me commit murder.” “And what you did there back there wasn´t murder?” “That was me killing a bloke for money, if I were to draw my revolver and blow your head off for asking, that would be murder. See the difference?” “Yes I do.” Fluttershy drew a breath on the cigarette. //-------------------------------------------------------// Survival of the fittest //-------------------------------------------------------// Survival of the fittest The night air felt cold as it bit Osborn’s cheeks. He walked down an empty street with a heavy bag on his back. A bar at the left side of the street was saying with a neon sign that the Russian was alive. A small colt wearing a blue shirt was playing with three other colts opposite the bar. The four of them kicked a ball between each other, smiles where drawn across their faces. No sound but the sound of Osborn’s footsteps could be heard. He entered a house. Inside was a stallion wearing a camouflage west, putting a revolver together. He pointed Osborn to the door next to him. He walked through without hesitation and closed his eyes. When he opened them the sun was shining in the sky as it burned Osborn’s arms. A second time he walked down an empty street with a heavy bag on his back. A cafe at the left side of the street was boasting with a sing just outside that the Russian was alive. A colt wearing a blue shirt was standing alongside with three other colts opposite the cafe. The four of them where now smoking and despite of the warm sun wearing black leather jackets. No sound but sound of Osborn’s footsteps could heard. Again he entered a house. Inside was the stallion wearing a camouflage west, putting an AK-47 together. He pointed Osborn to the door next to him. He paused for a moment before proceeding. One the other side of the door he was meet by rain splattering down on his head, making his cloths heavy. For a third time he walked down an empty street with a heavy bag on his back. A Bar was saying with a neon sign that the Russian was alive. A young stallion wearing a blue shirt was standing with two other stallions kicking on a smaller colt lying on the ground. He stopped for a moment and considered stooping them, but decided to move on. A third time he entered the house. Inside was the stallion wearing a camouflage west, putting a grenade launcher together. He pointed Osborn to the door next to him. Osborn turned around and tried to open the door that lead back to the street. He yanked the door knob, but the door stayed shut. He slammed his shoulder into it, but the door stayed shut. He kicked the knob in an effort to get destroy the lock, but the knob stayed on and the door stayed shut. The stallion behind him grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him inside the door he was pointing at. Osborn fell into complete darkness, he closed his eyes and hoped the ground would make his pain short. Salty water splashed Osborn in the face. He found himself on an empty beach just in the middle of twilight. There were no sources of light and the small amount the sinking sun provided gave barely enough to see more than a few yards. The text ”the Russian is still alive” was written in the sand. He saw the text and ran, ran to the point where his feet started bleeding and he tripped falling into the sand. His mouth filled with the grains. He lifted up his head and saw the colt with the blue shirt in front of him. His throat was open from ear to ear and a waterfall of blood ran down his neck. ”No!” Osborn rose and grabbed the colt in his arms, trying to stop the bleeding. The colts face turned pale and his head hanged back, opening up the wound. ”Why didn´t you save me?” The colt asked. ”I... I...” Osborn stuttered. ”WHY DIDN`T YOU SAVE ME?!” The colt screamed into his face before transforming into grey ash. Osborn woke up in his bed to find his bed soaked in sweet. His heart thumped in his head like a drum. He wiped cold sweat of his face with the back of his hand. ”Bloody nightmares.” He leaned back into the bed and took a few heavy breaths while looking up at the celling. ”Can´t they just end?” He lied still for several minutes trying to slow catch his breath and calm his heart. ”No way i can go back to sleep now.” He said, thinking out loud. He looked over at his watch. 05:23 it read. ”Might has well get up.” His home was a small cabin just outside the city. He had a shower, toilet and refrigerator. The whole things was far from the most modern or luxurious place in the city with the occasional roach, mouse and other vermin running across the floor but it was good enough for him. He looked into the refrigerator. ”A cola.” He looked at the red can wishing it was beer. ”Well it will have to do.” As he drank it while he looked out of his window. From the small hill he lived on he had a good view over the city. He looked as the spots of light in from the city flickered and listened to the sound of crickets singing. The occasional sound of gunfights didn´t bother him, the sound had turned into white noise for him. The sun started to climb over the horizon and shot rays of light over the city. Transforming it from a black sea with small light squares into a metallic floor built on top of weak buildings with larger skyscrapers rising out like giant monoliths. Time to get to work. Osborn finished his cola. Osborn walked down a street at the edge of the city, his revolver strapped firmly in it´ s holster. The street was bustling with life and multiple whores waved at him as he passed by. One of them caught his eye, a mint green mare with golden eyes. She wore the pink shirt that left little to Osborns imagination. She walked up to him, faintly smiling and giggled in the just the way he liked. ”How are you doing, Osborn?” She put her hand on his shoulder hand traced down his arm with her index finger. ”Want to take a break from all that work?” ”Sorry, Lyra but I am heading to work.” He pushed her hand away, her skin felt soft against his dry fingers. He stood outside Rajkrud´s official police office, a clean place given the town it was in. Only a few bullet holes and cracks leftover from shootings. The inside fared better, you could almost think it was in a peaceful town by the looks of it. Clean desks and no pony sitting in line for help. But Osborn knew why there was no pony waiting, because the police wouldn´t lift a finger if there wasn´t a direct order from the government or a big pile of cash involved. At the counter, a dark brown stallion dressed in the standard blue inform lifted his eyes from the magazine he was reading upon seeing him. ”Are you here to see Breezy?” He asked. ”Yeah.” ”He is in his office, go right in.” He pointed over his shoulder before returning to the magazine. Breezy was a blue stallion with bright green eyes. Thin cold blue hair made a thin layer on top of his bald scalp. He looked at Osborn with a tired gaze. His face looked pale despite the black bags formed under his eyes. ”Morning Oz, Sit if you will.” He suggested Osborn sit down in the chair in front of his desk and he obliged. ”What the hell is keeping you up at night mister police captain? Are the crime bosses not satisfied with your inability to solve the crimes they do?” ”Not exactly.” He responded. Not the least amused by Osborns joke. ”We have received requests from the big ones.” ”You mean the government?” ”Yes, they want us to get rid of an opium storage located on an island just at the edge of our district.” Breezy said. ”The local guards started robbing tourists that are going by the island, apparently it´s great for sunbathing and parking their overpriced yachts. So now we have been tasked to deal with it, but as you can see this city´s police force is made up of one old captain and ten officers who fuck whores while pressing street vendors for protection money.” ”You want the place torn down or just taken down?” Osborn decided he had heard enough. ”If you can just take them down and collect the opium they are guarding that would be pretty great.” He cracked a nervous smile. ”Right, What island is this and what kind of defenses to they have?” ”Tigers island,” Breezy pulled out a map over the island from his desk. ”and they only have a few mercenaries from the inland hired to guard the farms.” ”Can you give me an exact number?” Osborn studied the map. The small island was mostly cowered with forest except for a narrow white sand beach facing east, a thin river running from the peak in the middle of the island and a clearing at the foot of the hill. In the clearing there where three rectangular buildings with metal roofs. ”I´m afraid I can´t.” ”Alright then, I´ll get it done.” Osborn took the map. ”I´ll head out tonight, tell your officers to watch for a signal in three days.” ”What will they look out for?” ”A blue signal flare.” Osborn walked out the door. The rain smattered on Osborns hat causing small rivers to run down the edges. The thick forest kept most of the little sunlight that shined through the clouds at the top of the trees. Some monkeys and birds where making noise in the trees above. He observed two of the guards walking around the farm. The one walking first was wearing an military beret with small bits of blond hair peeking out. His face was thin and stoic with thin blond brows above his narrow ice blue eyes. Small wrinkles drawn across face, mostly around the eyes and on his forehead. A veteran, Osborn thought to himself. Must have left his country or got thrown out. Makes no difference to me. His partner was bald with a chubby face. Similar to the former mercenary he had cold narrow eyes. He did look somewhat younger than his partner, with a bushy orange beard going around his face and covering up must his facial features. Both of them where wearing green camo gear and carried AK-47:s with enough storage for five clips in their pockets. Knifes where strapped in their belts. Going in the opposite direction where two other guards wielding the same equipment and wearing similar clothes but these two looked much younger then the others and Osborn could see just by the way they looked around that they were not nearly has experienced as the other two. In total he counted eight guards since he started watching. They went in shifts of four at the day and four at night. All of them armed with AK-47:s and wearing the same camouflage gear. Two times a day a truck would come by. First early in the morning second late in the afternoon. First time it delivered second time it received. It must be a storage for smuggling the drugs into the mainland. Osborn thought. All around the camp they had placed landmines and every patrol had a guard dog going with them. A few times he when he was sneaking around trying to look for an opening in the minefield he had almost gotten caught by one of those dogs. Luckily the scent of opium dulled the dogs senses, not so much luck with finding an opening though. So he made one by digging up two of them. He looked over his equipment; a machete, two armed landmines, a revolver with sixteen bullets, a sniper rifle with a silencer and five bullets. He couldn´t take more with him as it would make it too difficult to move around with more not to mention harder to stay hidden. The rain stopped, he looked up and saw the sky clearing. Beams of light started reaching down from the trees, illuminating the bright green leafs. Let´s see... Osborn looked at his watch. It´s 15:32 now. The sun will set in about three hours. I will strike at sunset. Time to set things up. The sun started dipping into the sea at the horizon and the sky turned fiery orange. Osborn placed his hat on top of a fallen tree and leaned against the tree himself, the rifle without the silencer in his hands and his eyes looking through the scope. His sights where locked on the blond guard walking next to his chubby mate with one of the guard dogs following them around. The rifle barked like a thunder strike as he shoot the dog in the head. ”Sniper at three a clock!” The blond guard shouted and ran to press his side against the nearest building, his mate did the same. Osborn shot towards the blond guards position two times before lowering himself. He screwed on the silencer and crawled with his chest pressed against the ground. The still wet mud attached to his clothes and formed crispy layers once he got to dry ground. He purposely pressed his face into the mud in order to break up his silhouette against the ground. Upon coming closer to the opening he created in the minefield he heard the sound of the guards firing their assault rifles. Instinctively he pressed one side of his face to the ground, both as means of ducking and to get a look around him. The guards where firing at his previous position where he left his hat. He kept crawling closer to the gap. An explosion behind him shook the ground and rained down small bits of gravel and half rotten leafs. There goes the first mine. Osborn crawled through the gap and squeezed himself underneath the building closest to him. Once underneath he took the sniper rifle from his back, screwed on the silencer and looked for the rest of the guards through the scope. The other two guards already out on patrol ran towards the sight of the explosion, the remaining four came out of the building where they used to sit and watch TV. ”What the hell happened?” A grey guard with pitch black hair asked as he and his mate where running towards the place where Osborn placed his hat. The blue guard with bright red hair turned to his mate. ”We are under attack by a sni-” Before he could finish Osborn shoot him in the head. The silencer made the gunshot sound like a gentle whisper compared to the roar it made before. The grey guard looked at his dead mate with wide open eyes and shaking eyes giving Osborn well enough time to shoot again. That´s that done for. He put down the empty rifle. Four left. The remaining four got behind cover trying to figure out where Osborn was hiding. The familiar sound of the transport truck broke the silence that had laid itself over the place. The humming growl came closer by the second and the guards where arguing amongst themselves whether to greet them or let them wait. Soon it won’t matter. The truck went up in flames and lit up the entire garrison in a roaring pillar of fire. The guards turned to watch, the light from the explosion litup the yard like a floodlight giving Osborn a clear view of their positions. Time to give them something to chase. He rolled out from underneath the building and shoot of the guards with his revolver. The guns hammer slammed like a sledge on an anvil and the muzzle lit up like a firecracker. All of the three remaining guards started shooting towards his position. Osborn started running, through his opening in the minefield into the jungle. ”Get the fucker!” A voice roared behind Osborn has he dived into the river he used for water the past two days. In the murky water he couldn´t see anything, instead he felt his way around the bottom and grabbed hold of a root sticking out of the muddy bottom. He used it to keep himself down and began to crawl slowly on the bottom by grabbing a hold of nearby roots. Thock! Thock! Muffled gunfire and the sound of bullets entering the water vibrated in Osborn ears. He dug his boots into the bottom and pushed forwards, away from the sounds. His torso made one involuntarily jerk inwards. Half the air spent. He crawled towards the shore, slowly trying to avoid making any splashes on the surface and give away his position. Upon surfacing he could see the white cones from the guard´s flashlights reaching between the trees. Crawling gentle out of the water with his chin pressed against the ground he took of his west and began smearing mud over his chest and back. Covered in mud and with his knife in hand he crouched down and walked gently towards the guards. ”Be careful now soldiers. He could be anywhere.” A bright yellow stallion said with an authoritarian voice. ”Fuck, where the hell is this asshole?” A red stallion asked has he looked into the mangrove trees. Osborn was standing not two feet away from him ready strike when one of the guards moved his light right towards him. Moments before the light reached him, Osborn pressed himself against a tree while the beam lightened the other side. ”Found anything?” The guard asked. ”No.” The red stallion smacked himself on the neck. ”Just these damned mosquitos.” ”Right.” The guard responded, his voice shacking. He turned and searched his surroundings. As soon as the guard turned Osborn struck. He dashed towards the red stallion putting one hand over his mouth while burring the knife in his throat. The guard gave of a few muffled screams before he stopped squirming and Osborn gently put him the ground. Only two left. He sneaked past the guard and made his way towards the yellow stallion. When Osborn was three feet away the guard turned. With nowhere to hide Osborn ran straight towards him, ramming the knife into his chest. All of this made more than enough noise for the last guard to notice. ”What the fuck?!” He stood still with wide eyes when he saw Osborn and the guard. Shit. Osborn pulled the knife out of the guard chest, ran into jungle and hid inside a bush. He pressed himself down and looked for the beam of the guard’s flashlight. The beam appeared, it darted around on the ground and jumped from tree to tree. The guards breaths where quick and small, his hands where shacking. Osborn observed the guard twitch and turning looking for him, he lay still on the ground feeling around with his hands. He found a descent size rock and threw it past the guards head while he looked the other way. Osborn barely had time to blink before the guard started shooting right where the rock landed. ”Die!” His rifle barked incessantly, creating light flashes at the muzzle. ”You mother fucker!” The rifle started to click. He had emptied the magazine. Osborn rushed towards the guard with the knife drawn. He wrapped his arm around the guard’s neck and pushed the knife in between his ribs. The guard squirmed and tried to pull Osborn’s arm of, in response Osborn pushed the knife further in. The guard stopped moving. Osborn dropped the corpse and drew some heavy breaths. He wiped the knife on some leaves before walking down to the river to wash of and get his vest. The garrison was still and quiet. The only noise that could be heard was the crackling fire coming from the burning truck. Osborn walked up to the building he hid under earlier and looked under. The rifle was lay too far away for him to reach he had to crawl under to get it. The rifle was muddy with a few scrapes but nothing serious. When he crawled out he saw a small brown filly with red hair wearing a light green t-shirt and bright blue jeans. She was crying while staring right at him. Osborn was stunned for a few moments and the filly turned to face him before he could say anything. She wiped the tears of her cheeks with the back of her hand. ”Did you kill Paisley? Did you kill my dad and all of the others?” her voice was, to Osborn’s surprise, cold and collected with no hint of sadness. Only anger. A chilling finger started running up Osborn’s spine sending a wave of goosebumps across his skin. Once it reached his head he felt a cold fist pressing itself into his skull. ”Did you?” She pressed the question. ”Yes, I did.” ”Why?” This time she could not hide her sorrow. ”Because I was paid to.” The filly ran up to him and started kicking on the legs and beating his stomach with her small fists. Osborn let her keep at it for some time until he pushed her back and crouched in front of her. ”There is nothing you or I can do to bring your father back...” He took the revolver out of it´ s holster and held the handle towards her. ”But if you want to, you can take my life.” The filly wiped the tears of her freckled cheeks and gave him a puzzled look. She took the revolver, in her small hands it look almost absurd, due to it´ s size. She raised the revolver and took aim at his head. Osborn took a deep breath and anticipated the worst. ”If I spare you are you will you help me get home?” She asked with the muzzle pointing at his forehead. ”Yes, I will.” Gently he pushed the muzzle away from his forehead. ”Where do you live?” ”In Singapore with my mom.” Her voice returned to the cold tone she had before. ”Let´s go then.” The harbor dead and quite. The rhythmic sound of the waves breaching and the leaves dancing in the wind where the only noises Osborn heard and the cold night air bit his cheeks. The filly followed him at a distance always looking at his back. Should be paying more attention to the front kid. That´s the dangerous part. ”You´re gonna have to hide kid.” Osborn crouched down. ”Those who hired me may not take to kindly to live witnesses.” ”How do I know you’re not trying to trick me?” The filly asked. I was willing to let you kill me a few minutes ago. Osborn brooded on an answer. ”Here,” He handed her the revolver. ”If you think I am trying to pull something.” Without answering the filly grabbed the revolver from his hand and ran into one of the old dock houses. He fired the flare gun into the pitch black night sky, sending a blue comet into the sky. A police boat carrying Breezy and his officers came ported by the dock. Breezy was the first one to come of the boat, he wore the standard dark blue uniform with a brown beret with a silver badge in front, his shoes where so polished Osborn could see a reflection. His officers wore similar inform outfits though none of them had polished their shoes or put on their hats. ”Is it done?” Breezy asked. ”Yes.” Osborn had never been good at lying, but he knew how to withhold information. ”All of the guards are dead.” ”Good,” Breezy sounded satisfied with the answer. ”Collect the evidence officers.” The officers walked started walking inland while Osborn considered what he should do next with the filly. I need to get in contact with Applejack somehow. He looked over at Breezy. I could ask to use the radio on his boat. ”Hey, Breez. I need to contact Applejack, could I use your radio?” Osborn could feel his heart jumping at the words. If Breezy suspected something- ”Sure.” Breezy responded without even giving Osborn a second look. ”Thanks, mate.” As he walked to the boat, the sound of a gun firing cracked like a whip out of one of the dock houses. Osborn immediately recognized it as the sound of his revolver. The revolver shoot was followed up by another shoot but this one was somewhat quieter. A pistol shoot. The hairs on Osborn’s neck rose. No, no, no. He ran towards the source of the gunshots. Inside the dock house he found one of the officers pressing a wound on his shoulder, leaking dark blood with his hands and beside the officer was the filly. Her grass green eyes stared at Osborn with a motionless gaze. Blood poured out of a hole in her head. ”You,” Osborn’s felt his blood being set aflame in his veins. ”You, fucking wanka.” He slowly walked up to the officer. ”What are you-Argh” Osborn grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. His eyes widened with shock as Osborn forced his hand around his throat. The officer lifted his hands of the wound and took a hold Osborn’s arm. The nails dug into Osborn’s skin, forming shallow red wounds on his arm. Osborn squeezed even tighter around the officers throat and pressed his thump into the wound. The officer tried to draw deep breaths in response to the pain Osborn caused him. He only managed to get a thin wheezing. Osborn could feel the fire running through his veins, turning his face red and burning in his muscles. He bend his fingers around the Officers adams apple and squeezed until he felt his fingers pressing through the guards skin against the palm of his hand. He opened his hand. The officer dropped to the floor. The skin on his throat folded down on his neck forming a flat surface on his spine, only gently inflating when he exhaled. He rolled and twisted around like a fish on land. His face started becoming purple and his breaths grew smaller. He stopped moving. Osborn turned to the filly, crouched down and closed her eyes. ”I´m sorry kid. I shouldn´t have taken this job.” ”Osborn, what the hell happened!?” Breezy stood in the door opening, his face turned pale by the sight of the filly. ”Did you kill her and Stephen?” ”I murdered Stephen.” He carefully picked up the filly in his arms. ”Why?” Breezy asked. ”Because he killed her.” As he was walking out Breezy grabbed in by the shoulder. ”I could have you arrested for this Oz.” He made his voice darker and narrowed his eyes, trying to scare Osborn. ”Then why don´t you captain?” He shook of Breezys hand and walked out the door. ”What are going to do?” Breezy asked behind him. ”I am going to bury her. Send Applejack to pick me up.” He buried her at the narrow sand beach. Without a shovel he had to dig it with a piece of wood and his hands. After an hour he started felling the sand getting moist and heavy, small pools of water rose and sank in rhythm with the waves at the bottom of the grave. Osborn gently placed the filly in the ground and began filling up the hole. The sun started rising out of the black sea, sending beams of warm light across the sky. Osborn sat next to the grave. ”Should see the sunrise kid. It´s Beautiful.” //-------------------------------------------------------// don´t bite sour apples //-------------------------------------------------------// don´t bite sour apples Applejack stood inside Rainbow Dash´s little apartment. The whole place smelled of old food and beer. On a thin bed without a blanket lay Rainbow Dash sleeping, her back turned to Applejack and giving of a growly snore. Applejack shook up her shoulder. ”Wake up sugarcube.” ”Ngghhh...” Rainbow Dash shook her hand of. ”Oh, for fuck sake.” Applejack lost her patience and flipped the bed over. Throwing Rainbow Dash out on the floor. ”What the-“ She fumbled at her side trying to reach her guns before she remembered that she wasn´t even wearing the holsters. ”What is it AJ?” She rubbed her eyes with her forefinger and thump. ”We got an urgent delivery to take care of and since Oz is out, I could use an extra pair of guns.” ”Ugghh...” Rainbow Dash pressed her palm against her forehead. ”Hungover?” Applejack asked. ”Mhhhmm...” She looked at Applejack with dry eyes. ”Here.” She handed Rainbow Dash a bottle. ”Drink this.” Rainbow Dash took one chug before she squirted it out. She frowned at Applejack. ”It just water!” ”And there is nothing better to quench thirst. Now drink up and we´ll go.” Rainbow Dash growled at her and chugged down the entire bottle. “I´ll freshen up and meet you by the dock.” She stretched her arms above her head. “Be there in five minutes. We´re heading to Saibai Island” “Alright.” Harmony laid in the water, the waves splashed against her hull, spraying white foam across the grey metal. Applejack walked on board carrying a petrol can with her and started filling up. RD isn´t late yet. She turned the key and started warming up the engine. “Ready to go?” Rainbow Dash asked behind her. “Hey where´s Flutters?” “Deck below, doing an inventory on our cargo.” She looked over her shoulder. “Cast us of will ya?” “No problem.” Applejack could see Rainbow Dash throwing the cable from the bow of Harmony and she started pressing down the gas lever. Harmony responded by running away from the dock out into the open water. She started rising her bow out of the water, the engine roared. Out the window Applejack could see splashes of foam and water rushing by as Harmony hit the waves. Applejack leaned back in the seat. She drew a slow sigh and looked at her watch. 09:12. we are making good time. Hope this job goes down without a hiccup. “So what are we delivering anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Three grenade launchers with sixteen grenades, four RPG´s with ten rockets, twenty AK-47´s with magazines, four thousand bullets for the AK´s, twenty kevlar suits and two hundred cans of beans.” Applejack cited of the shipping list she read earlier that morning. “Wow,” Rainbow Dash widened her eyes. “Are we equipping an army or something?” “More or less. There is a rebel group out in the jungle on Saibai Island planning to go to war and they need some supplies.” “Fighting for a cause,” Rainbow Dash let out a small chuckle. “What a bunch of fucking idiots.” “Yeah,” Applejack nodded in agreement. “But these fucking idiots ordered a lot of junk to be delivered which means money in our pockets.” “To right AJ.” Rainbow Dash leaned on the wall. “Got any idea what these rebels are fighting for?” “They want to overthrow the current leaders of Papua New Guinea.” Fluttershy Answered has she walked out of the storage. Rainbow Dash was a little stunned by surprise but she continued. “Um… Apparently they want to unite the two regions that make up the island into one.” “How come you know this?” Rainbow Dash asked. “When we received the order I decided to look up the names of our customers. And when I did I found out pretty fast that they were using aliases. So I searched the news looking for any local ongoing war or a war in the making. “So came upon the flying tigers, led by Coconut Dream, located on Saibai Island, they fled there after their latest attempt at overthrowing the government failed and now they have publicly announced that they are going to do it again. So I figured that they were the ones who ordered these weapons.” “Impressive,” Applejack said. “Sure did your homework, Flutters.” “Thanks.” Fluttershy answered with a slight blush. While Rainbow Dash was sitting at the bow playing her harmonica and Fluttershy sat in the back smoking, Applejack put on her headset and listened to a cassette tape. She started singing along. “See me ride out of the sunset.” She tapped her foot in rhythm with the drums. “On our color TV screen.” She knew her singing wouldn´t be heard by the others if she just kept her voice down. "Out for all that I can get. If you know what I mean.” “Don´t you mess around. Cause I´m TNT. I´m dynamite.” Applejack stopped singing along when she heard the distinct sound of the sonar beeping. Looking at the radar Applejack could see a two boats behind Harmony slowly approaching. Applejack put Harmony on autopilot, took a pair of binoculars and walked out. Fluttershy was still smoking when she got out. Fluttershy gave her a puzzled look while she looked at the boats through the binoculars. “What is it?” Fluttershy asked. “I think we are being followed.” She carefully watched the boats, their armour, the crew and their weapons. Scouts. “Change that Flutters, we are being followed.” “Can we out run them?” “We are out in the open ocean, in the brightest time of day, carrying three tons of cargo. So no we can´t.” Applejack weighed her options. “We might be able to scare them of though. RD!” “What?” Rainbow Dash climbed down from the bow. “Get the L96A1 and see if you can´t take those scouts out or give them a good scare.” “Sure.” Rainbow Dash walked below deck and came back with the sniper rifle. Applejack squatted down and Rainbow Dash leaned the muzzle on her shoulder. “What´s the distance?” “Two thousand feet, no wind.” “Alright.” Applejack held her breath while Rainbow Dash adjusted the sight and took aim. The rifle barked and jumped back into Rainbow Dash´s shoulder. In the distance Applejack could see the boat on the right slowing down. The rifle barked again and the boat on the right stopped. “That should stop them.” Rainbow Dash lifted the rifle of Applejacks shoulder. “Let´s just hope that they don´t have friends.” Back in the seat Applejack returned to her music, but this time she only tapped her foot and purposefully put one of the speakers next to her ear. Nervously she always kept an eye on the radar and another towards the horizon. In order to be more prepared she placed Rainbow Dash in the crow’s nest. Harmony was a fast boat, but with the cargo they were carrying there was still another nine hours before they would reach Saibai Island. She removed the headset and found her foot still shacking. Fucking hell, Applejack thought. This still makes me nervous? Four dots showed up on the radar. “Applejack!” Rainbow Dash called over the coms. “We got incoming from the west!” “Roger.” Applejack responded. She turned on the auto pilot and walked out. On the horizon four speedboats slowly started taking shape. “How are they armed, RD?” “Machine guns placed on the front and reinforced hulls from what I can tell.” Rainbow Dash climbed down from the crow’s nest. “Who are they” Fluttershy asked. “Why are they going after us?” “They are Papua New Guineas army.” Applejack pointed at the flags waving from the boats. “They must have found out that the rebels were ordering new weapons.” “It´s easier to shoot the messenger,” Rainbow Dash said. “Then to wait for your enemy to receive his mail.” Applejack looked at the boats slowly growing on size. “What do we do now?” Fluttershy asked. “We fight. RD get ready for fight, flutters get below deck.” Applejack went below herself and fetched the sniper rifle. Let´s see what their armor can take. Applejack leaned the muzzle on the edge of Harmony, causing her to squat down on order to adjust for the height. Taking two shoots on the biggest and one on the smallest she could see the bullets bouncing of the hull. Tough guys, huh. Applejack walked into the cabin and sat down in the seat. Rainbow Dash was standing next to the controls, checking the sights on her desert eagles. “Get ready for a hard one, RD.” She holstered her guns. “What´s the plan?” Applejack climbed into the seat. “We buck down and let them get close, see if we can´t get them to do something stupid.” She slowly turned down the gas leaver and watched the dots on the radar coming closer with each swipe of the scan. The smaller boats came up first, on each side of Harmony. Through the windows Applejack could see soldiers loading up the machineguns attached to the front of their boats. “Hang of on to something!” Applejack shouted. The moment both soldiers pulled the triggers Applejack slammed the brake into the ground, stopping Harmony dead in her tracks and causing both of the hostile boats to fire at each other, killing both of the shooters. Jackasses. Applejack released the break and steered to the boat on the right. “Take them out, RD.” “Let´s dance, motherfuckers.” Rainbow Dash pulled out her guns and ran out. Out on the rear she was meet by four stallions trying to put out the fire spreading across their deck. She felt cocky and decided to jump over to the boat. Her boot smashed into one of the stallions faces, before she touched the ground she shoot the two stallions on her side. Once she landed she shoot the one at her feet. The last one stared at her as he fumbled for his weapon. Rainbow Dash smirked and smacked him in the head with the handle of her gun, as he recovered she kicked him in the chest so hard that he tipped of the boat. Harmony came up in front of her. Rainbow Dash climbed onboard and meet Applejack in the seat. “Get a grenade to finish of the other one.” She ordered and turned the wheel around. “Sure thing.” Rainbow Dash picked a small hand grenade out of their storage. On the rear she fired with her left hand to keep any of the remaining soldiers down, with her left hand she released the pin and started cooking the grenade. “Take this you cock suckers!” The grenade exploded before it touched the deck. A pillar of black smoke rose from sparkling fire rising out of the boat. “What´s next?” She asked Applejack. “I´m gonna do a chicken race with the medium sized one heading right for us.” Applejack turned the boat to face the incoming boat. “Once he turns away, you shoot them with one of the grenade launchers.” “Sure Harmony can take their gunfire?” “Yeah, she can take it.” “Alright,” Rainbow Dash walked below deck and returned with a grenade launcher. “Don´t think the costumer while be mad cause we used his launcher?” “I think I prefer a pissed of costumer over a long swim home.” Rainbow Dash chuckled and walked out. Applejack took a deep breath and pressed the gas down. She adjusted the steering too line up with the boat. The boat started rising out of the water heading right for them. Come close, now. Applejack thought. Light flashes started flying out of the machine gun, the water splashed in small tower and the sound of bullets hitting metal echoed through Harmony. Come on, Come closer. Applejack rammed the gas leaver to its highest level. The glass in front of her got a scratch that grew into a crack reaching across the entire window. More cracks in the shape of spider webs started appearing on the windows. Chicken out, already you piece of shit! The other boat was less then hundred fifty feet away when it took a sharp turn to the left. “Left!” Applejack yelled over the coms. The boat came out on the left of Harmony, Rainbow Dash fired of the grenade launcher, sending grey smoke trails from the muzzle to the grenades. The boat was consumed by bright yellow-orange explosions. Only the fat one left. Rainbow Dash thought. “What do we do about the last one?” Rainbow Dash asked Applejack. “Well, we already used the grenade launcher. Get Flutters to help you assemble one of the RPG:s.” “Roger.” Fluttershy gave Rainbow Dash a stilted look. “Are we done?” She asked. “No.” Rainbow Dash opened one of the crates containing an RPG. “We still got a fat bastard to blow up. Help me put this rocket launcher together.” “Okay.” She opened a box containing the pointy grenade. “Thanks.” Rainbow Dash screwed the grenade into the launcher. “Buck down and-“ “Stay of out trouble?” Fluttershy interrupted. Rainbow Dash gave of a small chuckle. “Was gonna say; if you got any god or space wizard you believe in you may wanna send him a prayer.” “I´ll just hope you don´t miss.” Applejack took a look over her ship. Harmony´s hull was dented by the shoots and her windows where either cracked or gone. She can´t take much more. “RPG´s ready.” Rainbow Dash said behind her, she had the RPG leaning against her shoulder. “Good,” Applejack brushed of shards of glass from the control board. “We are gonna have to do some sick-sack in to get close.” “Yeah, don´t we-“ Her face turned pale. “Rocket!” Applejack looked out the window and saw a black dot with a white flare behind it. “Shit.” She grabbed the wheel and steered out of the rockets path. Moments after she avoided the rocket, a pillar of water rose and sprayed over harmony. Letting salty drops into the cabin. “Ready?” Applejack whipped the water of her face. “Let´s do this.” Rainbow Dash rose and walked out. In response Applejack nodded and pressed down the gas. Harmony roared and lifted her bow. In order to make herself a harder target she made sharp turns until they were close enough for Rainbow Dash to shoot. The rocket flew out of the tube, giving little kick to Rainbow Dash and leaving a line of brown-grey smoke behind the glowing outlet. The boat was to fat and slow to avoid the grenade and was consumed in black smoke. The explosion send a small wave over the water. “Peck-a-boom, motherfuckers.” Rainbow Dash watched as the boat sank front-first. Bright-orange dancing flames reflected on the blue water. “Good work, RD.” Applejack talked over the coms. “Now we deliver the cargo.” Six hours of either boiling inside Harmony or frying outside her followed. Applejack wiped sweat of her forehead and drank a bottle of water they in the ships fridge. That was at least still working. Rainbow Dash stood next her, drinking lukewarm beer. “Fucking hell it´s hot. Of all the shit that broke the ac had to be one of them?” “I know.” Applejack took another chug. “Seems that Flutters is the only one managing.” Fluttershy was sitting out on the bow having her usual smoke. “I think even Oz would have problems in this damned baking oven my ship has turned into.” “Oz would probably drag himself behind the boat and drink the damn salt water to cool off.” “Probably.” Rounding the edge of the island they were going by Applejack could see a small harbor in the center of the bay. Closing in on the dock Applejack got more than a few looks because of the state of Harmony. Multiple dents and broken glass were over otherwise clean hull. She has seen better days. Applejack steered Harmony towards the place where they were supposed to meet their clients. Moments after docking a brown stallion wearing a white leather vest with an opening over his chest, exposing muscular stomach greeted them. On his head he wore a similar hat to Applejacks except his was white to match his vest and had a red ruby sewn in over his forehead, reflecting the sun in a crimson sheen. He was followed by three stallions all carrying SMG´s and flipped a coin with his right hand. He gave them a harsh look. Must be Coconut Dream. Applejack thought. “You are late.” He voice was deep like a drum yet Applejack could hear the sour bitterness in his tone. “Ran into a bit of trouble along the way,” Applejack climbed onto the dock. “But rest assures we got the stuff you ordered and we even blew up some of the boats from the government you are trying to overthrow.” He looked at her with narrow eyes, as if he was trying to find doubt in Applejack while still tossing the coin. The metallic cling of the coin being thrown and caught repeatedly annoyed Applejack. She was about the tell him to stop when. “Hey, AJ.” Rainbow Dash laid her hand on her shoulder. “We are ready to load of the cargo.” “Good tell Flutters to get the papers and collect pay while we offload.” After lifting the last cargo off Harmony Applejack sat down on the bow and drank a cooled bottle of water. She had to brush of the shards of glass spread over the hull before sitting down. Rainbow Dash stood next her, leaning on Harmony and tapping her foot out of boredom. Fluttershy was still of with the Coconut Dream going over the paper work and collecting payment. “How long do you think it will take?” Rainbow Dash played with a rubber band she found in her pocket. “Not too long, I hope.” Applejack Answered. “Hopefully the payment of this job will break even with repairs we have to do on Harmony.” Rainbow Dash shoot off the rubber band between her fingers. “So we busted our asses for nothing.” She was about to answer when she saw Fluttershy walking towards them with dreary look on her face. “What´s wrong Flutters?” “Uhm… Well Coconut Dream is refusing to pay.” “What?!” Rainbow Dash shouted with a high pitched tone. “What did he say?” Applejack felt her heart jumping to her throat. “He said that he didn´t want to pay for used equipment.” Oh, for fuck sake. “Let´s go talk to him.” Coconut Dream was overlooking his bodyguards lifting the cargo onto a truck when Applejack and her crew walked up to him. He was still flipping his coin and didn´t see them coming. Applejack snatched the coin out of the air. “My accountant says that you don´t intend to pay.” Applejack twirled the coin between her fingers. “That true?” “Yes,” His red eyes narrowed. “I won´t give money for used weapons.” “If we hadn´t used those weapons you wouldn´t have gotten them in the first place!” Applejack clutched the coin in her hand. Coconuts bodyguards stooped carrying boxes and turned to her. “I don´t know where the hell you come from,” He roared at Applejack. “But if you deliver damaged goods here you don´t get paid!” “So that´s how it is, huh? Alright.” Applejack turned her head and nodded to Rainbow Dash. She nodded in response. Applejack tossed the coin in the air. Rainbow Dash drew her guns and shoot down the four body guards before any of them had a chance raise their guns. Applejack rammed her fist into Coconuts stomach, slammed him against the truck and whipped out her revolver. “Listen here fuck face.” She growled and pressed the muzzle up under his chin. “I don´t like being screwed over, especially not when I have been fucked over.” Applejack pulled back the hammer. ”Now, You are gonna pay us every last bit we agreed on or I´ll send you back to your friends with two busted kneecaps and no hands.” His face had turned pale and his eyes white. Drops of sweat formed on his forehead and ran down to his thin brows. “Well?” Applejack asked. “What´s it gonna be?” “I´ll pay.” He gasped out in one short breath. “Good.” She removed the revolver. “RD collect the money. Flutters count it. We are leaving this place.” //-------------------------------------------------------// like stealing candy from a filly //-------------------------------------------------------// like stealing candy from a filly Rainbow Dash was lying in the office couch looking up at the ceiling, her head was ringing with a hangover. A black spider walked slowly across the roof, sneaking up on a small fly. Hope the spider get him. Rainbow Dash thought. Fucking fly has been buzzing around in here all morning. The spider crept gently towards the fly, each of the hairy legs making careful steps towards it. The fly stopped rubbing it´s eyes and waved it´s wings, the spider walked towards it. Eat it already, so I can have some quiet. The spider pounced at the fly, it missed. The fly flew away, the flaps of the wings send a high pitched buzz around the room. You fucking…. Rainbow Dash drew her guns and started shooting the fly, the barking of from the shoots and the smoke rising from the guns made her lose track of it. She started shooting all over the roof thinking at least one the bullets have to get the flying buzz machine. She pulled the triggers until both of the guns started clicking from empty magazines. “What the hell was that?” Fluttershy came running into the room. “A fucking fly.” Rainbow Dash reloaded and waited for the sound of the fly buzzing. “You shoot up half-“ Fluttershy was interrupted by a buzzing sound. Rainbow Dash immediately started shooting, emptying another clip in the direction it came from. No buzzing came when the last shelf hit the floor. “Finally.” Rainbow Dash sighed and lay back on the couch. Fluttershy grunted with a small voice. Rainbow Dash wasn´t bothered by it, she enjoyed the silence she created. Her head still pulsed but it felt lighter with a dead fly. She sank into a light sleep. A muffled knock woke Rainbow Dash from her nap. “We´re closed.” “HELP! I am being chased!” A voice yelled from the other side. Just when you try to. She kicked the door open pushing ashen brown mare on the other side on to her back. “What the fuck are doing here?” “I need your help. I´m.-” “Didn´t you hear what I said, you deaf dibbshit?” She leaned against the door. “Store´s closed. It´s just me and the accountant here.” “Please I´m begging you. You´re my only chance of getting out of this town.” She climbed to her knees and adjusted her backpack. She dug into it and pulled out a bankroll. “I can pay.” Rainbow Dash considered things for a second and then she saw a car screeching down the street. Sometimes I hate my job. She pulled the mare into the office and drew one of her guns. “Flutters, get the car ready.” She shoot two times at the car aiming for the tires. Booth shoots missed. “Where are we going?” Fluttershy sat in the driver seat. The mare sat in the back seat. “To the church. Remember where that is?” Rainbow Dash climbed into the backseat. “Yes.” Fluttershy stepped on the gas. The car roared and took off. “What do I do?” The mare asked. “Keep down and don´t eat bullets.” Rainbow Dash drew her other gun, leaned out of the window and started shooting the pursuing car. The grey stallion in the driver seat shot at them with a revolver. She shot, making two cracks in his windshield. The third shot was fired as the car turned the corner. Rainbow Dash got thrown to the side, her ribs hit the window opening. She fell out, just stopping herself from hitting the ground by catching the window frame with her hand. In the corner of her eye the grey stallion took aim for her. “Shit.” Rainbow Dash took a shoot at him. The bullet hit his headlight. He shoot back at her, the bullet whispered right by her head. “Pull me up!” The mare grabbed her belt and pulled her in. Rainbow Dash climbed until she was sitting in the window, she took a firm hold of the handle on the inside of the car roof. Just as she started shooting again the car took another turn, throwing her head into the cars roof. She didn´t fall but her gun slipped out of her hand. “Fuck.” She watched her gun bounce on the road and disappear under the grey stallion’s car. She drew her other gun and shoot at the tires. This time she hit, the tire flattened and his car turned around it. The side of the car rose and almost tipped over. Rainbow Dash climbed into the car. “Stopped that fucker.” She reloaded her gun. “Thanks for the help.” The mare said. “What´s your name?” Rainbow Dash checked the sight. “Coco Pommel.” She responded instantly. “Right, I´m Rainbow Dash. She´s Fluttershy.” And now I know what to write on your tombstone if I lose my other gun. The chapel was grand and hollow with stone pillars rising out of the marble floor. The pillars reached up, holding the curved shaped, long narrow roof. A purple mare dressed in a nun outfit with gun strapped to her arm sat in the bench closest to the altar. “Hey, Twili.” Rainbow Dash said. “Hey, RD.” Twilight Sparkle turned to face them. “Who´s have you brought?” “Coco Pommel, she showed up this morning asking to get tolled out of town.” “So why are you here?” “Well for one AJ and Oz are out with the boat right now, for the other she paid us just enough to get here and to pay for a new Desert eagle mark III.” “What?” Coco Pommel said with a thin high voice. “I thought you were going to get me out of this city.” “Never said I´d do that.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “The only reason I took money from you was because you had a lot of it on you and you were being chased. So weather we help you or not depends on why you are important to the guy chasing you.” “And how much money that is worth.” A priest added. His voice carried the weight of age and had a sharp, greedy edge. His face was marked by time with dark wrinkles and thick white hair making up his brows. “So tell us who you are and what are you doing here?” He looked at her with golden eyes and sat down next to Twilight Sparkle. “My name is Coco Pommel. I came here with my boss, Suri Polomare with the task of making meth for the glorious bastards.” “And where is your boss now?” The priest asked. “Dead. Killed by the same stallion that was chasing us.” She took of her backpack and sat down in the footstool placed next to the altar. “She claimed that they were impatient and needed more time to perfect the purity but I could probably have done it in time if we had a proper ingredients.” She reached into her backpack and held up a notebook. She opened it and shoved them a page with scrambles and notes made no sense to any of them. “See,” The chemist tapped on a line of numbers and letters. ”if we had used a properly purified ephedrine the reduction could have been done a lot faster and the whole shipment would have been done in a week. But thanks to that and Suri´s high standard we ended up a month behind schedule.” “What high standards?” Fluttershy asked. “She wanted the meth to reach ninety eight percent purity or in idiot terms, sense Rainbow Dash hasn´t understood a word if said for a while,” Rainbow Dash tightened her fist. Bitch is practically asking for it. “Clean enough for it to be transparent.” “Ambitious,” Twilight Sparkle remarked. “and stupid. How pure did you manage to make it?” “Ninety six percent.” Rainbow Dash felt her fist falling open. “Flutters, what´s the price on almost pure meth?” Fluttershy took a moment to count the numbers in her head. “She might has well be making gold out of lead.” “Well, well. You might be worth some trouble after all.” The priest chuckled warmly. “I assume that you have the recipe written in your notebook.” The priest pointed a pale skinny finger at the notebook Coco Pommel held in her arms. “Yes,” Coco Pommel put the notebook into her backpack. “Why?” “I got an offer for you. Give us the notebook and we will protect and pay the Harmony co. to get you out of town.” If I had known this I would have pressed her harder. Rainbow Dash thought. But it’s not a good idea to argue with the false preachers. “Not gonna happened.” Coco Pommel rose out of the footstool. “This notebook contains my life´s work. I´m not going to sell it to a greedy church and a hungover mercenary.” “How many bullets do you think her skull will fit?” Rainbow Dash slowly raised her gun. “Don´t.” The priest gave a single deep gravel. “If she doesn´t want to sell us her note book we won´t force her to.” Coco Pommel gave them a dismissive look and walked out of the chapel. “If you won´t to know of a good motel.” The priest said has she opened the door. “There’s a good one called the flying unicorn. Tell them that the false preachers send you and they will give a room with a toilet.” “Why are you telling me this?” Coco Pommel said, frustrated. “In case you change your mind I would prefer it if I know where you are and that you are alive.” “Don´t count on it.” She slammed the door, sending a waving eco through the church. The priest laughed deeply and warmly. “What´s so funny?” A boiling irritation grew inside Rainbow Dash. “We just lost a big pile of money and the Glorious Bastards are just gonna get her back now.” The priest started roaring with laughter. “Oh, Rainbow Dash how you make for the biggest laughs.” He turned to the nun. “Twilight, make sure that she founds out how generous our offer is.” What the fuck is he getting at? Rainbow Dash thought. “Yes, father.” Twilight Sparkle walked up the phone next to the altar. “Hey, Colgate? How´s it going? Know that skinny little mare with the nerdy look? You know the one that the glorious bastards are after?” She nodded. “Yeah, make sure that she gets a nice view from the room.” Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were all siting in the car. They were parked in the alley behind the flying unicorn. “So what the fuck are we waiting for Twilie?” Rainbow Dash growled and tapped her foot. We are waiting for Twilight´s plan to be set in motion. Fluttershy thought while blowing out a cloud of grey-white smoke. “We are waiting for the bastards to storm the motel and for Coco to jump out the window.” Twilight Sparkle responded from the backseat. She smoked a cigarette she had stolen from Fluttershy. “And just how do you think that shit will happened?” Rainbow Dash growled. “Oh dearie me how dumb you can be.” Twilight Sparkle answered with a smug tone. Rainbow Dashes face reddened with rage. “Hey, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash cracked her knuckles. “You wanna see how smug you can be with a broken jaw?” “Oh relax Dashie. I´m gonna tell you what´s going on.” The purple mare shook the ash of the cigarette. “Colgate has sent the glorious bastards up the room right next to hers and when they breach the room, she will immediately try to run out the door.” “Well idiots have been known to do stupid things.” Rainbow Dash said. “What do you think will happened next?” “If she doesn’t get shot down at first sight she will immediately run back into her room and hide in the bathroom. When she looks at the backside of her bathroom door she will find the enlightened path.” “What?” “There´s a note on the door telling her to climb out the window and the she will end up right in this alley.” “Pretty complex plan you got going on there.” Fluttershy said. “What will you do if she decides to hide in the closet instead? Or if one of the bastards doesn’t know who she is and decides to shoot first and ask questions later?” “Don´t know.” Twilight Sparkle answered. “Why are you asking?” “Because your plan involves more than a few coincidences with somepony who has no idea what your plan is.” Fluttershy sighed. “And you don´t have any backup plan in case something goes wrong. Just seems very risky.” “You´ve got a point there Flutters.” Rainbow Dash said. “Should have just stayed home and watched a horror movie or something.” “Oh, shut up. It will work. I´ve used this plan eight times and it worked five. Those aren´t bad odds.” “Fuck this. Let´s just go home Flutters.” The moment Rainbow Dash finished that sentence a brown mare dressed in a yellow shirt and green skirts rushed by like a flash. “Drive, Fluttershy!” Twilight Sparkle yelled. Fluttershy shifted the car to reverse and drove up next to Coco Pommel. “Hey, Coco.” Twilight Sparkle leaned out of the window. “You seem to be in a bit of rush. Wanna lift?” “You fucking bitch.” Coco Pommel kept running. “You set this up!” “If it weren´t for me you be dead.” “YOU ARE THE WORST PIECE OF SHIT I HAVE EVER COME ACROSS!” “Maybe, but I´m not the one pointing a gun at ya.” Twilight Sparkle twirled her gun on her finger. “Fine!” Coco Pommel stopped and Fluttershy hit the break. “I´ll give you my notebook.” Twilight Sparkle opened her door. “Get in.” Coco Pommel climbed in and five armed stallions came from a side road. “Oy, Twilight!” A yellow stallion said. “What the hell are you doing with our meth cook?” “Shipping her out of town!” Rainbow Dash shoot down the stallion. Fluttershy put her foot on the gas and drove out on the road. “We heading for the sea right?” “Yes.” Rainbow Dash kept the stallions down. “What happened?” Nico asked his stallions. “There were complications.” Star fire said. “She´s being helped by Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.” Nico rubbed his stubby chin for a moment. “We better call in reinforcement.” “Who are you bringing?” “Sunset Shimmer and Pinkie Pie.” “They will be expensive.” “Cheaper than losing Coco.” He climbed into his car. “Call them up.” “Where are you going?” “To get more guns.” The engine started. “And stallions to wield them.” They were waiting in the dock with the actual office on the docks being on the upper floor it would be easier to defend. Applejack was out on her own to do a small urgent delivery. Rainbow Dash was on the radio, trying to get a hold on Applejack. Osborn was leaning against the wall with his hat folded over his eyes. “You got anything to drink?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “What do you want?” Fluttershy looked over the shelf stacked with about thirty bottles of different whiskey and wine. “I don´t know.” She looked over the collection. “What would you recommend?” “Cherry martini.” She sighed. “If we had gin and a cherry.” “Huh. What about you Oz?” Osborn didn´t respond. “Oz?” Twilight Sparkle said again. “Oz!?” Osborn reluctantly woke up. “What?” He grunted. “You were asleep?” Twilight raised her eyebrow. “Huh hum.” He rubbed his eyes. “What do you want?” “Well at first I wanted to ask you what drink you would recommend from that shelf, but now I want to know how you can sleep like that.” “Years of practice.” He looked over the shelf. “I´d take the sola moon. How far of is AJ?” “About teen minutes.” Rainbow Dash put down the radio. “Well that´s more than enough time to-“ A bullet going through a window interrupted Osborn. “I guess someone´s eager to die.” Rainbow Dash smirked and drew her guns, she had replace her lost eagle with a nine millimeter they kept around the office. Twilight Sparkle and Osborn drew their own weapons. Fluttershy turned off the lights and ducked down with Coco Pommel. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash looked down towards the parking lot on their and Osborn stood on the other side room. Rainbow Dash counted a total of twenty armed stallions outside. “How many do you have on your side Oz?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Twenty-two.” He pushed back the hammer. The stiff metal creak of something pressing down on the metal staircase leading up the office ran through the room. The door opened. A rifle barrel peaked in. Once the door was halfway open Osborn slammed it shut. The fingers holding the rifle got squeezed and dropped the rifle. Osborn tore the door open and shot the stallion on the other side. He rolled down the staircase and Osborn picked up the rifle. A stallion ran into the door on the other side. He was meet by a purple mare dressed in a nun outfit before Rainbow Dash shoot him in the head. His body tipped over the edge of the staircase. On both sides bullets started ripping through the walls and shattering the windows. Shards of glass rained down on the floor. Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Osborn all fired back. Fluttershy and Coco Pommel ducked down behind the couch. “Could use a little help here, Oz!” Fluttershy planned to run out the back door and escape to the street. “Give me a second.” He fired his revolver until it was empty, reloaded it and ran towards them. He took Fluttershy by the hand and led the two of them towards the door. “Stay down!” He was about to open the door when it exploded in a splash of splinters. A metal mace attached to a chain leaped out and hit him in the forehead. He fell backwards onto the floor with a bloody stain on his forehead. He didn´t move. A pink mare wearing a white sailor shirt and a dark blue short skirt walked through the smashed door. She giggled when she looked down at Osborn. She waved the mace around and smiled warmly. She slammed the maze towards her head. Fluttershy barely managed to dodge it, the mace pressed into the floor leaving a half-spherical hole when the pink mare pulled it out. “Shoot her!” Coco Pommel screamed. Fluttershy ducked away from two more swipes. “I don´t have a gun!” She threw one of the bottles from the shelf at the pink mare. The pink mare simple tilted her head out of the way and swung the mace at her again. One off the spikes on the mace scraped her shin, barely an inch away from her eye. “Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash aimed for the pink mare but was afraid to shoot. “Get down!” She threw herself to the floor and Rainbow Dash shoot the pink mare in the chest. She twitched at the impact of the bullets but kept on giggling and tossed the mace at Rainbow Dash. She barely managed to dodge it. Twilight Sparkle was startled by the explosion of wooden splinters when the mace hit the wall. The pink mare jumped at them like a cobra and pulled back the mace. She raised it in the air. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle barely managed too dodge. The mace tore through the wall like it was paper, leaving a dusty rift in it´s way. Rainbow Dash took aim for the pink mare. “Fucking bitch.” She grunted. A small kunai flew out of the pink mares hand went right into her wrist, she dropped her gun. The pink mare landed and raised the mace to smash it down on Twilight Sparkle. Something tackled the pink mare violently just before she was about to throw her mace down, pushing her out the door and onto the stair case. It was Osborn, he waved back and forth and had troubles keeping balance, has if he was drunk. “Get down Oz.” Rainbow Dash pushed him to the floor before another stream of bullets hit the celling. Both of them crawled to cover. “How´re you holding up?” “I got one hell of a concussion,“ He grunted. “Can´t see straight and everything´s blurry.” “Think you can help Flutters and Coco?” Twilight Sparkle threw Rainbow Dash her guns across the floor. “Yeah.” He squatted down and made his way to them. They walked to the destroyed backdoor. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle kept on firing until there clips were empty. Twilight Sparkle reloaded her gun, Rainbow Dash could only reload her eagle since she no clips for the nine millimeter. “What now?” Twilight asked under the gunfire. “We follow them to the alley and see if we can´t get out this hell hole.” She pulled back the slide. “Right.” Twilight slammed the clip in. “Let´s go.” “PISSFLAPPS!” Osborn’s growly voice screamed. Coco Pommel, Fluttershy and Osborn ran back into the office, a glowing stream of fire followed them. The stream reached out and spread fingers off dancing flames across the roof. “The hell is that?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “There´s a crazy pyro bitch in the street!” Coco Pommel answered. The flames ran across the roof and casted warm light over the office. The ceiling light exploded and shards of glass came flying over the floor. Another stream of fire came through the door. A yellow mare walked through the door. She had red hair with yellow stripes, on her back she had a black tank with a rubber hose leading to a metal shaft with a blue flame twitching in front of the muzzle. She looked at them with narrow sapphire green eyes. The flames made the air around her wave and shake. She released another stream too keep them from firing at her. “What the hell do we do now?” Coco Pommel pressed herself against the sofa. “How far of is AJ?” Osborn ducked under another stream. Fluttershy looked at her watch. “Less than five minutes. Maybe three minutes.” “Okay, we retreat back into the dock and try to hold out there until AJ comes.” He picked his revolver off the floor. “Got it?” “Yeah.” Rainbow Dash said. “Let´s go.” They all ran down the stair leading into the dock. The dock was open directly to the sea and a ramp to bring harmony out of the water. The only entrances, outside of the water, was the door they came through and a door facing the parking lot, the walls were thinner and they had fewer places to shoot from. Osborn tipped a shelf filled with spare parts and tools in front of the door, hoping to slow the pyromaniac down. He tripped a few times going down the stair, almost fell over once. “You okay, Oz?” Fluttershy asked. “I´m not seeing double anymore but everything is still blurry and shacking.” “Can you shoot?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Yes,” Osborn said. ”Just don´t count on me being accurate.” “Better than nothing.” Twilight Sparkle leaned against the wall next to the door. A giant roar shacked the entire dock. “What the hell was that?” The wall started bending outwards and fires were reaching out and licking the metal roof. “The building´s collapsing!” Rainbow Dash ran out the door. “Get the hell out of there!” They followed after her and watched the dock falling. The fire reached out of the broken windows, they looked like burning yellow eyes belonging to a massive beast. The bent walls broke and twisted to look like crude metal teeth, as the jaws closed the beast roared and pushed a cloud dust. The fire kept pulsing for a few moments before being suffocated by the roof. Fluttershy looked around once the dust settled and saw how close the remaining bastards, still looking at the destroyed building. Her friends were out in the open. We’ll never survive this. Fluttershy thought. Unless… “Don´t move or I´ll shoot her!” FLuttershy had wrapped her arm around Coco Pommels neck and pointed a gun she took from Rainbow Dash at her head. Please fall for it. The bastards looked on her with doubtful eyes. “Do has she says.” A grey stallion said. He walked out in front of the rest. “What the hell are you doing?” Coco Pommel tried get out of Fluttershy´s grip. “Shut up!” Fluttershy pressed the muzzle to her chin. She took the nine millimeter. Rainbow Dash thought. Does she know that it´s empty? She aimed for the grey stallion. And how long will they buy it? Rainbow Dash tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder. “Let´s go. AJ should be here any minute now.” They slowly walked backwards towards the water. Fluttershy had to fight Coco Pommels constant attempt at escaping. She didn´t dare to tell her it was a bluff for fear of one of them overhearing. The Bastards kept their eyes and sights locked firmly at them. There was at least ten of them now, but they could all hear feet running on the ground. Reinforcement, now there was more than twenty Bastards and only five of them. Only two of them could shoot properly. Osborn kept his revolver pointed firmly at the bastards but he was still struggling to maintain balance. Every steep he took backwards he had to struggle in order tip over. The humming of a boat engine came from behind. Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder. Harmony was on her way into the dock. Rainbow Dash drew a small sigh of relive. The pink mare leaped out from a cargo crate, she roared at the top her lungs and held a two-handed axe in her hands. Rainbow Dash barely managed to push Fluttershy out of the way of the falling mad mare. The axe crashed into the ground, the head pushed a good inch down. The mare looked at them, her fluffy hair was tousled with bits gravel, her outfit torn up and ragged. The left eye on the mare twitched. “Fuck!” Twilight Sparkle shoot down two Bastards. “Run!” They ran, a vertical rainfall of bullets. Rainbow Dash and Osborn both fired behind them hoping to take out a few of the Bastards. Applejack turned harmony around and drove up next to the dock they were running on. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash jumped onto the bow, Fluttershy hesitated a moment before she jumped after. Coco Pommel didn´t jump, instead she ran across the dock until Osborn grabbed her and threw her onto the bow himself before jumping. The pink mare and some Bastards also made it onto the rear. “You crazy son of a bitch!” Coco Pommel screamed into Osborn´s face. “I could have broken my neck!” “Next time don´t hesitate.” He turned to Twilight Sparkle. “How many of them made it onboard?” “About five,” She ducked under fire. “And Nico along with that bitch.” “I´ll head below deck,” A metallic voice said. “Pinks and the rest of you take out those jackasses on the front.” Osborn checked his ammo. “I got three bullets left. How many bullets you got left?” “Six.” Twilight Sparkle drew out her clip. “Five.” Rainbow Dash said. “What are you planning?” “Twilight, take Coco and Flutters below deck and take out the wanka down there while you´re at it. Rainbow Dash and I will do a death from above and take out the rest of them.” “Right.” Twilight Sparkle opened the front hatch and Fluttershy and Coco Pommel followed her down. Osborn pressed his back against the cabin window and cupped his hands between his legs. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and leaned back. She held her desert eagle and Osborn’s revolver. She started running towards him, her thick boots felt light. A few feet away from Osborn she had to adjust her final steep. Her left foot landed in his hands, it sank down before he started pushing back up. She flew through the air, gracefully gliding over Harmony she saw pinks and five Bastards. Shooting with two guns was something Rainbow Dash could do in her sleep but shooting midair with revolver and a gun proved to be more difficult than she thought. She managed to shoot down the Bastards, their bodies tipped over and fell into the water. She landed right in front of the pink mare, the revolver empty and only two bullets left in her gun. Twilight Sparkle put Coco Pommel and Fluttershy in one of the storage lockers and went looking for Nico. It didn´t take too long to find him. His boots send loud booms through the boat. He was looking inside cabinets and lookers hooping to find Coco Pommel. “Looking for your meth cook?” Twilight chuckled smugly. “You fucking smug ass nun!” He drew his gun. Twilight Sparkle jumped behind a door opening. The bullets from Nico´s gun bounced of Harmony, her metal hull bend inwards around them. One pressed Twilight in her back, another came clear through a few inches away from her side. “You know that we don´t even need her alive?” Twilight Sparkle said. “What!?” She heard shock and anger in his voice. She also heard a clip hitting the floor. “You fucking serious?” “Yeah.” She took blind fired two times into the other room. “We only need her notebook.” “So you mean we could have…” He paused for a moment. “Fucking bitch!” Rainbow Dash ducked, the pink mare´s axe swung right above her head. The edge brushed through her hair, taking a few straws of her Rainbow colored hair with it. Has she stood up the mare´s foot slammed into her side. She fell to the floor and rolled away from another strike by the axe. Osborn jumped of the cabin roof. He aimed too land upon the mare and slam her to the ground. She jumped out the way and swung at Rainbow Dash again. “Still dizzy Oz?” Rainbow Dash asked while side stepping the axe head. “Somewhat.” He threw a punch at the mare. She blocked it and rammed the axe butt into his stomach. He grunted slightly and punched her in the back. In response she kicked his away from under him, Osborn slammed onto the deck. Rainbow Dash shoot at the mare, she pirouetted out of the way and came around with the axe swinging at Rainbow Dashes feet. She jumped back to avoid the swing. The pink mare spun around again, this time a wire weighted by lead weight came out of her sleeve. Rainbow Dash ducked under it and then she saw Osborn standing up right in the path of the wire. “Oz, look out!” She shouted. Twilight Sparkle pointed her gun muzzle to Nico´s head. He panted and grunted with his hands held up in the air. “You always where a wasteful shoot, Nico.” Twilight Sparkle mildly shook her head. “Oh fuck you Twilight.” “Come on. We´ll ship you back to Rajkrud once we have dropped of the little meth cook.” “She pay you much for that?” “Not one bit.” Twilight Sparkle replied. “Just the notebook and we´re gonna make a grip of money from it.” Nico raised one of his eyebrows. “I thought you were from New York.” “I am.” “Then why did you use a Californian saying?” Once he finished the sentence Twilight Sparkle pulled the trigger and shoot him in the head. “Jackass.” The wire wrapped around his neck. He managed to put his right arm next to his throat the moment before the wire hit him, stooping him from being strangled. The wire dug into his skin and turned his throat red. The pink mare pulled the wire and rammed her elbow to his forehead, right were the mace hit him. Osborn tipped backwards but stopped his fall. The pink mare swung her axe at Rainbow Dash again. She tried to shoot, but with only one shoot and her wearing armor underneath her clothes the head was the only place that would kill her. She missed and took a steep back to avoid another swing and herself being pushed towards the edge of the boat. She couldn´t back off any longer. The pink mare knew this and took another swing aiming for her head. The axe stopped above her head. “Get her!” Osborn was pulling back on the wire with his left hand, holding the mare’s hand. Rainbow Dash flipped her gun, grabbed it by the barrel and slammed the butt of it in the mare´s head. The mare staggered by the impact and lost her axe. Rainbow Dash took it before it could hit the ground and buried it in her the mare´s head. Osborn unwrapped the wire. The body tipped over the edge and fell into the water. “You okay?” Osborn asked? “Yeah,” Rainbow Dash looked at his blue colored forehead. “You?” “An icepack on the head and I will be alright.” He rubbed his red burned neck. “Where are we going now?” Applejack asked behind them. “I don´t know.” Rainbow Dash said. “She said she wanted to get out of town, so… drop her of at the city limit?” //-------------------------------------------------------// Survival of the fittest. prologe //-------------------------------------------------------// Survival of the fittest. prologe The waves breached at the docks spraying foam and small salty droops on Babs Seed freckled cheeks. She sat at the edge of a bridge waving her feet and watching her dad talking to somepony she didn´t know. She had seen him coming to the island a few times before via his own small cargo boat. He was always dressed in a bright yellow hawaii shirt and sea blue jeans. ”Did you get the shipment?” The stallion asked. ”Yes, we had some tursits thinking this was a free island coming over and intersepte the offloading but we managed without any issues.” ”Didn´t kill any of them did you?” The stallions asked. ”No,” Her dad reasured. ”we only scared them of. Wouldn´t want to give the government to much of a reason to look into what we do here.” Her dad nudged the stallion. ”Yeah, that would be a real bitch.” He looked over the papers her dad had handed him. ”Well, I´m of. See ya in a few days.” He walked of the dock, on to his boat. ”See ya.” Her dad waved him of by tapping his forehead with his index finger. He turned to Babs seed. ”Come on dinky. Time get back to camp.” ”Coming dad.” She followed him towards their jeep. Her father was a yellow stallion with a thin grey beard covering his strong chin. He wore a green camouflage outfit with an AK-47 hanging of his shoulder. The jeep smelled of hot leather and the warmth of the seat pressed its way into Dinkys skin. She looked at her did in silence for a few moments. ”Do you honestly think it was a good idea to even attack those tourists?” She asked without much care for her words. ”What do you mean? If we had killed them it would have made headlines by tomorrow, this way they´ll be scared enough to not only not return but it will be known that this is a dangerous place.” ”I mean was it a good idea to attack them in the first place?” Babs pressed the issue. ”We could have just left them be and kept ourselves hidden.” ”No, then more ponies would have come and if we had killed them the government would have taken action. This way this place will be known has a place you don´t come to but not something that´s bad enough for the rest of the world to care.” ”If you say so.” She decided to give up on the subject, but she still had her doubts. //-------------------------------------------------------// like stealing candy from a filly. prologe //-------------------------------------------------------// like stealing candy from a filly. prologe Coco Pommel mixed the two final ingredients of the methamphetamine. Despite the mask her nose was still filled with a strange smell, she couldn´t make out what it reminded her off. Maybe strawberries and onions. She thought while mixing the fluid and the powder together. She was working in an apartment in Rajkrud with her boss Suri Polomare. Suri was in the other room talking to one of their customers. “We need our shipment done by tomorrow.” A gruff voice said on the other side of the door. “If you want the products to be of quality you are simple going to wait.” Suri Polomare responded. “Listen I have a few investors who are just wondering; could your assistant handle the production herself?” “Yes, but why-“ “That´s all I need to know.” Bang! A thumping sound, muzzled through the door, followed. Coco Pommel almost drooped the glass tubes she were holding but managed to stop herself. Nico, a grey stallion holding a smoking gun walked in to the room. He towered over her and looked down at her with cold blue eyes. “You heard what I said?” His voice was harsh, almost metallic in tone. “Yes.” While she had never liked Suri Polomare, she had all the connections and knew better how to handle the chemicals. “Good, there is gonna be two guys placed outside the apartment. If you don´t have the shit cooked by midday, we will beat you, gut you and drop you off a high place.” He left. Cold droops of sweat rolled down her neck and face from the base of her hair. Even if Suri was still alive I could never finish this batch by tomorrow. She mixed more ingredients together. I got to get out of here. She worked throughout the night mixed, weighed and boiled the chemicals, but not for meth this time. She was manufacturing ammoniac with the nitrogen from the N-methyformamide and forcing it to react with hydrogen. The sun was peeking into her window. She had made a bottle of concentrated ammoniac and put on the mask. Putting her ear to the door she heard the guards outside. They were having a chit chat about the other jobs they had. All she needed to know was that they were out there. “Takes you sons of-“ Bitches. She threw the bottle on the ground, spreading the strong smell of rotten eggs. Both of the guards started coughing, one of them threw up. Coco Pommel ran out with the backpack she had packed with her notebooks and recipes. Okay, who can get me out of this town? She had come here with Suri Polomare and no connections in this town. Only one name came to mind; The Harmony company. A company that Suri had used to order some of their equipment and ingredients.