Life of Conmane

by E_A_Pony

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Tragedy, Adventure, Dark
Length: 7624

Conmanes life isn't exactly what most would call the boldest adventure, his life is simple. Move from place to place, con a wealthy pony out of their excess and move on. That is until he heads to a small town called ponyville...

Throughout Conmane's life he has been the bad guy, only getting by through his various scams. Since he was just a colt he never had a chance to settle down since there was always somepony after him. That is until he heads to a small town known as Ponyville. After losing all he had in order to evade capture from a rival con artist he is forced to lay low in a small town where things aren't as they seem. Through a dark twist of events Conmane must confront a psychotic pony and end him if he is to save she who he cares for the most.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-02-22 15:55:52 UTC

The story of the year

     I walked calmly over to where our meeting was scheduled to take place. It was fairly late, about midnight. Everypony else was asleep or enjoying the night life, but not very many ponies here in Ponyville stayed up past eleven. As I approached a seemingly random bench and sat down on it, it dawned on me that he might possibly decide to not show up. "He'll come" I convinced myself and passed the time by using my magic to toss a pebble around the ground. I'm a fairly handsome unicorn, well built white body that faded to black at my hooves.

     I have a light grey mane that is seldom very neat, I more or less ressemble a rock star with how messy and curly my mane is. My eyes are both a deep royal blue. Finally my cutie mark is 3 deep black question marks. Until my recent misadventure I had no clue what my talent was, I got my cutie mark fairly early. I never knew what I had done to deserve it, it just sorta popped up overnight like a surprise birthday gift. After a while of tossing the pebble  rhythmically  I focused my magic and caused the pebble to sizzle and explode.

     The noise woke up a few sleeping ponies but I didn't really care. I began to think he wouldn't show when out of the darkness of the night he walked over carrying his saddle bag which looked fairly heavy on his small frame. He was a light brown unicorn with a dark brown mane and hazel eyes. He was so small and thin it looked like a small rock could break him in two. His cutie mark was a quill and parchment. Before sitting down he looked at his side of the bench in horror. On the seat of said bench was a large crimson blood stain. Left there as a reminder of what happens in the darker parts of Ponyville.

     After staring at it for a few seconds he sat on top of it and looked to me and said with a quiet, curious voice "Are you the one they call Conmane?" I nodded my head in response and he replied

     "Let's hear about that interesting news headliner of a story ya got there" He spoke with a thick Manehattan accent that slightly bothered me.

     "Well I don't know if you would want to hear the entire thing, it's fairly disturbing and personal at times" Trying to institute a sense of false trust he smiled and said

     "Tell me whatever parts of this escapade you feel comfortable with" I sat there collecting my thoughts as he pulled out from his saddle bag a quill, and ink pot, and a long piece of parchment I considered a scroll. " well ok then, first allow me to give you some background information before we dive into the interesting stuff. It all started really when I was a young colt..."

The tragic tale of Conmane

     I hadn't really ever expected to become a con artist at all, it just sort of happened. When I was just a foal my mother died in a brutal mugging in Manehattan. I never knew what she looked like, but whenever I asked my father about her, his face would light up with memories and he would say" she was the apple of my eye. So beautiful that every stallion who saw her stopped and stared, jaws hanging wide with awe". Then his happiness would turn to sorrow as he remembered her death. After which he would resume binge drinking and staring out the window, eyes drained of their light. After a while we ran out of money since he didn't work and spent all our welfare on alchohol the baton was passed to me to sustain our financial balance. I found work as a pizza delivery pony. The pay was absolute rubbish, but when your a colt looking for some quick cash you don't really question how much you make. Eventually it dawned on me that I had to find a better way to earn more bits fast. I couldn't think of any jobs that would accept me for a fair amount of pay. Then I remembered what my father had done once, when he was out of bits to buy more bottles of alchohol he smooth talked the cashier and got it for free. I then went to my boss and asked for a raise. Of course he said no, but after 20 minutes of talking and lies he gave it to me along with a promotion. After that I would con everypony who looked look they had bits to spend.

     Things were working out until one day my father had a heart attack in his sleep and died immediately, the police asked if I had any family to go to but I said no. Afterwards they sent me to a foster home in Fillidelphia. It looked nice and welcoming but the lady running the place spent all the donations meant for us on fancy clothes and lottery tickets. I asked her when we would get anything and she raised her hoof and smacked me across the face. It hurt incredibly so and I had a black eye for the next week. After I healed I had some filly smack me again but harder, afterwards I went to the cops and told them that the lady in charge beat me up. She was arrested and thrown away in the Canterlot dungeon for abuse of minors.

      They tried to send me to a run down foster home but I ran away, and from there began my life on the run. I was only about 16 and on my own in Equestria with nowhere to go and nothing to do but survive, and that's what I did. Using my con artist abilities I went from town to town, robbing the rich and hanging out with the poor. After a while I got my cutie mark, what it meant I wouldn't find out for another 4 years. When I hit 18 things started to get ruff, ponies became more crude and harsh towards me. It wasn't until I went some rich mares apartment where I found out why. I was messy, I hadn't bathed in weeks and I stank of dirt and sweat, so much so that everypony I passed by kept their distance from me like I was a plague. My mane was way to overgrown to the point where I could possibly use it as a whip. The first chance I got I sweet talked my way into someponies shower and spent the next hour or so making sure I looked clean and refined. After the shower I noticed another problem I had to deal with, lack of any empathy from the richer folk. Since I was older now I had grown much taller, which meant I couldn't play the clueless colt anymore. In the end I changed direction and used completely new tactics suited for the older me.

     It didn't take very long for me to become wealthy beyond belief, but another troubling task arose. My mothers killer. I hadn't really paid much attention until I returned to Manehattan and met up with my old landlord. He said that the stallion who mugged my mother lived in the bad end of the city and was known for being a loner. Using various resources and connections along with bribes I got a location. He lived in an abandoned factory near the edge of the city. I entered the factory midday to find an obese, old stallion who looked less like a killer and more like a helpless, elderly pony. I questioned him a bit about the events of that day and he said he had killed a young mare because she was screaming for help, so in order to evade being caught he choked her to death. He said she was the reason his life went so downhill, from a bold young stallion to an overweight loser waiting for death to come knocking. Remembering what my moms death did to the rest of my life and how it put me on the path to theft I used my now powerful magic to push him to the ground with the force of a wagon hitting him and held him down. "YOU SADISTIC BASTARD, BECAUSE OF YOU MY LIFES BEEN NOTHING BUT HELL, IT ALL ENDS HERE!" I couldn't hold in my emotions or control them, I was out of control and before I knew it, I was launching him across the large factory space with my magic as if he was a rag doll. After the first few seconds he was gone, the life drained from him with a final look of fear mixed with sorrow and despair, the same look my father had. That only increased my rage as I cursed his name and using all my magic slammed his limp corpse all across the factory yard. By the time I ran out of energy to continue his corpse was a mushy pile of blood flesh and broken bones. I lied down in a corner and wept. I had never taken another ponies life before, doing so made me feel like an evil greater than corruption. The next day I left Manehattan and went off towards Appleloosa to meet with a stallion named Tommy Nug. We were going to discuss working together for a while until both of us got he money we needed, but things don't always go as planned now do they...

Tommy Nug

     The route to Appleloosa was fairly simple, head over to Rainbow falls, catch the next train to Appleloosa, and enjoy the nice ride there. But to my ungrateful surprise, the trains were being fixed some somepony thought it would be hilarious to go on a reckless joyride, which ended with two fillies in the hospital and one broken down train. "Looks like I'm walking" I sighed under my breath as I began the fairly lengthy trek to Appleloosa. Things didn't seem to bad for a while, there was plenty of little towns and villages here and there to stay overnight at. And even when I had to sleep in the middle of the desert I knew there wouldn't be anything very hostile. Other then the threat of other ponies Equestria of was generally a safe place. However I had heard rumors of a place called the Everfree forest where there were said to be countless mysterious occurrences such as the weather working by itself.

     After what felt and appeared to be weeks of walking I arrived to Appleloosa, tired and grouchy I bought a few nights at some hotel and slept in for what felt like a blissful eternity. Then reality came crashing back  when I heard a knock at the door. I ignored it hoping they would leave but the knocking grew progressively louder, going from a simple tap tap tap to THUMP THUMP THUMP. After I while I gave up and allowed whoever it was entry into my room. To my surprise it was him, Tommy Nug. A purple Pegasus with a light purple mane and magenta eyes. He was very muscular and his legs were surprisingly well built for a pegasus. His cutie mark was a knife on top of a bit, it was fitting seeing as how he was a very successful con artist like I am. "Would you perhaps be Conmane?" He asked softy with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

     "Yep that's me" I retorted nonchalauntly, making sure not to show him the exitement I felt. Me and Tommy knew each other fairly well.

     We met when I was in Canterlot seeing if any of the financially fortunate folk would sit for a talk where I would swindle them. Instead of some loaded uptight mare I got a purple stallion who said these exact words "I know your trying to swindle somepony but let me give you a lesson in class, nopony who has any serious money hangs around this dump, I simply come here to laugh at the poor and smother them with my success". We talked for a while and we became allies, he would help be a 'stallion of class' and I would give him half my winnings from a job well done. Eventually I had to leave and he said to come to Appleloosa. when I can and that he would be waiting for me. After that I departed for the next town or city to come up.

     "So what exactly are we gonna do Tommy?" I questioned him after which I gave him an honest hug, Tommy was like the older brother I never had and I cherished our relation as buisness partners who were also friends.

     "It's simple, tomorrow night were gonna rob the bank and make it out with an easy 1 million bits at least" he shuffled over to the window and looked outside as if suspecting somepony was listening in on us.

     "Woah woah woah, I can go with cheating some rich old mare but robbing a bank upfront? That's about as far away from my comfort zone as possible"

     "Well what else do you have in mind Conmane? Nopony in this filthy rat hole has enough money to make it worth our while alone, but collectively we can make it out as rich as the Canterlot royals"

     "Sure but think about it, this is a bank, not some flirtatious mare, unlike rich ponies banks can't be manipulated through simple words and gestures"

     "That's where your wrong my friend"

     "How so?"

      "Well using my various rescources I paid off the guards to not come to work tomorrow, all we need is a bit of protection and some wagons to carry the cash and we'll be living like kings"

     "Are you aware of what could happen shook we be caught?"

     "I am but I don't care, either your in or your o-u-t out. Which is it?"

     I contemplated for a while then decided to go along with things. The next day was spent relaxing and at night we decided to go along with things. Before the bank closed we would come in late and pretend to need a withdrawal. We did so and the banker left to go get the bits and when she came back there was a knife to her throat held there by Tommy. "Hey I though you said nopony would get hurt" I hissed with anger.

     "I said nopony would get seriously hurt, one tiny little cut and or bruise ain't gonna hurt any pony to bad". The look in his eyes was that of an overconfident gambler with nothing to lose and everything to win.

     "No I'm done, I already didn't like this plan but now your gonna beat up and cut this innocent mare just because she's here? I'm leaving and I'm taking her with me". Expression swapped from confident to cautious in seconds as he realized he'd gone to far.

     "Ok ok you can take her and go, right after I have a little fun with things..." The knife slid from one side of her throat to the other as he let her down and watched her choke and suffer.

     "There, no witnesses for when I mutilate your sorry ass". He launched into the air and dived towards me knife pointed in my direction turning him into a living spear. I dodged his first dive and before he could move in for a second I sounded the alarm and ran.

     "Ya know I wasn't planning to kill you until I got the cash but I guess things don't always work out the way they should" I ran as fast as my hooves would carry me until the sheriff popped up in front of me from a tavern.

     "Oh thank celestia your here, there's this psycho pegasus who..." My words were cut short as he charged at me yelling like a mad man. I slid to the side and let him fall into the ground only to hear Tommy shout from above

     "Like I said I paid off any pony who might of stopped us so don't think they'll help you". I ran to the edge of town and further until I realized he had let me go.

     "Well shit there goes all my stuff and money" I sighed as I trudged in one linear direction knowing I had lost everything. It took a long while before I ended up in a small town called ponyville...

Love, Loss, and Lyra

     I trotted into town dirty and beaten. Having walked all the way there after being attacking by somepony I thought was fairly trustworthy I looked shifty and shy. I passed an orchard that grew more apples than I had ever seen. " welcome to sweet apple acres, ya here to buy somethin'?" The country voice came from seemingly nowhere as I jumped and got into a fighting stance, ready for whomever was talking to me. " woah there stranger, y'all are shadier than a black cat in the dark. Hows about we calm down and talk.." I finally saw her and realized I wasn't in any immediate danger. She was an orange mare with a yellow mane and three bright red apples for her cutie mark along with light green eyes that looked strangely honest. She had a brown ranch hat on and a red ribbon tied around her tail and mane.

     "Who are you?" I questioned still holding my protective stance.

      "The names Applejack, what would yours happen to be?" I slowly moved from my protective stance to a regular standing position and stood there a little observing my surroundings. Eventually I gained enough of a feeling of safety to respond.

     "My names Conmane" I spoke briskly and shyly, trying not to look to scared. "Can you point me towards the nearest bench?" I asked almost instinctively, the words felt like they came from somepony else and not me.

     "That's a mighty strange question but it would be thataway". She raised a hoof and pointed it down the road.

     "Thanks and sorry for being suspicious of you" I yelled as I went full gallop down the road eager to find a place to sit done and sleep.

     After a few minutes I was in the middle of town with a single bench calling my name near the library. I shuffled over to the bench and lied ontop it, it was very uncomfortable and though my back two hooves dangled off the side, I soon found myself drifting into the void of sleep. My dreams were filled with nightmares of my mothers death and my fathers depression, along with the thought of Tommy finding and ending me. "NO, NO, NOOOOOOOO..." I woke up yelling eyes shot wide open in fear. It was sundown and to my surprise there was a strange mare sitting in front of the bench investigating me. " w-who are you?" I asked, the events of my nightmares still fresh in mind. " hi I'm Lyra Heartstrings, your name is..." She paused to allow me to answer. She was a unicorn with a light greyish cyan mane with bright white highlights. Her eyes an incredible shade of gamboge along with her light aquamarine coat made her look stunning to the point of my mouth hanging open.

     "Your jaw is hanging open, here let me help you" her beautiful golden magic glowed around my jaw as she magically closed it. "Why on earth are you sleeping on a bench? There's plenty of hotels here in Ponyville and they are all relatively cheap". Her frame was petite but not fragile and her cutie mark was of a yellow lyre and I once again found my jaw hanging open. I quickly closed it this time and replied.

     "I have no money and nowhere to go, leave me be" I felt strange around her, almost like some unknown force was pushing me ever so closer to her.

     "Well if ya can't find a hotel hows about you stay with me and Bon Bon for a while. You can pay rent and stay as long as you need, deal?" The offer surprised me like a random present from nowhere, I didn't know what to really say other than "Sure". The look in her eyes was that of sheer joy and surprise as if she expected me to say no.

     "That's great! Here come with me". Her horn flows again as I was lifted off the bench and she walked away at a slow pace until I got on my hooves and caught up, at that point she was trotting steadily.

I was following her through various streets and alleyways until we came to a seemingly random house. There was nothing special about it, just a regular white 2 story house that was fairly wide along with flowers in the front.

     "Well here we are, my super special house with my BFF Bon Bon." The door swung open with a glow of golden magic and inside was well, incredible. It was a large living room that was too clean to be true and a kitchen across from the front entrance that connected right along the living room in a spectacular fusion of kitchen and living room. "Your room will be upstairs to the right, only breakfast and dinner will be served by yours truly while lunch is on you to scrounge for. Any questions or concerns?" Once again my eyes drifted to her amazing figure and it took me a few seconds to realize I was staring and I looked to a random painting blushing and said.

     "Who's Bon Bon?" She walked beside me and spoke softly saying.

      "Bon Bon's my best friend, we've been friends since we were just fillies and we do everything together, or at least used to..." I glanced at her face and noticed she had small tears crawling down her face and hitting the floor.

      "Ever since she met that jerk of a stallion Iron Hoof she hasn't ever come home or even swung by for a hello. It's been weeks since I last heard of her and I'm thinking she's ditched me..."

      She broke into soft sobs and I felt myself instinctively inching closer and closer until I had put a hoof around her and said" maybe she's been busy with stuff, for all you know she could be planning a special surprise for you"

      "or for Iron Hoof"

      "If you two are as close as you say, all will be well"

      "I don't even know why I'm telling a stranger I've barely met these things"

     Suddenly I felt like I was about to make a rash decision and to my thoughts I was correct. I had leaned in and kissed the grieving unicorn in the lips, such sudden actions were something I didn't normally do. Albeit I had kissed plenty of mares to get my way with various scams none had ever felt nearly as pleasurable as this. Whatever was making this time different I didn't want it to go away. We held the embrace for a while until Lyra broke the kiss and whispered

      "Now I know why when I saw you sleeping on that bench I stopped and watched you for a few minutes" the tears had ceased running and her eyes went from depressed to hopeful.

     "I'll go to bed now since I'm probably gonna be spending all of tomorrow looking for a job" I sighed wanting to kiss her more but knowing it wasn't exactly proper to make out with strangers who's houses you are staying at. But before I could turn around and head to what was my room and leaned in and kissed me again, this time it was me who was somewhat surprised but still accepted it. We held the kiss for what seemed like centuries before she broke it again.

      "I've had nightmares about as bad as the one you probably had on the bench ever since Bon Bon told me she was gonna stay with Iron Hoof, I know we just barely met and it's probably really weird for me to ask but will you keep me company?" I hadn't needed to consider it very long before I decided.

       "just this once, I would definitely feel more comfortable if you kept me company as well, but seeing as how we barely met I think this should only happen tonight and then wait for a while. Deal?" She leaned for a quick kiss and responded "deal" we walked over to her fairly large bed and she got on one side I got on the other. I lied there wondering if I would ever consider leaving and a little voice in my head shouted never as I descended into blissful slumber...

Gone isn't good

     "Don't be to long at work, remember I care about your safety" called Lyra from upstairs. It had been a few weeks since we first met and shared a close encounter of the romantic kind. I had found work as a measly pizza delivery pony and although the pay was crap, Lyra only made me pay a few bits a day as rent rather than demanding thousands a week like she was going to.

     "I'll be fine, besides I was told that I only have one delivery today because they were apparently overworking me." I shouted from downstairs. I had the saddle bag the pizzeria gave me, it had their logo stamped across it and was fairly large. I trotted outside and went full gallop in the general direction of the pizzeria seeing as how I was late for the 3rd time this week

     I charged inside the back entrance to find my boss sitting there unhappily. "This is the third time this week Comane, I swear if there's a fourth I will fire you before you can say mercy got that?" He spoke in a frustrated tone.

     "Got it now where's the pizza I gotta deliver?" I replied slyly. He gestured his head towards the countertop.

     "It's all the way across town in some rich stallions place, be sure to be kind and respectful and maybe just maybe he'll give ya a tip" I shoved the pizzas in my saddle bag and began the short journey across town.

     When I arrived out of breath and panting I analyzed the manor. It was large to the point where you run laps around it for a good days exercise and had various flowers around the front and sides, most of which I had never seen before. I walked up after regaining my breath and tapped he door with my hoof. " pizza delivery" I shouted as he walked out of the door and into my rhythmically pounding hoof.

      "Hey what the heck do ya think your doing!?" He shouted as my hoof beat into his forehead and stopped suddenly. I gave him the pizza and held out my hoof for the cash.

     "Thank you for your purchase mr..." He was a pegasus with a black body and dark brown mane, his mane was neatly trimmed and his eyes were a clouded grey. He was very muscular but nowhere near as much as Tommy Nug. His cutie mark oddly enough was large iron hammer and he appeared to be middle aged.

     "Iron Hoof, the names Iron Hoof ya pathetic little insect. Now scram kid, I gotta do something..." The moment I heard his name my eyes widened.

     "Do you know anypony by the name of Bon Bon?" I inquired. His eyes narrowed like a cat watching its prey.

     "Nope, ya must got me mixed up with some other dude, now leave my property". He slammed the door and I knew something wasn't right.

     I used my orange magic on the saddle bag and threw it into some Nearby bushes as I snuck in silently. The interior is what one would expect from a rich ponies mansion however there wasn't anything out of place in fact half of everything had dust all over it. I heard something smash down the hallway and I glided over there until I reached an open door. I peeked inside and the sight I saw mortified me there was Iron Hoof beating an innocent mare who was chained and tied up so she couldn't scream. Her dirty blood stained mane was a fair cobalt blue with light fuchsia stripes and her bruised and scratched up body was light yellow. Her cutie was three striped candies and her eyes were light blue. She was an earth pony with a body similar to Lyra's and she had dried tear streaks along her face along with fresh ones on the way. "Stay here my love while I go get you some water." I panicked and thought of various spells until my mind settled on one, I focused my magic and I ended up teleporting right behind who I presumed to be Bon Bon as Iron Hoof walked away happily. I used my magic to break the chains and remove the cloth over her mouth. "Are you okay?" I asked concerned.

     "We have to go now before he comes back, please let's go now" I nodded and we walked silently over to the front door and I closed it behind us quietly.

     "A-are you ok?" I asked unsure as I grabbed my saddle bag and walked with her towards Lyra's house.

     "H-he did things, terrible things, sexual things to me... he said that he would give me plenty of money to buy a nice surprise gift for my friend Lyra if I became his maid and I did, but one day he hit me with his hoof chained me up and turned me into his helpless slave..."

     "Don't worry, we're headed to Lyra's place, once were there you can relax and sleep while we get a doctor." I was unsure how Lyra would react to seeing her friend in such terrible conditions after weeks of nothing. "Don't worry, I'll take care of Iron Hoof should that inglorious asshole decide to come looking for you..."

The darkest hours

     Entering the household I had to admit I was pretty badass saving Bon Bon from her wealthy prison. But what was really rewarding was not the feeling of slyness from rescuing Bon Bon, but the look and tears of sheer gratitude from Lyra."where were you?" She mumbled in between sobs, unable to sustain her distress and gratitude at seeing her best friend but in terrible conditions. "I was in a bad place, Iron Hoof seemed like a fairly nice stallion, in fact I only went with him since he said he would give me money to buy you a surprise gift. But he ended up being very obsessed with me and enslaved me and did terribly sexual things to me every day..." Bon Bon's disposition was one of fear and gratitude. "W-what if he comes back for me? I don't want to ever see him again, never again!" She screamed the last few words as Lyra comforted an old friend. "Don't worry, Conmane will make sure that he won't be coming around right?" She looked at me with eyes that said go with it and I agreed. Bon Bon relaxed a little and I said"how's about you go wash up in the bathroom and sleep away the pain while me and Lyra talk over a few things". Bon Bon didn't seem very confident that she could shower in safety nor sleep safely but after a few minutes of Lyra's hugs and my words of wisdom she did what I asked of her."What do we do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do we tell the cops or settle it ourselves?"

"Whichever one keeps Bon Bon away from that son of a bitch"

"Lyra listen, I know your upset but I've met jerks that have serious money like Iron Hoof, they can easily manipulate the cops and anypony they please half the time"

"So your saying that Iron owns the cops?"

"Possibly, I'll stay up tonight to make sure that he doesn't try sneaking in okay?"

"Okay, and thanks for saving my best friend"

     She planted a firm and passionate thank you kiss on my lips for a few seconds before stepping back a and heading to the kitchen to cook something. At that point I remembered I hadn't given the money for the pizza to my boss and panicked for a little until I finally said"that's the least of my worries" and kept the large sum of payment for later.

     The day ran by smoothly and I was lounging on the large aquamarine couch when I felt sleep coming towards me. I was about to doze off until I heard a thump at the door followed by an "ouch" of pain. I immediately used my magic to wake up Lyra. In case the creep decided to come by for Bon Bon I would distract him while Lyra and Bon Bon would go out the back exit. I went to the door and asked in a fake tired voice "who is here this late at night?". There was silence for the next few minutes as I heard the back door close tightly and my heartbeat started picking up speed like a marathon runner nearing the finish line. Out of seemingly nowhere a familiar voice said"I've come for what is rightfully mine" and a black hoof shot through the door and slammed right into my face, easily knocking me down and nearly knocking me out cold. Then the door creaked open for Iron to walk in and say right before I blacked out"know you know why they call me Iron Hoof." After which I struggled to stay awake but failed and blanked out.

     It was early morning when I came to and the first thing I saw was a note lying on my chest, written in very decorated cursive writing it stated this terrible message: hello pizza pony, I didn't appreciate you taking my true love away from my grasp so to even the odds I took yours and mine back. If you wish to see them go to the bench near the library, I'm sure they are both dying to see you. The moment I read bench near library I bolted out the door full gallop towards the bench I had slept on my first day in Ponyville. Upon arriving there tears instinctively began flowing down my face as I saw a cut up, bruised, and tied up Lyra and Bon Bon sitting on the bench. Bon Bon was in far worse condition so I freed her first, after which I freed Lyra. In the spot where Bon Bon was sitting a large pool of blood had formed and was leaking through the cracks of the bench. Bon Bon was in worse condition than when I saved her back in Iron's manor. And there was a note taped to her blood soaked back. I tore it off her back gently and read it, this time aloud: Bon Bon was safer with me, if I can't have her, nopony can... After finishing Bon Bon whispered in a weak fragile voice"you did your best, that's all that c-counts..." Her voice drifted off into inaudible words as the life drained from her eyes and she fell flat on the ground."Bon Bon, no Bon Bon please don't do this... BON BON!" Lyra's frantic despaired filled voice echoed across the streets as she clutched her departed friends corpse in her hooves. "Iron Hoof will pay for this, I swear by Bon Bon's grave that I will make him pay."

     Throughout he passed few weeks I spent here in Ponyville with Lyra I had forgotten about my con artist past and started living an honest life. But now seeing my marefriends best friend limp on the ground as a result of me not stepping up to he plate caused something inside me to snap like a thin twig. "No, it's to dangerous for you to go, I'll go make him pay for this..." Lyra's look of uncertainty was all I needed to continue"before I came to Ponyville I was a traveling con artist, going from place to place living off of others success, when I came here I thought I could leave all that behind and forget about it. However I now realize that sometimes the past follows you no matter what you do, good or bad it will always be a part of you that can't leave. So I must finish this, for Bon Bon, for you, for me, and for every other pony who thinks me a low life con artist. This is my destiny and I will not let you down." And with those parting words I set off towards Iron's manor.

Superior specialty

     The fury I held as I approached the manor was unbearable. I desired to break Iron Hoof to a poor, self-loathing stallion however at the same time I did not wish for things to reoccur as they did with the mystery mugger. I neared the entrance and stopped, where the front doors were there was a pool of blood and a hole in the wall, along with a clump of light magenta hair drove me over the edge. He had the nerve, the sheer stupidity at this point, to leave a clump of Bon Bon's bloody hair along with a pool of her own blood at the entrance. "IRON I'M COMIN FOR YA YOU WORTHLESS INGRATE!" I blew an even larger hole in the wall that disorganized all the little knickknacks he had and scattered their bits and pieces throughout the foyer.

     Charging down the hallway magic ready I blew open every door as I passed by it like a scene from a horror movie where I was the killer and Iron was the victim. It would be this way only I'm the rogue justice and Irons the evil of the town. I reached the end where there was an old rusty metal door pushed open with cracked wooden stairs leading downwards for what appeared to be a bottomless abyss. Turning the tip of my horn into an orange light source I descended the ominous stairs and ended up at the stone floored bottom after the passage of a few seconds. I made my magic light even brighter in order to see more of the room but to my surprise it was more than just a room.

     What I perceived to be simply some small old room turned out to be a giant warehouse like space. Along the edges of the basement wall were various workout machines and tools along with numerous broken blocks and slabs ranging from wood to gemstone. In the center was the madman of the town; Iron Hoof. He was sitting in the center of the room with a photo in his hands and tears in his evil yet despairing eyes. He looked directly at me and yelled"you took her from me, you took my precious Bon Bon from meeeeee..." At this point I was about ready to call the asylum and get a reservation for him. "I didn't do jack SHIT, your the ASSHOLE who KILLED her!" I yelled back angrily and defiantly, hoping I would scare him a bit. "I know I killed her, but if I couldn't have her, nopony could. She was my perfect mare for life, beautiful, graceful, compassionate, and sweet. Sure she didn't necessarily like being my sex slave, but she would have adapted and eventually learned to love me as much as I loved her."

     If I would have to rate my anger at that moment from 1 to 10. It would be a solid 100. " YOU SICK PERVERTED BITCH! BON BON CLEARLY DIDN'T LOVE YOU, BUT YOU STILL WENT AND ENSLAVED HER AGAINST HER WILL. I'M HERE TO BALANCE THE SCALES" my horn was fizzing as I got ready to shoot a beam through the front of his face and out the back. "Well you shan't kill me yet, for I have an old friend who would love to say hello" at that moment a pegasus picked me up from behind and threw me across the basement. The crude impact to my back from landing caused the wind to be forced out of my lungs uncomfortably. I looked up to see my assailant only to meet the ominous glare of Tommy Nug. "Greetings my friend, you see I was looking for you when a certain wealthy pegasus hinted to me that you were hiding here like a coward with your lover. So I've come back to finish what I started." And with that the beating began.

     He the first few minutes of being hit hard by his hooves and brown around the room were painful but not to much so. After a while though I began blacking out from occasional time to time and Tommy noticed this and made sure to it my head more. Whilst being tossed for the hundredth time at a wall Tommy made sure to smack my fizzing horn with his hoof as I went flying. The moment I hit the wall an orange beam shot out of my horn and through Tommie's chest. The power of it was so intense I slammed my head backwards enough to make me scream in pain. "A-a-against all odds you still beat me you little bi..." He stopped short as his wings gave up and his corpse slammed hard onto the concrete floor. The hole in his chest was large enough for me to put my hoof through and a large pool of blood grew until it began soaking Irons black fur.

     "To be honest I didn't think he would be able to kill you without some sort of countermove, however I didn't expect him to up and die before you did, well this complicates the matter." He said floating up and towards me. "Have you noticed that no cops have shown up at all? Not even at the bench did a cop show. Why you might ask? Because I own the damn cops, they are mine and if they dare attack me I'll leak their secrets to the whole town. So don't expect any savor to come by." His right hoof began vibrating, slowly at first, than rapidly as he got closer to me. "My hoof only does this when I'm getting ready to throw a punch strong enough to KILL" at that point I tried moving or doing anything to escape it my body wasn't ready to move after the severe beating I had received. Then I remembered what my father had told me once when he wasn't drunk which was rare"if you ever get into trouble, which will happen, focus on somepony around you and pay especially more attention to their cutie mark and imagine their special talent. Only do this when I'm dead and your in serious trouble."

     I did so immediately without hesitation. I looked at Iron Hoof slowly descending down to me and paid extra attention to the iron hammer on his flank and remembered how hard he could punch. Suddenly my horn began glowing brightly and my hooves gained a magical orange aura around them. My strength had returned tenfold and right as he was on top of my hoof retracted ready to end this I said softly"I won't go that easily." And shot my left hoof from the ground across his face from left to right in one swift motion that occurred so fast I had the see the end result to realize it happened. Iron Hoof's face was contorted into a surprised smile, eyes wide and bulging as his neck was twisted to the right at a complete 180 degree turn. He crumpled to the floor as his wings stiffened and fell limp against the concrete floor. I lied there, the beaten but victorious hero.

     "And what comes after that?" Asked the curious and excited pony sitting on the bench next to me. "Well I got out and to he hospital for a few weeks, got out and went to Bon Bon's grave, and here I am now only months after this ordeal occurred." He looked at me with an essence of excitement and concern. I knew what he was thinking before he even said it. "How do I know all of this happened?" He asked nearly exactly as I had thought he would. "Well Iron's manor is still there albeit ruined and abandoned, Bon Bon's grave is in the Ponyville cemetery, and lastly your sitting on Bon Bon's blood stain on the bench." He got up immediately and put his writing supplies back into his saddle bag and responded"well you can expect to see this story all over the news headlines in Manehattan, but I have one last question for you"

"And what would that be?"

"What do you want your ventures to be titled?"

"Hmm, something catchy and that signifies it's my story, how about life of Conmane?"

The end