Sparkswirl's empire

The floor of the lab is soaking with methylamine, as a purple alicorn is standing in the middle of the room, wearing a gas mask and emptying gallon after gallon of the liquid on the floor. As the final canister empties up, Twilight runs around the lab, throwing everything unflamable and everything that doesn't burn fast onto a wagon. "Goodbye Cadance" whispers Twilight in a sad tone, almost shredding a tear. She sets the entire lab on fire and runs away with the wagon.

"Lets move in!" shouts Dash as she busts down the door.

Rainbow Dash dashes through the caslte, searching for anything suspicious. She stops as she can see a red glow coming from a room.

"What we got?" asks Lyra, panting after finally managing keeping up with Dash.

"We got second place," says Dash, grinding her teeth.

Twilight had been running since the crystal empire, never looking back. Now, as she had finally reached the edge of ponyville she stopped and thought for a second, "What exactly am I going to do with a wagon full of unflamable lab equipment?"

"Well, you could set up a lab and continue what you were doing before, just without Cadence," comes a squeaky voice from behind Twilight.

As Twilight slowly turned around, she could see Pinkie lifting up the blanket, that she had thrown on the lab equipment, and peeking inside.

"How did you?" looks Twilight at Pinkie.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help you. There's big money moving in this business, only if you know where to find it and learn to not get caught. Lucky for you, I know a few things about both of them," whispers Pinkie to Twilight, placing a business card into Twilight's hoof.

"Better call Pinkie?" reads Twilight from the card, "Seriously? That's the best you could come up with?" asks Twilight from Pinkie.

"Hey, I'm a dirty lawyer. And what better catchphrase for a dirty lawyer, than---?"

"Okay, I get it," cuts Twilight Pinkie off, "Now, what makes you think I even want to do this business anymore? And why do you think even if I do that I need you?"

"Easy, same answer for the both questions - you need money, you don't wanna get caught and your hatred towards Celestia," pulls Pinkie out an answer on a second notice, "You see, now that Cadence has been murdered, Celestia is gonna start harassing you with stuff like emergency meetings and extra security and all that annoying Celestia crap that you don't want. But lucky for you, I'm a lawyer and I can represent you and make sure you can keep on cooking in the privacy."

"Heh," chuckles Twilight, "And who's gonna be my lab assistan, you?"

"Lab assistant?" looks Pinkie into Twilight's eyes askingly.

"Yeah, I can't cook alone. Well I can, but it's a lot of work and I'm not capable of it all on my own. The quality of the product suffers from it, seemingly. Do you even know the first thing about cooking Spark?" questions Twilight Pinkie's power to help her.

"Okay, listen, I might know what to do," flashes an idea in Pinkie's head, "just find a place, set up your lab and I'll send an assistant there."

Twilight looks at Pinkie, questioning if she could truly get her a lab assistant who knows what they're doing and wouldn't squeal. There's a small silence, until Twilight finally nods and answers Pinkie, "Okay, get me a lab assistant and I'll make you my lawyer."

"What we got on street?" takes Rainbow Dash a sip of coffee.

"Well, the same old The Mineral story and," Lyra pauses.

"And? What, The new The Rock story?" chuckles Rainbow Dash.

"You know, if you'd just let me finish and wouldn't interupt me with your stupid bull crap---"

Dash interrupts Lyra, "Okay, cut it off, party pooper, tell me what's up?"

"There's a new name moving on the street. Goes with the best product I've and the street guys have ever seen. 78%"

"78, huh? Oh boy, so what's the name?" gets Dash concerned.

"Another stupid name like The Mineral. This one goes by the name Sparkswirl. Stupid made up names both. Checked already, there's no pony going by that name."

"Well, whoever she is, she ain't no idiot. I did a check on what was left of the lab,everything was burnt and everything what wasn't, she took with her."

"Why do you think she didn't burn everything?" asks Lyra.

"Heh, years of experience," chuckles Rainbow Dash, "You see, the fire hadn't burned for long by the time we got there. Not long enough to burn everything you need in a spark lab, especially given the fact that some of the equipment is unflamable."

"So, there's still proof out there?" asks Lyra.

"Yeah, but for how long, that's the question. Whoever she was, she burnt down the entire lab, not leaving any proof thete. There are two options - she either took it all somewhere else to cook there or, she just needed time to dissolve the equipment some other way. Now, the first is the best case scenario for us, cause then we still have evidence. But we need to act fast, try to get much information as possible, so we could track down wherever these things are stored at currently," answers Dash, taking another sip out of the coffee.

"Well, then we'd better get to work fast," shakes Lyra the file room keys.

Twilight strolled through the sweet apple acres apple garden, looking around every now and then, making sure nopony is following her. After a long walk, she reached an open field between the trees. And there it was, the cutie mark crusaders treehouse. She pushed open the door, taking a peek inside the dusty room. She tooks out her hoofphone and quickdials Pinkie's number, "Found it, I'll send you the cordinates."

Twilight can hear soft hoof knocks on the door.

"Fluttershy?" is Twilight shocked upon opening the door.

"Oh my," blushes Fluttershy.

"Pinkie didn't send you, did she?" asks Twilight from Fluttershy.

"Pinkie said I needed to bring some lab equipment here and help the cook with her cooking. I'm sorry," blushes Fluttershy even more.

There's an awkward silence in the room, while both of them are trying to adjust to the other being interested in the process of the spark cooking.

"Well," breaks Twilight the silence, "Lets set up the lab."

As the cook finishes and Twilight tests the quality, she gets another surprise, "84%? That's 6% rise in quality," Twilight turns around and looks Fluttershy deep jnto the eye, "We must be the best Spark cooks in the world."

"Oh, that's, umm, good," says Fluttershy in a quiet tone.

Twilight rushes into euphoria, "Good? This is better than good, we're the best. We could---"

"Not to burst your bubble, but we're out of supplies to make another batch," interupts Fluttershy Twilight's feelings of triumph.

"What?" drops Twilight her front hooves back on the ground.

"We're out of the green crystals and methylamine and a lot of other stuff as well," points Fluttershy towards empty barrels.

Twilight's mind jumps to the moment where Cadence promised to keep her always supplied, reminding her, that without Cadence, there is nothing to make the product out of.

"Could you excuse me?" asks Twilight, rushing out of the tree house and taking her hoofphone out of the pocket.

"Pinkie Pinkman, how can I help you?" can she hear from the other end of the line.

"Pinkman?" questions Twilight.

"Oh, hey Twilight. Yeah, it's a lawyer name, I've got a rather shady clientel, if you catch my drift," reclines Pinkie in her chair.

"Pinkie, we're out of supplies. We don't have anything to make the product out of," flips Twilight into the phone.

"Whoa, hold off there. Don't worry, I'm your lawyer, I've got you covered. But remember, lawyer's cut is 17% out of the profit and I take care of almost your every problem," negotiates Pinkie.

"Okay, 15%, 17%, whatever, just get me someone who can regularly supply the incridients for me," flips Twilight at Pinkie again.

"Don't worry, only the very best for my client. Got you covered," says Pinkie the final lines, before ending the phone call.

Twilight walks up to the old building again, feeling a gulp in her throat. She puts on her porkpie hat and sunglasses. Twilight walks past the security guys and to the second floor.

"Here's the new product!" shouts Twilight, throwing a big bag of Spark on Bulk's table, "It's 84% now, so double the cost."

Bulk looks at Twilight with an angry face, "What exactly is that? You come here alone now? And you demand double the pay? Who the buck do you think you are?"

"I am Sparkswirl," says Twilight with an arrogant tone, "and if you want this product, you'll pay the double for it. This is the best product in the world and nowhere, I repeat, nowhere, can you get anything like it. Take a sniff."

Bulk breaks rhe Spark crystal into little pieces and sniffs it in, "Tight! Tight! Tight! Yeah! Alright, keep bringing me that. Double, triple, whatever."

"Okay, I'm gonna take triple," says Twilight with an arrogant smile.

"You trying to push my buttons?" hits bulk his hoof on the table.

"Hey, as I said, this is the best product in the world and I can sell it anytime anywhere with triple the price of what you gave me for the last batch. The question is, are you gonna be the one to buy it?"

"Fine, I pay triple. You sure know the business, Sparkswirl," says Bulk, throwing a bag full of money at Twilight.

Twilight picks up the bag in front of her hooves, lifts it up and smirks, "Glad to do business with you."

"Hey, there you are!" shouts Pinkie upon Twilight's entry.

"Meet your new supplier!" shouts Pinkie, pointing her front hooves at Rarity.

"What's next, Applejack as a bodyguard?" bursts out Twilight.

"No, no, no. I'm a professional and Applejack ain't in the circle. She's the honest pony, it wouldn't work out with her," bursts Pinkie into laughter.

As the sun shines through the window a purple crystal brightens up.

"What's this?" asks Twilight pointing her hoof at it.

"Oh, it's a purple sparklamphine, I need it for my next design," looks Rarity at the crystal.

"Could you get me 10 kilos of these in a week?" asks Twilight.

"Well, I suppose I could," looks Rarity at the crystals, "what do you need them for?"

"My grand recipe," answers Twilight with a slight smirk.

"97%" shouts Twilight in euphoria after a sucessful cook, "13% rise in quality."

At the moment Rarity walks in, carrying a barrel of purple sparklamphine. Twilight runs to Rarity, putting her hooves on her shoulder and looking into Rarity's eyes with a bright stare, "This crystal is the best thing that has happened in the entire Spark business!"

"Glad you like it," answers Rarity, trying to push Twilight's hooves off her shoulders, "but I'd appreciate if you wouldn't touch me with your spark cooking hooves."

Twilight's hoofphone starts ringing and as she picks it up, she can hear angry Trixie, "where exactly are you? Rainbow Dash came over 2 hours ago."

"Oh, I totally forgot she was gonna come over today. Listen, I'll be right there," answers Twilight, ending the call to avoid any further questions.

"Hey, Rarity, could you drop the Spark off to bulk? He's at that old building by the edge of ponyville, take Fluttershy with you," Twilight grabs Rarity into her arms, "You're good at negotiating right?"

"Well, I've negotiated quite a few dress prices and---"

"Good. Tell him the price has quintupled and that the product is now 97% pure," says Twilight, handing Rarity the bag of Spark and running out of the treehouse.

Rarity is standing in front of the old building with Fluttershy standing next to her.

"How disgusting," remarks Rarity looking at the building.

As they walk in, they are being stopped by two guards.

"Hey, get your dirty hooves off of me, I'm here to deliever the product," shouts Rarity.

One of the guards takes the bag from her and walks up the stairs. Rarity and Fluttershy slowly follow him. Rarity can feel the disgusting dirt on the stairs runing her pedicure.

"When this is over, I'm going right into the SPA," whispers she to Fluttershy.

The guard throws the bag to Bulk.

"This thing is 97% pure now and the price has quintupled," shouts Rarity.

Bulk looks at Rarity and starts laughing, "Quintupled? What are you crazy?"

"Hey, Twilight said it's quintupled, which means I'm going to her with the money she demanded for the product, weather you like it or not," looks Rarity at Bulk with an angry face.

"Twilight? Sparkswirl's a princess? And moreso, now that her product is that pure, she is too good to come here by herself and sends her mules here?" laughs Bulk, while walking towards Rarity.

"I ain't no mule, you roughian!" shouts Rarity at Bulk.

"A tempered one, aren't you?" laughs Bulk into Rarity's face.

"Maybe we should go," whispers Fluttershy.

"We ain't going anywhere before this idiot pays up," whispers Rarity back.

"Okay, you know what? I got your quintuple right here!" as he says those words, Bulk hits Rarity onto floor.

"That's quintuple the hits I usually give for fuckers who try to screw me over," shouts Bulk, while beating the blood out of Rarity's mouth.

"Please, stop!" shouts Fluttershy, trying to stop Bulk from hitting Rarity.

"Okay, I stopped," stops Bulk hitting Rarity and walks back to his chair.

Fluttershy looks at Rarity lying on the ground - Broken hooves, blood coming out of her mouth, broken teeth, messy hair and a black eye.

"And that's basically the story," ends Rainbow Dash her story.

"Sparkswirl, huh?" questions Spike.

"Yeah, the clever ones usually always come up with some kind of irrelevant aliases. There's that one pony, goes by the name The Mineral, been trying to bring down his Spark operation for years now. Not a single clue found yet, whoever they're, they don't leave many clues," rambles Dash.

"Hey, but maybe there's something to it? Those aliases couldn't come out of thin air, maybe there's some thin connection between the pony and the name," questions Spike once again.

At that moment , the door flies open as Twilight walks in and puts her jacket on the coat rack.

"Hey, Twi! What's up with you?" flied Dash to greet Twilight.

Twilight quickly makes up a lie, "Nothing much, been helping Applejack at the farm again."

"For Celestias sake, you're killing yourself there. You look exhausted. Are you sure you don't need any help? All you gotta do is ask. Remember, I'm always here for you, buddy," puts Dash her hoof on Twilight's  shoulder.

"No, it's fine. I've been sitting inside for so long anyway, it's good to get some physical excercise," makes Twilight quickly up and excuse.

"Okay, just be careful. Quick changes aren't good for anypony," is Dash still concerned.

As Twilight and Dash are talking, they're slowly moving towards the diner room.

"Twilight, where have you been?" asks Trixie as soon as they enter the diner room.

"Your brave mare has been working on the farm, bucking some apples," says Dash crashing down on a chair.

"Yeah, actually AJ's planning to pay me for my work tomorrow. Then we can pay for the castle debt and maybe save some money aside," starts Twilight rambling, after sitting down.

"Hey, you know, we got guns at work now. After what had happened to Cadance, you know, extra security measures. They're believing that the Spark market is becoming more violent, now that---," Rainbow Dash pauses.

"Now that?" asks Twilight immidietly.

"There's somepony new on the market, goes by the name Sparkswirl. Cooks the best god damn Spark out there," continues Dash, "Just today, our sources found the spark with the purity of 84% moving the streets. No wonder it's causing such a commotion. The purity level is incredible."

"Whoever synthesized it, must be a really good chemist," adds Twilight, while sipping on wine.

"Hey, what's that?" asks Rainbow Dash, pointing her hoof at the air and creating a sudden quietness around the table.

"My hoofphone! Excuse me," shouts Twilight, jumping up from the table and transporting to the jacket.

"Where is it?" looks Twilight through the pockets.

She lifts up the phone and answers it, "Yes, this is Twilight Sparkle speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hey, Twilight!" Can Twilight recognize Pinkie's voice, "We got a problem - one of your business partners decided to beat the crap out of one of your business associates. Long story short, you lost your suppliement network, at least temporarily and got screwed over from the money aspect."

"What?" questions Twilight into the phone.

"Bulk beat the crap out of Rarity. Rarity's in the hospital. Bulk took the Spark. Zero gain. Null profit earned," sums Pinkie up the current situation.

Twilight can feel the world around her getting dizzy as she drops down the phone.

"You alright?" can Twilight see a blurry Rainbow Dash coming from the distance.

"I'm not, I'm not sure," says Twilight, resting her hoof onto the wall and trying to hold her body up. She feels her hoof slowly slipping away and the gravity forcing her down. As she can no longer resist, she falls down onto the floor and her eyes slowly close.