Arc 2- 6 (Vigilante Begins)

The elevator dings and its doors lazily slide open to reveal a bright hallway, its walls are colored in white with gold trim, it has sky blue carpet with white squares, and there are large windows that show an amazing view of Canterlot. Most of the great view being possible because the apartment complex is resting on the crest of a hill. There are at least thirty rooms, all of which have suns and bolded numbers on their doors, and the one that they are heading towards at the back, where the complex curves, with “505” written on it.

Trixie quietly follows Minty out of the elevator, her parole officer is carrying the box on her back again along with the bag of candy, and she has a small bounce in her steps. When they reach the door, Trixie takes a moment to look out the window. The orangish colors of the setting sun give the bustling city a peaceful hue. The noise of the traffic is dying down and she notices that the zeppelins she’s seen earlier are being replaced with ones that are glowing. Trixie still can’t believe how much Canterlot has changed, or Equestria in general. During her travels, she noticed difference, but she never comprehended it until now. Then Trixie notices a huge construction site on the outskirts of the city. She can barely see it, but she knows it’s a construction site by its skeletal appearance.

“Hey, Minty, what’s that over there?” asks Trixie while pointing at the distant site.

Minty unlocks the door and looks at what Trixie is pointing at. Then she smiles and says: “That is the Celestial Spire. It should be done in about a year.”

“What’s it for?”

“Not a clue. It’s probably going to be a monument of some kind.”

Trixie and Minty walk inside the apartment.

“Well that was helpful,” says Trixie sarcastically.

“I do my best to be helpful,” says Minty with a smug smirk. “But in the meantime, we have an apartment to explore!”

Minty shows Trixie the living room first. Its a decent size with dark gray carpet, a ceiling fan, and a glass table with some cushions around it as well as a stand with a dial radio on it. Then Minty shows Trixie the kitchen and dining room area. The kitchen has all the basics, but only one pony can fit in there comfortably, and even then, for that one pony it’ll still be somewhat cramped. The dining room is next to the kitchen, and has a wooden table with cushions surrounding it, and to top it off, there is a very bright lighting fixture directly above the table. Trixie is then taken to the bathroom, once again, it is simple. It has all the necessities, nothing more, nothing less, and has just enough room for one pony. And finally there are the two bedrooms, both of them are square rooms with a small closet, single bed, and a window with a curtain.

“Um, Minty, why are there two rooms?” asks Trixie quizzically while pointing at the rooms with her hoof.

“Because I’m going to be living with you, duh,” replies Minty as she comes out of the other room, the box and bag of candy no longer with her.

Trixie pales and her ears droop down while her jaw drops. As “Because I’m going to be living with you” echoes in her mind her legs start to wobble due to the sudden, not so exciting news of her having an obnoxious and painfully bright pony as her roommate. Now she knows for certain that Celestia and the whole universe is against her. How is she supposed to save anyone or be an agent of justice if she’s always working and being under the hawk like supervision of the Royal Government?

“Roommates, huh?” says Trixie, trying to smile brightly, but her wobbling and twitching eye betray the smile.

“Yep!” says Minty, grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh-kay.”

Then Trixie faints.

“Trixie, wake up,” says Minty, her voice is surprisingly smooth this time and has an echo to it. But the command does not register in Trixie’s brain, and Minty tries again a couple of times before leaving. A moment later, piercing cold water splashes all over Trixie and Minty yells: “WAKE UP!”

Trixie screams and jumps to her feet, teeth chattering and her soaked body shaking. Her mane is matted over her face, so all she can see is hair, lots and lots of hair. She wipes some of her mane away from her eyes and sees Minty carelessly tossing an empty bucket down the hallway. She really wants to sock Minty in the jaw right now, and when Minty turns around and sees Trixie’s angry, red face, she smiles innocently.

“I had to get you up somehow.”

“You didn’t have smelling salt?” says Trixie through gritted teeth.

“Nope, I tried waking you up the nice way, but the great news was so great that you fainted so badly that I had to splash you awake.”

After shaking herself as dry as she could, Trixie decides to explore the room in a feeble attempt to calm her nerves. All it takes is one stare and two second closet inspection to see all that the simple room has to offer. Minty sighs and leans against the doorway, her smile now gone.

“Look, I know you’re eager to go out on your own and all, but you’re terrorist. Or, technically speaking, an ex-terrorist. Celestia is just worried that you might do something bad if we left you on your own, so to keep an eye on you we had this apartment set up,” says Minty sympathetically.

Trixie tests the bed, as soon as her hoof presses down on it, the springs squeak and groan loudly in protest, and she can feel the lumps in the mattress too. At least the sheets are comfortable.

“But it shouldn’t be too bad. We have a great view of Canterlot and we’re on the top floor so we don’t have to deal with anypony thumping on the floors. Oh, and Trixie.”

Trixie turns around and Minty tosses a bag of mint gum at her. Trixie catches it with her magic, but all train of thought is destroyed when her brain breaks from trying to figure out how Minty tossed her a bag of mint gum from thin air.

“I’ll be in my room if you need anything.”

Trixie nods and Minty leaves the room. After hearing Minty close her door, Trixie sneaks up and presses her ear against the door to see if she can get an idea of what Minty is doing. She hears the box being cut open and some stuff being taken out, but then it all comes to an abrupt end. Trixie strains her ears and presses harder against the door, but then Minty suddenly opens up the door and Trixie yelps in surprise and almost falls over. The only reason why she didn’t is because Minty catches her with a hoof and sets her up straight with a teasing smile.

“You sure are a nosy pony, aren’t ya?” teases Minty.

“I just... Yeah, I guess I am,” says Trixie while smiling nervously. She peeks over Minty’s shoulder and sees more random things, like hoofball pads and buckets of black paint. That only fuels her curiosity.

“Well, before this gets any more awkward I will close this door, resume my mysterious business, and you will go back to your room and be bored for the night. Sound good?” Trixie nods and Minty grins while gently pushing Trixie back, saying: “Okie dokie lokie, then. See ya in a few.”

When Trixie is far enough away, Minty slams the door shut and Trixie huffs and sulks back into her room. She stares at the bland living space for a few seconds before her mind starts working on how she will save Bon Bon without Minty interfering any more than she already has, or without her getting-

“I’ve got it!” says Trixie proudly while stomping her hoof proudly.

“Got what?” asks Minty from the shelter of her room.

Trixie cringes and looks behind her. “Nothing! I was just talking to myself!”

“Oh, okay then!”

Trixie sighs with relief and yanks the pillowcase off of the pillow with her magic. But then she remembers that she doesn’t have scissors to cut it, and she doesn’t want to ask Minty for any since she working on “mysterious business”. Trixie sighs, puts the pillow back in its case and tosses it in the corner. Then she yanks off the drabby blanket with her teeth while simultaneously using her magic to pull off the bottom sheets. Trixie tests the blanket by wrapping it around her body, mostly to keep her cutie mark hidden. She finds that the blanket is comfortable, but thick, but it does amazing in hiding her cutie mark. She then uses the sheet to wrap around her face, covering everything but her eyes, giving it a small tent at the top where her horn is. Trixie thinks the cheesy costume will do for now, though, since it’s doing its job nicely. The blanket is covering most of her body, save for her limbs, neck, and head, and the sheet is covering her facial features. No one should be able to identify her easily.

Trixie tests her movements in her cheap disguise, and smiles at the fact that it works great. The only problem is that it feels a little stifling, but it’s not enough to do any harm. Now all that’s left is her trying to sneak past Minty, which shouldn’t be too hard since she’s distracted. But when Trixie looks out the window, her heart starts racing and she becomes increasingly uneasy. It is almost completely dark now, and she has to hurry with no interference whatsoever.

oooOOOooo

Pinkie Pie finishes painting one of the leg pads from the set of hoofball pads she bought. She gratefully spits out the foul tasting paintbrush and studies the now black pad for a couple of seconds before gently pushing it off to the side. Then she hears quiet hoofsteps, the front door slowly creak open and click when it shuts. Pinkie Pie stands up, cracks her back, and then goes to the front door and peeks through the eyehold. She barely sees the door to the stairwell close.

‘Okay, what are you up to, Trixie?’ wonders Pinkie Pie while she grabs her keys.

After grabbing her keys, she leaves the apartment, and patiently listens to the boring elevator music as the elevator descends to the ground floor. Thankfully it was fast, but she wasn’t expecting anything else since the complex is only five stories high. When it opens up at the lobby she walks out looking calm as can be, and even nods to the mare sitting behind the receptionist desk, but the mare is too distracted with her Playmare magazine to give her any notice. Not that she can blame her, since the star of the issue is Soarin. There is nothing hotter than a stallion in uniform after all.

Pinkie Pie looks out the lobby window and sees Trixie disappear into an alleyway, and she sighs, trots to her truck, and starts it up without wasting any time. Then she carefully pulls out of the parking lot and begins her silent pursuit.

=**********=

Bon Bon stuffs the last of the small bags of bits in her safe; she had emptied all of her savings and other financial resources to pay back Gilda, which she barely had the four thousand bits. Now the safe is so stuffed that it can’t close properly, but she doesn’t mind since it’ll make the transition easier. However, with what is about to happen, she won’t be able to give her employees an adequate paycheck for a few weeks.

“Hey, Bon Bon, the place is locked up and I’m heading home,” says Lyra wearily, still wearing the ridiculous costume she wore earlier when greeting customers.

Bon Bon turns around quickly to hide the bulging pile of bits, and she smiles at her long time friend, but her smile is ruined by the nervous sweat coating her head. Lyra takes off her costume and puts it on a rack, rambling on and on about how annoying and dumb customers can be. Bon Bon merely pretends to listen, but Lyra is quick to catch on to Bon Bon’s distracted state.

“You okay there? You look a little sick,” says Lyra with worry.

“Oh, I’m fine, I just had some bad food,” assures Bon Bon, she can’t tell Lyra that she’s dealing with a crime boss at the moment. When she gets home she’ll explain everything to Lyra over some Sweet Apple Acres Cider.

“Where did you eat?”

“Uh-”

“It was that dang donkey restaurant wasn’t it?”

“...Yep, sure was.”

“Dang it, Bon Bon! I told you donkeys are dirty, and now you got food poisoning because they can’t keep their stupid place clean. You should sue.”

“I’m not going to sue a bunch of donkeys for something that didn’t sit well with my stomach.”

“It didn’t sit well because they cooked the food wrong. Did you know I saw bugs in their kitchen?”

“Lyra, I’m not suing- Wait, a second? Why were you in their kitchen?”

Lyra smiles nervously while shifting her eyes up at the ceiling. “You need any help finishing up?”

Bon Bon shakes her head and escorts Lyra to the backdoor. “No, it’s alright, I just got one more thing to take care of. But we’ll need to talk tonight.”

Lyra stops and looks at Bon Bon with a teasing, and oddly hopeful, glint in her eyes. “So, you are gay! I knew it!”

Bon Bon’s jaw drops and her face becomes flustered, and she stammers: “Wha-What! No! Dang it, Lyra, how many times am I going to have to tell you that my barn door doesn’t swing that way?”

Lyra smiles mischievously and pulls Bon Bon closer to her so that the sides of their head and she waves her free hoof towards the sleeping city. “One million. Or until you get a coltfriend. Either or. Getting a coltfriend shouldn’t be too hard, though, considering that there are many good looking stallions out there and one hot mare in my loving embrace.”

Bon Bon tugs away from Lyra, and her unicorn companion snickers at how uneasy she made her. Then Bon Bon shakes her head, forcing herself to smile and walks outside with Lyra. There is a moment of silence as they enjoy the weather. Bon Bon does love how warm it is outside, it’s a great contrast from the refrigerator that her store is. But alas, her bliss is ruined when she sees predatory eyes staring at her from the alley. Lyra doesn’t see them, though.

“Go home, Lyra. We’ll talk about what I wanted to over some cider,” says Bon Bon nervously.

“Can you give me an idea what you want to talk about?” asks Lyra with an arched eyebrow.

Bon Bon’s ears droop and she looks down to avoid her friend’s gaze. “I made some mistakes with some finances.” Lyra’s quizzical stare turns into a stern one and Bon Bon looks at her with a reassuring smile. “The problem will be taken care of tonight, but it’ll make for some financial hardships for the store. I’ll get more into it later over when I get back.”

Lyra stares at Bon Bon for a few more seconds before nodding and reluctantly heading home.

“I’ll be home soon!” yells Bon Bon.

“Take your time, there’s no rush!” yells Lyra back, some concern heard clearly in her tone.

When Lyra disappears into the darkness of the city, Bon Bon sighs and runs her hoof along the pavement while looking down. She hears a series of flapping wings followed closely by paws and talons landing on the pavement in front of her. She looks up and sees Winny and Grim walking towards her with four other griffins behind them. They all basically look the same to her; all of them have a different shade of brown and the males are larger than their slender female counterparts. But one of the males is ridiculously dirty, covering his white feathers with brown streaks, and is losing feathers, and another female griffin is wearing a polaroid camera around her neck. Bon Bon swallows some spit and puts on a brave smile while approaching Winny.

“Hey, Winny, I got the money,” says Bon Bon.

Winny looks at a male and female griffin to her right and points to the front of the store, saying: “Lace. Stake. You two guard the front parking lot.” Then she looks at the sickly griffin. “Nasty Hick, cut the power and when you’re inside, break the lock so it doesn’t open.”

The griffins nod and go their separate ways, and Bon Bon looks at them nervously before looking at Winny. “None of that is necessary, Winny. I’ll give you the money and then we’ll just forget about everything.”

“Let’s get inside and get this over with,” says Winny. Bon Bon nods and leads them to her office, along the way she hears Winny say: “Is your camera good, Rane?”

“Of course it is,” says Rane, Bon Bon can clearly see the grin the griffin has.

When they are in the office Bon Bon points to her safe and looks at Winny, but she doesn’t make any move towards the safe. Instead she stares at Bon Bon, her eyes glistening.

“You’re a good mare, Bon Bon, you always have been,” starts Winny. Bon Bon’s blood drains from her face and her heart feels like its going to explode as the thumping increases tenfold. “You just made some mistakes, like all of us do, and this mistake is going to cost you more than just money.”

“What are you saying?” asks Bon Bon, eyes swelling with terrified tears.

“I told you that Gilda ordered you dead unless you have the money.”

“And I have it.”

“She changed her mind. She wants you dead, with or without the money.”

Bon Bon shakes her head in disbelief, and she slumps on the floor. “This can’t-How can she do this!” Then she looks at Winny in desperation. “You don’t have to kill me! I can leave town and never speak a word of this!”

“Sorry, Bon Bon, but Gilda-”

“Look, I have the money, alright! It’s in the safe! Just check!” sobs Bon Bon desperately. She looks at the griffins for any signs of mercy, but Rane is fidgeting with her camera, Grim is shifting impatiently in his spot, and Winny is just staring at her. “I have Gilda’s money! Winny, you know-I told you I would get it and I got it! Nopony has to-You don’t have to do this!”

Winny stares at Bon Bon as she cries and begs them to check the safe, even telling them that the safe is unlocked and they can just take the money and leave. But when Bon Bon notices Winny tapping her talon against the carpet and trying to look stern, but is betrayed by the noticeable amount of regret in her features, her trembling becomes more severe and is barely able to push herself into a corner.

“N-No! No! You-You can’t be serious!” sobs Bon Bon. “Winny, please!”

“I’m sorry, Bon Bon,” says Winny solemnly while flexing her talons, then the lights shut off, covering the entire store in a blanket of darkness, “but I have my orders.”

oooOOOooo

Trixie sneaks behind a parked motorized wagon that is across the street from the candy store. She strains her eyes for any signs of movement inside the dark building, but sees none. She tries to sneak across the street, but stops herself when she sees a small flash of light from the very back. The worst case scenario plays out in her mind and she goes from sneaking, to running as fast as she can. Despite how fast she’s running, her hoof steps barely make a sound against the pavement, and the closer she gets to the candy store, the more defined the two griffins guarding the entrance become. Fortunately for her, they are somewhat distracted with smoking.

Trixie slides to cover behind another parked motorized wagon and keeps her breathing under control. She crawls on her stomach and looks under the vehicle and sees that the griffins are even more distracted than before. One of them is holding out a lighter to light the other griffin’s cigarette.

“Thanks, Lace,” says the griffin with the fresh cigarette.

“Don’t mention it. What’s taking Winny so long anyway?” says the other griffin, Lace.

“Nervous?”

“Sort of, I thought I saw something across the street, earlier.”

Trixie narrows her eyes as she prepares herself for an attack while the other griffin stares at Lace quizzically.

“You sure?”

“No, I haven’t been sleeping well and-”

“Oh boohoo. Stop your whining and keep a lookout for this ghost of yours.”

“Fuck you.”

The griffin snickers while Lace rolls her eyes, and that is when Trixie takes the initiative to strike.

oooOOOooo

Nasty Hick is casually walking around the store, ripping open random bags of candy and popping the delectables in his mouth and chewing obnoxiously loud. His wet smacks echo loudly in the building, and when he gets to the front counter he breaks open each cash register to see if there’s money in them. All twelve of them were empty. Nasty Hick swallows a mouthful of gumballs, making for a brief, unpleasant feeling, before scanning the area again, completely bored out of his skull.

“Why did we have to cut the power!” whines Nasty Hick loudly.

“Because! That’s why!” yells Rane.

Nasty Hick rolls his eyes while carelessly cutting magazines with his talons. “Gee, and everyone thinks I’m a moron.”

Nasty Hick is about to cut another magazine, but restrains himself when he sees that it’s a fashion magazine with some very beautiful mares on front looking really good in their dresses. The griffin giggles and grabs the magazine, and when he starts flipping through the pictures he gets a lot of perverted thoughts that he has no shame in having. He can’t explain it, but while most other griffins have their attractions set on other griffins, his have always been set on ponies. He thinks it has something to do with the way they feel; they’re all soft and colorful, unlike his race which have a severely limited color range and are almost always born with freakishly hard muscles. Plus he doesn’t like beaks, talons, or paws rubbing against him, and hooves have always felt good to him. That, and last time he tried getting a massage from a griffin he had to get stitches, so that scarred him for life.

He flips another page and gets a new found urge to take the magazine in a bathroom and pleasure himself when he sees a picture of Fluttershy and Rarity at last year’s Gala.

“Oh, Fluttershy, why did you have to quit your modeling career?” says Nasty Hick sadly.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he swears he sees a figure in a cheap costume pounce on Lace and Stake beat them senselessly. He drops the magazine and cautiously approaches the window. After approaching the window, he looks outside and sees both of them on the ground, unconscious, with no signs of the attacker anywhere. He swears under his breath and runs towards the back where the others are.

Winny is digging through the safe and putting bags of bits into another bag being held by Grim while Rane is sort of standing guard. She’s standing outside the door, but has her focus on a polaroid picture in her grip. Nasty Hick is about to say that they have a problem, but when he sees Bon Bon lying on the ground with deep gashes in her neck, and Winny’s talons soaked in blood, his blood drains from his face and his whole body sulks.

Rane looks at Nasty Hick from the corner of her eye. “What is it, Nasty?”

“Dammit, she was right. She did have the money,” says Winny regretfully after tossing the last of the bits in the bag. Then she runs her bloody talons through her head feathers and sighs while looking at Bon Bon apologetically. “Well, sorry about that Bon Bon. Hopefully the afterlife will be kind to you.” Then she sees Nasty Hick staring at her, his jaw practically to the floor. “What’s wrong, Nasty?”

Nasty Hick snaps out of his trance. “Sorry, but we uh we have a slight problem.”

“And that problem is what?” asks Winny while tying the bag of bits.

“Something probably killed Lace and Stake.”

“And you left the door undefended!”

“Well I had to tell you!”

“We’re leaving!”

The griffins hastily march towards the front door, and right when they see it, someone, or something, lands on Rane’s back, pushing her down on the floor, hard, breaking her camera in the process. The others turn around instantly and Nasty Hick gets a hoof to the face, knocking his world into a swirl and making him land on his face. A few seconds later, his vision returns to normal and he scrambles to his feet just in time to see Winny running out and taking off into the night.

“Wait for me!” cries Nasty Hick.

But before he can leave, the attacker rams him on the side and he’s pushed off of his feet and both of them crash into a rack with enough force to knock it over. The deafening sound of metal and hundreds of packets of candy crashing on tile makes Nasty Hick’s ears ring, and when he tries to get up, he feels himself being lifted off of the ground and then tossed into another rack. This time he hits it back first and feels a horrible pain shoot throughout his wings and back, and when he lands on his head on the tile, his world goes dark.

oooOOOooo

Trixie watches with a satisfied smile as the griffin she threw across the store slumps to the ground while the rack collapses behind him. She knows Gray Muffin would give her a nasty slap on the back of the head for making such a ruckus, but-

“You damn mule!” screams Grim.

Trixie barely has enough time to dodge Grim’s slash, and when he tries to go for another one, she rolls out of the way and quickly bucks his hind leg. He howls and collapses to the ground, and when he tries to swipe at her again, she jumps up and lands on his talons. She hears his bones snap and he screams in pain once more.

“I’m gonna kill you, you piece of-!”

Trixie shoots him in the chest with a telekinetic blast that sends him flying into the wall before he can finish. Upon impacting the wall, he leaves a huge crack in it and falls to the ground, knocked out. Then Trixie whirls around and bashes the griffin she landed on earlier in the beak when she tries to get up. The griffin’s beak cracks and she makes a weird, painful squawking noise as she spirals to the ground. When she tries to get up again, while clutching her beak, Trixie brings her hooves on her back and is smashed into the tile. This time she stays still.

Trixie takes a deep breath and is about to search for Winny, but stops when she hears heavy breathing and awkward footsteps mixed with flapping. She turns around and her eyes widen behind her makeshift mask. Grim is half flying, half running towards her with a limp and murder written all over his bloody face. Trixie uses her magic to throw a gumball machine at his head. It hits him right where she wanted and the machine breaks, showering him and the floor with lots of little gumballs, but Grim still gets back up, albeit with great difficulty.

“Oh for the love of Celestia! Will you stay down!” growls Trixie.

“I refuse to lose a fight with a pony!” yells Grim.

Grim then launches himself at Trixie with blinding speed, and tackles her to the ground. They both roll over each other, end over end, claws shredding the outfit and slicing into Trixie’s skin, sending small streaks of burning pain all over her body. Trixie bites back the urge to scream and when she winds up with her back pressed against the tile, near the window, she uses her momentum to push Grim off. Grim flies over her and goes straight through the window. It is at that moment that all the lights in the building flash on with eye burning intensity and an ear busting alarm shrieks to life.

oooOOOOooo

Grim pushes himself to his feet, grumbling very colorful words under his breath while shaking shards of glass out of his feathers. He doesn’t care that the candy store is acting like a enormous light bulb, or that its making enough noise to wake up all of Canterlot, he just wants to kill the pony who’s responsible for making what was supposed to be a quick, clean job a disaster. He’s about to go inside, but when he hears a vehicle screeching to a stop behind him, he turns around and sees huge headlights glaring at him. Grim tries to shield his eyes from the blinding light, but it doesn’t do much. However, he is able to make out a silhouette of a pony approaching him.

“Who the hell are you?” growls Grim.

The pony is silent, and when Grim tries to figure out who the newcomer is again, a hoof suddenly shoots out in blinding speed and strikes Grim in the throat. He feels his voice box break and he gaks and falls to the ground, clutching his throat with his good hand. Then the mysterious pony stomps on his head and he blacks out.

oooOOOooo

Pinkie Pie grits her teeth as she jumps through the hole in the window and walks through the mess that is now Bon Bon Land. While she looks at the mess Trixie made, she wonders how Trixie could have possibly passed any course that League gave her. Pinkie Pie swears she would give Trixie a big fat “F” with a puke face sticker if she was her student and did anything like this during training.

Pinkie Pie carelessly walks over the carnage, crushing pieces of candy under her hooves and stepping over the limp griffins while keeping her eyes locked on the back, where Bon Bon’s office is. While doing so, she feels her puffy mane and tail deflate under their wigs and her veins throbbing from the hot blood rushing to her face.

oooOOOooo

Trixie is sitting on her haunches, jaws agape behind her mask, staring at Bon Bon’s corpse in the corner of the office. Bon Bon’s neck had been slashed and her body is lying in a thick pool of blood that is seeping all over the office floor. Trixie is so stunned at the sight of seeing the gruesome scene that she loses all touch of her surroundings. She doesn’t hear anything or feel the floor beneath her, she doesn’t even comprehend the rest of the area. It’s just her and the corpse.

“I was too late,” chokes Trixie.

Trixie is suddenly tugged off of her back and slammed on the floor with her head pinned between a pair of hooves. After the ringing dies down and her vision returns to normal, she sees Minty glaring down at her. A very, very, very pissed off Minty.

“What are you doing, Trixie!” yells Minty. “Are you purposefully trying to get yourself caught?”

“I-I’m not Trixie. I’m somepony else,” stammers Trixie.

“Really!” Minty pulls down the cheap mask with her teeth, revealing the rest of Trixie’s face. “Because you look an awful lot like Trixie to me!”

Trixie scrunches up and her ears droop as she tries to explain her situation. “Look I didn’t kill Bon Bon, I was trying to save her! It was the griffins! They’re the ones that killed her!”

Minty steps off of Trixie and forcefully makes her stand up. When Trixie stands up she looks away from the gruesome scene while Minty does the exact opposite. She goes inside the office and immediately starts searching the place for what Trixie can only guess are clues as to why the griffins went after Bon Bon.

“The guards will be here in less than five minutes,” says Minty. She opens up a roster and skims through it for a few seconds at speeds that surprise Trixie before slamming it shut and putting it back where she found it. “We’re leaving right now.”

“Aren’t you going to-”

“No.”

Trixie stares at the mess, wanting to figure out who the griffins worked for and why they killed Bon Bon, but when Minty bites down on Trixie’s tail and tugs on it hard enough to feel like it’s almost getting ripped off, she snaps out of it. But not without yelping and nearly jumping out of her skin of course. She turns around and glares at Minty while defensively tucking her tail away as best as she could. However, upon seeing Minty’s glare, she surrenders. The glare her parole officer is giving her makes it look like her colors have darkened, specifically around the eyes, and any pony with any sense would know that the looks she’s giving off would mean a world of pain for any smidge of defiance.

“Get in the cart. Now,” orders Minty.

Trixie quickly nods her head and gallops past Minty. When she’s in Minty’s vehicle she can’t bear to bring herself to look at her, and when she hears Minty get inside and slam the door shut, she cringes and shrinks down into her seat. She shrinks down even further when the engine roars to life, it sounds like even Minty’s vehicle is mad at her. Then Minty, using less than graceful driving skills, speeds out of the parking lot and disappears into the darkness of the sleeping city.

“Trixie, let’s be very clear,” says Minty angrily, her furious stare locked on the road in front of her.

‘Oh boy, here we go,’ thinks Trixie dreadfully, preparing herself for a tongue lashing while resting her head against the window.

“If you want to go out and fight crime, more power to you. Heck, I’d gladly give a costume so you won’t have to use bed sheets.”

Trixie rolls her eyes. ‘Sure you do, Minty, sure you do.’

“But you have to understand that I worked hard to get this sorted out, and you and I are on thin ice as it is. So if you screw up, I screw up. If you go to Singsong, I go to Singsong. Got it?”

Trixie glares at Minty. “You worked hard to get this sorted out?”

“I did.”

“Okay, stop the cart!”

Minty suddenly swerves into an alley and puts the brakes on,  and Trixie yelps as she lurches forward, her face colliding with the windshield. When Trixie pulls her face away, she glares at Minty as she shuts off the vehicle. It’s just them and the darkness of the city now.

“Cart is stopped, now what?” says Minty while glaring at Trixie.

“What do you mean you worked hard to get this sorted out?” demands Trixie.

“I meant exactly what I said.”

“Oh, that answer again.”

“Yes, that answer again.”

“Can’t you just be clear with me?”

“Okay, fine, I’ll be clear. What you did was reckless and stupid on every level-”

“Hey! I tried to do things all ninja-ly-”

“And you were lucky that I arrived when I did-”

“But things just didn’t go as well as I had hoped!”

“Because if I didn’t then the Guards would’ve seen you staring at a corpse and would’ve arrested you on the spot! And then you would’ve been sent back to Singsong along with me!”

“Well maybe I’m not some kind of bucking emotionless killing machine like Gray Muffin, Minty! Maybe I actually freeze up when I see a corpse! Maybe if you hadn’t been doing what you had to do, Pinkie Pie would still be alive and I-!”

Suddenly, Minty has her hoof around Trixie’s head and she smashes it against the dashboard, leaving a nasty crack under her head and a ringing in her ears. Trixie grunts and squirms and is really tempted to use her magic against Minty, but again, those damn eyes are saying its better not to try it. To Trixie, they look like they’re glowing in the dark like a predator.

“Listen here, Trixie,” says Minty in a low, dangerous tone, “Pinkie Pie is dead because she wanted to be, okay? If you didn’t kill her then the ponies you worked for would’ve gone to the four corners of the world and killed anypony that stood in their way to get to her. That includes friends, family, and any strangers she met along the way.”

Trixie grunts and tries to shift her position, but Minty puts more pressure on, forcing her to stay still.

“You are not the only one with misery as your company! You do not get to play the ‘Poor Me’ card because everypony has one! If you knew what I had lost, what I had sacrificed, and all the lives that have been affected because of my choices then you would think twice about you being the only one miserable!”

Minty releases Trixie, but she keeps her head on the dashboard, she’s too afraid to move. A couple of seconds later, Trixie gets the courage to push herself back into her seat, and after doing so she looks at Minty, still afraid of what will happen next.  Minty then restarts the vehicle and slowly leaves the alley after a small army of Night Guards rush past them in their vehicles.

“You aren’t the only one who’s dead inside, Trixie,” says Minty. She’s still angry, but Trixie can hear her voice cracking to where it sounds like she’s ready to break down.

After that, the ride back to the apartment is in near total silence. No words are exchanged, the radio is kept off, and the only noise was from the engine rumbling and the sound of wind rushing past them. In any normal situation, one might have fallen asleep because of how peaceful everything appeared, but the two mares are too upset to care for sleep or notice the beauty of the night.

When they reach their apartment, Trixie walks straight to the bathroom while Minty goes into the dining room. In the bathroom, Trixie stares at herself in the mirror and scowls at the pathetic reflection of herself; her mane is a mess and she has new scratches to add to her collection of bruises. Then the image of Bon Bon’s corpse seeps in and she grits her teeth while trembling and pressing her hooves on the sink.

“I failed,” whispers Trixie angrily, now hyperventilating with tears running down her face. “I failed... I failed. I failed. I failed. failed. I failed. I failed. I failed.”

Trixie closes her eyes and bows her head, trying desperately not to cry, but she’s failing miserably. She sobs quietly and forces her eyes to stay shut, not wanting them to open for any reason.

“Ya should’ve killed them,” says Sunshine.

Trixie sniffles, and reluctantly opens her eyes and looks in the mirror to see Sunshine’s shadowy face and demonic red eyes covering her reflection. She grits her teeth and starts to shake with a mix of anger and fear. She doesn’t understand why he won’t leave her alone, and is starting to believe that he became a demon after he died. A demon that retained his obsessive fanboy-rapist personality.

“I’m no murderer,” says Trixie, her voice trembling.

Sunshine chuckles. “Funny, I said tha same thing when I started mah business. And I’m sure Mr. Muffin and yer pops said tha same thing.”

“And all of you are dead.”

“I am not dead, darlin’. If I was dead then I wouldn’t be with ya, now would I?”

“You’re dead.”

“Am not.”

“You’re dead!”

“Nope.”

“You’re dead!”

“No I’m not.”

“You’re DEAD!”

“I’m as alive as you are, darlin’.”

Trixie screams "YOU’RE DEAD!" and smashes her hoof against the mirror, right in between Sunshine’s red eyes. Her hoof goes straight through the mirror and destroys the shelves of the medicine cabinet hiding behind it, cutting herself in the process. The shards of glass cascade down and bounce off and shatter against the sink, and with the glass, comes the containers of pills and shelf parts. Trixie breathes heavily and slumps to the floor, fresh tears swelling in her eyes.

“Just leave me alone,” sobs Trixie quietly.

“Trixie, ya need t’ wake up. Equestria is dying, and sooner or later ya’ll have t’ take a life if ya want t’ live. If ya don’t, ya’ll wind up like that poor little mare. Besides, yer a killer. Ya killed Laughter after all,” says Sunshine, his voice echoing in the bathroom.

“I... I... I didn’t... I had to,” sniffles Trixie.

“Yer no longer an entertainer, yer a killer. Ya watched me discipline mah sister and ya watched Mr. Muffin murder me an’ ya killed Laughter. It’s all murder.Three murders, Trixie. Accept who ya are and ya won’t fail.”

Trixie stares at the bits of bloody tipped mirror, sobbing. She can see her tear soaked face in the bits, all crying and looking at her, telling her that she had failed. And because of her failure, an innocent pony had died at the hands of the wicked.

Then Trixie notices the container of pills that her psychiatrist at Singsong prescribed to her to combat the hallucinations. She uses her magic to bring the container to her, drops it in the bowl of her hoof, and stares at it. Such a simple, small thing, and yet she felt happy when she took them. She didn’t have to deal with Sunshine and the realities of the Hell she built seemed nonexistent.

“Tryin’ t’ escape reality, eh?” chuckles Sunshine.

Trixie eagerly opens the container with her magic and pulls out one pill. That’s all she’ll need for it all to go away, even if it is for just one night. Trixie pops the pill in her mouth, closes the container, and uses her magic to toss it away. It’s not like she can put it in the medicine cabinet, anyway. She then uses the faucet water to help swallow the pill, not even bothering to use a cup or anything, and when it’s down the effects are immediate. She can instantly feel all of her pain, emotional and physical, melt away and be replaced with pure happiness. Trixie grins from ear to ear and her whole body relaxes as her eyes dilate and her breathing and heart rate returns to normal. But when she looks at the mess she made she puts on a comical pouting face.

“Wow, did Trixie do this?” wonders Trixie out loud. “This cannot stand!”

oooOOOooo

Pinkie Pie is sitting in the dinning room, writing down everything she saw in the roster. Granted, the pen isn’t tasting so good, but she doesn’t care right now, partially because she doesn’t have a typewriter so she has to deal with it, and partially because it’s better than tasting a pencil. She heard Trixie’s commotion earlier, but decided to do nothing about it since she had more important things to do rather than giving Trixie a hug. Things like figuring out who ordered Bon Bon killed and why; she knows it’s the least she could do since she knows she holds most of the blame for Bon Bon’s death.

Pinkie Pie suddenly stops her writing and her ear twitches when she hears Trixie singing and glass being swept up. She turns slightly to face the doorway when Trixie half walks half dances in with a broom and a dustpan full of broken glass with her hoof bandaged. Her eyes are also red and puffy from her crying, yet she has a giant grin, so it looks like she was crying for joy.

“Sweep-a-dee-doo-dah! Sweep-a-dee-ay! My, oh my what a wonderful day!” sings Trixie in a very bubbly, yet horrible singing, voice, making Pinkie Pie raise an eyebrow. “Something for a rhyme here! Sweep-a-dee-doo-dah! Sweep-a-dee-ay! My, oh my what a wonderful day!”

“Trixie, what are you doing?” asks Pinkie Pie.

Trixie dumps the glass in the garbage pan and bounces towards Pinkie Pie with a huge grin on her face, leaving the broom and dustpan by the garbage can. “Hey, Minty! Trixie kinda broke the bathroom mirror when Trixie was sad so Trixie cleaned up the mess and now the bathroom is clean and Trixie is happy.” Trixie takes a deep breath and smiles again while brushing some loose strands of her mane away from her face. “Wow, that was a mouthful.”

“Sounded like it, why don’t you go to bed? You have work tomorrow.”

Trixie gasps. “You’re right, Minty! You’re absolutely right! Trixie shall go to bed and enjoy her beauty rest, for tomorrow she shall be employed!”

“Wait! Before you go to bed, take my blanket. I’ll wash yours since you kinda ruined it.”

“Oh how sweet of you Minty. Did you know you’re my favorite pony?”

Pinkie Pie can’t help but get a small smile as goes to her room to grab the sheets. After grabbing the sheets and carrying it to Trixie’s bed, she starts working to make it more suitable for a pony to sleep on.

“And who is your least favorite?” asks Pinkie Pie while adjusting the sheets.

Trixie taps her chin for a couple of seconds. “Well that would be a toss up between my father and Twilight. They’re both mean. Well actually for my father it would be he was mean since he’s dead now, and Twilight is still mean since she ruined my life when I was starting to get it good.”

“Yeah, Twilight has a way of ruining things,” says Pinkie Pie darkly, her eyes narrowing at the mention of her former friend. Then she realizes what Trixie said about her father and she asks: “What happened to your father, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“He died, duh,” giggles Trixie.

“I know, but how did he die? If you don’t-”

“Some pony broke into his loft, beat the crap out of him, and then threw him out the window.”

Pinkie Pie stops working with the sheets and she carefully asks: “Trixie, what was your father’s name?”

“Eclipse. I’m glad he’s dead. He was a meanie.”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes widen, wondering how she could have possibly missed that critical piece of information. Now she wonders if Roar Shock knew of Trixie’s origins, and if he did, why he would accept her in his ranks, but as her mind races, Trixie interrupts her train of thought with “Tallyho!” as she jumps on her bed. Pinkie Pie takes a step back as Trixie bounces on the bed for a second, laughing like a giddy school girl. Then the azure unicorn scrambles to her feet and pace in circles on her bed like a cat looking for a good spot to lie down. When she finds her spot, she spends another minute or two shifting her position before yawning obnoxiously and closing her eyes while pulling the blanket over herself with her magic.

“Nighty night, Minty!” says Trixie happily from under her covers.

Words elude her for the proper response, so Pinkie Pie looks down and sulks back to the dining room. Once there she is tempted to sit down and finish her work, but with the new revelations and seeing Trixie like that fills her with conflicting emotions and questioning Roar Shock’s intent with her. She knows Roar Shock is still alive, she can feel it, but she doesn’t know if he wants to do anything with Trixie or if he even knows that Trixie is related to his greatest enemy. But when it comes to seeing Trixie smiling, on the one hand, it’s nice to see a smile, on the other, it was a drug induced happiness so it shouldn’t count. Plus, she kind of scared Pinkie Pie with how easy she was able to talk about her father’s brutal demise. Then there is the fact that Pinkie Pie wants to figure out who murdered Bon Bon and why, but her need to write down everything she saw in the office and roster is being replaced with the sudden urge to bake goodies.

Pinkie Pie sighs, closes and pushes her notebook away, and starts taking out ingredients and baking ware as quietly as possible. Baking has always helped her think, and tonight should be no different.