Arc 2- 9 (Betrayals [B])

Honesty Missing!

Applejack & MacIntosh “Big Mac” Apple

disappear from Ponyville Estate

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By: Featherweight Light

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PONYVILLE--- Ponyville has once again been struck with a tragedy. Two staples of the Ponyville community, Applejack and MacIntosh Apple, disappeared late last night from their home with little to no clues of their whereabouts. The Local Guards are coordinating a search effort with the citizens of Ponyville and the Equestrian Investigation Bureau to search for the Apples.

“Rest assured, the EIB is doing everything in its power to assist Ponyville and to find the cherished members of their community,” said Director Brisk Wind. “Apple Bloom Apple will be taken into EIB custody until we can find a suitable home for her or until her relatives are recovered.” Unfortunately Ponyville’s list of missing has grown over the past week. The Whooves also went missing a few days ago and their daughter, Dinky Whooves, was also taken into EIB custody. Despite best efforts by the Ponyville City Council and the EIB, paranoia has taken a hold of the once peaceful town.

“I don’t like it,” said somepony who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t like the EIB here. I don’t like whatever that CDA hub is. And I don’t like that ponies that speak out against the Royal Government disappear within the next couple of days.”

The Apples and Whooves worked closely together to protest the increase in Royal Government mandates. More specifically on the issues of nationalized farms and the Special Talent’s Act, which led to Sweet Apple Acres’ change in management and encouraged Derpy Whooves to resign her position as head of the Ponyville Post Office and taking over management at the Cloudsdale Bubble Factory.

Continued on Next Page

++++++++++

Pinkie Pie rereads the newspaper article for the umpeenth time, every word sends a shiver up her spine, and the whole thing stinks worse than a dead fish rotting in a septic tank. On top of the uneasiness she’s getting from the article, her mane is also itching and her body is getting tingly.

Pinkie Pie looks over her shoulder  and sees Trixie’s door is still shut. Ever since she found out about what happened with the League she had been an emotional wreck. She didn’t go out yesterday night to beat up any criminals or stop vandalism, she just kept herself locked in her room, mumbling about some pony named Sunshine and how she’s “never there”. Pinkie Pie is also certain Trixie is suffering from a withdrawal, her whole body had turned pale and her eyes keep shifting. On top of that, she’s been a roller coaster of every negative emotion there is. One minute she’s weeping, the next she’s screaming (mostly about Sunshine), and other times she’s cowering in the corner.

She isn’t sure what happened between Trixie and Shining Armor, though, and every time she asked in the past twenty four hours, she got a nasty tongue lashing and was told to mind her own business. That usually followed by Trixie crying and begging for someone to hold her. In an attempt to keep Trixie calm, Pinkie Pie kept the radio turned to Scratch FM. Right now a hardrock song by Ghostie Hunter was being played over the radio.

As the music plays, Pinkie Pie knocks on Trixie’s door.

“Trixie, you okay?” asks Pinkie Pie.

No answer.

Pinkie Pie opens the door and sees Trixie staring at the Mare-Do-Well costume, eyes red and coat soaked in tears. She looks at her for a second before looking back at the armored costume.

“You okay?” asks Pinkie Pie.

Trixie sniffles. “Do you believe in ghosts?” she asks distantly.

“Of course I do.” Pinkie Pie sits next to Trixie. “Why?”

Trixie shakes her head, and then she closes her eyes and starts trembling. “I... I don’t know. I hear Sunshine, but ghosts don’t go away with pills.” Trixie forces a chuckle. “I’m going insane.”

“Trixie, it’s going to be alright, okay?” Pinkie Pie hugs Trixie, but she continues staring at the costume. “It’s going to be sunshine and rainbows in the end, you’ll see.”

“Sunshine,” says Trixie in a low growl.

“And rainbows. Whoever ‘Sunshine’ is, will soon disappear and you’ll be left with something a million times better than a warm summer day. You’ll see that all good deeds are rewarded, whether it’s in this life or the next. You’ll see.”

Trixie tenses up and grabs the armored costume in her hooves, and she scowls at it.

“That is what Pinkie Pie told you to say to Octavia, right?” says Trixie.

Pinkie Pie’s heart starts racing, and the itching and tingling gets worse.

“That’s right,” says Pinkie Pie carefully.

Trixie looks at Pinkie Pie and she releases her and steps back as Trixie stands up, fuming. “That pegasus thought you were Pinkie Pie... but I killed her. I watched her die... and now I’m wearing this suit... Her suit.” says Trixie; Pinkie Pie tries to say something, but Trixie talks over her in a dangerous voice that demands answers. “Why did she call you ‘Pinkie Pie’?”

“Mistaken identity,” says Pinkie Pie quickly, her mane itching, and not because of the wig.

Trixie’s eyes narrowed and she levitated the suit next to her.

“Who are you, really?” she demands, eye twitching and horn flaring. “‘Candy Associate’? Shielding me and yourself from that high maintenance slut? Brought to tears by the mentioning of Spike?” Trixie leans forward and through clenched teeth she says: “Who. Are. You.”

“I am Minty-”

“DON’T LIE TO ME!”

Trixie throws down the costume and takes a threatening step towards Pinkie Pie, and she backs up, feeling nothing but sheer terror upon seeing Trixie’s wrathful sparks and her grinding teeth. Pinkie Pie holds up her hoof defensively and tries to talk some sense into Trixie; now the itching in her mane and the tingling in her body is becoming too painful to ignore.

“Trixie, I need you to calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down! YOU USED ME!”

“It’s not like that!”

“Then what is like, huh? Tell me, because I would really like to know!”

Pinkie Pie bites her lip and looks down, trying to think of an answer. Should she tell her that the ponies she thought were dead were not? Or should she tell her that she’s training her through an extremely unorthodox method to combat the said ponies?

“Trixie, I’m trying to help you,” she says meekly.

Trixie scoffs and runs her hoof through her mane. “Help? Yeah, that’s what they all say. Help. Help. Help. Help. Help. The ponies on the road were glad to help after I gave them a blowjob!”

Now Pinkie Pie’s body is really acting up. She’s practically dancing in the same spot and her eyes are darting to every noise there is. Was she hearing flapping? Cars pulling up? That can’t be right, it’s curfew. Her Pinkie Sense is going crazy now.

“Trixie-”

“Or how about little private shows? Yeah, fan-fucking-TASTIC!”

Pinkie Pie runs towards the window and sees three EIB vehicles outside the apartment with ponies hopping out, all unicorns, wearing armored suits and carrying weapons. Then she notices a griffin land next to a unicorn stallion, they talk for a couple of seconds before the griffin flies off.

“And now I’ve been PLAYED LIKE A FOOL by Sunshine AND YOU!”

Pinkie Pie grabs Trixie and looks her in the eyes. “Trixie, I know you’re a little upset right now, but-”

“UNDERSTATEMENT!”

“We need to get out of here! Like right now!”

Trixie bats Pinkie Pie’s hoof away. Pinkie Pie winces, the hoof that was batted away was the one injured during her fight with her. But pushing all pain aside, she looks out the window again and sees a griffin flying towards their window. And it’s picking up speed.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” sneers Trixie.

“GET DOWN!”

Pinkie Pie tackles Trixie to the ground and a griffin armed with a small gatling rifle flies through the window, showering both ponies with shards of glass. When the griffin skids to a stop, Pinkie Pie scrambles to her feet and rams the griffin into the wall with enough power to leave it stuck in it. For good measure she punches it in the gut and as it keels over she socks it in the head, knocking it out cold. Trixie looks freaked out with no signs of anger now.

Pinkie Pie turns to Trixie and yells: “RUN!”

Another griffin flies through the window and tackles Pinkie Pie to the ground. The griffin is punched in the throat, and as it gags and falls off, Pinkie Pie bites down on its tail and swing it into the bed. The bed snaps and the griffin becomes still.

Pinkie Pie then pushes Trixie towards the front door, but the unicorn didn’t need much convincing. She bolts towards the door and both of them run into the hallway, only for the elevator door to slide open and four EIB ponies to march out with their battle saddles aimed at them.

Pinkie Pie bites on Trixie’s tail, throws her back inside and then slams the door shut while Trixie uses her magic to push the fridge in the way. Soon after there is thumping and the door starts cracking and the fridge tries to move, but Trixie’s magic is holding it in place.

“Trixie, do your super form thingy!” orders Pinkie Pie. She runs into her room and is greeted by two more griffins. They are quickly acquainted with her hooves. After taking out those two, she grabs one of their small gatling rifles with her mouth and runs out.

“I can’t!” cries Trixie.

Pinkie Pie spits out the weapon. “What do you mean you can’t!?”

“It only works-” the fridge starts getting pushed back by magic and Trixie yelps and tries harder to keep it in place while Pinkie Pie pushes against it. “It only works if I’m mad!”

“We just got sold out! That doesn’t make you mad!?”

“No! It’s makes me scared!”

“Oh so me lying to you ticks you off, but getting sold out makes you scared!”

Trixie strains her magic to keep the fridge in place.

“Now is a bad time to argue!” whines Trixie.

“Unbelievable!” cries Pinkie Pie. “You got defense mechanisms! Use them!”

“What do you think I’m doing!”

Pinkie Pie growls and when bullets tear apart the door and barely miss Trixie, she pulls the unicorn down. Pinkie Pie’s hair has flattened under her wig and her pupils have shrunken, and to Trixie, Pinkie Pie looks like she’s snapping.

“Being difficult!” says Pinkie Pie angrily. She dives for the small gatling gun, puts it in her mouth, and while she’s still on the floor she turns on her back and pulls the trigger with her tongue, spraying the wall and door with lead. The agents outside swear and some bodies drop, but Pinkie Pie doesn’t know -nor does she care- if  they were shot or just diving for cover. What she does care about, though, is the pain in her mouth. She angrily spits out the smoking weapon, mouth now bruised and bleeding. “Aaahow! Jeez, how can anypony shoot with their mouth!”

An EIB agent pokes her head through the hole, and Pinkie Pie quickly jumps on top of the fridge and slams the agent’s face against it. It leaves a nice, bloody dent in the said object and the agent falls to the ground without a peep. When that’s done, Pinkie Pie jumps off of the fridge, runs into the kitchen and grabs a fire extinguisher.

“I toss you, you shoot!”

“What?”

More bullets go through, and one grazes Pinkie Pie’s shoulder, leaving a gory gash. She swears and falls to the ground, trying to put pressure on her injury. Blood seeps out from under her hoof and more bullets go through the door and wall, making both of them lie on the floor while covering their heads with their hooves to shield themselves from the flying splinters. Soon the door is nothing but mere splinter hanging from hinges and the wall is nearly useless. The two trapped ponies can see the EIB agents outside, and show their respects to a fifth one that had just arrived; the newcomer is a stallion, and he doesn’t look too happy about the situation.

“Be careful! They’re supposed to be alive!” barks the stallion.

Pinkie Pie grits her teeth in response to her pain and throws the fire extinguisher through the gaping hole in the door. The agents’ eyes grow to the size of dinner plates when Pinkie Pie yells “Shoot!” and when Trixie fires, the wrath of an exploding fire extinguisher in unleashed. All the ponies are blasted off of their feet. Some crash into the destroyed wall, almost going through it, and the sound of glass shattering suggests that someone is now in free fall.

Pinkie Pie bites back her pain and limps towards the hole. She looks outside and sees the EIB agents are unconscious and that the window in the hallway is gone. She hops out of the room and looks out the window to see an EIB agent on his back inside a motorized wagon five stories down. He fell through the roof and looks as good as dead. Pinkie Pie runs back inside and snaps Trixie out of her trance.

“Put the suit on and let’s go,” orders Pinkie Pie.

Trixie nods and puts on the armored costume without any protest -keeping the helmet clipped around the back of her neck- and follows Pinkie Pie out. Pinkie Pie winces with each step and when they enter the stairwell she can only think of colorful, profane phrases as she looks at the flight of stairs. Walking down those is going to hurt, plain and simple.

“You okay, Minty, or whoever you are?” asks Trixie uneasily.

Pinkie Pie snickers and tries to look at the bright side of the situation as she looks over the railing; she found only one good thing about the situation. “I’ve had worse.”

oooOOOooo

Lock’s ears twitch when he hears the stairwell doors shut, and he groans and opens his eyes to see the mess. His agents are all sprawled out, unconscious, with one of them more than likely dead. He looks behind him and sees the window, or what’s left of it, and when he looks outside he brings the count up to two. Lock then levitates his pistol while arming his battle saddle and walks towards the door with his already deteriorating calm demeanor fading quicker. When he opens up the door he doesn’t see his targets anywhere, but he does see a trail of blood.

Lock smirks and begins his pursuit.

oooOOOooo

Trixie watches in wonder -and fear- as Minty beats a group of three griffins easily; she shrugs off the scratches and bullet grazes like they were nothing. And one of the things that freaks out Trixie the most is that she seems to be enjoying beating her targets to bloody pulps. The aftermath of the battle between Minty and their assailants is like a scene from a horror movie. The lights are flickering on and off and the walls and floor are splattered with blood and damaged by the innumerable amount of bullet holes, cracks, and indents. Littering the floor with griffins and ponies of all shapes and sizes, bloody with limbs bent at angles that they should not be bending. As Trixie watches Minty beat the last of the griffins into a coma it sinks in how fast her parole officer is. She’s ridiculously fast. So fast, in fact, that it seems like she’s...

Teleporting.

Trixie’s jaw drop and shakes uncontrollably as she backs up slowly as Pinkie Pie ruthlessly finishes off a griffin. The griffin’s squawking is brought to a sudden end when Pinkie Pie brings her hooves down on its head. There is a crunch and the griffin’s limps stiffen for a moment before going slack. Then Pinkie Pie turns around and looks at Trixie, face and body covered in scratches, bullet grazes, and her blood as well as her victims’.

“You look sick,” says Pinkie Pie eerily between her heavy pants.

“No... No... I-I killed you! I saw you die!” cries Trixie fearfully.

"I fell trying to fix something."

“I did what I had to do.”

Pinkie Pie starts walking forward with a sway, her creepy smile growing with each step.

“Is there something I can do to help? A party perhaps? Parties make everypony feel better,” she says.

Trixie backs up into the stairwell door, and her heart feels like its going to explode from how fast it’s beating and from how much she’s sweating from fear, she’d probably turn into a mummy. Her ears droop and she lets out a little whine when the lights above Pinkie Pie’s head flickers off for the last time, yet her blue eyes are still seen clearly in the darkness.

“Now that’s how ya do it!” cheers Sunshine, appearing next to Pinkie Pie when the light flickers. “That’s how ya kick ass!”

“Pinkie Pie... is that... that can’t be you,” whimpers Trixie.

“Maybe a game? Games are just as fun as parties,” says Pinkie Pie, snickering a second later. Trixie shakes her head while slowly backing away and Pinkie Pie pouts.”You aren’t a boring old drag queen like Twilight are you?”

“Twilight has a way of ruining things.”

“Or Rarity? Bleh. Those two are sooooo uptight.” Pinkie Pie sits on her haunches and nuzzles her bloody cheek against her hooves, poorly mimicking Rarity’s voice. “So much fashion. I must sew clothes, darling. Lot’s and lot’s of clothes are needed for my new line up: Pinkie is a Meanie.”

The lights flicker again and Pinkie Pie stomps on a mare that had the misfortune of groaning. The sickening stomp quiets the pony, and from the sounds of bone crunching under her hoof, she probably ended her life.

“And Twilight and alllll of her studies,” continues Pinkie Pie, now hoping on each of the bodies that she could land on while doing a poor impression of Twilight. “How many ponies would it take to subdue Pinkius Piecus? Must do more research. More. More. More studies and notes. Lot’s and lot’s of notes!”

Pinkie Pie stops and looks at Trixie, she’s trembling and whimpering: “This can’t be happening.”

Sunshine’s chuckle echoes in the hallway. “Oh, it is, darlin’.”

Pinkie Pie grins and cocks her head. “We are friends, right?”

Trixie blinks, but that gives Pinkie Pie enough time to knock Trixie through the door and on her back in the stairwell. She winces as her back collides with the hard concrete, and when her eyes get back to focus she sees Agent Lock approaching them from the top of the stairs, keeping his weapons trained on them.

“Well, are we, Trixie?” asks Pinkie Pie, her crazy eyes locking onto Trixie’s.

“Pinkie Pie, snap out of it!” cries Trixie as she looks back at Pinkie Pie.

“Silly filly, ponies can’t snap. You need fingers to snap. Minotaurs have fingers, they can snap.”

“It’s over, Minty and Trixie, give up,” says Lock.

Trixie looks at Lock, overwhelmed with fear. “Lock, that isn’t Mmmph”

Pinkie Pike puts her hoof on top of Trixie’s mouth and puts her bloody hoof to her mouth while shushing her.

“You’ll ruin the game, Trixie,” snickers Pinkie Pie. Then she looks at Lock, smiling; her insane smile makes him take a step back. “Hey there, do you wanna play a game?”

“I want you to surrender,” says Lock as he aims his weapons at Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie snickers and gets up and cracks her back. Trixie remembers how she kicked her off the edge and how she landed on her back on a pile of garbage. When Pinkie Pie crawls off of Trixie, she approaches Lock and Trixie gets on her feet and runs. Not even two seconds later she hears them fighting... and then gunshots... and then a body rolling down the stairs... and then silence. Trixie turns and stares at the door, her heart is threatening to burst out of her chest and her vision clouded with tears. She watches a silhouette of a pony appear in the foggy stairwell glass and she takes a step back as the shadowy figure stays there. Then the door is bucked off of its hinges and it slides across the floor and skids to a stop in front of Trixie. Lock steps into the hallway, panting and face and neck sleek with blood, and he glares at Trixie with his weapons trained on her. Trixie’s eyes bulge and she dives into the hallway curve as bullets tear apart the area she was at moments earlier.

“Get back here!” yells Lock furiously.

Trixie scrambles to her feet and runs down the hallway, listening to Lock’s determined gallop after her. The way he’s trailing Trixie reminds her of those cyborgs in the science fiction books whose only purpose is to kill. Trixie runs faster and right as she’s about to go through the emergency exit, Lock fires a short burst from his weapons, most of the bullets miss, but a couple graze her and one tears into her leg. Trixie screams and falls to the ground, and when she tries crawling away, leaving a trail of blood in her wake, Lock stomps on her back. She cries out as she feels the hoof crack her vest.

“Give up, Trixie, there’s nowhere for you to go. It’s all over for you,” says Lock.

He kicks Trixie on her back and presses his hoof down on her chest. She gasps and she feels the air get pushed out of her. Trixie then notices that Lock has an unprotected part of his body.

“I was -I was trying to help!” cries Trixie painfully, shifting her legs and wincing when her shot leg gets a surge of pain in protest for moving it.

“Vigilantism is terrorism, Lulamoon, and for that you- GRRRK!”

Lock falls over and curls up, holding his precious gonads, and Trixie gets up and bites back her tears as she limps towards the door. However, Lock pounces on her again! Her body is squished between him and the floor, and she starts screaming and thrashing as the thoughts of Sunshine trying to have his way with her invade her mind.

“No! Nononononono! No!” sobs Trixie, panicking even more when she feels Lock press against her. She can’t hear what he’s saying over her shouting.

“Ooh, now that’s kinky,” snickers Sunshine as he walks in her line of sight, grinning. “A hero and an officer of the law, t’gether fer some steamy fun. Mind if I join?”

Trixie screams and pushes herself on her hind legs and lets herself fall backwards. Now Lock is pressed between her and the floor, and the helmet in his face isn’t making things any more comfortable for him. Trixie soon finds herself weightless and the ceiling panel taking up her whole vision, followed by splinters scratching her face and her landing on her back. Trixie groans and blinks blood out of her eyes, wishing that she had just put the stupid helmet on.

“Get up and fight, Trixie,” urges Sunshine. “I wanna see some action!”

Trixie groggily pushes herself to her feet, only for magic to lift her up, slam her back into the ceiling, and then get tossed into the wall, leaving a pony sized spider web patterned crack in it. She coughs out blood as drywall and other bits of the wall and ceiling fall around and over the ringing in her ears and thumping heart, she can hear Lock demeaning her.

“So, this is the one who killed Laughter and destroyed half of Ponyville? Pathetic.”

Lock stomps on her side and she cries as she curls up; the armor did next to nothing on his stomp. The power of his stomp has cracked the suit and left her ribs cracked.

“We just got sold out! That doesn’t make you mad!?”

“No! It’s makes me scared!”

Trixie grits her teeth and ignores the burning pain in her legs and the poking feeling in her chest as she stands up. Lock goes for another kick, but she blocks it and uses a telekinetic blast to knock him into the wall. He quickly gets back up and when he tries to shoot her with his battle saddle she zaps it with a lightning bolt, blowing the weapon clean off, and then jabs him in the jaw with a powerful hoof that knocks him off of his feet.

Lock gets back to his feet and tries to use his telekinesis to knock Trixie back, but Trixie was also thinking of the same thing in regards of Lock. Both unicorns grunt and strain themselves as their telekinesis meet in the middle, their magical aura mixes into a disgusting colored blob and pushes anything in their range. Debris is pushed against the floor, walls, and ceiling, and the hallway groans and fresh cracks snake out from every solid surface around the magical blob.

Trixie grits her teeth and closes her eyes for concentration, trying to think of anything she can use against Lock. And when she opens her eyes she sees her opponent diverting some of his magic to aim his pistol at her.

===

Trixie laughed victoriously as she knocked Gray Muffin to the ground with a well placed buck to the noggin. He shook off the pain with ease and smiled proudly at Trixie.

“Very good, Trixie, those double shifts are proving to be effective,” said Gray Muffin proudly.

“So, what’s next?” asked Trixie.

“Distractions.”

BOOM!

Trixie was covered by a dust cloud and was disoriented by a ringing in her ears, and the shock also made her wobbly. Then she got one, two, three  quick jabs one final kick in the chest that sent her skidding backwards on the mat. Trixie moaned and tried to get up as her mentor walked out of the dust cloud like a demon of vengeance.

“When in doubt, improvise and create a distraction,” he said. He extended his hoof and Trixie took it, only to be smacked across the face, leading her to fall flat on her face on the mat with a bloody mouth. “Also, never trust your target to help you.”

===

Trixie steps forward, much to Lock’s surprise, and with an enraged scream she flicks her magic to the ceiling, which guides Lock’s magic up with it. The result is the ceiling exploding outward, and then collapsing on top of both of them and covering everything in debris and dust. Lock loses all concentration on his magic and brings his hoof to cover his nose and mouth, coughing sickly, while Trixie ignores the burning in her lungs and eyes from the aftermath such a maneuver and charges Lock. Lock blinks dust out of his eyes and when he sees Trixie leap for him, he tries to bring his hooves up for a block, but Trixie knocks his hooves away and then does one, two, three quick jabs and one final kick that sends him skidding backwards on the messy floor.

Much to Trixie’s surprise, Lock doesn’t stay down long. While Lock coughs and recollects himself, Trixie puts on the helmet, and when Lock sees Trixie glaring at him from behind the pegasi goggles he snickers after spitting blood from his mouth.

“I’m impressed, but that still won’t won’t save you,” sneers Lock.

Trixie charges him with her horn sparking and he quickly yanks out his pistol from the debris with his magic and fires three shots. The first shot grazes her shoulder, the second blows a hole in her hat, chipping off a piece of her horn, and the final bullet rips through her hoof, squirting the area with her blood. Trixie screams in pain as she tumbles end over end and lands on her face, but not without zapping Lock first. The bolt of lightning strikes him in the chest and sends him flying backward, black smoke rising off of his chest, and he falls to the ground with a grunt. Trixie sobs out of anger and pain as she pushes herself up; her whole body is wobbly from her injured hooves and the blood from the scratches on her face are oozing through her mask. Even her horn is seeping grayish magenta magical “blood” from the chip.

Trixie stares at Lock, he’s lying on the ground, motionless, and the reek of burnt flesh and cloth is leaving a bad taste in her mouth. Trixie is about to make sure that Lock won’t be getting up anytime soon, but the door opens up and the EIB agents from her floor rush in while two more griffins break through the windows to the hallway. They waste no time in shooting at her.

Trixie shoots off a couple of lightning bolts, which proves to be a horrible idea as it leaves her feeling like someone shattered her skull with sledgehammer-chainsaw thing and leads to her getting more grazes and another bullet in her leg. Trixie limps into the emergency exit stairwell as her enemies continue to shoot like madmen. When inside the stairwell, she gets a surge of crippling pain that causes her collapse, and she instinctively crawls away as bullets shatter the glass and tear the door dozens of new holes. Trixie then rolls down the stairs, adding fresh bruises and damaged bones to her list of injuries, and when she lands on the floor she limps outside. As soon as she gets outside she sees genuine EIB covered mini trains she almost collapses from shock; the EIB is going all out to get her now that she’s a “terrorist” and testifying against them. Shining Armor was right.

===

“Trixie, I’m grateful for what you told me, but I have to warn you, if the EIB found out that you talked to me then they will come after you,” said Shining Armor as he put the tape of their recording in his safe.

“Why not convince Celestia shut them down if they are targeting innocent ponies?” asked Trixie, not really caring, she just wants to get out. “You are the Captain of the Guard, after all. Isn’t that the next best thing to Royalty?”

“I tried, but she won’t listen. She’s been really reluctant to let me do an investigation into them. Especially after the Pre-Gala.”

“So, you’re doing this behind her back?”

“... Just be careful. If they come after you, run and hide. Don’t tell anypony -even Minty Sprinkles- where you’ll be going. I’ll come find you.”

===

Trixie doesn’t hesitate to listen to Shining Armor’s advice as she turns tail and limps down the road, leaving a bloody trail behind. A part of her wants to stay and fight, but her intelligence is telling her that she’s as good as dead if she fights them in her condition. Even if she wanted to, a damaged horn is keeping her from going “super” and blood loss is making her weak. They already killed Minty Sprinkles, or Pinkie Pie, her friend. They killed her friend and now they’re going to kill her unless she can get out.

oooOOOooo

Lock once again finds himself groaning and under a lot of pain. His chest feels tight, his jaw hurts, and probably infected with something since Minty Sprinkles turned into a cannibalistic freak in their fight on the stairs. He reminds himself to see a doctor about any infections; pony mouths are disgusting after all.

He’s helped to his feet by his agents. There are two griffins standing around, looking bored, too.

“Sir, the Night Guard is on their way with SWAT,” says one of the agents.

“Where’s Trixie?” demands Lock, grunting in pain as he shrugs an agent away.

“She got away,” grumbles one of the griffins.

Lock growls and looks at the agent that told him of the Night Guards. “When will they arrive?”

“Less than ten minutes,” replies the agent.

Lock sniffs, wipes some blood off of his face and then turns around and shoots both of the griffins in the head. The agent jumps back and he looks at all of his agents while the griffins crumble to the ground with holes in their heads and bloody circles splattered on the wall behind them.

“Kill all the griffins. Alibi is that we were trying to save the residents of Apartment five oh five, Trixie Lulamoon and Minty Sprinkles, from Gilda’s muscle and things took a dive for the worst. Leave it at that,” orders Lock.

“But aren’t we working with the griffins to help-”

The agent doesn’t finish her words as Lock emotionlessly executes her on the spot, splattering her blood on the faces of the others. The surviving agents jump back and stare at Lock with horror as their comrade lies dead in front of them. Murdered by their superior.

“That’ll be your fate if you mess up. Got it?” growls Lock.

The agents nod and reluctantly follow Lock outside when he orders them to follow him. Outside the griffins and agents are sealing up the EIB truck and Lock whistles for everyone to give him their undivided attention. The griffins and agents look at him and Lock aims his pistol at the nearest griffin and fires without hesitation.

oooOOOooo

Trixie leans against a dumpster and thinks of passing out right then and there. The pavement is comfortable anyway. Then there is a single gunshot. Then there are more gunshots and her ears stand up as she uses the dumpster for support. The gunshots sound like a small battle, and as quickly as it came, it went.

Trixie slumps to the ground, her legs feel like jelly, the pain in her horn makes her want to crawl in a hole and die, and she feels like she’s going to be sick. All that fancy talk of Brisk Wind offering to extend an olive branch took the express flight right out the window. But as much as she would like to mope and think about how her situation sucks, she knows she can’t stay. And when she hears the sirens and sees the lights of Night Guard vehicles speeding towards her, she disappears into the alley, leaving a bloody smear on the dumpster.

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

Vinyl Scratch, a.k.a. DJ-Pon3, a.k.a. “Tenant Who Needs To Pay Rent”, is sitting inside her sanctum of music, listening to a 3 Barns Up song and projecting it for all in range to hear. All of the radio equipment a pony could possibly dream of is stacked in this dimly lit room; no pony’s radio is safe from her scanners, no music update is left unchecked, no news left unheard, no pony without entertainment from Canterlot all the wall to Dodge City. But not only is there every bit of radio equipment on the market in her possession, she also has an overabundance of reminders of who her sponsors are. Ranging from posters from energy companies, to figurines belonging to toy lines, and empty bottles of alcoholic beverages and energy drinks. And to finish it off her decorations, she has a gift from the Lunar Society. Its a navy blue flag with the white, upside crescent moon with wings hanging on the wall behind the equipment.

“Now if I could just win the damn lottery,” mumbles Vinyl Scratch lightly as she takes a swig of Double F beer. It’s true she has a lot of money, but keeping the station up to date with every bit of information is expensive; from maintaining contacts with other stations, to scheduling talks with agents to see what’s going on with celebrities, and, of course, keeping her scanners a secret from the government. All that leaves barely enough money money for rent and food.

When the song ends, Vinyl Scratch wipes some of her mane out of her bright red eyes and leans towards the microphone.

“You guys liked that, didn’t ya? Of course you did. These guys are rocking out the music industry! But now it’s time to stop rockin’ and time to put you guys to bed.” Vinyl Scratch flips a switch, puts the dial to “Loop” and sweet, soft music starts playing over the radio. The music is so heartwarming, so soothing, that she almost passes out right on the spoty. “Here’s a lullaby called ‘Hush Now’, sung by the one and only Fluttershy. Sleep tight everypony.”

Vinyl Scratch yawns and climbs on her flimsy cot and pulls her ratty blanket over herself and shuts her eyes for a good night’s sleep. Then there is a weak knock on her door, and at first she thinks its her imagination, but when the weak knocking persists, getting weaker by the knock, she gets up, grabs a bat with her magic, and approaches the door. She looks out the peephole and sees no one, but the knocking continues. That is when the DJ realizes that it’s coming from the side door.

“Side door, huh?”

She puts the bat away and after digging through a field of styrofoam cups, crumpled paper, and half eaten sandwiches she levitates a double barreled shotgun from under her cot before cautiously approaching the side door. The knocking stops and Vinyl Scratch peeks through the peephole to see... nothing.

“So, they wanna play that way, eh?”

She puts on her glasses and flings open her door with her shotgun at the ready. She doesn’t see anyone around, but she does notice bloody hoofprints on her door and when she looks down and her jaw drops. Lying on the ground, covered in blood and bullet holes, is the one and only Vigilante.