Arc 2- 11 (Looming War)

“Society goes through many phases, how fast they go through these phases can never be determined except by the will and courage of its citizens. Society is born from spiritual faith. They rise out of the bondage of their slave masters and embrace the common faith of the land to form a unified force that holds the common good on the highest pedestal. Out of the spiritual faith comes the courage to do what is right by their brothers and sisters, and the courage to defend their homes and neighbors from those that threaten them; whether it be foreign or domestic. From their courage comes liberty, something that is more valued than spiritual faith. Liberty brings the ability to have agency over ones own lives, and with that comes the spark of responsibility and a means of defense against those who wish to repress the lives of the commoner. From liberty comes prosperity, as those who wish to lead their own lives without the shackles of predestiny gives those the courage to build vast wealth using the power of free enterprise to leave for their families and friends and for the commoner to use to better their lives. However, once a civilization becomes wealthy, it loses ambition, it becomes complacent as they do not feel the need to strive for a higher level. From their complacency comes apathy, which leads to the corruption of all that the civilization has been founded on. They will twist their morals and hide behind lies claiming to be truths if it means not having to work or fight, for it would destroy the comforting lives their parents have left for them. With this apathy, the sense of community is lost. No one will believe in their neighbor, or their spiritual foundation, rather they will put their faith into the corrupted state they have built out of their apathy. From their dependance of the state will come the loss of what made the civilization great. Any means of freedom will be twisted to that of free food, free homes, free lives, but at the cost of predestiny. Those who dare to fight will be deemed crazy and become an enemy of the established order, and will be brought to madness. From their madness will come blind rage fueled by the hatred of the state and anyone who supports it. Their rage will bring forth terrible actions, bringing the suppressed to support the tyrannical state in exchange for protection, thus solidifying the state of slavery. From the ashes of slavery freedom is born. From the ashes it will return.”

-The Lunar Republic, Chapter XXI “The Cycle of Freedom”

++++++++++

Brisk Wind stares at the photos given to here at the warehouse crime scene; a dozen of her agents... dead. A dozen griffins... dead. Octavia... dead. And Lock... dead. Bringing it up to twenty six people dead in the old Flim Flam Cider Warehouse. The pictures are gruesome, all of the victims were beaten and then shot, but even if they weren’t shot there is a good chance they would’ve died from their other injuries. She had heard that Rainbow Dash had arrived, screaming for help at the Canterlot Royal Hospital with Minty Sprinkles bleeding to death in her hooves. But she highly doubts that Rainbow Dash could take out a two dozen people; especially if half of them are griffins. It is obvious that Rainbow Dash had help, and Brisk Wind had called Major Fuller as soon as she heard about Rainbow Dash and informed him of what she had done.

When she looks at the mess in the pictures her vision turns red as she wants to make those responsible suffer, especially for what they did to Lock. He got the worst of it and she almost puked when she saw his once beautiful face destroyed beyond recognition. His horn had been completely destroyed, parts of his skull were poking out, and then someone had the audacity to shoot him in the head even though it was quite clear he was dead. Whoever was responsible for the massacre was obviously soulless. But not only is she worried about losing her top agent, she’s worried by what Gilda would do. She lost her lieutenant and over twenty of her griffins. Then there’s Shining Armor, she knows he’ll be poking his head in her business.

Brisk Wind sniffles and closes the folder with all the crime scene photos and then she looks at the orphanage photo. She scowls and pushes it in the garbage can, then she slides out of her chair and looks at all those working on writing their letters, organizing and doing other boring paper pushing jobs. After observing her workers for a minute she goes back to her desk and stares off into space, wishing she had a clock or something to look at.

“Sorry Lock,” she says quietly.

Her ears perk when she hears a knock on the door, and when she looks up she sees nothing but blinds covering her office door window. She quickly straightens herself out and hides the files before looking at the door again.

“Door’s open,” says Brisk Wind with a wave of her hoof and reclines coolly in her seat. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”

“Oh really?” asks Fancypants rhetorically with a rude tone as he walks inside the pegasus’s office. “I guess that means you have a fantastic explanation as to what the hay happened!”

Fancypants slams the door shut and Brisk Wind frowns and ruffles her feathers as she stands up, but Fancypants doesn’t falter as he stomps towards her desk.

“You were not who I was expecting,” says Brisk Wind coldly.

“Too bad, you still have a lot of explaining to do,” says Fancypants, his tone matching hers.

“I don’t have to explain anything to you.”

“You come to me for help with your program, then you harass one of my employees to where she leaves in tears, and then she goes missing after her apartment is shot up by your agents! That warrants for an explanation!”

“Who said-”

“Do not take me as a fool, Director. Where is she.”

Brisk Wind exhales and approaches Fancypants and has to crane her neck slightly to look at his eyes. Her eyes narrow and she pokes him in the chest hard enough to make him stumble back a bit.

“Let’s get something straight here, Fancypants, you work for me. I will not be questioned on what I do, especially by somepony like you.”

“Brisk Wind, I swear to Celestia if you did anything to Trixie I’ll-”

“You’ll do what? End me?” Brisk Wind snickers and walks back to her table, regaining her proud demeanor as she flaps her wings slightly and gives her tail a quick flick. “Fancypants, you are one of the few I actually like. It would be tragic if I had to bring you in for something you tried so hard to bury. Your reputation, your marriage, your friendships, all destroyed with one simple revelation.”

Fancypants pales and Brisk Wind grins as she sits down at her chair. As she stares at him with that evil smile of hers, he starts shifting in his spot uneasily and sweating nervously.

“What are you talking about?”

“Just because you run away from your past doesn’t mean its no longer there.” Brisk Wind ducks down behind her desk, opens up her safe, and pulls out Fancypants’s file. “It would be a shame if one of the more popular citizens of Equestria was arrested for being a muscle for Eclipse.”

Fancypants growls and points at Brisk Wind threateningly. “You told me I was cleared of that!”

Brisk Wind sighs dramatically. “Look, I’m not really in the mood for your thespian-y drama. Why would I clear you of your wrongdoings when I can hold them over your head, just in case something like this happened? I had thought I wouldn’t have to resort to such measures, but I was wrong.”

Fancypants’s jaw tightens as he scuffs his hoof against the floor, but Brisk Wind shows no signs of intimidation.

“You work for me, Fancypants, not for yourself or anypony else. Just. Me. Now there will be no more questions regarding Trixie or my activities or I will destroy you. Clear?”

Fancypants glares at Brisk Wind for a few more seconds before letting out a heavy sigh and leaving, slamming the door shut on his way out. When Brisk Wind hears Fancypants’s hoof-steps fade away her smile disappears and she rubs her temple.

“This is going to be a bad day,” grumbles Brisk Wind.

Then there is a dinging of a bell. Brisk Wind grumbles and pushes a hidden button on her desk and a communications contraption rises out of the floor. It is large enough so that a pony can sit or stand in front of it comfortably, and it has a headset hanging on the side on a little hook, a wire that disappears into the floor, and a dial with numbers on it that has a pedal used to select the numbers. Brisk Wind puts on the headset, still mumbling to herself.

“Brisk Wind.”

“Our partnership is through,” growls Gilda on the other end.

Brisk Wind’s blood boils in a matter of seconds and she clenches her teeth while ruffling her feathers.

“I told you never to call me on this number,” says Brisk Wind in a low, yet very angry and dangerous tone.

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

Gilda scoffs and tightens her grip around her phone while looking at the griffins in her office, all of them are arming their battle saddles and other weapons that don’t require a saddle, ready to go and fight the world with pure griffin rage. Then she glances sympathetically at Blair, she still has her face bandaged and she’s shaking as she loads a double barreled shotgun, but she has determination in her eyes. Monte is also sitting next to Blair, sharpening his bladed cards with a whetstone with the help of his magic; unlike the other griffins, he’s actually wearing cheap barding and looks as though he’s about to wet himself.

“Why would I care what a backstabbing bitch like you wants?” sneers Gilda. “I’ve done everything you wanted and yet you still killed my griffins!”

“Let me remind you who you work for, Gilda. You work for me!”

“Not anymore!”

“Gilda, there is still a chance-”

“I’d rather die than spend another day as your slave!”

There is a pause on the other end, then in an eerie, cold tone, Brisk Wind says: “That can easily be arranged.”

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

Brisk Wind slams the headphones back on their hook and pushes the button to retract the phone. When that’s done she pushes another button on her desk. There is a slight crackle before she gets a response from the other end.

“Andromeda,” says the mare on the other end.

“Andromeda, prepare your strike team. We’re bringing in Gilda Grizelda.”

“When?”

“Now.”

“Now?”

“Just do it!”

Brisk Wind releases the button and wipes her snout. Then she secures her files in her safe and goes to her wall. She pushes another button and the wall slides open to reveal barding with the EIB insignia on it and a large revolver hanging next to it with a box of ammo beneath it. She puts on the barding, checks the revolver and ammo, stores it in her barding and leaves her office with her wings outstretched, steps heavy and fire in her eyes.

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

Trixie Lulamoon, magician extraordinaire, is enjoying reading a review about her show in the New Yoke Times in the comfort of her easy chair in her show wagon. The wagon itself is nothing too fancy, it has the necessities for a small living quarter and enough space for her to store all of her eye-popping, jaw-dropping, all around entertaining equipment. Even with all of her fireworks, sparklers, smoke bombs, and random knick-knacks she still has enough room to move around comfortably.

Trixie snickers to herself as she reads the review; whoever wrote the review is saying that it was one of the best show’s she (or he) has ever seen. It has everything she’s looking for. The review loved everything about her presentation, especially with the third pony talk, and is hoping for more of her shows in the future. Trixie’s snickering soon turns into a giddy giggle and kicks her legs excitedly as she rereads the article. She then uses her magic to carefully tear the article out and stick it in her stash of other articles praising her for her undeniably amazing achievements. As she peels the page away she notices another article titled “Gilda Grizelda Makes Fluttershy Cry!” with a picture of a griffin with light purple tipped feathers and eyeshadow. She also looks ticked off from all the negative attention.

Trixie shrugs and reads it because she really has nothing better to do, and besides, she needs to rest and what better way to put herself to sleep than by reading a boring article? Dragging the show wagon is strenuous work, even with some magic that lightens the load. However, being a traveling magician does have it perks, such as choosing one’s own schedule and having to pay no property taxes.

Trixie gets bored while reading the newspaper since it seems like a filler article, and is about to toss it aside, but one name stands out. Twilight Sparkle.

Trixie’s eyes narrow and she leans in closer as if bringing her nose to the parchment will make her see Twilight. That mare that stole her future, and always ignored her whenever they passed by each other in parks or in other public areas or played stupid when she asked for help. The mare that got everything handed to her on a silver platter was now getting more attention than ever before. First, taking her spot in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns; something that the Lulamoon Family fought tooth and hoof to get... something that she blew. Then being personally trained by Celestia herself while she gets stuck with the supposed next best thing. Add in the fact that magic comes so easy to Twilight that she is a literal physical representation of it while Trixie is but a traveling magician. A magician without a mother and a father who disowned her with all of her possessions in her cart.

Trixie scoffs and tosses the newspaper to the ground and folds her hooves across her chest to keep that pompously smug ass named Twilight out of her mind. If any pony deserves to be smug it’s Trixie! She built up everything herself! Nothing was handed to her on a silver platter!

“Stupid Twilight,” grumbles Trixie under her breath.

Then an idea strikes her. She’ll head over to Ponyville and prove to Twilight and all of Equestria that she, the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon, is better than Twilight! She does have raw experience under her star studded cape while Twilight has, what, books? Experience trumps paper, after all. Upstaging Twilight will be her greatest feat, because if she can beat Twilight, then she can prove to everyone that she is the best and not some studious bookworm.

Trixie finds herself giggling at the thought of getting revenge on Twilight after all these years of shadowing her. It is going to be-

There are three unexpected knocks on her cart door that disrupt Trixie’s train of thought. While Trixie glares at her cart entrance, wondering who would disturb her at such an hour, the knocking continues shyly. Finally, after a third round of knocking, she sighs and approaches the door, and when she answers it she sees a worn out mare wearing a cheap saddle. The mare is panting heavily and dripping with sweat, but one thing that surprises Trixie to where she’s speechless is that the pony in front of her is one she hasn’t seen in years.

Trixie laughs and jumps out of her cart, saying: “Ms. Aural! What a pleasant surprise!”

Ms. Aural tries to smile, but her heavy panting makes it difficult. Trixie invites Ms. Aural inside, and she gladly accepts. Once inside, Trixie lets her sit on her chair while she hands her a cup of water. As Ms. Aural drinks the refreshing beverage, Trixie notices that she hasn’t aged well; she has noticeable crows feet and her mane is frayed and graying, plus her once beautiful coat is fading. When Ms. Aural notices Trixie staring at her, she is quick to avert her eyes to her lovely stash of fireworks.

Ms. Aural smiles and says: “It’s been a while, Trixie.”

“Yes it has,” says Trixie with a small, nervous smile. She doesn’t know what to say to her old friend or how they should begin to catch up. It’s been years since she saw a familiar face... well a familiar face from her childhood anyway. Most of the familiar faces she’s seen were magicians she upstaged trying to get her to work for them.

“I see you’ve made quite a bit of an impact,” says Ms. Aural, nodding towards the box of newspaper clipping.

Trixie chuckles nervously and uses her magic to close the box.

“Um, yeah, I guess you can say that,” she says nervously. “So, you look... nice?”

Ms. Aural sighs. “There no need to pretend, Trixie, I know what I look like, and nice isn’t one of them.” Then she reaches into her saddle and pulls out an envelope with her mouth and stretches her neck to Trixie. “Thith ith for you.”

Trixie levitates the envelope out of Ms. Aural’s mouth and brings it close so she can read it. As soon as she sees who it’s from though, she scowls and throws it the garbage can. Ms. Aural’s whole body droops as Trixie glares at her.

“Is this some kind of joke?” growls Trixie.

Ms. Aural shakes her head quickly. “No, Trixie, your father gave me that note personally and-”

“If he wants to talk to me he can find me himself!”

“But he told me-”

“What? What did he tell you? That he misses me or that he disowned me?”

Ms. Aural blinks tears out of her eyes as she looks down, sniffling.

“Trixie,” begins Ms. Aural quietly, “I know you are still hurt by what your father did...”

Trixie holds up her hoof to silence Ms. Aural. “You can stop right there, Ms. Aural. I don’t need your pity.”

“But, Trixie, if you’ve only seen what I have-”

Trixie stands up and points accusingly at Ms. Aural, making her shrink in her seat and whimper.

“How much did he pay you?” asks Trixie through gritted teeth.

“N-nothing,” stammers Ms. Aural. “He-he begged me to find you and-”

“How much?”

“He didn’t pay me anything.”

“HOW MUCH!”

“NOTHING! HE PAYED ME NOTHING!” Ms. Aural jumps to her feet, tears rolling down her cheek and breathing heavily while trying to keep herself from breaking down in front of an old friend. “He knew you wouldn’t give him a chance so he-”

“Maybe he should’ve thought about me not giving him stuff before he disowned me! But I didn’t need him anyway!” Trixie waves her hoof around the cart at all of her possessions. “You see this? This was all me! I did it myself! He took away my home so I built a new one! He took away my fortune, so I made my own! He thought I was a failure, but I’m not!” Trixie slams her hoof on the ground and points at an elaborate promotional picture that rolls down from the ceiling of herself, looking smug and ready to take on the world. “I am not a failure! I am not worthless! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Ms. Aural’s jaw drops and she shakes her head as she backs away from the picture like it’s cursed.

“Trixie, what happened to you?” whimpers Ms. Aural.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” sneers Trixie. “I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, proved to my father and his goons, and all those mules at the Academy, that Trixie is not worthless! That Trixie is no failure! That Trixie is better than all of them!”

Then Trixie throws the newspaper article regarding Gilda and Fluttershy at Ms. Aural, and she eeps while jumping back and shrinking under Trixie’s harsh gaze.

“And once I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, defeat Twilight Sparkle, all of Equestria will know that you do not need to be trained by a goddess to master magic!”

Ms. Aural stands up and looks at Trixie pleadingly.

“Please, just read his note,” begs Ms. Aural.

Trixie shoots a small bolt of lightning at the note, burning it, and all of the garbage with it, in a matter of seconds. While Ms. Aural watches the garbage can burn, Trixie gets a menacing shadow cast over her, and Ms. Aural trembles even more and nearly has a heart attack as Trixie glares at her.

“I think you better leave,” says Trixie dangerously.

Ms. Aural opens her mouth to say something, but when Trixie uses her magic to open the door, she closes her mouth, nods, and quietly leaves. Trixie scoffs, slams the door shut when Ms. Aural is outside and then tosses water on the fire she made. It makes a hissing sound and smoke covers the interior of the cart, forcing her to open her door again to let it out. As the smoke escapes into the cool night, Trixie pokes her head out to make sure Ms. Aural isn’t anywhere to be seen. When she doesn’t see her anywhere she mumbles “Good riddance” and goes back inside, but when she turns around she screams and jumps back.

“I hope this is a lesson for you,” says Custos, standing in the corner.

“Wha- How- What are you doing in my cart!” demands Trixie, horn glowing and ready to zap the intruder.

“It’s your dream, how I got in is entirely up to you.”

Trixie’s horn dies down and she sits down at her chair and flips open a newspaper to read any article that will distract her from the mysterious pony in her show wagon. She’s in no mood for arguing or his cryptic shenanigans. Custos sighs and stands in front of Trixie.

“You have a knack for driving away those who care about you,” he says.

Trixie flips a page, mumbling: “Trixie doesn’t need anypony. Trixie is doing fine all by herself.”

Custos silently scans the small living space; it barely has enough for her to sleep in and most of her possessions are for her to use for her shows. Nothing personal is found, except for her star studded hat and cape. Custos shakes his head and looks at Trixie, she’s still fighting to ignore him by using her newspaper.

“Do you really want to die alone?” he asks.

Trixie throws down her newspaper and stares hatefully at Custos while jumping to her feet. But despite her gaze, the stallion does not flinch and he has no face to read, so Trixie has no clue if she’s having any emotional impact on him at all.

“I never said that!” says Trixie angrily with a slight whine.

“You’re father believed he didn’t need anypony, and he was alone and dead before he was murdered.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“It does when you understand that there is more than one way to die.” Then a glowing orb appears above his horn glows. Trixie charges her horn for a lightning bolt, but the light emitted from the orb blinds her and gives her the feeling that she’s been shot all over, making her scream in pain and collapse to the ground. “It’s time to wake up.”

[[[[O]]]]

Trixie jolts up in her bed, soaking in sweat and gasping for air; her vision is fuzzy and spinning, and her hearing is muffled, but one thing she does notice is a voice being projected off of some speakers and someone sitting in the room with their back to her speaking into a microphone.

“...So, I hope that music woke you guys up, I know it worked miracles for me, especially after last night’s fiasco,” says the mare working the radio equipment. “Anyway, I looked in my trusty little hat and it said I should play a single by Shattered called ‘March into Nothing’. Bleak, I know, but I drew it from a hat, so don’t hate me for chance.”

Some electric guitars start playing over the speakers, and a few seconds in the singer, a stallion with a pleasant voice, starts singing some incredibly depressing lyrics. Trixie groans painfully and gingerly touches her horn, releasing a wince when her hoof brushes over the chip, which has some cheap gauze taped over it. She looks around the room she’s in and instinctively scrunches her nose when she sees all kinds of stuff that point to a health hazard. There are empty bleach bottles, crushed lime, old food and bloody rags scattered all over the floor as well as empty sewing kits and used lottery tickets. However, despite being in the hazardous bedroom she’s relieved that she didn’t wake up in a jail cell after nearly getting killed again.

Trixie groans quietly again and rubs her eyes, and while lowering her hoof she realizes that there is a colorful blob of stitches where she was shot, making her pale and want to puke. She looks all over her body and sees little stitches here and there that closed up scratches she didn’t even know she had, but every move made her want to cry.

“Well good morning, missy, did you enjoy your nap?” says the mare from the room.

Trixie’s eyes bulge and her jaw drops as she stares at the pair of big red eyes the unicorn in front of her has. She’s only seen red eyes like that on predators and pictures of albinos; both equally creepy.

"This is why I wear my sunglasses,” grumbles DJ-Pon3 as she approaches Trixie, noting the stare with a frown. She then levitates Trixie off of the cot and gently lowers her to the ground. Trixie has to sit because her legs give out almost immediately. It doesn’t take long to switch out the sheets and when that is done and over with, she levitates Trixie back on the cot and puts a new blanket over her before sitting in front of her, glaring. “What? You’ve never seen an albino before?”

“N-No I haven’t,” stammers Trixie shamefully.

The pale pony grins and lightly punches Trixie in the shoulder, making her wince. “Relax, I’m just messing with you. I know the chances of meeting a pony with my condition are slim to none. So, what do you think of your stitches?”

“You suck at stitching,” says Trixie weakly; although she said it in good fun, she’s actually grateful about getting patched up, even if the job is subpar.

“Well excuuuuse me, Princess, but you’re the one that knocked on my door, bleeding all over the place with the EIB and Guards looking for you,” says the pale pony, completely missing Trixie’s playful tone.

Trixie closes her eyes and sinks in the cot, not wanting to remember that horrible night. Everything just suddenly crashed and burned with little to no warning; sure she knew Lock was on to her, but him using a criminal organization to bring down was just insane. And now, after getting betrayed by the EIB and Minty getting killed, here she is, dying in a radio station. She’s hoping that this is all just a horrible nightmare, and wants to cry because of the amount of pain she’s in, especially around her horn.

“Thanks for your help, DJ-Pon3,” whispers Trixie painfully, wanting to go back to sleep if it means escaping the agony.

“No problem, but you can just call me Vinyl or Vinyl Scratch. DJ-Pon3 is my work name,” says her rescuer with a small smile.

Trixie smiles, but it goes away in an instant and she regrets shifting her position in search for a more comfortable one as pain takes over her whole body.

“By the way, you owe me,” says Vinyl Scratch in a deadly serious tone.

Trixie shoots her a hostile glare. “What! What kind of rescuer tells the rescuee that you owe them?”

“The Canterlot Fire Department and Royal Guards do that with our tax money. As for you though,” Vinyl Scratch pokes Trixie in the chest, making her wince, “you owe me bleach and a shitload of lime.”

Trixie stares at Vinyl Scratch with eyes wide open and shock and confusion all over her face. The DJ doesn’t want bits, or her to take out some competition, but bleach and lime instead? Now Trixie is really confused.

“Don’t you want bits instead?” asks Trixie carefully, and wincing when her body tells her that it was a painful mistake by the pain in her chest.

“I used all my lime and bleach to clean up your bloody trail and to keep those guys off of our back. And don’t even get me started on all the disinfectants I had to use on you and those threads.”

“Did you sleep?”

“On and off, but you kinda took my bed, covered it in blood, and then almost died on it, so I slept in my chair.”

Trixie is silent for a moment before another idea question pops into her mind.

“Hey Vinyl, how much of the trail did you... you know... clean up?”

Vinyl Scratch grins and in an innocent voice, says: “Not too much, just up to the nearest sewer cover. Then I popped that sucker off and ran back here. Oh man, If only I can see their faces now.”

Vinyl Scratch snickers and walks to her radio room when the music stops and is replaced with dubstep. A few seconds later, the dubstep stops and Trixie sees Vinyl Scratch take a quick swig of what looks like cider before speaking into her microphone.

“Good afternoon, Canterlot!” she says with all the charisma in Equus backing her. “I’m back from my break and I’m sure you guys are eager to hear about the amazing Vigilante. Well I got some news for ya. It was Gilda and her griffins bribing two vans of EIB agents to get Canterlot’s hero!”

Trixie groans and covers her eyes with her hooves when she sees Vinyl Scratch smile and wink at her.

“But don’t you worry, the Vigilante is alive and well! That’s right folks, the crooks lost her when she escaped to the sewers!” Vinyl Scratch chuckles. “Have fun down there, boys and girls, but you’ll never find her.”

Vinyl Scratch cackles and then says something about playing some music before Trixie blacks out.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Trixie wakes up a few hours later, she’s greeted by something steamy and smelling like a slice of Paradise at the moment. She opens her eyes and sees Vinyl Scratch levitating a bowl of soup in front of her, and when she glances out the window she notices that it’s almost evening. Then she looks at Vinyl Scratch and sees that she has a curious smile stretched across her face. A very curious smile. A smile that demands Trixie tell her a story.

Trixie tries to grab the soup with her magic, but a sharp pain in her horn kisses that notion goodbye; so she takes it with her hooves, whimpering quietly, instead. Vinyl Scratch’s smile fades away and she sighs sadly as she looks at the ground.

“That really sucks about what happened to your horn. I don’t think you’ll be able to use magic to your full capacity ever again,” says Vinyl Scratch quietly.

Trixie sniffles and sips the soup; as simple as it is, it does taste good, like a warm bowl of some much needed comfort.

“So, what happened over there?” asks Vinyl Scratch carefully.

“What do you think? I got betrayed,” grumbles Trixie tearfully before taking another sip from her bowl of soup. Then she sighs and puts down the soup and looks down to hide the tears in her eyes. “And it cost me everything.”

Vinyl Scratch takes a sip of her cider. “Yeah, life’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

Trixie nods and both mares continue to sip their drink and soup in silence, listening to whatever track her radio equipment decides to play next. A couple of minutes later, Vinyl Scratch sighs loudly and looks at Trixie.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened?” asks Vinyl Scratch.

Trixie glares at Vinyl Scratch, but when the the pale unicorn shows no signs of wavering she looks down once more.

“It started with an argument...”

When Trixie explains everything, from her argument with Minty Sprinkles, to her fighting her way out of the complex and almost getting killed by Lock, Vinyl Scratch’s jaw is to the floor. Trixie stares at Vinyl Scratch and when she waves her hoof in front of those freakish red eyes, she snaps out of it.

“Sorry, I’m just surprised you survived Lock,” says Vinyl Scratch like she doubts what her ears had heard.

“Why? He was just an agent.”

Vinyl Scratch shakes her head, stands up, and runs out of the room, making Trixie question what she just saw.

“Couldn’t be more wrong, there, missy,” says Vinyl Scratch quickly from the other room. Then she walks back in with a New Yoke Times newspaper article about Lock written by Quill Pen. It is nothing special, just a blurb. “That AIDS magnet was a cold blooded killer.”

“What?”

Vinyl Scratch sighs and rubs her forehead, mumbling something. Then she suddenly looks up at Trixie and shoves the article to her face.

“Lock Nermal Key, a.k.a. ‘Lock N. Key’, was dishonorably discharged from the Royal Guard after he beat a prisoner to death in their cell for ‘interrogation’.” Trixie takes the newspaper with her hooves and starts reading the short article while Vinyl Scratch continues with her explanation. “Lock was one of the investigators for the assassination of Prince Blueblood, and the suspect beaten to death was-”

Trixie’s jaw drops and she lets the paper fall to the ground as new tears swell in her eyes. She stares at the picture of the victim next to Lock’s face, wanting to scream and beat Lock to a bloody pulp. The victim of Lock’s cruelty was an old friend that she chased away from her show wagon all those years ago. Ms. Aural.

“No... can’t be,” whimpers Trixie, lips trembling and her whole body shaking, bringing her more pain.

“A day care center owner. Lock claimed that the victim attacked him in her cell when he tried to get answers on some overtime investigation.” Trixie lowers her face in her hooves and starts sobbing. Vinyl doesn’t seem to notice, though. “But the kicker is that there was a rumor that she knew who the shooter was.”

Trixie looks up, tears soaking her coat and eyes bloodshot. “And Lock killed her?”

“Yep, on the next day, too. But guess what happened next? Brisk Wind investigated Lock and claimed that the evidence pointed to ‘workplace accident’, so Lock was dishonorably discharged and after doing his community service he joined the EIB.”

Trixie sniffles, completely dumbfounded by what she had heard. “Wait, so the EIB just let him in?”

“Well Brisk Wind certainly wasted no time in giving him the position of Lead Investigator for the EIB.”

Trixie mumbles something incomprehensible, and Vinyl Scratch once again shakes her head and grabs Trixie by her shoulders and makes her look into her eyes. Trixie can’t help but get freaked out by how red they are again.

“So do you understand how lucky you are? You’re very lucky,” says Vinyl Scratch sternly.

“Losing everything is lucky?” retorts Trixie sharply.

“You still got your life don’tcha?”

Trixie nods subtly, there really is no argue with that. Vinyl Scratch excuses herself and leaves to switch out some tracks. When Vinyl Scratch is out of sight, Trixie’s hooves tighten around the bowl and begins trembling.

“I have to take down Lock,” mutters Trixie angrily over the music, staring at her bowl of soup. “I have to take down Gilda. They all need to pay.”

First, Ms. Aural, then Bon Bon, and then Pinkie Pie and who knows how many others that suffered from Lock and Gilda’s partnership. Then there’s also Brisk Wind, Trixie knows that pegasus had something to do with what happened to her and Pinkie Pie. There is no way that two vans of well equipped EIB agents and the Lead Investigator would team up with the griffins without getting her attention. She knew and did nothing. Just another reason why her torturer needs to go. The whole thing makes her want to scream, but all she can do is cry quietly. She squeezes her eyes shut so she doesn’t have to see her angry and sorrowed tears fall in her soup, or see the Hell that seems to follow her wherever she goes.

“It’s not fair,” whimpers Trixie weakly.

Vinyl Scratch walks back in with two bottles of Sweet Apple Cider floating next to her a few minutes later and sees Trixie crying quietly and mumbling to herself. She pops off the lids and hands one to Trixie, and when Trixie opens her eyes she gratefully takes and gingerly sips it. Vinyl Scratch quietly takes a swigs from her drink, watching Trixie cry without knowing what to say or do. She’s already done all that she can, but she feels like she needs to do more.

“Do you know anything else about Lock and Ms. Aural?” inquires Trixie as she wipes her nose.

“You knew Ms. Aural?”

When Trixie nods Vinyl Scratch also nods and looks up while tapping her chin with her hoof to think. A moment later she looks back at Trixie, her brows furrowing like she just remembered some bad news; this doesn’t sit well with Trixie.

“Well,” starts Vinyl Scratch uneasily, “I don’t know if I’m remembering this correctly, but if I am, Ms. Aural was arrested by Lock N. Key himself at her home and he personally interrogated her and her husband, the now Major Glimmer Fuller.”

Trixie stares at Vinyl Scratch, the anger and need for retribution growing stronger by the second; she really wants to beat Lock to a pulp. In fact, a big part of her wants to kill him for what he did to Ms. Aural and Pinkie Pie.

“I need to bring down Lock and the griffins,” says Trixie quietly and with a determined edge.

“Oh I don’t think so, missy, you’re shot to shit, attacking Gilda will be suicide. Lay low, fix yourself up, and then you can break some beaks,” says Vinyl Scratch, taking a sip of cider afterwards.

Trixie grits her teeth as a wave of pain surges throughout her body from hopping out of her cot. Vinyl Scratch tries to get her to lay down, but Trixie shrugs her off with a grunt and starts walking around the small abode in search for her costume. As they walk around Vinyl Scratch calls Trixie crazy and tells her she needs to rest up before she does any more crime fighting.

“I can’t do that,” says Trixie as she searches high and low for her costume, “Lock and Gilda killed my friend. They almost killed me. And I’m certain Brisk Wind had something to do with this, too. They need to go down and if I’m going to die doing it, then so be it.”

“Do you have a death wish or something?” says Vinyl Scratch irritably as she trails Trixie. “Look, I know that you’ve been through a lot recently, but you can’t expect to take on Gilda and Lock and Brisk Wind -whom may I remind you commands the EIB- in your condition!” Vinyl Scratch grabs Trixie and turns her around. “Look, I know Minty was your friend, but-”

“Minty wasn’t Minty,” says Trixie, her eyes narrowing. “She was Pinkie Pie. The Element of Laughter.”

Vinyl Scratch does a double take. “What?”

Trixie expression softens and she sighs and shrugs Vinyl Scratch away. “She was Pinkie Pie... but wasn’t. I don’t know, it was terrifying what she had become. If you could only see her eyes, it was the eyes of a psycho. Somepony who took pleasure in beating others to a pulp. She just... she just snapped and... I don’t know. But now she’s dead, I’m sure of it... and she died protecting me. That is why I have to do this... nopony else should have to suffer at the hooves of those degenerates, and I have to make up for my failure to protect her.”

Vinyl Scratch looks a bit skeptical of Trixie’s claim, but nonetheless gives in and walks outside. She returns a minute later with the bloody and tattered costume floating above her head in a magical grip. Trixie doesn’t hesitate to put them on, although she does need some help from Vinyl Scratch since the amount of pain she gets from twisting too much is close to unbearable. When her costume is fully on Vinyl Scratch takes a step back and flashes a small, warm smile.

“Well, the Vigilante stepping her crusade, eh?” teases Vinyl Scratch sadly. “Although, you kinda left out the part about ‘Minty being Pinkie’ when you told me your story.”

Trixie sighs. “She was obviously in hiding and had been keeping an eye on me for some reason. I wanted to keep that part out, but I obviously let that slip, so please do us both a favor and keep the Minty-Pinkie thing a secret.”

Vinyl Scratch reluctantly and solemnly nods. “No problem.”

Trixie is about to leave, but Vinyl Scratch calls for her and she turns around to watches her rescuer open a drawer, pop open a container and levitate four gold gel pills to her. Trixie takes off her helmet and holds out hoof, letting the pills fall in the bowl of her hoof. Then she looks at Vinyl Scratch quizzically as she mumbles about regretting her decision later.

“What are these?” asks Trixie.

“Pain pills,” replies Vinyl Scratch, masking her nervousness and guilt with a small smile, “it’s to help with some problems I have, but they are really strong and should keep your pain at bay. But these are the only ones your getting so don’t come crawling back for more.”

Trixie stares at the gel pills for a moment before shoving them in her mouth. Like Vinyl Scratch said, they don’t treat her injuries, but they do a good job of making them feel like bruises rather than poorly stitched bullet holes. Trixie coughs and falls on the floor, though; eating four pills dry is not a pleasant experience, and hearing Vinyl Scratch snicker makes her blood boil. But Trixie knows she has bigger fish to fry than socking someone in the jaw for laughing at her misfortune.

“You’re supposed to drink water with those, you dumbass,” snickers Vinyl Scratch in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood.

Trixie puts on her helmet again and glares at Vinyl Scratch through her goggles, but she knows that the DJ has a point. What she did was really stupid and she deserved to be laughed at.

“C’mon, I wanna show you something,” says Vinyl Scratch. She leads Trixie outside to show her her motorcycle, or as the Flim Flam Brothers labeled it, “the bee”. The color scheme for the DJ’s bee is white with blue bolts on the side and her cutie mark on the back, and while Trixie is gaping at it Vinyl Scratch climbs on. “Get on.”

Trixie climbs on without second thought and wraps her hooves around Vinyl Scratch as best as she can. There’s no time to think. Only react. Besides, Trixie wants to take down Gilda, Lock, and Brisk Wind for what they have done to her and Pinkie Pie. She knows if she can bring down Gilda and expose the EIB, then crime and corruption will take a major blow in Canterlot. The prospect of her taking down a criminal organization and exposing a corrupt agency brings a smile to her face; she’s sure that it would make her mentor proud if he were still alive. However, one problem does come to mind.

“Where are we going?” asks Trixie.

Vinyl Scratch coolly puts on her sunglasses and prepares the throttle. “I’m going to take you as far as I can to Gilda. Once you’re there, you’re on your own.” She looks over her shoulder at Trixie. “Look, it’s not too late, you can still-”

“No time. Just drive,” orders Trixie.

Vinyl Scratch sighs. “Okay, but if you really want to take down those three you’re going to need my help. Get me anything that can be used as proof of Lock and Brisk Wind’s partnership with Gilda, then give them to me and I’ll send it to my contact inside the Royal Guard. I know Captain Armor will have a field day with them.”

Trixie grins evilly and nods, the anticipation for getting her revenge is so great she can barely contain it; heck, the excitement alone is enough to cover the last of her pain.

While Trixie is thinking about her sweet revenge, Vinyl Scratch puts the bee in full throttle and Trixie immediately screams and tightens her grip as the vehicle lurches forward; but her scream can’t be heard over the roar of the engine pushing itself to the limit. The duo speed off into the distance, swerving around a corner and breaking just about every traffic law, causing other vehicles to swerve out of the way and honk angrily.

So Vinyl Scratch speeds down the street, recklessly weaving between vehicles and taking shortcuts, thus making Trixie both excited and nervous. The exhilarated feeling she’s getting from the ride, like the noise from the wind and vehicles rushing past her and having a couple of bugs splatter on her visor, nearly makes her forget about her mission. She really wants to own her own bee now, just so she can do something like this everyday; minus the part about her taking down crime lords and corrupt officials of course. Road trips on her very own bee will be a plus when all this is over.

After driving through the city for a good twenty minutes, they finally screech to a stop in an alley that has a perfect view of where Gilda resides. The building has a blocky base with onion looking domes on the corners and one enormous tower in the center that has a domed roof. There are also four towers surrounding the building and all are connected by bridges with every dome being gold plate. The sight makes Trixie’s jaw drop, but Vinyl Scratch looks unimpressed by it.

“Looks pretty, but Gilda and basically every griffin in Canterlot lives there,” explains Vinyl Scratch.

Trixie climbs off the bee and continues to inspect the building; it is surrounded by a wall of some kind with the only noticeable way in through a gate guarded by some griffins.

Trixie takes a deep breath and looks at Vinyl Scratch. “Well, this is it then. Thanks for the ride and for patching me up.”

“You can thank me by coming back with me,” says Vinyl Scratch, forcing herself to smile.

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. ‘Fight the good fight’ and all. Man, you didn’t even try to convince me to take you here, so if you die I give you full permission to haunt me.”

Trixie chuckles. “And if I live.”

“What’s this ‘if’ stuff? Of course you’re going to live! You’re just a stupid, crazy pony for doing this so soon.”

Trixie chuckles again and bumps hooves with Vinyl Scratch and she turns to leave, but stops herself and turns to look at the albino before she has a chance to speed off.

“Wait, I have a request,” says Trixie. Vinyl Scratch stops the motor and looks at Trixie. “When you do your next broadcast about me, do not call me ‘Vigilante’,” Trixie hesitate, wondering if she’s requesting the right thing, “call me ‘Mare-Do-Well’.”

Vinyl Scratch smirks and nods. “Got it Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.”

Vinyl Scratch speeds off and when she rounds the corner Trixie takes another deep breath and turns around to stare at the towering structure in front of her. Then she marches forward.

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

The elevator doors slide open with a ding and Shining Armor steps out of the cramped space with his two guards and into the brightly lit Canterlot Royal Hospital Hallway. The polished tiles reflect the warm lights, though the polished tiles are hidden underneath the innumerable hooves of ponies rushing to wherever they need to go. Shining Armor looks at the passing doctors flipping through pages, jotting down notes, or conversing with other doctors. He can barely hear himself think over all the noises of the chaos in the hospital.

Shining Armor levitates two reports from his saddle; one is about a surviving soldier whose base was attacked and the other is about Pinkie Pie. When he got the message of Pinkie Pie being in critical care he nearly fell out of his seat and rushed to the Canterlot Royal Hospital as fast as he could. Although he wants to tell Twilight about the news he just wants to make sure that Pinkie Pie is well enough to talk before he allows any visitors. Also, as far as he’s concerned, if Pinkie Pie is alive then Roar Shock will send someone to kill her, and he can’t let that happen. She already died once and he’ll be damned if she dies again.

An aged unicorn stallion with a caramel colored coat and a neat, brown mane and tail wearing a lab coat over a suit with a pair of glasses walks up to Shining Armor. He also has a heart monitor as a cutie mark. The two exchange their greetings, the doctor being Dr. Heartbeat, and the doctor leads Shining Armor to where Pinkie Pie is. Unlike the rest of the hospital, the area she’s in is almost completely dead and actually looks depressing, despite the warm colors and lights and the lovely paintings along the wall. Shining Armor sees only one other pony is in the hallway. Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes are on the door, but her stare is distant, and her whole body is drooped. Her eyes are bloodshot and have bags under them from hours of crying and sleep deprivation. Even her vibrant mane and tail are messier than usual. Shining Armor wants to forget about professional appearances and hug Rainbow Dash right then and there and tell her that everything will be olay.

“I’ve known Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie from when I was living in Ponyville,” explains Dr. Heartbeat, “and I honestly never thought I would see any of them like this.”

Shining Armor looks at Rainbow Dash and when he calls her, her only response is a lazy ear twitch.

Dr. Heartbeat shakes his head sadly. “Rainbow Dash has been like that the entire time she’s been here. When she came in here in the early morning she was screaming and covered in Pinkie’s blood. After we sprayed her down, she’s been silent and staring at the door. She won’t talk to anypony or eat anything.”

Shining Armor sighs and turns to Dr. Heartbeat. “I want to see Pinkie Pie.” The doctor nods and Shining Armor turns to the two guards. “You two stay out here and guard Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie with your lives.”

The guards acknowledge his order with a “Yes sir” and salute and he goes inside the hospital room with Dr. Heartbeat. The room is basic with just a cot, a radio and a ceiling fan spinning in slow circles. There are no windows in the room either, so it’s like walking into a prison hospital room. Shining Armor’s ears droop down and he gulps back tears as he approaches the former Happiest Mare in Equestria. A pony he barely knew, but knew that she was a good pony from what he’s heard in the news and from what Twilight told him; saving his wedding was a huge plus, too.

“Will she live?” asks Shining Armor as he carefully approaches her.

Pinkie Pie has tubes in her nose and mouth, has sensors taped to her coat, and most of her dye has been scrubbed off, but her pink coat still retains a bit of green shade. Her bruises, stitched cuts, and the grotesque, poorly healed burnt hoof and bandages over her broken ribs makes Shining Armor wonder how much pain she’s in. Or how anyone can say someone looks peaceful when they are in a coma. He wonders if she can hear the constant beeping, hissing, and clicking the machines keeping her alive are making.

Dr. Heartbeat shrugs. “She’s in a coma right now, but if she’s in it for too long we’ll have no choice but to pull the plug.”

“Why?”

“Hospital policy. Space is limited and medical supplies are running low from thefts and other unforeseen circumstances.”

Shining Armor glares at Dr. Heartbeat. “You’re going to pull the plug on an Element?”

“If she’s in a coma for too long, then yes. I would have no choice, it is policy.”

“That’s bullshi-” Shining Armor stops himself with a heavy sigh. “That’s not right! You keep her alive as long as it takes! I don’t care if it takes decades, you’ll do it!”

“It doesn’t matter what’s right or wrong, Captain. What matters is that we have the resources to maintain a hospital. We cannot divert so much attention or resources to one individual, regardless of their position.” Dr. Heartbeat puts his hoof on Shining Armor’s shoulder and looks him in the eyes. “But I promise you, sir, I’ll fight tooth and hoof to keep her alive as long as I can.”

Shining Armor sighs and walks outside with the doctor trailing him. He looks at Rainbow Dash and steps aside.

“Rainbow Dash, you can see your friend,” says Shining Armor.

Rainbow Dash stares at him, wondering if she heard right, but when Dr. Heartbeat makes room for her to enter and Shining Armor nods towards Pinkie Pie, she slowly gets up and walks inside. When she’s inside Shining Armor turns to Dr. Heartbeat.

“I have some other matters to attend to, but make sure nopony else finds out about Pinkie Pie,” orders Shining Armor.

“Why?”

“Trust me. It’s for the best.” Then he looks at the two guards he came with. “I’ll send relief your way as soon as I can. Orders remain the same.”

The guards nod and salute, and Shining Armor walks away, looking at the report of the next hospitalized pony he needs to meet.

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

“WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

Pinkie Pie, glowing from her perfect health, jumps off of a giant rubber ball and launches herself into the air, closing her eyes and grinning from ear to ear as the wind rushes past her ears. When she lands, she lands in a field of flora made up of everything, from candy canes to bonbons and lollipops to gumdrops. It is all there and waiting for her to consume with gusto.

Pinkie Pie does lick up some gumballs and chews them obnoxiously before moving on to gnawing on a banana flavored taffy tree with sugar coated leaves; but while she’s doing that, something so amazing happens that it makes her stop and stare with wide eyes and a huge, toothy grin. The clouds are made up of pink cotton candy. She giggles excitedly as she climbs to the top of the taffy tree to get a closer view of the wispy treats hovering in the sky. When she reaches the top, she balances herself on her hind legs and extends her forehooves commandingly towards the sky. She’s about to say something, but stops, thinks for a moment, then beams and reaches down and pulls out a random candy cane staff. Once that is in her grip she resumes her authoritative stance.

“By the power invested in me, I command thee to rain chocolate milk!”

Pinkie Pie’s command is met with instant gratification. Tubas echo with deafening magnitude as the clouds rain down thick droplets of tasty chocolate milk. She leans her head back and opens her mouth wide with her tongue hanging out, gladly drinking up the chocolatey goodness. When she’s had her fill she leaps off of her tree and lands perfectly in an enormous pile of popcorn. But this pile of popcorn is a special pile. It has more than just the classic butter; it has caramel, cheddar, chocolate, spicy, and healthy popcorn in it, leading to a fantastic mixture of the best snacks in the world.

Pinkie Pie eats her way out of the popcorn pile and when she pokes her head out she sees another amazing feat in the slice of heaven she’s in right now. Her eyes and grin widen to impossible lengths as she crawls out and sits on the ground to stare at the amazing feat.

“I can’t believe it,” says Pinkie Pie in a joyful whisper. “It is a field of muffins!”

Pinkie Pie cries like a warrior ready to eat every pastry in the name of her queen as she charges the field. She gobbles up chocolate muffins, banana muffins, blueberry muffins, strawberry muffins, and muffins made up of cookies. Every type of muffin imaginable is the field of muffins, and snaking through the field is a river made up of strawberry milkshakes.

Pinkie Pie skids to a stop by the milkshake river and stares at in wonder; dumbstruck by the beauty of the thick, frothy pink drink. She’s also dumbstruck on how she’s supposed to drink it. She thinks for a grand total of three seconds before deciding to screw the thinking and sticks her head in, sipping as much of the threat as she can.

When she’s had her fill she sighs blissfully and falls on her back on a random patch of grass that has grown strategically behind her. She looks at the clouds, loving the way they come in many different shapes and sizes; strangely some of them look like her friends doing some kind of activity. One cloud looks like Twilight reading a book with Spike when he was a baby, another looks like Rarity sewing, and the one that looks like Applejack looks like she’s bucking apple. Then there’s Fluttershy sitting with her animals, and Rainbow Dash flying proudly.

Pinkie Pie frowns and shifts her position so she doesn’t have to look at the clouds. While shifting her position the ground rises up and turns into the bed she had at the Sugar Cube Corner. The bed is complete with the fluffy sheets, soft pillow, and warm blanket that covers her without her having to raise a hoof.

She sits there for an unknown amount of time, watching anything but the clouds, but no matter how hard she tries, she can’t stop seeing those fakes that she had called her friends. She hears them thank her for her parties, for cheering them up, or accepting her random acts of goofiness with laughter. She also swears she can hear Octavia’s cello in the warm wind. Pinkie Pie huffs and turns to the other side of the bed to change the view, but instead of seeing a never ending field of muffins or taffy trees, she sees her Element of Laughter necklace floating in front of her, glowing.

She stares at it and the jewelry stares back at her. They continue to stare at each other for a few more seconds before it floats over to her and rests in front of her face. She sits up on her bed and stares at it some more. A minute later she picks it up and gently runs her hoof over it, smiling. It brings tears of joy to her eyes as she feels all that is good fill her up. All the joy from laughter, from making others happy, and from being selfless in helping others find happiness flood back to her.

Pinkie Pie chokes back her tears and hugs the necklace tightly like its her baby, and bows her head while shutting her eyes. The bed silently lowers into the ground until she is sitting on grass again. She continues to hug her necklace, not wanting to let it go for fear that she’ll be miserable again without it.

Then she hears faint noises, like some ponies are conversing with each other in the sky. Pinkie Pie clasps the necklace around her neck and stands up to stare at the clouds. The faint noise continues, getting louder every second until she can tell, without a doubt, that someone is speaking.

Pinkie Pie stares up at the clouds as the voices echo, blocking out all other sound and thought. The voices are muffled, though, and soon only one voice is left, and whoever is talking sounds like they are breaking into tears. She can hear the sniffling over the muffled words, and as the voice continues it becomes clearer.

“...I just... I don’t even know if you can hear me. They say ponies in comas can hear when somepony is talking to them. If that is true, then we need to talk... I just only wish it wasn’t like this.”

Pinkie Pie sits on the ground, tears swelling in her eyes. She knows that voice, and the pain she’s hearing is her fault, she just knows it.

“I’m sorry, Dashie,” whimpers Pinkie Pie as she looks down on the ground, tears trickling down her cheek. When the tears land on the grass, their green color darkens and spots start rotting away.

“If you can hear me, promise me you’ll stop blaming yourself for what happened. Spike made his choice, and we all... we... I miss you. You have no idea how much I can use one of your party’s right now. Or Fluttershy. She can really use somepony like you to cheer her up.”

Pinkie Pie chuckles and wipes her eyes as she looks back up at the sky, hoping that she’ll see the face of her best friend. But all she sees are gray clouds swirling around the cotton candy ones, battling each other for dominance of the sky.

“You know, I want to stay mad at Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack for how they treated you, but I can’t. If you could only see what I see you would know that they are sorry. Twilight hasn’t been the same ever since you faked your death and Rarity has been nearly working herself to death. I know Applejack feels like crap for how she treated you, and-”

“Airmare Rainbow Dash,” interrupts another voice; this one belongs to a stern stallion.

Pinkie Pie gets worried and looks around the clouds for any sign of this newcomer, but she doesn’t see them or Rainbow Dash anywhere. The only thing she sees are the darkened clouds moving in with greater speed and becoming more aggressive with her happy, cotton candy clouds.

“Major Fuller, what are you doing here? And who are they?” asks Rainbow Dash, angry panic in her voice.

Pinkie Pie puts her hoof to her mouth and slumps to the ground, she can picture Rainbow Dash going defensive with how pegasi expand their wings to make themselves look bigger. Some thunder rolls in the distance and the dark clouds become dangerous storm clouds, overtaking the cotton candy and blanketing her world in gray.

“Dashie, please don’t do anything stupid,” begs Pinkie Pie.

“They are with me, and you need to come with us immediately,” says Major Fuller harshly.

“I’m not leaving Pinkie’s side!” growls Rainbow Dash.

“Airmare Dash!” There is a stomp that makes a deafening boom, making Pinkie Pie shrink herself to the ground and her ears ring. “You will report back to base with me this instant or face more charges!”

There is a pregnant silence, and the gray clouds start taking over and the chocolate rain turns into icy cold water droplets that freeze on her coat. Pinkie Pie jumps up and down, waving her hooves, trying to get their attention.

“Dashie, just go! I’ll be fine!” yells Pinkie Pie over the rolling thunder and pouring, hoping and praying that something will happen outside to get their attention.

“Do you really want to throw away all that you worked for, for a seat by a vegetable?” says Major Fuller senselessly.

Pinkie Pie hears Rainbow Dash scream and there is a lot of commotion that she can only guess is fighting, judging from the yelling and sounds of stuff falling to the ground. She then hears an order for the guards to hold Rainbow Dash down and when the turmoil ends there are multiple ponies breathing heavily and her friend is sobbing.

“She’s not a vegetable! She’s my friend!” cries Rainbow Dash. “I thought somepony like you would understand the values of friendship!”

Another moment of silence.

“Duty trumps friendship. Get her out of here,” orders Major Fuller in a low growl.

“Pinkie, I’ll always be your friend! No matter what!” yells Rainbow Dash over the other ponies yelling at her to shut up.

Then the door clicks shut, the freezing rain turns into a freezing sprinkle, and all Pinkie Pie can hear are the beeps, clicks, and whirs of the hospital machines working to keep her alive. Each time the machines make a noise there is a slight color fluctuation in the clouds, like a ball of color is exploding in them. A couple of seconds later, she hears and feels Major Fuller’s warm breath. The feeling part creeps her out to no end.

“Hey, buddy, can I get some personal space? Jeeze,” says Pinkie Pie moodily while inching back from, and trying to push away, the invisible foe.

“So,” says Major Fuller ominously, his voice sounding like it is coming from a celestial intercom, “Laughter lives, eh? Dash was a fool to assume that a pony in your condition could hear her. What can a pony in a coma do, anyway? Besides waste space and bits? Nothing. We should’ve realized you were alive when the Elements of Harmony did not reset, but once word gets out of your survival your game will finally end.” Major Fuller chuckles and Pinkie Pie feels an invisible hoof pat her cheek, mocking her condition. “If you ever wake up you’ll see what Perfect Harmony is. Sleep tight, Laughter.”

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

Shining Armor steps into another hospital room, this one being more pleasant than the one Pinkie Pie was in. There is a window showing a great view of Canterlot and the beautiful hue that is being cast over it by the lowering sun. The dark gray stallion in care is resting on a bed, thankfully not hooked up to tubes, and he looks okay, minus the missing leg. He’s wearing the dreaded, paper thin gown and looks ashamed for the helpless position he is in.

Shining Armor politely nods to a couple of nurses changing out some flowers, and when they leave he approaches the wounded soldier.

“Private Moon Dust, I am Captain Shining Armor, how are you today?” says Shining Armor, trying to keep the poor stallion’s mind off of his situation; although he thinks he butchered that attempt.

Moon Dust looks at Shining Armor and tries to smile. “I’m alive, sir.”

“I guess that makes you lucky, then.” Moon Dust nods and Shining Armor pulls out the report. “You were stationed at Fort Macintosh in the Macintosh Hills. Your first assignment out of Night Guard Basic.”

“Yes sir. I was with the Sixty Second Expeditionary, we were going to relieve another group.”

“The Thirty First.”

Moon Dust nods. “Yes sir. It was supposed to be a simple task. Guard the base, restock passing soldiers. Make sure the locals don’t do anything stupid.” Moon Dust whimpers and looks away from Shining Armor. “But that didn’t last long.”

“Private, I know it is painful, but I need you to tell me what happened.” Moon Dust looks at Shining Armor and despite his stern look, he’s retaining the features of a concerned father. “Just tell me everything you remember and we’ll go from there, okay?”

Moon Dust takes deep breath closes his eyes and thinks for a moment to get his story straight. Shining Armor can see that the Night Guard is suffering from revisiting what he had barely survived by the way his body trembles. A few seconds pass by before the Night Guard gulps and slowly opens his eyes, body still trembling and eyes glistening.

Moon Dust takes another deep breath and says: “We were getting ready to switch out our shifts...”

===

On the outskirts of the town Haven in the Macintosh Hills, a small base named Fort Macintosh was constructed help supply every guard that came through the region in their efforts to keep control on the quickly down spiraling situation. The building stood four stories tall, was painted white with gold trim and had a thick, reinforced brick wall around it and it had a radio tower on the roof where the Equestrian flag flew proudly. The only way in was by a gate with a basic security checkpoint. Inside, the floors were polished and the interior was brightly lit. Battle saddles were neatly hanging up and other military equipment and all the ammunition was stored away in their proper areas. If it weren’t for all the military gear the place could’ve passed as a small, well kept warehouse.

In the upper level of the main area in the interior, Moon Dust and a couple of other Night and Royal Guards were casually talking amongst themselves about their daily lives, wishes, and funny stories from their childhood. Down below a Night and Royal Guard were also having a casual conversation.

“Hey I need to take a leak,” said the Night Guard on the ground level.

“Too much to drink?” teased the Royal Guard.

“Hey cut me some slack, I have a weak bladder!”

Both guards laughed and when the Night Guard was almost to the bathroom, the lights flickered off. All the guards tensed up and aimed their weapons blindly in the dark. Some swore and someone shouted for someone to get the maintenance crew to fix the power. Moon Dust’s vision adjusts slowly but surely and could make out the shadowy figures of his brothers in arms. They were carefully moving around and calling out each other’s names. Then Moon Dust’s ears flicked when he heard something whirring. He couldn’t describe it, but it sounded... electrical. It sounded alien to him.

“Do you hear that?” asked Moon Dust to the Royal Guard next to him.

The Royal Guard nodded and suddenly swore and aimed his battle saddle at something that had glowing eyes with no pupils, electricity enveloping its ankles, and glowing gems along its limbs. The light generated from the whatever that thing was showed it had a metallic body in the shape of a pony and it had a large, sleek blade at the end of its large tail, like a scorpion.

“Jumper, move!” shouted Moon Dust.

Jumper, the Royal Guard down below, turned around as the machine struck him on the head with its hoof. His helmet was dented and burnt from the powerful electric currents and his skull snapped loose from his neck. Then the machine turned its attention to the Night Guard Jumper was conversing with and shot him with an electric beam. The Night Guard’s scream was brief as the shot burnt through his armor and chest with ease and left a hole in the wall behind him. The other guards unloaded everything they had on it, but the dings and sparks coming from the suit showed that bullets were having minimal effect on it.

“Keep shooting!” shouted one of the Royal Guards.

Then a pair of turbine engines activate on it and the glow gave it a demonic red hue as it charged towards the guards on the upper level. It carelessly flew through the railing, showering the guards in front of it with chunks of cement and bent metal, and while they were disoriented it stabbed a Royal Guard with its tail through the side and shot another in the head with its cannon. It then threw the corpse impaled on its tale at a Night Guard and while he dodged it, the machine shot him twice, once in the chest and once in the head. The surviving guards scream, swear, and shoot madly at whatever the thing is was it marched towards them with no worries about its safety.

It knocked down another guard and crushed his head with its hoof and then it shot two more guards. After that Moon Dust runs for cover and takes potshots at it. The bullets continued to bounce off harmlessly, but he was determined to try to stop it. The machine looked at him and he took that as a sign to move. He jumped away from the shot and ran from the barrage of electric bolts and the shards of debris it kicked up, and kept running until one of the electric beams shot through his hind leg. He screamed in pain as he feels the electric bolt burn through his bone and muscle and come out clean on the other end, burning it completely off. He crumbled to the floor and whimpered as he drags himself to cover while the machine marched towards him. Then it kicked him over the railing like he was a piece of garbage, and the last thing Moon Dust heard before connecting with the ground and blacking out were the terrified screams of his squadmates and the electric shots from the monster.

===

“When I woke up, I was on a medical cart to Canterlot, sir,” says Moon Dust quietly.

Shining Armor pats the injured soldier on the chest. “Thank you, Private.” The soldier nods and slumps back in his bed as Shining Armor turns to a doctor in the room that had entered when Moon Dust was explaining what had happened. “Keep me posted on his status.”

Shining Armor salutes Moon Dust and leaves the room when the doctor acknowledges the order. In the hallway Shining Armor looks through the list of all that was taken from the station, which was some weapons, armor, and ammunition and barely any medical supplies. However, one thing does catch his eye and surprises him to the point where he stops walking to inspect it more closely. He rereads the base information, reminding him that the purpose of the new base was to supply soldiers to help them keep the peace in the Macintosh Hills. The base was also close to Barnville and after the state took control of the farms they relocated all the harvested healing mushrooms to the said base. From there, the special fungus would be delivered to hospitals all over Equestria. All of the mushrooms were gone.

“Weapons... Armor... Mushrooms,” murmurs Shining Armor to himself, wondering why they would go for a weird combination. Weapons and armor are pretty self explanatory, but the healing mushrooms? Sure they have their uses, but he just finds it odd that they would leave most of the medical kits, weapons, and armor behind and take all of the mushrooms.

Shining Armor ponders their motives as he makes his way down the hallway, still reading the report and thinking about what Private Moon Dust said about the attack. As he passes some patients waiting in the lobby, he hears one of them complain about food poisoning from a donkey restaurant. Shining Armor pauses and looks at the unfortunate soul. She looks like she’s going to die, as her coat is literally green arounder her face and she’s has a bucket of puke next to her. Her friend isn’t helping, either, as she’s constantly berating her for eating at a dirty restaurant.

Then it hits him! Shining Armor swears under his breath and bolts out of the lobby, causing heads to turn and patients and doctors alike to converse with each other briefly in confusion about what they saw. Shining Armor runs all the way to the Royal Palace, and goes through all the checks like a paranoid pony on speed and gallops down the hallway to the throne room. He tries to push open the doors, but all that happens is a very nasty shock created by a forcefield that made itself known by glowing a bright yellow where he hit. The shock leaves a tingling feeling all over his body and the scent of burnt hoof tingles his nose. He tries again, ignoring the pain, but they don’t budge, and when he uses his magic he gets a magic backlash that makes him scream and swear painfully as it feels like someone took a hammer to his horn. He swears again and bangs on the door, screaming for Celestia or someone on the other side to open up, but all he gets is an archaic response from behind.

“Tia is refusing to see anypony,” the voice sadly.

Shining Armor turns around, panting and sweating slightly, and sees Luna staring at him, looking like she’s deprived of sleep. He briskly walks to Luna, levitating the report next to his head for her to see.

“Princess Luna, it is important that I see your sister. Right. Now,” says Shining between his huffing, wiping sweat off of his brow afterwards.

Luna shakes her head, looking down. “We’re sorry, but Tia does not wish to be disturbed. Even if We wanted to, We cannot for Our sister has put up a powerful shield that We cannot break.”

Shining Armor groans in frustration, then shoves the report to Luna’s face, not caring for formalities at the moment. He would prefer it if Celestia saw the report, but Luna is the next best thing.

“Your Majesty, do you see this?” Luna nods. “We need to talk. Somewhere private.”

Luna nods again and spreads her wings, a moment later both of them disappear in a flash of dark blue light and reappear in Luna’s study. It is a large and circular room that has no ceiling, but has a magical shield covering the top, giving the room a great view of the evening sky. The room also contains bookcases circling the wall and towering all the way to the ceiling. No shelf is left unfilled with scrolls and book of varying subjects. Shining Armor also notices an enormous telescope pointed to the sky with a star chart taking up at least fifty square feet, and in front of the chart is an oak table with more books, scrolls, parchment and pens with inkwells. Luna carelessly kicks aside some parchment on the ground to clear some space for Shining Armor and herself, but Shining Armor is too tense to sit down.

“Your Majesty, I-”

Luna interrupts him when she raises her hoof and distantly says: “We do not wish to retain titles of royalty. Call Us Luna, please, Captain Armor.”

Shining Armor blinks and refrains himself from releasing another groan. ‘Is the entire Royal Family losing it!?’  “Fine, Luna, forgive me for my tone, but-”

“You are forgiven.”

Shining Armor huffs and looks down to hide his annoyance; it’s bad enough that the ruler of Equestria is locking herself in the throne room, but now the only other pony he can talk to about the matter is acting like she’s doped up on drugs she got from a pity party, and interrupting him nonetheless. He doesn’t have time to be interrupted!

“Are you alright, Captain Armor?”

“No, I’m not alright, I just got the report of an attack on one of our outposts in the Macintosh Hills, and a survivor described Roar Shock as the one responsible and he stole all of the healing mushrooms but left behind nearly every weapon and bullet! So, I’m worried because I have no idea what he’s going to do and both you and Princess Celestia are-” Shining Armor finishes with an aggravated grunt.

Luna stares at him solemnly for a few seconds, watching him catch his breath from his small rant, before looking down. Upon seeing the Princess of the Night’s reaction, Shining Armor sighs and steps forward to bow apologetically.

“Forgive me, Your Maj-Luna, I’m just worried about the safety of Equestria.”

Luna looks up slightly. “We accept your apology, and We ask that you forgive Us for Our distance. It has been a trying few weeks.” Shining Armor opens his mouth, but Luna extends her hoof and speaks before he can say a word. “Please, let Us see the report that has frightened you, Captain.”

Shining Armor hands Luna the report and as she skims through it in complete silence, he watches her, amazed at how absorbed she is in it. However, despite how amazed he is by her concentration, he wishes she would hurry up so that she can present a solution or muster up enough courage to bang on the throne room door until Celestia opens it. When she gets to the list of stolen items, her gaze freezes on the chart where it shows how many mushrooms were stolen.

Luna’s eyes widen. “Oh no.”

“What? What’s ‘Oh no’? Is it as bad as I think it is?”

“Worse.”

Shining Armor steps forward, more terrified than ever now and slightly trembling as the possibilities play in his mind. All of which lead to Equestria dying a horrible death. Luna returns the report to Shining Armor and goes to a section in her library labeled by a flower. She skims through the scrolls and books until she pulls out a scroll that has a basic shadow silhouette of a mushroom on it. She searches through the scroll until she comes to what she wanted, and after that she goes to her board and uses advanced mathematical calculations at speeds that would make Twilight glow from envy. When she figures out the answer to her problem she pales and slumps to the ground, covering her face in shame and mumbling something that sounds cryptic in nature to Shining Armor.

“Princess-”

“NO ROYAL TITLES!!!”

Luna’s Royal Canterlot voice has pushed back loose parchment, pens, and Shining Armor and messed up his mane while leaving his ears ringing. All he can really do is blink and stare at Luna, wide eyed, seeing as his hearing is momentarily destroyed. Luna glares at Shining Armor, eyes red and shining with tears, and she slides to the ground, covering her face again.

“Fate is cruel,” whispers Luna, eyes glistening with tears. Shining Armor asks what she means and she reluctantly pushes the scroll toward the Captain. Luna speaks as he reads it. “Before We became Nightmare Moon We crafted the Sanitatem Fungus to help everypony. It was meant to heal all sickness and mend all injuries, but no matter how hard Our efforts were, there was always a price. Unicorns lost magic, pegasi lost flight, and earth ponies became weary. We were only able to bring the effects down to one day’s cycle, after that, all other attempts to rid of the effect were met with failure.”

Shining Armor looks at Luna. “Brisk Wind mentioned that the mushrooms could be used as a toxin. I’ve seen what they can do in the right conditions, but can they really kill?”

Luna nods, averting her eyes farther from Shining Armor. “If an expired Sanitatem Fungus is ingested then it will kill whoever eats it, and the amount stolen is...” Luna shakes her head, whimpering, and covers her head with her hooves, as if she is blaming herself for what has happened.

“Luna, what is it?” asks Shining Armor, laying down in front of her so he can see her blue eyes.

Luna looks up, sniffling. “Its enough to poison all of Canterlot twice.”

Shining Armor’s jaw drops. “So Brisk Wind was right! But how can they possibly poison Canterlot? They just can’t slip expired mushrooms into dishes and expect ponies to eat them!”

Luna shakes her head and looks at the board. “They don’t have to. They can ground them up into a powder and put them in the water supply.” Luna turns to Shining Armor, shaking in her spot as she uses her magic to pull down a map of Equestria. “If the data is accurate, then there will be enough of the poison to wipe out Canterlot, Ponyville, Los Pegasus, and every town in between if the poison is carried by the currents.”

Shining Armor stares at the map, mind in a complete panic as he thinks about the aftermath of such a large scale attack. Millions would be killed alone, and among them would be his sister and wife. But the hysteria of entire towns -three of which being major locations- being wiped out from a toxin and the government’s inability to protect them would surely drive the nation over the edge. He can’t let that happen. He won’t.

“Luna, we need to see your sister right now. This is too urgent for you two to be moping around. The fate of Equestria is at stake!”

Luna shakes her head and looks down. “Even if we tell Tia, there will be no stopping it. The Stars were right, and it took me until yesterday to realize it,” Luna looks at Shining Armor. “This is how Equestria dies. It has been planned by the Stars for over a millenium, and the fault lies on Our shoulders.”

Shining Armor’s eyes narrow. He will not accept defeat and he honestly can’t believe that Luna is acting this way. He knows Luna has been going through a major depression for the past few weeks, but this isn’t like her. It’s like she’s given up on the home she has been fighting to save. Then there’s the self-blame thing she’s doing. He doesn’t even want to know where that came from! But it appears that now that Luna has an audience she’s ready to give a confession.

“It started over a thousand years ago, during the Equestrian Civil War when I asked the Stars to aide me. We only wanted to save Equestria from Tia’s rashness,” continues Luna sadly. “Her obsession of Harmony has led to its perversion, yet Our attempts to end the corrupted Harmony have only caused more pain and misery.” Luna looks at Shining Armor, her lips trembling and more tears rolling down her cheeks. “We only wanted to help Equestria, but instead We have become the catalyst of its downfall. Nothing works. Not the blade. Not the courts. We’re sorry, Captain Armor, but Equestria’s fate has been sealed in stone. There is no stopping it. Just accept that Equestria will die for the sins of my past.”

Shining Armor takes a deep breath, and steps back while glaring at Luna. “Teleport me to the throne room.”

Luna hesitates, but complies anyway. In a flash Shining Armor disappears and reappears outside of the throne room, refusing to believe that he cannot save Equestria or that it’s time is running out by the decree by some all powerful beings.

Shining Armor approaches the throne room door and slams his hoof against the door as hard as he can. Prompting the shield to give off an explosive response that leaves him lying on his back with thin smoke rising off of him. He clambers to his feet and tries again, hoping that Celestia will listen. No response, only more pain from Celestia’s shield. He growls and slams his hoof against the tough, elegantly carved wood again, this time with enough force to make it sound as if a cannon is going off in the hallway. The shield tries to push him back, but he holds fast, despite the burning and horrible tingling sensations.

BANG!

Another zap, another grunt of pain, but no quitting. He can’t let Roar Shock win. He can’t let him kill Twilight or Cadence or the millions of other ponies.

BANG!

He gets zapped again. Why won’t Celestia open up!? Doesn’t she realize that everything she has built is at stake!?

BANG!

He can feel his hoof peeling from the burns of the zap, and his bones and muscles ache from trying so hard to keep him steadfast. He’s not going to give up, though. He’ll keep knocking until this so called goddess opens the door.

BANG!

Is she deaf!? How can she not hear the explosive knocks or sense her shield is being assaulted?

BANG!

He screams at the door, demanding it to open as if the pieces of wood in front of him will obey his word. Nothing.

BANG!

Nothing again! Some ruler the Goddess of the Sun is turning out to be! She can’t fight Night Mare Moon or Discord, she loses to a changeling, and now she’s locking herself away as her kingdom burns because of the will of one self-righteous pony who thinks he’s doing the world a favor by killing millions.

BANG!

Shining Armor closes his eyes and grits his teeth as bangs on the door harder until he feels like the zapping will make him explode. He can’t understand why Celestia won’t open the door. Her kingdom is at stake. Everything is at stake! His desperate knocking almost brings him to tears as his attempts to get Celestia to realize what is happening go unnoticed by all except for a couple of janitors waxing the floor and a couple of Royal Guards rushing to see what the commotion is.

“CELESTIA OPEN UP!”

When no one answers the door he slumps down and slams his hoof against the door one last time before sliding to the ground. His body trembles from pure, hate filled rage and the returning pain in his hoof and the thought of losing everything he spent his life protecting brings tears to his eyes.

“Damn you, Roar Shock!”