Arc 1- 4 (Can't Stop)

Trixie wakes up a few minutes after being zapped by Gray Muffin. Or was it a few hours? Or perhaps it was a day? Trixie doesn’t know how long she had been unconscious, and it doesn’t help that she’s underground without a clock in sight. But despite those things, Trixie feels a whole lot better now, like she had been given a new body. However, now she has a weird aftertaste in her mouth that reminds her of tingly dirt.

She tries to stand up, but is yanked down by leather straps on her hooves. Trixie’s heart races and she tugs harder and harder on the straps, straining every fiber in her muscles to do so. Finally, after much strenuous and desperate tugging, the leather snaps, sending Trixie stumbling off of her bed and landing flat on her back. Her head cracks against the rocky floor, momentarily filling her vision with blinding white light and is quickly replaced with a blurred vision. She blinks her vision back into focus and rolls to her feet while frantically looking around the room as horrible, unintelligible whispers quickly fill her ears and echo in her brain.

Trixie sits against the wall and puts her hooves over ears, begging the whispers to stop, but her begging only fuels their intensity, and makes some of them clearer. Some are sad, others are begging, while most are angry, one even sounds furious.

“The Great and Powerful Faker!” sneers a whisper.

“Please, leave me alone,” begs Trixie.

“Trixie, what happened to you?” asks one of the sad voices.

Trixie grits her teeth and shuts her eyes tight, squeezing tears out in the process. “Leave me alone.”

“You, Trixie, my own blood! You barely showed up to my funeral!” snarls the furious voice.

“Please, Trixie, talk to me,” begs another voice.

“Leave me alone!” screams Trixie.

“I’ll make ya feel better again,” whispers Sunshine right in her ear.

[[[[OOO]]]]

Trixie shrieks and jolts up. Her eyes dart around the room, expecting to see Sunshine, but all she sees is a startled Redheart.

“Oh my goodness, are you okay?” Redheart asks worryingly.

Trixie calms down enough to rub her head, all while ignoring Redheart’s attempts to figure out what had happened. The nurse had asked her what she had dreamed about since she was apparently mumbling in her sleep, and waking up screaming added more to her list of concerns. Trixie nervously wipes the sweat off of herself to the best of her abilities and silently thanks Celestia that she doesn’t feel any pain when doing so. However, she muscles tenses up when she suddenly feels a cool rag dab the sweat off of her forehead.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” assures Redheart with a kind smile.

“How long was I asleep?” asks Trixie uneasily.

“Let’s see here... I’m going to say about fourteen hours.”

“Fourteen hours!?”

“Give or take a few minutes.”

Trixie is about to say something, but she notices that she has the same weird aftertaste from her dream. When she tries getting rid of the taste by scratching her tongue against her teeth, she notices the satchel of mushrooms Terra had earlier is resting on the ground. Empty.

Trixie jumps off her bed and threateningly approaches Redheart. Redheart takes a step back, but more for personal space than out of feeling threatened.

“What did you do to me!” demands Trixie.

“Trixie, I suggest you calm down, or I’ll have to resort to restraining you,” says Redheart calmly.

“You gave me those mushroom, didn’t you!?”

“I didn’t want to, but orders are orders. At least your good as new.”

“So, you’re finally awake again,” says Gray Muffin suddenly.

Trixie and Redheart look at Gray Muffin with startled expressions, they didn’t even hear him come in and now he’s standing almost directly in front of them, wearing his trademark garb, and a saddle with something balancing on his back. Redheart quickly recovers from the surprise and bows politely, and Trixie follows her lead, not wanting to get in trouble for fear of getting electrocuted again.

“Trixie, stay here. I need to have a word with Redheart, and when I return we will commence with your training.”

Trixie nods, and Gray Muffin escorts Redheart out of the infirmary. When the door closes Trixie takes a seat on the chair and looks around the room in a feeble attempt to try to contain her nervousness.

oooOOOooo

In the hallway Gray Muffin escorts Redheart a comfortable distance away from the infirmary and hands her a profile kept in his saddle as well as the decent sized box he was carrying.

“You haven’t been paying attention to your duties, Redheart, and because of your laziness Ponyville has succumbed to corruption,” says Gray Muffin, disappointment clear in his tone.

Redheart opens up the profile, and after seeing the picture her blood drains from her face and she slams it shut.

“Sir, you can’t be serious!” cries Redheart.

Gray Muffin’s eyes narrow. “Do I look like I’m joking.”

“But she’s a good mare!”

“Your inability to protect Ponyville led it going under Eclipse’s control ten years ago, and now your naivety has led to Ponyville’s corruption.” Gray Muffin growls and wraps his hoof around her neck and drags her close so that their noses are almost touching, and ignores Redheart’s whimpering and trembling. “You will not fail Ponyville again. She needs to go. That is non-negotiable.”

Gray Muffin releases Redheart and she exhales slowly while lightly rubbing her hoof against the rocky floor. Gray Muffin then pops the box open with his hoof and nudges it towards her. Inside the box is an earpiece attached to a backpack that has a folded down antenna, a mechanical rectangle and a pamphlet for a funeral service held for a cat named “Mittens”.

“Your new gear and proof of your funeral attendance.”

“Do I really have to?” asks Redheart softly

“Justice is absolute.”

Redheart sighs heavily and after wiping tears from her eyes she reluctantly picks up the items and profile without further protest and trots down the hallway with her head down. She briefly stops to look at Gray Muffin in a silent plea for him to reconsider, but his cold stare and subtle nod says enough.

oooOOOooo

Trixie is still sitting in her chair, trying to keep her mind busy, when Gray Muffin walks in the room she hops out of the chair and approaches Gray Muffin with as much enthusiasm as she can muster.

“So, what’s the first lesson?” asks Trixie, trying to mask her nervousness with a cool attitude. She fails miserably.

“Get me a cup of coffee. Decaf and half a cup of low fat cream with one of those little umbrella things to go with it. Using no magic,” orders Gray Muffin.

“...Are you serious?”

“Now, Trixie.”

Trixie blinks a couple of times, she doesn’t know if this is a stupid joke or if he’s serious. But when Gray Muffin leans closer to Trixie so that their snouts are practically touching, and repeats “Now, Trixie.” in a harsher tone, she gets the message and gallops out of the room. But when she’s halfway down the hallway she skids to a stop with the realization that she doesn’t know where to get the coffee. Trixie groans and reluctantly walks back to the infirmary, where Gray Muffin is standing, and looking directly at her with an odd looking smirk.

“Where, exactly, do I get the coffee?” asks Trixie coyly.

“Follow me,” says Gray Muffin, slightly amused with Trixie embarrassing herself.

Gray Muffin leads Trixie down the hallway, towards the cafeteria, which, like the rest of the facility, is not that glamorous. It’s another one of those rooms that looks like it had been gutted out of the mountain, and then had the essentials to a cafeteria built in. However, it’s crude appearance does intrigue her.

Gray Muffin nods towards a setup with basic coffee and tea machines and other essentials for the perfect morning drinks. But there is something intimidating about the coffee machine. Maybe it’s the way the dark liquid bubbles, or the way it hisses, or maybe it’s because she has to use the obviously hot device without using magic.

“Do you need instructions?” teases Gray Muffin.

‘Wow, he’s going to town isn’t he?’ “No, I can handle this coffee machine all by myself,” says Trixie, her voice dripping with annoyance.

“Lie down.”

“What?”

“Lie down. Now.”

Trixie lies down on her stomach, completely confused as to why she’s doing this. She hears the coffee pot pop out of its little shelter in the machine and then feels its hot bottom sear her coat, causing her to scream in a mix of pain and shock.

“Your tone was unacceptable,. and I told you to address me as ‘Sir’,” says Gray Muffin, “now you’re going to have to stand up with the pot of coffee on your back.”

“What happened to the ‘Master’ option?” retorts Trixie.

She instantly bites her tongue, and she can just picture Gray Muffin raising an eyebrow. But instead of getting a smack to the back of the head or any other form of physical punishment like she’s expecting, she gets something much worse.

“Because of that tongue of yours, you’re going to have to do it four times.”

“What!” squeaks Trixie

“Now it’s eight.”

“Are-are you-”

“Sixteen.”

“But-”

“Thirty two.”

Trixie, finally figuring out to keep quiet, starts to slowly stand up, and tries her absolute best to keep her legs from shaking, but her luck goes against her as her legs shake violently, and with it, the coffee pot. Enormous beads of sweat trickle down her forehead as she tries to hold back a nervous whimper. She looks over her shoulder to see how the coffee pot is doing, but Gray Muffin tells her to keep facing forward. When she’s standing up, Gray Muffin tells her to stop, and then he pours himself a cup of coffee. After setting his coffee on a table he orders Trixie to lie on the ground. She complies, and goes down just as slowly as she stood up, and when she’s done with that, her mentor nods approvingly.

“Good job, Trixie, it took you two minutes to do one set. Thirty one more and we’ll be done.”

Trixie groans and bangs her head on the ground, making the coffee pot fall over and stain the floor and her coat with the burning, brown liquid. Trixie whimpers when the hot coffee burns her skin, but she's too exhausted to move.

“That’s unfortunate, looks like we’re going to have to use the tea kettle instead.”

Trixie’s ears droop.

~~~~~~~~~~

Over an hour passes before Trixie finishes her odd exercise, and the exercise had left a burnt scar on her back, so Gray Muffin has taken her to a “special spot” that is located outside of Roar Shock’s chambers. Apparently Roar Shock has something that will help heal her burn, and he went inside to get it, leaving her alone to rest.

Trixie breathes a long sigh of relief as she plops down on a pile of cool hay. Her legs are sore and the spot on her back where the kettle was is still burning. Barely a minute passes before Gray Muffin returns with a mirror in his mouth and a syringe hanging around his neck like necklace. Trixie spots Roar Shock looking at her skeptically before the door closes, and when she looks at the syringe around Gray Muffin’s neck, she raises her eyebrow, and then reluctantly shifts into the sitting position.

Trixie points at the syringe, asking: “What’s that?”

“Medication created by Roar Shock,” replies Gray Muffin awkwardly due to the mirror in his mouth

“No offense to Roar Shock, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of pony who would make medicine.”

Gray Muffin holds up the mirror so that Trixie can see the burn from the tea kettle exercise. She immediately looks away at the sight of the grotesque, charred skin.

“There is a lot you don’t know about Roar Shock, and when the day comes where he trusts you, he will show you his secrets,” says Gray Muffin cryptically.

Trixie stifles a laugh, but then she feels the syringe stab her in the back and she yelps, and then glares evilly at Gray Muffin.

“What was that for?” growls Trixie.

“Would you rather I keep you untreated?” asks Gray Muffin smugly.

Trixie tries to think of a witty response, but when she feels fresh skin grow and the scabs fall off, and then new fur grow in the burnt spot, her mind goes completely blank. Gray Muffin holds up the mirror to show her the results. It’s like she hadn’t been injured at all!

“How did ye-How did he-Whaaat!?” stammers Trixie with an amazed smile stretched across her face.

Gray Muffin smiles proudly as Trixie smiles and attempts to inspect the miracles of the medicine. A couple of seconds later, he walks back to Roar Shock’s room. Trixie doesn’t notice, though, she’s too busy spinning in her spot trying to get a better view of her back.

“Never underestimate Roar Shock, Trixie,” says Gray Muffin darkly while pushing open the door, “the last pony that did had a closed casket funeral.”

That last part makes Trixie stop, and her smile fades away. She stares at the door for a little while, and then sits on the hay and her ears droop. Her good mood had been murdered, and now she’s wondering who the poor soul was the underestimated Roar Shock. When Gray Muffin walks out, Trixie cautiously approaches him.

“How long have you known Roar Shock?” asks Trixie carefully.

“I’ve known him all my life,” says Gray Muffin after a brief pause.

They walk out of the waiting area and down the hallway. She stops for a moment to watch a small group of earth ponies watching a zebra demonstrate some exoctic fighting manuevers on another zebra in a gym. After watching the quick demonstration she gallops after Gray Muffin and tries to figure out more of the leader of the organization she joined... the organization she doesn’t even know the name of. Trixie mentally bashes her head against the wall for being so stupid.

“I’ve got more questions, if that’s okay with you,” says Trixie.

“I might have answers.”

“Okay, first question: Who was the pony that underestimated Roar Shock? And second question: What is the name of this group?”

Gray Muffin stops and arches an eyebrow at Trixie. “You just now ask what the name of this group is? I told you that you were jumping into something you didn’t fully understand and I was right.”

“Oh c’mon! I just want to know two little things and you bite my head off!”

“If I bit your head off that would be cannibalism.”

“That was an expression! A very common one at that!”

“And you still don’t know how to control that tongue of yours!”

“Can you just pretty please answer my questions.”

Gray Muffin huffs and takes Trixie to the gym where the earth ponies are training with the zebras, which consists of all of them ganging up on one zebra while the other watches with a bag of popcorn. So far all the ponies are getting their flanks kicked and the other zebra is laughing while tossing out random words of advice. Gray Muffin leads Trixie to the farthest seat and they sit down to watch the training session.

“The first question is one that Roar Shock doesn’t want me talking about. The events leading up to it haunt his dreams to this day, and what he did to the pony that caused him the pain would send chills down the spine of even the bravest of us.” Gray Muffin says bleakly.

Trixie nods, not wanting to divulge further in that subject if it makes someone like Gray Muffin uneasy.

“As for the seconds question,” says Gray Muffin, slightly brighter, “this group is called the League of Justice-”

Trixie snorts a laugh and Gray Muffin shoots her a very nasty glare, and she quickly apologizes and asks him to continue.

“The League of Justice has been around for a long time,” continues Gray Muffin, “since before the Lunar Revolt, and we’ve always been the ones to defend the defenseless. We have been fighting crime and corruption since our creation and vowed to carry on, no matter what. However, Roar Shock has seen the flaws in our traditional ways and has changed this group for the better. Criminals and corrupt officials now live in fear of us because our fight to destroy all that is evil has become more effective and dangerous for them.”

“So I’m guessing I’m going to have to uh... to take a life, huh?”

“I warned you of what was ahead, but you didn’t listen. At least you’ll be killing evil ponies. When you’re ready of course.”

Trixie nods and silently watches the zebras show the recruits how to do something called Fallen Ceasar Style. Even though the zebras are moving slowly so the recruits -who are still recuperating from their injuries- can see how the maneuvers work, she still finds the tactic terrifying. Especially when the zebras explain the effects of well placed hooves with the proper amount of force. Gray Muffin also watches the zebras explain Fallen Ceasar Style, but he looks bored watching them.

As the two silently watch the zebras guide recruits into attacking dummies, a  thought strikes Trixie. Now that she’s part of this special group, no one will mess with her, and she’ll be fighting evil. Although the thought of killing is still uncomfortable to her, she has a feeling that she’ll get used to it and probably get brownie points for the afterlife for stopping evil ponies. She’s never been the religious type, but she’s wondering if this is the chance of redemption she has been praying for, for all the years she’s been homeless. It certainly seems like it.

Trixie smiles and relaxes in her seat, prompting Gray Muffin to give her a quick glance before he also relaxes in his seat. She sees a bright future for her, and she’s certain that Gray Muffin, despite his dark characteristics, is the mentor she’s been searching for, and needing, since her mother passed away. However, if they do the coffee pot/tea kettle exercise again they’re going to have some issues.

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

Pinkie Pie is literally tossed out of the Town Hall of Ponyville by a couple of oversized stallions, with the Mayor standing between them, looking worse for wear. Pinkie Pie sits on her haunches and holds her forehooves up pleadingly.

“Please, Mayor, you have to listen! You’re in danger!” says Pinkie Pie frantically.

“Pinkie Pie, there have been no threats made against me, or Ponyville, and the Town Hall is clean. So do everypony a favor, and stop with the conspiracy theories!” says the Mayor angrily.

“But they never make threats or give any warnings! They just do it!”

“Oh for the love of Celestia, where’s Twilight?”

And right on queue, Twilight Sparkle, unicorn extraordinaire and proud student of Celestia, gallops to the Mayor with Spike following close behind her, both of them are panting and sweating from their run. Twilight is carrying a saddle bulging with scrolls and other trinkets while Spike is carrying a backpack that probably has adult magazines in it. Over the past decade, Spike’s gotten bigger and he has an odd walking style where sometimes he’ll walk on two feet or on all fours, and his tail and snout have grown too.

“Sorry I’m late Mayor,” says Twilight in between heavy breathing, “I just got back from Canterlot. The train was late and the Guards were searching everything and everypony to find the one responsible for Lieutenant Shield’s death.”

“‘Murder’,” corrects Spike.

Twilight is too tired to roll her eyes, so she just gives her number one assistant a quick, irritated glance instead.

The Mayor merely dismisses Tara’s reason for being late with a wave of her hoof. “Yes, I heard about what happened. It’s tragic, but I’m glad you’re here. Pinkie Pie is losing it.”

“I’m not losing it!” snaps Pinkie Pie, her mane and tail now flat.

“Pinkie Pie, please,” Twilight says sternly while holding up a hoof, then she smiles nervously at the Mayor. “I’ll have Spike take Pinkie Pie home, and I actually have a note from my brother addressed to you. Perhaps we should discuss this inside.”

The Mayor looks at Twilight skeptically when she summons the scroll, and after a moment of awkward silence, she nods and motions Twilight to follow her. “I’m sure I know what this is about, we can’t be too careful nowadays.”

“Funny, that’s what my brother said!” chirps Twilight.

She giggles awkwardly and when the Mayor looks at her unamused, her awkward giggling fades away and ends with her clearing her throat.

“Let’s get inside,” says Twilight sheepishly.

“Yes, let’s,” says the Mayor unenthusiastically

“Spike, take Pinkie Pie home. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Spike does a cheesy, two fingered salute. “Sure thing, Twilight.”

When Twilight, the Mayor and the guards walk inside the Town Hall, the doors slam shut and Spike and Pinkie Pie stare at it for a few seconds before looking away. Spike looks at Pinkie Pie while she looks at the ground.

“Are you okay?” asks Spike carefully while putting his hand on her shoulder.

Pinkie Pie pulls away. “No, I’m not okay! Nopony is listening!”

Pinkie Pie stands up and shuffles back to the Sugar Cube Corner with Spike following close behind. She rambles on and on about a mysterious organization attacking the criminal underworld with extreme prejudice, and she talks about what she had found with just newspaper clippings and how she believes that the Mayor is the next target. Her ranting causes some heads to turn; most were quick glances, but other struck up a brief “What’s she talking about?” conversation with other ponies.

“Why do you think the Mayor is a target for... assassination?” asks Spike uneasily, he’s fully aware of all the stuff that has been happening, but he still has a hard time believing that something horrible like an assassination can happen in Ponyville.

Once outside the Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie stops walking and looks into Spike’s eyes, making him slightly uneasy when he sees the genuine fear in her eyes.

“They think the Mayor’s corrupted,” says Pinkie Pie, her voice trembling a little bit.

Pinkie Pie leads Spike to her room and when she pulls out her map and scrapbook of newspaper clippings, Spike facepalms and grumbles something under his breath about Pinkie Pie turning into Twilight. Pinkie Pie pushes the map against the wall and as Spike half-heartedly studies the map, Pinkie Pie opens up the scrapbook to show Spike her findings.

Pinkie Pie starts flipping through the pages. “This organization has been around for a very long time. Like thousands of years long time.”

“So this is an ancient group of assassins? Sounds like something you’d read in a book.” says Spike unconvinced.

“Well they’re just as real as the ponies outside, Spike, and they weren’t always assassins.”

There is a loud banging noise, making Spike jump slightly and when he turns around to see what made that noise, he sees Pinkie Pie searching through a large encyclopedia in the middle of the room.

“Some of their largest operations took place during the Lunar Revolt. Then they had little spikes during famines, wars, and general times of chaos.” Pinkie Pie closes the encyclopedia and leaps towards her map. “They didn’t kill anypony, or at least they didn’t try to kill anypony. Their targets were specific, like high ranking meanies in the criminal underworld.”

“Right... so what makes you think this same group is responsible for all that is happening now?” asks Spike while sitting down like a dog, and scratching his ear like one too.

Pinkie Pie frowns at Spike’s careless attitude on the situation. “A lot of stuff, but these ponies followed a pattern, and because of that pattern I was able to track them all the way to their origins from Pre-Lunar Revolt to now. Do you remember what happened to Eclipse?”

Spike thinks for a moment. “Yeah, how can I forget that guy. Last I heard he got tossed out of his loft in Canterlot. The newspapers wouldn’t stop talking about it for weeks!”

“Do you remember what he was accused of?”

“Besides trying to take over Ponyville ten years ago?”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes become half lidded and her ears droop; she’s not impressed with Spike’s answer in the slightest sense.

Spike chuckles nervously and scratches his chin while searching his brain for anything related to the deceased criminal lord. When he comes up with nothing, he shrugs silently and Pinkie Pie turns the pages in her scrapbook until she reaches a ten year old, small article that talks about a mysterious fire at the home of a small business owner in Fillydelphia. The summary of the small article is that three dead pegasi were found in the ruins of the fire; a mare, and two fillies. The owner and his third child were nowhere to be found and presumed to be dead. Eclipse was the prime suspect of the tragedy.

After finishing reading the article clip, Spike mumbles: “Oh man...” as he rubs his forehead.

Pinkie Pie stares at the map, specifically, at all the attacks the mysterious group has made. “Eclipse’s murder was a declaration of war, and not just against criminals, but against corrupt government officials. And he wants everypony to know what happens when they are on the wrong side of the law.”

“But isn’t vigilantism... you know... illegal? Especially this kind?”

Pinkie Pie sits on her bed and nods in agreement. “Yeah, but whoever this guy is thinks that they are doing Equestria a favor.”

“So how do you plan on stopping this guy?”

“What makes you think I’m going to stop him?”

Spike smirks. “C’mon, Pinkie, I’ve known for a while now. You got all this stuff, and you obviously got the smarts to track this guy down and you aren’t the kind of pony to sit around while that nut is on the loose.”

Pinkie Pie smiles devilishly at Spike and her mane and tail inflate to their cotton candy look. “Oh, Spike, you do know me.”

“So what’s your plan? I’m sure Twilight can help.”

“No, Spike, I don’t want any of my friends getting involved.”

“But they can help.”

“The less they know, the better. This guy means major business and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if any of you guys got hurt because of me.”

Spike walks over to Pinkie Pie with the scrapbook in his claws and gently tosses it on the pink pony’s bed. “But I know or at least have an idea of what you plan on doing. So you might as well use my help.”

Pinkie Pie drags the scrapbook closer and taps her chin a couple of times. “Well, there is one thing you can do...”

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

Fluttershy is sitting in her living room, reading the depressing newspaper while her radio plays some soft orchestral music. She needs the soft music to help calm her down. With all the attacks going on, she’s afraid to go out of her cabin, and barely has enough courage to walk around Ponyville. At least in her cabin she feels safe, and has Angel and the other animals to keep her company.

“We interrupt this music session with a message from Princess Celestia,” says the radio suddenly.

Fluttershy glances at her radio for a second before resuming her reading.

“Hello, my little ponies, this your Princess speaking,” says Celestia, her voice retaining its calm, motherly tone. “I know many of you are scared about what is happening and I cannot say when the attacks will end. But  I promise you it will all be over soon. Every branch of the Equestrian government is working in full cooperation with each other in finding those responsible.”

Fluttershy turns the page and reads a blurb about Shining Armor’s response to the most recent attack. He’s calling for a massive joint operation with every level of the Equestrian government to find the terrorist leader, but they don’t have a name and finding those who work for this particular group is like chasing shadows. Or so the rumors go.

“But we cannot let these terrorists divide us. We must remember that a united Equestria is a strong Equestria. We must be strong.”

There is an energetic knocking on the door and Fluttershy approaches the door, suspicious as to who would be coming by her cabin at this time of night.

“We must remember what it means for harmony to reign.”

Fluttershy takes a deep breath and then opens the door. Her eyes widen when she sees who’s standing in her doorway with the always present smile. “Oh, hello Pinkie Pie. What are you doing here?”

Pinkie Pie greets Fluttershy as she bounces in the cabin. Fluttershy peeks out out of sake of putting her paranoia to ease before closing and locking the door. When the door is locked she turns around and sees Pinkie Pie going through her closet.

“And above all else...”

“Um... are you okay, Pinkie Pie?” asks Fluttershy while cocking her head.

“I’m fine, I just need to grab something real quick,” says Pinkie Pie cheerfully.

Pinkie Pie’s smile broadens and she pulls out her Mare-Do-Well costume, looking just as good as when she and her friends retired their costumes.

“We must be vigilant.”

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

Nurse Redheart walks inside her house and wearly locks the door behind her. She carries her stuff up to her room, moves her bed out of the way, then puts everything in a hidden safe built into the floor. After locking her gear in her safe, and pushing the bed back in place, she goes to her kitchen to make some tea, despite her body telling her to take a nap instead. But before she can get the water prepped, she hears a frantic rapping on the door.

“That better not be Pinkie Pie...” says Redheart wearily to herself.

She reluctantly opens the door and her eyes bulge when she sees Twilight’s number one assistant standing in front of her, panting and sweating.

“Redheart! Ye-You gotta come quick! There-There’s a uh a poor pony who’s hurt really bad and-and needs your help!” says Spike urgently.

Redheart doesn’t hesitate to follow Spike. They oddly run through the alleys, like Spike doesn’t want to be seen with her. Redheart’s gut is telling her that she’s being led to a trap, but she pushes aside the doubt since Spike is a trusted member of Ponyville. Besides, why would he lie about someone being injured? However, Redheart’s nagging doubts become more vocal when she realizes that they are on the outskirts of Ponyville, and when they are in Whitetail Wood, she skids to a stop and orders Spike to stop. He immediately stops and looks at Redheart innocently.

“We’ve been running for a while now, and I’m starting to think that this whole injured pony thing is fabricated!” accuses Redheart.

“You’re right, I made it up,” admits Spike.

Suddenly, a familiar masked purple vigilante drops out of a tree and lands next to Redheart. Redheart jumps back and prepares herself for a fight.

“Mare-Do-Well,” sneers Redheart.

“Spike, leave, I got this under under control,” says Mare-Do-Well in an obviously disguised voice.

“You sure?” asks Spike.

Mare-Do-Well nods and Spike hesitantly runs away without another word. When Spike’s out of sight, and his footsteps fade away, the two ponies start circling each other, each of them ready to pounce in an instant.

“I think I know why you’re after me, Mysterious Mare-Do-Well,” says Redheart coldly.

“Good, then our talk will be quick.”

“What makes you think I’m going to talk?”

“Intuition.”

Redheart scoffs. “Wow, great answer there. Bravo. Bra-vo!”

“I know that you’ve been given an order to assassinate the Mayor.”

Redheart stops walking and glares at Mare-Do-Well. How this vigilante wannabe figured out her mission is beyond her, but that just adds to the number of threats she has to deal with now. There’s no telling how much she knows.

“You aren’t a killer, Redheart, I am begging you, don’t carry out the order. Ponyville is one of the few places where your organization-”

“It’s not my organization!” snaps Redheart. Redheart prepares to charge Mare-Do-Well, and she braces herself for the coming attack. “Ponyville was my responsibility and I let things slip up, and now I have to fix it!”

“Redheart, don’t try it.”

Redheart charges Mare-Do-Well, and she gracefully side steps the charge and does a flip that defies the laws of physics, and she lands on Redheart’s back. Redheart crumbles to the ground with a grunt, and then feels a hoof strike her on the neck, and then she feels all of her muscles become lax with the inability to move. Now she starts panicking, if she wasn’t paralyzed she’d be shaking right now.

“You can’t stop us, Mare-Do-Well,” chuckles Redheart anxiously as she’s turned on her back. “You may have captured me, but they’ll just send somepony else. And after they deal with the Mayor, they’ll come after you for meddling with our business.”

“Tell me where your boss is!” demands Mare-Do-Well.

“Not going to do it. As much as he has changed, I will never give him up.”

“Ponies are dying! Doesn’t that mean anything to you!”

“Of course it does! I’m a nurse for Celestia’s sake! The last thing I want to see is a dead pony!”

“Then why continue to work for him?”

“I have no choice... commitment is lifelong and besides... it’s for the Greater Good.”

Mare-Do-Well steps off of Redheart, and she tries once again to move. She can move a little bit, but not enough to do any difference, they are more like twitches. She sighs with relief, knowing that the damage isn’t permanent.

“I’m handing you over to the guards,” says Mare-Do-Well, “and maybe while you’re there you’ll think about how expensive this ‘Greater Good’ is.”

The last thing Redhart sees before her world goes dark is a boot to her face.