Arc 1- 5 (Eyes on Target)

Riiiiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiing. Click.

++++++++++

Trixie runs into one of the public bathrooms and empties her stomach contents in the closest toilet. The stomach acid burning her throat and the taste of regurgitation leaves a very unpleasant feeling in her mouth. She shakily wipes her mouth and flushes the toilet, watching the tannish water swirl away into only Celestia knows where, but at least it’s not going to be near her.

Trixie moans and wipes her sweaty mane out of her face, she didn’t think that she was sweating that much until her hair stuck her hoof and she had to use her magic to pull it off. She grimaces at the fact that she’s a sweaty,  stinky mess and she closes her eyes and rests her head against the toilet lid. The nice cool toilet lid that is her nice cool pillow that will cool off her head and-

Trixie’s eyes open up and her brow  furrows. She can’t believe that she had just allowed herself to sleep on a toilet lid after puking.

“Wow, I guess training with those zebras was too much for a tramp like you,” mocks Terra.

Trixie silently stand up and turns to face the unicorn that has been giving her trouble ever since she got here. Terra has a smug smile on her face and is gently rubbing a couple of stones together while sipping a what looks like an amazing smoothie. Smoothie aside, Trixie remembers the good days when she wasn’t called a “tramp” and how she would embarrass any pony that had the guts to call her one, or have a strapping stallion take care of the problem. But she’s too tired to get in a confrontation with Terra, and even if she wanted to, she knows the news will make its way to Roar Shock which will only tick him off and cause more trouble. Just thinking about an angry Roar Shock makes Trixie shudder.

“Did Gray Muffin send you?” asks Trixie.

“Is that a serious question?” says Terra as she raises an eyebrow.

“Is that a serious answer?”

Terra’s eyes narrow and she approaches Trixie while morphing her rocks together to form a sleek blade. Trixie takes a step back into the stall and charges her horn defensively, hoping and praying that she won’t get stabbed to death in a bathroom.

“Listen here, tramp, I don’t know why Father would allow somepony like you in with us,” says Terra harshly. “If you are on a soul searching quest, take it up with the church and maybe if you’re lucky Celestia will take five seconds to hear you cry.”

“What is your problem with me!” cries Trixie.

“I don’t like how a fake skank like you thinks that they can waltz in here and be one of us. Once you’re evil you’re always evil.”

“Oh right, and once you’re pure, you’re always pure.”

“Once you’re better, you’re always better is more like it. Do yourself a favor and go hang yourself. The world doesn’t need you, and the League of Justice definitely doesn’t need you.”

Terra stabs the wall behind Trixie, making her yelp and slightly cower. Terra chuckles evilly, yanks the blade out of the wall and then leaves the bathroom. Trixie slouches on the floor and tries to calm her nerves enough so that she can actually move. She accomplishes this a few minutes later, and after washing sweat off of herself as best as she can with faucet water she leaves the bathroom. Once in the hallway she takes a couple of steps before Gray Muffin calls her. Trixie stops walking and turns around to see her mentor casually walking towards her. From the looks of it, he had just finished a brief conversation with Terra, most likely an assignment since her walking went from a smug piece of dung to that of purpose and determination.

“You’ve been sitting in the bathroom for ten minutes,” states Gray Muffin matter-of-factly.

‘Well no duh, Captain Obvious.’ “Sorry, sir, I just got tired,” says Trixie apologetically, although some of her annoyance does slip out.

“I see. Would you like some rest?”

Trixie is taken back by this and her mind goes blank for a second. She’s not sure if she heard the old stallion right, and if she did -which she’s sure she did- she’s wondering if he was feeling okay. That entire sentence seems like an anomaly to her. Gray Muffin offering something in the open without anything in return is unheard of!

Trixie sputters words to form a sentence, a sentence that Gray Muffin cannot understand for the life of him.

“You’ll have to repeat that. I don’t speak retard,” says Gray Muffin bluntly.

“Ye-Yes, sir, that-that would be great,” stammers Trixie, still in disbelief of what she had heard.

Gray Muffin’s tail suddenly wraps around one of Trixie’s hind legs and tugs it back, and as she stumbles to catch herself, he uses one of his front legs to trip her. She lands on the ground with a thud and she lets out a pathetic grunt. And while the hallway spins Gray Muffin pins her to the ground by pressing his hoof against her chest.

“If you want to rest, you’ll have to strike me three times,” says Gray Muffins.

Trixie rolls her eyes. ‘Of course,’ thinks Trixie bitterly, but then a concern crosses her mind and she asks: “But what if I pass out from exhaustion?”

“Then you’ll get your nap,” replies Gray Muffin in a barely noticeable teasing tone.

He helps her up, and right as Trixie is about to thank him, he strikes her in the chest, causing her to gasp in pain and stumble back, and then he bucks her against the walls.

After falling to the ground Trixie coughs and gags and clumsily pushes herself up. “Are we seriously doing this now?”

A swift kick to the face, and the bloody nose that follows, answers her question.

“That’s it,” growls Trixie.

Trixie blocks another one of Gray Muffin’s attacks, then she rolls away from him with surprising agility and grace, then rams, and pins, him against the wall.

“There’s one,” huffs Trixie.

“That isn’t a hit, that’s a pin,” says Gray Muffin smugly. He then headbutts Trixie, and as she swears and puts her hoof over her face, he pushes her back and kicks her in the side. She falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes. “That was a hit.”

“You’re too hard,” whines Trixie.

“The task is simple. Three strikes.”

Trixie pushes herself to her feet, and with an enraged scream she charges Gray Muffin. When she leaps in for the tackle he does something she doesn’t expect. He lies down on his his back and when she is over him, he uses his hooves to fling her clean over him and she lands on her back a good dozen or so feet away from him. Add in the sliding distance and it’s about twenty feet.

‘What the hay was that!’ wonders Trixie angrily while wincing from the burning pain in her back. ‘Fine, if we’re going to do tricks, then trick it is!’

Trixie groans and tells Gray Muffin that she can’t move, which isn’t too far from the truth. Her bones and muscles are aching, and any more punishment and she’s sure she won’t be able to move. And then she’ll have to deal with those cursed mushrooms again. She closes her eyes and pretends to go limp as she hears Gray Muffin walk towards her.

“Are you seriously trying to fool me?” asks Gray Muffin.

Trixie suddenly opens her eyes and uses her horn to blast Gray Muffin. The blue beam she shoots out hits him in the chest and sends him flying backwards into the ceiling. There is THUD and he belly flops on the floor, motionless.

Trixie laughs victoriously, albeit with some strain, and she clumsily stands up. “Ha! Take that!”

But then she hears Gray Muffin growl and he stands up while giving Trixie the most sinister glare she’s ever seen. Her ears droop and she takes a step back while stammering about not knowing she wasn’t supposed to use magic. As Gray Muffin walks towards her, she walks backwards, and with each step she takes she cowers further into the ground.

“You-you didn’t say anything about not using magic!” says Trixie defensively, now almost lying down on her stomach.

Gray Muffin is soon towering above Trixie, and she’s too scared and shaky to move. She closes her eyes to prepare for either a tongue lashing, a pummelling, or both.

“That’s one,” says Gray Muffin in a surprisingly calm voice.

Trixie opens one eye and sees Gray Muffin smiling proudly, and after taking a few paces back he motions Trixie to stand up. Trixie gulps and stands up, she’s still worried about will happen next since she doesn’t trust his smile.

“You are a unicorn, Trixie, not using your natural gift is like a pegasus refusing to fly, or an earth pony refusing to use their legs,” says Gray Muffin. “You still have to strike me two more times before I allow you your rest. However, I want you to try something different.”

Trixie takes her eyes off of Gray Muffin for just a moment to think what else she could do, that proves to be a big mistake. When she looks back at her trainer, he’s practically in her face and he tackles her to the ground. They both roll over each other down the hallway like a ball, and when they come to a stop, Gray Muffin is on top of Trixie and he has her head pinned so that her horn is away from him.

“Never take your eyes off your target!” growls Gray Muffin.

Trixie’s eyes dart around the hallway to see if there’s anything she can use against Gray Muffin, but the hallway is completely bare. Then Trixie gets an idea that is sure to work. Her horn glows and Gray Muffin is covered in her magical mist, but her plans are shot to dust when he strikes her horn at the base, and sends a horrendous amount of pain that surges through her head. The pain can be compared to a stallion getting kicked in the gonads, and to make it worse, her magic disappears.

‘What the buck!’ screams Trixie’s thoughts.

“Know your target’s weakness and strike there every chance you get!” instructs Gray Muffin.

Trixie bites back her tears and cries, and comes to the conclusion that since her magic is gone (again), she’ll have to resort to dirty fighting. To her relief, Gray Muffin is in the perfect position, and so is her hind leg. Trixie kicks Gray Muffin in the crotch and his eyes bulge, and he groans while rolling off of Trixie.

Trixie gets to her feet and after taking a couple of deep breaths she proudly says: “That’s two, right?”

Gray Muffin nods and gradually gets up, wincing in the process. “Fighting dirty, are we?”

“One more and I get my nap.”

Gray Muffin nods and is about to charge Trixie again, but stops and stares down the hallway with an irritated scowl. Trixie is almost skeptical of his scowl, but she looks over her shoulder anyway and sees Roar Shock gliding towards them. He lands next to Trixie but completely ignores her and walks towards Gray Muffin with the proud pegasus trot. Trixie swears that pride is genetically built into pegasi, because just about every single one she’s met has had some sort of ego problem.

“Let me guess, I’m late,” says Gray Muffin dryly.

“They are fully charged and won’t be testing themselves,” remarks Roar Shock.

Trixie cocks her head and tries to figure out what charging thing needs testing.

Gray Muffin nods and looks at Trixie. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to cut this session short.”

“So do I get my nap?” asks Trixie cautiously.

“What.”

“Do I get my nap, sir?”

“No, you struck me twice. I said three times. Go train with the zebras in the Arena.”

Trixie huffs and kicks imaginary stones away as the two stallions walk away, talking quietly amongst themselves. She doesn’t want to go back to the Arena with the zebras, last time she was there the two zebras -named Wazza and Adanz- made her puke! Somehow a well placed hoof to her side made her stomach uneasy and thus resulted in her vomiting in the toilet. Why anyone would want to make their target puke rather than knock them out is beyond her. Aside from the puking nightmare, they also tried to show her Fallen Ceasar, and it was by far the most painful thing she had experienced. But, nonetheless she must return to the Arena to train lest she wants Gray Muffin to zap her again. As she heads towards the arena she silently prays to Celestia that the zebras aren’t there.

~~~~~~~~~~

After getting “lost” for a few minutes -loosely speaking-, Trixie finally walks into the training arena, and lo and behold Celestia did not answer her prayers. The two zebras, who she swears are clones, are meditating on the mats with a circle of candles around them. The smoke rising from the candles are colorful and they give off sweet smells that make Trixie’s nose tingle. But she doesn’t want to interrupt their meditation, she heard that interrupting a zebra’s meditation could possibly be deadly due to them experiencing what some have described as “mindbuck dreams”.

Trixie sits down outside the circle of candles and impatiently watches the two. She doesn’t know which zebra is which, all she knows about them is that they are both brothers, can make anyone puke if they desire it, and can take on a small crowd of ponies.

“You have come for more training, yes?” says one of the zebras.

“Not because I want to,” says Trixie wearily. She sighs as she tries to relax, being that she has yet to get her rest, and she’s also trying to prepare herself for a world of hurt the zebras will deliver to her.

“You sound tired, are you weary?” asks the second zebra.

“You have no idea,” laughs Trixie.

The zebras open their eyes in unison, making Trixie all the more uneasy about them. The first zebra stands up and walks towards Trixie; she is about to stand up but he orders her to stay seated. Trixie forces herself to stay seated, and watches the zebra nervously as he paces around her.

“But we already trained, yes?” says the zebra.

“Yeah, but I was ordered here,” says Trixie quietly.

“I see, Adanz, what shall we go over with Trixie, this time?”

The other zebra, Adanz, silently stands up, and then he cracks his neck and approaches the two. “How about a balancing exercise, Wazza.”

“Very good idea, get the rods will you.”

Trixie watches Adanz bring out a roll of rods and set them up to make some weird cube looking thing that has the width of a pony, but stands a dozen feet tall. Wazza smiles proudly at his brother’s handy work, and then he grabs a ladder and pushes it next to the odd thing and orders Trixie to balance on it.

“You can’t be serious,” scoffs Trixie.

“You’re right, four is too much,” says Wasswa. Then he removes one of the legs and smiles at Trixie. “Three legs to balance on is better, yes?”

Trixie groans and climbs on the ladder, then, using gut wrenching precision, she stands on the monstrosity. She shakes and whimpers as she tries to keep her balance, and for some reason it looks like everything is ten times higher than it’s supposed to be. The zebra twins look like ants and the candles are merely dots on the floor. Trixie starts hyperventilating and shaking, thus making her wobble and the weird thing she is balancing shake to the point of collapse.

And collapse it does.

The whole thing crumbles to the ground and Trixie’s screaming comes to an abrupt end when she lands on her face. Her groan is muffled since her face is pressed into the mat, but it’s still a loud groan. Thankfully the zebras are nice enough to help her up.

“That was pointless,” moans Trixie while tenderly rubbing her face. ‘Is my magic back, yet?’

“Of course it was, we just needed a laugh,” giggles Wazza.

Trixie levitates a rod with ease and lets it drop to the ground a second later with a small, satisfied smile.

‘At least my magic is back,’ thinks Trixie with relief. Then she realizes what Wazza said and she glares at him while he and his brother chuckle at her misfortune. “Ass.”

The two zebras stop laughing instantly and stare at her hatefully. She looks at both of them and shrugs while asking what the big deal was.

“We’re part donkey,” says Wazza.

“I hope you’re happy,” sneers Adanz.

Trixie’s jaw drops and she stammers “Oh-oh I am so sorry, I-I had no idea you were-you were part donkey. You don’t look anything like donkeys!”

“Are you saying that we look nothing like our ancestors?” asks Wazza accusingly.

“Typical intolerance towards our kind” says Adanz while shaking his head sadly.

“What! No! No, I-I didn’t mean it! It has been a long day and it was just a slip of the tongue,” says Trixie defensively.

“She said such horrible things to get back at us for making her puke, didn’t she?” says Adanz sadly to Wazza.

“Indeed she did, brother. Come, let us leave her intolerance behind with some orange juice,” says Wazza.

The twins start walking away and Trixie stammers a massive wave of apologies, and just when she’s about to collapse from loss of breath due to how many desperate apologies she spewed out, the two zebras stop and turn to her... grinning. Trixie cocks her head and wonders why they are grinning.

“We were only joking with you, silly pony,” says Adanz.

“Only donkeys see other donkeys as attractive,” says Wazza, grinning from ear to ear.

“So... you aren’t mad?” asks Trixie carefully.

“No, of course not! We are full blood zebra! Would you like a hug?”

“No that won’t be necessary.”

Wazza and Adanz urge Trixie to loosen up and give them a hug as a way for them to apologize for messing with her. They emphasize this by standing on their hind legs and spreading their front hooves out. It only lasts a couple of seconds before they go back on all fours, but it still amazes Trixie that they were able to do that. After a minute or so of playful badgering Trixie finally gives in and goes to hug the twins. That turns out to be another big mistake.

~~~~~~~~~~

Trixie stumbles out of the Arena five minutes later, having to use the wall for support. Her mane and tail are ruffled into a knotted mess, and she is covered in fresh bruises and plagued with the new aches and pains that come with such bruising. She limps down the hallway and each step she takes she has to fight the urge to say “Ow”. When the demented twins walk next to her, untouched and grinning, they try to strike up a conversation with her to see what she had learned from the horrible exercise.

“So what did we learn today, my little pony?” asks Adanz teasingly.

“Never trust a zebra when they want a hug,” says Trixie angrily and sarcastically.

“She has a good point, Wazza.”

“I guess you’re right, brother,” says Wazza, “but did you learn anything else other than racial paranoia, Trixie?”

Trixie stops walking, and swiftly strikes Wazza in the side. He grunts and stumbles back, then his face turns into an odd tint of green and he gallops down the hallway. Adanz points and laughs at his brother’s misfortune.

“I finally remembered that move,” sneers Trixie.

And while Adanz is distracted with laughing at his brother, Trixie grabs the back of his head and slams his face against the wall, knocking him out cold. Then Trixie continues limping down the hallway.

“I really need a drink,” grumbles Trixie under her breath.

When Trixie finally makes it to the cafeteria, she searches for anything that can serve as an alcoholic beverage, but all they have is juice, milk, and water. She curses under her breath and pours herself a shot of apple juice, or at least the amount that’s in a shot glass in one of their cups. The way she sees it, if she can’t have alcohol then she might as well pretend that she’s having some. She downs her drink and slams the cup down, and then she pours herself another one and gulps it down just as quickly as before. She repeats this silly act a couple dozen times before she gets bored, and disappointed for the lack of wanted drinks, and smacks the cup away. She really wants her nap! But she doesn’t know if she can take one since her so called training was just her getting her butt kicked by the zebra twins and Gray Muffin told her that she needed to strike him three times yet she only has two. She decides to play it safe and buck Gray Muffin in the mouth.

She marches down the hall, demanding every pony she comes across to tell her where Gray Muffin is. Most didn’t know, but a couple of pegasi told her that he’s testing something in the “Birdcage” and doesn’t want to be disturbed. However, Trixie’s persistence gets them to tell her where the Birdcage is. She wastes no time in finding it, she is determined to hit Gray Muffin!

When Trixie reaches the entrance to the Birdcage, she finds that the door is unguarded and easily pushes it open, then her eyes nearly pop out of their socket when she sees the Birdcage. The Birdcage is another hollowed out room shaped into a dome that is hundreds of feet high and round with the floor being at least a hundred feet deeper than the entrance. There is a flight of stairs, but they don’t look trustworthy, leaving the only safe way down to be a cargo elevator. The Birdcage also has weird bars, rings and tunnels hanging from from the ceiling. Trixie also notices that there are scorches, scratches, and small craters littering the walls, ceiling, and floor. Even some of the things hanging from the ceiling are damaged.

Suddenly there is the whining of a small turbine engine, followed by a small boom and a blur zooms straight into the ceiling, and whatever it was that zoomed up lands gracefully on one of the bars. Trixie squints her eyes and realizes that the something is Gray Muffin wearing a full body jumpsuit with two turbine engine jetpacks latched on his back. The turbine engines have gems lining up on the sides of the engine, and the jetpack is clasped around his chest, which also has a large, glowing gem in the center.

“How’s the acceleration?” yells Roar Shock.

“Better!” yells Gray Muffin.

“Well play with it some more!”

Trixie gasps when Gray Muffin jumps off the bar without activating his jetpack. And when he falls a few dozen feet the gems glow and his jetpack activates. Trixie is speechless as she watches Gray Muffin skillfully fly around the auditorium in his dual jetpack. Sure it leaves an icky trail of fiery smoke, but his twists and turns leave amazing patterns in their wake. It’s like watching the Wonderbolts perform, except with two Wonderbolts performing ridiculously close to each other in perfect harmony. Tixie gasps yet again when Gray Muffin runs along the wall with the jetpack still going, and then he jumps off of the wall and spirals down to the ground. Right before he hits the ground he pulls up in such a way that would make a skilled pegasus jealous. She hears Roar Shock laughing and stomping on the ground in applause while cheering on Gray Muffin. That weirds out Trixie, every time she’s seen Roar Shock he looks like he want to murder someone or destroy something, but here, he’s laughing like a foal and cheering.

Gray Muffin turns off the jetpack by pressing his hoof against the gem on his chest when he’s a safe distance above the ground and runs to a stop. Roar Shock flies next to him and eagerly helps him remove the jetpack.

“I can’t believe it actually works!” says Roar Shock excitedly.

“Was there ever any doubt?” asks Gray Muffin smugly.

Trixie takes a step back after hearing her own phrase, certain that it wasn’t said out of sheer coincidence.

“I wonder if Trixie enjoyed the show,” says Gray Muffin loudly as he looks up at her.

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

Terra walks up to the Ponyville Guard Station wearing a simple disguise. She has her mane tied into a ponytail, is wearing a simple business dress with some slender glasses, and has her cutie mark covered up by a fake one in the shape of justice scales. She’s also wearing a fancy saddle. Terra walks inside confidently and approaches a bored stallion earth pony guard with a brown coat, silver mohawk shaped mane, and a police badge for a cutie mark. His name tag says “Vigilance”. He looks bored filling out all the paperwork at his table and disgusted by having to use a pencil to do so.

“Hello there,” says Terra sweetly, “I’m Justice Scales and I’m here to see my client”

Vigilance looks up from his work and studies Terra, not to check out her looks, but to see if she’s fooling with him.

“Who’s your client?” asks Vigilance gruffly.

“Nurse Redheart,” replies Terra while levitating a folder out of her saddle to show him Redheart’s file.

“The new one?”

“Yep.”

“Let me see your cutie mark.”

“Excuse me?”

Vigilance sighs irritably and grumbles about how he knew that the new law was stupid. After his grumbling he walks out from behind his desk and stands in front of Terra. Terra looks up at the buff pony and finds herself on a sudden hairtrigger from his imposing figure, despite his age.

“The ‘Special Talent Act’, signed in by Princess Celestia and put into full force this Monday states that ponies are assigned to their careers by their cutie marks. I need to check your cutie mark and verify that you are, in fact, a lawyer. Shouldn’t lawyers know this?” Vigilance says suspiciously.

“Oh certainly, my apologies, sir. I just got in from Canterlot so my mind is somewhere else,” says Terra politely as she turns to show him her fake cutie mark.

Vigilance looks at her cutie mark for a few seconds before he asks to see her credentials. After showing him all that he needed to see, he leads her down to the sparkling clean hallway to the dungeon and explains that Redheart is being charged for conspiracy to assassinate the Mayor.

“Has this all been proven, or is my client a victim of the state’s witch hunts?” asks Terra accusingly, playing her act very well.

“Lady, I just hold prisoners. How they get in here is none of my concern,” replies Vigilance with a roll of his eyes.

oooOOOooo

Redheart is sitting on her cot in her prison cell, too worried to be bored. The cot shouldn’t even count as a cot in her opinion, since it is just a slab of wood with a thin layer of hay over it, and a ratty blanket and pillow to go with it.

The solid slab of oak that the guards call a cell door is pushed open and Redheart glances over to see who’s visiting her. Not to her surprise Vigilance is one, but it takes her a moment to realize that the other is Terra.

“Oh great,” mumbles Redheart.

“Aren’t you happy to see your lawyer?” asks Terra.

“Sent by the state or a friend?”

“Yes.”

Vigilance looks at Terra with even more suspicion now, and Terra smiles innocently at him.

“Could you be a dear and give me and my client some space?” asks Terra sweetly.

“Sure, just knock when you’re done,” says Vigilance.

“Thank you.”

Vigilance leaves and locks the door behind him. When Redheart hears the door lock, she hops off her bed and cautiously approaches Terra.

“What are you doing here,” demands Redheart.

“We got your signal, so I was sent in to -oh how should I say this?- fix the problem,” says Terra snobbishly.

Terra levitates a couple of stones out of her saddle, and casually spins them next her head. Redheart carefully watches the rocks spin and when she asks Terra to put the rocks away, she thankfully complies without an argument.

“So, how’s Pinkie’s blender working?” asks Redheart casually

“That blender is working miracles. I haven’t had smoothies as good as what that blender made in a long time,” says Terra blissfully.

“So you got your money’s worth, eh?”

“Yep, but enough about me. How are you holding up?”

Redheart chuckles and sits on her bed while Terra casually paces around the room

“C’mon, you and I both know you aren’t that nice,” says Redheart.

“I came here to check on you, didn’t I?” remarks Terra.

“You aren’t that kind of pony. Why are you really here?”

Terra walks towards Redheart with a very strange smile until their noses are practically touching. The nurse can smell the mouthwash in Terra’s warm breath, and the way that the unicorn is looking at her is unnerving on every level. She may be smiling, but that smile reminds  Redheart of something evil, plotting something just for the sake of causing trouble.

“I think you know,” says Terra quietly.

Redheart just stares at Terra awkwardly, and after a minute of silence, Terra sighs and folds her glasses away.

“I want to know where you’re keeping our property,” says Terra disappointingly.

“Bust me out and I’ll show you,” says Redheart.

“I can’t, I’m disguised as your lawyer, remember?”

“So.”

“So, I can’t compromise this disguise. What if I need it for later?”

“Fine, keep that stupid excuse, but what makes you think I’m going to tell you if you aren’t going to get me out?”

“The mission depends on you telling me where your stuff is.”

Redheart sighs and looks around the cell for a few seconds before bringing her focus back to Terra.

“How can I trust you?” asks Redheart harshly.

“We’re on the same team, Redheart,” sneers Terra.

“That doesn’t make you any less of a psycho”

“Look, just answer the question, and I swear I will do what I can to get you out, as long as it’s beneficial to our covers.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good, because if you don’t get me out of here then I’m going to be sent to Singsong and I don’t know how long I’ll last in there.”

Redheart instantly covers her mouth with her hooves, regretting what she had said, and Terra stares at her suspiciously, then her suspicious stare turns into a threatening one.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asks Terra threateningly.

“Nothing!” snaps Redheart.

“Did you let something slip?”

“I’ve been interrogated for twelve hours without any sleep, Terra!”

Terra snarls viciously and slams her hoof over Redheart’s mouth and then pushes her down on the cot with enough force to crack the wood. Redheart whimpers as Terra presses harder against her mouth; she’s sure that if Terra presses any harder her bones will crack.

“Don’t use my real name!” growls Terra. “How much do they know!”

Terra releases Redheart’s mouth to let her speak, but still keeps her pinned.

“Nothing, I swear,” says Redheart anxiously, on the verge of tears.

Terra’s pulls out her stones and forms them into a blade and then presses it against Redheart’s neck. Readheart begins sweating profusely, and her heart beats so fast it feels like it’s going to pop when Terra traces the knife over her jugular.

“Terra, wha-what are you doing?” whimpers Redheart.

“How much do they know,” repeats Terra in a low, dangerous tone.

“They don’t know anything! By Celestia, how many times do I have to repeat myself!”

Terra searches Redheart’s face for any signs of deception. A few seconds later she releases Redheart and apologizes, then tries to justify her actions by claiming she only did that because she doesn’t want the Royal Guards to figure out about the League of Justice.

“I don’t want to hear it,” sniffles Redheart with a wave of her hoof, “Just get the stuff, and get me out of here. We need to have to have a word with Roar Shock about your state of mind, too.”

Terra nods and says: “I understand, just tell me where the stuff is so we can get this done and over with.”

“It’s in a safe, under my bed, the combination is one, four, zero.”

“That’s a stupid combination.”

“Well that’s where the equipment is. If the Local Guards haven’t found it yet, then it should still be there.”

“‘Should’?”

“It will be there. Happy?”

“Very.”

Terra suddenly lifts up Redheart in a bone crushing embrace and the nurse gasps as she feels a sudden sharp pain in her back. Terra then twists the blade in Redheart’s back and gracelessly tugs it out. Redheart tries to scream, but all that comes out is a weak gasp. While Redheart panics and struggles to call for help as blood fills her lungs, and Terra throws her on the cot like a piece of garbage. Tears roll down Redheart’s cheeks as her grunts and gasps become weaker, and the blood fills up more of her lungs. The doomed nurse’s cries for help might as well be nonexistent compared to Terra’s gentle shushing noises.

“I’m not sorry it had to come to this, Redheart. You’ve compromised enough already,” says Terra sinisterly into Redheart’s ear.

The last thing Redheart sees before her life fades away is Terra pulling a blanket over her head. After the blanket is pulled over, Redheart closes her eyes for the last time.

oooOOOooo

After adjusting the blanket over Redheart’s body, Terra casually adjusts her glasses and suit, then she bangs on the cell door to let Vigilance know that she’s done. Vigilance looks at her suspiciously as she walks out, and when he’s about to check inside the cell she clears her throat, thus distracting him for a moment.

“Care to show a lady out?” asks Terra with an innocent smile.

“After I check on the prisoner,” says Vigilance while peeking inside the cell.

“Why would you need to do that?”

Vigilance looks at Terra, eyes narrowed and hoof scuffing the floor. “Why don’t you tell me, Terra.”

Terra’s eyes narrow and she swiftly slits Vigilance’s throat, killing him instantly. She catches his body with her magic before he can hit the floor and drags him inside the cell. She then unceremoniously dumps his body next to Redheart’s corpse and leaves their bodies to rot. She even goes as far as breaking the key in the lock before leaving the station.

Once Terra leaves the station, she immediately goes to a public bathroom in a bus station to clean the blood from her rocks and remove her disguise. When her disguise is removed and tossed in the nearest dumpster, Terra casually walks to Redheart’s house. She sneaks past some locals and goes to the backyard. She checks the backdoor to make sure its locked, and upon seeing it locked, she scoffs and morphs her stones into lock picks. After making sure no one is around to see her, she picks the door open, then strolls inside like she owns the place and quickly finds the safe. After unlocking the safe she removes its contents, and leaves through the backdoor Redheart’s house without any delay, being sure to lock the door, too. Then she puts on the communicator in the box and strolls down the cobblestone street of Ponyville.

While she casually walks down the mainstreet of Ponyville, she checks out the construction sites of the booming town. More specifically a towering skeletal structure that will easily be the largest building in Ponyville. She nods approvingly and walks around some more. Along the way she passes Filthy Rich and his daughter, Diamond Tiara at the electronics store. She’s whining about wanting to get a backpack radio, and points to Terra as an example. The poor pony behind the counter looks like’s about to lose her temper, though, despite Filthy Rich’s best efforts. Then she walks towards the Sugar Cube Corner and to buy herself a smoothie.

“One banana smoothie, coming up,” says Mrs. Cake; she turns to the kitchen. “Hey, Pinkie, we got one banana smoothie!”

“Be done in a jiffy!”

Terra is surprised to recognize the voice, and when the pink pony that sold her the blender trots out with a banana smoothie balanced carefully on her freakishly poofy mane they both lock eyes. Terra takes the banana smoothie and drops some bits on the counter while sipping it and staring at Pinkie Pie carefully. To Terra, it looks like she’s about to have a seizure.

“Something wrong?” asks Terra while arching an eyebrow.

“Pinkie, please go help Carrot with the dishes,” says Mrs. Cake with a nervous smile.

“Okie dokie lokie,” says Pinkie Pie slowly, still trembling as she slowly backs away and eyes Terra suspiciously.

“I’m sorry about that,” says Mrs. Cake with a nervous chuckle. “She’s our best employee and isn’t normally like this. Just a lot’s been going on.”

Terra smiles and walks away without another word. And she keeps on walking, enjoying the growing colorful town and the ponies learning to drive the revolutionary steam powered motorized vehicles. Well, revolutionary by the public’s standards. Terra merely chuckles at how primitive they are compared to her father’s work. Then she comes across another place she needed to be. The giant tree house that also serves as the local library.

Terra strolls inside and is greeted by a purple unicorn and her dragon assistant that she recognizes as Twilight Sparkle and Spike; courtesy of constant newspaper coverage. Terra politely returns the greeting and heads towards the reference section. Along the way Spike comments on how cool her radio pack is, which Terra is quick to remember her manners and thanks the purple dragon. Then she starts searching for a map of Ponyville.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” asks Twilight eagerly.

Terra smiles with feigned awkwardness and turns to the lavender mare. “Well, I was looking for an updated map of Ponyville, the tourist maps are gone.”

“Oh, let me get that for you.” Twilight’s horn glows and a folded map is bathed in a lavender mist and carried to them. “There you go, a fully updated map of Ponyville.”

“Oh thank you, can I keep this?”

Twilight beams. “Of course you can. I got hundreds of those things.”

“Twelve, actually,” corrects Spike.

Twilight sighs and gives Spike the “Really?” look, and he just shrugs like he has no idea what he did wrong. Terra, on the other hand, giggles excitedly and puts the map in her saddlebag.

“Thank you, Twilight, I don’t care what they say about you, you’re pretty cool.”

Terra turns and leaves, and Twilight smiles and waves farewell to her.

oooOOOooo

When the door closes, the visitor’s words seep in and Twilight’s smile twists into a frown and she looks at Spike.

“What do they say me?” asks Twilight suspiciously.

“What do who say about you?” asks Spike, genuinely confused.

“You know they and what they say about me.”

Spike scratches his head. “Yeah... I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

oooOOOooo

Terra snickers as she quickly trots down the road while activating the radio pack. When it’s on, she puts on the headset and uses her magic to turn the dial to the appropriate channel.

“Hey Daddy, it’s me, I just got to Ponyville, and I’m on my way to the inn right now. I should be back home sometime tomorrow. Is that okay?” says Terra in a bubbly voice.

There’s a couple of beeps on the other end and Terra grins and thanks Daddy, and hangs up. Terra then checks in at an inn for a one night rental at the highest room, using the excuse that she likes to have a good view of the town. The mare in charge leads her to her simple room while barely saying a word. The room only has a bed and a radio, but the best part of the room is that it has a perfect view of the front of Town Hall. And that is where Ponyville will be declaring who won the position of mayor. Which is tomorrow.