Arc 1- 7 (Stone Reaper)

“Get down!” shouts Shining Armor while shoving the Mayor and Twilight to the ground.

The Mayor screams in protest but when Shining Armor puts up the rosy colored shield that covers the stage and an electric beams explodes against it a split second later, she almost goes comatose from fear. A barrage of electric beams hit the shield and Shining Armor puts the Mayor over his back while easily maintaining his shield, and he also stands in front of Twilight and Spike defensively and orders everyone to get inside the Town Hall. The shots continue banging against his shield, and he orders his troops to converge on the inn.

“They said it was clear!” says Shining Armor through gritted teeth, and then through the radio he shouts. “They’re in the inn! Take them out! Take them out!”

The Royal and Local Guards on the ground unload at the inn’s top floor with their battle saddles. The barrage of dozens of battle saddles and the civilians screaming creates a deafening mixture of noises. The Royal and Local Guards have trouble approaching the inn because of the stampeding crowd, but the Sky Patrol easily swoops towards the inn while firing their battle saddles.

oooOOOooo

Terra casually aims her cannon at the incoming Sky Patrol, uncaring about the bullets whizzing past her or the splinters of wood they kick up. When she shoots at them, some of the electric beams burn through a few chests and a couple of wings and limbs are shot off. She watches the pegasi drop from the sky, dead or injured, with a vicious smile. Then she shoots a few more soldiers, forcing them into what little cover they can find, and spots Shining Armor putting the Mayor into the safety of the Town Hall.

oooOOOooo

Shining Armor pales when he sees how quickly the soldiers are being wiped out. Then his paled expression turns red from his blood boiling and just when he’s about to bark out another order, more of those electric beams tear through the wall, sending chunks of burning wood bouncing off of his shield. The Mayor and Twilight shriek and cower behind Shining Armor while he remains steadfast.

“SOMEPONY GET THAT BUCKING ASSHOLE!” screams Shining Armor over his radio.

oooOOOooo

Terra gallops out of the room, cutting down any soldier that dares to cross her with deadly electric bolts and precise throat slitting. To make her getaway all the quicker she blows a hole in the wall of the lobby that leads directly to the alley. Right when she’s about to make her escape, someone dressed in a full body suit, mask and large fedora consisting of different shades of purple has the audacity of ramming her to the ground. Terra loses her concentration and the rocky knives fall to the ground as she slides across the alley. When she gets up she’s rammed into the wall, punched a couple of times in the face, and then kicked in the chest with unnaturally quick reflexes. Terra tries to block, but the assailant once again shows off her skill as she ducks under her in a purple blur and uppercuts her. The uppercut sends Terra flying off of her hooves and she skids down the alley, but she shrugs off the pain and alley dust and glares at her assailant as she approaches her.

“Who the hay are you supposed to be?” sneers Terra, her teeth red with blood.

The assailant’s insane speed makes it impossible for Terra to block her as she’s tackled to the ground again. The purple figure keeps Terra’s back pressed against the pavement, and the unicorn can see her eyes narrow in her reflection on those ridiculous bug-eyed visors this pony has.

“I’m Mare-Do-Well,” she says in a disguised voice.

“Pleasure to meet, you, Mare-Do-Well. You’re going to die now,” says Terra.

She shoots Mare-Do-Well in the chest with a blast of magic and she hears her purple nemesis scream in pain as she is launched dozens of feet in the sky. Terra is about to shoot Mare-Do-Well with her cannon, but after seeing her land on her back on the roof of a motorized wagon, crushing it, she thinks otherwise. Especially when Mare-Do-Well doesn’t move.

“Well that was disappointingly easy,” grumbles Terra, tenderly touching her busted lip with a hoof a second later.

When Terra hears more guards coming, she picks up her knives and runs down the alley while contacting her ride.

“Ground to Sky, we have a major problem” says Terra as she circles the knives around her head like two deadly satellites.

“So we hear,” says the radiopony. “You made quite the mess, Terra.”

“It would’ve been better if that prick hadn’t put up a shield.”

“You started a stampede!”

“Oh boohoo, stop your crying and pick me up at the abandoned warehouse.”

“Roger that.”

oooOOOooo

After he seeing Pinkie Pie in her Mare-Do-Well costume go towards the inn, Spike bullies his way through the charging crowd to get to her. He hears Twilight calling him, but her voice is quickly drowned out by the screams. Spike runs inside the inn and the first thing he sees are the mangled bodies and then the giant hole in the wall leading to the alley. He takes a deep breath, clenches his fist and runs to the alley. When he sees Pinkie Pie struggling to crawl out of a smashed motorized wagon he runs over to help her out.

“Pinkie Pie, are you okay?” asks Spike as he picks her up and gently sets her on the ground.

“I’m fine,” says Pinkie Pie while wincing quietly and cracking her back.

“Where are the Guards? Where’s the assassin?”

“I don’t know. I blacked out, but if she’s going to escape with an airship then it would have to be somewhere isolated.”

“There’s the construction and abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the town.”

“Only the abandoned warehouse has a good spot for landing a craft.”

“Okay, I’ll go stop the assassin-”

“No, Spike.”

“And you get yourself taken care of.”

“Spike!”

Spike doesn’t let Pinkie Pie finish, he runs down the alley towards the abandoned warehouse. The chaos of the stampeding crowd and the soldiers trying to calm them down and help the injured doesn’t make his run any easier.

When Spike finally makes it to the abandoned warehouse he gets an uneasy feeling in his gut. Abandoned places always have an ominous feel to them, even during the daytime, and this one is no different, especially since an assassin with a futuristic weapon is in there. And he knows the assassin is nearby because a piece of the chain link fence surrounding the place has a hole burnt through it where the edges are still glowing red hot. Spike takes a deep breath and goes through the hole. As he approaches the main building he picks up a steel bar and grasps it tightly like a baseball bat. As soon as he hears the assassin’s voice he tightens his grip and tries to keep himself calm.

“What do you mean you’re having problems?” says the assassin.

Spike takes a double take, that voice sounds familiar.

“Well shoot them out of the sky, you morons! Terra, out!”

Spike gasps when he realizes that the assassin is the mare with the cool communication device that was at the library yesterday. Suddenly, the ground shifts under his feet, causing him fall on his face. Then he’s grabbed by a magical force and launched into the ceiling and then smashed into the ground. Luckily Spike is a dragon, otherwise his bones would’ve been shattered. At the most they are bruised, but it’s still high on the list of the most painful thing he’s experienced.

Spike groans and his eyes shift up to Terra’s sick, twisted smile.

“Hey I know you!” says Terra excitedly.

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

Shining Armor had put the Mayor, Twilight and the other candidates in the protection of a dozen Royal Guards that were ordered to take them to their temporary base. And now that those two are on their way to safety, he turns his attention to his troops. The radio is clogged with frantic chatter of his soldiers trying to call for help to ease the panic or to bring down what they are describing as a “huge, robotic dragonfly” that is shooting at them.

Shining Armor wants to scream right now. A unanimous mail said that there would be an attack, but no one was expecting anything remotely close to this. They were not prepared for robotic dragonflies or weaponize electricity! Those things should not have even been possible!

Shining Armor snaps out of his rage induced trance and tries to figure out where the assassin is heading. He gathers a group of six Royal Guards as his personal hunting party. They will find and bring whoever is responsible to justice one way or the other. Thankfully Pinkie Pie, still dressed as Mare-Do-Well, drops by, looking worse for wear but refusing medical attention, and tells them that she has reason to believe that the assassin is heading towards the abandoned warehouse on the edge of the town. Shining Armor doesn’t waste a beat to order his soldiers to follow him as he runs after her, and they obey without question.

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

Terra laughs as she knocks Spike to the ground again. She recognizes the dragon as the famous Twilight Sparkle’s number one assistant, and the nice guy that complimented her on the radio pack. Earlier Spike tried to bring her down with a crude weapon, but that was something a barrage of well placed strikes couldn’t take care of. Normally Terra would kill anyone who had the guts to attack her, but there are two reasons why Spike isn’t dead. One, he’s a dragon and they are ridiculously hard to kill, even if they are young. And two, since her ride is facing some problems with some pegasi guards they are running a little behind, she thinks she might as well pass the time somehow. Plus, she hardly ever gets to toy with her prey.

“Twilight Sparkle’s number one assistant thinks he can be a hero,” mocks Terra.

She grabs his head with her magic and slams it against the ground, he grunts and spits blood from his mouth. He’s regretting ignoring Pinkie Pie and is now hoping she’s on her way to stop Terra.

“Does your mommy know your out playing cops and robbers?” continues Terra in her demeaning tone.

“She’s not my ‘mommy’,” growls Spike.

“Ohhh, I see. Your marefriend then. Does Rarity know your cheating on her with a naughty librarian?”

Spike screams as he breaks free from Terra’s magical grip and he tackles her to the ground. He has her on her back and throws in a few amazing punches before he tries strangling her. But as soon as he tries strangling her, she stabs him in the side and watches with a satisfied smile as he rolls off of her with one of her blades sticking out of his ribs. He gasps for air while clutching his injury and Terra giggles as she slowly pulls the knife out, enjoying the sounds of his painful cries.

“What’s the matter? Are you hurt? I’m sorry if you are in pain, but my ride out is facing some problems with our flying friends, so I’m just trying to kill time,” says Terra.

“You-you are-you’re a monster,” pants Spike.

He throws a punch, but Terra jumps away, seething.

“Monster? MONSTER!” screams Terra.

Terra kicks Spike on his injured side and when he’s on his back she stomps on his gut and stares into his eyes with a vicious snarl and a knife almost touching his eye. Spike gulps and his eyes shift around the room, hoping to see Pinkie Pie come in and beat this psycho to a pulp. But he sees no sign of her, so he knows he’ll have to keep her talking to buy time.

“I am no monster!” claims Terra. “I am a soldier! A soldier fighting for the very soul of Equestria!”

“Wa-wow... I-You are sure making me sympathetic,” says Spike sarcastically.

“I wouldn’t expect a weakling like you to understand. It’s too bad you had to interfere with our business, you seemed like a nice dragon. But nopony can stop what is coming. Not you. Not Mare-Do-Well. Not even the goddesses can stop us.”

‘That’s right, keep talking.’ “Wha-what are you... talking... about?”

“For too long we have let criminals and the corrupt rule Equestria, the time has come to purge these fiends from existence. And anypony who tries to stop us will die. Just. Like. You.”

Spike realizes that he can’t wait for Pinkie Pie any longer, so he swiftly swipes his claws against Terra’s face, leaving a trail of nasty cuts from her cheek to her forehead and ruining her right eye. She yelps and stumbles back, and Spike tries to crawl to his feet while Terra screams and thrashes on the ground. A moment later, she stands up with wobbly legs and a newfound fury.

“You bucking scaled freak!” exclaims Terra.

She grabs Spike with her magic and throws him through one of the walls. Terra then runs to Spike while forming her rocks into the blade and when Spike attempts to punch her, she stabs him in the hand, in between the knuckles and through the wrist.

oooOOOooo

After splitting up to try to find Terra, Pinkie Pie hears the commotion of fighting and her heart races as a lump goes in her throat. She can’t find Spike! She knows he’s in danger, every fiber in her body is telling her that. And her worst fears are confirmed when she hears Spike scream painfully. Pinkie Pie frantically calls for Spike when she hears his screams over Terra furious shouts, but then there are three electric shots and Spike’s screaming go silent. Pinkie Pie’s calling becomes more frantic and she runs even faster to the point where her feet are barely touching the ground.

“Spike! Where are you!” yells Pinkie Pie as she slides around a corner.

Suddenly Pinkie Pie’s senses buzz and she barely dodges a blood soaked blade flying towards her. It’s a good thing she dodged it too, since the blade had enough force to get impaled it into the concrete wall behind her. She then hears a demented chuckling and sees Terra step out of the shadows with her electric cannon charging and another blade floating next to her.

“Spike! Oh Spike, where art thou!” laughs Terra, her face is soaked in blood from the scratches and punches, and one of her eyes is closed. But the eye that is open has a clear look of psychotic evil.

“What did you do to Spike!” yells Pinkie Pie.

The blade is yanked out of the wall and lunges at Pinkie Pie. She dodges the blade and it circles around Terra before coming to a stop next to her head.

“I should’ve known you were playing dead. Silly me. I’ll be sure to cut your head off this time,” snickers Terra.

“WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SPIKE!” screams Pinkie Pie.

“You should’ve heard him begging for his life.” Terra mimics a cry, and then flashes a toothy grin. “Does Twilight know you got her number one assistant killed?”

Pinkie Pie screams and charges Terra, and the psychotic unicorn smirks and urges Pinkie Pie to come closer under her breath. Right when Pinkie Pie is jumping toward Terra, she launches both of her blades at the pink pony. But Pinkie Pie, much to Terra’s surprise, bats the first blade away, jumps on the second, crushing it under her hoof, and punches Terra’s injured eye. As Terra shrieks painfully, Pinkie Pie bucks her into a rack of old supplies. The rack falls over and forms avalanche of old supplies that creates a deafening ruckus and covers Terra with the junk. Pinkie Pie watches the pile for a few seconds for any signs of movement. When there’s nothing Pinkie Pie turns to look for Spike, but stops dead in her tracks when she hears the ground cracking and a loud rumbling noise radiating from underneath it.

“You thought a kick would stop me?” snickers Terra while rising out of the pile on top of a levitating rock platform.

Pinkie Pie takes a step back and her jaw drops as she watches Terra rise up with more chunks of stones floating around her that have been ripped out from under the floor. The stones are shaped into saw blades and then shot at her like a machine gun. Pinkie Pie runs down the warehouse, dodging each of the crude saw blades and making them shatter against the ground or crash into each other. When she reaches what she’s guessing is the supply room, given all the old cleaning supplies and tools and other random things, she locks herself inside and desperately searches for anything to use against Terra. She yelps when the blades impale the metal door. Thankfully they don’t go through, though.

Pinkie Pie sighs with relief, but that relief dies in a heartbeat when she hears more shouting from what sounds like Royal Guards, followed by a mix of ballistic and electric shots, screams, and then silence.

oooOOOooo

“Damn guards,” grumbles Terra.

Terra turns away from the group of now dead Royal Guards that Shining Armor assembled. All of them have parts of their bodies charred, like their chests, sides, and she even got a couple of headshots.

“Now where was I?” mumbles Terra. “Oh yeah. Mare-Do-Well, I hope you made your peace!”

Terra charges her cannon and blows down the door and a large area of the wall around it, showering her with burning dust and chunks of debris. She coughs and shakes the dust out of her mane before cautiously stepping into the hole.

“I know you’re in there, Mare-Do-Well!” yells Terra.

She shoots a volley inside and gets a satisfied smirk when she sees little explosions and pieces of the ceiling collapse.

“It’ll only go faster if-”

Suddenly a gunshot rings out and before Terra’s mind can comprehend what the noise was, the cannon explodes, covering the bad side of her face and a good portion of her body with electric fire. Terra shrieks and thrashes on the ground as the electric fire burns through her coat and melts her flesh down to the bone. On top of feeling her skin and muscle drip off, she also feels an armored hoof go down on her neck. She looks up, and despite her being almost completely unfocused due to the immense pain, she can make out Shining Armor standing above her with the rifle on his saddle aimed down at her head. His heavy breathing and the furious tears swelling in his eyes show that he really wants to execute her. The only reason he’s not, though, is because it would go against everything he believes in. That, and the Royal Guard Charter says execution is unacceptable under any circumstances.

“Resist arrest, I dare you” says Shining Armor darkly.

“Oh-oh-okay-okay big boy. Ye-You want-you want me to. You want me to, huh?” chuckles Terra through pained gasping.

Shining Armor furrows his brow, he does not like the way she’s laughing at him. Terra’s horn glows and a piece of stone shoots clean through the bone of the leg that is holding her down. Shining Armor screams and collapses to the ground, and Terra, through some unholy energy, clambers on top of him and uses the same rock to bash his horn until it cracks, despite his best efforts to fight her off.

“Ha-ha-how-how do you like that! How’s THAT for resist, huh!” screams Terra’s horribly distorted, scratchy voice.

Terra is just about to stab Shining Armor in the eye, but a metal bar hits her on the side of head, and everything goes white for a couple of seconds with a loud ringing echoing in her brain. And just when things are going back in focus, she sees the bar going in for another swing. When it connects with her head everything goes dark.

oooOOOooo

After Terra falls to the ground like an old ragdoll, Pinkie Pie drops the bar, goes back on all four hooves and clumsily puts Shining Armor over her back. She carries him out of the warehouse and runs like the wind to a medical station that was hastily set up at the temporary base. Every cot is taken by victims of trampling, or Guards injured by Terra’s weapon. Pinkie Pie sets Shining Armor down by a doctor and runs off before she could be questioned. As she runs through the crowd she hears ponies murmuring “Is that Mare-Do-Well?” and other similar phrases.

She runs all the way back to the warehouse, and after the longest five minute search of her life, she comes across Spike. He’s completely motionless and Pinkie Pie panics as she runs to him.

“Spike! Spike! Can you hear me!” says Pinkie Pie desperately.

She carefully turns Spike over and pulls off her mask and listens to his breathing. It’s still there, barely, and when she sees the extent of his injuries she sobs and hugs Spike tightly. He has three large, circular burns on his chest, he’s covered with cuts and bruises, and has a nasty stab wound in his hand. His fresh wounds are bleeding uncontrollably, soaking the ground around him in blood.

“Oh Spike, I’m so sorry,” sobs Pinkie Pie quietly.

Then she feels Spike’s arm weakly wrap around her neck and he gradually opens his eyes and uses a lot of his precious energy to smile at her.

“How’d we do?... Did we get her?” asks Spike weakly while trying to make a humorous tone.

Pinkie Pie chuckles quietly. “Yeah... yeah we got her,” she says softly.

“That’s good... I... I think I’m ready... for a nap.”

Spike closes his eyes and goes limp, but he’s still breathing. Pinkie Pie dons her mask and carries him to the medical area. She wants to find a good spot to put him, but when she sees Twilight crying over her brother, who’s insisting that he’s doing fine, she feels a lump in her throat and tries to find a spot where she wouldn’t have to face her friend. She knows she won’t be able to stand seeing Twilight more broken than she already is.

“Spike?” says Twilight in shock.

Pinkie Pie finds an open cot, and aggressively pushes doctors and the injured aside just to get him that spot.

“Spike!” yells Twilight, Pinkie Pie can hear the tears in her voice.

Pinkie Pie lays Spike on the cot and runs without looking back. Twilight’s wailing is enough for her to know what her friend’s reaction is. She doesn’t want to be around to see her cry, knowing that this was her fault, and even if she wanted to stay, she wouldn’t know how to comfort her.

~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, Pinkie Pie finds herself sitting on her bed, staring at her map in a trance like state, still wearing her More-Do-Wel costume, minus her mask and hat. Her mane and tail have deflated and she’s sore all over. Her eyes are red and puffy, and her coat is wet from her crying because of the fate she had thrown on herself and Spike to save a life. But she failed. Despite all her best efforts to save a life, dozens of ponies were killed and dozens more injured. The Mayor is still alive, but now that she thinks about it, she thinks she should’ve just let them kill the Mayor. After all they do target criminals and corrupt government officials and it would’ve been just the Mayor that suffered and not Spike or the hundreds of other. But because the Mayor is still alive they will be back and there is no telling what they will do ensure that their target is killed or what acts of retribution they will carry out against the town. And to make things more bleak, the room is unusually quiet, with only sound being a ticking clock to remind Pinkie Pie of Redheart’s threats.

“You can’t stop us, Mare-Do-Well. 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.”

As that phrase echoes in Pinkie Pie’s mind in sick loops, she down at the junk on her floor and realizes that Redheart was right. These ponies are willing to do anything to accomplish their goals, and now that she had sabotaged their mission and killed one of their soldiers, they will be coming after her in full force. She doesn’t need her Pinkie Sense to tell her that her end is near. She lifts her hooves up to her face and the image of her bashing Terra on the side of the head with a metal beam flashes across her mind. She can’t scrub the image of the bloody face and the sick smile that accompanied it from her mind. It’s like Terra didn’t even care that she was gravely injured. She had an objective and she was willing to kill anypony-

No. Anyone.

“Spike! Oh Spike, where art thou!”

Pinkie Pie sniffles and lets her hooves drop to the floor. She can only imagine the fear that Spike had felt when Terra attacked him, and the bodies... all those bodies. All the lives that Terra ended without hesitation. She can vividly hear Terra’s demented laughter and taunts. Even the smell of smoke from her weapon still lingers in Pinkie Pie’s nose. Pinkie Pie is in such a distraught state that she doesn’t hear the gentle knocking on the door, but when she hears a familiar voice call her from the hallway she snaps out of it and checks to see who it is through her peephole. It’s Twilight, and her coat and mane are a mess. Her eyes are red and soaked in tears, her whole body is shaking, and she’s sniffling. She looks like she had an emotional breakdown and is on the verge of having another one.

“Twilight...” is all Pinkie Pie can say as she opens the door a crack. She knows what happened, and she wants to apologize, but she doesn’t know how to.

“Pinkie Pie, I have bad news,” says Twilight, still in the hallway, she takes a deep breath and says: “Spike’s dead.”

Pinkie Pie lowers her eyes.

“He died in the medical camp. The doctors said there was nothing they could do.”

Pinkie Pie lightly bangs her head on the door, tears swell up in her eyes and she feels the weight of the world coming down on her. She had just gotten one of her friends killed; a friend that was like a brother to Twilight.

“I-I’m sorry, Twilight,” says Pinkie Pie between her sniffles, “it should’ve never happened... It all went wrong...”

“Wha-What do you mean?” whimpers Twilight, it sounds like she’s about to break down.

Pinkie Pie lets Twilight in her room, and her jaw drops when she sees what Pinkie Pie has been doing, and when she sees Pinkie Pie wearing her Mare-Do-Well costume she clenches her jaw and breathes heavily while smoke rises off of her.

“I only wanted to help,” says Pinkie Pie quietly, “I... I never wanted him to get involved. But he did it willingly... He died a hero.”

“You dragged him into this?” asks Twilight accusingly.

“No... I mean ‘yes’, but he-he helped me catch the first assassin and-and he went after the other one.”

“You got Spike KILLED!”

Twilight’s mane and tail suddenly burst into flames and her coat turns white hot. A burnt ring forms on the floor and the little bits of paper are burnt to ash and fly around her. Twilight then uses her magic to slam Pinkie Pie against the wall with enough force to leave large cracks in it and bits popping out. Pinkie Pie whimpers and shuts her eyes while turning her head away from Twilight, she can’t stand the fire in her eyes.

“LOOK AT ME!” screams Twilight.

Pinkie Pie reluctantly opens her eyes, sniffling and whimpering, as the fire gets more intense. Parts of the floor start catching on fire and the temperature is making Pinkie Pie sweat nearly to the point of dehydration. Even her own fur and costume is starting to singe from the intense temperature.

“WHY DID YOU DRAG SPIKE INTO THIS!” yells Twilight, every tear that rolls down her cheek quickly turning to vapor.

“I-I tried-I tried to stop him but he-he wouldn’t-” sobs Pinkie Pie

“BECAUSE OF YOU HE’S DEAD!”

“Twi, I’m sorry!”

“SORRY WON’T BRING SPIKE BACK!”

Twilight throws Pinkie Pie to the ground and presses her hoof on her chest. Smoke and the stench of burnt clothing and fur rise up, but Pinkie Pie doesn’t make any attempt to break free. She can accept the burning pain on her chest, but the emotional pain is too much for her.

“Twilight, I-I’m sorry,” stammers Pinkie Pie, “I-I was only-only trying to do what was right”

“Don’t even bother coming to Spike’s funeral,” snarls Twilight.

“What! Twi, please!”

“Don’t you ‘Twi’ me! Consider our friendship over!”

Twilight releases Pinkie Pie and returns to her normal form, breathing heavily and sweating. She exhales and wipes her sweaty bangs out of her eyes, and then leaves the room without another word. She slams the door shut with her magic, making Pinkie Pie cringe, and she reluctantly looks out the window to watch Twilight stomp away. The ponies she stomps past are smart enough to move out of her way, and when Twilight is out of sight, Pinkie Pie slumps down by her bed and continues sobbing to the point where she is hyperventilating.

“What have I done?” moans Pinkie Pie.

When she’s able to get her breathing under control, she bites down on the Mare-Do-Well pin and yanks it off with a hard tug, causing the cape to fall to the floor in a jumbled mess. Then she spits it into her hoof and holds it up to her eyes. She grits her teeth and throws it to the ground, and angrily watches it bounce and roll to a stop under her map. Then she pulls off her outfit less than gracefully and throws it in the trash bin. After doing that she lies on her bed and closes her eyes for what seems like a few minutes, but when she opens them it’s dark outside, with the only noise being crickets chirping and the occasional vehicle driving by.

Pinkie Pie slides off her bed and walks towards her dresser, where her phone, which looks like a candy machine, is resting. She picks up the phone just fine, but when it comes to dialing the number she wants, she’s so nervous she almost hangs up. However, she stops herself from doing so and rapidly dials the number and sits on her bed with her head down. The number she dials goes instantly to voicemail.

“Hi, you’ve reached Octavia. Sorry I’m not available at the moment, but if you leave your name and number I’ll call you back as soon as I can,” says Octavia, her years in Canterlot have given her the ‘Royal Canterlot Accent’.

The machine beeps and Pinkie Pie takes a nervous, deep breath before she leaves her message. “Hey, Octavia, this is Pinkie, we haven’t spoken in a while and... and I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for not being a good sister to you and... and I love you.”

Pinkie Pie hangs up, takes another deep breath and dials another number. Every ring makes her stomach churn and sends another tear down her cheek. And just when she’s about to hang up, an old stallion answers.

“Who’s this?” asks the stallion gruffly.

Pinkie Pie doesn’t answer, she doesn’t know what to say.

“If you don’t talk, I’m going to hang up,” threatens the stallion on the other end.

“Hey daddy, it’s me,” says Pinkie Pie.

“...Octavia?”

“No, dad, it’s me... Pinkamena.”

There is an awkward, heavy silence that passes, and then Pinkie Pie sniffles. This gets her father talking.

“Pinkamena, what’s wrong?” asks her father worryingly.

“Nothing’s wrong... just... I just want to apologize,” says Pinkie Pie, stifling a sniff.

“For what?”

“For leaving... and missing all those birthdays, and not being there when you needed me after mom-”

“Pinkamena, there’s nothing to apologize for. You lived your life.”

“But I-”

“I don’t want to hear it, young lady. I live on a rock farm, I can’t get hurt, remember?”

Pinkie Pie forces a chuckle while her father genuinely laughs at his joke. She then wipes her nose and stares at the ceiling, trying to get herself to smile at the sound of her father’s voice. At least she’ll be speaking to one member of her family until her end.

“Now tell me, what’s wrong,” her father says sympathetically.

“I wanted to surprise you this year on your birthday. You know, get Octavia and be together as a family for at least one more time,” says Pinkie Pie, she breathes heavily and wipes her eyes.

“I guess I am getting old, and it would’ve been nice if it was an actual surprise.”

“I guess I let the surprise slip.”

“I’ll pretend that I didn’t hear it. But what’s bothering you?”

“I just lost a friend, probably all of my friends actually...”

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. What happened?”

“I was only trying to do the right thing and... and now I don’t think I’ll be able to get our family together for your birthday.”

“You’re not making much sense. Why don’t you come down to the rock farm so we can talk about it together, face to face?”

“No, dad, I don’t want them to hurt you. Just know that I love you, always have... Do you love me?”

“Pinkamena Diane Pie, I will always love you no matter what, you hear?”

Pinkie Pie nods and whimpers softly. “I guess that was a stupid question.”

“What did you mean when you said you didn’t want ‘them’ to hurt me?” asks her father.

“I have to go. I love you.”

“Pinkie-!”

Pinkie Pie hangs up and when the phone starts ringing she quickly disconnects her phone, and then she slouches against the wall and closes her eyes. She just wants to sleep now. Maybe it’s all just a horrible nightmare, and everything will be back to normal when she wakes up.

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

Trixie takes a deep breath and listens to her surroundings. She is blindfolded with a thick piece of cloth that won’t allow even the smallest rays of light in. The zebras are trying to teach her to listen to her surroundings, and she can understand why they are doing it, but she really, really wants her heart to calm down. Its beats sound ten times louder than normal and it feels like it wants jump out of her body and run away.

Suddenly, a very blunt object is smacked against the back of her head and she falls into what she’s guessing is mud.

“You’re too busy worrying,” says  Adanz (or is it Wazza?).

Trixie pushes herself out of the mud. “I can’t see a thing!”

“That’s the idea, silly pony,” says Wazza (or is it Adanz?).

“But Gray Muffin said I should always keep my eyes on the target!”

Trixie is striked two more times, once in the leg to make her lose her balance and the other to her side. She once again falls in the mud, and she has a sudden urge to bust some zebra gonads when she hears the two laughing at her painful misfortune.

“Your mentor is wise in the ways of combat,” says Adanz or Wazza.

“But there are times when your enemy is a shadow or your eyes fail or deceive you” says Wazza or Adanz.

Trixie spits out some mud, it tasted more foul than last time she got a mouthful of the wet dirt.

“I was a magician, I know deception,” says Trixie irritably before scratching her tongue against her teeth to get the taste out.

“You know deception in the art of entertainment, not in the art of combat,” says Adanz or Wazza.

“Now, little pony, sit still, stay quiet, relax and listen” says Wazza or Adanz soothingly.

Trixie sighs and sits still. Very still. She hears Wazza or Adanz telling her to relax, but he’s too far away to strike her. When Trixie still can’t get herself to relax, she hears Wazza or Adanz humming a zebra... lullaby? What ever the zebra is humming is so relaxing that she feels her muscles slack, her breathing and heart rate slow down, and everything becomes clearer. She hears and feels everything, from the gentle humming of machinery to the separate grains in the mud, and even the light from the light bulbs feels warmer. Then she hears it. Soft, almost inaudible steps coming towards her, quickly. It’s like the feet are gliding over the floor and she can hear the assailant jumping. She shifts her position slightly, turns towards the source and shoots out her forehoof. She feels it connect with the attacker’s body and he attacker gaks and splashes in the mud next to her. Trixie smiles when she hears Wazza or Adanz stomp the ground and cheer.

“Excellent job! You may remove the blindfold, Trixie!” says Wazza or Adanz cheerfully.

Trixie uses her magic to yank off the blindfold and sees Adanz lying on his back in the mud with a red spot on his neck. Trixie instantly feels sorry for him and apologizes while helping him up with her magic. He clears his throat before talking.

“There is no need to apologize,” says Adanz while rubbing his throat .“You did well, hopefully next time my brother won’t have to use the lullaby to get you to relax.”

Trixie looks at Wazza, and he smiles broadly while walking towards them.

“That was amazing. Can you teach me that lullaby?” asks Trixie hopefully.

“You’re interested in putting ponies to sleep, yes?” teases Wazza.

“N-no, I just think it’ll be helpful for future exercise. Relaxation and all.”

Trixie smiles and makes a small squee sound and Wazza and Adanz stare at her for a few seconds before looking at her, then they look at each other, then back at Trixie, and then at each other once again.

“I hate it when ponies make that noise,” says Adanz.

“Yes, the adorableness is hard to resist,” says Wazza, then he looks at Trixie. “Yes, I will train you in the art of zebra lullabies, but you must not rely solely on soothing music to keep yourself calm. You must train your body how to relax without external influences.”

Trixie nods her head excitedly, and then the door opens and Gray Muffin walks in the room, looking like he’s ready to explode. All three take a step back as Trixie’s mentor approaches them, and the closer he gets the clearer the fires of hate in his eyes are.

“Is something wrong, sir?” asks Adanz with worry.

“Trixie, wash up and meet me outside Roar Shock’s chambers,” orders Gray Muffin, his gruff voice snappier than usual.

Trixie nods and as she leaves Gray Muffin tells her to resist the urge to eavesdrop on his conversation with the zebras.

Trixie goes to the showers, and while she washes the surprisingly resilient mud off of her coat she ponders on why Gray Muffin would be so furious. Sure, she’s seen him angry before, but last time she saw him as angry as he is now he stomped a pegasus to death. Even then, that comparison doesn’t do justice to what she had just seen. The scene replays in her mind and she shudders. Trixie closes her eyes for a second to feel the warm water cascade off her face in an attempt to purge the unpleasant scene from her mind.

“Ya look good with a wet mane, ya know that right?” says Sunshine, his voice echoing in the shower.

Trixie’s eyes shoot open and she looks over shoulder to see his shadow on the wall behind her. At first she thinks her eyes are playing tricks with her, but when the wings flap she shakes her head in disbelief and points at him with a shaky hoof while backing up against the wall, shaking in pure fright.

“You’re dead! I saw you die!” Trixie says, her voice quivering.

“I never died, darlin’,” chuckles Sunshine, his shadow getting bigger.

Trixie screams and shoots a bolt of lightning at him from her horn. The bolt strikes the shadow and it disintegrates, leaving a burnt spot on the wall. Trixie collapses to the ground and sobs while covering her face with her hoof.

“Hey, are you okay?” asks an earth pony mare that just entered the shower room.

Trixie runs out of the shower room without a word. In the hallway she slumps against the wall, wipes her wet mane out of her face and her eyes dart around in search of Sunshine. When she doesn’t see or hear him anywhere she takes a deep breath and forces herself to stand up.

“Pull yourself together, Trixie,” she tells herself.

To emphasize the point she’s making to herself, she slaps herself across the face and then shakes her head. After that, she walks towards Roar Shock’s chambers, trying to look casual, but with the way the others stare at her she knows she is failing miserably. She reaches Roar Shock’s chambers right as Gray Muffin and the zebras do. Gray Muffin opens the large doors without hesitation and all four of them enter the huge, dimly lit room. Trixie looks at the zebras and sees that they have grim expressions on their faces, and when she looks around the room she sees all the gizmos Roar Shock has built, some finished and other not, and a wall with nothing but projected pictures of some costumed hero wannabe and the Mayor of Ponyville.

“Um, Gray Muffin, sir, where’s Roar Shock?” asks Trixie hesitantly.

“Working,” snaps Gray Muffin, then he turns to the group. “The attack on Ponyville was a failure. A major failure. We lost one of our ships, two of our ponies died in the crash and Terra is missing. Presumed dead.”

Trixie’s jaw drops and she looks at Wazza and Adanz, they merely nod at Trixie, further enforcing Gray Muffin’s claim.  Gray Muffin steps towards Trixie, and she instinctively takes a step back.

“What happened today will lead the Equestrian government will do whatever it takes to shut us down,” continues Gray Muffin, “but this will not stop us from fighting injustice. Your first test, Trixie, is to kill Mare-Do-Well.”

“Wait, what? Why her? Isn’t she on our side?” asks Trixie, horrified by the sudden task.

“Her absence proved she does not have the interest of what is right in her heart and mind. And she was the reason why Redheart was captured, and intercepted messages reports that Shining Armor and Mare-Do-Well engaged Terra before her disappearance. She is as much an enemy to us as the criminals.” Gray Muffin turns to the projected images. “Once we figure out Mare-Do-Well’s identity you, Trixie, will kill her under the supervision of Wazza and Adanz while I will eliminate Mayor Mare.”

Trixie gulps and nods her head. She doesn’t like how Gray Muffin worded her assignment, it sounds like he wants her to kill someone like it is a normal school assignment. That alone is creepy and she wonders if this is how he treats all of those ponies that Roar Shock has put on the League’s hit list. She knows that this is going to be her big test, but she also feels like her assignment is strongly influenced by a thirst for vengeance.

“What happens if I fail, sir?” asks Trixie carefully.

“If you die, you get a funeral. If you fail to kill her and still live then Wazza and Adanz have their orders to finish her. Further action depends on the circumstance of that failure,” replies Gray Muffin almost immediately. Then Gray Muffin looks at the zebra twins and their eyes snap to him. “Train her hard, double shift for the week.”

“What,” says Trixie in a pathetic squeak.

“It’s for your own good, Trixie, I will not have any more of my ponies die. Not under my watch. Dismissed.”

The zebras and Trixie bow and leave Gray Muffin in Roar Shock’s chambers. Trixie looks behind her and right before the door slams shut she sees Gray Muffin’s shoulders sulk and he bows his head. After the doors seal shut Trixie looks at Wazza, and all three cringe when they hear Gray Muffin scream in rage and break something.

“Wazza, what did you and Gray Muffin talk about after I left?” asks Trixie as she looks at the door.

“I’m sorry, Trixie, but we have strict orders not to tell you,” says Wazza grimly.

“We must not falter, I’ve only seen him this way once and it was a terrifying sight,” says Adanz.

“Right, come, Trixie, we must teach you how to relax.”

Trixie nods and follows the zebras back to the arena. She knows she’s going to have a hard time with their relaxation lesson with Gray Muffin in a state that even terrifies Wazza and Adanz.