Twin Saints

Prologue

Mission 1-A

From Third Street He Comes!

Twilight sighed for what felt like the twentieth time that day, loading the last of her boxes into her parent’s Voyage - a boxy red “soccer-mom” car that had been gifted to her when they upgraded to a different model.

“Typical Mom…” Twilight muttered. “Dad gets a new job with that stupid ‘Syndicate’ and suddenly I get the crappy old car shoved on me…” Pausing as she slid the last box into place, she sighed again, wiping the sweat from her brow. “At least it’s got enough space for the important stuff. Anything else I think I can buy when I’m there.”

Glancing across the street, Twilight winced when she saw a group of people passing, all of them dressed in flak jackets and wrestling gear with colourful luchadore masks covering their faces. “How have the Guard not stopped them?” she demanded quietly, quickly slamming the trunk shut and hurrying to the library’s main door. The group would likely be back for her soon, to collect her keys. “Stupid gangs driving me out of Canterlot… Can’t wait to get to this new town. No gangs whatsoever.”

Sighing again as she stepped up to the driver-side door of the van, she casually dropped the library’s keys on the driveway for her apartment before climbing in. “Yet…”

Pulling out of the drive, Twilight shifted the stiff gear stick, driving away from her long-time home as law-abidingly as she could. She panicked whenever, on the long drive to the city limits, she would pull up beside a clearly gang-owned vehicle - whether it be the green Luchadores, the blue Deckers, or the red Morning Star. Breathing a sigh of relief as she passed under a sign reading “You are now leaving Canterlot, have a nice day!”, Twilight focused her gaze on the highway, quietly anticipating her own arrival at her new home.

“Ponyville, here I come.”

Pulling up at the side of a calm-looking street, Twilight let out a quiet yawn, turning the key and cutting the engine. “Finally…” she muttered, smiling tiredly. “Hopefully I’ve at least got a couch or something to sleep on tonight…”

Stepping out of the car, Twilight yawned again, moving to the back to at least start moving her stuff inside. Grabbing a box at random, she turned to her new home, taking in the features for the first time.

It looked much like a generic apartment building, though the front had - for some reason - been painted to look like a large oak tree. ‘Probably because of the library downstairs…’ Twilight thought to herself, passing the sign reading “Golden Oaks Library”. ‘Can’t believe that’s mine now too… wonder what happened to the old librarian?”

As she approached the large double-doors to the library’s main room, Twilight paused again as a large yawn escaped her lips. Balancing the box on her knee, she pulled her light blue hoodie closed around her, shivering a little at the cold night air.

“Hey baby,” a deep, gravelly voice purred, making Twilight freeze and sending a sickened chill down her spin. “How’s about you an I head down that alley and you show me what you can give for the ‘community’?”

“U-um…” Twilight stammered, sweating profusely. “I, uh… I don’t think that’s a g-good idea. I-i’m, um… not very good?” she offered lamely, frantically searching in her pocket for her keys before realizing with horror that they were still in her car.

“Oh, don’t worry about that~” the man - easily a good head taller than Twilight, with much more muscle under his bright blue shirt. “You look like a fast learner~”

Twilight gulped again, backing into the door. The man clearly would not take “no” for an answer, and the path to her car was blocked. “O-oh… O-okay…” she relented, tears building in her eyes even as she attempted to memorise as many of his features as she could. The man grinned widely - and act that in itself made Twilight want to vomit - showing off the row of fake, golden teeth in his mouth.

“That’s a good little girl,” he chuckled, placing his huge hand on her shoulder and gripping it tightly, making Twilight wince. “Now c’mon, let’s go have some-” he stopped as a quiet tapping sounded out, almost like someone was tapping on glass. Twilight perked up at the sound, looking around for her saviour, though her resolve failed when she saw no one.

“Ha!” the man barked, turning back to Twilight with a lecherous grin. “Your cheap tricks won’t help you now!”

“W-what tricks!” Twilight cried desperately, holding her hands up in defence. “Th-that wasn’t me!”

“Of course not,” the man sneered. “Now let’s go. You got a lot of giving to do.” Twilight whimpered quietly, blinking as the tapping started again. “I told you that wouldn’t work!”

“I-I swear, it’s not me!” Twilight insisted. The tapping continued, and both spun to the library’s doors - which Twilight realised were glass - to see a strange-looking man in purple pants, a long-sleeved grey shirt with a single purple stripe down the arms, purple sneakers, and a purple driving cap. He tapped on the glass with the barrel of a small, silver-glinting revolver.

“The fuck…?” the man muttered, frowning at the second man behind the door.

“She doesn’t want to,” the newcomer called through the glass, his voice - surprisingly pleasant, Twilight realised. Slightly deep, with a bit of a ‘puckish rogue’ vibe to it - muffled slightly.

The man in blue blinked for a moment, his mouth moving uselessly, before he seemed to snap out of his trance and glared at the newcomer. “Hey man, fuck you!” he snapped. “This ain’t non’a your business!”

The man in purple frowned, nodding before stepping back. Twilight’s eyes widened in fear as the man holding her turned back to her, smirking maliciously, before the sound of smashing glass rang out and a pale cream fist impacted into the man’s dark blue face. Twilight fell to the ground, dropping her box - and silently thanking a higher power it was only clothes - as the man in blue was thrown back from the force.

“Are you okay, Miss?” the stranger in purple asked, smiling gently as he held a hand out to her. Twilight nodded silently, accepting his help and allowing him to pull her to her feet. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Again, Twilight was quiet, simply shaking her head in denial. “Good.”

“Hey, Asshat!” the man in blue barked, stumbling to his feet. The stranger sighed, turning to the man and walking slowly towards him. Twilight gasped as she saw him reach behind his back, taking hold of the same gun he had used to tap on the glass door. “I’mma fuck you up! I told you to-” he was cut off as the stranger whipped his hand forward, jamming the barrel of his gun into the man’s mouth.

“This is my good friend, the Commander,” he said calmly, smiling at the man. “Commander Shepherd. He’d like you to apologise to this fine lady.” The man glared, doing what he could to spit at the stranger. Frowning, the stranger pulled the trigger, spraying the man’s blood and brains across the pavement. “Commander Shepherd chose to end you.”

Twilight watched in horror as the stranger pulled the gun from the man’s mouth, pulled a disgusted face, and wiped the barrel off on the man’s shirt. Turning to her, he tucked the weapon into his back pocket, once again donning his calm smile.

“Sorry about that,” he offered, stooping down to pick up her dropped box. He winced when he looked back to the door he had smashed. “And about that… I’ll work it off if ya want.”

“You…” Twilight muttered, still baffled by the stranger’s actions. “You…”

“Hm?” the stranger asked, frowning and kicking the broken pieces of glass from the door. “I what?”

“You just killed that man!”

“Yeah, and?” the stranger shrugged. “He was about to rape you. I had to do something.” He paused, glancing back to the body. “I guess I can’t leave him there though, cops’ll be all over my ass. I’ll get rid of’im later. Where do you want this?” he asked, hefting the box. Twilight blinked again before looking in through the broken door and simply pointing to a set of stairs behind a desk enclosed in glass walls. The stranger nodded and headed in, walking casually up the stairs.

‘What is going on!?’ Twilight asked herself, watching as the stranger went up and down the stairs, casually carrying her boxes to the upstairs apartment for her. ‘This man comes out of nowhere, shoots someone in the mouth, then starts moving me in!? That is not normal!’

“You okay?” the stranger asked, making Twilight jump. “Oh, sorry. I, uh, got all the boxes, but the door was locked. Didn’t wanna break that one too, so I left them outside.”

“Oh, um…” Twilight muttered, shaking her head. “Thank you, mister…”

“Oh, right, names,” the stranger chuckled. “Name’s Lauchlan, but most call me Lock.”

“Right,” Twilight said, nodding nervously. “Well, thank you, mister Lock. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to go to bed and hope this was all a bad dream.” With that, she spun around, hurrying up the stairs and unlocking her apartment door.

“Hey, wait!” Lock called after her, making Twilight freeze. “I, uh… is it cool if I crash here tonight?” he asked.

“What!?” Twilight demanded, rounding on him. “You shoot a man in the face and now you want to sleep in my home!? NO!”

“Hey, I saved you!” Lock shot back, frowning at her. “And I moved your shit up here for ya! I’d say you owe me!”

Twilight froze. On the one hand, he had saved her, so the least she could do would be to give him a place to stay for the night. On the other hand… “You are a murderer, no!”

“Bitch, let me sleep!” Lock cried. “I’ll fix the door! I’ll work in the damn library! Just let me fucking sleep!”

“I do need to fix the door…” Twilight muttered, glaring at Lock out of the corner of her eye before sighing in defeat. “...Ugh, fine. You can sleep on the floor.”

“Thanks,” Lock muttered, hoisting two boxes onto his shoulders before stepping inside. “Where do you want these, oh gracious host?” he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“In the kitchen, my valiant knight,” Twilight shot back, sneering at him as she began bringing boxes in herself. They went on like this for a time, shooting back-handed insults at each other as they moved Twilight’s belongings into the apartment before eventually collapsing onto a cheap-looking fabric couch that exploded with a cloud of dust from their weight.

“I need a new couch,” Twilight wheezed, desperately trying to wave the dust cloud away.

“No shit,” Lock coughed, fanning the air with his hat. “Fuck, that was a lot of dust. How old is this place?”

“About twenty five years old,” Twilight shrugged. “Old as me. Not sure how old the couch itself is though.”

“You’re twenty five?” Lock demanded in shock, Twilight nodding in response. “Huh. I’d have only placed you at about twenty, to be honest.”

“R-really?” Twilight stammered, blushing. “You think I look that young?” Lock just shrugged, leaning back and staring at the ceiling.

“...You know what this apartment needs?” he asked aloud suddenly. “A plasma TV, a decent sound system… and a stripper pole.”

“What?!” Twilight demanded angrily. “I am not having a stripper pole in my home!”

“Aww, come on!” Lock whined. “Every crib needs a stripper pole!”

“Well when you get your own ‘crib’,” Twilight spat. “You can put one in, can’t you? But this is my home, so what I say goes!”

“Spoilsport…” Lock muttered. Twilight just sighed in exasperation, running a hand down her face.

“Whatever…” she muttered. “I’m going to bed. It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Lock replied, laying across the couch and kicking his feet up. “Later lady.”

Twilight paused. “...You don’t even know my name.”

“You never told me it,” Lock replied casually. “So? What is it?”

Pausing for a moment, Twilight considered if she even wanted this man to know her name before realising it was pointless to hide it from him. He already knew where she lived, after all. “Twilight Sparkle.”

“Weird name,” Lock laughed, and Twilight was about to yell at him again before he cut her off. “Though there was once a girl named Kinzie Kenzington, so… meh, can’t say much. Nice to actually know ya, Twilight.”

“...you too,” Twilight replied unsurely before she turned away, moving towards her bedroom. “Well, goodnight Lock.”

“Night Sparklebutt!” Lock called back. Twilight just sighed, letting the name slide for the night in favour of finally getting some sleep.