The night was dark. Most ponies would've been home by now, but Zesty Gourmand was a mare of action. Somepony of her stature did not get there by waiting. She had just finished evaluating another dreadful restaurant and was finally ready to go home. She clearly had wasted her time again as another second rate restaurant had appeared after "The Tasty Treat." Unlike the latter she decided to grace them with her presense so they could be changed to perfection before it was too late, but alas it was for naught.

"When will these ponies finally realize the true art of a subtle taste?" She scoffed. She turned into a dark cold alley and immediately shivered. There she saw one of Canterlot's undesirable under class ponies, "Ughh! Get away!" Zesty moved vehemently away from the pony and his wretched stench.

"Please, spare a few bits. For my daughter," the unicorn said. He moved to show a cute little pegasus filly. Zesty got a good look at him and his daughter and she didn't like what she saw. His once brown fur was stained with dirt. The filly however looked slightly better kept and less frail. Her light orange fur was only slightly stained and her mane well kept, concerning their situation. She didn't even have a cutie mark, while his was a wrench. It seemed as if her daddy was giving her all of what little he had.

Zesty ran away as she held back bile in her mouth. Once she was finally far enough she stopped to catch her breath. When she was huffing and puffing she heard hoofsteps. "My my my, what do we have here," a voice pondered aloud. This voice was booming, deep, male and thuggish.

"I believe this is the grand Zesty Gourmand! The mare that put us out of business!" A second voiced chimed in. This voice was audibly higher and softer. It was female, but still had the tone of anger underneath.

"Who-who are you?" Zesty stammered. Then the pair stepped out into the relatively brighter part of the alley. Zesty saw a masculine, large, and strong earth pony alongside a smaller unicorn.

"Looks like she doesn't remember us, sis," Said the earth pony.

"It doesn't matter. We remember her," Said the unicorn. Zesty turned to run away, but the unicorn placed a capri colored barrier in her way. Zesty ran muzzle first into the barrier and the unicorn pulled the barrier back to throw Zesty towards a wall. "Really? That was your escape plan?" The unicorn asked.

"Good one , Cream Chop!" Said the earth pony.

"Thanks, Batter Beat. You can have first swing at her, brother." Cream Chop gave a look to Batter Beat and he nodded in response. He walked towards a disheveled Zesty Gourmand. In her disorientation Zesty threw up a hastily made shield. She wasn't originally good at magic, so combined with how disoriented she was, it was a weak shield. This caused the pair to laugh. Batter Beat simply smacked it with his hoof and slight cracks appeared, so he decided to continue the onslaught. Unbeknownst to Batter Beat, a silent interloper had appeared and was slowly walking towards them. Cream Chop and Zesty Gourmand, however noticed a foreign presence their magic connected to.

"Yo! This doesn't concern you, so you can leave!" Cream Chop said as the figure continued its slow gait towards them. Meanwhile Batter Beat was beating the shield. It was in a dark brown cloak so its features, except for its broad shoulders and it being a biped, were completely unknown to Cream Chop.

"Who is it?" Batter Beat asked. He stopped attacking the barrier in that moment.

"I don't know!" Cream Chop said as she adopted her fighting stance. The creature stood still and stared at her. He was clearly a lot taller than her and Batter Beat, probably about 7 feet tall. Zesty took the opportunity presented to her and reorganized herself. She then renewed her shield barrier into a newer and stronger one.

"You dumb BITCH!" Yelled Batter Beat as he prepared to strike again..... but it never came. "What!?" Batter Beat's hoof was stuck in a hunter green aura. It was then that the battle begun. Batter Beat was thrown to the floor by the aura as the figure started a mad dash towards Cream Chop. She responded by placing her strongest barrier up in front of herself while charging a magic missile. The figure reacted to the barrier by continuing to charge.

Batter Beat got up and prepared to beat this figure when his sister knocked it down. Cream Chop shot the magic missile to its waist and the figure grabbed the magic sphere and threw it back towards the shield with double strength. The shield then shattered and Cream Chop fell due to the explosive power as Batter Beat moved in to protect his sister. The figure stopped running forward as it grabbed an item from its cloak. Batter Beat then saw that it was a blade. He firmly planted himself there as his sister got up.

The figure went back to its walking speed. "You motherbucker! You'll pay for hurting my sister!" Batter Beat Yelled. He charged towards the figure and the figure prepared itself to defend. Batter Beat closed in and hit with a headbutt as Cream Chop stood up. The figure had not expected a headbutt and Batter Beat hit it square in the stomach and the figure fell, dropping its sword..

Batter Beat was disoriented from the hit. Cream Chop always said I should use my head more often. Batter Beat realized another fact at that time. This thing's body is like a rock.

"I got him, Beat," yelled Cream Chop. Her capri magic surrounded the sword and Batter Beat jumped out of the way.

The sword went straight to the figure as it yelled, "Fuck!" The voice of the figure was raspy and noticeably male. He then grabbed a dagger from his cloak and hit the sword to his right and towards the wall. Batter Beat returned to the fray with a plank of wood in his mouth and proceeded to swing at the figure.

Batter Beat was untrained, so dodging should not have been a problem for the figure, but Cream Chop brought back the sword to continue attacking.

Things aren't looking good for me. Maybe I should stop playing around and kill them already? The figure nodded to itself and a puff of hunter green smoke appeared around him.

"What the fuck?" Batter Beat yelled. The figure was no longer there.

"Where did he go!?" Cream Chop shouted.

"I thought you said you had him!?" Batter Beat yelled at his sister. She glared at her brother as she brought the sword to her brother's back.

"I did! If you hadn't gotten in the way, then he would be dead! This is all your fa-" Cream Chop was interrupted by a gash appearing on her neck. She dropped the sword and fell to the floor grasping her throat. The figure then appeared from the shadows holding a bloody dagger.

"Cream Chop! You'll pay for this!" Batter Beat grabbed the figure's sword and charged at him.

"Pathetic." The figure said as he held up his hand out. Zesty Gourmand had been watching this entire time and noticed the figure had a goldenrod hand with claws. A hunter green aura appeared around his hand and Batter Beat stopped.

Batter Beat then twitched as he knelt down and dropped the sword, seemingly against his own will. "What did you do to me? You're a-a fucking monster," Batter Beat was visibly trembling. The figure walk up and grabbed his sword.

"Not many can resist when I dominate their minds. Consider yourself lucky to be able to talk." The figure turned to Batter Beat's front hoof and raised his sword.

"No, please stop! I'll do any- AHHHH!" Batter Beat was in excruciating pain. He looked at his leg and saw the figure cut off half it. The figure raised his sword once more. "Please, have mercy!" Batter Beat cried out as tears started to fall.

"The evil don't deserve any mercy." The figure quickly lowered his sword and Death came for the brother like his sister. The figure walked towards Zesty Gourmand and she started to cry out.

"Please don't kill me! I promise I'll change! I'll give those other restaurants a chance!" Zesty Gourmand continued to cry. The figure placed his hand on the barrier and it shattered, eliciting a loud sob from Zesty. The figure then proceeded to lower himself to meet eye to eye to her.

"Remember that the events that transpired tonight could have been avoided. Do not travel down the path of evil as you have seen where it leads." The figure then turned and walked away. Zesty waited until he was out of sight and sprinted towards Canterlot Guard Station. Zesty would go on to report this in great detail. Especially the figure's mask. It was made of steel and was gray, as if the metal had lost its original luster. It had only one eyehole on the right and three slits for a mouth. It was a detail that she would never forget.

...

The figure walked through alley after alley, avoiding the main roads until he saw a Stallion and his filly huddled together. He looked at them and the filly began to cry. "You can take me, but don't hurt her!" The stallion whimpered. The figure continued to stare as he grabbed something from his cloak.

"Daddy, What's he gonna do to us?" The filly cried.

"Hush, child. I love you and nothing is going to hurt you." The stallion gripped his daughter tight and they both closed their eyes. They heard a soft chink and opened their eyes. The figure left them a sack and had disappeared. The stallion checked inside and saw that it was filled with bits. "Honey?"

"Yes, poppa?"

"Don't ever judge a book by its cover."

...

Sirens wailed as several guards reviewed the crime scene. "This is the fifth and sixth dead victims in a month!" Yelled the detective.

"Relax. We get paid for results not complaints." Said his partner. Then the partner walked towards the bodies. "Let's see. Lacerations to the throats, heavy magic usage, one of them is missing a hoof, which is over there, and- are you writing this down, Silver Shield?"

"Oops, my bad, Blue Badge." Silver Shield said causing Blue Badge to grunt. "You know, this case is getting too big for us alone. We're gonna have to tell the commissioner to get outside sources for help."

"Two bodies ago, I would have disagreed, but now, I think so too." Blue Badge said. Blue Badge knew what this meant. Prince Shining Armor would have to contacted.

"Now, let's go see our victim's victim and hear what happened."

Author's Note

Hey, look guys, I'm not dead! Anyway, I thought up this story and I needed to write it. I'm not sure if there are similar stories out there, but I tried my best on this, so if you see any errors then point them out in the comments below. I don't know if I'll continue writing this, so I'll see how it does first. Anyway, the song I give this chapter is:

I chose this song as A. It sounds amazing and B. The chorus fits "The Figure's" message well: "You should've known the price of evil and it hurts to know that you belong here."