A Division of Three Sides - A Documentation of the Canterlot Turf War

Chapters

I-The Knife that makes the Blow
II-The Party Planner
III-Worse than Death
IV-Three Hundred and Thirty Four Feet
V-Reckless Spending
VI-Operation: Sunrise
Prologue

I-The Knife that makes the Blow

I
The Knife that makes the Blow

It was a late afternoon in the toxic city of Canterlot, the sky was a dull grey, with the clouds sealing off the sunlight and darkening the alleyways. Puddles remained from the early morning rainstorm, and the air stank of smoke, sewage and booze. Homeless men and woman lay, crumpled in the street corners, holding out a mouldy old coffee cup hoping for some bits to buy them a sandwich.

But passing all of these drunken homeless at a moderately fast speed, cigarette in mouth, was a tanned girl with short purple scruffy hair. She had a leather jacket on over her small dirty white crop top vest, accompanying her navy blue skinny jeans. The scrappy young woman had an athletic build, a collection of piercings down her ears and walked with a spring in her step, taking a drag from her cigarette every so often.

She walked down the side of a local off license convenience store and into a back alley, where she halted and leaned against the mossy brick wall. The ruffian waited for a couple of minutes, keeping a watchful eye and puffing out smoke all the while.

Just after she had stamped out her cigarette, a tall, skinny, pale boy walked into the dark alleyway awkwardly. He definitely had the look of someone who did not belong out in the streets, especially when it was reaching dusk.

‘So, erm,’ he said with a prepubescent crack in his voice. ‘Scootaloo, is that right?’

‘Yep that’s me,’ Scootaloo confirmed half-heartedly whilst placing a stick of gum in her mouth. ‘Are you the one that’s after the Hearts, Snails or something like that?’

After a moment of hesitation, the shaky boy piped up.

‘Yep that’s me!’ He said a tiny bit too loudly considering the circumstances. Snails pulled out a considerably large bag of bits from his back pocket.

‘They’re twenty bits a pop, and since you ordered two, that’s forty bits.’ Scootaloo grunted, putting out her hand as if to indicate she wants the money.

Snails quickly placed the sack of money into Scootaloo’s palm, which she placed into one of the pockets on her leather jacket. In exchange, she pulled out a small zip-lock bag from the pocket in her bra and placed it in Snails’ hand, who almost had a heart attack just holding them.

‘Thank you, Miss.’ He said as if his teacher had given him an A on a Math Quiz, Scootaloo shook her head but gave a little reassuring smirk.

‘You have a good time with those, man. Just keep them hidden from the cops; you know what they’re like nowadays.’ She chuckled, blowing a bubble with her gum and popping it with her teeth.

‘I sure will!’ Snails said (once again a little too loudly), he crammed the tiny plastic square into his jeans pocket and ran off into the main street. On his way he bumped into a young woman who was also moving rather quickly herself.

‘OUCH,’ she yelped as Snails barged into her shoulder, ‘watch where you’re going, you little punk!’

‘Oh, sorry ma’am.’ Snails said awkwardly, trying to cover up the fact that he was terrified. The girl, who looked no older than her early twenties, noticed the drugs peeking out his pocket.

‘Where did you get those Crystal Hearts?’ She said rather arrogantly.

‘Erm… Crystal Hearts? What do you—?’

‘Don’t bullshit me, kid, I know what they are. Who sold you them?’

‘The lady with the purple hair round the corner.’ Snails almost screamed. He knew that trying out these drugs would be more hassle than its worth.

‘Cool, thanks, kiddo.’ The lady gave him a thumbs up and a smirk as she watched the dweeb-ish boy sprint off.
After walking around the corner, she looked straight into Scootaloo’s eyes and knew exactly who she was.

‘Sunset Shimmer?’ The small, yet rough and ready girl asked in a shocked demeanour.

Sunset Shimmer wore a black bomber jacket and a low cut blue dress. Her hair was in bangs and coloured a striking yellow and red. She was a very well developed woman, who was well known to manipulate and seduce even the top crime Lords to get what she wanted.

‘Scootaloo, what are you doing here? You’re in our turf!’ Sunset scolded, folding her arms and preventing little Scootaloo from escaping.

‘No I’m not, I always sell here.’ The tanned girl said with anger, blowing her scruffy short hair out of her eyes.

‘This is what happens when you let a little kid sell some drugs, she bites off more than she can chew.’ Sunset began slowly walking towards Scootaloo, enclosing her more and more into the pitch black alleyway.

‘Fuck you, I’m eighteen. I do what a like.’ It wasn’t soon before Scootaloo and Sunset were stood toe to toe, with the former looking upwards into the latter’s cyan eyes.

‘When do you Harmony freaks learn to take what’s not theirs?’ Sunset clenched her fists as she spoke through gritted teeth. A fight was just what she needed to entertain her pretty boring day.

‘Well you guys from Tantabus need to not butt into other people’s business!’ Scootaloo then spat her gum into Sunset’s face, who wiped it off in a fit of rage.

‘You’re dead, you little twat.’ Sunset lifted up her leg and pulled something from inside her knee high boots that shook Scootaloo to the bone.
A butterfly knife, stainless steel and could do more than enough to kill. Sunset exposed the blade and swung it in Scootaloo’s general direction, who moved to her left of the knife, but still got a slight gash on her right cheek.

Cupping the little stream of blood with one hand, Scootaloo wrestled Sunset to the floor in a desperate attempt to grab the knife from her. The small woman had to resort to biting Sunset’s hand and snatched the blade from it when she recoiled in pain. Scootaloo held the blade firmly to Sunset Shimmer’s throat, panting with the amount of adrenaline being pumped into her body.

‘I wouldn’t kill me if I were you,’ Sunset said rather smugly, considering she could’ve been at deaths door any second she was taking this rather well, ‘because if Luna finds out she will get the rest of her mercs and they will fuck all of you up. All of you.’

Scootaloo thought for a moment, lying on top of the cunning woman. Finally she released the pressure of the knife to Sunset’s neck and climbed off of her. Sunset Shimmer coughed and spluttered whilst she got up. Scootaloo was still pointing the knife out towards the rival gang member.

‘Now get out of here before I change my mind.’ The tanned girl had a scornful look that matched the threat she just made. Sunset shrugged and walked off.

‘Make sure you don’t come onto our turf again, you little brat. Or this time there’s no doubt about it,’ Sunset turned her head to show that there was a deviant look about her, similar to that of a lunatic.

‘I will kill you.’

Sunset finally walked off confidently, despite her losing her lucky butterfly knife to the youngest, newest, and least experienced member of Celestia’s Gang. Scootaloo ran off quickly after her opponent had left, eager to tell her fellow Gang member’s about what she had done that day.

When Sunset was in distress, the only thing she knew what to do was to call her girlfriend, so she pulled her phone out of her cleavage and ran her.

The call rang a couple of times, when finally it was picked up.

‘Dashie, Baby? Where are you?’ Sunset spoke with a tiny bit of uncertainty in her voice.

‘I’m home, why?’ Rainbow Dash replied, she could immediately tell that something was up.

‘I’ll explain when I get there.’

‘Okay babe, look after yourself.’

‘I will do.’

And just like that, the conversation ended right then and there, as Sunset Shimmer set out to Rainbow Dash’s apartment.

Sunset hated going to Rainbow’s place, and because of the one simple reason that it lay right inside the borders of Chaos’ Territory. Dash always had to lay low there, because if Sombra or any of his underlings knew, they would have her head in less than five minutes. Although fortunately for all the four years that Rainbow has been a member of Tantabus, and the three that Sunset had been in it too, Chaos have yet to find out.

Sunset walked up to the aging apartment block and pressed the buzzer for room fourteen. After a couple of seconds, Rainbow picked up the receiver:

‘Sunset?’ She asked hesitantly.

‘Yeah, that’s me.’ Sunset began to get nervous, in case she were to get spotted.

‘Alright, come up.’ Dash hung up and buzzed Sunset Shimmer in. She climbed up several flights of stairs until she reached the top floor, where Dash let her in.

Dash was wearing jogging pants and a sports bra, looking like she has been to the gym earlier that day, she had a muscular athletic build about her which made her very nimble on her feet. She is also Luna’s right hand man for Tantabus and has been since she was recruited.

Expecting a hug and a kiss from her Girlfriend, Rainbow stood at the door, but Sunset walked in and slumped on her bed.

Rainbow Dash’s room was an unholy abomination of litter, water stains, and the smell of alcohol and old Pizza. Whilst Dash did stay away from most illegal drugs, the noticeable smell of weed also hung in the air as well. Her TV was quietly playing some reality game show or sorts in the background, and there was a large window that did show a pretty impressive view of Canterlot’s Skyline, that is if there wasn’t a blackout blind covering it twenty four seven.

‘You alright?’ Dash asked, closing the door behind her.

There was a small silence as Sunset began to form the words in her head, Words which could upset Rainbow, or make her really angry, or both.

‘I got into a fight with one of the Harmony Thugs.’ Sunset said quietly, a contrast to the cocky and blood thirsty attitude she showcased whilst in said fight with Scootaloo.

‘Shit baby, are you alright? Did they hurt you?’ Rainbow quickly rushed to the aid of her partner, who looked like she could pass out any second.

‘Yeah, well, she bit my hand and took that butterfly knife you gave to me, but that’s about it.’

Rainbow Dash inspected Sunset’s hand to see that there were deep teeth marks dug into the area just below her pinkie finger. It was bleeding a little bit, but not too seriously. Rainbow wanted to play it safe, however.

‘Let me clean that up for you.’ She offered as she got up and opened the largest cabinet in the room, searching for her First Aid Kit.

‘No, you don’t have to. I’ll see Fluttershy about it the next time we’re at a meeting.’ Sunset forced a little chuckle. She was right though, with Fluttershy being the head Medic of Tantabus, she would no doubt be able to sort the wound out in no time.

‘I know, but we just need to be safe.’ Rainbow said, finding a cotton pad and a bandage in the small, handy First Aid box.

Rainbow Dash placed the cotton pad to the bite mark and pressed hard, making Sunset Shimmer wince a little. Dash then proceeded to wrap the bandage around Sunset’s hand and wrist, tying a knot at the end. This little work made Rainbow smile in relief.

‘So other than that, are you alright?’ Dash grabbed the other hand of her Girlfriend and began to trace little circles around the palm with her thumb.

‘Yeah, I just had to keep up appearances, you know,’ Sunset held her head in shame. ‘I acted like I was this big shot even after I had lost, but I felt embarrassed. The kid was eighteen for crying out loud.’

‘Was it Scootaloo by any chance?’ Rainbow raised an eyebrow of curiousity.

‘Yeah it was, the kids fast, faster than I expected her to be.’

‘That kid used to look up to me, until she decided to get involved with Harmony,’ Rainbow coiled her face like she wanted to scream, but managed to keep her cool. ‘I hate those bastards so much.’

‘I know, so do I, but just put it past us for tonight, okay Dashie?’ Sunset grabbed Rainbow Dash’s chin and looked into her eyes, giving that beautiful smile that the Rainbow-haired Woman had fallen in love with not too long ago.

‘Okay baby.’ Rainbow chuckled a bit before laying her head on Sunset’s lap, as she stroked her long hair. They both watched the TV and relaxed for the night. They knew they were safe for that moment.

It was almost half past seven in the evening before Scootaloo had made it back to the base of the Harmony gang. She had spent the last hour running, and buying a few things such as cigarettes, gum, cider and some chocolate from the local supermarket, using some of the money she had swindled out of Snails, too.

Team Harmony had their base located in an old abandoned warehouse out of sight to the Police, who thought it was just abandoned and nothing more, placed on the outer edge their Turf where there was a little bit of plant life covering it. Scootaloo walked up to the old rusted door, very out of breath, checked to see if the coast was clear, and knocked on door. After a couple of seconds, a male’s voice could be heard from the other side of the entry.

‘State your presence.’ He said, trying to sound professional.

‘It’s me, Scootaloo.’ The girl replied monotonously.

‘Oh, right.’ The voice awkwardly acknowledged, and the door slowly creaked open.

Stood there was a Teen boy, who stood no taller than the tiny Scootaloo. He wore a purple hoodie and black jeans, and his hair was a spikey lime green.

‘Spike, move out of the way, let me in.’ Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

‘Alright, alright, jeez!’ The boy, who was definitely far too young to be getting involved in the crime scene, huffed.

‘Guys, I’m back!’ Scootaloo announced, as she walked in, but there was no reply.

‘Everyone’s kinda fled out of here,’ Spike said, shutting the door softly ‘Shining Armour and the Royal Guard were on the prowl and we didn’t want to take any chances.’

‘So, are you the only one here?’ Scootaloo turned to the adolescent, who shook his head.

‘Nah, Twilight’s down in the meeting room, but that’s about it.’ Spike told the Drug Dealer.

‘Thanks, Spike.’ Scootaloo smirked, and turned up the collar on her leather jacket as she walked through the empty warehouse, Spike following closely behind.

The Harmony Hideaway was a huge complex of the Drug creating operation all tightly packed under one roof. The drugs were produced and distributed here to go all over Equestria, by several hired van drivers to take the Crystal Hearts to Ponyville, Manehattan, Appleloosa and even as far as the Crystal Empire, where they were very popular. Despite this sophisticated and efficient process, the warehouse itself was still an old building, and is not exactly the safest place in Canterlot (believe it or not), but for the Gang members of Harmony, it was a home to them.

Scootaloo walked down the seemingly endless hall until she found the rotting wooden door that lead to the meeting room. She gave it a good push, and it opened to show the Right Hand Man to the ‘Princess’ herself, Twilight Sparkle.

The Olive-Skinned woman in her mid-20’s had a tightly wrapped bun on her head, and wore a pencil skirt that hugged her curves, accompanying the open collar shirt and waist coast she wore on her top half. She was eating a box of takeaway chow mein noodles with chopsticks, and with a stressed look ingrained upon her face (which was the norm with such a hectic woman as her).

‘Hey, Twilight.’ Scootaloo said joyfully as she entered, which made Twilight look back and smile.

‘Hey Scootaloo, how did selling go today?’ Twilight asked, obviously being more interested in business than anything else.

‘Oh it went pretty neat, sold about 15 Hearts, which was way more than I was anticipating,’ Scootaloo said smugly as she brushed back her hair. ‘Oh and look at what I got too!’

She whipped out the knife she has stolen from Sunset Shimmer and pointed it at Twilight, who was frozen in shock.

‘Erm,’ Twilight could hardly get her words out. ‘Where did you get that?’

‘Someone from Tantabus attacked me but I kicked her ass, and stole this nifty little blade off her too!’ Scootaloo was now slashing the air like she was ready to slice up Twilight and Spike.

‘I’m guessing that’s where you got that gash on your cheek, then.’ The ever Observant second-in-command said with a hint of upset.

‘Put that down before you hurt someone!’ Spike yelled, cowering behind his arms.

‘Yeah, I’m sorry, Scootaloo, but I think you’re gonna have to give that to me.’ Twilight got up and spoke with authority.

‘Aw come on,’ Scootaloo groaned in disbelief. ‘You and the other guys get to use Guns, but I get a little knife and you freak out?!’

‘That’s because we’re older and more experienced than you. I’ve doing this shit for five years, and you’ve been at it for six months.’ Twilight rolled her eyes and tittered.

‘Yeah but I’m still an adult. AND I still got promoted by Celestia to one of the elite members of Harmony. Let me have just this one thing, please?’ Scootaloo gave puppy dog eyes as she clung onto the Knife as if it were one of her children.

‘Fine, but you can only use it under dire circumstances.’ Knowing there was nothing she could say or do, Twilight sat on the table and crossed her legs, continuing to eat the noodles.

‘Thank you, Twilight.’ Scootaloo said gratefully, hiding the blade and placing it on the inside pocket of her jacket.

‘Twi, you can’t be serious, I’m an elite member too!’ Spike grumbled, he never was allowed anything as cool as that!

‘When you’re older, Spike.’ Twilight gave a light chuckle as she placed down the empty carton.

‘You only became an elite member because Twilight is!’ Scootalo jeered

‘Did not, if you happen to know I am also good at being a medic!’ Spike grunted before pulling up his hood and moping.

‘Now, now, you too, this is a business, not a kids playhouse,’ Twilight lectured the two Thugs, who were much younger than her. ‘Scoot, do you know about the meeting tomorrow morning?’

‘Meeting?’ Scootaloo took out a cigarette and placed it into her mouth.

‘Yeah, Celestia’s getting the whole gang together, because apparently she has “Big plans” for Harmony.’ Twilight explained.

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I don’t even know yet, but something tells me it’ll involve us, Tantabus, Chaos, and a fight.’

‘Awww, hell yeah!’ Scootaloo punched the air when she heard that piece of information.

‘Spike, take Scootaloo and clean up her wound.’ Twilight got up off the table and collected her bags together. She couldn’t wait to get home.
‘Yes Ma’am.’ Spike saluted in a satirical manner and began to drag Scootaloo off with him.

‘Remember to be here 10 o’clock sharp tomorrow morning!’ Twilight called out.

‘I will, you can count on me!’ Scootaloo called back.

Spike took the Drug Dealer into a small side room, filled with an ensemble of medical items. He turned her head to inspect the deep cut.
Although he was young, Spike was also a clever kid, he knew quite a bit about the world of Doctoring due to just experimenting on tools that were around in the Warehouse. Since then, he got promoted to Team Medic after the previous one, someone by the name of Redheart, was shot dead by a member of Chaos.

‘Fortunately, that cut will just need some cleaning and plastering, and then it’ll be good to go.’ Spike explained to Scootaloo.

He cleaned the wound with some water, and then placed a cotton pad on her face, followed by some medical tape, holding it in place.

‘You’ll only need that for a little while.’ He added on after he had finished.

‘Thanks, man!’ Scootaloo nodded her satisfaction to Spike, who just blushed.

‘Aww, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it,’ Spike responded. ‘Where are you staying for the night?’

‘Well that’s the thing,’ Scootaloo said awkwardly. ‘I still haven’t found my own place.’

‘Still?! It’s fair too dangerous for you to stay on the streets, especially when you’re a member of a Gang.’ Spike obviously showed some kind of concern for the poor girl. It was true. Scootaloo had lived in an orphanage her whole life before getting out at seventeen, and getting involved with Gang Warfare not so long after.

‘Dude, I’m fine, don’t worry, I get around.’ Scootaloo stood up, took a quick stretch, and began to walk out. Twilight was waiting at the front door, in her Trench Coat and suitcase.

‘Convincing disguise, if I must say so myself.’ Scootaloo said, impressed as any passer-by would just mistake her for a businesswoman.

‘Yes, well I know every rule in the book, fortunately for me my brother does not.’ Twilight said, brushing her purple hair behind her ear.

‘You mean Shining Armour.’ Spike chuckled, having finally caught up with the two ladies.

‘Yeah, him,’ Twilight said monotonously. ‘Are you gonna be alright tonight, Scoot? You can always crash at ours for the night if you want?’

‘Nahhh, I’ll be alright, Twi.’ Scootaloo reassured Twilight.

‘I’m sure you will be.’ Twilight gave her a tight hug. ‘Come on Spike.’

The duo left the factory door, leaving Scootaloo alone in the dark void of the Factory.

‘Time to survive another night, Scoot.’ She quietly said to herself, finally lighting the cigarette she had placed in her mouth a couple of minutes ago.

As the orange tip glowed, Scootaloo had a bad feeling that something was coming. She didn’t know what, but it could bring all the violence to a standstill, and then some.

She gave a light nervous laugh as she stamped out the stump of the cigarette, and left the warehouse, exposing herself to the intimidating world of Night time Canterlot.

II-The Party Planner

II
The Party Planner

Rainbow Dash awoke at half past eight, being the bigger Spoon for Sunset Shimmer, who still lay in a deep sleep. She got up, slipped on some leggings and a shirt that was a little too small for her, and prepared some sort of breakfast, meaning a bowl of cereal with no milk and a glass of orange juice.

Suddenly she received a text message on her ‘business phone’. These phones were specially manufactured and handed out to members of Tantabus so that they could not get tracked by anyone who does not have possession of one. The text read.

Meet me outside the Sisterhoove’s Social Club at 12, we have business to attend to. Dress smart.
-L

That ‘L’ was the signature of none other than Rainbow’s boss and leader of Tantabus, Luna. Had she called her alone? If so, why? Were they gonna shoot up some stores, settle some vendettas, or go out for lunch?

Dash turned around to see that Sunset was awake. She was lying in nothing but her bra and panties, coiling herself around the bed sheets rather seductively.

‘Hey baby.’ She whispered with a glint of sexuality in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash knew that whilst this meeting with Luna was important in a couple of hours, there were much more important things she should be doing at the moment.

‘You’re so fucking hot.’ She said in a dumbfounded way, in awe at the sexy lingerie that only barely kept Sunset’s large bosom in place.

Dash jumped onto the bed in a red hot passion and the two began to intensely make out. The Rainbow-haired Girl began to grope her Girlfriends crotch, making her moan ever so subtly. Rainbow went straight ahead and began unclipping Sunset’s bra.

She knew that today was going to be a good day.

It was a typical morning like any other for Rarity. She got up swiftly and early, pulled on her white Turtleneck and deep blue pencil skirt, chugged a cup of coffee down her neck, got in her car and drove only a few blocks away to where her business, Carousel Boutique, was located.

She was the first one in for an opening at nine thirty. She put her gorgeous one-of-a-kind dresses in her front window display, checking them down to the very last detail.

Fifteen minutes before she was about to open up shop, she noticed a large figure stood outside. His dark skin and combed back wavy hair, alongside his black button down shirt and pants, all stacked up over six feet tall. Rarity knew straight away who it was.

It was the self-proclaimed ‘King’ of the Equestrian drug and crime scene, Sombra.

‘I didn’t even realise the boss was here so early.’ Rarity fidgeted with the key in the lock, as she started to panic. Finally after a hefty jerk the door flung open, and Sombra walked in slowly and in a way that would make even the most blood thirsty Hitmen tremble with fear. He shot a look into Rarity’s eyes that made her legs buckle, nervous that the worst was going to happen to her.

‘Rarity,’ He spoke with a brooding deep tone as he addressed one of his underlings. ‘How’s the operation going?’

‘All well, sir, the money has been filed under this business, so no more worrying.’ Rarity answered, giving a small nervous chuckle.

‘Good, I’m glad to hear it,’ Sombra began to walk over to some of the dresses, observing them down to the very stitching. ‘Laundering is something I didn’t want to have to resort to, but it keeps the Royal Guard oblivious to what we’re doing.’

‘I understand, boss.’ Rarity knew that saying anything that wasn’t some sort of an agreement to Sombra’s statement would most likely not end well.

‘Do you know how Starlight is doing with the selling?’ Sombra asked the pale fashionista.

‘I wouldn’t know, sorry, have you asked Discord about it?’

‘I hardly see a lot of that man anymore. He usually goes off on one of his “experiments”.’

‘Well that’s Discord for you, I guess.’ Rarity was starting to wonder if there was some other greater reason as to why Sombra was here.

‘He’s the most trained guy in the field I know. He’s my second in command for a reason,’ Sombra remained silent for a good few moments, focusing on Rarity who was slowly growing weary of the anxiety. ‘Rarity, I need you to look over some blueprints I’ve managed to pick up.’

‘Sure thing, Boss, any reason why?’ Rarity began to get curious as she walked slowly in Sombra’s direction.

‘It’s a suit of armour that was designed and sent to me from Yakyakistan, and since you’re my head engineer, I’m going to rely on you to get the job done.’ The tall man placed an unsettling hand on the much smaller Rarity.

‘You can count on me. Just send them to my home.’

‘I’d rather you pick them up from base after you’re finished here, to not make things too suspicious.’ Sombra spoke in a threatening demeanour as he approached the door.

‘I shall do my best, Sombra.’ Rarity said almost seductively, Sombra kissing her hand.

‘Until we meet again, Miss Rarity.’ Sombra gave a slight grin as he left Carousel Boutique with a slow but intense walk down the street.

‘Armour...,’ Rarity said to herself, confused but also curious. ‘I wonder what kind of scheme he has in mind now.’

It had been a rough night for Scootaloo, trying to survive out in the streets like a hunted dog means you don’t get a lot of sleep. She had wandered the lonely pathways, hid from the police and rival Thugs from both Chaos and Tantabus, all while finding a decent place to nap for a couple of hours. She had found a decent spot on the top of an apartment block, that was until she was found by the nightshift caretaker and in no less than five minutes she was outrunning the Police. Fortunately she had, and by ten o’clock in the morning, she had made it back to the base of Harmony for the meeting she was told of by Twilight last night.

Every Canterlot Gang had what was traditionally known as the ‘Elite Members’, who held a much more significant place than the standard goons. They had specific job roles that they were in charge of, and would usually be making the decisions at gathering, much like what a council would do.

Scootaloo was an Elite Member of Harmony, being in charge of the Drug Dealing operation in and around Canterlot. When she came in to the meeting room she was greeted by the four other Elite Members of Harmony. Twilight Sparkle, the second in command to the Leader Celestia, Spike, the head Medic, even at such a young age, Gilda, who was the bodyguard to Celestia herself, and Octavia, the hired assassin and hit-man that would usually be the one to take out very powerful criminals.

They were all stood around a large circular table, with none other than Harmony leader Celestia taking the helm. Scootaloo quickly took her place as the meeting was about to begin.

Celestia was truly a legend in the Equestrian Crime scene. She was notorious for getting what she wants and being in operation for so long without being caught. The ‘Princess’ stood at around five feet ten inches, towering over all of her subjects. Her hair consisted of many pastel colours neatly wrapped into a ponytail, and she wore a suit no different than that of an upper-class business woman. The striking thing about her was the massive Harmony gang symbol tattoo (that being of a Sun) that ran from the left side of her neck and stretched out over her shoulder and towards her breast. Underneath her proper Suit jacket were two sleeves of tattoos running up both her arms.

‘I’m glad to have called you all here,’ she spoke regally and loudly, addressing her members as though they were royalty. ‘We have some pressing matters to attend to.’

‘What’s the problem, boss?’ Gilda said, she was a dark skinned woman who wore a vest top and loose fitted jeans, showcasing her huge intimidating muscles and dozens of gang tattoos to all. She had a dark side that was far too easy to trigger.

‘Well, I have been thinking these past few days about the direction I want to take this business,’ Celestia started. ‘And I am honestly considering taking down Chaos once and for all.’

There was a wave of shocked gasps across the room for varying reasons, either the thoughts of ‘she’s gone mad’ or ‘finally’ sprung to mind.

‘How?’ Twilight said, baffled by her previous statement.

‘Well there are a few things I need to get in order first before I can initiate this plan.’ Celestia puffed out her chest in pride.

‘Like what?’ Scootaloo asked in an almost challenging fashion. She had her feet propped up onto the table, obnoxiously chewing a piece of gum.

‘Well the most important thing I need,’ Celestia paused for a moment, breathing in calmly. ‘We need to get our engineer back.’ She finally commanded, bringing forth an even bigger wave of shocked gasps.

‘You mean Pinkie Pie?’ Twilight scratched her head as she scribbled down her notes. ‘But she’s been out of the crime scene for two years, what makes you—’

‘Twilight,’ Celestia cut her off, giving a somewhat cunning look. ‘She was the best Engineer I ever had. To pull of this plan with any sort of succession I need her back under my wing.’

‘Right, boss.’ Twilight said, she knew she was defeated.

‘What’s the plan then?’ Octavia asked in a polite manner.

If there was ever a competition for the best dressed assassin, not only would Octavia take home the gold medal, she would no doubt take silver and bronze as well. She always wore a three piece suit, accompanied by her purple bow tie and tuxedo. Her hair was always neat and tidy, and the tiniest blood splatter would be cleaned off moments afterward. Despite this, Octavia was top of her field, always carrying around a Bowie knife in a sheath strapped to her thigh. She was sharpening it in this instance.

‘Well, I have received plans for several things, and if Pinkie can construct them, we can hijack Chaos’s base and deliver a fatal blow to their Crystal Heart production.’ Celestia seemed very confident with this plan, judging by the smirk that had formed on her face.

‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ Gilda scoffed, you could tell she wasn’t taking any of this seriously.

‘I will explain more once we have “The Party Planner” here,’ Celestia stood up out of her chair, showcasing her towering figure to all her cohorts. ‘Gilda, Octavia, I trust that you two can go to her house and do a little convincing?’

‘Give me an address and it’s done.’ Octavia said with efficiency, sliding her massive knife into the belonging sheath.

‘Awww come on, Tia! I have more valuable things to be doing with my time.’ Gilda huffed.

‘Hmmm, really?’ Celestia chuckled.

‘What’s so funny?’ Gilda's neck tensed as she began to get rallied up.

‘Because you think you can argue with her.’ Twilight said nonchalantly, knowing exactly why the Boss was so amused. Gilda was not impressed in the slightest.

‘The rest of you can go about your duties.’ Celestia walked out the door, leaving a chilling silence in the room.

‘I believe we have a party to go and plan?’ Octavia said with a hint of wit.

‘Yeah. Sure. Whatever.’ Gilda rolled her eyes. She knew she had been defeated.

Rainbow Dash had finally stopped to catch her breath. She had spent the better half of the entire morning teasing and getting down and dirty with Sunset Shimmer, who lay on the bed in a hot sweaty mess. Rainbow got up and checked the time on her phone:

11:27

‘Shit.’ She said audibly, she had to meet Luna quite a few blocks away in less than thirty five minutes, and she still smelled of sweat and sex.

Dash jumped into the lukewarm shower for a couple of minutes to watch the revolting stench out of her system. She got out, dried herself off, and proceeded to get into a smart white shirt, grey pants, and a cyan blue tie.

‘Do you think this will be smart enough for Luna?’ Rainbow Dash said to Sunset, who was still lying naked in bed.

‘Yeah yeah…’ She said, trailing off halfway through, she was still tired and in a bit of a state after the morning she had.

‘Alright cool.’ She picked up her keys, wallet and phone before giving her girlfriend one final kiss.

‘I shouldn’t be gone too long, babe.’ Rainbow said reassuringly.

‘Okay, Dashie.’ Sunset said in a cute voice.

Dash ran out of the Apartment complex and towards her car, she started her engine and sped off towards the Sisterhoove’s Social Club.

The old beaten up scarlet red car had been something that the Woman has owned since she was eighteen, and has served her well, despite the rusted bumper, cracked windows, bullet holes in the doors due to former shootouts, and an engine that made a terrible grating sound. Whilst she was driving, Rainbow Dash adjusted the back mirror and looked at herself in it. She combed her hair with her fingers and tried her best to swerve from any close collisions on the road. She stopped only a block away from the Social, and ran up to meet Luna by the entrance.

Luna, unlike her sister and Sombra, is not a Woman you would look at and know she’s the leader of a gang. She was rather small, smaller than Celestia at least. She was very pale and had her dark-as-night purple hair loose and free. She did wear a suit, but was coloured many different shades of grey, with a purple tie to finish the look. Her gang symbol of a moon was actually caused by a branding iron in between her shoulder blades (the ritual is now commonplace, Rainbow having her brand on her right thigh and Sunset having hers on in the inside of her left forearm.) She also carried a rather large briefcase in her right hand.

‘Afternoon, Rainbow Dash.’ Luna said formally.

‘Afternoon, Boss.’ Dash replicated, trying to act more intellectual than she actually is.

‘Shall we take a seat inside?’ Luna seemed very rushed today just by how she was acting.

The duo went inside the rather lush location and took a seat. The Sisterhoove’s Social Club truly was a place for the elite of Canterlot. The upper crust usually would come here for some brunch or for some social chitchat. What Luna had in mind, however, was a different story altogether.

‘Rainbow, do you know why we’re here?’ Luna said, placing her briefcase on the table.

‘I don’t know, is it for something outrageous?’ Rainbow asked, concerned about what was going to happen next.

Luna looked around to see if anyone was looking at them, to which she grabbed her right hand man by the scruff of her neck and brought her closer to her vicinity.

‘What if I told you I had two pistols and two Ski-masks in this briefcase?’ Luna whispered almost maniacally.

‘What? You can’t be serious.’ Rainbow Dash replied, trying her hardest not to shout it to the entire world.

‘Oh yeah, we’re robbing this place.’ Luna gave a deviant smirk.

‘But why here?’ Rainbow still didn’t understand what was going on.

‘Well this is the fanciest place that lands in Sombra’s territory,’ Luna explained, neatly arranging the cutlery that was pre-set before they had arrived. ‘If we steal all the money from this place, maybe break a nose or two, we’ll be sending a message, making a statement to all of Chaos.’

‘What kind of statement?’

‘That we’re ready to fight, and ready to take those fuckers out.’

‘You could’ve told me about this before, you know, instead of throwing it on me at the last second.’ Rainbow Dash’s voice began to creep up more and more with each passing sentence.

‘Well, you know what I’m like,’ Luna chuckled a little bit before she changed her expression to one more serious. ‘Here’s the plan, you go to the bathroom with the case, to get ready, once you’re in there I’ll send a message to Zekora to disable the cameras, then I follow to the bathroom shortly afterwards. After that we strike and hope for the best.’

‘You really haven’t thought this out, have you?’

‘Well, I have, you’ve just not heard it until now.’ Luna said smugly, before shooing Dash off to the Bathroom.

Rainbow Dash stood up, grabbed the briefcase and began to walk off before Luna grabbed her wrist.

‘The code, by the way, is five eight six two.’ She whispered before letting Dash go off.

Dash went into the ladies bathroom, into one of the cubicles, and placed the case on the seat of the toilet. She typed in the code and opened the case to see that Luna was right; two ski masks, two M1911 Pistols with a black coating, and a considerably large sack for the money lay inside. Rainbow pulled the mask over her face. She loaded the pistol, cocked it and placed it in her back pocket, and she waited.

Luna followed shortly after. She knocked on the cubicle door to which Dash passed the two items to her. The leader of Tantabus did the exact same things that Rainbow Dash did, except she held the pistol firm in her hands.

‘We have no cameras for ten minutes, so we’re gonna have to be efficient, in and out.’ Luna straightened up her suit as she spoke very quietly, but punctuated every syllable she spoke.

‘Gotcha, ready?’ Rainbow asked rather nervously.

‘Ready.’ Luna said with a smile on her face, kicking down the door that lead from the bathroom to the main restaurant and firing a few shots into the air.

‘Everybody get down on the ground, this is a robbery!’ Dash shouted, causing every single patron in the Sisterhoove’s Social Club to dive to the ground in terror. The innocent people screamed, cursed, or simply went into a state of absolute shock.

Luna approached the lady at the counter, who was also on the floor, almost about to cry.

‘Empty the till. Now.’ Luna chucked the sack at the cashier, who began to frantically fill it with hundreds of bits.

‘Stay on the ground!’ Dash grunted at some people who attempted to get up. Both she and Luna began to hear a phone typing sound and they twisted their heads.

‘Who’s using their phone,’ Luna said with a voice that could slice someone in two. Beginning to get annoyed, she fired a few more times in the air, making the crowd of people recoil. ‘I said who the FUCK is using their phone?!’

‘Me, I am.’ A rather scrawny teenage boy held his phone up into the air, to which Rainbow snatched it out of his hands.

‘We’re not here to hurt anyone,’ Rainbow Dash announced to the room. ‘So if you want this to be over with as soon as possible, you sit down and shut up.’

The bag now was completely filled with a good couple of thousand bits when the cashier had finished filling it. Luna picked up the bag and flung it over her shoulder in a triumphant manner.

‘Oh wait, you forgot this.’ The cashier said, and as Luna turned around she whipped out a Glock and nervously pointed it at her.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me right now.’ Luna said monotonously.

‘I will shoot!’ She whimpered, her shaky hands making it impossible for her to aim straight.

‘Are we gonna kill this bitch or?’ Rainbow asked, starting to walk to the door.

‘No,’ Luna chuckled, before aiming and shooting her in the shoulder, making her collapse in pain. ‘I’m gonna maim her instead.’

‘As the two crime lords walked to the door, Rainbow awkwardly did a casual salute and said ‘See ya.’ Before they began to sprint down the street, they quite literally jumped into Rainbow Dash’s car and they sped off as a high speed.

‘Fuck me,’ Rainbow shouted as she pulled off her ski mask. ‘That was a travesty.’

‘Travesty?’ Luna raised an eyebrow as she opened the money sack, showing hundreds upon hundreds of different bank notes, all of high value. ‘That was no travesty, Rainbow Dash.’

‘We shot a cashier in the arm,’ Dash ignored the money as she focused on the road. ‘That’s some pretty high intense shit! What if Shining Armour finds out?’

‘Who gives a fuck? Shining’s been on our asses for years! This isn’t going to turn as many heads that haven’t always been turned, Rainbow Dash.’ Luna spoke like she was the Queen of Canterlot, she truly was proud of herself.

‘Well,’ Rainbow finally relaxed herself. ‘It was pretty awesome.’

‘I know,’ Luna gave a smile as she gave her Right Hand Man a confident squeeze of the shoulder. ‘We need to go back to base and put this cash in the vault.’

‘Alright Boss.’ Dash grumbled as she turned the car around.

‘This cash is gonna help us fund our next project.’ Luna said rather deviantly, a small smirk creeping up her cheek in the process.

‘Is this the place?’ Gilda said with a groan.

‘I believe it is.’ Octavia replied sternly.

The two Goons sent by Celestia were stood outside what appeared to be a rather large house. Despite its grandness, the place couldn’t escape the problem that all residences in Canterlot suffered from, which was how dirty it was from the outside. Moss caked the walls, the lawn out front was overgrown and overpopulated by weeds, and litter from the sidewalk had also managed to migrate its way to the front of the house.

Octavia was closely examining an address that had been scribbled down in a blue pen by Twilight Sparkle, matching the addresses. And it was true. This place was the residence of Pinkimena Diane Pie. She gave a polite, rhythmic knock and the two waited.

Suddenly, the door opened, but the several chain locks attached could not make it open any more than a couple of inches. Stood there, peeping through the door, hardly resembled Pinkie in the slightest.

‘Pinkie Pie, is that you?’ Gilda asked in a slightly threatening demeanour.

‘G-Gilda, Octavia, what are you two doing here?’ Pinkie whimpered, frightened by the two of them.

‘We’re here on special request from Celestia,’ Octavia said, straightening up her bow tie. ‘May we come in?’

Pinkie in that instance slammed the door in her face. For a few seconds nothing happened, as if she had ignored their request entirely. Eventually the sound of locks being undone was heard on the other side of the door as it creaked open.

‘If you must.’ Pinkie tittered as she walked into the kitchen, ignoring the guests as they walked into the house.

Pinkie Pie was considered the biggest threat in Celestia’s Gang way back when. She was an engineer that did and still would blast out the works of Tantabus’s and Chaos’s Engineer. Even though Rarity brought a beautiful décor to the creations of Chaos, and Zekora is the top hacker in her field and builds menacing attires and weapons, nothing could stop Pinkie’s shear amount of creativity and fast pace building lethal weapons, from guns to bombs to sentries. Her armour work also topped out the work of anyone else because of how powerful the materials she could manipulate.

However, it was obvious the Woman had seen some hard times as of late. She had always been quite chunky, but it complimented her look and made her even appear quite voluptuous too. Lately, however, maybe she had been gorging on a few too many snacks, or maybe she just hasn’t been getting her usual exercise, but she had definitely increased in size, not a ridiculous amount, but so much so she had a little potbelly that stuck out like a sore thumb and jiggled a little as she walked. The rest of her body, such as her arms, legs, and breasts, had gained extra padding as well. Her usual happy go lucky air had decreased however, and her hair was straight and lank, unlike the usually out of control style it would usually adopt.

Her house was also a mess, covered in litter in hefty piles on the floor, from empty packets of food items to rotting food itself, the smell hung in the air along with the smell of cheap deodorant in a pathetic attempt to cover it up as well.

‘Do you guys want a coffee or something?’ Pinkie asked as she began to boil her old banged up kettle.

‘No thanks, I’m on detox at the moment.’ Octavia replied, neither Pinkie nor Gilda were sure whether she was being sarcastic or not, but they just rolled with it.

‘Nah, I’m alright.’ Gilda accompanied, looking in disgust at the state of the house they were currently in.

‘Alright,’ Pinkie said half-heartedly as she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at her table, beckoning the two Harmony members to sit as well. ‘Well, why are you here then?’

‘Celestia needs you, man,’ Gilda shouted, somewhat trying to convince her. ‘She’s got big plans for Harmony, and she wants you to return as the Engineer.’

‘Your work was quite impressive, I must admit.’ Octavia twiddled her thumbs on the table as she spoke.

‘Ohhhhh welllll,’ Pinkie blushed a little at the compliments, but concealed it well. ‘That’s not my thing anymore, you know. I have a job, a job that doesn’t put me on any hit list.’

‘Where do you work?’ Gilda asked, rudely folding her arms and giving the large girl a judging look.

‘Sugar Cube Corner, it’s not great pay, but the perks are nice.’ Pinkie gave a little forced smile.

‘Pinkimena, may I ask you something?’ Octavia requested, clearing her throat in the process.

‘Go ahead.’ Pinkie braced herself for the worst.

‘If you’re so confident in all of this, why do you have so many locks on your door?’ Octavia raised a little cocky eyebrow.

‘Well, I mean, erm…’

‘Wait, Pinkie, you’re not scared of something, are you?’ Gilda chuckled like an immature five year old, noticing Pinkie’s growing anxiety.
Suddenly, the poor girl snapped under the pressure.

‘Okay, yes, I am scared. I’m scared that one of those blood-crazed thugs is going to kick down my door with a shotgun and will shoot my fucking face off! I go to work, sure, but I never go out at all, I never socialise, I don’t have any friends because Celestia has essentially fucked up my life!’ She broke down into tears as Gilda and Octavia watched on awkwardly.

‘But you enjoyed it, didn’t you?’ Octavia tacked on to the end of Pinkie’s meltdown, watching Gilda look at her and just shrug.

There was a silence for another couple seconds, as Pinkie made some attempt to wipe her tears.

‘Yeah, I did,’ She said nostalgically, giving a hopeful look. ‘I enjoyed it a lot. But I can’t afford to go back to that lifestyle, because I don’t want my Mom and Dad to find out one day that I’ve died in some horrific shootout or explosion.’

‘You won’t though,’ Gilda said with motivation, which was unlike her usual pessimistic attitude. ‘Harmony always has your back, especially for Celestia’s personal Engineer!’

‘The truth is that we sincerely need you for this operation at hand, and your craftsmanship is unlike anyone else in Canterlot.’ Octavia, no matter the situation, spoke with elegance and dignity, even when trying to hire someone to join a massive street gang.

‘I’m not sure I can,’ Pinkie held her bloated stomach for a second. ‘I’m not exactly in tip top shape, am I?’

‘You’re just coming up with excuses now…’ Gilda rolled her eyes.

‘I am not! I just don’t want to go back, it’s not my scene anymore.’ Pinkie failed to make eye contact with the girls, as Octavia got up.

‘I don’t want to stay here any longer than we need to, otherwise we’ll just be sounding like broken records by this point,’ she stated to Gilda, who got up as well. Octavia tossed a small black card on the table. ‘There’s my card, don’t be afraid to give me a call if you need any help.’

‘Thank you,’ Pinkie picked it up reluctantly. ‘I’m sorry, you guys.’

‘It’s fine.’ Gilda huffed, knowing the amount of arguing that will happen when she tells the rest of Harmony the news.

‘See you soon, Pinkie.’ Octavia smiled courteously, nodding her head.

‘Alright, guys.’ Pinkie smiled genuinely, wiping away the last of her tears.

As Gilda and Octavia left the house together, the former gave the latter a perplexed look.

‘What do you mean by “see you soon”?’ She asked.

‘Well, I’ve seen this happen a lot of times before,’ Octavia started to explain as they got into her car. ‘Usually when you recruit someone that’s rather reluctant but says no, you leave them for a little while and then lo and behold they change their mind and want to do it.’

‘Where did you get that idea from?’ Gilda was impressed at her partner’s idea.

‘I saw it in a movie once.’ Octavia said as she started the engine.

‘Oh cool, which movie?’

‘It’s in every movie. Ever.’ Octavia rolled her eyes as the duo cruised off back to the base.

Ever since the raid of the Sisterhoove’s Social Club, news of it had spread like wildfire. From the patrons that were there when it happened, to the police, to passers-by, to none other than Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight had been on her first drug dealing shift that afternoon when she had heard of the news, and since she seemed like making an impression on Sombra would be the best thing to do, she sprinted back to the Chaos Hideout to tell him the news.

The rather interesting thing about the location of Chaos’s activities is that it is underground, promoting use of the sewer line to actually get to it. The base was a network of tunnels that stemmed to twenty feet below the streets of Canterlot. These places were locations that would’ve been used as dungeons or for mining excavation hundreds of years ago, but have since come in handy for any member of Chaos to hide sneakily and manoeuvre their way to any location in the city.

Starlight ran into a side street where she located the man hole cover she had used to frequently enter the base of her gang. Even if she was the newest member of Chaos, she had a cunning whit about her, and a rather sneaky psychology that has the potential to start a fully-fledged gang war if she had the balls to do it. Her black tank top and jeans were stained dirty due to the revolting mess of the sewer, but she got used to the smell after a while.

‘Now it’s left, left, right, left, right and then just go straight ahead.’ Starlight Glimmer muttered to herself, attempting to navigate the snaking system of large pipes. She took her predetermined route, which fortunately lead her to the main room. The main hall was respectively large for the location it was in, constructed with heavy-duty concrete and iron, and artificial lighting being the only way to see, mostly consisting of lamps.

Sombra stood with his second in command, Discord, discussing the plans that he had talked about with Rarity that morning. Starlight decided to stand back and wait for a moment, noticing the gang symbol on the ‘King’s chest . Chaos was considered the most controversial in the way they brand themselves, as it was a ritual to have the shape of a heart in two halves carved into your skin, scarring over to make a brand. Sombra started it off himself by use of a dagger-like knife that would never be washed since. Meaning every other member to get the carving would also stain the knife with their blood. As each new branding would be made, the blood from those who had been branded before would enter their system. Sombra believed this connected the gang in a unique form of a blood pact.

Starlight decided that she had waited long enough and stepped forward, clearing her throat to get her Bosses attention.

‘Boss?’ She asked rather reluctantly.

‘What is it Starlight?’ Sombra asked, hardly getting his attention in the slightest.

‘There was a robbery at the Sisterhoove’s Social Club today. It’s believed that one of the other gangs has pulled it off.’

Sombra’s face twisted from contempt to one of annoyance. He looked up, his eyes almost appearing as if they were blazing neon green.

‘How many committed it and how much was taken?’ He asked Starlight, his muscles tensing as he spoke.

‘I think there were two, but they were in Ski Masks, and rumour is they sucked the shop dry.’ Starlight said quite confidently, this was sure to get her on Sombra’s good side.

‘Tantabus, without a doubt,’ a tall, older man piped up to the right of Sombra, no doubt being the wise, albeit connived voice of Discord. ‘When Harmony attacks, they do it all guns blazing and get everyone they have. Tantabus on the other hand, do subtle attacks with very little planning time.’

‘It will have been Luna and Rainbow Dash that’ll have set this off.’ Sombra’s voice was creeping up, he was trying his best to conceal his anger at this point.

‘What do we do?’ Starlight asked, wanting to get in on the evil scheming.

The trio pondered for a second, until Discord decided to speak up.

‘We need to do something that will tell them not to fuck with us, that we’re not just here to get pushed around like children.’

Suddenly a smile crept up onto Sombra’s face. He knew exactly what he had in mind.

‘I have a little request for Rarity when she returns.’ He said with a small chuckle, which built up to an evil maniacal laughter. The bone-chilling sound rattled and echoed throughout the many various pipes of the sewer.

This plan would truly make more than a point. It could even start the beginning of the end.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was almost on its way to creeping into the horizon. Octavia was doing the only thing she ever found interesting when she was bored and did not have her signature cello on her, she was rebuilding and dismantling her favourite Sniper Rifle, over and over again. Sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower, but that’s what the Black haired woman did as some kind of way to pass the time. Gilda was sat next to her, with her dirty yellow boots kicked up onto a counter of some sorts.

Suddenly Octavia’s phone began to vibrate violently in her Tuxedo pocket, she put down her rifle midway through assembling and answered the call:

‘Hello… Octavia speaking… Alright… Good… What time? Now? Sure. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes. Ciao!’

After hanging up she then proceeded to dismantle the rest of the rifle and pulled out her car keys. Octavia turned to Gilda and gave a hearty chuckle, winking at her.

‘Wait, seriously?’ Gilda asked whilst gobsmacked.

‘Yeah, seriously,’ Octavia started to walk towards the entrance of Harmony’s base, twirling her keys with her forefinger.

‘Awww fuck yeah!’ Gilda punched the air with her fists, giving the widest grin she had given all day.

‘I know, I can’t believe it myself to be honest,’ Octavia gave a warm smile as she turned around in the doorway. ‘I shouldn’t be any longer than twenty minutes.

Now, if you don’t mind me, I have a certain Party Planner to pick up.’

III-Worse than Death

III
Worse than Death

Pinkie Pie was making a comeback, and it was her conscience that told her to do it above anyone else.

So she decided to try on her old black latex jumpsuit that she always used to wear when she was a hired Merc. Sure, it strained a little under her new shape, but other than that it was a decent fit. She also retrieved her night vision goggles and placed it on the top of her head. Unlike earlier that day, her hair was back combed and was all over the place, just the way she liked it. She put on her heavy duty steel-tip boots, grabbed her satchel filled with all little bits and pieces, and she sat and waited in her kitchen.

A honking of a horn was heard, indicating Octavia has arrived to escort her. So Pinkie bounced out the door and into the car, buzzing all the while.

‘You’re looking happy, Pinkie.’ Octavia grinned as she saw the engineer shake with excitement, bouncing the entire car.

‘Oh yeah,’ Pinkie Pie beamed as she almost screamed out her response. ‘I realised how much I loved being with you guys, and all the wacky adventures we’d have!’

‘I wouldn’t say wacky…’ Octavia chuckled awkwardly.

‘Come on come on come on, Tavi, DRIVE!’ Pinkie Pie was rearing to go, so much so she wasn’t even sat in her seat properly, instead leaning forward onto the dashboard of the car in anticipation.

‘If you insist.’ Octavia still stayed calm despite Pinkie’s behaviour. She began to start driving, at a rather fast speed, towards the Harmony Head Quarters.

‘Will Celestia be there?’ Pinkie Pie asked in a giddy fashion.

‘Yes, Celestia asked you to be there personally.’ Octavia gave a warm grin as she focused on the road.

‘Will Twilight be there?’ Pinkie questioned in the exact same manner.

‘Mmhmm, she will.’

‘Will Gilda be there?’

‘You saw her this morning, Pinkimena?’ Octavia started to feel a little awkward but played along anyway.

‘Ohhhhh yeahhhhh, I did!’ Pinkie rolled her eyes and her head followed them, finishing by looking directly at the driver.

‘We also have some new members, like Scootaloo, who’s our primary drug dealer now.’

‘What happened to that Ditzy Doo girl?’ Pinkie asked with interest.

‘We had to let her go,’ Octavia said with negative connotations. ‘She wasn’t dealing out the Hearts as efficiently as we would’ve liked.’

‘Ohhhh, that makes sense.’ Pinkie chewed her fingernails as Octavia drove for what seemed like decades. She finally pulled up to the old derelict warehouse, and Pinkie jumped out of the car and practically wailed in excitement.

‘I can’t believe it, I’m home!’ Pinkie hopped on the spot, her eyes welling up with tears.

‘Well go on in, the doors open.’ Octavia patted her back, indicating for her to speed off and opened the front door in a frantic manner.

‘I’M BACK!’ Pinkie screamed, causing everyone in the room to stare at her in shock.

Gilda had told Celestia of the good news almost immediately as Octavia left to retrieve Pinkie Pie, so she called back the Elite members of Harmony for an impromptu meeting for when she arrived. They were all so surprised to see the Party Planner herself return in person.

‘Welcome back, Pinkie Pie.’ Celestia said with joy, coming up and hugging the ecstatic engineer. All the other members did their own sort of greetings. That was except for Scootaloo, who just stood there, not exactly sure what was going on.

‘Pinkie Pie, isn’t it?’ Scootaloo asked with a hint of uncertainty.

‘Yep, that’s me,’ Pinkie gripped Scootaloo into a deadly hug, with the small girls face planted between the engineer’s large bosom. ‘Pleased to meet ya Scoots!’

‘Pwuuuth tuf mmmmt mm tur!’ The Drug Dealer attempted to muster up.

After a solid thirty seconds of bear hugging, Pinkie let Scootaloo go, causing her to gasp straight for air.

‘So, what did you need me for, we doing some baking? I bake a nasty apple pie when I want to!’ Pinkie gave a serious glare to Celestia, who just chuckled.

‘Pinkie, I have some plans that I need you to review some plans I received,’ The Don of Harmony placed her large hands onto Pinkie’s shoulders as she explained. ‘Since you are the best engineer I know, I have complete faith you will make something of it.’

‘Ooooooh, you got me all excited now!’ Pinkie started to shake as she spoke in an incredibly high frequency.

‘Boss, shall I show Pinkie what we’re on about?’ Twilight interrupted, fixing her glasses.

‘Miss Sparkle, I am more than capable of showing Miss Pie what our grand scheme is.’ Celestia said with a hint of reluctance, before leading Pinkie into the conference room and slamming the door behind them.

All other eyes were fixated on Twilight.

‘Yo, so erm, what is all this about?’ Scootaloo had a lollipop in her mouth, which slightly prohibited some of the words she said.

‘Yeah Twi,’ Spike joined in. ‘You’ve not told any of us this.’

‘I’m sorry guys, but it’s highly confidential, and even then, I only know bits and pieces,’ Twilight sighed and looked to the floor. ‘I’m sure the Boss will tell you all in due time.’

The second in command left in a bit of a hurry into one of the side offices, and slammed the door after herself.

‘Jeez, what’s stuck up her ass today?’ Gilda asked with a nervous chuckle.

‘Ah, it’s just Twilight,’ Spike shrugged it off. ‘Stress always gets to her like usual.’

‘Hmm, yes,’ Octavia decided to speak up at long last. ‘Isn’t it great to have Pinkimena back though?’

There were a chorus of yes’s from all the elite members, bar Scootaloo who just shrugged.

‘She seems cool and all,’ Scootaloo bit onto her lollipop, which didn’t quite break it. ‘But I ain’t convinced that she’s the best engineer we’ve got.’

Spike chuckled as he began to walk after Twilight.

‘Well, don’t act too surprised when she shows us all up again!’ He spoke loudly so everyone could hear.

‘Don’t you have a shipment of Hearts to be dealing with, Scootaloo?’ Octavia folded her arms and raised a single eyebrow.

‘Oh shit, yeah,’ Scootaloo grabbed a small rucksack and placed it on her back, giving a little wink. ‘Don’t worry, I got this.’

Scootaloo ran out of the factory, and back into Tantabus territory to sell Crystal Hearts again. Surely if she survived once, she can survive again, she thought.

‘What the hell?!’ Rarity exclaimed to her Boss. She never usually would contest with him, but this was too much.

‘Are you questioning my authority?’ Sombra grunted.

‘I’m not going out of my way to find out where she lives, just so you can play your silly little games with her!’

There was a chorus of laughter from everyone in the room, bar Rarity who was sticking to her guns here.

Since getting off of work and returning to base to retrieve these plans, Rarity instead has been forced into what she calls a ‘Hack and Track’. This means that she locates another person’s location by any means necessary, from social media to satellites and radio frequencies. The woman is acclaimed for it, but Sombra typically exploits her powers by finding goons from Harmony and Tantabus and torture them. This time it was no different, expect he had a much more notorious target to go after.

‘This gang is ruining our reputation. We need to show them we mean business.’ Sombra began squaring up to Rarity, who was significantly smaller than the brute.

‘No means no, Sombra!’ Rarity scolded. However the argument came to a swift end when there was a huge dark hand covering her neck and blocking her airways.

As Rarity could do nothing but attempt to gasp for air and failing to do so, Sombra pinned the engineer up against one of the concrete walls.

‘You’re seeming to forget where your place in this Gang is, Miss Rarity,’ Sombra spoke softly, in a way that almost seemed calm. ‘I am going to ask again, and if you answer in any way that isn’t a nod I will snap your FUCKING NECK!’

The sudden burst of anger from the leader of Chaos, which echoed throughout the chamber for several seconds, even made Discord and Starlight, who were watching in awe, wince.

‘Now Rarity, will you find the location of Sunset Shimmer?’ He seemed to have dropped his voice to a level as low as before, with a cunning twang to it.

With Rarity not being able to muster up any words, she nodded violently, and was let go from the grasp of her boss. Her face went from a purple that almost matched her hair, back to its usual pale shade in a couple of seconds.

‘Good,’ Sombra fixed his shirt cuffs before starting to walk off. ‘You have thirty five minutes.’

Sunset Shimmer had a pretty relaxing morning, after her girlfriend Rainbow Dash had taken off to do business for Tantabus, whatever that may be. She poured herself a coffee, and spent the next few hours watching whatever crappy reality show was on the air.

She started to wonder where Rainbow Dash was, and why she was taking so long to do business with Luna. Her train of thought was interrupted, suddenly, by the high, shrill, ringing of the doorbell outside, which startled Sunset. She walked up to the phone on the wall and picked it up very reluctantly.

‘I’m very sorry, but Rainbow Dash isn’t in at the moment, you’re gonna have to try again later on this evening.’ Sunset spoke very quickly to whoever was outside. But all she could hear was heavy breathing on the other side of the phone.

Sunset shuddered immensely at whoever this creep was.

‘Look, I’m sorry, sir, but she’s not in at the moment!’ Sunset Shimmer exclaimed.

Next thing she hears, both in static over the receiver, but clear as day downstairs, was the echoing sound of the door being kicked in.

Whoever was at that door wanted Sunset.

‘Shit.’

Sunset went into a full on panic attack as she heard the heavy, rhythmic footsteps grow stronger and louder as they neared her room. In a daze, she picked up one of the empty beer bottles in Rainbow Dash’s apartment and smashed it against the frame of her bed, creating a makeshift shank, of sorts.

The footsteps grew louder and louder, and Sunset grew more terrified, backing herself into a corner, tears streaming down her face. Usually she would be ready for an attack like this, but certainly not within the comforts of her own home. The footsteps then stopped suddenly as they reached outside of the apartment door. And with one swift kick, the flimsy door flew open.

Stood much higher than the door frame, was a very pale, blonde man, wearing a white tank top, black jeans, and steel capped boots. He was enormous, towering close to seven feet tall, and arm muscles the size of tree trunks. He walked towards Sunset like a monster.

‘Wait, you’re one of Chaos’s guys, right? Bulk Biceps isn’t it. I know all you guys, don’t worry, but do we need to strike a deal?’ Sunset shouted through fits of tears as she held the bottle out at arms length.

Bulk Biceps merely grunted as he reached out to grab his target. But Sunset lept and drived the bottle glass directly into his right arm, which was the size of her head, and drove it in as much as she could before her left arm was grabbed and dislocated out of its socket.

Sunset screamed as she fell to the floor in agony. As Bulk removed the bottle from his arm, it shattered, leaving little green glass shards stuck inside. This made him angry, and took out his anger on the fragile Sunset, who received two punches into the stomach, and a punch in the face, which knocked her out completely.

Pulling out a cellphone that was too big for Biceps’ paws to maneuver, he rang Sombra.

‘It’s done.’

‘Excellent, be seeing you soon.’

Bulk Biceps then hung up, grabbing the unconscious body of the assassin, and slung it over his shoulder like a rag doll. He then swiftly exited the building, towards the nearest manhole cover he could find.

Rainbow Dash and Luna ended up parking outside of the base of Tantabus in order to divert from the police. The base of this gang was very remote and actually on the outskirts of Canterlot. It was this old somewhat medieval castle, that has been partially destroyed over centuries of wear and tear. It had made a very homely environment for Luna, however, as she disbanded from Celestia those many years ago.

They made their way into what only could’ve been the dining room, which had now been decked out into a gangs hideaway. Weapons were hung up in neat sectors around the room, and many illegal substances, from cocaine to some sort of legal highs, lay on the table where kings and queens used to feast.

However, at the centrepiece of it all, was Zekora and her epic menagerie of television screens. On said screens were live security feeds, which fed into buildings all around Canterlot. In the centre was the Sisterhooves Social Club, which was now swarming with police.

Zekora was easily the greatest hacker in Equestria. None could top her efficiency and dedication, being able to shut down security feeds, dismantle cars, blow up ATMs, screw up traffic lights amongst so much more, only needing to be sat in front of her little base in the castle to do so. She wore a beanie, which covered most of her mohawk, along with combat trousers and trainers. Her brand of the moon was clearly visible under her crop top, being placed on the left of her ribs.

‘That was an excellent job, Luna and Rainbow Dash!’ She went up and shook both their hands, smiling all the while. ‘Now where are we going to put this cash?’

‘There’s a vault over there,’ Luna pointed to the farmost corner of the massive room. ‘I suggest saving it. We never know when we may need it.’

‘I need to head off you guys, Sunset will be waiting for me, no doubt.’ Dash checked the clock on her phone and swiftly turned to the door.

‘Well done Rainbow Dash,’ Luna congratulated. ‘I hope you see just as well as I why you’re my right hand man.’

‘Pfft yeah, don’t sweat it!’ Dash smiled and turned again.

‘Oh wait,’ Luna ran to the bag and pulled out an huge wad of cash, handing it to her gracefully. ‘How could I forget?’

‘Wait, this much?’ Said Rainbow Dash, perplexed, there must have been thousands of bits here.

‘Of course, you deserve it.’ Luna bowed, and turned to Zekora, who started to talk plans about the next heist, no doubt. Rainbow left confidently, got into her car, and sped off into mainland Canterlot.

‘You could’ve at least had the decency to drug her, instead of just relying on your damn brute force again.’

‘Quiet, Miss Rarity, she’s awaking.’

Sunset Shimmer awoke to the smell of shit, piss and all sorts of other bodily fluids, she was sat in a dark chamber, bound to a chair and gagged with a piece of duct tape, completely surrounded by the elite members of Chaos. Sombra and Rarity were stood together, easily the closest towards her. Starlight Glimmer was chuckling behind them, and Discord was sipping tea behind all three. On Sunset’s right, was Bulk Biceps, having his wound tended to by Chaos’s medic, Apple Bloom.

Rarity stared at her with cold, yet remorseful eyes, rubbing her neck which was red raw.

‘I’m sorry, darling.’ She muttered.

Sombra walked towards her confidently, and kneeled down so that they met on eye level.

‘Well, how’re we doing?’

Sunset tried to speak, but couldn’t due to the tape covering her mouth. Sombra chuckled and swiftly removed it for her.

‘What the fuck are you doing, Sombra, what have I done to piss you guys off?!’ Sunset was immensely terrified, and spoke with a quiver in her voice.

‘Oh no no, you’ve not done anything! We simply have you here because we need to handle a little trade off.’ Sombra spoke with such confidence; he revelled in his position of leadership.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, your little Romeo went and robbed one of my properties today, didn’t she? Rainbow Dash and Luna thought it would be “making a statement” if they were to get our attention.’

‘So why am I so important? I wasn’t even involved for fucks sake!’

‘Correct, but you’re now our little hostage, and you can only end up back in your lovers arms if she pays back what she stole. Otherwise,’ Sombra pointed his finger between Sunset’s eyebrows. ‘We’re gonna send a bullet through those pretty little eyes of yours.'

Sunset, in retaliation, lashed out and bit Sombras finger, startling him and drawing blood. He stood up and immediately pulled out the revolver in his back pocket, pointing it right at his hostage. The air was so quiet, you could hear Sunset Shimmer’s heart beating.

‘If it were up to me,’ Sombra said slowly and menacingly. ‘You would be dead by now. Fortunately, you get to live, since our little assassin has not arrived yet.’

‘You’ve not even sent for her yet, boss.’ Discord chirped in, sipping his tea in the process.

‘My mistake,’ Sombra lowered his gun and looked at the innocent Apple Bloom, removing glass shrapnel from Bulk Biceps arm with a pair of pliers. ‘Apple Bloom, dearest.’

‘Yes, boss?’ She turned with a genuine smile on her face.

‘Could you check on me to see where your sister is up to? Tell her I need her to carry out a job, and the price is high.’

‘Sure can do! I can go to her house now if ya want me to?’

‘That would be nice, thank you,’ Sombra’s calm tone around Apple Bloom was almost refreshing to see, that evaporated quickly when he turned to speak to Rarity. ‘Sort her out.’

Rarity pulled out the duct tape, ripped off a piece ever so elegantly and placed it over Sunset’s mouth. She then pulled out a polaroid camera and took a picture. The flash was far too bright for Sunset Shimmer, which left her dazed and confused.

What was going to happen now?

It was now approaching the end of the day, and the elite members of harmony were called once again for a meeting, this time with Pinkie Pie sat at the table as well. There was a warm atmosphere, as everyone else was excited to find out what the great plans were.

‘Okay,’ Celestia began immediately. ‘This may sound a little bit crude, but I’ve received shipments of a new arsenal from the Crystal Empire.’

Everyone perked up with mixed reactions. New weapons meant war.

‘Like what?’ Scootaloo asked hesitantly.

‘Oooh! It’s so cool,’ Pinkie yelped with a glint in her eyes. ‘So there’s bombs and armour pieces and a load of new guns and--’

‘Wait, bombs?!’ Twilight butted in. She'd never heard this part of the plan before.

‘We’ve never used bombs in combat before,’ Octavia added, polishing her sniper rifle. ‘Though I must say, I do find this devilishly exciting.’

‘I understand we’ve never used bombs before, and they would never be used on the streets unless we’re begging to be arrested,’ Celestia chuckled. ‘If we want to take out Sombra and Chaos we will have to strike them where their whole economic transportation lies.’

‘The sewers?’ Gilda questioned.

‘Oh yes.’ The boss said with a smirk.

‘We know they lie in the sewers for years,’ Twilight exclaimed. ‘But we don’t know where in the sewers their base lies. It’s such a complicated labyrinth of tunnels, we could be down there for days!’

‘You are right,’ Celestia nodded. ‘That’s where my little operation comes in. Octavia and Pinkie are going to run a little errand for me.’

‘Talk.’ Octavia commanded.

‘She is talking, silly.’ Pinkie chuckled.

‘I received a bit of intel from one of our scouts that Sombra himself has guided an arms representative from Yakyakistan for negotiation in the sewers. He will have some kind of coordinations or map to navigate his way to the base from above ground. You need to find a way to assassinate both him and potentially his bodyguard if he has one and steal these coordinates from him. Not only will this get us a location. It will cut off their weapon deals for the time being.’

‘Wouldn’t that put us on Sombra’s hit list?’ Spike muttered.

‘We’ve been on his hit list for five years. Besides, he’s handling a heist that my sister pulled off this morning, he’ll be too distracted to take after us.’ Celestia reassured.

‘What do we have to do then?’ Octavia pulled out a small notepad and began to scribble.

‘Well,’ Celestia began. ‘Pinkie, I need you to track this guys every steps, and hacking certain things on site to get him to where we want him to be. Meaning you’ll be in the field. Octavia, you’ve got to handle the blood.’

‘My speciality.’ The suited assassin smirked.

‘Hacking is not my game though.’ Pinkie shrugged.

‘You’re the best I have Pinkie, I don’t doubt you’ll do well out there.’ Celestia said with compassion. Pinkie smiled in response.

‘What about us, chief?’ Twilight asked.

‘Gilda needs to come with me to the Crystal Empire tomorrow, I’ll be doing trade negotiations there, away from the other Gangs, just to be safe.’

‘Holiday in the mountains, not too bad really.’ Gilda responded.

‘Twilight, Scootaloo and Spike, you simply hold the fort until I get back, which I imagine won’t be too much of a task anyway.’ Celestia announced.

‘You can count on us,’ Twilight replied.

‘I’m going to go and pack my bags for tomorrow's expedition, I suggest you do the same, Gilda.’

‘Aye aye.’ The bodyguard rolled her eyes.

‘And dress a little bit more formally, a suit perhaps?’ Celestia chuckled.

‘Sheesh, I haven’t worn a suit since Holy Communion.’

Rainbow Dash arrived back at her apartment to see a barrage of police investigating. Immediately a panic attack set upon her.

Whilst still in her car she whipped out her phone, and dialled the only person she could in a situation like this, Luna.

‘Rainbow, you’re not gonna like this.’ Luna said immediately after picking up.

‘Dude, some prick has just broke into my house! What’s going on?’

‘Chaos have kidnapped Sunset Shimmer. They’re holding her at ransom. I’m sorry.’

At that moment, all sounds, of police sirens, yelling, and cars were completely blocked out. Dash let out a single tear, before completely circoming to rage.

‘When I find that Sombra guy, he’s gonna have a head on a fucking spike.’

‘Come back to the base, please, we need to discuss plans.’

Rainbow Dash chuckled.

‘With. Fucking. Pleasure.’

And with that, she hung up the phone, and sped off into the sunset. Watching the nighttime totally encompassing the city of Canterlot.

The war had finally begun.

Author's Note

Almost 2 years later I finally update this bad boy. Tell me what you think!

Goodbye for now,
-TheOldRedHills :raritywink:

IV-Three Hundred and Thirty Four Feet

IV
Three Hundred and Thirty Four Feet

‘So, what went on here, Captain?’ Lieutenant Flash Sentry turned to his superior, the blinding lights of Police Cars swamping him in colours of red and blue.

‘Looks like it's another gang crime. This place appears to have been sub-rented out to none other than Tantabus’s second in command, Miss Rainbow Dash. We traced a few fingerprints.’

Captain Shining Armour was a force to be reckoned with. A detective who has seen it all. Ever since his sister, Twilight Sparkle, was absorbed into the Canterlot crime scene, he’s tried his best to arrest as many underground criminals as he could, hoping for there to eventually be a wake up call for Twilight. Unfortunately, despite a few irrelevant goons from each gang, this has been unsuccessful thus far.

Both he and his assistant Sentry were called to the scene three hours ago to investigate. However after multiple searches inside the house and out, and a few fingerprint tests later, they have come up fruitless.

‘Who originally rented the place out to her?’ Sentry questioned.

‘We’ll have to figure it out. I’m placing my bets onto Luna, she’s her boss after all, so it wouldn’t surprise me.’ Shining grumbled, and took a sip of his coffee, which he had just ordered in from a place across the street.

‘This has to be a lead, for something!’

‘Like what?!’ Shining Armour grunted. ‘What do you think we can do? I’ve been on this case for three years and nothing has lead to anywhere! They’re all snivelling fucking hooligans, the lot of them, but they run just fast enough, fast enough to dodge any of the police.’

Flash Sentry looked to the ground, and saw the smallest drop of blood stained on the concrete pavement. He dropped to his knees to investigate further. This caught Shining’s attention.

‘Have you found anything?’ The detective asked to his assistant.

‘Yep. Blood. Fresh, but dried. It’ll had to have been spilt around the time of the incident, there’s no other way.’

Is there any chance we can get this tested?’ He asked one of the CSI crew, who nodded, and proceeded to collect as much of a sample as he could.

‘Do you think your sister would be connected to this? You know, the one that’s a criminal?’ Sentry added. Shining Armour shot him the dirtiest look possible.

‘I’d rather hope not. If I know Twilight, I know that she handles analytics, she’d rarely go out to get her hands dirty.’

‘It must feel bad. That you may have to--’

‘What?! Arrest my own sister?! Yeah, I don’t need someone to fucking remind me. I’ve had enough of all that sympathy crap.’

‘My apologies,’ Flash Sentry took off his hat and brushed his hair with a comb. ‘It’s been a long night for everyone, the station is put under a lot of pressure lately to bring down crime rate. So far, we have jack squat for a lead.’

‘I’ll give the Princesses something,’ Shining Armour chucked to himself. ‘They sure are some clever fuckers.’

‘We’ll go and test this stuff back at the lab, feel free to join.’ Sentry said before walking away with the CSI crew.

‘Yeah, yeah. I will.’ Shining pulled out a cigarette, lit the end with a Zippo lighter, and took a long drag from it, puffing it out into a huge cloud that camouflaged into the night sky.

Rainbow Dash kicked open the door of Tantabus’s Hideaway, which startled all of it’s Elite Members who had gathered for a meeting.

‘So are you guys ready to dethrone a king?!’ She shouted menacingly at her comrades, no one really taking her on, except for Luna.

‘Dash, shut the fuck up and take a seat. Your attitude is not gonna help in decision making!’ The boss scolded her right hand man, standing up out of her seat in the process.

‘Oh pipe it,’ Dash sneered back, getting a gasp from everyone else in the room, Luna kept her poker face throughout. ‘If you were my friend you would understand how hurt I am right now!’

‘Well it’s a good thing I’m not your friend,’ Luna shot back, crippling Rainbow Dash and making her lost for words. ‘I am your boss.’

‘You’re not doing a good job at being a boss if one of your damn employees gets kidnapped! It was your idea that we heist the damn club in the first place, and for what? A few thousand bits?! You’re a pathetic leader!’ Dash screamed in retaliation one last time, and Luna’s straight face grew to one of pure hatred in that moment.

‘Grow up. You little brat. It’s all very well you have feelings, kid, but you have no reason whatsoever to say things like that. I didn’t kidnap her, did I? And I also didn’t know Sombra was going to go this far, you didn’t either. This affects all of us, especially me! I’ve gotta try and pull Sunset’s ass out the mud with the help of everyone else before her brains get blown out. Because this is my business, this is my reputation going on the line here. I trust that we’re clever enough. We’re strong. But this has taken us by surprise. And if you raise your voice towards me, your boss, one more time, don’t think I won’t be throwing your body bag down the river and getting the next girl I see who can hold a gun to stand beside me. Do I make myself perfectly clear, Rainbow Dash?’

Dash felt like she had been flattened and ridiculed, and had saw how far she’d gone.

‘Yes boss.’ She said ever so quietly, slumping into her chair.

After a lengthy silence, and allowing time for the awkward, tense atmosphere to linger in the air. Luna finally spoke up.

‘My apologies for that outburst, it was beneath me,’ She spoke, trying to calm herself down. She took off her blazer, placed it on the back of her chair, and sat down. ‘I’m sure you’ve heard the bad news by now. About 2 hours ago we received a photograph of our colleague, Sunset Shimmer, from an unknown source, tied up in what seems like Chaos’s hideaway.’

Luna looked to all of her elite members. First to Big Macintosh, her bodyguard, who had a stoic look on his face, then to Fluttershy, her medic, who was in floods of tears. Then back at Rainbow Dash, who looked down all the while.

‘As you can see, I haven’t invited Sweetie Belle to this meeting,’ Luna pointed to the empty chair between Fluttershy and Zekora. ‘I don’t doubt that she can sit and negotiate team decisions, but something like this is too much for any of us, and we've been in this business for years. She’s new, she’s young, and her sister is working for Sombra so that doesn't help matters.’

‘But boss,’ The usually quiet Big Macintosh raised a beastly paw and spoke slowly. ‘Both of my sister’s work for that bastard too. It’s broke my damn heart.’

‘I understand Big Mac, I’m sorry.’

‘Eenope, no need to be.’ Big Mac smirked and nodded.

‘Is she going to die, boss?’ Fluttershy whispered at a barely audible level, through a big heaping of tears.

‘I’ve had to face death a lot of times in my career,’ Luna said with a heavy heart. ‘But don’t think for a second we aren’t gonna pool our resources and get Sunset Shimmer back. For Dash's sake. For my sake. For everyone's sake.’

‘Problem is,’ Dash spoke up for the first time in a while. ‘Have they not said when or where they aim to actually kill her?’ Surely they would say that on a ransom note.’

‘Nope. But my guess is any time within the next forty eight hours. We will need to gather intel to find out when.’

‘I’m not saying this to be funny, but can’t we just give them back their money?’ Zekora asked in one of her cryptic messages.

‘Nah,’ Dash snarled. ‘If we want to show Harmony and Chaos that we aren’t shitting around, we get her back our way.’

‘I agree with Dash here,’ Luna winked her way. ‘We’re a solid team. And I know how to get her back. But we’re gonna have to send our spy into uncharted territory.’

‘Who? Sweetie Belle?’ Fluttershy asked with a whimper.

‘Yeah, correct. I’d want her to break into her sister’s business, where Sombra launders his drug money, when she’s not around, and try to find some sort of written negotiation. Zekora, stick a camera on her and record her every move, just because we can’t take anything without coming across as sketchy.’

‘You can count on me, no doubt we will set her free.’ Zekora nodded.

‘What day would you want to do this?’ Dash asked with uncertainty.

‘Well, tomorrow’s a Sunday, meaning Carousel Boutique won’t be open,’ Luna pondered for a moment. ‘I say we go just before sunrise, say, six o’clock?’

‘That means you have seven hours at most to convince a sixteen year old girl to break into her sisters business…’ Rainbow Dash raised a reluctant eyebrow. Luna rolled her eyes.

‘She’ll be in her room upstairs, I’ll have a word with her now, I'm not going to give her specifics, but enough to convince her I imagine,’ Luna stood up, meaning that the meeting had come to an end. ‘I know times look bleak, but believe me, we’ll get Sunset Shimmer back.’

Luna cracked a genuine smile at Rainbow Dash. She, after letting it sink in for a moment, smiled back.

Apple Bloom had taken three buses and walked for twenty minutes until she reached the top of a hillside on the Eastern outskirts of Canterlot. The hills and trails, whilst very narrow and scary at night time, provided gorgeous views of the city’s bustling evening nightlife. Apple Bloom stopped at the very summit of the hill, where she stood before a chain link fence. Barbed wire was strung up at the top, meaning no one could get over it. Fortunately, considering how often she takes this root, Apple crawled through the pre-dug hole in the ground, squeezing her way through it.

Finally, after a treacherous journey, she had reached her destination. A crappy little trailer out in the middle of nowhere. Apple Bloom ran up to the door and knocked on it. She could see a silhouette moving in the small compartment, and the door slowly crept open. There stood Apple Bloom’s older sister, Applejack.

Raised in the country, Applejack was the toughest mercenary and assassin situated in Equestria, without a shadow of a doubt. Her kill count exceeded the hundreds, from many years of gang shootouts to hired assassinations, to simply stabbing someone in the eardrums based on their music taste, if there’s a way, she’s done it. Her signature weapon was a double-barrel shotgun she had named Winona. Which never really left her side and had been the cause for about three quarters of Applejack’s kills. Despite this, she was a loving, committed and friendly young woman.

‘Howdy, sis,’ She ruffled up Apple Bloom’s hair with a warm smile. ‘What’s brought you to this part of town at this time?’

‘Well, Applejack, it’s the boss. He wants you to help sort out this hostage situation going on.’ Apple Bloom said with a twinge of doubt in her voice.

‘Dang, I’m in the middle of some business myself,’ Applejack raised her arms and showed she was wearing a rubber glove on her left hand (the other was removed so she could greet her sister) ‘So I could only make my way down there tomorrow morning.’

‘I mean,’ Apple Bloom hesitated. ‘That shouldn’t be too much of a problem. We aren’t in any kind of a rush I don’t imagine.’

‘Would ya mind telling me who I’d be doing the honour of slaughtering, sis?’

‘Do ya know Tantabus’s assassin?’

Applejack’s eyes grew wider with some kind of horrific excitement.

‘Ya mean Sunset Shimmer?’

Apple Bloom nodded.

‘Well golly, I didn’t think I’d have to take out one of Luna’s dykes. If it were Rainbow Dash, I know the little muffin muncher would squirm too much, be too violent. But her girlfriend, well she’s a different story.’

‘Sis?’ Apple Bloom changed the subject.

‘Yeah?’ Her sister responded.

‘Why do you have the gloves on?’

Applejack waited for a few moments, before responding with a grin on her face.

‘Basically, I’ve become friends with this big time gambler from Las Pegasus, she’s this really mega rich gal. Anyway, I challenged her to a poker game last night and she bet on her cleaning all my dishes since I didn’t have any cash on me. And I won. I’m wearing the gloves so that I can help dry the dishes and stack them up neatly and all like that, y’see?’

‘Golly, Applejack, could I go and speak to her? If she’s really that rich, I mean?’ Apple Bloom’s curiosity peaked as she tried to look over her sister into her trailer, but to no avail.

‘I would and all, but she’s really in the cleaning flow and such. Where are y’all staying tonight?’

‘I’m gonna stay in one of Sombra’s outhouses, he gave me the keys before I left. He said it wasn’t too far from here I don’t think.’

Well, that’s handy,’ Applejack chuckled her sister, giving her a huge hug. ‘I’ll see you at sunrise tomorrow, is that alright?’

‘Sure can do! G’bye sis!’ Apple Bloom began to run off into the dead of the night.

‘See ya later!’ Applejack called out to her.

After about half a minute of staring out into the forest, Applejack turned and walked back in. In the middle of her kitchen, lay a massive plastic industrial barrel, filled to the brim with Sulphuric Acid . The substance had turned a sickly pink mixture due to a twenty minute period of breaking down fat, bone and tissue.

‘God, you were shit at poker,’ Applejack said apathetically to the barrel. ‘And yer only went and got my shower curtains covered with blood too!’

She looked onward at the dirty, acid-y liquid remains of what was once human for a moment, then turned around and turned on her TV, lying on her sofa and kicking her feet up onto it.

Sweetie Belle was grumpy, tired, and a little bit scared, and didn’t particularly want to do this mission for many reasons. But alas, the time was six o’clock in the morning, the beginnings of sunrise were just around the corner, and she was stood in front of her older sister Rarity’s business, Carousel Boutique.

On the lookout, by orders of Luna, was Big Macintosh, who was a strong protector for the teenage girl, packing a Glock in his back pocket in case things got a little rough. He stood across the street observing Sweetie Belle from afar.

‘So what am I looking for again?’ Sweetie Belle tapped the earpiece and grumbled towards Zekora on the other line.

‘The one thing you need, my dear Sweetie Belle, is some pieces of Chaos’s intel,’ Zekora responded from the hideaway. ‘Look for any dates or times, that relate towards the crime.’

‘Alrighty, if you say so.’

Sweetie Belle was very small, she had hardly developed yet as a teenager, but this was an advantage of keeping herself agile and hidden. She pulled out a wire hair clip from her hair, and a small flat iron bar from her inside coat pocket, and began to pick the lock. With a bit of twisting and turning, she got it open.

As the door creaked open slowly, Sweetie pulled the night vision goggles she had on her head over her eyes, allowing her to see clearly in the pitch blackness of the store. As she took her step inside, she heard a ticking sound.

‘I’m turning off this timer mode,’ Zekora panicked, trying her best to hack into the system, but it was no use. ‘Any chance you know the four digit code?’

‘If I know Rarity,’ Sweetie Belle said nonchalantly, walking up to the keypad as the ticking persisted. ‘Then it would be our Mom’s birthday, which is October twenty-ninth.’

She typed into the keypad the number 1029, and after a few seconds of anticipation, the ticking stopped.

‘You and Rarity being related, has stopped you from being berated.’ Zekora reassured, and Sweetie Belle smiled. ‘Now that you’ve stopped that awful sound, is there anything in here to be found?’

‘I’ll have a look around.’ Sweetie replied, looking around with her night goggles.

She started by looking into the filing cabinets, but apart from several documented illegal bank transfers, there was nothing of necessity be uncover. Sweetie Belle looked some more.

At the bottom of one of the drawers beneath a sewing machine she found just what she was looking for, Rarity’s work phone.

She must have left it by accident after her last shift here, Sweetie Belle thought.

Accessing the phone and finding a text from Discord wasn’t actually that difficult after all. From six hours ago, it said.

‘DISCORD 00:32

Tuesday. 5pm. Mark your calendar. The boss wants everyone there to witness the event.’

‘Nice going, just keep that there,’ Zekora commanded with a smile on her face. She took a screenshot and saved it onto a hard drive. ‘With Luna that will I share. Reset the timer and lock the door, otherwise we will be caught for sure.’

‘Alrighty, Sweetie Belle over and out.’ This was the teenagers first mission since being accepted to join Tantabus, and it had gone so well.

She reset the password, and left quickly enough so that it didn’t go off again, she locked the door, and then ran across the street, where Big Macintosh gave her a celebratory high five.

‘So, time for our first mission in years, bucko!’

‘Don’t call me “bucko”, for God’s sake.’

After using radio frequencies, CCTV cameras and satellite signals, Pinkie Pie used conversations between representatives from Yakyakistan to find where found the exact manhole cover they were expecting to enter, and what time as well. That time being 12:15pm. It was 11:45am and the duo sent out by Celestia pulled up outside a tall apartment block, right in the heart of Sombra’s territory.

‘This is going to be somewhat impressive if I pull this off.’ Octavia stated with only the smallest amount of worry. She was carrying a suitcase in one hand and a collapsible stool in the other.

‘That means this is gonna be a hard mission…’ Pinkie responded. She definitely was panicking under the surface.

After climbing up ten flights of stairs, they reached the roof of the apartment complex, and looked over the vast skyline of Canterlot from above it. Pinkie, whilst a little out of breath by the obstacle of the stairs, was blown away at the sights.

‘Wowee! What a cool place, Tavi!’ She yelped.

‘Keep your voice down, they may spot us from up here,’ Octavia hushed Pinkie. ‘But yes, it is pretty cool.’

Octavia was an expert with a Sniper Rifle, and this situation allowed perfect use of such a weapon. She set up her collapsible stool at the very edge of the building. Then she took off her fitted blazer and neatly placed it to her side, unbuttoned her cuffs and rolled up her sleeves past the elbows. After this, she opened up her suitcase, which contained all of the parts to her Sniper perfectly organised. With a hasty, yet honed expertise, she began to construct the powerful weapon.

Pinkie Pie was using a small little contraption she had created using parts of an old radio, a TV antenna, a car battery and a plastic toy race car controller. With this, she could hack into and isolate security signals, hence how she listened into the traders conversations, by intercepting the security signals that the bodyguard had attached to his radio. Using a large set of headphones, she listened in carefully whilst Octavia set up her station.

Once she had finished constructing her weapon of choice, Octavia pulled out a notepad and began to scribble all sorts of algebraic equations onto it. Pinkie Pie watched in astonishment. After she was done, Octavia put the notepad on the ledge, next to her Rifle.

‘So, Pinkie,’ Octavia began to explain. ‘Since we have time, and to calm my nerves to a degree, I’m going to tell you why this is going to be a pretty tricky shot.’

‘You have my attention, and it better be stupidly absurd.’

‘Well, this is a bolt action Sniper Rifle, not a semi-automatic one. This means that I have a longer period of time between shots as I have to load in each bullet individually.’

‘Well, why didn’t you pack a semi-automatic one, silly?’ Pinkie contested in a sarcastic manner.

‘Not as precise and the range isn’t as far,’ Octavia justified. ‘Those notes you saw me constructing were essentially how far this bullet needs to travel. This building is ten stories high, and using estimations of where I think the manhole cover is to the foot of the building, I predict that this bullet needs to travel three thousand and thirty four feet before meeting the head of our little target. Considering this sniper fires bullets at three thousand and forty feet per second. That means it would take just under a second to hit his head. That second is so vital, as no matter how much dedication you put in, it can all fail in that single moment. I have to fire two bullets in quick succession, the first at the representative and the second at his bodyguard. I also need to take wind into account, as it it relatively overcast and windy today.’

‘That’s a lot of big words, Octavia,’ Pinkie sat there, completely dumbfounded. ‘Could you tell me again?’

‘Basically,’ Octavia rolled her eyes. ‘The chances of a misfire are high, if I misfire we’re royally fucked.’

‘Aaaahhh, gotcha!’ Pinkie gave a wide grin in response.

There was a silence as Octavia aimed to calm herself by taking deep breaths. Pinkie, feeling the need to reassure her, asked her:

‘So, how’s the missus?’

‘I’d rather not talk about my personal life when I’m on the job.’ Octavia said professionally.

‘You and Vinyl are still together, right?’ Pinkie queried, ignoring Octavia’s entire previous statement. All the suited girl could do was sigh.

‘Yes, we are,’ Octavia quelled Pinkie’s fears. ‘We’ll be celebrating seven years of us dating next month.’

‘Awwwww,’ Pinkie squealed. ‘You guys are so cute together!’

‘You’ve never even met my girlfriend.’ Octavia scoffed, she then realised where she was and began to panic a little bit more than earlier.

‘Time?’ she asked with uncertainty.

‘Ten past twelve.’ Pinkie checked her phone clock.

‘I have time.’ Octavia said in a cool wave of calmness.

The assassin pulled out the final piece of equipment she needed from the suitcase, and that was her suppressor.

‘I didn’t want to cause any kind of commotion for the public, you see.’ Octavia grinned.

‘Awww, look at her, she’s so considerate!’ Pinkie cheered, to which her partner just tittered.

She screwed it onto the of her Sniper with precision. After this, she pulled out a packet of vogues and placed one into her mouth. She struck a match, lit the end of the slim cigarette, took a drag from it, and placed it onto the ledge. She then picked up her Sniper Rifle and gripped the handle.

‘Time?’ Octavia repeated.

‘Fourteen past twelve.’ Pinkie accounted.

‘Perfect.’ Octavia took a deep breath and looked through the scope of her trusty Rifle. Pinkie, for the first time that day, remained perfectly silent.

Octavia saw two men in business suits walking towards the designated manhole. One man had an earpiece, meaning that he must be the other man’s security. She waited a moment, whilst they looked at the manhole. The security guard handed the trader a crowbar, and managed to start lifting the heavy metal plate from off the ground. The manhole cover had been removed entirely and that meant Octavia had to strike now.

Taking a deep breath and focusing her mind she shot. Due to the suppressor, only a hiss came out of the mighty weapon. With a smoothness about her, the Assassin loaded another bullet using the bolt and immediately shot again.

Looking through her scope, she saw the representative go limp as he fell into the sewer. The security guard began to panic, but could not comprehend for long, as he too was shot in the head and went limp. Both targets had been killed in the back alley.

Octavia placed the cigarette into her mouth as she began to dismantle the weapon. She turned towards Pinkie Pie.

‘Go.’

Pinkie, in a fit of adrenaline, leapt to her feet and ran.

Despite her somewhat puffy size, Pinkie’s stamina and speed was unmatched due to her constant state of hyperactivity she was in. And even though she had to run down the ten flights of stairs she had previously climbed, and run an additional few hundred feet when at ground level, it only took her just under three minutes to run to the crime scene.

After climbing down the handful of rungs of a ladder leading down to the corpse, and trying her best to block out the awful smell of raw sewage, Pinkie checked the pockets of the trader. She found the coordinates hastily scribbled down on a piece of paper, she put that in her cleavage. Pinkie Pie also treated herself to the money that was in the recently deceased man’s back pocket, meaning it was a victory on multiple accounts.

She met Octavia where they had began, at the foot of the apartment block.

‘Did we get what we came for?’ Octavia asked nervously.

‘Yepperoni!’ Pinkie confirmed, putting her partners mind at rest.

‘Once we’re back at my car,’ Octavia began to walk off, Pinkie following behind. ‘I say we treat ourselves to ice cream, in Celestia’s territory, of course. Since I think that was a job well done, from both of us.’

‘You had me at car.’

‘But-- ah nevermind.’ Octavia chuckled.

Just as Applejack had promised, she had met up with her sister, Apple Bloom, at sunrise and made their way into the sewers for early afternoon after gathering everything she needed and making the long journey into Chaos’s hideaway. She carried a rather weighty gym bag on her shoulder that slowed her usual fast speed a little.

‘Howdy, y’all,’ Applejack welcomed herself in casually. ‘Shall we get into the activities straight away or?’

‘AJ,’ Sombra shook the mercenary’s hand. ‘A pleasure as always. You’re gonna be doing a little video for Luna and the rest of Tantabus, would that be alright? I’m sure that Apple Bloom has given you some necessary details.’

‘Well gee! I didn’t expect to be performing to THE PRINCESS Luna!’ She said in a tone that was too excited to be perceived as sarcasm. ‘Say, where’s our little target?’

Sombra pointed to the corner of the chamber, where Sunset had remained this whole time, unable to move.

‘Hey there, sugarcube,’ Applejack sat on the girls lap, who was too tired to try and push her off. ‘We’re gonna do things a little rough, but it’ll all be for a great show, don’t ya think?’

Sunset only let out a muffled grunt.

‘One thing, boss,’ Applejack turned to Sombra. ‘May I have a word with you in private?’

‘Of course.’ Sombra and Applejack went just outside the chamber to one of the pipe tunnels outside.

‘Lookee here,’ Applejack started off. ‘I can be as vicious as y’all want me to, but I can’t do this in front of Apple Bloom. I’d rather she don’t see it. Get someone to take her on a walk or something, anything. I don’t mind, as long as she’s not in the room.’

‘As you wish,’ The suddenly polite Sombra agreed. He then turned around to his engineer. ‘Rarity, here’s twenty bits. I want you to treat Apple Bloom and yourself to anything she wants. As long as you’re gone for the next hour or so.’

‘Yes boss.’ Rarity gratefully accepted the money, and took Apple Bloom out of the chamber.

‘Now that my cameraman is gone, Discord will record this for me.’ Sombra announced, handing a small camcorder to his right hand man.

‘I would be a pleasure, Captain.’ Discord bowed and began to record, focusing in on Applejack and her bound victim.

Applejack turned to the camera with a welcoming smile.

‘Hey there Luna, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of Tantabus. How are y’all doin’? You don’t need to know who I am if ya don’t already, but you sure will know who our special guest is!’

Discord turned the camera to Sunset, who was trying to scream something along the lines of ‘Help me!’ but due to the duct tape, no such sound could be formed. Applejack then proceeded to unzip her gym bag, disclosing the multitude of weapons and other instruments of torture inside.

‘So, today our patient is going to go through a little procedure today,’ Applejack narrated as she pulled out a single brass knuckle. ‘She’s gonna need to be sedated, but lack of laughing gas makes things difficult.’

Applejack slotted the brass knuckle over the right hand, and without warning punched Sunset Shimmer right across the face, snapping her nose with a violent crunch and knocking her out cold.

‘This is just so she don’t squirm or bite as I get her ready.’ The assassin winked as she pulled out her second item, an old industrial headpiece, which she began to clamp to Sunset Shimmer’s jaw after removing the tape from around her mouth. Using a metal lever she forced sunsets mouth open horrendously wide, with no means of closing due to powerful metal locks keeping it in place.

Sunset Shimmer came to, realised what situation she was in and started to scream violently. Applejack pulled out a rusted pair of pliers and immediately went into her mouth, picking one of her molars at the back of her mouth, then proceeding to rip out the tooth. This period took an excruciatingly long time, but Sombra was loving the show the whole time, unable to wipe the malicious grin from off his face. Sunset screamed until her voice went hoarse, and tears ran down like violent rivers from her eyes.

With different violent tugging and twisting gestures, Applejack was finally able to rip out the mighty tooth with a ripping gesture that would make anyone wince. Blood from Sunsets mouth and nose began to pool on the floor, and the poor girl felt delirious due to the amount of pain she was in.

‘Now that, was a magical moment.’ Applejack shoved the bloody tooth in front of the camera, then placing it in a metal dish which was in her gym bag.

‘How’s about we tune in to see what our patient has to say.’ Applejack removed the contraption from Sunset’s jaw. Immediately Sunset began cursing with what little energy she has left.

‘You inbred backwards retard! You’ll be losing a hell of a lot more than teeth when I get out of this.’

Applejack began to chuckle, before reaching one more time into her bag, to pull out a Desert Eagle that glistened in the sewer’s artificial lighting. She shot and took a direct hit at Sunset Shimmer’s right kneecap, shattering it in the process. The intensity in the gunshot echoed throughout the chamber for several seconds before dying and replacing with Sunset Shimmer’s cries of desperation.

The screaming and crying of genuine pain was greater than ever before. Sunsets screams of agony remained uninterrupted for a solid two minutes before she passed out again, no doubt because of the immense pain she was in. Discord then focused the camera onto Applejack.

‘It’s a shame she ain’t gonna be able to walk for the time being, so she can't do much,’ Applejack jeered whilst looking at the camera. ‘Luna, you waited too long, and this happens. You have until 5pm on Tuesday to give us the cash. In full. No bullshitting. Otherwise a bullet will be going through the back of her skull. You have been warned.’

Discord stopped the recording there, and placed a fresh set of tape over the hostage’s mouth. Applejack pulled out a towel from her gym bag and began wiping off the excess of blood on her exposed arms and leg areas. Sombra’s smile was just as wide as ever, slapping Applejack on the back, winding her a little.

‘This will give them the message we want to send them. My condolences,’ Sombra congratulated whilst handing his henchman a large wad of cash. ‘You’ll be paid more if and when you carry out the hit.’

‘Cheers, boss!’ Applejack nodded her head and slipped the cash into her back pocket.

‘That was a work of art, I must say.’ Discord chuckled, watching the video back.

‘Rarity will get that video sent off to Tantabus by this evening,’ Sombra reassured his elite members. ‘Speaking of which, I think we should join your sister at wherever they’ve gotten up to, don’t you think?’

‘A milkshake is definitely what I need right now!’ Applejack laughed as the three walked out of the chamber, leaving Sunset Shimmer alone.

As the poor girl came to, she began to scream as much as she could, out of desperation, pain and anguish.

But as they echoed throughout the sewers, even she knew that no one would be coming for her.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t.

Luna wasn’t.

Tantabus wasn’t.

And upon this realisation, Sunset began to cry. Listening only to the sound of intense silence as tears dripped off her face, mixing into the bloody puddles at her feet.

The silence truly was terrifying.

V-Reckless Spending

V
Reckless Spending

Gilda did not like the Crystal Empire one bit.

Considering she grew up in poverty, the poor girl has never really had to travel outside of Canterlot at all. However, due to her role as Celestia’s Bodyguard, she couldn’t not pass up an opportunity to experience a journey across the country. The mountains surely wouldn’t be that cold, she thought. She thought wrong.

The Crystal Empire is so freezing cold that two percent of its population die every year due to frostbite or hypothermia. Every single house, by local law, had to have heating that could stay active all year round, as the summers were not particularly warm, and the winters were brutally cold.

Gilda was wearing a second hand suit she bought on request from Celestia, six hours before they expected to leave. But with no huge winter overcoat on top, the thin blazer and shirt did nothing to protect her from the arctic level temperatures. Her usual tough girl persona was fractured by her teeth chattering constantly, and her arms wrapped around her sides to try and conserve some kind of heat.

Celestia was dressed far more appropriately, with a long trench coat sweeping her knees over the top of her off-white suit. She routinely checked her wristwatch on her left arm. The two were standing in front of what seemed to be a huge abandoned steel fortress of some kind, the icy doors sealed shut. The time was 16:28, eight minutes after the agreed meet up time, and Celestia was not happy.

“They have two more minutes before I go in there and shoot them all," the boss said through gritted teeth. “I didn’t pay them three million bits to fuck me around.”

“What is taking them so long?” Gilda asked in response, hunched in order to conserve heat.

“No excuse they throw my way will justify. What have I told you in the past when it comes to trade deals, Gilda?”

“Always be on time?”

“Correct, because if you’re not on time, you’re putting yourself on the firing line. Let’s just say I’m being kind to these rodents right now. This is just a very clear mark of their unprofessionalism and I am vexed.”

“Wow,” Gilda choked. “That’s a lot of big words.”

“It comes with an education like mine.”

“Show off.”

Celestia sniffed quite aggressively in response to Gilda’s comment. She checked her watch again.

“One minute.”

“You gotta be kind to these guys, surely,” Gilda suggested. “I mean, what if we end up sparking a huge war across the country with these guys?”

“Eh,” Celestia shrugged. “Sombra and Luna are taking up far too much of my time at the moment, but if it all clears up like I expect it to, I could open up a branch in The Crystal Empire selling hearts. It is the third largest city in Equestria. Be good for money. Thirty seconds.”

“Do you want me to get my gun out?” Gilda said with a quiver.

“Why are you so nervous? You love a good shoot out, do you not?” Celestia asked, snickering.

“I don’t know, I haven’t fired a gun in a while. Plus they’re gonna have lots of weapons and shit, could blow us up if they wanted.”

“Look, follow my lead. And yes, have your gun ready, but hidden.” Celestia smirked.

“Oh dear,” Gilda pulled out her glock, loaded it, turned off the safety and placed it in the waistline of her trousers.

“Okay. I’m ready,” Gilda continued in a slight anticipation. “I’m hella ready now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Let’s not be too rash. Let me speak first,” Celestia shushed. “Also, they are well over thirty seconds by now.”

Suddenly the old steel door in front of the women creaked open with a lot of give. Emerging from behind it was a skinny teen boy with greasy black hair, waddling out rather pathetically. Celestia rolled her eyes.

“What a joke,” she scoffed. “What took you so long?”

“We’re really sorry!” The boy spoke up, almost speaking as if a child to his own mother.

“And really, a child of your age is all they send to me? Where’s Chrysalis?”

“Did you not hear?”

“Hear what?”

“She died in a shootout with the local police last month.”

“Oh shit.” Gilda muttered under her breath.

“What a shame,” Celestia hung her head for a moment. “She was a good friend and confidant. May she rest in peace.”

“Yeah, we don’t have no leader anymore," the boy sniffled. “So we’re just selling on what we’ve got and disbanding.”

“Understandable. Nobody I know this far north was as decent a leader as Chrysalis. I can tell it’s ruined your timekeeping skills.” Celestia muttered.

“We’re sorry about that. Please, come in.”

“Lead the way, follow the Changeling, Gilda.”

Gilda gulped and stepped forward, following the adolescent into the complex, Celestia following a step behind.

The bunker from the inside was impressive, but accompanied the freezing climate of the Crystal Empire. Frost caked the industrial green steel, showing the inside was no warmer than that of the outside. Perhaps the place was used as a barracks, or bunker, or warehouse once, but those days are long gone. What remains in it now are many scared soldiers, the eldest no older than fifteen, running around like mice in a scurry. Celestria scoffed, but continued ahead, knowing there was a great treasure to be found in these vaults. Gilda followed alongside, sucking up to the cold and keeping an eagle eye out, her hand staying close to her pistol, which nestled in her waistband.

The small passage gave way to a stunning, haunted, factory-like hall. At one point bustling with many activities from Chrysalis and the Changelings, now a pathetic, hollow, whimper of those glory days only a few months ago. In the centre of the echoing place, a large pile, hastily covered up with a burlap material. The boy at the door struggled, but eventually lifted this sheet off, showing what Celestia had come for.

Weapons, from the humble Colt to the extravagant AK47, stood like a large pyramid in the centre. Surrounding was technology that made Gilda’s head itch. What on earth does all of this do, she thought. Celestia herself didn’t know the purpose of every piece of equipment she had claimed, but she didn’t care. That was for Pinkie to decipher. She did know, however, that this was a prize that would make Sombra and Luna cower, and that’s all that mattered.

“There’s fewer guns here than what was advertised.” Celestia huffed.

“We sold them to some local buyers. We had to. We’d have starved otherwise.” The boy at the door mumbled. Celestia understood. She wasn’t happy, but she sympathised.

“Thank you, boys,” Celestia announced to the collection of dispersed children, scattered around the room. “You have done Harmony a great service. Chrysalis would be proud.” She turned around and saw the large shutter, practically frozen shut. “I’m going to need this open. We’ll back our truck into here and have these off your hands in no time.”

“Yeah… about that…” The boy piped up, a little more confident than before.

“What’s the issue, punk?” Gilda retorted, getting a raised hand from Celestia to step down.

“Three million isn’t going to cut it. You’re taking the rest of our supply, and we have brothers and sisters to care for. We don’t got no mother anymore, so all of us need enough to get by. An extra two million will be enough.”

Celestia would have laughed, she really could have. But she was sick of their games.

“I wired you three million directly. I don’t have the extra two million in cash,” She said, almost apathetically. “You’re being greedy. You’re lucky you got three, don’t push your luck.”

“Then the deal is off.” The boy was really confident now, it made Celestia sick, and Gilda confused.

“You’re a child. You’re all children! You don’t need five million between you!” Celestia clicked her fingers, Gilda readied her gun from inside her waistband.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Another boy, standing on a higher level, called down.

“Do you realise who you’re messing with?” Gilda blurted out.

“Gilda, be quiet. You’re going to get us both killed.” Celestia turned to her bodyguard and spoke sharply.

“I think they decided that before we came in here.” Gilda said through gritted teeth.

“CHANGELINGS!” The first boy squealed. In a rather sloppy manner, the teens pulled out a respectable arsenal of guns themselves, all pointed at the two women in the centre of the room. You could tell their time without a leader didn’t make them as sophisticated as they once were, but that didn’t deter them.

“Hold your fire!” Celestia commanded. “She’s right. I am the leader of the most powerful criminal organisation in Equestria. If you kill me, hellfire will rain down on you before you can even say ‘We did it.’ We will be taking what we came for now, and nobody is going to get killed.”

“You’re a powerful leader, alright,” The boy chirped up, clearly showing his true demeanour behind his meek facade. “Having you killed will put us back on the map. Nobody will mess with the Changelings!”

“Chrysalis was a friend. Would she be proud of what you’re doing now?”

“We don’t need a mother anymore! We will make a name for ourselves, or die trying.”

“Then die trying you will.” Celestia, in one swift motion, pulls out her trusty Desert Eagle from her holster, aimed and fired in a matter of seconds, catching the boy in between the eyeballs. He dropped down, dead.

Silence filled the room, if just for a few seconds, the Changelings were shocked and taken aback, but knew what they had to do. Celestia turned to Gilda and uttered one word.

“Run.”

They dived out of the way as a barrage of bullets fired where they once stood. Taking refuge behind an old Jeep, Gilda readied her gun. It was cold in her hand, but comfortable. She stood up, and shot down three shooters with relative ease before taking cover again. She looked to the other side of the room, where she saw her boss, calm and collected, more disgruntled than worried, huddled behind a pile of tires.

“Kill them all.” Celestia said coldly.

“Roger that.” Gilda responded. Gilda took a count of the room when they entered. Math was never her forte, but she knew that there were twelve when they went in, and four were down. Eight left.

She stood up and fired again. Only taking out one before narrowing avoiding a bullet from an assault rifle. It made her heart race, which was a good thing. Celestia took down three more on her turn. Four left.

Gilda stood up again, took a shot, but no bullet came out. Shit. She did, however, see a boy not too far from her struggling to reload an M16 that was too heavy for him to carry. This was her chance.

She ran, as fast as her stocky legs could take her, and tackled the boy to the ground, busted his nose, and leant over to grab a weapon from the pile. Her weapon of choice: the Uzi. She simply only fired a couple of shots at point blank and that was enough. The remaining three heard the shots, turned their direction away from Celestia, and towards her bodyguard. Panic filled Gilda’s body. Celestia took this opportunity, and swiftly shot two from high above.

The last target, who appeared to be the youngest, dropped his weapon. He knew he was done. He put his hands up and instantly burst into tears.

“I surrender! I’m sorry! Please don’t kill me!” He wailed.

Gilda stared at the boy, tears streaming down his face. She should let him go, she thought. But a final gunshot was heard, and she could no longer make that decision. The small boy collapsed like a rag doll, and the room fell silent. Gilda looked at Celestia, who’s eyes were fixated on the corpse, her barrel smoking from that final shot. Gilda then looked around the room, and it had dawned on her how horrific this scene was. This was the worst shootout she had been in for years, with mere adolescents, no less.

“They were just children!” Gilda screamed. She never cried. Why was she crying now?

“It doesn’t matter who they were,” Celestia was stoic, she really didn’t care. “We did what we had to do.”

“Fuck me, man. Fuck me!” Gilda got up from the corpse of her own doing, shaking. Celestia didn’t have time to mourn. She had a job to do.

“Back the truck up in here. I will find a way to open this shutter.”

“Can’t I just have a minute to–”

“No. The police will be here in no time.”

“But they were just kids…”

“GILDA! We have to go! We have been here too long. And there’s too much blood on our hands, we can’t take our time.”

Gilda took a breath. As cruel as it was, she was right. She stood up and simply left, barely making a sound.

It took them a mere twenty minutes to load up the truck with everything, and an extra ten to loot the bodies of the dead. No doubt taking the guns that, to any sane person's guess, were not ‘sold to local buyers’. And like that, they were gone. It was a six hour drive back to Canterlot, and Gilda couldn’t stop thinking of that young child's cold, dead eyes, the whole way there.

“They did what?!”

“Well, I don’t know it was them! I don’t even know how they could’ve got in.”

“Well, they did. And the fact you left your goddamn phone out gave them all the intel they needed!”

Sombra paced up and down the shop floor at Carousel Boutique, like a lion stalking his prey, Rarity, who was haggard and weary of so much going awry in the last 48 hours. From any normal passerby, the store looked no different than it had done any other day. But Rarity knew. The alarms had almost gone off, she got it from the report her security system had provided her. But set off on a Sunday morning, and then quickly shut off. Something was wrong. Leaving her phone in the Boutique over the weekend was what. All that connected up. And Sombra wasn’t exactly cheery about it.

“I am tired, boss. I am tired. I am doing my best.” Rarity mumbled, her puffy eyes splattered with mascara.

“Your best isn’t good enough. You don’t have time to be tired. I need you sharp, or I will find someone that will.” Sombra growled.

“I understand.” She nodded.

“They gathered intel almost twenty-four hours before I intended for them to. They could’ve spent that time doing God knows what.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry won’t cut it.”

“But I mean it, Sombra.”

“This is strike two. In less than 24 hours. The fact that you’re fucking up is not something I can have on my team, especially not from an Elite Member.” Sombra was like a ticking time bomb. Clearly Rarity was not the only one that was tired.

“Then it won’t happen again.” Rarity promised.

“I have something else to deal with. My contact from Yakyakistan has been compromised. I don’t know who caused that yet, but we are a prime target right now.”

“Understood.”

“Strengthen the defences to the base. To the Boutique. To anywhere that has my name on it. Make things right and then maybe I’ll forgive you. Understood?” Sombra bartered.

“Yes sir.” Rarity replied. Sombra barged out of the front door. Rarity continued to cry.

A package was delivered in the morning to the Tantabus headquarters, slipped into the bag of a local goon passing by. They didn’t know how they got it, but they swiftly delivered it to Luna. Inside it was a USB stick. Inside of that was hard to stomach.

Luna watched it in private. Not even Rainbow Dash was allowed to view it. Upon finishing the viewing, Luna called an emergency meeting, and the Elite Members had gathered in less than twenty minutes.

“What I’m going to tell you all isn’t going to be easy.” Luna began, almost mournfully. “I received a video from Chaos this morning. The contents were, for lack of a better word, horrifying. The two things to note are that Sunset Shimmer isn’t safe, and that Applejack has been hired by Sombra.”

Some gasps were heard at the table, none louder than Big Macintosh.

“Mah sister is… well, she ain’t my sister no more. But she’s a monster. I can’t even begin to imagine what she’d done…”

“She tortured her,” Luna spoke frankly. “It… it made me upset. Angry. The only piece of good news is that, fortunately, in the video, Applejack confirms some information we had gathered thanks to Sweetie Belle. So we know that if we don’t give into their demands, Sunset will die in thirty one hours.”

The room was silent. Not a sound was heard. Rainbow, who sat opposite Luna, was in complete disbelief, she had no energy to quarrel, she was simply empty.

“Can I see the video?” Rainbow asked, meekly.

“The video is strictly off limits. No one is allowed to view it. Not even you, Dash.” Luna let her down easy.

“What are we gonna do, boss?” Big Mac asked, a bit sharper than he usually would.

“I have a plan, it’s going to involve all of you. So listen up,” Luna laid down a document on the table, with thorough details of everyone’s jobs. At the top of the document, in bold letters: ‘OPERATION: SUNRISE’. Luna continued:

“I will arrive at the southwest entrance to Chaos’ base at 4:30. Big Mac, you will join me. I will have with me a briefcase that will contain a bomb that will activate upon opening, Zekora, get on that.”

“Don’t you worry, it’ll be done in a hurry.” Zekora quipped back.

“Sombra will no doubt open the case in front of us, and will be injured, if not eliminated. Mac and I will take cover and try to escape. If we have to get our hands dirty, so be it. All attention will be on us, so take advantage of the time we have. Zekora and Dash, you will enter the central north entrance into the sewers, and using heat signals, you find your way to where Sunset is hiding. I will arm you both to the gills, and you will get Sunset out alive before they notice.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Fluttershy, you and Sweetie Belle will be on standby. You will tend to Sunset’s wounds immediately, as soon as she’s recovered and safe. Sweetie Belle, you stay out and ONLY get involved if my guys on the inside get trapped. Zekora will talk you through it. If you come across anyone… run as fast as you can. I’ll have some of my toughest guys with you, they can take a hit.”

“You really think it’s wise to throw a fifteen year old into the line of fire?” Dash retorted.

“I have no other options,” Luna sighed. “I doubt she will be needed. She is only there as backup. I’ve found out that Sombra is upping his defences, however, so we can’t play too safe. Sweetie, is that understood?”

“Yes.” Sweetie Belle answered honestly.

“And remember, if you come across anyone, you run–”

“Run as fast as I can, don’t worry.”

“Do we all understand our roles?” Luna asks with confidence. A chorus of yesses from her team are heard in response.

“Then let’s bring Sunset home.”

Around the same time, Celestia and Gilda were returning to their base in Canterlot. It had been a long night of driving, with the two stopping over in an abandoned parking lot to get some rest, but this wasn’t enough. They were both tired, hungry, and dehydrated. This hadn’t deterred the leader from gathering the Elite Members and several high class Harmony members into the central hub for their arrival. Twilight was the one to greet them, a coffee in her hand, the third of the day. Pinkie and Octavia stood right behind her, with Spike and Scootaloo sat with a couple of the goons, passing cigarettes and energy drinks. They knew it was going to be a long day.

Gilda opened the door, and let Celestia enter first. A wave of shocked gasps echoed through the hall as they saw what had become of their leader. Her pristine white suit had taken on a new shade of dirty red, the blood dried, and the outfit ruined. Gilda looked much the same, with the blood disguising a bit better on her grey suit, but it was obvious that something had gone wrong.

“I’m guessing the meeting didn't go well?” Twilight remarked.

“No shit, Twi.” Gilda grunted.

“Some people were compromised, that I will admit,” Celestia expressed. “But we got what we came for, and neither of us are injured. I call that a success.”

“Where’s the truck?” Twilight asked, jumping to business.

“Outside, where did you think?” Gilda snapped back.

“I do, however, come with some bad news, and some good news,” Celestia raised her voice, so the dozens of goons could hear. “Chrysalis and the Changelings have fallen. We have lost an ally in the north.”

“Yeah. Some ally.” Gilda said under her breath.

“Secondly, after this vehicle is unloaded and the equipment properly stored, I’m going to need you all to step up a gear. I received intel an hour ago that Tantabus and Chaos are in the middle of a hostage crisis. Sunset Shimmer, Tantabus’s assassin, has been taken by Sombra.”

“Why, exactly, does that concern us?” Octavia asked confidently.

“Because I know for a fact that at 5pm tomorrow is when she is due to be assassinated by Applejack. Tantabus are no doubt going to want to get their prized assassin back, they won’t care for much else, and Chaos will be distracted trying to deal with them. This is the time to strike,” Celestia, even despite how tired she was on the inside, gave a damn good speech. “Pinkie, Octavia, congratulations on gathering the coordinates we need. You will be paid for your efforts.”

“Don’t sweat it!” Pinkie chirped up. Octavia simply nodded.

“For the next thirty hours we will work rotationally. All efforts will be placed into preparing a sophisticated battle plan.”

“What about the armour plans?” Pinkie asked sincerely.

“That will have to be done in the background. We will work with what we have.” Celestia spoke plainly.

“Okee dokee!”

“Gilda will reposition our truck, and everyone will help out unloading it. Once it is done, look to your respective bosses and what assignments you need to do. Some of you may leave after unloading, if you volunteer to work through the night. Is that understood?”

A gathering of nods from everyone in the room. Celestia smiled and turned to Gilda.

“Do what you need to do. You can go home and rest after I give you your assignments.”

“Yes, boss,” Gilda thanked. “What about yourself?”

“No rest for the wicked. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

Gilda shrugged and left, readying the truck to be brought into the warehouse.

“Elite Members, meet me upstairs,” Celestia commanded. “The rest of you, listen to Gilda, and don’t waste time.”

It wasn’t long until all the Elite members, bar Gilda, were gathered in the meeting room. Their assignments were as follows.

Celestia, Gilda and Octavia would be deployed into the field, assisted by Pinkie Pie and a selection of weapons, old and new. The mission: try and push goons away from select pathways of the sewers and claim it as theirs. Several high class goons on Harmony’s side would be hired and take separate factions, lead by a respective Elite Member.
Twilight and Scootaloo would stay back at base, holding the fort and only to be called in as back up, alongside the rest of the Harmony goons. All dealing will be called off from 16:00 onwards, so that suspicions won’t arise earlier in the day, but all efforts could be concentrated on the mission.
Spike will remain at base no matter what, alongside a handful of goons. They will tend to the wounded as and when they return to base.

When Harmony prepares, prepare they do. Rotational systems are put into place so that no momentum is dropped. The goons work practically in a factory line, punished if they aren’t succinct in their job. Celestia oversees everything, and was, in Layman’s terms, a perfectionist. They are efficient and powerful because of her, and that is what keeps them in the game.

After the meeting had finished, Twilight turned to Celestia.

“Boss?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“The plan is great, it really is, they always are,” Twilight started, as though she knew how Celestia would react. “But I must ask, this is beef between Sombra and Luna. Why do we need to get involved?”

Celestia chuckled. Twilight was always the one to ask for rationality.

“Because,” she said, calmly and thoughtfully. “This war is three-sided. Like a triangle. If one side of the triangle is removed, then it doesn’t hold its shape. Why would I allow the two people I hate most in the world to tear at each other without allowing me to get in on the fun?” She chuckled again. There was no doubt Celestia didn’t care for much else in the world than this.

“And besides, when else would be the best time to strike when they think we’re taken out of the equation?”

“When they least expect us?” Twilight added.

“I suppose,” Celestia shrugged. “But they always expect us. Just… They perhaps don’t care about us right now. And when they ignore the lion for too long, that’ll be when she strikes the hardest.”

Sunset Shimmer came to. What time was it? Did it even matter? The room was as dark, as rancid, and as silent as it had always been. Save for the sound of dripping water, and the quiet, yet grating intervals of a knife being sharpened.

What was surprising, however, was that Sunset’s mouth was no longer covered by tape. Now was the chance to speak, but she could barely muster up the energy to do so.

“Who’s there?”

“Oh, just me, Sugarcube. Ya surprised?”

“Why are you letting me speak?”

“A few reasons,” Applejack walked around to face Sunset, who cowered at the mere sight of her. She placed a foot on the base of her chair and leaned in. “One. I didn’t want ya to choke on your own blood. As fun as that sounds, I need you to stay alive for another twenty-four hours.”

Applejack checked her watch. Hurry up, she thought, I want to get to the good stuff.

“And two, I know for a fact that you are struggling to speak, let alone scream. Thought I’d be nice for once, yenno?”

“Not really.” Sunset whimpered.

“Ah well, doesn’t matter.”

“I need water.” Sunset sat up. Applejack scoffed.

“Ya really think I’m gonna give you water?” She chuckled.

“You need me alive, remember?”

Applejack paused. For a moment, a small moment, albeit, she was bested.

“I suppose you’re right.”

Applejack reached to the floor, and picked up a half filled bottle off the ground, that could have sat there for god knows how long. She could have a little fun with this.

With her foot still on the chair, she tipped the chair back, causing Sunset to jolt back into her fight-or-flight. She began to wriggle herself back to upright, but she was too weak, and Applejack was too strong. She took off the lid, lifted the bottle high over Sunset’s head, and poured. Sunset tried to get some drops in, but Applejack began to move the flow of water, making it go into her eyes, up her nose, and over her face. She waterboarded her for what felt like an eternity, a series of gargled cries for help cutting through the silence. It only stopped when the water was empty. Applejack flung the plastic bottle at Sunset’s face, making it sting against her still open wounds, and dropped her foot, making the chair come plummeting back to the ground.

“You’re a dick.” Was all that Sunset could stifle out, between gasps of air.

“Thank you.” Applejack answered fondly, before going to sit back in her own chair, continuing to sharpen her blade.

The silence returned for a few more minutes. Sunset couldn’t take it anymore, and wanted to make use of what little adrenaline she had left.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked bluntly. Applejack, almost taken aback, placed down her knife.

“It’s my job, sweetheart.” She answered.

“Bullshit. A job is working retail, or in an office, or something.”

“Ain’t you also a hitman?” Applejack clapped back with a smile. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re competitors in the same field.”

“Yes. But not like this.” Sunset said with disgust. She loathed Applejack, she always had. Not nearly as much as at this moment.

“Oh what? We’re cut from the same cloth! You just use the fact you got a nice figure and speak all fancy-like, I know what you do. You slept your way to the top of the food chain. You’ve taken more dicks than any hooker in Canterlot. The only difference is ya stab ‘em, or ya strangle ‘em, or poison ‘em, I bet. But only after you let them have their way with you.”

“I never sleep with any of my targets.” Sunset scoffed.

“Oh sure. Like I believe that.” Applejack sneered.

“It’s the truth!”

“What a load of horse shit and you know it.”

“It’s not!”

“Alright. Touchy.”

The silence returned, just for a moment. But Sunset wasn’t finished. She struggled through her pain and continued.

“You never answered my question. Why do you do it… the way you do?” She uttered, growing drowsy from her injuries.

“Because I enjoy the job that I do. Don’t you?”

“I suppose. But not like–”

“‘Not like you!’ She says! ‘Not like you,’” Applejack mimicked her prisoner. “I am passionate about my art. I call it art, because it is. I always try, and I’ve tried many times, sweetie, to get a different type of reaction from every person I kill.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun! God, lighten up a bit!” Applejack was out of her chair now, pacing around the room like a vulture.

“It’s hard to lighten up strapped to a chair and in pain.” Sunset winced.

“Bullshit,” Applejack slowly approached Sunset Shimmer, meeting her eye to eye. “I know you like it rough, you stupid slut.”

“You bitch!” Sunset spat harshly into Applejack’s face. It was mostly coagulated blood, but it annoyed her captor regardless.

“You motherfucking…” Applejack reached for her knife, held it high in the air, ready to strike, only to be stopped by Starlight Glimmer running into the room, furiously out of breath. Applejack stopped what she was doing and turned to this strange new girl.

“What is it?” She asked with power.

“It’s Tantabus,” Starlight announced between breaths. “They’re willing to come to an agreement. Luna is meeting Sombra at half four tomorrow.”

“YES!” Sunset cheered, almost rising out of her chair. “You hear that, you freak! You’re not gonna kill anyone tomorrow! They’re coming to get me!” Her celebration was cut short by a swift slap on her swollen jaw, making it sting once more.

“What if I just killed you anyway, huh?” Applejack responded.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were–” Starlight piped up.

“Look. I don’t even know who you are,” Applejack shot down. “But don’t interfere with my work. Tell Sombra I know, but I’m staying with the hostage, come hell or high water. If the deal falls through, I’ll kill her on the spot.”

“Yes ma’am.” Was all Starlight could say before making a hasty exit.

Applejack ripped off some more tape and placed it on Sunsets mouth, who had grown delirious to the pain, and didn’t fight back.

“It’s time you stopped talkin’ now,” She exclaimed merrily. “Get some rest. You got a big day tomorrow.”

“Come on, Dash, it’s been a long day. Get some rest. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

The sun was set on Monday night in Tantabus’s base. Everyone had gone home, apart from two. Tantabus’s leader, and her right hand.

“Rest. I can hardly do that.” Dash grumbled.

“Where have you been staying?” Luna asked.

“Just upstairs. In one of the beds lying around. I can’t exactly go home, can I?” Dash tapped her foot methodically, echoing around the old castle.

“That’s okay. You can stay with Sunset when we get her back. I’m sure she will appreciate the company.” Luna was never this kind.

“Yeah,” Rainbow smiled, perhaps insincerely. “Maybe I will.”

“But seriously. Time for bed.” Luna instructed.

“Okay, Mom.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and wandered up one of the many spiral staircases in the lonely fortress. Luna was alone.

She walked outside, the rain was heavy and constant, creating a symphony of noise as each drop danced through the trees and bushes around her. Luna didn’t mind the noise, or the feeling, She pulled out a cigarette and lit it. She had quit months ago. This was the fifth time she had stopped, but something always brought her back. Typically something to do with this world she lived in. She took a few drags, feeling the nicotine pump through her system, that brought her at ease. She could feel her heartbeat through her head. She wasn’t stressed, at least that’s what she thought, but perhaps something different. A tired determination that made her bones ache and her head heavy. She would never admit it, but she cared. This wasn’t business to her. This was her life. What was the need to be the only criminal gang in Canterlot that didn’t sell drugs? She cared. Perhaps a little too much. There was a line between caring for sincerity and caring for selfishness, and Luna walked that tightrope consistently. But that didn’t matter now. All that mattered was the cigarette, in the rain. She tossed it into a puddle, and it hissed when it was extinguished. She looked up a the rain, her face and hair wet, but just enjoying the moment in isolation for a couple of minutes.

All she had to do now was switch off the downstairs power and go to sleep. An easy task, and sleep she will.

She entered back into the base, it was quiet. But not as quiet as before. The muffled, almost electronic sounds of people speaking were heard. Luna was unsure, and confused, but followed the noise. She had no idea what the noise was, but when she was just outside the door which it was coming from, her office, the sound of a scream was heard. Not just any scream. The distinct, pained scream of Sunset Shimmer.

Luna swung open the door. The only light coming from the room was from a laptop screen, her laptop screen. She couldn’t see what was playing, the only thing she could make out in the darkness was the face of Rainbow Dash, eyes fixated to the screen, a single tear of horror halfway down her face.

She was watching the video of Applejack torturing Sunset.

Luna, perhaps out of some kind of maternal instinct, slammed down the laptop screen, leaving the two of them in darkness. Luna reached for the light switch.

“Don’t turn on the light.” Rainbow Dash croaked.

“Okay.” Luna accepted.

“Is that what she did to my Sunset? Is that real?” Rainbow asked, her voice breaking.

“Yes.” Luna responded simply.

“Is she still alive?”

“Of course she is.” Luna didn’t actually know for certain, but she had to remain positive.

“She could be hurting her right now…”

“We don’t know that for certain–”

“If SHE is still with her,” Rainbow raised her voice, pure anger was seething out of her. “She will be hurting her. I’m going to go and get her myself!”

“That’s not wise.” Luna quickly turned on the problem solver inside of her.

“You can’t let her get away with this. I want her dead. I want them all DEAD!”

“We aren’t letting her-” Luna was cut short from the sound of Dash getting up. “Dash! You are going nowhere!”

Luna turned on the light, her eyes had to adjust to the artificial brightness, but she saw the face of Rainbow Dash. This was not the woman she knew. Tears streaming down her face, her nose running and mixing with the tears. But her face was not one of sadness, it was one of pure loathing and hatred. The only thing between Rainbow and the door was Luna.

“Out of my way.” Dash said simply.

“No.” Luna quickly replied back.”

“I warn you.”

“If you try to go now you will just get yourself killed.”

“I don’t care! I JUST WANT SUNSET BACK!” Rainbow screamed in her bosses face, spitting all over her.

“I KNOW! I’M DOING MY BEST!” Luna yelled in response.

The screaming echoed around the hall outside, and died promptly. Rainbow looked at Luna with the eyes of a killer.

“I want her back too, we all do.” Luna said comfortingly.

“What, so she can go back to being a part of your stupid family drama? So she can come back to working for you? Is that it?” Rainbow prodded.

“No. It’s because I care about her. And I care about you.”

“I thought you weren’t my friend.”

“I didn’t mean it when I said that--”

“Just let me go!”

Rainbow tried to push Luna out of the way, who fought back well, keeping a hold of Dash’s wrist. Whilst she may have been smaller than her sister, she definitely towered over Rainbow Dash, who wouldn’t give up too easily. They wrestled for a short while, Dash trying to leave, but Luna not letting her have any of it.

They were brought to the floor, and Dash went weak. She collapsed into a fetal position and began to wail tears; loud, sharp, horrific. Luna simply lay down and cuddled Dash, in the middle of her office floor, who continued to moan and cry. She simply stroked her hair and lay with her for what seemed like hours. The continual screams and unintelligible words of Rainbow letting all her emotion out at once carried through every empty corridor in the base. The crying eventually stopped. Rainbow Dash, due to sheer exhaustion, was finally asleep.

Luna could have gone to bed, but something in her was compelling her to stay. So there they lay, Luna spooning Rainbow Dash, in the middle of the cold, hard floor. And they both slept surprisingly well. After all, they had to.

It’s a big day tomorrow.

Author's Note

Hello all! It's been a while. A long while. But found this again and remembered how much I enjoyed working on it. Maybe you'll get another chapter soon, but life gets in the way. We will see.

For now, I hope you enjoy.

-TheOldRedHills :twilightsmile:

VI-Operation: Sunrise

“Do you ever worry we could lose it all?”

“What do you mean?”

“We have it all… and you know what they say, good things don’t last forever. So by that account…”

“Luna. Please. We are fine. We will be fine.”

“You’re right, Tia, you’re right. Ignore me.”

Luna poured another shot of whiskey, which she gulped in one go. Her older sister, Celestia, sat opposite her in their meeting room, drinking a glass of lemonade. Whilst she was not one to drink, she never judged Luna for her own habits, even if they were to go out of control. An ashtray separated them, filled with the butts of half a packet of cigarettes, the other half sat in the packet, yet to be smoked. Celestia pulled one out and lit it. She coughed a little, but carried on as if nothing had happened.

“What makes you say that?” Celestia asked with concern.

“Say what?” Luna played dumb, even though she clearly knew.

“Don’t be like this. Are you worried?”

“I always worry. You know I always do.”

“Have you been on the Hearts again?”

Luna shuffled in her chair. That touched a nerve.

“I’ve not been on the Hearts for weeks.”

“Do you promise?” Celestia leaned in and took a hearty drag. A slightly uncomfortable silence filled the air before Luna blurted something out.

“Okay, I’ve been microdosing.”

This made Celestia’s blood boil.

“You’re tampering with our supply?!” She scolded.

“No! I mean, maybe,” Luna went to pour another glass of whiskey, the bottle was already half gone. “It’s ours! We make enough for the entirety of the northern quarter three times over, it’s nothing.”

“You need to get off that shit. Why do you still take it?”

“It helps me, alright! Helps with my nerves.” Luna shook her hands, to handle the slight tingling sensation they had.

“You know they only make it worse.” Celestia reminded.

“It helps me be more sociable,” Luna's voice began to shake like her hands. “You know I don’t like dealing with the business side of things. So taking just a bit makes me more confident. There you go, are you happy?”

“No, of course not. You’re my sister. I love you!” Celestia got out of her seat. She had to drill it into her one way or another.

“Well, it’s the truth. Can’t I just share the truth with you? Ever since father died–”

“Don’t talk about him!” Celestia snapped, extinguishing her cigarette, and immediately putting another in her mouth, changing her tune. “Have a smoke.”

“I’ve quit.”

“Bullshit.”

“My second time! This time for good.”

“Alright, good. The Hearts next. Right?” Celestia stared at Luna as she took another huge drag.

“Right.” She responded timidly. They sat. The light sounds of the radio playing in the background filled the moment. Celestia smoked, Luna drank, all while staring at each other. Celestia chose to break the silence again.

“I worry about you. I worry that this life isn’t for you.” Celestia admitted, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Where’s this come from?” Luna responded, a little too aggressively.

“You care too much,” Celestia started. “You care about yourself, your image. You care about our clients, about our goons, about them all. Caring means weakness.”

Luna scoffed at this.

“But it’s true!” Celestia went in on the attack. “I say it with a lot of love, but I don’t want you to show too much weakness, it makes us look bad.”

“So, what, you don’t care?” Luna batted back.

“I do. But I care about the business, about keeping it going, about…”

“The money?”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“Do you not care about the lives we put on the line? Do you care that now we have to start getting weapons in, just so our dealers feel safe?” Luna was on the verge of tears.

“No! The ends justify the means, Luna.” Celestia put out her second cigarette. She didn’t go for a third. She was done.

“Right. Okay. You’re right.” Luna slumped back, and poured one more glass of whiskey.

“I care about you, Luna.” Celestia, gave a smile, a genuine one.

“Doesn’t that show weakness?” Her sister replied sarcastically.

“Not when it comes to family. You’re my sister. My partner. We do this together, yeah?”

Luna took a sip of alcohol, her body recoiling from the strong taste, before looking to Celestia.

“Yeah.”

VI
Operation: Sunrise

16:28.

Tuesday afternoon.

Luna stood, fake briefcase in hand. Her muscle, Big Macintosh, by her side. The two of them, cramped in a back alley, by a manhole cover. Boy, did it stink.

“You alright?” Luna asked to fill the awkward air.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac responded. “Yourself?”

“Fine.” Luna replied coarsely, reaching for her cigarettes. She put one in her mouth and began to smoke.

“You’re smoking again? I thought you quit.” Big Mac showed a small amount of concern in his voice.

“Yeah. Well. There’s a few reasons why.” Luna shrugged.

“That’s alright.” Big Mac took a step closer to her.

“Where are they?” Luna began to get nervous.

“There’s still a minute to go yet, they’ll be on their way.” Big Mac said reassuringly.

“I know, you’re right.” Luna took a breath and calmed down.

“As soon as all of this is done with, I’ll give you a week off.”

“Just me, boss?”

“Well, no. Well, maybe. I haven’t really thought it though, I just kinda… said it, you know?” Luna began fidgeting with the briefcase.

“Calm your nerves, boss, it’s gonna be alright.” Big Mac placed a hand onto Luna’s back.

“How on earth can you stay calm in situations like these?” Luna asked genuinely.

“I’ve been through some things. Saw a guy about it,” Big Mac awkwardly looked up, recollecting those moments. “I suppose it’s just one of those things. Why worry?”

“You’re right. You are. I need a vacation.” Luna chuckled.

“Don’t we all,” Big Mac chuckled back. “But the city never sleeps.”

“Right again, Mac.” Luna sighed.

Suddenly, the sounds of rustling could be heard under the manhole cover. Luna braced herself. Big Mac, though he didn’t show much, did the same. The cover flipped open, causing the Tantabus members to step back, and rising out of the sewers were none other than Bulk Biceps, Sombra, and Discord, in that order. Despite the fact that they spent a lot of time around raw sewage, they didn’t stink of it much. Luna could, however, smell the expensive cologne that Sombra wore, pungent through the air. It could’ve made her gag, but she stood strong.

“Do you have her?” Luna cut straight to business.

“My my, Luna,” Sombra smirked. “Not even a hello? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“I’m not here for formalities Sombra, I would like my assassin back please.” Luna cut through Sombra’s words like a knife.

“Before I say anything, I just need you to be searched. You can never be too safe.” Sombra clicked his fingers, and Biceps stepped forward immediately. Rolling her eyes, Luna raised her arms. Big Mac did the same, with little fuss.

Biceps started with Big Mac first, checking every pocket on his person. He was clean. He moved onto Luna second, searching her body. His hands hovered on her behind and she stepped back.

“Nice try, big guy.” She said with authority.

Biceps sneered, but she was clean, too. He nodded to Sombra, who proceeded.

“Yes, I have Sunset Shimmer.”

“Is she with you right now?” Luna butted in, hopeful but didn’t want to show it.

“She is held captive deep in our base.”

“Take me to her.”

“You will do no such thing,” Sombra snarled. “You will stay here. I will only fetch her when the money is handed over and counted.”

“Fair deal,” Luna shoved the briefcase over to Sombra. “Fourteen thousand, three hundred and fifty five bits, counted them myself. Quite a small amount from your mighty empire, don’t you think?”

Sombra snatched the briefcase from her.

“You know it’s not about the money, Luna, my dear.”

Luna folded her arms. She nodded to Sombra.

“I will get Discord to count it, then we will be in business.” He added. He readied the briefcase with his huge hands, ready to open it, when he heard a scuffelling from the sewers. Then the sound of rhythmic metallic clangs as the ladder leading to the street was climbed. It was none other than Starlight Glimmer, who stood, proud and concerned all at once.

“Starlight. I’m in the middle of something here,” Sombra bulldozed. “What is so important you have to tell me now?”

“Well, sir…”

16:19.

Tuesday Afternoon.

“Why did she suggest we come here?” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“It’s the closest cover, so they say. We have to cut some corners today.” Zekora admitted, loading her weapon of choice, a MP5 submachine gun.

“Yeah, but we’re right next to one of the busiest intersections in Canterlot! Anyone with eyes can see what we’re doing,” Rainbow said, a little louder than usual, to battle with the heavy traffic. “Also, put that away, we could be spotted!”

“Rainbow Dash, everyone out here packs guns, isn’t that part of the fun?” Zekora jested.

“Maybe so, but not fucking SMG’s!”

“It shouldn’t be so hard to mention, that raising your voice attracts attention.”

“No shit, Sherlock. I’m going in.”

“No! Going in isn’t wise. We need to wait for the signal from the guys.”

Rainbow picked up the crowbar out of her duffle bag and started to pry the cover open.

“Oh please. Does your device thingy get a signal underground?” She asked, a quiver in her voice. Zekora simply shrugged and nodded. “Then we will get a head start, so long as we keep quiet, what’s the worry?”

“I don’t know Rainbow Dash, is there a need to be so rash?”

“It’s the love of my life that’s down there! Need I remind you. The quicker we’re in, the quicker she’s safe.”

Zekora didn’t want to abandon post. It could be disastrous. However, the only thing that would be worse is leaving the side of her superior, as reckless as she may be. So she simply nodded, stayed quiet, and followed her lead.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, couldn’t stop trembling. She was this close to getting to Sunset Shimmer. Frankly, she didn’t care about protocol, or rules, or order. She just wanted her back. It was a mixture of this desperation and adrenaline that helped her uncover the entrance with little effort. They climbed in, softly and quietly, resealed the entrance, and started to make their way.

Zekora led the duo, using a device she had held in her left hand, with her gun in her right. She could detect the heat signals through walls, not only leading them to Sunset Shimmer, but checking if any guards were on patrol. It was a really nifty piece of kit, no doubt from the best technician in the city.

The sounds of their footsteps were minimal, mostly due to their decision to wade through the murky water of the sewers. It slowed progression, and definitely stunk, but it was the best chance they had of being stealthy. Every once in a while, Zekora would detect the heat signal of a random guard, or hear distant footsteps. The best option they had was to duck and wait for the signal to disappear, or the steps to trail away, then they would carry on.

“Closest entrance my ass. It feels like we’re going around in circles.” Dash whispered. Zekora shushed her, nodded her head left, and they turned a corner, deeper into the hideout.

They knew this way was right. As artificial lighting started showing up, akin to underground street lighting. Whilst this was a win on their part, they knew they had to keep an even bigger eye out. If anyone spotted them now, it was game over.

Zekora found a darker patch, where she knew they wouldn’t be so easily seen, and stopped. Rainbow carried on for a moment, before turning and looking at her guide.

“C’mon then, techie, which way is it?” Dash pried, feeling more comfortable by the second.

“Staying here is our best bet. The signal still hasn’t gone off yet.” Zekora hushed, keeping low to the ground.

Dash checked her wristwatch. 16:35.

“It’ll go off any second, trust me. Let’s just keep going.” Dash grabbed Zekora’s arm, but she retaliated, pushing off.

“No. We follow orders from here on out. There are many soldiers about.” Zekora hissed through gritted teeth.

“We are following orders, my orders. Come on.”

“No way. Is this how you intend to play?”

“Stop it with that cryptic shit.”

“I am not cryptic. You sound like a lunatic.”

“Oh yeah? A lunatic? I’ll show you lunatic–”

The sounds of footsteps, Dash’s right. She and Zekora stop their quarrel, and immediately raise their weapons in the direction of the noise.

Starlight Glimmer. Hands raised. The look of horror on her face.

“Who’s this chick?” Dash muttered.

“Stay still,” Zekora said, a more raised, intimidating voice. “We will not hurt you against your will.”

Starlight looked at Zekora, then Dash, then back to Zekora. Then jumped behind a turning in the tunnel. Dash instinctively opened fire, all misses, but their sound echoed endlessly throughout the tunnelling network. Zekora instantly turned and yelled.

“Rainbow Dash, what the fuck?! This is what happens when you push your luck!” Dash hastily covered her comrade’s mouth.

“We have to keep moving.” Dash said, panic in her voice. Zekora simply looked at her, and they kept swamping through the water.

Starlight ran, ran, ran as fast as her legs could take her.

Left, then right, then straight on. Then another right. At last, she saw the light, bleeding out of the city streets. She climbed each rung of the ladder like they were on fire. No chance to rest, he has to know.

Suddenly, she found herself in front of five incredibly powerful criminals. Knowing some by face, knowing some by legacy, all frustrated and confused. Starlight had to act now.

“Starlight. I’m in the middle of something here,” Sombra bulldozed. “What is so important you have to tell me now?”

“Well, sir…” she beckoned Sombra down to her height.

Luna didn’t know exactly what it was that this young woman was whispering into her boss’s ear, but could smell that something was off.

“Tantabus infiltration.”

Sombra stood back up to full height, his eyes fixated on the briefcase. Maybe it didn’t matter, Luna thought. Just another grunt pissing him off.

Sombra looked up at Luna. Holding the stare, he flipped the briefcase around, aiming it at Luna, and ripped it open with his bare hands.

Just another grunt, oh how wrong she was.

The explosion knocked everyone back. It launched both Sombra and Luna straight into the tight walls of the alleyway, and collapsed both to the ground instantly. Starlight was launched backwards, into the sewer. And Big Mac, Discord, and Bulk Biceps flew away from the explosion at opposite angles. Luna sat up, delirious, unsure of where she was. The ringing in her ears drowned out any noise she could’ve heard, making her head spin, and her balance slippery. When her vision focused, all she could see was an old man with a pistol, aimed directly for her head.

Her life flashed before her eyes.

Celestia.

Rainbow Dash.

Father.

Celestia.

Big Mac.

Big Mac reached out and grabbed Luna’s arm, yanking it with such force he could’ve broken it. Ducking behind a corner as a flurry of bullets chipped away at the wall beside them.

The ringing slowly faded. Luna had come to. Big Mac pulled out the shotgun he had placed in the drain pipe only minutes earlier and fired. A miss, but getting a look at the scene, Sombra was out cold, with Discord and Biceps on the ground, firing aimlessly.

“Luna! Y’alright?” Big Mac yelled.

“I think so. What happened?” Luna mumbled, still gathering her thoughts together.

“Something has gone wrong.”

Red flashing light; the signal had gone off. Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief, the operation was still a go.

“Whilst we can go ahead, don’t make a sound,” Zekora cautioned. “There could be many guards around.”

Dash nodded. They rose up onto the stone passageway to build up more speed, but stayed close to the ground, to keep the noise at a minimum. They turned a corner. Two guards, two headshots. They turned another corner. Two more guards. Clearly they must be in packs of two. Another headshot, half a mag into the chest of the other. They pressed on, hoping Sunset would be somewhere.

“They definitely know we’re here now.” Rainbow cautioned. Even she knew every bullet fired was a sign of where they were at any one time. Still they moved, taking no time to rest, as every second was vital, every precious moment wasted could be fatal.

The coast was clear. Dash assumed it was because Chaos will have their sights on Luna and Big Mac, but she could never be too sure. When all of a sudden a small yellow flash reflected on the water in front of them, and the sound of a bullet shot past her head. She turned and fired aimlessly, catching a soldier who collapsed into the sewage water and floated downstream. Where was the second? A shadow charged with a knife, letting out an ugly battle cry. He was promptly shot down by Zekora, who went limp before her eyes. That was close. Too close.

“How close are we?” Dash said in a panic. She knew they couldn’t stay here too much longer.

“The heat readings are all over the place,” Zekora matched the panic, and then some. “We must keep on moving with haste.”

“Keep a cool head. We will be fine.” Dash reassured her partner. Whilst even she didn’t believe those words, she hoped Zekora would.

Then, a faint sound. Almost intangible, but a boom echoed throughout the tunnels. An explosion, which left the women confused.

“Where did that come from?” Dash asked with fear.

“I know not what to say, other than it came from that way.” Zekora responded, checking the heat reading going off the charts. Leaping into action, the girls ran in the direction of the sound. Dust began to fill their lungs, they knew they must be close.

They stopped before a mighty, man made wall. This was the aftermath of the explosion, no doubt. Vaguely lit up by a flickering light in the tunnel. Debris and dirt piled high. This was unusual. Nowhere near Luna and Sombra, so what could’ve caused it?

“What happened here? Was this by us, or them?” Dash inquired.

Suddenly, there was a scuffle, and a couple of voices were heard from the other side of the barricade. The girls took a step back; this can’t be good.

“This will not end well, I suggest we run like hell.” Zekora turned to run, but the shouting of a male voice made her stop dead in her tracks.

“DEPLOYING GRENADE!”

Several light clinking sounds; the metal object hitting different parts of the wall and debris as it made its way over the wall, landing perfectly in front of Rainbow Dash’s feet. She was done for. But when you do things for love, you make some stupid decisions.

“Oh no you don’t!” Dash screamed, picking up the grenade, and lobbing it back as hard as her arm would let her. A mere second after she let go, and just about clearing the other side of the wall, a series of detached voices screamed in mass panic…

And the grenade went off.

The heat was excruciating, Dash thought. Her right arm began to burn, badly. The pain was so immense, Dash hadn’t even realised she was flying several feet in the air. She hit the ground hard, followed by a shower of already loosened rocks and stones flying past her. Some turning to dust, or several larger pieces bouncing on the ground beside her. The smoke blocked out the already whispering light source, making it impossible to see. Fortunately, Zekora had managed to avoid the blast entirely, save for a few pieces of rogue shrapnel giving her a couple of light scratches. She jumped to the aid of Rainbow Dash, finding her silhouette in the darkness and lifting her onto her feet.

“My arm… fuck.” Was all Rainbow could let out. She became alert again, however, when a dragging sound was heard on the other side. There was now a clear passage, which the women climbed through.

Half a dozen men and women, dead. Some were fortunate to remain in one piece, others were crushed, or had limbs missing. All were deceased, except one. A pathetic man dragging his body across the floor, whimpering and crying all the while. His foot must have been splattered by a falling rock, and he tried to get away at a snail’s pace.

“Please… help… me…” Was all he could get out. Zekora thought it would be better to put the man out of his misery, and shot him swiftly in the skull, making his pathetic struggles cease.

Looking at the bodies of the dead, there was no contention that these were Sombra’s men.

“This is all a bit queer,” Zekora pondered. “We’re the only Tantabus members in here. Even if we were, we aren’t using explosives. This can’t be us, so what gives?”

Dash would usually have a quip, or a point to make. But her arm was in agony, and it was only getting worse.

“Best not to think about it,” She mustered up. “Let’s just hope this takes us closer to Sunset.”

And so they continued on, deeper into the heart of Chaos's lair.

“I spy… with my little eye… something beginning with… B!” Fluttershy said, starting the fifth or sixth game in a row.

“Is it a bandage?” Sweetie Belle responded, almost a little bit bored with playing such a trivial game. The first few rounds were fun, but it was getting to the point where it wasn’t.

“Wow, you’re good!” Fluttershy congratulated.

The two were sitting in the back seat of Rainbow Dash’s car, some distance away from the entry point she and Zekora had made, just under an hour ago. There was a direct line of communication set up between the three parties, with a walkie talkie in Sweetie Belle’s hands, should they need to hear any messages, primarily from Dash, if they needed to call Belle in.

“Can we stop playing that game now? I’m bored with it.” Sweetie said honestly, trying to let Fluttershy down easy.

It would never be ascertained as to why on earth Fluttershy of all people existed in the underground crime scene. She was meek, mild, well-mannered, had never so much as pushed a person the wrong way. She was a pacifist by nature, which isn’t exactly useful in a company such as Tantabus. However, with a background of studying veterinary medicine, she was easily the most qualified medic in the underworld. If Sunset Shimmer was to get out alive, she would easily make a full recovery under Fluttershy, sans tooth and kneecap.

“Of course! What would you like to play?” Fluttershy chirped.

“Nothing for now, I’m getting worried.” Sweetie leaned against the passenger seat of the car, burying her face into her arms.

“That’s okay. They shouldn’t be too much longer.” Fluttershy sweetened.

“I suppose so,” A silence carried for a moment before Sweetie Belle asked “How do you do it?”

“Do what?” She responded innocently.

“Be involved in all of this, you know.”

“Because I want to?”

“Really,” Sweetie Belle chuckled. “You want to be a part of a gang. Have you ever held a gun?”

“Have you?” Fluttershy retorted.

“No, but I’m only young. Luna says I can have my first weapon when I’m eighteen.” Sweetie said with an adolescent cockiness.

“I did carry a gun once. It was too heavy. Then I fired it, and I missed.”

“When was that?”

“It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago.”

“Right.”

Suddenly, what felt like an earthquake, the ground shaking, ever so slightly under the two girls feet, before stopping as quickly as it began.

“Did you feel that?” Sweetie Belle remarked.

“Yes,” Fluttershy took a breath. “What is going on down there?”

Then, a cloud of dust huffed out of the holes in the manhole cover, scattering onto the dust and dirt around the entrance. Sweetie Belle watched intently.

“I think they’re using explosives down there.” She concluded.

“Why would they be doing that?” Fluttershy was puzzled.

“I don’t know. But Rainbow Dash and Zekora better be alright in there.”

Sweetie Belle leaned back in her chair, crossing her fingers as tightly as she possibly could.

Word spread like wildfire that Sombra had been knocked unconscious. His wounds needed to be tended to. So their medic was deployed and escorted by Starlight, who had suffered minimal injuries in the explosion, somehow. They were lucky they didn’t run across any Tantabus members infiltrating the compound, and got back to where the shootout on the street was situated. Gunshots were persistent, with no fatalities. Tantabus and Chaos had been in a stalemate for about a half hour. Somehow reserving their ammo enough to keep a steady stream of gunfire going.

“MEDIC COMING UP!” Starlight yelled up.

Realising he could capitalise on this situation, Discord spoke up.

“Hold your fire! We have a medic coming up to tend to Sombra!”

“What does that have to do with us?” Luna, now much more conscious, shouted from around the corner.

“She is but a child, and she is unarmed. Please.” Discord pleaded.

If he was telling the truth, and she really was an unarmed child, then Luna would not fire. You can never be too sure on whether Discord was able to tell the truth, however, and leaned around the corner with her Magnum in hand. Surely enough, a child had emerged from the entry, carrying no more than a humble first aid kit. It wasn’t any child however. The red hair and farmers tan ascertained it was none other than Big Mac’s sister, Apple Bloom. She began to tend to the wounds of Sombra, who suffered a pretty nasty burn on the side of his face. When all of a sudden, Apple hears in her peripheral:

“Hey, Apple Bloom! Lookee here!”

She turned around and locked eyes with her brother. It has been years since they last saw each other.

“Big Mac, what are you doing here?” She asked innocently.

“It doesn’t matter,” He tried to conceal the tears in his voice He couldn’t even stay unprotected for too long, in case he got shot. “My, how you’ve grown. Ya shouldn’t be here, Applejack is no good for you! We’ll look after ya, promise!”

“Big Mac!” Luna said through gritted teeth. She didn’t consent to this.

“Let me try.” He begged, and Luna stood down.

“Applejack says you’re a dangerous man.” Apple Bloom called out.

“Ignore him,” Discord hissed. “He is a threat to our safety. You cannot believe a word he says.”

“No! You can!” Big Mac piped up to a yell.

“Take this to the sewers,” Discord commanded. “We have to deal with whatever is going on at base, we have been here too long.”

“Yes sir.” Was all that came out of Apple Bloom, before being dragged back into the entryway by Starlight.

Big Macintosh jumped out from behind the wall.

“Please! Apple Bloom! Please!”

Having dropped his guard for too long, Bulk Biceps took an easy shot at Big Mac, and got him in the left arm. He bounced back behind the wall, tears dropping one by one down his face.

Biceps and Discord carried Sombra down the steps into the sewers, with some difficulty.

“Raise all entrances to maximum security!” DIscord shouted, and as they shut the manhole cover, a large clunk sound was heard, and a small, bright, lavender light shone on top of the cover.

Luna and Big Mac made a dart to the cover. They used whatever they could to open the cover, but to no avail. The edge of Mac’s shotgun. A sheet of metal left on the sidewalk. They tried whacking it out of position with blunt objects, but it was truly cemented in place.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Big Mac asked sincerely, trying to cover up the pain he felt, applying pressure to the wound on his arm.

Luna pulled out her walkie talkie.

“Luna to Rainbow Dash. Come in Rainbow Dash.”

After a moment's silence, a crackly voice was heard on the other line.

“Receiving.”

“DIscord and Bulk Biceps are back on patrol underground. Sombra is with them too, but he is passed out.”

“Shit. Copy that.”

“Also, all manhole covers are going into maximum security mode. They will not budge no matter what we do. Get Zekora to disarm them when you can.”

“Ten four.”

Suddenly, the faint sound of several police sirens could be heard in the distance.

“We have to go!” Big Mac yelled and ran. Luna followed behind him.

“Police are apprehending our location, we have to leave. Mac got shot in the arm, too. Give me a call when you’re out and safe.” Luna instructed through the walkie talkie.

“Yes, ma’am.” Rainbow responded on the other side.

Luna and Big Macintosh hopped into Luna’s car and sped off, just as the lights of the sirens were coming into view.

A younger voice appeared through the walkie talkie.

“Sweetie Belle to Luna.”

Luna couldn’t help but crack a coy smile at this.

“Go ahead.”

“Do you want me to go in and help?” Sweetie Belle asked in earnest.

“No need to just yet, Sweetie. Dash will get in touch if she needs to.” Luna spoke professionally.

“Okay…” You could tell she was disappointed just from her voice.

Luna’s smile began to fade. It dawned on her that plans have to change sometimes.

“Mac?”

“Eeyup?”

“We’re meeting with Sweetie and Fluttershy. We will get that shot of yours cleaned up. And I can’t have her go in. It’s too dangerous.”

“Understood.”

Instead of taking a left, she took the right, and carried on deeper into the heart of Canterlot.

~~~

The sewers were much brighter now. Dash and Zekora could actually see the whole tunnel illuminated. Which wasn’t great for their heat signals, but they knew they had to be close.

“It’s still so quiet,” Dash realised. “Like, you’d think it’d be louder the closer we are… but where is everyone?”

Another explosion, this one much more faint. What was going on?

“That was back the way we came,” Zekora apprehensively commented. “But there must be other players in this game.”

“Maybe so, but that isn’t going to change anything.” Dash remarked.

In the cold, silent, darkness, they heard a voice. A quiet voice. A new voice.

“Get up, ya dumb bitch.”

“Wait a second,” Dash halted Zekora. “Did you hear that?”

They stood and waited, hoping to hear anything else.

Nothing. Then:

“I said get up! You are wasting my time!”

“It came from this way!” Dash commanded. Both her and Zekora began to sprint. Their bodies were weary, and injured, but the end was in sight.

The conversation was one sided, but constant bangs of scuffling and wrestling allowed for the duo to easily know where they were headed. And that voice… Rainbow Dash recognised it. The southern drawl ingrained in her very brain from that video she watched last night.

It had to be them.

And sure enough, they turned the corner, though a great, medieval-esque archway, and stood in front of her was the love of her life, Sunset Shimmer. She wasn’t alone, as standing behind her, propping her up, with a sawn-off shotgun shoved into her jaw, was the one and only Applejack. Placing themselves in front of an opposite archway, which, in contrast to the artificial brightness of this room, gave Applejack a sinister shadowy hue. Sunset’s mouth was covered with tape, but even Dash could tell her screams were a mix of happiness from seeing her, and horror with the fact her fate may be close at hand.

“Well howdy, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said with a smile. “I’m glad y’all could join us this evenin’. Just in time to see your little Sun begin to set.”

Tears were streaming down Sunset’s face. Rainbow didn't want to admit it, but it broke her heart into a thousand pieces seeing the most important person in her life being treated so inhumanely

“Let her go,” Rainbow Dash said with venom in her words. “You don’t have to do this. No one has to die.”

“Tell that to the dozens of guards ya slaughtered! And I think I do need to kill this one. Not only did the deal not happen, but she is so goddamn annoying Dash, I have no idea how you can live with her.”

“Shut up!” Dash was coursing with adrenaline. She would rip off Applejack’s face if she could.

“Well now. People always credit me for my honesty,” Applejack smirked, keeping control. “It’s half past five. I was supposed to send her to slaughter thirty minutes ago. But I waited for you. I thought ya wanted to see this.”

“If you kill her, that’ll be the last thing you do.” Dash cocked her assault rifle. She wanted to shoot her then and there, but couldn’t get a clear shot.

“Violence always begets more violence, you’re right,” Applejack laughed. “But really, if it ain’t me killin’ ya, it’ll be Sombra. We all die playin’ this game! Ya just gotta find a way to… keep the life support on.”

“Enough! You don’t know what you’re saying. Give me Sunset, now.” Dash pleased, a single tear of fear crawled down her cheek.

“Oh, what, you crying now? Ya pussy? Keep your eyes open, y’all wanna see this one.” Applejack bit to Rainbow Dash and Zekora, who was too shocked to speak.

“No!” Dash exclaimed.

Applejack placed her finger on the trigger of Winona.

“Time to say goodbahAhAhAhAhAhAhAh…”

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the once confident, menacing Applejack had her whole body begin to uncontrollably jitter and spasm. She let go of Sunset, who couldn’t stand due to her injuries and simply fell to the floor. Applejack’s mouth began to foam, and her fists went tight, firing a slug out of her weapon unintentionally. Shrapnel scattered on the wall and to the ground, missing Sunset by a fraction of a hair. Rainbow Dash didn’t even flinch, she darted straight to Sunset and held her tight, with no plans to let her go anytime soon. She was safe and in her arms again. Zekora breathed a sigh of relief. Dash ripped the tape off of Sunset’s mouth.

“Dashie,” Sunset said with tears in her eyes. “You came for me.”

“Of course, baby. Of course.” Dash let loose another tear, this time it was one of joy. They embraced each other for the first time in days. They had both missed this.

Applejack went limp, and collapsed to the ground. Passed out, unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, who would’ve preferred to see a far worse revenge acted upon her. She did, however, notice two electric cables shot into her back from what could only have been a stun gun. She followed the wires up to a shadowy figure standing in the opposite doorway from where Dash and Zekora had entered. The figure took a step forward into the light.

“No fucking way…” Dash said in awe.

“The Party Planner is back?!” Sunset added.

There she was, standing in an all black, well-fitted spy suit, the end of the stun gun in her right hand, an M16 in the other. A belt of grenades wrapped over her shoulder, various pieces of equipment dangling from all parts of her, and her iconic hair as messy as it always was. It was Pinkie Pie alright.

“You guys remember me? Stop it, you’ll make me blush,” She quipped. “Plus someone had to shut her up. Boooooring! I would’ve fallen asleep if she wasn’t about to murder someone!”

“What are you here for? Who’s side are you on in this war?” Zekora asked, grateful, but still keeping her guard up.

“Who I’ve always worked for, silly! Operation: Blood Clot is in full swing, and I wouldn’t want you guys to get caught in the middle of it all.” Pinkie announced, with a cunning grin.

“Operation… Blood Clot?” Rainbow Dash asked in confusion.

“Yep! Harmony has got plenty more bombs about to go off,” Pinkie said in her ever optimistic tone, with an evil tint glistening through her eyes.

“So I’d get out while you still can.”

Prologue

Canterlot, a city divided.

Three rival gangs, for the past five years, have reined terror over the innocent civilians of this once great county, descending the place into one of drugs, sex, crime and violence.

Once, there was a time when this was not the case, with two sisters who once reigned the underground drug scene. The self-proclaimed ‘Princesses’, Celestia and Luna, oversaw the manufacture, distributing and income of a drug given the nick name of ‘Crystal Hearts’. One of these little pills was enough to send you into a state of extreme hyperactivity and hallucinations. Overdosing was common, and these two Drug Lords were responsible for at least five hundred deaths per annum in and around Equestria.

Celestia and Luna ruled over the Equestrian Drug Cartel with an Iron Fist, it seemed that nothing could’ve taken them down.

That was until the ‘King’ arrived.

Sombra was a force to be reckoned with, not only for producing and distributing Crystal Hearts faster and more efficiently than ever, but for singlehandedly pushing the ‘Princesses’ off their pedestal and claiming it for his own.

The two criminal siblings had opposing outlooks on this situation. Celestia knew that she could overthrow Sombra if they both had the willpower, but Luna knew that the shtick was up and that making Crystal Hearts would cause far too much tension, despite her own vendettas against the Tyrant. This split between the two leaders caused a divide between not only between the gangs, but the turf they owned as well. Sombra, even despite Luna’s efforts to not get him involved, had also claimed a hefty portion of Canterlot as his own Turf.

Mercenaries, ex-cons, and even some of the nastiest criminals on the street were hired or volunteered to take sides and claim land off of other gangs. This created a deadly three way power struggle that have caused many murders, rapes, assaults, and a lot of stealing and claiming, even five years on. The ever progressing and booming crime scene has caused Canterlot to be a very dangerous place to live. So much so that the Royal Guard are always on standby, at the helm are Captain Shining Armour and Lieutenant Flash Century. Two determined, yet arrogant Police Detectives put on the case, who wish to see the three Crime Lords behind bars.

This is the story of the gangs Harmony, Tantabus and Chaos, their leaders and their respective members, and the ever evolving war on crime and drugs in Canterlot.