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

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.