Conviction

“That day, a changin’ began in Spike, it’d take years more before it fully developed. Years contemplatin’ wha’ exactly it meant to him.” Applejack continued staring at the camera recording her interrogation, “but to the point, Spike’s lil’ arrangement with Twilight meant he needed as much information on Megaspells and Equines in Arms immediately. He never asked for the small things, which meant this was huge.”

Applejack continued her speech leaning over the desk and tapping her cigarette onto the metal surface, disregarding the ashtray right next to her, “now we were tryin’ to figure out where ta’ meet. Canterlot’s a big city even for a dragon like him. So ‘ah had the liberty of pickin’ the place. The Canterlot fairgrounds. Ah’ tell ya’ plenty of pony folk for cover, open ground to run, made shit hard for the trackers. Pegasi in the sky woulda’ been too easy to spot for Spike, they had to go on by hoof. Now, I’m not tryin’ to strut my stuff, but I could dodge ‘em, but Spike, he could find ‘em.”

Canterlot Fairgrounds

Spike entered the fairgrounds. The smell of freshly baked apple treats wafted through the air into the dragon’s nose. The pleasant aroma brought fond memories of his life before Third Epsilon. Foals were laughing and playing and the young mares eagerly chased along their friends enjoying the cool autumn night.

Colts and stallions alike tried their luck at the local games trying to win their marefriends a stuffed animal or two. Only a few of them walked away with such luck leaving the losers with empty pockets free from bits.

Spike glared and rolled his eyes walking past the groping couples. He didn’t want to admit his jealousy to himself. Rarity was still in the clutches of Twilight’s own minions and he wasn’t going to stop until he had her back.

“Applejack, I’m at the fairgrounds, where do I go from here?” said the dragon over his comm.”

“Ya’ gotta’ take care of some uninvited guest first. Equines in Arms is here ta’ crash are party. They’ve been lookin’ for me all day.” Said the orange earth pony over the radio.

“They’re not after you Applejack, they want me. It’s not a secret we’re friend or anything.” Said Spike shifting his eyes from side to side looking for any suspicious ponies.

“If we’re gonna’ talk, take care of our guest and meet me in the empty concession stand in the far South area.” The transmission ended. Spike slithered his way in between two game stations nearby. The darkness covered him completely as he crouched waiting to pounce on the prey that was also stalking him.

A white stallion walked by wearing a black suit. His mane was slicked back into a professional-type look. The wired earpiece he had gave away his identity. He was looking for the dragon. Spike grabbed him quickly pulling his body into the darkness.

“Looking for somebody?” he said holding the pony up by his throat.

“Ah, shit! Maybe.”

The dragon head butted the stallion cracking his muzzle. Blood dripped down onto the grass below and spike asked the uncooperative pony another question, “Why are you following Applejack?”

“We were told to follow him to find you, that’s all I know, I swear!” pleaded the guard, “please don’t kill me!”

The dragon clenched the pony’s throat and within seconds the stallion became unconscious. Spike dropped his limp body to the ground with a thud. There were more out there.

He walked out of his hiding spot, advancing forward. Cotton candy and balloons were held by nearly everypony around. Pinkie Pie would have loved this place. It was her kind of party. She couldn’t resist the urge to gorge herself until having to get her stomach pumped at the Canterlot ER.

Spike caught the glimpse of a pony sitting down a bench. The stallion was looking right at him. The dragon walked by noticing the pony getting up from his seat. He was being followed. He lured his guard into an empty photobooth nearby and pulled the stallion inside holding a razor-sharp knife to his throat. The pony gritted his teeth in anticipation of pain.

“Hi there, looking for me?” said the dragon sadistically shaving a few hairs of the stallion’s neck with his blade.

“Shit, Spike!” scoffed the guard, “I’m not saying a fuckin’ word.”

“Wrong answer,” the dragon launched his right knee into the pony’s stomach making his captive gasp for air, “why were you following Applejack?”

“Fuck, Applejack was just a decoy. She’s not even the main target, it was you all along. We were told to call for backup the moment we spot you.”

The dragon slammed the pony’s head into the wall knocking him unconscious. He searched the stallion finding a radio. The sound of static came first and then a voice, Gilda’s voice, “This is Gilda, any sign of Spike, over?”

Another voice replied back, “no, we’re still on the lookout for him, over.”

“Alright, just call in once you spot him and we’ll have so many reinforcements not even Celestia could combat us, over”

“Roger that, Gilda.”

There was only one more guard left that Spike could tell. No other voices on the radio indicated he had took out the spotters before anypony even knew he had infiltrated the area. The concession stand to the South was only fifty meters away.

A loud voice came over the intercom system, “the fair will be closing in ten minutes.” It was clearly automated and magically created. No voice in equestria could sound so fake. It was nothing more than a generated fallacy of a mare that did not exist.

Slipping by from pony to pony the dragon made his way to concession stand in the back. He was only ten meters away when he spotted the last guard. He was having a cigarette in a secluded area. An ‘Off Limits’ sign did nothing to prevent the scaly dragon from lurking behind the last remaining guard. He could smell the acrid smoke as the wind shifted blowing the plumes of noxious gas into his face.

He coughed causing the guard to turn around only to be met with the same reaction as the rest. Fear, uncertainty, and anger. Gilda would not be happy about her team being beaten so easily. There was bound to be repercussions and Spike would be anticipating the fight.

Spike latched his claw around the pony’s neck holding him against the chainlink fence that poorly encased the fair, “Remember me?”

The stallion gritted his teeth and tried to speak the best he could, “dammit! If you got this far-“

A hard strike to the ribs brought tears to the fully grown stallion, “shut up and answer my question. Who are you working for?”

The pony didn’t resist any longer and gave up the information the dragon wanted willingly, for his sake, “Filthy, Filthy Rich, he hired us. Don’t kill me!”

The dragon squeezed his neck causing the pony to blackout and hit the ground unconsciously. He’d have a nasty headache when he wakes up.

It was nothing but smooth walking for Spike now. The concession stand harbored one of the remaining friends he had, Applejack. He opened the door cautiously and upon noticing the kind, freckled face of the orange mare he entered fully smiling at her.

“Been a long time, AJ.” Said Spike.

“It has,” replied the mare tossing a one-sleeved backpack to the dragon, “here, Twilight made this…” the mare pulled out a sheet of paper to recall the name it was give, “Electro Magical Pulse, thingy, Ah’ don’t know what the egg heads do in Canterlot, but it’s ‘spose to cancel out any and all electric and magic-based equipment. Ah’ packed your favorite pistol in there too.”

“How sweet,” snickered the dragon, “I didn’t get you anything though.”

“Dammit Spike, not the time for jokin’. We only got a few minutes before this whole place is crawlin’ with mercs.” Applejack’s tone had no hint of humor in it.

“Fine, what can you tell me about these pricks?” Spike rolled his eyes at Applejack’s unwillingness to have some fun. Pinkie Pie would have encouraged it.

“Equines in Arm, right, they’re a group similar to Everfree Ops. Most of them are ex royal guard from both sisters. Contractors for the highest bidder.”

“So…” the dragon didn’t care for the useless information. An enemy was an enemy.

“So, ‘bout six months ago they took up a contract for security. Now, they don’t do small fry ops like that, they were guardin’ something big. They’ve been hanging around an abandoned Manehattan Project test facility known as Black Box. A lot’a trucks been comin’ out of there recently. You can read all ‘bout it in the file I left in yer’ backpack. We’ll talk more on the phone when ya’ get to there.” Applejack looked out the window spotting the crowds of ponies nearby running.

The dragon took notice quickly and stepped outside of the building, “by order of Prince Blueblood this fair is closed down. We have detected a cockatrice, please exit the fair in a calm and orderly manner as we deal with this situation.” The intercom repeated the same message several more times before stopping.

The trap was so obvious. Spike knew they were coming for him and he had to escape back through the fairgrounds if he wanted to make it to a nearby safe haven in the complex nexus of the Canterlot streets.

The dragon slid beside a vending machine. Three guards stood watch looking around with tactical lights to spot the dragon.

“Come on Spike! Let’s see how you handle yourself like you did at Las Pegasus!” shouted on the guards. The dragon took this opportunity to demonstrate his abilities. He pushed the top part of the one-sleeved backpack sending out an invisible pulse of magic that shattered the overhead lights. Fragments of the fluorescent tubes sprayed over the guards. The shards of glass twinkled like stars far off in the sky.

The stallions were spooked and bumped into each other. The dragon peeked out of his hiding spot and shot the guards down one-by-one. They never even saw it coming, like most of his victims.

He moved between the small two foot crevices that divided the game stations and local fair food stands avoiding the main populace of guards. He didn’t want to be here all night killing off every single grunt they threw at him, but then again, for revenge’s sake he crippled two more stallions. Shooting their legs from a small opening he created with his claw.

The four guards standing at the main entrance ran to see what happened to the other ponies who were screaming in pain. Their shattered legs ended their careers, but not their lives. An almost philanthropistic gesture from the enigmatic dragon.

Just two more guard the street and he’d be home free. The first stallion received a large caliber round the chest dropping him instantly and his partner obtained three more bullet holes. The dragon stepped in their sticky, wet blood. The warmth of it under his foot reminded him of Camelu.

He pushed the painful memory back into the farthest reserves of his mind and trekked onwards into the darkness. He was nothing more than a ghost in the shadows now. The lights from the fair were becoming more distant and soon they were gone as the dragon slithered his way into an alley disappearing from the world again.