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                       PART(ie) Hard                       
               -by Mark Garg von Herbalist-                
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                   One Down, Many To Go                    
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One Down, Many To Go
Sombra stares at himself in the mirror, wearing nothing but a tank top and silky boxer shorts. Blood covers the shirt, and a particularly obvious hand print slides down from his chest down to his waist. His oil black hair is free flowing, but speckles of blood line his bangs while globs cover his face and the sunglasses he has yet to remove.
The scream of pain, the begs of mercy, the ripping of flesh and bone, all is lingering in his ear like maggots on a rotting corpse. His hands twitch and his nostrils flare as short, sharp breaths shoot from his nose, and when he lifts his hand take his sunglasses off, he freezes. His hand remains in place for a moment, shaking and veins bulging on his muscled arms, and with a loud, sickly cough his hands latch on to the sink.
His back arches, his body quiver and jagged wheezes leave him as thick slobber dribbles into the sink, slowly crawling into the lime crusted drain. A moment later he reaches into a bag sitting on the toilet, pulled out a fat tube and he rips off it bulb top to reveal three tiny needles. Sombra presses the tube on his arm, just above a fading bite mark that is lined with green and dark blue lines surrounded by dark, scaly skin. He takes a deep breath, then pushes the button on the tube's top.
There is hiss and click, and Sombra growls as three sharp blades stab his arm and flood his veins with thick, cold liquid. His knees give way and he drops to the floor, panting with sweat shaking off of his body and he bangs his head against the sink as he clutches his arm where three blotches of blood bubble out.
There he sits, hyperventilating and shaking, but the coldness thaws, the sickly lines fade and the scales fall off, revealing tender copper skin. However, the bite mark is still there.
Minutes later, Sombra groans and uses the sink to pull himself up. He then goes to the shower and turns it on at full blast with the massage setting on and strips off the last of his clothes. He puts his bloody shirt in a bucket filled with bleach, just like a pair of old sweatpants, and he climbs in the shower, welcoming the hot water that beats his tense muscles into submission.
Sombra takes his sunglasses off and rubs the blood off of them, and after he puts them back on he turns his back to the shower head and presses his palms firmly against the cheap tile.
Hot water batters the ridges of old wounds, some having stitched scars and others pale lines of skin. On his back is a tattoo consisting of a human skull sitting on top of a cross, with the left branch having a “B” and the right having a backwards “S”, and at the bottom are crossed, double hooks. Below this symbol is FFF written in sharp font.
Sombra closes his eyes once more, takes a deep breath and runs his fingers through his hair, raking out streams of watered down blood. Minutes later, the door opens, and with it a vacuum that sucks away the steam and leaves cold to bully its way in.
“Goddess be damned, what the heck, Sombra?” says a silvery voice of a woman that Sombra has chosen to easily forgive.
He shows his forgiveness by quietly scrubbing expensive shampoo into his hair and not making any attempts to slice her throat open.
“I know you like your showers hot, but save some for me,” says the voice.
Sombra rinses out the rest of his shampoo, pulls aside the curtain slightly and smirks as he beckons the woman over. He certainly wouldn't mind seeing her undressing from that green corset, the dress that is open up to her thigh, and her knee high boots. Maybe help her wash out that dye she puts in her hair, watch her opal eye shadow run down her face, and show her voluptuous body how a real man's hands feel when he rubs the soap suds off her light brown body. Chrysalis, however, meets his perverted smirk with a frown.
“Really? I just got here and you already want to see me naked?” says Chrysalis.
Sombra nods.
“Maybe later,” says Chrysalis. She reaches inside the shower and turn off the water, earning her a sharp glare from him, and she smiles as she walks backwards. “Let's eat first. I bought tacos.”
Sombra's frown flips upside down and in two minutes he has himself dried and hurrying into the living room wearing a dark purple dress shirt and black pants with his hair hanging loose. He sits on the couch next to Chrysalis, grinning wildly and rubbing his hands together as his mouth waters from the heavenly scent of fresh tacos rising from the carryout containers. He reaches for the container marked “S”, but a slap on the hand stops him, and he growls at Chrysalis, who is staring at him sternly.
“You didn't tie your hair,” says Chrysalis.
Sombra shrugs and goes to grab his food, but Chrysalis yanks it away, leaving his hands to grab air. He growls at her, but Chrysalis fearlessly holds the food back as far as she can with one hand and wags her finger at Sombra with her free hand.
“Don't give me that,” says Chrysalis.
A low growl still rumbles in Sombra's throat and he glares at Chrysalis, which she returns in kind.
"Fix your hair," orders Chrysalis.
Sombra leans forward, reaching for his prized tacos, and Chrysalis leans back, digging one foot into the carpet and pushing her knee up into his abdomen. She calls out Sombra's name and orders him to stop, but he keeps on reaching and climbing, and soon she is forced to twist her body sideways and has to use both hands to hold the box. Eventually, she is lying on her stomach with the box shielded by her head and arms, and Sombra lays on top of her, snickering and trying to pry her arms apart.
"Sombra, stop!" shouts Chrysalis. A little bit of a laughter sneaks into her commands and she tightens her flesh shield around the box. "Seriously, stop it! Stop it!"
It takes very little effort for Sombra to overpower Chrysalis's slender frame and with one of her arms pried away, he yanks the box from her, grinning triumphantly while using her back as his throne. Sombra rips his container open, relishing in the smell of fried vegetarian tacos, and he shudders like a happy puppy when he takes the first crunchy bite, savoring every spice and fire roasted veggie on there. Chrysalis, meanwhile, huffs and rests her head on her fist, scowling at him from an awkward angle.
“Jerk," she says, but her voice's light tone betrays the harshness of the word.
Sombra shrugs and takes another bite.
"Did you at least fix the problem?” asks Chrysalis.
Sombra nods.
“Did you figure out how much he knew?”
Sombra slides off of Chrysalis and heads towards the bathroom, taking the tray with him. He returns a moment later holding a notebook in his hand. By this point Chrysalis has sat up and is now delicately opening her container. The awful scent of carne asada and pico de gallo floats in the air. How anybody can like cooked meat is beyond Sombra, but he won't give Chrysalis too much trouble for her lack of taste, so instead he throws the on the table in front of her and takes a seat as she flips through its pages.
Chrysalis hums and her she traces the lines as she skims the recorded names and numbers. “It looks like our little rat got around. How exactly did you get rid of him?”
Sombra's eyelids drop, and with that comes a bemused frown, and Chrysalis sighs, closes the book and puts it back on the table.
“Never mind. I still want to eat,” says Chrysalis. She holds her taco up to her lips and sighs as she stares at the blank television on their dresser. “One of these days we'll get an easy job.”
Chrysalis takes a bite, but Sombra stops chewing, puts down his taco, and moves his hands in fast, coordinated motions. 'Easy is boring. Hard is fun.'
Chrysalis scoffs and rolls her eyes. “You know how much I hate agreeing with you, right? Still, something boring will be nice for once so I can actually afford a decent moment of relaxation.”
Sombra grins and moves his hands again. 'I can help you with that.'
Chrysalis holds up her hand so her peripheral vision blocks Sombra's face. “I already said later. Do you have the next target?”
Sombra shoves the rest of his taco in his mouth and nods.
Chrysalis smiles. “Good. With how fast we work we should have this list cleared out in no time.”
Author's Note
Sequel time.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/RQXe22auYOw/mqdefault.jpg

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                     Old Acquaintances                     
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Old Acquaintances
Celestia sits in an old chair, hands gripping a small box that sits on her lap and her colorful hair covering one eye while the other stares straight ahead. She is sure her white and gold dress has become stained from sitting on the chair, and right now she is surprised that the chair has not snapped. Or that she has not fallen through the floor. Or that the roof has not been ripped off from the wind. She is also surprised that none of the three girls has tried to brutally murder her.
Next to her, counting and sorting a variety of colorful pills with a pick axe next to her, is Maud Pie. Her grayish violet hair is straight, stiff, and peppered with grains of stone, and her gray-blue frock is stained with mud like her steel toed boots, and a rock pouch is tied to her belt. Next to Maud's impressive display of pills are a pair of gloves with metal plates and spikes on the knuckles.
Directly across from Maud is her younger sister, Marble. Her dark gray hair is tied into a bun and covered by a white prayer cap, unlike Maud's who's free flowing hair barely reaches her shoulders. The dark dress she is wearing reaches her ankles, with a white apron tied around her body and in front of her is a leather-bound book. She has yet to look away from it. Also, unlike Maud, she does not appear to have a weapon or tool nearby, but that lone fork next to her book is a head scratcher.
Lastly, sitting directly in front of Celestia from her seat across the table with a fat pistol half an arm's length away is the oldest and most terrifying of the daughters: Limestone Pie. Her light gray hair is cut short and spiked up, her black shirt with the pick axe and wreath of the Rock Town Police Department stamped above the heart is tight on her. Tight enough that it outlines her muscles, squeezes her chest and show the bulges of her bra straps. The heavy duty utilities pants and black combat boots seem fitting for her, as do the crazy eyes she has, but while Celestia remains calm on the outside, inside she is looking for a reason to justly incinerate this particular girl.
“-And that criminal thought he could get away with it, so I smashed his face in the brick wall. His girlfriend was uncooperative, too, so I pistol whipped her right in the mouth,” says Limestone. "Those wimps needed an ambulance and now they are suing the PD for police brutality. And you know what, that is the problem with these snowflakes. They think they can break the rules and get away with it, and when we enforce the rules they cry to the courts like a bunch of cry babies!"
Limestone finishes by slamming her fist on the table, scaring a squeak out of Marble. Maud -much to Celestia's surprise- has not faltered in her robotic motions of pill organization.
“Your method was excessive for a parking ticket,” says Maud.
“The department said the same thing, so now I got IA up my ass and I got to 'justify myself' or something,” says Limestone. She then points at Celestia, sneering. “And what's your story? What's your business here?”
“My story is too long and it involves your father,” says Celestia.
“You aren't a call girl, are you?”
Marble gasps and looks at Limestone, whispering her name in a failed attempt at chiding, but Celestia keeps an even face.
“No. I'm the Principal of the Royal Canterlot Academy,” says Celestia.
Limestone grunts and digs into her pocket to pull out a jerky stick. “Right. Okay. With that chest of yours and your open dress, you had me fooled for a high wage slut.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” says Celestia, her lips hooked to a small frown. She does take a quick peek at her own chest, though. Limestone is a bit exaggerating on the openness of the V-cut of her dress, and she doesn't think that her chest is that big. Or big at all. Normal comes to mind.
Luckily for her, the continuation of the potentially awkward conversation is averted when the door opens up and Cloudy Quartz and Igneous walk in. The former is carrying groceries and the latter is carrying mail, and both stop in their tracks and stare at Celestia in a surprised and unkind manner when they see her. In turn, she smiles and stands up, keeping the box held tight.
“Good evening,” says Celestia.
“Oh, goodness, this is unexpected! What a pleasant surprise seeing you here,” says Cloudy Quartz, her face that of shock. “Hath we'd known of your visit we would have brought more food.”
“I won't be here long. I just wanted to have a quick word with your husband about Pinkamena.”
“Does it have anything to do with the troubles at the pier a few weeks back?” asks Igneous, his tone as unkind as his venomous stare.
Celestia shakes her head. “No. Is there somewhere private we can talk?”
Igneous nods and motions Celestia to follow him, and as the two pass Limestone, he grumbles and shakes his head. She returns the sentiment with a scoff and plucks her long-sleeve uniform shirt from the back of the chair and slips it on with one fluid motion.
“I'm going to work,” says Limestone while buttoning up her shirt.
“May I pray for your safety?” says Cloudy Quartz.
Limestone sighs and reluctantly nods. “Fine.”
Celestia does not hear the prayer, though. She only sees Cloudy Quartz putting her hands on Limestone's shoulder and forehead before she enters a room with a couple of chairs, a small desk, a bookshelf and a space heater. On the desk is a stack of books, pencils, and a small box. Not a piece of advanced technology or a photo is found.
“You have certainly gotten bland, Tungsten,” teases Celestia.
“Don't call me that,” says Igenous. “Now, pray tell, what words doth thou bring about Pinkamena? It must be serious if thou art here and not a message."
“I would call you, but you don't have a phone. Or a computer.”
“Pen and paper work just fine. But since thou art here, tell me, is Pinkamena well? I hath not heard from her in months.”
“Your daughter is fine, but something interesting developed during a training session.”
“What is it?”
“Pinkamena is a Warper.”
Igneous remains calm, barely a fluctuation in his features, and Celestia studies Igneous, trying to decipher his neutral expression.
“She is a late bloomer, but there is no denying that she is one. It would explain how she was able to gut that store in one blast,” says Celestia. “On that note, there was only one Warper that I knew about.”
Igneous holds up his hand. “Before you ask, it is yes. I hath known about my wife and Star Swirl's adultery. I know Pinkamena is not of my seed, but that hinders not my love of her or my wife.”
Celestia scrunches her brows and steps forward, meeting his eyes with mild condemnation.
“So you knew about the chances of her being a Warper and you didn't tell me?” says Celestia.
“Why should I?” says Igneous. “Our obligations to each other ended a long time ago.”
“You know how dangerous Warpers can be.”
“I am aware of what I know.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
Igneous' lips curl to a frown and he steps back, motioning to the humble objects of his study.
“Doth thou see any signs of me wanting to remain in contact with anybody?” says Igneous. “I hath spent a very long time trying to erode the past, to erode the memories of the Academy, CSTL. You. Yet, thou hath shown up after all these years the minute my daughter unleashes some of her power and you threaten her and my family with choices that we cannot win under the guise of good will. Then you lecture me on secrecy?”
“I had no choice," says Celestia. "Pinkamena is dangerous and the prison would have only made things worse. With this path we can at least help her hone her abilities so she is not blowing up everything.”
Igenous shakes his head. “There must be an alternate reason for this. What is coming, Celestia? What reasons doth thou have for recruiting Pinkamena?”
“You should have told me that Pinkamena was Star Swirl's, not yours.”
Igneous clenches his fists. “Do not evade thy question! You hath gotten what thou desired for many years and even on our last encounter thou still had your show. I still played dumb for thee whenst thou stole Pinkamena from me. Now thou shall speaketh only truth! No deception! What doth thou want with my daughter? What is coming to where you would risk training a Warper?”
Celestia swallows ad grips the box tighter to keep her shakes hidden. “I'm not sure who they are, but they are pure evil without doubt and I believe whoever they are, they are connected to us from our time as Team CSTL. Specifically the raid on Midnight Castle.”
Igneous's stiff body gets tighter and his red face pales. “What do you mean?”
Celestia opens the box and holds up the burnt plane. “Star Swirl survived.”

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                         Cleaners                          
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Cleaners
Chrysalis stares at herself in a mirror while putting on a frilly blouse. It is a nice mirror. Very clean, and the dresser it is attached to is also well organized with all the makeup and jewelry displayed in organized cubbies and a wallet, ID badge, watch and cellphone sitting on a foam bed inside a box. In front of Chrysalis is a small rectangular device with a speaker playing a message.
“The pleasure of Frisbee's company is what I most enjoy,” says a female from the recorder, her voice strained. “He put a snack on Miss Prancy's chair, but he was still called a horrible boy. At the end of the month, he was throwing two mittens across the width of the room. I counted on his schemes to reveal the way to escape my doom.”
“Thank you, Nolo,” says Chrysalis on the recorder.
There is a crack and then the recorder stops, rewinds and replays. There is heavy breathing, sniffles and whimpers of the female voice, and Chrysalis's voice eases in, gently shushing the girl.
“It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. What is your name, pretty thing?” says Recorder Chrysalis.
“Nolo Contendre,” sniffles the female.
"Hello, my name is Nolo Contendre,” says Chyrsalis, her voice changing slightly towards Nolo's pattern.
“A pretty name for a pretty girl,” says Recorder Chrysalis.
“Please, tell me what you want. What do you want? Is it money?” whimpers Nolo.
Chrysalis clears her throat and buttons up her blouse as she stares at herself in the mirror, speaking with more of Nolo's voice. “Hello, my name is Nolo Contendre.”
“I want you to read the words on this card,” says Recorder Chrysalis.
“Why? Why are you doing this? What have I done to you!?” sobs Nolo.
“Read the words or your parents will have an unfortunate accident.”
“No, please don't hurt them!”
“Then read it.”
Chrysalis grabs a blue blazer that is hanging on the back of a chair and slips it on, rolling her shoulders and neck and taking a long, deep breath.
“The pleasure of Frisbee's company is what I most enjoy,” says Nolo.
There is a flash of green fire and Chrysalis's form is replaced with a pale skinned, freckled face girl with long, braided hair that is bright red. She looks exactly like the girl who is laying on the floor behind her with a snapped neck.
“I counted on his schemes to reveal the way to escape my doom,” says Nolo.
Chrysalis smirks, and with a perfectly matching voice she says. “Hello, I'm Nolo Contendre. I'm here to represent Flim Sham. “
~~~~~~~~~~
“You're who, now?” asks the pudgy guard at the front counter of the station.
Chrysalis, still in her Nolo Contendre disguise, huffs impatiently, slamming her hands on the polished counter top and glaring daggers into the incompetent nincompoop's eyes.
“Nolo Contendre. I'm Flim Sham's lawyer,” says Chrysalis.
She can see her eye twitching from the reflection of the guard's glasses, and the stench of rotten onions boiled in vinegar is not helping her mood any. How a member of the Canterlot Guard can come to work smelling like that is beyond her, but at least her temper is enough to make the said guard retreat into his chair.
“I'm sorry, you're kind of hard to understand. You sound weird,” says the guard.
Chrysalis slams her hands on the counter. “Your face sounds weird!”
The guard blinks blankly. “What?”
Chrysalis pulls away from the counter, clearing her throat and adjusting her collar. “Never mind. Just Bring me to my client.”
=====OOO=====
An elevator dings and its door part open smoothly to reveal Sombra standing firm with his hands clamped in front of him and his eyes locked straight ahead at the polished tiles of the clean hallway. The light bulbs reflect off the floor and none of the doctors and nurses milling about seem to notice or care about him. Though, who can blame them when he is dressed as a Canterlot Guard?
He has on his sunglasses, blue slacks with the purple stripe running down the length of his legs, a solid blue long sleeve shirt and an armored vest over it with a radio on his shoulder. His belt also has the standard pistol, flashlight, cuffs, baton, and stun-gun, as well. His suit fits him perfectly and a smile smile tugs on his lips as a cloud of pride floats around inside him.
When he exits the elevator, his polished black shoes clap against the tile and he smiles and nods politely to a pair of passing nurses who greet him with warm smiles and voices. Though, once they are out of sight, his smile fades and his eyes lock on to a pair of guards at the far end of the hall.
He breathes deeply through his nose forces himself to keep steady, but his fingers still twitch, thus forcing him to ball them into fists. However, the two guards already spotted this and are staring at him cautiously. Sombra pushes for his smile's return and keeps walking.
=====OOO=====
With the fat guard escorting her, Chrysalis enters a good sized room with bright lights and a camera in each of the four corners. Sitting at the only table in the room, wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands cuffed to the said table is Flim Sham. He is not as good looking as he used to be, for his hair is now grimy and tangled in knots, his eyes are baggy and worn, and a large bruise on his face has yet to fully heal.
Once Flim looks at her, Chrysalis smiles, politely dismisses the guard, and eases herself in the chair across from the prisoner, placing her suitcase on the table.
“Hello, Flim,” says Chrysalis. “How are you feeling?”
Flim's lips pucker and he bobs his head side to side, raising his brows. “Well, considering that my brother and I aren't dead, all right. But you sound different, Nolo. Are you sick?”
Chrysalis forces a cough into her fist. “Yes, I caught a bug, but it won't be around much longer.”
=====OOO=====
Sombra's eyes focus on the two guards, who have now pulled away from the door and have taken a couple of steps closer towards him.
“Hey, buddy, can we help you?” asks one of the guards.
Sombra nods, and when he is close enough his fist becomes a blur as he punches the nearest guard in the nose. The guard stumbles back, clutching his nose as blood flows through his fingers, and the second guard swears and reaches for his baton, but Sombra jabs him in the neck with his stun-gun before he can use it. The guard convulses and crumbles to the floor, spazzing and jerking, and the other guard yanks out his pistol and aims it at Sombra.
In quick, fluid moves, Sombra pushes pistol down and presses his stun-gun into the guard's throat. Just like the one before him, his body jerks and he crumbles to the ground, but his finger does squeeze the trigger and a round blows apart the tile right next to Sombra's foot. This gives his heart a jumpstart, but after a quick peek, all he sees is a hole in the floor and hears screaming and running from the nearby nurses and doctors. He does not pay much mind to that, though, for he has a job to finish.
Sombra pushes open the door and sees Flam sitting on his cot, cuffed, hooked to machinery and covered in bandages and healing bruises. His tired eyes are wide and in his hand is a measly plastic fork, and when Sombra grins and his hand becomes covered in an shimmering black crystal that turns his fingers into jagged claws, the wounded criminal stiffens and holds the fork out in front of him like a knife.
“You don't want to do this, lad. I got friends in a lot of places,” says Flam shakily.
Sombra taps his claw thoughtfully against his lips a couple of times, and then shakes his head and lunges forward.
=====OOO=====
“Not much longer, huh?” says Flim.
Chrysalis nods and pulls out a pen and folder. “That's right. I got some cold medicine. But I also got some paperwork here that will affirm your immunity in exchange for your full cooperation.”
Flim stares at Chrysalis skeptically, but when she holds the pen out to him, smiling nonetheless, he sighs and reluctantly grabs the item from her. He then turns the paperwork towards him and starts reading through it. Once he finishes reading he signs the paper with fluid strokes and slides it back to Chrysalis.
“And what will happen to our partners?” asks Flim.
He looks at his hand and scrunches his brow when he sees an ink blotch staining his palm.
“Don't worry, they'll be getting the same treatment,” says Chrysalis as she puts the paperwork away and uses a tissue to grab her leaking pen. After everything is in the briefcase, she snaps it shut and stands up, looking down at Flim as his eyes droop and his body sways. She then knocks on the door and glances at him from over her shoulder. “By the way, Abbadon gives you his best wishes.”
Flim's eyes expand and when the door opens, Chrysalis blows a kiss, slips out the door and gives the leaking pen to the fat guard, being careful not to let the ink touch her.
“Be a dear and toss this in the trash for me,” says Chrysalis.
The fat guard looks at Chrysalis for a few seconds before staring at the pen, and when she casually makes her way to a nearby stairwell, she hears the unmistakable thud of a falling body. It brings a smile to her face.
=====OOO=====
The blaring of the alarm coupled with the shrieking of the nurse behind Sombra brings a painful scowl to his face. He whirls around, growling and holding the heart of Flam Sham, and sees a nurse staring at him. Her pale face is bathed in fast swipes of red light, her legs buckle, tears soak her face and her mouth hangs open as she tries to swallow air.
Sombra carelessly throws the heart on Flam's ripped open body and marches towards her, using his clean pinkie finger to dig out the pain in his ear. As he approaches, the nurse shakes her head, whimpering and backing up into a wall, and when he grabs her collar she shrieks again, bring another cringe to him, and she begs through her sobs for him not to hurt her. As tempted as Sombra is to cut out her tongue for her ruckus, he merely puts his bloody claw to his lips and quietly shushes her.
Then he slams her head into the wall and throws her unconscious next to the fallen guards and strolls towards the nearest stairwell, satisfied with another job well done.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                       Late Bloomer                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Late Bloomer
“What is aura?” begins the Professor of another boring class that Pinkie Pie and her team has to take.
His class is worse than the others she has taken, though, for his voice carries along the rows of the classroom like a calm, boring wave full of sleeping powder. Not only is his voice boring, but so is his entire being. At least the other professors had something to them, such as Daring Do's lax dress code and Rene Caballeron's rugged bookseller mentality. This guy, however, is about as interesting as a paperclip on a rice cake, and it is driving Pinkie Pie bonkers!
The Professor's toothpick posture is uptight, his white suit is somehow not choking him or cutting off the blood flow to his hands, and his necktie is tucked into his brown vest has a coffee stain on it that keeps drawing Pinkie Pie's attention. It looks like a donut. A chocolate donut. With frosting and sprinkles.
Pinkie Pie swallows the pooling drool in her mouth and looks at the clock. The seconds hand takes four seconds to move.
“Well,” says the Professor, “aura is a natural defense mechanism created by brain waves that form a shield around our bodies and enable us to use a specialized attack to dispose of foes.”
Pinkie Pie shifts uncomfortably in her chair. Normally she would be in uniform, but since the Student Council has elected this particular day to be Fun Friday uniforms have been made optional for the duration of the school day, and Pinkie Pie -as well as her team- has elected to go casual. For Pinkie Pie, wearing a white tanktop with a big pink heart and an unbuttoned blue shirt over it, her dark pink skirt, pink shoes with knee high socks that may or may not belong to Rarity, and a set of headphones around her neck that connect to her Walkman that is fitting snugly in her skirt pocket. There is also an ankle bracelet wrapped tightly on to her that leaves a constant, uncomfortable squeeze. Outfits aside, her cheek is squished against her fist and her pencil taps impatiently against her lined paper. On it is a doodle of her and Pinprick in a heart, and around the heart are flowers that turn into balloons, which then turn into tears, which then turn into flaming balls of cactus converging on a chicken.
“Though, how these brainwaves are able to create these retaliation mechanics is still a mystery, but research has shown progress in this field,” says the Professor. “For example, gems play a huge role in it for their energy amplification abilities, hence why gems are popular with weapons or items in general.”
Pinkie Pie can see Team FORT in the row below her. They too have the ankle bracelets, and Flash is casually jotting down information, Octavia has absolutely nothing on her paper, Rainbow Dash is rocking back and forth in her chair, and Twilight is scribbling notes down as fast as she can. They too have gone casual, but in Octavia's case casual is dressing to kill and Twilight's is dressing to be a prude. Rainbow Dash has gone sporty and Flash has settled with jeans and a t-shirt.
“Some speculate that aura has a correlation with one's personality, but the data is insufficient,” says the Professor. “But there are commonalities. Some examples include illusion, shell, energy manipulation, and crafting, just to name a few.”
Pinkie Pie glances at Applejack, who is wearing plaid shirt and boots, but instead of her jeans she is borrowing one of Pinkie Pie's skirts. She has claimed the aisle seat in a wheel chair with her leg propped straight out and her upper leg held in a brace. She has a nifty platform attached to the arm of her chair which she uses to keep her notes on. The agitation is clear in heavy eyes, small frown and constant flexing of her free hand. However, she does have a good supply of notes and in her chair bag are a few books of aura management.
“All aura has a basic shield level and healing level, which falls under the defense category, but the healing factor does not mend all wounds. Some are too severe and must be treated by other means,” continues the Professor.
Pinkie Pie looks at Rarity. Despite wearing a lovely purple dress with light blue gems lining her ribs, a dark cloud looms over her. Her hair, while still washed, hangs loose over her shoulders and eyes, no makeup, no jewelry and not even anything to decorate the purple sling her arm is trapped in, save for “Get well” messages from Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Team FORT.
“As for the offensive level of aura, that is where it gets tricky,” says the Professor. “As I stated earlier there are common classes we found, but each one is unique to the specific person.”
Pinkie Pie groans quietly and leans over to see what Trixie is doing. Said person is next to Rarity and wearing her jeans, dress shirt and vest, but she has made a small wall using her books and is leaning back in her chair. From the front it looks like she is taking notes, but Pinkie Pie sees her using her notebook as a shield and platform for her phone catalog, which is now covered in circles and notes.
“Can anybody give me any examples of aura?” asks the Professor.
Pinkie Pie resumes her original position in tune with Twilight's hand shooting up.
“Yes, Ms. Sparkle?” says the Professor.
“Levitation,” says Twilight proudly.
“Yes, good. Anybody else?”
“Luck!” blurts Lucky from the back of the class.
The Professor points at Lucky. “No. That is wrong.”
The class snickers and Pinkie Pie's heavy eyes drift around the room. She hears a faint humming in the air and it brings a very uncomfortable feeling to her. Like invisible hands squeezing her throat and heart. Her ankle bracelet starts to beep and her fingers drum anxiously on her desk as her eyes dart every which way they can at the oblivious students and the décor around the classroom.
The melodic humming gets louder, and Pinkie Pie's heart beats faster, like a caged animal on a leash trying to escape. Her breathing becomes quicker, sharper and jagged and her palms are stabbed by dozens of invisible knives that force a pained wince from her. In a feeble attempt to block the pain she balls her hands into a fist, but as she curls her fingers the notebook rolls into a ball. Paper, cardboard, spine, all of it rolls perfectly into a circle.
With her hands balled up, Pinkie Pie stares at the ball flabbergasted, and when she unrolls her fingers the notebook unrolls, as well, leaving a wrinkle free perfection.
“Huh?” whispers Pinkie Pie.
She balls her hands and the notebook rolls up. She relaxes her hands and the notebook unfurls into its normal state.
The humming continues, and with it the ever tighter sense of suffocation. Pinkie Pie hyperventilates and looks side to side, partially relieved and partially worried that no one is seeing this oddity. She takes a deep breath and relaxes in her chair, but then her palms, pencil and notebook glow blue and the school supplies start to float up.
Pinkie Pie's eyes widen and she stiffens in her chair. She then looks at her hands and one heartbeat later she squeezes her hands shut and shoves them between her legs. Instantly, the notebook and pencil slam into the desk shatters and shatter it and the area in front of her feet. The sudden explosion of wood and snapping metal jolts Applejack and Rarity and causes the latter to scream and the former to swear. Everything then becomes silent, and with her hands still in between her legs.
The air becomes heavy and toxic as Pinkie Pie looks around the room with bulging eyes and a red hot face. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Rarity has pushed herself into Trixie, and Trixie is pale and bugged eyes and is gripping Rarity's arms and holding her in front of her like a meat shield. However, she quickly releases Rarity and turns away with her nose in the air when Rarity gives her an odd look.
“Excuse me, miss!” shouts the Professor.
Pinkie Pie's eyes snap to him and her body stiffens as she smiles innocently, risking just a fraction of a second to look at her hands, noticing that the glowing has stopped. And with it, the humming.
“Is my class so boring that you desire to break my furniture?” says the Professor.
“Oh, the table?” says Pinkie Pie. She looks at what is left of the splinters and smiles nervously at the Professor. “Yeah, this was like this when I got here.”
The Professor raises a brow. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“And I suppose that the desk exploded when you got here, too, but just now decided to make a ruckus.”
“That's basically what happened.”
“I see.” The Professor goes to his desk, types something on his computer and places his hands behind his back as his harsh eyes focus on them from behind the glare of his glasses. “Well, Ms. Pie, you and your team are excused from the class. Expect some unkind mail soon.”
“Oh, come on!” says Pinkie Pie. “How about you just kick me out and let my team stay. It's really not fair for them.”
“Agreed!” says Trixie. “Trixie should not have to suffer a lost lecture because of a nincompoop.”
Pinkie Pie's shoulders sag with a loud, disappointed groan and the Professor looks at Trixie impatiently.
“If you truly cared about your grade in this class then you would be actually taking notes. Not looking through a phone catalog,” says the Professor.
The whole class looks at Trixie, and she seethes and gently closes her notebook.
“I was listening,” says Trixie.
“No you weren't,” counters the Professor. “Dismissed. All four of you.”
Pinkie Pie huffs, gathers her things, helps Rarity pack her books and supplies, and then she grabs Applejack's wheelchair and carefully guides her to the exit with her team in tow. She is not looking at the class because she is looking at her hands. They feel like they are ripping, but the pain is fading. Besides, she does not need to look to know of the condemning eyes trailing them. She can feel them like the eyes of predators tracking their preys.
The trek to the exit felt a lot long than it should have, and as Pinkie Pie pushes open the door she sees most of Team AVAS looking at her. The only one who isn't staring at her is Adagio, and that is only because she is scribbling in her notebook.
“Remember, you win as a team, you lose as a team. You are one entity,” says the Professor.
Pinkie Pie looks over her shoulder, frowning and really wanting to scream something mean at him, but her mind is a blank slate.
“Also, I'm expecting you four to complete the section four book report of Star Swirl's Book of Aura,” says the Professor. “I would prefer it if you didn't blow up the classroom when you turned it in.”
“I'll blow you up, you jerk,” grumbles Pinkie Pie among the snickers of the students.
“What was that?” says the Professor.
“She said-” starts Sonata, but a quick hand from Vinyl Scratch covers her mouth, reducing the rest of her sentence to: “Mrll blr er mrp yr jrph..”
“She said she'll get it done,” says Adagio.
The Professor hums skeptically. “Sure she did.”
Pinkie Pie nods to Adagio. “Thanks.”
“Whatever. Just go. You're interrupting the class,” says Adagio.
Pinkie Pie nods and leads her team out, and once they are in the hallway Trixie slams the door shut and turns to Pinkie Pie, red faced and hands balled into tight fists.
“Well, that's just great! We're getting reprimanded on top of being tracked!” says Trixie. “Next thing you know we'll be getting expelled!”
Pinkie Pie sighs and turns to Trixie, smiling. “And I will love that so much.”
“Why would you want to be expelled?” asks Rarity. “If you get expelled from an Academy you are basically blacklisted from any government position.”
“Its because I don't want to be here and I don't want to work for the government. I wanted to be a baker, but noooo I have to be here and blow up desks and watch people I'm supposed to take care of get mauled by a crazy old guy,” says Pinkie Pie.
Applejack grabs Pinkie Pie's wrist and tries to look her in the eyes, but she jerks away and turns slightly so she does not have to see her cousin's eyes.
“Pinkie, I know your upset about how that night turned out. Heck I'm still mighty ticked about it," says Applejack, patting her bandaged leg. "But let's be honest, here, we all agreed to go look for Trixie and there was no way we could have known that that night would have gone down South like that, so what happened wasn't your fault."
Trixie balks. “What? Don't go blaming your lack of legs on me! If anything, this whole thing is Rarity's fault because she is the one who emotionally compromised Trixie with her anti-Tsuinite rhetoric.”
Rarity scoffs in disgust. “Oh, really? If we're going to play that game then need I remind you that it was a Tsuinite that stole my phone and electrocuted us which then landed us in this mess?”
“Yes, well-” Trixie clears her throat, then points an accusing finger at Pinkie Pie. “If we didn't go on your stupid 'team bonding' trip then Rarity would not have been robbed and we would have been spared heartache and bodyaches.”
“Oh, of course!” Pinkie Pie throws her hands up. “Go on! Blame the leader! That's my role as Team Leader. Blame me. Blame blame blame blame blame me, just blame me for everything. Gosh!”
Pinkie Pie stomps the floor and the bracelet screeches as a blue sonic boom erupts from beneath her feet that shakes the floor and leaves a circle of cracks in the tile that spread along the walls and ceiling. Some light fixtures pop loose and dangle from the ceiling, showering the girls with sparks and broken plaster. The door to the class they were formerly part of beeps and a red light flashes above it, and all four girls look up at the gaping hole in the ceiling with the light fixture twirling and swinging sporadically. Seconds later they slowly turn their petrified gazes to Pinkie Pie, and she looks at all of them, tapping her fingers together and forcing a smile.
“Anybody want to play a board game?” asks Pinkie Pie.
"Girl, you got a condition," says Trixie.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                  To Bond Or Not To Bond                   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
To Bond Or Not To Bond
The battle was long and hard. Cold wind brutalized me. Every scratch burned, the frozen blood created a caramelized shell on my face and my soul felt as numb as my limbs. Around me, my soldiers watched me as I tread the ground of the fallen. Weary eyes and dirty faces followed my steps that crunched against the broken, casing littered ground. The weak flames poking from blown out buildings and gutted vehicles could not provide warmth and the shell of the once grand city could not protect me or my weary soldiers from the condemning elements.
So many eyes peeked out from the muck on their faces, like dim candles in the dark,and as I walked, one soldier stood up from his comfort of a blanket and stared at me. Then he started to clap slowly and hard.
His partner then stood up and began clapping as well, only faster and more glorious, and then more and more soldiers stood up and started clapping, and soon it was a thunderous applause that shook the earth and their cheers of victory scared away the darkness in us. The shouts of triumph powered me and with tears in my eyes I raised my fist proudly to the sky as the sun burns through its bleak cover.
It was over.
We had won.
“Eh, you okay, there, Pinks?” asks Applejack
“Huh? What?” says Pinkie Pie, blinking and jerking her head to and fro in search of Applejack, who is sitting next to her with her collection of aura books still in her basket.
“You kinda faded out on us after you, um-” Applejack glances at the cards in her hands, her demeanor sulking “-beat me.”
Pinkie Pie blinks and from her seat next to the phone she looks at the board before her, which is covering papers that are supposed to be their book reports. There is also a sealed envelope with Pinkie Pie's name on it and the school seal stamped on it.
On the board one little blue plastic soldier remains standing in the blue territory marked "Griffinstone", and all adjacent red territories that are not occupied by Applejack's black plastic soldiers are also guarded by single red pieces. On top a good sized discard pile is a card with blue silhouette soldiers raising their fists and “RALLY CALL!” in bold, red letters.
Seeing this, Pinkie Pie sucks in a massive amount of air that fuels her growing smile, and then she cheers and pumps her fist.
“Yes! Oh, yeah! I finally beat you!” shouts Pinkie Pie triumphantly. She jabs her finger at Applejack's nose, cackling. “Haha! In your face, cousin! In. Your. Face!”
Applejack flips up a golden card and her grumpy look breaks away to reveal the smugness beneath. “Revival.”
Pinkie Pie freezes. “What?”
“Revival,” repeats Applejack. “Production costs are reduced by twenty five percent for one-d six turns and-” Applejack snatches a six sided die and rolls it on the table, and her grin becomes demented when it stops “-what do you know? A six. Best kiss Altai goodbye. It'll belong to Bernese soon enough.”
Pinkie Pie's eye twitches and while her finger is still at Applejack's nose, it is quivering like a twig in a storm. Her face then takes a crash landing on the table, shaking the pieces, and a loud, aggravated groan vibrates the playing field.
“That card is so OP,” says Trixie, leaning back in her chair with her brows scrunched and her eyes scrutinizing the cards in her hand. “And my cards suck.”
“What cards do you got?” asks Applejack.
Trixie brings her cards close to her chest and turns slightly away from Applejack. “I'm not telling you! They're top secret!”
“How else are you gonna be queen of the world if I don't help you understand the cards?”
Trixie stares at Applejack, but Pinkie Pie can see the hamsters turning the wheels in her teammates brain, and after some seconds Trixie relents and slides closer to Applejack.
“Fine, but you better not betray me. I've seen Game of Woes. I know how to get revenge,” says Trixie.
“I don't even know what that is,” says Applejack as she wheels herself to Trixie's side.
Trixie's jaw drops. “How do you not know what Game of Woes is?”
Applejack turns herself next to Trixie and turns her hand so she is looking at her cards. “Oh, these cards ain't so bad. You got a mobility card, which means your Crystal Remnant soldiers can move double the spaces for your turn.”
“Meaning?”
Applejack sighs patiently. “Meaning you can either converge fully on Pinkie Pie and capture Griffinstone, knocking her out of the game.”
Trixie grins wickedly at Pinkie Pie, and in turn the team leader grunts and looks at her pitiful army. One piece here, two pieces there, a few dollars in the bank, three cards in her hands, and absolutely no way to fight off Trixie's eighty seven airplanes, nineteen battleships and stupid amount of infantry. Thankfully she has no tanks. Unthankfully, Applejack's army is thrice the size and has most of the board under her control.
“Or,” continues Applejack, “you can use your mobility card and attack Rarity, who is quite honestly a bigger threat to you than Pinkie Pie.”
Applejack, Trixie and Pinkie Pie look at Rarity, and Rarity has yet to lift her dark, baggy eyes off of her organized display of blue soldiers, tanks, planes, bombers and array of sea vessels. Her army barely reached beyond her original territories of Equestria, but she does have an impressive collection of units buffering her borders.
“Trixie supposes she could weaken Rarity,” muses Trixie, her eyes drifting across a juicy territory with a “5” and “Manehatten” stamped on it.
“As if Applejack isn't strong enough,” grumbles Rarity.
“We made a sacred pact, isn't that right, Applejack?”
“Eeyup,” says Applejack with a smirk. “'Sides, it's just a game. It ain't personal.”
Rarity grunts skeptically and Trixie giggles like a demon as she proclaims her mobility card and moves a generous amount of her pieces to Manehatten.
“Prepare to suffer the wrath of the Crystal Empire, you Equestrian whimps!” says Trixie.
Rarity sniffs deeply and flips over a card labeled “Perseverance” and Trixie's smile drops like a cement block in the water.
“Wait, we played all those cards,” says Trixie.
“I've been saving this one,” says Rarity glumly as she changes out her six sided dice for eight sided dice and snagging a few d-10s, as well.
Pinkie Pie whistles and looks at Trixie.
“You can always retreat,” says Pinkie Pie.
“Retreating is for the weak,” says Trixie. She scoops up her dice and starts shaking them in her hands. “Trixie accepts your challenge and will destroy you! Now die, fiend!”
She rolls her dice and-
One Hundred and Eighty Seconds Later...
Trixie is banging her head against the dorm wall, cussing viciously in her native tongue while Rarity sluggishly organizes her units on her side of the table. It had been a hard fought battle, but Rarity prevailed with a decent force remaining in her territory.
As Trixie swears and bangs her head, Pinkie Pie looks at her pitiful bank and Applejack's army.
Bank.
Army.
Army.
Bank.
Bank.
Army.
Applejack.
“Next time I'm playing as Bernese,” says Pinkie Pie as she purchases a grand total of three infantrymen for her Griffinstone territory.
“No you ain't,” says Applejack.
“Why not?”
“'Cuz I always play Bernese.”
“Yeah, that's the point. Give someone else -like your favorite cousin- a chance to play them." Pinkie Pie snaps her focus to Trixie. "And Trixie you have got to stop banging your head against the wall! You're going to annoy the neighbors!”
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Trixie stops banging her head, and Pinkie Pie stiffens while Rarity and Applejack's eyes bulge to dinner plates.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
All four look at the door, which shakes from another round of bangs, and with a tortured groan Pinkie Pie stands up, then points at Trixie with narrowed eyes.
“You're grounded,” says Pinkie Pie.
“Psh. Am not,” says Trixie, now rubbing her head and wobbling in her spot.
Pinkie Pie rolls her eyes and shuffles towards the door. When she reaches her door she cracks it open just a smidgen and puts on her best smile to sweet talk her way out of a mess from what is definitely an imposing man of six-eleven with muscles the size of thick heads, a shirt that squeezes his tight abs and pants that shouldn't even fit his monstrous frame. She even has her googly eyes aimed up so she can swoon the beastly man with her beauty.
However, all she sees is a forehead and a pile of blond hair that looks like a bundle of radishes tied together with yarn.
It is ugly.
And her jaw drops.
And when her nose is brutalized by the stench of burnt rope and expectations, her wrinkled face tilts so she is eye to eye with bloodshot, cerise eyes which are surrounded by dark bags. The face the eyes belong to is covered in fuzz, and his clothes and backpack are all ratty and carry the strong stench.
“Heeey, is Fluttershy here?” asks the man.
Pinkie Pie shakes her head. “No... Who are you?”
“I'm her bro. Can you tell her I'm here?”
“But she doesn't live in this room.”
“She doesn't?”
“No.”
“But the rainbow chick said she did...” The stranger's eyes expand just a bit. “Whoa... Your hair...”
Pinkie Pie's confusion melts from hope's warmth. “Yes?”
“Your hair is... is...”
Pinkie Pie's lips spread to a toothy smile and she clamps her hands in front of her chin. “Yes?”
“Your hair is ugly.”
Pinkie Pie has never slammed a door so hard or fast before, and she spins around, digging her feet in the carpet and looks at her team, who has quickly turned their attention away from her to random things around the room. Pinkie Pie then stomps back to her seat while scratching at her hair and when she falls to her seat she shakes loose strands of pink hair from her fingers.
“I would like to point out that I think your hair is just fine,” says Rarity.
“You aren't making that up, are you?” says Pinkie Pie glumly. “I mean, what if that is why I am single? What if my hair really is ugly? What if the reason Pinprick hasn't called is because he hates my hair!”
Applejack and Rarity cast quick glances at each other, and Trixie rolls her eyes and whips out her phone catalog from her pocket while Pinkie Pie tugs at her hair. Her shaking body also vibrates the table and the bracelet on her ankle beeps quietly.
“Like, Trixie's got beautiful hair, you got beautiful hair, Applejack's got beautiful hair, everybody's got beautiful hair except for my hair is ugly like my hideous face. Why did my parents have to make me ugly!?” rants Pinkie Pie hysterically.
“Holy crap will you relax?” says Applejack, gripping Pinkie Pie's shoulder as she hyperventilates.
Pinkie Pie's sharp and quick breaths gradually subside, as does the beeping on her ankle bracelet, and her shaking slowly stops from Applejack's hand gently rubbing her shoulder.
“Your hair's fine and you ain't ugly, that pothead was just a nut. He wouldn't know a good girl if she... er... did girly stuff to him,” says Applejack.
“Wow~” drones Trixie.
“Why don't we take your mind off of that guy,” says Rarity. “Something cheerful should do the trick.”
“Like finishing the game?” suggests Applejack.
Pinkie Pie's shoulders sag from her sigh. “No thanks. I already know that we lost to you.”
“Trixie might win,” says Trixie without taking her eyes off of her catalog.
“I don't think so. Applejack basically owns the board,” says Rarity.
“I'll accept formal declarations of surrender,” says Applejack smugly.
Trixie scoffs and puts her catalog away to eyeball Applejack with a sharp gleam in her eyes.
“In your dreams, farmer. The Crystal Empire will never surrender to the ethno-purists!” says Trixie.
“Trixie, you're taking this game way too seriously,” says Applejack.
“Says the one who broke our sacred pact.”
“I haven't done anything yet.”
Just then, Pinkie Pie gasps and jerks upright in her seat, eyes and smile bright and her palms pressed against the table.
“Girls, I got it! We can talk about our dreams,” says Pinkie Pie. “That ought to cheer things up.”
Pinkie Pie's teammates stare at her, completely silent and faces blank, and she giggles and rubs her hands together eagerly.
“I want to go first,” says Pinkie Pie.
“Then go first,” says Applejack.
“Okay, okay.” Pinkie Pie clears her throat. “Last night I had a dream that we were all cute, colorful ponies in a really, really fun world filled joy and happiness and sunshine and friendship. Sorta. It had problems but it seemed pretty chill compared to here, though.”
“That sounds really gay,” says Trixie.
Pinkie Pie looks at Trixie. “And you were a unicorn that got heckled when doing a magic show.”
“What? Why!” whines Trixie, throwing her catalog aside.
“And Rarity made dresses and Applejack ran a farm and for some reason I dreamed of Twilight and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy being ponies, too,” continues Pinkie Pie.
“Who's Fluttershy?” asks Applejack.
“She's the shy girl with the long pink hair on Team DAFT." Pinkie Pie reclines in her chair and folds her arms behind her head while putting her feet up on the unoccupied part of the table, balancing herself on two chair legs and ignoring the condemning gaze of Rarity. "Yeah, the weird guy was looking for her so he's probably gonna get a fist to the face if he finds her.”
Applejack thinks for a moment. “You know, now that my mind's on it, I do remember that Fluttershy girl. Our only conversation didn't go very well.”
~~~~~000~~~~~
Many Weeks Back...
At main cafeteria, Applejack grabs her tray of food from the line. It is a humble meal of a sub sandwich, egg salad, chips and apple juice, and she cannot wait to chow down on it. As she walks towards her team, a random student slides next to her with a sleazy grin plastered on his face.
“Hey, country patch, wanna sleep on my bed for a few nights?” he says.
Applejack looks down at him with a cocked brow and disappointed frown. “With something that small? No.”
The student's smile and colors shatter away, and Applejack pats him on the shoulder as she nods to Thorn.
“That guy looks interested in you, though,” she says, and adding with a wink: “Check him out, tiny toon.”
Applejack starts walking again, feeling a sickly mix of pride and disgust for herself, but she only gets a few more steps before she collides with Fluttershy. The trays crash and flip into both girls, splattering egg salad, sandwich bits and juice all over their green and white uniforms. Juice drips off of Fluttershy's long pink hair and tomatoes and other condiments slide off of her's and Applejack's uniform, leaving trails of watered down red and pickle juice.
Applejack's face flares red and she stammers as she drops to her knees to pick up the grave of two lunches.
“Ah, crap, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to run into you!” says Applejack. Her heart is beating quadruple what is normal and sweat pours down her face and neck as her shaky hands toss everything on the stacked trays. When all is collected, she hops up and pretends that the whole cafeteria is not looking at her. “I'm very sorry about that, hun. I'll use my own credits to buy you another lunch, how's that sound?”
Fluttershy stares at Applejack with the eye that is not covered by her long hair, but her hair cannot hide the hot blush on her cheeks or how her eyes have become dilated.
“Okay... I guess that's a yes. What's your name?” asks Applejack.
Fluttershy's body trembles as constipated spurts of squeaks pop out. Her faces darkens into a blood red hue and she brings her fists up to her face as tears flow down her face. Soon her knees start buckling and she sniffles as the already good sized crowd grows and murmurs.
Applejack glances at the crowd nervously and then offers an anxious smile to Fluttershy.
“Eh, you okay, there?” asks Applejack.
“Squeak.”
~~~~~000~~~~~
“Oh, so that's why you were a mess that day,” says Pinkie Pie.
“That's nice and all, but why was Trixie heckled in your dream?” Trixie grabs Pinkie Pie's shoulders and twists her body so that they are face to face, despite the team leader scrunching herself in her chair. “What did Trixie do to deserve such malice!?”
“Maybe it's because you're rude,” says Rarity.
Trixie glares at Rarity. “Says the racist!”
Rarity returns the look. “I already apologized!”
“Your apology was fake! Trixie knows a fake apology when she hears one!”
Rarity slams her good hand on the table and hops to her feet. “Oh my goodness, you're unbelievable!”
She then swipes her game pieces off of the table, storms out of the room and slams the door shut. The group stares at the door for a few more seconds before Trixie releases Pinkie Pie, blinking dumbly. Trixie then reaches for her phone catalog and slowly brings it up to her face, and Pinkie Pie slams her face on the table and starts snickering. Her shoulders quiver and her snickering turns into a shaky cackle and whimper and Applejack shakes her head, frowning at Trixie.
“Smooth,” says Applejack.
“Don't heckle me,” snaps Trixie.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Always a Problem                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Always a Problem
“Have you seen this student?” asks Pinkie Pie, holding up a photo realistic sketch of Rarity to a student sitting on one of the many decorated cement picnic tables of the Canterlot Academy commons.
The student shakes his head and Pinkie Pie sighs dejectedly and shuffles her feet in the recently watered grass. As she walks, she stares at her picture, rubbing her chin and trying to think where Rarity could have possibly gone. It is while she thinks that her ears pick up nearby chatter, and she looks to the source and sees Team AVAS -minus Vinyl- underneath a fully bloomed tree's comfortable shade.
Adagio is going through her notebook, Aria is next to her, talking in her natural condescending tone, and Sonata plucking away the petals of a flower.
“Yes... No... Yes... No... Yes... No...” says Sonata absent mindedly.
“This is taking way too long,” says Aria. “Why are they waiting when its all... ready...”
Aria looks at Pinkie Pie, who is now right in front of the trio, smiling nervously with her Rarity drawing facing them. Adagio looks up from her book a second later, sneers, grabs Sonata's head and turns it so she is also facing Pinkie Pie.
“Can we help you?” asks Adagio.
“Yes, have you seen this student?” asks Pinkie Pie.
The trio looks at the picture and Sonata tilts her head slightly.
“Why are there sparkles surrounding her?” asks Sonata. “She's not a vampire is she?”
Adagio and Aria face palm and Pinkie Pie looks at her picture, scrunching her brows in scrutiny of the various pointed stars surrounding Rarity's head.
“No,” says Pinkie Pie, “she just has really great hair.”
Adagio leans away from the tree to point at a circular, two storied building with white brick, large windows, and a covered walkway ringing around it. In front of it is a fountain with rearing winged unicorns touching hoofs on a pedestal in its center, as well as the national and academy flags on an adjacent hill.
“I saw her heading to the Academy Center not too long ago,” says Adagio.
Pinkie Pie smiles and gives her a thumbs up. “Thank you! Love your hair, by the way!”
“Um... Thanks?”
“Bye!”
Pinkie Pie runs towards the Center, apologizing as she narrowly avoids running into Vinyl, who is carrying an arm full of Taco King bags. If Vinyl said anything, she didn't hear, and she apologizes again as she weaves between mingling students and when she pushes open the glass door she leave palm shaped cracks in her wake and screeches to a stop on the polished tile. A trail of rubber stretches from the bottom of her shoes all the way to the door and she meets the various confused and annoyed looks of the students and staff with wide eyes and red cheeks.
Pinkie Pie's head dips and she smiles with an embarrassed squee, then walks hastily through the brightly lit Center. She passes a bank, a bookstore, a food store, a tech shop, a small eating area -which she unfortunately sees Team DAFT with the radish head-, student aide, a few auditoriums, advertisements for an upcoming school dance, and a mostly wide open area with couches and chairs organized in squares with tables in the middle and a large projection on the wall displaying the news. “Faulty Structure and Gas Leak Tied To Mysterious Events” scrolls along the bottom bar while the anchor speaks, and next to him is a picture made up of a block of question marks.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie's eyes jerk left and right, and when she sees Rarity sitting in front of the projection, she bolts to her. Once at the couch she leaps over the top and lands next to Rarity with her hands cupping the back of her head and her legs stretched out on the table, one crossing over the other, and she smiles brightly.
“Hey, gorgeous, how you doing?” asks Pinkie Pie.
“Are you trying to lighten the mood?” asks Rarity.
“Yeah... Is it working?”
“No.”
Pinkie Pie sighs, puts her hands on her lap and pulls her legs off of the table. Her smile fades and her shoulders sag, too.
"Darn it," grumbles Pinkie Pie.
"Don't feel bad. It is not your fault. It is all on Trixie," says Rarity.
“That's actually something I wanted to talk about. I know you're mad at Trixie for that apology thing and she's mad at you for the racist thing, but this feud's gotta stop. It's been going for weeks and its not good for our team dynamic... stuff.”
Rarity glances at Pinkie Pie out of the corner of her eye. “Did you give Trixie the same lecture?”
“I was, but then I remembered last time one of us ran off-” Pinkie Pie looks around to make sure no one is near “-we kinda blew up a bunch of stuff and got hospitalized, so I wanted to find you before we landed in more hot water."
Rarity motions towards her sling. "What sort of trouble am I going to cause with this?"
"Limestone can tell you. She's a beast."
Rarity's eyebrow raises skeptically, but Pinkie Pie choses to ignore that. Instead, she hunches over, gripping the sides of her head and squeezing her eyes shut.
“To be honest, I'm surprised we aren't in prison for what I dragged us into,” says Pinkie Pie. "And I'm also surprised that you haven't sued me yet for messing up your arm."
Rarity shifts her body so her unbound hand can pat Pinkie Pie on the shoulder.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. None of us had any idea what was going to happen that night," says Rarity. "Besides, if I was afraid of physical pain I wouldn't be here."
Without looking up, Pinkie Pie shakes her head. "Still, I'm supposed to be a leader and I nearly got all of us killed, I messed up Flash's team, you and Trixie are still fighting, and Pinprick still hasn't shown up."
Rarity seethes. "Pinprick, yes... I don't see what he has to do with our team, but I'm certain he has very good reasons for not communicating with you."
Pinkie Pie sniffles, wipes the wetness from her eyes and looks up to see a cringing smile from Rarity. This prompts her to scrunch her brows and narrow her eyes suspiciously at her.
"What's with the weird smile?" asks Pinkie Pie.
"I always smile like this," replies Rarity.
"You hardly ever smile, which sucks because when you do smile a real smile it is nice." Pinkie Pie jabs her finger at Rarity. "But that smile is a fake smile, so you must be hiding something. Something big... Something important..."
Pinkie Pie hums and leans close to Rarity, stroking her chin, and Rarity leans back, having to use the couch for support. Pinkie Pie leans closer, her narrowed eyes focusing in on Rarity, and Rarity leans further back, lips hooked in a frown, brows wrinkled and her face tilted away just a bit. Pinkie Pie leans even closer now, forcing Rarity to lean against the arm of the couch, and Pinkie having to use one of her hands to hold on to her teammate's leg just so she can continue stroking her chin. With the advancement, beads of sweat trail down Rarity's face and Pinkie Pie can smell the mouth wash in her teammate's breath, but she still does not see what is being hidden from her, so she crawls further, putting herself on top of Rarity. With the two now nose to nose, chest pressed against chest, Pinkie Pie's hand on Rarity's good shoulder, the team leader hums louder and strokes her chin harder, regardless of the blush on Rarity's face or the passing looks of students.
"Pinkie, what are you doing!?" asks Rarity.
"Pinprick isn't secretly making a harem with you and me is he?" asks Pinkie Pie.
Rarity's lips warp into a disgusted sneer, and she looks away, shaking her head. "Your mind is in a disgusting gutter. Can you please get off of me?"
Pinkie Pie climbs off of Rarity and helps her sit up, brushing off invisible lint from her outfit before straightening out the skirt she is wearing. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees some students walking past them with flyers for the school dance, shaking their heads, but she pays no mind.
"Sorry about that," says Pinkie Pie, feeling a little hot in the face. "I just got carried away."
Rarity forces a cough and looks away. "Yes, I''m sure you did, and I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anybody about this oddness."
Pinkie Pie holds her hand to her eye. "Pinkie Promise. Now, about why I originally came to get you before you distracted me."
"What?" scoffs Rarity, snapping her wide eyes to Pinkie Pie. "How did I distract you?"
Pinkie Pie pulls out a random notebook and pen, flips it open to a blank page and leans against the couch arm with her legs squished against herself to create a makeshift. "What can I do as a leader to make you and Trixie get along? And what can I do as a leader to make your experience as a member of Team PART(ie) better?"
Rarity's eyes droop. "Well, for one, you can get rid of your emotional roller coaster and act like a normal human.”
“Oh, come on. I'm not that bad.”
“You're a manic, Pinkie.”
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes!"
"No."
"Oh, for goodness sake's, Pinkie, stop denying..."
Rarity's voice drifts off and her eyes fixate on the projection, prompting Pinkie Pie to have a looks see, as well. The anchor is still talking, but the picture of the question marks next to him has changed to a picture of gems.
“Gem merchants claim that the severity of the unexpected gem shortage is worse than originally estimated, causing panic in the local markets,” says the anchor. “Director of Commerce Laissez Faire is scheduled to hold a press conference to discuss the matter, but has advised the populace to remain calm. More after the break.”
Bombastic music plays as the camera pulls away from the anchor, and Pinkie Pie and Rarity slowly look at each other. Pinkie Pie is certain she just gained a brief telepathic ability because Rarity's thoughts are as clear as her own, and like a terrible found footage film, she remembers the day Discord robbed the gem shop and almost killed them at the pier. The pier which had a lot of empty containers and a lot of vehicles speeding away. This sparks a mental light bulb in Pinkie Pie's mental caverns, illuminating one simple phrase.
“Well, crap.”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                    The Start of Mayhem                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
The Start of Mayhem
Pinkie Pie and Rarity exit the Academy Center in a hurry. Pinkie Pie's steps are long and quick while Rarity struggles to keep up, and as she walks, the team leader scratches her hair, really loathing how her scalp feels like it is shedding and her hair is falling loose. She makes a mental note to get new shampoo the first chance she gets.
“Pinkie, slow down,” says Rarity.
Pinkie Pie turns and speed-walks backwards, peeling off pink strands of hair that has wrapped around her fingers.
“Slow down?” she says hysterically with wild eyes and her ankle bracelet beeping. “How can I slow down when Discord has all the gems in the city? You saw what he can do with a walking stick! Now imagine him with enough gems to arm a small army! Jesteśmy przykręcony osiem sposobów! Pijany, I tell you! Pijany!”
“Equestrian, please, Pinkie. Equestrian," says Rarity. "Besides, I'm sure the police can handle him.”
Pinkie Pie grabs Rarity's shoulders and shakes her hard, sending her eyes twirling and her head flopping.
“The police can't handle jack diddly squat!” screams Pinkie Pie. “They arrested me for doing a citizens arrest and then they didn't do anything when Discord blew up the pier! They are useless!”
When Pinkie Pie is finished her ankle bracelet is beeping, her face is red, her chest is heaving from her heavy panting and grinded teeth match perfectly with her crazy eyes. Rarity, however, is bobbing back and forth, groaning sickly with her loose hair now tangled and sprouting up in random spots. Seconds later, Rarity finds her balance and Pinkie Pie sighs and tilts her head down, grabbing Rarity's arms.
“Something is wrong... Something is very wrong. I can feel it,” says Pinkie Pie quietly. She lifts her wet eyes up to Rarity's and squeezes her arms. “Can't you feel it?”
Rarity hiccups and blinks a few times, and after a few more seconds of swaying she finds her balance with the help of her good hand gripping Pinkie Pie's arm.
“Pinkie, I know you're worried, but think about this,” says Rarity sickly. “Discord was out of our league when he had a walking stick. Now he has gems, we're still injured, and we have these trackers.”
Rarity and Pinkie Pie look at their ankle bracelets. Ever since they were recovered after the fight with Discord they had those monstrosities to deal with for “safety reasons”. The devices' tightly sealed nature squeeze at their skin and their constant weight feels like their flesh is being dragged down. Not only that, but Pinkie Pie really hates how hers beeps the most out of the others. In fact, she has yet to hear the others beep. That said, the little hamsters turn the wheels in her brain, trying to generate a useful idea.
Then she hears it.
Voices!
Familiar voices!
Familiar voices of Team DAFT!
And that one guy with the ugly hair.
She does not know what they are talking about, but if the universal annoyance shared by DAFT is any indication, there might possibly be a murder in the courtyard by midnight. But Pinkie Pie does not care about that for she gets an idea. An awful idea. Pinkie Pie gets a wonderful, awful idea, and she turns her wonderfully awful, toothless grin to Rarity.
Rarity shifts her posture and eyes uneasily, and Pinkie Pie's lips continue curving up and her eyelids drop until just her eyes are slits, and she drums her fingers together.
“Hey, Rarity, remember when you said you can sway any guy you wanted?” asks Pinkie Pie.
=====OOOOO=====
Luna sits at Celestia's desk, legs crossed and resting on the table, her chair leaned back and her nose in her game device. On the desk is a missing persons report for Silicon Chip and basic police reports of the gruesome murders of the Flim Flam Brothers. At first glance one would assume that Luna's carelessness of the recent events is nothing but pure ignorance. That assumption is wrong.
Luna prides herself on lacking ignorance, and she does not consider herself arrogant. She is only a realist who does her job as it should be, which includes reading the reports and giving zero cares for the fates of vermin. It really is win win for her since the blights are gone and the collected evidence from the trio is more than enough to go digging for more evidence about the matters at hand. However, as much as Luna would love to make some phone calls and coordinate a purge of biblical proportions based on the evidence gathered, Celestia already had a plan in place with her wimpy scalpel method, leaving Luna bored and without much authority to oversee the operations. Such restriction was apparently faxed to all the appropriate leaders of law enforcement, but boredom will not get the best of Luna, for she has a game to keep her company. That, and she is expecting other forms of company soon enough.
Luna's thumbs are like striking vipers on her device's screen and her eyes like those of a hawk on the hunt, and echoing in the chamber is the holy symphony of: pew-pew, bang, blam, BOOM!, pop-pop, bang, pew-pew-pew-pew-pew.
Luna's brows scrunch and her tongue wets her lips as her little pixel man slaughters hordes of mutant enemies in a glorious display of blocky blood splatter. Her little man runs and jumps and shoots without missing a beat. The bullets rip apart the horrible mutants that writhe and scream in agony as they break apart in pixilated dust, and right when Luna reaches a pit of spikes a big crystal heart with a fancy lace around it appears in the middle of the screen with a ringing phone below it, freezing everything.
Luna stares at the heart, eye twitching and an internal screaming rising in her throat. The symbol is familiar, but the glittery fairy music accompanying it is not what she had put as its ringtone. She knows only Celestia would troll her like this and wishes to plot her elaborate revenge, but the ringing prevents her brain from working right, and when it becomes apparent that the person will not be hanging up, Luna answers.
“Luna speaking,” says Luna gruffly.
“Don't sound too happy, Mom,” says a female on the other end.
Luna leans over, rubbing her brow. “Have you landed?”
“Yes, and we had a nice trip, too.”
“Uh huh.”
“The flight was lovely and Shining says Equestrian Air has the best airline peanuts.”
“Right.”
“Did you remember to reserve that room for us like you promised?”
Luna's muscles lock in place and her eyes flick to a hotel rental website with an incomplete application on the computer screen. She cringes and leans over, typing in the rest of the information with one hand.
“Of course I did,” says Luna. “How could I possibly forget?”
“TIME EXPIRED!” suddenly appears on the screen, and Luna growls and slams her palm on the desk.
“What was that?” asks the female.
Luna quickly straightens out in her chair and waves the pain off her palm, leaving a perfect indent of her hand on the table. “Nothing. Listen, I just remembered that Celestia said you could spend the night in her room.”
“Really?”
Luna now inspects her fingers. “Yes, but she just recently left for a trip so you won't see her for a couple of days.”
“Oh..." The speaker's voice sinks. "What is the trip about?"
"Classified."
"Like classified-classified, or running away to a tropical retreat-classified?"
"Classified-classified."
"Okay... Well, there is something I got to tell you.”
“What is it?”
The door to the office suddenly slides open, revealing two people. The first, and tallest, is near Luna's age, is a skinny man with blue hair and eyes, wearing a red long coat with a blue suit underneath with polished black shoes, blue gloves and a golden scarf wrapped around his neck. Next to him is a girl about Luna's height twenty years her junior, with purple eyes and thick curly hair that is colored in stripes of violet, rose and gold. She is wearing open toed sandals, a sleeveless pink dress with a V-cut giving a generous view of her chest and a pink sash wrapped around her waist and held in place with a clip of a blue crystal heart that has a gold lace.
“We actually landed a little while back and I wanted to surprise you and Auntie, but I couldn't wait, so I decided to call while walking down the hall, but Auntie isn't here, so this is awkward,” says the girl, still on the phone and grinning anxiously. She finishes with a pathetic wave and squee. "Hi, Mom."
Luna frowns and hangs up her phone.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   Is There Even A Plan?                   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Is There Even A Plan?
It seems like it has taken forever for Pinkie Pie to reach her dorm, despite working as fast as her brain and tongue will allow to convince Rarity of her on-the-spot plan. But thankfully she went with it. She was reluctant, and while Pinkie Pie feels guilty about what she convinced Rarity to do she knows it is for the greater good. Now all she has to do is convince her other two pawns to obey her kingly status on the chessboard and go along with her completely amazing spur of the moment plan that will in no absolute way backfire.
So here she stands, in her dorm, by her table where Applejack and Trixie are. Both are reading, but Applejack is reading her Aura book and has a notebook scribbled with notes and Trixie is still reading her phone catalog.
“Okay, so here's the gist of the situation,” says Pinkie Pie. “That night when Discord barely got away from us he took a bunch of gems with him.”
Applejack turns a page in her Aura book, humming dismissively.
“Now Discord has a whole bunch of gems and unless we -as a well working team of amazing girls- stop him he will wreck havoc on the city and a lot of people are going to get hurt,” continues Pinkie Pie.
“Uh huh,” says Trixie absentmindedly.
“So as your team leader -who is in no way doubting her abilities whatsoever- I am ordering us to begin Operation: Find Discord and Beat The Crap Out of Him Before He Does Terrible Things To The City.”
Applejack and Trixie stop reading and both look at Pinkie Pie with various levels of bemusement, and she smiles back at them, squeeing.
“I'll pass,” says Trixie.
Trixie resumes reading her catalog and Pinkie Pie's smile falls to a frown like a man wearing cement shoes in a river.
“Trixie, it doesn't work like that,” says Pinkie Pie. “You're supposed to be: 'Of course I'll help because I'm a great team player'. And then you help me and Applejack and Rarity nab Discord.”
“I'll pass,” repeats Trixie.
“Wow, you're team player levels are really low.”
“And your leadership levels are lower.”
Pinkie Pie's eye twitches. She knows Trixie is telling the truth, but her words still felt like a swift stab to the gut that will inevitably lead to her pride bleeding out. Not that there is much there to begin with, but still. Pain. Very much pain.
Pinkie Pie slumps to her seat and stares ahead, eyes dying and hair flattening, and Applejack sighs and puts her book down, looking at Trixie sternly.
“Come on, now, don't be harsh,” chides Applejack. She then puts her focus on Pinkie Pie. “Look, Pinks, I know you wanna do the right thing, but ya gotta think about this for a second. Ya ain't got a plan and Discord ain't exactly the easiest of opponents to deal with.”
“But I do have a plan,” says Pinkie Pie, blinking tears away. “It is a great plan that will work. I know it will.”
“And what plan is that?” says Applejack, her chin resting on her fist and her gaze expecting gold.
“Well, it is a multi-person plan, first of all, and Rarity is already working on her part.”
=====OOO=====
In the Team DAFT dorm, Rarity sits next to Astro on a bed covered in thick textbooks of various science fields. She has squished her legs up close to her and is leaning against him so her chest is pressed against his arm and her hand on his thigh. Across from the duo is Thorn, who is resting against his headboard with his legs stretched out and weaving a bracelet out of yarn. Then there is Drake who is pumping his arm with a 100 pound barbell. Lastly there is Fluttershy and the radish head -whom Rarity has learned in Zepher, Jr.- and they are sitting on Fluttershy's bed full of stuffed animals and pillows, playing the role of spectators.
“I've always had a fascination with intellectuals,” says Rarity.
“Really?” says Astro, blushing slightly.
“Yes.” Rarity sighs provocatively and caresses Astro's leg as she gazes upon him with sultry eyes and an inviting smile. “There's just something I find attractive with big brains over big brawns.”
Thorn stops weaving his bracelet to look at Rarity dubiously, and Drake shakes his head in disgust while Fluttershy and Zepher stare at the pair whimsically.
“Oh, well-” Astro coughs into his fist turning his hot red face away. “Um, this is weird.”
“Yes it is,” grumbles Rarity, looking at the floor.
“What?”
Rarity smiles. “Nothing!”
=====OOO=====
Pinkie Pie nods and looks at the table, trying to fight off the poisonous doubt. “Yeah, she's got her in end in the bag. But that brings up my next part of the plan that will without a doubt shine light on Discord's nefarious scheme.”
“And what is that?” asks Applejack.
“We use Octavia's connections to the criminal underworld to find and expose Discord, then we converge on him take him down like a pack of wolves on an old elk!” She fakes a wicked grin and slams her fist into her. “Easy peasy.”
Applejack merely shakes her head and goes back to reading her Aura book, and Trixie stands up and places her hands on the table as she leans towards Pinkie Pie, staring harshly at her, forcing Pinkie Pie to shrink in shame.
“Okay, dear leader, since you're being stupid Trixie is going to use the thoughtfulness of her heart to remind you that: A) Octavia is a poser who has no contacts and even if she does she would not use them to find Discord. And, B) You died last time you faced Discord,” says Trixie.
Applejack briefly looks up from her book. “Yeah, the doctors had to pump you with Dash's blood, remember?”
“That's because we were dumb last time,” says Pinkie Pie. “But we don't actually have to fight Discord. I mean, we can always go the boring route and figure out where he's stashing the gems, do an anonymous call in and watch the show from a safe distance. It'll have no satisfaction, but whatever bakes the cake.”
“I can't believe you want another swing at him,” says Applejack, returning her full attention on Pinkie Pie with concern and annoyance burdening her features. “Even though last time he tore us apart without so much as a sweat on his brow.”
“Applejack, relax,” says Pinkie Pie. “You won't be there physically since you're in a wheelchair, so when we fight Discord it'll be me and Trixie. But mostly me.”
Trixie holds up her hands and reels back. “Whoa. Whoa. Pinkie, no! I'm not fighting Discord!”
Pinkie Pie looks at Trixie. “What are you complaining about? I said it was mostly me.”
Applejack rolls herself in front of Pinkie Pie and grabs her wrist.
“Pinkie, stop this, all right?” says Applejack firmly. “You don't have to do anything. You don't have to fight Discord. You don't have to go hunting for stolen gems. You have to be here where its safe.”
Pinkie Pie jerks her arms out of Applejack's grip and steps back, clenching her fists.
“How safe are we going to be when Discord uses those stolen gems to do whatever it is he's going to do? He already hurt you, Rarity and Pinprick once and I won't let him do it again!” says Pinkie Pie.
Applejack slams her fist on the arm of her wheelchair. “And he killed you!”
Pinkie Pie and Trixie flinch, and Applejack looks down, sniffling and wiping tears from her eyes. When she looks up, her lips are trembling and her hard gaze cracks from the flow of tears soaking her eyes.
“He killed you right in front of me and I couldn't stop him,” says Applejack. “I couldn't protect you then and I can't protect you now and you want to go after him by yourself.”
“And me,” adds Trixie.
Pinkie Pie and Applejack snap a glare at Trixie and she shrugs meekly.
“I mean, she did say 'Trixie and me' earlier... just saying,” says Trixie.
Pinkie Pie sighs, sits in on her knees front of Applejack and grabs her hand, smiling reassuringly.
“Applejack, I know you got the jitters, but we won't be going at it alone. Team Flash will help us out,” says Pinkie Pie.
“And how is Team FORT involved?” asks Trixie with a cocked brow.
Applejack frowns and places her other hand on Pinkie Pie's, sniffling and blinking while locking her eyes on her cousin's. “Yeah, that's a good question. Flash's team's also got them tracker cuffs and their weapons are locked up like ours. They ain't gonna be helpful for this idea that you ain't gonna do.”
“I'm glad you asked.” Pinkie Pie slides away from Applejack and cracks her back as she pulls out her chair, just so she can put one foot on it. “We use Octavia-”
“You already said that,” says Trixie, fist in her cheek and her eyes drooped.
“Right... There is also Flash-”
“He sucks,” interrupts Trixie.
“And Rainbow Dash-”
“She also sucks.”
Pinkie Pie points at Trixie impatiently. “You need to shut up. Now, there's also Twilight and I have no idea what she does, but if she is a four time champion of a high stakes competition and a mascot of cereal she must be epic and can really help us out.”
Trixie nods. “Yeah, Twilight is a demon in a cute body.”
Pinkie Pie and Applejack look at Trixie, and she looks at both of them, confused.
“What?” Seconds later, Trixie's eyes expand and she slouches in her chair. “Oh. Wrong idea. I'm an arrow.”
“Right... Well, I'm going to talk to Team Flort about my amazing idea. I'll be right back,” says Pinkie Pie, now speed walking towards the door.
“What idea? You didn't tell us any ideas,” says Trixie.
“Pinkie, ya ain't doing anything! You're gonna stay here and study!” says Applejack, wheeling after her.
Pinkie Pie opens up the door and looks at Applejack defiantly. “You aren't my mom!”
And then she slams the door shut, forcing Applejack to slam on her wheelchair breaks, thus assaulting her's and Trixie's ears with screeching rubber. Once stopped Applejack slaps the arm of her chair, growling.
“Dang nabbit, what am I going to do with that girl?” says Applejack.
Trixie opens her phone catalog. “She does have a death wish... Do you think I should go retro with a flip phone or get another smart phone?”
Applejack face-palms.
******
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie takes two giant skips to get to Team FORT's door and when she is in front of their door she takes a moment to ruffle up her hair. Her fingers claw at her scalp until her hair puffs out like cotton candy, and after shaking off loose strands of hair she knocks as fast as her two hands will allow. Once the door opens she smiles sweetly at a very unhappy member of FORT.
“Hi, Twilight, can I come in?” asks Pinkie Pie.
Twilight slams the door shut and Pinkie Pie's smile pops out of existence with a huff, and she knocks again.
“Twilight.”
She knocks again.
“Twilight.”
She knocks again.
“Twilight.”
She knocks again.
“Twilight.”
Twilight yanks the door open. “WHAT!?”
Pinkie Pie's fist remains in the air and she meets Twilight's red faced, teeth grinding, seething display of annoyance with wide eyes and scrunched lips.
“I just want to talk to Flash real quick,” says Pinkie Pie.
“Why? So you can get him arrested again?” accuses Twilight.
“No. I actually need his help, your help, Dashie's help, and Octavia's help. It's super important, like a twenty on a scale of one to ten.”
“Oh, you're funny.”
Twilight then tries to slam the door shut, but Pinkie Pie blocks it with her foot and presses her shoulder against the door. Both girls grunt and growl as they push against each other, and as they battle for dominance Pinkie's bracelet beeps... and then someone taps on her shoulder.
“Uh, Pinkie, what are you doing?” asks Flash.
Pinkie Pie stops struggling and she looks over her shoulder to see Flash. In his hands are plastic bags filled with snacks and school supplies, and after Flash orders Twilight to let go of the door, he and Pinkie enter the dorm. Pinkie Pie and Twilight exchange harsh looks, but when she turns around to face Flash she has a sweet smile.
“So, how are you doing?” asks Pinkie Pie.
“Fine,” says Flash. “What are you doing here?”
“Wow, that's rude.”
“Sorry, I'm just wondering why you're here. Do you need help with something?”
“Actually I do.” Pinkie Pie looks around. “Where's Octavia and Rainbow Dash?”
“They're out doing something. Not really sure what, though.”
=====OOO=====
In the school cafeteria, Rainbow Dash sighs and rubs her forehead, and sitting next to her is Octavia, who is becoming slightly aggravated. With them are trays of recently consumed food, crumbled wrappers and plastic wares.
“Okay, we'll try this again,” says Rainbow Dash with weighted patience. She clears her throat and speaks in a deep voice: “Hey, good looking, wanna go to the dance with me?”
“Depends. Do you know how to pick locks?” asks Octavia.
Rainbow Dash throws her hands up and slides out of the chair. “Forget it. You're going to be single for the dance.”
Octavia shrugs. “Fine.”
Rainbow Dash walks away. “Fine.”
Octavia grabs a plastic knife from her tray. “Fine.”
Rainbow Dash is now by the door. “Fine!”
Octavia starts sharpening her plastic knife. “Fine.”
=====OOO=====
“I'm sure they'll be back any minute,” says Flash. “So, what's up?”
“Oh... well...” Pinkie Pie rubs the back of her neck. “I kinda need your guys's help to track down Discord before he uses all of the gems he stole to wreck havoc on the city and I figured that Octavia can use her shady contacts to find him, Twilight and Trixie can act as the muscles since they're champions and you and Dash can use whatever cool stuff you guys got to help me nab Discord and I got Rarity helping me out with the trackers on our ankles so we won't be tracked by the school and use our aura to beat up people if we have to so does that sound like a cool plan or will I have to beg and do favors?”
She finishes with a smile and squee and Flash meets her smile with confusion while Twilight looks annoyed.
“Can't help,” says Twilight.
“Why?” asks Pinkie Pie.
“Because my BBBF is in town and Flash wants to meet him, plus I'm already on a short leash because of what happened last time we helped you,” says Twilight. “I will not let my record get tarnished any more than it already is.”
“BBBF?”
“Yes, my BBBF.”
“Who's your BBBF?”
“A very important man within the Remnant government.”
“Oh... He sounds boring.”
“He's not boring!”
“Right~ Anyway.” Pinkie Pie butts Twilight out of the way so she can rub up next to Flash and gaze up at him with theatrical desperation glowing in her eyes. “Will you pretty please with a cherry on top help me with this very, very, very, very important mission?”
Flash's eyes flick between Pinkie's smile and Twilight's hard stare, and after some seconds of unsure humming he gently pries Pinkie Pie off of his arm and guides her to the door.
“Pinkie, I would love to help you, but me and Twilight got a sparring session and I got to meet her BBBF,” says Flash.
Pinkie Pie grabs Flash's arms tight as she locks eyes with him, but he keeps guiding her to the door.
“But, Flash, you don't understand, Discord's got tons of gems!” she says frantically. “He stole those gems from the pier and now he's going to use them to spread chaos and nobody's gonna be safe because he's Discord, please help me out here, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!”
As Pinkie Pie rambles, Flash reaches around her, opens up the door and carefully forces her into the hall. When she is outside her hair has deflated and her bracelet beeps as she cries hysterically and stomps her foot.
“Are you even listening to me!” screams Pinkie Pie.
“Pinkie, stop!” snaps Flash.
Pinkie Pie recoils and brings her balled hands to her mouth, her hair flat once more. Her eyes water and her fingers tap anxiously against each other while Flash sighs and runs his fingers though his hair, not looking at her. When he does look at her, his expression is softer, and he puts a hand on her shoulder.
“Just... stop. Whatever is going on with Discord, leave it to the professionals, okay?” says Flash. “We're only students. We can't fight him. You can't fight him. The only thing you can do is stay here where it is safe and not do something stupid.”
“But something bad's going to happen. I can feel it,” says Pinkie Pie quietly.
“Which is why you have to leave it to people who know what they're doing.” Flash's hand slides off of her shoulder and steps back. “But you got to go now. Me, Twilight, sparring, and BBBF stuff.”
Pinkie Pie lowers her eyes, nodding. “Right... I'll leave you two alone.”
“Yeah... Bye...”
“Bye.”
Flash closes the door, and Pinkie Pie huffs, kicks at the carpet and head to her dorm. She stops halfway, huffs again and then sulks to the elevator. She punches the down arrow and scratches an itch in her scalp while the hums of the elevator fill the silent hall. Though, when it dings and slides open her gloomy eyes burst to sunshine and rainbows from the gift that the universe has bestowed upon her.
“Hey, Pinkie, what's up?” says Rainbow Dash as she slides her way past Pinkie Pie.
As soon as the sentence is finished Pinkie Pie grabs Rainbow Dash's collar, throws her inside the elevator and hits the emergency close button. The doors slide shut and Rainbow Dash pushes against Pinkie Pie, but her small frame is no match for the rock farmer's build.
“Dude, what the heck?” says Rainbow Dash, grunting as she pushes against Pinkie Pie.
“Take me to your Tavi,” says Pinkie Pie grimly.
Rainbow Dash stops pushing. “...What?”
“Take me to Octavia.”
“Why?”
“Because I got to talk to her.”
“Is it about buying test scores? She ain't cheap, I'll tell you that right now.”
“What? No, I need her help with something. And your help, too.”
“You need her to shank somebody?”
“No.”
“Do you need me to shank somebody?”
“No! Nobody needs shanking. Well, maybe Flash.”
“You want me to shank Flash? That's pretty low.”
Pinkie Pie's demeanor sinks. “That was a joke. Just take me to Octavia, please. I'll explain everything on the way.”
Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes and pushes the elevator button. “All right, all right. You're sure grouchy this morning.”
900 Seconds Later...
“-And that is why I need your help in finding Discord,” says Pinkie Pie, now sitting across from Octavia at the cafeteria, trying very hard to ignore the sharpened plastic knife twirling between the dark haired girl's fingers. But, alas, her eyes keep following the sleek plastic. She does manage to break her eyes off of the cheap blade for a moment to flash Octavia a desperate smile, and Octavia meets her look with a stoic expression meant for a marble statue. Or so it seems. Pinkie Pie can see the gears working in Octavia's mind, and Dash's too, but the former's are going fast and smooth whereas the latter is need of some lube and something to scrub off the rust.
“Why isn't your team helping?” asks Octavia.
“Oh, they are,” says Pinkie Pie. “But I really need your expertise in the criminal underworld since you're you.”
Octavia stops twirling her crude weapon and silently stares at Pinkie Pie intently, not even risking a blink or any sort of break of eye contact.
“Look, Octavia, this is important. Besides, how hard can it be to ask a few questions?” says Rainbow Dash. She is sitting on the table next to Octavia, trying to open a bottle of soda.
Octavia leans forward and digs her plastic knife in the table, staring at her reflection in the black plastic.
“Its a lot harder than you think,” says Octavia.
“Really? You just go up, ask the questions and leave when you get answers, no biggie,” says Rainbow Dash.
“Things are different where I come from. Information is not just given freely. They would want something in return.”
“Like money?” asks Pinkie Pie, leaning forward. “Rarity's got money. I'm sure I can convince her to cough up some dough.”
Octavia shakes her head. “Money is cheap. It is favors they are more interested in.”
“I'll gladly do whatever favor they want as long as they help me take out Discord.”
Octavia looks at Rainbow Dash, and when she receives a nod she exhales slowly and looks at Pinkie Pie, her grip tightening on her knife.
“Fine,” says Octavia. “But when we go you must follow my lead. No exceptions.”
Pinkie Pie grins and flashes a thumbs up. “Thanks, Tavi! You're the best. I don't care what Dashie says about you.”
And then she skips away, shouting her farewell, oblivious to Octavia slowly looking at Rainbow Dash, who is now chugging her soda.
And chugging...
And chugging...
And chugging....
And chugging...
And chugging...
When the bottle is empty she burps and looks between the bottle and Octavia's scrutinizing eyes, smiling innocently when her eyes land on Octavia for the third time.
“I only say good things about you,” says Rainbow Dash.
Octavia quietly leaves in a hurry and Rainbow Dash watches her go, and when the door shuts she sighs and looks at her empty bottle.
“I'm surrounded by weirdos.”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
           The Slow Burn Leading To The Big Bang           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
The Slow Burn Leading To The Big Bang
“What about a smart flip phone?” says Trixie, still at the desk and her pen in hand. “Smart flip phones are all the rage, right?”
Applejack sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. “How 'bout you stop worrying about a phone and focus on school?”
Trixie scoffs. “I can't believe you!”
Applejack casts a sideways glance at Trixie, and Trixie slouches a bit and averts her eyes to her catalog.
“Okay, I can believe you,” says Trixie. “But still, a phone is vital. It has everything I can possibly need.”
“So does prison,” quips Applejack.
“Oh, ha. Ha. Give me that, you pleb.” Trixie yanks Applejack's book away and turns her back to her so she can read it, despite the protests. “You're kind of nerdy for a farmer. Why would you read all this Aura stuff when you can have hands on training? Its way more fun that way.”
Applejack uses only one hand to push Trixie across the room, and when she hits the wall with a loud yelp a picture of a flower vase falls and breaks on her head. She rolls to the sitting position and rubs her head, seething and glaring at Applejack with a head shaped indent in the wall.
“Hhhsssss... Why would you do that?” says Trixie.
Applejack picks up her book and flashes a smug smile at her downed teammate as she flips to her page.
“I just wanted some hands on training. Kinda hard to do much of it being stuck in a wheelchair and all,” says Applejack, now leaning back into her wheelchair and calmly reading her book.
Trixie continues her glare until the door opens seconds later. Applejack and Trixie turn their attention to the door and watch Rarity and Astro enter, both giggling and looking light on their feet.
Seeing this twists Applejack's face to that of confusion and Trixie's lips curl to a sneer, but the other two keep on smiling without a care.
“Howdy, Rarity. Got yourself a friend?” says Applejack.
“Yes. Applejack, Astro. Astro, Applejack,” says Rarity, motioning her hand between the two. “Astro is going to be my... partner for the upcoming dance.”
Astro leans over to shake Applejack's hand, giving a simple greeting, which she returns, and Astro looks at Trixie.
“Oh, hey, its that Pixie girl,” says Astro brightly. He leans against Rarity whispers not too quietly: “She gets second place in everything.”
Trixie growls, jumps to her feet and jabs Astro in the chest hard enough to make him stumble back.
“First off, Trixie's name is Trixie, and secondly at least Trixie has medals and fame and fans and artwork dedicated to her and a proud lineage going to the beginning of time itself! What do you have? Nothing!” yells Trixie.
Everyone stares at Trixie as she breathes heavily with a red face and fingers hooked like claws. Seconds later she takes a deep breath and runs her fingers through her hair, messing up its curl, and she tugs on her vest and brushes off nonexistent dust from her sleeve.
“Also, Trixie thought you didn't like nerds, Rarity,” says Trixie, casting the subject a harsh glance.
Rarity's eyes snap to slits and she slides her hand across her throat, baring her polished teeth in a defensive snarl. But she is done before Astro can see this, so when he looks at her with sadness bubbling in his eyes like the tears of a kicked puppy, he only sees her annoyance.
“Is that true?” asks Astro.
“That was the old me, darling,” says Rarity. She wraps her around him and nuzzles into him, staring viciously at Trixie. “Trixie is just stuck in the past, like an old drape infested with moths.”
Trixie's jaw and fists sets, and Applejack's eyes dart between the two girls before she slowly brings her book to hide her face.
“Oh, that's a relief,” says Astro. “I was beginning to think that you weren't actually into a nobody like me and were only wanting to use me to further your own agenda.”
Rarity looks at Astro with bugged out, panicked eyes and tight lips, but he is not aware of this since he is looking around the room, taking a special interest in the makeshift bunk-beds.
“This is a nice dorm you have. Organized. No B-O... Very creative use of space,” says Astro.
“Yes, well, why don't we have a seat on my bed and you can help me with my special problem,” says Rarity.
Astro nods and takes a seat on Rarity's bed, and she climbs on next and lays her smooth legs out across his, smiling sweetly and prompting her victim's face to burn up.
“I know you'll have no problem with this,” says Rarity.
**********
Out in the hallway, Pinkie Pie steps out of the elevator, skipping and humming lightly, and very satisfied about her meeting with Octavia. She can't help but snicker to herself about how well the rest of the plan has gone, despite the setback of Flash and Twilight being jerk-wads and not helping. Then she sees them.
DAFT and Radish Head.
Outside her dorm.
Pressing their ears on her door.
Her skipping slows to quiet steps and when she is by her door DAFT still has not moved, but she does hear Rarity and Astro talking and giggling. She also smells burnt rope again, but she quickly pegs it on Radish Head, which she is making a mental note on how to best repay him for his kind words about her hair. Bleach in his shampoo comes to mind. But as much as Pinkie Pie wants to make the unwelcomed skunk suffer, she has more important things to do. Namely getting into her dorm.
“Um, excuse me,” says Pinkie Pie.
She taps on Fluttershy's shoulder and the normally quiet girl shrieks and in a blur of yellow Pinkie Pie feels an all too familiar sensation of getting slapped. And hitting the floor.
When Pinkie Pie hits the ground her tongue pops out, her eyes spins and the hallway feels like it is orbiting around her while her Aura crackles around her. She hears voices and laughter, and when she is helped up by a pair of amazingly beefy manly hands made of pure testosterone her body sways on her wobbly knees despite the support.
“You okay? That was a heck of a hit you took,” says one of the four Drakes.
“I'm fine,” says Pinkie Pie, having to hold Drake's arm, and she points at Fluttershy -or one of her, anyway- causing her to partially shrink behind Drake. “You hit hard.”
“I'm sorry,” says Fluttershy.
“You just learned a hard lesson on rule number three of DAFT,” says Thorn, grinning.
“Let me guess. Don't scare Fluttershy?” says Pinkie Pie.
Thorn frowns. “Party pooper.”
“Hey, can we come in your dorm to see if Bistro is taking my advice?” says Zephyr.
Pinkie Pie, Drake, Thorn and Fluttershy all glare at him, and he shrugs, completely oblivious to his sin.
“No,” says Pinkie Pie flatly.
She then worms her way past the group, unlocks the door and barely gives herself enough space to squeeze through the door. Which, given the basic anatomy difference between male and female, and once she is inside she leaves the door open just a crack so she can look at DAFT.
“Go do some team training stuff,” says Pinkie Pie.
“You have our sniper,” says Drake.
“Do training stuff without your sniper.”
“But we need our sniper.”
“Jeeze, give the guy some space, will you? It's not like we're going to do horrible things to him.”
“But-”
“Buh-bye!”
Pinkie Pie slams the door shut, lodges a chair underneath and sighs as she leans against the door, running her fingers through her hair. Thankfully her Aura has rekindled, so the palm print on her face fades, but unfortunately it did not escape Applejack's prying eyes.
“What on earth happened to your face?” asks Applejack.
“I scared Fluttershy,” says Pinkie Pie. She smiles and waves at Astro, who is working on the cuff on Rarity's ankle. “Hi, Astro. How's it going?”
“Fine until I started doing this,” says Astro, He looks at Rarity curiously “Why exactly am I tricking the bracelet?”
Pinkie Pie slides next to Astro and hugs him against her so her chest is squished against his arm ad her breath tickling his ears, bringing a hot red tint to his face.
“Because girls just want to have fun,” says Pinkie Pie in a husky voice. She then pulls away with her hand still on his shoulder and adds in her normal tone: “And by fun I mean going around the city like college aged kids do without the school spying on us.”
Astro looks at Pinkie Pie, she smiles back. He looks at Rarity, she wiggles her feet and gives him a vixen smirk. He looks at Applejack, bu she has her face buried in her book, and when he looks at Trixie she points at her eyes and then at him. He then swallows and looks at Pinkie Pie again. She is still smiling and has yet to pull her hands off of his shoulder.
“Um, this doesn't seem very honorable,” says Astro, carefully placing his hands on Rarity's leg. “I'm actually pretty sure this is illegal.”
The girls look at each other, and Pinkie Pie sighs and rubs her brow.
“Fine, we'll do it this way.” Pinkie Pie leaps up, grabs Astro by his collar, rips him off the bed and throws him down on the floor with a loud thud and a surprised yelp from him. She then straddles his waist and holds his arms down as she glares deep into his eyes. “Listen here you little punk, you're gonna do as I say or I will have my friend bury you out in the desert Las Pegasus style. Broken knee caps, six foot hole, cowboy hats and obnoxious Western apparel, the whole nine yards and if you do anything to jeopardize this like telling anybody anything about the everything you have seen heard done, do, will do I will personally put a dead dog over you so when they come sniffing for your body they will find a dead dog not a dead geek so what do you say do you want to help me stop Discord or get a spot in the obituary?”
She finishes with her face red and chest heaving from her panting, and even her hair has flattened and now hangs down and cascades off her shoulders. Around her her team stares at her, wide eyed and frozen stiff, and below her Astro is pale like chalk and his pupils are tiny dots.
“What's it gonna be?” says Pinkie Pie.
Astro swallows. “...Who's Discord?”
~~~~~~~~~~
Some minutes later Pinkie Pie, Trixie and Astro are in the dorm elevator, with the former two having their cuffs temporarily modified for the purpose of the mission. The two girls are also sporting vastly different expressions, for Pinkie Pie's excitement is very much alive whereas Trixie's dread makes a graveyard cheerful. As for Astro, sweat is quit literally dripping off of him and soaking his clothes, which unfortunately brings a lot of body odor in the tight space that Pinkie Pie wished she did not have to smell.
“So, you aren't going to flip out when we go see whoever these guys are, right?” says Trixie venomously, wearing a new vest, soft blue dress shirt and jeans that cover her ankle bracelet with her cape clipped around her neck.
“Don't be silly. I'm cool as a cucumber now,” says Pinkie Pie, wearing a pink shirt with a trio of balloons on its center, a blue jacket, a pair of Applejack's jeans and Rarity's jogging shoes so she can comfortably hide her bracelet.
“I sure hope so because Trixie does not want to get shot again. Especially over something stupid like this.”
“You're not going to get shot.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“How positive?”
“Like infinity squared times pi positive.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Look, you aren't going to get shot. It's like the movies. We go in and out with what we need and poof. Done. No harm. No foul.”
“No harm? No foul?” Trixie jabs her thumb at Astro. “You threatened to go mob psycho on him.”
“Oh come on. He knew I was joking.” Pinkie Pie smiles nervously at Astro. “You knew I was joking, right?”
“O-of course,” stammers Astro, his voice gravely and shaky. “Just joking around between friends.”
Pinkie Pie smiles at Trixie. “See? He even called me his friend.”
Trixie wrinkles her nose. “You need help.”
“You are helping me.”
“No, Pinkie, I'm talking about real help.”
“You are giving real help. Real, reluctant, help, but still help.”
Trixie scoffs and turns away. “Whatever. Keep your denial.”
“For the record, I know what you're trying to say,” says Astro.
“Shut up,” snaps Trixie.
Astro's head dip. “Okay.”
Pinkie Pie shakes her head and looks at the polished door in front of her. Her reflection stares back, but her toothless smile looks fake to her. Actually, she knows its fake, but seeing her mask in plain sight brings an uneasy feeling to her gut, like slugs crawling around and spreading the icky slime of anxiety. From the paranoia of others seeing through her masks, to the mission going haywire, and getting tossed in jail for trying to stop Discord (again). There's is also the thought of Trixie getting shot (again) and Flash finding out that she is taking two of his teammates along for a field trip. Those will definitely put a damper on the situation.
Such thoughts are interrupted when the elevator door slides open with a pleasant ding. The trio steps into the dormitory lobby and sees Rainbow Dash and Octavia sitting in the lounge. Rainbow Dash is sitting on the couch with her feet up on the table and her focus on a football game, wearing a blue windbreaker with a lightning bolt on its shoulder, her sneakers and stripped jogging pants. As for Octavia, she is wearing a gray suit with a dray duster coat and has her hat on her lap; she sitting in a chair with her back against the wall and her eyes on high alert. When the three reach them, Pinkie Pie is the first to smile and wave.
“Guess who I brought?” says Pinkie Pie.
Rainbow Dash looks away from the television and frowns at Pinkie Pie when she sees Astro smiling at them nervously.
“Seriously? You brought him?” says Rainbow Dash.
“You didn't say anything about him,” says Octavia.
“Well, we gotta take care of the thing on you leg don't we?” says Pinkie Pie.
Octavia hesitates. “He better not follow us when he's done.”
“Don't worry, he won't.” Pinkie Pie grabs Astro's arm and swings him to Octavia's lap, getting a girly squeak from him and bugged eyed surprise from her. “Work your magic, big boy! Time's a ticking!”
125 minutes later...
“Four girls on a dangerous quest to save a city ruled by sin,” says Trixie theatrically. “Each with their own set of skills, their own dark pasts and vices. But they are skilled. They are dangerous. And they will save the city. Starting with a bus ride.”
The bus they are on hisses and jolts to a stop, shaking the girls into each other, and the door cranks open to let in a group of dark skinned guys with black stripes on their hands and faces, and streaks of white going through their hair. They pay their toll without much care for their obnoxious voice volume. For the most part the girls ignore them, but Octavia stares at them cautiously. With that stare comes her hands tensing, but no one seems to notice this but Pinkie Pie.
“Relax, Octavia,” says Pinkie Pie, placing a hand on her lap.
“Move your hand,” orders Octavia.
Pinkie Pie immediately complies and Octavia switches seats so she is next to the emergency exit where she quietly watches the new group. The rest of the girls carry on without acknowledging Octavia's behavior.
“Did anybody else think it was weird that we had to do that stuff in the janitor's closet?” says Rainbow Dash. “I mean, what if he spreads some crazy rumor that makes people think we're one of those Equestria Untamed girls?”
“He won't spread anything, trust me,” says Pinkie Pie.
“How do you know?”
“I talked to him before we came down. Plus last time I told him I slept in the nude he got mad at me, so he won't do any weird closet story stuff.”
Rainbow Dash raises a brow. “Sleeping the nude, huh? Like Applejack?”
Pinkie Pie cocks her head. “What? She doesn't sleep in the nude.”
“She doesn't?”
“No!”
“Huh... That's not what the word on the campus is.”
Pinkie Pie covers her face with her hands and bangs her head against the window, groaning loudly. “Oh, goddess. You're joking, right?”
“No. That whole rumor started when she wouldn't get out of the sleeping bag the whole night when we first got here and watched that kick ass movie. Seriously, how have you not heard this? Its about your cousin and teammate, that's like being oblivious to someone punching you in the face twice.”
Pinkie Pie screams into her hands. “O-M-F! I was a joking when I said that! Applejack just hates being around a lot of people. Its like a really weird phobia she has.”
“Oh... Well, good luck getting rid of that rumor.”
Pinkie Pie groans in her hands.
“That certainly does explain why we get a lot of guys sitting near our table,” says Trixie with disappointment. “And here I thought it was because Trixie was in the vicinity. But, no, they wanted to peek at your cousin.”
“Sorry Applejack is stealing your thunder,” says Pinkie Pie sourly, her hands still on her face.
“Me too.”
Pinkie Pie throws down her hands just to glare at Trixie, but her teammate doesn't notice, so she goes to looking at Rainbow Dash, who is laying on the bus seat, legs stretched out to the fullest. She also has her phone out and is vigorously mashing away on her touch screen. Pinkie Pie can feel the envy radiating off of Trixie, and she does feel a little bit of withdrawal from not having her phone for a while. She briefly wonders how many messages she missed, but pushes that aside when she Octavia has yet to take her eyes off of the group, and that her knuckles have turned white from how hard she is clenching the bar.
“You okay over there?” asks Pinkie Pie.
“She's fine,” says Rainbow Dash. “She's one of those people watchers. Nothing to it.”
The bus stops, the doors slide open and the group gets off while another gets on. This group is quiet, and Octavia's grip has loosened, but she still watches the newcomers. One is a light brown women with flowing dark hair wearing a dark dress that is open to her thighs, a green corset and knee high boots. The other is a copper skinned man wearing a spiffy black suit with diamond cuffs, sunglasses and his long black hair is tied to a ponytail.
Pinkie Pie immediately gets a painful tingle running through her hands, and she flexes them and looks at Octavia, who has once again tightened her grip on the bar. Trixie and Rainbow Dash have also followed their lead in staring at the strangers.
“How much you wanna bet that they gambled away all their money?” says Rainbow Dash, smiling at Octavia.
Octavia pulls a wire above her head and a ding echoes in the bus, bringing it to a gradual stop. Once it stops, the door next to Octavia opens and she jumps to her feet.
“This is our stop,” says Octavia.
She hurries off the bus, bringing the others to scramble after her in a less than delicate way, and when they all stagger on to the sidewalk the bus drives off without a second thought. This brings the three to look at Octavia, who is now looking at an illuminated map of the city bolted to the brick wall in a protective case.
“I really need to get a car. All this bus riding is boring,” says Rainbow Dash. “Plus the sudden stopping makes me feel sick.”
“You and me both,” says Trixie.
Octavia remains quiet, and her finger stays pressed against a red rectangle on the map, and she barely flinches when Pinkie Pie puts her hand on her shoulder.
“Octavia, are you okay?” says Pinkie Pie.
Octavia briskly walks down the sidewalk, staying close to the walls and leaving Pinkie Pie behind.
“Let's move. We don't have a lot of time left,” says Octavia.
Trixie and Rainbow Dash exchange looks before they follow her. Pinkie Pie, however, remains in place. She takes one long, hard look down where the bus went, but all she sees is passing cars, all oblivious to the dangers they are facing, and after taking a moment to observe Octavia's speedy steps she hums quizzically and then jogs after her.
~~~~~~~~~~
On the bus, Sombra stares out the window, watching the buildings speed on by, listening to the passing engines and pushing against the advertisements plastered all over the walls, Products, politicians, movies, all of it he doesn't care about, but they are constantly in his face like a never ending psychological war urging him to surrender to the giants. So far the only battles he has failed at is the clothing industry... and shoes... and jewelry... maybe some fancy hair care products and soap. Makeup, too, but that is to keep his complexion fabulous. However, he has yet to cast a single ballot so he's doing great on that part.
Evil advertisements aside, he looks at Chrysalis and feels a painful pressure build in his chest. She looks beautiful in her dress, and he wishes he can see more of that smile of hers when they are working. Or even when they are not working. Right now she looks agitated. She's probably hungry. He knows he is and he knows that his mother was a real ogre when she was hungry, but he never saw his father eat yet he was the opposite of an ogre. It was an oddity he never could figure out.
“If you don't mind me asking, what's a couple of nice folks like you taking the bus for?” asks the driver.
“Our car got stolen,” says Chrysalis.
Sombra nods. He always told her to lock the car doors, but did she listen? Nope. But the car wasn't even theirs to begin with since they stole it from a park not too long ago, and it ran like shit and nothing was in it so he really doesn't know why she's upset. If anything having their getaway car stolen will throw the cops off their trail since they did kill six people in a recycling plant and threw their bodies in the trash dicer. But a list is a list and its got to get marked off one way or the other.
“Oh, man that sucks,” says the bus driver. “So, do you live here or are you visiting?”
“We're visiting friends,” says Chrysalis.
“That's nice. Where are you from?”
“A nice town called Unmarked Grave.”
The bus driver nods slowly. “Okay, I'll shut up now.”
“Thank you.”
Sombra smiles and shakes his head.
That's his girl.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                      Suicide Queens                       
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Suicide Queens
The Sly Cat illuminates the brick wall in a neon red glow. Music thumps from inside and people wait outside in a line, all dressed from prim and proper to low and dirty. In front of the metal door are four large men in suits with sunglasses, with two actually guarding the door, one checking names on a list and another inspecting the customers with a fat wand. It only takes Pinkie Pie one blink to notice the vests underneath their suits and the pistols hidden from view.
Octavia walks over the guard guarding the checker -who is the only one wearing a white suit with a purple tie and has slick black hair- with the others in close tow and she stands next to him, hands clamped in front of her and head craned up just a bit so her eyes can meet his. It takes him a few seconds to notice her, but when he does his eyes bulge and he eyes her up and down.
“Well, I'll be damned. Octavia, is that you in front of me?” says the guard.
“It is,” says Octavia.
The guard chuckles and hugs her, and she returns the hug, though not as tight as his it still brings looks of confusion to the rest.
“Okay, which one of you lost Octavia?” says Rainbow Dash, pointing accusingly at Pinkie Pie and Trixie.
Octavia pulls away and fights off a flickering smile. “Elusive, we need to see the Bosses.”
Elusive's smile fades, and he turns to one of the guards at the door and orders them to keep watch while he talks to the girls. The guard wordlessly obeys and Elusive leads the group away from the crowd. When they are in a garbage infested alley with graffiti on the walls and dumpster he stops them and looks sternly at Octavia.
“Why do you want to talk to the bosses?” says Elusive.
“It is important,” says Octavia.
“You know your father doesn't want you in this life and the Bosses will drag you back in. What could possibly be so important that you'd jeopardize your father's wishes?”
“We need to find somebody and fast.”
“Who? I might know somebody who isn't a Boss that can help.”
“Discord.”
“Oh.” Elusive sighs and rubs his forehead. “Yeah, that's a problem. Discord is on their Black List. There's a huge bounty on him from us, but out of all the people we sent only one came back, and that was because Discord put a phone bomb in his gut and detonated him in one of our diners. Gutted the whole thing!”
“I'm pretty sure the news would have reported that,” says Rainbow Dash skeptically.
“We bribed them and the cops to write it off as a gas leak explosion.”
“Oh. That's one way to handle it, I guess.”
Pinkie Pie butts her way in front of Octavia and looks into Elusive's eyes, hands clamped tightly in front of her chest and eyes shimmering with desperation.
“But the Bosses know where Discord is, right?” says Pinkie Pie. “Like they actually know where he's hiding out?”
“Everybody who's important knows where Discord is,” says Elusive, “but nobody's touching him and word on the street is the cops were ordered to stop looking for him from someone up top.”
“This just keeps getting better and better,” says Trixie.
“So it sounds to me like you need an outsider to solve your Discord problem.” Pinkie Pie slides next to Elusive and bats her lashes at him as she squeezes his arm and flashes a sultry smile. “I can do that for you. Easy peasy, free and cheesy.”
Elusive raises a brow. “Free and cheesy?”
“It just came out, but I can still help.”
Elusive glances at Octavia, and when she nods he sighs and rubs his brow.
“Okay, fine. But I'm warning you right here and now that if you do this there will be no turning back,” says Elusive.
“Sounds fun. Let's do it,” says Pinkie Pie.
Elusive shakes his head and motions the girls to follow him around the back, where a couple of more guards are. Only these ones are not shy of their weapons, which just happen to be large shotguns, and they are not ashamed of sitting on the dirty crates, either. Elusive greets them and informs them that the girls are with him, and when they open the door, the group steps inside and-
The door to the PART(ie) dorm opens, and Applejack, without looking up from her Aura book speaks nonchalantly.
“Ya finally decided to get some sense back, Pinks?”
“I'm afraid not,” says a familiar voice.
Applejack looks up and her eyes about nearly pop out of her skull when she sees none other than Principal Celestia Faustsend standing in front of her. Her hands are clamped behind her back, her figure is tall and imposing to where light is fleeing from her, and worse of all her narrowed eyes appear ready to shoot a beam of fire into her skull.
“I really don't like coming back from a vacation just to find that some of my students has tampered with their probation bracelet,” says Celestia. She steps forward and looks down on Applejack, revealing that it is no trick of the eyes, her pupils are literally pulsing fire. “So, tell me, Ashlyn Apple, where is your leader?”
“Do you really have to do this?” says Trixie, disgust dripping from her voice as music thumps against the walls and beams of multi-colored light slide everywhere outside the tinted windows.
“Yes,” says Elusive. “Club policy.”
Trixie scowls and looks at the large box that has been set before them, but Pinkie Pie is not concerned about the contents of the box. No, her concern is that the room has its corners guarded by men in suits wearing pony masks. She stares at them, and they stare back, and her hand briefly twitches, which brings them to flinch.
“Man, these guys are furries?” says Rainbow Dash as she digs through the box, pulling out random cartoony animal tails and ears, among other things.
“You have a problem with furries?” says Octavia while putting on fluffy pony ears and giving her partner an unnerving stare.
“No!” blurts Rainbow Dash uneasily. “I'm totally not a hater. Haters are lame. In fact, I'm going to take this thing!”
Rainbow Dash grabs the top most item on the box... then frowns and holds it out at arms length. Pinkie Pie cannot help but snicker at that, and Trixie raises a brow.
“Wow. That is so gay,” says Trixie.
A few minutes later the group is walking down a brightly lit hallway lined with tinted windows that give a great vantage point over a gigantic room down below that is filled gambling tables. From blackjack, to roulette, to crabs, to poker, and other games that Pinkie Pie has never seen before. At the far end of the gambling room is a large door with a flashy sign that says CLUB HOUSE, and it is also guarded.
The hallway is lined with pony masked guards and at the end is a large, metal door with two machine gun turrets above it. Out of everything Pinkie Pie has seen so far, the turrets are the most unnerving, and from the looks of it, the rest of the group holds the same feeling.
“The door and turrets are new,” says Octavia.
“We've been having problems lately,” says Elusive.
He stops at the door, knocks three times, then waits. Several seconds later the door clicks and hisses, and it splits apart to reveal a circular room with a long table at the far end. Sitting at the table are four figures who are covered by shadows, but have symbols inside white circles projected in front of them. One has a red diamond, another has a black club, the next is a red heard, and the least has a black spade.
Elusive leads the girls into the room, and when they reach a red line he orders them to stop. They do as he say, but he keeps walking until he is at a red circle next to the Black Spade, then he faces the girls and clamps his hands in front of him.
“You destroyed one of our establishments,” says Black Club.
Rainbow Dash, Trixie and Octavia look at Pinkie Pie, and she looks at them, then at the shadow group and she points at herself.
“Are you talking to me?” asks Pinkie Pie.
“Yes,” says Black Club.
“Oh... My bad.”
“Are you serious? All you have to say about blowing up one of our buildings is 'My bad'?”
Pinkie Pie shrugs, and Trixie groans and face-palms.
“Great, we're going to die,” says Trixie.
“Nobody is going to die,” says Red Heart. “While my companion may be upset about it, the insurance was twice the structure's value, hence why we didn't kill anybody in their sleep.”
Pinkie Pie smiles. “I'm glad it worked out, then.”
“Buildings aside, we have more pressing matters at hand,” says Black Club. “Matters such as why you are so keen on finding Discord.”
“Funny story,” says Pinkie Pie. “Discord actually killed me and hurt my friends. I don't want to kill him, but I want to hurt him really, really badly, and Octavia said you guys might be able to help, so here we are.”
She finishes with a clap and flashes a big smile, and the four shadows silently stare at her, which brings her smile to a nervous state and leads to some sweat trickling down the back of her neck.
“I see,” says Black Spade. “But are you prepared to make a deal with us? You are all young and have the potential for many years of peace. I know one of you tried very hard to never return to us, but the rest of you have no idea what this world brings and to enter it will bring an everlasting blade aimed at your back.”
“How desperate are you for information?” asks Black Club. “Are you willing to enter our world for only a moment of clarity?”
“Me? Definitely. But I got a question,” says Pinkie Pie. “If we agree to have this exchange is there like a contract of say... a few months? A couple of days? You won't turn us into call girls will you?”
“No,” says Red Diamond. “The exchange is simple, you want information about Discord and we can give you that, but in order to get it we need to have your word that you will do something very important to us.”
“Name it and we'll do it. Or, I'll do it, or it'll get done somehow! Pinkie Promise.”
Black Spade scribbles some information on a piece of paper and gives it to Elusive, who then gives it to Pinkie Pie. She is quick to snatch it up and sees an address on it, and she is just as quick to thank him, but he does not return the manners.
“Now for your job. Ahuizotl Tepoztlán used to be an associate of ours,” says Red Heart.
“He left on good terms and actually brought us business with his new partners, but really this was an unkind ploy that has, in the end, cost us much, and he must be removed,” says Red Diamond.
“You mean... you want us to kill him?” asks Trixie uneasily.
“Precisely. We have word of his location being in San Palomino,” says Black Club. “It is a red zone, unfortunately, but we are certain you will find a way over there.”
“If you fail to uphold your end of the bargain then there will be grave consequences,” says Black Spade. “Are you still up for the task?”
Trixie holds up her finger. “Can we-?”
“Absolutely!” blurts Pinkie Pie.
“PINKIE!”
Pinkie Pie looks at Trixie, confused as to why her teammate is red and blowing smoke from her ears. Or why the other two are giving her hostile looks as well.
“What? I gotta find Discord,” says Pinkie Pie.
“Good. Do not fail us,” says Black Spade.
“Don't worry, a Pie always keeps their promises,” says Pinkie Pie.
“So I've been told.”
A sleek, blade-like golden car screeches to a stop outside The Sly Cat, and its door slides up and over the roof when Celestia steps out. On her wrists are a pair of large bracelets with golden gems attached to them, and as she marches towards the front entrance and holds up her key to press the lock button. The car beeps and its lights flash, followed by a shimmering shell that covers it fully.
The door to the chamber seals when the girls and Elusive are in the hallway, but upon leaving Pinkie Pie feels a tingling weight coming down on her, and she looks out the window for reasons unknown to her. She sees nothing special, only people gambling their rent and life savings away. She swallows for air and scratches her head, not being too surprised when she finds strands of pink tangling her fingers.
“Way to go, we've just been employed as hitmen,” says Trixie sourly. “And we're probably going to get expelled, too, so thanks for crushing my dreams. I really appreciate that.”
“You're not going to get expelled,” says Pinkie Pie. “Maybe.”
“Maybe!? Oh my Faust, you are the worst leader ever!”
Pinkie Pie pokes Trixie's nose. “Hey, snort a chill pill. I'll figure out something and we'll all be fine. I just need to think for a moment.”
“Like how we're going to get to San Palomino?” says Rainbow Dash sourly.
“Well, duh. I gave the guy a promise. A very dark, messed up promise, but a promise is a promise, so I gotta figure it out. The good news is that we know where Discord is, so we can scratch that off our list of things to do.” Pinkie Pie rubs her chin, humming loudly as she looks at the paper Black Spade gave her. “Where's 8192 Curve Ball Street?”
“It used to be a sports arena near the Canterlot Wall, but it is abandoned and scheduled to be torn down, along with the whole neighborhood,” says Elusive. He takes a deep breath and looks at the girls. “Are you sure you want to do this? If you want out I can convince the Bosses to drop the deal, but once you go down the elevator the deal is sealed.”
“But I got a bone to pick with Discord,” says Pinkie Pie, now feeling a very painful, sickly tingle running through her body.
Then the elevator down the hall dings, bringing the group to a halt and waiting patiently for it to do its thing. When the shiny doors slide open Octavia's eyes expand fully and become polluted with fear and Elusive shares a very similar reaction with the added display of him aiming his pistol at the elevator, for standing inside is a man and woman. The man is encased in a glowing black crystal shell and is holding a bloody corpse with his sharp claws, and the woman is tightening a muffler on a very large pistol with a glowing gem in the barrel.
“Oh, hello, Elusive,” says Chrysalis, flashing a wicked smile. “Abbadon sends his regards.”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   To Fight A Shell Fish                   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
To Fight A Shell Fish
The elevator down the hall dings, and the group waits patiently for it to open. When the shiny doors slide open Octavia's eyes expand fully and fear drains her colors. Elusive shares a very similar reaction with the added display of him aiming his pistol at the elevator, for standing inside is a man and woman. The man is encased in a glowing black crystal shell and is holding a bloody corpse with his sharp claws, and the woman is tightening a muffler on a very large pistol with a glowing gem in the barrel.
“Oh, hello, Elusive,” says Chrysalis, flashing a wicked smile. “Abbadon sends his regards.”
In a blink of an eye Chrysalis's weapon flashes and Elusive is blasted off of his feet with his Aura shattering and a sharp beam ripping through his chest.
Octavia screams and Pinkie Pie's eyes widen with the sight of Elusive laying on the ground in a growing pool of blood. Just like when she found Trixie with the Twins. She turns her focus to Chrysalis, her eyes narrowing and her jaw and fists clenching. Her heart beats slow and hard as the space around her tightens and warps.
“Sombra, be a dear and take care of the Kings,” says Chrysalis. “I'll deal with-”
There is a flash of blue and a streak that impacts Chrysalis. The assassin flies off of her feet, hits Sombra, who crashes into the elevator. There is a deafening bang, followed by metal snapping, and the elevator drops from sight, dragging with it severed cables and some broken gears. Moments later there is a thud and a cloud of dust rolls up and out of the shaft, curling around Pinkie Pie's flat haired, panting form.
Sparks of blue slither in and around Pinkie Pie's fist, and the floor, walls and ceiling are warped with shattered wood and glass, bent metal and sparking wires. She takes a deep breath and with a shaky hand she wipes some of her hair out of her face and turns to the group, being met with shock and terror. Octavia is holding Elusive on her lap, her wet, bloodshot staring at Pinkie Pie with her body being covered in the unending flow of blood. Rainbow Dash and Trixie are both frozen in a charging stance, but Trixie is farther back and partially using Dash as a meat shield, and both girls have nigh identical expressions of shock.
“What... The Hell?” says Rainbow Dash.
“I wasn't going to let them hurt any of you,” says Pinkie Pie, flexing her now sore hand.
“Yeah, but you used a whole helluva lot of your Aura powers with the blocker on! If that even is Aura. What did you do?”
“I don't know. I think I bend reality or something. I've done it before.”
“Look, I'm wierded out by it, too, especially since this is a lot stronger than last time," says Trixie, "but we really need to get out of here. Like right now. We can talk about Pinkie Pie being a freak later.”
Pinkie Pie nods, and looks at Octavia, who is hunching over Elusive and crying quietly, stroking her pale face with a bloody hand.
Rainbow Dash kneels next to her and puts her hand on her shoulder. “Come on. Let's get out of here.”
A sickly feeling suddenly stabs Pinkie Pie through the gut, and she looks at the elevator door, gulping and shivering as something makes a ruckus in the shaft.
Ca-Lunk! Ca-Lank!
Ca-Lunk! Ca-Lank!
Ca-Lunk! Ca-Lank!
The noise brings the rest of the group to stare at the open shaft, and in seconds black, crystal claws snap over the edge and easily dig into the floor. This is followed by Sombra pulling himself into view with Chrysalis riding on his back. When he is at a good level she climbs off of him and brushes herself off while Sombra rises behind her, both crackling with Aura, but unlike her, Sombra's Aura also leads to his shell regrowing. After Sombra is fully encased in the black crystal, Chrysalis smirks at the girls and cracks her knuckles.
“Things are now getting interesting,” says Chrysalis. She eyeballs Pinkie Pie. “I was getting bored with my job, but now I have you to deal with. Do you want to make the first move?”
Pinkie Pie steps forward, clenching her fists and trying to remember how she managed to warp the world around. She unfortunately draws a blank, so all she gets is a normal fist. But before there can be any pain a firm hand goes on her shoulder, and she glances behind her to see Octavia glaring at Chrysalis, her purple eyes bright like hellfire.
“She's mine,” says Octavia.
“You are not taking her alone,” says Pinkie Pie.
“She won't,” says Rainbow Dash. She stands next to Octavia. “She's got me.”
“Wow. Corny,” teases Chrysalis.
“Hey, shut up!”
Sombra takes a heavy step forward, but is stopped when Chrysalis grabs his arm.
“Relax,” says Chrysalis. “I'll let them challenge me. You can capture the Warper. I think you'll do fine.”
Pinkie Pie holds up her hands . “Wait a minute. Can't we-”
And that is all she is able to say before she becomes weightless with a very, very hard punch to the gut expelling all the air from her. Tinted shards of glass fly around her, and the world swirls into a blur, stabilizing when she going face to face with a poker table. The resulting belly flop is, to put plainly, painful. And it leaves her motionless and crackling on top of a pile of shattered wood. People scream and scatter, and men in suits rush forward, only to skid to a stop when Sombra leaps from the hole in the upper level and lands not too far from Pinkie Pie.
The floor snaps around his feet, and the guards yank out their pistols and immediately start shooting. The bullet bounce off uselessly against his shell, but he still growls and charges them.
Pinkie Pie groans and pushes herself up, her Aura crackling and her bones and various cuts and bruises restitching and fading. Her vision is hazy and her head is wobbly, but she is still able to see Sombra slaughtering the guards with ease. Each swipe from his claws sends them flying or crumbling with streaks of red trailing them.
Pinkie Pie grinds her teeth and uses a thick table leg to push herself up, and despite the pain throbbing in her chest and ribs, she still marches towards Sombra and with a mighty yell she swings the leg against his back. The wood shatters and Sombra stops strangling the last guard and looks at her. They stare at each other for only a second before Pinkie Pie realizes that she made a horrible error. And that horrible error sentiment is enforced when she finds herself yet again flying. Only this time it is into a slot machine that rocks and goes into a never ending spin with cheerful jingles playing through its speakers.
Sombra discards the last -now dead- guard and walks towards Pinkie Pie. She winces and uses the machine lever to pull herself up on wobbly legs. Her beating heart thumps in her ears, her back aches and the cloudy tears sting her eyes, but she still meets his advancement with a defiant glare. When Sombra is but a few paces from her, she clenches her fist, trying yet again to get the spark to return.
There is more luck, this time around. She can actually feel power coursing through her and the discomfort mimicking earlier uses returns. However, before she gets a chance to try it again, a familiar person calls out to them.
“Hey, shell fish!” yells Trixie.
Sombra looks towards the source and finds Trixie standing in a doorway, panting, sweating and clothes ruined from a good brawl. Above her is a broken emergency light, and in her hand is a gem that is covering her hand in a weak electric ball.
“You wanna fight a true Huntress?” says Trixie.
Sombra looks at Trixie.
Then at Pinkie Pie.
Then at Trixie,
Then he waves her off with a dismissive snort and lunges at Pinkie Pie.
She rolls out of the way, and his claws pierce the machine with ease. Sparks fly, the music dies down, and when he yanks his claw out coins spill out like the guts of a squished animal. With Sombra's blunder, Pinkie Pie roars and punches him in the gut. There is a shock that shatters the floorboards and Sombra skids back, clutching his gut. Then Trixie charges him, leaps, and brings her fist down on his head, leading to an electric pop that slams him into the wrecked floor.
He falls flat on his face, wood and torn carpet poking up around him and shards of crystal breaking off. The two girls step back, panting and pounding fists.
“One down,” says Pinkie Pie.
“One to go,” finishes Trixie.
The door Trixie came from suddenly bangs open, and Chrysalis stumbles out, holding her bleeding arm. She staggers forward, trips over her foot and rolls down the steps, coming to a stop at the base, hissing painfully. Seconds later, Octavia materializes out of the dark doorway, her eyes still burning, and in her bleeding hand a broken piece of glass that drips blood. Rainbow Dash runs up behind Octavia, looking worse for wear with her crackling Aura, bloody face and torn clothing.
“Okay, Octavia, she learned her lesson. You can chill! Let the cops handle her!” says Rainbow Dash.
Octavia keeps walking, her steps slow and heavy, and Chrysalis pulls herself up, using the railing for support and looks at the mafiosa, snickering insanely.
“I am very much out of practice. Too many easy targets ruined my game,” says Chrysalis. “But don't you worry, little demon child, next time we meet I will give you the fight that you crave!” She looks at Sombra. “You can stop playing dead.”
Sombra calmly stands up with his face no longer covered in shell, and cracks his neck, bringing Pinkie Pie and Trixie to scream and jump back.
“How in the world is he not dead!? Or crippled!? Or- Or- What the heck!?” says Trixie.
Sombra holds out his hands, nods at Pinkie Pie, and then he claps his hands together and slams them on the ground, creating a blinding light that ejects from beneath him and races around him in spokes and loops. Seconds later, black crystals explode from beneath the floor, blanketing everyone with rubble and thick dust.
The girls cough and hack and wave away the dust as they aimlessly move through the cloud, holding out their hands to feel where they are going. There is mostly rough crystals and broken gambling equipment, though.
“Is everyone okay?” shouts Pinkie Pie.
“I'm fine,” says Rainbow Dash.
“I'm not,” says Octavia.
“Trixie is so taking a bath when she gets back,” says Trixie.
“Not before you explain a few things,” says another girl.
“Wow, which one of you said that? That was a really good Celestia impression!” says Pinkie Pie.
“I did,” says Celestia.
Pinkie Pie freezes, and in a blink a blast of light pushes away all the dust, leaving the girls temporarily blinded. But when they do regain their sight, Pinkie Pie turns around and sees Celestia glaring down at her, arms folded across her chest and literal balls of fire pulsing in her eyes. At this point there are two options left:
First: Run.
Second: Smile.
Pinkie Pie chooses to smile. Innocently. Like the good girl she is.
“I know this looks bad, but this is not what it looks like,” says Pinkie Pie.
Author's Note
How long has it been? I don't know. This was just one of those things where I got the burst and typed it all up in 55 minutes. Oddly enough, the inspiration for this chapter came up when I heard this song:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/QzCyF0lrioc/mqdefault.jpg
Honestly, I think this song is a good fit for Sombra, which I really would like to get more into his origins and whatnot. Unless you guys don't want it. Then I won't do it.  
On another point regarding this story, I would like to finish it, too. One of the problems is that it has really gone off the rail from its source, so I can't do what I did with the first one. I don't even know where I am with this one. Half way? Don't know. I long lost the notes for it. Even then I really didn't follow the notes, because screw notes. Notes are gay.  
Lastly, the other characters will return, but on a scale of 1 to 12, I think of this story as possibly 6, with Fellowship at 11 and Contract at 9.   
Anyway. Remember that you are loved.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   The Bad Day Continues                   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
The Bad Day Continues
There is good news to the fiasco that has consumed Pinkie Pie. Trixie will not be stuck as being second best at everything, Rarity will be something more than a pretty face, and Applejack will not have to disappoint her family. All it took was for Pinkie Pie to be demoted and having her family threatened with a million bit fine while she is put in a state of limbo. Totally fair and worth it.
Now if only her tongue will work so she can tell APRT the good news.
“Why on earth did you cut your hair!?” says Rarity.
“Pinkie, can you talk to me?” says Applejack, her hands cupping Pinkie's cheeks and her eyes trying to find life in her cousin's dim blue pupils.
“You two have got to give her space. She literally destroyed a sink with her bare hands, so crowding her is not a good idea,” says Trixie from her safe space in the back of the room, flipping through her phone catalog again. This brings a harsh look from Rarity directed to her.
“At least we're doing something! You're just sitting there reading that catalog,” says Rarity.
“Trixie will have you know that Trixie has done more to help Pinkie than you two,” counters Trixie.
“Oh really? Do tell.”
Trixie flips the page of her catalog. “Trixie slugged the guy that put that stupid ugly hair thought in Pinkie's head. I also got a dance partner out of it.”
Applejack whips her head to Trixie, glaring at her.
“Are you serious?” says Applejack.
“Yes. Thorn is actually a swell guy if you get to know him,” says Trixie.
Applejack's frown deepens. “I'm talking about you slugging that pothead.”
“Oh... Yes. Completely, totally, one hundred percent true and worth it in every way. Though, now my hand hurts a little bit. He was really thick headed.”
Applejack hides her face in her hands, groaning, and Trixie leans against the wall, scanning her catalog again, and with a smile she bites off the cap of a marker she had tucked on her vest and circles a random spot.
“I think I'll go retro. Flip phones seem to be all the rage today,” says Trixie.
Applejack rolls her eyes. “Glad you're happy.”
“Thank you.”
“That was sarcasm.”
Rarity puts on a pair of rubber cleaning gloves that she pulled out from the wreckage of the sink and starts picking up clumps of the wet hair to put in the garbage can. But as Rarity cleans up the mess, Pinkie Pie remains still, watching her former subordinate grabbing the wads and feeling guilt settling in. Her arm is fixed and the first thing she uses it for is picking up hair. How great. Though, as much as Pinkie Pie wants to move, she cannot. She can only stare and shiver in her soaked clothes.
“We need to get her some fresh air,” said Rarity. “Perhaps a trip to the city will do her some good?”
“I guess we can do that. We got to tell maintenance about our... eh, faucet exploding, though,” says Applejack, looking at the mess of water. “There's gonna definitely be some water damage.”
“This high tech facility can survive a little water. But Pinkie needs air and I need to buy a new phone, so let's go to town and kill two birds with one stone,” says Trixie.
“Do you think of anybody other than yourself?” asks Rarity, frowning deeply.
“Trixie has quotas, okay? Trixie was already thoughtful once today so that fills that slot.”
Rarity narrows her eyes and Applejack gently pulls Pinkie Pie to her feet and escorts her out of the bathroom.
“C'mon, Pinks, let get you in some dry clothes,” says Applejack.
It is quick work to get Pinkie Pie in dry clothes, which puts her in a blue shirt with gold buttons and sleeves down to her elbows, a light blue button up plaid shirt below it, and a pink skirt with knee high socks. The rest of the young women also changed, putting Applejack in her jeans, her orange and red plaid shirt and a stetson; Trixie also had her jeans, plus her silver dress shirt and purple vest and cape; and Rarity wears a black skirt with a white frill, a black light jacket with white cuffs, and a white shirt and blue tie underneath it. Once they are all changed Applejack picks up the dorm phone and dials the maintenance number, which is high lighted and circled by stars made from glitter glue.
“What are you doing? We're burning daylight!” says Trixie.
“I gotta call in the sink,” says Applejack. The phone clicks, and like a string being pulled, Applejack looks away from the group. “Hello?”
A female voice with a disgustingly fake, cheerful tone speaks. “Thank you for calling the Royal Canterlot Academy of Supernatural Defense Maintenance Department. Our Department is currently closed, so after the beeps please leave your name, number, dorm number, and relation of call and we will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you and have a wonderful night!”
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP... Beep.
Applejack sighs and rubs her forehead. “Wow~”
One Hundred and Thirty Three Minutes Later...
Pinkie Pie is staring at a collection of thin phones, all with screens of alternating advertisements ranging from apps to features and random people faking smiles and laughter. With a frown, Pinkie Pie pokes one of the phones' screens and the fake smiling man disappears to show a display of cartoony icons. She quickly finds one with a book inside a speech bubble and after poking it, it opens a log in screen with Welcome To Chatbook, but rather than typing in her information she closes the program and goes to the window to watch the shuffling crowd and busy traffic. Across the street, a green building with balloon shaped lamps flanking its tree shaped doors stands out, and above the door in curvy orange letters is: Happy Tree House of Fun
It looks tempting to go into, especially with the kids coming out with stuffed Ursas and beady eyed spriggins the size of their bodies.
“That'll be sixty bits,” says a bored male.
Pinkie Pie looks over her shoulder and sees Trixie at the stall, pulling out her wallet while a zit faced guy with buck teeth stares at her with eyes weighed down from boredom. Nearby, Applejack is inspecting a phone case and Rarity is grabbing a card from a display of a small phone with a holographic projection displaying a ring of apps. After Trixie pays, Rarity goes to the counter and Trixie nearly skips away, tearing open her box and stuffing the extra components in her pocket.
She stops by Applejack and shows off her new phone: a simple flip phone with a purple case and a star on the front.
“Look at Trixie's new phone! Isn't it cool?” says Trixie, grinning broadly.
“Yeah, it looks... old,” says Applejack.
“Thanks. I like the retro look.” Trixie hops to Pinkie's side, her cape bouncing with her steps. “Look at Trixie's new phone! Isn't it cool?”
Pinkie Pie nods. “Neat. I didn't think you would go for something like that, though.”
“Puh-leeze, Trixie may be high status, but that doesn't stop Trixie from enjoying the more antique things in life... Now, how do I use the internet on this thing?”
Pinkie Pie holds up her finger, mouth open, but then closes her mouth, drops her hand and turns around shaking her head.
Several minutes later, APRT is going down the street of Canterlot, passing clean buildings of Victorian Era design and statues of winged unicorns. One such statue they pass is of a pair winged unicorns circling an orb comprised of sun and moon elements, with one of the mythical creatures ivory and the other obsidian, and gold and silver plates fused the orb. The statue is in an expansive courtyard made of cobblestone and is surrounded by towering buildings that do not hold the Victorian Era aesthetics, but are just large, featureless metal spires with large panes of glass.
The courtyard is occupied by a large crowd of people who are scrunched tight together, in awe of a raised platform and what occupies it. And when Pinkie Pie sees what they see, she cannot blame them for wanting to get closer to it.
On the platform is a machine that stands almost twenty feet tall; its legs are thick and hoofed like that of a bull, its arms are bulky thick fists, its head is large with a stocky snout and a pair of large horns made of Tesla coils with gems in their centers, and it has a pair of red eyes and speakers on its muzzle. Its colors consist of a silver base with red bands running along its limbs, and stamped on its chest is a red crescent moon, and flanking it are a dozen guards in full body heavy armor and fat rifles.
Standing on the stage, wearing a red long coat with a blue suit and gloves, plus polished black shoes and a golden scarf is a skinny man with blue hair and eyes. Next to him is a man with a black mohawk and nose piercing who is both much larger in muscle and height, where his gray suit is almost ripping from his build.
“With the power of cooperation, Iron Defense has worked tirelessly with the researchers of the Crystal Remnant, Bernese and Equestria to develop the best tools of defense in this unsafe world,” says the blue haired man. “All that work has paid off! We proudly present you: The Minotaur!”
The blue haired man steps back and crowd applauds as the larger man steps forward, purposefully flexing his arm as he shakes the skinny man's hand, ripping his sleeve in the process. Pinkie Pie's eyes widen at the site and some drool begins to pool in her mouth.
“Thank you, General Sparkle, and hello citizens of Equestria! I am Iron Will, CEO of Iron Defense!” booms the large man. “When my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Jelly Will, founded Iron Defense he had a vision: To kill things in an epic way!”
A holographic projection appears behind Iron Will, showing an array of weapons and armor, varying from pistols and rifles, to vests and gauntlets, and even vehicles.
“We have proudly carried that tradition from our first product: the Gem BB Gun,” continues Iron Will. The hologram displays a kid holding a slender rifle. The kid fires it, and there is a colorful burst of smoke that kicks the kid off the screen and leaves the rifle twirling in the air. “To the Fire Fist.”
The display changes to a large man wearing a gem encrusted glove. He punches a stack of wood that bursts into flames, and he holds up his fist proudly... Only for the fire to spread. The last thing the audience sees before the footage cuts out is the man's eyes bulging.
“All of our weapons, our armor, our vehicles have been successful, and with the help of Bernese, Equestria and the Crystal Remnant we are proud to show off our greatest creation!” says Iron Will. “The Minotaur is a feat of science and love for peace. It is armed with this kick-ass energy cannon that can devastate the target with up two hundred milliamps of raw power!”
The crowd Ooh's and Aahh's, and APRT exchanges quizzical looks as Iron Will grins and pushes a few buttons on his pad to make the Minotaur flex its arms, bringing about a series of hisses and clicks.
“It can lift up to 80 short tons, and in its powerful arms is a 7.62 millimeter machine gun and a flamethrower with petrol mixed with tar for excellent range to rip apart and/or burn the demons of Tartarus!” says Iron Will.
The arms of the Minotaur pop open and on its left arm slides out a flamethrower, and on its right a machine gun. Seeing this, Pinkie Pie whistles and the crowd applauds.
“I want one,” says Pinkie Pie.
“The gun or the flamethrower?” asks Applejack.
“The robot. I want the robot.”
“I believe it may be a bit out of your price range, darling,” says Rarity.
“How expensive could it possibly be?” asks Pinkie Pie. “I'll peg it fifty bits. Seventy five, tops.”
“You really have no idea how the real world works, do you?” asks Trixie.
Pinkie Pie looks at Trixie. “Of course I know how the real world works. I live in it!”
Trixie frowns. “You want to buy a robot for seventy five bits. That says a lot about your mind... That and basically everything you've done since we've met.”
Pinkie Pie pshaws and waves off Trixie as she walks ahead.
“Say what you want, but I'm going to see how much that robot cost,” says Pinkie Pie. “Maybe they'll have a payment plan.”
Applejack shakes her head and walks after her, as do the other two.
“Pinkie, ya ain't even employed,” says Applejack.
Pinkie Pie turns around to walk backwards, somehow managing to mostly avoid bumping into people in the crowd.
“I'm a Huntress in training. I get allowances,” says Pinkie Pie.
“That's for food and school supplies,” says Applejack.
“And bus tickets,” adds Trixie.
Pinkie Pie smirks at the group of her former subordinates and turns around, bumping right into the shoulder of a tall, stiff man. Pinkie Pie steps back, quickly apologizing, but stops herself from moving when she sees the familiar black cuffed, red tail coat with gold buttons, and the blue vest and pants. She looks up, her eyes growing wider as they go to meet his golden eyes and curled silver hair.
And in just a quick moment Pinkie Pie's brain clicks into action and she gasps with her hands clamped together in front of her chest.
“Pinprick, is that you?” asks Pinkie Pie.
“Yes, my designated name is Pinprick,” says Pinprick, his voice monotone and lifeless.
“I can't believe I ran into you here! What are the odds!” Pinkie Pie links her arm around Pinprick's and leans against him, smiling brightly at the other three young women, who are meeting her with surprise. Most notably Applejack and Rarity, who look like they have seen a ghost. “Girls, what are the odds of this happening?”
“Impossible,” says Applejack.
“You look... better,” says Rarity. She steps back and eyes Pinprick carefully. “Much better, actually.”
“I'm sorry, but I do not have any data on any of you,” says Pinprick.
Pinkie Pie's eye twitches and while her smile remains, her heart cracks and snaps with every heavy beat and her glowing hand twitches.
“Yeah, he's definitely back on the smack,” says Trixie.
“What is smack?” asks Pinprick.
Pinkie Pie grabs Pinprick's chin and pulls his head down so he is looking into her teary eyes.
“You remember me, right?” asks Pinkie Pie meekly with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I'm sorry, I do not seem to have much data on you,” says Pinprick. “There is a reminder of a deficit in my account of seventy five cents that was triggered by your appearance, but that is all.”
Pinkie Pie pulls away, her sparking hands held tight together and with her vision clouded with tears, Pinprick stares back at her with a blank expression while the other three girls look at her with worry. Nobody else in the crowd seems to notice this, though. They are in their own little world; oblivious to the trouble near them.
“Pinkie, relax,” says Applejack, her hand carefully outstretched. “We don't need another episode.”
Pinkie Pie's eyes sporadically darting between Applejack, Rarity and Trixie, her chest heaving and her throat tight.
“I'm fine,” says Pinkie Pie. She smiles. “See? Happy. Smiles. I'm happy because I'm smiling. Nothing's wrong with me.”
“I am detecting unusual energy fluctuations and high stress vitals resonating from you,” says Pinprick. “Perhaps calming practices will alleviate the stress. I would recommend meditation and/or hot Earl Gray tea.”
“Earl Gray is gross. Meditation is boring. I'm not stressed. I'm not usual energy fluctuations. I am happy on every level plus the levels you don't see!” says Pinkie Pie.
“My sensors indicate that you are lying.”
“Well, my sensors indicate that you're a jerk! Gosh!”
And with that, Pinkie Pie turns sharply on her heels and storms off, moodily apologizing to a fairly young woman with thick curly hair of violet, rose and gold carrying a tray of four caramel apples. With her is a pair of blond men with white suits and padded gloves with computers on their wrists. But she does not care about them. Even if they look at her with puzzled looks. She just has to get away and breathe somewhere before she hurts someone. And if she is going to hurt anybody it is going to be Discord for killing her and hurting her team. And maybe the pair of weirdos from the Club if she runs into them. Possibly Celestia since she put her in this whole Academy mess. But Discord is definitely at the top of the list.
She doesn't even realize how long she has been walking, or what she walked through or who she passed or even if she jaywalked. What she does know is that she has left a pair of greasy palm prints on the tree shaped doors of the Happy Tree House of Fun and upon entering she is greeted with bright colors, obnoxious children laughing, and a band of animal-humanoid animatronics playing instruments on a stage.
The group consists of a brown bear with a bow tie and black bowler hat, a golden bear with the same outfit, a purple dog with a red bow tie, a yellow chicken holding a cupcake, and a fox with an eyepatch and hook. Their music is joyful, the lyrics are fun and made more so by their robotic voices, and kids crowd in front of them, eating their pizzas and drinking their carbonated drinks with their parents.
Pinkie Pie, however, does not pay much attention to the band or the music or the kids or the happiness she has been denied once again. Rather she approaches a woman wearing a green vest and brown pants and dress shirt standing behind a tree shaped podium. Said worker is roughly Pinkie's age, probably a few years older, with a fiery red and yellow hair that is curled in such a way that reminds Pinkie Pie of bacon. Or swirling flames. Or bacon cooking in swirling flames with ketchup and mustard!
“Can I help you?” asks the flaming bacon haired lady.
Pinkie Pie snaps out of her bacon trance and puts on her best smile as she rubs her hands, trying to massage away the sharp tingles coming from the blue aura that has thankfully began fading. She is surprised that nothing exploded around her, but she does not dwell on the lack of explosions because bacon hair's impatience is obvious from her baggy light blue eyes and rapid tapping on her podium.
“Table for four. The most private part of the place, please!” says Pinkie Pie.
The tired worker nods, grabs four menus, slides out from behind her podium and motions Pinkie Pie to follow her.
The two go to the second story in a the corner where a booth with bright red cushions, polished wood and a laminated table sits far away from the rest of the tables. After the server puts the menus down, Pinkie Pie slides into her spot and looks at the menu, thanking the server.
“Uh huh,” grumbles the server. “My name is Sunset. Just hit the leaf when you're ready to order. I got stuff to do.”
Pinkie Pie looks at a small leaf shaped lamp on hanging off the corner of her booth with a chain dangling from it, and she is about to thank Sunset, but said person has already left.
Shrugging, Pinkie Pie massages her hands and peers at the menu, taking in the information of the various pizzas, calzones, pastas, wings, burgers, salads, ice cream, cookies, and cake. So involved is she in her browsing that she barely notices her team come to her table.
“Do you have any idea how fast you walk?” asks Trixie as she slides next to her, with Applejack and Rarity taking the other side.
“Pretty fast,” says Pinkie Pie.
“At least ya didn't blow up anything this time,” says Applejack.
“That's because there was people around. And it hurt keeping it all in there,” says Pinkie Pie. “How much do you have on you, Rarity?”
“A hundred bits, currently,” replies Rarity.
Pinkie Pie eyes a meal of a triple-decker pizza with a side order of twelve chicken wings and garlic knots. “Good, because I'm hungry and the less I think about Pinprick the better. So, food it is!”
Trixie reclines in her seat and pulls out her new phone, immediately texting away. “I don't see what the big deal is with this Pinprick guy. He was hooked on smack and probably only took interest in you because you flung yourself at him like a desperate hussy.”
Pinkie Pie frowns at Trixie, but since her teammate is jabbing away on her phone she does not notice this.
“I just want to be happy. Is that too much to ask?” asks Pinkie Pie.
“Yes,” says Trixie. Applejack and Rarity join Pinkie Pie in glaring at her, and she looks at them, shrugging. “Its true. Are any of us genuinely happy? Nope. We think we are happy, but we are only distracted with all these fancy toys and shows so we don't think about the things beyond our walls.”
“That is probably the smartest thing you have ever said,” says Applejack after a pause and softening her face.
“Sarcasm?” asks Trixie.
“No.”
“Thanks.”
Trixie goes back to texting, and Rarity leans over so she can see Pinkie Pie past Applejack, offering a comforting smile.
“Pinkie, dear, this whole Pinprick ordeal is heartbreaking, but it may be for the best,” says Rarity. “You deserve better.”
Applejack nods. “Yeah, plus he's a peculiar fella, and we don't know much about him. Who he is, who his friends are, why he dresses like he got pulled out of a history book. He could be a timberwolf in sheep's cloth for all we know.”
“But I felt a connection with him. Like soul mates!” says Pinkie Pie, her eyes back on the menu, and her mind dwelling on Trixie's words while simultaneously contemplating on the combination she wants for her triple-decker pizza.
“He wasn't good for ya, Pinks,” says Applejack firmly.
“How do you know?” asks Pinkie Pie sourly. “Aside from him conveniently forgetting everything about me except for the seventy five cents that I owe him.”
“I've been around longer. I just know these things.”
“You're a year older than me.”
“Just let him go,” says Trixie.
“Easy for you to say. You never loved anybody.”
Trixie puts down her phone and stiffly looks at Pinkie Pie. “False. There was one guy one time, and I'm telling you the quicker you let go the easier it will be on you.”
“One guy one time is not a good answer.”
Trixie scoffs and goes back to her phone. “Just order the pizza. I'm getting hungry from smelling all the food.”
Close to thirty minutes have passed before APRT gets their meal; consisting of a triple-decker pizza with pepperoni, more pepperoni and even more pepperoni, hot wings and soft drinks. It fills up a large part of the table and the girls eat mostly in silence. Pinkie Pie does not really know what to say, though. Her mind is still on Pinprick's betrayal. And Celestia's betrayal.
How can Pinprick not remember her? After all they have been through with Discord and searching for Trixie, how can he scrub her from his memory like that?
And Celestia! Who does she think she is for booting Pinkie from her position when she is the only one who is actively looking for Discord? If anything, she should have given Pinkie Pie an allowance raise, some praise, maybe upgraded Team PART(ie)'s dorm to a suit with room service, servants and a chocolate fondue fountain big enough to take a bath in. Its not like Celestia knows where Discord is, nor did she ask for any information after she intercepted Pinkie's group at the Club.
It is this thought that brings Pinkie Pie to thinking about the location of Discord, and her sour attitude dissipates to hope from an idea that takes root. And from that idea comes a smile, and she looks at her team as they eat their pizza and wings, still somewhat quiet.
After swallowing what food she has, Pinkie Pie coolly wipes her lips with her napkin and leans back in her seat, stretching her arms high.
“Sooooo~ I think we need to explore this city some more,” says Pinkie Pie innocently. “This place is huge but we haven't really done any exploring.”
Trixie slows her chewing, her eyes narrowing on Pinkie Pie suspiciously, and Applejack and Rarity stare at their former leader.
“We got school tomorrow,” says Applejack.
“It is still afternoon. We got time. Plus, we need to click as a team again, like when we did the initial test in the forest. We haven't been able to do that very well.”
Applejack is silent, but Trixie leans forward, resting her elbow on the table and her cheek on her fist.
“Pinkie is right. We should explore Canterlot some more,” says Trixie. “We are the future defenders, after all, so it will help to know what we are defending.”
“We also have tests coming up,” says Pinkie Pie.
“That ya ain't studied for,” says Applejack.
“Which is why we squeeze what fun we can before we study,” says Pinkie Pie. “We get our minds cleared by seeing the sights, feeding pigeons, maybe go on romantic walks by the river.”
“Romantic walks? Pinkie, are you trying to tell us something?” says Rarity with a teasing smile.
“Friendshipping. Its magic! And we need to friendship hard if we are going to pass our tests and support each other for studying, and it all starts with exploring Canterlot! So, who's with me?”
Pinkie finishes with a slam on the table, knocking her drink over on to Trixie's lap, causing the Tsuinite to shriek and leap from her seat, thus accidentally knocking her drink to Pinkie's lap, causing the rock farmer to flinch and her hand to tip over Applejack's drink on to Rarity's pizza.
Applejack and Rarity both look at Rarity's pizza becoming a soggy mess from it soaking up the carbonated drink, and Rarity sighs and slouches in her seat.
“I guess that is a sign I should stop eating pizza,” says Rarity.
“My bad,” says Pinkie Pie. “But, Applejack, you're the leader now, so can we explore Canterlot? Can we? Can we can we can we can we can we, pleeeeeeeeeeaze?”
She finishes with a squee and an eager glimmer in her eyes, and Applejack sighs and rubs her forehead.
“Fine, but we got to be back at the dorms by eight and then we'll spend the rest of the night studying,” says Applejack.
“Fighting techniques?” suggest Pinkie Pie.
“No. Math.”
“Nooooooo!”
Author's Note
So that took too long. My bad.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                 Action, Meet Consequences                 
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Action, Meet Consequences
“Do you want to get expelled!?”
Those are the first things Celestia says to Pinkie Pie when they are locked in a concrete room together with a camera in each corner aimed at them and a mirror reflecting everything back to Pinkie Pie.
“Yes,” says Pinkie Pie from her spot cuffed to the uncomfortable chair. “You have no idea how badly I want to be expelled. Like, on a scale of one to ten it would be thirty five and a half. I'm only here because I'm being blackmailed, anyway, so I would love to have a way out. Can you be nice and give it to me? I promise I'll send you birthday and Hearth's Warming cards.”
Celestia frowns and sits across from her, arms folded across her chest and her eyes narrowing in on the young woman.
“If you want to play that game let me tell you what will happen,” says Celestia. “First, upon expulsion you will be tried for terrorism and sent to a maximum security prison where we put you in a drug induced coma for at least fifty years.”
Pinkie Pie's jaw drops. “What?”
“Then all the property damage you caused -from the shop, to the pier, to the school and now the club- will be transferred to your family's name. Millions in debt will be owed by your family because of you.”
“Hold on-”
“Lastly, your entire team will be expelled. That means Applejack will go back to the farm, Trixie will go back to being stuck at second place for everything and Rarity will lose her chance to become something more than the Belle Family mascot. And all three of them would be barred from any Academy submissions and government jobs. Your recklessness will kill the dreams of everybody around you. This does not include the collateral damage of Team FORT.”
“That's not fair!”
Pinkie Pie slams her fists on the table, causing the metal to bend from a blue electric cloud and her to wince when a zap burns her ankle. Celestia, however, meets the display with coldness not appropriate for someone with a sun tattooed on her shoulder.
“What's not fair is your destructive behavior dragging everybody through the mud without consequence,” says Celestia.
“But why should my team be expelled because of me?” cries Pinkie Pie, struggling to breathe.
“Actions have consequences, Pinkie Pie. Especially when there is a team involved. And speaking of consequences.”
Celestia pulls out a tablet from a bag she had carried in, and after typing in a few commands there is a beep and a ding, and she shows the student the screen.
PART -with the respective photos next to the letters- shifts to APRT, putting Applejack up top, and Pinkie Pie's wide eyes water as she looks into Celestia's hardened gaze.
“As of now you have lost your status as team leader of Team PART. Applejack will take over the role unless you put your chaotic behavior to rest. She will be notified of this decision tomorrow when she is scheduled to have her and Rarity's injuries fully treated. Injuries that I might add you are directly responsible for.”
Pinkie Pie's tongue stiffens, and her body shakes as Celestia walks over to her side with her hands clamped behind her back.
“Just something to think about when you go back to your dorm,” says Celestia. “If you still want to be expelled let me know in a timely manner.”
And with that, the Principle leaves and locks the door behind her, leaving Pinkie Pie trapped in the room with only her reflection as company.
Pinkie Pie is not sure when she was released from the concrete room. All she has for a time table is that when she was brought in it was dark, and now after being escorted outside by guards in heavy full body armor it is blinding sunlight.
Students walk around in the distance in their uniforms, carrying books or lunch bags, chatting or sitting in silence, their steps lively and voices light. Pinkie Pie, however, shuffles. Each foot is a chunk of solid stone that grinds against the pavement, her hair is a complete mess compared to the well groomed heads of the students, and her out of uniform and very dirty attire puts her as beacon in the crowd. She can feel the eyes on her, but right now she does not care.
She does not care about the phony concerned looks she is receiving.
She does not care about her hands barely able to hold her card, much less grip the handle to the door of her dorm building.
She does not care about the elevator taking forever to come down or go up.
She does not care about Flash waiting outside her room, or his vicious tone when he yells at her with muddled words. Probably demanding answers to why she snatched Rainbow and Octavia. Answers that she knows he won't like or listen to.
When she unlocks her door and slips inside she does not slam the door in Flash's face, but closes it at the speed of molasses. There are thumps at the door, thumps and screams, but Pinkie Pie ignores them and shuffles through the empty dorm to the bathroom.
Where's her team?
No, where's Applejack's team?
Who cares. She's alone.
She grips the polished sink and stares at her reflection.
Her lips and darkened eyes are sagging, her ugly hair is laying mostly flat with frazzled strands curled up and around like pink weeds.
Her eyes tremble and her vision blurs. Her chest heaves and hurts, and when she brushes back her bangs some of her hair decides to stay on her fingers.
She blinks and looks at the pink hair. Tears leave shimmering streaks on her cheeks and she looks in the mirror again, hands trembling and throat aching from swallowing the wet stone, and her eyes flick to a pair of scissors sitting in a cup.
They are nice scissors.
Nice.
Sharp.
Scissors.
The thumping has stopped. The muffled yelling has stopped. But she knows he is still camping out there. Probably wants to bash her head in with a rock.
Pinkie Pie grabs the scissors.
Can she blame him?
No she cannot.
She seems to have a way of ruining things when she is trying to do the right thing.
She grabs a clump of her ugly hair and brings the scissors up to it.
Something is beeping. Something is biting her ankle.
She is just chaotic.
There's a pain.
Her hands shake harder and glow.
Forget the pain. Fix the now.
Tears flow freely.
Suffocation.
She is chaos.
Trapped.
Ugly.
She closes her eyes, but the truth is still there.
Cornered.
Chaotic.
It is all in her nature.
Chained.
Terrible.
That is what she is.
That is all she is.
Applejack has no idea how to react to the news she had just received. One minute she was sitting in the brightly lit medical chamber, watching a green glowing goo squeezing her leg. The next, she found herself having a conversation with Principal and Vice Principal Faustsend. Neither of them appeared happy, especially Celestia, but their voices were even when they discussed the change that she had absolutely no say in. Well, Celestia did, anyway. Luna was on her phone trying to make dinner reservations, much to the annoyance of Celestia. That said, once the whole: “Congratulations you are now Team Leader of Team APRT” came in it stunned Applejack's tongue and vocabulary. Really, all she can do is blink dumbly.
So blink she does.
And blink again she does.
“I know it is a lot to take in, but you have so far been the only one in your team to display leadership qualities whereas your former leader displayed an amazing amount of insanity,” says Celestia. “It really was a mistake putting her on as Team Leader due to her nature, but I'm confident that you will put the team back on track.”
Applejack blinks again. “Eh... I think I'm partially to blame for her acts.”
Celestia's hand shoots up. “Don't. You have been restricted to a wheel chair. There was not much you could do to stop her destructive behavior.”
“But Pinkie didn't mean to hurt anybody or break anything. She's just trying to help.”
“Interfering with investigations by getting into a fight at a known criminal club is not helping. In regards to the previous subject, with you out of your wheel chair I can confidently say that you will be great in getting your team fixed.”
“But-”
“No buts. Think of this as another lesson. There are times when leadership roles are put upon you whether you like it or not. I expect to see your team back to the classes, tomorrow. Tests are coming, so is the dance. Make your team's redemption stellar and I'll remove APRT from the dance ban list.”
“... There's a dance?”
Celestia sighs and rubs her brow. “Yes, there is a dance, but grades should be your focus.”
Applejack nods. “Yes ma'am. I'll, eh, get it fixed for ya.”
“Good.” Celestia pulls out a pad and after a couple of clicks her face is briefly lit up from a glow. “I have sent an email notifying your team of the change, but if you want to speak with them personally Rarity is in Room R-A-1, Trixie is in the Library and Pinkie Pie is back in her room.”
Celestia turns off her pad, and grips it behind her back with both hands.
“Have a good day,” she says.
And then she turns and leaves, ordering Luna to follow her.
“No, four,”' says Luna. “.. Fouuur! Fo- Oh, for the love of- Sink-Oh! Yes... Yes! We'll be there at six... Faustsend. Bye.”
Luna hangs up and follows Celestia out of the room.
“That was a nightmare,” grumbles Luna.
“I'm sure it was,” says Celestia dryly.
Then the door slides shut behind them, leaving a slab of metal and glass between Applejack and the hallway, and the newly promoted student sighs and hunches over. With one hand she runs her fingers through her hair and with the other she grabs the cane she used after the first examination.
“Oh boy.”
Rarity rolls her newly healed arm and the white clothed doctors in the room keep their distance with their proud smiles on full display.
“How does it feel?” asks the lead doctor.
“It feels much better,” says Rarity. She flexes her hand in front of her face, then runs her other hand up and down her newly healed arm while giving the doctors a small smile. “Thank you.”
“No problem. I would suggest keeping the fighting to a minimum for at least four weeks just to give your arm time to regain its peak motor function and for the muscles and bones to get stronger.”
Rarity nods. “Of course.”
“If there are any problems do not hesitate to come by for an inspection.”
“Right... Thank you.”
The doctors nod and politely excuse themselves, and once they are out of the room Rarity has a couple of minutes of peace to test her arm. She smiles when she flexes, rolls, lifts random items around the room and does a visual inspection. She sees no signs of scarring, only a light green sheen from the goo they used. Her arm is a little cold, but bearable, and the procedure was painless for the most part, so the experience was not bad. The only terrible part was the wait time, but it was worth it.
A light knock on the door brings Rarity out of her thoughts and she feels lighter when she sees Applejack in the doorway, holding her cane. She is not using it, but Rarity can understand why Applejack brought it with her. Another thing that Rarity notices is that Applejack is not smiling. She actually has a heavy frown and her shoulders are sagging as if a heavy pack had been placed on her back.
“Applejack, you're walking again,” says Rarity.
“That I am,” says Applejack. She enters the room and awkwardly looks around. “Its good to see you without a cast.”
Rarity twists her arm in front of her face, trying to hold her smile despite Applejack's gloomy state.
“It feels good to give it some air, but the doctors said not to do any fighting for about a month,” says Rarity.
“They said the same thing after they fixed my leg,” says Applejack.
“I guess that will put us further behind on the exams.”
“Eeyup.”
And in comes an awkward silence where the two young women can't look at each other. The seconds drag to minutes, and Applejack takes a seat in an empty chair and Rarity sits on her cot, her hands between her legs and her teeth biting down on her lip. At first she looks at the floor, but she does peek at Applejack, who has her cane between her legs and is staring at the floor. Her teammate's hands grip the top tight and her green eyes cannot focus on anything, so Rarity takes a deep breath and kneels next to Applejack, putting her hand on her leg.
“Applejack, what's wrong?” asks Rarity.
Applejack's eyes flick to her, but quickly return to the floor. “Well... Principal Celestia visited me and told me that Pinkie's been demoted and I'm taking her place.”
Rarity's mind goes blank, but when thoughts return she pulls away, not really sure how to feel about the news.
“... So, we aren't PART(ie) anymore?” asks Rarity.
Applejack shakes her head. “No, we're APRT. Sounds kinda depressing, to be honest. Almost as bad as DAFT.”
“How is Pinkie taking the news?”
Applejack shrugs. “Not sure. I hadn't spoke with her ever since she left on that idiotic plan of hers, but knowing her it will probably be a very extreme reaction.”
“Where is she now?”
“Celestia said she was in the dorm, so I'm gonna head over there and see how she is handling it. I need you to find Trixie and bring her back to our room for a meeting. Celestia said she was in the library, so that'll be a good place to start.”
“...Are you sure that's a good idea? Me and Trixie don't exactly get along. Come to think of it, Trixie doesn't get along with anybody.”
“Well, you and Trixie are just gonna have to get over it.” Applejack stands up with the help of her cane. “Today is a new day and we're gonna be a new team. Fresh slate, hatches buried and if y'all ain't gonna do it yourselves I'm gonna do it for you, and ya ain't gonna like me if I have to play babysitter.”
Rarity's tongue goes stiff and Applejack heads out the door, gripping its frame to look over her shoulder at Rarity.
“Ya might want to make it quick. The sooner we get this new direction explained the better,” says Applejack.
Trixie steps out of the elevator, wearing the school uniform, carrying a bag with a star and wand on it, and in one hand she is holding a bundle of mail tied together with twine while the other holds a book titled: History of the Tsiun Liberation Army.
As Trixie walks down the hall, she notices Flash sitting outside her door, and never before had she seen him more livid. The wrinkles from his scowl are darkened by the shadow, and when he stands up, it is stiff and his eyes darken when they focus on Trixie, putting her steps to a crawl and her brain into calculating the best method to knock him out without her weapon..
“Are you free to talk?” asks Flash.
“Not really,” says Trixie. She slips her book and mail in her bag. “Trixie had a long, tiresome night and day, so she needs her beauty rest.”
Trixie pulls out her key card and is about to unllock her door, but Flash's palm slams into the wall, blocking Trixie's view with his arm, and she glances at him, meeting his vicious glare with a defiant look of her own that should be hiding her growing anxiety.
“Before you get your cat nap maybe you can explain to me why Rainbow and Octavia were snatched up by Celestia and why I was threatened with demotion,” says Flash, his voice even but heavy. “What did Pinkie drag my team into?”
Trixie rolls her eyes in thought. “Well, let's see here... something about saving the city and not being a spineless coward using the school as a safe space. Or something like that.”
Flash narrows his eyes and Trixie unlocks her door, slides under his arm and gives herself just enough space to slip in, and with a firm grip on the knob she faces Flash.
“Trixie thinks its best not push this. Trixie has had a bad day and she would really hate to slug your pretty face,” says Trixie.
“Oh, poor little you. Well, don't worry, I won't keep you, but you better tell Pinkie that PART is not to go near my team. Ever. Don't talk to us. Don't note us. And don't ask us for anything. We're through,” says Flash.
“Noted. Bey bey, pleb.”
And with that Trixie closes the door with a satisfied click and she goes to the beds, flipping through her mail, hearing trickling water and beeps that she pays no mind to. That is until she steps in water. Her steps freeze and with a curious raise of her brow she looks at her wet shoes, wiggling her toes, then she follows the pool of water towards the bathroom. Her eyes follow the water up and they widen when they see the sink absolutely destroyed with just a jagged stub with a warped pipe on the top gurgling trickles of water. Around the floor broken white porcelain, splinters of dark wood and all of PART(ie)'s towel, wash cloth and hand towel supply, plus lots of pink hair lays in the water. There is also a pair of warped scissors partially hidden in the mess.
Trixie's gaze shifts towards the corner, and her jaw goes slack when she sees Pinkie Pie sitting in the corner, clothes soaked, eyes bloodshot, hair reduced to a mangled mess that barely reaches her neck with her bangs hanging in front of her eyes. Her leader's ankle bracelet is beeping and flashing red and her blue hands twitch as she looks at her with a smile tainted by her tear soaked face.
“Good news... My ugly hair's gone,” says Pinkie Pie.
In Team DAFT's dorm, Drake is spraying the air with a gratuitous amount freshener that smells like an ocean breeze, and he also lit scented candles placed in strategic locations around the room. All this is to put to rest the stench of Zephy, who has yet to pack up his stinky bed roll and dufflebag junk and leave, despite Drake and Thorn's best efforts. The candles are also supposed to invoke a sense of calm, but so far all he can feel is stress, and he knows Fluttershy is feeling it, too. Normally she is very good about hiding anything that isn't related to anxiety, but with Zephyr around she has more than one occasion excused herself from the room to go on a long walk.
When Drake is finished spraying he sighs and looks at Zephyr, who is talking to Astro while Thorn and Fluttershy sit across the room, probably plotting his murder.
“So you do that and you will have her bending over for you in no time!” says Zephyr proudly.
Fluttershy grimaces and Astro seethes and rubs the back of his head.
“Yeah, about that... I don't think it will work out between us,” he says.
There is a sudden harsh knock on the door and Drake absentmindedly opens it, not really sure who to expect. But one thing is certain, he was not expecting Trixie to barge right in and slug Zephyr in the face.
Fluttershy screams and jumps up, and Drake, Astro and Thorn stare at Zephyr's limp body, then slowly look at Trixie, who is seething and massaging her hand. After some seconds she looks at DAFT.
“What?” asks Trixie.
“...Do you want to be dance partners?” asks Thorn.