Gemini Ties

The numbers were there and they were adding up. They added up a little too much, actually. Ranchtown was a bumping business, even without direct control of Ranch University, it was still very, very lucrative. Sports were huge in a college town such as this. Beyond the sports, there was still agricultural gain. Farming communities outside the city pulled in some serious bits during the spring. In the summer, it was the children’s market to include video games, skateboards, toys and various outdoor activity equipment. In the Fall, the whole market buzzed with profit as people prepared for the coming holidays. In the winter, it was clothing and heating.

Year round, there was money to be made and always an angle to make more of it in a steady flow. He knew all of these and he played every position in the field. He lined his pockets, and not with just bags of bits, no, there was no time for the chump change. He wanted it in the tens of thousands at the very least. Every million was marked and stored away for later use when the opportunity presented itself. When a new market opened it, he cornered it at the word go.

So, all of these things considered, why was Mr. Obscenely Rich, billionaire business pony looking at declining charts. Not all of them were at a decline, but the word decline was not a word he liked to see on any occasion, unless it was his competitors. Those rich bunch were easy to deal with, they just needed a bit of shut up and stay away coin to keep them quiet and out of his mane.

No, these were not the competitors he was conditioned to deal with. These were ones that didn’t do things for the sole purpose of increasing their wealth. These were idealists. These were the dangerous kind of rabble that didn’t stay within their bounds and shut up and color. These were the kind of ponies that made some kind of difference. These were the kind of ponies that stood their ground and made him color outside the lines. The kind of ponies that made him start losing hair in his mane.

At first, it was a small dip that picked up quick, no sweat, it happened in the business world. Any sensible stallion of the world knew this happened. These numbers did not lie, though. There was a leak in the profits, and it was only getting bigger. Before the leak got out of control, it was always best to patch it up. Patch it up by any means necessary.

These rabble ponies didn’t want to play the game, though. They didn’t shift their current, so it was up to the professionals to do it for them. Obscenely Rich made the call that he hadn’t made in well over a decade. It was time to tie up all of these loose ends.

He sat at his desk, the office was very dark, and it was very quiet. Not even the heater made any noise. He was tapping on his computer, studying the playing field and what could be done to tip it in his favor. He already had the advantage in money. That’s not fair, you say? Fair didn’t pay the heating bill.

“Mr. Rich, your four o’clock has arrived,” his secretary called through the intercom.

He pressed the call button. “Send them in.”

His door opened immediately and three ponies entered. All of them well dressed and in full business attire. One suit and two skirts and all three of them sat down in the chairs in front of his desk.

The purple unicorn stallion cleared his breath, and crossed his leg as he sat in the chair. He fixed his white mane and looked toward the two mares beside him. One of them was a green furred, sky blue maned mare with folded wings behind her and glasses that she pushed up her muzzle closer to her eyes. The one beside her was a black furred mare with a yellow mane made into large curls, but still very straight and orderly.

“What have you found?” Rich asked them, and all of them opened their briefcases, pulling out papers, and photos.

“There is no one in our system that is pocketing coin, Mr. Rich. Our sources say that all of your business woes are, indeed being proliferated through outside sources,” the male unicorn spoke, leaned forward and put two photos onto the desk in front of him. “One source is a small florist shop on Hay Street owned by a bat pony named Leafly. She sells her flowers at discounted rates because she grows many of her own flowers and she has quote-unquote ‘friends’ in the outside greenhouse business. The next is her brother who owns a carpentry shop. He offers services to those in great need and accepts credit at zero interest.”

Rich furrowed his brow at the phrase “zero credit” as if such a thing should exist anymore.

“What’s being done?” he asked with no colloquial tone in his voice.

“It is being taken care of. Within the next quarter, one domino will fall, bringing down the next.” The purple unicorn straightened his tie as he spoke.

Rich nodded at this. Then his eyes went to the green pony, who straightened her glasses once again.

“An old, but new candy store has opened in the middle of town. You may remember the name Pop Candy, owner of Candy Pop Shop back in the past fiscal year. She has gotten another property and her store has been rebuilt to its full former status. Only this time, her profits have increased one hundred and fifty percent. The location, the opening and services rendered have given her palpable numbers and upped her margin for success.” She slid a file onto his desk outlining the profits and the overall basis of her business, stock and outside sources.

“What’s being done?”

“Book juggling, we have minimized all connections down to the smallest letter and brought down certain ties that you will not agree with, but were necessary to our success. This is a paper that does not exist.” She passed a white sheet of paper to him, and he looked over the print.

Rich closed his eyes for a moment and gave a small sigh. All three of his subordinates’ eyes widened slightly at this reaction.

“Do it. Do not let it slip through the cracks even an inch. Understood?”

“Yes, Mr. Rich.”

Then his face turned to the third pony, her arms were crossed over her bag and it was obvious that her frown was not simply resting bitch face.

“Over three hundred thousand in losses and that is just from the direct conflict alone. The residuals have been brought into the millions and they show no signs of stopping,” she continued to speak, even though she could visibly see Obscenely Rich’s eye twitch. “The summer time was a disaster. Instead of buying new AC units, our clientele have been turning to the shop known as Gemini Ties and it is clear their opposition to you has only festered with time. They have made outward opposition towards you in that they discount the prices to businesses that you do not own.”

“Electric Spark and Sweet Voltage are the owners of this little repair shop. They are centrally owned, they own the building as it was paid off five seasons ago and from what I heard,” the male pony spoke, piggy backing on the lady’s report. “Their network of connections has only grown. There are even businesses who are willing to partner with them to do their repair jobs and only from Gemini Ties.”

That was when Obscenely Rich’s eyes closed once again and this time, the sigh lasted a great deal longer.

“Any means necessary.” At length, he spoke once again, his eyes still closed. “Make it quick, and do not leave any loose ends. Not one single trace. Outsource everything that you can to make this knot straighten out.” On the surface, his voice was controlled, but anyone that knew the richest stallion in the northern territories of Equestria could tell you that there was something behind that control. The edge in his voice very seldom came to the surface this much and this meant that his words were to be followed to the very letter.

All three of them grew grim in their expressions.

"Before the end of the quarter. Get it done.” Obscenely Rich turned his chair on a swivel and faced the back of his office. The three of them did not need to hear any more. They got up from their chairs and walked out of the office quietly.

The office was quiet then. He embellished himself in the silence. It was dark then. Dark was good.

The season of winter was going full steam now. Fresh sheets of snow covered the hills and the lake was alive with aspiring hockey players as they competed in their own little games. On and off, the snowflakes fell all day. Still, daily hustle and bustle went on.

Among the populace out and about were two mares. A pink pony by the name of Pearl Necklace and her “partner”, a white, short black maned earth pony named Death Metal. The two of them walked the streets of Ranchtown amidst the rabble as they made their way down the street. Pearl’s red mane was covered by a purple winter cap, which matched her purple and green coat, and dark green winter boots that covered her feet.

“I will never understand your preference of walking, Death Metal. You know we could have driven in the hot rod and been there already, don’t you?” Pearl said, holding her black, gold buckled purse in her left hand as she used it to shield her face from the wind.

“I just love to hear you complain,” Death said as she pulled a cigarette from her cargo pocket in her black pants. She put it to her lips and lit it as she walked. “Plus, you won’t let me smoke in the car.”

“Of course not, I don’t want it to start smelling like your apartment. The stink of burned tobacco, beer and shame.” Pearl glared at her, having no idea how her girlfriend, who stood a couple of inches shorter, could possibly be wearing such a thin black jacket. The jacket was covered in patches from her favorite bands, all of them the screaming, roaring, guitar thrashing bands that hate their mothers and wish the skies would burn. At least, that’s how Pearl saw them. There were one or two songs she had actually grown to like. The band Killproof thrashed and banged on their instruments but there was a rugged quality about them, even though their lead singer was a woman with a severe throat lozenge addiction.

“So where is this store you wanted to see so badly?” Death Metal said. For some reason, Pearl noticed she was more talkative that day than she normally was.

“It’s just up the street, keep your shirt on, we’re almost there.” Pearl led her down the street, and smiled as she saw the store. “There!” she pointed.

However, the smile on her face was quick to fade away as they got closer to it. She checked the sign again, and it was the right place. Leaflower, that place where she saw the most fragrant of flowers she had ever had the pleasure of smelling. The windows were barren now. There were no flowerpots, no vases, nothing. She saw that the sign said “Open” but it certainly looked to the contrary.

“This is the place?” Death asked as she puffed on her cigarette, standing outside the window with her arms crossed. She leaned toward the window, and the place looked dismal as all hell. She looked at her smoke, ashed it, and turned around. With a flick of her finger she pitched the cigarette into a nearby trashcan, and turned to walk inside. “There, I threw it away, happy?”

“Very.” Pearl said this, but the frown on her face only grew more somber as she followed Death Metal in. Most of the lights were out, as there were fewer and fewer needed to shine on the flowers. There were a few pansies, a half brown bonsai plant, and yellow roses that were already growing brown in their stems and frays on their petals. “Hello?”

Pearl looked around for the nice green winged bat pony that helped her choose.

“I-I’m sorry!” As they neared the back of the store, they could only hear the sobbing voice of a female. As she suspected as she walked back, there came Leafly. Her brown and green hair was a mess, her eyes were puffy, and her nose was a reddish color from wiping it so much. “I’m so sorry, miss, I remember you had an order, but I cannot fill it.” She walked past both of them toward her cash register, and started to open it. “I can refund your money now.”

“No! No, no, please.” Pearl put her hands on Leafly’s arms, and turned her around, closing her cash register as she did. Pearl looked into her eyes to see that she had one blue eye, and one very gray eye with no iris at all. “Please, just calm down for a moment.”

Without warning, Leafly buried her face into Pearl’s shoulder, starting to bawl uncontrollably. She shivered, tears flowing out of her eyes at an extensive rate. Her shoulders fidgeted up and down as she rained salty tears onto Pearl’s three hundred bit coat. Pearl rested her hands on Leafly’s arms and back, holding her close. It took many minutes for Leafly to finally calm down and stop shaking. Soon, she was down to a dull sniffling. The pink pony sat the bat pony down onto her chair behind her counter and sat on her desk.

Before the pink pony could even speak her first word, her head snapped up at the sound of a lighter snapping a flame to a cigarette that sat in Death’s mouth.

“Daisy Meadow! What are you doing? You know you can’t smoke in here!” Pearl scowled at her, and Death Metal scowled back at her for using her actual name.

“No, let her smoke. It doesn’t matter anymore,” Leafly said. “The store is closed, I am merely open to refund customers’ money at this point. You were my last customer to return money to.” A fresh wave of tears streamed down her dark brown cheeks, matting the fur on her face, and forcing her to get out another tissue from the box on the desk. “My brother is coming to pick me up. I’m going to have to live with him for a little while before I find another job.”

“Leafly, what happened here? Last month you had all kinds of amazing flowers.” Pearl scooted a bit closer to her and leaned in toward her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“My stock was ruined. First, they started bringing in dying flowers from the greenhouses, then they started sending me less and less as time went on. Last week I took three days off and closed the store.” She looked at the few plants that still remained, and this brought a fresh stream of tears down her cheeks. She sobbed a few times, and blew her nose once again. She wiped it a few times, and then looked back at Pearl. “When I came back, the power was completely out. There was no sun, no UV lights and the temperature dropped over those three days. It took them an entire day to get the power back on, but by then it was too late. Almost every plant I had was completely dead, or dying.”

Her crying continued at that point, and Pearl rubbed her shoulder a bit.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry.” The pink pony took off her glove and began to rub her back. “I’m so very sorry.”

She looked over at Death Metal, who didn’t get into the whole emotional side of things at all. However, she seemed distracted. Death was looking at the backroom from the threshold. She smoked her cigarette and blew a little stream of it out as she gazed off to the side of the storage area.

She walked over to the musty old breaker box. She opened it, and saw none of the switches had been touched. However, that was when she looked at the edge of the switch panel, between the metal box and the plastic that lined the back. There was a very slight gap between the two. It looked like someone used a flathead screwdriver or a knife to pry it open. Sure enough, the plastic panel tore off easily.

Tampering, of course. Someone cut a sequence of wires to turn off all of the electronics. It would take them a long time to reroute the power if they didn’t know where the power was broken.

“Have there been any people on the street corner?”

Both of their ears perked up as they heard Death Metal speak from the storage room.

“What?” Leafly raised an eyebrow, finally putting her tissue down on the counter beside her.

“Have there been any ponies on the street corners? Strange ones, maybe in a van?” Death Metal walked into the room, having already put the panel back on the breaker box and closed it.

“Ummm… Yeah.” Leafly thought for a moment, and her eyes perked up a little. “Yeah, they had some sort of roofing service van across the street. I saw them there… before I left for my time off.” Her eyes turned to the side and she looked downward.

Pearl looked at Leafly, then at Death. Death looked back and sighed, shaking her head.

“What does it mean, Death?” Pearl stood up from the table and took a few steps toward her.

“It means I could break into this heap blindfolded and we need an electrician.”

“The mare was so terrified of bringing this to us and to think she hesitated,” Spark said as he took a length of gaged wire from the spindle off to the side of him. His work station was absolutely immaculate that day. All of the unneeded tools were put away and all of the grease was wiped away on a molecular level. He not only washed his hands, but also disinfected them while also putting on rubber gloves.

“I really couldn’t believe our luck. I mean, come on, when will this ever happen again?” Voltage asked with her goggles over her eyes, and a soldering iron in her hand. As Spark carefully placed the wire onto the motherboard, she wiped flux onto the iron and melted the wire onto the board in its proper place. “And all of this because of a short.”

Both of them chuckled at this, looking at each other with a shared devilish smile. The two orange ponies with red and blue hair could not hold in their absolute glee of the whole situation. They ensured that the wire was properly on the board before clipping off the excess.

“Fucking perfect,” Spark said with a smile, and softly blew onto the melted soldering, trying to let it dry as he waved his hand over it.

“Is it ready?” Voltage asked, almost jogging in place with excitement.

“I believe so. Are you ready?” he asked and laughed at her squeal.

He took the plastic covering off of it. There stood a gigantic red dildo flopping from side to side on top of a rounded seat, much like a saddle. The seat was black leather and it stood up much like a stool with short stubby rubber feet separating it from the ground. On the side, at the bottom was a black cable that connected from the seat to a remote control with a knob that went all the way to eleven.

In an instant, both of them remembered that there was a remote control. The quick draw started in a nanosecond and both of them reached straight for it, as it was velcroed onto the side of the sybian. With one swipe of his hand, Spark took the remote and stretched out the cord to stand back a little.

“Damnit,” she scowled at him.

“Hehehe, that’s right, I’m in charge now. So take off your little girl panties and sit on your saddle.”

Her evil glare never left her face as she zipped her bright blue coveralls downward, and started to remove them, revealing that she wore nothing underneath them. Her large breasts bounced free and she slid them down her legs as she pulled her arms out of the sleeves. Completely naked now, she pulled her goggles up to her forehead and pulled the ponytail out of her hair, letting it drop free in all its red and blue glory.

“Ummm did we get the…” Voltage looked around the table, and then off to the side of the machine.

“Oh, right, it’s right here.” He reached under the table, near the leg, and pulled out the gel lube. He handed it to her and she put a little bit on her hand. She spread her legs and rubbed some of it deep into her pussy, sighing a little bit. Then she leaned the bottle over the huge dildo that was in the shape of a nice big horse cock, similar to her brother’s. She glazed the lube over the dildo and started to rub it onto every inch of the shaft and over the head.

“There we go.” She closed the bottle and put it on the ground. She stepped over the stool and slowly lowered her crotch onto the very angrily hard looking cock that stuck up from it. It slid into her as she gritted her teeth and groaned a bit as it got deeper. “Alright, Spark, just start off l--OOOHH!!!!”

He went to seven immediately and the vibration she felt rocked her hard. She grasped the black leather. She almost latched her claws into the cover, but was able to stop herself right in time.

“Damnit, Spark! Can’t you see this thing is huge?! Now stop it!”

Spark was already having loads of fun, giggling his ass off as he lowered the vibrations down to two. She breathed somewhat hard as she settled herself down, going deeper onto the big red rubber dick. Voltage sucked in a breath through her clenched teeth as she softly began to bob her pussy up and down it as the vibrations rumbled her to the core of her vaginal tunnel, even vibrating her very womb itself. She breathed deeply and without warning, Spark turned it up to five.

She cried out a little, closing her eyes tight and continuing to fuck the cock slowly. Her juices mixed with the lube, and coated every surface of the machine’s red hot rod. Her back arched and her head turned upward as her eyes opened wide.

“Oh, God, oh fuck! That’s so hot! Fuck me!” She began to fuck the rod harder. Her vaginal juice began to dribble out onto the leather and her hips began to move by themselves as she fucked the cock harder and faster. It was incredible. The sensations going through her hips and her legs felt like they were being tickled by tiny little bugs, but not in a creepy way. Her pussy hole felt like it could cum about seven times in two seconds if she angled herself just right.

Her tongue began to stick out, licking her lips as he eyes closed halfway. She looked over at Spark, whose eyes were very wide as he watched his sister fondle her large breasts, pinching her nipples. She moaned ever so loud. Her legs began to twitch, making it especially hard to keep up the fucking downward.

That didn’t matter though, soon Spark cranked the control up to ten and she went haywire. Her moans became high pitched squeaks, one after the other, and she bit her lower lip as she strained through a very rough orgasm. She sent a slew of cream all over the rubber dick, her vaginal juices flowing free.

“Oh God! Spark! You-- You-- Oh!” She motioned for him to come to him, and he did, walking up close to her. Her hand shot down to his cock and grabbed it with a full grip, making him wince a little bit. She rubbed and caressed his cock through his light blue jumpsuit, causing him to get harder just from how lustful she was becoming. She puckered her lips toward him, her mouth open and her tongue not far behind.

They met in a sloppy, wet kiss as they hugged one another. Her hand continuing to stroke his huge dick as her pussy was being driven very quickly to yet another orgasm. Her fingers worked their way to the base of his shaft, grasping his big balls and bobbling them left and right with her palm. Their tongues rubbed against each other and his free hand palmed her breast, caressing it as she moaned into his mouth.

“Oh! I’m--- so close!” she shouted, but then he grinned, turning the control all the way down to zero. “Wh-wha-what are you doing?!”

At first she was ready to annihilate him where he stood, but then he pulled her off of the big red cock and bent her over the black leather stool with her ass pointed to him. With one single pull, he zipped his jumpsuit down the middle and pushed his freed sex organ into her own. She sang a note in a very high octave as she felt his massive piece of meat assault her still tingling pussy. Her molecules were still vibrating and after the stiff, lifeless rubber cock, his cock was very much welcome.

He started fucking her full force, never giving her a moment to breathe as he knew she would still be deep in the throes of ecstasy. He was right, she moaned his praise and accepted his cock with utter joy!

Her climax was that of immense proportions, easily making her top ten. This was only topped off by his own orgasm, pumping shots of sweet, thick semen into her burning quim. His fucking slowed down then and her sweat began to cover the black leather stool.

“Sooo…” Both of them looked off to the side to see Pop Candy standing at the doorway to their upstairs living residence. The twins looked at one another, then back at Pop.

“Hi, Pop,” they said in sync, waving to her, then got back to sweating and panting.

“Hey guys. Hard at work as usual?” She walked into their living space, a smile on her face. “Did you get a new toy?”

“Ummm… no, but we repaired it,” Spark said with a little bit of hesitance.

“That’s someone else’s?” Pop said as she dropped their mail off at Voltage’s computer desk.

“We’re gonna clean it off.” Voltage’s voice was a little delirious, the massive orgasms she’d just had were still in full afterglow effect. “How’s the store?”

“Oh, it’s fantastic! I’ve never had so many customers! Can you believe I hit another milestone in just over a month of being open?” Pop walked quickly up to Spark and gave him a kiss on the lips. Then she bent over toward Voltage and did the same, giving her a big smooch. “I don’t know when I’ll ever stop saying thank you for that.”

“As long as we’re still saying ‘our pleasure’ I guess,” Voltage sighed with a little disappointment as her brother pulled his cock out of her. She stood up and popped her back three times. “Who’s watching the store?”

“Star Burst at the moment. The night club gave her another night off. It’s strange on a Thursday, though. Normally Thirsty Thursday draws a huge crowd.” Pop thought about her dear friend and her running the candy store. It was literally a dream come true. She never would have thought she’d not only be reunited with Star, but that she would have her back along with her store. It was simply divine. She sighed at the wonderful thought.

“Well, I’m glad it’s going so well, Pop,” Spark said as the twins began to clean up and get their jumpsuits back on. “We may have missed Nightmare Night, but at least you’ll get Hearth’s Warming in. That should be a nice little flood of business.”

“I know! I’m already planning the little holiday shapes! I’ll need you two for another taste test. I think Star is getting a little sick from all of the candy,” Pop giggled a little as she started back toward the door.

“Oh, and Pop, were you wanting to keep your room to sleep in?” Voltage asked, stopping Pop at the door. “I mean, you still have a lot of stuff in your room, and we didn’t want to make it seem like you have to move out. In fact we kind of thought it’d be a while. You know?”

“Oh, Voltage, of course I want to stay with the two of you. I have a little room in the Candy Store, but I’ll still consider yours my real home.” They both gazed at one another, then walked to one another in an embrace.

“Damn, Volt, you covered this thing with all of your--” Spark began to say, and as Voltage was rolling her eyes for him ruining the moment, the window of their upstairs living area was suddenly shattered, causing both mares to scream and Spark to startle and stand straight up.

Glass covered the floor of the living area, and a rock hit the ground with a thud, spinning in the air as it skidded to a stop right in front of Pop Candy’s room door. For a moment, there was only silence as all three of them shivered and panted. They realized what had just happened and Spark ran to the window. He saw the building beside their shop and the nearby street corner, with cars going back and forth on the road as they normally did. Whoever had thrown the rock had already bolted off.

“Are you two okay?” Spark looked back at the two of them and they both held each other, nodding. He walked over to the rock. It was pointed on one end, and rounded on the other. The rock was about as big as a fist and around it was a rubber band. He picked it up and turned it over to see that there was a sticky note wrapped to it. His anger grew as he pulled off the rubber band and opened the sticky note.

“You have three weeks…” he read aloud. He let out a low growl as he crushed the note.

Pop looked at Voltage, putting her hand on her cheek to make sure she was alright and none of the glass had cut her. She nodded to Pop and that’s when her friend walked toward the window, stepping over the large shards of glass. Both of them watched her as she furrowed her brow toward the gaping hole that was now in the large window that was the source of natural light for the upstairs living area. She gritted her teeth, baring them as she cringed. Her eyes glowed, as did her horn.

“Pop?” Spark asked, no longer outwardly angry.

Pop clapped both of her hands together and then spread them out wide as they glowed a yellow color. All of the shards of glass, as well as the broken part of the window began to glow with the same color. With a shout, she clapped her hands back together and all of the shards shot all around her, piecing themselves back onto the pane. She closed her glowing eyes and the shards solidified back onto the window, perfectly repairing it in seconds.

She sighed, glaring at the window as if it did something wrong. Both twins held their mouths gaped open. No matter how many times she had performed such amazing feats of magic, they never would get used to it.

“I knew something was wrong, the vibe has been off all day.” Pop looked back at the two of them and they began to look at her with some worry in their eyes. “The energies were negative all day and I ignored it. Something is very wrong right now.” She turned back to the window and looked out at the sun as it was just over the horizon. “I can’t help but feel that this is just the beginning.”

“I’m just not sure if you’re thinking straight on this whole thing, Death. I mean, yes, it is a travesty that such a beautiful flower shop was killed off, but these things tend to happen sometimes, you know?” Pearl said as she drove the two of them down the street. The streets were pretty clear for this time of night and on a work night of all things. They’d stayed with Leafly until her brother came to pick her up. Stiff Hammer thanked them wholeheartedly for consoling his sister until he got there and he offered them his services, of course Pearl said that there was no need.

Strange things like that were happening a lot lately, though. Pearl paid attention to the economy of Ranchtown, for a rich business tycoon just starting up their own businesses, she made it her duty to pay very close attention. Her numbers were starting to soar, it seemed. She had just helped Frozen Pop open up her store way before they had initially thought they would and already it was pulling in numbers that she could only dream of, even for the starting weekend.

These sorts of things hardly ever happened, even when you threw as much money at something as you could, they usually took time to build. It was strange to be sure. Frozen Pop’s Frozen Treats was already gaining new stock from companies she had never heard of. She checked over her books twice and none of them had any of the names of the companies that she had received some of their candy mixings from. Still, the stock was coming in and she chose not to question it, already having many other store openings to deal with as it was.

“Ummm, Pearl?” Death asked, sitting in the passenger seat, her cheek in her palm as her elbow leaned against the armrest on the door.

“Hmm?” Pearl perked her ears up. “What?”

“First of all, you’re gonna hafta trust me on this one. Second of all, you passed up the street we turn on,” Death said, pointing back the way they came.

“Oh, oh right.” Pearl blushed a little bit and turned off on the next road.

They made it to the club and the parking lot was a pitiful sight to behold. The cars there were minimal and the music that was normally bumping its subwoofers against the walls was a lot more silent than it normally was.

“Hmm… It’s seen better days,” Death said as she closed the car door. Pearl grunted her agreement as the two earth pony girls walked up to the front. There was no bouncer at the door, because there was no line. On Thirsty Thursday, there was no line. Pearl shook her head and both of them walked in through the front door.

The colored lights still worked, still moved around the dance floor, but there was no one dancing. There was just a bunch of ponies at the bar, one of them with a black shirt, a horrid looking fat gold earring and a crew cut that looked like he was trying to brush the ceiling like a broom. There was also an excessively fat pony, with a gray shirt that barely stretched over his gut and nine or ten other guys who were simply knocking back drinks, not even paying attention to the music that was playing.

No one was dancing. That was one thing that Pearl loved about this place. Just sit at the bar and watch ponies who had no idea what they were doing go on the dance floor and make absolute fools of themselves. It didn’t matter how well they danced, so long as they were having fun, that’s what the club is all about. Well, that and making money, but no one paid attention to that sort of thing, other than business type ponies. The business type pony that she was raised to be. The simple thought made her sigh as she sat down at the bar and Death Metal took the seat beside her.

“Pearl Necklace! As I live and breathe.” The bright blue and white pony behind the bar put another clean beer mug behind the bar. His fur was quite unique, as the white patterns in his fur were very much like a calico cat, only since they were a solid color, they didn’t have the bleeding color effect. The blue in his fur was brighter than sky blue, too.

“Venue! Hey!” They held up their hands as if to high five and held them together for a moment. “Venue, what the hell is with this place? It’s like a graveyard.”

Venue, a very large, muscular bartender, former bouncer, nodded and closed his eyes. “Yeah, things have been pretty dismal here ever since a month ago.”

“What? What happened a month ago?” Pearl asked, not knowing that she was drawing some looks from across the bar. Some of the other stallions at the bar were giving her gazes that she wouldn’t have liked, had she’d seen them. One pony who did see them, though, was Death, who leaned back in her stool. The Death gaze she gave to them had them turning back around and concentrating on their beers.

“Well, for one thing, the health inspector dropped by and decided to give the place a once over. Now, I keep this place spic and span, Pearl. You know that. But she found things that literally should not have been there. She found a puddle of liquid in the kitchen, a brown liquid that dried up under the table. I know that puddle was not there, because we had our weekly good’n’cleans like we always do and we push that damn table and mop under it. There was a roach nest in the men’s bathroom wall. Roaches! I mean, come on! We have never had a roach problem here, not since we opened the place. I know, I was there!”

Venue was getting a little flustered, it seemed, his purple eyes furrowed. “It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Did you catch the name of the Health Inspector?” Death Metal said and Venue did a doubletake. He looked at her with raised eyebrows. This was literally the first time he had ever heard her speak to him.

“Oh, ummm… I think she left a paper around here somewhere,” Venue said, putting another clean mug under the bar.

“You mind if I look at it?” Death asked in the nicest tone she could muster. Again, this took him a little aback. Pearl looked at her with an arched eyebrow, as if she didn’t even know Death Metal anymore.

“Ummm, I guess not. I think I put it in my office,” Venue said, and then heard a shot glass hit the bar top hard.

“Hey barkeep, pass some more of that rock gut over this way,” one of the bar’s maneless patrons grinned toward Venue. The large, blue and white bartender rolled his eyes as his head was turned. He walked to him and filled up an empty shot glass and passed it his way. “If I wanted this kinda service I’d go to Pig Snout across town,” the guy remarked snidely as he downed the shot in one gulp.

“Then leave!” Venue turned away from him and walked to the back, obviously tired of his shenanigans already. He went into the back. As he did, one of the patrons made sure he was gone before the purple furred stallion started reaching around the bar to get his hands on one of the big bottles of gin. As he did, a butter knife came out of nowhere and flew through the air, jabbing him in the hand. It didn’t break the skin, but it poked him hard enough to make him pull his hand away and hold it.

“Hands off,” Death Metal said as she glared at the purple pony with the tattoo of a bat on his shoulder. His gaze met hers and he scowled, but went back to his drink.

“Yeah, I got it here. Her name was Minty Fresh.” Venue walked out of the back with the official document she left with him.

“Minty Fresh… alright,” Death Metal said as she handed him back the paper, slid off of the barstool and walked to the other side of the club to where Night Moon was at the DJ Station, sitting and playing Solitaire.

Venue watched her walk to the station and then turned to Pearl. “Did she really just talk to me?”

“I think so.” Pearl tilted her head to the side as her red eyes gazed at the raven haired pony. “With her it’s really hard to tell.”

Night Moon looked up at Death Metal and put down his cards. He smiled at her. Most of the patrons there knew him as DJ MixiMoon, but Death Metal had known him for years. The dark blue pegasus was more familiar with the underground than the normal ponies in the city. He’d known her from when she was almost brand new in the unlicensed fighting league. He’d played music for some of the events that they held. The pay was great back in those days, because they knew he wasn’t a squealer.

“Weeelll if it isn’t The Lady Fists of Death herself.” Night Moon scratched his light brown hair which hung down only inches away from his shoulders.

Death Metal rolled her eyes a little bit, giving a tiny smile and shaking her head at what a goof he was. “How ya doin’ Moon?”

“Oh, you know, barely scraping by since the golden days. Things just aren’t the same since then, things got boring real quick. Now this place is probably going to go under,” Night Moon said as he looked out at the despicable crowd at the bar.

“I’m starting to see that trend.” Death Metal also glanced at the other assholes who were sitting near Pearl. “So, I was wondering.” She looked back at him, catching his attention again.

“Yeah?”

“You mind if I pick some music to liven this shit heap up a bit?” Death made him blink three or four times. This was literally the most he had ever heard her talk, let alone talk to him.

“Oh, Death, I am so far from caring right this moment.” He got up from his seat, and picked up his headphones, holding them up to her. She took them and went to the console, seeing three screens, two turntables, and a whole lot of switches, and buttons she didn’t know anything about. “Alright, are you just looking for the songs options?”

“Yeah.” She said, and he started to point to the second screen and the search option.

Pearl’s expression could be measured in miles. Her eyes widened as she watched Death Metal put on the very large headphones and started tinkering with the DJ’s controls.

“Is she allowed to do that?” She looked at Venue, who was mixing a drink for her. He poured the bright red liquid into a large glass and put a cherry on top with a straw. Then he shrugged.

“If MixiMoon doesn’t care, I don’t give the hairy crack of a rat’s ass.” He put a small napkin on the bar and placed her drink on it.

That was when a very loud, thrumming guitar riff started to play, and the volume was turning up. Pearl’s eyes only widened more as she watched Death Metal close her eyes. The thrumming grew louder as the drums in the music started to crash and beat a mile a minute. The guitar riffs came faster than the speed of sound, and the harder the music grew, the more Death Metal began to bob her head.

Death Metal’s hair was cut short for the first time in a decade not too long ago. However, a few months had passed by and her raven black hair was now touching her shoulders. It was not long before she was holding the headphones on her head. That was when she did something that Pearl Necklace would have never imagined in a million years of living. If she had a life span for eons upon eons, she wouldn’t have considered this to ever be a possibility.

Death Metal brought out a microphone as Night Moon handed it to her. As he did, her hair started to go wild as she headbanged, her head very near the DJ Console. The music thrashed and bashed, the bass shaking the entire nightclub to its very foundations.

“HOLD YOUR TONGUE!!” Death Metal’s voice went cold, evil, and screamed like a raging beast. “SPEAK FROM THE SHADOWS!! GRIP YOURSELF AND LET IT BLOOOOWWWW!!!”

She muted the vocals from the song itself using the DJ console, this was all her voice. She reached deep into her chest and brought forth a roar of hatred that blasted forth throughout the whole main room. Even Venue’s hand stopped scrubbing a mug as his mouth hung open.

“LIVE IN YOUR FEAR! CAST IT OUT! LET THE DARK UNKNOWN DIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!” Her voice did a deep screech that caused all of the patrons to wince. Not that she was bad at it, on the contrary, she was a little too good at it. Even Night Moon didn’t know what to make of this.

This was when one of the bar patrons got up from his seat and started yelling toward Death Metal. He was obviously not happy with her style of singing, and the general idea was that he would like for her to cease her current actions and turn down the music once again so he could hear himself think.

In response to this, Death Metal simply let forth a roar, a dark, burrowing scream that caused her head to shake uncontrollably, and caused the patron to cover his ears and turn his head downward, away from her. “HOLD YOUR TONGUE!!” she repeated as the song went into a very fast, spider licking guitar solo that was faster than a bolt of lightning. Her hair went every which way once again, swinging up and down and all over the place as she head banged hard!

The patron then turned to Pearl, who had gulped down her entire drink in almost an instant, and put it on the bar. She looked at the stallion as he was yelling, and furrowed her brow.

“You need to tell your little girly friend that she’s being loud and obnoxious and she needs to stop this instant!”

“You’re being loud and obnoxious too, but you don’t hear me crying like a little pussy, do you?! If you’re so damn tough, why don’t you go tell her yourself!”

“What did you say to me, you little bitch!” That was when he reached out and grabbed her wrist hard!

There was no warning, there were no signs at all. No one saw her jump over the DJ station’s console. No one saw her rip the headphones from her head and drop them onto the floor. She was a blur. She travelled straight through the club without a single thought. Death Metal came up straight behind the bright purple, muscled stallion with the bat tattoo on his shoulder.

The stallion caught her out of the corner of his eye, but as soon as he saw her, it was just her fist. It swung through the air and smashed directly into his snout. He recoiled from the force of the punch. He recoiled so hard, he didn’t even notice the next punch that came straight for the other side of his nose, which drew blood in an instant. Death swung yet again, this time knocking him for a loop directly in his chin, which caused his chin to go left while the rest of his face went right. As it went right, she caught it in her hand. The stallion had her in height by a good foot and some change and she slammed his head down onto the bar, causing the whole thing to rattle.

Spit and blood came from his maw as he dropped to the ground. He was still moving, but only clinging to consciousness by a tearing thread.

Death Metal’s face was absolute fury and her once green eyes were now red with the rage that would put many bulls to shame. Her shoulders heaved up and down and her fists were so tight that her nails nearly drew blood from her palms. Her teeth ground to the point of creaking. Her breath could be heard over the Thrash Hoof music and her gaze was locked on that unfortunate stallion on the floor.

“DAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!” Her banshee scream caused soundwaves through the air molecules to the point of shuddering all of those patrons that stood near her. Her booted hoof came up from the floor and smashed straight down into the wide open crotch region of the purple stallion. Every single patron in that bar responded with horrified gasps and “OOOHH!” The stallion on the floor rolled up like a window shade into the fetal position, his face a mask of pain and despair.

The music ended and there was nothing but a very eerie silence that filled the whole nightclub. The only sound that could be heard was Death Metal’s breathing as her chest heaved up and down.

“Alright, that’s it, every single one of you asshats! Pay your tab and get the hell out! And take your asshole friend with you!” Venue pointed to the stallion on the floor, who now had a broken nasal passage, two lost teeth, a hairline fracture on his jawline and insurmountable sperm loss.

All of them did just that, taking out their coin bags, looking over at Death Metal as they laid bits on the bar. They took up the one they knew as Dragon Strength and dragged him out of the club.

That was when Pearl came up behind Death Metal and gently put her hand on her wrist. As she did, Death turned her head to her, the rage she felt was still very much in her face. That was until she saw the look of worry on Pearl’s face as she gazed at Death.

“Hey… Daisy… it’s me.” She put her hand on Death Metal’s extremely clenched jaw. Pearl ran her fingers through her raven black hair and gently clenched the back of her head with a caring hand. “It’s me,” she whispered to her once again. She took her other hand into hers and held it with a soft grip.

It did not take long for the look to finally melt away, to be replaced by a look of exhaustive, extreme overexertion. As she leaned forward, Pearl held her close and pulled her head onto her shoulder for it to rest. There came a little bit of sobbing as tears began to run down Death Metal’s cheeks. Her crying came gently, and her shoulders twitched up and down as she did. Her tears ran down Pearl’s shoulders as she stroked her hair.

“I didn’t want him to hurt you. I-I-I couldn’t stop, I--”

“Shhhhh, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Pearl whispered into her ear.

Venue was very quick to hop over the bar and go get a chair from one of the tables in the middle of the club. He picked it up and rushed over to Death Metal, setting it down behind her. He stepped back after that, looking around to see if there was anything he could clean while Pearl calmed her down.

Pearl led her backwards into the chair and sat her down, kneeling in front of her so that she could keep her close. Death’s arms wrapped around her then, the tears still silently flowing from her as she whimpered weakly. Pearl rubbed her back softly and laid little kisses on Death Metal’s cheek, ones that she leaned her cheek into as they came.

Such a hard metal shell that stood around Death’s persona. She was so quiet, calculating and cold when others looked at her. There was very little emotion in anything she did and the fact that it all came crashing down because of Pearl was something of a point of pride. The pink pony mare was terrified at the horrific show of strength Death Metal just made. She had never seen her fight, although Death had told her about her past in the underground fighting ring. Even then, Pearl didn’t think that she showed herself as she did just then.

Death composed herself at length and Pearl reached into her purse, pulling out a package of tissues. She took out a handful of them and DM took two of them, rubbing them over her eyes and blowing her nose. She lowered her head once more and sighed.

Just like that, she looked back at Pearl with that look she had on a general basis.

“Are you…” Pearl started, but she was nodding before she even finished. She got up from the chair and popped her neck left and right.

“We need to get going,” Death Metal said, her voice had returned to normal, but there was still that small aching in the back of it. “I think it’s time we start looking into some of those books you’re always shoving your nose into.” She turned and started walking toward the door.

Pearl stood up as well, and opened her purse. “Oh wait, Death, I need to pay the--”

“Pearl, no,” Venue said, sweeping the floor around the bar.

“But--”

“No.” Venue shook his head and walked to her. They exchanged kisses on the cheek and he smiled. “That’s payment enough. Now go.” He motioned her away.

Pearl smiled at him, then turned to follow Death, who was already out the door, holding the door open for her as she came running.

“Wait, you know we need to talk about this, right?” Pearl asked as they started walking toward the car.

“Talk about what?” Death said as she lit a cigarette.

“Talk about what-- what do you mean talk about what?! That! You thrashing around like a crazy pony, blaring your devil music and screaming like you’re trying to lose your voice!”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Death turned her head away from Pearl, who chuckled.

“Uh huh. I’ve heard you listening to that song before. That Killproof or whatever.” Pearl got to the car and unlocked it with her keyring remote.

“That was Skullhoof, and I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” Death Metal opened the car door.