Author's Note

Welcome back, all. It's been a minute. But now back to the story. Meep.

Do As You Say

Alister groaned.

"Why this school just decides to leave crap out in the open will forever be beyond me," Alister fiddled around in the science lab, looking a few textbooks to confirm a idea he had in his mind. "I know it has to be around here somewhere."

Chrysalis smirked at her friend as she kept a lookout for anybody who would be sticking their nose to close to the science lab. Another half hour to find the ingredients they need and to combine the right amounts to get what they needed and they would be to get the ball rolling. Even though the pair was working with Garble for the moment, it didn't mean they would have to like it. "He better deliver on his end after we get him what he needs."

"He will," Chrysalis smirked, swiveling her head left and right outside of the room. "He owes me, and I've yet to cash out my favor to him, so he has the incentive of not owing me just to get this over with." Alister hmmped at his friend. "And what are you even looking for?"

"Quite simple, the ingredients to make a type of drug. If I can find out where the exact ingredients are in this school, hopefully I can make it in a dosage high enough to get the results I want," Alister stopped at a page and took a picture of it with his phone.

"Well, hurry; my neck hurts from all this movement." Chrysalis groaned and sighed.

"That's what she said," Alister quipped, looking around for a few more minutes, heading back into the room where some more books were located before coming out and preparing to clean up.

"Dick," Chrysalis frowned, blowing a raspberry at him.

Alister chose to poke fun at his friend. "It takes one to know one." If she wanted to play this game, she would need ammo.

"No, no, it's good, go on and relish in that victory. But, next time it'll be different, because just like your mother, I take all comers," Chrysalis chuckled at Alister hissing in retaliation. She continued her sweep of the hallway. Point for her.

"Still, I'm surprised though."

Chrysalis hmmmed in response. "About what?"

"How the school was able to procure all of these resources when most times, there's barely been a sponsor or partner in years. A lot of this stuff is outdated and bland."

Chrysalis saw her friend's point of view and she was just as in agreement with him as he thought. Celestia always had a way to get the results from the people she wanted to get results from. This seemed to be no different. "Well you know how principals are, always putting on a front for the press. But, nowadays, Luna does more then Celestia when it comes to managing the money, paying the bills, arranging trips and everything else under the sun. Cele's just a figurehead at this point.''

''And all of that work is no doubt killing her little sister,'' Alister said, wrapping up his search in the front and walking to the back of the science room where a few of the non-volatile substances were secured away under lock and key. "We may have to do some recon on this,'' the tall, grey reinforced cabinet was given a tug by Chrysalis as the gargantuan pad lock was fiddled with before hitting the cabinet doors with a ding.

The pair looked on with bored expressions, as well as curiosity as how they would get in and out without leaving evidence. . .

''I got it.'' Chrysalis said, but soon regretted saying so. ''But it won't be as easy as we think.''

''Nothing has been so far, so what's one more complication to the list? We're thinking the same thing, right? Janitor.''

If only he thought more about him saying what he said.

Chrysalis walked out of the back room with Alister in tow, the pair walking down the long hallway, the shutters on the windows long being closed, providing little natural light coming in to show the way. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Click. Click. Click. Click, the rhythm of their shoes against the tiled floor as they went down one floor, past another hallway which led them through the gymnasium, past the library, and finally into the spacious cafeteria.

''Come over here,'' Chrysalis had the both of them duck behind one of the lunch booths. ''We only get one shot, and I would rather not get found out about being here when we really shouldn't.''

''She makes it sound worse then what I think she realizes.'' Alister thought. But, he was curious, so he bit the bullet. ''Who we dealing with?''

''Big Macintosh.''

Alister almost burst out in laughter.

''Do you honestly think that I am scared of that fruitcake?''

''A little,'' Chrysalis said, shrugging and looking at Alister. "I mean, he did drop you on his back that one time.''

''Only because,'' Alister gritted his teeth, clutching at something invisible in the air. ''He caught me off guard because I didn't believe he could run that fast that quick.'' the imagery of Alister's world literally being turned upside down made him commit to at least going to the gym to work up a decent muscle tone.

Big Macintosh came through the loading dock area of the cafeteria, his tan janitor's clothes and small cap making him stand out like a candle. Inhaling and blowing out a small cloud of gray smoke from what looked to be a joint of sorts, Alister frowned but continued to watch on. A series of small coughing fits followed after before he caught a cough in his throat and spit out some mucus into a nearby trash can.

''Well, you know what this means,'' Alister began his crawl to follow Big Mac before being stopped by Chrys. "What?''

''We're gonna get some of that, right?'' Chrysalis said, a hopeful gleam in her eyes. Alister knew what she meant 100%.

''Yep, let's go beat him like a marching band drum and get the keys and get what we came for.'' Alister said. Chrysalis deflated immediately. ''You were trying to get high?''

Chrysalis hissed silently. ''Work is hard, ok? I need something to take the edge off a little.'' Alister groaned at her making a smoking motion. ''He's faded right now, so why not get in where I fit in?''

''Why not buy your own supply?''

''Too frugal.'' was Chryslis's response. ''So why not get faded with him, again?''

''High is better to use in this situation, and I don't need you of all people to be high, right here, right now.''

''So does that mean?-''

''Let's do what we came here, Chrys, and you can get higher than Wiz and Snoop on Cloud 9 smoking a blunt designed for God.''

He had a feeling he would regret it later.

''So what's the plan?''

Alister, in all his wisdom, uncovered a book he had been carrying with him. ''A literal hit and run. When you see your chance, take the keys, go to the science lab and get the stuff and we meet outside the school before anybody has a chance to see that anything iffy happened.''

Chrysalis had to frown and scoff. Before anything iffy happened? the very thought him trying to beat down a brick wall with a book was if anything, iffy. But, seeing her friend suffer for being overly stupid most of the time could be rewarding for her, at least until she can start her ascension. So much nonsense and bs. But, she might as well be along for the ride, if nobody else is there to-

THWACK!

''He just had to do it.'' Chrysalis whispered, sulking behind the table and trying her best to see the situation without being seen.

''Boy,'' Big Macintosh's voice reverberated with the sound of a bass speaker. ''What do you think you're doing?'' he held his joint in between his fingers as he turned around and peered at Alister at more or less eye level though his vision was a bit blurry.

''Oh, sorry, thought I could get you to read something that could help you,'' Alister smirked, internally cursing himself not hitting harder. Or having a thicker book. ''Wanna know the title?''

''Why not?'' Big Mac's eyes narrowed, unamused.

''The Headshot!'' Alister swung the book with all his might, catching Big Mac across the face and forcing him to look immediately to the right and him to take exactly two steps back to correct himself.

. . .

. . .

. . .

''Well, that was certainly somethin'.'' Big Mac said, turning his head back and rubbing his cheek a bit. Then to Alister at least, he did something that should have been a red flag for him to run. ''Let's go on and git this over with,'' Big Mac put his joint back in his mouth and held his fists up, with the calmest voice and demeanor.

''Bring it,'' Alister brandished his book again, taking another move to hit Big Mac, only for his weapon to be blocked by Big Mac's hand. Then his boot. Then his shoulder as he slowly descended upon the younger teen. There was a glint of something in his very bloodshot and watering eyes as he followed through with his advance.

Possibly beside him being high.

''Oh, damn it all,'' Alister said, walking back as Big Mac advanced on him. He could have thought about going about this plan of his a little better than what he developed in his mind just a few minutes before springing into action. Big Mac sized him up and smirked, of course, even if being high, he's still as confident as ever. Alister decided that just fighting him would be a better idea than using a book. "Haaaa!'' Alister rushed forward, throwing a right punch only for Big Mac to step back and lazily slap his hand with his own calloused one.

''Ya done yet?'' a slew of Alister throwing left and right punches, following the same effect afterward before mixing in palm strike which were met with Big Mac's fist that rocked his entire body like a speaker, yet he did not relent.

''Oh, this is not good,'' Chrys said, watching his friend try and fight a fight that was sure to end in pain. After a few seconds of the same things happening, Big Mac grew tired and socked Alister in the stomach, causing him to grit his teeth and some spit to fly out of his mouth. "Ooooo.''

She doubted much of a chance to grab the keys would surface at this rate. Alister limped for a moment but shook it off as he held his own waited for the finish of a particularly slow punch from Big Mac, allowing him to strike one decent blow on his jaw, causing the mountain of a teenager to stumble back and snort, exhaling smoke from his mouth with a pained hiss.

''Uh. . .uh. . .'' Big Mac began to feel a bit dizzy, his attacks stopping for a second before he caught himself on one knee as Alister looked on with a watchful eye. A few moments of him slowly shaking his head, and then a thud as he fell completely over, going silent.

''Looks like my chance came after all,'' Chrys said, walking over to Big Mac to poke him with her foot. ''He's sleeping, right?''

''Hold on, let's see-'' Alister positioned himself Big Mac's head, lined up, and kicked him with all his might, the scraping of his face against the floor the only sound being the loudest. No effect. ''That's a yes in my books.''

''How did he not kill you? He was about to cream you.'' Chrys said, looking very much surprised that her friend came out with minimal injury. Then again, Alister was somewhat confident in his abilities to diffuse the situation, though just barely. But then, a thought came. ''Won't he remember this?''

Alister had already grabbed the keys and walked away as Chrysalis was in thought. ''There's not that big of a chance. He was high, plus I doubt he would, honestly, plus we just need to get what we need and we should be good to go.''

Chrys doubted her friend's words for a minute, but still had to pry with another question that would surely connect them to their little 'outing.' ''Won't there be camera footage of us going into the school after hours and assaulting the janitor?''

''This little neighborhood is the epitome of safety, so I'm sure that they don't check the cameras unless something happened,'' Alister said. ''Plus Garble already had one of his supposed friends that's one of the security guards cut the cameras just for today, ergo-''

''-There's nothing for Macintosh to go on if he decides to go on a rant about what happened if he remembers it.'' Chrys said. Then she looked to Big Mac still on the ground knocked out and decided to rummage through his pockets. ''Found some!'' a zip loc bag covered in foil held a few grape-sized green buds.

''You really ran this man's pockets for weed, what is the world coming to?'' Alister chuckled. ''You should put it back, though in all honesty.''

''He won't miss it; knowing him, he'll probably just think that he smoked the rest being as high as he was,'' Chrys hopped away from Alister trying to snatch the bag away from her. ''And besides, that is an opinion you are having. Now let's get the stuff and go.''

''Fine, the sooner I can get my revenge, the better,'' Alister said, twirling the keys about as the pair headed back to the science lab. It would only be a little while longer before things start to take shape and the real game can begin.