The Lulamoon Files

The Lulamoon Files

Chapter Fifteen: Arrested Development

Written by TheCrimsonDM

There was another clue. If Scythe was friends with Blueblood, that must mean he had access to knowledge about where to find him. I couldn’t believe that Scythe would be friends with just any unicorn, I was now sure that this warlock was in fact Blueblood himself, but in order to prove that I would first have to find him, and then get a good look at his face.

If only I could prove to Twilight that Blueblood was really out here and acting in clear violation of the first and forth rules of magic than I would be able to get out from under her sword. Still I had to find him first.

The trip to the EWP office was a quick one. I got out and of course the doors were locked. After a quick unlocking of the front door I slipped in without problem. Once inside I made my way toward the office that had belonged to Scythe just a few short hours ago. Inside it was dark, but after flicking on the lights I was able to look around with ease.

First I checked that picture. After taking it off the wall and slipping the back cover off I found that Blueblood was indeed on both copies. He was also on the graduation picture. Him and Scythe had been friends at some point. Yet it was clear that Blueblood was now against both Scythe and probably whoever this gray stallion was.

After looking around I found a few notes in the desk drawer. Yellow note paper with several to do lists on them. The first one was a grocery list for himself and the family. A lot of bread and potatoes went to his house. The next one was a list of ponies who were not going to get any jobs anytime soon, they were blacklisted. Finally I came across a list of his personal agenda.

After work check up on BB at Sun’s Betrayal.

Get a blessing from the goddess. It’ll guarantee my kids collage.

Meet with nosey blue whore, probably introduce her to the goddess personally.

First of all, I am not a nosey blue whore, I am an inquisitive blue lady. Secondly BB must stand for Blueblood and it looked like Scythe was in on this cult thing too. I hated cultist, they were messing around with powers they never understood and simply hoped they could contain. Things always got messy when cults were involved.

I heard somepony outside of the door. I quickly shut the drawer and slipped the painting onto the floor. The door handle rattled. I had no choice, I had to pull out my wand.

“Mr. Scythe?” An old gray maned stallion said as he poked his head in. He wore a guard’s white shirt and black pants. His old eyes scanned the room. Looked right at me, and then moved over as if nothing was there. After a moment he shook his head. “Guess he left the light on again.” The guard turned the light off before shutting the door and leaving.

The moment I was sure he wasn’t coming back I let out a sigh. My wand went back into my saddlebags and I let go of the invisibility spell. My horn still throbbed from all the earlier excitement. I am not a fighter, and I was never meant to be. An elegant creature like myself was meant to use her magic for greater deeds. Muddying my hooves with so much fighting in one day had left me tired, and beaten. Potions, cola, and sleep hadn’t done enough for me.

I grabbed the to do list and made my way back out into the lobby and out of the building. I just had to find out where Sun’s Betrayal was located at. Which was hard considering I had no idea what it was. I was half way back to my car when I heard tires screeching along the side of the road. The black car from earlier was back and it was behind me. I galloped ahead. The window rolled down. Something black and shiny was pointed out the window. A gun!

I ducked into an alleyway behind a dumpster. Explosive fire rang out. It soon disappeared. Carefully I looked around the side of the dumpster and couldn’t see the car anymore. There were no bullet holes in the alley. It was odd to not be fired at for once.

At least until I saw my car.

Bullet holes riddled the engine and the wheels were all blown out on one side. I cursed. This was probably the worst luck I’d had all day long. I mean what was I supposed to do now? Walk after the bad guy?

My watch told me it was already three quarters past ten. I didn’t know why, but it felt like there was a ticking time bomb just waiting for me. What was I supposed to do about it? I didn’t know. Since I couldn’t use the car anymore, I really was forced to walk. Down the sidewalk, late at night, all alone.

It was maybe another ten minutes before I saw a gas station. Surely there was a phone in there. I only had one alley left; Rarity. And I was praying to the Sun Goddess that she was going to be able to give me a lift, as well as know what the Sun’s Betrayal was.

Before I could even cross the street there was a loud siren going off. It lasted a fraction of a second but it had me frozen, even before I heard Applejack’s voice dripping with venom. “Freeze or be shot!”

I froze. I mean what else was I supposed to do? I didn’t even have any smoke pellets on me, not that it would matter none. I had nowhere else to go. Slowly both Applejack and Caramel Apple circled around me. Caramel had the hoofcuffs.

“Now listen here, Lulamoon,” Applejack said. “We chased that ghost of yours around for twenty minutes before I realized that it was trick. You dun went and made a fool of us. An’ Ah’m not letting you get away this time. Ah won’t hesitate t' take you down.”

I lowered my head. “My car just got shot up. Come on. Do I really deserve this?”

“Ah don’t know that yet. You keep on running and that’s not a good sign.”

Caramel slapped the hoofcuffs on my forelegs with way too much force. “It’s also called resisting arrest and that’s a crime.”

“There’s a much higher authority than you out there,” I snarled.

“Oh yeah,” Caramel said leaning in. “Who? God?”

I wanted to head butt her so badly. How I restrained myself I’ll never know. “Get rutted.”

Applejack nodded toward the car. “Thought you’d show up here after Scythe’s death. Caramel, get her in the car.”

Caramel shoved me, hard. “Go on, git.”

I walked, awkwardly with my forelegs cuffed. It was also slow, which prompted Caramel to shove me some more. I glared at her. “You know this is considered police brutality.”

“Not until I break your nose it ain’t,” Caramel snapped.

Applejack just gave me a sad look. “We’ll know if you’re the murderer or not soon I think. You can’t do magic from a cell.”

“Yeah, but I can certainly be killed from one.”

“Now listen here, nopony is going to kill you,” Applejack tried to reassure me. What she didn’t know was that I already had a pissed off warden after my rump.

On my approach to the car I heard a buzzing sound coming from their radio. It was annoying to say the least. I was shoved into the back seat, shut and locked in, and the two cops got in the front. Applejack turned on the car, but it didn’t want to start for some reason. It certainly wasn’t me sending all of my hate directly into their engine to give them more trouble. Why would I ever do that?

The sound was getting louder, which was probably my fault. I decided that I’d rather have a working car than a loud one and stopped hexing the car. Too late I guessed as the buzzing only grew in intensity.

Applejack looked at Caramel. “What’s that noise?”

“Dunno, but she seems to be loving it,” Caramel said with a smirk.

I growled. “Just turn your darn radio off already. You don’t have to torture my ears as well as arrest me.”

Applejack looked back at me. “But the radio’s turned off.”

“Than what’s that ungodly-“ I chocked on my words as it hit me.

Caramel had her hoof on the door handle. “I think it’s coming from outside. I’m going to check it out.”

“NO!”I screamed. “It’s the swarm. It’ll eat you. That’s what’s been killing ponies. Get out of here, drive, go, now. Turn on the radio, it’ll send them pa-“

Caramel hit the metal grate between us with a hoof. “Shut it! I’m going out there and you can’t stop me, murderer.”

“Please, don’t.”

She didn’t listen. She opened the door. She had only taken one step out when I saw an army of the swarmlings cover her foreleg and drag her up into the air. Applejack screamed and reached for her partner but only managed to grab her hoof at the last second. The screams coming from Caramel, I’ll never forget them. They were high pitched and pained, then wet, and then silent. Applejack tugged with all her might, and was rewarded with a severed gnawed off leg. She went white.

I used my telekinesis to shut the side door. Turn the key to the ignition and heard the engine struggling to turn on. “Come on, pal. You can do it.” The car didn’t seem to take too much care of my coaxing though. The window behind me cracked as something hit it. I kept turning the ignition. “Please, work. You can do it, guy.”

Applejack was just sitting there, holding Caramel’s orange leg. I think she might have been crying silently but I was too focused on trying to get the radio up and running to pay attention. There were several more smacks into the windows around us. Tiny holes appeared in the roof where I saw sharp teeth puncturing.

“Come on, please,” I begged the engine to start. The engine rolled over, the light’s came on, and the radio popped onto some lousy talk show. “Crabapples! No!”

One of the swarmlings squeezed through a hole in the ceiling. Its body was cut up by the metal edges but it didn’t seem to care. It came for my head. I ducked and roared. “Change the station! MUSIC!”

Applejack wasn’t reacting. The swarmling came down at me and I rolled onto the floor. It bit into the seat ripping out a huge chunk of fluff and leather. My hat was already on the floor so I pointed my horn at the little critter. “Not today!” A jolt of electricity flew from my horn and zapped the bug. It hit the seat twitching.

There were so many holes in the ceiling now that it looked like it had been peppered with acid rain. I sat up turned my attention toward the radio and focused for all I was worth. I turned the stations until I found one with music. Some blaring trumpets played a hopeful melody and the swarm stopped right above us.

I watched, still amazed as the first time, as the swarm began bouncing in rhythm with the music. Something heavy and wet hit the ground outside the car. I didn't look. After taking up a better position on the seat I used my telekinesis' to put the car into drive, push the gas peddle, and drive us, at a moderate pace, out of there. The swarm didn’t follow.

I got all of five feet before the car stopped. The radio went dead, and the swarm twitched sporadically. Ahead of us stood the cloaked stallion. His horn was lit up with a pale blue light as the hood of the car was encased in ice.

He walked up to the front of the car and both me and Applejack stared at him. He offered that smile I once thought of as attractive. “Oh, it seems like you discovered my little pet’s one weakness. Too bad, Trixie. You won’t get to live to see another day. I’m going through with my plans and you can’t stop me. My ship is being loaded up with all the monsters as we speak and I’ll be gone by midnight.”

I glared at him. “Is your ship named the Sun’s Betrayal?”

“It is a fitting name considering my goddess is it not?” He replied.

A deafening explosion of loud sound was followed by a bright flash. Applejack held her gun and was firing. Shot, after shot, after shot. Six times into the stallion. I watched as the bullets hit a wall of ice and got stuck in mid air between us and the villain. Of course her gun ran out but she kept pulling the trigger anyway.

“I’m going to stop you,” I told him.

He looked up at his swarm, smiled, and turned away. “No, I think my parasprites will kill you first.” He walked away laughing. When I looked up at the swarm again I lost track of him, and of his laughter as the buzzing increased to frantic volume.

Like a rainbow wall of pure hunger and death, the swarm descended once more.