The Lulamoon Files

The Lulamoon Files

Chapter Two: Car Ride

Written by TheCrimsonDM

Just outside of the Applegate Apartments I found myself staring at the nearby allyway at unmistakable claw marks, splatters of blood, and a few chunks of gore. From sixty feet above me I could spy the balcony from where the creature must have jumped off of, at least Applejack was considerate enough to not lie to herself or me about the probability of this being some kind of monster. Whatever it was had leapt from the balcony, landed down here and left some marks behind. One single clue that I could find was a massive blood soaked paw print in the alleyway. Oddly enough, there was just one of them and it was larger than my head.

I left the alley way while considering my mental notes. There were a dozen or more creatures that could have pulled off something like this. I would normally say Ghoul, but they were killers of surgical precision, and this was just a bloody mess. Also the massive paw print gave me indication that it was a beast of some sort. The problem, I couldn’t tell which one just yet. If it was a creature of the Nevernever than it could have popped back into its own world after the killing was done.

I approached my car, admiring the way the blue roof was different than the gray metal doors. The black hood looked out of place on it as well. For good reason. My car had been attacked, over and over again since I came to Manehattan. If I looked hard enough I could still see the three claw marks left just above the rear tire from my run in with a pack of rather upset diamond dogs a few years ago. I guess they don’t appreciate being fooled out of their precious gems so much. What, I wasn’t a thief, I was returning the stolen gems… most of them.

I was about to reach my car when a black limo pulled up next to me. The backdoor opened to reveal no kidding a diamond dog holding a tommy gun pointed right at me. The windows were all tinted black so it was unlikely any police would know that he had a gun until it was too late to do anything about it.

“Get in,” the diamond dog hissed. I noticed he had a mohawk.

“Why hello my good sir,” I replied with an air of casualness that made him raise an eyebrow. “If you wouldn’t mind I was just looking for one of my friends. Last name It, first name Suck.”

The dog stared in puzzlement at me. A stallion’s head poked out the side and he gave a slimy smile to the dog. “Oh put that away, we’re here to do business not to be rude to our dear friend here.” He looked at me with eyes that shimmered like stolen gold. “Would you be so kind as to join us?”

It wasn’t a question.

“My mom always told me not to go into cars with strangers,” I replied.

Those gold eyes fixated on me. “I’m sure she did, but I’m no stranger. I’m but a humble friend wishing to speak with you in private.”

I heard the gun click and tried my hardest not to swallow as the fear crawled up my throat. It was important to these thuggish types that you never show fear. Whether they be a demon, or some stallion with a nice car and a thug. Still I didn’t want to risk some bullet holes in my nice new coat, so I decided to give up and go inside the car with the strange man.

Once I was in the door shut behind me and locked. The limo began driving really slowly. I gave my host a glare as I asked, “Okay, so what do you want?”

“It’s not every day that we see a unicorn in our city, much less a wizard unicorn.” He flashed a sickly smile at me. “I have to ask; how does it feel to know you have power over most anypony you come across?”

I tried not to smile too much. “It’s nice, at least until someone decides to start pointing guns at me. That tends to make me upset, and nopony wants an upset wizard. Especially not cramped into such a tight container as for example, a limo.”

His smile faded ever so slightly. “Miss Lulamoon, I’d suggest you keep your threats to yourself. If you know what’s good for you.”

“How can I know what’s good for me if I don’t even know who I’m talking to?”

“You don’t-“ His eyes raised ever so slightly. The sick smile on this pegasus’s lips spread through the air making me nauseous. “Why I didn’t introduce myself at all did I? How rude of me. I am Wind Rider.”

That was a surprise, and even though I tried to hide my reaction as quickly as it came, I could see he could tell that it shocked me to know who I was now riding with. I knew Wind Rider as everyone did, by reputation. A generation ago there were a bunch of warring mobs in Manehattan, and this one stallion cut a blood path through all of them and ended the wars by taking control of everything he wanted, and setting fire to the rest. Some viewed him as a hero that ended the mob wars, most feared him as the warlord he really was. I never expected he would even hear my name let alone set up an impromptu meeting with me at gun point.

“So,” I asked keeping my voice in check. “What do you want with the greatest unicorn in Equestria?”

He locked eyes with me. “Well, I might tell you that.”

His eyes didn’t avert from mine. You see most ponies never looked a wizard directly in the eyes for more than a second, and for good reason. It was impossible to tell when a soul gaze could happen. Though I was too great and powerful to have many soul gazes in my lifetime, it had happened only a few times before, each time was with a powerful soul, either a wizard as great as I was, or somepony special with lots of determination. I had in fact done a soul gaze with Applejack in one of our first encounters, and that’s why she called me in for consulting, she had seen a glimpse into my world and knew that I was the real deal.

I had my doubts as to whether I could ever soul gaze with some tyrannical, self serving, uptight, rich mobster-

Just like that I was sucked away from the car into Wind Rider’s eyes. I saw him standing on top of a mountain of corpses, each one was one of his enemies that he’d used to climb to the very top. All around him the world burned, and he gave a sad, but strong look at this world. There was something clutched between his wings on his back, but they were extended so that I couldn’t see what he was protecting, what was so secret. I knew that whatever it was, it had driven him up this mountain, he would be willing to make the mountain ten times larger in a heartbeat to keep this secret safe.

When I blinked I was back in the car, and Wind Rider was smiling like he had found a hundred dollar bill lying on the ground. “Oh, yes, I’ll tell you what I want.”

I swallowed. He had done that on purpose. He wanted to see what I was made of, and there was no telling what he found inside me. Maybe he found my past, or my power. Either way I didn’t like the way I felt like he had an upperhoof here.

“Okay Windy, what do you want?” I asked.

For a half second that smile died but it came back before I could even blink. “I would like to hire you out, full time. You’d have a nice home, servants, and all the material you could ever need to do your wizarding.”

He needed me. I opened my mouth but for some reason no words came out. His offer was nice. Being a wizard was bloody expensive after all. Full time employment, probably at a price that was far higher than I currently asked. I wanted to jump for joy then and there. But I remembered who I was talking too.

“What’s the catch?” I asked.

“You will need to keep me and my people safe.”

“Your people?”

His smile faltered again, though this time it didn’t pick back up. “Cloud Bounce was one of mine.”

Oh crabapples. If Cloud Bounce was one of his then that meant this whole situation just got a lot more complicated. I made that into a very personal note, I also added the fact that I needed to let Applejack know as soon as I could. She would figure it out sooner or later, and if she found out I was holding that bit of information from her she’d have my ovaries in a jar.

“Why would you need protection though? This could have just been an isolated event.”

His frown told me otherwise. “I would like to hire you, and trust me you would get all the best benefits you could ever ask for. Supplies, a safe location, a nice home, stallions… mares.”

I knew that he wouldn’t just stop at asking for protection, after all to him I could be the most powerful weapon he’d ever seen. “What happens if I’m working for you and we find the one responsible?”

“Well, I know that my people might be a little outclassed here so we may need some assistance in dealing with the problem.”

There it was. I shook my head. “Sorry, but I’m not a killer for hire, Windy.”

I swear one of his eyes twitched this time. “You’d be giving up on the chance of a life time.”

The car slowed down and I saw the diamond dog tighten the grip on his gun. I shot him a dirty look. “Don’t do it, Moe. You fire that thing in here, and everyone suffers.”

Wind Rider gave his dog a look and a shake of his head. “Spot, down boy.”

Spot didn’t relax but his finger slipped away from the trigger. The car stopped and I reached for the door. I unlocked it and pushed the door open. “That was a nice car ride, never been inside a limo before. I don’t plan to do it again.”

“Are you sure that’s your answer?” Wind Rider asked, there was a finality in his tone that made my bones shake.

I stepped out and flicked my tail in disgust. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not work for criminal scum.”

I slammed the door shut with a rear hoof and saw my car was parked along the street. We’d only been around the block but somehow it felt like it had been much longer than that since I’d last seen my beat up baby. I crawled into my car, turned the engine on and watched as Wind Rider drove away. I looked at my watch, it was only nine. I still had three hours to go before meeting with Flitterbell, and that meant I had plenty of time to do research on the boogy that ate Rider’s stallion.

As I pulled out onto the road I felt like no matter what I did next, it would end up helping Wind Rider. I hated that feeling.