The two headed mare

Dozens of police wagons gathered around the three story polished marble Baltimare courthouse. Dozens of police ponies ducked behind the wagons drawing crossbow strings or readying defensive spells. Police pegasi hovered around the buildings holding spotlights in their hooves. Dozens more police ponies struggled to keep the crowds that had gathered behind the cordons that had been laid out. A few moments later a covered metal wagon, hauled by two earth ponies wearing black padded armor on their barrels pulled up. The doors on the back of the wagon swung open and a dozen ponies wearing black padded armor piled out.

The lead armored pony walked up to a police pony with a mustache. "What's the situation, sergeant?"

The mustached police pony looked at the armored police pony. "A group of terrorists that we think are former members of that laughing mare gang stormed the courthouse about an hour ago.", he said glancing to the windows of the courthouse, "The few witnesses that got out said they were wearing chain armor, carrying repeating crossbows and had several dufflebags. There are reports of at least two dozen hostages."

"Have they made any demands yet?", the armored pony asked.

"Our negotiators haven't arrived yet.", the mustached police pony replied.

The armored pony mused for a second before grabbing a nearby megaphone. "This is Lieutenant Iron Hooves of the Baltimare P.D. SWAT division!", he shouted into the megaphone, "Release your hostages, throw out your weapons and surrender!"

Dozens of crossbow bolts and a few magical blasts flew out of the windows, forcing the police ponies to duck behind the wagons or fly higher to avoid the deadly salvo.

Once the salvo had ended, Iron Hooves peeked out from behind the wagon he was hiding behind and reached out with a hoof, plucking one of the bolts lodged in its side. He looked over the head, noting the long, slender pointed tip. "Needle-tips!", he growled, "Where in the Tartarus did they get military hardware?" He showed the bolt to the mustached police pony. "Chain armor, repeating crossbows and needle-tips. Somepony somewhere is supplying these criminals with hardware meant only for the Royal Guard, the Equestrian army and the Wonderbolts." He passed off the bolt to the police pony and walked over to the armored ponies. "Alright, listen up! We're dealing with wanted terrorist, armed with military gear. They've got at least two dozen hostages and are dug in. We're going to have to batter down the door. Watch each other's flanks, don't take any unnecessary chances and remember that the hostages are the number one priority."

The swat ponies scrambled into the metal wagon as two of them began pushing it backwards. The police ponies moved their wagons out of the way of the metal wagon and the pegasi switched on their spotlights, shining them at the windows. When the wagon was a few paces from the steps of the courthouse, the doors flew open and the swat ponies scrambled out, carrying a small battering ram. As they prepared to slam the battering ram into the door, they paused seeing on the inside of the door a small metal box with a red blinking light. Before any of them could shout, the door exploded in a fireball and a showed of splintered wood and shattered glass. The metal wagon upended and crashed onto its side. The swat ponies that weren't killed laid on the ground groaning or screaming as blood oozed out of their wounds. More crossbow bolts sailed out the windows towards the pegasi holding the spotlights. The police pegasi were forced back as several bolts pierced the spotlights, making them fizzle out in loud cracks.

On a nearby rooftop, Sunset crouched watching the events unfold through a pair of field glasses. "Rookie mistake.", she said to herself, "You always check the entrances for booby traps." standing up, she adjusted her armor with a stylized pony skull painted on it, she made quickly blacked out her face, then added white highlights to make her face look like a skull, finally she tied a black bandanna in a skull cap on the top of her head. She gave a quick check of her weapons as she spoke softly to herself, "Pistols, check. Assault rifle, check. Shotgun, check. Flash bombs, check. Pipe bombs, check. Spare ammo, check.", she then drew out the k-bar and checked its sharpness, "And of course old reliable." Giving a quick look around, she spotted a fire escape on the side of the courthouse.

Sunset summoned up her magic and teleported in a red flash onto the top landing of the fire escape. Crouching against the wall beneath the window, she drew a piston from its holster and peaked over the sill, darting her eyes back and forth, she found the room was empty. Summoning her magic, she unlocked the window and slid it open silently. Slipping through the window, she checking the corners, then ducked behind a metal desk. Crawling along the floor, she checked the blind spots until she came to the door.

Sunset put the pistol back in its holster and pulled out the assault rifle, flipping the selector switch to semi-auto. Closing her eyed, she pressed an ear to the door and listened. Hearing the hooves click against the floor and voices speaking softly, three voices she counted, once she started shooting, there would be more. Switching to the other side of the door, she readied a flash bomb and reached out a hoof to the door handle. She took a breath to slow her racing heart, this was always the worst part of an encounter, the buildup before the battle. "Watch you corners, check the blind spots, shoot first, shoot often, secure the hostages.", she said the familiar mantra.

Sunset lit the fuse on the flash bomb with her magic, snatched open the door and threw it into the hallway. The terrorist screamed in shock as the flash bomb filled the hallway with blinding light with a loud bang, she stormed through the door and shot the three terrorist while they were still disoriented. She quickly posted up at a corner, hearing hooves running up. Stepping around the corner leveled, the assault rifle, the five armed ponies reared up, trying to turn and run as she fired several rounds into them.

Kicking the repeater crossbows away, Sunset walked past the twitching bodies of the terrorists. Walking up to a door, she paused listening, hearing several scared ponies crying and whimpering. putting away the rifle, she drew a pistol and bucked her hooves into the door, breaking it open. Inside was a mare holding a filly as a pony shield, with a hoof crossbow pressed up to her neck, Sunset aimed the pistol.

"Back off or I'll kill her!", the terrorist mare shouted, "I swear I'll..."

Sunset fire a bullet through the terrorists head, cutting the threats. The filly screamed as the terrorists body went limp, once her hooves hit the floor, she scrambled over to some hostages. As Sunset walked slowly through the room, a stallion darted his eyes sideways to a group of desks on the left side of the room. She gave a curt nod, placed a hoof to her lips, then gestured for the hostages to get down. She crouched down and crept silently across the floor. She pressed her body against a desk, listening. She heard the twang of a crossbow string cocking.

Sunset aimed the pistol at the desk where she heard the crossbow cock and snapped off two quick shots. The terrorist pony screamed as a bullet tore through his hoof and tried to run. Sunset fired two more shots into the running terrorist, dropping him. Another terrorist sprung up from behind another desk, cranking the handle on the repeating crossbow.

"Shit!", Sunset exclaimed rolling away as the bolts ripped through the desk, pain blossomed in her wither as one of the bolts slipped through a gap in her armor. Bracing against another desk, she looked at the bolt, gritting her teeth, she reached up with a hoof and snapped it off.

"You know you're just making things harder on yourself by showing up, Bacon-head." the terrorist said pulling the handle back cocking the string. He reached back with a hoof and pulled out out five bolts from a saddlebag, then dropped them into the crossbow. "Just show your face and I can end it all for you.", he said walking between the desks.

"Keep talking fucker.", Sunset whispered through gritted teeth as she silently slid around the desk. She stayed low, posting up listening to his hooves click on the floor.

The terrorist kicked a few desks while holding the crossbow in his hoof. "Come out and play-eee-aaayayay!", he mocked turning where he had seen Sunset roll to cover. A smile crossed his lips when he saw a few drops of blood leading around the corner of the desk. "Come on, just show your face and I'll end the pain for you." He turned in surprise hearing the click of a selector switch behind him.

Sunset squeezed the trigger on the pistol with her magic after she flipped the selector switch to full auto. Bullets tore into the terrorist's body as the magazine emptied. She slumped against the desk in pain before replacing the magazine. Her wither burned where the the crossbow bolt had slipped under her armor, she felt the head of it wiggle with each beat of her heart. Taking a few pained breaths, she did everything in her power to push the pain down. The clicking of hooves on the floor caught her attention and she snapped her head up pointing the pistol, she relaxed seeing it was a hostage.

Sunset heard several hooves running in the hallway as voices shouted. Putting away the pistol, she gestured for the hostages to get into cover and the drew the shotgun. She posted up against the wall waiting. When the first terrorist walked through the door, she fired the shotgun, buckshot turned his head to mush. Racking the slide, she stepped through the door and fired again. The flurry of buckshot tore through the neck of a terrorist and threw the body against wall. She began advancing forward, shredding bodies with blasts of buckshot, stopping only when the shotgun ran dry. She quickly slid more shells into the weapon. The last terrorist in the hallway tried to unjam the handle on his crossbow before throwing it down and trying to surrender, his face evaporated in a cloud of buckshot.

Topping off the shotgun, Sunset made her way back to the room holding the hostages. She waved them out of the room. Pointing down the hallway, she said, "There's a room with a fire escape, when you get on it, stay quiet, stay low. Once you reach the bottom, run to safety." Once the last of the hostages were out of the room, she walked backwards covering them.

The police ponies had heard the bangs and screams. When they saw several hostages running towards them, they stared in confusion. When the hostages reached them, a police pony asked, "What happened?"

"She saved us! She saved us!", a colt shouted.

"Who saved you?", the police pony asked.

"The mare of death!", the colt shouted in reply, "She save us with her magical thunder sticks that spit fire!"

Once the last of the hostages had been escorted to an ambulance to be checked out, the police pony spoke into his radio, "We have confirmation that the vigilante Bacon-head is onsite. Please advise."

The radio crackled for a second before a voice came through, "Hold back, the Royal Guard have arrived and are on the way to your position."

"Ten-four.", the police pony responded before putting the radio away. Taking off his hat, he scratched his head and said to himself, "Why would the Royal Guard show up to a hostage situation and the reports of a wanted vigilante? There's something I'm missing here."

Sunset made her way through the top floor, checking the remaining rooms. Stopping at the top of the stairwell, took a few seconds to look and listen. She heard the scuffling of hooves and the end of a crossbow sticking from around a corner. She posted up against the corner at the top of the stairs, lit a pipe bomb and threw it. With a loud thump, the pipe bomb exploded. She leaned out looking seeing the spreading pool of blood. Putting away the shotgun, she pulled out the assault rifle, slapped in a fresh clip and began making her way slowly down the stairs. She checked at the landing on the second floor, seeing three dead bodies, kicking the crossbows away from the bodies, she continued on her search.

Stopping at the door to a courtroom, she paused hearing the whimper of hostages and several terrorists shouting. Drawing the knife, she reached into the pouch on the flank, pulling out a small mirror and a roll of tape. After attaching the mirror to the knife, she slid it under the door. She saw against the door the blinking magical runes of an explosive device, shifting the mirror, she began looking around the courtroom, twenty terrorists and at least as many hostages. Shifting the mirror, she saw a balcony overlooking the floor of the courtroom. Looking up and down the hallway, she saw the door leading to the balcony.

Outside, the Royal Guard arrived at the cordon. After the police ponies let them lass, the captain stopped at the wagons where the mustachioed sergeant was, "Report!"

The police sergeant jumped with a start. "Oh! Um, at noon we had some heavily armed terrorists enter into the courthouse, a few minutes later they began taking hostages. We've also had confirmation that the wanted vigilante Bacon-head is inside. So far twenty-five hostages have been released."

"Thank you for keeping things under control out here, sergeant.", the guard captain said, "We're going in now."

"Be careful, they've got repeating crossbows and needle-tip bolts.", the sergeant said as the guards began walking towards the courthouse. Among the Royal Guards was a white-coated unicorn mare, she looked familiar to him, but he couldn't place where he had seen before.

Sunset posted up at the door to the balcony. She checked the door for booby traps before slowly opening it. She cast a spell to silence the creaking of the hinges and silently crept up the stairs. One the balcony was a terrorist looking down the the courtroom. Readying the k-bar, she tapped him on the shoulder and when he looked over, she plunged the knife into his throat. She gently lowered the gurgling terrorist to the floor, before withdrawing the knife and putting it away. Setting the selector switch on the assault rifle, she scanned to floor of the courtroom. Wrapping the strap of the rifle around her forelimb, she readied it and began squeezing off shots.

With loud cracks of the rifle, the terrorists began dropping one after another. Many who ran had a bullet tear through the back of their neck or skull. Sunset quickly scanned the rifle back and forth, looking for targets. One terrorist peaked over the edge of the witness stand and the back of his head sprayed across the wall. Sunset quickly traced the rifle across the courtroom and froze when she saw a hostage with a box with a red blinking light taped to its hooves, she quickly snapped her head around seeing more hostages with blinking boxes taped to their hooves. Her eyes became pinpricks as her mind quickly put together what was happening.

As the Royal Guard entered the courthouse, explosions rocked the building. Celestia quickly dropped her disguise. "Find out what's going on!", she snapped an order. Opening her wings, she flew up to the second floor.

The courtroom filled with blinding light and fire as the bombs exploded. Sunset dove for cover to avoid the shrapnel. Looking back over the courtroom floor, she surveyed the carnage. The rifle fell to the floor of the balcony as tears began to steam down her face. The courtroom floor was charred and broken bodies laid strewn about. "No.", she whispered, her lips trembling. Slumping down to her haunches, she stared through burning tears in disbelief. Outside she heard the clatter of hooves. Reaching down, she drew a in her pistol, pressed it under chin, closed her eyes and braced herself for oblivion. A hoof struck the pistol from her magic, catching her completely off guard. Looking over she saw her old teacher.

Celestia landed outside the courtroom, the doors had been blown off and inside was a smoldering charnel house. A stunned disbelief washed over her as she slowly walked in. Above her, she heard a clattering and she saw a stunned slumping to the floor. Celestia went to say something, when she saw Sunset levitate a pistol and place it under her chin. Leaping with all her might, she flew up and knocked the pistol away. When Sunset looked over at her, Celestia pulled her in tight for a hug. Releasing the hug, she asked, "What happened?"

"They planted bombs on the hostages. I didn't spot them until too late.", Sunset said pushing back tears, "All those years in the corps and I make the rookie mistake of not checking for booby traps." She slammed a hoof down hard on the floor angry with herself.

Celestia levitated the pistol and assault rifle and placed them in the holsters on Sunset. "I don't blame you. I found out shortly before coming here from Twilight that this was a set-up by mob boss Lil Bruno. Let's get you out of here before them media arrives."

Sunset nodded, then rose to her hooves wincing in pain at the crossbow bolt head still lodged in her wither.

Celestia noticed Sunset wince and the trickle of blood on her foreleg. "Sunset, you're hurt."

"I'll be fine. It's only about as bad as these.", Sunset said gesturing to the scars on her cheek and ear.

"Still, it doesn't matter.", Celestia said sternly, "I'm taking you the castle to get treated. Hold on." She lit the magic in her horn and teleported them both.

Twilight walked through the castle, her legs bound in the wheelchair, her son Dusk Shine on her back, his face and hooves smeared with chocolate. Cadance walked next to her.

"I keep telling you and Shiny no more chocolate for him, it'll spoil his appetite.", Twilight said looking sideways at her sister-in-law fighting back a smile.

"What kind of aunt would I be if I didn't spoil my nephew?", Cadance asked giving her best "What?! I'm innocent!" smile.

Twilight clucked with laughter. "Well maybe I should get Shiny to trade up for a better model.", Twilight mocked.

Cadance gasped in mock offence. "Well I remember a little silly filly that I used to foalsit who didn't complain when I gave her chocolate. Have you seen her around anywhere?", Cadance said sticking her tongue out.

Twilight chuckled, "Fair enough. But could at the very least clean him before giving him back to me?"

"No way Jose!", Cadance said. "I never cleaned you up after giving you chocolate before giving you back to your parents. Why would I break the streak now?"

Twilight turned and narrowed her eyes at Cadance with a malicious grin, "Just you wait, one day you and Shiny will have a foal and I'll do the same."

Celestia and Sunset appeared in a flash of golden light startling Cadance and Twilight. Sunset winced in pain and slumped against a wall, placing a hoof to her wither.

As Cadance rushed over,Sunset undid the straps on her armor, letting it drop to the floor. Pulling out the medkit from a pouch, she laid it on the floor and flipped it open. Pulling out the k-bar, she sterilized it with her magic and dug out the crossbow bolt head, it landed on the floor a metallic chink.

"Let me help you out.", Cadance said levitating gauze and antiseptic out of the medkit.

As Cadance helped patch up Sunset, Celestia levitated the crossbow bolt head in her magic and cleaned the blood from it.

"It looks like a needle-tip the Royal Guard uses, but the metal is wrong.", Celestia said squinting. She made her way to the guard barracks.

Shining Armor was performing an inspection of the new recruits when Celestia walked up. "Captain Shining Armor, I need you to come with me.", she said.

Shining directed two of the officers with him to continue the inspection as he left with Celestia. "Is there a problem?"

Celestia floated over the crossbow bolt head over to Shining. "Tell me what do you make of this."

Taking the head in his magic, Shining inspected it. "It looks like a standard armor piercing needle-tip.", he said, "But the metal composition is wrong.The Royal Guard, Wonderbolts and the army uses silvered steel for all their heads. I have heard of some of the units on the frontier using inferior metals if their running short of supplies. Where did you find this?"

"Sunset just dug this out of her wither after combatting some terrorists in Baltimare.", Celestia said turning, "I want you to personally inspect all the molds and dies here in the palace armory. I'm sending similar orders to the all military regiments."

Three days later Celestia was in her office looking over reports with a stern look on her face. She turned her attention to the partially disassembled repeating crossbow on the desk. As she levitated the pieces up looking them over, there was a soft knock on the door. "Come in.", she said putting the parts down. Luna and Bulwark walked in.

"Is there a problem with that repeating crossbow sister?", Luna asked with a yawn.

"That isn't standard issue.", Bulwark said, "It's made of inferior materials."

"Somepony supplied a group of terrorists working for a mob boss in Baltimare with several like this.", Celestia said, "Needle-tips too. I intend to find who is supplying criminals with weapons meant for the military." She opened a nearby chest and levitated out a shirt of chain armor. "Somepony is also getting their hooves on the schematics for Wonderbolt armor." She levitated over one of the reports. "A quartermaster in Appleloosa reported that one of their molds used to make the needle-tips were reported missing. Now who would benefit from supplying criminal organizations with military gear?"

There was a knock on the door and Twilight came in. She laid a report on Celestia's desk. "I ran the metallurgical analysis on the crossbow bolt head and chain armor. There's a two percent antimony impurity and a one percent sulfur impurity. The only steel I know of with those impurities came from..."

"Neighpon.", Celestia said with a growl, "Between this and the attack on the palace those months ago proves the involvement of the hoof."

"Unless they've selected a new grand master, all we've got is a loose few ponies bearing their name.", Luna said, "Besides Styx was killed long ago, so any new grand master wouldn't be able to unite all the assorted families."

Celestia rose from her desk. "I know who can give me the answers I need."