Monochrome pulls up the collar on his dark gray trench coat and pulls down the old brown fedora to better cover his face as he slinks through shadowy back alleys Baltimare. He stops at a street corner and leans up against the wall, turning a bit over in his hoof, while chewing on a toothpick. The rattle of an old shopping cart catches his attention, looking over he sees an old homeless mare pushing said shopping cart down the street with several busted appliances stacked in it, with a whistle to catch the mare's attention, he flips the bit to her.

Monochrome pulls his trench coat closer around him as a chill wind blows through the shadowy alleys and streets. His ears flick at the sound of radio being turned on in a nearby rundown apartment and the station being changed, he scoffs at the sound of the new DWA song being played. After several more minutes of waiting, the clopping of hooves coming up the alley behind him makes his ear twitch backwards. Though he didn't expect any trouble, he still gave a quick check over the few weapons he carried, the old trust service hoof crossbow stowed inside the coat, the weighted horseshoe concealed behind the belt buckle of the coat and the slapjack hastily stuffed in one of the pockets.

Spitting out the toothpick, Monochrome re-positioned himself, putting a dingy overflowing trashcan between himself and the pony approaching. Up the alleyway walked an out of work, down on his luck, ne'er-do-well unicorn stallion with a cream-colored coat, a cutie marks depicting six bricks forming a stylized wall and a brownish-red mane and tail, named Red Brick. He had caught this particular stallion several years ago committing petty thefts. After he found out that Red Brick was committing petty crimes so he could afford medication for his sick mother, he agreed to let the stallion go on one stipulation, every time he was back in Baltimare, Red Brick would gather information for him on major criminal activities.

Red Brick approached Monochrome. "Gettin' a lil jumpy ain'tcha?", he asked. Monochrome readjusted his trench coat. "In my line of work, one can never be too cautious. What did you find out?" Lighting his horn, Red Brick levitated a manila envelope out of his saddlebags and over to Monochrome. "There's some messed up shit goin' down in this town. I'm gonna have to charge you double. If I had known that it involved that bloodthirsty psycho Bacon-head and weapons smugglers, I'd have charged you triple." Monochrome hastily flipped through the contents of manila envelope, rolled it up and stuck in a pocket inside the trench coat, he then fumbled a hoof around inside one of the external pockets and pulled two pouches of bits, tossing them to Red Brick. "Take care of yourself. If you come across anything new, let me know." The two stallion gave quick, curt nods to each other, then parted ways.

Scaling a fire escape on a tenement building, Monochrome climbed onto the roof. Hearing a hoof scuff on the flat roof, he turned his head and caught the shadow of a pony lurking behind the structure housing the roof-access. For a second he thought about rushing whoever this pony was, but thought better of it, considering it might just be somepony who lived here who decided to have a smoke. Walking to the edge of the tenement building's roof, he lit his horn, causing a a gray aura to surround it and teleported to the roof of another building across the street.

Monochrome took a moment to take in his surroundings. Movement caught his attention and when he glanced his eyes to it, he saw three ponies wearing red body suits with matching cloth coverings on their faces, leaping across the gaps between buildings as the moved quickly towards him. Gritting his teeth behind closed lips, question ran through his mind. 'Who are these ponies? Why are they following me? What's with the odd red pj's?' Slipping a forehoof into the coat pocket, he slipped the weighted horseshoe on and teleported to another building. Looking around, he saw more red-suited ponies moving across the roofs of other buildings, when they noticed where he had teleported to, they quickly changed direction to intercept him. Some of the ponies held straight, short single-edged swords that had a square guard at the top of the hilt in their teeth, others had strange steel objects with blades sticking out of the side lashed to their forelegs.

With wasting an time, Monochrome took of across the roof and leapt across the gap. In mid-leap he vanished in a gray flash of a teleport spell and reappeared in an alleyway a block back, in a sneaky attempt to shake his pursuers. As he hurried through the alley, one of the red-suited ponies above caught sight of him and gave a whistle to alert its compatriots.

As the red-suited ponies either leapt from fire escape to fire escape or slid down drainage pipes, Monochrome ran full tilt through the alleyway, occasionally grabbing in his magic a dumpster, group of trashcans or stack pf crates and tossed them behind him to make an impromptu barricade to slow down his pursuers. Turning the corner, he saw two of the red-suited ponies quickly killing Red Brick, one plunged a sword between his ribs and the other slashed the bladed foreleg weapon across his throat.

Rushing forward, Monochrome charged up his horn, loosing a concussive blast knocking one of the red-suited ponies into a wall and barreled forward, slamming the weighted horse shoe into the other's muzzle. Without taking a secnd to tend to his now dead informer, he fired off a quick teleport, appearing on the roof. Two circular objects, covered on their edges with sharp bladed spikes struck the ground in front of his hooves. Quickly firing another teleport, he appeared high above the city. Floating in the air for a split second before gravity took over, his eyes locked on a smokestack of an abandoned factory and firing off another teleport, he appeared on the top at the edge of the cylindrical structure, he took a look around around, breathing heavily. He knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer as he was starting to tax his magical reserves.

Monochrome's eyes locked on an empty lot and he decided that's where he would use that place to make his stand. Firing off one last teleport, he materialized in the empty lot. Reaching in side his coat, he pulled out the old service hoof crossbow. Though he knew he only had one shot with it and not enough time to reload it, he hoped it would give him the advantage he needed.

Several minutes later dozens of the red-suited ponies gathered on the edges of the roofs of the surrounding buildings. As Monochrome braced himself for a fight, there were the disorienting flashed of several small explosions and clouds of smoke filled the air. Out of the smoke leapt several red-suited ponies, holding swords in their teeth or with bladed weapons lashed to their forelegs. Throwing himself backwards, Monochrome bucked his rear hooves into one of the ponies attacking him. Using his momentum, he narrowly avoided the attacks from the others. Taking quick aim with the hoof crossbow, he fire the bolt. It sailed through the air and with a wet thud, it penetrated the pastern of one of the red-suited ponies, pinning its forehoof to the ground.

Monochrome leapt backwards, ducked and rolled to the side to avoid further attacks that were launched at him. Rising to his feet, he threw the now empty hoof crossbow into the face of one of the ponies, then slammed the weighted horseshoe into its jaw, a wet crunch indicated where the heavy iron horseshoe collided with flesh, sending the attacker to the ground unconscious.

Monochrome ducked as a sword cut through his hat, coming withing a hair's breadth of slicing the top of his ear off. Rising back up, he slammed the weighted horseshoe into the attacker's jaw with a vicious uppercut, shattering bone and sending it tumbling away. Slowly he overpowered each attacker one-by-one, knocking them unconscious or crippling them with broken legs. The red-suited pony who had its hoof pinned to the ground by the bolt, quickly pulled the bolt from the dirt and rushed forward in an attempt to impale the sharp point into the gray unicorn's neck. Tucking in his right shoulder and wither, Monochrome body blocked into the attacker, wrapping both his forelegs around the pony's foreleg, he body flipped the attacker over him and hard onto the ground, with a sharp blow to its temple, he knocked the pony unconscious.

Panting and gasping, Monochrome looked around first at the unconscious ponies around him, then to the ponies on the surrounding roofs. "Who's next?!" Ropes descended from the rooftops ad several ponies started rappelling down, several ponies revealed wings from under their red body coverings and others slightly pulled back their head covering, revealing unicorn horns. Growling, he braced himself as now thirty ponies surrounded him in a slowly closing circle.

Not waiting for his attackers to close in on him, Monochrome charged forward. He slammed the weighted horseshoe into one of the red-suited ponies and lifted it in his magic, hurling it into several of its compatriots. Moving his head from left to right, unleashing a continuous beam of kinetic force, knocking several of the attackers away of forcing other to roll out of the way, back flip away or fly up into the air to avoid the attack. A hoof slammed into the side of his face, terminating the continuous kinetic beam spell and causing him stagger away, turning he bucked his rear hooves into an attcker behind him, then reared up, clapping both forehooves into the ears of an attacker, stunning it. He grappled with the stunned pony and rolled backwards, jamming both rear hooves into it gut as he threw it backwards into a knot of attackers.

Monochrome quickly threw up a shield around him as his eyes caught several flashes of metal. Dozens of metal discs lines with sharp spike or small blades glanced off the shield. He quickly pushed his shield outwards, knocking dozens of attackers away and tried to bolt for the alleyway. Several sweeping sweeping kicks lashed out, first knocking his hind legs from under him, then his forelegs, sending him sprawling onto the ground. Rolling to his left, he avoided hooves and weapons where his head and body had been. Laying on his back, he kicked out with his hind legs, connecting hard with two ponies, then rolled backwards and up to his feet.

Monochrome dodged left, then right as three red-suited unicorns hurled several sharp discs at him that they were levitating in their magic. The sharp discs whistle past his his ears as they cut gashes through his jacket, mane and tail. Digging a hoof into the loos soil, he kicked clods of dirt and pebbles into the faces of the nearest attackers. Breathing heavy as his muscles burned from the bedlam, he charged forward and tucked his legs under him, sliding on the ground under one of the ponies. Quickly standing up, he flipped the pony above him and grabbed it in his magic, hurling it into another knot of its compatriots. A sharp kick into his gut, right at the base of her sternum drove the air from lungs and he collapsed to the ground. Three red-suited ponies leapt in him and drug him up to his hind legs, hold him between themselves. A pony walked forward with a sword between its teeth and started lining up a strike. He spit a wad of blood and saliva into the red-suited pony's face as he sneered in defiance.

Darting his eyes upwards, Monochrome saw a glint of steel as a figure, silhouetted against the sky descended.
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Several minute earlier

Gilda stood in a alleyway as three red-suited ponies approached her with a file and a sack of bits. Looking through the file, she stopped on a picture of a pegasus filly with an orange coat and bright magenta mane and tail. Tossing the folder on the ground, she spit a gob of saliva. "No way! You know my rule, no foals, no chicks or any other younglings of any kind."

The red-suited ponies narrowed their eyes at Gilda from behind their face coverings. "Refusal to take a job from us can have... dire consequences.", the lead pony said in a stern-yet-soft tone.

With a smirk, Gilda quickly sized them up. Grabbing the sack of bits with one talon, she quickly punched the pony with her other talon and took to the air. Dropping the sack of bits in her saddlebags, she looked over her withers seeing three red-suited pegasi following her. Grabbing the sword strapped to her back, she spread her wings to spill off speed. As the three pegasi flew past, caught off guard from the sudden drop in speed, she drew the sword and extended out to her side. The sharp blade bit into the neck of the first pegasus as it flew past, gashing deep into its neck, causing blood to spurt forth as it plummeted from the air. She the swung the sword into an arc, severing the pegasus' wing, sending it spiraling towards the ground. Flying forward in a charge at the last pegasus trying to flee, she executed a mid-air front flip, plunging the point of the blade into the gut of the pegaus, with a quick flick of the blade, she drew the blade through flesh, disemboweling the pony. Blood and intestines spilled from the pegasus as it tumbled from the air.

Gilda flicked the blood from her sword as she flew the air, looking to get out of town. She saw down below in an empty lot, a gray unicorn stallion quickly getting overpowered by dozens of red-suited ponies. Grabbing the red and black armored mask from her belt, she quickly secure it over her face and rapidly descended with sword held over her head, prepared for a strike.
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As the three red-suited ponies held Monochrome in place on his back hooves, the fourth, holding the sword in its teeth, reared back its head for a thrust. Gilda landed with a flash of steel, her sword cut through the red-suited pony's neck, sending its head rolling away in a fount of blood. She reached forward with a talon and slashed across the face of one of the ponies holding Monochrome. Finding his left forehoof now free, the gray unicorn struck the red-suited pony on his right, connecting hard with its muzzle, sending blood and teeth flying through the air. Monochrome threw his forehooves down onto the ground hard, bucking his hind hooves into the groin of the pony that had until a split second ago helping hold him in place, sending it onto the ground doubled over in pain.

The remainder of the red-suited ponies scattered, then began circling around Gilda and Monochrome, who wee now standing flank-to-flank. Monochrome charged forward as Gilda charge in the opposite direction, each at a knot of combatants. The unicorn slammed his weighted horseshoe into the snout of n attacker as the griffon thrust her sword into the neck of a red-suited enemy. Monochrome wrapped his forelegs around the stunned pony and body flipped it into a small group of its compatriots as Gilda gave a quick jerk of her sword, gashing open the neck and throat of the pony.

Monochrome grappled with a red-suited enemy before quickly twisting around and using his attackers body as a shield. Spiked discs penetrated the red-suited pony's barrel, causing it to cry out in pain and spit up bright red blood intermixed wit mucus. He quickly shoved the perforated corpse away and sprung forward take on another attacker. A red-suited pony lunged forward with its fore legs, in an attempt to tackle him. Grabbing the enemy's fetlock with his left hoof, he turned then drove his elbow joint just into the foreleg, just below the attacker's elbow joint, the red-suited pony cried out in pain as its foreleg broke with a wet snap. Monochrome drove the side of his right hoof into the now disabled attacker's head, just below its ear, knocking it unconscious.

Gilda pirouetted through combat, her sword and talons lashing out, drawing blood with each strike. A red-suited pegasus took to the air and she leapt up, flapping her winds hard as hurled projectiles and magic blasts sailed past. Grappling with the pegaus, she tackled it onto the ground. Pinning it under her, she raked her hind claws across its midsection, spilling its intestines with a gush of blood. Leaping trough the air, she flapped her wings hard and sped towards a red-suited unicorn. As the enemy lined up a shot with its horn, she slashed downward with her sword and the unicorn's horn shattered as its skull was cleaved in twain.

As the fight turned against the red-suited ponies and their numbers dwindled, several whistles went up as a signal. Bright flashed and smoke filled the air as the red-suited ponies pulled smoke bombs from inside their suits and spiked them to the ground. "Come back here and fight cowards!", Gilda roared from behind her armored mask and h charged forward swing her sword wildly side-to-side. As the smoke cleared showing that all the red-suited ponies had fled, leaving behind their dead and those too injured to carry off. Gilda raised her head to the sky and shouted, "FUCKING COWARDS!"

Monochrome walked up next to Gilda and gently laid a hoof on her wither. "Let them run for now...", he gestured to several injured red-suited ponies, "...we've got some prisoners to interrogate." Walking over, he gripped the face covering of a red-suited pony between his teeth and snatched it away, revealing a sea-foam green coated earth pony mare. "Now listen here scumbag!", he growled narrowing his eyes, "Who do you work for?"

The mare reached up with her forehooves and gripped her head under her jaw and by the back of her neck. "May the Hoof live forever!", she exclaimed before before giving her head a quick jerk sideways, snapping her neck. Across the empty lot, other red-suited ponies either broke their neck in a similar fashion, cut their throats with blades that were until recently lashed to the forelegs or grabbed swords in their forehooves and plunged them through their chests.

"Fuck!", Gilda shouted as she hurled her armored mask to the ground, "We know fuck-all about who they are or what they wanted!"

Monochrome picked through the body suits of the dead ponies, pulling out several throwing weapons, smoke bombs and small silver medallions wit the likeness of a hoof on them, surrounded by Neighponese kanji. "We know who they worked for. Their mission was to do everything possible to keep me from getting this information." He pulled the manila envelope from his coat. "Let's go somewhere more private so we can find out what they didn't want me to see."
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Twilight sat in a chair nursing her son, Dusk Shine in her room in the Royal Palace in Canterlot. Soon the unicorn colt grew drowsy and she placed him in his crib, pulling the small blanket over her son. Unhitching her hind legs from her wheelchair, she sat on the bed and started bending their joints back and forth to keep them limber, then massaged the muscles. Slipping her hind legs back into the wheelchair, she trotted into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

As Twilight sat on the shower chair scrubbing her coat with shampoo, her ear twitched hearing the crackle of magic followed by the clacking of tiny hooves and soft thumps. Quickly rinsing off, she slipped her hind legs back in the wheelchair, hastily strapping back in. She quickly patted off with a towel and slowly turned the door knob with her magic. She chuckled softly as she heard the crackle of magic followed by the sift squeak of the mattress in Dusk's crib. Walking into the bedroom, she chuckled softly at the few scribbles on the wall and her son sitting in the crib, looking as innocent as possible. "You've been drawing on the walls again haven't you Dusky?", she asked poking her son in the tummy with a hoof. She chuckled as the little colt giggled and burbled with laughter. "Let mama get something to clean up you newest masterpieces, then I'll take you to see Uncle Shiny and Auntie Cady." She walked to the door to retrieve cleaning supplies from the hallway closet, Dusk popped up n his hind legs, propping his forehooves on the railing of the crib. The next sounds she heard made her stop in her tracks.

"Muh...muh...mah...mama."

With an elated gasp, Twilight turned around. Elated by his mothers reaction, Dusk said again, "Mama!"

Twilight bounced back and forth on her forehooves in excitement. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Dusk gave big belly laughs and squealing giggles, further prompted by his mother's excitement, he repeated avoer and over again, "Mama! Mama! Mamamamamamamamamamama!"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Opening the door, Shining Armor walked in. "Twily? Is everything okay?"

Twilight excitedly hugged her brother. "Bbbff! Dusk said mama!" She trotted over to her son. "Say mama for Uncle Shiny!"

Dusk quirked his head to the side in though. "Uh..un...unk...unka....Unka sh....Unka shi...Unka Shiny. Unka Shiny!"

The two siblings stared at each other flabbergasted for a second, then started bouncing back and forth on their hooves while shouting at the same time, "Eeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Celestia opened the door and a bright smile beamed acroos her face as Twilight and Shining Armor were bouncing on their hooves, while Dusk Shine bounced up and down in his crib as squealing giggles erupted from his mouth as he said over and over, "Mama! Unka Shiny!"

Celestia closed the door chuckling, as she turned around, she came face to face with Cadance. "Auntie Celestia, is everything okay?" "Dusk Shine just said his first words." "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Author's Note

The hoof attacked Monochrome and Gilda.
Dusk said his first words, making his mother, uncle and aunt go silly with giddy excitement.

Next chapter will go into what information Monochrome received.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

Feel free to leave any comments, criticisms, throw shade or pure bane.