Shadow Play

The streets of Manehatten - a phrase that held such mystery and wonder that it was a wonder why it filled Testing with such dread. Even when he wasn't dreaming, he could imagine the city as a frozen waste - especially with the shadows of memory that his once shared life with Cress provided him. Of all the cities in Equestria, Manehatten certainly had that pre-post-apocalypse look down.

Once more, he entered the Prissy Pony, leaving behind the twilit world that felt ever closer to its own end. Already he had made something similar to progress with Bitter Sweet, the fearful aura she unwittingly projected now reduced to a degree. He wasn't sure if when he removed it fully - assuming that he could - that anything would happen, or if the change would even be permeant. How long would his actions stave off the end? A few more years? Months? Days?

What was worse was the world he now marched into. It was a world of his own damnation. A place in which a being that might've been a pony now prowled. A pony he wanted - no, needed - to bring down. How much of a threat to the future could Red Tape be if he was behind bars? Could he even get Red Tape behind bars?

Honestly, he doubted it. Grind Stone would never let his little colt go to jail - at least not for long. He was a stallion of means and - by all accounts - poor parenting skills. Whether there was a tragic element to Red Tape's existence that drove his father to treat him with such irrational kindness or some other factor at play that made Grind Stone slacken his grasp on his own son, Testing didn't know. Nor did he care. All he cared about in that moment that he moved passed the heavy metal door was what torturous existence Red Tape had prepared for him and how to act against it.

Entering the main area, there was no readily apparent change to the surroundings that made it obvious what Red Tape had planned, or if there would be anything for that night. The room was quiet, with only a janitor on the main floor. It was eerily quiet, the silence only broke by the thwap of the cleaning pony's wet mop striking the floor every few minutes.

Clean Sweep wasn't behind the counter, nor were there signs of any bouncers that would regularly make their rounds about the place, even before the venue officially opened. Testing turned to look back to the door, pressing his lips together into a fine line of thought. The urge to leave was growing, but he had work to do in more than one sense of the word. After all, if he did nothing to show Red Tape that not everypony would roll over, how much longer until Red Tape either went to far or got to far? The menace needed to be dealt with.

"Good evening, bitch." A calm voice said from inside the club. Testing turned to look at Red Tape, who simply stood there with no discernable expression, having not been there a moment ago. "I'm glad to see you didn't try to run away. It would've been a pain to hunt you down - though I assure you that it is entirely doable."

"I'm here to end this before it starts, Red Tape." Testing said simply, hoping beyond all hope that at this last moment there might be some reconciliation. "You might think you have all the cards, but I have more than enough on my side to mitigate any danger you pose to me."

"Rich talk coming from you, bitch. But no, the time to stop it before it began was when you could've still gone naked for the rest of the night. Now..." Red Tape allowed a smile to form across his features, "well, nudity isn't the least of your concerns." The stallion then held up a small metal cylinder, holding it out towards Testing. "Do you happen to know what this might be?"

"No idea, Red." Testing answered truthfully. Red Tape shook his head, turning the cylinder this way and that in his hand, as if admiring a fine specimen of some sort.

"Electromagnetic pulse generator." Red Tape answered, his grin growing slightly. "Now, I don't entirely expect you to know what it does, but in short - it kills cameras, audio devices, and anything else you might've used to gather - oh, I don't know - proof of possible wrong doing." The sound of a sharp click and the buzzing of electricity filled the air for a few seconds. "I'm sorry to say that, unless you had a faraday cage around your phone, that it's now dead and will require a bit more than a few minutes to fix."

Testing grimaced at his. Even though he knew that his phone was back home - having been forgotten as it charged away - the thought that this pony wanted to make sure that there would be no evidence spoke volumes of the lengths he wanted to go to. What awaited Testing would certainly not be anything he wanted to deal with.

Moving quickly, Testing darted for the door, only to have it closed hard in his face. "Now now, bitch, you can't just run." Red Tape called out in singsong fashion. "I already broke a few of my father's lights to make sure we could have private fun. You can't leave now!" Testing gritted his teeth and turned to face the pony.

So many things flitted through Testing's mind. Excellent retorts, stinging one-liners, masterful quips, innumerable turns of phrase worthy of heroes about to die. They were all consumed by his growing rage. This pony wanted him so bad? Testing's burning anger wanted to test how much he could take.

"That's a good bitch." Red Tape cooed, misinterpreting Testing's silence for withdrawn acceptance. "Now come over here so that we can begin." Testing, just holding back his anger, stepped forward. His stature certainly wasn't exceptional by any standards, the difference in build between them actually rather minimal, but even so Testing almost seemed massive in comparison to Red Tape at that moment.

"Call me 'bitch' one more time," Testing rumbled, "and I'll make sure that it's a closed casket." Red Tape smirked with a light huff of laughter.

"Lay a finger where I don't want it and I'll have you spade like the bitch you are." Red Tape taunted. Testing felt the rage rising up inside of him. Just as he would go to crush the stallion, he stopped himself, a thin smile taking his features in response.

"Fine." Testing said through a devilish smile. "How about this: you open that door and I'll walk away naked. Sound good to you?" Red Tape paused, reassessing the pony before him.

"Either you are just as much of a whore as I thought or you think prison will save you from my wrath." Red Tape chuckled at that. "You’re wrong about the second thing. If anything, it'll just make my hold over you that much stronger. A few hundred bits here and there and a lot can happen behind closed doors.

"But yes, a nice naked walk back to your place would be nice." Red Tape smirked, rolling his shoulders in anticipation of the fun. "But you'll strip outside and you'll walk. No running or jogging or even power walking. Just a nice, long, leisurely walk through all of Manehatten. I want to see the sights and have the sights see you." Testing held himself back to just a nod.

"After you, bitch." Red Tape smiled, holding a hand out to the still closed door. Testing tried it and found the heavy thing easy to open. The other side revealed a huge pony standing as guard. "Out of the way, colts, we got a whore who needs to show off coming through!" Red Tape called out behind him. Testing clenched his fists, readying himself for what was about to happen.

Stepping outside, he saw three guards just standing about looking like walls of muscle. They all wore black short sleeved shirts and black cargo shorts along with a ballcap and a pair of sunglasses. They were likely all bouncers that had been paid to assist Red with whatever scheme he had originally intended.

"Don't be shy, bitch, start stripping." Red Tape jeered, stepping out behind him. Testing took a steadying breath. Turning to face Rep Tape, he stared angrily at the pony, ready to make this happen.

"I'm going to be kind to you, Red Tape." Testing said simply, to the laughter of said pony. The guards joined in with the laughter of sycophants, ratcheting up Testing's nerves. "I'm being serious." Testing said firmly. "I'm giving you this one chance to call this off. You've had fun, but this is as much fun as you'll have."

"Bitch, I'm just stating to have fun." Red Tape smirked, crossing his arms smugly. "I get to call the shots, not you. So get to stripping, bitch."

"Last chance, Red." Testing said with a hint of menace touching his voice. "Do this, and you will shortly find yourself sucking my dick. I will ruin you beyond your wildest imaginings. I swear to you on anything you find worthy of it that I will crush you." Red Tape just cocked an eyebrow at Testing.

"Look, bitch, you aren't gonna do shit to me. I've got the power here, you can't deny that." Red Tape said with more smugness than the ocean had water. "Now get with the show and let's start walking. Alright, bitch?" Testing sighed.

"Fine, but you brought this upon yourself." Testing said resignedly. Testing grabbed the hems of his gloves and let them fall to the floor, looking up at Red Tape, who shooed him on. Testing smirked, grabbing the buttons of his nice suit. "Fucking pervert." Testing jeered the stallion. "Can't even pay to get a show." Red Tape's face completely changed from an overly self-confident expression to one of pure confusion.

"You call me a bitch, but you're the bastard." Testing prodded as he took off his suit and passed it to a guard, who for some reason was willing to take it without a question as all the ponies about - even those who had no real part in the proceeding - stopped and watched as Testing berated a pony while taking his clothes off.

"Never even fucking seen your mom about. Bet she's a hooker though, probably works here too." Testing spat maliciously. Red Tape's face grew red - or perhaps redder seeing as he was already red. "Ever gotten your rocks off with your mom? Bet you have, you sick fuck." Red Tape quivered in anger, his hand twitching with barely contained rage.

"Nah, you ain't the type that's just gonna get them off on her." Testing continued, trying to get exactly the reaction from the stallion he wanted. "Fucking bastard that you are, you probably fucked her." Testing laughed at that. "Bet you even are your own siblings' dad. How fucking fucked up is that?"

Judging by the stallion's flaring nostrils and clenched fists, he was on the cusp of blowing up. "Fucking pervert, fucked your own mom. Bet that's why your dad let's you get away with everything. He knows the worst you could do 'cuz you already fucked your mom." Testing shook his head, working down the buttons on his shirt. "No, that isn't it. Fucked up pony you are, and with how perverted you are, you probably fucked your dad to. Sucked your own dad's cock, you cocksleeve whore?" That did it.

In a flash a movement that no pony truly could register, Testing was on the floor. His cheek and neck stung fiercely from the harsh impact of what Testing could only assume was a harsh slap from the other stallion. Perfect.

Suddenly, Red Tape no longer quivered in rage. No longer were his eyes filled with primal anger. No, they were filled with a far more primal force that had gleamed in different eyes in different ways since the dawning of time. In his eyes gleamed a simple, pure lust.

In a flurry of motion, Red Tape began hastily removing his clothes in full view of the street that, though not full, had more than a few witnesses. "F-fuck you... I g-gotta... gonna... I'm gonna fuck that mouth right off of you, bitch!" He hissed, throwing his shirt to the side before forcing his pants down. Testing only smirked, watching the stallion in front of him failing to fight off the effect of his power.

"Fucking... fucking... gonna fuck you right here on the street, you fucking bitch! Gonna fuck you dead and then fuck your corpse!" The guards were suddenly roused by this more than crass declaration and dove forward to deal with the lust driven pony.

With a discreet motion, Testing was able to lay a finger on two of them as they went past. Not taking any more time than he needed, he grabbed his clothes and ran down the street. The group of ponies was by then reduced to a tight knot of ponies fucking or ponies trying to stop other ponies fucking.

Running through the streets, Testing couldn't help but smirk. Shortly the police would be arriving and have some interesting conversations with those that they found either still fucking or resting in their own juices in the open. Having run with his clothes in hand in a still somewhat decent state also would come back around to help him if he was right. It did have a certain look that tended to favor him if he was to be honest.

Either way, the first moves had been made, and now the game was on. Cress had always been competitive, and the apple's doppelganger didn't fall far from the metaphor.