The Platinum Conspiracy

“You look like you got into a fight with a truck.”

The wall of glass that acted as the entrance into the Museum of Unnatural History explodes with a burst of magical energies. A powerful unicorn sorceress strides into the museum with the multitude of terrified ponies cowering before the gang of black clad assailants, each adorning a similar black mask with tinted lenses over their eyes to hide their faces. The unicorn leading the thugs however, wore a red mask with golden eyes, distinguishing herself as the one in charge. Raising a gloved hand in greeting, she started to speak with a calm, yet altered voice. “Greetings mares and gentlecolts. What a fine day it is to be out on the town.” Clapping her hands, two out of the seven goons that made up her band of thieves separated themselves from the others to start rounding up the terrified populace.

Some of them tried to resist but a quick smack across the face quickly quelled any sort of resistance. Especially from the towering earth pony who seemed to take pleasure in it. “I merely ask that you settle down away from my co-workers while we go on and-“ Before the Red-Masked mare was able to continue her little speech, the alarm to the museum’s security system starts to sound off. To which the masked mare’s horn starts to glow with a neon green aura. In a matter of seconds, the alarm was disabled, allowing the unicorn to continue. “As I was saying. If you would be so kind as to relieve yourself of any valuables that you may be carrying to us, you’d have our eternal appreciation and perhaps a means of getting out of this unscathed. However, know that any resistance will be met with force and I really do not wish to depart with blood on our hands today... but i shant let it keep me up at night either.”

The terrified crowd of ponies were corralled into the museum gift shop finding it just large enough to hold their hostages and to allow the towering earth pony mare to start going around collecting their belongings. All the while, the mare in the red mask turned to her cohorts. “You all know the plan. Misty Weather, search the place for other hostages, keep whatever you find on them.”

“You got it boss.” The pegasus of the group unfurls her wings and takes flight, moving through the two-story museum to search for more ponies to take hostage and maybe loot.

“Rail-spike,” The red masked mare turns to the massive earth pony acting as their intimidating figure to scare the ponies into submission and take their stuff. She lets out a grunt, momentarily pausing from her robbery of the ponies. “Keep watch over the hostages. Make sure nopony comes in or out, and if the cattle need to be disciplined… kill one or two.” Rail-spike grunts again, continuing from where she had left off. The red masked mare then turns to a couple of griffon twins. “Agatha and Delilah. You two get the fun job; looting the museum of anything and everything of value.”

“YUS! Told ya she’d pick us for the job.” Agatha says in pure jubilation.

“… Whatever.” The more dower sounding Delilah groans.

“At ease, you’ll still be splitting what you find with the others. Its only fair… but you will get first dibs on whatever you find, so make sure you find a lot of goodies for the class.”

“We’ll clear this place out in no time flat. Just watch.” The two griffon twins begin their looting, running through the place until her attention came to a scrawny unicorn stallion.

“And lastly, we have… you, Mud Mixer.” The stallion barely came in at five and a half feet, somewhat shaking under the gaze of his boss. “Normally I wouldn’t trust such an important job to a stallion, but thankfully its so easy a job that not even you can screw up. So, watch the front, keep guard, and let somepony know if you see any cops, guards, or anypony coming this way. Do you understand?”

“Y-Yes, mistress.” Mud Mixer says with a timid tinge in his voice.

“That’s a good boy.” The Red-Masked mare says in a demeaning tone of voice, only for it to shift to something more serious when addressing the final two. One being another unicorn and the other a hulking minotaur. “Obscura, Brutus; with me.” Motioning for them to follow, the Red-Masked mare and the remaining of her two hired muscle follow her through the museum.

While the thugs went on ransacking the museum, the towering earth pony went around with a bag collecting anything and everything she could find from the ponies. If it shined, shimmered or sparkled; into the bag it went. Eventually though, she came across a few resistant ponies. Even though she had given up her bits and gold rings, she was adamant on keeping a simple looking pendant. Rail-Spike took note of it, growling as she pointed to the simple piece.

“P-Please… i-it was my grandmothers. At least let me keep that.” Rail-spike growls again, this time bringing out a massive broadsword hanging from the sheath on her back to emphasize her point. Undoing the necklace, she tosses her last piece of jewelry into the bag before moving on.

While everypony was doing their job, Misty Weather soared through the air watching the two griffon twins taking everything they saw. Deliliah having taken the bottom floor while Agatha the top; yet all she had to do was keep watch and search for any bystanders. Eventually, something caught her attention. She saw one of the bathroom doors open, leading to the stallion’s restroom.

Descending to the first floor, the pegasus mare landed in front of the door and entered. Walking in, she starts to look around and muses at the clean scent. “Huh, so they are cleaner in here.” She says to herself, walking through the bathroom in search of whoever may be hiding inside. “Alright, I know you’re in here. Come on out and I promise I won’t hurt ya.” Misty waited for a response but she didn’t receive an answer. Letting out a sigh, she reached down to her thigh, taking out a jagged dagger. Moving to the first stall out of four, she kicked the door in, making a loud *SLAM* that seemed to reach the exhibit area outside. Alas, Misty was disheartened to find nothing more than a toilet waiting for her on the other side.

Moving to the second stall, she kicked the door in, finding another toilet waiting for her. Misty Weather furrowed her brow, kicking the third stall door with a bit more force, growing more agitated with her lack of results. She eventually made it to the fourth and final stall. “This is your last chance, punk. Come out or else I’ll drag you out. Piece by piece.” Once more, no response. With a shrug, Misty Weather rears her leg up and kicks the door in at full force, expecting it to hit whoever was inside.

But nopony was waiting behind the stall door.

Confused at the lack of results, Misty looks around the stall for a moment before sighing. “Dammit. I must be seeing things.” She turns away and heads to the sink, taking off her black mask to reveal a soft lavender coated mare behind it. She saw her deep blue eyes and the bags underneath. She got in close, pulling her eyelid down to see just how bloodshot her eyes in the mirror. “Oh yeah, definitely should have gotten more coffee for this.” Splashing some water on her face to help her wake up a bit, Misty felt a wave of refreshment wash over her, helping to bring her out of whatever funk she had landed in.

Standing back up, Misty sighs to herself before her attention was drawn to the broader image of the mirror. Her eyes go wide, her body tenses up and her mouth goes dry when she saw somepony else standing a mere foot away dressed in all black like herself. The main difference was that this pony wasn’t wearing a mask, only a cloth around their muzzle. “WHO THE-“ Before she could scream out her demand, the figure lunged for her and brought her into a choke-hold. Misty starts flapping her wings wildly, trying to shake her assailant off. Misty starts screaming but the figure holds their hand over Misty’s mouth, keeping her quiet so the others didn’t come running.

Misty suddenly feels a sharp pain against her back, causing her wings to cease any movement as they fall limp. The lavender pegasus starts to gasp and choke, feeling her body suddenly go weak as the pony begins to render her unconscious. Misty doesn’t recall what happened next but she knows that she was laid down on the floor gently while feeling a set of fingers against her neck. After that, Misty Weather passes out.

“Hey, Delilah!” Agatha called out from the top floor, having found a rusted silver crown, which now sat on her head. Hearing her name, the melancholic griffon moved into view with an ancient griffon war-axe in hand. “What do ya think? Don’t I look all royal and shit?” Without skipping a beat, Delilah responds with.

“Silver was mostly used for subordinate ruling spouses or lesser noble family members. Maybe if you were like… a male it’d work for ya.”

“Why do you gotta ruin my fun, sis?” Dejected, Agatha takes off the crown and tosses it into the sack of goods. “I’m sure Mud Mixer will like it though. Maybe give ‘em a nice treat before we get our turn with him tonight.” With that, Delilah goes back to her looting. As for Agatha, she starts to take inventory on all the cool things she had found on her floor. Half of a once golden shield said to have tanked a direct hit from Celestia herself, A hand mirror said to reveal ancient secrets with gems encrusted the back end minus the actual mirror part, and her personal favorite thus far; a banner of an ancient griffon Queen with gold sewn into the fabric. To which, Agatha was going to hang up in her room the moment they got back to the hide-out.

Humming a gentle toon, Agatha the griffon made sure everything was in order so she knew what she’d be taking before any of the others got a chance to think of what they wanted from the pile when she’d just look and grab what she wanted, leaving the scraps to the others.

*Klang*

“Hm?” Sitting up, Agatha moves to the side of the railing to see what had made such a loud noise. Yet when her eyes fell to the area where her sister was looting, she eventually saw the ancient war-axe on the ground. The same one Delilah was holding. “Uh… Delilah?” She called out with no response. Flying down to the bottom floor, Agatha slowly approaches the war axe and then towards the exhibit her sister had been looting. There she could see that it was a life sized replica of the Prench revolution where the nobles were marched to their doom via guillotine. Angry mannequin’s depicting enraged villagers holding fake torches were propped up as a recreation of such a dark time in the foreign nation’s history.

Yet when Agatha saw that the weapon of death was not depicting a King of Prance, but rather her sister, Agatha gasped and rushed to get her out. “Delilah!” She shouts, tearing the Styrofoam restraints apart with her sharpened claws and pulling her beloved sister before the fake blade could come to life. “Delilah! Come on girl, wake up.” Whatever had happened to her, she was down for the count and panic started to take over Agatha. “This is no time for jokes, sis. Come on you’re starting to freak me out.” No matter how much she shook, the griffon girl was not waking up.

While she tried and tried to wake her, Agatha started to develop the feeling she was being watched. Turning around to look over her shoulder, first the left, she saw nothing outside the exhibit. But when she turned to look over her right, she gasped when she saw a figure adorned in black hiding amid the crowd of fake villagers, sporting the same mask she and her friends wore. The figure lunges, going in for the attack. Yet Agatha wasn’t going down so easily, ducking under to protect her sister and letting the pony sail over her. Sitting back up, Agatha scurries out of the exhibit, leaving her sister on the ground to confront this stranger head on. She takes the massive war-axe with both hands, clinging to it and ready to start swinging. “C-Come out! I’m n-not afraid of you!” She lied. Agatha felt her legs shaking as she slowly circled around, looking down the hallway.

After three rotations, Agatha started to calm down, wondering if what she saw was real. Lowering her guard, she eventually starts to calm her breathing. “… M-Maybe… I hallucinated that pony.” She says, trying to rationalize what she saw.

“No. You didn’t.” Agatha felt something hitch in her throat, hearing the gruff tone of somepony close by. Looking up, Agatha saw the black-clad figure leap down from the second floor and tackle her down. After that, everything goes dark for the second griffon sister.

Letting out a long yawn, Rail-Spike stood at the entrance of the gift-shop, keeping guard over the various ponies. She had her sword drawn, at the ready in case anything came to surprise them, or use it on the ponies if they got out of line. But while she was prepared for a fight, she wasn’t quite prepared for dealing with her hostages, feeling a tug on her pant leg. Turning her attention downward, Rail-spike saw a small little pegasus colt with his legs crossed. She didn’t have to be a genius to know what that meant.

“I gotta go.” The little colt says in a pleading tone. To which Rail-spike points to a corner. “B-But everypony is gonna see.” The towering mare rolls her eyes behind her mask and grunts again, pointing to the corner.

“Come on, let the kid use the bathroom.” A mare says.

“You’re already robbing us, at least let the kid keep his dignity.” Another mare says. Letting out a drawn-out groan, the towering mare turns to the scrawny stallion.

“Mud.” She grunts, catching the stallion’s attention. Coming over to her, he nods to her as she pushes the colt towards him. “Bathroom. Take. Go.”

“Uh… a-alright. Come on kid.” Mud Mixer takes the young colt away, leaving Rail-spike to do her job without having to deal with the kid. She hoped her boss was almost finished with her ordeal so she didn’t have to keep baby-sitting.

About fifteen minutes go by and Rail-Spike starts to get a little suspicious. Things had grown quiet. A little too quiet for her liking. She hadn’t seen Misty Weather for some time, half-expecting her to come back to the front to chat it up with Mud, who had yet to return. On top of that, she couldn’t quite hear the eager pillaging of the two griffon sisters any longer. She started to debate whether or not she should leave her post to find them, but she soon heard the sound of hoof-steps approaching that put her a bit at ease.

Turning the corner was the little colt, quickly returning to his family. Yet Mud Mixer was nowhere to be found. Confused, she steps away to look down the wide hallway, seeing nopony there. Her attention eventually turns to the colt, sitting in his mother’s lap. Rail-spike slowly stomps her way towards him, looming over the colt like an angry beast. She takes off her mask, revealing a stern looking mare with grey fur with various scars of pink flesh decorating her face. “Where… friend?” She growls, looking the colt down with her one good red eye.

“The scary pony took him.” Was all the colt said, clearly shaken by something he had seen. The ponies start to chat among themselves, clearly curious as to what was happening in the museum. “H-he said that I-I was told to give you a message.”

“What… message?” Rail-spike grunted.

“He said that… you are next.” The room goes quiet, the towering earth pony looking almost offended at the remark. She started to grit her teeth in rage, ready to take her aggression out on the colt. She took her sword in both hands, the colt’s mother shielding her son protectively while the others start to gasp in horror.

*THUMP*

Rail-Spike froze, having heard the sound echo out from the museum floor. Everypony did. Nopony moved, nopony breathed as they heard it again.

*THUMP*

Lowering her sword, Rail-spike slowly turned to face the exit as she slowly made her way out to look what was making the noise.

*Thump… Thump*

The noise was getting faster now. Stepping out into the lobby, Rail-spike saw the cause of the sound coming down the steps leading to the second floor.

*Thump… Thump… Thump.*

Rail-spike raised a brow seeing what looked to be an old ball made from animal skins bouncing down the steps, making a loud *Thump* down each one as it did. Eventually, its momentum started to die down, going from a bounce to a simple roll across the tile flooring. The earth pony mare watched as the ball came rolling to her hooves. She gave it a little kick, seeing that it did nothing.

*THUMP*

Picking up the noise again, Rail-spike turns around to see a black clad pony holding a similar ball. And before she can do much of anything, the pony throws the ball into her face the second he gets a clear shot, making a loud *THWACK* as it makes contact with her exposed face.

“GAH!!!” Stumbling backward, the mare holds onto her face trying to stabilize herself but her hoof comes down on the first ball, causing her to starts stumbling over herself. To seal the deal, the black clad pony comes rushing towards her, leaping up and taking her down with a powerful clothes-line attack. Rail-spike feel the air leave her lungs as she falls back against the ground hard. But she wasn’t going out without a fight.

As the black clad pony moves to try to knock her out, Rail-spike grabs the figure and throws them aside with a loud roar. The figure catches himself, sliding across the floor, slowly standing back up just as Rail-Spike scrambles back up to face the attacker. Gripping her massive sword in both hands, the mare goes in swinging like a mare possessed. Hearing the fight break out, the hostages start to move over to watch. They see the towering mare attacking a normal sized pony, who seemed to dodge and weave around her attacks with the utmost ease. With every swing she makes, the stranger either steps aside or ducks underneath the slab of metal she called a sword, and with every failed attempt the black-clad figure delivers a quick succession of punches along her sides, thighs, or arm-pit. They were outmatched when it came to sheer strength, that much was clear with how absolutely muscular the earth pony mare was but that didn’t mean the other figure was beating their fists against a brick wall.

With every miss, Rail-spike felt the punches come and it all started to add up. But that’s what the figure wanted. For as long as she was focused on him, her attention was away from the hostages. Eventually, some of them figured this out and started to creep towards the exit. They’d motion for the others to follow. Most of the ponies were eager to leave but there were the few that wanted to see how this ended. They watched with bated breath as this pony came in against this towering behemoth of a mare, armed with only his hands in this seemingly one-sided fight.

Eventually, Rail-spike decided to start attacking low, bringing her blade down as she tried to attack the stranger to where if he ducked, he’d be left vulnerable or get caught in her attack. It almost seemed like she had this pony where she wanted them but that came to an end when she watched the figure leap into the air, propelling themlseves off of her sword to spin around and them deliver a mean round-house kick to her face. Rail-spike felt a tooth leave her mouth along with a spray of blood the moment she felt the hoof make contact with her.

Falling to one knee, the audience of hostages still around watched as this behemoth of a mare was struggling to stay up. With every ragged breath she took, Rail-spike eventually turned her attention to the hostages and nearly blew a gasket when she saw them running out the door. “NO!” She roared out, standing up to attack the now terrified ponies. “GET BACK… GET BACK IN!“ Running like an unstoppable juggernaut, the ponies all watched in horror as this crazy mare came after them next. The ponies that chose to remain were regretting their choice but her opponent was not done. Out-maneuvering her, the black-clad stranger slid on by her and swept Rail-spike’s hooves to trip her up.

Rail-spike made contact with the floor and she did so hard once more. Turning over, she groaned in pain only to see her sword had been thrown into the air and was now falling fast towards her. Bracing for death, Rail-spike closed her eyes waiting for the painful sensation of cold steel piercing her flesh. But it never came. Opening her eyes, she did find her blade but now in the hands of the black-clad figure, having leapt into the air to catch it before it even touched her. The ponies watching began to cheer, thanking their hero as the black-clad hero brought the blade to her throat. Rail-spike groaned, lamenting her loss. “Make… quick.” She growled, expecting him to kill her. To which, the figure responded.

“Alright.” Maneuvering the blade in their hands, the figure drew the blade back and thrust it downward. Rail-spike let out a scream half-expecting her own death but instead found the blade mere inches away from her face.

“W-What?”

“Good night.” The figure growled before driving their fist square into Rail-spike’s face, knocking her out. Once the fight was over, the black-clad figure turned to the ponies, who were now slowly exiting the gift shop.

“I-Is it over?”

“Are we safe?”

The figure started to receive questions like that on mass. Then came the repeat questions he’s heard a number of times.

“Who are you?”

“Where did you come from?”

“How did you do all those crazy moves?”

“Are you seeing anypony?”

More and more questions and ones the they were not about to answer. Instead, silently gesturing to the exit for them to leave. Once they had done so, the black-clad figure moves to head out to find the leader and her thugs. Disappointed that they didn’t get any response out of the masked hero, the ponies instead decide to head out. “Who the hell was that?” One mare asks.

“You don’t think it was Her, right? Like… she’s just an urban legend.” Another mare says in disbelief.

“Wait… you don’t mean-?”

“Don’t say it.” A third pony says a bit frightfully.

“Oh, I’m gonna. You are all thinking it.” The mares walked out but one froze with a confident smile about her. “That my dear fillies… was The Miss Manehattan in the flesh.”

Demo Reel could not have played that any better than he did. Having taken out the thugs one by one, he had gotten the hostages out with nopony getting hurt. At least if he didn’t count the various creatures robbing the place that he had rendered unconscious with slight bruising. Still, with none of the hostages harmed, the black-clad stallion saw this whole operation going belly-side up for the looters and was about to confront the last of them. After that, he’d let the police take care of the rest while he slipped away unnoticed.

Having gone deeper into the museum, the stealthy earth pony comes to find two doors laying on the floor after being torn from the wall. He can even see large chunks of metal attacked to the hinges along with the hydraulic mechanism that kept them from slamming shut. ‘Oh. This doesn’t bode well.’ Demo thought to himself, turning to follow after the last three thieves. His hooves were light, moving silently through the concrete walkway without making nary a sound. The well-lit museum gave way to poorly illuminated corridors with a musty scent of mold in the background. Not only that but the wide, concrete corridors suddenly lead into a well lit storage area.

Keeping to the shadows, Demo Reel crept closer until he could see three figures bickering among themselves in an open space without any means for him to slip on in and take them out. He watched carefully, observing the three until he had his chance to strike. “I’ve waited long enough. I’m not sifting through an entire fucking dragon’s hoard of useless bullshit just to find some stick, Red.” Demo could hear somepony speaking in a clearly angry tone.

“Be patient, Brutus. I know it is here. If the others did their job, the cops will not be here for some time. The alarm spell was disabled and even if they do show up, the fodder will give us plenty of opportunity to leave through an exit of our own making if need be.” Demo Reel listened in to this other pony, a mare by the sound of it. Her voice sounded unnatural, distorted and changed somehow. Peaking from around the corner, Demo watched three figures bicker among themselves. Or rather two figures bicker while the other waited about with clear disinterest if her body language gave anything away.

Standing among them was the red-masked mare, looking through the assortment of boxes. “So how are you expecting me to find this stick you want. Do you want me to go full bull in a china-shop here?” Brutus sounded like he was threatening the Red-Masked mare, standing over her in a menacing fashion.

“Normally yes but the artifact is millennia old and could be delicate. I do not want to risk unnecessary damage.” The red-masked mare said. “Fortunately, that is what my student is here to aid you with. Obscura, my sweet.” The robed figure among the trio nodded, stepping aside to start muttering an incantation. She starts to wave her hands in the air, making assorted hand gestures that caused her horn to glow with a green aura similar to her master’s. Soon, her horn began to manifest a beam of light similar to that of a flashlight. Shining it towards one of the boxes, the mare slowly moves along the massive wall, scanning box after box until one of them started to glow.

“There.” The Red-masked mare pointed to the box, to which Brutus went to fetch. Using her magic to shift the boxes above it, holding it up while Brutus slid out their target with the utmost ease. He set it down on the ground as carefully as possible but it was clear just watching him that “careful” was not part of his vocabulary. The moment the box was placed gently on the concrete floor, Brutus tore the top of the crate off with such force and brutality that the nails holding it in rocketed out of the wood and into the distance. Digging into the thick hay inside, the minotaur found the contents and pulled it out.

“Uh… boss. This doesn’t look like a Stick.” Holding up the contents, Brutus presents a white mask with a red smile crudely painted upon where the mouth should be.

“No.” The Red-Masked mare said unamused. “It doesn’t surprise me that this place may actually have magical artifacts other than the one I seek.” With a curious look, Brutus looks to the mask. Taking off his own mask revealing a gruff old bull, he starts to slip it onto his own face but it is pulled away by Obscura magic to keep him from doing something he’d regret. “Don’t use magic items without knowing what they are first, Brutus. It could be cursed for all you know.” With that said, Obscura tosses the mask away, hearing it shatter upon contact with the ground.

Brutus kicks the empty box aside, giving him plenty of room to fetch a second box once another magic aura was found. But in doing so, it gave Demo Reel the cover he needed to get closer. As he did, the stallion started to formulate a plan to try and take these three down. One on one fights were easy enough but with two unicorns and a clearly pissed off minotaur, this was going to require surgical precision.

“Found another.” Obscura says. Peaking from over the box, Demo watched as another box starts to glow but it was a bit higher up than the last one. Thus, combining their efforts, the Red-Masked mare and her student used their telekinesis to take hold of Brutus to lift him up into the air. It was only about six feet but that alone gave Demo Reel an idea. And upon seeing it, he starts to feel a tingle form along his spine.

Seeing another box glowing at the very top of the pile of boxes, he watches the two mares lift Brutus up high. He brings it down down and upon opening it, the Red-Masked mare stands triumphant with what appeared to be a staff of some sort. The vision soon ends after that.

Shaking his head, Demo Reel knew when he had a chance to attack, and merely waited. As the second box was set down, Brutus tore the top open to reveal a tribal artifact of some sort. Pulling it out, he shows the brightly colored wood carving. “This doesn’t look like a stick. I’d say more of a trunk.”

“It’s a buffalo war totem.” Obscura says. “Ancient tribes used them to hang the heads of their enemies off the wings of the eagle head as a means to honor their fallen ancestors.” Obscura says in a dry tone of voice.

“… So not the stick we want then?” Brutus asks.

“No. Not the stick we want.”

“Okay then.” Brutus tosses the ancient artifact aside like trash and then kicking the empty box away. Already Demo Reel was having a pretty good path getting closer to his targets. But after taking another step, Demo Reel gets that familiar tingling sensation along his back and watches the whole world drain of color once again.

Demo Reel sees the Red-Masked mare, her uniquely designed face covering sticking out even in a vision devoid of color. She turns around the bend and sees Demo Reel. “What are you doing here?!” She shouts, holding out her hand to grab him by the throat and lifting him up into the air.

The vision ends with Demo Reel feeling phantom pains from the tight grip the Red-Masked mare had around him. Or rather will have around him. Acting quickly, Demo slowly backs away just as the Red-Masked mare starts to wander around the area. Feeling a nagging sensation of being watched, the leader of the thieves looks around as she feels the paranoia start to sink in.

Demo Reel had slipped into the first box which was on its side. Keeping his breath steady and his back against the edge, he waited patiently to either get caught or to begin his attack early on. Demo waited for that familiar tingle against his spine, hoping he’d learn something but nothing came. He already felt that he was about to be done for the moment he was discovered.

Seeing her robes come into view, Demo was about ready to spring into action but heard Obscura call out. “Master, I found another one. Its all the way up at the top so I’ll need your help with it.” Feeling his breath freeze, Demo waited and waited for a response. And then, when he watched the mare’s robes leave his view, he let out a restrained sigh so he didn’t give himself away at the last second.

“I am coming my student.” Returning to her apprentice, both Obscura and the Red-Masked mare used their powers to lift Brutus up high again. This time going as high as they could. By now Brutus was about twenty feet in the air, give or take a few inches and that was when Demo knew it was time to attack. Reaching for his belt, he grabbed one of the few tools he kept on him. Taking what looked like a modified soda can, he started to give it a few good shakes, already seeing a chemical reaction beginning inside once the metal started to distort.

Leaping over the edge, Demo Reel revealed himself just in time to see Brutus sliding the box out longways before slipping it onto his shoulder. But if he played this right, he’d be having one nasty fall but not so much that it’d kill him. He knew Minotaurs were tough and he knew that it’d take a large fall to take down a large opponent.

Throwing the expanding soda can at the unicorns, the silvery canister did not erupt with a sugary beverage but rather exploded out with a massive cloud of smoke that covered the entire storage room with a thick cloud. Demo Reel made sure he had his face covering fastened under the mask he had stolen from the pegasus mare in the bathroom and went in fast. He targeted the Red-Masked mare first, rushing her last known location, Demo Reel goes in full force. Once he saw that red mask, he leapt into the air with a front flip but grabbed hold of her head before slamming them both onto the ground. Demo felt the intense pain shoot through him but he was able to ignore it. The leader not so much as he heard Brutus scream suddenly followed by a *Klang*.

Confused as to what was happening, the terrified minotaur held on for dear life as the box he was holding now his only life line. Looking up, he saw that when the magical aura holding him up failed, the box was now resting on one of the ceiling supports, holding both Brutus and the box up. “Guys! HELP!”

Down below Obscura had shifted her attention to the black-clad figure in the cloud of smoke, practically choking on the thick, chalky fumes that surrounded her. Feeling her fingers crackle with energy, Obscura threw several magically charged bolts of energy into the cloud. She heard a few sounds of wood being shattered or objects breaking but nothing that sounded like a pony being hurt. “Show yourself coward!” She wanted it, and she’ll get it.

Rushing her from the smoke, Demo Reel readied his two fingers for a close up attack that he knew would render the unicorn helpless. Once she was in view, Demo Reel swiped at her face, tearing her mask off. Thinking that her attacker had missed, Obscura’s revealed face showed a mare with a chilling smile eager to do some harm. “Ha! Got you now, bastard!” Seeing her hand crackle with energy once again but Demo was anticipating that. Feeling the tingle in his spine, Demo watched as a brief scene flashed before him.

Demo Reel rushes the enraged unicorn, his index and middle finger drawn. He lunches for Obscura as she launches a powerful bolt at Demo Reel’s chest as it sizzles through his clothes and burns his flesh.

The vision ends and he knows what to do. Mimicking himself in the vision, Demo Reel has his index and middle finger extended, knowing where to strike. And just as Obscura was ready to finish Demo Reel off with a point-blank blast of magic, Demo Reel watched her arm carefully extend out but he was ready. Swiveling around her arm with some fancy hoof-work, the stallion avoided her attack with ease before driving his fingers towards the base of her horn. The magic she had built up in her hand was thrown into the air, where it had struck the box Brutus was holding onto.

Though it only made a small hole in the side, that was all that was needed to feel it begin to crack and splinter. “Oh… Oh no.” Brutus groans, feeling the box slowly lower him until finally the box snapped in half. “AHHHHHHHH!!! Brutus falls to the ground with a loud *Thud*, the box and its contents landing right on top of him. Knocked out, the bull lays motionless in the debris while Obscura stumbles back holding her sore horn.

“M-My magic? What did you do to me?” Demo wasn’t about to answer that as he merely tilted his head in response. “I’ll make you pay you bitch.” Trying to summon her magic, getting only small flickers and sparks in the process, the once sadistic mare now had a look of horror on her face as Demo slowly approached. “G-Get away from me. M-master!” She calls for help but gets no response. Demo Reel rears his fist back, ready to add another knock-out to his list for the day. Throwing his punch, Obscura closes her eyes tight waiting for the inevitable impact.

But it never came.

Seeing the black clad fist frozen in mid-air, Obscura sees the stranger restrained before her in a green aura not her own. As the smoke begins to settle, Obscura sees her master standing up her hand outstretched. Demo Reel struggled and tried to escape, rearing his other arm out to attack Obscura but that arm too was held in the Red-Masked mare’s grasp. And then, his whole body. “My dear Obscura. Needing your master to pull you out of the fire again, I see. How troubling.” Obscura didn’t care, she slowly backed away from the attacker as her master came to inspect the black clad figures. “You’re not one of mine, even though you’re wearing one of their masks. Who are you, little pony?”

Looking over the figure, the Red-Masked mare saw that rather than decent equipment like the thugs she had hired, this pony merely wore civilian clothes spray-painted black. She started to giggle in amusement that six of the most hardened criminals she could scrounge together and her own apprentice were taken out by a stranger in street wear. “You’re certainly not a mercenary, or a ganger. Hell, I doubt you’re even a guard under cover.”

“Whoever she is, she’s dead.” Starting to feel her magic return, Obscura slowly charged her magic to attack their prisoner.

“She?” The Red-Masked mare starts to put things together looking at the figure. “Oh? Then perhaps we are in the company of an urban legend. Are you by chance Miss Manehattan?” Again, no response from Demo. He didn’t care if the ponies thought he was a mare, better for him that they did since it kept him from being suspected. That is until he felt a hand move to grasp his groin, getting an “Eep” out of him. “Oh! Or should I say… Mister Manehattan.” Demo was rather glad that he was wearing a mask right now or else she’d be able to see his intense fluster.

“Wait, you telling me that I got my ass handed to me by a stallion?!” Obscura says with clear offense in her voice.

“It appears so. He’s certainly a dying breed, isn’t he?” The Red-Masked stallion tittered. “Shame, he could have given some lucky mares some decent foals one day. Should have stayed in the bedroom, little colt.” Holding Demo tight, the Red-Masked mare stepped aside to let Obscura have her fun. Struggling and trying to escape, Demo knew he had no means of getting out of her grip.

“Ohhhh… what happened.” Sitting up, Brutus rubs his sore head, feeling around until he finds that one of the massive horns he had decorating his head had been snapped off during the crash. He gasps looking around and sees it under some sort of stick by the looks of it. Swatting it away, the panicked bovine tries to place it back on as if it was just going to snap right back into place.

Feeling something make contact with her robes, the Red-Masked mare looks down and her eyes go wide behind her cracked mask. Obscura was ready to get up close and personal with Demo Reel, her hands sizzling with power as she moved her hand to his new mask to watch his eyes boil in his skull. But she’d never get the chance. “WAIT!” Obscura pauses.

“Master! Don’t edge me here, I’m so close to watching this little fuck squirm in.” as she says that, her master feels her grip on Demo falter. Seeing his chance, Demo rips his arm free and uses a wide strike to hit the mare’s arm and push it into her chest. She screams out and backs away. For a moment, Demo feels like he has a chance to finish this off and as he runs across the room to leap into the air, he feels the same grip surround his body but it felt so much different this time.

Standing in triumph, the Red-Masked mare was now holding a staff made from dead wood. At the top of its shaft was a black gemstone held in place by roots clinging to it greedily. The green aura that once surrounded Demo Reel was now a murky shade of purple and the grip was so much firmer. “You’re quite the wily little thing, aren’t you?” The Red-Masked mare teases. “I should kill you for what you did to my student, but now that I have what I came for and you are but a nuisance to me.” Throwing Demo Reel aside, the stallion goes crashing into the middle of the crates, sending most of it toppling over. “Since you inadvertently found my prize for me, I’ll be gracious and let you keep your miserable life. Know your place, stallion; next time I shan't be so kind. Obscura, Brutus! Lets get out of here.” Pointing the staff towards the wall, a ball of dark magic condenses at the tip before it erupts into a powerful explosion that smashes through the farthest wall of concrete, creating an exit out into the side of the museum.

Digging himself out of the crates, Demo can already feel something was broken but the pain didn’t seem to stop him. Panting as he emerged, looking at the escape the three thieves had made, he growled in defeat having let the leader and her two subordinates escape with their main target. To make matters worse, Demo Reel heard the oncoming sound of police sirens in the distance and knew he had little time. Instead of chasing after the Red-Masked mare, he’d head back to the bathroom and plant himself as an innocent bystander that had gotten roughed up by the ponies. He’d have to make some modifications to his clothes to show that the wounds matched; if he remembered correctly the pegasus had a knife on her. That would have to do for now.

Princess Celestia watched as her mentor was wheeled out on a stretcher, the doctors frantically racing the princess somewhere they can properly treat her wounds. All the while Luna and the Elements watched as their beloved ruler was taken away. Twilight felt a stone form in her stomach, feeling like her entire world had been shattered in a mere flash. She still felt tears running down her face, matting her fur as she let out the occasional sob. “My little ponies.” Luna says softly. “Follow. If I am to tell you of this tale, let us do so where nopony may hear us.” Offering her hands, Luna felt the ponies gather around to form a circle.

With a flash of light, Luna and the Elements vanished from the throne room, only to appear in a darkly lit bedroom. The teleportation spell was quick and easy, and there wasn’t any chance that they’d be followed. “The story I am about to tell you may not be for the feint of heart. If you do not wish to hear my words, I shall create a bubble of silence to grace you with ignorance of its contents.”

Fluttershy felt tempted to take the offer, and she almost did. But, even after what she had seen, she knew that she had to hear this. No matter how terrifying it got. So, wishing to get this over with, she took a seat, ready to hear whatever horror story Luna was about to speak of. After which, one after the other, everypony else did the same, sitting close to the butter yellow pegasus.

“We came here ready for whatever Celestia had in store for us. Now… we want nothing more than to help bring whoever hurt her to justice.” Twilight said with a dark determination.

“Very well. Listen well, all of you. This tale begins two weeks from this today. A mere seven days after my purification at your very hands. I had just taken up my duties as Warden of dreams once more. Getting back to my old duties was trying at times, but I had learned much from the ponies of the land. And it is thus that I met him. That I bore witness to the final moments of the stallion who perished in his own nightmares.” The elements looked on in fear at the idea of nightmares able to kill somepony. “These are the final moments of a pony i only knew for one knight. The dreams of a one Demo Reel of Manehattan.”