A dark blue-furred, and grey-maned young pegasus sat nervously in his seat. His eyes flicked this way and that, seeking something out but never finding it. Amidst the crowd of cafe goers, there was no familiar lime green fur, orange mane, and cheery smile.
“Where are you, Gavel?” Murmured the stallion.
The stallion paused to sip at his drink, rolling the bitter roast around in his mouth before swallowing. Several nearby ponies would occasionally glance his way, pausing their meals to observe the visibly nervous male sitting not far away. The pegasus ignored them all, filtering out the ponies, the noise, and the trendy pop art plastered on every conceivable surface.
“You're late,” he whispered to himself.
“Relax, Buddy,” remarked a quiet voice. “She’ll be here.”
The pegasus turned to find an aged earth pony mare pouring him more coffee. Her fur was white, and her long white hair was tied into a tight bun atop her head. She wore a simple green apron that bore her name tag. ‘Last Drop’, it said, atop which was the word ‘owner’. Beside her nametag was a pin that reminded all who read it to quote ‘ask about their Hearts and Hooves Day special’.
“Th-thanks,” he stuttered grabbing the cup and taking a sip.
The bitter taste remained but it carried an undercurrent of vanilla that made the young male sigh contentedly. The mare was a skilled coffee maker, able to blend different flavors together into something wholly unique. Not only was she skilled, but she seemed to really care about what she served, ensuring each cup was made with love.
“It's the middle of the day. The Night Stalker ain't gonna get ya,” the mare offered.
Buddy nearly jumped when he felt the calm hoof of the cafe owner settled on his shoulder, but he quickly relaxed, releasing a tired sigh.
“Right, of course,” he muttered half heartedly. “But if he did…”
“We have a brand new state-of-the-art security system,” Last Drop replied, lifting her hoof from the male’s shoulder and pointing out the large metal boxes bolted above the front entrance as well as every window. “One click and boom. Nothing is getting in here.”
“That does make me feel a little better,” Buddy replied.
“Well, it should. I started saving up the moment I heard about all that hullabaloo over in that small town near Ponyville. It took a while, but I finally had enough to buy the whole system outright,” Last Drop exclaimed with a chuckle.
“Five months. That system must really be something,” Buddy added.
“Sure is and- oh would ya look at that. Say hi to her for me would ya?” Last Drop remarked, giving Buddy one last pat on the back before turning and walking away.
“What do you- oh,” Buddy murmured, only to stop and stand up, a grin coming to his face. “Lady Gaval! I’m so glad you made it!”
The approaching lime green mare met the male halfway, embracing him in a tight, but brief hug. The moment it was over she stepped back, though a hoof held Buddy firmly in place.
“Two things Buddy,” Lady Gaval began. “You can just call me Gaval. We’ve been dating for a year now.”
The male chuckled and blushed nervously.
“And secondly, I was only ten minutes late,” she concluded. “And that was not due to whatever it is that has you so tied up in knots. Unless you were real worried about some poor clerk dumping coffee all over my desk and forcing me to get help from the document recovery team just to ensure I could get it all back.”
“I do worry about that clumsy clerk of yours but not about that,” Buddy dismissed.
“For the last time, he’s cute but he's got nothing on your bumbling charm, and endless neuroses,” Lady Gaval replied, taking a long swig of her coffee.
“Ha ha, very funny,” Buddy shot back.
“But seriously, relax dear. Last Drop runs a great place, were in the middle of Canterlot, and it's like what, two, two thirty in the afternoon?” Lady Gaval exclaimed.
“Right, right,” Buddy finally replied, releasing a long exhale. “It's just with how busy work has gotten… I guess its all sorta catching up with me.”
“Oh?”
Buddy nodded slowly.
“Deposits are down again this quarter, while withdrawals stay steady. Worse, the uh branch manager is beginning to worry,” Buddy whispered in a low tone. “They fear we may need to close another location.”
“But I thought we only had two locations left outside of the uh… headquarters,” Lady Gaval murmured.
“Yeah, the CEO hasn't said anything yet but the manager has heard through the grapevine that the leaker still hasn't been caught.”
“So us-er you guys are still worried about all that financial information getting out there than? Have you taken any precautions?”
The conversation abruptly paused when the music coming out of the hidden speakers vanished and was replaced by an ear-splitting screech. It lasted only a few short seconds but that was enough to cause a good third of the various customers to flee out the front door. When the noise ceased, the music did not return, allowing a hushed quiet to fall over the small cafe.
“S-sorry about that folks,” called the familiar voice of Last Drop, the mare poking her head out from between the saloon-style doors leading to the kitchen. “It seems like we’re having some trouble with our sound system.”
The cafegoers whispered amongst themselves while those in the line began to glance towards the exit, silently considering simply leaving.
“I’m going to go down into the basement to fix it, so please be patient with me,” Last Drop called.
The pony then ducked back into the kitchen and vanished, leaving the remaining customers to leave as well.
“How impatient,” Buddy murmured, watching as the crowd filtered out through the front door. “You’d think they’d stick around for at least a few minutes.”
“You know the ponies of this town. Always on the move,” Lady Gaval replied.
Buddy hummed to himself, and took a sip of his drink, savoring it and the quiet that came with being one of the two remaining customers left in the cafe.
“Anyway, so those precautions?” Lady Gaval offered.
“Oh uh right,” Buddy murmured. “We’ve been going from the bottom up trying to patch this leak but so far we haven't found it.”
“Which means the leaker is someone higher up in the company,” Lady Gaval added.
“That's the uh C.E.O’s assumption as well,” Buddy replied. “But that's what's got her worried. Apparently, the purges have nearly reached the very top and still haven't stopped.”
“You don't think that-”
Both parties spun around a split second before a scream ripped through the cafe. The two ponies instantly recognized the sound of their friend and scrambled out of their chairs.
“Do we go check on her or should we find a guard?” Buddy asked in a low tone.
“We can't find a guard now. Last Drop could be in trouble,” Gavel shot back.
“But we-”
The male was cut off by the sound of alarms followed by the rapid clank of metal unfolding from hidden containers. The ponies turned to see steel shutters slam over the windows and door, cutting off their escape. It also cut off most of the light streaming into the building, leaving only a pair of small lamps to illuminate a small corner of the room. The pair exchanged a look before Buddy stepped forward, nervously walking towards the saloon-style doors at the back of the cafe.
“L-last Drop? Are you okay back there!” He half whispered, half shouted.
A fur-covered head rolled out from under the door and bumped into the stallion’s legs. Buddy looked down in mute horror, his gaze meeting that of Last Drop’s right before her disguise fell. The head was wreathed in an emerald fire before being replaced by that of a dead drone, her eyes still wide but her gaze empty and unseeing.
Gavel screamed, and ran to the front of the store, her hooves grabbing at the solid wall of connected metal plates.
“Come on there has to be a switch, or a button, or something!” She frantically shouted.
She rose up onto her forehooves and tried to grab at the box atop the door only for something to fly out from the back of the room. The spear went right through her, pinning the mare against the wall, her legs dangling down, unable to reach the floor. The half-gurgled scream of his partner prompted Buddy to finally shake the parylises that gripped him and he ran over to the other pony.
“Hold on! I’ll pull it out!” He yelled.
Grabbing hold of the shaft, Buddy pulled as hard as he could, but it was stuck fast. The male grunted and heaved, throwing every last bit of strength only to fall backward, hitting the ground with a thump. He scrambled back to his hooves and was about to try again only for the mare to go limp, and her disguise to fall away, revealing that she too was a changeling.
“No no no. This can't be happening,” he muttered.
“Oh yes,” remarked a masculine voice from behind him. “This is indeed happening.”
Buddy spun around to see the tall, bipedal form of the only human in Equestria to stroll out from between the saloon-style doors. He wore dark jeans, brown boots with a pointed toe, and a striped long-sleeve shirt atop which was a black vest with a half dozen knife hilts poking out of the many pockets. Atop his head rested a large, wide-brimmed hat while over his mouth was a red band of cloth that hid everything below his nose.
“Ya’ll thought you were safe didn'tcha?” he mocked, stopping a few paces away, a hand resting on the hilt of a short blade belted at his hip. “Ya’ll even got that fancy bit of tech. A buncha ponies to cover ya, and you were posted up right smack dab in the middle of Canterlot.”
“What?”
“Yer gettin' scared, I like that. Makes my job easier,” the hunter continued, drawing his blade in a long, exaggerated motion. “Yer mate is ready for harvest without me even having to do any of the usual grandstanding and intimidating.”
“Why, why are you doing this?” Buddy muttered.
“Cus you lot taste good and you are legal to hunt, or at least that's why I used to do it,” the hunter shuddered, a twitch running up his spine and ending at the tips of his fingers. “Nowadays it's some kinda compulsion. Can't go more than a week or two without dipping my mits back into the steaming bowl.”
“Heck it ain't even just yer meat no more,” he continued. “A swig of yer blood is the only thing that keeps me from getting the shakes these days and even that don't help much.”
“You’re sick.”
“Don't I know it?” the human remarked, chuckling to himself. “I saw what the drink did to my paw and I’d say this ain't far off from what happened to him. Never really understood it myself, back then. Whiskey seemed like a mean mistress.”
“Even with the shakes, and the aches, and the pain. The juice is still worth the squeeze,” the man continued, pausing to shudder in what looked like ecstasy. “It's only gotten better ya see. I don't know if it's the fear setting deep into your meat or what it is, but I’ve had pussy that wasn't as good as a fried slice of one of your flanks.”
The man laughed a horrific, half-mad cackle that shook Buddy to his core.
“Say,” the human abruptly asked. “Do ya think if I ate yer big queen that all the shakin’ would finally go away? Cus I’m startin' to wonder what she’d taste like.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Buddy shouted back.
The stallion dropped his disguise, and in a single swift motion, blasted the human with a mana bolt, striking him square in the mouth.
“What… what are you?” Muttered the changeling.
The man ripped off the last bit of cloth clinging to his face, revealing the long, tusk-like fangs that stuck out from his upper lip.
“Don't rightly know myself these days,” he admitted with a shrug. “All I do know is that I’m faster and stronger than ever.”
Buddy growled and fired off a burst of three bolts only to be baffled when all of them missed. The human had become a blur of motion that wove around the spells like they were barely moving before slamming into the changeling with all the force of a runaway freight train. Lifted off the ground, a hand around his neck, Buddy gasped, his legs swinging wildly and hitting nothing.
“You shouldn't have done that,” the human whispered. “That there was a gift from Miss Rarity.”
“The guards- urk- will come,” Buddy choked out.
“Ha? Them? They’re waiting out back, ready to scrub the place once I’m done round here,” the human retorted. “Heck, why do ya think that whole crowd of ponies left so quick, hmm?”
Buddy gasped.
“Don't you go actin’ surprised now. Course them fellers would want revenge,” the human retorted. “Ya’ll did a number on ‘em during yer invasion back a few years ago. Hurt their pride so bad it barely took any promptin for them to start helping me on my little hunts.”
“But enough talk. It's time for me to enjoy the fruit of my labor,” the man whispered in a husky, almost needy tone. “Straight from the tap.”
Buddy managed to scream and thrash for a single solitary second before the human’s fangs punched through his exoskeleton and straight into his throat. The changeling died mere moments later, terrified, cold, and alone, his blood pouring out of him and into the hungry maw of his killer.
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