Equestria: Underground Assualt

Just what in the hay was Apple Bloom thinking?! First, she convinces us to run away because of our fear and then she just accepts the offer of two very suspicious ponies, both having kinda strange names. Although, "Shady Deal" doesn't cut it. It's just plain wrong is what it is. What were his parents thinking when they named their little colt? Or colts. They're twins probably. Their parents must've been really strange, among other things.

And parents. The one thing Scootaloo was sure she didn't know, and felt sure will never find out what it means to be cared for. For most orphans on the streets, it's generally really tough and it is for Scootaloo on some days. To be honest, she was getting by just fine in Ponyville, what with kind and generous ponies that are willing to help most of the time.

And who knows, maybe somepony will feel like adopting an orphan (or three) in Stalliongrad. Probably not. Stalliongrad was likely filled to the brim with bad ponies. It was outside of Central Equestria where international news found its way into this continent's newspapers.

Different ponies and others have different reasons for doing what they do for various reasons. Scootaloo had thought that when the Foal Free Press had gotten ahold of some news in another part of Equestria. She didn't pay attention to the exact specfics, but she caught most of the important parts.

An earth pony stallion named Mono Rails had "mercy-killed" a filly that had just gotten her cutie mark. And as that turned out, the filly somehow had extremely painful disease the doctors found out in an autopsy. The crime still stood, and Mono Rails had already been hanged when they found out. It then goes to where it questions the system which they use to punish criminals, boring as it was.

Here comes another "Scootaloo asks," montage.

Who knows, maybe that idiot just killed for the fun of it? How should a train pony know when somepony has what seems to be a fatal disease before the hospital ponies? Exactly why Scootaloo questioned why those two would pay for their tickets. Maybe they're planning to kill them, or worse.

They should've stuck to the ideas Scootaloo came up with, even though they somehow get covered in tree sap.They wouldn't have gotten into this in the first place.

Apple Bloom comes up with this fantastic way of getting their cutie marks by getting jobs as journalists, which had put them in the presence of Diamond Tiara. At first, it was fun finding out some stories as innocent as they were when the three fillies had first started. But as with all gossip with good-natured fillies, they wanted to stop but everyone did seem to want to read their gossip column.

Sighing, Scootaloo took a look around their car(with those beds, as it'll likely be at least one day until they reach Stalliongrad) so to take her mind off of those somewhat depressing thoughts.

So far, the only one that was sleeping was Shady Deal, that stupid looking colt. Sweetie Belle was writing stuff on a few parchments, which was likely a budget. Once or twice, Scootaloo would hear her mutter "Dumb paper," and then she would scribble out something. Apple Bloom, although looking a bit tired, was chattering to Hood Wink.

"Hood Wink-" Apple Bloom started, but had her mouth covered with a gentle hoof. The stallion chuckled and very lightly corrected her. "Please, just call me Hoody, or Winky, if you wish." That is quite a strange nickname. 'If you'd like to be seen as an idiot, I have no reason to complain.' Scootaloo thought, smirking a little.

"Heh, okay Winky, what's Stalliongrad like?" Apple Bloom had giggled at the surprisingly patient stallion, asking the question the three were wondering. Sweetie Belle halted her quill to listen.

Hood Wink paused, but then hummed for a second before answering."Well, there's lots of guilds-" Yeah right, that's probably gangs. "-that work in the shadows, like ninjas."

"Ninjas?!" Apple Bloom gasped, "What do they do?" Yes, Apple Bloom was asking the right questions now. Sweetie Belle had busied herself with making a budget (or whatever that is), and Scootaloo just plain didn't want to talk to them.

Now, the stallion stared absently out of one of the windows for some time, obviously thinking before speaking again. "Most guilds would do very bad things to get money, while very few, if more than one, are looking to take down the one that dares to let it go on, like the one my friend and I are apart of."

"In order to do that, however, my own guild has to do some bad things so that we can reach that goal. Lots of ponies are hurting out there Apple Bloom, and our leader is working herself to the bone to make sure everypony will never know that pain again. But we need help, the other guilds won't cooperate, and unless we stop it, everything that is bad will reach Central Equestria, and the ponies in your town will feel that pain, likely worse."

That struck the Cutie Mark Crusaders with silence. 'Very bad ponies,' Scootaloo's mind thought, sharply in focus now. 'Will reach Ponyville, Canterlot, anything that has been governed by peace will be hurting worse than the rest of Equestria.'

"So.. are you trying to recruit us for that goal?" Apple Bloom asked carefully, her tone suggesting... something. It was likely that she wanted to help.

"It did occur to me," Hood Wink bowed his head, looking a bit ashamed. "Since you're running away into a harsh world, I wanted to at least offer you a place in my guild, if at least for a couple of days permitting."

Scootaloo felt light-headed. Hood Wink and Shady Deal, no, a gang is trying to protect Central Equestria from a pain that the rest of the world feels. That, and the fact that these two ponies were kind enough to offer a place within their group. And even if that didn't work out, they had a place to stay in for a couple of days. It seemed too far-fetched, yet, this stallion seems to be the real deal.

Scootaloo shook her head. 'No!' She thought furiously. 'Don't let Hood Wink get into your head! He's just a foal-napper! They both are!' But the words were echoing in her head, and the more she heard them, the more she began to believe that Hood Wink was speaking the truth.

'What sorts of bad things?' Is what a rational part of her asked, breaking the echoing line of words. Scootaloo decided to speak up for the first time in a few hours.

"What sorts of bad things?" She asked, the same thing that's in her head. The stallion sighed at this, but not as if he was tired of being questioned.

"It's just so we can get enough resources to possibly put a stop to everything, and for that, it'll take a lot of stuff, and we will need to have a larger... guild."

'Okay, doesn't exactly answer my question. Was that not direct enough?' The speedster thought, and her face must've shown her emotions because Apple Bloom spoke up next.

"Scootaloo, yer not thinkin' a' refusin' a place to stay, where we can stay possibly indefinitely are ya?" Damn, she got Scootaloo there. But no, she doesn't want to join a gang.

"Course not, but these two ponies are strange and you can't deny that Apple Bloom! And we still don't know what they actually do!"

The yelling of the filly had awoken the sleeping Shady Deal from his slumber. Sitting up slowly, he yawned and smacked his lips. Apparently, he caught on to what Scootaloo had been yelling about.

"Supposing you're talking about what we do for our group," He paused to stretch, yawning yet again. "We are a little like advisors, but unlike most, we actually do some of the things we suggest to everyone else."

This confused the three fillies. The part with "Everyone else". Surely he meant everypony? "Excuse us Shady Deal," Sweetie Bell started, looking a bit suspicious for some reason or other. "But don't you mean 'everypony'?"

The smile suddenly slid off of Hood Wink's face and a glare took it's place. It was the same, if not worse with Shady Deal, the pegasus flaring his wings so that he actually looked threatening.

Hood Wink shook his head and spoke with disappointment in his voice. "There isn't only ponies in the world you know."

Shady Deal took a deep breath and folded his wings back into his sides once he noticed the three fillies were frightened. Sighing, he facehoofed and looked up the Crusaders with determined calmness.

"Sorry about that. But you three should know better. There's intelligent and peaceful Dragons who know better than to resort to violence. There's Zebras that come from Southern Equestria are just as good at ponies at doing things, if not better. Ever heard of "Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cures that are simply Super"? A zebra had actually found out all of those cures for strange illnesses and put them on paper. The Deer that originate from the east are much better at growing most things than the earth pony, and can often run faster as well. And finally, the Griffons that come from Northern Equestria are better at aerial flight than most, if not all pegasi. That, and some of them have found a way so that they can use the magic that runs throughout this planet. So think before you say "everypony". It might just cost you-"

It was then that Hood Wink covered his brother's mouth. "Why don't we all just go to sleep? We'll have a big day tomorrow and you'll want to be in tip-top shape." Hood Wink said as he urged Apple Bloom unto a cot while Shady Deal tucked in the unicorn and pegasus.

Scootaloo had learned an important lesson about living outside of Ponyville. Be careful about what you say, you could get hurt for your ignorance.