Turn That Frown Upside Down

Chapters

1: Schoolhouse Rock
2: A Chink in the Armor
3: First Contact
4: The Dives
5: Catching On
7: A Tough Lesson to Swallow
8: Dinner and a Show
9: Ladykiller
10: Sweep You Off Your Hooves
11: Head in the Clouds
12: Coming to Terms
13: Smile
6: Inside Information

1: Schoolhouse Rock

Canterlot Elementary School was decorated for the annual carnival. It was a traditional event held every year shortly before summer vacation, and a favorite of students. Games, refreshments, and activities had been organized to give the students a nice break before they began cramming for finals.

A corner table had been decorated in tacky magician style. The lavender earth pony standing behind it wore a pointed hat and a playful smile. A glass ball was held between her front hooves, and she skillfully manipulated it to almost appear that the sphere was floating, although it never left her touch. A small crowd had gathered to watch in amazement.

“Wow, Ms. Cheerilee, you’re amazing at that!” gushed a young foal.

The mare winked one of her large green eyes at him. “Contact juggling is easy to learn, but difficult to master. I have a lot of practice.”

“It’s like you’re good at everything,” commented a slightly older pony, who had seen Cheerilee perform at other carnivals.

The schoolteacher still wore that same charming smile as the ball danced between her hooves. Her look was kind and modest, without showing any teeth. “Well, if being good at everything is what I have to do to keep you all from sleeping in class...”

The crowd chuckled with her. Sensing an opportune moment to show off, Cheerilee brushed back a loose strand of her pink-striped mane. The glass ball hung from her other hoof, hovering there as if still supported from below. It was a subtle trick, one that took the spectators a moment to catch, but as always it was a sure crowd pleaser.

They all gasped in surprise and applauded. Cheerilee took a bow and set the ball down. The entire performance paralleled her personality; subtle, intriguing, and definitely more than met the eye.

She smiled for the camcorder one of the parents was holding before turning to a young fan. The young colt excitedly asked, “Ms. Cheerilee, how did you do that last trick?”

A unicorn might have been able to pull off a similar show, but would have displayed telltale magic. Earth ponies possesed a little more natural dexterity, but easily hanging on to heavy glass objects should have been impossible.

Cheerilee smiled. “The same way you can get good at anything: practice.”

If only the colt knew how much practice. Cheerilee had stopped counting her birthdays because the number had gotten depressingly high; she had taught her first class more than a century and a half ago. That was a lot of time to practice many things.

One thing she had gotten very good at was concealing what lay beneath the cheerful facade she wore. Nopony knew that their favorite schoolteacher was a vampire.

Lots of practice had made Cheerilee very good at her job-both of her jobs, actually. In addition to teaching, she worked for Princess Luna, taking care of unpleasant things behind the scenes. The Princess of the Night had accepted the task of dealing with what lurked in the shadows. Over the years, Cheerilee had been her number one implement. Occasionally, a supernaturally enhanced mare was the only pony for the job.

Cheerilee had faced a lot in her time, including other vampires. Her skill had become fine tuned, and her competency had steadily grown. Unnatural talents had manifested themselves, adding to her dexterity, ability, and lethality. Now, more than a century after being turned, she was less pony and more force of nature.

All of that was kept carefully contained under the modest exterior of a young schoolteacher. Cheerilee had managed to keep her monstrous side in check, although it required constant vigilance.

She started off on a round of the school to check how the rest of the carnival was going. Young ponies and their parents were everywhere. Cameras and cell phones were everywhere, recording the carnival; such technology hadn’t existed until only a decade or so ago. Cheerilee smiled a little to herself, thinking about how much change she had observed.

She was nearly back to her table when there was a sudden earth-shaking blast from the other end of the building. Screams and crashing rubble filled the air. Cheerilee dashed towards the source of the disturbance, using the smoke-filled hallways to conceal her speed. One wall of the gymnasium had been completely demolished, its broken fragments scattered everywhere.

And then there were the bodies. Ponies who had been inside the gym at the time had been caught in the explosion, few escaping with their lives.

Death was nothing new to Cheerilee. She had caused plenty herself. The inside of a school was the last place she expected to encounter it, however.

There was nothing to be done for the dead, and Cheerilee’s focus shifted to the gaping hole in the wall. Ducking through it, she found herself on a narrow back street. There were a few scattered pieces of debris; an automobile, perhaps.

A car bomb? Cheerilee wondered. It wasn’t very long ago that such an idea would have been considered ridiculous. Of course, it wasn’t very long ago that Equestria was a nation at peace.

You know, sometimes being an immortal mare is cool. I mean, never having to eat is nice, and it saves me a ton of money, and not breathing is convenient in certain situations. Then again, being immortal because you’re a vampire complicates matters a bit. I know what you’re thinking- but I promise, it’s not true. I, Golden Ring, do not drink the blood of ponies, only the blood of wild animals. Honest, I do. When you can move fast enough that pony eyes have a hard time following you, it’s not that hard to take down big predators like manticores.

But I digress; like I was saying, being immortal isn’t all bad. It’s just bad most of the time. I know that sounds kind of bleak, but when you’ve lived for about a century, you learn to appreciate the little things. It can make the big things seem less daunting.

Speaking of big things, one of the most depressing turns of events in recent years is the rise of terror. Or, more specifically, terrorism. You know, the act of causing deliberate harm and fright to others in society to get them to do what you want? In this case, the mules behind the attacks (no offense to any mules reading this) are trying to have the Princesses overthrown; yeah, bizarre, right? This group, the Hegemony of Organized Friends (HOOF, for short), claims that they represent ‘the new world order’ and ‘freedom from tyranny’, and then turn around and attack innocent civilians. It’s absurd!

HOOF is mostly ponies, but buffalo and zebra do make up a significant portion of their membership. The fact that they have international connections only spreads the reach of their nasty hooves farther.

I’m sorry. I have a particular grievance against the kinds of creatures who claim the moral high ground while they are mercilessly murdering and maiming their neighbors. Normally I’m a really sweet mare, not at all bitter like I probably sound right now. No, really, I am. Sometimes, I just have a hard time staying positive. You would too, if you’d been rudely interrupted from your nap by the sound of an explosion from down the street.

Now that I’d been woken from my slumber- well, whatever passes for sleep for a vampire, anyway- I trotted over to my apartment window and glanced out at the road below, scanning for the source of the explosion. I sighed when I couldn’t spot anything in the immediate vicinity. Hopefully nopony had died in this latest bombing. Pony death has never been something that I’ve been entirely comfortable with.

I left the broad window for my apartment door, casting a brief glance around my sparsely-decorated home. My eyes lit up when they alighted on the object of my search, an old, raggedy, medium-blue scarf emboldened with gold trim. It had been a gift from my teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, for my 67th birthday. Sure, I didn’t really need it, being a vampire and all, but... it’s the thought that counts, and I have treasured it above all my other possessions. As foalish as it might sound, I feel safer when I have it with me.

I snagged it from its resting place with a quick flick of my wing, and wrapped it around my neck as I trotted out the door. I didn’t really need to rush, at least not to the point of using my supernatural speed, since Cheerilee usually takes care of the business end of things. Like I said, I’m still not entirely comfortable with death; however, I can hold my own in a fight, and I’ve certainly killed bad ponies before, so don’t go and label me as a bloodsucking pushover or anything.

Absently, I did a quick check on my cellphone for anything that might’ve popped up about the attack. It’s an addictive device, once you realize just how much can be done with the flick of a hoof. Unfortunately there was no news yet.

I made sure to canter quickly through the apartment complex, until I reached the lobby on the ground floor. Down here was much more lavishly decorated than my room, but at the moment I didn’t really stop to admire anything. Once I had gotten through the front double doors, I took to the skies in search of the telltale smoke that would signal the location of the bomb blast. With a grimace, I finally found it, and flew off in the direction of the attack.

It only took me a minute or two to reach the site; when I got there, I let out an involuntary gasp. I was hovering above a school building. A school building. I clenched my teeth as I drifted down towards the ground, finally alighting with only a faint clatter of hooves on concrete. I looked through the gaping hole in the sagging wall at the carnage, the horrifically damaged bodies of foals and their parents strewn about inside the gymnasium.

Fortunately, my teacher was already here.

“Cheerilee, did you notice any survivors inside?” I asked her, casting about my heightened senses even as I did. Only a few weak pulses sounded in my ears.

“Seven. Three foals, four adults. Can you take care of them?” she responded.

“Of course.”

It was how we worked; Cheerilee would take care of the hostiles we encountered, while I handled the friendlies and acted as support. Not that either of us weren’t capable of what the other was; I guess it’s just a matter of preference.

I galloped over to where the first little filly lay, her chest heaving and her right hind leg completely torn off. I could hear her heart frantically beating, systematically forcing the blood out of her ruptured arteries. I frowned- unless I could stop the bleeding, fast, this little pony wouldn’t live through the hour.

I cast my gaze about for something with which to tie a tourniquet around her mangled limb; unfortunately, any suitable materials had been shredded to pieces by the bomb. I set my face in a neutral expression and whipped my scarf from around my neck, and tied it about the filly’s gushing leg so quickly that my forelimbs were naught but a blur. As much as I love Cheerilee’s scarf, using it to save a life is worth any damage to a piece of cloth.

I set about helping the other injured ponies as well. In a stroke of good luck, the others must not have been as close to the blast, because their injuries were not nearly as lethal as the first filly’s. It was a simple matter to patch them up with the materials at hoof, especially considering that the authorities arrived midway through my ministries.

Once all the survivors were taken care of, though, I made sure to slip away without alerting any police. It wouldn’t do to have too many questions asked about me or my presence there. I ascended up and away from the blast site, searching the ground below for the familiar lilac-colored coat of my teacher. It didn’t take me long to find it- she kind of stood out amidst the gray and black of concrete and asphalt.

I made a beeline for her, only slowing down as much as I needed to to keep myself from making a scene with my abrupt landing. The two of us stood on the opposite side of the street from the bombed-out school, hidden amongst the growing crowd of bystanders that was forming around the scene.

“A school building, Cheerilee! They attacked a school!” I struggled to keep the anger from elevating my voice’s volume. While I tend to play up my youthfulness (my cover has been a high school teenager for the past several decades), that doesn’t mean I have to act like a foal all the time.

“I know, Golden. I was there when it happened.” If I didn’t know her better, she would have seemed callous to the whole thing, but having spent as much time with Cheerilee as I have, I knew that she was a master at containing her emotions. It was almost a given that she was as pissed as I was, but hey, I guess she’s just always been a bit better with control than I have. That’s why she’s my teacher. Still, there was this nagging feeling... I just don’t think it’s particularly healthy for her to keep everything bottled up like she does. Sometimes I worry about what might be going on inside her head.

“There has to be something. I- we can’t just let this go! They’ve gone too far this time.” I wanted to be objective about this, but I had to focus on making my artificial breaths long and deep to keep myself from losing it.

Cheerilee sighed deeply, finally showing some emotion. “I agree. This is crossing a line.”

She composed herself, putting on her emotionless mask again. “We need to talk to Princess Luna.”

The Night Princess had long ago accepted her role in Equestrian affairs, taking pleasure in the happiness of citizens even if they didn’t thank her directly as much as her sister Celestia. Luna had taken it upon herself to keep the ponies of Equestria safe from things they shouldn’t have to worry about- the monsters and fiends of the world. Cheerilee and I were not her only agents, but we were the sole vampires in her employ.

Even if Princess Luna wouldn’t mind if we just walked into the castle to have a chat with her, other ponies might be suspicious. Fortunately, both of us had a lot of experience with disguises, and it didn’t take long to get ready to go; all I had to do was make a quick stop at my apartment and pick up some expensive jewelry. Because, you know, being a jeweller requires one to keep enough such items on hoof.

Not ten minutes later, our expensive Marecedes rolled to a stop at the castle’s large front gate. The Royal Guard on duty shifted the assault rifle hanging from his shoulder and leaned forward to check my ID. The card was inscribed with “Le Madame Diadem,” the persona I wore for high-class occasions. I saw him surreptitiously glance at my dress and gold trinkets. I suppose I shouldn’t be offended. Jewelry and accessories are my special talent, after all.

The mare to my right presented herself as Countess de la Cheer. She was also dressed to the nines, courtesy of myself. The two of us certainly looked like we belonged at the castle.

Our false names were on file with the guards, and they let us through with no trouble. A valet took the car and we let ourselves into the inner rooms.

Princess Luna was awake early, what with the sun still lingering in the evening sky. I could tell she was distracted, no doubt by the news of the bombing. Being the fabulous mares that we are, though, our grand entrance changed her expression to a smile.

“Ah, Countess, Madame, I’m glad you could make it,” said the Princess, all the while gesturing for her personal guards to step out of the room. Once we were alone, she continued. “What do you know of the attack on the school? I want everything you have for me.”

I let Cheerilee do the explaining, since she was there for it; I only supplied details about the survivors that I had treated. Speaking of survivors, that reminded me of something.

“Princess, there is one thing- when I was treating one of the survivors, I had to use a scarf of mine for a tourniquet. It’s a potential loose end, so I think you should probably collect it before somepony starts questioning where it came from.” I gave a little sheepish grin; all three of us knew that I mostly wanted the scarf because I liked it. That doesn’t mean I can’t have perfectly valid other reasons, though.

“Indeed, we wouldn’t want anypony confusing it for something belonging to the attacker,” said Luna, her face completely straight. Kind of like with Cheerilee, if I hadn’t spent so much time with Luna, I would have been trembling at the thought of the threatening words in that sentence, instead of chuckling at the snide comment.

“All clothing articles aside,” said Cheerilee, politely interrupting, “there is still the matter of what needs to be done here.” I saw a spark of fire enter her eyes, and heard a fierceness come into her voice. “There were children and parents killed in that blast. I will not stand idly by while my students are massacred.”

“And indeed you shouldn’t,” Luna replied, and I could tell that she was also pretty frustrated, even through her calm, measured tone. “The heart of the matter is, what can we hope to do against an enemy that can hide anywhere, strike any time, and spread like cancer?”

By this time, I had receded from the conversation- I know that my teacher and my princess are wiser mares than I, and more restrained, so I usually leave the decisions to them. Of course, this meant that I was free to casually pull out my phone and skim the news sites for stories on the attack. As I was glancing through one article on the near-viral spread of terror, that was when inspiration struck.

“Hey, hey,” I said, and in my excitement I forgot that I was barging in on their discussion. I didn’t really care, though, this was just too genius. “With the internet, information is spread like wildfire, right? That’s their main method of spreading the word about their terror attacks, through social media and mass communication.” I didn’t really pause here, I just kept going, following my own logic. “What if we turned that against them?”

Both Cheerilee and Luna stared blankly at me for a moment before the Princess spoke. “Whatever do you mean?”

“What if we terrorized the terrorists? That way, we don’t have to worry about finding every single one of them- the knowledge of our counterattacks is so widely disseminated that they’ll hear about them. We make sure our ops are so scary that word will spread and nopony would want to be a terrorist anymore.”

I could practically see the gears in their heads turning, and I knew that there was nothing more I could say to convince them- they would have to think about this on their own. Hopefully I’d done a good enough job already, and they would see reason.

Cheerilee turned to Luna. “Princess, I think the idea has merit. I’d do anything to get involved.”

I could see Princess Luna evaluating my teacher, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through the alicorn’s mind. I might be immortal myself, but I’m still basically a foalish filly compared to the Princesses. Whatever Luna decided, I guess I would go along with.

“Can you do this, Cheerilee?” asked Luna. She looked at me. “Can you both do this, a terror campaign of your own?”

I knew it wasn’t a question of ability. I gulped, realizing the connotations of what Luna had asked. I had never stopped to consider the process of actually carrying out an operation like this. What caused fear? Death, destruction, suffering. Only this time, it would be us doing it.

I’ll give Cheerilee credit, she at least did stop to consider it for a moment before nodding. The fiercest look of determination I had ever seen crossed her face. “I’ll take care of HOOF, Princess.”

It was a good thing my heart didn’t need to beat, or I might have died from it skipping a little. Cheerilee, the lavender earth pony who taught school, had just accepted the task to become the most terrifying thing in Equestria.

2: A Chink in the Armor

Cheerilee was back at her school, even though she didn’t need to be. The attack had happened so close to the end of the year that the school board decided to just wrap things up. Besides, with the damage to the facilities, there couldn’t have been regular classes anyway.

The schedule for summer school, held in classrooms on the undamaged side of the building, would begin soon. Cheerilee would be participating this year. Summer school was for students who, for whatever reason, needed extra instruction. That generally meant they hadn’t done their work properly during regular classes. Cheerilee did not particularly relish dealing with students like that, but it was her job.

She sat at her desk. The building was quiet. When the scene investigators finished looking over the site of the blast, noisy construction equipment would be brought in to begin repairs. Until then, the empty classroom was a good place to think.

Over the years, Cheerilee had typically been given specific orders from Princess Luna, often without knowing what parts information collection and decision making played. She was the pony at the end of the list, the one that would solve the problem. Somepony else designated the target, she was the weapon that took care of the rest.

Being given a blank slate and few restrictions to figure things out for herself was not what Cheerilee was used to, but she could manage. The thing that worried her was what she might come up with. After so long training herself to be as efficient and effective as possible, Cheerilee had managed to take the emotion out of her job. The less she thought about killing and otherwise destroying, the better.

Cheerilee had to convince herself daily that she was not a monster. She had literally taken enough pony lives to fill a small town, not to mention all the animals that had been killed to slake her constant thirst for blood. She had never killed for pleasure, however, and had never dragged out any death longer than necessary.

However, for the anti-terrorism plan to be successful there would need to be examples made. Survivors would have to be spared to tell gruesome stories. And there would have to be something terrifying to show them.

Cheerilee knew she would need to create a false ponysona specifically for this. Countess de la Cheer or any of her other pseudonyms would not do. She also knew from experience that getting in character would help her better deal with emotional backlash.

She continued to sit quietly, charting out in her mind the ways to go about the art of terror. Ponies were scared of anything they didn’t understand. Surprise could spread fear. There was also violence to plan for. There would need to be a lot of that.

To accomplish her goal, however, Cheerilee would need the whole package. It would not be just what she did but her image that would be sending a message. For that, she would need Golden’s help.

She got up, leaving the room and closing the door. The empty hallway echoed with her hooves. Cheerilee continued to think and plan as she left the school. Golden was a little more in tune with pop culture and would probably know more about what was currently considered scary.

Cheerilee snorted. We aren’t making a horror movie. Still, there were a few principles that could apply. She would also have to talk to Princess Luna. After overseeing so many Nightmare Night events, surely she would know something about the subject.

In the end, however, it all came down to Cheerilee. No matter what she looked like, she was going to have to back up her appearance with action if HOOF was to be taught a lesson. The only question was how much bloodshed it would take to get her point across.

She got in her car, a rather modest sedan purchased with what money a schoolteacher made. It wasn’t right to use government funds for an upgrade, and not prudent to dip into her numbered account held in an offshore bank.

Cheerilee made her way through town towards Golden’s apartment. She kept her eyes on the rearview mirror, always careful. This vehicle was not ideal for a car chase. The fact that she made preparations for such things spoke of her long years of learning to be prepared for anything. That, and several unplanned car chases she had been involved in.

It was still afternoon, and Golden wasn’t home. Cheerilee let herself in and settled down to wait. Over the years, she had learned to fall asleep at will, although she was unsure if that was a vampire ability or just lots of practice.

Golden came in a few hours later, waking Cheerilee. The pegasus took off a pair of somewhat unfashionable glasses and wiped a few spots of artfully-applied makeup from her face, suddenly appearing ten years younger. She wouldn’t have been hired at Rings and Rubies, a jewelry shop, looking like she belonged in high school.

Cheerilee explained some of what she was thinking. “I’ve decided on a few ways of going about looking scary. A big portion of that will involve body horror, but I think a proper outfit and accessories would help.”

“Er... body horror?” Golden’s voice quivered a bit.

Cheerilee stood up on her back legs, much like a minotaur would. She mussed her mane and let her fangs peek between her lips. Curtailing breathing and other bodily functions of a normal equine completed her fall from normality. She looked like a pony from the exterior, but only just. There was clearly something unsettling about her. Something unattractive, strange, and deadly.

Ironically, this was less of a disguise than she wore to school and was closer to the raw being that lay beneath her facade. It had been a long time since she had let anypony-even her targets-see her this way.

Golden flinched a bit, but otherwise stood her ground. She didn’t like to be reminded that the same thing lurked inside her. “If this is what you have in mind, you won’t really need much of my help, I guess- just some basic disguise points. Probably a bit of a coat dye, if you wanted to really conceal your identity, or maybe just a mane recolor if you’re in a hurry. Tinted contacts always help, too, and maybe some ‘bling’ as kids are calling it. Definitely sunglasses.”

The jeweler thought for a moment. “Actually, I have one more idea. I was browsing through a Griffon fashion magazine the other day and came across something they’re using. Leather.”

Cheerilee was familiar. Griffons, as natural meat-eaters, were much more likely to use the skin of dead animals. “How were you planning to use that?”

Golden kept her expression decidedly neutral as she replied. “How about making a whole coat out of it?”

“That’s perfect. Shame we can’t get pony hide to make it from, but I like the idea.” Cheerilee hoped Golden would take her comment as a joke.

The younger mare either did so, or just decided not to think about it. “Anything else?”

“I did have something I wanted you to do,” answered Cheerilee. “Since a lot of this work will be up close and personal and I’ll be taking bigger risks than usual, some armor might be a good idea.”

Golden frowned. “Wouldn’t that detract from the image you were trying to create?”

“It would be concealed,” said Cheerilee.

“How?”

“Under my skin.”

The younger mare’s eyebrows shot up. “Under your skin? You do understand what that would entail, right?”

Cheerilee shrugged. “I just hope you’re as good at surgery as you are at jewelry.”

When Cheerilee mentioned getting some armor, I had no idea she was going to take it so far. I mean, she literally had to be skinned alive if she wanted those plates to be buried inside her body. And then, of course, she wanted me to do the honors. I mean, I can do surgery... sort of. I’m no doctor, but I’ve had enough experience with this kind of stuff that I thought I could pull it off.

The only problem is, I didn’t know if I wanted to do it. I knew Cheerilee would be conscious through the whole thing, since you can’t really sedate a vampire, so I was understandably a little reluctant to go through with the procedure. I could only imagine how painful it would be.

And then, after I asked her if she was absolutely sure about this, she didn’t even bat an eye in saying yes. I’d never seen Cheerilee so driven; she was loath to betray any shreds of emotions she felt, unless it was part of her getting in character. I was a little concerned about her- I wondered if that attack on the school was affecting her more than she let on.

Well, I couldn’t refuse her, so I agreed to fit her with armored plates under her skin. It didn’t take me too long to get the materials together; I just had to make a little trip to the local hardware store. After that, it was a simple matter to get the metal into the appropriate shapes- I just took Cheerilee’s measurements and bent the plates accordingly. Vampire strength does have its uses.

It was only mid evening by the time I had scrounged all of this together. I had a tarp spread out on the floor of my apartment to catch any stray effects of the procedure. The armor sat waiting in almost geometric patterns around the operating area, sheets of metal of various sizes and shapes interspersed like puzzle pieces. Now, I would just have to put it all together- inside Cheerilee.

I turned to face my teacher as I prepared.

“Cheerilee,” I said. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say exactly, but a part of me still wanted to put this off as long as I could. I couldn’t keep the anxiety out of my voice. “This is happening awfully quickly, are you sure you don’t want to sleep on it for a night?”

My teacher looked me square in the eyes, showing me a mix of impatience and a quick flash of some other, more heated emotion I couldn’t make out.

“No, Golden, I’m certain that I want to do this. Please, don’t worry yourself about it- I’m a grown mare, I can make my own decisions. Just don’t let your emotions get the better of you now, alright? I need you to be at the top of your game for this.”

I didn’t mention the irony of her admonition- it wouldn’t do any good, anyway. I gave my teacher a grim nod and set to work. First, she had to stop her heart from beating; less blood would get all over the place if it wasn’t pumping through her veins at high speed. Then I had her lay down on her back so that she wouldn’t have to worry about supporting herself during such a painful operation.

It was time for me to begin the surgery, I couldn’t put it off any longer.

“Just keep your muscles relaxed,” I said. “It’s easier and quicker if you aren’t a tense, quivering pile of ponyflesh.” I tried to make a joke, but neither of us laughed.

I changed subjects. “So have you come up with a name to go with this personality?”

She shrugged. “I’ll think of something.”

“Hmm, how about Smiley? It could work. A nice ironic name for a terrorist-terrorizer.”

I finally got her to smile. It almost killed me to take it off her face as I sank my teeth into her chest to begin the procedure. After all, vampire teeth are made for cutting into flesh, and I didn’t trust my hooves to hold a scalpel. Blades were really more of Cheerilee’s thing anyway.

The first plates I had to insert were the hardest and most gruesome; the two-piece set that would encompass Cheerilee’s heart, shielding it from just about anything that might damage it. I carefully-or as carefully as I could-tore away a large flap of skin from her side, below the shoulder. A slight shudder threatened to pass through my body at the taste of blood, and I felt the primal need for more of it. I relentlessly pushed the urge to the back of my mind. I knew I had to stay focused.

I quickly sliced through the muscles that were now exposed to the air. It was a testament to my teacher’s skill and fortitude that she kept perfectly still and silent as I did so. The muscles peeled away without issue and only a few stray drops of blood leaked out onto the tarp.

Beneath that lay Cheerilee’s ribs. In order to get past them, I wrapped my mouth around one and crunched it with a sharp burst of force. I did the same for two more adjacent to it, finally giving me access to her innermost organs. I brushed aside her lungs with my snout, smearing my nose with streaks of blood. Her heart lay just past them, unmoving and slightly cold.

The sudden desire to see what it tasted like flickered in my thoughts. That was enough to make me quickly withdraw my head from Cheerilee’s chest cavity; I didn’t want her worried that I might go berserk on her. I was worried enough for both of us.

The two heart-shaped armor plates fit snugly against the glistening cardiac muscle inside Cheerilee’s ribcage. I made sure to insert them quickly to keep my monstrous temptation in check. After that, I let her natural regeneration begin to seal up the wound while I fetched the next armor plate. As soon as I picked it up with my mouth, a few drops of blood dripped from my snout onto it, leaving an appealing red streak running down its length.

This was the first part of her chest armor, the breastplate. I went back to the c-shaped incision I’d made earlier in my teacher’s skin and ripped it wider to fit the larger plate of metal. In order to make sure that Cheerilee was still flexible, as well as to ease the insertion of the armor, we’d decided to keep the plates a bit smaller and have them interlock, like dragon scales. I carefully placed it on the exposed flesh and muscle, and wove a small strand of anchoring wire through her ribs to keep it in place.

The next piece I inserted in much the same fashion and reached for another. The surgery became something of a ghastly monotony as I tried not to focus on the blood dripping profusely from my muzzle and into my mouth. The taste of Cheerilee’s flesh as I chewed through it was heavy on my tongue, driving me half-mad with the desire to feed. Despite that, I kept my thoughts on the rote motions of the procedure.

At last, I placed the final piece of abdominal armor on Cheerilee’s insides and let the skin heal over it. A feeling of dread settled in the pit of my stomach as the next phase of the operation came to my mind. I glanced hesitantly at my teacher’s head. Unbidden, thoughts flew into my mind of what it would feel like to peel away the skin from her face and skull to install more armor. Horrified, I tried to quash them, but after such a lengthy exposure to blood and flesh and temptation, I couldn’t completely erase them.

“That’s good enough for now,” said Cheerilee.

Oh thank Celestia, I thought to myself. I sank back onto my haunches, taking a few deep breaths. Odd, since I didn’t need to breathe, but I suppose it was the comforting aspect that led me to do so.

“It’s your apartment, you get the first shower,” said Cheerilee. She was all business, as usual. I just nodded gratefully, glad to finally get away from her bloody hide and tantalizing flesh. I couldn’t get away from the scene quickly enough, making sure to hover well above the floor to keep from leaving bloody hoof prints.

In the shower, I hastily turned on the water and thrust my head under the spray. The cold was a welcome change from the lukewarm feel of vampire flesh, and I scrubbed my face and mouth vigorously with my hooves, letting the water wash away the blood staining my body.

After a few moments, I became aware of the fact that Cheerilee’s wasn’t the only blood running down my face. My eyes slowly leaked crimson tears that were spread everywhere by the water.

I haven’t changed at all, I thought. All these years, and I’m still an animal barely holding things together. I clenched my teeth and scrunched my eyes in frustration and bitterness. I can’t trust myself. Just one little taste of pony blood and I’m back to that... I paused, trembling with fear and loathing. I’m back to being that pony-killing monster in the woods.

Flashes of memory played in my mind- a squealing mare convulsing in the grip of my fangs, sweet, delicious blood oozing into my mouth. She was not the first nor the last life I had taken. For something like a decade I lived like a wild creature. I lost anything and everything that made me a pony; my friends, my life, my mind. And then came a mare who helped me. She taught me how to function again. And that was why I owed Cheerilee so much. That was why I had agreed to do anything she asked of me. Even if I didn’t necessarily trust myself to do it.

“Cheerilee...” I whispered, barely audible even to myself. “I- I hope you’re happy with this. I really do. But, please- I can’t be invincible like you can. I don’t know what I’m doing. I can’t- I can’t keep this monster buried inside like you do.”

I sobbed for a good few minutes, keeping as quiet as possible. The running shower helped mask the sound from Cheerilee’s hearing. I just let the water run over my face and the tears flow from my eyes.

I couldn’t spend forever in there, however. After a few last sniffles, I dried off and took a moment to make sure I had gotten the blood off my feathers. Going back into the main room, I found that Cheerilee had mostly cleaned herself with her tongue. She helped me roll up the tarp and went to have her own shower. Despite the residual blood on her coat, she’d slipped back into her cheerful schoolteacher attitude. Even with nearly twenty pounds of newly embedded steel in her body, she had already figured out how to move and act as if it weren’t there.

I finished cleaning up our supplies, storing them in my closet for possible use later. I sincerely hoped it wouldn’t come to that, in any case. I cast a last glance around my apartment to make sure everything was in place. Satisfied, I collapsed onto the sofa to rest. This had just been one of those days, you know?

3: First Contact

The guard glanced through the car window, recognizing the mare inside. “Good evening, Countess.”

The well-dressed pony nodded. “Sorry to visit so late, but I wanted to catch Princess Luna in a good mood.”

The guard chuckled politely, although he would never dream of making such a joke. The visitor was clearly somepony important, even though he didn’t really know much about her. She visited often, and seemed to be very close to the Princesses, especially Luna.

Procedures still had to be followed, no matter who it was. He checked her ID thoroughly before waving Countess de la Cheer through the gate.

The security ponies inside the castle were not as lenient. Cheerilee had just begun to think of some ways to convince the guards that she wouldn’t need to be sent through the metal detectors when Princess Luna appeared and escorted her guest away from the scanning area.

Out of earshot, Luna murmured, “I was surprised when I heard what you had done.”

“I’m just doing what you asked, Princess,” said Cheerilee. “That is, everything I can to inspire fear.”

Luna was a little put off but the schoolteacher’s bluntness. Still, if it was merely concerning to the Princess who was well aware of the situation then it would be terrifying to anypony who had never met Cheerilee before. Even so, this course of action, any course of action, was better than doing nothing.

“I have a target,” said the Princess. The other mare’s ears perked up. The two of them entered Luna’s office. The decor was familiar to Cheerilee; she had been there often enough. Despite matching Luna’s coloration and general nighttime atmosphere, it was not unattractive. Of course, enhanced vision in the darkness might make Cheerilee’s impression a little different.

The Princess spread out a few photographs on her desk. They depicted a house in western Canterlot. Cheerilee memorized the address. The place looked rather unassuming, not like it was involved with HOOF. That was the biggest problem with ferreting out the terrorists-they could be anyone.

“This is one of their staging sites, where supplies and personnel pass through to other places,” explained Luna. “It’s a relatively minor location to them, but a fine place to start.”

Cheerilee nodded. “What can I expect inside?”

“There will probably be a few recently arrived zebra and buffalo with some ponies mixed in,” explained Luna. “Bomb making supplies are almost a certainty, and there may be other weapons as well.”

“Guards?” asked Cheerilee.

“They will probably have a watch, but so far HOOF has not been seriously threatened and they might not be prepared for attack. I stress might.”

Cheerilee nodded. “All right, Princess. I can take care of it tonight.”

Luna studied her for a moment. “Cheerilee, I understand that an attack on your school is very personal to you.”

The lavender mare ducked her head. “Yes, Princess. I...I’ve been trying not to think about it.”

“I understand how difficult it can be,” acknowledged Luna. “It can be hard to care about something when you know you’ll outlive it.”

Such was the plight of the immortal. Cheerilee sighed. “I try not to get attached to things, Princess.”

“‘Better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.’ Sometimes the old idioms are true, Cheerilee. I just don’t like to see you missing out on anything.”

“You don’t want me to miss out on the deaths of all those ponies?” demanded Cheerilee, in a tone of voice she very rarely used with the Princess.

“That isn’t what I meant and you know it,” admonished Luna. “It’s just that you’ve gotten so good at wearing a mask that sometimes I wonder if there is a pony left underneath.”

Cheerilee dropped her gaze, regretting what she had said. Luna reached across the desk, touching her hoof. “Cheerilee, I know that nothing will bring back those who were killed. Taking revenge on those responsible is a petty form of justice, but it is satisfying. I remember that from when Nightmare Moon was a part of me. If you still want to do this, if you think it’s necessary, then I will support you.”

Seconds passed before Cheerilee nodded. “I agree that running our own terror campaign is an imperfect solution, but I do think that it will be effective.”

“I know what you’re capable of, and I trust you to do what is needed,” said Luna. She didn’t say it but was sure Cheerilee had caught the implied “only what is needed.”

The Princess stood. “If you’re going to the target tonight, I have something to show you.”

The two of them exited the room and went towards the dungeons. There hadn’t been prisoners held there for millennia, but the stone chambers remained as a grim reminder of what had once been. Luna unlocked a door and led Cheerilee into a small room, lighting a torch with a small spark of magic.

Various weapons were mounted on the walls or in cases in the center of the floor. All of them were ancient, with no firearms or space-age materials to be found. Luna indicated a gleaming sword that rested in its own display. It appeared to be well taken care of, despite its age. Beside it was a sheath that appeared to be a patchwork of different materials. Looking closer, Cheerilee spotted thick buffalo hide and striped zebra pelt. The fringe held dragon scales, griffon talons, and pegasus feathers.

The sword itself was highly polished and bore no battle scars or traces of rust. It was a rather thin blade, appearing almost fragile. Cheerilee realized the grip was made of unicorn horn.

“This belonged to a stallion named Crucible,” said Luna, her tone low. “Back before Equestria became civilized, he was a warrior under Princess Platinum. All ponies back then were unkind to other species and races, but the unicorn tribe was worse than most. With this sword, he ended many, many lives, even some unicorns. It was forged with enchantments to be sharp, strong, and resistant to magic other than Crucible’s.”

Luna’s horn glowed and the sword rose a few inches from where it lay. It looked like the Princess was exerting herself to even manage that. She nodded to Cheerilee and the schoolteacher moved forward to take the weapon.

For a sword, it was very light. She turned it over in her hooves, inspecting the blade. Now that she knew its history, the shine of the metal seemed almost sinister.

“It’s an evil weapon,” said Luna, “but I hope it can be of use to you. Even if killing members of HOOF is somewhat justified, I would prefer it to be the fault of the weapon, rather than the wielder.”

Cheerilee blinked. “I suppose such a blade would be a powerful influence, difficult to resist if it happened to come to blows. It would be entirely understandable if one in such a situation were to, say... go a little too far. Thank you, Princess.”

She picked up the sheath and slid the sword into it. The macabre decorations of hide and other totems were surprisingly fitting for the task that lay ahead of her. Strapped to her back, the sword managed to fit under her dress.

Luna escorted her back through security. The Princess looked rather stoic, and Cheerilee was sure her own face held the same expression. Death was about to come to some unsuspecting terrorists; but even despite who they were, any killing was unpleasantly serious business.

Cheerilee left the castle, slowly beginning to get into character. At her home, she replaced her fancy attire with an old jacket long enough to cover her cutie mark. After taking a moment to utterly ruin her styled mane, she studied the effect in the mirror. The look she was shooting for was not the deadly, sexy monster that resembled a pony, which was sometimes portrayed in the movies. That could be scary, but didn’t have the same potential. Instead, she was throwing away anything attractive about her appearance. If she resembled a thing rather than a mare, so much the better. Cheerilee was counting on fear of the unknown, and she was sure that HOOF had never seen anything like her before. She wished for some dye to change her coat and mane to less pleasant colors than lavender and pink, but remembered that summer school would start soon and she still had to be able to look like Cheerilee the schoolteacher.

The meeting with Luna had taken place well after sunset. It was into the wee hours of the morning when Cheerilee set out. Darting from building to building, usually over the rooftops, she made her way in the direction of her target. She had a rough plan of how the encounter would go, but most of it would be improvised when she arrived.

Her strategic plan was to start small and work up to bigger, more impressive attacks. A perception of increasing hostility might give the terrorists something to think about and fear further escalation.

The house was situated just as she had seen in the photos. There were occupied residences on either side. Cheerilee vowed to keep things as quiet as possible.

With a quick trip around the yard, she determined there were two creatures still awake near a dim light in the kitchen. Several others were sleeping peacefully. Well, time to end that.

Slipping on a pair of sunglasses, Cheerilee strode up to the front door and knocked. There were a few seconds of surprised silence before heavy hooves sounded from the kitchen. Probably a buffalo, Cheerilee thought.

The bull stopped in front of the door. “Who is it?”

“Just who do you think would walk up to a house full of HOOF members and knock on the door?” answered Cheerilee.

“What’s the password?”

“I don’t have one.”

The voice paused for a moment. “If you were supposed to be here, you would know it.”

“I’m not supposed to be here. Were you expecting somepony? No you weren’t, because this is an unscheduled visit. Open the door.”

Cheerilee was unsure if she had convinced the buffalo or merely antagonized him enough to give her a piece of his mind. He unlocked the door to face her, but before he could swing it open, Cheerilee stabbed the sword through the mail slot. She worked it in a quick circle and withdrew, finding fresh blood on the blade.

She pushed the door open, spotting the surprised buffalo on the floor with his abdomen sliced open and intestines poking out. He opened his mouth but Cheerilee dropped the point of the sword through his eye socket and straight through to the brain. He stopped moving.

The mare stepped forward. An earth pony exited the kitchen, coming to check the relatively quiet commotion that had just occurred. Cheerilee swung the sword in a quick slash, lopping the stallion’s head off in one go. The loudest part of the whole episode was when his severed skull hit the floor.

Cheerilee just barely suppressed a whistle of astonishment. The blade was really sharp.

Finding the stairs, she climbed them. Treading carefully, Cheerilee made a sweep through the upper floors as the occupants continued to doze. There were three zebras, one buffalo, and two ponies. After taking an inventory of them all, she began cutting throats.

It was almost too easy. Flip the target over and press them to their pillow to suppress noise and blood splatter, then one careful slice. Cheerilee killed them all save for one, a zebra stallion who looked just barely out of his teens. She hadn’t picked him to save because he was young, the order had just worked out that way. That gave Cheerilee a moment of pause, but she forced herself to disregard it.

Stuffing a hoof in the zebra’s mouth, Cheerilee gave him a rude awakening. She leaned towards the bed, menacing his neck with the crimson blade. “Listen to me very carefully. All your friends are dead. I murdered them in their sleep.”

She ground her hoof against his teeth. The stallion’s eyes began to water in pain. Getting close to his ear, Cheerilee whispered, “I want to show you what I did.”

The zebra squirmed as she used his coat to wipe the blood off the sword. After sheathing it, Cheerilee dragged him down the hall as if he were a ragdoll, his struggling ineffective against her strength. They toured the other bedrooms, Cheerilee forcing the stallion to look upon her work.

The mare dragged the unwilling zebra down the stairs, his body thumping on each step. She picked up the telephone with the hoof that wasn’t between his teeth and dialed the emergency number.

“Hello, Canterlot police,” said a faint voice from the receiver.

Cheerilee stomped on one of the zebra’s legs and let go of his mouth. His shriek of agony was surely heard by the police operator. She put the phone down and broke the stallion’s other legs, with three sickening cracks.

“My work here is done,” she said in his ear, too quietly for the phone to pick up.

“Wh-what do you want?” stuttered the suffering zebra.

“I want HOOF to disband, that’s all,” said Cheerilee. “No more attacking innocent ponies.”

She turned to go. The stallion managed to croak, “Who are you?”

Cheerilee thought for a moment. “Call me Smiley.”

I had just woken in the early morning from my rest when I received a call on my enchanted mirror. I hastened over to its resting spot on one of my side tables and picked it up. The familiar face of Princess Luna appeared in the glass.

“Princess?” I said, more a question than a statement.

“Golden, Cheerilee is en route to her first target as we speak. In the meantime, I want you to find and locate the next one.” I could tell that Luna’s voice was a little terse. Hopefully nothing bad was going on with my teacher.

“What do I have to go on?”

“All we know is that several suspicious crates have been spotted entering and exiting the Blueblood district in downtown Canterlot, and most of them seem to have been ferried there by the same pony. He’s a light green unicorn with a brownish mane, of average build, estimated at somewhere between the ages of twenty two and thirty. Can you do it?”

I nodded. “Of course, Princess. How much time do I have?” It never hurt to check; nothing worse than being halfway into a mission and realizing you were supposed to be done thirty minutes ago.

“It needs to be done by the weekend; we want the news of it to be able to spread a bit before the next attack. However, we want to make sure our campaign is consistent enough in its attacks to warrant fear, so the sooner you locate it, the better.”

I spared a glance at the calendar hanging on my fridge; today was Friday. I had about two days to find a hidden HOOF base. Fun.

“It will be done by then, I assure you, Princess.”

“Excellent. Oh, one last thing, Golden- I know it goes without saying, but for these missions it is critical that the Crown have plausible deniability, seeing as HOOF’s main goal is to oust my sister and I. If ponies who want me out of office start dying, of course there will be suspicion directed my way. If you happen to be exposed, I cannot guarantee you will be getting inside help. Keep that in mind.”

“Alright,” I said. The Princess’ visage vanished from the mirror, and I set it back in its resting place.

I suppose I should’ve seen this coming, although I can’t exactly fault Luna for looking out for her own interests. She has to make sure that the Crown survives and is in excellent public opinion, as well as protect and guide her subjects. Having a secret vampire agent exposed could seriously damage her reputation, especially if that vampire was committing horrible murders and torturing ponies.

I began running through several options on how I might go about this business. Disguises always helped in recon ops; the question was what style I wanted. I could just lie low and blend in, using my vampire senses to listen in on conversations. Alternatively, I could be a little more proactive and try to attract attention in the hopes of luring out my quarry like a moth to a flame.

Considering the fact that the Blueblood district was known for being a pretty hard slum area, I’d almost definitely stick out no matter how well I disguised myself, being a stranger and all. I might as well just go as over-the-top as I could and bait out HOOF, or at least ponies that knew about them.

An out-of-towner would probably be the best cover, since they’d be the easiest prey for ponies looking to steal a few bits. Once I turned the tables on the muggers, I could hopefully get some information. HOOF had to get supplies from somepony, so if I could find that green stallion with the crates I’d hopefully find a trail leading to them.

I trotted over to my closet and opened the false back, behind which lay most of my more interesting gear- disguise kits, lockpicks, a glass cutter, and all manner of exotic semi-legal equipment. I selected some of the more eye-catching dye colors for my coat and mane, as well as a bit of clothing to wear. I even went so far as to select a fresh-cut flower to put in my mane when I went out.

Back in my living room I pulled out one of the tarps I kept so that when I dyed myself I wouldn’t have to worry about the carpet getting stained. Tarps are so useful for so many things. I always make sure I have a few around.

Once I’d finished setting up, I stopped breathing and ceased my heartbeat. It kept my hooves steadier for the course of the procedure. A dye job was not something I wanted to mess up. I settled on a nice lime green color for my coat, since that would definitely be a huge eye-grabber. For my mane, I eventually decided that I didn’t really need to change its hue after all, since gold was already a complementary color.

After a few short minutes of applying the dye to my coat, I picked out a pair of colored contacts to hide my true irises. They were a pleasing shade of magenta for contrast. A nice blue blouse covered my shoulders and an accompanying skirt completed the guise. I fluttered over to my mirror and almost didn’t recognize myself when I saw the unfamiliar beauty looking back at me. I flashed a toothy grin and laughed. Those terrorists wouldn’t know what hit them.

I cleaned up all the supplies from my disguise, making sure the secret part of my closet was secure. As I was heading out the door I instinctively reached for my scarf, which only left me a little miffed when I remembered that I hadn’t gotten it back yet. I left my apartment in a slightly less cheery mood. The trip to the Blueblood district took a decent chunk of time. It was all the way on the other side of Canterlot from where I lived, and the city itself was enormous. It didn’t help, of course, that the early morning sky was congested with pegasi and rush-hour traffic.

I arrived in the Blueblood district about half an hour later. By now, most shops had opened or were in the process of opening. Considering the area of town I was in, such a sight didn’t necessarily mean things were business as usual. As I touched down on a fairly empty street, the lack of hoof traffic was jarring compared to the bustle of the airways above. Looking around, I didn’t need to think twice as to why the streets were empty; a few unsavory types swaggered down the avenue on either side, eyeing up the others and her like potential meals.

I suppose that when you consider that they were likely thinking about robbing me, I probably was a particularly succulent morsel in their eyes. All the better for me, though. I certainly did attract an inordinate amount of attention; I could tell that every single pony in the street had looked me up and down at least once, most of them multiple times. I could practically see their mouths watering, but I wasn’t bothered too much. My bite was a lot fiercer than my bark.

One of them glanced at the others as if claiming me for his own and began to move in. I made sure to keep my gaze on the dilapidated shops around me, like the good little out-of-towner I was supposed to be. As he closed the last bit of distance, I finally allowed my gaze to settle on him, and I flashed him a nice smile, as though I had no idea what was about to go down.

“Morning, Princess,” the stallion said. His voice was a little rough, but otherwise unremarkable, with a hint of smugness beneath. I pretended to giggle a bit at his obvious flattery. “What brings you to town this fine day?” All the while, he was very casually and inconspicuously using his physical presence to slowly direct me towards a conveniently placed dark alley not far ahead.

“Oh, I’m just in town visiting some of my relatives. I was supposed to meet them somewhere around here, but I can’t seem to find my way. Could you perhaps point me in the right direction?”

I saw his neutral expression flicker to one reminiscent a spider that has caught a fly in its web. I could tell he was pleased as if I was playing right into his plan.

“You got it, Princess. Just follow me and I’ll get you a nice set of directions. Where did you say your relatives lived?” He made his presence a bit more forceful in steering me towards the alley. I kept my expression grateful and naive.

“I’m pretty sure they said it was West Canterlot,” I replied. I wanted to entice him into lowering his guard, so I let him think that my ‘relatives’ lived in the wealthy suburbs on the west side of town.

Just as I’d hoped, he bought it. We were only a few steps from the alley, and he’d almost pressed me completely against the wall as we trotted. As we stepped in front of it he very sharply veered us into its narrow confines.

“Alright, Princess, I’m afraid I can only take you this far.” From his tone of voice I could tell he was just enjoying himself now.

“Whatever do you mean?” I said. I figured it was better to keep up the charade as long as I could, just in case he had any buddies lying around who might get the word out.

The stallion just laughed.

“I’m honestly surprised you haven’t caught on already. This is probably the easiest job I’ve ever pulled.”

“Job? You mean-” I took a few steps back as though I were finally catching on, and I let my eyes widen in ‘fright’.

“You really are dense,” he said. “But don’t worry about it, Princess. As far as ponies around these parts go, I’m the one you’d want to get mugged by. All the others tend to go a little overboard, if you catch my drift.” He added a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows to make sure I understood what he was saying.

I turned around and made as though to run for it, only to bump into the unicorn stallion who had been creeping up behind me. Now all I had to do was get that pegasus who thought he was hiding so well on the roof to come down, and the gang would be all here.

“Oh yeah? Well, you’re the dense one!” I said as I lifted off the ground. “You can’t catch a pegasus in the air!”

On cue, the last of the three muggers leapt from his hiding place and dived onto me before I could get very far. I gave him what seemed like a good fight before allowing myself to be dragged back down to the ground. The other two approached with a greedy eagerness in their eyes.

“Would you look at that? We seem to have caught a pegasus in the air. Better make sure she can’t fly away again.” The second mugger, a unicorn, began yanking my feathers out. I gasped in pain, not having to fake it.

It was time to end this.

I grabbed the pegasus pinning me to the ground and rolled over, slamming him hard on the ground and reversing our positions. Continuing my momentum, I swung my hind legs into a powerful buck that sent the unicorn sprawling. I used the kick to push myself towards the first mugger who barely had time to register shock in his face before I wrapped him in a headlock, immobilizing him.

I tried to keep my voice level as I spoke, considering these mules had just yanked a few feathers.

“This conversation has become a little messy, don’t you think? Why don’t you answer a few of my questions to make up for it?” I let up on his throat so he could speak.

“What was that?” sputtered the mugger, still reeling from my sudden turnabout.

“You don’t need to know. I’m looking for a suspicious pony- a green unicorn with a brown mane who’s in his twenties. What do you know?”

“I’ve seen plenty of stallions that match that description-” I cut him off with a sharp constriction of my grip on his neck.

“That’s not what I want to hear. I want to hear you tell me about a stallion who’s been moving around illegal supplies in the area.”

“Alright, alright,” the pony choked. “He comes through here twice a week, always with his little pull-cart. When he first came into town, some ponies tried mugging him and got their plots handed to them. Nopony’s bothered him since. He always passes through the Sixth Street market when he comes by.”

“When does he bring the crates?”

“Tuesdays and Fridays, around lunchtime.”

“Thank you. That’s all I need to know.” I released him, and he stumbled a few steps away. He shot me a curious and surprised look. “I’ve got bigger things to take care of,” I said. He apparently wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and since I wasn’t arresting him or beating him up he scrambled towards his buddies and led them away.

I flew up out of the alley, slightly off balance because of the missing feathers. Stopping on a rooftop, I took a moment to regrow them. Forced molting sucks, but this cute outfit wouldn’t look good with scruffy wings.

I started searching around for Sixth Street. If my mystery stallion was going to show up around lunchtime, I would be ready for him.

4: The Dives

The Canterlot Police Department’s Whinny feed was unable to convey a lot of information with its 160-character messages, but Cheerilee was able to find reference to her activities of the previous night. She clicked the computer mouse over to a news site, searching for a more intensive article.

Multiple Murder in Western Canterlot
Police were called to a house located at 1818 Derby Street where seven bodies and one injured survivor were found. Despite the extreme violence, neighbors claim to have heard nothing. A police spokespony stated that paraphernalia related to the Hegemony of Organized Friends was found, possibly linking the crime to terrorist activity. No suspects have been identified. Further details will be reported as they are made available.

Cheerilee looked up from her school computer as a student entered the classroom. It was the first day of summer school, and-delinquents or not-she was always happy to see new students.

She rose from her seat. “Hello, I’m Ms. Cheerilee. I’ll be your teacher for the next few weeks.”

The young stallion stared at her sullenly, nodding briefly before sitting down. While he was not just a little colt, Cheerilee’s standards had changed somewhat over the years. She sometimes thought of legal adults as colts and fillies. Living so long had taught her that some of them certainly acted like it.

A few other students began to arrive. None appeared pleased to be there. Many did not fit the physical description of an average student. Some of them wore clothing that pushed the boundaries of the dress code or were decorated with gang symbols. Many were rather unkempt with manes in need of cutting or washing. One young mare was obviously pregnant.

Cheerilee stepped to the front of the room. She’d been pulled to instruct the high school division of summer school. It was a task she could handle, but it wouldn’t be nearly as easy as teaching younger students. “Good morning class. I’m sorry that Mrs. Answer could not be here. As you may have heard, she passed away in the attack. We can’t replace her, but I will be trying my best and I hope you all will as well. Over the next few weeks, we’ll get you caught up on the subjects you need help with.”

One of the students shifted slightly and his eyes gleamed with mischief. Just as his mouth opened Cheerilee said, “Yes Sand? Did you have something to say?”

His timing broken, the colt fumbled his words and muttered, “Maybe there’s something I can help you with.” It didn’t carry the lewd connotations that he’d originally intended.

Going on as if she hadn’t planned it that way, Cheerilee said, “Absolutely! If you’d like to stay late this afternoon and clean the erasers, that would be lovely.”

A subtle mood shift passed through the atmosphere of the room. It was cautious and somewhat wary. This teacher was not going to be an easy target. Cheerilee continued smiling. She enjoyed teaching, even when the lesson involved respect and proper behavior. The colt named Sand would probably not try anything for a while. Who’s next?

Cheerilee got her answer when heading back to her desk to retrieve the stack of papers for the first assignment. A colt named River left one leg slightly sticking out in the aisle between desks. It was not an obvious ploy, but he clearly hoped she would trip. Cheerilee adjusted her step subtly, knocking hooves with him but not losing her balance. “Oh, I’m sorry River. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to kick you like that.”

It was not enough to actually hurt him, and the student quickly nodded that he was unhurt. A slight tint of pink came to his cheeks at being talked to like a foal.

Cheerilee passed out the assignment and stood back to watch the students work. A mare named Diskette barely fit in her desk. She was still basically a filly, pregnant with one of her own. A lot had changed since Cheerilee had been around. While it was still frowned upon for a student to get pregnant, it was not as unheard of as when she first began teaching. It was a shame, too. Diskette showed real promise with computers and could probably get some sort of high-tech job if she wasn’t busy figuring out her life with a too-soon foal.

It was not Cheerilee’s place to lecture on that sort of thing, however. And anyway, she avoided discussions about things she couldn’t experience, like real food, a good suntan, and motherhood.

She maintained her facade through long practice and carried on with the rest of the school day. Cheerilee was vaguely aware that it was somewhat like cruise control that the newer cars had. She sat back and let her exterior teach the class while her mind was withdrawn. Princess Luna’s comment about becoming attached to things came back to her.

Cheerilee did not want to be an empty shell. Luna had foreseen that happening if she kept distancing herself from other ponies. She could interact with them. She could smile and be social, but she never really connected. The schoolteacher went home that afternoon feeling rather depressed.

There was a scent in the air when Cheerilee opened her apartment door. She traced it to a long coat that had been folded neatly and left for her to find. It was made of thick black leather.

She tried it on. The feel of tanned hide against her coat would have given her goosebumps if vampires could involuntarily get those. There was a note from Golden along with the coat. Cheerilee picked it up and scanned it. It was all she needed to go after the next target.

Cheerilee reared up and turned to face the mirror. She blinked a few times and her green eyes slowly lost their cheerful liveliness. They looked like those of a cold, dead thing. Her posture was almost vertical, a normally painful and strenuous thing for a pony to accomplish. She looked to the closet where Crucible's sword had been hidden and walked over to get it.

Her hips and back legs moved in an unavoidable sway, accommodating for her unnatural body position. She appeared like a shambling, uncoordinated creature; something unwell and diseased.

Cheerilee strapped the sword to her back and turned to look in the mirror again. For a moment the image reflecting back terrified even her. At least she finally felt something.

It took me a bit longer than I’d expected to find the Sixth Street Market; in all fairness, though, it’s because the blasted thing is underground. In this case, underground in both senses of the word. The market was a haven for illegal contraband and criminals, hidden in an abandoned subway tunnel beneath Fifth Street. I asked a few ponies why it was called the Sixth Street Market if it was technically on Fifth Street, but all I got were funny looks. Oh well.

For this phase of the operation, I decided to shed my innocent tourist disguise in favor of a more native look, since I’d be hard pressed to look convincingly innocent in such a hive of villainy and scum. I restyled my mane to be wilder and let it fall down one side of my face, a style that had become popular recently, particularly for mares that wanted to look like punks.

Another downside to going down there was that I’d lose my aerial advantage; being underground restricted my capability to outmaneuver targets from above. Just another reason that I wanted to attract as little attention as possible.

I sighed at the prospect of actually going into the thieves’ den. Still, work was work, and if I wanted to stop HOOF I needed to figure out where they were hiding. Quelling my hesitation, I slipped out of the dark alleys I’d used for cover and swaggered my way down the double-wide stairs leading into the subways.

Goodness gracious, the place smelled awful! It was like walking into a sewer, and believe me, I’ve walked into sewers before. The initial room was fortunately empty save for the ugly, permeating stench of unwashed pony, trampled trash littering the ground like a second floor. Towards the back was the doorway leading further into the complex, and through it I could see only a short distance into the gloom, even with my superior senses. What a disgusting dive. Worse, it was spread out in a continuous parade of filth. I didn’t want to think that anypony might live here.

I continued deeper into the subway station until I came to the tracks themselves. I let my nose guide me from there, going wherever the odor of dirty ponies was strongest. Not long after that I found my goal; several sparks of light in the darkness, and the sound of voices echoing through the tunnels. I made certain that my coat and mane were sufficiently ruffled as to be inconspicuous and turned on my swag.

When I want to, I can be very overbearing. Most every time you meet me, I will be calm and reserved, because I don’t want to lose control. Not again. Not like the forest. There are times, though, when the situation calls for me to let out my more aggressive side, and this was most definitely one of those times. I just needed to keep myself mostly in check.

As I finally closed the last bit of distance to the Market, I was honestly surprised at what I saw. The place looked like a small town, with shanties and booths set up all through the tunnels. The subway line itself was in the shape of a crossroads, with several tracks crisscrossing in close proximity. The similarity to the city above it was uncanny.

I was snapped from my moment of surprise by a loud catcall from one of the stallions who had noticed me. Now that I was not surprised by in the slightest; I like to think I have that effect on stallions. Unfortunately, though, it only served to alert all the other unwashed criminals- 99% of which were male- that there was an attractive female in their midst.

In hindsight, I should have beefed up my disguise- in the sense that a stallion might have thought me a cow. That would have been a nice turn-off for them so that I wouldn’t get swamped with questions of how much my rate was. They couldn’t afford me, anyway.

I had to reign myself in when those jerks started calling out prices. Part of me wanted to defend my honor and beat them until they saw reason. The other part of me was terrified of what the first part wanted to do. I had to focus in order to maintain a healthy balance between the two, and thus preserve my air of swag. Showing the wrong emotion here was likely a bad idea.

I pretended not to be interested in them, which only served to get a few of the more energetic stallions even more excited. One greasy sod went so far as to shove a bag of bits in my face with a lecherous grin. I reached up to bitch slap him across the room, only barely holding back enough to simply push him away.

Yeah, this wasn’t working. My internal clock told me that I only had about fifteen minutes left before my mystery stallion was supposed to show up in the cramped little shanty town. I couldn’t wait.

I continued my steady pace through the market, taking in as much of the repulsive scenery as I could. Having plenty of knowledge about your area of operation was important.

Interestingly enough, I spotted a pony in the back who was selling leather. Disturbing, but interesting. And convenient, considering Cheerilee was looking for a coat made of the stuff. I trotted towards the vendor, the whistles and catcalls fading away as the stallions saw where I was headed.

I soon realized why- the stall where the leather was located sat on the far edge of the Market, and sitting behind the cobbled-together counter sat a gray-coated pony; she immediately struck me as the type that would brook no insult. The mare sat leaning back against a faded cushion, a wide-brimmed hat pulled low over her face. She didn’t even look up as I stopped in front of her wares.

“I’m looking to buy,” I said. No point in beating around the bush.

“What’s a nice mare like you doing down here?” she said, ignoring my brusqueness.

“Whatever the hell I want.”

“I once thought like you do. I regret every minute of it. But now, now it’s too late for a mare like me to get out of what I got into. Don’t make the mistakes I did.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that. Could she see past my disguise? She certainly seemed like she was capable of it, her tired voice like that of a sequestered sage.

“Er, thanks, I guess?”

“Thanks for what? Now, what were you looking to buy?”

She was starting to get under my skin with how she kept playing the snippy wise-mare. Then again, I probably deserved it, considering my own attitude.

“I need some of your finest leather, enough to make a coat a little larger than my size. How much?”

“Two hundred bits.”

I balked at the cost. That was some serious money for a do-it-yourself coat. Fortunately, all that money I saved from not having to eat came in handy, and I reluctantly forked over the bits. The gray mare smirked and I saw a glow from beneath her hat as several pieces of leather floated out of various places and into a neat pile before me.

“Take care, sugar,” she said. I just nodded, wanting to slip away from her and find my lead.

As I turned to leave, I nearly bumped into a stallion that was approaching the leather stand. I paused for a split second, genuinely surprised; I hadn’t heard him coming at all! In the moment I hesitated, the first thing I noticed about him was his comparatively clean, nice green coat, which stuck out like a sore hoof against the grimy backdrop of the Sixth Street Market. I surmised that this must be the stallion I was looking for.

“Watch where you’re going next time,” I said, sticking to the character I’d created. Without waiting for a reply, I continued on past him, back towards the entrance. I heard him mutter something about lowlifes and then he stopped in front of the gray mare’s shack.

I slowed my pace to a crawl, pretending to be looking around for more items to buy. The stallions acted much more tame around me now, probably because they’d seen how much money I just hoofed out for some leather. The ones that were selling something actually treated me with a modicum of respect, although I still attracted a fair number of amorous looks.

Of course, my window shopping was all just pretend so that I could focus on listening to what my target was saying behind me.

“You have the gear?” I heard my mystery stallion say. There was a faint shuffling, like that of a package being exchanged. No doubt it was another of the crates; the leather-selling mare was probably a front for their smuggling operation.

My eyes widened as I remembered what she’d said to me about getting away from her mistakes. If she was part of HOOF and regretted it, that was a potential gold mine of information. I would have to speak with her again after I followed the stallion to their base.

I was starting to get out of earshot by the time I heard him start heading towards the exit. Truth be told, I actually couldn’t hear his hoofsteps, or his heartbeat or anything at all- he was totally silent. That was why I’d almost bumped into him earlier; the only way I could keep track of his location was by paying attention to the changes in conversation and sound that went on around him.

I detoured into one of the lowlifes’ shanties as though I were interested in buying, but only long enough to let the mystery stallion pass by me with a new-looking wooden crate in his telekinetic grasp. I slipped after him, being careful to keep plenty of distance between us since I was a little wary of his powers of silence. There was a distinct possibility that he could be a vampire as well, and I didn’t want to risk the mission unnecessarily.

The idea that he might be a vampire unsettled me a bit. I hadn’t dealt with hostile vampires for a while, about a decade if my memory served me correctly. It made him more of a wildcard, something I couldn’t necessarily predict. Still, I had learned a lot vampires (I have absolutely no idea how that could have happened), and I thought I would have noticed some other signs of vampirism. There weren’t any, to my knowledge.

I had to go with the assumption that he was capable of more than he let on, just to be safe. As we wound our way back through the twisting network of subway tunnels, I hovered above the ground to avoid the sound of my hooves against the floor. It was fortunate that I did; several times he stopped and looked around suspiciously, checking for followers. If nothing else, I had to credit him for his vigilance.

As we finally got back to the subway station and then the world above, I let out a relieved sigh at the freshness of the surface air compared to the rancid odor of the Market. From there it was a simple matter to lift off into the sky and keep an eagle’s eye view on the stallion. I licked my lips as I intently watched him, feeling the tips of my fangs. Perhaps a bat's eye view was more appropriate.

He kept going as though he were paranoid of being followed, taking circuitous detours and slipping down alleys, fortunately oblivious to my watchful gaze from on high. It wasn’t too much longer until he stopped in one of the alleys and knocked on a door to one of the buildings. A quick scan revealed it to be an old bakery, still in business but by the looks of it only by a slim margin.

That was all I needed, and I turned to head home. The leather coat would be a simple matter to stitch together, what with all the sewing practice I’d had in my various accessory-related jobs. I’m a craftspony at heart, so a coat made of leather would be simple, if a bit macabre.

How Cheerilee used it was up to her.

5: Catching On

The sad-looking bakery was right where Golden indicated it would be. Cheerilee stood outside for a moment to prepare. She wasn’t sure who might be within and would have to play this by ear. It was unfortunate, because better preparation would have allowed tailoring of her reaction to best suit the situation.

However, it couldn’t be helped and she would just have to trust herself to do the most effective thing. Golden’s warning about the mysteriously quiet unicorn was somewhat disturbing. Cheerilee’s assistant had doubted he was another vampire, however, and for good reason. While a vampire might be more in-tune with their body and thus able to step more lightly, their hoofsteps would never be as soft as snowfall. More likely, the unicorn was simply using a sound-deadening spell. A pony who could pull off that kind of magic-or the kind of pony that needed to-was certainly more dangerous than a regular terrorist.

Well, time to find out what she was dealing with. Cheerilee opened the door. The front room was empty, and looked as grimy as the exterior of the building. A faint smell of bread hung in the air, overlaid with that of decay. Cheerilee quietly crossed the customer floor, heading behind the counter to the spacious kitchen.

Cheerilee swept her eyes around as she stepped into the room, noting two zebra, two unicorns, a buffalo, and a pegasus. Surprised by an odd-looking mare in their midst, Cheerilee had a moment before they reacted.

The kitchen had no back door and the windows were covered with bars. The only way out of the room was through the door Cheerilee had just entered. The mare herself was an attention-grabbing figure; she stood tall on just two legs, her body draped in a coat made of processed animal skin. Her face was impassive and difficult to evaluate behind the dark glasses that hid her eyes. A gleaming sword was held in its scabbard on her back.

She glanced around. “Who are the zealots? Who here would die for the HOOF cause?”

One of the unicorns looked around at his fellows and then back at Cheerilee, still off balance and not sure what to make of her. “We all would. We’re fighting for freedom.”

“Freedom from what? A pair of benevolent and loving Princesses?” Cheerilee shrugged. “Well, I suppose that makes my job easier. I’ll just kill you all.”

“Just who the buck do you think you are?” demanded the buffalo.

“Call me Smiley.”

There was a moment of silence. The pegasus said, “Wasn’t that the name-”

The buffalo charged. Cheerilee had been watching him and the moment his heart-rate jumped up from a shot of adrenalin, she knew he would be first to move. She gracefully drew her sword and ducked low, slicing through all four of the bull’s legs in one swing. Bone and muscle separated cleanly, drops of blood spraying in a fine mist from the blade. He hit the floor bellowing in pain and quite unable to move. Cheerilee glanced at him, deciding that he had less than a minute before bleeding to death. She turned back to the room.

The others wore shocked expressions, as would anyone who had just witnessed a surprise quadruple amputation. There was something else, however; they had heard of her. At least a few of them knew about Cheerilee’s previous attack. Smiley’s reputation was growing.

“Let me ask again,” said the lavender mare. “Who wishes to die for the cause?”

The two unicorns glanced at each other and turned back to Cheerilee. Both of them launched a bolt of magic at her. It was a spell the vampire had seen before. Cheerilee knew more than a little about magic despite being an earth pony- she had had plenty of it used on her.

She swept the blade in a downward arc, intercepting the spells and deflecting them away from her. Each burst of magic left a blackened mark on the floor. Better than on her hide.

The two ponies who had attacked stared dumbfounded. Cheerilee hid her smile. The sword had been forged to be resistant to magic, so much so that directed spells simply bounced off.

Undeterred, the pair of unicorns fired a flurry of spells in her direction. Cheerilee whipped the sword back and forth, countering each jet of energy that came her way. She got one lined up perfectly and swatted it back towards the caster, hitting him directly in the head as he was charging another spell. With the feedback from the spells interfering with his magic, the unicorn screamed and dropped to the floor, the two spells combining to set his face on fire.

The second unicorn made the mistake of taking his eyes off Cheerilee to look at the flames and she crossed the floor in an instant, running him through with the sword. A zebra tried to get around her and go for the door, but she swung her weapon, pony and all, and cut down the escapee.

Cheerilee pulled her sword from the two bodies speared on it and wiped off the blade. The burning pony was rolling on the floor but the magical flames were not going out. The remaining zebra stood rather defiantly, staring at her. “I am not afraid of you. I am not afraid to die. What is your quarrel with HOOF?”

Cheerilee stared at him for a moment, considering her answer. “I’ve seen a lot of pages of history in the making, and your so-called organization is nothing but spilled ink, a stain on Equestria. HOOF attacks civilians that have no quarrel with you. You attack those who cannot fight back. It’s disgraceful. You aren’t freedom fighters. You’re a disease, and I’m the cure.”

“Some kind of crusader, then?” The zebra snorted. “Look at this bloodshed. You are unable to say that you are better than us.”

“The bitter medicine is most effective.” Cheerilee began to slowly advance on him. “You’re right, though- I’m not a good pony. In fact, I’m the worst there is. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve killed. I have no friends and no family to impose morals on me. The only things I think about are death and destruction.”

She was nearly face to face with the stallion, yet his eyes still held defiance. Cheerilee stared him down. “Equestria can only have one terror in the night. That terror is me, and you’re just getting in the way. You say you aren’t afraid of me. That’s fine. You’re still going to die.”

She whipped the sword through the air horizontally, the blade audibly slicing wind. The zebra flinched, and then blinked in surprise. The skin of his chest was cut, so shallowly and so quickly that he didn’t immediately feel it. He looked up just as Cheerilee plunged her hoof into the wound, driving through and into the underlying muscle. Ribs shattered from the force of her strike and the zebra wheezed in panic as his breath was forcibly driven from him.

“The skin is always the hard part to get through, so I like to make a clean slice,” mused Cheerilee as her foreleg pushed deeper inside his body, rummaging around. Wet, squelching slurps emanated from inside his chest as a steady stream of blood burbled around Cheerilee’s limb and down his front.

The zebra was unable to speak, as no air was left in his lungs. Cheerilee found what she was looking for and slowly tugged at a writhing lump of muscle in the hole she had made. She forcibly tore the many ligaments and veins holding it in place, each one separating with a sickly sound akin to moist velcro being ripped apart. As Cheerilee began extracting it, rhythmic pulses of hot, sweet blood gushed all over both of them from the hole in his chest.

In Cheerilee’s hoof was his heart, and it beat its last as it was finally ripped completely from his body. A great gout of blood followed the organ, erupting from severed arteries and mangled tissue.

Cheerilee pushed his corpse away, a horrified look in its dead eyes. The gaping chasm in the zebra’s chest continued to dribble on the floor. Residual blood would find its way out, a result of the capillary effect, if Cheerilee remembered correctly.

She got up, blood rolling in small drops off her body and leather coat, and turned towards the pegasus who was quivering in the corner. She saw his eyes glance desperately towards the door. Cheerilee slowly brought the displaced heart to her lips and took a slow, contemplative bite. She chewed and swallowed before having a second taste.

That was too much for the pony and he shot into the air, making a break for the door. Cheerilee threw the heart, hitting him in the nose so hard it knocked the stallion out of the air. Before he could recover, she was straddling him with care, gently pinning his wings flat. Despite her non-hostile touch, he tried feverishly to escape. The zebra’s blood on his face, and the flow of his own from a broken nose, flew everywhere.

Cheerilee leaned forward, taking his cheeks between her hooves to steady his head. “Stop. I want to talk to you.”

Being forced to stare at her, the pegasus did indeed cease his struggles. He was still trembling in fear, as if looking death itself in the face.

“Would you die for HOOF?” asked Cheerilee.

“N-no! Please!”

“Relax.” Cheerilee kept her voice light and conversational. “I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson. I’m going to let you live.”

Her captive looked as if he could scarcely believe his fortune. His expression changed, however, as Cheerilee moved her sword forward, positioning the blade at his wing joint. As the edge began to slice down, the stallion let out a blood-curdling scream of pain and terror. The mare kept pressing downwards, cleaving muscle and tendon, working the sword between a joint to neatly sever the wing.

The pony had not stopped shrieking, barely pausing to take a breath. Cheerilee leaned forward, grabbing his head again. “Look at me. I need you to calm down. You need to pay attention.”

Her commanding tone caught his notice and his cries began to fade, giving way to tears and rough breathing. Cheerilee continued to stare at him. “I did this for a reason. You will tell all the other members of HOOF what happened here tonight. They will see the pile of bodies and know that you got off easy with permanent crippling.”

“Why?” gasped the pony, putting forth a huge effort to merely utter one syllable.

Cheerilee did not answer the question. She glanced at the stump of his wing, blood pouring from the large vessels that supplied the flight muscles. “Let’s get this cauterized or you’ll bleed to death.”

She dragged the sobbing pony over to where his unicorn friend was still burning. The crispy stallion had stopped rolling in agony and lay motionless. Cheerilee shoved the pegasus against the flames and let the heat sear his wound as well as a significant portion of his hair. He would live, but not if help didn’t arrive soon. Cheerilee pulled out a disposable cell phone she had bought earlier that day, dialing the police. She dropped the phone next to the distraught stallion as it began to ring and turned for the door.

Outside, Cheerilee took a moment to compose herself, drawing a deep calming breath. Everything had gone well. She hadn’t seen a crate or anything else that might have indicated a terrorist operation in the building, but there had been admitted members present.

It did seem a little strange. Why were they there if nothing was going on in the building? It couldn’t be just a temporary meeting if Golden had observed activity there hours ago.

There was a whisper of feathers on the wind and Cheerilee jerked her head upwards. A pegasus previously hidden in a cloud was quickly departing. She had been watched. The bakery hadn’t been an ambush, but definitely a setup. There would be time to figure things out later. Right now, she needed to catch the observer.

As an earth pony, Cheerilee had had to train herself how to think in three dimensions. Part of that actually involved observing Golden’s approach to things. Pegasi naturally didn’t think of height being an obstacle. As an experienced vampire, Cheerilee had learned that it wasn’t for her, either.

Her first leap took the mare halfway up the wall of the building next door, where she rebounded to the top of the bakery. A quick turn and sprint got her to another roof nearby, and she worked her way higher, following in the direction the watching pegasus had gone.

Clearly not expecting to be followed so easily, the airborne stallion made the mistake of not carefully monitoring his backtrail. While pegasi might not have a problem with heights, they often made the mistake of not also considering what was going on beneath them. He didn’t see Cheerilee advancing, nor did he expect her to leap at him from a nearby roof.

Cheerilee was confident in her timing and true in her aim. Midair, she yanked the sword from its scabbard and swung it in front of her, chopping deep in the the pegasus’ torso. She was slightly disappointed that it didn’t slice him in half, but in the air she had nothing to brace against to add extra strength to her attack.

Two quick slices later, Cheerilee had removed his wings and kicked the stallion’s body away. An earth pony holding pegasus wings in her hooves still fell like a rock, but with slightly more control. She crashed into the sidewalk, cracking pavement beneath her hooves.

Cheerilee took a moment to shake out her legs, which had absorbed most of the impact. She’d discovered over the years that preparing her body for injuries like falling out of the sky helped cut down on wounds suffered. It was almost like preemptive healing, but she had to see the danger coming.

She stepped away from her impact crater, dropping the limp, bloody wings. Cheerilee was glad to be back on the ground, where an earth pony belonged. Not that flying couldn’t be fun, but latent earth pony magic worked better on terra firma. She mused that a solid place to stand would have let her cleave the pony’s body neatly in two.

Even among earth ponies, the subject of ground-based magic was controversial. Having had much time to study it and enough sensitivity to notice, Cheerilee believed that it was a powerful force but difficult to manage on command. Earth ponies functioned better when in contact with the ground, plain and simple. It helped if said ground was soil, rather than concrete.

Cheerilee shook her head, knowing that even the simple basics didn’t really apply to her anymore and her life had become horrifically complicated-trying to restrain herself if nothing else. A lot of abilities had been bestowed through vampirism, some of them decidedly magical. A few seemed to come naturally, but others she’d stumbled upon and had to develop. Before her terror campaign was over, she might use them all.

It was dark and a little chilly out. Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about that, as my apartment was well-lit and cozy. I sat in my comfy chair next to the window, affording me a view of the tranquil evening outside. Only a few ponies traveled the streets at this time, most having wrapped up their workdays a few hours prior.

I stared vaguely out the window at the ponies below (and above, in the case of a few pegasi), my eyes and thoughts wandering.

Those fillies have terrible taste in accessories, I noted as a gaggle of young mares trotted past, each one dressed in obnoxious, ultra-hipster type clothing. When will they learn that less is more?

Less is more... I thought, my mind turning towards one of the things I was trying not to think about- what Cheerilee would be doing right about now. It was definitely the opposite of ‘less is more’, that’s for sure. Much, much more.

Well, HOOF brought this on themselves when they attacked innocent civilians. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’; it’s only fair. I frowned, a few vivid memories worming their way unbidden to my mind- a struggling stallion, hot blood spurting into my mouth, the feel of his feeble attempts to escape my pinning grasp. Cheerilee was probably doing something similar.

I scowled. Terrorists deserve it. There’s no doubt about that. I let my face lean against the cool glass of the window as I gazed out, my eyes unfocused.

So why am I still trying to convince myself?

Down on the street below, I saw a young couple strolling along, enjoying the evening. They walked with a comfortable closeness. The thought crossed my mind: what if one of them was a HOOF agent? Would that change what I saw, change how I treated them? Could I tear them apart, in every sense of the word? Did I have the right to do so?

I frowned again. I was the one who suggested this plan, and I would be darned if I didn’t follow it myself.

Why is it so hard? Why can’t things just be simple?

I flipped out my phone to check for any news; it was a nice distraction from my thoughts. As I browsed equestria-news-express.com, one headline in particular caught my eye. ENE generally had a good mix of information. I opened the article, quickly scanning the contents; it described an upcoming legislative act that was to be passed.

Of particular interest, the name of the law was to be the ‘Equestrian Free Trade Agreement’, and was intended to increase the volume and value of trade between other countries and Equestria by easing up on regulations regarding checkpoints and other cross-border restrictions. Supposedly, this would simultaneously improve the economies of all countries involved, since international commerce would be easier and cheaper to conduct.

Another frown slashed across my face. I hoped that frowning wasn’t going to become a common occurrence. Anyway, the situation seemed fine on the surface. There were no indicators that something was up, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake this little niggling doubt in the back of my mind. The timing was too perfect.

Perhaps a little research was in order. I heaved myself up out of my comfortable chair and fetched my magic mirror from its resting place. A few moments later, Princess Luna’s visage appeared in the glass.

“Golden? What is it?”

“Princess, can you send me all the information you have on the EFTA? I was reading a bit about it and I wanted to know more.”

She chuckled. “You know, you don’t have to go straight to the top of the government to learn about new legislature.”

Her tone changed, adding a bit of curiosity and concern. “Do you suspect something, then?”

“I don’t know. There’s just something there, I think. I’ll look into it, but it’s probably not something important.”

“Very well; the information should arrive shortly. Good luck,” Luna said with a mischievous smirk.

I planted a hoof in my face; I would’ve been willing to bet any number of bits that she was sending me the entire text of the bill and expected me to read through all of it. At exactly that moment, a large stack of paper materialized in front of me and dropped to the floor with a resounding thud. I rolled my eyes and lugged it over to my chair. A long night of reading awaited me.

7: A Tough Lesson to Swallow

Cheerilee leaned back in her chair as Golden departed through the window. She turned her attention back to the lesson plan she’d written down for the afternoon. It was a medley of Equestrian history and current events, focusing mainly on the Pre-classical era and the Lunar Rebellion in both comparison and contrast to modern society.

She smiled wryly, as the irony of the situation was not lost on her. When Cheerilee jotted down the rough outline for summer school a week or two prior, she had only expected to be talking to the class about dry history. Now, she could almost see what Princess Luna had been thinking.

It’s rough being immortal, Cheerilee thought. After a while, things just get kind of... repetitive. Boring is probably a better word. Nothing to be emotional about or get the blood pumping. No wonder Luna reacted so strongly when she thought the ponies didn’t enjoy her night.

And perhaps that was why Cheerilee had taken to her latest job against HOOF. While she told herself that she didn’t agree with such extreme violence, it was much more interesting and seductive than quiet, efficient work. Luna probably hadn’t wanted to hurt anypony either, but she had ended up leading a full-scale battle against her sister.

Cheerilee rubbed a hoof thoughtfully through her mane, straightening it a bit. By the sound of hoofsteps down the hall outside the room, the first of her students was coming back from lunch. Cheerilee stood up to be ready with a smile when the student walked in; based on how the steps sounded slightly heavier and a bit awkward, it was probably Diskette. The poor filly was still getting used to carrying around the foal, it seemed.

Not far behind Diskette, Cheerilee could hear the rest of the class. Perhaps they’d all gone to the same place for lunch. In any case, she opened the classroom door just as the students took the last few steps back to the room.

“Welcome back, class,” said Cheerilee, wearing her patented friendly teacher smile. She noticed Diskette had her phone held in front of her nose with magic, intently watching a video and listening to the audio through a pair of earbuds.

Cheerilee asked, “What’s that you’re watching, Disk?”

Surprised by the question, the filly stuttered a bit before finally responding. “Oh, er, it’s just a bit of news. Nothing important.” Diskette made her way to her desk, hoping that Cheerilee would let it go.

“The news is always important, Disk. Keeping up with current events helps a pony stay grounded in reality. Besides, we’re going to be talking about some current events today. Why don’t you share the news with us?”

Cheerilee gave a reassuring nod to convince Diskette to come up in front of the class. The filly climbed out of her desk a bit awkwardly and before reluctantly taking her designated spot at the front of the small class. The other students stared expectantly at Disk, some with snarky amusement in their expressions.

The filly in question did her best to shrink herself as small as possible, a slightly amusing task for a pregnant pony, before pulling out her cell phone and manipulating the touchscreen to search for something. A few moments later, Disk held the phone up as if shielding herself with it. The sound of a video news clip filled the room.

Good afternoon Equestria, this is ENE Live bringing you breaking news from Canterlot. Earlier this morning, a deadly confrontation broke out at the entrance to Canterlot General Hospital between several armed ponies. Few were around to witness the scene, but all of those who did told a strange and astonishing story.

The sound of the announcer’s voice changed to one of a mare whose tone sounded tremulous and on the verge of tears. I was just trotting along on my way to work, just like I do every day, when this van pulls up alongside the curb across the street. I wouldn’t have taken much note except for the large group of ponies that came out of it. I was about to move along and be on my way when I saw this other- this other- The sound of the recorded mare’s voice choked up a bit. I think it was a pony, since it had the same general shape of one, but it came up to the five or six other ponies and- and it was- The sound of sobs could be heard from the phone’s speakers. -and the thing just- just ripped them apart- literally- like it was nothing. I- I didn’t even have time to blink, and there w-was blood everywhere-

Thank you, that’ll be all. The video switched back to the controlled voice of the news anchor, now showing some concerned emotion. All but one of this group of ponies was killed. The sole survivor is reported as permanently crippled and in critical condition at the hospital. Police are still investigating the scene, though preliminary reports suggest that the group was a part of the terrorist organization known as HOOF. No reason for their presence there has been reported as of yet.

As for the mysterious killer, it is reported that he or she escaped the scene. If you happen to see somepony matching the security picture shown on screen, you are advised to remove yourself from the location and contact the authorities immediately. We’ll keep you up-to-date with all the facts as we get them. This is Feather West, ENE News, signing off.

The video ended, filling the classroom with silence. Cheerilee allowed the quiet to persist for a moment before speaking. “Is there anything else related to that, Disk?”

“I think so, Miss Cheerilee. Let me check.” responded Disk, scanning for any more information. “There’s something here about HOOF responding to the attack on their members.”

A few moments later, another video began playing; the voice on this one was slightly garbled, erasing any traces of identification from it.

This is an official communication from the Hegemony of Organized Friends. Down with the diarchy and down with tyranny!

This message is dedicated to Smiley. You know who you are. We know who you are. You cannot stop us; HOOF is many and you are but one. Your tricks appear impressive to untrained eyes but we have ways of countering them. If you interfere again, you will be killed and your secrets made public.

As for the rest of the citizens supporting the tyrannous Equestrian government, we would continue to advise you to urge your Princesses to step down before more bloodshed becomes necessary. Do not resist, or you will become just another casualty.

Down with tyranny!

Again the room was quiet, the normally boisterous students abnormally still. Cheerilee was unimpressed by the video’s message, but somewhat surprised that HOOF was addressing her directly. She had certainly gotten their attention.

“You can sit down now, Disk. Thank you,” said Cheerilee. Once all the students were seated, she continued. “So, class, today we will be talking about history and current events. Can you guess what our topic will be?”

From her seat at the front of the classroom, Cheerilee noticed a few of the students nodding, some sarcastically so. Sand and River, two of the troublemakers in the class, were among the second group. She decided to nip the problems they might cause in the bud.

“Sand, do you know what we’ll be talking about?” asked Cheerilee.

Surprised at being called on by name, the colt warily gave a safe answer. “I think so, yes.”

“Good, why don’t you give us a little bit of background on the topic, then?”

Sand scowled a bit and started to speak. “Well, long story short, HOOF is a multinational group that seeks the deposement of Princesses Celestia and Luna from Equestria’s government. Over the last three years of increasing activity, they have attempted to achieve this goal through a variety of methods, though mainly focused on direct action in an attempt to stir public opinion against the Princesses. Their efforts have had mixed effects, leaving Equestrian society sharply divided with a majority still supporting the status quo. Very recently, an unknown pony going by ‘Smiley’ has been involved in a spree of incredibly violent attacks on several HOOF locations, for unknown reasons.

“Is that good enough for for you?” asked Sand, a coltish smirk on his face.

Cheerilee blinked, honestly surprised. Where did that come from? Such an astute response was the last thing I would’ve expected from him. “Yes, I think that will do. Can somepony else tell me what this means? How about you, River?”

Having seen his partner-in-mischief called out already, River was prepared. “It means that somepony is killing terrorists like some kind of vigilante or something.”

Of course a young colt would focus on action-movie-esque violence. Cheerilee restrained herself from rolling her eyes. “Yes, that seems to be true. Is there anything significant about that fact that you can think of?”

A few seconds of silence passed; Cheerilee could almost hear the little gears in his head turning as River struggled to come up with something for an unexpected follow up question. Then, without warning, Diskette spoke up.

“Isn’t the very act of vigilantism in this case also terrorist in nature? The crimes committed by this ‘Smiley’ are abominable!”

Well, this had turned into a rather productive day. Cheerilee had gotten her students to use bigger words than normal. Underneath that burst of pride, though, was a little barb; not only had her actions terrorized HOOF, but they’d also affected ponies of the general public. Ponies like her students.

Cheerilee pushed that particular line of thought aside. There would be time for considering that later. In the meantime, she put on a nice smile and turned to Disk.

“Very perceptive, Disk,” she said. “This isn’t a question with a definite answer, but I’d like to see what you think: which of the two is the bigger threat? Smiley or HOOF? Why?”

The filly gave that a few long moments of thought before responding. “Well, Miss Cheerilee, my initial response would be that HOOF is more dangerous, because they have no problems with attacking innocent civilians to get what they want. As far as we know, Smiley doesn’t do that.

“HOOF is harder to track down because the members could be anypony you know, whereas Smiley is...well, I don’t know. There was something inequine about those pictures they showed on the news.

“However, after giving the question a little more thought, I think that in the long run Smiley is the more dangerous of the two. The real threat from Smiley isn’t so much a physical one as a psychological one. When you live by the law of ‘an eye for an eye’, the whole world will be left blind, and that’s why Smiley is so dangerous. She is propagating the cycle of hatred and violence with no regard to the possible consequences. What would happen if the foals of this generation began to look at her as a savior or a role model? She saved them from HOOF, so she must be a good pony, right? What if her way of thinking spreads to those who look up to her?”

“That’s the kind of concern I have with Smiley. With HOOF, I’m more afraid for my own safety. With Smiley, I’m less worried for myself than I am for my daughter.” Disk paused a bit, letting her breath even out from the slightly emotional state it had entered. “I wouldn’t want my filly to grow up in a world with ponies like Smiley, and that’s why she’s the bigger threat of the two.”

It took a considerable amount of effort for Cheerilee to keep herself from showing any response other than that simpering teacher smile. The barb that had earlier lodged in her gut returned with a vengeance, though once again with practiced determination she quelled the conflict threatening to break out inside.

“Well, as you noted, Disk, it’s certainly true that terrorists can easily hide among the general public. It’s important to be observant. For an example, how many weapons do you think are in the classroom right now?”

The students looked at each other in confusion. Cheerilee said, “Sand, could you please take the knife out of your pocket?”

Sand gaped in surprise. He fumbled around for almost a minute trying to formulate a response before finally stammering out a meek excuse. “I-it was an accident, Miss Cheerilee, I didn’t mean to bring it in here, I just forgot to take it out of my jacket when I left this morning!”

Cheerilee studied his face. “You’re a terrible liar, Sand. That’s why I believe you’re telling the truth. Now, why don’t you bring that up here? I’m afraid I have to confiscate it.”

Still dazed slightly from shock and a hint of fear, the colt complied hastily and deposited the weapon on her desk. Cheerilee studied it, turning it over in her hooves. It was a butterfly knife, the blade folded inside the handles.

Fully aware that the entire group of summer school students was watching her intently, Cheerilee decided to end the day’s lesson a bit early by making a point, and perhaps win over their respect. She took the knife in her hooves and carefully opened the latch, as though she were experimenting with it.

“Uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” called Sand, now sweating a bit with nervousness. “It’s kinda hard to use if you aren’t a unicorn. You might cut-”

Cheerilee interrupted him by expertly twirling the knife around her hoof a few times, the blade never once nicking her. Faster and faster she spun and flashed it, the twin handles and blade almost whistling through the air, until at last she tossed the knife towards the ceiling as it continued to spin madly. Cheerilee could feel the class holding its collective breath as the butterfly knife peaked in altitude and dropped back down towards her.

She deftly snagged it out of midair, eliciting a chorus of gasps from the small group of students in the room. Cheerilee gently closed the knife and dropped it into the trash can, raising her gaze back towards the class.

“The point I would like to leave you with today is fairly simple: don’t base your worldview on assumptions about ponies. Make sure that you think through what the news outlets tell you, so that you keep yourself fully informed. You did a good job of analytical thinking today in class, everypony, thank you for making it work! For your hard work, you are all dismissed.” Cheerilee paused. “Oh, and Sand? Spend more than ten bits the next time you buy a knife.”

I rushed back to work after talking to Princess Celestia at the castle. While I considered it somewhat inadvisable of her to troll me- the royal vampire- I needed a good joke now and then, even if it was at my expense.

Celestia had promised to help, so I was expecting Legal Tender to arrive at Rubies and Rings soon. It would have to be a careful interrogation. Not only could he just turn around and walk out if he didn’t like where the conversation was going, but I couldn’t let him know I suspected anything.

I called to Silver Tiara as I came in. “Is it okay if I work the counter this afternoon? I think I may have breathed a little too much diamond dust earlier.”

She appeared in the doorway to the back room. “Well...I suppose that’s fine, dear. I was just checking and you’re pretty much caught up back here.”

I think Silver often had a hard time deciding what to do with me. My hooves were good at making jewelry, but apparently my face was good at selling it. Such is life.

I don’t date because it would be cruel to coltfriends, but that doesn’t mean offers aren’t made on a regular basis. More awkwardly, from mares as well as stallions. I’m beginning to suspect that I’m rather good looking.

The makeup I wore to work was applied to conceal my features but not thickly enough to add more than a few years. It was just to make me look experienced so I would be taken more seriously as a jeweler, but it unfortunately also gave stallions confidence that they weren’t hitting on a teenager. My somewhat unfashionable disguise glasses helped, but I hoped Celestia was correct in stating that Legal Tender was loyal to his family.

Speaking of him, the senator walked in later that afternoon. Patience is just part of being a century-old vampire, but I had still grown antsy waiting on him. I tried not to be too enthusiastic in my greeting.

I knew it was him from a combination of factors. His expensive tie was one. A cutie mark depicting a money purse was another. Most importantly was the document bag that Princess Celestia had mentioned, marked with the initials LT.

“Good afternoon, sir. How can I help you?”

He smiled, rather outgoing and not short on charm. Typical politician. “I happened across a rather unusual piece of jewelry and was hoping you could tell me more about it.”

“Certainly.” I watched as he took out an ornate brooch from his bag. It featured a very large ruby with a setting of gold fanning out behind it like the corona of the sun. I realized that this had likely come from Princess Celestia’s private collection. It did look a bit like her cutie mark.

“Oh my,” I gushed. I took a magnifying loupe and put it to my eye as I examined the piece. The stone was flawless and the setting looked like it had taken an enormous amount of work.

“Where did you find this?” I asked.

“It turned up quite unexpectedly in my document bag,” Legal replied. “I have no idea how it could have gotten there. I’m a senator, and if there’s one thing I can tell you about congress, most of us would keep better track of valuables.”

I laughed politely. “That’s interesting. Oh! Speaking of government, I heard that Princess Celestia is looking for some missing jewelry. Could this be it?”

“I hadn’t heard that,” he replied.

“Well, it was a message passed around to jewelry stores to be on the lookout for anypony trying to sell hot goods.” I quickly added, “Not that I think you are. I noticed that you haven’t even asked what it’s worth.”

Nice save, Golden. It looked like Legal was relieved that I didn’t suspect him of anything. Well, at least not theft. His heartbeat had jumped up, but now relaxed. I pressed forward a bit. “Wow, if this does belong to the Princess there might be a great reward for finding it! I’m kind of envious, really. As a senator, you must get to talk to her all the time.”

“Well, the government doesn’t work quite like that,” he said modestly. “If this does turn out to be the Princess’s brooch, I’ll make sure to mention your shop to her. There really are a lot of lovely things on display.”

I didn’t detect any traces of innuendo from him, and he wasn’t looking at me as he said it. Hmm, maybe he really was as straight-laced as Princess Celestia had indicated. That didn’t explain his involvement with the bill, however. With a different tactic, I tried again. “So what’s going on with the government right now? I have to admit that I’m not as familiar with politics as I should be.”

“We have a couple of bills in the works at the moment,” he said, looking pleased to be talking about himself. Regardless of his relatively straight moral compass, he was still a politician.

“There was something I heard about. I think it was called the EFTA?”

“Oh yes,” said Legal. I thought I detected some unhappiness on his face and reluctance in his voice. “It’s designed to increase trade and economic stimulation along the borders.”

I frowned dramatically. “If the borders are more open, will terrorists be able to get in?”

There was a huge spike in his heart rate. “Well, we’ve planned for that. You shouldn’t have to worry about it.”

He was clearly lying, but strangely I detected more fear than anything from him. Was it possible that he was being forced to work on the bill?

Legal looked around. “You know, perhaps I could bring my wife by. She would certainly love something shiny for her birthday.”

“You can’t go wrong with a gift from here,” I agreed. “I would be happy to talk to her about it.”

He gave me a genuine smile. “Thanks a lot. You’ve been nothing but helpful. I think I'll head over to to the castle now and get this little treasure back to the Princess.”

I wanted to ask him more, but wasn’t sure I could without arousing suspicion. I waved goodbye as he walked out the door and then dove for my cell phone. Silver didn’t like me using it during work, but this was important. I furiously typed out a text message to Cheerilee. I had a plan in mind, but it was very time-sensitive.

Tell Celestia to invite Legal Tender and I to dinner as a reward. She’ll know what you mean. Needs to be done as fast as possible!

I paused after sending it and took a breath to organize my thoughts. I knew Cheerilee trusted my instincts and would do as I asked, but she deserved more information. I carefully worded out the whole story, using up several messages to tell every detail of the situation and what I had learned. My hope was that I or Celestia could work more information out of Legal. Perhaps he would be more forthcoming with the Princess.

Cheerilee took a while to reply. I spoke with Luna via mirror to pass the message along. She agrees that this could be a good plan, but Celestia will probably allow Legal to bring his family.

That was too bad. I didn’t need extra ponies in the way. Still, I would take what I could get.

I knocked on the door to the back room. “Silver? A senator was just here. Thought you should know.”

She jerked the door open. “Did you sell him anything?”

“No, actually. He found this really nice gold-ruby brooch; just found it lying around! After checking it out, I thought that it looked like something from the royal collection and he said he would take it to the castle.”

“Hmm.” Silver looked disappointed that I hadn’t managed to work any money out of him, but appreciated the story. “Well, thanks for telling me.” She nudged my side and winked. “Maybe there will be congressional kickbacks in it for us.”

I laughed at her joke and went back to the counter. There wasn’t much afternoon left until we closed, and when that time came I helped Silver lock up for the night. Outside, we said goodbye and headed for our respective homes.

While flying back to my place, I answered a phone call. The posh-sounding stallion on the other end asked for me by name. “Ms. Golden Ring?”

“Speaking.”

“On behalf of her royal highness Princess Celestia, I would like to extend to you an invitation to dinner.”

Act surprised. “Gah…wha…?”

That apparently wasn’t too over the top and fake-sounding. The stallion repeated himself and added, “I am told you helped to recover a valuable piece of jewelry.”

“I didn’t realize that it would get me dinner with the Princess!” I practically shouted. A couple of other ponies I shared the sky with gave me curious looks. “Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!”

Still maintaining his calm demeanor, the stallion told me where and when to arrive. I promised that I would be there and thanked him profusely several more times before the call ended.

Arriving home, I got to work on my outfit. It was somewhat strange, trying to be myself. “Golden Ring” was a young jeweler who was carefree with a friendly, easygoing attitude. I was…not. Well, maybe friendly and easygoing, but I was definitely not carefree. Ironic that even my real identity was not truly me anymore. I pushed those thoughts out of my head and continued to prepare for dinner.

Eating food was impossible for a vampire. It actually caused physical illness. The frustrating part was, food still tasted good. Being immortal doesn’t always mean that you can eat all the sweets you want.

To that end, there were a few ways to compensate. Drinking powerful industrial acid would deaden my reaction to food so that I could eat. At the same time, the corrosive substance would eat at me, but that wasn’t a permanent problem with my continuous healing. Plus, the acid would help with digestion.

Unfortunately, I had none of the correct chemicals around. Sighing, I knew I had to go with Plan B. That involved lining my stomach by swallowing a plastic bag like a baby bird trying to gulp a worm and then tack it in place. Yes, tack. It’s as painful as it sounds. Just getting them in place is nigh impossible with hooves, not to mention convincing my gag reflex to take the night off.

My eyes were squinted in pain by the time I finished getting the mouth of the bag secured in my esophagus. Once the sharp spikes were in place it didn’t hurt so much, but dinner was still not going to be very pleasant. I had to be careful to leave a small opening so I could still breathe enough air to speak.

I spent a while trying to find a dress that was nice, but still within my supposed salary. I did my mane carefully and made sure to take along the ID that had my real name when I left the apartment.

The guards treated me differently than when I was in other disguises. Some of them seemed surprised that the Princess would invite a random pony to dinner.

Princess Celestia greeted me warmly. I made a show of nervously introducing myself. She smiled in the same way I had seen before. I could tell my act amused her.

Legal Tender was not far behind me in arriving at the castle. He was with a mare that I took to be his wife. I looked past the two of them and nearly swallowed some tacks in surprise. Coming through the door was a familiar green unicorn.

8: Dinner and a Show

Cheerilee’s purpose in letting her students out of class early went beyond just rewarding them. It also gave her time to think hard on the realizations their classroom discussion provided.

She sat back from her desk, staring at the ceiling. The plan to use Smiley as a deterrent to HOOF seemed desperate but necessary. Now, Cheerilee was unsure if it was worth the cost.

While she might have been able to keep the general public ignorant of Smiley for a while, such high-profile attacks probably would have come to light eventually. Social media had complicated the issue. Like her student Diskette had stated, there was more fear to be had from Smiley than HOOF.

Cheerilee reached into the trash can and pulled out the butterfly knife she had confiscated before letting the students go for the day. The janitor would be suspicious if she left it there, so Cheerilee would have to dispose of it outside the school. Official policy, especially after the attack on the school, would deal severe punishments to any student caught with a weapon. Her student, Sand, had made an innocent mistake, and he didn’t need any more setbacks in his life.

The schoolteacher wondered idly how the colt was so knowledgeable about HOOF. She turned the knife over in her hooves, thinking. Cheerilee decided to see if she could find out what else Sand might know. She sensed that he was smarter than he acted, and it was her duty as a teacher to bring it out.

Her other duty came back to the forefront of her thoughts. Cheerilee decided that she would talk to Princess Luna soon. Perhaps now that Smiley was becoming more well known, plans would change.

In the time Cheerilee had spent in Luna’s employ, it was undeniable that she’d developed greatly. Abilities and talents had manifested that Cheerilee would never have dreamed of. While it was somewhat narcissistic—and frightening—to admit, she was in fact one of the most dangerous non-alicorns in Equestria.

While the primary focus of all that power was violence, certain aspects could be applied to her overt life. More than a century of classroom experience gave Cheerilee insights that no other teacher had. Being a vampire wasn’t always terrible.

However, it was frustrating to wield so much supremacy and yet unable to overcome her own problems. As unpleasant as it was to slaughter members of HOOF and terrorize civilians with her mere presence, Cheerilee was forced to admit that she got an unhealthy satisfaction from it.

Cheerilee flipped the knife open and traced a line on the inside of her fetlock, pressing hard to get the cheap blade to cut. Crimson blood rose to the surface, escaping the wound and beginning to trickle away.

She let out a breath at the relatively mild pain. At least she was finally feeling something, even if her vampiric interest in bloodshed wasn’t satisfied with just her own.

Cheerilee let the blood flow for a moment, wiping the knife clean on her pelt, before making a small mental effort that caused the drops to rush back inside her wound and close the skin up behind them.

It had been awhile since she had discovered the ability to manipulate her own blood. While it seemed rather morbid to amuse herself with such things, it was good to know that she could.

There was not much point in continuing to sit around the school if nothing was going to happen. Cheerilee stowed the knife in her purse and left the building. Minutes later, she was just unlocking her apartment door when her cell phone vibrated. The message was from Golden. Tell Celestia to invite Legal Tender and I to dinner as a reward. She’ll know what you mean. Needs to be done as fast as possible!

While confusing, Cheerilee trusted Golden’s urgency. She picked up the magic mirror and connected to Princess Luna.

The Night Princess looked somewhat groggy in the early afternoon, but responded to Cheerilee’s request. “I’ll pass the message along. Is there anything else you’d like to talk about, Cheerilee?”

Cheerilee hesitated. “I was meaning to speak with you about our little campaign.”

Luna nodded. “About that. Certain news reporter ponies have been asking around after HOOF released a video addressing Smiley directly. The Crown is preparing a statement.”

“What will it say?” asked Cheerilee, slightly concerned.

“The usual. The government of Equestria does not condone murder.”

While Princess Luna did try to limit the amount of outright lies she told the public, sometimes it was unavoidable. Cheerilee knew how that worked. She had been lying about herself continuously for the past century or so.

“While it would look bad to even acknowledge Smiley, another HOOF takedown would be a helpful piece of news,” said Luna. “A distraction, if nothing else.”

Cheerilee nodded. “Give me a target.”

“Soon.” Luna turned her head to the side, looking away from the mirror. “There you are, Celestia. Golden Ring wants you to invite her and Legal Tender to dinner as a reward for finding your ‘missing’ jewelry.”

Celestia appeared in the frame, crowding her sister and pressing her cheek against Luna’s own perhaps a little more than necessary. “Hello, Cheerilee. I think that sounds like a fine idea; could you please let Golden know? Legal might want to bring his family.”

“I’ll do that, Princess,” Cheerilee promised. The two alicorns said goodbye.

Cheerilee put the mirror down, receiving another few texts from Golden. They provided context for her first message and Cheerilee read through them carefully. It seemed that Golden had things well in hoof.

Cheerilee found herself with nothing to do for the rest of the evening, an unhappy proposition for an insomniac vampire. The mare had just settled into a chair when she was surprised by the phone ringing. “Hello?”

“Ms. Cheerilee? This is Sand’s mother.”

Cheerilee adjusted the phone on her ear. This was unexpected. “Hello, how can I help you?”

“My son informed me that you confiscated something from him today.”

“That’s correct, I did. Weapons are not allowed in school.” There were a couple of ways this conversation could go. After more than a century of teaching, Cheerilee had encountered all kinds of parents, from overprotective to apathetic. Only the ones with something to say ever called her.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I’d like to thank you for not expelling Sand. I know he’s not a perfect colt, but I very much appreciate you giving him another chance for an honest mistake.”

All by itself, Cheerilee’s mouth turned up into a brief smile. “I understand. Sometimes punishment won’t benefit anypony involved. Please make sure Sand knows not to do it again, however.”

Sand’s mother thanked her again and hung up. Cheerilee put the phone down, feeling contemplative. Why had she given Sand leniency? School policy was zero tolerance, and it would have been very easy to kick out a troublemaker like him. If that happened, however, he might never find another school from which to get an education. An imperfect colt Sand might be, but Cheerilee cared for him.

She shook her head. Did she really? Of course caring for students’ welfare was just her job as a teacher. How much was her heart in it? Her cold, dead, heart...

Cheerilee groaned in frustration. She was tired of having the same repetitive argument in her mind and getting nowhere. For a diversion, she spontaneously decided to treat herself to a night on the town.

There was a black dress hanging in her closet. She slipped it on, checking that it did not leave her cutie mark easily visible. Running a brush through her mane, she transformed it into an entirely different style. Pausing in front of the mirror, Cheerilee put in a pair of magenta contact lenses. The modern, flexible plastic ones were much more comfortable to use than when she’d first started wearing disguises so many years ago. After applying some tasteful lipstick and modest jewelry, Cheerilee picked up an ID card with the name Lilac on it and went out the door.

The evening was rather pleasant and Cheerilee paused for a moment to decide on a destination. She could go to a bar and keep a vigil for ponies who were up to no good. Pummeling potential rapists could entertain her for the evening.

However, something a little more highbrow might be better. As a teacher, Cheerilee was all about learning. She’d observed that an event at the Canterlot Museum of Modern Art would be taking place that evening. It sounded like a donation social with high-class guests, but Cheerilee hadn’t gotten dressed up for nothing.

The building was modern and had a mostly-glass exterior. Having seen much of it in her time, modern art still never made much sense to Cheerilee. She could see how the artist might have used emotion in their work, but it still usually looked like something a foal could have done.

Wealthy-looking ponies mingled in the museum foyer. There were refreshments, and Cheerilee smiled slightly at the delicious smell. She looked around and spotted a restroom nearby.

Away from the crowd in a toilet stall, Cheerilee inspected the contents of her purse, taking out a small glass vial of a very powerful acid. Opening the stopper, she took it all in one drink. The liquid burned all the way down her throat and she squinted in pain. Gradually, the anguish fell to an acceptable level and Cheerilee went back out to where the event was being held.

She picked up a cracker and navigated it past her fangs into her mouth. It crunched pleasantly, and her acid-scarred innards were still too damaged to reject it.

Picking up a small spinach roll, Cheerilee turned to survey the rest of the room. There were donation solicitors going around, and she knew that she should probably get her checkbook ready. As she bit into her next snack, Cheerilee noticed an unusual scent. It did not seem to be coming from the food, and it took her a moment to place it. It was leather.

Cheerilee snatched up a cookie and started to walk. Whenever she had the opportunity to eat, it was sometimes difficult to pace herself. In that way, it was probably a good thing that she was now leaving the table and advancing into the center of the room.

The smell was getting a little stronger, although it didn’t seem that any other ponies had picked up the subtle odor. Cheerilee narrowed her search, following her nose to a grey unicorn mare. She was dressed for the occasion, with a rather understated dress. There was not a trace of leather in her outfit, and Cheerilee wondered where the scent could be coming from.

Searching for something to strike up a conversation about, Cheerilee followed they grey mare’s gaze to a piece of art hanging on the wall. She moved up beside the other pony and pretended to stare at it, too. After a moment to appear contemplative, Cheerilee commented, “Powerful, isn’t it?”

The canvas appeared to be covered in blotchy irregular spots. The grey mare laughed politely. “That’s one word for it.”

Cheerilee turned her head and smiled. “I’m Lilac. Nice to meet you.”

“Aepyceros, but call me Ceros for short.”

“Hmm, that’s an interesting name,” Cheerilee pondered aloud.

The other mare shrugged. “My parents named me after a friend they met in Zebrafrica. Really, I don’t mind. I like to travel.”

“Oh, what do you do?” asked Cheerilee.

“I have a bit of talent for importing fine merchandise from around the world,” Ceros noted with a touch of pride. “I may not be able to get out and about as much as I like, but my work keeps me dreaming.”

Cheerilee wondered if this could be the same leather vendor Golden had encountered in the Sixth Street Market slum. The physical description fit. Cheerilee devised a careful question. “I think I might like to take a look at some of those things. Where can I find your shop?”

Ceros’ heart rate instantly shot up. “Well...I currently don’t have a steady location.”

“Do you have a card, then?” Cheerilee pressed. It seemed natural that an interested customer would ask.

“Sure, I’ll give you that and then we could meet somewhere,” Ceros agreed. She gave Cheerilee a business card with her name and phone number on it.

Cheerilee smiled and thanked her. If this was the mare connected to the green unicorn that Golden had described, they could now get a track on her cell phone. Maybe that would turn up something interesting.

Cheerilee looked around at the walls. “Well, it was nice talking to you. I suppose I should get back to examining the art. If this is a charity event, I should at least have the experience I could have gotten a general admission ticket for.”

Ceros nodded. “I think it’s important to contribute to the arts. It’s fascinating to see what others can think of.”

Cheerilee nodded to one painting in particular. “Like that. I really can’t imagine what was going through the artist’s mind.”

“It was painted by a curious bear at the zoo,” Ceros informed her.

Cheerilee thought for a moment. “I suppose I know where I’ll be getting an admission ticket instead. Have a nice evening.”

She left Ceros standing there with a perplexed look on her face. Cheerilee snagged a few more snacks from the refreshment table and left the museum.

The night was still young, but Cheerilee decided to go home early and pass along the information she’d gleaned. She also thought about getting some rest. If the info was useful, then Princess Luna might have a new target for her soon.

The plush, richly-decorated lounge I found myself passing through began to seem a little bit smaller as I watched the other three guests that accompanied me to Celestia’s dinner table. I smiled pleasantly at them, more of a reflex than any good intentions on my part. It was fortunate, I suppose, since my surprise at seeing the green unicorn I’d been tracking almost made me forget my cover. With a polite nod to the other invitees, I closed the distance between them and myself. I offered my hoof to shake, and Legal Tender took it in a firm grasp.

“Legal, it’s good to see you again. I’m guessing this is your family?” I made sure to get myself firmly back into character; it wouldn’t do to give myself away so easily.

“Golden, hello,” Legal responded. “Yes, this is my wife, Shiny Penny, and my son, Treasury Bill.”

“Hi, nice to meet you!” I said, in turn shaking Penny and Bill’s hooves. When I clasped Bill’s hoof in my own, I felt the green unicorn recoil almost imperceptibly, as though he were afraid of touching me. I filed the observation away for reference. “My name’s Golden Ring, I work at the Rings and Rubies jewelry shop not too far from here.”

“Golden, it’s a pleasure,” said Penny, a neutral smile gracing her expression. “When my husband told me a bit about how he found the Princess’ brooch in his bag, I couldn’t believe it at first. Thanks for helping Legal get it back to its rightful owner.”

I was a little off-put by how positively this was going. When I saw my target from the other day I let a little bit of apprehension take over, I guess. From the relaxed way he was carrying himself, though, I could tell that he didn’t suspect me of being a threat. And yet, the fact that the senator who was sponsoring a terrorist-benefitting law had a son who was a suspected terrorist seemed too suspicious to be a coincidence. I’d best keep my wits about me.

“Oh, it was no problem. Anypony would’ve done it if they’d been in my position.” I pumped a little extra blood to my cheeks to affect a blush, one of the tricks Cheerilee had taught me over the years.

“I don’t know, Golden, these days there are those who wouldn’t give a second thought to holding onto things like that,” said Penny, her tepid smile cooling to more of a sad wince. I couldn’t help but notice that she had the genuine look that you only get from personal experience. Another interesting observation for my mental notes.

That was when Princess Celestia stepped into the room. Keeping with my disguise as a normal pony, I sank into a deep bow and averted my gaze. Out of the corner of my eyes I could tell that Legal and his family didn’t go to quite such lengths, simply settling for polite bows, though in Treasury Bill’s case I could see his muscles tense up a bit. Curious.

“There’s no need for such formality, my little pony. I’ve invited you to be a guest at my table as a friend, not a subject.” I thought I caught a hint of playfulness in the Princess’ voice, but it might have been my ears playing tricks on me.

“O-of course, your highness!” I blurted, quickly rising to my hooves. Celestia’s face had a comfortable grin on it, as did Legal’s and his wife’s. Well, if they wanted to get some enjoyment out of my charades, let them.

“I take it this is your first time meeting the Princess, Golden?” asked Legal.

“Err, yes. Was it that obvious?” I put a sheepish smile on.

“To put it bluntly, it was,” Princess Celestia said, still staying perfectly polite. “In any case, though, I’d estimate that dinner will be served shortly, so we would do well to make our way to the dining room.”

“Yes, quite. They say there’s nothing worse than getting the chef angry at you,” chuckled Legal, following the Princess towards the supper table.

As I fell in line behind the rest of the group, Bill gestured with a hoof, offering to let me go in front of him. “After you, ma’am,” he said, his tone polite and neutral. I admit I was a little surprised and somewhat puzzled. I tried to get a good look at him without really staring, but I wasn’t in a very good position to do so, what with him looking right at me.

“Thank you, sir,” I said, not sure what to make of him just yet. I took him up on his offer, not wanting to seem ungrateful or suspicious, and strode past him.

Knowing that he was behind me was somewhat unnerving as the five of us trotted down the ornate hallway to the dining room, especially considering that even my supernatural hearing was having trouble picking up his footsteps on the soft, thick carpet. As we went, I casually glanced at the many busts, sculptures, and assorted statuary on display; some of the more shiny ones offered me brief, reflected glimpses of what my green unicorn friend was doing outside my normal field of vision.

I was a little disappointed that he wasn’t doing anything suspicious. He was just trotting along behind me; no sneaky glances, no anything. I think that was what made me the most uncomfortable.

Not too long after we left the waiting area, Celestia magicked open the grand-looking doors to the dining hall, affording me a view of the polished mahogany table within. I didn’t have to feign my expression of awe this time, as I’d never actually seen the Princesses’ supper table before. It was massive! I’m pretty sure you could fit the entire staff roster of the castle at it, with each pony still getting enough elbow room to comfortably spread out.

Okay, maybe not the whole castle staff. Just half. But you get my point. Anyway, I and my fellow guests continued to follow Celestia towards our places at one end of the enormous table. Celestia was at the head in the seat of honor, with myself and Legal at her right and left hooves, respectively. Legal’s wife was next to him, and Treasury Bill was positioned next to me, so that I was between him and the Princess. Part of me wondered if she’d done that on purpose.

We each took our respective seats, and dinner was quickly brought out. Several servants bearing fancy-looking silver platters entered the room from the kitchen and set the various dishes on the dinner table before us. It all looked amazing, and I could feel myself starting to salivate. It was a struggle to keep focused on my mission.

Fortunately, I wasn’t alone in my task; as the servants loaded our plates and disappeared as quickly as they’d arrived, Princess Celestia spoke up. “Before we begin, I would like to properly thank the two of you for returning my brooch to me. I’m not entirely certain how it wound up in the good Senator’s document case, but I’d wager I mistook it for one of my own bags and stuffed it in there by mistake. It is fortunate that an upstanding citizen like yourself was the one to find it and equally fortunate that a fine young lady such as Miss Golden Ring happened to recognize it as mine and help return it to me. This is one of my fondest treasures, and as such, I feel a toast would be appropriate.”

The Princess raised her glass of exquisite wine, gesturing once to me and once to Legal. I caught a brief glimpse of a grin hidden behind her smile. “To the both of you, many thanks. Cheers!”

Each of us raised our glasses in response, and clinked them against each others’. Being the sole pony at the table incapable of telekinesis, I felt a little awkward with them having to send their glasses all the way over to me to toast.

With that out of the way, Celestia took a bite of her salad and the rest of us followed suit. I was a little surprised at the sweetness of mine; the vegetables must have been picked less than an hour ago. I guess it makes sense for the princesses to only eat the best, though. If only Cheerilee and I could regularly enjoy the same privilege.

The thought of my teacher reminded me why I was here. “So, what kinds of things do you do for the government, Mr. Tender? Besides overseeing legislation, I mean. There must be more to it than that.”

He smiled. “Well, first off, you can just call me Legal. I think we’re friends by this point, and that’s what all my friends call me. Secondly, you were right in assuming that there’s more to the government than just creating and reviewing laws. The Senate is responsible...”

My face may have looked interested in the dry discussion, but my mind was mostly focused on Bill. Somehow, before the night was up, I hoped to figure out how he was involved with the terror plaguing Equestria.

Author's Note

Hey guys, sorry for the unbelievable delay. Hopefully it's worth the wait. :rainbowwild:

9: Ladykiller

It had been a productive evening for Cheerilee. Following up on what the leather vendor named Ceros knew seemed promising. Plus, she had alleviated some of her feelings of being a shut-in by going to the art gallery. All in all, a pleasant night. She returned home thinking of bed and happily turned in.

While vampires slept like the dead - quite literally - sleep was not quite as mandatory as it was for mortals. Still, Cheerilee enjoyed it. Any night when she had time to lay between comfortable sheets was a good one. If nothing else, the ritual left her feeling calmer and more normal.

However, something was different tonight. It had been quite a while since Cheerilee had experienced a proper dream. So long, in fact, that Princess Luna probably had never even considered coming to her part of slumberland.

This dream saw Cheerilee wandering through the streets of Canterlot. Ponies she passed didn’t seem to notice her, as though she weren’t there at all. She couldn’t interact with any of them, either, as her body just passed right through the other ponies. There was a dense fog over the city that kept sound muffled and visibility limited, even to her enhanced sight.

Cheerilee turned to look for Golden and perhaps ask for her ideas on the situation. She blinked in surprise at the Golden Ring she found at her side; the younger vampire had monstrous fangs and leathery bat wings, more bestial-looking than those of the Lunar Guard. A hungry look gleamed in Golden’s eyes as she waited for Cheerilee to lead the way.

The sound of explosions and gunfire drew Cheerilee’s attention away from the monster beside her. She could make out what looked to be a small battle, some ponies and other equines with guns slaughtering others that fought back with whatever was on hoof. Cheerilee just pointed at the fight, sending Golden off to kill.

For some reason Cheerilee’s body seemed heavy, like her limbs were suddenly made of lead. She felt sluggish. As she watched Golden tear apart the fighting ponies indiscriminately, she couldn’t even muster the energy to shout “stop.” Maybe it was the fog. Maybe it was something else, something with Cheerilee that was causing it. Either way, she didn’t feel up to thinking about it.

And yet, the dream didn’t seem like a nightmare. Where another pony might have felt horror or fear, Cheerilee wasn’t phased in the least by the violence inflicted by Golden. All she felt was a foggy sensation, like everypony else was at a great distance from her. The fighting didn’t concern her, did it? Those ponies were going about their business, and she’d go about hers.

She turned away from the fighting and wandered aimlessly through the fog in Canterlot, nothing else disturbing her walk.

Cheerilee woke up in the morning feeling refreshed, but not exactly relaxed. The dream was still in her memory, and she considered it while getting ready that morning.

She had a few ideas about what her subconscious might be telling her, but had never put much stock in dreams, as she had experienced so few of them. Cheerilee trusted her body and her abilities. She was not as comfortable with her psychology. But that was too bad.

Checking her phone, she saw a message from Golden. I’m convinced that Legal Tender’s son, Treasury Bill, is the green unicorn I saw at HOOF’s hideout. Nothing happened at dinner, but I have a date with Bill.

Well, wasn’t that something. Cheerilee managed a grin of amusement for a few moments. The emotion faded however. Golden wouldn’t have embarked on such a venture if she didn’t think it would produce results. She was a competent mare and was well capable of making her own decisions. Despite their relationship, Cheerilee often had to remind herself that it was just business.

Cheerilee pasted on a smile and went out the door to head for school.

While she taught young minds that day, others were also apparently toiling to improve the world. The information Cheerilee had obtained the previous night was valuable to somepony. Tapping Ceros’ phone produced results within a day. Cheerilee returned from teaching her classes to get a mirror call from Luna with information.

The Princess wore her reading glasses and a slightly puzzled look, gazing at a few pieces of paper in front of her Cheerilee waited patiently while Luna told her what had been learned.

“It seems that we’ve got positioning coordinates after accessing the electronic intelligence produced from collecting data from her cell phone,” Luna explained, poring over the documents. “After tracing her route with moving target indicators, we have a few locations that might be possible hangouts for HOOF, although part of her trail goes cold when she went underground at the Fifth Street Market. We also activated the phone’s sensors when she used it and managed to get data that includes audio and pictures of her clients. Some of them are definitely HOOF members and through a few database searches we were able to extend our surveillance to their electronics as well. The overall network has given us valuable insight.”

“You look like you don’t really understand the technical language in that report,” Cheerilee observed, suppressing a smirk.

Luna looked over her glasses. “Keeping up with technology is difficult enough for the average pony. Try running a country at the same time.”

Switching back to her reading of the report, Luna went on. “The whole operation has landed us a lucrative target. We believe there will be another HOOF meeting this evening.”

Cheerilee picked up the mirror and walked with it towards her closet. “Tell me when and where.”

Luna gave her the information and Cheerilee kitted up. Sword, sunglasses, Smiley.

She made it downtown a little after sunset. Keeping to the shadows, Cheerilee approached the target building. “Shabby” would have been too nice a term. The paint had long since peeled and the bare wood rotted. The roof was thin. It was rather small and didn’t even look like a legitimate business fronting for HOOF. It looked...expendable, Cheerilee decided. She frowned.

The situation didn’t feel right. Something was different. Cheerilee looked at the building from a nearby rooftop for several seconds, rolling it over in her mind. There was no way to know what she might be walking into. Best not to walk, then.

Taking a flying leap, Cheerilee jumped the gap and swung the sword hard at the fragile roof. The robust blade chopped through the weak shingles and she plunged straight through.

There was one buffalo, one unicorn, and one zebra in the room where Cheerilee landed. Actually, the building was so small that it was the only room.

Her sudden arrival through the roof caused the buffalo and the pony to back off to the far corners of the room, but the zebra stood her ground. She was decorated in gold and had her mane up in the traditional Zebrican native style. Two wooden stakes were holstered at her sides.

She stared at Cheerilee, recognition in her eyes, but not fear. “We knew you would come, vampire. My associates have set up effective bait.”

At the back of Cheerilee’s mind, she made a note to remind Luna that intelligence was not always infallible. HOOF was apparently putting out false signals, as if they had gotten wind that the government was so heavily involved.

And at the front of her mind, her inner voice screamed They know what I am!

None of this made it to Cheerilee’s expression. In fact, the only way she reacted was to part her lips in a fanged smile. “Nice of you to have me. What sort of entertainment do you have scheduled for this evening?”

The zebra mare drew her stakes, holding them in an impressively dexterous grip as she reared back on two legs. Cheerilee heard her heart rate speeding up, as the zebra’s pupils dilated and her breathing quickened. It was likely the effects of some sort of enhancement potion. While Cheerilee had never encountered an authentic Zebrican vampire hunter before, she knew enough about them to be wary.

The two of them circled, Cheerilee continuing to walk on two legs, her sword held loosely and pointed at the floor. She kept her easy grin going. “So, do you have a name? Are you somepony I’ve heard of?”

“I am called Erebus,” replied the zebra. “I’ve been hunting vampires for years, although I must admit this is the first time I’ve been called to Equestria for a job.”

“Working with HOOF?” Cheerilee asked.

Erebus nodded. “They pay well.”

“You know, I wanted to like you,” Cheerilee said. “Doing a noble thing, hunting monsters so kids can sleep soundly in their beds - it’s very grand. But then you go and cast your lot in with HOOF, an organization that has killed more innocent ponies than I ever have. Don’t you care about that?”

“What does it matter to a vampire?” Erebus asked. Her face was cool, but Cheerilee thought she detected a bit of irritation.

Cheerilee shrugged. “It just makes you another target for me.”

Erebus charged like lighting, bringing her weapons to bear. Cheerilee was actually caught off guard and was still moving to intercept when one of the zebra’s stakes pierced her skin and bit into her chest. The wood was under so much force that it splintered, pieces scattering beneath Cheerilee’s skin.

The zebra had put everything she had into the strike. Backing up a step to support her weight, Cheerilee caught the mare as her attack landed and for a moment the two of them stood there as if in a close dance.

Erebus took her hoof off the stake, seeing the dented but unpierced metal inside Cheerilee’s body. Slowly she raised her head, wide eyes meeting Cheerilee’s gaze.

Cheerilee leaned closer, her mouth inches from Erebus’ ear. “Do you know why you’ve never worked in Equestria before? Did you ever wonder why vampires are unheard of here? It’s because I killed them all.”

Her jaws tore into the zebra’s neck, opening the large blood vessels near the surface. Erebus jerked, but Cheerilee kept her close, so close that she couldn’t even make the appearance of struggling.

“It’s lonely, doing this kind of thing,” Cheerilee went on. “I’m sure you know how it is. Long hours, little thanks. The only satisfaction is knowing you made the world a better place.”

The only response from the other mare was to gurgle a little, her struggles weakening. Cheerilee’s smile vanished. “You had your whole career ahead of you, Erebus. You could have made a difference but you threw it away for money.”

Cheerilee now gritted her teeth in anger. “What happened to your principles? You came to Equestria to work with a terrorist group that murders children. You could have done so much better. Don’t you care about anything other than yourself?”

Erebus did not reply, her eyes still alert but not meeting Cheerilee’s gaze. Wiping her wounded chest, Cheerilee forced a reasonably-sized quantity of blood from her veins onto her hoof and shoved it towards Erebus’ face. Seeing what Cheerilee was doing, Erebus feebly tried to turn her head away but Cheerilee forced the zebra’s mouth open and made sure she swallowed some blood.

Pushing back, Cheerilee threw Erebus to the floor. The zebra’s face had gone from panic to horror, her hooves pawing at her bloody mouth as she lay spasming on the ground. Cheerilee raised a hoof and mentally forced her own, extracted blood into the mare’s system, into every blood vessel and capillary.

With a twist of Cheerilee’s hoof in the air, Erebus convulsed in pain. Cheerilee’s blood tore through the zebra’s body, rupturing cells and arteries from the inside out. Not even bone was safe from the malignant blood coursing through Erebus’ system. Her mouth flew open and she got a few seconds of scream out before every drop of foreign blood in her veins burst forth, rending her entire body to a great explosion of red gore, spattering bits here and there all over the walls, floor, ceiling, the two remaining HOOF members, and Cheerilee herself.

A crimson, misty cloud hung in the air for a moment before beginning to condense in drops on the floor. Small rivulets began to make their way back towards Cheerilee. She glowered at the mess, still angry.

The buffalo started to move but she threw her sword, the tip penetrating his chest horizontally and burying the entire length of the blade inside his body. He fell straight down and didn’t move.

The unicorn quivered in the corner as Cheerilee approached, too petrified to even try a spell. He tried to speak, his words just barely intelligible. “Y-you’re just gonna t-torture me and let me live, r-right?”

“I’m in no mood,” Cheerilee growled. She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a butterfly knife, tossing it on the floor in front of the stallion. She crossed her front legs in front of her chest and glared at him. “You’re going to do it to yourself.”

Perhaps I was overestimating my powers of perception. As the palace servants brought out the first course, then the second, the third, and so on, I made small talk with Bill and Legal. Well, truth be told, they did a lot more talking than I did, but that was kind of how I wanted it.

And it was all so awfully, totally boring. Legal certainly could ramble on when he got going, and most of it was about processes for various governmental procedures. Any other day I may have been able to conjure up at least a little bit of honest interest, but it was so different from what I was expecting. I guess I’m still pretty bad at setting reasonable expectations for things.

Whereas Legal was eager to talk about his job with a great sense of pride, Bill spoke calmly about himself. He apparently worked as a mid-level accountant for one of Canterlot’s financial corporations. I made sure to ask some detailed questions, though I phrased them in the most polite way I could. Rousing his suspicion wouldn’t do well for the investigation, after all.

All of my probing, all my watching, none of it bore any fruit. Bill was depressingly normal, if his story was to be believed. I couldn’t find any of the usual red flags- no heartbeat spikes for lies, no uncomfortable shifting or anything. If it weren’t for the fact that I recognized his scent from our encounter in the underground market the other day, I think I would’ve found myself unable to be suspicious of him.

All this left me with a sense of frustration as our royal dinner drew close to its conclusion. With a pang of regret, I realized I hadn’t even been able to really enjoy the exquisite cooking because of my focus on the mission. I silently mourned the loss of such an opportunity.

Oh well. I could always ask Celestia to invite me to dinner again sometime.

Now that the conversation was beginning to run dry and all the courses had been mostly consumed, I decided now would be a good time to excuse myself.

“Well, I have to say it’s been an amazing experience tonight,” I said, waiting for a lull in the conversation, “But I think it’s time for me to call it an evening. It’s been a pleasure, all of you.”

“And you as well, Golden,” Legal and his wife replied amiably. Bill nodded in agreement as well.

I then faced Princess Celestia, who gave me a nod and smile as I bowed and turned to leave. The trip out was fairly uneventful; one of the guards at the door to the dining hall escorted me to the palace gates, where a pair of armored guards offered to escort me back to my home. I politely declined, assuring them that I would be quite alright on my own and that I didn’t live too far anyway.

Truthfully, I just needed to be out of sight of any law enforcement so I could settle in to wait. The fact that Bill had managed to keep himself from giving away anything that might confirm his ties to HOOF frustrated me a little more than I would ever admit to myself. I decided that it would be a good idea to catch him and his parents coming out of the castle so I could follow them home and perhaps pick up on something interesting while they thought their guard was down.

A little part of me wondered if I was possibly going a little too far here. Another part just wanted to know for sure whether or not Bill was a terrorist.

The question would not be resolved that night, however. Just then, I saw Legal, Penny, and Bill trot out of the front gates of the palace and unfortunately for me, the trio did decide to take up the guardsponies on their offer of an escort. That meant that I’d have to evade the guards’ more effective methods of detection. At least it was dark out; our dinner had run fairly late into the evening.

I’d had a bit of experience with stealth, though, so I decided to mare up and follow through with my plan. As the little group made its way away from the palace gates, I stuck to the roofs of the buildings that they were walking past, making sure to keep my profile low enough to escape the notice of not only them but also any pegasi that might happen to fly past.

It still shocks me at times how easily ground-based pones forget about the up and down directions, especially when so many pegasi are around. I can’t imagine what life would be like to only have two dimensions. Flying makes it so easy to do just about everything, especially spy on land-bound ponies who aren’t paying attention.

In that regard, I had yet to overhear any damning evidence from my quarry. None of them noticed me following them around town, either. I guess we kind of broke even, neither of us getting any advantage. It left me feeling more than a little frustrated.

It was only about fifteen minutes by my estimation when we arrived at the Legal family residence. It was a ridiculously fancy home, a perfect fit for one of Equestria’s Senators. I frowned a bit in distaste. Fancy decorations are fine in their own right, but you can always have too much of a good thing. Remember kids, overdoing it can be just as bad as not doing it at all.

The place was a relatively large estate with gardens and everything. I say ‘relatively’ here because Canterlot real estate is so hard to come by that even the fanciest, most expensive mansions are perhaps a square acre or two at most. The gardens here were particularly well-kept, with a large hedge encompassing the edge of the property and acting as a buffer against the world outside.

The group of ponies I was tracking stopped outside the entrance to their home, sending off the guards with an appreciative wave. I looked about for another vantage point that I could use, but to no avail; there was nothing but empty space between my current spot and the mansion on the family’s land.

I frowned. I could either trespass and perhaps find something useful, or I could call it quits and go home empty-hooved. The idea of just leaving without getting what I came for left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Well, maybe that was just dinner sitting undigested in my gut. Anyway, trespassing onto their property would be a tough one to sell if I got caught. Things could go really poorly, I mean really awfully if I got caught on their property.

I caught a snippet of a sentence as the family disappeared through their hedge wall: “...stuff in the shed?”

It sounded like Legal’s voice. The idea of a shed with stuff in it ate away at my sense of curiosity; what kind of stuff would they have in the shed? Illegal weapons? HOOF members? Gardening tools? This could be the big break that I had been searching for all night. If only I could get a good look at this shed. Of course, for that I’d need to go into the mansion’s grounds.

On a gut impulse, I decided that I should follow through with it if I’d already come this far. I did a quick check of my surroundings to make sure nopony was around. Once I was satisfied that there would be no witnesses, I leapt from my perch and swooped down towards the giant hedge.

I knew that they’d have some kind of pegasus-proof security system, so flying right over the hedge was definitely out of the question. Going through the gate might be possible, but that would be less than optimal. I alighted on the ground just outside the gate, my eyes quickly scanning for any sign of an alarm or other defense mechanism. All that I could see was a basic burglary protection rig; if the gate was opened without entering a passcode, it would trigger.

I was deciding whether or not to try and look for another way in when, to my great surprise and chagrin, the gate opened right in front of me. In the split second I had to act, I debated between diving into the hedge to hide or trying to pass off my presence in some way. Seeing as how I didn’t really have a good cover story this time, I poured on every ounce of vampire speed that I could, rushing into the greenery and doing my best to keep silent as a grave.

Unfortunately for me, the darn thing was a spikey hedge wall. The sharp little thorns caught on the dress I was wearing caught and also bit into my skin, keeping me from getting into cover. That left me entangled and out in the open as the pony on the other side of the hedge stepped through the gate.

Bill froze for a moment as he saw me stuck in the shrubbery surrounding his house. I saw his eyebrows furrow in confusion; all I could think to do in response was blush and smile sheepishly, hoping it might appease him for the moment. He began to trot slowly towards me.

“Golden? What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Me? Um, nothing important. You?” I said. As soon as the words left my mouth I visibly cringed, knowing how bad that sounded. My normally quick mind was unable to come up with anything better, addled as it was from the sheer panic that I was feeling from being caught.

Fortunately for me, Bill seemed to take it well and chuckled as he came closer. “Nothing, huh? That must be a pretty important nothing for you to follow us all the way from the castle, especially if you didn’t want us to know you were there.” Although outwardly he was being nothing but courteous, I caught a bit of an accusatory undertone to his speech. He wanted an explanation for my presence and wasn’t going to take “nothing” for an answer.

“Yeah, that would have to be a pretty important nothing, wouldn’t it?” At this point, I was just stalling for time, hoping I could come up with something believable.

Bill finally stopped just in front of me, and with a glow from his horn, he began to unstick my dress from the thorns in the hedge wall. I fidgeted a little bit, but did my best to keep still. I didn’t want to let on that I was hurt, as he might make more of a big deal out of that, and so I kept my blood from leaking out of the few little scratches I’d gotten from the spikes.

“There, all unstuck,” said Bill. “Are you alright, Golden?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine, thanks,” I said, shuffling in place a little bit. Why couldn’t I come up with anything to say?

“So, what are you doing here? You didn’t just come all this way just to see me, did you?”

“Um… well-” I stopped mid-sentence as a plan finally came to me. The idea was so genius, but at the same time so uncomfortable that I wasn’t sure if I should go through with it. Bill’s expectant expression forced my hoof, though.

“Yeah, I did, actually.” I made sure to blush extra red and look as awkward as I could, not making direct eye contact.

“You did?” Bill asked, clearly not expecting that answer. That meant I’d put him off his guard, at least for a moment, and I had to capitalize on it.

“I just thought maybe I could have another little chat with you. It was nice, listening to you at dinner. I thought maybe we could, um, have dinner again sometime?”

He clearly had trouble hiding his surprise. I could see it all over his expression.

“But if you don’t want to,” I said hastily, “I would definitely understand, I mean I know this is kind of sudden and all-”

“No, no, I wouldn’t mind, it’s just-”

“You will?” I interrupted him. “Oh, that’s just perfect! When are you available?”

“Er, I suppose the day after tomorrow would be alright? Golden, slow down a moment. Aren’t you a little young to be dating a stallion my age?”

“I’m a little bit older than I look,” I said, grimacing inwardly as the irony of that statement was not lost on me.

“Well, alright. If you really want to, I suppose it’s fine. I can honestly say I’m a little surprised, and flattered, I guess. Where would you like to go? My treat.”

“Nothing too expensive. There’s a little diner on the corner of Twilight Boulevard and Friendship Avenue that makes some really good food. How does that sound?”

“That sounds lovely. Is six o’clock alright for you, the day after tomorow?”

“It’s perfect!” I smiled, more out of relief than anything.

Treasury Bill grinned as well. “Then I guess I’ll see you there. I need to get back to my parents, though, they’re expecting me. See you, Golden!”

“See you,” I said, waving a few times as I lifted off into the air. I flew back to my apartment at a leisurely pace, not wanting to arouse his suspicion if he happened to be watching.

The skies were almost completely empty at this time of night, which left me alone with my thoughts. I didn’t feel like thinking about those, though, so I just hummed the tune to one of my favorite songs. The fact that I’d wasted one of Princess Celestia’s evenings in a vain search for evidence was bad enough. Going and getting caught while snooping just made it all worse, to say nothing of how I got myself out of it.

I might have been humming that song a little too loudly, in retrospect.

When I landed at my apartment, I noticed that there was a small bag hanging on my doorknob. There wasn’t a whole lot that stood out about it, so I took a quick peek inside. I gasped; inside was my scarf, clean as a whistle and neatly folded. I quickly twirled it around my neck, a note falling to the ground as I did so. Curious, I picked it up and read it.

Golden,

You forgot to take this with you when you left.

-P.C.

P.S. Have fun on your date! ;-)

10: Sweep You Off Your Hooves

It was a remarkably slow night. Cheerilee didn’t mind in the slightest. While she wasn’t doing anything productive about HOOF, another evening of quiet rest was looking good.

Golden was off on her date with Treasury Bill. If he really was who she thought, then perhaps they would gain valuable information to set up another attack on HOOF. Until then, Cheerilee sat on her couch and watched TV.

The news had been focusing more and more coverage on Smiley. There was now more speculation and attention surrounding the mysterious figure than there was for HOOF, a situation Cheerilee did not mind one bit. If they didn’t get the attention they needed to spread their message, HOOF was much less effective.

Cheerilee sat in her apartment watching a segment from early evening edition of Equestria News Express. It was a report on the latest HOOF member to land in the hospital. The news anchor stated that he was the sole survivor of an attack by Smiley, but not before she’d forced him to cut himself with a knife.

Not being a narcissist, Cheerilee got up and was about to turn off the television when a “Breaking News” banner flashed across the bottom of the screen and the picture changed to another pony. “Ladies and gentlecolts, we’ve just received news of a new video put out by HOOF. This was posted online moments ago.”

A low quality video was displayed on the screen. A group of blindfolded ponies were slumped on the floor, masked HOOF members covering them with weapons.

A voiceover began. “This is an official communication from the Hegemony of Organized Friends. Down with the diarchy and down with tyranny! This video is directed at Smiley. You say that you are virtuous even as you slay our fellows. The time has come to see how pure you really are.

“We have twenty hostages. We will kill one for every hour that you do not show up and surrender to us. Do not keep us waiting.

“Down with tyranny!”

Cheerilee was already calling Princess Luna before the video ended. The sun was still up, but this was a situation in which the Night Princess wouldn’t mind being awoken early.

Luna was already awake, however, apparently being briefed on the video by one of her advisors. It wasn’t often that Cheerilee got to see part of the bigger structure of Luna’s organization, but she understood that it required ponies of all roles for it to function. And her part to play was at the end of the chain, the final link.

After being briefed on the situation Luna turned to Cheerilee, her grim look carrying through the mirror. “We’ve managed to locate their transmit location, although it wasn’t too difficult. They’ve obviously set up a trap for you, but unfortunately we can’t afford to ignore this bait. We can’t put together a Guard force quickly enough to respond before hostages die. You’ll be going in blind and without any idea of the situation.”

Cheerilee nodded seriously. “I understand, Princess. I’ll do my best.”

“I’ll send you the location. We’ll contact Golden and get her on the scene as quickly as possible, as well as any other help that we can muster.” Luna’s face changed, her commanding attitude slipping just a bit to show concern. “Good luck, Cheerilee.”

Signing off, Cheerilee grabbed for her long leather coat but paused. If HOOF had set this up, then they would be expecting her. She hesitated, and then grabbed for a light jacket just long enough to cover her cutie mark. It was barely enough to cover the sword strapped to her back.

Armed and ready, Cheerilee glanced at the address that popped up on her secure phone and headed out. She trotted quickly but attempted to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

The walk took a few dozen minutes, but Cheerilee was trying to time her arrival carefully. She knew that not all HOOF members were cold enough to murder a captive, and that would increase tension and nervousness in them the closer it got to the first hourly killing. She was going to try to use that to her advantage.

Cheerilee arrived on the correct block and kept walking, staring straight ahead as if in a hurry to be somewhere else. This district was full of closed office buildings that were being replaced by more modern structures. The old buildings were generally made of sturdy brick and most had their windows boarded. It seemed like they were being used for storage, if anything.

There was a buzzing noise like the engine of a small generator coming from the target building. It blanked out any sound of speech, breathing, or heartbeats Cheerilee might have picked up.

She walked the length of the building’s wall, passing the front door. Turning the corner, Cheerilee headed down the other side of the building. Coming close to the last window, she tensed imperceptibly, and then launched herself straight through the boards that blocked the opening.

There was a metal grate behind the wood, but it gave way as Cheerilee’s body crashed through it. She hit the floor and came up with a roll, drawing her sword and slicing through a pony stationed in the room. There was a weapon in his grip and Cheerilee grabbed it as he hit the floor.

Raising the gun, Cheerilee charged into the next room. There was a large pile of scrap metal on the floor and her back hooves danced over it as she aimed and fired, hitting a pony and a zebra that were stationed next to the door.

With an instant to assess the situation before continuing, Cheerilee gave the room a once-over, still wondering about the scrap metal. She looked up.

Fixed to the ceiling was a large disk of metal, larger in diameter than Cheerilee was tall. There was a hum in the air and suddenly she, her sword, the gun she’d picked up, and all the pieces of scrap were yanked towards the ceiling with an irresistible force.

Cheerilee hit hard, and braced as the chunks of metal slammed into her. She realized instantly what must have happened. It was an electromagnet. HOOF had apparently learned well about how to counter her internal armor. The scrap must have been there to hold her down, for extra insurance.

Naturally, Cheerilee struggled to get free. There was no way she could lift her body away from the magnetic attraction, but her limbs and head - not being armored liker her torso - were not affected. However, she could only struggle slightly against the pieces of scrap covering her. Some of them were sharp and she could feel multiple injuries spread all over her body.

“Get her down! Where’s the kevlar net? Quick, wrap her up!”

Members of HOOF scurried around the room, clearly having planned their trap in advance. After learning of Cheerilee’s implanted armor, they had managed to adapt to a new way of countering her. It was really quite impressive, although in her suspended position, Cheerilee wasn’t about to acknowledge that.

She growled in frustration, putting forth extra vocal effort to make herself heard. Several of the more nervous terrorists actually froze, but shouts from their seniors spurred them to keep working. The beast wasn’t going anywhere.

They got the electromagnet down from the ceiling and reinforced the magnetism with a strong net. A unicorn gingerly placed a hood over Cheerilee’s face with his magic, although she put up a fight. Had anypony decided to put on the hood by hoof and gotten close enough to do so, she would have gladly removed said hoof.

With her vision obscured, Cheerilee had to rely on her other senses to maintain awareness of the situation. While she couldn’t get free at the moment, Cheerilee was willing to jump at any opportunity that presented itself.

They took her outside and loaded her, magnet and all, into a truck. The generator that provided the electricity to run the electromagnetism was also loaded into the truck.

Cheerilee hoped that Luna had been able to get other assets to the area, if nothing else to observe the vehicle leaving. She now regretted not getting a tracking device implanted along with the armor. But then, who would have expected that she would need it?

Despite her long service, Cheerilee had rarely encountered a problem she couldn’t overcome. She had never been in quite such a predicament as this, and it was not easy to stay calm. Not only was she Princess Luna’s own servant, but Smiley was not supposed to be vulnerable to anything. You wouldn’t be afraid of something that you could capture.

Cheerilee gritted her teeth and put the overarching mission aside for the moment, focusing on how to get free. She forced herself to concentrate, knowing that small details could make all the difference. The truck began to move and Cheerilee got an idea of the direction it took. Based on the times it stopped at corners and the overall speed, she speculated that it might have traveled sixteen or twenty blocks before coming to rest at another building.

The back door of the truck opened and Cheerilee was hauled out. The generator was still running and she remained quite stuck to the big magnet. The were the sounds of hooves of various sizes and types moving around. Some large piece of cloth rippled through the air. Cheerilee wondered if somepony was hanging a flag.

“Here, set up the camera. Are we almost ready?”

Camera? Cheerilee grimaced. That probably meant they were probably going to shoot a propaganda video featuring a special guest - her.

Cheerilee still felt movement, even as the sound of the generator got further away. Perhaps they were stretching out the power cord, trying to separate the noise of the engine from the camera’s microphone. Cheerilee wondered how far the cord might stretch.

She and the magnet were brought to a halt, probably in the center of a large room based on the echoes. Before anypony got too comfortable, Cheerilee lunged against everything that held her down, throwing her weight away from the sound of the generator.

The magnet tipped, falling over as everypony in the room shouted and scrambled away. Cheerilee landed heavily, the weight of all her restraints shoving her into the hard floor. It hurt, but the worst part of her little stunt was that she didn’t fall far enough to unplug the power cord.

There was silence for a moment until the terrorists started to return. If her face wasn’t mashed into the concrete, Cheerilee would have smirked at calling them that. Despite being held down, her little campaign had thrown enough lasting fear into them that they were still hesitant to approach.

Cheerilee was stood up again and the hood was removed. She saw a few HOOF flags around the room, along with several masked ponies standing between her and a camera.

None of them appeared to be Treasury Bill, and Cheerilee decided that wasn’t good news. If he wasn’t here, then he was probably with Golden, which might indicate that she wasn’t coming either.

The red light on the front of the camera came on. One of the terrorists started to speak.

“Citizens of Equestria, today we have struck a great blow for justice. We have captured the pony known as Smiley. She is a mass murderer. She has impudently terrorized this city with nopony to stop her. And above all, she works for the Princesses! They are the ones behind this!”

Cheerilee knew that Luna didn’t keep written records. Hard proof of her association simply did not exist. However, if HOOF screamed about it loudly enough, somepony might actually believe them.

She kept her head down and out of sight of the camera, knowing her roughened mane would help disguise her appearance. The metal scrap still clinging everywhere didn’t hurt, either.

The speaker for HOOF continued. “Now that we have Smiley in our grasp, we will make sure that she can never harm anypony again. We are doing what the police could not. Fellow citizens, we are going to put this monster to death for her crimes.”

With her vitals safely encased in a few layers of steel, Cheerilee felt secure in the knowledge that killing her wouldn’t be easy. As vampires were so rare, there hadn’t been many studies done on other ways to kill them. Odds were that HOOF had no other clue than “stake to the heart.”

But then, while the camera still rolled, one of the unicorns picked up a chainsaw. He started it, revving the engine.

The members of HOOF crowded around, eager to see Smiley taken care of once and for all.

After I’d cleaned up from my dinner with the princess, I took a quick nap to rest my mind. By quick nap, I of course mean that I slept for hours and hours. I needed it.

At least I felt fresh and ready for work the next morning. I was up front that day, so the time rushed by in a blur of names, faces, and jewelry sales like it is wont to do. That evening I debated how best to prepare myself for my date with Treasury Bill the next day, but I couldn’t decide on a solid course of action. Should I expect things to get crazy? Or was it going to be just another frustrating exercise in fruitless searching?

I never did decide on what to do. I ended up just going out for a fly, which did a lot more for my nerves than I thought it would. While I was out the thought struck me that perhaps I was overthinking this, and that I should just go into it like I would anything else.

That was a good idea, in retrospect. I went to bed that evening after doing some reading on the internet, both informative and relaxing. I hadn’t realized how stressed I was getting about this. I knew when I had come up with the plan that it would allow me a chance to get deep into the woodworks of HOOF; what made me nervous was that I’d never done something so undercover before, especially not on my own.

The day of our date came, and things flew by. I couldn’t take my mind off of it, even though I didn’t really feel anxious. It was just one of those exciting things, you know? They just loom over you in the not-so-distant future like an iceberg in front of a ship. Except they don’t always end as badly as that kind of situation would.

I got home from work and set about getting ready to go out. It was fun to just kind of play around with makeup and stuff, and I might have enjoyed it a little more than I should have. It’s the little things that make a difference. Besides just accessorizing and all that girly stuff, though, I also did a few more practical things, one of them involving my stomach some industrial acid that I’d gotten from Cheerilee. It was far easier than tacking a bag in my throat.

One last look in the mirror left me satisfied with my appearance, so I twirled my scarf about my neck and set off for the restaurant. Despite what I’d told Bill, I’d never actually been there myself, only passed it occasionally to and from other places. It had been the first place to come to my mind when asked, and only because I’d heard such glowing reviews of it from a neighbor of mine recently.

I alighted on the rooftop of the restaurant, which was much more than just a plain roof. It had been designed to maximize the space available, since the building itself had very limited space to work with. As such, it served as something of an outdoor patio, with an array of fancy dining tables and chairs set up at various points on the rooftop. Not only that, but it made the place extra pegasus-friendly, as we fliers didn’t have to stop down at the ground floor if we had a table reserved on the roof.

Which Bill did, of course. Such a gentlecolt. I was a little flattered, actually; he’d put some thought into this. If he weren’t a terrorist, I would have felt bad about leading him on like this. But I guess that would have to an issue for another time, as Bill waved at me from our table in the corner spot.

I touched down next to him gently, to avoid disturbing the other customers eating nearby. He smiled and stood up from his seat to greet me.

"Golden, you're right on time. Here, have a seat," he said as he pulled out my chair for me with his magic. While I was settling in, I saw Bill pull out his phone and turn it off. He glanced over at me, and I got the distinct feeling that he wanted me to do the same.

I frowned inwardly; if I turned off my phone, Luna and Cheerilee wouldn't be able to contact me in case of emergency. On the other hoof, leaving my phone on would be antagonistic towards Bill. I considered both options for a quick moment, and ultimately decided that it would be better to make a good first impression with Bill. And really, what were the odds that Cheerilee wouldn't be able to handle any emergencies on her own?

That in mind, I pulled out my own smartphone and powered it off. I caught the barest hint of a grin on Bill's face, and I wondered if I may have made the wrong decision. Or, perhaps I was just being paranoid and Bill simply appreciated that I put our date before everything else.

The waitress that came to our table was a pegasus that looked to be in her early twenties, probably fresh out of college and looking for decent employment. I had to give her some credit, though, she did a good job of being bright and cheery.

"What can I get for you two today?" she asked.

Bill looked over at me questioningly, silently asking if I would like to order first.

"I think I'll have the house special.” I said.

“That sounds good,” said Bill, “I’ll have it as well.”

“Alright, it will be ready in just a moment.” The waitress smiled and walked off.

I decided to take a quick glance around the restaurant before we got too far into a conversation. There was a smattering of ponies eating up here on the roof with us, most of them pegasi like me. Not much else stuck out, so I turned my attention back to my date.

“So, Golden, what’s new?” asked Bill.

“Not a whole lot, actually,” I said, being close to truthful. “Work at the store has been mostly the same. We did get this one giant emerald shipped in that’s quite gorgeous, but nothing to make the headlines. We’ve been working on polishing it today and yesterday, and it’s looking really good.”

“How much do those usually sell for? I’d imagine it’s a good amount.”

“Stones at this level of quality can fetch hundreds of bits, thousands even, if you polish it right and find a good buyer.”

Bill whistled in appreciation. “That is a lot, especially nowadays.”

I chuckled a bit. “Yeah, gemstones used to be reasonably priced, but with the inflation spikes they’ve gotten a little pricier.”

At that, I noticed Bill get a curious look on his face. “I know it’s a little rude, but now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever did find out how old you are, Golden.”

I feigned indignance with a smirk on my face. “Well, I never! Asking a lady her age. You should be ashamed of yourself, sir.”

“Yes, yes, pardon me, madam, it was terribly impolite and I shall never do it again.” I heard the sarcastic, if good-natured, tone in his voice and sighed inwardly with relief. That was a bullet dodged.

“Good.” I sniffed, laughing a little. “Though if you really must know, I’m twenty-two.” I caught a brief flash of surprise in his expression, as though he didn’t think I could really be that old. If only he knew how old I really was.

Our conversation paused at that moment, the waitress having returned with our food. It looked like the special today was a golden-brown calzone, cooked to near perfection and stuffed full of delicious flowers and vegetables. On the side was a lovely-looking tossed salad.

I nodded appreciatively to the waitress, then settled a bit deeper into my chair to get more comfortable. Bill and I both took a few bites of of our calzones, him probably to satisfy his hunger and me to keep up appearances.

As I chewed, I began to plan out a few pathways for how I might steer the conversation. Covert interrogation is about getting things out of ponies without them suspecting. I had to form a plan to steer the conversation towards topics I wanted to discuss, and then figure out how to naturally spiral back out so Bill wouldn’t realize what I was focusing on, all the while persuading him to keep talking. It’s like chess and gossip rolled into one.

With a start, I realized that he’d been keeping the conversation on me so far. I was supposed to get information out of him, not the other way around! I began to wonder if he was simply curious about the mare he was on a date with, or if he suspected my true nature after all. I’d have to be a bit more careful when talking to him.

“Something wrong, Golden? Does your calzone taste alright?” asked Bill, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Yes, it’s quite good, actually. I was just thinking a bit, and I’m a little confused,” I said. This was a great opportunity to get into topics that favored my intelligence-gathering. “When we had dinner the other night with the princess, you were such a nice family together, and it’s really different from the stereotypes we see in the news. I guess it’s just a little odd seeing something so… normal, I guess.”

Bill laughed a bit at that, and I appropriately furrowed my brow in befuddlement. “I’m a little surprised,” he said, “You looked so deep in thought that I figured it would be something serious, like maybe I had a bit of sauce on my nose or something.” I giggled a bit, and Bill got an indignant and entirely un-serious look on his face. “What? Having a smudge of sauce on my nose would be a crime! A shame! I’d rather die, I think.”

He took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. “On a more serious note, though, I do wonder about that sometimes. I grew up with two loving parents and not a care in the world, something that’s unfortunately not common enough these days. My dad does what he thinks is best for the Equestrian populace, but sometimes it’s not enough. There are still those who are hungry, homeless, and oppressed. When everything that my father did fell short, my mother and I would pick up the slack. So in that regard, I guess you could say that we are a little bit different from the norm.”

Another bite, more chewing. “How about you, Golden? What are your parents like?”

“My parents are a lot alike, and we had a pretty good relationship while I was growing up. Ever since I was little, I always wanted to be just like my mom. Now that I work in jewelry, I’m getting a bit closer to being like her, but I still have a ways to go.” This was mostly untrue; I just had a cover story that I used for my identity. In actuality, I didn’t remember much about my real parents- I was still in high school when I was turned and the decade after that was mostly lost, along with my grip on reality. I usually avoided thinking about those years, and especially dredging up the vague memories I still possessed about my parents. If they knew what had become of me…

“What about you, Bill?” I asked. “Have you ever considered going into government like your dad?”

“When I was little, I thought about how cool it would be to work in the Equestrian government. As I grew up, I saw more of it, and the more I saw the less I liked it.” He smiled in self-abasement. “It took me a while to realize that if I wanted to be like my dad, I couldn’t do it in the government. Too cumbersome for me.”

I cocked my eyebrows in curiosity. “Oh? Is it the red tape?”

“You might say that. Everything is tied down by paperwork and pettiness. It’s frustrating, when I could accomplish the same amount of good on my own in half the time.”

“What kind of stuff would that be?”

“Mostly just the little things, you know? Keeping community buildings and infrastructure maintained, making sure the streets are safe for the citizens, that kind of business.”

“What, are you a superhero in disguise or something?” I said, a smile tugging upward at my lips.

“No, nothing so dramatic,” said Bill, laughing with me on that one. He grinned and waved a hoof. “I’m only a ninja.”

Both of us paused for a moment to take a few more bites of our dinner.

“So, Mr. Ninja, what do you think of the whole HOOF vs. Smiley thing? I’ve seen a bunch about it in the news, but I never really had the chance to look into it. Your dad is a Senator, so you and he probably know a lot about that, right? What’s the real deal here?”

That certainly got a response from Bill. I sensed his heart rate spike a bit, and his posture shifted to a slightly more assertive stance.

“Well, first let me say that any rumors of Smiley working for the government are unfounded. There’s no evidence there.” I got the distinct feeling that he didn’t really believe that to be true. “Second, I think HOOF does have some legitimate points. They go about change all wrong, though. It seems like they always want things to be now, now, now! And they’re willing to do terrible things to achieve their ends. Smiley isn’t any better, either, just killing HOOF members in reaction to what they do to civilians. In the end, it’s lose-lose for both of them, I think.”

I nodded as if what he’d said was sage wisdom that was new to me. Internally, I was excited- our suspicions were so close to being confirmed, at long last.

“What's the deal with Smiley? I mean, killing terrorists sounds like a good idea, but why? Does anypony know?”

“Some ponies suspect that the government sanctioned her as some kind of agent in order to crush HOOF. Like I said, though, there isn’t any real proof on that either way, so I’m inclined to rule it out.” If I’d had any doubt before that Bill did indeed believe Smiley worked for the Princesses, it was gone now. It was clear from the undercurrent of bitterness in his voice.

“More likely,” Bill continued his voice growing harder, “is that Smiley just doesn’t like the things that HOOF does. Her response is extreme, though, enough that I wonder if she’s trying to use HOOF’s own terror tactics against them.”

I made as though to ask another question, but he held up a hoof. His mouth opened, but he struggled to form his thoughts into words. He eventually went with a defeated shake of his head. “Sorry, this topic is a little frustrating for me. Pardon me for a moment, but I need to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.”

He got up and turned away. I kept myself from smiling. This was exactly what I’d needed to arrive at reasonable suspicion. I took another huge bite from my dwindling calzone and pulled out my phone for a quick check while he was gone. Once powered up, it immediately began flooding with notifications and message alerts. I frowned; not many ponies had this number.

That sinking feeling in my stomach only got worse as I saw that every text, notification, and call came from Luna. Anxiously, I began scanning through the messages, and my heart stopped for a brief second. There was a hostage crisis? Of course it would happen while I was busy, and while I just happened to have my phone off. At least Cheerilee was on the case. She should be able to handle it well enough until I could stop in and help clean up.

As I got near the end of the notifications, however, my anxiety began to ramp up as Princess Luna’s tone appeared to change from commanding to worried. Something had happened to Cheerilee. The last message was a link to a video. It was HOOF propaganda.

The video was hasty filmwork from inside some sort of industrial building. HOOF banners hung from the back walls masked terrorists were present. My eyes were fixed, however, on the splayed figure in the center. I could tell at a glance that it was Cheerilee. What could have happened?

The quiet audio from the phone clued me in. Now that we have Smiley in our grasp, we will make sure that she can never harm anypony again. We are doing what the police could not. Fellow citizens, we are going to put this monster to death for her crimes.

A unicorn picked up a chainsaw and started the engine. He advanced on Cheerilee and sank the roaring blade into her neck. I stuffed a hoof into my mouth to keep from crying out as blood, bone, and gore went everywhere.

11: Head in the Clouds

I sat completely still, shock paralyzing my muscles. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a few moments. In the video, Cheerilee’s head rolled off of her shoulders with a wet plop and splash of blood, her body spasming a bit against the magnet and scrap metal. I realized I’d bitten down on my hoof hard enough to draw blood, but didn’t particularly care. It would heal.

Cheerilee… she might not.

You’d think that being a vampire for so long, I’d know about how to kill one. Luna kept a file on us, but to be honest her information wasn’t very complete, either. Given that vampires tend to be a rarer breed, there hadn’t been much chance to experiment on different ways to kill them.

Anxiety tried to overtake me. It was only through dedicated training that I was able to keep myself reasonably composed. I had to find a way to end my date with Bill as quickly as I could. I was confident that he was in fact a terrorist, so I wasn’t hesitant to break things off with him. After that I’d have to find a way to locate Cheerilee and get her back together.

Because I wasn’t going to settle for anything less. I couldn’t. Not after everything she’d done for me.

Considering the game was up, I didn’t have to pretend that I was actually interested in Bill or our date anymore. I decided to confront him and perhaps I could get the information I needed out of him. I stood up, leaving money with my unfinished dinner, and headed towards the bathrooms where Bill had gone. I cast a quick glance around to make sure nopony was looking, then slipped into the stallions’ restroom.

Inside it was rather empty, considering it was a busy time for the restaurant, with the only two occupants currently being myself and Bill. The stallion in question was standing in front of the mirror. I saw his horn glowing; he was in the middle of casting a spell, and didn’t appear to have noticed me just yet.

What caught me, though was his cutie mark. With a start, I realized I’d never noticed what it was before, nor asked about it or anything. His mark was a figure of a pony pointing with determination, as if a charge to battle. As he finished casting the spell, though, I found myself unable and unwilling to really look at his flank or pay attention to the symbol.

“A compulsion spell?” I said.

Bill calmly looked over at me. “Ah, Golden, I wasn’t expecting you to be in the stallions’ restroom.”

“I wasn’t either, but I just happened to catch wind of a certain video that made news a few minutes ago. It would seem that Smiley’s been relieved of her head. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Are you implying something?”

“Yeah, I am. Are you going to tell me what I want to know?”

“Nope.” Bill grinned, challenging me.

“Then I’m placing you under arrest. Come quietly and things don’t have to get messy. Because if you don’t come with me, they definitely will.” I took a few menacing steps towards him, my frustration and anxiety leaking into my demeanor now that I didn’t have to restrain myself. Every moment I didn’t have Cheerilee’s location was another moment that she could be permanently gone.

“I’m sorry, Golden, but I can’t do that. I have important appointments to be at. Maybe we can settle this another time?”

I just glared at him and coiled my muscles in preparation for lunging at him. He sighed at me and tutted, only sparking my anger. I leaped at him, only for him to disappear in a flash of magic. Only a fraction of a second later, I felt a powerful strike hit me right between my shoulder blades, and immediately my body spasmed with pain.

Suddenly unable to force my muscles to move, I collapsed to the ground. I could only listen as Bill landed gracefully on the ground behind me and trotted around to my front where I could see him, a displeased look on his face.

“I’d hoped I could show you what our movement is really about, maybe even convince you to forget your allegiance to the tyrants in the Palace. You were actually pretty nice when you were being genuine, it would have been good to get to know you. If only you’d picked the right side, Golden. If only, if only.”

He reached into one of his pockets, and I saw he had pulled a wooden stake from within. My insides turned to ice. He was going to end it. I was going to die here. Cheerilee couldn’t save me. I couldn’t even save her! Not when she was counting on me the most, I couldn’t save her.

I wanted to close my eyes, but my muscles remained frozen. Bill looked down at me with almost pity in his expression.

“I’m sorry it came to this, Golden.”

He raised the stake, ready to plunge it into my heart and kill me.

“Freeze!”

The door to the restroom burst in, and from the heavy sound of steps I knew there must be five or so ponies dressed in full combat armor rushing into the small space. I couldn’t see them, but I did notice Bill’s eyes quickly scan the newcomers before locking back onto me. He smiled grimly.

“Until next time, Golden.” Bill blew me a kiss and leapt backwards, phasing through the wall behind him like it wasn’t even there.

The other ponies approached me cautiously, if a bit quickly as well, and I felt a hoof nudge me experimentally. I was able grunt to let them know I was still alive and kicking, though my body was still recovering from the vicious strike Bill had landed on my back. How he’d managed to do that escaped me, though I’d wager it was probably something to do with pressure points. I didn’t know vampires still had those. Huh.

“What happened here? Are you alright?” said one of the ponies, a mare from the sound of her voice.

“Para… p-par… lyzed…” I said. My muscles were coming back under my control once more, though still a little shaky. I shuddered to think for how long I’d be paralyzed if I didn’t have vampire regeneration to help me.

“He paralyzed you? Is that what you’re saying? How much of you is paralyzed?”

I shifted as much as I could with every muscle in my body, managing to roll onto my stomach and get my legs under me for stability. My head and neck were mostly back to normal, so I was finally able to have a proper look at the soldiers. They all wore black armor and helmets, visors concealing the top half of their faces. What struck me most was the tufts of hair on their ears and the bat wings at their sides.

“I think it was just a temporary thing, he hit one of my pressure points.” I made sure to keep fidgeting my body as much as I could, so that it would warm up a bit faster.

The mare in front nodded. “Can you move? Princess Luna needs to speak to you post haste.”

“Yes, though I can talk to her from here just fine,” I said, sliding out my cell phone from under my wing. I could tell that the lead mare didn’t like that.

“Well, alright. The number for her private line is-”

“I know what it is,” I said. Maybe it was the frustration from earlier, but I just didn’t have the patience for this mare to baby me at the moment. “I work for the Princess too, you know.” I flashed my fangs at her in a facsimile of a smile.

The Night Guard mare smiled in return, revealing her own fangs. “I didn’t know that Princess Luna had sent any guards undercover in this part of the city.”

“That would defeat the purpose of ‘undercover’, wouldn’t it?”

The bat-winged mare shrugged. “Whatever. The Princess just sent us to ensure you were still responsive. There was some serious business going down at HQ. I hope you’re not in trouble or anything.”

“No, I just have a job to do, and quickly.” I rose to my legs, stretching a bit to get the last bit of shakiness out of them. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get going.” I made to leave the bathroom and the Night Guards parted to let me through, following me shortly after.

I ignored the stares from some of the other customers and immediately left the restaurant, having already paid for dinner. My wings only gave me a brief hiccup as I launched into the cool evening air, and once I’d checked around for anypony that might be listening in or following me, I dialed Luna’s number.

“This had better be important!” snapped a voice on the line, one I recognized as the Princess’.

“Princess, this is Golden Ring checking in. I was held up during the recon on Treasury Bill. What’s going on with Cheerilee?”

“There you are, Golden! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all night, what happened? No, never mind, it’s not important. Listen, Cheerilee was captured by HOOF; they used an electromagnet to pin her down using the armor you inserted. We weren’t able to follow them when they moved her location; we’ll need you to interrogate a target and find out where she was decapitated.

“The target is one ‘Aepyceros’, a black-market trader. We’ve tracked her phone to Fifth Street, where we lost the signal. We suspect she went underground.”

“I know who you’re talking about,” I said. “I’ve encountered her in that area before.”

“Very well then. Find her, and do whatever it takes to get the location out of her. Time is critical. Am I clear?”

“Crystal,” I said.

“Good. Now get going!”

The line went dead with a click.

I wasted no time in stowing my phone away and speeding off towards the black market I’d visited before. I paid only a cursory attention to my surroundings, just enough to avoid any other air traffic. There wasn’t much at this hour, fortunately, so my flight was a furious beeline towards Fifth Street.

I lined up my path so that I would be able to do a tight deceleration turn right into the subway entrance that led to the markets. With barely a sound I banked hard to the side and flared my wings, drastically slowing my speed and veering towards the dilapidated stairway leading to the underground. The stress on my wings was harsh, but I didn’t let myself focus on that. They’d heal any damages soon enough anyway.

The dark, winding path through the tunnels proved too treacherous for me at high speeds, what with the random protruding railroad ties and other debris, so I slowed down once again to simply a fast pace. My night vision helped greatly; I was sure that I’d be forced to walk without it.

It took little less than a minute to make my way through the tunnels. When I at last arrived back at the grungy group of ragtag shacks that passed for a black market, I was struck by how empty the place was. Only one pony that I could see was out and about, and when I focused on her, I grimaced.

It was my target, Aepyceros. The name was foreign; I supposed that she’d probably been born abroad. More pressing, though, was the memory of what Luna had told me to do.

Do whatever it takes to get the location out of her.

My gut twinged uneasily. I’d always let Cheerilee take care of interrogations; I didn’t trust myself to be able to keep from going monstrous on the subject. Now that my teacher was counting on me, I had no choice in the matter. It was get the information or… or else.

I set my face in a determined frown. I wouldn’t let her down.

The target didn’t even hear me coming. I swooped down and snatched her up before anypony noticed, covering her mouth to keep her quiet. She struggled and flailed about, but my vice grip was strong enough to hold her. I took her farther into the tunnels, where no residue light shone from anywhere; we were left completely in the dark.

“No sudden moves, no loud noises, and you might live,” I said, my voice a harsh whisper. I dropped her unceremoniously to the ground, landing on top of her and pinning her to the ground. “There are just a few questions I need answered. Nod once if you plan on cooperating.”

She nodded.

“Good. Where has HOOF taken Smiley to be executed?”

“It’s in downtown Canterlot, in one of the poor districts. I don’t know the exact address, but I know it’s an abandoned McPony’s.”

Some of the adrenaline I’d been feeling drained off at that. I’d been expecting a long, torturous interrogation session, but this? Too easy.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You don’t, really. I assume you’re one of the government’s agents, right? I was getting ready to turn myself in when you came.”

I balked at that. “That’s a load of horseapples!”

“Say what you will, but when I saw that video of Smiley getting beheaded, I knew I’d had enough of HOOF’s butchery. There’s only so much I’m willing to do for money, and they’ve crossed the line now.”

“What did you do for HOOF, then?”

“I was a smuggler; I ran just about everything that could be labeled illegal across the borders.”

“Why confess all this to me?”

“Why not? I’m an old mare now, I’m tired of all this action and crap. I need to come clean, you know?”

I frowned. I hadn’t really sensed any duplicity from her yet, but I had a hard time believing her story. A sigh from her attracted my attention again.

“Look, if it makes you feel any better, you can have a look through my phone,” she said. “There might be a picture of the place in there.”

“I will. Just slide it forward slowly, so I can pick it up.” She did so, and I grabbed the phone, immediately opening the pictures folder and scanning rapidly through all the photos inside. There were all sorts of different ones, but through all the pictures there was a surprising amount of them that contained a group of young fillies and colts, most of them school-age. I frowned.

As if she’d read my mind, she spoke up just then. “Don’t mind the pictures of my grandchildren, the ones you want will be towards the very back.”

I looked where she’d mentioned and indeed there were a few shots of an abandoned McPony’s, several ponies milling around doing various things. I recognized some of them as active HOOF members, and one picture even had Bill in it.

The fact that she’d been so helpful left me with a bad taste in my mouth. This was all so non-standard for an interrogation, I was having a hard time keeping my wits about me. Thoughts of what I’d intended to do to her if she had been stubborn kept bubbling in my mind. That Aepyceros had been repentant...well, I didn’t know how to handle that.

There would be time later, though.

“Alright, that checks out,” I said. “I’d recommend getting yourself far away from this place. Once HOOF finds out that you’ve betrayed them, they’ll be after you.”

“That was a risk I decided to take, but I’m grateful for your concern nonetheless. I still have a few things to pack, then I’ll be ready to go.”

Not much else needed to be said, in my opinion, so I tossed her phone into my stash and made a dash for the exit. Nopony in the rundown black market seemed to notice or care as a I raced back through the dark tunnel network. Things were going well.

I erupted from the underground at high speed, startling a pair of ponies walking by. I kept going, regardless. Now that I had Cheerilee’s location, I could get in there and sort things out. It occurred to me that I should most likely inform Luna of the place so that she could send guards to clean up. I once again dialed the Princess.

“Who is it now?” growled Luna, frustration evident in her harsh tone.

“This is Golden, your Highness. I’ve successfully extracted the location of Cheerilee; it’s an abandoned McPony’s in the downtown district. There are pictures if you want them.”

“Yes, send those to me as soon as you can. How did you get Ceros to talk so quickly?” I thought I heard a bit of hesitation in the Princess’ voice. I gulped as I realized which dark places her mind had gone to. I didn’t blame her, but that misinformation needed to be corrected.

“She was on her way to turn herself in, Princess. She gave me all the information willingly.”

I could practically hear Luna’s surprise over the phone. I savored it; the occasions where I was able to surprise the Princess were few and far between.

“Very well,” she said after a brief pause. “I’ll send an extraction team to her location as soon as I can. Reinforcements will also be en route to Cheerilee’s location, but I need you there first to assess the situation and do what you can to revive Cheerilee. Get going.”

“Will do,” I said, though Luna had already hung up by then. Was it me, or was she being a little rude with the hanging up today? I frowned a bit, but I figured it probably wasn’t as important as getting to Cheerilee right now.

The flight to the downtown districts took a bit longer than I would have liked, even though the skies were clear. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do about distance problems except go faster, and I was already flying faster than any normal pegasus could, the faintest traces of a mach cone forming in front of my face. The buildings below rushed past in a blur, ponies nothing but specks of dust as I raced past. Vampires were damn fast when they needed to be.

Eventually, though, the place came into view, and I descended to rooftop level so as to avoid detection until I was upon them. I slowed drastically from my breakneck pace to a more maneuverable one and at last dived down towards the McPony’s. Seeing a window on the second floor that wasn’t fully boarded up, I decided to slip in quietly while nopony was around.

The boards were no match for me; I wriggled through the gaps in the planks with ease. Landing with the faintest of clicks on the hard ceramic floor, I took stock of the room I’d entered. It was very crowded in here, boxes and boxes of material stacked haphazardly everywhere I sliced open one of the containers to get a look inside and was greeted with the sight of neatly organized gun magazines.

It was hard not to gape at the sight, I’ll confess. The thought that HOOF had a large amount of firepower shouldn’t be surprising to me, but seeing it was different than hearing about it. I set my expression to a firm frown and closed the box, lest I waste too much time here.

Seeing as how I was in one of their storage rooms, I supposed there would likely be a guard or two outside. Sure enough, when I put my ear to the door, I could hear the thump-thump of a pony’s heart beating on the other side. I knew Cheerilee wouldn’t waste time and would just end him with a quick twist of the neck from behind.

With that in mind, I took a moment to straighten my mane and scarf and slip my fake glasses on. I casually swung open the door and turned to face the surprised guard standing there.

“Take me to your leader,” I said. I had to avoid grimacing. Was that really the best I could come up with?

The stallion who I had surprised just stared at me for a moment before swinging his gun around and pointing it at me. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m a pony you don’t want to keep waiting, that’s who,” I said, staring at the gun with a bored and impatient expression.

“Oh yeah? Why shouldn’t I just shoot you now and be done with it?”

I could tell he was quite proud of that one. I sighed and sprang forwards, knocking the gun to the ground with a clatter before he could even blink. My next move was to pin him against the wall.

“Because you don’t have a gun to shoot me with. Now look, I just need to speak with whoever is in charge here. Tell me how to get to them with the least resistance and you can go home to your family in one piece.”

“F-first door on the left down that hallway. It’s got the big spray paint symbols on it, you can’t miss it.” I could feel the stallion trembling now that he was without a weapon. The poor sod probably didn’t even care all that much about HOOF’s goals.

“Thank you for being civil about this. I’d advise you go home and rethink your life. Things are about to get messy around here.” I released the stallion and he dropped to the ground in a heap, still quivering like a foal. I paused for a moment, wondering if I’d allowed myself to go a little too far in the intimidation department, but I pressed on towards the room the stallion had mentioned.

Just like he’d said, I could instantly tell the door when I saw it; large depictions of… unsavory objects were spray-painted all over the door like some obscene nameplate. I paused for only an instant to check how many heartbeats I heard on the other side, and when I ascertained that there was only one inhabitant, I swung the door open and strode in like I owned the place.

“What now? I’m in the middle of-” the mare at the desk had finally turned around and noticed that I was not one of her guards. I continued moving towards her, stopping only once I’d circled the table. In the meanwhile, she’d hastily drawn a small pistol, but I smacked it away in a flash. She tried backing away, but I positioned myself such that she walked straight into a corner, trapped.

“What did you do with Smiley? Tell me everything.” I accentuated my demand by pressing one of my hooves against her throat, just hard enough to threaten violence but not enough to inhibit her speech.

“We killed her, what more is there to say?”

“How? A chainsaw? What did you do to her?” I realized that my hoof was starting to shake and press against the mare with more force, and I had to consciously rein myself in.

The mare shook her head. “Doesn’t matter; she’s dead now, so this is all over.”

“It’s over? You thought this was all her doing? That she was the only monster in town? You never wondered if she had help?"

I grinned a bit as the mare’s eyes widened, and I saw her glance down at my mouth. She whimpered.

“What are you going to do to me?” asked the mare. From the fear laden in her voice, it was clear she was thinking of some of the things Smiley had done in the past.

“Me? I won’t lay a hoof on you. That’s Smiley’s job.”

“But- but we cut off her head!”

“Is that all?” I said. The blood drained from her face.

I took a step back and gestured for the mare to start walking. “We’ll see if you really killed her, and if not, well, I’m glad I’m not you. Now, show me where you’re keeping Smiley.”

Cheerilee opened her eyes, the room around her coming into focus with astonishing clarity. The floor was entirely covered in a pool of blood at least an inch deep, mounds of corpses strewn about in various degrees of dismemberment. Standing above her with a concerned expression was the familiar white face of Golden Ring.

“Cheerilee, you’re okay?” asked Golden.

“I think so,” Cheerilee said. “What happened? The last thing I remember was the chainsaw.”

Golden’s expression soured a bit. “I managed to convince the local HOOF leader to bring me down here, and from there it was an easy matter to put your head back on your shoulders. After that, though…”

“What happened then?”

“You killed them all, Cheerilee,” said Golden, looking away from her mentor. Cheerilee noticed that Golden was standing on the corpse of a fallen HOOF member, trying to keep her hooves out of the blood pool. “It was- it was frightening and exhilarating. I don’t know what to think.”

Cheerilee looked down at her forelegs, feeling cuts near her fetlocks slowly healing up. While she didn’t exactly remember what had transpired, some of the bodies looked like they had been ripped apart by high velocity slices and powerful, bone-cleaving strikes. Putting two and two together, Cheerilee realized that she must have used her own blood as a weapon, almost like liquid blades. It wouldn’t have been the first time, but she never would have thought her unconscious mind could have performed such a thing on instinct alone. The thought that she’d done something like that without even realizing it sent a chill down her spine.

Of course, she couldn’t let Golden see her that way. Cheerilee lifted herself free of the gore that matted the room. “Let’s get out of here.”

Cheerilee found her sword and wiped the blade off, although finding something clean to soak up the blood was not easy. She and Golden stepped out of the building.

“How did you find me?” Cheerilee asked.

“The leather vendor told me where to look,” Golden replied.

“Oh, Ceros.”

Golden nodded. “We were desperate to locate you, and I figured that she would know. In fact, I should go back and see if she’s okay.”

“I need to report to Princess Luna,” Cheerilee said.

“Does it need to be right now?” Golden asked. “Maybe come with me and then we can go to the castle together?”

Cheerilee shook her head. “I’ll meet up with you when I can. I need to talk business with the Princess.”

Golden nodded glumly and turned her eyes away. She spread her wings and took off. Cheerilee looked after her for a moment, and then turned to go.

Author's Note

I know there's a lot of Golden in this chapter. It was kind of unavoidable. :/ Please bear with us.

12: Coming to Terms

I ascended up into the sky at a moderate pace. I might have flown faster, but I was a little preoccupied with my thoughts.

Foremost among which was the sight of Cheerilee laughing and slaughtering all of the HOOF members in the building. No amount of bullets fired at her could stop the killing, no desperate punch or last-ditch attempt to run saved lives. There was only death.

All I had done was watch. As Cheerilee tore through the ranks of HOOF, I couldn’t help but feel a certain hunger in my stomach, a lust for the blood spraying everywhere. Watching my teacher made me want to join her.

For the entire time I forced myself to sit in a corner. I had to. Otherwise I’d have become my old self again.

I wondered not for the first time how Cheerilee does it. She’s so composed all the time, I don’t understand how she can wake up after that and not be bothered at all. If I didn’t know better, I might question if there was even a pony still in there at all.

With a start, I realized that I had unconsciously accelerated while I was mulling over my thoughts. I slowed to a simple glide, allowing my speed to bleed off as I got closer to the entrance to the underground. I could see it not too far in the distance, so I began my descent and spiraled down to the familiar subway tunnel.

The passages below the surface were just as dark as they’d been earlier, and I flew through them almost by muscle memory alone. Oddly enough, I heard echoes of more likely-illegal activity coming from various tunnels than my previous trips. I wondered if there might be nighttime businesses that thought the darkness could hide them from us.

As I flew into the main area, my assumption proved true; there were quite a few more rough-looking ponies up and about now, and the majority of them gave me looks that made my skin crawl. If I weren’t confident in my ability to trounce them, I would’ve fled then and there.

I continued to where I’d left Ceros the last time, and frowned when my quarry was nowhere to be seen. I scanned around for any potential clues, but my eyes couldn’t spot anything out of the ordinary. Ceros must have already booked it. A wise decision, I suppose.

Then the sweet, sweet scent of blood wafted into my nostrils. My ears perked up, alert for any sounds of a struggle. There! Off in one of the side passages, I could hear the sounds of somepony being beaten savagely. I slipped closer and the scent of blood grew stronger, along with the scent of… I frowned.

That smells like leather, I thought.

I hastened my pace, finally coming around a corner to see a bloody sight in the darkness.

Ceros lay on the rubble-strewn ground, wounded and groaning in pain. One of her legs was bent at an angle that legs weren’t supposed to bend at. I could tell she was barely hanging on to life, her chest heaving with the effort to pump air in and out of her broken body. Standing over her with an expression of calm anger was Treasury Bill.

“You betrayed us. Why?” said Bill, still focused on Ceros. He either hadn’t noticed me yet, or didn’t want to interrupt his torture session. I wasn’t going to have any of that, though.

“Gee, I wonder,” I said. Bill looked over at me and grinned.

“I’ll be with you in a moment,” he said.

Without pausing for breath, he lifted a hoof and crushed Ceros’ windpipe with a vicious stomp. I could hear the vertebrae in her spine splinter and crack, and the gurgling sound shortly thereafter told me that her life would soon be over. I made to rush towards her, but Bill stepped between us.

“She’s earned a fitting punishment, Golden. Don’t get in the way of justice.”

“Justice? That’s your idea of justice? You’re sick.”

“So what if I am? What are you going to do about it?”

I glanced down at Ceros, who looked at me pleadingly before finally falling limp.

I felt an urge building in my gut. Ceros had been a pony who made mistakes, she told me so herself, but this… nopony deserved this. A heat spread in my body, a righteous anger. I saw the pictures of a group of young foals on Ceros’ phone. I saw the bodies of the children at the schoolhouse that had been bombed.

I looked back up at Bill, who was waiting expectantly.

“I’ll kill you, that’s what,” I said.

Without waiting for a response, I began trotting forward slowly, making sure to keep my senses fully trained on my foe. I wouldn’t let him get the drop on me again. Bill silently began circling around the tunnel, his hooves crunching on debris and dirt. Without even looking behind him, he ducked under a railroad tie that stuck up from the ground like a protruding fang.

I frowned a bit at just how low the ceiling was. My flight advantage was almost completely neutralized, and I knew I’d need all the help I could get to win this fight.

There was a faint fwip that I recognized as a teleportation spell. Without a moment’s hesitation I threw myself to the left just as a rush of air whipped past my head, Bill’s hoof hitting the ground with a sharp crack of shattering stone. I rolled to my hooves and lunged at him, though I only managed to catch a hoofful of air as he teleported out a second time. I rolled to the side as Bill once again crashed to the ground where I had been moments ago.

“You know, if you keep using the same strategy you’ll never win,” I said.

“But it’s such an effective technique,” he taunted in reply. “Especially against somepony as reckless as you.”

I growled at him, but held my ground. He laughed. “Good, at least you have a little bit of self control. I was worried for a moment there.”

“Yeah, really funny. How about you stop talking and fight me like a stallion?”

“Golden, my dear, do you really think so little of me? I thought we had something special between us.”

“Shut up.” I could feel the bloodlust in my body screaming at me to tear his throat and watch him bleed. The smell of Ceros’ blood on the ground around me only fed my desire for more.

“You need to loosen up, you know. Such stress isn’t good for a mare.”

“Maybe you could help me relieve it, then. Just bare your neck for me, I promise it won’t hurt a bit.”

“Oooh, we have some fangs on this one! Come and get some, then,” he said, lifting his chin just as I had asked.

Something about that made me uncomfortable. That he was willing to bare his neck to a vampire spoke of confidence or idiocy, and I knew which one applied to Bill. At the same time, though, his mocking attitude made me want to tear him up and watch him suffer. I felt myself trembling with repressed rage.

I strode towards him cautiously. He made no move to protect himself, so I assumed he’d just teleport himself away once I got within striking distance. I frowned deeply when I got close enough to actually reach out and bite him, and he still hadn’t moved or spoken at all.

“Well?” he asked. “Are you just going to stand there or what?”

I tensed as if to make a lunge for his neck and he melted into nothingness with a glow from his horn. I continued my juke as planned, planting my forehooves on the ground where he’d been standing and coiling my back legs tightly together for a powerful buck where I knew he’d be coming from.

The sensation of hooves connecting with flesh had never been so satisfying as that moment when I felt my hooves impact with a thud against Bill’s chest. I heard him hit the ground a few moments later and turned to see his body bounce and roll a little ways before coming to a stop.

I smirked even as I sank into a combat-ready stance. I’d dealt him a good blow, but there was no way I’d killed him yet, not when he had crazy powers. After a minute or two of waiting, though, he still lay in the same spot, unmoving. I couldn’t even hear a heartbeat from him.

My toothy grin lessened into a grim slash. I approached his prone form with care, and when I finally stood over his body, he looked about as dead as a pony could be. His eyes were locked open in an expression of shock. I wanted to be happy that it was over, but something about his eyes struck me. His death was something that needed to be given the respect it deserved, even if only for my sake.

I reached down to close his eyes with a hoof, when I felt something wrong in my gut. On instinct, I shifted to the side, just in time for Bill’s hoof to strike my wing instead of my spine.

I cried out in surprise and pain as my wing crumpled into a mess of blood and feathers, and I staggered out of the way as he rushed at me for a second strike, then a third, and a fourth.

It was an illusion! I thought, the solution coming to me as I remembered how he’d worked that compulsion spell on his cutie mark. As if in confirmation of my theory, the prone body on the ground evaporated into mist. I growled.

“Stop messing with me!” I shouted, bringing one of my own hooves to his in a counterstrike.

Our punches met with a colossal thunderclap, the force of it sending both of us staggering back. I glared at him even as he daintily raised his hoof in front of him, inspecting it casually.

“I think you chipped it,” he said.

“Is this a game to you?” I said, my voice shrill with frustration. Bill’s eyebrows rose quizzically.

“What, you mean you don’t think of life as a game?”

“No! How can you be so callous? There are real ponies out there whose lives you destroyed, whose families you’ve killed. Can’t you see that?”

“Golden, all I have ever seen are pawns on a grand chessboard. Some of them have the honor of being knights, or even bishops. Then there are a rare few who can be called rooks. That would be the likes of my father, of course; I could never have gotten this far without his help. Then one day I had the good fortune for a piece so grand to come onto the board that she could only be the queen. She was powerful and mysterious and spirited, but inside she was vulnerable. She was perfect.”

“What are you saying?” I said, my teeth clenched.

“Oh, Golden, we’re going to have so much fun together, you and I. You’ll make an excellent queen for my army. You’ll come around, I just know it.”

I roared and charged at him. The corners of my vision burned with a red haze and a vicious power coursed in my veins, burning me up on the inside. None of it mattered. All that was important was killing Treasury Bill.

It only took me a fraction of a second to close the distance between us, the furious beating of my wings kicking up small wind gusts in my wake. I threw a punch at him, the speed of my hoof creating a whistling sound as it cut through the air. At the last possible moment before I knocked his head off, Bill disappeared in a flash.

“Stop moving!” I growled, turning to face where I knew he’d be coming from. I threw another punch in that direction, but when my hoof met with empty air I was caught off-guard. A powerful force struck me on the back, sending me flying into one of the walls of the tunnel and creating a great cloud of dust and debris. I pushed off the wall and used my wings to ascend above Bill as he rushed in for a strike on the spot where I’d hit the wall.

The sound of cracking concrete echoed through the tunnel as Bill’s punch found nothing but the tunnel wall. I twisted my body in a tight turn, using my wings for extra speed, and lashed out with a sharp spinning kick that pegged my foe square on his side, knocking him a good distance away. I raced towards him as he rolled to his hooves, eager to make him suffer another hit.

As he turned to face me, I was upon him. My first swing connected solidly with his horn, causing him to grunt and lose his teleportation spell that he was no doubt casting. After that was done, I grinned hungrily and went to town, punching and kicking in a blurry maelstrom of limbs. Bill managed to dodge a good number of my attacks for a few moments, but he just couldn’t keep up with my unnatural speed; it didn’t take long for him to accumulate a healthy collection of bruises and cuts.

With a final, vicious kick to the face, I sent him flying into the same spot on the tunnel wall he’d knocked me to. I rushed in for the coup de grace, pinning him against the wall and baring my fangs just beside his ear.

“Who’s laughing now, Bill? Where’s all your smack-talking? I thought you were going to put up a fight!” I laughed hysterically, pressing a hoof against the back of his head and pushing it roughly against the wall. “Come on, do something! I’m waiting!”

When I heard a mumbling from him, I released the pressure off of his head so he could speak.

“You- you’re a monster--” Bill said weakly, blood trickling down his nose and mouth.

I froze.

“Shut up!” I shouted as I threw him across the tunnel. I thought I heard the sound of bones cracking, but I wasn’t paying attention. I hovered in place, staring at nothing in particular.

I’m not a monster. He’s lying.

I looked down at my hooves through my red-tinged vision. My pristine white hooves were spattered with blood and grime. Fire coursed through my veins despite my heart remaining still and unbeating. The beast that I’d always kept buried deep down in my soul ran rampant, its raging hunger constantly pounding through my head.

I- no, no- it can’t-

My train of thought was interrupted by a powerful kick, sending me flying through the tunnel until I struck one of the twisted railroad irons protruding from the ground. With a sickening splatter, the shaft of metal speared through my side. I slid down its length for what seemed an eternity before something in my body caught on the splintered rail and jerked me to a halt with an agonizing crack of bone.

I instinctively wriggled about, trying feebly to free myself from the metal I’d been impaled on, but the fire I’d felt before was melting away, leaving me helpless and dangling in midair. The strain of my muscles against the steel caused me to grunt in pain; oddly, I was lucid enough to notice that no sound was actually coming from my throat. A quick glance at the railroad tie showed me most of my internal organs splayed all over it, portions of my lungs included.

After a moment more of struggling, I closed my eyes and let my body hang limp. I couldn’t help but whimper at the spasms of agony jerking my body.

“Yes, that’s right. Give up.” Bill’s voice came from somewhere off to my side, but I didn’t bother looking for it. “You put up a grand fight, but to no avail. Now, let’s get going, shall we? There’s a lot I need to teach you.”

I felt two pairs of shackles clasp around my hooves and a muzzle over my mouth. I offered no resistance.

“Aww, chin up, Golden,” said Bill. “Stewing in your own misery won’t get you anywhere. Besides, you are so much more than a monster. The past is the past, no use crying over spilt milk, right? Er, perhaps spilt blood, in this case, but you know what I mean.”

That got my attention. I glanced up at Bill in confusion. I tried to speak, but all that came out was a mangled “Why?”

“Well, if you’re going to work for me, I need you at your best. Honestly, it’s like you think that just because I do a few unpleasant things here and there, it automatically makes me an evil pony.”

I let my head fall limp again. Right now, I didn’t have the strength to contemplate at the motives Bill might have behind his words. I felt myself shrouded in a magical grip which began to lift me off of the railroad tie, eliciting more whines of pain from me. My body made wet slurping sounds as it was pulled off the rusty metal, and I had the strangest sense of coldness when I gently met with the ground again. Maybe that was because I had a giant hole straight through my torso.

The feeling of Bill’s telekinetic field once again enveloped me, but then there was a terrible crashing sound from one of the tunnel walls and a faint whoosh of something sharp slicing through air and bone. I opened my eyes to see Cheerilee standing above me, having just arrived like a wrecking ball. My mentor held Bill in a vicegrip, and before I could even register it, she had snapped his neck.

It was over.

Cheerilee dunked her body in the meager water of a long-abandoned decorative fountain outside the McPony’s before heading towards the castle to meet with the Princess. Travelling the streets soaking wet and dirty was much better than doing so covered in blood. At least there weren’t many ponies out and about at this late hour anyway.

The guards on duty at the palace gates had been alerted that she was coming and let her through without a word, although Cheerilee could see the questions in their eyes. Who was she? Why was she out all alone so late at night? Why would the Princesses want to speak with somepony like this?

Princess Luna met Cheerilee in a small hall just past the entryway. The alicorn cast a spell as they walked.

“We can talk, nopony will hear us,” Luna told her.

“We’re almost done with everything you asked us to do, Princess,” said Cheerilee, “at least in regards to taking down HOOF.”

Luna nodded. “We have identified a few stragglers to round up-- most notably Treasury Bill, who we suspect is the leader of the organization-- but HOOF as a whole has been gutted.”

Cheerilee nodded. “I believe that’s accurate.” She noticed that Luna was heading towards the dungeons. “What is there left for me to do, Princess?”

“You’ve done enough,” Luna replied. “The Crown is in the process of setting up military units specialized for anti-terrorism operations, should we ever need to deal with these problems in the future.”

Cheerilee almost protested. She’d done the job, all the heavy lifting, herself. Almost reading her thoughts, Luna went on. “I’ve decided on this course of action because I feel it is more in line with the values Equestria holds dear. We should not be in the business of terror like our enemies.”

“But it worked, Princess.”

Luna looked at her. “Yes, I believe an example has been set. Now it’s time to move on to something better. We can’t simply continue a campaign of fear. Fear of the unknown ceases once the unknown becomes familiar. Smiley has served out her purpose.”

The two of them entered the dungeon. Luna lit the torch on the wall. Before them lay the ancient weapons and articles of war. There was a noticeable gap in the middle.

Cheerilee took the sword from her back and returned it to where it belonged. Luna was right, the time for fear was over. Ponies deserved their peace.

Well, most ponies did, anyway. Some would simply never have peace, because they knew no friendship in their hearts, or were too afraid to let anypony else into their lives. Cheerilee knew where she fit into things.

She paused as she stared at the sword displayed in its rightful spot, thinking back over the recent years. All the missions she’d done, all the lives she’d taken. It all blurred together, unimportant. This chapter with HOOF was just another footnote on her resume, and no doubt there would be another, and another.

A slight sigh escaped her as she dwelled on her thoughts.

“It’s interesting how the years pass so quickly, isn’t it, Cheerilee?”

“I don’t know what you mean, Princess Luna.”

“I think you do, deep down. Let me tell you, immortal life will be the death of you if you don’t really live it to the fullest. It’s something I had to learn the hard way. Don’t repeat my mistakes, please.”

Cheerilee frowned and looked away, uncertainty plastered on her face.

“‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’ Death is a natural part of life, Cheerilee. Just because you deal in death doesn’t mean you can’t experience a fulfilling life as well.”

An image of a small summer school classroom popped into Cheerilee’s mind. A scene of a calm stroll through the park followed it, joined by a night of stargazing with Princess Luna and Golden. Other memories came to her, each treasured and leaving her wanting more.

For a moment, indecision wracked Cheerilee’s mind. Finally, she turned to where Luna stood quietly. “Princess, there’s something I have to do.”

Luna nodded with a smile. “I wouldn’t delay you here. Go.”

The trip to the Sixth Street Market didn’t take long. She had neglected Golden for too long. Just being moral support for her friend would be good for them both.

Heading for the entrance, Cheerilee trotted along the sidewalk above the underground tunnels. Even on the surface streets it was not a nice neighborhood, but it was clear enough to anypony who saw her that this was a mare with something intense on her mind, something important enough that attempting to delay her was clearly not a wise idea.

Cheerilee was within a short distance of the entrance when she caught a whiff of blood. Her head immediately jerked towards the source, a storm grate at the curb. Taking a step closer, she heard the extremely faint sound of Golden screaming.

Upon later reflection, Cheerilee couldn’t remember whether she had broken through the concrete sidewalk or if the underlying dirt had simply split apart to allow her passage. She found herself bursting into a dark tunnel, revealing a horrifically injured Golden and a very surprised Treasury Bill.

It was clear that he recognized her. His horn instantly flared with light bright enough to indicate a powerful spell, more magic than even teleportation required.

Cheerilee whipped her hoof horizontally, pieces of concrete embedded in her skin drawing blood that fanned through the air like a sabre. Bill’s horn was cleaved from his skull, ending up embedded in the wall on the opposite side of the tunnel.

The attack was so surgically clean that Bill was still standing, eyes wide and expression shocked. A trickle of blood ran down over his face, the hole in his head exposing the inside of his cranium. Eyes rolling back, his knees buckled. Cheerilee caught him before he hit the ground. With a twist of her hooves, she broke his neck.

Golden was clearly in a bad way and Cheerilee immediately knelt down at her side. She tore the metal shackles like tissue paper, unmuzzling Golden. The younger mare’s eyelids fluttered, barely maintaining consciousness.

Cheerilee grabbed Bill’s limp body and dragged it over, slicing his throat and maneuvering the wound to Golden’s lips. For a moment she wondered if Golden would actually be able to drink, considering her stomach had been shredded like the rest of her organs.

The taste of blood brought Golden around. Her eyes turned to Cheerilee’s face, her expression relaxing with gratitude as she realized they were both safe.

Cheerilee propped Golden’s head up to give her better access. The younger mare’s tongue hungrily lapped up blood. For a few minutes, Cheerilee just cradled her gently as Golden recuperated. She gently ran a hoof through her friend’s mane as the wounded vampire drank.

Despite her thirst and the inviting flavor of fresh blood, Golden eventually paused. She swallowed and licked her lips, turning her head to Cheerilee. “Thank you.” Golden’s voice was rough and wheezy, but the gratitude in it was unmistakable.

“I’m glad I did.”

Golden looked down at her midsection, still recovering after such a horrendous injury, but the skin had already started to mend and most of the organs were reforming. At least the blood she drank didn’t leak out the hole in her side any more.

Pushing the spent body of Bill away, Cheerilee helped Golden to stand up. The younger mare wobbled unsteadily and leaned on Cheerilee for support. Cheerilee was happy to provide it, gently helping her protégé to stand on her own. The pair began the walk back to the surface, taking slow and measured steps so that Golden could keep pace.

“Cheerilee… I’m sorry I failed you,” said Golden, her voice soft and wavering.

“What do you mean?”

“I let him get to me, I let him provoke me into losing it. I- I let myself become a monster again.”

Cheerilee halted and pulled Golden into a tight embrace. “Well, I don’t see anything that looks like a monster right now.”

“That doesn’t change what I did, though.”

“Golden, you can’t let your past control you. I know you’re afraid of going back to what you were. I think you’re right to be afraid. But you can’t let that dictate how you live. A wise and perceptive pony once told me that living in fear is no way to live at all.”

“Do- do you really mean that?”

“Of course I do. It’s not going to be easy. But it will be worth it.”

“Thanks, Cheerilee. I knew I could count on you.”

“You’re welcome, Golden.”

It wasn’t long before the two of them passed through the market area of the underground. The stallions there all stared at the mares trotting down the tunnel covered in blood, giving them a wide berth.

Not long after leaving the black market behind, they came to the mouth of the small tunnel where it joined the subway station that acted as gateway between the surface and the underground. Golden took a few steps on her own, the wing she used for assistance lifting from Cheerilee’s back. The two of them turned to walk towards the surface.

“It’s still going to take me a while to get used to this, though,” Golden said. “I can’t just change myself at the drop of a hat. Can- can you help me, Cheerilee?”

“Only if you help me as well,” Cheerilee replied.

“Help you with what? I don’t understand what you could possibly need me for.”

Cheerilee sighed. “I’ve been a vampire for so long, doing what needed to be done, that I got used to death. I had to, otherwise the strain of all my work would have been the death of me. I was always alone in it, except for the Princess. Such was the necessity of the situation. Do you see? I had to protect myself. I had to push it all away. I had to feel nothing.”

“But that’s horrible! How did you make it through?”

“I don’t know. I think the Princess knew more than she ever let on, because she always seemed to say the right things at the right time. She was always there for me, but… I never really let anypony into my life after I became a vampire. Not even Luna, not completely. It made me miserable, I just didn’t realize it.”

There was a short pause before Golden spoke up. “So that’s what you want me to do for you? Help you live?”

“That’s right. I miss the little things. I miss friendship. I want to feel like I have a life again.”

“I didn’t know,” said Golden quietly. “I feel bad that I didn’t see you were so unhappy.”

“I should have said something,” Cheerilee admitted. “I was...afraid to.”

Golden smiled. “I know how that feels. I’ll do my best to help you.”

The frown Cheerilee wore disappeared. “I’m here for you, too.”

They finally took the last steps out of the underground and into the crisp night air. The full moon above them shone brightly, casting the world in a soft light. Together the two of them trotted away from the underground, not particularly caring where they went or how long it took to get there. All that mattered was their companionship. It was a good night to be alive.

The TV news cameras were set up in the royal conference room. The equipment feeds were a little unusual, but the Princesses had arranged it ahead of time. The two sisters sat patiently waiting for the conference to begin. Luna glanced to the side, nodding to a lavender mare who stood near the wall. Cheerilee took a short bow and left the room. The Princesses could handle this from here.

When the technicians were ready, the cameras turned on and Princess Celestia began to speak. “Good evening, our little ponies. My sister and I would like to formally announce that the leader of the Hegemony of Organized Friends has been killed.”

Celestia paused for half a breath to give greater impact to her words. “The nation of Equestria will not stand for terrorism and attacks on its innocent citizens. To that end, we have created a few specialized groups in the military dedicated to combating this threat should it ever appear again.”

Luna took over. “These ponies are highly trained and specialized at what they do. In fact, we have a demonstration. This video was taken only hours ago.”

The camera feed was replaced by overhead infrared imagery. A small group of ponies, appearing as a warm white color against their cold surroundings, had formed up outside a building. The video changed to green and black, from small night vision camera mounted on the armor of one of them.

Luna narrated. “The first assault carried out by these new teams was performed by a Navy unit specializing in Sea, Air, and Land operations. Their first target was the terrorist known as Smiley.”

For the past few weeks, Smiley had been visibly more active. From her public appearances that eliminated more HOOF members, it became quite apparent that she had not actually been killed on video. HOOF propaganda had lost its credibility.

On the screen, the armed ponies started to move. The building’s door was blown off its hinges and the assaulters charged in, attacking the mare who the public had come to recognize as Smiley. The low quality video still clearly showed her being riddled with bullets.

The video cut off and was replaced by a shot of Princess Luna. She spoke calmly to the camera. “Threats to our ponies will not be tolerated. Everypony, you have nothing to fear.”

13: Smile

Two sets of hooves slowly click-clacked on the worn stone floor of the dimly-lit, carved-out hallway. On either side were several heavy iron doors sealed shut with thick padlocks. Eventually, the two mares stopped in front of one of the doors, one of them removing a key from her saddlebag and unlocking the door.

Inside, Cheerilee and Golden were faced with two unicorns huddled together on the cold stone. At the door’s opening, one spoke up. “Who are you? What do you want from us?”

“We’re just here to ask a few questions,” Cheerilee said. “We don’t plan on hurting you at all.”

“Oh, thank Celestia,” breathed the other unicorn. “When the guards arrested us, I was just so scared that--”

“It’s alright, Penny, they’ve said they aren’t going to do anything to us,” Legal Tender assured his wife. “Now, what are we supposed to be answering?”

“Your son, Treasury Bill, was confirmed to be a high-ranking member of the terrorist organization HOOF. At the moment, you are under suspicion of aiding and abetting a known terrorist. We need to ascertain that those suspicions are false,” said Golden.

Penny broke down into tears, clinging to her husband like a life preserver. Golden would have liked to comfort her, but she had to keep up the disguise until the interview was over.

“Look,” said Legal, his voice heavy and tired, “I’ll give you the straight truth. You can believe it or not, but this is how everything went so wrong.

“Back when I was just an up-and-coming, ambitious young politician I had a dream of making the world a better place. I was fortunate enough to marry a mare who had the same dream as I did. When Bill was born, it was the best few months of our lives. As he started to get older, we were astonished at his inquisitive mind. He absorbed all the knowledge we could throw at him, he tore through all the fiction books in the library. We knew he would be a great influence on the world, so we did everything we could to teach him about harmony and friendship.

“I guess we didn’t do well enough; once he’d been elected to a position of his own, he was always frustrated with the legal process, and he’d always come home moody. We were afraid for him. After his term was up, he packed his things and left. Said he had to do some soul-searching. We don’t know all the places he went to, but I do know he stayed in Zebrica for at least a little while. That’s probably where he learned all that… that creepy magic stuff.

“He came back changed. He was driven, we could see the fire in his eyes, and for a moment we were hopeful.”

Legal paused, taking a few calming breaths.

“That was when he started this HOOF business. We didn’t realize it at the time, but he began manipulating us and many others towards some crazy idea of dethroning the Princesses. When we found out about what he was doing, we confronted him and he… he compelled us to help him. His own parents!

“Like I said earlier, I have only said the truth. His compulsion spells were the only reason we had anything to do with him after he’d made his intentions clear. For what it’s worth, I- I’m sorry for all the damage we’ve caused.”

By now, Legal’s eyes were glassy and threatening to spill a few tears.

Cheerilee and Golden shared a look. Golden cocked her head curiously, silently asking for her friend’s opinion. Cheerilee nodded.

“We believe you,” said Cheerilee. “We’ve seen his magic and we know it’s hard to resist. On account of that, I’d like to formally acquit you of all charges. You’re free to go. Would you like us to escort you out?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind,” said Penny, recovered somewhat from her earlier state.

“Very well, follow us then,” Golden said, walking out of the cell. The two unicorns followed, and Cheerilee brought up the rear, locking the door behind them.

It took a few minutes to ascend from the dungeons and finally exit the palace grounds, which passed in a relatively awkward silence. Cheerilee and Golden would have liked to chat with the two unicorns, but their disguise mandated otherwise. Soon enough the gate was before them, and with a wave, Legal and Penny trotted away.

After the pair had disappeared from sight, Golden let out a big sigh.

“I feel bad for them. They don’t even know he’s dead yet,” she said.

Cheerilee frowned. “Somepony will tell them once things settle down here. There will probably have to be a cover story so that they don’t find out about us. But I agree, I wish that they could have avoided getting sucked into all this.”

A few more moments of quiet passed while Cheerilee and Golden looked out in the direction of Canterlot. Golden finally reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a cheap cell phone, browsing through it with a somber expression.

“Whose phone is that?” Cheerilee asked.

“Ceros’,” replied Golden. “She gave it to me before she died.”

“Why do you still have it? Wouldn’t Luna’s investigators want that for evidence?”

“Yeah, but… I just couldn’t give it up. When she died, Ceros gave me a look. She wanted me to do something. I- I think she wanted me to make sure her grandkids were okay. She has so many pictures of them, and it seemed like the only thing that made sense. She wanted to retire…”

“Can I see them?” Cheerilee asked. Golden passed her the phone without comment. Cheerilee scrolled through the pictures until she found one with several young foals. Her eyes widened in surprise. “That’s how he knew so much about HOOF…” she whispered.

“Who knew about what?” asked Golden.

Cheerilee passed the phone back to Golden and pointed at one of the colts in the middle of the photo. “That’s one of my students. His name is Sand.”

Cheerilee set down the picnic basket on the grass, and took the large, checkered blanket out of her saddlebag, spreading it out over the ground.

“Why don’t you help me with this, Sand?” she said. The colt in question grumbled something about being picked on and helped Cheerilee spread out the blanket evenly.

“Miss Cheerilee, it was very nice of you to take us for a picnic,” said Diskette. As she trotted over, Disk swayed a little bit, the bulge in her belly beginning to become quite cumbersome.

“Disk, honey, I told you not to exert yourself too much,” Cheerilee replied. “Are you sure you’ll be alright out in the sun today?”

As if to emphasize her point, a particularly hot gust of wind blew past.

“Well, maybe it would be nice for one of the nice, strong pegasi over there to move a few clouds overhead,” said Disk, raising her voice slightly so that the two pegasi colts in question would hear.

One grumbled and rolled his eyes while the other raced off into the sky to fetch a few clouds. Disk giggled a bit, and Cheerilee couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Once a cool patch of shade had been established over the picnic blanket, Cheerilee opened up the basket and began removing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from within. Each filly and colt that was with them, with the exception of Diskette, formed into a line and took one from their teacher. The same colt who’d moved the clouds also grabbed Disk’s sandwich and brought it to where she sat.

“Goodness, it’s quite lovely today in the shade,” Cheerilee observed. “Did any of you bring a frisbee? I remember back when I was a filly, we always loved to toss a frisbee around when we went on a picnic.”

The majority of her class gave her blank stares, with a few shaking their heads no, they hadn’t brought a frisbee. Cheerilee chuckled nervously. “You do know what a frisbee is, right? They haven’t become that outdated yet, have they?”

“Well, I have a frisbee,” said Sand. “My grandma got it for me.”

“I have no idea what you are all talking about,” Disk added. The rest of the class piped up in short order, with most of them unsure of what a frisbee was.

“Oh, doesn’t that just make me feel old,” said Cheerilee, rubbing her temple with a hoof. “A frisbee is a small disk that can be thrown long distances by applying a spin to it. It’s a lot more fun than it sounds, trust me.”

By their deadpan expressions, most of her students didn’t believe throwing a disk could be fun.

“Well, maybe someday you all will have the opportunity to try it out for yourselves. I hope so, anyway. Keeping fit is an important aspect of life, and throwing a frisbee is a great way to do so.”

“But why should I waste time with a ‘frisbee’ when I could be kicking flank on Call of Cutie 4?” said one of the students, a colt.

“Ew, that game is for noobs! Anypony who’s a real gamer plays-”

“That’s enough!” Cheerilee politely interrupted. “You can discuss the validity of different video games later, when it isn’t such a beautiful day. Now go play something, our special guest will be arriving in about twenty minutes.”

Some of the students groaned, others merely complied, trotting off to other parts of the park to find some way to occupy themselves. Cheerilee remained where she was, calmly observing each of them as they went off. Just sitting and watching her students explore the park gave Cheerilee an oddly cathartic feeling, reminding her of the days she taught classes while she was alive.

Rather, when she was a normal pony; Cheerilee considered herself very much alive. It wasn’t whether or not you had a beating heart that mattered; what made the difference was having a heart,something other ponies could share in friendship and life.

Cheerilee was roused from her thoughts by the sound of wings beating and of hooves touching down on soft earth. She looked to the source to see her friend, Golden Ring, just a short distance away.

“You’re a little early, Golden,” Cheerilee said. “The students are still burning off some of their energy, but they should be tired enough soon.”

“Well, I thought there would be a bit more air traffic today, so I planned for extra travel time that I ended up not needing. How are the kids, by the way? Will they be ready for the new school year next month?”

“I think so. It took me a while to earn their respect, but once we got that out of the way it was smooth sailing. We covered so much material that we’ll be finishing early, so I thought we could take a break for a picnic. Did you bring anything for your presentation? Some of them need hooves-on experience for things to click with them.”

Golden set her saddlebags beside Cheerilee and opened one side, revealing a few uncut gems inside, as well as various tools that could be associated with the jewelers’ trade.

“I’m way ahead of you, Cheers. I convinced Silver to let me take a few of the low-quality gems we had in the back, as well as some that I’d already cut. I thought it would be fun if some of them got to try out the tools and stuff.”

“Alright, just make sure that you keep a very close eye on them. Those tools are sharp and I don’t want anypony getting cut.”

“Of course, Cheers. I’d never let that happen on my watch! Now where are those kids? I need to get going if I want to finish and be back before lunch break is over.”

“I’ll get the students together, you just start setting up at that picnic table over there.”

Golden nodded and took her saddlebags with her to the table in question. Cheerilee stood up and made her way through the park, gathering her students as she went. Only a few minutes later, the group was gathered around the picnic table, the young fillies and colts listening with various levels of attention as Golden explained about jeweller’s work and passed around some of the cut and uncut gems she’d brought with her.

Cheerilee watched quietly, content to simply listen to the children's excitement at holding gems and some of their chatter amongst themselves. She smiled and let the sun’s warmth soak into her.

We should do this more often. Life hasn’t felt so good in a long, long time.

Author's Note

Totallynotabrony:
This story went places I never thought it would. Along the way, I think I learned something about the characters that I, their creator, didn't know before.

Brony Tom:
Now that I'm actually typing this, I don't even know what to say. Thank you all for sticking with me and TNaB and this story to the end.

I'll see you all on the other side. Thank you.

6: Inside Information

Cheerilee carefully folded the leather coat and placed it and the sword out of sight in her closet. Her mind was turning over the problem of the pegasus observer outside the old bakery. It helped take her mind off what she'd done inside.

It was a shame that she had been unable to do any interrogation to find out what was going on, but her performance would certainly give HOOF something to think about and could cause them to enact emergency changes to their plans. Unstable and panicked was exactly how she wanted them.

Panic had certainly been what greeted the mare calling herself Smiley when she showed off her abilities. Cheerilee had resolutely set her mind against thinking about that. Not because it might upset her stomach or anything of the kind, even the over-the-top violence wasn't anything she couldn't handle; no, Cheerilee was worried that she might start to enjoy it.

It had been a long time since Cheerilee had felt passion about anything. Getting free rein to slaughter HOOF any way she saw fit was...more entertaining than it should have been. Fear and destruction was something she could feel her vampire senses craving.

Even with her beratement of the HOOF members about killing the defenseless, Cheerilee had felt pretty good about doing the same to them. Compared to her, they didn’t stand a chance.

Cheerilee swallowed hard. It had taken many years to convince herself that she was not a monster. She’d done that by trying to keep sentiment out of her job. Bloodlust was just as real as more conventional emotions. Cheerilee wasn’t sure if she could just pick and choose what she felt, and therefore shut everything out.

The lavender mare sighed and went to have a shower. Despite her job, she did not often come home covered in blood, and the drain might need a good cleaning if it was going to be a regular occurrence. Cheerilee chuckled without humor. Plumbing was just one minor skill she’d picked up over the years. She’d become talented at a wide variety of things through her job or the necessity of living a double life.

Stepping out of the shower, she checked the predawn sky. Speaking of skills, Cheerilee could tell at a glance that the pegasi were putting together a nice clear day. The morning would be bright when Princess Celestia raised the sun.

Cheerilee’s keen ears twitched at the minute sound of an incoming communication from Princess Luna, a tone outside the range of normal pony hearing that was emitted from the magic mirror.

“Good morning, Princess.” Cheerilee saw at once that Luna had bad news.

The blue alicorn got straight to the point. “Cheerilee, we’ve uncovered evidence of an attack this very morning at Canterlot General Hospital. This would normally be a job for the Guard, but you are much closer than their barracks.”

Cheerilee nodded in confirmation, but paused. “How do you want this to be done?”

Luna took a moment to consider that. “I trust you to handle it as you see fit.”

Cheerilee said goodbye and sprinted for the door, grabbing a jacket off the rack as she went by. A pair of sunglasses was folded in the pocket and she threw them on her face without slowing down.

A golden beam of sunlight was starting to break over the horizon when Cheerilee skidded to a halt outside the hospital. She slipped into a casual stroll, her eyes still moving quickly. There was no way to know how the attack might go down and she had to be prepared for anything.

A large white van pulled to the curb as she watched. It was unmarked and had been parked nowhere near a loading zone. The license plates showed that it was a rental.

Cheerilee picked up the pace. Six stallions exited the vehicle. They were all holding what appeared to be gift boxes. Long, thin boxes.

She stepped in front of the hospital doors and stopped, blocking the sidewalk. Even through her sunglasses, her glare made it clear that the six ponies in front of her would not be entering the building.

This was not what any of them were expecting. A tense moment passed as the terrorists realized that their plans had been discovered. Then they went for their weapons.

The foreign assault rifles were rough firearms, intended to be used easily by any hooves, equid or cloven. They were not precise weapons, but inside a crowded hospital that wouldn’t matter.

Cheerilee was moving before any of the six had fully revealed their rifles. The first pony’s face caved in under the force of her hoof colliding with it. Cheerilee felt the bones give way, followed by the softly sloshing material of his brain, and then a thud as she drove into the back of his skull. Punching all the way through his head from front to rear would have wasted valuable time to extract her hoof, so she refrained. He was dead either way.

The second pony hadn’t gotten his weapon raised when Cheerilee grabbed him by the throat, her dexterous hooves gripping his skin like glue. Simultaneously wrenching his spinal cord and lifting him clear of the ground, she threw him into the third pony.

The fourth was a fraction of an inch from getting a shot off when Cheerilee yanked the gun from the stallion’s hooves and broke it over his head. Shiny brass cartridges fell out on the sidewalk and also into the pony’s shattered cranial cavity.

Cheerilee jerked to the side, barely avoiding a burst of automatic fire from the fifth pony. She kicked him in the chest, cracking his ribs and sternum and knocking the pony into the air. She grabbed one hoof and arrested his skyward movement, nearly ripping his leg apart with the force. The rebound slammed the stallion into the pavement so hard his vertebrae collapsed like an accordion.

She turned her head just in time to catch a bullet in the face from the last pony. The slug tore her cheek open, shattering the bones that formed Cheerilee’s eye socket. Blind on one side, Cheerilee ripped the weapon from the stallion’s grasp and impaled him with it, the barrel bursting through his back.

The third pony was still alive, having been knocked down by another Cheerilee threw at him. She stepped over to the relatively uninjured terrorist, picking up his rifle. With no support or muscle control, her eyeball had dropped down inside her skull. As she stood over the stallion, it popped back into place. The bones and ligaments around it began to rebuild themselves.

Cheerilee felt the cool morning air on her teeth. The tattered skin of her cheek hung limply, baring her fangs even more impressively than she could normally have displayed them.

There was nothing but terror on the face of the stallion who stared up at her. Cheerilee licked her lips, tasting her own blood and bits of flesh. “Have you ever been shot? It hurts.”

She raised the weapon. The pony recoiled like a frightened colt. Cheerilee doubted he would have agreed to shoot up a hospital if he was timid, but her appearance was simply too much for even hardened terrorists like him. Without giving him time to come to grips, she kneecapped him with four careful shots. The bullets carried enough velocity to rebound off the sidewalk, giving them an opportunity to do even more damage after passing through his legs the first time. She was sure he would never walk again and would certainly lose a lot of blood. Luckily there was a hospital nearby.

Cheerilee bent the rifle in half and gave it a toss. It was time to leave. In the early morning, there were plenty of ponies out and about, and she knew that some of them had probably observed the attack.

Using a few judicious bursts of speed, she managed to slip away without incident. The sun was completely over the horizon when she got back to her apartment. Cheerilee had another quick shower and grabbed her supplies for school. By the time she got there, a carefree smile had slipped onto her face and she walked into the building appearing just as a schoolteacher should.

While nothing could replace her passion for teaching, Cheerilee had to admit that the morning’s lessons were not as engaging as her fight before school. Taking six armed terrorists out of the picture had a clear and obvious result. She couldn’t imagine how many ponies might have died if they had been allowed to attack the hospital.

Cheerilee had barely noticed getting half her face shot off. An injury like that wasn’t serious for her, but she was surprised how easily she’d shrugged it off. She quietly considered that perhaps the extreme violence had simply given her other things to think about.

At lunch the students left the classroom. Cheerilee logged onto her computer, calling up the website for Equestria News Express. Golden had turned her onto it, and she had to admit that it was one of the better reporting sites.

It did not take long to find a headline on ENE’s homepage that linked to an article about the dead terrorists outside the hospital. Cheerilee was somewhat distraught to see a freeze frame of herself taken from a low resolution security camera. The picture did not show her face, however, and thinking back on it, Cheerilee remembered that she had never turned in the direction the camera must have been located.

She should have been more aware of security measures, but there hadn’t been a chance to think about that at the time. Her jacket and sunglasses concealed most of her identifying features, and the picture was rather grainy and dimly lit. Luckily, no ponies standing by had been quick enough to snap a cell phone picture.

The article was relatively unbiased and offered facts and not much speculation, more points in ENE’s favor. That, however, made it fairly short and without filler.

Bystanders reported extreme violence...five dead, one severely wounded...victims appear to be affiliated with HOOF... Cheerilee finished scanning and went looking for another article when there was a quiet knock on the window. Golden was there, tapping on the glass.

Unauthorized ponies were not supposed to be in the school, especially not after the bombing, but Cheerilee decided that the pegasus wouldn’t have come looking for her if she didn’t have something important to say.

Cheerilee opened the window. Golden fluttered in. “Guess who just read a one-thousand-page legal text?”

Without giving Cheerilee time to humor her, Golden pulled a sheaf of papers from her saddlebags. “Have you heard of the Equestrian Free Trade Agreement? I read up on it and did some talking to Princess Luna. It’s pretty clear that this bill would actually make the country less secure.”

Cheerilee nodded, not sure where Golden was going with this, but confident that the white mare was building to something. She let her continue.

“A senator named Legal Tender has been pushing hard on the EFTA. In fact, he’s been one of the only ponies who really seems to care about it.” Golden brandished the thick stack of papers. “Furthermore, some of the text in this document makes it sound like he actually suppressed some information about the security issues.”

That was interesting. Cheerilee knew that not all lawmakers actually took the time to digest the laws they passed, so it was possible that she was the first pony to discover this. Even to a vampire speedreader like Golden, getting through the dense text must have taken forever.

“Good work. What’s the next step?” Cheerilee watched Golden consider the question. The younger mare was not often the one to make decisions. The practice was good for her, Cheerilee decided.

“I think I’ll go see Princess Luna while I’m still on lunch break,” the pegasus said. “She might know more, or know of a way to get close to Legal Tender.”

Cheerilee did not want to believe an Equestrian senator could be a HOOF sympathizer, but that was the biggest problem with terrorists- they wore no uniform to separate them from the population and were difficult to pick out for what they really were.

That’s fine, she thought. They don’t know what I am, either.

I finally flipped over the last sheet of paper from the stack.

There’s a reason I don’t have legal texts for my cutie mark... I thought, groaning inwardly at the mind-numbing reading. A quick check of my phone revealed that it was getting close to early morning rush hour already. In only a short while, it would be time for me to go to work.

Some ponies complain about employment, that it’s terrible and stuff. I never was bothered by work. Especially since I’ve become a civilized vampire, my day job has been a staple in my life. It might not seem like it from the other life I live, but having a set routine, a stability amidst the chaos, can really help me to stay focused.

I worked at a jewelry shop in town, one of the more well-known ones called Rubies and Rings. It’s not surprising given my cutie mark is a golden ring. The owner of the establishment, Silver Tiara, was a nice mare, to the point that I often forgot she was technically one of the nobles of Canterlot. When I had applied for my job there, she personally interviewed me and we got along pretty well; she recognized my talent and gave me the job, and I gave her my best effort.

I slid out of my comfy chair, stretching out my limbs to limber up my muscles. Outside, I could see the early morning rays of the sun shining over the horizon. Several ponies were already out and about, many sporting cups of coffee as they walked or flew. I stood at my window for several long minutes just watching them.

It’s amazing how they can just get along with their lives, I thought. ’Ignorance is bliss’, as they say. I shook my head and got pushed those thoughts away; there were more important matters at hoof.

I turned away from the window and tidied up my mess from the night of plowing through dense legal texts and similar documents. I folded up one of the three copies I’d made of my findings so that I could speak with Cheerilee on my lunch break. What I’d discovered was of potentially grave consequence.

It wasn’t long until I’d finished, and with a pair of small saddlebags slung over my back I left my apartment and took off towards Rubies and Rings. The airways were fairly clear for a workday, especially during rush hour. Curious, I casually flipped out my phone to see if there was any news that might be affecting traffic. Normally I play it safe like a sensible pegasus and don’t surf the web while flying, but with my enhanced senses I figured it was worth the risk.

There was one story all over the headlines, one story that made my stomach twist into a knot. On the front page of ENE was a picture of Canterlot General hospital, several slain ponies lying near the front entrance. Blood was everywhere on the sidewalk, and standing over the dead equines was a towering, two-legged form coated in gore. It’s face was hidden, but I knew who it had to be. Desperately hungry for facts, my eyes scanned the text of the attached article.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I discovered the details. Okay, just some dead terrorists. Cheerilee hadn’t gone berserk overnight. A small part of me, in the far recesses of my mind, let out a breath that I hadn’t known I was holding. I guess with all the bloodshed and slaughter following Cheerilee around, I saw a bit of a connection between her and, well...me. The old me. The one from the forest.

Cheerilee is better than that, though, she’s strong. She can take care of herself. That one small part of me, however, was reluctant to agree.

There wasn’t much else to the article on ENE, so I put my phone away. There would be time for that later; for now, I alighted on the nice pavement in front of Rubies and Rings and trotted inside. The familiar tinkling of the bells on the door greeted me, and I forgot about my worries as I cast a quick glance around the shop. Silver Tiara was already there as usual, busy arranging things for the day’s business.

“Morning, Silver,” I said, keeping my voice light and positive.

“Hey, Golden,” she called back. “It’s looking like things are going to be a little quieter around here today, so if you could handle some of the work in the back room I’d appreciate it.”

I nodded and headed off towards the door labeled “Employees Only.” It wasn’t far to walk- the jewelry shop was a humble little place, but all of the decorations spoke of tasteful elegance. My boss definitely understood the idea that “Less is More”.

I nudged open the door, slipped in, and reached for the clipboard with today’s to-do list on it. As far as workloads went, this was about average; there was a shipment of raw diamonds to be cut, as well as several other gem types that still needed accurate appraising and touching up.

The diamonds were first on the list, so I set the clipboard down on the workbench and unlocked the case that held the unpolished stones. I spread them out on the hard table and picked one from the bunch. A quick glance from a few angles gave me a pretty good idea of how I wanted to cut this one- it had a bit of an imperfection on one side, so I would shape it to an oval and thus remove the blemish.

From there, it was a quick business to set the diamond down on the table and fetch my tools. To get the perfect shape, I stopped my lungs from breathing; it cut out a lot of extraneous movement from my hooves. I also ceased my heartbeat and most normal body functions for the same reason. Such acute accuracy was important when working with high-quality gems like these, and while I was alone in the back room I didn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances.

I cut the rough stone slightly to pare it down to a more reasonable form. The scraps I removed would be ground into dust. When I was satisfied with the basic cut, next came faceting. This was done with a grinding wheel coated with diamond dust, the only thing that could hope to have much impact on another diamond. Slowly and carefully, a pleasing shape emerged from the rough stone. With finer grits, I polished it until the stone sparkled in the light.

Not bad at all.

I set down the first polished diamond and picked up the second, going through the same technique as the first. The process of creating a pleasing gem actually involved a lot of knowledge about material properties and math in order to get the facets right so that light would reflect properly and make the stone sparkle. I usually tried to take a more mature attitude than my normal ditz when talking to Silver Tiara so that she wouldn’t question why some blonde featherbrain was a whiz at advanced geometry and applied chemistry.

I kept working on the tasks from the clipboard. A few hours passed as I enjoyed myself meeting the challenge of making beautiful things. I heard Silver Tiara’s hooves approaching the door. She popped her head in. “Lunchtime, Golden.”

“Thanks. I got a little caught up in my work.” I happily showed her the assortment of stones I had produced that morning.

She beamed in appreciation. “I’ve said it before, but you have some of the steadiest hooves in the business. Maybe we could get an extra large stone for you to polish up and show at the annual Equestrian Jeweler’s Convention.”

I managed to keep my smile, but knew I had to refuse. I didn’t like crowds and the temptation they brought me. “Oh, don’t go to that kind of trouble. You wouldn’t want some other jeweler to get impressed and hire me away.”

Silver laughed amiably and the two of us walked to the front of the shop. She flipped the sign to closed and locked the door. We waved to each other and went our separate ways for lunch break.

I made my way to the school where my teacher worked, carefully avoiding the scene of the bomb. Cheerilee was somewhat surprised to see me outside her classroom, and opened the window.

At work, I had managed to temporarily forget about the mind-numbing text of the legal document, but now I brandished it at Cheerilee as if trying to pass it off to her. Really, it was just residual anger that politicians couldn’t seem to use plain language or straightforward ideas.

Legal Tender, the major proponent behind the Equestrian Free Trade Agreement, struck me as suspicious. In fact, if the information ever made it to the right gossip magazine, I could probably get him branded as a HOOF sympathizer. What I worried about was that perhaps he actually was.

My teacher seemed to agree. It was nice to get a vote of confidence from Cheerilee. I didn’t want to feel like I craved her approval, but telling me I had done a good job made me feel genuinely pleased. And then, she speared me with a tough question: “What’s the next step?”

I fumbled for a moment. Our little organization enjoyed a remarkably direct path to our leader, Princess Luna, but despite that I didn’t want to abuse it by running to her for every little thing. Still, talking to the Princess sounded like a good idea when faced with the possibility that a senator was crooked.

Saying goodbye to Cheerilee, I went back out the window and headed for my apartment. I wouldn’t be caught dead in the castle without a disguise. Putting aside security for the moment, I just couldn’t go there without looking my absolute best. After all, not even I meet with royalty every day.

Princess Luna would be asleep. I could wake her up to ask a few questions about some senator, or...I could talk to her sister. Weighing the options, I eventually decided to consult Princess Celestia. I doubted Luna’s knowledge about the underworld would be needed for this, and Celestia probably knew more about congress anyway.

“Le Madame Diadem,” I said to the guard, giving him my ID. He stared impassively at the card before deciding that I didn’t require further questioning to get in. Security had been much tighter since HOOF began their attacks in Canterlot.

Through the checkpoint, I was escorted to meet the Princess. The tall white mare excused the guard and invited me into her office.

The Princess smiled. She had always struck me as friendly, but I actually had a harder time figuring out how to act in her presence. Perhaps because I was unfamiliar, unused to her scent and body language. I caught myself looking at her smooth, pristine neck, wondering what alicorn tasted like...

Horseapples, Golden! Stop thinking about chewing on the Princess!

My eyes snapped back to her face and I swallowed. “Good afternoon, Princess. I just had a few simple things to ask, and didn’t want to wake your sister.”

She nodded, subtly altering her posture. Her smile didn’t waver, but I observed a slight shift in her demeanor, a little more alert. I realized that Princess Celestia had caught me staring, and was giving me a subtle reminder to stay in control. I felt my ears pin themselves back and my cheeks heating up, but I was grateful that she wouldn’t allow me to do anything I would regret.

“I’m here about a senator named Legal Tender. After reading the EFTA bill and a few other documents, I’ve come to the conclusion that he could be involved with HOOF.”

“I’m impressed that you got through the whole thing,” said Princess Celestia, sounding genuinely surprised. “As for Legal Tender, he has looked a bit off-color recently. Worried, perhaps.”

The Princess was legendary for her powers of observation. That was how she spotted me sizing her up, and also how she remembered the subtle emotions of just one member of the whole congress.

“Do you think I might be correct?” I asked. “I don’t like to believe that HOOF has somepony planted inside our government, but we can’t afford to ignore this.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “I expect Luna would want you to investigate this further. I’m sure you know that it won’t be easy, approaching and questioning a senator.”

I thought for a moment. “Maybe if there was some way to get him to come to me.”

“Legal Tender is loyal to his family,” put in the Princess. “Disguising yourself as a prostitute won’t work.”

I gasped in astonishment, but soon realized it was just a joke. Celestia smiled impishly. I sighed and recomposed myself, allowing a smile in return. I didn’t get many chances for amusement like this. Returning to the conversation, I said, “Maybe something related to my day job?”

Celestia considered that. “I believe Rubies and Rings is the closest jewelry shop to the parliament building. Perhaps Legal Tender could discover something in his document bag and want to find out what it was worth.”

My face lit up. “That sounds great!” Just as quickly, my emotions fell. “But how am I supposed to plant something on him?”

“I’ll take care of that for you,” said Princess Celestia. “We have a number of old baubles lying around that Luna and I could stand to part with.”

“Thank you so much!” I paused, recognizing a playful eagerness in her tone. “Princess, if I may...do you do things like this often?”

She smiled. “I can’t let Luna have all the covert operations fun, now can I?”

I thanked her once more before leaving the castle. My mind was already working on how I would handle Legal Tender when I met him face to face.