Vaas Montenegro Learns the Magic of Friendship

The puddle of red slowly crept across the floor, to the horror of the onlookers. The guards had abandoned all pretense of stoicism; many had their mouths hanging wide open, while others simply stared in wide-eyed silent horror. Several had tears running down their faces.

The five remaining ponies wept openly, screaming, sobbing into one another's shoulders. The purple dinosaur held the white unicorn, who clung to him like a child with a blanket, screaming, while the small reptilian stroked her mane and whispered sweet soothing words into her ear. He was the only one who seemed not to be panicking. He seemed perfectly calm, at ease, as if this what he was made to do, comforting this unicorn. Whether this was the calm brought on by shock, or simply unapologetic apathy, Vaas could not determine.

It was a bit unnerving.

Vaas dropped the corpse; what was left of her cranium hit the floor with a sickening crunch. Breathing heavily, Vaas looked down to see that one of the forelegs was still twitching, jerking in small spasms. He lowered the 1911 pistol and emptied the rest of the magazine into the body. The leg stopped twitching, and Vaas slid in a new clip.

Celestia was clearly trying to maintain her composure. Her jaw was clenched and her legs were locked. The image of calm was ruined by the steady stream of tears flowing from her eyes.

Luna, on the other hand, was visibly shaking in silent rage. She stared at Vaas with a burning hatred that would have caused a greater man than him to quake in fear; there were, however, no greater men than Vaas, and he simply smirked at the Princess of the Night.

"Good heavens, what is all the commotion about?" a voice asked. Vaas whirled around, to see a white unicorn stallion wearing a black tuxedo lapel and bow tie approaching. After raising a foreleg to brush a strand of his straw-colored mane off of his forehead, he swaggered over to Vaas, surveying him and his dirty skin, tattered clothing, and many scars, with what could only be described as pure loathing. He looked towards Celestia. "Aunt, what on earth is this... Thing?"

Vaas decided that he hated him. This fucker needed to die.

Celestia raised her foreleg to her face in what could only be the equine equivalent of a facepalm, and began to quietly sob.

Only then did the stallion seem to notice the gory mess on the floor. "Oh, disgusting!" he screamed, his swaggering nature all but gone. He scrambled to get away from it, and ended up tripping over himself, sprawling facefirst on the floor.

"Someone..." he said, panting. "Someone clean this... mess... Up! Now!"

"How about a little respect for the deceased?" Vaas said, gesturing towards the corpse, kicking a small piece of brain matter away as it floated toward him in the puddle of blood.

"I don't care who it was, I just want it gone!" the unicorn screamed.

Vaas rolled his eyes and cocked his gun, preparing to blow this fucker away, when a quiet voice spoke up.

"Blueblood..." the white unicorn said, pushing the dinosaur away from her. She was trembling, and the hatred in her eyes was equal to that of Luna. "You... Insolent..." She took a step forward, her voice rising in volume. "Miserable..." Another step. "Sniveling..." Step. "Self-absorbed..." Step. "Fucking..." She was practically nose-to-nose with the stallion. "RUFFIAN!"

She raised her foreleg.

Cries of "Rarity, no!", "He's not worth it!", "Don't do it, sugarcube!", and "Kill that fucker!" arose from the four other ponies.

Rarity's strike took the stallion across the face; there was a splendid crunching noise as his nose broke, and blood sprayed onto Rarity's white coat, dripping down to mix with the puddle on the floor. Blueblood recoiled backwards, but Rarity kept on advancing, landing each blow in a furious whirlwind. Blueblood fell to the floor, battered, bruised, and bleeding, but Rarity just kept on hitting him. Her forelegs were covered in blood, and Blueblood's face was naught but a bloody pulp with eyes. Amused, Vaas raised his pistol and idly used it to scratch one of the scars on his head.

Rarity stopped her assault, backing away a step, breathing heavily. Tears fell from her eyes, mingling with the blood on her face, but she wore a look of such utter satisfaction that Vaad couldn't help but admire her. Blueblood started to cry, heaving great pathetic sobs. Rarity stared at him in disgust, and jerked her foreleg forward, straight into the stallion's crotch. There was a noise that made all of the stallions in the room, Vaas included, shudder; it sounded almost like a raw piece of steak slapping against a table. Vaas didn't even want to imagine what Blueblood was feeling. Blueblood screamed, a raw, visceral sound of pure agony, until Rarity raised her hoof one final time and brought it down on his throat. His cries ended abruptly, and he began to writhe on the ground, his face darkening. He clawed at his neck, trying to draw breath.

This had gone on long enough. Sighing, Vaas raised his pistol and fired a bullet into what remained of Blueblood's skull. The gasps stopped.

And then, Rarity turned her head to look at Vaas.

... Oh shit.

She snarled, her horn glowing with purple energy, and a bolt of white lightning arced towards Vaas. It struck him in the stomach, and he doubled over in pain, falling to the floor. Blood soaked into his clothing, splashing all over his face and into his mouth. He tried to draw breath, but inhaled the stuff into his lungs, choking and retching.

Rarity was preparing another bolt of energy.

His gun.

He'd dropped his gun.

Still gagging, his hand fumbled around on the floor, finally coming to rest on the rough grip of his pistol. He grabbed it and rolled, narrowly avoiding being hit by the second bolt. He raised himself to a crouching position, and raised the gun, lining up the unicorn in his sites.

And then something hit him in the back of his head with the force of a freight train, and he fell to the floor once again, barely conscious, pain roaring in his skull.

Vaas raised his head to see the white form of Rarity standing over him, head lowered, horn buzzing as it charged.

He closed his eyes, but death never came.

"It's okay, Sugarcube," a voice said. "I got him. Everything's gonna be okay. I got him."

And then the sobbing started afresh, the unicorn's cries of anguish echoing across the room. It was the last thing Vaas heard.