Friendship is Deception

by Your Antagonist

9: The Magnificient Six

The playwright watches the reaction of the audience intently, the climax has arrived. The pinnacle of action stands unyielding before the conclusion, the production relies upon this moment, the Playwright can only do so much; it’s in the hands of the actor now.

Mayor Mare stood alongside the other candidates for Princess Celestia’s council, and while the majority of the crowd as well as the other candidates attempted not to cringe during the speech of Princess Luna, who apparently didn’t realise that using the Royal Canterlot Voice coupled with a modern PA system would cause major feedback through the courtyard’s intricate speaker system. The sound didn’t affect the Mayor; she drowned it out as white noise while focusing intently on a clock tower in the courtyard. She didn’t want to be standing where she was when the clock hit eight, and it currently read 7:56. ‘In four minutes, years of planning will finally come to fruition; I wonder if the master is watching?’ She currently scanned the crowd for any sign of his presence, and then realised that among a crowd with this multitude of ponies it would prove to be quite a chore to discern him from the rest.

“Now, for our first speaker of the night: Mayor Mare,” Announced Princess Celestia, much to the relief of the crowd. An audible sigh could be heard as Luna’s audio assault concluded. ‘7:58, this is good; at least I’ll be on the reinforced part of the stage.’ She made her way over to the front of the stage where the microphone stood. There was a visible patch of discolored wood where the circular stand was originally placed before the force of Luna’s voice pushed it away. As she began to address the audience absent-mindedly, her focus lay on the clock-tower; each second ticking away as she droned on with an improvised speech.

After a minute that seemed to drag out for an eternity, the clock finally struck 7:59 and 40 seconds. “...and that is why I’m so pleased to serve on the council...” The Mayor cracked a smug grin and turned to face the Princesses and continued by augmenting the speech she had made thus far “...of the organization that will ring in the creation of Equestria’s new world order: Black Anarchy!” The confused looks on the faces of the Alicorn sisters was something she would have to regale her memory with when she looked back at this moment; the moment Black Anarchy completely and utterly succeeded in reforming the equestrian governmental system.

“WHAT DOST THOU MEAN BY THINE DECLARATION? ART THOU A TRAITOR TO THE CROWN?” Bellowed Luna

“Betray the crown? How can I betray something I never pledged loyalty to? But before you can answer that question, you must answer this: How could I kill the beloved Monarchs of an entire country? Rhetorical question; like this!” Mayor Mare merely backed up a few steps to edge of the stage, not out of fear but more so to secure a position behind the reinforced area of the stage so she wouldn’t take the brunt of the concussive force akin to everypony standing on the plywood section of the stage. She merely waved at the princesses while counting under her breath “three, two, one. Goodbye old Monarchy, and hello new Anarchy,” and she faced the crowd and stood on her hind legs while raising her hooves to the sky as though to be silhouetted by the fireworks show behind her.... If the bomb had gone off.

It’s not going off? Maybe the timer was off by a couple of seconds... She waited, and nothing happened. There was an awkward silence between the Mayor and the crowd. No cheering, no words were spoken, just raw silence.  The Mayor turned nervously to Princess Celestia and saw only a bemused look in the matriarch's face. I guess this means that it’s time for plan B.

The Mayor whistled in a meticulous fashion and much to her relief she heard the clop of hoof beats from the rear of the stage, this seemed to be the optimal time for some more gloating “Well Princess Celestia it looks like the ball  is still in Black Anarchy’s cour--” The Mayor ceased her gloating as she the source of the hoof clops came into view: A single Pink filly bounced hurriedly  into the venue. But where were those incompetent guards? Surely a single mare couldn’t have taken all of them.

“Princess, you gotta get outta here, there’s a lot of bad ponies behind the stage, and I mean a lot, there was even a bomb under the stage, and I don’t mean bomb as in this party is the bomb, but bomb as in explosive bomb, but a bomb party could be fun I suppose, but anyway you’ve gotta move now, I couldn’t stop them all!” The Pink Pony rambled

At that moment Mayor Mare heard what she had been counting on for the whole of that awkward silence, and the sound of hoof beats flooded the stage. Several Crossheart agents quickly incapacitated the other 14 candidates of the Princesses’ council,  and began to surround the matriarchs themselves. The only barrier between the two was provided by a single Pink Pony, and she surely wouldn’t provide too much resistance on her own.

At that moment the massive cake next to the stage erupted in a shower of frosting and rainbows, and a figure being trailed by those rainbows descended to take her place next to the Pink Pony adopting a defensive stance and proceeded to speak up “I’m Rainbow Dash of the Equestrian investigation Bureau, and you’re all under arrest for conspiracy against the crown. You can either stand down or we can do this the hard way, and I live for the hard way. So, make my day, punks.”

The Pink figure next to her spoke up excitedly “Oh oh oh, I’m Pinkie Pie of... ummm...  S.A.D.”

Rainbow Dash turned towards Pinkie and asked “S.A.D.?”

“Sugarholics Against Dentists! Duh!”

 One of the Crossheart goons from the swarm spoke up “You think you two have a chance in the afterlife against all of us?”

Rainbow turned her attention from Pinkie, and stated “Us? No.” She now turned towards the cake she burst forth from and a rope shot out, caught one of the Crosshearts around the neck, and proceeded to drag him inside; while several Apple family members poured out of the opening. Some ponies from the crowd jumped on stage as well. “But them? Let’s just say my money isn’t on you guys.”

Mayor Mare noticed at this point the crowd began to turn angrily on her, and even with as many Crosshearts as there were in the area (perhaps about 2 out of 5 ponies in the crowd plus the 60 on stage), she wasn’t exactly well protected at the moment standing on the edge of the stage. As the crowd advanced, a plume of blue smoke separated the Mayor from everypony’s field of vision and she was being led away by...Trixie.

As the two galloped towards the rear exit behind the stage Mayor Mare inquired about the catastrophe that left her exposed and embarrassed while she was on stage: “What the buck happened there Trixie?”

“Trixie does not know, but the master has another plan.”

“Well I hope your plan involves losing them,” The mayor used her head to gesture behind herself at the small posse they had accrued. The cyan Pegasus and pink spaz from the stage were among them, but there were at least 8 more behind them; one of whom she recognized immediately as a pony who shouldn’t exist at the moment. Rarity... I should have dealt with her myself...

“They will be dealt with, but for now this way; We have a safehouse where the others await.”

After cutting through the busy Canterlot streets attempting to shake their pursuers, to no avail, they finally arrived at the Canterlot Crossheart estate. They’d allow the security to deal with them.

Twilight and the others watched as the two mares ran through the gates. We’ll have to go in there and they’ll have the advantage...It’s now or never though.

Turning to her friends she prepared to address them but as she opened her mouth, Applejack raised a hoof to her friend to silence her “Ah know what yer gonna say Twi’, and y’all ought to know that we came here together, and we’ll be leavin’ here together as well, ain’t no need fer the heartfelt goodbye speech or the who wants to be here gibberin’. Now let’s get in there and shut these buckin’ mules down.”

Twilight looked into the faces of all of her friends: Pinkie had changed into a black Tactical vest at some point and merely hopped excitedly in response to some inner monologue; Rarity looked absolutely furious, as she was anxiously awaiting the moment when she would finally make Mayor Mare pay; Rainbow Dash impatiently scuffed the ground with a hoof; Fluttershy took in deep breaths, mentally pumping herself up for this; and, notably, at some point during the speech she had changed into a nurses uniform similar to nurse Redhearts, complete with a first aid bag, and when pressed for a reason for the outfit she avoided the question completely.

Well at least her friends were ready, and she turned her attention to the other 4 in their group: Braeburn had joined their group at some point, a grin of enthusiasm playing across his features; Big Mac kept an apathetic look upon his face showing no sign of physical exertion, even though he had been carrying Granny Smith the entire run down; and Granny herself merely held her walking stick quite taut while balancing on Mac’s back. The remaining member was Applejack’s Uncle Orange, who stared forth with a placid look while he held a suitcase in his mouth.

Twilight nodded, and turning her attention towards the gate her horn began to glow. ‘If we’re going to do this, may as well do it big.’ The glowing from her horn intensified and the end result was a massive blast of energy that impacted upon the gate, taking it clean off its hinges. Twilight pulled her shoulder holster out of the suitcase she had been carrying with her. After she donned the holster, all ten marched through the fallen gate solemn faced. Granny Smith nudged Big Mac and he set her down. Trotting over to Fluttershy, she whispered something in the yellow Pegasus’ ear.

“But Granny, that could have negative effects later, it’s too dangerous!”

“Ah don’t care. When we git in there, I won’t have my grandcolt die tryin’ to carry me on his back; now just do it.”

Fluttershy gave a worried look and nodded. Reaching into her first aid kit, she pulled out two syringes and injected them into Granny Smith’s hip. Granny gave a small shudder as the contents of the vials hit her system, and perked up immediately. She then ran ahead of the group to the door of the Crossheart estate and bucked it open.

“Fluttershy, what did you give mah Granny?” Big Mac inquired

Fluttershy looked down nervously, redirected her gaze to Big Mac, and smiled sheepishly: “Umm...morphine for her hip, and adrenaline because she demanded it... I’m sorry..”

Big Mac sighed and stepped up to the doorway with his Granny, and shortly after they were joined by the rest of the group. Upon looking inside there were Crosshearts all over the place guarding a grand central staircase, and just as Twilight prepared to make the telekinetic connection with her dagger, Braeburn, Big Mac, and Uncle Orange stepped up to face the sea of Crosshearts. “I reckon you ladies best mosey on up them stairs, Ms. Twi, we’ll hold em’ off here,” Braeburn suggested while pulling a bowie knife out of his vest, holding it with his mouth.

“We’ll clear y’all a way, so just be ready to move when we tell ya,” instructed Big Mac.

“I guess I misjudged farm ponies completely,” announced Uncle Orange, setting down the briefcase and kicking it open to reveal a pair of short swords with ring style hilts. “I’d always assumed you were callous and uncivilized, but after seeing that you boys know how to treat a lady, I might have to revoke those reservations after this is all over; maybe even spend a little time in the country.” He continued as he fit the ring hilts around his hooves until they were snug against his forelegs.

“Aww shucks Uncle, yer makin’ me blush, but now ain’t the time to be gettin’ all sentimental on us. You ready Big Mac?”  

        “Eeyup.”

All three simultaneously rushed into the center of the sea of goons and almost immediately split the cluster down the middle; Twilight’s group took this opportunity to rush through the center and up the staircase. The staircase lead to a massive corridor that looked like a giant cube, complete with stained glass windows in the design of the crossheart insignia, and several Itstallion style pillars on each side of the room lining the path down the center, with a singular door at the end of the hall. One thing stuck out about this particular hall: there was no security anywhere.

As the seven made their way down the path to the door, a plume of blue smoke cut them off and caused them to cease moving. As the smoke cleared, a familiar figure materialized out of the mist: ”Hello simple Ponyvillians, it is I the Great And Powerful Tri---”

A new voice had interjected “Will you shut up with that? You don’t need to address yourself every time you walk into a room.”

Rainbow’s ears perked up “Wait a minute I know that voice...”

“What’s going on Dash? Long time no see,” Hissed the new voice.

“It can’t be...”

Gilda walked out from behind one of the Pillars on the left and took her place next to Trixie. Another figure wordlessly walked out from behind a pillar on the right and took his place next to Trixie as well. This one was an older looking black workhorse stallion wearing sunglasses, a fedora, a tie with a Crossheart insignia, and from his shoulders hung a golden scarf. In his mouth he held what looked like a long stick from what Twilight could see. The unknown newcomer’s existence had caused Granny Smith and Pinkie to become tense; their features twisting to express absolute fury. Pinkie perhaps took it a step further, and her mane became long and straight; Twilight guessed that this guy was bad news to get a reaction like that.
 
“The Don of the Crosshearts...” Granny Smith hissed through gritted teeth.

“Well Ah reckon they ain’t gonna let us through without a fight,” Applejack surmised.

“It looks like Trixie was wrong about you little hayseed, Trixie always assumed you were an ignorant hillfilly, but Trixie supposes that even a common roach can have its intelligent moments as well,” The blue unicorn chided at Applejack.

“Oh, her flank is mine” Applejack declared, casting a glare at Trixie.

“Gilda, how could you... How could you work with... them?” Dash asked her former best friend.

“When I went to visit you in Ponyville, I was trying to get my life together Dash... I was no one after flight school... So I went to visit you see if I could change my ways,  but after you chased me out of Ponyville, I was approached by Mayor Mare, who offered me something better than dead end jobs and friends that would betray me. She offered me a chance to become part of the new equestrian order.”

“No one chased you out Gilda, you could have--”

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear any more excuses, "just fight!” On that note Gilda flapped her wings and rushed the group, slamming into them which resulted in everypony being knocked to the floor. She now targeted Fluttershy, who began to cower as Gilda approached, and raised a talon, bringing it down hard on the yellow pegasus. The blow sent Fluttershy sliding across the marble flooring.

But, no cry of pain was heard from the yellow pegasus. Instead, as she recovered, a chuckle escaped her mouth. Gilda cast her an estranged look, and noticed a slight prick in the talon she had struck Fluttershy with. Upon investigation, she found a now empty syringe had punctured her flesh, and she began to feel slightly woozy. She pulled out the needle and threw it to the ground. She didn’t need to know what she had been stuck with, only that it was a pretty crappy attempt at--’whoa, I feel dizzy’.

“So I guess you’re feeling it then?” Gilda turned towards the recovering pegasus. “Those dosages were intended for ponies, so I don’t know how long it’ll take to effect you, being a Griffon and all, but you'll go down the same.” Gilda shook the feeling of drowsiness from her eyes and proceeded to stomp over towards Fluttershy, but something from behind sent her sprawling to the floor.

“I won’t let you touch her, Gilda. I’m the one you’re fighting,” Rainbow declared, having recovered from the Griffon’s earlier assault. Gilda’s only recourse was to roar furiously and unleash a flurry of talon swipes while airborne. Rainbow dodged, bobbed and weaved through the assault, and waited for an opening that came in the form of an uppercut. Rainbow stood on her hind legs and blocked it with her left foreleg, returning Gilda’s assault with one of her own. She took to the air, kneeing Gilda in the beak, then joined both of her forehooves together and brought them straight down on Gilda’s forehead; progressing off of this she locked Gilda’s head with both of her forelegs, used her wings to help adjust her body so she was upside down clasping Gilda’s throat, and completed the rotation using her momentum, and upon landing her hindlegs on the floor she slammed Gilda down as hard she could, causing the marble to crack. “Nighty night Gilda; when you wake up you’ll have nothing but time to reform yourself. Maybe if prison changes you a little, we can be friends again.”

Dash didn’t drop her stance in the event that Gilda might recover, and at that moment, a bolt of fluorescent light grazed her snout. Turning her attention to the direction the bolt originated from, she saw that applejack had began to square off with Trixie.

“Stop squirmin’ so I kin hit ya!” Applejack lunged at Trixie, who jumped backwards and proceeded to fire a salvo of bolts at Applejack, who found herself completely exposed in her current position on the ground. Taking a couple shots to the face, Applejack found that her sight was screwed as a flash of white over took her vision, but laying down blind was not ideal in a fight. She felt Trixie stomp her in the side a couple of times, and decided that she had enough right about... now-ish.

After the most recent stomp delivered by Trixie, AJ rolled onto her flank and seized the hoof before Trixie could draw it away. Rolling to the side, AJ brought Trixie down to the ground with her. After some tussling AJ had isolated Trixie’s left foreleg, gripped it to her chin,  laid her hindlegs across Trixie’s chest under her chin and pulled until she heard a satisfying pop followed by a yelp of pain: she had successfully broken Trixie’s foreleg. Immediately afterward she rotated her body, and went for the throat of the weakened unicorn. Locking her elbow underneath Trixies’ chin, she proceeded to apply pressure to the blue unicorns neck. All Trixie could do to resist was kick around helplessly and shoot pyrotechnic spells everywhere, and, while one connected with Applejack’s eyes, the cowfilly ignored her temporary blindness and focused on choking the blue unicorn in her grasp. Finally she felt Trixie’s resistance cease, and the mare had gone quietly into Luna’s sweet night.

 Applejack stood up to finish what she started when she heard something metal slide and clatter across the floor and bounce slightly off her hindleg. Looking down she saw a set of hoofcuffs, and looking in the direction the cuffs slid in from she saw a pleading look emanating from Twilight. Muttering to herself she begrudgingly obliged: “Ya know Ah reckon with all th’ other blue unicorns that were offed in th’ other chapters, y’all wouldn’t care near hardly what happens to this one. Especially what happens to this one, but it’s yer call Twi’.”

The stallion who stood unspeaking this whole time finally made some kind of sentient gesture, and whipped his neck causing the stick-like object he held in his mouth to split into two, at least that’s what Twilight could see from this distance, squinting her eyes she realised that he held a saber with a ring-style hilt. Whinnying to a stand he fit the sword around his foreleg and stared down the purple mare. Most ponies can only stand on their hindlegs for a few moments, however it seemed as though he had trained himself to stand there for seemingly indefinite amounts of time.

He rushed at Rarity and Twilight, who made the connection to her dagger with her horn and whipped it out defensively, whilst pushing Rarity out of the way. She parried his swings twice before he hit the dagger far enough to reveal an opening in her defenses, and went in for a thrust. Twilight clenched her eyes and prepared for the sensation of cold steel to run her through, until she heard the sound of steel clashing with some unknown substance before her. She saw Granny Smith had placed her walking stick in front of blade and was currently holding the other stallion at bay. A Pink flash had impacted with the stallion sending him reeling backwards, and Pinkie Pie stood with Granny Smith both looking absolutely infuriated.

“You think you kin take someone of his caliber young’in? You might want ta reconsider, ‘cause I don’t think you have enough years under yer saddle to go hoof to hoof with him”

“I could ask you the same, but I’d say you have too many years under yours, plus you’re fighting with a handicap in more ways than one,” Pinkie quipped without missing a beat, drawing a combat knife from the vest with her mouth immediately after. This only warranted a grin from the old mare who whipped the walking stick with her neck to reveal that her only handicap was age if anything, as a sleek silver blade revealed itself. This weapon didn’t have a ring guard, so Granny Smith held the blade in her mouth, and remained defensive on all fours.

The Stallion showed the first and most minute hint of emotion he had all evening as his lips resisted the urge to curl into a grin. He met first with Granny Smith’s blade and then adjusted quickly to counter Pinkie’s lunge, parrying the knife in her mouth, and kicked her back a few feet, he returned his attention to Granny Smith who, instead of preparing for another bout, was shielding her eyes. He prepared to advance with a new attack when a flash of light and a horrible ringing assaulted his ears. Fortunately for him, his sunglasses significantly lessened the effects of the actual flash, but the damage to his ears robbed him of sense of balance.

Granny charged right in with a stab and Pinkie assaulted him with a barrage of attempted bucks and sweeping kicks while Granny Smith occupied the blade. After much parrying of the older Mare’s attacks, the Don finally took the offensive and swung his blade in a wide arc successfully driving  Granny Smith away and focused on Pinkie who, after delivering a strong drop kick to his mid section, found herself on her back staring up at him. As he prepared to drop the sword upon her, she tossed the blade in her mouth straight up catching the side of his face leaving a straight wound and cutting his glasses. He stalled for a second and proceeded to drop the blade, and much to his dismay he found a familiar looking sword had stopped his blade allowing the Pink Pony to roll out from under his blade. The Don attempted to adjust his attack, but Granny Smith was already preparing her retaliation and cut his flank and, backing up, thrust the blade through his abdomen.

As he doubled over back to all fours in pain he coughed out “Very...impressive.”

“Oh it’s not over yet deary,” Granny Smith’s eyes were on Pinkie Pie who galloped up and jumped on the Don using him like a spring board, leaped into the air and caught her still airborne knife in her mouth.

The Don rolled over and and watched as the Pink Pony plummeted towards him head first, and just before the knife made contact with his throat, he grinned and choked out one final word: “Magnificent.”

Pinkie recovered, electing to leave the knife in the Don’s throat. She took a moment to appreciate the feat she and Granny Smith had accomplished. Granny Smith remarked, “That Don was quite th’ stallion, not a lot of ponies can accept death with such grace in this day and age.”

Turning back towards her friends who gathered together, and in a small group they proceeded back towards the door at the end of the hall in silence. Twilight broke the silence with a question “Hey do you guys hear something?” Sure enough there was a sound akin to sniffling that could be heard behind another of the pillars. As the group approached the source of the sound, they found none other than Mayor Mare, catatonic and crying in the fetal position.

“P-p-please don’t kill me! I was just a p-puppet b-being used against my w-wi-hi-hill!”

Rarity stepped up now and glared at the snivelling mare before her. “What makes you think you deserve life you spineless mule?”

“Ra-Rarity, I can’t believe that you’ve forgotten about everything the organization has done for you. We gave you that loan for your shop, brought you fame beyond your wildest dreams--”

Rarity now straightened up and began to talk down to the Mare who had wrecked her life, while advancing forward. “You threatened my Little Sister, forced me to commit equestricides against my will, sent a sniper after me, and killed my parents...” Rarity slapped the Mayor hard across the face with ferocious technique, sending the Mayor back to the floor.

“W-w-what about S-Sweetie B-Belle, don’t you care what happens to her?”

Rarity’s nostrils flared, but then she began to chuckle. “Mayor Mare my dear mule, you don’t have any more bargaining chips, Sweetie Belle is in the RCIA’s protection now. Face it, I hold your fate in my hooves now, not the other way around.” As though to reinforce this point, she struck the Mayor again.

Twilight stepped forth to stop Rarity from losing control, until Rainbow extended a wing, Applejack put up a hoof and both shook their heads simultaneously; this was Rarity’s vendetta now.

Rarity turned away from the Mayor and walked up to Twilight, she reached her right hoof up and it rested on the dagger handle in the shoulder holster. “Rarity don’t do this...”

“It’s too late for that Twilight,” Rarity said as she turned around to face the Mayor and raised the metallic object in her hoof up in the air, and brought it down with killing intent. The Mayor flinched and turned away and heard several light clicks. She turned her attention back to Rarity and noticed something was holding all of her legs together.

“I hate you, make no doubt about that, but I would rather not have your blood on my hooves, it might stain my coat.” Turning towards her friends, Rarity called: “Come along ladies, we’ll be back to collect this trash later,” Rarity exclaimed, resuming her path towards the door.

“Rarity are you sure about this, you’ll never get this chance again once she gets locked up,” Rainbow explained.

“Yeah, we won’t say nothin’ if you wanna get even,” Applejack reassured her

The white unicorn turned towards them and said simply, “Please girls, Rarity is above such nonsense, there’s no need to dirty my hooves further,” and she walked through the door.

“That was incredibly mature of you Rarity, I’m proud of you for making the right choice,” Twilight praised

“Right choice Twilight? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s the choice I will live with. Now I believe you should be focused on what lies ahead.”

Twilight nodded in compliance and focused on the door at the top of the stairs.

As the seven mares pushed it open and step inside, a voice greeted them “Oh my little ponies, I’m so glad you could make it here, but it’s the end of the road as they say”

Twilight rubbed her eyes and in a state of disbelief stammered out “y-y-you?”

The only response she received for her inquiry was something she’d seen in her dreams and memories: the figure merely grinned. A grin that was painfully familiar.

End Chapter 9