//------------------------------// // Mission 2 // Story: The Equestrian Mafia // by TheEveryDaySparkle //------------------------------// "So...what's your name?" called a voice out of nowhere. "I-it's Hoof. M-my name's...Righteous Hoof." "Is that your real name?" The voice said, in an accusatory tone. "Yes, it is." "Are you sure?" "Yes, I am. Why wouldn't I be? It's my own name-" "Do you have a family, Mr. Hoof." The voice cut him off before he could fully answer. The voice sounded unmistakably female, and had a melodic sound to it, and yet, it carried with it an air of authority that could shake the very core of whoever it was used on. A candle suddenly flickered into life, revealing two people, and the area surrounding them. One wore a black tuxedo and black dress pants, along with a pair of heels accompanied by and tied together with a black cowboy hat. The other wore a jet black cloak, which was currently pulled down to accommodate the guests he hadn't been expecting. "What does my family have to do with this?" "I guess we have our answer. Relax. We won't do anything to them." "I swear if you hurt them i'll-" The voice of the man sounded a bit alarmed now. "Calm down. I just said we won't do anything. However, your family might do something to you." This confused the man. "W-what do you mean?" "What do you think would happen if your family learned that you were the leader of a cult? Worse still, a cult that has caused Equestria a great deal of suffering with your little 'Rituals'." One could almost hear the smile that formed on the owner of the voice's lips as she slammed her hand down on the table and tipped up her hat, revealing the face of a young looking woman with lavender and purple curls in her hair. "Now, i'll ask again. Are you sure that's your name?" The man's forehead began to sweat a bit as he looked around himself, looking for a way out of this situation. When he couldn't find any, he settled on talking his way free. "Stop trying now. You'll never get anything out of me. I'll never talk!" "Oh really?" The woman snapped her fingers, and suddenly, the man could hear the cracking of knuckles, which was all he heard until he was scooped up by his cloak collar and slammed back first into a wall. The man screamed. When he finally opened his eyes from the searing pain in his back, he noticed that yet another girl, this one maybe a bit younger than the first, had him pinned to the back wall of his house. How was she so strong? The girl had a mop of pinkish hair, barely hidden behind her cowboy hat, peach skin, and was rather well built for a woman. Of course she had the typical womanly charms. None of which he paid attention to given his current situation of being carved into the wall. With a resounding, "oof!" The man was nearly thrown back into his chair as he watched the girl walk away from him. "Now will you be more cooperative?" called the woman, a hint of smugness in her voice. "Yes, yes, i'll tell you just, please don't hurt me!" The woman sat down in her chair. "My real name...is Clear Cut." The woman smiled. "That's better. Now, why did you leave your family?" "I left...to get away." "But why would you wanna get away from yer family? Didn't they love you?" came a voice. This one had a southern accent to it. "Of course they did. They're my family. It's just...We have a family business." "What a coincidence. So do we!" said the southern voice once more. "We were trying to gain customers, but they were all stolen by another business. We became poor. Oh, so very poor. I had a talent for speaking, as you can tell from my cutie mark, and could gain a few customers, but soon, even that became worthless. And so I left to find a way to make more money. This group came to me and made me leader. They said they could help. So I helped them in return. I didn't like what they were doing, but I had to help my family." "And you became the leader of an evil organization bent on destroying the concept of cutie marks forever in order to make the money you needed?" The woman said, looking to confirm her suspicions. "Yes. I know it's bad but what else can I do. I-i'm sorry, but I won't change my ways, not now. I can't afford to." "Well, In that case, I guess there's only one thing to do." Came the saddened voice of the woman. She stood up and brandished a gun, lifting it to sit right between the man's eyes. She walked over to the man and placed the barrel of the gun right in his face, so that he was forced to look down the hole of the metal object of death. He flinched and closed his eyes, waiting for her to pull the trigger. When nothing happened, he opened one eye only, too afraid to believe that they would not actually kill him, and watched. He saw that instead of a head shot, she had placed the gun mere inches from his flank, right in front of...his cutie mark? He closed his eyes again, this time bracing for the pain, but grateful that they weren't going to kill him. He heard a gunshot...but there was no pain. He opened his eyes and looked down at his flank. His cutie mark was gone! Then came the voice of the woman once more. "There! Now you'll be able to start over and find out what your cutie mark really means?" He glared at them as the leader tipped up her hate with a smile. "Do you three really believe that by taking away my cutie mark, that you can make everything better? I'm still dirt poor and i'm stuck with these fools! There's nothing you can do!" The woman had a look of sadness, then glared back, a determined glint in her emerald eyes. "I don't know bout that..." She said under her breath before bringing a walkie talkie to her lips and saying into the receiver, "Bring it in." Suddenly the door swung open with a loud crash as it hit the wall adjacent to it., and in walked a girl clad in the same black ensemble shared by the rest of them. She carried a suitcase, and kept her head down. She did so all the way until she was standing at the table that separated the two parties. She placed the suit case down on the table and fiddled with it until an audible click was heard, then she lifted the lid of the suitcase and turned it around so that the man could see. He looked at the item before him, then back at the woman who had come in. His eyes were wide as he watched her lift her head, revealing a woman around the same age as the other three, but with a more mature atmosphere about her. She had strikingly blue eyes. The y looked so focused and deep that he felt like she could see into his soul. He continued staring until he heard her say... "Are you sure about that?" The man stared at what the woman had brought in. In front of him was the largest amount of money that he was sure he would ever see in his life. It was easily over a million bits. They shone as he looked at them. He looked up from the gift they had so generously brought him, but as he looked on, they were already walking out the door. He called out to them. "Wait! W-who are you?" he said, wanting to know just who had given him such a gift. The woman who had been the leader of the group looked at him out of the corner of her eye and said, "We're the Cutie Mark Gang." She pointed to her back, where the symbol of a tricolor shield was emblazoned on the back of her tuxedo. Inside the shield was a music note, a lightning bolt, an apple, and a tiara, all in a perfect circle. The group left, all save for one, who stayed behind long enough to say, "Oh and, keep the change." before walking off to join her comrades in arms. They had done it. Their first mission was complete, and it had gone off without a hitch. Celestia was gonna be so proud. And what a story it would make.