//------------------------------//
// The True Ending 
// Story: The Lost Connection 
// by A bag of plums 
//------------------------------//

Pierce Network slowly walked up to the back door of Canterlot High. The sun was still halfway behind the horizon, the golden sphere inching its way up into the sky.

He wheezed as he stretched his arm to his coat pocket to retrieve his newly constructed phone, unlocking the screen to get to his hacks. His other hand was tucked into his coat, where it rested on the grip of the pistol he had hidden in there. While he did not expect to meet any kind of threat on the way, as he had not announced his return in any way at all, it was safer to be prepared for anything.

Though, if it did come to a fight, he wasn’t likely to get out of it alive. He was still recovering from his injuries and he still had quite the difficulty in breathing. Still, he managed to slip into the school without incident. It was far too early for students to be here, so he would have uninterrupted access to his computer. The files he needed to upload were all on his phone, and he would have liked to get them online sooner, but there was no internet connection at his hideout due to it being over a decade of disrepair, and he didn’t trust any other connection. His school computer was the only system he would feel safe uploading anything on, after his home one had been trashed.

He hoped to make his work quick, wanting to disappear before the first students arrived, or worse, Mirror Match or Ebony Wings. He began mapping out his plan in his head as he walked down the hall, a hand already going to his chest as he breathed.

Get in, upload the data, get out before anyone could see him.

Over the last few weeks, he had gathered a lot of information about the two women. Some of it was disturbing enough to give him nightmares. And he didn’t dream.

If everything he had found about these monsters was true, then he had a lot more to worry about if they found out what he was about to do.

He knew the only options left to him. If he uploaded this information, he would have nowhere left to go. They were going to hunt him down for the rest of his life either until they found him, or until someone else were to find them.

Pierce had heard stories of monster hunters all across different myths and folklore. Ebony Wings and Mirror Match, if the stories held out, had faced such hunters before. If they were still around today, there was always the chance that monster hunters still roamed the world in search of such prey.

However, regardless if they still existed or not, he had already prepared himself for the worst, deleting any information he had to anyone, including Morning Blade and Keila. No one else was going to die because of his actions. Not again.

What mattered now was getting to his computer and uploading his data as quickly as he could.

He hurried as fast as he could down the empty hallways, until he saw the familiar sight that was his classroom door.

He was about to turn the handle when he noticed something through the small window that was set in the door.

There was someone already inside, sitting on one of the swivel chairs and idly spinning themselves around like it was the first time they were ever sitting in one.

He didn’t think any student would be this early, and he didn’t even recognize this one. She was wearing a white jacket over a dark colored t-shirt with a smiley face on it and a short green skirt. Her curly blue hair was tied into a low ponytail, and she continued to spin on the chair, paying no attention to Pierce. Maybe it was because her eyes were closed.

He checked his watch to make sure it was right. It read 5 AM, too early for a student to be here. Much too early.

Sighing, he took his hand off the his pistol and straightened his coat. It was just a kid; there was no need to be so highly strung. There was no way Ebony Wings or Mirror Match would be able to shrink themselves, even with all their powers.

Pushing open the door with his shoulder, Pierce entered his classroom. The teenager’s eyes snapped open and she got off the chair, standing up, one hand holding an unreasonably large tote bag and the other straightening her skirt.

“Oh, Mr. Pierce!” the girl chirped in a high, musical voice. “You’re back!”

“Right… Just for a little bit.” Pierce stalked in and placed a hand on his desk to steady himself as he took some time to breathe. “And who might you be?”

“I’m new,” the girl said impishly. “And there were rumors you’d be coming back today, so the whole class got together and got you some presents. Look!”

“Uh huh…” Pierce raised an eyebrow and pulled up his chair closer. He had told no one that he was coming here today and he had only planned to be here to upload his data, then leave.

Pierce’s eyes ventured down to his desk, where a sparkling new keyboard was connected to his computer and next to it was a box of the caramel sticky candies he liked to buy from the vending machine.

“How, uh… thoughtful…” Pierce looked back at the new girl. Something about all this wasn’t feeling right. And he never thought his homeroom class would be so kind as to buy him a new keyboard. Things weren’t adding up too well.
“We had a bit of a fundraiser while you were gone, so we replaced that worn out keyboard of yours and got you a little something sweet. Do you like it?” the girl leaned closer to him, near enough for him to smell her designer perfume.

Pierce surveyed the gifts. While he wasn’t exactly happy that the class had gone and replaced his keyboard with his permission, he decided that in the end their good intentions meant more to him than a pet peeve, although, he still found this all very weird.

Booting up his computer, Pierce opened the box of candy and discreetly booted up an app on his phone. Pushing aside the last few scraps of paper, he turned back to the girl, who was watching him expectantly, both hands immersed in her tote bag. The app he had opened was one he had designed himself, which was capable of scanning for chemicals of a high toxicity rate, an example being poison. The girl and everything about her didn’t seem right and Pierce wanted to be sure he wasn’t just being paranoid.

An thin blue beam shone out of his phone’s camera lens, bathing the open box of candy in its light. Moments later, his phone beeped once. It was clean.

Looks clear. Maybe I’m just off my engines and I’ve overthought all this.

“Why are you even… this early, kid?” Pierce sat down on his chair and grunted as one of his muscles seemed to punch him in the chest.

The girl shrugged, but still had the smile on her face. “Couldn’t wait to see you, Mr. Pierce.”

“Uh huh.”

While he waited for his computer to get to the login screen, the girl curtseyed and waltzed out of his classroom with her tote bag, leaving him alone. He sighed and reached for his phone, syncing it up with his computer. Pierce didn’t know how much more time he would have. No one was supposed to know he had returned to school. Whoever the girl was, news was going to spread that he had returned and it was only a matter of time before it reached the monsters. However, at least they would be too late. By tomorrow, they would realize their mistake, but it would be too late to stop him. No one could stop the internet.

As he watched his computer screen shift to his login screen, he looked around the classroom. This would likely be his last time in here. He would miss the place, with its windowless walls and its high speed internet connection, the payment courtesy of Principal Celestia. He still wanted to check on her, to see if she had gotten out alright and unharmed, like Mirror Match had said, but first, he had a job to do.

As he waited, there was a faint sound from outside his room, the door of which was still slightly ajar from the girl’s departure. It sounded like a snick of metal sliding across metal. It reminded Pierce of his Assassin days, of a blade leaving its sheath. But then he caught sight of a yellow eye and blue hair peeking at him through the crack. Then she noticed him looking and disappeared.

“Hmph.”

Pierce logged in to his account, and began to pull up a plethora of social media sites. MyStable, Ewetube, even YourSpace. He was just about to start signing in when he felt his stomach growl.

Right… I didn’t eat breakfast.

He had been up all night compiling his data and he hadn’t had dinner either. Seeing as the candy wasn’t poisoned, Pierce decided to give it a try, keeping an eye on the door at the same time. To his surprise, the candy was even tastier than the ones he got from the vending machine. He set his phone to sync with the computer and began to eat the caramel treats.

Pierce had reached the bottom of the box by the time his phone finished connecting to his computer. He cracked his knuckles deviously. It was almost time. He was halfway through typing his username when he realized that his fingers were still coated with a thin layer of caramel from his little binge. Oddly, the keyboard remained as pristine as ever.

“Must be nonstick,” Pierce grunted with glad surprise. “Just means no more cleaning up for me.” He licked his fingers clean and continued to type in his username, ‘VigilanteFox1337”.

But the moment his fingertips brushed the ‘3’ key, Pierce’s chest gave a great, sharp throb of pain. The computer teacher gasped, clasping at his ribs frantically. At first, he thought it was his lungs acting up again, but the pain did not go away, rather, it worsened with every beat of his heart. Pierce gasped for breath, his phone and computer forgotten. He had to upload the files. Fast.

Reaching for the keyboard again, he typed in the last ‘3’, followed by the ‘7’, but his fingers failed him as he went to type in the password, the digits shaking too much to pick out individual keys anymore.

“N-No… Not yet…”

There was the sound of his classroom door opening, and with great difficulty Pierce turned to see who it was. It was the girl again, from before. He knew there was something off about her, but he hadn’t taken the right precautions it seems.

“Well, well, well,” she said softly, turning around and locking the door, pulling down the blind to the window for good measure. “Seems you weren’t as smart as they say.”

“What… who are you?” Pierce clutched his chest, feeling it was harder and harder to breathe. “What did you do… to me?”

A razor thin smile crept across her face as she stepped over Pierce, making straight for his computer instead. She reached into her tote bag and snapped on a pair of latex gloves before inserting a silver memory card into his PC. Through the haze of pain, Pierce could only watch with horror as whatever program that girl had loaded began to erase every last speck of data on the hard drive. The screen flashed several times, its death throes casting eerie shadows on the wall before it finally reverted back to its original, unused state.

“No…” He couldn’t keep his head up anymore, resting it on the cool tiled floor. He hit himself mentally for not turning around and leaving when he saw the girl in his room. He should’ve known he couldn’t risk it now this late in the game.

“You know,” the girl said, turning to face him as she unplugged the memory card and put it back into her bag. “I was really hoping you’d take the bait. It would have been a lot messier if I’d had to stab you.” She pulled a long silver knife from her bag and licked the blade. As she opened her mouth, Pierce could see a pair of fangs protruding from her gums.

His eyes widened in recognition. She was one of them. One of those monsters. He should’ve realized there could be more of them. Now, it was too late and his plans had failed completely. At least he had erased his phone’s data. That way, no one else was going to die. One was more than enough.

The girl hummed to herself as she methodically searched his desk, cabinets, and finally, the teacher himself, taking his thumb drives, memory cards, phones, and even his watch, wallet, and earpiece. All these she put into her tote bag, finally ending with his gun.

“Poor Pierce Network,” the girl cooed sinisterly as she reached behind a desk and retrieved his old keyboard. “So paranoid, so untrusting of even his own class, but never once suspecting that with every keystroke you were bringing your own end closer.” She tutted and swapped out the new keyboard for his old one. “You really shouldn’t lick your fingers while using a computer.

“Now, as much as I would like to watch the poison twist you, I have places to be today.” The girl wagged a finger at Pierce and blew him a kiss. “The queen and her kin send their regards.”

With her work done, the girl slipped the replacement keyboard into her bag and made for the door. In the fading cone of darkness, Pierce heard the door unlock, open, and close. He couldn’t feel his body anymore. Only the sound of his own, labored breathing rang strong in his ears. No… there was one other sound. That of a female singing in the distance. The girl.

“This day has been just perfect, 
The kind of day of which I’ve dreamed since I was small,
The queen’s enemies will fall,
At her feet they will all crawl,
Just before we execute them all!”

And then Pierce closed his eyes and never opened them again.



The girl stepped into the hall with a skip in her step. She had done it. The recusant had been all taken care of, and not a single drop of blood had been spilt. Not like she had wanted any to spill. This was one of the few times she had been allowed to roam free on her own, with the other times being the same thing as today, just that her target had never shown up and she had wasted her time waiting.

Perhaps she should’ve sat down on one of those spinning chairs before today. It would’ve certainly done its job of entertaining all the times she had come to this place for nothing.

The plan hadn’t been perfect and there were likely going to be plenty of questions from other people, but at least she had followed it as she had been ordered. Plus, being out on her own was exciting enough.

There were still so many new things to see on the way out, including a poster of some kind of game coming up. It looked like it was painted and it looked fun.

Exiting the building, she saw the long black car she had come in, waiting by the pavement, its tinted windows absorbing the morning sun’s light. Looking around carefully to make sure no one else was watching, the girl opened the door and slipped inside.

It was cool and dark inside the limo, just like how she knew her mother liked it.

“Is it done?” a female voice came from the darkness, the opposite side of where the girl was seated.

“Yes, mother,” she answered as she buckled herself in. “You won’t have to worry about that man again.”

“And what of the evidence?” the female voice asked.

“All taken care of,” the girl replied, holding up her bag. “It’s all in here. Every last bit that I could find. Oh and the keyboard too, if you still want it. I thought I’d take it so no one else gets poisoned accidentally.”

“Excellent thinking,” the female voice said, leaning forward and looming out of the shadows to reveal a charcoal black face framed by teal hair. Her green, slit-pupiled eyes sparkled like emeralds.

“You’ve done me very proud today, my little changeling,” Queen Chrysalis crooned, sitting back again and suffusing the inside of the car with love.

And the girl soaked it in, feeling immeasurably happy.

Just perfect indeed.





~The End~