How to Bore a Commissioner

by Shieldheart204

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It had been yesterday that Twilight had gone to Shield Heart's firing range and performed that Alpha Strike in her first try. An event that robbed him of his sleep, which really wasn't supposed to be much of a compliment; that straw mattress had been robbing him of any sleep anyways. But in this case it was a compliment. The cause for the insomnia wasn't the fact a civilian accidentally casted it.

That much had to be obvious, she was a Mage and a very powerful one at that. No, his shock came from the damage done by it.

The bolt was so powerful that it actually dented the tiles behind the target. It was a big deal because these were military-grade ceramic tiles commonly used in praetorian armor, the really heavy armor. And seeing them dented by an accidental shot was concerning. If she could unleash this much damage accidentally, he feared what would happen if he angered her.

Shield thought about her technique, and noticed that she just concentrated for two seconds. Such power should have been beyond a mere mortal, because if they did use that amount of magic in one shot the would at least have been knocked unconscious. Yet the librarian had defied his logic and walked out not even feeling winded.

He was back in his basement the next morning rearming himself. The totems had fired a proximity alarm early in the morning, a creature approximately 40 centimeters in height and two meters long. The beast was still around the totem, but because it got near to the dirt path he decided to investigate. He encountered Cadence, who was talking to Shining Armor on her cellphone.

From what he heard they were discussing something about buying a home. Where, he couldn't tell, but they sounded somewhat serious.

He decided to quickly write another note, indicating the disturbance. He felt like they had started to develop a passive-aggressive relationship. Barely communicating and the messages were limited to notes. He considered he might want to start some sort of bonding exercise, but in that moment he had to prepare for a hunting expedition.

Because of yesterday, he decided to bring: Riot, Manny, the falchion, Snow, Ash and the hunting rifle. Once he was satisfied with his tools he quickly packed a sandwich, a canteen of lemon tea, some potato chips and a Giggles chocolate candy bar.

As before, the forest had a murky feeling, but his arsenal helped give him the confidence to continue without worry. As he approached the totem he unholstered his hunting rifle and aimed. The disturbance was somewhat uncomfortable, it was a cockatrice. The chicken-headed snake was slithering lazily, unconcerned with the steel barrel sticking from above.

With a deep breath, Shield pulled the trigger. A crack and a flash later and the beast was dead. A large hole removed its brain and it fell lifeless into the soft grass. He studied the corpse and upon seeing that it was fit for dissection he took it home.

Cockatrices were valuable for their scales and feathers, not to mention their eyes, which could be used for a variety of potions and poisons. He returned home and put the monster in his basement, where he would later harvest the body. Maybe he should ask Fire to send him a freezer.

The next few hours were spent on tracking the nest, he hoped to gather more animals and most importantly: find cockatrice eggs.

.oOo.

During the late morning Twilight Sparkle was busy buying groceries at the market. As she passed through the various locals re-stocking their pantries when she recognized a raven-haired man with grey streaks. She approached him as her brain gave his name: Free Will.

He turned around and smiled, his hands holding several bags of food.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle! What a pleasure to see you here." He said happily as he shuffled his bags to extend a welcoming hand.

Twilight met his hand. After some shaking his hand she went for the lettuce stand.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your day but I wished to ask you some questions concerning a rumor I hear from the hospital." He asked with a kind voice.

"Of course! What's this rumor you heard?" Asked the Royal Student with a concerned look.

"I believe this is a conversation best had behind closed doors." He said grimly. "Most of what I hear is sensitive material and if heard by the wrong people it could cause fear."

She was worried he might have heard of the manticore incident, but couldn't find a good reason to be concerned. "If you could allow me to take my groceries home I could accompany you and discuss."

"I have no problem, I can wait here if you wish. Or if you don't mind, I can accompany you. Do you know where Shield is by any chance?"

"Um..." She mumbled. "I think he had to check out some problem with a ward totem he placed in the Everfree Forest."

A sigh of relief came from the man. "Good, that means he finally has found something to keep it under control."

"I'm sorry, keep what under control?" She asked with a perplexed look.

"This is partly why I want to have this conversation in private. Now please, I plead that you hurry. I fear he may come when least expected, and we have no alibi as to why you are here. If he sees us he'll suspect immediately and will begin to distrust people. And that is the last thing needs right now."

"Then please let me finish, I'll be back shortly." She said as she began her chores in a quicker pace.

After half an hour of shopping, Twilight returned home and placed everything in the pantry and refrigerator.

When she returned to the market she saw Mr. Will sitting in a bench, feeding the pigeons. "Oh, I'm glad you came. I feared that I scared you off." He said as he tossed away the last piece of bread. He lead the way through the thick crowd, constantly looking back and noticing his company was falling behind.

"I see you aren't accustomed to walking through large crowds." He chuckled.

"Not really." She said from behind a tall, muscular seraph with white wings blond hair and too few neurons in his head.

Another half an hour later they finally arrived to his home, a regular thatched house with wooden walls. The main difference was on the door. Rather than being also made of some wood it was made of metal, painted with gold and sported bas-reliefs of two angel with hands to the air and outstretched wings.

He turned the doorknob, and with a loud clank the door swung open.

"Don't you lock your home?" She asked.

"Of course I do! The mechanism is coded only to my handprint. Anyone else who attempts to enter my home will get a small shock." He stated proudly.

The inside had a similar design as the doors. A lot of the metal was painted in gold, the foyer had a floor made of marble and rosewood covered the furniture. He guided her to his study, where it had a thick carpet with a floral edge. The walls were thick and soft, but had a more medieval design to them. There were several images of Great Bridle Mythos decorating the wall, and she managed to notice a triskelion in the pattern.

"Are you fond of the old mythology?" She asked as she touched the wall and noticed the silence that followed.

"Yes, but more importantly: the walls are made to completely silence the room. I assure you, there will be no eavesdropping our conversation." He said as he uncapped a bottle of scotch. "I don't suppose I could interest you with some imported scotch?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't usually drink. Especially this early."

Free Will chuckled. "I can understand, you being the Princess's pride student and all, but it makes me uncomfortable to drink alone." and opened the small service fridge inside one of the lower cupboards. He pulled out a glass bottle of Sparkle Cola. "I hope I can interest you in a non-alcoholic alternative."

"I really don't feel like drinking anything besides regular water." She said firmly. She scanned the mantelpiece. There were several awards related to political science, government plans, best mayor of Vanhoover, amongst others.

The walls were covered in photographs and snips of newspaper. Most showed his doings as a mayor, one of the earliest had a peculiar headline: "Mayor Will declaring war on the River Dragons Triad. Says: "the parasites will leave the city one way or another."

"Mr. Will saved from early retirement by vigilante."
This definitely caught her attention, so she continued reading.

Entrepreneur Free Will was assaulted by at least ten thugs as he exited the Hall of Technology after giving his campaign speech last night. Said speech was considered controversial. In his speech he openly declared war on the philanthropist Snake Eyes, his rival, and on the River Dragons Triad which has been terrorizing Vanhoover for the last five years.

As he boarded his car the thugs attacked with solid projectile pistols, knives and brass knuckles. Two of his bodyguards were severely injured during the scuffle and one lost his life. But as the enemy ganged up on the candidate, a pistol went off in the distance. This pistol belonged to a man in a crimson cloak, military grade armor and a ballistic mask standing on top of a billboard.

In a flash, three thugs were killed, and seven faced this mysterious foe in hand-to-hand combat.

After two minutes of agonizing pain inflicted upon the triad's men, the problem ended. All the dregs were killed, most presenting sever blunt force trauma as the cause of death. But before the skilled rescuer could be rewarded he/she disappeared back into the darkness.

That was pretty much all of it, but it amazed Twilight.

"I see you read the whole snip." Said the man as he showed her a bottle of water. "You might as well know the start of my history with that man. I hope this will help refresh your day."

"Thank you sir. Now what is this rumor you heard about me?" She asked as she opened the bottle and took a sip. The drink was cool and refreshing, something that she needed to stave off the Ponyville heat.

He invited her to sit down in either the couch or the wooden chair in his desk. She chose the chair, it felt more personal.

"I know for a fact that you were taken to the hospital yesterday after being stung by a manticore in the forest." He stated. "And I also know that the paramedics failed to find any trace of poison. But they did find aloe vera smeared in your left breast, the place where you had been stung."

"How do you know this?"

"I need to visit the doctors every once in a while, and I've befriended everyone in the hospital. And when I went for my weekly check-up I overheard them talking about the incident. After some regular chit-chat I learned of the case.

"And it was only a simple deduction which made me believe that Shield Heart had to be in the forest to save you. After killing the monster he took you to his home where he created an antidote for you and called an ambulance." He said as he drank.

"You are correct in all matters except for one: he never called for an ambulance."

"He didn't? How odd, he must have considered it useless."

"That he did." Responded the librarian. "But I don't understand, if you already knew everything. Why did you need to see me?"

"Because my real question lies not with what happened to you, but what you saw. I want to know what you remember from the fight between Shield and the manticore." He said with concern.

"I really don't remember much. I remember that the manticore sprung out of the bushes, got shot in the front right paw, then got shot in the tail. It pinned me down, then Shield shot it with guns. After that the monster injected me and I lost conscious."

"Really? You don't remember anything out of the ordinary?" He pressed.

"No, I'm sorry. But why are you so interested in the fight? It didn't last long."

"That is why I am worried. From the first day I formally met him, I knew that Shield has a unique problem. One that I could exploit to actually accomplish what I promised." His face turned dark.

"What problem? And what do you mean by: accomplishing what you promised? Didn't you plan to do what the people elected you to do?"

"Of course not! The Triad had controlled over half of Vanhoover, just thinking of going against them was considered suicide. I know for a fact that the first attempt on my life was more of an elaborate mugging. The Bosses were never worried about me. It was by pure chance that I met Shield that I noticed that there were people willing to fight."

"So what is this problem you say he has."

"Did you notice two days ago how he acted? He kept looking around as if expecting trouble. And yesterday I'm sure you found traces of uncooked meat. How about the week he spent locked in his room? Did you notice he could have killed the manticore in one headshot?" He smirked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't remember much of the fight, but I'm sure he did the best."

He sighed. "I'm sure he could have done it quicker. But that is not the case."

"Why are you so confident that Shield delayed his battle? I'm sure any good soldier would make sure his battle was as short as possible and that no civilians were hurt."

"He didn't plan for you to be hurt, I'm sure of that." He opened a drawer and pulled a remote control. With the click of a button the air conditioner began rumbling. "But you must understand that our friend has a special condition. This makes him a superb soldier, but a horrible person at any other time."

"And what condition is that?"

"Shield Heart thrives in vanquishing evil. Every day he spent fighting crime he bagged at least one minor dealer. Every two months he brought one mayor player. After finally meeting Shield in person I convinced Two Face, our chief of police, to accept him into his ranks and give him a free rein. The following two years of war Vanhoover lost most of its crime lords, some fleeing but most ending up dead.

"But most importantly, he loves to make evil suffer. It's his greatest thrill. Whenever he was off fighting dealers, he would toy with his victims by letting them think they had a chance. Once he got bored he would then proceed to crack every single bone they had. The lucky ones died in the moment…" said the man with a somber tone.

"And the unlucky ones? What could be worst than death?" asked Twilight.

"The unlucky ones are in a vegetable state in the hospital, hoping that they will be unplugged."

"How can you say that? Those men deserve a chance to live!"

"You don't understand, they don't have any unbroken bones; their organs are punctured and if they do wake up they think they'll be executed for crimes against the state. And that is death by firing squad in public or crucifixion, or if Shield deemed it necessary both."

"That's barbaric! How in heavens did Celestia authorize such inhumane methods of punishment?" Exclaimed Twilight as she slammed her hands on her desk.

"She never did, I did. We don't use them anymore, but I hope you can understand the cesspool that was Vanhoover before our small war. Not even our old Commissioner was immune to the corruption. He stopped doing his job after he received immense paychecks from my opponent: Snake Eyes. It didn't take long for Shield to "relieve" him of duty. What he did was cruel even by his standards."

"Do I want to know?"

"Do you want to sleep well?"

"Then I'll take it back. By the way, do you know why he hates nobles so much? Cadence told me about the scandal he caused a while back during the Gala."

Mr. Will chuckled. "Oh yes, that. It kind of stems from his ideals. He thinks all nobles should work for the greater good, not just for themselves. I agree with him, and seeing him fight those pampered boys is as chuckle-worthy as ever."

"I don't think I get it."

"Unlike rogue commissioners or officials, who get tortured on sight, he treats nobles like children. Often insulting their intelligence in different and usually creative ways." There was an awkward silence as he finished his drink. "And I assume you still want my help reforming him."

"If you could help me that would be great. So far there has been little information regarding him."

"That's because he loves his privacy. He may act over-the-top most of the times, but he still has a private life." Free Will looked at the snip. "But in order to heal him you will have to get close to him. A task easier said than done, I'm afraid."

"Why is that?"

"He has a tendency of keeping away from civilians. Your only hope of bonding is to become an auxiliary, but that will never happen. Unless…" he trailed off.

"If what?"

"If you were to show your skill you might convince him to take you under his wing. This would mean you would have access to all of his missions and also his friendship. That coupled with survival training which couldn't hurt anyone."

And then there was a panicked knock on the door. The moment the man answered he was presented to a young Seraph with brown hair, a cream shirt and denim shorts. "Featherweight! What a surprise to see you here, what's the matter?"

"Sir, you need to get over to the bar immediately. Your friend somehow met with the biker gang and everyone's crying for blood." the boy managed to say between staggering breaths.

Comments

[dark_zero]

puesto que somos mexicanos (paisanos) XD lo pondre en español

genial historia espero con ansias el siguiente capitulo

[Shieldheart204]

3141916
Madre Santa! Ya te leíste los seis capítulos? Dame chance porfas, prometo que el siete va a estar cargado de acción.

[dark_zero]

no te preocupes soy pasiente toma tu tiempo