Cape and Cowl

by Artimae

Chapter Six

1

July 15th, 1007,

It’s been a few days and it still feels like my head was pounded by a sack of lead bricks. This massive stallion came from nowhere, catching me off of my guard. In the chaos, I barely recognized him as another of those four. He must be the one Bolt Buck warned me about. Bloodshot.

I need to get back out there. I need to bring this beastly stallion down now. I’d need to do that even if he wasn’t a target of mine.

I need to rest. And heal.

Wait… I hear Mrs. Orange calling me. Did I just hear the name ‘Facade’?

-Snow Storm

---

2

“The kid gonna be alright?” Flyntt asked, leaning up against the large house which Pelleas had just walked out of. On their way to take the Mare do Well home for the rest she deserved, the Cadet had told his superior everything.

That had been hours ago, and Flyntt still couldn’t wrap his head around it all. She was just a kid, for Luna’s sake!

“She’s eager to get out there again, but her mother isn’t having any of it… thank you for letting me use the flare, sir. She’d be dead by now if we hadn’t…” He shuddered.

“I hear he once brought down an entire squadron of the guards by himself… is it true?” Pelleas asked, not quite believing it.

“Unfortunately…” the Lieutenant confirmed, trying to forget that long-ago night. “She’s made of some pretty stern stuff if she can go toe-to-toe with him.”

“Right now all we can do is hope she makes a full recovery,” Pelleas remarked. “Well, that and try and find some answers. Hmm… Bolt Buck. That guy that was attacked a week ago? I know for a fact he’s got info regarding the Red Hoof. Info the Captain’s been after for years… if we can get than information he might just stop asking questions about the Mare do Well, at least for a while.”

“Heheh…” Flyntt gave his darker chuckle - the one that always sent a shiver down Pelleas’ spine. It meant he had an idea.

“Uh oh…” Pelleas said, trying not to grin “Well, out with it then. Your ideas are always entertaining, at least,” he said, for a moment treating his superior more as an old friend than a higher-in-command.

“Well, first she went after that Bolt Buck fella. Then she targeted Facade. In a sense, we have both of them now, and they’re obviously connected somehow. What if we just… turned them against each other? Get info out of them that way.”

“Oh? And you have a plan to do that? Facade is a vain stallion, if it helps. As for Buck… he’s been helping our cause for awhile now. I don’t want to compromise that, if possible.”

Flyntt cocked an eyebrow at that. “Has he, now?”

“Yes. Well, according to Snowy… says he’s been providing information on the others. Though right now he’s in a pretty sensitive position- I’m not sure why the Red Hoof hasn’t had him killed yet. He surely knows he’s been ratting on him by now…”

“And invoke the supposed wrath of the Mare do Well? He’s smart, Pel. He won’t do anything with a wildcard on the table… but how long she remains a wildcard is to be seen. He’ll get the one-up on her eventually. He always does.”

“That’s the problem; she’s stubborn as hell, and I still think she thinks she’s invincible. She probably saw Bloodshot as a one-off, a freak. But he’s not the only pony in the city that’s that strong… and he’s not the strongest either…” Pelleas said darkly.

“I was hoping she’d at least learn to be careful from all this, but she’s already raring to go out and fight again. At this rate the Red Hoof might still win, dammit.”

“Are you kidding? She’s just a kid with a hell of a one-up on most of this city, of course she’s cocky. At that age, I was ten-feet-tall and bombproof.”

“I’m the same age as her, sir. And I have the good sense to keep my hooves on the ground,” Pelleas said defensively, giving his superior almost a look of reproach. “But regardless, you weren’t up against what she is right now. It’s easy to be arrogant when it’s not a matter of life and death… but enough of this. You mentioned something about starting a feud between Bolt Buck and Facade?”

“I was up against far worse… er, yeah. It’s easy - we tell a little lie to each of them, then throw ‘em in the same jail cell, and watch the fireworks happen.”

“If Snowy finds out, she’ll be furious, you know. We’d be exploiting her informant without her consent, and she might sever all contact with me. Still… if this works, we might buy her a little time, so I suppose it’d be for her benefit anyway.”

“What’s the problem?” Flyntt flashed a cheeky grin as the pair strode back into Manehattan proper. “Don’t want your sweetheart mad at you?”

“J-just find Buck, I’ll make sure nobody spots you!” Pelleas blushed.

---

3

“Prim, that you?” Bolt Buck said, rubbing his eyes as a stranger walked into his room. “It’s been almost a week. What’s the matter?”

“Wrong pony… hell, wrong gender,” came Flyntt’s voice. “Just a plain ol’ guard.”

“A bit early to bring me in, dontcha think?” Buck said, not bothering to hide the contempt in his voice.

“You sure about that? I’d be wanting me some good ol’ revenge for the things Facade’s been saying.”

“Oh? And what has that miserable fop been saying about me?” Buck stood up, suddenly curious.

“Oh, just how you’re a cry-baby little snitch who’s been kissing the Mare do Well’s flank.”

“...Oh, how I’d like five minutes with that simpering pretty-boy. He’d be begging for me to stop. We’d see just how many mares would want him by the time I’m done with that smarmy little face of his…” Buck sneered. Judging from how easily this had upset him, the two had a history.

“So you do know each other, then? Pretty well, it looks like.”

“We never got on. He always wanted to give the orders, even though he was the same rank as us. Never wanted to get his hooves dirty, the coward. He was lucky Bloodshot was too busy picking on ol’ Rough Houser to notice, or he’s have torn him in half. Bloodshot hates being told what to do, especially by a nobody.”

“Rank, huh? So you worked for the Red Hoof?”

“You hadn’t even managed to work that much out for yourself? Sheesh, looks like I gotta spoon-feed you every bit of info I got… great deductive reasoning, pal. Except the Mare do Well had guessed that much before she even threw the first punch… and it was one nasty punch.” He shivered slightly, remembering it. By the goddess Epona did it hurt.

“See, my problem is I need proof. You’re just confirming my suspicions. Now then… I know exactly why the Mare do Well went after you and your little friend. What I want to know is, why did you lot go after them that night? Surely there’s more of a reason than randomly picking on two innocent kids.”

Bolt Buck’s eyes narrowed, his frown growing tight.

“That’s literally what happened. Two kids were on our turf, and we didn’t like it. Far as I recall, we were doin’ something else entirely for the Boss.”

Flyntt stared at the bedridden pony, one eyebrow arched. “Funny how you call him ‘Boss’. As far as my sources go, you and your little gang hadn’t had contact with him ever since that night. So what happened? Killing a kid brings up too much heat, so you turn tail? … Unless they were the job. That piece of trash isn’t above kidnapping, that much I know. So he wants some cheap labor, but you lot damage the goods, and that upsets him. Red Hoof doesn’t like to be upset, does he?”

“You think they aren’t listening? They’re everywhere. Hell, one of the nurses on this floor works for him. I tell you and I die. Besides… what’s in it for me? After everything I’ve done I’m still looking at ten years minimum, and once I’m out I’ll be branded a child murderer for life. From where I’m sitting, I have nothing to lose from staying quiet, and nothing to gain from talking.”

“As far as I know, evidence of your inclusion is highly circumstantial. You might’ve been a kidnapped and brainwashed victim - no less responsible, but maybe a… lesser sentence?”

“You get me a sentence that doesn’t make me look like I killed a kid, and we’ll talk. That, or get her in here. It’s time she learned the truth.”

“She has enough truth on her hooves. But we’ll worry about that later. Right now I’m interested in Bloodshot.”

“... What about him? Far as I know, Red Hoof sprung him from the looney-bin.”

“That so?” Flyntt asked, glaring down at Bolt Buck. He had almost been enjoying this little interrogation up until that moment.

“Yeah, that’s so. Look, you say you nabbed Facade? That pretty-boy knows all about Bloodshot. They’re like brothers… well, Facade likes to think so. You go break him, you got Bloodshot. Got it?”

“Got i- oof!” Flyntt felt his back-end jostle. An apologetic-looking nurse looked up at him, horrified, as he turned around to see what happened.

“I’m so sorry, sir! I wasn’t watching where I was going! Late-night shifts, y’know? I’m like a zombie. Eheheh…”

“No problem, my friend here was just leaving…” Bolt Buck shot him a look that indicated he wanted to speak with the nurse alone. After Flyntt left Buck shifted about uncomfortably.

“What do you want?” he asked curtly.

The nurse blinked innocently. “What do you mean?” One ear was flicked back, listening to the Guards leave.

“You heard any interesting news today?” he asked, not quite willing to accuse her directly.

“Maybe~” she uttered in a sing-song voice, sauntering over to the foot of his bed to check the clipboard hanging there. “Oh, dear… It seems you’ll be having to stay here longer than anticipated, Mr. Buck,” she said, giving the medical chart a mock-reading.

“Oh?” he asked, quietly reaching for the scalpel he had taken from a nearby room a few nights before just in case. “And why is that? I don’t feel great, but I’ve walked off worse.”

Without giving an answer, she tipped his bed over, spilling him onto the floor. The scalpel slid across the linoleum floor, and she grinned tightly when she spotted it. “The Red Hoof doesn’t like little tattle-tales like you. Now, if you’ll excuse me...”

She cleared her throat, began to scream, and bolted out of the room, yelling for help about a patient having a knife and trying to attack her.

“Clever girl… but not that clever,” he smiled, dropping the weapon into the hole of the nearby sink.

“False alarm, I was just playing a prank on her, pulled out a pen like I was gonna attack… pretty stupid I know,” he said, picking up the fountain pen Snow Storm had luckily forgotten to take with her a few days ago.

Bolt Buck’s assigned doctor sighed, trying to calm his beating heart. “Son… if you keep trying to leave, you’re just going to prolong your stay. Now see? You might have re-fractured that rib of yours. Bones don’t heal overnight, you know.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry doc… could you do me a favour, though? I’d like a new nurse. That one keeps grabbing my ass, I’m pretty sure that’s not standard policy here.” Bolt Buck let out an uneasy laugh, hoping the lie would at least ensure she would no longer be allowed anywhere near him.

---

4

Captain Leaf stood at the front of the City Hall, surrounded by dozens of journalists, all desperate for answers regarding the recent escape of Bloodshot. Word spread like wildfire in this accursed city. He wiped his forehead and swallowed, knowing the direction the conversation was going to take.

“Captain Leaf! I’m with the Manehattan Express, and would like to know what your official statement is regarding the breakout of a known psychotic with supposed ties to the Red Hoof?” one asked.

“It’s it true he’s a cannibal?” another piped up.

“Please,” Captain Leaf finally said over the indecipherable gibberish that was dozens of reporters talking all at once. “This conference was supposed to be about the unveiling of a new Guard headquarters, not some small-time criminal!”

“Is it true that this stallion is ‘Bloodshot the Butcher’, the same pony that killed five guards before being brought down three years ago?” a journalist named Big Scoop asked, causing the rest to become quiet. That night had become synonymous with the Guard, a mark of shame that was never mentioned.

“Why don’t you put on some armor and find out for yourself?” Gilded Leaf snapped, suddenly uninterested in this verbal debacle. If they wanted to play dirty, so could he, and damn any public relations that followed.

“Sir! We have an emergency!” A senior unicorn burst into the room. “I’m sorry, but this press conference can wait!”

Still the questions came, like an unstoppable tsunami.

“Is this at all related to the murder five years ago!?”

“Are your guards even trying to protect us?”

“Is it true that the Mare do Well is dead!?”

The unicorn rushed to the podium.

“I’m sorry, but this conference is over! No more questions!” he said, leaving the room with the Captain not far behind.

* * *

“Sorry about that sir, just couldn’t stand by and watch the vultures tear you apart in there,” the unicorn said, lighting a cigarette and offering another to the Captain.

“It was pointless, anyway. They didn’t want the truth, just any sensationalist nonsense they can stick on page one… Still no sign of Bloodshot, by the way.”

Captain Leaf nodded. “I figured as much.” He stood up and turned to walk out of the room. “Thanks for the bail. Now I’ve got to go figure out some kind of game plan.”

“Good luck, sir. Hopefully we’ll bring that bastard down without any casualties this time…”

---

5

“Mrs. Orange, can I see her? I need to know how she’s doing,” Primrose pleaded with the older mare. They both sat in front of Snow Storm’s room door; the mare in question had been laid up for almost a day now.

Before Mrs. Orange could answer, the door opened and Snow Storm herself walked through the doorway. There was a pronounced limp in her step, and she wasn’t walking quite in a straight line, but she still managed to reach the top of the stairs before the her mother stopped her.

“For the last time dear, you cannot leave yet!” Annabelle Orange said, her voice heavily exasperated. “You’ve need to rest! Now, get back in bed. If not for your sake, then for mine!”

“Snowy… how are you feeling?” Prim asked. She hadn’t spoken with the mare in days and was worried- the rumors about her condition had been far more serious than the reality, thankfully.

Snow Storm’s answer was to shrug. What was the big deal, anyways? She could walk. She could get back out there. In fact, she needed to get back out there. Sitting around all day wasn’t going to bring her brother’s killers down.

I hope the guards take that monster down so she doesn’t have to… Prim thought, shaking her head sadly.

---

6

“Well lookie here.” Facade sneered from behind the bars of his cell as Flyntt strolled in. Pelleas, meanwhile, had been called in by the Captain again - something Flyntt didn’t like one bit. The Captain was running that kid ragged lately.

“I’m not in the mood for your mouth. Either you tell me what I want to know or… hm, yeah. We got another friend of yours. We’ll just make you two share a cell. I hear he’d kill to catch up on old times with you in particular…” Flyntt grinned nastily.

“Ain’t got no friends, chief. But what I got is money. And looks. And this city. When I buy my way outta here, you’re gonna be gone. You hear me? I own you, I own your guard, I own Manehattan!”

“Oh really? Do you own him too?” Flyntt said, throwing Facade a newspaper clipping. It was a photograph of Bolt Buck. “I hear you two used to be close. Then you sold him out, let him rot in the streets while you lived the high life. The Red Hoof’s been treating you with kiddie boots if you ask me. If Bolt Buck finds you, you can say goodbye to that pretty face of yours, and that’s a best case scenario. But if you cooperate, we’ll have you shipped to Griffin Country. There’s a maximum security prison out there we occasionally work with. Grim, unpleasant as hell and you’d be surrounded by inmates that’d literally eat you for breakfast if they could… but you’d be in solitary confinement. Without a mirror, I’m afraid. Now, tell me everything about the stallion you were with last night. Tell me about Bloodshot.” Flyntt smirked.

“I don’t know nothin’ about Bloodshot! He’s just some big dumb muscle I hired a while back!”

“Sorry, it’s too late for that. He’s far more than just ‘big dumb muscle’. Now, if you tell me everything we need to know, you’ll get a significant reduction in jail time. If not, well… you really wanna risk your old buddy giving you a makeover? Because the mares of Manehattan don’t dig scars…” Flyntt said, still smiling as he wondered how much else he could squeeze out of this vain idiot.

“You ain’t gonna get anything else outta me! I’m Facade, Red Hoof’s number-one stallion!”

In a flash, the Fulake’s expression darkened, his smile replaced by a serious, sinister countenance.

“Oh believe me kid, I know. And the Boss ain’t happy with you one bit. Says he’ll string you up if he sees your… hmm, what did he say? ‘Girly little face’ again. And I bet you’re thinking ‘it’s a bluff. He ain’t one of the Red Hoof’s guys… well, things change. You been gone a long time, kiddo. The Boss has a new favorite, and she’s a hell of a lot smarter than you ever were. You’re dead weight, and he’s just looking for an excuse to cut you loose.”

“He’d never cut me loose like that! He ain’t like that!” A note of panic and doubt began to rise up in Facade’s voice.

“See, he used to like you, kid. Saw a little of himself in you, y’see… but then he heard about how you were going around saying you owned this city. And he didn’t like that, Facade. He didn’t like that one bit.”

“I was just kiddin’! You know, playing around! Taking heat off the Boss! Yeah, if they think I ran the place, they wouldn’t go after him, right!?”

“He says that I gotta make sure he doesn’t see your face again… so either you tell me everything and I go send you off to play with the catbirds a few thousand miles away, or… I leave you and Bolt Buck to play together for awhile. I wonder if he’ll torture you first, or just break your neck? Hmm...”

“You’re bluffin’! You don’t even know where he is!”

“...Alright, I’m gonna be nice here and just ask you one thing. Weaknesses. You tell me what his weaknesses are, and you’ll be safe and far away in a fortnight.”

Facade began chuckling to himself as the situation struck him. “I get it. You have no idea where he is, do you? You’ll never find him - I got hideouts all around this city.”

At last, Flyntt snapped. He opened the jail door and sent a strong blow into Facade’s handsome features.

“See, if I were just a guard I’d never resort to this. They’re above this sort of thing, but me? Well, either you start giving me answers or I won’t stop ‘til even your own mother wouldn’t love you. I’m tired of playing nice.”

He pinned the frightened stallion to the wall of his cell, his eyes burning straight through Facade’s terrified gaze.

“Talk!”

Facade threw his head back, snorting deeply, and spat in Flyntt’s face, laughing. “Or what!? You ain’t got the balls to harm me.”

Flyntt smiled sadistically, grabbing the stallion by the crook of his foreleg and dragging him out of his cell.

“You’re right. Let’s go meet someone who does…”

* * *

“Dear?” Mrs. Orange’s voice calling from behind the closed door. Somehow, that dam had managed to wrestle Snow Storm back into bed. “You have two visitors. Would you like them to come in? One says he knows you, his name is Flyntt Croix. He’s with a pony he says you’ll want to see, I believe his name is ‘Facade’.”

Her ear twitched at the name ‘Facade’. She closed her journal, scribbled down a quick note, and walked over to the door. At least she was feeling much better than before. ‘Bring Facade in and leave us alone.'

She nodded, and after a moment Facade was forcefully shoved in, more confused than anything. The door slammed behind him.

“...Huh? I don’t get it. You got some business with me or something?” he asked, unsure of what was going on.

Recognition dawned on Facade’s face after a few moments, and he became pale as he backed away. He’d seen that mare a couple nights ago.

Outside, Flyntt smiled as he leaned by the wall. He glanced over at Mrs. Orange, still wearing his smirk. “Ignore the cries. He’ll be fine.”

“What do you mean he-?”

“Oh dear Celestia- Flyntt, I take it back!” Facade shouted through the walls. “SEND ME TO THE GRIFFONS!”

Author's Note:

Artimae: Six. Six six six six six. That's all I got, really. I don't like this chapter. It's... filler shit, nothing more than fodder to plod the plot along. The only good thing I see in it is my good buddy BillyColt was gracious enough to let me use one of his OCs, Big Scoop for a one-liner. Some of you who've read The Book of Friendship may recognize Big Scoop as Star Horse, the Wonder Horse! Pony Superman, basically. Hint hint at crossovers, maybe?~ Come on, Bills! You know you wanna!
(Also if you haven't read BoF, do it. Awesome read.)

Post Script: Six is the runt of the litter in many respects. It was the chapter we had to write, not the one we wanted to. Any attempt to spice it up also didn't work, because Snowy needed to recover from her injuries- even if the speed with which is does so is still far from realistic. The good news? Chapter seven is on the horizon, and trust me folks, we've saved the best for last.