Magnificent Malice‏

by ChaoticAce

Ch 8: Sunlight Flight

The two ponies teleported to an average-looking cottage. The surroundings were truly peaceful. Dashing almost thought they had the wrong place until her eyes caught sight of the red cobra cleverly inlaid in the woodwork. The alicorn shot out a blue beam from her horn hitting the cobra in the right places and the emblem began to glow. An electronic noise sounded as the door creaked open. Dashing smirked, "Mares first."

"Oh ha ha," Brad said lifelessly, rolling his eyes. "Everypony knows the expendable pony goes first."

"Are you saying you're not?"

"No, but I know a real stallion never leaves a mare in danger." With that Brad trotted inside, forcing himself not to limp. He was starting to enjoy the pain more with the adrenaline kicking in all over again. He even let out a small excited grunt. The two trotted close together not being able to make out anything. The darkness put both at edge yet neither one reached for a light. Dashing did her best to keep the sounds of her hooves muffled. She also did her best not to yell at Brad's clumsy clopping sounds. His voice echoed off the walls. "I owe Ace one for this." Neither were expecting a reply so soon.

"Do you?" Ace's sharp broke the silence. The room lit up with a purple spark that ignited a glowing purple ball. "Welcome to the viper pit. I hope you enjoy your stay."

Brad stepped in front of Dashing. "Let me handle her."

"You think you can take me on, gimpy?" Ace smirked, drawing out her doll. She began shoving needles into its body and Bred felt a piercing sensation in all four of his legs.

"Mmmm," he moaned. His eyes rolled back into his head. Then he charged.

"Wait, what?!" Ace was taken aback. Her wide eyes stared into his and her heart raced seeing the pained pony still charging. She clutched the doll. Her horn lit up again as did one of Brad's limbs. His right hindleg began to curl upwards like a doll. He tripped and the next second was dangling in midair by his leg. A slight ripping sound was heard from the muscle as the sadistic unicorn began to tear slowly at the stuffed limb.

A shock of blue magic shot at the doll counteracting it. The doll was released from Ace's grip as she was knocked backwards. She looked up at the triumphant alicorn who caught Brad and set him down. "Sorry. Took me a second to remember."

Brad's leg was stiff. The pain was a lot more than he was used to. "Yeah, well sorry that SHE ALMOST SNAPPED OFF MY LEG LIKE IT WAS A TWIG!" he raged. "SON OF CELESTIA, THAT HURT!"

Ace went to stick more pins into the doll, making sure to get the joints of the bones. Normally her opponents' bones would be fractured and then smashed. The pins didn't do anything, nor did Brad's legs. Her eyes narrowed in frustration as she took more stabs at the plushie. Finally her horn glowed bright enough to fully light the dim room. The room filled with swooping cards.

"Going up?" Dashing asked Brad as she began to fly. Her blue wings glowed with her magic. The cards bounced off her feathers.

"Staying down," Brad said as he carefully hovered just above the ground and maneuvered through the cards. The cards continued to slice at both ponies. A few grazed them. Blue sparks shot outwards and tons of cards began to fall as the unicorn lost control. Once cornered, Brad raised his hoof, poised to strike.

"DON'T TOUCH HER," a cold voice ordered. "My assistant was just doing her job." Cobra's voice was just enough to stun Brad for a few seconds. Ace scrambled to her hooves and fled the room. The room grew dark without the unicorn's magic but then Cobra clapped his hooves together. A white light lit up overhead. He gazed at Dashing. His heart skipped a beat. "And a job well done it was," he finished and held up his hooves. "I surrender."

Dashing looked at him and cocked her head. "Man, that was easy," she said. Glowing blue shackles quickly appeared around the doctor's hooves. He hovered in the air upside down. "I'm taking you back to Ponyville to stand trial before the princesses. Afterwards you'll be doing community service cleaning up this muck. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The doctor grinned beneath his mask. "Don't go easy on me. I deserve everything!" He then paused. "And I take it you'll be supervising the community service?"

"I'll be monitoring you and making sure that by the time you're finished you're a changed stallion," Dashing declared.

"Indeed I will be."

She shot a blue laser, destroying the weather machine. "I'll be waiting outside, Brad. You know what to do."

Brad nodded and trotted up the stairs after Ace. He found the pink unicorn outside looking at the grass blowing in the wind. The plushie was glowing with her magic, this time a lighter shade of purple. Brad felt his body once again under her control but he realized a second later that this time it was being mended. "The same power that can destroy can also mend," Ace said stoically as before turning back to Brad and smiling softly. "I think I might become a nurse."

Brad sighed. "You'll have a lot of time to decide that during your community service." A few cards flew out of Brad's pocket. He smirked watching them spin around him.

"You'll have to catch me first." She grinned and trotted over to him, closing her eyes and kissing his cheek. At the last moment he moved, so she missed and hit his lips instead. A single card slid into his pocket. He opened his eyes and watched her disappear into a burst of purple.

"The chase is on," he said with a smile.

Dashing narrowed her eyes as she arrived to see the gray pegasus standing alone. "I actually gave you a job. One assignment and you blew it!" she said in exasperation.

Brad sighed. "She's crafty. I'll give her that."

"Crafty doesn't even begin to cover what she is," grumbled Dashing. "I should've done it myself." She teleported Brad and her captive to Celestia's castle. The doors opened to reveal all four princesses before them.

"Well done, Brad," Cadence said with a big smile. "I knew you'd come through for us!"

"Indeed," Celestia beamed. "Perhaps you would like to join Dashing as co-captain of our guard."

"Wait, WHAT!?" Dashing shouted as guards led a perfectly willing Cobra away. "No! I mean, whatever you say your highness," she bitterly corrected herself, seeing the other ponies' narrowed eyes.

Brad smiled. "As much as I'd love to, I can't." He looked at Dashing. "I couldn't have done it without her help, even if it WAS mostly me out there." He chuckled. "Guarding you guys would be amazing but I still couldn't quit roaming and catching criminals. In fact I just figured out my next job."

"Going to practice poker?" Dashing said with a smirk.

"You know it," Brad winked and flew happily out onto the balcony. He held the scarlet card close to him in his pocket. Ace was no Rarity but she was definitely something special. He turned to see the black alicorn and the princesses smiling behind him. The gray pegasus jumped off the building and soared into the sunlight.

"Wait!" Dashing called to him, noticing something. "You're healed! She can heal?! HEY, GET BACK HERE!"

Brad smirked, leaving her cries and Ponyville behind. "Maybe next time," he muttered, feeling the relieving warmth of the sun against his dry coat. Ponies filled the flooded streets below him, working hard to remove the water and grime. Even the Wonderbolts flew by to make sure that each cloud was taken care of. Brad's eyes shone with bliss as he flew toward the horizon. Another day. A new adventure. With an ace up his sleeve he could take on anything!

Comments

[ChaoticAce]

So sorry that this was belated. ^.^ I really hope that you enjoy and I'll get to work on the next part to the Octascratch fic right away! :D Thanks so much for all of your support. I really appreciate it. :) As always I've been pretty busy but even more so since I got a job and since I've been working on a few things. Thanks for your patience.

[ChaoticAce]

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Well, they are based on my friends after all. :P But thanks for the optimism. I can't wait to hear what you think of it after you're done reading.