The tunnel into the catacombs was growing more and more familiar to Cascadius every venture.
And Tybalt seemed content to follow his lead. His newest recruit was learning fast. Cocky and impertinent he may have been, he at least understood how important it was to follow the lead of others, particularly in their line of work.
To say he was inexperienced was gravely wrong. Even before joining him, Tybalt had been pillaging his way across the southern outskirts with impunity, he and his gang having killed over ten thousand ponies.
But what had caught Cascadius’s attention was his attack on Sugarcandy City, an industrial powerhouse thought to be impregnable.
He had escaped with fifty-million bits, nearly bankrupting the entire city. Yet the landowners, though they’d paid the ransom, had not shut down their businesses as Tybalt had demanded.
And that was how each and every landowner in Sugarcandy looked out the city walls the next day to find a foal of their families hanging from a gallows.
Tybalt had demonstrated that day that he was not, under any circumstances, to be unfulfilled, no matter how costly his demands, and paid his enemies in blood.
Such tactics met Cascadius’s approval and the next day he’d made his offer which Tybalt had accepted without pause.
The paymaster had high hopes for him despite his shortcomings.
Now, however, the former bandit-leader stayed close to the paymaster as they made their way into the grand rotunda where the Cult of Piggsicorn conducted their rituals.
The ritual had ended several minutes ago but a hoof-full of cultists yet remained, cleaning the mess that was always left over.
One of the Gorging Ones lay sprawled out in her palanquin, her stunted slaved shovelling fermenting fruit into her gaping maw.
As they approached her, the two mercenaries noticed a trembling figure with her back pressed desperately against a pillar, writhing and sobbing in a trance, pawing at her new face.
It was Trilby. What was left of her.
The cult seemed to be making the most of their new Oracle.
Apparently they’d been introducing to what they called ‘The Penitent’. Something he’d never got the chance to see yet he’d hear bellowing and snarling deafeningly in the catacombs. The Cult had apostates fed to it and had it participate in the Oracular Rituals. To perform miracles, it was said, beauty must pair with grotesque in the most conventional sense.
Trilby’s position was enviable to very few.
The Gorging Ones were disgusting creatures. One could barely believe they had once been ponies. This particular mare’s distended form was peppered with pustules and sores, marks of the Great Sow, and her features were practically hidden in the folds of her jowls and brow.
As she noticed the newcomers, she raised a hoof to staunch the flow of fruit and spoke, her mouth still half-full, spattering seeds and juices across her massive chest.
“Paymaster”
Cascadius bowed and bid Tybalt to do the same, the young bandit too distracted by the sight of the monstrosity before them.
“Abbess Bloatula” he said “You look very well”
“The Great Sow bequeaths my regal form with favour, as you see” Bloatula boasted, waving a gout-swollen hoof across her body “We thank you for your gift. You have granted us the means to spread our holy shrines further across the land. But I must ask, what brings you to our sanctuary at this time?”
The paymaster was glad to cut to the chase.
“I understand that you and our mutual friend, Doctor Bittersweet, had certain dealings a couple of years ago”
“That is correct...”
Cascadius found the irony of Bittersweet working with maniacs like the Cult just far too obvious to appreciate.
Tybalt, meanwhile, glanced at the shuddering Trilby, smirked and picked up some rocks.
“Heads up!” he threw one, catching the mare in the side of the head. The rock wasn’t sharp or even very big but it stung and Trilby gave a wail of pain and clutched at her temples, curling into a whimpering ball against the pillar.
“So this is Trilby, huh?” Tybalt scoffed “Didn’t recognise her without her diamond-encrusted hoof-bag or her pink limo or the crowd of journalists! Not so smug now, are ya’, entitled nag!” He threw another stone.
“Tybalt!” Cascadius snapped like a disparaging parent with the desired effect. The young mercenary dropped the rocks in alarm and stared at the paymaster who stood eying him with disapproval.
“Stop that”
Tybalt was quiet a moment.
“Why?”
“She belongs to the cult. She’s not to be touched without permission”
The outskirts bandit gave the mare a scowl.
“Like I wanna’ touch her. I don’t know what she gets up to here but she bucking stinks!”
Cascadius rolled his eyes. For all his boons, Tybalt was a trial sometimes.
He turned back to the Abbess.
“You are aware you should have informed me of this?” He said sternly “If our organisations are to act as one then all information must be shared and consulted on. I have kept no secrets from you”
Bloatula gave him an awkward glance.
“Please forgive our negligence on this occasion. Our order meant no disrespect or dissent”
“I am certain” Cascadius said calmly. He meant every word “So what did you and the good doctor arrange?”
“A blockade”
The paymaster’s eyes rose. This was unexpected to say the least.
“Whereabouts?”
“Squallor” Bloatula answered “It wasn’t difficult. The town of Squallor is adjacent to Slovenly where we made our sanctuary and posted straight on the outskirts. There, we were to apprehend subjects wanted by the asylum for...examination”
“Specifically?”
Bloatula shrugged.
“We were simply asked to apprehend all who approached from the borders out of Equestria. Survivors of a great storm that took them far from Equestria, so it was said. Bittersweet insisted they weren’t to enter mainland Equestria. Those who weren’t needed, we were permitted to keep for...cleansing. That, I fear, is all I can remember. It is many years past”
“Fair enough” Perhaps for the first time, Cascadius was cursing leaving Glanders Gate Asylum.
His transceiver gave a buzz. He plucked it from his pocket and held it to his ear.
“Splendid news, sir” The voice belonged to Bovril “Project Alpha is complete”
Cascadius’s eyes gleamed.
“Bovril, you’re a genius!” he cried with excitement “And Project Omega?”
“Still in its final stages, sir. I have pinpointed a necessary element that might take some delving”
“Yes?”
“We require magically-charged sangrinite, sir. Now this particular gemstone is nigh-on volatile in its magically-charged state so obtaining it could prove quite costly”
“Or not, as the case may be. I know somewhere we can obtain such an element...” Cascadius smiled “And one who may obtain it for us. Let me get in touch with Bali”
*
‘Oh my stars, my entire body feels more worn and expired than last season’s trend! How long did I stay up working last night?’
Rarity’s bright blue eyes weakly forced themselves open and with a groan, she awoke.
Strangely, her hideously cramping hooves wouldn’t prise themselves apart from one another.
She found herself completely unable to stretch, something she dearly wished to do at that point.
As her senses fully stirred, she felt the tug of hempen rope around her body.
‘Oh sweet Celestia, say it isn’t so!’
She was trussed up completely, unable to budge. And looking up to see iron bars criss-crossing above her, she realised she was also caged. Like an animal in an illegal circus.
The cage was in a dimly-lit cavern with brick walls. She could still have been in the subway.
As she struggled, something swift and ravenous slammed itself at the bars. She shrieked as one of the monsters from before pressed its claws and face against the bars, its tongue lashing out like a serpent, inches from her side.
“Get off!” she shrieked “Get away you filthy creature!” She tried to cast a spell but gained a migraine for her trouble.
She wasn’t wearing an anti-magic ring, they’d been highly rare since Sunset Shimmer turned against Celestia six years ago, but she’s definitely been hit by something that impeded her magic, she hoped only temporarily.
With no visible means to defend herself as three similar creatures surrounded her on all sides, gnashing and spitting at the cage, she shut her eyes tight and quietly whimpered, hoping this was all a terrible nightmare.
“Away!” The voice came again, the stallion with the bells. He was coiling them round one hoof and placing them in a pocket on his cloak interior. In the faint light, she could see him clearly.
He was a tall and terribly thin pegasus with a black and white coat, a wispy crimson mane and eerily pale green eyes that bore into her without expression. His smile was suave and elegant. It reminded Rarity of Blueblood to her disgust. His cloak was a dull grey specimen that covered most of his lower body but left his wings bare. Over the cloak was a bow and quiver slung over his back and behind it was an augmented rapier in its sheathe. The stallion looked as if he’d come from Second Age Trottingham and even spoke the part.
“Comely tidings upon thee, dearest mare” he said, slinging his weapons to the corner of the room and pacing over to the cage, each step a graceful movement more likely to be seen in a theatre performance.
But all this charm did not change the fact that he had her captive and surrounded by the clambering monstrosities around her.
“Who...who are you?” she asked.
“Ah, truly matters of presentation are not to be deferred, I see” he smiled and placed his fore-hooves at the edges cage. He undid a few screws and pulled off the top.
In that instant, Rarity now felt more frightened than ever. There was nothing between her and her captor and nothing she could do to fight him off. She shrunk in her container, clinging her limbs to her body tighter than the bonds that kept them there.
“Thy name is Corax, warrior poet, taker of lives, cleaner of corpses, hunter without equal and culinary artist. Enchanted, madam, and I bless thee for granting this humble stallion the pleasure of your body”
Rarity’s eyes widened with horror, struggling to comprehend what she’d just heard.
“Wh...What?”
“Forgive me. With all this rampant voyaging hither and yon, I grow so very hungry. And you...You are quite the prize. Oh yes...” his ghostly green eyes hovered over her “Such tenderness of flesh upon thee. Thy upbringing was most certainly comfortable yet not so audacious as to make you...tart. Yes, I believe you shall make a most enticing refreshment”
“No!” Rarity squealed, shivering, tears appearing in the corners of her eyes “Please...you can’t...you mustn’t! Please not that...You can’t possibly mean to...You can’t just...use me...”
Corax eyed her, a little puzzled.
Then he evaluated what he’d just said and cracked a smile.
Rarity slowly opened one eye as she heard the stallion laughing. Not evilly as most villains did but with genuine humour, not too unlike most ordinary ponies who’d heard a good joke or witnessed a great folly.
“Oh good graces...” Corax said breathlessly between his hoots of laughter “No, no, my heavens! This is indeed much ado about nothing...” He cleared his throat “My good lady, do not fear for your virtue and forgive me for setting such forebodings. I’ve no intention of...ah...defiling you. I am no wise some savage nonce to treat a mare with such oozing depravity. One or two of my...colleagues wouldst not be so exempt from such endeavours, I’ll wager, but I do not partake”
Rarity felt some amount of relief but knowing that such a fate wouldn’t befall her didn’t drastically change her current predicament.
“But...you said...”
“Ah, simple misunderstanding” Casually, Corax reached inside his cloak and removed a knife.
Rarity’s eyes widened again as the pegasus chuckled.
“I meant what I spoke of...literally”
The Bearer of Generosity reworked what Corax had said in her mind.
‘Pleasure of your body’
‘Tenderness of flesh’
‘Enticing refreshment’
“You...you...” she stammered, her fear returning in droves “You’re going to eat me?!”
“Well...” Corax twirled the knife in his hoof pensively “Parts of you...” He sighed, shaking his head “Oh dear me, our language does find so many ways to be filthy, does it not? Then again, ‘tis ever so nuncle with things of beauty”
He looked her over.
“I was beseeched not to slay thee, ‘ere thine dismemberment must be poised and most precise...Thy back-leg maybe. Verily, today ponies may walk with ease on three of flesh and one of birch or brass. A kidney perhaps...most piquant in a gravy pudding. Teeth. Thou mayst spare a few, I’m sure. Boiled down with thine tender hoof, a fine butter will make. And mayhaps an ear. I enjoy something to chew on homewards. As the saying goes...” he chuckled, his knife hovering over her “Waste Not, Want Not”
Rarity whimpered as the knife brushed over the fur on her right hind-leg, the cold metal close to shaving her, causing her to shiver uncontrollably.
“Please, steady thyself. I must draw a line”
“A-a-a line? Wh-what fo-argh! AAAARGH!” the mare screamed as the knife slid across her leg, drawing blood in a thin line. Pain shot through her body.
Her eyes snapped open as she writhed in vain, desperately trying to escape.
“Stop! Stop! Please!” she cried “Listen...I’ll give you anything you want if you just let me go!”
“I fear I must doubt thine tempting words. I have, from occurrence and encounter, learned that few ponies are ever willing to offer themselves as meat. And that is the only currency I must support myself with...”
“Please...a painkiller...anything...”
“I fear that would contaminate thee...They cause such bitterness...Please hold still. I shall try my utmost to make this cut a swift one”
Rarity clenched her teeth and whined as the knife continued to draw across her leg, sloping round her thigh.
‘That’s it, you repugnant brute. Keep your eyes down there like a good little dunce!’
Her mouth slowly started to open in a scream as the knife curled round, inches from her flank.
She seized her chance.
Magic was a complicated subject and, despite what her friends believed, she’d listened to Twilight’s numerous lectures on the subject with interest. When magic was cut off from the body, various methods could be employed to regain it. The key was being able to grasp control of one’s senses in whatever way best suited the subject. Respite and refreshment were best suited but the process would be slow. Sometimes, indeed rarely, one could regain control of one’s magical powers through forcibly stimulating the nerves.
In short, by feeling pain and fear, one would be made aware of one’s senses and thus one’s magic, provided one stayed concious.
Corax had been subjecting Rarity to just that for the last few minutes.
Now, at last, she felt magic pulsing through her and was eager to use it. It had simply been a matter of lulling him into a false sense of security.
Sure, it had resulted in a horrid cut nearly clean around her leg that would, no doubt, take a great deal of time and all of Sweetie Belle’s surprisingly extensive knowledge in first aid to heal but better that than lose a limb, amongst other things.
With a blast of bright blue energy, the Bearer of Generosity struck the cannibal right in the face, sending him flying across the room, slamming into the brick wall before them. The ghouls were stunned by the sudden blinding light and staggered backwards, giving Rarity time to take hold of Corax’s knife in her magic and cut her bonds.
Rising to her hooves, light from her horn keeping the ghouls at bay, she tossed her mane haughtily and spoke with contempt.
“I’ll beat thee, but I should infect my hooves...Yes, I know Shaking Spear too”
The prone form of Corax slowly began to rise, laughing merrily, as if he felt no pain. His collision with the wall had left gashes across his side and he limped a little getting up but his smile was unwavering.
“Oh, a clever lady...Yes, I have chosen well”
“Quite. But, traditionally, a gentlecolt allows the lady to choose. And I choose ‘adieu’ for now” And without further comment, Rarity’s horn lit up to near blinding levels and vanished within.
A minor teleportation spell, not on Twilight’s level but powerful enough to put generous distance between her and her captor. She reappeared near the subway exit but a howl from the darkness suggested the swarms of ghouls were intent on following her. With no time to spare, faster than her hooves had ever carried her, she ran toward the exit, the scrabbling and scraping of claws on rock growing louder and louder behind her.
Panting, to use the phrase, hoarsely, the mare leapt up the steps, resisting the urge to take in light and fresh air before making certain she was safe, turned and fired a great blast of magic at the subway arch, bringing down the corroding brickwork and blocking the ghouls in a cloud of grit and dust followed by a cave-in of stone, mortar and mould.
The young seamstress gave a weighty sigh of relief and, her breath sufficiently caught, yelled with triumphant fury.
“And good riddance!” Though she had a nasty feeling that she hadn't seen the last of Corax the Cannibal.
‘Whump!’
Spinning round with a startled squeal, Rarity turned to a groaning earth pony mare in Royal Guard uniform who had slammed into the ground from the rooftop of the surrounding warehouses, not far enough to kill but she definitely looked the worse for wear. On any other day, Rarity would have been horrified at the mare’s unkempt appearance and offered to give her a bath, hairdressing and clothes repair free of charge.
But fussy as she was, Rarity knew when things had gone to hay. And hay was no fit place for fussing.
The officer struggled to her hooves and looked around groggily. Catching sight of the Bearer before her, her face paled in horror.
“Lady Rarity!” she cried “Run!”
“Where are you off to?”
Atop the warehouse roof, a bald, orange-coated, tattooed unicorn stallion, a sickle-like Antelopian blade spinning in his magical hold, grinned down at the mares below.
“You’re all mine, girly!” With a roar, he leapt off the rooftop, his sword swooping down to end his duel along with his opponent.
The officer closed her eyes.
The blade loudly embedded itself in the ground, inches from her neck. Opening her eyes, she saw the mercenary imprinted against the wall in front of her, slowly toppling forwards, his expression dazed and bewildered as he slumped to the ground unconscious.
“No!” Rarity snapped, her hoof still outstretched “None of that! Shame on you!”
“Lady...Rarity” The officer fell forward, gasping for air. She fell into the fore-hooves of the Bearer of Generosity, who propped her up against the wall and allowed her to catch her breath and calm herself. An odd position for one who was constantly seen as the most high-strung of the Bearers of Harmony but she knew when another’s strife was greater than her own, principles demanded she help in any way she could.
“There-there. Deep breaths now. Slow and steady” She gave her a pause to gather herself.
“Thank you ma’am. 1st Battalion under Lieutenant Jupiter. I set out to order our regroup outside the barracks but the city’s so swarmed with Equestria’s Most Wanted that we’re cut off from one another. Most of our best fliers went with Lieutenant Blizzard Wind to find Princess Twilight Sparkle”
“Hold on...” Rarity peered round the corner “Can you walk?”
“I think so” The guard steadily got to her hooves. She was a tall mare with a long, unkempt navy-blue mane and a sea-blue coat and had recently been dealt a small but noticeable scar across the eye that thankfully hadn’t blinded her.
“Right...it would seem duty calls”
*
Course, bright orange hooves spun and shot forward in all directions. When Applejack paused, six mercenaries lay on the ground, either groaning in pain or unconscious.
Adjusting her hat and nursing a bruise below her eye, she shook her head and cricked the back of her neck.
‘For cryin’ out loud! You turn your back in this city for one minute...’
She took note of her surroundings. She was still on the high street. Most of the city’s denizens had run for any safe spot they knew when the alarm went off.
A magic alarm, Applejack knew. Twilight had practiced it before. The sound was unmistakable.
Twilight was in danger.
Racing into the square, chaos met her eyes. And not quite in the form she was familiar with after encounters with Discord.
The Boulettan Guard and the Royal Battalions clashed with the mismatch of killers and crooks that had gathered in the city from virtually every corner.
It wasn't a fair fight. The guard were armed with shields and staves, as per Celestia's wishes of non-lethal combat. They'd been prepared to quell riots and apprehend solitary criminals.
They weren't prepared for a full-scale attack.
Applejack gritted her teeth.
“Well if it’s a lesson they want, mah hooves are ready to teach!” she thought aloud as she charged into the fray.
The first mercenary she sought out had barely enough time to turn before he was laid out with a mighty buck to the face. Two more followed before a cry swept up from their companions. They swarmed her, any weapon they possessed ready and raised.
Applejack had exercised the hope that they’d fight each other over who would face her but that didn’t seem to be the case. On the contrary, they seemed fairly coordinated. The first two opened fire with crossbows. She ducked as the bolts slammed into a shield a unicorn had raised with magic behind her, protecting his companions, before swinging it round her head. As she dodged, it left her open for a strike from a mace she barely avoided. The same could not be said for a shallow but sharp slash from twin daggers across her back.
With a cry of pain, she fell forward, steadying herself with her fore-hooves and kicking out with the back. The one who caught her with the daggers took the brunt of it but the others saw their chance.
“Protect the Bearer!” the command rang out as the guard flew to relieve her, drawing off the surrounding hitponies.
Given a suitable opportunity, Applejack struck out against those that persisted in fighting. It took all her speed and strength to avoid being caught out again.
Once the last of them, the one with the mace, had been knocked down, the farm-pony fought her way out of the throng and gasped for air as if she’d escaped a cloud of smog. She’d found crowds uncomfortable at the best of times, more so if they contained ponies trying to kill her.
Pausing, her hat was nearly blown off her head as a pony flew overhead.
It wasn’t a pegasus. The flight was not voluntary.
Crashing into the ground, Applejack picked up the dazed individual.
It was a glamorous unicorn with a bright blue coat and magenta mane tied into twin buns on either side of her head. Her helmet more resembled a diadem, built for maximum magic usage.
Applejack helped her to her hooves.
“Up ya get, missy? What happened?”
“I’m alright, ma’am. Lieutenant Montague at your service” the mare said “We’ve been trying to bring down that pretty creature”
She pointed toward a colossal green pony in spiky armour, fighting off a golden-brown griffon. The great avian swooped and tried hard to slash at his opponent with his talons but the stallion seemed too durable. Grabbing hold of his opponent with one fore-hoof, the giant steed slammed the griffin into the ground twice before hurling the defeated, half-conscious foe forward.
Applejack caught him, a deal sight heavier than the mare and checked him over. He was badly bruised and one wing appeared twisted but he wasn’t completely out of commission. Turning to the massive green stallion, Applejack clenched her teeth.
“Lieutenant” she ordered “Keep your guard surroundin’ the area. Don’t let any o’ these varmints outta yer sights but stay away from the fierce fighting. Above all else, seal off the square an’ protect any civilians you see at all costs”
“Yes ma’am!” Montague replied, saluting as the farm-pony strode, steely-eyed to face the massive enemy.
Hed’Kika tilted his head as he took in the sight of the orange mare approaching.
“Whassis’ then?” he growled “Another prissy pony come to have a go against-”
He was interrupted by a hoof to his sternum.
Time seemed to slow for Applejack and Hed’Kika as the Bearer of Honesty delivered a staggering buck to the gut to the mercenary who whose eyes bulged and teeth grinded, as he did his utmost hardest to stay in one spot.
“Ain’t nothin’ ‘prissy’ ‘bout this pony, boy!” the cowpony snarled, checking behind her momentarily.
Montague was helping the griffin to his talons.
“There, sir” she said calmly “You’ll be alright”
She drew back suddenly as the griffin swatted her hoof away with his foreleg.
“Keep your soiled hooves off of me, equine dreg!” he hissed, his voice reedy and austere, drawing himself up with bristling feathers “And part for me! I shall pluck the gizzard of the soil-born wretch who dared assail Inheritor Milvio, eldest son of Raptor Skylord Clanger!”
“Well you can do yer pluckin’ once ah’ve floored the big blowhard and not before!” Applejack yelled, keeping her taciturn green eyes fixed on Hed’Kika who was nursing his chest and tensing himself for continued battle, evaluating the mare before him.
Milvio did not seem intent on waiting and flexed his wings, taking the opposite corner of the Bearer, surrounding the massive green stallion.
“You shall see, Equestrian, how a trueborn Raptor griffin faces down the foe” he sneered, drawing his talons across the road, showering a few sparks.
Applejack rolled her eyes. She didn’t find unwanted help welcome at the best of times and this pompous bird was grating on her already.
Nonetheless, Hed’Kika seemed all willing to face down both of them, raising his axe high and licking the edge we snarled.
“Come on then, let’s ‘ave it!” he snarled.
Applejack stretched her neck from side to side. It had been a while since her last brawl but she was certain she still had it in her.
And the stallion before her had earned himself an Apple Family-Style Beatdown.
*
There was an almighty cheer from the foals as the credits started to roll and the Lord of the Horseshoe marathon came to an end at last.
“That was awesome!” Scootaloo cried “I mean did you see that bit with the giant mammoth thing and the huge fiery falcon thing and the glowing arrow thing and the...”
“Scoots, we’ve been watching everything you have” Applebloom said, a little irritated “Of course we saw it”
“I’m just saying, it was awesome!”
“I liked how Dobyn and Alwyn got together in the end” Sweetie said dreamily.
“Meh...I still think he and Mako worked better” the little orange pegasus scoffed.
“Yeah but she and Igris make a nice couple too”
Scootaloo pouted.
“I guess...”
“Oh, don’t start shipping wars here. We get enough of that on the fan forums” Tungsten chuckled.
“Wait a bit...Wait...” The Doctor took notice as the cast credits came up “Yep! I knew I was right! Ravin Tennant as Rytely Bemused! Ah, I love that guy! Such a great talent for acting! What did you think, Derpy?”
Derpy didn’t say a word. Nestled up to the Doctor, the grey pegasus slept off a hard day’s work.
“Aw really?” Sparkler asked “You sleep through that?”
“Hey, some of us have to make a flight all across town in the early morning” her adopted-father said with mock sternness.
“True enough. How about you, Tootsie?”
“Shh...” Tootsie held up a hoof to her lips as she, Truffle Shuffle, Ruby Pinch and various other members of the O&O Club watched, stifling giggles, as Pip sat awkwardly with Dinky Doo rested against his shoulder, dozing calmly.
The little pinto colt was blushing furiously as he realised his friends were expecting an explanation.
“Well...” he began “We both got really scared during the Lurkh the Spider Queen scene so we...um...huddled...”
“Come on, that spider thing was clearly just an animated model! You could see the fibres!” Sparkler sighed.
“They’re meant to be hairy, Sparky” Tootsie protested “You promised you wouldn’t do this”
“Hey, the film’s over. I’m not interrupting anything”
“Okay, you lot, I think it’s time for bed. For all of us” the Doctor said cheerfully, getting to his hooves with Derpy still snoozing on his shoulder “Now, I assume Tootsie and Dinky have given you the rules about Sparkler’s house. You can stay in your beds and talk, read or anything fairly quiet for another hour and a half but nothing loud and absolutely no fighting. Whoever breaks these rules will answer to Dinky in the morning”
“Yes, Mr Turner” the club said in unison.
“And I warn you, she can be pretty scary when the rules of the Doo household are not respected” He leaned closer “No, really, trust me, I’ve seen her. You do not want to make her cross!” He seemed genuinely worried.
Several of their guests glanced incredulously at the little filly half-asleep beside Pipsqueak who had gained a reputation for being the sweetest pony around. It boggled the mind to imagine her angry but they’d heard Fluttershy could pull off some rather frightening stuff.
They felt it best to take the Doctor’s word for it.
Obligingly, the Cutie Mark Crusaders took the sleepy form of Dinky and placed her down on the small bed she’d had moved into the living room beside everypony else’s sleeping bags. The Doctor leaned over and kissed his daughter goodnight before carrying Derpy to the guest room.
Pipsqueak glanced at the sleeping Dinky, looking as pretty as she always had to him.
He felt tempted to kiss her on the cheek as the Doctor had done.
Then he remembered his mother’s worried face and stern words.
Sighing, he lay flat on his back in his little guest bed.
“Don’t worry, Pip” A friendly pat on the shoulder turned the little pinto to Applebloom, smiling encouragingly with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
“You’ll get your chance in the morning”
*
Everfree was surprisingly quiet in the late evening.
Balisong liked the peace. It reminded her of her hunting years in Horneo.
She was trudging through the forest, chatting with her companions.
“Who was it that said ‘You can never understand how the equine body works until you stare at it dying by your hoof’, do you know?” she asked, idly blowing on a cigarette.
There was a pause.
“I think it might have been Chairstallion Laohu Zhao”
“No, he was the one who said ‘Death loses its sting the more one sees’. You’re thinking of Bobines Delovert” the batpony, Shadowplay, answered in a measured tone.
There was another pause. A low, raspy growl emitted from the trees ahead.
Balisong raised one eyebrow as a timberwolf approached, it hungry, glowing eyes fixed on the pack of ponies before it.
As it drew back to pounce, Balisong’s horn glowed a lime-green as a metallic hum faintly filled the air.
The timberwolf’s menacing snarl was silenced suddenly as its head was severed from its neck, showering sap and splinters across the forest floor. Balisong watched with satisfaction as the stunned eyes of the beast lost their glow, her deadly glaive coming to a halt upon her hoof.
Shadowplay and the other hitponies around her nodded with approval as they picked up their earlier conversation.
“Delovert? Wasn’t he a rampant foal-fiddler?”
“No, you’re thinking of Nocifer Degoutants” Balisong answered “Nasty piece of work. Grand Justice of Mareseille till the Dauphin Restoration. For thirty years every pony tried in his courts gave up one of their foals to him or face the gallows. The city-folk tore him apart when La Baleine took the city”
“You don’t get scum-bags like you used to, eh?” one of her friends chuckled.
“Alright but I’m sure there was a really dodgy Prench philosopher, wasn’t there?” Shadowplay insisted.
“The Marquis De Scarde? No, he was an author but never a philosopher. And to be honest, he only wrote the stuff because he’d never have the courage to actually do it. He wasn’t a monster, not even a madpony, just a bored old stallion who wanted to explore a really dark corner of his mind on paper”
“Yeah...you see ‘em now and again on fanfic sites...not so much in houses of royalty”
“Times were every ruler was a bucking nutter...Now it’s just the one or two”
“It’s gotten boring, hasn’t it” the rugged young mare gave a chuckle, smoke from her cigarette drifting out her nostrils “Not to worry, mates...The night’s entertainment is fast approaching”
She waved a hoof as the group split up into the undergrowth.
They were nearing the path to Ponyville.
Balisong grinned.
As any hunter knew, exercising patience and cunning would mean prey often came to you.
Cheerilee gave another giddy chuckle as she steadied Shoeshine who was stumbling down the path home drunkenly, her equally smashed mare-friend, Cherry Berry, finally managing to get to the punch-line of her joke.
“Okay, and...And then the mule says to the donkey ‘That’s not Tirek! That’s my wife!’”
Shoeshine and several others doubled-up laughing.
“You-you get it?” Cherry asked dizzily “Caramel? You get it?”
“I dunno’, Cherry” the nearby Caramel said with unease “You don’t think Cranky and Matilda would find that a bit personal?”
“It’s okay, Matilda’s the one that gave me that joke in the first place”
Caramel shrugged in admittance as he, Sassaflash, Cheerilee, Colgate, Berry Punch, Shoeshine and Cherry Berry made their way home from Cloudsdale, having celebrated Sassaflash’s acceptance into the Wonderbolt Academy with drinks and dance.
They were making their way to Ponyville, some of them very drunk.
Cheerilee was one for keeping them down, as it were, and was busily steadying her friends. She was impressed by her sister Berry Punch’s temperance in such matters. She didn’t drink half as much as she used to, a period in her life that had gotten her a bad reputation among her family and town. Cheerilee liked to think she had contributed to her rehabilitation, Berry’s marefriend, Minuette Colgate, providing a similar contribution.
Her daughter, Ruby Pinch, had done the rest. Berry had long ago resolved to never let her daughter experience the troubles she’d put everypony else through. Ruby had changed her very much for the better.
Right now, Berry was safely drunk, leaning on her marefriend, planting wet kisses on her cheeks.
“Colgate, has anyone ever told you when you get up on the dance floor, you shake it harder than a Pinkie Party Jello Tower?”
“I’ll take your word for it” Colgate chuckled, unsure whether to feel insulted or flattered.
“Sass and Caramel weren’t bad up there either” Shoeshine added “Still not sure about getting back together or does sweet-stuff still have the hots for Apple-Stacked?”
“I-i-it’s not like that!” the young stallion blushed furiously.
“Honey, she’d eat you alive and you know it” Sassaflash chuckled, tickling her on-and-off partner under the chin.
“And speaking of which...” Berry turned a wry eye to her sister “Has my dear sibling finally got her Big Mac on?”
“Hey, leave me out of this” the young schoolteacher sighed “We are taking things as they come, alright? No need to-”
‘Thunk!’
Cherry Berry gave a startled shriek as a throwing knife stood, quivering, in the trunk of a tree inches from their faces.
After a moment staring at the object, the heads of the Ponyville entourage slowly turned in the direction of a sardonic chuckle.
A rugged purple mare with a mane knotted and twisted with sandy-blonde dreadlocks rested on a large boulder, eying them with a smile. She had a silver piercing through her bottom lip and a criss-crossed scar over one cheek. She was wearing a set of belts and bandoliers slung over her back and, with a flash of lime green from her horn, retrieved her weapon and spun it idly on one hoof.
“Hello mates” she said, her Horsetralian drawl slow and sultry “Lovely night for a stroll, ain’t it”
The seven Ponyville-dwellers seemed to sober up pretty quickly as the stranger sprung down off the rock like a great cat.
That smile of hers was making them very uncomfortable. It was menacing in ways they’d never seen before. Inquisitive, anticipating, almost...hungry.
“Who...who are you?” Caramel asked, holding Sassaflash’s hoof tightly. Around them, the undergrowth rustled as more strange ponies approached, each one armed and bearing the same menacing smile.
“There’ll be time for names and acquaintances later, darl” Their leader purred “All you need to know is that we’re not nice ponies. And we’re intent on giving your quiet little town a wake-up call. A message of what life is really like...when we’re around”
“Wait!”
It was Berry Punch who spoke, stepping forward, standing with her legs astride in a defensive stance before Balisong.
“Just...back off, okay?” She was trying hard to sound firm, like trying to calm down a wild animal “I don't want to get violent”
There was a pause.
Then the silence on the path was broken by the leader laughing hysterically, doubling up and staring at her a look of dumbfounded amusement.
“Look, love...” she caught her breath “I think that should be us saying that to you...but we won’t...because we want to get very...very...violent”
Berry Punch took in the sight of mare before her.
She’d seen mares who were trouble many times in her unwelcome past but nothing quite like this. There was something about the glaive-wielder that wasn’t quite equine. This glee, this hunger for violence. Berry Punch had never seen anything like it.
Gulping silently, she looked back at her friends.
“Berry” Cheerilee whispered, fear prevalent on her face “Don’t...”
And with a yell, the plum-pink mare threw a punch with one hoof.
As if without moving, the mercenary leader had caught it. Shaking her head, unimpressed, she grabbed her opponent by the shoulder and twisted her foreleg round.
Berry screamed, falling to her knees. Sassaflash, not one to leave a friend in peril, moved forward but found one of the other strangers grabbing her by the wing and slamming her head into the ground. Caramel’s attempt to help her ended in similar failure. The surrounding ponies were simply too quick and too strong.
"Grab a sucker and have fun, fillies and colts!" their leader brayed wickedly "It's DEMONSTRATION TIME!"
Cheerilee backed up, teeth chattering.
“Cheery!” Berry cried “Run!”
As the young schoolteacher spun round, intent on bringing help from Ponyville, she stopped dead in her tracks as an orange and blue-dappled batpony stood before her, an intricate-looking knife in his clawed hoof.
“I must advise you not to struggle” he said calmly, his face not possessed of his leader’s grin “I promise this will be over quickly”
As the knife glinted in the moonlight, Cheerilee, overcome with terror, shut her eyes, clutched at her head and gave one loud scream.
*
Little Dinky gave a tiny squeak as she dreamed, snug in her bed.
Blissfully ignorant of the pony standing over her, cloaked in darkness.
They were coming tomorrow. The news had come early afternoon.
Everything had to be ready.
"I'm sorry, Dinky" a whisper barely pierced the silence as the moonlight outside glinted on something thin and sharp in the pony's hand.
"I'm so sorry"