//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept it... 
// Story: Something Rotten 
// by Boltstrike58 
//------------------------------//

In Miss Harshwhinny's classroom that morning, the only sound that reverberated around was the sound of scratching pens and pencils. Nobody would dare to try and raise their voice, considering the teacher in question. She'd come down on them like a freight train. At least Harshwhinny wasn't one of those who'd punish the whole class if one person was talking.

Additionally, this designated writing time was much appreciated amongst this class. The essay portion of the upcoming test was easily one of the most feared things in the academic career of these students, so any chance to get feedback on their essays ahead of time was vital. Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were both breathing calmly as they halted their writing for a couple of seconds, thinking about exactly what they wanted to say. Both girls were adept at this kind of assignment, but that didn't mean they could wing it.  

Suddenly, the unthinkable happened, as a noise broke through the thick silence. This sound was the opening of the classroom door, prompting Harshwhinny to turn her attention to it. The entire class instinctively followed, finding the class had been interrupted by the only student who'd been absent, Capper.

Of course, Capper's present condition was something nobody expected. One of his eyes was blackened and swollen almost completely shut, and his body had numerous white bandages covering his skin. One encircled most of his neck, another sat on his left cheek, and several dotted both of his arms. Around the white material, one could see that the skin was reddened. His left arm hung in a sling, though it didn't look like it was broken.  

Even the normally stoic Harshwhinny seemed taken aback at the sight of her student, and in an out-of-character-moment, didn't reprimand him for being late.

"Capper?! My goodness, what happened to you?!"

"Fell down some stairs," said the teenager, his voice low and tired. There was none of his usual laid-back attitude in his words, or in his body language, as he walked over to his seat. Looking down at his legs, Twilight noticed that he flinched whenever he extended his right knee, like there were more, unseen injuries, though she couldn't see anything beneath his jeans. Capper slumped into his chair, dropping his backpack onto the ground with a dull thud. 

Miss Harshwhinny blinked a couple of times, as though trying to process exactly what was going on before her. Eventually, she shook her head, grabbing another loose piece of paper and bringing it over to Capper's desk.

"Well, since you're here, finally, you might as well work on the essay," she said, simply.  Capper shrugged, the universal gesture for 'whatever,' before taking out a pen and beginning to scribble on the page with his (thankfully uninjured) right hand. Miss Harshwhinny returned to her desk, carrying on as though nothing had interrupted.

Of course, something had disrupted the normalcy of the class. Sunset and Twilight, ever accustomed to such things, looked each other in the eyes with as much subtlety as they could, Sunset skeptically raising her eyebrows. Neither girl spoke a single word, but at this point, they could communicate without opening their mouths.

'Fell down some stairs?'

	Yeah, right. Not with those bandages.

	You think we should ask him?

	Definitely.





After class ended, Capper retreated to his locker, having missed his chance to drop off his excess books earlier in the morning. He got the door open easily enough, but getting his backpack off both shoulders and unloading books was a pain with only one arm. His history textbook slipped out of his grasp, dropping it onto his foot with an audible thump. Capper grunted, more from the frustration than the pain.

"Here, let me help you," said a familiar voice.

Capper turned to the side. Sunset Shimmer, the owner of said voice, reached down and picked up Capper's textbook, placing it inside of his locker for him. Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, helped to re-attach the straps of his backpack, settling the lighter load on Capper's shoulders.

"Thanks, girls," Capper mumbled, apparently unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do. It wasn't like he knew either of them before hand.

"Are you okay?" Sunset asked, looking him over once again. "I'm guessing you were late because you were busy seeing a doctor for those injuries. Seriously, what happened?"

"I fell down some stairs. Besides, what do you care?" Capper grumbled.  

"It's called compassion, try it sometime," Twilight snarked. "Come on, Capper, we just want to help you."

"Look, all we need to know is what happened to you..." Sunset said. Twilight instinctively turned her eyes to Sunset, seeing that her hand was reaching slowly for Capper's exposed skin. A faint orange glow began to gather around her pendant.

"No!" she protested, grabbing Sunset by the wrist. "We talked about this! No invading people's brains without permission!" 

"Hey!" Sunset complained. "I was just gonna look at one memory! You know I can control it now! It's not like I was looking at his most intimate thoughts!"

"That's not the point and you know it!" Twilight snapped back. "You can't just jump inside somebody's head whenever you want! That's an invasion of privacy—"

Sunset cut Twilight off, placing a hand over her mouth. The former Crystal Prep student was about to protest, until she saw Sunset point to a spot on the back of Capper's neck. One of his bandages had partially slipped off, exposing the flesh beneath. A thin and shallow cut, barely starting to scab over, had been exposed, jutting up in a straight line and then veering diagonally right and upward. Sunset reached out and snatched the bandage away, revealing a mirror image of the same wound next to it, the two together resembling a pair of horns.

Twilight didn't recognize the symbol, but Sunset seemed to. Capper rushed to cover up his neck again, but it was too late. Sunset just stared in dull surprise at the teenager, seemingly catatonic with what might've been fear.

"Tell me you didn't," she finally said. "Tell me you didn't make a deal with him..."

"I didn't!" Capper protested, but his conviction was weak, "I just...I only borrowed a little from a guy who works for him—"

"Are you crazy?!" Sunset shouted, grabbing the collar of his jacket. "Do you have any idea what could've happened to you?!" She released Capper and clenched her eyelids shut, placing a palm against her forehead. "This is a nightmare..."

Twilight was at a loss for words. "What are you talking about?" she asked, turning to Capper. "What happened?"

"I can't..." Capper mumbled. "If I say anymore, they'll...You don't know what he'd do to me." He picked up his backpack once again, scurrying off to another class.  

Twilight turned back to Sunset, but the former unicorn held up a finger to silence her. "Wait until lunch," she said. "All of the girls need to hear this." With that, she walked away, leaving Twilight to puzzle out exactly what was going on.





Several hours later, Canterlot's most magical seven friends gathered in their usual place in the cafeteria. This was something that happened pretty much every school day. This difference this time, of course, was how tense Sunset Shimmer was, clenching her hands so that the knuckles turned as white as Rarity. She hadn't even taken a bite of her grilled-cheese sandwich yet.

"Golly, sugar cube, what's the matter with you?" asked Applejack. "You look like you can barely breathe!"

"Sorry, sorry," Sunset answered, her voice remaining fairly stable, despite her appearance. "Something just...caught me off guard today. I think you all need to hear about it."

The other six girls leaned in closer. Even Pinkie, sensing the serious nature of the discussion, didn't say a word.

"Okay," Sunset began, "I'm sure you've all noticed Capper today, looking pretty bedraggled. Now, that wouldn't be cause for alarm by itself, but Twilight and I both got suspicious, so we decided to ask exactly what put him in that state. He was pretty evasive, giving us the whole 'I fell down the stairs' crap."

Twilight opened her mouth, no doubt to chime in about Sunset's attempt to read Capper's thoughts, but the other girl put a hand over her mouth.

"Not yet, Twilight. So one of the bandages on Capper's neck slipped off, and we saw that someone used a knife to draw into his skin. The cuts were superficial, but they weren't the big deal. The big deal was that fact that the cuts formed this symbol. Like a low-tech way to brand someone."

Sunset reached into her backpack, pulling out a folded post-it note. Twilight took a look, and sure enough, the note had the same image of the two horns inscribed on it with blue pen.

"Okay..." Rainbow started. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means Capper's been dealing with the Storm King," said Sunset, "and he somehow didn't fulfill his end of the bargain."

"The who?" asked Pinkie.

Most of the other girls had the same confused reaction, with the exception of Twilight. She flinched at the name as Sunset spoke, rubbing her upper arms nervously. Sunset's previous reaction was now perfectly clear.

"The Storm King is easily the most powerful crime lord in Canterlot," Sunset replied. "He doesn't have operations all over the world or anything, but most organized crime in this city can, in some way, be traced back to him. Drugs, gambling, loan sharks, organized robbery, you name it, this guy has his fingers in it somehow. Capper owes him cash that he didn't manage to pay back. Generally, the Storm King doesn't respond well to that."

"But wouldn't that show up on the news?" asked Fluttershy. "I've never even heard of the Storm King."

Sunset laughed hollowly. "Yeah. That's because this guy is good. Remember how I used to manipulate this entire school, turning people against each other, crap like that? This guy makes me look like an amateur."  

"From what I've heard, he's incredibly skilled at covering his tracks," Twilight spoke up. "Most of the police are certain he's guilty, but they can never fully tie him to any crimes. That's why the media never reports on him."

Sunset looked surprised. "How'd you know?"  

"My big brother's a cop. What do you expect?" Twilight answered. Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait, where did you learn about the Storm King, Sunset?"

Sunset shifted awkwardly in her seat. "Well...okay, back to my alpha bitch phase..."

"Darling, please don't tell me..." Rarity began.

"I swear, I never made deals with him, or his associates," Sunset insisted. "Back when I was a jerk, I used to buy cigarettes on the street, and word gets around. I actually had someone who worked for him approach me once, offering me a job, but I declined. After everything I'd learned about the guy, even I wasn't stupid enough to try and get into his business."

Fluttershy shivered with fear. "You don't mean...he could've killed you, right?"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Sunset answered. "It's not like people end up chopped into pieces and thrown in the river out here, but the Storm King is ruthless. If he's had people killed, he's covered it up pretty well." She pressed her hand into her brow. "And Capper's little accident is just the latest push towards our school. I heard he lost a lot of cash to local gamblers when he bet on us to win the Friendship Games, and Crystal Prep officially won, because we didn't even care about the trophy anymore."

"Wait, criminals bet on the Friendship Games?" asked Rainbow, skepticism all over her face.	

"They'll bet on how fast paint dries!" Sunset snapped. "Look, the point is that the Storm King is expanding his territory further. Up to this point, Canterlot High and Crystal Prep have both remained pretty closed off from his operations, but he's gaining ground. Capper's just gonna be the first. He's gonna start trying to get more and more from the student populace around. I bet you anything he's trying to find someone who will sell his drugs in the halls of Canterlot High. People need this guy gone."

"So what do you want to do?" asked Rarity. "Get Capper to testify to the police?"

"I doubt that'd do any good. You didn't see the way he reacted when Twilight and I confronted him. He's terrified."  

Twilight's stomach dropped, seeing exactly where this was going. "No...You're not seriously suggesting—"

"Well, we can't just do nothing!" Sunset protested. "This is crime infesting our community and getting too close to our friends! Besides, we've got magic superpowers! We have to do something!"

Twilight pulled her bangs in frustration. "Okay, first you still try to read people's minds without permission, despite us having a conversation about how it's a breach of privacy, and now you want us to go into vigilantism, risking life and limb?! Are you crazy?!"

"What, you'd rather we just sat back and watched people who don't think far enough ahead and end up like Capper? Or worse?" Sunset retorted. "Look, somebody tell me I'm not the only one thinking along these lines!"  

"Yeah!" Rainbow chimed in. "I can run faster than people can blink, Applejack can lift cars, heck, you can levitate things, Twilight! What could they possibly do to hurt us?"

"Oh gee, let's think about that for five seconds, Rainbow," Applejack chimed in. "We just run in, guns blazing, they see our faces, they figure out our names, and the next thing you know, Apple Bloom gets kidnapped and chained up inside some sort of torture chamber!"

"And Sweetie Belle, too!" Rarity added. "Not to mention we'd probably be breaking the law by taking it into our own hands! How do you plan to deal with that?"  

Pinkie spoke up. "But Sunset has a point, too. We've fought crazy magic people, but we can't just decide this isn't our problem just because there's no magic. We have a responsibility."

The six who'd spoken were left in tense silence. Everybody had made it abundantly clear where their votes were cast. Rainbow and Pinkie had clearly sided with Sunset, while Rarity and Applejack were firmly alongside Twilight. They'd reached an impasse on exactly how to proceed. However, all flinched back as they realized who would be forced to break the tie.

Fluttershy.

Nobody dared to look at her, not wanting to pressure her into making her decision. Fluttershy, of course, was smart enough to catch on. Most of her friends would've guessed she was afraid too afraid to take such high-priority role in this debate, but Fluttershy managed to surpass their expectations. Taking a breath, Fluttershy spoke to the table as a whole.

"Okay, I think we all have valid arguments. Sunset, Rainbow, and Pinkie are right that we have the power to make a difference, and ignoring the troubles of people surrounding us is inherently wrong. But at the same time, Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack make good points. If we just dive into this without thinking, not only could we get hurt even with our powers, we're putting our families at risk. Not to mention, we can't just beat the Storm King up and bring him to the police, that would never get through our legal system. So, if we're going to do this, we need a plan. How can we stop the Storm King without running into those problems?"

Everybody looked down as they processed Fluttershy's analysis. The consensus seemed to be pointing towards actually going up against the Storm King, but there needed to be rules and safeguards in place to execute that plan. Exactly how they would go about that, nobody could say.  

Yet.