//------------------------------// // No Rest for the Wicked // Story: The Hero Club // by Mind Jack //------------------------------// The next morning started off cold, wet, and generally more unpleasant than the one before. The market was full of ponies both hawking goods and looking for a quick breakfast on the way to work or school. Some were also ducking under the makeshift canopies and tents that had been set up by the salesponies to keep out of the rain. Gusty flew a short ways above and behind Daffodil and Boomer. Daffodil was happily trotting along, humming to herself, and Boomer galloped as quickly as her short legs could take her in order to keep up. She’d been rather cold towards Gusty that morning, pointedly avoiding talking to her as much as she could. Not that Gusty could blame her, after what had happened the previous night. She stumbled a bit as she landed next to Boomer. “So, uh…” She struggled to think of something to say to start a conversation, without sounding overly awkward. “What’s it like at this school?” At first, she wasn’t sure if Boomer would answer. But after a heavy pause, she replied. “Pretty close to what any big school is like, I guess.” “Anything I should know about before we get there?” “Not really? I guess there are a couple of ponies you ought to watch out fo–” She was cut off as both of them ran into Daffodil’s outstretched wings. Gusty peeked under the wall of yellow feathers to see what had made Daffodil stop. A crowd was gathering, but not around any of the stalls. They were gathering around what looked like a giant spike of ice jutting out of the ground. Out of nowhere, a figure in a thick white coat and matching gas mask came galloping past them, an unconscious purple colt draped over her back. “Out of the way! Coming through! Injured civilian!” the figure called in a muffled female voice. Gusty could only watch in shocked awe as the figure jumped and, with a loud whoosh, slid away on an instantly-formed road of ice. “What the hay was that?” Daffodil prodded her with a wing to get her walking again, moving through the dispersing crowd and past the giant column of ice. “Local troublemaker. Likes to think of herself as a superhero,” she replied. “Steer clear of her. That isn’t the first foal she’s had to run to the hospital.” Gusty cast a worried look over her shoulder, intending to see how everypony else was reacting. Instead, she found a familiar face flitting between the distracted ponies. Snake Eyes was trotting along as if she hadn’t a care in the world, but Gusty saw what she was really doing: almost every time she passed somepony distracted enough not to notice, she telekinetically slipped their bit purse out of their saddlebag and into her own. Gusty’s blood boiled. Here was this new “friend” who, according to Boomer, was supposed to help her stay out of trouble in school, blatantly robbing ponies in broad daylight! She started to turn to tell Daffodil, but was forestalled by a leg across her chest from Boomer. “I’ll explain later, promise,” she whispered once an oblivious Daffodil had gone out of earshot. “Don’t say anything. I’ll explain later on. Please, just trust me.” When Gusty turned back to look for her, Snake was gone. Even if she spoke up, she’d have no proof. So Gusty reluctantly stayed quiet and kept walking. Please tell me I didn’t just help somepony commit a crime on my second day here. Boomer split off as soon as the two of them walked in the school’s front doors. Thankfully, Daffodil noticed. “So much for the idea of having her show you around,” she joked with a roll of her eyes. “Come along. I’ll take you to the office to find out what class you’ll be in.” She guided Gusty through the sterile, white-tile halls. Each one seemed almost completely identical to the others, all lined with the same plain metal doors. Her stomach was already tied up in nervous knots, but the realization that the inside of the school looked a lot like a hospital made it much worse. They finally stopped in front of a door at the very end of a hallway, with the word ‘Administration’ printed above it. Daffodil politely knocked on the door. There was a sound halfway between a snore and a snort, before the horned head of a cyan mare with a light-green mane popped out. She had bags under her yellow eyes and a security guard hat on her head. “What!?” Daffodil took the hostile greeting in stride. “Good morning, Pepper! I’m afraid my niece here is new to this school, and she still needs to find out who her teacher is. Could you help, please?” Pepper looked at Gusty through narrowed eyes. “You’re the delinquent?” “I… guess so? My name’s Gusty.” “I’m Pepper Spray.” Pepper let her name and its connotation hang in the air for a moment, before ducking back into her office and returning with a piece of paper. “Looks like you’re in Mr. Wonderbread’s class. Room 302. I’ll be watching you on the cameras the whole way there. No funny business.” With that, she slammed the door in Gusty’s face. Daffodil sighed and rolled her eyes. “Sorry about that, Gusty. I tried to keep your… checkered past quiet, but it seems some of it has slipped out.” Gusty just shrugged, rubbing her poor, abused muzzle. “I’ll be fine.” I deserved it anyway. “So, which way to room 302?” “I’m afraid I don’t know,” Daffodil said with some dismay. “That isn’t Boomer’s class.” Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, a familiar voice called out, “Hey there, Gusty! Miss B!” Gusty was surprised to see that Daffodil looked just as displeased with Snake Eyes’ presence as she was. “Hello, Snake Eyes.” Daffodil greeted with the smile of a pony forced to cut off her own leg without flinching. “How are you today?” “Eh, can’t complain,” Snake replied, either not noticing Daffodil’s face or not caring. “You two need some help?” Gusty and Daffodil shared a look, neither overly eager. For a moment, Gusty was sorely tempted to tell Daffodil what she’d seen in the market earlier. Hold it, dingus. She knows about the book. She could just as easily sell you out. So, forcing on a smile of her own, Gusty turned to Snake. “We’re looking for Mr. Wonderbread’s class. Do you know where it is?” “Oh yeah!” Snake replied enthusiastically. “I’m in that class too. You can just follow me if you want.” Gusty nodded, giving Daffodil an awkward hug. “Be careful, Gusty,” Daffodil said with a pointed look at Snake Eyes. “Have a good day, and don’t get into trouble.” Gusty nodded. “I will. I promise.” As Daffodil left, Gusty could only think to herself, I really hope I can keep that promise. Gusty plodded slowly behind Snake, who pranced along like she was walking on air. “So thanks for not ratting me out back there,” she whispered as she turned so that she was trotting backwards in front of Gusty. “I know you saw me in the market earlier, and probably aren’t happy about it. Why didn’t you?” Gusty grimaced. “Because you could’ve told her about the book,” she spat back, careful to keep her voice low. “I don’t want to be friends with you. I don’t want to hang out with you. I just want to finish my probation, and go home.” “Oh.” Snake at least had the awareness to slow down, her ears pinning guiltily. “Look, uh… maybe we got off on the wrong hoof. I can explain why I was doing what you saw, but not here. Maybe you and Boomer can come to my house after school? No funny business, I promise.” Gusty wanted to say no. She really did. But her Little Inner Voice had a little nugget of wisdom to remind her of: You’re alone here, remember? No one else wants to be your friend. Not even your cousin. She says she can explain. Give her the benefit of the doubt. So with a heavy sigh, Gusty replied, “Fine.” Snake’s beaming smile practically split her face in half. Gusty stiffened when she received an unwanted hug. “You won’t regret it, I promise!” I really, really hope I won’t. Gusty was led into a classroom up on the third floor. The beige walls were unusually bare, without any posters or decorations. A couple of bookshelves lined the back wall, a chalkboard at the front of the classroom, and a short desk sat in front of it. Behind the desk, an incredibly plain earth pony stallion with a very light beige coat and oak-brown mane, tail, and moustache stood, apparently grading papers. A few other colts and fillies filed in behind them. The stallion looked up, seeing Gusty. “Ah. You must be our new student,” he droned in the voice of somepony who was used to ponies never hearing a word he said. “I’m Mr. Wonderbread.” “I’m Gusty,” she greeted, politely shaking his hoof. “Breeze?” he queried, looking down at a clipboard on his desk. “Yes, sir.” He seemed genuinely surprised for some reason. But he just pointed to an empty seat in the back left corner of the room. “You can have the desk over there, next to Snake Eyes.” Gusty obediently took her seat. The classroom slowly started to fill up. She counted about ten colts and twenty fillies when they stopped coming in. “Good morning, class,” Wonderbread greeted. Gusty’s gut clenched, anticipating the announcement of a new student, for suspicious looks from every eye in the room. But Mr. Wonderbread just went into his planned lesson, dully explaining some algebraic equation that Gusty had trouble grasping. She saw one or two of them giving her odd looks, but none outright hostile or scared. Huh. Maybe today won’t be so bad after all. Unfortunately, Gusty was faced with another problem – she didn’t understand a word of what was being taught. It was apparently some kind of algebra. She tried taking notes, but just didn't understand what she was looking at. Snake peered over at her paper. For a second, Gusty thought she was trying to cheat. But then she subtly tilted her own notebook over so Gusty could see. Gusty gave her a smile of thanks. With a little more help from Snake, Gusty actually managed to make it through the first few hours of class without much trouble. She almost jumped out of her seat when the bell rang. “Have a nice lunch, everypony,” Wonderbread dismissed, sitting down at his desk and opening a magazine. Snake motioned for Gusty to follow her, and both of them went with the river of students from the other classrooms. The cafeteria was on the first floor. It was fairly spacious, and full of lots of small round tables, but smelled of B.O. and broken dreams. The lunch ladies smelled even worse, to the point it was almost impossible to smell the drab slop that was supposedly food… which may have been a good thing, to be honest. Gusty followed Snake to a familiar yellow mane at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria. Boomer looked up when the two of them approached her. “Wow. No black eyes,” she joked. “I’d call that a success for the first part of the day.” “Heck yeah! Hero and me are best friends now!” Snake Eyes threw a hoof around Gusty’s shoulders, which she pushed off with a scowl. “She helped me when I had trouble with math,” Gusty explained. “I’m gonna go over to her house later.” Boomer raised an eyebrow. “Really? You go from wanting to beat the stuffing out of her yesterday to wanting to be friends with her?” “To be fair, I haven’t stolen from her or broken into her room today,” quipped Snake. “Either way,” Gusty interrupted. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hurt you or tried to hurt you, and I shouldn’t have lost my temper. Neither of us made a very good first impression, but… you say you have your reasons, so I guess I can give you a chance.” As much as it makes me want to tear my mane out. “Well thank you for deigning to tolerate us, your highness!” Boomer said with a glare. “And aren’t you forgetting that Mom said you need a chaperone to go anywhere?” Gusty frowned. “Uh… Aren’t you and Snake friends? You could just go with me.” “So you can know where she lives and go after her in some crazy mood swing? Yeah. I don’t think so.” “Whoa whoa!” Snake waved her hooves to cut them off before that could go any further. “I asked her to come over, Boomer. Could you please let her? I really think she might chill out a little around me if she knows why I do what I do.” Boomer was clearly not happy with that answer. Snake stuck out her quivering lower lip, letting a single crocodile tear slide down her cheek. A glint of mischief appeared in Boomer’s eyes. “Fine. She can go. I’ll even talk Mom into letting her go. On one condition.” A chill went up Gusty’s spine at Boomer’s sudden grin. She gulped nervously. “S-sure. What?” Boomer leaned forward, and whispered her reply; “If Snake is gonna be honest with you, it’s only fair that you be honest with us too. I want you to bring that book, and I want to know why you’re so obsessed with it. What’s so special about it?” Gusty was silent for a moment, wings shuffling as her eyes fell in uncertainty. Boomer leaned back in her seat. “Those are my terms. Take ‘em or leave ‘em.” Gusty really wanted to say no. It would give her an excuse to not associate with Snake, and would likely keep her out of trouble in the long run. But now Snake had turned that same pleading, puppy-eyed look on her. And this one looked much more sincere, as if a no really would hurt her. Plus, she’d already given her word to give Snake the benefit of the doubt. After a long pause, Gusty let out a sigh of resignation. “Fine. I’ll do it.” Snake beamed. “Sweet! We’re gonna have an awesome time! You just wait!” Boomer gave a nod of approval. “Good. Give us a good reason for it and I’ll even forgive what happened yesterday, if you’re actually sorry for it.” Gusty actually gave a reluctant smile at that. Going over to a friend’s house for a little while just seemed so… normal. It was a nice feeling, even if the circumstances were weird. Of course, Gusty’s Law proclaimed that all good feelings must be matched with horrible ones. “Hey!” Pepper Spray shouted as she stomped her way over to their table. In addition to her security hat, she wore a black saddle, lined with bright orange cans of what Gusty guessed was her namesake. “I heard raised voices over here! Are you three fighting?” “No ma’am!” Gusty replied, ears pinned back. Pepper did not seem to think it was genuine. “A smart aleck, eh? I don’t believe you.” “But we really weren’t!” Snake argued. “Quiet!” Pepper snapped. “I have even less reason to believe you than I do her, you little menace!” “It’s called being a loveable scamp…” Snake muttered indignantly. Boomer started to argue too, but Pepper whirled on her. “And you! I haven’t forgotten when you destroyed my coffee machine! Don’t think that I’m going to lighten up on you two just because you have Legbreaker here in your little clique. I’m going to watch you like a hawk for as long as I can!” She did just that. For the rest of lunch, she stood a couple of feet away, staring at them. She had been right about one thing. At first, Gusty felt very much like a mouse in front of a hawk. But that feeling was quickly being replaced with a boiling in her gut. What reason did this bitter old nag have to come over and shout at them, watch them like they were going to start a riot in the cafeteria? But her thoughts were cut off by a subtle prod in her side. It was Snake. She pantomimed taking a long, deep breath. Gusty, realizing that getting mad at a security guard with her track record for impulsive violence was not a good idea, took a calming breath, mentally forcing her anger down as much as she could. The absolute last thing she wanted was a repeat of what got her sent here. The bell telling them lunch was over was a mercy, even if it meant they all had to split up. The river of other colts and fillies switched direction, practically carrying Gusty and Snake back to Mr. Wonderbread’s classroom. The stallion himself wasn’t there, so lots of quiet conversations had sprung up when they got back to their desks. Gusty listened in on a few of them. One or two were about her. The rest were just standard school talk about sports, gossip, and an upcoming dance. Snake saw Gusty looking around, and laughed. “Thank goodness Nutshell’s absent today.” “Why’s that?” Gusty asked. “He can’t be worse than Pepper Spray has been so far.” “He’s the Hall Monitor,” Snake explained. “The other day, I overheard him getting told about you coming. He started calling you a bully and a thug, and said if you tried anything he’d put you in your place.” Gusty really wasn’t sure how to react to that. Before she could decide, Mr. Wonderbread came into the room, looking every bit as tired and uninterested as he had that morning. “Sorry I’m late, everypony. Let me get today’s homework passed out, then we can get into Ponish.” “No! A thousand times no!” Needless to say, Daffodil hadn’t exactly reacted well to Gusty’s request. She and Boomer had argued the entire way home. Gusty was a little bulldozed by their shouting, and mostly just did her best to stay out of the blast zone. “That little scoundrel will be nothing but a bad influence!” Daffodil hissed. “Just last week she filled my office with hundreds of wild flowers! I was nearly buried when I opened the door!” “Technically, falling over laughing isn’t proof of guilt,” Boomer reminded. “And either way, I’ll be there to keep them both out of trouble.” Daffodil still looked very skeptical. “Boomer, you know I trust you. But I don’t think it's a good idea to expose Gusty to negative influences until she’s progressed in her therapy.” “But she helped Gusty out in class today!” “Be that as it may, she’s still a mischievous little curr and I don’t think it's a good idea to–” “Uh… mind if I say something?” All of the shouting was starting to give Gusty a headache, and that was starting to irritate her. She had to cut in before she did something stupid. Both of them turned to look at Gusty. Daffodil straightened her glasses, but Boomer left hers crooked. “Of course,” said Daffodil with an apologetic smile. She hadn’t actually considered that speaking up might have also been something stupid. Alright, dingus. Let’s see if you can spin this one. How’s she gonna react to the fact that you didn’t tell her what happened yesterday? Her Little Voice had a point. She took a moment to get her story straight. “Well… I didn’t want to trust Snake Eyes either at first. But then… I dunno. I kinda thought that I don’t have any real friends around here. We got off on the wrong hoof the other day. She pulled a joke on me in the market, and I flipped my lid on her. But today she apologized, and was really nice to me. She’s the only one giving me the chance to prove myself trustworthy, so I want to give it to her too.” Daffodil shook her head stubbornly. “Gusty, she’s a bad influence. Even if she’s a small one, her company will not benefit you.” “Maybe Gusty could be a good influence on her?” Boomer suggested. “Judging by that blow up the other day, she’s not a fan of pranks.” That gave Daffodil pause. “Hm… That’s true. Being a positive role model for somepony else has been statistically shown to do wonders for self-confidence.” She touched a hoof to her chin, seemingly deep in thought. “Alright. I’ll let her go over.” “Yes!” Boomer pumped her hoof, while Gusty gave Daffodil a quick, tight hug. “Thanks, Aunt Daffodil. You’re the best.” Daffodil straightened her glasses bashfully. “I’ll walk you over there, and don’t leave on your own once you’re there! I’ll come to pick you both up. That way I can talk with her parents about Gusty’s behavior while she was over there. I’ll give you both some bits, just in case you want to order a pizza or something. I don’t want you going hungry. And you should probably take your homework over too, to get it done while you’re there.” That turned out to be a perfect excuse for Gusty to go upstairs and get the book. As she hid it under her homework in her saddlebag, she swore it felt a little bit lighter than it had when she’d handled it the night before. Weird. Heh. Maybe it approves. Boomer led the way to Snake Eyes’ house. As it turned out, Daffodil had no idea where it was. They stopped in front of one of the tall, brownstone apartment buildings that lined the main street. “This is it,” Boomer announced. “Her mom is probably asleep right now, so you mind if we head up on our own?” Daffodil nodded. “Yes. I trust you to keep these two on the straight-and-narrow.” She gave them both a tight hug. “Be good! I expect to hear great things!” “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on them,” Boomer promised. “Gusty won’t buck anypony into a wall on my watch.” She pushed her glasses up her muzzle to cover a smirk. Gusty looked up at the apartment building. Being almost identical to every other one on the street, they looked much more like parts of a wall than actual buildings. If not for the windows, she might not have been able to tell that anypony lived there. The lobby wasn’t much more than a small tiled room with a rickety, wooden desk with nopony behind it. The elevator bore a faded ‘OUT OF ORDER’ sign. The staircase they took to the third floor was slim enough to give any claustrophobe a heart attack. Boomer knocked gently on the door marked ‘32.’ “Who’s there?” A gruff, angry voice demanded from inside. “Tax pony,” Boomer deadpanned. To Gusty’s surprise, the pony who answered the door wasn’t an aging mare with a cigar in her mouth, but rather Snake eyes herself, wearing an impish grin. “Hey there, Cuddles,” she whispered. “I see you brought along our local hero. Come on in. Mom’s asleep, so try to stay quiet.” The inside of Snake’s apartment was mostly what Gusty expected– a small living room, with a dull beige carpet and walls. A couple of hallways went off to what she expected were the kitchen and bedrooms. But there were little hints that somepony had tried to pretty the place up as much as possible. A cheap wooden coffee table with a vase full of yellow flowers sat in front of a small brown couch. Cute pink curtains with pictures of different kinds of cookies covered the only window. Snake shushed them both, and started to lead them down the hall in the back of the living room. But before she could, a soft voice spoke up. “Who’s at the door, sweetheart?” A mare stood in the doorway. She looked almost exactly like a sized-up Snake Eyes in her coloration, but something was wrong with her. She was skin-and-bones, with sunken eyes and a dullness to her coat. Her horn looked to have several tiny cracks on the very tip. She walked with a pronounced limp as she approached them. Her mane and tail were an odd contrast to the rest of her; they were obviously washed, curled, and attended to with utmost care. Her smile was warm and welcoming. Gusty immediately liked her. “Hello, Boomer!” the mare greeted in a low voice. She actually stepped forward to nuzzle Boomer affectionately, and Boomer returned the gesture with a smile. “Who’s your friend? I don’t think she’s been over before.” “I’m Gusty,” she greeted. “Boomer’s my cousin. I’m new in town.” “It’s lovely to meet you, Gusty!” The mare bumped hooves with her. Gusty, being rather afraid of breaking the frail mare, didn’t put much force into it. “My name’s Sweet Cream. Make yourself at home.” “Are you Snake’s mom?” Gusty asked with a tilt of her head. Sweet Cream gave her a kind smile, but with a mischievous glint in her eyes that Gusty couldn’t discern the purpose of. “You could say that, yes.” Before Gusty could ask what she meant, Snake Eyes stepped forward, laughing nervously. “Hahaha! Mom is so funny! Uh… maybe you ought to get back to bed? You need your rest.” Sweet Cream patted Snake on the head, chuckling. “Dear, I may not get around as well as I used to, but Celestia take me if I can’t at least make some daisy sandwiches. Go on back to your room with your friends.” “I can help if you like, ma’am!” Gusty offered. “Well aren’t you sweet! But no. It’s been too long since I’ve had an excuse to get up and cook for my little filly.” “Mom, come on,” Snake complained. “Let us help you.” Sweet gave a roll of her eyes and a good-natured chuckle. “How about this; if I need help, I’ll come ask you, okay?” Snake still looked reluctant, but didn’t have a rebuttal. “Alright… come on, guys. My room is back here.” As it turned out, Snake’s bedroom was also the laundry room. It was basically just a small twin bed next to a washing machine and dryer, with a few posters depicting some singer or another on the walls. A large window dominated one wall, that Gusty guessed led out to the fire escape. “Welcome to my inner sanctum!” Snake introduced with a wave of her hoof, having regained some of her energy. “Watch out for the laundry soap. It’s easy to trip over. Have a seat on the bed.” Gusty sat down, sliding off her saddlebags. “So… what’s wrong with your mom?” Snake’s smile got smaller. “She’s sick.” She sat down next to Gusty with a small sigh. “Can’t work, the doctor says. She thinks I have a job.” Gusty may not have been the brightest filly, but even she could put two and two together. “That’s why you started stealing.” Snake shrugged again. “It’s the only thing that I was good at that made enough bits to pay rent every month. Mom gets a little bit from the place she used to work at. It keeps us fed, but it isn’t enough.” “How long has this been going on?” Gusty asked in disbelief. Snake paused to think about that for a minute. “I’ve been doing it since I was seven, so five years, give or take a month or two.” Gusty raised an eyebrow a bit. “You don’t seem to be very guilty about all this.” “I mean… should I be? The sneaking around and all is fun. I’m good at it. And I’m taking care of my family.” Gusty was unsure how to respond. She could only sit in awkward silence for a few moments, before Boomer perked up. “Hey! That reminds me. Mom gave us a bag of bits each.” To Gusty’s surprise, she pulled out the entire bag and passed it to Snake, who accepted it with a grateful smile. “You’re the best, Cuddles.” She stuck her tongue out in concentration as she used her magic to dump the bits onto the top shelf of a cabinet above the washing machine. Gusty spotted several other piles of the gold coins up there. “You’re giving all your bits to her?” Gusty asked with a concerned frown. Boomer’s only reply was a nonchalant shrug. “She needs them more than I do. I usually give her about half my allowance every time I get it.” “It helps keep at least a few ponies’ pocket change safe,” Snake joked wryly. “I may have a bit of fun with it so I don’t go crazy, but I’m not a monster. I watch ponies; get an idea for how much they have, so that I never take more than they can spare. Cuddles’ donations mean I don’t have to take as much.” Snake’s unflappable grin hadn’t wavered, but there was just a little bit of sadness to it now. All three of them sat still and silent for a moment. Gusty had no idea what Boomer and Snake were thinking, but she couldn’t help feeling a conflict within herself about all this. Should I just accept all this, and be friends with Snake? It’s absolutely gonna cause me a lot of trouble if I do. Should I just get up and leave? No. I can’t let somepony else go through that. Just… What should I do? The two sides of her mind eventually settled on one question: What would the book tell me to do? Slowly, Gusty climbed down from her seat on the bed, walking over to her saddlebags. She pulled out the bag of bits that Daffodil had given her and hoofed it to Snake. Both Snake and Boomer seemed genuinely surprised. It was Snake who finally broke the silence, giving her a sincere and grateful smile. “Thanks, Gusty.” The door creaked open and Sweet Cream’s muzzle poked in. “Sorry to bother you three, but it turns out that I do need some help reaching the plates.” Snake started to get up, but Gusty waved her down. “I’ve got this.” She followed Sweet Cream into the small, cramped kitchen. She flapped up to the unusually high cabinet, which would have been tough for a pony without wings or magic to reach, and grabbed a stack of glass plates. “Thanks, Gusty.” Sweet Cream accepted the plates with a flickering, light blue magic. “It’s been a while since I’ve cooked. My little busybody normally insists on doing it herself.” “Snake Eyes must be a really good daughter,” Gusty remarked. As she put three toasted sandwiches onto the plates, Sweet Cream gave a small, but proud smile. “Yes, she is.” “If you don’t mind my asking, what did you mean earlier?” said Gusty with a small tilt of her head. “‘You could say that.’ Are you not Snake’s real mom or something?” Sweet Cream burst into a fit of laughter, which devolved into a fit of coughing. Gusty, unsure what to do, patted her gently on the back with a wing. When she had recovered, Sweet Cream let out another small chuckle. “No, dear. I am in fact her real mother. I simply meant that Snake Eyes isn’t her real name.” Gusty was rather taken aback by this new revelation. “It isn’t?” “Nope! It’s a rather silly nickname that she made up for herself. Seems she wasn’t very fond of the one I gave her.” Now normally, Gusty wasn’t prone to teasing others. She was, however, a curious one. Maybe a little mischief would improve the mood with Boomer and Snake. “So… what is her real name?” When Sweet Cream whispered the name in her ear, a slow grin spread across Gusty’s face. I am so getting her back for all the nicknames. Gusty made her way back to Snake’s bedroom, one plate on each wing and one on her back. “And then the unicorn says ‘That’s weird. I only use my horn for kebabs!’” Boomer giggled uncontrollably at whatever joke Snake had told. It seemed Snake had regained some of her energy since Gusty had left. Gusty carefully sat the plates down on the bed. “Sandwiches for all,” she announced. Snake threw her hooves up. “The valiant hero has returned! Thanks for helping mom out. It really means a lot.” Gusty didn’t flinch at Snake’s teasing nickname. “No problem, Cookie.” Her mouth was suddenly blocked by both of Snake’s hooves. “Homework! We’d better get our homework done while we eat so Gusty can tell us her thing with the book, right Boomer?” She went to Boomer looking for sympathy, but found a smile not unlike that of a hungry timberwolf. No rescue was coming from her best friend. Gusty easily pushed “Snake’s” hooves off of her muzzle, wearing a similar grin. “What’s wrong? Cookie is such a cute name.” “It is pretty adorable,” Boomer agreed. “Agggggggh!” Snake/Cookie collapsed backwards on the bed, hooves over her ears. “Please, never call me that. It hurts my soul every time I hear it. What’ll happen if I ever get caught? Can you imagine the name ‘Cookie Cream’ on a mugshot?” Gusty tried to hold it back, to the point of a long, loud snort coming out of her nostrils. But it was in vain. Laughter exploded out of her, making her fall on her rump to keep from tipping over backwards. The idea of that name on a wanted poster, with a picture of Snake pouting, blushing, and refusing to look at the camera, was just so hilarious that she couldn’t help it. When she’d caught her breath and wiped her watery eyes with a wing, she noticed the two of them looking at her strangely. “Uh… sorry.” She looked down, cheeks burning bashfully. “Don’t be,” Snake assured. “That’s just the first time I’ve heard you laugh since I met you.” “Same!” Boomer agreed. “And I live with you now!” The three of them shared a laugh. Snake gave a stretch. “Anyway, we really ought to get our homework done if we want to hear Hero’s story before you guys gotta go home.” “I put my saddlebags in the corner over there.” Boomer pointed towards her set of brown bags. “I’ll get them for you,” Gusty offered, hopping off the bed. “No wait!” Boomer shouted. It was too late. As soon as Gusty laid a hoof on the bags, there was a quiet hiss, and the bags exploded. The three reacted just quickly enough to dive for cover behind Snake Eyes’ small bed. Loud pops and bangs went off for several minutes as small, colorful fireworks exploded in the air just above their heads. When the fireworks show was over, Gusty gave Boomer an incredulous, panicked look. “What the hay was that!?” Boomer gave a sheepish smile as she retrieved a textbook and a few sheets of paper from her seemingly intact bag. “My chemistry homework. Sorry. I meant to leave it in my room at home, but I forgot.” Snake climbed shakily to her hooves. “Cuddles, you gotta start checking your saddlebags before you leave school. How is your bag not destroyed?” “Mom got me fireproof bags last week, after the mayor complained.” When the dust cleared, the three of them got down to work. Just like in class, Snake helped Gusty with anything she struggled with, and even helped Boomer from time to time. Gusty worked slowly on purpose, knowing what was in for her when they finished. Nevertheless, the moment arrived when all homework was finished and put away. The three of them settled in, and Boomer gave Gusty a pointed look. “Well, Snake held up her end of the deal. Time for you to hold up yours.” Snake had apparently already gone through Gusty’s bag to find the book, and was currently balancing it on the tip of her nose, spine-up. She bounced it off her nose like a trained seal, and used her magic to pass it to Gusty. She took it, being too nervous to be mad. She settled in on the bed and opened the book in front of her. Boomer and Snake hopped over to where they could get a good view. It took a while for Gusty to find the page she was looking for. She was incredibly careful as she flipped through the old, slightly-yellowed pages. “It’d take too long to read all these out, so I’ll just go over a few that should give you a general idea.” The page she stopped on had a picture of an Earth Pony mare with some kind of stringed musical instrument, drawn in black ink. “Songbird was a homeless alcoholic. When she joined the Heroes, she saved six villages from windigoes, and became the first pony to ever walk clear across the continent ocean-to-ocean on hoof.” She flipped a few more pages forward to an unusually small unicorn holding two crossbows in his magic aura, surrounded on all sides by ponies with swords and longbows. “Real McCoy was a bandit, and was in jail when the Heroes recruited him. He protected a whole town from his own former gang by himself.” Several more pages on, she stopped at a picture of a griffon in heavy armor, holding what was either an axe or a hammer. “Gilfried the Great. Supposedly was king of Griffonstone for a few months, ‘til he tried to go to war over some diplomat eating a sandwich that was supposedly his. Needless to say, his army rebelled. He was exiled. After he was almost executed for trying to raise a peasant rebellion in Equestria, he joined the Heroes. He earned his nickname after that, helping any creature he came across wherever he went, even just feeding the poor and hungry.” “Heck of a turnaround,” Snake quipped. “Guy goes from starting a war over stolen lunch to being some kind of saint.” “Seems a bit too good to be true,” Boomer agreed. “It sounds to me like it's just a book of stories.” Gusty scowled. “Well I think they’re real. There's too much in it for it not to be. A lot more than I just showed– Rules and stuff like that. Do you see the point I’m trying to get at, though? What they have in common?” “Seems like they were all total jerks, who somehow managed to turn their lives around,” Boomer surmised. Gusty gave her a pointed look. A grin of realization came over Snake. “Ohhhh! I get it. You’re a total jerk, and the book made you want to turn your life around.” Gusty’s wings shuffled, and her ears pinned. “Kinda, I guess? The Heroes existed to help common ponies and creatures. I wanna do the same thing. I don’t try to hurt anypony. I just get so mad sometimes that I just… lose it.” She hung her head with a sigh. “The book makes me hope that I might eventually be able to use my violent streak to help ponies.” “That what happened when you broke that guy’s legs?” asked Boomer. Gusty clammed up immediately. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” “Well you’re going to!” Boomer insisted. “That was the deal.” “No. The deal was that I’d tell you about the book, and why it means so much to me.” Boomer stomped her hoof on the bed. “Hey! You know I’m not gonna take that. You’re gonna tell us whether you like it or not.” Snake looked between them with a worried frown. “Girls, please don’t fight.” If either of them heard her, neither of them showed it. Gusty stood up, wings flared and teeth bared. “I don’t want to talk about it, so I’m not going to. Get it through your thick skull.” “Or what, huh?” Boomer challenged. “You gonna pound it through?” Gusty almost gave her a hoof to the teeth for that remark, but Snake popped up between them before she could. “Whoa whoa whoa! Both of you, cut it out.” To Gusty’s surprise, she turned to Boomer first. “You, stop trying to start a fight. Even I’m not that stupid. And you.” she turned to Gusty. “This one may not have been your fault, but if you ever hurt Cuddles, I will end you. Clear?” The boiling in Gusty’s gut quickly faded to ice-cold. “I… I’m sorry.” Her voice quivered, and she seemed to physically shrink as she collapsed to her belly, covering her face with her hooves and wings. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to! I almost hit you!” Most of the anger in Boomer’s voice faded, replaced with confusion. “Uh… jeez, calm down. It was just an argument. Chill out.” “But I almost hurt you!” Gusty wailed, taking her hooves away to reveal that she was actually crying. “Hey now, stiff upper lip, Hero,” Snake soothed. “No need for the waterworks. Keep on doing this and we’ll think you’re some kind of crybaby.” Gusty wiped her nose, forcing herself to regain some of her composure. “Sorry.” Snake poked Gusty’s snout with a hoof playfully. “And stop saying that over and over again.” “You sound like a parrot who just learned a new word,” Boomer agreed. Gusty was going to say ‘sorry’ again, but caught herself with a blush and a small, bashful smile. “Okay, so, touchy subject, obviously.” Boomer rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “Sorry for prying so much.” Gusty shuffled her hooves. “It’s okay.” “If it makes you feel any better, I’m no wimp. Mom and I may not have been up to Breeze Bastion in a while, but we’re still Breezes. Mom taught me how to protect myself.” Boomer gave Gusty a playful punch to the shoulder. It hurt, but it did lighten the mood just a little. Boomer cleared her throat, looking like she was trying to find the right words to say. “Look, if you won’t tell us about what happened, will you at least tell us why you don’t want to?” Gusty rubbed a hoof on the back of her head. “Well… to tell you the truth, I don’t really remember a lot. When I get really angry, I just black out. Plus it just hurts to talk about. I don’t really know you guys, I don’t want to just spill my guts only to have you both turn on me.” “Snake trusted you enough to tell you about what she’s doing,” Boomer pointed out. “Yeah, but I’m not all that ashamed of what I do,” said Snake. “I can do stuff to avoid hurting ponies with my issues. She kinda can’t.” “You’re siding with her!?” Boomer exclaimed incredulously. Snake nodded. “Honestly, I wouldn’t trust me either. She’s taking a pretty big gamble trusting us. If somepony finds out we told her about all this, and she didn’t tell on us, she could get in big trouble. I think we can be polite enough to wait until she’s ready to tell us what actually happened.” “I guess so…” Boomer conceded. There was a soft knock on the door. Sweet Cream poked her head inside the room. “Sorry to bother you, girls. But Boomer’s mom is here to pick up her and Gusty.” Boomer stood up and stretched. “Alright. I’ll let you off the hook. I guess it isn’t really my business what happened.” Gusty smiled and nodded thankfully. She and Snake shared a hoofbump. “Glad to have ya over, Hero. I’ll walk you two out.” Snake’s empty room was quiet for a few seconds. Once the door was closed and the coast was clear, the window to the fire escape opened, and a pony silently climbed through. The pony looked about the room, ensuring that it was empty. Voices elsewhere in the house confirmed that nopony was headed back towards the bedroom. Good. From inside their coat, the pony produced a yellow manilla envelope and placed it on the bed. They started to move towards the window, but halted, looking towards the cabinet above the washing machine. It’s all stolen. She can’t tell anypony… At least, if what they’d overheard from their hiding spot was true. They cursed the fact that they hadn’t brought a camera or audio recorder. They could’ve tripled their earnings. It took some doing, but the intruder scooped much of the loot in the cabinet into the pockets of their coat. As much as they could take. A set of hoofsteps coming towards the bedroom made the intruder’s ears flick. Horseapples. Out of time. Gotta go. The figure leapt out the window, closing it behind them in just the nick of time. The cover of dusk was just enough to cover their escape as they slipped down the fire escape and into the street. Daffodil was practically vibrating with happiness on the way home. She spouted endless praise about how much Sweet Cream had told her of Gusty’s good behavior. Thankfully, Sweet Cream had either not heard the fireworks going off in her house, or had simply decided not to say anything. But Gusty wasn’t listening much. Her mind was otherwise occupied. The events of the evening had her burnt out. She wasn’t sad. She wasn’t angry, she wasn’t even frustrated. She was just worn out and tired. Still, she couldn’t help but think about the one hard fact she’d learned tonight: She wasn’t as alone in her problems as she thought. As they passed through the slowly emptying marketplace, she spotted one or two merchants giving nervous looks. But the looks were never towards her. Each and every one looked to be for Boomer. If Gusty had to guess, the explosive incident in Snake’s room wasn’t Boomer’s first. When they reached the house, Daffodil finally seemed to notice how exhausted Gusty was. “I was going to show off some of my stories from the trophy room, but you look like you’d rather get some rest before dinner.” Gusty gave a grateful nod as she went up to her bedroom, noting that Tall, Dark, and Gruesome were nowhere to be found. It felt absolutely heavenly to collapse on the bed and close her eyes for a little while. She dozed for a little while, enjoying the chance to relax. She was awoken by a knock at her bedroom door. Gusty sighed through her nose, one hoof rubbing her head. “Come in.” Boomer opened the door and poked her head in. “My room. Now.” She left and closed the door. Gusty sat up. “Well, alright then.” She trotted down the hall to Boomer’s room, pushing the door open. The room was a lot more packed than Gusty’s. It was full of what looked like chemistry sets, mechanical parts, and dozens of pages of notes taped to the walls that were all way over Gusty’s head. Oh. And a dejected, sobbing Snake Eyes. Snake looked absolutely awful. Her mane was disheveled, her eyes were bloodshot, and the fur around them was matted with tears. She sat in front of a scattered pile of papers. Gusty may not have been very bright, but even she could tell that Snake needed some comfort. She sat down beside her crying friend, pulling her into a wing hug. “Hey now, it’s gonna be okay. What’s going on?” Snake sniffled, pointing to the papers on the ground in front of her. Boomer pushed it forward so that Gusty could read. Dear Miss Cream, I hope this letter finds you in good health. As I am sure you know, there has been a rash of petty thefts in our local outdoor market. You can see in the contents included with this letter that I have obtained proof that you are responsible. These are, of course, only copies. You have one week to deliver one thousand bits to a large hole in the ground in Imp’s Hollow Park. Obviously, as all the bits you’ve obtained are ill-gotten, you will not go to the authorities. If the bits are not in place by exactly one week from the time of you receiving this letter, the police will receive the exact same evidence that you have received. Until then, I bid you good evening, and look forward to receiving your payment. Sincerely yours, Nopony. After she finished reading the letter, Gusty looked to the papers beneath it, and realized with a growing sense of dread exactly what they were: Photos. There were ten of them in total. They were a little blurry, but they were definitely of Snake in the market. Each of them showed her swiping another bit bag from a different stranger. Snake sniffled again. “Th-they took it… weeks of saving up… hundreds of bits… They robbed me when they left the letter… There’s no way I can get that much in a week now...” She burst into a set of fresh sobs. Boomer nudged Gusty out of the way, wrapping her front legs around Snake. Snake promptly buried her muzzle into Boomer’s chest and returned the hug, quietly wailing into her fur. Gusty stood. The boiling that normally stayed in her gut was starting to spread. Her teeth clenched and her breathing grew heavy. She needed to do something fast, or she’d black out. “Are you using your closet door much?” she asked Boomer. Boomer looked at her, confused. “Uh… I guess not? Things blow up in here a lot, and it’s a little flimsy to actually protect anything. All my important stuff is in the trunk in the corner.” “Great. Thanks.” With a jerk of her hind legs, she bucked seven times, each time smashing the closet door into smaller and smaller splinters. When she finally stopped, her breathing was ragged, her nostrils were flared, and the closet door was completely unrecognizable for what it had been. She took a deep, shaky breath, and her boiling anger lowered to a simmer. When she turned back around, Boomer and Snake were staring at her wordlessly. “Sorry,” she managed to get out. Boomer shrugged nonchalantly. “I guess it’s fine. I’ll tell Mom something blew up. Happens all the time. That’s not important right now. What is important is figuring out how we’re gonna help Snakey.” Gusty nodded in agreement. “I’m in.” Snake frowned. “But you’ll get in trouble.” “Doesn’t matter,” Gusty and Boomer said, almost in unison. They shared a look, and Boomer chuckled. “That’s what I hoped you’d say. We’re gonna need all the help we can get.” Snake looked at her in confusion. “What are you gonna do?” “We,” Boomer corrected as she pointed between the three of them with a hoof, “are gonna find Nopony, and figure out how to stop them.” Snake’s eyes widened. “Whoa whoa whoa! We're all like, twelve. We can't just go after a blackmailer! We don't even know who they are!” “I have a few ideas about how we can find out,” Boomer replied. “Once we figure out who they are… I dunno. Maybe we can blackmail them back or something.” Snake looked at the floor. “Maybe I should just go to the police.” Boomer shook her head stubbornly. “No! I am not letting you get arrested, and your mom get evicted. You agree with me, right Gusty?” Gusty nodded. “I may not like you stealing, but I hate trying to steal from somepony who can barely pay rent. I can’t just sit and do nothing.” That got a tiny laugh out of Snake, as she wiped some of the tears off of her cheeks with a hoof.. “Hero’s gotta do what a hero’s gotta do, I guess.” Gusty’s stood straight, puffed out her chest, spread her wings, and lifted one of her front hooves in the most heroic pose she could think of. Boomer raised an eyebrow. “You realize you’ll probably have to buck somepony in the head by the time this is all over?” Gusty deflated. “Uh…” “I mean, one of us has to be the group muscle, and you beat down a full-grown stallion, right?” Gusty felt like she’d physically gotten smaller. “Yeah, but…” Boomer glared at her. “Gusty, are you in, or out? If you don’t want to get in trouble, don’t bother joining in. We’re doing this to save Snake. If one of us gets in trouble, we’re all going to.” A snippet of a line from the book echoed through Gusty’s head: ‘The Hero’s Oath is not one of pacifism.” Her mouth set in a hard line. She gave a single nod. “I’m in.” Boomer returned her nod with a smirk. “Good. We can meet up tomorrow after school to talk about a plan. Until then, I think you ought to head home, Snake. You don’t want your mom realizing you’re gone.” Snake sniffled, her tears finally dried up. “Alright, but one more thing before I go.” She stuck her hoof out, seemingly waiting for them to do something. “C’mon, you two aren’t gonna leave me hanging, are you?” Gusty and Boomer figured out what Snake wanted at about the same time, and shared a smile as they touched their hooves to hers. “Go team!” Snake cheered with a chuckle as they lifted their hooves. “Alright, I better head home.” She slid the window open, just as she had the previous night. But she stopped before she climbed out. “Hey girls?” “Yeah?” said Gusty with a curious tilt of her head. Snake turned back and smiled. “Thanks.” With that she climbed out the window, giving a playful salute as she hopped down and out of sight.