//------------------------------// // Rarity's Revenge // Story: Waters: Equestrian Gangster (Original Version) // by King Genesis //------------------------------// Jack's Perspective "What are you doing in Maretreal, Rarity?" She doesn't answer me and only enters the house while cleaning his face with running tears. She's destroyed. I help by giving her a glass of water. "How did you get here?" I ask her. She lends me a piece of paper that says: Rarity: If something goes wrong and you don't know how to deal with it, look for me. I'll be there for you. Here is my address, if you require my help: 258 Hooves Street, WALDORF MOTEL. Second Floor, Room 11. Your grandpa, Abe. Oh, normal Abe. Unfortunately, this is not Abe's actual address. He moved a long time ago. "I'm afraid to tell you Abe's not living here anymore. He moved to a... small house on Towers Street. I can call him to come here if you want." She nods her head while cleaning her face with a tissue and drinking a glass of water. I instantly grab my cell phone and try to call Abe but somebody knocks on the door and a young voice sounds from the other side of the door. I instantly know who he is. W. "Jack!" he says. "I can't stop thinking about what happened." I approach the door. "I don't know, that girl had a photo of me on my cellphone but... I don't know what could she do with it--" Abe still doesn't answer, and the call wants me to leave a message. I open the door and I see W... he's half-naked, only wearing those dirty jeans I despise. I look at his infamous, stupid tattoo that says "Bedmaker" around his chest and the shape of a dragon on his right arm. "W," I tell him. "Put some clothes on. Rarity's here." He looks at me with a surprised sight and takes a look inside my kitchen where he can see her drinking a glass of water. She looks at him and he only waves his hand and runs away to his apartment. Suddenly, I hear the sound of a call on my phone. It's Abe. He wants information. "Jack! Um... Weird moment to call. What happened?" "Yes, Abe, how can I tell you this?..." The data begins. "Your granddaughter, Rarity... is in my house. She looks devastated, sad, and she has just cleaned her whole face, which was covered-" Suddenly, Abe interrupts me with a scarier voice... "Ok, um... If you are telling the truth, I'll be there right now. I hope this is not a joke but... how could you make a joke like this, I know you. I'm going." He ends the call and W appears in front of me with his unchangeable brown trenchcoat which belonged to his father (how often does he put that in the washing machine?), unbuttoned and showing his bare torso. He was barefoot when I saw him and now he is wearing some pathetic Daring Do's socks. "Would you button your trenchcoat?" I ask him. "This is serious." "Um, sorry..." he says. "It's just... I feel fresh with my unbuttoned trench--" "I don't feel fresh," I interrupt. "Rarity neither." I release a long sigh and both of us enter the apartment. We find out she has stopped drinking that glass of water and she's there, taking deep breaths, sitting on a chair inside my apartment. "Why are you here?" asks W to her. I only lift my shoulders. I hear that someone is going upstairs and I open the door. Is the guy wearing a squared shirt and showing the world his orange mustache? Absolutely, Abe's here. I call him with my hand and he enters the door. "Ok," he says after seeing her sitting on my chair. "What's going on?" He focuses on her hand: She's holding the tissue covered with black makeup. She stands up and hugs him, releasing a long sigh and sitting down again... she shakes her head. "I require your help. Help from all of you," she says, almost moaning. "Help?" Abe wants me to give him another chair to sit in front of her, and I look for another one which is next to the sink. "What happened, Rarity? "We should know what caused your problem." She cleans her tearful face again and releases a long sigh. Then, she opens her mouth and starts talking slowly. "I'm just... I need to tell you something that you would not like." Abe raises his hands. "Well... the truth is tough... but is better than a lie." "There's this... man at school. He is better known to be what I call... a mocker, a scoffer but... he truly thinks he is ruling the school instead of the Principals and the council." The three of us look at each other and we know what is she talking about. That kid, the nephew. "Yes," Abe says, listening to her and paying attention. "Keep going." "This man, I do not want to say his name..." she takes another deep breath. "It's not hard to see that he likes me and he is... jealous of my friends who talk to me every day and for the past few months... he has been mocking them, bullying them more than other students at school... and I think it is just because of me." Abe shakes his head. "That guy you are talking about is a complete mess. A real bad example." "Let me finish," she says, softly raising a trembling hand. "I made a decision two weeks ago... in a desperate way... to, um... I don't know why but I... I decided to hang out with him and not because I like him, he's... repulsive and always wants to control everything but... I wanted to do it because I thought that would stop him from annoying my friends." She cleans her face again with a tissue. "I argued with my friend Rainbow Dash because she did not understand what I was doing and now I realized that... this was... futile." "Why?" asks Abe while W and I are still in silence. "Why was this futile? It was not correct, Rarity. I agree with you on that but... you put everything in the line for your friends. You protected them from..." "No, I did not!" she says in a louder tone. Her voice is breaking apart. "He is still bullying them and... and he is even worse! He is also trying to control me, make me think I belong to him! And I feel like I can't escape from that! It's... I don't know how can I confront him!" "That guy is a complete motherfucker," says W, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "The full package, Abe. I'm listening to her and I already can't stand that son of a bitch." The grandpa turns around and looks at him. "Language in front of her." He rolls his eyes. "Come on, he's, I don't know... 16?" "17," she says. "My birthday was three weeks ago." "Don't get distracted." Abe goes back to the beginning. "You can't confront this... guy, if we can call it like that. Have you told your parents yet?" "No," she says. "I still haven't called them. They are still in Greece." "Still there?" says Abe, raising an eyebrow. "I thought they were already in..." This conversation turns a bit darker when Rarity crosses her arms and now, with her almost clean face of makeup, looks at his grandfather and shakes his head, softly touching the ground with one of her boots, sounding like a menacing metronome. "We also need to go straight to the point with something else, Grandpa... Do you think I don't know what happened to Sweetie Belle?" W covers her mouth and turns his back for a second and Abe closes his eyes. It's obvious, how couldn't she know about this? Maybe almost everyone in the school already knows. "Well, that was..." he says. "... an unexpected issue." "She was kidnapped, and almost everybody in the school found out an hour later. Don't be surprised if reporters wander around the school now. I do not want to speak about the details of this in front of them," she says, pointing at me and W, "but this lets me know what I already knew and also what Dad has been talking about." This is painful for me, even W is trying not to look at her while she is talking. I don't want to think how does Abe feel while hearing that. "You are always spinning around... these kind of people and a weird world I don't know." "And I'm glad you don't know," he says, shaking his head and clenching his teeth. "I've been working in the car store since... your age, maybe... and in this city, there is always something wrong driving around the streets. I almost got murdered by an idiot when I was... I don't remember... all because of the stupid money. I've been trying to protect you, your sister, and your father all this time." "However," she says. "Sweetie Belle was still kidnapped by three men. We are lucky that she's OK." Abe puts a hand all over his face for a second and looks at the table, taking a breath. "I... I failed. I'm not perfect." She sighs. "And I'm also not perfect." "No," he says. "Why do you think that?" "Can you let me speak? I'm still not finished." He looks at me and I only raise my shoulders while crossing my arms. "OK," he says. "I'll let you finish." "I'm telling you that I'm not perfect because... Celestia and Luna may not be at school tomorrow noon. I think they have a meeting at Crystal Prep or something like that... this guy I was talking about told me he wanted to talk to me also tomorrow at noon... and I can't stop thinking about it. Why would he want to talk to me at the same time when the Principals are not there? I told him to talk about this tomorrow morning or in the afternoon but he doesn't want to. He only wants to be with me at noon." "And you can't do it alone." W comes back, he is the only one nodding his head in the kitchen. "Can you?" She remains silent for a second and then she keeps talking: "I talked to my friends and they want to help me but... I think this will turn pretty bad soon. I said this man thinks he is the one who controls the school but sometimes... it looks like everything inside Canterlot High goes on in his favor. He always wins, no matter what, and I feel like... I am putting my friends in grave danger." "They put themselves there because they are willing to help you, Rarity," replies Abe but she shakes her head, frowning. "But... I don't feel sure about that, Grandpa. If you come across this man in real life, you will know that he is... I do not know how to describe it." The younger boy replies. "I understand where this is going." Abe turns around and he looks at W. Then, at me. I nod my head. "You need help and you called for help, Rarity... but if you want to talk to this guy face to face... you need special help, don't you?" ... I think we got her. She sighs, stands up, and nods her head. She is looking at us, not at her grandfather. "You still think I am that little innocent girl, but I can easily feel that you are not only friends of my grandfather." "Rarity, please..." his grandfather shakes his head. "They are my friends from the car store..." "You are letting me know in a better way that they are not only your friends by lying, Grandpa." She passes by the three of us and now is standing at the entrance door. I still haven't said a single word. Abe also stands up and gives me his chair. "I came here to tell you what happened... I originally did not come here for help but... I am still not sure about it." "We will help you," quickly responds Abe. "We will, Rarity." "I do not want you to hurt him or anything. I am not like that. I will not be like him." She shakes her head while frowning. "I just want you to be there for me." That left us shocked and appalled. W and I look at Abe again and we don't say a word. "Can I talk to you in private, Grandpa, about what happened to Sweetie Belle?" He nods his head and opens the door for her. "Yes, darling. I will." She waves her hand in silence at us and leaves. Abe is about to do the same but once he grabs the handle on the other side, he blinks and looks at us, pointing at our hearts. "We are going to Canterlot tomorrow. Keep that in mind." "What?" asks W. "Again?" "Yes, and I want no excuses. We will be in Canterlot tomorrow." He quickly closes the door and I can hear the sound of Rarity's high-heels walking downstairs. I quickly sit on my chair to think about what happened and W sits on the other one. "Well," he says. "Honestly, I want to kick that stupid asshole's booty so... I don't complain." "She said she doesn't want us to hurt anybody," I reply. "Besides, we are talking about the nephew of Bloodswan. If we touch him and his uncle finds out, we are dead." "You are right, Jack... but don't tell me that douchebag doesn't deserve a slap in his face... or two... or three..." He's still thinking. "Maybe four." "I got it, W. I understand what you are saying." He got me. Eye Patch Big Baby's Chalet Welcome back to Canterlot, I tell myself. Now I'm in the Big Baby's chalet, ladies and gentlemen with my new assistant Mr Calculated Risk, who is right now walking around the house because of how impressed he is. He never saw a house like this in his life, and I understand. What I hate the most about this place, besides its owner, is the fact that there are plenty of walls covered by newspapers related to things Big Baby did in his past. Every single bad thing he did on this business is registered on his walls... and that makes me want to throw up. Big Baby is the gangster stereotype that people tend to think about in old movies. A big fat and arrogant being, always in smart clothes. A long time ago I was pretty desperate to get Maretreal on my hands and because of it, I started working with him to form a bond and get me to where I wanted... horrible decision. Horrendous. I can easily identify when he is lying but at that time I couldn't. I fell into the trap of a charismatic man at first sight who was a complete son of a gun on the inside. He can stretch his hand to you all he wants... but in the end, he always ends up betraying you. It's the rule... a guy I knew from Baltimare used to always say BB for Big Baby? No, BB is Be a Betrayer. I came here for what Garbage Mouth from Klugetown told me. He was desperate to see me? Strange for him to need me after all this time. A pale man with green hair and a chin beard appears. He's Butcher, his assistant. "He is busy at the moment. What do you want from him?" I only raise my shoulders, chuckling. "I don't know. He was calling me while I was on the other side." "You have to know why he was calling you." "No, I have no idea... I came back two hours ago, would you tell him to move his ass and talk to me about what he wanted to talk about?" Butcher turns around and walks away at the same time Mr Risk appears behind me with a smile on his face. "This is amazing," he says, looking at the roof. "My first impression of this world was horrifying but this place... the architecture of this house, how beautiful." "Trust me," I tell him from my experience. "This place is way worse than Klugetown." And here he is. The main actor of the house. Butcher opens the door in front of us for him and helps him to walk. He's a little bit thinner, which surprises me (he is still fat as a whale, though), and he is now using a cane to walk despite I being older than him. He is paying for all the things he did overtime... the thing is, am I right now paying for them? I've already lost an eye thirty years ago and I am wearing sunglasses to hide my scar. "So long, mistress Patch," he says to me while sitting on a ginormous sofa with the help of his assistant and points at Mr Risk. "I can easily see that you enjoyed your ride in the land of horses and glitter. You even came here with your new boyfriend." Big Baby and his assistant laugh at both of us and Mr Risk, who is still standing up and hasn't got a chair to sit down, shakes his head in confusion. "Well, let me present him to you," I tell him. "His name is Calculated Risk, he is from the other side. He's right now helping me with a project I have in mind." They stop laughing when they hear that word, project. The boss of Canterlot raises an eyebrow and smiles. "Project? You coming up with a project?" he chuckles. "Which project are you talking about?" "You know what I am talking about." Ironically he is the only person who I mentioned this project I've been working on alone. His smile vanishes when he understands what I'm saying. He tries to cross his arms but fails in his attempt and he only moves his head to look at me with his scary sight I don't care about. "Butcher," he says to his assistant. "I want to talk with this man privately." Things are getting serious. I look at Calculated Risk and he understands what I'm telling him with my eyes. "Well," he says with a smile. "I'll take a look at the roof in the kitchen." He turns around and leaves at the same time Butch closes the door for him... and locks it. Whoops. Locked door. Bad signal. Now the baby starts speaking. "I'm telling you. I know that the President is an asshole for even daring to pinch our asscheeks... but your idea of getting into the fort of Las Pegasus to leave a message is absolutely idiotic. It's complete garbage. I would love to do what you want to do... but you know that a fort in Pegasus means hell itself." Well, I want to disagree with him but he's not wrong. I mean, everyone in our dirty world wants to leave a message to Strict Proclamation, the newly elected president, for trying to bring us down since day one and looking for the harshest consequences for our big heads, so we decided to attack him not in a physical way, but holding his most sacred place in our hands. "Las Pegasus' Fort is not a normal place," now says his assistant Butcher. "It is not a bakery. It is Equestria's biggest gold bank. The dumb doll we have as president did even announce that they used magic from the other side to build the entire fort's security. Men died trying to break into that place." "But..." I say, raising a finger. "No one of them did it with what I have in mind." "Don't start with that." Big Baby interrupts me, raising a hand, trying to hit me. "I told you I don't believe in that shitty legend of the Elements of Harmony." "Have you read what I sent you the last time we saw each other or did you use it to wipe your ass?" I take my sunglasses off, showing him the eye I do not have. I'm getting tired of using these glasses. "You are not going to make me feel sorry for that stupid scar on your face." He chuckles. "And yes... I made Butcher read it for me and he said that's stu--" "I don't fucking care about Butcher's opinion." The assistant did not like that at all and he pointed at his belt where he was hiding a gun... but I don't get scared. It's not the first time someone has done that to me. "I gave it to you, not to Butcher. I need you to read it. Where is it?" He shakes his head showing a sign of complete cynicism. "Nah... I threw it away. Why would I care about that?" "You motherfucker!" I stand up and a second later both of them are now pointing two guns at my precious head. We look at each other in silence until I sit down again. "I sent you an article that talked about an incident that happened months ago in Everfree Camp... Mr Risk explained to me that the magical events that happened in that incident are related to the power of the Elements of Harmony so... that may mean that those elements exist here... and there also may be holders of that magic we can use for our benefit." Big Baby and his assistant look at each other and they still don't believe me. He laughs at me and keeps talking. "You look like a child telling a story of kindergarten to his parents." "I'm telling you the events that had happened." "You know why I was so desperate to call you?" he says with that smile I don't like. "Because I was just waiting for this moment. You see, while you were out there sticking your dick in ponies and picking up flowers, I was thinking about your message. I'm getting tired of the president. He sent The Equestrian Army to arrest Butch and me for the murder of a man we didn't even know who he was. They also got Sabretooth from Fillydelphia who was an asshole... but he was one of us, and what drives me madder is that Bloodswan doesn't seem to fucking care about this. He's just there, laying in his mansion in Butter Valley, with his right-hand man Maschine sucking his cock." "I tried to call Bloodswan for this and he didn't even manage to give me an answer." "He doesn't answer my calls either... so I made a decision." Did he decide this without me? Related to this? My message? "Tell me you didn't spread my idea to someone else." I'm about to beat a fat man and his assistant up with an imaginary bulletproof vest. He smiles again. "I did but not in the way you think, Patch. I contacted a man that may be here in..." he checks his watch and Butch does the same. "A couple of minutes, maybe." What in the hell did this motherfucker do? "I didn't tell him to leave a message in a place that's impossible to get in using magic that does not exist, so the place that will be the victim in my project I made along with that man is Canterlot's City Hall." "You're kidding," I say. "Canterlot's City Hall? I was talking about a place that held the entire country on." "The City Hall is Canterlot." "It's your place, Baby. Not mine. The president would solve that in a finger snap." "No, no... in your case the president would find an easy solution." He waves at me with a finger. "Maretreal is a shithole and you know that. Canterlot, on the other side, is one of the most important cities in this country. I have gold, you have hay." Don't mess with my city. "And you dare to leave me out of this?" Suddenly, I hear a knock on the door Butch locked minutes ago. They don't seem to care, they think it's just Calculated Risk wondering around... until they hear another voice which confuses me. "Hello?" says the mysterious man behind the door. "Big Baby? Are you there?" I've heard that voice somewhere. Maybe on TV, and I don't know if that's good or bad. Butch quickly moves out of his place and unlocks the door to let him in. And then I see him... and recognize him. His charisma flows with his dark hair, light blue eyes, smart clothes, and a cigarette in his mouth. However... why is he here, in the first place? Isn't he meant to be with the good guys? I'm also hearing a beep sound from somewhere outside... and I also don't know what that is. Is this a trap? "What is he doing here?" I ask Big Baby, pointing at that man. "Why is Canterlot's freaking governor in your house?" "Relax," says Baby while looking at me. Butch helps him to get up from the sofa. "He's the man I've been talking to." "What?" He? The Governor? That's... now the city hall's decision makes sense. The Governor is also the City Hall so it would be easier for Big Baby to get in there if the talked to the man who controls it... but why? Why would he accept to do something like that? "Wha... Why? Why is he helping you?" "Um, wait a second..." Big Baby shuts me up and raises his shoulders. "What the hell is that sound? Beep beep beep beep..." "That's what I'm trying to tell you," says the Governor. "There is a kid in your house with a small device in his hands that is making that sou--" And then he comes to the scene. Calculated Risk interrupts the Governor, passes by him, and looks at me. He is holding a small stone in his hands that is making that weird sound. "What is that?" I ask him. "Why are you holding it?" "Listen!" He says to me, not looking at anyone else. "This is a magical stone that I own from the other side that feels the elements of harmony and emits sounds when it detects them near." I didn't know anything about that stone. "When were you going to tell me that?" "Now! Don't you see, Mr. Eye Patch?" He is showing me the purple stone on his hands. "This stone... has found the Elements. They are here... in Canterlot." Next Day W's perspective 9:00 A. M. W's Apartment. "Wake up." That's the first words my brain listens to this morning. I open my eyes and then touch my dirty pillow. I try to get up but I feel almost dead. Completely dizzy. That happens when you spend all night watching stupid soap operas on TV. "I've heard you watching that stupid soap opera again last night." I recognize that voice. Jack came into my room and woke me up. Mother. He's a mother. "I don't know, it was cool..." I say... and once I finish that sentence I start remembering everything that happened yesterday. Cattle Prod, the kids, and the other girl, Sunset Shimmer with a picture of myself hugging an Adagio Dazzle that didn't want to see me, Rarity in Jack's apartment... Yesterday was a pretty long day... and I know why Jack woke me up. "Uh, shit," I say. "We need to go back?" I move my head and get up from bed, showing the model inside me. I am only wearing white slips because I like to sleep in that way, sometimes even naked. Then I realize both Jack and Abe are looking at me and they are already dressed up. Really? "What the hell?" "Go on, sleeping beauty," says Abe. "Dress up. I want to be in Canterlot before noon." I start dressing up by picking random stuff I have in my wardrobe. I am not a man of many clothes. I always wear the same stuff on me and of course... I don't forget about my late father's trenchcoat, which is always sleeping in its place: that rusty coat rack next to my bedroom door. Jack looks at the rack and sighs. "When was the last time you washed that trenchcoat?" The dirtier, the better. Can I repeat it? Yeah. "The dirtier, the better," I tell him after picking it up from the rack. Abe also agrees with Jack. "One day you will have to stop playing the detective with that trenchcoat and put it in a washing machine, for Star Swirl's sake." Playing the detective. Maybe that's why Sunset Shimmer thought I was one of those. Rarity's perspective School's Entrance I hung out with Sunset Shimmer and Dash at the school's entrance. Rainbow persuaded me to use my powers against him, but I felt it was unnecessary. Besides, why would I use my shield in an argument? Every time I take a step in this place, I feel Cattle Prod has already won. "Rarity!" she shouts at me. "I know he is not a magical entity or something like that, but he is evil and you know that. You should use your powers! You know that Cattle Prod raises the roof with everyone around here, and besides, you must defend yourself from him!" she shouts. "I have already told you, Dash, that I won't use my stone to talk to him!" "Well then, I'll use my powers to defeat him!" She answers, but Sunset Shimmer stops her and agrees with me. We should not use our powers for stupidities like this! Suddenly, I turn my back and I look at a car stopping at the school's entrance. From it, a young man gets out singing while smoking a cigarette. Oh gosh. It's my grandfather's friend. W... Why would they call him W? It does not make sense. Just one letter? For a nickname? W's perspective We gonna dance all night... doo-doo-doo... We gonna dance all night Just move, calm down, and dance, doo-doo-doo... Donkeys gonna dance all night! I've been singing that song since I woke up. The soap opera's chapter I was watching at 3 AM really struck me when they played that song in the final scene. I finally am at this horrible place where I had marvelous experiences yesterday, and there they are. Rarity, her friend with rainbow hair and... Sunset Shimmer. I thought I would never see her again but looks like luck isn't on my side today. Abe gets down along with Jack and waves his hand to the three girls. I'm still with my cigarette until they ask me to go nearer. "Hey," says the rainbow-haired girl when she looks at me. "I know you! You were the one who was talking to Cattle Prod yesterday." "Yeah," I tell her, nodding my head. "Sadly, I am." "So..." Now Sunset Shimmer speaks and I feel fear inside me. What she is going to say, considering she has a picture of me when I was a kid on her phone? "... I think I'm solving the puzzle right here." "Don't," I tell her almost unconsciously with a smile. "Yes... we are here because... we were called." Jack and Abe look at me and Sunset looks at them at the same time. "Called?" she says. "By who?" Now I look at Rarity, waiting for what she has to say. She looks at me back and blinks, sighing. "I called them..." she points at Abe. "He is my grandfather, my dad's... dad." The girl with rainbow hair is the first one to stretch her hand to him. He does the same and I am a witness of this first handshake. "Pleased to meet you, Mr... Rarity's grandfather," she says. "... I'm sorry about what happened to... Sweetie Belle, you know." He only nods his head. "It's OK," he says. "She's OK, that's the most important thing. I know we are doing our best to take care of her after what happened." After saying that, I can see that Rarity is not looking at him with lovely eyes, and despite knowing Abe more than I know her, I understand why. Now, I need to use that flashforward resource I have in my pocket: What I don't know is that in the next few seconds, something bizarre is going to happen and I will be fascinated. I can see that the door of the entrance is open and I feel I have to do something... but I can't see who is opening it. It may be invisible or... very, very short. "Rarity," I hear from the entrance. It's not the voice of Cattle Prod, I think, while a dog starts barking at me. "Spike, it's OK," one of the girls says. "They are with us." The dog suddenly starts barking and raises his eyebrows. "Wait, really?" he says... he said. "What?" I ask aloud. "Wait, what the..." I look at my partners and then at the dog. I repeat that one, two, three times. What in the world am I looking at? A talking dog? THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME! "Wait," he says. "Weren't you yesterday at the cafe---?" I can't let him finish what he was saying because I grab him from the ground. "Hey! Put me down!" "Wow... this is awesome," I say, completely surprised by this. "Are you seeing this, Jack? It's a fucking talking dog! I can ask him his name and he will answer me back! Aren't you excited?" All of them are looking at each other while I am the only one who can't believe this, it seems. Jack nods his head and raises his shoulders: "Well, honestly, I'm surprised but uh... it doesn't surprise me from Canterlot." "If I tell you my name you will put me on the floor again, right?" My fantasies of having a talking dog in my wild adventures get interrupted when Rarity approaches me and puts a hand over my arms. "His name is Spike," she says. "And you can cuddle him all you want later, but not now." I understand what she said after thinking about how he looked at her grandfather a minute ago. "Ok," I said after a long breath, and the dog Spike went back to what he was saying. "Well... so, you know them, Rarity? I saw him yesterday when he talked to... him." He starts growling after saying that word... I know we don't like the same guy but... how cute he is when he is growling! "I know them, Spike..." she replies, crossing her arms. "Where's Twilight?" "She's in the chemistry room and she told me she would come here," he says. "Applejack is helping his brother to move some boxes and then she'll also come. Fluttershy was in the bathroom and Pinkie Pie... I don't know." "She will also be here," Rainbow Dash nods. "Don't worry about it." I'm about to say something until I hear a sound in my pocket. My phone? Who may be calling at this right time? "Whose phone is...?" Sunset Shimmer looks at me while I am reaching into my pocket to see who in the world is... ... Oh no. I am so surprised by that name that I throw my cigarette and I step on it. Why is he calling me? Right now? "Who is it?" asks Jack. "Don't tell me it is one of your friends or I--" "It isn't." This time I had to interrupt. "Why me though? Why didn't he call you? How strange." "What are you talking about?" asks Rarity, I secretly show Jack the name on my phone's screen and his eyes shrink. "Who is calling you?" Then Abe sees that name on my screen and he shakes his head. Why is my leader Eye Patch calling me right now? I have to answer the call, there's no choice. "Wait a second," I tell Rarity while I turn my back on her. "Hi, hello," I say after answering. "W, according to what Jack and Abe told me yesterday... the three of you are right now in Canterlot." We are. He's right... but why is he calling me? "Yes, we are but..." "Listen. I had a chat with Big Baby and we arranged something we've been thinking about for a long time. We need the three of you here right now." "Uh... well, um..." I begin to stutter and lose the words I'm trying to say. This is the first time he called somebody to change a whole plan. I never saw him do something like that... and I'm the first witness to hear the first time. "We were in the middle of something, you know, um..." "Don't worry about Cattle Prod. We need him too." I don't know what else to say after that. I turn my back and I see everybody is looking at me confused. I answer back with a much more confused look that catches both Jack and Abe's attention, who now are approaching me. One of them raises his shoulders. "Why would you need him?" I whisper. "We are clearly walking on the opposite side of the road." "It was not my choice. Someone else wants to get him in. If you want me to be honest, W, I don't like it, but it was two against one." Two against one. Who were the three? He was the first one, Big Baby may be the second one... "Who's the third one?" I ask him. "It is an idea that you three invented?" "I could say yes... but... look, I need you to go near the Amphitheatre right now, we'll pick you up there along with Cattle Prod, although I do not want that, and we will tell you everything you need to know." "And why did you call me? I thought you were calling Jack or..." "I wanted you to be the first one to know that you will have to deal with Cattle Prod. It's also a warning. Bye." He ends the call. I have to think about this and give the news to my partners. I turn around and I walk to them... but someone else interrupts what I was thinking about. A girl opens the entrance door and Rarity seems to know who she is... well, I think I also know. She is the girl that Rainbow Dash presented me as an example of the cruelty of Cattle Prod. Spike the Dog approaches her and she lifts him in her arms. "Sorry, I'm late, but listen," she says while fixing her square sunglasses. "Looks like... Cattle Prod is gone. Nobody can find him. I tried to look into the soccer pitch to see if he was there but no... it seems like... he vanished." The first head who turns to look at us is Rarity. Then Sunset Shimmer. Then Rainbow Dash and finally the other girl with glasses and the dog... they think we have something to do with this... in other cases, I already know why but right now I'm not even thinking about it. Why did Eye Patch call? What was he planning? Who is that third man he talked about? "Give me a minute," somebody says while passing by the girl holding the dog, softly pushing her to the left so he can walk out. Spike starts barking at him but he doesn't do anything. He doesn't attack... looks like he knows he shouldn't bite him. The girls look at him at the same time two other guys come out behind that new boy. They look like a team. The first one, some kind of leader with light blue skin and green eyes, takes out a cigarette from his pocket and puts it in his mouth. Abe tries to do something when he looks at how the boy is observing Rarity but I stop him. This may cause even more trouble. "I was told by... you know," he says, looking at Rarity, "... that he was called by his brother about something that needed his presence. He left and this means... he is not here to talk to you." "He has been threatening me to do this since last night." Rarity crosses her arms and looks at the light-blue guy who only raises his shoulders to her and her friends. "I didn't know this was going to happen. I'm neither Cattle Prod's agenda nor his secretary." "Yes, you are," suddenly interrupts the rainbow girl, getting in between Rarity and him. "In fact, Little Ace, you love being his secretary." A couple of laughs can be heard from the boys that came out with this man, whose name, reminding what the girl said to him, may be Little Ace. He points a finger at her and shakes his head. "You shut your mouth... you don't even have to be allowed to talk after that ridiculous thing you did at the Friendship Gam---" "Ok, that's enough." Abe now approaches the boys and enters in the scene as the old grumpy savior. I try to stop him by grabbing him from his shoulders but Jack does the same with me. I look at how he is slowly walking towards them. "Who in the hell does your friend think he is, huh? Does he think he is capable enough to shake this whole building with just his pathetic and disgusting attitude?" Little Ace stops talking and looks at Rarity, pointing and her grandpa. His friends start laughing. "He already is doing that, man." He smokes his cigarette and throws him to the floor right below the feet of Abe. "So... you came here to try to repair something that you can't even touch. You think you are... vigilantes?" I know Abe is struggling to beat him up but he resists. He's swallowing every single word he wants to say while Little Ace approaches him with his friends. Me and Jack also get nearer. "Guess what... we are leaving." Rarity also gets in. "You dare to touch my grandfa---" "Shut up," says one of Ace's friends looking at her. Abe wants to jump on him but stops when he hears the second sentence: "Do you think we don't know what happened to your sister? It's his fault!" He points at Abe. "... Didn't you also think that, Rarity?" Her friends start to look at each other and Spike the talking dog hides behind her owner's legs. OK, we've got to leave. I know this will turn bad if I don't do anything. I touch his shoulders again and turn my neck to look at his scary stare. His eyes are filled with fire and hatred. "We need to leave," I tell him but I think he's not even listening to me. "Now." "Oh, come on," says Ace at the same time. "We haven't even started." Abe, however, shakes his head and clenches his teeth. "And I still haven't finished." "Listen..." I say, taking a breath. "Rusty Wrench, the owner of the car store, called me and he told me that he had an accident on the road.'s OK, he's not bleeding but he told us to go for him and then..." Abe's face slowly calms down while turning his eyes on me. "So... that was... that call you had?" Yes... I nod my head but there's a small detail in that... I don't even have that guy Rusty Wrench's phone. Abe knows I am talking about someone else and he takes a step behind. Little Ace and his friends start laughing... and then he winks an eye at me. "Hey, I forgot to ask you something... how was the coffee?" The coffee. He threw the hot coffee at me. If it wasn't for Rarity and her friends behind them I would have nailed that guy to a traffic light with my bare hands. An intrusive thought of me spitting on his face crosses my mind but I know that if I do that I will only worsen things. I only snort at them and they don't do anything else. They walk away in silence to the right side of the sidewalk, leaving school as if it were their own house. They can do everything they want. Rarity looks at his grandfather who can't stop looking at those boys walking further away from where we are. They don't even turn around to see us. She only puts a hand on his shoulder and takes a breath. It was like a metaphorical way of telling him Sorry... I just didn't know what to do. However, there is a thought that is stabbing my brain once and once again. We need to go to the Amphitheatre on time. I still don't know why.