//------------------------------//
// 2-4: High Voltage 
// Story: The Gems of Creation: Part 2 
// by BSting 
//------------------------------//

The terrifying reality had the two thieves fooled under a pounding rain. They were contenders in a vile game for some exclusive trophy of the Harvest Festival with their mortality as the prize. All courtesy of a malicious unicorn, Electric Boogaloo. From whence they flew, the Hotel Baltimare buzzed ravishly, having kicked the proverbial hornet’s nest. The purple hippogriff, green colt, and mystifying black mare considered negotiations into further exploits of mutual benefit. While the rooftop provided shelter from unwanted attention, it left them subject to the chilling tears of the blackened heavens. A surgency into combined efforts were motioned with the avian’s claws thrusting outward to her fellow rogue for a desperate alliance.

Regaining lost hope, said unicorn covered in fur akin to the depths of dusk finally relented and accepted their partnership, passing her hoof into Coral’s talons to unify their friendship. “My name is Silver Night,” the black mare introduced. “And your name is Cobalt Coral?”

“That’s right,” Coral chirped. “And this is Cornfield, my partner. Trust me, he’s reliable enough.”

Adjusting her view around the hybrid, she peered to the colt who maintained his neutral stance, as she questioned the validity of that statement. Restraint held inside, she shook Coral’s talons. “I know. The dweeb. I can see why you’re in charge here.”

“Hey!” the only male of the group protested before grumbling to himself.

“Mare knows brains when she sees it,” laughed Coral, appreciating a scarce moment of levity that descended upon a somber turn of events. She cleared her throat to contract their attention. “Anyway, we’ll need to stick to the rooftops as we make our way to Booze and Blues. I’m not looking for subtlety anymore. We go in there, we take him out. However, you both should know that, true to his name, he prefers electrical magic. So, I got a bit of a plan to short circuit him.”

Cornfield fowly stared at Silver; she didn’t earn his welcome just yet. Stowing his hatred in a bottle specially reserved for taking down a certain dastardly criminal. “I can’t believe we’re actually working with her!”

Silver tolerated the whining protest in silence. Not only did she need all the help in Baltimare, she understood the big bird could empathize with her disposition as well; knowing the life of a thief. Predictably, Coral didn’t disappoint. “Ok, Cornfield. Your opinions are noted. Now shut it.” Then, she pointed to the indispensable objective of fated contract held aloft via telekinesis. “Silver, we will send you in the bar with this trophy. That will lure that slimeball out of his office. When he’s out, we give him a taste of my homeland. A taste of the sea!”

With the door to vengeance unlocked by his partner, Cornfield elected to ignore Silver’s patronizing existence. Returning the favor to Electric for all the pain and torment he caused him would be worth it. The thieving unicorn propped up an inquiry about a potential threat. “What about his guards? We’re not equipped to deal with however many gangsters there are.”

“Normally, I agree. However, we are too close in getting bumped off.” Her back feathers stood on end as soundwaves of the clock tower rang through the city. It was now ten o’ clock, and they needed to best make use of what may be their final hours.  “We need to focus on making sure the big boss doesn’t kick our asses.”

“Do you even know how to handle yourself in a fight?” With a plan like this, Silver worried that the bird was pecking off more than she can swallow. “I dunno about our colt ‘friend’...”

“I can fight better than YOU!” claimed Cornfield, stomping his hoof in frustration as if he tried to kill a flyder.

She quickly dismissed his pitiful rebellion, as if deflecting it with her mane. “Whatever! I’m better at avoiding fights rather than starting them.”

“ENOUGH!” squawked the hippogriff, serious about maiming their needless banter. Eyebrows now furrowed, she strictly commanded orders in an uncompromising tone, leaving no room for defiance. “Cornfield, go down the building from the roof and I’ll meet you at the piers. Buy empty balloons. And Silver, I’ll drop you by the club on the way there. Police is going to be hounding the two of us down, so stay hidden in the alleyway until we arrive. Got it?”

“Um… Ok…” Silver wasn’t one to take orders from anypony else. Her freedom to do as she pleased gave her value in life. Unfortunately, desperate times called for rather disproportionate measures. Only a compromise would guarantee her freedom would not be snuffed out.

Cornfield, however, was raring to go as he galloped his way to the roof access door.
Though he practically flew diligently down the fleet of stairs to make a hasty exit, a security pony cutoff his route on the way to the tenth floor. Assuming they were instructed to report any suspicious characters, he slipped incognito as a panicked bystander. “W-what’s going on?” he stuttered on cue. “Is there a fire?!”

The rent-a-cop stallion, observing the hysterical colt enacted protocol on stabilizing the chaos. “Sir, stay calm.” he softly ordered with his hoof pressing the air down; like some common procedure. “I ask that you gather in the lobby with the rest of the occupants and wait there. We need to check all floors!”





Inside a decrepit club, slow in attracting patrons or lively music, a few thugs and lowlives gathered at the bar, downing shot after shot as their hardships blur out. The band played their part to keep the atmosphere consistent while the mare in the corner, Fleeting Fancy, was chatting up a new, unfortunate date.  Another usual scene at Booze and Blues, the time on the clock struck 10:37 when an odd subtle door opening brought the pony of the night, Silver Night that is, into the establishment.

A muted ding stirred, alerting only one gangster of the patron. He nudged the others beside him on the bar stools and pointed in her direction. With the indication of her arrival, the bartender promptly set aside his drinks and set off to Electric’s office. All it took was three knocks for the sinister orange unicorn to saunter out of his office with a twisted smirk on his face. Silver kept her unconcealed eye peeled as she snapped up a chair by a table clear across the exit for a split second retreat. Surrounded by baddies and powerless against Mr. Electric himself, she waited patiently and hoped Coral would crash this sad excuse of a party soon. She sat opposed to the unfriendly faces, her eyes locked on the stallion approaching in a self-satisfied gait towards her, the golden trophy held prisoner beside her in telekinetic magic. This was the first time she saw the elusive mob boss muzzle-to-muzzle and he was every bit as slimy as she had been told.

“Well, ain’t THIS a happenin’ scene!” Electric announced, proud of only himself while catching the attention of his hired followers. “Silver Night comes in with the clutch after all! Of course, I knew you were on your way here to give me good news. That collar of yours chimed me the moment you walked in.” The leader would only grant her an audience as long as he looked down on her; cockily positioned by her side and relentlessly intimidating. Silver glared back in faint but solid determination to walk away on a victorious conclusion.

“Of course! But before I just give you this prize...” She put forth the bounty on the table, still within reach of her hooves before listing demands. “First, I want my reward NOW! Second, you free me from this collar when I collect my money. Only then, will I release the trophy.”

“Sure, babe, sure. Tell ya what, we close at 12 and I still got some paperwork to do in the back. Bills, you know? At last call, I give ya your pay.” Content he smooth-talked his way out of another deal, his magical aura gradually over took the gold trophy until she physically reclaimed it with a bearhug.

“Not until I see the money and the collar is off!”

“Whoa, babe. What’s this negative charge I’m feeling? You told my boys you liked the collar when they put it on you. And besides, we need to keep you safe. It’s part of being with The Onyx Syndicate, after all.”

“I would feel a lot safer without it!” her volume increased. The argument gained the entire establishment’s curiosity. Even the band ceased musical activity. Leaving the sounds of glasses set down with fading audibility.

The orange mafioso slowly cracked his head one direction as several sparks shot off his horn like a loose wire, still wearing that pseudo grin on his expression. “According to whom, babe?” he spoke ominously with a bit of a growl behind his voice.

A lump in Silver’s throat formed when she realized that she had crossed the line too soon. The menacing danger against her felt like a power that might drop the floor beneath her into an empty abyss of unsuspecting death. Attempting to throw off the truth of colluding with another rival, she blurted “You’re nothing but a two-timing crook! Why should I trust you in the first place?” All the while, she kept a secretive check between her way out and Electric, holding off on a premature dash before Coral arrives.

Fleeting Fancy, recognizing the signs to a bar fight, witnessed how sour the deal became for her sun-colored employer, who was ready to show this white-maned upstart why he’s the boss. Watching Electric make an example of fillies was a rare entertaining spectacle as she turned to shoo away her next victim of the night. “Why don’t you come back later, sugar?” The young stallion, eager for a typical night of sadness becoming one of companionship, asked her why. He simply kept neglecting the bigger picture in the same vicinity. “Well, you could stay,” she replied, “But boy, I gotta warn ya. This will turn into a bar room blitz.”

Static began to thrive in the air as manes flowed with positive currents. Whenever Electric’s rage accumulated, his horn reacted accordingly while everypony around experienced a sensation before the ensuing violence. “Because I know what’s good for them.” he selfishly vindicated on a rasp that can send chills to any alley dwellers. “Now, are you going to stick around like a good filly and have a drink or two while this grown stallion does his papers?”

The beads of sweat building on her forehead ticked with sparks from the atmosphere, giving her a couple dull zaps. Running out of ideas, the last move in her negotiation skills went into play. “Fine!” she agreed, but stood firm in not giving him what he ultimately wanted. “But the trophy stays with me until then!” At least she could if nothing else, die with what she loved.

He thought about simply letting the clock run and allow the collar to do its magic, but she already became a rogue element. The golden sheen irreversibly infected his soul, calling him out, and he didn’t want anypony ever think he had gone soft over Silver. The crowd practically brewed over in the club, and it had been a while since he gave a demonstration of his might. “Shoulda agreed from the beginning, but you had the misfortune of riling me up, doll. I’m all tense and in need of some therapy.” Electricity concentrated over his brightly lit horn, coursing with heart-stopping bolts of energy as the tip defined a lightning rod. “SHOCK therapy!”

Suddenly, a pure white sphere had gathered preemptively at his horn’s edge, ready for smiting whomever was unlucky enough, with Silver’s life to be over in a single zap of a thousand storms. Once the traitorous thief could literally taste the voltage seeping out his body, an object squashed against the back of Electric’s head, exploding with water. Next thing he knew, the massive deposits of stored energy discharged everywhere on his body, like he dropped a toaster in the tub. The agonizing pain of every molecule receiving his own amps uttered a howling sourced from his soul, punishing everypony with an ear shattering scream until he shorted out.

“What?!” cried out the black mare, after the blowback had sent her reeling in the opposite direction. She tumbled off her chair and fell safely outside the zone of Electric’s blast. As the dust cleared, the question in damage would not be raised with the third degree burns were revealed on the stallion’s visible flesh. All the while, his beloved zoot suit, the physical manifestation of his pride in style, drooped about, tattered and singed.

“Therapeutic enough for you? Personally, I feel great,” a familiar effeminate yet cocky voice refuted to the smoking heap being upstaged in his own club.

The near electrical victim shouted “CORAL! YOU CAME!” with great relief.

The stallion with eyes as red as the sun pinpointed the suckerpunch and unleashed a deathly stare at his old underling. Her trusty colt partner brought along a bucket of balloons dripping with water, and started sogging his fur with a few more volleys. A water droplet that slipped into Electric’s mouth was particularly salty and, like a ton of bricks, the realization dawned on the don. It was no wonder the water had a magnified effect. “Y-You-!” he stammered as he nearly keeled over and saved himself the dignity of falling after that cheap shot. His foreleg held him upright while he favored a table. “You can steal my diamond. You can bitch endlessly about morals to me. You can betray my trust time and time again. But, no pony or filthy buzzard half-breed touches THE SUIT!”

Cornfield sprang out in turbo speed, before the master of the Onyx Syndicate could have a moment’s rest any longer. He snatched the felled trophy between the cowering thief and the eyesore of an ugly stallion. Electric glanced over just to keep up with the colt’s actions, seeing him lunge straight back in the momentum and let out a strenuous war cry. Cornfield screamed “DIE! YOU BASTARD!” before smashing the wounded gang leader, thrusting his attack with all the anger and hate he previously failed to cope with.

It wasn’t suffice to kill him, but it created another opening. Unfortunately, the odds were against them in Electric’s palace. One of the stallions who carried a baseball bat, the same in charge of Coral’s abduction, brutally tackled the colt to the floor. The rest of his four-stallion posse shielded Electric, disrupting the assault. “No one touches the boss, punk!” warned the member who decked the green upstart.

With a grunt of pain, Cornfield struggled to get back up and keep the fight going, but the Ponyville slugger was about to introduce his finest oak to the colt’s face. Coming down at high velocity, it narrowly missed when the target rolled one way as the club made a dent in the dance floor. Quickly, the young adventurer recovered from the spat, swiftly dashed, and properly aligned himself with one-bird army, re-joining her in the confrontation. “Why are you defending him?!” the feisty green pony prodded. “If he’s so eager to kill anyone working for him and throw them away in the trash bin, you could be next!”

Stepping away and avoiding unnecessary danger, Electric stumbled away by the bar, refuting Cornfield’s claim. “As long as they don’t buck up, they don’t have to worry about that! I control these ponies. Not YOU!” Pointing towards the mare in the corner leaning on the jukebox, he barked one last order before slinking from the fight. “Fancy! A little music, please!”
Casual patrons and the band members ran out for their lives screaming while the white femme fatale smacked the jukebox. Audible drums starting ramping up with radically fluid music suitable for a high stakes tussle.”Everypony, attack!”

“Silver!” Coral called out, motioning over the exit. “Get out of here! This is not your fight!”

Using any opportunity to escape, the black pony magically grabbed a hold of the trophy off the ground and dashed straight out of sight. Her absence converted the trio back into their usual duo, much to Cornfield’s frustration. “So much for her!” he snarked. “That greed will bite her in the ass one day!” In the spare breathing room they had, Cornfield cautiously deduced the best course for action. “There’s no way he can use his electric powers now! This is the greatest chance we’ve got to finish him before he recuperates! If he dies, the underlings might surrender!”

Coral, backing up her partner, finally seized the opportunity of revealing their secret ace in the hole. For the rowdy thugs, they cowered at the hippogriff’s rapidly growing vines which wrapped around a table and launched it towards them. The resulting strategy decimated Electric’s barrier of henchponies and permitted Cornfield the very opening he desired. Then, Fleeting Fancy approached from behind with a switchblade strapped to her hoof. Thankfully, the thief’s keen eye detected the metal’s sheen and twisted away to avoid being fatally stabbed. “You crazy bitch!” the bird brazenly insulted. “I knew you were broken mess the moment I met you.”

“My flirtatious techniques were wasted on you.” the black-maned female replied. “No one would love a rat with wings like you, anyway.”

Adrenaline pumping in his veins, Cornfield leaped to Electric at an angle devoid of retaliation. “SURPRISE, DICKHEAD!” he taunted as he primed his hoof for a haymaker, gathering as much strength as he could, and took a swing at him only to receive a counterpunch straight perpendicularly into his muzzle. The bartender had jumped in and demonstrated his immense prowess, sending his lightweight body hurtling through the air and into another thug. The impact slammed said stallion into a wall, incapacitating him from the battle.

“I have one colt that’s standing by me!” Coral retorted to Fancy. “He’s more than enough!” After glancing over to see her only associate laying on the floor, it spurred her to do away with the white sack of garbage once and for all. “Speaking of which...” The aerodynamically capable creature thrust herself into the dame, engaged her wings at full speed, and laid the smackdown upon her against a wall. This brought about a severe concussion and caused the mare to flump over, out cold. When the hippogriff became reaffirmed on solid ground, she rushed where Cornfield had collapsed only to be intercepted by the bartender. He showed her the same hospitality he generously dished her friend, with a hoof whaling into her cheek. Coral stumbled onto the old worn out carpet like a ragdoll.

Bruised and battered, Cornfield crawled his way off the miscreant who helpfully cushioned the impact. Some meager adrenaline kept him afloat, just as another armed bandit hurried over to cap him. The colt devised a tactic and improvised his small stature in creative measure. He charged as if attacking head-on, but proceeded to slide down on the slick surface, while the hostile attempted to grapple him. The colt’s lowered profile tripped the assailant who fell on his cranium, instantly KO’d. Back for round two, Cornfield hastily grabbed one of the chairs and assaulted the bartender on his back, stumbling the hulking deliverer of drinks before he could do anymore damage to his avian friend.

Meanwhile, the call of police sirens started tethering everypony’s ears in its wake. Any lower waged gang members responded by booting for the side entrance in an effort to save their skins. The rest were left behind ultimately to watch the sunrise inside a cell. “HEY!” Electric shouted at those fleeing with tails between their legs, “I didn’t say this fight was over!” Taking advantage when the bartender was off balance, Coral swiftly coiled his legs with her thorn lined vines. In one swift motion, she yanked the flora so hard, her organic daggers tore through the skin like a blender, carving him up with deep lacerations. Even a tough stallion like him bellowed loudly in agony. His gored legs weakened until at long last, he collapsed on the crimson-stained carpet as a large thud echoed throughout.

Never in his entire life had Electric Boogaloo felt this sensation of pure bestial fear. Coral crept closer, leaving behind what everypony once believed was an unbeatable bodyguard. To him, Death hath cleverly disguised himself as a hippogriff and traded his scythe for razor-sharp thorns. Her brows furrowed with her irises reflecting the fires of unyielding rage inside. Losing further ground from her every step, she raised one of her claws perpendicularly. The ivy, fueled by hate, anger and anguish, rampaged along the decor mindlessly. Its strength thoroughly trashed everything in its path, showing the untamed ferocity it had and planting ideas of what she’s going to do to him.

Then, wicked ideas flowed through the cornered rat as he spotted a vengeful opportunity. Cornfield crucially needed to catch his breath during battle, gathering up his bearings for the end. Before he knew it, somepony latched their forelegs around his barrel tightly and the next thing he saw was a horrified Coral as he realized he became Electric’s hostage. “You want out so bad, you filthy seagull?” the fallen leader asked hysterically. “FINE! But I’m not giving you the pleasure of killing me before I go out in a blaze of glory!”

The unicorn’s horn sparked and started charging with red unhinged energy so lethal, even the aura became faintly visible around them. Cornfield struggled desperately in his vice grasp, cursing under his breath.

“Cornfield!” Coral blurted out in fear, then looked angrily at her former employer. “ELECTRIC! Don’t you dare hurt him! This fight is between you and me! You’d rather die a coward?”

A pathetic laugh emitted under the orange unicorn’s lips. “Nah, that’s no fun. I’ll just take somepony you care about and leave you to the cops a broken bird!”

“What would you know about fun?!” Cornfield yelled with growing fervor. “You played both odds against the middle! If anything you are just a leech of this city! Nopony’s gonna cry for you when you’re gone!” The colt then used everything remaining inside him to slam his head back, smashing Electric’s snout.

His subduer recoiled, breaching control of his electricity after his suicide attack backfired. The overcharged energy showered himself in gigawatts, cooking him alive as his body writhed about. Red lightning bolts shot from the victim of his own demise, striking different locations in the bar and lighting wherever they may land on fire. In the chaos, a hot blade of electricity fried Cornfield’s back, entrenched with saltwater when the mob boss slathered his wet suit all over him. The colt’s screams filled the room as he collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

In that instance, the boundaries of purgatory swallowed up every passing second. Lacking the normal movements in a lively colt transcended common symptoms of the deceased. A cold chill raced through Coral’s spine as her mind had been possessed by scenarios she always feared might resurface. Endowed with ancient forgotten powers, somehow, she was left helpless to save him. Once her mind snapped back to her tragic reality, she wailed his name all the way unto the depths of Tartarus, and rushed to his immediate aid. Gingerly, she angled his head upward and pressed her talons gently on his neck, for any signs of a pulse. He’s breathing, but terrible wounds gravely marked the earth pony’s back. Skin was flayed off, exposing blistering raw flesh to the external invasive elements. She shot a glance at Electric’s charred steaming body, the gruesome sizzling flesh waiting to ruin a coroner’s night, as a result of fatally succumbing to his own power.

“Attention, everypony in the club!” a megaphone blared from outside. “This is the police! You have 30 seconds to come out and put your forelegs up. We will use excessive force if necessary!”

With the situation growing worse by the second, the panicked hippogriff effectively scooped up her partner onto her back. Racing out the side door into an alleyway shouldering Booze and Blues, she clung to a fading hope that the cops wouldn’t naturally be inclined in noticing her. Luck was not on her side though, when a duo backing up the main unit, one locked with a baton in his mouth and a whistle in the other’s, pinpointed Coral as a perpetrator. Utilizing those tools they had, a blaring tweet rang out, alerting every cop to the located felon. Thinking fast, she leveraged her much larger body to shove her way past them, into the busy streets. “There she is!” the whistleblower announced. “One of the trophy thieves! Stop her!”

Meanwhile, atop a fire exit far on the other side of said street. Silver attempted pushing off the collar with her hindlegs like a dog, when the scuffle below piqued her curiosity. She witnessed Coral desperately eluding the fuzz. An entire fleet of cops aggressively chased the fugitive into the shadows.

Thick rain kept falling in a massive downpour. Coral sped deeper into an alleyway maze, every step drew her closer to the hideout where Cornfield’s salvation laid. She cut her way across, enroute through Central Square where ponies gathered for their late-night shopping routine. Horrified onlookers gasped as they briefly witnessed this giant creature sprint past them in a blur. Many scared ponies hid under crates or buildings, while others clutched their valuables like they were precious foals. “GANG WAY!” the bird squawked at each group of ponies encountered. “MAKE ROOM! MEDICAL EMERGENCY!”

The long arm of the law lost her within the heavily crowded square. Although they could see the towering figure fleeing, an overabundance of mingling citizens and tourists alike made the chase a real slough. They simply couldn’t keep up as their momentum decelerated and their pursuit proved futile. In a sliver of dying hope, Coral had at long last reached their hideout, entered with haste, and slammed the door behind. Dreadfully, she laid the poor colt cautiously on his stomach, on a carpet of blankets. She still had one card to play, and rummaged around her saddlebags. “Come on…” she growled. “Come on! Where’s that stupid-”

“AHA!” Coral withdrew a healing potion out from her inventory. Sticking it in her beak, she yanked and spat the cork out, then swiftly administered the concoction into a gap she propped open in his lifeless mouth. Electric’s last victim had still not regained consciousness. He likely held on by the thread of a needle, the needle being his partner’s sole capabilities and only resource for survival. Occasionally she lifted his chin up, expediting a steady stream of mysterious mixture. “Oooh, Zecora.” Coral muttered, her prayers transcended the sides of her beak. “I really hope this zebra hocus pocus of yours works...”

Small bits leftover in the medicine dribbled down Cornfield’s chin, as he lay still, lacking any new signs of life. His deeply concerned partner sat with him, wishing for whatever was watching over  wouldn’t leave her with a dead stallion. During a realm of somber silence, a voice lit the flame of life. “...Coral…”, her friend uttered.

The avian’s eyes sparkled when her mind activated to that familiar call. She edged closer gently taking his forehooves and wrapped them around her, sinking his head on her feathery chest and grasped him tight. Placing her head over his, she rubbed her beak affectionately on his scalp. “It’s all right, Cornfield,” she cooed softly. “You’re safe now...”

“...I-I... could really…”

Looking upon his back, various flakes of burnt skin shed with rapidly emerging flesh covering the naked muscle. She stared dumbfounded by the speedy recovery, wondering what zebracraft achieved full restoration of his back. Meaningless to question, she redirected to his request “You could what? Tell me, Cornfield, what do you need?”

.”...Use CPR... on me... right now...?” A single eye opens, zeroed at the hippogriff with a wanting beg.

Flustered, knowing his deception that they had gone past such a life-saving procedure, she blushed profusely. However, he had performed exceptionally well with this silly bird’s plan and even took one for the team, what kind of friend was she to deny him even a little pleasure? “Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, huh?” she smiled slyly, fluttering her lashes. “Hmm, I think I can manage that.”

“...Maybe one for the guy underneath? Hmmm?”

The edges of her beak just inches away from a kiss, she reeled back after that lewd comment with a very disgusted look. Unceremoniously, she dropped him on his aching back.

“OW!” he yelped, fully aware. “Hey, careful! it was just a joke…” Sparks splashed from the impact of his healing wound as he raised himself upright. “Anyway... I think I’m fine. But I’m a little woozy…”

With a huff, Coral gave him the cold shoulder, contempt of the stolen romance for perverted relief. “Got an awful lot of nerve to go hoof-to-hoof with Electric, make me worried sick, then request I do THAT the moment you woke up.”

“...Ah…” he uttered, stroking his temple. “Sorry, I was caught up in the moment… But, geez, that guy sure packs a wallop!”

“That bartender was no slouch, either.” Far away, the huge bell rang loudly over the city, as midnight became the present. Coral gasped with fear, her talons latched her collar out of reflex, but it stayed reserved. A numb sensation followed her traumatized memory of the collar’s crushing bite, as she expelled an unforgettable sigh of relief. At long last, the hippogriff was permanently freed from this terrible fate.

At ease, resting those serious injuries he accumulated, Cornfield pleasingly observed her reaction. “Hehe... At least we won’t have to worry about that now. Thank Celestia…”

“That means Silver is hopefully safe, too.” Just saying that out loud took the weight off her shoulders. When the darkness had nearly overtaken them, all three accomplished a triangular act of salvation. “I gotta admit. I was only half-sure that this curse would die alongside him. Some magical artifacts stick around well after their creator kicks it.”

“So... how do we remove it?”

“Like this,” she happily replied, and then unbuckled the literal choker like a novice archer drawing an arrow, and tossed it indiscriminately, landing in the corner to be eternally forgotten. “Now that the magic’s gone, nothing will happen if I remove it.”

Once magic got involved, the young stallion’s curiosity piqued. “Oh, so they must’ve been powered by his body’s natural current then?” he theorized based on the logic of the spell. “You know, I would’ve read more books on this if I wasn’t banned from the library.

“Probably. The guy was a walking battery. Well, now he’s shorted out.” She sighed again and viewed Cornfield longingly, reveling in the miracle they’ve earned the right to another day. As she nested alongside him, she exhaled for further concern. “They’re going to blame his death on me, you know. Without him around to take any of those allegations of my previous murders away, it’s just one more to the pile. Even if there’s no evidence, a police report is a police report.”

“Then we leave the city?” Cornfield asked, ready for her to say the word. That word being the bird.

“Yes. As fast as possible. In the morning, we get a boat. We’ll see if there are any sailors willing to receive what I have to offer.”

“I’m guessing you don’t have any plans to come back here?”

“Baltimare has too many bad memories. I agree to never stepping hoof back here again.”

The colt thought about Silver. Despite everything, she also let herself become a victim of Electric’s stranglehold on the city’s criminal empire. While he started warming up to her, the door was met with a loud banging sound.

Coral reacted with a wing outstretched around Cornfield, practicing self-preservation and signaled Cornfield to stay silent. Gingerly, she snuck over to the door, and quickly swung it open to execute her vine-trap around whoever would foolishly provoke their shelter.

A familiar unicorn shrieked in distress, helpless against the hippogriff’s flora. “KEYAAAAAAAAAAH! Put me down THIS INSTANT!”

Realizing her mistake, and those muffled shrill cries could attract undue attention, Coral extracted the thief swiftly into the safehouse. She let Silver out on the floor and shut the door. “Sorry about that,” she apologized. “You can never be too careful when you are on the run.”

The black mare dusted herself off, acting suave to save face despite being plenty startled a minute ago. “So,” she engaged a conversation. “You guys took out the big bad boss, huh?”

With the unicorn back in their lives so soon, any second thoughts the colt preserved suddenly vaporized that instant. “Awwww,” Cornfield whined. “Her again?”

Silver poked her head over Coral’s shoulder. Then, in complete silence, the hippogriff reinstated the more relevant subjects. “Electric... kinda took himself out,” she informed. “The spell on our collars is gone, though. Want me to take yours off?”

Instead Silver cocked her head with a smirk, revealing no collar around her neck. “Actually, mine came off without too much fuss. You can’t keep this mare in a bind!” She then showed the tall avian a more serious expression. “But, I came here for a different reason.”

“Oh? And what would that be? Surely it isn’t to annoy Cornfield some more although, trust me, he deserves it for the rude idea he proposed to me.” Coral shot the pervert a wry smile.

Expanding a green eye much wider with curiosity rather than confusion, the colt was receiving glances from both sides. Increasingly fed up by the females talking smack in front of him, he averted his gaze. “Ooh, he’s a stalker, isn’t he?” Silver asked mockingly.

“Don’t ask him to show his photo album with you,” Coral snickered as Silver chuckled at the dismay of Cornfield.

His humiliation fulfilled, Silver shook the comedic bashing to shift the conversation on a more serious tone. “Now, surely you’re no ‘hero’ the police idolize over, am I right?”

“Uh, yeah. If they catch me, I’m going in the slammer for sure.”

“So clearly you’re leaving this city first thing in the morning before the press even prints tomorrow’s headline.” Raising her hoof as high as possible; barely making Coral’s height, the dark thief panned it slowly across with big bold envisionary words. “Legendary mobster found DEAD! Hippogriff at large!”

“How blatantly put,” Coral groaned, the fires of impatience forging her vexation. “Yes, I want to go back to my homeland before Electric’s body starts attracting flies. Your point?”

“I want to go with you.”

Coral flinched in disbelief at this simple phrase. The mare’s casual request held an attitude as if she hadn’t even slightly etched her soul into the decision, if it even amounted as one. Slightly tilting her head, eyebrow raised, the bird stood boldly over the pony’s tiny frame. “What business do you have at Mount Aris?”

Silver trotted into a corner like they were on a stage, also serving the young male a potentially rare shot of one of the most beautiful rumps he’d ever seen. If only he wasn’t so intolerate by her emergence. The shadows enveloped Silver’s dark body, save for her glowing green eye. “Well, how do you expect to escape a city when the entire BPD is after you? Why, I’ll bet the Canterlot guard is keeping a lookout too! I know you’re too clever to take the train.”

Recognizing the consequences of the ill-fated hippogriff’s actions dispelled any mental tranquility left, thanks to Silver’s taunting. She commited a crime against a government official, a crime occurring under royal guards who swore an oath of the highest honors in service. This felony wouldn’t go unnoticed by Celestia. “...Shit,” she whispered under her breath. “I forgot that the princess herself may have heard the news. She might send me to the moon or something...” Burying the worries that predicted her capital sentences, she spoke as one burglar to another. “We need a boat!”

After searching the ceiling for a productive thought, Silver darted her eyes right back at the flustered hippogriff. “I can get you a boat!” she asserted confidently.

“You CAN?!” Coral’s face lit up with rays of hope. “How?”

Taking this moment to further press home her earlier request, she once again asked, “Let me join you. If you’ve got nowhere to run, I can get you a boat. Any boat!”

Her unwavering enthusiasm flew up red flags for the jewel collector’s point of view. What did this thief really stand to gain from this ordeal? A chance to stab her in the back and take her gems? Worse yet, The Heart of Nature? After all, this sly mare knew she was at the end of her rope without a practical alternative. She sighed defeatedly “If you can get a boat, then my life is in your hooves. If I can’t get to Mount Aris before-” She just pressed back those words before they could be interpreted vocally, sealing away information beyond Silver’s needs and stalling the nightmarish visions of genocide. “Just... help us, if you can.”

“Nnnnnnggggghhh…” Cornfield uttered annoyance in a grunt of gritted teeth. “We’re gonna trust HER again?”

“Do YOU have an idea for a boat, Cornfield?”

Despite his complaining, a faded faith deep inside his very being testified that, worse comes to worst, Silver won’t turn a blind eye to help friends in need. Even if she was no modern day Robin Hoof type thief, she had a special vibe he couldn’t bear to confess. “...Damn.” he cursed in a hushed voice. Getting his head back to business, he caught sight of the curvy quarters, stopping him mid-flight on her rather adorable posture. Mares always were a weakness for him. “...Alright, we’ll let you join.” Feigning the sound of acceptance wasn’t that hard in his disposition.

“Then it’s unanimous.” the hippogriff declared in a final ruling of friendship. “Is there anything we can do to help other than prepare for a long voyage?”

“Hehe... I knew he’d fall for that,” revealed Silver ever so deviously.

“Wait, Wha-” Before Cornfield could rant, Silver bounced briskly on the way out, eagerly taking depart.

“Just be ready at four in the morning! I’ll have everything ready at the docks and take you there! Just get your stuff when I arrive!”

“It’s that simple?” Coral begged to question, as she checked her bags and reassessed the supplies at hoof. “Not even a little spending money before you go?”

The sound of money automatically froze Silver like an emergency brake had been pulled, but she quickly disposed the idea, favoring preparation rather than profit. “Oh! That’s right! How good are you guys on food and medicine right now?”

“We have potions from a local zebra for any injuries. As for food, unless you count chips and snacks, we are less than a little malnourished.”

Plotting her next move carefully, the black bandit sprang back where the towering hippogriff stood. If they intended for success, needs are undoubtedly a must, but her more thrifty side concealed an agenda that would impede her fellow burglar making wise decisions. “Weeeeell, if it’s food you’re concerned for, I could see what I can do. But, surely you can survive on this food if you had to, don’t you agree?”

“I don’t.” Coral reached down inside and scrounged every little bit contained in her bag, as well as a flawless diamond, and hoofed it in the shifty mare’s face. Silver’s eye widened to the size of a dinner plate upon viewing the succulent stone. “Mount Aris is a sizable voyage south of here. We’ll need to be as prepared as possible. If the bits aren’t enough, fence the diamond and get more. Got it?”

Silver hesitantly pocketed the diamond, though she desired to watch it sparkle in the light forever. The bits too, but dwelled upon wondering the length of the trip. “How far is Mount Aris again?”

Digging into her bag again, Coral pulled out a map like drawing a signature weapon and sprawled it on the table brightened by the lantern. The tattered paper and worn edges even told Silver of their many hardships, but her silence restrained the worthy acknowledgement circulating her mind. “Baltimare is here,” stated the bird and pinpointed the harbor city on Equestria’s eastern shoreline with her avian claw. “Mount Aris is due south.” She traced a route snaking down until it hit the Seaquestria region, past Equestrian borders and the desert badlands. “It’s not a very long trek, but it’ll take half a day’s worth.”

“....Huh…” The mare was worried that she might be signing up for an adventure too grand for her, having traveled quite far from home. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Placing her concerns aside, she shifted to an unnaturally goody-four-horseshoes. “But the good news is I’m helping you poor souls out so don’t worry. Besides, I’m impressed you two managed to take on that asshole Electric and end his reign of control.” Her focus drifted into Cornfield, spotting the shocking bare skin over his back, still regaining his fur. “But wow, do you guys need all the help in the world or what?”

Coral debated informing her what really was at stake, but refuted the speech if ignorance meant a guaranteed vessel. “At this point, I’ll take whatever good news is in front of me.”

“I better get started then.” The thief took her leave, reminding them to be fully up and ready when she returned for the journey before closing the door behind her.

The bird pushed her head against the door after hearing echoes of Silver’s promises. Constant hoofsteps faded until it was indiscernible from the background. At that cue, Coral safely sputtered an exasperated breath. “That entire conversation had NOTHING but alarm bells sounding off.”

“Yeah, well, you were in no rush to kick her out.” Cornfield ranted.

“She was right, though!” the hippogriff criticized, disturbed by the cards they were dealt. “If I can’t find a way out, I’m royally screwed! Police will comb this entire city looking for me! I just wish I knew what her MO was, but I’m desperate and crazy enough to trust her!”

“Let’s look at it this way,” the colt suggested when he sat up. “It’s very likely she was going through hard times and got stuck in a city. Normally, she would think that this kind of society would be full of lucrative criminal opportunities, only to find once again she has been forced to perform contract work under an organization that is so powerful, it uses its influence to absorb new recruits under Electric’s leadership.”

“Once she was stuck in an unwinnable situation,” he continued as Coral sat beside him, allowing the ramble. “You came in and freed her of this iron fisted death bond to his empire, granting her to do as she pleases with a newfound freedom. Perhaps, she would have nothing better to do than follow us to new places, knowing that this partnership will enable her with additional eyes on her back.” He shrugged upon his hypothesis falling together. “After all, anypony from Ponyville understands the power that friendship can carry when you’re a long way from home and nowhere to go. She’s seeking to cleanse her fear of ever being restrained into another contract that ends with her head on a stick.”

The colt’s partner mustered just enough brainpower to blankly stare at him, silently blinking from the long-winded speech, “That was a lot of words just to say ‘she wants to start over’,” she summarized. “Your point?”

“I say we leave her!”

“What?”

“She’s criminal trash, and now that she’s free we can’t trust her!”

Coral’s best response came with her talons slapping her forehead and running slowly down her face. “Uh, unless you forgot, this whole town thinks I’m criminal trash and, if we don’t trust her, you can kiss my feathery butt goodbye.” Unwilling to resume the conversation longer, she laid on her bed of blankets and laid snuggly to get as comfortable as possible.”Let’s just get whatever sleep we need, ok?”

“Ow,” Cornfield felt a twinge of pain seeing her back press down on their hard floor. “I think I’ll be laying on my stomach the whole night.”

“That’d be wise. Also, I hope that bald spot grows in soon. You look like you got into a fight with a barber.”

“Yeah... Do you have any potions that deal with pain?”

“Nope. Just healing. Be thankful we even have THAT.” After exchanging pleasantries for a good night, the duo drifted soundly to sleep, exhausted from the tremendous victory they scored. However, Coral stirred throughout the night, her homeland still in great peril and urgently required her to prevent any more tragedies that may befall her fellow hippogriffs. After a short night filled with anxiety, a subtle knock sounded on the iron door.