Mane Effect

by Quillery

Chapter 5: Underbelly

I had expected the Warrens, from the colorful description given to me by Corrina, to be another low class junk heap much like the places I lived in back on Earth. While my first few steps into the area treated me to monotonous steel colored walls, and the occasional skittish passer-by, it just seemed a tad too bland to be a pit of squalor. The ponies down here looked more down to earth, less reserved, and well....normal. Nothing struck out to me as potentially dangerous or ominous, just another city section, albeit with darker colors and less polish. I felt naturally at home here, unlike back in the Promenade, and South seemed to share the sentiment.

She struck me as the type who showed no interest in the high class life, my assumption of her being from the Prairielands was all the evidence I needed. She seemed noticeably more relaxed in our new setting, trotting along with a sense of familiarity. We meandered down the various pathways for a while, glancing at a few random market stalls, or groups of gawkers staring at the two military equipped ponies that were casually walking past them. Maybe bringing our weapons here wasn’t such a good idea.

South stopped suddenly. I noticed a smile on her face as she turned her head upwards. Above us was a red neon lit sign that simply read ‘The Den’. A gruff looking Earth pony stood at the entrance, staring blankly at nothing in particular. However as we approached, he glanced at us both, staring at us with narrowed eyes. He looked us over, clearly noticing our weapons and other equipment, but nodded his head towards the door anyways letting us pass. I entered first, and took in the sights of the shady bar. The club was dimly lit, with more red neon strips yielding the only light in the room. Music poured in from everywhere, filled with copious bass and electric sounds. Many of the patrons were dancing to the rhythm on a wide dance floor. Small tables and chairs were scattered about, many of them empty, and a bar was located in the center of the room and on the far side.

“Would ya look at that,” South griped. I turned to see her give a quiet snort, looking up at a platform in the center of the room just above the bar, with stern eyes. On top of it was a group of mares dancing around a circular stage in the center of the bar. Most of them were Earth Ponies, but I noticed a Unicorn or two as well, wearing skimpy outfits and all writhing about in suggestive ways. I looked away, if only to avoid South seeing the reflexive red developing on my face. “Thousands of years of growin’ up, an’ theres still the need for young fillies to do such a thing.” Her voice reeked of disgust, and she stomped off towards the bar, which I assumed she did to avoid losing her temper even further.

As I sat down beside her, I heard her quickly order a pair of drinks, to which the bartender lazily began to mix. She kept her head down, away from the exotic dancers above, and focused her attention on the glasses that were slowly but surely being filled with alcohol from across the bar. I drummed on the counter awkwardly, opting to look anywhere but the bar. There were a few downtrodden looking ponies at the tables around us, many of them staring at one of the many empty glasses that surrounded them. A few others seemed to be enjoying the ‘company’ of some of the dancers, who giggled mindlessly at the drunken drivel that came out of their newest clients. Now I really wanted that drink.

My prayers were answered when the bartender returned, drinks in tow. He placed them in front of us with the level of care one would expect from a small explosion and trotted away. South scooped up her glass and emptied it in a single go, while I stared at mine absently. Now that it was actually in front of me, I was not sure if I had been serious about actually wanting this drink. On one hoof I still did not care for the state of drunkenness, and on the other...well, as far as this day was headed, a drink or two wouldn’t kill me.

“Ya gonna drink that?” South asked, beckoning the bartender for another.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Eventually.”

She snorted again. “Well then git to it! It ain’t no fun drinkin’ alone.”

I swirled the glass, delaying the inevitable. South continued to berate me with a piercing stare, before I could take no more. I swallowed hard, and downed the cider. The usual feelings returned, but I held them down as best I could. This particular brand seemed marginally weaker than the kind Chalkdust had locked away in her safe, and part of me actually felt disappointed. I shrugged, and set the glass down, eliciting a rowdy cheer from South. She slammed down her second glass and looked at me, not with anger or any other of the choice emotions that I had already seen her use so far. This time, she chose curiosity.

“So,” she began. “Whut’s yer story Shepard?”

Was she actually asking me about myself? After this entire time of me asking her? I looked at her like she was the crazy pony, and she responded with a hushed guffaw. “Ya’ll seem awful keen in learning what my deal is Shepard, but Ah ain’t heard a lick about you a t’all.”

She traced the rim of her empty glass, staring into it dreamily. “The way Ah reckon, iffin’ ya want to know somethin’ about me, Ah gotta know somethin’ bout you first. That only seems fair right?”

I wasn’t certain what troubled me more; the fact that what she had said made perfect sense, or that I felt like actually obliging her. There wasn’t much worth hiding, but I wasn’t the kind of pony who talked about myself much. Having the kind of past that I did, it was just one of those things you prefered to stay buried. I thought of a few choice things that would serve to outline who I was, without giving her too much, or digging too deep. The hardest part of telling others about yourself is where to start.

“Not really a fairy tale beginning really,” I recalled to her. “I grew up mostly in the streets, won’t bother saying where, all metropolis slums are the same. Drifted around a bit alone, I guess. learned a few things here and there raiding scrap heaps.” I glanced longingly at my empty glass, wishing it was refilled. “But that was just to start.” A few of the darker memories managed to surface, but I kept the worst ones down. “I did some...things that I’m not proud of to survive. Worked for some... unsavory ponies. But I managed to pull through, even managed to save a few others from that life, before Captain Quartermane pulled me out of there.”

South did not say anything immediately. Her face had taken to a look of quiet shock, as she absorbed what I had told her. I realised that she had been the only other pony that I had openly told my story to, aside from Quartermane, but I figured it was an excellent trump card to get her to open up a bit herself. She tapped her glass, signaling the bartender for a third round. Even after it came she drank it in silence before finally finishing it and turning back to me.

“So the Cap’ was the one that recruited you huh?” she inquired.

I smiled as the fond memory came to the surface of my mind. “Yea, he did. Wasn’t expecting him to be my C.O here either. I haven’t seen him since he brought me into Stable.”

South mulled her thoughts quietly for a moment. She stared into her empty glass, tracing the rim slowly with the tip of her hoof. “That’s quite the story, Shepard. Ah can’t say that mine is near as exciting.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” I said with a smile.

She returned the smile weakly. Her mouth opened as she began to speak, but her attention was drawn to the sound of laughter beside us. Our attention turned to the pony on my left who had been chuckling loudly since I had stopped speaking. He appeared to be on his fifth or sixth drink, but didn’t yet look ready to fall over. He was a haggard looking Earth Pony, his ratty black hair drooping over his face and his ghostly grey coat missed what I expected to be its fourth shower this morning. His head rose slowly as his laughing hit its peak and looked at me with intrigue.

“So, you know Captain Quartermane huh?” His voice was cold, raspy. “How does it feel to be working for Stable’s biggest disappointment?”

I glared at this mysterious pony. “Do I know you?”

“Heh,” he chuckled. “No, but I know you Shepard. Must be nice to be a puppet so Quartermane can atone for his own screw ups.”

South joined me in glaring daggers at this drunk, but I still had no idea what he was going on about or what I could say to learn anything useful from him, so I just let him keep talking.

“It’s funny that the first Sleipinir candidate in twenty years ends up screwing up just the same under his command, just like he did.”

How would somepony like him know about what happened on Equestria Prime? I pushed away from the bar, getting a better view of him in his slouch. He was wearing a blue uniform that I recognised from my trip through C-Sec. His Cutie Mark looked like an old playing card, except that the face of it was a ghostly effigy of something I could not identify. None of this answered the question on how a C-Sec officer would know anything about what I had been through in the past two days. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” I lied, hoping to change the subject.

“Heh, whatever. Ask him yourself if you don't believe me.” He finished another drink, placing the glass down delicately. “But sooner or later, you’re gonna have to ask yourself who is worth trusting. And It ain’t Quartermane. Especially when Artemis is involved.”

My ears perked slightly at the uttering of Artemis' name. This pony was clearly toying with me, but he had knew something, or else he wouldn’t have bothered to talk to me. “What do you know about Artemis.”

He smiled sinisterly. “Lets just say Artemis needs to do a better job of choosing who he trusts, just like you. And if he isn’t careful, it will bite him in the flank soon enough.”

With that, he got to his hooves, and shakily made his way towards the exit. “Be seeing you, Shepard. Try not to get killed too soon,” he crooned as he lumbered away.

I watched him leave, desperately processing what he had said. Was he trying to help me, or just irritate me? Somehow he knew way too much of what was going on, and the sheer coincidence of me running into him here of all places was a bit strange. I looked at South, who didn’t know what to make of him either. She returned her glass to the bar, and wheeled around in her chair, and leaned her back against the bar.

“Ah suppose it would be bad form to tell mah tale now, after that,” she said with a smirk.

It seemed that fate was conspiring against me, if I was ever going to learn anything useful about South. But she was right. As vague as that random drunk had been, he had hinted at something useful, something potentially damaging to Artemis. And if anything like that existed, I needed to get it now. “I guess you will have to owe me a story later.”

South nodded, and we both hopped off our stools and trotted towards the exit. I managed to make it out of the door first, and looked around for the pony we were following. The bouncer was missing, as were some of the stall tenders that were adjacent to the club. I stood quietly observing the eerie change of scenery, when I heard hoof steps approach from behind.

“You Shepard?”

I turned to see a black dressed pegasus with a slicked back mane emerge from the alley beside the club. He had a deadpan expression on his face as he awaited my response. He raised an eyebrow when South finally appeared beside me, who did not look amused at the presence of a pegasus.

“An’ who’re you?” she demanded.

The pegasus’ expression did not change, casting his bored eyes back to me. “I said, are you Shepard?”

I was not in the mood for more delays. I had to catch up with that drunkard and find out what he knew. “I might be, what’s it to you?”

Finally, the pegasus produced a smile. A smile like he had won the lottery and decided to be insufferably smug about it. “It’s nothing really to me, but my employer...” He cast sidelong glances in both directions. “Would like to have a little chat with you.”

I followed his gaze, noticing that from the darkness of the alleys, we were surrounded by at least four armed thugs.

“Don’t even try it princess.” Okay, make that five. I turned around to see South trying to raise her gun, only to be halted by a scrawny looking Earth Pony hold a gun to her head. She glared at him with a look that gave me chills.

“Call me princess, one more time, Ah dare ya.” She spoke with a level of danger and venom that sent off warning signals in my brain, and I hoped the stallion with the gun to her head was smart enough to notice

Of course he wasn’t. The weasley pony laughed, and lowered his gun, and decided to poke South with his other hoof. “What, you don’t like being called princess, prince-.”

Before he could utter it a second time, South quickly grabbed his extended hoof and yanked on it with all her might. It gave a sickening pop as the limb was savagely dislocated from his shoulder. The stallion tore away, screaming and howling in pain, as the four other thugs trained their guns on South. She glanced at them defiantly, waiting for the next one to dare cross her. “Ah warned him,” she gloated.

The wounded thug rolled around on the ground in agony, screaming obscenities and other colorful words as the pegasus in charge of the group shook his head. “Now now, there isn’t any need to get violent. Our employer would prefer if you came along quietly.”

“And if we don’t?” I asked.

The screaming pony managed to subside his howls, righting himself enough to raise his unbroken gun hoof and training it on South. “The bitch broke my leg, she dies now!” My eyes widened at the sound of his gun heating up. I moved to shove South out of the way before-

BANG!

I reeled back in pain, the sound of the shot ringing in my head. I looked back to see South...completely unharmed. The pony that attempted to fire was now prone on the ground, blood oozing from a fresh hole in his head. South looked mildly startled, but not at the recent attempt on her life. She was far more focused in the pegasus standing beside us. I turned back to the him, seeing that he had produced a now smoking rifle from under his wing. His deadpan expression returned as he stared at the corpse of his now former employee.

“-bad things will happen.”

We were led in silence down the many maze-like corridors that made up the entirety of what appeared to one of the Warrens less desirable districts. While my first impression of the Warrens was better than what I first thought, our forced trot deeper into the darkened alleys dissolved whatever remained of that first foray into slimy muck. The steely walls shifted into rust colored slabs of unkempt metal, dimly lit by either an occasional emergency light or neon sign. The ponies that watched us pass by became more jittery and desperate looking, and quickly turned tail and ran at the sight of our group, as if they knew what was going to happen to us.

The four remaining armed goons surrounded us in formation, while the black pegasus followed from behind to prevent any ‘further incidents’, as he put it. South trotted quietly beside me, eyes front and scowling, while I took a few furtive glances at the quickly changing scenery. Worry crept into my mind, and while I had never been a panic prone pony, I was becoming genuinely terrified at my fate at the hooves of these thugs. I had never been in this kind of situation before, and I had no idea how I was going to get out of this alive. Maybe if we could recover our weapons we could fight our way out, but even that plan would risk failure before it even started.

I glanced back at the pegasus. He was paying a great deal of attention to our surroundings, casting quick deliberate glances around us, before looking forward again. I thought I saw him catch my eyes, but if he did, he made no comment, returning to his placid expression of professionalism. The goons would give me a shove if I lingered too long, laughing as they did so. I was not small in relation to most ponies my age, but these thugs were considerably larger and more menacing than I taking pleasure in shoving me around. If only I had my gun. Heh, who was I kidding? Even if I had my gun I wouldn’t accomplish much. I had my omni-tool, but even the simplest command would have been noticed.

Eventually we came to a dilapidated structure deep in the bowels of the Warrens. It was small, maybe an old shipping warehouse of some kind, but had fallen into disuse and disrepair. We were led inside to a darkened room, that appeared to be the only safe place in the building. All of the adjoining doors and paths were blocked off by rubbish and debris. The only source of light was a grimy window, which I could see blurs of vehicles of the transitway beyond, and not much else.

A single desk and some chairs were the only furniture, and looked grossly out of place considering how filthy this room was. The pegasus walked over to the desk, placing our weapons on it. The other goods directed us towards the wall beside the window, and ordered us to sit. I complied quietly, while South resisted. The larger of the goons went to strike her, when the pegasus spoke up.

“Remember what happened earlier, Thud. We don’t want a repeat experience do we? The boss wants them unharmed until he gives us other instructions.”

‘Thud’ lowered his hoof, and stepped away from South, who continued to glare at him. “Yeh, okay boss.”

The four thugs each took a seat, each of them staring in our direction, as their leader rifled through the desk, and looked at his computer. South eventually sat down, not out of compliance, but out of boredom. She stared back at Thud, who sneered gleefully back at her. “Any ideas?” she asked quietly.

“Not really,” I whispered back. “If they weren’t staring at us could call for help on my omni-tool, but I doubt they will give us the chance.”

“Hmph. Got a plan B then?”

“No talking!” Thud shouted.

We both looked at the eager stallion, who clopped his hooves together in anticipation of our eventual beating. He must have really hated us for what South did to the other pony before he got himself killed, and I definitely did not want to be left alone with him for too long. A beeping noise from the desk drew his attention, as it did everypony else. The computer had received a message of some kind, which the pegasus was responding to in hushed words. The distraction was short, not nearly long enough for me to send for help, but it was enough for me to rig my omni-tool to listen in on the conversation.

“Razor, do you have them?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“Yes, sir, they are here now.” the pegasus replied. “What do you want us to do with them?”

There was a moment before the other answered. “Nothing yet, not until you deal with that other loose end. I want you to see to it personally, Razor. No screw ups, or Artemis is going to have our hides.”

“Yes sir, I’ll get it done right away!”

There was another dramatic pause, this one actually lasting long enough for Razor to develop a look of concern on his face, before the other voice finally replied.

“See that you do.”

The computer went silent. Razor mulled his thoughts silently for a few minutes, before suddenly rising from the desk and heading to the exit. Two of the goons went with him, while Thud and the other one with him remained seated in front of us. The black pegasus halted at the door, and looked right at Thud. “Keep them here until I say otherwise. Got that Thud?”

Thud looked absently at Razor, before turning back to us with glee in his eyes. “Yeh, boss, no problem at all.”

And then he was gone. The door slammed unceremoniously behind him, leaving us alone with the two bigger thugs alone. We stared at each other quietly for a long time, each side looking waiting for the other to make their move. As much as Thud looked like he wanted to hurt us, he was stoic in his dedication to following his orders. He engaged in idle conversation with the other thug, whom he identified as Spanner. What was it with thugs and their thug names? I mean, did their parents know that their children were going to grow up to be criminals or something, and just gave them appropriate names so they didn’t get picked on by their thug-buddies?

The staring contest continued for what easily turned into an hour of silent boredom. I had long since grown exhausted at the game, leaving South to defend our honor alone, which she happily did. I had thrown in a few faces for good measure, but they were lost on the gruff ponies overwatching us. An hour of this, and nothing interesting had happened. Another hour, and the Council hearing would begin, and we definitely were not going to be attending. Artemis made sure of that. But why? Why would he impose further risk to himself if he was already in the clear? Maybe that drunken pony from the bar was right, maybe Artemis did screw something up, and now he was eliminating every loose end possible.

The computer at the desk came to life again, prompting Thud to forfeit his hateful staring to answer it. The lumbered over to it drearily, and prodded at the controls to reply. My omni-tool was still listening in, so I turned my back to Spanner so he didn’t see what I was up to.

“What is it?” Thud answered.

“That’s what is it, Sir.” the same voice from earlier snapped.

“Uh, yeh, right, sir!” Thud stammered, actually saluting to the blank computer screen.

“Artemis says we need to get moving things along. Razor is dealing with the other loose end now, you can deal with the one at hoof.”

“R-really?” Thud replied, a noticeable tone of expectant joy taking hold of his voice.

“Yes, really. Dispose of them, just don’t make it too messy. Get back here when you are done.”

“Yes sir!” Thud half shouted. “Right away sir...” His voice trailed off with a sinister cackle as the computer died again.

I turned my omni-tool off, looking back at the two hulking ponies now slowly approaching us. South looked shocked at their advance, and glanced to me. “Whut are they doin’ now?”

I stared blankly at her. “Disposing of us.” I replied weakly. Her eyes widened considerably as she looked back to Thud, who was only a few yards away, brandishing a large shotgun attached to his hoof. "So much for not making it messy", I deadpanned to myself. He halted just before South, who glared at him with anger.

“I’d love to end you first for getting Twitch killed, bitch.” he growled at South, before turning to me. “But th’ boss seems to have a special interest in you, so I’ll oblige you first, as a courtesy to him.”

He brought his gun to bear, pointing it directly at me. South tried to shove me away, but Spanner smacked her away with his own weapon. I stared, frozen in fear for my impending doom, right down the barrel of the weapon that was keen to end my life. I shut my eyes as the weapon primed, its whirring steadily rising to a deafening crescendo.

And then everything went to hell.

What happened next will forever be one of the many blurs in my memory of things to come. I don’t think I could ever look back at these moments and ever recall them clearly, but I will do my best. It was safe to say, that from start to finish, the following moments would take place over a mere ten seconds.

First there was the sound of glass. Lots of it, as it cascaded over the room and a symphony of tinkles and clatters. I opened my eyes for a moment, to see the room littered with the tiny crystals that scattered all over the room. The shotgun that was once pointed at my head was now pointing high in the air, its bearer screaming in pain. Even through his flailing, I could see red spurting from the hoof and the weapon had been pierced through, giving off a series of shocks and static.

Spanner, responding at a speed that I honestly found surprising for his intelligence level, rushed to an unbroken part of the window, peering vainly through the dirt and grime for something, anything that could have perpetrated these events. He froze suddenly, and backed away slowly from the window, terror in his eyes. He fired wildly into the window, at a slowly growing silhouette that filled the window, before colliding with a amazing crash.

A blur of blue and white shot through the window, colliding with the frightened stallion and knocking him squarely to the ground. The blue streak came to a stop just above the prone thug, standing over him. It was a pegasus, dressed in blue C-Sec armor from head to hoof with a smoking sniper strapped to his back. He flared his white wings, as the panicked Spanner tried desperately aim his weapon, before the pegasus stomped on his hoof, breaking it with a resounding snap. Ignoring the screams of pain and agony he had caused, the pegasus grabbed Spanner in his hooves and dragged him over to the open window. He threw the disheveled Earth pony out, dangling him over the edge by his long greasy mane. The look on his face suggested that it was a very long fall on the other side.

“Where’s your boss?” the pegasus demanded, his voice warbled under the radio static of his helmet.

“Fuck you Sec, I ain’t telling you shit!” he spat. I was surprised that Spanner had any spine left to answer after the beating he had received.

Spanner slipped a few inches from the officers grasp, as he purposely started to drop him in annoyance.

“Did you know most pegasus are deathly afraid of falling?” the pegasus mocked. “Silly isn’t it, that a creature born to fly is afraid to fall. Not like you earth ponies. You fall just like everything else without wings, and yet you hang here, unafraid. Why is that?”

The pegasus continued his tirade at the unflinching pony in his hooves, while me and South watched on, dumbfounded. I looked at her as she scoffed quietly, disgust in her eyes. “Iffin’ there were a list of reasons why Ah don’t trust Pegasi, that’d be one right there.” she snarked. I actually found myself smiling at her comment, when movement caught my eyes. Thud was still alive, and moving towards the unsuspecting pegasus.

“Look out!” I shouted.

He almost didn’t react in time. He turned his head to face Thud, who slammed his unwounded hoof into his helmet. The officer managed to deflect some of the blow, but was unbalanced from the force of it. He staggered away from Thud, both of which seemed to have instantly forgotten that somepony was missing. The long winded scream of Spanner quickly faded into nothing as he fell over the edge, as the spar between Earth Pony and Pegasus continued unhindered.

The C-Sec officer shook his head, clearing some broken fragments of his visor away so he could see. Thud limped towards him, rushing for another strike. A pair of lightning blue eyes peered angrily though the broken visor of the helmet as he deftly dodged the powerful swing of the wounded stallion. The pegasus charged past the lumbering Thud with speed that defied his size, sweeping his legs out from under him with a pass of his wings. Thud collapsed to the ground with a sound faithful to his name, sprawling onto his back. He regained his awareness just as the officer stood above him, his rifle pointed at Thuds head.

“I don’t suppose you would be more helpful than your former cohort?” he said icily.

Thud was silent, only giving the officer above him a defiant snort.

“Didn’t think so.”

The pegasus lifted his hoof and smashed it into Thuds face, knocking him out cold. He gave a loud sigh of relief, as he sat on his haunches and worked to remove his damaged helmet. Now out of danger, I finally had a moment to observe our hero, realising that I had seen him before. The style of armor, and the red tinge on the edges of his wings, all reminded me of the pegasus I had seen at the C-Sec office this morning. At this range, I was even close enough to his Cutie Mark; A reticle shaped like a shield with fiery wings.

“Firestorm right?” I asked, standing up and walking over to the grunting pegasus, still trying to pry the bent helmet off his head. He did not answer as his struggle ended, the helmet coming off with a mighty tug.

“I just wanted to say thank....you?”

What was it and unexpected occurrences today? First there was Corrina, then the Sea-pony and the Mole, now this. I stared silently as the pegasus that had just saved us looked disapprovingly at his, her, now broken helmet. Her mane cascaded from the confines of the helm, falling out and obscuring half of her face. If one could conceivably name fire a color, it would be that of her mane, which shimmered every possible color of flame. The side of her head that did not get covered by her lengthy mane was covered by a similar device that Nimbus once wore; a targeting visor of some kind.

She gave me a hard look. “You’re Shepard right? Of the Normanedy?” She stood up and trotted over to me, offering me a hoof. “Yea, I’m Firestorm. I was the C-Sec officer assigned to your case against Artemis.” She looked around at the mess caused by her dramatic entrance, and gave me a sheepish grimace. “Sorry about cutting it so close there. I had to be sure if he was actually going to try something.”

I chuckled weakly, shaking her hoof. “Better late than never huh?”

She looked... mildly concerned at my passive attitude towards my near brush with death, but ignored it and trotted over to Thud. “I’ve been following you two since you got pinched outside the Den, I was hoping they would lead me to the one trying to cover all this up.”

She gave Thud a swift kick, who responded with an unconscious grunt. “But I don’t think these two would have been any good for leads anyways.”

“An’ why of all times did’ja choose just before our execution to help out?” South snapped at her, stomping the ground. “Did’ja want us to get killed?”

South was hunched over, seething like a bull ready to charge. Firestorm was confused at her outburst, and stepped back from the volatile mare. “Of course not!” she defended. “If I wanted you to get hurt I would have left to follow Razor. But I didn’t, now did I?”

South’s rage faltered only slightly. She straightened her posture, and directed her anger on something else with a loud snort, trotting over to the desk with our guns in it. Firestorm eyed her cautiously, until she was out of easy striking distance and looked back at me. “I don’t suppose you heard anything useful that might lead to something?”

She already knew who Razor was, but if that alone wasn’t something useful to her, she wouldn’t be here. Then I remembered that there was still an unknown party in all of this. “Actually, there is something.”

I activated my omni-tool, and played the two recordings from Razor’s mysterious employer. Firestorm listened intently, her eyes widening in realization. “I know that voice.” she said, scowling. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier.” Firestorm facehoofed angrily and turned towards the exit. “When I get my hooves on that slimy snake...” Her voice trailed off slowly. She stopped at the exit, and turned back to us.

“Are you two coming?”

“Coming where?” I asked, moving towards the door.

Firestorm opened her mouth to speak, but South returned to my side, and halted me. “Now just wait a minnit here.” she said harshly. “Who said anythin’ about us goin’ anywhere together?”

Firestorm raised an eyebrow. “I have as much stake in bringing Artemis down as you do. It makes more sense for us to work together.”

“A’n why is that?” South berated. “Whut business is it of yours to take down Artemis when it was our colony that he attacked?”

Firestorm didn’t respond immediately. She stared questioningly at South for a long time before she swung around and cantered out the door. “Because I’m C-Sec, and somepony has to,” she called out to us.

I followed her right away, out of the dank warehouse and back into the gloomy narrows of the Warrens. She trotted with a determined vigor, knowing exactly where she needed to be. I heard more trotting behind me, seeing that South had decided to follow us despite our new pegasus companion. She had a steely look on her face, and was keeping a cautious eye on Firestorm. I ran up beside her, only barely struggling to keep up with her pace.

“So,” I breathed. “Who was that on the recording? You clearly know who it was.”

She looked at me, remarking my curiosity. “Somepony I should have dealt with a long time ago. A little slime ball by the name of Mustang.”

She halted at a corner, and peered around it cautiously. South managed to catch up, choosing to remain quiet.

“Where does he normally hang out?”

“At his club,” she answered slowly. She peeked her head out of the alley and looked around. Satisfied with the surroundings, she edged out and continued down the alley, beckoning us to follow. “We’re going back to the Den.”

Our return to the upper sections of the Warrens was tedious, our time spent ducking in and out of shadowy alleyways and unpopulated areas. Firestorm insisted that we take measures in not being seen by Mustang’s scouts, so we could catch him off guard. She surmised that he had me and South led away from his hideout to deny any involvement in Artemis’s scheme, and he may be foolish enough to remain there unaware. I was thankful for her intuitive plan, because so far today we had come very close to ruining our only chance at stopping Artemis, and I doubted we would get another.

The sneaking was easy for me, from my youthful experiences. I kept up with Firestorm at an adept pace, only stopping periodically to ensure an area was safe for South to pass through unnoticed. We had a long way to travel, and I took the time to ask a few questions of our pegasus friend.

“What were you doing before you started following us?”

We came to a wide stretch of vacant pathways, not a single pony in sight. The level of quiet of the nearby area was unnerving considering what time it was. Firestorm was not disturbed by it at all, only slowing her pace slightly as she continued ahead.

“That pony you were talking to. The drunk. Do you know him?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“I do. He is, was, a C-Sec officer until recently. Too many shady dealings with unsavory types. I always suspected he knew too much about the gang involvement down here, and now I know why.”

We rounded another corner, and I started noticing familiar surroundings. I estimated we were only a few more minutes from our destination, and Firestorm seemed intent on getting us there even sooner. The pathways had returned to their dull steel coloring, and the streets were starting to fill with semblances of activity and life again. Crowds filled the market sections in front of us, milling about their business blissfully. Firestorm finally took a moment to relax, and leaned casually against the edge of the wall, casting glances between the crowds on the path and me.

“We knew him in C-Sec as Aces, though I never believed that was his real name.”

Her eyes arched angrily, before looking away. “I never trusted him, but he managed to do his job right, at first.”

“What did he do to get kicked out of C-Sec?” I asked.

My question seemed to go unanswered as she stood straight and slipped out into the gathering crowd, with us following closely behind. “He worked down here a lot, working around the gangs mostly.”

The gaggle of ponies we trudged through seemed to gravitate away from Firestorm, as she cut a path through for us to follow. Despite the tension I felt from the ponies that lived down here, most of them were respectful of the presence of a C-Sec officer among them. Either that, or none of them wanted to run afoul of her and get into trouble. Whatever the reason for the berth they gave us, it kept us hidden from any of Mustangs goons watching out for us, and still maintain a decent pace.

“The problem is,” she continued. “Is that when you work around these ponies too long, they start to get to you. The things they do, the crap they get away with. You become inured to it. Then, you start to become it.”

“Aces fell into their type of crowd. Started hanging around the clubs the gangs owned after work for fun. And in exchange for not getting the air beat out of him, he sold us out.” The rising anger in her voice was growing steadily volatile, even to the point that passers by were noticing her dipping mood and widening the space between us and them.

“Eventually we busted him on it, but not before draining him of any information that would get him out of trouble. We took quite a few gangs out because of his spineless need for self preservation.”

We came to another corner, a very familiar corner. The large ascending staircase that South and I had used to enter the Warrens was directly in front of us. Razor and his goons had led us past this on our way to his hideout, so the Den was only one street away. The crowds around us stymied, splitting off noticeably in droves that sought to leave the Warrens out into the Promenade, and those who remained in the scattered markets. Firestorm halted in the midst of the flows of ponies, looking very carefully in our intended direction as she had been since we left the lower levels.

I looked to South. She had been unusually quiet the entire journey. I had at first thought it because of the presence of our pegasus companion that held her tongue, until I saw her eyes. They way she looked at Firestorm suggested she was listening very intently to her story. They both burned with vengeful intensity as the tale of Aces the traitor was told. I don’t know how, if at all, South’s attitude towards Pegasi was changing, but I knew that Firestorm had hit on something that the Soldier found an equal level of distaste for.

“So why is somepony like that allowed t’ walk around free?”

Firestorm looked at her, noting her previous silence and sudden addition to the conversation with quiet perplexity. “Because even spineless ponies have their uses. You would be surprised how much Aces will spill on his ‘friends’ to stay out of trouble. I don’t know how he does it, but somehow he keeps himself in the loop with them.”

“Hmph,” South grunted. “Seems to me it’d be easier jus’ t’ shoot him.”

Firestorm chuckled at that comment. “You have no idea how hard it is to not shoot him. He knows he’s valuable to us, and takes a great deal of pleasure in reminding us of it.”

The Pegasus took point again, pushing her way through the crowd. South actually went ahead of me, keeping closer to the Pegasus than I thought her capable. The civilians thinned considerably as we neared the final bend, and turned into the final alley. The road beyond was empty, not a pony in sight, armed or otherwise. My companions eyes narrowed at the uneasiness of the scene before us.

Firestorm stepped forwards first, readying her shoulder-mounted weapon with a shrug. “But enough about Aces,” she said casually. “There’s another scumbag I’m just dying to introduce you to.”

She said it smiling.

The Den appeared closed, due to the fact that the large neon sign above the door was no longer lit. The bouncer from earlier was not present, and the booming music from inside was silent. Somehow, I had ended in the front of the group, as Firestorm and South trotted cautiously up behind me, checking for trouble.

“Something must have spooked Mustang”, Firestorm groused. “This place is never closed.”

“Then maybe we should hurry,” I said, lurching forward into the open doorway. “He might be gone alrea-”

I had almost rounded the first corner into the club, before I ran into something large and furry. I backed up from the expanse of hair in front of me, and craned my head up to see what on earth it was.

My voice died in my throat as I looked up at what I had bumped into. At first I thought it was the absurdly tall pony bouncer, but in reality it was something far more terrifying. I knew exactly what I was looking at, but even seeing it in the flesh could not have prepared me for it. It stood at least twice my height, and towered over me with a gruff, humorless expression. It worked its fanged jaw behind closed lips as it no doubt contemplated ending my existence, its barbed tail flitted back and forth in anticipation. It stepped towards me with an enormous paw that was covered, along with its entire body, in thick crimson armor plating. It arched downwards, bringing its feline eyes level with mine, giving his bat-like wings a predatory flair.

“Club’s closed. Come back tomorrow.” Its voice was low, guttural, feral.

I backed away from the leonine terror standing over me, only to bump into Firestorm. I saw her focused glare boring into the walking obstruction in our path. South shared the expression, but her muzzle curled up in a expectant smile of glee. These two actually wanted to fight this thing, and I wanted to run away like a foal with my tail between my legs. I thought over the insanity of my friends, knowing full well that it was probably going to get me killed. I would stand no chance against this thing, but my friends were more than capable. Maybe I should just play along then?

“We’re here to see your boss.” I said, mustering whatever authority I could.

The brute’s expression did not change. “He ain’t here.”

I forced a smug grin, trying to choose my next words carefully. “Look pal, you’d best let us through.”

He actually smiled at that. “Or. You’ll. What?”

“Well,” I began dismissively, looking back to my friends. “There isn’t much I can do.” I stepped to the side to shift his attention to my companions. “But you see my two friends here with the really big guns? They haven’t been having the greatest day, and I wouldn’t doubt that they are looking to cause some trouble to relax.”

Firestorm and South both looked confused at what I was leading to, but it didn’t take long for them to realise my intentions, and continued to glare at the bouncer in force. He was silent for a moment, I assumed he was a tad slow at understanding, until he started laughing. He chuckled dopely before looking back at me.

“Heh heh, that was a good one. I always wondered if Earth Ponies had spines, now its a shame I have to break them.”

He stepped towards us, his eyes sparked with harmful intent. “Now which one of you pretty ponies wants to go first? I promise to make it qui-”

WHAM!

If I had blinked, I would have barely see the lightning fast buck of Firestorm connect with the giant’s face. He recoiled in pain, howling in anger before he righted himself on all fours, readying to charge. Firestorm wobbled forward, unbalanced by the hardness of his skull. His eye was beginning to bruise, and blood trickled down his greasy mane, but that did not detract from the sheer hatred in his face. “Why you little runt, I’ll tear you in half!”

He bolted, charging straight for Firestorm. She had not fully recovered from her attack, and was frozen at the sight of the crimson clad behemoth charging at her. She attempted to turn around, or even take off, but her movements were too slow to react in time, any second the beast was going to-

WHAM!!!

The lumbering oaf shrugged to the left by at least five feet, colliding with a disposal bin. He crashed in a terrible slump, but remained on the ground, unmoving. After watching something three times larger that I get swatted like a bug, I turned to the source of its defeat. South dropped her rear legs with practiced grace, as if she had done that on a daily basis. She turned to us and smirked at me. “Well that wuz fun.”

Firestorm was still bug eyed at the mountain that had charged at us and was now crumpled in a heap with the rest of the garbage. She shook her head and readied her gun, looking into the entrance of the bar. There was no noise to indicate that there was anypony inside, but I doubt we would have come this far just to fall into another trap. South on the other hoof, moved over to me, joining my observation of our recently defeated enemy.

“Well Shepard, Ah didn’t take you for the kind a pony that’d stare down a Manticore, an’ live t’ talk about it.”

“Yea well,” I said, my heart rate finally starting to catch up with me. “I’m full of surprises.”

“Guys,” Firestorm called out. “We should hurry before Mustang disappears.”

South nodded at her, and readied her gun. They both went ahead, while I moved slowly to join them. I was starting to notice a frightening pattern in the events I had found myself in. I was coming frighteningly close to death too much lately, and I wondered how much it was going to happen before I just passed out from all the stress. The sound of gunfire from inside brought me to my senses, and I charged in after my friends, adding another notch to the tally.

The club was very different from what I remembered. The dismal lighting of the red neon showed a disheveled scene of overturned tables, seats and boxes. Weapon scorch marks were being quickly added the the dull steel walls, and the bodies of armed thugs were slowly piling up between the exchange of them and my friends. Firestorm had taken cover behind a metal table, and ducked in and out to fire at her attackers. South, not surprisingly, decided to take cover from behind the bar, muttering curses every time a stray shot punctured a glass bottle behind her. Whether she was angry at the broken shards of glass cascading on her head, or the rampant waste of alcohol, I would have to find out later.

A shot or two whizzed past in my direction, and I dove for the nearest available cover. I pressed myself against a stack of boxes, casting quick glances into the firefight to see who was left to remove from our path. South had just taken out what appeared to be the fifth of the seven that was defending this room, and Firestorm was diving from cover to cover to get closer. The remaining two thugs that I could see did not appear aware of where I was. The stood behind a second bar enclosure on the far side of the room, adjacent to a set of doors that led into what I assumed to be a private office.

I readied my gun, and peeked once more out at the thugs, still oblivious to my presence. I decided to use that to my advantage, edging carefully out of cover, and fired. My shot went wide, striking some of the many shelves of alcohol behind them, missing spectacularly, and drawing their attention to me. They fired at me, prompting me to move back into cover, taking a few glancing hits to my shield. I heard one of them laughing.

“Heh, with aim like that, you couldn’t hit the broad side of a buffalo!”

Of course they would take the time to mock my shooting in the middle of a fire fight. I scowled at their comments, and peered around the edge to attempt a second time. South had taking a few shots of opportunity after my attempt, but did not succeed. I noticed something odd about the impacts of my shots, mostly on how the shelves now appeared to be wobbling. An idea formed in my head, and as crazy as it was, it involved more shooting. I fired again, aiming at the same place as before. I did not even wait to see what their retaliation was, but I heard more chuckling. “You just don’t learn do ya? Maybe I should teach you a less-”

The voice was drowned out by a loud creaking noise, then a cacophonous crash of cascading glass filled the air. My stray shots, as predicted, had damaged the supports holding the six or so shelves filled with large thick bottles, that rained painfully on the heads of thugs underneath. They shouted in pain as the heavy glass pounded and broke overtop of them, one of them actually jumping out of cover and directly into a well placed shot from Firestorm. He slumped over dead in a heap, while the tumbling shelves eventually quieted. South jumped from her cover, and approached the opposing bar, gun drawn. She peered over the edge, chuckling at what she saw.

“He’s out cold.”

I joined in looking over the bar, seeing the results of my plan. As described, the remaining thug was indeed unconscious, a few prominent bumps forming on his head as a result of one of the many bottles surrounding him on the ground. It was strange how peaceful the scene looked, before shouting from the adjacent room caught our attention. “What do I pay you idiots for?!” The voice was the same from the recordings back at the warehouse. Mustang was here!

A small object rolled across the floor out of the doorway. I looked at it curiously as it came to a stop just in front of me. It was a small cylinder, that began spinning wildly on the ground and spewing dark smoke. I heard Firestorm grunt as she took to the air, and beat her wings furiously to blow the obscuring gas away.

“It’s going to take more than a smoke grenade to stop me, Mustang!” she shouted.

Satisfied that the smoke was cleared enough, the zealous pegasus landed, and charged into the room ahead of us. The dissipating smoke lingered around the doorway, which gave an ominous feeling to it. South was unaffected as she trotted through after Firestorm and I reluctantly went after her. The sound of laser fire signaled me to move faster. I broke into a gallop down the narrow hallway, passing South in my haste.

The office was small and cramped, with a small desk sitting at the head of a small staircase. A short wall flanked both sides of the stairs, which Firestorm had decided to hide behind. Her face was contorted in pain and she was clutching her sides tightly. Her dark blue armor was tainted by a crimson red that was oozing from a singed hole in her armor. She saw me enter the room, a worried expression on her face. “Get down!”

I looked up, confused. Behind the desk, I saw a tuft of silvery hair sticking out from the other side. Beside the desk, on both sides, were two ugly identical art pieces. They looked like rounded pieces of metal with narrow snouted barrels. Barrels that were smoking...

Oh.

I fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding a bolt of energy impaling through my shield and armor like it had done with Firestorm. I crawled towards her, and pressed myself against the wall beside her. South peeked in through the doorway, and saw us huddled on the ground. I motioned for her to stay down, which she nodded in compliance. She crouched low, and rolled deftly across the room to the opposite wall, and held her gun high, ready to engage. I peeked out at the turrets, that returned to their idle positions. A faint blue aura hummed quietly around them, pulsing every few seconds.

“It’s a shame you came all this way to die, Firestorm!” Mustang called out. “Artemis will get what he wants.”

“What happened with the King, Mustang?” the pegasus replied smugly. “Was he not paying you enough?”

Mustang did not respond immediately. I heard a pompous cackle from where he was hiding. “It’s just business, Firestorm. Just like this!”

He punctuated his statement with another volley from his turrets. I could smell the melting metal from the other side of the wall, and I could feel the heat from the steel I was pressed against. A few more shots like that and they would pierce clean through. It was as good a time as any for another ridiculous idea. South decided to fire blindly around the corner while the turrets focused on me and Firestorm. Some of her shots hit the turrets, but bounced harmlessly off their shields. She grunted angrily at the ineffectiveness of her weapon, and looked to me for ideas.

“Shepard.” Firestorm grunted. She placed something into my hooves. I was a cartridge that glowed an electric blue. “Toss this to your friend, she’ll know what to do with it.”

With confusion, I complied, sliding the object over the floor to South. She scooped it up, and examined it for a moment. I saw her eyes widen, as a grin formed on her face. She lifted her weapon and popped something out of the magazine, replacing it with the strange blue cartridge. Satisfied with what she had done, she leaned her gun out for another attempt. The projectiles sprayed across the room, most of them not hitting anything in particular. I noticed something odd about them, what once used to fly through the air a crimson red, they were now a steely blue and sliced through the shielding of Mustangs turrets like butter.

The blue aura around the turrets fizzled and snapped, and their incessant humming finally stopped. Unfortunately, the bullets only ricocheted harmlessly off the metal shells. South cursed as the turrets responded in kind with a volley of laser fire in her direction. I peeked out as the commotion subsided, Hearing another laugh from behind the desk. “It’s gonna take more than disruption rounds to take these out Storm!”

Disruption rounds? Now those were something I could work with. It’s amazing how much damage a round charged with electromagnetism can do on an electrical level, say for instance take out a stubborn shield, or better yet, take down whatever hacking protection it may have had. I activated my omni-tool and looked for exactly the opening I needed. I caught Firestorm looking at what I was doing. I didn’t figure her for the tech type, but she seemed to smile slightly at what I was doing. I wasn’t confident in many of my physical skills, but if nothing else, I could do this with an air of confidence.

Confident enough, actually, to step out into the open, gun holstered. I saw Mustang peek his head out over the desk, and even he was confused. I heard South yell at me to get down, but I ignored her, staring our opponent square in the eyes. He lifted his head up, high enough for me to see the smile of indifference on his face. “Just one less mook to deal with,” he chortled. The turrets swiveled around towards me, but I kept staring at him. “Any last words before these babies turn you into dust?”

I smiled. “Yeah. Duck.”

I waved my hoof, and my tool beeped obediently. The turrets that were once pointed at me spun around, and fired just inches above Mustangs head, even singing a few hairs on his shimmering mane. It took him a few moments to realise exactly what happened, before he raised both his hooves shakily above his head. I stepped back, and turned to South. “Deal with him while I help Firestorm.”

South nodded and trotted over to Mustang, hearing a few more bucks and punches than I had I wanted, but whatever. At least he was being ‘dealt with’. What mattered more to me was tending to my wounded friend. Firestorm was still, but alert and responsive. The bleeding seemed to have slowed, probably more to the cauterizing effect of the laser that grazed her than anything else. “Are you going to be ok?” I asked concernedly.

She swayed to stand upright, leaning on me for support. She winced in pain as she continued to hold her side.

“Nothing a little Medi-Gel won’t fix.” She trotted up the stairs slowly, and ignoring the scene between South and Mustang, went straight for the metal safe in the wall behind the desk. She laughed as it opened at her touch and even more at the sight at what was inside. She reached inside and turned around, placing a capsule of blue liquid into her omni-tool.

“Only you would be arrogant enough to leave your safe unlocked Mustang,” she mocked. Her tool glowed a bright blue, and I saw the tension in her face fade as the pain of her wound melted away.

South had just finished hog tying Mustang with a rope of unknown origins and I decided just to leave it at that. Firestorm walked around the desk towards him, and grabbed him by the mane, forcing his head to look squarely at her. Ignoring the grunts of pain, she began her questioning. “Now. Not that I don’t appreciate relieving you of your precious supplies, you know that I’m here for something else.” She dropped his head, which hit the floor with a painful thud. “Start talking Mustang.”

Mustang growled quietly, avoiding eye contact with all of us. Firestorm let out a unimpressed sigh. “Maybe I should give your old boss a call, let him know what hole you’ve crawled into. I bet he’d just love to give a house call, not that he doesn’t already know where you are.” She trotted over the the computer terminal on the desk, and poked absently at a few buttons. “But maybe if we let it slip to him that you are gift wrapped, he might take some enjoyment from that.”

Mustang grunted again, and Firestorm seemed irritated that her pressing wasn’t working. “What did Artemis pay you to defy him?”

“Enough.”

Firestorm was not amused. I saw a flicker in her eyes, and even her mane seemed to spark slightly with fiery anger. She began typing on the computer, loudly dictating her words. “Dear Shadow King, today I learned-”

“Wait!”

The pegasus stopped, turning to the begging Earth Pony with a frightening grin. She knelt down and yanked on his head again, bringing Mustangs eyes to hers. “Where’s Razor? What’s this ‘loose end’ you got him dealing with?”

Mustang’s face contorted between anger and submission, as he pressed uselessly against his bonds. He appeared to be torn on whether or not to tell Firestorm what she wanted, and whether or not he would still be alive if he did. His head drooped in defeat, releasing a long tired sigh. “East market maintenance tunnels. Thats all you get.”

Firestorm did not seem immediately satisfied with that answer and went in for another blow. “You better hurry,” Mustang said amusedly. “I don’t think Razor will be much longer with her either.”

Her? The other loose end was another witness? The fiery pegasus’s ears flared in alarm and dropped Mustang again onto his face. She whirled around and started out of the room without another word. I followed behind her, and South dawdled for just a moment, as Mustang yelled at her. “You aren’t just going to leave me tied up are you?”

South looked at him with a blank expression, working her jaw in bored contemplation. “Eeyup.” She turned to follow me out of the office, while Mustang started to shout obscenities at us. His ranting dulled to nothing as we walked out of the hall into the destroyed club. Nothing had changed as Firestorm stepped carefully over the bodies of the slain thugs, beelining towards the exit. South and I hurried through in her hoofsteps and made it out of the club with no more surprises. Our pegasus friend was waiting for us outside, observing the still unconscious manticore lying in the dumpsters.

“The maintenance tunnels are this way,” she said hurriedly. She cantered off, and both South and I chased after her. I managed to catch up to her, and South moved ahead of me. A question nagged at me since the confrontation with Mustang, and since we were most likely heading to another gunfight, now seemed the best chance to ask. “Firestorm, who’s the Shadow King?”

She did not look at me, focusing on where she was running. “The last thing in the galaxy you want to piss off.”

We slipped into the secluded tunnels behind the markets in what could have been a record time, based on the pain in my lungs flaring in protest at the punishment I was forcing on them. South and Firestorm were in considerably better condition as they surveyed the sharp narrow corners of the red lit corridors we found ourselves in. The sounds of moving machinery and smell of burning materials filled the air, evoking a sense of nostalgia from my past work in fixing military vehicles as training.

Firestorm led the way as usual, while South and I followed carefully behind her. I thought a few times of what exactly Razor would be doing to tie up a loose end down here of all places, but nothing apparent came to mind. He was a thug, that was obvious and this seemed like the perfect place to do his less than legal business. The deeper we went into the darkened passage, the more I wondered how many ponies were unfairly killed or disposed of down in this forsaken pit.

Firestorm signaled us to stop at a corner and peered around it cautiously. South moved in beside her and knelt down quietly, gun ready. Firestorm shook her head, and whispered something I couldn’t hear. I saw South roll her eyes, and lowered her weapon, muttering something equally unintelligible. I made it to the corner myself, and looked around to see what the fuss was about. A set of stairs descended into a wider section of the hallway, with large boxes and containers littering the area. A lone pony stood in the open, a long hooded cloak covering their body.

The pony appeared to be waiting, I think, with the way it paced back and forth, and glanced around at the slightest noise. I don’t think it knew we were here, even though it had looked in our direction several times. “Where are they,” she snapped to nopony in particular. Her voice was sophisticated, almost regal despite her impatience. Hoofsteps caught our attention, as well as hers, coming from all directions, and she turned around wildly at the sight of encroaching shadows.

Five new ponies surrounded her, all equally large and scary looking, each brandishing a large weapon. A sixth pony, a pegasus, swooped in from above, landing deftly beside the lone mare. The light was dim, but I could still tell who it was from his shape. Razor. The cloaked pony backed away slightly, but Razor maintained a close proximity to her. “So, do you have what we want? Or is this going to get messy?”

“I wished to speak to the Shadow King directly, and you are definitely not him.” the mare replied flippantly.

I could barely make out the sinister smile on Razors face, as he got even closer to the defiant mare. “You don’t seem to understand that nopony meets the King. Nopony, not even someone as respected as you.” Razor lifted a hoof and stroked the side of the mares face, which she swiftly batted away.

“Then this deal is off, and I will see someone more respected, perhaps the Council if the King is not interested.” She turned away from Razor, but one of his goons barred her way. The ponies surrounding her aimed their weapons at her, and she glanced at them panickedly.

Razor laughed. “That’s not going to happen either.” He stared at the mare, who simply stared back. “Messy way it is then.”

Firestorm bolted around the corner, as did South, guns drawn. I stumbled after them, still watching the gun toting lunatics about to execute an innocent bystander. They did not notice us until we got to the bottom of the stairs, but by then it was too late. Each of them loosed a volley of shots towards the lone mare, and I felt a wrenching feeling in my gut at the fact that I was too late again. My despair faded, however, when I noticed that the shrouded mare was still standing, surrounded by a field of latent energy. The heated metal slugs of the fired weapons hovered harmlessly in the air around her, as static bounded in between them. The cloak of the mare whipped and waved in coalescing energy, as a rising hum filled the air.

Razor and his goons backed up slowly at the show of power in front of them, but they were not fast enough to evade the following explosion of light. A great shock wave flowed from the mare, engulfing and knocking back all within its radius. Even Firestorm and South were shoved aside at the wave of energy, which dissipated as it passed through me as well. As far as the first telekinetic shockwaves i’d been hit with in my life, it was pleasantly warm.

I landed on my back, par for the course really. I could hear a chorus of groaning and other pained sounds echo from the room I had been ejected from. I squirmed to my hooves, and moved back to the vantage point to see what exactly had happened. Razor, as well as his goons, were thrown violently against the surrounding walls. Razor also seemed to be the only one who was still conscious, as he moved with slug like vigor to return to his senses. South and Firestorm had been bounced into each other, and were awkwardly disentangling themselves, the soldier mare muttering a few curses, while the pegasus tried in vain to protect her wings from being stepped on.

And at the center of all of it, the lone mare who had caused everything had been completely unaffected. She was still standing, surrounded by the still forms of her former attackers, and surveyed the results of her labour. She eventually noticed us on the stairs, and moved cautiously towards us. I trotted past my companions, who were nearly done relearning how to stand and stopped in front of the strange mare.

She stopped in kind, and bowed her head respectfully, lowering her hood as she did so. I was not surprised that the mare was of course, a Unicorn. She was sapphire blue, and her long flowing mane sparkled with gemstones and other precious metals. Underneath her cloak, I could see that she was very well dressed and did not belong down here at all. She looked at me curiously, then looked at my companions behind me.

“You are not with these ruffians, are you?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, we aren’t. I’d like to say we were coming to rescue you, but...” I looked again at the supine bodies of the unconscious guards, and Razor had made no progress in standing up, collapsing to the ground. “It doesn’t look like you need it.”

She giggled daintily, when I saw Firestorm finally grace us with her presence. She has a look of shock on her face, as she looked critically at the mare standing in front of her. “Countess, what are you doing down here?”

She smiled. “Getting myself into trouble I suppose. Thank you for attempting to help, but I am quite alright I assure you.”

“Countess?” I asked, confused. “Are you some sort of noble?”

Both she and Firestorm laughed. “Oh my no, my dear. I am more of a, how do I put this...a purveyor of certain fantasies that may otherwise be unattainable through mundane means.” She fluttered her eyes at me, and stared with a sultry gaze. Oh. I blushed a little, and Firestorm continued her questions.

“I mean, why would Razor be after you? Do you know something about Artemis?”

She nodded somberly. “Yes, in fact I do.” Her horned glowed as she telekinetically tugged on a portion of her mane, and removed a clasp from it. It was a small ruby signet, which she held in front of her longingly. “A dear friend of mine has fallen into trouble with that pegasus. We used to speak to each other daily, but I hadn’t heard from her in weeks. Until recently that is.”

She returned the clasp to its place in her mane, then lifted her hoof, showing us her omni-tool. She removed a storage device from it, and placed it Firestorms hoof. The pegasus looked at it questioningly, while the Countess continued her tale. “This was sent to me a few days ago, from her. She said that I had to show it to somepony who could help, but then Artemis had sent his ponies after my before I could come to C-Sec.”

She trotted over the Razor, who had finally slipped into unconsciousness. “Then this ruffian claims the Shadow King can protect me. How foalish I was to believe him.”

Firestorm scoffed. “It seems Artemis has paid off every lowlife down in the Warrens, even enough to defy the Shadow King. Whatever your friend gave you Countess, Artemis wants it destroyed.”

She came back towards us. “Then it makes all the sense in the galaxy for me to give it to you. I am certain you would put it to far greater use than I could.”

“Who is your friend, Countess? Perhaps we could find her and keep her safe.”

She shook her head solemnly. “I cannot tell you. She will already be in worlds of trouble in giving this to me, and I would only seal her fate further if I let it slip even here that it was her that betrayed Artemis. If you do pursue him, you will find her soon enough. All I ask is that you do what you can for her.”

She trotted past us, and up the way we had come in. “Are you going to be alright alone, Countess?”

She smiled back at Firestorm. “I’ll be fine dear. As your friend said, I can look after myself.”

She vanished around the corner, leaving us alone with the group of unconscious thugs and goons. Firestorm was mystified at the confusing nature of the Countess. So was I, but that was besides the point. Only South seemed to be unbothered by the unicorns guileful nature. “Well she was nice ‘nuff. Whut do you suppose is on that data drive then?

Our attention fell on the small device in Firestorm’s hoof. “Hopefully something good.” She handed it to me, and I examined it carefully. It was an audio file, which I played immediately. Two voices played in tandem, neither of which I recognised. One was male and the other female, and the latter appeared to be subservient to the former. Firestorm’s eyes widened as the recording played, a victorious smile plastered on her face.

“The Council is going to love this.”

Wing-Guard: Paragon Points Earned

Codex Entry Added: The Warrens

Codex Entry Added: The Shadow King

Codex Entry Added: The Countess