The three remaining men inside that room, Jack, Abe and Eye Patch, look at each other. The boss has something to say. He's been keeping that on his throat for the whole morning. He knows it will destroy the whole uncomfortable silence inside the room, covered in some kind of odd peace. "Well," he says. "About that thing."

Jack and Abe raise an eyebrow and look at each other. "What happened?" asks Jack. "Something with the Neighsay task?"

Eye Patch scratches his hair while getting a cigarette out of his shirt's pocket. "No... Neighsay is OK... It's something else... something I don't like..." He takes a breath while the faces of them both begin to show concern. "It's not something really bad, but it clearly worries me. A lot."

"Oh... what's going on? What happened?" now asks Abe. If Eye Patch says that, it's bad. "Do you want me to call W?"

He closes his eye. "No, no... let him breathe fresh air, calm him down, this whole Rarity thing may be tearing him apart... I know he can do it, but he needs to be alone and think for a second..."

"It's a big man now. He just looks like Wade," suddenly replies Abe. "The same manner of speaking and relating to others. It's that Wade we met on the nineties..."

"And I still see him as the boy from the orphanage we had to take care of... um.... sorry, I got out of the question."

Suddenly, Eye Patch leaves the cigarette on the table and surprisingly takes off his sunglasses, clearly showing why his name is Eye Patch. The scar which left him without his left eye is now visible. Jack and Abe are used to that, so they don't get shocked at it. "I received the call of a man we despise a lot. He wanted to have a talk not only with me but with all of the bosses of Equestria. He was angry."

"Despise?" asks Abe. "A man we despise a lot that wanted to talk with all of the bosses. That could be Sabretooth from Fillydelphia..."

"Sabretooth is an asshole," says Jack. "We despise him a lot, but he has not the power of calling all of the greats of the country just like that. Only one man has the power to do tha---" Jack shuts up.

There's only one man that can do that, and if there is something you should know, is that if that man gets angry... is something so dangerous you have to run away from him. Jack's pupils shrink. Abe opens his mouth. "It is not who I think it is..." Abe whispers. "Right?"

Bloodswan.

The worst man you can ever come across.

The worst gangster of them all.

And that means something bad.

Rusty's

The young gangster steps outside, getting out of the office and looking at the cars. He slowly lays his back against the door of one of them and gets out something from his trenchcoat's pocket. It's not the best morning he had, but it's not the worst either. He went through worse, worse things, he thinks, while putting a cigarette on his mouth and slowly pressing the lighter he got out of his pocket. He lights it.

Thinking about the morning, he gets out his cellphone while smoking a cigarette. Looks at the list of numbers he has on it.

He hasn't called him for days. When was the last time he had a chat with his brother? His bro... whose only thing he can relate to him is his blood... they look like, they are two completely different men. William Waters on one side, the forensics dude who was adopted at an early age and turned into a working man... and on the other side, Walter Waters, the little one, the clumsy gangster who was raised in the streets. Sometimes he thinks why does he still have that phone number, and these are the moments when he realizes...

How are you? He might ask, but firstly, he needs to answer the call. He may not do it due to being busy at work. How crazy, he thinks, he is busy at work... W's always busy, but he's always there to answer the phone. Always...

WILLIAM

DIALING... 📞📞📞

He puts the phone on his ear while slowly putting the cigarette again in his mouth. It's taking a while.

"Um... hey, how you doin'? I'm at work right now, thank me for keeping the cellphone in my pocket because you'd never had listened to me today, you know."

"Of course, Walt... I'm a freaking forensics doctor who works for the Canterlot Police Department, do you think I've got some holidays?"

Pause. He knows what he is meaning to. "No, it's not a G," he replies. "It's a guy who passed away due to an overdose, no idea which drug did he use. We don't even know if it was suicide..." Then, he groans. "Why in the hell I'm telling you what I'm analyzing? Huh... why did you call?"

"Is it something G-related, with the mob and all this bullshit? Please, I don't want my partners to say something about that... and you know I'm sick of being your freaking psychologist with that thing."

"Would you stop calling gangsters G? Firstly, you sound like a cheap, snob imitation of Biggie Smalls, and secondly, you're in the CPD... I don't think you are around loyal, heroic cops. All of them are as dirty as gangsters, just ask your boss," he interrupts. "And no, I'm not calling you because of that..." but then he scratches his hair, embarrassed. "Well, um... a bit."

"And that's what I'm doing right now." He sighs. "Please, be quick... I need to go back to work. Thank Star Swirl I'm alone and my partner's still in the bathroom."

"Um, you see... Abe has been begging me to do something in Canterlot since last week."

"Canterlot?" he says. "And do these guys from, uh... the Syndicate of Canterlot Workers, know about what you are going to do?"

Syndicate of Canterlot Workers. The infamous SCW is only a nest of old, fat-ass gangsters... filled with every kind of mice. "No," replies W. "Big Baby and the Syndicate don't know anything and don't you dare to tell anyone from Canterlot about this. Even your boss, because that only will bring much more problems... and I'm getting tired with just Abe behind my back."

"Come on, William, do you even talk to someone in your job? You literally dismember dead bodies," W sighs and looks everywhere. Luckily no one heard that, no clients are around. That sounded really disturbing. "It's not the first time I tell you to shut up."

"OK, OK! And what do you have to do? It's not something... bad... or bloody, isn't it?"

"No, no," he says, turning around, starting to walk in circles around the car. "I have to get into Canterlot High to take care of Abe's granddaughter from her ex-boyfriend and classmate, who turns out to be a violent douche with an insane group of friends, you know... a grandfather overprotecting his granddaughter."

"Um... I wouldn't say overprotective. It's a bizarre plan, but it's not crazy. It's the mind of a grandfather who tries to take care of his granddaughter... desperately."

"And there's something else," he stutters. "The name of this kid sounds familiar literally to everyone except for myself. I mean, why is this stupid kid so familiar to everyone? His name is Cattle Prod, not fucking Tirek."

A silence from the other side of the phone calls the gangster's attention. "Cattle Prod," says his brother. "It's not the first time I've heard that name."

He clenches his teeth now while shaking his head with the cigarette on his mouth, still. "Really? You too?"

"I mean... the only things I know about him are those you've just told me now... but that name, I may have heard it on a conversation here... but I have no idea about him."

He sighs. "I don't know, man. I don't remember." A strange silence between both brothers, until William speaks again: "Um... you said Canterlot High, right? You know, um..."

"Uh... Will," he says, holding the cigarette with his fingers. "I never entered that place in my life... and you ask me the name of the Principal? And why do you want to know that?"

"Well, you know... if my mind doesn't lie to me... I remember that name, Celestia, as one of Mom and Dad's friends in their Acting Class."

W is now open-mouthed and doesn't even finish his phrase. The cigarette slips from his fingers and falls to the ground, still burning. It crashes against the pavement of the store before W unconsciously steps on it.

Wade & Wanda: Hearts like Sand in the Wind

6 months of life he had when Wade and Wanda Waters mysteriously disappeared from one day to another in 1997. His father was a gangster, just like him. The former king of Maretreal, one of the most important men of the '80s and '90s gangster world, and former best friend of his partners (and also adoptive fathers in a way): Jack, Abe and Eye Patch. Everyone, even Rusty Wrench, would tell him Wade was the funniest and kindest man that they've ever met, along with his wife Wanda, who he met in his teenage years and was also related to the mob. Eye Patch told him she was the most brave woman she had ever seen in his life.

Abe told him that when Walter was born, the two parents branched out, trying to get out of the mob world, by taking acting classes in the Canterlot Amphitheatre. They went almost undercover but presented themselves with their real names. Jack would sometimes go with them and he would tell him years later how those classes were like.

And one day, after another acting class, the two of them get in their car, kissed each other's lips, turned the vehicle on and left the Amphitheatre.

And nobody knows why. Jack, Abe, Eye Patch, and everyone else in their circle of friends gave all they had and tried their best to find them. To find an answer to why did they disappear... but they never could reach the word.

Both Waters brothers, William and Walter, were sent to an orphanage after their parents' mysterious fate. William was lucky and was adopted. Walter didn't. An 8-year-old W decided to join the mob to find out where were his parents. Nobody wanted a little child acting like a grown-up man with a gun, but due to so many things that happened in the middle, the world ended up accepting his fate and teaching that little boy how to survive in this hell. Both Waters brothers tried to find the answer together, they spent years asking, investigating, researching information about them.

They still haven't found the answer, and William thinks they will never find them. He gave up. W thought about it, but he doesn't want to. He still believes they are out there, doing something.

Was Celestia in that last acting class, if she was a partner of Mom and Dad? Did they talk to her? What did she tell them? Did she see something strange?

"Oh," suddenly he pronounces when finding out he's got lost in his thoughts. "Uh... um... really?"

"Yeah... I think so, um..." he stutters, while W finds out someone else comes out of the store: A blonde girl named Dko. "Um... don't waste your time trying to talk to her, I mean... if we didn't find anything in all of these years... I don't think she knows much more than we do..."

"Um..." he whispers while raising one hand to Dko. She stops approaching him and nods her head, laying against one of the cars. "I don't know, you said she might have been a friend of Mom and Dad, she may know something if she was in their last acting class."

"Walt, bro..." he says. "I don't know... I was the one who brought up this now but... you know... They have been gone for 23 years, and we tried everything, you know we tried everything to find them, and nothing gave us the answer. It's sad, it's bad, I'm even mad about that, disappointed... but it's that. We can do nothing, not anymore."

"I don't know, man..." he whispers, shaking his head. "I don't know, look... uh..." he looks at Dko. "I've got to go. I've got to end the call."

"Me too, I've got to go back to work, Walt. See you. Don't forget about calling me on the weekends, OK?"

"I don't wanna talk about that now," W interrupts and the tension worsens. However, he takes a breath. "Sorry... what's the matter?"

A bit of silence before she speaks. "Um," she puts her hands on her pants' pockets and sighs. "I came here to apologize."

She approaches him. "I think what I've told you about the schools and that you've never been in any... sounded pretty rude, and I know this morning is not the best one for any one of us, so... I decided to apologize for how that sounded, I didn't mean to hurt you. I was mad at that moment and I calmed down now. I'm sorry."

He chuckles and Dko smiles. "Okay, I accept the apologies." Then she nudges his shoulder. "Woah, Woah, Woah... not so fast, Siamese Dream."

"Uh, come on," she says, smiling. "I was trying to be friendly with you and you keep making those stupid Smashing Pumpkins jokes which only you consider funny."

"I mean, Dko... they are funny because you look like D'Arcy Wretzky," he says, raising his shoulders. "And you can't deny that."

"Well," she says. "D'Arcy wants to ask you a question, now that we are talking about that."

"Yeah, my favourite song of your band is X.Y.U., I don't care about the other ones."

"I'm being serious this time, a-hole... and I'm not being rude, answer me... do you feel ready for what you are trying to do? Can you get on with that school alone? Do you feel it? I'm asking you and I want you to be honest."

W stays in silence for a second. "Um, I mean, Dko... it's a school... it's not a war or whatever. Besides, I'm not an asshole, I do know how does a school look like on the inside. It has classrooms, bathrooms... even more classrooms..."

"I'm telling you... Canterlot High is a pretty big school," she says. "I'd say it's the biggest one in the country, but I'm not sure. It's almost like a town, W. It even has dorms, you know that?"

"Ok, look... I think you will get lost on your first day without knowing where you can go, despite the Principals and Teachers tell you which one is the way. You need someone who can help you for real... besides, there still may be this naughty bitch called Sunset Shimmer who will make your life impossible..."

She blinks. "See? I was in that school. I can help you with that. Not with Sunset Shimmer, I don't think she will annoy you, I mean... with the school life. Here, take my phone number."

He raises his eyebrows. "Uh, please!" he shouts. "Are you flirting with me or what, James Iha?"

"I told you I'm being serious!" she also shouts. "And no, I'm not flirting with you. I wouldn't even touch you with a fucking selfie stick. I want you to take my phone number in case you get lost in the school. It's huge and I know what you'll have to deal with that first time passing through the entrance doors. Trust me."

"And... since when do you care about me being lost in a school where you were a freshman?"

"Not only I want to help but also... you know, I may curse you out and call you a stupid son of a gun, but that doesn't mean I don't want to listen to you or help you. I want to help at least." Then, she sighs and gets out her cellphone. "And if you want, I can also take your phone number. You're welcome, Mr Dooby-Doo."

"Woah, Woah, wait a minute," he interrupts while taking out his cellphone again. "I'm mentally processing something, and you are still throwing things at me... OK, I'll write your number, but let yourself know that I don't consider this as something completely necessary. I may call you at midnight to tell you jokes related to Billy Corgan or people named Dick... I mean, is that school really big?"

"Oh, boy. Yes, it is. You'll see you will need me more than you think, and when you find out how much will you need my advice, I'll laugh at you so bad I'm going to be the new Joker." She starts giggling.

W bites his lips looking for his contacts list. "Damn," he says. "You clearly suck at making jokes."

W writes Dko's phone number on his contacts list while telling her the game: "I'm going to tell you something. If I don't call you while being there, you owe me a hundred bucks."

NEW CONTACT ADDED ON YOUR LIST!

DKO (GIRL NAMED LIKE A PENIS)

Dko nods her head with a challenging stare while W keeps his phone in the pocket. He hopes she didn't see the name of her contact. "Sure, but if you call me, you are the one who will owe me a hundred," she replies, laughing. She knows he'll call, sooner or later.

"OK, done," he says. "And write my phone number, because you'll need it to tell me who's the best at making jokes from both of us."

Dko raises her middle finger as an answer and also writes W's phone number when she finds out there's something on the ground. "Hey," she says. "Were you smoking that cigarette?"

W turns his head around and looks at the stomped cigarette on the ground, with all of its tobacco spread within the pavement. It's still burning. He bites his lips. "Oh," he says. "Fuck. That was my last one."

"Hell no, your bourgeoisie cigarettes which smell like roses and lavender fucking suck."

Suddenly, the doors are open again, and Jack comes out of it, closing the door really fast. W doesn't say anything, but that calls his attention. Jack only does that in a certain mood. "W," is the first thing he says after getting out of the office, without Abe, Eye Patch or Rusty Wrench. "We've got to save time. Come on. We are going to Fletcher's."

"No, W," he says. "It also opens on Saturdays," he goes to the car. "Hurry up, please, Calc only works until afternoon on weekends."

Jack raises his shoulders. "Of course, W, he's the one who will do the paperwork... Come on!"

Jack is a bit more nervous. It may be because of what happened this morning. "Ok, wait a minute!"

"But I know our bet has finished," he says, straight before making a one-second dance. "Boom. Catchphrase. Shut your mouth up, Richard."

Dko shakes his head. "That was the most pathetic catchphrase I've ever heard!" However, W does not listen to her. He has already got in the car. "Goddamn it," she says.

Jack's Car

W closes the car's door and sighs. "Man," he says, looking at Jack. "I can't believe Eye Patch literally said Calc, who looks like a laundered version of Rivers Cuomo, is the best forger he has ever known."

"Weezer's singer, look it up," he answers, laughing. "It literally looks like Calc, man---"

"I won't do it now," responds Jack, very fastly. W knows something's odd... but doesn't say anything. It may be what happened this morning. "And he didn't say he is the best he has ever seen, he said he's a really good forger, and you've got to admit, W, he's really good at that. I, honestly, still can't believe it. That kid blew my mind away."

W moves his head. "Well... um, I remember that time he forged a police report for one of Big Baby's workers. It literally looked like a real one."

"You see?" says Jack, taking out the car, a bit faster than normal, and waving at Dko, who only smiles while entering the office. "That kid's good. You've got to admit it."

"Apart from that, talking about Canterlot people," interrupts W, raising a hand. "Um... you said no one of you told Big Baby what we are going to do, didn't you? Sure about that?"

Jack chuckles at that question, something that calls W's attention. "Of course, W... why do you think you are not getting in there with your true face?"

"And with someone, we meant someone who is a civilian, which may be something not so probable, but also the workers of that fucking whale Big Baby. They can see you. You know they are everywhere, with the Syndicate bullshit, Fishing Rod, the Dark Spikes, all of those." Jack takes a breath and keeps talking. "Telling Big Baby what we are going to do is the worst thing we can really do in Canterlot. He reminds me of a fat version of a King Sombra with COPD constantly trying to take over the Crystal Empire."

W laughs while nudging Jack's shoulder softly. "Oh, man, King Sombra, Crystal Empire. I missed your magical Equestrian legend stuff. I was thinking which phrase would you say about that this morning."

Jack shakes his head and sighs. "I swear I would kick your ass if I wasn't driving."

"Instead of kidding me, think about which kind of fake identity you want to make, you have only two days. Besides, fasten your seatbelt. If we crash, you'll fly out of this car looking like a stomped pigeon."

The young gangster takes a breath while scratching his hair. "Man, come on, relax! I still haven't fully processed I have to do this. As you said, there are two days. We have a lot of time to think about that, and about the seatbelt, come on, you know I'm always like this in the car! You're a really good driver and you know that. You always think about the what-ifs, all the time. Relax. Live free, Jack. Live free for a couple of minutes."

Jack shakes his head and replies faster: "You know the thing we can do the least in the world we live in is living free, W."

That phrase shocks W a bit. He closes his mouth. Clearly, something's not OK. "Woah," he says. "That phrase has really shocked me, man... What's going on? You've been having those nerves since you came out of that door."

Jack sighs at hearing that. "Well," he says. "Uh... I don't know why I'm delaying this so... Eye Patch has told Abe and me something. That happened."

"Bad news? What?" W stays in silence. "Why don't you tell me? Why didn't he tell me?"

"He wanted to... but said he wanted you to take some fresh air before. I said I was going to tell you this."

"What? But he could have told me to stay..." W's eyes open widely. "Holy shit, Jack, what's going on? What happened?"

"Okay," Jack lowers the car's speed while driving on the street. "Someone called Eye Patch. Really mad."

An uncomfortable silence. Jack stops at a red light in a corner and looks at W right in his eyes. "Bloodswan."

W covers his mouth and stays in silence. Jack shakes his head a couple of times, while the young gangster slowly fastens the seatbelt, shocked.

If Bloodswan calls mad, it's not something nice. Not something good.

Not the best day of your life.

Jack instantly answers: "His house." W calms down a bit but remains overwhelmed. "But that doesn't mean it's something great. That Swan son of a bitch never stains his house with blood... but can say whatever he wants. You know that, W."

There's this old house in the middle of the highway, between Manehattan and Canterlot. It belonged to an old family which was murdered not so long ago.

The house, which was the wealthiest of its time, is now a broken, dirty, moisty shell of what it was before. Nobody dares to touch it due to an urban legend that says the ghosts of that family are still there, floating around and crying for their death. That house has a nickname now.

The Dead House

A car stops right in its front, used by lots of gangsters to do their most gruesome work. It's a favourite place for them to get rid of what he doesn't need or doesn't want to live. Bloodswan's family have used this place for years since the house's residents died, not so long ago.

One of the users of this place is Sharp Baton, the nephew of a powerful man, who is the first one to get out of the car. A lime-skinned man with clear brown hair, smartly dressed, with a swan tattoo on his neck. He shows class when he comes down along with a friend of his, who presses a button in the car which opens the trunk. "Ok," says Baton. "You can get out."

Two young, confused, even scared kids come out of the car. Their names are Snips and Snails. "Oh!" shouts Snips, turning around and looking at the old house. "That's the Dead House... um, we are not going to enter there, right? Uh... you've heard of the legend, right?"

"I've read it on Twist's cellphone," says Snails. "Damn, it looks like ghosts may be living the----"

"AAAAHHHHH!" Snips and Snails jump from fear before finding out Sharp Baton was the one who scared them, who is now laughing. "You son of a..."

"Woah!" shouts Baton. "Don't you dare to insult your mentor, huh? Rule Number 1: you dare to say something bad to me and you'll turn into Mr Woods."

Speedster comes out of the car in silence and opens the trunk. From it, he gets out a scarecrow with lots of holes. "That one is Mr Woods," replies Baton, while Speedster closes the trunk and takes Mr Woods to the wasteland they are staying in. Not so near the Dead House, just in case.

"That's what you are going to find out today," he says while Speedster puts the scarecrow on its place, standing like a crucified man. "Firstly, I want to ask you something, boys... you came here for something, OK... do you want to gain easy money, right?"

Sharp Baton didn't like that one. He shakes his head. "Mmm... thought it would be louder... um... that means you don't want easy money, right? You don't want to be buying your favourite sweets with your money, is that what I've heard?"

"That's the attitude I'm looking for!" he shouts, laughing. "Do you want to gain easy money?"

"OK! OK!" he says. "But if you want to gain that, you'll have to learn something first. More like... you've got to try it." Now both kids who were laughing stopped. They look at each other. Meanwhile, Sharp Baton opens the car while Speedster lays against the trunk, looking at Woods. The gangster with a swan tattoo opens the car's glove box and gets a gun out of it. Once both kids see the .44 Magnum on Sharp's hands, they freeze right there from shock. "This," he says, pointing at the gun with a finger. "This is the key for easy money, my children."

"We are not going to rob anyone..." adds Snips, almost in a whisper. "Or are we?"

"No," replies Baton. "You're not going to rob anyone. We are not that kind of thing, boys. We are not burglars, we are not thieves. We always look for another way for easy money... a much harder way, but better. A lot better. Literally, the only thing you have to do is this..."

Then, Sharp Baton turns around and starts firing the gun against the scarecrow Mr Woods. The sound is so ground-breaking that Snips and Snails cover their ears for a second.

Six shots. Six bullets perfectly shot. All ended up in Mr Woods' chest. Then, he turns around and looks at the scared kids uncovering their ears. "Ok..." he says, smiling. "Who wants to try this out first?"

Waters: An Equestrian Gangster

by King Genesis

A Cigarette to Enlighten my Morning

Office

Rusty's

Jack's Car

The Dead House