//------------------------------// // Beauty and the Beast // Story: Mr. Smokes // by Deep //------------------------------// The only thing I could do was wait. Since every hospital in the area was out of the antidote for the drug, the doctors were treating Princess Twilight with the goal of keeping her alive through the coma she was in, nothing more. They gave her a fifty-percent chance of living, and if she ever woke up, they had no idea when it would be.  Prepared for the worst, I lost myself in anger. As it consumed me, my desire for revenge grew. I promised myself that I would avenge Princess Twilight by midnight. If I failed, then I would overdose on sugarcubes and suffer the same fate she did.  I spent the next few hours meeting with Hayseed and setting my revenge into motion. He was the only pony I trusted with this, and though he was barely able to move, his shared desire for revenge gave him the strength of the even the mightiest earth pony.  It was night when I approached Fancypants’ mansion. I estimated that I had one hour left before my deadline. Hayseed had the sugarcubes for my overdose if I failed, if Fancypants’ goons didn’t kill me first, that is.  Understanding that I was entering enemy territory, I gave up trying to think of a way to sneak in. Instead, I flew toward the door and broke through it. As soon as I entered, I saw the dozens of unicorns stationed throughout the many rooms and floors. All of them had their horns aimed in my direction, a sight which caused me to grin.  Every unicorn immediately began blasting magical beams and rapid fire energy bolts in my direction. Using my small body and the skills from my flight lessons with Rainbow Dash, I was able to dodge most of them, but a few still hit me. The impacts burned my wings, causing me to fall to the floor. I hid behind a nearby column, but that didn’t stop the army from shooting in my direction. That’s right, keep on shooting.  Whenever a break in the shooting presented itself, I quickly fired back with flames. I aimed at those without armor, and the sinking flames quickly consumed the targets. The problem was that most of the unicorns had armor. That’s when I realized, this whole mansion was a target. I aimed a blast of fire at the columns supporting a group of ponies shooting at me from the floor above. The flames melted through the columns, collapsing the floor on top. The ponies fell into the rubble. Most were either knocked out or left dazed, and the few that remained as threats I blasted with fire.  My grin growing from cheek to cheek, I fought the remaining unicorns this way, until a magical field grabbed hold of me. Just like with the original crazed sugarcube buyer, a unicorn had grabbed me with his magic and was pulling me out into the open, where I would be shot. I struggled to break free, but my puny body was no match for the magical power. The only chance I had was to look in the direction I was being pulled toward, aim at the ceiling above that location with my flames, and hope the rubble would crush the unicorn. I shot the biggest fire blast I could at the ceiling, causing it to break apart into burning rubble. As the rubble fell, I could hear the breaking of bones, and the magical grip around me ended.  Knowing I had no time to waste, I sprinted toward Fancypants’ main room of operations, defeating the thugs in my way using the very structure around them. It only took me a few minutes to reach Fancypants, who sat calmly on his couch next to Fleur De Lis, who stood behind him. He was surrounded by dozens of thugs, but it was the pony sitting beside him on the couch who left me petrified. It was Rarity, who was tied up and gagged and was screaming for someone to save her.  “I had a feeling you would use my home against me,” Fancypants said, smiling confidently as he sipped on a cup of coffee. “And so I took the liberty of taking your dear Rarity as shield. Do feel free to collapse the ceiling. I promise you it is the quickest way to kill me and my men.” I let out a loud growl. He was smart, but it was time for me to prove to him that I wasn’t as dumb as I once was. “Tell me, do you feel any different? Shaky, by any chance?” Fancypants let out a laugh. “Let me guess, you tried to poison me? And let me take another guess. I’m betting that you tried using my coffee?” My only response was a grin. Fancypants laughed again, this time louder. “How desperate do you have to be to use my own trick against me? Do you really think I’d fall for such a ploy?” “Take a deep breath for me, will ya?” Looking ever so confident, Fancypants took a deep, long breath. “It’s in the air.”  My words caused Fancypants to freeze, as well as everyone else in the room. Rarity’s screaming was the only noise left, and it echoed throughout the building.  “It’s been in the air for hours. So you all might as well keep breathing. Holding your breath isn’t gonna do anything now.” Fancypants’ smirk transformed into a scowl. “How?” “Let’s just say that the Diamond Dogs are really good at digging. And they know a lot more about sugarcubes than you do. Getting the powder airborne wasn’t hard at all for them since that’s one of its magical properties already.” I had Hayseed to thank for telling me this information, and for getting me in contact with Dogs quickly.  Any semblance of calmness Fancypants had melted away, leaving only his glare and his growl. “I’m betting that fire is what activates it. How convenient.” “Nope. It’s unicorn magic. Especially powerful one, like the ones used in fights.” Fancypants’ face turned pale. “You’re mad. Your Rarity will die as well. If you didn’t still care for her, you would have just collapsed the ceiling, so you must be lying. I will not allow myself to fall for this bluff.” “And let me take a guess. I’m betting that you only kidnapped her a few hours ago, and kept her mouth covered since then too?” I said. As Fancypants and his men realized what this meant, their eyes began to shake with worry. “She’ll live, as will I.” Enraged, Fancypants and all of his men fired at me at once. Their combined magic accelerated the activation of the sugarcube in the air. In an instant, the air turned hazy, and everyone collapsed to the floor and began to cough. Their coughing turned to screams as their bodies began convulsing. Even I could feel my body start to shake. It was like a muscle spasm, but all over, even inside me. As if my heart, lungs, and intestines were trembling. I struggled to breathe, and yet the feeling was so good, like how I imagined a kiss would feel. But the feeling was so terrifying that all I could do was panic.  Running on pure adrenaline, I flew toward Rarity, who was also convulsing, and used what was left of my burned wings to escape the building while carrying her. When I entered the street, I dropped to the floor as I lost most voluntary control of my muscles. What little control I had left, I used to turn to the mansion and fire the largest flame blast I could. This ignited the whole mansion. The flames engulfing it roared into the night sky, muffling out the blood-curdling screams coming from inside. What pride I had in myself soon vanished as my whole body began to shake violently. My vision became blurry, like I was in a dream, but I could see that Rarity was convulsing as well. As I lay there, unable to breath, drowning on my own spit, I felt proud of myself. I had avenged Princess Twilight, and even if this was to be the end for Rarity and I, at least this was the end of Fancypants and his syndicate as well. With him and I gone, Canterlot would be better off. Before leaving for the mansion, my last order to Hayseed had been to shut down the gang if I didn’t return. I trusted him to respect my wishes, and though this wouldn’t fix everything I’d caused, at least the city would be able to start healing. I’m so sorry, Twi. You too, Rarity. You both deserved better than this. Than me. I let go of the will to live, accepting the damage I’d done. I waited for death… except it never came. My convulsing stopped, as did Rarity’s.  A part of me was sad. If I had died, then I wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone anymore. But now that I was alive, what was I to do? Was I to continue on the path of destruction? Or was I to go back, even though the past I longed for was gone?  As I sat up, I turned to Rarity, who was sitting up as well. She stared at me, unable to recognize me due to a mixture of my mask, my injuries, and her partial disorientation. I took off my mask and greeted her with a smile. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” I said.