She dreamt of a leaden winter, desperate heartbeats drowned out beneath a choir of sirens’ screams. A gory grip had laid waste to the night, dragging its black cloak to scatter the stars to faraway voids.
She was a spectator for it all, the desolation wrought by a faceless figure, whose presence was only made known in its cruelty. Every silenced cry, every burning red shriek, every iron crack of grating chains, made her wince and tremble, but she was frozen in place.
She awoke soaked in sweat.
Glancing at the alarm clock sitting idly by on her barrack nightstand, Starlight was relieved to know the morning was still ways away.
But she could not go back to sleep, even if she had wanted to. She gave way to a muddled moan as she shifted out of her sheets, taking care not to make too much noise.
She was not entirely sure how to escape the Erased’s underground headquarters, their sunken lair discreetly hidden beneath the streets of Canterlot.
Passing through the barracks, Starlight could make out the exhausted faces of several Erased agents drooling over their grey sack pillows. She could even make out Rarity, who was given the luxury of her own barrack bed despite being an unofficial prisoner. It had only taken a full day of whining and complaining to earn it, but a privilege it remained. Starlight pitied Rarity, and thought of saying goodbye, but dared not interrupt her beauty sleep.
And there was Trixie by the end of the barracks, or, rather, where she was supposed to be.
Starlight swiveled her head to the doorway of the barracks, where Trixie was waiting.
Starlight sighed and stepped out of the barracks, joining Trixie in the corridor outside. The door slid close, leaving the two unicorns beneath a dull blue fluorescent spotlight.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Trixie demanded.
“What am I doing? What are you doing?” Starlight replied.
Trixie’s eyes widened, stunned.
“Stopping you from making a mistake, that’s what.”
Starlight couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes.
“You’re trying to leave. You want to head out there, and confront her.”
“We can't wait any longer. What did you think we came to this city to do, exactly?” Starlight said.
“We were supposed to wait for the others, remember?” Trixie said.
“She'll catch them before they make it here, and she'll catch us too, if we stay in one place too long," Starlight said, "I have to draw her out, somehow, out of the city, or else ponies will get hurt..."
“I know Twilight was your friend, I know how much you care about her. But think for a second. Everypony loves her. They always have,” Trixie said, enviously, “But she can’t deceive them all forever. Lies catch up to all of us.”
“Twilight happens to be a bit smarter than all of us.”
“You can’t stop her alone. She’s an alicorn princess. You can’t just stroll up to her and give it your best shot. Have you got a death wish?”
“OK. What would you have me do?” Starlight demanded.
“Equestria still thinks of her as a hero, and you a criminal. Say you do somehow pull it off, against all odds. Everypony from Southstock to Cloudsdale will be spitting on your grave for generations, mourning their precious princess, cursing the monster that cut her reign short.”
“And they’ll be safe from whatever Twilight is planning. It doesn’t matter what happens to me. I don’t matter,” Starlight said, her voice cracking, “I don’t know whether any of what Twilight taught me is true anymore. But I know I have a responsibility. I don’t care if I don’t stand a chance. I have to try.”
Trixie noticed Starlight crumble beneath her words, and backed off slightly.
“There was a time not so long ago, when I wasn't sure I should have stuck around any longer. I knew what kind of things I was doing to other ponies, I knew it was wrong. And I did it anyways. I hurt ponies, I took years of their lives away. Because I couldn't figure out my own problems. I had nothing to offer to anypony, other than more misery. Unworthy of the grand destiny I thought I deserved. Then a pony comes along who does what I thought was impossible - teach me something I didn't already know. She gave me what I was missing. She gave me a real life. She was everything I wanted to be. Somepony who isn’t afraid to fight for what they believe in, somepony who lives by what they teach. I kept on living just to be by her side. She changed my life, and for what? It's not enough to know she had a reason to kill Ember and the others, betraying us went far beyond her political ambitions. What changed? I have to find her, Trixie. I have to know.”
"At least let me help you," Trixie said, "At least give the others a chance. Or talk to Alias, see if he can-"
"I need to settle this myself," Starlight said, "I won't risk you or the others getting hurt, if things go wrong."
Trixie sighed, and sauntered over for a tight embrace.
“You just want Twilight all for yourself. It's not being noble, it's being impatient and selfish. Our friends need you a lot more than you need to get back at Twilight. But if it’s what you think is best,” Trixie said, mournfully, “I’m always going to be here for you. Thick and thin.”
Starlight smiled, and backed away.
“What would I do without you?” Starlight asked.
“Better to not think about it,” Trixie grinned.
Starlight’s smile grew, and she slipped off down the corridor, leaving Trixie beneath the pale spotlight, her eyes falling to the ground.
Darkness overcame her as the lights above flickered, and the grim ringing of the Canterlot tower bells shook the earth below. The sound became inescapable, swelling into a rise that made glass quiver and stones shake. The dawn had arrived.
A pair of corpses dragged their hooves on the stairs.
Redshift was patient from the tumbledown room, which was rank with mold.
She would not have been surprised if Brandy’s tongue had been cut out; the girl hardly let out a cough, let alone a cry for help. She had long given up on that.
At last came the two Undergrounders she was waiting on. Her two royal guards had carried their bodies up into the room, dumping them to the hardwood in a bloody, rotten heap.
“The third?” Redshift asked.
“Wasn’t much of him left to carry,” grinned one of the guards, who had a toothpick bouncing between his lips. His gums were all black, and his breath was foul for it.
“Lieutenant,” said the other guard, whose mane was pale blonde, nearly white, “What if more from the Underground come for the girl? Why don't we try working with them, huh? And take care of that Wonderbolt and her friend. We’ve butchered their boys, but they tried to jump us, they had it coming.”
Redshift glared at him, as if she was restraining herself from smacking him over the head.
“We don’t need the help of cutthroat alley rats. We have all we need,” Redshift smirked, glancing down at Brandy, who was so exhausted she cared little to even listen. Her tattered blue dress was soiled in dust and sweat, torn to reveal her hardly-healed cuts and purple bruises. She had once proven to be a pest, running her mouth to no end in an effort to irritate her captors. But since meeting Redshift, her attitude had decisively changed.
“If Snowfall wants to send me on a goose chase to catch that seamstress slut Suri Polomare, she should do it herself. This takes precedence,” Redshift growled.
“And the briefcase?” asked the toothpick guard.
“Not our concern right now,” Redshift said, before glaring back down at the corpses, “These two thought they could spy on us. More may get the idea. We’re due back for Canterlot. A good thing, too. This city was beginning to get on my nerves. And as for our little bird, we only need her to sing. The rest of her, I’ll be taking creative license.” Redshift growled, maliciously concocting some tortuous scenarios, “Twilight wants that briefcase to stay shut. We can’t let some Manehattan brat roam free with the key to opening it. Luckily she won’t have to carry that burden much longer, isn’t that right?” Redshift smirked, glaring down at Brandy.
Brandy glanced up at her captors, her eyes darting back and forth nervously; it was just as she feared. Nopony was coming for her.
Flat ale.
Even washing down his misery was miserable work.
And who were those eyes in the cobweb corners of old Hay Bale’s pub, where Blondie had stumbled in after a winding chase.
Brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes, black. They were all watching him guzzle down his foul drink, they were all watching as he hunched his shoulders and kept his head hung inches from the bar.
The glass doors swung open to the nearly-empty pub, and in trotted a rainbow-haired pegasus with cerise eyes. She was out of breath, her mane tangled in the wind.
"I think we lost them," she announced, joining Blondie at the bar.
Old Hay Bale the bartender hardly lifted his head at her arrival, and neither did Blondie.
“I didn’t take you for one to give up so easily,” Rainbow said, with the hint of a smirk.
“You can cut your losses already. We failed,” Blondie muttered, "If we're lucky I can talk Crozer out of whatever he was planning to do to your friends. All I need is a little more motivation."
Blondie took another gulp of the drink.
“We failed. But she’s still alive. We know that. Now we’ve just got to find those lowlife chromedomes and steal her back,” Rainbow said, terrified at the thought of having sentenced her friends to death, "We're not out yet."
Blondie glared at her.
“This isn't the Underground anymore. The royal guard is something else entirely.”
Rainbow glanced to the side, as if to see who was within earshot.
“This has got to go so much bigger than us, don’t you understand? Did you hear what she said? About Twilight? She's involved, somehow. I thought it was weird, when Twilight sent me and Pinkie and Fluttershy on what felt like busy work. And now these guards show up.”
Blondie narrowed his eyes, struggling to piece together what Rainbow was on about.
“Twilight's your friend," Blondie pointed out.
Rainbow straightened up.
“I'd die for Twilight, I wouldn’t think twice. But something feels wrong about all this. And Twilight, she…Something’s wrong with her too. Whatever’s really in that briefcase, it’s got to be dangerous. We can’t let it fall in the wrong pony’s hooves. We’re wasting time, we have to find the girl before we lose the trace. ”
“Does it matter? Wherever they’re taking Brandy, we won’t be able to follow.”
Rainbow shook her head.
“I can find them, in no time at all. Twenty seconds fl-”
“Alright. I get it.”
Rainbow smirked again.
“I’ll do that. You should find that giant of yours. The old stallion. Larger than life.”
Blondie glared at her.
"What the hell for?" Blondie muttered, "He left me to die. And he won't part ways with the case as long as he's still breathing."
“We have a common enemy now, with those royal guards. If we work together, and try to get Crozer to make a deal with him, everypony could get what they want."
"Everypony except Trench," Blondie said.
"Forget about him, he's got nothing," Rainbow said, "Look. If you’d rather just cry and quit and drink yourself to death, then-”
“I didn’t ask to be a part of this. This isn’t my fight. It never was."
Rainbow rose from the barstool, stretching out her wings.
“You need to decide whether you’d rather stick your neck out for somepony who needs it, or keep sulking here in self-pity. I’ll find you when I have a lead. With luck, the guards haven’t left the city yet.”
Blondie turned his attention back to his fourth mug of cider.
Rainbow’s hardened exterior softened, as if he had slapped her across the face.
She turned and stormed out the doors, and Blondie turned in time to catch her take off into the black swirling sky above.
He scratched at his stubble, took a great breath through his nose, and fought a twitch in his eye. Rage returned behind those emerald eyes, what he had thought was subdued. Finishing his drink, he stood up to his hooves.
Rain-grooves in the mud paved lanes for rows of ants and patches of moss, in the heart of the redwood forest. The moon crept from behind the Smoky Mountains, and starlight shone from the leaf-bound raindrops and odd night-dark puddle.
Bandolier’s eyes were fixed on the mist rising from a small grove lake nearby, while Clover rustled underneath her makeshift blanket made of her tarnished canary yellow dress.
“You should rest,” she muttered, her eyes half-opened. Bandolier was as still as a statue, his curly mud mane all a mess, his beard beaded with sweat.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes and clutching the filthy fabric of her dress.
“...You think your two friends made it out?” she asked.
Bandolier held back a smile.
“Is that you being friendly for once?” he snickered.
Clover blushed.
“Make the best of it,” she said, teasingly.
“It’s you they want, you said it yourself. Flamberge and Heels, odds are they’re sipping cider in Seaward Sholes right now, laughing at the thought of you and I starving in these Luna-forsaken woods.”
“...You’re scared, that’s it. Scared to die out here and not in a blaze of glory. I knew it from the start. You’re a glory-chasing, hothead pig who got suckered in by the Erased’s fairy tales of making you a hero.”
Bandolier snickered again, amused.
“I’d be a fool not to be scared. They sent Styles after us. Styles is no joke.”
“Another buckethead with no brains? What’s the big deal?”
“He’s one of the Nine. The best soldiers Equestria has, personally picked by Twilight. Headquarters has been trying to squash him for years. Ponies in his way don’t stay there for long. Twilight must really want you dead.”
“So, Sherlock, you’ve figured it out. You must be made of spare parts, for how long it took.”
“What, that Twilight’s the killer? The thought had flown past me before. But I couldn’t make sense of it. I was hoping you could.”
Clover bit her tongue, lying back down in the dirt to stare up at the stars. The rustling leaves swayed in the night breeze, obscuring much of the sky.
Bandolier glanced over at her, grinning in the dark. Her silence amused him. What loyalty did she still owe Twilight? Or was it something else?
Bandolier glared at her in the darkness, the distant chirping of crickets drowned out by the splashing of a nearby stream.
“Say we do escape Styles. Say we make it out of here, all parts still attached. What’d you do?” Bandolier asked.
Clover smirked, after pausing to think.
“Drink until I forget having met you. And you? Oh, don’t bother. I already know. You’d want to take down Twilight Sparkle. You’re reaching new lows I didn’t think possible," Clover said.
“Why not try?” Bandolier laughed, though he meant it with sincerity.
Clover shook her head.
"Everypony thinks they'll be the one to do it. Ember, Thorax, Novo, Posh Paramount, Filibuster, Bronze Beam, Blueblood....Try asking them how well things turned out for them."
Bandolier's ears perked up.
"What are you talking about?" Bandolier asked.
Clover eyed him, and sat back up.
"Not so clever anymore."
"Tell me what you know," Bandolier demanded.
Clover scoffed.
"Ember and the others had a plan. To murder Twilight. It was supposed to happen at the Summer Sun Celebration, less than a year after the coronation. They had a benefactor. Some exile from across the sea, someone who wasn't exactly a fan of the Equestrian monarchy. They got Ember and the others stirred up, promised them that their coffers would be full with gold, that their power would grow," Clover muttered.
Bandolier's eyes fell to the ground, struggling to process what Clover had said.
"How do you know all this?" he asked.
"....The pony I used to work for had a knack for knowing everything about everypony. It was a good gig for a while, until Twilight came along."
"Why would they only go after Twilight?" Bandolier asked, "Why not the other princesses too?"
"They might have been the next targets," Clover supposed, "Twilight was the greatest threat to their coup. She had to die first."
"How could she have known about it, to begin with?" Bandolier demanded.
Clover shrugged.
"Twilight has spies everywhere. And Ember and the others, their plot must have had deep-dug roots. Spread wide. Too wide. Something must have gone wrong. They trusted somepony they shouldn't have."
Bandolier shook his head in disbelief.
"That doesn't change a thing. Twilight's still a threat to Equestria," Bandolier insisted, "I need to find my friends, tell them, tell Alias, tell everypony. Before everything gets buried."
"There are no heroes in the story," Clover laughed, "You least of all."
"Somepony's got to stop her," Bandolier said.
“Twilight Sparkle is the most powerful pony in Equestria. She could rip you in half before you had the chance to blink. And you? You’re a nobody. A particularly loathsome nobody, who thinks throwing his life away to serve the Erased is some noble, selfless sacrifice. To them you’re just expendable. Sent to run errands and stay preoccupied so you don’t wake up to how fixed everything really is. Those heroes you want to be like so badly? They're just legends and fables meant to inspire the next generation to work themselves to death with a smile on their face. Lucky for them they’ll always have halfwit sods like you who won’t think twice about it.”
Clover could not make out Bandolier’s grin in the dark, though she could pick up on his dull chuckle.
“I didn’t take you at first for a spoiled cynic.”
“Spoiled?” Clover repeated, struck by disbelief, “I grew up eating moldy bread and drinking from dirty puddles in Newport. I’ve got no family, nopony.”
“And now you’ve convinced yourself that you’ve got to make the world pay. You wish you were some sort of villain, that’s it. It’s adorable. You wish you had the guts to push back against everypony you think’s wronged you. But you can’t, so you run your mouth and complain instead, comfortably indignant.”
Clover was fuming by the ears, though she never had the chance to respond.
The first crack of the dead leaves caught both of them by surprise. By the second, it was too late.
Clover heard a crack ring out, and turned to see Bandolier collapse to the ground, his nose bloodied.
“Bando-” she began, before spinning right around as three figures rushed out from the brush, tackling her to the ground. She screamed, terrified, while the three brutish silhouettes held her down. She could make out a grimy grin in the dark, before a hoof came down towards her head, and blackness overcame her.
Police tape painted in pulses of red and blue light stretched along the rails of the Canterlot Boutique. A cigar caught light by the hoof of Wedge Ward, captain of the guard, whose eyes were strained from camera flashes. The crowd only ever seemed to be growing, with more officers, reporters, and stray ponies gathering in front of the boutique steps every minute.
Rarity was missing.
Though Wedge knew Twilight would have preferred the disappearance be kept under wraps, neither of them had been prepared for Pinkie Pie’s struggle with keeping secrets.
He held his post by the door, alongside the grim Grey Wick and the persnickety Prickly Pear, all three clad in golden armor. Policeponies milled in and out of the doors, muttering in detectives’ ears and scribbling notes on yellow line paper.
The sun had risen less than an hour ago, though with the disappearance having just caught wind with the city populous, panic had seized Canterlot by the throat. Some spoke of the Ponyville killer’s return, others of an attack by the dragons. Nopony was sure which scenario frightened them more.
Wedge noticed the crowd’s attention turn back to the street. A carriage, complete with grand golden rails, velvet adornments and an ivory frame, stormed over the street stones, flanked on either side by four pegasus soldiers.
Wedge straightened up and glanced at his companions, compelling them to follow his example. The crowd erupted into cheers of relief, the moment when Twilight Sparkle gracefully stepped out from the carriage door, down the short ramp below.
Her guards forced a path through the crowd, while Wedge patiently waited atop the boutique steps, attempting to obscure his trembling breaths.
“Your grace,” Wedge grunted. His burnt brown mane fell in uneven strands around his horn, and his face was stained in stubbly shadow.
“Captain,” Twilight said, distracted by his lowly demeanor, “We should speak inside.”
Wedge obliged, stepping out of the way.
Twilight cautiously opened the boutique doors and trotted inside, followed by her four pegasus guards, and a nerve-struck Wedge.
Wedge began to sweat, noticing Twilight’s disappointment with the detectives’ seeming lack of progress. Policeponies littered every corner of the boutique, scored with yellow tape and chalk.
"The dragons have cut us off once again," Twilight said, sharply, "We've lost all trade and all communication. Might you have any idea why?"
"While you were gone, Venger reported an engagement with a cutthroat sent to assassinate Lady Lavender of Silkwood. The cutthroat escaped, but Venger recovered the knife that they used. A dragonsteel knife."
Twilight hesitated. Of course Wedge was oblivious that Clover was paid for by Twilight, though the knife was nothing of her doing. Was she foolish enough to choose it herself? Twilight thought, Or did somepony give it to her? Who would profit from framing the dragons for the murders?
Twilight blinked, and sighed, deeply.
"You should have waited for me to return."
"You told me to act in your stead. I acted," Wedge said, defensively. Twilight was in no mood to argue. Perhaps the damage he had done could be remediable, and if not...In any case she had more pressing problems.
“What have they found? Anything?” Twilight asked, glancing around the boutique.
“Less than nothing so far,” Wedge said, attempting to crack a smile.
“This is serious,” Twilight rebuked, glaring at him, “My friend’s life could be in danger.”
“If it’s not too bold to say, your grace,” Wedge said, well aware that a warning would not spare him the princess’ scorn, “Whoever the Ponyville murderer is, I don’t think this is their doing. This place is too tidy.”
Twilight ignored him, glancing over floorboard-dusting detectives and snapshot photographers.
“Rarity’s partner, Sassy Saddles - where is she?”
“En route to Manehattan. She left Canterlot the day Miss Rarity was last seen.”
Twilight shook her head, unconvinced.
“No. That would be too simple,” Twilight said.
“Seems clear and shut to me, your grace. I already sent for Twinkle’s unit to bring Saddles in for questioning.”
Twilight glared at Wedge, and his prideful smile died like a snuffed candle. She took two steps towards him, her eyes locked onto his in a steel grip.
“I’ve warned you before not to take action without consulting me.”
“Your grace,” Wedge said, his voice softer than before, “If Saddles makes it to Manehattan we may lose her. There wasn’t time.”
Twilight sighed and turned around.
“Luckily your stupidity won’t get in the way of anything, this time. Keep disregarding the chain of command, and I may have to find a new captain of the guard.”
“Understood, your grace,” Wedge replied.
“If Saddles was really some malicious mastermind who wanted to take over this little enterprise all for herself, she would have had to go to the furthest extreme to ensure that wish came true.”
“You mean-”
“I mean a more permanent solution.”
“She could have been afraid. She could have-”
“You’re acting as though she’d have done it herself. I’d have thought you’ve spent enough time in Canterlot to know vicious elites don’t fancy getting blood on their own hooves. But I know Sassy Saddles. She and Rarity are friends. Good friends.”
“What could it be then?”
Twilight wandered towards the spiral staircase, where Wedge followed after.
“Put aside the obvious suspect and we have to wonder what ponynappers would want with Rarity to begin with. It’s not ransom, or they would have made it known by now. It’s not glory, or they would have picked a more dangerous target. But it could be revenge.”
“She has enemies?”
Twilight reached the top of the stairs, and glanced down at Wedge, as if he had flipped on a switch inside her.
“A few of note. One so happens to be a fugitive from Hellhatch, still at large.”
Wedge’s eyes lit up.
“Suri Polomare?”
Twilight wandered into a dressing room, finding only a single chair by the crimson curtains.
“Detectives haven’t been in here yet,” Wedge advised, though Twilight cared little.
She inspected the chair on either side.
“There are indents here. Faint.”
“Restraints?” Wedge posited.
Twilight knelt beside the chair and glanced underneath the chair.
She hesitated, noticing a scrap of paper taped on the underside of the seat.
With caution, she ripped the paper from the chair and held it in the light.
The First, it read, in handwriting that Twilight recognized.
'Not Polomare,' Twilight realized, 'Starlight.'
Using Rarity as leverage had never occurred to Twilight before. Hellhatch has brought her to new lows.
Twilight made her best effort to hide her contempt.
The note troubled her. A gaping pit of sins perfected in black ink, signed like an obituary for the lie she was living. Gone were the days of hard battles and happy endings. The Princess of Equestria had responsibilities, after all, which would have to take precedence over whatever dreamt paradise she may have preferred to indulge, to live by simple means in the company of her beloved friends. She feared it still, having to see her again, having to look her in the eyes. Nails drove their way through the grooves of her mind, tearing her apart, beckoning her to give in to despair and forgo everything that she had thrown her promised peace away for. And the droning heads of bloodcoated corpses sang their dreadful song, it echoed in her ears all through the day and all through the night. Some things could never be undone.
She glanced at the note a second time, then a third, and on the fourth her horn burst into flames, and the note evaporated into a thousand burnt specks of ash. But the words still rang clear.
Rarity was only the first.
Barreling through misty mountain tunnels and rivers of melted snow, the Friendship Express left the hills of Duskdale for the belly of the beast, the eye of the storm, Canterlot.
Few ponies were brave enough to travel as of late, with the Ponyville killer still at large. Ghost stories and fables of countless sorts had been crafted, each painting a more twisted version of the killer than the last. Copycat incidents occurred now and then, though such refined cruelty was a challenge to replicate.
The thought of such harrowing horror had wandered into Sunset Shimmer’s mind, lying by herself in the back of a turbulent train car. Her companions were her only company on the journey south to the capital. Sunset had almost forgotten the southern summer breeze, which waned as autumn crept ever closer. For what felt like an eternity, she had known only the dismal cold of the North, whether behind prison bars or evading capture.
Sunset had not seen what Starlight had, the gory remains of Equestria’s heroes, strewn about Twilight Sparkle’s hooves as if they were bitter discards. Sunset grimaced at the thought of Twilight, who had thrown her in Hellhatch long before madness made her a murderer. She could not sit still, she could not rest, while with every breath the train took her closer to her vengeance.
Snapping back to reality, Sunset noticed Bon Bon sitting by herself a few booths ahead in the car. Since discreetly boarding the train in Duskdale and claiming the car for themselves, Sunset had kept a close eye on the newest addition to the group. Between Bon Bon, Callidus, Kickstart, and even Lightning to an extent, Sunset made sure to remain alert; trust was hard to come by these days.
Kickstart sat by the front of the car, and Scootaloo was facing him, holding in her amused laughter while the scarred pegasus kept his eyes glued to the window in childlike wonder.
“You’ve never been on a train before?” Scootaloo asked, curious.
Kickstart shook his head.
“The world’s a lot bigger than I thought,” he muttered, dumbfounded. Scootaloo snickered.
He glanced back at her, still starstruck by the passing sights of snowy mountains, green orchard lanes, and rowdy rocky rivers.
“Imagine your whole life all you ever see is white walls and stale light," Kickstart laughed, overcome by a sense of relief to be free.
“...They never told you what it was like on the outside?” Scootaloo asked, cautiously, aware it was a sensitive subject.
Kickstart’s face hardened.
“If they had it their way, I wouldn't know there was an outside.”
“How come they got to do that to you?” Scootaloo asked.
Kickstart cracked a smile, having forgotten that he was to humor her childish innocence. He lacked a childhood himself, however, which made his attempts feel more or less artificial.
“Some ponies think they know better.”
Scootaloo sat back in the booth, groaning as she slid down.
“Is it true what they said? About Twilight?” she asked.
“....I don’t know. Sometimes it’s best not to meet your heroes, kid.”
Lightning Dust, who had been keeping Wallflower and Callidus company in the middle of the car for the past few hours, took the liberty of marching over to Bon Bon, the first to make any attempt at a proper greeting.
“Hey, I’m Lightning Dust by the way,” she said, extending her hoof.
Bon Bon begrudgingly accepted, prompting Lightning to sit down.
“Sorry if we gave you a hard time," Lightning said.
“Don’t worry about it," Bon Bon replied.
"We're all just a little on-edge, I guess. But wait until you meet our other friends, they'll-"
Before Lightning could go on, Sunset made her presence known.
“That will do, Dust.”
Lightning swallowed her pride and, shrinking beneath Sunset’s iron glare, scooted out of the booth to make room for Sunset.
Sunset and Bon Bon held eye contact for what felt like an eternity, neither one daring to blink first.
“You sure like to take your time.”
“If I still wanted you dead, you’d be dead by now.”
“I’m quivering,” Sunset said, rolling her eyes, “You’re not a royal guard. At least, you don’t look like one. So who are you?”
Bon Bon kept her mouth shut. Sunset scoffed.
“Oh, she’s bashful,” Sunset cooed, “Why change allegiances on a dime like that? What’re you after?”
“Twilight used me to get rid of you. I came up short. She’s not the forgiving sort.”
“A crown has that effect,” Sunset said, “What good could you offer us? The lousy assassin who got outwitted by a changeling and Wallflower Blush.”
Callidus and Wallflower both swiveled in their booth, each offended by the remark.
“You may have gotten away scrounging for scraps in the frozen North. But you’re in the south now. The game’s a lot bigger. You want to make a difference? I can get you the weapons, contacts, resources, everything you need to take Twilight down. She has it coming.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow.
“And how would you come by that?”
Bon Bon took a deep breath.
“I used to be a part of a top secret organization, tasked with the management and containment of substantial threats to national security. We were called the RES, now they call themselves Erased.”
Lightning, who had just started paying attention again, immediately turned to Kickstart, who was gradually drawing his gaze away from the window.
“What did you say?” he said.
“I said I used to-”
“She’s a blackcoat?” he growled, rising from his booth, his face hardened with rage, “She’s one of them sent to hunt me down! She’ll sell you all out too, you can’t trust her!"
Lightning met Kickstart down the aisle, preventing him from reaching Bon Bon, who had also risen to her hooves.
“Erased," Sunset snorted, "Never heard of them."
“That’s the point,” Bon Bon muttered.
“They took my life away. They did this to me,” Kickstart roared, glancing at the wounds adorning his body. He charged again towards a stunned Bon Bon.
Lightning struggled to hold back Kickstart, fighting back with all her might. Callidus joined in, while Wallflower nervously watched on from the booth.
Sunset, meanwhile, glanced back between the two, intrigued.
“I had nothing to do with any of that! It's been years since I left!” Bon Bon exclaimed, “I meant what I said. Let me help you. Please.”
Sunset’s smirk faded.
Scootaloo pawed at Kickstart, who was seething so hard his breath was drawn short. His fury could hardly be contained.
Scootaloo managed to reel Kickstart back to the booth.
“You keep her alive, she’ll be the death of us all," Kickstart said, "A blackcoat’s no friend of ours.”
“You think I want to be here?” Bon Bon yelled, her face cherry red with frustration, “Twilight Sparkle took away everything that mattered to me. She spat in the face of the life I worked for, the life I’d dreamed for. I’d give anything to be anywhere else! I can’t change the past. But I can make Twilight’s life a living hell. Which is what I intend to do.”
With a distraught glance down at Sunset, Bon Bon stormed off towards the back balcony at the rear end of the train car, slamming the door shut behind her.
Sunset glanced at Wallflower and Callidus, rising to her hooves.
“Keep him under control.”
Callidus nodded.
Sunset turned to follow Bon Bon outside, shutting the door carefully to not spin off the ruptured screws.
“Way to pull at the heartstrings,” Sunset muttered.
“I came here to be alone,” Bon Bon grunted.
“You and I want the same thing. Payback. Scarface may want you shot full of holes, but I like to think I’m a rare kind of merciful.”
Bon Bon glanced back at Sunset, wiping a tear from her eye.
“I don’t care what you’ve done in the past. Who you’ve killed, whose lives you’ve ruined. If you think you can help us take down Twilight, then it’s help wanted. But first you need to prove it. First you need to give me something.”
Bon Bon sniffled, attempting to calm herself down.
“Give you what?”
“Twilight likes to play dirty. I like that. Makes things more interesting. But she’s still vulnerable. Maybe not in the way Starlight hopes.”
“What are you saying?”
“I need to know what weakness to exploit. I need to know what distracts her, what clouds her judgment.”
Bon Bon slowly nodded, understanding.
“I can’t say I know,” Bon Bon said, to Sunset’s disappointment, “...But I know somepony who might.”
Faded cement paint pointed the path down the subway terminal, a winding pit of dark corridors and blinking golden lamps. Ponies huddled together along the steaming platforms, which reeked of sweat and oil. The distant howling of the train in the black tunnel drowned out the bitter silence, while ponies held their eyes cast down at the ground.
Salt Shaker gently excused himself through the downtrodden crowd, who were so weak and weary that they hardly resisted the giant’s approach.
He was accompanied by four of his former Black Hoof subordinates, three earth ponies and a pegasus.
When the train arrived, Salt Shaker stepped out of the way to allow the mares behind him to step aboard, before taking his own step inside.
The crowd filed into the car, packing it nearly to the brim. Salt Shaker elected to stand, along with his underlings, while ponies cluttered together along the seats and aisleways. Crying foals and sneezing old folks made it clear the trip would not be pleasant.
The train screeched into motion, the windows engulfed by the darkness outside as the train plunged itself deeper into the tunnels.
Ponies swayed against each other, their breath hot and heavy. Salt Shaker pawed at his grey beard, and his eagle eyes fell with a certain forlorn at the grim sight of the passengers.
But what Salt Shaker had not noticed was a pony farther down in line on the train, sitting beside some shopping bags and a pony keeled over, asleep. He rose up to his hooves, and without delay one of the standing ponies took his spot without a second thought. He recognized Salt Shaker, even though the giant appeared far worse for wear than he was accustomed to.
Some ponies began to wonder why the stallion was standing in the center of the aisle, staring past the crowd at the giant with the silver beard and an eagle’s eyes. It took Salt Shaker even longer to realize, around the same time his companions did.
Blondie’s grimace was enough to draw Salt Shaker’s attention. He turned his head ever so slightly, as if to beckon his former partner to choose a different moment for whatever he was planning.
Blondie’s response was to begin shoving past the aisle-bound crowd, his eyes still locked on Salt Shaker.
Salt Shaker’s companions met Blondie head on, though Salt Shaker waved them off, not interested in wasting time on a scuffle.
“My dear Blondie, you certainly haven’t found your manners,” Salt Shaker said, glancing at the crowd of concerned ponies.
Blondie took a step towards them, putting them all on alert.
“You should think twice before you try anything, Blondie. One more bout and your luck might run out.”
“You know where they took her?” Blondie demanded, taking care to keep his voice low among the traincar of strangers.
“I meant to ask you that. You had her right in your grasp, if I’m not mistaken.”
Blondie glared at Salt Shaker, struggling to restrain himself from lashing out. For whatever moral detriment his brash acts of violence had cost him, he could not deny himself that it felt good.
“We lost her to a couple of royal guards,” Blondie snarled.
Salt Shaker’s half-grin faded, as if Blondie had finally caught him by surprise.
“We couldn’t handle them. They’ve got her.”
Salt Shaker nodded, solemnly.
Blondie noticed the anxiousness in Salt Shaker’s eyes, which darted back and forth in short sporadic bursts.
“...What’s in that briefcase?” Blondie asked, “Who sent those royal guards? The Princess? What does she want with it? What do any of you want with it?”
Salt Shaker’s face hardened, and Blondie quickly understood he would not be getting any answers out of the giant.
“...The only reason those royal guards would want her is because of what she knows. Which means the briefcase matters to them too. How long before they come knocking on your door, just to slaughter you all and take it for themselves?”
“It’s better for us to lay low. This game has gotten out of hoof," Salt sighed, "If the military is involved, there’ll be no victors for the likes of us.”
“Then help me get her back. You said you once pitied her. You know she doesn't deserve any of this.”
Salt Shaker held down his laughter.
“You still don’t know her at all, do you…Poor Crozer knew it the same as I did. The girl’s no different than the rest of us. Thieves and killers clawing at dead dreams. Yes, I pitied her - for the same reason I pity you. I’ve seen a hundred like you both, kids who think they’ll change the world, kids who think they’re destined for glory. Their stories all end the same. So’ll yours. For her, it may already be too late.”
“It’s not too late,” Blondie said, and he was arguing with himself then, “I won’t leave her to die.”
"Ponies die every day. What makes this one so special?" Salt grunted.
"Nothing," Blondie admitted, "But if I have a chance to change that, I will."
Salt snorted and rolled his eyes.
“Just because they have Brandy doesn't mean you've lost, no more than it means that she's dead already," Blondie said, "I can talk to Crozer, and the deal can go through. If I don't, you end up with nothing."
“The Underground still runs these streets now," Salt said, "A third of the Black Hoof is with me, another third with Crozer, and the rest are squabbling among each other. We only posed a threat to the Underground when we had our full strength. Now all I can do is hold onto what I've got. Which is to say, not much.”
“And what if the Underground was out of the picture? What then? Would you still be afraid to stand up to Canterlot?”
Salt Shaker raised an eyebrow.
“What are you proposing?”
“Send me to kill Trench. If the Underground loses their leader, you’ll have an opportunity to take control, an opportunity to pose a real threat. No more hiding down here in the sewers. Then once we find Brandy, you can make the deal with Crozer, and take a larger share than Trench ever would have considered.”
Salt’s grin returned.
“I grew up poor on these very streets. Fell on hard times, lost everything. So where could I turn but to the very ponies who walked all over me and my family for decades. Turn into the sort of killer I’d always loathed. I saw myself in you, when we met. I hadn’t wanted you to do as I did. I still don’t. It’s too late for me. But not you. You still have a chance at a life, a good life. Don’t throw it all away.”
Blondie shook his head, defiant.
“I left a good life behind a long time ago."
Salt Shaker sighed, and reluctantly came to terms with Blondie’s irritating indignation.
“Have it your way, Blondie,” he said, somberly, “Trench is in the Breton Hotel. I can spare ten ponies, too. But if you get caught again, you won’t be escaping. And there will be no more deals."
Blondie nodded.
“We'll catch them off-guard. As far as they know, Crozer's defeated and you've gone into hiding," Blondie said, "I do this, and together we rescue Brandy.”
Salt Shaker approached Blondie, who was dampened in dried blood.
Salt Shaker raised his hoof, right as the train car began to slow down for the next stop.
Blondie’s hoof joined Salt’s, and together they shook on it, right as the light above flickered with the train’s screeching halt.
Screeching iron and hissing jets of steam announced the train’s stop, beside the cluttered Canterlot train station.
“Keep your head down and follow my lead,” Sunset muttered to Wallflower and Lightning, who had each slipped into their colorful disguises. Lightning had on her fluorescent pink jacket, a loose black skirt and her beloved black cap. Scamper the rat could be heard squeaking in her jacket pocket, the place he had been calling a home since departing from Cloudsdale. Wallflower, meanwhile, had on her wooly brown striped sweater and a pair of glasses with the lenses poked out.
Sunset had on a black jacket, her mane tucked back underneath her hood.
Callidus hadn’t felt the need to don his pony disguise; the south tended to be more tolerant of changelings than the Frozen North. He had been waiting patiently by the car door, while the train gradually came to a stop, when Sunset joined him.
“Your friends, you think we’ll find them here?” Callidus asked.
“If they haven’t kicked the bucket already,” Sunset said grimly, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we never see them again.”
The doors swung open.
Sunset meant to step right out, but found herself frozen for a moment, when a pink earth pony standing right at the edge of the station deck caught her attention.
“Or maybe not,” Sunset said, stunned.
Suri Polomare waved hello, smirking as if to bask in her own success.
“It’s rude to stare,” Suri said, motioning for them to meet her below on the deck.
Sunset jumped down to the deck, inspecting Suri as if she assumed it was some sort of illusion. Suri grinned, showing off the briefcase tucked in her hoof.
“Emptied my burner accounts. Whatever we need, this should cover it. I've stashed more around the city. No need to thank me,” Suri smirked.
Sunset smiled, while the rest of the ponies in the train car exited onto the deck.
“Since when did you become a team player?” Sunset asked.
“Manehattan’s gotten worse, it turns out, 'kay? I didn’t think it was possible. I just got here yesterday, figured you’d get the same idea. Lucky me, you didn’t make me wait.”
“Have you seen Starlight?” Sunset asked.
“Suri?” came Lightning, dragging Wallflower out of the train car, dashing towards Suri for a one-sided embrace.
"Lightning Dust," Suri smiled, hesitantly.
“Thought we’d lost you! What’ve you been up to? Wait until you hear what happened to-” Lightning said, before Sunset shoved her hoof to cover her mouth.
“Suri. Anything on Starlight? Trixie?”
Suri shook her head.
“Nopony knows they’re here, as far as I can tell. I don't even know where they are. Their radios have gone dead.”
Sunset nodded.
“Let’s get out of here,” Sunset said.
Suri noticed Bon Bon, Kickstart, Scootaloo, and Callidus not a second after, glancing back at Sunset in confusion.
“Hurrah. Our merry band of freakshows has some new abominations,” Suri remarked.
“Abomination? Speak for yourself!” Scootaloo squeaked, trotting off after Lightning.
"Where've you been held up?" Sunset asked.
"A hotel in the Orange Light District. My fake IDs don't work on the new systems, but the District is five years behind the rest of the city. But you can't possibly expect me to stay there a single day longer. The accommodations are abhorrent. I'll spare you the gruesome details."
"You have my thanks," Sunset smiled, "Wallflower's got a place we can stay, but it might not last long."
"Neither will we," Suri muttered.
Kickstart and Bon Bon refused to pay each other notice, preferring to walk on opposite sides of the group. Altogether, they made their way into the city streets, spacing out along the sidewalk and keeping themselves in the periphery. Hustling traffic, stormy drizzle, and vendors’ shouts drowned out their whispers, though the occasional intrusive passerby’s glance was enough to put Sunset on alert.
"Ponies won't suspect us," Suri said, "Everypony thinks we're in the Crystal Empire. But let them stare too long and they may get wise. That doesn't happen often for Canterlot ponies, but we'd better be careful."
“Hey uh,” Callidus said, walking alongside Bon Bon in the back, “Whatever Twilight did to you, I’m sorry.”
“...Thanks,” Bon Bon said, softly, reluctantly grateful for his sympathy, “I don’t know why I'm doing this, I just…She can't just get away with everything. Ponies need to know who she really is.”
Bon Bon glanced over at Callidus, who nodded in understanding.
“What’re you after, anyway?” she wondered.
“Changelings like to play it safe. They hide underground until the storm passes overhead. I found out about Twilight. I tried to tell the hive, but no one would listen to me. Then I realized that all of Equestria was the same way - blind to the truth, whether they were oblivious or complacent. Everyone except them,” Callidus said, nodding at Sunset, Lightning, Suri, and Wallflower ahead on the sidewalk, “As long as someone is fighting for what’s right, even if it’s just a few of us - Twilight’s reign won’t last.”
“I hope you’re right,” Bon Bon said.
Farther ahead, Lightning turned her head back to the front.
“There’s an odd couple if I’ve ever seen one,” Lightning grinned.
“Next right. Twenty-first Ave,” said Wallflower, keeping her attention on the street signs. It had been years since she had visited her father’s home. Back when her father would still allow her to visit him as a filly, what felt like hazy dreams other than memories.
“You’re sure this place won’t be occupied?” Suri asked.
“My dad doesn't live there anymore,” Wallflower explained, “But he never sold it. It should be abandoned.”
“And what about Starlight?” Suri asked, "She may have been a bit scatter-brained, but she had more of a brain than all seven of you combined. When will I find a proper intellectual equal?"
Scampers the rat squeaked out a reply from Lightning's shoulder.
"Scampers is a safe bet," Lightning laughed.
“Here we are,” Wallflower said, rounding a corner and pointing at a dilapidated townhouse stuffed alongside some other half-standing hovels.
Suri stared at the house, blankly.
“I see you’ve finally found a sense of humor,” Suri said, "At least that District Hotel attempted to have some class."
“I’m serious! Welcome to our new home,” Wallflower said, proudly.
Wallflower skipped towards the house, while the rest of the group took a few moments to accept the resounding disappointment.
The door was unlocked, though that didn’t surprise Wallflower, as the house was barren of all furniture and draped in graffiti.
“Lovely,” Lightning muttered.
“This is like the place where the older kids hang out,” Scootaloo said, darting around the stripped-down living room, “Where they’d take pills and play music and…y'know.”
Sunset shook her head.
"Scootaloo. Do you even know?"
"Well. No. But I've heard that-"
"Nope. None of that. Go, get out of here," Sunset laughed, chasing Scootaloo off, where she ran to explore deeper inside the house.
Sunset waited for the entire group to file inside, before shutting the door closed.
“It doesn’t have to be flashy. A roof is all I wanted. It’ll work,” Sunset said, approvingly.
Lightning was just about to levy a complaint, though decided against it.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Sunset said, “We can’t waste time, not while Starlight’s still out there. Twilight must know she’s here by now. That means she’ll be distracted,” Sunset said, nervously glancing towards the front window, “We need to start with weapons. Military grade. Twilight is in a class of her own when it comes to magic. We need to find out how she’s vulnerable.”
“Where do you propose we start?” Callidus asked.
“The palace. Where else?”
“The palace?” Wallflower repeated, “You want us to break into the royal palace?”
“Twilight won’t be holding back against us. We’ll need firepower. Planting surveillance would go a long way too. We need to build evidence against her, and learn what we can,” Sunset said, turning to Suri, “That equipment is what you’ll be spending all that on to begin with.”
“Everypony knows what we look like. What possible chance do we have of getting inside?” Lightning said.
“They know our faces. You two,” Sunset continued, glancing at Bon Bon and Callidus, “It’s your time to shine.”
“We’re sending them?” Lightning said, incredulously.
“He’s a shapeshifter and she’s a spy. They’re perfect for the job. You two want a chance to prove yourselves? Here it is.”
“I’ll do it,” Bon Bon said, flustered by the prospect of being in close proximity to Twilight.
“I’m in,” Callidus said, eager to put his skills to use.
Sunset nodded, content.
“This is insane. Even for you,” Suri said, hesitantly.
“The rest of you will be making sure they get in and out without any problems. Got it?”
“And what will you be doing during all of this?” Lightning asked.
“I’ve got something I need to take care of,” Sunset said.
Wallflower lurched back in her seat, taken aback.
“What are you talking about?” Wallflower asked.
“A new lead,” Sunset said, glancing at Bon Bon.
"Wow. Thanks for clearing that up. We totally know what that means," Suri said, dryly.
“Sunset, I don’t think any one of us should be heading out by themselves,” Wallflower advised, her voice strained.
“We’re running out of time. We have a window, and it’s closing,” Sunset said, aggressively.
“You’re leaving us and you won’t even tell us why?” Wallflower said, “Suri? Say something.”
Suri sighed and glared at Sunset.
"We shouldn't be hiding stuff from each other, 'kay?" Suri rolled her eyes, "Oh for Luna's sake. Now I sound like Starlight."
“Do you really need me to hold your hoof all the time?” Sunset snarled, turning for the door.
“Sunset, we uh, we do kinda need you,” Lightning said, "None of us have any magic. I can knock a few into the dirt, sure. And Suri can bore a few to death. But if they catch us here, we're all goners."
“Starlight wouldn’t want-” Wallflower began.
“Starlight isn’t here,” Sunset snapped, turning back around, "She might never come back. She might be dead."
Lightning crossed her hind legs, anxiously. Suri bit at her lip.
Wallflower, struggling to contain her anger for once, approached Sunset with a contemptuous glare.
“You tell yourself you’re all strong and tough, when really you just like to hurt ponies. Whatever you're up to, you’re not doing it for us, because you don’t care about us. You just want to go out and take everything out on everypony else.”
Sunset scoffed, swinging open the door.
“Don’t lecture me on what I want. You’ve got your job. Weaponry, surveillance, evidence. We'll get more done if we spread out a little. I trust you can handle this. Do you?”
Sunset turned and shut the door behind her, silencing the room.
Wallflower and Lightning glanced at each other, neither sure who would be assuming Sunset’s unofficial role of calling the shots.
Wallflower glanced around at the others, and then recalled the assignment Sunset had left them, of such scale that she could hardly acknowledge its reality.
She hoped Sunset was not right about Starlight, though with every passing moment, Wallflower was forcing herself to come to grips with the possibility that the future of the group may depend on her more than she had once thought.
Glancing one last time at the shaggy moss-covered house address label, Sunset Shimmer still had a hard time believing this was the right place.
She wondered whether Kickstart was right about Bon Bon, that she had sent her on a fool’s errand to provide less of an obstacle turning in the others. She supposed she was getting ahead of herself, and marched up the stone steps to the front door of the house. A short wall of rigid grey bricks guarded the property, and coupled with the strange gothic architecture, it made for an eyesore in an otherwise cookie-cutter Canterlot suburb. The yard was overgrown, and if Sunset hadn’t been told otherwise, she’d have assumed the place was outright abandoned.
Sunset planted three square knocks on the purple wood door, which had the shape of a crescent carved into its center.
Seconds passed, without so much as a creak from inside.
Sunset made a second attempt, preferring not to stay out in the open for longer than necessary.
“Leave me alone,” came an irritated voice from inside.
Sunset rolled her eyes and knocked again, this time more aggressively. But, on the last knock, her hoof flew straight through the wood, and inside the house.
Sunset backed away from the door, right as it came swinging open. Behind it stood a slouching pale-cream unicorn with a scarlet and purple mane, much of her face hidden beneath a pair of black spectacles held together with tape.
“Just what part of leave me alone do you not understand? Huh? I’m trying to study. And look what you’ve done to my door! Oh, don’t worry. It’s only the eighth time I’ve had to fix it! And-” the pony began, snidely dressing down Sunset with all the contempt she could muster, “Hold on…Do I even know you?”
“You must be Moon Dancer,” Sunset said.
“Go figure. What’s it to you?”
“I’m Sunset Shimmer. I need to talk with you. It’s important.”
Moon Dancer stood up straight, and narrowed her eyes.
“Wait a second…I know you. You’re the one on the news! The one who-”
Sunset raised a hoof to her lips.
“Keep your voice down, four-eyes.”
Moon Dancer’s horn began to glow a pale lavender.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”
Sunset scoffed.
“You’d lose,” she said, igniting her own horn.
Moon Dancer flinched.
“That’d be a first,” she snapped back, yet relented and dimmed her horn. “...What do you want?”
“Let’s talk inside, if you don’t mind,” Sunset said.
Moon Dancer growled something under her breath and stepped out of the way.
Sunset cautiously trotted inside the house, which reeked of cat hair and old antiques.
“I don’t usually have visitors,” Moon Dancer muttered.
“I can tell.”
“Sit over there. And don’t touch anything,” Moon Dancer said, pointing over at the living room couch.
Sunset obliged, while her host left to make them both tea by the grease-stained kitchen.
“Bon Bon sent me.”
“Bon Bon! Of course. So what, you’re tangled in with the RES?”
“No. She’s not with them anymore,” Sunset said, not having expected Moon Dancer to be familiar already.
“Oh, that’s a relief. What a joke. What did they change their name to? Something stupid. Something like, ghost patrol, or, the shadow ponies.”
“Erased.”
“That’s it. That’s the one.”
When the tea was finished, Bon Bon sat down in her reading chair, setting the tea down on the coffee table and making sure to pet both of her cats lying nearby.
“So what do you want?” Moon Dancer asked.
“When was the last time you met with Twilight Sparkle?”
“Twilight!” Moon Dancer scoffed, “Months, I guess. Last time I saw her was at the coronation.”
Sunset studied Moon Dancer’s eyes, searching for any hint of misdirection.
“Bon Bon told me you two grew up together.”
“We did. Then she ran off to Ponyville. She came back once or twice to say hello.”
“What happened in Ponyville? how much do you know?”
Moon Dancer laughed.
“The royal guard, the EIB, and the RES - er, Erased - they all paid me a visit. Asking me to help crack the case. I turned them down. A bit too gruesome for my liking. If you’re asking me to catch the killer to clear your name or something, you’re in for disappointment. I don’t do favors.”
Sunset shook her head.
“Twilight wants me dead. She’s been trying, unsuccessfully, for weeks now. All for a crime I didn’t commit. I know her heart’s in the right place. I just need an opportunity to talk to her, for her to hear me out.”
“You want me to set up a meeting between the princess of Equestria and the nation’s foremost fugitive?”
“No. I want you to be my middlemare. Which of her friends might be willing to talk to her, to convince her to slow down and talk face to face?”
Moon Dancer hesitated.
“I don’t know her Ponyville friends that well…Not that they would even be willing to do such a thing. But her pet dragon, her little assistant. Spike. He’s a glorified secretary. Exactly what you’re looking for.”
Sunset hid a smirk before it had the chance to bloom.
“Spike the dragon,” Sunset repeated, “Twilight is close to him?”
“They were inseparable when she was growing up. Still are. Probably back in Ponyville. Good luck showing your face around there, though.”
Sunset nodded, graciously, and rose to her hooves.
“I’ll figure things out from there," Sunset said, "Thanks for the hospitality, specs.”
“Wait,” Moon Dancer said, right as Sunset turned for the door. Moon Dancer’s deep purple eyes haunted Sunset to her core, “You want to talk with Twilight? That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
Sunset smirked and made for the door, gently swinging it open in a cyan aura of magic. Spending so many nights waiting for the moment to meet Twilight face to face, to have that dreadful reunion, it consumed her. Her mind was restless with thoughts of what she would say, of what she would do, of how long she would make it last.
Her blood was boiling for a fight.
Light poured through gaps in the swollen storm clouds, billowing through panels of stained glass. Shadows seemed to move on their own in the corridors, and voices like whispers were speaking in droll tones that echoed through the storied stones. And those eyes, those bright blue eyes seemed to be blinking open and shut from the corners of her sight.
Twilight went with a staggered step, as if suffering some inconvenient inebriation or some grizzly wound. In truth it was a result of having gone days without sleep.
She stumbled her way along the torchlit halls of the palace until she found the lounge, warmly lit by candlelight, situated with soft satin seats and an unyielding bounty of delectable treats.
“Spike, I’ve been looking all over for you,” she murmured, finding her dragon companion sitting idly at the brick corner bar, chatting up the bartender as if they were old friends.
“Oh, sorry about that. Do you need my help with something?” he asked.
“You could say that,” she said, smiling, “I want you to head back to Ponyville, with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. I’m not sure any of you are safe here anymore.”
She had given Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie five guards each to stand outside their hotel rooms, though neglected to tell them what concerned her so. Starlight would find them, she thought, unless they leave the city now.
Spike scoffed, unafraid of this supposed danger.
“Whatever's got you paranoid, we can handle it," Spike said, "Pinkie and Fluttershy don't want to leave until they've found Rarity. You know that. We'll be better off altogether than split up."
Twilight shook her head.
“I’m serious, Spike. You're all in grave danger as long as you stay in the capital," Twilight said.
“Why should Ponyville be any safer?” Spike said, confused.
Twilight approached him, pawing at her darkened eyelids.
"I am surrounded by ponies who want me dead, and some who want ponies close to me dead. We only have friends in Ponyville. I'm giving you and Pinkie and Fluttershy and Applejack an army's worth of guards to keep you all safe. The closer you all are to me, the more likely ponies will want to hurt you in order to hurt me."
Spike scratched at the back of his head.
"They already know that, though," Spike pointed out, "Twilight, I know you've got good intentions. But you gotta come to grips that if ponies really want to hurt you or me or any of us...There's no place we can hide."
"I understand that," Twilight sighed, "But Ponyville is safer than here. Starlight is hiding in this city somewhere, as we speak. Her little friends won't be far, I expect. They're planning something, and until I know what...I want all of you out of Canterlot."
“Fine, fine. I won't argue with you. What about Rainbow? She's still running around Manehattan, last I heard.”
Twilight sighed.
“You know how stubborn she can be. She’ll get tuckered out eventually and come home.”
Spike sighed, glancing at the ground.
"Hey, uh, Twilight...I know everybody is a little on edge lately...Ponies are so scared, they aren't themselves anymore. But you've been making me worried. Scared even more, I mean. You barely sleep. You barely eat. All day it's meetings, meetings, meetings. And you don't talk to me like you used to. We're supposed to trust each other."
"I do trust you," Twilight snapped, before recoiling in shock at the roughness of her tone. Spike seemed alarmed, "I just....How can I make everypony happy, all at once? I have a duty, Spike. To serve Celestia, to serve Equestria, to serve my friends. So many oaths. But what if my friends put Equestria at risk? What is Celestia wants me to kill my friends? It's too much. The truth is that no matter what I do, I'll fail in some other way. I didn't mean to hurt you, or put pressure on you. I just....I need you, Spike. You're the only friend I really get to see anymore."
"Don't beat yourself up," Spike said, smiling again, "We're in this together, got it?"
Twilight smiled, and waited for Spike to rush over to embrace her. She held him against her, savoring each second. For those mere moments, she felt warmth again.
Spike backed away, and took a deep breath.
“OK. I’ll go find Fluttershy and Pinkie. Let me know about Rarity. If anyone’s going to save her, I’d want it to be me,” he said, grinning.
“Of course,” Twilight smiled.
Spike flew out from the lounge, after finishing his tall glass of cognac.
Twilight stood up from the bar, having meant to follow Spike out and retire to her bedchamber. But she found herself stopping short.
“Cask,” Twilight said, glancing at the bartender, “Take the night off.”
“Yes, your highness,” Cask replied, dropping a rag to the counter and collecting his things.
Twilight patiently waited for Cask to head for the door, leaving Twilight alone in the room.
Twilight’s eyes began to narrow, as the lounge door creaked to a close.
She became a blur then, darting across the room.
She came to a stop towards the glass wall, violently igniting her horn. The room came alive in purple light, and a specter in the air was revealed. A purple aura surrounded the shape of a pony, standing now just inches in front of her.
The pony revealed himself, his helmet and his black body armor coming into form right before her eyes. Twilight grimaced at the sight of the pony, squirming under her grasp.
“Alias,” Twilight muttered.
Twilight raised the Erased agent in the air and, in a sweeping motion, twisted his spine so far his body was torn in half, a gory mess of blood and golden brown innards spilling onto the scarlet lounge carpet. The pony screamed in agony, but only for an instant, before his two halves hit the ground, at nearly the same time.
“Invisibility cloaks, stealthbucks, they make for nice party tricks,” Twilight said, glancing around the room, “But I can hear your breath. I can sniff out your scent.”
Six more ponies revealed themselves all at once, encircling Twilight from every available angle.
Directly facing Twilight was Genever, his thin dark-brown mane hidden underneath his helmet.
“Sir,” he muttered into his helmet radio, “Orders, sir.”
Beneath the city, Alias stood at the helm of the subterranean control room in the Erased’s underground headquarters, amidst the bustling crowd of panicked agents. A large screen at the opposite end of the circular control room displayed Genever’s helmet’s video feed, half-static and shaken.
Trixie had just arrived to find what the commotion was about, and reluctantly had dragged Rarity along with her.
“Alias,” Trixie said, before noticing Twilight’s menacing glare on the screen. The room of agents suddenly drew silent, with Sergeant Genever’s newfound request. Trixie stood petrified.
“That’s Twilight,” Rarity said, relieved, “What’s going on? Could somepony please explain to me what’s-”
“Sir,” interrupted Sergeant Slick, adjusting his headset at his control panel, glancing up at Alias.
“There’s no going back now,” the chief said, regretfully.
Slick turned back to his control panel, panicked, and glanced back up at the screen.
Genever understood what the silence meant.
Genever raised his weapon first, and the other five followed his example.
They each opened fire, unleashing a barrage of magic-infused bullets towards Twilight.
Twilight ignited her horn, stumbling backwards whilst her aura shield was pelted on end by the six agents. The bullets bounced right off of the shield, to Genever’s horror.
“Impossible,” Alias muttered, distraught as Twilight endured a hellstorm of bullets.
“What are they doing!?” Rarity cried, horrified, “Stop them! They’re going to hurt her! Trixie!”
Trixie struggled to keep looking, and yet was mesmerized, revolted even, by how Twilight seemed to toy with the agents’ hope for survival.
Twilight’s horn ignited again, a thin beam of blinding white slicing its way through two of the agents. One’s head and a portion of his neck slid to the ground, and the other was cut in half right across the chest. Four steaming heaps fell beside each other.
Twilight dulled her horn and extended her wings, diving for another of the agents at an incalculable speed. She reached for the agent’s weapon, ripped it from him with his hooves still attached, and swung it back into the agent’s skull, cracking it open and popping one of his eyes loose from its sockets. The pony collapsed to the ground, his weapon firmly stuck in the side of his face, warping his jawbone and the surrounding muscle.
Twilight reached for the next agent, swinging her hoof so hard into her that she flew through the air over to the bar. Upon impact, her spine snapped backwards, forcing her to spit out half a gallon of blood while upside down over the counter, before sliding back to the ground, her torso half-ripped apart.
Twilight winced for a moment when an agent’s fire poked her in a sensitive spot near her ear, prompting her to ignite her horn once again and blast apart his skull into countless fragments, that fell to the ground like confetti.
And last was Genever, who was still firing his weapon right until the moment he ran out of ammunition.
Twilight glared at him, descending back from flight to approach him on hoof.
Genever threw his weapon to the side and reached for his beltbound knife. But Twilight was already upon him, having punched her hoof straight through his chest. She grabbed what she thought to be the heart inside his chest, and crushed it in her grip. Genever, even with the princess’ hoof buried deep inside him, managed to draw out his knife, and brought it down between Twilight’s shoulder blades. But, to his shock, the blade broke apart on impact, springing off to the side as it fell loose from his dead grip, a result of another spell cast by Twilight, who was amused by his effort.
Twilight drew back her front leg from Genever’s chest, now soaked in blood.
Nopony in the control room could come up with any words.
Rarity was perhaps the most dumbstruck, unable to even make sense of the carnage she had just witnessed. Her eyes were still locked on the screen, as she struggled to comprehend it all.
Some agents had their head lowered to the ground in mourning, others were still reviewing vital signs with foolish hopes that one or two had survived the encounter. They all gradually cast their eyes up to Alias, who was nearly speechless for once.
Slick glared at the chief with a certain contempt, for what his path of least resistance had earned them.
“Gin was a good soldier. Did his job,” he said, clenching his hoof, “Now it’s time we did ours.”
Slick was caught by surprise, as were the other agents, who had expected Alias to continue preaching against such brash action.
“Alias, there’s something you should know,” said Trixie, shoving past two agents to stand at Alias’ side.
“That Glimmer’s run off?”
Trixie lost her momentum in an instant. “You already knew?”
Alias glared at her, as if he was insulted she assumed otherwise.
“I wish she hadn’t. But now that she’s loose, we have to make the best of it,” Alias said, "Starlight's going to strike, and do it soon. But if they meet each other here in the capital, tens of thousands will die alongside them."
He was agitated, perhaps by his grief or perhaps by the suddenness of the situation.
“The princess is losing her composure. I don’t know if Glimmer will stand a chance…” her continued.
Trixie’s face fell, imagining Starlight confronting the unbridled fury she had just witnessed.
“But we can at least buy her time,” Alias finished.
“What are the orders, sir?” came Slick, eager to avenge his comrades.
Alias glanced around at the room, in a rare state of nervousness.
“...Release Subject C-55.”
Trixie glanced at Slick and the room full of agents, unsure what Alias was alluding to. By the shocked expression on all of their faces, she didn’t imagine it was anything good.
“Sir…Are you-”
“Do it.”
There was a moment of hesitation, before the control room flew into a panic once again.
Red flashing lights began to flood the underground lair, all while Trixie made her best effort not to crumble to pieces knowing what Starlight was walking into.
Static engulfed the screen, though Cadance’s eyes lingered on in defeat, staring off into the void.
In the command center at the 10th floor of the Crystal Palace, Cadance was surrounded by the agents sent by Alias to protect her, all discreetly disguised in royal armor. Her own troops had been dismissed from the room, as she still had trouble trusting even her own subordinates any longer.
“That was Gin,” muttered Eight Ball, grieving the last of the agents to suffer Twilight’s wrath in the helmet video feed.
“This was sent by headquarters a few hours ago. Chief is planning to retaliate,” Eight Ball said, and he was surprised. He didn’t think the old stallion still had it in him.
“What?” Cadance said, snapping out of her horror-struck daze, “No. Tell Alias to stand down.”
“The Chief’s orders are final,” Eight Ball said, “He won’t listen to me. And he definitely won’t listen to you.”
“So what? I’m supposed to sit here while you all try to murder my sister-in-law?!”
“Princess…you know what Twilight is," Eight Ball said.
Cadance shook her head.
“This isn’t the right approach. I know that Twilight’s good at heart. I know it.”
Eight Ball made no reply, though his silence was enough to make Cadance doubt herself.
She had no idea how the royal guards could stand it.
Draped in golden plates of armor and stuffed in a matching golden helmet, Bon Bon found it a considerable challenge to walk with the added weight, let alone attempt anything combat-related.
Callidus was ahead of her, having taken on a pony disguise. The two royal guards they had incapacitated were currently lying on top of each other next to a dumpster on West Vernon Avenue, and Bon Bon could only hope they wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon.
They had made their way to the palace after retrieving the surveillance equipment Suri had specified: micro-cameras, microphones, tracking beacons. Suri had more than enough to cover all of it, packaged in a discreet crate the pair would be carrying right inside.
Marching up the front gate steps, Bon Bon made sure not to drag the back end of the crate, all while nervously glancing at passing guards to gauge their degree of suspicion.
Luckily for her and Callidus, the guards appeared to be in a fluster of some sort, milling about in disorderly droves and repeating orders into fuzz-muffled radios.
“What’s got everypony so spooked?” Callidus muttered, glancing back at Bon Bon.
Bon Bon shrugged, as together they carried the crate into the front palace foyer, an immaculate display of endearing antiquity architecture and sleek modern marble.
They skirted past stain glass and patrols of soldiers, whose eyes seemed to follow them as they went. Bon Bon kept her head lowered, avoiding eye contact as much as possible.
“We’ll need to get to a higher floor,” Bon Bon muttered, taking care to keep her voice down.
Callidus nodded, taking off straight for the centerpiece staircase. Before the stairs was a crimson carpet flanked by two pristine statues of Celestia and Luna, molded in solid gold.
While trudging up the stairs, Bon Bon saw more patrols taking to arms, falling into neat rows and listening to the screeching commands of their higher ranking officers. They fled out from the corridors into the foyer like a sea of insects, doing their best to stay orderly.
They continued on hoof up four flights of stairs. At each level there were less and less soldiers on patrol, as if the lot of them had been drawn down to the chaos below.
“It’s like they’re on high alert or something,” Bon Bon said.
“Just be glad no one’s paying any attention to us,” Callidus said, dragging the crate to one edge of a spotless hallway, magically unsealing the top cover.
“Ventilation shafts, drainage lids, anywhere out of sight,” Bon Bon instructed.
Callidus nodded, handing Bon Bon a bag of the micro-cameras and accompanying microphones.
Bon Bon, who had once done this sort of thing for a living, proved to be exceptionally quicker than Callidus, who took extra caution to make sure he didn’t leave anything too exposed.
Bon Bon was nervous, frantic even, with the possibility of being caught. The thought of confronting Twilight again was all she wanted at heart, yet still she feared the actual encounter. The princess’ shadow seemed to creep up every now and then, stalking from places they could not see.
“We’ll need to cover the throne room too, and her bedchamber,” Bon Bon said.
Callidus hesitated.
“We’re going to have to be a bit more subtle,” Callidus said, having been surprised that nopony had caught them already, “We might be pushing our luck.”
“The others are counting on us,” Bon Bon said, covering the crate and picking up the back end, “We have a job to do.”
Callidus grinned, impressed by Bon Bon’s resilience. He picked up the front end, and together they took off for the throne room gate farther down and around another corridor.
Clawing at the scathed rests of her marble throne, Twilight could not help but grit her teeth. Eyes of blue peered down at her from the shadowy corners of the hall, and up in the rafters, and everywhere Twilight could not see.
What might Celestia have done now, she asked herself. But the answer never came. Celestia remained to her now only as a voiceless memory, a striving symbol just out of reach.
“Your highness,” came a mare’s silky voice from the other end of the room.
Snowfall Glitter had returned to the capital, as she had been instructed. The blonde unicorn with the icy blue eyes and the pure white coat had just risen from her knees, marching past the guards on duty, the grim Grey Wick and the boorish Prickly Pear.
“Lieutenant," Twilight said.
“I only wanted to make sure everything was alright, your highness. I heard reports of some loud noises coming from the third level lounge.”
“Don’t trouble yourself,” Twilight said, “It’s been taken care of.”
Snowfall could sense that there was something Twilight was not telling her, though knew she would be out of line to pry any further.
“I also wanted to report that Redshift is due back from Manehattan tomorrow.”
“Any success with Polomare?”
“Er, no, your highness. But she said she wouldn’t be coming back empty-hoofed."
Twilight nodded, seemingly aware of what was being alluded to. Snowfall, however, had no idea.
"You should also be made aware, Spike has left the capital," Snowfall continued.
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"Alone?" Twilight asked.
Snowfall gave a puzzled look.
"Yes, your highness. Is something wrong?"
"He was meant to take Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy with him," Twilight said.
Snowfall shook her head.
"We were told that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy left the city already, princess, ahead of schedule," Snowfall said, hesitantly.
Both of them reached a dreadful conclusion. Starlight.
“Your grace!” bellowed Wedge Ward, stumbling in through the throne room gates, his mane soaked in sweat, dark circles hanging beneath his eyes. The bloated, bald-headed Marius Moonshine and the twisted, thin Featherglass came skulking in after him, not unlike scavengers closing in on dead prey.
“What is it?” Twilight asked, terrified of what the response would be.
Wedge was out of breath, having run up four flights of stairs.
“Distress calls are flooding the lines!" Wedge said, "The Redwine Road, your grace, it’s been overrun!"
“What are you talking about?” Twilight demanded.
“A bugbear, your grace, it’s headed right for Seaward Sholes!” Wedge said.
Twilight rose to her hooves.
“This could be the work of the dragons,” Featherglass suggested.
Twilight narrowed her eyes, figuring an alternative scenario. She had assumed Alias would not stop with his measly surveillance efforts.
“Captain Virgil is leading the garrison out of Seaward Sholes, but they’re under-equipped to handle something like this,” Wedge said, “I can mobilize the rangers and reach the beast within the hour, with your leave.”
“I’ll handle it,” Twilight said, firmly.
“Your grace,” Marius said, “Surely we can’t take such a risk. This creature is older and stronger than the last time you encountered it. A fully-grown bugbear could destroy an entire city. ”
“There isn’t time to have this debate,” Twilight said, storming through the lot of them.
“You’ll have to move soon then, your grace,” Wedge said, “In a half-hour Seaward Sholes will be a pile of rubble.”
Twilight did not hesitate, continuing on for the doors. She eyed Snowfall. “Lieutenant. You and Hawkbit know your orders.”
“Yes, your highness,” Snowfall replied, bowing her head.
“Do not disappoint me,” Twilight said.
Twilight left her panicked council and the reluctant Snowfall Glitter, throwing open the throne room doors and spreading her wings. She wanted to laugh to herself, that Alias thought himself clever to be putting her to the test. Twilight found no use in massacring hoofsoldiers. Proving a point would go a lot farther in the end.
Challenge accepted.
“Terror strikes once more! The Equestrian Royal Inquiry has confirmed the reports of a bugbear of unnatural proportions westbound for Seaward Sholes. Evacuate! Evacuate!”
Wallflower lowered the volume on the dinky radio she had found in the top kitchen cupboard.
“A bugbear? I thought those were extinct,” Lightning said, lying on the ground against a wall.
“Everypony was going on about it at the market,” Suri said, having just returned with bags of fresh produce and water.
"What is this?" Lightning grunted, digging into the grocery bag, "Sparkling water? Yuck! Suri!"
"I suppose not everypony has as refined of a palette as I do," Suri smirked, "Why've you gone pale? Oh, how precious. The fearless stunt performer is terrified by a bugbear that's a hundred miles away. I took you for many things, but not a coward."
"I'm not a coward," Lightning insisted.
"Yes. I suppose you're too stupid to be a coward." Suri told her.
"I am not," Lightning rebutted.
"Yes you are," Suri retorted, "If a bugbear attacked you right now, you'd be too stupid to run away."
"I would not," Lightning argued, "I'd run away faster than you."
Lightning froze suddenly, scowling when she saw Suri's grin and realized what she'd just said.
"Alright, you got me. Enjoy your liquefied static TV, Suri. I'm going to go check on the kid," Lightning said.
Upstairs, Lightning Dust found Scootaloo in the old guest room, curled up in the bed beside a lit candle on the dresser. The room was relatively untouched by thieves and vandals, unlike much of the rest of the house.
“Hey, shouldn’t you be getting rest?” Lightning asked, poking her head through a crack in the door.
“I’m reading. Isn’t it always a good thing if I’m reading?” Scootaloo rebutted, waving her book in the air.
“Where’d you find that?” Lightning asked, trotting inside and taking a seat at the edge of the bed, which was far too big for Scootaloo.
“There’s loads of them. That lady’s dad really liked reading. What’s her name again?”
“Wallflower,” Lightning replied.
“I like her. She gave me an extra slice of bread earlier," Scootaloo said.
Lightning’s smile began to crumble.
“Hey, um…Look I know you want to help your friend and all, but…Scootaloo, this is getting dangerous. Too dangerous for you. I think you should head back home to Ponyville. I can take you there."
Scootaloo scoffed.
“I’m not afraid.”
“I know you’re not. But I am. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Like you’ve ever cared about that.”
“I know how I used to treat you, but I'm telling you now, I do care. A lot of ponies want to lock us up. You need to listen to me this time.”
Scootaloo narrowed her eyes.
“You said you wanted to make it up to me. For everything you did.”
“I do, but-”
“Well, you can start by letting me make my own decisions! I’m not a stupid kid anymore.”
Lightning nodded, softly, and rose back to her hooves.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Lightning turned to leave, half-expecting Scootaloo to have a change of heart and offer some hoof of reconciliation, but it never came.
Sighing after a failed attempt at building a bridge, Lightning closed the guest room door, stepping out into the hallway outside.
There were no other candles in the house to burn, meaning everypony would have to feel their way out through the pitch black.
Lightning turned to face what she thought was the stairwell, not before running into a stallion’s chest headfirst. It was Kickstart, though she couldn’t tell before he spoke.
“That didn’t go well, I take it,” he said, bluntly.
“I’ve never been good with kids," Lightning admitted.
“I didn’t want her to come along either. But sometimes I’m glad she’s around.”
Lightning nodded, though Kickstart couldn’t have seen it in the dark.
“She trusts you, I think," she said.
Kickstart grumbled something inaudible.
“What’s your stake in all this, anyway? Your friends want to kill the princess. But that’s got nothing to do with you.”
“Starlight, Sunset, all of them, they helped me out of Hellhatch," Lightning said, firmly, "I owe them my life."
“And you haven’t wondered whether they’re really on the right side of things? You give them your loyalty, but I see the way you all treat each other.”
Lightning hesitated.
"None of us really know how to be friends," Lightning said, "It's, uh, not really our thing. I know that's the case for me, at least. OK? You wanna know why I was in Cloudsdale, without them? I was running away. I thought I could start my life back up where I left off. But that life's not worth going back to. Maybe we don't get along so much now. But we might learn to. I really want that. I really want to get things right this time."
"Happy thought," Kickstart said, warily, "You might be willing to change. But that doesn't mean they are. They could drag you down to somewhere worse."
Lightning glanced at the ground, uncertain whether his words held merit.
A crack in the window caught them both by surprise.
“Stay with Scootaloo, I’ll check it out,” Lightning said.
Lightning stumbled off towards the stairwell, peeking down into the living room of the house.
Suri screamed when the soldiers had begun pouring in through the door, storming it down with two swings of a battering ram.
Lightning flew down just in time to kick one soldier across the face, sticking herself between a terrified Suri and the growing mass of soldiers.
How did they find us? she wondered.
“Where’s Wallflower?” Lightning muttered.
“She was just here,” Suri replied, nervously backing up towards the kitchen.
Lightning recognized the pegasus lieutenant leading the pack of soldiers. Hawkbit was his name, the one with the movie-star handsome face and the combed bark-colored mane. His grin made her uneasy.
“We have got to stop meeting like this," he laughed.
“Suri, get out through the back,” Lightning muttered, “Make sure Kickstart and Scootaloo get out with you. I’ll buy you time.”
Suri tore off without a second thought, while Lightning ran to meet the soldiers head on.
Suri refused to look back, rushing into the kitchen and searching for the briefcase with the remaining funds she had taken out of Manehattan. Only, to her distress, the briefcase was missing.
“No, no, no, that can’t be, that-” Suri sputtered, desperately rushing about the kitchen, searching for the vanished case.
Lights from outside flooded the house, as patrol after patrol of royal soldiers surrounded the building.
Lightning could only hold off so many at a time, and while the soldiers tried their hardest to overwhelm her, more were able to head up the stairs and into the kitchen.
Lightning recalled the odd scrap she’d end up in at Corkscrew’s Bar and Grill in Cloudsdale, while she swung her hooves like mad. She had one by the throat before shoving him into three others, and proceeded to punch another across the face, swinging his helmet half-around his head.
She shoved her way after Hawkbit, managing to levy three swings, two the head and one to the gut. Hawkbit proved more resilient than his subordinates, however, grabbing at her wing and throwing her off balance.
Tumbling to the ground, Lightning was unable to climb back to her hooves, while three guards piled on top of her to hold her firm against the ground.
"Stop! Let go of me!" she barked.
“I like the ones with a little fight in them,” grinned Hawkbit.
Lightning winced while she struggled against the soldiers holding her to the ground.
She watched on as Suri was dragged back into the room, her face bloodied, her limbs tied in chains. Suri was hardly awake while being dragged in like a sack of produce, though Lightning was in little position to do much about it.
Then she saw Scootaloo and Kickstart be dragged down the stairs, the two of them flailing and fighting viciously while being overwhelmed by the guards.
"N-No," Lightning grunted, struggling against the soldiers on top of her, "Stop! Don't hurt them!"
“Where is Starlight Glimmer?” Hawkbit asked, kneeling beside Lightning.
Lightning kept her mouth shut, not that she had any idea where Starlight was anyway.
"Feeling shy?" Hawkbit laughed, "That's OK. You might feel different when I start flaying your little friend there."
"Don't touch her," Lightning warned, "If you put a hoof on her I'll strangle you with your own guts."
Hawkbit laughed, standing up while riding the high of his triumph.
He nodded for Lightning to be taken away, along with the others.
Lightning resisted up until the moment they slapped the steel cuffs over her wrists. She cursed herself for having not fought harder against Sunset. She knew they had been betrayed. Bon Bon, Callidus, it didn’t matter which anymore. All that running, just to end up stuck behind bars again.
But, to Lightning’s shock, she found a pair of eyes watching her be dragged out the front door, not belonging to any soldier, but instead by Wallflower Blush, who was hiding in one closet off at the edge of the living room. Lightning did not look for long, not wishing to give away Wallflower’s position. Lightning meant to lambast her captors, though a baton to the forehead made preemptive work of that.
“It must really be our lucky day.”
Peeking in through the great marble doors, Callidus found the throne room completely abandoned. There were hastened hoofprints on the ruby red carpet that rode through the center of the room, as if some ponies had been in a hurry.
“Let’s be quick,” Bon Bon said.
And quick they were, with Callidus taking flight and placing several of the cameras up in the rafters of the throne room, hopefully out of sight.
“That should do it,” Bon Bon said.
“We should get to the armory,” Callidus said, “The sooner we’re out of here the better.”
Both of them froze in their tracks when an electric alarm began blaring out through every hall of the palace, shaking dust from the walls.
Bon Bon and Callidus glanced at each other, and neither had to persuade the other that they would need to move quickly.
Red light and endless alarm bells marked their escape, as Bon Bon and Callidus walked as fast as they could towards the palace armory.
“It can’t be for us,” Callidus said, frantically.
“Forget the weapons. Something’s happened. They might know we’re here,” Bon Bon said.
“You were the one who said we had to finish the job. And if they do know we’re here, it wouldn’t hurt to have weapons while escaping, would it?”
Bon Bon happened to be persuaded, continuing after him. They had brought the now-empty crate with them to avoid leaving evidence, and hoped that the armory wouldn’t be too tightly guarded.
They arrived at the armory on the second floor, only to find the door was locked.
“Have you got a key?”
“Why would I have a key?” Bon Bon stammered.
Callidus shook his head, struggling to work around a solution.
“Blast it open,” Bon Bon suggested.
“What happened to being subtle?”
“The whole palace is on red alert, forget everything else!”
Callidus’s horn began to glow, blasting open the handle to the armory door.
Inside, there was no pony in sight.
“Let’s be quick,” Bon Bon said, stepping in before him, eager to get in and out as fast as possible.
There were weapons of strange and lethal design lining the walls and ground setups. Trigger-activated rifles, horn enhancements, explosives.
“Sunset would have a field day here,” Callidus said.
Bon Bon got to work, collecting as many weapons as she could and storing them inside the crate. Callidus did the same, picking out grenades and laser devices.
“That’s enough. Let’s go!” Bon Bon said, stuffing the cover over the crate, hammering back in the nails.
“Got it,” Callidus replied, checking his shoulder as they returned to the corridor.
“In and out, that easy, see?” he added, helping Bon Bon carry the crate towards the center stairwell.
Continuing down the stairs, Bon Bon came to a screeching halt at the top of the centerpiece stairwell descending into the first floor foyer.
“Oh no…”
A platoon of guards was waiting for them below, spears and shields facing them.
Snowfall Glitter stood in the center, her face that of a disappointed schoolteacher.
“Would that be all?” came Callidus.
Bon Bon turned around, confused, right as Callidus shed his pony disguise.
“No,” she whispered under her breath.
Callidus, a delighted grin painted on his face, flew down below beside Snowfall, who could spare no words for Bon Bon, now all by herself.
"What have you done?" Bon Bon stammered.
Callidus slid back behind the guards.
The guards began their approach up the stairs, when Bon Bon dropped the crate, nervously trotting backwards. She shook her head, refusing to concede she missed her chance at killing Twilight.
“You released a bugbear?!” Trixie exclaimed.
She was right at Alias’ side at the helm of the Erased’s headquarters control room, beside Slick at the control panel and a distraught Rarity quivering behind her.
Alias paid Trixie no attention.
“You’re insane! You're putting thousands of lives at risk!” Trixie said.
“The subject won’t make it to Seaward Sholes before Twilight catches it.”
“And what happens then? If you think a bugbear will be enough to stop Twilight, you-”
“Starlight is going to need time to set up a trap for Twilight. But she’ll need time to do it.”
"You don't know her like I know her," Trixie said, "Starlight's not thinking straight, she'll confront Twilight the first chance she gets."
"She's waited this long for her chance, she can wait a bit longer."
“What if Twilight gets hurt? You’re all monsters,” interjected Rarity.
“Sir, Princess Twilight is nearing C-55,” Slick said.
“Turn on audio-visual. Prepare heat-seekers,” Alias said.
“Yes, sir,” Slick replied, flipping a number of switches on the panel.
Below in the sunken control station, ponies frantically went about activating the right switches and turning the right knobs, while a flashing red light made them all feel as though they were running out of time.
“News outlets are all over it, sir,” Slick said.
“Keep the field agents back until the smoke clears.”
“Heard,” Slick replied, nodding over to Hask down in the sunken control center, who was responsible for the Erased’s media plants.
“You really think your little toys can do anything against her?” Trixie said.
“This isn’t about defeating her. This is about buying Starlight time,” Alias said.
“That wasn’t really her. She was under some sort of spell, or-or something,” Rarity mumbled, “She would never.”
“Heat-seekers active, sir,” reported Slick.
“Release Wasp-1 at 700 yards advance to the subject. Wasp-2 at 600.”
“Affirmative,” said Slick.
“Wasp-1 airbound,” came agent Sugarcane from below.
The screen ahead of them came to life, displaying a green field of grass. Smoke from Seaward Sholes could be seen over the hills, over the shorebanks and into the grey sky rumbling in preparation of the oncoming southbound storm.
“Wasp-2,” Sugarcane continued.
“There it is,” Alias said, marveling at the massive beast clawing its way through the air at a lethal pace.
“Switch to Camera Six,” Alias suggested.
Slick complied, the screen blinking to a new image displaying the beast in its full grandeur, head on.
The bugbear was covered in wooly fur, matted and bloodied around its wrists and ankles from years of grinding Tartarus chains. Its teeth were sharp and huge like swords, and its eyes were blood red. Snarling and growling as it lumbered through the air, Alias knew the creature well enough to tell it was hungry for blood.
“Sir, Her highness is within 900 yards,” Slick said.
“Wasp-1 inbound,” Sugarcane yelled out, adjusting her headphones.
Alias kept his eyes fixed on the screen, unconsciously taking a step back when Twilight appeared on the display. She was like an ant compared to the beast, yet flew towards it as if it posed no serious threat to her.
The room was silenced when the missile came crashing through the sky towards her.
“Wasp-2 inbound.”
Twilight noticed the missile by its screeching through the sky, repelling it upon impact with a purple aura of magic. The blast was strong enough to vaporize the dust in the air around her, and sent her tumbling backwards, caught nearly unaware by the second missile barreling towards her.
“Negative contact,” agent Shortcake reported.
Twilight, after catching her balance, blocked the second missile by veering it away from her, though the missile was locked onto its target, spiraling around to make contact from the other side. Twilight sent a blast of magic directly towards it, exploding the canister and again sending her hurling off across the sky.
“Negative, again.”
Alias shook his head, having hoped that the missiles might have proved to be a challenge for the princess, though he was beginning to get used to disappointment.
Twilight wiped off some ash from the burn marks on her coat, and redirected her attention towards the bugbear, which still had its sights set on Seaward Sholes.
“Sir, spectators are arriving,” Sugarcane reported.
“Have the news report on,” Alias replied. From the display screen, he noticed the air balloons rising in the distance, some containing news reporters filming the confrontation, and some just curious civilians.
A smaller screen near Slick’s control panel began to display the Equestria News Network’s live coverage.
“Who put Bravo on front coverage? I’ve told Peaches twenty times I don’t want that moron on the air,” Alias growled.
“Er, sorry sir.”
On the screen, the news reporter with the slicked-back blue hair and the cream-colored coat, whose name was Bravo, was struggling to keep his balance aboard his hot air balloon, withstanding the cool breeze reeling in the storm from over the hills.
“As you can see, ladies and gentlecolts, her majesty is nearly upon the creature, which is still en route to Seaward Sholes. The Seaborne garrison led by Captain Virgil has-” Bravo had said, before Slick lowered the volume to cut him off.
“Thirty-four thousand watching right now, sir,” Slick said.
“They came for a show. They’ll get one.”
“Sparkle is in range,” Sugarcane cried from below.
Trixie and Rarity glanced back up at the screen, helpless to watch the ensuing carnage.
Twilight dove down straight for the bugbear, her horn igniting like a comet crashing to the earth.
She fired a beam of magic straight for the top of the bugbear’s head, meaning to slaughter it in a single shot. But the bugbear was more durable than she had remembered, and she succeeded only in disorienting it enough that it nearly lost control of its balance midair.
Twilight did not have the time to come to a sudden stop, and was thus caught by surprise when the bugbear flew up towards her at unprecedented speed, swinging its claw right for her.
Twilight grunted, being tossed through the air, the beast’s claw cutting a deep gash into her side.
The beast was already upon her by the time she regained balance, its roar so powerful she froze for a moment in shock.
Twilight dove out of the way of another attempted slash by the claw, and blasted again, this time directed at the beast’s underarm, hoping to discover a potential weakness.
The bugbear was hardly impacted, however, rushing to slam its jaws around her.
Twilight dove backwards up into the air, swinging her body back down into a running charge, while her horn ignited.
She aimed for the beast’s blood red eyes, though the bugbear was able to withstand the blast, guarding them with his arm.
The beast slashed at her again, this time snatching her up in one of its massive claws.
“Good heavens!” Rarity squealed from the control center.
Twilight squirmed and groaned while the beast’s grasp tightened around her. She could not concentrate on a spell, not while she had no access to the air.
Right as her vision began to darken, the beast suddenly let out an agonizing howl, as it stumbled out of the air and began colliding down to the ground, still clutching Twilight in its claw.
Collapsing through the air, the beast roared and growled and slashes like mad, helplessly descending almost a mile to the ground below.
“What the hell was that?” Alias said. Nopony in the room had seen what had happened, to the chief’s distress.
“And, oh dear, er, something’s just joined the spectacle, we couldn’t make it out. The creature’s lost its wings, it’s lost control!” cried Bravo from the news feed.
Alias glanced at Trixie, and he recognized the dread in her eyes.
Twilight writhed in the beast’s grip, though the bugbear refused to let go, even while it fell through the sky. Twilight’s eyes suddenly turned white in a flash of rage, and her horn came alive once more. The beast’s grip fell apart, along with the flesh and muscle from its paw, while Twilight’s horn incinerated a path to freedom.
“And she’s done it! Princess Twilight has won!” Bravo exclaimed.
Twilight regained control of herself in the air, watching as the bugbear collided towards the earth, roaring and slashing at the air all the way.
Twilight was still out of breath, having come considerably close to joining the bugbear in its one-ticket freefall.
Then the air began to shift. The storms from the north settled in overhead, and the first drops of rainfall began to dampen her coat.
Her eyes wavered along through the air, marking a grave realization she was unfit or unwilling to yield ground to.
Bloodied, bruised, and breathless, Twilight turned in the air to face the pony hovering several yards away, encased in an aura of blue magic.
Those eyes were never so real until then, she thought, while the unicorn remained speechless. Twilight straightened herself, gritting her teeth while pawing at the gash in her side. If she showed any fear then, it was for what she would allow herself to do next. They held each other’s grasp in the air for what felt like hours, while the Erased’s headquarters fell silent, as did the news reporters, as did the soldiers gathering below in the grass.
But Twilight’s mind could not drift away any longer, it could not fabricate the nightmare. This time the nightmare was real.
“Starlight.”