//------------------------------// // Chapter 28: Filly Action Squad! // Story: Filly Eyes // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// “So wait! Where did you get a crossbow?” I ask the pink pegasus filly as we both stood on our hooves on the rooftop… Twinkle stares left at me and smiles, “I have my ways!” We both stare forward as she uses her right forehoof to hold the device and aims it at the bank’s roof across the road from us, “So, you know the plan, right?” I blink, “I think so? How do you know there’s only one other pony in there?” Twinkle smiles, “I just needed to pay attention to Hitch and the other robber up front talking! He’s not very bright to tip his hand like that, you know?” I widen my eyes, “Well uh, I guess not? So um, I just need to get the drop on the one guy inside, and we’ll be all set?” “Yup! Jessi can fix the one up front with a forcefield! We just don’t know what the one inside is gonna do, which is why we need you to take him out!” She says before firing an arrow with an almost inaudible thwap from the string and it firmly plants into the stone ledge of the building… “That bow is pretty powerful!” Twinkle nods, “Yeah, compound bows are like that! Alright Little! Ready to go zip lining?” I frown, “Isn’t there an easier way? And Hitch told me to stay at the station!” Twinkle smiles, “Well, he didn’t say anything about me and Jessi, now did he?” “Uh, well no!” Twinkle nods, “Right! And since we’re here, don’t you think as a sheriff’s assistant, it is now your duty to make sure we don’t get hurt?” “Well um, I guess so?” Twinkle nods again, “Right! And since we plan on taking out those bad guys, it is therefore your obligation to assist us and make sure everything goes smoothly! See how this works? You’re here to protect us and keep us safe!” “Alright!” I say before getting up to my hind legs and placing my forehooves overhead and grasping the bar above me… I stared down the line leading towards a window pane on the side of the building… I gulp and say, “Uh, isn’t there an easier way?” Twinkle nods, “Well, Misty is at the station keeping the other two adults busy and Jessi is on the ground! We’re alone out here!” I furrow my brow and stare at my target, “Right! It’s just us, now!” “Right!” I hear Twinkle say as she uses her head to shove me forward! I widen my eyes and scream as I zip down the line towards the window, “WEEEEEEEEEE!” I crash into the window a few seconds later and it shatters all around me, but my tough skin never gets cut as I land on the floor at a half-stance before lifting my body up amidst the shattered glass fragments… “What the hay was that?” I hear a masculine voice say from the hall! I widen my eyes to look in front of me and see a long table there, stretching out about 7 feet from either side of me, roughly 5 feet in front. I quickly gallop to the side of this table and duck to crawl underneath right as I hear the door leading to the hall across from the window open! From underneath the table, I see four hooves connected to red legs begin trotting into the room… They soon begin trotting around the left side of the table to the other side with the window and I can tell from looking at the legs that he’s staring out the window now, “Wait! Did somepony come through here? What’s that rope doing up there?” At this point, I know it’s now or never! So I shimmy up from underneath the table to stare at his rump and notice a bulge right in the center of his fur… I instantly knew what to do… I hoofed him in the crotch HARD! <*****> I smile at the orange alicorn on the right side of the table as the purple fuzzy maned unicorn on the left stares onward, “Well, they said they all wanted to go out to play! Uh, yeah!” Sunny widens her eyes and frowns, “Without Little Snack, who’s ponying the phones?” I nod and continue to stare up at these other two scary ponies with wide eyes, “Well, I’m supposed to answer the phone and get her if anything comes up! Uh, yeah!” as I continue smiling… I use my magick to lift the pizza slice in front of me on the plate and take a bite, hoping that will help the tension… It doesn’t work… I can barely taste it in my mouth as I’m chewing and Sunny says, “Why do I get the feeling there’s more to this story?” Izzy turns her head right to Sunny and smiles, “Because while they may look like adorable fillies, they’re secretly a band of superheroes who scour Equestria at night, looking for trouble?” Sunny blinks, “That seems oddly specific?” Izzy bounces, “I know! Filly Action Squad! Or how about, Team Small Horse?” Sunny can barely keep from smiling at this point as her mouth wiggles on her snout, “Um, the first one is better, but not by much!” I blink, “Filly Action Squad?” <*****> I stared at the robber in his dark blue mask as he smiled and said, “Tick-tock, Hitch! Our demands are very simple! What say you?” Hitch nods and sighs before saying, “Well, I’m not authorized to get these things for you! I talked to the mayor, though!” The robber’s eyes widen, “Oh, for the love of! I’m going to kill ponies here! Do you not understand?” Suddenly, I hear the wind whistle and a small clack sound coming from my right! I turn my head in that direction to see Twinkle Shine there, staring at the robber and saying in a loud squeaky voice, “This is your last chance! Surrender now, or else!” I widen my eyes, “Twinkle! What are you doing? Get out of here!” The robber sneers and half laughs, “What?” Twinkle smiles and shouts, “Jessi!” Suddenly, fast as lightning, I turn my head to witness hundreds of little black spider creatures all withfierce little red eyes all running towards this robber and enveloping his body causing him to collapse and lose his magical grasp on the butcher’s dagger before it falls to the ground with a slight clang! “AAAAAAAAHHHH! GET EM OFF! GET EM OFF! GET EM OFF!” The robber screams as his green hostage runs away off to the side and he thrashes his equine body on the ground while covered in small black spiders! I widen my eyes and begin a sprint towards the door, when suddenly, it opens up and I see my small orange assistant there, smiling at me with her big freckled cheeks and green pigtails! “Hiya boss! I gave the one inside with four hooves to crotch and a few to the face for good measure! He’s pretty well knocked out now, but he did throw up first!” she widens her eyes and bounces. “Oh, good! You didn’t get captured this time!” I skid to a stop with my hooves planted towards the side and take a stance as I widen my eyes and say, “W-what?” and raise my neck to shout. “What just happened!?!?” I hear hooves clacking to my right and turn to see a grinning pink pegasus there stop trotting towards me as she says, “Well, gee Hitch! I think fillies just saved the day!” The robber raises his body as he’s surrounded by little black spiders that all stare up at him ready to pounce with their furrowed little red eyes and stares at Hitch wide eyed and frowning while saying, “I’ll come peacefully, sir! Just uh, no more spiders!” Suddenly, I see a small green alicorn materialize in the open space to my right… I also can’t help but notice that she has another one of those small black spiders on her head as it stares the same direction she does with glowing red eyes… She smiles at me and says, “All taken care of Hitch!” Twinkle stares at Jessi, “You like those little spiders, don’t you?” Jessi looks at Twinkle and frowns as the spider stares onward with it’s creepy red eyes, “What? They’re cute!” Twinkle smiles, “Just like you!” Jessi pouts, “Oh, don’t start that again!” <*****> I stare up at Hitch as he lectures us four fillies there in the station on our wooden chairs… Jessi is on my left and Twinkle just beyond her, while Misty is staring forward blankly and visibly shivering on the right as Hitch bellows, “Do you have any idea how many laws you just broke?” Sunny widens her eyes from our left, next to Izzy beyond her as Twinkle smiles and says, “Hitch! Same team! We all wanted the same thing back there! For the robbers to be caught and the hostages freed! We took care of that!” She leans forward slightly. “So golly, I just don’t know what the problem is here, sir?” Hitch’s eyes widen at the pegasus, “I don’t want you to get hurt!” Twinkle nods, “And we didn’t! I still don’t see the problem?” Hitch nods, “Well, you could’ve! I” he blinks. “I care about you and keeping ponies safe is my job!” I finally speak up, “I was doing my job by keeping Twinkle and Jessi safe out there! I was being a good assistant!” Hitch looks at me, “But I told you to stay at the station!” Twinkle then says, “Well, Little Snack was escorting us, since she knew we’d be doing something unsafe. Hitch turns to Twinkle, “Well, I know that!” Twinkle nods, “And as your assistant, it’s her duty… I don’t think she technically did anything wrong here, since keeping us safe and staying at the station couldn’t be done at the same time.” She smiles wider. “So it basically amounts to a judgment call!” Hitch continues, “But what about the phones here at the station?” Twinkle says, “Well, we told Misty to take care of that and Little showed her where all the important numbers are, like your cell!” “Why couldn’t Little Snack do that, since it was her job?” Twinkle sighs and nods, “Well, Misty isn’t as strong as Little!” she glances to the jittery unicorn at her right, “No offense!” before back at Hitch and furrows her brow. “I needed a strong pony to be able to take out the robber inside, because I already knew Jessi could handle things up front with her magick!” Hitch lowers his gaze, “So, this was really all your idea?” Twinkle sighs, “I guess so, huh? Do what you want to me! But know that the others were just following me! I take full responsibility!” I widen my eyes and gaze past the green alicorn at the pink pegasus filly, “You don’t have to do that!” Twinkle turns her head right and looks at me from behind Jessi, “It’s not your fault Little! You were only doing what I told you to do…” Hitch nods, “Very well! Until further notice, you, Twinkle Shine, are not allowed in the station or near Little Snack!” I turn to Hitch and shout, “Hey!” Twinkle simply smiles at Hitch, “Sure Hitch! No problem!” I widen my eyes, “Oh gosh!” Hitch turns his body to me and trots up to me before staring down my direction… I look up into his brown eyes as he sincerely says to me, “Little Snack! I-” he blinks, “I love you and I just don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to you!” before leaning down and embracing me with his forehooves tightly. “I care about you!” I repeat myself shakily, “Oh, gosh!” Suddenly, Misty bursts out and says, “Filly Action Squad! We’re the Filly Action Squad!” Hitch raises from me and sighs and before staring over at the unicorn, “Not anymore, you’re not!” <*****> Later that afternoon, I’m in the grassy field north of Maretime Bay, kicking my ball around and thinking. Stupid Twinkle Shine! If she hadn’t wanted us to do that, I’d still be able to see her! And maybe figure out just how much Cozy Glow is actually in there! I run at the ball with my tongue streaming out the right side of my mouth, all set to give it another power kick! I hit it with my right forehoof and sent it flying maybe 30 feet in front of me! “I’m getting stronger!” I whisper to myself… Suddenly, I hear feathers fluttering to my right… I turn my head there to see a smiling pink pegasus filly with her neck craned slightly left my way as her wings lower to her sides… “So, ready to get the squad back together?” I widen my eyes at this filly, “Don’t you ever listen to the rules?” She smiles and chuckles slightly, “Little, I think we’re way past that phase!” she nods. “But I did bring a joint and I wanted to talk!” And for the third time that day, I repeat those two simple ominous words, “Oh, gosh!” She reaches into her right saddlebag with her head and comes back up to stare at me with a joint in her mouth before using her right forehoof to raise a red plastic hoof lighter to her mouth to ignite it… I see the flame move towards the front of the joint to catch fire as she inhales… She puts the lighter back in her left saddlebag and takes the joint out to exhale a cloud of smoke before staring at me, “So, what’s up?” I blink at her, “Y-you look so much like her! You both talk the same and you’re both very smart!” She exhales another cloud of smoke and takes the joint out with the same hoof, “You mean Cozy Glow?” I nod, “Y-yeah… But you’re not her! You’re not the same!” She frowns at me and says, “Well, golly gee, I guess two thousand years in stone will do that to you?” before bringing the joint back to her face for another drag… I nod again, “I guess so? Uh, “I blink. “So I guess this means, we get to start over?” She exhales smoke to my right side and turns to face me as she smiles, “I guess so Little Snack! Uh, “she blinks. “I’d like that!” I frown, “But what about Hitch?” She smiles wider, “Oh, don’t you worry about that! I have my ways!” before bringing the joint back into her mouth… (To be continued...)