Living The Dream

by Kickass222urmom

Justice above all else

Louie and Nightstreak stepped into the house at the end of the street, being careful not to startle its owner.

“Twilight?” Nightstreak called out as they walked further into the house. 

No answer came.

“Hey Twi, it’s Louie and Nightstreak,” Louie yelled, turning a corner to find Twilight laying on a couch, just staring at the wall.

“Oh, hi, Louie. Nightstreak,” she muttered, not even looking at them.

Being careful, Louie walked over and knelt down next to her, holding up the device for her to see, “we got it.”

This got her attention as she snapped her head to it, “you have it?!” 

He smiled at her reaction, glad to finally see her showing emotions. She’d been depressed since Lance was taken, and her being mortally wounded did not help.

“We need your help,” he said, causing her to raise an eyebrow, “there’s a spell lock on it, and you’re the only one here who could figure it out.”

“Hmm,” she muttered as she sat up and took the Device from him with her magic, flipping open the console on its side. Her horn flared as she began to analyze the device. “Oh… oh… hmm…”

“What is it?” Nightstreak asked, stepping up to look at the console.

“This magical encryption is from Lilith, I can clearly feel her magic, but… it’s so simple,” she said, a perplexed look on her face.

“What does that mean?” the stallion asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It means,” she began, shaking her head, “that I’ll have this cracked by tomorrow at the latest.”

“Shit, really?” he exclaimed, looking at Louie with an excited smile.

“Right on time for those special guests he’s supposed to have stopping by,” Louie said with a sly grin, stroking his mustache.

Twilight tapped her chin as she looked up at them, “I think we will need a third person to help though, because the computer encryptions itself will be a lot more to handle than the spell part.”

“Trust me, I can handle this shit easily,” Nightstreak chuckled, but she shook her head at him.

“You are amazing with computer’s, Nightstreak, but a second expert will speed things up,” she countered.

He shrugged, “you’re right. But there’s no one else in this safe dimension that can help us.”

“There is one,” she said, getting a confused look in response. But after a moment, Nightstreak’s eyes widened.

“Oh come on, not her, she’s… weird,” he groaned, causing Louie to laugh.

“I’ll go get her!” Louie exclaimed as he jumped up and ran for the door, laughing loudly.

“I’d rather just struggle against this alone than work with her,” he complained, but Twilight just shrugged at him.

“You’ll be fine, Nightstreak, so play nice,” she said as she got up to take the device to another room.

“Play nice…” he muttered, sighing loudly as he followed after her.

Louie stepped back into the house, a smirk on his face as he saw Nightstreak sitting at the kitchen table. “And here we are, Babel Yarn, the new Greenfield residence.”

“Oh God…” Nightstreak groaned as the mare stepped into the house, eyes wide as she looked around.

“Wow! So this is Lance Greenfield's house?!” she asked excitedly.

“Nah, just Twilight’s, since ya know, Lance has been captured,” Louie answered, still smirking as he watched Nightstreak’s reactions.

“Still cool though!” she said as she walked further into the room, smiling right at Nightstreak. “Hi, Nightstreak! I haven’t seen you since school let out!”

“Hi, Babel,” he muttered, giving her a wave. He’d always thought she was weird, as she was massively obsessed with Lance and Scamp’s books. She annoyed him greatly, as she’s always going on and on about the books, or her own little universe she’s creating for roleplay purposes.

Her attire also annoyed him, as she wore a hoodie that had some kind of custom ‘Living the Dream’ art on it, based on Scamp’s book. She just NEVER took that off. Her glasses did not help her not look like a dork either, as she’d been bullied throughout the years for her weird obsession with ‘Living the Dream’. Also did not help she’d drop random trivia into conversations…

“I’m so excited to help with this Brony rebellion stuff!” She exclaimed excitedly, starting to bounce in place, “this is just like Scamp’s original timeline with an evil monarch trying to do away with Bronies and their kin! Which means-”

“Okay okay, welcome aboard, Babel,” Nightstreak interrupted, not up for another of her long winded spiels.

“You two have fun playing computer nerds,” Louie chuckled as he backed out the door. “Me? I got some Inquisitor ass to kick. Ciao!”

Once he was gone, Babel Yarn turned back to Nightstreak, smiling widely, “do you think Twilight will talk about Lance’s book with me?”

“... I’d say no, since you know, she’s currently depressed about him being kidnapped,” Nightstreak said, shaking his head at her.

“Ah yeah yeah! Good point!” she said, nodding her head quickly as she adjusted her glasses. “So what are we doing exactly? Louie just said you needed my help with a computer?”

Letting out another sigh, he just shrugged, “we just need someone else who’s good with computers… and you’re the only other one we got apparently.”

“Oh!” she laughed, smiling widely, “then you got the right mare! I’ve been in love with this technology since it came into existence! I’m even developing my own game! It’s based in my own world, where-”

“Babel, please, stay on track,” he said in a strained voice.

“Sorry sorry!” she chucked sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head before resuming her happy appearance, “so! What are we cracking? What’s the end goal here?!”

“We’re just trying to get into the black box for the town's CCTV system, so we can prove to the entire world that Champion is a horrible bastard,” he explained, watching as she wrote everything he said down in a notebook. 

“Okay, got it. We’re breaking the encryption so we can access the CCTV footage and then release it to the world. Do we know what he’s done yet? Or will it be revealed when we see the video?” she asked, looking up from her notes.

“Eh… yeah, we have a really good idea. He’s killed a lot of innocents, and apparently… eh… took advantage of a mare,” he said, getting a bit awkward near the end.

“Ah, Champion raped a mare?” she asked, making a few notes as she clicked her tongue, “a classic LTD plot right there.” Then her eyes went wide and she gasped loudly, “wait! Will we be in a LTD book now?!”

“I can’t do this shit,” Nightstreak groaned as he rubbed his face. “You know this is a real mare we’re talking about, right? Not a character in one of your stupid books.”

Her ears folded down as she put her notebook away, “eh… yeah I’m sorry. My mind just works weirdly sometimes…”

He sighed again, “it’s fine. Just don’t mention anything like this to Twilight right now, okay?”

“I can try!” she said, giving him a sloppy salute.

“Geez, come on,” he said as he waved for her to follow him into the next room where Twilight was currently working on the device.

Babel Yarn quickly followed after him, getting a bit giddy as she realized she was getting to help the main characters from her book with a mission!

“They’ll be done by tomorrow?” Nova asked, shock clear in her voice.

“Yep,” Louie answered, leaning back in his chair. “Putting the best ponies on the job means it gets done fast.”

“Then that moves up our plans,” she muttered, making a few marks on the paper before herself. “That gives us two days to be ready to end this.”

“Sweet,” he said with a grin. 

“Which means your workload just increased, Lou,” she said, giving him a sly grin.

“Ah fuck, yeah saw that one coming,” he groaned, rubbing his face. “Screw it, throw it all on me. I’ll make sure it’s all done before the deadline.”

“I know we can count on you, Louie,” she said as she slid a folder over to him. “Everything you need to know is in that folder.”

He snatched it up and flipped it open, scanning the contents. “Hmm… yeah this’ll be a doozy.”

“All resources will be funneled towards you, so do whatever you need to do,” she said as she lifted up another folder and began to walk away. “Good luck, Luke.”

“You too, Nova,” he said with a little wave as he continued to examine the folder.

“Shits about to get crazy…” he muttered, an excited smile sliding onto his face.

“Chief?” the receptionist asked as Strawell stepped into the lobby of the Inquisitor's Headquarters. “I thought you were taking a few days off?”

“Change of plans,” she said sternly, walking past him as she headed for her office.

“Oh, well, you had a visitor earlier,” he called after her, causing her to turn her head to him. “It was a young stallion, but he wouldn’t tell me what he needed you for.”

“I see,” she replied, turning to continue on her way. “Send his info to my office computer.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

She made her way through the halls, getting greetings from all of her subordinates as they saw her walk past. But she did not engage outside of returning the greeting, as her mind was elsewhere.

As soon as she stepped into her office she closed the blinds and locked the door, making her way to her desk. She sat down and turned the computer on, her mouth in a straight line.

The files she’d spent the last day going over made no sense. They focus on the arrest of the Bronies, but not a single one of them include where they were taken. Officially, she’s been told they’re being taken to a special dimension to keep them in check. Which made sense to her, as putting them away in a different dimension meant they couldn’t be broken out as easily. But she does not have access to this dimension, and when she asked earlier, she was told to not ‘worry about it’.

But even more unsettling for her was looking into Champion himself. Taking a step back and looking at this situation from an outsider's perspective, it quickly became worrying. His actions went against the image he liked to be presented.

The words of Nightmare and that Brony dogman rang through her head constantly, as the more she looked into it, the less sense it all made.

Shaking her head, she clicked on her email, scrolling through all the messages she’d received. She started with the most recent one, which had just come in from the receptionist. 

The contents of the message caused her to raise an eyebrow. “Hmmm, interesting…” she muttered, not knowing why one of Val’s men would be coming to her like this. She’d need to pay them a visit it seems.

“Chief!” someone yelled from outside her door, trying to enter but unable to due to the lock. “Chief!”

Sighing, she stood up and walked over to the door, opening it and staring at the young panicked Inquisitor.

“Yes, private?”

“The dogman has been sighted!” he exclaimed, causing her eyes to widen slightly.

“Thank you, private,” she said as she walked past him, heading for the front. 

“Whew, hell of a work out, guys,” Louie chuckled as he stretched his arms, the seven unconscious Inquisitors laying around him. He hadn’t expected to run into them this early, as he hasn’t even entered the actual building yet.

With a grunt he jumped over the prone stallions and landed right at the door to the building. Adjusting his jacket with a large smile, he raised a foot and kicked the door open. 

There was no one within, as they’d probably all run away at the sight of him fighting the Inquisitor's outside. No worries, he wasn’t here for them. All he needed were the servers in the back, so the less obstacles the better.

In a carefree manner, he strolled down the hallway, whistling as he read the plaques on each door. It didn’t take him long to reach the server room, a smile appearing on his face.

“Bingo,” he said aloud as he kicked this door open as well, stepping into the empty room, eyes on the massive server towers around him.

This was just one of the many steps they’d need to complete for their plans to work. 

Pulling a small computer-like device out of his pocket dimension, he stepped over to the servers, looking for an access point. Once he’d found one, he connected the little computer to the servers.

The screen flashed a few times before a dialogue box popped up. 

‘Upload contents?’

He clicked yes, causing the computer to start flashing over and over again as it injected a program into the servers, courtesy of Nightstreak. This would give them unrestricted access to the ENTIRE network, which would allow them to broadcast anything they wanted, but only once. The moment they used this, the admins of the network would become aware of the program and will quickly remove it.

But that’s fine, if things went as planned, then this would all be finished in just two days.

After a few minutes the computer flashed green, turning itself off.

“A little too easy,” he chuckled as he disconnected the computer and put it away. Then just as casually as he’d entered, he began to walk out of the building, whistling loudly.

Upon stepping outside however, he found himself face to face with the head Inquisitor herself, a glare on her face.

“We meet yet again, Chief,” he laughed, tilting his head back with a smirk as he stared right at Strawell. He glanced around, seeing no one else in the area, “where’s the cavalry?”

“I’m bringing you in on my own,” she said firmly.

“Yeah, not happening, we’ve been over this, lady,” he replied, stroking his mustache. 

“I’ve looked into what you told me,” she said carefully, narrowing her eyes. “I’d like for you to allow yourself to be arrested so we can do this properly.”

“If I get arrested, then I will be taken to an undisclosed location, so nah, I’m good,” he chuckled as he began to stretch, getting ready to face her yet again.

“I personally guarantee that if you turn yourself in, I will make sure you stay in my custody, no one else's,” she assured him, trying to handle this situation correctly.

But Louie did not respond this time as he just stared her down, making his stance clear.

“Answer this question then,” she began, glaring at him, “did Nova really help the Bronies kill the Princesses?”

Louie just let out an exaggerated laugh at this, “the fact you still think Bronies are responsible for the death of the Princesses tells me all I need to know. If you arrest me, then I'm as good as dead. So let’s drop the banter and get to fighting.”

“Stop,” she ordered sternly. “Tell me exactly what you-”

“Excellent work, Strawell, you’ve tracked down the dog boy,” Val exclaimed as he suddenly appeared next to her, a sinister smile on his face as Louie’s eyes went wide behind his shutter shades.

“I have this handled, Val,” Strawell stated as she looked up at him. “This arrest is Inquisitor-”

“Silence, Chief,” he said with a chuckle, eyes locked with Louie’s. “We’re not arresting him. He’s too dangerous and offensive to be left alive.”

“We are not killing anyone,” Strawell growled, heart rate picking up as she stared at the large unicorn beside her.

“Not your choice, I’m afraid,” he replied with a large smile as he began to advance on Louie.

“So you want to go toe to toe with me?” Louie asked as he began to walk towards the approaching Val, “big mistake, pal.”

“Is that so?” Val asked as his form shifted into his demon form.

The two clashed together, hitting each other with as much force as they could muster. However, neither showed signs of being affected by the hits, as Val seemed to be copying Louie’s Ego, much to his annoyance.

With a grunt, Louie latched his arms onto Val’s side and attempted to lift him up, planning to suplex him. But the moment he raised the demonic unicorn, its mouth opened all the way, spreading all the way down to its chest as it attempted to latch down on Louie.

He yelped as he instead threw the unholy creature to the left, not wanting to have those jaws attached to him at all.

Val caught himself midair and sprang back for him, clamping his massive mouth down on Louie’s arm. 

“Gah you little bitch!” Louie yelled as he grabbed the top of Val’s mouth, trying to prevent him from cleaving through his entire arm. He began slamming a knee into the laughing demon’s chest, getting a bit desperate as he couldn’t break the grip.

“Val, stand down!” Strawell yelled, unsure of how to react to this, as Val was technically her superior.

Of course he didn’t listen as he continued to attempt to remove Louie’s arm, his horn flaring to life as he tried to cast a spell. Louie however head butted his horn, canceling the spell, which just annoyed Val greatly.

“Nuh uh motherfucker!” Louie laughed as he suddenly jumped into Val, sending them both to the ground. Luckily this broke the grip Val had on his arm, allowing Louie to rip his arm free and wrap it around the demon’s neck. 

“Sleep fucker!” he yelled as he began to try and choke the life out of Val, struggling with the demon to keep his arms around his neck. But Val just flashed his horn, teleporting away so that he was standing next to Louie.

“You pathetic dog!” he snapped as he used his magic to lift Louie into the air.

“Uh oh,” Louie yelped as he found himself being lifted up. 

“Goodbye, dog,” Val spat out, starting to apply pressure to the floating Louie.

“Val, that is enough. Allow me to arrest him so we can interrogate him,” Strawell yelled, quickly walking towards the demonic unicorn.

But Val did not acknowledge her as he focused on finishing off his target.

“This is not how we handle things here!” she yelled as she stepped right up to him, no longer caring that he was above her in rank. “If you do not stand down, I will be forced to-”

“Silence!” Val suddenly snapped, eyes twitching as he stared at Louie. 

Louie let out yells of pain as the pressure was increased, “oh no! This looks like the end for ol’ Lou!” He let out a few more yells before suddenly devolving into a laughing fit. “Ah shit, I can’t keep that up for long.” 

With a cyan flash, he suddenly broke out of Val’s magical hold and fell to the ground, landing on his feet and smirking right at the frustrated Val. “Gotcha, dumbass.”

This caused Val to let out a growl as he began to advance on Louie again, but Strawell suddenly dashed in front of him, eyes ablaze with anger. 

“Enough! You are out of line, Val!” she bellowed.

“You foolish mare,” he said in a low voice. “Stay in your lane, unless you want to be grouped in with these Bronies,” he gave her a dangerous look.

“We are tasked with arresting and interrogating,” she countered, standing firm. “I will not stand aside and let you just murder this Brony because you want to.”

“Are you saying you’ll fight me?” he asked with an amused smile.

“If you continue, then I will be forced to declare you a threat to this kingdom,” she said as she squared up with him. “I am sure the King will understand.”

“You are one foolish and idiotic mare, Chief,” he laughed, looking past her at Louie who was currently wrapping his injured arm with a bandage. “If YOU don’t step aside, then I’ll declare you a threat and dispose of you accordingly.”

“He’s right, dumbass,” Louie said from behind her as he finished wrapping his arm. “If you go against this prick the ‘King’ will just kill you for going against him. You are so fucking out of the loop here that you’re coming off as a naive child.”

She snapped her head at him, her nostrils flaring as she glared at him, but the laughing coming from Val caused her to return her gaze to him.

“Very smart doggy,” he said with false praise. “Now step aside, Chief, before you lose your status.”

This situation was not ideal for her, as she needed to bring Louie in for questioning, yet Val was here to kill Louie. Her job was to listen to her superiors and deal with the Brony threat as needed, which was supposed to be very simple. What she knew she should do is step aside and let Val handle this, as he out ranked her. But if she did so, that’d be going against everything she stood for. This came down to two things: Duty or Justice. Which should she choose?

The choice was simple for her.

“I can not let you kill this Brony, Val,” she said sternly, holding his gaze, “I am the Chief of the Inquisitors, and it is my duty to protect and serve all of Equestria, to keep it safe from those who would do it harm. If you are willing to kill this suspect without cause, then you are an enemy of Equestria!”

“Oh, oh!” Val exclaimed, acting offended before smiling at her, “what took you so long, idiot?”

The response seemed to catch her off guard as she had no follow up for it.

“I thought with this inflated sense of justice you have that you’d have figured this out sooner,” he said as he turned his full attention to her. “I knew you’d become a problem the moment you were appointed Chief of the Inquisitors. We needed an imbecile in your role, not someone so competent and annoyingly justice oriented.”

She took a deep breath, calming herself before she spoke again, “Val, you are under arrest. Come peacefu-”

“Oh shove it,” he groaned, shaking his head. “I’m done entertaining this,” he said as he suddenly lunged for her as her anti-Ego flared to life. However he knew her Justice Ego only combat use was to power her up to face a threat that she perceived as an injustice, so he just copied it. Using her own Ego against her he slammed a hoof into her face, hitting her before she could react, and sent her flying away. 

His horn flashed as he appeared above her as she flew through the air and slammed all four legs down into there, causing her to skid through the ground below them. He rode her like a makeshift snowboard as she tore through the ground, laughing like a maniac.

As they started to slow down he jumped off, letting her come to a stop in a small crater. With a flash he appeared above her yet again, this time smiling as his jaws unhinged, preparing to devour her in one go.

She growled as she forced herself to stand up, her body battered and a few bones definitely broken, but she wasn’t just going to lay down and die like this. So as he lunged forward with his jaws wide open, she rolled to the side and sent a jagged rock flying up into his face, hitting him directly in the left eye.

Val let out a roar of pain as he stumbled over himself, lashing out with his magic as he tried to grab her, but she slapped her hoof across his horn hard enough to break it, which just caused him to become enraged.

He lashed out a few times, but she just dodged all of his attacks as her anti-Ego came to life, letting her take him in in his entirety, able to see his intentions. 

“Disgusting creature,” she spat out as she felt his desires and wishes, feeling heavily uncomfortable.

As she dodged around his clumsy attacks, he suddenly changed his tactics without giving any kind of pre-indicators with his desires or intentions. His body jerked hard as he lunged for her, shifting around and coming in at a weird angle that she was not expecting, his jaws opened wide. 

She barely had time to react as she caught his jaws with both of her hooves, holding them away from her as he pushed closer and closer. Sweat began to run down her face as he began to win their struggle, his jaws closing in on her face with each passing second.

Just as he was about to clamp down on her, something tackled him from the side, taking him to the ground. Strawell stumbled back as she regained her footing, surprised to see Louie was now fighting with Val on the ground, the two fighting to gain control of the other.

However she didn’t think too hard on this as she rushed in and attempted to help Louie by gaining control of one of Val’s legs.

“Get his legs behind his back!” she ordered, getting a nod from Louie as he fought to get ahold of one of Val’s legs. But he wasn’t about to let them have their way, letting out a massive howl as he suddenly exploded upward, sending both of them flying away from him.

He wheeled on Louie, choosing him as his main target, and rocketed forward.

Louie just stood up, focusing hard as his Ego’s second form began to take form, letting him control his Ego to a greater extent. He raised his hands, waiting patiently for Val to reach him.

Val let out a roar as he reached Louie, going for a grapple styled attack, but Louie just calmly moved around his hooves, reaching up and grabbing the demonic unicorn by a front leg and his midsection, then with one fluid motion grabbed hold of him and slammed him straight down on his face. The cobblestone under them was blown away by the impact, but he followed it up by lifting him into the air again and continually slamming Val into the ground all around him, each hit getting harder and harder as he went.

“Back to hell with ya, demon,” Louie exclaimed as he began to spin around at a high speed, slamming Val into the ground as he went.

Strawell watched in awe as Louie began to spin so fast that even she couldn’t see anything but a blur as the ground around him was slowly whittled away as he forcibly dragged Val through it. After a good long minute, he came to a stop, only holding a leg and patch of flesh in the other hand.

“Whew! What a ride, huh?” he asked as he stumbled back a bit, clearly very dizzy. All around the spot he’d been standing was a massive amount of gore, as he’d used the ground to basically sand Val away into nothing. 

After regaining his composure he turned to the stunned Strawell with a smirk, “so, still think you’re on the right side?”

She eyed him hard as she stood up tall, composing herself, “I will admit, I had a few growing doubts thanks to what you said in our first encounter. But, just because the Apostles are compromised does not mean I am. My goals remain the same; bring the killer of the Princesses to justice.”

“Yeah, that killer is Champion,” he retorted with a shake of his head. 

“If that is true, then I need proof,” she said sternly, “all my evidence points to Bronies. If what you’re saying is true, I will need indisputable proof.”

“Oh we got proof alright,” he said with a chuckle, “we have video evidence of him killing innocents and possibly sexually assaulting a mare.”

“Then show me.”

At this he smiled sheepishly, “I can’t, we don’t have it ready yet.”

“You need to understand how convenient that sounds to me, right?” she asked, shaking her head at him. “You say you have the evidence, but you can’t show me because it is not ready.”

“Well it’s the truth,” he said as he threw up his hand. “Not that I expected you to believe me.”

“If you are telling the truth, let me bring you in and we can get this handled the right way,” she said as she floated up a pair of handcuffs.

“Are you serious?” he asked, unable to not laugh at this, “you were just attacked by that asshole and you’re still playing Inquisitor?”

“It is my duty,” she stated firmly, “I am still Chief of the Inquisitors, even if the Apostles are now enemies of Equestria.”

“If you go back, they’ll kill you the moment you try anything,” he warned.

“I can handle this,” she countered. “If you’re not going to let me arrest you, then share your resources with us. If what you say is true, then the Inquestors will work tirelessly to bring those who killed the Princesses to justice.”

“It’s Champion and his Apostles,” he groaned, shaking his head in annoyance, “Can’t you get that through your thick head?” 

She worked her jaw, thinking hard, “I will need hard evidence of that before I can believe it.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll get it, soon,” he said as he took a step back, getting ready to dip.

She took notice of him getting ready to flee, but chose not to engage this time. “Thank you, for the help,” she suddenly said, catching him a bit off guard.

“Eh, yeah, I wasn’t just gonna let him eat you. Despite you being a hard headed idiot, you’re not a bad person. You’re just on the wrong side is all.”

“I could say the same for you,” she countered, “you seem to be a good and just person, but you’re also on the wrong side.”

“Agree to disagree,” he said with a smile, getting one in return. He then looked at the gore, “eh, if they ask that was all me, alright? No need for you to get thrown to the dogs.”

A light chuckle escaped her lips at this, “get out of here, before I arrest you.”

He gave her duel finger guns and turned to leave.

“I look forward to your evidence,” she called after him, causing him to throw back a thumbs up.

As he left, she sighed as she looked at the mess they’d made, this report would be fun to compose.

But more importantly, this interaction had changed a lot of her views, especially those of her current task of hunting down Bronies. 

Before this all came about, she’d spent the last twenty years as a traveling detective, solving Brony related homicides. This gave her a unique perspective on Bronies and how they operated, which is why all of this had made sense to her. Bronies killed the Princesses? Very plausible in her mind. Champion killing his own family? Not implausible, but not likely either. To her, Bronies being the culprits made more sense, especially with all the evidence she had.

Yet, that same evidence was weird and didn’t add up completely.

Maybe her biases were affecting her more than she thought.

Nonetheless, she had a job to do, and if Louie couldn’t produce this evidence, then she’d resume her hunt for the truth.