Chapter 5
“Confrontation”
Stella walked out of the convention center with Sapphire beside her, “Honey, it’ll only take a minute”
Stella’s aloof eyes looked at the pop star with some suspicion, “What exactly is going on, Sapphire?”
The pair walked into a nearby alley where Rarity and I were waiting. Stella’s normally aloof eyes grew wide upon seeing me, “Surprised to see me?” I asked smugly
“No, you aren’t supposed to be here!” Stella replied, backpedaling.
I advanced on the manager, “Where is Sweetlight?”
“Shouldn’t you be looking for her?” She lashed back. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking right at the pony that helped Sweetlight get captured,” I said darkly “You told Sweetlight to head to the bar on the night she was kidnapped”
“I told her to cool off, yes,” Stella stated, getting back her cool, “but I didn’t kidnap her”
“No, but you did have plenty of motive to get Sweetlight out of the way”
“What pray tell is that?” She asked darkly.
“Vengeance” I said simply “It must’ve been so frustrating working under Photo all these years. The long hours, the crazy tangents she goes on, all the fame and glory she gets for your hard work.”
Stella’s eyes noticeably twitched at this. I was getting closer…
“You thought that this little scandal would ruin her. If word of this kidnapping got out, Photo’s reputation with any future models would be ruined. So, you went to her rival Hoity Toity. You even tried to cover for him by writing that fake note. I recognized your hoof writing from one of the forms you wrote on while I was getting made over”
Rarity advanced to my side “You may not have kidnapped Sweetlight but you may as well have. You tossed her into the hooves of Toity! The question is where is the darling?”
Stella smirked and the laughed, “You are all fools! Toity can’t be stopped now. He’s going to sell Sweetlight to a place where she can’t cause trouble. With the DA in his pocket no cop will touch him, and neither will you.”
In the space of a second she dropped a smoke grenade. The flash blinded me and I inhaled some kind of knock out gas. I fell on the ground in a heap, the gas sapping me of my strength and whatever magical power I had.
I looked up weakly and saw Stella dragging Rarity and Sapphire away,
All according to plan…
____________________________________________________________
When I came to it was midday. I looked around and saw that the alley was deserted. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small tracking device and tapped the map function. I saw Rarity show up several blocks away on the Horson coast. They looked to be in some sort of warehouse.
“Are you all right?” I turned around and saw Octavia looking at me.
“I’m fine, where did you come from?” I asked, putting the device back in my trench coat.
“Tracking down Hoity,” She said simply “I found out what he intends to do with your friends”
“What is he going to do with them?” I demanded, getting inches from the earth pony’s face.
“Slavery,” She said closing her violet eyes “He plans to sell them into slavery in some foreign land. He’s done that to several mares he’s double crossed”
“Not going to happen,” I stated firmly. “I plan to stop him”
“How?” she asked, looking at me, “Hoity has a private army of minotaurs at his command. Plus the DA is in his pocket, so you can’t rely on help from the police”
I then got an idea, it was a long shot but he did owe me. I walked to a nearby pay phone and dialed the numbers quickly. After two rings a Bitallion accented voice spoke on the other end.
“Who’s callin'?”
“I believe I still have a favor with you”
“You did reunite me and my daughter…”
“You willing to get in some action?”
“Talk to me, Private.”
_______________________________________________________________
I opened the door to a large warehouse and saw Minotaurs moving cages containing Rarity and Sapphire inside. Other mares were inside various cages as well. It made my blood boil to see how callous they were with my friends.
Then Hoity turned around and gasped at the sight of me “What are you doing here?!”
“Miss me Hoity?” I asked smugly, “your little trap didn’t work.”
“What trap exactly?” Hoity replied, lowering his sunglasses.
“The trap for me, I found it odd that Shine showed up right after I accused you. As it turns out, this entire thing was designed so that you could get me off the case. The fake note written by Stella, Tri-Star’s carriage, all things meant so that I could try to connect the case to you”
Hoity was soon flanked by two Minotaur guards. There were at least twelve of them in the room. None were armed with firearms but they could easily take me on even with my combat training. Ironically my combat mentor was a Minotaur
I went on “You have something on the DA that kept me off the case”
“Yes,” Hoity said smugly “The DA has sampled some of my… merchandise. Everypony has a price detective; his was beautiful mares to inhabit his bed.”
“You’re sick, Hoity. if you think I can be bought” I said scuffing the ground with a hoof.
“I know you can’t be bought but you can’t prove I was involved”
“Oh really?” I said smugly “I’ve been recording this entire conversation. Thank you for confessing”
“You! You Bastard!” He cried, leaving behind his gentle stallion like manner for the true monster he was. “I will dump your body into the Horson River where nopony can find you!”
“You can’t hide your sins forever, Toity,” I said mockingly. “I plan on taking you down”
“Take me down?” He scoffed, laughing, “you, and what army?!”
“ME, AND THIS ARMY!!!” I shouted towards the ceiling.
The windows on the top shattered as four griffins descended from the ceiling. Two were armed with assault rifles in their claws. One big one had a shotgun in his claws glaring at nearby Minotaurs. Grimwing himself had a shotgun over his shoulder and he smiled at me. “I plan tah pay on that favor, Private”
I pulled out my revolver and nodded at him, “Thanks for coming Grimwing, after this we’re even.”
“GRIMWING!” Hoity exclaimed in absolute shock, “The mob boss!?”
“This the goombah that’s given' ya grief, Private?” Grimwing asked pointing at Hoity who was sweating profusely.
“Yes, he’s been giving me a hell of a lot of grief” I said mildly
“Then allow me tah get him off ya hoofs,” the mob boss said, taking his shotgun in both claws and cocking it. “All right boys! Remember shoot tah disable, not kill!”
Chaos followed as Minotaurs pulled out bladed weapons and tried to get at the griffins. I ducked behind cover, and aimed Blackbird at a Minotaur about to ambush Grimwing from behind. The Minotaur screamed when I hit him in the arm. Grimwing turned and, in a blurred motion, sliced the Minotaur across the eyes simultaneously firing his shotgun at the creature’s hoof.
I looked over at the cages, moving from cover to cover. I looked up to see the Minotaurs forsaking their blades for proper guns. They fired at one of Grimwing’s men, hitting him in the wing. The wounded griffin screeched in pain and fired his assault rifle into the arm of one of the Minotaurs.
I made my way to the cages. Rarity and several other mares looked at me with relief, “Private! I kept the tracking crystal like you asked!”
I nodded and started picking at the locks on the cage. The doors opened and out came Rarity, Sapphire, and Sweetlight. Sweetlight looked at me with grateful eyes, “Thank you so much sir! I hope to repay you someday!”
“Repay me by getting out of here and getting the police!” I tossed my bug to Rarity, “give this to Shine. He’ll be able to act now that he knows the DA is corrupt”
Rarity shook her head and handed the bug to Sapphire “I’m staying and making sure Hoity pays for what he did!”
Sapphire smiled and spoke to the girls, “Come on ladies! Let’s get outta here!”
Rarity and I watched the girls leave out of the back entrance. Rarity then turned and pointed with her hooves, “There he is!”
I followed her hoof and saw Hoity was about to be corned by Grimwing. Grimwing looked at his shotgun and frowned, “Damn it! Graff always forgets to bring extra ammo…” He tossed the shotgun aside and advanced on the scoundrel
Hoity then shouted “Thor, protect your master!”
A huge Minotaur charged out of a room and ran for the mob boss. Grimwing dodged just in time. Grimwing glared at the massive Minotaur “Hey Bull head, wanna dance?”
The Minotaur growled “I’m no ordinary beast, bird! I have slain countless enemies in my lifetime,” he cracked his knuckles, “and you’re next”
Grimwing smirked “Bout time I got a challenge” He lowered into a fighting stance, “I’ve fought your kind before. I killed one when I was only three years old. I can take care of you”
The Minotaur charged and Grimwing leaped over the beast just in time. Grimwing raked his claws on the back of the bull and drew blood. The Minotaur charged into a nearby crate smashing it to pieces. He turned back to the griffin who was taunting him with a claw in a very obscene gesture.
The Minotaur drew a sword from his side and swung it at the mob boss. Grimwing held up his razor sharp claws and blocked the blade with them. The claws were a sharp as steel and well capable of blocking a sword. The Minotaur swung again and again at the griffin but Grimwing managed to block and knock away the sword.
Thor threw a punch at the griffin that hit the mob boss on the side of the face. Grimwing flew back into the wall and groaned in pain. Then he just shook himself off and let out a screech of challenge at the bull. The bull met the challenge by charging at the mob boss fist raised.
Grimwing leaped over the Minotaur and landed on his face. The Mob boss let out a screech and plunged the metal tip of his beak into the eye socket of the beast. Thor let out a scream of pain and punched wildly trying to get at the griffin. Grimwing got hit by a lucky shot and fell off the Minotaur.
“Quit playing around, Thor!” Hoity shouted. “Kill him!”
Thor wiped blood from his bleeding eye and charged at the griffin. He grabbed Grimwing by the neck and started wailing on the mob boss. Grimwing let out grunts of pain as he took punch after punch.
Rarity looked over at me, “We must do something!”
“What,” I said trying to aim my gun at Thor. “I can’t get a clear shot and the others are too busy taking care of Hoity’s other Minotaurs”
Rarity’s blue eyes looked thoughtful for a moment then she looked at me, “That thing you did with Twilight! Do you think you can do it with my element?”
“That chanting thing?” I asked, looking at her. “That only worked when I created a bond between two ponies, unless….”
“Unless what, darling?”
I turned to Rarity and put my hooves on her shoulder “Rarity, I forgive you for what you did.”
“Darling, now is not the time fo….”
“It is," I interrupted,” I want to say how grateful I am to you for telling Twilight she was in love with me. You’re a true friend, Rarity; I wish you all the best with Spike.”
“Private,” she returned, smiling, “Thank you for forgiving me.”
Suddenly my horn glowed as bright as the sun. Everybody in the room looked up as Rarity floated alongside me. Her Element of Generosity appeared around her neck and a light cord went not to me, but to all the griffins in the room. Grimwing’s wounds began to heal and he smiled wide.
Thor’s own eye went wide as Grimwing performed a head butt on the bull. Grimwing escaped the bull’s grasp and clawed him across the chest. Then Grimwing fought with new fervor and so did the other griffins in the room.
As Rarity spun around me I realized that she was giving strength to them. Generosity is a hard element to maintain but it is truly a wondrous gift in itself. Rarity’s eyes opened and they glowed white. She and I raised our hooves as one and the earth around Hoity began to shake.
Before the fashion pony could run away a box of diamonds formed around him. He was trapped and he had nowhere to run anymore.
Grimwing delivered one last blow to the Minotaur by plunging his metal beak into the other eye. The Minotaur bellowed in pain from both of his bleeding eyes and fell over. Grimwing picked up a fallen Minotaur’s pistol and aimed it at the beast.
“Now, ya do me a favor and don’t give me a reason to have ya sleepin with the fishes,” he said with a smirk.
The Chanting died away as Rarity and I descended to the floor of the warehouse. She smiled at me, “I truly am sorry for what I did, Private.”
I put a hoof on the white mare’s shoulder “Rarity you’re my friend. Part of the deal is that we work things out together. I’m not going to hold a grudge for you wanting something for yourself."
She put her forelegs around me in a little hug and smiled at me, “Twilight is truly lucky to have you. I only hope I can find the same with Spiky-Wiky”
We broke off our hug and I went to Hoity who was locked in a cage “Hoity Toity, I’m placing you under arrest for kidnapping and bribery”
“An absolute travesty…” Were his last words as a free criminal.