//------------------------------//
// Zero Hour 
// Story: The MMDW: A symbiote in Equestria 
// by Comet Burst 
//------------------------------//

In the dark of the night, a shadow flitted across the wall of a brick building. It moved so quickly, nopony below noticed. No pony ever noticed here in Manehatten. They were all too busy with their own concerns, running businesses, dating, being average ponies. It never occurred to them why there was no crime here, no visible drug trafficking or prostitution. No robberies, no kidnappings or murders. They had just assumed everypony were friends.

They didn't know of the shadow, the ever watchful guardian against the vices of the world. The shadow had worked tirelessly the past few months to break the chains of crime lords and criminals, seemingly accomplishing what the Royal Guard could not. They had fought tooth and nail for years to force the criminals to stop and had only met little success, but recently they had notorious lords of crime simply deposited on their doorstep. Whole drug trades, rings of extortion and other such activities seemed to just disappear overnight. They took the credit for work done by another, the work of the shadow.

The dark blur finally came to a halt at the corner of a building overlooking the docks on the east side of Manehatten. A long cape slowly flapped in the wind and the brim of a large hat pressed down over the figures face. Like this, nopony would ever see me unless they knew where to look. Down below, several large stallions stood facing out, guarding several more stallions unloading crates from a boat. They were each big and muscular, some sporting a variety of scars. Two were pegasus and the rest were earth ponies, standard fare for hired help. It took me two minutes of observation to realize they were unloading drugs. One of them said something about an odd smell and the pegasus replied "Well, what didja think Deadhoof mushrooms smelled like? Get back ta work."

Deadhoof mushrooms, a powerful and expensive narcotic. It was no easy task getting hold of such mushrooms since they only grew on decaying bodies. The painkiller effect they had were almost to the point of lethal, but addicts claimed it was the best feeling ever, like you were surrounded by liquid air. I grimaced as I thought of that. Only powerful drug lords could afford crates of the stuff and there were still plenty more crates. I kept quiet and jumped from the rooftop, hovering myself with my magic. I had to strike quickly and knock out all the earth ponies and one of the pegasus. The other would talk. I was about to drop when a crate shook, scaring both the workers and myself.

It was no different than any other crate, save for the words 'DANGER DO NOT OPEN' written on the sides. "What the hell is in there?" one worker got up the nerve to ask. One of the pegasus, an indigo one, approached and said "According to the boss, it's supposed to be some rocks collected from the meteor shower not too long ago." The crate shook again and everypony backed away nervously. Clearly something alive was in it. The indigo pegasus said "Alright, let's just get this thing on the cart and then-"

He never finished the sentence. I dropped from my hovering position and landed with all four hoofs on the biggest earth pony. He buckled under my weight and crashed to the ground, smashing his head on the pavement. It wouldn't kill him, but he would sleep good for about five hours. I jumped into the air as the ponies looked over at me and kicked another in the face. Saliva shot from his mouth as his head twisted and his body went limp. They began to shout, but I was already smashing a thirds teeth in with my right rear leg. The earth ponies unloading the crates ran in different directions and the pegasus shouted orders. "Get it! That's the pony who's been messing up our business!" The remaining three earth ponies charged me, but I was too quick for them. I felt the pull of magic in my stomach and a pink dust cloud filled with sparkles shot up around me, blinding them. Inside the smoke, I easily dispatched two of the three and the third ran back, terrified. The pegasus yelled angrily at him, his fellow flying away at top speed, and I once again leapt into the air and smashed the earth pony into the ground like I had earlier. The pegasus tried to back up, but I used my magic to slam a crate of Deadhoof into his left side. He screamed in agony as the crate exploded, sending the horrid smelling mushrooms everywhere. His wing, which had been extended, fell down and was bent at an odd angle and he clutched his side. A broken wing, two probably three broken ribs was all he sustained, but it was enough to make sure he couldn't run.

I held him in place with my magic and he stared at me with eyes the size of dinner plates. Obviously he was terrified now, and that was good news to me. "Who are you working for?" I growled to him. He sputtered and I tightened my magic grip around his left side. He yelped loudly a nd said "I work for Blademane, okay? He took over the Deadhoof trade when Gang Green was arrested!" I smirked to myself at his reply. There was a whole criminal underworld here in Manehatten. Gang Green was the former head of the foreign narcotics trade until I brought him down, now apparently this Blademane has decided to monopolize on his absence. I hadn't noticed it, but the mysterious crate shook again and both me and the pegasus looked at it. "Who's trafficking illegal animals?" I asked with my harshest tone. The pegasus shook his head and said "I dunno, I swear! It was only supposed to be a supply of Deadhoof, I didn't expect anything else!" I narrowed my eyes and threw him over to the crate. He landed on his right side, not on his injuries and slowly picked himself up. "Open it." I said. He glanced nervously to me and I took a step forward before he shouted "Okay okay! Just don't hurt me!" I stopped walking and said "That will all depend on what's in the crate." He gulped nervously and pried the lid off. His had peeked into the box when several long black tendrils shot up and yanked him into the crate. He gave a small scream before the place became dead silent.

I froze, unsure of what to do. I thought there would be a mare or fillies in the crate, but I was not expecting that to happen. Tenatively, I walked slowly over to the crate but before I could get there, a startling shriek pierced the silence. I recoiled slightly and a head shot out of the crate. It was unlike anything I had ever seen with a pitch black face, a long wicked tongue, rows of long needle like teeth and horribly pale eyes. I didn't even begin to react as it withdrew back into the crate, busting it apart and leaping into the sky on thick black wings. It looked like a demented pegasus and flew like an expert, immediately disappearing into the skyline of Manehatten. I scrambled back into my hoofs and scanned the sky for it, but it had disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" I said aloud.