//------------------------------// // Scene 6 // Story: Erebus: Episode 1: Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! // by Honey Mead //------------------------------// The unicorn crouched in the rafter's shadows, hidden from the sight of the seven ponies below him. Of them, five were armed with basic pastry launchers, either slung from their necks or held loosely in hoof. Each of them wore a brightly colored party hat; two even had noisemakers held between their lips. Filthy Rich sat on his haunches at the center of the group, glaring at the ponies that surrounded him, with heavy chains binding his forelegs to his sides. The sight almost brought a smile to the unicorn’s muzzle. Almost. The real odd one out was the white mare jumping and bouncing around the restrained stallion. By all the evidence she seemed to be the one in charge. Apparently unarmed, she had removed her own party hat to place it on Filthy Rich’s head. All this was of secondary concern; the four tanks at the back of the space took most of his attention. Specifically, his eyes were focused on the one that stood slightly apart from the other three. A small wedge shaped platform covered a fourth of the squat vat. The multi-colored liquid churned as two large mixing blades kept the contents from settling. That did make him smile. The past years of searching, spying, and tailing had finally paid off. He'd found it, the source of the newest drug pouring into Canterlot's streets: Rainbow Road. Now all he had to do was find a way to connect everything to Filthy Rich himself. Maybe then he could finally take a much needed vacation. His grim smile locked, he gathered magic about his horn and extracted a flat, gray stone from the belt strapped around his flanks. The Sound Stone disappeared in an almost imperceptible flash of magic. Slowly, he lowered the magically imbued stone to the ground near the herd of ponies. With the listening device in place, he settled in to see, and hear, what would happen. “... this city! Every judge and bureaucrat is in MY pocket. I’ll have your head on a platter by the end of the day!” Filthy bellowed, his bindings clinking lightly as he struggled against them. “Bad cliches are bad. Heeheehee!” The mare giggled from her seat before him, scratching at her side with a hind leg. Rich ignored the mare, turning his attention instead to the five armed ponies standing around him. “Do you know who I am? I’m Filthy Rich! The first one of you to put this Nag down will be setup for life. You want drugs? I am the drugs in Canterlot. You want bits? I’ll shower you in golden bits—” "Heeheehee! You just don't get it do you? These ponies don't want bits. Bits aren't the only currency Filthy Willthy. You can't buy them because...” She punctuated each word by tossing her head from side to side. “You. Don't. Have.The. Right. Currency!" As the last word left her mouth, she reared up, dancing around on her hind legs and laughing as though she had told a joke. Rich blinked in confusion at her behavior before regaining his anger and growling. "What do you want?" She dropped back to all fours, prancing up to his face. "Richie, Richie, Richie,” she teased, pressing her nose to his, “it's not about what I want.” She pulled back, tapping a hoof her chin. “Oh, wait, yes it is!" Clicking her hoof three times on the concrete floor, one of the armed ponies took a metal control box hanging from the ceiling. Pressing one of the buttons, a hook and chain lowered to the ground. Filthy’s eyes widened in terror as the hook was attached to the chains around him. The links began pulling him up off the ground until he flipped to hang upside down. “Who in Tartarus do you think you are?!” he screamed, his face level with the mare’s. She leaned forward, putting her muzzle beside the inverted stallion’s ear. Her voice was too quiet for the stone to pick up, but the terror in Rich’s eyes was all too obvious. Pulling away, the mare motioned with her hoof, and the chains began to lift once again. Deciding that he had everything he was going to get, the unicorn gathered his magic around his horn. The mare smiled as Rich cleared the top of the open vat and nodded to the pony holding the control box. With the press of another button, the chains stopped lifting and began to drag Rich over the swirling rainbow liquid. “Do you know which color isn’t in the rainbow?” the mare shouted, glaring up at Filthy Rich. “Do you remember the answer to that questions?” A rictus grin split her face as she motioned to the stallion again, and the chains began to lower Rich towards the churning liquid. Filthy struggled harder against the bindings, screaming obscenities and threats at no pony in particular. The mare froze for a moment--left ear crinkling--before her eyes shot up to the rafters, locking onto the perched unicorn. “Erebus! I was wondering when you would join the party!” Erebus didn’t have time to register her words as he'd already leapt from his perch. His horn flashed, causing the overhead lights to flare like miniature suns. The thugs tried to flinch away, but it was too late to protect their eyes from the blinding light. Erebus landed hard on the empty concrete floor where the mare had been a moment before. The lack of pony beneath him threw him off balance, and he stumbled, recovering too late. Her buck struck him square on his cannon and sent him tumbling across the floor. He slammed into one of the stunned thugs and the two ponies fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs. Years of training kicked in, and Erebus quickly gained the advantage. Using the other pony for leverage, he came to a stop on his hooves. The prone earth pony barely had time to groan before his head was lifted off the ground, only to have an armored hoof slam it back down. With the pony at his hooves out cold, Erebus took in the scene with a glance. The four other stallions on their hooves were still staggering and rubbing their eyes. Without a pony pressing the button, Filthy Rich dangled above the vat, his mane just barely touching the rainbow liquid. And the mare was... Erebus spun around, searching for the pale mare. “SURPRISE!” A pair of hooves crashed into his rear, throwing him across the room toward the rest of the ponies. Rolling with the hit this time, he used the momentum to carry himself into a second stallion. He reared up, landing a quick hook on the pony’s jaw, and spun, kicking an exposed foreknee, and finished with a second kick to the now ground level head. The hoodlum barely screamed as he crumpled to the floor. Erebus moved before he heard the distinct ‘twang’ of a donut sling being fired. A blind spray of pastries flew through the air where he had just been, the confectioneries missing him by a bare centimeter to splatter harmlessly against a crate. Without a pause, Erebus’ foreleg shot out, a black cable firing from his fetlock and into one of the attacking pony’s barrel. The thug’s cry was cut short as the cord zipped back to Erebus. He caught the stumbling pony's neck with an extended foreleg, flipping him head over tail and depositing him on the ground with a wet crack. The last two ponies, having recovered enough to see, rushed him. Erebus smiled at the display, widening his stance in preparation. The blue pony was faster, reaching him first and spinning into a hind leg buck. Erebus ducked, only to rise up with a hoof to the pony’s exposed stomach. The second pony, green in color, took a more measured approach. Using his partners attack as a distraction, he closed the distance and reared up, intending to drop his weight on his off balance opponent. Erebus used the weight of the blue pony to spin himself around, bringing his hind leg up to meet the chin of the green pony. The kick sent the thug tumbling backwards onto one of the tables. Erebus ended the spin standing on his hind legs, eyes flickering between the last two ponies. Satisfied that the green one wasn’t getting back up, he dropped to all fours, landing a final blow on the back of the blue pony’s head, knocking him out cold. Clop. Clop. Clop. Erebus spun around, facing the last pony still standing. The pale mare stood not two pony lengths away with an impossibly wide grin splitting her face. “You are everything I could’ve hoped for Broody Wowdy—Oops!” The mare stopped herself, putting a hoof to her lips. “I almost gave it all away there. Heehee, that would ruin all the fun! Heeheehee!” “It’s over,” Erebus said in a deep baritone, ignoring the mare’s words. “Give yourself up before you get hurt.” “Over? Over! Hahahaha! Heeheehee! We haven’t even gotten star—” The mare never got to finish as Erebus launched himself at her, intent on bringing the situation to a swift conclusion. His hoof swung at the mare’s jaw. He didn’t see her move before a hard impact on the side of his head sent him stumbling to the side. Using the momentum to his advantage he spun around, only for the mare to land a heavy buck under his jaw.