One Shot, One Chance

by SpeederClaw


Chapter 23: Masked Return

A thunderous crackle shifted the air between the apple forest. Trees seemed to buckle against the crash of sound. An exasperated cheer erupted from a certain astonished pony. “See, this is why you can have nice things and I can’t,” Vice said.

Enzo replied with a silent, wry smile. He continued to pummel through trees, each kick would create the desired results as apples fell like red rain. Vice simply stood and watched in awe, Enzo was giving his full bucking power.

“It’s good you kept your legs. Else we’d be in a bigger heap of...well you know.” Vice grinned and pretended to feebly kick at a tree.

Enzo returned the laugh, but with hesitation. “Well, I guess I’m just worried about...” He trailed off as Vice understood what he meant.

“Yeah, we gotta go back, sorry. It’s just I feel we have this need or this duty to eliminate those asswipes. To protect the people, right?” Vice said stopping his attempts to buck.

Enzo tilted his head down and looked away. “Let’s be careful, alright?”

Vice extended his wings and flapped them furiously. “I’m tough as nails; can’t stop these, heh.” Both ponies exchanged nervous laughs before continuing their work. Vice, with his extended metal coated wings, proceeded to whack trees while Enzo bucked others with no problems. As soon as Vice let himself settle down and grumble about Enzo’s bucking skills, a faint cry was heard.

“Enzo, I am not hallucinating, correct?”

“I heard it too.”

“Good, ‘cuz that ain’t normal...just like a bunch of things we’ve seen already.” Vice arched himself upwards and held a hoof to his ear. He leaned, almost falling over, and listened. Enzo waited patiently as well without a stir. Seconds passed by, almost a minute before the same faint cry emitted from the forest.

“Dude, that’s definitely a chick...or a guy with a really high voice. Either way, I’m going in.” Vice turned and rushed towards the last known direction of sound.

“Vice, wait-” Enzo protested in vain as he reluctantly followed behind his friend. The two ponies dashed through the green growth, sunlight was starting to dim.

The pathway ahead was becoming consumed by darkness, but Vice kept bolting. “Honey, I’mma comin’!”

“You said you don’t even know-”

“I say a lot of things! Hurry, I bet we’re in for a treat.” With the words said, the ponies galloped until the scream happened once more. “That’s friggin loud-ass hell.” Vice increased his pace towards the sound and beckoned Enzo to do the same. “C’mon I think I see her!” He spotted a pale pink pony lying on the ground in the distance. “Hang on sweetheart!”

The mare looked up with surprise and smiled, her dark blue eyes filled with relief. “Hello?” she said shakily.

Vice grew a giant smile and closed in on the downed mare. Enzo grew agitated at Vice’s impulsiveness and started to slow down. “When a girl screams in the forest you go after her? Vice what if this is a trap?”

“A girl with a dick is a trap, this ain’t no trap.” The mare slowly rose from her position and faced the duo with uncertainty.

“Are you going to hurt me?” she said with her voice still shaky.

Vice waved his hoof and moved closer to the mare. “S’all right, ma’am. We’re here to rescue you.”

“Thank you,” she said moving closer to Vice.

“Vice, you’re a dumbass.” Enzo sighed and put a hoof on Vice. He pointed to the group of stallions that had appeared behind them.

Vice raised his hooves and ignored the mare moving in on him. “No, Enzo, I’m a smartass. I knew there’d be trouble…I want that trouble. This is what I want, to kick ass!”

“Why would you try to look for trouble?”

“I’m looking to end our troubles, not to just start stuff. Dude, remember yesterday? Today’s the big day!”

“So stupid!” Enzo forgot about the mare and turned to see her holding something in her hoof. She lunged forward towards Vice and struck with a syringe type of weapon. He attempted to block the attack, but was stabbed in the chest as he failed to extend his wings. He felt a cold liquid surge through his body before swinging his wing and slapping the mare aside.

“You whore! What’d you do to me, what is this shit? Oh!” Vice ejected the syringe and forcibly threw it aside. He felt his wings start to drop and droop feebly beside his body. He stumbled backwards into Enzo and started hysterically laughing. “What did that bitch just put in me?”

“Her trap,” Enzo said with frustrated tease. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?” Vice rolled his eyes with pain and let his body fall to the ground. Enzo kept his eye on the oncoming group of stallions from behind and stood next to a downed Vice. He tapped his wrist band twice and let his concealed blade extend out. The stallions jumped back in surprise, some stood their ground, as Enzo waved his hook-like blade. “I will not hesitate to attack.”

“He means…kill,” Vice said with extreme difficulty.

One of the stallions snorted with distaste. “I’ve already seen your tricks; you wave your blade like a stallion. But are you willing to dance?”

“Hey that’s my goddamn line, you shit!”

Enzo shook his head with confliction. He tried to say something, but came up with nothing. The stallion had said the truth and he could not deny it. ‘Am I really inclined to kill...again?’ Enzo let his thoughts crumble as he faced the now charging stallions.

“You gonna pay for messing with our girl.”

“Hoe deserved it!” Vice said holding his wings against his body. The cold steel greeted his body with unease and he felt freezing points being created throughout his whole body. He looked over his shoulder and noticed that the pink mare had disappeared.

“Hey, who’s on the ground right now? You shouldn’t talk so big for such little filth,” the leader of the group said. The ponies were almost upon the duo when a faint crack zipped through everyone’s skulls. More sharp pangs stunned both teams and the forest started to fill with smoke. Enzo reacted with haste and hoisted Vice onto his back. He quickly exited the area of smoke and brought the pegasus down near a wide trunked tree. As soon as he finished his movement, he looked up to see that the previous location was lathered in smoke.

The dark, gray clouds created no silhouettes, but Enzo could tell that there was fighting going on. Grunts and exasperated screams echoed from the darkness, Enzo still kept his blade raised and half attention on a cringing Vice. A twinkle of red flashed through the smoke, it perked Enzo’s full attention. He identified it as an eye and felt it staring into his soul. He gulped and stayed ready for anything.

The haze of grayness cleared and two lone figures stood, one figure was holding the other by the neck. Bodies littered the ground, but no tints of red liquid were seen. The red eye belonged to a pony and Enzo grimaced with realization. “Vice, we have another problem.”

Vice turned to see the standing pony hurl its victim into the forest abyss. His body quivered. “It’s him, Enzo.”

“The Masked Pony.” Enzo and Vice watched as the pony let its red eye zoom over the duo.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Don’t forget over there!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting it. Hold on.” Blitz sighed as he struggled to clean a tight space between a bookshelf and desk. He felt weakness as he tried to fit is hoof through the crack.

“Um,” Twilight said apprehensively. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to get this tight space.”

“…don’t you want to use magic? It’d be much easier.” Twilight stepped closer and inspected Blitz’s actions. He felt an uneasy chill run down his spine as he felt himself being judged.

“Well, I’m a practical kind of pony. Who needs-” Blitz stopped, he realized his origin and Twilight’s origin as unicorns and rubbed his forehead. “Magic…”

Twilight giggled at his response and let her horn glow. Within a few seconds, Blitz’s cloth he was holding lifted out of his hooves and entered the crevice. A few swishes later, the magic and dust lathered cloth exited and returned back to Blitz’s hoof. “See? That was much easier.”

He chuckled a bit and looked away. “Yeah, I guess I should use my magic more often.” A pause interrupted conversation; Blitz tilted his body back and forth before asking his question. “Hey, Twilight? Do you know anypony by the name of Doctor Rivet?”

Twilight lifted her head quizzically and shook it. “I can’t say for sure I’ve heard that name before. Sorry, but I don’t know.”

Blitz smiled. “It’s okay; I wasn’t exactly expecting you to know. Or anypony for that matter. How about Clyde?”

“Clyde? I’ve seen him around not too long ago.”

“I meant, uh, how did you all meet? I think he might’ve told me before, but I’m curious as to how exactly he got to Ponyville.” Blitz hoped that the topic was veering towards the right direction.

“Clyde huh? Let’s just say we met officially, no coincidence.” Twilight paced around Blitz unintentionally as she explained her meeting. “After my friends and I, the Elements of Harmony, defeated Discord, Celestia ordered that there be somepony to physically watch over us. Since Ponyville has-well, not that much protection other than the Elements we all thought it would be a great idea. Clyde arrived a few days later and introduced himself; he was very nice and easy to talk to. He fit right into Ponyville and everypony seemed very fond of him.”

Blitz nodded to confirm her was listening. “So he came in just like that?”

Twilight responded with her own nod. “Just like that and I don’t regret it. I’m happy to have met such a pony as Clyde. He really makes it his duty to ensure that we’re safe.” Twilight paused and let her assistant soak in the information. “Even if nothing ever really happens.”

“I’m glad evil doesn’t exist,” Blitz said. “Ponyville is too precious to be corrupted.”

Twilight laughed. “You don’t know how many times we’ve had to stop certain evil from taking over Ponyville.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The masked pony stepped forward towards the duo with elegant steps. A rhythmic pattern erupted from the pony’s march. Enzo kept his stance. The enemy raise its golden hoof and arched it towards Vice and Enzo.

“MISTER VICE, MISTER ENZO!” The words blasted from behind Vice and Enzo, causing them to revert their attention backwards. As soon as both ponies looked away, the masked pony had disappeared. “Where are you boys?”

“What? That guy-he’s gone, wait that’s not possible!” Vice said trying to get up. He stood up and instantly fell forward in one big movement. “He was literally right there…”

“Boys!” Clyde busted through a patch of bushes and came trucking through to the duo. “UP TO SOME MISHCIEF I SEE!” He laughed, but lost his upbeat nature as he noticed multiple ponies littering the ground. His face turned serious fast. He stampeded towards the only conscious ponies. “What happened?”

Enzo quickly retracted his blade back into his wrist band and stepped forward. However, Vice held up a hoof to hold back him, but the black stallion rejected his protests and stood firmly next to Clyde. “The masked pony from Canterlot is back. We also had encounters with a group of thugs.” Enzo stated the words solidly as he pointed towards the downed stallions.

Clyde lowered his head. “I appreciate you telling me the truth this time, Mister Enzo. I will not ask about earlier yesterday, but this information only means that the culprit in mask is not alone. These stallions must be in line with the masked pony; this is more serious than I thought.”

“Uh, that’s not exact-ahahh.” Vice squirmed with pain as he still felt the effects of the needle. “Christ!”

“Mister Vice, what happened to you?”

“Got stabbed with a damn needle. Oh God I need a docta, gimme that docter!” Clyde hoisted Vice up on his back and winced at Vice’s shouts. “Hey, don’t carry me, Clyde. I can go, just let me rest for a couple minutes…or hours; days.”

“Mister Vice, you are in no condition to walk. Stop being so prideful and let me help you.” The words hurt Vice hard, he let his struggles die as Clyde spread his white wings. Clyde looked at Enzo with worry. “I can’t expect you to stay and watch over these delinquents, so I’m asking you to come with me and Mister Vice. We’re going to have to come back and I’m assuming they will be gone by then.”

“Yes.” Enzo agreed and hopped onto Clyde’s back. He braced himself for lift off and watched as the lying stallions turned into dots.

“We’re going to have to warn-”

“No,” Vice said. “We are not telling any…pony about this Clyde. No one.”

“Mister Vice-”

“I may be useless right now, but I still have sense. Telling every…pony about this would cause more trouble. If we can contain this problem without anypony knowing then it would be a lot better than making bricks fly everywhere. You hear me?”

Clyde grunted with dissatisfaction. “I hear you, Mister Vice. But, I will tell Princess Celestia and I will call for back up. If we’re going to contain this, we’re going to more muscle.”

“Fair enough, boss. Just get me the paramedics.” Vice let the hot sunshine rejuvenate his cold body as Clyde flew overhead of the forest. “What an anti-climactic encounter…aw shit inside my asshole.”

“What is it now, Vice?” Enzo said.

“I GOT BEAT BY A GIRL AGAIN!”