)(Music listened to for this chapter, well, some of it, 'Her Darker Side' 'Spirit of Chaos' and 'One Last Letter' all by Aviators. My sound card is fried so it took forever to try to write the rest of this. I hope you enjoy the chapter )
Chapter 10: Operation Cloak and Dagger
Keen woke up, slowly rising from his bed and looking outside. The clouds blotted out the sun this day unlike the usual morning sun that usually greeted him. He frowned slightly as he looked out, giving off an eerie looking morning. “Well, it could be worse,” he said optimistically. He got up out of bed, stretched a bit and headed down stairs. He looked down and noticed that his employees were not in yet. “Hmm, shouldn’t they be here?” he asked himself. He looked carefully and noticed Snails looking up at him with a smile. Keen returned the smile as he walked on over to the door, unlocking it, and letting the young foal in. “Welcome, you’re a little early today,” Keen pointed out. Snails walked on by happily humming to himself.
“Thank you master, I woke up early and had my breakfast, so I thought I should just come on by,” he explained.
“Well I am glad to see you then. Shall we get to training?” Keen asked with motivation. Snails smiled as he nodded his head.
“You bet I am!” he exclaimed excitedly. Keen started leading Snails to the back room when suddenly he heard the door open, he smiled and turned his attention to the front.
“I am glad to see you finally made it Twilight, you are normally the first one in,” Keen pointed out. Twilight smiled nervously as she made her way towards the back room.
“Sorry about that Keen, I ran into a friend on my way here and she ended up talking my ear off,” Twilight explained. Keen chuckled to himself as a certain pony came to mind.
“Let me guess, Pinkie Pie?” Keen asked playfully, starting to turn his attention back to Snails.
“Yup, you know her. Anyway, I happened to past Rainbow Dash and Applejack, they should be getting here shortly,” Twilight explained as she went into the back room. Keen stopped for a second and thought on her words for but shook his head and kept walking.
“Anyway Snails, let’s get started,” Keen advised as he led the young foal to the training arena. Once inside, he closed the safety door behind them. “Alright, now let’s see what you’ve learned,” Keen said with a smile on his face. Snails nodded his head in confidence as he charged up his horn. A small rock by the makeshift river was shrouded in a yellow aura and very slowly started levitating off the ground. Snails squeezed his eyes shut as he focused on the spell to raise the rock. Keen watched in amazement as the rock raised but then fell sharply to the ground. Snails let go and rubbed his head with his hoof.
“I’m sorry, master. I thought I could do it,” he said disappointed, staring down at the ground. Keen smiled as he kneeled down to the tall foal and looked him in the eyes.
“You did a great job. You went from unable to use magic to making rocks levitate. You can’t control them yet, but this is a great start. Come on, let’s go back up front. Show me where you have gotten in your reading,” Keen instructed. Snails looked down nervously and gulped. Keen chuckled to himself. “I see you haven’t gotten that far then, huh?” he added.
“Yea, it’s just you told me I had to flip the pages with my magic, but I just can’t do it for too long,” he explained with a pleading voice.
“Come on, let me show you a trick on it. While we are at it we can get a something to drink,” Keen offered. Snail looked up excited as they headed out for the door. Once they got out and got to the front, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were stocking up shelves while Twilight sat behind the counter. Keen smiled to see all of his workers here just in time for opening. Keen glance over at Applejack with a confused look. “Applejack, what are you doing here so early? Don’t you have chores to do back home?” Keen asked puzzled. Applejack turned to him with a guilty smile.
“Oh, ah sorta left early to come over. Don’t worry though, uh, sugar cube, ah made a deal with Big Mac to do the housework when ah get back. So I decided to work now and leave later, if that is alright,” she explained. It looked like she was straining to talk. Keen looked at her carefully as he watched her facial expressions.
“Are you alright Applejack? You seem, tense,” he asked concerned. Rainbow Dash bumped her shoulder and winked.
“Yea, me and Applejack here had an arm wrestling contest and she is still not accepting the fact that she lost to me!” She stated as she flexed her muscles to show off. “Cause, you know, I am the best around,” she added. Keen laughed as he watched her for the moment and turned back to Snails.
“Alright, now stay here for awhile, I need to grab something from down stairs. Don’t touch anything,” Keen instructed. Snails nodded his head with a smile. Keen opened the door and headed down the stairs to the storage area. Twilight turned to Snails with a kind and gentle smile.
“So, how are your studies?” she asked. Snails smiled shyly back at her as he looked up at her.
“I guess it is going good. It could be better. I just need to get better at it,” Snails explained. Twilight nodded back at him.
“I understand,” she replied as she got back up to the counter. Rainbow Dash smiled as she looked around.
“I guess I’m good then. I mean I got this down easy!” she explained as she flew around the room. Applejack frowned at her.
“Well heck, why do I have to have the hardest task?” she whispered. Keen came back up, levitating a box from down below.
“I’m sorry, what is hard Applejack?” he asked, placing the box behind the counter. Applejack turned to him sharply, starting to sweat.
“Uhhh, well. I, uh. Well. . . You see,” she started, trying to think of something. Twilight face hoofed herself as she stared at her angrily. Keen stared at Applejack worried.
“Are you alright, you’re not acting like your usual self. You seem like-” he started. Applejack looked around, panicking.
“What are you talking about, I am just fine,” she assured. Keen looked down at her, taking a step closer.
“What happened to your accent?” he asked sternly. Applejack looked around nervously.
“What are you. . . ya talking about, partner? Ah reckon it’s right here, ya’ll,” she said with an overuse of her accent, sweat coming down from her forehead. Rainbow Dash face hoofed this time.
“Oh forget this!” she exclaimed annoyed. She flew straight at Keen and tackled him into the wall. Twilight and Applejack stared with eyes open wide in confusion and fear. Keen was taken back by the sudden assault as his breath left his body forcefully. When Keen got some of his breath back, he looked up at Rainbow Dash.
“Why?!” he asked through his teeth. She smiled cruelly as she grabbed him and threw him back into the room. He slid back onto his hooves as he turned to her.
“Girls, get out of here, I’ll hold her off as long as I can!” Keen Ordered, taking a stance in front of Rainbow Dash. She hovered a few feet off the ground, looking down at Keen with murderous intention in her eyes. Twilight and Applejack turned to look at each other and nodded. Keen’s horn started glowing bright green. Applejack rushed over and kicked Keen straight into his head, sending him flying to the other side of the room. Snails hid behind the counter, shivering in fear, looking through a small hole in the counter.
“Well, I guess playtime was over anyway. Let’s get things fired up!” Applejack exclaimed excitedly, tossing aside the cowboy hat. Keen got up slowly, taken back by the sudden betrayal as he looked up towards Twilight.
“Twilight, please, run!” he ordered. She smiled down at him cruelly as she raised her front hoof and sucker punched him right in the face, cracking one of the lenses in his goggles. He crawled on the floor, trying to get away. His three employees, his only friends, stabbing him in the back. Twilight grabbed him with her magic as she lifted him right into the air and slammed him onto the floor, cracking the floorboards under him. A small amount of blood gushed out of his mouth as he made impact, paralyzed for the moment by the sudden impact, twitching on the ground. Applejack stood over him, smiling a sinister smile and with obsessive eyes. Keen looked up at her as a single tear ran down his face through his goggles.
“What’s wrong, ‘partner’, can’t handle a little rough housing?” she said sarcastically as she leaned down and started punching him in the face repetitively. Every hit brought out some blood that splattered onto the floor. Keen took every hit, refusing to fight back. ‘They may betray me, but I can’t raise my hooves at them’ he thought to himself. Applejack got off of him and threw him onto a wall, still smiling. She backed away and let Rainbow Dash have at him. Snails poked his head out, almost too scared to move.
“Master, what do I do?” he called out. Keen looked over to him and saw him looking over from behind the counter.
“Just run, get out of here and run!” Keen shouted through the blows. Snails started to run but Twilight grabbed a hold of him with her magic.
“Oh, and where do you think you’re going?” she asked harshly. She pulled him over to her as she was about throw him across the room. Keen saw this and teleported over to her. Once there he pushed Twilight aside, knocking her down.
“Just run Snails, I can hold them off! Just get out of here and get help!” he instructed. Snails got back on all hooves as he made his way towards the door. Twilight got back up and snickered.
“Oh no you don’t” she whispered as she charged up a fireball above her horn. ‘A fireball?’ Keen thought to himself. He braced himself for the oncoming attack. Twilight smiled menacingly as she turned her aim and shot it right at Snails. Keen saw the fireball head straight at him. With a quick thought, he teleported right in front of him, taking the shoot and tried to redirect it. With lack of distance, the shot started to turn left but still hit the ground right next to Keen and was launched to the side, flying through some of the shelves. He slowly got up and looked over to the three mares.
“Why are you doing this? What have I done to you? Why would-” Keen started. Rainbow Dash zipped over and tackled him through another line of shelves. Keen was covered in cuts and bruises as Rainbow Dash got up and threw him into the ceiling, Twilight catching him and threw him through the floor and onto the basement concrete floor. Keen spat up more blood as it ran past his lips and through his coat. He tried to move but couldn’t find the strength or the will to. Rainbow Dash jumped down and smiled.
“We don’t have to tell you crap! Now shut up already!” she shouted as she kicked him. Twilight lifted him back up back on the floor they were on and slammed him into some bookshelves. As Keen tried to get up, Applejack jumped at him and kicked him, sending him toppling over another shelf. Keen crawled around a bit and looked up to see Snails walk on over to him.
“You idiot! Get. . . . out of. . . her!” Keen ordered, trying to stand up. Snails looked at him with a sinister smile spreading on his face and his eyes turned green. He grew taller than Keen and his horn and legs grew darker and covered in holes. “Oh no. . . . “ Keen whispered in horror. Capeskin stood before him with a hellish and crazed smile as his wings popped out of his back.
“Hello K-9! I’ve been waiting for this day,” he said, raising his hoof up and slamming it down onto his face.