//------------------------------// // First Strike // Story: Lola the Triffid and The Case of The Joy Taker // by The One and only One //------------------------------// "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself!" - FDR One week later… Filthy Rich’s Mansion… Poker Room… “So,” the unicorn guard said, shuffling the deck with his magic, “Is this your first night in the new and improved Ponyville? We don’t get many griffins working as guards in here.” His new colleague shrugged, swirling a finger around on the poker table as she waited for him to deal. “Yeah. I heard there was some sweet stuff goin’ on, so I decided to get some work here.” He smiled, and began dealing. “Well, I hope it’s met your expectations. Are you going to Miss Pie’s welcoming party? I hear all the royals are going to be there.” “Pff. Don’t make me laugh.” The griffin smirked at him. “All the royals that are coming are either stuck up snobs or some sorta beatnik dweebs. And I’ve got better things to do than sit through some lame party.” “Oh.” The stallion frowned. “Well I hope your experience at the Filthy Rich Mansion will be more enjoyable.” He placed the final card in front of him, and glanced at his hand. A four of clovers and a Nightmare Moon of hearts. No, he reminded himself, it’s a Luna of hearts now. The cards looked much too similar. Either way it wasn’t a promising hand, but he kept his expression neutral, and turned to the table’s third occupant. “So, Miss Mayor,” he said, “it’s been a long time since you’ve stopped by. Need to replenish the town coffers again?” He grinned, and the mare laughed. "Oh please, Iron Shield, give me some credit,” she chided, “I’ve just had a meeting with Queen Chrysalis, and I thought I’d have some fun tonight.” He chuckled. “I hope you enjoy yourself then. And are you going to the party?” “Of course!” she said, “I always go to Pinkie’s parties!” “Hey, lamebrains!” the griffin cried, snapping her fingers at the two, “I came to play poker, not babble about my day.” The Mayor rolled her eyes, but then looked down at her cards. She adjusted her glasses with a hoof. “Sorry, Miss Gilda. I’ll get right on with it,” Iron said, “I like a social table, you see.” “Whatever. Just bid.” The griffin sighed, rubbing her eyes with a claw and grumbling to herself as she threw her bits into the pot. The round continued in relative silence, and Iron grew worried. He liked talking to his fellow guards, it kept his job interesting. It also kept people friendly. Otherwise the players tended to get edgy as the game went on and more bits were lost, and the last thing he wanted was a disgruntled griffin lashing out at him. He scanned the room, looking for another guard he could call over to help spark up a conversation. He recognized a few faces at the other table, but none that he knew liked to gamble. The griffin won the first hand with a pair of princes, and Iron dealt out more cards. During the next round, he tried to strike up conversation with the griffin, but she shrugged him off and continued to frown at her cards and the pot. He glanced at The Mayor and she rolled her eyes again, tossing a few bits into the pot. Then an idea struck him. “Oh, Miss Mayor,” he said, “I heard you finally broke your losing streak at last year’s Winter Wrap Up since the town's growth, Congratulations!" “Thank you, Iron,” she replied, “but it was Twilight Sparkle who managed to snap everypony into shape... again.” “Twilight Sparkle? She’s the newest Princess, right?” He tapped a hoof against his chin, and levitated more bits into the table’s center. “I’ve been hearing a lot about her recently.” “Oh yes..." The Mayor groaned. “It seems like almost every week she and her friends are creating some new sort of calamity for us to deal with.” She sighed. “I even had to give Rainbow Dash her own property-damage tax.” “Huh?” The griffin perked up at the mention of the pegasus, “She’s got her own tax now?” “Oh, uh, yes.” The Mayor turned to the griffin. “It’s quite frustrating, actually. You’d think that a Pegasus of her stature would have mastered basic landing techniques, but she still crashes through rooftops and windows all the time. Our construction workers can barely get anything new built because they’re so busy fixing all the things she’s broken!” The older mare threw down more bits, hardly paying attention to the game. The griffin smiled. “Oh man, that gal hasn’t changed a bit since flight camp. I remember this one time, we were playing dodgeball in gym, and she bucks one so hard that it goes flying through about seventy clouds-worth of wall and hits one of the factory rainbow-makers just right so that it blows and goes flying halfway to noponies land. Ha!” She laughed, slapping her hand against the table. “It took her two weeks to clean all the rainbow bits outta the sky. And they never did find out what happened to that rainbow-maker...” By now The Mayor was laughing too, and Iron had become so focused on the tale that he hadn’t noticed the changeling who had trotted up to the table. The new arrival coughed politely, and flashed Iron a smile as he took notice. “Ah, good afternoon Mimic.” Iron said. “Would you like to buy in?” “Indeed I would,” he replied, taking up a seat next to the griffin. Her smile dropped, and she scooted as far away from him as she could without looking suspicious. Iron dealt him some cards as an exotic-looking maid slid up to Mimic’s side, holding a plate full of drinks in her mouth. The changeling levitated them off the platter, and set them down in front of each player. The slim mare then stepped back into the previous room, reappearing a moment later without the plate, and draped herself over Mimic’s flank. “I don’t mean to be presumptuous,” the changeling said, “but I brought a round for the table. I hope you all like sarsaparilla.” He grinned, and examined his cards. “Now, what do we have here...” “Hrm.” The griffin took a sip from her glass. “Not too bad... I guess.” She stopped glaring at the changeling, but kept herself slightly closer to The Mayor. “Thank you very much, Sir.” Iron said, raising his glass in salute before taking a drink. He turned to the mare. “And should I also deal in you, Miss?” He still didn’t know the name of Mimic’s companion, though he had played them dozens of times since he joined the mansions security. “No thank you,” the mare replied, batting a lock of hair from her eyes as she posed for paparazzi that weren’t there. “I’m not in the mood tonight.” “Very well,” Iron said, “Let’s continue, then.” The next round played out quietly. The griffin couldn't stop glancing at the maid on Mimic’s flank. She posed there, head held in hooves, seeming content to gaze at the dead ceiling fans for the rest of the night. Finally, after The Mayor whooped in triumph and raked in a pile of bits, the white mare tilted her head to the griffin and spoke. “By the by, this Rainbow Dash you were discussing earlier wouldn’t happen to be acquainted with a Miss Rarity, would she?” she asked, “I believe I’ve heard of her before, but I cannot seem to place from where.” “Oh, uh, I wouldn’t know,” the griffin said, clutching her cards up to her chest, “I don’t know much about her friends.” “You don’t keep in contact?” The mare leaned in closer. “No. We don’t. What’s it to you, anyway?” the griffin snapped. “Oh.” The mare raised her eyebrows in understanding, and relaxed back into her original pose. “What a shame...” The griffin grunted in reply, and then turned back to the game. Iron had been watching the exchange, and when she noticed she glared at him. He quickly looked away and dealt the last card. It was a ten of hearts. "Well drat, there goes my straight," Mimic said before folding. The Mayor and the griffin both stayed in. The latter won the pot. "Heh heh," she cackled, "All mine!" The Mayor rolled her eyes. Just then, the lights in the room started to flicker and the group looked around in confusion. An irritated Iron shield got out of his table. "This has been happening every night for the past two days!" he shouted, "I'm going to check the generator to see if there's a wire loose." Mimic got out of his seat, "I'll join you." "No, you continue the game I'll be back in a little bit." Mimic sat back down, "If you say so sir, just one thing." "What?" asked Iron Shield. "Just be careful, this whole thing doesn't feel right." Iron Shield sighed, "If it makes you feel any better if I am not back in ten minutes you can come and find me." The changeling nodded in reply as Iron Shield left the room. The thing about the Rich mansion was after dark, the halls were a place you didn't want to be found in. They were the only parts of the mansion that didn't have proper lighting, and the light available was flickering on and off. By the time Iron Shield reached the generator room the lights had gone out completely. Using his horn to light up his way he noticed something unusual, the door to the next room had been blasted open. "Look what you've gotten yourself into, your alone in a dark hallway that has a possible intruder, if the intruder still here." whispered Iron Shield. he then saw a shadow moving behind him and quickly turned around. "HALT!" Iron Shield roared, the intruder could be described as a tall, possible biped creature wearing a blue and brown fedora with a brown and green trench coat that was so long that it touch the ground, covering the creatures body, and blue mittens, "You're trespassing on the property of Mr. Rich, turn around and come with me or this could get ugly." The figure, knowing it had been caught turned around, that's when Iron Shield got the only facial feature that could be made out from under the fedora, its eyes, small and green, they seemed to be similar to the eyes of a pony. "It seems you have me at a disadvantage sir, I didn't expect anypony to get here so quickly." replied the figure, its voice seemed to have a mind of its own as it constantly crack between low, deep voice to a high pitched female voice. "Well, you shouldn't underestimate the security here... now put your arms over your head and come with me, you'll take the lead." sneered Iron Shield. The figure did as told and they started there way to the mansion's private jail. "Oh," replied the figure in a mocking tone, "It's not that that I underestimated the security, Iron Shield." Iron Shield stopped in his tracks, "What do you know about me!" The figure cackled and turned to face the unicorn, "I know a lot about you Mr. Shield, your thirty-four years old, you have a wife and two daughters. Your wife is twenty-nine years old and her name is Cherry Blossom. Your oldest daughter's name is Gleaming Shield and your younger daughter's name is Silver Crop, ages four and three respectfully. You originally trained to be a part of the royal guard, but a muscle defect in your front, right leg has left you unable to perform your duties. So now your just a pitiful security guard for a family that doesn't deserve the happiness it has." "How do you know all this?" Asked the interested unicorn. "Well the answer is simple," the figure leaned forward and slowly pulled a dagger out of its sleeve, the darkness hiding it from Iron Shield's view, "I'm The Joy Taker." ===== "Iron Shield! Iron Shield!" "Enough! Yelling out his name isn't going to help us," snapped the irritated griffin, "Also, why is she with us?" Pointing her talon at Mare Mayor. "Because Iron Shield is my friend and I want to make sure he's alright." Mare mayor replied. "I wish the power was on," Mimic stated, "It would make this job much easier." Just then the lights flickered back to life, the group would have been relieved if for not the trail of blood on the floor. Not only that but everything in the hall was destroyed, paintings, vases, even the walls had holes in them. "Iron Shield!" screamed Mare Mayor and she ran forth, following the trail of blood down the hall. Mimic turned to face Gilda, his face completely without emotion while Gilda 's was full of fear, "Gilda, I need you to head back and alert the rest if the guards!" "Y-yes sir!" With that Gilda flew off to alert the others. Mimic slowly turned and followed the trail of blood to the generator room, were he found Mare Mayor rapping a rag around Iron Shield's left thigh. "How is he?" Mimic asked. The Mayor looked up with tears , "He's alive, but barely. I managed to stop the bleeding, but he needs to get to a hospital." "I sent Gilda to alert the other guards. Whoever did this isn't going to get away with this." he walked over and helped Mare Mayor up from the ground. "But why?" she whispered. "I don't know, maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should of gone with him." Mimic replied. The Mayor looked into Mimics eyes, "It's not your fault." He shook his head, "Then why do I feel so guilty." "Mimic!" Both turned around to see a unicorn guard at the entrance, "Yes, what's the situation?" "It seems the intruder has been gone for awhile now, we found that the eastern wall has been demolished." the guard replied, walking into the room looking around. Mimic threw his hoof into the wall "Damn!" "There's more sir. We've looked everywhere to and have found that the Rich family has been unharmed and nothing has been stolen, but..." the guard's posture faltered just thinking about what he was about to say next. Mimic turned around, "But what?" "Well even though nothing was stolen, everything instead had been destroyed." Mimic gave the guard a look of disbelief, "What do you mean, destroyed?" "That's just it sir," the guard looked over at Iron Shield and pointed towards the non-existent door, "Just like this hallway has been ruined, every other part of the mansion is in the same condition." Mare Mayor moved over to the generator and asked, "What about the vault?" The guard turned his head toward Mare Mayor, "Now that's another thing, the vault has been ripped wide open, but everything in it hasn't been touched." Mimic walked into the hallway, looking at the destruction once again. "Take Iron Shield to the hospital, Mare Mayor I want you to contact Princess Twilight and her friends about this, I having a feeling this is only the beginning of something big."