//------------------------------// // Rule #2 in: "How to 'Ponynap' a Princess" // Story: My Little Pony: Payday is Magic // by Twisted Gears //------------------------------// "...And this is where the 'Magic' ends." Said the Guard that was giving Hoxton a guided tour of the huge laboratory, built underground. Its walls were white as the snow, and seemed to be made out of a mix of steel and tin, and perfectly reflected anything it was fired with. That's what Hoxton learned, as in one of the testing areas, they were directly shooting to the walls, and every shot was perfectly reflected. They stopped in front of a metallic door, with the words 'Security Coordinations'. "And this is the last stop. You'll head in, and say 'Hello' to the boss." The Guard opened the door, and pushed Hoxton inside. The door closed behind him, as he observed the office. Its interior was the same of the Laboratory. White walls, made out of metal. Tall ceiling, easily thirty feet from the ground to the roof. The office itself wasn't big, compared to previous rooms Hoxton saw. There was only a large crystal table, with two armchairs in its front, and a black executive chair on the other side of the table. There was a large monitor in the end of the office, and at the sides, there were two spheres attached to the walls. When the executive chair spinned, a dark-gray Stallion with dark-green mane was sitting there. It had its hooves crossed, and he was looking at Hoxton with one dark-green eye. Wait, what? -The other one was covered under a black eyepatch. Hoxton remained silent, so did what was his 'boss'. He smiled, and pressed a button under the table. The spheres in the walls opened by their halfs, and turned into turrets. Also, a part of the ceiling opened, and another circular turret came out of it, and all of them aimed at Hoxton's head, with red laser pointers. ...Shiiiiiiet... "...Two Bits, please." "Here y'go. Thanks for the muffin'." Replied Chains. "Anytime, good sir!" Said a gray Pegasus Mare, and her yellow eyes were pointing at two completely different directions. This made Chains get a lot of confusion trying to follow her eyes, and back to reality, he was buying two muffins. The Mare placed the muffins inside a bag, and placed it in the counter. Chains placed two Bits there, and grabbed the bag. Once Chains was at a certain distance from the stand, he ate them both in one bite. He checked his clock, and remembered another thing. Aw, shiet. Gotta go back to the Safehouse before they're there first. Chains limped the fastest his four legs left him, straight to the Safehouse. Enough fun for a day. "...Come on, Applejack. You will be safer in my library." "...Ah don't think so, Twi... What if they know ah'm there?" "Don't worry, they won't. I'll make sure that you are safe." Said Twilight, placing the piece of paper in her pocket, and guided Applejack outside the house. A quick trip later, they were in Twilight's library. Applejack would sleep in the sofa downstairs, while Spike mounted guard, if anything strange happens in the surroundings... "...Hoxton, right?" "...How do you..." "You guys should get a safer radio signal." Said the one-eyed Stallion at the other side of the table. "But, I'm interested in what you are going to do." Hoxton remained silent. Not really knowing what to do. "...So, I'm intended to help Overkill. You see, we share a common enemy. You will go back to your group with this message." He got up from the table with a piece of paper in his hoof, and slipped it in Hoxton's pocket. He couldn't really react, as he had both his hooves high in the air, at the menace of turning him into swiss cheese. "...And tell Bain that Alex's waiting." Hoxton's face changed. If he knew Bain, that means he's part of the CrimeNet. "...How do you..." He sitted back in his chair. "Oh, almost forgot. This is what you are looking for." He pressed another button under his table, and a small plate in the center of the room opened, and the Magic Inhibitor lifted out of it. "Instructions: Press the button, and nothing magical in a mile will work. Notice that it also affects radio transmissions." The three turrets stopped aiming at Hoxton's head, and retracted back to their sphere position. Hoxton trotted close to it, and grabbed the small machine, that could easily fit inside his suit. "Um... Thanks for not killing me?" "Anytime. Oh, one last gift." The mysterious one-eyed Stallion opened a drawer in the table and took out a steel ring, and tossed it to Hoxton. "What is this?" Asked Hoxton, after catching the ring. "One of my personal prototypes. You put that in an Unicorn's horn, and it will supress its function." He said, like if wasn't anything of importance. "...You're saying that you created two different devices to counter magic?" "You can say that, yes. Now, if you mind, we both have work to do." He turned his chair back to the screen at his back, and Hoxton left the office with the two prototypes hidden in his Guard suit. Another quick travel, but returning on his steps to the elevator, and from there, to the upper floors. Another walk in the maze, and he found the exit. Somehow, nopony asked where he was going, or what he had in his suit. Once outside, he went to the carriage. "...My good sir, this isn't a parking lot." Mocked Hoxton, still wearing the guard uniform, popping his head inside the carriage. "What the hell, Hox. You got it?" Asked Dallas. "Even better. Some cyclops there says 'Hello' to Bain." Replied Hoxton. "Bain, you heard that?" The voice in the radio started to speak again. "Hm. Who says 'Hi'?" "No idea. He just gave me a note, and said... 'Alex is waiting', or something." The voice in the radio remained silent for a while. "...No shit. He's still alive?" "Baign, Wgho aghe we talking abghout...?" Barely said Wolf. "Alexander Dragunovv." Replied Bain's voice. "He's the guy that designed Chain's armour, and most of the guns you guys are using right now." Hoxton hopped inside the carriage, and dropped both inventions. "He seemed to know you already." "Yeah, he made most of the stuff I used, back in the good ol' days." Replied the voice in the radio. "Hm. Is he related to Vlad?" Asked Twitch, while she guided the Twins to the Library. "Nope. And he probably doesn't even know he exists. He's not in that business. But well, back to something more important. Guys, you're now heading to the Princess' library. Make it stealthy, we don't want anypony knowing... That." "Got it. Hox, you're the one that knows how this works. You'll come in with me. I'll sedate anypony around, while you put that to capture Twilight. Wolf, can you hold anything yet?" "Da." He was so much alcohol poisoned that he even lost his accent. "...That means no. Twitch, sweety. Do you have any toy guns here?" "Nope. Why don't you just give him an empty one?" Replied Twitch. "Good idea. Well then, y'all know what to do. Make Chains proud." The carriage stopped behind the library, barely making any sound, and covered in the night. This was an almost military-grade perfect operation, if it wasn't by the fact that they were criminals one step of ponynapping a princess, and that one of the members was drunk to the bone. But well... Hoxton deployed the Inhibitor behind the huge tree. "You know what happens when this is activated." He said the the radio. "I'll wait for your signal. Then, just bring her to the carriage, and we'll leave this place in no-time." "Allright. Wolf, keep your mouth shut, we're slipping in on this window." Dallas picklocked the window at the side of the tree, that leaded right into the library. Apparently, nopony was there, and it was too dark to actually tell. How wrong he was. "Aaaahhh!!" Shouted Applejack, the strongest her lungs could. Dallas just landed on her, once he crossed the window. Spike, that was guarding the door, turned on the lights, and saw the clown-masked suited Stallion on top of Applejack. Dallas first reaction was to pull out his M308, aimed at Spike's neck, and press the trigger. The energy used to launch the tranquilizer dart was enought to pierce the strong baby dragon scales, and reach his blood torrent. He instantly felt to the ground, uncontious. Dallas jumped off AJ', loaded another dart, and signaled Wolf to jump in. Same process, Wolf felt on Applejack, that was still in the sofa, pretty much scared to the bone. Then, the reason on why they were there, walked down the stairs. Twilight just woke up from her light dream, and was ready to blast out anypony holding a weapon. "Hox, do it!" Shouted Dallas to his incorporated radio. Outside of the treehouse, Hoxton hitted the button on top of the Inhibitor, as it started to glow in an eerie green, and the radio on his mask started to burst interferenes. This forced him to turn it off. Back inside the treehouse, Twilight was charging a perfect burst. Her eyes were even glowing in white. "Get out, and never come back!" She shouted. "Not without you, Madame." Mocked Dallas, aiming to her. The smile in his mask made this mock look even better. Twilight finnaly decided to release the blast. A very strong light came out of her horn, and it was directed at Dallas. The light lost all its strenght at the first two feets of travel distance, from the stairs to halfways the library. "What...?" Twilight charged another blast. Same result. Wolf started to clap his hooves, to pick back his 'Betsy' and aim at Applejack's head. Dallas simply shooted another dart at Twilight, that tried to take off and fly, but she got hitted in her right side, and felt to the ground in a matter of seconds. Applejack was now scared to the soul. "P... Please... D... Don't Kill Me..." The barely understandable worlds that came out of her mouth. "Shudggt Up!" Shouted Wolf, hitting her neck with the back of his 'Betsy'. This knocked AJ out. Dallas trotted to the window. "Hox, we've got them. Get over here and help us out!" "Allright." Replied Hoxton's voice from a distance. He slipped inside from the window, tied Applejack, and carried her to the carriage, with the help of Wolf. Dallas applied the Inhibitor Ring that Hoxton gave him to Twilight, and tied her wings together. Then, he tied her hooves. Once the group was back, Dallas and Hoxton carried Twilight out, while Wolf turned off the lights, and carried Spike to the carriage too. Hoxton pressed the button on the Inhibitor again, and its eerie green turned off, and they could turn their radios back on. The first voice to be heard through was Bain's one. "Succes?" He asked. "Yup. We've got the Princess. And some extra hostages too." Replied Dallas. "Exellent. Bring them to the Safehouse. I'll interrogate her. In private." "...If ghou say so..." Said Wolf, in his gibberish. "Allright Sweetie, straight to the Safehouse." Said Dallas to Twitch, that ordered the same to the Twins, that started to trot straight to the HQ's direction...