Chapter 12
3rd Person POV
64 and Blusa both stepped off of the train, with 64 having his duffel bag around his shoulder. Blusa had her saddlebags full of clothing needed for her week in Manehatten, along with more than enough bits for spending. All they needed to do here was drop off 64’s stuff, and see if Applejack wanted to come. The train headed for Manehatten wouldn’t come until 1:30, and it was only 12:25.
“C’mon Blu, we can stop off here and grab a bite to eat. Then we’ll get on the 1:30 to Manehatten, deal?” 64 asked, making Blusa flash her horn green once. The two continued through town, 64 getting some friendly nods here and there. He still needed to find out where he was going to stay for his week in Ponyville, so he would need to ask around to see if the Inn in town had any vacancies.
“Alright, let’s go ahead and make our stop at Sweet Apple Acres. I wonder if Applejack is actually up for a visit to Manehatten, I mean her relatives there weren’t the most welcoming people when I met them.” 64 said, making Blusa shrug her shoulders.
The pair eventually made it to Sweet Apple Acres, and 64 began to sweep the area for Applejack. He saw no sign of her, so he went to the front door of the country home and knocked on the door twice, standing back and awaiting an answer.
The answer he received was the sound of incredibly heavy hoof steps heading towards the door, eventually stopping right in front of it. The door swung open and a red stallion nearly reaching 64’s neck in height appeared, his eyes widening at the sight of the large creature in front of him. 64 saw the look in this stallions eyes and knew it very well.
It was the look of some who’s Flight or Fight reaction was fight.
64 immediately tossed his bag to the side while pushing Blusa out of the way, as the stallion immediately tackled him. The two went tumbling backwards as Blusa internally screamed, looking around to see if there was anypony to help. She saw an orange mare wearing a Stetson hat coming out of the nearby Apple Orchard, and she immediately ran to try and grab her.
Applejack saw Blusa rushing towards her and immediately tensed up.
“Woah nelly! What’s got you in such a bunch girl?” Applejack asked as Blusa furiously tugged at her leg and pointed to the scuffle that was happening outside of the house. Applejack’s eyes widened as 64 sent a fist into her brothers cheek, knocking him off of his body. Big Mac was nearly unfazed by it as he got back up to once again rush 64.
Applejack immediately ran towards the two and tackled Big Macintosh onto the ground, preventing him from getting back up.
“WHAT IN TARNATION ARE YA THINKING BIG MAC!? A’VE TOLD YA BOUT 64 BEFORE! DO YA GOT JUNEBUGS JUMPIN IN YER HEAD ‘ER SOMETHING?” Applejack yelled, as 64 got to his feet, dusting himself off.
“Hey, lay off him. What would your reaction be if you suddenly saw me standing at your front door? You wouldn’t act calm either. Don’t worry; he didn’t even do anything to me.” 64 said, playfully harming Big Mac’s ego. Big Mac scowled at 64, getting up and dusting himself off.
Applejack saw the tension beginning to bubble up, and immediately went to diffuse it. “Well it seems like the two of ya jus’ got off to a bad start. How about ya learn each other’s names first? Big Mac, 64. 64, Big Mac.”
The two gave each other a brief nod, acknowledging each other. Blusa looked glad that the fighting was over, and went to 64’s side.
“Yo.”
“Eeyup.”
The brief exchange over, 64 turned to Applejack.
“Well AJ, me and Blusa here are just making a stop here in Ponyville to drop off my stuff and get a bit to eat. We’re heading up to Manehatten, and I was wondering if you or your family wanted to come with us. I mean, I was planning on visiting Orange Grove’s grave, so I thought it would only be right to ask if you wanted to come along.” 64 explained, surprising Applejack.
“Well, that’s mighty kind of you 64… I guess I can go. Jus’ let me pack a few things up. It’s been awhile since I up an’ visited my Aunt and Uncle Orange anyway.” Applejack accepted as she walked back into her family’s home.
64 went to pick up his luggage, but when he reached out to get it, it was already being picked up by Big Macintosh. He handed it to 64, a sheepish grin growing on his face.
“Ah’m sorry for the way ah overreacted. I shouldn’t have tried beatin’ ya up like that.” Big Mac apologized, as 64 patted his shoulder.
“It alright. Like I said, no real harm was done. I understand what stallions like you do when they see something that might threaten their loved ones. I’ve certainly gone off the handle a few times when someone has threatened my friends.” 64 explained, both Big Mac and him agreeing on something.
After a few moments of waiting, Applejack finally came out of the house, her saddlebags all packed and ready.
“Alright, it’s just gonna be an overnight trip for me and you AJ, Blusa here is gonna stay the week with her brother. C’mon, lets grab something to-go over at Sugarcube Corner before we head out. My sweet tooth is aching.” 64 said as the newly formed trio began to walk down the road, heading towards the confectionary restaurant.
“So, you meetin’ up with your brother huh? I got family up there too. What’s the occasion?” Applejack asked, but 64 stepped in.
“Uh, AJ? Blusa here is mute, she can’t talk.” 64 explained, making Applejack’s cheeks go red.
“Oh! Uh, sorry there Blu. I didn’t know.”
Blusa simply shrugged her shoulders and did a mock giggle. AJ’s embarrassment didn’t last much longer than that, and the trio finally made it to Sugarcube Corner. 64 had to duck down a bit to enter, and as soon as he entered, the sudden wall of scented sweets made him gag a bit.
“I know, kind of a rush every time a new customer walks in here. Welcome to the Sugarcube Corner! Pinkie Pie has told me so much about you!” A Pink maned, blue coated mare told 64 as he walked in, Blusa and Applejack following behind him.
“Yeah, I have a really acute sense of smell. Not that hard to get used to though.” 64 said, taking a nice big inhale through his nose. The scent of frosting, sugar, and preservatives was thick in the air, and it nearly sent 64 to his knees once again, but he held tight.
“Well aren’t ya gonna order somethin’ 64?” Applejack asked, as 64 reached into his duffel bag to pull out a large sack of bits.
“Yeah, I’ll take 1 Chocolate chip cookie1 and 1 muffin, blueberry if you have it.” 64 said, as Blusa blinked her order in at 64. “And she’ll take 2 Red Velvet Cupcakes.”
“Hey, ah thought you said she couldn’t talk. And ah didn’t see her point to anything.”
“She can’t. She uses a mixture of sign language and magic to communicate. She can talk telepathically with other Unicorns, but to others she has small signs you need to carefully read. Go ahead and place your order.”
Applejack just accepted the answer for what it was and placed an order for 2 apple fritters. The snacks came out very quickly, with 64 paying the appropriate amounts of bits for the order. Applejack eyed the money carefully, a thought invading her mind at the sight of it. She decided to hold that thought until she and 64 had a more private setting, not wanting to bring the matter up in public.
Now with their snacks in small baggies, the trio continued towards the train station. It was only 1:10, so there wasn’t any need to rush.
64 pulled out his cookie and muffin and began to munch on them both, relishing the incredibly sweet taste they had. Blusa easily inhaled her Red Velvet Cupcakes, and Applejack went ahead and munched on her apple fritters.
“Say, Blusa. Feel free to not answer, but were ya born without yer voice?” Applejack asked, making 64 slightly flinch. Blusa shook her head no, pointing to her hoof and making a punching motion with it.
“Oh, took a bad hit huh? From what? A baseball or something?”
64 wanted to stop the conversation before Blusa started to get uncomfortable, but she made no sign that she was uncomfortable in anyway. Blusa horn flashed a few times, signing that she wanted 64 to tell her what happened.
“You sure Blu? It only happened about 2 month ago.” 64 asked, to which Blusa nodded. 64 decided to just go with it and told the story about his job in Tuvalu, toning down a few of the more gruesome details, especially the ones about what he did to the stallion who bought Blusa. Let’s just say that not even DNA testing would be able to identify him.
By the end of the recollection Applejack’s eyes were widened to near impossible levels, stunned that such events occurred without any word getting out.
“How in tha’ name of Celestia did somethin’ like that never be found out?! By what you said Blusa here was a famous singer in Canterlot! There no way in Equestria that something’ like that jus’ be covered up!” Applejack questioned, making 64 grin.
“That’s why I go in. If something small happens, Princess Celestia sends in the Royal Guards to diffuse it. Something a bit more extreme happens? Send in the Equestrian Knights. Something really, really bad happens and you don’t want the public eye to find out? That’s when I go in. I go in, take care of business, make sure no one knows Princess Celestia ordered it, and get out. I’ve taken the moniker ‘Bipedal Blight’ to make it seem like I’m doing things of my own accord, and it’s worked for a long time. I’m a story book legend, helping the meek and helpless by destroying the evil and strong.” 64 said, trying to make himself seem like a bigger deal than he really was.
Applejack just shook her head, the question she had been wanting to ask 64 bubbling back the surface. They had reached the Train station with minutes to spare, and shortly after a horn began to ringing through the air.
“Here we go…” 64 muttered, cracking his neck a few times and pulling out the bits to purchase Applejack’s ticket. As he walked to the ticket booth to buy it, Applejack nudged Blusa a bit.
“Hey um, Blusa? Does 64 seem a bit… off to you?” Applejack asked, making Blusa shake her head no.
“Well… ah mean… he works for the Princess now, but 6 months ago they had nearly killed each other. Ah mean did Celestia do anythin’ to 64 to make ‘im like this?”
Blusa shrugged her shoulders at the strange question, making Applejack a bit frustrated.
“If only you could talk this conversation would be much easier….”
“Alight AJ, here’s your ticket. Let’s get aboard.” 64 said interrupting Applejack’s literal one sided conversation.
The group walked inside and took their seats inside another one of the first class booths, but Applejack noticed that 64 still had his bag with him.
“Hey 64, ah thought you were gonna drop off your bag? Ya still got it in yer hand.” Applejack said, making 64’s eyes widen.
“Ahh shit… wait up, I got an idea.” 64 said, looking up towards the emergency hatch at the roof of the cabin. He attached himself to the wall and scaled up to the hatch, but nearly fell off when the Train started to move. He popped open the hatch and climbed to the top of the train, the entire things still gradually gaining speed.
He scanned Ponyville and found his target, the newly repaired Clock Tower. He tightened grip on the duffel bag strap and geared his arm back, quickly using the incredibly fast mathematical skills he gained from her and calculated how much power he needed to make the throw. Perfectly calculating it 64 launched the duffel bag in his hand towards the Clock Tower, nearly hitting a few Pegasi in its flight.
He had no idea if the bag actually made it or not, but 64 decided that when he got back he would just search in that general area for it.
“Alright, dropped it off.” 64 said casually, dropping back into the cabin as the roof hatch closed. Applejack and Blusa simply stared at him with deadpan looks, both wondering if all that was really necessary.
The train began to pick up speed, now on its way to Manehatten. 64 decided to take the time he had and laid back on one of the lower bunks, relaxing and simply trying to wait the hours away. Applejack looked like she was trying to do the same thing, taking off her hat and laying down on her stomach on the bunk above 64.
Blusa’s horn began to flash in Morse again, spell out the word ‘food’.
“Didn’t we just get something at the Sugarcube Corner?” 64 asked. Blusa simply shrugged and blushed, think that it wasn’t enough.
"Alright, I think the food cart is still near the Engine, so you might need to make the trip over there.” 64 said as Blusa nodded, hoping that a Unicorn was there to take her order. She left the cabin and proceeded to the food cart.
Applejack saw this alone time as the perfect opportunity to ask 64 those questions she had, and didn’t want to miss it.
“Huh… 64? Can ah ask ya… well… ah mean if you don’t want to answer ‘em ah understand, but… can ya answer a few questions fer me?” Applejack asked from her bunk, making 64 shrug his shoulders.
“Sure, ask away.”
“Ok then… I was jus’ wonderin’… you and Princess Celestia are on uh… good… terms, now right?”
64’s face scrunched into one of deep thought. “Well… yeah, I guess you could say that. I mean… sometimes we argue and stuff, but it’s not like before were she wanted me dead. I guess we have a sort of strange relationship. I took the job so I wouldn’t have to be scared anymore. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life running, watching my back for every little thing, or making sure I wasn’t seen by the public. But right now I feel as if she and I are kind of not seeing eye to eye on a certain subject.” 64 explained, remembering what was going on with the Slava’s right now.
“Thas’ another thing ah wanted to ask ya. 6 months ago you and her were at each other’s throats like a pair of two of the wiliest pit bulls in all of Equestria, but now you two are all in kahoots now. I jus’ thought it was mighty strange that you were able to forgive her for all she’s done to ya.”
64 tensed at that last part, and a small chuckle escaped his mouth.
“You think I forgive her?”
It was Applejack’s turn to tense up.
“No, I don’t forgive her. All I can do right now is suck it up and try to be big about it. She made 20 years of my life hell, but in the end I know that it was Knight that pulled the strings. I can’t be mad forever. She taught me something, ‘The more you stay mad at something, The more it controls you’. I’m not mad at Celestia anymore, but I don’t forgive her.”
Applejack was visibly stunned by 64’s answer, and although she still had one more question to ask, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to ask it.
“Ah… Ah have one more question…”
“Shoot.”
“How can ya do what you do?”
64 was confused at the question and poked his head over to Applejack’s bunk. “What do you mean?”
Applejack wanted to choose her next words carefully, still slightly frightened at 64’s nonchalant answer.
“Ah mean, how can you kill? You seem almost remorseless of what ya’ve done. All them bits in yer pockets were paid for by killin’ somepony. How can ya be so calm about the entire deal?” Applejack asked, making 64 give her a grin.
“Well I prefer to capture, not to kill. But when I have to kill, I always remember something. The ponies I killed have all brought misery and suffering to others in one way or another. If killing them is the best way to get their ugly mugs off of the face of Equestria, then by all means I am happy to do it.”
Applejack simply shivered and decided to stop talking, unnerved by 64’s casual demeanor. It was at this point Blusa walked back into the cabin, a large daisy sandwich held in her magical grip. She was munching happily as she sat back in her bunk, blissfully unaware of the conversation which had just taken place.
3rd Person POV (Ghost)
Ghost was in a tight situation. It wasn’t anything serious, but if things continued the way they were, he would have serious trouble later. Still disguised as a Griffon, he took one more look at his surroundings. To his side there was the same Griffon chick who had offered him the Crystal Dust, but instead of her normally flirtatious nature, she was now writhing on the floor with her beak foaming.
She had taken a very large dose of a special strain of Dust, Fern’s Love. Its properties included hallucinations, loss of motor skills, loss of speech, sensory overload, and prolonged paralysis. She had taken a very large dose, and if Ghost’s medical diagnosis was correct, she was experiencing an overdose.
To his other side, two Diamond Dogs were now freaking out with knives drawn at each other, one pissed off at the other for calling the local police. They were on the verge of starting something, and if they continued, there would be a lot of blood.
Behind him two griffons were stuffing duffel bags full of Silver Bars into the back of a large van which was being driven by a masked earth pony. The griffons were yelling obscenities at each other, telling the other to hurry up and stop freaking out. The driver was getting impatient and was yelling something about threatening to drive off, and when police sirens started to sound nearer, he actually did, bags flying out of the still open trunk. The Griffons flew after him with large knives now held in their mouths, obviously ready to kill him if the need arose.
The diamond dogs finally began to start slicing at each other, the flurry of fur and blood starting to stain the floor of the large warehouse they were all standing in. There was still a large amount of Crystal Dust of all varieties littering the floor, much of it from the freak out the female Griffon was now going through. She eventually stopped thrashing around, and a last gurgle signified her last breath.
The Diamond Dogs also finally stopped fighting when one realized he had clearly killed the other, a clean slice making itself apparent across his friends neck. The victor started to yell and scream incoherently, dropping the knife and running out the same garage door the van had driven out of.
“Well, at least I found the dealer.” Ghost said to himself as he quickly pulled out his Royal Equestrian Badge out of a pouch he had made for himself in his feathers, needing it for when the police kicked in the door. The sirens eventually reached the outside of the door, and Ghost prepared himself for what was to come.
The front Garage doors of the warehouse were bucked open, the Police Officers holding out Taser Guns in their hooves.
“Relax. Agent 65 from Equestria here.”