//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30 
// Story: Bad Future Crusaders 
// by TonicPlotter 
//------------------------------//

        “You know… I made a lot of money selling that crown. Let’s cut a deal.”
        Babs Seed ignored the musings of the unwilling passenger draped across her sore back as she nodded to the duty guard of Canterlot’s Detention Center, who studied here prisoner in complete surprise for a full minute, before finally snapping out of it and opening the gate to the holding cells. It had been a long trip back to Canterlot, but the commentary from her prisoner had made it rather enjoyable. It made her think about how much grief Silver Spoon had caused both the guards and the R.E.A.F. for the past while, and it was rather hard to not feel proud that it was she and her investigation team that took the criminal down once and for all.
        “Pride doesn’t pay the bills,” said Silver Spoon as she continued to try and bribe her way out of it, “We’ll split it fifty-fifty if you just… leave the cage unlocked. Nopony will ever know.”
        As Babs Seed thought about how big of a deal it truly was to have final arrested Silver Spoon, the more guilt she felt for dismissing Starlight and Bright Eyes before hauling the gray nutcase to jail. She felt as if she had stolen the glory and the credit from them and, while Bright Eyes couldn’t care less, Starlight was the kind of pony who might take it personally. At the same time, as much as she wanted to make sure credit was given, with the possibility of a spy or a traitor amongst their ranks she wanted as few ponies to know about her little motley crew as possible. Especially Bright Eyes; he had already proven his worth and having a shape shifter in their ranks that nopony knew about was an invaluable asset. She’d make it up to them in the end; Starlight was young and got off on the glory and prestige of the job so she’d call in a favor or two and see to it he got a medal and perhaps even a promotion, and as for Bright Eyes…
        Wonder what a changeling would like as a reward, anyways? Somethin’ I’ll have to figure out.
        “Think about it, Babs. It’s a lot of money…”
        “I ain’t dirty, Spoon,” said Babs, “Save your breath. I don’t make deals with killers.”
        “You just take orders from them.”
        “You already tried the brain games, remember? It got you some chains and a slug to the mouth.”
        “It’s not a brain game,” said Silver Spoon in a judgmental tone, “Everypony knows what you guards did in the Crystal Empire. That’s how you got the scar, right? Or is it a caesarian? So… filly or colt?”
        “Shut up, Spoon,” said Babs Seed passively, “Like I said, you ain’t sweet talkin’ your way outta this one. You’ll sit here and fester in this Detention Center until you get tried and shipped to Blackmiller Penitentiary.” She stopped as her escort trotted up and opened one of three cells. “Sound good, ol’ pal?”
        Silver Spoon looked over at the pegasus and unicorn siblings laying side-by-side sleeping in the one occupied cell. “At least I got Nicola and Bart here to keep me company,” she said sarcastically.
        “In you get!” grunted Babs as she heaved Silver Spoon into the cell and froze to savor the dull plop of her body as it landed unceremoniously on the floor. The pegasus in the neighboring cell, Pound Cake was his name if memory served correct, sprung to life and draped his front hooves through the bars of the cell to watch. Babs Seed made eye contact with him and he smiled back the way one would greet a neighbor, and she found herself pitying him as she wondered what a pair of young ponies like those two were doing getting mixed up with a group like the Rainbolts. “You ain’t my problem anymore, Spoon,” she said as she shifted her eyes back to her catch, “I’m just an inspector; I find problems and its somepony else’s job to deal with them. You don’t seem to realize just how deep in you really are, so let me give you some advice for old time’s sake. Do yourself a favor, cooperate, and tell us where the crown is and who hired you. Do that and I’ll do what I can to make ‘em go easy on you.”
        Silver Spoon put a hoof to her chin in an obvious mockery of contemplation. “Alright, sounds swell, Tubby. Trumane Capony was his name; he wanted to give the crown to Miriam. As for where it ended up…” she said as she aimed her rear at the bars and tossed her tail to the side, “It’s up there somewhere, why don’t you take a look? Now that was one heck of a weekend so it’s in deep.”
        The pegasus fell apart into hysterical laughter and pounded his hoof repeatedly on the bars and the unicorn, who Babs had assumed was still sleeping, chuckled merrily without moving. Silver Spoon, feeding off of their reaction, looked over to the two and laughed to herself as well.
        Babs Seed sighed. “Hope you had a good laugh. You’re doin’ nothin’ but harmin’ yourself, though. Now don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
        “You’re wasting your breath, Babsie,” said a snide, familiar voice from behind, “Ponies like her are rabid dogs. They’re just a problem the sharp end of a stick and a few tears can solve, minus the tears of course.”
        Babs Seed exhaled to swallow her discomfort. “Hello, Merrilay,” she said coldly.
“Hello, Babsie,” said Merrilay in a sarcastically pleasant tone. “You got her. Not bad, not bad at all.”
“What are you doing here, Merrilay?”
“Just got back from finding the earth pony that tried to do Pinstripe; she went out like a complete cupcake.” Merrilay stood beside Babs and wiggled, gesturing to the bow and quiver she wore on her back. “Like the new toy? I was gonna try it out on the other one, but Stormfront beat me to the punch.”
Babs perked up. “They got her?”
“You had better believe it,” said Merrilay, her lips twitching as she savored the memory, “I followed the tracks into town and watched the whole thing. I really wanted to take a few pot shots when she pulled that banging… thing on them, y’know, get some practice, but they had it covered.” She finished her story by running her hoof across her neck with a gagging sound and added, “Credit where it’s due: they’re good at their jobs.”
“Is she alive?!”
“Who cares?”
“I do!” snapped Babs.
        “Easy there, Babsie. Their zeppelin wasn’t far behind me, you’ll see their handi—” she went quiet as the sound of clumping armored hooves drew closer down the hall, “Well, speak of the Devil.”
        It was two of Babs Seed’s old comrades, walking side by side and dragging the lifeless shape of a pony between them. The duty guard hurriedly opened the remaining empty cell and the duo dragged their prisoner inside and let her drop to the floor. As they walked out one spotted Silver Spoon in the cell and then Babs, and his entire face lit up. “The Sergeant!” he said excitedly, “The Sergeant got the bandit!”
        “Hah!” said the other as he winked at Merrilay, “The R.E.A.F. can eat that! Once a Stormfront always a Stormfront, right Sarge?”
        Babs Seed hardly even heard them. She knew what was lying in front of her, it was painfully obvious and there was no denying it, but she didn’t want to believe it. She couldn’t. Lying in that cell, sprawled lifelessly and with bandages wrapped around the side of her face and her stomach was a scruffy older mare that appeared to be dead; the only sign of life emanating from her was the rising and collapsing of her chest with shallow unconscious breaths. It was her cousin’s coloring, her little cousin’s yellow coat and bright pink mane, but stretched over a rough and almost vicious-looking adult as if it were a monster that had stolen Apple Bloom’s coloring and painted it onto itself. Babs Seed could hardly breathe; she tried to tell herself over and over it wasn’t true, but deep down she knew it was her little cousin lying in that cell. Her little cousin had grown up into a murderer.
        A callous slap on her shoulder jolted her. “So that’s Auntie Apple Bloom, huh?” said Merrilay coldly, “Isn’t this just one big ol’ happy family reunion? I should have brought potato salad.”
        “You’re not my family,” said Babs in a threatening tone. She didn’t have the patience to deal with that psychotic black sheep on the best of days and now was just about the worst time for Merrilay to push her luck.
        “But she is?” said Merrilay, sounding genuinely offended. “The one who killed my buddy and who knows who else? No way. She is isn’t she?” She leaned uncomfortably close and Babs Seed felt her hoof tremble, ready to strike. “You know what? I’ll bet you and her are in this together; how did you get to Broncton so quickly? Hm? You know, I’d bet half my feathers you’re going to pop the coop open the second nopony’s looking.”
        Babs took a step forward and felt her two old comrades each put a hoof on her to hold her back. “I’m about two seconds from crackin’ that skull open and seeing what color brains lunatics have in their heads! Don’t push me you bag of garbage, not NOW!”
        Merrilay reared up and clapped her hooves together. “I’d like to see you try it!”
        Babs Seed threw her allies off of her and made a beeline for her cousin, but a wall of black slid between them. It threw a gray foreleg around Merrilay’s neck and slammed her into the floor, and with a kick sent her across the prison and crashing into the brick wall. Without even looking Rumble threw his hoof out to stop Babs from advancing and stared Merrilay down as a low growl rose from his throat. Merrilay sputtered and spat a few drops of blood as she staggered to her hooves, and without even looking limped down the hall out of the Detention Center as quickly as her aching body could carry her.
        “Sheesh, what was her problem?” said one of the Stormfront guards.
        “Just mad that it wasn’t one of those airpony pansies who brought in Silver Spoon,” said the other as he draped his foreleg around Babs’ shoulder.
        Rumble cleared his throat and twitched his muzzle in the direction of the hall, making both of the Stormfront members and the duty guard all stand at attention, salute, and leave. Rumble returned the salute, somehow resisting the obvious agony of the wound Babs just now noticed. He had a nasty bruised and gaping wound on his leg; it was not deep, but wide and had bled half the length of his leg before finally drying and stopping itself. True to form, Rumble hadn’t even bothered to get it treated despite having taken Apple Bloom to the infirmary before putting her in that cell. It was clearly a wound from a gun, and thankfully the only one that had done any damage; tiny dints, each the size of a bit, were dotted sparsely across his armor which was thankfully strong enough to resist it.
        “We tried to take her peacefully,” said Rumble bluntly. “She resisted.”
        He said no more and left, the thudding sound of his heavy hooves fading as Babs’ heart seemed to stop mid-beat. She had always had this little fantasy that perhaps her friends had survived, but seeing what her little cousin had grown up into and the idea that Apple Bloom could have so readily tried to kill somepony she still cared deeply for was too much to take. For the first time in a long time, she wanted nothing more than to run into her mother’s hooves and cry.
        “Wanna talk about it?”
        Babs glared over at the cream-white pegasus who still had his hooves draped through the bars and was smiling with genuine pity, and she wanted nothing more than to bust that dopey face of his wide-open. “What are you leerin’ at, Half-N’-Half?”
        “I can’t help it,” he said dreamily, “Evil is sexy.”
        He threw himself away and fell over his sister as Babs Seed punched the bars. She grimaced in pain as she clutched her throbbing hoof and almost tripped as she hurried to leave before she opened that cell and slapped the cheeky little brat around. All she wanted to do now was lie down and sleep, and at this point she didn’t even care if she made it all the way home or not. Even the couch in her office sounded inviting at this point and was much closer.
        Wouldn’t be the first time I crashed there anyways.
        The sun was just starting to drop beneath the mountains on the horizon and before she started the trek, she briefly considered asking the two Environment Equestria ponies across the street for a ride home in the cloud carriage they had just parked. Those things moved all on their own and rather fast, powered somehow by a unicorn’s magic, but they had just locked it up and were walking away which meant they probably were leaving it there to start work in the morning.
        “Sergeant!” called one of the Stormfront guards from the deck of their zeppelin which slowly lowered into the street. “We’re headed for the palace! Coming?”
        Babs jogged to catch up and climbed the ladder, nodding in appreciation to the guard who had called her. She sat beside Rumble and, knowing he had made them wait for her, whispered “thanks” to him.
        “Mm-hmm.”
        As the zeppelin slowly rose she was hit by a wave of nostalgia that briefly washed away her sorrow. It was just like old times; the unique feeling in one’s stomach from the gentle sway of the gondola, the surprisingly comfortable canvas net that served as seats, and of course sitting beside Rumble.
        “Here,” said Rumble softly as he nodded to a guard who pushed a box toward her.
        Babs rooted through the box, finding a dusty old hat and foreign clothing, a set of spurs, and the leftovers of a smashed gun that made her realize these things were Apple Bloom’s personal belongings when she was captured. She dug through the pockets of the vest, hoping to find something to help her understand why, but all she found was a box full of acrid-smelling rolled papers and a pack of matches.
        “Anything?”
        “Just personal stuff,” she said sadly. “Doesn’t help me understand why…”
        “Ponies change,” Rumble said darkly.
        “Yeah…” she said sadly as she studied the box and put two and two together, realizing their purpose. “Give her these when she wakes up?” Rumble nodded and tucked them into the inner pocket of his armor, just as the zeppelin began to lower. It hovered right by the window of her office, close enough for her to step right through.
        Rumble put a hoof on her shoulder to stop her before she could disembark and stared into her eyes. She stared back and leaned in, closing her eyes and anticipating a kiss. “I’m sorry. About your cousin,” he said solemnly as he turned to head back to his seat.
        Typical Rumble.
        She climbed through the window and watched the zeppelin lazily fly away, and once it was out of sight let her body collapse to the floor. She rested her head on her forelegs, too lazy and miserable to even undress let alone climb onto the couch. The zeppelin ride had been a nice reprieve but only temporary; now that she was alone she was left to the mercy of her nightmares. Images of her cousin kept coming into mind, haunting her and robbing her of any possibility of sleep.
        Suddenly something cold nudged her and she cried out in feral fear. Something scrabbled about in the darkened room and she was on her hooves, across the office, and lit her lantern. “Bright Eyes?!” she snapped at the sight of the changeling, making it jump straight up and cringe, “What the heck are you doing here?!” He recoiled like a spooked cat but almost immediately calmed down and started staring at her with a funny inquisitive look. She stared back, wondering what he was studying so closely, when it dawned on her she had been crying. “It’s nothin’,” she said as she wiped her eyes, “Stop looking at me like that, it’s fine. Cut it out! Look, Bright Eyes, when I said you were done for the day I meant you could go home. You didn’t have to come back here.” The changeling drew a bit closer and cocked his head to the side, making a strange warbling sound as he did it.
        Sheesh. Changelings.
        “Don’t worry about it,” said Babs as she dabbed at her eyes again, “I’m actually kinda glad you’re here. Wanted to say you did good out there. Real good. We wouldn’t have pulled this off without you.” The changeling’s eyes snapped wide open and he drew back in surprise. “I mean it,” said Babs, “Now work's over, yeah? Go get some sleep.”
        Bright Eyes nodded and seemed content with the idea, putting his head up high and puffing his chest out proudly. Babs went to the door to let him out, but rather than follow he instead trotted over to the couch and snuggled up with his pillow.
        “Hold it! What are you—” The answer hit her before she could even ask. “You don’t have a home, do you? Now where the heck does Featherweight…” she went silent again; the look Bright Eyes gave her told her quite clearly she did not want to know. “Look,” she said softly, “You aren’t livin’ in this office. Got it?”
        Bright Eyes stared sadly for a moment and nodded his head. He slowly drifted into the air, letting his entire body hang as he flew, and slowly headed for the door. Even the soft buzz of his wings sounded depressed and betrayed.
        “Wait!” she said as she stopped him, “What’s with all that? I’m not kicking you out onto the street; you aren’t sleepin’ here because you can have the couch in my apartment. It has a fold-out bed you can have ‘till we work somethin’ out better.”
        Despite everything that had happened today Babs Seed’s spirits were lifted by Bright Eyes’ reaction; she had actually managed to get a smile out of the dark creature. “Yeah,” she said, “Hope you like cats. Mine’s real affectionate.” She gestured for him to follow and as she left the office the darkened hallway of the palace briefly lit up in green as Bright Eyes put on his pony disguise.
        Guess I’m walkin’ home after all…