“That’ll be ten bits.”
“…Huh? Oh, yeah! Sure, sure… Here, keep the change.”
“Thank ya kindly, sir. You have a good night now.”
“I pray you do too,” Brimstone said under his breath, relieved to know that the pony pulling the taxi didn’t hear that last comment. With the only sound of the stallion’s escaping hooves and the pitter-patter of raindrops around him, Brimstone brought his eyes up. He found his eyes continuing to move up higher and higher and higher.
The messenger of the Alliance of Alien Activity saw the glowing red sign at the very top of the building ahead. It read “ADI” and underneath the three massive letters was “Alien Disturbance Investigators.” Stock Share’s company, an old client to Noctune.
Brimstone gulped, more droplets of rainfall pelting his face. He adjusted his tie and moved forward. In his mind, he was thinking of the reason he was sent there. Stock had broken the contract he signed with Noctune back at Vanhoover. He was to use the technology the AAA sent him and his workers for the safety of Fillydelphia and its citizens. The ADI could’ve been a private fighting force for the massive city, but instead they chose to be arm’s dealers. Noctune didn’t take kindly to traitors.
Yes, in his mind Brimstone knew of the reason he was sent there. But his instincts kept replaying that one ordered given to him from his superiors before he had even set hoof in the stormy metropolis…
Duck and cover.
“Duck and cover… Duck and cover… Duck and cover,” Brimstone repeated silently to himself over and over again. He hadn’t even realized he reached the front doors to the glass building. Stopping himself at the entrance, Brimstone looked past the glass doors and noticed several lights still on inside.
The storm above was getting pretty bad. He looked at his watch, water droplets seen hovering over the time. It read 8:18 pm.
“They’re not closed yet,” Brimstone noted, pushing open the front door with his hoof. He was met with a warm gust of air and a fantastic feeling.
Chandeliers of all shapes and sizes hung from the high ceiling with beautiful shades of lights cascading across the foyer. Large, white pillars sat silently to the unicorn’s right and left, above them were massive paintings of some of the great Equestrian Wars. Brimstone noticed the Reign of Discord painting with a draconequus sitting on a floating throne, several ponies bowing before him. The one next to it was King Sombra’s Rise to Power, the dark king laughing manically to the heavens with crystal ponies tied in chains below. The next was Luna’s Banishment. All he noticed was a lovely painting of Celestia crying in the moon’s late-night glow.
Brimstone continued onwards, his eyes mesmerized from the artistry. After Luna’s Banishment, a canvas was displayed that showed of Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony united in a rainbow of colors. He didn’t care much for that, and continued down the line.
That’s when he saw it…
The next painting displayed the leader of the Decepticons. Megatron. He stood in the ruins of Canterlot with his purple mace hung victoriously over his head, dead ponies surrounding his feet. Brimstone was disgusted and moved on. The next painting was even worse. It showed of Decepticon starships striking down cities with their orbital strikes, powerful and completely catastrophic. Celestia, he could still feel the explosions…
The unicorn shook off the memories and brought his eyes over to the final painting. It showed the Equestrian flag of the Royal Sisters united together waving in the painted wind. Behind the flag stood a city in smoke and fire, the cries of a thousand Equestrians screaming in Brimstone’s ears, begging for a savior. Below the painting sat two words.
“Never Forget.”
He said those words out loud. Brimstone stood there staring at the final painting for minutes on end, his tears beginning to burn. He brought up his foreleg and wiped his eyes. Back then he lost everything. Brimstone was living with a beautiful wife, children, and a house in the peaceful city of Baltimare. He never saw it coming when it finally did.
The Decepticons wiped out Baltimare in hours. They took everything from him, everything he worked his life to create, to build, to live for. He tried so hard to save them, his hoof reaching out to his wife and child. They screamed together before the flames of their burning home engulfed them, leaving Brimstone alive and shattered. Even though he lived that day, Brimstone knew he had died on the inside.
This was the reason he joined the Alliance. If he was ever going to change the world for the better then he might as well evolve with Noctune and protect Equestria from an attack like the invasion over a year ago. He had died that day. He should’ve gone with his family, but no. He was alive and living in this never-ending nightmare filled with Celestia’s false promises.
And now he was working for…them. Those freaks that killed his family were his commanders, ordered directly from Noctune. Brimstone wouldn’t be able to stand being controlled by those things that ended his happiness long ago, but Noctune said that their cooperation with the Decepticons was the only way to bring change and true peace to Equestria. Then they would stop.
They would end it all.
No more false promises. No more misery. Nothing but protection, peace, and safety for Equestria and the rest of the world.
Brimstone’s legs were stopped by something that couldn’t be moved. The next thing he felt was a wash of cool water all over his head. The unicorn reared back in surprise, gasping for air as he tried to figure what just happened.
A fountain. He just walked into a fountain. Brimstone’s eyes admired the fantastic architecture of the fountain adorning the center of the foyer. While his mind truly expressed signs of amazement, his body language said otherwise, a frown growing ever so strongly on his face.
“Why don’t we have a fountain?” he asked himself. It seems all of Brimstone’s questions to life’s greatest mysterious would have to be put in the unanswered box once again. He heard the most polite cough come from his side.
He turned his whole body right to be met with one of the most beautiful mares he’d ever seen.
Her eyes absolutely stole his breath away. Deep shades of dark red in her irises only seen with every flutter of her long, lavishing eyelashes made Brimstone’s legs quiver. Her light tan coat shined lovely in the chandelier's glow, just like his. The mare’s red mane was kept together in a small knot behind her head, but not even all of that made the stallion nervous.
It was her smile. That beautiful, lovely, almost wanting smile. The same smile as…his wife.
Noticing the beads of sweat pour down the unicorn’s face, the mare let loose the most adorable giggle Brimstone had ever head. The poor stallion looked like he was on his first date. She brought up the clipboard resting under her foreleg, her gorgeous eyes scrolling slowly.
“You must be Brimstone…Noctune’s messenger?” she asked, giving him her most luxurious of smiles. Brimstone nearly fainted, but nodded nonetheless. She smiled again and said, “Well, Brimstone, my name is Red Rose and I’m Mr. Share’s secretary. I assume you’ve had a meeting scheduled for tonight with Mr. Share?”
Brimstone’s mouth hung open, a bit of drool falling from his lips. Red Rose giggled adorably once again, catching the stallion by surprise. He wiped his mouth and nodded. “Mmhmm,” he mumbled shakily.
Just to mess with him at this point, the mare spun around quickly to let her tail flicker only slightly to the side, earning a quiet gasp from the stallion. She smiled back at him and said, “Follow me, sir. I’ll take you to Mr. Share’s office.”
“…Okay,” Brimstone muttered, his eyes transfixed from her curves.
He’s so cute. Red Rose thought to herself, already leaving Brimstone standing alone like an idiot.
Oh Celestia…please not her…not like this.
The Alliance’s messenger kept his own thoughts safe and secured. His hooves came to life and he quickly caught up to Red Rose, the lovely secretary. As the two passed several more lovely sculptures and paintings through the massive foyer of the ADI headquarters, Brimstone’s eyes seemed to be wandering over to something else that caught his attention.
This mare was something that all stallions had to of dreamt about at least once. Her curves were perfect, her flank was inviting, and her voice was pure silk massaging his ears. This mare, Red Rose, was somepony Brimstone wanted out of pure lust. But he couldn’t. He knew better. It seems his arousal was captured by the mare, for her speech about the nearest painting didn’t seem to be catching the stallion’s attention that much. Her eyebrow shot upwards, a grin growing on her face.
She made her hips swing more lusciously with every step she took, her tail swaying back and forth even more so, giving Brimstone a full sneak peek.
That’s not fair… That’s so not fair! Brimstone screamed inside, his eyes refusing to break contact.
“Well, we’re here,” Red Rose’s heavenly voice announced, instantly capturing the stallion’s attention. She turned her head back towards Brimstone, giving him another smile that made him shake. “Please step inside the elevator, sir.”
“Okay,” Brimstone whimpered, slowly making his way by the opening doors. He stood silently, though his silence was broken when Red Rose took her place directly to his right, her hoof reaching out and pressing the button with the large “21” hanging over it. As the doors shut, Brimstone could already feel his body quiver when the mare scooted just a little closer to him.
His eyes looked up and saw the red numbers slowly move up from one to five. The mare to his right gave a little shiver, prompting Brimstone to turn her way.
“I hate nights like this,” she began, her voice soft. “The cold always gives me goose bumps, but I can never seem to keep myself warm. This place doesn’t really have a heater. The braniac who designed this place thought it would be better to have more chandeliers than an actual heater.”
“Is that right?” Brimstone asked, his voice barely rising over hers. He looked up and saw the numbers rise from ten to fifteen.
“Yeah…and every time I work the late night shift I always get the chills,” she scooted ever so closer to him. “I’ll I really need is a little bit more…heat.”
Brimstone could feel her breath on his neck. The scent in her breath was so intoxicating. It smelt of peppermint candy, presumably from some peppermint she could’ve had earlier. He turned his head to see her eyes fully locked on with his, her knowing smile growing bigger.
She doesn’t deserve this. Nopony innocent deserves this.
Stock Share deserves this.
She doesn’t.
What do you plan on doing about that? Tell her?
…No. No, I can’t do that.
Then shut up, meet with Stock Share, and duck and cover.
Duck and cover.
The elevator let out a soft binging noise. Brimstone turned his head away from the mare to witness the doors in front of him split apart, revealing a hallway to his sides and a big, brown door resting right in front of the two.
He straightened his tie, motioning his hoof in front.
“Ladies first,” he politely said to the mare.
Red Rose smiled and slowly walked by the stallion. She made sure to rub her tail against his thigh all the way to his foreleg as she did so. Doing this earned a shiver from Brimstone and a giggle from Red Rose. She could hear the returning hoofsteps of the stallion catching up behind her.
The secretary approached the door, all silliness aside, and knocked once, twice, three times.
“Come in!” a hoarse voice from the other side responded.
Red turned the nob and pushed the door inwards, allowing herself to enter as well as the sweating and fidgeting stallion behind her.
“Sir, Brimstone is here to see you,” Red announced throughout the office room, stepping aside to let in the unicorn with the slanted tie and sweaty tan coat. As the door was fully pushed aside, Brimstone could grasp the full inside of the office room.
A massive table sat in the very center of the room going straight across, not sideways. Lines of chairs rested in a row on each side of the well-polished table. Most of the leather chairs were empty, save for a few with either a stallion drinking a large brew of coffee or laying their heads’ down in their own drool. Sitting at the very end of the table, staring down Brimstone with eyes of pure malice, was Stock Share himself, head of the Alien Disturbance Investigators.
He was quite short and large, a hefty, black bowtie resting underneath his disgusting beard. His coat was filthy with splotches of ink and coffee stains painted across his chest and forelegs. The excuse of a stallion’s gray-colored mane was trimmed extremely low with his scalp almost visible even from Brimstone’s distance. Upon the unicorn’s arrival, Stock Share stood up, his hoof snatching the cigar in his mouth.
“Brimstone, my friend! Welcome to ADI!” Stock Share said loudly and in a tone that made him leader. At least pretend to be leader.
With the loud voice resonating throughout the room, the stallions that were asleep suddenly jolted up, clapping their hooves together and looking around with half-open eyes. That ones that were awake held their coffee mugs in the air, smiling at Brimstone with their yellow teeth.
The unicorn straightened his tie once again. He didn’t smile back to any of them.
“It’s a pleasure,” he stated plain and simple, taking a seat at the end of the table facing directly to Stock Share. Brimstone noticed how there was a massive window right behind Stock and his hideous face. It showed the darkness of the city of Fillydelphia at night, raindrops pelting the glass silently as the storm began to calm down.
Perfect.
Duck and cover.
With his eyes slowly moving back towards Stock’s unwelcoming facial features, Brimstone seemed to be drawn towards the center of the table. Resting right in the middle was colorful vase filled with healthy roses.
“You have quite the keen eye, Brimy. Noctune told me all about that,” Stock said loudly, his cigar resting on the wet napkin to his side. As the smoke slowly filled Stock’s vision, he was able to get one last look at the rose vase sitting right in front of him.
He took another puff of his cigar and set it down by his side. “You know…the rose is a very special flower. Not only is it personally my favorite flower, but it is a flower that’s loved all throughout Equestria. Honestly, I think it’s the flower that represents temptation best. A beauty with colors only a stallion with passion and love could understand.”
Stock’s bloodshot eyes traveled right just as his own secretary placed her recently finished documents back into Stock’s filing cabinet. Unfortunately, she had to bend down when she let one of her files slip out, giving her boss the full show.
“The rose is truly a flower that expresses beauty…and temptation in ways nopony could ever imagine,” Stock mumbled, his eyes dancing across his secretary’s luscious rump. One of the stallions by Brimstone’s far right whistled, instantly causing the mare’s head to shoot up.
Red Rose turned her head back sharply, a light shade of red seen on her cheeks as well as the anger in her eyes. She let out a heavy snort, storming out of the office with all the stallions by Stock’s sides to whistle and say such things like “Give us another show, girl,” and “We were just playing around.”
Brimstone turned to see and watch her leave, her tail perfectly blocking out anymore watchful eyes as the door slammed shut behind her. Brimstone shook his head. This company clearly didn’t have any respect for mares since it was run by a pony that nearly had a new mare with him each night. Maybe that’s why she was trying to come onto him. Surrounded by these pigs with no good looks could make a mare anxious when a handsome stallion walked in. Brimstone didn’t think he was handsome by all means, but he wasn’t a pig, either.
With his secretary leaving with a huff, Stock Share turned his eyes to the lone messenger sitting far in front of him. He smiled and said, “You never find mares like that anymore, eh Brimy?” Brimstone did not smile back. Stock asked, “By the way how’s Noctune been holdin’ up? Last I heard he’s been having some trouble huntin’ down some ali-”
“Okay, let’s just cut the crap right now, Stock.”
Silence filled the room. Not a breath was taken, not a muscle was moved. The only sound was the pitter patter of the rain hitting the glass window.
Stock narrowed his bloodshot eyes, his hoof pressing roughly into the wooden table.
“What are you trying to get at, son?”
“You know damn right what I’m getting at, Stock Share. You broke the contract,” Brimstone replied almost immediately, the sudden change of tone in his voice surprising all that had a beating heart in that room.
Eyes began to shift from one another anxiously. However, Stock Share remained motionless, unmoving, unaffected. He reached forward, grabbed his cigar, and took another long puff. Blowing the smoke towards the ceiling, Stock stared Brimstone dead in the eye with a look that made all of those lower than him shudder. Brimstone wouldn’t back down.
He finally asked, “Contract?”
Brimstone nodded. “Yes, contract. The same contract you signed with your own pen from your own grueling mouth stating clearly that you would only use the Alliance’s weapons and supplies for the benefit of Fillydelphia. However,” Brimstone reached into his coat pocket and threw three black and white photographs onto the table for all eyes to see. It showed of Stock Share and his limited height receiving cases of cash from a disguised griffon, large carriages filled to the brim with boxes that had the AAA logo on the side of each one behind the two. Stock Share stared at the photographs in shock, his eyes looking up towards Brimstone. The unicorn finished, “you chose to work for the wrong team.”
The stallion sat upright in his leather chair. He could hear several mumbles from the ponies by his sides, his most trusted workers. Stock could feel the slightest of chills race across his coat.
“Right…that contract,” Stock began, a bead of sweat leaking from his brow. He reached for the wet napkin and padded his forehead a few times, smiling at the young unicorn in front of him. “You know, Brimstone, how the ADI works to protect this city isn’t of any concern to you or Noctune. So you can just take those little photographs and tell Noctune not to get so worried over this.”
Brimstone shook his head, his eyes never breaking contact with Stock’s.
“I don’t think you understand the situation here, Mr. Share,” Brimstone began, his voice low and threatening. “The griffons have the technology to reverse engineer the Alliance’s weapons to their own need if they ever wanted to. You have funded the ones we are meant to protect with weapons they can easily use to their advantage. Soon enough, the griffons won’t even need us, and they’ll stand as the dominant force on this planet. You could’ve easily stayed in line, Stock, but no…you chose to turn your company into an illegal arms dealership.”
It was silent for the longest time. All worried eyes turned to Stock Share for an answer. The stallion fumbled the cigar in his mouth for a while, chuckling in satisfaction and placing the cigar down.
“I don’t think you understand the situation here, Brimy,” Stock began, earning a rising eyebrow from the unicorn in front. “What I’ve done isn’t ‘illegal.’ What I did was for my company to grow in recognition across the globe. Having more alien protection agencies will further the production of advancement in technology, and where do you think all that profit would go to…?”
Brimstone didn’t answer, his frown worsening by the second.
Stock Share let out a hearty laugh and swung his hooves in the air. “Why ME of course!” he shouted, earning several shouts of encouragement from the ponies by his sides.
“We both know that money isn’t what you’re after,” Brimstone snorted, earning more chuckles from the stallions around him. “You just want power. That’s all everypony in this building wants is power. But listen here, Mr. Share,” Brimstone leaned over the table, his eyes narrowing on the excuse of a stallion. “The protection of this planet’s race against aliens belongs solely to Noctune and the AAA. We can’t have you trying to take that title away from us.”
Stock Share did something that Brimstone was expecting. He laughed. The other ponies in the room joined in on the laughter, leaving Brimstone staring at the stallion in front with a lone glare on his face. Once the laughter died down to a minimum, Stock wiped away a tear and stared at Brimstone, his eyes equally hard.
“And just what exactly does Noctune plan on doing to stop me, huh? I wanna know!”
Instead of answering, Brimstone’s ears caught the sound he’s been waiting for. His eyes found the shadow slowly lowering past the glass that separated Stock’s office from the outside world. Brimstone took in a quick breath, ignoring the taste of the cigar’s smoke in the air.
Duck and cover.
Stock watched as the Alliance’s messenger quickly dipped underneath the table, the chair scooting outwards from his movement. He smiled, but his smile quickly faded away when he heard a different sound come from…behind.
Turning his chair around as slow as possible, Stock Share and his fellow worker ponies were met with a sight that caused their blood to freeze, their screams completely escaping them.
Behind the glass was a flying mechanized airship with rotating blades that somehow kept it upright. It was golden in color, purple lights shining in the darkness of the night sky. The two poles on the side of airship began to glow, a loud hum following the light.
The cigar in Stock’s mouth fell and hit the carpet.
It fired and ripped apart everything inside the office.
_______________
He scanned the skies when he heard the gunfire.
Appearing out from the side of the building, Swindle activated his night vision goggles and stared straight up. He could see Vortex firing away at the building. Large pieces of glass already began to hit the streets, prompting Swindle to back away from the shards that landed next to him
“Vortex started the party without us!” Swindle shouted.
“Then get back here and finish planting the detpacks, Swindle! We don’t have much time before the inhabitants realize we’re here!” the voice of Onslaught called from the shadows. Swindle deactivated his night vision and returned back to his fellow Combaticons.
There stood Onslaught and Brawl, drenched in rainwater and with their lights glowing with an intensity that Swindle could only tell was anger. Onslaught was facing Brawl, but stopped when he heard Swindle’s voice come from behind.
“So, uh…how many detpacks was I supposed to put on the building?” Swindle asked from behind the Combaticon leader.
“Ten,” Onslaught answered.
“Okay, well, I put thirty-nine on the building so…”
“What?!” Onslaught screamed, spinning around. He was met with the sight of the entire building side covered in detpacks like hungry Insecticons feeding on Energon remains. There stood Swindle at the very bottom, smiling innocently at his commander.
“Swindle you idiot, you were meant to only put ten! We don’t want the explosion to be known throughout the country!” Onslaught shouted, jabbing his finger directly into Swindle’s chest.
Swindle pushed Onslaught’s finger away. “Well, sorry, but I was thinking for the benefit of the entire team! There’s no way we could’ve escaped in time with me carrying twenty-nine detpacks!”
“How did you even manage to bring thirty-nine detpacks all this way?!”
“Don’t. Question. My. Techniques. Onslaught!”
The two Combaticons were nearly butting foreheads, but stopped when they both felt a hand press against their chests, pushing them apart from each other. Brawl stood in the middle of the two ready to rip each other apart, his wrist flashing red lights.
“You can argue about this later,” Brawl said, pointing to his wrist, “right now Blast Off is about two miles away! If we don’t blow those detpacks then there’s no way Blast Off can take down that building on his own!”
Swindle and Onslaught looked at Brawl, then at each other. A flash of lightning appeared behind the two, the monsoon increasing in strength. Onslaught nodded, backing away from the building as fast as possible.
“Brawl is right,” Onslaught told Swindle. He directed his attention to Brawl and shouted, “Now, get back while Swindle blows this building sky-high!”
Onslaught and Brawl both ran to a safe distance fifty yards away. Swindle did the same, his purple visor staring up at the building, his grin growing and growing. The detpacks were all glowing bright purple, soon they would all glow bright red.
“Activating detpacks now! You want wanna cover your hearing processors for this next part.”
He pressed his wrist.
All three Combaticons were blown back.
Onslaught shielded his face from thousands of shreds of debris. He could feel a massive heat source emanating from the explosion, bright reds and oranges giving the night some life. As all three of them landed on their backs in the street, Onslaught was the first to sit up and witness the carnage. Swindle and Brawl both joined in as soon as they sat upwards.
The entire building side was gone, blown to shreds with burning ashes and flames raining from the skies. The fire was growing in strength with no hope of stopping, not even the rain could put it out. Trash and glass shards littered the area for several hundred yards, but even in the devastation the building did not fall.
“Well, well, well,” Swindle mocked, standing back up and crossing his arms, “looks like I didn’t use enough detpacks!”
Ignoring Swindle’s remark, Onslaught stood up with Brawl by his side. The fires of their attack burned strong in Onslaught’s visor, sending no emotion throughout his circuits. He could feel the heat of flames melting the building supports, he could feel the bits of fire and ash landing on his armor, but he felt nothing on the inside. He just felt cold.
“Blast Off’s comin’ down for the bombing run!” Brawl screamed, his eyes scanning the dark skies.
Onslaught didn’t answer. Instead, he looked up and saw his fellow Combaticon. Blast Off released a full payload of missiles as he passed overhead, his purple exhaust creating a trail throughout the rainy skies. His payload hit the target perfectly, straight into the fire and flames.
The insides of the building erupted, forcing flames and debris to explode from all sides. As Blast Off disappeared into the night sky, the remaining three Combaticons turned to what remained of the building. They could all feel it. They could feel the vibrations of the skyscraper breaking down from the intense heat of the fire below. It wouldn’t be long now.
Onslaught turned left and walked away. Brawl followed and so did Swindle. Not a word was spoken between the three, no words were needed. Their mission was complete.
Onslaught transformed and drove off through the Fillydelphian streets. Brawl changed into his tank form and Swindle into his vehicle mode. The two followed their leader into the darkness, leaving all that they had done to burn.
_______________
Brimstone popped his head up when he heard the gunfire die down.
The glass was complete shattered, allowing rain to pour inside and ruin the carpet. The carpet was already ruined, stained with blood. Brimstone stepped out, feeling the night winds pierce his skin as the Decepticon Vortex hovered right outside, staring at him.
Brimstone stepped over the corpse of a fallen pony. He completely ignored the feeling of dread and guilt he had as he pushed past the dead bodies. They weren’t innocent to begin with, but they were still his species. They were his species that he helped a Decepticon kill.
He would have to think about this experience a different time. The building began to tip.
They blew it up. Brimstone thought. All according to plan.
Vortex was still waiting for him on the outside, his propeller blades slicing the winds to shreds. Brimstone quickly dodged the falling bodies that began to roll over his hooves. He ignored the pain his hooves felt stepping in the glass, and with one final leap he jumped out of the building, being met with the cool rain pelting his coat.
He grabbed one of Vortex’s machine guns, holding on for dear life as he felt himself slipping off the wet metal surface.
With his pony ally secure, Vortex spun around and activated his thrusters. His blades joined together and his rockets pushed the helicopter forward just as a jet would. As the two flew by, all that remained in Fillydelphia that night was a building heading straight for the earth, the fires burning and the ponies inside screaming.
Silence. Nothing but silence. In the aftermath, nothing survived. Everything that breathed the breath of life was silenced forever once the building fell. Fires burned strong in the collapsed wreckage. All that remained in the dust was a lone, tilting rose. Stock Share’s favorite flower. A blood red rose.