“Yeah, okay, I’ll tell them,” an older woman wearing the CPD dress uniform said into her cellphone. “Just got a call; a girl just got nabbed off Central and Montebello. Somehow one of the Feds found out and got there a little too late, though.” She looked at Shining Badge. “Your folks and mine are on the spot now, but I don’t need to tell you it’s a little too late.”
Shining Badge looked at the clock. It was a miracle that he was still awake, given that he was just shifting over from Eastern Time to Pacific and was now here at one in the morning, with the rest of these yahoos, arguing as to who was going to be the one the media would character assassinate at the press conference tomorrow morning. The word had already been sent out, so there was no avoiding it.
“Yeah, Chief Justice,” he told Lady Justice, the Canterlot Chief of Police, “but from what you just told me is that my people were on the scene first. I’m glad that your folks were there, but as you can see, fat lot of good it did.”
“Yeah, well, anything else y’all two idiots ‘re gunna bitch ‘bout?” Cormano Cherry, the Sheriff of Equestria County, grumbled. He pushed back a dun-colored Stetson while wearing the day uniform of the ECSD. Badge knew the man was effective at fighting crime, but hated him on a personal level: the poser acted as though he was a ‘Hang ‘Em’ Texas lawman complete with accent, but Cormano was from New Hampshire. “Fillies ‘re still dyin’, and y’all jest complainin’ ‘bout who’s gunna talk t’ the press!”
“None of this shit happened in my county until you yahoos sent it my way,” Iron Post, the Sheriff of neighboring Siskyou County, grunted. As the first victim had been found in his jurisdiction, he’d been invited as well. That, Badge thought, was turning out to be a mistake. “What next, Frisco and LA gonna send it north?”
“Oh, shut up,” Sealed Scroll, the Equestria County District Attorney, grumbled. “The four of you are so busy stepping on each other’s toes that you all look like delightfully autistic little spastics. Need I remind you that we already have one crisis on our hands and this one is going to make it worse? Plus, tomorrow we’ve got the sheriffs from the neighboring counties coming, so you three get your shit straight and stop having a penis contest!”
Tall Order, the vice mayor of Canterlot, looked at the four. “Scroll,” he said, “you can be just as bad. You’ve prioritized all the little shit as of late. What, trying to get a seat as a judge? Or afraid that one of your senior ADAs is going to run against you in the next election?”
“C’mon, Tall, you know it’s not like that!” Scroll shot back. “And what about your fights with Caballeron? Isn’t he going after the same state senate seat that you are? Oh and since Mare’s announced her plans to go for reelection, you’re screwed there….”
“Oh, fuck you, Scroll.”
Badge looked at the clock, then at his phone and sighed. Saying to no one in particular, “The body count’s rising, folks – we have better things to do than to argue with each other.”
The doors to the conference room were thrown open and a middle-aged woman with frazzled pink hair partially dyed with gray stormed in, her glasses half-fogged. Her opaline eyes looked red, as if she’d been crying, but the look on her face was one of cold determination. She wore a sweatshirt and jeans, but for the look on her face, she may as well have been dressed like she was headed for war.
“Mare,” Scroll said. Badge knew that the mayor’s name was actually Maré, Latin for sea, but in a town with a name like Canterlot, one played to one’s strengths, and so she often used mare, meaning horse, as an “acceptable pronunciation”.
“Scroll, shut the fuck up,” Mayor Mare said coldly. She then faced the rest of them, and slamming her hands on the table, she looked at them with a baleful stare. “I have spent the last seventy-two hours out of my mind with grief. I now have to bury the man I have been married to for thirty years and my precious, only child. Meanwhile, you all are bickering like a gaggle of prostitutes trying to see who gets the premium john. This shit ends NOW!
“In five minutes, you four so-called law enforcement officials will start crawling through every fucking nook and cranny from here to fucking Ponyville, Oregon, Chico and Horseshoe Bay. I want every Goddamn tree checked, and every drop of water in the river looked over. You,” she said, pointing to Scroll, “will make sure you have so much of an iron-tight case I want the bastard that did this to choke on the words. And you,” she said to Order, “will lead the conference, and I don’t give a Goddamn bit about how the media savages you – lives are more important than your Goddamn bruised ego.
“As for me? I’m going to go find my husband’s guns, and I’m going to wait until you catch this asshole. And then I’m going to bankrupt the city using every bullet we can buy on him. Because if you assholes let this fucktard get away, I will use all the bullets on you.”
She pulled away from the table. “Now get the fuck out of my conference room, do your jobs and I want you all lined up first thing in front of City Hall at 9:15, got that?”
Casually lounging around outside – or at least looking like it, Adagio was still recovering from last night’s cycling. She’d already been up for close thirty-six hours, and while it was nothing new to her, she knew it was degrading her potential combat performance from the slight exhaustion she felt. Plus…the civilian clothing that she was forced to stand duty in was nothing like her preferences. It seemed like it was bought in bulk from the cheapest store possible.
For the umpteenth time in private, Adagio realized the mistake that she’d made. She’d let her passions override her judgement, and this was the result. She wasn’t cut out for this lifestyle, not anymore. She was, as Sonata had put it, “a normal girl in the normal world”, albeit one with highly specialized training.
Maybe I should’ve followed my heart instead of my stupid brain cells. We would’ve been free of this shit. She sat down on the front step of the building she was in front of. Fuck, I could use a piece of Shim and Sham’s pizza right now. I’m going to miss that. I’m going to miss a lot of things.
“Hey, Dagi?” Adagio looked up to see Aria standing there, carrying a Chinese Type-05 that the elder sister didn’t know she had. “You okay?”
“What’s with the Type-05?”
“It belongs to Seaman Flood over in Echo Company. She asked if she could borrow my XK9 and in turn she lent me this. Personally, it’s your typical PRC piece of shit, but I have my sidearms on me in case something happens, which it won’t.”
“Yeah,” Adagio said. “Canterlot’s too quiet of a town.”
“Anyway, now that you dodged the question, you gonna tell me?”
Adagio nodded, then said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I got us into this. I was stupid, I didn’t listen to Maddie, and now here we are, in a place none of us want to be. You’re probably angry with me – I know Soni is.”
Aria sat down next to her. “Hey, Soni’s just sensitive, she always has been. But you’re our fireteam lea—”
“No. I was your sister before I was your fireteam leader, and I should have been that when you two needed me to be.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t hate you. I disagree with what you did, and I think we shoulda stayed civvie, but I don’t hate you, sis.”
“I don’t either.” Sonata came out of the darkness, carrying three sodas for them. She had her P-90 slung around her shoulder. “And I’m sorry I took it out on you, sis. It wasn’t fair of me.”
Aria took the soda gratefully but said nothing. This was for her sisters to sort out.
Adagio took it as well. “No, you were right. I should listen to my sisters, not because we’re on the same team, but because I love you both.”
Aria punched her sister gently on the shoulder and leaned in, while Sonata merely grinned…
…right up until the clatter on the roof. Training took over and the three immediately drew their guns. “Who goes there?” Adagio challenged.
“None of your fucking business, Seaman,” an all-too-familiar voice said as three figures dressed in black alit on the ground. To Adagio’s shock, Contralto was now wearing the rank of a petty officer, second class. A second later, she noted that the other two had also been promoted and now outranked her – and that Canzione carried a package over her shoulder that was the rough dimensions of a person.
“It’s my duty as a guard, so identify yourself,” Adagio said to Contralto, knowing full well, who she was. “Besides, you’re out of uniform and nobody’s allowed off the base after lights out.”
“Well, for starters, I don’t have to answer to you, Seaman Dazzle, I’m a petty officer now and I’m returning from a mission authorized by the Skipper herself. So get the hell out of my way, or I’ll have your ass cycled – I can do that now, you know.”
“What’s your authorization code?” Aria challenged. “If you have orders, you have a code.”
“None of your fucking business, Blaze,” Medley answered, her hand going to her sidearm. “Now you three stand down and go play three little guards. The big girls have business to do.”
Instead, Sonata pointed her weapon right at the three. “You will give your code, understood?”
“Ladies, stand down.” Cantata walked into the light, and all three immediately snapped to attention. Had they been in uniform, they would have saluted, but as part of the subterfuge, salutes were belayed on the premises. “They don’t have a code because I authorized the mission myself, Seaman Dazzle. There wasn’t time to have it entered in the POD, so I came out here to give it to you myself.”
Adagio lowered her gun. “Understood, ma’am.”
Looking at Contralto, she said, “From now on, your authorization code is Rhombus Delta Seven. It will be a permanent mission code, with no expiry.” Turning back to Seaman Dazzle, she said, “Enter it in the duty log for further reference.”
“Aye aye, ma’am.”
Returning her attention to Contralto and company, she said, “Okay, let’s get going. We’re well overdue and we have to get some other things out of the way.”
Contralto grinned. “Roger that, Skipper.”
Aria asked, “But what about their cargo?”
Cantata looked at them. “I’ll clear it; I asked them to pick it up. It’s a ballistic dummy that the teams will be using to practice assassination shots from a distance.”
For some reason, Aria didn’t believe that, but she wasn’t about to argue with her commanding officer. “Understood, Captain.” With that, she watched as the four of them walked off, with Medley turning to Aria long enough to flip her off.
“Classy,” Sonata replied.
“Okay, let’s get back to work, forget about them,” Adagio told them both. “We still have close to an hour until we’re relieved, so let’s make the most of it.”
Sunset woke up. She’d had that strange dream again, when dozens of people she knew asked her the same question: if she would die for them, and then finally herself, asking the same thing.
Or maybe it’s my counterpart here on this world? Sunset mused for a second then dismissed it. At this point, the girl had to be dead; after all, she’d spent time whenever she could trying to research her existence, and she’d never found anything to indicate she’d moved or anything of the sort. Of course, she also hadn’t trolled the local cemeteries for proof, either.
Either way, it was moot, now. The ex-unicorn had an existence here, had a family she loved and who loved her, friends who thought the world of her and she’d salvaged her reputation. That was more than enough. She was, as far as everyone was concerned, the only Sunset Shimmer they needed to worry about, and that was fine by her.
Sitting up, she noted that the clock once again read three in the morning. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was something else, but right now, there were other things on her mind. Noticing that both Octavia and Twilight were still asleep, she cast the appropriate spells, lit the dragonfire candle, and then called another cellphone which only she knew the number to.
“Sunset?”
“Hi, Twi,” she said, sitting down on her desk chair.
“Hello yourself, but why did you call me at this hour?”
“Just felt like talking to someone and there’s only one pony I know who’s up at this time of night.”
“Yeah, okay, you got me. I was just up researching study methods for Rainbow Dash.”
“Rainbow? She doesn’t seem like the studying type, to be honest.”
“Well, she has the written portion of the Wonderbolts test coming up, and she really wants to excel at it, so she’s asked us all for help.” Sunset heard her friend sigh on the other line. “It’s gone as well as you can imagine. She wasn’t worried at first, but once I got across to her that she was going to fail if she didn’t focus, I think she got the point. But after Fluttershy’s attempt at teaching her via historical play and it not sinking in, well…I think Rainbow’s worried now.”
“Well, I’m sure the other girls have ideas, right? Although I’m wondering if Razz’ idea involves unintended brainwashing….” Sunset commented.
“Oh, Razz isn’t in town right now. She’s actually in the Empire, researching Sombra’s mirror. Cadance let her have full access to Sombra’s old records, so we’re trying to track if he found ways to other mirrors in your world.”
“That’s…a pretty terrifying concept, especially given the way the mirror doesn’t exactly have the firmest grasp on spacetime.” She imagined Sombra marching over into Equestria carrying a modern-day thermonuclear weapon and just the thought made her wince.
“I know. While I was there I read a book on Earth weapons, and frankly, you guys are way ahead of us; if it wasn’t for magic, any hypothetical invasion by humans could’ve gone badly.” A second later, Twilight realized who she was talking to and she added a hasty, “Um, no offense, Sunny.”
“None taken,” Sunset commented. “Seriously, though, humanity has a lot of regret built up in those weapons. Many, like nukes, were intended to save lives by preventing a huge war from spiraling out of control. But now, everyone has them, including people who wouldn’t use them for honest purposes.”
“That’s worrisome.”
“No more worrisome than the any of the superweapons in Equestria. The Elements, though with different effects, were one. And then there’s the Celestial Spheres—”
“You know about the Spheres?” Twilight gasped.
“Uh, yes, I was Celestia’s student too, you know,” Sunset reminded the alicorn.
“Sorry, forgot. She’s never forgiven herself for creating them, ever since the side effect caused the creation of the Celestial Ursas.” Twilight sighed again and said, “So you have a point – we have weapons we regret creating as well. But how do you know the bad guys won’t use them?”
“Same way you know the Celestial Spheres won’t be misused: they’re under lock and key for the most part and mostly in the hands of the world’s most trustworthy people. On Earth, since the knowledge of creating them is pretty much public – another well-intentioned incident that went wrong – we have to worry about terrorists creating them. But I guess in Equestria, you have to worry about some madpony creating similar weapons, or maybe a tribalist sneaking into the vault or—”
“Look, could we talk about something else? You’ve got me a little worried right now.”
“You and me both, Twilight.” She then explained what was going on, from the disappearance of the triplets to the apparent serial killer in town. On the other end, the alicorn listened eagerly and after a few minutes, Sunset could hear the scratching of something as Twilight was hastily jotting down notes.
“On one hoof, this cultural observation into your world is fascinating, Sunny, but at the same time…you know if the Princess finds out about this, she’s going to insist you return to Equestria. You are practically her daughter, after all.”
“Yes, but I’m a grown mare, at least in terms of being a pony, and sometimes you have to let your foals go their own way. I know the Princess worries about and loves me and I love her for that. But I am my own woman now – my own mare, too – and I have my life to lead, whether it’s here or there. And she knows I really wouldn’t be happy there. This is where I belong.”
Sunset could practically hear the smile on her friend’s face. “Definitely spoken like the foster daughter of Princess Celestia. She’d be proud of you, you know. I know I am.”
The ex-unicorn blushed. “Thanks, Twi.”
As the two talked on various things, eventually Twilight had to break the call as the sun began rising over the horizon; Sunset looked out her window and noted the night was slowly giving away to day. After saying good night, Sunset hung up the call, put out the candle, then crawled back into bed.
A second later, Octavia sat up, puzzled. I could’ve sworn Sunny was on the phone a second ago, but…why did she say she was talking to Twily? She’s right here in-between both of us. Curious….
Her long red and purple hair flying everywhere, Ruby Tuesday, sans clothing, struggled against her bonds like her life depended on it. “LET ME GO!” Ruby screamed, pushing and pulling as much as she could, but to no avail.
“Wow, she’s what,” Medley said, looking at Ruby’s driver’s license, “twenty-one and she’s got a body like a thirteen year old. Sad.” Medley then pulled up her CADPAT blouse and undershirt, taunting, “Hey, in case you’re wondering, these are what real tits look like!”
Canzione thumped her teammate on her head. “Stay classy, Med.”
“Not my fault that the grown-up little girl is underendowed, Canzy,” Medley said with a shrug.
Contralto looked at the woman on the table, then back at her friends. “Okay, you two lesbos don’t get squirrley, okay? We got a job to do.” She looked back at the woman, then muttered, “I just wish I knew what that was.”
Medley leaned forward, her chest still on display. “Hey, want me to rub these on you so you can know what they feel like?”
Contralto facepalmed. “Med, get back into uniform.”
“Aye aye, Alto!” Medley pulled her tops down and tucked her undershirt back in.
“My, my,” a voice said from nowhere. “You have an interesting body, Seaman Trance. Too bad the same can’t be said about your victim.”
The three jumped as one at the sound of the voice, revealed to be Divine Right and Cantata Blast, both wearing ornate silk robes with silvery sigils embroidered onto them.
“Wow, dig the duds,” Medley said, then sidled up to Divine Right. “You can see my body anytime…can I see yours?”
“Down, Seaman,” Cantata barked, and Medley immediately fell back into formation. “Now, do you know why you’re here?”
“So Medley can make an ass of herself hitting on your boyfriend, Captain?” Canzione offered.
“Not exactly,” Cantata smirked. “However, you’re going to kill that girl and drain her blood.” Ruby, overhearing that, started screaming again; however, Divine raised his hand and a yellow glow enveloped it. A second later, Ruby Tuesday thrashed even harder, utterly consumed by the panic that she’d lost her one major chance to summon help.
“I think I’ve had more than enough of that,” Divine told them.
“Wow, he’s a magician,” Medley commented. “Can your next trick be me?”
“Seaman Trance, enough already,” Contralto chided.
“Yes, Petty Officer,” she sighed, her entertainment now done.
“You were saying, sir?” Canzione spoke up.
“As you can see, I injured myself performing a magical ritual needed to…succeed in our future endeavors. As we are on a timetable, I asked Captain Blast here for her three best SIRENs – utterly ruthless and willing to do whatever is needed.”
“That would be us, sir,” Contralto said. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Easy: I give you a list of people to capture, and you stab them with this sword—” he then held up the Blade of Balance, “—and the blood, if the girl is pure, will drain into the cask,” he added, pointing at the Cask of the Damned. “If she is not, then her blood will turn into an acid and scorch everything around.”
“That’s not good; that might ruin my perfect looks!” Medley mourned.
“Can’t be any worse; your brain’s already mush, Med,” Canzione commented, to which Medley stuck her tongue out at her teammate.
“Ah, don’t worry, I have a serum here that will take care of that.” He reached into a pocket in a robe, producing a half-liter bottle containing a fluid as black and viscous as oil, save for the throbbing pulse of green that occasionally permeated its depths. “This, once you three drink it, will give you undreamed of powers, and unending strength. It will, of course, also protect you from any failed spells. You three will be invincible.”
“It looks like it’s alive,” Canzione observed.
“That’s what magic is about, my dear,” he told her, a wide smile on his face. “It doesn’t follow the normal rules.”
“Sure, what the hell, I’ll be first – no one lives forever, anyway,” Conralto said, taking the bottle from his hand, ripping the stopper off, and taking a swig from the bottle. Handing the bottle back to him, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said, “Eh, it’s okay, but I could use a shot o—” She never finished the sentence as her eyes widened, and she collapsed to her knees as she started gagging, her pupils constricting as a look of terror came onto her face.
“Alto!” Medley shouted in worry, rushing to her friend’s side.
Canzione’s own eyes narrowed as she raised a fist in anger. Turning to Divine, she snarled, “I’m gonna—”
“Seaman Burst, stand down,” Cantata ordered. “As for you, Seaman Trance, I strongly suggest you step away from Petty Officer Rush now.”
“But Captain, Alt—fuck!” The SIREN hopped away from her friend, and with good timing too, as the sharp spines erupted from her back. Her muscle mass exploded exponentially, practically ripping off all her clothes as if she were a discount She-Hulk. Her skin turned to piscine-like scales, shaded red. Her eyes turned into that of a reptile’s, and her fingernails became claws. She reared back her head, and the roar that bellowed from it was completely inhuman.
Divine looked bored.
Cantata’s mind weighed the advantages of this new supersoldier.
Medley looked at her friend with worry, and though she was still stone-faced, the slight bead of sweat that rolled down Canzione’s face indicated that she too, was worried.
The roar turned into laughter, and with a speed and grace that no human could ever have, the nearly-nude creature leapt to her feet. “Oh, my God this is better than sex!” she cooed. “Though…my clothing…. It’s going to be awkward running around naked.”
Medley eyed her friend’s new body. “Oh, I don’t mind the view, Alto.”
“Must your first thought always be sex, Med?”
“Hey, I’m the specialist at seduction missions, so I must always be prepared,” Medley replied, matter-of-factly. “If it wasn’t for the fact that you and Canzy are like my sisters, I’d do you both.”
“I did not need to know that.”
Ignoring her teammate, Canzione asked, “Does it hurt?”
Divine looked at her. “A little bit of pain, and then awesome power will be yours.”
Medley looked at Contralto’s body. “Yeah, that’s probably fun and all, but I can’t do my job if I look like a teenage fish instead of this sexy body!”
“Petty Officer Rush,” Cantata ordered, “focus on returning to normal.”
On cue, Contralto closed her eyes, let her breath become steady, and thought of herself as she normally looked. She felt her body burn and twist, and as it did, she felt the shift in her body mass as she returned to normal and felt slightly weaker as her muscle shrank to their original proportions. Claws retracted, spines shrank into the skin and scales returned to flesh, and when the feeling went away, she opened her eyes, holding her hand in front of her face, which was back to normal.
“Looking good!” Medley said with a grin.
“Feeling great,” she said, though now conscious of her nudity, which Divine solved by removing his robe and handing it to her, much to Contralto’s gratitude. “What was that?”
“The first of something to come,” he told her. “And you are now the first in history – the first to be a supersoldier, a weapon to be used against your enemies. But to create more, I need your help…and it starts by killing that girl over there.” Reaching for a scabbard to his side, he pulled out a silver longknife that looked warped, weathered and somehow diseased. “Are you ready?”
Contralto took the blade, looked at the still struggling girl, who was horrified to realize what she’d seen and that she hadn’t been forgotten. Looking down at the blade, she asked Divine, “So, what next, sir?”
Octavia woke up after having a vivid dream of herself lost in a black glass maze, while in the distance, she could see Sunset and Twilight walking away from her as if she didn’t exist. In her dream, she’d screamed to no avail, but what had woken her up was when she felt the tap on her shoulder and when she’d turned to look—
She shuddered. I don’t ever want to see that again, she thought. At that moment, she swore she heard the strains from the classical song “Commendatore” fill her mind. She didn’t know why, but she felt something go very, very wrong.
“Hey, you okay?” Octavia turned in Sunset’s direction, only to see a vile demon and—
“Tavi, wake up!” She felt herself shaking and waking up, she saw Sunset over her, concern radiating from her cyan eyes. It was just a dream, Octavia mused, just a dream.
As she sat up, Sunset looked at her. “Hey, you okay?” she asked.
“No, I had a nightmare,” the raven-haired musician told her cousin, “and I really don’t want to talk about it right now. Where’s Twily?”
“Went downstairs to get you some water just in case,” Sunset replied. “You sure you’re going to be fine?”
“Yeah,” she said, hugging Sunset. “I’ll be fine.”
—In her mind a demonic voice sang and the strains of “Commendatore” roared along with the barks of black laughter and the screams of the damned—
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Octavia said as she released the hug.
Shining woke up to see his fiancée almost dressed and out the door. She was slipping on her Heart of the Siren, more because it went with her outfit than anything else. “Oh, you’re up,” she said with a smile.
“Yeah. The boss insisted that I take a day off, since I’ve been working non-stop. I really don’t like the idea, but I’m not about to turn down sleeping in.”
She walked over to the bed and sat by him. “You need it, love; you look exhausted. I’ve always known you to go the extra mile and your bosses know that as well. But it’s not going to do you any good to hospitalize yourself. You’re only twenty-six – you need to take care of that body, so that I can take care of your body later,” she said with a soft smile.
“I still want you to take the gun with you in case something happens, okay?” Shining insisted, reluctantly ignoring his teasing.
“You know the rules: We’re not authorized to carry them into the building and I don’t feel safe about leaving it in my car. Plus, if the intelligence is right, they’re only after virgins,” she cooed, caressing his cheek.
“Yes, and a girl who wasn’t was found dead yesterday,” Shining reminded her. “There’s nothing that says they know the difference between who is, and who isn’t.”
She looked right at him. “Sweetheart, I’m not going to live my life as if I could be a target at any minute. I mean, c’mon, I already have one death threat stemming from that case I handled six months ago.”
“Yeah, from a guy behind bars that can’t do anything but bluster. This is a little more serious.”
“Yes, and I have every confidence you’ll stop him. So get some sleep and plan where we’re having dinner tonight. Oh, and dress up – we should go out and relax tonight. I have a bad feeling it’s going to be a very rough day for those of us at the office.”
“Sure,” he said, leaning back in the bed, while she stood up and, double-checking her clothing in the vanity mirror, headed out of the bedroom. A few minutes later, Shining barely heard the front door to their apartment close.
But it was the phone that woke him up. Hand scrabbling back and forth for the phone, he finally slapped his hand on it, grabbed, and pulled to his head. “Yeah, ‘ts Armor,” he slurred into the phone.
“Rise and shine,” he heard Sandalwood’s voice over the line, but there was neither the usual mock-flirting she did, nor the typical weary military vet in her voice. If anything, she sounded angry.
“Sandy?” he voiced. “What’s up?”
“Do you have time to have breakfast? It’s on me.” Shining sat up at that; Sandalwood was not only notoriously anti-morning, but wanted company? She was Cadance’s best friend, but had gravitated over more to him over the years due to the similarities of his job.
“What’s wrong?”
“I…I fucked up, Shiny. I fucked up, and it’s going to cost a girl her life.”
He was out of bed in an instant. “I’ll meet you at the IHOP just off I-5, okay?”
“The one on 16th and Westland?”
“Yeah. Be careful.”
“Hey, did you hear? Black Team’s moving out!”
Aria and Sonata were in the underground firing range that had been planned to be a locker room once. It was well shielded and whoever did the work got it set correctly, as if it were magic. Aria was currently on the range, but practicing with her trusty bow and arrow instead of her guns. Mainly it was to work stress off, but still, it was important – they sure as hell couldn’t do anything else, as with the exception of supply runs and long patrols, they were confined to base.
“Sis, I don’t care what those three assholes do,” Aria said, nocking her bow, drawing, then letting the shaft fly. It bulleted forward, the shaft rotating in tight, undulating circles, until it met its mark – the bullseye on the head, right between the eyes. She reached over to her quiver, grabbed another arrow, and readied to do the same.
“I don’t trust them,” Sonata said, matter-of-factly.
“Neither do I – that’s why I don’t care about them,” Aria told her. “Besides, if you want to fill your free time with gossip just because we have nothing left in our lives, then that’s up to you. As for me, I’m going to keep going to master my weapons until I am perfect at them.”
“Is that all you want to do with your life?” Sonata asked her.
“It’s all that I can do with my existence.” Aria turned to look at her sister, and the look on her eyes was somewhere between anger, sorrow and stoicism. “My life ended the day I made that mistake that we’re still paying for.” She set down the bow and arrow, moved away from her station, crawling under the counter and walking towards the bullseye to collect her arrows.
Sonata, not sure of what else to say, left her sister to her own devices. When Aria was in a funk, she preferred to work things out by herself, as having others around made it worse. Strangely enough, there were two exceptions to that rule, and the two exceptions they would probably never see again: Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“You did your best,” a voice said, as Sonata felt a hand patting her on the shoulder. She turned to see Aria’s sœur, Vesper.
“Lieutenant,” Sonata began, “I—”
“We’re not on duty right now, Soni,” Vesper reminded her kindly, “so you don’t have to call me by rank. And besides, I know how you feel right now: you want to do everything for your sister and you feel helpless that the one thing you can’t do is rewind the clock.” Vesper sighed. “Mezzo, Maddie and I talked – we should have never let you decide to come with us. You three don’t belong here.”
“Vesper, I—”
“You girls are strong, probably the best I’ve ever seen from those your age. But you don’t have the heart to be killers. It was why you three weren’t selected for the Black Team and why your team’s specialty is infiltration and collection. You’re thieves, not murderers.”
“Gee, that makes me feel much better,” Sonata drolled.
“Thieves in the military sense: you sneak into places and grab intelligence and other things. I’m not accusing you of anything.” But Vesper released the smile from her face and asked, “If you were ordered to, could you kill Maddie?”
“No! Are you shitting me? Hell no!”
“What about your friends? Sunset, or Pinkie, or—” The firm shake of her head was an answer of her own. “Then you know it yourself: you’re not meant to be soldiers, Sonata. As rude as it seems to say, having you three brought into the SIREN program was probably one of the biggest mistakes the Admiral made.”
“We’d have died otherwise.”
“No, likely you would have been left at the orphanage in Vancouver until you three were adopted. Maybe you three would be attending high school in West Bay, living normal lives with your adopted parents. You can never know the future.”
“So, Black Team moved out today,” one of the senior seamen told Adagio. Both of them were looking at intelligence reports, and looking over immediate plans on how they would be able to storm CSIS headquarters, take out all the targets and deal with security on-site, the addition of the Toronto PD and likely reinforcements from the RCMP, and ultimately elements of other CANSOF teams like IRTF, ARROWHEAD and possibly even the regular army. So far, it was looking feasible, but most of their forces wouldn’t survive the assault. The plan was to maximize survival while removing the worst of elements, including CSIS Director Golden Rule and CSIS Assistant Director Maj. General Horizon Brave, the military’s liaison to CSIS and in the wake of the death of Vice Adm. Poutine, RCN, likely now the head of the SIREN project.
“Oh? What, did their panties get too big for us peons?” another SIREN asked.
“Yeah. Heard the Old Man’s got some special missions she has them running, so they’re on a moment’s notice. They’ve moved into a special room in the main building and they’re getting treated like rock stars!”
A third SIREN spoke up. “Their lieutenant isn’t going to like that. I heard she’s a real hardass when it comes to that sort of thing.”
“Doesn’t matter; Overheard Chief Comet tell Petty Officer Stars that Lt. Rise has been missing for a couple of days. Probably Seaman Rush – excuse me, Petty Officer Rush – probably killed her and dumped the body or some shit.”
“I doubt that. She probably went AWOL. You notice that Delta Company moved out a couple of days ago? They probably went after her.”
“No way!” the first one spoke up. “I heard that Delta Company’s been tasked with building a bolthole for us in the local forest, in case something goes wrong. And believe me, it’s gonna. Sooner or later the American military’s going to find out we’re here, and they’re coming after us.”
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” the third one replied. “American military can’t operate in the US, it’s one of their laws – saw it on TV once.”
“Yes, because television is the gold standard of truthfulness and authenticity.”
“Well, we have an expert here,” the second one said, turning to Adagio. “Hey, Dazzle, you’ve been assigned to deep cover here for a while. What do you know?”
Adagio put down the report she was looking at, trying to hide the disgust she felt; she felt as though she was being asked to give away secrets regarding her home. Sure, she wasn’t American and technically was an illegal alien, but…Canterlot was her home now, not CFB Cold Lake; and she didn’t like giving up information easily. “Two things,” she said. “One, the military can be deployed in the US; each state has units called the National Guard and Air National Guard, which can be deployed at a moment’s notice and be temporarily federalized into the American army and air force.”
“Oooh, listen to you, all American now!” the first girl teased. “Maybe you should try applying for the SEALs?” The other two SIRENs giggled.
“Second, unless you want major casualties when we hit CSIS HQ, maybe – just maybe – you should focus less on what those assholes in Black Team are doing and more on how we’re going to take and hold Station Blvd. and everything within a 200 meter radius without half the Sisterhood dying!” The other SIRENs, chastised, turned away from their gossip and went back to work, leaving Adagio alone.
Sisterhood or not…I’m really getting to hate this place.
Shining arrived at the restaurant to see Sandalwood sitting at a lonely table, and he could practically feel the sorrow and rage radiating from her on the other side of the building.
“Welcome to IHOP!” The greeter at the door told him, a cheerful smile on her face. “How many people for your table, sir?”
“Actually, joining a friend,” he said, pointing at her.
“Oh,” the woman said with a drawl that indicated that something was seriously amiss. “Look, I don’t know what is wrong, but seriously, try to cheer up your girlfriend there,” she advised him. “She’s been growling at the staff since she got here.”
Shining did a double take. “Um, we’re…FBI agents, not lovers,” Shining clarified.
“Yeah, that’s what they all say. Now talk to her, and I’ll bring the menus in a bit.” She patted him on the shoulder and beat a hasty retreat back to the cash register.
Shining sat down and instantly noticed that Sandalwood was both angry and crying. “Hey, I’m here.” Sandalwood muttered something incomprehensible and Shining asked, “Want to repeat that?”
She looked up at him and her eyes were haunted. “I said that my neighbor is missing, and I got there just in time to find the fucking card, Shiny! They’re probably going to find her body in a few hours, and it’s my Goddamn fault!”
Shining didn’t know what to say. What could he say? “Sandy….”
“No. Do not comment whatever fucking platitudes you’re going to say to me. I promised myself that I would look after Ruby and her boyfriend, because they’re Minty’s age, and now she’s fucking DEAD BECAUSE OF ME!” Sandalwood’s shout caught the attention of everyone in the restaurant, and not a single person paused to do anything else than that.
Shining pulled out his badge. “FBI issue, please go about your business,” he said in his “police voice”, and as the rest of the restaurant patrons turned back to their meal, he pocketed his credentials again.
She demurred. “Sorry. I’ve had about half a pot of coffee before I got here and I’ve already been through a full carafe.”
“Is that even healthy?” Shining asked, just as the waitress brought them their menus.
“You weren’t kidding about the cop thing, were you?” the waitress said, horrified. In response, Sandalwood pulled out her own badge, and the waitress gasped. “Whatever you two want, it’s on the house,” she murmured in barely-present comprehension, walking away.
“Hey, maybe I can get those chocolate chip pancakes with the smiley face and a billion calories. For once I can say ‘fuck you!’ to the world,” she said with a humorless smile.
“Sandy, talk to me.”
“No, you’re the last person I wanted to talk to, but the person I wanted closest. But it’s never going to work.” She leaned back in her chair.
“What’s no—”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” she growled. “Please, Shiny…just sit there, don’t say a word and keep me company right now, okay?” She looked at him and for once in his life, he saw a girl more fragile than at any time he’d ever seen her before. “Right now, I don’t want anyone around but you, Shining Armor. Not even Cadance.”
“Fine, but we’re going to talk later, okay, Sandy?”
“I’ve always been available for you, Shiny. Always.”
Gathering in the conference room at work, Velvet asked her secretary to get the large screen ready. She and the rest of the staff at ECDSS were ready to watch a televised news conference that would probably change their lives forever. In the corner of the screen, just off to the side of the podium, she could see several members of the DA’s office, including her future daughter-in-law.
“Well, Director,” a woman said to Velvet as she sat down next to her. Velvet recognized her: Mercury Mail. She was one of the senior aides for the County Board of Supervisors. “Do you have a plan to deal with this?”
“I have to discuss it with Dr. Venerable as soon as he arrives,” Velvet told her.
“I’m afraid not.” Mercury dropped an envelope on the desk. “Dr. Venerable resigned as of last night, effective immediately. Apparently the stress of losing his granddaughter was too much for him, and he had a heart attack this morning. He asked this be given to you; it’s a copy of his resignation letter. The Board met last night and I don’t need to tell you that you have been appointed acting director until further notice, Dr. Velvet – the appointment documents have also been placed in the envelope as well.”
“I….” Velvet was stunned. One of Ven’s grandchildren was a victim? “I….”
“I know, you’re not prepared for this. None of us are, and how could we be?” Mercury rose from her seat. “If it’s any consolation, Doctor, I know you’ll do a good job. You actually care about what you do in office, and let me tell you, that’s all too rare in this day and age. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my office before the storm starts.”
“I see,” Velvet said, looking at the envelope as if it was a live snake. She considered getting one of the senior staffers in the room to call for an emergency meeting, but the sound started to come onto the screen, and Canterlot’s vice mayor – I wish I could remember what that jackass’ name was. I always met with Mare; at least she gave a shit about the kids in the orphanage – stood in front of the podium.
“At this time, it is my sad duty to inform you all that we have a growing crisis on our hands. A few days ago, you were informed about the brutal and senseless but unrelated murders of Mayor Mare’s husband and daughter. What you were not told is how her daughter was killed, and today I’m here, on behalf of the City, County and Federal law enforcement agencies, to give out details of what happened to Liza Doolots – because we now have three girls that are dead just like her, and it is my reluctant duty to inform you all that the Canterlot Metropolitan Area may be under the attack of a serial killer.”
Everyone in the room gasped, save for Velvet, who had already been informed of it and was now having to deal with the weight of being in charge of the hundreds of young lives who were now potential targets. One of the negatives of Equestria County was that it had one of the largest social services systems in the state; only Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange, and San Diego counties had bigger. She’d regularly read the names of those under her care, and though she wanted a large family and had thankfully already drawn from the system once, she couldn’t give them all a home, as much as she wished. Now, she had to protect them from this, in addition to everything else.
Cornflower gasped in shock at what she was hearing. She grew up in this city and now it was turning into the playpen of a madman?
“Ma, is it true?” she heard a voice say behind her and she looked to see Apple Bloom watching, her attention rapt.
“Applejack,” she said to her daughter, who was busy stocking shelves, “turn off the TV.”
“Ma, Ah don’t thi—”
“DO IT!” Cornflower roared, holding on to the table she stood at both so she wouldn’t fall and so she wouldn’t take any more of her anger and fear out on her older daughter.
“Ma….” Apple Bloom replied, not sure how to react while her mother was in such a state.
Nor did she know how when her mother grabbed her, held her tight and sobbed, “He’s not going to get you. I’m not going to let either of you go.”
“I did not raise my girls so that some fucktard thinks he can chop them up,” Firefly seethed as she watched the video, her muscles tensing.
Scootaloo watched her mother’s reaction to the news coming onscreen. “Rainbow?” she asked her older sister.
“We’ll be fine,” Rainbow assured her. Pointing to their mother, she added, “If anything, any killer coming after us has to worry about her.”
As part of the reporters in the audience, Cookie Crumbles felt faint. Her daughters were home right now, by themselves. Were they safe? Was she risking their lives by being here? And even if she was here, her husband was on the road right now, covering some surfing event in Honolulu for ESPN. Would he come back to his daughters in caskets, and Cookie herself broken?
You’re a reporter, Cookie. Cover the story – you can save your daughters; your weapon is the truth. Continuing to jot down notes as the vice mayor spoke, Cookie swore that she would do everything she could as a journalist to cover this story. The dead had the right to be defended by the truth and while the lawyers and cops would eventually catch him, they needed help. That, she knew in her heart, was what the press was for.
Discord carried Fluttershy back to her room; after watching part of the report, she fainted, and he couldn’t blame her – his family knew one of the victims personally. Placing her on the bed, he took off her shoes, placed the cover on her and kissed her on the cheek. “No one’s going to harm my little girl,” he promised.
The TV still blaring, he walked to the window of the penthouse they were renting. In the distance, he could see the southern end of the city, and possibly out there somewhere was the person or persons responsible for doing this. He was a musician and a celebrity; there wasn’t much he could do to help, but someone had to record the aftermath of it all, to place it in history’s firmament, mourn the dead, honor the heroes and condemn the wicked forever.
“You may have left us naked for a moment, whoever you are,” Discord growled at the murderer somewhere out there, “but I will leave you naked for all of eternity.”
“Your sister is never going to let us hear the end of this,” Carrot Cake said as he turned off the TV. “She barely agreed back in December to letting Pinkie stay. Now, we have a serial killer, it’s the summer and there’s nothing stopping her from insisting Pinkie move back.”
“There’s us, dear,” Cup replied. “This is Pinkie’s home and we are her family. My sister doesn’t see it the same way we do. She might be safe there from serial killers, but what about tornadoes and other things? Life is risk. Pinkie has been living with risk since she was born, and to stop her now would break her.
“No, my sister doesn’t get what she wants,” Cup told her husband, “and if it gets to that point, I’ll fight Quartzie in court all the way.”
Watching in the conference room in the Greater Equestria Unified School District’s headquarters building, both Celestia and Luna had scowls on their faces. These were their students; in a way, their own children. They looked at all the other principals and vice principals present, and all had the same look of elemental rage on them. As a courtesy, their equivalents at the private schools had been invited and their faces all read fury; had the situation not been so horrific, the look of righteous anger present on Sister Bellflower, the principal of Holy Cross, would have been one to laugh.
As the conference ended, no one said anything. Then Sombra spoke up: “Give me five minutes with that asshole and I’ll show you what a Marine does to motherfuckers like him.”
“Amen to that,” Sister Bellflower intoned grimly.
Watching the television at The Merrie Wytch, tears streamed down Harmonic’s eyes as she knew what was coming. Somehow, her instincts told her, it would be worse. She’d lived through that hell the last time, and now someone wanted to open Pandora’s box once more…and hope, as always, would be loosed long after the horrors were.
Moving away from the cash register, she said nothing but instead moved over to where Trixie and Lyra had also been watching. Then she hugged them both tight, wordlessly, the tears flowing unabashedly.
Goddess, these are my girls, she prayed. Don’t let them be harmed.
As they walked away from the office, Cadance and Hearts Aflutter ran into Shining’s friend Melati Jasmine. “Cadance, I don’t need to tell you this, but take care, okay? Shining’s a good guy and I’d hate to see him go Lethal Weapon because something happened to you.”
“Thanks, Mel,” Cadance replied. “This guy’s good as caught.”
“Yeah – this asshole just hit the sore spot of sore spots, and everyone with a badge in this town is going to be going cowboy until this guy’s caught. Forget about ‘Good cop, bad cop’. You’re about to see ‘Bad cop, worse cop’.”
As the special televised broadcast of the murders ended and the regular broadcasting began again, three girls in a home in San Palomino were utterly speechless. “Are we going to be okay?” Octavia asked.
“We’ll be fine, Tavi,” Sunset answered her. “We will be fine.”
“As long as we stay together. Safety’s in numbers; they’re probably looking at single targets, so as long as we go anywhere together, we should be okay.” Twilight then looked at Sunset. “I’m worried about you, however. You have to go from work to your car, as well as stop for gas and such.”
Sunset gave her sister an earnest smile. “Don’t worry – anyone tries to catch me? Hadōken, straight up their ass.”
“So you’re going to fireball them?” Octavia replied, trying not to laugh.
“Sunny, please, I’m being serious here,” Twilight huffed.
“So you don’t believe me?”
“Only place anyone can throw fireballs is a videogame.”
“Fine, don’t believe me then,” Sunset sighed. “But don’t worry about me. Dad insisted that I carry a key baton and a can of pepper spray. I don’t think it’ll help, personally, but I think I’ll be okay otherwise.”
“You sure?”
“Well, we can always go back to the explanation about magic missiles.”
“Fine, fine, I get it.” Twilight crossed her arms and pouted and there was something so innately cute about that that it caused Sunset to burst out in peals of laughter.
“It’s done,” Contralto said a few minutes later, walking into Divine’s office in her human form and wearing a t-shirt and shorts that he’d created for her before he departed. “Creepy as hell that that bucket that looks like bones sucked up all the blood like it was a vacuum, but I don’t know shit about magic and I don’t want to.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, setting down the book he read. “It’s not for you to know. Only certain people – those born in the magical bloodlines – can hope to wield even the least of cantrips, enchantments and glamories. But to be a master magus as myself, you have to be born from the greatest of them all—”
“Merlin?”
“Hah!” Divine laughed. “Merlin was powerful, yes, but he left no descendants, and there is no record of Morgause – his real apprentice, not Morgaine Le Fey, who is labelled as such in those stupid stories – having had any either. Trust me, I’ve checked; no descendants of Emeraude of France, of Abe no Seimei of Japan, Flamel of France, or any of the other greats in history. Only one – my father of fathers, Baldassare di Cavalcanti, the Great Mind of Italy – has survived, and has produced the prodigious mind that is me.”
“Don’t be so modest,” Contralto drawled.
“Modesty is for the weak – those with true strength know they have the right to shout it from the highest peaks, for who is there to stop them?” he asked. “So, is there anything you wish to report?”
“Yes, how long does this serum last?”
“We do not know as of yet; it is a first generation serum, after all. But don’t worry; we are working on creating enough for you and your teammates, and once the means of production is settled, then enough for all the SIRENs.” He leaned forward on the desk and looked at her, eye to eye. “I want you to win; your enemies are mine, and I will see to it that you have the means to avenge yourself against those who wronged you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Contralto said. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes.” He handed her a sheaf of paper. “Please drop off the body in accordance with what the instructions specify. If you wish, you may wait and see what the responses of the police are – and I guarantee there will be responses. Afterwards, check with your captain; she is currently working with your logistics personnel to create improved armaments for you. Once you have all the means worked out, report back to me and we’ll test it.”
“We’ll test it?”
“Would you rather be shot by your compatriots because they do not yet know what you’ve become, or would you rather test with someone who is aware – and has already seen you in the nude.” He shrugged. “You need fear nothing untowards from me; your captain and I are…involved…and I do not wish for a concubine.”
“Fine. You can look, but don’t touch the merchandise. I’ll be back later.”
“I look forward to it,” he said, nodding to her as she stood at attention and saluted, then departed his office. Feisty, that one, he mused as she closed the door. Were it not for my agreement with Cantata, perhaps she would have been a better target.
Giving it no more thought, he turned instead to the book that would be the centerpiece of everything, The Heptameron. It was of unknown age, but first mass published in either 1485 or 1520, depending on who you believed. It mattered little, because he had one of the very first copies, dating back to the middle-12th century. It had been a long, but worthwhile translation onto modern-made parchment and leather binding, and he had been very sorry to have had the antique bookbinder in Barcelona killed, but one did what one had to do.
Opening the page to where he was, he read through the transcribed Latin, thankful that his education as a boy provided him with the means to read the book: “And with this spell thus, thou shalt summon a demon of great power and terrible fury, one which in its own plane was ken as the Great Destroyer and tamed here in this celestial realm by the great Merlin and a sorcerer whose name hath been lost to time….”
A reality away, in the deepest recesses of an ancient crypt under the gleaming spire of the Crystal Empire, Raspberry Beryl groaned. “For fuck’s sake, did you ever write anything straightforward, you old idiot?” she groaned, looking at the documents of her great-great-great-great-great-(she stopped counting after that)-grandfather, Sombra, the Dark King. She’d been looking through his research collection and so far, she’d found two things: one, he was a master of circular writing, so much so that he could put modern poets to shame; and that she was getting very irritated by phrases like “…and thus that which is so and thus be which is known that which is to be….”, which his writing was littered with.
She felt the flash of light magic behind her; how could she not? It was her polar opposite in spellpower, after all. “I came looking for you when you missed breakfast,” Princess Cadance gently chided.
“Sorry, been trying to translate Sombra’s writing from Early Middle Stupid into Equish,” Raspberry groaned. “Seriously, I’m not ever letting Twilight look at these things, not because I’m afraid she’ll be corrupted by the contents, but because just trying to read them is going to give her conniption fits.”
“Well, from the records, Sombra was always a ‘wheels within wheels’ sort of stallion,” Cadance mused. “But you need to get out of this place.”
“Yeah, I know,” Raspberry nodded. “I probably could use some food and sleep, and plus Heelee’s probably looking for me, too.” She got off the chair and closed the book. “You know, though, I haven’t found anything that will help, either regarding his mirror, Platinum’s, or other mirrors. But there was one thing I did find, though that was curious.”
“What’s that?” Cadance asked as she teleported them from the room directly towards the dining room.
“There’s one book that Sombra has that I can’t make heads or tails of, and written in a language that I’m not familiar with. I’m wondering if it’s from the human plane.”
“I couldn’t answer that, but perhaps Twilight could?”
“It’s possible. I didn’t sense anything different about it, and it doesn’t seem…well, informed by dark magics or light, so it should be safe for her to look at. But if it’s from the human world….”
“It could be a problem?”
Raspberry shook her head. “From what Sunset told me, the human world is for all intents and purposes, magically dead. Either this book predates the loss of magic on…Earth? I think it’s called, or it was written by a human madstallion completely out of his mind.”
“How important is it? I can arrange for a courier to send it to Twily as soon as possible.”
“Did I hear about a courier?” Shining Armor then approached, dressed in his armor. “Working out with the troops. Some of them need some extra polish, but others look like they’re going to be good to go.”
Cadance gave him a mock-disapproving look. “Anything to get out of your princely duties, Shiny?”
The stallion rubbed the back of his head. “Well, yeah, you know I’m not as good at that stuff as you are. I’m a guardstallion, tried and true.”
“I bet the other Shining Armor knows how to do paperwork,” the alicorn teased and got a pout from her husband. Cadance laughed and said, “Oh, Shiny, you know you’re the only stallion for me.”
“I hope so; I don’t think I’d look good as a scrawny monkey like that,” he said, remembering the image the mirror had shown them. He then turned to Raspberry and asked, “You said you need a courier, Razz?”
“It might be important enough to justify,” the unicorn mage replied.
Shining mused on it for a second. “Well, Cataphract is heading back to Canterlot tonight for a couple of weeks of leave. If I contact him, he can get it to the palace, and Celestia should be able to get it to Twilight with no problem.”
“That sounds like a good idea. This….I’m not sure I’m even pronouncing this correctly…Heep-Tame-Ron? Ugh! I thought humans had the same languages we do!”
Sirens blared as cop cars roared down the street. The main road was regularly patrolled by the CPD, ECSD and CHP, and all three police agencies were now out in force, as if letting the serial killer know that there would be no more, that a line had been drawn in the sand, a thin blue line, and the hounds that watched that line had teeth.
None of it, however, mattered to True Thoughts. His girlfriend was missing, and if the news was true, she was likely dead. He tried to call her parents just a few minutes ago, but they were likely blissfully unaware, the news having not made it out to Wisconsin yet. He had no other way of contacting them, and so until he was able to get a hold of them, they would never know that Ruby was in danger, or worse.
He plopped on the couch, drinking straight from the bottle of Crown Royal. He didn’t care if he was sloshed. He didn’t care much about anything right now. Ruby would have gotten on his case about it, but that was exactly why he was drinking. Maybe if he got hammered enough, she’d come back to him and chew him out for getting pants-on-head plastered, but he welcomed that – anything to gaze into her tangelo-colored eyes once more.
He thought he heard a knock at the door, but he was too busy drinking to care. He then looked out the window and, fucked up as he was, thought he saw something right out of his nightmares: a woman with a face that reminded him of a fish, looking back at him with a smile filled with dagger-sharp teeth and eyes that looked like they belonged on a snake. He blinked and she was gone, and he cursed the drinking, throwing the bottle of Crown Royal against the wall, shattering it and spraying the precious brown liquid all over the place.
He mumbled something in an approximation of Ruby’s name. To a normal person, it would have sounded like random vowels and consonants blended together by a fine blend of ingredients that made up Canadian whisky. Tears streamed down his face. He loved and missed her, and without her, he had nothing left. They’d been together practically since the first day they met four years ago and nothing had torn them apart. Not his previous girlfriend, who had flown out from their hometown to try to woo him back and not her ex – he was a prick anyway, Ruby had admitted to him.
The knock came at the door again, and in an alcohol-fueled haze, he swore it was Ruby at the door, calling to him, beckoning to him to come and love her. He crawled, one movement at a time, towards the door. Forcing himself to his feet, he struggled, once, twice, to open the door, but finally he opened it.
“Ruby….” True breathed, almost approaching actual words. “You came back.”
And there she was, waiting for him, affixed to the door, looking as pale and beautiful as ever. Another person would have screamed in horror at the way she’d been crucified to the door, but not True. His love was back, and she’d come back for him. He removed the card from her mouth and kissed it, slurring that he loved her more than anything and would always be with her.
The corpse of Ruby Tuesday said nothing, remaining as still as it did from the moment she died.
Something in the back of his mind, however, knew what was going on, and kissed her again, looking at her beautiful nude form. She’d stayed in the peak of physical perfection, as much as anyone who wasn’t an athlete could, so she could always be perfect for him, she often said.
Forever.
Perfect.
I have to be that way for her too, the most reptile part of his mind said. If he was sober, he would have screamed and called the cops. But for now, all he could remember were the lyrics from his favorite song:
“Valentine is done,
Here but now they're gone
Romeo and Juliet
Are together in eternity (Romeo and Juliet)
40,000 men and women everyday (Like Romeo and Juliet)
40,000 men and women everyday (Redefine happiness)
Another 40,000 coming everyday (We can be like they are)
Come on baby, (Don't fear The Reaper)
Baby take my hand (Don't fear The Reaper)
We'll be able to fly (Don't fear The Reaper)
Baby I'm your man...”
He let go of her and climbed onto the bannister.
“I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid!” he cried.
The coroner would be there that afternoon…and they swore that True Thoughts had a smile on his face.