//------------------------------// // Ch. 35 - On the Hunt // Story: Equestria World, Book 1: Surviving Canterlot High // by Gear Works //------------------------------// I spent Sunday in Luna’s office as I was mediating with Miss Luna, Tree Hugger, Fluttershy, and Sunset. Tree Hugger decided to use whale sounds to mediate to while we all sat in Indian style with our eyes close. This let me to start falling asleep and almost hitting the floor. But someone else beat me to it with the floor, and she was right next to me. The big thump, following by an “Ouch” from Sunset was proof of that, which snapped me out of my daze, along with everyone else. “I knew this was going to put me to sleep,” said Sunset. “Same here. At least you beat me to it,” I said with a laugh. “But this is to help you to be one with your inner self,” Tree Hugger explained. “With whales? I don’t think so,” said Sunset. “Is that all you have?” “I think we have some other CDs for this,” Fluttershy said as she got up, stopped the CD playing, and went to her book bag. We all decided to get on our feet and see what she had. But somehow, my legs wouldn’t work with me, and Luna noticed it. “Looks like your legs went to sleep instead,” Luna said with a laugh. “Very funny,” I said. “And to think that Little Strongheart handled it well back then.” Luna grabbed my hand and helped pull me up off the floor. “I had to do the same in front of my master back then. I got used to it after a few sessions.” “I just don’t see how this would help him in learning the tenth art,” Sunset explained. “It’s about being what’s inside yourself, not outside,” Tree Hugger replied. “Sounds like your session’s going well.” We noticed Applejack at the office door with Rainbow Dash with her. Both of them had smirks on their faces. “I don’t see you in here with us,” Sunset said as she placed her hands on her hips. “What’s wrong Sunset, you plan to drop out?” Dash taunted her, which lead Sunset to respond with a stare. “Drop out?” Luna had something go through her mind and went straight to the cabinet drawers in her office. “Why didn’t I think of it sooner.” She opened the drawer and started going through some of the folders. “Dash, you still remember that friend of yours during your freshman year?” “You mean Gilda? Yea. She stopped showing up during the spring semester of our freshman year.” “Who’s Gilda?” I asked. Applejack responded, “An old friend of Dash’s. Well, she was a friend of hers.” “She was from Cloudsdale, but we never met until the 7th grade when she moved to Ponyville,” said Dash. “She was a nice girl, but she changed when we got here. Haven’t heard from her since she dropped out.” Luna found the file she was looking for and pulled it out. She looked at the paperwork and said, “Gilda Griffon. Grades started to show signs of failing late in the fall; started to miss classes early in the spring; and then dropped out. Nothing after that.” I asked Luna, “Who does she look like?” She handed me a head shot of her. Dark tan skin, short white hair, and it looks like she’s wearing what looks like a pilot’s jacket. The mean look on her face is a dead giveaway that she would be trouble. I handed the picture back to Luna. “You don’t think she’s the inside source we’ve been looking for, do you?” asked Dash. “It’s possible,” Luna replied. “And if she was from Cloudsdale, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lightning Dust knew her as well. It’s a guess, but it could be our best lead we have. I just hope her contact info is still the same.” Luna sat down next to her desk and picked up the phone. She dialed the first number, and then hanged up. She did the same process with the second number. “Both numbers are dead.” “Maybe she moved away at the time and never told anyone,” said Sunset. “If that was the case, I would have gotten a call from the new school she was attending asking for our records,” Luna explained. “So we’re back to square one,” I said. All of us looked down at the end result. That’s when someone out of nowhere showed up. “Hey guys, what’s shaking?” It was Pinkie Pie, carrying some goods with her. “Nothing, Pinkie. Just trying to get our heads out of the gutter,” Applejack replied. “Well, I have the perfect remedy. Tada!!!” Pinkie pulled out a plastic bag of cookies. Tree Hugger looked at them and said, “Are those…?” Pinkie replied, “Yep. Gingersnaps, your favorite.” “Pinkie, like, you are nature’s gift to us,” said Tree Hugger, causing Pinkie to display a smile from ear to ear. “I never tried gingersnaps,” said Sunset. “Same here,” I added. “Well, there’s more than enough for all of us.” Pinkie opened the plastic bag and said, “Take one.” We each took one and took a bite. It tasted great. The positive reaction from all of us was proof enough for Pinkie to know that we liked them. Pinkie placed the rest of the cookies on Luna’s desk. She saw the file folder on Gilda and her mood changed. “Gilda? Now there’s a party pooper if I ever knew one.” Dash explained. “We thought that she could have been the inside source, being from Cloudsdale and dropping out of school. Turns out that she no longer lives in her old home.” “Well dud! Of course she no longer lives there,” Pinkie said. “I saw her a couple of weeks ago while making a delivery for Mrs. Cake.” “You mean she still lives in Ponyville?” Luna asked Pinkie. “Well, I saw her while driving to make my delivery, which wasn’t far. I never spoke to her because she was hanging out with some weirdos.” Luna asked, “When and where?” Pinkie pulled out her cell and pulled up the map. “I saw her on the day before the dance with the group. And I still remember the place, since Mrs. Harshwhinny also likes to help out in that neighborhood. Here it is.” She pointed out the area on the map. “Isn’t that the affordable housing district?” asked Applejack. Pinkie nodded. “Can you explain what you mean by that?” I asked. “It was something that Mayor Mare put into place back then,” Luna explained. “Most families or residents of Ponyville that have hit on hard times are placed here when they have nowhere to go, if they qualify. Mrs. Harshwhinny has been a big support of the project and helps out when she can. The only problem they have over there is the crime activity that happens over there. Not a good place to be at on your own.” “Luckily, my Pinkie Sense lets me know if something bad was about to happen when I was there. Good thing it didn’t go off, which means it was safe for me to travel,” said Pinkie. “Then we might just have the lead we’ve been looking for,” I said. This displayed confused looks on my friend’s faces. “Something I picked up on back in Manehattan. If there’s crime in the area, there’s bound to be someone who would do something if the price was right.” “But how do we know if she still lives there?” asked Sunset. “I think we have a way,” Applejack responded. “Pinkie, I think it’s time for ‘Operation Bonbon’ again.” “Awesome!” Pinkie replied as she jumped in the air. “Operation Bonbon? Again?” Sunset had a concerned look on her face. “By any chance…” Before she could finish, Applejack said, “Yea, I know. This was done last time when you were the problem that we were dealing with.” Sunset sighed and said, “That’s OK, AJ. That was the old me back then. You girls had the right to do…whatever it was that you needed to do. But I was wondering what it means? Does it involve Sweetie Drops?” “Yep,” Pinkie replied. “And Lyra as well. They are the masters of stealth and recon.” “You didn’t get a chance to see them in action when we were breaking into Crystal Prep, since it wasn’t needed. But we had them in case,” said Dash. “And trust me, they were really helpful last time. No offense.” Sunset just waved it off. “We’ll call them up and have them check the area out and see if she’s there, just to be sure,” said Applejack. “If so, then have them bring Mrs. Harshwhinny as well,” Luna said. She pulled out a small piece of paper and wrote something on it before handing it to Applejack. “Here’s her number. Since she knows the area well, explain to her what’s going and see if she can help out the other two before you decide to move in. If Gilda is the one we’ve been looking for, then see to it that you bring her in. I want to talk to her about why she dropped out back then anyway.” “Will do,” Applejack responded. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash left the room to take care of business. That left us to deal with the music issue for our meditation session. Fluttershy went back to her book bag and looked over what they had. “Let’s see. I have signing birds, rainfall, ocean surf, tropical forest…” I sighed and said, “What I wouldn’t do to be on the rooftop of my home back in Manehattan.” Tree Hugger said, “Not to be rude, but all that negative noise disturbs my aura, you dig?” “Actually, it’s ambient noise that I hear in Manehattan. As long as you are at the right spot to hear it,” I said. “The sound of a motor engine, the untimed mixture of the sounds below…it’s that kind I like to hear whenever I needed to clear my head.” “What about…something from our hometown in Vanhoover?” Sunset asked. “Um, are both of you born in Vanhoover?” Fluttershy asked. Both of us replied, “Yes.” “We were a bit surprised to know that we were born and raised in the same city,” Sunset explained. “I’m not sure if we could have crossed paths back then.” Luna started to access her office computer to look something up. “Fluttershy, I might have an idea that could help with our sound problem. Have any of you played video games when you grew up? More likely role playing of adventure games?” “I played some old 16-bit emulated games on my computer back then,” I said. “My mother was able to get a used 16-bit system and some games that we both played on rainy days, but I haven’t touched it in years,” said Sunset. “I’m surprised that she still holds on to it.” “Maybe she hopes the two of you will play it again,” I explained. “The 8-bit and 16-bit eras were easier games to play, compared to the current games that are out.” “Well, I was a gamer during my younger years,” Luna explained. “I liked fantasy games a lot. But it wasn’t just for its storyline or game play, but it was also for its music. Fans were able to make remixes of popular tracks back then. I even have all three CD sets from Project Majestic Mix that were made by fans before the man in charge decided to retire to focus on personal issues. At least he was able to get other fan artists to get their works out there and made their own CDs. I remember some of those tracks that I have had a bit of the winter feel to the music, kind of like Vanhoover. Maybe that can help, if Tree Hugger doesn’t have a problem with them.” “As long as it doesn’t disturb my vibe, then I’m fine with that,” Tree Hugger replied. So we spent another hour of meditation with music that had more of a rhythm. It took a while for Tree Hugger to understand, but at least it wasn’t sounds that put you to sleep. I started to find the rhythm and beat of what I heard, just like back in Manehattan. But for some reason, I started to feel…I don’t know…in tune with myself. But our session was interrupted when Applejack came by the office again. We needed to report with the recon team. They found Gilda, but there are some questions about whom she’s with. I told Luna to e-mail the links to the music that I heard so I can try to do this again back home. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Sunset Shimmer rode with me in my truck as we made our way to the meet-up point. Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops, and Mrs. Harshwhinny met us at the place to discuss the situation. “We found Gilda, just like you told us,” said Sweetie Drops. “But she’s not alone.” She showed us a zoomed in video of the group on her cell. “Girls, that’s not just any group she’s with. That’s a gang,” said Mrs. Harshwhinny. “How do you know?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Because of this.” Lyra had her cell out and displayed a picture that looked familiar. “I had to get a good view of the patch that all of them have on their vests and jackets.” “I haven’t heard of any gang forming in the area, but they could have been staying under the radar. And I don’t even know what this gang is,” said Mrs. Harshwhinny. “I do.” Everyone looked at me as I was pulling out my cell and pulled up the same picture of the claw patch. “Night Glider gave me a heads up on a new gang that tried to show up in Manehattan. She said from her source that they came from here. They’re called the Talons. And if her info is also correct, the girl we’re looking for might be the leader of the gang.” “I don’t like the sounds of that, partner,” said Applejack. “I’m guessing that Night Glider was part of a gang back then.” “Yea,” I replied. “After what Coco and me did to them in the park, she decided to leave the gang and join us.” “You think she would know more about how we can handle this gang?” Mrs. Harshwhinny asked. “It’s worth a shot,” I said. “Hey. It’s better to be prepared than going in blind, right?” said Dash. So I decided to call Night Glider on my cell. “Hey, Night Glider here. What’s up?” “It’s Jack Diamond. Need your assistance on something.” “What you need?” “Remember the info you told me on the Talons? Spot on.” “You found them?” “Better. The insider that we’re looking for might also be the leader of the gang. We need to figure out how to handle the gang members.” I had to make sure she understands that there are others listening in. “I see. Let me get my ‘inside source’ to help.” She yelled away from her phone. “Hey Scar, got someone who needs help talking care of the Talons you told me about.” I said to my friends, “Oh this is going to be good.” A guy with a rough voice spoke. “I’m told that you found the Talons and need some help, right?” “Damn right I did.” “JACK!? What the…? Why didn’t you tell me it was him?” “Because I wanted to see the reaction on your face. It’s priceless,” Night Glider said as she laughed. “Damn it. You’re lucky to be a knight and not part of my gang,” replied Scar. “HEY! I though it was a night watch group?” I said. “It is, damn it,” replied Scar. “And why should I help you anyway, since what you did to my face.” “Oh, I can answer that,” said Night Glider. “They’ve been looking for someone who helped another school break in to their school, and it my be the leader of the Talons.” “You’re lucky that I’m doing this for you,” Scar said. “We have one main rule that I have to remind my members. Never do any damage or harm to any school. I’m sure you can understand why I have this rule.” “I can think of several reasons, but we can just leave it at that,” I said. “OK then. If you plan to face this gang head on, I need details. Member descriptions, area layout, whatever you can fill me in on,” Scar explained. “I’ll let my teammates fill you in,” I said. I looked to Mrs. Harshwhinny to start. “The area is an affordable housing district. Brick buildings with ten condos each, backs to each other.” “Almost sounds like where my grandmother lives on the outskirts of Manehattan. People who fall on hard times would be willing to join a gang just to get by. And each gang will have their own set of rules.” Scar said. “Scar cares about his grandma, so don’t let that be a sign of weakness,” Night Glider explained. “As long as he makes sure she fine, I don’t have a problem with it,” I said. “Thanks,” said Scar. “What about members?” “Seven guys and four girls, including the leader,” Sweetie Drops explained. There was a brief pause before Scar spoke. “That doesn’t sound right. To have that few and send a couple up to Manehattan to scout is taking a risk. If they haven’t bother coming back with more, then it’s possible that there’s twice of what you see there, and they’re still recruiting before expanding.” I said to Scar, “Playing it safe, I assume?” “Now you’re thinking. Any of the ones that you see stick out?” “One of them is big. And I mean BIG,” Lyra answered. “As in someone who you will find at the night club doors?” asked Night Glider. “Yep.” “We call that the heavy hitter; tough, but slow. It’s like taking on a giant,” Scar explained. “I think I have someone who can handle that,” I said as I looked at Applejack. “Good luck then. There’s one thing you need to know, Jack. If you can take down the leader, you might be able to take control of the gang,” Scar said. “Gangs call it the ‘Law of the Land.’ It’s a way to show superiority in the group. Not every gang follows this law, so take note,” Night Glider explained. “We’ll keep that in mind,” I said. “Thanks for your help. And Scar, make sure you protect that pretty face of yours.” “Ha, ha, very funny. I have to deal with Night Glider in that department.” “Jack, take care. And let me know the outcome…if you survive. Night Glider out.” I put my cell back in my pocket. “She knows that we can pull this off, as long as we know what to expect.” “If you don’t mind me asking, but is Scar his real name?” asked Sunset. “He has a scar on his cheek that’s close to his eye. Got it when he was younger, or so I heard. Never really asked about his real name, and I doubt I want to anyway.” “Well, I think it’s time to pay Gilda a visit,” said Applejack. “Good, because she’s got a lot of explaining to do here,” Rainbow Dash added. I looked at Mrs. Harshwhinny and asked, “If you want to stay out of this, then that’s alright for us.” She started to flex and loosen up her arms and said, “I think I can take on a few troublemakers myself. I grew up on streets like this one, so I know how to survive.” So we decided to leave our vehicles in the parking lot and made out way down to where Gilda was with her group. It wasn’t long before she could recognize Rainbow Dash from our group. Gilda walked up and said, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t my old friend, Rainbow Dash. And she brought the dweeb squad.” “Shut it, Gilda,” Dash snapped at her. “We know you took part in helping Crystal Prep break in to our school overnight.” Gilda put her hands up, shook her head, and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That set off red flags that she was hiding something. Applejack looked at me, and I nodded back. “Now you can do better than that,” Applejack said. “We can see a lie a mile away.” “Hey Dash. Why don’t you tell your farm girl friend to shut her beak,” Gilda replied. Since that how she wanted to play, I decided to take it to another level. I grabbed one of my metal cards from my deck and threw it towards Gilda, going by her and sticking to the brick wall. She looked at what went by and started back at us with a mean glare. Before she could respond, I spoke. “We can do this the easy way…or the hard way. And I’ll be surprised that your gang can survive the hard way.” “Is that a challenge,” Gilda replied. She looked at her gang and said, “Saber, Knives, why don’t you welcome our new guests.” Two guys got up, both with average builds, ready to fight. A hand was placed on my shoulder. I look and saw that it was Sweetie Drops. “Leave these two to us.” She started to walk forward, with Lyra next to her. They stopped in front of the two guys, who were taller that the girls. One of the guys said, “Does the cutie want to play?” as he decided to place his hand next to Sweetie Drops’ cheek. She grabbed his arm before he could lay a finger on her and said, “You might want to rethink that statement.” That’s when she decided to move and twist his arm, causing him to yell in pain. The other guy looked at them and started to go to his aid, only to be stopped when Lyra grabbed him by the collar and thrust her knee into his stomach. “I’m sorry, did that hurt?” she playfully said. Then she rotates her body and tossed the guy over her shoulder, slamming him to the ground hard. Sweetie still held on to the first guy’s arm and pinned him behind his back. “Lyra, want to do the honors?” “With pleasure, my Bonbon.” Lyra got in front of him and swung her leg at his face, knocking him to the ground as Sweetie let go of him. Both of them celebrated with a brohoof. This got Gilda upset. “Rocky, teach these girls a lesson!” The big guy in the group began to walk towards them. This was the heavy hitter in the gang. Applejack said, “I got this,” and started to walk up to the others. Lyra and Sweetie Drops saw her and started to fall back to give Applejack some room. Both of them were staring at each other when the big guy tipped her hat off of her head and spoke. “Does the farm girl want to dance, because I’ll be happy to-” He was cut off when Applejack gave him a knee below the belt, causing him to groan in pain. Applejack turned around and said to Sunset, “Is that how you did it to Tenderhoof?” “Just like that,” Sunset responded. “Good,” Applejack said. Then she bends down on her hands and shot her feet at his face in a bucking motion, knocking him down and out. She wipe her hands together, picked up her hat, walking back to us, and said, “Boy talks too much.” Now Gilda was furious. And it was this that got Pinkie Pie’s pinkie sense going off. Pinkie walked up to me and said, “Trouble’s coming.” “THAT’S IT! NOW YOU’RE ASKING FOR IT!” Gilda made a loud crow’s call, and what Pinkie said was right. I started to sense trouble all around us. Guys and girls started to show up, each with the Talons patch on them, some with chains and pipes in their hands. It was more than double from what we were expecting. “Jack, I think this was more than we bargain for,” Applejack said as she walked back to our group. Rainbow Dash looked at me and said, “If you have a plan, now’s the time to use it.” “We’ll just have to fight our way out of this,” said Sunset. We were surrounded, three to one. And Gilda was smiling from ear to ear. We needed to level the playing field. Actually, I needed to level the playing field. And just like before, when things are at their worst, something new happens to me that gets us out of it. I felt what I needed to do, and it was one that I have been trying to learn. I clinched my fist and reacted. “SOUL ART #8: EARTH BREAK!!!” With one move, I slammed my fist into the ground, causing the road in front of me to crack. This created a wave that went towards some of the guys in front of me, causing them to almost lose their balance. I took this opportunity to knock them down in one attack. “SOUL ART #7: WIND SLASH!!!” I had my arms crossed together and waved them out to my sides, creating a strong wave of wind towards them. This blew them back and knocked them down. I turn my gaze at Gilda and stared at her, saying, “That…was the hard way. You still want to go through this?” Gilda was slightly stunned. She shook it off and yelled, “KILL THEM!!!” As the gang members started to make their way towards us, Mrs. Harshwhinny said, “Time to clean house.” All of us started to fight against the gang that was still standing. Rainbow Dash was able to dodge and use their size to her advantage. Pinkie Pie just hopped over each one and force them to fall forward. I was helping Sunset with a few of them. The others were able to take down some of the others. Applejack yelled to me, “You got another skill you can use?” And that’s when it hit me. Another feeling went through me again, and I knew how to do it. “Hey AJ? Think you can give me a boost?” Applejack nodded and faced towards me with her hands together. I started to run to her and placed my foot on her clasped hands. In an instant, she tossed me into the air. “SOUL ART #9: SPIN STRIKE!!!” With my eyes closed and my arms stretched out, I started to spin like a tornado, letting my senses guide me to my targets. I knocked out several guys before I came to stop. Almost two-thirds of the gang was knocked out. This caused Gilda to panic and run away. Rainbow Dash saw this and yelled, “HEY! YOU GET BACK HERE!” Applejack and me saw what was going on. “Jack, take a couple and go after her. We should be able to clean up from here.” I nodded and said, “Sunset, Pinkie, you’re with me.” And the three of us started to chase down Gilda between the buildings. We could see Gilda from the distance, knocking down trashcans and anything to slow us down. We were able to leap and dodge the obstacles, but it didn’t get us any closer. I saw an open gap on both sides from the row of buildings and signaled the others to split up and surround her. Pinkie took the left side and Sunset went right. I stayed on Gilda’s trail, hoping that they will make it to the next gap before Gilda. She kept knocking things down, which was slowing her down, but I had to dodge them, which wasn’t getting me any closer. I could see the next gap coming up and tried to sense if one of them finally got there to cut her off. Before I could sense anyone, Gilda made it to the gap, only to be tackled by Sunset from the right. Gilda was struggling with Sunset on the ground, and knocked her off. She got up and went towards the other gap, only to be startled by Pinkie Pie. Gilda was trailing backwards and started to turn around. That when she saw Sunset on her feet and up close. Sunset threw a fierce punch in Gilda’s face, knocking her down with a bloody nose. I finally got up to the others and asked Sunset, “You OK?” “Yea,” she replied, shaking her right hand in pain. “I’ll be fine. Good job, Pinkie.” “No problem. Everyone loves a surprise,” she replied, just staring at Gilda. Gilda was still holding her nose from the bleeding. I grabbed her arm and pulled her up, and Pinkie took out a tissue, tore it in two, and stuffed them into her nose. We took Gilda back to the others, when they just finished up the last of the gang. They saw us, and Applejack said, “Glad you can make it back.” “So who gave her a bloody nose?” Mrs. Harshwhinny asked as she saw Gilda’s busted up face. “That would be me,” Sunset replied. “And it hurts like hell.” “You’ll get use to it in time,” said Applejack. Rainbow Dash walked up to Gilda, grabbed her by her collar, and said, “All right, Gilda. We know you helped Lightning Dust break in to our school and take her to the science lab. So I want to know why you did it?” “Miss Luna told us about how you started to fail in your classes during your freshman year,” said Applejack. Gilda responded, “Because I had to help out my family, OK?” “You call this your family?” Rainbow Dash was pointing to the fallen gang members. “No, my actual family,” Gilda replied. “You wouldn’t even understand.” Mrs. Harshwhinny walked up and placed her hand on Dash’s shoulder. Dash looked at her teacher, then back to Gilda and let go of her. “Why don’t you at least try to explain?” Mrs. Harshwhinny responded. Gilda started to look away when she talked. “My mother can’t have a job because of her medical condition. And my father lost his job when he got injured and was put on disability leave, only to be cut when he knew it would take weeks, maybe months to recover before going back to work. We had to leave our old home and stay here, since we were able to qualify for the program. But money was a struggle. I had to drop out and focus on a job to keep up the payments for mother’s medicine and father’s recovery, which was becoming harder. And you can’t get far in this neighbor, so I was able to start a gang. Lightning Dust was able to find out about me and offered me a job to break in to my old school, find a bunny in the science lab, and get out. I made sure she paid up front with a lot of money. It has helped my family so far, but we still have a long way to go.” Dash responded, “Why didn’t you tell me this in the first place? Do you know that Lightning Dust is bad news since we lived in Cloudsdale?” “I was desperate,” snapped Gilda. “You wouldn’t even understand what I had to go through.” It was then that Sunset slapped her in her face. “You think you had it rough? I had to go through hell with what I did to the school. And just when Jack here started to get me out of that hole, you had to help put me back in there.” She slid up one of her sleeves, revealing the scars she still had. “Look at these. This is what I had to do to myself after experiencing the pain and suffering that I went through. I’m just lucky enough to now have friends that understand the fears that I went through in my past.” Gilda looked at the scars on Sunset’s arm, and then looked at her. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t and looked down in shame. Sunset slid down her sleeve and placed her hands on Gilda’s shoulders, causing her to look at Sunset again. “There’s still time to fix the damage you caused. And there’s always a way to get over the problems that hunt you if you just ask your friends.” “Our school has a program that can help with students that struggle through something like this,” Mrs. Harshwhinny explained. “If you want to, we can talk to Miss Luna about it and see what we can do. Get you back in school, and find a way to help your parents. What do you say?” Gilda looked at each of us and said, “What do you want me to do?” “First you can surrender your gang to us,” I said. “You sent two of your members to Manehattan in hopes to expand. The…gang’s leader has been keeping it peaceful over there and wasn’t pleased with the Talons’ arrival. And as a member of the Manehattan Knights, we have been able to help keep an eye out for any threats. We don’t like to work with gangs, but the leader wants to make some…changes to the group, so I’m willing to give them a chance.” “Gangs have what is called The Law of the Land,” Dash explained. “If someone takes you down, you have to surrender your gang to the winner. And…since Sunset gave you a bloody nose, I’m guessing you got knocked down and out, right?” “Oh, she punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground and giving her a bloody nose,” Pinkie explained. “And with your members knocked out,” said Applejack, “I think you can guess the end result to this.” Gilda looked at the others, who were started to recover from getting a beat down. “Talons, listen up,” she yelled, in which some that were aware looked at her. “From this point forward, this girl here is your new leader. Um…” “Sunset Shimmer,” she replied. “Sunset Shimmer will be issuing the orders for the Talons now,” Gilda continued. “And if anyone wants to challenge her, you have to get through us,” Applejack said and she was pointing between her and me. “So go home and rest up. No sense staying here,” said Gilda. All the members started to get up and either walk away or help someone back to their home. Gilda looked at Sunset and asked, “I’m guessing you’ve never run a gang, have you?” “Well, nothing of this size, but still…” She started to trail off from the topic. “Whatever. What else do I need to do?” Gilda asked. “We need you to confess that you helped Lightning Dust and her friends break in to our school,” I said. “You’ll have to explain it to Principal Celestia or Miss Luna so they can handle the issue.” “They got off lucky when the other students who helped got suspended from the team,” Dash said. “We want to make sure they share the same punishment as the others, before we face them this coming Friday.” “If that’s what I need to do to get them to take me back, then I’ll do anything to fix this,” Gilda explained. “Just make sure you can help me with my family.” “We’ll need to take you back to the school so we can explain it to them,” said Mrs. Harshwhinny. “I’ll need to tell my parents first before we go,” Gilda replied. Mrs. Harshwhinny nodded and walked with Gilda to where she was staying. I looked at the others and said, “Thanks for your help.” “It was no problem,” Lyra responded. “We’re happy to help.” “I hope this will get Brick Wall off your back,” said Applejack. “One less worry for us.” “I hope so too,” I said. “I hope so too.”