Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 5
Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant
Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 5
By Wanderer D
Lucky Charm skipped down the marketplace, thoughts on what to do with her monthly bonus. She could go shopping for a new dress, or even a new purse! Certainly having extra income on top of her very decent pay was a good-nay, a great thing!
Even though she wasn't too keen on the dangers of her… extra work… and despite the fact that the Old Stallion had treated her well, there was nothing wrong with honest additional work. It's not like they weren't all criminals, right?
Whatever they did to each other was not her fault. She was just lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills to get extra cash.
Luck would always be on her side. It was her name, after all! And she had a cutie mark to prove it! She hummed, turning down the road as she considered her options. Maybe she would buy a new purse after—
"Oof!"
Her thoughts were interrupted when she ran onto a cart. She shook her head, wondering just what kind of moron would leave a cart in the middle of the sidewalk, but then she realized, she wasn't looking at a cart.
She had bumped into something big. In a trenchcoat. Her eyes slowly rose, inch by inch until she had to tilt her head back and stare with slack-jawed horror at the bipedal reptile that glared down at her from under his fedora.
His glare then turned into a smile. A wide, predatory smile full of what had to be thousands of sharp fangs. A voice, deep and threatening as a Dullahan's would be echoed from his maw with a gurgle of chuckles that sent shivers from the bottom of her neck to the tip of her tail.
"Ehehehe, well look at that," it said. "It must be my Lucky day. I bumped into lunch."
She couldn't move, she was so afraid. She tried to say something, even scream, but for some reason she couldn't speak. She started hyperventilating as the towering reptile leaned down to look her in the eye.
"Boo."
When Lucky came to, it took her a moment to realize her eyes were open with how dark it was, or the fact that she was tied to a chair, with a magical inhibitor on her horn. She knew she'd been way too lucky lately. It was about time something went arseways. And of course, when it did, it would happen in a big way.
She tried to struggle to see if she could escape, but the ropes were tight, and without her magic… she flinched when a bright light was suddenly lit above her. After blinking away the spots, she tried to see if she could figure out where she was or who was with her, but the bright light seemed to only make the darkness more intense, and she could only see a small area in front of her before it faded into black.
"W-who's there?" she finally stammered out. "Why am I here?"
A shadow moved, drawing her attention to a pony in a black trenchcoat who stepped into the edge of the light. The rose-bonded fedora on the pony's head hid their identity, and whoever it was, he or she was soon joined by two more similarly-dressed ponies. One with a neon blue bond on their fedora and the other with a dark purple bond on the fedora.
Nope. This was definitely not her lucky day.
"You've been a very bad filly, Lucky Charm," the pony in the middle said, revealing she was a female. "You've been working for the mob, and not only that, but you sold out your own boss to work with a very despicable pony."
Lucky's eyes went wide. They knew? How could the possibly know? "I-I don't know what you're talking about! I'm a-a model citizen! A respectable Chicacoltean! I would never!"
"So, let me get this straight." The pony to the right gave the middle pony a binder, which floated in a magical field. The middle pony started flipping through pages. "Your name is not Lucky Charm? You don't work for the pony known in the underworld as 'The Old Stallion'? You have never heard the names: Ciarammeda, Bifola, Tavola, Pumpkin or Two Hooves?"
"That's right!" Lucky said quickly. "I have never met any of those ponies. And my name is actually Four Clover! This is clearly a misunderstanding, but I am perfectly willing to let it slide if you let me go!"
"My, how generous of you!" The mare in the fedora seemed genuinely surprised by Lucky's apparent generosity. Then her tone dropped. "Except for the fact that we have your id, which states your name, we know for a fact you work for the Old Stallion and we also know you're involved with Two Hooves, risking the lives of two innocent fillies."
The mare tilted her fedora up, revealing a purple coat and lavender irises. She stared at Lucky with a grin that reminded her a little of that reptile from earlier.
Lucky gulped, looking surreptitiously around just in case the creature was in there with them.
"Oh, he is."
Lucky Charm's eyes went back to the pony, even wider. "Y-you can read my mind?"
"Nah," the pony said, waving a hoof dismissively. "I've just seen that look in plenty of people that Wrex has threatened to eat."
Something clicked then. Lucky didn't pay much attention to the news, but from time to time she would read them, especially if they involved mass destruction of property as perpetrated by one individual. The name "Wrex" echoed in her mind as she took in the pony in front of her. "Oh no… you're Twilight Sparkle!"
"Commander Sparkle," Twilight clarified. "And if you know of me, then you know that I am a just and fair—" She stopped, glaring at Lucky. "What the hay are you doing?"
"I'm trying to gnaw my leg off!" Lucky said almost hysterically. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Gagging, mostly," Twilight said. "You're tied up and unable to reach your hooves with your teeth, so it looks like you're retching."
"I have to ask," the pony to the right of Twilight Sparkle spoke up. "Why exactly are you trying to gnaw your leg off? Like, what's the game plan after that?"
"Better to be missing a limb than face Twilight Sparkle!" Lucky cried out.
"You realize that just because you gnawed your leg off, it wouldn't automatically mean freedom, right? Especially while I'm standing right in front of you." Twilight pointed out.
"Yeah, you'd have to do it when no one else is watching for it to maybe work, but then you'd have to escape on three legs," the other pony suggested.
"And to get past us... that alone won't do," Twilight added. "Now, unless you want to break your neck while trying to bite your leg off, you're going to listen, and listen good."
She leaned in until she was nose to nose with Lucky. "I want to know the combination to undo the spells on Ciarammeda and Bifola."
"Ha! That means that until I tell you, you can't do anything to me!" Lucky said. "Too bad for you! And lucky for me!"
Twilight raised an eyebrow, then user her magic to push Lucky's chair back until it was balancing on just the two rear legs, then it was tilted back and back until Lucky knew that the moment Twilight let go, she would slam on the floor. But that's not what the unicorn had in mind. For as she was pushed back, her view revealed a large, familiar reptile grinning at her.
"Do you feel lucky?" Wrex asked, tilting his head. "Well? Do you, pony?"
Lucky could feel tears pooling in her eyes. "B-but you can't hurt me! Or I won't tell you the sequence!"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw yet another pony approach, but this one she knew.
"So you would risk gnawing your limbs, being eaten by Wrex and pissing off Twilight Sparkle rather than help my sisters get rid of explosive shoes?" Octavia all but growled.
Lucky trembled, thinking fast. "What? I just cast the cleaning spell on them!" she blabbered. "Mr. Two Hooves said he'd give me extra dough if I made sure their shoes were taken care of with a spell every week!"
Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow. "Just a regular cleaning spell? Are you sure?"
Lucky nodded, eyes wide.
"Huh." Twilight seemed to ponder that. "Well then, let's give it a try. Girls could you come over?"
Lucky felt her blood run cold when both young mares approached. What was this crazy mare going to do now?
"Um, miss Twilight?"
"Commander."
"Commander Twilight? Why is Lucky tied to a chair and held almost horizontally under the gaze of the large, carnivorous reptile in armor?"
"Because she says your shoes won't blow up if we use a regular cleaning spell to remove them." Twilight explained. "Now, come over, we should be able to take care of that right now."
Lucky watched with dread and Twilight's magic enveloped the horseshoes. She immediately recognized the spell; it was a cleaning spell of relatively high level as things went. No doubt something Twilight had learned in Canterlot.
On the one hoof she was mildly pleased that Twilight had taken the time to learn such a spell. It was usually too thorough for the general cleaning spells most nobles knew and used and frequently delegated to the service ponies, such as her… on the other hoof, Twilight was about to use a cleaning spell to disarm eight bombs at once!
"W-Wait!"
Twilight turned to face Lucky. "I thought you said this would get them off? I'm trusting you here, y'know?"
"I-I lied! You can't just take the shoes off! You'll blow us all apart! Don't you care about their lives? Or your own?"
Twilight shrugged. "The way I see it, if we don't take them off, these two young mares will die anyway and I am armored and protected by magical energies. So, it would only kill three ponies. The question is, how much do you value your life? Because there's only one way you come out of this in one piece, and it's not by lying to me."
"But Two Hooves—"
"Two Hooves is not going to be around much longer," Octavia interrupted, narrowing her eyes. "You know what I'm capable of, Lucky, but even I don't know Twilight's limit yet. And trust me… she's been groomed by the best."
"Aww, flattery will get you anywhere, Strings," Wrex said, wiping a fake tear from his eye.
"So?" Twilight drew Lucky's attention back to her. "What's it going to be?"
Two Hooves twirled a golden medallion in his hooves, contemplating his next move. He knew it would most likely end in violence, but it was high time for real change in this business. He smiled as he heard the knock on his door and slid the amulet into his pocket. "Come on in."
The door creaked open and the Old Stallion walked in, flanked by several grunts. He looked around at the one-windowed office overlooking the warehouse in poorly hidden disgust before making his way to the desk where Two Hooves sat.
"Ah, Signor Organetto, mi Don," he said with a laugh and a wave at a chair across from him. "Why don't you take a seat? I would offer you something to drink, but as you can see, I have drank it all."
The Old Stallion sighed and sat down tiredly, giving the younger mobster a look. "Why have you called me? My daughters should be home any minute now, and I don't want them to wonder where I am."
"Hm." Two Hooves took a sip of his scotch. The drink tasted bad to him. He couldn't tell any flavor out of it, nor any of the many aftertastes that other drinkers perceived, but refined ponies drank it, and so did he. "Your daughter is the reason I have brought you today," he finally said.
The Old Stallion's eyes darkened. "What do you want with them?"
"Not them," Two Hooves clarified. "Her. Ciaramedda is turning out to be a beautiful young mare. She's almost within marrying age, is she not?"
The Old Stallion growled and moved to stand up but the sudden tenseness of the bodyguards around him made him stop.
"I never said you could stand up or go," Two Hooves replied. "But I will forgive you this time, since we're going to be family."
The Old Stallion shook his head. "You're deluded, Two Hooves, if you think I would allow either of my daughters near your grimy fetlocks."
Two Hooves' smile turned into a snarl and he slammed his hoof on the table. "You forget yourself, Old Stallion! You're in no control over this! I didn't ask for your permission or your blessing! I'm telling you what's going to happen out of courtesy!"
He leaned back, smirking at the frustrated impotence of his old boss. "Face it, Organetto, you're done. The only way for your family to survive now is to do what I want, when I want it, how I want it."
"I made this family… this whole family what it is today." The Old Stallion slowly rose to look down at Two Hooves, who suddenly didn't look so sure of himself. "With my own hooves I rose from the muck; I put together a trade. I saw the opportunities. I took them!"
He leaned forward just as Two Hooves leaned back. "I understood what ponies needed! What had to be taken to get them what they wanted! The smuggling of goods that brought us money, power! I hoof-picked my lieutenants wisely and it wasn't until a dirty weasel like you rose through the ranks that things went wrong! Now my family trades with undesirables of the worst kind! And who is to blame?"
He smashed his hoof on the desk. "You!" He growled and motioned with his other hoof at the warehouse around them. "We gathered in the light! We were not afraid of the Royal Guard catching us because even if they did, we had a solid way out. Now we slither in the dark, gathering in places like these, away from anypony's eyes, and why? Because if we get caught with a figment of the poison we're trading in now, we'd have no choice but to all go to prison or die in a firefight! And who is to blame?"
Again the hoof smashed on the table, making it crack. "You! And you come and lecture me with an attitude you pulled out of your pretentious flank, acting like you're in control when we're a Luna-damned shadow of what we used to be!?" He snorted, eyes blazing.
"My family—my blood—they are not to be mixed with the likes of you. Had you been a tenth of what Pumpkin is, even imprisoned, or half the stallion 'The Face' was, I would have entertained the notion of you even attempting to approach my daughters! But they, just as I, have standards!" His hoof rose to poke Two Hooves in the chest. "And you. Don't. Meet. Them."
Two grunts came forth and dragged the Old Stallion back, forcing him to sit down. Two Hooves cleared his throat and straightened his suit before glaring back at his former boss. "They'll be happy to have somepony take care of them," he growled. "Especially after they find themselves orphaned."
He slid off his chair and cantered over to the alcohol cabinet. "I would have been fine with the one daughter, but I think I might take both… no, all three of them once you're gone." He sneered at the Old Stallion. "Oh, didn't I tell you? I saw your beloved Tavola not too long ago. Stopped by for a drink, she did." He chuckled. "She's turned into a very fine mare. One I won't mind taking good care of."
He laughed when the Old Stallion struggled to get up. "Oh, don't worry, you won't be around to see it. The boys will take good care of you."
"You stay away from them!"
"As I said," Two Hooves turned to face him. "It's no longer your concern." He looked at one of the grunts. "Kill h—"
Everypony in the room crouched down as the whole building shook.
"What the hay was that?" One grunt muttered only for the building to shake again, but this time, they heard the explosion.
"What is this?!" Two Hooves shrieked, turning to face the baffled Old Stallion. "What the hay did you do!?"
As if in answer, the window burst into pieces as two strangely armored pegasi literally flew through it, taking down two of his grunts before they could even react. Two more were shot from somewhere, leaving only the Old Stallion in his seat and Two Hooves standing.
A shimmering figure jumped through the window and seemed to overlook the unconscious bodies before nodding and fizzling into visibility. Her dark gray armor was as solid as that of the two pegasi, but while they wore protective helmets, she only had a single half-visor across her left eye. The Old Stallion immediately recognized her.
"Tavola!"
"Octavia!" Two Hooves roared, jumping to his hooves. "You said you wouldn't interfere!" He was about to move towards her when she looked his way and he froze in place.
"I lied." She said. "Or rather, I wouldn't have if I hadn't discovered the travesty you and your lackeys have turned it into, or the fact that you were threatening my father!"
"You're all dead!" Two Hooves spat, slowly retreating to the emergency exit. "Just because you took out these guys here, it doesn't mean anything! I have more than twenty ponies outside!"
Octavia raised her hoof to chest level and almost as if by magic, an orange, semi-transparent thing took shape around it. "Commander, the office is secure."
A voice emerged from the energy-like creation. "Roger that, we've taken out most of the goons out here."
A loud explosion and screams shook the building.
"Scratch that. Wrex is taking care of the last ten. Personally."
"Tavola!" the Old Stallion called out. "He's escaping!"
Octavia looked up at Two Hooves as he dove out of the emergency exit and galloped down the metal stairs. Then she smiled at her dad, before turning to the two armored pegasi. "Girls, please watch over my father." She then took off.
"Tavola! No! He's dangerous!"
"Chill, Old Stallion," one of the pegasi—the one wearing the sky-blue armor with rainbow lines— said, walking up to him. "Octavia won't get hurt that easily."
Two Hooves galloped as quickly as he could. Those fools might take down his grunts, but he could always hire more ponies. The one that needed to remain free was him. Thankfully the warehouse was right at the docks and he had more than enough places to hide.
He smirked as he did a right turn past a few crates, but his joy was quickly abandoned when he noticed a white-armored unicorn mare grinning through her large sunglasses at him. Cursing, he turned around, quickly losing her as he followed another path.
Just as he saw another exit, something hit the metal crate in front of him, sending sparks flying and leaving a perfectly circular hole on it.
Two Hooves whipped around, trying to figure out where it had come from, only for his eyes to settle on Octavia, standing on her hind legs only and holding a really strange weapon of some sort in front of her.
She held his eyes for a second before raising her weapon again, and Two Hooves didn't stick to see what happened. He ran in between two stacks of shipping containers, scampering back when a black armored mare teleported right in front of him, grinning evilly and galloping as fast as he could, turning right when the dinosaur stepped on his way and then finally finding himself facing a dead end, with an open large metallic container at the end, and a group of crazy ponies and a dinosaur facing him.
"I-I don't know what Octavia is paying you, but I will double it!" He shouted, eyes wild as he took several trembling steps back. "Triple it! Just get rid of her and let me go!"
Octavia raised her weapon, pointing it at him. "I should just kill you know for what you have done," she hissed.
Two Hooves whimpered.
The mare in black armor walked up to Octavia and gently forced her to lower the weapon. "Don't waste the ammo, Tavi. It's alright. It's over."
"But, Twilight!" Octavia hissed.
Hearing this, Two Hooves stood a little taller. "Haha, yes. You wouldn't want to kill me. I have a lot of money an—urk!"
In a flash of purple-red magic, Twilight had disappeared from Octavia's side and reappeared behind and above Two Hooves halfway through a crushing punch that hit the stallion on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious and sending him tumbling and rolling to a stop right before his former boss's daughter.
Octavia looked down at him, then up to Twilight. "You should've let me shoot him Twilight. He threatened to kill my sisters and just earlier my father. He's a scumbag."
Twilight smirked. "Don't worry Tavi, this guy will have his due. I'm thinking of something far more poetic. Right Wrex?"
"Ehehehe," Wrex chuckled, picking up the unconscious pony and walking towards the shipping container. "I knew you wanted me to bring that box with me for a good reason."
Octavia blinked. "What box?"
Two Hooves slowly and groggily woke up and looked around. He was inside a very dark room with metal walls… his warehouse? He shook his head, wincing in pain as his memory returned. No, not his warehouse… those ponies and the dinosaur! Tavola's cursed friends! They had interrupted his grand announcement to the Old Stallion!
He roared and charged the walls, hitting them repeatedly with his shoulder, his hooves, even his head once, but not even denting the metal, finally, exhausted, he sat down, heaving and drawing air. They had thrown him inside a storage container, probably for the Royal Guard to pick up.
Two Hooves growled. "They won't win. I won't let them get a win!" He blinked and grinned, sliding the medallion out of his pocked.
"If you want to get rid of me, Old Stallion, you'll have to say goodbye to your daughters." He dropped it on the floor in front of him and then smashed it to pieces with his hoof. "Too bad. They were quite beautiful."
He started laughing until a faint glow made him turn. Curious, he moved towards it, finding a cardboard shoe box. Frowning, he removed the top, revealing the glowing contents to his eyes.
"Oh, cr—"
Twilight and Octavia sat side by side, watching the crates as a big red one suddenly went up in flames, the top rocketing up several meters into the air, spinning a few times before crashing down into a twisted piece of metal.
Octavia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "And so he's gone…" she leaned her head on Twilight's shoulder. "There's going to be a lot of paperwork for this."
Twilight shrugged.
"And Princess Celestia is not going to be happy about this."
Twilight's lips twisted into a grimace. "There's nothing to be done about it. That pony brought this on himself. He could have just waited for the guard instead of trying to murder some innocent fillies."
Octavia hugged Twilight. "Be careful you don't get carried away by things like this?"
Twilight smirked. "Don't worry, Tavi, I have you and a solid moral compass in Wrex."
Octavia raised an eyebrow, opened her mouth to say something then shook her head. "Well, I'd better go talk with my dad. We'll need to get him out of here before the Guard and the police arrive."
She leaned in and kissed Twilight before jumping down into the office below.
"So what do you think?"
"Eh, I've seen bigger explosions," Wrex said, walking up to Twilight. "Next time, I say we throw in a little extra, just to take down a few more crates, in case there's something dangerous in them, of course."
He then patted Twilight's head.
"Wrex."
"Sparkle."
"Let's reorganize this crime syndicate and head home."
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It's aliiiiiive !
I binge read this just a few days ago and loved. I am SO happy to see it is still being worked on.
Please keep writing great stories!
Poetic but to clean a death
Loved the Update! Thanks and hope you have a Happy Late New Year.
YES! At long last this glorious fic returns with a bang!
Great chapter mate. I loved it.
Glad to see the story is being continued, keep up the good work.
Real One: As an old god said, "Rise from your grave", this fic came back in a "Blooming" way.
"You're deluded, Two Hooves, if you think I would allow either of my daughters near your grimy fetlocks.
repeatedly with his shoulder, his hooves even his head once
1. Forgot your closing quotation mark.
2. Forgot your comma.
Welp, this is one way of starting the new year with a bang.
Brutal.
Commander Sparkle is back, and it's glorious
Personally really pleased with how this loyalty mission arc wrapped up. Wrex was great, Octavia was great, but most of all, Commander Sparkle was fantastic. 
7838203
Story is. Two Hooves, not so much,
And that's good. Which? Both of those things.
Somepony get me a cigar, cause I love the sight of karma of messing with family in the evening!
IT'S ALIIIIIIVE!
Eh.
Holy Cannoli. I remember when I first saw this thing and now look at it!.
I still have plenty of laughs but wow this is one heck of a fun story!
Yeah!
A great ending for that buildup. I do love the poetic justice Twilight prefers.
Renegade for Life.
ih1.redbubble.net/image.82875901.5589/flat,1000x1000,075,f.jpg
Wrex in a fedora glaring down we need a pic of this! and since I can't give you another thumbs up take a spike instead.
Hurrayyyy!
IT LIIIIIVES!
So what's next for our gaggle of Mercs?
Finally an update.
Oh please, more! It has been too long, we need more of this masterpiece!
On the other hand,
Was simply too cute and precious. We need more of this, too
7838999 Personally I find this is a rather Paragon ending. Twilight left him for the guard. She just also left him with the explosives he was going to murder children with. It's not her fault he chose to kill himself. Clearly there was nothing morally wrong with leaving a confined criminal out for the guard with the evidence of his crimes boxed up with them. Capes do it all the time.
It's solid, alright. Consistent, too. It just points south, is all.
Very nicely executed. Pun intended.
And I can't dispute Lucky's logic. I'd probably try to gnaw off a limb if I were being interrogated by this Twilight. That or cooperate entirely and explain what might befall me for doing so, so she could befall it first.
7839309 From what I can tell, one last Loyalty mission, then hopefully the Reapers show up.
Please don't take so long to update the fic, we missed you :(
Well THAT was thoroughly enjoyable. Glad to see Wrex and Sparkle still going at it.
That compass points in the direction of hell, but don't worry; nothing down there has enough firepower to take you on, Sparkle.
7838999
Paragon till Death!
7839839 Yeah, and Twilight also pulled a paragon interrupt by stepping in before Tavi could shoot or torture the scumbag. Punching him out was also paragon, sparing him from the wrath his stupid mouth was about to incur.
7848959
A Krogan approved chapter ♤
Epic chapter
Magnificent conclusion to the best Loyalty mission completed as of yet. 2021 and in few hours 2022.
Reading and liking all the good comments is quite entertaining
Me laughing like the Joker:
While also bleeding out
11197444
Exacly my thoughts.
Nice happy end ♤
Indeed a well deserved ending, I guess they had to send in a few crews to clean up after all the carnage.
Wonder what one can trade that isn't strictly forbidden? Mangos for Thestrals?