Hitmares

by Shane1108

Chapter Ten: Vital Signs

It wasn’t long before Vinyl and Octavia had managed to reach where Lyra had said she would be. Tavi drove and Vinyl had a sawn-off shotgun in hoof, ready for anything. They saw the mint green unicorn with her coat’s hood pulled up standing and waiting by the payphone. She quickly hopped in the backseat.

Vinyl got a good look at her. She was covered in blood and broken glass and looked like she was in a full on panic. “Sweet Celestia, Lyra. Are you okay?” Vinyl asked.

Lyra took a deep breath. She was safe now. It was all over. She wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. “I’m hurt.” She started. “I got shot twice. But you don’t need to worry about me.”

“What in the moon’s name are you talking about?” Tavi asked as she started to drive away. “Where did you get shot? What happened? Where is Sheen?”

Sheen. Lyra pictured his cold and dead face staring at her from the steering wheel. His eyes bulged and blood running down in all directions across it. She sniffled. “He’s dead.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” Vinyl yelled in shock.

“Someone ambushed us when we were driving. They must have put a hundred bullets through the side of the car. He told me to get down at the last second but they shot him at least twenty times or more. He saved my life.”

Vinyl punched the wooden dashboard so hard that it cracked and then started to cry. “Fuck!” She screamed. “This can’t be happening!”

Octavia couldn’t believe it either. “Are you sure he’s dead? Could he have survived?”

Lyra just shook her head. “He was slumped over the steering wheel with his eyes open and staring at me when they left. They shot him at least five or more times in the head. There was no coming back from that.” She started to cry a bit too. “He saved my life.” She repeated again.

“Son of a fucking bitch!” Vinyl shouted, punching the dashboard again. “I’ve known him my whole life. He was like my uncle.” She started crying harder.

“Who would dare do something like this?” Octavia asked. “Did they not know who you were? There’s no way this was some random shooting.”

Lyra nodded. “It wasn’t random. I noticed one of the shooters. He was there last night when we roughed up those dealers.”

Tavi’s heart sank in her chest. It was her fault. She had sent Sheen off with Lyra on an errand that Sunset hadn’t even known about and now he was dead. Sunset might kill her too. She was starting to panic on the inside.

“We need to get to Sunset’s now.” Vinyl said through her tears.

“Are you sure that’s such a good…” Octavia started.

Vinyl cut her off. “Just fucking drive there!” she shouted.

Tavi didn’t say anything else, she just put her foot to the floor to get them over there as fast as they could. Within about fifteen minutes they were at her apartment building and going up the elevators to the penthouse.

Octavia knocked on the door once. No response. She knocked again, still nothing. She was hoping they could just give up but fate had a different idea. Within seconds the door opened. Sunset was inside, still in her evening dress. She could see Berry at the kitchen table. They looked like they were drinking more wine.

Sunset gasped at the sight of them. Tavi looked like a zombie, Vinyl was almost sobbing and Lyra was covered from head to hoof in blood.
“What the hell happened?” She asked slowly.

Vinyl ran up to hug her. “Sheen’s dead!” she screamed. “He’s dead, auntie!”

Sunset’s world collapsed in an instant. Sheen was dead? That was impossible. There was no way that could ever have happened. Vinyl must have been mistaken. “What are you talking about, Vinnie?” She asked, her voice breaking a little bit. Berry just sat at the counter with a stunned look on her face as Octavia closed and locked the door behind them.

Lyra spoke up. “We were driving around on the east side of your territory when a car pulled up beside us and fired into his window. He helped me get down but he didn’t make it. They got me a couple of times too but I managed to open the door and duck down. They shot Sheen probably at least twenty or more times though. I’m sorry Sunset but he’s gone.” She actually started to cry a little bit herself. Gangster or no, Sheen was a decent pony and had tried to help her out. And if it wasn’t for his quick thinking she would have been killed too.

“No.” Sunset whispered. “No, no, no.” She threw her wine glass against the wall. “No!” She screamed and started sobbing. Vinyl rushed over to her and so did Berry. They were all crying together.

Sunset stood up and detached herself from the others. She looked to Lyra, who had been standing with Tavi away from the group. “Did you see a face?” She said, seething with rage.

“Yes.” She stuttered, Sunset was intimidating on a good day but now she had outright feared for her life. “I recognized them from a job that Tavi had us do last night. He was there for sure. I broke his nose with my pistol.

Sunsets face showed pure rage. “You.” She said, turning her eyes to Tavi. “You stupid, fucking, junkie cunt!” she screamed at her before lunging at Tavi, knocking her down to the hard linoleum floor. She punched her once in the face. “You go off to score pills on your own and you don’t even tell me about it! You put my best friend’s life on the line and now he’s dead you worthless little bitch!” She finished the sentence with another punch to Octavia’s face. She spit blood, but she didn’t fight back. She didn’t want to do the wrong thing and get herself killed.

“Auntie what the fuck are you doing?” Vinyl shouted and jumped on Sunset’s back, pulling her off of Tavi.

“This is her fault!” Sunset screamed. “She’s a fucking junkie who was trying to get more pills so she had Sheen and Lyra rob some dealers last night. Did you not know about this?”

Vinyl looked at Tavi, clearly hurt. “No. I had no idea. I mean I saw them leaving the club together but I didn’t know what it was for. Is it true?” She asked.

Octavia didn’t say anything, she just stared at the floor in shame. Sunset got up and walked to the counter, pulling out a small sub machine gun from under the sink. Tavi reached for the gun in her own pocket but before she could Vinyl jumped between them.

“Auntie, please. There’s no way she could have known it would lead to this. Please don’t do something you’re going to regret!” She screamed.

Sunset pushed Vinyl aside and thrust the SMG in Tavi’s hooves. “You have two hours to bring them to me. I want all of them, dead or alive. If you’re not back here by then, don’t you dare let me see your face again.” She turned away and ran to her bedroom with Berry chasing after her. She slammed the door and they could hear sobbing coming from inside.

“How could this happen? Why would you do this?” Vinyl asked her.

“We needed the bits and I needed the pills. I kicked up to Sunset, she just never asked what it was for. How else am I supposed to earn?”
Tavi asked.

“Shut the fuck up and let’s go before I knock your teeth in. I’m supposed to be the stupid one here, not you.” She said as she pushed her aside, heading for the front door.

Tavi looked shocked. “You’re coming with me?”

Vinyl just sighed. “Of course I am. Those bastards are going to pay and I can’t let you do this alone, now let’s fucking go already.”

Lyra piped up. “I’m going with you. I’ve gotta get back at these pricks for Sheen. He deserved a lot better than this.”
“Good.” Vinyl said as she walked out of the door. “Because we aren’t going to spare any of them and we need as many hooves as we can get.”

The ride to the house was quiet. The only noise came from Vinyl’s occasional sniffles and muttering curses under her breath.
Lyra was looking at her wounds. The sharp pain of the grazes had turned into more of a dull ache as the night went on. The only things that still really hurt were all of the glass cuts. She had tried to shake out most of it but there was still quite a bit that needed to be plucked later when she had the chance. She figured after this was all over, if they had survived, then she would need to see a doctor to get her wounds looked at. She could deal with it all then.

“What is the inside of this place like? What are we going to be walking into?” Octavia asked her, snapping her out of her focus.

“Um.” She thought. “The place is basically one long hallway with five rooms. Two on each side and one at the end. That’s where the main guys were. There were mostly just a bunch of passed out junkies in the other rooms.”

“How many?” Vinyl asked.

“I’m not sure. Maybe ten or twelve of the junkies and four in the back room, but who knows how many they have there now though. As far as the guys who were calling the shots though, they should be easy. Sheen blasted off one of em’s kneecap and cracked the other’s skull so they shouldn’t be much of a problem.” She finished slowly taking a deep breath.

“That’s good.” Vinyl said, almost sounding distant. “So here’s how this is gonna go down. It’s pretty straightforward. We are going to kick the front door in and go from room to room until everyone’s dead except for whoever the leaders are. You said there were two, right?” She asked Lyra.

“Yep.” She said. “They’re brothers, I think. They look alike at least if nothing else.”

“Wonderful.” She said. “Those two we’re going to take alive and bring back to Sunset, or at least one of them. No matter what, that has to happen.”

They both nodded. “There is a shotgun and two pistols tucked away in the trunk. Which one do you want, Vinnie?” Octavia asked.

Vinyl lit a cigarette. “I’m taking the shotgun. Lyra you can take the pistols. I don’t think there are any extra clips so take both of them in with you.”

“Got it.” Lyra said. She looked out of the window. “It’s two blocks ahead. On the corner. We should park a little down the street in case they’re waiting for us.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Tavi said as she got up to the street. She could see the small house on the corner. There didn’t look like there had been any extra security around the place. They pulled the car over and got the guns from the trunk.

“Should we cover our faces?” Lyra asked as they started walking towards the house.

“Nope.” Vinyl said, almost nonchalantly. “I told you, we’re out here to kill them all. And if for some reason they do get a look at us then they will know exactly who they fucked with and they can spread stories about the errors of their ways.”

“Whatever you say.” Lyra said as they reached the door. She took a deep breath. “You ready?” She asked the others.

Vinyl gave her deadliest look and raised the shotgun in her magic. “I’ve never been readier.” Octavia just nodded, repeating the sentiment. Octavia put the handle of the SMG in her mouth and turned around and bucked the door down with all of her strength.

As soon as it came in Octavia and Vinyl started walking down the hallway. “Clear the rooms. We’ll take the big one in the back.” Octavia said, turning to Lyra. “Use your knife until you have to. We don’t want to alert anyone until the time is right.” Lyra nodded and opened the first door.

There were three ponies in various states of passing out on the floor. She slipped the knife she had kept with her from a strap under her boots and started cutting their throats one by one. Every time she raised the knife she could picture Sheen lying there in a shroud of glass and blood. They all had this coming, and they would all die.

She had cleared the second room already and killed four more without any resistance by the time Vinyl and Octavia were posted up at the end of the hallway. She moved to the third room, which was the only one that had a closed door. She opened it slowly and saw a familiar face. The red pegasus who had killed Sheen was sitting on the floor, holding a needle in his wings as he turned up to look at her.

“No fucking way.” He said as she pulled her gun. He quickly jumped up as she shot and hovered above her, wrestling the gun from her magical grip and tossing it to the floor. He then jumped down on her and started punching her while still trying to hover off of the ground. She started hitting back but he was moving around too fast and couldn’t get a good hit.

As soon as Lyra’s gone had gone off Vinyl and Tavi prepared to enter the main room but before they could a shotgun blast shattered the door and sent them scattering to the rooms on the each side of the hall. Vinyl levitated her shotgun into the hallway and fired into the room twice.

She heard a scream come from inside, followed by a voice. “Who the fuck are you and what do you want? You don’t know who you’re messing with here. Just leave now and no one has to die.”

Vinyl laughed loudly. “That’s not an option!” She yelled. “Everyone in here but us is going to die and they are going to die right now!”

Octavia poked her head up and fired a few shots into the room as well. Getting a sight of what was inside before ducking her head back in. There were two metal desks that were overturned that looked like they could take a bullet or two before giving in. They would need to get up close and personal to make sure they got them alive.

When the other shooting started the pegasus was distracted and Lyra managed to buck him off of her. She extended her magical grip towards the pistol on the other side of the room but the next thing she knew he was on top of her again and he stuck her with the needle filled with whatever he was shooting up with. She could feel her muscles going numb almost immediately and her legs started to tremble.
When she lost her balance he delivered two quick punches to her face and got her on her back. He used his strong wing bones and started pushing with all of his force down on her throat. The drugs mixed with this were making her world turn dark fast. She looked left and right and spotted a small saving grace. Her knife was on the floor and just within hoof’s reach. She used the last of her strength and grabbed it, plunging into his side.

He let out a deep and bloody scream as he stood up, staggering away from her. She was coughing and her muscles were still loose but she still had some control. He was thrashing around and trying to get the knife out when she finally was able to barely pick up the pistol in her magic. By the time he realized what was happening she squeezed the trigger as many times as she could. The first one clipped him in the shoulder and he tripped over. The next four all caught him in the head and neck and he was left as nothing more than a twitching and bloody mess on the floor.

She stumbled up to her feet and immediately threw up on the floor. Her head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and she was having trouble keeping her eyes open She tried to stand up again but fell over against the wall, cracking the door frame.
Octavia looked back there. “You okay in there, Lyra?”

She barely heard it, it was like listening to someone talk through a tunnel. “I don’t know.” She yelled. “I got the one who shot Sheen but he shot me up with a needle of something. I think I’m gonna pass out.”

Tavi turned to Vinyl. “We’ve got to get her to a hospital. We don’t have much time. We need to wrap this up.”

Vinyl nodded. “Gotcha.” She said, lighting up her horn. The ponies in the room had stopped to reload and Vinyl used the time to grab the
two tables and throw them with all of her might. She wasn’t that adept at magic but her telekinesis was good enough. She saw the three ponies inside go flying across the room. She and Octavia both stepped into the hallway and started firing shots.

A dark green earth pony stood up to fire but Tavi sprayed him with her SMG until it looked like he was dancing before he flopped over. They heard someone yell from the room. “Fuck this. I’m sorry Light but I’m outta here. I’ll get help.”

They could see the window break and one of the ponies jumping out of it. They rushed into the room to find a silver unicorn with a cast on his leg crawling on the ground and reaching for his gun. “You little coward!” He yelled. “This isn’t how you treat blood! I’m going to get you for this!” Octavia ran up to him and put her barrel in the middle of his forehead.

“I’m guessing you run this little operation, then?” She asked. She didn’t give him a chance to respond though before hitting him with the butt of her gun.

“We gotta get the other one.” Vinyl said. They could hear sirens in the distance.

Tavi looked around. “There’s no time. Lyra said they’re related so I’m sure we can use one to find the other. The cops are coming and we need to get Lyra to a doctor, fast. I’ve got this one. Go get her.”

Vinyl sprang into action, running down the hallway and picking up Lyra, putting her on her back. She was passed out and covered with vomit. They didn’t have much time and she wasn’t planning on losing another friend today. Tavi had already picked up the unicorn on her shoulder and they ran out of the house as fast as they could, sprinting down the street to the car. Vinyl used her magic to put the keys in the trunk and open in while putting Lyra in the backseat and Tavi quickly tossed the unicorn in, slamming it as fast as she could and hopping into the driver’s seat before taking off into the night.

“Where is a doctor who’s friendly to Sunset in this neighborhood?” Tavi asked as she sped down the street.

Vinyl thought. “There’s one over on Meyer. It’s only a few minutes away from here. I just hope he’s home.”

Within five minutes they were there, their tires screeching into the driveway. They rushed out of the car with Lyra in tow and Octavia began pounding on the door. There was no response at first. “Get out here!” Vinyl yelled.

Finally the door opened. A weathered and old looking lanky stallion with a long gray beard stood before them. “Who in the bloody hell are you two and why are you banging on my door in the middle of the night?”

“Never mind who we are. All that matters is that we are associates of Sunset Shimmer and we need your help now.” Octavia said, staring him down.

“This is highly inappropriate. I know that I owe miss Shimmer but that doesn’t mean…” He started before Vinyl cut him off.

“We ain’t asking you, fuck face.” She put a pistol in his face. “We’re telling you. Our friend needs help and if she dies, you die. You got it?”

He stepped back a little bit. “Yes, of course. Come right in. What happened?”

Octavia stepped in. “Some junkie shot her up with a needle of something. We don’t know what but I think she is having an overdose.”
The old stallion just nodded. “I see. Well if that’s the case we need to wake her up as soon as possible if we are going to save her. Put her on the floor, I’ll be right back with something to take care of this.”

He went into the kitchen and they could hear what sounded like a refrigerator opening. He quickly came back with a long needle in his magic. “I need you to spread her out on the floor.” He said as he took the cap off of the needle.

“What is that?” Octavia asked.

“It’s adrenaline.” He said. “I need you to hold her hooves down, front and back and hold tight. I’ve got to stick her in the heart with this and it’s going to perk her right up.”

Tavi and Vinyl looked to each other then quickly held her down. Inside Lyra’s head she was having a wonderful dream. She was sitting with Bonnie on a bench. It looked like one that they used to sit on back on the outskirts of Ponyville. They hadn’t said anything to each other. They were just sitting and watching the sunset. Lyra was sitting straight up, something that Bonnie had always thought was weird but she had always felt that it was good on her back. She had her hoof wrapped around Bonnie’s leg, as she always did when they would sit together like this.

It was the happiest she had been in a long time, but there was something wrong. She couldn’t place it, but there was something that just wasn’t right. She looked over at Bonnie, who was smiling at her. Not a normal smile though, something was off about it. It seemed fake. Not just fake, but desperate. She tried to call out to her but the words wouldn’t come out of her lips. She wanted to ask where she had gone and what had happened. What had Sunset done to her? Were the Infinite Plains a real place? Was that where they were now? She tried to speak again but nothing would come. She looked over to the other side of the bench, which had suddenly gotten longer and saw Sheen staring at her with his cold dead eyes and blood running down his face.

The next thing she knew the light went out and she was lying wide awake on a cold floor, coughing and puking. She felt awake, wide awake and felt like she needed to run but she couldn’t move. Her body burned from top to bottom. She could feel every scrape from the glass, every punch that bastard hit her with and both of the bullets that had grazed her before. She was choking on her puke until her friends turned her on her belly. The colors of the world were finally starting to come back to her.

“Where am I?” She asked confusedly.

She saw Vinyl’s face. “You’re at a doctors house. He’s gonna take real good care of you.”

She sighed. That was a relief at least. “Did we get ‘em?” She asked.

“Pretty much. One got away but that’s only temporary.” Tavi said. “But you don’t need to worry about that now, dear. This stallion is going to take good care of you while we finish this business. You’ve been really hurt and he needs to look after you.” She turned her head up to the doctor. “Isn’t that right?” she asked.

He coughed. “Yes… Of course I will. We’ll have you better in a jiffy.” He reached for her front hooves with his. “Let’s get you up on the couch first and we can start patching you up.”

She only nodded. The adrenaline was wearing off and she was beginning to feel dizzy again. They all helped her onto the couch. After they had got her on the couch, Vinyl and Tavi turned to leave. Vinyl took one look back at the doctor. “Remember what I said to you, doc. If she dies, you die. I’ll hold you to that.”

The doctor only nodded nervously as they ran out of the door. They could hear some bumping around coming from their trunk as they hopped in the car and took off again down the street. Vinyl exhaled deeply. “What a fuckin’ rush, huh?” She said. Then she remembered why they had been doing what they did and started to tear up a bit.

Octavia sighed. “I’m so sorry Vinyl. I had no idea what I was thinking. I never meant for anything like this to happen.” She actually started to cry a bit herself. The full weight of what she had done was now setting on her shoulders.

Vinyl put a hoof on her shoulder. “I know you didn’t.” She said. “Sheen knew what he was getting into. He knew that something like this could happen at any time. I just wish you would have consulted someone about this before things got out of hoof.”
Octavia nodded. “I know I have a problem. I didn’t ever think it would get this far and I’m going to fix it. If Sunset doesn’t kill me first, that is.”

“Don’t worry about Sunset.” Vinyl said. “She’s devastated now, of course. She’s known Sheen since before either of us was born. He was like her brother. Those two and my mom were like best friends from what I had always heard. She’s going to need time to calm down and grieve. We all are. But she’s not going to kill you. She loves you like she loves me. Maybe she won’t trust you as much and maybe things will never be the same but she won’t kill you. I’ll see to that if I have to.”

Octavia sniffled. “I don’t know how I can thank you.” She said.

“Get sober.” Vinyl said coldly. “Drugs don’t suit you.”

After that the car was quite for the next twenty minutes except for a few times when the unicorn in the back would thrash around a little bit. Thankfully Octavia had the quick thinking to gag him before throwing him in the trunk or they would have had to worry about him running his mouth. They finally arrived at the warehouse. A place where all of Sunset’s unfinished business came to be wrapped up, and tonight would be no different. They pulled up alongside Sunset’s unit. Vinyl got out and unlocked the door.

“String him up with the chains. I’m gonna call Sunset and get her down here.” Vinyl said as she started walking toward the front gate.

Tavi sighed and unlocked the trunk. The unicorn looked up at her with a look of defiance that was barely concealing the deep fear in his eyes. “Alright buddy.” She started. “One way or another you are going inside this building. We can do it the easy way or the hard way. There is no third option, so which will it be?”

He just glared at her. “Really, dude?” She asked. “Why are idiots always so Celestia-damned stubborn?” She pulled her pistol out and cracked him on the head with it. Afterwards she picked him up and tossed him on her back. Within a few minutes, Vinyl was back and together they chained him up by his forehooves while they waited for Sunset.

Within a half an hour a car pulled up. Sunset and Berry both got out. She looked distraught but was no longer crying. Her face was pure rage. Even Octavia felt a little sorry for what Sunset would have in store for him. Tavi backed away as Sunset walked in.

Sunset approached her. “I’m sorry for how I treated you earlier, Octavia. I know what happened wasn’t your fault. Thank you for at least taking care of it. We’ll talk more about this later though.”

Octavia only nodded and gave her a quick thank you as Sunset walked past her and looked to the strung up unicorn. She looked over at Vinyl “Get the tools and a fresh barrel.” She said and Vinyl jumped to it with Octavia following along behind her.

Sunset used her magic to nudge the unicorn until he woke up. “So.” She started as she stared him dead in the eyes. “You’re the one who thought that it would be a good idea to fuck with me. Gotta say, I’m not impressed with what I’m seeing.”

Just as she had finished saying that, Vinyl and Tavi had returned with the cart of various tools (including knives, a saw, a screwdriver, a hammer and many other things that could make a pony wish they were never born) and the barrel which, after Tavi had opened it, the unicorn could see was filled with some kind of liquid that was steaming and smelled extremely bitter. His eyes went wide with fear and images flashed through his mind of the things that could be about to happen to him.

“Close the door, Berry.” Sunset said. “And someone take off the gag.”

Vinyl pulled it off with her magic and the unicorn began coughing and spit up a little blood. “Who are you? Why are you doing this?” He asked as he frantically looked around.

She gave a wicked smile. “So, you really don’t know who I am then?” she asked. He just shook his head wildly.

She started again. “Well then, I suppose you aren’t quite as stupid as I had first thought. Nevertheless, though, we find ourselves in this situation. My name is Sunset Shimmer and I am the most powerful mare who you’ve ever met or ever will. I don’t know who you think you are, but apparently you were selling things you weren’t supposed to be on my territory. Then when my friends, one of them whom I’ve known for over 20 years, tried to help you correct that mistake you tried to have them killed. And because of that, you’re here. Any questions?”

“If you’re so powerful, why haven’t I ever heard of you? And what exactly are you going to do to me?” He asked, apparently getting some of his courage back.

She smiled again. “Why you haven’t heard of me before is really not my problem. Maybe you aren’t as informed as you thought. As far as what to do with you, that part is simple. My friends told me that one of your buddies got out. And apparently they heard you say something about blood so I figured he was probably a family member of some sort. What’s going to happen now is you are going to tell me anywhere he would go and where we can find him. If you don’t do that I’m going to tear you apart, piece by piece and make you wish your mother had aborted you.”

He stared down at her. “And if I tell you?”

“Well.” She started. “Then I suppose my associates and I can go a bit easier on you. But that’s only if you tell me now. It’s your only chance. What’s it going to be?”

He was silent for a bit. Looking around at each of the ponies faces that were staring up at him he realized that there was no other option. He figured that there was no possible way to get out of this alive, but at least if nothing else he would make his last few minutes in Equestria a little less horrible then they could be. If this mare was as powerful as she said then it was only a matter of time before she would catch up with his brother. And that very same brother had just left him to die and didn’t deserve to live anymore anyways.

“Well.” He heard her say, interrupting his thoughts. “We’re waiting.”

He sighed. “Fine. You win.”

She frowned a little bit. “I was actually looking forward to taking the answer out of you by force, but I suppose I can save that for your partner. Now, what’s his name and where do you think he’ll be?”

He took a deep breath. “His name is White Lightning. He’s my brother, but for he’s more than dead to me now. As far as where you can find him though, I don’t know. Your little friends here killed pretty much everyone who know and destroyed our house. The only luck you might have is with our provider. Seeing as how you are such a powerful mare I’m sure you probably have heard of Neon Lights.”
Her smile instantly turned into a scowl. And he could see all of the other ponies in the room turning to look at her. She must have known exactly who he was talking about. He could see the anger behind her eyes.

“He ordered you to do this, then?” She asked, slowly and concisely.

He shook his head. “No. I barely even know the guy. He’s my brother’s friend or something. He just gave us the pills and said he could give us protection if we had any problems. My brother called him after your friends wrecked up the place last night and he told us that he would have our backs, but I don’t think my brother told him your name.”

She nodded slowly. “I see. So you don’t know where he might be now?”

“I have no idea.” He answered. “But he’s a fucking coward so I’m sure that he’s already gotten himself as far away from this city as possible. We’ve got some family out in Las Pegasus so maybe he’s going there. That’s all I know though, so that’s all you’re getting.” When he finished he hung his head down and stared at the floor.

Sunset stared for a minute. “Well. Thanks for that, I guess. You’ve made my job at least a little easier. And you can rest easy knowing that your brother is going to get exactly what’s coming to him and anyone who helped him will too.”
He looked back up to her. “So, what happens now? I can only assume that you won’t be letting me go. Where do we go from here, then?”

She chuckled. “That’s a good assumption. As far as what we’re going to do with you, you’ll find that out soon.” He could see her horn light up as she lifted one of the longer knives and held it up in front of his face.

He had hoped it would be just a quick swipe across his throat but he had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t going to be that easy. She started talking again. “You see that barrel over there?” She asked.

He nodded. “Do you know what’s in it?” She asked.

“Not a clue.” He said.

“That,” She continued. “Is where most of my problems usually end up. It’s an acidic compound that will turn any body into pretty much liquid maybe a few bones. And that is where you’re going.”

The fear of what was about to happen to him really started to set in. “I thought you said you would go easy on me.” He said with a quivering voice.

Her twisted smile returned. “This is going easy on you, dear. You wouldn’t want to see what things would have been like if it had been the other way. For you, this is as easy as it gets.”

She looked over to Vinyl and issued a quick command. “Open his mouth.”

Vinyl’s horn lit up and he could feel a deep pressure on mouth as it was being torn open. He tried to fight it but his magic was on the fritz after the earth pony had cracked his head. Once his mouth was open he could feel the magic grip around his tongue as it was being pulled out of his mouth and held out. He tried to shake his head but their magic was too strong and he couldn’t escape.

Before he knew the knife swiped quickly across it and through the hot and searing pain he could see his tongue now waggling and bloody in front of his eyes. He started screaming but all that was coming out was blood filled gurgles. He was thrashing his head around when he felt the chains start to unwrap around him.

Sunset motioned to Vinyl. “You hold his lower half and I’ve got his top half.” She then looked over to Berry. “When he gets in the barrel be ready to pop the lid on and hold on as tight as you can. We’ll all focus on it with you. Move the barrel over away from us so no one gets splashed.”

Berry lit up the barrel in her magic and gently pushed it about twenty feet away from them as Vinyl and Sunset began delicately lifting the flailing, gurgling mess of a stallion towards the barrel. Octavia got a smile on her face watching his eyes go wide with fear as they dipped his hind legs into it.

The pitch of his gurgles must have gone up at least three octaves in that moment and it took all of Vinyl and Sunsets might to keep him from thrashing out of their grip and tipping the acid over. The pitch got higher and higher as they finally lowered him down and Berry brought the lid down on top of it.

They all focused their magic on holding the barrel still and after a few small bumps around from the inside it finally stopped moving. Berry screwed on the lid the rest of the way with her magic as Vinyl and Sunset released theirs.

Sunset spit on the ground. “Well, now that’s over with. Let’s get the fuck out of here. I need to rest after this terrible night and I’m sure all of you do too. I’ll get someone on the Las Pegasus trail in the morning and we’ll start planning…”

She paused for a second. The next two words were some that she had never in the last 22 years hoped she would have to say. They came out though, “Sheen’s funeral.” She almost didn’t hear herself say it, like they were coming from someone else.

She took a deep breath and gave a sniffle. “Just relax for now. I’ll be in touch sometime in the next few days. I’m closing all business down tomorrow out of respect. After that though we need to go back to business as usual. Sheen would know it had to be done. I’m sorry things had to come to this, girls. But we’ll make sure that everything that breaths pays for this in the end.”

She didn’t say another word before walking off with Berry and hopping back into her car. Tavi and Vinyl didn’t have anything to say to each other either. Vinyl had at that point remembered that Rose was back at the apartment waiting for them and probably had worried herself sick by now that something terrible would have happened.

She looked down at her clothes. Her suit was had spatters of blood on them and would have to be tossed. She was sure that her coat probably had some on it too but she would have to worry about that later. She made a note in her head to make a quick stop at the club and having a shower before going home. She couldn’t believe that Sheen was gone, but she couldn’t think about that now. She just needed to get back to Rose. That would make everything all right.

That night both Sunset and Vinyl would end up crying themselves to sleep, one in the arms of a best friend and the other in the arms of her now fiancé. Lyra had fallen asleep almost immediately at the doctors house after he patched her wounds up and gave her a light sedative. Her sleep was entirely dreamless and black.

Octavia didn’t sleep until the moon was on its way down. She just kept thinking about what she had done to Sheen and how it had all been her fault. She thought on how close Sunset had been to killing her and how she would have been right to. She thought of how the mare who she had come to love had slipped through her hooves and was getting married and how she had no doubt driven her further away in letting this happen. She thought on all of this and considered jumping from the balcony before finally going inside and crushing two more pills in her hoof before snorting them down and finally passing out when the moon had crossed the horizon.
The only pony who never slept at all that night was White Lightning. He had managed to catch a ride with a late night taxi uptown and was now sitting at the gate of a fairly large compound on the upper-east side.

“Look, buddy.” The guard said to him from behind his glass booth. “I don’t really give a good fuck who you say you are but no one gets in here without an invitation from Mr. Neon himself. If you don’t have a meeting with him then you need to get lost now.”

“You look,” Lighting snapped back. “All of my friends and my brother are dead because of something that he told us so I don’t think I need any appointment. You can tell the big shot to get his ass out here now!” He screamed, beating on the glass.

“Again,” The guard said, keeping his cool. “He’s not even here and even if he was here I wouldn’t be letting you inside. So why don’t you just go home and chill out. I’m sure whatever problem you have can wait until morning.”

Lightning was an inch away from pulling the small pistol he had tucked in his coat and pointing it at the guard when a car pulled up the road
and into the driveway behind him. He turned and saw Neon behind the wheel and ran over to the car.

“Neon.” He yelled, beating on the window. Neon rolled it down slowly.

“Lightning?” He asked, confused. “What in Celestia are you doing here?”

“They came back for us.” Lightning started frantically. “Those ponies who hit us last night. We found one of them and shot up their car like you said but they came back. They killed everyone but me. They said they worked for someone called Sunset something, I don’t remember the name. All I know is that we fucked up big time and now I’m all that’s left. You gotta help me, man.”
Neon just started at him for a second. “Did they say Sunset Shimmer?” He asked, slowly.

“Yeah.” Lighting responded. “At least I think so. Why does that matter?”

He saw something in Neon’s eyes that he had never seen before. It was pure fear. “Get in the car, now.” Neon said to him quickly. He ran across to the other side door and hopped in as quickly as they could. Neon threw the car in reverse and started backing down the driveway.

“Where are we going?” Lighting asked.

“Shut the fuck up.” Neon said, coldly. “I’m taking you somewhere safe. You have no idea who you fucked with.”
He punched the steering wheel. “Why didn’t you tell me the name before you fucking moron?” He yelled.

“I… I don’t know.” He stuttered out. “I…just figured it was nothing. You are a made pony and no one can mess with you. I didn’t think a name would be important.”

Neon just shook his head. “Well, none of that matters now. I’m going to take you to a safe house I have in the mountains until we can get you out of town. If you killed someone in her crew they won’t rest until you are in more pieces than you can imagine. You’re lucky I owe you one from back in the day or I would put a bullet in you now and just be done with it. If she traces this back to me I am beyond dead, so consider yourself lucky that I’m a friend.”

Lighting didn’t really know how to process everything. It all had hit him at once. His life here was over, his budding empire, his friends and even his brother. He would never see any of them again. He might not even be lucky enough to leave the city alive. As they drove on into the night he tried to figure out just where he went wrong in his life and how he could have had such bad luck. At the same time, Neon was thinking the exact same thing.

Author's Note:

Another new chapter and this time it's a big one. This was my favorite to write so far and I think it came out pretty well. We now only have two chapters left before the big ending to the first act. When I was writing this story I wanted to treat it like a TV Show with each chapter being an episode. Chapter twelve will be the big season finale and things are going to get pretty crazy between now and then. So if you like the story stick around for more. Again any advice, comments or anything is greatly appreciated and thank you all for reading. Until next time.