Hitmares

by Shane1108

Chapter Twelve: To Live and Die in Canterlot

For Lyra, the next two weeks felt like they were going in overdrive. Every minute since she had left the club her heart had been racing and every night she would have the same dream. She would be in a place that looked like a bizarre version of Sunset’s office. They were discussing something or another; it was always different but never coherent enough for her to make out. All she could hear was her heartbeat in her head. It was so loud that it drowned out all the sound around her.

She was sitting in a chair opposite Sunset’s desk and was watching Sunset intently. She could feel the urge rising within her to strike out across the desk and start beating Sunset with every ounce of strength she had in her. That would have been a good dream for Lyra though, and these were always nightmares.

Before she could attack Sunset she would always look to her left and somehow, sitting right beside her would be Bonnie. Not the beautiful and elegant Bonnie that she tried so hard to remember as time went on since the last time she had seen her though. This Bonnie had dull grey eyes and looked like she had started to rot. Her tongue hung out of her mouth and her body was covered in cuts and bruises. Her once shining coat was dull and dirty and had countless bloodstains on it.

At this point in the dream things would always take a turn for the even more horrific. Bonnie would turn to her and open her mouth to speak. Before she could say anything though, Lyra would notice a large lump moving its way up Bonnie's throat. Lyra would try to cry out in horror but her voice never came to her. Then she saw them, the instantly recognizable, beady, red eyes of a rat popping its head out of Bonnie's mouth. The rat stared at her for a second and blinked a couple of times.

Then the rat began to speak to her in Bonnie’s voice. It always said the same thing every night. “We’ll be together again, my love. I’m waiting for you.”

Lyra had always snapped awake at this point in her dream and that time had been no different. She sat straight up in the bed, covered in sweat and looked around the room. Her eyes went to the locked front door (now equipped with a new dead-bolt, just in case) and then to the small pistol she kept just in hoof’s reach on the end table. When she realized that everything was alright she sat back on the couch and breathed a sigh of relief.

Her magic lit up and she grabbed the almost empty pack of cigarettes off of the table and brought one up to her lips. She had never really smoked much before but since the night at the club she had been going through a pack every day, sometimes more. She stood up and walked over to the fridge. She pulled out the remnants of a sandwich that she had made the night before. She took a bite but she didn’t feel hungry and put her cigarette out on it.

She knew that there was nothing that she could do anymore. It was time to face the facts. Living like this was driving her insane and she couldn’t keep up with this double life for much longer. They knew that someone was feeding CSIU information and it would only be a matter of time before they figured out it was her. She had seen enough of what Sunset had done to those who dared to cross her to know what would happen next. Aside from that she didn’t think that she could take another day of dealing with Sunset without wanting to kill her.

She had no other choice. She had to get out, and she had to do it now. She hadn’t met with Earth Song once since she had started and she didn’t want to call the number he gave her out of fear that someone might be listening. She would have to bite the bullet and get in contact with him as soon as possible and let him know that, one way or the other, she was out.

She felt deep down inside herself that she had a duty to stop Sunset but she also knew that one thing that Bonnie wouldn’t want her to do would be to get herself killed. She could go somewhere, maybe Vanhoover or Seaddle and start things over. She could change her name and open up another shop and keep all of the recipes that Bonny had worked her whole life to make going. She had enough saved up from what she had gotten from Sunset to keep herself stable for at least long enough to get set up. It could all work out, she just had to make sure she would be able to get out in time.

Across town, Vinyl was at the club, counting bits and taking inventory of what they needed to stock up for the night ahead. Since the night of the funeral she had been spending more time with her wife-to-be and a lot less time getting high. She would never have imagined being up at 9 in the morning almost every day, let alone doing anything other than drinking coffee and sitting in bed. She had already had breakfast and finished most of the account of the previous night’s take.

They were making money “hand over fist” as a griffin friend had once said to her, although she wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. What she did know though was that if they kept it up, she would be able to buy anything she had ever wanted for Rose and her to start their new lives together. After losing Sheen something had really clicked in her. She wanted to have a better life, not one that was full of as much violence and destruction that she had spent the last few months in.

She laughed a little bit to herself. She was actually starting to grow up. She pictured what the 18 year old version of herself would say if she could have seen what she would have become. She was almost certain that it would have ended in some kind of fight. She knew deep down though that it was all for the better. She wanted to be the pony that her wife thought that she was, which was honestly not an easy feat to accomplish.

She had done bad things, horrible things that most decent members of society would abhor the very notion of imagining them. And yet, she didn’t feel bad about it. She actually had enjoyed most of it. It wasn’t like she was some serial killer out prowling the streets. Pretty much everyone who she had put in the ground had deserved it, or at the very least knew that it was a possibility in their line of work.

She just knew that it was time to move on. If Rose had ever found out what she had done then there would be no chance for them. Rose was kind and decent, if a little clingy, but Vinyl actually enjoyed that aspect of her personality. It was nice to be wanted for something other than smashing, beating or killing for once. She knew that the urge to be violent would never fully leave her, but she was ready to at least put it as far on the back burner as she could though until she absolutely had to let it out.

As she was thinking about that she heard a knock on the office door and looked up to see a blue unicorn staring at her. It was the “Great and Powerful” Trixie as she liked to call herself. Although Vinyl, after having to deal with her for the last week would have rather called her the “Obnoxious and Absurd” Trixie. She had to admit though, as far as freelancers go, Trixie had absolutely gone above and beyond to help them take care of the situation that they had found themselves in.

Since she had Trixie and her crew come in from Manehattan, they had been pretty much working around the clock to track down the rat. Trixie had an entire crew watching the CSIU building and had someone assigned to follow around each of the agents as they went about their day.

She also had someone watching the club and Sunset’s office as well. She had considered having someone watching all of her crew too but after talking with Sunset they decided that it would be best if Trixie and Co. didn’t have anything extra on Sunset or her direct affiliates, just in case someone else wanted to use it against them later. They hadn’t turned up anything yet but it was only a matter of time at this point.

“Trixie needs more money.” She announced.

Vinyl didn’t look up from the books at her. “Why? What we gave you already should have been more than enough.”

“Trixie has to keep everyone under her employ happy. It’s been half a month already and these things don’t come cheap. The need food, apartments and equipment. Also, aside from the fact that Trixie has these ponies working non-stop, they are following government agents and if they get caught it could be disastrous for all of us. Trixie needs to keep them happy and keep them on point, and to do that Trixie needs more money.

Vinyl just shook her head. “How much, exactly?” she asked, finally looking up to Trixie.

“Another 20,000 should cover it, at least for now.” Trixie said as she came up to sit across from Vinyl on the desk.

Vinyl scoffed, giving an almost disgusted look. “Sweet fuckin’ Celestia. Do you think I’m made of bits?” She asked.

“Perhaps, not.” Trixie said with a sort of arrogant smile. “But Sunset is. Just get her to authorize it and everything will be taken care of.”

“This conversation is ridiculous.” Vinyl said as she lit a cigarette.

“I’ll tell you what.” She said as she blew some smoke at Trixie. “I know that you came highly recommended by our friends out in Manehattan and I’ll admit I’m pretty impressed with how much your crew can do and how dedicated they are. But, like you said, it’s been half a month now and we’ve still got nothing to go on. So If you can bring me something, anything at all by the end of the day, even just a hint to lead us in the right direction then I’ll give you the extra money and then some.”

The smug smirk was back on Trixie’s face. “Trixie’s prices are Trixie’s prices. You will pay her the extra by the end of the day or Trixie’s crew will pack up their gear and head back with her to Manehattan where we have plenty of other jobs waiting for us. The choice is yours, and Trixie will be waiting to hear back with your decision.”

Without saying another word Trixie stood up and walked out of the office, leaving Vinyl fuming behind her. Normally she wouldn’t take this kind of shit from anyone, let alone some random bitch who should have been showing her some respect. She took a deep breath and put her hooves on her head and counted down from ten. It was a new technique that Rose had taught her and it actually seemed to work, although she really felt like throwing he glass that she was drinking out of against the wall. She held herself together though and decided that she might as well just let it go and give Sunset a call.

As the sun rose up towards the center of the sky, Lyra had called Earth Song earlier in the morning from a payphone down the street from her house and told him that they had to meet as soon as possible. He had taken his car, a nondescript black sedan, into an alley behind a Neighponese restaurant where he waited for her. She was wearing a coat and a black hat that was pulled down low. She got in the car as quickly as he could and he could see just how disheveled she had looked.

“Dear Celestia.” He started. “Are you okay, kid?”

“No.” She blurted out. “I’m gonna make this quick because I don’t have a lot of time. Sunset knows that someone in her crew is a talking to CSIU and it’s only a matter of time until they find out that it’s me. They’ve been watching everyone and everywhere. For all I know they’ve got someone watching us right now.”

Earth Song just shook his head. “The case isn’t ready yet. We need more.” He said with an almost cold tone.

She looked shocked. “More?” She asked, her voice raising a pitch. “More! Are you fucking with me right now, dude? Did you not see any of those recordings that I sent you? Like the one where she straight up ordered me to put a bullet in Skag’s head? Or maybe you happened to catch the one where I got twenty solid minutes of her torturing someone before dipping them in a barrel of Celestia-damned acid! How could you possibly not have enough?” When she had finished she was almost screaming in his face.

“It’s not just Sunset.” He started. “We need to get all of them together in a meeting. Once we can tie her and all of the rest of them together we can take them all down.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Lyra said. “I don’t think you heard what I was saying to you. I’m not asking you for permission, I’m telling you that I’m out and I need your help if I’m going to make it out of here alive. There’s no time left and I can’t wait any longer. If she finds out about me then I’m going to end up chopped up in a dozen pieces and dipped in acid. That’s not going to happen to me!”

She was starting to freak out so he put a hoof on her shoulder. “Listen, kid. I can get you out but it’s going to take some time. I don’t know how long but I’ll get to work on it as soon as I can. I need to get you set up with a new identity and a place to go. It’s not just something that I can throw together but I’ll try as hard as I can. I just need you to keep your head down and don’t make any noise until I can get it dealt with.”

“It’s not good enough.” She said. “I’m having panic attacks multiple times a day and I haven’t slept for more than a few hours in almost two weeks and when I do it’s nothing but the same horrible nightmare. I can’t do this for another day. I’m going to give you until tonight to get it sorted. By the time Celestia brings up the sun tomorrow I’m going to be out of Canterlot, one way or the other.”

She didn’t give him much time to react before opening the door and starting to step out. “Call me when you figure it out, but it has to be tonight.”

She pulled her cap down tight again as she stood up and began to walk out of the alley. She noticed something though, just out of the corner of her eye. She thought she might have just been mistaken at first but she was sure she saw someone sitting across the street behind a group of dumpsters a little ways away towards the corner. It looked like whoever it was had a small camera and was taking pictures of them.

She kept walking for a few seconds and checked behind her as slightly as she could and she saw him again. He was a younger stallion, probably a little older than she was and sporting a dark purple coat with a button up shirt on hover it. He was trying to be inconspicuous but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Or maybe she was just so paranoid that he had no chance of not being seen.

She wanted to panic and run but she knew that it wouldn’t be an option. She had to keep a cool head and think things through rationally. If Sunset got those pictures she would be dead before nightfall. That couldn’t happen, and there was only one sure-fire way to make sure that it didn’t happen. She would have to get her hooves on that camera. She took a deep breath and formulated the best on the fly plan that she could come up with in the moment.

She started walking away from him, pulling her hat down further and crossing the busy street. He seemed to be done with his photo taking and was walking the opposite direction away from her down the street. He didn’t seem to notice her looking at him as he made his way down the street. She crossed over back to his side and sunk into the alleyway behind where he was walking. She would peak her head out each block to make sure that she was still on his trail.

After about four blocks of staying behind him he finally turned into the alley that she was on. She quickly hid behind a parked car and watched him go up the steps into a second floor apartment. As soon as she saw him go into the building she sneaked as quickly as she could towards the door behind him. He walked down the hallway and up a second set of steps.
When he unlocked the door and went inside, Lyra sneaked up behind him and quickly shut the door. When he turned to face her she had reached for the closest blunt object that she could from the table next to the door. It was a small desk lamp with a heavy brass bottom. She brought it up and swung down as hard as she could but the stallion jumped backwards out of the way.

“I hope you’re ready to die, you stupid bitch.” He shouted at her as his magic lit up, producing a blade from his pocket and holding it up in front of her face. He jumped forward at her but she managed to dip left around him in the narrow hallway that lead to the apartment’s tiny living room. She swung the lamp again but he backed up out of the way just in time.

While she was still reeling from her attempt he jumped forward at her and swung the knife. She managed to bring the lamp down again on his back but as he fell under her he cut her all the way down her left hind leg. She shouted in pain as she hit the floor. The lamp she was holding fell out of her grasp and before she could reach for it again in her magic, she saw that the stallion was about to drop the knife he was holding down on her with full force.
She rolled away just as his hooves came down, leaving him to crash on the floor face-first.

She quickly jumped on his back and started punching him as hard as she could in the back of the head. She reached for the strap of the camera that was still around his neck and twisted it around while punching him with the other hoof. He tried to buck her off but every time he would move she would hit him again.

With the camera now facing her she used her magic to pull on it as hard as she could until the strap started to strangle the stallion. His eyes went wide and he started to buck wildly and reach for his throat. Lyra wouldn’t let up though and just pulled harder every time he would try and move his body.

Just when she was sure it was over for him the force of her magic tore the strap and sent the camera up into her chin. She tasted blood in her mouth as she bit down hard on her tongue. The stallion was now gasping for air and using the rest of the energy that he had left in him to try and flail as hard as he could to get her off of him.

It wasn’t working though and Lyra concocted a new plan on the fly. She lifted the camera up with her hooves and started smashing it as hard as she could against the back of his head. She figured it would be the best way to kill two birds with one stone. She would get rid of her would-be photographer and his evidence at the same time.

After a few hits, the stallion was moving around less and less and finally Lyra brought the camera down one last time, as hard as she could on his head. The clear, wet thud of a skull being cracked rang out in her ears and blood splashed into her face, something that before the events of the last few months, would have led to her most likely vomiting or running away in disgust but now only lead to her letting out a long and satisfied sigh as she rolled off of the stallion to the floor.

She took a few deep breaths as the adrenaline that had kicked in the second she started the fight started to wear off. As the last of it was going she started to feel the searing pain that cut had left down her leg and the sharp sensation of her tongue beginning to swell up in her mouth. She moved it around in her mouth and noticed that two of her front teeth were seriously chipped, with one of them being almost completely knocked out.

She spit a mouthful of blood on the ground and stood up slowly. She limped her way into the bathroom where she was hoping to find a first aid kit. What she found instead was a darkroom of sorts set up. There were dozens of pictures hung up and drying. They were of all manner of things from the CSIU headquarters to various pictures of Earth Song doing various things. She didn’t have time to look too deeply into it though, there was a dead stallion in the living room and their fight must have caused quite a ruckus. She grabbed the lone towel that hung on the rack and wrapped her leg with it before limping her way out of the house and back into the alley with the camera tucked in her coat.

The sun was on its downward arc in the sky a few hours later as Sunset and Berry were sitting in Sunset’s office drinking their evening tea and discussing the situation that they were being faced with in finding the rat before he or she was able to testify against them.

“We’re getting nowhere.” Sunset said with a frown.

“Don’t worry.” Berry started. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about Trixie. She knows how to track ponies down and getting what’s needed out of them.”

Sunset frowned. “That damned Trixie might just be the most ridiculous mare that I’ve ever met. I’ve met some pretty strange ponies in my day but her over the top arrogance and always talking in the third person really take the cake. Did you hear how much more money she’s asking for?”

Berry just nodded. “I know she can be a bit…..unorthodox but she comes highly recommended. They say she worked in Celestia’s secret service before getting involved with our way of life. Supposedly she learned all types of different spying and interrogation techniques in there. That’s why they pay her as much as they do.”

Before Sunset could respond, her phone rang. She put down her teacup slowly before picking up the phone.

“Talk to me.” She said in a flat tone.

“It is I, the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The mare on the other line almost shouted.

Sunset made a disgusted face and pushed the phone away from her ear while Trixie finished shouting her name.

“What’s up?” Sunset asked. “If you’re calling about the money then I don’t have an answer for you yet. I haven’t decided whether we’ll be retaining your services or not.”

Trixie laughed heartily which caused Sunset to frown again. “You may want to hold off on that until you hear what Trixie has to say. She has some news for you.”

Sunset sat up and quickly motioned for Berry to close her office door. She did and when it was closed she put Trixie on speaker phone.

“What news do you have?” She asked.

“Trixie knows how we can find the rat, and she knows how we can do it tonight. I just need you to get your contact in the royal guard as well as someone else who you trust and pick Trixie up in a limo of some kind as quickly as you can.” Sunset could almost hear the arrogance dripping from Trixie’s voice as she spoke.

“What?” She said. “That doesn’t make sense. Why can’t you just tell me what you have now and then we can meet up to discuss it afterwards?”

Trixie scoffed. “Because if there is one thing that The Great and Powerful Trixie has learned in her time in this business is that there is nothing quite as fun as adding some showmareship into things. It makes everything much more exciting. Just do what Trixie said and Trixie will see you at your club in 45 minutes. Don’t be late.”

Before Sunset could say anything else, Trixie hung up. She looked to Berry. “Do you believe this idiot?” She asked.

“A sense of showmareship makes things more exciting.” Sunset said in a tone mockingly imitating Trixie’s voice. “Just who in tartarus does she think she is?”

Berry just shook her head. “She’s a unique one, that’s for sure. So are we going or not?”

Sunset had no objections and got on the phone with Flash as quickly as she could, instructing him to meet her at the club in half an hour. When she got off of the phone she reached into her desk and produced a small pistol.

“I don’t know what we might be walking into in there and I don’t trust that blue egomaniac as far as I can throw her, so let’s just be on the safe side.” She said as she checked the clip to make sure it was loaded.

Berry just nodded. “Agreed.” She said. “Now let’s get a move on.”

As the sun was beginning to set, Earth Song was sitting at his desk, looking over all of the notes in the case that he had been spending almost all of his time building on Sunset Shimmer and her associates. He couldn’t believe that Lyra had wanted out so badly, especially considering the circumstances that brought her into the program in the first place. He had a wife of his own and couldn’t imagine what he would do if something like that had happened to her. Maybe her instinct to survive was overcoming her desire for revenge. He had poured through the video that was sent to him and he had seen enough to know that Sunset Shimmer was not a mare to be trifled with or taken lightly. He still got shivers remembering some of the things that he had seen.

It wasn’t enough though. He had enough to put her away of course but someone else would just pop up in her stead. Even with her whole crew gone there were plenty of other ponies waiting to come out of the woodwork and take her spot. He needed the whole ball of wax. He needed all the heads of the five families together in one room conversing and talking about their plans. Then he could bring them all down.

He couldn’t just let Lyra walk away from all of this. The video evidence wouldn’t be enough without her sworn testimony in court and he needed her around to get closer to the inside of the group. She was a bright, young and ruthless unicorn and that was all it took to make it inside the Sconoscutio ranks. She just needed to hang in there. He had no doubt based off of her appearance though that she would most likely try to run off but he figured if he could talk to her again then he could calm her down. If nothing else he could arrange for her to get out of the city until things calmed down and then bring her back. Give her some story to tell about going off to find her missing wife or something while she laid low. He just didn’t know how fast he would be able to put something like that together in.

For now though it was time to eat dinner. He put away all the files on his desk and locked them up. He tossed the key in his pocket and put his coat on before heading out of the door. As he started walking down the street towards the diner he loved to frequent he noticed a car following behind him. As soon as he turned the corner away from his office it pulled up beside him and stopped. It was a long, black limousine. The back window rolled down and he spotted the face of the mare who he had spent countless hours looking at in photos and videos. It was Sunset Shimmer herself and in the flesh.

“Get in the car.” She said coldly.

“Excuse me?” He replied confusedly. “Do I know you?”

She scoffed. “Cut the shit and get in. If I wanted to kill you, you would have already been dead. Trust me, you’ll regret it if you listen to what I have to say to you.

He nodded slowly and checked his pocket with a brush of his wing to make sure his sidearm was still there before opening the door and getting in. As he sat down he noticed Sunset moving across to sit facing him. With her was the pony who she had recognized from the videos as Berry Shake and a pegasus stallion that he had seen before but couldn’t place where along with a blue unicorn mare that also looked familiar.

“What’s all this about?” He asked. “Are you hear to offer me a bribe or something because that’s not…”

Sunset held up a hoof and stared him dead in the eyes. “This isn’t the part where you talk. This is the part where you listen. Don’t say a word until I’m finished.”

The intensity in her eyes would be enough to burn right through the Crystal Mountains themselves. He felt fear rising in his heart and sat back in silence.

“Good.” Sunset said. “That’s what I thought.”

She cleared her throat. “You may have heard that earlier today there was a murder just down the road from here. A stallion was found brutally beaten to death in his apartment sometime this afternoon. Did you know about this?”

He shook his head. He hadn’t heard anything about it and wasn’t sure where she would be going with this.

She continued. “That certain stallion was an associate of my blue friend here.” She pointed at Trixie.

“The details of his death aren’t really all that relevant. What is relevant though is why he died. He died because he had taken some pictures of someone that he shouldn’t have and whoever that was made him and took him out. I know that you know who that was and what I’m talking about so I’m going to make this really simple for you. Give me a name and we can end this conversation without any unpleasantness.”

He processed everything that he was taking in. He must have been watched when he had met up with Lyra in the afternoon and she must have found out and killed whoever was watching them. How they had any idea about his role in it though he still didn’t know and thought that maybe they could just have been bluffing.

He straightened up in his seat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said. “I would have heard of a murder so close to here and I have been in my office all day since sun-up.”

Sunset chuckled. “Okay. So you want to do this the hard way then? That’s fine by me.” She motioned to the blue mare who handed her a closed manila folder with his name written on it.

“The reason you didn’t hear about the murder.” She started. “Is because my associate here paid good money to cover it up. Not only that but she paid good money to recover what else was in that apartment. There’s no use in being coy with you at this point so I’m going to just lay it all out on the table. I’ve been following you and all of your CSIU buddies nonstop for the almost three weeks now, every hour of every day. I hadn’t received a report from my agent in the field on you yet and had he not been beaten to death this afternoon I’m sure he would have had some great information for me.”

She passed the folder to him. “Go ahead, open it up.” She said with a devious smirk.
He already knew what was coming but prayed with everything that he had in him to Celestia that it wouldn’t be what he thought it was. As soon as he started sliding the pictures out of the packet though, his worst fears were realized.

They were all of him, going in and out of a seedy looking building and some of the inside as well. He knew what this was leading up to but couldn’t bring himself to look through all of the pictures.

Sunset caught onto this and smiled. “I know the owner of that place, you know. She pays one of my affiliates for the pleasure of operating a brother in this part of town. I’m sure you already had an idea about that though, since you seemed to be so frequent of a visitor there.”

He pulled more of the photos out until he saw the damning one that he knew was coming.
Sunset’s smile grew wider. “Of course then, you must also have known that the specialty of that specific brothel is something that even some of the most deviant of the deviants won’t touch, but it looks like it’s exactly what pulled you in.”

He looked at the photo in horror. He couldn’t believe that he was looking at himself doing it and he could feel the shame and disgust rising in his chest.

“How old is that filly?” Berry asked. “Twelve? Thirteen maybe? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You would have thought that someone with a job like yours would know how to cover their tracks a little better.”

A tear fell from his eye onto his face. If this were to ever get out his life would be over. He would go to prison. He would lose his wife and his kids. He would lose everything and then some.

He gave a dejected look. “What exactly do you want from me?” He asked.

Sunset looked at him dead in the eyes. “Two things. First of all you are going to tell me who the rat is. Secondly you are going to take all of that footage that you have stored of whatever we have been up to over the last couple of months and you are going to erase it all and leave none of it behind.”

“I can’t do that.” He said, flatly. “Please, you don’t understand. I’ll lose my career and Celestia only knows what you’ll do to the pony who has been working with us.”

She shook her head. “Maybe this isn’t settling in with you fully yet, if you don’t do that then these pictures go out everywhere. We’ll have copies sent to your wife and kids, to your office and to the royal guard. We’ll send it to every local paper and news source and everywhere in between. This is your only chance to stop that from happening. So what’s it going to be?”

He thought long and hard about it. Either way his life would be ruined. If he gave the information it would be to a lesser degree but everything that he had been working towards would be gone and Lyra would most likely suffer a horrible fate once Sunset got her hooves on her. Then again though, if the pictures got out he would be wanted by everyone in the kingdom, and he knew what they would do to someone like him in prison. He took a deep breath and slowly moved his head up from the pictures to look Sunset in the eye.

A few minutes later he was dropped off in front of his office. He had a dejected look on his face and tears streaming down out of his eyes as he went inside. He ducked away from all of his coworkers and quickly went back to his office, closing the blinds and locking the door. He reached for his phone and picked it up with his wing.

Back at the bakery, the place was in shambles. There was blood staining the hardwood floors all over the place, especially in the kitchen where Lyra had managed to clean and close her wound. There were also clothes and items thrown around in disarray. Clothes and trinkets were stuffed haphazardly into a large suitcase and Lyra was currently trying to stuff as much money into the bag as possible as well but was having trouble. She wanted to take a few things of Bonnie's that were special to her but she had limited space and was starting to lose her mind about all the things that she would have to leave behind.

She was interrupted by the phone ringing. She stopped dead in her tracks and rushed over to it. She picked it up but didn’t say anything, she only listened.

“Lyra? Hello?” The familiar voice of Earth Song came through the phone.

“I need you to listen to me and listen carefully.” He said.

She stayed silent.

“Sunset knows about you and she’s coming for you.” He said quietly.

The words sounded like a bomb dropping to her as her heart fell through her chest.

“H..h…how?” She asked, barely able to speak.

“It doesn’t matter” he replied quickly. “What matters is that we need to get you out of the city and we need to do it tonight. If you can find a way to meet me on the west side of the castle grounds then I can get you out of here tonight. I’ve made an arrangement with some members of the royal guard to take you to the outskirts of the city where you’ll meet up with some agents who can take you to Vanhoover. If you want to go though you need to leave right now and get here as quickly as you can.”

Her heart was racing at a thousand miles a minute. “Why should I go with you? Why can’t I just go by myself?” She asked.

“Because I can get you set up with a new identity.” He said quickly. “Do whatever you want, but they know about you and they’ll be coming for you soon. I’m going to get things prepped for this transfer. It’s going to take a lot of pull but I know I can get it done. The only stipulation is that, when the time comes, I need you to come back to town and testify against her.”
Lyra thought it over. It seemed like a good enough plan, but what if they couldn’t protect her? She probably had enough money to buy a new identity if she needed to and she could run as far away as the Crystal Kingdom if she wanted to. She did think that it would be the right thing to do to testify against Sunset though. She needed to be stopped and that might be the only way to do it.

“Look kid.” Earth chimed in, breaking her chain of thought. “I can understand if you don’t want to do it this way but you need to do it one way or the other and you need to do it now. I’m going to the castle now to get things ready. If you aren’t there in 90 minutes I’ll assume that you chose option B. Either way you need to make sure no one sees you get over here. If you are going to go my way just take the basic essentials and some cash and I can have the rest brought to you later. Either way though it’s time to go. Hopefully I’ll be seeing you soon.”

She paused, still unsure what to do but chimed up the only thing she could think to say. “Thanks for the heads up. I’ll probably see you soon. If not, I’m sorry that you won’t get my testimony but I know that there will be some way, some day to put her where she belongs.”

She didn’t wait for a response before hanging up the phone and running to the table where her pistol sat. She quickly started taking clothes out of the suitcase and began stuffing them into her saddlebags along with all of the money that would fit. She pulled out the small necklace that Bonnie had given them for their last anniversary and put it around her neck, kissing it for good luck before pulling a black hoodie over her head and tightening the strings. She was ready and it was now or never.

She sneaked out the back door and down into the alley. She walked between the alleyways as quickly as she could without breaking into a full on sprint. When she was safely away from her now former home she gave it one last look before hailing a cab. She sat down and closed the door. The driver had asked her where she wanted to go. She didn’t realize how long it was taking her to answer before she finally piped up.

“I need to go the castle. Near the west gate entrance.” She said. And with that they were off.
A little less than an hour later they were there. Lyra offered the driver a heavy tip and got out of the cab. She walked down towards the end of the parking lot where she saw Earth Song’s car and a van waiting. She saw him smoking a cigarette and sporting a nervous look. A thought passed through her mind at that moment. Maybe meeting up with him was a bad idea. He never told her how they knew that she was the rat. Maybe he was working with him. If ever there was a chance to cut and run this would be it.

She thought about it but eventually decided that she needed to finish at least something of what she started with Sunset if Bonnie was ever going to get any kind of justice. She sealed her resolve by placing a soft magic grip around the pistol in her hoodie’s pocket before approaching the cars.

Earth Song noticed her and put out his cigarette before walking up to her. “I honestly didn’t think you were going to show, but I’m glad you did.” He said with a genuine, if exhausted looking, smile.

“I wasn’t sure either.” She responded. “I just know that I have to do something right by Bonnie or all of that necessary evil would have been for nothing.”

He nodded while lighting a cigarette. “I’m glad you feel that way and I’m sorry that you were put in this position in the first place.”

She gave him an acknowledging nod before asking. “What’s the plan here?”

“Oh.” He said. “The plan is pretty much like I told you on the phone. There’s a guard in that van waiting to take you to the edge of the town. I have a contact waiting for you there to talk you into Ponyville for the night before heading out to Vanhoover tomorrow. From there I’m not really sure what will happen but I’ll find a way to keep in touch with you to let you know when it’s safe to come back for the trial.”

She looked over to the van. “Is he ready to go now?” She asked.

He nodded and she walked up to him, giving him a hug. “Thank you.” She said. “For trying to give my wife at least some justice. I won’t forget this and I promise when the time comes I’ll be back.”

As the hug finished and she walked over to the van to get inside she could see what looked like tears on Earth Song’s face but she couldn’t make it out all the way. She hopped into the back and tried to get comfortable on the seat.

“Ready to go, Miss?” a stallions voice called out to her. The driver was a pegasus who looked familiar but she couldn’t place where she had seen him before. She just figured that he was someone who she had seen at the CSIU offices at some point or another. She didn’t give an answer, only nodding her head as he started up the van and backed up out of the parking lot.

She had started to feel relaxed for the first time in what felt like forever on the long ride to the outskirts of town. She just stared out of the window and watched the city that she had spent most of her life in, the city that she and her wife had come to conquer, go by for what would most likely be the last time in a long time. She wasn’t sad though. All she could think about was the beatings and the murders that she had witnessed or taken part in right on those streets and longed for the time when she would be able to put them all behind her.
She had begun to doze off when the van finally came to a stop, which shuffled her out of her daze.

“This is it.” The driver said. “Let me get out first and make sure it’s safe, then I’ll have you follow behind me.”

She nodded and watched him walk out. The car waiting for them was black and looked like it had seen better days. He motioned for her to come out as he started heading back to open the doors for her. When the door opened and she looked to the car she saw something that made her heart drop. It was Vinyl and Octavia, getting out of the car with machine guns drawn on her.

She started to panic and lit up her magic to reach for the gun but before she could grab it the driver hit her on the horn with a baton. Her vision went fuzzy and she saw a chip of her horn fall in a spray of blood into the dirt before she fell over and things went black.

The next thing she knew, she was sitting on a bus and watching Canterlot go by. She had realized that leaving Earth Song behind was the best choice and that doing things on her own was the only safe way to get out of the city. She sat back and relaxed in the bus seat. Her troubles would be over soon and she would be starting a new life. She looked to her right to see that a cream colored hoof was on top of her own. She followed the hoof up and there, sitting right beside her, was Bonnie.

Before she could react her eyes shot open. She was awake and was tied to a chair. Her vision was still fuzzy and her head was on fire. She tried to move but her magic had failed her. As her eyes adjusted she could see a large pool of water that went off to the massive waterfall that went down Canterlot Mountain. She knew then that there would be no way she would ever be leaving that spot alive.

“Look who’s up.” She heard Vinyl say. Her eyes were able to focus on the mare in front of her and if she turned her head she could see Tavi standing off in the distance. The guard from before was nowhere to be found and neither was the van. They had moved to the falls after she had been knocked out.

“So it was you all this time, huh?” Vinyl asked.

Lyra didn’t say anything so Vinyl punched her hard in the stomach. Lyra started coughing and almost threw up on herself from the pain. She resolved her mind. If she was going to die then it would be on her terms.

“WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FRIENDS YOU LITTLE TRAITOR BITCH!” Vinyl screamed in her ear before punching her in the ribs.

“I CARRIED YOU OUT OF THAT DRUG DEN AND BUSTED YOUR ASS TO A DOCTOR ALL FOR THIS? SHEEN FUCKING DIED FOR YOU, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT” Vinyl continued, landing blows on Lyra with every few words that she spit out into her face.

Lyra coughed and finally had mustered up the will to talk.

“Did you know?” She asked, weakly.

“What?” Vinyl said. Her rage momentarily broken.

“Did you know?” She asked again. “Did you know that monster aunt of yours had my wife killed? My sweet and beautiful Bonnie. Your awful bitch aunt had her killed and then tried to use me to pay back her debts.” She was crying now.

“Did you know what she did to my darling wife? My only real friend in the world? Did you know?!” she screamed out at the end.

Vinyl didn’t answer, she only stared at the ground.

It all clicked in her mind then. They both knew. They had both known the entire time. From the moment that first morning when Bonnie hadn’t come home, her supposed two best friends had known that the light of her life was already dead. The tears flowed freely as everything fell into place.

“Who did it?” She asked through her tears.

Vinyl still didn’t answer.

Lyra shook her head through her sobs. “It was you, wasn’t it? You’re a monster! How could you be so heartless? We were your friends for Celestia’s sake!” At the end her sobs were so loud that some of her words were almost unintelligible.

“I’m sorry for what happened.” Vinyl said, the rage now gone from her. “It was just business and I regret it every day.”

Octavia looked at her, stunned. As if she couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.

Lyra continued to cry like she hadn’t since the first few days after hearing Sunset in her office confirming her greatest fear.

“I know it was wrong.” Vinyl continued. “But you should have known once you got mixed up in all of this that it couldn’t have ended any other way. It would have always lead to this no matter what.”

Lyra sniffled. “What if it was Rose?” She asked. “Wouldn’t you have done the same thing?”

Vinyl stopped dead in her tracks and sat down. Octavia stared at her, trying to read the emotions that were passing over face at a rapid pace.

“Answer me.” Lyra piped up through her tears. Her voice had steadied.

“Yes.” Vinyl whispered.

“What?” Lyra said. “I can’t hear you, you broke most of my fucking face, in case you forgot.”

“I SAID YES!” Vinyl shouted as she stood up again. “If it was Rose I would have killed whoever was in my path, no matter who it was.”

Lyra began to cough up blood. “Then just let me go, please. You see now why I did what I did. Just let me go on and live my life. I just want to live on in her memory to make her name and her recipes worth something. Can’t you just give me that.”

Vinyl didn’t say anything at first and Octavia gave he a cold stare.

“Maybe you’re right.” She finally said.

Octavia looked shocked and walked over to them. “You can’t be serious right now, can you?” She asked.

She stepped closer to Vinyl. “I know that this is unfortunate that things had to end this way and yes maybe you would have done the same in her spot but that doesn’t change the facts. She’s a rat and if we let her go Sunset will most likely kill us both.”

“You can tell Sunset that I’m dead.” Lyra piped in. “It’s not like she could verify it one way or the other anyways, right? Just let me go and you’ll never see or hear from me again, I swear it!”

Octavia smacked Lyra. “Shut your mouth.” She said with an ice cold tone before turning back to Vinyl. “You aren’t actually going to take a risk like that are you? Are you high right now?”

Vinyl scoffed. “You’re one to talk about that. Besides, Sunset would never kill me or you for that matter. I’m made now, remember? And she’s my aunt.”

Tavi laughed bitterly. “What exactly do you think being made means? Being made means dealing with exactly these types of situations. If someone, anyone were to find out about this they would kill both of us for sure and maybe even Sunset if they thought she knew about it. Lyra is a rat, Vinyl. You know the rules and you took the oath. She has to go. If you can’t do it, then I will.”

Octavia pulled out her pistol and began to point it at Lyra. Lyra’s heart started beating faster and faster as she closed her eyes, trying to picture her wife’s face one last time.

“Stop!” Vinyl said, causing Tavi to put the gun down and turn to her. “She may be a rat but she is still right and I know that I would have done the same in her place. What we did was horrible and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself, but I know that I can at least make it a little bit better by letting her go.”

Lyra opened her eyes. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Don’t be a fool, Vinyl.” Tavi said, her anger rising. “If you let her go you’ll kill us both. Is your conscience feeling a little better worth your life? Think about something for once before you do it!”

Vinyl’s eyes pierced into Tavi. “I’m the made one here, so I make the shots and I’m telling you that I’m letting her go and we are going to tell Sunset that we put her in the water and that is final.”

Tavi scoffed. “You are absolutely unbelievable, do you know that? I hope she’s worth it.”

“Let me worry about who is worth what.” Vinyl said as she walked over to Lyra and began to untie her ropes while Octavia walked back towards the car in disgust.

Lyra felt her arms becoming free and she knew that this would be her one chance. As much as she wanted to sprint away from here as fast as she could she knew in that moment that destiny had other plans. Her wife’s killer was right here within her grasp and she couldn’t let her go. She had to get her revenge for Bonnie, even if it meant never leaving the mountain alive. She knew that she had no other choice.

As soon as her arms were free she wrapped them around Vinyl and reached for the gun that was tucked under her pants. Vinyl made a small shout and tried to back up, but before she knew it there was a loud bang and her ears were ringing.

She looked up to see Lyra staring at her, but she wasn’t moving. She had stopped her attack and was now perfectly still. She then say a trail of blood coming out of her ears and then a small one down her eye as she collapsed into Vinyl in a heap.

Vinyl rolled her off of her and stood up, looking down at the fresh new hole that her mint green friend had acquired in the back of her skull. She rolled her over to look at her one last time.

Lyra’s vision was fading fast and she couldn’t feel anything anymore. She looked up to see Vinyl staring down at her with an almost perplexed look on her face. Her thoughts were disjointed and becoming less coherent by the second. She just remembered thinking that she failed and how sorry she was.

Then though, something amazing happened. As the edges of her vision turned to white around her she could see Vinyl fade away and the beautiful visage of her wife staring back at her. She was as pristine and heavenly as the day that they met and was giving Lyra her warmest smile. It was the smile that always picked her up on even her darkest days.

“It’s time to come home, my love.” Bonnie said to her. The last thing that she ever felt was a tear roll down her eye and the faint and fleeting feeling of a smile coming to her face before the fading edges took hold and the white faded to black. Her troubles were finally over.

Vinyl looked down at her former friend. Staring as her chest rose and fell one last time before reaching up a hoof to her face and wiping the blood that had splattered from the wound off of it. She looked back to Octavia who still had the pistol in hood.

Octavia just shook her head. “I’m sorry it had to end this way, but like I said, there was no other choice.”

Vinyl took one last look down at Lyra before walking back to the car. She looked at Octavia as she passed. “Shut the fuck up and deal with that.” She motioned towards Lyra’s body as she reached for the passenger door of the car.

Octavia sighed and put the pistol back into her coat pocket. She walked over and wrapped one hoof each on one of Lyra’s back legs and drug her over to the edge of the shore before taking one last look at her and rolling her body into the river. “Bon Voyage” She said in a cold tone before going back to grab the chair that was left behind to throw in too.

She lit a cigarette and watched Lyra’s corpse bob in the water until it eventually went over the falls. It was sad that things had to end this way for her. They were good friends and the thing that happened with Bonnie should have never gone down, but it wasn’t her place to make that call. She was an outsider living by the unicorn’s rules and if she wanted to make money and survive she would have to make sure she played by them, no matter the cost.

She was starting to shiver. The winter had yet to be wrapped up all of the way and it was still almost frigid outside. She thought that maybe it was going through light withdrawls from being off of the pills for the last few days. She just pulled her coat tighter to her chest and tossed the cigarette butt into the river as well. It was just another cold night in Canterlot. As cold as it gets.

Author's Note:

So here we are, after a three month break, the grand finale of the first act. What took so long? You may ask. The short version is my computer's motherboard got fried and I had to buy a new one. I lost almost all of my documents including all of my outlines for this chapter and the whole second act. Also I probably re-wrote the final showdown between the three of them about 10 times before settling on this one.

Time for some fun facts. Lyra was always going to die. Right from the very beginning planning stages of this story (almost 2 years ago now) she would have never made it out of being a rat alive. I actually considered letting her go as I wrote this chapter because she came to be my favorite character throughout the course of writing the all of this but her death had to happen for the story to continue on the path that I had planned it to.

Anyways, thank you all for reading and giving feedback on the story so far. We have a short interlude to tie up about 6 months of time in the story before act two starts that should be up next week some time and then we'll be right back into it. As always any feedback, comments, etc. are more than appreciated and thanks again for taking the time to read my epic (200 pages on the word document) tale of ponies and gangsters.