Of Laurels & Lace

by WritingSpirit

Voyager's Arc: Academia Nox

*BANG*

Dresden clicked his gun, letting the empty shells clink onto the stone floor, his back arched against the stone wall with his breathing slightly rapid.

He glanced to his side, watching Harmony trying to calm down the terribly shaken Pinkie Pie, who was already shivering with fright on the floor.

He peered out, yet jerk his head back as a bullet ricocheted from the granite walls, cracking a few rocks in the process. Without hesitation, he returned the gunfire, hearing the bullets only bouncing off the structures as a response.

"Damn these..."

"We can't just stay here, Dresden!" Harmony shouted, which only added to his frustration as he replied back with an infuriated scowl:

"One move and we'll all be dead!!"

Another gunshot whizzed past his ear, striking into the wall right beside the pink unicorn, who let out a gasp.

A ringing sound filled their heads, the high-pitched whining only making them stumble, everything else around them thrown into merely a muffled echo. Time seemed to slow with every move they made, their breathing growing deeper and deeper with their vision becoming a blur.

The voices shouting beyond the cavern seemed to be fractured in their ringing ears, the three ponies only able to make out:

"... shot her!... Watch where you're..."

"... at us first! For Celestia's sake...

"... doesn't matter! You could've killed her right on the spot, Sidus!..."

"... have to understa- BEHIND YOU!!"

*BAM BAM*

The loud, sudden gunshots, evidently from a different revolver, jerked them back into reality, the witch doctor hastily lifting himself up.

Pinkie peered out at the alleyway, watching the butler exchanging shots with...

"Charter?" she muttered out of surprise.

The pegasus seemed to have noticed her, as his eyes widened towards the three and shouted, his hooves frantically waving about:

"QUICKLY!! GO!!"

In an instant, the three of them galloped down the avenue, the loud voices bellowing behind them only making their efforts of escaping even more frantic.

"THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!!"

Dresden, Harmony and Pinkie hastily jumped over the wreck of a lamppost in their way, bullets whizzing through their manes and striking the thin iron pillar. Before their pursuers could spot them, they quickly jumped into one of the derelict buildings at the side, quickly ducking beneath the broken windows.

They held their breath as a cluster of shadows galloped past their hooves, before breathing a sigh of relief.

"That was too close," the stallion of the group stated, earning nods from each mare.

"We'll have to regroup with Charter and Primrose, I guess."

"They could be anywhere, Dresden," Harmony quipped.

"Plus, we can't just step out into the open like that! We might get caught!"

The stallion was about to reply, before another clatter of hooves made him stop.

They laid back under the window, their hooves tensing and their breaths halting with their eyes watching shadows dancing about the musty floor.

"Where the hell did they go?" one of their hunters scowled.

"You'll never know."

Along with a reply, there was the clack of a gun, along with a loud clink of empty shells tinkering onto the floor.

"We know that there are two split groups for us to find. Sidus is already hunting the pegasus down."

"And what of us, Stellar?"

"Winter would not be pleased at his marefriend for that," the butler replied, making the mare in question cover her mouth in a silent gasp of denial.

"Caduceus, you take the alleys. We'll meet up at the main plaza."

At the end of the sentence, the shadows immediately parted, prompting the hiding ponies to sigh with relief once more, the burden quickly fading back to dust.

"They'll find us if we stay here any longer," Pinkie whispered to the rest, with Dresden peering out the windows.

With his gun at the ready, the cyan pony stepped out, glancing at both sides of the pathway, the slate avenue obscured in the thickening fog. He beckoned his head for the mares behind to follow him, before gazing back to the front.

Silently yet hastily, the three of them clambered down the misty path, their eyes gazing warily into the open, before slipping into the engulfing darkness of the alleys, letting the veil of the shadows conceal them.

Harmony suddenly clutched her head, the other mare turning at the instant she groaned in pain, her teeth crunching into a pill of anxiety.

The stallion soon turned as well, his worry growing frantic as she stumbled, her face nearly slamming into the ground if not for Pinkie's instinctive grip on her friend's hooves.

"You sure you're okay, Harmony?" he asked.

"I-It's normal," she managed to stutter, before her voice was reduced to hissing grunts and muffled slurs.

Another loud gunshot blasted through the air; the loudest they had heard so far, which pierced straight into their eardrums and making the three of them turn.

Dresden looked up towards the towering structures all around, biting his lip. His past experience with weapons already made each sound of the gunshot distinguishable. With something this particularly loud, he thought to himself, there was no mistake what weapon that was.

Something that the Voyagers don't have.

"Looks like our 'friends' have a sniper."

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Primrose yelped with a hop, nearly dropping her gun out of sheer terror as a bullet bounced off the pavement, narrowly whizzing past the edge of her skin.

Charter quickly pulled her behind one of the many crumbling walls, firing multiple shots at one of the many taller, crumbling buildings, though missing their hunter entirely.

He quickly turned back, his chest heaving. Drawing back his pistol, the pegasus quickly galloped after the caramel mare, who already went ahead into the confusing twists and turns of the alleys.

From above, a small bullet whisked past his ear, shattering one of the few intact windows in the ruins.

"Prim!" he shouted at the mare, who instantly turned towards him.

"Get down!!"

At the second she did that, another of the lead projectiles barely grazed her mane, before stabbing into the brick wall behind her.

"Why are they shooting at us for?" she snapped.

"Doesn't really matter now, does it?"

The two of them crawled across the narrow lanes, standing back up only when they took a turn.

Charter's head emerged from the walls, glancing back at where the sniper had nestled, expecting the unmistakable glint of his lens at the ready.

"He shifted his position," the pegasus concluded, cocking his weapon, his badge gleaming on his chest.

"I don't think we'll see the likes of him for a while."

There was a relieved sigh, before Primrose popped a question:

"Did they say where we would meet?"

"I'm not entirely sure they would've said something amidst the chaos."

The pegasus opened his gun, letting the empty shells bounce onto the ground.

"We need to rendezvous somewhere close to an exit."

"Which one?"

"Well, judging from the loud rumbling noises earlier, I'd say they came from the North gate; the one that probably leads back to the palace, yet I'm sure it just collapsed a moment ago."

He glanced around the transcending buildings, trying to recollect the faded parchments of Axle's diary.

"We came from the West, which I'm sure is not a good idea to go back. The East Gate may lead us into the middle of Fountain Square and, knowing its reputation for the ponies swarming there, that would be out of the question."

Primrose pondered at his words.

"Which means that leaves us..."

"The South Gate: the one that leads to Academia Nox."

The name itself was already enticing to the two ponies. Neither of the Voyagers had never stepped or even got a glimpse of the esteemed academy for the long-forgotten assassins. Charter himself heard that it was like high school: there's different classes, you'll meet different friends and share rooms.

No doubt making enemies was on the list as well.

"We'll have to signal them towards the south," he concluded, his wings ruffling up.

"Though I'm positively sure we would be spotted by the rest of them as well."

Without another word, Charter started to hover into the air, his wings lifting him up towards the stalactites that hung above, the formations threatening to slice through his body.

He gazed down at the ruin below him, like how the Patriarch - he scowled at that - would do the same to the modern equivalent standing firmly above his head.

With a crick of his teeth, the pegasus soon spotted it.

There, far beyond the borders of the town, was a stately, institute-like building, with its presence a flustering yet welcoming sight, its doors wide open. His eyes shimmered at the sight.

The fabled academy of Sicarius Nox.

Looking back at the alleyways, Charter quickly pointed at that direction for Primrose to see, the caramel mare quickly nodding in response.

His focus diverted on the remaining three of his friends. They could be anywhere in the maze right now and the faster he could spot them, the better.

Another loud wave of gunshots nearly made him wince, though his attention it had obtained made him turn, before he smiled triumphantly.

Charter quickly hovered back down to the alleys, Primrose galloping up to him with a worried look on her face, her hoof still shivering anxiously with the gun clutched within.

"Where are they?"

The pegasus just beckoned her forward, towards the direction of the academy, though she needed a cynical look to force the answer out from behind his seemingly devious grin.

"South."

"They're heading south."

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The lead projectiles flew between their hooves as the three Voyagers raced down the narrow lane, hearing the turmoil of shouts springing from behind.

Dresden whirled around, firing three more rounds, before continuing his retreat with the mares, his hooves fleeting past the ravaged town.

Skidding to a halt, the three quickly took a sharp turn, the dust kicking from underneath their hooves. There was a loud cry from behind, forcing them only to gallop faster.

Pinkie scrunched her lips, her eyes darting from left to right. Her rapid search soon stopped as her eyes fixated on one of the darker alleys straying away from the path they were on.

"This way!!"

The pink mare was the first to swerve right in, Harmony following closely behind.

Dresden, however, galloped quickly, though he was not fast enough to stop what was coming next.

*BAM*

He yowled, tripping over onto his face. Craning his neck towards the back, he gritted his teeth, wincing at the blood leaking out from his right hoof.

Biting his lip, the stallion dragged himself towards where the mares went, before feeling a set of hooves pulling him in.

"You're shot!" Pinkie exclaimed, aghast at the blood flowing out, already starting to form a red puddle on the floor.

Harmony quickly rushed to his side as well, helplessly watching her friend clutching tightly onto his hoof, evidently in deep, agonizing pain.

"Just... get it out of there!!" he scowled, biting his lip.

With a pink glow of her horn, the mare directed it towards the wound.

"Pinkie, help him relax," she ordered, in which her friend complied by gripping Dresden's hoof.

"Now," she turned towards Dresden, her face extremely somber.

"This would sting a little..."

Biting his lip, the stallion tried not to scream as he felt his hoof start to boil.

He covered his mouth; all of the torment scorching throughout his body thrust into his head, shattering it into shards of anguish into misery, before leaving it through his muffled scream.

Writhing in the twisted hell, he felt Pinkie's grip squeezing even tighter, her worry flourishing in his suffering. The skin around his wound was like blight, already turning a grandiose color of red as blood poured in gallons out of the yawning gap like waste.

In one last magical tug, the bullet finally dislodged, skimming up to the reddened surface and gleaming, emerging out from the wound in a minuscule fountain of crimson.

Dresden's chest heaved, sweat falling across his hooves. The twisting ordeal had left him breathless, relief sweeping into him as Harmony let the bullet go, watching it roll in its bloody trail into the cracks of the walls.

"Thanks, Harmony..." he managed to gasp.

"Don't mention it," she replied, though somewhat halfheartedly.

"How can we get out of here?"

There was an instant reply, this time from Pinkie.

"Over there! At that building in the walls!"

The rest turned, spotting the refined building looming in the distance.

It stood tall in grandiose magnificence, almost overshadowing the town with its surprising lack of damage, the most prominent one being the roof completely ripped off, with only a few fragments left standing.

Their interest, however, were caught by the stone door etched into the cavern walls. It was an exact replica of the one they had stepped out from back in the ruined palace, with the exception of the moss growing around its columns.

"There's our exit," Dresden just said, the two mares lifting him up.

The stallion limped forwards, fresh blood still trickling down his hooves. He tried not to yelp out in his excruciating pain, cursing inaudibly under his breath.

Pinkie just glanced forward, her concern not only for her friends beside her, but for Charter and Primrose as well.

"Please let them be alright..."

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"Almost there, Primrose!"

The loud gunshots chasing from behind nearly made her want to scowl at the pegasus, the two ponies galloping towards the dreary openness, the slightly radiant light of the fungi growing from above illuminating the frantic faces of their pursuers, as well as their glinting revolvers.

Charter whirled back with steeled resolve, gritting his teeth as he pulled the trigger, firing three rounds more, before hearing the sound of empty clicks.

With a grimace, he threw the revolver away, his focus now more on fleeing.

"Blasted hypocrites!"

Primrose merely chuckled, the two ponies straining their hooves without delay as the forsaken academy rose up from the horizon.

"There it is!" the caramel mare exclaimed, pointing towards the building.

The clatter of their hooves echoed down in the disturbing silence, before another loud, different gunshot blasted through the air.

"Charter!!" Dresden called to his friend with a wave, the stallion hurriedly limping with Harmony shooting at their pursuers. Pinkie rushed up to them as well, the bright smile on her face filled with exaggerated relief.

There was a loud yelp of pain as they turned, watching Harmony being brashly kicked towards the floor, her hooves pinned down by the strong, firm grip of Sidus Sirenheart, with her gun sliding to the side.

"You..." he spoke, breathless. "You guys r-really make it hard for us..."

"And what of it?" Harmony sneered defiantly.

"Do you need us to run again?"

In response, there was the resounding click of guns, with Caduceus being the first to speak:

"I'm sure you're aware of the authority here, don't you? If I recalled, it was one of your friends..."

He glanced to Dresden, who just scowled under his breath as the doctor continued:

"... you, I guess. That had the nerve to fire at us first."

Charter's face darkened with a frown, scanning the three ponies that stood before them.

There were the two he had seen around town, though he only knew one as the family doctor. Persimmon herself was there as well, clearly in a more somber and irritated mood.

The Patriarch and his butler, however, were nowhere to be seen.

"It seems the five of you really did a bit of studying."

Caduceus lit up a cigar, letting out an amused chuckle.

"No simple pony would just wander around and know where the Gates are."

"Doesn't really matter now, does it?" Charter scowled.

"Enough with this."

Sidus pressured his hoof down, making Harmony wincing and yelling out in pain. The rest of the Voyagers began to shift, stopping only when the doctor raised his gun towards them, letting the retired assassin continue:

"We're all curious on who you're working for. Speak up."

"None of your concern."

"Try me, pig," he scowled, his gun aiming towards the mare under his hoof.

"Sidus!"

The loud shout of the assassin's name made all of them turn, watching as Winter Palgiot stepped forward from the ruins, his gun raised with his expression furious. Stellar was behind him, his own revolver tucked somewhere in his suit.

"Let the mare go," the Patriarch ordered.

"And let them escape? Have you had any idea what the heck they've done?!"

"Sidus Sirenheart!!"

The roar of the usually gentle stallion made all them look in surprise, taken aback by his harsh reaction, especially Harmony, who could feel the pressure on her hooves lightening.

"As Patriarch of Pendant Lakes," Winter barked. "I order you to let Miss Peridot go."

There was a snarl, before the mare in question was released.

Sidus harrumphed with a glare at the mare, who quickly edged next to Pinkie.

"You're a lucky pony..."

Winter turned to the Voyagers, still wearing a cold frown.

"Now then," he grumbled.

"Explain."

"Well..."

Charter stepped forward, his hoof raised, before another voice cut in.

"Step back, Charter," Harmony demanded, much to the surprise of everypony else.

"He's the one who needs to explain, not you."

"What do you mean?"

The Patriarch's face turned into confusion, watching as the mare stepped up towards him, giving him an intimidating stare.

"You told me no more secrets, Winter. You told me you wouldn't hide any single thing from me."

The pink mare gritted her teeth, advancing furiously towards the stallion, the latter's butler raising his gun as a warning.

"I thought you were different from your family! I thought of all the things we'd done together, there would not be a problem in hiding secrets anymore!"

"Wait," Primrose cut in.

"What do you mean 'all the things we'd done together'?"

Sidus couldn't help but burst out in laughter.

"Y-You didn't know?"

Both her and Charter shook their heads, with Dresden growling under his breath.

"Your friend, Harmony here," he began with a snicker, much to the annoyance of the pink unicorn.

"She's the esteemed marefriend of our great Patriarch himself!"

The caramel mare tried not to gasp in surprise, her eyes widening at Harmony, who started to cringe.

Charter, however, remained silent. His eyes gazed down at her, his brows furrowing into a cold grimace.

"We'll talk about that later," the pegasus muttered, which only added to her irritation.

"See, Pinkie?" the pink unicorn mumbled, her friend immediately perking up.

"This is what happens when you tell a secret; a secret that was meant to be hidden from ponies such as this bunch. Once you tell them, that's it. Everything just falls down..."

"Harmony..." Pinkie called her name, though the mare seemed to ignore it.

"Now you'll understand, Pinkie."

The unicorn's cold words made her look up in surprise, the Voyagers gazing at her friend, who whirled towards Winter and their bunch, all standing defensively.

"That there are times when a pony has to say it's enough. When a pony, one that was always left out, always talked about behind her back and always living a solitary life, had to have her stand."

"Harmony~?" Winter tried, his tone quivering with uncertainty.

"TERRA FRACTURA!!"

Her horn suddenly flared an unnatural red, which made everyone look in horror. Harmony's eyes burned with untamed rage, with black steam seething from her hooves.

A scarlet beam blasted from the tip, smashing into the rocks above. A loud rumble rang throughout the cavern, before being quickly followed by the collapse of the ceiling, hailing down in bountiful, copious amounts.

There were shouts from everypony except Harmony, who glared at Winter.

She saw his flushed face of concern once more, before a rock finally crashed into her view.

"Harmony!! What the hell!!" Dresden shouted once the collapse stopped.

"You could've killed us!!"

"I DIDN'T, YOU INSOLENT SNOB!!"

Her outburst practically shocked all of them, with Pinkie being the most afraid.

She could see it: the bloodlust and demented rage building with every heave of the unicorn's chest, the red aura of her horn becoming noticeably darker and darker.

"H-Harmony?"

"L..." she began, before groaning, feeling her head pounding.

"Let's just get out of here..."

After a moment, the five of them started to trot towards the looming, foreboding building of Academia Nox, the building stood with its doors eagerly awaiting their entry.

There were a few doubtful glances, most particularly around Harmony, who seemed to have calmed a little, though her twisted rage was still showing.

"Blackguard..."

Charter immediately turned at the voice.

"Did you hear that?" he asked the rest.

They soon stopped in their tracks, already on the large set of stairs with their ears perked up.

The hollow, shadowy silence only enveloped the atmosphere, before a loud hiss from around suddenly flew through their heads.

"... broken apart..."

That voice... it sounded unnatural...

The five turned towards one of the buildings, immediately bewildered at the faint glow of yellow light from the windows, though what laid behind the tattered curtains seemed more disturbing.

The patch of light flickered, revealing the silhouette of a pony, seemingly watching them from behind. A multitude of inaudible whispers fluttered through everypony's head, though it was Charter that stepped out first.

With a gesture of silence, he crept towards the window, with one hoof reaching through the shattered glass and the other clutching tightly at his revolver. The rest could only watch, their hooves tingling with delirium.

In one swift move, the pegasus tore the curtain aside, before freezing with a sigh.

There was a white, stark naked mannequin, sitting in a regal position, as if waiting eternally for another of his equally lifeless partners to join him.

"It's okay," Charter called back to the group, before edging closer towards it.

Suddenly, its head turned, with cracks starting to form around its mouth.

Launching out, with its hooves pressing onto the ledge of the broken window, it rose from its seat, its gaze directed at Charter, who was already tumbling back in horror.

Right into his face, there was a small growl, before the mannequin's jaws (if there were any) yawned open in a loud, hellish shriek, with splatters of black spilled across the terrified pegasus's chest.

Out of instinct, Primrose took out her revolver, screaming as she fired three times, all of them hitting the monstrosity of the mannequin's head.

Black spurts of ink spilled from the cracks, the lead bullets lodged in its face, before the suddenly flexible mannequin fell onto the floor, still leaking the dark juices with its hooves still writhing.

Charter quickly stepped back to the group, the Voyagers all looking around in horror as a loud cacophony of slamming doors and shattering windows erupted from all around.

From the derelict buildings, more of the mannequins emerged from the darkness, their lips salivating with ink dripping across the pavement. They crawled like zombies, their faces devoid of any features with the exception of their mouths, their tongues a bright blood red and their teeth gleaming with their horrendous saliva leaking down to each tip.

"QUICKLY!!"

In an instant, the five of them galloped up the stairs, with Dresden whirling back despite his injured hoof, shooting at the white, hysterical mob chasing from behind.

Pinkie jumped into the door first, pulling the cyan stallion in. Charter flew in last, slamming the door behind him.

The white hooves of the lifeless dolls blasted through the seams, though the pegasus pounded against the door harshly, cracking some of the hooves in the process, the fractured ones immediately filling the floor with puddles of black, the retching liquid seeping into the cracks on the floor below.

With a powerful, harsh kick, a torrent of wood immediately collapsed in front of the door, the stallion jumping away just in time.

Primrose glanced back at the white mannequins, who were trying their best to barge inside, their pounding a suicidal attempt from their fragile bodies, all shattering with ink spraying out into the open.

"What the hell was that?!"

Harmony was the one who answered, having read the history of Pendant Lakes before.

"What Ravine Palgiot, the first Patriarch, had built," she said with a wrinkle of her snout.

"A mannequin town."

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Present Day

"West Wing! They've infiltrated the West Wing!"

"Then what the buck are you all standing around for?!!" Caduceus shouted.

"Reinforce the ballroom as well! The guests must not be alarmed of the situation!!"

"Yes, sir!"

The doctor shook his head once the soldiers took off, trying not to slam himself on the head.

"Colts these days..."

"Caduceus," a voice crackled, prompting him to reach backwards, clicking the red button at the side.

"Have you gotten them out of there, Stellar?"

"The princesses are safe," was the reply, making the doctor sigh with relief.

"Though their numbers are increasing by the moment."

There was a brief moment of silence. Caduceus just scowled, before continuing:

"Where the hell did that mare find all these ponies?"

"I have no idea, though I'm not surprised."

Stellar's voice suddenly echoed in a deep chuckle, which only made his friend blink in surprise.

"What is it, Stellar?"

"I don't know... it's just..."

A long sigh slipped through the crackling radio, followed by his reply:

"Sidus would've been overjoyed to see this right now."

Caduceus couldn't help but laugh at his friend's statement.

"True," he agreed, "though that colt would be too stubborn to help us out."

A loud, deep laugh emanated from the other pony.

"Still the sly Caduceus I know, eh?"

The doctor only hummed in response, before asking, his serious tone flowing back immediately:

"What of Winter? Is he doing a good job?"

"So far so good, perhaps."

"What do you mean by that?"

The doctor let out a feeble chuckle, feeling his hooves tingle with anticipation.

"The Patriarch's still flirting with her after all this while?"

He suddenly whirled around, his gun raised with two clicks on the trigger, watching with grim satisfaction as a pony slammed towards the floor, sliding towards him with a path of red leaking behind.

"You could say that," Stellar replied, unfazed by the loud gunshots.

Caduceus smiled, before spitting at the lifeless body, his hoof smashing into the mask and making it crack.

"So," he began, reloading his gun with a resounding click.

"Just like old times, eh?"

Another two gunshots erupted, though this time from the crackling radio.

"Yep," Stellar replied meekly with a nostalgic sigh.

"Just like old times."

"So... what's your score, Lionheart?"

The moment of brief silence made the doctor snicker, followed by a tease:

"Too scared to speak now, eh? The years getting into your head?"

In response, there was a chuckle, reminiscent of old rivalries and past challenges.

"First one to reach fifty takes the throne. Up for it, Brineheart?"

Caduceus Brineheart just grinned, his pistol at the ready. Now that's the Stellar Lionheart he know!

"Bring it on~!"

Comments

[WritingSpirit]

Phew! I'm not dead yet!
Chapter 61

Sorry it took such a damn long time~! A little preoccupied with stuff.
Next chapter will be a lot faster

[Fury of the Tempest]

A secret... secret's can hurt when they are revealed...
But sometimes, it is HOW the secret is revealed that hurts the most.

We finally find out what the city was... but who shot first? Was it Desderen? If so, WHY?

Questions answered, but questions still remain...

[MasterSpike]

Lots of action happening so far. Also, will the next chapter have more to be said on the Dragons in Canterlot?

[WritingSpirit]

1503969
That will be answered, though its a very simple answer actually.

1504203
The dragons will be mentioned, though there would not be any significant progress on Kane's back-story.
Depends though. I'll see what I can do

[Fury of the Tempest]

1507843
Who shot first and why you mean?

[WritingSpirit]

1508983
Yup!