14 - End of the Road (Tragedy Part 1)
CEO’s Office, Severn Valley Industries - Heartstrings, Marelund
1st of Plantation, 29 AE
The office’s outer wall could have been mistaken for a sheet of old steel. Smooth, glossy, reflecting the luxurious retro furniture which filled the sprawling room’s floor, and the vintage artwork which adorned its other three walls. The only hint of it not being made of metal was the simple fact that it was completely barren. With not one single decoration of any kind.
If Heartstrings were in any other nation on Equis, the wall would have been made from steel. It would have had to have been. But this was Heartstrings, the center of Marelund. The wall was in actuality a window.
A window looking out into the semi-permanent smog storm which engulfed Marelund’s capital, which had raged for the last nineteen lifetimes. Outside the city’s environmentally sealed buildings, a pony with the best eyes nature or science could produce might be able to see the hoof at the end of their outstretched leg. If they didn’t choke on the granular air first, since they’d have to take off their protective mask to see even that much.
One would wonder why a city in such a place would even have buildings with windows. Truth be told, most did not. The sheer expense of cleaning one made such seemingly simple things prohibitively expensive. Natural sunlight on those rare days was a princely luxury within these lands.
This was Heartstrings. This was the office of Mister Padock, the CEO Severn Valley Industries. This was a place few people wanted to be.
The office’s airlock hissed, and slowly opened, permitting two uniformed Pacification Agents to wheel in a single pony strapped to a dolly.
The agents were nothing special, black riot gear, full face gas masks with self-cleaning enchantments. More spellrods strapped to them then seemed either safe or necessary. The usual.
But the pony strapped to the dolly… She was something special.
Not many prisoners are transported bound in a full straitjacket and leg irons, while also muzzled, ratchet strapped to a steel framed dolly, and sealed with a large paralysis hex glyph sewn into the barrel of their jacket. Of those extremely few, most were unicorns, the rest were earth ponies of impossible strength.
She was a pegasus. A yellow one. With a matted, grungy, bright red mane and tail which looked as if they hadn’t been washed, let alone trimmed or styled, for three hellish years. For that is exactly what had happened.
The PAs wheeled the dolly up to the large dark colored wood and brass desk in the center of the room. The one on the left levitated a large packet of papers from his saddlebags and set them on the desk, well away from the other piles.
“Mister Padock? Sign here please,” the Agent requested.
The large chair behind the main desk turned silently, revealing a very ordinary looking unicorn. He had the most unusual sort of appearance. The sort nopony could remember for more than a few minutes after looking at him.
The most anyone ever remembered about Mister Padock was his black three piece suit. More specifically, the yellow tie he wore. It’s not every day you see a tie so ordinary and inconspicuous, yet so memorably unsettling.
Mister Padock plucked a quill pen from one of the inkwells on his desk, and quickly signed the papers presented to him.
“Are there any other forms?” Mister Padock asked with an aloof sigh. “This is an international purchase.”
“No sir,” the other Agent replied. “Central Processing takes care of that. She’s all yours. I recommend you have security unlock her. Here are the keys.”
The first agent reclaimed the signed papers while the second tossed a ring of three keys onto Mister Padock’s desk, followed by a small iron rod which would short out the paralyzing glyph.
“That will be all, Agents,” Mister Padock commanded, turning his chair back around.
The two agents nodded and wordlessly left the room. The airlock shutting tightly behind them, immediately sealing. After all, if that window broke, well... The gases outside were often quite toxic.
Mister Padock waited for several minutes before turning his chair back around, his bland eyes looking into the prisoner’s hardened, hateful, near-manic gray orbs. She expected him to blink. He didn’t.
His forgettable eyes seemed to stare right down into her very soul, meticulously analyzing every iota of her being with casual indifference. Her hateful eyes slowly widened, as with each passing second Mister Padock’s message became more and more clear.
He understood her as deeply as could be. And he found her to be… Disposable.
The mare broke eye contact, her mind needing to focus on anything other than the casual indifference to her existence this stallion exhibited. Her eyes found one of the many pictures on the walls. A simple painting, a black field with but a single odd glyph painted in a dull yellow.
A backward question mark pointing down. A fishhook-like swirl pointing up and to the left. A not quite straight thorn, almost like an exclamation point, pointing up and to the right. All arrayed in a triangular pattern, sharing the same splotchy dot as a point of origin. She knew that glyph well.
“My grandfather has the same painting,” Mai Xii said, doing her best to sound conversational rather than afraid.
She almost succeeded.
“Indeed he does,” Mister Padock agreed, his lips curling into a smile as Mai looked away. “Do you know what it’s trying to tell you?”
“I’m not into abstract art,” Mai dismissed gruffly, her eyes turning back to face her new owner.
“I see,” Mister Padock said with a nod steepling his hooves. “It is fortunate I did not purchase you to comment on my collection.”
“I didn’t even know that you could enslave a Neighponese Citizen,” Mai spat.
“I can’t. But I can buy Venisneighlan prisoners who have been given a life sentence to Exile’s Isle. Which is exactly what you are, legally. As we both know, legally is all that really matters in the end. You’re mine now, Miss Xii. But… I am willing to sell you back to yourself,” he informed, his eyes once again boring into her own.
Mai snorted. “That’s horse apples. Let me go, or I’ll get loose. I’ve killed bigger than you,” she threatened.
Mister Padock didn’t react to her threat in the slightest. Except to say, “I can hire anyone else for this job, Miss Xii. If you’re going to threaten me, I will put you to one of two alternate uses. You will not like them.”
“You won’t like my hooves in your eye sockets either,” Mai growled, attempting to lunge at the stallion in front of her
“Option one,” Mister Padock began, his voice slipping into a marketing pitch which sounded oddly hypnotic. “I radically surgically modify you, and give you to my eldest son for use as furniture in one of his storefronts.”
“Drop dead!” Mai spat.
“Option two,” Mister Padock continued. “I alchemically paralyze, then augment you with rapid regeneration capabilities, and sell you to the Griffon Kingdoms as self-replenishing livestock.”
Mai didn’t have anything to say to that. She was too busy being stunned at how adamantly serious, yet blissfully casually she had been told of that fate.
Mister Padock leaned forward slightly. “Or, you can take option three. Which I think you will enjoy.”
“What’s that?” Mai asked nervously.
Mister Padock pushed his chair back from his desk and stood up, walking over to his occluded window as if to stare out at the cityscape.
“There is a particular pony my wife and I want dead,” he said matter of factly. “Three years ago, this pony became my daughter’s owner. The law is the law, and she foolishly broke it. It may seem barbaric to you, but here incarceration and reformation is as barbarism. Ash knew what would happen to her if she broke the law, and justice was served. I have no objection to that.
“What I object to, is her mistress has refused to allow her to contact her family. You see, I can’t let an asset like my daughter Ash Heap remain outside the family. While she never quite understood the way the world works, she’s a genuine genius. She would have increased our gross profits by twenty-five percent within a decade.
“I always intended to buy my daughter back, and simply have her work for me. But without her being free to contact me, I can’t negotiate the sale. I can’t contact her owner either. My letters to her come back marked as ‘Undeliverable: Spam’. For that to have happened, she must have received my letters, seen they came from her slave’s father, and then marked them as spam at the post office.
“Obviously, since her owner is a member of a family who owns a Megacorporation, she clearly has recognized those talents and is using them for her family’s benefit. But what she doesn't know, is how Bondscolt Law works. That’s where you come in.
“I want you to kill my daughter’s owner and her wife. With them dead, and having no offspring, my daughter will revert to being Government Property. I’ve already paid the bribes to have Ash sold to me upon her return to the system.”
“And then you let me go free?” Mai asked skeptically. “Any thug could do this. But you spend kami knows how much to buy me out of a prison isle, and drag me here for this spiel, instead of mailing some stupid colt five thousand credits and a spell rod?”
Mister Padock smiled, his teeth flashing white in his uninteresting, unmemorable reflection.
“I want her owner to die painfully. Only a cruel owner forbids contact with the slave’s family. I expect I shall have to heal torture-wounds upon Ash’s safe return,” he said coldly.
Mai frowned, the daughter’s name finally piercing the fuzzy depths of her mind from the time before her imprisonment.
“Ash Heap… I knew her. Useless bookworm. Spent all her time studying ancient ninja sorcery, but never used any of it in the ring,” Mai recalled. “If you think we were friends so I’d care enough to be extra artistic, you’re sadly mistaken. But I mean, I’ll still do it.”
Mister Padock smiled even wider. “Oh, no. I assure you, you’ll be as artistic as you can be. Furthermore, if you agree to take this job, not only will I set you free right here and now, but I will personally replace that wooden leg of yours with a cloned one, arm you, and send you on your way with a luxury dinner.”
Mai snickered. “Seriously? I’ve always seen everyone else as an idiot, but you really take the cake. You don’t pay someone before the hit. You do and they just walk off with the reward and you get nothing. Or they shiv you after you hand everything over and they take everything else your naive little plot owns… I kinda like this office.”
“Your targets are Orange Sherbert, and Kazumi Hattori,” Mister Padock said, still looking out the occluded window.
Mai froze, a sick smile twisting her face for several moments until… “Wait. That’s too good to be true. What’s the catch?” She demanded.
“No catch,” Mister Padock insisted. “I want them dead, you have the motivation, skill, and could shortly have the means to do it. If you do it, I will know it got done. You want them dead as much as I do.
“I’ve read the reports about what happened to you on that island. I know of the indignities you suffered because of Sherbert. Your grandfather may have written you off as useless, but well, I’ve always been known to find the proper use for all manner of salvage.
“Kill them, and walk free if you wish. Or, come back to me. I could use a competent assassin on retainer. But that will be your choice as a freepony should you take option three. As for options one and two, well…
“Harm one hair of my daughter’s mane during this job and you will wish you’d chosen of those options instead.”
Mai recoiled as much as her restraints would allow. Mister Padock’s threat had slammed into her with unnatural force, shaking her up almost as much as a physical punch to the gut. In that moment Mai knew one thing to be true.
If she tried to kill this stallion, she would fail.
“I’ll take the job,” Mai decided. “Where do I sign?”
Mister Padock nodded, seemingly bored. After all, the conversation had gone where it was always going to go. Right where he steered it. There had been no surprises.
“Excellent. The papers are all on my desk. Let’s get you loose.”
Sherbert - 6th of Plantation, 29 AE
Horsiekoshi High School, Neighdo - Neighpone
“I can’t believe we’re late,” I grumble to Kazumi as we walked down the hallway towards our homeroom. “First time in like, a year!”
She nodded once. “It happens to everyone sometimes.”
“You could have gone ahead with Rin and not been late too,” I pointed out.
She shrugged her shoulders. “We’re only ten minutes behind. It’s alright.”
I nodded once and looked around the empty halls. We’d make it in time for the tests, but being late to homeroom does mean you lose a few points off your homeroom grade… Eh, Kaz was right. I could spare them.
“We have the Math final tomorrow,” Kazumi reminded me. “Do you think you can pass it?”
Ugh. Don’t remind me.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll get at least a sixty percent. I’m more worried about the Chemistry final today. Master Rojā did a way better job explaining everything in Alchemical terms. I’m not sure I’ll remember the chemistry terms every time.”
Kaz gave me a smile. “Don’t worry about that. I’m sure that Miss Emiko will grade you on the results more than the method. Alchemy’s still perfectly viable after all.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But it’s much less precise for mundane reactions. Also, I’m not sure how I would write down atomic interactions using it. It’s more for- Heh, what am I saying this for?”
Kazumi laughed and flashed me a quick smile. “You’re getting better at thinking, Bakka,” she giggled. “In another year maybe you won't try to explain Alchemy to an Alchemist.”
I nodded. “Next year is going to be so weird,” I remarked.
“What, because you won't be in school anymore?” She asked as we rounded the corner.
“Yeah! The whole year will be nothing but training… And Master Rojā said I’m good enough to try and earn the Master title. So, it won’t be anything at all like what I’ve been doing. I don’t know what it entails, like, at all,” I said my ears drooping worriedly.
Kazumi stepped over just enough to gently press herself against my side. We both hated how our school forbade public displays of affection. But at least she could do that, and at least they didn’t have a ‘no couples period’ policy.
We forgot to check that one before marrying those years ago. That could have been an oops.
“Well, you get to choose your Mastery,” Kazumi observed. “What do you like more? Taijutsu, Naginatajutsu, or Hensōjutsu?”
“Humm,” I said as I let my mind drift back to my greatest achievements in the three arts I had down pat.
The sparring match Rojā and I had gotten into could only be described as insane.
‘Let’s take this some place interesting!’ He’d said.
Now we were fighting atop the fire escapes of two skyscrapers one district over, having engaged in a 3 kilometer long running dule.
I slipped between the safety railing bars, dodging the quick rear jab Rojā threw my way by flinging myself out into empty space. I curled my body inwards, rolling to sling my momentum forwards while throwing my rear legs outwards. My rear knees hooked the safety rail a floor below.
I jerked to a violent stop a good fifty-five meters above the street below.
Rojā vaulted over the railing, retrieving a grappling hook from his suit jacket up as he jumped. The hook caught the fire escape on the opposite side of the alley. He was fleeing!
But why?
I squinted, focusing my eyes on Rojā as he moved. His left foreleg! He didn’t grab the rope with it. It wasn’t hanging limply but was held in a rather stiff looking fashion as if he WAS holding the rope.
He was hiding an injury!
I knew that Rojā had a regeneration gem implanted in him. He’d be fine in a few minutes. But right now, I had an advantage.
I focused my magic, putting a good chunk of power into enhancing a jump. More than normal. I had to do this with two legs.
I grabbed the fire escape steel mesh floor with my forehooves and swung down, my rear legs sparking slightly as my magic filled my muscles. My hooves touched the skyscraper wall.
I jumped. I flew. A perfect arc from my fire escape to the one he was to land on. As I sailed through the air I charged a telekinetic punch, getting my finishing strike ready. Master Rojā’s eyes widened in surprise as I shot past him.
He knew it was over.
I landed neatly a top Rojā’s destination and held out the hoof I had not charged. He swung neatly into that outstretched hoof, letting me grab him by his tie. I drew back my charged hoof to punch and held it.
“I win,” I said confidently.
Rojā smiled proudly. “You do. Congratulations! There’s no more I can teach you. But we must do this again! It’s been forever since I’ve had a peer who was a proper match for me.”
Tamiko was becoming something of a major pain to spar with. The better I got, the more she liked me. As in, like liked me.
It would have been nice if somepony had told me her sex drive was linked to physical challenges BEFORE I decided to invest in weapons training!
It wouldn’t have been a problem if I liked her back, but for whatever reason, Tamiko just didn’t do it for me in terms of her personality. Too scary.
Which was bad. Because for the last year I’d been sparring against a horribly blue-balled mare. A pretty one, but a scary one.
Our blades clashed as I parried a strike before she’d gotten it more than a third of the way to me. I’d seen it coming four moves ago. She always used that little feint before throwing a six-to-two cut.
Last month Nahrina had given me a copy of his guardian spear as a gift. While a slightly more cumbersome weapon, the only reason I was able to stop Tamiko’ strikes was the extra mass the cannon gave my blade. Her strength was nightmarish!
I smirked. “Come on Tam! You ALWAYS use that move. It’s so predictable,” I taunted.
Tamiko’s eyes lit up. “You’re finally predicting my moves!?” She asked, her face splitting into a Pinkie level smile.
I frowned slightly. That couldn’t be go-
Tamiko jumped backward. I swung my blade out, hoping I could score a hit and end the match. Nothing doing. The blade scythed air. Millimeters away from her flowing kimono.
Tamiko reached down with her wing tips, and swiftly untied the sash holding her kimono on. With another swift wing-flick, she tore it off herself, throwing the cloth aside. This was the first time I’d ever seen her cutiemark. Or well, her body from the neck down.
First off, her mark. It was a pair of naginata crossed over a bright red heart.
Second, her body. She had a full body prosthesis from her neck down. SkyTech make. Good quality Synth Fur. But only on her legs and wings. She’d stripped her barrel, chest, groin… to show off the tritanium plates of her military grade chassis. Which she’d painted a hot Cadence pink.
Oh sweet Luna, no!
“I have a sneaking suspicion you’ve gotten in some extra practice,” Tamiko said, still smiling wide. “With the help of NAHRINA!”
As she roared Rin’s name Tamiko jumped at me, her blade raised to strike. I jumped to my left, avoiding her downward chop just in time to see dozens of her plates ratchet open, extending a series of gold colored thrusters out from hidden recesses within her chassis.
OH SWEET LUNA, NO!
I got my haft into position just barely in time to block Tami’s rocket assisted swing. My hooves stung and burned like I’d just punched red-hot iron. I almost dropped my weapon, barely managing to hold onto it as she rocketed away, gaining some distance from me.
Wait, what?
She smiled at me, her eyes metaphorically glowing with delight. Something clicked, and a low hum began to slowly raise itself in pitch and volume. A few light blue runes began to glow on her weapon’s blade.
“Noooo…” I said with a worried grimace.
“This heart blazes with an immense JOY!” Tamico announced. “It’s song demands I give my all to you!”
Her blade began to glow a bright blue, almost like it were a unicorn’s horn charging a spell...
“No! No! No!” I yelped, ears flattening. “I’m fine, thank you!”
“FEEL THIS, WARRIOR’S LOVE!” Tami cried as she launched herself at me on a trail of white hot plasma, blue burning blade closing in fast!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! SCREW FAIR PLAY! I WANNA LIVE!
I reached for my teleportation crystal’s power, and flash stepped behind Taimako, a terrified mouse’s heartbeat before her glowing blade slammed into the ground.
The stone floor exploded in a white-hot ball of arcane fire as her charged blade met the ground, slicing a two-meter long head deep gouge in the hard rock as if it were mere sand.
“Kuso!” Tami swore in alarm. “She’s- I- Oh no! NONONONONO! She couldn’t take it. I thought she could. I-”
In a blind panic, I thrust my blade forwards hoping to stab Tami in the back and end the fight.
To my surprise, my blade point clinked against metal. It didn’t pierce her chassis. The point just put a tiny scratch into her pink paint.
Tamiko’s blade fell from her hooves, clattering to the ground.
She turned around, her thrusters retracting as she looked at me wide eyed. “Y-you’re alive! And you hit me!” She gasped.
I nodded, hooves shaking with terror. “Y-yeah!”
Tami jumped at me. I was too shocked to dodge as she wrapped me in a tight hug and planted a loving kiss on my lips before jumping back and hopping excitedly from hoof to hoof. “Do it again! Do it again! Do it again! Do it again! Do it again! Do it again! Do it again!”
“TAMI!” Rojā bellowed, making me jump. “No using your enhanced systems during training! How badly did you maim-”
Rojā trailed off as he noticed Tami’s excited happy hoppy dance.
“By the Emperor! You BEAT her!?” He asked, jaw dropping.
I nodded once. “Yeah…” I said, a small grin starting to form on my face.
Rojā jogged over to me, and to my surprise grabbed the side of my pants and yanked them down.
“Hey!” I yelped eyes widening before Rojā threw his hooves up in the air incredulously.
“BULLSHIT!” He bellowed, stomping angrily against the ground. “If ANYTHING is worth a bucking cutiemark- What the actual flying BUCK- URGH!”
Oh. That’s what he had been going for. Well, at least he was as interested in what my mark would be as Dad. Heh.
I glanced down at my still bare flank and shrugged. “Meh, I’ve just accepted that I won't be getting one,” I said decisively, pulling my pants back up with my magic.
Tami stopped her dance and trotted up to me, smiling super wide still. “I love you so much! If your feelings ever change towards me in the future… Please call?”
Well… She was being super cute right now. Okay, yeah!
“Okay,” I promised.
“Yay!” Tami exclaimed, rearing up happily. “Oh! Yeah, so, Rojā, she’s done here.”
“No, she is?” Rojā laughed sarcastically.
“But… I cheated. I teleported,” I pointed out, ears drooping in shame.
Tami shook her head. “No! You FINALLY realized that you had abilities other than your martial skills and combined them to snatch victory from the jaws of certain doom!” She praised happily. “Ten out of ten! Hottest thing I’ve seen all year!”
“I-I could ALWAYS have used other moves and arts in our duels?” I asked incredulously.
“Mmmmhm! As soon as you finished learning the basic movements,” she giggled.
Tami gave me a loving hug, nuzzling into my neck super affectionately. “Again? Pleeeease?” She begged adorably.
Rojā snickered. “You’re acting like it’s your first time,” he joked.
“It is! This has never happened before,” she replied with a blush.
"Horseapples!" Roja and I said together.
"You have to have lost at least a sparring match while training," Roja insisted.
Tamiko shook her head almost violently. "Nope," she insisted. "I beat my teacher on my first day. My natural talent let me barely win, that's when I realized that fighting is my fetish, and earned my cutiemark.
"I've always been just a hair better or more lucky than anyone else when fighting naginata to naginata. Every instructor I had I beat the first time. I still learned things, but at first, I only won through luck. But after training, well...
“I went cyborg to see if people in the Super-Equine League could beat me. Nope. Never once. Not ever. Fighting became a thing that made me sad because it was too easy. So I had to stop using my favorite weapon for sport.
"Until Sherbert took my loser virginity just now! Thanks, babe! It was AWESOME!”
I blinked once. “You know, I used to think you treating fighting like sex was a joke.”
She giggled and shook her head. “Nope!”
I couldn’t help but feel for her a bit. “Okay… One more time,” I promised. “After my heart settles down.”
I walked into Master Cho’s room. The most dangerous part of the operation. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was a real actual practicing assassin. She was gone a lot, and definitely had the personality required to hide that side of her effortlessly.
But that wasn’t why I was here. I was not out to unmask her. No. I had something far more dangerous in mind.
Cho lay down, sleeping, or perhaps resting, on a tatami mat on her floor, stretched out flat like how I saw Lyra’s sister sleeping that one time.
“She’s asleep,” I whispered into my headset, my voice perfectly matching Rin’s.
Because at the moment, I was Rin. That way, if I was caught, I wouldn’t get blamed.
“Make sure she’s breathing in little groups of three,” Rin whispered through my earpiece.
I nodded and tilted my ears, focusing on the sound of the huge mare’s breath. One. Two. Three. Pause. One. Two. Three.
“She is,” I replied.
“Then she’s actually asleep,” Rin whispered. “Mission is go!”
“Why am I doing this again?” I asked as I slipped the potion bottle out of the magic pocket built into my gi’s inner pocket.
“Because if she wakes up you can teleport away. I can’t,” Rin replied.
I nodded and trotted up to the ice colored sleeping mare, and uncorked the potion bottle. The bright green fluid inside sloshed as the cork was removed, some flowing over the top of the bottle. Suppressing a yelp I caught the liquid with my magic, glad I had used my hooves to retrieve the bottle.
Taking a deep breath I poured the spilled liquid back into the bottle and then poured half the container over Master Cho’s mane.
The liquid sank into her mane, flowing along each hair, dying it a bright, glowing green. Stage one, complete.
I paused, listened for her breathing. One. Two. Three. Pause. One. Two. Three. Pause.
Still asleep. I’d been worried that the smell would wake her up. This stuff smelled kinda strong.
I reached out to the base of her tail, and poured the rest of the bottle out, the alchemical dye flowing down through her tail as well.
Corking the bottle, I placed it back into my magic pocket and turned to leave the room.
“Mission complete. Thanks Kaz for the dye pot for me,” I whispered.
And then walked face first into Master Yoshi!
The griffon-like pony scowled down at me angrily, his eyes burning in the message of ‘you done did goof son!’
“Um… heh heh…” I said with a nervous grin.
“Nahrina,” he sighed. “This is because she stole your dessert last night, isn’t it?”
Yeah, it was. Or at least, that’s what he told me.
“Yes, sir,” I sighed, looking down at the floor. “I’ll get a dye remov-”
Master Yoshi shook his head twice. “Mmmmhm. No, don’t do that. The problem isn’t that you pranked her, it’s that your prank won’t work.”
I blinked and looked up at the stealth specialist in surprise. It just hit me that he thought I really was Rin!
“Honestly, how could you forget your own mother is color blind?” He asked, quietly clicking his tongue. “Or if you did remember, that shade of green is too close to her normal blue for her to differentiate. This won't do. Come on, let’s fix this.”
To my surprise, Yoshi quietly slipped past me and sat down behind Master Cho, his horn glowing faintly as he started to separate her tail into three strands.
“Go up to my room and get the black box from my bedside. We’re going to braid her hair. I’ll need some pink bows and glitter dust,” he said, flashing me a smile.
“Wait, so, what did she do to you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow just like Rin would.
“Nothing. I just like pranks. OH! Get the curling iron too. We’ll make it a fancy braid. Don’t worry about walking her up, Cho just got back from a five-day mission where she was up the whole time, she’s out cold. This is a drugged sleep,” Yoshi said as he began to slowly begin braiding Cho's tail and whistling nonchalantly.
“Woah… Jackpot!” Rin whispered through my earpiece, having heard everything.
I walked out into the hallway and made sure I was out of earshot before reapplying. “Did you really not know she was colorblind?” I asked skeptically.
“No. It’s option two. I didn’t know she wouldn’t see the difference. Though I think her mane glowing would be something still… Meh, keep it up! This is great,” he snickered.
I nodded and resumed heading for Master Yoshi’s room. Retrieving his box of makeup and costume supplies was a simple matter. Though intriguing. I never suspected that he would also use mundane disguise elements.
Even more surprising was when I returned to Master Cho’s room, Yoshi kept talking to me. As if I were Rin. I had him totally fooled!
We spent a good forty-five minutes styling Cho’s mane and tail into the most elaborate feminine coif the two of us could conceive of. Then another fifteen gently and carefully trimming and painting her hooves with a dark red hoof polish. And lastly, another twenty minutes applying all week fur dye makeup to her face.
The transformation was remarkable! She’d gone from huge, scary, warrior, to a mare I’d likely see shopping at Aunt Rarity’s Boutique who was genuinely there for the fashion and not the prestige of owning a Rarity-made dress.
Heh heh!
The two of us left her room, snickering loudly. When we were out in the hallway, Yoshi shut the door and sighed happily. “Ah! It’s been a long time since I pulled one over on her. Good times! Though now, I have work to do. I’ll see you later Rin. And remember, I didn’t do anything today.”
Yoshi whistled happily as he began to trot down the hall. I’d gotten away with it! The whole time.
I felt like I couldn’t hide it any longer. I opened my mouth to call ‘hey!’ thinking about letting the transformation drop and showing him. But then I stopped.
Telling him would ruin this. My first true success in infiltration. I wanted to hold on to that.
Because right now only Rin and I knew. Someone could back up my story if I ever talked about this years from now. That was good enough.
Turning around wordlessly, I trotted off to my room. Feeling more accomplished than I had in a long time.
With all three of my greatest accomplishments crystallized in my mind, I knew what I would have to do.
Figure out how the hay Master Rojā found out I deceived Master Yoshi!
As for my mastery, well, that was obvious.
“If I don’t focus on my blade work, Tami might decide to kill me out of desperation for another good fight,” I joked, flashing Kaz a grin. “I think I’ll go for being a blade master.”
Kazumi laughed. “You just want to score a date with her,” she teased. “Aren't Ash and I enough for you?”
I gently tousled Kaz’s mane. “You alone would be plenty for me, hon. I mean, yeah I want a herd. But I'd have gone mono for you if you wanted,” I said lovingly. “Besides, Aunt Dash’s only sex advice to me was ‘don’t stick your tongue in crazy’. And Tami is… Very crazy.”
Kaz hummed. “She is at that. But she is super cute,” she admitted shyly.
I snickered. “Okay, now who wants a herd?” I teased.
“Both of us?” Kaz said, playfully sticking out her tongue. “Besides, I like her chassis.”
I nodded slowly. “That’s right, I forgot you like technology like that too. That said, I was WAY too focused on her blade for that whole fight. Does she even have sex organs? You seem like the right person to ask about that. Heh heh.”
“She does,” Kazumi said matter of factly. “Though they don’t look natural. I think she peeled the skin off them. She’s got a rather interesting ‘blue liquid filled soft looking’ thing going on.”
I blinked. “Um, I was making a short joke…”
Kazumi nodded. “I know. But I’ve also helped her reconnect some blood vessels that came loose from her hardware and got a good look at her, sooo, yeah!”
I thought about it for a few minutes while we walked. Yeah, Tamiko was scary when you fought her, but she was very sweet outside the ring. After all, she’d helped me for a whole year with concealing my blank flanks in this stupid school uniform.
She’d always personally treated any injury I got while we were training. She also was the one to show me how to successfully sneak snacks away from the kitchen after hearing me groaning with hunger pains one night.
Yeah, she was nice.
I nodded. “Okay. If you like her, we’ll talk to her about things. But it likely won't last long. We’re going to move to Equestria after the end of next year,” I reminded.
Kazumi nodded. “I know. But better to have loved and lost than never loved at all, right?”
“Fair enough,” I agreed as our homeroom’s sign became visible just down the hall. “We’ll talk more after school, okay? Right now I need to refocus on all the test stuff. Kinda let it slip my mind a bit when you asked me about what mastery I wanted to go for.
“Then you brought up wanting to open our Herd to Tamiko, and that’s sort of a weird thing to think about.”
“Because she creeps you out when you spar?” Kazumi asked.
I shook my head. “No, because now I have to plan how to get her to join us and what we can do to make her happy without getting my head chopped off,” I said slowly, “and today is our anniversary soooo I was planning everything for you for this evening, and I didn’t make those plans for three.”
“Oh!” Kaz exclaimed her tail flicking in delight. “I”m sorry. I didn’t mean we had to do that tonight. I don't want to sleep with her as an anniversary night thing. Tonight’s just us of course!”
“Oh! Well, good,” I said with a happy smile. “I like how we do intimate ‘couples nights’. It really helps us all stay-”
The light at the end of the hallway died, distracting me enough to stop talking mid word.
It hadn’t flickered, then died. It had just died. Like it had been turned off. The crystal hadn’t gone bad, or overloaded. It just… turned off.
The school NEVER turned off the hallway lights. There were no windows in them. It was a safety issue. They kept them on all night.
“Um… I guess there’s maintenance today?” I said in surprise.
Kazumi nodded. “Yeah, guess so. Odd, normally they post flyers to let you know when-”
The next light died. And then the next. And the next. Each one faster than the last.
I had just enough time to realize something was very, very wrong and grab Kazumi with my magic to run to the nearest doorway.Then the door slammed in my face. Just like every single other door in the hallway closed by themselves, locking with a loud in unison crack of magnetized steel hitting steel.
“WARNING:” a Stallion’s prerecorded voice called over the PA. “Suspicious person on campus! Lockdown is in effect. The Police are on their way!”
“Crap,” I grumbled.
“Yeah… If you fight them you’ll get expelled,” Kazumi grumbled back.
“Well, I’m going to keep us both safe,” I promised, realizing I couldn’t just use illusion to turn myself invisible and hide.
“Can you teleport us both? I’ve seen you go through glass before,” Kazumi wondered, looking at the large window set into each classroom door.
I shook my head. “No. You have too much mass. Unless maybe if I stripped- No. Still not enough,” I groaned. “Come on. We’ll just have to move for the entrance. It won't take long with your riding and me running. We’ll be safe in the lobby till the cops show up.”
“No you won't,” an eerily familiar, smug sounding mare’s voice said from behind me.
I turned around. Standing at the end of the hallway, clad from hoof to head in a foreign set of riot armor, was a Pegasus I would never forget.
Mai Xii.
“Oh shit,” I swore reflexively.
Mai nodded. “Round three, bitch!” She announced as she swept one hoof up, a flamethrower extending from her gauntlet, the pilot light auto-igniting. “This time you DIE!”
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I'll just leave this here, and see myself out...
Mood swings chapter! First horrified, then amused and finaly raging at the Cliffhanger kaiju.
I'll say this Ashes father is an even bigger dick than Xii and really needs a visit from Anya. After all beyond the repructions any damage to Marelund might actually help the country
8404532 One reason people don't want to attack Marelund is their pollution is so bad that accidentally breaching a civilian building is almost the same as using chemical warfare on a city...
8404550. Wonder why other countries accept it since that pollution wouldn't stay inside Marelund
That gives me a easy idea to deal with a certain CEO. That type of pollution is sure to do nasty things to the glass and seals around it. It would be horrible if that window suddenly shattered
8404582 Wierdly, it actually does stay within the country. Their government claims it's a hazardous waste containment spell, but most mation's mages can't figure out how you'd power such a thing for any real length of time beyond minutes. Even Twilight herself would struggle to keep that up for more than a minute. One hypothasis is that the polution is a cursed area simmilar to the Everfree
8404655. Curse sounds logical that or some sort of tech solution considering even Twilight would be pressed to maintain such a spell. A tech solution is likely to run into the same issue insane amounts of power it long term
Wow that was a fast update!
Hmmm, I think I have a solution to this Marelund problem, it's run by companies two words, Company Buyout. Hey 8404412 want to own a country that you can make into a space tech playground?
Also, Sherbert isn't the kind of pony who would keep someone, even a 'slave' from talking with her family, I'm guessing Ash cut contact with them?
Well done Sherbert you have bested all three masters, and popping one of their cherries, bet you didn't expect that now did you.
Serbert and Kaz haven't seen many horror films have they, the second the lights go out shit has already gone wrong, might have had time to jump into a room if they had realized that.
Annnnnnnnnnnnd she's back, let's do this right.
8404532
to be fair he just wants his daughter. He even suspected she'd have whip marks or such.
8404840
That's assuming that anything he said to Mai is true. It's not even guaranteed that Ash is his daughter. This is a corporate CEO who makes Mai look sociable and well adjusted. The only part that can be believed is that he wants to own Ash Heap because her inventions would improve his bottom line.
Tami seems rather... interesting.
It would be fun to set her loose on Mai and see what happens.
8404808 Don't worry. There is a geopolitical reason no one has dealt with Marelund yet. But... There is a plan with an attached loophole to deal with that problem that is being put into motion, given the opertunity that has just been provided. And no, the hit on Sherber its not the opportunity.
8405017
*Looks at map*
It's behind a jungle on the other side of a mountain range, ok yea I wouldn't bother attacking either, you'd need to survive the trip first unless you went by sea, and air is out because you want heavy artillery when ever possible.
Also need some counter agent for that smog .
8405017 Marelund needs dealt with but I'll settle for a violent or maybe not so violent management change at Severn Valley Industries. Considering the environment of Marelund and how he likes to show off it would be simple to arrange an accident for a window
8404840 Is Ash his daughter seriously sounds like even if she is. She is only an asset to him one that he's only concerned with exploiting. He assumes Sherbert via her family is doing the same even forcefully. Heck the only moment of what I'd consider fatherly concern is when when he warns Mai about harming a hair on Ash's body
8404808
Was it? /me looks. Nope. that was my normal I'm back to form after a few delayed chapters.
That works, so long as they are willing to sell.
Yes, she did. Specificly by telling Sherbert she had no idea what that company was. SO Sherb, being the trusting type, had them marked as spam.
To be fair, you have to first recognise that it's that sort of situation :P
8404812 I understand that :3 I'm just explaining how the mistake was made.
8404944 Well, thing about Tami is she dosn't like killing, just fighting. Though she absolutely would put Mai down, no questions there. She wouldn't enjoy it though. She's a weirdo, not a phyco.
8405027 It's a supprizingly good defencive location for a contry. The jungle makes the only easy invasion rout by sea, and well... the whole nation is built within that jungle. And their defence system simply deletes their roadways in a selective way. You take a coastal city or town, and poof! the jungle magicaly reclaims every single road out of that place. Good luck getting through quickly and with your army intact. it's not a safe jungle.
As for air based assults, well, dropping into a jungle via parachute isn't a good idea because trees. You'll loose a lot of men, so you'd need to drop directly down into cities. Which means they only need to put AA weapons in their cities to effectivly secure their nation.
8405455 8404808 Buyout wouldn't work even they were selling not by itself. You can't just shut everything down without wrecking the economy can you afford to support another country that basically had most of it industry shutdown
I find it even more amusing that none of the "bad guys" even realize that death is, at most, an inconvenient setback for the vast majority of Sherbert's family. I mean, Padock can't legally get his "daughter" back unless Sherbert is dead, and I'm pretty sure being resurrected by the Lifegiver or being brought back in an "android" body counts as being not dead.
Of course, I also just like the idea of SkyTech getting an asset like Ash Heap, while screwing over some asshat from Marelund who probably can't even really compete with SkyTech even if he did have Ash.
Oh lordy, Padock, you should have done more research before assuming the state your daughter is being kept in.
8407136 If you did, you'd learn that Sherbert is just a derp who didn't like getting lots of letters from a corp for some reason.
Okay now for the new newest chapter woo!
Oooooo I knew she would find a way off the island!
*shudders* thaaaat does not sound fun at all. But then she doesn't deserve 'good' options.
And so it begins!
Colt yeah! *cough* for me at least* Started about a week ago for my friends still in school, and it feels so weird not being there with them... least I got more time to write.... (oh wait no. Now I have to deal with family instead of school.
)
Just gotta form that big old harem now don't ya? *giggles*
Mmmm but scary can be fun! Just ask Shiny, he likes it when I go scary mode.
*cackles*
*chuckles* the more I learn about this Tamiko, the more I like her. Pretty dang awesome!
Well there are worse insane hyperactive fetishes, but whatever makes one happy eh? And that is one HAPPY mare!
Ah yes, that first successful infiltration mission. What a wonderful feeling. *sighs as she reminisces*.
Awww but crazy is fun! And she is very much the fun kind of crazy. *giggles*
*cackles*
Yesss have her join and let the insanity begiiiin! As long as there are no beheading.
Sweet Celestia, what a place to end the chapter!
I'm on edge, heart beating wildly.... so excited to see what happens next!
With that, another chapter read. woo was it a good one!
8408378
Of course she did. Rin ruined it for everypony by saying how impossible that would be. Normaly he would have been fine, but he said it near a Ponyvillian, about a Ponyvillian. Discord likes his drama.
Frankly, I'm not sure which eats up more time at this point...
She's only scary to fight because she's enjoying it the same way you enjoy your chockolate. That tends to wierd people out. "Oh god she's not affraid... AAAAAA! SHE'S HAPPY ABOUT THIS!"
Fortuantly, she dosn't get like that in real life or death battle. Just in sporting combat :P
Tami: "Um, well, I can swap bodies, sooo... Does that count as beheading? I mean, it comes off. Sooo..."
This reply goes best at the end :D
8408762
Yep, those poor Ponyvillians, cursed with the drama of Discord to have anything deemed impossible be possible when around them.
*nods* I hear you there! Either is like a full time job, demanding so much from you. *sighs* Sure I love my family, but I NEEEEED my time alone too!
*cackles*
And I do LOVE my chocolate. *giggles* Wonder what she would think of a changeling? (well a changeling from my hive, since I she has probably met some from the hive around there...)
Well that is good, could make fighting in a real life or death battle a little hard if one enjoys it too much...
Hmmm partially maybe? *chuckles*
Yep, that song does fit the mood peeeerfectly.
Poor Sherbert. Book rules can be mighty inconvenient.
not as much as some people