Mr. Smokes

by Deep

The Hit

Freed from my weakness, I was able to begin my conquest. Only a few hours after my confrontation with Fancypants, Hayseed and I met with the suppliers for sugarcubes. They were a bunch of Diamond Dogs, who apparently weren’t in the drug business for money. Instead, they were in it for the thrill, a feeling I could relate to all too well, and so we hit it off very easily. The deal I made with the Dogs was simple: They would supply me with eighty-percent of the sugarcubes they brought in. Also, they would limit Fancypants’ supply to only twenty-percent, never more. In return, I would give them eighty-percent of all of the money I received through selling the drugs, compared to the ten-percent Fancypants currently gave them. Despite their claim of not being in it for the money, the Dogs were ecstatic from my offer, though one of them--the only one who was not overjoyed--asked what they would even do with the extra money. My response was, “Buy more thrill.”

It only took a few days for the sugarcubes to start coming in. Hayseed confirmed the shipments, and to help sell them, he and I went around the city to Fancypants’ numerous goons and offered them a deal they would be sure to accept. I offered them twenty-percent of the money they made selling, compared to the measly five-percent Fancypants gave for selling sugarcubes. Over half of his thugs joined my side in a matter of days. The ones who refused usually did so with anger and by threatening me. They were no doubt fiercely loyal to Fancypants, and I knew they would snitch on me to him. I wasn’t scared. Despite his threats, I knew Fancypants valued his life more than anything. His fear had been made obvious the moment he declined my offer to grow the drug business. If he was scared of this, then I could only imagine how terrified he’d be knowing I was on my way to burn him into a mix of ash and bone.

This deal left me with zero income coming from the sugarcube deals. I didn’t care. Why would I? What I had planned was much bigger than money.

My faithful goons worked night and day to sell my product. Week by week, the number of ponies working for me grew exponentially. With enough thugs working for me, I reduced their share per deal from twenty-percent to fifteen. I expected them to be angry, but they were completing so many deals that most didn’t mind the pay-cut, especially after I told them why it was happening. The money gained from this was used to pay off the police, many of whom also joined in on the fun. The extra money from them was used to pay off the Royal Guard. The extra money from the guards was used on the bureaucrats, who were all too eager to join in. And the extra money from them… Well, you get the picture.

Step by step, Canterlot became trapped by my claws. Of course, there were idealists. Idiots who thought it was better to go against me than join. Those who simply declined my offer were left alone. Those who actively snitched on me to the police disappeared. How they died, I didn’t care. Whenever a situation came, I told my thugs to handle it. I was a hands-off type of boss. I let my workers solve problems on their own, if you catch my drift.

What happened to Canterlot was everything I expected. As more and more ponies became hooked on sugarcubes, families started becoming torn apart, friendships ended, ponies’ lives spiraled into misery, and entire blocks of stores shut down to the increased crime related to the new junkies. It was glorious, and I understood why Fancypants had wanted to avoid this. He was a pony, meaning he still believed in friendship and harmony. Despite his love of profits and success, he didn’t want his beloved city and kingdom to erode. What I didn’t understand was why previous villains hadn’t gone this route.

My thugs didn’t mind the chaos, neither did the Diamond Dogs. My goons got paid, and the Dogs got to feel the overwhelming thrill that only destruction could give. Everyone was happy, including Hayseed, who used his money to buy a mansion for himself. I stayed in the middle-class house.

The disappearances caused by my thugs added to the chaos. Within weeks, Canterlot went from a city where children could play outside at night, to one where everyone was afraid to even talk to one another. For all they knew, their neighbor was an informant for my gang. Despite the streets still being crowded, they were silent, so much that when I walked, I could hear the claws on my feet scratch against the ground. As I basked in the silence I had created, I turned my attention to the Royal Palace. I wondered how Princess Twilight was reacting to this new crisis...

And that was when I saw her.

Princess Twilight and the rest of my former friends were walking on the adjacent street. “Spike!” each of them yelled again and again. I froze, the sight of them turning me from the dragon I had become, to the assistant I used to be. My heart sank as I stared at how they looked. Their faces were hollowed out, and their once colorful bodies had become grey from worry.

“Please, we just want to talk!” Princess Twilight yelled, her voice about to give out. She looked the most stressed, which was no surprise to me. She was shaking from anxiety, and had to struggle with each inhale due to her shallow breathing. For her to come out in such a desperate attempt, it could only mean that the guards’ searches had failed. I stayed frozen as my former friends used their last bits of voice to cry out for me. The silence amplified their saddened voices. A part of me wanted to run to Princess Twilight and give her the tightest hug I could. I wanted to let her know that I was alright and would return with her to the palace. I wanted her to smile as she once did in my presence, as all of them used to do. But I couldn’t, not yet. Not until I had made myself proud in the only way I knew how.

I turned away from them and fled. I didn’t want to leave any chance for them to spot me. As I fled into a nearby alleyway, I took one last glance at them, the last look I would take as Spike.

I stayed in the alleyway for the next few hours. I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried, but I didn’t want anyone to see me in such a pathetic state. It wasn’t until one of my thugs ran to me that I returned to my senses. “It’s Hayseed…” he said, catching his breath. He looked almost as worried as my former friends had. “We found him like this.”

Like this? Composing myself, I followed the goon to another alleyway, where Hayseed lay on the ground, bloodied and bruised within an inch of his life. “Who did this to you?” I said louder than I should have. As Hayseed struggled to open his mouth to speak, I grabbed him to show empathy. If my time with Princess Twilight had taught me anything, it was the power of good social skills.

“I-It’s Fancypants. He… he sent a hit on the princess,” Fancypants said, wincing from pain.

I froze, so lost in the moment that I could hear my heart beat like a banging drum. I could feel the blood vessels inside me pulse, and the seconds turned to minutes. In an instant, all my goals and desires melted away. Only one mission remained. I had to save Twilight.
……………………………

I left immediately after Hayseed had told me the news. I flew as fast as I could to the Royal Palace, with no plan in mind. At that moment, I didn’t care if I was caught, if I was jailed, or even if I was executed. The only thing I could think about was reaching Princess Twilight as quickly as I could.

But as I neared the castle, I realized that Fancypants would expect me to rush in like an idiot. I had no doubt that he had a trap planned to get me as soon as I arrived, and so I changed my path to a cave which led to the tunnels beneath the palace. Maud had shown me these tunnels once before, and as far as I knew, the two of us were the only people who were aware they existed. Even better, going through them would only slow me down by a few minutes. When I entered through the cave, I increased my speed, trusting that my reflexes would prevent me from hitting the walls as the cave zigzagged its way into the mountain.

When I entered the tunnel system, I flew upward to exit into the bottom sections of the palace. There, I mapped out the way to the throne room in my head. My instincts told me not to trust anyone. Canterlot was not the harmonious city it had been the last time I was in the palace, and so I was truly on my own.

As I crept my way up the castle, following less-used paths, I noticed that the palace was silent. Even more silent than the rest of the city. There were only a few Royal Guards left, and even fewer staff members. And they all had distrusting eyes, like they were constantly examining each other for signs of betrayal and drug use. For a moment, I felt ashamed at what I had caused.

The maid in particular had a permanent set of suspecting eyes, but in a different way. She was carrying a cup of coffee in the direction of the throne room, all the while looking around as if to make sure no one was following her. Refusing to let her reach the princess first, I used an alternative path that I knew was faster, only to smack into a blockade of Royal Guards who were standing in the way. The impact caused me to fall to the floor, and the guards stared down at me with a sinister smile. “Fancypants says farewell,” one of them said.

They drew out their spears and aimed them at my chest. As they raised their weapons, preparing to strike, my instincts kicked in and I blew a jet of fire at their bodies, only for the flames to bounce off their armor. All I could do was roll to the side as they thrust their spears in my direction. They missed, but quickly drew their weapons again for another strike. My heart racing, I aimed a small jet of fire at the portions of their hooves which wasn’t covered by armor. The flames ignited their hooves, but the guards showed no reaction, as if they had prepared for this. As I froze from shock, one of them thrust their spear, piercing me through my shoulder. I screamed in agony, but the pain only reignited my desire to live and save my friend. I grabbed hold of the spear and flew away.

The other guard threw his spear at me, only for it to miss, but just by an inch. Blood trickled down from my shoulder, and the spearhead impaling me shot pain throughout my body every time I flapped my wings. The only thing that kept me going through the pain was the thought of what would happen if I was too late. When the doors to the throne room came into view, I sped up, using my momentum to knock threw the guards in front of it and into the room. Princess Twilight was sitting on her throne, as melancholic as the last time I’d seen her. She was sipping on her coffee, and the maid was standing next to her, looking too happy for comfort.

I increased my speed to its limit, and when Princess Twilight saw me, she froze. I used my momentum to knock into her hoof, which caused her to drop the cup of coffee. The impact also knocked her onto the floor, after which she looked on with shock. It was like a part of her instantly recognized me, but another part didn’t believe that I was back. Just then, she began to convulse, much more intensely than the crazy sugarcube junky did. Instead of moaning in euphoria, she screamed in a mixture of agony and terror. “W-What’s happening?!”

The sight of her slipping away from me removed all the pain in my body. Using strength I didn’t know I had, I picked her up and draped her over her injured shoulder. My blood stained her coat, mixing with the foamy saliva flowing from her pale lips. As I turned to the nearby open window, I could hear the maid cackling. As mad as I was, I was more disappointed in myself. I was a fool for not preparing for this, and I was an idiot for thinking that I’d be able to win on pure physicality alone. Determined to make up for my mistakes, I flew through the window and to the nearest hospital.

“S-Spike? Is that you?” Princess Twilight struggled to breathe between each word she spoke, and her body was getting colder with every passing moment.

Holding back tears, I said, “Spike is gone, Twi. But don’t worry, I’ll still save you. I promise.”

She faded from consciousness a second later, and I used every ounce of energy I had left to accelerate to the hospital. There, I smashed through the entrance doors and into the main lobby, where I gently placed her convulsing body on the floor beside a dozen or so doctors and nurses. “It’s sugarcubes. Please, save her.” I bowed to the feet of the medical staff, unable to hold in my tears any longer. But as the seconds passed, I received no answer.

“We ran out of the antidote days ago,” the lead doctor said, hanging his head. “There is nothing we can do.”

Comments

[silvadel]

Their world works far differently from ours if they don't have some "for royal use only" antidote.

And I fear for Fancypants. There are fates worse than death. Spike will find one for him.

Or maybe send him to Celestia via dragon fire with a placard saying "I killed Twilight Sparkle" tied around his neck.

[Destiny Chaser]

Whoa. You actually went there.
This story is horrific, like watching a catastrophic train-wreck. It's horrible, but at the same time, I can't look away.

[Destiny Chaser]

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EXCELLENT.

[Deep]

10685590

And it's not even halfway done chapter-wise haha.

[Destiny Chaser]

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