8
Big Red sat on the examination table naked as the day he was born as the hospital didn't have any gowns that would fit him. His hands covered his genitals, an embarrassed blush glowed on his face and he fidgeted nervously in place as Nurse Redheart checked over his vitals. She took note of his distress and gently patted him on the wither. "It's okay, dearie. No need to be upset or nervous. You're in good hooves. From what I've heard you might be coming out of that cast soon. Though I must say your species is really tough to trot around with an injury that would have left a pony lame for months, even if it does currently impede you."
In a separate room Twilight, Big Mac and three doctors, two of which had come down from Canterlot School of Science and Medicine, were looking at the recently developed glass plates that held the images of Big Red's leg bones.
Big Mac twisted his head from side-to-side trying to make sense of what he was looking at. He had seen images of bones before, when he was still a colt he took a bad spill and fractured his cannon bone, fortunately it was only a hairline fracture. But these images were weird. Unlike the Magic Resonance Imagery that made a clear image of a pony's innards, using either a specially trained unicorn or a device using a specially charged quartz crystal wrapped in platinum wires that could be tuned to each pony's unique magical resonance to cast an image onto a sheet of clear cellulose or specially treated paper, these were odd. Though the bones were clearly detailed, there were some strange shadowy...stuff in the image.
Twilight dutifully and gleefully wrote down notes based on her own observations and the comments that Doctor Horse, Doctor Caduceus and Doctor Thermometer were saying.
"His leg is healing very well.", Doctor Horse said. "It looks like the way a pony's bones knit together, only faster."
"I concur.", Doctor Caduceus replied. "If we could figure out how his species is able to amble about, even with such a devastating injury and heal so quickly from it, this could cause medicine to jump forward quite significantly in the treatment of skeletal fractures."
"I think we could remove his cast and put him a splint and a brace. That might allow him to move about more easily while keeping the bone supported. I don't think there's a need to keep the limb immobilized, and moving around more freely may help his bone heal more properly. What do you think, Miss Twilight?"
Twilight Sparkle scratched at her chin for a moment and hummed thoughtfully. "We'll have to specially make a brace and splint to match the shape of his hind limb, otherwise I concur with you three's conclusion. Big Mac, I know you might be a bit out of your element in all of this, but I'd like to ask, is there anything you'd like to add for posterity?"
"Other'n he's good with th' foals an' is a hard worker, eenope!"
The three doctors, Twilight Sparkle and Big Mac entered into the examination room that held Big Red and Nurse Redheart.
"How are our patient's vitals, nurse?", Doctor Horse asked.
"As I only have his vitals from his previous visits to go on. They seem to be good.", Nurse Redheart replied. "Though I must say on record that he seems to have an aversion to having his genitals exposed, to the point where it's causing him mild distress."
"Duly noted.", Doctor Horse said. "We're going to remove his cast, then get proper measurements so we can make a custom splint and brace for his limb. We're going to have to hold him for a few more hours before releasing him. If either of you have anywhere else you have to be, we can send for either or both of you when we're done here."
"Ah got chores ta do back on th' farm.", Big Mac said. He then turned and strode out of the door.
"I'm going to stay and document everything down. Spike's got everything well under hoof in the library. If there's something he can't handle or gets message from Princess Celestia, he knows where to find me.", Twilight replied.
Nurse Redheart directed Twilight where to stand so she wouldn't be in the way.
Nurse Kisses, a unicorn mare, came into the room, lit her horn and fired a beam, cutting a thin line down one side of the cast. When she was done, she then switched to the other side. Once the cast had been successfully cut down both sides, Redheart and Kisses gently pried the cast away. Big Red grunted in discomfort as a few of the hairs on his limb that had become stuck to the inside of the cast were pulled out.
As the cast was pulled away from the leg, a musty, sweaty, cheesy stink caused the ponies to wrinkle their noses. The leg was noticeably thinner than its counterpart and the skin was visibly paler, with grey, plague-like buildup on parts of it. Big Red let out groans of relief as he vigorously scratched the limb.
Twilight covered her nose with a hoof. "Ugh! What is with the stink and why does his skin look like that? Did he develop some kind of infection? Is that why he lost muscle mass?"
"The smell and the buildup are most likely skin oils and dead skin cells from where he was unable to wash it. The loss of muscle mass is probably from it being immobilized in the cast for four weeks. We'll give it a quick wash down, then begin measuring him for a splint and brace."
When Redheart and Kisses gave the limb a quick sponge bath, the grey plaque-like buildup quickly and easily sloughed off, leaving pale skin with a slight pinkish hue, covered in sparse red fur.
Twilight took a close look at the leg that had recently been released from its cast, mentally comparing the paler complexion to its counterpart. "It looks like his skin has a minor reaction to the light, causing it to develop a very slight brown coloration." She thought about how most ponies wore makeup on the bald patch on their snout that matched their fur color, but usually didn't wear any on their bellies. A pony's skin color was black, almost the shade of charcoal. "I wonder if his skin turning a shade of tan-brown is a way of protecting itself from the sun?" She remembered her lesson on why ponies' skin was such a dark shade, it was an evolutionary throwback to when they still traveled in nomadic herds, the dark coloring would protect them from harsh sunburns during the summer months and allow their bodies to absorb more heat from the sun during the winter months.
"That's a very good hypothesis.", Caduceus replied. "There will have to be some observations made over the winter months to see if his skin lightens."
"I've heard some talk about sightings of maned apes with five digits that had dark brown, tan-yellow or ruddy skin tones. Maybe it's seasonal changes, or natural camouflage, or tribal markings, or slight differences in subspecies?", said Thermometer. "I've also heard of maned apes who have skin and mane coloration similar to ponies, but those are always four digits. Then there are the reports of maned apes with six digits, they always have a dark brown, almost black skin tone and brown manes that are curly with ruddy highlights. Maybe they're differing tribes or competing species? There are almost no medical papers on their anatomies, so it's impossible to determine with the current data."
Twilight quickly scribbled down a personal note to remind herself to look up any and all source materials available on the different colorations and finger numbers of maned apes. She also took time to draw detailed sketches of Big Red's lower limbs, especially the odd digits that stuck off of his oddly shaped paws. They reminded her a little bit of a griffon's hind paws, minus the thick fur, the retractable claws and the pads underneath. They were also longer, looking like less developed, less flexible versions of his forepaws. She quickly scribbled down another personal note to get Big Red on a treadmill once he was fully healed so she could observe in a more scientific setting how he trotted about.
Creating a splint that would properly fit Big Red's hind leg was simple enough. They simply created a plaster mold of his limb, then vacuum molded rigid plastic that matched the front and back that would then be secured by simple rip strips. Making a brace that fit him was a bit more difficult. Shaping the metal bands that formed the main structure, the leather that made up the padding and the belts to secure it, and the rigid plastic to whole give the whole structure some lightweight support was simple enough. Securing the whole contraption to his limb would be the tricky part as he lacked the thick keratin that made up a pony's hoof that they could secure the lower portion with some screws drilled in.
In the end they wound up taking and modifying the design of a wing brace that would be used on pegasi who had certain congenital defects.
Dave watched as the little horses placed rigid plastic splints on the front and back of his leg, then secured it with strips of Velcro. The brace they put on him reminded him of a very popular wrestler from Texas who had a gimmick of giving the middle finger while dumping multiple cans of beer in his mouth, on his face and down his chest.
Once the brace was secured, he gingerly got up from the exam table, first putting weight on his uninjured leg, then ever-so-slowly putting putting weight on his injured leg.
All the ponies in the exam room held their breath as Big Red stood up from the exam table and put weight on his injured leg. He let out a few grunts and grumbles of pain as he walked around the room. On a couple of instances the leg threatened to buckle and the maned ape was forced to brace himself against the wall until he grabbed the crutch Apple Bloom had carved for him, tucked it under his forelimb and then began to amble around the small room again.
"Nurse Redheart, please take our patient down to the physical therapy room. I think giving him a bigger area to move around will give him time to get used to the splint and brace.", Doctor Caduceus said.
Redheart beckoned for Big Red to follow him.
Big Red, leaning his weight on the crutch, followed the earth pony nurse out the door.
*thump*
Big Red staggered back a couple of steps as his forehead hit the lentil of the door. While placing a paw to his forehead, he let out several grumbling hoots that everypony assumed were vulgarities uttered out of pain and aggravation.
Sunset Shimmer prepared to go to the shop of a dealer of contraband goods in Whinnyapolis who dealt in goods taken illegally from various creatures to find any leads on this current griffon that was holding a young maned ape. She applied a bit of temporary dye to her mane, tail and coat. She applied a bit of waterproof makeup to her cutie mark to change its appearance, rubbed a bit of temporary varnish to her horn to change its coloration. She inserted a pair of contact lenses to change the color of her eyes and a set false veneers over her teeth to change the look of her appearance. To top off the look, she put on a fancy sun hat that had several ostrich, peacock and a pair of phoenix feathers, the last of those she had secured from Philomena just before one of her rejuvenative conflagrations many years ago. True she could have used an illusion to change her looks, but if she had to defend herself, she didn't want to risk compromising her cover by having the illusion break.
Sunset looked in the mirror one last time, giving her appearance one last inspection. She applied a bit of slightly darker makeup to her chin, snout and cheeks, giving them a slightly gaunt impression and adding a bit more emphasis to her cheekbones. The use of makeup to alter her appearance was one of the more mundane skills her mother had taught her. Celestia could, with just a slight change to her eyeliner, appear to be more motherly and approachable, or look more stern with a gaze that almost seemed to pierce into a pony's soul, or more elderly and wizened.
Sunset gave a derisive snort. So many ponies in Equestria, even those inbred stuffed shirts that made up the Canterlotian high nobility, thought they had a deeper understanding of their high princess, even that neurotic lavender suck-up who was the current bearer of the Element of Magic. In reality Celestia was a shrewd manipulator, using her many millennia of experience to get what she wanted from a pony, and if they proved to be especially difficult and resistant to her machinations, she'd simply wait for time to take its toll and move on to the next one in line. Celestia could also be harsh, cruel and paranoid, she had untold numbers of spies and enforcers all over the nation to root out criminal organizations, political dissidents and revolutionaries, she also had spies deeply embedded in the societies and cultures of surrounding nations to gather information on any potential threats, or to simply make their leaders more affable to her wants and demands. On the same hoof Celestia could be kind, compassionate and even loving, currently there were nearly a thousand charities, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, food closets and orphanages around the nation that bore her name.
Eveypony across Equestria knew of the various prisons and asylums that would house those who were dangerous away from society. The most infamous of these were the Cookieville Sanitarium for the Criminally Insane that housed those who had mental disorders that caused them to be unable to control their violent urges, Hollow Mountain which was dug out of an extinct volcano out on the far edge of Horseshoe Bay that housed serial rapists, serial killers and mass murderers, the Black Cube in which housed dangerous international criminals kept isolated away from the world, and the worst prison of all, Tartarus, which held those who used magic in a manner that caused great harm and magical beasts that were too much of a threat to the general population to be allowed to roam free. Of course everypony knew of the various prisons and asylums, what they didn't know about was the most extreme punishment for the worst of the worst criminals and threats, petrification. All over Equestria there were tens of thousand of statues and sculptures on display in public squares, parks, museums and the like, most were carved from various slabs of rock, like marble, granite, schist and basalt, but a percentage unknown to all but Celestia, were petrified necromancers, the practitioners of the black arts, cannibals, and if rumors were to be believed, one creature that could warp reality, and the minds and bodies of ponies on a whim.
Sunset knew where thirty of the petrified ponies were held. Their petrified forms were held in the statue garden and shrub labyrinth of Canterlot Castle. She pushed those thoughts aside as they would interfere in her investigation. The shop she needed to visit was in a shady part of the Third Ward.
Sunset passed by increasingly older looking buildings that needed maintenance as she ventured deeper into the Third Ward of Whinnyapolis. Fortunately none of these buildings sported gang graffiti, though there were plenty of unseemly looking ponies hanging out in the various alleys...most were drunks, addicts, ne'er-do-wells, petty thieves and prostitutes, though more than a few were gang members, probably scouting out new territory for the bigger gangs or were members of newer, smaller gangs that had yet to carve out their own turf.
Several of the shady-looking ponies gave wolf whistles and shouted catcalls at the disguised Sunset Shimmer as she passed. When she refused to even acknowledge their presence, a few hurled insults or threats of sexual violence at her. She didn't break her stride, neither speeding up nor slowing down, if any of them were to try and make good on their threats, they would live just long enough to regret their life choices.
Sunset came to a stop across the street from her target, a store that stood out from the aging apartment buildings and warehouses, called Ermine's Exotic Emporium. The real Ermine, or at least the original one, was a failed businessmare who operated a pawn shop on this same location that served as a front for a fencing operation until she ran afoul of a local crime boss and he had run her out of business. She had died bitless in a slum. That was nearly thirty years ago and the shop had changed hooves several times between the ever-fluctuating crime bosses of the city, who used this shop as money laundering schemes or as fronts to sell illegal goods.
As Sunset crossed the street, she ran through her mind the name of the current mare who called herself Ermine. She was a former business associate of a Manehattanite fashionista who was a shrewd and cutthroat businessmare that had several high profile fashion shops on Bridleway. This mare who used the alias Ermine was known as Cross Stitch. The shop, Ermine's Exotic Emporium was a suspected front involved in the smuggling and sale of various products made from illegally harvested magical, exotic and endangered species all over Equestria and beyond, but so far nopony had been able to prove anything. It was also suspected that this shop was also involved in the illegal sales of live rare and exotic creatures.
Sunset paused outside the door, charged up her magic and gave a quick scan of the shop. She was able to detect a single pony, probably the current 'Ermine', and a few dozen creatures in a back room. She powered up a low-power teleportation spell and used it to swipe a hundred bits. Often criminals needed a few bits to, as they say, 'grease the wheels', so she'd use Cross Stitch's own bits to bribe her. She paused for a moment longer to center self and opened the door, the little bell above gave a tinkle.
"Just a minute!~" came a sing-song voice from the back.
Sunset looked over the goods in the shop. Most were counterfeits designed to look like real antiques. There were a few that were the real deal, they were lacking special tags to indicate they were legitimately purchased from licensed dealers...probably stolen and/or smuggled, and passed through who knows how many different hooves, talons, paws or other appendages before arriving that this shop. She made a mental note to pass on the information of this shop to the Equestrian Royal Police, it was a crime to sell fakes as true blue antiques, it was also a crime to sell stolen and/or smuggled antiques.
The mare who was currently using the alias Ermine trotted out from behind a purple velvet curtain behind the counter. "Welcome to Ermine's Exotic Emporium! We have all sorts of antiques and oddities for the discerning eye!"
Sunset slipped into her undercover alias, Starry Night and spoke in an over-exaggerated Canterlotian accent that so many well-to-do ponies opted for to sound cultured. "Why helloooo there! I am throwing a soiree in a few weeks at my manor and am looking for something to make Prince Blueblood absolutely green with envy." Saying the name made her want to spit. For some reason Celestia had adopted that absolute foppish cad as her nephew. Blueblood was overly obsessed with his looks, an insufferable boor, a notorious letch always trying to get under the tail of any mare who suited his fancy, regardless if she was married or single. But he was also incredibly shrewd, a veteran commander of the Yak War, an astute politician who could wheel and deal and slime his way into the good graces of any noble who was being especially difficult for his aunt to sway, the current general of the Solar Guard and commander of the Canterlotian Bureau of Investigation.
Sunset internally scowled. Her mother was a slick and sly pony. Often giving the impression to the public of being a doting and motherly figure, to the houses of parliament as being a competent, if slightly out-of-touch leader, and to the Royal Guard and EUP as being an astute and hooves-off commander. In private is when the real Celestia came out, a cold and calculating alicorn who had seen, alongside her returned sister, the rise and fall of countless civilizations. Sunset had personally seen ancient artworks from extinct civilizations held in her mother's private collection, depictions of Celestia and Luna as their rulers. If the rumors are to be believed, there was an entire civilization of ponies who lived deep in the Forbidden Jungle far to the south who worships the two alicorn sisters as goddesses and made sacrifices of fruits, grains, and sometimes trespassers to them.
'Ermine' made a broad gesture around the shop. "Why but of course. We have all sorts of baubles and trinkets that would make anypony the talk of the town or the belle of the ball. We have plenty of oddities and antiques that would make any noble turn green with envy. If what you're looking for is something more like rare furniture, I have recently acquired some especially exquisite furniture that belonged to the last Sun King of Prance himself. According to my supplier, they were the few sticks of furniture that wasn't burned when the commoners rose up and imprisoned he and his wife before executing them."
Sunset knew that was a bold-faced lie. Her mother had the only surviving furniture from that Prench dynasty. They had been gifted to her by the twelfth Sun King. She shook her head no. "I am looking for something more...exotic."
"Exotic you say?" Ermine gestured for Sunset to follow her. The mare stepped behind the counter and lifted out an ebony box. She lifted the lid to reveal a smattering of pink-colored crystalline fragments. "These are exotic. It's said that they once belonged to an alicorn who lived far to the north. The legends say she was a living, breathing statue made of crystal."
Sunset knew rose quartz when she saw them. This 'Ermine' would have had a better chance at claiming they were pink diamonds. "Mm...no. I'm looking to add to my menagerie."
Ermine's eyes glittered at that prospect. "A rare animal for your menagerie. Oh my my my! Un moment." She walked to the front of the store, opened the door, stuck her head out and looked around. Closing the door, she locked it, flipped the sign around so it read closed and pulled the blinds closed. "You're not a cop?"
"Oh no. I'm not a cop, I promise!" Sunset crossed her heart. If she only knew.
"Before you see my collection, I first require a small deposit, as it were. A show of good faith and as a means to ensure those that I keep under my care are well taken care of." Ermine lifted a hoof and curled it until it was pinched against her cannon, then wiggled it back-and-forth in the universal symbol for 'pay me'.
Sunset pulled the small pouch of purloined bits from under her mane and deposited it onto Ermine's hoof.
The mare opened the small pouch, fished a few bits out and inspected them. When she was satisfied, she deposited them back into the pouch and stuffed it under her mane. "This way, if you please." Ermine walked over to a bookcase. She eyed Sunset before placing her hoof on one of the shelves. She pressed on the shelf and it slid in slightly with a soft click. The bookcase swung inwards on hidden hinges.
Sunset followed Ermine into the hidden room. It was dark, there were sounds of chirps, trills, squeaks, squawks and other sounds.
Ermine pressed a button on the wall and Sunset found her eyes momentarily dazzled by lights turning on. There were cages and terrariums lining the walls. Many of them were empty, looking as if their occupants had been recently removed, either because they had died or somepony had bought them. Two dozen of the cages and terrariums housed sorry looking creatures, some magical, some endangered, all illegal for private ownership.
Gotcha! Sunset didn't let her face reflect her thoughts as she coolly looked around. She gave a faux yawn. "I already have these creatures in my menagerie. I was hoping for something rarer."
"I assure you that I can get my hooves on whatever you are searching for. Just tell me what you want and I can see if I can get you one through my sources."
"A maned ape."
'Ermine' choked in surprise as her expression went from the cool and poised purveyor of rare and illegal objects to one of shock. "A maned ape?! Nopony has ever encountered one of those alive before!"
"It's all the buzz in Canterlot that the princesses recently came into the possession of a live one. I'd like one for my menagerie. It would just stick it in Blueblood's craw if I had one to show off at my upcoming soiree."
Ermine slipped back on her prim and proper mask. "Ahem. Very well. I shall ask around with my usual contacts and see if somepony has seen a live one. Mind you, if they have, it's going to be a substantial cost to capture one as they're very dangerous and difficult beasts."
I got you nailed to the wall now, bitch. Sunset dipped her head in a slight nod. "Money is of no consequence."
'Ermine's' eyes glittered at the promise of money. "Oh, but of course. Just leave where I can contact you and I will send a message once I have been able to locate your maned ape."
Sunset wrote down the address for a vacant lot on the south-side of Canterlot. After she bid 'Ermine' ado, she stepped out of the shop and snickered to herself. When this 'Ermine' tallied up her books for the day, she'd find she was exactly one hundred bits short, the amount she had paid that crook. Sunset had learned from her mother how to cast spells without being seen. It required loading the spell ahead of time and then feeding a small amount of energy into it when she needed to cast it, just a spark, something that would go unnoticed by all but the most skilled mages.
***
Sunset donned her armor. It was the armor that marked her as Celestia's Flame. All who saw it would tremble in fear, especially when its illusory enchantments were activated. Sunset levitated her sword still in its scabbard. It was unusual for Equestrian swords. Instead of the square grip most pony swords had that allowed them to be more easily held in the mouth or fetlock, this had a more oval shape. Instead of a round, shield-like guard or a four-way crossguard of a pony sword, this had a two-way crossguard.
Sunset had remembered the stories her father, Etouffee, had told her about the original owner of this sword. It came from his hometown, Crescent City. According to her father's stories, his family had been the keepers of this blade. It had belonged to the city's savior, oddly enough named Savior. According to the stories, Savior was a strange creature that stood on two legs, like a minotaur, but unlike a minotaur, Savior didn't have fur or horns or hooves, but a long flowing blonde mane. The descriptions also said Savior was a female, having a pair of teats on her chest. This made Sunset think of the four-fingered maned ape, Minty, that she and Wallflower had taken in. It was said that Savior had arrived outside the city when a strange storm with oddly colored clouds hit the city and she was found laying unconscious, wearing strange armor and wielding a strange sword...this sword, if the stories are to be believed.
Sunset drew the sword from its scabbard and looked at the strange runes on the blade as she mused on the story of Savior. Savoir had gotten her name when she drove off a nautilo-kraken that had attacked the city's docks. A year after that Savior lost her life defending the city from another nautilo-kraken that had come out of the depths of Lake Champing. According to the stories, the waters of Lake Champing had turned black from the beast's ink as it did battle with Savior. After the battle was over, the nautilo-kraken's carcass was washed up on the shores of the lake and Savior was found a short distance away sitting under a tree, having succumbed to her injuries. The locals took the armor and sword off of Savior's body and had buried her in a stone sarcophagus in the center of the city. The families who were closest to her distributed her things among one another. The shell of the nautilo-kraken was placed at the city's dock as a way to ward off other sea monsters.
Sunset flipped the sword in her magic a few times as she pushed the memories of the story aside. Right now she didn't have time to waste on stories from her foalhood, she had a crook to to make talk.
Stepping out onto the street, Sunset activated the enchantments on her armor and made her way to the store she had visited earlier that night. As she strode past the same alleys in the third ward, the thugs and ne'er-do-wells who had catcalled and threatened her ran for their lives. She cackled at their fear.
Cross Stitch wracked her brain as she went over her books. Something wasn't adding up. She was one hundred buts short. Somehow somepony had cheated her out of money. She seethed as she counted and recounted her money.
*bang-bang-bang*
Cross Stitch looked up from her counting at the loud banging on the front door of the shop. "We're closed."
*bang-bang-bang*
Cross Stitch grumbled as whoever was banging on her shop's door obviously didn't get the message. "Didn't ya hear'a me the first time, ya mook? I said we'a closed! Now rut off!"
*bang-bang-bang*
Cross Stitch slipped her hoof through the leather loop of the bat she kept behind the counter. "Wadda ya stoopit or sumptin'?!" She had dropped her Whinnyapolis accent all together and allowed her Manehattan accent to come out in full force. She stomped through the store. "Ya had better be gone or when I get done wit' ya, ya'll be leavin' here in the back of a meat wagon!" She flung the door open and immediately regretted it.
Cross Stitch stared in fear and shock into the blazing form that the enemies of Equestria and every crook knew and they knew it by many names, Celestia's Flame, the Sun's Sword, the Sun Wolf. Her legs quaked in terror at the sight, flames licking from under the edges of that terrible armor, smoke and heat shimmers issued from every breath, what little fur was visible looked to be nothing more than glowing coals and black soot, and those piercing eyes, the sclera was black as smoke, black as soot, and the irises glowed red-orange like iron in a furnace. She stumbled backwards to get away from this horrifying sight.
Sunset strode into the store. "Why hello there, Cross Stitch." The enchantment on the armor made her voice sound like it was flames crackling. "A little birdie told me that you're on the market for maned apes." She drew the sword, its blade reflecting the flickering light from the armor's enchantments and making it look like it was ablaze too.
Cross Stitch's pupil became pinpoint when that horrible sword, said to be sharp enough to split a pony in two as easily as a sharp knife would a piece of sponge cake. She scurried backward, tripped over her hooves and tumbled onto the floor unceremoniously. She then scuttled across the floor and under a nearby fainting couch that was made to look like an antique.
Sunset cackled as she walked across the floor of the store, using her sword to knock objects off of nearby shelves as she approached the fainting couch that Cross Stitch was currently hiding under. Raising the sword, she pointed the tip at the fainting couch's seat and plunged it downwards.
The blade of the sword pierced through the couch and embedded the tip into the floor right in front of Cross Stitch's snout. The mare's eyes went wide and she shrieked. She scrambled out from under the fainting couch and ran across the floor.
"Aw, missed!" Sunset withdrew the sword and began lazily twirling the blade in a slow arc. "Don't worry, I never miss twice."
Cross Stitch hurled several objects at the blazing form that all enemies of Equestria and criminal fears. They were easily batted away with magic or the flat of the sword's blade. She hefted a small round, green box with mother-of-pearl inlays that had been hawked as the jade makeup box of the first emperor of Rokugan, in reality is was a cheap imitation that was filled with cheap face powder, she a a whole crate of them in the basement, and hurled it at the blazing form.
Sunset blasted the hurled round, green box with her magic, causing the air to fill with a fine white powder, obscuring the shop. She knew where Cross Stitch was running to, the small room behind the curtain behind the counter. She deactivated the armor's illusory runes, cast a camouflage spell and teleported.
Cross Stitch used the cloud of cheap face powder hanging in the air as a smoke screen and ran to the curtain behind the counter, there was a door in the backroom that led to a smaller hidden room that she used as a break room. She'd simply scramble into it, lock the door, barricade it and wait for this visage of flaming wrath to get bored and look elsewhere.
From her hidden position in the back room Sunset cast a silencing spell so nopony could hear any clinks of her armor and waited. She only had to wait a few seconds.
Cross Stitch bolted through the curtain. She dumped a shelf over so it laid at an angle across the entrance to the room. She fumbled with the latch on the small doorway that led to the secret break room.
Sunset stifled a chuckle. For some reason when she went after criminals, they never tried to break out a window in their homes or illegal shops and try to make a run for it down the street, they always went for a secret room. She followed closely behind the crook.
Cross Stitch slammed the door behind her, shoved a key into the latch and turned it, then shoved several chairs up against the door. Not wanting to pull the small chain attached to the small light fixture hanging from the ceiling lest she alert anypony that she was in here, instead opted to pull out a a candle and a box of matches from a cabinet. Shoving the bottom of a candle into the spout of an old bottle, struck a match and stuck the burning tip to the wick.
That's when Sunset decided to make her presence known. She activated the illusion enchantment on her armor as she dropped the camouflage spell.
Cross Stitch's pupils became pinpoints as the flaming avatar of wrath seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
"You've been a very naughty little filly. Somepony needs to spank your flank." Sunset blew out the candle, filling the room with darkness.
For several seconds the sounds of somepony struggling were accompanied by thumping sounds, and screams of terror and pain.
Sunset used her magic to pull the little chain on the light fixture, filling the room with light. In one corner the unconscious and battered form of Cross Stitch lay in a heap. She took a moment to take some deep breaths and center herself, she had an interrogation to conduct. She conducted a quick search of the shop and found a coil of rope.
Cross Stitch woke up to find herself staring at the pavement. Huh? What? Where am--" She immediately remembered what happened and lifted her head to look around. She was hanging upside-down from a lamppost, A pair of lengths of rope were lashed to her rear hooves and tied to the top of the lamppost, leaving her suspended plot-up. Her forelegs were tied behind her back. "Where are you?!"
Sunset, who had been standing behind Cross Stitch, activated the illusory enchantments on her armor, leaned up to the mare's ear and whispered, "Right here." She walked around to the front to the mare, gently placed the tip of the sword onto her crotch and began to slowly dragging up her belly towards her chest. "Now I know you're a mean and tough criminal with a lot of connections. So here's the deal, I'm going to ask you a question, then you're going to tell me to go rut myself. Then you're going to threaten my mother's and father's lives, maybe even the ived of everypony I love. Then I'm going to split your belly open and pull out your intestines slowly, capsule-length by capsule-length, hoof by hoof and show it to you as I'm doing so. Nopony has ever lasted more than three hoof lengths of their own guts being shown to them before talking, though there was this one minotaur that I pulled three whole leg-lengths before he talked."
"Please don't cut me open and gut me! Plea-hee-hee-hee-ease! I'll tell you anything you want to know! I'll give you all the names of all my customers and associates. Just pleeeeeeeaaaaaase, don't gut me!"
"Aw, you're no fun! At least resist a little so I can cut off one of your ears before you talk. You don't need both of your ears."
Tears flowed from Cross Stitch's eyes. "I was just a failed fashinista that got run out of Manehattan! If I had known that after I agreed to do business with that griffon who owns a bang stick that I'd run into you, I'd have told him to go rut his mother and stuck to selling knock-offs of designer hoofbags."
Sunset lifted her sword from the mare's body and returned to its scabbard. "Keep talking."
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Man, I've missed this story. Looks like big red is back at it again! And associates, of course. They're good, too.
dam sunset
nice chapter ^^
this version of sunset is so hot
Nice. See you next year
Well, here is the yearly update, see you all with the next one!
11857507
11857439
I know it's been 10 months since I've updated this story. I've been writing on other stories. When I get stuck on one story, I work on another until I either reach a point where I feel I've completed the chapter or I get stuck.
11857590
So does this mean you're coming back to this story and will update it more frequently or are you now stuck again on this one
Think there was a bit of a formatting error here
So glad to see a new chapter, very nice chapter.
11857787
Thanks for pointing that out. Fixed.
11857660
I dunno. I have an idea as to where I want to take the next chapter, but when I start working on it, it doesn't mean it's going to go that way.
11857590
Nah, you good mate, I've recently had several stories that had not updated for Years suddenly start popping out chapters and this one also popped up so its all good!
This version of Sunset Shimmer is scary. I'm going to enjoy reading more of her.
I feel like half of this chapter was dedicated to that lore dump that would have been right at home in dialogue Sunset was saying to somepony else starting with 'as you know'. Is that gonna be important to know at any point? Or is it just world-building? Either way, it feels like something that belongs in an Appendix chapter rather than something running through Sunset's mind while she's trotting through a seedy alley.
Okay so with the chapter titles just being a single number they are a real bastard to click on mobile.
11857892
Thank you for updating the story, and it was worth the wait just don't take so long to updated next time please
11858399
It all depends on how things are going with my creative process and how much I'm working on with my other stories. Because I have purposefully not set up any crowd funding for my stories, I am not beholden to anyone on how quickly I update stories.
I appreciate that you enjoy this story.
Hehe, been a while. Completely forgot what Sunset was searching for, or if she doesn't realize his location. Either way, bamf Sunset is great!
I love seeing "not evil but still not liking Twilight or Celestia" Sunset. She's the perfect anti-villain.