1: The Coffee is Scalding Hot, But Let’s Take a Massive Sip Just to See What Would Happen

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Redemption of The Fireheart

Written By: Your Antagonist (VegaKS03)

Chapter 1

The Everfree Forest, Early morning

“... S.k.”

What is that...

“M.. Sp..k.”

I swear, I hear someone calling me.

“Mr. Spike! Are you alright?”

Opening his eyes and allowing the first light of morning to enter his vision, Spike squinted at the source of the inquiry and jolted awake, reaching for his cane as though he was being attacked. Twisting the ornament of the cane, he withdrew a dagger from it and pointed it at the figure, which elected to back away slowly. “Easy, Mr. Spike, I’m a friend. I’m Pipsqueak, remember?”

Of course it was Pipsqueak. Who else would be out with a wanted ex-knight in the middle of the Everfree forest but a thief? Sheathing the knife, he apologized. “Sorry Pip, that dream still gets to me even after six months.”

“It’s quite alright Mr. Spike. It’s not quite morning unless I’ve had a knife pointed at me by a nightmare-prone dragon,” Pipsqueak chuckled.

A small grin found its way upon Spike’s lips. “Bite me.” This had been the morning routine of the pair since Pipsqueak found Spike washed up on the shore of a riverbed in the Everfree forest.

“Oh, that reminds me, I went to town and I brought breakfast with me as well.” Pip dropped a sack to the ground and began pulling out various fruits and bread. He surfaced from the bag a moment later with a decidedly smaller satchel which he tossed over to Spike.

With a quick investigation of the satchel, Spike found it contained several small gemstones. “Pip, you didn’t... I can’t accept this,” he said while attempting to hand the gems back to Pipsqueak.

“Well, I can’t very well return them, now can I Mr. Spike? If I tried to do that, the pony I liberated these from would have me thrown in jail. Besides, it’s too dangerous to go back to the middle district at the moment, so enjoy breakfast Mr. Spike.” Pipsqueak pushed the gems back towards Spike.

Hesitantly, Spike took out a ruby and bit into it. The rich flavor of the stone exploded across his tongue; the taste was reminiscent of cherry rock candy and red wine and almost immediately his fatigue vanished. “Thanks Pip, I needed that, though I’m not sure how I feel about eating pilfered gems...”

“Full is an adjective one might associate with that predicament, Mr. Spike.” Pipsqueak made a sandwich out of the bread and some of the fruit and bit into it heartily.

Spike popped a few more of the gems into his mouth before contributing further to the conversation. “Right, well I have a lot of nothing to accomplish today, and I’d prefer to get started as quickly as possible.”

“Actually, if you don’t mind Mr. Spike, I’d actually like to get in a sparring session today.”

“Oh?”

“You see, there are some new Knights patrolling the Lower District, and unfortunately they seem to have quite the penchant for catching me in the act.”

Spike chuckled at the thought of the suckers who were charged with task of maintaining the order in the Lower District. It was a job that was often delegated down to Knights in Training, or K.I.T.s as they were referred to, and it was the single most loathed job in all of the Canterlot Knight Corps; anypony who took pride in that job had to have a screw loose. “Alright Pip, hurry up with your breakfast and come on. I still have a lot of nothing to accomplish after I kick your flank.” Spike stood up and grabbed his cane.

Pipsqueak stood up as well and, after tying a black bandanna around his neck and struggling to fit into a short-sleeved blue shirt, he secured his cutlass to his back. To his surprise, Spike simply jammed the cane into the dirt of the forest. “Mr. Spike, I think you may be underestimating me, but, hey, it’s your choice. Don’t complain if you get hurt.” Pipsqueak faced off with Spike, who adopted an empty-handed fighting stance.

Spike knew better than to underestimate Pipsqueak; they had been sparring together for the past three months as well as getting into scuffles with some of the other inhabitants of the forest. Spike limbered up before shouting to his opponent, “Have at you, Pipsqueak!”

Pipsqueak took off like a bullet, rushing at Spike, who lowered his center of gravity, bracing himself for a tackle that never came. Instead, Pipsqueak ceased his momentum a foot away and took advantage of Spike’s adamant stance by pivoting and driving both of his hind legs into Spike’s chest, knocking him off-balance before pivoting again and lunging. Spike recovered, took note of Pipsqueak's lunge and responded by using the palm of his left claw to deflect him, following up with a quick right hook.

Spike exploited this new opening with an uppercut to Pipsqueak's chin. “This’ll finish you!” he shouted, lifting his leg to deliver a kick, only to find Pipsqueak had recovered faster than he’d anticipated. Pipsqueak ducked the blow as it sailed over his head and threw his whole body at Spike’s only grounded leg, toppling the dragon onto the ground.

Recovering quickly, Pipsqueak reared up on his hind legs and stomped down hard on his target, who was determined not to stay on his back. Spike proved his resiliency and adaptability in this situation by seizing both of Pipsqueak’s forehooves, pulling him down and pressing his legs hard into the colt’s abdomen, resulting in Pipsqueak flying off of him about three feet. Spike recovered to his feet and rushed over to his grounded target, jumping to give himself the height advantage, but Pipsqueak anticipated this.

Pipsqueak rolled to his hooves, began galloping, and proceeded to lunge at the airborne dragon.

I got him! Pipsqueak thought, until he turned around and bit down for the weapon on his back. A weapon that he soon found wasn’t there. It seemed that Spike had picked some things up from living with Pipsqueak for three months. “You missing something there?” Spike waved the sword in the air and threw it blade first into the ground next to him.

It was quite an accomplishment to be able to steal from a thief, but there would be no besting of the master today. “I could ask you the same, Mr. Spike.” Pipsqueak brandished a silver pocket watch with the Knight Corps insignia of a red star on a black shield, and a small black satchel that Spike recognized as his wallet.

“I keep forgetting how good you are at that, it’s almost annoying.”

“Shall we call it a match then, Mr. Spike?” Pip inquired as he began to trot closer to Spike.

Spike nodded as he stepped over. “Well... yeah, I guess we can call it a mat— WHOA, think fast!” Spike leapt at Pipsqueak and grabbed his neck, whipping the colt to the ground. Immediately afterward, he locked his legs around Pipsqueak’s hind legs. Afterward he began to twist with his claws. “Say it. Say it, Pipsqueak!”

Pipsqueak tried to escape, but he couldn’t after Spike’s cheap shot. “Alright, alright, uncle! Now will you let go?” Pipsqueak pleaded,

Releasing Pipsqueak’s leg, Spike took this opportunity to flaunt his victory. “Looks like I win again, eh Pip?”

“Only because you cheated...” Pipsqueak grumbled under his breath. He turned his attention from the gloating dragon to his breakfast from earlier only to find two of his forest dwellers in ratty worn suits rooting through his spoils. He recognized them as Snips and Snails.

“Well, good morning to you as well, I suppose. Is there any reason you two are stealing my stolen breakfast?”

Snips and Snails froze for a moment, and nervously turned to face the source of the inquiry, Snails elected to speak for the two. “Oh uhhh... we were just, ummm...”

“Liberating you from all these heavy fatty foods, Mr Pip! You certainly wouldn’t want to ruin your athletic physique, would you sir?” Snips sold the excuse with all demeanor of a snake oil salescolt. Interestingly enough, according to the stories that he told Pipsqueak, that was the business plan that got him banished from Canterlot. His whole supply caught fire after an incident with soon-to-be-ex-fireworks salesolt and partner in crime Snails. As it turns out, any idea involving the words “Shooting fireworks” and “snake-oil” is likely to get you banished from your hometown.

“Right, well if you two were hungry, you could’ve just asked.” Pip dug into the sack and tossed the pair a loaf of bread and two apples.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Pipsqueak sir. You are both a gentlecolt and a scholar!”

“If I were a scholar, I don’t think I’d be here right now, Snips,” Pipsqueak joked sardonically. “Please, stay and join us for breakfast.”

“Don’t mind if we do, but we have something to discuss with Sir Spike first.”

Spike walked over and indulged in the conversation while leaning on his cane. “Don’t call me Sir, it’s just Spike now. What do you need from me, Snips? I’ve a terrible amount of nothing to accomplish today and I’d like to get started as soon as possible.”

“Right Si—err.. Spike, we have a—”

Snails cut Snips off mid-sentence. “We need an escort into the Upper District of Canterlot. We have a destination in mind, but there’s a high chance that we may get caught by the Knights, so we need a scapegoat just in case— Oh, I wasn’t supposed to read that card out loud, was I?” The only reply he received was a swift backhoof across the snout from Snips.

If all it would have taken was a hint of sarcasm to kill Snips’ hope, Spike was about to commit genocide. “Scapegoat? Really? That’s all the reason I need to go marching about Canterlot like an idiot. Why don’t we go ahead and paint up some signs saying: ‘Here’s the biggest traitor your country has ever seen’, oh we can have a parade and cake!”

“Ahem,” Pipsqueak interjected “I think it would be polite to allow Mr. Snips and Mr. Snails to finish their pitch.”

The dragon crossed his arms and turned his snout upwards before replying. “Don’t be surprised when I say no.”

Snips fidgeted his hooves and continued. “Errmm... Well, like Snails blathered out mindlessly.” Snails grinned sheepishly and a piece of half-chewed apple fell out of his mouth. “Charming... We need an escort into Canterlot’s upper district to embark on a glorious business venture that can’t fail. However, seeing as we were banished and our contact within the city is deathly afraid of the Everfree forest, we have to sneak in.”

“Alright, but what does this have to do with me?”

“Well, you must understand that Snails and I lived in the lower districts, and neither of us know the area of the middle district very well, and we have absolutely no experience in the upper district, but—”

“I do right?”

Snails responded with a plucky “Yup!”

Spike took a moment to mull this over. Grabbing the satchel of gems from earlier, he popped a sapphire into his mouth and began to chew. Finally reaching a conclusion, Spike turned to face the two business unicorns. “Look, I understand you guys need my help, but I just don’t think that’s such a good idea. If Knight Corps recognizes any of us, they’ll throw you two in prison, and probably execute me. I can’t die just yet, not until I make Blueblood pay.”

Snips and Snails exchanged a look at the mention of the Supreme Commander of Knight Corps. “Blueblood, you say?”

“Yeah, that bastard betrayed me and took everything I ever loved and worked for.”

“You know,” said Pipsqueak, “I think I heard something about him when I went into town earlier: something about a wedding to some dressmaker from the lower district.”

Spike’s eyes widened upon hearing this; it must have been a coincidence but he had to be sure. “What did you say?”

“I heard some ponies in town gossiping about it, Blueblood and some fancy name... I think it means hard to find, but I can’t remember it. Gemity? Elusivity?”

“Rarity.”

“Right, that was it: Rarity. I kept hearing that the wedding was in two days. Say, how did you know, Mr. Spike?”

“Call it a hunch.” Spike ran to his pile of belongings, withdrawing a jacket and an old fedora Pipsqueak had stolen on one of his many trips through town.

Snatching the tattered scarf from around Snails’ neck, he asked, “How soon did you gents intend on departing to Canterlot? It seems I have some business there as well and I may just be able to accompany you.” The statement raised the spirits of the two half-witted business-colts.

Pipsqueak grinned at the dragon’s sudden change in demeanor. “What happened to all that nothing you had to accomplish?”

“There's always time to do nothing, I figure a little something won't cut into that. Are you coming with, Pipsqueak?”

“Well, I suppose somepony has to keep you out of trouble, so I may as well... I also have some... ‘business’ to take care of in Canterlot, among other things.” Pipsqueak squirmed and struggled into a multi-pouched shoulder harness, stowing two daggers away in it.

“By ‘business’ you wouldn't happen to mean appropriating goods from local shopkeepers and hardworking jewelers, would you?”

“You ate well this morning didn't you, Mr. Spike?” Pipsqueak draped a cloak over his shoulders to hide the harness.

“Touché..”

“And besides, I think one of the local fillies fancies me.” Pipsqueak said proudly.

“Well aren’t you just a heart-breaker?”

Pipsqueak’s face flushed a fierce crimson. “Well, I guess—”

”You should write her a letter,” Spike teased.

“I couldn’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“Because—”

“You should just go for it, eh?”

Turning their attention to Snips and Snails, Spike asked, “Gentlecolts, shall we proceed?”

Canterlot: Lower District Gate, Mid-Morning

The gate to Canterlot's Lower District was, as usual, poorly guarded. The only protection offered at the entrance to this level of the city came from a scraggly-looking senior knight and a couple of nervous-looking Knights in Training, who were learning the hard way just what gate-guard of the lower district entailed.

Several large stallions and harsh faced mares passed in and out of the gates unregulated, casting dirty looks upon the K.I.T.s. One made the mistake of actually attempting to perform his duties by asking a particularly large workhorse stallion pulling a cart for his business license. All the poor colt received for his trouble was a wad of some indiscernible black goo fresh from the stallion’s mouth delivered to his face.

As Spike and his companions crossed the bridge, they wordlessly moved past the young knight who began to weep. Under any other circumstances Spike would have attempted to comfort the young knight, but at the moment, it was mutually understood that the less attention the party drew to themselves, the better.

The gate led right into Canterlot’s Lower District marketplace where various stands, tents and shops were splayed about haphazardly around the homesteads which looked so decrepit they may have been condemned and rebuilt had the city cared about the well being of this district. The street was filthy and covered with trash and beggars, and though it was a perfect sunny day, the sky around this district seemed somehow darker than the area outside. The only signs of life in this district came from the sea of ponies, diamond dogs, gryphons, donkeys and cows going about their daily lives in an otherwise bland and uninspired setting. Even if Spike was the only dragon in the district, with his disguise he could still be just as easily confused for a maldeveloped Diamond Dog in this crowd.

Snails broke the silence that had been lingering around the group since they left the forest. “Well, it’s good to be back again...sorta.”

“I know what you mean,” responded Spike. “Regardless, we have to remain inconspicuous lest we draw the attention of any Knights— Oh come on Pip, really?” Spike spotted Pipsqueak reaching for the wallet of a passerby. To Pipsqueak, not drawing attention to oneself meant reverting back to the behavior that got him chased out of Trottingham.

“What? Old habits die hard, Mr. Spike.” Pip grinned innocently and Spike simply face-clawed.

Resuming their path through the lower district, Spike continued, “Well, please try to show some restraint while we’re in here. Remember: we don’t want to draw the attention of the Knights just because you can’t keep your hooves out of—”

A loud gruff voice told Spike that his attempts to sway Pipsqueak’s behavior were in vain. “Hey, just what do you think you’re doing with my wallet, little chump?” Indeed, Pipsqueak’s amazing pickpocketing skills could be foiled by a simple wallet chain, and as proof of the stallion’s accusation, Pipsqueak continued to hold the wallet in his hoof, not even bothering to drop it so he could at least attempt to feign ignorance.

His corresponding excuse showed Spike the futility of maintaining a low profile when Pipsqueak was in the group. “Umm... making sure the chain was made to withstand sticky-hoof syndrome? It passes!” Pip gave a stupid grin to the stallion who stared daggers at him with a very unamused look.

Before the stallion could open his mouth to threaten Pipsqueak, Snips and Snails ran up, shoved Pip to the side and began bombarding the stallion with various sales pitches while presenting random junk they picked up off the ground. Not missing a beat, Spike grabbed Pip by the tail and nonchalantly dragged him away from the situation through a crowd. “You just can’t control that habit can you?”

“Seems that way, Mr. Spike.” Pipsqueak held up four more wallets.

Face-clawing for the second time in a three minute span, Spike began to chastise Pipsqueak while the colt scrambled to his feet. “You know there’s this thing called self-restraint Pip, maybe you coul—”

“Hold it right there, thief!” The demand rang out through the marketplace and everypony present ceased moving and began searching around for the source of the voice. Eventually, the crowd was fixated on three fillies in ragged worn-out armor who began to trot slowly in Spike’s direction. Spike hoped that they would change direction or that their eyes would drift somewhere else, but something in his gut told him that this was destined to happen. Spike pulled up his scarf and goggles to better hide his identity just in case; the three weren’t focused on him, but he took the extra precaution to avoid being discovered.

Halting fifteen meters from Spike and Pipsqueak, the orange pegasus filly spoke. “Yeah, you’re the thief from this morning! Applebloom, isn’t that the same colt?”

The yellow filly wearing greaves on her legs, a traditional knight’s helmet, and a similar pocket-watch spoke up next. “Yeah, Ah think it is Scootaloo, what do you reckon Sweetie Belle?”

“That’s him alright.” Sweetie Belle concurred.

Scootaloo yelled again. “You’re under arrest by order of Knight Corps for multiple counts of lar—larce— larc—”

Applebloom stepped in to assist her struggling friend. “It’s pronounced ‘larceny’, Scoots.”

“Whatever! You stole this morning and ran away and we’re not gonna let you escape twice!”

Sweetie Belle, egged on by the authority her friends were exuding, chipped in her two bits as well. “Yeah, what they said!” As Sweetie belle spoke, all Pipsqueak could hear was a rhythmic hum

Scootaloo spoke up again. “Now, you can give yourself up willingly orrr.....”

Scootaloo nudged Applebloom who replied with a confused, “What?”

“Come on, Applebloom, you’re supposed to say it, and then we strike the poses!”

“Say what?” Applebloom asked while shying away from her friend.

Scootaloo facehoofed. “Ugh... Or Face the Wrath of: The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Knights in Training!” Scootaloo shouted jumping upwards enthusiastically.

“Ah don’t recall agreein’ to that Scoots, I think you might have ran that by Sweetie Belle.”

“I don’t remember anything about any poses.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Ugh, never mind we’ll work on it later. Look, either get down, or get put down kid!” Scootaloo spat at Pipsqueak.

“Yeah what she said!” Sweetie Belle chimed in.

Spike turned to face his partner who showed no sign of fear or concern, just a vacant admiring stare directed at Sweetie Belle, and came to a horrid realization: “Oh for Celestia’s sake Pip, is that the local filly you were talking about?”

Pipsqueak nodded his head without breaking focus.

“Hey, you must be his ac-acco-accom—”

Applebloom rolled her eyes as she finished the word for her struggling friend. “Accomplice, Scootaloo.”

“Yeah, that word! You’re under arrest too!”

Sweetie Belle once again threw in her two bits. “Yeah, give up!” Pipsqueak sighed again and his tongue hung out of his mouth slightly.

Spike grinned underneath the scarf, half because of Pipsqueak’s idiocy, and half because the dedication to the job these three exuded reminded him of when he first started with Knight Corps. Sensing that a fight was inevitable, Spike slapped Pip in the back of the head, snapping the colt back into reality. “Pipsqueak, I think we might have to beat them here, they don’t look like they would give up a pursuit easily.”

“You’re right about that, Mr. Spike, I recall them being rather persistent this morning.” Pipsqueak used his mouth to withdraw a dagger from his holster.

“Persistent, eh? Then this shouldn’t be too boring.” Spike twisted the handle of his cane twice and it separated into two sections that were connected by a chain. He referred to this particular form of the cane as a ‘nun-chuck’ and took a little bit of pride in knowing that since ponies didn’t have thumbs, only he and select few bipedal species could use these effectively.

Scootaloo took note of the change in demeanor her targets presented. “So, you chumps want to fight? I was getting bored anyway! Let’s see how long you last against theee...” She nudged Applebloom again and looked her expectantly.

Again her only response was a confused “What?”

“Never mind,” Scootaloo sighed “Let’s do this!” Scootaloo reached a hoof into a pouch on her holster and threw several small darts at Spike and Pip. Spike took immediate action and began whipping his own weapon around his body quickly and fluidly, each time it came around faster and harder, allowing him to whip down every one of the projectiles that flew in his direction.

On the enemy's side, Sweetie Belle reached into her saddlebags and dropped a pair of horseshoes with eight inch claws protruding from the base to the ground. She stepped into the horseshoes and, after ensuring they were a snug fit, she nodded to Applebloom. The two galloped towards their targets using Scootaloo’s ranged assault to cover their approach. “Hey Sweetie Belle, you take the colt, and I’ll take the weirdo!”

“Got it, Applebloom!” Sweetie Belle yelled as she charged right at a bewildered Pipsqueak who couldn’t believe his luck: the filly of his dreams was headed straight for him.

What do I do? What do I do? Uhhh, ask her name! Pipsqueak’s musings were cut short as a claw missed his face by mere inches. “Um, hi, I’m Pipsqueak, what’s your name?” Sweetie Belle ignored the idle chatter and continued lashing out at her target “Silent type, huh?” Pipsqueak leapt backwards as Sweetie delivered a straight thrust towards his head. “Or maybe you’re just not a conversationalist. I’m willing to bet it’s the latter.” Pipsqueak ducked another swipe of the claws, and noted that Sweetie Belle’s fighting style relied on the use her hind legs for support and movement while her clawed forelegs swiped the air in a frenzy. “Wow, you’ve got an incredible sense of balance, do you dance?” A claw took of a small tuft of his mane clean off “Maybe you can give me lessons some time?”

“Agggh!” Sweetie Belle roared in flustered frustration from Pipsqueak’s incessant chatter “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” With each iteration of the phrase the filly’s swings only grew in intensity and force. “Why can’t I hit you!?”

“Because, I’m dodging your attacks.” Pipsqueak teased. “If you want, I’ll stand still, but you have let me treat you to dinner first!”

“I’ll kill you!”

She’s got the voice of an angel. Pipsqueak mused to himself as he drew his sword and parried a wild claw swing.

Spike was holding his own against Applebloom, who was proving to be a handful at the moment. The greaves she wore on her legs were quite bothersome, as her impeccable blocking skills were the bane of his nunchuck swings. Spike whipped the weapon in an arc at Applebloom again, only this time instead of it being deflected, Applebloom evaded the strike by ducking and spinning around in a circle, allowing her tail to wrap around Spike’s feet. Standing up quickly, she pulled Spike’s feet from underneath him and he hit the ground while she leapt backwards.

The sudden retreat surprised Spike; normally a close quarters combatant would try to keep the range to a minimum. As he sat up, he saw Scootaloo hurl another volley of darts at him. Thinking quickly, he used his tail to push himself just out of the path of the darts. Upon recovery, he was greeted by Applebloom, who took a galloping start and slammed her helmet into his ribs, knocking him back a couple of meters. I’m going to feel that when this is over... He thought, gripping a claw to his side to alleviate some of the pain. I need a more effective weapon against her.

Spike held the nunchucks with both claws and stretched them until he heard a click and felt tension on the chain. This allowed the two ends to join together and reform his cane. Rotating it once, he pulled the cane apart to form his always dependable bo-staff. Another analysis of his opponents told him that the staff alone wouldn’t cut it, but he didn’t want to go into any of the lethal features of the staff against a couple of K.i.T.s. He held the staff close to his face with one claw and used the other to slightly lower his scarf. Taking a deep breath, he focused, spat his green flames upon the staff, and watched as it caught fire in a matter of seconds. He pulled the scarf back up, observing the burning staff he now held. This should be enough to deal with them.

Scootaloo hurled another volley of darts, and Spike responded by testing out his burning staff with a light swing. All of the darts vanished in a plume of smoke the moment they touched the green flame, and the shocked look on Scootaloo’s face made this moment all the sweeter; Spike was ready to mount his retaliation.

“Big deal, so you set yer fancy stick on fire. That doesn’t mean you’ll beat me!” Apple Bloom showed absolutely no fear as she charged at Spike with another head rush, Spike sidestepped her charge, and struck her upon the helmet with the burning staff as she barrelled through. “It’s gonna take a lot more than a weak attack and a fancy light show to—”

“Applebloom, your helmet, you’ve got to take it off!” Scootaloo shouted from her position

“Scoots, just what are you talkin’ about? Ah can’t take off my helmet right now, Ah’m in the middle of a fight!“

“It’s on fire, Applebloom! Lose the helmet now!”

“Fire?” Applebloom removed her helmet only to discover that it was engulfed by green flames, and slowly dissipating into ash.

“It’s starting to look like this fight is in my favor now.” Spike leapt striking her upon the flank with the burning staff. Apple Bloom’s body was enveloped in the green flames and as she kicked and screamed on the ground, she soon suffered the same fate as her helmet.

“Wh-what did you do to Apple Bloom?”

Ignoring the question, Spike turned towards Scootaloo and began to sprint as fast as his legs would carry him. Scootaloo pulled something else out of her holster: it looked like a piece of metal with a ninety degree bend in it. Thinking nothing of it, Spike closed the distance as Scootaloo threw it at him. Reacting quickly, he jumped over the thing as it buzzed underneath him and prepared to strike Scootaloo as well when he heard a familiar buzzing sound from behind and something struck him in the back, hard. Spike fell to the ground, but not before chucking the staff like a javelin, catching Scootaloo in the chest. The green flame engulfed her as well and, like Apple Bloom, she turned into ash and vanished.

Pipsqueak could see that his idea of fighting defensively was starting to wear out Sweetie Belle, whose claw attacks had grown sloppy and sluggish. Pipsqueak took this opportunity to rush in, parrying his exhausted opponent’s half-flanked swings with his knife while he planted his right fore-hoof behind her left hind leg and swept her to the ground. Backing off slightly, Pipsqueak decided not to follow up his attack because he didn’t believe in going all out against the opposite sex.

His now-recovering opponent on the other hand, had no qualms with finishing what she started. Sweetie Belle galloped and leapt, claws first, at Pipsqueak, who had dropped his guard and his weapon in hopes that she was too tired to fight any more. Preparing for the searing pain that was about to ensue, Pipsqueak flinched and readied his body for the imminent cut... any moment now... it’s gonna hurt.... but nothing came, with the exception of a scream emanating from Sweetie Belle. As Pipsqueak opened his eyes, he saw that his crush was on fire, more specifically green fire, and could only watch in horror as his beloved assailant was reduced into a pile of ash before him.

Spike whipped the staff against the air and the flames extinguished themselves. “You alright, Pip?”

“You just... You just...”

“Transported them somewhere that isn’t here?”

“What was that, Mr. Spike? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of filly-cide.”

“Uhh.. Pip, I didn’t kill them.”

“Mr. Spike, with all due respect you just set all three of them on fire and they burned into nothing. The filly of my dreams... I didn’t even get her name.” Pipsqueak sank slowly to his haunches as a wave of melancholy swept over him.

“Well actually, it’s a bit embarrassing to say, but my fire doesn’t actually burn things.”

“What? But I just saw you set them on fire!” Pipsqueak protested.

“No, you just saw me transport them

It took a moment for Pipsqueak to allow that realization to set in, Spike had done it in front of him numerous times before. “So where did you send them?”

“Somewhere in the middle district, I think.”

“What do you mean ‘you think’?”

Spike shrugged. “Well, it’s not like I stuck a directional seal on them or anything. They could be anywhere as far as I know. Hopefully the middle district. Now come on, we’ve got to get going.”

Lower District Moat: Mid-Morning

A flash of green light was all Apple Bloom saw before the world came back into focus and she found herself in an unfamiliar environment. The area around her was dark and wet, and she found it hard to breathe. Searching around her environment, she found an impossible source of light that was somehow below her feet, and her nose began to burn as it filled up with some strange substance.

Apple Bloom finally pieced together where she was: An unidentified body of water. Facing the light, she began to kick and swim as hard as her hooves would allow her to move. As she surfaced, she took a massive breath of air, and found that her present location was a moat. Not terribly long after that she was joined by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who both emerged from green flashes beneath the water as well.

The three swam to land and Apple Bloom was the first to break the silence “Ah can’t believe it, our first non-supervised patrol, and we screw it up big-time. And to top it off, he destroyed my helmet! This is downright humiliatin’,” Applebloom said dismally.

Scootaloo draped a comforting hoof around her downtrodden and soaking wet friend. “We got beaten by a purple diamond dog with a crazy green fire staff. I don’t recall receiving any lessons about what to do in that situation from Lady Cheerilee. If we ever see that guy again, it’ll be too soon.”

“But he was kinda cool!” Sweetie Belle piped up optimistically.

“Yeah, but not as cool as Lady Rainbow Dash!”

“Ah still say Lady Applejack is cooler—”

“Of course you’d say that, she’s your sister!”

“Yeah, well Ah’m willing to bet that my sister could take Lady Rainbow Dash any day of the week!”

Sweetie Belle cut in before the argument got too heated, “Girls, I think we should report what just happened to Lady Trixie.”

There was a brief silence as Scootaloo and Applebloom stared at each other, before Scootaloo said, “I don’t think Lady Trixie is cool at all.”

“Yer only sayin’ that because she ain’t no Lady Rainbow Dash! Yer opinion is far too biased!” Applebloom retorted

“Don’t use words I don’t know the meaning of!”

Sweetie Belle only sighed as she listened to the bickering of her friends. She reached into her saddle bags to retrieve her pocketwatch, and a small note fell out. She didn’t recall ever placing it in her bag. Curious, she opened it to inspect its contents, and grew flustered and agitated with every line she read, before finally crumpling it up and tossing it into the moat with an infuriated huff.

“Sweetie Belle, what was that all about?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah, I ain’t never seen you act like that before, what was that note all about?” Applebloom inquired.

“It’s nothing!” Sweetie Belle shouted, her voice cracking as she spoke, “Come on, let’s go! The faster we report this, the faster we can get those two weirdos arrested!”

“All right, sound slike a plan to me! I’ll tell Lady Rainbow Dash!”

“I’m gonna tell my big sis’ and big brother!” Declared Applebloom.

“I’ll tell... umm... Lady Trixie?”

“Sounds good to me, meet us in the middle district later, all right Sweetie Belle?”

“You got it girls!”

“All right, Cutie Mark Crusaders! Let’s move out!”

As the three ecstatic fillies galloped back towards the lower district entrance gate, the note began to unfurl and the ink began to run and stain the water as the moat laid claim to its latest visitor.

Dear Ms. Guard Filly,

When I saw you this morning something told me that in my career as a thief, the greatest treasure that I would ever steal would be your heart.

Yours Truly,

Pipsqueak

Chapter 1 End

2: The Pirate, The Mutt, and The Braggart... Sounds Like That One Narnia Book

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Disclaimer:In the Highly unlikely even that this ever becomes the premise for an MLP Episode I own nothing. I mean the chance of that happening equates to the odds of someone slapping me with a frozen trout... wait, there’s a crazy man out in the street... he’s got fish...

Redemption of The Fireheart

By: Your Antagonist (VegaKS03)

2: The Pirate, The Mutt, and The Braggart

Knight Corps Lower District Headquarters

Which one is her office again? Sweetie Belle wondered as she wandered down the dirty halls of the Knight Corps’ Lower District office in search of her Senior Knight. She seldom ever set hoof in this building since K.I.T.s were required to stay inside the dorms unless they were on patrol and, as a result, she found herself unable to navigate the dark and filthy hallways in the poorly-designed and horribly-maintained structure. As she ventured into the lantern-lit corridors, Sweetie Belle heard somepony yelling in the empty building, and decided to follow the sound back to its source in the hopes it would help her find Lady Trixie.

Sweetie Belle wandered deeper and deeper into the light-deprived building. Her only guide to the dark labyrinth was the constant echoing of somepony’s frustrated shouts in the halls that, while once unintelligible in nature, became more and more discernible as she advanced. Sweetie Belle could make out a few swear words here and there as well as Lord Blueblood’s name, but as for everything else it was all muffled ranting.The source of the noise revealed itself as a door emblazoned with a magnificent golden star that somehow shone brightly despite the poor lighting in the hallway, Sweetie Belle wished that Applebloom and Scootaloo were with her instead of reporting their attacker from earlier to Lady Rainbow Dash and Lady Applejack. At least then she’d have somepony around to give her moral support. Another unintelligible shout resonated from behind the door, sending a violent shiver from the base of the filly’s tail through her spine.

Sweetie Belle swallowed hard as she nudged the door open, and another scream poured through, this time clearer than ever and twice as loud. “—Bah! That buffoon Blueblood! Doesn’t he realize what a waste of equine resources it is to assign such a decorated and magnificent officer such as—ahem— Lady Trixie: The Great and Powerful,” Trixie shouted, throwing her forehooves to the sky as though she were addressing some imaginary audience. “To such a manure-hovel of a district!” Trixie gazed out the dirt-encrusted window to the lower district, grimacing in her disgust and abhorrence for the impoverished area.

Sweetie Belle trotted into the room, her eyes falling on her superior officer who was nude while ranting and raving to a window. Sweetie Belle cleared her throat and called out softly, “Lady Trixie?”

Sweetie Belle huffed in irritation as Trixie continued to rave like a madmare. “It’s all that Twilight Sparkle’s fault! If it weren’t for her, Trixie would still be Lord Blueblood’s Second-in-Command back in the Upper District! Trixie doesn’t know what Blueblood sees in that half-witted mare... can her inept magical ability best a swarm of dragons, hex a hydra into submission, or curse a cockatrice with it’s own venomous glare?! Trixie says neigh!”

“Lady Trixie? Hello!” Sweetie Belle piped up, with a little more volume in her voice this time, but it fell short yet again as Trixie continued to ramble on in her state of dismay.

“Trixie would bet her bottom bit that Blueblood is only acting like this because of his engagement to that dirty lower district cobbler! How could he forget everything he ever had with Trixie!? Trixie gave him the best years of her life, and her heart, and the mule just goes and tramples on everything? Trixie will see to it that he pays for—”

“Lady Trixie!” Sweetie Belle shouted, startling her superior.

The sudden outburst caused Trixie to jump in surprise and whirl around defensively, her horn aglow with a magenta aura, threatening to lash out at the first thing to identify itself as a threat. “Who dares to intrude on the Great and Powerful Trixie during her personal monologue? Identify yourself coward, before I turn you into a slug!”

Sweetie Belle trotted out into Trixie’s line of sight, and halted. She brought both sets of her legs together, and rose her right forehoof in a salute. “Lady Trixie, I am Knight in Training Sweetie Belle, and I have news for you, so please don’t turn me into a slug!” Sweetie pleaded without breaking her salute. “And what’s a monologue?” She inquired tilting her head to the side.

“Errr... nothing,” Trixie replied brushing off the question in hopes that the child would forget her earlier ramblings. “Now, what is it that you need to tell Lady Trixie? And be quick about it; Trixie has things to do!”

Sweetie Belle dropped her salute and shuffled her hooves uncomfortably along the floor. “Ohh... ummmm... right! My team was attacked—”

“Mmm-hmmm... attacked...” Trixie mumbled half listening, half fascinated by a spot of dirt on her hoof and its remarkable resemblance to a star.

“ —by this really crazy strong guy on two legs—”

“Crazy strong biped.. yup.” Trixie held her hoof out in front of her face, checking for any other imperfections on the appendage. In her mind she had already estimated the threat to be a Diamond Dog, and as pesky as the rowdier members of that race were, they were nothing two senior knights couldn’t handle. Trixie was growing more and more impatient as she waited for the filly to finish her report.

“—with this really cool transforming staff, and he spat green fire!”

“...mmm-hmmm, transforming staff and— Did you just say green fire?!”

“Yes, Lady Trixie!” Sweetie Belle shouted, whipping her right hoof back up in a salute. “He spat this weird green fire on his staff, and then he attacked myself, and Knights in Training Applebloom and Scootaloo. After the encounter, we woke up in the moat outside of the city. We never had a chance, Ma’am!”

Trixie bit her lip, as she went over the description of the perpetrator in her mind. Two legs, transforming staff, breathes green fire, it has to be him! But how, and why now? Hmmm... then again this could be Trixie’s chance to get back in with Blueblood’s good graces... wait a minute though... Trixie looked at Sweetie Belle, and compared the details of the filly’s report to the actual K.I.T. herself, and immediately noticed a contradiction. “Knight In Training Sweetie Belle, was it?”

“Yes, Lady Trixie!”

“Where is the rest of your team? You did say there were two others with you, did you not?”

“Oh! They went to report the intruder to Lady Rainbow Dash and Lady Applejack in the lower district.”

Trixie glared at nopony in particular when Sweetie Belle mentioned the names of Trixie’s rivals. If anypony was going to get credit for capturing Sir Spike, it was going to be Trixie. Through grit teeth Trixie managed a compliment that slowly turned to arsenic on her tongue “Good work child, now go find your team in the Middle District and resume patrol.”

“But Lady Trixie, what about the intruder? Can you really handle him on your own? He’s really, really strong.”

“Child, do you dare to doubt the criminal apprehension abilities of Lady Trixie: The Great and Powerful!?” Trixie bellowed, the latter part of the sentence carrying enough force to startle Sweetie Belle into stumbling backwards.

“N-no, Lady Trixie!” Sweetie Belle responded with a nervous and sloppy salute.

“Then begone! Trixie must prepare to apprehend this criminal herself!”

“Yes ma’am, Lady Trixie, ma’am!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she galloped out of the office, in her mind trying to remember the path to Knight Corps’ Middle District headquarters.

Trixie waited until Sweetie Belle had left the office, before screaming out in frustration and stomping her hooves in a tantrum like manner. “Is Trixie doomed to spend the rest of her career in this sorry excuse for a shantytown? If Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and the insane one catch the traitor... no, it just means Trixie will have to catch the dragon first! Trixie is almost certain he hasn’t even left the lower district yet!” Trixie enthusiastically cantered over to a black trunk behind her desk and began pulling out her patrol attire. Within moments she had adorned herself with a black breast-plate decorated with silver stars, her trade mark purple star-studded cape and magician’s hat, full armor for her left foreleg while the others remained bare, and lastly she seized her always dependable golden trident, levitating it onto her back. “Trixie will capture the dragon or die trying!” she cried as she galloped down the halls and into the filthy streets she loathed so much..

Lower District Market Place

Spike looked around and was surprised to find that a large crowd had gathered around since the battle with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. While fights in the Lower District were unsurprisingly common— In the crowd an argument between a pegasus and a donkey was slowly escalating into a minor scuffle— a battle on the scale of what had just transpired between Spike, Pipsqueak and the Cutie Mark Crusaders was a spectacle unlike any other. There is usually nothing out of place with the gathering of a crowd in the Lower District, but to have shopkeepers leave their stands unattended, and all of the foot traffic in the area stop whatever they were doing to gawk upon the skirmish, it can safely be said that the law enforcement knights wouldn’t be too far behind. As proof of this, one singular voice rang out above the cheers and jeers of the crowd: “Hey what’s going on down there? Clear a path, commoners!”

“Uh-oh,” Spike mumbled. Almost immediately as he heard the voices, his eyes began darting around the surrounding area for some way out, but the crowd was packed too tightly together to offer a remotely effective escape route. Spike noticed that Snips and Snails had somehow wormed their way through the crowd and were galloping up to him at full throttle with panic spread wide across their features.

“Mr. Spike, we’d best am-scray, and quickly!” Snips sputtered as he slowed to a stop.

“Yeah, there’s buck-ton of knights out there, eh!” Snails contributed.

“What’s going on here? Clear a path, all of you, this is Knight Corps business!”

Spike noted how close the shouts were, and he could see the faint silver glimmer of standard issue Knight Armor. Thinking quickly he turned to the subject matter expert of escaping law enforcement and angry shop owners. “Pipsqueak, you should have plenty of experience with getting out of sticky situations, do you see any good escape routes?”

“You’re not going to like this, Mr. Spike, but it looks like we’ll have to fight our way out... again...”

Spike clenched his jaw to the point he could feel his teeth grinding against each other. At best he could take five guards on his own, but with the amount of armor he saw pushing through the crowds, resistance seemed futile. It’s either try to take the guards on, or face execution... guess I’ve got no alternative.

“Pssst!” came a voice from behind Spike and the three colts. Immediately the whole group whirled around and fixed their eyes on a solid brick wall.

“Did anypony else hear that?” Pipsqueak asked aloud.

“Maybe the wall sneezed?” Snails drawled.

The wall spoke again.“Psssst! You! Yes, You! Come with us! We get you out of here! You hurry, yes?”

“Uhh...” Spike pondered the offer for a moment as Pipsqueak spurned the group into action.

“Yes, how are we to get in there though?”

“One moment.” The wall slid open, slightly revealing a dark alleyway just large enough to for every member of Spike’s party to enter one at a time. Spike went first and was quickly followed by Pipsqueak, Snails, and Snips who struggled to squeeze through due to his portly frame. When they were through, the wall slid closed again, and the group was greeted by a tall silhouette sporting pair of bloodshot yellowed eyes. “Hmmm, pony... Rover not too fond of Ponies. But if they with fellow Diamond Dog,” the silhouette gestured to Spike, “Spot guess it okay. Come on, make haste!” Spot began walking down the hallway, while Spike and company followed suit.

The party had been travelling down the corridor in silence until Snips verbalized his concern over something that had been bothering him since the meeting with the Diamond Dog.“If you don’t mind our asking good sir, what did you mean when you said fellow Diamond Dog?”

“The one wearing jacket, he is Diamond Dog, yes? He walks on two legs like Spot, but he is much smaller than average Diamond Dog, but Diamond Dog nonetheless,” Spot responded while pushing open a rusty red door on the side of the corridor, revealing a large room with no ceiling containing what appeared to be a grungy and hastily constructed shanty-town, the inhabitants of which were more Diamond Dogs wearing leather armor that looked like it was being held together with screws and bits of metal..

A Diamond Dog wearing a red vest, metal gauntlets over his massive forearms, and a tattered scarf approached the group and began conversing with Spot, all the while resting one of his claws on an oddly shaped sword he wore across the his waist. “Spot, who this,” the Diamond Dog gestured to Spike with his free claw “,and why do you bring ponies down here?”

“Spot, see fellow Diamond Dog in trouble with the knights, so rescued him, but he bring ponies with him.”

“Gahhh! You are too soft for your own good, but Rover supposes they can be used for— wait a minute.” Rover walked over to Spike and began sniffing the air around the dragon intensely. Spike shirked backwards as the Diamond Dog came closer and closer, but just as quickly as Rover began his assessment, he ended it returning his attention to Spot. “Spot, are your nostrils clogged?”

“What do you mean, Rover?”

“That not Diamond Dog, you lunk-head!” Rover shouted, smacking Spot on the back of the head.

“He, not Diamond Dog? But he go on two legs! What other creature go on two legs, beside Diamond Dogs?”

“Not know, but we find out later after we kill the intruder!” Rover snarled as he drew his blade from its sheathe, aiming the tip at Spike, had there been a tip. Rover’s sword was more akin to a massive double sided butcher’s knife, and it looked as though someone had broken the tip off of a particularly heavy claymore.

“Hey, come on, can’t we talk about this?” Spike asked as he backed away from the sword.

“Talk? Talk time over. Rover’s sword thirst for blood. First kill you, then we make lunch out of the ponies!” Rover cackled harshly, intimidating Snips and Snails to the point that the pair huddled together, wrapping their arms around each other wile they quivered in fear.

Pipsqueak rolled his eyes at the pair of frightened colts before returning his gaze to the fight about to ensue, and he noted that a good number of the Diamond Dogs in the district had taken interest as well, forming a small circle as they gawked at the spectacle that was sure to ensue.

Spike tried again to establish some amnesty in the situation, carefully preparing his cane for transformation. “Look, we’re just trying to pass through to the upper district, we don’t want any trouble all right?”

“You not have much choice, freak! Fight!” Rover cried as he hefted his heavy blade upwards with one claw, swinging it straight down at Spike’s head.

“Whoa!” Spike leapt to the side, avoiding a devastating blow that shattered the very ground he was standing on moments ago. As Spike rolled to recovery, he observed the aftermath of Rover’s swing, taking note that his opponent was having some minor difficulty getting his sword out of the ground. Spike took advantage of this opportunity, and released his bo-staff from the cane, readying a swing as he charged at Rover.

Rover had finally removed his sword from the ground when Spike released a mighty staff swing with all his might, catching his opponent in the face, and knocking Rover back a few feet. “You not bad, stranger,” Rover paused to spit blood, “but you not stronger than Diamond Dog!” Rover hefted his sword again, and leapt at Spike with a wide clumsy swing. Spike blocked the blow with his staff, but the force of the impact was so great that it knocked Spike’s staff out of his hand, leaving him exposed and unarmed. Rover capitalized on Spike’s shortcoming and unleashed a barrage of slow, clumsy, but devastating swings, each one driving Spike further and further away from his weapon.

Pipsqueak unable to watch this spectacle continue any longer prepared to jump into the fray with Spike. “Mr. Spike! Hold on, I’ll—”

“Pony not interfere, or Spot kill pony.” Spot proclaimed with crossed arms.

“What? Why?”

“Diamond Dog honor code not allow interference in duel. This between Rover and the strange one. If pony interfere, pony’s hide will become Spot’s new armor.”

“Grrr... fine.” Pipsqueak ceded through grit teeth. It was painful to not be able to assist his friend, but he’d seen Spike fight off wild creatures, and multiple bandits in the Everfree Forest, so he knew the knight could handle himself.

Rover, finally sick of the constant misses, held the giant cleaver with two claws allowing for much faster swings. As one of the improved swings sailed inches away from Spike’s chest the dragon contemplated his situation. If I get hit by one of those I’m a goner, but I cant keep dodging forever. I guess this is where— Spike paused his train of thought to duck a fresh swing— I’ll mount my retaliation then.

“Rover have you now!” the Diamond Dog shouted in triumph bring the blade straight down for the second time in this battle. Spike side stepped the attacked, and with a spin and a flourish he slipped his arm out of his jacket, hurling the article of clothing into Rover’s face.”Gahh! Can’t see! Can’t see!” Rover shouted. In his panicked state, Rover took his claws off the sword and was focused on peeling the jacket away.

Spike sprinted and leapt at his blinded foe, winding up and releasing a mighty haymaker that connected with satisfying THWACK! sending Rover reeling backwards to the ground. Spike seized this opportunity, and jumped straight above Rover simultaneously using his tail as a pike as he crashed into the Diamond Dog’s belly. “GYYYAAAHHH!” Rover shrieked as the pain shot through his body. Using his armored claw, Rover hurled a wild punch at Spike, who stood atop his belly. Spike parried theswing with both claws, inhaling deeply and charging his dragonfire as he did so.

Sssss.... BANG! Sang the loud report of a pistol as it cut through the shouts and barks of the spectators silencing them almost instantly “That’s enough!” A new female voice resonated through the shanty town, captivating the attention of Pipsqueak, Snips, Snails, the Diamond dogs, and Spike, their collective attention settling on a figure who stood on the roof of one of the shoddily built shacks.

“C-Captain G-Gilda!” Spot whimpered, backing up as Gilda spread her wings and jumped from the roof, gliding towards the ground. The moment she came into view Spike took note that Captain Gilda was adorned primarily in pirate garb: she wore a white blouse top with a black vest faded from years of use, an eyepatch, and a belt with five single-shot flintlock pistols and a blunderbuss secured to it.

Rover pushed Spike off of his chest and sprinted over to Gilda, saluting lazily as he did so. “First Mate Rover reporting, bird... er... Captain.”

“Can’t some-gryphon get some sleep around here? Just what are you idiots fighting about anyway? And why are there ponies and a dragon here?”

“Spot bring them Captain, and what dragon? Spot not see a dragon, only ponies and purple freak, but he too small to be dragon,” Rover inquired tilting his head.

Gilda face-taloned and muttered something under her breath, but only the latter portion was discernible. “... and somehow you’re the most intelligent of the Diamond Dogs.” Gilda seized Rover’s head with her talon and redirected him to Spike who was presently exhaling the orange fire he never got to release due to the interruption of the fight. “That is a dragon, don’t tell me you’ve never seen one before, I mean look at him: He’s even breathing fire.”

Spike finished expelling the flame. “Well, actually that’s a common misconception, see dragons don’t really breathe fire. It’s more like regurgitating gems that we’ve eaten and converted into—”

“Shut it, nerd! No one asked you. Why are you here anyway? You’ve got a minute to explain yourself and why I shouldn’t shoot you down like a common sea-rat for assaulting my first mate.” Gilda placed a talon on one of her still loaded flintlocks to get her point across.

“Well, we were on our way to the upper district when we ran into some trouble, and these dogs—”

“My dogs,” Gilda stated sternly.

“Right, your dogs saved us from the knights by bringing us in here.”

“Not too friendly with the knights, huh?” Gilda removed her talon from the pistol. “You’re all right with me then.”

“What did the knights do to you?”

“I’m a pirate, so the real question here is: what haven’t they done to me? We docked here just after some scumbag by the name of Blueblood took command of Knight Corps, and started cracking down hard on the ports. They took our ship, detained most of my crew, and labeled me a rogue privateer. Can you believe it? Me a privateer... that’ll be the day.”

“Aren’t you though?”

“Ha! Privateers are soft, yellow-bellied cowards who would bow down to the government and play in whatever pond they’re told to. Privateers have rules and limitations, and are content with being complete and utter embarrassments to the sea. Dogs, what do you think of privateers?”

At once all of the Diamond Dogs straightened up and barked out as a singular unit: “Privateers, Captain? Don’t you mean breakfast? AWWWOOOO!!!! Kill! Pillage! Plunder!”

Gilda grinned before turning back to Spike. “No, dear dragon, what I am is a pirate. Captain Gilda, the Hound-Mother of the Equestrian Seas.”

The Diamond Dogs once again as unit sounded off at the mention of their Captain’s full title: “AWWWWWOOOOOO!!!! Kill! Pillage! Plunder!”

“What’s your name dragon?”

“Spike Sparkle, formerly known as Sir Spike the Fireheart of Knight Corps.”

“...”

Uh-oh...I forgot she doesn’t take too kindly to knights, this could be bad...

“Sparkle? Spike Sparkle? Are you kidding me?”

“Ummm... sorry?”

“I’ll just pretend you never said that. Anyhow, why were you running from the knights, Mr. Former Knight?”

“Well...” Spike pondered the ramifications of explaining himself to a pirate. Given the circumstances, there were no obvious negatives in trading stories with a fellow criminal. “Long story short, that Blueblood guy, he poisoned our queen and framed me for it, I escaped for a few months, and these three managed to to drag me back to Canterlot.” Spike gestured to the ponies behind him. “So I figured since I’m here, I may as well kick his flank and clear my name as well, but not five minutes into the Lower District, we got into it with some Knights in Training, and you know what happened from there. Now I don’t mean to sound rude or impatient, but I have to get to the Upper District, so if you could please show us out—”

“There’s a girl involved isn’t there?”

Spike flushed a shade of crimson at Gilda’s blunt assessment, and he began stumbling over his words. “What? Oh, I...uh...”

“Ha! An honest and true cliche in this day in age,”Gilda cackled heartily, patting Spike hard on the back. “I like the cut of your jib, Former Knight. We’ll show you out of the hideout, but I need to get ready first.”

“Get ready? For what?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m comin’ with you, as leader of course. Besides, what you see here is only a fraction of my crew. We’ve got hideouts established in all three of the Districts, I just prefer this one because you can get away with just about anything in the Lower District.” Gilda turned her head to the mass of Dogs and whistled a sharp piercing tone. At once, Rover and Spot sprinted over to their waiting captain.

“You whistled, bird?” Rover huffed.

“Rover, get ready to go. We’re accompanying our dragon friend to the Upper District. Spot, you’re in charge of the hideout until then, got it?” Both Diamond Dogs saluted and sprinted off in separate directions, and Gilda nodded to Spike before going her own way as well.

As quickly as Gilda left, Pipsqueak, Snips and Snails galloped up to Spike, a mix of concern and excitement plastered across their faces as they crowded around asking rapid-fire questions. “Sir Spike, what did she say?” Snips asked, advancing closer to Spike.

“Are they gonna eat us?” Snails pried, glancing around nervously at the Diamond Dogs going about their business.

“Pirates are awesome...” remarked Pipsqueak.

“How soon are they going to let us go?” Snips inched even closer to Spike.

“I don’t taste very good, dude. You told them I don’t taste good right? Right?” Snails prodded.

“Pirates are awesome...” Pipsqueak reiterated.

“All right, all right, one question at a time,” Spike instructed, distancing himself from the information hungry colts with his fully extended arms. “Snips: Captain Gilda said she’s coming with us, and we’ll be leaving as soon as she’s ready, so it shouldn’t be too long.”

“Sh-sh-she’s coming with us?” Snails sputtered, and Spike nodded in affirmation.

“Traveling with Captain Gilda... awesome...” Pipsqueak rambled, clearly starstricken by the recent change in events.

“No, no, no, we can’t travel with a pirate, she’ll stab us in the back the first chance she gets!” Spike ignored Snips’ protests and turned to address Snails’ concerns.

“Snails: They are not going to eat you...” Snails exhaled a sigh of relief but quickly sucked it back in as Spike added an extra stipulation with a smirk “...yet. Pipsqueak, do you have any questions?”

“We’ll be traveling with a pirate... awesome...”

Spike nodded approvingly, at least Pipsqueak was getting into the spirit of things.

“Ponies and freak, you ready to go? Captain is waiting,” said Rover from behind the group.

“Yeah, all right you guys, let’s not keep the lady Waiting,” Spike ordered.

“Lady? Ha! The bird more like a Timberwolf!! Rover like you, you funny, freak!” The Diamond Dog cackled as he walked to the exit of the shantytown.

“Uhhh, Sir Spike, are you sure we can trust pirates, I mean they’re pirates!”

“I’m a fugitive from the law, and he’s a kleptomaniacal colt who’s been banned from.... what is it three cities now?” Pipsqueak nodded to affirm Spike’s claim. “Heck Snips, you and Snails used to be sales-stallions, and next to lawyers, sales-ponies are the last group who should talk about trust.”

“He’s got a point, dude,” Snails concurred.

“Shut up Snails...” Snips grumbled trotting after Rover who had opened the door and was waiting for the rest of the party.

As the group advanced through the door, they were greeted by Gilda who was leaning against a wall on two legs, rubbing her talons on her vest. “Sorry to keep you waiting Captain Gilda,” Spike apologized with a playful inflection.

Gilda nodded to Spike “Took you long enough,” she chuckled before turning to the ponies in the group, her friendly demeanor making a full one-eighty as she did so. “Listen up you whelps, I’m in charge of this little misadventure now. If you have any questions complaints or concerns, you can address them to me as you’re picking grape-shot pellets from your flanks, got it?” To maximize the effect of this statement Gilda retrieved one of her Flintlock Pistols and aimed it at Pipsqueak’s face causing Snips and Snails to jump back in fright.

Even with a barrel of black powder activated death only a trigger pull away, Pipsqueak’s enthusiasm remained intact, not a hint of fear splayed across the colt’s face. “Pirates are awesome... I think I wanna be a pirate!”

“You wanna be a pirate, huh?” Gilda inquired lowering the pistol.

“Uh-huh,” Pipsqueak nodded affirmatively.

“What’s your name?”

Pipsqueak threw up a sloppy salute before responding. “Pipsqueak ma’am. Pipsqueak the Pickpocket!”

“I like you kid, you’ve got a bright future ahead of you, c’mere.” Gilda picked up Pipsqueak by the back of his neck, and placed the thief on her back. “If you stick with me you’ll go far in the sea-faring business.”

Pipsqueak turned to Spike for approval, and the knight shot him a thumbs up.

“All right, you salty dogs, let’s move out,” Gilda barked as she began moving down the corridor, her makeshift crew in tow.

“But not all of us are dogs,” Snips pointed out

“Oh,shut it you land-lubbin’ weakling, it’s a nautical term,” Gilda stated in a matter of factly tone.

“Sir Spike, she’s not really in charge is she?” Snips whispered.

Spike shrugged before responding, “Does it really matter? We’re all going to the same place, aren’t we? Her network of hideouts in the city may prove invaluable to us. Besides, I’m not the lackey here, you are,” Spike chuckled as he walked.

The corridor ended at what looked to be another brick wall that Rover pulled open with minimal effort revealing another side of the Lower District Streets. As the rest of the party emptied out onto the streets, Rover pulled the wall shut behind them, and they prepared to make their way to the middle District gate when a shrill female voice from behind ceased their advance “Hold it right there criminal scum!” The whole party turned around, their collective attention falling on the visage of Lady Trixie. “The traitor Sir Spike the Fireheart and Rogue Privateer Hound Mother Gilda working together? It is of little consequence, as this double capture will only enhance the reputation of,” the figure paused to rear up on her hind legs as she kicked her fore legs in the air, “Lady Trixie the Great and Powerful!”

The mare’s introduction was accompanied by a display of magical fireworks that failed to even impress Snails who decided to vocalize his expert opinion on the subject in a rare moment of intellectual insight: “That was lame.”

“What was that whelp?” Trixie snarled at Snails who cleared his throat and continued.

“Well, your pyrotechnic skills are shoddy at best. You clearly put too much emphasis on the size of the explosion as opposed to the arrangement, color, or burst pattern which are all areas that you’ve failed miserably in, therefore making your fireworks display dull, amateurish, and uninteresting. Perhaps maybe if you’d tried to make it not suck, you’d stand a chance of being awe-striking, intimidating, or at the very least more interesting than a foal with matches.”

Everyone, including Trixie, stood slack-jawed at Snails’ assessment of the introduction. Spike, Pipsqueak and Snips were taken aback at his in-depth knowledge of the subject, while Gilda and Rover nodded approvingly, impressed that at least one of the two sales-ponies showed some semblance of a backbone. Trixie on the otherhoof was silently fuming over the response her patented introduction garnered. “What did you say to Trixie?”

“I think he said you suck,” Gilda spat venomously.

Trixie gritted her teeth in anger and returned fire with a poison laced inquiry “Oh? And Trixie supposes you can do better, bird?” She hissed while stomping towards Gilda, establishing telekinetic connection to the Trident on her back simultaneously.

“Heh, why would I need to waste my time with a fancy introduction like that when I can just let my reputation and skills do my speaking for me?” Gilda gestured for Pipsqueak to hop off of her back before she stepped forward to meet the knight’s challenge.

“You in for a treat, ponies and freak. Bird rarely take interest in combat, but she best fighter in whole crew. She even beat Rover!” Rover whispered to the rest of the party.

“Well, I beat you too, so where does that put me?” Spike inquired with a smug grin plastered on his face.

Rover glared at Spike, “Just watch Captain fight, freak.”

“We’ll see who the skilled one is after Trixie spills your blood all across these streets!”

“Oh, you talk too much, just shut up and fight!” In one swift motion, Gilda extended her wings and flapped them hard behind herself, sending the Gryphon skimming along the ground at high speeds towards Trixie.

“Trixie needs not dirty her trident’s blade with your blood!” Trixie’s horn began to glow a faint magenta that was barely visible from beneath her hat, and a lumniscient pentagram of light adorned with odd symbols materialized in front of Trixie. A heavy blast of wind erupted from the pentagram and collided with Gilda, knocking the gryphon out of her flight path, causing her to skid along the street. Trixie took advantage of Gilda’s fallen state and galloped full force at her fallen foe, her trident floating just ahead of her as if it were a lance.

“Take this, you scum!” Trixie cried as she drove the weapon at Gilda, who rolled to the side and retaliated with a lunging uppercut talon swipe, catching Trixie in the chest , sending the cocky mare reeling backwards, but the great and powerful knight stood her ground, adamant on not going down.

Gilda pressed her advantage by rushing Trixie with a flurry of wild talon swipes, the majority of which Trixie was able to halt with the shaft of her trident. The final blow of the flurry managed to cut Trixie on the cheek.

Trixie retreted from Gilda, aiming the fully extended trident at her to create some distance between herself and the gryphon. “Not bad, bird, not bad at all. It’s been a while since Trixie has had an opponent who could lay a single scratch on her, much less two. Perhaps maybe you can be of some amusement to Trixie after all.” Trixie sneered as she whipped the trident forth in a wide arc at Gilda, who was preparing to to dodge and charge again when Rover leapt in front of the attack, halting it with his sword.

“Captain, Rover help you fight, get the pony now!” Rover commanded as he struggled with the trident’s advance, a grinding screech resonating from the power struggle.

Gilda ran up to join her first mate, and almost immediately she released a powerful claw swipe into Rovers side, sending the Diamond Dog tumbling into the dirt. In one smooth motion Gilda pulled one of the flintlock pistols from its holster, aimed it at Rover’s head, and squeezed the trigger. Sssss.... Boom! In a spark of light and sound the flintlock discharged its payload, ejecting the round towards the fallen Diamond Dog.

“Gah!” Rover cried as the round grazed his cheek leaving a searing hot cut in its wake. “Captain, what you do that for? Rover on your side, she the enemy!”

Re-holstering the expended pistol, Gilda ignored her first mate’s inquiries in the interest of getting her point across. “Rover, if you interfere again, I’ll have you keelhauled for insubordination, do you understand me?”

“But Captain, this one too strong, and she use magic!”

“Keep whining about it, and I’ll just put you down right now. You bring shame to your crew when you speak about your Captain like that. Have you no faith in your Hound-Mother?”

“Uhhh...errr.... Rover sorry, Captain.”

“Stay out of my battle. This is between me and her. Any intrusions are punishable by death.”

“Ha! A pirate with honor? Now Trixie’s seen everything.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet...” Gilda muttered, flapping her wings and slowly gaining altitude. “This looks high enough,” the gryphon mused aloud before diving towards Trixie, her wings beating furiously behind her.

“You think you can beat Trixie head on? You’re either really brave or really stupid, canary!” Trixie began charging her horn for another spell that manifested itself in the form of a multitude of smaller pentagrams akin to the one from her earlier spell. Black clouds began to emerge from the center of the pentagrams , each one was bursting with electrical energy. “Take this!” Each of the clouds released a stream of lightning that whipped past Gilda at insane speeds, causing the gryphon to take swerve left and right, while maintaining her direction and momentum. Trixie was taken aback by Gilda’s agility and with a a push of her magic, changed the formation of the clouds by bringing them closer together until they formed one massive storm cloud. “Let’s see you dodge this!” The cloud discharged an insanely large burst of lightning that resembled a serpent as it jolted erratically towards Gilda.

“Oh flock!” The Pirate reacted to the massive lightning bolt by changing her trajectory into a straight dive towards the ground as the dragon roared overhead, burying itself into one of the poorly constructed dwellings behind its intended target. Gilda peeled out of the dive at the last second, utilizing her increased speed to crash into Trixie, the impact knocking all of the air from the mare’s lungs. Without missing a beat, Gilda grabbed the mare around the throat with her talons and quickly picked Trixie off her hooves, slamming the knight into the ground twice as hard. While Trixie was dazed, Gilda promptly mounted the mare with her hindlegs, withdrawing and shoving a flintlock into the braggart’s open mouth, while choking Trixie with her free talon. “Now, that I’ve finally shut you up, how about I blow a hole in the oversized head of yours so we can let that ego deflate, hm?”

“Mmmph! Mmmmph!” Trixie cried and struggled, but in Gilda’s iron grasp she was virtually helpless.

“Say hello to Davy Jones for me, sweetheart.” As Gilda slowly pulled back the trigger of the flintlock pistol, Trixie saw her life flash before her eyes. Every precious moment she could recall from her life up until this point overtook her vision all at once. Precious childhood memories, first love and first heartbreak, her enlistment into Knight Corps, meeting and becoming enamored with Sir Blueblood, the countless nights she’d spent perfecting her magic to impress him, to the moment that he banished her to lower district and spurned Trixie’s affections in the interest some common dressmaker.Trixie’s only regret is that she’ll never be able to make that bastard pay... Was Trixie’s last thought as the hammer swung itself forward with a mighty and dry Click!

Trixie awaited the unwanted release of the death that never came. Instead, she opened her eyes to see Gilda staring at her with an enormous grin spread across the gryphon’s beak. A moment of silence passed through the empty streets before Gilda burst into a fit of maniacal laughter. “Oh Luna, you should have seen the look on your face, ahahaha!”Gilda sputtered out between chuckles.

Trixie spat the pistol from her mouth and turned towards Gilda.“Trixie does not understand, why are you laughing? Why does Trixie still live?”

“Sheesh, aren’t you just the grimmest pony I’ve ever had the pleasure of beating on. Most other folks would be happy that they weren’t killed, but you need a full explanation about it. Well let me put it to you this way, if I wanted you dead I wouldn’t have pulled an empty pistol on you. All in all, I guess you could say that I own you now, as in you may as well have died right there, because your life belongs to me, got it weakling?” Trixie’s eyes fell to the side in a melancholy fashion as she contemplated tis turn of events. “Hey if you don’t like it,” Gilda pulled a fully loaded flintlock, placing it to Trixie’s temple “We can always rectify this situation....”

“T-Trixie understands, bird! Trixie swears on her knight’s honor she understands!”

Gilda removed herself from atop Trixie. “Good, I’m glad we’re both on the same page, I’m always looking for strong lackeys. Now, how about you prove your newfound loyalty to your Captain and show my companion,” Gilda gestured to Spike, “and the rest of my minions to the upper district, hm? The dragon and I have some personal business with a mule by the name of Blueblood, and we’d like to— ”

“Blueblood? You’re going to take down Blueblood?” Trixie asked exasperated, unable to believe her own ears.

“Did I stutter? That jerk jacked my ship, and I can’t leave until I’ve kicked his flank and reclaimed my vessel and my crew.”

Spike stepped forth to address his take on the situation. “The bastard poisoned Queen Celestia, and harmed innocent civilians, just to set me up. I can’t very well let that slide now can I?”

A wide grin slowly over took the corners of Trixie’s lips, as the mare picked herself off the ground, and levitated her trident to it’s resting place on her back. “Well, Trixie supposes she could willingly lend her talent to this ragtag team of scoundrels. If it means exacting her revenge on that filthy philanderer. Come all of you, Trixie will guide you through the middle district, but be warned, the security there is much more intense since Lady Rainbow Dash became the head Knight.”

“Did you say Rainbow Dash?” Gilda inquired.

“You got some kind of history with her?” Spike asked.

“Let’s just say she and I go way back. I’m certain the story will make itself known if we have to run into her. Anyhow let’s go, I’m done looking at this lame district.”

Trixie led the way towards a large gate, and the rest of the party followed suit, enroute to the middle district.

Chapter 2 End.

3: A Fracas From Frivolous Fun with Finagled Fireworks and Fuming Fillies

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Friendship is Magic, but I do own your soul. So by default I own your things... gimme.

Redemption of The Fireheart

By: Your Antagonist (VegaKS03)

Chapter 3: A Fracas From Frivolous Fun with Finagled Fireworks and Fuming Fillies

Middle District Assembly Hall Ruins

Applebloom and Scootaloo trotted through the streets of Canterlot’s Middle District, still enveloped in an endless quarrel that had been ongoing since the pair parted ways with Sweetie Belle in the Lower District. Even an hour later, they were still going at it like champion fencers. “Scootaloo, I keep tellin’ you; you don’t know what you’re talkin’ about! There ain’t no way in hay that Lady Rainbow Dash could beat mah sister in a fight!”

“And I keep telling you that Lady Rainbow Dash is way cooler than any of the Senior Knights!”

“Ugh!” Applebloom stopped to facehoof before resuming her trot, “For the last time: bein’ cool doesn’t mean a lick of nothin’ when it comes to fightin’!”

“Says who?”

“It’s common sense you feather-brained— uh-oh.”

"Did you just call me an uh-oh?” Scootaloo followed Applebloom’s hoof as her friend pointed to something just ahead of the pair. “Oh... I was kinda hoping we wouldn’t see them here...” Scootaloo’s vision fell on the pair of fillies who were slowly approaching, with grins reminiscent of a shark circling it’s bleeding prey plastered on their faces.

“Well, well, well; look what we have here, Silver Spoon,” spoke the pink filly who wore a small tiara atop her purple mane, with greaves and a frilly pink saddle for armor. Strapped to her side was a rapier with a special horseshoe handle that resided in a pink scabbard.

“It looks like a couple of lower-district blank-flanks got lost on their way back, doesn’t it Diamond Tiara?” Silver Spoon herself wore a pair of blue-rimmed glasses, and a long blue tunic underneath a silver chestplate. On her back sat a giant spoon that glistened in the afternoon sunlight.

“Look, we don’t want no trouble, y’all. We were just on our way to report somethin’ to Lady Rainbow Dash and Lady Applejack.”

“Well, Diamond Tiara, it looks like they want to talk with our Senior Knights. Do you see anything wrong with that?”

“Do I? Psssh, as if you have to ask. Why would our bosses waste their time talking to a couple of lower district noponies? You may as well tell us, and if we think your little plight is important we might just be generous enough to tell them.”

“Don’t push us y’all, we’re just tryin’ to deliver some news.” Applebloom pleaded while backing away from the dastardly duo.

“Oh, and what will you do if we don’t stop?” Silver Spoon poked.

“Keep it up, and you’ll find out!” Scootaloo shouted, standing her ground.

“Oh really?” Diamond Tiara slipped her hoof into the rapier, preparing to unsheathe it. “Let’s see what you lower district foals can do.”

“Hi there!” Chirped a new voice from behind the group, irking Diamond Tiara.

The irritated filly turned around face the source of the interruption speaking as she did so. “There had better be a good reason for you to intrude on our match, you—” Diamond Tiara’s mouth went dry as she made eye contact with the pink, beaming face of her Superior officer: Lady Pinkie Pie the Mad. “L-L-Lady Pinkie Pie, ma’am!” Diamond Tiara quickly snapped a salute to greet her superior officer, and the other three fillies followed suit, as the pink mare clad in full silver armor, save for the helmet, hopped towards them, lackadaisically returning the salute.

“Have you seen my knights?” Pinkie Pie whipped her head ‘round left and right before returning her attention to the fillies and puffing out her cheeks. “I had a whole bunch following me earlier, but I guess they fell down a hole or something.” Pinkie Pie glanced down at the four fillies before herself and gasped as she came to a realization. Pinkie Pie bounced in place as she vocalized her plans for her newfound followers. “But you can be my new knights! Oh we’ll have such fun! We’ll bake cookies, play games, climb up the clock tower and throw water balloons at Big Mac, AJ and Dashie when they come around, it’ll be a blast!”

“Uhhh, Lady Pinkie Pie, I don’t think that’s what knights are supposed to do...”

“Not what knights are supposed to do?” Pinkie Pie waved off the concern with the flick of her armored hoof. “Psssh, then how do you think I got where I am today, you sillies?”

“That’s a good question...” Silver Spoon mumbled under her breath.

“Ummm, Lady Pinkie?” Applebloom piped up.

“What is it, my little pony?”

“You know Lady Applejack, right?”

“Like the back of my pet rock back home! Why do you ask?”

“Well, she’s my sister, and I got somethin’ I gotta report to her, and quick.”

“You’re Applejack’s little sister?” Apple Bloom nodded in response, and was seized by Pinkie Pie in an air-constricting embrace. “AJ is always talking about how much she misses you and stuff! She’ll be so happy to see you, I’ll take you to her right now!” Pinkie Pie threw Applebloom onto her back before trotting off deeper into the ruins, the other three K.I.Ts in tow.

“La, la, la!” Pinkie Pie sang as she hopped along the road, the surrounding scenery growing more and more decrepit as she advanced.

“Can I ask you something, Lady Pinkie Pie?” Scootaloo inquired.

“Yup! Go ahead and shoot! But you know, don’t really shoot, then the round might go wild and hit somepony, and then Dashie would get furious! And believe you me, you don’t wanna see Dashie when she’s angry, it’s almost like watching Lyra when she gets angry, except Dashie doesn’t stuff her face with egg yolks and—”

“Ahem!” Scootaloo coughed capturing Pinkie’s attention.

“Oh, sorry, what did you want to ask me?”

“What happened to this place?” Scootaloo stopped to gesture at the dilapidated, crumbling piles of white marble, wood, and rocks scattered about.

“Oh, right, that...” Pinkie Pie sighed as she continued to trot along the path. Her once enthusiastic and carefree demeanor drained away in favor of an air of stoic maturity. “Well, how long have you been enlisted in Knight Corps?”

“About five months now, before that I was living in the lower district.”

“Five months, huh? You ever heard of Sir Spike the Fireheart?”

“Spike the Fireheart? Who’s that?”

“Oh! Oh! My sister told me about him lotsa times before! She said he was one of the greatest warriors to ever come outta Knight Corps! And he was a dragon to boot!” Applebloom responded with the enthusiasm that Pinkie Pie had lost.

Pinkie Pie grinned weakly at the praise of her former comrade before she continued her tale. “Well, your sister wasn’t lying about him being one of the greatest warriors. Spike was the embodiment of an ideal Knight Corps soldier: He always placed the well-being of the kingdom and his fellow knights first, he would never accept defeat even when all seemed lost, and he’d never leave a fallen comrade. Even under heavy cannon fire, even through a hail of arrows and bullets, that dragon would put himself on the line to save even the most naive, disobedient, and reckless K.I.T. That’s the kind of knight he was,” Pinkie Pie explained, wiping a single tear from her eye as a distant memory played in the back of her mind.

“Wow, he sounds like one amazing knight, but what does he have to do with this?” Diamond Tiara pressed.

Pinkie Pie sighed again. “Well, a couple of months ago there were some dragon attacks in the very area we stand in now.”

“Dragon attacks?!” All four fillies shouted in unison.

Pinkie Pie nodded again. “Spikey was directly involved in the dragon attacks after he lost control of his draconic greed, and he rampaged through this area, leveling it to the ground. Well, that’s what they say anyway. All we have to go on is some questionable eyewitness accounts, and some odd scorch patterns that the investigators managed to dig up. Anypony who was present during the actual attack was either crushed or burned to death, and even to this day, we’re still digging up the bodies as we excavate.”

“So there’s no evidence against him then, right?” Silver Spoon inquired

“Nothing concrete, but nothing that acquits him completely either. It doesn’t exactly help his case that he ran away after being accused of poisoning Queen Celestia either.”

“He poisoned the Queen?!” Scootaloo shouted in disbelief.

“No! Spikey... Spikey wouldn’t do that. He was in trouble as it was, but he wasn’t the type to run from his responsibilities.”

“And yet, he ran away didn’t he?” Interjected a bold female voice from behind Pinkie Pie. “And yet he ran the buck away...” the voice reiterated. “Pinkie Pie, maybe it’s about time you gave up on that criminal, it’s plain as day that he’s the one responsible for this.“

“It’s not true! I don’t believe it, and neither does Twilight!” Pinkie Pie whipped around to face the stern faces of Lady Rainbow Dash and Lady Applejack both of whom wore suits of armor akin to Pinkie Pie’s, the exception being that Rainbow Dash’s armor was black, much lighter in appearance, and had a space for her wings to jut out from, while Applejack’s armor was exactly the same as Pinkie’s, although she wore a stetson hat.

“The difference being that Twilight has prepared herself to do whatever it takes to apprehend and if necessary kill him if he ever shows up again—”

Lady Applejack cut her superior off mid-sentence. “Rainbow Dash, that’s completely uncalled for!”

“Uncalled for? She needs to wake up and smell the oats, AJ. It’s been six months since that traitor ran, and he hasn’t had the decency or the integrity to show his scaly little traitor face since.”

“You, you take that back!” Pinkie Pie sputtered on the verge of tears.

“I’ll take it back when he grows a spine and—”

“Rainbow Dash, that’s enough!” Applejack commanded as she stomped in between Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. “Now, apologize to Pinkie Pie. Y’all know what you said was outright uncalled for and outta line. I know you’re stressed out from this whole investigation, but takin’ your frustration out on your friends isn’t going to get this job done any quicker.”

Rainbow Dash stared deep into Applejack’s eyes and snorted her irritation at the challenge, but inevitably ceded with a sigh. “Look Pinkie, I’m sorry all right? This whole thing has just been getting to me, and I didn’t mean to just vent all over you. Still friends?”

Pinkie Pie dashed over to Rainbow Dash faster than should have been possible in the heavy armor she was wearing, and seized the pegasus in a mighty bone crushing embrace.

“I told ya my sister could beat Rainbow Dash.” Applebloom whispered to Scootaloo.

“What? That wasn’t a fight! Lady Rainbow Dash could totally mop the floor with—”

“Interestin’ conversation y’all are havin’?” The two fillies didn’t notice that Applejack had trotted over during their hushed exchange.

“Big sis!” Applebloom bounded giddily towards her elder sister, who just as eagerly swept the younger filly into a tight embrace.

“Applebloom, what’re you doin’ up here in the Middle District? I thought you were assigned to Lady Trixie.”

“Oh, that’s right, me an Scootaloo were supposed to tell you somethin’ really important!”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow at this and nodded to reassure her younger sister that she was listening.

“There was this really strong guy who attacked us down in the Lower District!”

“Yeah, he went on two legs and he had this crazy morphing staff thingy!” Scootaloo contributed.

Applejack let out a hearty chuckle, “Are y’all sure you didn’t just run into a Diamond Dog with a fancy stick? Those varmints have been rather active lately, so it coulda been your mistake.”

Both fillies shook their heads from side to side in unison before Applebloom continued “Uh-uh sis, I’ve seen and gone toe-to-toe with Diamond Dogs before, and I’ll be the first to tell ya, Diamond Dogs don’t breathe no green fire! That guy did!”

“Wait, what did she just say?” Rainbow Dash finally managed to free herself from Pinkie Pie’s death embrace, and floated over to directly address the fillies.

“Lady Rainbow Dash ma’am!” Scootaloo sounded off with a salute. “The perpetrator in question stood about seven inches taller than this Knight In Training, and he utilized a multi-form staff, that at some point in the battle he spat on causing it to ignite in a blaze of green fire. Shortly after this action, the suspect attacked myself, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle with the weapon, and when we regained consciousness, we awoke outside in the moat, ma’am! Shortly before coming here to address you personally, we sent Knight in Training Sweetie Belle to inform Lady Trixie!”

“Green fire, huh? Sound like anydragon to you, Pinkie?”

“S-Spikey,” Pinkie Pie gasped.

“And why am I not in the least surprised that Trixie’s own K.I.T.s find her to be so incapable that they’d have to report directly to the next level up instead of their direct superior...”

“Did we do something wrong, Lady Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo hesitantly asked, afraid of disciplinary action for neglecting her direct superior.

Rainbow Dash smiled and trotted up to Scootaloo, giving the filly a firm pat on the head. “Not at all kid, you did the right thing reporting it to us,” she said as she began mussing up the filly’s mane “I’ll tell you what though, since you two are in my district, how about I commandeer you two for the day so you can get a feel for the middle district?”

“Really?” Applebloom and Scootaloo shouted simultaneously with stars in their eyes.

Rainbow Dash nodded to confirm her promise “But, don’t think I’m just going to let you slack off in my district! In the middle district we pride ourselves on our iron-tight security! This is the barrier between the vermin of the Lower District and the soft yellow-bellied royals of the Upper District! If we don’t hold the line, who will? That sloppy pushover security detail at the bottom? No! Those snooty, spoiled ‘officers’ and ‘tacticians’ sitting in their cushy offices complaining about air conditioning at the top? No! That responsibility falls to us, and for today it falls to you, got it?”

Both fillies saluted their acknowledgement, and Rainbow dash nodded again. “All right then: Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon! Get your spoiled little flanks over here double-time!”

“Yes, Lady Rainbow Dash?” Diamond Tiara called cantering over, with Silver Spoon in tow.

“You two are going out on patrol, and you’re taking these two with you, got it?”

“Wait for me!” Sweetie Belle’s voice cried out from behind the group. The filly galloped up, and skidded to a halt before her peers, huffing and out of breath.

“And you are?”

“Lady Rainbow Dash, she’s one of ours! This is Knight In Training Sweetie Belle, the one we sent to Lady Trixie.”

Rainbow dash nodded approvingly. “Correction, you’re taking these three with you. I want you five to patrol for any suspicious characters or activities near the entrance gate. I also want you on the lookout for that bi-ped from earlier. If possible, you are to apprehend him yourselves and bring him to the District Prison, got it?” Silver Spoon nodded to answer for the group. “Good, then off with you for now, I’ll be making my rounds after I’ve whipped that shoddy investigation team into shape. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, with me.”

The five fillies waited until the senior knights left before their mutual disdain for each other finally boiled over and essentially turned into a spitting match.

“Look here, you little lower-district blank flanks, you three better not screw up this patrol, got it?”

The pointed remark flew straight and planted itself into Scootaloo’s brain. “What’d you call us? Say it again! I swear to our Queen that I’ll—mmmph!” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom shoved their hooves in Scootaloo’s maw.

“Well, its good to know that at least two of you know what’s what around here,” Silver Spoon hissed with an upturned nose. “Come on, it’ll take about fifteen minutes to get to the gate, and then the rest of the day before we an get rid of you three dead weights.” Silver Spoon began trotting off down the debris-ridden path, Diamond Tiara at her side, and behind them three fuming fillies who were not pleased about their situation in the slightest.

Middle District Gate

There are certain questions that, when asked, have a tendency of answering themselves. At this moment, Spike and crew found themselves standing amongst a large group of beaten, battered, and bruised guards, which provided the perfect vehicle for such a rhetorical inquiry, that Spike himself would vocalize:“You think we overdid it?”

“If you have to ask, the answer is probably yes,” Gilda replied sardonically as she picked a fallen guard up by his armor’s collar and slugged him across the snout with her free talon.

Pipsqueak bounded up to Gilda with a number of small satchels hanging from his mouth. “Captain Gilda, look at all the wallets I got!”

Gilda glanced at Pipsqueak before responding to the colt. “Not bad kid,” the griffin socked the pony she was holding again before dropping her victim and returning to Pipsqueak. “I’m willing to bet you got at least one-hundred bits there.”

“Pip, what did I tell you about restraint?” Spike prodded with crossed arms.

"Ummm..."

Gilda grabbed Pisqueak, and planted the colt on her back before putting the knight’s concerns to rest. “C’mon, lighten up Mr. Former Knight. We’re all fugitives here, what’s the harm in taking a few spoils? Besides, from what I gather he’s been doing it for a while, and it kept you fed in the Everfree for six months right?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Spike waved Gilda off with a claw. “Do what you want, just don’t go too overboard in town, got it?”

“Aye-aye, Mr. Spike!”

“Rover not impressed, these guards too weak, Rover needs enemy strong enough to rival Diamond Dog strength, not some weak pony.” Gilda’s first mate growled with crossed arms.

“Of course, there was no way that some lesser gate guard could stop the awesome magic of Lady Trixie: The Great and Powerful!” Trixie bellowed, releasing a wave of red and green fireworks.

“Ummm, you guys? Shouldn’t we get moving? I mean, you did just assault an entire gate-guard detail after all, or would you care to make this a battle royale with the rest of the Middle District’s guards?” Snips reasoned to the rest.

“Yeah, we’re burnin daylight, eh.”

“Equestria to my little dweebs, it’s four in the afternoon. We've got plenty of time to chill. In fact, we should probably go crash at a nearby inn, you know, lay low for a while,” Gilda suggested nonchalantly as she gestured for the party to migrate towards a different venue.

“C-crash at an inn? At a time like this? Are you crazy?” Snips blurted out.

Gilda looked around at the incapacitated guards, thirty in total, before turning back to the concerned colt with a single word as her response. “Yeah.”

“Why?!”

“So we can rest while we plan out our next move in relative safety, I’d assume,” Spike reasoned. “But even if that’s the case, we’d still need some money for the inn.” Pipsqueak threw a couple of his pilfered bit-satchels on the ground by Spike’s feet.

Gilda assumed the speaker’s role after Spike began counting the bits. “We still need to gather up some supplies, like food, ammunition and black powder for my pistols, lanterns, and—”

“Isn’t that stuff we can just get from your hideout in this district?” Snips asked.

“Heh, pony not understand just where we are,” cackled Rover.

“Ugh,” Trixie began, “we’re in the middle district, which houses Trixie’s least favorite Knight Corps Officer and the the head of the law enforcement branch: Lady Rainbow Dash the Loyal.”

“But isn’t Knight Corps all law enforcement, Ms. Trixie?” Snails slurred.

“Look, Knight Corps boils down like this: in the Lower District resides the standard combat soldiers. They may be under the magnificent leadership of yours truly,” Spike had to stifle a snicker at Trixie’s claim, “and campaign expertly, but when it comes to menial tasks such as guarding and patrolling, well... think about how easy it was for you to enter the lower district.” Snips, Snails, and Pipsqueak nodded accordingly, and Trixie, satisfied that her explanation went unquestioned, continued. “The knights of the Upper District are the officers and tacticians during wartime, and they’ve always been headed by Lady Twilight, and recently Lord Blueblood. During peacetime however, they’re quite lax and carefree, but Trixie supposes that mentality can be attributed to the Middle District’s dedication and determination to their position during peace and wartime. The middle district has and always will house the law enforcement knights, and as a result the security here is impeccable.”

“You mean like those chumps we just trashed back there?” Gilda huffed.

“No, those were... err... Trixie’s soldiers.” The mare concluded dejectedly. “Anyway, the bird makes a good point: we should lay low, plan, and resupply before making another move. If Trixie and her minions wander around aimlessly in this district, it would only draw unnecessary attention to ourselvesw considering Trixie’s status, and the the fact the she has chosen to travel with two fugitives and a Diamond Dog.” The group stopped in front of a rundown tavern

Snips galloped enthusiastically towards the tavern. “Oh good, I can’t wait to get some rest, I’m beat—” He soon found that he was running in place due to the fact that Rover chose to stop the colt’s advance with his claws, before shoving the colt back into the ground. “Hey, what gives!?”

Gilda moved next to her first mate “It‘s time you two made yourselves useful, I mean let’s be honest, what exactly have you done for us up until this point?”

“Well we—”

“Besides that, the two of you don’t exactly have your faces on wanted posters,” Spike interjected.

“Or would be considered A.W.O.L. for abandoning your post.” Trixie concluded.

“Sigh... alright, we get it, we get it. What do you need us to get?”

“Fortunately for you, Trixie made a list.” The former head of the Lower District levitated a slip of paper from beneath her hat, and allowed it to drift towards Snails.

Snails scanned the list, muttering the contents of the paper aloud as he did so: “One pound of gems, extra rubies if possible; two pouches of black powder; one pound of pistol shot, and you’d better not buy the cheap crap either; fruit, but nothing citrusy as that would ruin Trixie’s complexion you simple foals; meat or eggs, because Diamond Dog need protein unlike scrawny pony; and whatever you three want.” Snails looked up from the list and pointed at himself and Snips while counting “One, two... Ms. Trixie, what do you mean ‘three’?”

“I’m coming with you!” Pipsqueak bounded over to join the colts.

“We figured you’d need some kind of protection if anything goes awry, plus if you can’t afford anything, this kid has the universal sticky hoof discount at every store in Equestria,” Spike explained as he began walking up the stairs of the tavern. “Well, we’ll catch you guys later.”

“S’ya...” Snips grumbled, as he Pipsqueak and Snails wandered off in search of the market place.

Middle District Marketplace

The Middle District Marketplace, in contrast to the Lower District, played host to a less diverse group of creatures. There was nary a Diamond Dog, cow or griffin in sight, as the population of the Lower District was primarily dominated by the presence of ponies and donkeys. Amidst the various vendors tents, stalls, and shops of the Middle Districts Market place “Are y’all sure we shouldn’t be headin’ down to the gate an all? I mean Lady Rainbow Dash—”

Silver Spooned scoffed at Applebloom, successfully cutting her off. “Isn’t here right now, so like, don’t be such a wet blanket.”

“Wet blanket?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“They’re telling us not to worry so much, even though we we’re under direct orders from a senior knight,” Scootaloo explained.

Diamond Tiara affixed a glare a Scootaloo, and snorted in irritation. “You make it sound so bad, you miserable— Gah!” Somepony from the crowd bumped into Diamond Tiara, causing the filly to fall into the dirt.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry Miss, I didn’t see you there.”

“Didn’t see me here? Didn’t see me here?!” Diamond Tiara looked up from the ground, her sneer falling on some hapless chubby colt in a monocle and a top hat, his cutie mark reminiscent of scissors.

“Here, let me help you up.” The colt extended his hoof to Diamond Tiara, who promptly slapped it aside, as she stood up on her own.

“I don’t need your pity, idiot.” Diamond Tiara affixed a scrutinizing glare to face of her offender. There’s something about this guy, but I can’t put my hoof on it. I feel like I know him from somewhere. “Just watch your step next time, or I’ll run you through with my blade, got it?”

The colt began backing away slowly from Diamond Tiara’s cold gaze, chuckling nervously as he went. “Uh-heh-heh, got it ma’am, please excuse me.” The colt finaly turned and galloped away quickly, crashing into somepony else but Diamond Tiara’s attention ws already back on her team.

“All right, I think we should probably head down to—”

“Hey, stop you thieves!” shrieked a donkey shop owner from further down the street. The five K.I.Ts turned just in time to see two colts galloping away from the donkey, leaving small clouds of dust in their wake.

“If it isn’t one thing it’s another,” Silver Spoon sighed.

“Hey y’all, isn’t that the bandit from the lower district?” Applebloom squinted at the fast approaching colts.

Sweetie Belle joined Applebloom, and attempted to identify the bandits as well. “Yeah, I think it is. What’s he doing up here?”

“Hey, he might know what the whereabouts of that two-legger from earlier."

“Well, are you three just going to stare or are you going to do something about this?”

“What? I thought y’all were supposed to be the ones leadin’ us! Now you want us to all the work? Y’all had best help us out!”

“Fine, whatever I’ll stop them.” Silver Spoon stood on her hindlegs and removed the giant spoon from her back, cradling it in an offensive posture with her forelegs as she faced down the fast approaching colts. “I am Knight in Training Silver Spoon, and you two are under arrest by order of Lady Rainbow Dash!” Silver Spoon cried as she drove the head of the spoon into the ground, allowing rocks to collect in the groove before she hurled the spoon’s payload at the pair of offenders.

The earthen projectiles flew in a scattering pattern at the bandits, and the blast connected with the taller of the two, sending him skidding backwards, the contents of his saddle bags littering the street. The other thief managed to leap out of the way at the last second. “Mr. Snails! are you all right?” called the shorter bandit as he trotted over to his fallen comrade.

“Pipsqueak, Don’t worry about me, eh? It looks like we bit off a little more than we can chew.” Snails, assisted by Pipsqueak stood up unsteadily, a massive black-eye had made acquaintance with the lankier colt’s face.

“I’m impressed at your dodging ability thief, but,” Silver Spoon dug her massive spoon into the ground again, “I always ensure that there’s two scoops of justice in every serving of that attack!” the filly cried as she ejected another barrage of rocks towards the colts.

“Uh-oh.” Pipsqueak dropped Snails, while drawing in his legs as he lightly bucked his partner in crime out of the path of the rocks. “Snails, find Snips, and get out back to the tavern as quickly as you can! I’ll hold them off here!” Pipsqueak commanded as he himself galloped straight towards the rocks, bobbing and weaving through as he charged head on targeting the source of the attacks.

“Pipsqueak, I’ll comeback for you! Just hold on!” Snails shouted as he galloped further into the Middle, but it fell on deaf ears, Pipsqueak was already engaged in battle.

“Oh, so you wanna bring it up close, huh? Well, I can play that game too!” Silver Spoon dashed forward on her hindlegs, holding the spoon from the bottom of its handle. As she neared closer to Pipsqueak, she swung the spoon in a vertical arc, her target: Pipsqueak’s face.

Uh-oh! Pipsqueak was in the direct path of the bludgeon. Thinking quickly, the colt allowed his legs to collapse from beneath himself, resulting in a slide tackle that swept Silver Spoon off her feet, and onto her face. He rolled to a recovery, and re-assessed his situation: at the moment he found himself surrounded by the three fillies from earlier plus one that he’d never seen before.

“Hey you, stand down! You’re surrounded, and don’t even think about resisting, you stand a chance against all of us!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

Pipsqueak almost melted at the sound of her voice. Under any other circumstances he would have given up and let her take him away in chains, but that would have to wait, for right now he had to stall his pursuers long enough for Snips and Snails to escape.

“Now, you can either tell us where your freaky two-legger friend is, or we can beat it out of you! Actually, we’re gonna beat you for earlier anyways!” Scootaloo demanded as she reached into one of the holsters on her holsters and pulled out a hoof full of darts.

Well, here goes everything. The colt scraped at the ground with his rear legs and flared his nostrils, bringing about a change in the demeanor of his opponents.

“So you wanna do this the hard way? Fine by me, foal!” Diamond Tiara slipped her hoof into her rapier’s horseshoe handle, and stood on her hindlegs with well practiced balance as she withdrew the blade from its holster, pointing the tip at Pipsqueak.

Sweetie Belle dropped her clawed horseshoes from their respective saddle bags,and stepped into them, tensing her body and crouching as she prepared to make her first move.

A groan from behind alerted Pipsqueak that Silver Spoon had recovered from her date with the dirt, and by the tone of her voice she probably wasn’t too pleased about it either. “You’re gonna pay for that little slight from earlier, you loser.”

Applebloom being versed in the way of empty hoofed fighting stomped the ground hard, to prove her determination.

Just stay cool Pipsqueak, just stay cool. I If I lose control it could be the end. Just stay calm and think.

“Have at you, thief!” Diamond Tiara was the first to make a move, thrusting her rapier’s tip at Pipsqueak’s head, forcing the colt to duck in order to dodge. Diamond Tiara followed up her initial attack with an upwards moving slash that Pipsqueak narrowly avoided by tilting his head back while jumping away. In his airborne state, Pipsqueak couldn’t avoid the the double leg buck that Applebloom rashly threw out, and the strike caught him in the rib-cage, sending the colt tumbling to the ground.

“Now I’ve got you!” Sweetie Belle announced as she pounced at Pipsqueak, claws outstretched.

“Whoa!” The claws managed to scratch Pipsqueak on the cheek, but Sweetie Belle’s momentum caused her to crash into the colt sending them both tumbling hoof-over-heels with each other. When they finally stopped, Sweetie Belle's claws were trapped in the ground, and the impact left her straddling Pipsqueak who couldn’t resist remarking on the situation, as they were only inches away from eachother’s faces. “Wow,has anypony ever told you that you have the loveliest eyes in equestria?”

Sweetie Belle stared at Pipsqueak for a moment, mulling over his response to the situation, her mind working at top speed to process that a colt actually made a compliment on her looks.“W-w-what!?” Sweetie Belle struggled and strained to remove her claws from the rocks, all the while never taking her eyes off of the love-struck colt underneath her. She finally managed to dislodge the claws from the ground and began thrusting them at Pipsqueak’s head with rapid stabs. “Creep! Take this! And That! And this!”

“Whoa!” Pipsqueak jerked his head to the left as the claws destroyed a rock next to his head. “Watch out, you almost hit me with that last one!”

“That’s the point!” Sweetie Belle drove her point as well as another claw at Pipsqueak’s head again only to have the colt whip his head to the right this time.“Now, stay still!”

“Sorry,” Pipsqueak reached forward with his forehooves and gripped Sweetie Belle’s chain-mail vest, and jerked his upper body to the side, throwing Sweetie Belle off and into the dirt. “But if I stop moving, then this won’t be a very fun game of hard to get now will it?”

“Get this, you thief!” Scootaloo hurled a swarm of darts at Pipsqueak who was recovering from the encounter with his clawed assailant.

“Ha! You couldn’t hit the broad side of a pastry sh— “

“She wasn’t aimin' to hit ya!” The delivery of a flying kick ala Applebloom to Pipsqueak’s side proved to be enough to silence the colt and prepare him for his next bout. “She was movin’ ya into my line of fire!”

“Well, I can see that now.” Pipsqueak winced as he backed away from Applebloom, the pain in his ribs shooting through his nerves like a wild fire. Okay, I can take them one at a time but I just need a moment to trot off that kick. Pipsqueak chuckled slightly as he observed that even irony has a twisted sense of humor, as he backed into a nearby doctor’s cart.

“Hey bandit!” Well, I suppose that a moment to rest would have been asking too much. Pipsqueak turned his attention to the roof of the cart he was resting on, and lo and behold Silver Spoon held her giant Spoon head down as she jumped off the cart.“Can you dig it?” Silver Spoon called as she fell towards him.

“Oh horseapples, you did not just say that!” Pipsqueak dashed away as quickly as he could from Silver Spoon as her weapon sank into the soft ground below. Soon enough though, the colt found himself galloping on a direct course towards the united front of Diamond Tiara, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

“There’s no escape! Do you get my point yet!?” Diamond Tiara opened the assault by raining a series of quick short thrusts from her rapier as Pipsqueak effortlessly dodged each one.

“Oh, come on is that the best you can do?” Pipsqueak took note that his remark caused Diamond Tiara’s cheeks to flare in color, and decided to push her buttons a little harder. “I haven’t even pulled my sword yet, and besides,” Pipsqueak ducked a horizontal cut aimed at his head’s height. “You couldn’t catch me even if you attacked me all at once!”

“Oh yeah!?” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shouted as they galloped up to join Diamond Tiara’s side, Sweetie Belle entering the fray with an upper cut from her claws Applebloom reared up, and joined her greaved forehooves together before swinging them down in a club like motion.

This is my chance, better not waste it .Pipsqueak swam in between the attacks, and avoided another piercing thrust from Diamond Tiara before he threw himself at all three of the fillies, his dead-weight forcing them into a heap on the ground. “Sorry about that fillies, but I suppose you can call that pratfall one of my crowning achievements.”

“What are you talking about, you weirdo— hey what the!?” Diamond Tiara observed Pipsqueak and noticed that he’d gained some new accessories in the short time between his poorly executed attack and his recovery. More specifially, the colt had gained a shiny new headpiece that glistened in the late fternoon sun.

“I wonder how much I could get for this... or this could make a great gift to Captain Gilda!” Pipsqueak readjusted the headpiece slightly .

Diamond Tiara reached a hoof to the top of her head and felt only mane and scalp “My.. my tiara! Give it back!”

“Oh come on, I’m just watching out for you, wouldn’t want any of you to fall into bits and pieces in the middle of our battle!” Suspended from the thief’s mouth hung a silver Knight Corps pocket watch, and three bit pouches.

“Hey! Give back mah watch!” Applebloom demanded

“My money!” Cried Sweetie Belle

“Heh, heh, Bye!” Pipsqueak, turned around, and in the blink of eye, only a dust cloud in his likeness remained as the colt dashed frantically away from his attackers avoiding passersby on the street as he did so. Much like his fight in the lower district a crowd began to form, but since the battle was constantly moving for a better portion of its duration, he managed to cut through the crowd with little to no effort. “Well, I hope I don’t have to run into those girls anytime soon.”

The sound of hooves and wings beating in rapid succession startled Pipsqueak into looking behind himself and he saw that Scootaloo was quickly cathing up to him using her wings to help her gallop twice as fast. “You’ll be seeing us sooner than you think! Take this!” Scootaloo craned her neck and using her teeth withdrew her boomerang from its holster. With another jerk of her neck, the projectile sailed majestically through the air, making four revolutions with every meter it covered.

“Wait, huh?” A whirling sound from behind was all Pipsqueak heard before something struck him in the back of the head, causing the colt to lose his balance and trip over his hooves.

Scootaloo buzzed to a halt just in front of him a smug grin affixed to her face, as she caught the boomerang in her teeth and placed it back in her holster. “Thought you could escape us, huh? Well, look at how well that worked out.”

Elsewhere in the Middle District Marketplace

“Snips! Snips! Where are you Snips!?” Through the busy streets a frantic Snails galloped through in search of his companion, who he spotted standing in front of a fruit vendor’s stand. “Snips! Snips!”

“Snails? What is it? And where’s Pipsqueak?”

“He’s in trouble with those knights from earlier dude, c’mon we’ve got to help him!” Snails grabbed his partner’s saddle bags with his teeth, and attempted to drag Snips away, but the portly sales-colt didn’t budge an inch.

“Those girls from earlier? Are you crazy? They’ll tear us apart in no time at all! Besides, I’m sure Pipsqueak can handle himself.”

“C’mon dude, there’s no time to be scared, if we don’t hurry, who knows what’ll happen to him?”

“Snails, think about this for one second: they’re knights, and were salescolts, what can we do to them?”

“Uhhh, err, duh....”

“My point exactly! We’re not fighters, Snails! We should run back to the inn and get the others, they’ll be able to—”

“There’s no time for that dude! If you won’t come with me, then I’ll just go it alone.”

"Ugh... you know what? Fine, I’ll go with you, but we need a plan first, we can’t just take them head on, they’ll annihilate us.”

“Hmmm...” Snails began scanning every vendor cart in the area, searching for something that would offer the colts some semblance of a fighting chance against the fillies. “Hey, that could work!” Snails shouted before he darted off towards a nearby stand.

“What could work? Hey, wait for me!” Out of breath from the short gallop, Snips had finally caught up with his partner, who was staring at the wares on the cart with wide eyes like a foal in a candy store. “Okay, what could have possibly driven you to... gallop... off... with...out...” Snips allowed his sentence to trail off in favor of the wondrous wares the wagon had on display: as far as the colts could see, there were golden packages full of fireworks, that almost seemed to be glowing in the late afternoon sun. “Snails, you couldn’t possibly be thinking about...”

Snails turned his head and cocked a challenging eyebrow towards his long time friend. With three words, he proved his resolve, intent, and his iron-willed determination “But I am.”

Almost instantly, reality reared its ugly headed and sent forth a messenger in the form of a twitchy light blue sales-stallion with a screw for a cutie mark, and a permagrin attached to his face perfectly complimenting his bloodshot veiny eyes. “Ahhh, so I see you’re interested in my wares, well, you know its gonna,” the stallion leaned in close to the pair, his eyes darting back and forth through the market place “Cost ya.”

The pair of colts looked at eachother, then back at the stallion, Snips electing to speak for the pair “Err... how muc—”

“15 Bits for the whole cart!”

“Wh-what? Are you sure abou—”

“A champion haggler, huh? Well Screw Loose knows how to handle hagglers!10 bits!” The stallion’s eye twitched as he tried focusing on the colts.

“Haggle? But I haven’t even—”

“5 bits. My final offer.”

“Sold!” Snails threw a small pouch of coins at Screw Loose, who seized them almost immediately, and took off galloping through the market place barking like a rabbid dog.

“Well, that was... odd. But how are we going to move all of these in time to help Pipsqueak?”

“I don’t think we’ll have to, look!” Snails pointed to a figure that was galloping and weaving through the foot traffic at great speeds. As the figure drew closer, the pair recognized it as Pipsqueak, and galloped forth to greet him, but halted when he fell and a orange filly halted directly in front of the colt. Snips and Snails retreated back to the cart.

“Thought you could escape us didn’t you? Well look at how well that worked out.”

A moment later, four other fillies came and joined Scootaloo surrounding the fallen colt in a loose semi-circle.

“There’s no where for you to run this time foal, so why don’t you tell us where your freaky two-legger friend is, before you get hurt?” Applebloom shouted

“Never!” Even a thief has his honor! I’ll never sell out my friends!”

Diamond Tiara retrieved her crown as well as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle’s watches and wallets, tossing them back to their respective owners before she began chastising Pipsqueak. “Ha, you may have your honor, but you also have your breaking point, as well. Don’t worry, when we take you back to our base in the Middle District, we’ll make you sing like siren.” Diamond Tiara spat with a sneer. before she stomped on his head with the force of a tyrant, causing the colt to lose consciousness. “You three, grab him, we’re getting ready to move this chump.”

Applebloom stomped her hoof to the ground in frustration“Why do we gotta move him? Why cain’t you help?”

“Guh, because Silver Spoon and I have to look totally gallant as we parade him around, duh.”

“Snails, we have to do something!”

“I know, I know, I’ve got a plan, eh, ”

“You’ve got a plan? Celestia help us...”

Snails nudged Snips in the side and winked at his partner. “Watch this,” Snails turned and climbed to the top of the cart, cradling sme fireworks with his forearms as he went. when he reached the top, he inhaled as much air as he possibly could into his lungs, and shouted at the fillies. “Hey you five, let him go or else!”

“That was your plan? Seriously? Cart full of rockets, and you yell at them.” Snips grumbled.

Scootaloo heard this challenge and returned fire. ”What are you gonna do about it?”

“Kick your flanks!” Snails bellowed as he aimed two of his rockets at the K.I.Ts.

Snips scrambled over t the cart and withdrew some rockets as well, aiming them in the fillies general direction. “What he said!”

“Wait a minute,” Diand Tiara squinted hard at Snips, and Snails, nostalgia overtaking her mind. “I’m starting to remember you now. Yeah, I thought you looked familiar when you bumped into me earlier, but I guess it wasn’t a coincidence.” The filly growled through grit teeth.

“What do you mean?” Asked Snips

“You two are the idiots that blew up the middle district seven months ago! Oh, you made a big mistake in coming back here. Do you know what you destroyed with your stupid little stunt?”

“Ummm, alot?” Snails drawled.

“You destroyed my daddy’s store, and because of you he lost everything! He put everything he had into that store, and because of you two morons, my family went poor. I had to join Knight Corps to make ends meet because my father was too old to do it himself, and too poor to rebuild. But don’t you worry, I’m going to collect every bit you two took from him, out of your flanks.” Diamond Tiara started trotting towards the two colts, drawing her rapier with her mouth as she proceeded.

“Hey, we’re the ones holding the rockets here, are you sure you want to do that?” Snips backed away uncertainly as she drew closer, undeterred by his threat.

“Never been more sure of anything in my life.” Diamond Tiara stood on her hindlegs, and placed the rapier’s handle on her hoof, giving it a few practice swings as she advanced.

“Don’t come any closer, or we’ll set them off!”

“Go ahead, it won’t save you.”

“Ummm, Snails, what should we do? She’s not backing off!”

“The only thing we can do,” Snails said. Snails held his breath, and concentrated as hard as he could on his horn, and he could feel a weak surge of magic gather into the medium. It was weak, but it was enough for this spell. With another push of his magic, he concentrated on the pay load of rockets on board the cart, and thought very hot thoughts. This was how he was taught to activate magical fireworks, and this as the surrounding area grew hotter and hotter, he could tell his spell was working.

“It’s over for you two!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she began to run on her hindlegs. It was an awkward task for the filly, but she’d learned how to be semi-proficient at it during her fencer’s training as a child.

“Snails, hurry, hurry, hurry! She’s getting closer!”

“I’ve almost got it, just a little more...” The strain was starting to get to the colt, and just as he felt like he couldn’t take it anymore, the rockets by his legs ignited and flew off in random directions, indicating the spell had been cast perfectly, which meant that the rest of the cargo was ready to blow as well.

One of the rockets at Snails’ feet flew past Diamond Tiara’s head, and detonanted inside of a fruitstand, setting the wood work ablaze with a shower of colorful sparks. “If that was your best shot, the two of you are in for a world of hurt when I get over there!”

SSSSSSSSSSS...

“Snips it’s gonna blow!”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Well, it would be if we weren’t right next to it.”

“Times up you losers!” Diamond Tiara stood within spitting distance from Snips, who could only swallow nervously and back away from the wrath-drunken filly. SSSSSSSS...“Wait, what’s that sound?” Diamond Tiara searched around until her line of sight fell upon the source of the offending noise: the fuze of every fire-work in the cart burning at once. Panic over took Diamond Tiara’s mind, as her blood turned to ice and a lump formed in her throat. The filly dropped her rapier, returned to all fours and began backing away slowly.“You two couldn’t possibly be that stupid!

“Don’t you ever underestimate us! Wait... hey—”

“Do you know how much damage this will cause?”

Snails leapt off of the roof of the cart a dopey smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth“Nope! But we’re about to find out!”

“You idiots!” Diamond Tiara’s shouting was drowned out as the rockets began to release showers of sparks and flame, rumbling and rocking the cart they rested on. Then they stopped, and all was still for a split second. The filly wasted no time getting out of dodge as she galloped back towards her team.

“Snails, do you think they were duds?”

“I dunno. Hmmm, let’s see.” With each step Snails took towards the cart full of explosives, he violated every safety tenant that he’d learned as an amateur pyrotechnician, and by Celestia,he was going to learn why they were stressed so heavily in the first place. Almost all at once, the rockets reignited, and with a loud screech followed by techni-colored smoke, the surrounding area was covered in bright flashes of light, sparks, sound, and bedlam. A stray rocket soared past Snails’ face, its sparking trail leaving a nasty burn on the side of his face before the projectile buried itself into a nearby gunpowder stand and exploded, setting the stock of gunpowder ablaze as well, resulting in a much larger explosion. The foot traffic in the area had been reduced to cannon fodder in the path of the rockets, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders coupled with Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara fared no better since a good portion of the rockets had been aimed at them as well. In their frantic haste to escape from the range of the projectiles, the five left Pipsqueak where he lay in favor of their own safety. Once all of the rockets went, off, Snips and Snails picked them selves off the ground, and began unsteadily trotting towards Pipsqueak.

“That was some good planning, huh buddy?”

“”Wow, so we actually can fight if we put out minds to it. That was actually kind of fun.”

“Shhhh.”

“What is it?”

“You don’t hear that?”

Snips closed his eyes, and tok notice that a soft Ssssssss.... could be heard, emanating from the fireworks cart again.

“What is that?”

“I dunno, but I think we’d best avoid it and get Pipsqueak out of here as quickly as possible.”

“All right, then let’s—Whooa! What the hay was that!? ”

The fireworks stand behind them exploded in a glorious blaze of flames, the blast force hurled various chunks of wood, bits of metal, and burning fabric all over the surrounding area. The explosion was so fast, that the two colts didn’t have anytime to react to a particularly large chunk of wood that was sent flying in their direction. With a mighty CRACK! it crashed into both of colts sending them reeling to the ground. Snips hit the ground an d lost consciousness immediately,

“P...Pipsqueak...” Snails struggled to maintain a waking state, as he weakly reached a shaking hoof towards the silhouette of his friend who lay on the ground. The air was filling up with smoke, while the surrounding area was beginning to catch fire, and as a result he couldn’t breathe. He tried to move again but found his body had grown completely unresponsive to his mental commands, and rewarded his efforts with a stinging pain that lulled him back into the security of an unconscious mind. As the darkness overtook his sight, and his body grew more and more relaxed, the So, this is death, eh? Never thought I'd kick the bucket like this. Wait, what’s that? Admist the flames and smoke, a single equine figure was slowly approaching the still incapacitated Pipsqueak. The figure picked Pipsqueak up with its mouth, and tossed the colt onto its back, before approaching Snips and Snails.

As the figure approached, Snips could see that it was wearing a cloak, with a hood pulled over its face, but that’s all he could make out as his vision only grew blurrier and blurrier, due to the intense heat. “Who—” Snails coughed “Who’re you?”

“Don’t worry, I’m a friend of the Fireheart.”

“Good enough for me...” Snails managed to mutter before he finally allowed to the darkness to overtake him. At least now he could rest somewhat easily.

Chapter 3 End.

4: Bad Colts! Bad Colts! Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

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Disclaimer: I don’t own My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, but I am willing to joust for the rights to it.

Redemption of The Fireheart

Written By: Your Antagonist (VegaKS03)

4: Bad Colts! Bad Colts! Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

Outside of the Middle District Marketplace: Afternoon

After Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and the Cutie Mark Crusaders escaped from the burning Middle District Marketplace, they found themselves in an area that was slowly filling up with law enforcement knights, all racing to off to combat the gradually spreading fire. The fillies were taking this opportunity to remain out of the view of any superior officers, while they attempted to get a grasp on their situation. “What are we gonna do?” The question had been posed by none other than Applebloom.

“Well obviously we can’t tell them what really happened, otherwise Silver Spoon and I would totally get in trouble, I mean we disobeyed a direct order. Lady Rainbow Dash doesn’t take too kindly to that,” Diamond Tiara hissed.

“Well,” Sweetie Belle began her rebuttal, “maybe if you’d have listened to her in the first place, then we wouldn’t be in this situation, but we saw what happened and we know who was involved so it’s our job and our duty to report it!”

“You are so lame, you know that?” Silver Spoon scoffed.

“Well, I’d rather be lame than a liar and a lousy knight!” Scootaloo’s comment pierced right through Silver Spoon’s armor, and lodged itself directly in the filly’s ego.

“What did you just say, blank flank?”

“You heard exactly what I said, now what’re you gonna do about it?”

“Why you—”

Silver Spoon’s line of challenge came to an abrupt halt as a familiar voice carrying heavy traces of irate frustration filled the street and drew closer. “Wonderful, this is just bucking wonderful! First Blueblood shows up at my investigation site and kicks me off the case I’ve been working for six months, then Pinkie runs off some-bucking-where, and now I come to find out that the Middle District Marketplace has been destroyed again, thanks to my shortsightedness.” The knights in training turned to face the source of the noise and quickly found themselves staring down the barrel of a loaded question, aimed by none other than Lady Rainbow Dash. “You three! What the hay happened here, and why are you not by the gate like I ordered!?”

All five fillies swallowed nervously and simultaneously because they knew that if they answered this question honestly, then the only thing that would await them was corporal punishment. If they chose to lie about it, they would escape any form of immediate reprimand, but it would only be a matter of time before they found out via investigation. Diamond Tiara was a live-in-the-now type of filly, and as a result she chose to condemn herself and her comrades to path of the silver tongued perjurer. “Well you see, Lady Rainbow Dash, we were on our way to the Lower District gate like you told us to, and we decided to take a detour through the marketplace. But when we got there, there were these three crazy colts with, like, a ton of fireworks and missiles, and they just started shooting up the place for no reason! We didn’t stand a chance against their arsenal, so we ran away as quickly as possible.”

Rainbow Dash was not impressed with Diamond Tiara’s story, and to prove it, she challenged the filly’s integrity. “Do you know how I know you’re lying to me Diamond Tiara?”

“Ly-lying to you Lady Rainbow Dash? I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful, I would hate for the quality of your sleep to degrade for something that you’re actively doing right now.”

“What do you mean?” The filly’s eyes darted around nervously inside her skull, and she cured her lips up in the toothiest grin she could muster.

Lady Rainbow Dash decided to answer Diamond Tiara’s question with a pointed inquiry of her own: “Where’s your weapon, Diamond Tiara?” The pegasus watched as Diamond Tiara reached for her empty scabbard, feeling about for a sword that wasn’t there. Almost instantly all of the blood and color flushed itself from Diamond Tiara’s face, and turned to ice in her veins.

“Ummm... I—”

“I’m lying to you Lady Rainbow Dash? Is that what you meant to say? Because I have your sword right here,” Rainbow Dash gestured to the rapier that she held in her curled wing, “and guess where I found it.”

“B-by a—”

“By a demolished cart of illegal fireworks. So, if you ran away like you claimed you did, then there wouldn’t have been much of a need for you to draw your blade, now would there?” Rainbow Dash stated as she averted her eyes to Applebloom. “Knight in Training Applebloom.”

“Y-yes Lady Rainbow Dash?”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“Me?!”

“Yes, it seems I can’t trust my own subordinates to be honest with me for even a fleeting moment, and after working closely with your brother and sister, I know just how deep the integrity of the Apple Family runs. So, I’ll ask again: what happened?”

Applebloom’s throat suddenly dried up like a drop of water in an desert. Lady Rainbow Dash had not only put her on the spot, but also challenged her family’s integrity. The nervous filly turned to scan the faces of her peers in hopes that one of the four would have some kind of magical answer written across their foreheads, but all she could find were the same nervous glances that were reflective of how she felt at this moment. What would Applejack do? What would Big Macintosh do?

“I’m waiting K.I.T”

Applebloom steeled her resolve, took a deep breath and looked Rainbow Dash straight in the eyes. “Lady Rainbow Dash ma’am! Knight In Training Applebloom will now give a report on the precedin’ events that led up to this here fire!”

“Let’s hear it K.I.T.”

“Yes Ma’am! Twenty minutes after you told us to head down to the gate to the Lower District, Knights in Training Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who were headin’ the patrol informed us we would be makin’ a detour through the marketplace, against your orders. When my team an’ I voiced our concerns about it, they called us and I quote: ‘Wet blankets’ after acknowledging that they were preparing to disobey you.”

Rainbow Dash glared daggers at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who cowered under her wrathful gaze, before addressing the pair directly. “I guess it seems that the two of you have some issues following simple instructions, but don’t you worry about it, I’m sure that having you two clean every toilet in the middle district headquarters with a toothbrush will fix that, won’t it?”

“Yes, Lady Rainbow Dash,” the two downtrodden fillies replied simultaneously.

“Hmmm... I’ll think of some more punishments for you two later, but in the meantime, please continue Applebloom.”

“Yes, Lady Rainbow Dash. Shortly after that, there was a robbery being committed by two colts, one we’d never seen before, and the other was with that two legged fella from the middle district.”

“He was with the bi-ped?”

“That’s correct, Lady Rainbow Dash!”

“Well, what happened next?”

“Well, you see, we told the one we saw with the two-legger to stand down, but he attacked us, so we had no choice but to engage him. After we finally chased him down and caught him, one of them colts from earlier and another, somehow got themselves a fireworks stand and they threatened to burn down the whole district if we didn’t let our captive go. Knight in Training Diamond Tiara identified the pair as the colts who were banished seven months ago for destroyin’ the Marketplace, and she also attempted to apprehend the criminals herself.”

Rainbow Dash rose a questionable eyebrow at Applebloom’s sudden appraisal of quite possibly one of the worst knights in training she’d ever seen, and studied the fillies features for any sign of dishonesty. Having once been a K.I.T herself, she knew just how tight-knit the junior knights could be, but the unwavering look in Applebloom’s eyes made it clear that she wasn’t just lying to protect Diamond Tiara. “ Heh,” The senior knight chuckled before turning her attention to Diamond Tiara. “I’m actually impressed with you, Diamond Tiara, confronting two heavily armed criminals by yourself. Maybe you’re not totally spoiled like I thought. But don’t think that’s going to get you off the hook for lying to me earlier.”

“Of course not, Lady Rainbow Dash,” Diamond Tiara replied her voice a mix between relief that Rainbow Dash didn’t think she was completely worthless, and mild disappointment towards being stuck with some degrading cleaning duty.

Rainbow Dash’s exposition was cut short as a male voice she didn’t recognize overpowered the hustle and bustle of other knight’s going about their duties in the background. “Lady Rainbow Dash! I bring urgent news from the Lower District gate!” announced a lightly-armored knight who galloped up to Rainbow Dash, and rendered an immediate salute as he huffed and puffed the stale air from his burning lungs.

“Well, be out with it Knight, I have other matters to attend to.”

The knight nodded and dropped his salute, making sure to establish direct eye contact with his superior before speaking. “Lady Rainbow Dash, there’s been an attack on the Lower District gate, and according to the guard detail from the Lower District, as many as seven intruders may have broken through ”

“Buck... do we have any positive identifications on the intruders?”

“Affirmative ma’am! Among the seven we have identified two, via eyewitness accounts and from some of the now-conscious guards.”

“Two is better than zero in my book, alright let’s hear it.”

“The first intruder who the guard detail was able to identify was Lady Trixie of the Lower District.” Rainbow Dash grimaced at the sound of Trixie’s name, but steeled her composure for the continuation of the report. “Her motives are unknown at this time, but we are one-hundred percent certain that she was the one leading the attack.”

“It just had to be Trixie, didn’t it?” Rainbow Dash sighed and shook her head. Trixie would be a bit of a hoof-full to deal with, but the mare could be managed. “Alright, who was the other intruder?”

“The other intruder we were able to identify was the wanted criminal: Captain Gilda of the Diamond Dog Pirates.”

A silence overtook Rainbow Dash as she digested the identity of the second intruder. She began to tremble all over as a wealth of negative emotions and memories flooded her mind. “Is that all, knight?”

“Not quite, Lady Rainbow Dash.”

“Then be out with it and go on your way.”

“Of course, ma’am. There have been a few Mare-Do-Well sightings that were reported just after the fire started.”

“Mare-Do-Well!?” The mention of the vigilante had Lady Rainbow Dash gritting her teeth with such immense pressure that she chipped part of her tooth clean off.

The guard shrank away from his now-enraged superior and managed to squeak out the rest of his report. “Several eyewitnesses claim they saw an equine figure with the same armor, cape, and mask as Mare-Do-Well run into the Marketplace after the fire began, and there are more bystanders that claim to have seen her dragging three colts and a Pink mare into the back alley of a local inn.”

Rainbow Dash’s wings flared up, and she was now shaking violently yet again on the verge of chipping yet another tooth. All these criminals in my district doing whatever the hay they want... who the buck do they think they are!? This is my district, my reputation, my pride, and I’m not about to let them trample over it as they see fit! Rainbow Dash was tense for only a moment longer before she took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts, though her body was still tense. “All right, Knight!”

“Yes,Ma’am?”

“I want the name of that inn, and a squadron surrounding it, and I want it yesterday! do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am!” The knight saluted his compliance to her command.

“Good, then get to it!” The knight turned and galloped as quickly as his legs would carry him. “You five, on me!”

“Where are we going, Lady Rainbow Dash?” Sweetie Belle asked.

An Inn in the Middle District: Afternoon

The room that Spike and company resided in was reasonably well furnished with a couple of tables and chairs lying about along with two medium sized beds, one of which was currently lulling a lazy Diamond Dog to sleep, while the other bore the weight of several sets weapons and armor. The room itself was certainly big, but it wasn’t big enough to house the egos and tensions that were flaring about inside, emanating from a testy blue unicorn and a frustrated gryphon. “Gah! How you can you even suggest such a thing, bird!? Trixie will not degrade herself to a common sewer-dweller! Dragon, speak some sense into her!”

Spike opened his mouth to mediate Trixie’s concerns, but Gilda was much faster on the uptake and in a flash invaded Trixie’s personal space via beak to snout contact. “Well, I’m so sorry that my crew didn’t exactly have the luxury of constructing a four star resort befitting of a picky diva like yourself, but necessity drove them to the sewers, and fortunately for us those same sewers offer a route into the Upper District.”

Trixie returned Gilda’s glare ten-fold. “Trixie... will not... go into that disease-encrusted manure hovel!”

“We don’t have any other flocking choice you ignorant mule! It’s our only guaranteed route into the Upper District, or perhaps you’d like to take on the entirety of the Law Enforcement Knights?”

“Umm... you guys—” Spike attempted to interject, but his voice was drowned out by the enraged shrieking of Trixie as she made it clear that her anti-sewer travel stance was adamant and unyielding like a mountain of stubbornness.

“If the bird wishes to go stomping through the filth and waste of everypony in Canterlot, with that unwashed rogues gallery of creatures she calls a crew, then let her do it alone! Trixie will have no part of it!” The mare shouted as she turned her nose up at Gilda, who in turn rose her talons and balled them in anger. A light sensation on Gilda’s forearm distracted her from the thousands of violent epiphanies to Trixie’s attitude racing through her mind.

“Gilda, let me try,” Spike suggested as he stepped between the two warring females.

“Pffft, fine. There’s no reasoning with that dandy landlubber,” Gilda hissed with one final glare before retrieving one of her flintlocks and a rag from the bed, retiring to a nearby chair.

“Trixie,” Spike spoke the mare’s name consolingly but sternly as he used to do when he had K.I.Ts of his own.

“What is it, dragon?” Trixie snorted.

“I understand that the sewers aren’t exactly the most ideal place for us to traverse, but it’s our best shot of making it to the Upper District undetected. The only alternative is to charge straight through the gate, and let’s be honest: seven of us versus thousands of guards doesn’t really add up to a victory for our side. On top of that, have you even stopped to think of your situation at the moment? You abandoned your post—”

“Trixie was abducted,” the mare argued while pouting.

“You’ve been travelling with and assisting wanted criminals—”

“Against threat of death by the buzzard.”

“I’m a gryphon!” Gilda shouted from the chair.

“And to top it off you’ve assaulted and robbed Knight Corps soldiers under your command.”

“Now that Trixie thinks about it, those were Trixie’s knights. Perhaps Trixie could have ordered them to stand down.”

“But you didn’t, and now you’re kind of stuck in the middle of it with us whether you like it or not.”

“Trixie supposes you’re right, but really, though a sewer?” Trixie asked with a grimace, even though she knew precisely what the answer would be.

“Yeah, I don’t really want to go either, but it’s our best bet, and besides, I’ve been in worse environments.”

The Great and Powerful fugitive took a moment to ponder her situation, and sighed when she couldn’t come up with a better alternative. “Trixie will cede to this decision, but only on the grounds that the bird carries Trixie once we are in the sewers.”

“Uhh, Mr.Former Knight, will you please talk some sense into that one?”

“It’s a deal,” Spike stated as he shook Trixie’s hoof.

“What!?” Gilda squawked. “You can’t just—”

Spike cocked a challenging eyebrow at Gilda as though to say: ‘do you see any other alternatives?’

“Uggh.” Gilda rolled her eyes as she came to terms with the fact that there would be no other way to convince the stubborn mare “Fine, fine I’ll carry her, but she better not complain about a flocking thing when we’re in there. If bellyaches even once about the smell, I’ll dump her in that crap river, faster than you can say ‘help there’s a large avian drowning me in pony excrement.”

A sudden Knock! Knock! Knock! emanating from the door, put the three warriors on edge instantly dissolving any hostility that resided from their prior squabble. Gilda aimed the flintlock she was holding towards the door, while Trixie’s horn was ablaze with a furious shade of magenta. Spike looked at both females and gestured to himself, then the door. The two nodded to let him know that they would keep the door covered, and Spike eased himself to the doorway cautiously. As he rested a claw upon it, Gilda cocked back the hammer on the flintlock for good measure, and Trixie began conjuring small storm-clouds with her magic. The only discernible sound that broke the tense atmosphere aside from Spike slowly turning the knob, was the snoring of the completely oblivious Rover.

Click! The lock was now disengaged, and Spike felt a single bead of sweat drip down his forehead as it rode down his chin and became a stain on the hardwood floor. Spike threw the door open instantly, and in the hallway there stood a cloaked equine-figure that none of the party recognized, prompting Gilda to squeeze the trigger of her pistol releasing the bullet with a mighty Bang! and Trixie to release a bolt of lightning from one of her clouds in tandem with her Gryphon counterpart. The figure ducked both projectiles and dove into the room, tackling and pinning Spike to the ground as it did so. As the attacker stood up it kept a hoof on Spike’s chest, further restraining the dragon to the ground which afforded Gilda and Trixie the opportunity to identify the entity that wore a purple-hued full-body suit of armor, and a black iron mask with two reflective mirrored surfaces where the eyes should have been. “‘Fireheart” the figure spoke in a heavily distorted mechanical voice.

“Mare-Do-Well,” Spike breathed from under the pressure of the figure’s armored hoof.

“Get off my salamander before I fill you full of grapeshot, you Nightmare Night reject,” growled Gilda as she picked her Blunderbuss off the bed and aimed it at Spike’s attacker with one talon.

“Trixie advises you listen to the parrot before you find yourself on the receiving end of three hundred million volts of electricity.”

“Whoa!, Whoa! Trixie, Gilda, she’s cool!” Spike shouted from his position on the floor.

“I’ll put my gun down when this costumed candy-ass steps away from you, how’s that for cool?” Mare-Do-Well wordlessly lifted her hoof from Spike’s chest and took two steps back into the hallway. “Well she’s certainly compliant, isn’t she?” Gilda lowered the Blunderbuss, while Trixie likewise dispelled the storm clouds. “Who are you?” The pirate demanded.

“Mare-Do-Well,” The disguised mare responded in her distorted voice.

“I meant who are you under that armor?”

“A friend.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Gilda, please,” Spike held a claw up to silence the testy gryphon, as he stood up and faced the masked mare. “Why are you here, Mare-Do-Well?”

“Because I know you’re innocent, Fireheart, and I know who poisoned Queen Celestia. I want to help you clear your name, so that the real criminal can be brought to justice.”

“How do we know if we can trust any of this bilge you’re spitting?” Gilda asked.

“That’s a good question, but allow me to answer your inquiry with an inquiry: what will you do after you’ve dealt with Blueblood?”

“What the—” Gilda aimed her pistol at Mare-Do-Well again. “How did you know about that?”

Mare-Do-Well ignored Gilda’s question, and began to strengthen her own argument. “You’ll march up there, dole out vigilante justice, but then what? In the eyes of ponies everywhere it’ll just look like a rogue assassin and his gang of fugitives claiming another victim.”

GIlda scratched her chin thoughtfully at this sentiment, and even she had to admit Mare-Do-Well’s logic was solid. “I see your point, but I still don’t trust you.”

“Trust isn’t an issue here, if you don’t let me help you, you’ll simply be grasping at straws in the dark.”

“What can you possibly do for us that we can’t do for ourselves?”

“What haven’t I done for you already?” The masked- mare stepped into the hallway, and returned with three familiar but bruised and battered colts on her back. “I believe these belong to you?” she asked as she trotted into the room, and slid the colts from her back onto the bed that housed the still unconscious Rover.

“What happened to the dweebs?” Gilda pressed, as some semblance of a maternal instinct began to manifest at the sight of the bruised colts.

“This one was attacked by five Knights in Training, and managed to fend them off for a short time,” Mare-Do-Well gestured to Pipsqueak, “and these two set fire to the Middle District Marketplace with a cart full of fireworks,” she explained while nodding to Snips and Snails.

“Okay, Mare-Do-Well, so you’ve brought back a couple of Trixie’s flunkies, big deal. That doesn’t mean you’ve earned our trust.”

“Then it’s lucky I have one more present for the Fireheart in the hall isn’t it?”

Trixie rose an eyebrow at the vigilante before herself, as Mare-Do-Well trotted back out into the hallway and reappeared while pulling a length of rope that was tied to her forehooves. A metallic scraping could be heard as she rounded the corner with it. In due time, the three conscious members bore witness to a fully grown mare clad in silver armor, with a bouncy pink mane, and what appeared to be a giant pink swirl lollipop strapped to her back as she was dragged into the room bound and gagged.

“You captured a Knight and brought her here!? Are you crazy!?” Trixie asked in a panic.

“Not exactly you see—”

“Was she following us? How much does she know? We might have to kill her to cover our tracks,” Gilda pointed out almost in as much of a stupor as Trixie.

“To answer your questions, no I didn’t capture her and I don’t know what she was doing or thinking in the first place. Also please refrain from killing her.”

“If you didn’t catch her, then why is she tied-up like that?” Trixie asked.

“To be honest with you, she kind of ran into me, begged me to take her with me, and then tied herself up on the spot as a show of trust or something.”

“You honestly think Trixie is going to believe that load of parasprite bile?”

“I can believe it,” Spike stated as he walked towards the restrained knight.

“What do you mean, dragon?”

“I just have this feeling that we can trust Mare-Do-Well, and I have never had a reason to distrust my good friend Lady Pinkie Pie the Mad.” With a swipe of his claw Spike cut the ropes from around the Knight, and took a few steps backwards as Pinkie Pie rose unsteadily to her hooves and pulled the rag from her mouth allowing it to float gracefully towards the floor.

“Spikey!” Pinkie shouted as she charged the dragon, locking him in a tight embrace as she nuzzled his head with hers vigorously. Spike put up some token resistance as he attempted to kick and claw his way out of the vice grip like hug, but he eventually gave up the charade and went limp in her grasp.“Dashie always said you were guilty as a minotaur is ugly, but I never lost faith in you! Please tell me you didn’t do it!”

“Agh!” Spiked yelped as he felt his ribs crack under the pressure of the embrace. “I didn’t do it! Now please loosen up, you’re crushing me!” Pinkie accepted the words at face value and tightened her embrace around the dragon who was slowly turning scarlet udr the immense pressure.

“Ahem,” Trixie and Gilda interjected simultaneously.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself.” Pinkie Pie stood up and made direct eye-contact with Trixie and Gilda, while she continued to crush Spike with her foreleg wrapped around his waist. “ I’m Lady Pinkie Pie the Mad, I’m an investigator of the Middle District, but don’t think I’m a workaholic like Dashie and AJ, I love to parrrr-tay! Pleased to meet you!”

Gilda gave Pinkie Pie a quick once-over before introducing herself. “Name’s Gilda." Gilda sat back down in her chair grabbed her rag from the ground, and resumed polishing her pistols as she spoke. “Hmmm, I’m still not too keen on having a Knight in here, but I suppose I could let it slide for now, given how friendly you’re being with my lizard. Just don’t get any funny ideas.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why don’t you want me to try anything funny? Don’t you like to laugh? I love to laugh, I mean if I didn’t love to laugh then I’d be grumpy like all the mean ole’ gryphon knights—” Pinkie took note that Gilda was growing increasingly irritated with the mention “I-I don’t mean all gryphons are grumpy, just the majority of you.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Gilda resumed wiping down the barrel of her pistol.

“Trixie would like to know the nature of your... relationship with the Fireheart.”

Pinkie Pie completely ignored the question as she sat down on her haunches cuddling Spike even closer to herself. In place of Pinkie’s silence, Spike opted to answer the inquiry “She’s my longtime partner—”

“Marefriend.” Pinkie corrected, eliciting raised eyebrows from Trixie and Gilda.

Gilda set down her weapon having recognized a higher priority issue at talon. “Ohhh, so this is the damsel you’ve come to rescue from the clutches of Blueblood, eh, Romeo?”

Spike blushed at Gilda’s deduction, and attempted to defend his stance. “Not exactly, you see there’s another mare—”

“Another mare? Trixie is intrigued, dragon!”

Spike made a last ditch effort to change the subject before it was set in stone “Do we really have time for this?”

Pinkie threw Spike to the ground and stood up, glowering at the dragon before her. Even though she was only a couple of hooves taller than him, she cast a shadow that dwarfed him completely. “You bet your scaly little tail there’s time for this! Who is this other mare, Spikey!?” Pinkie Pie shouted with a mild rage building in her tone and growing stronger with every-syllable.

As Pinkie Pie began to bore down on him for the misunderstanding, Spike’s mind wandered to a quote that he’d read in one of Twilight’s books before: Tarturus hath no fury like a Mare Scorned. It was oddly fitting to his situation. “Uh, Pinkie I—”

“Tell us!” Gilda interrupted

“Tell Trixie!” The mare demanded with a cheshire grin.

“Tell me now!” Pinkie shrieked

Mare-Do-Well, who had up until this point been watching Spike unintentionally dig his own grave from the relative safety of the hallway, turned to look outside a nearby window where she noticed several knights had begun to surround the inn. “Fireheart, the knights must have followed me here, they’re surrounding the inn.”

Spike ducked out of the pressuring gazes of the three females, enterprising on the situation Mare-Do-Well had brought to light as a means to break the current conversation.
“Ladies, I think there are more pressing issues to attend to, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Gilda muttered as she and Trixie moved to wake up Rover and the colts.

Pinkie narrowed her eyes at Spike, instantly wiping the relieved grin off of his mug. She trotted over to him and planted a convicting hoof on his chest “Don’t think this is over Spikey, you still owe me answers after this is over,” the angry mare hissed before she trotted out into the hallway.

“Ooohhh, Spikeys in trouble!” Trixie and Gilda taunted in unison.

Ignoring the gossiping females, Spike returned his attention to the still fuming Pinkie Pie. “When this is over? What do you mean?”

“Well, duh, obviously I’m going to help you clear your name, Spikey. Sheesh, try to keep up,” Pinkie Pie teased with a grin and a swish of her tail before she disappeared around the corner of the hallway.

“Bird! Why you wake Rover, and why there so many ponies! There used to be four ponies and purple freak now there is pink pony, and cape wearing weirdo?” Rover asked as he groggily moved off the bed.

“Oh just shut up, grab your sword and come on, we’ve got knights to deal with,” Gilda ordered as she began poking each of the colts next to Rover.

“More weak ponies for Rover’s sword to crush? Count Rover in!” Rover jumped out of the bed and giddily ran into the hallway.

“Well what do you think we should do?” Spike asked as he turned to Mare-Do-Well

“We?”

“Well, aren’t you coming with us?”

Mare-Do-Well chuckled softly to herself before answering Spike. “As much as I’d love to, Fireheart, I’m afraid this is where we part ways for the time being. I can’t risk being captured by the knights, otherwise all of my hard work will be for naught. Perhaps I’ll join the fun further down the road, but for now my place is in the shadows. Don’t worry though, you’ll see me around.” Without another word, Mare-Do-Well trotted to the window, and pushed it open gently, promptly jumping out into the street below.

Pipsqueak and Snails all came to just in time to catch a glimpse of the caped crusaders eccentric escape. “Whoa! That was cool!” Snails exclaimed as he sat up.

“Who was that?” Pipsqueak inquired.

“Gahhh! Fire! I’m on fire! Curse you Snails, I always knew you’d be the end of me!” Snips screamed as he woke from a nightmare. The disoriented colt took a moment to absorb his surroundings, and as opposed to calming down, his mind only pumped out more questions “What’s going on? How did we get here? Are we dead!?”

“Not yet, colt,” Trixie started, “but if we don’t do something about the situation outside we may as well be. By the way, where is Trixie’s food?”

Ignoring the latter question Snips’ curiosity began to take over his thought process. “Outside? What’s going on outside?” Snips wandered over to the window next to the bed. His heart skipped a beat as his eyes were treated to the sight of what appeared to be a hundred knights, all sporting full or partial equine armor, and stone faced demeanors. Snips observed that they were unwavering, imposing, and above all else patient. Patient and presently being yelled at by a blue pegasus mare about half the size of every stallion present.

Spike joined Snips by the window and let out a low whistle as he took in the sheer volume of suits of armor glistening in the sunlight. “Well this’ll be fun if nothing else won’t it?” Spike chuckled as he playfully slapped Snips on the shoulder.

“Fun?” Snips’ eyes widened in concerned terror as he seized Spike by the shoulders and shook the dragon violently as one might a snowglobe. “Fun!? You think this is fun!? What is wrong with you!?”

With a quick swipe of his claw, Spike slapped away Snips’ hooves and concerns before brushed his shoulders off. “Well, it’s not like we have any alternative route into the sewers, right? On top of that I’ve never gone up against Rainbow Dash before.”

“And it’s going to stay that way just a little while longer, Rainbow Dash is mine.” Gilda scowled as the mare’s name slid off her tongue.

“Grudge match?”

“Something like that,” Gilda muttered as she began holstering her pistols. “You’ll find out soon enough. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to keep my first mate from doing anything stupid before I get down there.”

“Hold up, pidgeon, Trixie is coming with you!” The mare telekinetically snatched her trident and hat from their resting places on the bed affixing the articles to herself as she galloped after Gilda.

“Then move your flank, braggart!”

As Trixie and Gilda’s bickering disappeared into the hallway Spike turned to take his leave as well, making sure to snatch his cane from its resting place on the now empty bed as he gestured for the Pipsqueak and the two salescolts to follow him downstairs.

Outside The Inn:

“All right everypony, I want you all to listen up, because I’m only going to say this once: Failure will not be tolerated today. There are several wanted criminals inside this inn, the Turncoat head of the Lower District Lady Trixie who as of earlier today: abandoned her post, turned on her own knights, and led several criminals into my district. Among those she has led through are: the wanted criminal Captain Gilda of the Diamond Dog Pirates. The Vigilante: Mare-Do-Well wanted for repeat counts of espionage, tampering and removal of crucial evidence regarding the Fireheart investigation. The terrorists responsible for the destruction of the Middle District Marketplace on this day and seven months ago: Snips and Snails. We also have reason to believe they may be harboring the prime suspect for the attempted assassination of Queen Celestia, and may also be holding one of our own hostage. We will not allow these vermin to escape, and we will show them the iron tight defense that is the pride of the Middle District!” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath to make up for all the air she’d expended addressing her soldiers, and she was rewarded for her efforts with a thunderous applause.

Applejack trotted up to Rainbow Dash as the cheering began to die down. “Rainbow Dash, don’t y’all think this is a bit much for a couple of wanted criminals and a deserter? We’re already spreadin’ ourselves mighty thin between puttin’ out the marketplace fire, but what if there’s a sudden influx in crime around the city? We won’t have the pony-power to do anythin’ about it!”

“AJ, calm down.” Rainbow Dash waved Applejack’s concerns away with a confident hoof. “We still have plenty of patrols in the area, besides one-hundred and fifty knights is barely even twenty percent of our districts pony power, it’s more like... seventeen and a half percent.”

“But what if somethin’ else comes up? How are we gonna handle it?”

“AJ, AJ, AJ... you worry too much. Just calm down and leave the long-term thinking to me.”

“I’m worried to leave any thinkin’ to you...”

“What was that AJ?”

“Lady Rainbow Dash, somepony has exited the tavern ma’am!” shouted a guard behind Rainbow Dash.

“Well, that’s great to know, but why are you wasting time telling me instead of preparing to apprehend them?”

“Well, ma’am it appears to be Lady Pinkie Pie—”

“Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash was bewildered and relieved to hear that her partner was in at least relative safety. “Is she alright?”

“She seems to be more than fine, Lady Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow at the knight’s interesting choice of words.“What do y’all mean more than fine?”

“She’s currently attacking the search team we sent into the inn to insure her safety and well being. We’ve tried reasoning with her, but she keeps shouting something about protecting her ‘precious little Spikey’ along with outright gibberish. I think it’s best if you it’s best if you see for yourselves.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, exchanged glances and began galloping towards the front of the inn, where sure as saltlicks they saw Pinkie Pie standing atop a small pile of beaten and bruised unicorns pumping her forelegs in a victorious fashion “Who else wants to try and assist me!? Come on I dare any you chumps to try and give me medical attention! You there, you wanna help me!?” Pinkie Pie shouted at a particularly scrawny knight wearing glasses.

“Pinkie, what in tarnation do y’all think you’re doin? They’re on your side!”

“On my side? Pffft, try under my hooves, AJ!” Pinkie cackled as she bounced up and down giddily on the pile of unconscious knights.

Applejack face-hoofed before responding to her now officially cracked partner. “That’s not what I meant Pink. Why are you attackin’ us instead of helpin’ us catch the criminals loose in this here inn?”

“Oh, that’s easy!” Pinkie Pie beamed at her friends before resuming her explanation. “Because I’m a turncoat now!”

“Turncoat? Do y’all realize what you’re sayin’?”

“Well turncoat means traitor right? Although that doesn’t make a whole lotta’ sense because if you turn a coat around the you’d just be wearing the back on your chest and then there would be no way to zip it up, but if you turned it inside out then you would just look silly, so wouldn’t just be easier to say traitor?” Pinkie Pie immediately furrowed her eyebrows and growled at the surrounding knights “Anyway, where was I?” Pinkie pondered this with a hoof on her chin. “Oh that’s right! Rawr! Come and get some!”

“Gyahaha! Rover likes the pink pony, she funny!” Rover cackled to himself as he slowly descended the stairs, dragging his sword behind him. “But now it Rover’s turn to show these weak knights who is strongest!”

“Hold it right there, dog!” Trixie shouted from the porch of the tavern, successfully drawing the attention of Rover and several knights. “You’ll not upstage or outshine...” Trixie’s horn glowed brightly with an aura of magenta magic that began sparking as she began to harness and giving shape to “Lady Trixie the Great and Powerful!” Trixie released her pent-up energy and the resulting spell was a burst of multi-colored fireworks.

Rover rolled his eyes at Trixie’s intro, having heard many times before. “We get it, pony, you are braggart. But enough with the show, captain will chastise us if we don’t

“Oh, that wasn’t a show, dog, that was a distraction.” Trixie grinned and cast her gaze to the lingering smoke from where the fireworks had detonated, and Rover followed her gaze as well. He observed that the smoke wasn’t dissipating but rather began agglomerating into one massive cloud, more specifically a storm cloud crackling with electric energy. “And this is a first strike!” With a sudden flare from her horn, Trixie summoned multiple bolts of lightning that erupted from the cloud and dispersed into the mass of knights below, scattering ponies left and right with each impact.

“Hmph, you not bad, for a knight, but Rover is better fighter!” Laughing maniacally, Rover hefted his sword above his head, and leapt into the mass of knights bringing his blade down hard on some nameless, unprepared soul.

Rainbow Dash watched in a mix awe, anger, and humiliation as her soldiers were thrown about like ragdolls by two fighters. Had it been a small army, she would have been able to understand, but to have two combatants overpower her finest soldiers, it was a debilitating embarrassment. Fed up with the display, Rainbow Dash decided she would personally step into the fray. “I won’t let you do as you please in my district you scum!” With single powerful flap of her wings, she took off like a diamond dog seeking rocket, skimming low to the ground with Rover in her sights and her hooves in front of her face.

Tunnel vision began to set in as she beat her wings again, rapidly closing the distance. She was so focused on tackling Rover that she failed to notice Gilda closing in from the side until it was too late. Gilda seized Rainbow Dash by the mane, and with a herculean swing, threw the pegasus skidding across the ground as one might a stone across a body of water.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you interfere with my first mate. I don’t let him off his leash very often, and I think he’s deserved his play time. But if you’re looking for a fight, I’d be more than glad to indulge you, Dash.”

“That voice” Rainbow Dash picked herself off the ground and glared at the smirking gryphon before herself. “Gilda.”

“Been a long time since I’ve seen you face to face. How’ve you been, life treating you well?” Gilda began circling Rainbow Dash in a predatory fashion. “I see you landed yourself a promotion since the last time we saw each other. How many of your friends did you have to send up the river for it? One? Two maybe? How about an entire crew?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about or why you’re here, Gilda, but what I do know is that I can’t allow you to run rampant in my district.”

Gilda’s face suddenly flared red under her white feathers, and the daggers she’d been staring at Rainbow Dash turned to machetes. “Oh cut the crap, Dash! You know exactly why I’m here! You sold me and my crew out to Blueblood, just so you could save face in the eyes of your superiors. You betrayed me!”

“I never betrayed you Gilda! I would never betray a friend!"

“Friend? Friend? You have the gall to use that word even now? I’ll kill you!” Reverting to her predatory instincts, Gilda pounced at Rainbow Dash, her talons leaving a small fissure in the dirt road where her quarry once stood before leaping backwards to dodge the attack. Gilda prepared to leap at Rainbow Dash again, but ceased her fury-driven actions upon feeling a stream of warm liquid trickling down her cheek that brought her back to a rational state of mind. She wiped it off with her talon and held it in front of her face to observe the fresh blood that had begun to flow. “Good to see that even after so many years away from sea, your combat skills haven’t gotten rusty.”

“Well, a pegasus has to keep a few tricks up her feathers, captain.” Rainbow Dash flared her wings up to reveal hundreds of throwing knives tucked neatly into her feathers that were glistening red with the light of the late afternoon sun.

“Well, maybe this won’t be too boring afterall. Let’s do this!” Gilda whipped a flintlock out of its holster, and trained the barrel on Rainbow Dash. With a squeeze of her talon the bullet was expelled towards its multi-colored target with a resounding Bang! Rainbow Dash dodged the shot and took to the air, with Gilda hot on her hooves.

Spike blew out a low whistle as he watched the aerial pursuit unfold before his eyes. “Looks like I’m missing all the fun,” Spike mused as he walked out of the tavern, shifting his attention to the the carnage that Trixie and Rover were wreaking among the ranks of the lesser knights. He walked down the stairs and joined Pinkie Pie just as she slid down her pile of bodies. “Shall we?”

“Alrighty Spikey, but just remember,” Pinkie Pie jabbed her hoof into spike’s chest. “You still owe me an explanation about that other mare.”

“Pinkie, I promise you, the situation isn’t at all what you’re thinking.”

Pinkie Pie’s glare only increased in intensity. “Pinkie Pie promise.”

“Fine,” Spike sighed and took Pinkie’s hoof in his claw making sure to establish eye contact with the angry mare “I cross my heart, hope to fly and stick a cupcake in my eye. Now can we please worry about the situation at claw?”

“Fine, my hooves are itchin’ to buck some flank anyway.” The air began to

“Now hold it right there, gecko!” Applejack leapt in front of the pair, snorting and scraping the ground.

Spike sighed and shook his head before muttering to himself. “Is it too much to ask for someone to call me by my proper species or name?”

“I don’t know where you found the gall to show your face in Canterlot after what you did, but I swear on my honor as an Apple Family Knight, I’m gonna catch you and bring you to justice!” Applejack declared proudly, stomping her hoof on a nearby rock, crushing it completely.

“Unfortunately you’ve got the wrong idea and the wrong guy. I didn’t do it.”

Applejack spat on the ground and began closing the distance between herself and Spike. “Save it for the gallows, traitor.”

“No, you save it for the gallows, traitor!” Pinkie Pie growled back at Applejack.

“Pinkie, she’s not a traitor,” Spike remarked.

“What?”

“Well, technically speaking, if anyone here is a traitor here, it’s you and Trixie. AJs in the right by trying to catch me, and you joined my side which makes you a traitor by association, though by another technicality, I’m not a traitor.”

“But then what does that make you?”

“A victim of circumstance.”

“Now wait just an applebuckin’ minute there, lizard, how in the hay is she a traitor and you’re not?” Apple questioned.

“Well, for one she,” Spike gestured to Pinkie Pie, “openly declared that she was a turncoat, whereas,” “Spike gestured to himself now, “I have been hiding in the Everfree Forest for the last six months, and during that time I never once made a formal declaration to betray Knight Corps or Queen Celestia.”

“But you tried to assassinate Queen Celestia. You can’t tell me that doesn’t brand you a traitor.”

“But have you ever really proven that it was me that made the attempt? There’s no evidence that points specifically to me is there?”

“Well, there’s nothin’ that says you’re innocent either!”

“And that lack of evidence is what we call ad ignorantium.” Spike smirked and crossed his arms smugly. How about that? All the time wasted in those stupid logic study groups Twilight used to drag me to finally pays off in the real world.

“Ad ig-nah-what?” Applejack ran the word through her mind once more before she shook her head violently to clear her thoughts. “Whatever, I don’t care about your fancy five-bit words, traitor. All I know is that I’ve got my orders, and I’m takin’ you in!” Applejack scuffed the ground once and took off galloping at Spike.

“It was worth a shot,” Spike sighed as he whipped his cane into its staff form, and braced himself for Applejack’s first strike. The earth pony pivoted and released a powerful rear buck aimed at Spike.

A resounding clang! filled the air as Applejack’s rear hooves came into contact with a meticulously sized lollipop that was cradled in the hooves of Pinkie Pie, who struggled to keep Applejack’s powerful hindlegs at bay. “Don’t worry Spikey, I’ve got this!” Spike was in awe as he observed the clash between the two mares. He’d been on the receiving end of one of Applejack’s bucks before in a sparring match, so he could safely say that it was no small feat for Pinkie Pie to match Applejack so evenly.

“All right, Pinkie, I’m going to help out Trixie and Rover, regroup with us when you’re done here.”

“Shouldn’t... take... too long!” By exerting herself just a little harder, Pinkie Pie managed to overpower Applejack, flinging the orange earth pony into the dirt. Spike took this opportunity to dash past Applejack and into the multi-knight brawl to join Trixie and Rover.

Applejack stood up unsteadily and spat blood from her maw, a grave expression overtaking her features as she came to terms with the fact that she would actually have to fight her best friend. “Pinkie, are you sure you really wanna do this? I gonna offer you one shot at amnesty and if you turn it down, I won’t hold back.”

Pinkie Pie twisted her neck until she felt four tension relieving pops, before responding to Applejack. “Never been more sure of anything in my life, AJ.”

“I see. Well if that’s your choice.” Applejack crouched low in a predatory stance, ready to attack again.

“Besides, I don’t do shots and amnesty sounds like a horrible drink.”

“Wait, what?” The offbeat comment took Applejack by surprise, and Pinkie Pie capitalized on that split second where Applejack’s confusion overwhelmed her focus.

“Your guard is down, AJ!” Pinkie Pie leapt forth and swung the giant lollipop at Applejack’s exposed face, the blow connecting with a nasty thud! and Applejack was sent tumbling back into the dirt for a second time.

The Apple family knight picked herself off the ground. “That was a cheap shot, Pinkie, I wasn’t ready!”

Pinkie Pie planted the head of her lollipop into the dirt, and shook her head disapprovingly as she leaned her weight on the shaft of her weapon. “AJ, AJ, AJ, this isn’t a duel, it’s a battle between a criminal and a law enforcement mare. You’ve got to do whatever it takes if you want to win. Isn’t that what Dashie is always telling us?”

“Pinkie,” Applejack stood up and wiped the blood from her mouth before resuming. “I can’t be like Dash. Her hearts in the right place, but her methods—”

“You’re wide open again!” Pinkie Pie leapt into the the air holding the lollipop over her head, and brought it down in a smashing motion.

“I won’t fall for that twice!” Applejack side stepped the attack, pivoted while drawing her legs towards herself, before unleashing a devastating double legged buck on Pinkie Pie’s chest plate. “I ain’t holdin’ back with you anymore, Pinkie,” Applejack stated as she reached into her hat and withdrew a golden lasso that she quickly placed in her mouth. With a flick of her neck, she sent the rope flying towards a nearby water barrel, and seized the wooden construct. Whipping her head back towards Pinkie Pie, Applejack slung the crude flail at Pinkie Pie with all of her might.

“Well, I’m not holding back either!” Pinkie Pie rose the lollipop to her face, and gave it a solid sloppy lick along the length of the candy portion. As Pinkie’s tongue passed along the weapon, the lollipop began to grow in length, while the width became narrow and edged. When the weapon completed its transformation, Pinkie Pie cradled the pink bladed claymore in her forehooves, and swung it straight done cleaving the barrel in two. “You like it? Twilight made it for me. I call it the Lollipop Lancer. It can change into any weapon that I want, plus it’s strawberry flavored! You jealous, AJ?”

“Ha! I don’t need any fancy gadgets to beat some sense into you!” Applejack spat the severed rope from her mouth, and stood on her hindlegs, her armored forehooves in front of her face. “Let’s go, Pinkie!” Applejack stepped forward, whipping her hooves in rapidfire jabs that Pinkie blocked using the width of her sword.

Pinkie allowed her blade to take the abuse as she searched for an opening in Applejack’s defenses, and she found it. Applejack deviated from her attack pattern by unleashing a strong right cross that took her off balance. Pinkie Pie rose her confectionary claymore above her head, and slammed the hilt down hard into Applejack’s face. The orange knight reeled backwards from the blow, but shot back into the fray, delivering a flurry of short weak hooks and jabs as opposed to relying on powerful swings. When Applejack’s hooves made contact with the pink knight’s cheek, she could tell that her newly adopted tactic was taking its toll on Pinkie Pie, who couldn’t stop the swarm of punches, given the mass of her weapon’s current form. “What’s the matter, Pinkie? Can’t keep up with your heavy sword?” Applejack mocked as she weaved beneath a desperate swing from Pinkie Pie’s sword, retaliating with a series of quick hooks to Pinkie’s midsection. “Say good night, Pinkie!” Applejack wound her hoof back as far as she could before throwing it forward in a wild haymaker, catching Pinkie Pie in the snout, flooring the pink pony instantly.

“This isn’t over yet, AJ,” Pinkie Pie huffed as she sank her blade into the ground, using it for support as she stood up unsteadily. As she stood up, her mouth filled with blood, and she spat it on her blade.

“You still got some fight in you?”

“Nah,’ Pinkie Pie admitted. “Just a trick up my sleeve.”

“What’re you talkin’ about?” Applejack noticed that the ground just in front of her began to crack and fissure as if something were going to emerge from it, and it was too little too late when she’d finally made the connection between Pinkie Pie’s weapon being submerged in the dirt to the unstable ground before herself. “Oh horse feathers.” The head of a pink mace exploded from the ground with the force of catching Applejack square in the chin, propelling her into the tavern wall. Applejack pulled herself out of the small abrasion and collapsed on the ground.“That—” Applejack interrupted herself with a coughing fit. “That was a dirty move, Pinkie.”

“Well, duh.” Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes as she pulled the lollipop out of the ground and trotted over to her fallen friend. “How else was I gonna beat you AJ, you’re like ten times faster and stronger than me.”

Applejack smirked at the comment. “Y’all sure you want to sit that close to me Pinie? I’m still your enemy, I might have a trick or two up my sleeve.”

“Nope, you’re far too honest and honor-bound to try something like that.” Pinkie Pie retrieved her lollipop from her back, and gave the candy a solid lick, her face lighting up with joy as her tongue made contact with the sweet surface of the weapon. “Mmm... strawberry— ewww, dirt!” she cried as she spat a brackish clod of sediment from her mouth. “I can’t get the taste off my tongue!”

Applejack chuckled at her friends folly, but her smile quickly faded as she turned the conversation away from pleasant post-battle banter, to the more pressing issue of Pinkie Pie’s betrayal. “Are you absolutely sure about him though, Pinkie?”

“AJ, I don’t really know if Spike is innocent or not,” Pinkie Pie admitted, “But he saved my life a long time ago, and that’s enough of a reason for me to just follow him blindly, regardless of what happens. And come Tartarus or high water, I’ll find out the truth about what happened to queen Celestia.”

Applejack observed Pinkie’s innocent blue eyes, searching for any lack of determination, dishonesty, or doubt. She found none. Shaking her head and sighing Applejack accepted Pinkie Pie’s decision. “Pinkie, I understand and I respect your decision, but you know Rainbow Dash isn’t gonna like it.”

“I think she has bigger problems right now.” Pinkie pointed to a spot in the sky where two winged figures were engaged in an intense aerial battle.

In a frenzy of talon swipes and rushing wind, Gilda pursued Rainbow Dash. Months of being restricted to the lower district hideout had taken its toll on Gilda’s flight ability and it showed in her wings that were beating overtime to keep up with the pegasus’ speed as well as to assist in dodging the hail of throwing blades Rainbow Dash would hurl behind herself occasionally. “C’mon, G, you’ve got to fly faster than that if you want to catch me!” Rainbow Dash cackled while going into a steep nose dive.

Gilda halted her pursuit, choosing instead to hover in place while she snorted at Rainbow Dash’s remark. “Fly faster? Don’t make me laugh. Why should I catch you, when a bullet does the job all the same?” With a flourish, Gilda brandished two of her flintlocks and fired them both in tandem, aiming for a spot just ahead of her opponent.

The rounds spiralled towards their intended mark quickly and made contact. The first bounced harmlessly off of Rainbow Dash’s spaulders, while the second grazed a few cyan feathers before burying itself in the ground below. “Come on, Gilda, your aim is as bad as your flight ability!” Rainbow Dash pulled out of her nose dive, turning the downwards inertia into the speed necessary for ascent. “Let me show you how it’s done!” Rainbow Dash’s wings spread wide revealing her legion of steel projectiles, as she climbed higher and higher still. The simple brawl had turned into an all out dog-fight, and Gilda knew she was at a disadvantage. While her weapons had longer range and more power, she’d already expended three of her seven firearms. Rainbow Dash however, had quantity and spread pattern on her side, and she wasn’t afraid to abuse that fact either. With one mighty flap of her wings, she sent forth a gust of shrapnel.

“Oh, flock.” Gilda was in no position to dodge the incoming onslaught, so she covered her face with her talons, and curled her up into a small ball as the blades shredded through her wings and cut her body. Throughout the painful ordeal, she never stopped flapping her wings, for if she did Rainbow Dash would be on her in a flash.

“I’m surprised that you’re still airborne after that Gilda, you’re more resilient than I gave you credit for. But I won’t hold back with you!” Rainbow Dash cried as she released another swarm of daggers.

“Still just a one trick pony I see.” Gilda dove underneath the flurry simultaneously whipping the blunderbuss from its holster.

“Attacking from below? I don’t think so Gilda!” Rainbow Dash flapped another wave of daggers straight down, showering Gilda’s flight path with a hail of steel.

“That won’t work twice, Dash!” Gilda whipped around and aimed the short rifle straight up “Suck grapeshot!!” The rifle released its payload with mighty BOOOM! The iron balls ripped through the air, barrelling through the majority of the knives as they zeroed in on their intended target.

Rainbow Dash emitted a strained “Gwoh!” as the iron balls slammed into her armor, denting it and knocking all of the air from her lungs. Rainbow Dash lost her focus, and as a result she was sent spiraling towards the ground below. Rainbow Dash felt something suddenly jerk her armor, and her falling speed fell drastically. She looked up only to find Gilda holding her tail with a vice-like grip. “What are you doing, Gilda, I’m—”

“Shut up,” Gilda instructed, dropping Rainbow Dash to the ground. “I saved you because I felt like it. That and because you’re the only one who can help that Fireheart guy.”

“Why should I help him?”

“He’s innocent, Dash. Guy told me his whole sob story and everything. Besides do you really think that someone who’s been accused of crimes of that magnitude would just come waltzing back into a city that only wants to see him dead if he were?”

“Well... I...”

“Look, I’m not asking you to just pardon him of his charges.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“You’ve been heading the investigation on his case, right?”

“I’m in charge of all investigations in this district!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed proudly.

“Well, I’ve got a new lead for you to look into.”

“And who would that be?”

“Blueblood.” As the words slipped off of Gilda’s tongue and into Rainbow Dash’s ears, the air of casualness that had fallen between the two dissipated in .

Rainbow Dash searched the features of her gryphon counter part for any sign indicators of this claim being some elaborate prank on Gilda’s behalf. The avian maintained a poker face. “You’re serious aren’t you?”

“As the day is long, Dash, as the day is long.”

“All right, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Oh, and Dash one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

Gilda whipped around with her talons balled up in a fist, and she delivered a mighty hook to Rainbow Dash’s jaw. “That’s for betraying me.”

“Didn’t... betray you.” Rainbow Dash sputtered as she hit the ground unconscious.

“You can tell me the whole story another day, but I’ve got minions to manage.” Gilda spat before she stalked off towards the site of the massive brawl, when an unfamiliar voice broke the silence from behind.

“Captain Gilda, it’s been quite a while.”

“Who dares to sneak up on me?”

“Why don’t you turn around and find out?” the voice spoke again.

Gilda whipped a loaded flintlock from her holster and fired at the unfamiliar silhouette that appeared “Oh, it’s you Fido. Well better late than never. Come on we’ve got underlings to save.”

“Right behind you captain! Come on, dogs, to battle!”

“Awwwwoooooo!” Sang the chorus of one hundred bloodthirsty pirates that began to pour out of the woodwork and the ground.

Gilda grinned as she marched towards the battle field, she couldn’t wait to the looks on the knight’s faces when she showed up with her legion

“Purple freak, behind you!” Rover leapt towards Spike and slammed his sword into a trio of knights who gathered around the dragon.

“Thanks, Rover!” Spike shot his companion a thumbs up that was ignored as Rover hefted his sword for another bout.

“If dragon has time for thanks, dragon can dispose of more weak ponies, yes?”

“Good point.” Spike reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sapphire he had left over from his breakfast. He popped the sapphire into his mouth, and spat a burst of green flames into another mass of knights. The fire exploded as it made contact with the knights burning away their armor and weapons, with the exclusion of one knight who was scorched directly, and he would find himself hanging off a clock tower in the Upper District.

More guards poured into the fray, targeting Trixie who had worked up a steady rhythm of beating guards with her Trident and covering her blind spots with random bursts of lightning ad telekinetically thrown objects. A single brave earth-pony knight galloped towards Trixie, a sword in his mouth, and he met the unicorn’s trident with a loud Clang! The unicorn quickly found that the earth pony knight ws no amateur in terms of sword play as he forced the trident closer to its master. “Trixie... needs... her breathing room!” The ground around Trixie was aglow with strange runes, and in an instant, a gust of wind exploded around the mare, scattering the guards as if they were a child’s plaything. But for everyone knight that fell four more rose to the occasion.

“This isn’t good, there’s too many of them,” Spike noted as he put his back against Rover’s and Trixie’s while the guards closed in. I’m probably good for one more blast of fire, and five more guards.”

“Rover can fight all day!” Rover pumped his sword into the air , but lowered it just as quickly as he’d put it up when he realized that reinforcements began pouring in. “Err... maybe we should retreat though.”

“Trixie doesn’t see any way out. Wait, what’s that?” Trixie pointed a hoof at a small fast-approaching dust cloud that tore through the knights. The dust cloud came to a halt after tearing a down a small faction of the knights revealing none other than Pinkie Pie, followed by Pipsqueak,Snips, and Snails.

“And that boys, is how you establish dominance on the battlefield.”

“Wow, Ms. Pinkie, you’re the best!” Pipsqueak shouted exuberantly.

“I thought we were going to die...” Snips grumbled, collapsing to the ground out of breath

“Oh, we still might,” Chirped Pinkie Pie.

“Well, if we’re going down, we’re going down fighting.” Spike held his staff taut, and searched around for the first knight to show any sign of hostility, but something else caught his attention. At first he thought it was more reinforcements for the knights, just to make a comically bad situation even worse, but with closer inspection, the bodies were all wrong, they resembled diamond dogs.

In an instant the diamond dogs were sprinting into the battle, brutalizing the blind-sided knights. Like a wave of insanity, the battle washed over Spike and his companions, as the knights turned their attention from the seven vigilantes to focus on quelling the newly arisen riot.

“What just happened?” Spike asked nopony in particular.

“My crew happened, that’s what.” Bragged an all too familiar gryphon as she swooped down from the sky.

“Great timing.”

“I try. Come on, let’s get going, one of my crew members is waiting to guide us into the sewers.”

“Ughhh, please don’t remind Trixie,” The mare complained as she followed along, nodding her head disapprovingly.

The party arrived at a meticulously large sewer grating in a nearby alleyway, where a diamond dog twice the size of rover stood with crossed arms and a scowl on his face. “Are you ready to go down captain? The crew missed you.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re all a band of softies.” Gilda waved the sentiments off with a talon. “But I’m curious, how did you find us anyway?” Gilda asked Fido.

“ A masked pony came into the sewers and informed us of the situation, and the witch doctor advised us to come to your aid,” Fido explained as he removed the sewer grating.

“Heh, I guess Mare-Do-Well really is watching out for us.”

“Yeah, well I still don’t trust her,” Gilda grumbled “But she’s all right in my book, for now. Say dragon, don’t you still have some explaining to do about that other mare?” Gilda asked as she hovered above the hole.

Spike glared at Gilda with much disdain. “Fresh out of a battle and that’s the first thing you can think of?”

“Yup.” Gilda replied simply a small smirk playing across her face. She loved making life hard for others.

“Can’t it wait though?” Spike pleaded.

“Nuh-uh, you Pinkie Promised.” Pinkie jabbed her hoof into spike’s chest before she disappeared into the sewer as well.

Begrudgingly Spike took the latter and made his descent into the sewer as well. He knew that the truth about Rarity and his past was going to have to come out at some point, and there was no point in stalling for time any longer. The fate of Canterlot was on the line, and the more his allies knew about it, the better chance they had of saving the kingdom.

Chapter 4 End.

Please note, this is the last chapter until I return in May, sorry for the inconvenience, blame the army.

Redemption of the Fireheart

by Your Antagonist

Prologue: That Dagger In My Back, Can You Twist It Some More?

1: The Coffee is Scalding Hot, But Let’s Take a Massive Sip Just to See What Would Happen

2: The Pirate, The Mutt, and The Braggart... Sounds Like That One Narnia Book

3: A Fracas From Frivolous Fun with Finagled Fireworks and Fuming Fillies

4: Bad Colts! Bad Colts! Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?