> The Syndicate > by kalikitty52 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Equestrias gone to shit ever since Princess Celestia retired and left Princess Luna to rule. Luna seems to be super stressed because she went on vacation about a month ago and left Twilight Sparkle in charge. I thought this to myself as I took a midnight stroll through Canterlot. As I walked I heard faint hoof steps from behind. I slowly turned my head to see if he was following me but I saw no one. I came to a stop when I bumped into someone. I was about to apologize, but then I got a better look at the pony I bumped into. He was built and much taller than me, his coat was a dark brown, almost black. The tall stallions mane and tail reminded me of Shining Armors only it was dark red with a white stripe in it. “Are y'all gonna say sorry fer bumpin' into meh, or ya just gonna stare?” I blinked a few times out of shock that he had such a thick country accent. “Oh, I-I'm sorry,” I stammered and took a few steps back only to bump into someone else. “Awe, don't make her apologize. It's not like we're going to apologize for what we're going to do to her.” I turned to see a light blue unicorn with a dark purple mane staring mischievously down at me. I looked back and forth between the two and tried to find a way to get out. That wasn't much help considering we were in a narrow alleyway with two tall buildings on each side. The tall dark brown pony was getting closer to me by the second. “Uhm, what are you planning on doing, because my sister is expecting me soon.” I said as my eyes darted from the unicorn to the earth pony. I was starting to back up against one of the buildings. “Oh we're just going to play a little game with you,” the unicorn said with a creepy, seductive tone in his voice. I was against the wall completely now and the blue unicorn placed his hand on it right beside my head. He stroked my cheek with one of his fingers and that's when I punched him in the face as hard as I could. He stumbled backwards holding his nose and yelled a muffled, “bitch!” I felt my wings rustle under my jacket and I started to take it off. Before I could even unzip it the other pony smashed me against the wall by my neck. “Y'all just made a bad move,” he said as he started to unzip my jacket with his other hand. “I'm going to kill you slowly when we're done with this,” the unicorn spat angrily. The earth pony was squeezing my neck rather hard so my words came out sounding choked and breathless. “That sounds really kinky, I'm into that kind of shit.” If he wasn't already pissed enough, that made it worse. He practically ripped my jacket off me, and it seemed like he regretted it. I spread out my big maroon wings letting them be a quick distraction as I kneed the brown in the nuts. He dropped to the ground and I took off Into the air. I was surprised that the unicorn didn't try and stop me. As uncomfortable as flying made me feel I decided not to risk it and just flew all the way to my sister’s place. As I walked in I was engulfed in a hug by a very familiar smelling someone. “Uhm, well its nice to see you to Desani,” I said as he released me from his death hug. His cheeks flushed and he said, “Sorry, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen you two.” I laughed and walked further into the condo. “What happened to you sis?” Psychro said as she finished up washing dishes. “Whatever do you mean sis,” I mocked her, she scowled at me and said. “You have wind hair and there's dried blood on your knuckles.” She scanned me and continued, “your jackets also missing,” I sighed and plopped down on the couch. “It’s nothing bad just some stupid guys messing with me. I punched one in the nose and kneed the other in the no-no-zone.” Desani looked at me questioningly, like he knew that wasn't the full story. “Tell the whole story,” Psychro said with an attitude. I explained word for word what had happened, Desani busted out laughing when I was done. I glared at him, “how is any of that funny?” He caught his breath and wiped a tear from his eye, “who would want to rape you? I mean seriously look at you.” He started laughing again, Psychro pinned him to the floor with magic. “You still think it’s funny?” I said getting on top of him and raising my fist as if I were going to punch him the face. His eyes were wide with shock, “n-no, you took it the wrong way Dacno. I meant as in it would be arrogant to even attempt that because you don't look like the type of pony to fuck with.” He smiled sheepishly as I got off of him and Psychro stopped using her magic to hold him down. “I hate it when you use your magic on me, its so cold,” Desani said as he shivered. Psychro smiled and sat on the couch, “good, I like the cold.” We all sat on the couch then I asked Desani, “why are you here anyways? He sighed and said, “well since I haven't seen you two in a long time I want to take the both of you out to do something special,” he put his arms around me and Psychro. “Yeah?...i thought you said you wouldn't come back to Canterlot until Luna was back?” Psychro questioned. “And how did you know I was staying with her?” I asked him. He put his arms down from around us, “I went to your house first, you weren't home so...I decided to come here.” We sat there in silence for a moment, then Psychro said, “so what's this special thing you have planned?” Desani perked up and said, “oh, just this show that's in Canterlot.” I sighed and said, “a show or one of those rave things, that you took us to last time.” He smiled really big, “its a rave, but it’ll be awesome this time. Its tomorrow night and you're going no matter what, okay,” he said firmly. Psychro yawned and rubbed her left eye, “its really late guys, we should probably get to sleep. I only have one spare bedro-” “called it!” Desani yelled, cutting Psychro off. She glared at him and continued, “anyways i guess you will sleep with me then, Dacno?” I looked at her and laughed, “you know I hate being touched, that means by you too. I’ll sleep on the couch and guard the place, I don't trust those guys I bumped into.” She sighed and got off the couch, grabbing Desani’s hand to lead him to the spare room. Did he just blush? It would make sense with her bright white coat and her burgundy hair. She gets lots of attention from guys, Psychro was really nice to strangers too. Her icy blue eyes surprisingly didn't intimidate others. I jumped when I heard, what sounded like, a gun shot from outside. I quickly raced to the window, it was the stallions that I ran into earlier. “Looks like they found another girls to mess with,” I said out loud. I headed for the door, “wait, you can't go out there unarmed,” Psychro said. I turned around, she was holding a big kitchen knife, and behind her was Desani. “That won't do much good against a gun and if Desani goes with me I won't need a weapon,” I smiled and turned back to the door, opened it, and went out, Desani following behind me. We were outside and I yelled, “hey there guys, I see you found another victim.” They turned around, the blue Unicorn was holding the gun, “oh her, she was just to get your attention.” He looked at the dead mare, she had a yellow coat and an orange mane that was gurly. She was also a Unicorn and looked like a typical Canterlot pony. I put my hand on my hip and said, “thats real low, why didn't you just knock on the door?” He glared at me and said, “I didn't want to get that pretty little sister of yours involved,” he looked up to the second story window, where Psychro was looking at us from, and winked at her while waving. She flipped him the bird and then he looked back at me. “Whos this loser behind you?” The Unicorn asked me but Desani answered, “I’m not a loser, and why are you using a gun when you have a horn?” That seemed to piss the blue guy off, “oh, yeah I forgot to tell you my name, its Magic Stars, but heres the catch. I can’t use my magic.” Desani giggled at this and said, “so you’re magicless stars?” Magic walked closer to Desani and aimed the gun at his face, Desani stopped giggling, then looked at the gun and busted out laughing. I rolled my eyes and said, “don’t even bother trying to threaten him its useless.” Magic then turned on me and said, “then i’ll just play with you.” He smiled as he pointed the gun at my face. I stared down the shaft of the gun and into his bright yellow eyes. Hes a crazy pony, who just kills for fun? As that thought ran through my head I just stared into his eyes blankly and cold. “Why are you looking at me so calmly? You’re supposed to be scared.” Magic practically spat the words in anger and frustration. Desani giggled, “why would we be afraid of some pussy, magicless unicorn?” I glanced at him then looked back at Magic. He was pointing the gun at Desani now, I looked behind him and noticed that the earth pony was missing. I felt a strong beefy hand go around both of my upper arms. I turned my head to see the big earth pony, I tried to get away but at the moment I heard the deafening sound of a gunshot. I quickly turned my head to see Desani grabbing his left shoulder and looking down at it. Magic Stars shot him again only this time in the leg. Desani dropped to his knees, his sharp looking wings expanded and then he fell to his side. He was laying there, motionless, in a puddle of his own scarlet blood. “Desani! What the fuck, why did you shoot him!?” I yelled. “So no one will be in my way while I deal with you,” Magic said as he put the gun in his jacket pocket. He then threw my jacket at me, I tried to catch it but my arms were still being restrained, I struggled against his strong grip but it did nothing but make me tired. “There's your jacket back, by the way,” I gave him a look of hatred, he laughed, “sorry but this is the only way I can get my magic back.” He stroked my cheek, and I jerked my head away from him. “Killing people is the only way you can get your magic back?” I asked in utter confusion. He grabbed my face and made me look him in the eyes, “no stupid girl, killing you and your other companions is.” Magic glanced over at Desani, he was just laying there lifeless, and it looked like he had stopped bleeding. I saw his wing twitch and then I noticed that the bullet holes were closed up. I looked at him questioningly, Magic noticed this and looked at Desani. He sat up and smiled creepily, showing off his sharp k-nines. His eyes were hidden behind his hair but I could tell that he was staring directly at Magic. Magic took out his gun and shot again but the bullet froze in mid air. “The fuck?” He said looking around, he spotted Psychro standing in front of her apartment building. “You,” Magic spat the word and glared at my sister. “Did you think eliminating us would be a walk in the park? If so, you were wrong, very wrong.” Psychro said as she used her magic to pick up the frozen bullet and shot it back at Magic. He dodged it and then said, “I will get you, all five of you, come on Clank,” Magic motioned for his partner to come. Clank let go of me and ran after Magic. I helped Desani up and into Psychro’s condo. I sat him on the couch, then turned to Psychro, “what the fuck was that about?” She ignored my question and said, “are you two okay?” “Yeah, yeah, we’re fine, now tell me what all that was, because you obviously know.” I sat down on the couch angrily, and then crossed my arms as I stared her down. She walked up to Desani, who was sitting, hunched over and holding his shoulder, right beside me. She looked at his leg. “I thought you knew sis?” She said as she helped him lay down on the couch, I got up and walked over to the closet, that was right beside the front door, and grabbed a blanket. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I gave her the blanket and she draped it over Desani’s sleeping body. “Lets talk in the guest bedroom, okay," she said looking up at me. > chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I followed her to the guest bedroom and she sat on the bed. All my stuff was still in there so i decided to change into my pjs. “Did you know that we were powerful?” She asked as I stripped down to my bra and panties. “Of course I knew that, I just didn’t think we were sacrifice worthy though, and what did he mean by all five of us?” I said slipping into a pair of blue, plaid pajama pants and a grey tank top. “Well i don’t know who the other two are but I do know that there are more than five of us unless he has already eliminated the weaker ones…” Psychro said as I sat on the bed with my legs crossed. “How many are there? And how strong are we?” I said rustling my wings against my back. “Well my magic can freeze things without me trying to, but thats not too powerful and I can’t even use my magic to its full capacity. The only special thing i can use is dark magic but it’s forbidden.” I stared at Psychro’s horn, “what about Desani?” She sighed and said, “well if you didn't notice he heals quickly, but I couldn't tell you why hes like how he is. I’ve tried doing research about him and his markings over his eye, and even his cutie mark. Nothing scares him either, it’s strange.” She took a breath and I asked, “how did you see his cutie mark?” Her cheeks flushed and she said, “its a really long story I’ll tell you another time. Did you noticed that the markings under his eye with the triangle bleed when he got up from Magic shooting him?” I answered, “no his hair was in the way, why?” She replied, “because it does that when he gets very mad, also his wings are pointed. And the things that are special about you, you should already know.” “It doesn’t feel like I’m special, besides my wings being bigger than a normal pegasi, there isn't anything special about me.” I said picking up a pillow and hugging it. “Me and you aren’t as powerful as Desani, but I’m more powerful than you,” Psychro said. “Of course you are, then why couldn’t Magic kill me?” “Well maybe it’s not that he couldn’t, what if he just didn’t want to yet. Or he didn’t want to do it in the middle of the street...There are many reasons why he didn’t or couldn’t.” Me and Psychro sat there in silence for a while. Psychro yawned, “we should get to bed, I’ll check on Desani, if he's still sleeping I’ll move him in here.” She just nodded, gave me a hug and then walked to her room. I walked into the living room, Desani was passed out on the couch. I bent down and looked at his shoulder where he got shot, I moved his shirt over to look at it better. It was tinged red from the blood but it was dry, and there was no bullet hole. I ran a finger over it and it felt normal, no scar or anything. “Wow, she wasn’t joking,” I whispered as I stood up straight. He stirred and then I picked him up, “jeez you’re heavy,” I mumbled and carried him to the guest room. I layed him on the bed and turned off the light as I left the room. I layed down on the couch and turned on the T.V. as I slowly drifted off to sleep. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up to the smell of bacon. Psychro was in the kitchen and Desani was still in bed. “Morning sis,” Psychro said, “Desani isn’t up yet, can you go wake him?” I smiled deviously and that made her add, “the nice way.” I frowned and said, “fine.” I walked into the guest room, Desani was sprawled out on the bed, the covers were everywhere and he some how managed to get his shoes, pants,and shirt off. “Desani, get up,” I said calmly, he turned onto his die. I turned the light on and said, “get. Up.” He pulled the covers over his head and grumbled. “Fine be that way,” I said, then I jumped on him. “Get off of me me Dacno!” “Oh you’re up.” “You’re a cunt," he said. I said, “so.” He glared at me and I smiled at him, as I was getting off of him I slapped him and ran into the kitchen. He yelled, “bitch,” and then jumped up and ran after me. He tried to grab me but I jumped out of reach, or I thought. He grabbed my ankle and pulled me down before I could flap my wings and fly up. He pinned me to the ground, and then he looked at Psychro. I turned and looked at her too, she was shaking her head in disappointment, “what,” me and Desani said simultaneously. We glared at each other and he got off of me after slapping me as payback. I rubbed my face and mumbled, “you didn’t have to slap me after slamming me on the ground, dick.” He whipped his head around and said, “what was that?” I stood up straight and but my hands on my hips, then I looked back at Psychro and she had that don’t-repeat-yourself look on her face, so I let my hands fall to my sides and said, “nothing,” as I sat down at the bar. Desani came up and sat one set down from me. Psychro looked back and forth at us and stopped on Desani and said, “you should thank Dacno for carrying you to bed last night.“ My cheeks flushed and I glared at her, “he doesn’t have to thank me.” Psychro handed him a plate with eggs and toast on it and handed him a fork too. He stirred his eggs around with his fork and mumbled, “thanks,” before taking a bite. Psychro handed me a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast, then sat down between me and Desani with a plate of her food. “What happened last night?” Desani said, breaking the silence. Me and Psychro looked at each other and exchanged a look. “Nothing happened,” we said in unison. He looked at us weird and then got up to put his plate in the sink. “well I’m going to go and shower, I’ll be out in like ten minutes,” he grabbed one of his bags from beside the door and walked to the bathroom. “Should we tell him?” I whispered to Psychro. “No he’ll figure it out,” she said in a normal tone. I finished up breakfast and put my plate in the sink. “What's planned for today sis?” I said plopping on the couch and laying down with my hands under my head and my feet propped up on the end of the couch. “We really should be trying to find these others but I’m not sure where to look,” Psychro said as she washed the breakfast dishes. “Why don’t we just look for the good and bad guys tonight at that rave thing?” I suggested, Psychro was silent, like she was contemplating it. “Yeah, I suppose thats a good idea.” “What’s a good idea?” Desani said, stepping in the living room with only a towel his waist. Psychro blushed and then turned around. I stared at Desani and said, “nothing, and why don’t you have clothes on?” He glanced at me at me and said, “I grabbed the wrong bag…” “grumpy puss,” I mumbled, then he picked up his stuff and went into the guest room. “Shower time,” I said as I walked into the bathroom. I stripped of my clothes and unlatched my collar, dropping both of them onto the floor. I also took out my earrings as I turned on the water and set them next to the sink. > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- About thirty minutes later I got out of the shower. I walked into the guest room with a towel around me and the stuff I took off in my hands. Desani and Psychro were in the living room talking. I dried my body and got dressed into a pair of dark blue pre-ripped skinny jeans and a purple V-neck. As I walked into the living room I put my earrings and collar on. “Hey guys,” I said to Desani and Psychro. “Take long enough?” Psychro said, “I do have to pay for my water.” I sat on the couch and said, “I’m not going to pay you so I can shower.” Psychro rolled her eyes and got off the couch, she headed to the bathroom. “I would wait if I were you, there isn’t much hot water left,” she glared at me. “Of course there isn’t,” she sighed and said, “What time does this rave thing start?” Desani squinted his eyes trying to remember, “I think at six or seven, I’m not to sure.” Psychro walked into the kitchen and looked through her fridge then her cabinets. “Do you two want to go to the shopping center with me?” Psychro said. Desani nodded and I said, “Yeah, it could be interesting.” She walked into her room and got dressed. My sister had only lived in Canterlot for a few years now, so she didn’t dress like a long time Canterlot citizen. She came out wearing a semi-short yellow dress that was tight and lacey in the chest area and frilly in the skirt area. “Okay let’s go,” Psychro said in a sort of perky tone. I grabbed my jacket and walked out the door. Psychro locked the door behind her and we headed to the shopping area. Me, Psychro, and Desani split up to look for things. Desani got a bag and a list of things psychro needed. I got a mission to look for out-of-the-ordinary things. As I strolled through the shopping area the only odd thing I noticed was a few of the royal guards seemed to be looking for someone. I walked up to a jewelry vendor, to act like I was shopping, when I spotted a small collar with a blue crystal attached to it. The owner of the cart saw me admiring it and said, “Beautiful, isn’t it?” I jumped and looked up to see a fairly old unicorn women, “Huh? Oh, yeah. It sure is,” I said smiling as I looked at it. “How much for it?” I asked looking at her, ready to get out the amount of bits. “For you, it’s free of charge,” the woman smiled, making her faint orange coat and greying red mane look radiant. “Oh no, I couldn’t.” “Oh I insist darling, it used to be mine and giving it to you would make me happy. Are you going to refuse and make an old women sad?” She levitated it up with her magic and placed it in my hand. “You don’t look old, and I bet it made your light blue eyes pop. Probably still would,” I said looking at the crystal and slightly smiling as I pictured the women wearing it. She smiled and said, “I’m flattered that you would say something like that, but I am far too old to wear that anymore.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out two bits, I placed them on the cart in front of her and said, “Thank you.” I walked away before she could protest and went to go find my sister. As I was looking for her I looked down at the blue crystal. It reminds me of her cutie mark and that crystal from her entrance exam, I thought this as I walked. I bumped into the back of someone, not paying attention to where I was walking again. “I’m so s-” I cut myself off when I realized who it was. Clank, the pony from last night. I gripped the collar in my hand and backed up as I looked around to find a royal guard. He turned around and I saw a look of panic in his eyes, “No wait! Don’t run,” he said in his thick accent. “And why should I?” I said stopping and taking a step towards him. “Magic isn’t with meh and ah would like ta explain some things to y’all,” his eyes pleaded for me to say that we could talk. So I said, “Fine, but we’re going over there,” I pointed to a sweet shop, “and you’re buying me a cupcake, deal?” He smiled and nodded. We walked over to the shop and he went in while I sat down at a small, round table outside. I wanted this conversation to be as public as possible. He came out with a pink frosted cupcake and sat down across from me. “Ya don’t look very girly so I got ya the girliest one,” he smiled and handed it to me. “Jokes on you, I like girly cupcakes,” I said, then licked the frosting. “What ah wanted ta talk about was what happened last night,” he paused and looked at me. “Go on,” I said. He nodded, “Right, anyways. Ah wanted ta apologize fer me and mah brothers actions.” I coughed, choking on the rest of the cupcake, “are y’all okay?” He said about to get up and help me. “I’m fine, just wasn’t expecting you to say that. You two are related?” I said. He eased back into his chair and said, “Eyup, ah know it seems weird but we were born and raised together. He never did much on the farm, that’s why he’s small, and fer some reason he never developed an accent like mine.” “Well I would have never guessed it.” He rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Yeah, well any who. Magic got involved in this evil group called Syndicate and he dragged me into it to.” “Hold on, I think you mean the group is a syndicate, not called syndicate.” “Oh yeah, sorry.” “Do you know the name of it?” He scratched his head and said, “nope can’t seem tah recall ever learning it. But he did something bad and they took his magic away. This Syndicate knows about y’all good powerful ponies and they keep track of most of ya.” “That is fucking creepy…Why are you telling me all this?” He sighed and said, “mah brother is fond of y’all, in order to get his magic back he has to kill someone he likes. Thats why he, uhm, wanted ta have fun with ya first.” Clanks cheeks flushed and so did mine. “Who else is in this syndicate?” I asked, sitting up straight in my chair. He looked behind me quickly, his eyes widened and he whispered, “rave tonight,” then got out of his chair and walked in the opposite direction of where he looked. I turned around but saw no one looking this way. I got up and went to look for Psychro again. > Chapter 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I found her and Desani looking at vegetables, “hey,” I said as I approached them. Desani smiled and waved with a cucumber in his hand. “Hey Dacno,” Psychro said. “I got you something,” I said holding out the collar. She looked at it smiled extremely big, “I love it! Can you put it on me?” I nodded and then strapped it around her neck. “Looks great,” Desani said as he put three bits on the vegetable stand and put a few cucumbers in his bag. “Did you two get what you need?” I asked. Psychro nodded and said, “did you?” I smiled deviously, “I got more than enough of what I was looking for.” “Good, now lets head home.” Desani gave us an odd look, we laughed then started the trek back to Psychro’s. When we got there Desani was in the middle of telling Psychro to not wear any girly dresses to the rave. Funny thing was that, thats all she owned. “You can borrow something of mine sis,” I laughed as I set a bag of groceries on the counter. It was five o'clock now and almost time to leave again, “so it starts at six?” I asked Desani. “Huh? Oh, uhm around that time,” he replied as he helped Psychro put the groceries away. I looked at Psychro and said, “you should go take a shower now,” she stopped putting groceries away and looked at the clock on her stove. “Yeah, finish putting these away for me, please,” Psychro said, then walked into the bathroom. Me and Desani put away the rest of the groceries as Psychro took her shower. She was out in 15 minutes and by then me and Desani were sitting on the couch watching the news. “Are you going to dress me now?” Psychro said standing in the entrance to the hallway with only a towel on. Desani stared at her and she turned and walked into the guest room. I gave him a smug look and his cheeks turned red. I went into the room to help Psychro find something, “so I know the perfect thi-” My words cut off as I walked in to see Psychro standing there naked. I held my hand up to shield my vision of her fairly small breasts. “Put your towel back on,” I said as I bent down and picked it up to hand it to her. “No, you're my sister and I don’t care if I’m nude around you,” she said stepping closer to me. I backed up and ran into the door, which was still partially opened. I closed it all the way and said, “fine, I don’t care either.” I brushed past her and put my bags on the bed, “Shouldn’t you have panties and a bra?” I said looking at her. “Yeah, can you go get them?” She said smiling and batting her eyelashes. “Fine,” I sighed and went to her room. I grabbed pink panties and a lacey black bra. I went back to the guest room and threw them at her, the panties hitting her in the face and the bra falling to the floor. She picked them up and glared at me, I smiled at her and said, “welcome.” As she put them on I looked through one of my bags and pulled out a black and red tutu type skirt. Then I went through my other bag and pulled out black thigh highs and a black shirt that was cut to show some stomach and had the word black printed on it in bold, white letters. “Why do you have so many clothes from this Black brand?” Psychro asked holding up the shirt. “Because I like their style.” I said handing her the other clothes. She put the shirt on and said, “I don’t like how it shows my tummy.” I rolled my eyes and said, “shut up and stop being a pansy gg.” She glared at me and put on the skirt, then the thigh highs. “How do I look?” She asked holding her arms up and turning in a circle. “Like you need to put on your new collar...and pretty hot,” I said smiling. “Why aren’t you going to wear something like this?” She questioned. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I don’t like drawing attention to myself.” She rolled her eyes and walked out the room and plopped down on the couch. “You two ready yet?” Desani asked. I nodded and then Psychro walked in and said, “yup.” Desani stared at her with his mouth gaped open. I reached over and closed it. He shook his head slightly and look at me. “What did you do to her?” he asked confused. “ I deflowered her,” I said rolling my eyes. He had a shocked look on his face and I said, “that was a joke, chill out and lets go.” I got off the couch and he followed. I took my jacket off and walked to the door, Psychro looked at me questioningly and I said, “just in case I need a quick an easy escape,” I rustled my wings and opened them slightly. She smiled and nodded then we left to make the trek to the place. > Chapter 6 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When we got there, there was a line and a bouncer. “Why is there a bouncer?” I leaned over and asked Desani. “Because the guy were seeing perform likes things to be high maintenance,” Desani replied with a smug look on his face. “Are you sure we can get in?” I asked giving him a questioning look, he nodded. I noticed some commotion at the front of the line and lend over to look. We were about third or fourth in line so I could see and hear it well. There was a small pegasi girl in a black, skin tight suit. She had teal hair that covered her eyes. It was long in the front and real short in the back. Her coat, from what I could see, was dark grey. “Why can’t I get in?” The girl said. “Because theres no children allowed,” the bouncer said firmly. “I’m just small, I am not a child!” She yelled then brought her voice down and said, “here are extra bits, now can I go in?” The bouncer looked at the bits, he took them and let the girl in. Moments later we were standing in front of the bouncer. Desani gave him a handful of bits and we were in, no questions asked. As we entered we were engulfed in the sound of techno type music and flashing lights. I leaned over to Psychro and said, “I’m going solo, you two have fun and I’ll catch up with you later,” She nodded and I snuck away. I made my way over to the bar. It was pretty big, with silver bar stools lining the front of it. I sat at one, there were three ponies monitoring it and there weren't many sitting at it or even around it. “How can I be of assistance?” One of the bar tenders asked, he was an earth pony, with bright green, spiky hair. His coat was a faint purple and his were a dark green. “I’ll have a hard apple cider, cutie,” I said , half smiling at him. He nodded and smiled back. As he prepared my drink I turned around in my seat and scanned the area. Everybody here is dressed oddly, like not like a Canterlot citizen. How the hell am I supposed to tell who doesn’t belong here? “Looking for someone?” The bartender asked from behind me. “Oh, no, just looking around, “ I said, he handed me my drink and lend on the bar top. “You know, Dacno, you’re going to find lots of good and bad people tonight. Watch your back,because they're not easy to tell apart.” I glared at him then looked at my drink, I pushed it away and said, “and what are you?” He chuckled and said, “right now I’m a good guy, but later on...Well you’ll just have to see, now drink up.” He stood up straight and walked down the bar to take care of another order. I decided to take a risk and drink my drink anyways. As I sucked down the apple cider the girl from the line sat beside me. “Hello,” she said, I smiled at her and finished my drink. The bartender shot me a look before saying, “I can’t serve minors.” The girl put her hands on the bar and said, “I’m not a minor and I don’t even want a drink.” The guy didn’t say anything else, he just walked off. “Who are you?” I asked in a sort of rude tone. She turned her head, “no one important,” she flashed a creepy smile and turned to face the big crowd of dancing people. “How old are you? And what's your name?” I asked turning in my seat. “I’m not old enough to buy alcohol, and my name? Its Hunter, what about yours?” Hunter said. I turned back around to the bar and said, “my names Dacno. Hey bartender,” I called, he looked at me and I continued, “two more hard apple ciders.” He glared at me and I put three bits on the bar. He picked them up and mumbled, "coming up.” I turned to face Hunter and said, “so what brings you to Canterlot?” She giggled and said, “I thought it was obvious,” She pointed to the stage. There was a beige unicorn stallion on the stage. His mane was dark brown with red streaks in the front and his eyes are dark blue. “Whos that?” I asked staring at the unicorn on stage. Before she could answer he started to talk. “Hello everypony! How are you? And are you ready to party?” His voice was very energetic and the crowd was whooping and hollering to what he said. In the middle of all the noise I heard a familiar voice yell, “I’ll suck your dick.” I rolled my eyes, oh Desani, you stupid fucker. “His name is Micthemicrophone, hes a pretty big dubstep artist but hes just an Mc tonight. As in he opens up for each act, introducing them,” Hunter said. “Heres your drinks,” the bartender said handing them to me. “Thank you,” I said, “here drink this.” I handed one to Hunter, she grabbed it and smelled it. She tried to take a sip but then smelled it again. “Can we trade?” She asked. “There the same drink,” I said slightly laughing. “I know, but I want to trade,” Hunter said holding out her drink, I took it and gave her the other one. “Are you happy?” I asked. She smelled it and smiled, “yes, thank you.” She took a sip and choked on it a little. I chuckled, “I guess you don’t drink much.” She smiled and said, “yeah, thats it.” Something about this girl is suspicious, maybe shes apart of the syndicate thing. I drank my drink and stared at her. She finished her drink and set it on the bar, then said, “I’ll talk to you later, I have to do something.” She got up and left, “she really does like you,” the bartender said from behind me. I jumped and said, “how would you know?” He lend on the bar top and I turned around to face him. “She's apart of The Everfree you know, a few people from that are very fond of you. Surprising she gave you her real name. Oh and she blind.” I looked at him questioningly, “what is The Everfree? And sense you know so much, why did she change drinks with me?” I asked raising a brow in a questioning mater. “The Everfree is a syndicate, but you should already know about that. And I poisoned one of the drinks, she traded you and she took the poisoned one,” he said wiping off the counter with a rag. “You poisoned her!” I yelled, a couple of ponies shot me a strange look and I smiled sheepishly at them. “You poisoned her?” I repeated in a harsh whisper. “Its not something that can kill her, it was just something to make her a little slow and sick. If I spot the enemy and they get a drink I’m supposed to poison them and take them to the board,” the bartender said casually like it was no big deal. I glared at him and said, “whats the board?” He stopped wiping the bar and said, “you will learn soon enough, they don’t want you to know too much...I actually wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” I stood up and said, “I’ll be back later,” I started walking away from the bar when a light blue pony bumped into me me making me stumble backwards. “hey watch it!” I yelled and pushed him. He stumbled and turned around, “I’m so sorry,” he said. He was an earth pony, a peculiar looking earth pony. His mane and tail were dark brown with rainbow colored tips, it reminded me of Rainbow Dash. He was the same color as her too and under his right eye was the lightning bolt from her cutie mark. “What?” He said after a minute of me staring at him in confusion. “Why does it look like you’re a Rainbow Dash fanboy?” I said bluntly, he squinted his eyes at me and opened his mouth to say something but a white glow coming from behind him but him off. The magical glow lifted up blue mechanical wings. Something I didn’t notice before. The wings were attached to the blue earth pony. “What the heck?” I said looking around to see who was making the magic. “Sorry, thats my friend, he probably thinks I’m trying to flirt with you.” He glared at a teal coated unicorn with a light green mane. The wings formed back to his back and stopped glowing white. His friend walked over and stood beside him. He was taller than the weird earth pony but not by much. “Hello there miss,” the unicorn said and smiled a big toothy grin at me. “My name is Lime Seed, and this is Nycto,” the teal unicorn said. What a weird name, “Lime seed and Nycto? Hmm nice names, I’m Dacno,” I said, half smiling. Nycto and his friend exchanged a look. The same look me and Psychro exchanged when I went to look for suspicious stuff at the market. “Why don’t we buy you a few drinks, Dacno,” Lime Seed said giving me that big toothy grin again. We went to the bar, the bartender I talked to earlier wasn’t there. Instead he was replaced with a red coated unicorn mare with golden hair. “Hello, how may I help you this evening?” She said smiling, making her light orange eyes sparkle. “We’ll have three hard apple ciders, mam,” Lime Seed said putting nine bits on the bar. As we drank the first round we chatted, and I got to know them better. Lime Seed is apart of the Lime family, go figure. There not a big family like the Apples though. And apparently he’s a distant relative of the Apple family. Nycto is a huge fan of Rainbow Dash, like I didn’t already know. Hes so much of a fan that he got Lime Seed to brad her cutie mark over his. The fake wings on his back is something he made. Lime Seed and Nycto have been friends since birth and they were raised in Manehatten. This kept on for a while but after the sixth round I blacked out. > Chapter 7 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psychro “I’m going solo, you two have fun and I’ll catch up with you later.” Dacno said and walked away from Psychro and Desani. Desani turned to face Psychro, “wheres Dacno?” He asked, looking behind her. “She left us, said we weren't cool enough to be seen with,” Psychro said and giggled. “I’ll show her who can be 20% cooler,” Desani said opening his wings and puffing out his chest. He closed them against his back, “so what do you want to do?” He asked Psychro. “I want to get a drink,” she replied and pointed at a small bar to her right. They walked over there and sat on the bar stools. “How may I help you miss?” The bartender said, smiling seductively at Psychro. “Uhm…” Psychro began but couldn't think of what to say. Desani put his arm around her shoulder and said, “I would like cold, hard vodka, what about you sweetie?” He look at Psychro, she was slightly blushing and didn’t realize right away what Desani was doing. After a second it clicked in her head that he was pretending to be with her so the bartender wouldn't hit on her. Her face brightened and she said, “I would like an apple martini, thank you.” They got and drank their drinks, then left the bar to get in the crowd before the show started. As they worked their way through the crowd the lights dimmed and the stage lit up blue. They stopped walking and watched as a beige, male unicorn with brown hair, that had red streaks in the front, walked onto the stage. “Micthemicrophone,” Desani whispered, wide eyed and gawking at the unicorn on stage. “What?” Psychro said, “Who?” The unicorn started talking in the mic when she asked so Desani didn't hear her. Psychro watched as he talked, “hello everypony! How are you? And are you ready to party?” he said in an energetic voice. The crowd roared and Desani yelled, loud enough to be heard over the noise, “I’ll suck your dick!” Psychro laughed and called him a dumb ass. Micthemicrophone continued on saying some stuff about himself. Then he introduced the first performer. His stage name was Dj Synthemy, he had a dark grey, almost black, coat and a yellow blue tipped, spiky mane. Psychro couldn't see his eyes though because he was wearing glasses. As he played his first song Psychro studied him. He looks like he could be associated with the syndicate but I’m not to sure, Psychro thought to herself. The room started to get smokey but Psychro just thought is was stage fog. Then she smelled it, something was burning. "Desani, I think the build-” Psychro was cut off by a horrible scream from the other side of the building. Psychro looked in the direction it came from and saw an orange glow on the ceiling, then she saw flames. The music had stopped and Dj Synthemy was gone. People, mostly girls, were screaming. “Desani, we have to get out!” Psychro yelled, Desani just stood there for a second staring at the fire. Psychro pulled on his jacket, “oh, right. Lets go.” They headed towards an exit as the building burned. > Chapter 8 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dacno I stumbled backwards and tripped, falling on my rear. I was staring at the flames, my mind screaming for me to run but my body didn’t want to listen. Flashbacks of my childhood played through my head. “Dacno!” Nycto yelled and grabbed my arm, pulling me off the floor. Him and Lime Seed led me out of an exit. when we were outside, and a safe distance away from the building, I fell to my hands and knees and coughed up my lungs. “Are you okay, sugar cube?” Lime Seed asked with a slight country twang. His cheeks flushed and he looked away. “I’m fine. I’m fine. Are you two okay? What the hell happened back there?” I asked, standing up and brushing myself off. We were at the front of the building, most of the ponies had left, the others were watching the fire at a distance. “I’m not-” Lime seed started, then cleared his throat to get rid of the country twang in his voice. “I’m not sure, we were drinking one minute and then bam, a fire breaks out.” I turned to face the building and took a few steps back. Almost all of it was engulfed in flames. “Damn, well I need to go and find my sister and my friend. It was nice meeting you two. I hope we see each other again,” I waved goodbye to both of them and walked in the direction of Psychro’s place. As I was walking I came across an alleyway with a coughing pony. It was that DJ guy, “Hey are you okay?” I asked walking up to him. He cleared his throat and stood up straight. “I’m fine,” he said while taking off his glasses. He had bright green eyes, they were tinged red from the smoke though. “Hey, can I go with you?” He asked and looked at me with pleading eyes. “...I guess, just don't try anything funny stranger,” I said. He smiled brightly and put his glasses back on. We walked in silence for a while, then I heard a commotion near by. “Wait,” I said, throwing arm out in front of him to make him stop walking. “What is it?” He said in a whisper. I backed up against the wall and inched along it until I hit the edge of the building. I peered around the corner into the alleyway, DJ What's-his-face did the same. Hunter was against the wall of the building I was against. There were three guys that looked identical except one was a unicorn, one was a pegasus, and one was an earth pony. They had brown hair with pink tips, and their coat color was a really light grey. The pink in their hair matched their eyes, “Hunter, why were you talking to that...that,” the unicorn said. “That evil witch,” the earth pony finished for him. “Yeah witch with a capital B,” the pegasus said and all three of them chuckled. The unicorn placed his left hand on the wall beside Hunters face. He caressed her cheek with his right hand and said, “Don’t make use do what we did last time to get information out of you.” He smiled creepily and I saw a tear roll down Hunters cheek. The unicorn caught it with his finger and licked it. Rage boiled inside me and I stepped into the alleyway. “Hey speak of the devil,” The pegasi said, looking my way and smiling, showing his teeth. Hunter turned her head my way and so did the other two ponies. The pegasi walked toward me, I wanted to back up but I held my ground, “Who are you three?” I asked staring into the unicorns eyes. Dj Synthemy stumbled out from behind the building. The three brothers looked at him with wide eyes. He stood up straight and rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled sheepishly at them. “Shit,” he said still smiling. “Well look who it is fellows, Azure Radius. Nice of you to find us instead of the other way around,” the unicorn said, smiling deviously. Azure sighed and said, “I didn’t purposely find you, thing one.” The unicorn stopped smiling and put on a straight face, “That’s not my name and you know it.” “What is your name?” I blurted before anyone else talked. “My name is Voltese, this,” he motioned towards the pegasi, “is Scythese, and this is Armodese.” He motioned towards the earth pony. Azure leaned over to me and whispered, “Lame names, right?” I chuckled then cleared my throat, “What do you want with Hunter?” Scythese flew over to me and landed an inch away from me. Instead of stumbling back, like I wanted to, I stood in place and stared him in the eyes. He took a small step back and looked up and down my body, “You have some big tits.” He said smiling wide with a crazed look in his eyes. I took a few steps back and bumped into Azure. He looked down at me and I looked up at him, then I stepped forward. I looked back at Scythese, he reached out both his hands, I flinched thinking he was going to hit me, but instead he groped me. I opened my eyes and glared at him, then I kneed him in the nuts and punched him in the face. He doubled over in pain and huddled up in the fetal position. Voltese backed away from Hunter and started walking towards me, “You’re gonna get it now,” Scythese said, smiling and looking up at me. “Watch Hunter, Armodese. Make sure she doesn't try anything.” Voltese said, reaching out his hand for Scythese. Scythese took it and stood up. “Let’s go,” Voltese said. Scythese looked at him like he was crazy, “But the girl, she hit me. Aren’t we going to-” Voltese stopped Scythese from talking by putting his hand up. “Let’s. Go. Armodese grab Hunter,” He turned to walk away but stopped when he saw that Hunter was gone and Armodese was unconscious on the ground. Azure pushed me and whispered, “We gotta go. They’re not going to be nice anymore and you’re not strong enough to fight them.” I glared at him but this was no time to argue, so I nodded and ran. We dipped into another alley and stopped. We hid in the shadows as we watched the triplets run past us. “Okay, were safe,” Azure said and then turned to face me. He stepped back and looked, wide eyed, at something behind me. I raised a brow and turned around. There was a tall figure with tan eyes, “Clank?” He walked into the light. “You know him?” Azure said glaring at him. I nodded and said, “Well yeah, he’s actually helpful.” “I’ll be over here then,” Azure said. Walking away. “Sorry about him,” I said. Clank smiled and said, “It’s mighty fine. I was looking fer ya earlier, before the fire.” I looked to the ground and said, “Yeah I got a little drunk, sorry,” my cheeks flushed and I looked back up at him. “So what happened earlier?” He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and kind of tousled his hair, “I was being watched by one of the canterlot guards, I’m not welcome here.” He said, looking behind me at Azure, who was standing directly behind me now. “Guys we have to go, I don’t think we lost those bitches,” Azure said as he stared at Clank. “Okay, follow me,” I said as I lead us to Psychro’s place from the back roads. > Chapter 9 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When we got there I saw Hunter sitting on the steps with her head in her hands. I slowly walked up to her and put my hand on her head. She looked up at me and before her hair fell back into place, to cover her face, I saw her eyes. They were a bright orange but it faded in her pupils. I guess thats what being blind does to your eyes. She stood up and all four of us walked into the building and up the stairs to the second story where my sister’s apartment was. I tried to open it but it was locked, so I knocked. A minute later Psychro answered the door and I was enveloped in a hug. I hugged her back, then she pulled away from me and looked at the ponies I brought with me. “Who’s this?” She said gesturing towards Hunter. I guess that was expected, she did know the other two. “And why are they with you?” Another questioned that I didn’t want to answer yet. “Can we go inside? I’ll explain everything, I promise,” I said. She nodded and we went inside. I sat on the couch, Hunter right beside me, and on my other side was Desani. Clank and Azure sat at the bar, but as far as they could get from each other. I sense bad blood. Psychro paced back and forth in front of me as I explained that happened from the minute I left them. “So you think Nycto and Lime Seed are a part of this?” She asked as she contemplated it in her head. “No, not Lime Seed, just Nycto. Everything about him screamed a-part-of-this.” She stopped pacing and stood in front of Hunter, “And who is this?” She said, studying Hunter. “She was at the rave. I met her there and I just found her on your doorstep.” I said looking at Hunter. Psychro looked at Desani, he was staring at Hunter. She glared at him and turned back to me. “You need to get these people out of here, Dacno,” her voice was cold and harsh. I stood up and walked up to her, our chests practically touching one another. I looked down at her and said, “Fine, Clank and Azure need to leave tonight. But me and Hunter are going to leave in the morning. I don’t trust that she can handle herself and I don’t want to risk leaving at night.” She glared at me and said, “Why are you taking her with you?” I leaned down close and whispered, “She’s blind, I don’t even think she can fly straight.” Psychros mean look softened and she look at Hunter. “Well then those two really do need to leave, like now,” She said as she turned around and crossed her arms. Azure jumped up and bolted for the door. He reached for the handle and said, “I hope to see you all again.” Then he walked out and quietly shut the door. “Y’all really shouldn’t trust him,” Clank said, the country twang in his voice seemed to disappear slightly. He cleared his throat, “I’m just sayin, he’s bad business. Ah think he's apart of that Syndicate too, but ah don’t know many ponies from it.” He said with his accent at full power. Clank got up and made his way to the door. He waved bye and left. “Well there you go, everyone is out. I’m going to sleep, I think we all should. Hunter you're sleeping with me in the guest room,” I said as I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. Desani grabbed my wrist and said, “How about I sleep with her and you sleep on the coach again,” he smiled a big pervy smile and looked at Hunter. I glared at Desani and said, “No. Come on Hunter.” She got up and we both walked into the guest bedroom. > Chapter 10 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psychro Psychro watched her sister pulled that little girl into the bedroom. Why is my sister taking her side? She thought as she glared down the empty hallway. “You okay Psychro?” Desani said, interrupting Psychros thoughts. Psychro turned to him and smiled, “yeah just tired, its been a long day.” “That it has,” Desani said as he sprawled out on the couch. “Hey uhm, Desani.” Psychro said walking to the hallway entrance. “Yes?” “You could always come sleep with me,” She mumbled. Desani sat up and said, “What did you say? I couldn’t understand you.” Psychro’s face burned and she quickly said, “nothing, night,” and dashed down the hall to her room. She plopped down onto her bed and put her face in her hands. “Why did I say that? What if he actually heard me…” She got up shook off the feeling of embarrassment. As she got dressed in her pajamas she heard a faint knock at the door and thought it was Dacno coming to apologize to her. With only a tee-shirt on she opened the door, “so you came to say you're sorry?” She said with her eyes closed and a smug smile on her face. “Uhm no, I came to ask if you actually wanted me to sleep with you?” Desani said as he looked up and down Psychro’s body. Her face turned red and she hide her lower half behind the door. “You actually heard that?” “Yes, I just wanted to see if you would repeat it. But I would like to sleep with you if you really want to. I mean it gets lonely in the livingroom, and cold,” Desani said smiling at her. “let put on some pants first.” “Well you don’t have to,” Desani said with a pervy tone. Psychro shut the door and slipped on a pair of fluffy pajama shorts. “Okay now you can come in,” she said opening the door again. They both crawled into her full sized bed and got under the covers. Psychro turned on her side to face away from Desani. My face is so hot right now, why is this making me blush so much? I mean I have slept with other people before… But not an older guy… Psychro jumped a little when she felt Desani’s warm body against her back and his arm draped over her waist. “Hope you don’t mind cuddling,” Desani whispered in her ear. Psychro was laying there afraid to get comfortable and having a bunch of thoughts run through her head about how wrong this was. Eventually her eyes got heavy and she started to fall asleep. Psychro turned to her other side and felt a body in bed with her. Her eyes shot open and she squealed, falling out of bed when she saw who it was. I was hoping that was a dream, but it wasn’t. Nope that was so so real. Desani sat up at looked at her on the floor. Her cheeks were beet red and she couldn’t stop staring at him. “You look adorable in the mornings, with your hair all messy and Pj’s half falling off.” Desani said as he ran his fingers through his hair to straighten it out. Psychro’s face burned hotter. Her horn started to glow and she lifted the blanket up with her magic and pulled it over Desani. “Shut up, I do not look adorable,” She said in a defensive tone and fixed her Pajama shirt to where it wasn’t falling off. “Awe look whos getting all mad cuz she can’t handle someone calling her cute,” Desani said as he pulled the covers off of him. Psychro stood up and got back on the bed, she then proceeded to push Desani onto the floor. But her grabbed her arm on the way down and she fell ontop of him. “Hmm, well this isn’t what I was trying to do,” He said as he looked up at Psychro who was now sitting on his waist. She blushed and tried to get off of him, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to land on you.” Desani grabbed her waist to make her stay on him. He sat up and there snouts were practically touching. “It’s fine,” He said as he stared into her eyes. “Uhm maybe I should get off you now,” Psychro said staring into Desani’s red eyes. He leaned closer and kissed her. Psychro’s eyes widened and then she started to kiss him back. They sat there on the floor, lips locked and bodies pressed close together, for a good minute when a slight tap at the door made them both jump. “Ye-yes?” Psychro said a little breathless. “Can you two stop fucking and get up already?” Dacno said. Psychro glared at the door and said, “go away you cock blocker.” Desani smiled and lifted Psychro off of him, “Were getting up,” he said. Psychro looked down at Desani’s boxers and quickly looked away when she realized what the stiff thing she had been sitting on was. She stood up and handed him her blanket as she said, “I need to get dressed and you need to get out with your problem covered.” Desani took the blanket and stood up. He wrapped it around himself and left her room. Psychro walked over to the window and pressed her hot forehead against its coolness. “What am I doing?” She whispered. > Chapter 11 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dacno Damn that’s awkward, Psychro and Desani? Doing it? “A-are we actually leaving now?” My thoughts were interrupted by Hunter who was standing by the front door. “Yeah, come on,” I said, walking past her and opening the door. Hunter was about to step in front of me and walk out when I stopped her by sticking my arm out. She looked at me and then at the scarred up Earth Pony standing in front of us. “Can I help you stranger?” I said looking him up and down. “Uhm, yeah. Is Desani here? I got a text from him saying to come to this address,” he said looking behind me into Psychro’s house. “Flux!” Desani said from behind me and Hunter. “I see you made it. And I see you two were leaving. What, you aren't going to tell Psychro?” “If she actually gives a fuck she can call me, but right now I think I have more important things to do,” I said, looking back at Desani who was wearing Psychro’s sheet around his waist. I turned back to Flux and motioned for him to move. He side stepped out of the doorway and Hunter walked past him to the exit. I started out the door but stopped and turned around to say, “Bye Desani, tell Psychro to call me later.” Then I walked out and followed Hunter. It was a nice mid-spring day, there were people taking walks and jogging. It all seemed normal, and for a minute I thought it was just a normal day of me going home from a weekend at my little sisters place. But then Hunter talked and snapped me back to reality, “It’s so pretty out today, I can hear a bunch of birds and the warm wind feels nice.” “I can’t hear any birds...but then again I’m deaf. And it is really pretty out,” I said looking down at her. The rest of the way to my house was silent. When we got there my cat, BuzzleBug, was sitting on the stoop. “Why do you always wait for me outside?” I asked him as I scratched his head. I opened the door and took in the familiar scent of my little house. Why does it feel like I haven’t been here for weeks? I thought to myself as I walked to my room and flopped onto my full sized bed. I heard a thud in the doorway and stifled a laugh. “Oh yeah, laugh at the blind girl why don't you…” Hunter said feeling my wall and sticking a hand out in front of her to find the bed. “Sorry I didn't mean to laugh,” I said grabbing her hand and helping her find her way. Latter that night, after eating a pizza I ordered, I texted Psychro. Hey I messaged her. Waited ten minutes. no reply. Ten more minutes, still nothing. An hour passed of me pacing back and forth through my kitchen and still no reply. Finally I said forget it and went to sleep.