Neon lights flood the streets of Equestria, drugs and crime are at all time high, and all Jacket wants to do is do what he's gotta do. All Twilight wants to do is find her best friend, by any means necessary. Even if it means hurting other ponies.
Jacket was definitely someone you'd miss in public, no one would care if he just disappeared from the face of Equestria but that doesn't hurt him. Nothing can hurt him anymore, no one could hurt him anymore, and even then he doesn't care about anything.
Does he even care about himself?
As Jacket keeps looking over his shoulder in fear, the guilt, the blood he's spread, the lives he's taken are clouding his mind. And as much as Jacket tries to deny his emotions, his remorse, he cannot take it anymore. Without the masks giving him the personalities he need, all he is is a mute, timid colt with nothing to lose but his undeserving life.
As he tries to adjust to a life outside of bloodshed and mental breaks, he does one last job. That is, until one leap of faith into the neon soaked blood bath is going to flip his entire spectrum of reality upside down as he continues to look over his shoulder, and look deeper into his mind and solve the question that's been on his subconscious.
Is he enjoying killing other ponies?
Princess Twilight Sparkle was definitely someone you cannot miss in public, every pony would care if she just disappeared from the face of Equestria but that doesn't matter to her. Nothing matters anymore.
Does she even matter?
Fluttershy has been kidnapped, her sudden quick prone to aggression is changing her, and one leap of faith into the neon lights is going to flip her entire spectrum of reality upside down as she continues to look deeper into her own mind and answer the biggest question she's ever faced.
It all seemed to fly past in a blur, Jacket's dream did. His actions the previous night seemed to be lost in his endless trap of memories, and it wasn't going to let up anytime soon. His pent up guilt kept pumping up to the back of his throat, no matter how many times he watered it down with the same excuse since day one.
I have no choice, I do what I got to do.
No matter how many times he tried to cut himself off from emotion, it never seemed to stick. In fact, this denial of emotions has only drove him further into the deep dark realm that is his remorse for their deaths. Jacket's bloodstained hooves smeared the red fluid across his face as he slipped his face into his hooves, trying to calm himself. The blood only made Jacket's nostrils flare in disgust, shock, and revulsion all at once.
Jacket was in his bathroom, as it seemed. A bathroom. It was dirty, cockroaches littered the ground and they scurried on to find shelter away from the light. Into the walls and into the drain of the sink, Jacket learnt his lesson about opening the cabinets when a giant bat slammed into his face. Jacket kept staring himself in the mirror, only seeing a bloodstained psychopath rather than the honest Earth Pony he once was. The more Jacket blinked, the variety of animal masks on his reflection he meets.
Jacket gagged, leaning over the sink and vomited.
Jacket wiped his mouth with his sleeve, wishing this nightmare would just end. Jacket turned to his right to find a dead pegasus in his shower, a baseball bat hovering over the deceased pony. Ambient sounds grew louder and louder in Jacket's ears, compelling him to turn on his hooves and exiting the bathroom to face the music of his conscious eating away at his mind. Jacket walked down the hallway, seeing the three characters he knows and would give everything to never see again.
From the three of them, not one word was spoken. Instead, every time Jacket blinked: the room became bloodier, dead bodies piled up, guns and bullet shell casings littered the ground. Skulls were on the two chairs of Don Juan and Rasmus, each of them engraving a statement on each of them. Jacket gulped, and made his way forward. Jacket grabbed Don Juan's skull in between his hooves, and examined it to the best of his abilities.
The skull was neat, clean, one hole in between the eyes. A nine millimeter pistol and the shot wasn't military precision, but very clean entry. No exit wound. Jacket turned the skull over to find a series of letters he could not read, or make out. Jacket felt warmth when he held this skull, he felt like he was... being loved. A feeling he's not felt since leaving his mother's home, not even his teenage years ha he truly felt this sort of warmth inside.
Jacket let go of the skull, letting it rest on the chair carefully, and then turned to Rasmus's skull, and he trudged closer to the chair. He felt uneasy approaching the chair, usually Jacket would be frozen in place and not allowed this amount of freedom to even back away from the discussions. Jacket touched the top of the pony skull and he felt his veins turn cold, his teeth grit, his breathing quicken, and his snout curled back into a snarl. Feeling this skull made him feel frustrated, angry, even enraged.
Jacket wanted to crush this skull with his bare hooves, but he didn't. Either out of common sense, or compelled to Jacket dropped the skull onto the chair and didn't even want to pretend it wasn't there. He just wanted to smash this skull into the ground, pulverized, turned to dust of calcium and splatter the brain matter across the walls in a fit of anger. Jacket tried to let out a growl but clenched his throat with a hoof, his throat excruciatingly burning.
Jacket is a mute.
Jacket turned to the only chair remaining, and there was nothing but a box, a mask, and a note. Jacket knew instantly the mask was Richard, the box and the note were familiar. Jacket picked up the mask, noticing it was too small for him. Jacket simply placed the mask into the box and placed the note inside the mask, Jacket closed the box and it disappeared from his eyes.
Jacket was confused, what now? Was there something he was missing?
Jacket trotted back down towards the bathroom, but was stopped by an invisible wall. His eyes widen at a figure in the distance, and he couldn't tell if he should stand and fight or if he should flee. Jacket's eyes strained to see this mystery figure, but all he could make out was a shining knife.
April 2nd, 19XX Awake.
Jacket rolled out of bed, his brown and white jacket in the laid out in front of him. Jacket knew it couldn't possibly be cleaned, so he went to his closet opposite from his bed, and opened the door. Jacket remembered buying spares when he was a foal, Jacket wasn't the cleanest guy on this planet but he could tell when enough is enough and to clean his house to the best of his abilities. It's not much, but at least he could move a pizza box into the garbage and his house could look clean to the naked eye.
This letterman jacket had a more yellowish shade of brown as a base color, but his sleeves were white. Jacket dug through his pocket and pulled out a carton of cigarettes, his other pocket holding a lighter. Jacket took a single fag from the carton and lit it up with the lighter, sucking in the smoke into his lungs and expelling it. The nicotine buzzing in his head, dulling the uncomfort in his throat and instead made him feel relaxed. Calmer.
Jacket kept the cigarette in his mouth, anchoring the fag with his teeth. Jacket's phone started to ring, and Jacket calmly walked towards the machine. He let the answering machine get the message for him. Jacket decrypted these messages since the first one, around the bullshit they give off, they gave Jacket an address and a mission. Oh course, since they've been watching Jacket, they made him part of the operators. Not like he's ever going to know what that is.
2:00 Jacket made his stop, it was slowly approaching the afternoon. Jacket recognized this street, this house from the news. Jacket turned his Delorean off, taking the keys from the keyhole. Jacket's refined taste in these vehicles contradicts his living situations, he gets his taste in these classy cars from seeing Rarity far too many times. Jacket's apparel gets messed up sometimes, and there's only a select few who Jacket could take advantage of, generosity wise, with tailoring his clothes.
Besides, Rarity's a "friend". If you could call one sided conversations a friendly chat, Rarity is among the ponies who Jacket tolerates being around. She's tactful, interesting, and, of course, her generosity. Sometimes he made a trip to Ponyville, sometimes he mails his jacket to her. They exchange letters occasionally, nothing more than a quick hello or your jacket is ready.
Jacket knew this street he read about it in the papers and saw it on the news earlier, it was that Movie producer's house. Apparently, a alleged kidnapping case involving him and multiple mares in which he allegedly raped and had his henchmen rape the kidnapped mares while he filmed it. Jacket's grip on the steering wheel became tighter, those fillies didn't deserve to be in that position. They done nothing to that movie producer.
Jacket's door opened, but he didn't step outside just yet. Jacket looked to his side and grabbed his tiger mask, Tony. He breathed in the last of his fears, and he slipped the mask on. Jacket stepped outside of his vehicle and shut the door, his ears roaring with blood. Jacket felt his nervousness disappear as he approached the mansion, he popped his neck and stretched out his legs. He tightened his letterman jacket, and peered in through the keyhole of the mansion.
Of course, there was loud music blaring. They wouldn't hear him bucking the door in, perfect. Jacket turned on his hooves, and then, his body was voided of all emotion. All there was in his chest and brain was a will to survive, and Jacket will do just that. Jacket bucked in the door with his hindlegs, the door swinging wide open. There was an enemy up ahead, and Jacket wasted no time rushing him. Jacket wrapped his forelegs around the body of the guard and lifted them both to their hind legs. Jacket lifted the guard and did a German Suplex, making the guard land on his neck with a painful SNAP.
Jacket approached his body and saddled him, grabbing each side of his jaw and bashing his skull into the wooden floor. The head cracked open and blood pooled effortlessly around his head, Jacket dismounted him. Jacket was sure the suplex killed him already, but it's better be safe than catch a leadpipe to the back of the head. Speaking of pipes, Jacket grabbed the pipe. Jacket leaned against the wall and peered to the side of it.
There was an armed guard, holding what looked like a double barrel shotgun. That would disembowel Jacket if he got too close, there most be another way. Jacket looked to the right to find a door, and hopefully another direction. Jacket combat rolled to the other side of the room, taking measures to not be seen by the pony with the shot gun. Jacket leaned against the door and looked through the keyhole. Two ponies. One patroling in circles, one slacking off by the door, smoking what seems to be marijuana. Jacket backed away from the door and smashed himself into it, opening the door and bashing it against the smoking pony.
The other guard had a machete, and swung it in sheer panic. Jacket managed to avoid the swing, by clashing it with his lead pipe. The white suited pony was stronger than Jacket, as the blade knocked the pipe across the room. Jacket snorted, dust coming out of Tony's nostrils. Jacket was on his hindlegs he leaned back from another horizontal swing, and Jacket grabbed the foreleg of the white suited pony and twisted it painfully. The pony let out a inaudiable shriek of pain, dropping the machete.
Jacket bashed his hoof into the side of the pony, brain matter flying across the walls and staining the window. Jacket looked out of the corner of his eye to find the pony he knocked down earlier. The pony was sitting up with a pistol aimed right for him. Jacket grabbed the deceased body of the other thug and shoved it at the stoned pony. Jacket grabbed the machete and approached the struggling stallion. Jacket straddled him, holding the forearm with the gun on it down. Jacket raised the machete in the arm and made viscous hacks at the hoof, taking three to completely amputate the stoned pony.
The stallion screamed, but it fell short with the techno music being blared out. Jacket then held the mane of the stallion and pulled up, Jacket hacked away at the stallion's neck until his head was completely decapitated. Jacket dropped the machete and picked up the firearm, checking the amount of bullets in the clip. Jacket pulled the slide back and approached the next door and looked through the keyhole, two more ponies. These ponies were armed. One was sitting on the couch, fiddling around with the Kobra that he held in his hooves.
Jacket peered at the other stallion, and he was watching the door. His firearm was a M116, the assault rifle. Both of these guns would tear right through Jacket like a warm knife through butter. Jacket's brain was quickly formulating a plan, but every scenario he ended up getting shot to ribbons. Jacket slowly opened the door and popped a couple of bullets out, not really aiming and more or less falling back to avoid being shot. Jacket saw that he shot the gun on the couch in the chest, but the bullets completely whizzed by the other pony. Jacket withdrew from the room, to his prior position.
Jacket peered around the corner to see two ponies with melee weapons charging him, one carrying a fireaxe, another holding a chain whip. Jacket reared around the corner and popped three rounds into the both of them, running out of ammo. Both thugs go down, but the pony with the double barrel was approaching. Jacket ran back into the room, picked up the machete, and threw it at the Pony holding the M116. Jacket pounced on the down pony, smashing his snout into the ground in a bloody mess. Jacket saw the alternative door and bashed it open, startling the shotgunner, and Jacket popped him with four bullet rattling through his skull.
Jacket didn't want the shotgun, but intstead wanted to keep the assault rifle. Jacket opened the last door and riddled the room with bullets. After tossing the empty weapon, Jacket made his way upstairs. Where his massacre continued.
Jacket's jacket was cleaner than normal, maybe it was the cleaner executions while Jacket wore the Tony mask? Jacket didn't care, he walked down the stairs with a baseball bat still dripping with blood and grey matter. Jacket dropped the bat and made his way to the car, when all of a sudden: the music stopped. Jacket raced out side the room and picked up the shotgun afraid that whatever comes out of that room is more than he can take.
Jacket pulled the first trigger when the doors opened, seeing a fat Diamond Dog with a bullet proof vest on. Jacket approached him, going for the kill when the Dog grabbed him by the throat and stood back up. The Diamond Dog lifted Jacket up in a fire man's carry and tossed him down the hallway, crashing into the wall with a painful thud. Jacket heard his ears ringing, his breathing quickened as he had no way of expressing his pain. Jacket stood back up, his side aching. Jacket lifted the gun again and shot the Dog once more, flattening him. The Diamond Dog lifted his front left paw, tears falling down his face, knowing he's defeated and out of strength.
"W-wait! S-stop! You win!" The Diamond Dog pleaded, trying to scoot away. "You want money? Drugs? Mares?! I ca-can and willing get you anything your heart desires! J-just let me go!"
Jacket straddled him, bashing his hooves in Diamond Dog's cheeks, nose, side of the head, anywhere that he could punch. Jacket then inserted both tips of his hooves into the big dog's eyes and pressed in deeply, blood seeping from the socket as the colt's scream finally caught in his lungs were short lived as Jacket grabbed the baseball bat and mounted him again. Viciously bashing the Diamond Dog's face inwards and when the bat broke, Jacket jabbed the splintered off bat into the mushed brains of the deceased Dog and twisted it furiously. Jacket stepped back his hooves gripping at Tony's ears in a silent yet heartfelt sob.
Jacket tore off his mask, tears running down his face. His body convulsed, the emotions that damned him back quicker than before. Jacket looked around at what Ton- he did. Jacket leaned against the wall, gagging and retching. Once Jacket has finally calmed down, he looked up to notice a camera. Jacket's breath caught in his throat. He cannot be caught. They would kill him if he was ever to be caught. Jacket rushed into the hidden room, kicking over the table and chairs.
Jacket furiously typed into the computer, as slow and as shitty as it was, Jacket quickly wiped all the camera's feed. Jacket looked behind him to find a chained up mare....wait... not just any chained up mare... Jacket remembered her when he was getting his jacket tailored, she came in the boutique. She had a chat with Rarity in a extremely hushed voice, and she was the Element of Kindness if Jacket remembered correctly. So this mare was their next victim? Jacket looked over her, examined her. She was just recently tied up, and drugged. As given by her droopy eyes and no bruises.
Good thing Jacket came in and stopped it, otherwise she would be scarred for life. Or even worse, murdered. Jacket's guilt became very lighter when he realized he killed a serial rapist and his goons. Jacket looked at her again, she was so vulnerable. She was tied up, and legs spread She could be taken advantage of if she remained her. Yes, Jacket was a monster, but he was a monster that had moral standings. Jacket simply can't leave her here.
So he didn't.
He picked her up, cradling her bridal style, and walked back to the Delorean. Shifting her into the passenger seat, he made his way into the driver seat and drove off.
On the other side of Canterlot: Ponyville April 2nd, 2:00, 19XX
It's been a few days since Fluttershy was abducted from her home, and they literally searched for hours on end to find. Twilight had everybody in Ponyville searching every acre of land for the missing Element of Kindness, yet not even so much as a strand of mane to find. Rainbow Dash searched the skies with haste, her eyes darting every detail of Ponyville. Like most of their attempts to find Fluttershy, it was fruitless. The rest of the town is starting to lose hope anyways, there was already a grave stone with Fluttershy's name engraved on it.
Twilight was searching through her house, looking for the closest thing to make out if she at least made a struggle leaving her home. Twilight knew she didn't just leave, why would she just stand up and leave her animal friends behind? Of course, the animals were spooked and going nuts. Twilight found a couple of does dead, to what seemed to be 9.mm bullets lodged in their heads. Twilight grunted, having to move on. Although it wasn't right to just leave an animal dead like this, she had to stay on task with finding their friend.
"There has to be a different approach to this... lets check the doors one more time... Twilight made her way back to the doors and checked the hinges. The hinges were slanted, bent, and even nearly off. Like someone took a crowbar to the hinges and silently took off the top one. They must have not expected animals, since these animals would have awoken Fluttershy at the first sign of trouble, and bucked the door in. For the exception of the bear, and possibly Angel, none of these animals would have attacked anyone. So these ponies were armed, given by the bullet holes in the walls.
Twilight made her way up the stairs, to Fluttershy's bedroom. Twilight noticed the stairs had blood on them, as if somepony was thrown down the stairs. Twilight made her guess it was Fluttershy's blood, but swabbed it up with a q-tip anyways for further analyses. Twilight inserted the q-tip into a cylinder, where it would remain sterilized until she got back to her lab. Twilight continued to ascend the stairs, her hooves making creaks in the floorboard.
That's weird...
Twilight has been in Fluttershy's house many times, and never heard a creak there. As silly as it may seems, Twilight was getting desperate to find Fluttershy. Twilight's first thought went to worse case scenario, maybe they killed her and buried her in her own house! No. No.... that's crazy-talk. She can't afford to act pessimistic now. She needed to find anything that could lead to Fluttershy's whereabouts. Dead or alive, Twilight was going to bring her home. Even if the kind pegasus was buried Tale-Tell Heart style.
Twilight flared up her horn and ripped out the nails in the floorboard and put them in a neat pile inside of a bowl so no one steps on a nail, which is really painful to see and really painful to watch. Twilight then easily took off the floorboard and noticed something very peculiar; there was a hole in the ground. Twilight shot a flare like spell down to see how far the hole went, she looked at her watch and waited for the flare to hit the ground.
Thirty seconds.
Twilight would not survive that fall if she just leaped in, however, she had a spell just for this situation. It was sort of a shock absorbing layer that would cover her limbs and absorb the impact of any fall or damage. Like a low leveled shield, a bubble layer shield that she could cover one pony at a time. She flared up her horn and her entire body was covered in aura, then, a glossy layer appeared on her body. She looked like a crystal pony.
Twilight leaped down and the first thing she noticed, is that she landed on somepony's spine. The unfortunate earth pony collapsed, unconscious. The shock impact layer shimmered, but didn't disappear. That means the pony took the brunt of a Unicorn falling on top of hi- her. The pony was a mare, blonde mane and tail and grey coat. She wore a white suit with blue collar, her cutie mark was a dimebag of crystals. Twilight instantly knew this Pony was a thug for hire, and her duty as Princess of Friendship, she had to arrest this pony.
Twilight's horn lit up, and strands of light blasted form her horn and wrapped the earth pony mare. She also wrapped her magic around her mouth. This spell was to stun the pony and keep them tied up, in case being knocked out wasn't enough. Twilight then smacked her hoof to her forehead, she forgot to interrogate the pony. What was the mare doing all the way down here, in an active crime scene? Twilight picked up the MAC 10 that the mare dropped and grimaced. Twilight pulled the mag. out of the fire arm and took the bullet out of the chamber and flung it in opposite directions.
Twilight would appreciate it if she didn't catch a bullet in the back of the skull, and she especially since this spell doesn't work as a bullet proof armor. In fact, the spell was more or less used as a way to take more than fatal blow. Her little swan song, in case worst case scenario. Twilight stretched her limbs, nervousness of the unknown creeping on her. She took a step forward and hesitated, she can't go in alone. That's suicide. But Fluttershy could be in there, bound and helpless. Being tortured or worse.
Twilight couldn't afford to wait, these bastards have to know where Fluttershy is. And if they don't answer to her, they could answer to the Princesses and the Grand Jury. Twilight shot a pulse, it was a signal for unicorns, she waited until she heard alerted voices and hoof stomps before running into the tunnel. Twilight had a plan, and she needed it to work. Twilight raced down the tunnel, and crammed herself behind a rock. Two ponies, unicorns in white suits and blue collar shirts, carefully trotted past her.
Twilight noticed they were armed, one of them holding a MAC 10 and the other a switchblade. Twilight couldn't possibly take them both out without being shot or being sliced into a cannibal's salsa. Twilight sneaked closer hoping she isn't going to make an error and literally shot and stabbed. Twilight shot a blast at the pony holding the MAC 10 to stun him, then Twilight turned around and bucked the other pony in the side of the head. Twilight's bucks weren't strong, but strong enough to knock someone off their feet. Twilight slammed her hoof into the side of the switchblade-pony, knocking him out cold.
Twilight slammed her back hoof to the temple of the MAC 10 Pony, sending them to the land of nods. Twilight then secured the ponies with the arresting spell, pink strands of magic pinning their legs to their bodies and covering their mouths. Twilight nabbed the MAC 10 and pulled the mag. out, along with the bullet in the chamber. She tossed them in opposite directions again, allowing her to exhale the pent up air she didn't know she was holding in. She won't catch a bullet in the back of the skull and that's a win in her book any day. Now if only she knew where these thugs were getting their weaponry.
Twilight had a boost in confidence, she had knocked out three thugs already. Twilight isn't one to resort to violence, but this sort of situation calls for it. That, and she has no intention of leaving Fluttershy here to rot. Twilight felt her confidence squeeze the fear into shape, and instead of fighting the fear: Twilight used it as her motivation. She's going to save Fluttershy by using her brain, and her brain produces fear so that's sort of a double edge sword on her part.
As Twilight lurked deeper into the darkness, she noticed tunnels. Using a sonar-like spell, she found out that these tunnels act as sort of rooms for Diamond Dogs. Twilight deduced that having Diamond Dogs, whom charge a lot of money for their services, would be redundant to guard a tunnel.... wait... why are they guarding this tunnel? Twilight had no time to ponder anymore, she felt the presence of eight more different ponies in the same area, patrolling the vast tunnel system. None of them armed with firearms, thank goodness. Twilight was beginning to grow tired of the feeling like she could be just shot at any given time.
WHACK Twilight let out a sharp cry, as numbing pain entered her cheek and jaw. Something came out of the right tunnels and charged Twilight, smacking her across the face with a baseball bat. Twilight's vision became extremely wobbly as her impact layer broke and shattered like glass. She lost her balance and was sent sprawling to the ground, her ears hearing nothing but static, and her head screaming in a blind furry. A bruise was starting to form on Twilight's right cheek, swelling up too. Twilight's vision came back into focus almost immediately.
Twilight noticed her assailant was an earth pony, she knew better than to square up with the thug straight on. New Alicorns don't have the strength to match them, but Twilight had something these thugs didn't. Training in these situations. Becoming a Princess wasn't as simple as becoming an Alicorn and calling it a day. She had to face the threats of assassins trying to kill her, or the other two princesses on an occasional bases. It also helps when you have the Captain of the Royal Guard at your disposal to help train you in close combat.
That, and Twilight practically studied the anatomy of each species.
Twilight rolled on her back, avoiding a vertical smash of the baseball bat that would have ended her life. Twilight scooted closer and slammed her hind leg into the lower abdominal regions of the Earth Pony, making the white suited thug lean over in pain. Twilight's horn lit up and she teleported out of harms way, up on her feet and two feet away. Twilight's lip was busted and her nose dabbled blood, but her cheek and jaw was the most painful. Pain started to overcloud her judgement, her rationale held hostage by her fury at this point.
The earth around Twilight began to rumble, as her inner energy caught her a second wind. She snarled, her teeth stained with blood. This white suited stallion could have killed her if she didn't have the shield on, and Twilight wasn't too keen on letting this stallion get away with it either. She had never felt so furious in her life, that this pony was willing to take her life like it was no big problem. Twilight's life. Twilight shook with blind fury, her eyes glowing into a white void.
"Heh," The stallion nervously chuckled out loud, his Russian accent heavy. "Still got some fight in you!? Huh?! Fucking idiot!"
Twilight grunted her reply. And whatever happened next was just static.
Twilight caught a horizontal slash to the hoof by a machete, she growled as she took the stallion's foreleg and wrenched the machete out of his hands. Twilight leaned her head back, and then smashed her forehead into the nose of the stallion. Knocking him to the ground and stunning him instantly. Twilight leaped on him and gave him two hard stomps to the sides of his face, breaking the jaw and incapacitating the stallion completely.
Twilight resisted the urge to keep pummeling his face in, reluctant to stand.
Twilight swung the metal baseball bat with her hooves, trying to conserve her magical energy to create another impact layer shield. The bat collided with the mare's foreleg, bone sticking through and blood spurting from the leg. Twilight swung the bat down in an vertical strike onto the spine of the thug-pony, a audible CRACK as her spine either snapped or crumbled in the sheer force of an Angry Alicorn. Twilight bared and grit her blood stained teeth, resisting the urge to bash this filly's face in. Twilight wasn't a killer, she will not kill this pony, or any pony.
Twilight slammed the head of the last thug-pony into the cave wall, enough for the skull to crack. Twilight was jittery, her eyes were a vast void of glowing white. The Alicorn had a smile spiraled across her face, her pain and her anger finally lifting from her head. Her lungs burned as she inhaled more dust fumes and charcoal, her head felt dizzy. She leaned across the wall, that she smashed the unconcious pony's head into, and pressed her face into the wall.
Twilight violently sobbed, her whole body racking with pain. Twilight felt spent, magically, physically, and emotionally. Twilight's mind was numb, and she hated the feeling. Her whole body covered in scratches and bruises, her lungs burning every frantic breath she took and she hated the feeling. She had just violently beaten eight ponies into unconsciousness and she hated the knowledge, wishing this whole incident was just a scary nightmare.
Nightmares don't use up so much magic.
Twilight was sitting in the middle of the tunnel systems, sweating, dirty, and bloodied. Twilight's eye had sullen, her cheek and jaw bruised, her ear scratched up and bleeding slightly, she had a busted lip, her nose bled even more. She was catching her breath, after her major panic attack left her riddled with guilt and remorse for the ponies she viciously beaten. Of course, she had to check if they were still breathing. Twilight would never live with herself fully if she knows she beaten a pony to death like an animal.
...Am I an animal...?
Twilight had patched herself up with whatever she could find. Apparently, this was a base of operations. Twilight did some investigation, clearing her mind to the best of her abilities. There was an entire room dedicated to an infirmary, but they didn't have any gauze. She did find a dozen crates. One of those crates were enough painkillers to feed an addiction to thirteen dozen thugs, which is the most legal thing she found in those crates so far. She found weapons, crystals, cocaine, and counterfeit bits.
Twilight had wrapped her hooves in boxing tape to prevent further damage to her hood or forelegs, as her hooves were bleeding from the machete slash she had encountered. Twilight coughed, this tunnel system only had a few pot holes for air. Twilight knew that yelling for help would be useless, as she was deep underground. Twilight groaned, her lungs feeling like they were on fire. Twilight wiped her nose with a foreleg. Sniffling.
Twilight blinked, and laying on the ground was a pony. The pony was a stallion, well built but still on the skinny side. The stallion's coat was white, given the bloodstains on his coat. The colt had a brown jacket on, one Twilight had only seen when she was around fifteen or sixteen. The colts that she use to totally not crush on wore these jackets as a triumphant to their sports or academic achievements. They of course were Varsity Jackets, and they were bulkier than what this pony as wearing.
The stallion had a letterman jacket on, with the letter B on it. However, the letter kept changing. Twilight began to think that the letter didn't mean anything. Twilight didn't even know if this was another moment where she just blacked out again, or if she's having an hallucination from the lack of oxygen. Twilight only had to wait and.....
Hold on...
The stallion was wearing a golden chicken mask, how did she miss this feature?!
The stallion sat up, sitting across from her. The masked pony tilted his head at her, as if he was examining her. Twilight looked deeper into the chicken mask's eyes, and felt like the eyes behind the mask was judging her. Judging her for her actions to the ponies, judging her completely out of place violence. Twilight's ears flipped back, her guilt was already killing her and she did not need her insecurities eating her up.
"What?" The stallion spoke, or rather, the chicken mask spoke. The mask's beak moved, as if it could sentimentally speak... no... that's impossilble...
"You should know by now, nothing is impossible. The mask read her mind, and Twilight's eyes, save for the one swollen one, widen.
"Y-you read my mind...-" Twilight shifted uncomfortably in her spot, seemingly frozen in place. "H-how did you.-"
"No, no I didn't, The mask calmly interrupted, the stallion shifting into a more comfortable position. "You had that look in your eyes, that same look you gave to Pinkie Pie about her Pinkie Sense."
Twilight blinked in confusion.
"The look in your eyes," The stallion continued, not allowing her to reply "They show a Princess of Friendship."
"Tell me, what good is friendship when most of the time: you want to be isolated in your library?" The stallion asked, not even flinching at his own cold words. "Why is it that you're down here, when you're wishing you could be in your home, curled up on a comfortable sofa, drinking hot tea, and reading a book that requires a doctor's degree to even understand the title?
"Why are you down here, alone?"
"Why didn't you call for help?"
"Why did you want to hurt these ponies?"
"Most importantly, why didn't you kill them?"
Twilight was astonished, this pony had accurately described her more hidden selfish nature. How badly she wished she didn't care to have friends so she could be alone with Spike, how badly she got hurt looking for the slightest shred of a clue where Fluttershy might have gone. How badly she wanted to take her anger out on these thugs, who might know what happened to Fluttershy. At the same time, she wanted to banish these tainted souls into the deepest circle of hell. However the other two questions blew up her mind, she couldn't regain her thoughts.
"....I... don't..." Twilight was still trying to process who is this pony. "I don't... understand... who are you?"
"My name isn't important, The stallion-chicken waved his hoof dismissively. "What's important is the four questions I want you to ponder."
