//------------------------------// // ==Part Eighteen: Birds of a Feather== // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// Now... In a clearing just outside of Whitetail Woods... A series of stagecoaches gathered around an old, decrepit barn. One closed wagon in particular rolled to a stop, pulled by a series of surly-looking stallions. As it arrived, even more muscular ponies shuffled out of the barn, looking cautiously in every direction. Once the coast was clear, they gestured to the stagecoach, and a servant rushed up to the ornate black wagon, opening it and squatting low. "Mrmmmf..." A pudgy pony in a business suit poked his head out, squinting angrily into the bright afternoon sunlight. "...Celestia damn... I hate the country," Don Canter grumbled. "Even the air smells like hicks." "Our contact is inside, sir," spoke one of the thugs. "A barn like that has plenty of crossbeams, yes?" Don Canter lit a cigar and stuck it into the far edge of his gnarled muzzle. "Hmmff... plenty of spots to hang 'em from." He stepped out of the stagecoach, his heavy body using the squatting servant as a stepping stool. As he trudged towards the barn, a pair of shifty stallions stood at the entrance, fidgeting all over. "My good sir," Flim stammered. "Most esteemed and honorable Don Canter," Flam added, bowing low. "We... we have no idea why we've been delayed!" Flim gulped. "We gave him everything he needed! We even saw the mare with our own eyes—" "Can it with the senseless squabbling already," Don Canter grumbled, waving them aside. His angry glare carried him into the barn's rustic abode. "I know who's to blame." Inside, several shady figures stood in weight. Top Dog stood next to his canine cronies, folding his forelimbs and snorting indignantly. Sunset Shimmer paced in an angry circle, her horn pulsing in random intervals. Once Don Canter entered the room, everypony stood up tall, tight, and tense. "Alright!" Don Canter's voice boomed. The end of his cigar sent an amber beam across the dusty darkness. "Come out of hiding you stuffed grouse! Explain your damn self before I have my stallions pluck every feather from your yellow belly and then some!" Silence. "Well?!" Don Canter growled louder. "Are you here, or was this another wild goose chase?!" "I come out..." Romulus suddenly hissed in the mob boss' ear. Don Canter jumped. Every stallion in the room trained their weapons on the griffon. He calmly slinked his way around the figure, emerging fully from the shadows. "...when and only when I choose to." He kept his one good eye trained on the leader while he strutted towards the center of the room on sharp talons. "Lest we forget... it was I who summoned you here." "We weren't even supposed to be summoned!" Sunset Shimmer spat, stomping a hoof in anger. "You were supposed to do your job!" "We gave you everything!" Flim hollered. He and Flim shared the same mutual glare. "Her address! Her home! The name of her friends!" "By Jove, we even gave you the location of her cloud home!" Flam added. "We were promised vengeance for our beloved mother!" "Yessss!" Top Dog hissed, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. "And we were promised our share in the shards' power! So why haven't you retrieved them yet?!" The armored dogs at his side banged their spears and breastplates, barking. In the far corner, a basilisk eye swirled about inside a glass jar resting on a bale of hay. Romulus stared lethargically at the group. "My good friend..." Romulus looked over at Don Canter. The mob boss stared with eyes like daggers. "You made me leave the luxurious comforts of Trottingham to come here, and for some reason I am not seeing our infamous trouble-maker having her entrails ripped out while she screams the location of the stolen chaos shards." His brow furrowed. "To say that we are curious is an understatement." Just then, a bright green glow illuminated his muzzle. The others gathered in the room squinted at the source of the glow. Romulus held up a pulsating stone in his grasp. The half of it facing the west end of the barn strobed brighter than the rest. "What in blazes is that?!" Flam remarked. "A tracking stone..." Sunset Shimmer thought out loud. "But..." She cocked her head aside. "Where's the other half of it?" "In the target—Rainbow Dash's saddlebag," Romulus calmly said. "It's being flown due west, towards the wasteland." The barn filled with heavy murmurs. "Towards the wasteland...?" Don Canter gritted his teeth. "You stupid turkey! Why didn't you stop her before she took off!" "Do you want half of the shards or all of them, old stallion?!" Romulus suddenly snarled, his gaze sharp. Don Canter merely blinked. His ears folded back. Top Dog, Sunset Shimmer, and the rest lost their angry edge, bathed suddenly in curiosity and confusion. Romulus took a deep breath. "Fillies and gentlecolts..." His talons clasped tighter around the pulsating stone. "...there's been a development." Part Eighteen: Birds of a Feather (Where Rainbow Dash has to take two steps back to make four steps forward)