Prologue-The vanishing of generosity

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Fluer Dis Lis woke up on a deck of a small fishing vessel, the sting of salt air in her nostrils. As soon as she wakes, her training kicks in, not only is she the wife of Fancy Pant and a premier fashion model, but she is also one of Celestia's personal spies. She lets her eyes open to slits to look around. She tries to wiggle her limbs, finding them lashed to barrel. Looking through her slited eyelids, she sees three ponies wearing bright yellow slickers, under their slickers they are wearing red body suits. "So the hoof has me.", she thought to herself. Seeing the three ponies aren't paying attention to her, she slowly twists her left hoof and pulls it free. Putting the hoof to her mouth, she pulls a hidden razor blade from within her designer horseshoe, then touches it to her horn feeling the magic restraining ring on it. When the three ponies begin shuffling around the deck, she conceals the razor blade in her mouth and slips her hoof back into the loosened ropes.

The three ponies lash a length of rope through the handles of several buckets filled with dried concrete, then to Fluer's body. They slide the buckets and her body to the edge of the fishing vessel. As they hoist the buckets and her body in the air, Fluer takes in a deep breath. With a loud splash, she begins rapidly submerging into the inky waters of Manehattan harbor. Pulling her hoof from the ropes, she places it to her mouth and uses her teeth to wedge the razor blade into the sheath of her hoof. Using the razor blade, she begins slashing at the ropes binding her. As the weight of the water begins crushing around her, she struggles to keep the air in her lungs. After several minutes the first of the ropes are cut away, freeing both of her front hooves, she begins slashing away at the rope lashed to the buckets as she wedges the ring off her horn.

The ring pops off Fluer's horn, summoning up her magic, she telekentically unties the ropes lashed to the buckets. She begins to slowly ascend in the water as the buckets plummet into the inky blackness. Using her magic, she unties the last of the ropes around her legs. Blowing the air from her lungs, she kicks her legs in an up and down pattern sending he up through the water quickly. Breaching the surface of the water, she takes a deep breath filling her lungs greedily with precious air. Quickly looking around, Fluer sees the fishing vessel sailing away in the distance. Paddling over to a nearby buoy, she clings to it and looks around to get her bearings.

A rowboat paddles up with an ancient Neighponese unicorn mare in it, a silhouetted pony working the oars. Fluer swims over to the rowboat and drags herself in. As she lays in the rowboat gasping in exhaustion, the Neighponese mare lays a dossier in the bottom of the boat and says, "You are lucky I was able to locate you so quickly."

"No merde.", Fluer says exhaustedly. After she catches her breath, she sits up in in the boat and opens the dossier, reading it. Summoning her magic she turns her coat black, her mane and tail bright red, her cutie mark becomes a red hourglass. "Yust get me to shore comrade,", she says in her best Stalliongrad accent.
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The door to Carousel Boutique opens and Rarity walk out as the flames inside begin licking at the shredded dresses hanging on ponyquins and on racks. The right side of her face covered with her spotless ivory coat smiles while the bald left side of her face droops in a permanent frown. The pantsuit she wears is divided in half, the right side is an immaculate white with intricate green and gold hoof-stitched accents, the left side is pitch black, shredded at her front and hind leg. A double-headed bit twirls in her magic aura, one head untouched, the other head marred with gouges and scratches.

The flames in the boutique begin leaping higher, silhouetting Rarity in orange flickering light as she slowly walks off and vanishes into the shadows of the night.

Rainbow Dash was sleeping in her cloud house when a loud pounding on her front door woke her with a start. Walking to the door in a foul mood, she snatched it open seeing a dark pegasus stallion with a white mowhawk mane. "This had better be good Thunderlane.", she growled.

"Rarity's shop is on fire!", Thunderlane shouted in a half panicked state before flying of as fast as his wings could carry him.

Rainbow's eyes became pinpricks as she took off into the night. As she arrived at the boutique, weather team pegasi were already stamping on clouds pouring rain over the burning building. Earth ponies and unicorns were forming a bucket brigade as one of them smashed in a window, they began hurling buckets of water into the building. Rainbow grabbed a nearby cloud and swooped down to a pond, soaking up as much water as it could hold. She shoved the cloud over the boutique, stamping the rain onto the flames. "Come on Rarity, be okay!", she shouted as she stamped on another cloud, :I can't lose another friend!"

The fire brigade rushed up and began pumping water through hoses, dousing the flames. As soon as the flames were out, Rainbow flew into the smoldering building to search for Rarity. Her breath came in ragged gasps as tears streamed down her cheeks, the worst images ran through her mind of her fashion-forward laying on the floor charred beyond recognition. "Rarity! Rarity!", she shouted as she rushed through the boutique, "If you can hear me, call out or bang on something!" Flying into the room where Rarity had her bed drug downstairs to, she held her breath expecting the worst. Snatching the blackened blankets of the charred mattress, she found nothing. Flipping the charred mattress, she again found nothing.

Rainbow zipped upstairs and bucked the door to Rarity's room in. She tore the room apart looking for her friend. She practically rips the closet door off its hinges but finds no trace of the fashionista. Zipping over to Sweetie Belle's room, she braces herself as an image of Rarity and her sister in the corner charred. Rear her hind legs, she smashes the door in. Flipping the bed and ripping the room apart, she finds no sign of Rarity. Flying back downstairs, Rainbow sees several fire ponies digging through the charred remains of the show floor.

"Find anything?", one of the fire ponies asked.

Rainbow shook her head.

A fire pony came up from the basement. "There's nopony down here.", he said.

Rainbow flew outside and plopped down on the ground, wracking her brain where Rarity might have gone. A horrifying vision ran through her mind of the fashionista laying in a ditch somewhere dying from her burns.

Apple jack walked up, her mane messy from being roused from her sleep.

"Has Rarity come by your place?", Rainbow asked frantically.

"Ain't seen hide nor hair of her, sugarcube.", Applejack replied.

"Maybe she's at Fluttershy's!", Rainbow exclaimed hopefully. Taking to the air, she zipped off.

Landing at the isolated cottage, Rainbow pounded on the door.

Fluttershy was in her basement putting the finishing touches on her costume when she heard a loud pounding on her front door. Opening the top half of the door a crack, she said, "Uh-uumm. H-h-hello? Oh! Rainbow! H-how can I help you?"

"Is Rarity over by some chance?"

Fluttershy shook her head, "N-no. I haven't seen her. I-is something wrong?"

"Her shop caught fire and nopony can find her.", Rainbow said in a defeated tone.

"Oh my!", Fluttershy replied softly.

"I'm gonna keep looking for her. Keep an eye out would ya?", Rainbow asked, "She might be hurt."

"Mhm.", Fluttershy replied as she closed the door. She hurried upstairs to grab her saddlebags, then rushed back out to help look for Rarity.

All night long Rainbow continued to zip around Ponyville, desperately searching for any sign of her fashionista friend. Even after the search parties were called off until morning, she continued to search, expanding her search patterns to Whitetail Woods and the edges of the Everfree forest. In the morning Rainbow Dash finally landed for a short rest, the muscles in her wings screamed and her lungs burned like they were on fire, her body trembled with exhaustion. Ignoring the burning pain in her flight muscles, she flapped her wings to take off only to find a tugging pressure on her tail that make her plop down onto the ground hard of her stomach. Looking behind her she saw Applejack standing on her tail.

"Now hol' on there sugarcube!", Applejack scolded, "YA ain't doin' nopony a lick o' good runnin' yerself ragged. You've been up all night tryin' to find Rarity. Ya ain't had a lick o' sleep since her shop caught fire. Go an' get some rest, let th' rest o' us try an' find Rares."

Reaching back with a foreleg, Rainbow snatched her tail from under Applejack's hooves. "I can sleep when I'm dead!", she snapped. Taking to the air, she felt a lasso loop around her hind legs and get drug back to the ground. "Let me go AJ!", she snarled.

"Nuh-uh!", AJ said through gripped teeth still holding the rope, "Ya neef tuh gef fome reft! Ewen ish Ah hashta hogtie ya tuh a ped myshef!"

Rainbow hung her head in defeat as tears trickled down her cheeks. "Y-you're right AJ. But I just can't get this image of Rarity laying somewhere in a ditch dying." She gave in a big snorting sniff as she wiped the tears away from her eyes.

Spitting out the rope, Applejack wrapped her forelimbs around Rainbow in a tight hug. "Ah know dumplin', Ah know. Ah'm terrified too. When that criminal nearly killed Rarity, Ah thought Ah had lost her for good, Ah'm scared that we've lost fer good." Her sides began to heave as heavy sobs came out.

Rainbow gently wrapped her forelimbs around Applejack, comforting the farmpony.

Hondo Flanks, Cookie Crumbles and Sweetie Belle were picking through the remains of Carousel Boutique. In the remains of the kitchen, Cookie Crumbles kicked a charred cabinet door that was laying on the floor aside, uncovering a patch of flesh covered with ivory fur, three blue diamonds made up the cutie mark. Cookie Crumbles gasped in shock before calling out to her husband, "Hondo?! Hondo?!"

Hondo Flanks cane into the kitchen seeing the tears forming in his wife's eyes. "Cookie? What's the matter?"

Cookie Crumbles points her trembling hoof at the patch of flesh on the floor. "I think Rarity was attacked."

Hondo quickly gathered up Cookie and Sweetie to go get the police ponies.

In a wooded thicket several miles away from Ponyville, an ivory unicorn mare with a half paralyzed face peeks out of a wooded thicket seeing an earth pony mare hauling a wagon with several sacks in it. "Good heads, I let her pass, bad heads, I call her over and knock her out.", she says to herself. Flipping the coin through the air, she catches it in her hoof, bad heads. Clearing her throat, she does her best to sound lost, scared and confused, "Help! Help! Somepony help!"

With a slight creaking of the wagon, the earth pony mare stops hearing a pony calling for help from the nearby thicket. Unhitching from the wagon, she makes her way to the thicket. "Hello?", she call out, "I heard you calling out! Shout again so I can find you!" She hears the slight crackle of magic, then feels a sharp pain to the back of her skull before the world goes black. The earth pony mare groans as the world comes back, the first thing she notices is a dull throbbing pain in her head. She tries to move her legs, but finds they won't move, looking down she finds they are tied together by lengths of vines. "Wha-what happened?", she asks as the fog in her head begins to slowly clear, "Where am..." She freezes when she sees an ivory unicorn mare with a half paralyzed face walk from behind a tree twirling a bit in her blue magical field.

Looking down at the scared mare, Rarity says, "Good heads, I leave you here alive, bad heads, I smash you head in with a rock."

Both mares watch as the coin flips through the air, before landing on an ivory hoof.

"Bad heads.", Rarity says showing the coin to the earth pony.

As a large stone is levitated in a blue field, the earth pony mare screams, "No! No! N..." Her words are cut off as the heave stone impacts her head with a wet thump, the stone is slammed into the earth pony's head several times until all that is heard is a wet squelching sound.

Raising the stone one last time, Rarity tossed the stone now dripping with gore aside, inspecting her work with a satisfied grunt. She walks over to the wagon, opens several of the sacks and finds they are filled with uncut gems. Strapping herself to the wagon, she heads down the road. Stopping at a fork in the road, she reads the sign, to the right will take her to Manehattan, to the left will take her Las Pegasus. Readying the bit, she says, "Good heads Manehattan, bad heads, Las Pegasus." Flipping the coin through the air, it lands on bad heads. With a pleased grunt, she takes the left fork to Las Pegasus.

Baltimare fiasco

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Dozens of police wagons gathered around the three story polished marble Baltimare courthouse. Dozens of police ponies ducked behind the wagons drawing crossbow strings or readying defensive spells. Police pegasi hovered around the buildings holding spotlights in their hooves. Dozens more police ponies struggled to keep the crowds that had gathered behind the cordons that had been laid out. A few moments later a covered metal wagon, hauled by two earth ponies wearing black padded armor on their barrels pulled up. The doors on the back of the wagon swung open and a dozen ponies wearing black padded armor piled out.

The lead armored pony walked up to a police pony with a mustache. "What's the situation, sergeant?"

The mustached police pony looked at the armored police pony. "A group of terrorists that we think are former members of that laughing mare gang stormed the courthouse about an hour ago.", he said glancing to the windows of the courthouse, "The few witnesses that got out said they were wearing chain armor, carrying repeating crossbows and had several dufflebags. There are reports of at least two dozen hostages."

"Have they made any demands yet?", the armored pony asked.

"Our negotiators haven't arrived yet.", the mustached police pony replied.

The armored pony mused for a second before grabbing a nearby megaphone. "This is Lieutenant Iron Hooves of the Baltimare P.D. SWAT division!", he shouted into the megaphone, "Release your hostages, throw out your weapons and surrender!"

Dozens of crossbow bolts and a few magical blasts flew out of the windows, forcing the police ponies to duck behind the wagons or fly higher to avoid the deadly salvo.

Once the salvo had ended, Iron Hooves peeked out from behind the wagon he was hiding behind and reached out with a hoof, plucking one of the bolts lodged in its side. He looked over the head, noting the long, slender pointed tip. "Needle-tips!", he growled, "Where in the Tartarus did they get military hardware?" He showed the bolt to the mustached police pony. "Chain armor, repeating crossbows and needle-tips. Somepony somewhere is supplying these criminals with hardware meant only for the Royal Guard, the Equestrian army and the Wonderbolts." He passed off the bolt to the police pony and walked over to the armored ponies. "Alright, listen up! We're dealing with wanted terrorist, armed with military gear. They've got at least two dozen hostages and are dug in. We're going to have to batter down the door. Watch each other's flanks, don't take any unnecessary chances and remember that the hostages are the number one priority."

The swat ponies scrambled into the metal wagon as two of them began pushing it backwards. The police ponies moved their wagons out of the way of the metal wagon and the pegasi switched on their spotlights, shining them at the windows. When the wagon was a few paces from the steps of the courthouse, the doors flew open and the swat ponies scrambled out, carrying a small battering ram. As they prepared to slam the battering ram into the door, they paused seeing on the inside of the door a small metal box with a red blinking light. Before any of them could shout, the door exploded in a fireball and a showed of splintered wood and shattered glass. The metal wagon upended and crashed onto its side. The swat ponies that weren't killed laid on the ground groaning or screaming as blood oozed out of their wounds. More crossbow bolts sailed out the windows towards the pegasi holding the spotlights. The police pegasi were forced back as several bolts pierced the spotlights, making them fizzle out in loud cracks.

On a nearby rooftop, Sunset crouched watching the events unfold through a pair of field glasses. "Rookie mistake.", she said to herself, "You always check the entrances for booby traps." standing up, she adjusted her armor with a stylized pony skull painted on it, she made quickly blacked out her face, then added white highlights to make her face look like a skull, finally she tied a black bandanna in a skull cap on the top of her head. She gave a quick check of her weapons as she spoke softly to herself, "Pistols, check. Assault rifle, check. Shotgun, check. Flash bombs, check. Pipe bombs, check. Spare ammo, check.", she then drew out the k-bar and checked its sharpness, "And of course old reliable." Giving a quick look around, she spotted a fire escape on the side of the courthouse.

Sunset summoned up her magic and teleported in a red flash onto the top landing of the fire escape. Crouching against the wall beneath the window, she drew a piston from its holster and peaked over the sill, darting her eyes back and forth, she found the room was empty. Summoning her magic, she unlocked the window and slid it open silently. Slipping through the window, she checking the corners, then ducked behind a metal desk. Crawling along the floor, she checked the blind spots until she came to the door.

Sunset put the pistol back in its holster and pulled out the assault rifle, flipping the selector switch to semi-auto. Closing her eyed, she pressed an ear to the door and listened. Hearing the hooves click against the floor and voices speaking softly, three voices she counted, once she started shooting, there would be more. Switching to the other side of the door, she readied a flash bomb and reached out a hoof to the door handle. She took a breath to slow her racing heart, this was always the worst part of an encounter, the buildup before the battle. "Watch you corners, check the blind spots, shoot first, shoot often, secure the hostages.", she said the familiar mantra.

Sunset lit the fuse on the flash bomb with her magic, snatched open the door and threw it into the hallway. The terrorist screamed in shock as the flash bomb filled the hallway with blinding light with a loud bang, she stormed through the door and shot the three terrorist while they were still disoriented. She quickly posted up at a corner, hearing hooves running up. Stepping around the corner leveled, the assault rifle, the five armed ponies reared up, trying to turn and run as she fired several rounds into them.

Kicking the repeater crossbows away, Sunset walked past the twitching bodies of the terrorists. Walking up to a door, she paused listening, hearing several scared ponies crying and whimpering. putting away the rifle, she drew a pistol and bucked her hooves into the door, breaking it open. Inside was a mare holding a filly as a pony shield, with a hoof crossbow pressed up to her neck, Sunset aimed the pistol.

"Back off or I'll kill her!", the terrorist mare shouted, "I swear I'll..."

Sunset fire a bullet through the terrorists head, cutting the threats. The filly screamed as the terrorists body went limp, once her hooves hit the floor, she scrambled over to some hostages. As Sunset walked slowly through the room, a stallion darted his eyes sideways to a group of desks on the left side of the room. She gave a curt nod, placed a hoof to her lips, then gestured for the hostages to get down. She crouched down and crept silently across the floor. She pressed her body against a desk, listening. She heard the twang of a crossbow string cocking.

Sunset aimed the pistol at the desk where she heard the crossbow cock and snapped off two quick shots. The terrorist pony screamed as a bullet tore through his hoof and tried to run. Sunset fired two more shots into the running terrorist, dropping him. Another terrorist sprung up from behind another desk, cranking the handle on the repeating crossbow.

"Shit!", Sunset exclaimed rolling away as the bolts ripped through the desk, pain blossomed in her wither as one of the bolts slipped through a gap in her armor. Bracing against another desk, she looked at the bolt, gritting her teeth, she reached up with a hoof and snapped it off.

"You know you're just making things harder on yourself by showing up, Bacon-head." the terrorist said pulling the handle back cocking the string. He reached back with a hoof and pulled out out five bolts from a saddlebag, then dropped them into the crossbow. "Just show your face and I can end it all for you.", he said walking between the desks.

"Keep talking fucker.", Sunset whispered through gritted teeth as she silently slid around the desk. She stayed low, posting up listening to his hooves click on the floor.

The terrorist kicked a few desks while holding the crossbow in his hoof. "Come out and play-eee-aaayayay!", he mocked turning where he had seen Sunset roll to cover. A smile crossed his lips when he saw a few drops of blood leading around the corner of the desk. "Come on, just show your face and I'll end the pain for you." He turned in surprise hearing the click of a selector switch behind him.

Sunset squeezed the trigger on the pistol with her magic after she flipped the selector switch to full auto. Bullets tore into the terrorist's body as the magazine emptied. She slumped against the desk in pain before replacing the magazine. Her wither burned where the the crossbow bolt had slipped under her armor, she felt the head of it wiggle with each beat of her heart. Taking a few pained breaths, she did everything in her power to push the pain down. The clicking of hooves on the floor caught her attention and she snapped her head up pointing the pistol, she relaxed seeing it was a hostage.

Sunset heard several hooves running in the hallway as voices shouted. Putting away the pistol, she gestured for the hostages to get into cover and the drew the shotgun. She posted up against the wall waiting. When the first terrorist walked through the door, she fired the shotgun, buckshot turned his head to mush. Racking the slide, she stepped through the door and fired again. The flurry of buckshot tore through the neck of a terrorist and threw the body against wall. She began advancing forward, shredding bodies with blasts of buckshot, stopping only when the shotgun ran dry. She quickly slid more shells into the weapon. The last terrorist in the hallway tried to unjam the handle on his crossbow before throwing it down and trying to surrender, his face evaporated in a cloud of buckshot.

Topping off the shotgun, Sunset made her way back to the room holding the hostages. She waved them out of the room. Pointing down the hallway, she said, "There's a room with a fire escape, when you get on it, stay quiet, stay low. Once you reach the bottom, run to safety." Once the last of the hostages were out of the room, she walked backwards covering them.

The police ponies had heard the bangs and screams. When they saw several hostages running towards them, they stared in confusion. When the hostages reached them, a police pony asked, "What happened?"

"She saved us! She saved us!", a colt shouted.

"Who saved you?", the police pony asked.

"The mare of death!", the colt shouted in reply, "She save us with her magical thunder sticks that spit fire!"

Once the last of the hostages had been escorted to an ambulance to be checked out, the police pony spoke into his radio, "We have confirmation that the vigilante Bacon-head is onsite. Please advise."

The radio crackled for a second before a voice came through, "Hold back, the Royal Guard have arrived and are on the way to your position."

"Ten-four.", the police pony responded before putting the radio away. Taking off his hat, he scratched his head and said to himself, "Why would the Royal Guard show up to a hostage situation and the reports of a wanted vigilante? There's something I'm missing here."

Sunset made her way through the top floor, checking the remaining rooms. Stopping at the top of the stairwell, took a few seconds to look and listen. She heard the scuffling of hooves and the end of a crossbow sticking from around a corner. She posted up against the corner at the top of the stairs, lit a pipe bomb and threw it. With a loud thump, the pipe bomb exploded. She leaned out looking seeing the spreading pool of blood. Putting away the shotgun, she pulled out the assault rifle, slapped in a fresh clip and began making her way slowly down the stairs. She checked at the landing on the second floor, seeing three dead bodies, kicking the crossbows away from the bodies, she continued on her search.

Stopping at the door to a courtroom, she paused hearing the whimper of hostages and several terrorists shouting. Drawing the knife, she reached into the pouch on the flank, pulling out a small mirror and a roll of tape. After attaching the mirror to the knife, she slid it under the door. She saw against the door the blinking magical runes of an explosive device, shifting the mirror, she began looking around the courtroom, twenty terrorists and at least as many hostages. Shifting the mirror, she saw a balcony overlooking the floor of the courtroom. Looking up and down the hallway, she saw the door leading to the balcony.

Outside, the Royal Guard arrived at the cordon. After the police ponies let them lass, the captain stopped at the wagons where the mustachioed sergeant was, "Report!"

The police sergeant jumped with a start. "Oh! Um, at noon we had some heavily armed terrorists enter into the courthouse, a few minutes later they began taking hostages. We've also had confirmation that the wanted vigilante Bacon-head is inside. So far twenty-five hostages have been released."

"Thank you for keeping things under control out here, sergeant.", the guard captain said, "We're going in now."

"Be careful, they've got repeating crossbows and needle-tip bolts.", the sergeant said as the guards began walking towards the courthouse. Among the Royal Guards was a white-coated unicorn mare, she looked familiar to him, but he couldn't place where he had seen before.

Sunset posted up at the door to the balcony. She checked the door for booby traps before slowly opening it. She cast a spell to silence the creaking of the hinges and silently crept up the stairs. One the balcony was a terrorist looking down the the courtroom. Readying the k-bar, she tapped him on the shoulder and when he looked over, she plunged the knife into his throat. She gently lowered the gurgling terrorist to the floor, before withdrawing the knife and putting it away. Setting the selector switch on the assault rifle, she scanned to floor of the courtroom. Wrapping the strap of the rifle around her forelimb, she readied it and began squeezing off shots.

With loud cracks of the rifle, the terrorists began dropping one after another. Many who ran had a bullet tear through the back of their neck or skull. Sunset quickly scanned the rifle back and forth, looking for targets. One terrorist peaked over the edge of the witness stand and the back of his head sprayed across the wall. Sunset quickly traced the rifle across the courtroom and froze when she saw a hostage with a box with a red blinking light taped to its hooves, she quickly snapped her head around seeing more hostages with blinking boxes taped to their hooves. Her eyes became pinpricks as her mind quickly put together what was happening.

As the Royal Guard entered the courthouse, explosions rocked the building. Celestia quickly dropped her disguise. "Find out what's going on!", she snapped an order. Opening her wings, she flew up to the second floor.

The courtroom filled with blinding light and fire as the bombs exploded. Sunset dove for cover to avoid the shrapnel. Looking back over the courtroom floor, she surveyed the carnage. The rifle fell to the floor of the balcony as tears began to steam down her face. The courtroom floor was charred and broken bodies laid strewn about. "No.", she whispered, her lips trembling. Slumping down to her haunches, she stared through burning tears in disbelief. Outside she heard the clatter of hooves. Reaching down, she drew a in her pistol, pressed it under chin, closed her eyes and braced herself for oblivion. A hoof struck the pistol from her magic, catching her completely off guard. Looking over she saw her old teacher.

Celestia landed outside the courtroom, the doors had been blown off and inside was a smoldering charnel house. A stunned disbelief washed over her as she slowly walked in. Above her, she heard a clattering and she saw a stunned slumping to the floor. Celestia went to say something, when she saw Sunset levitate a pistol and place it under her chin. Leaping with all her might, she flew up and knocked the pistol away. When Sunset looked over at her, Celestia pulled her in tight for a hug. Releasing the hug, she asked, "What happened?"

"They planted bombs on the hostages. I didn't spot them until too late.", Sunset said pushing back tears, "All those years in the corps and I make the rookie mistake of not checking for booby traps." She slammed a hoof down hard on the floor angry with herself.

Celestia levitated the pistol and assault rifle and placed them in the holsters on Sunset. "I don't blame you. I found out shortly before coming here from Twilight that this was a set-up by mob boss Lil Bruno. Let's get you out of here before them media arrives."

Sunset nodded, then rose to her hooves wincing in pain at the crossbow bolt head still lodged in her wither.

Celestia noticed Sunset wince and the trickle of blood on her foreleg. "Sunset, you're hurt."

"I'll be fine. It's only about as bad as these.", Sunset said gesturing to the scars on her cheek and ear.

"Still, it doesn't matter.", Celestia said sternly, "I'm taking you the castle to get treated. Hold on." She lit the magic in her horn and teleported them both.

Twilight walked through the castle, her legs bound in the wheelchair, her son Dusk Shine on her back, his face and hooves smeared with chocolate. Cadance walked next to her.

"I keep telling you and Shiny no more chocolate for him, it'll spoil his appetite.", Twilight said looking sideways at her sister-in-law fighting back a smile.

"What kind of aunt would I be if I didn't spoil my nephew?", Cadance asked giving her best "What?! I'm innocent!" smile.

Twilight clucked with laughter. "Well maybe I should get Shiny to trade up for a better model.", Twilight mocked.

Cadance gasped in mock offence. "Well I remember a little silly filly that I used to foalsit who didn't complain when I gave her chocolate. Have you seen her around anywhere?", Cadance said sticking her tongue out.

Twilight chuckled, "Fair enough. But could at the very least clean him before giving him back to me?"

"No way Jose!", Cadance said. "I never cleaned you up after giving you chocolate before giving you back to your parents. Why would I break the streak now?"

Twilight turned and narrowed her eyes at Cadance with a malicious grin, "Just you wait, one day you and Shiny will have a foal and I'll do the same."

Celestia and Sunset appeared in a flash of golden light startling Cadance and Twilight. Sunset winced in pain and slumped against a wall, placing a hoof to her wither.

As Cadance rushed over,Sunset undid the straps on her armor, letting it drop to the floor. Pulling out the medkit from a pouch, she laid it on the floor and flipped it open. Pulling out the k-bar, she sterilized it with her magic and dug out the crossbow bolt head, it landed on the floor a metallic chink.

"Let me help you out.", Cadance said levitating gauze and antiseptic out of the medkit.

As Cadance helped patch up Sunset, Celestia levitated the crossbow bolt head in her magic and cleaned the blood from it.

"It looks like a needle-tip the Royal Guard uses, but the metal is wrong.", Celestia said squinting. She made her way to the guard barracks.

Shining Armor was performing an inspection of the new recruits when Celestia walked up. "Captain Shining Armor, I need you to come with me.", she said.

Shining directed two of the officers with him to continue the inspection as he left with Celestia. "Is there a problem?"

Celestia floated over the crossbow bolt head over to Shining. "Tell me what do you make of this."

Taking the head in his magic, Shining inspected it. "It looks like a standard armor piercing needle-tip.", he said, "But the metal composition is wrong.The Royal Guard, Wonderbolts and the army uses silvered steel for all their heads. I have heard of some of the units on the frontier using inferior metals if their running short of supplies. Where did you find this?"

"Sunset just dug this out of her wither after combatting some terrorists in Baltimare.", Celestia said turning, "I want you to personally inspect all the molds and dies here in the palace armory. I'm sending similar orders to the all military regiments."

Three days later Celestia was in her office looking over reports with a stern look on her face. She turned her attention to the partially disassembled repeating crossbow on the desk. As she levitated the pieces up looking them over, there was a soft knock on the door. "Come in.", she said putting the parts down. Luna and Bulwark walked in.

"Is there a problem with that repeating crossbow sister?", Luna asked with a yawn.

"That isn't standard issue.", Bulwark said, "It's made of inferior materials."

"Somepony supplied a group of terrorists working for a mob boss in Baltimare with several like this.", Celestia said, "Needle-tips too. I intend to find who is supplying criminals with weapons meant for the military." She opened a nearby chest and levitated out a shirt of chain armor. "Somepony is also getting their hooves on the schematics for Wonderbolt armor." She levitated over one of the reports. "A quartermaster in Appleloosa reported that one of their molds used to make the needle-tips were reported missing. Now who would benefit from supplying criminal organizations with military gear?"

There was a knock on the door and Twilight came in. She laid a report on Celestia's desk. "I ran the metallurgical analysis on the crossbow bolt head and chain armor. There's a two percent antimony impurity and a one percent sulfur impurity. The only steel I know of with those impurities came from..."

"Neighpon.", Celestia said with a growl, "Between this and the attack on the palace those months ago proves the involvement of the hoof."

"Unless they've selected a new grand master, all we've got is a loose few ponies bearing their name.", Luna said, "Besides Styx was killed long ago, so any new grand master wouldn't be able to unite all the assorted families."

Celestia rose from her desk. "I know who can give me the answers I need."

Dark Mare over Manehattan

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Fluttershy stepped out of the passenger car and onto the platform in Manehattan, her lean muscled frame hidden under an elegant, but simple pantsuit, extensions concealed that her mane and tail were now close-cropped. She took a breath, slipping into her meek and shy persona that most ponies knew. She looked around the platform as the baggage ponies unloaded her luggage and racks of clothes sewn for a fashion show to help the families of the victims of the terror attack that had been carried out by The Mare Who Laughs last year. Seeing Photo Finish being carried up by her assistants, Fluttershy quickly donned a shy and insecure expression.

Photo Finish's assistants placed the platform they were carrying her and she quickly descended, greeting Fluttershy with two quick air kisses on either side of the yellow pegasus' face, "*mwah-mwah* Ah Flootershy! Sho good to see joo again!"

Fluttershy ducked her face behind the extensions in her mane and forced a blush. "Oh...um...thank you?"

Photo Finish quickly trotted over to the rack of clothes and inspect them with her hooves. "Zees are for ze fashion show, jes?"

Fluttershy gave a timid nod.

Photo Finish quickly tugged at at the hems, then took out a jeweler's monocle to inspect the stitching. "Jes, jes. Ze stitching isht exquisite." Putting away the monocle, she kissed her hoof in an over-dramatic gesture. "*mwah* I dare say Flootershy, joo are ze perfect heir to Rarity's empire!"

"Oh...um...er...thank you? But I'm only doing this to help out Rarity until she is able to start making clothes again. Considering she was nearly killed and her shop burning down."

Photo Finish's expression turned sad momentarily. She walked over and gently patted Fluttershy on her wither. "Jes, such a pity zat. She isht fortunate to haff such a good friend." She ascended back on top her platform and quickly clicked her hooves together. "Vell I shall see joo at ze shaw zen. Oh und Flootershy, if joo ever deshide to come back to modeling, I shtill haff a shpot open for joo."

Fluttershy legimately blushed. "Um...thank you."

"Now Photo Finish goes!", the eccentric Germane fashion pony exclaimed as her assistants lifted her platform and trotted off.

Fluttershy put on her saddlebags and picked up a faux leather suitcase with a small padlock on it. She checked her saddlebags, making sure the key to the padlock was secured in it and then made her way to a carriage that was waiting for her, while the baggage ponies loaded the rest of the luggage and rack of clothes on it. Once the last of the luggage was secured, the carriage took off carrying Fluttershy to the historic Ponedorf Astoria.
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Celestia stepped into what appeared to be a plain and unassuming alcove in the palace that held a simple wooden cabinet, she quickly looked around making sure there were no ponies dropping eves and opened the door. On the shelf was an ancient Neighponese tea ceremony set. The diarch of the sun gingerly reached up a hoof and tipped one of the small jade cups on its side. After a few seconds there was a soft, nearly inaudible click and the alcove rotated, bringing the princess with it.

Once the alcove finished rotating, Celestia took a second to pause and look around. She found herself standing at the top of a ramp that gently sloped downwards and curved slightly to her left, leading deep into an ancient part of the castle. Celestia walked calmly down the ramp, small alcoves on the wall containing small clumps of luminescent moss that bathed the ramp in an dim, eerie greenish-white light. Her golden shoes clicked softly on the stone of the ramp as she rounded the curve towards a simple wooden door with soft light creeping through the crack.

Reaching the door, Celestia out a hoof to the handle and opened the door. Walking in, she looked around the room, it was filled with row upon row of new inductees into the shadow guard, each of them criminals convicted of crimes of the highest caliber, murderers, rapists, foalnappers casters of dark and forbidden magics, willful users of dark magic artifacts and those whom had committed high treason, all them selected for training only if they were truly repentant of the crimes they had committed and agreed to the training as compensatory punishment for their crimes.

At the head of the room was a unicorn mare, weaving a spell to implant the inductees with the memory charms that would blank their memories in the event they were compromised and the trigger spells to activate their training when they were needed. Celestia quietly observed the mare as she wove the spells, she had been arrested outside Ponyville after she had used the alicorn amulet in an attempt to enslave the town. Once the mare finished weaving her charms, Celestia approached her. The unicorn turned and silently bowed before the solar diarch.

"Is your master available?", Celestia asked.

The unicorn mare rose and silently pointed to a small door on the far side of the room.

Celestia gave a quick nod as she walked across the room and opened the door. Inside the room an ancient Neighponese unicorn sat on a mat on the floor in a meditative pose.

"I have been expecting you, princess.", Mistmane said without opening her eyes, "Would care for some tea?" Igniting the magic in her gracefully curving horn, she levitated a small oil pot with wick, a simple jade teapot, an intricately carved wooden box, two porcelain cups and a low table over. Flipping the lid on the wooden box open, Mistmane reached in with a hoof and placed two scoops of jasmine tea into each cup with measured ceremony. Lighting the oil pot with a match, she placed the lade teapot on the flame.

Once the tea was ready, Celestia took one of the steaming cups in her magic, blew gently on it and took a quiet sip. "If you were expecting me, then you know why I'm here."

Mistmane opened one eye and a slight smile made the corners of her mouth curl up slightly. "You're here in concern that an ancient enemy has returned. I assure that it has never left."

"But Stygian was slain over a thousand years ago, leaving the Hoof leaderless all these centuries. Though they never fully went away, all that is left are a few of their clans who work as mercenaries."

Mistmane slowly slowly opened her eyes. "So sure are you? Did the thousand years of sleeplessness muddle your senses?"

Celestia frowned and put down the teacup. "If Stygian is still alive, he'd be ancient. How has he eluded my, Luna's, Bulwark's and Midnight's foresight?"

"Have you forgotten the lessons of Starswirl so easily?", Mistmane replied with a smile, "Out of the tribes, neither the unicorns nor the pegasi have the gift of foresight. When we found you and your three siblings all those centuries ago in that earth pony village, you all were nearly a hundred years ago, but still barely taller than ten year old foals, your flanks were still blank. None in the village knew where you all had come from originally as they found you four wandering the woods."

"I don't need a history lesson about my own foalhood. Bulwark, Luna, Midnight and I are the last survivors Hippolytia." Celestia stared off to the distant wall. "An even more ancient enemy brought that golden kingdom down in flames, only to have himself into the void between all things."

"What of your grandnieces and nephews? Your own descendants? Are they not also heirs of that grand city-state?", Mistmane asked, "As for Stygian, you know as well as I that one does not make deals with dark forces and tamper with dark magics as much as he without receiving punishment. His was to be banished from death. As far as him being able to hide from your and your sibling's foresight, who says that one of your siblings hasn't seen him and has been working to undermine his works from the shadows. Remember that even the wisest of us cannot see all ends. Though Stygian eludes my sight for now, he has forgotten his lessons about letting his reach exceeding his grasp."

Celestia licked her lips in thought. "Two last thing I wish to ask you. What is Stygian planning and what of the elements? They're broken now and cannot be called upon until new bearers are chosen."

Mistmane curled the corners of her mouth up enigmatically. "Still asking questions that you know the answers to? Very well, I shall humor you for now. Stygian's plans are the same as they always have, burn society and rebuild it in his own image. As for the elements, four still stand, metaphorically, though if you were to open the vault, you'll ind two of them gone, along with your older brother."

Celestia scowled as she rose to her hooves. "These last bits of information I give without prompting...", Mistmane called, "Stygian is the one who slew Starswirl with a drop of poison and had Somnambula slain. Once the Crystal Empire returns, search the libraries, you'll find who gave Sombra the page from Grogar's book."
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Once the fashion show was over, Fluttershy walked into her hotel room carrying three checks. She sat down at at the desk and filled out the deposit slips from the Ponyville bank. One check was from the take from ticket sales, the second was from the sale of the clothes and the third was her modest commission of three percent she received. She slipped the first two checks along with the corresponding deposit slips into an envelope for the blind trust she had set up for Rarity if she ever turned up again, she had set up a special notice for the account in the event her friend never turned up for the money to go to Sweetie Belle when she turned eighteen. The third check along with the deposit slip she slipped into another envelope. Sealing them both, she applied stamps and addressed them for the First Bank of Ponyville.

Fluttershy sighed as she walked over to the coffee pot, picked up the carafe in her teeth and filled it from the sink in the bathroom. Filling the back of the coffee pot with the water, she placed a filter of grounds in the basket and turned the automatic drip on. Slipping out of the pantsuit, she hung the "do not disturb" sign on the outside of the door and stepped into the shower, the fashion show was over, now her real job was about to begin.

As the hot water cascaded down her body, Fluttershy trembled in anticipation. Tonight was the first real patrol, she had spent months training her strength and endurance to match a stallion of subsequent size. As the hot water streamed down her and the steam curled up around her hooves, the butter-yellow pegasus mare felt the nerves get the best of her and her stomach heaved, causing her to retch. Fluttershy gasped for air as she watched the small pool of stomach bile slowly swril down the shower drain.

Fluttershy stepped out of the shower and wiped the condensation off the mirror with a hoof. She scowled seeing she was still wearing the pink extensions in her mane and tail. Unsnapping them, she she walked to the bed in her hotel room and stashed the extensions in her saddle bags. Taking the key from the saddlebags, she unlocked the suitcase and pulled the black suit she had painstakingly sew all those months ago. After slipping on and adjusting the suit, she slipped on the cowl the slipped on the wing covers.

Walking over to a nearby floor mirror, she looked the suit over that made her look like a rare thestral and gave it a few last minute adjustments. "Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot.", Fluttershy recited the mantra, "Make them think your are one of the lords of Tartarus come to collect their souls and they shall cower before you and flee." Grabbing the carafe from the coffee pot, she poured the steaming dark liquid into a ceramic cup and drank it down unsweetened, grabbing a thermos from her saddlebags, she filled it before strapping it to her body.

Fluttershy flipped off all the lights and made sure there was nopony in the hallway, she then opened the window to the fire escape. Grabbing a piece of tape from the nearby dispenser, she placed it on the window lock so it would latch back and stepped out. Spreading her wings, she flew off into the night before alighting on the roof of a building several blocks down.

Fluttershy leapt, flapped and glided from rooftop to rooftop, occasionally clicking her tongue or softly nickering to the creatures of the night to help guide her. Pausing on a rooftop, she listened to a bat telling her about some muggers sneaking up on a couple. Gliding over the rooftops, a nightingale chirped guiding her to the alleyway where the muggers had the couple corralled in.

Fluttershy perched on the edge of the roof watching the five muggers close in wielding broken bottles and rusty pipes, while the stallion tried to valiantly defend his marefriend. She quickly assessed the situation, spreading her wings, the black-clad pegasus mare swooped down, lining up her four hooves on one of the five muggers in the center of the group. The pony turned his head at the last second seeing what looked like a black shadow swooping at him before he was sent tumbling across the ground. Fluttershy quickly bucked her hooves into the head of a second mugger, knocking him out almost instantly. The three remain muggers began slowly backing away.

Fluttershy sprang on one of the muggers that separated from the other two. She struck out, shattering the broken bottle he was holding with one hoof while knocking him out with a follow-up strike. Two of the muggers rushed her from behind and she ducked down under his attack. Lifting her body up, she flipped the mugger over her and bucked into the last one, knocking him unconscious.

The mugger who had been flipped rose to his hooves trembling. "Wh-who are you?"

Fluttershy gave a predatory growl before responding in a soft, gravelly tone, "I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the bunny that chews up your garden. I am the uninvited guest to your tea party. I am the Dark Mare and I have come for you."

The last mugger decided running away was the better part of valor. Fluttershy turned to the terrified couple and whispered, "Are you okay." The stallion found that for that moment he had forgotten how to use words. Unstrapping the thermos from her body, unscrewing the lid, she poured some lukewarm coffee and offered it. The stallion extended a shaking hoof, then withdrew it in fear, Fluttershy took a sip of the coffee to show it was okay to drink and offered it again. The stallion took the thermos lid and took a couple of hasty swallows, then passed to to his marefriend. Taking the lid back, she poured the last few drops back into the thermos and strapped it back to her body. "Be careful, neighborhoods like this aren't safe at night.", she said before pointing to the exit of the alleyway. After the couple had left, Fluttershy looked around the alley to find anything to tie the unconscious muggers up, she didn't notice a unicorn mare wearing black body armor with several guns strapped to her back watching her through a pair of field glasses from a nearby rooftop.

Fluttershy flapped into the air, leaving the alleyway and the tied up muggers behind before the couple could return with the police. Flying through the air, the adrenaline rushing in her veins, she gave a midair twirl. The pegasus mare felt good! Better than good! She felt alive! More alive than she had in many months. In her adrenaline-fueled celebrations, she failed to notice the unicorn mare tracking her from rooftop to rooftop, teleporting with red flashes of light.

Once the adrenaline had burned off, Fluttershy felt shaky as her stomach began doing the lambada. The pegasus mare decided that she had enough for the night and decided to go back to the hotel, hopefully there was some pink bismuth in the medicine cabinet. Landing on the fire escape outside her room, she opened the window and slipped inside, pulling the tape off the lock.

Sunset watched the black-clad mare slip in the window at the hotel through her field glasses. She waited for the light to come on in the room before teleporting onto the fire escape. Peeking through the crack in the curtain, she watched Fluttershy slip out of the outfit and cram it into a suitcase before walking into the bathroom. "Time to introduce myself.", she said softly before teleporting inside. She heard the pegasus mare retching in the bathroom. "You're just a rookie that got lucky.", she whispered. Sunset took out a pistol and decided to take a seat and wait for her to come out the bathroom.

Fluttershy spit out the last of the acidic bile mixed with saliva into the toilet as she watched the mixture of coffee and stomach juices swirling in the bowl. Reaching up with a hoof she flushed the toilet and walked over to the sink to rinse out her mouth. Opening the medicine cabinet, she grabbed the small bottle of pink bismuth, cracked it open and chugged down a few swallows. Walking out into the main room, she froze seeing a unicorn mare wearing black body armor with a stylized skull, her face painted up like a skull, a black bandanna on her head and a strange box levitating in a red magical field.

"Don't make any sudden moves or I'll put three in you before you can blink.", Sunset said in a calm tone, "You should really learn to pay attention to you surroundings, I was able to track you easily enough and if I wanted to kill you, you'd have never made it out of the bathroom. I'll have to admit your little bat cosplay is impressive and you've had some training, not military, but you can handle yourself."

"I...uh...um...don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit!" Sunset rose to her hooves and kicked the suitcase over, causing the black outfit fall out.

Fluttershy looked down at her black costume and then back to Sunset, she knew she was had. She looked around sizing up the situation, she didn't know what the strange box the unicorn was levitating could do, nor the two strange long objects she had strapped to her back, everything inside told her that this mare was extremely dangerous.

Sunset gestured to the bed with the muzzle of her gun and Fluttershy complied. Walking over to the desk and looked at the envelopes laying on it. Behind her she heard shuffle forward. "Don't get stupid, 'Fluttershy Breeze', I've killed more people and ponies than you can guess."

Fluttershy say back down on the bed. "What are 'people'?"

"They're kinda like ponies, except they walk on two legs, have hands, no fur except on their groins and only mane-like hair on the heads. Think of a taller and more intelligent ape with less hair." She levitated a piece of stationary and a quill, hastily scrawling out a letter to Twilight, then teleported it in a flash. "I just did you a favor by going ahead and sending a letter to Twilight. She's smart enough that she'd figure out who you are and send someone to summon you to her."

Fluttershy held her tongue as she didn't want to put Twilight or her colt in danger from this mare, even if she was in the castle in Canterlot. But one thought nagged at the back of her mind, how does this mare know Twilight?

"So what do you call yourself?"

"What?"

"Did I fucking stutter?"

Fluttershy set her jaw for a moment, everything in her wanted to give this unicorn The Stare and scold her for cursing at her, but she restrained herself as she didn't know if it would work on this mare, so instead she decided to answer the question, "Dark Mare."

Sunset snorted, trying to restrain her laughter. "It's not as dumb as I thought it would be. If you had called yourself something like Batmare or Batpony, I would have pissed myself laughing." Sunset collected herself before continuing, "Why do you do it?"

Fluttershy held her tongue for a moment reading the non-verbal cues of this mare. "My friend was attacked and left in a wheelchair by a very bad pony. Then that pony foalnapped me and two of my friends. She tortured us and nearly killed one of my friends."

Sunset sighed and put her pistol back in its holster. She turned to face Fluttershy, "You're one of Twilight's friends."

Fluttershy winced slightly in the realization she had revealed too much, but now that the unicorn mare was facing her, she would take this opportunity to use one of her natural talents to study her and better understand her. Fluttershy looked deep into Sunset's eyes, after a few moments she could see it all, the intensity, the training, the hurt, the loss and something else...trauma, this mare did what she did because she didn't know how to turn it off. "I'd ask why you do what you do, but you don't know how to turn off, so you use it to hurt those who hurt others." She shuffled slightly and stood up off the bed, slowly walking towards Sunset.

Sunset gasped, this pegasus had just read her like a book. She backed up slowly as Fluttershy was slowly walking towards her. She wanted to run, jump out a window, something, but she found she couldn't as her legs wouldn't comply. She thought about charging forward and barreling over this pegasus, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, the mare radiated nothing but kindness and empathy.

As Fluttershy reached Sunset, she reached out a hoof and gently touched it to the mare's foreleg. She gave a gentle smile and spoke in a soft, reassuring tone, "Shh! It's okay."

Sunset found herself crumbling as her resolve melted, deep inside the years of hurt and loss began welling up as tears began welling up in her eyes. Her legs failed her and she slumped forward. She found herself caught by the butter-yellow pegasus mare in a hug and Sunset began to cry. "Oh God!", she said between sobs, "I've seen my friends ripped apart by bombs and bullets! I've had to kill kids just to survive!"

Fluttershy said nothing as she let this hurting mare get everything out.

After a while Sunset finally calmed down and gently pushed Fluttershy away. She felt, not better, but that some of the weight was no longer on her. "Thank you.", She whispered, "I have to go, there's a pony I have to go and see." In a flash of red light, she teleported out of the room and on to the roof of a building across from the hotel. There was a crime boss who had tried to frame her that she had a meeting with. Taking the compact out from inside her armor, she flipped it open and touched up her tear streaked skull makeup, then stole out into the dark.

Fluttershy hastily donned her Dark Mare outfit, rigged the lock on the window again and took flight out into the night. Something inside her said this mare would need help.
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Langley, Virginia The Human World

A car pulled into the parking garage of the CIA. Once it pulled into a parking spot, a young woman stepped out wearing a simple gray suit with white button-up shirt, her dark hair was highlighted by a single magenta stripe. After adjusting her wire-framed glasses, she clipped a badge to her lapel that read "Hailey Gordon", the the insignia on the badge indicated she was a part of the occult investigation division.

Hailey walked up to a door with biometric security. Taking off her glasses, she placed a thumb to a small screen and her eye to a small lens. With small flickers of red light, the biometric scanners read her thumbprint and retina, she leaned away from the scanner rubbing her eye in frustration, then put her glasses back on. The door opened with a soft click and she pushed it open. Inside were two guards wearing dark blue pants and light blue shirts, each holding a shotgun. They quickly relaxed and snapped her a quick salute, which she returned before walking past them.

Hailey stopped at the metal detector. The took her pistol out from under her jacket, pulled the magazine out and shucked the chambered round, then placed them in a small plastic bin. She did the same with her glasses, the change in her pocket and her car keys.

"Some of us from the office are going out for drinks after we get off, you wanna join us Hailey?", the guard asked.

"After I see what old iron ass wants, you're on Jim.", Hailey said with a smile. She took a breath and stepped through the metal detector. She gave an aggravated when it beeped. She stood still as Jim walked over with a metal detecting wand.

"Sorry about this Hailey.", Jim apologized, "It's probably picking up you zipper and bra clasp again."

Hailey held her arms out to her sides as Jim waved the metal detector. Just as he said, it went off where her zipper and bra clasp was. She walked over to where there were some blinds set up. A female guard met her behind the blinds with a pair of sweat pants. Hailey quickly unsnapped her pants and the slid them off, then reached under her shirt unsnapping her bra. She dropped her pants and bra in a nearby plastic bin and walked through the metal detector again.

The female guard pointed her over to a small side room. Hailey stepped in and got dressed. Stepping out, she tossed the sweat pants to a guard. Walking to a guard behind a cage, she surrendered her pistol and the walked in the offices. Walking through the offices, she stopped at the receptionists desk. "Hey Rosie, how's the kids?"

Rosie looked up to Hailey. "Spoiled as usual." She turned a picture frame around holding a recent picture of her, her husband and three kids holding ice cream cones at the beach, the youngest had ice cream all over her mouth. "This is from our most recent trip to the cape."

Hailey chuckled as she looked at the picture. "You know what old iron ass wants with me?"

"Nah. I only know that he wants a video meeting with you."

Hailey frowned slightly. "I'll take it in my office unless he wants to talk to me somewhere else."

Rosie smiled softly. "He didn't tell me anything to the difference."

Hailey nodded and waived bye to Rosie as she made her way to her office. Stepping in, she flipped on the light switch and looked to her desk. Besides her computer, there was a box with several wax seals on it. Sitting down she looked over the box and seals. She recognized the standard CIA seals, but what caught her off guard was the MI-Five and BND seals. "What does British and German intelligence have to do with this?" Breaking open the seals, she pulled out two books, one was a copy of the Dresden codex that had the seal of a university in Berlin inside the front cover, the other was a much newer copy with the seal of the Equus county library back in her home state of Iowa.

Hailey rubbed her chin in thought. "What does the Dresden codex have to do with this." Taking out the two files marked "classified: authorized eyes only", she broke the seal on the first and flipped through it. It contained a USMC file on a woman with red hair with blonde steaks named Danielle Steinem, her eyes were drawn to the part that said AWOL. She continued to flip through the file, it contained a school file, a juvie record, a psych evaluation from when she was younger and security camera pictures of her stealing the newer copy of the book that sat on her desk. She drummed her fingers together. "What does this have to do with an AWOL marine."

Hailey opened the other file. It contained a complete record on Canterlot High School, including the complete records on all strange occult happenings. "Did this Danielle Steinem get herself involved in some cult or some supernatural occurrence?" After stacking the files and books on her desk, she turned on her computer. After it finished booting up, she typed in her password and connected to the secure server. Almost immediately there was a message blinking for her.

Hailey clicked on the message and opened up the video conference. Three small windows popped up, containing the pixilated and blurred images of two men and a woman. "Director.", she said in a clam and professional tone, "Am I safe in assuming that these two are from MI-Five and BHD?"

"Yes you are agent Sparkle.", the first pixelated man said, "This is agent Gekritzel and agent Scratch. After your report several months ago about the energy residue from suspected occult activities, we checked all known history on Canterlot High and found it to be a hotbed in the past of supernatural occurrences. After one of the sweep teams recovered the book stolen from the county library, we had to contact our allies to see if they had any similar records of that particular book."

Agent Sparkle tapped her fingers together. "So this is what it has to do with the Dresden codex."

"Our best occult investigators have determined that many pages of the Dresden codex contains several passages from no known language.", Agent Gekrtizel said in near-perfect English.

"The Queen's book also contains similar passages.", Agent Scratch replied, "But we couldn't get the clearance to send the CIA any copies."

"What are my orders?", Agent Sparkle asked.

The director replied, "You have a month to decipher the available script before going to Canterlot High and determine whether the supernatural activity is a danger. You will be assigned a standard containment team for protection. Good luck and Godspeed." All three windows went blank.

Hailey sat at her desk, drumming her fingers in deep thought before sighing, "Looks like I'll have to cancel those drinks." She opened a drawer on her desk and fished out a simple black medallion, slipped it on and tucked it under her shirt.

Dark Mare over Manehattan: Strange bedfellows

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Sunset hurried across the roofs of buildings in Manehattan, teleporting across gaps that were too wide to jump. She was so focused on reaching her target that she didn't bother to look in the sky above her. If she did, she would have seen a black-clad figure flying above, tailing her.

Sunset came to a stop on a rooftop on the edge of Manehattan, overlooking a two story micro-mansion surrounded by a wrought iron fence. Guards stood on the balconies, at the front gate or patrolled the yard. Reaching in her bags, Sunset pulled out a picture of a stallion wearing a tack track suit, with a slick-backed mane and a layout of the micro-mansion. "You thought you could play me like a cheap fiddle, eh lil Bruno?", she whispered to herself, "You've your song and dance, now it's time to pay the piper." Putting the picture away, she shimmied down a drain pipe and slunk through the shadows to a spot on the fence she had committed to memory. Reaching a drain culvert, Sunset placed stopper in the muzzles of her guns and took a deep breath before slipping into the water.

Fluttershy landed on a lightpost, watching Sunset slip into the water at a culvert on the side of the fence. "What is she doing?" She softly nickered to get the attention of a passing night bird. When the night bird landed, she quickly had a quiet conversation with it. Her eyes went wide upon hearing the information and clicked her tongue to call some passing bats.

Lil Bruno sat behind a desk in his office, toking on a cigarillo. "Come in.", he said after hearing a soft knock at his door.

A heavily muscled stallion walked in the office, holding a rolled up note in his teeth. Spitting the note onto the desk, he said, "This just came for ya boss."

Lil Bruno unrolled the letter and read it to himself. Dear Bruno, You have full right to be scared, but I won't be taking this job. I have a strict rule about not killing hostages or bystanders. I will give you this for free, pray that when Bacon-head finds you, she kills you quickly. -G Lil Bruno scoffed as he threw the letter on the desk.

As Sunset paddled through the murky water in the culvert and came at a stop when she arrived at a grate. Usinger her magic, she checked for alarm spells and booby traps and was reasonably pleased finding none. Drawing her, she placed it between teeth, then lit the magic in her horn and started undoing the bolts on the grate. The grate came loose with a dull thunk, muted by the water and Sunset saw through the drain pipe that lead to the small pond. Blowing the air out of her lungs as she swam to the surface of the pond, she took in a quiet breath as she broke through the surface of the pond and quickly looked around. Taking in another deep breath, she slipped back under the surface and swam towards a clump of reeds she had seen on the bank of the pond.

The two guards at the gate gaped at the swarm of bats flying overhead. Fluttershy swooped out of the darkness, slamming her rear hooves into side of the first guard, knocking him unconscious. Before the second guard could shout, she slammed a forehoof into his gut, driving the air from his lungs, then quickly knocked him out. Fluttershy quickly nodded her thanks to the bats before dragging the two unconscious guards away. Leaping up, she flew as quietly as possible over the fence and landed on the corner of the micro-mansion, twisting her ears around listening.

Sunset slipped into the clump of reeds and quickly looked around. Seeing a guard walk by, she pulled the k-bar from her teeth and gave a soft whistle. When the guard came to investigate, she plunged the knife into his throat and drug the body into the reeds, to hide it. Slipping out of the reeds, she drew a pistol from its holster, popped the stopper from the muzzle and held it and the knife in a ready position as she quietly scrambled to a nearby garden shed. Peeking into the shed, she saw a guard sitting on an old chair, drinking a bottle of beer. Grabbing an pair of garden shears on her magic, she thrust them into the guard's throat and hastily threw a tarp over the body. Slipping back into the shadows, she made her way to the servant's entrance.

Fluttershy caught sight of Sunset slipping into the shadows and took to the air. Flying quietly over the yard, she saw Sunset setting up outside the servant's entrance and the saw a guard walking towards the corner nearest Sunset. Swooping down, her hooves collided with the head of the guard as he turned the corner, knocking him unconscious. She froze when the edge of a knife and the muzzle of a pistol were respectively pressed against her throat and temple. She saw in the eyes of Sunset, not the hurt and damaged mare who had cried on her shoulder earlier, but a stone cold killer.

Sunset relaxed the k-bar and pistol, letting the slip back into the ready position. "What the fuck are you doing here?!", she whispered hoarsely.

"When you left, I figured I'd help you out.", Fluttershy whispered back.

Sunset scowled for a moment. "Fine, I could use a second pair of eyes.", she whispered, "Watch your corners. Be mindful of blind spots. Look our for hostages and bystanders. Shoot early, shoot often." She flipped the pistol around in her magic and offered to Fluttershy. When the pegasus refused the pistol, she flipped it back around into the ready position. "Get ready, things will go to shit fast." Using her magic, she silenced the hinges on the door as she opened it.

As both mares peeked through the crack in the door, they saw a guard kissing on the neck of a unicorn mare with a black coat and red mane, wearing a maid's uniform. The unicorn in the maid's uniform opened an eye, seeing the door slowly open. As Sunset leveled her pistol preparing to fire, the unicorn mare in the maid's uniform quickly grabbed the guard's head between her hooves and quickly twisted it around, breaking his neck with a wet crunch.

Sunset rushed in and pinned the unicorn maid to the wall as she placed the muzzle of the pistol against her head. "Who the fuck are you?!", she hissed through gritted teeth. Feeling a tap between her forelegs, Sunset looked down seeing a blade extended from the maid's hoof. "Fucking spook!", she spat letting the unicorn mare go.

"Careful what you say, if I had wanted you dead, you'd have never even know I was here. But to answer your question comrade, I am a friend. You can call me Vdova."

Fluttershy watched as Vdova picked up the repeating crossbow off the dead guard, slung it across her back and quickly slipped out of the maid's uniform. She walked up to Sunset and whispered, "I don't think she's a ghost."

"Shut the fuck up.", Sunset said back quietly.

"Da, what she said.", Vdova whispered back, "There's about thirty guards in the dinning room. They've been drinking pretty heavily and ordering fresh bottles about thirty minutes from the dumb waiter."

Sunset nodded. "So what's your part in this?"

"There's an old enemy that was thought long dead back in play called the Hoof. On behalf of Prince Bulwark, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Prince Midnight, the shadow guard and all of Equestria and her allies, I'm here to evaluate your performance and recruit you.", Vdova whispered, "Though the world at large doesn't know it yet, we are at war."

"So once again I'm fighting in this man's war.", Sunset snarled, "And if I refuse?"

"Then you spend the rest of your natural life rotting away in a dungeon for multiple murder."

Sunset sneered at Vdova. "Fine! But I'm keeping my eyes on you. If you even so much as even sniffle or fart in a way I don't like, you'll find out firsthand what a nine millimetre bullet going through your brain feels like."

"Fair enough.", Vdova replied, "But for now you have a criminal to settle a score with."

The three mares crept through the darkened kitchens, they came to a stop spotting a small stack of blocks with magical runes on them. "Looks like Santa Clause came early.", Sunset said with a wicked smile, "Here, a gift for Celestia from me." She tossed one of the deactivated explosives to Vdova.

"Who's Sandy Claws?", Fluttershy asked.

"What?! How do you not...forget it, sometimes I forget I'm in Equestria.", Sunset whispered. The dumb waiter buzzed and a light blinked on it, a wicked smile spread across Sunset's face. "Let's give them their Christmas gift a little early." Placing one of the blocks on a small tray, she used her magic to set the rune to pressure detonation, gently placed a bottle of expensive Prench wine on it and placed the tray gently in the dumb waiter.

Sunset pointed to the stairs leading up to the next level and pressed the button the dumb waiter. Posting up at the door, Sunset glance back over her withers making sure the other two mares were ready as she waited for the "cue".

In his office, lil Bruno was nearly knocked out of his desk chair when the micro-mansion lurched. "What the fuck was that?!"

Sunset burst through the door and into the dining room as split second after the block of explosive went off. Wading through the smoky room, she snapped off shots into the bodies of dazed guards that were staggering around. She snatched up three wound guards and tossed them against the wall. Placing the muzzle of the pistol against the fir guard's head, she said, "Alright shit stain, listen up because I'm only going to ask once. Where's your boss?"

The guard spit in Sunset's face. "Fuck you!"

"Wrong answer." She squeezed off a shot through his head. Turning to the second guard, she didn't even bother to ask anything before shooting him. She turned her attention to the third guard.

"Alright! Alright! I'll talk!", the guard shouted in a terrified tone, "Lil Bruno is upstairs in his office!"

Sunset pulled out the floor plan to the micor-mansion. "Show me." After the guard pointed with a hoof, she smiled. Thank you. You've been most helpful.", she said before shooting him. Replacing the magazine in the pistol with a fresh one, she began casually strolling towards the stairs, shooting an guards trying to crawl away.

Fluttershy watched in horror as Sunset casually shot the injured guards. "Wh-why are you...oh Celestia I think I'm going to be*hurk*"

Sunset clamped down on Fluttershy's muzzle with her magic. "Don't you puke! You swallow that shit right now! You can puke after the mission is over!" After Fluttershy swallowed hard, she released her magic.

"This is war comrade.", Vdova said to Fluttershy, "Her particular talents she picked up allow her to kill bad ponies without a second thought."

"Damn straight!", Sunset quipped. She tossed a pistol to Vdova. "You know how to use one of these?"

Vdova caught the pistol in her magic and replied, "You just point this end at whoever I wanna kill and squeeze this little lever, da?"

Sunset grunted in approval as she put her pistol away and drew her shotgun. Walking over to the base of the stairs, she said, "Ladies, I think it's time we introduce ourselves." Stopping at door to the third floor, she paused listening and threw up a shield, a split second later several crossbow bolts ripped through the door.

Fluttershy flinched as Sunset fired three blasts from the shotgun through the door and wall. Topping off the shotgun, Sunset kicked the door off the frame and stepped though. The guard seeing her tried to scramble backwards, only to have his neck burst in a spray of blood and meat as a spread of buckshot tore through it. "Bruno!", Sunset shouted, "Nobody else has to die! Just show your face and all this ends with you!" She paused outside the office door hearing the floorboards creak. Drawing a pistol, she readied herself. The office door snapped open and a musclebound guard leapt out grabbing the shotgun. Sunset quickly snapped of two shots into barrel of the guard, as she stepped over the gurgling and gasping guard's body, she put a third shot into his head for good measure.

Lil Bruno cowered in the corner. "Bacon-head, please don't kill me!", he begged, "Anything you want, you got it! Money! Stallions! Mares! Anything you want, just name it and it's your."

"I want the back of your head sprayed on the wall.", Sunset said coolly as she shot him through one of his legs with the pistol. As lil Bruno laid on the floor whimpering, Sunset shot him through another leg.

"Bacon-head!", Fluttershy shouted as she burst in the room, "Don't use your thunder boxes on him anymore!"

Sunset though for a moment. "Fine, I won't shoot him." After Fluttershy backed out of the room, Sunset walked to the door and paused. Taking a pipe bomb off her belt, she lit the fuse, tossed it behind her and closed the door.

Fluttershy stared in stunned silence as the door ripped off the frame and shrapnel shredded the walls. Sunset looked at Fluttershy and shrugged, "What?! I didn't shoot him."

As Vdova raised the pistol she had been given, Sunset dove for cover. Three shots rang out and before Sunset could say anything, the sound of a collapsing body drew her attention. Looking back, she saw a guard with three holes in his neck bleeding out. "Nice shooting.", Sunset said rising to her hooves.

Vdova passed the pistol back to Sunset. "A little crude for my preferences." Looking out the window seeing blinking red and blue lights, she said, "Come along." Lighting the magic in her horn, she teleported all three of them to a waiting Royal Guard pegasus chariot.

Las Pegasus: decent into madness

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Las Pegasus, the city was known by many names, the city of one thousand sins, the city of fortune and misery, the shining gem. It was a city where in a matter of moments fortunes could be made and lost. On the surface it appeared to be a beautiful destination where tourists came to watch the dancing fountains, watch fabulous shows with stallions and mares wearing glittering outfits, where ponies would spend their hard earned bits on games of chance. Every restaurant, casino, theme park, bar, hotel and club was sparkling clean. This was the city of famous celebrities of yesterday and today, like Elvis Prancely, Frank Saunterata, Quill and Tailor, Princess Clopclop. If one merely knew where to look, Las Pegasus was also a city of filth and debauchery. This was the city of Spiro Equine, Al Cloppone, John Galloping. On one hoof mares and stallions brought their foals for a family-friendly vacation, on the opposite hoof mobsters and crooked buisnessponies made shady deals in smoke-filled back rooms. Rumors were common about some poor farmer or laborer making a fortune off their last bit, in the same breath rumors also circled about some shady pony found dead in an alleyway. As long the bits made their way to the right hooves and the less the legal actions were kept away from the neon lights, for the most part the shady ponies operated with impunity.

Into this den of vice and virtue traveled a unicorn mare with her wagon of ill gotten gems. Rarity looked around equal parts dazzled by the beautiful lights and nearly crippled by depression. She stopped on a street corner, her eyes immediately drawn to a broken down old stallion begging for loose bits. "Good heads, I toss him some gems, bad heads, I smash his head into the wall.", she whispered to herself. Flipping the coin in the air, she caught it on a hoof. Giving a satisfied grunt, she reach onto the cart grabbing a hoofful of gems and tossed them to the old stallion, then walked off.

Rarity stood at an intersection, looking one way she stared at the casinos, theme parks and lavish hotels on the strip, all lit up with glittering neon signs, looking the other way to the rundown part of town filled with cheap motels, liquor stores and pawn shops. "Good heads, I stay at a hotel, bad heads, I stay at a motel." She tossed the coin in the air and caught it in a hoof, it landed on bad heads. Walking down the dirty streets of the rundown neighborhood, she paused outside a pawn shop, taking in a breath, she walked in. Looking over the merchandise, her eyes landed on an old crossbow hanging on the wall behind the counter.

The cashier walked up behind the counter and said, "How can I help you?"

Rarity placed some gems on the counter. "The crossbow please."

The cashier placed some forms on the counter, a quill and in inkwell. "You've got a good eye, that's an antique from the Griffonstone border skirmish nearly one hundred years ago. There's a three day waiting period on all weapons bought while we run a background check." He pointed his hoof to several lines. "Signature here, here, here and here, initials here and here and a hoofprint here please."

Rarity placed another hoofful of gems on the counter. "I'm sure we can come to an...agreement."

The chasier inspected some of the gems, then slid the forms back behind the counter. "Yes, I believe we have an agreement." He placed the crossbow and a small box of bolts on the counter. "Pleasure doing business, please come again."

Rarity placed the crossbow and bolts in the cart, then walked out the pawn shop. Walking down the street, she turned into a nearby motel, entered into office and rang the bell on the desk.

The receptionist walked up to the desk and looked Rarity over. "How can I help you today?", she asked.

"I'd like a room please.", Rarity said placing a gem on the desk.

The receptionist took the gem and slid over a guest ledger. "Sign here please." When Rarity placed another gem on the desk, the receptionist smiled knowingly and signed an "X" on the ledger. "Room three-one-eight.", she said placing a key on the desk.

Rarity took the key and walked out the lobby. Opening the door, she levitated the remaining gems, crossbow and bolt into the room, them walked in behind them. Switching on the light, she looked, she looked around the room, it had definitely seen better days, the walls need a fresh coat of paint, the heavily worn carpet looked like it need vacuuming and the bed, though made, sagged in the middle where it needed replacing long ago. Walking through the room, she stopped in front of the mirror hanging over the dresser and scowled. "Stop judging me!", she screamed at her reflection. Grabbing the nearby coffee pot, she hurled it at the mirror, shattering it.

Rarity panted, staring at the shards of the mirror laying on the floor. Sliding a chair over to the door, she wedged the back of it under the door handle, grabbed the crossbow and cocked the string, then pulled a bolt from the box. Sliding the bolt into the slot on the crossbow, walked over to the bed and sat on it with her back propped against the wall. She placed the the end of the crossbow under her chin and lowered a shaking hoof to the tickler.

"What do you think you're doing?", a voice said from a shard of the mirror laying near the bed.

Rarity looked down at her reflection in the shard. "What does it look like?", she said.

"That's not how we do this.", the reflection said back to Rarity, "The coin decides. Good heads, we put that bolt through our head, bad heads, you let me in control and we do something a little more...fabulous."

Rarity sighed before picking up the coin and flipping it through the air. Landing in her hoof, it came up bad heads. "Good...good!", the reflection in the mirror shard cackled up at her.

"Who are you? What's your name?", Rarity asked the reflection.

The reflection rubbed its chin thought. "I guess if you're good Rarity, then I'm bad Rarity. Now we do something more fabulous. Get the brochures from the nightstand."

Laying out the brochures on the bed, good Rarity and bad Rarity looked over them. "This one.", bad Rarity said in a husky voice, tapping her hoof on a casino called the Marelogio. "How will we do this?", good Rarity asked. Bad Rarity cackled huskily, "Don't you worry your pretty little half about that, leave it up to me." The bad Rarity smiled from the shards of the mirror while good Rarity matched the expression.

Las Pegasus: the beginning of an empire

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As Rarity walked towards the front of the Marelogio casino, hotel and resort, she started talking to the voice in her head again. "So darling, what should we call ourselves?"

"Hmm...", the voice replied in a husky tone, "...it matters not what we call ourselves, so long as we achieve this next phase and begin building an empire."

Rarity stopped and glared at her other half in the reflection of a window. "A name means everything. Think of it as a brand that our customers can respect and our competitors can fear." She twirled the double-headed coin over and over in her magical field.

The mare in the reflection looked at the coin flipping in the blue magical field, one head was immaculate, the other was marred by gouges and scratches. The coin matched both the mares, one side of their face perfectly untouched, the fur immaculately groomed, gleaming white, the other side was almost completely devoid of fur, her dark skin that normally was hidden under the fur was marred by scars and locked in a permanent scowl because of nerve damage from the near-fatal torture and the botched skin graft. The reflection seemed to ponder the coin for several minutes before answering in a husky voice, "I say we call ourselves split-face."

"An interesting prospect. But it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi."

"You have something better in mind?"

Rarity pursed her lips as she let her eyes travel around the area, they settled on a banner announcing a local chess tournament. Her eyes immediately locked on the two knights facing each other at the top of the banner, one white, the other black. Her mind immediate clicked together something, if she had been of a healthier state of mind, she would have chided herself for not being as creative as she could be. "Two-headed mare.", she whispered in a feeling of almost divine inspiration.

The reflection locked eyes with Rarity. "Good heads, we call ourselves split-face, bad heads, we call ourselves two-headed mare."

Rarity locked eyes with the reflection and nodded her head. The coin sailed up through the, then down, flipping end-over-end and landed in an outstretched hoof on...bad heads. "Very well...we're the Two-headed mare.", the reflection replied in a husky voice. Both the mares, one in the reflection and the other outside the reflection curled up one corner of their mouths in a malicious smile while the other corner of their mouths pulled taut in a flat scowl "Now let's go start a fabulous new franchise.", the mare outside the reflection said in a pleased tone as the mare inside the reflection nodded her head.

The Two-headed mare walked up to the front of the Marelogio with the mostly full cart of gems in tow, two heavily muscled doorponies held the gleaming glass and golden doors open for her. "Welcome to the famous and fabulous Marelogio casino, hotel and resort ma'am!", a concierge in an immaculately tailored suit said walking up and hoofed over a small stack of chips, "Please take these complimentary chips as a token of our welcome. Would you like to check your gems at the counter? We have plenty of high-roller games for your perusal. Maybe you would prefer to have some drinks at the bar or maybe catch a show?" It was clear to all listening that the concierge was familiar with ponies bringing in piles of bits as well as gems and she clearly thought that this mare was here to gamble or drink the night away.

"I would like to talk with the owner of this fine establishment, I like to make him or her an offer.", The Two-headed mare said in pleasant and business-like mood.

The concierge raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"Take...me...to...the...owner.", Two-headed said curtly, tapping a hoof between each word loudly on the floor to emphasize them.

The concierge quirked an eyebrow in annoyance before nodding to two doorponies. "Very well, follow me."

As The Two-headed mare followed the concierge to an elevator, she heard one of the doorponies whisper into a walkie-talkie. One corner of her mouth curled up in a smile as the other side stretched backwards in a flat scowl as the two mirrored doors slid closed, the mare in the reflection matched the expression. The Two-headed mare in the reflection nodded her head slight to the side to alert her counterpart outside the reflection towards the uneasy expression on the face of the concierge. A small derisive snicker rumbled in throat came at the expensively dressed pony.

As the elevator car rose slowly through the building, the concierge cast her gaze downwards at the scarred mare and scoffed. Something about being stuck in the tight confines of the elevator with this mare made her feel uneasy. She didn't know if it was this mare's mismatched appearance or her the way that one side of her face smiled while the other scowled, but like her boss, this mare radiated danger and violence.

With a soft ding of a bell, the elevator car came to a stop and the mirrored doors slid open smoothly. "Right this way.", the concierge said, gesturing with a hoof, "I'll go see if mister Romaine is available." Two-headed mare followed the concierge over to a bench with the wagon of gems in tow.

Opening the door to the office, the concierge walked in. She stopped at the desk where a slender stallion was typing out some forms. "Is mister Romaine in, Sharpened Pencil?"

Sharpened Pencil looked over the top of the typewriter and noticed the concierge's distressed look. "Is something wrong Honeyed Wine?", he asked as he pulled the form from the roller in the typewriter and placed it in a nearby stack.

"Just an odd-looking mare that wants to talk with mister Romaine.", Honeyed Wine said.

Sharpened Pencil raised an eyebrow. "What do you think she want?"

"I've learned I will live a longer and healthier life by not asking questions that don't pertain to me.", Honeyed Wine stated in a matter-of-factually tone. Walking up to the heavy oak door, she raised a hoof and knocked softly.

A gruff voice from the other side of the door said, "Come in."

Opening the door, Honeyed Wine walked in. Standing by the smoked glass that overlooked the casino floor was a rather large and fat unicorn stallion with a light green coat, a Kelly green mane that was swooped back with either gel or oil, the flowing hair of his tail had long fallen out leaving only the short, fleshy pink base, on his flank Honeyed Wine could never figure out if it was a head of lettuce or cabbage with a knife slicing into it, he was chewing on a cigar. "Mr. Romane? There's a mare who wants to see you."

Romane walked over to a spittoon by his desk, pulled the cigar from his mouth and spat a gob of brown liquid into it. "Why do you think she's here?"

Honeyed Wine shuddered before speaking, "I don't think she's here to a a showfilly."

Romane silently noted his concierge's shudder, the last five years she worked for him she was an exemplary employee, never asking questions that would put herself in any danger, passing off bribes to cops when they came snooping around. "Why do you think she's here to muscle in on my operation?", he asked, popping the half-chewed cigar back into his mouth.

"I didn't bother to ask any questions."

Romane smirked. "Humor me. Tell me what your educated eyes have observed."

Honeyed Wine sighed. "She has a wagon of gems and the way she's dressed shows a professional, if somewhat unhinged mentality."

"Hmm...show her in."

Honeyed Wine turned to the door and as she lifted a hoof to the handle, she paused. "Mr. Romane, I just want you to know it has been a privilege to work for you for these past few years. I'll let this mare know you're ready to see you, but consider this my two weeks."

Romane frown at his now former employee. "Very well. It's a shame to see you go and I'll make sure you get your severance package. But you talk to the cops or anypony else and you'll you'll find yourself doing laps in VanHoover reservoir with a brand new cement swimsuit."

Honeyed Wine nodded before walking out of the office. She reached a hoof into her pocket and tossed a key card on the Sharpened Pencil's desk.

"What's this about?", Sharpened Pencil asked, picking up the key card.

"I'm quitting, Sharps.", Honeyed Wine said, "I'd suggest you also do the same. I don't know what this mare is up to, but I can tell you one thing, that bitch is crazy. You can stay if you want, but mark my words, she's going to get a lot of ponies killed and I want to be as far away as possible when that happens."

Sharpened Pencil picked up the key card and dropped it in a drawer. "So where are you gonna go?"

"I've got a cousin that used to live in Ponyville before she died, I'm going to see if they've built the new library and honor her memory by being their new librarian.", Honeyed Wine replied before walking out into the hallway. She looked at the deformed mare, "Mr. Romane will see you now." The fur on her haunches prickled at the mare's half smile-half scowl.

Two-faced mare watched Honeyed Wine walk off quietly before entering into the office. Sharpened Pencil looked up and his eyes went wide with surprise before regaining his professionalism, pushing a button on the intercom, he said, "Boss? The mare who wanted to see you is here and I'm taking my break now." Sharpened Pencil gestured with a hoof to the heavy oak door, then quickly hurried out of the room.

Two-faced mare pushed the oak door open and walked in. She approached the desk where Romane was sitting in his chair while chewing on a cigar. "Mister Romane Sireonis I presume?", she said in as pleasant of a tone as she could conjure.

Romane stared at the heavily scarred and deformed mare, his face a perfect mask of calm professionalism. He had her pegged as some newcomer to this world, he was an old pro in the underworld and his empire was vast, no pony or creature ever did anything in Las Pegasus without his knowledge. Over the last few years this world of shady backdoor deals, underhanded maneuvers, bribes, moves and countermoves against other bosses had made him feel like butter scraped across too much toast, especially when those two psychopaths, the mare with the clown motif and the vigilante with the thunder boxes had killed too many, then there was the isolated reports of the Thestral in Manehattan. The other bosses he had worked with or competed against were getting out as fast as they could, there was rumors of a war coming and this was unlike the mob wars of the past. Romane had decided some time ago that he would get out and now here was this unhinged mare in front of him, was she here to muscle in on his empire or was she here to buy him out?

"How can I help you today...many apologies, I never got your name miss..."

"The Two-headed Mare."

Romane barely kept from rolling his eyes. "Great!", he muttered under his breath, "Another nut case." He cleared his throat, "What can I do for you miss Two-headed?"

Two-headed mare reached into the cart and tossed a hoofful of gems on the desk. "I want to buy out your business, all properties and projects associated with it. I assume we can come to some kind of deal here?"

Romane picked up one of the gems in his magical field, put on a jeweler's monocle and studied it. "You have exquisite taste Madame Two-headed. What's the catch?"

Two-headed mare flipped her coin over and over in her magical field. "No catch, you either sell me your business or you face the coin."

Romane looked at Two-headed mare for a few minutes in silence. A crooked smile spread across his lips and her walked over to the wall and removed a picture hang from a nail, revealing a small safe. "Very well, you drive a hard bargain, but I think we can come to a deal.", he said turning the combination wheel and opening the hardened steel door. Pulling several stacks of paperwork from the safe, he dropped them on the desk and continued, "How many of my business would you like to buy?"

Two-headed mare looked over the stacks of paperwork. She pulled out five pieces of paperwork, the deed for the Marelogio casino, hotel and resort, the deed for the Pink Diamond gentlestallion's club, the deed for the Lamaregini high-end carriage dealership, a deed for a wagon and carriage repair shop and the deeds for two warehouses.

Romane looked at the choices this mare had made and quietly remarked on her eye for business. She had chosen his highest paying schemes and scams. The Marelogio severed not only as a way to legally grift ponies out of their hard-earned bits, but also served as a means to launder the money from his less-then-legal businesses. The Pink Diamond served not only as a gentlestallion's club to legally steal the bits from lonely and pent-up stallions, but also served as a front for a prostitution ring. The Lamaregini carriage dealership served not only as a way to sell overpriced high-end carriages to ponies with more money than sense, it also served as a front for a carriage smuggling business. Finally the wagon and carriage repair shop, along with the two warehouses served as a chop shop for stolen wagons and carriages.

"You have a measured eye for business ma'am.", Romane said with a smug smile, "Because I don't believe in wasting time, let's make a deal. If the remainder of those gems are a high quality as the few you've placed on my desk, then I ask for two-thirds of what you've got there."

"Three sackfuls.", Two-headed mare replied.

Romane scoffed at the offer. "You come in my place of business with your cheap clothes, your ugly face and you insult me with such a paltry offer?! I've had ponies tossed off the side of Las Pegasus for less."

Two-headed mare hopped up on the desk and kicked Romane on the face. As he fell to the floor, she leapt off the desk and planted her hoof on his throat. Showing both sides of the coin, she said, "Because you decided to insult my more than generous offer and threaten me, the coin will now decide. Good heads, you get to leave here with the few gems I placed on your desk, bad heads, you leave here in a box."

Romane Sireonis' eyes became pinpricks as the coin began sailing upwards. The coin landed on the carpet, good heads up and he blew a sigh of relief. Suddenly he was lifted off the floor in a blue magical field and levitated over to the row of smoked glass windows. "Wh-what are you doing?!", he shouted in shock as one of the windows was opened and his body moved over to it, "The coin landed on good heads! You said if it landed on good heads, I could walk out of here!"

Two-headed mare moved her face close to Romane's and said, "I said if it landed on good heads, you could leave out of here, I never said you would walk." With a shove of her magic, Romane Sireonis plummeted towards the floor screaming. Reaching over to the desk with a hoof, she grabbed the few gems and tossed them out of the windon, onto his unconscious form. "Get him out of our building!", she shouted at the stunned doorponies, "Make sure he has those gems with him too." Turning back to the stack of paperwork on the desk, she began looking them all over. Pushing a button on the intercom, she said, "Excuse me, secretary? Could you come in here for a moment?"

Sharpened Pencil walked in through the door and swallowed hard. "Yes ma'am?"

"First tell me your name."

"Uh, Sharpened Pencil ma'am."

"Am I right in assuming that you are qualified to assist me in all things business related?"

Sharpened Pencil swallowed hard again, he didn't know what she was getting at and he now regretted not taking Honeyed Wine's advice. "I'm only an associate ma'am. I can set up any appointments you need for accountants or managers."

Two-headed mare pouted slightly as she dug around in the desk drawer before finding an emery board. As she filed her right forehoof, she held up the coin, showing off both sides. "Good heads, you get promoted to our assistant, bad heads, you go out that window." Flipping end over end, the coin sailed up, then down, before coming to rest on her outstretched hoof. A half-smile/half-flattened scowl spread on her lips. "Good heads, congratulations on your promotion Mr. Sharpened Pencil. Now the first things I want you to do is one: send somepony to the village of Ponyville to get information on the whereabouts of a filly named Sweetie Belle and two: locate a small purple baby dragon with green frills named Spike, He might be in Canterlot."

"Y'yes ma'am", Sharpened Pencil stammered, "Will that be all?"

"For now."
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It was getting dark when Honeyed Wine entered into her apartment. Pulling off the expensive suit, she placed it on a hanger and placed it in the closet. Dimming the lights, she closed the curtains and pulled out a small crystal from a pouch under the bed. Her expression went blank as she placed the crystal on a dresser in front of the oval-shaped mirror.

The image of an azure unicorn mare with a two-tone pale cerulean with light gray stripes appeared in the mirror, her expression equally flat. "Corporal guard Silver Sun, what have you to report?", she asked in a flat, neutral tone.

"Rarity has turned up in Las Pegasus and has taken over the criminal empire of Romane Sireonis, Commander Lulumoon. She appears to not be of sound mind. Please advise."

"Return to Canterlot and report your findings to the princesses and princes personally. Take caution brother, our brothers have reported sightings of Hoof agents."

A monochromatic encounter

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Monochrome pulls up the collar on his dark gray trench coat and pulls down the old brown fedora to better cover his face as he slinks through shadowy back alleys Baltimare. He stops at a street corner and leans up against the wall, turning a bit over in his hoof, while chewing on a toothpick. The rattle of an old shopping cart catches his attention, looking over he sees an old homeless mare pushing said shopping cart down the street with several busted appliances stacked in it, with a whistle to catch the mare's attention, he flips the bit to her.

Monochrome pulls his trench coat closer around him as a chill wind blows through the shadowy alleys and streets. His ears flick at the sound of radio being turned on in a nearby rundown apartment and the station being changed, he scoffs at the sound of the new DWA song being played. After several more minutes of waiting, the clopping of hooves coming up the alley behind him makes his ear twitch backwards. Though he didn't expect any trouble, he still gave a quick check over the few weapons he carried, the old trust service hoof crossbow stowed inside the coat, the weighted horseshoe concealed behind the belt buckle of the coat and the slapjack hastily stuffed in one of the pockets.

Spitting out the toothpick, Monochrome re-positioned himself, putting a dingy overflowing trashcan between himself and the pony approaching. Up the alleyway walked an out of work, down on his luck, ne'er-do-well unicorn stallion with a cream-colored coat, a cutie marks depicting six bricks forming a stylized wall and a brownish-red mane and tail, named Red Brick. He had caught this particular stallion several years ago committing petty thefts. After he found out that Red Brick was committing petty crimes so he could afford medication for his sick mother, he agreed to let the stallion go on one stipulation, every time he was back in Baltimare, Red Brick would gather information for him on major criminal activities.

Red Brick approached Monochrome. "Gettin' a lil jumpy ain'tcha?", he asked. Monochrome readjusted his trench coat. "In my line of work, one can never be too cautious. What did you find out?" Lighting his horn, Red Brick levitated a manila envelope out of his saddlebags and over to Monochrome. "There's some messed up shit goin' down in this town. I'm gonna have to charge you double. If I had known that it involved that bloodthirsty psycho Bacon-head and weapons smugglers, I'd have charged you triple." Monochrome hastily flipped through the contents of manila envelope, rolled it up and stuck in a pocket inside the trench coat, he then fumbled a hoof around inside one of the external pockets and pulled two pouches of bits, tossing them to Red Brick. "Take care of yourself. If you come across anything new, let me know." The two stallion gave quick, curt nods to each other, then parted ways.

Scaling a fire escape on a tenement building, Monochrome climbed onto the roof. Hearing a hoof scuff on the flat roof, he turned his head and caught the shadow of a pony lurking behind the structure housing the roof-access. For a second he thought about rushing whoever this pony was, but thought better of it, considering it might just be somepony who lived here who decided to have a smoke. Walking to the edge of the tenement building's roof, he lit his horn, causing a a gray aura to surround it and teleported to the roof of another building across the street.

Monochrome took a moment to take in his surroundings. Movement caught his attention and when he glanced his eyes to it, he saw three ponies wearing red body suits with matching cloth coverings on their faces, leaping across the gaps between buildings as the moved quickly towards him. Gritting his teeth behind closed lips, question ran through his mind. 'Who are these ponies? Why are they following me? What's with the odd red pj's?' Slipping a forehoof into the coat pocket, he slipped the weighted horseshoe on and teleported to another building. Looking around, he saw more red-suited ponies moving across the roofs of other buildings, when they noticed where he had teleported to, they quickly changed direction to intercept him. Some of the ponies held straight, short single-edged swords that had a square guard at the top of the hilt in their teeth, others had strange steel objects with blades sticking out of the side lashed to their forelegs.

With wasting an time, Monochrome took of across the roof and leapt across the gap. In mid-leap he vanished in a gray flash of a teleport spell and reappeared in an alleyway a block back, in a sneaky attempt to shake his pursuers. As he hurried through the alley, one of the red-suited ponies above caught sight of him and gave a whistle to alert its compatriots.

As the red-suited ponies either leapt from fire escape to fire escape or slid down drainage pipes, Monochrome ran full tilt through the alleyway, occasionally grabbing in his magic a dumpster, group of trashcans or stack pf crates and tossed them behind him to make an impromptu barricade to slow down his pursuers. Turning the corner, he saw two of the red-suited ponies quickly killing Red Brick, one plunged a sword between his ribs and the other slashed the bladed foreleg weapon across his throat.

Rushing forward, Monochrome charged up his horn, loosing a concussive blast knocking one of the red-suited ponies into a wall and barreled forward, slamming the weighted horse shoe into the other's muzzle. Without taking a secnd to tend to his now dead informer, he fired off a quick teleport, appearing on the roof. Two circular objects, covered on their edges with sharp bladed spikes struck the ground in front of his hooves. Quickly firing another teleport, he appeared high above the city. Floating in the air for a split second before gravity took over, his eyes locked on a smokestack of an abandoned factory and firing off another teleport, he appeared on the top at the edge of the cylindrical structure, he took a look around around, breathing heavily. He knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer as he was starting to tax his magical reserves.

Monochrome's eyes locked on an empty lot and he decided that's where he would use that place to make his stand. Firing off one last teleport, he materialized in the empty lot. Reaching in side his coat, he pulled out the old service hoof crossbow. Though he knew he only had one shot with it and not enough time to reload it, he hoped it would give him the advantage he needed.

Several minutes later dozens of the red-suited ponies gathered on the edges of the roofs of the surrounding buildings. As Monochrome braced himself for a fight, there were the disorienting flashed of several small explosions and clouds of smoke filled the air. Out of the smoke leapt several red-suited ponies, holding swords in their teeth or with bladed weapons lashed to their forelegs. Throwing himself backwards, Monochrome bucked his rear hooves into one of the ponies attacking him. Using his momentum, he narrowly avoided the attacks from the others. Taking quick aim with the hoof crossbow, he fire the bolt. It sailed through the air and with a wet thud, it penetrated the pastern of one of the red-suited ponies, pinning its forehoof to the ground.

Monochrome leapt backwards, ducked and rolled to the side to avoid further attacks that were launched at him. Rising to his feet, he threw the now empty hoof crossbow into the face of one of the ponies, then slammed the weighted horseshoe into its jaw, a wet crunch indicated where the heavy iron horseshoe collided with flesh, sending the attacker to the ground unconscious.

Monochrome ducked as a sword cut through his hat, coming withing a hair's breadth of slicing the top of his ear off. Rising back up, he slammed the weighted horseshoe into the attacker's jaw with a vicious uppercut, shattering bone and sending it tumbling away. Slowly he overpowered each attacker one-by-one, knocking them unconscious or crippling them with broken legs. The red-suited pony who had its hoof pinned to the ground by the bolt, quickly pulled the bolt from the dirt and rushed forward in an attempt to impale the sharp point into the gray unicorn's neck. Tucking in his right shoulder and wither, Monochrome body blocked into the attacker, wrapping both his forelegs around the pony's foreleg, he body flipped the attacker over him and hard onto the ground, with a sharp blow to its temple, he knocked the pony unconscious.

Panting and gasping, Monochrome looked around first at the unconscious ponies around him, then to the ponies on the surrounding roofs. "Who's next?!" Ropes descended from the rooftops ad several ponies started rappelling down, several ponies revealed wings from under their red body coverings and others slightly pulled back their head covering, revealing unicorn horns. Growling, he braced himself as now thirty ponies surrounded him in a slowly closing circle.

Not waiting for his attackers to close in on him, Monochrome charged forward. He slammed the weighted horseshoe into one of the red-suited ponies and lifted it in his magic, hurling it into several of its compatriots. Moving his head from left to right, unleashing a continuous beam of kinetic force, knocking several of the attackers away of forcing other to roll out of the way, back flip away or fly up into the air to avoid the attack. A hoof slammed into the side of his face, terminating the continuous kinetic beam spell and causing him stagger away, turning he bucked his rear hooves into an attcker behind him, then reared up, clapping both forehooves into the ears of an attacker, stunning it. He grappled with the stunned pony and rolled backwards, jamming both rear hooves into it gut as he threw it backwards into a knot of attackers.

Monochrome quickly threw up a shield around him as his eyes caught several flashes of metal. Dozens of metal discs lines with sharp spike or small blades glanced off the shield. He quickly pushed his shield outwards, knocking dozens of attackers away and tried to bolt for the alleyway. Several sweeping sweeping kicks lashed out, first knocking his hind legs from under him, then his forelegs, sending him sprawling onto the ground. Rolling to his left, he avoided hooves and weapons where his head and body had been. Laying on his back, he kicked out with his hind legs, connecting hard with two ponies, then rolled backwards and up to his feet.

Monochrome dodged left, then right as three red-suited unicorns hurled several sharp discs at him that they were levitating in their magic. The sharp discs whistle past his his ears as they cut gashes through his jacket, mane and tail. Digging a hoof into the loos soil, he kicked clods of dirt and pebbles into the faces of the nearest attackers. Breathing heavy as his muscles burned from the bedlam, he charged forward and tucked his legs under him, sliding on the ground under one of the ponies. Quickly standing up, he flipped the pony above him and grabbed it in his magic, hurling it into another knot of its compatriots. A sharp kick into his gut, right at the base of her sternum drove the air from lungs and he collapsed to the ground. Three red-suited ponies leapt in him and drug him up to his hind legs, hold him between themselves. A pony walked forward with a sword between its teeth and started lining up a strike. He spit a wad of blood and saliva into the red-suited pony's face as he sneered in defiance.

Darting his eyes upwards, Monochrome saw a glint of steel as a figure, silhouetted against the sky descended.
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Several minute earlier

Gilda stood in a alleyway as three red-suited ponies approached her with a file and a sack of bits. Looking through the file, she stopped on a picture of a pegasus filly with an orange coat and bright magenta mane and tail. Tossing the folder on the ground, she spit a gob of saliva. "No way! You know my rule, no foals, no chicks or any other younglings of any kind."

The red-suited ponies narrowed their eyes at Gilda from behind their face coverings. "Refusal to take a job from us can have... dire consequences.", the lead pony said in a stern-yet-soft tone.

With a smirk, Gilda quickly sized them up. Grabbing the sack of bits with one talon, she quickly punched the pony with her other talon and took to the air. Dropping the sack of bits in her saddlebags, she looked over her withers seeing three red-suited pegasi following her. Grabbing the sword strapped to her back, she spread her wings to spill off speed. As the three pegasi flew past, caught off guard from the sudden drop in speed, she drew the sword and extended out to her side. The sharp blade bit into the neck of the first pegasus as it flew past, gashing deep into its neck, causing blood to spurt forth as it plummeted from the air. She the swung the sword into an arc, severing the pegasus' wing, sending it spiraling towards the ground. Flying forward in a charge at the last pegasus trying to flee, she executed a mid-air front flip, plunging the point of the blade into the gut of the pegaus, with a quick flick of the blade, she drew the blade through flesh, disemboweling the pony. Blood and intestines spilled from the pegasus as it tumbled from the air.

Gilda flicked the blood from her sword as she flew the air, looking to get out of town. She saw down below in an empty lot, a gray unicorn stallion quickly getting overpowered by dozens of red-suited ponies. Grabbing the red and black armored mask from her belt, she quickly secure it over her face and rapidly descended with sword held over her head, prepared for a strike.
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As the three red-suited ponies held Monochrome in place on his back hooves, the fourth, holding the sword in its teeth, reared back its head for a thrust. Gilda landed with a flash of steel, her sword cut through the red-suited pony's neck, sending its head rolling away in a fount of blood. She reached forward with a talon and slashed across the face of one of the ponies holding Monochrome. Finding his left forehoof now free, the gray unicorn struck the red-suited pony on his right, connecting hard with its muzzle, sending blood and teeth flying through the air. Monochrome threw his forehooves down onto the ground hard, bucking his hind hooves into the groin of the pony that had until a split second ago helping hold him in place, sending it onto the ground doubled over in pain.

The remainder of the red-suited ponies scattered, then began circling around Gilda and Monochrome, who wee now standing flank-to-flank. Monochrome charged forward as Gilda charge in the opposite direction, each at a knot of combatants. The unicorn slammed his weighted horseshoe into the snout of n attacker as the griffon thrust her sword into the neck of a red-suited enemy. Monochrome wrapped his forelegs around the stunned pony and body flipped it into a small group of its compatriots as Gilda gave a quick jerk of her sword, gashing open the neck and throat of the pony.

Monochrome grappled with a red-suited enemy before quickly twisting around and using his attackers body as a shield. Spiked discs penetrated the red-suited pony's barrel, causing it to cry out in pain and spit up bright red blood intermixed wit mucus. He quickly shoved the perforated corpse away and sprung forward take on another attacker. A red-suited pony lunged forward with its fore legs, in an attempt to tackle him. Grabbing the enemy's fetlock with his left hoof, he turned then drove his elbow joint just into the foreleg, just below the attacker's elbow joint, the red-suited pony cried out in pain as its foreleg broke with a wet snap. Monochrome drove the side of his right hoof into the now disabled attacker's head, just below its ear, knocking it unconscious.

Gilda pirouetted through combat, her sword and talons lashing out, drawing blood with each strike. A red-suited pegasus took to the air and she leapt up, flapping her winds hard as hurled projectiles and magic blasts sailed past. Grappling with the pegaus, she tackled it onto the ground. Pinning it under her, she raked her hind claws across its midsection, spilling its intestines with a gush of blood. Leaping trough the air, she flapped her wings hard and sped towards a red-suited unicorn. As the enemy lined up a shot with its horn, she slashed downward with her sword and the unicorn's horn shattered as its skull was cleaved in twain.

As the fight turned against the red-suited ponies and their numbers dwindled, several whistles went up as a signal. Bright flashed and smoke filled the air as the red-suited ponies pulled smoke bombs from inside their suits and spiked them to the ground. "Come back here and fight cowards!", Gilda roared from behind her armored mask and h charged forward swing her sword wildly side-to-side. As the smoke cleared showing that all the red-suited ponies had fled, leaving behind their dead and those too injured to carry off. Gilda raised her head to the sky and shouted, "FUCKING COWARDS!"

Monochrome walked up next to Gilda and gently laid a hoof on her wither. "Let them run for now...", he gestured to several injured red-suited ponies, "...we've got some prisoners to interrogate." Walking over, he gripped the face covering of a red-suited pony between his teeth and snatched it away, revealing a sea-foam green coated earth pony mare. "Now listen here scumbag!", he growled narrowing his eyes, "Who do you work for?"

The mare reached up with her forehooves and gripped her head under her jaw and by the back of her neck. "May the Hoof live forever!", she exclaimed before before giving her head a quick jerk sideways, snapping her neck. Across the empty lot, other red-suited ponies either broke their neck in a similar fashion, cut their throats with blades that were until recently lashed to the forelegs or grabbed swords in their forehooves and plunged them through their chests.

"Fuck!", Gilda shouted as she hurled her armored mask to the ground, "We know fuck-all about who they are or what they wanted!"

Monochrome picked through the body suits of the dead ponies, pulling out several throwing weapons, smoke bombs and small silver medallions wit the likeness of a hoof on them, surrounded by Neighponese kanji. "We know who they worked for. Their mission was to do everything possible to keep me from getting this information." He pulled the manila envelope from his coat. "Let's go somewhere more private so we can find out what they didn't want me to see."
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Twilight sat in a chair nursing her son, Dusk Shine in her room in the Royal Palace in Canterlot. Soon the unicorn colt grew drowsy and she placed him in his crib, pulling the small blanket over her son. Unhitching her hind legs from her wheelchair, she sat on the bed and started bending their joints back and forth to keep them limber, then massaged the muscles. Slipping her hind legs back into the wheelchair, she trotted into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

As Twilight sat on the shower chair scrubbing her coat with shampoo, her ear twitched hearing the crackle of magic followed by the clacking of tiny hooves and soft thumps. Quickly rinsing off, she slipped her hind legs back in the wheelchair, hastily strapping back in. She quickly patted off with a towel and slowly turned the door knob with her magic. She chuckled softly as she heard the crackle of magic followed by the sift squeak of the mattress in Dusk's crib. Walking into the bedroom, she chuckled softly at the few scribbles on the wall and her son sitting in the crib, looking as innocent as possible. "You've been drawing on the walls again haven't you Dusky?", she asked poking her son in the tummy with a hoof. She chuckled as the little colt giggled and burbled with laughter. "Let mama get something to clean up you newest masterpieces, then I'll take you to see Uncle Shiny and Auntie Cady." She walked to the door to retrieve cleaning supplies from the hallway closet, Dusk popped up n his hind legs, propping his forehooves on the railing of the crib. The next sounds she heard made her stop in her tracks.

"Muh...muh...mah...mama."

With an elated gasp, Twilight turned around. Elated by his mothers reaction, Dusk said again, "Mama!"

Twilight bounced back and forth on her forehooves in excitement. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Dusk gave big belly laughs and squealing giggles, further prompted by his mother's excitement, he repeated avoer and over again, "Mama! Mama! Mamamamamamamamamamama!"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Opening the door, Shining Armor walked in. "Twily? Is everything okay?"

Twilight excitedly hugged her brother. "Bbbff! Dusk said mama!" She trotted over to her son. "Say mama for Uncle Shiny!"

Dusk quirked his head to the side in though. "Uh..un...unk...unka....Unka sh....Unka shi...Unka Shiny. Unka Shiny!"

The two siblings stared at each other flabbergasted for a second, then started bouncing back and forth on their hooves while shouting at the same time, "Eeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Celestia opened the door and a bright smile beamed acroos her face as Twilight and Shining Armor were bouncing on their hooves, while Dusk Shine bounced up and down in his crib as squealing giggles erupted from his mouth as he said over and over, "Mama! Unka Shiny!"

Celestia closed the door chuckling, as she turned around, she came face to face with Cadance. "Auntie Celestia, is everything okay?" "Dusk Shine just said his first words." "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Building a reluctant team 1-Moving pieces into place

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After their encounter with The Hoof ninjas, Monochrome and Gilda had made their way back to Monochrome's hideout inside an abandoned house just outside Baltimare's industrial district.

Gilda slides the metal mask off of her face, adjusts her eye patch and checks her body for injuries. She steps over to a grimy window and looks out at the smokestacks of a factory that processes raw iron ore into steel things, ranging from wagon axles, wheel spokes and rims, to I beams and rivets used in building construction.

The griffon clacks her beak in thought. She, like every other mercenary in the business knew there were three groups, unless you were working for them, you stayed away from their dealings. The royal guards, the shadow guard and The Hoof. She had interfered in The Hoof's business in a big way and once their higher ups got word, which would be very soon, she'd have death squads hunting her and there would be no crook, cranny, crack or hole deep enough or dark enough that they wouldn't eventually find her. As she looked out the window, she crooked her good eye towards the sepia tone gray-coated unicorn, the darker gray mane and tail, her gaze was drawn to his cutie mark, which to any other creature, would have appeared as a darker gray smudge, but to her sharp eyes, could tell was an unrolled parchment and quill.

Monochrome, who had shed his fedora and damaged trench coat, was currently bandaging up the injuries he had acquired in his fight with the Hoof ninjas. While casting a few rudimentary healing spells, he cast a glance up at Gilda. "It seems you know who those clowns in red were. So I'll come out and ask, no dodging the question or any back and forth banter, or I'll just leave your sorry carcass on the police's doorstep, trussed up like a traditional Hearth's Warming Eve dinner. You know who they are?"

Gilda sighed as she turned to face Monochrome. Her mind wandered for a moment on whether or not she should take him down for good, it would be easy enough to do, she could be on top of him before he could act, then a swipe of her talons across his throat and he'd be no more. Of course that would be suicide, she knew from her contacts that he was the princesses thief-taker general and if she killed him, the entirety of the royal guard and shadow guard would come crashing down on her. They would try and taker her in alive, at least guard would, she had never heard of the shadow guard killing somecreature, of course if they did, there wouldn't be wouldn't anyone, pony or otherwise who would have been able to tell the tale. She blew the air in her lungs out in a sigh. "Yes."

"What are they called?"

"The Hoof."

Monochrome cocked his head slightly. "But they're little more than a Neighponese myth. Something that mares and stallions tell their foals to make them behave or 'the bogeyponies will come out of the dark and snatch them away'."

Gilda let the corners of her beak turn up slightly. "There are many things out there that myths. The Pony of Shadows, Seaquestria, ponies and a city made of crystals, the Mi Amore family, fairy ponies, bushwoolies, the furless biped with a blonde mane that wielded a necklace containing a rainbow, Dream Valley, a magic eating demon centaur, a mad god who could warp reality at will. Just because something's a myth doesn't mean it isn't true. Nightmare moon, Luna and the Elements of Harmony were just myths for Tartarus' sake, but here we are in the second year of the reign of the sisters reunited. Think about what stories in our time that are starting to circulate. Two of the Element Bearers murdered, one in her own library. A third bearer savagely attacked, disfigured and left in a coma. A unicorn dressed as the specter of death, carrying boxes that spit fire and thunder, which leaves her victims dead with strange puncture wounds and weird brass tubes on the ground. A clown-themed mass murderer. In a thousand years don't you think those stories will become myths?"

"True enough.", Monochrome replied with a sigh. "Did you ever work for them?"

"Nothing I could ever prove." Gilda blew out a sigh.

As Monochrome went to ask another question, the sound of hooves clip-clopping outside the door drew both his and Gilda's attention.

"Expecting company?", Gilda asked as she slipped her metal mask over her face and drew her sword.

Monochrome tied his dark bandanna over his snout and readied his hoof crossbow. "No. I chose this place because of it's proximity to the industrial and warehouse districts. Pizza places won't even deliver out here."

Gilda and Monochrome readied themselves as the sound of hooves stopped. They readied themselves as the shadow of hooves could be seen under the edge of the door shuffling. Monochrome crouched low as he aimed the hoof crossbow about where the shoulder and wither of a pony should be as Gilda crept to the side of the door and tentatively reached out a talon to the handle.

As Monochrome wrapped a fetlock through the hoof guard of the crossbow, Gilda wrapped her talons around the handle. A blue flash of light momentarily blinded them. Monochrome loosed the crossbow bolt in where he hoped he hit he was aiming as Gilda swung her sword in a downward arc. Gilda snarled a curse as she felt her sword deflect off of something, quickly recovering, she swung the blade horizontally, only for the weapon to stop as something powerful grabbed it. Still disoriented from the flash, Monochrome quickly went to reload his hoof crossbow, only to have the weapon snatched from his grasp. Firing off a few blasts of magic at the blurry blob in his vision, he sprinted across the room towards his trench coat where he knew the weighted horse shoe lay in one of the pockets. A tingle of magic surrounded his body, freezing him place. This is it! This is where I die! He quickly wondered if the spirits diamond dogs he killed in the war would be waiting for him in the afterlife.

Once Gilda's and Monochrome's vision cleared, they were stunned to see Luna standing there, the griffon's sword and the stallion's body caught in dark blue auras. The night princess wore a small, smug grin. "What dost we have here? Mine thief-taker general cavorting with a known sell sword and both attack We upon entry?"

Luna released her magic on Gilda's sword and Monochrome's body. Almost immediately Gilda tensed up. "Relax young griffon. If We had desired thou deceased, thou wouldst have never been given the chance to prove thyself."

Monochrome knelt before Luna. "Princess, to what honor do we owe your presence here?"

Luna turned to the door and opened it with her magic. "Thou two, come along with much haste. An ancient enemy once thought long destroyed hast revealed its head again."

Monochrome quickly gathered up his things as Gilda, with an elaborate flourish, returned her sword to its scabbard on her back. Both followed Luna out of the house to where a pegasus chariot was waiting in a nearby alley.

After the three made their way onto the awaiting chariot, Luna gave a nod to the two pegasi clad in black lacquered armor. Luna lit her horn and black clouds, heavy with rain quickly manifested over the city of Baltimare. Within moments sheets of heavy rain fell over the city. All three occupants of the chariot and the two pegasi guards pulling it would have been soaked if it weren't the barely visible shimmering sphere surrounding them.

***

Stygian, still disguised as Fleur dis Lis, walked into cavern deep under Canterlot. The walls were covered with multicolored gem formations. Sitting around the walls of the cavern were dozens of creatures wearing red robes, strange esoteric symbols were painted across their bodies in dark ink. Low throaty chanting echoed off the walls.

Dropping the disguise, Stygian walked over to a small table that held a hoof mirror and a small shard of another mirror. Picking up the mirror in one hoof, he picked the the shard in the other. Repeatedly chanting words in a long dead language that seemed to rob the very air of its warmth, he forced the shard into the hoof mirror. For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen, then the shadows started to lengthen as all visible light in the cavern drained into the mirror the cavern was filled with unnatural darkness.

Stygian released the mirror from his grasped and calmly watched as it levitated in the air. Light flashed and shimmered across the surface of the mirror. Three women appeared in the mirror, the first had golden blonde hair in spooling curls, the second had straight jet back hair in a short bobbed cut, the third had rusty red hair pulled back in a pony tail, all three women had tannish-pink skin.

"Hiya boss!", the second woman said in a bubbly tone as she waved, "Long time no see!" The first woman gave her a hard jab with her elbow.

"Aria, Sonata, Adagio, drop those ridiculous disguises. There's no need to conceal yourselves in my presence.", Stygian said.

Adagio, Aria and Sonata glanced at each other, then across their shoulders. "We...uh...have a senator who we're in the process of...manipulating into starting another world war.", Adagio said.

Stygian sighed and grumbled under his breath. "Are they restrained?"

Adagio, Aria and Sonata nodded.

"Then drop your disguises and after we are done here, dispose of them."

The image shimmered as Adagio, Aria and Sonata transformed into their siren forms.

"For what reassssson did you contact ussss, masssster?", Adagio hissed around her fangs.

"First let me apologize to you, my loyal sirens. It was not my intentions to leave you stranded stranded in that universe for nearly fifteen centuries. I would have brought you back sooner if both Starswirl and Clover had not taken their secrets to their graves.", Stygian said, "But fear not, I finally found you. In a fortnight the barriers between our universes will be the weakest they've been for thirty moons. Though a mysterious pony may have smashed the mirror that served as the portal entrance on our side, the entrance on your side should still be intact. Be there when the confluence happens and I can guarantee you can have your vengeance not only against Equestria, but also against those who drove you from your home. Long live the Hoof!"

"Long live the Hoof!", the three sirens replied as the image of Stygian faded from the mirror on their side. They looked over their shoulders to the senator was lying on the bed, naked, arms and legs tied to the four bedposts and a ball gag shoved in his mouth who was staring wide-eyed at them. The three siren sisters swam-flew across the room beside the bed.

Garbled and muffled noises came from around the ball gag. Adagio gently ran her hoof-fin across his face and under his chin. "I know you won't ssssssay anything.", she gently hissed. Grabbing the half-empty bottle of wine from the night stand by the neck, she shattered it and jammed the broken end into his neck. "But I need ssssssome assssssuranssssssssessssss that you'll be ssssssssssilent." She drug the broken neck of the bottle through the neck of the senator with wet squelching sounds, withdrew it and tossed the broken glass on the bed by his body. "Sssssonata! Get some full bottles of whisssskey."

"Oooo! Goodie goodie goodie!" Sonata clapped her fin-hooves together quickly and swim-flew across the room quickly towards the door.

"Not to drink, only to burn the body."

"Aw!" Sonata stopped at the door and looked over at her sister, giving her the sad puppy eyes.

Adagio rolled her eyes. "Fine! You can get three bottlessss of wine, one for each of usssss."

Sonata squeed as she swam-flew out of the door.

Adagio shook her head and grumbled under her breath, "I ssssswear I sssspoil her too much." She looked over to Aria and said, "Get a pack of ssssssigarettessssss and a box of matchesssss."

Adagio, Aria and Sonata stood in a clump trees, once again in their human disguises, watching as black smoke poured up from the upstairs windows of Senator Blackman's mansion as they swilled expensive wine straight from the bottle. Adagio downed the last few swallows of win and tossed the empty bottle over her shoulder. "Come on girls, we need to get to Canter in fourteen days." Aria and Sonata tossed their bottles away and followed their sister.

Sonata pulled out a phone from her pocket and started playing flappy bird.

"You idiot!", Adagio snarled as she snatched the phone from her sister. "I told you to throw your phone on the bed with the body! They can track this!", she barked as she tapped Sonata on the forehead with the phone and then tossed it into a nearby creek.

"Do you know how hard it was to find a phone that still had flappy bird on it?", Sonata asked with a sniffle, "You're mean Addy."

Adagio growled in annoyance.

"Cheer up Sonata.", Aria said pulling out a was of cash, "I'll get you some tacos from the next truck we come across."

"Whee! Tacoooooooos!", Sonata cheered as she skipped alongside her sisters.

Adagio covered her face with both hands and grumbled to herself, "I swear if you two keep this up, when we get back to Equestria, I'm going to turn the both of you into fish sticks."

***

Hailey Gordon moved through the back streets of Canter, followed by a team of men wearing heavy body armor, carrying sub-machine guns and shotguns, as she followed the readings on a small device held in her palm. Stopping at the entrance of an alleyway, she made sure the various charms for protection were secured around her neck, wrists and ankles. Giving a grunt of satisfaction, she reached inside her jacket with her right hand and pulled out a taser, reaching in the jacket pocket with her left, she pulled out her black medallion, wrapped the cord around her fingers a few times and checked the black quartz crystal.

Hailey cued up the lapel mic on her radio and whispered into it, "Alright, make sure you're loaded with rubber bullets and beanbags. We probably have a civvie with an artifact that they don't realize how dangerous it is. Stay behind me and don't get itchy on those triggers. I want to be in and out in before the locals have a chance to rubberneck, I don't want a repeat of what happened in Windsor three years ago."

Hailey stepped into the alleyway, the heavily armored team following behind her closely. Sitting on the ground against dumpster was a young woman, filthy, ratty clothes clung to her thin frame, dark brown hair, filthy and matted, hung over her unwashed face, in her hands, she ran thin fingers over an egg-shaped stone, the size of a softball, that had odd swirling patterns carved into it.

Hailey cleared her throat. "Ma'am, you're in possession of a dangerous artifact. I need you to lay it on the ground and step away from it."

The woman sprang up to her feet, eyes full of regret, fear and a twinge of madness. "S-s-st-stay-stay back! I-I don't want to hurt anyone. J-just leave me alone."

Hailey sighed, she had seen it too many times, someone finds a magical artifact, figures how to use, but doesn't realize how dangerous it can be without the proper training until it's too late and it has driven them into madness. She raised the black medallion in her left hand and said, "Ma'am, I can assure you that no one will be harmed. Just put the rock on the ground and step away from it."

A crazed look came across the young woman's face and she raised the rock in her hand. "N-no! You want it for yourself! Y-you've come here to steal it! It came to me!" A greenish light erupted from the rock. Hailey felt the pressure against the various charms that warded her and her team from magical attacks, the medallion in her hand lit up, countering the magic from the rock.

After the greenish light faded, the young woman stared with a frightened look on her face and started stepping backwards. She yelped in shock and pain as two metal prongs sunk into the meat of her stomach. Her body went stiff as ten thousand volts of electricity coursed through her body and fell onto the ground, dropping the rock.

The heavily armored and armed team rushed over to secure the downed young woman as one of them kicked the rock over to Hailey, who stopped it with the bottom of her shoe. As the young woman was cuffed and gagged, a retrieval team hurried into the alley to photograph the rock and transfer it into a silver-lined cylinder. A black windowless van pulled up and the doors on the back were thrown open. Both teams, the cuffed and gagged young woman and the now contained rock were quickly ushered into the van.

That night Hailey sat in the mobile command going over the paperwork involving the young woman from earlier today. A quick facial recognition and fingerprint scan had revealed that her name was Shannon Kent, back in high school she showed a promising future, high grades, a wunderkind when it came to plants, definitely a future as either a florist or a botanist. Nothing out of the ordinary, except she always seemed to miss picture day. That was until she went missing her junior year. Apparently that was when she found the artifact. Though none of the locals seemed to have any memories of her, cursory checks of local security cameras from the past few days had shown she had stolen food from stores and vendors. A physical examination had shown she had contracted a couple of STIs, nothing that a round of strong antibiotics couldn't handle, it was evidence that she probably sold her body on occasion for a warm place to sleep or for some money.

The young woman had shown signs of severe psychological degradation from obviously using the artifact for too long and had quickly become agitated and aggressive, and had to be sedated. Fortunately one of the side effects of the drugs was mild amnesia, so the last twenty-four hours would be little more than a foggy blur, unfortunately there was no quick cure for the long term mental damage the artifact had done. A local local psychic was called in to further muddle her memories. Hailey had remembered her from her days when she still lived across town and attended the local preparatory academy. The young woman, who had stayed on the CIA's list of potential assets, had inherited a small fortune when her parents died and had used the money to open an animal sanctuary.

After Shannon had her memories muddled with, a couple of agents disguised as police rushed her to a hospital several towns to the north, claiming that she was the victim of a human trafficking ring. It was simple enough to forge the paperwork and ensure that a couple of low lives no one would miss were tossed in the. Any blood, pelvic and psychological examinations conducted by the hospital staff would help with the cover story, they might even prove mental trauma if she started ranting about a magical stone. In a couple of days the state police would contact her family here to tell them of their long lost daughter.

Hailey sighed. Another dangerous magical artifact was sealed away. Though there was nothing that could be done about countries that wanted to take people who had natural abilities and affinities for magic, there had been several clandestine meetings over the last century between the world powers to not openly use talented individuals, lest there would be a new arms race to abduct various gifted individuals and turn them into living, breathing nuclear bombs.

Hailey chuckled to herself at that last thought as she brushed her fingers across the violet streak in her hair. She turned her attention to the black medallion and slipped on a jeweler's monocle to ensure it hadn't suffered any damage in the recent encounter. The teletype going off caught her attention. Looking up, she pulled the jeweler's monocle off and took the paper from the machine. It contained the images of three woman, along with the list of crimes they were wanted for and the header which read 'capture or kill'. This can't be right. Some of these charges are over a hundred years old.

Hailey reached over to her laptop and opened it. She clicked on the video chat program. A small window popped up holding a blurry, shadowed silhouette.

"Good evening age--"

"Cut the crap!", Hailey interrupted, waving the paper in front of the camera, "Is this some kind of a joke?! Did we get hacked?! There's no way these three women could be responsible for all of this! Some of these accusations are over a hundred years old, for fuck's sake!" She quailed slightly as she could suddenly feel her superior's glare.

Hailey's eyes went wide as several windows popped containing images containing the same three women, their hair colors, hair styles, skin color and styles of clothes were different in each. Some of the images were color photos, others were black and white, others were paintings. The last one made her pause, those three women were depicted in an ancient woodcutting with three horse-fish hybrids floating above them.

"I assure agent that this is very serious. These three women are highly dangerous, immortal magical creatures. We've been tracking them since the cold war, but every time we get close to capturing or killing them, they manage give us the slip, often times killing or maiming agents. This afternoon while you were in Canter tracking down that artifact, they were involved in the assassination of a senator.", the silhouetted figure said, "Our sensors had detected a massive inter-dimensional magical surge and witnesses placed them in the area shortly after the reports of Senator Blackman's house was burned."

Another window popped up showing the charred remains of the senator.

Hailey felt sick at the sight of the charred body. She quickly turned her gaze back to the paper containing the three women along with the long laundry list of charges. Two names near the bottom caught her attention, 'Archduke Franz Ferdinand' and 'Tzar Nicolas Romanov II'. How old are these three? She turned her attention back to the computer screen.

"That was halfway across the country in rural California. Surely they're still in the state.", Hailey replied.

"Unfortunately no. An hour after they killed the senator, they were spotted on a security camera boarding a bus that was headed for Houston. Forty minutes after the bus left the station, the GPS tracking system was disabled. The passengers and driver were found dropped off in the Utah desert."

"So what does this have to do with me and Canter?"

"The same massive surge of inter-dimensional magic that was detected in California had the same signature that is detected every thirty months in Canter."

"Which means they're trying to get home. Don't worry director, I'll catch 'em. Agent Gordon out."

At an undisclosed location a woman with silvery-grey hair that had a few blonde streaks, sat behind a desk. "Good luck and godspeed Agent Gordon." She closed the chat on her computer. Flipping on the lamp on her desk, the light illuminated the room. On her cheek was a pair of old fang scars. She absentmindedly thumbed a gold heart-shaped locket that hung from a gold chain around her neck, on her desk as she looked over the files about the sirens. "Don't worry my little ponies. Though it has been a long time since I've seen you, I'm still looking out for you all." Her memories went back to her childhood friends, Majesty, Firefly and Gusty.

***

Gilda was sitting in a guest room in Canterlot Castle when Celestia walked in carrying a stack of files.

Celestia placed the files on a nearby table, gestured to a chair on the other side for Gilda to sit, sat down herself and opened the files. "These are all the known times you have violated the treaties between Equestria and Griffonia."

Gilda looked down at the opened files. "Honestly, I thought they would be a lot thicker. I'm guessing that you're going to inform me that I can expect a Griffonian extradition force is right outside waiting to drag me off in chains."

"No.", Celestia said, which caused Gilda to quirk and eyebrow. "I'm asking you to work for the Equestrian crown to help take down a threat to both of our countries." She slid a smaller file across the table and opened it, revealing the picture of a young griffon chick. "Our intelligence knows that you've been sending most of the bits you've been making to your younger brother. My sister and brothers can move him to any part of Equestria that you so choose."

Gilda thought on the offer. On the one talon Griffonstone was the capitol of Griffonia and currently Gruff, one of the last surviving members of King Guto's court, refusing any title other than Grandpa, but he was aging and it was unclear how much longer he'd live, given his advance age and decaying health. Outside the kingdom, most creatures believed what brought Griffonia down was the attack of the Arimaspi. In reality the kingdom had been in decline for at least two hundred years, plagued by incompetent leaders and duchies and lords seceding from the council of nobles and turning the once powerful nation into a mishmash of paranoid city-states constantly on the verge of civil war, and when the nightmare creature attacked, it was the final nail in the coffin for the power that was Griffonia. Now instead of the griffon nation being a military and political powerhouse, exceeded only by Equestria, the other nations called Griffonia the plucked eagle.

Celestia sat in silence as Gilda thought out her choices. "Very well.", Gilda finally spoke up, "You can move Gallus here to Equestria. I want him to live in Cloudsdale in the Griffon District. But if I find out you're using him as a hostage to make me play nice, it will your neck that will taste the edge of my sword and I will put to the test the beliefs of alicorn endurance and immortality."

Celestia allowed a neutral smile spread on her lips, but internally she scowled at the threat. There had been a time many centuries past when she, her sister and her brothers, during the unification wars, when they would have put entire swaths of a city-state or even the countryside to the blade and torch for less, but this was not those long centuries ago and she had learned that the carrot had more value that the stick in most situations. "Agreed. By the end of the moon, we shall have him moved to the Griffon District of Cloudsdale. And worry not, he shall have all the rights and privileges of any other citizen of Equestria." She gathered up the files, stood up and turned to the door. "I bid you good day and feel free to partake in any of the services of the castle staff."

Just like any other citizen? Feh! Gilda had seen firsttalon how xenophobic the ponies of Equestria could be. The pegasi of Cloudsdale would view Gallus as a second-class citizen, even if the laws set down by the princesses and the elected officials of each of the allied pony city-states forbade discrimination against non-ponies from seeking jobs, an education or even their own places to live. Of course if something happened to her, she knew that Gallus wouldn't be shoved into a forced labor camp for the debts he would accrue just to survive, or have to join a gang that sold salts that kept many of their fellow griffons chained in a cycle of addiction.

Celstia closed the door to Gilda's room and walked down the hallway towards the room Sunset Shimmer was staying in. Gilda has responded as well as she thought and was glad the hen had agreed to a more amenable. But dealing with Sunset would be much more difficult. Her former student was just as stubborn now as she was all those years ago. Though she was loath to admit it, Sunset was as stubborn and headstrong as she is, even all of her students were stubborn and headstrong, Twilight included. Since her returning, had shown herself to be a soldier who felt more at home fighting a war and didn't know how to turn off. She guessed that whatever countries on the other side of the portal had wanted brutal killers to fight their wars, then tossed them away when they were no longer of any use. Part of her burned at that thought.

Celestia mused on how she would convince Sunset to work for the crown. 'Celestia always has a plan and at least a dozen backup plans.', her political rivals and allies always said. If they knew how many times she had managed to slip by on the skin of her dock, or how many times she lucked out by having the solution fall right in her hooves, or allowed the fact that alicorns aren't touched by the ravages of age and disease to let the natural procession of time to rob those who would oppose her of their senses, something she had done to that old ram, whom had proclaimed himself the emperor of Equestria, or had it been still called, the Kingdoms of Dream Valley and Tamberlon, thousands of years ago. Of course she, Bulwark, Luna and Midnight had gotten lucky back then too. A champion had arrived, one now that none other than herself, her sister and her brothers remember the exact details of and her name. Of course they had been young at that time, barely adolescences even by normal pony standards.

Celestia took a breath, held it for a second, then slowly let it out. She was letting her mind wander off-topic. She paused outside of Sunset's door. She heard her former student grunting in exertion, but these were not the sounds of sexual ministrations, they were sounds she had heard from many times from the training grounds when Shining Armor had put those under his command through in the exercise yards. Her High-Captain was a skilled, competent and compassionate leader who knew how to get the best out of all under him. As were all members of the Twilight family were, going back to their clan founder, Twilight Twinkle, and every mare bore the name Twilight as the family surname as part of their name to this very day. Maybe it was those qualities that drew him to marry Twilight Aurora, though she was never a very comely mare.

Celestia mentally chided herself. Midnight didn't choose whom he married in the same manner as she did, he valued compassion, joy and inner-beauty. Matters that spoke to him about the condition of a pony's soul and heart, everything else to him was secondary conditions...at best. Bulwark chose those who had qualities of leadership, strength and moral fiber, much like she did. Luna had always been drawn to those who wore their hearts on their foreleg, those who sought beauty in all things, those who were intrigued in all life's mysteries. And if Celestia was honest with herself, she had always been jealous of Luna for that, something that she shouldn't have been, something that she allowed to force the wedge between herself and her siblings, something that in her own pride and vanity had allowed to erode a chasm, and it had been her own damned pride and foolish vanity that blinded her to her own sister's struggles with her inner demons.

Celestia forced her mind back on-topic. It did neither herself nor anypony any good to wallow in the past, she needed to focus on the topic at hoof. Sunset would be tough to bend to her will, but she didn't want some loyal lapdog who would leap on command, she had plenty of nobles that could play that role. Many of the news papers and broadcasts had painted Sunset, or as she referred to herself in her alternate persona, Bacon-head, as a mad dog killer, but all of those who had been held as hostages or taken as a prisoner and abused had publicly stated that she had saved their lives and thanked her. It was true, Sunset had never caused harm to those who had been held against their will and the one time she didn't was because some mobster had rigged a bunch of bystanders with magical explosive devices and set them off. Speaking of which, Sunset had retrieved one of them when she hit that mobster's house. Something that Celestia wished Fluttershy hadn't gotten mixed up in, but it was too late now.

But Fluttershy was a different topic, especially her odd outfit that made her look like a thestral. That would create for her a political headache, considering that the thestrals were shy and standoffish concerning their other pony cousins. But she was mused that she would have been the same if she had been openly persecuted for centuries, being accused for two hundred years for allying with Nightmare Moon. True, only a hooffull had allied with the nightmare, ponies were quick to turn a blind eye that nearly half of the unicorn guards had turned traitor, it reminded her that ponies, who were supposed to be more evolved and intelligent, when scared and angry, would quickly revert back to to the old cavepony instincts. She wondered how the thestrals would respond to a pegasus masquerading as one of their number would respond. Would they demand justice? Would they remain sequestered in their settlements in the mountains and deep forests? She was letting her mind get off-topic again. Sunset was the primary focus right now.

Celestia reached a hoof towards the doorknob as she mused on what to do. Offer a letter of marquis? Sunset wasn't a bounty hunter, she only went after the worst of the worst, meeting out punishment with lethal results, all the while wearing a disguise that made her look like death himself was coming for their souls. Blackmail wouldn't work on Sunset, in fact it would probably make her go rogue. Maybe the stick and the carrot would work. But should she use more stick or more carrot. As her political opponents always said, 'Celestia always has a plan and at least a dozen backup plans.', but she didn't have a plan, but she would do what she would always do, improvise...and scrape by, on the skin of her dock.

Opening the door, Celestia trotted in, taking not of Sunset doing three-legged push-ups in the middle of the floor. "Good morning, Sunset.", she said in her best faux-cheerful tone.

Sunset, without looking up from the floor, grunted a half-greeting, without breaking her reps.

Celestia walked over to a chair at the end of a small table and watched her former student doing her workout routine. "Sunset, how much do you work out each day?"

"Three sets of one hundred one-armed...uh...three-legged push-ups on each foreleg. Six sets of fifty diamond cutter push-ups. Six sets of fifty sit-ups, two sets of one hundred and fifty crunches and a five mile run in twenty minutes, when I can."

"Why keep up such an intensive work-out routine?"

"When folks are tryin' to kill you, it doesn't matter if you're soft and plushy, or fit and trim. Plus, it helps to keep you endurance up. Maybe you should try it some time to burn off some of that cake you like so much."

Celestia scowled. "I don't eat that much cake and I'll have you know that I eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables."

Sunset paused her push-ups long enough to switch forelegs and glace over at the solar princess with a malicious grin. "Chocolate doesn't count as a salad."

Damn! Her tongue is a sharp now as it was all those years ago. Maybe sharper. Celestia tittered at the verbal jab and poked at her belly a bit. "I may eat more sweets than I should, but I can guarantee that I have more muscle than you."

"Yeah, but your mouth and foreleg you use to eat doesn't count."

"Okay, I'll admit I walked right into that one. But when you are more than twice as tall as nearly all of your subjects and weigh three times as much as the heaviest earth pony, it takes a lot of food to keep your body running."

"Fair enough."

Celestia taped a hoof to her chin. "Did you learn that workout routine from those...what were they called? Ah, yes! Marines?"

"Mhm. Other than the war, my time in the corps was the best time of my life. They gave me a purpose, gave me discipline, gave me the tools I needed."

"But don't they discard other marines when they have no more use for them?"

Sunset stopped her push-ups, rose to all four hooves and turned to face Celestia. "It's not quite that simple. They have plenty of programs to help veterans, but too many times a politician has a pet project and they don't want to raise taxes, so they divert funds away from other things, like the VA."

"VA?"

"Veteran's affairs. It was a program set up over a hundred years ago to help veterans, both wartime and peace-time, to get the medical care, housing and other things they need."

"So they divert the funds away from the veteran's affairs, among other things and they leave the ones most vulnerable to rot?"

A quick sad expression passed across Sunset's face. "Pretty much. There are too many people, whether they served in the military or are just civilians, who get hung out to dry."

"I see. So the country you lived in, was it one of the poorest countries?"

Sunset fetched a towel in her magic to wipe her face. "No, in fact it was one of the richest countries, if not the richest country."

"But isn't it the duty of all wealthy countries to ensure that all of their citizens have everything they need? Jobs, education, security, safety, freedom, healthcare? And if said citizens fall on hard times, welfare and food programs, work programs, shelters where they can at least sleep in safety? If a government allows even one foal to go hungry when they have the power to do so, it deserves to fall."

Sunset tossed the now filthy towel into a nearby hamper. "Every time someone brings even one of that argument, most of the politicians and their talking head pundits all shout 'socialism', 'communism', or some other ism buzz word and accuse them of being un-American."

"A-mare-ican?"

"America was the name of the country I was in."

"Couldn't the people appeal to their princess or prince for help? Or do they have a king or queen?"

Sunset laughed at that. "The Unites States of America don't have any kind of nobility. In fact nearly one hundred and fifty years ago they threw off rule of the British crown in a big war. They have elections every four years to determine who is president, members of congress and governors, all the way down to the local leaders."

"Sounds like pure chaos."

"Did somepony say chaos?", the disembodied voice of Discord said in Celestia's head.

Celestia gave an annoyed grumble. "Not now you old draconequss."

"It is a controlled chaos.", Sunset replied.

"Aw poo!", the disembodied voice of Discord replied, "If it's not real chaos, I'm out."

Celestia was glad that Discord directed his mind to wander elsewhere, but she knew he'd be back eventually when he got bored. "So every four years they have an election to choose their leaders. So can any creature sit in leadership as long as they're elected? Doesn't that mean they could wind up being an elected king or queen?"

"Presidents can only serve two terms max, members of congress can serve as long as the can get reelected and members of the supreme court are appointed to their seat and can serve for life, or until they step down. Depending of the state, county and/or city, governors, mayors and council members can only serve a few terms." Sunset took a seat across from Celestia. "But you didn't come here to talk about politics. So what do you want of me?"

"With your return and those weapons you've brought or made, it's obvious that this world is about to change very quickly and I'd like to ensure that our nation has what it needs to defend my little ponies. It's not a matter of if, but when others figure out how to make the.", Celestia said. When Sunset opened her mouth to reply, the solar princess interjected, "I know that I helped you to make those weapons. The genie's out of the lamp on that one and it can never be put back.", she shook her head and gave a weary sigh, "Just another pile of sins on top of the mountain I have already accrued that I shall have to answer for one day."

"So what exactly do you want from me?"

"Train myself, Luna, and a select members of the royal guard and the military how to properly use them. You can reject me if you want, but that means that I can no longer turn a blind eye to your actions and will have to take you into custody. And I can ensure you that not only will you be charged with multiple accounts of terrorism and mass murder, and you hang for it. However...do as I ask and then I'll allow you to continue on your one mare war on the worst that society. There is an ancient threat that has reared its head once again and I'm concerned that certain pony long thought dead might still be alive. If he is, then our troubles are just beginning."

Sunset thought it over for a moment. "How fucked is everything?"

Celestia scowled at Sunset's casual vulgarity. Had her former student always had this fowl of a mouth, or had her time in the other world colored her language? "Very. Open warfare in the streets, cities burning, mass cullings, and not just here in Equestria, but in every neighboring country and even ones far away."

"So we're talking end of the world. Rivers running red with blood. Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria.", Sunset replied, "And my only options are a noose or a leash around my neck?" She rubbed her chin. "Fuck it. I'm probably destined to die in a war whether it's among ponies or humans. Maybe I can take a few of the bastards with me. I train you, your sister and a group of your elite soldiers...with one condition."

"Name it."

"I fight this war on my own terms, no orders from your crippled student or any of your general, captains or spies, only relevant information on the targets, names, locations straight from you. And no fancy titles."

"Deal." Celestia held out a hoof and Sunset clopped it. "Though that's technically two conditions."

Sunset glared at Celestia, who in turn only gave back a neutral smile. "I bid you adieu, Sunset Shimmer."

Sunset watched as the solar princess and her former teacher walked out the door, then blew out a sigh.

Celestia walked through the hallway as she pondered Fluttershy. She decided to allow Luna to handle it, since the pegasus had decided to disguise herself as a thestral and they responded better to Luna than herself.

***

Over the next fourteen days an amber unicorn trained the two princesses, a lavender unicorn, and several members of the royal guard and Equestrian military on how to use various firearms and the tactics to maximize their effectiveness with them.

An orange unicorn stallion worked feverishly to create enough new firearms and ammunition to upgrade the royal guards and Equestrian military.

A young woman with a purple stripe in her dark hair constantly debriefed fellow agents and operatives under her command about the upcoming threat.

Three sirens disguised as young women traveled across the country towards the city of Canter, sometimes hitchhiking, sometimes stealing cars that still had the key in their ignition.

An ancient enemy watched from the shadows, awaiting the confluence between universes.

In the far north, an ancient unicorn stallion that slumbered within a glacier stirred, sensing that his time of return was nearing.

***

THE DAY OF THE CONFLUENCE

In the early morning hours as the sky to the east just started turning pink, indicating that the sun was just below the horizon awaiting to show itself to the world, Stygian, alongside dozens of his hoof mystics, prepared a complex ritual, along with a shard of the mirror portal, to force open for a moment a rift between two universes.

As the morning sun blazed overhead, Celestia stepped up on a podium in a field at the base of the Canterhorn. Behind her stood two dozen royal guards and soldiers, each armed with new rifles mounted onto rigs on their bodies. Hundreds of cameras, microphones and tape recorders were aimed at her. "Good morning to all my little ponies across Equestria and to all creatures beyond." The gathered reporters started to murmur among themselves and she held up a hoof to silence them. "Please hold all questions and comments until after the demonstration." She slipped on a pair of noise cancelling ear protectors. "Please use the hearing protection that is passed out to or stand behind the sound suppressing shields as these new weapons can be loud." The gathered reporters either placed the protection that was passed out to them on their ears or stood behind shimmering transparent shields.

Ponies placed simple hay targets in the field as the ponies armed with rifles stepped up to a marked line. Shing Armor gave the order to aim and fire. The gathered reporters flinched and ducked as up and down the line fired single shots at the hay targets until their magazines were empty. Shining gave the order to reload and after they had replaced the magazines in their rifles, he gave the order for them to switch to full auto. After the order to fire was given, two seconds later all the freshly reloaded magazines were empty and all the hay targets were shredded. Many reporters hyperventilated, screamed in fright, or fainted at the sight and sound of two dozen rifles firing down range.

After the reporters had calmed down and the semblance of order had been restored, Celestia stepped back up to the podium. "I will now take a few questions. I implore you to be civil and understand that there is still much about these weapons that are classified."

A reporter from The Manehattan Times raised a hoof and the princess acknowledged him. "I have two questions your majesty. One: How long have these new weapons been in development? And, Two: Why showcase them now?"

"Those are some very good questions. These weapons have been in development for nearly a decade, we were forced to up our timetable after the terrorist killed hundred of my little ponies with a toxic gas attack last year in Manehattan. As for your second question, this is show of force and a message to those that want to cause my little ponies harm.", the princess looked straight into the cameras and gave a hard stare, "Because of the increase of both terrorist activities and criminals stealing military weapons, I have created a dozen new specialized regiments who are specially trained in the rapid pacification and resolution of similar violent events, along with a hooffull of specialists who are trained to work in groups of one or two. I intend to have by the end of the year twenty more specially trained and equipped regiments."

A visible shiver ran through the gathered reporters as the whispered among themselves.

A heifer from the District of Cowlumbia raised a hoof. "It has been reported that the vigilante known as Bacon-head was using similar weapons. Does this mean that this particular pony has been working secretly for the crown?"

"I can assure you all here that said individual does not work for the Equestrian crown in an manner known to myself or my sister. Reports from agents in the field has said that Bacon-head figured out how to create their weapons on their own and after an intense internal investigation, no leaks were found. Though I can assure that agents are watching in every city for any signs of Bacon-head, all reports so far is that his vigilante only targets the worst in our society. And before anypony asks, I have had my best criminologists and psychologists profiling him or her and it turns out that this pony was subjected to some level of extreme violence and now seeks to punish those who inflict severe harm on innocent bystanders."

An aide came up and whispered in Celestia's ear. "I only have time for one more question." She pointed to the reporter from the Appleoosa Telegraph.

"Thank ya kindly yer majesty. Now these here new fancy weapons have been shown off, will they b'come available tuh the gen'ral public?"

"At this time no. Once we have perfected the current designs, the crown may allow manufacturers to acquire the blueprints for a semiautomatic variant with a smaller magazine. Thank you all for coming. Any further questions may be sent to the press office at the castle and myself or Luna shall reply to them in a timely manner." Celestia stepped down from the podium and walked to her pegasus awaiting chariot. The gathered royal guards and soldiers made their way to their respective awaiting chariots as ponies quickly cleaned up the field. The gathered reporters quickly started shouting question as they attempted to surge forward.

Sunset switched off the radio where she had been listening to the broadcast as she inspected the new hoof grenades that Sunburst had made from her descriptions and rough sketches. Though he wasn't able to make blasting caps or TNT, he was able to compensate by using a magically charged crystal chip at then end of a small iron rod. She unscrewed the pin housing from the body of the grenade to inspect it. The body was a hollow smooth iron ball, the pin was a simple tin ring and post, the spoon was made from a...well spoon. She chuckled to herself as she screwed the pin housing back on. She then turned her attention to the bizarre grenade next to it. Though she had both described and quickly scribbled a rough sketch of a pineapple grenade, his design was exactly that, a iron statuette of a pineapple the size of her hoof, only with a little pin and the spoon made from a spoon. She hoisted the pineapple pineapple in her hoof and laughed.

***

The shadows started growing longer over Canter as Hailey pulled her heavy bulletproof vest over her torso. Clipping the lapel mic to the neck of the body armor, shoved in the earpiece and strapped the gun belt with the pistol in its holster and several spare magazines to her waist. She attached the various silver protection charms to her wrists, ankles and armor, slipped the black medallion around her neck and finally slipper her I.D. in a pouch in her body armor. Giving everything a once over to ensure that everything was secured and in place, then stepped outside the mobile command.

That morning local police had reported that a red convertible Porsche was reported stolen from Des Moines was found abandoned a couple of miles out of town. This was it, zero-hour. Those monsters were in the area and it would be a matter of time before they showed. Hailey hoped that their preparations were enough.

Around the horse statue outside Canter high school there were four tall silver posts being erected, for blocks around there were concrete barricades the were erected. A phony bomb threat was enough to convince the local police to evacuate all homes and businesses for twelve blocks around, so they could work unimpeded. Hailey eyed the silver posts, they were to serve as a last line of defense in the event the three made their way past the barricades. She looked at the horse statue, it was called TJ and was the mascot of the Canter high school football team, the colts. Looking at the statue, she felt a small swell of pride that they had never beaten her old school, Equis county preparatory high in thirty years. And she intended for that streak to stay in place, she may have not held any ill will towards the kids or even the football team of Canter high, but her old high school couldn't keep up its streak if three magical beasts wrecked up the place.

Adagio and Aria were putting the last touches on the welds that attached the bulldozer blade to the propane truck they had stolen shortly after entering into town, ripped the GPS tracker out and charmed the owners into a sleep. Once the last of the welds were were finished, Sonata hooked up a hose to the tank and made sure it was topped off. The three climbed into the cab, with Adagio behind the wheel.

Adagio turned the key and revved the engine a few times. Sonata pulled a Cilantro cassingle out of her pocket and put it into the tape deck. Adagio glared at her sister.

"What?!", Sonata shrugged, "It'll be funny when we ride up on them playing this song about the Devil's cheese."

"I think it'll be hilarious.", Aria agreed, "They'll be expecting us to roll up blasting some Five Finger Death Punch or DMX, not a silly Mexican folk song."

"I swear that you two are the dumbest fucking idiots ever.", Adagio grumbled as she put the truck in gear and pressed the gas pedal down.

Hailey, along with several agents and operatives walked back and forth behind the barricades. "Contact west!", a voice shouted over the radio.

Hailey Gordon, along with the other agents turned to face where the report had called from. A propane truck with a bulldozer blade welded to the front was barreling towards the blockades as a silly song played. The agents opened fire with assault rifles, sub-machine guns and shotguns.

The three sirens ducked low in the cab as the bullets flew and dropped their disguises. Adagio placed a brick a brick on the gas pedal.

Aria looked in the passenger side rear view mirror. "Addy! We sssssprung a leak!"

"Jusssst another couple of blockssss!", Adagio replied.

"A lot of good that will do if we get blown up firsssst!", Aria snapped.

"Jusssst keep your headssss down and jump when I tell you to!", Adagio snarled back.

The truck lurched as it crashed through barricade after barricade. The three sirens ducked and flinched as bullets and buckshot perforated the cab of the truck.

The truck crashed through several more barricades. "Jump!", Adagio shouted. The doors on the cab flew open and the three sirens swim-flew out, narrowly weaving around bullets and clusters of buckshot. The propane truck careened forward for a dozen feet before to drifting to the right, towards the front doors of Canter high. Agents shouted warning as the scrambled out of the way of the out of control truck. It crashed through the front wall, into the main entrance of the school and barreled through for twenty feet before coming to a stop. A moment later the propane leaking out of the main tank ignited and the truck vanished in a fireball. The front of the school collapsed into flaming wreckage. Chunks of concrete and metal sailed through the air. The blast wave knocked most of the agents off their feet and two of the silver posts over.

As Adagio, Aria and Sonata floated to the ground, a dozen agents laid on the ground in broken heaps as blood pooled around their bodies. Several dozen more lay on the ground screaming in pain as shrapnel stuck out of their bodies. The three sirens felt Equestria magic fill their bodies, as agents flooded towards the, they prepared to sing a song of mind control.

The agents were immediately mesmerized by the three singing and gyrating sirens. The gathered agents eyes glazed over as the spell-song took hold. They turned their weapons on their comrades or themselves and opened fire.

Hailey groaned as she rose from the ground and shook the cobwebs off. She froze for a split second as she heard singing and then felt the weight of a spell push against her protective charms. The black medallion around her neck glowed as it countered the spell that was trying to enter her mind. Gunshot rang out as agents shot each other and themselves. She could stare in shocked horror as agents died by each other gun or by their own hands. In a matter of minutes it was over, the singing stopped, out of one hundred and fifty agents, she was the only left standing.

The three sirens locked eyes with the lone agents. Anger welled up in Hailey that quickly morphed into pure rage. Most of these agents had husbands, wives and kids back at home, families that would never see their loved ones again. She rushed for was she pulled the pistol from its holster. The sirens each scattered in a different direction. Agent Gordon fond herself in a running, twisting gunfight as she snapped off shots that the sirens. The slide locked back as the magazine run dry. She rolled to avoid a swooping siren as she hit the magazine release. Slamming the fresh magazine home, she hit the slide release and started firing again.

One by one Hailey burned through her magazines until she was on her last one. Aria and Sonata attacker her from both sides, grabbing her arms in their hoof-fins. The wrestled the pistol from her hands and stretch both arms between them. Adagio floated down in front of her and gave her a fang-filled grin as she inspected the black medallion around Hailey's neck.

"That'ssss a fine piece of Equessssstrian magic you have there human.", Adagio hissed.

Hailey spat in the face of the floating pony-fish in front of her. "Fuck you!", she snarled.

Adagio flicked the gob of spit from her face with a hoof-fin and gave a malicious smile. "No, I think you'l fuck yoursssself...right after I take thisssss.", she said with a half-cackle, "Maybe I'll have you tell Williamssss that sssshe failed again right before you blow your brainsssss out in her offisssssse." She reached a hoof-fin out for the black medallion. "Gah!", she yelped in pain as an arc of energy leapt off of it, making her recoil her hoof-fin as a small coil of smoke rose of it.

"Loos like it doesn't like you very much, sea horse.", Hailey snapped back.

Adagio slammed her hoof-fin into Hailey's cheek hard. "An I don't like you very much, ssssshaved ape!"

All light seemed to bleed away as a rift opened at the base of the statue.

"That'ssss the expresssss train out of her.", Adagio said with a hiss.

Sonata and Aria threw Hailey down to the ground and all three of them swim-flew to the rift. Adagio paused to look over her shoulder at Hailey, winked and blew a kiss, then slapped her hoof-fin to her flank. The rift closed with a fizzle and crackle as it closed.

Hailey drug herself to her feet, snatched the pistol up and returned it to its holster. "Is there anyone there?", she called into the lapel mic. No response, just static. "Sound off! Is anyone alive!" Again nothing. "If you can hear me, but can't respond, chirp your mic twice or fire a shot!" Still nothing. She quickly switched the radio's frequency over to the emergency channel. "Code Adam Black! Code Adam Black! I say again, Code Adam Black!" No response. She switched over to the police band and panicked shouts flooded through her earpiece. "I need help! Shots fired! Multiple agents down!" Over the earpiece panicked shouts flooded through. "Can somebody help me?", she whimpered, looking around at the carnage. Orange lights from fires glowed from around Canter as sirens of emergency vehicles echoed across the town.

Hailey felt a strange pressure from behind her, it was pulling instead of pushing. A brilliant rainbow-colored light exploded to life behind her. On instinct she drew the pistol from its holster and spun around. She froze in place, the whole base of the statue was glowing in bright, swirling rainbow light. Suddenly the pulling force became strong. Digging in her heels, she shielded her eyes from the light with a hand. The pulling force became overwhelming and she found herself being drug forward. She tried to move away, but her feet wouldn't move. As the unseen force drug her into the rainbow light, she turned her upper body back towards the town, reached out with her left hand and screamed, "SOMEONE HELP ME!"

***

Twilight stood in the small kitchenette in the castle as the bright noon sun shown through the windows, her hind legs locked in a pair of wheeled braces. In the foal seat sat her son, Dusk Shine. She was trying to feed him, but he was being fussy and uncooperative. She scooped some peas in a spoon and held it in front of his mouth.

Dusk turned his snout up. "No!"

"Dusk, you need to eat her peas." Twilight moved the spoon in front of his mouth again and again.

Dusk simply moved his his head, side to side, up and down, avoiding the spoon like it was filled with poison, each time shouting in his squeaky voice "No!"

Twilight tried to shove the spoon into Dusk's mouth, prompting the colt to slap it away. She picked up the spoon off the floor, tossed it into the sink and fetched a fresh one. "Dusk. You need to eat your peas."

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Three bites for mommy?"

"No!"

"Two bites?"

"No!"

"One bite!"

"No!"

"I can make you something else. What would you like?"

Dusk reached his hooves toward the counter. "Cookie."

Dammit Cadance! This is why I ask you to not feed him so much sugar. "No Dusk. You can't have a cookie right now. Maybe after you eat you lunch."

"Cookie now!"

"No Dusk. First you eat your lunch, then you can get a cookie."

"COOKIE NOW! COOKIE NOW! COOKIE NOW!"

Twilight put her hoof on Dusk's cheek and made him look her in the eyes. "No! Cookies are for good colts.You're being a bad colt. Bad colts don't get cookies."

"WANT! COOKIE! NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!" Dusk started putting in the crocodile tears as he threw a tantrum.

Twilight felt several hairs in her mane spring out of place. She took the tantrum-throwing colt in her magic. "You don't get a cookie for sure. In fact I think you need some time in the naughty stool." As she lifted her son out of the foal seat and started to carry him out of the kitchen. He lit his horn.

*pop*

The colt vanished in a tiny flash of light.

Twilight turned around to see the colt standing on the counter next to the cookie jar. "Dusk Shine! You get down now!" She stomped towards her son.

Dusk knocked the lid off the cookie jar. "No! Cookie!"

Before Twilight could grab Dusk in her magic, the colt vanished in tiny flash of light, along with the cookie jar. More hairs sprung out of place in her mane and tail. "Oh no you don't!"

In the halls of the castle, guards and servants stepped to the side and watched as mamma unicorn stampeded after her baby unicorn, who was stampeding as just as fast, while levitating a lidless jar of cookies in his magic and simultaneously cramming one cookie after another into his mouth.

"Get back here!"

"No!"

The wheels on Twilight's back legs rattled loudly on the hard floor as she ran after her son. She glared out of the side of her eyes as she ran past the various guards and servants in a look of 'really?!'.

*pop* Dusk vanished in a tiny flash of light again, along with the jar of cookies, leaving a half-eaten one on the floor.

A growl of righteous fury rumbled in Twilight's through, that became a roar of frustration. All four legs and two wheels came off the floor as she was literally hopping mad. Her mane and tail erupted in flames. A servant quickly grabbed a flower vase and dumped its contents on her.

Twilight blew the flower off her nose and brushed the dripping bangs out of her eyes. She gave the servant a death glare that would have given a cockatrice a run for its money and growled, "Thanks." In a flash of light, she disappeared to continue searching for her misbehaving son.

Celestia was walking through the throne room. She thought about what to have for lunch. Day court had been delayed as an elementary school from Las Maregeles was having a field trip and she never missed a chance to meet young foals, much to the chagrin of the nobles, not that it bothered her. If they didn't like it, they could always take it to night court, or reschedule, maybe she could pen them in for next year. She felt a surge of magic and reached out with hers to snag it.

Dusk Shine appeared in a tiny flash of light on the solar princess's back, along with a partially eaten jar of cookies. The colt was defiantly shoving the sweet disks into him mouth. Or maybe it was victory feast? Her eyes sparkled as she grinned at the little yearling colt, who was the spiriting image of his mother, even if he was just a shade darker.

"Can I have one of those?"

The colt reached a hoof into the cookie jar and passed one to Celestia, who took in in her magic and happily munched it down.

Twilight appeared in a flash of light. Dusk nestled down and hid in Celestia's flowing mane.

"Twilight, what brings you here?"

Twilight was practically snorting steam. "Have you seen Dusk? He's been acting the fool, showing his little plot."

Celestia shook her head in an exaggerated manner, making her flowing mane flip back and forth, intentionally exposing the colt hiding within. "No, I'm sorry. I don't think I have."

A wicked thought entered Twilight's mind as she saw her son trying to hide in Celestia's mane. "Aw well. That's too bad. I guess I'm gonna have to find somepony else to take to grandma's house then."

Dusk jumped up from his hiding spot excited, cookie jar in tow. "Gamma!"

"Aha! Gotcha you, little sneak!" Twilight snagged her son in her magic while simultaneously casting a spell to counter his magic.

The cookie jar plummeted to the floor and would have shattered in a thousand pieces if a golden aura didn't catch it. Celestia levitated the cookie jar up, took another one out and ate it, the teleported the jar away, much to the displeasure of Dusk.

"I should beat your plot until it is three shades darker purple.", Twilight said levitating her son face-to-face with her.

Dusk gave his mother the whipped puppy dog stare that made her heart melt.

Twilight nuzzled Dusk's cookie crumb-covered snout in a manner that made the solar princess squee. "I can't stay mad at you." She levitated her son onto her back.

"I wuv oo mam--*bleh!*"

Twilight froze in horror and disgust as partially digested cookies splattered against her mane. Before she a chance to fully process what had just happened, a glowing ball of rainbow-colored light appeared on the floor, instantly triggering mamma bear instinct. She immediately moved Dusk behind her to the floor and took an aggressive stance, ready to fight to the death whatever threat to her foal was about to appear.

Celestia quickly flicked a wing in a signal to the guards that were in hidden alcoves and quickly interposed herself between the glowing ball of light and the mare who ready to fight to the death to protect her foal. "Get Dusk out of here."

Twilight, the puked-up cookies in her mane forgotten, snatched up her son and scrambled out of the throne room as the first squads of guards filtered in.

Hailey screamed in fright and pain as she swirled through the chaotic, confusing swirl of rainbow colors and shapes. She felt her bones forcibly realign into unfamiliar positions. In a blinding flash of light, she felt something solid and cold beneath her. Her clothes and armor suddenly felt too big and ill-fitting. The glasses fell from her face. The pistol fell from her grip and she scrambled for it, trying to grab it with hands that that wouldn't respond. Her vision swam as disorientation threatened to overwhelm her.

Celestia stared in surprise as a unicorn mare that looked exactly like her former student and mother of her adopted grand-nephew. Ill-fitting clothes were draped around the mare and body armor that looked similar to what Sunset wore. As the glasses fell from the mare's face, she scrabbled clumsily for a pistol that fell from her grim. Lighting her horn, she tried to pull the pistol away from the mare, only to feel something familiar cancel her magic. She kicked the pistol away with a gold shod hoof.

Hailey froze when she saw a blurry white and gold thing kick the pistol away. Looking up, she squinted to focus her eyes. She stared up at an out of focus massive white unicorn...with wings.

At that moments Hailey's conscious mind decided to 'nope!' out.

The two headed mare

by sykko

Prologue-The vanishing of generosity

Baltimare fiasco

Dark Mare over Manehattan

Dark Mare over Manehattan: Strange bedfellows

Las Pegasus: decent into madness

Las Pegasus: the beginning of an empire

A monochromatic encounter

Building a reluctant team 1-Moving pieces into place