Big Brother Shining Armor Act I Retrogenesis

Big Brother Shining Armor Act I
RETROGENESIS

>Be Shining Armor
>Be tired AF
>Its 11pm and you just got finished working a double-shift at Joe’s Tavern
>Damn co-worker of yours that was supposed to relieve you had to call off sick so you had to work the bar since this morning
>A part of you just wants to head straight to bed, but then that would mean waking up and going right back to work
>God fuck your job
>Trudging up the steps to your apartment, you wrestle your keys out of your pocket and all but collapse on your couch as you walk inside
>Place is small, and is a bit of a mess
>More than a few empty beer cans lying around on your table, and it looks like the damn flag you hung up on the wall fell again, draping over your TV
>Too lazy to get up and lay it down elsewhere so you can watch TV, you instead opt to grab your laptop from under your couch
>You reach around to the other side of the couch toward your mini-fridge, opening it up to reveal that the light is out inside

"Aw crap."
>You groan as you stretch back up to your feet to examine the fridge
>Thankfully all that you keep inside here is dirt cheap beer but you're hoping that you don't have to end up tossing this thing into the trash
>unplugging and replugging the fridge a few times, you take a chance with plugging it into a different nearby socket
>Thankfully it does the trick and your fridge lights up again!
"Nice, just the socket that's busted."
>reaching in you pull out a warm one and plant yourself back onto the couch
>Flipping open your laptop, you immediately check your email to see if any of the other places for jobs you applied to have gotten back
>800 messages
>all unread spam
>nothing from anywhere you wanted to work
>With a sigh you sign out of your email and decide to kill time by checking facebook
>one unread message
>DON'T FORGET: Twilight Sparkle's Birthday is today
"FUCK!”

>You stare at the screen for about a full minute, your mind and body jumpstarting back up as you rise to your feet and reach for your phone
>Running a hand through your hair, you dial your little sister's number before you're even sure what you want to say
>Glancing at your clock you see its now 11:11
>Probably getting ready for bed considering she's got school tomorrow
>Can still catch her now and-
>Straight to voicemail
>Unsure of what exactly you wanted to say to begin with aside from 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' you angrily cancel your call
"I don't believe this."
>Standing absently in your dark apartment for a few moments, all you can think about is 'How do I make this up to Twiley?”

>While lost in thought you feel compelled to walk into your bedroom where you start to rifle through a dresser drawer
>shoving aside medical documents and old receipts and bills, you find a small bundle of pictures
>You flip through most of them, various pictures of your time back in the Army goofing off with old friends as well as a few pictures of yourself in your old Shadowbolt uniform back when you played for Crystal Prep
>At the bottom of the bundle are pictures of you when your were only about ten or twelve
>Pictures of you with mom and dad mostly but at the bottom is one with you and Twiley
>Out camping in the woods in front of a fire
>You missed seeing that smile
>Every now and then you’d get a call from her, but it’s always felt hard to really stay in touch
>You wonder how things have been going for her back at school?
>Tomorrow’s Friday, maybe if she doesn’t have any plans you could take her out?
>Better late than never right?
>Taking out your phone again you quickly dial as you stare at the picture in your other hand
“Hey Joe, how’s it going?  Yeah?  Yeah I know its late, listen I need to take the day off tomorrow.  Yeah I still got some vacation days left.  Great!  See ya Saturday.”


>You wake up at half past noon the next day
>You’d forgotten to switch off your alarm so you ended up groggily mashing the snooze button around 7 but that didn’t stop you from passing out again for an extra 5 hours.
>Hopping out of bed, you take your time to shower and shave, throw on one of your nicer button-up shirts and a clean pair of jeans.
>After scarfing down a bowl of cereal you walk down the stairs and start up your car
>An old Ford pickup that was probably about as old as Twilight was, you were nevertheless proud of it as it was your first car, having been bought with your own money
>You honestly didn’t even drive it that often, choosing instead to walk the 7 blocks to work and back but today was special
>Pulling out of your lot, you cruise out of your neighborhood and after about half an hour of driving you pull into Crystal Prep High
“Now, where’s the guest entrance?”
>walking out of the perimeter you try various doors until you become convinced that they had to have changed where the entrance was for visitors
>”Hey you!  You lost pal?”
>Spinning around, you see a tall man with long black hair with a rather fierce scowl set in his face
>and then there’s you, wearing the biggest grin on your face
“Coach Sombra!”

>”Eh?  Do I know you?”
“Its me Coach!  Shining Armor.”
>”Shining?”
>Your old coach always seemed to carry that look about him
>The same look he’d give to students walking the halls late to class was typically the same one he had when he was yelling his brains out at you and your teammates
>But right now his face was contorting into some strange inverse of what it normally is
> A smile?
>”LOOK AT YOU!  AHAHAHA!  You old rust bucket what are you doing back here!”
>As his voice boomed he stomped on over to you giving you a bear hug while shouting into your ear
“I just came down to visit my little sister!  I was planning on taking her out tonight.  Hey where the Hell’s the entrance?”
>”Its over on the west side of school now, come on I’ll show ya!”
>It’d been quite a few years since you saw him, but he looked almost exactly as you remembered
>Walking you through a glass side door, you found yourself in a makeshift reception room
>Giving the secretary your name and ID, your old coach began tugging you away from the room as she picked up her phone to call your sister
>”Come on, you gotta see this.”
>He begins to lead you through an adjacent hallway but you stop in your tracks when you see the new addition to the doorway
>Its a metal detector
>You didn’t have those when you went to school here
>You consider asking Sombra about it but he seems too eager to stop so you're forced to follow him inside the school
>You only make it about 10 feet before you stop in front of a massive trophy case.


>Coach Sombra taps the glass a few times, motioning you over to where an old newspaper clipping and a silver trophy lies
>Its a picture of you and your old teammates, with a younger and bruised up you holding the trophy in your hands
“Damn, I look like shit.”
>”Those Wondercolts played a dirty game, but we came out on top!  It was the best season we had in years.”
>Your memory of how that game went down is a bit fuzzy.
>You vaguely recall getting the black eye, and the last 2 minutes are kind of clear
>Being back here after all this time feels kind of nice, but its also a bit strange
>Like opening up a time capsule and finding things you really used to love
“So Coach, you know my sister at all?”
>”Huh, well I didn’t even know you had one until just now.  She play any sports?”
“Uh no.”
>”Well there you go!”
>Your coach chuckles a bit as you back away from the trophy case
>You’re about to ask him about that metal detector business when you spot a familiar face out of the corner of your eye
>A young and slender girl, dressed in a Crystal Prep uniform, with her hair tied neatly up in a bun and with a pair of thick rimmed glasses resting on her face
>She stands there with her mouth agape, and you sheepishly wonder just how long she might have been standing there
“Hiya Twiley!  Long time no-“
>The air is knocked out of your chest as you receive the hardest tackle you’ve had since graduation


>”B.B.B.F.F.!  You remembered my birthday!”
>Leaning hard against the window, you briefly struggle to regain your footing before you can end up crashing headfirst through the trophy case
“Hahaha… well pretty close anyway.  How you been?”
>”Great!  I didn’t know you were coming by today.”
“Well I tried giving you a call last night but you wouldn’t pick up.  Anyway, I figured I’d take you out to eat tonight.  My treat.”
>Coach Sombra steps between you and the case as Twilight finally breaks the hug
“I’ll be waiting down here by the entrance, go grab your books so we can get out of here.”
>she nods her head before bounding off to her locker, managing to return back with a book bag that looked weigh too heavy for someone her size
>With only about 20 minutes left in the school day you figure she wouldn’t be missing too much anyway
>She almost looks like she’s half-skipping as you two walk out towards your truck
>”Hey Shining?  D-did you tell Dad we were going out?”
>You stop just as your about to open up your car door



"yeah..."
>turning around, you're a little taken aback to see Twilight's bright smile disappear almost out of nowhere
"Why don't you call him and tell him.  It kind of slipped my mind..."
>"uhmm I uh lost my phone..."
>You notice that Twi has started to awkwardly clasp her hands
"Lost it how?"
>Now she's not even looking you in the eyes
>"I dunno.  I-I think I might have dropped it on the bus maybe a week ago, and... its been gone since?"
>Well that would explain why she didn't pick up her phone last night
>But going around for over a week without a cellphone?
"Why hasn't Dad gotten you a replacement?"
>"I-I uhhhh..."
"Twiley why are you stuttering?"
>"I'm not!"
"..."
>OK then
>You lean against your car door, your arms folded over your chest
>"C-Can we go eat now?
"No."
>"What?"
"First I'm going to buy you a new phone, come on.”


>The car ride is quiet, save for the sound of the radio playing some old classic rock station
>Your pretty convinced that Twilight has just tried to lie to you
>That much is pretty obvious, but it really rubs you the wrong way
>You don’t really remember the last time she ever lied to you, and seeing her get so nervous was downright weird
>In any case, since she didn’t have a phone you were forced to make the call yourself
>Turning down the radio, you sighed as you dialed your father
>a raspy voice comes out the other end
>”Hello?”
“Hey Dad.”
>”…”
“Dad?"
>”Shining? Are you ok?
”Yeah I’m fine. Twilight’s with me, I’m taking her out to eat.”
>”Oh. That’s great.”
“Yeah.”
>A long pause crops up, neither one of you apparently wanting to speak up
“Well, I’m driving right now so I should get off my phone. I’ll bring her home no later than 8 or 9.”
>”You two have fun.”
“Bye”
>After hanging up, you look aside and see Twilight staring at the floor with a neutral expression
>Putting on a smile, you turn up the music a bit and place your hand on her shoulder, eliciting a warm smile from her in turn



>You weren’t planning on making a stop at the phone store today, but at the very least you know had something to get her for her birthday
>It still bugged you how she reacted when you tried asking her what happened to the last one
>She was never one to keep secrets, least of all from you
>You’re standing in the middle of the phone store right now, speaking with the lady behind the register while Twiley looks around trying to pick out a new phone
>”Well sir, we can’t really offer you too much of a discount for a replacement.  Only about 20% off the new purchase.”
“Wasn’t her phone covered over some kind of warranty?  Getting a replacement shouldn’t be this expensive.”
>”Well normally it wouldn’t, but according to my record we’ve already helped her replace her phone after losing it last month.”
“She lost her phone last month too?”
>You glanced at the back of the store where your sister was carefully examining a flip-phone
>You were always the more forgetful one back home, losing your phone, or your wallet every now and then and tearing up your room trying to find them
>Twiley was always more responsible, kept her room and belongings neatly organized all the time
>Losing her phone not once but twice in one month?
“Well… alright then, I’l take whatever discount you can give me…”
>”Sir, you know if you were to purchase a smart phone we’d be able to outfit it with a better tracker.  You could then download an app so that you’d be able to personally find the tracked phone should it get lost again.”
>That didn’t sound like a bad idea
>Certainly a bit more expensive, and you weren’t sure how it’d work on the family plan at all but right now it seemed worthwhile
“That sounds like it’d be helpful… I’m going to go speak with my sister real quick and see what she thinks.”
>Walking over, you placed a hand on her shoulder as you looked down at the phone she was holding


>”I kind of like this one, its pretty small and its fairly new.”
“Well I was thinking you might actually like a smartphone better, you know so you could play music and use the internet.”
>”Wouldn’t that be a lot more expensive though.”
“Hey don’t worry about it.  Its all on me.”
>”Shiney you don’t have to do that.”
“No its fine.  Consider it a belated birthday present.”
>”Well… Ok, thanks big brother!  Let’s go take a look at them!”
>She leads you over to the wall where the smartphones are held
>She takes her time picking up several from the wall and examining them closely while reading through the specifications for each one on their price tags
>The price tags are the only thing that pop out at you
>Most of them went well into the hundreds of dollars
>Although the prices made you cringe, you didn’t mind dipping into your savings if it made Twilight happy
>”Hmmm, do you think I could get something like this but in purple?”
“I’m not sure, but I bet they got a few protective cases that come in purple.”
>”Well I think this is the one I want… are you sure you don’t mind paying this much?”
“Positive.”
>She gives you a big smile, one that she keeps all they way out of the store and on the way to your next stop
>Sugar Cube Corner


>The smell of frosting and sweets hit you hard, making you realize just how hungry you were
>”Wow, this place is almost exactly how I remember it!”
>Looking over the place, you saw a few stands filled with old-fashioned lollipops, walls lined with pink wallpaper with drawings of children playing, and old chandliers with multi-colored candles hanging from the ceiling
>Sugar Cube Corner was a bit more kiddy looking than what you had remembered, but Twi seemed to be enjoying it so you figured you made the right choice
>Taking a seat off to the corner, the two of you were soon greeted by a young girl about Twiley’s age who had bright pink hair and a bubbly smile
>”Hi!  I’m Pinkie Pie and I’ll be your server today!”
>She places tow foam cups of water onto the table and hands the two of you menus before bouncing off to another table
>You grimaced as a quick glance through the menu told you that the place had plenty of different sweets, although not much in the way of any meals
>”What are you thinking Shining?”
“Well, this is your birthday treat, so how about a slice of cake?”
>”Its your birthday?!”
>You nearly jumped out of your seat, surprised to see the waitress back already.
>”Uhh yeah it is!”
>”OH!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  If you want some cake, I can show you all the different kinds right over here!  Come on!”
>The waitress reaches out with her hand to Twilight, who somewhat hesitantly grabs onto her as she led her over to a glass case by the register
>You chuckled to yourself, thinking the two looked rather cute together


>After a few minutes Twilight sat back down at your table, looking a little frazzled
“Heh heh, she a friend of yours?”
>”No.  I’d never met her before… she seems pretty friendly though.”
“I’ll say.  So have you been making many friends back at school lately?
>”Oh yeah!  I have a couple good friends from school.”
“Like who?”
>She gives you a sheepish grin
>”Well, theres this girl I met named Sugar Coat.  She takes mostly college credit courses like me so I see her in most of my classes and we sit by each other.  I met a few other friends through her and I sit with them every day at lunch.”
“That sounds nice.  That Sugar Coat must be pretty smart if she can keep up with you.”
>”Heh yeah…”
>…
“So did you do anything special with your friends with your birthday?”
“Oh well… I don’t see them too often outside of school… a-a-and I didn’t really think birthdays were all that special anyway you know.  Haha…”
>you stared at her a moment, as something about her demeanor caught you off guard
>Did she start to stutter again?
>You were about to bring it up as Pinkie Pie came by and dropped two slices of strawberry shortcake for the two of you, a purple candle placed in hers
>”HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPP-“
>Woah they do songs here two
>Twilight seemed to sink into her chair, a large blushing appearing on her face
>Figuring "why the Hell not?” you decide to join in on the singing
>When the two of you finish, Twilight straightens up in her seat, breathes in and blows out the candle as your waitress begins to clap

>After finishing up your cake the two of you relaxed a bit at your table
>You spent a long time there just listening to her go over all the various topics she has been studying in her advanced courses
>Most of it goes over your head but she seems so animated about it all that you’re more than happy to listen to her talk
>Some of it does sound interesting, though when she finishes you try to steer her back to talking about herself
>She seems to already be thinking hard about what school she wants to go to after graduation, even giving some thought to possibly going pre-med
>You jokingly suggest that she could consider going military like you did and thus save a lot of money, to which she responds by gagging and sticking her tongue out at you
“Hahahaha that’s not  very nice!”
>”Tch!  Whatever,”
>As it starts to get darker out you decide its finally about time to start driving her back home
>You leave an extra large tip for Pinkie before walking out with Twiley to your truck


>Twilight fidgets with the radio a little bit before leaving the station back onto that classic rock station you normally listen to
>You reach for the dial to turn down the volume again so you the two of you can talk some more
>“So Shiney, how have things been going with you and Cadence?  I haven’t heard from her in a while.”
“Cadence?  Well…”
>Shit, she was going to ask about this sooner or later
“You know with me busy at work and her in med school… we just haven’t had a whole lot of time to be together you know?”
>”Oh… yeah I understand…”
>Things had been a bit rockier between the two of you for a while, but you didn’t feel like dumping that on Twilight now
>Not when she had been having such a nice night
>Eventually you pulled up alongside your old home, parking on the curb
“It was great seeing you again Twiley, we really do need to get together more often.”
>”Totally!  Hey, if you’re not in a big hurry you could come inside.  Dad would love to see you too you know.”
>You felt like a stone just got dropped in your stomach
“I’d really rather not Twiley… its just kind of awkward you know?”
>She looks a little crushed but you stay firm
>” I understand…”
>Fuck you hate hearing her say that
“Hey Twiley?”
>You place an arm around her shoulder and pull her in for a hug
“You know if you ever need me for anything you can always call me or look for me right?”
>”Yeah I know.  Love you Shiney.”
>She plants a quick kiss on your cheek before stepping out of the truck
“Love you too Twiley.  Happy birthday"


>The next few days pass by as little more than a blur to you
>Nothing much special happens that hasn’t already happened before
>You go to Joe’s and work your ass off
>When you come home you check your emails to see if any potential employers have contacted you
>Then you spend the night sipping shit beer before waking up and starting all over again
>The first night or so had you in a pretty cheery mood though
>Spending time with Twi was some of the most fun you had in a long while, and you were still running off the buzz your time with her gave you
>That buzz eventually wore off though, and what you were left with didn’t leave you feeling happy at all
>Twilight lied to you
>You were almost sure of it
>Worse yet, some of her behavior when you took her out was completely unlike the little girl you remember
>Perhaps it was your father?
>Maybe being alone with only him around was doing something to her?
>Then again, maybe it wasn’t just that.
>She had more than just him in her life, she had friends too now
>You were happy about that at least
>She had always been pretty introverted when she was young, preferring to spend time alone reading or watching TV when she was out of school
>Having some friends, other girls around her to talk with would be good for her
>Right?
>”Hey can I get another round over here!”
>You shook yourself out of your thoughts, looking toward the bum sitting at the other end of the counter
“Yeah, more whiskey right?  No problem”
>You quickly pour him the drink and place it down in front of him before walking off to clean your dirty glasses
>Fucker didn’t tip you


>At some point you try to forget about your worries, but then you end up lingering on what she had asked you right before she left
>According to Twi, your father really wanted to see you
>You’re not entirely sure if that was true, and even if it was a part of you didn’t want to go through seeing him again
>Then what about Cadence?
>She never really seemed to have time for you though
>Always so busy with med school
>You wonder how much school she has left?
>Maybe when she finally finishes you can start seeing her again?
>You could always try to call her, you hadn’t tried that in a while
>Taking a break from the bar, you step outside and flip your phone out of your pocket
>Maybe a short text?
>’Hey Cadence, how have things been?’
>…
>No
>’Hey you been alright?  What’s up?’
>No
>Fuck texting
>You’ll try and just give her a call, its not even 10pm yet so she has to be awake
>Briefly considering what you’re going to say, you’re about to call her when your phone goes off on its own
>’TWILIGHT SPARKLE’


“Hello!”
>…
>…
>……
“Twiley?”
>”Is this champ?
“What?”
> the other line erupts into laughter, several voices by the sound of it
“Who is this?”
>A girl you don’t recognize yells
>“JOHN CENAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!”
“What the fuck is this?”
>Several other voices you’re not familiar with join in with shouts of ‘SUNDAY NIGHT!’ and ‘SUUUUUPER SLAM! slam! slam!’ as more laughter is heard in the background
“Who is this?  Is this some kind of joke Twil-“
>”FIFTY-NINE NINTEY NINE!”
“HEY!”
>The other line hangs up on you
>You just stand there dumbstruck before re-dialing the number
>It goes straight to voicemail
>You try it again
>Voicemail
“…Fuck!”
>You don’t know what just happened, but you know for certain that that wasn’t Twilight.
>Did someone steal her phone?
>Was this what’s been happening over and over?
>Well hang on, you planned for this
>Switching to your ‘Lost Phone Tracker’ app, your phone screen shifts to a large map
>After about a minute a red dot appears in a spot that’s just about half an hour a way, fairly close to where Twilight lives.
>The time is about 10pm, about an hour before you get off work
>When you walk back inside you explain to your co-workers that you have to leave early tonight
>You tell them its a 'family emergency’


>About twenty minutes later, your truck careens into a subdivision only a few blocks away from Crystal Prep
>It skids to a halt in front of a large house that’s got  one of those double-decker garages
>You see no immediate place to park, as it looks like there are over a dozen cars parked all along the street.
>From where your car is sitting you can make out the faint sound of some kind of rap song coming from the house and you can see shadowy outlines of people jumping around past the curtains in the large windows
>You park the car in front of the driveway and step out
>Grabbing your phone again, you try to give Twilight’s number a call one more time
>To your surprise it picks up
>You don’t hear anyone responding to you through it, but you hear many voices saying things you can’t quite make out
>You also hear what sounds like the exact same song that’s being played from the house right in front of you
>Briefly, you consider whether or not you are overreacting a bit
>Twi knows that if she ever needed you she can ask
>But, is she able to?
>And would she if she could?
>You’re not sure anymore, and you won’t stand that
>Hanging up, you step up to the front door of said house, banging your hand on it as hard as you can over the music inside
>When no one answers you try banging your hand even louder until eventually the door is opened
>A young man wearing a disheveled suit with a red tie wrapped around his forehead greets you
>”Uhhhh sup.  Who are you?”
>You scowl at him, peaking your head around him to look inside
>you place your foot in the door while grasping it with a free hand
“I’m John Fucking Cena”
>With your other hand you shove him back and force your way into the house party


>The house is even bigger on the inside than it looked, and its fairly packed with people
>Nearly all of them look to be teens you would guess, and there’s a few of them wearing Crystal Prep letterman jackets
>Most of them look to either be carrying around red plastic cups or dancing to the music blaring off the stereo system
>Not one of them seem to notice you, except for the kid in the suit you just shoved aside
>”What’s your problem man!?”
>You ignore him as you start to walk around the perimeter of the party, scanning the crowd for any sight of your sister
>That guy that just let you in is following you now, but you’re having trouble hearing him over the music
>”-you gotta pay upfront!  I’m not going to let you touch any of the booze unless you give me five bucks!”
>God damnit
>”Hey!  I’m talking to you!”
>He grabs your arm and you twist around to face him
>You clench your other fist and stare at him
>His expression turns blank
>”I know you?”
“Huh?”
>”You’re Rust Bucket!  You’re a fucking legend!  DUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!”
>There it is again, that old nickname Coach Sombra stuck on you back in school when you first made the football team
>You’re caught off guard as the kid starts pulling on your arm leading you toward the kitchen
>”Bro! We gotta do car bombs together man!  I don’t fucking believe it!”


>Stumbling into the relatively more quiet kitchen, you shake your arm out of Anon’s grasp
>He’s wearing the goofiest grin on his face
>“Dude this is awesome!  I’m actually QB of the Shadowbolts too!  Only like second string yeah, but I’ve been working real hard on my cardio and I know Coach Sombra’s been-“
“Anon!  Listen… I’m not going to drink right now.  I’m looking for my sister, do you know her?”
>”You got a sister?”
>Again with this
“Yeah I got a sister.  She goes to Crystal Prep just like you.”
>”Is she h-“
>…
“Is she what?…”
>Anon’s grin fades as he breaks eye contact with you and stares aside
>You continue to stare intently at him
>”Dude I’m sorry.  I’m kind of drunk right now and I didn’t mean anything at all.  I’m like-“
“Is she what?”
>He looks at you with the look of a frightened puppy
>”Is she hot?”
>God Damnit
>You sigh as you run a hand through your hair, briefly reconsidering his offer of booze
“Look, her name’s Twilight Sparkle.  You know her or not?”
>”Twilight?  OH YEAH!  I totally see her all the time, she’s one of Sugar Coat’s friends.  I think they’re downstairs in the basement.”
“Thank you.”
>You turn to leave out of the kitchen, only for Anon to place his hand on your shoulder
>”Hey dude, you like got a Facebook or something?  If its cool with you, I’d love to hear some tips and shit from you.  I’m like super serious about making first string next season and-“
“Yeah sure whatever!  Just look up Shining Armor or whatever I’m on there.”
>”Fuckin’ SICK!”
>You stomp out of the kitchen and make your way to the basement


>The muffled sound of the stereo from above grows more muffled as you step downstairs, replaced by the sound of laughter
>You spot a few couples making out off to the side on some couches as well as a couple people just completely passed out
>There are other people off to the far side of the basement standing around near a table with various bottles on it
>They look to be running about tossing something back and forth
>Then you notice Twilight, trip and skid onto the carpet in front of one of the girls over there
>”Give it back Lemon Zest!”
>She yells up at the girl standing above her, a girl about her age with long yellow hair, reaching up as she holds a purple-cased smartphone just out of reach
>”KEEP A~WAY!”
>The girl that Twilight struggles with tosses over the phone to a girl with short purple hair
>You see Twilight unsteadily rise to her feet and stumble forward to her
>“Come on Indigo!  This isn’t funny anymore!”
>”You need to grow a sense of humor Twilight!”
>You can’t believe what you’re seeing here
>You start moving over to them, none of them seemingly noticing you yet.
>The girl tosses the phone away to a girl with white hair done up in pigtails
>When Twilight runs over to her, she holds out her arm and pushes your sister to the ground while holding her right arm up high as she holds the smartphone
>Her laughter is cut short when you walk up behind her and grasp her arm

>You put your face up close to hers and stare into her eyes
>Her surprise doesn’t last too long as she grabs onto your arm with her other hand and tries to dig into you with her fingernails
>”What the fuck is your problem?!  LET GO!”
>You tighten your grip on her arm as she gives a slight shriek and drops your sister’s phone right in front of her
>Its then you notice your sister sitting in a daze on the ground with tears in her eye
>”B.B.B.F.F.?”
>You let go of the girl as you stoop down to your sister
”Twiley what the Hell’s going on?!  Did they hurt you?!”
>”n-NO!  We were just playing around!  These are my friends!”
“Your FRIENDS?!”
>You give her an incredulous look as you glance around at the group of girls
>They all look pretty frightened
>You also notice several boys from the other side of the room start to walk over
>”Dude what’s your problem!”
>”They were just screwing around!”
>”Who let this psycho in?!”
>you ignore them for the moment, trying to raise Twi up to her feet as you hand her back your phone
>She’s barely able to stand
>You stare into her eyes, but she refuses to meet your gaze
“ *sniff* *sniff* “
>Your eyes widen
>You’re all but holding her up on her own feet now
“Twilight YOU’RE DRUNK!”


>”NO!  Its not what it looks like Shiney!  i-i-i-“
>She’s all but sobbing right now as she struggles to spit words out of her mouth
>You feel like time has frozen around you as you stare at her with your mouth agape
>You break out of your stupor when you notice the girls and various boys standing around you, all looking fairly upset
>The girl with the white pigtails looking the most furious.
>You stand up to face them while Twi remains sitting on the floor crying
>You stare back at them, with a look of pure disgust and anger at the crowd standing around you
>You break the silence with the scariest words you can think of
“I’m calling the fucking cops.”
>That makes most of them back off, aside from maybe the pig-tailed girl
>”NO!"
>Twilight grabs onto your leg
>”Shiney please!  Don’t do this to my friends.  d-Don’t do this to me!”
>She’s getting her tears all over your pant leg
>The girl with the pigtails speaks up
>”If you did that, you’d get her into trouble too you know.  You really want the police to come here and see her drunk out of her mind.  She’s a mess.”
“You shut the hell up!”
>”SHINEY!”
>You look down at your sister who stares up at you with pleading eyes filled with tears
>”Please Shiney… can we just go?…”
>You stand there for a moment, your hesitation mounting
>You’ve never seen your sister look so…
>Fuck
>You kneel down by her side
“Can you walk at all?”
>She sniffles as she shakes her head
“Alright come here.”
>You scoop her up in your arms, forcing your way past the throng of students
>You scowl at each of them in turn as you pass by, your gaze lingering on the girl with the white pigtails
>Forcing your way through more students on the way upstairs, you make your way to the driveway where you place Twiley in the backseat of your car.
>As you start it up and pull out of the subdivision, you can hear her begin to cry softly to herself
>You try as hard as you can to hold back your own tears


>You carefully walked through the front door to your old home, Twilight’s head groggily resting against your shoulder as you carried her inside
>Stepping into the living room, you slowly plopped her onto the couch sitting down as she began to stir awake
>”I feel really sick.”
“How much did you drink?”
>”i-I don’t remember. Sugarcoat gave me a cup of something, and then Lemon Zest made me drink a bottle of something with her and then-“
“Why were you drinking.”
>She noticeably recoiled
>You frowned as you realized that your voice might’ve came out a little harsher than you would have liked
>”I just didn’t want to be left out was all… I’m sorry…”
>You stood up off the floor and went into your kitchen, hastily flipping a light switch as you began to rifle through some cabinets
>You hurried back to your sister, carrying with you a large glass of water and a plastic bucket
>She had shifted into a fetal position on the couch, her arms crossed over her stomach
>You kneeled down on the ground beside her, placing the bucket down so you could shift her back up to a sitting position with your free hand
“Here start sipping this, it’ll help, and keep this bucket close if you need to throw up.”
>”I don’t want to throw up...”
>You place the glass up to her lips as she grasps it in her hands.
>Taking a seat on the couch next to her, you lean forward and cup your own hands together as you watch her drink her water
>The two of you sit in silence like this for some time before you start to notice her dozing off again
“Come on let’s get you to bed”
>You help bring her to her feet, stooping down slightly to grasp the bucket along with just in case


>You lead her through her bedroom door, keeping a firm hand over her shoulder to help balance her
>As you sit her down onto her bed you’re startled by the sudden appearance of a small figure shuffling toward you
>You nearly yell out before the figure jumps on you, slobbering all over your leg before trying to hop onto Twilight
“Fuck off Spike.”
>”l-Leave him alone”
>You chuckle a bit, somewhat relieved to hear your sister talking back to you after being silent so long
“Hey feeling better champ?”
>”You’re such a jerk.”
>The two of you share a short laugh together as she collapses onto the bed
>You grimace for a moment, remembering that she’s still wearing her school uniform
>You always hated wearing your old one, scratchy as hell
“Twi you gotta change out of your dress before you can sleep.”
>You lift her back up to a sitting position, helping her out of her skirt until she’s just wearing her underclothes
>As you help her you notice a slight blush on her face and realize that you must be embarrassing her so you decide to leave the room to let her finish undressing while you get another glass of water
>When you come back, you find her passed out under her covers
>You place the glass of water down on her nightstand and spend a moment just standing there watching her sleep soundly
>You scratch the back of your head and smile briefly, feeling a small tinge of pride at how well you managed to look after her
>That pride quickly fades as you’re left frowning at her, and the situation you just dealt with
“I’m worried about you Twiley.”
>You plant a kiss on her forehead
>After motioning Spike out of the room, you slowly close the door as you take a last look at your sleeping little sister


>After you leave Twilight to her rest, you suddenly become aware of exactly where you are and how out of place everything feels
>You’re standing in the bedroom hallway of your old house, every small detail of the place becoming familiar and strange to you as you recognize every minute detail that’s changed
>Family portraits that once lined the wall are instantly recognized as you quietly notice which ones are the same as you remember and which are now conveniently missing
>Glancing just across the hall you see the door to your old room and feel compelled to walk over, as Spike happily pants while walking by your side
>When you step inside and turn the lights on, what you notice is that everything is exactly how you think you left it
>Your old Shadowbolt jersey is hanging off the wall in between various posters of bands you used to rock out to
>Various Hyperspace Wars figurines stand stop your desk, placed neatly in a forward attack position facing your bed which has been neatly made
>You also notice that despite everything being seemingly how you left it, the room also appears fairly clean with only a little bit of dust lining your dresser
>As you trace a hand over your dresser, you pause and then reach out to pick up two old photos resting on your dresser mirror
>The first one is a picture of you decked out in full Football gear with Cadence beaming at the camera as one of your arms pulls her in close for a hug while the other stretches out and takes the photo
>The second picture shows an even younger you with your family, all dressed up in formal wear as you stand next to your father while your mother kneels down next to your sister
>You suddenly hear a car pull up into the driveway, and you quickly pocket the first picture before somewhat reluctantly pocketing the second one
>When you reach the top of the stairs, you see the front door creak open as a figure walks in
>”Who’s there?”
“Its me.”
>”Shining?…”


>The kitchen is silent save for the sound of the microwave buzzing as it reheats this morning’s coffee
>As you sit down at the table, your father begins to take out a cigarette from his dress coat pocket
>”You smoke?”
>You stare at your father, maintaing a cold neutral look
“No.”
>”Good.”
>A scowl breaks through your stoney expression as he lights up his cigarette and sits down at the table, placing two cups of coffee down on either end
“Late night?”
>”Overtime. We need the money.”
“Do you have any idea where your daughter’s been.”
>Your father takes the cigarette out of his mouth before taking a slow swig from his cup of coffee while staring at you
>”She told me she was spending the night at a friend’s place. Why?”
“She’s upstairs knocked out in her bed. When she wakes up tomorrow she’s going to have a massive hangover.”
>Your father chokes, spitting out some of his coffee back into his mug
>”Is she ok?”
“She should be, no thanks to you.”
>He furrows his brow, perhaps the only sign that he acknowledged that remark of yours
>Its then that you begin to notice your father’s features a bit better
>He has a few more gray hairs on his head now, and he definitely looks skinnier than you remember
>A far cry from the proud man in the family photo you just reclaimed
>Much more human


>You take a small sip from your own mug while he takes a long drag from his cigarette
“So what are you going to do about this?”
>He ruffles his own hair a bit as shakes his cigarette over his ash tray
>"I’ll talk with her in the morning. Tell her she needs to be more careful, that she’s hurting herself, and I’ll call the school and tell them she won’t be coming in tomorrow.”
>You stare intently at your father, dissatisfied with his answer
“She can’t hang around those people anymore. They treat her like trash.”
>”They’re her friends son, her only friends. She needs them.”
>You rise up out of your seat
“She doesn’t have any friends! What the fuck’s the matter with you?!”
>Your father quietly scowls back at you while taking another drag off his cigarette
>After he snuffs it out in his ashtray, he speaks up to you with a little more force in his voice
>”Son I’m worried about you. I got a call last month from the VA hospital, they said you stopped seeing your therapist.”
>You lean over the table while slamming your fist down
“This isn’t about me! This is about Twilight! She’s in trouble and you act like everything’s fine!”
>”Son… you know she’s more sensitive than us. She takes after her mothe-“
“SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!”
>Spike, who had been lying under the coffee table, scurried out of the room as your voice boomed
“What the fuck do you even do you old shit? Go to work all day then get loaded and come home, pretending everything’s alright?”
>”You know I’d never drink again. Not afte-”
“Bullshit”
>You chug a bit of coffee from your mug before stepping back and walking toward the door with your father walking after you
>As you step out onto your porch, you point a finger back at your father who grimaces at you
“You fix this Nightlight, cause if you don’t do something about it I WILL!”
>You slam the door in his face and drive off home


>Your eyes fluttered open, your head limply hanging toward the floor
>Muffled voices pound away at your head as your blurred vision slowly adapts to the darkness around you
>Raising your head up slightly, you are briefly blinded by the passing light of street lamps
>Turning you gaze the other way, you spot Twiley sitting right next to you in the backseat of the car
>She’s fast asleep, a small stuffed horse clutched tightly in her small arms
>”Please dear, you need to pull over!”
>Jerking forward, you stare in awe at your mother
>Velvet Sparkle, she looks beautiful
>Like an angel
>”Can you get off my ass for FIVE SECONDS!”
>Your father Nightlight harshly whispers into your mother’s face, a look of indignant rage smoldering on his face
“Not again.  Please God.”
>”Mom?… Dad?…”
>Your parents drop their exchange and look back to your sister, awakened by their words
>Your own eyes stare forward in abject horror as the headlights of the 18 wheeler blind you
>You try to raise your voice, to scream or shout anything at all but the only sound you can hear in the entire world is the blaring horn of the 18 wheeler
>Then all you hear is the shrieking buzz of your alarm clock
>You lie frozen in bed for a few moments, letting the alarm ring around in your head until you can’t stand it anymore
>You lurch up and grasp the alarm clock, tearing it out of its socket and chucking it across your bedroom


>The day passes by slowly, with you stuck in a daze
>You are little more than a zombie at work, taking orders and serving drinks while your mind lies elsewhere
>It had taken some effort for you to calm down enough to fall asleep last night, and when you finally did there was little rest to be found in your dreams
>While at work, you kept replaying the events of last night over and over again, trying to imagine what you could have or should have done
>You wanted to fuck up everyone in that basement for what happened to your sister, and you wanted to tear your father to pieces for everything he said
>A small but vocal part of you is telling yourself that that was exactly how you should have acted last night
>Then you remember how your sister begged you to just take you away from there and bring her home, and you can’t help but think that doing so was the only thing you could have done
>Dwelling on how miserable she looked when you found her makes you sick to your stomach, and you feel as if you could vomit several times throughout the day
>You glance at the time
>Half-an-hour till closing
>Close enough
“Alright last call!”
>The handful of patrons who stuck around this late began to groggily shuffle out the door
>One of them however marched up to the bar
>”One more bourbon shot!”
>You pour him what’s left in the bottle, which he greedily downs just as soon as you can put the glass in the front of him
>He exhales, a horrid stench blowing onto your face that you weather without complaint
>He then stands there expectantly, until you realize that he was the last person to open up a tab
>You ring him up, 3 beers and 3 shots of bourbon
>After slamming 25 bucks down on the counter, he pushes himself away and begins to stumble toward the door
“Hey, you want me to call you a cab?”
>He doesn’t respond as he shoves his way outside


>On any other night you would have let it go, but not tonight
“Hey man, hold up!”
>The rain was about to finish, with a slight drizzle still carrying on
>The worst of it had already come and gone, leaving large puddles of water in the parking lot
>The man carried on, stomping through the puddles carelessly as he trudged toward his car
>You followed his path, hurrying to catch up with him
“Sir I really don’t think you’re in any shape to drive!”
>The man stopped and twirled around to face you
>”Who the Hell asked you kid?  Fuck off!”
>He flipped you off before stumbling toward his car again
>Undeterred you marched up after him
>You were almost close enough to reach out and touch him when he jumped at you, pushing you back a step
>“FUCK.  OFF.”
>He ran forward, wildly swinging his fist at you which you easily sidestep as he nearly falls flat on the ground
>As he rushes you again, you block his punch and lean in close, smashing your forehead into his nose
>He falls onto his back into a puddle, both hands clenched to his face
>”AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  WHAT THE FUCK!?  WHAT THE FUCK!?!?”
>Shaking your head a bit, you proceed to squat down next to him, digging your hand through his pockets as you fish out his car keys
>Seeing him writhing on the ground, you’re suddenly tempted to kick him while he’s down, but you resist the urge and wordlessly reenter the bar
>Dropping his keys into the register, you pick up the bar phone and call the man a taxi before hastily putting the stools up and locking the doors
>You feel a bit more anxious than usual as you walk home, the adrenaline from earlier refusing to go away until you’re back in your apartment.


>You slump down on your couch, completely exhausted
>As is your habit, you reach out to your mini fridge and pull out a beer for yourself
>Instead of immediately chugging a bit of it down as you normally do, you just let it sit on your table unopened while you stare at it
>You sigh, as you reach under your coach for your laptop, again checking your emails for any job offerings
>When you see yet again that no one has gotten back to you, you decide to fuck around a bit on facebook
>’ONE UNREAD MESSAGE’
>’ANONYMOUS HAS SENT YOU A FRIEND REQUEST!’
“Really?”
>You stare at the message for a minute, debating whether or not you should accept it, decline it, or simply ignore it
>He didn’t seem too bad you guess
>He did help you find your sister, after you pushed him around no less
>You imagine if you were in his position you would have been a lot less friendly
>Still it feels kind of weird accepting a friend request from someone you met under such shitty circumstances, and from someone who’s at least 6 years younger than you if not more
>…
>’FRIEND REQUEST ACCEPTED!’
>and not a moment later,
>”YO!  RUST BUCKET!!!  What’s good man!?”
>That settles it, you’ll be having that beer now


“Hi anon.  I’m good.”
>”Dude it was so cool meeting you at my party!  I heard a bit about you from Coach Sombra and after I looked at you for a bit I KNEW you had to be the same guy from the picture in the trophy case.”
>Huh
>You suppose that’s flattering
“Yeah, you said you were really into the team back at Crystal Prep.  You play QB right?”
>You were honestly having a little trouble remembering what you two talked about
>You had been replaying the previous night over and over again in your head, but you had evidently been fast forwarding through the parts with you and Anon
>”Dat’s right!  Second string currently, but hopefully not for long!  About that…”
>”Did you think you could still help me out a bit with that like we talked about?”
>Oh yeah, you guess you did say that you’d offer him some advice
“Well what exactly did you want to know?”
>”Uh everything.”
>”Like, I’m second string so I don’t get to see too much action unless we’re BTFO of the other team but I’d like to be able to get better so I can play more often you know?  I’d be open to any advice you could give me.”
>You sat there in deep thought for a moment
>You didn’t really see any harm in offering a few tips, Anon seemed like a decent kid for the most part, and he did help out a little with Twilight
>Didn’t he say something specifically about her?
>'Twilight?  OH YEAH!  I totally see her all the time, she’s one of Sugarcoat’s friends.’
>…



“Alright Anon, I’ll help you out.  I guess you can consider me your personal coach right now.”
>”Really?  FUCK YEAH!  YOU ROCK MAN!”
“I want you to do something in return for me though.”
>”Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, you said that you knew my sister, Twilight Sparkle, and that you saw her at school a lot right?”
>”Well yeah, we share a study hall together and our lockers are fairly close together.  Oh and I think we share a lunch period together too.”
“That’s perfect.  What I need you to do for me in exchange for my advice is keep an eye on her for me.”
>...
>”Like how?..”
“Well you see her fairly often, just try to be more aware of how she looks.  How she seems to be doing, who she’s hanging around with, whether or not she seems to be ok.  That kind of thing.”
>”Soooo you want me to spy on her?”
“NO”
“It’s not like that.  You already see her everyday, just let me know if you see anything interesting is all.  Got it?”
>”Uh yeah, I think I got it!”
>You sure fucking hope so
>”Yeah!  YEAH!  I got this bro!  Anon’s got you covered!”
>…
>”Awesome.”
>”So how about some starter tips and shit mang?”
>Oh right, how about that.
>You sit in deep thought for a short while, trying to drudge up memories of your time at football practice for anything really memorable


“So # 1.  Stop drinking.”
>”You mean beer?”
“Yeah, I mean beer, and alcohol in general.  You’re like 16 years old, you’ll get in deep shit if Coach ever finds out, also all those extra calories and carbs are terrible for your nutrition right now so you need to stop—at least when you’re in season anyway.”
>No response
>”Got it!”
“Good.  Now, # 2, how about practices?  You make sure to go to every day’s practice right?”
>”Hell yeah!  I go to practice every single day after school, never miss it!”
“What about early morning practice?  Coach Sombra still does one practice before school and another after it right?”
>”Well yeah, but he’s never really asked me to go to an early morning practice before so I figured he didn’t want me there.”
>You sigh
“He doesn’t ask you because he expects everyone that’s really serious about the game to be there.  IF you actually want Sombra to start noticing you, and if you really want to get better then you need to go to practice before and after school every day.”
>”Every day?”
“YES.”
>Another long pause
>”You’re right.  From now on I’m going to practice twice as hard and twice as often!”
“That’s the spirit.  Now, # 3, go to bed.”
>”lol wut?”
“You said you’d be going to early morning practices now.  Its midnight, you’ll have to get up in about 5 hours.  Turn off your computer and go to sleep so you can wake up tomorrow.”
>”Fuck you’re right.  Ok man, we’ll stay in touch!”
“No problem, just remember to hold up your end of the deal.”
>”I will!  Good night Coach Rust Bucket!”
>’ANONYMOUS HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED FROM THE CHAT’


>You’re not sure how much of what you said got through to him.
>You figured it was pretty basic common sense stuff, but you couldn’t be sure with him.
>In any case, you now apparently had a way to keep a closer eye on Twiley
>You don’t exactly know how she would react if she learned about it, but you hoped whatever it was you just did wasn’t too…
>Invasive?
>Well, its not like you had a lot of faith in your old man to keep an eye on her
>With what you’ve seen so far, you’re convinced more than ever that she needs you
>If you hadn’t shown up when you did last night…
>You’d call her right now, but you’re fairly sure she’d be asleep by now so you’ll wait until tomorrow either before or after work.
>Maybe a text would be ok though
>You take out your phone, and write her a quick message
>’Hey Twiley, hope you’re feeling better today.  We’ll talk later ok?  :heart: B.B.B.F.F.’
>…
>’MESSAGE SENT’
>That’s that then
>You then stand up, and walking over to your stereo with your beer in hand, decide to flip on the radio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jesc3yvZSws
>Walking into your bedroom, you fish out your wallet and place the two photos from earlier on your dresser
>Standing them up on your mirror, you take a moment to appreciate the sight of you and Cadence and you and your family all together
>Much happier times
>Mother...


>”Shining Armor, get in my office!”
>Oh great, you’re boss is here today and he sounds as chipper as ever
>His office reeks of Cigar smoke and is illuminated by neon light beer signs
>”What the fuck is the matter with you? You can’t go around beating the shit out of our customers! A fucking regular too! You think he’s gonna come back now?!”
>You stare at your boss, waiting to see if he’s going to let you respond or not
“He was drunk. He tried to drive home. I made him take a cab.”
>Your boss squinted his eyes at you
>”When our customers leave this bar they AREN’T OUR FUCKING PROBLEM ANYMORE! If you were so damn worried then you should have just called the police or something!”
>You patiently remain silent as he goes on, eventually he exhales and you are both left staring at one another with only the hum of the neon lights breaking the silence
>”Shining Armor what the fuck am I supposed to do with you?”
“Well Joe, you know what I’d do if I were you and you were me?”
>”What?…”
“I’d send me straight home for the day.”
>His face is starting to flush blood red
>”… GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY OFFICE! GET BACK TO WORK!!!”
>As you return to cleaning your glasses behind the bar, you contemplate whether or not you can get him to have a heart attack one of these days
>Its days like these that make you wish you were still in the army
>Getting shot at isn’t nearly as bad as having to take this shit


>Your boss sticks inside his office for most of the day, leaving you to man the bar for most of the day
>You only ever have to deal with 3 or 4 customers at once today so its another slow and boring grind till closing time
>You’re relieved to finally get home, feeling more stressed out than usual from all that you’ve had to deal with lately
>When you reach home one of the first things you do is throw off your shirt and splash some water on your face
>Looking in the mirror you see that you’re due for another shave, after not having done so since you took Twilight out for her birthday several days ago
>Staring in the mirror, you are also slightly disappointed when you start to look at the rest of your body
>After seeing that picture of you and Cadence and after taking a good look at yourself now, its clear you’ve lost a bit of muscle
>You’re pretty sure you bulked up a little bit more back when you were in the army, but your current lifestyle clearly wasn’t doing much for your body now
>You start to debate whether or not it’d be worth the money to start hitting up a gym, but you also struggle to think of any nearby where you lived
>You didn’t exactly live in that great a neighborhood, so it didn’t really have any place you could think of where you could go lift weights, and it definitely wasn’t an ideal place to go jogging after dark
>You always felt compelled to watch your back and avoid alleyways when walking home at night
>A part of you had also thought a lot about carrying a gun with you to work every day just so you’d feel safer walking home, but you knew if your boss ever caught you with it he’d fire you on the spot
>Pretty sure the only reason he hasn’t fired you yet is because he can’t find anyone else to do your job
>You’re pretty positive that asshole keeps a handgun in his desk too
>Fucking asshole

>After washing up a bit and shaving, you plop down on the couch and open up your laptop and find that Anon sent you a few messages over Facebook a couple hours earlier
>”Hey dude, can I have your phone number?”
>”I need to talk to you.”
>”Here’s my number.”
>That seems a little funny to you
>You’re not really too keen on giving him your number, but something about his messages seems a bit unnerving to you
>Rereading his message again, you reluctantly pull out your phone and dial Anon’s number
>He picks up immediately
>”HEY! Rust Bucket, what’s going on man?”
“Uhhh hi. I just got home from work, what’s up?”
>”Well uh, I did my first double today! Went to practice in the morning and after school. Man I really feel like I got my ass kicked! Feels kind of good though you know?”
“Yeah, that’s great man.”
>You absently scratch your head, feeling a bit disappointed and relieved that he seemingly didn’t have anything to say about Twiley.
>You’re not sure what other advice you can give him next
>Maybe some nutritional crap, 'Stop drinking soda and chips, eat plenty of yogurt and peanut butter for protein’
>He’s still going on about practice right now, bitching about how sore his knees are and shit
“Hey Anon, I’m feeling pretty tired. I think I’m going to head to bed. Did you happen to see anything… strange about my sister today?”
>”Uhm, yeah I was getting to that. I actually did see something

>”So I saw her at her locker this morning. She didn’t stay long, just got her stuff and went to her class I think. Then I saw her at study hall later and she just sat quietly and read some books. I saw her again after that around the end of fifth period…”
>You started to get a bit anxious as he carried on with his report, feeling as if he was taking his time trying to tell you something important
“Well, what did you see? Spit it out.”
>He takes a deep breath
>”I was walking back to my locker around the end of fifth period when I heard Twilight talking around the corner by her locker. I looked over and I saw her with Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, and Indigo Zap. All four of them looked pretty upset, and I saw Sugarcoat hold out her arm and I thought I heard her say something about… you.”
>…
“What did she say?”
>”I couldn’t really make it out, I was too far away, but I’m almost positive I heard her say your name. I heard Twilight though… she called Sugarcoat a cunt…”

>You stand up on your feet as you feel your heart begin to race
>”I saw Sugarcoat slap her, and then she, Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap dragged Twilight into the girl’s bathroom. Indigo Zap stood outside while Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest shoved her inside.
>"I… I didn’t see anything else. After a few minutes, Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest walked out and left with Indigo Zap, and then the bell rang and I didn’t see Twilight for the rest of the day.”
>...
>”s-Shining Armor are you there brah?”
>You hung up and frantically dialed Twilight’s phone number
>By the time it started to ring you felt as if your heart was about to explode out of your chest
>”Hello?”
“TWILIGHT!”
>”Shiney? What’s wrong?”
>You wanted to shout but couldn’t force the words out of your throat, the calmness of her response and the confusion in her voice frightening you
“ARE… are you, feeling ok…”
>”Uhhh yeah, I feel MUCH better than I did yesterday. I was a bit upset that I had to miss school, but I’m still happy Dad called me in sick. It was terrible…”
“Yeah… you uh, you really scared me last night Twiley…”
>You’re still shaking badly, and you can barely sputter out words at this point
>”I’m really sorry Shiney… it was really stupid of me. I-I should be more careful… I-I promise something like this won’t happen again
>It already has
>”Twiley, are you sure everything’s OK? You’re not still feeling sick, or in pain. At all?”
>You don’t so much as breathe in between the short pause between your question and her response
>”n-n-No… Everything’s fine Shiney, I don’t want you worrying yourself over me. Everything is… fine.”
>You want to die

>”Hey Shiney?”
“Yes…”
>”I really loved going out to eat with you, and I really love my new phone a lot. You were too nice!”
“Its nothing, I had a lot of fun too.”
>”Can we please do it again sometime? I always like it when we spend time together, it makes me feel like a little kid again.”
”Of course we can. Whenever you’d like Twiley…”
>She giggles
>”Thanks B.B.B.F.F. I love you!”
“I love you too..”
>”Good night!”
>She hangs up
“…and I always will…”
>You drop the phone.
>…
>…
>…
>Your fist flies through your wall
>Your mini-fridge gets tossed across the room
>Your table is smashed in half
>You rush into your room and wrench open your closet
>Inside there, you see a small safe lying on the ground
>Twisting the dial back and forth, you tear it open and see next to a small pile of cash and your birth certificate...
>A semi-automatic pistol and a K bar knife


>They feel comfortable in your hands, like they were made specifically for you
>Almost like they are a part of you
>Sugarcoat
>Lemon Zest
>Indigo Zap
>They’re names and their laughing faces are etched in your mind from that night, as is Twilight’s crying battered form
>Just as instantly as you thought of that, other images flash through your mind
>You remember the night you lost your mother, your father’s petulant anger and your mother’s pleading
>You hear artillery fire in the distance, people screaming and crying in languages you don’t understand
>The blaring horn of the 18-wheeler growing louder and Louder and LOUDER as its bright light surrounds you!
>Your phone is ringing
>You left it lying facedown on the ground
>You march up to it and stare at it with empty eyes as if it is some kind of foreign object from outer space
>You holster your knife in your belt and while still grasping your gun, bend down to pick up the phone
>You answer it without even looking to see who it is but you don’t say a single word
>…
>”Hello?… Shiney, are you there?…”
>…
“Cadence?”

>”Hey there stranger!~ What’s up? Guess who’s about to graduate from med school a semester early! So how are we going to celebrate?…”
>…
>”Shiney?… Are you there? Hello?”
>You drop your gun and fall to your knees
>The tears begin to flow as you cry into the phone
>You’re back in your apartment again, or what’s left of it
>”Shiney what’s wrong?!”
>You can’t make out any words as you press the phone against your head while shoving your fist into your floor
>”Shining please speak to me! What’s happening?!”
>Try as you might, all you can do is moan and shout incoherently into the phone
>Shining Armor, I’m coming over right now!”
>You lift up your head in panic
”No! You don’t have to… its fine. She said its fine!”
>”Who said its fine? What are you talking about?”
>You tremble with each word she speaks and begin sobbing lowly
>”I’m getting in my car right now. Whatever it is, its going to be ok baby. I promise! I’ll be there as soon as I can, keep speaking to me over the phone. Please say something!”
“I-I… I missed you"


>”Shining I’m coming upstairs now, ok? Hold on a moment,”
>Cadence hangs up
>Your breathing feels normal again, and your tears have dried up
>You feel like now would be a good time to pick yourself off the floor
>You feel your hand sting when you push yourself up, its apparently been cut up kind of bad
>You punched a pretty big hole through your wall, you’re going to have to cover that up if your landlord ever comes by
>Your apartment looks like a grenade just went off in it, broken furniture and plaster all over the place with a few stray beer cans flung about
>You wouldn’t have wanted Cadence to have seen what it looked like before you went nuts, but now…
>You hear a knocking coming from your door
>”Shiney, open up sweetie…”
>She’s here
>Almost instinctively you look to the ground where you had collapsed earlier and spot your handgun
“Shit.”
>You can’t let her see that
>Springing for the gun, you scoop it up and run it back into your room where you hastily stuff it into your safe
>As you shut it, you hear your front door start to creak open, followed by an audible gasp
>You sigh as you shut your closet and walk into your hallway
>There she is, one hand over her mouth with the other grasping a small case, standing amidst the debris of your living room
>She looks as you remember her, a beautiful woman with a slender body, and long locks of violet hair with rose and gold colored streaks
>She’s currently wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a pink tank top, and a crystal necklace in the shape of a heart
>She looks even more shocked when she sees you emerge from your hallway
>You must look worse than you had thought
“Hey…”
>”Oh Shiney…”
>Her arms wrap around your waist as she pulls you in tightly, her head burying into your shoulder
>You place one arm around her waist and another over her head, resting your face on her pink hair
>You wish you two could just stay like this

>To your embarrassment, you ended up getting a bit of blood from your cuts in her hair
>When you told her she immediately led you into your bathroom and opened up her case
>She had thought to bring a medical kit
>She apparently knew you well
>The two of you didn’t speak much as she disinfected the cuts on your hand, you felt too ashamed to say anything to her
>This was the first time you two were together in over a month, with the two of you barely so much as calling each other a few times
>Her school work had always kept her so busy, and you…
>You were a real piece of work
>”What were you going to do with that knife?”
>You looked down to your waist and saw that you had completely forgotten to toss your K-Bar back in the safe
>Well Shining Armor, what WERE you about to do with that knife?
“I.. I don’t know…”
>She frowns as she begins to wrap up the cuts on your hand with gauze
“I’m sorry Cadence. I’m just… sorry.”
>She doesn’t respond, instead she focuses on finishing up your hand
“You call me with great news and I just shit all over it with my own problems. You deserve better tha-“
>She cuts you off, surprising you with a passionate kiss, which you return after easily getting over the shock
>When she eventually breaks the kiss, her face still remains close to yours as her lips curl into a warm smile
>”Feel better?”
“Yeah, much better.”
>She leans back against your bathroom sink, looking at you with a sad and serene gaze
>”What happened?”
>You take a seat on the side of your bathtub across from her and begin to tell her the whole story, starting with how you took Twilight out for her birthday and noticed her acting strangely when you asked her about the phone she ‘lost’

>You go on to tell her about how you found Twilight at the party at Anon’s house, and about your father’s apparent indifference to her wellbeing
>She remains quiet as she listens closely to your retelling of the events of the past few days, only piping up once with a gasp when you told her the events of what just happened before she called you
>You do gloss over exactly what happened after you finished talking with Twilight however, not wishing to frighten her with details of exactly what you were thinking about and how quick you were to arm yourself
>Even though she saw just how badly you wrecked your apartment, and how you decided to wear your knife around, you didn’t want to give her even more reason to be concerned
>You can’t tell exactly what she’s thinking when you’ve finished your story, but you’re afraid that she suspects that you are hiding something from her
>She takes a deep breath and sits down next to you on the edge of the tub, placing a hand on your knee
>”Shiney, Twilight is like a sister to me too and I love her. I promise we’ll figure out a way to help her together, so please…”
>She stares at you pleadingly, her eyes becoming misty
>”Don’t lose control again. I don’t want to lose you…”
>You lift up her hand off of your knee and clasp it between your own two hands, and lean in close to her
“I won’t, not as long as I have you.”

>She sniffles, and wipes her tears away before adopting a confident smile
>”OK! Tomorrow we’ll got to Crystal Prep Academy together and we’ll speak with the faculty about this. We’ll get them to stop those horrible students from harassing Twilight and then we can work on helping Twilight make real friends.”
>You grin at her, a genuine smile finally appearing on your face for the first time that night
“Sounds great!”
>She gets up and begins to walk out into the hallway
“Hey Cadence!”
>”Yes?”
“c-Could you spend the night here with me? I could drive you back to your place tomorrow and then I can take us to Crystal Prep together.”
>She stifles a giggle
>”I drove here myself silly, and of course I’m staying.”
>You chuckle, hearing yourself speak like you were just about to ask her out on your first date all over again
>She holds a hand over her mouth as she yawns
>”I really need to get some sleep, you look like you could use some too.”

>You follow her into your bedroom, as she switches on the light by your nightstand
>Sitting down on the other side of the bed, you watch her as she undresses by the glow of your lamp
>She slips out of her jeans and then begins to fidget with her bra until she’s wearing nothing but her white panties and her red tank top
>Her long slender legs look pale in the dim light of your room, and her ample breasts fill out her tank top very nicely without her bra to hold them back
>She is truly beautiful
>You recognize the crystal heart necklace, a gift you had given her a long time ago back when you two first started dating, as she carefully places it on the nightstand
>With her looks she could likely have any man she wanted, all those other guys she could have had back in high school and in college and med school… and she wanted you...
>Cadence seems to notice you staring at her and she begins to giggle
>”What are you thinking about?~”
“Just how lucky I am.”
>That gets her to blush a bit
>She shuts off the lamp and crawls into bed with you
>The two of you lie down beside each other on the bed, her arms wrapping around your neck as you pull her in close to you
“So I guess now that you’re finishing up med school, I’ll get to see you more often huh?
>”uh huh…”
>She looks like she’s dozing off
>You smile and stare up at the ceiling, but although you feel so relieved to have Cadence here with you its hard not to still feel a bit worried for your sister
“Cadence, you think it’ll be enough to just talk to them? Will they really listen to us?”
>She pops her head up, her half lidded eyes looking into yours
>”We’ll just have to make them listen to us Shiney, and if it doesn’t work out then we’ll find another way. We’ll help her.”
>Her words feel so reassuring that its hard for you to not believe her
>You bring her in for one last kiss before resting your head back
>”Good night Shining”
“Good night Cadence"

>The next morning you give a Cadence a ride back to her place, a small but nice apartment in a much safer neighborhood near her school
>You agree to come back in a few hours to pick her up after she’s had time to clean up, and you decide to clean yourself up a bit as well
>Your apartment is still a mess after what you did last night, but fixing up your place is pretty low on your list of priorities right now
>Like Cadence said last night, you had to make the people at the school listen to you
>After showering and throwing on a button-up shirt and your only pair of slacks, you hop in your pickup truck and drive back to Cadence’s place
>When you pick her up she’s wearing a dress suit and she looks like she’s put on a bit of makeup
>The two of you spend most of the half-hour drive to Crystal Prep catching up
>You ask her about how her last few classes at her school went and she asks you how your own job search is going
>She seems relieved to be finished with her schooling although she explains that she still has a lot of interning ahead of her before she can earn her doctorate.
>You explain how you’re still reluctantly working at Joe’s Tavern for the time being until you can find something better
>The conversation starts to die out as you get closer to the academy
>A quick glance at her once Crystal Prep is in view tells you that she is as serious about this as you are
>It feels so great to have her on your side
>After pulling into the parking lot, you lead her to the guest entrance and the two of you return to Crystal Prep Academy


>”Hello how can I help you two today?”
>”We need to speak with whoever is in charge of disciplinary actions for students.”
>The receptionist raises an eyebrow at Cadence
>”May I ask why?”
“We have a complaint about how a student is being treated here.  My sister.”
>The receptionist eyes the two of you quizzically, as she begins typing on a computer
>”Your names?”
>”Mi Amore Cadenza.”
“Shining Armor.”
>She continues smacking at her keyboard, not so much as glancing at either of you as you both stand there expectantly
>”and your sister, what is her name?”
“Twilight Sparkle.”
>She spends another minute rapidly typing on her computer like some kind of robot
>”You would want to speak with the Vice Principal.  Unfortunately she is predisposed today.  I can schedule a meeting for you two to meet with her sometime… next week.”
>”Excuse me?”
>The receptionist seems unfazed when both you and Cadence simultaneously scoff at her
>One whole extra week of Twilight getting bullied and pushed around is unacceptable
“This can’t wait a week.  We need to speak with someone NOW.”
>”I’m sorry sir.  If you leave your phone numbers I can have someone get back to- SIR?  MA’AM?"
>You don’t bother letting her finish as you step away from her desk as you stomp through the metal detector and shove open the doors to the hallways, Cadence following closely behind you.


>They changed where the guest entrance was some time ago, but if they didn’t change everything then that means the school faculty office is right… here!
>”Hello how can I help you two?”
“We’re here to speak with the vice principal.”
>”YOU TWO CAN’T BE BACK HERE!”
>Oh god this bitch, she doesn’t let up
>You look over at Cadence and-
>Damn she looks scary
>”We are NOT leaving until our complaints are heard!”
>”What is going on here?”
You glance back to behind the reception desk and see a lady in a black dress suit emerge
>Her skin is dark, and her eyes are an almost eerie green while her hair is a long but well-kept grayish green
>Her name tag says 'Vice Principal Chrysalis’
>Cadence walks up to her
>”Miss Chrysalis, we are very concerned about the well-being of a student here, and we expect something to be done about it.”
>She eyes Cadence curiously, and then looks over to you as if she is sizing you up
>”I see… well why don’t the two of you take a seat in my office and I can be with you in just a minute…”


>Her office is clean and mostly bare, the walls lined with neatly organized books, framed certificates and awards
>True to her word, Vice Principal Chrysalis enters the office and sits behind her desk
>She wears a smile you can’t help but think is completely fake, some kind of sweet act
>”Well then Miss Cadenza, Mr. Armor, I’m all ears…”
>You and Cadence look at one another and you nod at her, signaling her to go ahead
>“Miss Chrysalis, we have reason to believe that a student here, Twilight Sparkle, has been the victim of bullying, particularly at the hands of three other students named Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, and Indigo Zap.”
>”That is most distressing to hear.  We take accusations of bullying here at Crystal Prep very seriously, could you into greater detail of exactly what’s been going on?”
"I have reason to believe these three have been pushing my sister around, stealing her belongings, and taking advantage of her.”
>For a brief moment she looks at you as if she is lost in thought, but then she reverts to having that small hint of a fake smile that she had before
>”Have you witnessed this behavior firsthand Mr. Armor?”
>You almost say yes but you stop yourself
>You could tell her what you saw, but then that would mean telling her you found your sister drunk at a party you crashed
“I’ve noticed my sister acting strangely… especially when I’ve asked her about her friends and how things are at school.”
>”Hmmm, how do you know that its these three students then Mr. Armor?”
“I told you, she’s acted funny when I’ve tried talking to her about her friends…”
>”I see…”
>”Miss Chrysalis, wouldn’t you find it strange if a student seemed to act nervous when asked for information about another student?  Are you familiar with these three students?”



>”Personally?  No I am not.  However, I am aware that Sugarcoat is an honor roll student and is involved in a number of extra curricular activities, she is currently on a list of students who are potential valedictorians… as is Twilight Sparkle I believe.”
>Twilight’s not a senior, they keep information like this that far in advance?
>Why the fuck does any of this matter in the first place?
>Now you know she’s trying to bullshit you, but why?
>”Is there a point to this?”
>Looks like Cadence and you are on the same page at least
>”Miss Cadenza, could I ask what your relation to Miss Sparkle is?  I understand that Shining Armor is Twilight’s older brother, but why are you here?”
>Something about that question rubs you the wrong way, like she’s searching for ammunition
>”I am a family friend.”
>Chrysalis looks disappointed by her answer
>You’d chuckle if you weren’t already pissed
>”Very well then, I only ask because I am a bit perplexed that this issue was brought forward by you two and not by… her parents perhaps?”
>…
>”Where is Twilight Sparkle’s mother and father.”
>You lean forward
"Her father’s… at work”
>Cadence takes her eyes off of Chrysalis and begins to eye you warily
>”At work?  An issue as serious as this and the father himself can’t be bothered with it?  I find it a little strange Mr. Armor… would you say that perhaps you are blowing things a little out of proportion?”
>You stand up out of your seat as Chrysalis’ door opens up and the receptionist pops her head inside
>”Miss Chrysalis?  The student is here, shall I send her in?”
>”Yes that would be lovely, thank you.”
“What is this?”
>Chrysalis leans forward slightly across her desk
>”Mr. Armor, I would have thought you would’ve wanted to see your sister?  We can all sit down and straighten this business out—together.”


>The door creaks open and your sister walks in, her worried expression transforms instantly into one of delight
>”Shining Armor!  CADENCE!”
>”Twiley!”
>Your sister all but runs up to Cadence, who stands up and enthusiastically returns her hug
>You glance back and forth between the two of them happily embracing each other, and Chrysalis staring at you with that venomous smile
>”Cadence, Shiney, I’m so happy to see you but… what’s going on?…”
>”Twilight we… we’re here to help ok?  You don’t have to be afraid anymore, we’re going to make sure no one hurts you anymore.”
>Twilight’s smile fades, and she appears to be going limp in Cadence’s arms.
>Chrysalis clears her throat
>”Miss Sparkle, if you could pull up a chair and take a seat?  We were just discussing you...”
>Twilight looks confused again, frightened even, but she does what Chrysalis tells her and pulls over a small wooden chair and sits down between you and Cadence
>You fold your arms and drop back in your own chair, looking at your sister with a softer expression
>Cadence offers her a hand, which she gratefully grips onto
>Its then that you notice that, for some odd reason, your sister is not wearing her glasses
>”Miss Sparkle… your brother and your friend Miss Cadence here tell me that you have been having a rough time here at Crystal Prep, that several of the students have been mistreating you.  I would like to hear your, ‘personal’ opinion on this.”
“Twilight are you—?”
>”I was asking ONLY Miss Sparkle, Mr. Armor.”
>You scowl at her, your fists tightening as your patience wavers
>Chrysalis cooly looks back to you, stippling her fingers as if she’s waiting for you to do something
>”Its OK Twiley, just answer her question.”
>”Well… I… I-I-I don’t know… I mean, I’ve had some… arguments… with my friends…”


>”Oh please go on Miss Sparkle.”
>You can see Twilight’s breathing start to quicken
>She looks like she’s gripping on Cadence’s hand for dear life
>”Its… Its not…. I’m just having some trouble with them is all… i-i-its really not…”
>”I understand if social interaction can be a bit difficult Miss Sparkle, and all relationships go through rough patches at one point or anoth—“
“I don’t think she was finished speaking, MISS Chrysalis.”
>Her eyes narrow, briefly scowling at you for once
>”i-i-I don’t want t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t”
>Cadence wraps her other arm around her shoulder and she starts to breathe a bit more slowly, her body’s shaking slowing to a complete stop
>”I don’t want to lose my friends… I don’t want to be expelled… I don’t want to be alone…”
>You look at her as tears start to fall down her cheeks
>You feel like someone just slammed you in the gut
>Even after all the shit they put her through, in some twisted sick way she still thinks they’re her friends, but why?
>Didn’t she have anyone else at all?


>”c-Can I please go now?..”
>”Yes I think I’ve heard enough.  You may go Miss Sparkle.”
“Hold on!  Just what are you going to do about this?”
>Chrysalis raised up her hands and shrugged her shoulders
>”If the supposed ‘victim' says there is no bullying going on, then there isn’t much I can do.  Teenagers can be quite cruel at times but I’m sure that if Miss Sparkle talked this over with her friends then—“
“Why don’t you bring them in?  Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap?  Let’s ask them about it and see what they think?”
>”I’m not going to put you in a position to harass my students Shining Armor.”
“But its ok for you to harass my sister right?”
>You stood up from your chair and placed your hands on Chrysalis’ desk, as you leaned over
>”s-Shiney?…"
>She wore a stoic look with the barest hint of distaste as she looked back into your eyes
“You’re so full of shit.  Fuck.  You.”
>”…are we quite done here Mr. Armor?”
“Yeah… you’re done…”


>Hers eyes widen and she leans back into her seat
>You’re about to say, or perhaps do, something, but before you can act you feel a hand, make that two hands, on you
>Glancing back you see Cadence with her hand on your shoulder, looking at you with a sad pleading look, and Twilight with her hand grasping at your shirt, looking at you with an even sadder frightened look
>You sigh as you push off of Chrysalis’ desk
>You now notice that although she is leaning away from you her hand seems to be stretched out over her desk, frantically tapping at a button on her phone, and almost on que her door opens up and the receptionist walks inside
>”Miss Chrysalis?”
>”Please send in my next appointment, NOW.”
>”Next ap- er right away ma’am!”
>You allow Cadence to lead you out of Chrysalis’ office, Twilight hugging you closely as you walk out as if she were a little kid
>You steal one last glance back before the door closes on you, seeing Chrysalis sigh as she sinks into her seat, a small contented grin on her face
>If Cadence and Twilight weren’t here right now…


>The three of you step outside the faculty office and just stand there a moment in silence
>Twilight lets go of you and drops down to her knees as she holds her hands over her face
>Before you can react, Cadence is already down on her knees next to her, her arms wrapped around her in a tight hug
>”Its going to be ok Twilight.  You don’t have to hide your feelings from us!"
>You hang your head in shame, feeling like you lost an opportunity to make things right
>Looking at Twilight take her hands off of her face to hug Cadence back, you are again reminded that she is missing her glasses
“Twilight, where are your glasses?”
>When they break their hug, Twilight is staring at the ground, refusing to look you in the eyes
>”i-I lost them.”
“You mean like how you lost your phone?”
>She starts to sniffle as she tries hard to hold back even more tears
>Cadence briefly shoots you a frown which, which on top of Twilight’s continued crying, makes you feel like quite a pile of shit
>”Hey I’ve got an idea.  Would you like to leave school early today and spend some time with us?  Just like old times?”
>”c-Can I?…”
>You smile for her sake as you kneel down in front of her beside Cadence
“Of course you can.”


>You drive the three of you to an old burger joint that you all used to haunt back in high school, when cheap burgers and fries was pretty much all you could afford
>It had been one of Twilight’s favorite places, and she always used to beg you to take her with you whenever she heard you were taking Cadence there
>You’re still in a sour mood when you sit down to await your orders, but Twi seems to be in a chipper mood so there’s that
>When she excuses herself to go to the bathroom, you and Cadence spill out what’s been on your minds ever since you left Chrysalis’ office
“That—“
>”Fucking bitch!”
>Woah
“uh—YEAH!”
>”I don’t believe it!  First they try to steer us away, saying ‘oh, you need an appointment’ and then when we meet her she opens up with this ‘We take accusations of bullying VERY SERIOUSLY’ crap!”
“I believe it.  The people in charge of that place were always full of shit, back to when we went there.
>The two of you sit there fuming, it looks like there are a few people sitting around watching you both
>The two of you stare back
“What!?”
>They go back to their meals
>Cadence appears to be calming down rather quickly, she does this breathing thing where she taps her chest and stretches out her arm that you’ve grown accustomed to seeing whenever she’s had her ‘episodes’
>”You know Shining… you almost lost it back there…”
>…
“I know… I’m sorry…”
>”We’ll talk about it later.  Listen when Twilight comes back, don’t talk about Crystal Prep or Chrysalis or any of those terrible people.  Let’s just try to cheer her up today and see if we can’t get her to open up later ok?”
>You didn’t like the idea of acting like nothing was wrong, and you were never exactly the best at hiding your feelings
“I’ll try.”
>She smiles, a real genuine one, nothing like that fake shit Chrysalis had
>You could never mistake that
>”Thank you.”


>Twilight comes back and sits down next to you
>To your surprise, she’s wearing her glasses again
>You’re about to ask her what’s up with that, but you decide to leave it alone for now
>The three of you sit quietly for a bit, no one really sure exactly what to say after all that had happened
>You feel a small kick from under the table from Cadence, who seems to mouth the words ‘SAY SOMETHING’ to which you shrug
>After a few moments of grasping around you turn toward Twilight and attempt to break the silence
“So uh, Cadence has been telling me that her school days are almost over.”
>”Really!  I thought you still had another year left?”
>Cadence smiles, a hint of pride in her smirk
>”Well the last few semesters I loaded up my schedules with a few more classes than I really needed, and it looks like the extra workload is really starting to pay off!”
>”That’s AWESOME!  You’re so close to actually becoming a real doctor now!  Have you thought about where you’re going to do your residency work at?”
>You’re a little surprised to see that Twilight has such a good grasp on the process of how to become a medical doctor, but then again you figure you probably shouldn’t be
>She’s probably given some thought to wanting to become a doctor herself someday, in what you’re not sure
>Chemistry or Physics most likely, although you could also see her doing something in a medical field like Cadence
>You honestly feel a bit skeptical about how good her job prospects will be with any of those studies, although you figure you’re probably not one to judge
>You were the one who just HAD to go Infantry when you joined the army instead of a job that teaches  you something useful like engineering or mechanics
>She seems pretty animated in her discussion with Cadence, and although you don’t have much to add to the conversation you are more than happy to sit and listen to them go back and forth
>Its actually pretty relaxing

>”Hey Twilight, after we finish eating would you like to go shopping together?”
>”That sounds great!”
>FUCK
“Yeah… great.”
>You drive the three of them over to the mall, where you follow them into a trendy looking department store
>They go on to cover just about every inch of the place, casually browsing through various skirts, dresses, t-shirts, jeans, and more
>”Hey B.B.B.F.F.?  What do you think of this skirt?  Would it look good on me?”
>Your eyes immediately fall upon the skirt’s price tag
>Jesus Christ what the fuck
>Who the fuck would pay 60 dollars for a skirt?
“Uh it looks… nice.  I know you like purple…”
>”Hmmm… what do you think Cadence?”
>”Oh!  That looks cute… but uh, maybe a little pricey, theres one that looks just like it right here on sale though!  Take a look!”
>”Cool!"
>Thank you Cadence


>Eventually the two of them walk over to the changing room to try on their clothes
>You’re bored as fuck but you THINK they might be close to finishing
>”Hey B.B.B.F.F.?  Can you bring this back and get me one that’s about a size bigger?”
>a pair of jeans fly over the top of the changing room door and hang off the side for you
“Uh sure I can.”
>”and can you take this back and get me one that’s a size smaller sweetie?”
>A two piece swim suit flies over Cadence’s door for you
“Yeah ok.”
>You grab them both and start to walk back before either of them can throw more at you
>When you do come back, there’s unfortunately a few more articles of clothing waiting for you hanging over the doors
“Hey!  You know they got people working here that can do this kind of thing too!”
>”Shiney?”
>”Yeah Cadence?”
>Her door opens up, showing her wearing a revealing lingerie bikini and thong, complete with thigh high stockings
>”What do you think?"
>DAMN SON
“y-You look nice!  Real nice!  You should get it!”
>She taps a finger on her chin
>”hmmmm, I’ll put this one in the maybe pile.  Thanks honey.~”
>You ogle her as she closes the door on you
>”Oh and please take this t-shirt back!”
>She tosses it over the door, landing square on your face


>You end up stuck at the department store for about another half-an-hour
>You actually ended up doing a small bit of shopping yourself
>When Twi and Cadence came out of the changing room next they looked around the store a bit and found a small kiosk of sunglasses
>You ended up trying on about a dozen different pairs with them, and both Twilight and Cadence agreed that a certain pair of golden Aviators made you look ‘really cool!’
>That was all it took to make you get them, even with the $20 dollar price tag
>You ended up covering for the $80 dollars worth of clothing that Twilight got, over her protests that she could put some of it back and over Cadence’s offer to cover half of it
>With all that and the money you spent on Twilight over her birthday you’ve ended up burning through quite lot of money, but you’ve had a fair amount saved up overtime so its not too big of a worry
>You are unfortunately running out of time, with your next shift at Joe’s starting in another two hours
>The three of you end up sitting down at a bench inside the mall to rest a bit before you have to end up driving Twilight and Cadence back home
>You’re pretty tired out, and aren’t looking forward to work tonight at all, but Twilight and Cadence look so happy that work isn’t even on your mind right now
>Its still hard not to forget how your day started out though, and you feel like now is  as good as time as any to ask her about something that’s been bothering you ever since  you left Crystal Prep this morning
“Twilight, why weren’t you wearing your glasses earlier?”


>She looks a little surprised by your question, but not in a pained sort of way like before when she was dreading answering you
>”Well… m-my friend… Sugarcoat she said that I… I don’t look good in glasses so I, you know…”
>You frown at her
>Fucking Sugarcoat, that—
>Wait a second
“Doesn’t Sugarcoat wear glasses too?”
>”Yeah, she does.”
>You scoff at her
“Well what the fuck then?  Is she supposed to look good in them?”
>Twilight and Cadence chuckle
>”Yeah I know.”
>Cadence chimes in
>”That Sugarcoat sure seems full of herself don’t you think Twiley?”
>Twilight looks down at the ground
>”Yeah… you could say that…”


“So… why do you put up with her then?”
>”Well, we see each other a lot, and I’m almost always with her in class and all…”
>”Couldn’t you make friends with any of the other students at Crystal Prep?”
>”I… well I kind of suck at making friends.  It was easy for me to get together with Sugarcoat and her friends because we shared a lot of the same classes together and all…”
“I think if I were you Twilight, I’d rather have no friends at all than have to spend time with people like that.”
>She stares wistfully ahead of her at a water fountain in the center of the mall
>”I was alone for a while…”
>You and Cadence lean in toward Twilight
“When I enrolled in Crystal Prep I had no one… you had just went off to join the army… and Cadence, you were in med school… Dad’s always so busy with work and…. and mom…”
“Twiley”
>You wrap an arm around your sister and Cadence does the same
>”Being together with you two like this makes me so happy… it makes me feel like how I used to be, when everything was so simple… I wish everything could go back to the way things were.”
“I really wish they could to sometimes… its not easy growing up, or saying goodbye…”


>You feel your own eyes start to become misty, and you can hear Cadence start to sniffle
“I can promise you this though.  You don’t need Sugarcoat or any of them anymore… and you’ll never have to feel alone again either!”
>”We’ll always be here for you Twiley.  We love you, and we always will!”
>”y-You promise?”
>Cadence wipes her eyes and looks at your sister determinedly
>”Promise!”
“Forever and ever!”
>Your sister smiles as her tears start to flow freely
>You and Cadence hug her from either side, as if you’re holding onto her for dear life
>When your mother died, you felt like you had to get out of here, like you had to escape from everything and Cadence, she had to move on with her life and pursue her career even if it meant being without you for a while
>Now though you’re certain, and you know Cadence feels the same way
>Now that you’re all together again, none of you will ever let go


>With time running out, you’re forced to start driving them home so you can get to work
>When you hit the road, Cadence begins to mess with the radio, turning it to some station you’re not familiar with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crOZk88eCcg
>You don’t mind at all
>After hearing from Twilight how lonely she was before, you can’t help but think that your own life until not too long ago was also quite depressing
>Your thoughts when you are alone, without having either Twilight or Cadence around to shed a little light in your life, can get pretty dark
>None of that matters right now though
>The problems you all have fade away in moments like these
>You just wish you could make these moments last forever
>Eventually you pull up to your old home, the site of so many good and bad memories
>When Twilight steps out of the car, she steps up to the front passenger seat and ,after opening the door, embraces Cadence
>”I’m so happy that I got to see you again Cadence, promise we’ll go out again together like this.”
>”I promise Twiley!”
>Twilight then walks around to the driver’s seat and, after opening the door, gives you a hug and a kiss on the cheek
>”I love you B.B.B.F.F.!”
“I love you too Twiley.”
>At that, she grabs her bag of new clothes and her book bag and walks back inside her house


>Cadence leans her head on your shoulder as you drive her back to her place
>The two of you are silent for most of the drive, content to simply be with one another, but as the two of you get nearer to her place you’re forced to deal with the issues that brought you all together this day
“So what comes next with Twilight?”
>”The school isn’t going to help us make things right… we might have to meet these children’s parents if we really want this to stop…”
“Twilight should have real friends.”
>”You’re right…”
“I might have a few ideas on who they could be?”
>She looks up at you
>”Who do you have in mind?”
“I’ll let you know when I figure it all out.  I’ll give you a call tomorrow alright?”
>”Alright.”
>When you’ve pulled up to her place, neither of you are especially anxious to separate from each other
>You park in front of her apartment building, leaning your own head over hers as you two enjoy each other’s company
“I’ve got to go…”
>”OK, I’ll see you tomorrow...”
>You two share a short but sweet kiss before she walks out of your truck
>You wait until you’ve seen her enter her place before driving off for your own home

>With both Twilight and Cadence gone, your thoughts revert back to the uglier parts of your day
>Wanting to clarify exactly where things went wrong, you contact one of the few people you feel like you can trust, to an extent, and tell him to meet you tonight at your work.
>A few hours into your shift at Joe’s and he arrives
>”Rust Bucket!”
>You stop cleaning your glass and look over to see your old coach, Sombra, walk into the bar
“Get out of here!  We don’t serve your kind here!”
>”Ah I get it, its cause I’m BLACK isn’t it?!”
>You laugh at his lame joke as he sits on the stool in front of you
>”Give me whatever’s good on draught, and in a clean glass while you’re at it!”
>You slide him a pint and the two of you commence bullshitting with one another, taking your time to carefully insult one another over trivial things
>After a short while though, you feel compelled to ask him about what happened this morning
>”Hold on, before you tell me that, let me be the one to tell you that this is the second time I’ve seen your ugly mug today.”
“What are you talking about?”
>Sombra reaches into his back pocket and brandishes out a fuzzy photo of you on a white sheet of paper with the words ‘DO NOT ADMIT TO CRYSTAL PREP’ clearly written below it on red ink
>”You must have had quite an impression on the Vice Principal huh? HAHAHAHA!”
“Son of a bitch.”
>You probably shouldn’t have been surprised that the school reacted like this
>You guess you just had a way with people like that
>”So don’t hold out on me Shining, I want to hear how you earned this badge of honor!”


>You tell him the story of this morning’s events, primarily your meeting with Chrysalis, even including your near meltdown toward the end
>This gets a few good laughs out of Sombra, even though revisiting those events doesn’t make you so much as chuckle
“So what do you think is the story behind this?  We got jerked around pretty hard and she acted like we were actually supposed to buy into her shit.”
>”Well you know how things are at Crystal Prep.  We’re a private school and sometimes we get all uppity about our reputation.  Something like bullying may go on at public schools but not at such a ‘Prestigious Academy’ like Crystal Prep!”
>Sombra takes a large swig out of his glass before slamming it down on the table
>”Its all bullshit to people like us, but to some people its everything.”
“That’s pretty much what I expected it was.  Doesn’t really change anything at all then.  Still something I got to deal with.”
>”I’m sure you will.  Hey I know there’s nothing that’s really going to change your mind about this but I still got to say it.”
“What is it?”
>He looks at you with the first serious expression he’s had all night
>”Most of the kids who come to Crystal Prep are just kids.  Some are pretty much what you expect but a few of them have parents who aren’t really people you run into every day.  You’ve got rich people and powerful people, and you’ve got people who are just friends with those kind of people, and sometimes…”
>He leans forward over the bar counter, his voice dropping to a whisper
>"Sometimes you’ve got people who are just plain scary folk to be around, and when scary folk get together they make scary children."
>…
“What are you trying to say to me?”
>”Just… be aware of who’s kid you’re smacking around alright?  Remember Rust Bucket, Scary Folk, Scary Children…”
“Yeah, I can be pretty fucking scary too.”
>Sombra’s roaring laughter fills the otherwise dead quiet tavern


>”That’s why I always liked you, you act all nice but the truth is you can be a real asshole!”
“I learn from the best.”
>”Fuck you too!  Anyhoo, onto less depressing business.  Feel like making a little extra money?”
>You already don’t like where this is going
>”Now don’t look at me like that, all I’m going to ask you for is a little extra help with the team now and then.  What I need right now is an assistant coach.”
“Assistant coach?  What for?”
>”Well I’ve been having a few more extra kids than usual showing up in my early morning practices and its been a bit harder for me to handle.  If you could maybe show up in the morning every now and then to help me herd these kids around I’d appreciate it, and I’d pay you for it too.”
>You frown as you pick up the sheet with your picture on it and hold it up to his face
“What about this?”
>He sneers at the picture and shoves it aside
>“Chrissie ain’t even out of bed when I do my morning practices.  She won’t bother you, and if she does I’ll just have to sweet-talk her out of doing anything rash”
>You still don’t like the sound of any of that, but you figure you could do this for coach, especially if he pays you, and you figure it might actually help you keep a closer eye on Twilight somehow
“Alright fine, I’ll think about it.  I don’t want to make this a regular thing though, those early mornings are behind me.”
>”Excellent!”
>He chugs what’s left of his beer before standing up
>”Well I guess I’ll be seeing more of you Rust Bucket.  You take it easy—and remember what I told you!  Night!”
>You’re not entirely sure what he was trying to warn you about, but you push it aside for now
>You’re shift is almost over now, but you’ve got one last thing to do before you can call it a night

>When you get home, the first thing you do is take out your phone
>Two missed calls from Anon
>You had too much to do today, but now that you’ve got the time you figure you need to call him back
>He answers almost immediately
>“SHINING ARMOR!”
“ahhh!”
>He sure has a loud voice
>”BRO!  I’m so fucking sorry man!   I fucked up so bad!  I can’t believe I just let Sugarcoat and her gang do… whatever the fuck they did to Twilight!  I don’t know what she did  but Fuck!”
>Well he sounds apologetic for what happened, that’s a start
>”—I mean I used to say I’d never hit a girl or anything and that’s what kind of stopped me from doing anything initially but while I was thinking about that they had already left and—“
“Anon stop it.”
>”What?”
“Look its… its really not OK, but I don’t blame you for what happened, and you probably shouldn’t be blaming yourself, but now you know why I wanted you to watch over Twilight right”
>”Yeah, I mean I think I do.”
“Good, because I still need your help.”
>”Yeah?  I mean, YEAH!  You can count on me man, what do you need?”
“Well like before, I need you to keep watching my sister and telling me of anything interesting.  If something like what happened before happens, I want you to get involved somehow too and help her.”
>”GOT IT!”
“There’s more.  I need you to watch over Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, and Indigo Zap too.  Tell me if you notice anything strange about any of them and try to find out as much information about them as possible, including any information about their families too.”
>”Uhhh alright man.  I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Perfect, now you get to bed Anon.  You got practice tomorrow morning remember?”
>”Yeah, thanks Rust Bucket.  I promise I’ll keep an eye on her.  I never talked to your sister much or anything, but I know there’s no way she deserves whatever it is she’s been getting.  Good night bro!”
“Night.”


>You hang up and collapse on your bed
>Today had its high points and its low points
>Even with the odds seemingly stacked against you, you’re confident that with Twilight and Cadence back in your life that you’ll be able to handle whatever gets thrown your way
>You were never about to let Twilight have her life destroyed in the first place, but now you’re starting to believe that you can save her life without sacrificing your own
>Before you start to drift off to sleep, you tilt your head and look at your closet
>Your safe is lying there, almost beckoning you in a way to come over and wield the weapons inside
>Whereas before you might have looked to it and said ‘Not Yet’ now you find yourself saying ‘Hopefully Never’
>You hope you’re right
>Tilting your head this time to your mirror, you see again the smiling faces of Cadence and Twilight, the two women you love more than anything else
>You’ll do anything to protect their smiles


>You roll out of bed a bit earlier than you expected, but even so you’re feeling better than you normally do, at least physically
>You know today is another school day for Twilight, so you can’t help but feel a bit concerned for her
>However, today is also thankfully your day off, so you have plenty of time to work on helping her untuck her life up
>Which leads back to what you and Cadence were discussing just last night right before you two went your separate ways—helping Twilight make some friends
>Real friends
>Now that you think about it you didn’t have many friends yourself, but you still had a few people in mind that might be able to help you help her out
>There was no harm in trying anyway
>Unfortunately it was too early to try to contact any of them, so you had to find ways to pass the time
>Your hand is feeling better, so you figure its safe to take off the bandages
>Still looks a little scratched up, but it feels better
>Your apartment is a different story
>You end up having to carry the remains of your table down to the curb for the trash man
>Your mini-fridge still miraculously works so there’s no problem there
>The fist-sized hole in the wall?..
>Well that’s a bit of an issue
>Looking inside you see that when you punched through the wall that you actually managed to crack a wooden beam
>No way you can let your landlord find out about that
>For now you simply hang your old flag over the hole in the hopes that no one notices
>With Cadence back in your life again you also figure you might as well try to make the place look nice instead of just livable for when she decided to come by again, so you end up spending another hour or so just cleaning your apartment
>When you check the time and see that its a little past 3, you decide your place is clean enough and move on to your plan


>First things first, call Twilight
>She should just be getting home from school right about now
>For a person like Twilight, you knew going out and making new friends wouldn’t be an easy feat, but you figured that maybe reconnecting with an old friend might be something she was capable of
>”Hello?”
“Hey Twiley, what’s up?”
>”Shiney!  Not a whole lot, how are you?”
“I’m fine, just been taking it easy.  How was your day?”
>”Oh it was ok… I got back an essay I had to write for this book report and I got a 100%!”
“Wow cool!  What book was it on?”
>”Its called Crime and Punishment!  Its this story about a young man named Raskolnikov in late 19th century St. Petersburg who develops this pseudo-nihilist philosophy and ends up murdering this….”
>You’re normally content to let Twilight go on for a bit about these kinds of things, and to give her credit it sounded like a fairly interesting story, but you were eager to get back to the task at hand
>You let her talk for another minute about this Dostoyevsky guy before you cut her off
“Hey Twiley, no one gave you any trouble today right?”
>”t-Trouble?  No… it was a pretty ok day, nothing w-worse than usual…”
“Right… well I was wondering if you’ve given any thought to making some new friends lately?”
>”I really don’t know that many people that I think would want to hangout with me Shiney…”
“I think I might.”


“Twiley, what was the name of that girl you used to hangout with a lot when you were in grade school?  The one that had the long brown hair with the purple highlights?  Always wore thick rimmed glasses?”
>”…you mean Moondancer?”
“Yeah!  You two used to seem pretty close… have you ever thought about getting back together with her?”
>”Oh… I don’t know Shiney.  We haven’t seen each other in such a long time.  We kind of… drifted apart back in middle school, and I’m pretty sure she goes to Canterlot High now so I haven’t even seen her in years.”
“Well… maybe she’d like to catch up?  Would you like to see her at all?
>”I…I really don’t know.  I mean, I used to love reading with her and all…”
>How do people read together?
>Did they read books to each other or did they share the same book?
>Eh fuck it
“I was just thinking that maybe you’d like to make some new friends is all… I think it’d be pretty great if you had more than just those—people you got now.  So why not give her a call?”
>…
“Twilight?”
“I… I don’t know if I can Shiney.  I mean, it feels really weird to me.  Maybe I could just…. I dunno…”
>You sigh
“Twilight, would you maybe like it if I called her instead?  I could tell her that you were busy or something and that you wanted her to give you a call back about hanging out or something?”
>You can start to hear her breathing a little bit over the phone
>”s-Sorry Shiney.”
“No no its fine, I don’t mind at all.  Would you like me to give it a try?”
>”s-Sure!”
”Ok then, I’ll give you a call back in a few minutes.”
>“Hey B.B.B.F.F.?”
“Yeah?”
>”Thank you.  For everything.”
>You’re beaming right now
“No problem, talk to you later!”


>After finishing your call with Twilight, you fished through your drawer and pulled out an old address book that you took with you from your old house
>Scanning through its dusty pages, you eventually find a number attributed to Twi’s childhood friend Moondancer
>Not sure what to expect, and honestly feeling a bit awkward yourself, you dialed the number
>It rings for a bit before—
>”Hello?”
“Hi, is this Moondancer?”
>”Hang on.  MOONDANCER!  BABY PICK UP THE PHONE!”
>You hear the sound of a phone shuffling around as well as some muffled yelling in the background
>“Hello?”
“Hi, Moondancer?”
>”Who is this?”
“Hey, I’m not sure if you remember me but I’m Shining Armor!  I’m Twilight Sparkle’s older brother.”
>…
>”Why are you calling me?”
“Well you see, I wanted to talk to you about Twilight, or rather she wanted to talk to you but uh, she couldn’t really talk right now…”
>Fucking smooth
>”Oh yeah? Ha!  Sounds just like her.”
“Yeah she—wait, what?”
>”After all these years and she finally starts to want to hear from me but doesn’t even have the time to call?  HAHAHAHA!!!”
>You’re really not sure what the fuck’s going on right now
>You let her finish her vaguely cruel laughter before trying to steer things back on course
“Soooo I-er she was thinking maybe it’d be fun to get together some time and-“
>”OHHHHH!  So now she wants to hangout?  She wants to act like everyone’s friends again?  Well what about me dammit!?  When did she ever have time for me!?”
“Uhhh all of your childhood I guess…?”


>”Yeah?  Well I guess she stopped having time for peasants like me after getting into that cushy academy with all her wonderful friends there!”
>Ok this is starting to piss you off
“OK Moondancer, did something happen between you two that I’m not aware of, cause I used to think you two were best friends.  You used to have sleepovers and shit all the time back when you were—“
>”NEVER AGAIN!  You tell your sister Twilight that I want nothing to do with her ANYMORE!”
“But why?  Can you please just tell me—?”
>You hear some distorted shouting coming from the other line
>Something about Moondancer being late for work or something
>”I’M GETTING READY NOW MOM!  GAAAAAHHHHH!!!  You know what Shining Armor?  While you’re at it, tell Twilight she can go FUCK HERSELF!”
“Excuse— FUCK YOU BITCH!”
>”BLOW ME!”
>She hangs up on you before you can hang up on her
>You stare at the phone, your face contorted in a disgusted sneer
“What the fuck just happened!?”
>You’re pretty sure that whatever that was it wasn’t your fault, but the thought doesn’t really make anything better
>Your phone begins to vibrate, and when you check it you see that you got a text from Twilight
“How did it go?  Did she say yes!? :D”
>…
>You text back
“She didn’t pick up.”


>Well nuts to that
>You were honestly hoping you wouldn’t have to do this, but you still had one other idea in mind and it felt like it was worth a shot
>Your phone rings again
>Its Cadence
“Hey honey.”
>”Hi Shiney.  What’s up?”
“Nothing much, was just about to go for a ride.  Want to come with?”
>”Is this about what you said yesterday about helping Twiley make new friends?”
“Yeah that’s right.”
>”Sounds good, can you pick me up?”
“Totally, pick you up in half an hour.  You’ll want to put on some boots.”
>”Where we headed?”
“A little place out in the country, you’ll see.”
>”OK?…”
>You chuckled
“See ya soon.”
>After hanging up you walked up to your window and cracked it open, letting the cool air creep onto your place
>You allow yourself to take a seat and enjoy the calm breeze for about a minute before you get dressed and head out to Cadence’s
>A small part of you was looking forward to seeing them again
>Another small part of you was dreading it


>Your pickup truck was handling fairly well on these backroads
>You originally bought it because of how cheap it was and because you thought it looked pretty nice, but if you actually lived out somewhere around here you figure it’d be perfect
>Cadence’s long violet hair is flowing in the wind as you speed by past endless fields
>You’ve got on the pair of aviators she and Twiley convinced you to buy the other day
>”So how did you know this guy again?”
“Well you might’ve actually met him before yourself.  He used to be a linebacker for the Wondercolts when we were still in school.  A damn good one too, sacked me more than few times when we played.”
>”I thought you said you knew him from the army?”
“Yeah well, he actually joined around the same time as me.  I was pretty surprised to see him, and I don’t think either of us were particularly thrilled to see each other at first…”
>”What was he like?”
>You glanced out your window, watching an old windmill turn in the distance
“He was a pretty quiet guy, and I could barely tell what was up with him when I first met him, but after I got to know him a little, I learned he was actually a really nice person.  Just a bit shy I suppose, but he had a big heart…”
>Looking back over at Cadence, you could see she was enraptured in what you were talking about
>She always tried hard to get you to talk about your time in the service, and you guess this time you were giving her a little bit of it for free


“When we got off on leave for holidays and such, I didn’t want to be anywhere near my father so instead of  going home, he let me take up a guest room at his family’s place.  I had to see Twiley though so I brought her over there a couple of times."
>”That sounds pretty generous of them.”
>You smiled, thinking back to the times you spent over there
"My friend, he had a little sister that was about Twilight’s age, and they always seemed to hit it off when they were together.  I was thinking maybe she’d be willing to spend some time with her again?”
>”They sound like good people, I’m sure if we explained everything to them then maybe—“
“Hold on,”
>You stopped the car, and then began to put it in reverse when you saw a young girl with bright red hair wearing a pink bow on her head walking along the side of the road
>”Is that her?”
“No but close!”
>Cadence rolled down her window and you shouted out across the road
“APPLEBLOOM!”
>The girl jumped out of her step and stared at you and Cadence
>After a moment her confusion disappears and she’s runs over toward your truck wearing a big smile
>She hops up on Cadence’s door and leans inside
>”SHINING ARMOR!  You’re back!”
>You chuckle and reach a hand out to ruffle her hair
“Well look at you!  You’ve sure grown a bit.  Need a ride back to Sweet Apple Acres?”
>”Sure!  Who’s your friend?”
>”My name’s Cadence, nice to meet you Applebloom!”


>Your truck rolls down the road with its third passenger, Applebloom, sitting in between you and Cadence in the front where Twilight had sat just the other day
>She’s pretty fired up, shooting you with all kinds of questions
>'How you’ve been, where’ve you been, what you've been up to?'
>You try to answer them all as best you can before she’s revs up a new question for you
>She seems a bit interested in Cadence too, asking her how the two of you met and such
>Cadence seems to like her, but she’s usually pretty good with kids
>You get a few questions in edgewise, learning that Applebloom just started high school this year at Canterlot High and that the farm’s been doing fairly well lately
>After about ten more minutes of driving you’ve reached the place
>Sweet Apple Acres
>Looks like they put up a new shed off in the distance, and the barn looks like its gotten a new coat of paint, but otherwise its exactly how you remember it
>The three of you step out onto the gravel and Applebloom runs up to her house, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouting out
>”APPLEJACK!  GRANNY!  WE’VE GOT COMPANY!"
>A young lady with long blonde hair wearing a stetson hat walks out onto the veranda through a screen door, hastily wiping her hands with a washcloth
>When she sees you she drops the cloth and runs up to you, much like Applebloom did, and to your surprise she hugs you
>”SHINING!  Ah haven’t seen ya in ages!”
“Haha its good to see you too!”
>She’s got a tight grip
>She breaks the hug and her freckled cheeks start to blush
>She then looks over to Cadence with quizzical look before offering her hand
>”Uh howdy!  My name’s Applejack.”
>”Cadence, its good to meet you.  I’ve heard a lot about you.”
>Cadence takes her hand and shakes it


>The three of you take seats outside on the veranda, with Applebloom joining you all with a tray of lemonade
>”—and ah really thought that with how lucky we were in the past five years that we were due for a bad storm, but even with all that rain last month we didn’t get a single twister anywhere near us!  Ah count that as a real blessing.”
>She’s been pretty talkative since you’ve all sat down, almost as much as Applebloom was
>They sure seemed happy to see you, maybe you should have come by and visited sooner
>”So, what made you decide to come by and visit Shining?”
>Looks like her thoughts weren’t too far behind your own
“Well to be honest AJ, I came by because we needed a bit of help.”
>She tips up her hat as she leans forward, her elbows leaning on the table
>”Well shoot.”
“You remember my little sister Twilight right?”
>”'Course I do, you used to bring her by all the time.  She was always pretty nice…”
“Well, its about her…”
>”Cadence speaks up next
>”Twiley’s been going through some hard times over at her school.  The other students there haven’t been treating her well.”


>Applejack huffs
>”Ah always said dem students at Crystal Prep were uppity—present company excluded of course!”
“Yeah well, its been bothering us a lot, we’ve been worried sick.  The school won’t step in and help, and my old man’s as useless as ever.”
>”What Twilight really needs right now is a friend, and we were thinking that maybe, since you two used to spend so much time together, that maybe you could try to spend a bit of time together?”
>She looks back and forth between you and Cadence, weighing your words carefully before speaking up
>”Well… I don’t know how great of a friend I could be for her, we never really had all that much in common… she was always a nice polite gal though… I can give it a try!”
>Good ol’ Applejack
>”Can’t make any promises mind ya, but I’ll definitely give it a shot.  I can’t imagine she deserves whatever’s been happening to her, and I hate to see you two so worked up like this.”
“Here, give me your cell number and I’ll text you Twilight’s”
>”Sure thang.”


>Just as you finish texting her your number, the screen door opens up and out comes walking an old lady wearing a green dress and a white apron
>”Now I thought I heard a familiar voice out here!”
“Hey there Mrs. Smith!”
>”Don’t suppose yer here to help with the harvest are ya?”
“uhhhhhh”
>”Oh ahm just foolin' with ya, and who’s this pretty thing here?”
>”Hi Mrs. Smith, my name’s Cadence.  I’m Shining Armor’s girlfriend.”
>She looked pretty good for her age
>Running off what you remembered, you figured she was likely up in her early 80s about now
>Even so, she seemed pretty lucid and was walking around on her own just fine
>”Say, Shining Armor you wouldn’t happen to be looking for work would ya?”
“Well I’ve got a job right now back in the city doing bartending, I’m hoping to find something that pays a little better though.”
>”Well you know if you ever need a change of scenery there’s plenty of work to be done round’ here!  Applejack’s been telling me we ought to hire one of dem migrants to help out during the harvest time, but I don’t trust none of em!”
>Work out here on the Sweet Apple Acres?
>Not sure if that would pay much better, but it definitely sounds like a nice change of scenery like she said, especially compared to where you’re working now
>”Lord knows we could use a man around here after losing Mac…”
>…
>Fuck
>You glance around at Aj, who has her hat leaning over her head, and Applebloom who looks to be staring at the ground
>Although you never really outright told Cadence about it you were fairly sure she understood what you were getting at, and her frown now seems to confirm your suspicions
>”Would ya like to see him?”


>Granny Smith led you all into the house, past some hallways and up to a bedroom door
>Just nextdoor to it was the room you used to crash in when you were back home on leave, and down the hall was where Applejack, Applebloom, and Granny all slept
>And this here…
>She opened it up, and you saw a neatly kept room
>Hanging up on the wall was a large Wondercolt football jersey, and on either side of it laid posters of various country rock stars
>Up against the wall across from the bed was a large photo of Big Mac, stoically smiling at the camera while dressed up in a formal army uniform
>Around the photo were various smaller photos, most of them showing him with Applejack and Applebloom, a few with him and Granny Smith, a few with him and who you could only assume were his parents, and even one with the two of you together
>Standing aside the collage of photos was a flag rolled up into a triangular case, with a small handful of medals lying in front of it
>A purple heart, a Combat ribbon, even a Bronze Star…
>You walked up close, looking back and forth between the various awards and the picture of you and him, the two of you relaxing out on the veranda with various beer bottles strewn about, laughing at the camera
>You felt a hand tug on your shoulder and looked over to see Cadence looking at you, with that sad concerned gaze
>”Dear, would you like to have a moment alone?”
“….yeah… I think I would, thanks sweetie…”
>Cadence took a step out into the hallway with the Apple family, and slowly closes the door for you
>You took a seat at the edge of Big Mac’s bed and bury your head in your hands.


>You don’t know what to say or do
>Maybe say a prayer?
>You’re not sure if you remember any, you haven’t set foot in a church in many years
>What then?
>Just sit here and fuck around staring at pictures?
>…
“…Hey…”
>You sigh, thinking back to the short time you had with him
>About three years you two served together, and before that you played against each other in high school
>The more you think about it, the crazier it is to think that he’s gone
“Hey Big Mac… I… fuck, I’m sorry man.”
>You stand up and move to the door, but you stop just as you’re about to grab onto the doorknob
>You imagine Cadence and the rest of them are waiting not too far away
>Big Mac had a wonderful family here, you wonder if he would’ve been upset if he knew how little you saw them
>You also absently wonder what if, had it been you instead of him that never came home, would he be looking out for Twilight in your place right now?
>You walk back to the photos, and look over them again
>There’s you and him, yukking it up like a couple of idiots, but there’s so much more with him and his sisters and his granny
>He really loved them
>He should be here too, but he’s not
“It’s not right…. its not fucking fair….”
>You grit your teeth, staring hard at the photo of Big Mac, and after a moment longer, you know what you gotta say
“You take it easy big guy, save a seat for me wherever you’re at… I’ll watch over them for you.  I promise.”


>You thank Applejack again and say your goodbyes, promising them that you’ll come back again sometime and check up on them
>You also told them that  you’d think about Granny Smith’s offer for work and get back to them about it sometime soon
>The car ride back is pretty quiet, and sundown’s coming fast
>Cadence won’t take her eyes off you, but you just keep your eyes on the road
>After a little while you feel her hand grab onto yours
>”I’m here if you ever need to talk Shining.”
>You think about telling her how it all went down, thinking she might be the only person you know who would understand, but you push away the thought for now
“Thanks Cadence, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
>She gives you a faint smile, and leans her head against you as you drive her back home
>When you’re about to arrive at her place she asks you if you’d like to spend the night, to which you readily agree
>As you pull up to her place to let her out, you tell her you’re going to drive around the block and find a parking spot
>As you do though, you get the urge to contact Anonymous real quick and see if he has anything to report
>”Yo!”
"Hey Anon.”
>”Sup Rust Bucket!  Hey I’m really starting to get used to this new workout schedule!  The first couple days my joints really felt like shit, but now I think my body’s getting over it!”
“That’s good.  You make sure to continue stretching before and after practices so they stay fine.  You may want to ice them a bit too after practice if they start bothering you again.”
>”Alright, I don’t know if I got any icepacks at home though…”
“Well just use a bag of frozen peas or some shit then.”
>”Uh ok.  Cool, heh.”
“So… about Twilight.”


>”Yeah, I decided today that I’d sit by some of my friends who are on the wrestling team at lunch.  They’re only a few tables over from where Twilight and Sugarcoat and the rest of them sit, so I could watch them without looking suspicious.”
>That’s… actually pretty smart
“Well what’d you find out?”
>”Well I watched them a bit right?  and they didn’t really do anything crazy, just sat there and ate their lunch… Twilight looked pretty quiet though.  Like Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest were talking a whole lot, and Indigo Zap was talking a bit too, but Twilight just kind of sat there quietly the whole time, barely speaking at all.  Looked kind of nervous”
>Makes sense that they wouldn’t do anything serious in front of all those people at lunch
>Shit, she might be better off sitting alone somewhere
>Then again she might find the idea of sitting completely alone at lunch worse than sitting with people she hates
>”Also I THINK she might have seen me looking at her.”
“Twilight you mean?”
>”Yeah, I looked at her and she looked at me and then we kind of both just turned away back toward our tables.  It was kind of weird.”
“Huh… well just make sure you don’t let the others catch you spying on them.  Could be pretty bad.”
>”Eh I ain’t afraid of them!  What the hell are they gonna do to me?”
>You’d rather not find out
“I’m serious Anon.”
>”So am I!  They’re just a couple of mean bitches, what’s the worst they can do?”
“Just… stay out of trouble alright.”
>”Alright man.  Well I don’t got too much else to say…”
“Well thanks anyway.  Try and keep it up as best you can, maybe spend some more time sitting with your wrestling buddies.”
>”Will do Rust Bucket!  I’ll catch ya later man!”
“Night.”


>You park your truck and walk on upstairs to Cadence’s place
>Its a hell of a lot nicer than yours is that’s for sure
>Its got a nice carpet, a fairly clean kitchen with a dishwasher and a disposal, and a fairly big TV
>”Hey Shiney, what do you want for dinner?”
“I’m fine with whatever, what about you?”
>”How about I order takeout?  Chinese maybe?”
“Sounds good to me.”
>You take a seat on her couch while she places an order over the phone
>You start flipping through the channels looking for something the two of you can watch
>You end up finding something fairly quickly, looks pretty low budget
>After a few minutes go by you see some dude in a white hockey mask pop out behind a tree and realize this must be one of those Friday the 13th movies
>Cadence finishes talking on the phone and walks over
>”Oh, that looks pretty bad.”
“Yeah I know.  Let’s watch it!”
>”OK!”
>She hops down on the couch right next to you and the two of you start watching the movie
>You get comfortable and place an arm over her as the movie get’s rolling
>After a few minutes the movie pans over to some guy in a letterman jacket and his cheerleader girlfriend going off alone in the woods
>They start to undress while making out, and you can already see where this is going
>You hear Cadence giggle
>”Hey Shiney look!  Its us!”
>Just as she says this Jason pops up out of nowhere and decapitates the jock, spraying blood all over the naked cheerleader who starts screaming like mad
>You and Cadence lose your shit and laugh for a full five minutes as Jason goes to town on them


>Another twenty minutes goes by and your food arrives
>You keep the movie on in the other room as the two of you sit down in the kitchen to dig into your food
>You try seeing if you can use the chopsticks that came with the food like Cadence is trying
“So what did you think of Applejack and her family?”
>”They seemed like really nice people.  That Applejack sure seemed to like you a lot…”
>You pause, letting your piece of chicken fall out of your chopsticks back out onto your plate as you give Cadence a sly grin
“Hey… you’re not feeling jealous are you?”
>”Me?  Ha!”
>She’s sporting a pretty devilish grin
“Well she might be a bit young for me, but you gotta admit she’s pretty cute.”
>”Yeah, she is.  Too bad you’re already mine.”
“Awww too bad.”
>Is it getting a little hot in here?
>Wait fuck you just ate a pepper by accident
“AH SHIT THAT’S HOT!”
>Cadence covers her mouth and laughs innocently at your pain as you put your head in her sink and start running a steam of water over your mouth


>The two of you finish your meals just in time to catch the last fifteen minutes of the movie
>Looks like the creepy girl, the nerd, one of their fathers, and the little kid are still alive, but Jason’s hot on their heels
>They manage to gang up on him, and after giving him a pretty savage beating, he get’s tossed back into the lake
>Cadence begins to stir as the credits  roll
>She whispers into your ear
>”Since you’re mine, I have a surprise just for you.”
“Oh yeah?”
>She stands up off the couch and begins to walk toward her room
>”I’ll let you know when its ready~”
>You start to wonder if Cadence really did buy that lingerie outfit the other day
>You fantasize about Cadence dressed up like that until you hear her call you over
>You have to stop yourself from sprinting over, and when you get there you see that her room is dark and that you can barely make anything out in there
“Cadence?”
>”Come in~”
>Stepping inside, you flip on the light and see Cadence bending over looking at you, her bum facing you while she straightens up and stretches her arms out
>She’s in her old Shadowbolts cheerleader uniform
>By some divine miracle it still fits her, with the perfectly acceptable exception of her top which looks to be a little too tight for her breasts
>”Surprised?”
“Holy Shit…”

>She giggles as she takes your hand and leads you over to her bed
>You sit down up against the bed post as she straddles you
>”Oh Shining, will we really be safe from Jason in here?”
>You chuckle as you lay your hands around her
“You let me worry about him Cadence.”
>”Ohhhh I hope we don’t die horribly right now~”
>She smirks at you as she lowers her face closer to yours, her butt grinding against your crotch
“He’s gonna have to kill us later.  I refuse to die for at least another hour.”
>You pull Cadence down onto you and kiss her deeply as your hands start to slide down her back and onto her behind
>Your squeeze her cherry ass while you kiss her, eliciting a few moans from her the longer and harder you squeeze
>As this goes on, she continues to grind her crotch against yours, your erect dick painfully pressing up against your jeans
>For a moment it all stops, as Cadence breaks the kiss and straightens her back up
>Both of you have your eyes locked on one another and are breathing heavily, although nothing seems able to wipe the smile off of either of your faces
>She seductively winks at you and then begins to take her top off
>When you see this you instinctively reach for your belt and begin to tug off your pants
>Cadence is having some trouble on her end, it seems her tight top is clinging to her ample breasts, and you’re having a bit of trouble sliding off your jeans thanks to the massive erection she’s given you
>Each passing moment leaves the two of you even more anxious than before, until you’re all but tearing your clothes off to get at one another
>With an irritated cry, Cadence rips off her top, revealing her cleavage just as you manage to undo your belt and tear off your jeans

>With an almost animal lust, you sit up and push Cadence to her back
>She yelps in surprise as she is shoved onto her bed, but when you lean over her you can see her grinning wildly, almost begging for you to get at her
>You bend down and,reaching under her extremely short skirt, tear down her panties
>After bringing them to her ankles, you crawl over her and cup your hands around her jugs, fervently massaging them as she grips her bed sheets
>Her body begins to contort as you grip her breasts harder and rub them faster
>”s-Shiney!  I need it now!  HURRY!”
>That’s all you needed to hear
>Taking your hands off her breasts, you plant your fists on either side of Cadence’s head and in one swift motion, penetrate her
>She cries out in ecstasy, throwing her head back as her hands grip onto her sheets for dear life
>You’re already on the edge, but you fight it back as you thrust into her over and over again
>You can’t stand it
>She’s absolutely beautiful
>SHE’S PERFECT
>”SHINING!”
“CADENCE!!!!!”
>And at that the two of you convulse and collapse onto one another as you both climax
>You hold each other close as you fall asleep in one another’s arms


>”—and it all happened so suddenly that I didn’t know what else to tell her except ‘yes', but I’m so glad I did!”
“Well I think its fantastic!  You and Applejack always seemed to get along great, this ought to be good for you.”
>”I’m honestly a bit nervous though.  This’ll be the first sleepover I’ve been been to since I was a little kid!  I’ve never even met any of her friends before… how will I know how to act?”
>You scratch your forehead as you reposition your cellphone onto your other ear
“‘Know how to act’?  Just act like how you normally act when you’re trying to have fun.  You know, like when you’re out with me and Cadence.”
>”Oh I don’t know… maybe I should try to get a haircut or something?  What should I even wear?..”
“Uhm pajamas?  It is a sleepover… don’t get too worked up over it Twiley.  This is AJ we’re talking about, you know any friends of hers ought to be just as friendly as she is.”
>”Yeah… that makes sense.  Sorry!”
>You chuckle as she reverts back to sounding excited again after going through her obligatory nervous spell
“Don’t worry about it.  I’m happy for you… you deserve it.  Anyway, did you need help getting to her place?”
>”Well she actually said it was going to be at her friend’s house, but it was going to be on Friday night and Dad does normally work pretty late that—“
“What time should I pick you up?”
>”Six pm!”
“Awesome.  I’ll see you then.”
>”You’re the best!  Good night B.B.B.F.F.!”
“Night Twiley.”
>Progress
>Honest to God progress


>It was looking like Applejack really pulled through for you, should’ve known you could trust her
>Still its pretty surprising to hear that Twilight went for something like this
>A sleepover at a stranger’s house with six other girls, five of them she’s never even met before?
>You’d probably be a bit nervous yourself
>Maybe this was a sign that she was making a huge effort to branch out and finally make some friends?
>Maybe she was finally ready to leave those girls at Crystal Prep behind?
>Well that still left you with one important job to take care of, making sure those Crystal Prep girls leave her alone
>Its been several days since you last talked to Anon, you trusted him to still be serious about his job but you wouldn’t know for certain if he he had actually discovered anything until you talked with him
>Maybe it was time for you and Anon to see each other face-to-face again?
>Sombra’s offer for you to come by and help out the Shadowbolts as an assistant coach still stood,
>While the idea of making a few easy bucks was alluring, the real benefit of working for Sombra was that it gave you a very convenient excuse to meet with Anon
>You hoped that when you saw him tomorrow, that he would have something for you
>Twilight could make all the friends she wanted but as far as you were concerned she wouldn’t be safe until her bullies were dealt with, one way or another

>5 in the morning, the earliest you’ve been awake in years
>Had to set multiple alarms on your clock and on your phone just to make sure you’d get up
>The drive was easy, barely a soul out there, and driving with your window down splashed you with enough cold air to get you awake by the time you reached Crystal Prep
>You pulled up in the mostly empty parking lot, taking a spot near the football field
>Its silent, and it looks like the sun is getting ready to rise when you step out of your car and start walking to the field
>Being here makes you feel a bit nostalgic, but in a better way than when you visited the school itself
>You had a few really happy memories playing out here on this field; the first time you started as QB, that one time you ran the ball halfway down the field for a touchdown, the time you first asked Cadence out…
>You’re startled out of your daydream when you feel a hand grasp your shoulder
>You turn around to see Coach Sombra grinning at you
>”Took me up on my offer eh?”
“Yeah, figured you sounded pretty desperate."
>”Ha!  Well I AM happy you showed up.  These kids have been driving me crazy and I can only yell so hard before my throat starts to ache."


>The two of you walk out to the field and not long afterwards other cars start to show up in the lot as members of the football team arrive
>The sight reminds you of something out of a zombie movie as these kids stagger up onto the field, looking like they just crawled out of their beds
>Scanning the mass of students walking in you catch sight of Anon walking over onto the field
>You attempt to wave him down but he does not appear to notice you
“Hey…. Hey Anon!”
>Nothing, he’s off in outer space right now
>You walk up to him and flick him on the shoulder, eliciting a delayed jolt from him as he spins his head around at you
>”Rust Bucket?.. DUDE Rust Bucket!  What’s up man!?.. what are you doing here?…”
“Well Sombra told me he needed some extra help training you guys, so I guess now I’m ‘officially’ your coach.  Assistant coach anyway.”
>Anon is shaking off his sleepiness pretty quickly now as he looks at you with wide eyes
>”That’s awesome!  You’ll get to see just what I can do now man!”
>He pumps his fist as his voice rises up in excitement
>He really seemed genuinely happy to see you
“Heh well don’t think I’l go easy on you alright.”

>Coach Sombra briefly introduces you to the team
>You easily notice the change in his demeanor, dropping the jovial mood he usually shows around you and instead putting on an unamused scowl as he begins to bark out the team’s training regimen for the day
>You remember this kind of display being a lot more intimidating than it is now, but it seems to snap the players out of their sleepiness
>You end up taking about half of the players who showed up down to one half of the field where you begin to run them through some obstacles
>You vaguely recall being put through pretty similar exercises many years back so its not too hard to tell what they should be doing
>You can hear Sombra’s shouts carry down across the field towards you, as he calls out to individual players to work harder
>You find yourself growing a little frustrated at times with your own batch of players
“Is this as fast as you guys can go?  MOVE YOUR ASS!  COME ON!”
>Don’t need to tell Anon twice, he seems to be pushing himself hard
>He’s already gotten his workout jersey a little sweaty
>You wonder if he normally works out like this at practice or if he is deliberately trying to impress you?
>After a little while longer, you bring out the armor and the footballs and start running them through some basic plays
>Anon seems to have his eyes focused back to the other side of the field where the other team is practicing.
>”COOOOOOACH!  COACH SOMBRA!!!”
>You see Sombra turn his head and Anon’s body seems to jolt back
>”He looked at me!  HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!”
“He looked at your football!”
>”He turned his head and looked me straight in the eye!”
“He was scanning the horizon!”
>”No… it awaits me…”
>Anon walks up to the line with the rest of his teammates
>”My starter position awaits me!”
>He hikes the ball and narrowly avoids getting sacked as he rushes toward the end zone, with you shaking your head at him all the while


>Another hour later and the sun starts to rise in earnest
>After running them through a few more different plays, you and Sombra call it quits and let the team shuffle toward the school to get cleaned up and ready for the day
>Taking a seat over by a bench near the bleachers, you call Anon over to you as the other players begin to march toward the school
>”I do alright Rust Bucket?”
“Yeah you looked pretty good out there… you look like you like to run the ball a bit too much though.  I want to see you work on your passing a little more ok?”
>”OK.”
“Hey, I need to get out of here soon, but before I leave I want to hear what you’ve found out on your end about my sister and those three girls messing with her.”
>Anon grins at you as he plops down on the bench, placing his hands behind his head as he leans back
>”You’re going to like this man!  So I asked around a few friends of mine… and I got this buddy of mine who goes to Canterlot High, a real party animal named Flash, and he told me he he knew Indigo Zap…"
>You lean in toward Anon, waiting for him to get on with his story
“Well?”
>”Her father, a guy who goes around by the name of Mr. Zap.  He owns this club that a bunch of highschoolers like to go to.  Apparently Flash dated Indigo for a little while and was able to get in there for free!  I bet if you went around there you could find the guy and give him a piece of your mind!"
>That sounded like a pretty good idea to you
>Getting a hold of these girls’ parents and getting them to stop messing with Twilight seemed like the best course of action, but with the way the school was treating you and Cadence, getting information on who they were and how to contact them was rough
>This might be exactly what you needed to end this shit once and for all
“Mr. Zap huh?  I’ll have to pay his club a visit.”
>”I’ll text you the address as soon as I get my phone.”
“Not bad.  So got anything else for me?”

>Anon’s smile fades as he leans forward looking out across the field
>”They really are a couple of cunts.  Whenever Twilight tries to speak up and say anything at lunch they shoot her down and laugh at her.  When they walk to class together they usually make her carry their books for them.  Whenever she tries to stand up for herself… they get physical.
>You listen intently to every word Anon says, trying as hard as you can to hide your rage behind a look of cool indifference
>”It really pisses me off, you know?”
“It makes me fucking sick.”
>”Yeah… me too.”
>Anon stands up in front of you, and half heartedly attempts to make eye contact with you
>”So the other day… I was walking to class and I saw Twilight at her locker talking to Sugarcoat.  I didn’t hear what they were saying but I saw Sugarcoat book-check her before walking away.  I didn’t like seeing Twilight pick up all her books by herself so I… I walked over and helped her.”
>You stared at Anon as he folded his arms over each other and fidgeted with his hands, his eyes refusing to meet your gaze
>”She mumbled some kind of ‘thank you’ and I, I didn’t really say anything.  Just ra- walked off…”
>You stood up off the bench and placed an arm over Anon’s shoulder
>He looks pretty surprised, and maybe even a little afraid
“You’re a good kid Anon.”
>”y-Yeah?  Thanks man, I just—“
“You should head back to the locker room.  School is going to start pretty soon.”
>”Oh yeah!  Heh t-thanks bro! It was great seeing you!  I’ll let you know as soon as I find out anything else ok?”
“Sounds good.”
>”Well… see ya!”
>You watch Anon carefully as he begins to walk on over to the school, unsure of how to process everything he just told you
>You decide to push that business aside for now though and focus on what he told you earlier
>It was still early in the day, but you were anxious to visit this club and see this Mr. Zap as soon as possible


>It was still fairly early in the morning when you got back to your apartment
>You crashed on the couch, holding a slip of paper with the address that Anon gave you
>A place called ‘The Jolt’, some kind of trendy dance club that marketed itself to teenagers
>The concept sounded strange to you, like it was the kind of place where kids snuck around booze and got creeped on by older people
>When Anon had given you the address you felt compelled to head over there as soon as you could, but you had a few things to think through first
>Cadence
>You knew she was as serious about all this business as you were, and you knew you could count on her to come with you if you asked her
>However, you weren’t exactly sure what you were walking into
>You didn’t know anything about this Mr. Zap aside from the fact that he ran a weird club and he was the father of one of the bitches ruining your sister’s life
>That and Mr. Zap sounded a lot like the name of a pimp to you
>Those words of warning that Sombra gave you a while back were still ringing in your ears
>’Be aware of whose kid you’re smacking around alright?  Remember Rust Bucket, Scary Folk, Scary Children'
>For all you knew, this Zap guy could just be a normal father or he could be some kind of deranged gangster
>You wouldn’t really know anything at all until you met the guy, and if Cadence came with when you first met him...
“God damnit.”
>This shit was starting to give you a headache right when you’re phone buzzed with a text message
>”Good morning Shiney!  Want to go get breakfast?”
>Well…
>You never liked keeping secrets from her to begin with


>You met Cadence at a small diner a few blocks away from her place
>You must’ve looked pretty bad cause she ordered your coffee for you right as the waitress walked by
>She on the other hand looked to be in a good mood at least, she was always more of a morning person than you were
>”So I got a call last night from Twiley, telling me about her plans for this weekend~”
“Oh yeah?  Same here.  Looks like things are working out so far.”
>”I’ll say.  She sounded so happy, getting Applejack to help was a really great idea!”
“Yeah, I’m glad this is working out so far…”
>She’s staring at you
>”Are you feeling alright dear?  Aside from really needing some sleep I mean?”
“Oh?  Yeah its just that… well, I was talking to Anon again this morning…”
>You relayed to her the events of this morning, specifically your talk with Anon, and you decide not to leave out any details
>She sat there enraptured by every detail of your newly acquired information
>”This sounds great!  We can head there right after we’re done eating.  If this man knows the other girls’ parents then we can go meet them next!”
“Yeah, it does sound great…”
>”Sooo then why don’t you sound happy about it?”
“I’m just feeling tired is all.”
>She raises an eyebrow, eyeing you skeptically


>”Are you sure?  I would’ve thought something like this would cheer you up?”
”Well I was just thinking… this guy sounds like he could be kind of… dangerous, and you already helped Twiley out so much, so maybe if you weren’t feeling so up to this then—“
>”Shiney, I made a promise to you and Twiley that I would always be there for both of you.  I’ll be there with you every step of the way to see this through.”
>She’s beaming at you right now and you can’t help but think how pretty her smile is
“Thanks Cadence…”
>She reaches out and holds onto your hand
>”You’re always worrying so much… when this is all over we should go do something relaxing, maybe take a trip somewhere?  Go to the beach maybe?”
>You smiled at her
“I’d like that.  I’d like that a lot.”

>After you finish your meals Cadence suggests you take a quick nap on her couch while she touches up
>When she wakes you up roughly an hour later you see that she is dressed up almost as nicely as she was when you two went to the school together
>Hopefully you’d be more successfully with this Mr. Zap than you two were with the school
>Hopping in your pickup, you drove a little over half an hour to the club
>A large neon sign with the club’s name, “The Jolt” stood above the entrance with a lightning bolt symbol looming under it
>You walked inside to find the place almost completely empty save for a janitor who was sweeping the dance floor and for a bartender wiping up the counter
>You and Cadence walked up to the bartender to inquire about Mr. Zap but the man seemed especially tight lipped about him, until you stuck a fifty dollar bill in his tip jar
>He told you that Mr. Zap couldn’t be found at The Jolt during daylight hours, but that he could be found at his OTHER establishment
>Apparently Indigo Zap’s father was wealthy enough to own multiple nightclubs
>You and Cadence hopped back in your truck and began driving to the other club
>As you got closer, you began to realize that this club was actually not too far away from the tavern where you worked
>That should’ve been enough to tip you off that something was wrong about this, but when you arrived to see that the club had a sign that said “GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!” and a neon “XXX” glowing on the front door you got the message
>Cadence didn’t look too thrilled at all, but she didn’t say much about it when she stepped out of the car with you and walked on inside the building


>The inside didn’t look much better than the outside
>Stained carpet, half-stocked bar, gold painted stripper poles, thick cigarette stench
“What a fucking dump.”
>Cadence was wearing the most forced neutral expression you’ve seen yet as you two sized up the place
>You could tell she wasn’t happy about this at all, but she was putting up with it so far
>Off in the far corner of the club, you saw a lone dancer practicing on a pole in front of a man wearing a leisure suit
>”Come on, would it kill you to put on a smile?  No one wants to see a sad stripper dance.  Lighten up!”
>You and Cadence walked on over to the man as he shouted over to the girl on stage, he didn’t seem to notice either of you until you were standing right beside him
>”Eh?  We’re closed, come back around 7 tonight.”
“Are you Mr. Zap?”
>He took his eyes off the dancer and looked you straight in the eye
>”Yeah, who are you supposed to be?”
“My name’s Shining Armor, my sister is Twilight Sparkle.”
>He leaned back in his chair with an unamused scowl on his face
>”Are these names supposed to mean anything to me?”
>”Twilight Sparkle is a classmate of your daughter Indigo Zap.  We were hoping to talk to you about her.”
>He takes his eyes off you and looks to Cadence, adopting a dirty smile that made your skin crawl
>”A friend of my daughter eh?  Well take a seat and tell me about her Miss.—?”
>”Cadence.”
>Cadence didn’t seem willing to sit down, preferring to stand up next to you as the two of you glowered at Mr. Zap


>”Your daughter Indigo has been harassing Twilight Sparkle at school.”
>”Oh?  Sounds serious.”
“It is.  She’s been bullying my sister for some time now, but that’s going to end now.”
>Mr. Zap starts to chuckle at you as he places his hands behind his head
>Everything from his smile to his laughter to his cheap suit was starting to piss you off
“What’s so fucking funny?”
>”You!  You’re a funny guy.  Come in here with this dressed up dame on your shoulder, thinking you can tell me what to do with my daughter.  You’re a goddamn riot!”
>This guy is laughing at you, and apparently he thinks what’s been happening to Twilight is a big fucking joke
>When that thought crosses your mind your body moves fast, almost of its own free will, as you grab Mr. Zap by the collar of his suit and pull him up to his feet
>That seemed to shut up his laughing
>”Shining wait! Don’t hurt him!”
>He’s startled, but his smile quickly returns
>”Heh yeah Shining.  Listen to your woman!”
>You toss him out of your grip and he staggers toward the stage where the dancer stood
>She looked a bit frightened as she watched the scene unfold before her
>She looked to be a young girl, and fairly pretty as well
>She had ample cleavage that was barely concealed behind her skimpy outfit, and long brown hair with purple highlights
>Something about her looked strangely familiar
>”I see you like my merchandise.  Why don’t you come by later tonight and you can grab a front row seat!”
“How old is she?”
>His face falls, his smile disappearing for good
>Cadence, who had been fuming by your side through this whole exchange, looked a bit confused as she glanced back and forth between you and the girl on stage
>”I-I’m 19 years… old”
>Mr. Zap looked back at the girl with a furious expression
>”You!  Get in the back NOW!  I’ll tell you when to come out.”
>The girl on stage nodded profusely and ran off the stage through a back room door


>”Now what the fuck’s up with you two?  Are you cops?  What’s your game?”
“We told you why we’re here you stupid fuck, but if you’re not going to listen to us then maybe the cops will.”
>You feel Cadence’s arm grab onto yours
>”Shining, that girl.  Was she—?”
>”BULK BICEPS!  GET OUT HERE!”
>You hear a stomping noise coming from back near the bar, where you see a massive man with huge muscles emerge from a side door.
>He has short blond hair done in a buzz cut, and he has bright red eyes that are staring down at you and Cadence
>”WHAT IS IT BOSS?!”
>”Toss these two bums out on the street!  I don’t want to see their faces in here again!”
>Bulk Biceps stomps on over to the two of you, the floor creaking under every step he takes
>He reaches out to  grab at you
“You put a hand on me and I’m going to fucking break it off!”
>As you say this you raise your left arm up and push Cadence back behind you
>Her face is contorted in what you would call mix of frustration and worry
>”This is ridiculous! Why are you acting like this?”
>You turn about to face Cadence while she pleads with Mr. Zap
>It was a big mistake on your part, it let Bulk Biceps get a free swing at you
>The force of his fist against your face hits harder than you ever thought it could as you are sent sprawling toward the ground
>”SHINING!”


>You start seeing spots as your vision darkens and you feel Cadence grasping your arm and shouting something at you although you’re not sure what
>You can also faintly hear that piece of shit laughing again
>You’re getting up?
>Cadence is shouting even louder and before you realize it Bulk Biceps has lifted you up
>”NO!”
>Your vision perks up and clears in time for you to see that you’re flying toward the bar
>Your back crashes against the mirror, smashing various bottles of liquor as you drop to the floor behind the counter
>Your body shakes in pain, broken glass and booze littering the ground around you
>You feel like you’re about to black out as you struggle through the pain to lift yourself up as fast as you can
>The pain and shock of it all is so bad that you feel like you might puke
>”OH MY GOD!  SHINEY!”
“Cadence…”
>You feel her arms wrap around you in a close embrace while you’re in the middle of pushing yourself off the ground
>You can hear shouting coming from the other side of the bar, you can hear Cadence sobbing, and you can very clearly hear the sound of your own breathing
>”SHINEY PLEASE!  YOU HAVE TO GET UP!
>”GET UP!”
>Get up
>GET UP
>GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!
>…
>…
>...
SPOILER > GET UP SOLDIER! SPOILER


>Your body strangely feels numb to the pain as you lift yourself up to your feet
>Cadence is saying something through her tears but you can’t seem to hear her so well
>You swear you hear… gunfire?  Mortars?  You’re not sure what it is.
>You can hear them perfectly though
>”YOU FUCKING IDIOT! I pay you to protect the place not smash it up!"
>”AW SHIT!  I’M SORRY BOSS I GOT CARRIED AWAY!”
>He’s closer now and his back is turned to you
>A quick glance under the bar and you’ve found a perfectly good glass handle of vodka
>You shrug off Cadence and vault over the bar counter, bottle in hand
>”This is coming out of your pay—LOOK OUT!”
>You smash the vodka bottle against the back of Bulk's head and he doubles over, gripping his head in pain as he screams
>With him now closer to your level, you deliver a haymaker straight to his face, knocking him flat on his back as he writhes in pain and confusion
>You don’t feel like you’re done yet, so you calmly take a few steps back over to the bar and pick up a stool
>Cadence is just emerging from behind the bar as you turn away from her and walk back over to Bulk
>Bulk Biceps is on his hands and knees, he doesn’t even see you coming when you smash the barstool to pieces over his back
>That seems to do the trick as he collapses face first onto the floor
>”Holy shit…”
>You almost forgot
“Mr. Zap.”
>”Oh fuck.”


>He doesn’t look so good
>The way he lifts his hands up and takes a step back kind of reminds you of the way Spike looked once when your father was in the middle of yelling at him for pissing on the rug
>”h-Hey there, you’ve made your point Shining Armor.  Your sister, Twalot Spergle?  My kid will never mess with her again!  You have my word!  I’ll have a talk with her and—HEY LISTEN TO ME!  STAY BACK!”
>He reaches into his leisure suit’s coat pocket but you’re able to grab his wrist before he pulls out whatever it was he was reaching for
>You cock back your other arm and pummel him right in the nose
>That would have sent him to the ground had you not been holding him up by his other arm
>You reach back and punch him again right in his face, and again and again
>Right now your grip on his arm seems to be the only thing keeping him on his feet
>”SHINING STOP!”
>You don’t stop
>”Please God Stooooop!”
>You can feel her embracing you from behind, her tears falling onto your back startle you
>You are now fully aware of Mr. Zap lying in your grasp, weezing through his clearly broken nose
>You drop him to the ground out of surprise more than anything else
>Cadence is sobbing profusely into you, and her cries come to you as a sudden and painful wakeup call
“s-Sweetie, its ok.”
>You turn around and return her hug as you slowly become more aware of everything you had just done
>”No!  Its not—IT’S NOT OK!”
>You hold her tightly, trying your hardest to console her
>The two of you slide to the grimy floor, leaning your backs against the stage as you hug one another
>Your eyes dart over to the destroyed bar and to Bulk Biceps who is huddled on the ground, and you absently wonder how you can be in such good shape by comparison

>Eventually Cadence’s crying starts to subside and she breaks her grip on you as the two of you stand back up
“Feel better?”
>”*sniff* no…”
>Your cheek is starting to sting a bit and your back is feeling pretty sore
>You suppose the adrenaline from everything is wearing off, and your tiredness from earlier is returning
>The two of you hear groaning as you look back to Mr. Zap who is starting to regain consciousness after the beating you gave him
>He begins reaching for his coat pocket and you nearly spring at him only for you to see that he is only pulling out a cigarette for himself
>Both you and Cadence stand over him and scowl
>”You guys… you came in here, you broke my bar, you broke my bouncer, and you broke my face.  How much more shit are you going to break before “I” decide to call the cops?”
>You have to hold yourself back from hitting this guy again, and even Cadence looks enraged
“If your daughter keeps bullying “TWILIGHT SPARKLE”, then I’m going to break every fucking bone in your body.”
>Mr. Zap looks to the ground as he taps some ash off his lit cigarette onto his carpet
>”OK, I get it.  I won’t let it happen again.  You win.”
>Cadence huffs and begins to walk away from him
>Mr. Zap pulls himself off the ground and begins to walk over to Bulk Biceps, who looks as if he might be in the middle of crying
>He mutters something under his breath at him and then crawls behind a backdoor
>”Can we please go now?  I can’t stand this place, everything feels so disgusting here.”
“Yeah… hang on.  Before we go, there’s one last thing I need to see.”


>Cadence looks puzzled as to why you and her aren’t leaving yet, but there was still something that bothered you about this place
>You pushed passed the door that leads to the back, leading you into a changing room of sorts
>Off to the end of the room in front of a mirror sits that same girl from earlier who had been practicing on stage for Mr. Zap
>You don’t know exactly how you were able to tell, maybe it was from spending so much time with Twilight, but you could tell that this girl was underage
>Something else about her also made her seem… familiar.
>She appears to be gazing sadly at her reflection in her dress mirror so intently that she doesn’t notice you and Cadence until you are just behind her
>”What do you two want?  I-I want no part in what just happened out there, please just leave me alone.”
>She looks different now, she’s wearing a robe over herself so that she’s somewhat decent, and she appears to be wearing a thick pair of glasses
“…”
>”…what?”
“Moondancer?”
>Her eyes widen and Cadence gasps as she cups a hand over her mouth
>“w-Who are you!?”
“Its me, Shining Armor.”
>”o-Oh no…”
>She looks like she’s starting to hyperventilate, as she’s completely caught off guard by the sudden realization
>”w-Why the fuck are you here?  Did you come to fucking laugh at me?!  Oh God, oh shit! This isn’t happening!  Don’t tell Twilight please!”
>To both your surprise and Moondancer’s, Cadence places her arms around Moondancer in a close hug
>Moondancer looks  completely disoriented by this sudden display of affection, and you’re a bit surprised yourself
>”Moondancer its me!  Cadence!  Your old babysitter!  Poor girl, what’s happened to you!?”
>”Cadence?”
>Moondancer’s eyes start to tear up as she embraces Cadence’s hug and begins to cry into her shoulder

>You’re feeling fairly out of place as you watch this tearful exchange
>Just a couple days ago you had angrily called Moondancer a bitch over the phone, and now here she was dressed as a stripper and crying over your girlfriend’s shoulder
>You are not sure at all what to make of this
>”Its ok baby, tell me what happened.  We’re here to help."
>She takes another minute to regain some hold over herself before speaking up
>”m-m-My family.  w-w-We aren’t doing well.  m-m-My father just got laid off from work and we don’t have enough to get by.  i-i-I thought I could do this until he could get a new job?  t-t-t-This was all I could find!”
>”Moondancer, was there really nothing else?  This is so horrible!”
>Moondancer begins to softly cry into Cadence’s shoulder, and Cadence for her part is fighting back her own tears as she cradles Moondancer in her arms
>You can’t help but feel moved by this, as you place an arm over Moondancer’s shoulder
“This isn’t right.  You’re no more than 16 years old!  Even if you need the money this badly, there has to be another way you can earn it!”
>You pull out your wallet and take out all the cash that’s in it, currently a little over two hundred dollars
“Take it and get out of here.  You can’t end up in a place like this.  Keep searching for something.  I’ll let you know if I can find anything myself, just please don’t do this to yourself.”
>Cadence breaks out of her hug and reaches for her own wallet, taking out a little over a hundred dollars herself to give to Moondancer
>She looks at both of your offers, and she looks like she chokes back her own tears as she takes the cash
>”Do you need a ride home Moony?”
>She feebly nods her head and so you end up waiting outside the room for her to get dressed so that, together with Cadence, you can drive Moondancer back to her home


>The car ride to Moondancer’s place was short and silent
>Moondancer sat between you and Cadence in the pickup, her eyes red and her gaze focused intently on the ground, seemingly too embarrassed to make eye contact with either of you
>Cadence looked exhausted, her hair was a mess and her own eyes were a bit red as well from her own tears
>Your back was still sore from before, and every time you moved your face a certain way the bruise on your cheek stun
>It felt as if someone was twisting a knife in your face
>You followed Moondancer’s directions to a small one floor house on the edge of town
>Before she stepped out Cadence made her promise to stay in contact with you and her if she needed help for anything else
>Moondancer meekly promised her before stumbling out of your truck and walking inside her house
>The fact that she was almost exactly Twilight’s age, and bared striking physical similarities to her, was not lost on you as you sadly watched her walk away, her head bent down and her arms folded over each other
>After you could see that she was safely inside, you didn’t necessarily know what to do next
>You and Cadence just sat there in your truck together, neither of you venturing to say or do much at all
>You flinched when Cadence suddenly placed a hand on  your cheek, examining the bruise from Bulk Bicep’s sucker punch
>”Let’s go back to my place… I can take a better look at that bruise…”
>You nod at her and put your truck in reverse, heading back toward her neighborhood


“Ah!”
>”Stop that, the bruise isn’t so bad…”
>Cadence has been frowning at you ever since you sat down in her bathroom
>She had just applied some rubbing alcohol to your face after moving your head around in her hands to make sure Bulk didn’t break anything
>You could see the worry in her eyes and hear it in her voice, past the obvious frustration that she was clearly displaying for you to see
>After all that just happened, you’re at the very least grateful that nothing bad happened to her
>You still feel guilty about having put her anywhere near that slimeball Zap
“I shouldn’t have brought you… you didn’t have to see any of that.  I’m sorry Cade—…”
>She slapped you across the face, leaving the other side of your face stinging slightly
>The shock hurt much worse than the actual slap
>She stared daggers at you, her glare leaving you speechless
>It didn’t last long as her eyes began to water, and you found yourself awkwardly returning another hug from her
>”Shiney… one of these days you’re going to get yourself hurt so badly…”
>She’s trembling in your arms, choking on her own words as tears fall onto your shoulder
>”…and… and I’m not going to be able to fix you back up again…”
“Cadence… I’m always going to be here for you.  I promise.”
>”h-h-How do you know for certain?  a-and what happens if you hurt someone else too badly, and they try to take you away from me?..”
>You move her back slightly so as to look into her tear-strewn eyes
“It won’t come to that.  I won’t let anyone or anything separate us.  Ever.”
>You and Cadence share a kiss, determined to hold onto one another for as long as you could


“So I’m going to be needing this Friday off.  I still have at least 4 vacation days this year so I’m going to use one of them.”
>Your boss Joe took a long look at you from behind his desk, seemingly digesting on your words
>”You’ve been taking a bit of time  off lately… another 'family emergency'?”
>You scowled at your boss, his questioning tone of voice having put you on edge already
“That was a one time thing boss… and frankly, its really none of your business.”
>Given your track record with Joe, you should’ve figured that would’ve been enough to make him blow up, but he seemed oddly collected today
>”Alright fine.  I’ll get someone to cover you… you’re not getting paid though.”
>Your eyes narrowed as your scowl became ever more fierce
“That’s not how it works Joe.  I’m entitled to so many days off each year of PAID vacation.   Don’t bullshit me on this…”
>Your boss took a deep breathe and sighed before pulling a cigar out from under his desk and lighting it up in front of you
>”Fine.  Have it your way Shining, you always do.  Just get back to work.”
>His behavior seemed odd to you, either something else had him in a really good mood or he couldn’t give enough of a fuck at the moment to get as upset as he normally does
>You weren’t about to look this gift horse in the mouth though so you did as he  said and went back behind the bar
>The thought crossed your mind that, with Cadence back in your life, you really didn’t need to take the time off to drive Twilight to her sleepover like you promised
>Still you made a promise and you always kept your promises to Twilight
>Besides, you weren’t entirely keen on talking to Cadence again so soon after what happened with Mr. Zap
>No matter how you looked at it, it was your fault she got involved in any of that nasty business, even if she saw it differently


>It was looking to be another quiet night at Joes, weeknights were usually pretty boring
>You wagered that no more than a dozen people would come in tonight, most of them drunks
>Nights like this when the bar was almost empty gave you a lot of time with your thoughts, which you didn’t really appreciate at all right now
>You couldn’t help but ruminate on last night’s fight at the strip club
>It all happened so fast, one moment you were lying on the ground covered in booze and broken glass, the next you were practically beating a man to death
>And Cadence… she was horrified
>Her cries were echoing in your head even now
>'SHINING STOP!'
>'Please God Stooooop!'
>'No!  Its not—IT’S NOT OK!'
>You rubbed your forehead and cursed yourself for having made her seen any of that
>”Can I have another beer?”
>You snapped out of your daze and nodded to the man sitting before you
“Sure, coming right up.”
>You filled him up a new glass as soon as you could, dropping it on the counter for him before he could even get his wallet out
>”Thanks… hey, are you ok?”
“What?”
>”Are you ok man?  You don’t look so—“
“I’m great.”
>You took his empty glass and walked away from him, immediately heading over to the sink to wash it out
>You had to occupy yourself with something, but human contact was one of the last things you really wanted right now
>As you finished cleaning the mug, you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket
>Wiping your hands off on your jeans, you took the phone out and saw that Anon was calling you


>After quickly glancing around the bar, you stepped outside into a back alley way and answered your phone
“Hello?”
>”Hey Rust, what’s up man?”
“Not a whole lot, I’m just at work…”
>”Oh.  Is it alright to talk right now?”
“Yeah, its fine.  What’s up?”
>Anon paused, seemingly to clear his throat
>”Something happened at school today, and I wanted you to hear about it.”
>You tensed up, holding the phone close to your ear
“What happened?  Is Twilight ok?”
>”Yeah… I mean, no worse than usual as far as I can tell but… Indigo Zap…”
“What about Indigo Zap?”
>”She came to school this morning… and she had a black eye…”
“What?”
>Anon paused again, seemingly because he was trying to choose his next words carefully
>”She walked into school and she had a big bruise over her eye.  There are rumors flying all over that someone attacked her, or that she’s got an abusive boyfriend… I was watching her very closely today, and…"
“…and what?"
>"It looked like she was giving Twilight more space than usual… she wasn’t making Twilight carry her books, she didn’t lay a single hand on her, barely even spoke to her at all.  From what I saw, it almost looked like she was afraid of Twilight...”
>It clicked in your head immediately
>Mr. Zap said he’d stop his daughter from hurting Twilight, and this was apparently how he handled the situation
>You’re not entirely sure how to feel upon hearing this
>Happy that one of Twilight’s bullies is finally leaving her alone?
>Disgusted that a man would treat his own daughter this way?
>Vindicated that this girl got what was coming to her?
>You feel all of these emotions simultaneously, and its a bit difficult for you to process


>”So dude… what happened?!”
>Now it was your turn to carefully choose your words
“It was her father.  I made him promise that he’d stop his daughter from bullying Twilight.  This is how he deals with his problems…”
>”That’s... terrible.  I mean, I’m glad she’s laying off Twilight but her own father did that shit to her?!  What the fuck!?  Tch, I never thought I’d fucking feel sorry for any of them...”
>Anon was clearly distressed, as were you
>However, hearing him express some of these things to you helped you put your own feelings in perspective, and you appeared to reach a decision on what to make of all this
>You felt that Anon should be made to feel the same way as you
“Anon, think about Twilight.  Think about all the times you’ve seen Indigo Zap hurt her, torment her.  Think about that and… you’ll feel better…”
>Its quiet over the phone, you can’t hear so much as another breath from the other line until he speaks up again almost a short while later
>”Yeah...  I guess that makes me feel a bit better…”
“Anon, did you still want to help me deal with Twilight’s bully problem?”
>”o-OF COURSE I DO!  Shit man!  I care about Twilight a lot, I don’t want to see her get fucked with like this!?  The fuck man?!”


>You froze in place, taking your phone away from your head and staring at it for a brief second
“You care about her a lot?..”
>You could clearly hear Anon breathing over the other line now, and you swear you heard him mutter something away from the phone
>”i-I mean yeah!  I mean, she’s a nice girl.  A little odd and stuff but, but she’s really nice and—and she doesn’t deserve what she’s been getting!  You know what I mean right man!? Hahaha!”
>…
“Yeah… I know exactly what you mean…”
>”That’s cool!  Very cool!  I don’t want any misunder—"
“Anon?”
>”y-Yeah?”
“I need to go back to work.  Thank you very much for telling me this.  I’ll try to keep you just as informed on my end ok?”
>”Ok… thanks Rust Bucket.”
“No problem.  Later.”


>You have fresh thoughts to occupy yourself with for the rest of your shift
>You try not to dwell much on what Anon told you about Indigo Zap, you’re just happy that smacking around and threatening Mr. Zap actually seemed to help out
>Indigo Zap was just a third of the problem right now though, and you still had your work cut out for you
>You chose instead to dwell on what else Anon had to say about his thoughts on your sister, and you couldn’t help but think that Anon wasn’t being honest
>Not with you, and not with himself
>He was committed to helping at least, and it was clear that he cared about Twilight’s well being
>In the end that’s all you could really ask for
>Its about 30 till closing time
“Alright, last call!”
>No takers it seems, as everyone that’s still in the bar shuffles out
>You’re relieved as it means you can start locking up right now
>You give the place a once over, put up the stools, and lock the door on your way out
>Not long after you’ve left the bar behind you, your phone starts to ring again
>Being alone at night in one of the city’s shittier neighborhoods, you would have ignored the call until you got home
>Except it was Twilight calling
“Hello?”
>”Hey Shiney!  How are you?”
“I’m fine Twiley, I just got off of work… what are you doing up?  Don’t you have school tomorrow?”
>”Uh yeah I do.  I was just hoping we could talk…”
“Sure can it wait till I get home?  I don’t want to be on my phone outside right now.”
>”Well actually…”
>Her voice trailed off as she spoke
>”c-Could you please come over?  i-I could really use some company right now…”
“Of course I can.  Is everything OK?”
>”Yeah I’m fine!  I just… really don’t want to be alone right now…”
>You grimaced, noticing the immediate change in her tone of voice
“I’m on my way now."


>You pull into your old driveway after only driving for about 20 minutes
>You’ve found that you can make the drive there a lot quicker when its late at night and there are no other cars on the road
>When you walk up to the doorstep, Twilight is already there opening the door for you
>She’s dressed in a pair of purple pajama pants and a white t-shirt
>She looks like she just crawled out of bed with her hair completely frazzled and undone
>”Hi Shiney!”
>She wraps around you in a hug as you cross over the threshold
“Hi Twiley.”
>”How was work?”
“You know, the same as usual.  How did your day go?”
>”Same as usual too…”
>As you walk inside you see that the lights to the living room and kitchen are all on, and the TV appears to be on as well
>Spike is up too, but he looks barely awake and doesn’t greet you with his usual enthusiasm
>”Would you like something to drink?”
>You stifle a yawn as you follow her into the kitchen
“Is there coffee in the pot?”
>”I think so?”
>You pick up the kettle and shake it around, seeing that it still had a bit left in it
>You poured yourself a mug and started sipping it, not minding at all that it was room temperature
>Twilight took a seat at the kitchen table and you promptly sat down across from her
>She’s smiling at you… but she also looks a little nervous
>Its about 12:30 AM currently
“Are you normally up this late?”
>”Nope!  I just couldn’t sleep tonight.”
“Why not?”


>Twilight keeps smiling, but she droops her head slightly as she takes her eyes off of you
>”Its actually pretty silly but…”
“…but?”
>”I had a nightmare…”
“Yeah, what was it about?”
>Twilight takes off her glasses and begins to clean them with her shirt while she talks to you
>”Its silly but… I had a nightmare about vampires.”
“Vampires?”
>You chuckle, the idea of Twilight suddenly having a scary dream about bloodsucking vampires amusing you for a couple different reasons
“Have you been reading lots of Gothic Horror again?  Are you getting prepared a little early for Halloween or something?”
>She laughs a little weakly as she puts on her glasses and looks back at you
>”Not really.  I’ve been meaning to read this book called I am Legend, because it sounded like a pretty interesting take on the whole vampire mythos, but otherwise I haven’t really looked into anything like that at all lately.”
“So, what happened in your dream?  Were you in some kind of spooky castle or something?”
>”No… I was at school…”
>You stop smiling at that
>”I was at school and it seemed like everyone around me was a vampire, except me… and it was so scary because I didn’t want any of them to realize that I wasn’t like them.  So I tried really hard not to attract any attention to myself so they wouldn’t find out…”
>Twilight’s voice had dropped to barely just above a whisper
>”It got really scary, because I think some of them knew what I was…”


>You stared intently at Twilight, watching her as she carried on about her dream
>You could see that this nightmare of her’s had clearly shaken her, as even just relating the story to you seemed to be an ordeal for her
>”There were a few of them who kept following me around… they would walk up to me, talk to me as if everything was alright, and out of nowhere they would bare their fangs at me and start hissing and laughing.  Then they would walk away and act as if nothing had happened at all… it was terrifying.”
>Twilight had begun shaking in her seat as she spoke, and her tone of voice had shifted to that of someone who was speaking absently to themselves
>”i-I really thought that one of them was just going to walk up to me… and bite me… and k-kill me.  I didn’t know what to do so I just started running away, and when I looked behind me, they were ALL chasing me!  I ran as fast as I could, but I was running out of breath and getting tired and I fell down and—“
>You reached out and grabbed her hand, holding it softly in your grasp as you looked into her eyes
>She shuddered in surprise at your touch, snapping out of her monologue immediately


“Twilight, it was only a dream.  Vampires aren’t real, and no one is going to hurt you.”
>Twilight seemed to calm down quickly, but she still looked at you with forlorn eyes
>You hated seeing her like this, it was as if even when she was in a safe place with people that cared about her, she just couldn’t shrug off her misery
>You smiled for her, and tried to see if you could cheer her up
“If vampires were real, I’d shove a roll of garlic up their ass if they ever tried to bite ya!”
>Twilight’s sad expression quickly shifted into a puzzled one as she stared back at you
>Then, little by little, you saw her face crack into a grin as she giggled at your bravado
>Even you had to admit that that was super lame
>”You’re such a dork Shiney!”
“Hey, I’m not the one who thinks Christopher Lee’s going to pop out of his grave and get me!”
>You lift up an arm just below your eyes and pretend you have a cape
"‘Twilight van Helsing!  Join me and you vill become my busty new bride!  BLEH!!!’”
>Twilight stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at you as she tried her hardest to stifle her own laughter
>You couldn’t help but laugh with her, the lameness of your references was not lost on either of you
>Spike evidently didn’t appreciate all the noise you two were making, as he picked himself up off the floor to sleep in a different room
“Hey, as long as you’re up, would you like to watch a movie together or play a video game?”
>”Sure!”


>You two perused through her bedroom closet, looking through various boxes where she organized many of her books and movies
>You found a dusty old box that contained the old Super Nintendo that the two of you used to share when you were little and put that aside
>When you came back into the closet to look through some other old boxes you found one that had the word ‘ANIME’ scrawled on the side in black permanent marker
>In it were a bunch of old graphic novels that you remember seeing Twilight read a lot when she was younger, as well as a few DVDs of old cartoons you remember from your youth
>There’s one you instantly recognize as this show about a man who pilots a giant fighting robot who’s trying to find his lost brother, and another about a samurai who protects his friends while trying to uphold his vow to never kill again
“Hey Twiley, you kept all these old things? That’s awesome!”
>She looks a bit embarrassed as she sheepishly looks over the pile with you
>”y-Yeah, a lot of them were pretty silly, but I don’t think I could ever bring myself to throw them away.”
“Why don’t we watch a couple? I barely remember any of them, it will be like watching them for the first time all over again.”
>Her embarrassment quickly gave way to excitement
>”OK sure!”
>You placed the Super Nintendo back in the box and carried the “ANIME” box down to the living room
“I’m going to go make us some popcorn, why don’t you pick us out something?”
>”Sounds great!”
>She dived into the box as you went into the kitchen
>You looked through the pantry and found a box of kernels
>You began cooking them over the stove as you placed some butter in the microwave
>When they were both done, you placed the popcorn into a large bowl, poured the melted butter on top, and sprinkled salt over it
>When you came back into the living room with the popcorn Twilight had already turned off the lights and had a show paused on the TV waiting for you

>She ended up picking this old one about a gunslinger who walked the Earth helping people while trying to avoid bounty hunters who were after the trillion dollar bounty on his head
>This guy was apparently supposed to be a total badass, but he acted like a total idiot
>In the couple episodes you and Twilight watched, he had done things like try to save a kidnapped girl with a gun he forgot to bring bullets for, and in another episode he unwittingly walked right into a hostage situation because he couldn’t hear the police try to warn him over his massive headphones
>Its pretty hilarious stuff, and it gets you and Twi laughing pretty hard more than a few times
>After about three episodes of this, you decide to pick out a new one from the pile
>This one’s about this high school student who runs around trying to fight ghosts and demons with the Grim Reaper by his side, who is some kind of really cute girl with blue hair for some reason
>This one’s mostly entertaining because the main character is such an asshole, it seems like he pisses everyone off
>You really like this guy
“Hey Twiley, does he remind you of anyone you might know?”
>Twilight rolls her eyes at you as she puts a handful of popcorn into her mouth


>You and Twilight watch several episodes of this show before the disc finishes
>You’re about to ask Twilight if she’d like to pick what you two watch next, but when you call out to her you see she has curled up on the couch and is completely passed out
>A quick glance at the clock tells you that its almost 3 in the morning
>Seeing as Twilight would have school in about five hours, you decide its best to leave her sleeping where she is
>Its pretty late now, but you had little interest in spending the night here
>That would most likely mean having to deal with your father again in the morning, and that was something you wished to avoid
>So you lifted yourself out of your seat and reached for your car keys
>Before you walked out, you took a glance at Twilight sleeping soundly on the couch and felt content that her rest now would be free of any nightmares
>You took this opportunity to drape a blanket over her as she lied asleep, and then you reached down and took her glasses off of her, placing them on the carpeting
“Good night Twiley…”
>She tilted her head ever so slightly toward you and mumbled
>”Good night B.B.B….”
>You walked slowly out of the living room and quietly locked the front door behind you
>The drive back to your apartment was just as short as before, but your exhaustion crept up on you and made the drive feel twice as long
>Stumbling through your front door, you ended up passing out yourself as soon as you fell onto your bed


>You woke up pretty late the next day, so much so that you had to hurry to get ready for work
>Seeing how little time you had, you opted to drive your truck to Joe’s rather than walk as you normally did
>Luckily you were able to make it to the bar with about ten minutes to spare
>You took this free time to splash some water on your face in the bathroom in an effort to wake yourself up more fully
>When you walked back out and moved toward the bar, something that a bar patron said made you stop in your tracks
>”Look at that!  Another shooting, that makes five this week!  Fucking crazy!
>You glanced up at the TV over the bar and read the news headline
>”Strip Club Owner Shot Dead!”
>You stare wide-eyed at the television as it pans over to a picture of what you are positive is the same strip club you had visited just the day before yesterday
>”This whole town’s falling apart!"


>”The suspect entered the club at approximately 8pm last night, brandished a handgun and opened fire on the club’s owner, killing him immediately with a single shot to the head before promptly leaving.  Anyone with information as to the shooter’s identity it to contact…”
>”Pretty crazy shit wouldn’t you say?”
>You ignore the bar patron as you briskly walk out the backdoor of the bar, whipping out your phone and frantically dialing Cadence’s number
>It felt much too convenient to have been nothing more than a coincidence
>You had only met the man no more than two days before, and in that time you had threatened and beaten the man to a pulp
>Now the man was dead, and you were one of the last few people to have met with him
>Knowing this, you could not help but worry for your own safety, and more importantly for Cadence’s safety
>”Hello?”
“CADENCE!  Are you alright!?”
>”Shiney?  What’s wrong?”
“Where are you right now!?”
>”I’m grocery shopping?… What’s going on?”
>You were breathing loudly, and looking over your shoulders as you tried to form a coherent sentence
“I… you… have you seen the news today?”
>”Um, no…”
>You exhaled, rubbing your hand through your hair
>”Tell me what’s happening.  You sound really... weird.”
“c-Can you come over here… to Joe’s Tavern?”
>”To Joe’s?  Why?”
“Its…”
>You really didn’t want to have to explain Mr. Zap’s death to Cadence over the phone, and you wouldn’t really be satisfied with her safety until you saw her with your own eyes
“Its complicated.  Can you please just come over here?”
>”Uhhhhm, I guess?  I’ll be over in an hour.”
“Make it sooner if you can.”
>”Alright I’ll hurry.  Are you ok?”
“Yeah...  I’m fine.”
>”OK.  Bye…”

>When she hung up, you became aware of how oppressively silent the alley way behind the bar was
>You were convinced that it shouldn’t be this quiet right now
>Then you noticed that the hand that was holding your phone was shaking slightly
>Everything felt so very wrong
>You had to move
>You trudged back into the bar, finding that it was now empty
>The lone patron that had been sitting here earlier had left, a small tip waiting for you on the counter
>With no one else around, you took this opportunity to soothe your own nerves by taking a shot of cheap whiskey
“Come on Shining.  Get your shit together!”
>Earlier your idle concerns about Mr. Zap being some kind of gangster seemed a little farfetched but now…
>Cadence would be here soon, but what would you say and do once she got here?
>More importantly, what if whoever got that Zap bastard decided you and her were next on his list for some reason?
>You had so many questions but no answers and, more than anything, you wanted a means of defending yourself and Cadence
>The gun
>You had a 1911 semi-automatic pistol lying in your safe along with your K Bar knife
>Your break was coming up soon and no one was currently in the bar
>As luck would have it, you even had your truck with you today so it would only take about five minutes to get home
>You had to move fast
>You quickly twisted the sign from ‘open’ to ‘closed’, locked the door, hopped in your pickup, and sped home


>You bounded through your front door and hastily slammed it closed as you ran to your bedroom closet
>Wrenching it open, you bent down and quickly mashed in the combination
>There it was
>You reached in and grabbed the old service pistol, taking the magazine out just to make sure that it was properly loaded
>You also reached inside and pulled out the K Bar knife, placing it on the ground by the safe
>Now that you had both of these tools, you were a little lost as to how to carry them with you
>You couldn’t just walk around with them out in the open, and if your boss came by and saw that you had these things at work you would be out of a job
>You stood up and glanced around inside your closet before spying an old black jacket
>It had started getting a little chillier outside with Fall fast approaching, so you hoped that no one would find you wearing such a thing suspicious
>You put on the jacket and grabbed the gun and knife as you walked up in front of your bedroom mirror
>The jacket happened to have a few inside pockets, and you found that they were just deep enough to loosely hold both your gun and your knife
>While you closely examined yourself in the mirror you felt your phone begin to ring in your pocket
>For a moment you became worried that you had spent too much time away from Joe’s and that Cadence had managed to show up at the place before you finished your break
>When you fished it out however, you saw that a number you didn’t recognize was calling you

“Hello?”
>”Uh hello Shining Armor?
>It was a girl’s voice
“Who is this?”
>”i-Its Moondancer.”
”Moondancer?”
>”i-I was just watching the news on TV…”
>Her voice sounded frail and shakey as she talked to you
“Moondancer, you weren’t there last night were you?”
>”n-NO!  I wasn’t.  I wasn’t anywhere near there!  I was supposed to be, i-i-it was supposed to be a work night for me but I didn’t go!  I did exactly as you and Cadence told me and quit.”
>You could hear her beginning to sob over the other line as she sniffed and struggled with her words
>”I could have been there right when it happened. I could have been shot, I COULD BE DEAD RIGHT NOW!  If I hadn’t listened to you two then… THEN… OH MY GOD!”
>She began to bawl hysterically over the phone, quickly gaining your full attention
>”Moondancer its ok!  What matters is that you’re safe right now.  Please don’t cry, you’re ok.  I promise!”
>You didn’t quite understand it, but something about having other people get worked up like this had something of a calming effect on you, like you had an obligation to shape up for their sakes
>Your breathing slowed down back to normal as your anxiety subsided, your energy now being focused toward helping Moondancer get a hold of herself


“Listen, uh, Moony… have you had any luck finding any new jobs yet?”
>”*sniff* no… no one wants to hire me… they all say I’m too young…”
“Well, keep looking.  Me and Cadence will be trying to find you something too, just don’t give up OK?  Why don’t you go put on some loud music or throw on a cartoon on the TV or something.  Try to take your mind off of this alright?”
>"o-OK…”
>You found yourself shaking your head as you placed a hand on your forehead
“Hey I’ll… call you later, or Cadence will, and check up on you.  Just, try to relax.”
>”I’ll try… thank you so much.  I’m… I’m really sorry about telling you to go fuck yourself, and to blow me...”
“Its… its alright Moondancer.  I’m sorry I called you a bitch.”
>She sniffled a bit over the phone some more, apparently attempting to blow her nose while still on the phone
“So… bye.”
>”Good bye.”

>With your painfully awkward phone call over with, you picked up your gun and knife after feeling satisfied that they would be sufficiently concealed inside your jacket
>Walking out of your apartment at a much more leisurely pace, you drove back to the tavern and reopened the joint
>No other customers had seemed to come by in your absence, and your boss was nowhere to be seen
>All that was left to do now was wait for Cadence to come over
>Just as you were beginning to think about her, she walked right through the front door, dressed in the casual outfit you had seen her wear when she first made an impromptu visit to your place roughly a week ago
>”Shiney?”
“Hi Cadence.”
>”You… don’t look so good.  Can you tell me what’s going on now?  You didn’t… “lose it” again, did you?"
“No… not exactly…”
>”Then what’s wrong?”
>You stepped out from behind the bar and took a seat at a small table across the room
>Cadence took a seat directly next to you, placing a comforting arm around your shoulder while looking into your eyes expectantly
>You looked at her and opened your mouth, but could not find the right thing to say
>You didn’t want to scare her, leave her as mortified as you were when you first heard the news, but you had to tell her something
>”Shiney please, its ok.  I’m here for you baby…”
>She was too good to you
>You looked up at her again, and looking into her warm eyes, spoke up
“Cadence, when I walked into work today I saw…”
>Your jaw dropped and your heart stopped as you watched the front door of the bar open up
“Bulk Biceps.”
>”What?”
“Bulk Biceps just walked inside”


>There was no mistaking that huge frame and that blonde buzz cut hair
>Bulk Biceps lazily stomped inside your bar, taking a seat on a barstool in front of the counter
>Cadence glanced behind her seat over at him and then looked back at you with a confused and worried expression
>”What’s he doing here?”
“I don’t know, but he shouldn’t be here.”
>You stood up out of your seat and took a few steps toward the bar before looking back at Cadence
“Get in the back room and lock the door.”
>”What are you going to—?”
>Her words fell flat as she recoiled in shock at the sight of your gun being taken out of your inner coat pocket
>You placed the pistol in your right hand and shoved it into an outer side pocket, leaving your hand on it as it faced forward in your grasp
>When you held it this way it stayed mostly concealed, but it was still ready to go off at a moment’s notice
>Then you slowly walked over to Bulk Biceps, who had his back completely turned to you while gazing at the bar counter
>You walked up right next to him, your hidden gun trained on him
>The two of you were quiet for the longest moment before you made him acknowledge you
“What’ll it be Bulk?”
>”I’LL HAVE A…”
>His eyes shot open in a dull surprise as he tilted his head your way
>You scowled down at him, and for the first time since you met him, he looked small
>You remember hearing from Twilight once that some animals, like bears, like to jump up and make themselves look really big when threatened to scare off their enemies
>Knowing that, and remembering the basics of CQC, you realized that you really should not have gotten so close to him
>He quickly jumped up out of his seat and shoved you to the ground, knocking aside a bar stool as you fell
>You were just about to unload your pistol into him but you paused at the last second as you saw him turn his back to you and charge out the front door


>”Shiney!”
>Cadence stood up from her seat and jogged up to you as you pulled yourself off the ground and sprinted after Bulk
>You ran after him as he charged down the sidewalk, knocking aside several people to the ground
>You went after him, openly carrying your gun in your hand as your raggedy coat billowed behind you, eliciting cries of terror from the people that Bulk had just knocked aside
>You followed him across several streets, the two of you narrowly dodging traffic as you put a few blocks worth of distance between yourselves and Joe’s
>Bulk Biceps stopped by a nearby alleyway entrance to pickup a trashcan and throw it at you
>You just barely managed to duck down and avoid it as it whizzed by your head
>You aimed your gun at him, expecting him to charge you, but instead he stumbled into the alleyway
>Beads of sweat began to run down your face as you ran after him
>You followed closely behind him as he took a turn around a corner, and when you slid past the corner of said turn you saw him standing face-to-face with a brick wall
>He then spun around at you, waving a large revolver in your direction the sight of which caused you to jump back behind the cover of the corner of the alleyway
>”STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!”
>You planted your back against the wall, peaking your head out back at him as you held your gun close
>Your breathing was coming out in ragged huffs, your heart threatening to bust out of your chest with how fast it was beating
“YOU PIECE OF SHIT!  Did you follow Cadence here you fucking bastard!?”
>”I JUST WANTED A DRINK!”
>His revolver goes off, the blast briefly illuminating the alley as the bullet clips the wall along the corner you’re hugging


“Bullshit!  I’m supposed to believe—“
>”Shining!”
>You recoil as Cadence appears at the opening end of the alley way, having seemingly followed you here
“CADENCE STAY BACK!  He’s got a gun!”
>”GOD DAMNIT!  I DON’T WANNA DIE!”
>You peered your head around the corner again
>Bulk Biceps has his back against the wall and is frantically shaking his revolver in your direction
>You glance back at Cadence who has taken a few precarious steps toward you while hugging the wall much like you are currently doing
>Your shaking a little yourself, but you know if you don’t get it together now that this will end poorly
“Alright Bulk, did you kill him!?”
>”WHAT?!”
“DID YOU.  KILL.  ZAP!”
>Cadence gasps, placing a hand over her mouth while you internally curse yourself for breaking the news to her in the most unpleasant way possible
>”I-I-I…”
“SAY IT!”
>”I THOUGHT YOU KILLED HIM?”
>You froze there, mulling over what he just said as you glanced back and forth between Cadence and Bulk
>”LISTEN!  I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING, JUST PLEASE LET ME GO!”
>He seemed to be quite afraid of you, maybe he took that beating you gave him the other day harder than you thought
“Let’s hear it!”
>”THE DAY AFTER YOU TWO LEFT, ZAP WAS THE ANGRIEST I’VE EVER SEEN!  HE TOLD ME HE WAS GOING TO HIRE A SPECIALIST TO GET BACK AT YOU BOTH!"
>You hear Cadence utter a soft cry as she places a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle how horrified she is by this realization
>You are almost just as shocked as she is, but your terror gives way to anger
“You tried to hire a hitman?!  YOU MOTHERF—“
>As you attempt to step out behind the cover of the corner, Cadence pulls you back just as Bulk fires another bullet that goes wild in your direction
>Cadence screams in terror
>”STOP SHOOTING!”


>”I TRIED TELLING HIM HE SHOULD JUST LET IT GO BUT HE DIDN’T LISTEN TO ME!  NO ONE EVER FUCKING LISTENS TO ME!!!”
>Cadence is gripping onto you as hard as she can, both her arms wrapped around the arm of yours that isn’t holding a gun
>”WHEN THE SPECIALIST CAME IN, HE WALKED RIGHT UP TO MR. ZAP AND PLUGGED HIM RIGHT IN THE HEAD!  I DIDN’T SEE HIS FACE, BUT I THOUGHT FOR SURE IT WAS YOU!”
>This exchange has left you with nothing but more questions, but you’re getting more anxious the longer you stay out here
>All this gunfire is going to attract attention
>In a shitty neighborhood like this you weren’t likely to be in trouble quickly, but you did NOT want to test your luck
>Not to mention that Bulk looked like he was about to completely lose his cool, and the last thing you wanted right now was for him to charge you and Cadence with that revolver
“Here’s how its going to go Bulk!  We’re going to walk out of this alley and start  walking one way, and a minute later you’re going to step out and walk the other way!  This way nobody gets hurt!”
>You stopped hugging the wall and began to slowly back out of the alley, Cadence shaking by your side as she refused to let go of your arm
>The two of you walked out of the alley, still facing the opening as you continued to take steps down the sidewalk
>You had placed your gun back in your side pocket, ready to fire should Bulk suddenly decide to pull his revolver on either of you
>When the two of you had reached your end of the block, you saw Bulk Biceps emerge from the alley way
>He took one last glance back at you before turning the other way and running off
>When he disappeared from view, the two of you breathed a heavy sigh of relief


>It was a long and quiet ride back to Cadence’s place
>Your body was aching and your head felt rather light, the gunshots having given you a familiar ringing noise that bounced around in your ears
>One look at Cadence told you that she was taking things much harder than you though
>Throughout the ride to her apartment, she did little more than rest her head against the window and stare aimlessly at passersby
>Its not until you get very close to her place that she finally ventures to speak
>”I guess we should be happy.  Whoever it was that was going to kill us, decided to kill Zap instead.  He was a horrible man... and its horrible what happened to him…”
>Her wistful voice reminds you of the ramblings Twilight had the previous night, only this time you felt too ashamed of yourself to try to reach out and offer comfort
>So you just continued to drive, pulling up in front of her place
“Here we are…”
>You looked over at Cadence to see that she did not seem to acknowledge the change of scenery
>You give her another minute of silence before placing an arm over her shoulder
>She tilted her head over to you
>”Could you… stay with me tonight?..”
>You nodded, parking the truck across the street before helping Cadence out of her seat
>The two of  you walked together into her apartment, her head resting against yours and her arm draped over your back


>As the two of you stumbled together inside of her apartment, you began to hear from Cadence again
>She shook in your grasp as she laughed
>It was a tiny spat of bitter laughter, nothing at all like what you had ever heard from her
“What is it?…”
>”Its just…”
>She stared up into your eyes, smiling sadly as she lifted a lock of hair out of her face
>”Everything is so fucked… what can we do?…”
>This was a pale reflection of the Cadence who always brightened up your life
>It was like staring at a star that was about to flicker out
>”Shiney, you can let go of me now…”
>You cleared your throat, as you tightened your hug around her
“I refuse.”
>You heard her purr in your grasp while you held her close
>”o-OK then.  I’m fine with that…”
>She began to return your embrace as the two of you stepped toward her couch
>You laid yourself on top of it, with Cadence resting on top of you
>After a few minutes of lying there while you stared at the ceiling, you glanced down at Cadence to see her sound asleep, a content smile on her face
>Seeing this brought you a small bit of comfort, but it was not enough to shake off the knowledge that haunted you
>What you had done, how things could have turned out if things were slightly different
>Hundreds of different scenarios flashed through your head, of you and Cadence and even Twilight dying at the hands of unseen enemies
>All because you went too far… or perhaps...
>Not far enough


>The range was cold and dark, a single dim light illuminating the paper target that hung roughly 30 feet away from you
>The conditions suited you, vaguely reminding you of a lonely street or alley way at night in a neighborhood not unlike the one you had chased Bulk through
>You stared down your target, a crude caricature of a hooded man leering at you while holding a knife
>You reached into your coat pocket for your pistol, now snugly held inside a holster you had just bought, and in one quick motion whipped it out and began shooting
>You rapidly fired off five shots, the muzzle flash from your gun lighting up your stall as the old familiar smell of gunpowder washed over you
>Each of the five shots fell onto the target, although only two had actually managed to hit the man himself
>Taking a deep breathe, you carefully fired off your last three bullets
>To your deep satisfaction, all three hit the man in his chest
>You then ejected your magazine and quickly loaded in a new one from your coat pocket, achieving similar results as you repeated your routine
>After you finished off your third magazine, you reached over to grab your box of ammo only to see that it had only a few bullets left in it
>Having already gone through a whole box earlier, and with your trigger finger beginning to ache badly, you decided to call it a day and pack up
>You planned on coming back here again tomorrow, and perhaps the day after as well if you had the money for it

>Ever since what happened with Bulk, you had been spending most of your time at Cadence’s apartment
>You only stopped by your place a few times to make sure it hadn’t been robbed or anything, and you had even begun leaving a wooden wedge in the doorway to let yourself know if it had been opened
>Cadence assured you after the first night of this that she was in much better spirits, although you were not sure if she was being honest with you or if she was just trying to make you feel better
>You didn’t just do it to cheer her up though
>Your brush with Bulk Biceps, and worse yet the news he spilled concerning this “Specialist”, left you on edge
>You found yourself carrying your gun wherever you went, and you were constantly looking over your shoulder
>It might take some time before things started to feel OK again, and you had a dreadful feeling that if things kept going the way they were, that things may never really be OK again.
>You parked your truck outside of Cadence’s apartment and, using your new key to the place, walked inside to find Cadence lying on her couch with a novel in hand
>”Shiney!”
“Hi sweetie."
>She placed the book aside, getting out of her seat to walk up to you and give you a quick peck on the lips
>”Did you… uh have fun?”
“Yeah.  I guess you could say that.”
>She awkwardly glanced to your side, eyeing the part of your jacket where she knew your weapon to be concealed
>”So uhhh I was thinking we leave around five fifteen so we don’t end up late.”
>You had nearly forgotten
>Twilight’s sleepover party was tonight and you had promised to give her a ride
>Cadence had recently decided that she’d like to tag along as well, so she had been looking forward to it
>You also looked forward to seeing Twilight again, but you felt that you had one bit of business to take care of before you do
“Cadence, we need to make a quick stop on the way to Twilight’s.”
>”What for?”
“Moondancer.”


>The sun was hanging low in the sky when you and Cadence pulled up beside Moondancer’s place
>Her house looked to be in a bit better shape during the day, but the neighborhood itself had seen better days
>The two of you walked up to Moondancer’s front door and gave it a few knocks
>It creaked open, a balding middle aged man looked out at you two behind a chain link
>”Can I help you?”
“We’re… friends of Moondancer’s.”
>The man gave you a scrutinizing scowl
>“You look a bit old to be ‘friends’ with my daughter…"
>”Shining Armor?”
>You saw Moondancer creep up out of the corner of your eye
>”and Cadence!”
>”Hi Mooney!"
>Moondancer’s father backed away from the door and looked toward her daughter
>”You know these two?”
>”Yeah Dad, they’re the ones that… helped me earlier…”
>Her father looked back at you two before shutting the door and reopening it fully
>When it had opened Moondancer stepped forward to give Cadence a hug which she enthusiastically returned
>Moondancer’s father warily looked you over before shrugging his shoulders and walking back inside his house, leaving the two of you with Moondancer on her porch
>”So, what are you two doing here?"


“Well I told you we’d be looking out for any kind of jobs for you, and I found this…”
>You reached into you coat pocket and handed Moondancer a folded up letter
>She unfolded it and scanned it quickly before looking back up at you quizzically
>”’Joe’s Tavern’?… I think I’m a bit too young to work in a bar.”
“Didn’t you say you were 19?”
>Cadence sighed as she leaned her back against the doorway, looking at Moondancer with concern
>”Yeah, I guess I did… but would that work here?”
“I work at the place myself so I know from experience, the bum who owns the place would let it slide.  Just fill out the form, hand it over to him, and see what happens… and whatever you do don’t mention to him that you know me.”
>She looks back at the application, quickly glancing through it while sneaking looks back at you and Cadence
>”I… I guess I can be a bartender… its not too difficult is it?”
“Its easy money, no problem for a smart girl like you.”


>She smiled weakly at you, refolding the application in her hands
>Cadence appeared to be frowning at you in contrast
>”Its only going to be a temporary thing, I’ll try to see if I can’t find something a bit nicer.”
>You nodded at her
“That’s right, only temporary.”
>You thought you heard some sirens going off in the distance but then you realized that it must have been coming from some TV that was playing inside Moondancer’s house
“What is your father up to?”
>”Watching TV?”
>You scowled as you peeked inside her house, but she moved in front of you and blocked your view
>”He’s… trying.  He really is.  He says sometimes he finds landscaping work, but not many companies want to hire him right now…”
>You didn’t entirely believe everything that Moondancer was telling you, and you had half-a-mind to ask her father exactly what’s going on
>You sighed, deciding against it for now
>”We should probably get going now Shining…”
“Yeah… you’re right.  Maybe I’ll see you around at work soon Moondancer…”
>She grinned at you
>”I’d like that, thanks Shining.  Thanks Cadence.”
>You and Cadence walked back into your car, Moondancer waving at you as you pulled out of her driveway and drove off


“You don’t think its a good idea?”
>”I don’t think its an appropriate job for a teenage girl, and its in a terrible neighborhood, and your boss is an asshole.”
>You chuckled a little, but Cadence did not seem very amused at all
“You’re right.  You’re absolutely right, but its something…”
>”I guess…”
>Your hands clenched around the wheel as you drove into your old neighborhood
“Her father’s a fucking bum.”
>”You don’t know that Shiney.”
>You scoffed
“He should be trying harder.  Moondancer doesn’t deserve this at all.”
>You feel Cadence’s hand on your shoulder and look over to see her wearing a warm smile
>”Things are going to work out for her Shiney.  I know it.”
>You stared back at her as you pulled up to your old house and sighed
“If you say so…”
>You stopped in the driveway and parked the car while Cadence shot Twilight a text
>You watched her emerge from the front door a minute later, and your spirits quickly bounced back upon seeing her
>Twilight was wearing an outfit similar to the one she wore when you visited her last, purple pajama pants and a plain T-shirt
>She held a sleeping bag and a pillow under her arms, the former of which threatened to slip out of her grasp as she walked out to your truck
>You stepped out of the car as she came up, taking the the sleeping bag out of her hands
>”Hi B.B.B.F.F.!”
“Hey Twiley!”
>”Hi Twiley!”
>”HI CADENCE!  I didn’t know you were picking me up to!”
>You tossed her sleeping bag behind your seat and then gestured for Twilight to crawl inside so she could sit between Cadence and you
>Seeing her hop in so energetically, you could tell that she was excited, and you were immensely happy for her
>”Hello son.”
>You froze in place before slowly turning around and coming face to face with Nightlight


>You frowned out of reflex upon seeing your father’s stoney gaze, his cold eyes looking deeply into yours
“You’re home early.”
>”It was a slow day, and I wanted to see Twilight off…”
>Your father stepped aside and looked into your car
>”Cadence, its good to see you again.  You’re looking well.”
>Cadence blinked, apparently as surprised to see your father as you were
>”Thank you!  Its good to see you too.”
>Your father grinned, a very rare sight for you, and then let his eyes fall upon Twilight
>”Give me a call if you need me Twilight… and no drinking.”
>”Thanks Dad!  I promise.”
>You turned your back to your father and crawled back inside your truck without saying another word to him
>He raised his hand as you pulled out of the driveway
>Twilight waved back while you refused to so much as look at him as you drove off
>”Shiney are you ok?”
>Twilight looked up at you with a slightly worried look
>You broke out into a large grin
“I’m great.  How are YOU?”
>”Awesome!”
>She giggled, hugging her pillow in her arms as she hunched over slightly
>Cadence hunched over a little as well, her eyes trained on Twilight’s pillow
>She reached over with her hand and knocked curiously at it
>”Twiley, what’s in your pillow?”
>Twilight reached inside her pillow and brandished a large book with a ghastly picture of a spooky skeleton on the front
>”Ghost stories!  I had heard that sometimes people like to tell each other scary stories for fun, so I thought I’d come prepared!”
>Cadence giggled as she took the book out of Twilight’s hands and examined the cover
>”You’re not still nervous are you?”
>”No!  Well a little… but not much!”
>You rolled your eyes as you ruffled Twilight’s hair, getting a kick out of seeing what a great mood she was in

>After about 15 minutes of driving, you pulled up in front of a house that had a few other cars parked around it
“Is this the place?”
>”Uhhhh I think so… wait I think that’s Applejack’s truck!  This must be the place!”
>”Would you like us to walk you up to the door?”
>”n-No, that’s ok.”
“Well alright, I’ll keep the car out here until you get inside, just in case.”
>You hopped out of your car to let Twilight out
>She took a moment to have a hug with Cadence before grabbing her sleeping bag and hopping out the side with it and her pillow
>She attempted to give you a hug, only to find she had her hands too full, so you gave one to her before she walked on up to the front door of the house
>You sat back inside your car as you watched her walk away with Cadence and stuck around until you saw a somewhat familiar girl with pink hair open up the door
>The girl at the front door appeared to be loudly exclaiming something as she let Twilight inside
>Cadence looked back at you and the two of you laughed
>”How did you end up with such an adorable sister?  Its no fun being an only child.”
“'Only child?'  You two might as well be sisters as far as I care.”
>”Fine by me!”
>She scooted up a seat closer to you now that there was no one sitting in between you, resting her head back near your shoulder
“Hungry?”


>The two of you hadn’t gone out in a while, having spent most of the last few days cooped up inside her place, so you wanted to take her someplace nice
>You found a small Italian place you hoped she would like and mentally prepared yourself to blow a fair amount of cash on good food
>It was a bit dark inside, but it looked nice enough
>”Sir, can I take your coat for you?”
“Su- uh no, no thank you.”
>Well you felt a little awkward, maybe you needed a nicer jacket to carry your gun in?
>The two of you were seated and handed menus, and when the waitress came by you ordered a bottle of wine for the two of you
>”Hey Shiney, I know its not the best but… you did pretty well getting that application for Moondancer.”
>That caught you a little off guard, you had almost forgotten what had went down before picking Twilight up
“Yeah well, I just hope her father gets his act together soon.”
>Your thoughts briefly shifted back to Nightlight, his cold look etched in your mind
“I just hope I never end up like that…”
>Cadence raised an eyebrow at you before placing her hand on yours
>”I think you’d make a great father Shiney.”
>You snapped out of your daydream, staring wide eyed at Cadence
“y-You really think so?”
>She was positively beaming
>”I know so.  I’ve seen the way you are with Twilight and Moondancer and with the Apples.  You’re going to be an incredible father some day.”
>Cadence’s words shook you to your core, as thoughts of you and her one day raising your own child together danced through your mind
>You took hold of her outstretched hand with both of yours, holding it gently in your grasp
“and you’re going to make an incredible mother some day.”
>Cadence raised her other hand up to her cheek as she blushed, her beautiful smile shining before you
>This moment in time that you two share is bliss, and you almost wish it would last forever

>This moment ends much too soon for your taste when you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket
>You take a hand off of Cadence’s to take it out, seeing that Anon is calling you
>It had been a bit of a while since you two last spoke, he might have something important for you now
>”Who is it?”
“Anon…”
>”Oh…”
>You’re not sure what to do quite yet but Cadence chooses your course for you
>”Its ok.  Go ahead.”
“OK.  I’ll be back in a minute.”
>You stand up and walk out the door as you answer your phone
>”YO!”
“Hey Anon.  What’s going on?”
>”Not a whole lot!  Haven’t heard from you lately so I thought I’d call you!”
“Well… what have you got for me?”
>You paced around just outside the restaurant, peering through its glass window back at Cadence who sat at her table with a bored expression
>”OK…”
>You heard him clear his throat
>”First off!  Indigo Zap!”
>That made you stop pacing immediately
>”She’s… gone.  Like she hasn’t showed up at school at all lately.  After walking into school with that black eye her father gave her, there’s been crazy rumors flying all over the place!  I don’t have a clue what happened.  You don’t think her father has something to do with it do you?…”
>Shit
>Life was likely not going well for Indigo Zap lately, and the more you thought about it the more horrible you realized it must be for her
>You can’t imagine she’d want to come to school at all after what she’s been through, and you could not blame her at all
“I… have an idea what happened to her.  I’ll fill you in on it sometime later.  Don’t worry about it for now.”
>”Riiiight…”

>”As for Twilight, I kind of think things are actually improving.”
>Your ears perked up at this as well
“What makes you say that?”
>”Aside from having one less person around to be an utter bitch to her?  The rest of the gang kind of seems a lot more chill.  Even Sugarcoat, who’s normally Alpha Bitch Supreme has been going easier on her.  I haven’t seen anyone physically push Twilight around at all lately, and it even looks like they’re letting her speak more at lunch…”
“That’s… great!  That’s really great to hear!”
>This was good news and all, but you felt like you might be getting ahead of yourself
“…why do you think that is?”
>”Uhhhhh hmph.  I dunno!  Its really weird, nice but weird… I don’t know how to feel about it.”
“Me neither.  Just keep watching them closely for now alright?  Don’t let your guard down.”
>”Not a fucking chance!  Nothing will get by me!”
“Good to hear.  Anything else?”
>”y-Yeah, one more thing.  Its important…”
>You waited expectantly for his last bit of information, whatever it might be
>”Can I ask Twilight out?”
>…
>…
>…
“I don’t think I heard you right Anon.  Can you say that again?”
>…
>…
>…
>”Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”
>You mumble those words you’re fairly sure you just heard again and again before their meaning struck you like lightning


>”IT’S JUST THAT, well, I’ve been watching Twilight closely for a while now, a-a-and I feel like I kind of know her well!  Except, not really because we barely speak to each other much, but I like what I see.”
“You LIKE what you SEE?”
>”FUCK DUDE, i-I didn’t mean it like that bro!  I’d be a COMPLETE FUCKING GENTLEMAN if I took her out!  I’d fucking open doors n shit for her and all that gay crap!  I wouldn’t touch her at all either! u-Unless like she wanted to then I’d totally hit that.“
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
>”AHH!”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
>URGE TO KILL RISING
>SEEK AND DESTROY
>KILL KILL KILL
>The world seemed to stand still
>All other senses seemed numb for a moment, and the passage of time itself appeared meaningless
>”… so is that a maybe?”
>Fuck this
>Fuck you
>Fuck everything
>FUCK
“ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR”
>and then, like a blaring whistle at a train station, you ran out of steam
>Your shoulders slumped and you planted your head against the wall of the restaurant
“Twilight’s sixteen years old.  If she wants to go out on a date with you then that’s her decision to make.  You don’t need to ask me my permission.”
>”Yeah I know but… I wanted to ask you first man.  It wouldn’t feel right unless I told you first.”
“Fine!  You have my full permission to ask Twilight out on a date.”


>”Thanks Rust.  It means a lot to me man.  It really does."
>You lifted your head off the wall and held your phone close your head
“I need to ask you something important too though.”
>”Shoot bro!”
“If Twilight said no, what would you do?”
>”Well… I guess I would suck it up and move on with my life.  I feel like if I asked her then I would at least get something off my chest.”
“Good, very good.  Now, lets say I were to ask you to stop watching Twilight altogether.  I no longer permit you to watch over my sister in any way, shape, or form.  Now what?”
>His response to your second question came later than the first one, but when he spoke back to you his voice sounded confident
>”Well I guess I would stop reporting to you like I’m doing now but… if I still felt like Twilight was in trouble I think I’d still try to keep an eye out for her regardless of what you thought.”
>That response was not the one you were looking for, you had wanted him to say that he’d lay off completely and stop looking after her
>After mulling it over, you decided the response he gave you was much better than what you were hoping for
“Alright Anon.  I’m satisfied.  If you’re going to ask my sister out then go right ahead.”
>You could hear Anon breathe a sigh of relief over the line
>”You fucking rock man.  This is sick as Hell!”
“Yeah, you have fun.  Not too much fun though.”
>”Gotchya! You have a good one!”
“You too.”


>”Shiney what’s wrong!?”
“What?”
>After a dull surprise you realize you’re sitting down at your table again
“Oh its nothing.”
>Cadence leans forward and stares you down, her worried eyes piercing you
“Well, Anon… he…”
>Cadence looked like she was ready to fall apart
“He said he’s going to ask Twilight out on a date.”
>She’s still for a moment
>”Heh… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
>She tilts her head back as she explodes into laughter, the people sitting throughout the restaurant turning in their seats to look at you two
>”Oh—Oh my God!  Shiney, NEVER scare me like that again.”
>She slinks back in her chair
>Given your current track record with explaining unpleasant news to Cadence, this was obviously the most benign news she’s gotten lately
>She stares back at you, a mischievous smile having curled up on her lips
>”Oh Shiney~ Are you worried?”
“Me?  n-No, she’s 16 years old, its normal for her age to get asked out.”
>She chuckled at you, not buying your act one bit
>”Maybe her and Anon will fall in lo~ove?”
>You recoiled in disgust, eliciting another laugh from Cadence
>”But honestly, this is really good for her, wouldn’t you say?  She’s going to make new friends with good people, and now she might even get a little dating experience.  She’s growing up so fast!”
“Yeah… I guess she is.”
>You slunk back in your own chair feeling utterly defeated, and Cadence smiled down on you sympathetically

>The waitress came by with your bottle of wine, and she carefully poured you and Cadence a glass before leaving you with the bottle
>You felt like you were going to need it
>”So, what should we toast to?”
>You gave it a moment’s thought
“To us?”
>She cupped her chin, as she swished her glass of wine in her hand
>”How about… to the future?”
“The future huh?  OK…”
>A long bright future with Cadence
>A future where Twilight is happy and healthy
>You’d drink plenty of bottles to that
>”To the future!”
>You raised your glass
“To the future”
>Your two glasses clinked as you both thought optimistically about what the future might hold for you all


>Several weeks pass you by, and the world seems a brighter place
>Twilight’s sleepover goes wonderfully and when you speak to her again she has only good things to say to you
>She tells you how kind and welcoming Applejack’s friends were to her and how they wanted to continue to spend time with her
>You feel indebted to AJ for what she’s done, because for the first time in her life it appears that Twilight has many people around her that she can call her friends
>You stay in contact with Anon, meeting with him personally on the football field many times as his coach, and he continues to bring you good news as well
>You don’t hear from him how his… relationship with your sister goes, and Twilight never seems to venture this information forward to you aside from telling you that she’s "dating a really cute boy”
>You do end up hearing a bit more information from Cadence, who Twilight seems to share many details with, unfortunately Cadence does not really tell you too much as well
>What you are clearly able to gather is that Anon seems to make Twilight very happy, and that is good enough for you
>You continue to meet with Anon yourself, though you decide to go a little easy on him by not interrogating him on the finer details of his dates
>For his part, Anon is still very committed to looking out for your sister and he does continue to keep you informed on how she is doing
>He tells you of how Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, and all those who had been tormenting her before have seemingly eased up on her
>They do not treat her like a friend by any means, but they giver her space and they do not lash out at her as they once did
>You never learned why it is that it came to this but…
>You thought their new behavior was brought out of grief

>Indigo Zap did not return to Crystal Prep
>She became a missing person, the police still claim to be searching for her even now
>After she disappeared, a few details about her deceased father also emerged
>Burglary, unlawfully carrying a firearm, assault and battery, sexual assault
>Its not well publicized, but when you go searching for information on Mr. Zap, you aren’t at all impressed by what you learn about the man
>As terrible as some might say it is, you are glad he’s dead
>You only hope that his daughter is found, and that she doesn’t suffer as he did
>You may never know for certain what happened to her, and although you try not to dwell on it you resolve to never forget about it
>As happy as these days are, you fear that any moment it might all be lost at any time
>So you prepare
>Everywhere you go you keep looking over your shoulders
>When you and Cadence go out to restaurants or stores, your eyes constantly fall upon the entrances and exits as you unconsciously scrutinizing everyone you see
>You continue to practice with your pistol regularly and you even purchase a second one, a snub nose revolver, that you occasionally carry on your person in addition to your pistol and your knife
>You obtain a new jacket once the weather starts to get noticeably colder, solely so that you can carry them both comfortably and without drawing much attention to yourself
>You can tell that Cadence finds this behavior of yours disturbing, so you try to avoid brining it up as much as possible.  You do acquiesce to her demands to obtain a concealed carry license, but you refuse to go anywhere unarmed ever again
>You keep telling yourself that you won’t let what happened to Mr. Zap and his daughter happen to you or the people you love


>The only thing you really find irritating about your new habits are how expensive they are
>Guns and bullets and permits are never cheap, and lately you’ve been trying to cut down on these expenses a little because you’ve had the future on your mind
“I’d like to see the heart-shaped one.”
>The lady behind the counter lifts open the glass and hands you the ring
>”Its very pretty!”
>You smile as you closely examine the it, a brilliant heart shaped diamond in its center
“I think she’ll like it."
>Your smile fades into a frown when you see the price tag for it
“Would you be able to hold onto it for a while, I still need to figure out her ring size and all.”
>and earn a few more paychecks
>”That won’t be an issue sir.”
>As time goes on, it feels like the future you dream about is almost within your grasp
>It was always a struggle just to get this far, but perhaps the worst is finally behind you



>You walk into Joe’s just like every day to begin your shift but this day you see something new
>Behind the counter is Moondancer, dressed up in a plain work outfit and looking rather uncertain about standing there
>She perks up and smiles when you walk over
“Fancy meeting you here.”
>”Hi Shining Armor!
>You pull up a stool and take a seat in front of her as she grins excitedly at you
>”I did it!  I actually got the job!”
“That’s wonderful!”
>”i-I know!  It went exactly as you said! Only this time, I’m 21.”
“Oh yeah?”
>You smirk at her as she sheepishly scratches the back of her neck
“You kids sure grow fast these days.
>”Damn straight.”
>You both chuckle as she leans down on the counter to speak with you
>She looks a bit giddy, you can’t imagine you were ever this happy or excited about working at Joe's
“So what’s up?  I haven’t heard from you in a while, how else have things been?”
>”Oh, about the same.  My father might be getting a job soon at this car factory!”
“Good!  You really don’t want to be stuck here too long, trust me.  How about school?”
>She scoffs at you before adopting a haughty smile
>”Easy as Hell.  I’m ace-ing most of my classes right now.”
>That sounds about right to you, she always seemed very bright
>Just like Twilight
“Yeah?  I hear the Wondercolts have been doing really well lately.  You been to any games?”
She looks at you slightly confused
>”I’m really not into a lot of that school spirit stuff… and I don’t really have anyone to go to those games with…”
>You lean back and stare at Moondancer for a moment, feeling slightly awkward as you consider her words

“You know Mooney, you never did tell me what happened between you and Twilight…”
>She continues to lean toward you over the counter, but she shifts her gaze, no longer wanting to look you in the eyes
>”I’d really rather not get into that…”
>You stare at her, a little surprised by how quickly her mood soured
“That’s fine, you don’t have to explain to me what happened, but I just thought you should know that not too long ago she seemed pretty interested in seeing you again.”
>She looked back at you with a sad expression before sighing
>”It’s kind of silly…”
“Yeah?  It seems like whatever it was was pretty important to you though at least...”
>”Yeah… it really was…”
>She stood up from the counter, folding her arms over her chest as she looked at you, seemingly lost in her thoughts
“Look, you don’t have to explain it to me if you’re not comfortable with it, but I think you should consider maybe talking it over with Twilight.  I remember a time when you two were best friends…”
>She remained silent, her gaze focused on some of the various liquor bottles lined up behind her
“Could you maybe try it as a favor to me?”
>She’s finally looking back at you now
>”Well…”
>”Shining Armor!”
>You turned around in your seat to see your boss Joe, having just emerged from his office
>He stared intently at you as he walked over to the bar
“What is it?”

>”You’re through.”
“What?”
>”For the few years you’ve worked here you’ve been belligerent to me and my customers and have always talked back to me.  Well I’m not going to take it any more, this girl here—“
>He pointed his finger at Moondancer
>”—is your replacement.  I don’t want to see your face in my bar ever again!”
>You jumped out of your seat, staring incredulously at Joe
>Moondancer gasped and took a step back from you
“You’re firing me?… After all the time I’ve dumped in this shithole… AFTER ALL THE SHIT I’VE TAKEN FROM YOU?”
>You step toward Joe, his eyes widening as you get closer to him
“The moment someone else comes by looking for a job you think you can just toss me out?!”
>You grab Joe by the scruff of his shirt before he can slink away
>”Moondancer call the cops!”
“‘Call the cops?’  You fucking COWARD!”
>Joe flinches as you raise your fist back, but just as you’re about to take a swing at him you notice the envelope in his hand
>”i-Its your last paycheck.  j-Just take the damn thing and go!”
>You look back and forth between the envelope in his hand and his quivering body, and against your better judgement decide to let him out of your grip
>You snatch the envelope from his hands and immediately turn toward the bar
>Moondancer was shaking, her wide eyes staring right at you
>”i-i-i-i—“
“Whiskey!”
>”What?”
“Make it a double!”
>Moondancer appeared to have difficulty understanding you, her stuttering form slowly reaching for a glass and a bottle
>You didn’t necessarily care that she had picked up a vodka bottle and you didn’t comment on her shaky pouring
>She would get the hang of it
>”h-Here you g-go…”
>You grabbed the glass from her and greedily guzzled it down before slamming it down on the table


>You sighed as you looked up from you empty glass at Moondacer, your nerves slowly getting calmer
>You regretted having her see you like this
>She had stopped trying to speak, now she merely looked at you with sadness and regret in her eyes
>You wanted to say something to her but you just couldn’t find the words, and apparently she was having the same problem so the two of you just looked at one another
>You reached for your envelope and tore it open
>Reaching inside you grabbed a hundred dollar bill and threw it on the table
“Keep the change.”
>Her eyes became misty as she choked back her tears
>You would have liked to have given her more, but you were thinking that you were going to have some money problems of your own for now on
>A hand gripped onto your shoulder as you felt Joe’s hot breath on the back of your neck
>”Are you fucking finished?”
“Almost.”
>You grabbed the empty glass and, spinning around toward Joe, smashed it over his forehead
>He fell flat on his ass
>”AAAAAHHHH!!! JESUS FUCK!”
>You hear Moondancer cry out but you don’t look back as you briskly walk out the door
>You wish you could have done that years ago, although it doesn’t make you feel as good as you thought it would


>You ended up roaming throughout the neighborhood until you found some dive bar for you to haunt a while
>You took a seat inside, this time with an actual glass of whiskey in your hands
>You’re not sure how long you sit there, as you end up becoming lost in your thoughts
>You had wanted to have had enough money saved up for Cadence’s ring soon
>Now you were going to have problems making rent instead
>You had worked that dead end job at Joe’s for a long time, and now that you were finally out of it you didn’t know what to do
>You dreaded telling Cadence about this
>She’s well on her way to becoming a full fledged doctor while you’re unemployed
>She may not have minded too much about your current financial situation, but it had been bothering you a lot
>You wanted to be able to provide for her, get her nice things and take her to nice places
>Pretty soon you wouldn’t be able to afford anything for her
>”Hey honey, buy me a drink?”
>You looked up from your whiskey to see a middle aged woman eyeing you
>After one look, you sunk back down into your drink
“Get your own.”
>She huffed as she walked away from you
>Looking around the bar, you saw other people like her as well as people laughing as they drowned themselves in booze
>The more you took in the more disgusted you became with this place, and with yourself
>Chugging what was left in your glass, you step out of your seat and make for the door
>On your way out, you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket and when you take it out you see you have an unanswered call and voice message from an unknown number
>You press the phone up to your ear to listen to it, but you have difficulty making it out from all the noise inside the bar
>When you step outside the voice message ends
“Shit.”
>You press it up to your ear and listen in again
>”Hello Shining Armor, this is Nurse Redheart.  I regret to inform you that your sister has just been hospitalized."


>You don’t care how much you’ve had to drink
>You hop in your truck and drive as fast as you can to the hospital
>Running inside the Emergency Wing, you are greeted by a concerned looking nurse you immediately associate with the woman who called you earlier, Nurse Redheart
>She keeps up with you as you run through the wing to the elevators, joining you as you start to head up
“How bad is it?”
>”Like I said, she’s in stable condition now but the wounds will take time to heal.  She appears to be in shock now.”
>Ever since you had entered the elevator you felt yourself begin to shake, wishing that this elevator could move faster
“Just what the Hell happened!?”
>”We’re not sure, all we know is that the wounds were almost certainly caused with a knife.  Her boyfriend found her with multiple cuts and lacerations all over her body, lying on her kitchen floor.“
“Where’s Anon now?”
>”The police are still questioning him I believe.”
>You rush out of the elevator when it opens, Nurse Redheart keeping pace with you as you are led down the end of a hallway
>On the way to Twilight’s room you are intercepted by a man in a police uniform
>”Are you the brother of Twilight Sparkle?”
>You stop immediately in front of the officer as he blocks your path
“Have you caught the bastard?
>”We’re still investigating at this moment, but I need to ask you some things to help the ongoing investigation.”
>You raised an eyebrow at him, finding something off with they way he was speaking to you
“Alright fine, what do you need to know?”


>The officer takes out a small pen and notepad
>”Can you describe your sister’s mental state?”
>You gave the officer an odd look
“'My sister’s mental state?'  Why would you ask that?”
>”Has she been suffering from depression or do you have reason to believe she may be harboring suicidal thoughts?”
>Your jaw dropped as you stared at the officer who waited patiently for you to give him an answer
>Things were so bad before but they were supposed to be better now!
>Were things ever this bad?
“No!  She’s been very happy lately, why are you asking me this?”
>The officer looked over his notepad at you before putting it back in his pocket
>He breathed a deep sigh as he looked you over
>”We have already examined the crime scene and we have found no signs of forced entry or a struggle between your sister and the alleged attacker.  At the time it would appear that your sister’s injuries were… self-inflicted.”
>You took a step back and stared at the officer, mortified by his words
“s-Self-inflicted?  You’re telling me that my sister cut herself?… so badly that she ended up in the hospital?…”
>Your little sister...
>The bright little girl you loved so much and would do anything for...
>Your brow furrowed, eyes narrowed, and your hands curled up into fists
“That’s IMPOSSIBLE!”


>The once stoic officer stepped back in surprise
>”Calm down son!  I’m only—“
“GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!”
>You weren’t going to stand there and listen to any of this
>You had to see Twilight now, you had to see her with your own eyes
>You shoved the officer aside and marched forward, Nurse Redheart following a few steps behind you
>She pointed out the door to you and you wrenched it open
>Stomping inside, your rage quickly dissipated as you beheld your sister
>Lying on her back on a hospital bed, she stared aimlessly at the ceiling
>Your eyes fell on her wrists and arms, multiple bandages and gauze wrapping around them
>On her cheek laid a single large bandage while a single bandage wrap was tied around her forehead
>Her hair was disheveled and her glasses were missing
>Sitting beside her bed and grasping her hand was Cadence
>You could tell she had been crying, her eyes red from sobbing and several rolled up tissues laid on the ground beside her
>The sight of it all had taken the fire out of your anger and left you frozen in place
>You could hardly believe your eyes and you certainly did not want to believe that what you were seeing was true
“t-Twiley…”
>You forced yourself to step forward to her, with each painful step her battered form became more horrible for you to see, as the various bandages and bruises became all the more apparent to you
>You dropped to your knees beside the bed next to Cadence and leaned in toward your sister
“My God, Twiley!”


>Twilight seemed to stir out of her stupor, tilting her head toward you
>There was little emotion in her gaze, the life having been seemingly drained out of her eyes
>You stared into these pained eyes with abject horror
>You lurched forward and embraced your sister, tears streaming down your face
“Twiley please! Say something!  ANYTHING!”
>Her body shivered in your grasp
>”Shiney?”
>She slowly returned your hug, her grasp becoming tighter as her body continued to shake
>”SHINEY!”
>She began to break down into tears as she strengthened her hold over you
>”i-i-I thought I was going to… I thought I was going to …*sniff*”
“Twilight its ok now.  Its ok!”
>You tried as hard as you could to hold back your own tears
>You wanted to be strong for her sake
>”I was so scared, I thought she was going to kill me!”
>Your eyes wrenched open in shock
“Twilight… who did this to you?”
>She sniffed and sobbed, trying hard to find the power to speak up again
>”y-You… you have to believe me Shiney!  I can’t explain how it happened but IT WASN’T ME!  IT WASN’T ME!!!”
“Twilight calm down!”
>You relaxed your grip on your sister so you could lean back and look into her eyes
>She had a look of desperation about her, staring pleadingly at you as she gripped onto you for dear life
“You know you can tell me anything.  Just please tell me!”


>“i-I was at home, a-and I took a nap because I was planning on going out tonight with Anon.  While I was sleeping I had a nightmare, but it was nothing like any nightmare I ever had before!  I saw her there…”
>Her eyes had this glassy look about them, as if she was reliving the horror all over again
“Who…  who was it?”
>”It was a friend of mine from school… one who had gone missing not too long ago… Indigo Zap.”
“Indigo…Zap…”
>You glanced back at Cadence who stared back at you, her bloodshot eyes  knowingly betraying the horror she felt.
>”She, she looked terrifying!  She was covered in blood and she looked so angry!  She kept staring at me and she kept saying 'I HATE YOU!  I HATE YOU!’”
>Twilight’s tears streamed down even harder, to which you responded by bringing her in for a tighter hug
>You caressed her hair while she cried into your shoulder
>”I was so afraid, and I woke up but… i-I kept hearing her voice.  HER VOICE WAS STUCK INSIDE MY HEAD!  s-She told me t-t-to pick up the knife.  I said no, and then my head started to hurt so badly.  It felt like my head was going to crack open, and there was this noise!  THIS HORRIBLE NOISE IN MY HEAD!”
“TWILIGHT!”
>Your tears had all but dried up, and instead your eyes stared unblinkingly in horror, every word your sister uttered brought you greater dread
>”The noise kept getting louder until I picked up the knife like she told me to!  When I did, I took the knife and… and she made me do this to myself!”
>You craned your head back to look her in the face
>The tears had begun to soak the bandages on her face, and her grip on you was about the only thing that steadied her shaking body
>”Shiney you have to believe me.  Please believe me!  i-I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”


>Her lips were trembling as she tried to say more but you spoke up before she could shout out anything else
“Twilight, I don’t know how this happened but I’m not going to let it happen again.  If you say Indigo Zap did this, then I believe you.”
>Twilight sniffled before weakly breaking out into a desperate smile and nearly falling out of her bed as she enveloped you into a hug
>She sobbed softly and wordlessly into you as you patted her on her back
“Its ok Twiley, I’m not going to let her hurt you.  I won’t let anyone hurt you…”
>You tilted your head back and saw Cadence staring at you both with a look of deep sadness
>Just at that moment the door to the room opened up
>Your broke your hug to look and see who it was, and you were greeted by the sight of your father
>He looked more disheveled than ever before, panic having done away with his normally lethargic countenance as he charged inside the room and laid eyes upon his daughter
>”Twilight!”
>”d-Daddy!”
>Your father hunched over the bed and embraced your sister
>She continued to cry a bit, although not as much as before
>Your father moved with a kind of urgency and purpose, more so than you had seen in a very long time
>You took this moment to back away
>Your entire body quaked with fear and uncertainty
>You had to step outside just for a moment so Twilight wouldn’t see you like this
>Cadence followed you as you trudged out the door
>You placed your head against the opposing wall and slammed your fist against it as Cadence placed her arms around you from behind
“What does it mean?! How did this happen?!”


>”Mr. Armor?…”
>You twisted your head around to see Nurse Redheart standing beside you
>”i-I might be able to assist you with that…”
>You lifted your head off the wall and stared at her, waiting for an answer as you and Cadence waited expectantly
>”a-An episode like this could be a sign that your sister may suffer from a mental disorder…”
“A ‘mental disorder’?..”
>She nervously looked back and forth between you and Cadence before continuing
>”I really have no idea what happened to her but its possible she may suffer from an acute panic disorder or perhaps even... schizophrenia.”
>Cadence gasped in shock as she stood by you, but you merely stood there in confusion, Redheart’s words carrying very little meaning to you
“Twilight’s never acted like this before, why now?!”
>”Sometimes symptoms of a mental disorder do not appear until later in a person’s physical development, such as when they are beginning to progress into adulthood.  Either that or perhaps…”
>You walked up to Nurse Redheart, apprehensively waiting for her to finish
“perhaps?…”
>”Some people begin to  display symptoms when they suffer from a traumatic event or events.  A long time spent in a hostile environment may suddenly result in a person acting like how your sister has…”
>Traumatic events?...
>A hostile environment?…
>Memories of what had plagued your life and hers flooded your mind from weeks ago
>Twilight being constantly insulted and beaten and humiliated at Crystal Prep for years
>Could it be that, you were too late to save her?


“NO!”
>Nurse Redheart raised her hands up to you, startled by your outburst
“I’m telling you that this cannot be!  It can’t be mental illness!"
>Nurse Redheart took a step away from you and you took a step forward
“Everyone’s always thought she’s weak and helpless, well I’m going to tell you that’s she’s STRONGER THAN THAT!  She doesn’t suffer from a disorder!”
>You would have taken another step toward her but you felt Cadence’s hand grasping your arm and holding you back
>”t-Then what happened to her?..”
>You raised your head and looked down on her determinedly
“She was attacked!  She told me so myself.  A person got inside the house and did this to her!”
>”t-The police said that there wasn't—“
“The Police are WRONG.  I know Twilight, she is the most intelligent person I’ve ever known, no one’s mind is as strong as hers, and I know that she would never lie to me either, so when she tells me she was attacked, I KNOW SHE WAS ATTACKED!”
>”Son calm down!”
>You twisted your head, and saw your father had emerged from Twilight’s room
>Your body shook in revulsion
“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down Nightlight.  Not now, not after everything that’s happened.”
>Your words came out just barely above a whisper
>”We don’t know what’s happened at all yet.”
>You scoffed at him as you shook out of Cadence’s grasp and walked toward your father
“Didn’t she tell you what happened?  I know she had to, you’re the only other one she would trust.”
>”She… told me what she thinks happened…”

>Your fists were shaking by your side as each word from your father brought you closer to the brink
“Yeah, and what do you think?…”
>”I… I don’t know what to think.  Its too early to tell.  All I know is that Twilight needs us right now.”
>Your father turned around to reenter Twilight’s room, but you placed a hand over his shoulder and forcefully held him back
“Twilight needed us a long time ago.  Where the fuck were you?  Where were you when this happened to her today?  Where were you when people were bullying her and stepping all over her like a fucking insect?  HUH!?”
>”Shining, let go of me…”
“You fucking useless… fucking piece of shit. God DAMN YOU!”
>”Shining that’s enough.”
“You’re the reason things got this bad!  YOU DID THIS TO HER!”
>You spun your father around and slammed your fist into his face
>Cadence and Nurse Redheart both cried out in fear behind you
>Your father staggered against the door, his head drooping toward the floor
>A single drop of blood fell to the ground
>Your breathing was coming out in ragged huffs as you stared at your father, waiting for a sign of life, an answer to anything at all
>He raised his head and looked at you
>He looked at you in a way you hadn’t seen in many yeas
>His eyes were smoldering balls of fire
>His teeth were gritted into a fierce snarl
>He looked like a monster
>This was the way he once looked, a man that once commanded your respect and admiration, maybe even his love once
>Now the only thing you felt when you looked at him this way, was anger and hate
>”I said CALM DOWN!”
>His fist crashed into your cheek, causing you to stagger back, and almost immediately after his other fist embedded itself into your gut causing you to double over
>Once more his fist was about to strike you again, but you were ready this time
>Your caught his punch just as it was about to hit you again in the face, and you charged him, tackling him into the wall

>You wrestled with your father, every limb of your body wildly striking at him as you rained blows down
>Your father did not let up either, hitting you back with everything he had
>Your head slammed his, his knee struck your gut, your elbow collided into his face, his hands wrapped around your throat
>You don’t know how long this goes on for
>You think you hear crying, but you don’t know whose
>You definitely hear shouting, and before you realize it multiple hands are wrapped around you and wrenching you away from Nightlight
>You saw a group of men clad in blue uniforms grapple with Nighlight as well, struggling to overpower him as he pushed them aside to get to you
>You shoved back at the hands that attempted to pull you back, getting closer to your father with each violent step
>You two were about to reach one another when you were both shoved to the ground
>The two of you snarled wordlessly at one another as you were both restrained
>You began to stand up again, finding the strength to push them all back
>You were able to rise up to a knee after tossing one man aside, and Nightlight appeared to be slowly rising off the ground as well
>An arm of yours managed to wrangle its way free, you raised it back and prepared to swing right at your father’s face
>Then you heard her

>”STOP!!!”
>Cadence had pushed her way into the throng of guards attempting to hold you back and she shoved her body in between you and your father
>She grappled you with a tearful hug, a physical blow that brought back more sense into you than anything else anyone had yet tried
>In your hesitation, the guards wrangled you up to your feet and carted you and Cadence away from Nightlight, who still appeared to be struggling with a handful of guards
>You thought he looked like a wild animal, and as you were forcibly moved away from Nightlight, you couldn’t help but think—
“Did I look like that?”
>Your eyes darted away from him and fell upon Twilight’s door, you raised your hand toward it as you were carried away


>Twilight’s stay in the hospital is extended
>Her wounds are painful to look at, but none are life threatening
>Nurse Redheart explains to you that they want to do CAT scans on her
>They say they are searching for ‘a chemical imbalance in the brain’
>All that means to you is that Twilight is going to have to spend about a week in the hospital before the doctors are satisfied
>You’re by her side much of the time, as is Cadence and even Nightlight
>Whenever Nightlight comes to visit you take the opportunity to step out of the room
>Neither of you say a word to each other, or even make eye contact
>You just give each other as much space as you can, the two of you know better than to make a scene in front of Twilight
>You hate yourself for how you acted earlier, and you get the feeling Nightlight might feel the same way
>Whenever you walk in you can tell the security guards are at ill-ease
>They watch you warily, and you imagine that Nightlight gets the same treatment, if not worse
>You like to think that Twilight is oblivious to what has gone on between the two of you, but you know she is much too smart for that
>She simply smiles and appreciates having both of you around
>She really does love you both it seems
>She accepts Nightlight despite his depression and passiveness
>And she accepts you, despite your own anger and aggressiveness
>You can’t help but think that neither of you deserve her
>But you have her, and you have to be here for her
>Nightlight will do the same it appears, although you intend to do more for her than just offer a shoulder to cry on

>It was never a burden to begin with, but others do step forward to help you with Twilight
>The first was Anon
>He was quick to visit the hospital as soon as the police were done with him
>”WHAT!?  ANON’S COMING NOW!?”
>You are taken aback by Twilight’s outburst, recoiling from her as she shouts at you from across her hospital room
“Well, yeah.  He just texted me that he was on his way up now.”
>”n-Nooooo….”
>You cocked an eyebrow at your sister as she pulled the sheets up to her face, shivering in her bed
“What’s wrong?  I thought you’d be happy to see him?…”
>”i-i-I….”
>She had quickly become a stuttering mess in a matter of seconds
>”I CAN’T LET HIM SEE ME LIKE THIS!  I look TERRIBLE!”
>She uneasily grasped at her wrists, lightly rubbing the bandages on them as her eyes darted across the room
“Twilight, he’s not going to care how you look.”
>”I CARE!!!”
>You jerked your head back, startled by your sister’s outburst
>You had seen your sister act nervous before plenty of times, but not quite like this
>You heard a knocking at Twilight’s door
>”EEEP!”
>Did she just fucking ‘eep?’
>She threw the covers over herself and hid, her shivering body rocking her bed
>The door opened and Anon walked inside
>”Rust Bucket!  Where’s…?”
>His eyes fell upon Twilight’s shaking bed
>You raised your hand and lightly jabbed in her direction

>Anon walked around Twilight’s bed, stopping by her side as she hid under the covers
>A single hand of hers stuck out from under the covers while gripping her blanket over her face
>Anon looked back at you uncertainly before staring back down at Twilight
>He breathed in and exhaled before lightly gripping her hand with his own, dropping to a knee by her side
>”Twilight?  Please come out.  I really REALLY want to see you…”
>Very slowly, Twilight’s hand began to inch away from her face, revealing her bandaged and disheveled head
>After a moment her shivering form became visible to Anon
>He smiled, and then calmly wrapped around her in a hug
>”i-I’m so fucking happy you’re ok…”
>Twilight looked shocked at first, but her shivering stopped immediately
>She placed her arms around Anon, breathing a huge sigh of relief and joy
>Anon relaxed his grip and leaned back, looking deeply in her eyes
>Twilight nervously twisted her headd away, but slowly turned back until the two of them were both gazing deeply into each other
>You took this as your sign to walk outside and give them some time alone
>When you shut the door behind you, you saw the two of them sharing a kiss
>Earlier this might have caused you to feel sick and worried, but now you felt oddly at peace

>Aside from Anon, Twilight’s friends ended up visiting her in droves as well
>You had the pleasure of meeting each of them briefly as they came in to check up on your sister
>Many new faces but all of them appeared genuinely concerned for your sister, and there were some familiar faces as well
>It took you a moment, but you recognized the pink haired girl as that charming waitress from Sugarcube Corner who served you and Twilight when you took her out for her birthday
>It made you immensely happy that Twilight had found a friend in such a joyful person
>Applejack had also come by, and you were very happy to see her as well
>You two didn’t speak to each other much at first, as both of your attention was primarily focused on twilight
>However, she did approach you eventually
>”Shining Armor?”
>You perked your head up, seeing Applejack standing in front of you just outside of Twilight’s room
“Hey AJ.  What’s up?”
>”Oh, not a whole lot… you know…”
“Yeah…”
>She had her hat leaning over her head, just barely obscuring her face as she stood by you
>”So uh… I was wondering how you were doing, aside from the obvious of course…”
>You sighed as you stared down at Applejack
>You weren’t quite certain why she was acting so bashful
>You opened your mouth but you did not speak up immediately
>In the end, you decided to be straightforward with her
“Not great.”


>”y-Yeah, that’s what I gathered…”
>She took off her stetson and rested it against her thigh as she looked up at you
>”Cadence told me you lost yer job.”
“Oh.”
>You looked away from her, placing a hand on the back of your neck
>You honestly hadn’t given your financial situation much thought lately
>Your were too focused on everything else at the moment
>”y-ya know… that offer Granny gave ya still stands… we’d be more than happy to have an extra helping hand!”
>You sighed as you forced yourself to look back at her
“AJ, look… I’m real grateful and all but… I don’t want to put that kind of burden on you and your family, and I don’t really want to accept handouts from anyone…”
>”h-Handouts!?”
>She stamped her foot on the ground and looked you straight in the eye
>”It ain’t no handouts!  We really could use the help!  It’s harvesting time and we got plenty of crops and animals that need lookin’ after!  You’d be working hard every day for every dollar!”
>You instantly felt guilty about your choice of words, as she clearly seemed offended
>”Sweet Apple Acres AIN’T no charity house!  We’ll work yer ASS off, don’t you worry!”
>You took a step back from her, raising your hands in defeat as she went on
>Her tirade ended almost as quickly as it came as she placed both her hands around the brim of her hat, her eyes looking down toward the ground
>”a-and you know… I wouldn’t mind seeing you around the farm much either… it’d be nice to have you around again…”
>You stared back at her in a dull surprise
>She was always a candid one
>You place a hand on her shoulder, giving her a jolt as she looked back up into your smiling face
“I’ll come by as soon as Twilight’s out of the hospital.  The very next morning even.  How does that sound?”
>”g-Good!”

>She adopted a confident smirk as she placed her stetson back on her head
>”I mean it too!  There’s plenty work that needs to be done!”
>She tilted her head back as she pointed a finger up by her face
>”There’s plenty of apples that need pickin’, cattle and chicken that need lookin’ after, a few sheds that could use a new coat of paint, and I’ve been meaning to put up a new fence to keep coyotes out fer a while!  And then there’s…”
>You let her go on, feeling slightly intimidated by her sudden enthusiasm
>Nonetheless, her gesture was not lost on you and you were deeply grateful to her, again
>With the money you’d make from working at Sweet Apple Acres on top of the cash you were making as an assistant coach at Crystal Prep, your money problems no longer seemed very daunting
>After she had finished her spiel, the two of you walked back into Twilight’s room
>She was surrounded by several other girls, talking earnestly with each of them
>You took a seat off in the corner, content to let Twilight socialize with her friends
>She really did seem happy now, happier than you had seen her in a while
>These girls really did appear to care about Twilight, and Anon…
>Anon impressed you
>Its because there are people like this around that you feel comfortable leaving Twilight alone for a bit
>Which is good because you need to get out there and figure out what caused all this to happen

>The doctors claim its some kind of medical condition, or a freak mental episode
>You don’t buy it at all
>You fully expect their tests to come back negative for whatever problem they think plagues your sister
>Twilight told you that Indigo Zap was responsible for this, so you resolve to find her
>The police had been searching for Indigo for weeks, but they told you they found nothing
>If they weren’t going to be any help, then you were going to have to go out there and fix this yourself
>The tabloids released some small bits of information on the Zaps
>One article claimed that the crime scene contained a .22 round casing that supposedly came from the murder weapon
>Another article had a witness claiming that the killer’s murder weapon was an exceptionally long pistol
>You surmised from these small details that this, ‘Specialist’ that Mr. Zap had hired was using a .22 caliber pistol with a silencer attached to it
>A perfect firearm for an assassin
>Whoever this guy was, he apparently wasn’t in the business of fucking around
>Mr. Zap apparently didn’t spare any expenses on this guy, too bad for him
>That was about as much information as you could glean from the media, in addition to what you knew about Mr. Zap being a total asshole and what you had already sen with your own two eyes
>You figured you weren’t going to learn anything else unless you went out and did your own investigating
>So you decided to go back to where it apparently all began
>Mr. Zap’s strip club
>”Shiney?”


>Cadence caught you just as you were walking out of the hospital entrance
“Hi sweetie!  You’re here a bit late?”
>She smiled at you as she lifted up a container she held in her hand
>”I had some soup I made earlier today, and I wanted to bring Twilight some.  She’s been saying the food here at the hospital hasn’t been sitting well with her.”
“Ha!  I tried some of it myself, it didn’t really SIT well with me either.”
>She giggled at you as you sheepishly rubbed the back of your neck
>”You’ll have to try some of it the next time you come over.  So were you about to leave?…”
“Uh yeah.  I just needed a little time alone… take care of some things”
>She looked at you a bit oddly
>She always seemed to notice when you were holding out on her
“I’ll uh… I’ll tell you about it later ok.  Its really nothing…”
>She sighed
>”Ok dear…”
>You stood there awkwardly, neither of you venturing to speak up
“Well, I better get going.  Maybe I’ll see you later tonight… or tomorrow…”
>You began to walk away toward your car
>”Shiney wait.  We need to talk.”
>There’s four words every man should dread hearing from their significant other
“What is it?..”
>She stared at you, newfound determination fueling her
“I was talking to… to your father…”
>You grimaced at her as she looked at you worryingly
“I don’t…”
>You stopped yourself before your words could escape from your mouth, causing her to look at you with a puzzled expression
>”You don’t what?…”
“It’s nothing.”
>She narrowed her eyes at you as she became increasingly frustrated
>”Just say it.”
>You sighed
“I don’t want you to talk to him.”

>A cool air of silence settled between the two of you as Cadence stared deeply into your eyes
>”Shiney… ugh, he told me about you and the VA hospital.  He said that, when you came out of the service you had issues.  He said they discharged you out of the army early because of things that happened to you… and things you did...”
>You took an uneasy step toward her as your brow furrowed
“What kind of ‘things’?…”
>”i-I wish you would tell me.  You never talk about what happened back when you were in the army, but it seems like whatever happened was very important.”
>You frowned as you placed a hand over your head
>”i-I know some people at my university.  Accredited psychologists and social workers, maybe I could set something up?”
“NO!”
>Your response came out much harsher than you would have liked
>Cadence shook her head as she looked toward the ground
“Cadence… I’m sorry.  Just please, I don’t want to go through therapy again… its not for me…”
>She lifted her head up and gave you a fierce and exasperated look
>”If you won’t talk about this with a therapist then could you at least tell me!?  I just want to help you Shining!”
>She looked angry, but she also looked like she might break out in tears
>”I told you it can’t go on like this!  You NEED to take control of your anger!  What happened between you and your father can’t happen again!”
>You straightened your back as you stared at Cadence
“Its just when I’m around him—”
>”Its NOT just when you’re around him!”
>You felt your own frustration fade away the more she spoke, her desperation taking a heavy toll on her
>”If you won’t see a therapist then… then could you at least sit down with me and tell me what happened to you!?”
>Tears began to stream down her face as she looked away from you
>”You’re not acting like the boy I fell in love with…”


>Your heart sank as Cadence’s tears rolled down her face
“Cadence—“
>”y-You used to be such a happy person.  You used to be calm, a-and when we were together it felt like everything was right with the world.  Now sometimes its like you turn into a completely different person whenever something goes wrong!  It scares me!”
>Cadence looked like she was about to fall apart, it was almost too much for you to bare
>You didn’t want to by any means, but at this point you felt as if you had to
“I’ll do it.”
>She perked up and looked at you, wiping a tear away as she stared at you
“We’ll sit down and… I’ll tell you everything. “
>”y-You mean it?”
>You hung your head in defeat
“Yeah… everything.”
>She nearly tackled you with a passionate hug
>Although she felt warm, you could only feel cold inside right now
“y-You might not like what I have to tell you...”
>”i-Its ok.  I’ll always be there for you.  You can tell me anything and I’ll still love you.”
>You hoped to God that was true
“Let’s just wait a bit first though ok?  I can’t deal with this kind of stuff right now with Twiley in the hospital and all… I just need a little more time.”
>”Alright, we’ll wait maybe a few days.  How does that sound?”
“Great."
>You and Cadence kissed one another, feeling some small bit of warmth return to your body while you held her close
>You broke the kiss and watched her enter the hospital
>A great feeling of dread rose within you, but you tried to push it aside for now
>You have work you need to do, and you need to be focused
>For everyone’s sakes


>You drove your pickup truck home to your apartment
>You reached inside your glove department and carefully put on a pair of leather gloves before walking down the street
>You crossed a number of blocks, passing by various grimy streets and closed up storefronts
>The sun had fully set at this point, and there were only few other people out on the streets
>You kept walking, keeping a hand near your pistol and your head on a swivel as you stopped before your destination
>Mr. Zap’s strip club
>It had a roll of police tape wrapped around the front door, and the neon signs that once lit up its windows were now missing
>You had to get inside and examine the scene with your own eyes, just to make sense of all that had happened
>You didn’t want to have to break that yellow tape, so you walked around the perimeter of the building until you found a side entrance
>Discovering a fire escape door, you managed to make your way inside discreetly
>You walked through the changing area where you and Cadence had found Moondancer some time ago
>From here you were able to cross into the main foyer
>Much of the furniture had been taken away, and the bar had been stripped almost completely bare
>All that remained for the most part was a single table, a few chairs, the bar counter the stage, and a few stripper poles
>The bar’s mirror still laid there broken from when Bulk Biceps had thrown you aside
>Just looking at that mirror made your back ache a little
>Stepping carefully around the room, you stopped when you saw something white sticking out on the carpet floor ahead of you
>Stooping over it in the dark, you were able to make out a chalk outline of a person


>From there, you began to pace yourself through the past
>You and Cadence came in that day and confronted Mr. Zap
>Mr. Zap rebuked you both and sent  Bulk after you
>You walked through the events in the empty club as you relived them in your mind, going through your fight with Bulk and then through the beating you gave Mr. Zap
>When that was over, Mr. Zap crawled away into his office and Bulk laid on the ground while the two of you went to see Moondancer in the back
>You then walked out of the place with Moondancer and Cadence and left
“When did it happen…?”
>You took a seat on one of the few chairs that remained in the joint, racking through your thoughts for answers
“The news anchor… when I saw the news two days later, they said that the shooting occurred the night before.  That means, he was shot a full day after we spoke to him…”
>Bulk Biceps said that Mr. Zap wanted revenge for the beating you gave him, so he hired someone
>A specialist
>By the sounds of it, he was some kind of hit man
>The evidence you pieced together through the news painted him as a real professional
>Mr. Zap must have contacted this guy either the day you beat him up, or sometime during the next day
>He told him he wanted to send him after you and Cadence
>That same man came in here at around 8pm the night after you beat Zap, and when he came in here he killed him
>You walked up to the front door, and then slowly walked toward Mr. Zap’s outline
“He walked inside… saw Mr. Zap… walked over to him… and then…”
>You took out your own gun that was in your coat and aimed it at the space in front of the chalk outline
“Bang.  One shot, to the head.  Then he turned around and walked out…”

>You ran through various scenarios in your head as to why this happened
>Did the killer know you, or know Cadence, and took the opportunity to kill Zap to protect either of you?
>Was the killer already after Zap, and he just took this opportunity to get close to him and take him out?
>You were able to piece together exactly how it all happened, but the motives of the killer escaped you
>You sunk back into a chair as you tried to make sense of all this
>Most importantly, what did this have to do with Indigo Zap?
>Did whoever kill her father kill her too?
>No, she had to be alive still
>A dead girl couldn’t have attacked Twilight
>…
>This is starting to give you a pretty bad headache
>You had to figure out what happened to Indigo, or else you wouldn’t be able to figure out what happened to Twilight
>And if you couldn’t figure out how it happened, then you couldn’t figure out how to make sure it wouldn’t happen again
>You sigh, as you feel as if you might have came here for nothing
>Just then, a loud crashing noise from the changing room shook you out of your stupor
>It sounded like someone had just opened the fire escape door
>You snap into action, seeking cover behind the bar counter
>You hoped that it was just some homeless guy looking for a place to sleep
>You feared that it might have been the police, returning to inspect the crime scene
>Then the thought crossed your mind, the terrible thought, that it could quite possibly be the killer
>You took out your gun and waited behind counter as the door to the changing room opened and someone walked inside

>The intruder’s footsteps echoed loudly throughout the empty room
>You were tempted to peek your head up and look at whoever it could be, but you were too nervous about revealing yourself to try that just yet
>The figure’s footsteps resounded throughout the room, becoming eerily louder as the person seemingly approached the counter
>With each step you felt your heartbeat grow louder as well, with your grip on your pistol becoming tighter as you huddled behind cover
>The footsteps eventually stopped, and you swore you could hear whoever it was breathing over you, with only a few feet of wood separating you from the interloper
>This short pause felt like an eternity to you
>You were a split second away from springing into action when a loud noise startled you
>A metallic clanging noise banged above you as something heavy dropped on top of the counter
>Then you heard footsteps once again, only this time they were thankfully growing softer as the intruder walked away from you
>You heard a door open up, and you tilted your head above the counter just in time to see a side door close
>You shakily rose from behind cover and your eyes fell upon the object that had been dropped on top of the counter
>It was difficult to make out in the dark, but you could tell that it was a big metal box of some kind
>You examined the box and found that it had a long nozzle
>You smelled the end of the nozzle
“Gasoline?”
>You picked up the box and shook it around, feeling a liquid substance swish around inside it
>It was definitely a can of gasoline
>After discovering this, you heard a large commotion coming from the room that the other person had just walked into
>It almost sounded as if someone was tearing the place apart with a sledgehammer or something
>This went on for almost a minute until you heard what sounded like an excited shout of joy, coming from a man’s voice
>When the door to that room began to open, you ducked back behind the bar

>The man’s hurried steps clattered throughout the room as he ran out to the lone table away from the bar
>This time you inched yourself around the bar until you were huddled up at its end, peering your head around the side to take a look at the guy
>The man had his back turned to you and was hunched over the table, his hands examining something large
>After taking a breathe, you slowly rose up from the floor and took a few small steps toward the man, your gun raised up at him
>When you got closer you could tell that it was a pretty big guy
>You caught a glimpse of what looked like a big handgun sticking out of his back pocket
>You heard the sound of a zipper moving as you closed the distance with the man, followed by a ruffling noise as the man began to chuckle lowly
>The man stood tall as he held something up in his hands, his laughter growing louder before he shouted out
>”OH YEAH!”
“Oh no.”
>You raised your pistol and cocked back its hammer, its audible click silencing the man as he jerked his hand back in surprise
“Don’t move.  Try anything and I’ll blow your fucking brains out.”
>You walked right up to the man, reached for his back pocket and quickly yanked out the gun
>It was a pretty large chrome revolver
>You held it to your side while keeping your own pistol trained on the guy
“OK, now turn around.”
>The man did as he was told, slowly twisting around and then recoiling in shock when he saw you
>”OH FUCK!  YOU AGAIN!?”
>Should have known who it was as soon as you saw his hulking frame
>Bulk Biceps


>”WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!?”
>You were starting to wonder the same thing
>You peeked around him, spying a large duffle bag on the table behind him
“What’s in the bag bulk?”
>”n-NOTHING!”
>Your eyes narrowed at him
>You spied a lone chair remaining off to the side of the room
“Why don’t you take a seat right over there.”
>He nervously glanced back and forth between the bag on the table and the gun in your hands before reluctantly stomping over to the chair and sitting down, his massive weight causing the small chair to creak under him
>Keeping your pistol aimed at him in case he tried anything, you dropped Bulk’s revolver on the table and stuck a hand inside the duffle bag
>When you took your hand back out, you had a large wad of $100.00 bills in your grasp
“What the fuck?…”
>The whole duffle bag was loaded with cash
>There had to be at least tens of thousands of dollars in here
>You’d never seen so much money before
>You tossed the wad of cash back inside the bag and walked over to Bulk, who seemed to be staring at you with a faux stone face
>Your gun stayed aimed right at him as your eyes quickly darted between the duffle bag and the can of gasoline on the counter before falling back onto him
“Are you going to tell me just what you’re doing here?”
>Bulk stared silently at you, a small bead of sweat dripping down his forehead
>”i-I DON’T HAVE TO TELL YOU SHIT!”
>Your eyes narrowed as your patience wavered
“I think you should.”


>You walked up until you were standing just a few feet away from him, your pistol aimed squarely at his face
>His head reflexively tilted back as he stared down the barrel of your gun
>”f-f-f-f-f—“
“Spit it out!”
>”FUCK YOU!”
>You swung your pistol back and prepared to slam him in the face with the butt of your gun
>Just as you were about to whack him, he shrieked and raised his hands up to you as he fell out of his chair and dropped to the ground
>”DON’T HURT ME!”
“Don’t FUCK WITH ME!”
>You loomed over him as she scooted backwards
“I need answers Bulk, and I don’t care if I have to beat them out of you!”
>”OK! OK!!  I’LL TALK!”
>He sat with his back against the wall, staring at you apprehensively
“Why did you come here?”
>”t-THE MONEY!  I KNEW ZAP HAD MONEY STASHED AWAY IN HIS OFFICE AND I THOUGHT I COULD GET IT BEFORE THE COPS COULD FIND IT!”
“There’s a lot of money in that bag.  Way too much cash for some sleazy club owner to just have lying around.”
>Bulk Biceps cleared his throat as he struggled to sputter out his words
>”z-z-ZAP WASN’T JUST A CLUB OWNER.  THERE WERE GIRLS AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD HE OWNED!  HE WAS A PIMP TOO!”
>Well that was surprising to hear, but not a huge stretch given what a slime ball he was
>That doesn’t really explain why he’d have all that money though
“Keep going.”
>”h-HE KNEW PEOPLE!  DID A LOT OF SHADY SHIT WITH OTHER GUYS!  I THINK HE WAS HOLDING ONTO THIS CASH FOR SOMEONE.  I DON’T KNOW WHO, AND I DON’T CARE!”
>Zap was holding onto someone else’s sack of money?
“So you thought you could steal the cash for yourself huh?  You think that’s smart?”
>”i-I DESERVE IT!  ALL THE SHIT I HAD TO PUT UP WITH WORKING FOR ZAP!  I DON’T CARE WHO’S MONEY IT IS, I DESERVE IT!”
>Bulk Biceps was preaching to the choir, and you didn’t like hearing it one bit


“What about the gasoline?”
>Bulk Biceps looked like he was getting more and more irritated
>”I FUCKING HATE THIS PLACE!!!”
>Does this guy have an indoor voice?
>”I JUST WANNA TORCH IT ALL AND WATCH IT BURN!  ALL THOSE TIMES I GOT YELLED AT AND PUSHED AROUND!  FUCK ZAP!  FUCK STRIP CLUBS!  I’M GOING TO TAKE MY MONEY AND BURN THIS PLACE AND NO ONE’S GONNA STOP—“
“SIT THE FUCK DOWN!”
>You had to practically jam the gun into his face to keep him from rising back up to his feet
>This eerie sense of deja vu was starting to make you lose your own cool
>You had to take control and get a grip
“OK Bulk, I believe you…”
>He raised his eyes up to you, his mouth slightly ajar with his teeth gritted
“Do you know who any of these shady guys that Zap worked with might be?”
>”n-NO.  ZAP NEVER TRUSTED ME WITH ANY OF THAT STUFF.  HE WAS ALWAYS REALLY SECRETIVE ABOUT THAT SHIT.”
>You sighed in disappointment
“Alright, I just need to ask you one more thing and… and then I’ll let you go…”
>”y-you mean it?…”
>You nodded your head and relaxed your aim on him
“What can you tell me about Indigo Zap?”
>”Indy?”
>Indy?
>”w-WHAT DO YOU WANNA KNOW ABOUT HER?"
“Well… what happened to her?”
>”WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?  WHAT HAPPENED?”
>Bulk Biceps shook the ground as he pushed himself up to his feet
“She’s… missing.  She’s been missing since about a day after her father died.”
>Bulk Biceps' eyes widened in terror and he began to shake his head
>”n-no… she’s probably dead…”
>Your jaw dropped as a single tear rolled down his cheek
“b-Bulk?”
>”FUCK!!!”
>Bulk’s fist, along with his entire arm, crashed through the wall beside him

“Holy shit.”
>His arm tore through the wall as he ripped it out in a wide swing, throwing plaster and wood all over the ground
>He breathed heavily before dropping to his knees and placing his hands over his face
“y-You don’t know that.”
>He tilted his head up at you, a single eye gazing at you curiously through his hands
“She still could be out there.  I think she still is…”
>”h-HOW DO YOU KNOW!?”
>You stared at him in silence
“Just a hunch.”
>He stood back up and stared at you, a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes
“Look.  I’m trying to make sense of all this and, and I really need to find Indigo Zap.  It sounds like  you do too, so maybe we could… help each other out?”
>He seemed to be considering your words carefully, nervously rubbing the arm he just tore up the wall with
“You have a cell?  We could call each other if either of us learns anything about her.  We could find her together…”
>His eyes scanned the room, him seemingly lost in a daydream, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out an old cellphone that appeared much too small for his massive hands
>”GIVE ME YOUR NUMBER!”
>The two of you awkwardly exchanged contact information in this odd turn of events


>You began to step away from Bulk towards the exit, giving him space as he walked back toward the table with the duffle bag
>You hesitantly watched him pick up his revolver before he shoved it back into his pants pocket
>He then began to take out wads of cash from his duffle bag, seemingly counting it out
“So, I’m going to go now… are you still going to—?”
>”YEAH!”
“…and with the gasoline—?”
>YEAH!”
>It didn’t seem like anything you were going to say to him was going to change his mind
>You left him to his business as you walked out of the club
>As you crossed down the street a block, you looked back and thought that you could see a faint amount of smoke begin to creep out from under the club’s door
>You shook your head and kept walking
>Finding Indigo Zap was going to be pretty hard, but at least you had gained some kind of ally in your search
>For now at least
>You had no idea where you and Bulk would stand once Indigo was found
>You would just have to deal with that little problem when the time came


>You groggily rolled out of bed the next day, kept up at night by your restless thoughts
>You step into the shower, letting the warm water jostle you awake
>Looking into the mirror, you see that you’ve got some serious 5 o’clock shadow going on now
>You debate whether or not you want to shave it off until you’re finished with your shower, deciding to let it grow another day
>You walk into your kitchen and sit as your thoughts from last night return to you
>You can’t get what happened between you and Bulk out of your head
>’Indy?’
>'n-no… she’s probably dead…’
>You really weren’t expecting that out of him
>He really seemed to care about her
>You got up out of your seat and walked up to the flag draped over your wall, stealthily concealing the hole you punched through it some time back
>You remember Bulk doing a lot more damage to the wall he hit than you did to yours
>A guy like that could be really helpful in finding Indigo
>The question that bothered you right now was 'What’s going to happen when the two of us find her?’
>Indigo Zap had to be behind what happened to your sister
>The memory of Twilight lying on a hospital bed covered in bandages flashed through your mind repeatedly
“If Indigo Zap really did that to Twiley…”
>Your fists trembled by your sides as your brow furrowed
>You let out a sigh
>You had to keep cool, at least until you found her and made sense of all this
>Until then, Bulk was a welcome ally

>You got dressed, throwing on your winter jacket and equipping yourself with your weaponry
>Just as you were about to walk out the front door, you saw that mail had been slipped under your front door
>A single large letter
>You picked it up and tore it open, taking out a folded piece of paper
>When you unfolded it, a small card slipped out of it
>You kneeled down to pick it up and froze when you saw what it was
>DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: CONCEALED WEAPONS PERMIT
>Your concealed carry license finally came in the mail
>You were starting to think that it’d never arrive, that they had to have rejected your application or something
>You guess you wouldn’t have to worry if the cops ever pulled you over now
>The letter that came with the card was pretty much bullshit ‘Congratulations don’t fuck it up’ and a bunch of other useless information
>However, when you looked inside the envelope you saw that there was a second card inside
>It looked like some kind of fancy business card, complete with laurels on its edges
>When you took it out and looked at it, you saw that it had nothing written on it except for four little words
>’Good Luck Out There’
>...
>You stared at the card for a minute, flipping it over in your hand several times
>It seemed an odd thing to be packaged in an letter that was otherwise strictly all business
>It almost seemed like someone’s idea of a joke
>You shrugged before placing it aside on your counter along with the envelope and letter
>Sticking your newly acquired CC permit in your wallet, you stepped outside your apartment, hopped into your truck, and drove to the hospital to visit Twilight


>You arrived at the hospital and were greeted by Nurse Redheart as you entered the wing where Twilight stayed
>You had grown used to seeing her on your way in and out of the place, and she had been kind enough to let you come in and see your sister regardless of visiting hours
>When you stepped inside Twilight’s room, you found her chatting vividly with Applejack and another friend of theirs that you became acquainted with
>A young girl from Canterlot High with long red and yellow hair who wore a black leather jacket, named Sunset Shimmer
“Hey girls.”
>”Hi Shiney!”
>”Howdy!”
>”Hey!”
>You smiled and pulled up a chair
“What’s new?”
>Twilight leaned toward you while sitting in her bed
>”The doctors said my test results would come back today!  If they’re good then I can go home as soon as tomorrow!”
“That’s great!  I’m sure you can’t wait to get out.”
>Twilight hung her head and grimaced
>”Ugh!  Its so boring here! When I’m not going through these tests all I do is sit around in bed.  I’ve already gone through all this while I’ve been here!”
>She gestured toward a rather large pile of books resting on the coffee table


>You walked over and began to experimentally pick up a few of them
>Applejack scoffed
>”Ya only been here a couple days and it looks like you cleared out their whole library!”
>Twilight shrugged
>”Most of them are just kids novels, their book selection isn’t exactly very diverse or complex."
>You spotted a few Daring Do books in the pile, vaguely recalling how your sister seemed to be fond of reading them over and over again when she was little
>Sunset perked up and leaned slightly toward your sister
>”If you’d like, I could bring a few books over to you sometime.  I’ve actually been wanting to check out that Dostoyevsky guy you were talking about since you mentioned him.  Maybe we could trade a few books around?”
>”That’d be awe-some!  Were you finished with Dante yet?”
>”Well I finished Inferno and now I’m about halfway through Purgatorio.  I feel like Purgatorio drags on a bit, ironically enough."


>Twilight and Sunset seemed to really be going at it now
>You looked over to Applejack and the two of you smirked at each other, sharing a small laugh at the others’ expense
>Just then you glanced out Twilight’s door and saw a familiar figure walking forward
>She stopped just before she walked in when she spotted you
>Moondancer
>You and her stared awkwardly at one another, with her looking like she was having second thoughts about wanting to come inside
>Seeing her hesitation, you got out of your seat and walked out to greet her, with only Applejack seemingly noticing your departure
>Moondancer looked toward the ground as you walked up to her while you smiled as best you could in an attempt to smooth things over
“Hey Mooney.”
>”h-Hey Shining Armor…”
“Didn’t expect to see you here.”
>”i-I thought about what you said, a-a-and...”
>Her body was shivering as she stared intently at the ground
>”i-I figured it was the least I could do…”
>You grimaced for a moment before hiding your frown away behind a smile
>You surprised her by wrapping your arms around her with a hug
“I appreciate it, and I know she will too!”
>She blushed as you let go
“and don’t you worry about me or feel guilty or anything.  I’ve got plenty of work ahead of me now so I’m going to be alright.”
>”that—That’s good!”
“Yup!”
>She stared at the doorway to Twilight’s room, looking back at you and then heaving a small sigh as she walked inside
>You weren’t far behind her

>When she walked in the room became quiet
>Twilight looked at Moondancer with her mouth slightly agape while Moondancer sheepishly stared back
>”m-Moondancer?”
>”h-Hey.”
>Sunset and Applejack looked at one another in slight bewilderment
>After another moment, Twilight’s shocked expression slowly fell apart as her mouth was upturned into a wide smile
>She hopped out of her bed and quickly closed the distance, enveloping Moondancer into a tight hug
>”OH MY GOD I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU SINCE MIDDLE SCHOOL!”
>Moondancer didn’t look quite comfortable in Twilight’s arms, in fact by the way she was looking at the window, you almost figured she was thinking about escaping Twilight’s grasp by jumping out ten stories
>”y-Yeah… I heard you weren’t feeling so good… Jeeze you got a lot of bandages…”
>Twilight broke the hug and stroked the back of her hair as she smiled at Moondancer
>”Yeah, I got pretty messed up I guess…”
>Moondancer rubbed the back of her own neck as she slowly looked Twilight over
>”i-Its not that bad… I like your glasses!”
>”t-Thanks!…”
>Your eyes fell upon Applejack and Sunset, who still looked slightly confused by the situation unfolding before them
“Hey AJ, Sunset.  I was going to grab something to eat real quick, want to come with?  My treat.”
>”Uh sure.”
>”Yeah, sounds cool.”
>You led the two of them out of Twilight’s room as you left Twilight and Moondancer alone with one another, figuring that they needed the time together
>You smirked to yourself as you left the two alone
>Hopefully everything would still be in one piece by the time you got back


>None of the food in the cafeteria looked very good, or even healthy for that matter, but it was cheap at least
>After the three of you paid for your trays, you found a seat off to the corner of the mess hall and sat down
“So uh, Sunset.  How do you know my sister?”
>”Oh I met her a while back at one of Pinkie’s sleepovers.  I’ve been hanging out with her ever since.”
“I noticed you’re big on reading too.”
>”Not too much really, its just that I think Twilight has pretty good taste in novels and such, and I’ve been trying to share a bit with her as well.”
“Yeah, what are you into?”
>”I’m a little more into historical stuff and philosophy I guess.  She told me that she had skimmed over Virgil before and that she thought late antiquity was a fascinating time period, so I loaned her my copies of Ovid and Plutarch and a few other books.”
>You’re fairly sure you’ve heard those names somewhere before
“That’s pretty nice of you.”
>She smirked as she shrugged her shoulders
>”Its really nothing, I just appreciated having someone to talk about this kind of stuff with.  She’s really intelligent!”
>You nodded politely as you and Applejack dug into your food
>However, her smile didn’t last long
>”So, I meant to ask you about what exactly happened  to Twilight…”
>You paused in the middle of your meal, laying your silverware down on the table
>”We heard about how things were for Twilight back at Crystal Prep…”
>You sighed before turning toward Applejack
“I guess you filled everyone in then?”
>”Not really.  Ah mean, I just told people what you told me.  Twilight actually ended up telling us a lot herself.  She wasn’t exactly straightforward about it though…”
>Sunset put her own tray aside, laying her elbows down on the table
>”She dodged a lot of our questions about what it was like at Crystal Prep, but overtime she kind of clued us in that she wasn’t exactly happy there…”

>The two of them looked at you expectantly, but when you didn’t immediately offer anything to say Sunset hesitantly spoke up
>”She mentioned this girl earlier, when she was talking about what happened to her… Indigo Zap.  i-Is she really responsible for all this?”
>You scowled at hearing her name again
“I trust Twilight.  If she said that Indigo did this to her, then I believe it.  I just…”
>You ran a hand through your hair and shook your head
“I just don’t know HOW she did it.”
>Sunset briefly glanced at Applejack before folding her arms over her chest and leaning back in her seat
>”I… I think I might know how she did it.”
>Your eyes wrenched open and you lifted your head up to stare at Sunset
>You looked to Applejack, seeing her give Sunset a tired looking frown before turning back to you
“How?”
>”Well, I listened to her tell me a bit about the nightmare she had… and the voice she heard… and that eerie painful sound.  It all sounded like things I had read about before…”
>Where would she read about something like this, except maybe in some kind of ghost story?
“Go on.”
>”Well, I don’t really know exactly what it was but… h-have you ever heard the term ‘astral projection’?
“Astral what?”
>”Astral Projection.  It refers to an ‘out-of-body’ experience.  Being able to go somewhere without your body, like you’re projecting a conscious image of yourself to another place.  The police said they found no physical evidence of anyone entering Twilight’s house but you and her say Indigo was there… maybe she really was there, just not physically.”
>You had trouble believing your ears
>You looked to Applejack again to see if she could confirm or deny any of what Sunset was saying, but she simply sat there stoically as Sunset went on with her theory

“How do you know this ‘astral projection’ stuff is real?”
>Sunset carefully twirled a lock of her hair as she looked away from you
>”I honestly don’t know if astral projection is real, but I’ve read a lot about it and I think what Twilight described to me sounds quite like it, or at least something similar to it.”
>You scowled at her for a moment and she seemed to gain a bit of courage as she scowled back at you
>”Look I know it sounds like bullshit, but you can’t deny that what happened to Twilight was far from normal.  I know it sounds crazy, but I really think that what happened to her could be supernatural in nature.”
>You continued to scowl at her, although a little less harshly this time
“Well… you’re the first person to suggest something aside from Twilight going crazy, and there was never any physical evidence that said Indigo was there aside from the injuries she left…”
>Sunset’s face softened as she refolded her arms over her chest
>”I’m going to go through some of my old books and do some research.  If I think I’ve found something, can I show it to you?”
>She seemed like she really wanted to help, although you weren’t sure how helpful she could really be
>At this point though, you were willing to accept help from just about anyone
“Sure, I’d appreciate it.”
>She grinned at you
>”Great!  I’ll let you know as soon as I find something!”
>She got up from her seat, picking up her empty tray
>”I’m going to get started right away.  We’ll stay in touch ok?  Bye!”
>She left you and Applejack behind as she exited the cafeteria
>You stared at Applejack, whose stetson was currently covering over her face
“What the fuck was that?”


“AJ.  Do you actually buy into this stuff… and what’s up with this girl anyway?”
>Applejack tilted her hat up and stared uneasily into your eyes
>”She means well Shining, she really does.”
“But is any of it true?  I have no idea what this girl’s talking about!?"
>Applejack bit her lip as she seemingly struggled with her  thoughts
>“Ah don’t want ya to think I’m nuts… but some of this spooky shit Sunset likes to talk about, I think its true.”
>You remained silent as you listened to her
>”Listen, Sunset only started hanging around us about a year ago.  Before that we tended to avoid her, and a lot of people at Canterlot High were honestly afraid of her.”
“Why is that?…”
>”Sunset used to be something of a bully back at Canterlot, and she used to talk a whole lot about… well stuff like she was just talking about.  Astral projectin’, spirits, and a lot of other stuff that was downright intimidating.  They used to have a nickname for her back in school cause of the things she believed in and the way she treated everyone around her…”
>You listened to Applejack with rapt attention, slightly shocked by her dour mood
“What’d they use to call her?”
>Applejack sighed
>”Everyone back at school used to call her… Sunset Satan. She liked to fancy herself as some kind of devil.”
>That didn’t sound like the kind of person you’d like to mess around with, although it seemed so crazy to you that you had a bit of trouble taking it all seriously
>How does one earn a nickname like Satan?


>”I know yer confused and all, but ya gotta believe me when I say she’s changed.  She used to antagonize me and the other girls all the time, but we were all able to settle our differences and since then she’s been making an honest to god effort to put her past behind her.”
>Well, you’ve always been able to trust AJ up until now, and you’d like to be able to continue doing so.
>Still, the way Sunset talked about such things made you… uneasy
“Alright fine.  I’ll take your word for it, for now anyways.  So you think she really wants to help?”
>She quickly nodded and smiled
>”Sure I’m sure.  I honestly don’t like the idea of her delving into that kind of  hoodoo crap again, but if she thinks it might help then I guess I’m for it.”
“And you think that crap is real?”
>”Well… some of it I think is…”
>She didn’t seem too sure of herself there, but she at least seemed sure that Sunset didn’t mean any harm.
>At this point, when all other methods of trying to help have led nowhere, you were starting to feel pretty openminded
“Alright, that’s good enough for me.”
>Applejack stood up out of her seat
>”Thanks for the meal Shining.  I really should get going now.  I’ll see you around the farm soon right?”
>You smiled at her
”Definitely.  You heard Twilight, she should be out of here tomorrow.”
>Applejack grinned at you
>”Great!  See ya soon!”
“See you soon.”

>You walked back to Twilight’s room alone, the long quiet walk giving you ample time to ruminate on what Sunset and Applejack said
>Could the answer to what happened to your sister be found by looking into this weird shit?
>You used to believe that there were simply criminals and perhaps a seriously disturbed teenage girl going after your sister, but now its starting to look much more terrifying
>You had little idea what to make of any of it
>If only life’s problems could just be simple for once
>You walked back inside Twilight’s room, having completely forgotten whose company she was in
>You were greeted by the sound of shared laughter when you arrived
>”—and when Cheerilee came back the next morning she nearly had a heart attack when she saw me still sitting in the same spot, trying to solve the same damn problem!”
>”I guess if I had to choose a place to be locked inside of a library would be pretty high on my list.  You should see what they got at Crystal Prep, their archives are MASSIVE.”
>The two of them seemed so engrossed in their conversation that you were able to walk inside and drop into a chair before they realized you were back
>”Hey B.B.B.F.F.!”
>”Hey Shining!… B.B.B.F.F.?”
“It stands for “Big brother best friend forever”.”
>”That’s a mouthful.”
>You and Twilight chuckled together
>You let the two of them get back to their conversation as you relaxed in your chair
>You hadn’t been getting much sleep lately, but you were starting to feel a little more relaxed now
>You shut your eyes, and try to get as much rest as you can


>Your eyes flutter open
>Someone is jostling you?
>No
>Its your damn phone again
>That nap didn’t last nearly long enough
>You shove your hand into your coat pocket and take it out
>An Unknown number
>You answer it and shove it up to your ear
“Yello?”
>”Hello Shining Armor.”
>A man’s voice, one you had never heard before
“Who is this?”
>”Six men.”
“What?”
>You stretched in your seat, shaking yourself awake
>”Six men are on their way up right now.  One of them has brought a very special bouquet of flowers.  They’ll be there soon.”
>You furrowed your brow, putting a hand up to your other ear to block out the noise from Twilight and Moondancer’s conversation
“What the Hell are you talking about?”
>”Good Luck Out There”
>The line hung up
>…
>”Hey you’re awake!”
>You turned toward your sister, who was wearing a huge smile
>”The doctor came by while you were sleeping.  He said all the tests came back negative!  I can go home tomorrow morning!  Isn’t that great!”
>You felt your heart sank as the words of the man over the phone began to resonate within you
>GOOD LUCK OUT THERE
“t-That’s wonderful…”
>Twilight dropped her smile and the two of them looked at you oddly
>”Hey Shining, are you feeling ok?  You don’t look so good.”
>You rose from your seat and immediately walked to the door
“I actually need to go take care of something really quick.  You two stay here OK.  I’ll be right back.”
>Twilight stared directly at you, a look of worry clearly etched on her face
>”Is something wrong?”
>You stared back at her with a forced smile
“i-I’ll be right back.”

>You stood just outside Twilight’s room
>THEY were coming up
>Six men
>Did it really mean what you thought it meant?
>How?
>WHY?
>You stared down the hallway toward the front desk, which lied roughly 50 ft away
>Just by the front desk, out of eyesight, was the elevators
>That was the only way up here as far as you knew
>If people were coming here, then they would almost certainly arrive from that direction
>You stood directly in front of the door staring straight down the hallway to the desk
>There were orderlies and nurses walking about, patients and visitors being tended to around you
>You became aware of them all, each face, each passing stare was committed to memory
>More importantly, you searched for the man with the bouquet of flowers
>The one the voice over the phone said would be coming
>You began to block out the noise around you until the only thing that you were really hearing was the dull repetition of your own beating heart
“Where. Are. You?”
>You froze when you saw it
>Terror gripped you when the bouquet became visible, followed by confusion when you saw who it was that was carrying it
>It was Anon
>Anon was walking down from the elevators with one hand carrying a small bouquet of flowers while carrying a number of books and papers under his other arm
>He smiled at you warmly as he walked down to you
>All the while you couldn’t help but think that the world was playing a cruel joke on you

>”What’s good Rust?”
“Hi Anon.”
>The words rushed out of your mouth quickly along with your breaths
>”Check it out man, you think she’ll like them?”
>You recoiled as Anon shoved the flowers up to your face
“t-They’re very uhhh pretty…”
>”Yeah, I couldn’t really tell so well what was supposed to be good flowers or not so I figured ‘Girls always love roses right?’  Of course I also brought this—“
>Anon hefted the pile of books under his shoulder
>”Her homework.  Knowing her she’ll probably be happier to have this instead of the damn flowers but whatever.”
“Yeah.  Really pretty”
>Anon let the arm of his carrying the flowers drop to his side as he looked up to you curiously
>”Hey Rust, you feeling alright bro?  You look kind of sick… and why do you have your hand stuck in your coat pocket like that?”
>You exhaled loudly as you looked down at Anon, slowly removing the hand from your pocket
“Its just…. that….”
>You lifted your head up slowly as you saw it just barely sticking out of your peripheral vision
>50 ft away from you in front of the reception desk
>1…,2…,3…,4…,5…6
>Six men huddled around the desk, each one of them wearing large overcoats
>One man stood out from among the crowd, a bouquet of flowers hanging limply from his hand
“They’re here.”
>Anon looked at you confusedly before looking behind you at the throng of men
>”What’s up with them?”
>You urgently stared back down at Anon
>You grabbed him by the shoulder and leaned into his ear to whisper
“Go inside.  Lock the door and don’t open for anyone except me!  Call the police now!”
>”wha—What the fuck’s going on man?”
>You grabbed Anon’s arm and, opening Twilight’s door with your other hand, shoved him inside before slamming the door


>You took several loud painful steps on the ground forward
“How…Why...”
>You absently spoke to yourself before stopping roughly 10 ft in front of Twilight’s door
>They were still there at the reception desk, chatting up the lady behind the counter
>They hadn’t seen you yet, but you could see them all
>Twiley
>For many years she had been the only bright light in your life
>Seeing her smile, seeing her happy, just seeing her at all even for just a moment, was sometimes the only thing that kept you going in this world
>She deserved the best in life, she deserved to be happy
>And yet… here she is.
>Bedridden in a hospital after years of being bullied and pushed around and now, almost as if the world wants to say 'WE’RE BORED WITH HER!’ these 6 men come out of thin fucking air to put her out of her misery!
>It just made you want to scream!  Howl in rage and ask 'WHY!  WHY GOD DAMNIT!'
>The men are moving now, they’ve turned away from the front desk and are now moving toward you
>With each step they take toward you, images of violence and pain exploded through your mind
>Why didn’t you stop those girls before they ruined your sister’s life?
>Why did Big Mac have to die and leave his family behind?
>Why did your mother have to die!?
>Why did the Universe decide to try to take away one of the last things you truly loved away from you?
>You reach for your gun
“You won’t take her away from me."


>Be Garble
>Up and coming gangster, and all around general badass if you say so yourself
>For several years you’d been rising through the ranks of the criminal underworld, going from just another punk on the street trying to make a name for himself to a respected hit man
>You were the head of a pretty sizable crew now, practically big enough to be considered a gang
>You had all these big plans rolling around in your head; you were going to  start selling drugs soon, and you were going to carve up a piece of turf for you and your boys
>Pretty soon you’d be able to make these dreams of yours a reality, and you would become the big shot you were always destined to be
>For now though, you were finding decent work as a hit man
>It was damn good money, and now almost out of the blue you were given this obscenely lucrative job
>All you had to do was kill this one chick who hadn’t even gotten out of high school yet
>Made you a little queasy actually, the thought of killing a girl so young, but the pay was so damn good that you just couldn’t say no
>So you stepped forward with two of your best guys and said you’d handle it
>Unfortunately, your contractor didn’t just hire you and your boys to do the job
>You found yourself working alongside the Diamond Dogs, a couple of low-class thugs that you had the displeasure of meeting before
>You hated the idea of working with them, but again, the money was just too damn good to ignore
>”Miss Sparkle’s room is all the way down at the very end of that hallway.”
“Thank you very much miss.”
>”Have a nice day!”
“Oh, we will.”
>You stepped away from the desk and, hefting your bouquet by your side, and began to walk down the hall
>Your men followed closely behind you, while that asshole Rover kept pace right next to you with his goons just behind as well
>You took about ten steps down the hall as the room became visible to you
>Then you saw him

>You stopped dead in your tracks, your two boys bumping into you from behind
>Even Rover and his guys noticed you stop, and they turned around to look at you
>”What’s wrong boss?”
>”Why the Hell did we stop?”
>Your eyes stared dead ahead at the man
>His eyes were piercing you, his scowl clearly visible even at this distance
>They were like the eyes of a dead man, a man who had spent his last few moments alive defiantly resisting before succumbing to death
>You had seen eyes just like that before, but to see them on a living breathing man was enough to chill your blood
>You had been so caught up in his eyes that you barely noticed his arm moving inside his jacket
“SHIT!”
>You spun your bouquet up, the flowers falling unceremoniously to the ground, as your pistol was revealed
>Several loud ‘BANG!s’ resounded throughout the hallway, as you were sent flying onto your back
>All Hell broke loose
>”HOLY SHIT!"
>”WHAT THE FUCK!”
>”AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”
>You heard the sound of several more gunshots ring out as you saw everyone scramble for cover
>One of the men you brought jumped just inside a patient’s room, while several of the Diamond Dogs scurried behind a gurney for cover
>You sat up off the ground and placed an arm over your chest
>If you hadn’t been wearing a ballistic vest you’d be in big trouble right now
>You felt arms grip under your shoulders as one of your men attempted to drag you behind cover as the bullets started to fly
>You looked up just in time to see a bullet go right through his skull, sending him crashing to the floor with a sickening ‘THUD!'


>Seeing your partner get capped up close sprung you into action as you scurried into a side room
>Rising to your feet, you peered behind cover and began taking pot shots down the hallway
>The last you saw, that guy had been standing out in the open, but now he looked to be all the way at the end of the hallway, taking cover behind a corner near that room you were all just heading to
>Your contractor said all you had to do was kill one girl, it didn’t mention anything about this
>You looked over to the gurney in the hallway
>Rover was shooting back with two different guns now, as his bigger goon was cradling his smaller one in his arms
>It looked like you guys were taking casualties fast
>You stepped back behind cover as a hail of bullets went in your direction, but a few moments after you took cover you stopped hearing bullets flying
>You peered your head out of cover again and saw the damage you all had caused
>The hallway was beginning to look like swiss cheese, and it had gotten pretty dark from all the light fixtures that were shot out.  Broken glass and pools of blood had begun to cover the floor.
>Then you heard footsteps coming from behind and twisted around to see two men in blue uniforms rush out from around the elevators
>The two men stood out in the open in front of the reception desk, raising their pistols high
>”FREEZE ASSHOLES!”
>NOPE
>You and your present company collectively raised your guns and emptied everything you had on those two unlucky bastards
>A wave of bullets blasted them away in an instant, likely killing them before they even hit the ground
>You sighed in relief as you began to load a new magazine in your pistol, but your relief didn’t last long
>You heard the mystery man’s gun go off again, and when you twisted around to look back down the hallway you saw the other man you had brought with you fall to the ground in a bloody pile

>At this point, the big guy that Rover had brought with him had gently laid his buddy’s limp body down on the ground,
>He stood up tall and tore open his overcoat, taking a sawed off shotgun out and pumping it loudly
>”YOU’RE FUCKING DEAD!”
>He began sprinting down the hallway, his shotgun held facing forward in his hands
>”Fido no!  GET DOWN!”
>He kept running, shouting obscenities as he cleared the hallway
>By some strange miracle, he hadn’t been shot yet
>The psycho who had been killing you guys didn’t pop out at all
>The Diamond Dog yelled incoherently as he slid behind the corner
>The unmistakable blast of a shotgun echoed throughout the hallway, and then there was silence
>You and Rover glanced uneasily at each other as an unnerving quiet descended upon the hospital
>”Fido!  Did you get him?…”
>No answer
>Nothing at all
>You ran up to the gurney and crouched next to Rover
“Do you think he got him?”
>”I have no fucking clue.”
>Your eyes fell upon the door where that damn girl was supposed to be
>You were so close and yet…
“Come on, we’ll go together.  Watch my back.”
>”Right.  Lead the way.”
>You stood up and began to cautiously walk down the hallway with Rover right behind you
>Your footsteps and the sound of shards of glass being broken beneath your feet was the only noise that could be heard
>When the two of you rounded the corner where the psycho had been you weren’t prepared at all for what you saw


>There was Fido, lying on his back in a pool of his own blood with a combat knife in his throat
“Jesus.”
>Rover hacked as his eyes fell upon the gruesome scene
>You glanced in front of his corpse and saw where the shotgun blast had hit, a concentrated grouping of pellets having embedded the corner of the wall where that psycho had been just a few moments before.
>All that was left of him here was the long coat he was wearing, having been seemingly discarded on the ground
>”FUCK!  Let’s just kill the bitch and leave!”
“Where is he?…”
>You didn’t see his body anywhere
>What you did notice was a trail of bloody footprints leading down an adjacent hallway
>Then when you looked back to Fido, you noticed his shotgun was missing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9gK5RkIRLs
>You ducked down as Rover fell face first to the ground beside you
>You twisted around and saw the psycho, splattered in blood and aiming the sawed off shotgun right at you
>You tried to move, to cry out and fight back, but when you looked into his cold dead eyes behind the barrel of the shotgun, all you could do was stare back
>He pumped a new round in the gun and fired
>You don’t register the sound of the blast, all you are aware of is that the room is sent spinning as you fly back against the wall and slide to the ground


>Your arms fold over your gut, the pain being so great that you are hardly aware of anything else
>You sputter blood out of your mouth and all over yourself, and when you look back up you are again staring down the barrel of the shotgun
>You don’t think begging is going to save you now, and you barely have the strength to speak up anymore as it is
>You raise up a hand and attempt to push the shotgun aside, but his grip is too strong
>While you make this futile effort, your other hand shakily reaches into your coat pocket
>After trying for so long, you finally find the strength to form words
“I.  Don’t…. deserve this.”
>His scowl remains the same as it has been this entire time as he stares down at you mercilessly
>His only response to your words is to pump another round in the shotgun
>You whip out the revolver in your pocket and the world goes black

>Be Shining Armor
>…
>…
>…
>Its like your back overseas again
>Surrounded by enemies, and desperately trying to protect the ones you care about
>You drop the shotgun to the ground and survey your grim handiwork
>Blood, broken glass, plaster, shell casings, and corpses litter the ground around you
>What few lights remain are flickering above you, casting a dim haze over the destruction
>Its a terrifying sight to behold, you feel as if any moment now you’re going to wake up and see that this was all just a terrible nightmare
>Any moment you are going to wake up in bed with Cadence in  your arms, and she’s going to tell you that everything is going to be alright
>But you don’t wake up
>This is your life now
>You stare at your bloodstained hands, unsure of whether its yours or someone else's'
>Then panic grips you as you hear the unmistakeable sound of sirens in the distance
>The police are finally showing up
>Your first instinct was to run, but you stopped yourself
>You weren’t a criminal, and you had done nothing wrong
>You even had the legal authority to defend yourself now
>You had the feeling they would be taking you away anyway
>You weren’t sure how long they would keep you, or whether or not they would try to charge you with anything or simply question you
>Maybe there was a chance that they would be willing to listen to you, hear your side of the story
>Maybe, just maybe, they could actually help you
>There was one thing you had to do first before you got dragged into this mess
>You had to see Twilight one last time before you left here
>You walked up to the door and knocked on it
>There was no answer
“Anon open up this door.  Its over.”
>After about a minute, it opened up and a very shaken looking Anon stood in the doorway


>”Holy shit man, are you ok?”
>You shook your head and walked inside the room
>Twilight and Moondancer had been sitting against the wall, holding one another in their grasp
>When she saw you, Twilight appeared mortified for a moment before she rose off the ground and embraced you tearfully
>She sobbed into you as you held her close, neither of you saying a word
>Moondancer cautiously stood up and took a careful step toward you
>”What happened out there?”
“People came here, they were armed and… and I think they were after Twilight."
>You didn’t look up from your sister as you spoke to Moondancer
>You raised a hand and began stroking your little sister’s hair as she continued to cry
“Come on Twiley… its alright now.”
>She looked up to you with a miserable look, her tear stricken eyes struggling to stay open
>You smiled sadly at her, tightening your hug
“You’re going to be going home, you should be happy.  Your healthy now and no one’s going to hurt you anymore.  Everything is going to be alright.”
>"b-But what about you?…”


>You heard the sounds of dogs barking as well as the helicopters flying coming from outside, a searchlight flashing by the window
“I’m going to be ok too.  You don’t have to worry about me, I’m going to take care of everything.”
>Twilight continued to sob softly into you
>”I’m  going to have to go with the police soon. I’m going to tell them what you told me about Indigo, and I’m going to make sure she never comes back to hurt you again.”
>”*sniff* what if they don’t listen?”
“I’ll make them listen.  I’ll find someone who will listen, and we’ll end this.  I promise.”
>You looked up and stole a quick glance from Moondancer and Anon, the two of them looking utterly demoralized as they silently watched the two of you
“Hey, the next time we go out how about I take you to Sugarcube Corner again?  Didn’t your friend Pinkie say she’d give us a discount the next time we went?”
>Twilight sniffled as tears continued to streak down her face
>”y-Yeah…”
“Well then we should definitely go back again some time soon.”
>”c-Can Cadence come too?”
“Of course she can, and we can bring all your friends with too.  Whatever you’d like, my treat.”
>Her crying became even softer as you continued to hold onto her
>At this point you heard the stomping of boots and the sound of radios going off from down the hall
>”i-I love you…”
>You hugged her as tight as you could, as tears began to fall from your own eyes
“I love you too."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN6sfJ1qFQg


>You’re not sure how long you’ve been sitting in their interrogation room
>These two are like a broken record, asking you pretty much the same questions over and over again expecting you to slip up and say something different
“Look, I told you I have no idea who that guy that called me was.  If you really don’t believe me then just trace the number on my phone and figure it out yourself.”
>One of the police officers, a woman with bright orange hair who couldn’t have been much older than you, leans over the table and scowls at you
>”Don’t worry, we will.”
“So when are you going to start answering my questions?  You people have to know SOMETHING about Indigo Zap.”
>The other officer walks up to the counter next to his partner, a man with dark blue hair who almost looked too young to be a cop
>”We… still haven’t found anything.  We put out an AMBER alert for her a while ago, and we’ve checked with her home and her friends, but we don’t have any evidence as to what happened to her.”
>You sighed as you leaned back into your chair
“Fantastic.  Well, what about her father.  Guy had a rap sheet a mile wide… why wasn’t he behind bars where he belonged?”
>The two officers glanced at each other before looking back at you
>The female cop spoke first
>”The court went easy on him the last time he went to trial, single father and all.  However…”
>The male cop joined in
>”We had a vested interest in him walking free.”
>You stared at the two officers in front of you, waiting patiently for the male cop to go on
>”We were well aware of Mr. Zap’s criminal activities, but from what we gathered he was a pretty minor figure in the hierarchy of things.  We had undercover officers visit his clubs and we had his phones tapped.  We were watching him and waiting for a while.”
“What for?”


>The male cop pauses to look at his scowling partner before going on
>”Mr. Zap associated himself with a lot of undesirable people, and some of them were especially secretive.  We were hoping we could learn more about them from Zap’s activities, before he died that is...”
>The female cop placed her hands down on the table as she looked you over
>”How did you know about Zap anyway?”
>You furrowed your brow at the female officer as she took an accusatory tone to you
“His daughter had been bullying my sister at her school.  I confronted him about it, and he wasn’t very civil towards me.”
>”I’m sure he wasn’t.  Word on the street was that someone gave Zap a nasty beating in the middle of his own club.  You wouldn’t know much about that would you?”
>You stared back into her eyes, meeting her fierce gaze with one of your own
“I might.”
>You and her stared each other down before her partner spoke up again
>”Listen, we’re not interested in whether or not you and Zap had a fight with each other, but if you know anything at all about how he died—“
“I don’t.  All I know is that ever since I met him bad things have been happening to my sister.”
>That wasn’t entirely true, considering that the police didn’t seem to know that Zap wanted to put a hit on you, but considering that the hitman in question technically saved you and Cadence you weren’t entirely sure you wanted to share that bit of information
>At least not yet
“All I want to know is why this is even happening to us in the first place, and why no one seems to know anything at all about WHY its happening.”
>Just then, the door to the interrogation room opened and a young female officer with short white hair walked in
>”Spitfire, Soarin.  The commander wants to speak with you both.”
>Spitfire rolled her eyes at her
>”Right now?”
>”It seems that way.”
>Spitfire groaned as she and the other two officers walked out of the room, leaving you sitting there alone

>This hadn’t been going well at all
>Not even the cops seemed to know what the fuck was going on, and they had been watching Zap for who knows how long
>You had to get out of here and get searching again
>Maybe Bulk would have learned something by now
>He at least seemed as dedicated to finding out the truth as you were
>Or perhaps Sunset Shimmer?
>Her ideas seemed completely crazy, but at least she offered you something more than just the blank stares these clowns were giving you
>After a few more minutes, Soarin reentered the room and took a seat opposite of you
>”It looks like none of those men who came for your sister are going to make it.  All six were pronounced dead at the scene, along with one of the security officers.  The other one’s in critical condition, he probably won’t make it.”
>You had completely forgotten about those guards
>Poor bastards
>At least their killers were dead though
>Then again, it might have been nice if at least one of them had made it, maybe then you could have learned who hired them in the first place
“What can you tell me about the men who tried to kill my sister?”
>”They weren’t nice people, I can tell you that.  Half of them had been brought in and charged before, and a few of them were ex-cons.  They were all freelance though, could have been hired by just about anyone.”
>You sighed as you slumped your head over the counter
“Perfect.  Fucking perfect.”
>Soarin took out a pack of cigarettes and lit himself one before offering you the box
>”Smoke?”
>You lifted your head up and glanced at the box
“Sure”


>You placed a cigarette in your mouth and laid the box down as Soarin reached over with his lighter and lit you up
>You were never much of a smoker, but right now you’d accept just about anything to take off the edge
>You’d fucking kill for a hard drink right now
>”Hey listen, I’m sorry about my partner and all… she’s been working on Zap for a while now and all this talk about him and his daughter gets her pretty tense.”
>You took a long drag from your cigarette and exhaled as you scowled at Soarin
“If this is some kind of ‘good cop bad cop’ bullshit then the two of you can stop now.”
>Soarin took a long drag off of his own cigarette and exhaled before scratching his head
>”We’re not your enemy right now man.  We’re trying to help.”
>You stared at him unamused, tapping a little ash from your cigarette into a tray
>”We’re going to try to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.  We’re going to start posting officers around the hospital to keep an eye on your sister now.”
>You chuckled
“Great, she gets out of the hospital tomorrow morning.”
>Soarin looked taken aback, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and holding it in his hand
>”Can you tell us where your sister lives?  We can increase patrols around her neighborhood, even have some officers check up on her periodically?…”
“Why don’t you ask her?  Or better yet, you guys can let me go and I can ask her myself.”
>Soarin tiredly shook his head at you
>”You’re free to leave whenever you’d like.”
>You rose up out of your chair and walked toward the door
>”Wait!"


>Soarin got out of his chair and followed you as you walked through the station toward the exit
>”If we find out anything about the people who went after your sister or Indigo Zap we’ll let you know as soon as we can, but if you find anything at all we need you to get in contact with us!”
>You tightened the hand of yours that wasn’t holding your cigarette into a fist as you walked through the department
“They’re one in the same.”
>”What?”
“Indigo Zap is after my sister, have you even been paying attention to me?”
>As you walked through the station you saw Spitfire angrily talking over a phone
>When you got close to her, she forcefully hung it up and looked to each of you
>”That other security guard just died.  That makes 8 deaths.”
>"Fuck.”
>You stared back and forth between the two officers who both seemed to be pretty shaken up in their own way
>Soarin looked like he hadn’t slept in a long while, and Spitfire looked like she wanted to kick someone’s ass
>You sighed as you looked at the two of them
“I’m leaving now, can I have my things back?”
>”Sure, I’ll go grab them.”


>Soarin walked away, leaving you and Spitfire to silently brood with one another until he returned with a tray containing your phone and wallet
“What about my weapons?”
>Soarin and Spitifre looked uneasily at one another
>Spitfire’s face softened up as she spoke to you
>”We still need to investigate the shootout to make sure your story lines up with what we learn.  Until that’s finished, we need to hold onto your guns and knife as evidence.”
>You balked at Spitifre as she wearily shook her head
“There are people out there who want to kill me and my sister, and you’re DISARMING ME!?”
>”I’m sorry Shining, I really am.”
>You walked right up to Spitfire, as she glumly looked back at you
“I had every right to do what I did back there!”
>Soarin walked up behind you and calmly interjected
>”Well technically, hospitals prohibit carrying firearms, even if you have a concealed carry license.  You were’t completely in the right…”

>Your face contorted in incredulous anger as you twisted around and glared at Soarin
“‘Technically’, I wouldn’t need a concealed carry license if you people DID YOUR FUCKING JOBS!”
>A number of officers that had been working around the station stopped and stared at you
“You KRISPY KREME MOTHER-FUCKERS, can’t even catch a TEENAGE GIRL!”
>All eyes were on you now, most were wrenched open in shock, several were narrowed in anger
>No one spoke up up against you though, Until Soarin stepped up beside you
>”We’re going to find her."
>You turned around to see Spitfire and Soarin staring back at you determinedly
>You scoffed as you walked away from them and trudged toward the exit, meeting many disapproving glances with your own disgusted glare
>Stepping outside, you stamped out what was left of your cigarette on the entrance railing and walked off into the night
>The hospital was a bit of a walk, and it had gotten fairly cold outside, but you had to get back there to get your truck
>That, and you had to get out of that station before you did something you would regret
>Didn’t need to give the police any more reason to arrest you than you already did
>You just couldn’t help it, not even the police seemed to be able to help you
>You can’t begin to comprehend why no one else seems any closer to figuring out how things got this bad


>As your anger dissipated so did your tolerance for the cold, having walked over a mile before needing to take a break
>You spied a gas station on your way to the hospital and decided to walk inside to warm up a bit
>When you entered, you saw the attendant behind the counter with his back turned to you as he watched a small TV set
>He had been watching the news, and the headline read ‘8 DEAD IN HOSPITAL MASSACRE’
>”Police have yet to confirm or deny allegations that there was a seventh shooter.  At this time the hospital staff is still moving patients out of the ward so that forensic analysts can—“
>The gas station attendant changed the channel, turning on a show where a wacky looking man in a suit and bow tie sat with two busty blondes in his arms, the man laughing hysterically
>You walked over through the aisle, your eyes falling upon the various snacks lined up around you
>Your stomach growled from not having eaten anything since lunch this morning
>You eyed the various bags of beef jerky as you considered what to buy
>You were so caught up in how hungry you were that you were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a man standing next to you
>He wore a black suit and tie complete with white gloves and a cap, and had a finely trimmed mustache
>”Good evening sir, my employer would like to know if he could give you a ride back to your vehicle.”
>You jumped back from the man, who looked at you stoically as he raised a hand toward the window
>You glanced outside and saw a black limousine with tinted windows sitting in the gas station
>You furrowed your brow as you looked back and forth between the limo and its driver before taking a cautious step away from him
“I’ll pass.”
>You quickly backed away toward the exit, the man raising an open hand to you
>”Sir please wait!”
>You briskly walked out the door, the TV behind the register blaring loudly as you left
>”I’D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR!”


>You hurriedly walked outside as the chauffeur walked after you
>At that moment you froze as you heard the door to the limousine open up
>You twirled around, shoving a hand inside your coat out of instinct though you felt nothing inside but your own quickly beating heart
>Out from the limo stepped a lone figure
>He was an exceptionally tall and bulky man with pale skin and a bald head
>He wore a large black overcoat over his body, but even so he folded his arms over his chest and hunched over slightly as his body shivered
>”BRRRRRR.  Where’s your jacket boy?  Its freezing out here!”
>He spoke in a thick southern accent as he shouted over to you
>”Come on in!  We got seat warmers in here, I’ll even fix ya a drink!”
>The man smiled at you warmly as the chauffeur stopped and stared at you
>”Come on now, I just wanna talk is all.  I don’t mean ya any harm.  You want to talk about Indigo don’t ya?”
>Your eyes widened when the man spoke her name
“What do you know about Indigo Zap!?”
>”Let’s talk inside, too damn cold out here!.. and a little too public don’t ya think?”
>You narrowed your eyes as you walked closer to him, taking the hand out of your coat
“Who the Hell are you?”
>The man smiled as he straightened up and extended his hand for you to shake
>”Its a pleasure to meet you Shining Armor, my name is Sugardowner”
>You tentatively grabbed his hand and shook it
>Your jaw dropped when, as you shook his hand, your eyes peered around him and you saw Sugarcoat sitting in the backseat of the limousine


>It was deadly silent inside the limousine, save for Sugardowner
>He was in the habit of humming to himself as he poured drinks
>Sugarcoat boringly gazed out the window as you coldly watched her and her father from the other end of the vehicle
>”There we go, one bourbon on the rocks comin’ up!”
>He handed you a glass that you immediately dropped into a cup holder
>He quickly fixed himself a glass as well, taking a small sip before letting out a contented sigh and gently placing it in his own cup holder
>He had this crooked smile that was almost permanently present on his face, the opposite of you right now
>”Now then…”
>He raised up a hand and dropped it on his daughter’s shoulder, who slowly glanced into her father’s eyes with that same bored expression
>”Sweetie…”
>Sugarcoat slowly breathed in and out before looking over to you with a blank stare
>”I apologize for how I’ve treated your sister.  The way I have acted toward Twilight Sparkle has been horrible, please forgive me.”
>Your eyes slowly widened as you were hit by the impact of her words
>This entire situation was insane, but hearing those words was the most shocking aspect of all of this
>After you heard her though, you couldn’t help but think how robotic she sounded, like she had passionlessly practiced saying that over and over again just for you
>It was clear to you just how heartfelt her apology was
“You—“
>”Excellent!  Now that that nasty business has been concluded, let’s get down to it!  I believe YOU’VE been searching for a little runaway…”
>You looked back to Sugardowner, who had taken his hand off of his daughter and was leaning toward you with an arm leaning over his knee
>You let Sugarcoat’s bullshit slide, for now..
“What do you know about Indigo Zap?”


>”Mr. Zap was a, ‘business associate’ of mine.  I didn’t exactly work with him at all, but he was known to me and we met very occasionally.  His daughter and my daughter were also once quite close friends.”
>You narrowed your eyes at the grinning man before you
“So then you’re like Zap huh, or were you his boss?  What exactly are you?...”
>He chuckled lowly as he shook his head at you
>”I’m retired!  I was never really that much of a boss of anything anyway, and I certainly did not like to involve myself in the kind of business Zap was involved in.  Prostitution was never really me, and the music you kids listen to these days doesn’t suit me either.”
>He straightened his back and folded his arms as he proudly smirked at you
>”No, I was more of what you’d call a hit-man, and I was one of the best there was!”
“A hit-man?..”
>Your eyes wrenched open in shock as you thought back to Zap’s death
>Mr. Zap’s Specialist!
>Could this man have been the one who killed him?
>Was Sugardowner responsible for saving your life and Cadence’s as well?
>”Impressed?  I may not be much to look at now, but when I was in my prime I was quite the Hellion!”
>He burst out into laughter, his booming voice filling the limousine as he slapped his knee
>You furrowed your brow at his raucous laughter
>”Wew! Anyhoo, about Zap’s daughter.  I’m aware that people have been lookin’ high and low for her, including you.  I’ve been keeping an eye out myself, and I thought maybe we could work together you and I?”
“…and why would I want to work with you?”
>”Because, I know more about what’s going on right now than EVERYONE ELSE!”
>You waited expectantly for him to go on, as he paused for obvious dramatic effect
“Enlighten me.”

>”Well its like this.  I’m sure you’ve heard or maybe seen a few things that were downright strange.  Things you couldn’t quite explain rationally, am I right?”
>You cooly nodded, remembering in full the details of Twilight’s strange and violent encounter with Indigo
>”I’m sure you’re very confused about it all, well I’m here to tell you that some things like this are a bit more common than you might think.  Coming from a man who has made a living off of killin’ people, I can tell you that I’ve had to deal with such things more than a few times.”
>You silently stared at him, not really understanding what he was getting at
>Being a hit man meant he had to deal with psychotic teenage girls with seemingly supernatural powers?
>”I can see that yer  still confused, so let me put it like this.  The scene I’m involved in tends to attract a very particular kind of people.  You can say that the criminal underworld can bring out the best, and obviously the worst, in these people and sometimes people with very particular abilities get inexplicably drawn to our line of work.  Indigo Zap is one such person.”
“What exactly IS Indigo Zap?”
>He shook his head as he smiled
>”She used to be just a little girl, but lately she’s become quite a monster.  All that grief has gone to her head, and I’m afraid she needs to be put down before things get even more out of hand"


>You noticed Sugarcoat shift in her seat slightly as she began to twirl with one of her pigtails while staring out the window
>”Which brings us to our current business.  ‘I’ want Indigo Zap dead before she kills any more people and attracts more unwanted attention, and ‘you’ obviously want her dead as well!”
>...
>Is that really want you wanted?
>She was just a teenage girl, wasn’t she?
“Why me?  Why can’t you just get rid of her yourself, or hire some punk to get her?”
>”Again, retired.  As for hiring someone, I’m dealing with that right now.  I can’t think of anyone who’d be more dedicated to tracking her down, and after watching tonight’s news I can’t say there’s no one more qualified in TAKING her down either.”
>A new scary thought gripped your mind, as you wondered whether or not Indigo Zap was truly responsible for hiring those men to attack your sister tonight


>”He doesn’t like you.”
>You and Sugardowner turned away from one another to look at Sugarcoat, who was still staring out the window with that same bored expression on her face
>Sugardowner’s smile broke for the first time since you’ve met him but it quickly returned as he lowly chuckled to himself
>”He doesn’t have to like me sweetie… he just has to work with me, eh Shining?”
>You scowled at Sugardowner in revulsion, who returned your violent stare with a warm smile
>”Come on Shiney.  All I’m trying to say is, give me a chance.”
>The limousine pulled to a stop, and when you glanced outside you could see the hospital before you
>You immediately went for the door, only to find that it was locked
>”Now Shining, don’t be too quick on the draw there.  I want to give you something.  Now I’m not too familiar with legal customs on this but did they or did they not confiscate your guns when the police brought you in tonight?”
>You took your hand off the door and glanced up at him as you slowly reclined back into your seat
>”Sweetie, take a letter.”
>Sugarcoat removed her face from the window and took out a small notepad and pen
>”What would you like Shining?”
“What would I like?…”
>You glanced back and forth from Sugarcoat, who seemed to be idly chewing her pen, and Sugardowner who smiled expectantly
>”Shoot.  Heh heh.”
>You looked down at your feet for a moment as your hands grasped your knees
>”I need a new handgun, a pistol.  A 1911, chambered in .45 caliber, and a snub nose .357 magnum revolver...”
>Sugarcoat meticulously scribbled down your orders, as if she were a waitress asking what you would like to eat
>Sugardowner took a swig from his glass of bourbon
>You hadn’t even touched yours, and the ice was beginning to melt


>”Is that it?…”
>You remained silent as Sugardowner sighed
>”Sweetie, I want you to put down an order for a… hmmm… give him an M16 assault rifle. Extra magazines, and a grenade launcher on the side.”
>You stared at Sugardowner in shock as he lightly tapped his chin
>His daughter didn’t react differently to his request, scribbling down his order as if it was no different than what you had asked for
>”Speaking of grenades, give him a few frags as well… throw in a good knife while we’re at it, and a few Ballistic vests as well.  Oh!’
>Sugardowner gripped the folds of his long jacket as he leaned over his daughter to watch her write
>”A nice big coat to wrap it all up with too, something in leather.”
>You could hardly believe your ears
“Are you fucking serious?”
>Sugardowner perked his eyes up from the list his daughter was writing and looked to you
>”I take my work very seriously Shining.  This is very important.”
“Why the fuck would I need a machine gun and grenades to kill one teenage girl?”


>Sugardowner frowned as he leaned forward, his hands clasped together
>”I would think you would have realized that she is more than just a little girl now.  Could a teenage girl attack your sister like that and then just disappear without a trace?  Could a teenage girl hire several scores of assassins to carry out a hit in a hospital?  She needs to die Shining, remember that.”
“What the fuck is she?”
>”I told you.  A monster."
>His solemn gaze unnerved you, but it disappeared in an instant.
>”My butler will give you a call once your order is ready.  He’ll provide you with instructions as to where to pick them up in a few days.  If you already have any leads as to where she might be, I would highly suggest you wait until your order is ready before you pursued them.”
>The doors to the limousine clicked unlocked
>”Now you get plenty of rest tonight Shining.  Relax a bit, take it easy… I’m sure with our combined strength that no one will stand a chance against us.”
>You cracked open the door, but stopped before walking out to turn your head and frown at him
“When this is over, I don’t want to see you ever again.”
>Sugardowner gave you a knowing smile as you walked out of the limo, his daughter staring absently at you as she let her arms fall to her sides


>When you got into your truck you wanted to be able to pass out right there in your seat
>This had been a long night, and it looked as if the new dawn was just over the horizon
>You looked over to the hospital entrance, the place seeming much more peaceful than it was when you had left it earlier this evening
>You got your keys out and shoved them into the ignition, but before you started driving you checked your phone
>A few unanswered messages from everyone it seems
>Twilight tried calling you a few times, as did Cadence, and even Anon tried once
>The calls from Twilight and Cadence came hours ago, but Anon tried calling you only about 30 minutes ago
>Your phone began to ring again in your hand
>You sighed, what better way could there be to end this night than to hear from your father
“Hello.”
>”Shining.”
>You sighed as you heard your father’s haggard voice
>You didn’t know what to say, but your father was uncharacteristically quick to speak up
>”Are you OK son?  Are you hurt?  How long are the police going to detain you?  Do I need to pay bail?”
“I’m… fine.  I’m not hurt at all, and the police let me go.”
>Your father let out a long sigh of relief over the phone
>”I heard everything from your sister.  She’s safe now, I’m not leaving her side.”
“That’s good.”
>You looked up at the quickly approaching dawn
>”Shining, do you remember that place that Velvet and I used to take you and Twilight to when you were both little.  That place we used to spend summers away from everyone else?”
>Your thoughts drifted back to happier days and you immediately thought of the old cabin that your family used to spend camping trips up by, all the way up by the Everfree Forests Preserves
“Yeah Dad, I remember.”
>”I’m going to take Twilight up there for at least a few days.  Don’t tell anyone else where we’re at.  No one.”


“That’s a good idea.”
>”Would you like to come with?”
>You grasped your face, trying to make sense of what you’re father was saying along with all that you had just experienced
>Hearing the desperation in his voice only made you feel even more confused by it all
“I can’t.  There’s too much here that’s going on right now.  I… I need to take care of things while you guys are gone.”
>Your father was silent for nearly a minute before he cleared his throat to speak up again
>”I understand.  We’ll be up here if you need us, and I’ll check in every so often.”
“Thanks Dad…”
>”Son…”
>He remained silent again for a short while
>”...I want you to know that I’m proud of you, and that I’ll always be here for you.”
>You didn’t know what to say, because you didn’t know if you could believe him
>The most pressing thought on your mind right now though, was why couldn’t he have always been there for Twilight?
“Good night Dad.”
>”Good night son.”
>You hung up the phone and sat back as the red sun rose over the horizon