My Little Pony – Tales of the Agents – Blind Blood
The sun was a brilliant yellow and the cloudless sky a bright blue as Scotty Sparkle walked through the centre of Ponyville towards the library. He passed a few ponies whom he recognised but was unable to put names to; a cyan unicorn with a lyre for a cutie mark, a white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane that stuck straight out in front of her wearing a pair of purple shades and a grey pegasus with eyes that went in different directions and bubbles for a cutie mark. He passed the three cutie mark crusaders who gave him polite hellos. He stopped.
"Hi girls, what are you up to?" It was the little white one, Rarity's little sister that answered him.
"We're gonna try for triathlon cutie marks!"
Scotty chuckled and turned to carry on walking before turning back.
"Well good luck. But be careful, I've heard that the pegasi have a storm scheduled for tonight."
The long building that housed Ponyville's new library didn't look that big from the streets but inside a lower floor of shelves was sunk into the basement level. The sheer number of books on the shelves made anypony who visited think that they had just entered some kind of shrine to reading. Scotty was pretty sure it would be Rainbow Dash's personal hell if it wasn't for the two massive shelves filled to the brim with Daring Do books and the fact that Twilight could get her hooves on seemingly every one ever written, no matter how limited the edition. In the little house that was set into the back of the building Scotty found Twilight chatting with Applejack. They exchanged hugs and Scotty kissed his wife before she told him that Spike and Ratty we're waiting for him in his office. Scotty walked to the door of the little room and found the little dragon hurriedly setting up an image projector. Spike nodded a greeting before starting to work again so Scotty turned to the room's other occupant. Ratty Apple was stood looking out of the window across the town. Scotty approached his friend from behind and took up a position beside him before turning to see his face. The blue unicorn's face was pulled into a tight grimace and his ears were pressed flat to his head.
"What's up?" Scotty asked and Ratty simply levitated a brown portfolio towards him. The front bore the emblem of the Equestria secret service. Scotty's shoulders sagged and he turned to look at a framed photo on his desk. It depicted Scotty and Twilight stood alongside Applejack and Ratty on the latter couple's wedding night, all four were grinning widely.
"I always kind of hoped that we would be able to stay like this, you know." Ratty grunted a gruff agreement. Spike hopped down from his work.
"Projector is all ready to go Ratty." He reported and the unicorn smiled his thanks.
"Thank you Spike. Would you mind waiting outside for a minute?" The dragon nodded and left the room, closing the door after him. Scotty turned to face the wall with the blank white image from the projector.
"So what are we looking at?" Ratty placed an image in the projector and the wall became a collage of separate images all bearing bloody ponies bodies.
"These seven ponies have all recently been found by Stalliongrad guards in the last month. Beaten and bloody, all killed by a clean cut across their throats." Most ponies would probably have been sick at this point, but Scotty and Ratty had seen worse, much worse and with them it was now all business.
"Anything stolen from the victims?" Scotty asked, stepping closer to examine a picture of a lilac earth pony mare, she had probably had a family, had had amazing stories to tell about her life, a life that had come to an abrupt, brutal end in a dark alleyway.
"Not as far as guards can tell."
"What about sexual assault?"
Ratty shook his head. "All of the post mortems came up clean."
"Then all evidence points to some sort of agenda." Scotty stated, sorting through his mental library of crimes and their definitions.
"I thought that too, but there was one other thing that told me otherwise. All of the victims were reported missing three days before their bodies were found."
Scotty sighed in defeat. "And the guards definitely want us?"
"Blue Mask's asked for all of strike one to report to him in Canterlot by tonight." Scotty looked slowly between the horrors on the wall and the happy family photo on his desk. "She might have been happily married too" a little pony at the back of his head told him.
Ratty sighed behind him. "Looks like vacation's over boss."
Despite the "secret" in the name of the Equestria Secret Service, the location of its headquarters in the main street of Canterlot was either trying to attempt the "so overt it's covert" plan or its builders just didn't care. Scotty and Ratty entered a wide reception area and entered through a pair of doors marked "staff only" and carried on towards the team locker rooms. They passed the labs where Professor Plum led teams of scientists into finding antidotes for poisons and magical curses, they passed the medical wing where Dr Red Star fussed over wounded agents, they passed the workshops where Professor Bells and Whistles made weapons and armour for use in the field. The rest of strike one was waiting for them in the team's locker room. Grim faces projected grim personalities across the room even as they greeted each other warmly. There was Jocky McJock, his brown mane shot with streaks of blue that contrast with his rust orange coat. His wings folded at his sides, partially covering his bag of money cutie mark. Next to him was Fii, her pale muzzle turned down grimly and her sandy mane and tail sticking out in all directions. Her coat was grass green and her flank bore a microphone as her cutie mark. Ratty's sister Crimson was there too, her cutie mark shaped like a magnifying glass on her flank. Her coat was the brilliant reddish-purple she had been named for while her light pink mane and tail hung in long braids. The final and newest member of the team was Miniskate. She stood at almost a head shorter than Scotty despite the fact that the age difference between them was only four years. Her purple hair hung down the side of her face and was shot with white. She flexed her dark teal wings, revealing her cutie mark: a pair of roller-skates tied together at the laces. Fii approached Scotty and hugged him before telling him.
"Blue Mask wants to speak with you in his office." Scotty sighed and nodded. He knew exactly what was coming.
"I've found you two new agents for your team." Blue Mask told him simply and Scotty shook his head.
"I've told you before, I'm not taking on any more rookies, not after Trottingham."
Blue Mask sighed. "Scotty, you made the right call in Trottingham, nopony could have guessed what White Stripe was planning. And besides, White Stripe is dead, one of your agents knocked him off the observatory balcony."
Scotty shook his head. "Not that I doubt agent Miniskate's abilities, but I'll believe White Stripe is dead when I'm shown his body. And twenty ponies dead, three of them my agents."
"Your agents made a mistake, but you can't keep beating yourself up over this."
Scotty sighed. "Much as I'd like to stand by what I've said, I suppose you'd better show me their files." Two brown portfolios hit the desk and were slid across to Scotty. He plucked one up with his wing.
"Agent Crashing Wave," he read before picking up the other. "And agent Burning Spear." His mind pricked as he read over the names and he sighed as he realised why.
"Really? Crash and Burn?" Blue Mask chuckled quietly as Scotty read through each agent's file slowly.
"Do neither of them have any outside relationships." Blue Mask coughed quietly and shifted in his chair.
"Their sexual compasses, um, point the opposite direction." He explained tactfully. Scotty only looked up from his reading for a second.
"You mean mares that are into mares?" He asked and Blue Mask nodded slowly. "With each other?" And Blue Mask nodded again shifting in his chair once more, the subject obviously made the older fashioned stallion uncomfortable.
"The world is moving on around us Boss, we need to start moving with it or we'll get left behind."
Blue Mask nodded in agreement. "I know."
"You're certain that they're skilled enough to join strike team one?"
"That's for you to decide. I've booked your team into the training simulator for tomorrow."
Scotty was being beaten up. Again. Jocky was above him, kicking down at him with powerful blows. There was a blur from one side of Scotty's eye and he rolled as Miniskate slammed into the orange pegasus out of the air and into a tree. The simulation chosen this time was a section of the Everfree forest. Scotty got to his hooves and was immediately thrown back into fighting as Ratty swung at him. On a hill above them Crimson and Fii were grappling and counter grappling. Scotty blow after blow from Ratty before dropping and sweeping the unicorn's legs from under him. The blue unicorn went down and Scotty hit him again. He didn't get up and instead faded away, leaving the simulation. Scotty straightened and looked about himself. In the trees to his right Jocky threw Miniskate off but she rebounded off a tree and slammed him down once more, he faded from the simulation before he'd hit the ground. Up on the hill to his left Fii slipped out of Crimson's grasp and kicked upwards, sending the pegasus sprawling in the dirt. Fii was soon on her once more hitting her again and again until Crimson eventually faded from the fight. Miniskate ran at Scotty but something slammed into her from the upper branches of a tree. A bright red unicorn landed on Miniskate's back and forced her to the ground. The mare had long bright orange hair shot with cyan, she wore a deep maroon flower in her hair beneath which her eyes were a burning orange. Her flank bore a spear caught in a flame that was an exact replica of the spear she held in her magic. Agent Burning Spear. Burning Spear slammed Miniskate's head into the ground and the teal pegasus faded from the simulation. Behind Scotty Fii was also attacked by a second assailant, a teal earth pony with a spiky blue mane and tail. Her eyes were a deep blue and her flank bore the image of a surfboard. Agent Crashing Wave. Crashing Wave launched a two hoofed kick that caught Fii under the chin and sent her flying through the air. She faded before she even came near the ground. Then the two agents charged at Scotty from both sides and he barely had time to think before their hooves hit him from either side.
"Shit!" He said.
The team were sat around a table in the canteen, their two new recruits with them, they were going over the case files.
"So we've got all the signs of a hate crime but with a kidnapping element mixed in with it." Fii said and Scotty nodded. "Is that common?"
"We've seen a couple in the past." Jocky told her. "But this is different. Usually there's sexual assault followed by the murder but with this case there isn't any trace of sexual assault."
"So why kidnap them?" Burning Spear asked and Ratty sat forward.
"We should probably work under the assumption that our target gets the sexual release in another way, probably the beatings. The post mortem indicates that some of the injuries are as old as three days."
Scotty sat forward in his chair. "When we get to Stalliongrad Ratty I want you to take Miniskate and Crimson and go to the latest body discovery site, see what you can work out." He indicated the image of the lilac pony that had caught his eye from earlier. "Jocky you're heading to the family of the latest victim, find out what you can about her." The orange pegasus nodded. "Crash, Burn you two are going to talk to the last ponies to see the victims alive, find out if they saw anything suspicious."
Fii furrowed her brow. "Sir, what about me?"
"You're with me Fii. We're going to liaise with the guards and give them what we can work out about our target on the journey over. Strike team one, grab your gear, we head off in half an hour."
"No matter how many times you see one, a crime scene never fails to surprise you, does it?" Crimson muttered as she, Ratty and Miniskate stood staring at the cordoned off area of alleyway. Guards bustled about as the agents began to examine the scene. Miniskate looked down at the chalk outline of the mare on the paving stones before looking up at the dark autumn sky above again.
"If I had killed somepony and I wanted to hide the body, I'd probably fly it onto the roof of a building." Crimson nodded in agreement.
"Other races rarely go up there so you would only have to worry about other pegasi."
"So we can rule out pegasus." Ratty said as he crouched down next to a trash bag and shifted it to one side. "Hey guys, look at this."
They joined him at the wall and found it riddled with scratches.
"It looks like someone got themselves in quite the frenzy." Crimson observed.
"And then tried to hide it with the trash bags." Miniskate added.
"You know," Ratty said as he straightened up. "I bet if we look a bit closer at the other crime scenes we'd find the same sort of thing at every one of them."
Crimson regarded him for a moment. "What are you thinking Ratty?" She asked him after a moment.
"I'm not sure yet." Ratty replied. "But I think we might have just found something vital to the investigation."
"Captain Sirena?" Scotty asked the silver coated mare in front of him and she nodded.
"That's me."
"I'm ESSA Sparkle this is ESSA Fii. We're here to help your department out with this case."
"You work fast." Sirena said. "I only requested your team's involvement a couple of days ago."
"The sooner our target is off the streets the sooner we can all rest easy." Scotty told her.
Fii stepped forward. "Ma'am we're ready to give a basic briefing to your guards on the target."
"That was fast." Sirena commented raising her eyebrows slightly.
"It really is very basic." Scotty informed her. "But it might help to give an advantage over him, or her."
Sirena nodded and called out for all available officers to join them in the wide open space of the guard station conference room. When the guards had all settled in and Scotty and Fii had introduced themselves they began the briefing.
"Our target is extremely sadistic," Fii began. "They get some kind of sick sexual release from causing physical pain to their victims."
Scotty took over and expanded on this point. "If we were to look into their past we'd most likely discover a history of cruelty to animals and a tendency to cause fights."
Fii stepped back in. "Normally we'd attribute this to a stallion but the lack of any form of actual sexual assault throws that theory up into the air at the moment."
"The fact that he takes his victims while they're on their own means that he lacks confidence or may have some feature that makes him recognisable like a scar."
"That's a lot of assumptions." A brown stallion sat at the back of the room pointed out.
"We're aware of that." Scotty replied. "And that's why we've got the rest of our team out there looking for anything that can help us nail down the information. Once we've got a finalised profile we can release the information to the local media." The stallion nodded in slight satisfaction and sat back in his chair.
Behind Scotty Fii twitched slightly and her horn glowed a light lilac as she answered a call that came in over the earpiece she wore.
She nudged Scotty who smoothly dismissed the guards. "Ratty, he thinks he's found something at the scenes, he's on his way in."
Scotty nodded. "Ok let's hope that what they've found can help us find out some more about this guy. 'Cause what we've given these guards isn't exactly much to go on."
"Mrs Lavender, was there anypony your daughter ever talked about in the past that she might have met in the town." Jocky asked as he sat forward. The mare, a lilac coated earth pony like her daughter, shook her head.
"N-no-no never, she tends… sorry tended, to keep to herself." Mrs Lavender sniffled quietly and wiped tears away from her eyes.
Jocky nodded in understanding. "You're sure?"
"Yes I'm sure!" The mare snapped. In Jocky's ear there was a light beeping as somepony called him on his earpiece. He excused himself and trotted into the little house's kitchen.
Scotty's voice came over the radio. "Jocky, how's it going?"
"Looks like the mother is a dead end and the father is a guard who's on duty right now."
Scotty sighed at the other end of the radio. "Okay Jocky, come back to the guard station. Ratty's found something here. We'll just have to hope that Crash and Burn can find something."
"What can you tell us about Mr Light's family?" Crashing Wave asked the pegasus stallion across the table from her. Wind Tamer had been Bright Light's boss and was their final port of call as Bright Light's parents had moved away. Bright Light had been the first victim.
"His mother was one of the city guards until about a couple years ago. After the incident she and her husband left the city but Bright Light stayed to finish his education and be with his marefriend."
"This is the incident at the school?" Burning Spear asked and the stallion nodded. "Can you tell us what his mother's involvement in it was?"
Wind Tamer narrowed his eyes, trying think, but he eventually shook his head. "No sorry."
Crashing Wave shook his hand and thanked him for his time while Burning Spear called Scotty on the radio.
"What is it Burning Spear?" He asked her.
"We think we might have found the link between the victims sir." She reported.
Scotty's voice almost cracked with relief. "Thank Celestia, some good news! Come down to the station ASAP."
"Will do sir."
Thirty minutes later Miniskate and Ratty were interviewing Mr Lavender while Crimson filled everypony else in on their findings at the crime scenes.
"We found scratches on the walls close to where the bodies were found, it looks like our guy got themselves into such a frenzy that they didn't care where they were swinging but they tried to cover it up afterwards."
"That doesn't seem to make sense." Crashing Wave said and the room turned to look at her. "They hold their victims for three days but they still make a mess when they're killing them. They've got a controlled environment in which to take their time about killing them but instead they make quick and messy kills in a public place. Why?"
"To taunt the guards." Jocky replied. "This guy's sitting there saying "Hey look what I can do right under your noses.""
"We also summarised that we aren't looking for a pegasus." Crimson continued. "On account of the fact that the bodies are dumped at street level and not on rooftops."
The rest of the room nodded in understanding as Ratty and Miniskate walked in.
Miniskate walked over to Burning Spear. "You were right, Sargent Lavender was a part of the first response team to the school incident as was Bright Light's mother."
"Okay then, Crash, Burn, fill us in on your theory." Scotty said as Crimson stepped aside to allow them to go up in front of the room.
Crashing Wave led the address. "We believe that we're looking for somepony who was caught up in the incident in some way, they may have been injured or have lost someone and they blame the first response team for not being quick enough. They're taking this rage out by killing the children of members of the team."
"We also believe they have had either guard or military training on account of the fact that they know the amount of pain to inflict upon their victims before they get to the point of killing them." Burning Spear added in.
Scotty sat and thought for a moment. "If we can combine this with our profile from earlier then we can give it to the local media and they can release it to the public and hopefully somepony will know the guy we're looking for."
"I'll set you up with a press conference tomorrow morning." Captain Sirena said from the back of the room and Scotty nodded his thanks before turning to Fii.
"Fii, you know the profile best, can you handle the press?"
"Not a problem boss."
"We've got our guy cornered," Scotty told them all. "He just doesn't know it yet. We've just got to hope that when he does realise, he isn't going to try to go down fighting."
"… If anypony knows somepony who fits this profile, or even thinks that they might then we urge them to come forward. You could save countless lives. Thank you." Fii stepped down from the podium and started walking back inside passing Miniskate who quickly fell into step alongside her.
"Do you think we'll get any responses?" She asked quickly.
"Oh, loads." Fii replied. "You have no idea how many ponies were affected by the incident here."
"Am I the only one here that doesn't actually know what happened at that school?" Miniskate asked as the two started up a flight of stairs.
"I suppose you might have been too young to hear about that." Fii admitted before beginning the story. "'Couple of years ago the school here became the target of a complete psychopath. He went to the school and attempted to kill as many kids as he could before getting caught. Luckily there were enough nearby ponies to slow him down so that he was unable to do so before being arrested but he managed to kill six ponies and maim countless others before they stopped him."
"And you think our guy was one of the maimed?" Miniskate concluded and Fii nodded. They walked back into the main room of the station where they found Jocky and Scotty talking with Crashing Wave and Burning Spear.
"So how did the two of you first join the ESS?" Jocky asked the two of them.
"I was transferred from the Baltimare guards four years ago," Crashing Wave said. "And then I took over the leadership of strike team six about a year and a half ago. When Shadow invaded my team were in the white peak mountains. We went looking for somepony, anypony, I suppose and-uh- we ended up in the crystal empire. We met strike team five and helped Shining Armour defend it against Shadow's forces. But then one day, we were tasked with defending Princess Cadence and both teams got massacred by a zebra task force. They got past us and took the princess from under our noses, we failed. And so, when Shining marched the crystal army to Canterlot we took on the mission of getting her back. We got ourselves cornered and it looked like it was all over for us. And then" She started to laugh. "This bright red mare just goes nuts with a spear and takes them out. I'm lying there bleeding, my head's reeling and then this wonderful mare is next to me pulling me to my feet, saying "hey, you okay?""
"I was with strike five." Burning Spear picked up. "Next thing we know there's partying in the streets and everypony's shouting "We won! We won!" And uh I don't know I guess I just acted on instinct and I turned around and kissed the closest pony."
"Me." Crashing Wave said simply.
"Pretty lucky too," Burning Spear carried on. "Anypony else would have smacked me around the face. And after that strike team five and six were merged and we put in for transfer to strike one."
"And here you are." Miniskate finished.
"And here we are." Crashing Wave agreed smiling.
"Hey guys." Crimson called appearing in a doorway off to one side. "Somepony's come in, says they might know the killer, says that they fit the entire profile."
Scotty's clapped his hooves together. "Alright let's hear what they have to say."
They grouped into the conference room and found Ratty and captain Sirena sitting with a dark blue stallion at the table. Scotty reached out and shook his hoof.
"Hi, agent Scotty." He introduced himself.
"Hammer Hoof." The stallion replied.
"So you think you know our guy?" Sirena asked and he nodded.
"Uh- yeah, yeah I do… he's my brother, Blood Hoof." Sirena's eyes widened in shock before she nodded in sudden realisation.
"Of course."
"You know him?" Jocky asked her.
"Yeah he worked here for three years before the attack, he left after that though."
"Why?" Fii asked.
"He was in the school at the time," Hammer Hoof answered. "He was giving a presentation to the students about the guards when the school was attacked. He held the attacker until the end but he was wounded a mere five seconds before the response team broke down the door."
"His wound was too severe. We couldn't allow him to carry on working." Sirena finished.
"And after that he became vengeful? Started to hate the guards, especially the first response team?" Scotty asked.
"Yes." Hammer Hoof confirmed.
"Okay, captain can you put together a team to go to his home and get a warrant for us." Sirena nodded and moved to her instructions. Meanwhile Scotty carried on. "Ratty, take Jocky, Crashing Wave and Miniskate and oversee the arrest."
"Got it, come on guys." Ratty turned to lead his new team out when Scotty called after him. "Ratty, be careful." The blue unicorn nodded and trotted off after his team.
"One thing agent." Hammer Hoof said as he stood up to leave. "My talk with the captain and your team has made me think of something. The scratches on the walls at the crime scenes. You guys thought it was a sign of a frenzy, it wasn't." Scotty turned back to him, suddenly attentive. "He wasn't in a frenzy, he was overcompensating because of his injury. You see, it was a facial wound."
Scotty cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
"The killer's sword went straight across his eyes, that's the facial wound you were talking about."
"I'm not really following." Crimson butted in from where she was leaning against the wall.
Hammer Hoof looked at them for a moment before continuing. "Blood Hoof is blind."
"…blind?" Ratty asked as their carriage ran through the city centre towards Blood Hoof's home.
"Apparently, yeah." Scotty's voice came down the mic into the teams' ears as they listened to this new information about their target.
"Explains the scratches." Miniskate reasoned.
"I'm going to check with Twilight and find out about spells that might help blind ponies be able to see." Scotty said. "Be careful guys."
"You got it boss." Jocky confirmed as Scotty disappeared off of the radio.
"So we've got a problem." Crashing Wave said, sitting forward in her chair.
"Sir! We're only about two minutes out from Blood Hoof's home." The guard sat at the front of the carriage reported.
"Okay, thank you." Ratty called back as he stood up, motioning for the others to do the same. The doors swung open they were almost blinded by the sudden light and they jumped out, landing in the street with a team of guards bustling about preparing for an assault on the little house close by.
"Sir, we're ready to make the assault on the house whenever you are." The armoured leader of the team reported and Ratty nodded.
"Got it, tell your men to follow us." With that he ran up the path to the house, donning his silver helmet as he did so. He reached the door and stopped Miniskate and Jocky took up positions on either side of it.
"Blood Hoof, this is the guards, let us in." No answer. "Blood Hoof this is your last chance, we will break down the door." Still nothing. Ratty motioned to Jocky who took a step, and slammed his hoof into the door. It buckled and swung open as Ratty ran in through. There was a light swooshing sound and a glinting as a knife flew at Ratty from the far side of the hallway. He ducked and it stuck into the door frame where his head had been, it stayed there, quivering. Ratty cursed and rolled out of the light of the doorway. He lay in the shadows for a minute, chest heaving, waiting for the next attack. It never came. Ratty's horn glowed, filling the room with a bright green glow as he stood and walked to where the dagger had been thrown from. In the doorway to the next room there was a complex looking mechanism that was hooked up to a tripwire across the front door. Behind him Crashing Wave stepped carefully into the house and pulled the knife from the wall.
"Well, I'd say that this safely incriminates him." She said as she twirled the blade. Ratty nodded before looking around the house.
"Get everyone in here, turn this place upside down, I don't know where he's gone but I want him found. Now!"
"… in Ponyville at the moment." Twilight's holographic image was saying and Scotty shook his head sadly, he didn't like arguing with Twilight but the whole situation in Ponyville at that moment was obviously pushing her and had become quite a sensitive issue. A second call came in above Twilight's cutting her off and causing the hologram of his wife to disappear and be replaced with one of Ratty, the blue unicorn held his helmet under one of his forelegs.
"Ratty, good to hear from you." Scotty said struggling to hide the disappointment he felt at being cut off from Twilight. "I assume that Blood Hoof is in custody?"
"Unfortunately no, he's not here. We've found a large amount of incriminating evidence here though. He's definitely our guy."
"Then where is he dammit?!" Scotty yelled in frustration, kicking at the wall.
"We don't know." Ratty replied simply.
"Okay," Scotty let off all of his anger in that single word. "Okay, I just talked to Twilight, she says that it is highly possible to learn a sight spell to aid blindness but it would take an insane amount of magical energy."
"So Blood Hoof's probably tired." Ratty surmised.
"Uh-huh, extremely so." Scotty confirmed. "Ratty, stay there, document everything, I want everything."
Ratty nodded and faded away. Scotty turned and leaned out of the door.
"Fii! I need you in here, now!" The green unicorn excused herself from the conversation she was having with Crimson and trotted up to him quickly.
"What do you need boss?"
"I need you back in front of the cameras, I need you to put out everything we know about Blood Hoof."
"Why, what's happened with Ratty? What's happened with Jocky?"
"Nothing, they're fine. They missed their cha-"
"Boss! Better get down here! Quick!" It was Burning Spear's voice. Scotty was running immediately, Fii right behind him. He vaulted the railing and landed on the main floor running over to where Burning and Sirena were helping Hammer Hoof into a chair. He was bleeding from a cut across his chest.
"Okay, okay." Scotty said gently, propping the stallion up. "What happened to you?"
"Bl-Blood Hoof, he found me, said he knew what I'd done, and then he did this." Hammer Hoof spluttered weakly.
"Don't worry about it." Captain Sirena soothed him. "It's barely a scratch."
"Mr Hoof, I need you to do something for me. I need you to remember, can you think, did Blood Hoof say anything before he left you?" Scotty asked.
"Ye-yes he did, he said that he was going to take his final revenge."
"Did he say where?"
"No that was it."
"Okay, get yourself to a medbay." Hammer Hoof nodded weakly and allowed himself to be carried away by the guards.
"So where's Blood Hoof going?" Crimson asked.
"Think, he wants revenge for the attack at the school, he's already made the first responders suffer so who else could he want revenge on? Who else made him suffer that day? Who else could he blame for his wounding? Who could have helped him when he needed it? Oh! Oh of course." Scotty leaned back in realisation.
"What?" The others all asked in unison.
Scotty's face became a mask of silent horror. "Who else was right there when the two of them were fighting? Who was it that could simply have reached out a hoof to grab the killer?"
Burning Spear's eyes widened in absolute terror. "…the pupils."
Scotty nodded grimly. "He's going for the school."
"The school?" Jocky asked.
"Yeah, looks like we pushed his ultimatum. He's heading there to take revenge on the kids." Fii replied, her voice slightly broken by static.
"Okay, we're closer to the school, we're on our way." Ratty said and he motioned for the guards to load up into their carriages. He sat down with the rest of his team and punched the roof of the carriage. "Let's go, quick."
The carriage moved off at high speed, rattling over the cobbles.
It took them about ten minutes to reach the school and when Ratty dropped into the playground from his carriage he was immediately approached by a near hysterical mare, obviously a teacher.
"Oh, thank Celestia! He's in classroom 3. He's got a whole class under guard." She managed to choke out before she sank to the ground, sobbing.
"Somepony! Look after her." Ratty called before putting the helmet back on his head and turning to the others. "Let's go!" He yelled and he ran into the school. He reached the corridor, literally running along the wall for a moment before sprinting down the hallway past classrooms.
He read the room numbers out as he ran. "1, 2 and 3, here we are." He skidded to a stop and kicked the door open. "Blood Hoof! Stop!"
A dark grey unicorn spun to face them, his dull white eyes struggled to focus and his hair was spiky and pure white. He held a dagger to the throat of the teacher in his magic.
"Put your weapons down!" He ordered, pressing the blade to the mare's throat. Ratty nodded and released the sword that he had been holding in his magic. Behind him the others all did the same.
"Let her go." Ratty said quietly but Blood Hoof shook his head.
"Why should I? She betrayed me. She could have helped me!" Blood Hoof was nearly shouting now.
"I know, I know." Ratty said. "Believe me, I know what you're going through."
"No you don't!" Blood Hoof yelled. "You can't possibly have any idea!"
"To know what it feels like to have a life threatening wound? To know about the burning, all-consuming need for revenge? You're wrong. I've been there. I lay on the ground with a spear sticking from my heart and blood pouring from my body. My "friend" Scotty was only ten feet away and he let that happen." Ratty was calm, completely calm.
"Did you take your revenge?" Blood Hoof asked him.
"No. No I didn't, because we don't need to. Come on Blood Hoof, you've done enough. You've had enough revenge. You don't need to kill her. Come with me. I promise, I can help you."
Blood Hoof lowered his head and thought about it for a moment but when he raised his head again his face was a mask and his dull eyes defiant.
"No! If I'm gonna go down then I'm going to go down fighti…" His defiant words became a blood curdling scream as the head of a spear stabbed through his leg. He dropped to the ground, letting the dagger fall from the mare's throat, and lay there screaming. The teacher ran away from him into Crashing Wave's hooves.
"I've got ya. It's okay now. It's all okay." Crashing soothed her as a loud voice called from behind Blood Hoof.
"Blood Hoof, you have violated the laws of Equestria as set down by Princess Celestia and I hereby place you under arrest." Scotty clanked the shackles into place around Blood Hoof's legs as Burning Spear yanked her weapon from his leg. Crimson and Fii ran in from a side door and helped Scotty carry Blood Hoof from the school. Behind Ratty Crashing Wave helped the teacher to her hooves and, along with Jocky and Fii, led her and the children out of the school.
Ratty just stood there. Staring at the red stain on the carpet where Blood Hoof had been standing. Eventually Scotty came back in and trotted up to his friend.
"Hey, you okay?" The red pegasus asked and Ratty nodded slowly.
Scotty stood for a moment before asking his next question. "What you told him. About blaming me for what happened in Canterlot. Was that…"
"Bull, complete bull." Ratty interrupted quickly.
"All of it?"
"No… when I lay there dying a part of me did blame anypony and everypony for what had happened. But then Luna saved me and it didn't matter anymore."
"Sooo… We're cool?" Scotty asked, unsure.
"Oh yeah 'course we are." Ratty smiled at him and Scotty's face broke into a smile. He put a hoof over Ratty's shoulder.
"Come on then. Let's go home."
The team was in their locker room, putting away their armour and weapons and talking excitedly. And then Fii decided to ask the big question.
"So boss, Crash and Burn, do we keep 'em?"
Scotty laughed as he looked at the two mares who had now started shifting awkwardly at the end of the room.
"Well… okay yeah, I suppose we can. But remember Fii, you've got to feed them and clean up after them and take them for regular walks." The entire room shook with laughter as Jocky walked up to the pair.
"Welcome to strike team one. I'd strap in if I was you. You're in for a helluva ride!"