A Better Tomorrow
Chp. VII
I left the restaurant and made my way towards the Nightmare Moon statue in the secluded forest area. There was a cool breeze that blew on me. The area was silent. I was standing there, all by myself, looking around to rendezvous with the old stallion.
"Snake, are you there?" I asked.
After minutes of waiting near the statue, I heard some leaves rustle from a distance. I turned only to see multiple Rangers diving at me to attack. I quickly dove out of the way. I then found myself surrounded. I held my ground as they prepared to attack me at once.
I began to charge my horn. The Rangers immediately tried to stop my spell but I grinned. As they all lunged forward to attack me at once, I teleported at the last second. They all slammed into each other. But then, I felt a sharp pain on my side. I was lifted off my hooves as I was sent flying from a kick by a rogue Ranger.
The other Rangers regrouped with the rogue one and began their assault. I tried to shoot them with magic beams but they managed to dodge them. I then aimed properly and fired. This time, I was able to hit one of them.
I got up and continued to maneuver away from their onslaught. Unfortunately, they were able to once again surround me and began to unleash a flurry of kicks to me. I immediately dropped to the ground, turtled up.
Out of nowhere, a rogue magic beam hit one of the Rangers. The others soon fell afterwards from multiple magic beams. Afterwards, I looked up and saw all the Rangers were, indeed, changelings laying on the ground, groaning in pain.
A squad of royal guards came by and began taking them away.
"Twilight Sparkle, are you okay?" Asked a royal guard.
I nodded my head.
"I've been better but I'll live."
The royal guard then escorted me back to the hospital, where Nurse Redheart tended to my wounds.
"What happened here, Miss Sparkle?" Asked Nurse Redheart.
"I… I fell down the stairs." I said.
The nurse gave me a skeptical look and shook her head.
"Must've been a really bad fall… Anyways, it's recommended that you stay here for the night to make sure the wounds aren't critical." Said Nurse Redheart.
Nurse Redheart finished tending to my wounds and I laid down in the bed. Not too long afterwards, the door opened and the other mares came in. They each wore a worried look on their faces.
"We came as soon as we heard. What happened, Twilight?" Asked Applejack.
"I was ambushed by changelings. Someone sabotaged the intel." I said.
"Sabotaged the intel? What are you talking about?" Asked Rarity.
"After coming back from the train station, I went to grab something to eat. My waiter gave me a letter and it was from my informant, Snake. He told me to meet him at the Nightmare Moon statue and when I got there, the changelings were all waiting for me."
"But how did you defeat them all by yourself?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"I wasn't by myself. Turns out, there were royal guards around the area and they took care of it."
Just then, Nurse Redheart came in with a bouquet of flowers and a card. She handed it to me.
"An elderly stallion came in and asked me to give this to you." Said Nurse Redheart.
I thanked the nurse and she left the room, leaving me and my friends to read what was in the card.
Zecora's hut.
-Snake.
"Want us to go check it out with you?" Asked Rainbow Dash. "I figure you could use some extra muscle."
I shook my head.
"No. We're not going." I said.
"But why?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"Following his stupid letter was what got me here. I don't think I can trust him anymore."
We continued to chat until it was night time and the others had to go home. The next day, I was given permission from the other doctors to go home. When I got back to the library, I began to just lay around and read. I didn't care what I was reading at this point- just so long as my mind was off of the Ranger incident.
The next two days were spent in solitude. I didn't go to Applejack's farm, I didn't want to talk to anypony. I was reading a Daring Do book until I heard a knock on the door. I asked whoever it was to come in.
"Twilight, somepony asked me to give this to you." Said Spike, handing me a letter.
I groaned. As soon as I heard "somepony" and "letter", I knew it was from Snake. I decided to take the letter and read it anyways. Again, it simply said "Zecora's hut."
I was hesitant to follow the letter- I didn't want an ambush like last time to happen again. However, this is the second time I received a letter from Snake, telling me to meet him at Zecora's hut. Perhaps it really was him and not an ambush?
I left the library to head to the Everfree Forest, where Zecora's hut was located. When I got to the door, I began to glance around to make sure nopony was waiting to get me. I knocked on the door. The door opened and I was greeted by Zecora.
"Twilight, come inside. Ragnarok continues to grow tall and wide." Said Zecora.
I went inside and there was Snake, sitting on the wooden chair with a smile on his face.
"Miss Sparkle! I was starting to think you wouldn't show up." Said Snake.
I frowned.
"What was that all about?" I asked.
"I can explain…"
"You're darn right, you owe me an explanation!"
"Look, I sent you out there for a reason. According to my sources, Ragnarok is in its final stages and Zodiac's trying to gather test subjects for his new weapon. Unicorns, in particular."
"Are you implying that they're after me?"
"Yes. Ragnarok runs on magic and with a powerful unicorn to boost it, who knows how many kingdoms that lunatic can destroy. You have a price on your head, Twilight. I baited all of the changelings in Ponyville to go after you and now they're being interrogated by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. That'll buy us some time but I wouldn't get comfortable yet, if I were you."
"So you got the royal guards to wait for me at the statue?" I asked.
Snake nodded his head.
"Yep. That was me."
"So, why did you ask me to come here?"
"I have valuable information on Zodiac's little project. Although Ragnarok is in the final stages, it still needs a lot of time and money for it to be finished. The TLA aren't able to do much against Zodiac's henchstallions, but they're able to still keep them paranoid. One slip up and the TLA's got them right on their flanks."
"Alright, so what's the plan?"
"If we're going to do this, we have to cut off all known suppliers in Equestria. Zodiac's using smuggled Equestrian bits to fund for this project. Think back eight years ago, when three million bits from the Manehattan treasury suddenly disappeared. Do you remember that?"
"Yeah… What does that have to do with this?"
"Ranger and Patriot found out what happened to that money. It all went to the White Lotus Academy. It was smuggled into Terran and Princess Celestia managed to find out about it. Since then, Zodiac decided to resort to pony trafficking to fund for Ragnarok. Fluttershy was supposed to be his cash cow, since she is an Equestrian hero, a former model for Photo Finish AND she's got connections to Princess Celestia."
I gasped. It all made sense- Zodiac used petty crime to cover up the bigger picture. Zodiac… What is he?
"How's Zodiac still able to fund Ragnorak?" I asked.
"When you and your comrades successfully completed Operation: Stranglehold, you cut off Zodiac's pony trafficking market. Since then, he's been using counterfeit money to fund it. We'll have to cut off all of his connections in Equestria."
"Where do we start?"
"Based on my intel, Zodiac's main hotspot is in Las Pegasus. Those casinos are breeding grounds for counterfeiting and rigged systems, so they're essentially cheating rich ponies out of their bits. Whatever profit those casinos make, it all goes straight to Zodiac. Go to Las Pegasus with your friends and shut down those casinos. That'll halt Ragnarok's funding. Then come back here for further instructions."
I nodded my head and began to leave for the door. Before I turned the knob to open it, I stopped once again. Something about Snake seemed odd. Even though I've never seen him before, how is it that he knew so much about me and my friends? How did he know we took part in Operation: Stranglehold? In fact, how did he even know about the mission?
"Question, Miss Sparkle?" Asked Snake.
"Ranger's been missing since Operation: Stranglehold. By any chance, have you seen him?" I replied.
"The last that I checked, Ranger's on some crazy mission to search for his mentor, Patriot. He's certain that Patriot didn't die but I haven't heard from him since."
"When did you last see him?"
"About six months ago before he disappeared. Anyways, you better get back to work, Twilight. Good luck in Las Pegasus!"
I left the hut, making my way towards the Sugarcube Corner. I went inside. The bell on the door rang, notifying that I entered the store only to have been greeted by Pinkie Pie. I also noticed that Rarity was sitting at a table, enjoying a cupcake.
"Girls, we need to talk…" I said.
To be continued…
