Sins of Harmony

Volume 2: Enemies Unbound

Chapter 51: Enemies triumphant.


Late Evening

19th June, 1006 ANM

Manehatten, downtown, Centurion Royal Hotel.

Floor 12, room 34.

Flipping through the TV channels boredly, Pinkie's mind began to wonder to their dinner plans that night.

"Hey girls! What'dya want for dinner!?"

"I dunno Pinkie, we tried all the sorts of places around the city, what more is there?" Applejack said. The cowpony mare was finishing writing a letter to Ponyville, to her sister and brother.

"Well, how 'bout ordering in?" Pinkie suggested.

Pizza.

The suggestion randomly popped into Pinkie's head, though she'd had a slight nagging in her mind for the food anyway.

Rarity, who had been in the bathroom, came out, her mane in a less done up style. She evidently had no intentions of going out this evening.

"Oh, could we get some ice cream with it?"

Applejack recalled seeing Rarity's distraught state at the news she heard today, concerning Canterlot.

"Still getting over the shock?"

"Yes. It was, well, frightful to hear about what almost happened to Twilight. On top of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash a few days beforehand." Rarity shuddered, as she had also read how Spike had been dangerously involved too.

"At least they've doubled security on us. No way they'll get the jump on us, whoever this, er, what was the guy's name that's having us all hunted?"

"I believe it was a, Garnet." Rarity recalled the odd name, and the diamond dog rogue it was associated with.

"I could certainly use some comfort food." Rarity added.

Pinkie rushed over to the phonebook to find a number for a pizza joint to order in from, while Applejack commented: "Better watch your figure Rarity, if you're goin' to the museum with you tomorrow."

"Says you, as both you and Pinkie shall be with me. Telling me to watch my figure, as if one night of comfort food will defeat my beauty." Rarity feigned some indignified speech, which got Applejack snickering.

As Pinkie found a pizza joint, one leaped out at her eyes by some mental repetition:

That one. That one.


25 minutes later

Manehatten, downtown, Centurion Royal Hotel.

Ground floor, Main Foyer

The Centurion Royal was used to some celebrities ordering not so upper class food, usually when stress or laziness ate at them. So a pizza delivery pony was not an uncommon sight.

The young, light brown and black maned earth pony was given te clear by the hotel staff, but the guards, o behalf of the 3 mares he was delivering to, had stopped him when they heard which floor and room he told them he was bound for.

A quick strip search had persuaded them he was not a threat.

"Sorry for the inconvenience sir, but these VIP members have some who may wish to spy on them." A cover story, they didn't want anypony to know there was a plot to try and kill these 3 recently revealed. They just added guards on the inside, and watched the hotel and its surrounding area.

I doubt its just that.

'Swifthooves' walked past the guards, who pressed the buttons for floor 12 as he checked the pizza was still warm.

He need only make eye contact with all 3 to achieve his goals.

Using the mental link to the microscopic fragments of energy infused pumice dust, that seeped into their bloodstreams half a month ago by his agent the gay nightclub they visited, he influenced their actions just enough so they were all in position.


Manehatten, downtown, Centurion Royal Hotel.

Floor 12, room 34.

Rarity, as she had absentmindedly wandered to the kitchen, bemusedly wondered aloud:

"Now, why did I come to the kitchen?"

Dismissing the lost train of thought, Rarity saw Applejack walk over, placing the written letters on the counter.

"There, I told sis I'd tell her all about my stay here."

The door knocked sudden, and a teen pony's voice said through the door:

"Pizza for a Miss, Pinkie P-"

A pink blur rushed forwards and, miraculously remembering to unlatch the door in the half second time, yanked the door open.

"That's ME!"

Taken aback, the light brown, black maned Earth pony said with a happy smile, as he gazed at each of them: "Alright, I made it within the 30 minutes. Sorry girls, but no free pizza."

Applejack laughed a little at his humour, but she heard the faintest voice of her thoughts as he looked at her briefly, and she could have sworn his eyes flashed yellow:

Honesty

As Rarity saw his eyes meet hers ever so briefly, she saw them flash the faintest purple, though she dismissed it as tiredness. Her thoughts had a similar mantra:

Generosity

Pinkie's eyes alight, had the money they'd pooled to pay for the pizza.

"Here ya go, 20 bits, and a 3 bit tip!"

Smiling briefly, the brown stallion's eyes flashed slight blue, as Pinkie paid it no heed. Her head voice sealed the final one:

Laughter

The brown stallion smiled as he thanked them, taking the cash for the delivery as Pinkie shut the door with the pizza and ice cream in hand.

Turning to walk off, the brown stallion had projected the last thought to all 3 faintly:

Protect, Survive.

But he had mouthed to himself in secret:

"And now, they are of no concern."

He had all 3 in his hold, but he'd rendezvous with another Entity unit, this one having come all the way from Canterlot, and hidden in the Manehatten bay, carrying the 3 corresponding Element gems.

He couldn't hold all 3 energy sources forever.

Yet, as he entered the elevator, still disguised as Swifthooves, the Entity drone, having a connection to all other drones on a communication level only, couldn't help but feel some strange new sensation, now that it had all 6 Harmony element energies in its possession.

The Entity had anticipated possible side effects of this forced, early reclamation of the Elements, rather than letting what they had left naturally fade from the 6 for him to absorb as ambient energy.


3 Hours later

Late Night

Manehatten, downtown, waterways.

'Swifthooves' shift had passed, and already the Entity drone that impersonated the brown earth pony teen had returned to the flat of the original, implanting the memories of the past 24 hours into his dreaming mind. In the next morning, he'd awake, and the Entity drone's true thoughts would be missing. He'd remember what anyone else remembered him doing, and nothing else.

But the Entity drone retained his identity for just a bit longer.

Hidden beneath a bridge, 'Swifthooves' leant over the waterway on a small ledge.

In the water, a rocky, glowing form surfaced, the 'head' of the fish shaped Entity drone opening to reveal its precious cargo:

3 gems, yellow, purple and blue in colour.

Freeing itself of the burden of carrying these energies for too long, the Swifthooves disguised drone touched each gem with a hoof each time. They slightly glowed each time, retaining the glow as the Entity swimmer retracted the gems into its head.

If the Entity could sigh in relief, it would have through every single unit it had to call upon. But, something else nagged at its collective thought processes.

As the drone had mused already, the rapid recovery, instead of gradual, natural gaining of the remnant Harmony energy, had a side effect.

It, had begun to feel, emulate, some of the emotional traits that the 6 mares had used to amplify or access the magic of the 6 Elements.

The alien, energy being, was feeling emotions over its situation.

Faint rhythmic humming sounded, as drones at and in Manehatten's harbour, or at the Maldives volcanic hub, did their equivalent of laughter of triumph, and relief.

It felt the magical energy, and the normal physical energies, that this completeness was already beginning to grant them. Their limits had suddenly shot up in their capabilities.

But, something nagged at it. Logically, it would be the most sense to abandon the 3 mares left to be yet attacked to their fates, whatever they may be. But, something was off. It felt, a draw to protect them, at least one last time.

It felt, loyalty, if only for now, to the 6 it had to extract the energies subtly, and briefly from.

It would be a kindness to help them, as it was suddenly in a generous 'mood' to help them.

And, the final 'emotion', honesty, revealed to it something it would have to keep in mind. These 6 had a strong connection to the Elements.

Its logic based mind concluded that these emotions confirmed it. It would have a draw to these 6, but the connection would diminish over time.

For now though, it felt something it never expected itself to feel, a debt to them.

In the end, it did the logical thing, deciding their fates were not worth the consequences.

The Entity drone abandoned its Swifthooves disguise, and literally jumped onto the swimmer form, melding to form a larger swimmer form.

It submerged, navigating below the waterway boats to join its larger gathering of forces out in the harbour.

However Garnet decided to attack, it had to be certain to stick around. Overseeing how his inevitable attempt on these 3 played out was essential. The Entity felt it prudent to remind Garnet of what it had warned him of a while ago.

Any attempt to undermine its efforts would be met with retaliation. And with the 6 no longer a concern, its retaliation was unrestrained.


20th June, 1006 ANM

Mid Morning

Manehatten, downtown, Salerno Avenue

"And the who's who of the ones that will be there, oh how many opportunities to get to know Manehatten's elite!"

Rarity gushed, while Applejack listened as attentively as she could. Pinkie gazed out at the traffic of horse drawn chariots and mixture of motor vehicles in the streets. The museum function was one they'd been invited to.

Given it would have high security anyway, the guards assigned to them had little trouble agreeing to go with them.

Their chariot, an enclosed roof, well done up one, was pulled by two earth ponies through the medium traffic of Salerno Avenue.

Up ahead though, there was a problem.

The chariot suddenly turned off the Avenue, while the Earth pony guard assigned to drive the chariot called into the chariot:

"Traffic block up ahead, construction works. We're taking a detour."

"Anything to make sure we're not too late." Rarity replied politely.


Unseen, some of the construction workers looked on and nodded to a hidden set of eyes nearby.

The ponies working had a link, as a larger Earth pony, rough in appearance, called on a radio that the diversion worked.


Manehatten, downtown, Oberlander Drive

"And that snobby reporter that somehow made his way inside, oh how rude of him."

Rarity recalled a reporter that had snuck up to their floor, and even had bribed a hotel employee, who had also snuck away, into getting a key. He'd been apprehended by two guards, and carted off.

Pinkie recalled the grey, silver maned reporter, with some disdain: "Yeah, we have our privacy to have."

Applejack suddenly looked out the window, muttering: "Uh, looks like there's traffic here too."

Indeed, and some shouting was occurring amongst the others, there was a queue of traffic along Oberlander drive. Up ahead, wedged between the buildings that lay just 2 blocks from the Art museum, a construction works blocked all but one of the three lanes that side of the road.

In front of them, 3 large trucks, their rumbling engines and large trailers behind them, blocked any way around for the traffic behind them.

A few ponies were milling about, apparently there were some stupid gawpers in the traffic slowing the process through a single lane down, motor driver or pony drawn regardless.

"Come on!" The Earth pony guard driver yelled.


Up ahead, the large, grey coloured Diamond Dog walked into the truck in the same lane as the chariot drawing the 3 Mares. The inner, left lane truck.

He had all 3 trucks made ready, to make sure he had a way of ensuring a direct hit.

Climbing into the truck cabin in the left lane, he saw the driver, one of many hundreds he'd paid for this attack, give him a curt nod:

"Alright, thing's set up. Just tell 'em to open the doors, and let at it. There's a manhole up ahead."

Garnet smirked, and climbed into a secretly formed door into the trailer, from the back of the driver cab.

Inside the dark of the trailer, he saddled up at the mechanism, and saw the hole in the bottom of the trailer.

Right before they stopped over the manhole cover, he growled, his voice ringing higher as Tyree gleefully yelled:

"Open it up!"


Looking out the window, in the next second, screams erupted as something was seen up ahead.

Whipping their heads to the front mirror, as the guard driver pony froze as he saw they had no way out, Pinkie was first to see it.

"HEY!"

Applejack and Rarity glimpsed through the front window, right before the flashes came, then the shots, hitting the driver guard, them, and many ponies driving or pulling in the lane behind them.


Roaring with glee in synchronised noise with the machine gun's rattling, Tyree was in command of this body more as he emptied the cartridge chain into the cars and chariots ahead.

The earth pony guard, and the Unicorn guards that had tried to leap over the chariot to fire a defensive spell, hadn't been fast enough. Garnet had pulled the trigger right as the doors were yanked open by the other two Earth pony hired goons in his truck.

They, and the 3 mares inside, were riddled with the hailfire of bullets that cut them apart.

For 5 seconds he fired, the ponies abandoning their cars and chariots all around as bullets passed into and through the targeted chariot, continuing on.

The chariot then caught fire, as Tyree/Garnet had arranged for incendiary rounds for the machine guns in each truck, no matter which one was used.

The chariot, and other cars behind it, already abandoned, began to smoke and crackle.

Barrel hot already, Tyree sagged as if coming down from a high, yelling loudly:

"We're done here!"

Immediately, the two other trucks smartly having disassembled their machine guns and laying low, stayed where they were, the members in them playing along with the panicked crowds as they fled, their faces obscured with disguises they'd ditch in an alley somewhere.

It was not to different from normal drive by shootings under disguise, except in execution and planning needed for it to work.

A week of planning, finding out their schedules and bribing road works officials and worker ponies to do certain works at this time.

With the 2 earth ponies, and the truck driver, Garnet leapt down the hole in the truck trailer's base, the manhole cover ripped off by him as he leapt down first.

They had a quick escape into a building a block away, then coming up, shedding their current visages. Garnet would ditch the grey fur paint, the 2 earth pony members their clothing for other types.

Already running through, Tyree gleefully hissed to Garnet in his mind:

"You see!? You're secretive methods were less effective! I told you to trust me, now you see I need to be out more often!"

"No, this, it.."

"It worked!"

Garnet kept quiet, but he'd spoken too loud, as the 2 other Earth pony goons shared odd looks with each other and the driver earth pony running alongside them.

They ran on into the sewer, triumphant in Garnet's case.


5 minutes later

The fire department and police were cautious, as they observed from a distance in case the shooters were still there.

After a few daring police ponies ventured out, horns and weapons ready, they saw nothing.

By the time they found the manhole they'd fled down, and pursued in a hopeless chase, the fire engines came by to extinguish the flaming chariots and cars down the inner lane.

The lead chariot had been a complete blaze before the hoses extinguished it. Only charred remains were left of the guards and 3 mares inside.


Having watched the spectacle from above, the Entity drone, disguised as a small city cat, conveyed no visible emotion at the sight.

Things happened how they happened. It had made the right choice.

It had seen the grey diamond dog, larger than normal, and the Entity knew now, that Garnet, or more likely his alter ego Tyree, had taken matters into his own hands to ensure victory.

He still had yet to learn what happened in his attempts to undermine its, the Entity's goals. It had no reason, as the mares had been drained already.

But, it wanted to.


News was quick to spread of the attack, and the success of it.

The Hephaestus members in the city, and the Equestrian reinforcements, would be quick to respond.

Garnet/Tyree had made sure to be ready with an escape route.

But, he made one miscalculation, and it was one new to emotion all of a sudden.

Now, the Entity's instilmant of justice would be weighted by a newfound sense of vengeance, for that dog even attempting to undermine it.

It had to first ensure its assets in Manehatten mobilised in the correct way, in such as way as to remind Garnet of just how badly, he had failed in undermining the Entity.

Garnet would be thwarted in getting off scot free, and then however the Entity saw fit, it would make it known just what exactly he had messed with.

The irony in all of this, was that those hunting Garnet now, especially after hearing of the attack on Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, might come to see the dog was in the right in trying to undermine the Entity.

His only fault was in not being quick enough about it.


So, for once Garnet succeeded...

RIP

What happened to all 3, and the newfound, if only temporary emotions of the Entity collective, will come into play with its vengeance against Garnet.


Safe to say, and with newfound emotions by having to get all 6 full element powers early, the Entity is pissed at Garnet/Tyree for even trying to kill it. If Garnet had managed to do it before he drained them, he may have gotten off easier.


But here is where the moral conflict over those who view Garnet and the Entity as a threat comes in. Whether Garnet was justified in trying to kill at least one of the 6 [3 in the outcome case], given what the Entity can now unleash?

Coming up, the true 'Unbound' nature of the Entity begins to show.


As usual, please review/critique as one would.