Chapter Twelve:
Armed to the Teeth
"Twithcha twitch! Twitchy twitchy twitch!" Pinkie Pie jerked and contorted her body in every position imaginable.
"Pinkie, are you quite sure this time?" Rarity asked the pink ball of craziness. "I honestly don't think I can walk another mile and a half around this dreadful metropolis!"
"Oh, I'm very sure this time!" Pinkie shouted jubilantly. "I can sense enough boom booms and pow pows to take down a small country behind that door right there!"
The six tired young mares were standing in the middle of a darkened alleyway filled with trash and debris. They were facing a rather plain wooden door on the side of what looked like some kind of abandoned old apartment building. The sky above them had turned a dark purplish-blue, Celestia was in the process of setting the sun. They had been trotting around Manehatten for nearly two hours now, following Pinkie Pie and her unexplainable Pinkie Sense wherever she led them. It felt like they had been through just about back ally in the city. Pinkies Sense hadn't exactly been as reliable as they had hoped it would be, as it led them to find nothing more than a few illegal fireworks shops. The mares just assumed that maybe Pinkies Sense was confusing fireworks for fire arms. Patience was wearing thin for the group now, particularly for Rarity, considering what she had been through that day.
"Pinkie Pie, you had better not be screwing around with us!" Rainbow Dash said nastily to the pink party pony. "I swear I'm five seconds away from punching some random pedestrian right in the face!"
Pinkie Pie huffed, as though she were offended.
"I wouldn't screw around in a situation like this, Dashie!" She said with a slight sneer. "Even I know when the proper time to be silly is, and this isn't one of those times!"
"Pfft, sure," Dash dead-panned.
Turning back to the unassuming looking door, the ponies pondered actually going in for a few minutes more.
"Are you guys absolutely sure you want to do this?" Twilight asked, as though she were hoping for "No" to be the answer. "I mean... we could always just try a legit arms dealer or..." she tapered off there, knowing full well that option was out of the question; they really needed that C4.
"What's gotchya so worried, Twi?" Applejack asked with genuine concern.
"It's just... we don't know what to expect with these ponies," Twillight explained. "They... they could be..." she paused, her eyes narrowing. "How do you think they'll react to seeing six mares walking into their territory? What do you think they'll do to us?"
"Nothing," Dash answered quickly. "I've already explained this, Twilight: all they care about is making a profit. They're not gonna do anything stupid with us if they think we're loaded with bits..." she thought for a moment. "But ya know... we're gonna have to deal with them somehow since we're pretty much gonna be robbing this place. So if they do, for some reason decide to make the fist move, we'll just tear 'em to shreds like we do to those punks last night. This'll be a breeze!"
Twilight gave an exasperated sigh.
"Are you really so desperate to commit more murder, Dash?" She asked the pegasus in a flat tone. "As taking the life of another pony really become that meaningless to you?"
Dash looked deeply offended.
"Nooooooo," she said slowly. "I'm not some kind of sick minded serial killer. It's just... you said so yourself: these ponies are scum! We'd be doing Equestria a favor by taking care of them! We're like vigilantes or something, like the Punisher or Batmare... except Batmare never kills anypony."
Twilight took a moment to think on that. It was true; the colts they had slaughtered the night before were among the lowest of the low in Equestria, and chances were the ponies that possible occupied the other side of the door they were facing were probably no better. Maybe cleaning up a little more of these vermin would do this land some good. Besides, there was always the possibility that they didn't have to kill any of the ponies in there. Maybe a hard enough blow to the head would render them unconscious, and maybe when they woke up they'd have no memory of what happened...
"Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy's soft voice broke the unicorns train of thought. "I really think we should go in there now."
"I agree," Rarity added. "There is simply no way that I will be returning to that warehouse empty-hoofed after what I've been through today." A siren sounded of in the distance, making the fashionista shudder noticeably.
"Fine," Twilight snapped. "We'll take a quick look at what they have. But like I said earlier: if we go in there and it we get the feeling like we're out-matched, we're out of there, no ifs ands or buts, understand?"
Everypony nodded, and at that moment Pinkie Pie burst forward and forced the door open. They were half expecting it to hear another "Oh phooey" come from within the building, as they had heard so many times since they had set out on their search. This time they heard nothing, at least not right away. They exchanged nervous glances, fearing for the safety of their friend. Hopefully she hadn't been knocked unconscious by some crazed maniac on the other side, or fallen into some hole in the floor, or-
"OH MY GOSH! YOU GUYS GOTTA SEE THIS!" An excited squeal came from inside the building.
All their fears were wiped from them, replaced with a strange sense of excitement as the five ponies blindly charged into the building. It was dark and musty inside the narrow hallway they found themselves in. At the end of it they could make out the faint silhouette of Pinkie Pie. She looked almost like a cardboard cutout with how still she was. The others slowly approached, wondering just what could've caused the normally ecstatic earth pony to go so quiet and still. And when they got to her, they saw that the expression on her face was just pure, utter amazement on a level they had never even thought she'd be possible. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates and her mouth was hanging slack-jawed, the corners of it pointing slightly upwards in a sort of smile. When they saw what she was looking at, their expressions pretty much matched hers...
They were staring at a room in which the walls were lined with every type of firearm and explosive imaginable: AKs, M16s, AR15s, UZIs, SMGs, Twelve gauges, Sawn-Offs, Pump-Actions, Sniper rifles... everything. On a few tables set around the room were explosives of all kinds: dynamite, a box of grenades, blocks of C4, even a few bottles of the dangerously unstable nitroglycerin. But what really got their attention: a massive RPG lying right in the center of the room on its own table.
When it worked, that Pinkie Sense was a friggin miracle...
"Sweet Celestia on high..." Applejack murmured. "Ah think we found our Black Market."
"What have I gotten myself into?" Rarity said quietly to herself.
Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was all but bouncing up and down with excitement.
"Dude..." she said in an awed tone. "Forget about the robbery... we could take over Equestria with this kind of artillery!"
A low, baritone laughter sounded from one of the dark corners of the room, causing Fluttershy to squeak in fear.
"Well, I wouldn't lay any claim to that," came a thickly accented male voice, definitely Stalliongrad. "But far be it from me to stifle your creativity."
The ponies all turned to the direction of the voice, and from out of the shadows stepped a rather intimidating looking dark blue stallion with no mane whatsoever, a large scar across his right cheek, and an eyepatch over his left eye. He was fairly old, at least in his mid to late sixties, but he was also very muscular, especially in hid forelegs. He had no cutie mark, and that really came as no surprise to Twilight; she imagined stallions like these had no real reason for trying to obtain one. They just wanted their money, and there was nothing special about that talent. Any pony could make money.
"So," the stallion continued, he was smiling quite warmly, which was admittedly quite unnerving. "Welcome to my humble shop! You must have some pretty strong connections if you were able to find this place!"
"Uhhhhh, yeah," Twilight said, trying to sound calm and resolute. "We, uh... asked around and heard you were the guy to see about heavy firepower."
The stallion laughed again. It was a creepy, throaty laugh that sent chills up the spines of all six mares. Even Pinkie Pie seemed a little unsure about this guy.
"Well, you heard correctly!" He announced grandly. "Please, come in, all of you! You've caught me at just the right time; I just received a new shipment of full-auto rifles straight from Stalliongrad, the finest you'll find anywhere, I guarantee it!"
With forced smiles on their faces, the six mares took noticeably shaky steps into the shop. It wasn't so much that they were afraid; this stallion seemed like nothing they couldn't handle -the fact that he was the only guy in here actually set them at ease- It was just so overwhelming see so much deadly firepower at once. Most of them had only seen a lot of this stuff in movies. The fact that it was all right there in front of them, right there for them to touch...
"I must say," the stallion said suddenly. "I don't get a lot of mares in here. What's the occasion ladies? Goin' after your ex's or something?" He laughed heartily.
"Eh heh heh, sure," Twilight replied with a unintentionally goofy smile.
"Well, don't let me stand in your way!" the stallion said. "Browse! Browse all you want. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to help."
Why does he sound so sinister? Twilight thought to herself.
It was true; something in this stallions voice hinted at the fact that he was something of a psycho. Twilight figured she shouldn't have expected anything less though; she had read about how dangerous these ponies were... as well as where most of their money went towards. It wasn't pretty...
Twilight took that time to appreciate just how lucky she was to live in the peaceful land of Equestria. She knew that the many countries and territories that surrounded them were far from peaceful; they were ravaged by war and genocide, ruled by brutal war horses who had no qualms about using the most sadistic of methods to keep those they ruled over in line.
Twilight recalled a time when Zecora had shared with her the main reason she had come to Ponyville. It hadn't just been to study the local herbs of the Everfree forest. The zebra was forced to leave due to the unbearable living conditions of her village, courtesy of the local militia. The land had been embroiled in civil war for decades, and many innocents were caught in the middle of it. All of Zecoras friends and family had been taken from her in some way, shape or form, and in order to avoid meeting the same fate they did, she had to flee.
She was unable to go into detail about the more harrowing aspects of her journey, but the sorrow in her eyes made it perfectly clear that it had taken an extreme toll on her. Still, through it all, the kind-hearted zebra always wore a smile on her face and was always willing to help a friend with her herbal remedies, as well as a nice soothing rhyme to to put ones mind at ease. At first glance you would never know just what she had been through.
Twilight was the only pony that Zecora had ever told about her hardships. The zebra just wanted the horrors of her past behind her, but she also wanted at least one pony to know what was happening in the world...
Twilight could barely hide the utter disgust and shame she was feeling at being in this "place of business", this place that profited on the suffering of others and made its sole purpose to ensure that this kind of violence could continue. She had to keep reminding herself that they weren't in any way contributing to this cause. They were, after all, going to be robbing this place when they had what they wanted. And as for that dark blue stallion, acting all friendly and jovial, willing to be helpful... she saw through that facade easily. He was just another war profiteer. He didn't care how many died, he just wanted, as Rainbow Dash had put it: a profit. The lavender unicorn could hardly wait to make him pay for his crimes, though she had no idea just how they were going to do it... or when.
I wonder if Celestia is even aware of what goes on outside Equestia... she thought bitterly, giving herself another reason to despise her mentor.
Meanwhile, the others had spread out around the shop, checking out the various rifles that were on display. Each one of them had their eyes on something different. Rainbow Dash was currently glossing over an Ak-47, among the most common assault rifles in the land. She held it delicately in her hooves (she had to hover to do that) and ran her eyes over it carefully, her face scrunched up in concentration. She held it up to her face and aimed down the sights. Fitting her hoof over the trigger, she gave it a quick and somewhat hesitent squeez. She was half expecting it to actually fire off some rounds... it didn't, and the pegasus couldn't help but feel a little stupid for hoping otherwise; there was no way they'd actually keep these things loaded while they were on display.
"Ahhhh, I see you're a pony who appreciates a good, reliable assault rifle..." the thickly accented voice of the stallion sounded over Dash's shoulder.
Turning to look at him, she saw that he seemed genuinely impressed by her selection.
"Yeah, it's pretty sweet," Dash said. "Buuuuut, it's also a little primitive. Do you have any of these models with the red-dot sights? Or maybe an attachable grenade launcher?"
The stallion gaped at her for a moment... then burst out in hearty laughter.
"Oh ha ha ha! You're a Modern Warmare fan, I take it?"
Dash gave a nervous chuckle.
"Yeah, I was," she said. "Until everypony started hacking it; then it just go annoying."
"Ah, true... true..." his laughter died down. "Anyhow, I think I have what you're looking for in the back. Wait here."
The stallion trotted off through a doorway that was lined with beads. It looked more like something you would see in a video store that housed the more "adult friendly" films. Most likely those beads were used here to offer a little more... decoration to the otherwise grim surroundings.
Dash grinned with excitement as she waited for the stallion to return with a firearm worthy of her awesomeness. A scathing look that Twilight was giving her caused it to fade a bit.
"A grenade launcher, Dash? Really?" She said in annoyance. "We're robbing a bank, not taking on heathen armies of Tartarus!"
"Aw, c'mon, Twi," Dash said lazily. "I'm not actually gonna fire it off. Just think of it as a decoration or something."
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. As ridiculous as that sounded, she had to admit that maybe it would be helpful to have something like that with them if things turned... ugly. Besides, maybe a grenade launcher could act as a pretty handy deterrent for keeping civilians in line.
At that moment, the dark blue weapons proprietor returned. Balanced on his back was a similar looking rifle to what Dash was holding, only this a few extra attachments to the top and bottom.
"Here you are: an Ak-47 with attachable red-dot sight and XM25 grenade launcher," he announced had he hoofed the weapon over to the pegasus. "Perfect for dealing with targets that are bunched together."
"Sweeeeeet," Dash mused as she looked over the weapon. It was indeed worthy of her awesomeness.
Twilight sighed and shook her head, but in the end decided not to say anything. Although Dash could be as unpredictable as Pinkie Pie on occasion, she was far from unstable. She knew that the pegasus would by no means resort to using that grenade launcher unless it was absolutely necessary, which hopefully would be never.
Applejack, meanwhile, had her eyes on a rather imposing Twelve Gauge Shottie. She had heard about the devastating firepower these babies packed from her cousin Braeburn. Apparently some bandits up in Appleoosa had gotten their hooves on these particular weapons and had been terrorizing the countryside for quite some time before they were finally taken out by the local law enforcement. It was the weapon that Applejack now held in her hooves that made them so notorious.
The earth pony had no trouble whatsoever standing on her hind legs to be able to hold this weapon. They were, after all, quite possibly the strongest set of rear appendages in all of Equestria... at least that's what she wanted to believe. On top of that, she knew they were going to get in plenty of training with these things before they did anything too crazy. She'd take to maneuvering on her hind legs the way a pegasus took to flying: it would all come naturally.
"Now that baby there," came the voice of the dealer from over AJ's shoulder. "-is a true thing of beauty. One blast of this'll reduce a foal to nothing but a pile of guts!" He laughed jovially again. Applejack tried to keep straight-faced despite the rather crude comment.
"Ya don' say?" She quipped. "Ah s'pose this'll hafta do, though. Ah like me a weapon with a little kick to it."
The proprietor chuckled.
"You won't be disappointed," he said rather cooly.
Across from Applejack, Rarity was busy levitating a firearm of her own with her magic. Even though she wasn't physically touching the weapon, she was still cringing visibly at just being in the same room as such beastly and uncouth devices. One single train of thought had been playing through her head all day long:
I simply cannot wait for this fucking day to be over.
Still, as flustered and distraught as she was... there was something about the rifle she had in her magic aura that attracted her. It was a rather sleek and shiny, and even a little... elegant, if that word was appropriate enough for such a barbaric tool of destruction. The unicorn figured that if she truly was going to go through with this, then she might as well look her best, and this particular rifle really seemed to go well with her, thought she couldn't quite pinpoint why. Though she was an expert in fashion and design, she had never quite taken into consideration how a rifle would work against certain designs and colors.
"The MP5..." the blue stallion said almost dreamily as he approached the ivory unicorn. "A weapon rather near and dear to my heart. I was issued one of these when I fought in the Foalshevik Revolution. Wouldn't have come out of it alive if it weren't this baby here."
Twilight, who had been overlooking a set of M16s found her attention snapped to the weapons dealer.
"You fought in the Foalshevik Revolution?" She could barely contain her horror.
"Indeed I did, comrade," the stallion replied. "I was only ten, and most of us were not much older than that.I fought valiantly alongside my brothers to bring about change to our faltering government. Oh, what an experience it was, ladies! But it's also a rather long and complicated tale, and one that I really don't have time to go into right now." He paused for a moment and looked down. He then said quietly to himself. "We got what we wanted, though. That was all that mattered." He looked back with a hint of a smile on his face. "You'll have to forgive me, but I think it's best we change subjects."
Twilight couldn't say she blamed him for not wanting to talk about it. She imagined nopony that was involved with bringing to power one of Equestrian history's most brutal dictators, Josef Stallion. Twilight had read so much about him in her books on the infamous Battle of Stalliongrad; how he came to power, how he had managed to create one of the most prosperous industrial empires in Equestria... at the cost of millions of lives (forced labor the main cause of deaths), and how he was eventually removed from power by Celestia... by means of a massive and costly war.
Equestrian history was far from smiles and sunshine...
Twilight now had another reason to hate the grizzled old weapons dealer. Although she couldn't imagine the horrors of being a foal soldier like he was, she couldn't condone what he had been responsible for. Soon though, they'd make their intentions known to him...
Poor Fluttershy looked like she was about to pass out from fear. Being in the presence of so many objects that were capable of such deadly carnage was too much for her tender little heart. Still, she tried to push those feelings aside; she had agreed to do this and now she had to see it through. The life of her pet depended on it. She would find something that would suit her eventually... she hoped.
Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, had just taken interest in a weapon that was honestly larger than she was! The fact that she was able to hold it while standing on her hind legs was nothing short of amazing. Though she didn't quite have the same strength as Applejack, the pink pony could still be capable of some impressive physical feats from time to time, though nopony could quite explain them; it was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.
She eyed the weapon in her hooves with pure jubilation in her eyes, like she just couldn't wait to try it out.
"Hey, mister weapon guy?" She called out to the blue stallion. "What's this thingy? It's huge!"
The dealer gave a chuckle and trotted over to her.
"That, my dear, is the M60... E4 variant, definitely not for armatures."
Pinkie giggled.
"Oh, I'm no armature, silly! I've handled plenty of these things! In fact, I've handled way larger that this... M60 thingamabob! Way way larger than-"
"Alright, alright," the stallion held up a hoof to stop her. "I'll take your work for it," he chuckled a bit. "What do I care anyway? It's money in my pocket either way. I could care less what you do with these little beauties... as long somepony here is able to pay for all this..."
"Oh, somepony's gonna pay alright..." Twilight whispered to herself.
The lavender unicorn had at that time settled on a standard AR15. It was nothing too flashy, but it seemed reliable enough, and reliability was more important than flash... she would have to remind Rarity of that at some point.
"Yo, Twi," Rainbow Dash said quietly as she slid up next to her casually. "I grabbed a few blocks of C4, should be enough to take down the safe. Anyway, how exactly are we planning on dealing with this guy?"
Twilight took a quick look around her to make sure the stallion was nowhere near them. Luckily he was currently preoccupied with helping Fluttershy out. As much as she hated herself for it, Twilight couldn't help but smile a bit at how out of her element the shy pegasus looked with all those deadly weapons surrounding her. But as scared as she looked, she still managed to shakily get her hooves around an MP5 similar to Rarity's, though it had one small altercation to it: a silver cylindrical object at the end of the barrel... a silencer. Twilight smiled a bit and shook her head; leave it to Fluttershy to pick the quietest possible weapon. There was no real problem with that selection, though. While silencers weren't a neccessity for this robbery, there was a chance that it could come in handy, though it was unclear exactly how at that time.
Twilight turned back to the rainbow-maned pegasus at her side, who was looking admittedly pretty anxious, as if she really couldn't wait to get out of there.
"I can probably get him under control with my magic," Twilight quietly explained. "We'll need to keep him conscious so he can tell us where he keeps his money hidded. And... there's a few other things I want to know of him..."
Dash shrugged and nodded her head.
"I guess that sounds good... but what are we gonna do with him when we're done?"
Twilight exhaled sharply. She pursed her lips and shook her head resolutely.
"We're going to have to make sure he doesn't come after us," she said grimly.
Already Rainbow Dash had an idea of what she meant, and yet her face remained as calm and confident as ever.
"I'll take care of him if you want me to," she said, not hesitating a bit. "I honestly don't think I'd feel a thing over it either. I mean, this guy is totally crocked! Hay, I remember hearing about Josef Stallion in school. Cripes, the stuff that happened under him was enough to make even me cringe!" She turned to look at the grizzled old stallion, her eyes narrowing in disgust. "And that old prick was part of it all. We can't let him live."
As badly as Twilight had wanted to avoid any more murder during this whole operation, she too couldn't help but feel a slight urge to end that miserable stallions life. She knew he deserved it, or at least she thought he did. With what he had told her, he sounded like he definitely deserved some kind of punishment for the life he chose to lead. Was death the only one severe enough, though? Maybe just a beating would suffice for now. She and her friends could knock him around for a bit, make him spill some info on where his bits were hidden...
"Twilight dear," Rarity's prim voice snapped Twilight out of her thoughts. She noticed that all of her friends had gathered around her, each one looking like they were seconds from a nervous breakdown.
"I think we all have what we want," Rarity continued. "I suppose the question now is how are we going to get out of here?"
"Ah'ma tellin' girls, ah can't handle another moment around that feller there," Applejack jerked her head in the direction of the old stallion, who appeared to be almost out of it as he stared intently at an old MG42 lying in the corner of the shop. "He... he scares me. He honestly does."
"Pfft, he's just a crazy, war-torn old coot," Rainbow Dash said with a shaky wave of her hoof. "We've handled way worse than him. Hay, those punks last night intimidated me more than this guy."
"Ya sure about that, Dashie?" Pinkie asked with seemingly genuine concern. "'Cause you seem a little shaky-wakey."
"I'm fine, Pinks," Dash said shortly. "It's just... it's been a long day and I'm kinda tired. I haven't had a nice cloud nap in a while now, and that's probably why my wing's been hurting so much the past couple days," she turned to Rarity. "I mean, no offense, Rare, your sleeping pad is nice and all but it doesn't compare to a nice fluffy cloud."
It every fiber of the fashionistas being to keep from lashing out at the cyan pegasus for going on about what hard day it been her when she had barely done anything. Twilight could sense the fury in Rarity's eyes though, and quickly stepped in to keep things from getting any uglier.
"Alright, listen here, girls," she started. "It looks like you all picked out some pretty heavy duty stuff. I honestly don't think we could've found anything quite like this at any legit arms dealer. So... I guess it was a good thing we took this chance after all."
Fluttershy took a look at the Rifle in her hooves, then took a look at Rarity's. She realized that they were almost exactly the same.
"Oh, sorry I copied you, Rarity," she said with shame in her tone.
Rarity smiled and gently gave her a nuzzle.
"Oh that's quite alright, dear," she said kindly. "Great minds do think alike I suppose, and yours has that rather interesting little device at the end of it."
"It's called a silencer, Buck Norris," Dash said snarkily. "It makes the gun quieter. Kind of an ideal choice for you, eh Shy?"
"Um, I guess," the shy pegasus hid her somewhat flushing face behind her pink mane.
"So," Twilight cut in. "I think we've got everything we need. So now we just have to deal with-"
"I want that big rocket thingy!" Pinkie Pie suddenly said in a loud whisper. She pointed right at the RPG on the table next to them.
"THAT?" Twilight gasped as she followed Pinkie's hoof. "Absolutely not! We don't need something like that!"
Pinkie pouted and narrowed her eyes at the lavender unicorn.
"Aw, why not?" She moaned. "It could be like... my new party cannon or something!"
"Trust me, sugarcube, ain't nopony gonna wanna go to a party with that there rocket involved," Applejack assured her.
"Besides," Twilight came in. "There's no room in your saddle bag for something that big." She stared at Pinkie's M60. "Actually, I don't see how you're gonna be able to fit even that thing in there."
Without even a seconds hesitation, Pinkie Pie tossed the massive machine gun into her saddle bag... and in a physically impossible phenomenon, it fit in there perfectly. Twilight and the others just gaped at the pink pony, who flashed a cutesy, almost smarmy grin back at them. It was just another unexplainable defiance of the laws of physics that Pinkie Pie was so often capable of.
Twilight quickly shook it off and regained herself.
"You still can't have the RPG. We don't need it."
Pinkie frowned and kicked a forehoof at some dust on the ground.
"Aw phooey," she muttered. "You guys are no fun anymore."
"Ladies!" A thickly accented voice sounded off from behind them. "Are you all set?"
"Uh, yeah," Twilight said slowly as she turned to face him. "We just need some ammo and we'll be good to go."
"Ah, of course, I'll be right back..." the dealer took off into the back room again. He was gone for about five minutes before he returned with six separate suitcase-like objects balanced on his back, each one marked with the name of the particular firearm it's contents were meant for.
"You've each got about five hundred rounds," he said as he set the cases down gently. "I threw in some instruction manuals on how to operate these things as well. Does that all sound good? More ammo? Less?"
"Five hundred rounds will be fine," Twilight said.
"Very good then," the weapons proprietor looked them over with an unnerving smile on his face. "Well, look at you all! With that kind of firepower, perhaps you can take over all of Equestria! I believe you would've done the S.E.P.W.U. itself proud!"
It took a herculean effort for the six mares to keep from lashing out angrily at the stallion for being compared to that evil organization.
"So," he continued, taking a step towards the mares. "The time has come for money to exchange hooves. How will you be..."
The stallion trailed off there as he met the intimidating gaze of the lavender unicorn before him. It was as if a sixth sense was telling him that he had just come into contact with a group of psychos. One by one he met their gazes, and one by one he realized that these mares had no intention of paying him for all this firepower... and they definitely wanted something else from him as well.
It was at that point that he noticed the pinkish aura surrounding the lavender unicorns horn... and it was at that point he was starting to wish he'd had that enchantment done that prevented magic from being performed in his shop.
"MOTHERFU-" was all he got out before a powerful blast from her horn sent him flying into the back wall of his shop. He crashed to the ground, several rifles falling on top of him, almost burying him. He moaned groggily, clearly dazed.
"Niiiiiiice," Dash said enthusiastically.
"Bravo, dear," Rarity congratulated her friend.
"So... do we run for it now?" Fluttershy asked in a barely audible whisper.
"No, we need him to tell us where his bits are hidden," Twilight replied. "We might as well clean this place out while we're here. Then... we're gonna have to do something about him."
Nopony argued. Truth be told, they were all thoroughly disgusted with that old stallion and everything he stood for. Here these six mares had on numerous occasions risked their lives and sanity to save their land, all through relatively peaceful means. And ponies like him thought they could just come along and instigate war and violence wherever they pleased. They cared nothing for the well-being of their land, nor did they probably even put much stock into their own ideals.
They just wanted a profit... no matter who they had to step over to get it.
"Let's find a way to restrain him," Twilight said as she and her friends approached him. Slowly, a sinister grin formed on her face. She had completely forgotten how she had berated her friends earlier for slipping into the criminal lifestyle so easily. Now... she wanted to join them.
"It's time we had a little chat with our friend here..."
Wow, I think every force on the planet was trying to prevent me from getting this chapter out. My notebook acting wierd, all this personal crap going on... it's amazing I got this thing out at all!
On top of that I managed to finish my other story and get that one posted. Please give it a look if you feel so inclined. It's kind of a polar opposite of this story (a light-hearted Scootaloo/Rainbow Dash story to be precise) but I'm pretty proud of it. Check it out and tell me what you thought... *slips into Fluttershy voice* Um, that is... if you want to...
Thanks for reading. Hopefully thing go smoother with the next chapter.