Chapter Nineteen:
Monsters
Hash took aim with her AK47 at the edge of the dock. There was nothing but open water in front of her; no boats, no random late night swimmers, just open water. She had successfully managed to sneak away from the others; it was probably the one chance she would get to do this. With a confident smirk, she brought the tip of her hoof over the trigger and squeezed it.
FWOPM!
A grenade shot out from the bottom part of the rifle. It sailed through the air in an arc before slamming into the water below, just inside where Hash was sure the invisible sound proof barrier was. It exploded on impact with an ear-shattering bang, sending a massive geyser of water gushing upwards. Hash could practically feel the spray from where she was standing.
"Sweeeeeeeet," she said with a grin, happy that she actually managed to pull it off.
The instant she turned around to head back into the warehouse, she bumped right into the angry glare of her lavender unicorn friend. "Uh, heh heh... sup, Daylight?" She greeted weakly.
"Mind telling me what the hay that was all about!?" Daylight shouted angrily.
"What?" Hash shrugged. "I just wanted to give the grenade launcher a try. Since we're not gonna be shooting to kill -if it ever come to that- it seems likely that the grenade launcher won't get to see any action at all. I just wanted to see how it works. Besides, I made that crazy old bastard go all the way to the back room to get it for me last night, I figured the least I could do is make it worth the trip."
"I see," Daylight seethed through gritted teeth. "And did you ever stop to think that an explosion that might very well attract the attention of EVERY PONY IN THE CITY!"
Hash reared back at her friends sudden outburst, nearly falling of the dock and into the cold water below. "Don't freak out, Day!" She yelled back at her. "I kept it inside your damn sound proofing barrier! And even if they did hear it, do you really think they're gonna care? There are probably explosions happening in this city every day! I really don't think anypony cares anymore! Just look around; do you see any ponies rushing towards us? Do you hear any sirens?"
Silence followed. No sirens, no hoofsteps of approaching ponies. It was as if the explosion never happened. Daylight sighed and shook her head. "Well, it was still stupid of you." She said bitterly. "You shouldn't have requested the grenade launcher in the first place; I told you we wouldn't need it for this. But you just always have to go for the big showy stuff, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do, 'cause that's how I roll!" Hash declared, puffing out her chest in pride.
Daylight just sighed and shook her head. "Whatever, let's just go back inside; it's freezing out here." The two started back for the warehouse. "I should totally make you stand in the corner alongside Candy, you know?" Daylight added as they reached the door.
"Don't talk down to me, Twilight. I'm not a foal," Hash said nastily.
"It's Daylight!" The unicorn hissed.
"I know," Hash replied nonchalantly. "I just did that to annoy you."
Daylight groaned and pushed the door open, just wanting to let it go. She just didn't have it in her to argue anymore, especially not after her experience in the van. Inside the dimly lit warehouse, Butterfly, Commodity and OJ were gathered around the blueprints, studying them one final time, trying to get as good a feel for them as possible. Candy, however, was standing in one of the far corners of the warehouse, her forelegs folded and an angry pout on her face. Daylight had sentenced her to half an hour in the corner for nearly getting them killed with her reckless driving. As much as the pink pony tried to argue that she knew what she was doing and that they were never in any real danger, Daylight refused to let the terrifying experience go unpunished.
OJ turned back to look at the two as she heard them come in. She gave Daylight a look that was clearly asking what that explosion was a moment ago. Daylight just shook her head, indicating it was nothing to worry about. She and Hash trotted over to the others and began running their eyes over the blueprints as well. Everything was starting to sink in now; they had the layout of that building down perfectly in their heads, to the point where they could probably navigate it blind-folded, though with the ski masks on their faces and the fact that the building was going to be dark, they might as well be blind-folded.
"You know," Commodity said after a long silence. "For the first time since this whole journey began, I honestly feel ready to do this." Everypony turned to look at her. "For the past few days, I've been trying so hard to convince myself that what we're doing is necessary. But there was always a part of me that wouldn't let me believe it, that no matter how noble the cause may seem, there was no justifying this. Now... now that we've made it this far, and we have everything we need, I think that part of me has been silenced permanently. I know it won't be pretty, but it has to be done. There are so many others who will benefit from this aside from ourselves."
OJ nodded understandingly. "Ah feel the same way. Ah ain't ever gonna be proud of this, but when Ah think about it enough, it really does feel like the best option, 'r at least the most efficient."
"But what will we tell the others when we get back?" Butterfly asked. "I mean, um... how will they respond to seeing us come back home with so much money? I'm sure Angel and my other little animal friends won't be suspicious about anything. But what about the rest of you?"
"You kiddin' me, Fly?" Hash replied. "I think they're gonna be so happy to have things going well for them again that they won't care!""
"I don't think that will be the case, Hash," Daylight said cautiously. "They'll be happy, sure, but that doesn't mean they won't ask questions."
"Well, I already know I'm in the clear," Hash said proudly. "The Wonderbolts aren't gonna ask where I got the money, they'll just be happy to see it."
"I don't think Sweetie Belle is fully aware of my current financial crisis," Commodity said. "She knows thing's haven't been particularly well for us recently, but I don't think she understands the true severity of it. I assume she won't ask too many questions when she see's I'm able to provide for her better."
"Welp, it ain't gonna be easy fer me, Ah know that much," OJ said, shaking her head. "Ain't no way mah family's gonna accept this without askin' a whole heap o' questions."
"Couldn't you tell them that you went to go visit some of your family and they helped you out a bit?" Daylight offered.
OJ exhaled sharply and shook her head. "Well actually, the day you took us out ta the Everfree Forest ta lay out this whole robbery thing, Ah came back ta find we'd been mailed a few thousand bits by Breaburn and some other close relatives. News travels fast in the Apple clan, and Ah reckon they did what they could fer us, bless 'em. But, it weren't nearly enough ta get outta that pickle. Truth is, nopony in the Apple family's exactly rollin' in the bits, aside from maybe aunt and uncle Orange, but like Ah said before, those two have kinda fallen off our radar, and Ah ain't sure if they even know 'bout what happened to us." The earth pony sighed and shook her head again. "Can't believe Ah'm gonna hafta lie; it just ain't in mah nature, ya know? Still, Ah s'pose it's fer the best. Ah dunno, maybe Ah could tell 'em Ah found a winnin' lottery ticket blowin' in the wind 'r somethin'. Ah'm sure they'll be so happy to have things goin' right fer us again that they won't notice mah lousy lyin' skills."
Daylight chuckled a bit. "That's what I was planning on telling Spike, actually. I don't think that same excuse will work for two of us. Might arouse suspicion."
"You really think little Spikey Wikey will be curious about that kind of thing?" Commodity asked.
"Oh, I wouldn't put it past him," Daylight replied with a chuckle. "The little guy can be pretty sharp when he want's to be." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Maybe I could tell him Princess Celestia decided to send some bits after all; he might buy that." It would totally contradict what she had told him the morning she left; that Celestia wanted her to figure this out for herself, and that she wouldn't have accepted the Princess's help even if it was offered. But he knew she had her limits, and it wouldn't be hard to convince him that she had broken down and wrote a letter to her asking for aid. Even though he was in Canterlot at the time, he couldn't be around the Princess twenty-four/seven. It wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility that she could tell him she snuck a letter to her asking for aid and that he must not have been around when she got it.
But then, she wold probably tell the baby dragon of the letter, wouldn't she? And there was no way in Tartarus she was going to cancel the robbery and just request the aid of her mentor for real now. Mainly because she couldn't shake the feeling that the Princess was indeed testing them, and really wasn't going to offer her aid if it was requested. But also because... well... just look at what she and her friends had done for the past few days...
They had walked for three days to a city that only a couple of them were remotely familiar with. They had taken up shelter in an abandoned warehouse which they had acquired after brutally slaughtering some nihilistic punks in a mindless violent rage, during which none of them were in their right minds. Commodity... or rather Rarity (she supposed she could at least think of them with their real names) had taken a huge risk by photographing those blueprints for them (the fact that she refused to talk about how she did it was more than a little unsettling). They had robbed, tortured and eventually murdered a black market weapons dealer. They had trained extensively with their weapons and practiced intimidation techniques. And just moments ago they had stolen a car and been taken for the thrill ride of their lives.
By this point, they had to go through with the robbery; the horrors of the past few days could not be for nothing.
"I'll think of something to tell him later," Daylight said eventually. "I'll feel more inclined to do so when I actually have those bits in my hooves."
Thankfully, everypony nodded contentedly. They then turned to Candy, who was no longer facing the corner. She had been watching them intently since the conversation started. Daylight didn't feel like scolding her for it though; she had too much on her mind for that. Instead, she smiled warmly at the pink pony and motioned for her to join them. Candy smiled back and happily bounded over to the group.
"What about you, Candy?" Daylight asked as she approached them. "What are you planning on telling the Cakes?"
Candy placed a hoof to her chin and pondered that for a moment. "Hmmm... I dunno," she said with a nonchalant shrug.
"Well, it's really something you should think about," Daylight told her. "I imagine they're not going to accept this without asking questions."
"Maybe you could tell 'em you found your parents and they decided to bail you out," Hash suggested. "You didn't tell them exactly where we were going; they might buy that you went back to your old rock farm."
Almost instantly, Candy's mane and tail went flat, and her bright pink body lost some of it's brightness. She frowned bitterly. "I'm not doing that," she stated flatly.
"Why not?" Daylight asked, a bit taken aback by her friends sudden change in temperament.
"My daddy wouldn't do that for me," Candy replied quickly.
"Candy, it doesn't matter if he would really do that for you or not," Daylight explained. "I'm sure the Cakes will believe you if you tell them they did. You haven't talked to them much about your parents, have you?"
Candy shook her head. "No."
"Well then what reason would they have to not believe you if they don't know much about your parents?" Commodity asked.
Candy just shook her head vigorously.
"You say your father wouldn't do that for you. What about your mother?" Daylight asked.
Candy shuddered and lowered her head, as if the very mention of her mother was taboo. Rarely had the ponies seen their zany pink friend look quite so serious and worn down. "That's impossible," she finally said.
"Impossible?" Daylight sounded confused. "How is it impossible? You told us your mother and father were both really hard on you. Was your mother worse? What happened there, Candy? What did they do to you that makes it so hard to-"
"STOP!" Candy suddenly roared, causing everypony to jump back in fright. "I- I said I don't like talking about them!"
"I-I'm sorry, Candy," Daylight said shakily. "I know we said you didn't have to tell us about them until you felt ready. But why won't you at least consider making up a story about them lending you money? It's not like you have talk about them that much."
"Because just thinking about them makes me all sicky icky!" Candy cried angrily.
"Candy... what did they do to you?" Hash stepped up, giving the pink pony a stern look.
"Hash, she doesn't want to discuss it. She's said so several times," Commodity chided.
"Yeah, and it's doing her a hay of a lotta good, isn't it?" Hash said sarcastically. "Look at her; she's a mess! She needs to talk about it."
"Maybe so, but it should be up to her to decide when she wants to. We've already been over this," Daylight said, starting to sound beyond tired.
"Look, I just wanna help her," Hash asserted. "It... it kills me to see you guys upset. Especially her. I'm supposed to always be there for my friends."
"I know, Hash. And you are always there for us. But you can't force somepony to accept help if they don't want it," Daylight explained.
"Now hold up a minute there, Daylight," OJ interjected. "Didn't ya once say that part o' bein' a good friend is accepting help when it's offered?"
"Well, yes but..." Crap, I did say that once, didn't I. "The... circumstances are different here. This is a real psychological problem we're dealing with. It's more complicated than just not accepting help with bucking apples. We need to approach this differently."
"YOU DON'T NEED TO APPROACH IT AT ALL!" Candy roared, once again causing everypony to jump. "JUST STOP TALKING ABOUT IT; IT'S MAKING ME GRUMPY, AND I HATE BEING A GRUMPY PANTS!"
"Candy, we're just-"
"MY DADDY WAS NOTHING BUT A MEANY BEANY NEENY McMEANY FACE!" Candy began to absolutely lose it. "HE WAS A BIG MEAN NASTY GROSSEY HORRIBLE... HORRIBLE..."
"Candy-"
"MURDERER!"
Silence followed, accompanied by a round of horrified looks. There was no way they could've hear her right.
"He was a... what?" Daylight said quietly.
Candy suddenly looked more beaten down and vulnerable than she had ever looked before. Her lip was trembling, and her eyes were welling up with tears. "He... he was a-"
The sudden sound of the warehouse door opening caused everypony to spin around, expressions of pure shock sketched upon their faces. Standing at the door was a large, well-built young stallion with a brown coat and black mane. He looked about the size of Big Macintosh, maybe a tad bigger.
"Nice job, Hash," Daylight hissed in a hushed voice to the pegasus. "Somepony heard the fucking explosion!"
"It was probably Candy's shouting!" Hash hissed back at her.
But much to their surprise, the stallion hadn't seemed to notice them yet. In fact, he seemed more interested in the warehouse itself than the ponies occupying it. He gazed around the dimly lit building with what appeared to be a satisfied smile on his face. It was a while before his eyes fell upon the six startled mares, and his face fell into an angry frown. He kicked the door closed behind him and began to advance on them. Though they looked nervous, Mane Six held their ground, watching him intently as he approached.
"Help you?" Daylight asked when he was close enough.
"Help me?" The stallion replied in a gruff voice. "You can start by explaining what the fuck you mares are doing in my warehouse!"
"Your warehouse?" Commodity said incredulously. "I believe, my good sir, that the sign out front says this property is condemned."
"Not anymore, it ain't," the stallion said snarkily. "I'm plannin' on havin' this place refurbished, returned to its former glory if you know what I mean."
"This piece of crap?" Hash asked with a raised eyebrow. "No offense, buddy, but I don't think there are enough bits in Equestria to fix this place up. I mean, it's served us well enough for now, but it's always felt like just putting a hoof on the wrong floorboard would cause it to come crashing down. You guys ever feel that?" She turned to look at her friends, who nodded in agreement. "Yeah, so... why don't you go find some other building to mess around with, huh?"
The stallion scoffed ans shook his head. "You kiddin' me? I've had my eye on this building for months. I've been commin' here every week to check up on it, plan stuff out," he explained as he paced in front of them. "I've seen way worse than this place, believe me. Now, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you ladies to kindly get the fuck out!"
While the others appeared to be offended by the stallions rudeness, Hash just snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right, dude. I think I know why you're really here. You're gonna have to go find some other place to clop for the night; we're not leaving."
"Oooh," the stallion feigned offense. "Such language! You blow your daddy with that mouth?"
Everypony gasped. "How dare you?" Commodity hissed. Hash looked as though she were about to pounce on him.
"Look, what the fuck are you bitches doing in here anyway?" The stallion asked angrily. "You homeless or something? Dammit, I've always been lucky avoiding you hobos 'till tonight. I was starting to hope the mayor had you all secretly killed or something."
"Sir, may I ask what line of work you're in?" Commodity asked angrily. "I find it very difficult to believe a stallion with an attitude like yours could be involved in any kind of legitimate business."
"None o' your fuckin' business, that a good enough answer for ya?" The stallion snarked.
"Lovely," Commodity quipped.
"Look, pal," Hash stepped up again. "Why don't get lost and come back tomorrow. We'll be gone by then, but right now we need this place. And if I were you, I would really consider dashing on out of here as quickly as possible, 'cause right now I'm seconds away from feeding you your testicles!"
"Oh really?" He said coolly. "Guess what, babe; I hear that spiel everyday from my boss. He don't intimidate me none, and you sure as hay don't either."
"Your boss?" Butterfly suddenly stepped up. "Oh, so, um... your just an errand boy, is that it?" Though her voice was as soft as ever, there was a definite hint of venom in her tone.
"Don't test me, bitch!" He snapped at Butterfly.
"Don't ya go talkin' that way to our friend!" OJ came to the defense. "Why don't ya run along and get us some dinner, errand boy. Seein' how that's all ya appear ta be good fer. Maybe we'll consider lettin' go with all yer limbs intact."
"Why don't you get on your knees and suck me off, hick!"
"Ah'll buck ya off, it that's what ya want!"
"YOU FUCKIN-"
"Alright, that's enough!" Daylight shouted, effectively silencing everypony. She glared daggers at the gruff stallion. "You, my friend, have no idea what you're dealing with here. The last assholes who tested us did not walk away with out some serious harm done to them." She added quietly "In fact, most of them didn't walk away at all." Her voice rose again. "So, I'm going to give one last chance to turn around out of here and forget what you saw. And if you make one more nasty remark, you won't be walking out of here, you'll be crawling out on four broken limbs. You understand me?"
Instead of answering, the bulky stallion began staring around the warehouse again, as well as giving her friends scrutinizing looks. "Just what the hay is going on in here?" He asked. His eyes soon fell upon the blueprints lying on the floor behind them. The label "Bank of Equestria" definitely caught his attention. "The layouts to the Bank of Equestria? What the fuck...?" It was at that moment he caught a glimpse of the pile of C4 lying in one of the far corners. Even through the dim lighting he could make out what it was... and everything started to become clearer to him. And... was that an AK47 that pegasus was holding? "Are you... Oh shit!"
Panic set into the six mares as they realized they had been found out. He'd seen too much. Now, this stallion couldn't be allowed to leave... which was exactly what he attempted to do when he saw the looks they were giving him.
"Oh, fuck me!" He spun towards the door and bolted for it.
"Somepony stop him!" Daylight cried as she tried to hit him with her telekinesis
In one swift movement, OJ pulled her lasso from her saddle bag and flung it towards. She caught him around the neck and yanked him to the floor brutally.
"AUGHHH! YOU BITCHES!" He cried as he struggled to get away.
"Hurry, somepony tie 'im up!" OJ said through gritted teeth as she pulled the rope tight, dragging him over to the group.
Daylight used her telekinesis to hog tie the struggling stallion. It wasn't easy, but she managed to secure him before too long.
"YOU BITCHES KNOW WHO I AM!?" The stallion roared at them. "NOPONY DOES THIS TO ME! NOPONY! I HAVE POWERFUL FRIENDS ALL OVER THIS CITY! THEY'LL FIND YOU AND FUCK YOU ALL UP SO BAD YOU WON'T-"
Whack!
Hash silenced him with a swift kick to the head. "One more word and I'm smashing your head in!" She threatened. The stallion shot her a scathing glare, but quieted down nonetheless.
"Welp, this is another fine mess we're in, ain't it?" OJ groaned. "Now just what in the hay are we gonna do with this fella?"
"Well, we can't let him go now," Daylight said in annoyance. "He's seen too much."
Commodity sighed sadly. Tears began to form in her eyes. "So I suppose this is another poor soul who must meet an early end at our hooves."
"Well, I didn't say-"
"Dammit, Daylight, I don't want to kill anymore!" Commodity cried.
"We don't have to kill him!" Daylight snapped. "And in all honesty, I see no reason why we need to."
"Other than the fact he's a big-mouthed prick?" Hash asked bitterly.
"That's hardly a good reason to kill somepony, Hash!" Daylight scolded.
"I know! I just..." Hash struggled to find the proper thing to say. "Look, what kind of stallion walks around a city this time of night and just goes into an old abandoned warehouse and decides 'Hey, I think I'll fix this piece of shit up; give me somthin' to do', huh?"
"Their called renovator's, Hash," Daylight explained flatly. "Part of their job involves going around and checking out the buildings they plan on fixing before actually starting on it."
"At this time of night?" Hash said incredulously.
"Well, they always call Manehattan 'The City That Never Sleeps'..."
"Yeah, not buyin' it, Day. This guy could be some sort of crook; probably gonna turn this place into a front for the mob or something. Don't they usually like dark, dank old warehouses like this? You know, where they're well out of the way of any cops or citizens, and nopony can hear the screaming as they work somepony over with brass hooves or put their heads trough a vise or something. I don't trust this guy."
Daylight shot an angry glance at the hog-tied stallion. He returned it with an even greater intensity than her own. He looked as though he were about to burst out with a real whopper of a hate-filled rant, but was doing all he could to hold it back, perhaps out of fear for his life. It was at that moment she noticed his cutie mark: a pile of bits. The guy was clearly some kind of big spender; for who or what organization, it wasn't exactly clear.
"Who's your employer?" Daylight asked him in a calm tone.
"Your mothers crotch," he replied flatly.
Daylight gave him an enraged glare and shot a burst of magic at the floor next to him, leaving a black, smoking scorch mark. Much to her mildly sadistic pleasure, he flinched and made a bit of a yelping noise. She trotted up to him and brought herself down to his eye-level. "You are one smart-ass comment away from getting a hole blown through you. Don't test me again..." she hissed quietly into his ear. As she backed away from him, she noticed he was glaring defiantly at her, though there was no mistaking the slight hint of fear in his eyes.
"Daylight, listen here," OJ said as her friend approached the group again. "It don't matter what this guy is 'r who he works fer. Bottom line is we can't let 'im leave here. Ah reckon we're gonna hafta babysit his hide 'till we've gotten the 'you know what' over with tamorrow. We can decide what ta do with 'im once we've got that taken care of."
Daylight took a moment to ponder that. The looks her friends gave her didn't seem to help much, as they looked just as unsure of the situation as she felt. All except Candy, who's face was hidden by her sagging pink mane, though Daylight could practically feel anger wafting from her. She hadn't said a word since they were interrupted by the stallion. In fact, she seemed to not notice this new development at all.
Did she really just call her father a murderer?
Daylight shook that thought from her head; she could worry about that later. Right now, fate was once again giving it to them up the ass.
Why, Celestia? Why?
"Okay," Daylight announced in a hushed tone; she didn't want the stallion hearing them, making another crude remark, and giving her an excuse to tear him apart. "I think OJ has a pretty good idea of what needs to be done; we're just going to have to hold onto this guy for now."
"Great," Hash groaned. "Now we gotta put up with this guy's mouth for the whole night."
"Hey, I told him if he made anymore nasty comments, I'd make him pay for it."
"But you won't, will you," Butterfly said softly. "You don't hurt any more ponies, and none of us want to either. We've harmed enough ponies for one lifetime."
"I know, I know," Daylight hung her head and shook it. "This whole thing just keeps getting worse and worse. It's like a nightmare where everything just keeps going downhill until we all end up dead."
Butterfly shivered and squeaked in fear. "Don't say that, Daylight!" She chided.
"I'm sorry," Daylight apologized, hanging her head even lower. "The last thing we need is more negativity." She thought for a moment, breathing heavily as she did all she could to keep from screaming at the top of her lungs. Nearly a minute passed before she finally spoke again. "This is the best idea I can come up with: We hold onto him through the night, then toss him in the back of the van when we go to the bank tomorrow. We're not coming back to the warehouse once it's over so we can't leave him here. Once the deed's done, we haul flank out of the city until we're maybe halfway home. Then, we pull over and let him go... maybe with a bit of a bribe to keep his mouth shut."
Everypony groaned, with Hash face-hoofing. "Well, why don't we just toss half of what we take out the window while we're at it!" She said sarcastically.
"We don't have to give him that much," Daylight said. "Just enough to keep him quiet; maybe a couple hundred thousand will be sufficient."
"You kidding me? I don't wanna kiss this guys flank!" Hash said incredulously. "I agree, we can't let him go right now, but do we really have to pay him off to keep this whole thing under wraps? I say we just toss him out on the way back to Ponyville, still tied up, and he can figure out how to get out of that situation on his own."
"Hash, that's cruel!" Butterfly scolded. "What if he can't get out of his bindings and ends up starving to death by the side of the road?"
"Pfft, one less crook in the world," Hash replied with a 'who cares' shrug.
"We don't even know if he is a crook, though," Daylight pointed out.
"Oh, c'mon, Day! If he really is some kind of legit renovator, why won't he just tell us? And he said he had powerful friends; that's such an obvious mob phrase!"
Daylight had no answer for that. Truth be told, she didn't exactly feel too right about the guy, either. A pile of bits for a cutie mark could mean a lot of things, and not all them necessarily good.
At least this guy has a cutie mark instead of just some lewd carving.
"And look at it this way," Hash continued. "If we do just abandon him by the road and he... doesn't make it... at least we rest easy with the fact that the environment killed him, not us."
"I think that would still be partially our fault, Hash," Daylight sighed. "Besides, what if he's found by somepony on the side of the road? He's seen all our faces; he can give out our descriptions and one day we're gonna find wanted posters all over Equestria saying we're the ones responsible for quite possibly the largest robbery in Equestrian history!"
Hash slammed a hoof down hard. She buried her head into the floor and growled with rage.
"RRRRRAAAGGHHHHHH! I FUCKIN' HATE THIS!"
A few moments of silence followed that outburst, the five mares staring sadly at their pegasus friend (four mares; Candy was still staring blankly ahead at nothing in particular). Then... there was chuckling, masculine chuckling. The group turned to look at hog tied stallion, and sure enough, he was glaring at them with a nasty grin on his face, his laughter making him sound almost like a nut.
"Something funny?" Commodity asked venomously.
"Ya ain't exactly in a position ta be laughin' at us, sugarcube," OJ added.
"Oh ho, you girls... you girls," he chuckled. "You fffffffuckin' lowlifes. All of you... ALL OF YOU!"
"What'd you call us, you punk!?" Hash cried as she attempted to attack him. But Daylight held her back.
"I said you're all a bunch of fuckin' lowlifes!" He screamed back at them. "Starting with that purple bitch right there," he nodded at Daylight. "What is she, your leader or something? I bet she's dumber than a sack of apples!" OJ gritted her teeth at the negative apple analogy. "She'd probably lead you all right off a cliff and wouldn't even know that you all were dead!"
Daylight just about screamed at him; she badly wanted to go on about how she had successfully led her friends through more perilous journey's than he could even begin to comprehend, but it would be wasted on him. He would never believe her.
"And you," he turned to Hash. "You act all tough and hardcore, when I'll bet deep down you're a pussy-ass coward who would leave her friends to die while trying to save herself."
Hash's glare could've melted a steel door. "Never in a million years..." she said in a voice trembling with rage.
The stallion then turned to OJ, who was already steeling herself for his hate-filled rant. "As for you, I'll bet you've never done an honest day's work in your life! Probably leech off others to get what you want, then lie and say it was all you!"
"Y-ya'll don't know nothin' 'bout me..." OJ said quietly, her eyes were burning with angry tears.
"Now you..." he turned to Commodity next. "You stick out like a sore hoof. You've got rich bitch written all over her! Just wasn't enough though, was it? Had to lower yourself to working with a gang of lower class to fulfill your needs! You greedy cunt!"
Greedy? That was an almost laughably inaccurate way to describe Commodity. But there was nothing funny about this situation. "How dare you..." she hissed in her lowest, most dangerous voice.
Next, he glanced over to Butterfly, who had poked her face out from her mane, her eyes narrowed. Even she couldn't hold back her anger as this stallion ripped apart her friends.
"Oh, little miss 'I don't want to hurt any ponies' huh?" He said snarkily. "Oh, I'll bet you're the real sadistic one! Probably put on the kind-hearted lovable one act around the others, than turn into crazy, torturing lunatic when their backs are turned!"
For one brief moment their eyes met, and the stallion had to turn away quickly to quell that unexplained feeling of dread that filled him.
Finally he turned to the pink earth pony who hadn't said a word since he had entered. "Oh, the quiet, psychotic type, ain't ya? Doesn't say a word... lets her actions speak for themselves? ... You're the biggest fuckin' joke of 'em all! What's the matter, hon? Daddy play with you a little too rough, and now you feel you gotta take it out on the world?"
Daylight nearly lost it there; the fact that this guy seemed to be striking a nerve with all of her friends disturbed her greatly. Had this guy been watching them or something? Did he know about the virtues they all carried and decided point out how horribly they had been demonstrating them in the past few days?
That was ridiculous, of course; they had never met this stallion before in their lives. Perhaps their roles as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had made them more recognizable to the public than they thought. Maybe they were kinda regarded as celebrities in some areas of Equestria.
No.. that couldn't be the case with this guy. He couldn't know about them. It was just a freaky coincidence. On top of that, he was wrong about all of them. While they hadn't exactly been paragons of virtue the past few days, they still held true to some of the requirements of their Elements.
Rainbow Dash had loyally stuck with them through it all.
Hash, I mean... No, I'm using their real names for this.
Rarity was acting with her sister's well-being generously in mind.
Applejack... well, she was going to have to do a bit of white lying when it came to dealing with her family in the near future, but she had told her friends she wouldn't betray them no matter how wrong she felt about everything, and she hadn't so far. That was definitely honesty at work.
Fluttershy was always thinking of the well-being of others, and she was acting purely out of kindness for her pet rabbit. And on top of that she had remained rather pleasant for most of the journey.
And Pinkie Pie had until recently been keeping their spirits high with her trademark random comedy. Though at that moment, there was absolutely nothing funny about the look she was giving that stallion.
Daylight looked over each of her friends as she thought about how brave and strong they had been the past few days, and her rage began to build again as she turned back to the stallion who had insulted them so harshly. She failed to notice Candy reaching into her saddlebag...
"All of you," the stallion continued in a voice trembling with rage, and possibly fear. "Are the scum of Equestria! How do the Princesses go through life allowing trash like you to live? It's ponies like you all that are causing this country to go downhill! I'll bet none of you have ever done a half-way decent thing in your lives! I'll bet-"
BRRRRRRZZZZZZZTTTTTT!
The loud roar of machine gun fire filled the warehouse. The five mares jump and screamed in shock as they spun around to see Candy had pulled her weapon... and was currently riddling their captive with bullets.
"CANDY, STOP!" Daylight screamed.
Candy either couldn't hear her, or chose not to listen, because she continued to pump round after round into her victim.
In mere moments, the stallions body was a mess of bloody bullet holes and torn flesh; he had practically been cut in half.
"CANDY STOP! HE'S ALREADY DEAD!" Candy attempted to put a stop to this insanity.
Clickclickclickclick
It had only lasted mere seconds, but it felt like an eternity before the gun went dry. Candy continued to hold the trigger for several seconds after before the rifle finally fell from her shaky hooves to the floor. Candy followed soon after, crumpling up into a heap and sobbing freely.
For a few seconds her sobbing was the only sound in the room. Then came the shrill high-pithced scream of Butterfly, who collapsed into position similar to Candy's and began to cry as well.
Hash turned away from the group, trotted over to the nearest wall and placed her head against it, an expression of pure shock on her face. She did not see that coming.
OJ just paced back and forth aggressively, shaking her head as tears streamed down her face.
Commodity and Daylight just stared blankly at the bloody, shredded remains of the cruel stallion, unable to properly process what they had just seen. Of all the death and violence they had witnessed the past few days, this was by far the most harrowing; for all they knew, this guy could've just been a very rude, yet completely innocent pony. He didn't deserve that, not even remotely. Maybe just a swift kick in the ass, but...
"We're monsters..." the soft voice of Butterfly sounded off next to them. "We're monsters..."
Commodity glanced down at Candy, who was still sobbing lightly, her face buried in the ground. She shook her head sadly and closed her eyes.
"Celestia, have mercy on us all..."
Just one thing I want to say real quick. I'm working on another story right now. It's gonna be a one-shot comedy, just something I had in my mind and had to put out there. I'm probably gonna have it out before the next chapter of this story, though I'm trying to get the last few chapters of this story out as quickly as possible. We're getting close to the end now, and man has it been something else writing this!
Once again, thanks for reading and reviewing. More soon!