The Shadow of Equestria
Chapter 6
The Black Hooves
We continued into the darkness of the sewer until a small opening became visible in the distance.
"That's our exit." said Poison Spectre as she began to run forward.
I followed as we emerged from the sewers into a back alley surrounded by tall buildings. To my left, I saw Poison Spectre motion towards me.
"Come on Zhane, HQ is this way."
I continued to follow until we hit a large metal door. One with a little port to see out of. However, it was several feet lower than me, probably to accommodate the ponies that frequented this place. Poison Spectre placed a hoof on the door and began to hit it rapidly. There was a silence before the port opened and a pair of eyes became visible.
"Poison Spectre?" said the voice on the other side of the door. "I thought the town guards had thrown you into prison?"
"I escaped with a little help." said Poison Spectre as she motioned towards me. "I need to see the boss, I know for a fact that he would love to meet my new friend here."
The voice on the other side sighed. "You should know that we're not accepting new members Poison Spectre. Not since that rat sold you and your partner out." The voice stopped and looked over at me. "Why is your new friend so tall? He isn't a Diamond Dog is he? You know the rules."
"Yes Shade, I know the rules. However, my new friend isn't a Diamond Dog. Why don't you come out here and see for yourself."
I was slightly confused why the door pony thought that I was a different species but then understood once I noticed how tall stood to the door. He probably could only see my legs. The door opened slowly and the door pony stepped out to see who Poison Spectre was talking about. From the shadows came a dark furred pony with very defined green eyes. He looked me up and down with a confused look. He then looked back over to Poison Spectre.
"What the hell is this thing?" he asked as he periodically looked back at me.
"I believe you'll recognize him from the reports on Nightmare Moon's return." she said with a smile.
"Wait, you mean that this thing is the human we've heard so much about?" asked the door pony.
"You are correct Shade. Zhane is the human that helped Our Fair Lady that night. So, I need to go see the boss, he would love to meet him."
The door pony looked me over once more before nodding.
"Alright, come on in." he said as he motioned us in.
Poison Spectre entered first and I followed until we were completely inside the building. Once inside, the door closed and the scene began to unfold. We were inside some kind of club. There were ponies everywhere, strobe lights flashing as they danced to a weird techno beat. Off to the side was a room marked VIP with a weird looking symbol over it. The best way I could describe it would be a half moon with another weird looking symbol in the middle. Kind of like an upside down cross but the line going across was too far down.
"That's the boss's room." Poison Spectre said as she noticed what I was looking at. "Just wait here for a minute; I'll go tell him we're here."
I nodded slightly as I watched Poison Spectre walk through the club floor and over to the VIP door before entering. It only took a minute before Poison Spectre reemerged from the door and motioned me to come over. I didn't really want to walk through a crowded club but I really didn't have a choice. So I began to quickly walk across the floor, not putting my attention on the ponies, which were now staring, and focused on the door. Once I reached the door, I opened it quickly and walked inside.
Inside were two ponies, Poison Spectre and one that I have not seen. I assumed that he was the boss that Poison Spectre mentioned several times.
"Hmm." said the boss. "So you weren't lying." A smile became visible on his face. "I am thrilled to have you here with us Zhane. My name is Dark Wing and I lead the Black Hooves."
Dark Wing paused before turning back to Poison Spectre.
"So, please tell me how you were able to escape the dungeon and make it back to me?"
"Well, I was sitting there in my jail cell thinking of what I should do when I hear somepony walk in. However, to my surprise, it wasn't a pony, it was Zhane. I got his attention and struck a deal with him. I offered him shelter in exchange for freeing me. He agreed, opened my cell, and we escaped together." said Poison Spectre as she finished her little story.
Dark Wing then turned to me.
"I am also curious on how you escaped Zhane, would you mind telling me?"
I considered telling them about the magic I had at my disposal but if Poison Spectre didn't mention it in her story, I had no reason to do it myself.
"I simply escaped, the guards were more ignorant then I had originally thought. Escaping them was nothing more than who could run the fastest."
Dark Wing smiled.
"I'm glad that it was so easy for you to escape. When I heard that some weird creature was helping Our Fair Lady on that faithful night, I didn't believe that it would be of any use to her. Once I heard what you did, I was astounded, awestruck at the loyalty you had presented for something pulled from the void. On top of that, I was even more surprised to hear that an extinct species that excelled in the use of battle tactic and combat magic was helping her. I practically jumped with joy. Now you stand before me, the human that has caused more mayhem in the past 1000 years than all the criminals in Equestria combined. If there is anything that I could do for you Zhane, please let me know."
That was the question I was waiting for. The one thing that I needed most. I smiled slightly as I thought of things that I wanted.
"Don't waste this favor on something stupid Zhane. If you'll allow me to make a suggestion, I know the perfect thing that would help you here in Equestria."
'And what would that be?' I thought
"Money, and knowing your skills, I know for a fact that Dark Wing has some high paying jobs that would suit you perfectly."
It was settled, I knew what I wanted.
"I need money, so I'll be willing to do any job you have that pays well."
As soon as I said that, Dark Wing's mouth slowly twisted into a smile.
"I have one job in mind that I will pay well for completion. However, seeing that you two have just escaped from the dungeon, I guarantee the Royal Guard is already searching for you. You will need to lie low for a couple of days. This will give it time to die down while it gives me time to get your job together. So now that everything is said and done, there are several rooms upstairs that are vacant. You may stay here for the next few days."
I simply nodded and began to walk out of the VIP room. I heard Poison Spectre begin to follow me but she was stopped by Dark Wing.
"Spectre, I need to talk to you for a moment."
I ignored the groan and keep going, if I was going to spend a couple days at this club, I was going to relax before I had to do this job.
Several days passed as I waited for the job to be prepared. According to Dark Wing, my escape combined with Poison Spectre's escape had Celestia in a twist with the nobles of Canterlot. They convened and demanded that the security be raised on the prisoners being held in the dungeon, to prevent another escape. This was good for me, if Celestia was busy, that would give me the chance to get this job started.
The morning had just started and I was called back into the VIP area of the club, to meet with Dark Wing. I made my way across the dead club floor, all the ponies that roamed the floor at night had gone home making the floor eerily quiet. Ignoring this, I made my way to VIP and opened the door. Inside, Dark Wing was sitting at a desk off to the corner with Poison Spectre on the other side.
"Good morning Zhane, are you ready to start?" asked Dark Wing as his wings flared before settling back down.
"I am." I said as I approached the desk.
"Good, we have everything we need to start. I had a friend that's stationed inside the guard to report an assassination threat against Celestia. That means the Royal Guard is currently at the castle, limited to the grounds. This gives us free roam without fears of detection."
Dark Wing cleared his throat and pulled some documents out of his desk and placed them in full view.
"Here's what we have gathered for you. Your job will be to find a pony by the name Looking Glass and kill him. The only problem is that we don't know where he is. However, we do know that he is under the protection of the Royal Guard. This is because he ratted out Poison Spectre and her partner resulting in their capture. Although we have no idea where he is, we have somepony who does."
Dark Wing flipped the paper to show a picture of a brownish looking earth pony.
"This is an informant for the Royal Guard, codenamed by us as "Diablo". He's been a pain in our side for a long time now but due to recent effort from my men, we were able to find him and capture him. We've tried to get some information from him but I have reason to suspect that he's been trained to resist any interrogation technique. Although, I believe that you might be able to help with that."
"SO let me get this straight." I said. "You want me to interrogate an informant for the location on a rat. Who I assume was part of the Black Hooves?"
"You are correct." said Dark Wing.
"Then you want me to kill him. Is that the only thing?" I asked.
"Yes, why do you think there would be more?" asked Dark Wing.
"Where I'm from, if I wanted to do this, I would have to plan on ways to kill someone, what to do with the body, and where to hide afterwords."
"I assure you Zhane, all you have to do is kill Looking Glass. We will take care of everything else." said Dark Wing.
"Alright, when do I start?" I asked.
"Right now."
We left the club, Poison Spectre, Dark Wing, and myself. They led me to some shady back room in an abandoned building on a street out of the way. Once inside, I noticed the scene in front of me. A brown earth pony was bound to a chair and gagged to keep him from talking. To the side were several tools, a wrench, a large knife, a large collection of different sized needles, and a fire with a poker currently inside.
Dark Wing walked over to the pony and pulled the gag out of his mouth.
"I won't tell you a damn thing no matter how much you torture me." said the earth pony.
"Oh don't you worry; I believe you'll be cooperating before the moon rises." He motioned me to get closer so I complied. "This here is a new friend I made; he's here to help me with this job. I'm sure you two will become best friends."
Dark Wing then turned towards to me and leaned in.
"Do whatever you want just keep him alive."
I nodded as Dark Wing walked away, leaving me to my work. I started by walking up to the earth pony and introducing myself.
"How are you doing today?" I asked with a smile on my face.
"W...wha...what are you?" asked the Earth pony.
"My name is Zhane, I don't know your name and I don't care to know, so for now, your name is Paul. Now I want you to listen to me Paul. There are many things one can do to a body to cause pain. With the tools I have here, I can think of multiple ways I could cause you pain. However, that wouldn't have to happen if you were to give me what I want."
The Earth pony looked at me with oblivious hate in his eyes.
"Do you think that you can make me talk? I just had some of the best interrogators try and pry info out of me. So listen to me when I saw do your worse."
I smiled.
"I really don't want it to end badly for you Paul. I want you to be able to live but if won't cooperate, I'm afraid that will be the end of you."
My new friend Paul decided to give me the silent treatment. Understandable, but a big mistake. I stood up and began to examine the tools before me looking for the best thing to start with. So many possibilities to choice from. I could heat up some needles and pin his legs to that chair. I could cut off pieces of his skin until he talked. I could slowly pull his teeth out and stick that hot poker into his mouth. So many possibilities but none of them seemed appealing to me. I've done this many times before but none of the options looked like they would work.
That's when I thought of a brilliant plan. I would do very miniscule things and lead up to the big one. I grabbed the knife and one long needle and walked back over to Paul. I took the needle in hand and pressed it lightly against Paul's leg tapping it so that it barely broke the skin but was in far enough to stick
"Alright Paul, let's play a little game." I said with a smile. "I want you to answer some questions for me. Think of it as a quiz. Alright, first question, do you know where Looking Glass is?"
There was a silence; Paul refused to answer my question. So in response, I lifted me foot and stomped the needle through Paul's leg. Along with that came the sickly cracking of bone. I must have stomped it hard enough to break his leg.
Paul let loose a gasp of pain, letting me know that he wasn't as resistant as I was told.
"This question has a time limit Paul. You'd better answer before time runs out. You wouldn't want to know what happens then."
That's when I saw it, the look of fear in his eyes. I ate it up; knowing that he feared me was my key to win.
"Yes." said Paul.
"Yes what?"
"Yes, I know where Looking Glass is." said Paul in a pained voice.
"You see how easy it was to tell me that Paul. You passed the first question, now moving on to question two. Tell me where Looking Glass is."
Paul scoffed.
"You'd think I would tell you that?" he said with a sneer.
"Yes, you would be wise to tell me before I do something we both would regret."
He began to give me the silent treatment again. That was the last time he would do so.
I quickly grabbed the poker and approached him. I could see his slightly stir as he anticipated the next attack. As I got close, I grabbed the leg that wasn't broken and slowly began to shove the poker into the leg. The sound of him trying to resist screaming out in pain made me smile because all it would take would be a little incentive to start. I reared back and shoved the poker into his leg and watched as it emerged from the other side in an eruption of blood and bone.
There was a silence, a moment of serene calm before the room was filled by a loud scream from Paul. For someone with torture resists training, he sure is bad at resisting. I then grabbed the poker and slowly pulled out, much to Paul's dismay, and aimed it at his other leg. I was about to thrust it into his leg when I saw his face. His face was telling me that he would rather die than give me what I wanted. I frowned, it was going to be a lot harder than I had originally thought but no matter, I would get this info.
I took the poker back over to the table and began to think of what to do next. Many things crossed my mind but none of them would probably make him talk. I needed to do something that would really get him talking. I paused for a moment and smiled. What's the one part of a man's body he cares for the most. That's right, you guessed it.
I grabbed the knife and walked over to Poison Spectre. I leaned in a told her what she needed to do. She seemed hesitant at first but when I insisted that it would work, she slowly made her way over to Paul, I would apologize later.
"How's your sex life Paul?" I asked.
"What's it to you?" asked Paul as he watched Poison Spectre close in on him.
"I was wondering how bad this would make your life after we're finished here."
Paul looked confused, both at my question and at Poison Spectre who was now arousing him greatly. Poison Spectre continued to do her job until Paul's member was fully erect, that's when she back away and I stepped forward. As much as I didn't want to, I grabbed Paul's member and held the knife to it.
"It's gonna to suck living without this." I said as I raised my knife.
"No no no no, wait!" Paul called out as he started to struggle. "Looking Glass is being held in a house on the south side of Canterlot, in the market district. It's the only house made from red bricks."
I smiled; it's amazing what a man will do to protect his most prized possession. I then looked up at him
"Thank you for cooperating." That's when the knife came down and cut his member clean off. I then took it, tossed it into the fire and walked over to Dark Wing who was still in the corner.
"You hear that?" I asked trying to talk over Paul's screams.
Dark Wing looked stunned at what I had just done. However, he quickly snapped out of it and nodded.
"I'll send several ponies to search for the house. Be ready to move." He said as he led us out of the room.
Here's chapter 6 for everypony, sorry for the long wait.
I do apologize for the long wait/delay. The move went alright but when I got there, I learned we wouldn't have internet for another week. So I had to wait to post this.
Other than that, I have some news that I will post on my profile later today that will have to do with a TRP sequel. Stay posted.
See everypony next Monday.