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>It doesn't take long until the team is mired in firefight.
>In fact, several Moondancers begin rappelling down from the roof and onto the balcony.
>They're extremely well-armed.
>There's a surveillance scrambler on every Moondancer.
>"Someone with insanely deep pockets must've financed this," notes Twilight.
>The party erupts into a hail of lead, magic, demonic hellfire, and rainbow sparks.
 
"Twi, did you save it?"
>"Save what? I've got my—"
>Twi quickly draws her knife, slashing a Moondancer trying to melee her. She throws it at another Moondancer trying to jump her from the rafters.
>"—hands full of these Moon-faced idiots here!"
>Anon parries a flurry of thrusts, locked in a fierce gun-fu vs longsword battle.
 
"The bubble wrap! Did you save it?!"
>"Anonymous, are you still fucking drunk?!"
>He stumbles through a bayonet thrust, apparently not minding the laceration.
"I just skipped my beer pong semifinals for this, babe. Just.... I *need* it."
>Anon is crying.
>Twi rolls her eyes.
>She blows up a group of Moondancers with the 'thonk' of her grenade launcher.
 
>In an odd twist, the team finds themselves fighting off Moondancers on one end, and advancing towards the other.
"These assholes are just trying to tie us down! We need to advance before any Moondancers attempt more arranged murders!"
>Flash nods.
>"He is right, madam. We must split the party in two. While one attempts to retreat slowly towards the lobby, the other shall—"
>"SHUT IT BLUEBALLS, WE GET IT. JESUS FUCK."
>Flash glares at Sunset.
>She's too busy clawing slabs of flesh off of Moondancers to give a damn.
 
>"Right," says Twi, inching away from Sunset. "Sunset, Flash, staggered retreats. Anon, on me."
"Anon copies, take lead."
>Twi pauses for a moment.
>"Hey, you got it right this time."
"I'm here to kick ass and pop bubble wrap," says Anon, still sulking over his forfeited beer pong match.
"And I'm all out of bubble wrap."
 
 
- - - - - -
 
 
>Anon and Twi arrives at the lobby. It's a gigantic mess.
>The once faded and tastefully grimy tables are now tastelessly grimy or in varying stages of destruction.
>A dozen or so Sapphire Saviors are formed up in a semicircle around the entrance, fighting off hordes of Moondancers.
>They're protecting a huddled clump of higher-echelon Twilights.
>"This is fucking peanuts. PEANUTS," one of them shouts.
 
>Twi wastes no time spewing bursts after bursts out of her rifle, cutting down Moondancer copies.
>A well-placed grenade smears a handful of them on the marble floor.
>Having delivered her initial shock effect, Twi begins looking around in search of her nemesis.
>"Where the hell is Minuette?"
>Anon looks around, his blade glowing.
"Where the hell is Trixie?"
 
 
>They both appear at once, crashing through a nearby wall.
>The Element of Empathy is on the offensive, fueled by the pain and suffering nearby.
>She looks frenzied.
>Minuette is doing surprisingly well defending herself, not missing a single parry.
>Her rifle is gashed and scarred in dozens of places.
>Trixie's astral blade radiates almost explosively with each contact.
 
>"Drop your weapons, Minuette. You may still be redeemed."
>One jab comes too close for Minuette's liking, and she parries the sharp end with her rifle.
>It's cleaved neatly in half.
 
>Without a pause, Minuette draws a pair of offensively massive pistols, and begins counterattacking.
>"The ones in need of redemption are those purple pricks, rainbow witch!"
>Trixie throws up a barrier just in time to deflect an intense hail of semi-auto fire.
 
>"The shit they made me do, the people they made me kill. For the greater good of the multiverse? HAH!"
>Minuette begins slamming the barrier with her pistols, now with electrified hammerheads sticking out of the grip.
>The sparks begin flying everywhere as the barrier diminishes slightly with each strike.
 
 
- - - - - -
 
 
>"M'lady, please—"
>Shut your hole," growls Sunset, "and toss me."
>A column of armored Moondancer mechs faces off against them at the end of the hallway.
>Both Flash and Sunset are bloodied, but it just seems to drive Sunset to new heights of her power.
>Flash gets busy sheathing Sunset in an arrowhead-shaped magic shell.
>He strains a bit as he lifts the massive projectile.
>"NOW," howls Sunset.
>Flash scatters forward a few steps, then swings his arm hard, propelling the projectile forward.  
>Sunset braces for impact.
 
 
>Anon vaults over the row of Brads, his blade glowing brighter than ever in rainbow.
>One of the Brads even throws some translucent armor pieces around Anon's body, as he rolls midair.
>What a lad.
>Anon charges forward, making wide slashes at the awaiting Moondancer horde.
>They respond with incredibly well practiced gun-fu.
>Almost bell-like clangs begin to echo as Anon's longsword begins crossing with Moondancers' rifles and pistols.
 
>This was just like one of his Christian Bale films.
 
 
>Sunset impacts the group of Moondancer mechs like a bowling ball, knocking most of them down.
>The arrow-shaped magic sabot shatters, showering nearby Moondancers in shrapnel.
>With claws extended, Sunset begins carving through the armor plates.
>Some of them begin leaking fuel.
>A stray spark from a crazed demonette pulling armor plates with her hands lights it all on fire.
>Flash gulps as Sunset lets out a maniacal laughter.
 
>"YES, BURN MOTHERFUCKERS."
>Sunset grabs two mechs by their heads, and knocks them together.
>"THAT'S FOR THE HANGOVER!"
 
 
>Minuette's pistols meet Trixie's blade.
>A sudden burst of rage quickens her thrusts.
>"All those years I've spent, doing the council's dirtywork. Not one person tried to stop me."
>The sharp edges of the slide leave nasty cuts on Trixie's face. She winces.
>"Now that I'm trying to the right thing, to kill them, EVERYONE loses their shit."
>Minuette kicks Trixie away. She dumps her magazine into a group of Moondancers in anger.
 
>Trixie charges forward, and Minuette parries easily.
>"I worked with these psycho assassin fuckers, FOR EVERYONE'S GOOD. And what do I get?"
>Trixie throws up her barrier again as her sings become too frequent to parry.
>"My friends try to COCKBLOCK ME. Siding with those council mansluts!"
>She begins weeping, not letting up her attack.
 
>"I'm so sorry, Minuette," says Trixie, tearfully. "I understand your plight. I really do."
>She grips her astral blade tightly.
>"But this must be done. For your sake."
 
>The barrier suddenly drops.
>A flashing arc of the astral blade cuts through Minuette's arms.
>It doesn't sever them entirely.
>The cut is deep enough to sever tendons, but stops at the bone.
 
>Minuette collapses, having lost her grip.
>Her pistols clatter on the marble floor.
 
>Trixie extends her blade at Minuette's neck.
>Tears are streaming down her face.
>"Yield. Please," she whispers. "You're hurt."
 
>Minuette hangs her head.
 
 
- - - - - -
 
 
"What? You expect us to believe you?"
>Anon is locked in a shouting match with Flash, even before the fight properly wraps up.
>There are still pockets of melee here and there, but it's clear that MUPPET didn't manage to escalate their conflict outside the compound.
>One of the PEANUTS, presumably the manager of the place, paces around in anger.
>"This is a travesty. A TRAVESTY!!!"
 
>Flash retorts.
>"Well yes, my chap. The High Council will debrief her for a short while and she shall be detained. Indefinitely, of course."
>Hearing this, Trixie joins in. She carries a disarmed and unconscious Minuette in her arms.
>"She *had* a legitimate reason to be angry, you know," the pale blue wizard says.
>She shoots Flash a look of disdain.
>It cuts straight to his heart.
 
>"I-uhm. Yes. I understand her predicament. However, we must observe the due process! She shall be questioned, and with accordance to the High Society law—"
>"—be executed in a gutter somewhere, so you can mark her as 'missing' or something," finishes Trixie, mockingly.
>"My lady, you must understand—"
>"And you must've been ordered to whore yourself to me, just for this occasion. Isn't that right?"
>Flash completely loses his cool. He clearly never expected his plan to be exposed so easily.
 
>"It's obvious. They were afraid that I, the Element of Empathy, would try to stop you from snatching up the mole for questioning. So they ordered *you* to keep me occupied with sentimentality while you "arrested" her without oversight."
>Flash's eyes begin darting about.
>Anon notices a glint of tear in Trixie's eyes.
 
 
>Flash sighs.
>"No. Well, yes. At first I thought it was going to be just a standard seduction assignment. But you—"
>Flash stares at Trixie's eyes. His voices is without the usual rehearsed glibness.
>"—you were different. Incredibly kind, painfully caring, so empathetic—"
"So, an Element of Empathy?"
>"—please don't interrupt. Anyway, I had fallen in love with you. It was I, Flash Sentry, who had gone rogue after all."
>He tries to hold back tears.
>Suddenly, he kneels, holding Trixie's hand in his.
 
>"I'll probably lose my title of Flash Sentry, but that's not what bothers me. I am disheartened that I may have lost you, m'lady."
>Trixie looks glitter eyed.
>"F-Flash Sentry..."
>Flash looks up at her, tearful.
>"Y-yes, m'lady?"
 
>Trixie raises her hand, palm open.
>Her hand impacts Flash's cheek with a meaty slap.
>"That's for lying to me."
>She scrawls something on a piece of paper, then drops it at his feet.
>"That's my number. I don't like you or anything, I just want free meals."
>Trixie kicks Flash over on his back, then steps on his face.
>"Oh, and we're so not handing over Minuette to you assholes. She comes with us, and if you tell anyone—"
>Trixie kicks his side, then walks away.
>"—I'll cut you."
>Flash puts on a face like he just had his junk rubbed the right way.
>Anon winces in disgust.
 
>"Trix," says Sunset. "You've got some pent-up anger issues."
>The rage demonette is covered in Moondancer bits.
 
 
- - - - - -
 
 
>A tiny stasis slab, containing Minuette, is being loaded up aboard the Rainboom.
"I can't believe Flash is just letting us take her like this."
>Sunset flips a few switches, closing the cargo bay door.
>"Well, he's got the hots for Trixie apparently. So, her word goes."
>Trixie blushes.
 
>"H-hey! He's a deceptive creep and we're NOT going out. He literally gets paid to have sex with girls for the council!"
>"Not just girls," interrupts Twi. "They get it on with other men too on occasion, supposedly."
 
>Seizing the opportunity, Anon chimes in to poke Trixie's weakness.
"Hot. Gay. Sex. For espionage."
>"I, uh," Trixie stammers. Her face is redder than before. "I'll be in my bunk. For a while. Please don't knock."
 
 
>"So, what's happening on Planet Earth nowadays?"
>Sunset, the impromptu bartender of the ship, stirs her drink.
>Anon is more than impressed by her drink mixing skills. He's got a good buzz going.
 
"Oh, nothing much," says Anon. "War in Middle East, the balkans are falling apart, Y2K scare, the usual."
>"Huh."
>Twi takes a sip of hers. She looks genuinely happy.
>"You ready to live your life as an earthling, Sunny?"
 
>"Yeah," Sunset responds. "For now. There's nothing left for me in the multiverse."
>"What about your quest," says Trixie, her voice full of concern. "There's only one Equestria left, and you were so sure of your conviction to protect them all."
>Silence.
 
>Sunset gives Trixie a blank stare.
>She looks very tired, and much older than she had been since she's left Earth.
>"The multiverse is old enough," she whispers.
>Her voice is shaky with tearful emotions.
>"It can take care of itself for a while."
 
 
- - - - - -
 
 
>The lab is deathly quiet.
>Twi flips a switch, lighting up an overly glossy and clinical room.
>It's full of medical equipment.
>"Take a seat please," Twi says, pointing at the pale white dentist's chair.
>Minuette complies, still groggy from stasis sleep.
>Anon readies his rifle just in case.
 
>Twi injects Minuette with a shot of cure-all, and does a quick biometrics analysis.
>Minuette wiggles her fingers, her tendons slowly knitting again.
>Trixie's astral blade is glowing nervously.
 
>"You're incredibly healthy for someone in your line of work. Minus some cuts and bruises."
>Twi gets busy marking some things on her clipboard.
>Sunset brings a tray containing two bracelets.
>"Here, Minuette. Put these on."
>Not having much choice on the matter, she complies.
 
>"Wh—what are these?"
>Sunset clicks the seals shut. The device glows as it activates.
>"Interdimensional transponders," replies Twi. "The council will be after you for a long, long time. We just want to protect you."
"If you ever need our help, just hit the big red button. We'll try to find you."
>Minuette stares at Anon and Twi blankly.
>"Why? Why are you helping me?"
 
>"Because we have to break the circle at some point," says Trixie. "If Twi turn you over to the council for god-knows-what, or chase you ad nauseam around the multiverse, We've made no progress towards making peace with you."
>"Killing her was not my intention," says Minuette.
"But you would've done it," interrupts Anon.
>Minuette says nothing.
 
 
>Twi puts her hand on Minuette's.
>"I don't like the council any more than you do. But trying to eliminate the entire Twilight population is not the solution."
>Sunset puts a hand on Minuette's shoulder.
>"I respect you for wanting to do something about the injustice in the multiverse. I really do, and that's why I initially wanted to join MUPPET. But Twi is right. There are better ways about it."
>Anon nods. He gets closer.
"You have to understand that we're taking a massive risk here. If they ever find out we've let you go, we'd be in deep shit."
 
>He hands her a duffel bag. It's full of her things.
>Even the VHS tapes.
"Consider it an olive branch. From us, to you."
 
>Minuette allows herself a very sad smile.
>"You know, I actually honestly wanted to move here. To Earth. Nice weather, good food, cute animals."
>She looks up at everyone in turn.
>"And awesome people. People of conscience. I—"
>Unable to bring herself to say thanks, she gets up.
>She's fighting back tears.
>Twi and Anon accompany her.
 
>The portal opens as Twi dials a random address. Something remote, outside of HST influence.
"If you ever wanna visit again," Anon shouts, "not saying we enjoy your company or anything, but you should call first. You being a fugitive and all."
>Minuette smiles, grabbing her things.
>"I'll try, silly spoon.
>She hesitates.
>"Hey, Twi?"
>Twi looks up.
>"He's a keeper. I'm jealous."
>With that, she disappears through the portal.
 
"I hope we did the right thing," whispers Anon. "That girl is layers all the way down."
 
 
- - - - - -
 
 
>Anon wakes up, Twi still asleep next to him.
>A security breach indicator is blinking quietly at him.
 
[UNAUTH RECV PORTAL]
 
>Anon gets out of the bed quietly, grabbing a pistol.
>He makes his way into Twi's lab.
 
>"(—yes, ah! m'lady you're so—uuunf!)"
>A muted conversation murmurs from one of the guest rooms.
>Anon raises his weapon and approaches the door.
>"(—I said shut it you imbecile! do you dare disobey the great and powerful—)"
>He creaks it open.
"—Trixie? FLASH??"
 
>Flash and Trixie stare back at Anon, like two deers caught in the headlight.
>Trixie is wearing a wizard hat, a fake mustache and a rather masculine looking harness that ends in—
>Anon tries to avert his gaze.
 
>Flash is in a lacy bra and stockings that end halfway on his hairy thighs.
>And he is definitely in the middle of taking it from the pale wizard's throbbing plastic dong
>Flash rolls his eyes.
>"Oh, please. It's not like you and that M-002 is a pure and savory couple or anything."
 
"How and why the hell are you here, Flash??"
 
>"She called me for a quick—"
>"He called me for a consolation—"
>They interrupt each other.
 
>"This is actually very therapeutic to some men—"
>"She wanted to introduce me to Earth customs—"
 
>Anon puts on a face like he's just walked into his parents having sex.
"I saw nothing, I heard nothing, I'm going back to bed. Please try to keep it down."
>He turns and leaves.
 
>"Anon, darling," says Flash, creepily feminine. "Would you be a dear and close the door behind you?"
"Eat a dick, Flash Sentry."
>Flash turns his gaze to Trixie, giving her a questioning look and a pout.
>Trixie rolls her eyes, then pulls out of Flash with a slick, muddy pop.
>"Fiiine," she says with a sultry look. "Let me wipe it first."
 
 
- - - - - -
 
[Epilogue]
https://youtu.be/sfR_HWMzgyc
 
>The marsh heat rises mercilessly, making Anon sweat profusely.
>Twi blazes the trail towards an abandoned construction site, Anon taking the rear guard alongside Sunset.
>Trixie erects a shimmering dome of magical shield around the party.
>There are empty [F. Rich, Inc] supply crates strewn about, clearly with tactical positioning in mind.
>They form a deceptive ring of covers around the half-finished buliding.
>Anon readies his rifle, just in case.
 
>They set foot on concrete.
>"We're here," says Twi, more for the benefit of whoever's lay waiting.
>The sound of an empty can clangs somewhere in the compound, startling everyone.
>"Come on in," says the mysterious voice. "I'm upstairs."
>They carefully make their way up through a crumbling staircase.
 
>"Take a seat," intones a familiar face from one end of the table.
>The wooden chairs screech and clack against the concrete floor.
 
"So, we're here. Like you asked."
>Moondancer casually lights a cigarette.
>Anon gets impatient.
"What do you want from us?"
 
>Moondancer takes a deep drag, then lets out a cloud of smoke.
>Even in this midwestern heat, she wore the same scratchy-looking turtleneck.
>It smells vaguely of detergents.
 
>Moondancer takes another drag before continuing.
>"Just a simple question, Twilight," she says, taking a rather thick beige folder.
>It's stamped [TOP SECRET] on the cover.
 
>"How much do you wanna know about your past, Twilight Sparkle?"