//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two 
// Story: Blood for Blood 
// by GenerousGhibli 
//------------------------------//

The Peregrine soared over Anugypt at a breakneck speed, keeping low and sending sand flying up in the airship’s wake. Sweetie Drops hated Anugypt. Always had, always would. It was too hot, and the sand always got in her mouth. Thankfully, she was in a high speed, airtight airship.

With air conditioning. Sweet, cool air conditioning.

It wasn’t too long before the sands of Anugypt shifted into the cracked surface of the Anugyptian Badlands. Not to be confused with the Equestrian Badlands. They were vastly different from one another.

Sweetie Drops pulled back on the throttle as she caught sight of her destination. Her ship had a unique feature, due to its lightweight nature. It accelerated much faster than the standard airship, but this also meant that it all but lurched to a stop as she passed into the neutral realm that housed the gates of Tartarus, once guarded by Anubis himself.

Within a few minutes of crossing into the territory, she was already coming within visual range of the gates of Tartarus. Massive, black gates of iron loomed over the land, casting a gargantuan shadow over the cracked, dry ground.

Slowing her ship to approach speeds, she spotted several unicorns with glowing horns directing her towards a large red circle. She followed their directions and came to hover just over the marker. Three hooks latched onto each side of The Peregrine and pulled her down to the ground so she could disembark. As she opened the hatch, the harsh, red glow of the area assaulted her eyes, causing her to squint. Sweetie Drops climbed out of her ship and leapt a dozen hooves to the ground, landing with a grunt.

One of the guards, all of whom were clad in Anugyptian uniforms, trotted up to her and pointed a spear at her. “Identify yourself, Mare!” he shouted as several more guards joined him.

“Special Agent Sweetie Drops of the R.M.H.L. in Canterlot,” she announced, pulling her badge out of her jacket. “I’m here by order of Princess Celestia herself.”

“Stand down!” a stallion called from behind the guards. As the crowd parted to let him through, Sweetie Drops’ eyes widened. “Sorry for the harsh welcome, Drops. They’re a bit on edge. None of us have ever seen a breakout like this.”

Standing before her was a tall, heavily muscled earth pony stallion with a grey coat and an orange mane that had faded with age. Across his right eye was a large black eye patch, one that did little to cover the burn scars around it. Pulling herself back in order, Drops nodded to her former comrade and turned to the gates. “Trail Blazer. What do you mean, ‘a breakout like this’?”

Blazer sighed and raised his hoof in the air. “I thinks it’s best you see for yourself. Open her up, colts!”

The guards around them immediately galloped over the gates and began turning two massive cranks at the base of each side. The sound of chains rolling along pulleys sounded across the landscape, forcing Blazer to sit and cover his ears. Drops simply stared ahead of her and waited for them to finish the time consuming process of opening Hell itself.

Once they finished, she trotted forward and scowled. Curiously, Tartarus’s guard dog did not greet them. “Where is Cerberus?” she demanded, turning on her former fellow hunter. “He should be here, ready to slaughter us for opening the gates.”

Blazer scowled and trotted past her through the gates. He stopped briefly, gesturing for her to follow him, which she did. He led her out onto a bridge-like structure, staying close to the edge. When he stopped, he turned and pointed over the edge of the walkway, down into the abyss. “Take a look down there, Drops. Tell me what you see.”

Sweetie Drops did as she was told, leaning over the side of the walkway, staring down into the darkness. A gasp nearly escaped her as she saw Cerberus’s corpse skewered onto a massive stalagmite, straight through his chest. “What… What happened to him, Blazer?” she asked, keeping an edge to her voice. “How did he get down there?”

“We believe the escapee tricked him into running over the edge. Cerberus wasn’t the brightest pup in the litter,” he explained, narrowing his eyes. “We were just about tired of waiting for you to show up.”

“Why were you waiting?” Drops asked as she stepped away from the edge.

“We were ordered to,” he answered simply. “Official R.M.H.L. business and all that. So what’s next?”

“I need to see his holding area. I want to know just how he was able to escape,” Sweetie Drops explained as they headed back towards the gates. “I’ll need a team of jumpers ready to head down there.”

“Whoa, hold up, Drops! You’re actually thinking of going down there?” Blazer asked, stepping back. “That’s… That’s insane! Even for you!”

“Come if you want, don’t if you don’t,” she said sourly as she crossed through the gates. Blazer followed her, giving a sharp whistle to the nearby guards.

“Alright, Stallions! This mare here outranks me by tenfold! She’s going to select a few of you for a special mission, and you’re going to go if she calls you out.”

“I’m going to need ten able-bodied and strong willed stallions to accompany me into the depths. I need to find a certain cage that held a certain prisoner, who may or may not be a threat to the country.” Sweetie Drops looked around for a moment, picking out ten stallions that looked strong enough to break rocks. “You ten,” she said, pointing to each of her selections, “are coming with me. Pack your kits.”



~~~B><B~~~


“Hey, Crop, who is that guy?” Falcon asked, pointing towards the edge of camp, where an elderly stallion was trotting into the campsite. “He’s not one of ours, is he?”

“No, Drake. He’s not,” Leather Crop replied, eyeing the stallion cautiously as she drew the crossbow from her flank. He wore a hood, so his face was hidden, but a mangy white beard hung out of it. She could easily tell he was old, though. His skin hung off of him in bags, and his legs looked like they were nothing but skin and bones. As he drew close, he pushed his hood back with a hoof and offered them a warm smile. His mane matched his beard in both color and state, hanging from his scalp in shaggy, tangled clumps.

“Please, stow thy weapon, Miss,” he said in a raspy voice. “I merely seek shelter for myself and my companion. Might we use this tomb you guard for the night?”

“Absolutely not,” Drake shouted, drawing a crossbow of his own. “Turn around and leave the camp, and we won’t shoot you.”

“Very well,” the stallion conceded, turning away. “I’ll not force my presence on thee.”


~~~B><B~~~


As Roma turned away from what were clearly raiders of some kind, Avianna watched in horror as the griffon and the earth pony behind him raised their crossbows, and fired a bolt each into the back of Roma’s skull. Her companion promptly fell to the ground, blood pooling around his head and soaking into the sand.

She looked back to the raiders, her face twisting in anger as they reloaded their weapons. Her talons dug into the sand as she prepared to take off, but the raiders weren’t pointing their crossbows at her. They were still staring at Roma’s corpse. A quick glance told her why. Roma was standing back up, flexing his neck back and forth. Any will Avianna had held to fight evaporated the moment Roma reached behind his head and pushed the crossbow bolts through his forehead, then pulled them out through the front. How… how was he alive?

“Avianna!” Roma called, scowling at her. “Cover thine eyes and ears, child! I would rather you not witness I am about to do!”

Avianna’s eyes widened, but she obeyed and shut her eyes tight, then covered her ears with her claws. She knew what was about to happen. She didn’t want it to happen. It shouldn’t happen! But… they shot him, so… they deserved it, right?

“…Right…” she whispered to herself. “It’s their fault… always their fault. Not his, never his…”


~~~B><B~~~


The trip to the cliff that Cerberus was on was a long one. It took several hours of repelling down a sheer rock face to reach even that far. And yet, they had to go deeper.

“We’ll rest here for a bit, and then we go further!” Sweetie Drops called to her stallions. They all nodded and sat down, most heaving a sigh of relief. It was pathetic. She understood why they weren’t as enduring as she was, but it still annoyed her to have to expend time for them to recuperate. However, she was a bit more charitable in this instance, since there was something she needed to check out.

The sound of hooves approaching drew her attention to her right. “Hey, Drops…” he started quietly, as if her were afraid of her.

“What is it, Blazer?”

“This monster you’re after… what is it?” he asked, scratching the back of his head. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. She knew why, too. “Is it going to be like…?”

“The Bugbear?”

He flinched and lowered his head. “Yeah.”

Sweetie Drops sighed and trotted around him. “No,” she said solemnly. “No, this one is probably going to be much worse.” Before he could respond, she said, “I’m going to investigate Cerberus’s corpse, see if I can find any clues.”

“I’ll come with you!” Blazer said quickly, trotting after her.

“Just don’t touch anything,” she ordered sharply as they came closer to the massive body. He had a knack for ruining evidence. She felt the blood stick to her hooves as she stepped into the splatter zone. She would have preferred being air dropped onto the corpse, but there weren’t any pegasus or unicorn guards on her team.

“So, uh…” Blazer cleared his throat and pointedly looked away from the ground. “Have you… been in touch with the others?”

“Yes.”

“How are they?”

“That’s classified,” she said a bit too quickly, tightening her scowl. She came up to one of Cerberus’s heads and stepped up in front of one of its mouths. It was parted slightly, barely enough for her to fit between the teeth unscathed. That also meant that the teeth were almost at the perfect distance to uses as a ladder of sorts.

“Is it really, Drops?” Blazer asked sourly his lips pressing together in a scowl. “Or are you keeping secrets again? You were always bad about that.”

Sweetie Drops sighed and began pushing the mouth closed. Once it was where she wanted, she turned and scowled at Trail Blazer. “Look… There’s a reason they won’t talk to you,” she said harshly. “It’s a reason I share. The only reason I’m even doing it now is because my mission requires it. To be quite frank, we all–”

“I know you hate me!” he barked, his frown intensifying. “After what happened, you think I’d expect any less?! You think I don’t regret it?!” They were both silent for several minutes as they stared each other down with varying degrees of contempt. He raised a hoof and brushed it across his burns. “I… I look in the mirror everyday and I…”

“Stop, Blazer,” Sweetie Drops said coolly, stepping up to him. “I know you regret it.” Her calm look of distaste twisted into one of intense hate as her brow furrowed and her frown intensified. “I only regret that you didn’t die with her.” She immediately turned away and put her front hooves on the first teeth, but something made her pause.

“What? You got more to add?”

Sweetie Drops growled in frustration, before looking over her shoulder. “Daring Do and Shadow Spades are both successful writers, both under pseudonyms. It’s part of their cover. Daring spends her days adventuring and exploring ancient ruins. Shadow is a detective in Detrot. Marigold… Marigold took her own life six years ago. Happy?”

“…At least two of us can lead decent lives,” Trail Blazer whispered somberly, turning his head down.

“Three. My cover involves running a candy shop with my best friend.”

Blazer let out a dry chuckle, before moving closer to her. “Meanwhile, I’m stuck out here in this damn sauna for Celestia knows how long… That just doesn’t seem fair.”

As Sweetie Drops began climbing the teeth, she also chuckled. “Was that sarcasm or do you honestly think you deserve better?”

“No, no… It was sarcasm. I earned my fate, fair and square,” he said with a sigh as his former comrade finished her climb and disappeared over the edge of the beast’s snout. “You see anything?”

“Well, I’m not even sure what I–” She stopped dead in her tracks when she laid eyes on Cerberus’s temple. It would have been difficult to see from the ground, but his head was partially caved in. Not quite enough to kill him, but enough to damage the brain substantially. A glance at the other two heads revealed the same about them. “Yeah, I found something.” She quickly trotted over and looked into the center of the crater, and found that the opening from the wound was actually quite small, about the size of a… regular… hoof. Cerberus hadn’t been tricked into falling over the edge. He’d been forced off by something incredibly powerful. Punched off, to be precise.

Once she had climbed back down, she gave Blazer a stern look, before turning towards the jumpers. “Alright, fillies, up and at it!” she barked at them. She received a number of groans, but they all complied and got to their hooves. “We’re headed deeper into Tartarus!”

Behind her, Blazer sighed and muttered under his breath, “I guess you went crazy after all…”


~~~B><B~~~


Avianna carefully made her way into the tomb, her head low and her wings tensed. She purposely avoided turning her gaze to the two withered corpses in the corner, and instead followed Roma’s scent further down the corridor. The sun did not reach this far into the tomb, but she could still see just fine, thanks to her enhanced eyes.

A soft wheezing reached her ears as Roma’s scent grew stronger and stronger, and became accompanied by the stench of burnt flesh. Before long, she entered into a passage that was caked in dust, and the smell of burnt meat was even more pungent there. She was drawing closer. “Roma,” she called, earning no response. Fear gripped her as she thought about how he might not have… “Roma, are you here?!” she hollered, earning a grunt in response.

“I am here, my child. Do not worry.”

A soft sigh of relief escaped her beak as she padded further into the passage. A scowl soon found its way to her face though. “That was too close, Roma. You almost… I almost lost you.”

“I made it, did I not?”

That’s not th–” Avianna stopped and grumbled under breath for a moment, before she looked over at the burnt face of her companion. “What happened to the ponies in the tents?”

“They fled.”

“You did not–”

“They did not attack me. I had no reason to.”

“Alright. Once the moon rises, we should set out again.”

“Agreed. In the meantime, we should sleep. I shall take first watch.”

“You heal fastest when you sleep. I’ll take the first watch.”

“I… Very well…”


~~~B><B~~~


Sweetie drops stared down at the pile of chains and twisted metal before her. It was true that percussive thaumatium was weak to impact, but this much? The object in front of her looked like it was some kind of pod. A capsule, meant to house something. Or somepony. It certainly should not have been this mangled from a dozen meter drop.

“Drops… what is this thing you’re after?” Trail Blazer asked, giving the destroyed containment vessel the same expression she wore.

“That’s…” she almost responded with her well rehearsed ‘that’s classified,’ but stopped. Nothing said it had to be classified. “It’s an Original.”

Trail Blazer huffed beside her. “I see. You gonna call the others out of cover, or are you handling this one yourself?”

“Just me. I’ll catch up to it before it gains too much power, and then I’ll kill it.”

“That’s what you said about that Descendant in Coltstantinople.” Of course. Blazer loved pointing out her failures. But she’d learned. She was better now. She didn’t make those kinds of mistakes anymore.

“I was young,” was her blunt reply.

“That sweet mare selling the fruit was, too.”

Sweetie Drops didn’t respond. Instead, she moved forward to inspect the edge of the capsule, where it had seemingly split. What she found answered a few questions.

The fracture seem wasn’t actually a fracture, it was an actual edge, and there were loops placed every three hooves or so. If she had to guess, those were meant for locks. Big ones. Further investigating the scene revealed that they were, in fact. The locks were easily the size of a pony’s head, and none of them had keyholes. Whatever was in this shell was not supposed to get out. Ever.

And yet, the thaumatium prison was open, and the prisoner was nowhere to be seen.

“Oi, Drops!” Trail Blazer called from across the chamber. “There’s twelve chain loops, but I’m only seeing ten chains.”

“I don’t care about the chains, Blazer,” she snapped, scowling at him. “I’m looking for things that might tell me where he was planning to go.” 

A scream sounded from one of the guards behind her, prompting her to turn and fall into a combat stance. Standing there with a bleeding, but very much so alive pony in its mouth, was a massive chimera. She’d dealt with the creatures before. They weren’t to be trusted. Their perceived threat was ranked alongside wild manticores, but Drops knew better. They were intelligent. They could speak, scheme, and that made them a serious threat to ponies everywhere. They mostly kept to themselves, though, and that was fortunate. They were fairly difficult to kill, after all. The snake on its tail spoke first. “You are looking for that vampire, aren’t you?” it hissed, nodding towards the shell behind her.

“We-e-e-e can tell you where he we-e-ent,” the goat portion added quickly. As it spoke, the other guards were already circling it, pointing their spears at the beast.

The tiger spit the guard out, spattering blood on the ground. “But only for a price.”

“Now hold on,” Blazer started, “We ain’t ab–”

“Can it blazer,” Drops spat, thoroughly ending his rant before it started. She turned back to the chimera, narrowing her eyes. “Name your price, monster.”

“Ssssuch hhharsssh wordssss…”

“We-ee-ee might not want to te-e-ell you now…”

“Name your price,” Drops commanded, taking a step forward.

“The pony thinks it can challenge us…” the tiger said haughtily, sneering down at the mare. “We are not amu–” 

“Twelve.”

“What?”

Drops replaced her scowl with a well rehearsed smirk. “I’ve killed twelve chimeras in my service to the crown. Eight of those were artificially created; four of them were your kind.”

“You bluff!” the goat said, stomping a paw on the floor. “You a-a-are just a pony!”

“No,” Blazer chimed in, trotting calmly over to the guard. “She’s telling the truth. That mare is a trained and seasoned monster hunter. She’s taken down creatures the likes of which you’d only see down here in Tartarus.”  He paused and seemed to begin inspecting the soldier’s wounds, even though he and Drops both knew the poor stallion wasn’t going to make it. “Hell, she put some of them down here.”

“L-ah-ah-ah-ies!”

“Ttthhey try to fool ussss!”

“Silence, you idiots!” the tiger roared. Its sisters immediately obeyed. “I need to think.”

Drops widened her smirk a bit. “I see it this way: you give me the information I want, and I’ll give you something in return. Or you could always try to take us out, and then you’d have meals for days. But in that scenario, you could easily die. I mean, my guards have spears. All it takes is three well placed thrusts, and you’re down. Do you want to take that chance?”

“Sssheee knowsss about our heartssss…” the snake whispered, hovering between the goat and the tiger.

“Sis, we-ee-ee need to be wise…”

“Agreed. We will… take the wounded pony in exchange for information,” the chimera said carefully, taking a step towards the pony.

“Intel first,” Drops demanded, jumping over between the beast and the guard. “Also, I need to collect his tags. Verify that he’s dead.” When the creature nodded, she trotted over and knelt down next to the soldier for several minutes, looking for his tags. The stallion had already stopped breathing.

“Mmm… We heard him speaking to that griffon. He said something about heading for Foalexandria…”

“Oi, Drops… that ain’t too far away,” Trail Blazer pointed out. “It’s easily a seven day walk, at the most.”

“Meaning about ten nights,” she replied. “Remember, Originals can’t be in the sun.”

“Right, right.”

“Do you have what you need, pony?” the tiger asked, stepping up beside Sweetie Drops.

“Yep, he’s all yours,” she replied casually, stepping away.


~~~B><B~~~


Some time later, the remainder of the guard team was making its way up the side of a cliff, heading back to the surface. Many of the stallions were tired, but they continued on.

“Hey, drops… why’d you give that fellow to the chimera?” Trail blazer asked quietly.

Drops scowled up ahead of her. “I didn’t.” Suddenly, a muffled explosion sounded down below, followed by a distinctly caprine voice screaming in pain. That scream became gurgled and slowly dissipated. “Thirteen,” she muttered softly, narrowing her eyes. “I don’t negotiate with monsters that shouldn’t even exist.”

“I… see.” Trail blazer didn’t bother explaining that true chimeras were born naturally, and that they were, in fact, meant to exist.


~~~B><B~~~


Avianna pulled her scarf up over her beak, shielding the lower half of her face from the sand. She needn’t worry about her eyes, as she now sported a pair of spiffy sand goggles. Her companion seemed indifferent to the sand. He didn’t block his eyes, or turn his head away. He merely walked headlong into it, only bothering to cover his mouth.

Her eyes fell to the saddle bags he now carried over his back. They jingled with every step he took. She still wasn’t certain she was comfortable with the way Roma just strode into the lowest chambers of that tomb, heedless of the traps within.

“Was it really okay to take that gold?” she asked, padding a little quicker to keep pace with Roma. “I mean, you once said that we should respect the dead, didn’t you?”

“And we should respect the fallen, be they friend or foe,” he replied, his voice straining with his old age. “But the owner of that tomb gave me express permission to borrow from its contents if I needed.”

“I… I see. What will we do with it?”

“We will sell it, and use the money for supplies.”

Avianna scowled at him. He was always so confident. It got on her nerves sometimes. “You assume someone will buy it.”

“Gold will always be valuable.”

“Of cour–” She stopped as something came into view. Looming on the horizon was a massive silhouette, comprised of enormous towers that seemed to split the very sky. “What the flap is that?!”

"Foalexandria, it would seem, has grown since my exile began.”