//------------------------------// // What happened? // Story: A Twist in Evolution 2: Quit Horsing Around // by Dark Nightshade //------------------------------// Smelting Scorcher had joined the foot soldiers defending the tribe against the burrow hounds. He had spent a few minutes with Elusive Mindstrike and the group, telling them that the burrow hounds would be taken care of quickly. But when the roars of the burrow hounds didn't stop, Smelting Scorcher ran towards the entrance. It was worse than he thought. They were led by an alpha burrow hound. Of course, he knew that there was more than just weapons that they had to keep the burrow hounds from doing too much damage to the tribe. He had grabbed a spear and was jabbing at the feet of one of the smaller burrow hounds when Frozen Charge, Charging Cracker, and the rest of the elders appeared. They all had been quite fearsome back when they were younger, but now, not so much. Especially with most of their armor out on backwards or incorrectly. As the foot soldiers cleared a path for them, the burrow hounds seemed to sense that maybe the centaurs approaching them were more powerful than they thought. That assumption was quickly proved wrong when an elder near the back tripped, his spear rolling away from him and his chest plate coming undone. The alpha burrow hound roared, and the burrow hounds turned their complete attention on the elders. Saying it was a quick and victorious battle would've been an understatement...if you were rooting for the burrow hounds. They destroyed the elders. It was not a pretty sight. Frozen Charge had tried to take on the alpha burrow hound, but was ripped to bloody shreds. The foot soldiers started nervously stepping away from the hounds. Smelting Scorcher knew what was happening. They were going to retreat. He couldn't blame them. After all, no one had seen battle in decades, and were a little out of practice, to say the least. Smelting Scorcher knew that the pale brown man was somehow behind this. But he couldn't go tell Submersive Exploration that. She hated the pale brown man. Fortunately, Smelting Scorcher had a hunch of where the pale brown was headed. The pale brown man had reached the laboratories without much problems. His distraction at the entrence of the mountain had drawn everyone towards it. As the pale brown man wandered among the tables of half finished inventions, his eyes searching for one device, he thought of his master plan. It had changed a little since he had destroyed Rippling Horizon, but he was still going to destroy the world. He was just going to rule it for a little beforehand. All of them. He wanted the world to hurt as much as he had as a child. As his eyes wandered back and forth, from table to table, he heard the closing of hooves, and he turned to face the entrance of the lab, stopping next to a table covered with partially completed weapons. In walked a centaur with fire red fur and skin the color of recently melted steel. "You're one of the inventors here, aren't you?" the pale brown man said. "Yes, I am," the centaur said. "But, more importantly, I'm the guy who's going to stop you." The pale brown man chuckled softly. "That's what you wish," he said. "My plan is going perfectly. You, and no one else here, will be able to stop me!" "What is your overall plan, anyway?" the centaur asked. "To destroy the world?" "Yes, and I will be successful," the pale man said. "That's going to kill you too," the centaur said. The pale brown man rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am aware of that," he said dryly. "Why do you want to destroy the world anyway?" the centaur asked. "I'd tell you, but that would take up time that I'd rather not spend," the pale brown man said. "Then again, you could help me find what I'm looking for." "Never," the centaur said. "Similarly, you could just let me take you too the jail house." The pale brown man grinned, his expresion very evil looking. "Ah, but how?" he asked. His hand plucked a weapon of off the table that looked more complete than the others. It looked like he had to put his hand up inside of the hole in to use it, which is what he did. It looked a little like an arm cannon. "I have a weapon, you don't." "I know how to use said weapon, you don't," the centaur challenged. "Or do I?" the pale brown man retorted. He was bluffing. He didn't have the slightest clue how to work it. He felt several buttons on the inside of the arm cannon, and he guessed that those probably did something to fire it. "I seriously doubt it," the centaur said. The pale brown man aimed the arm cannon at the centaur and pressed a button. The machine hummed and glowed a greenish hue. The pale brown man pressed another button and the glowing light changed to a red color. The centaur grinned triumphantly. "Looks like I was rig-" he was cut off when the pale brown man pushed another button and the arm cannon fired a blast of energy at him, sending him into the wall behind him. A few seconds passed as the pale brown man stared at the crumpled centaur. "Well, that was slightly anticlimactic," the pale brown man finally said. He turned around again and started searching the tables. Soon, he found what he was searching for. Back at the hospital, the group of humans (and mermaids), they listened to the burrow hounds outside, roaring and centaurs trying to defend the tribe against them. "Should we do something?" Rarity asked. Sunset Shimmer shook her head. "Smelting Scorcher told us to stay here," she said. "Besides, what could we do to help?" Rarity shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I just feel a little guilty." "Don't worry, I'm sure that the elders have taught some defenders well enough to defend against a few burrow hounds. Just look at what Ethereal Whisper did all by herself against one!" Flash said. "Of course, I helped kill it, but she's the one who did most of the work." "Damn right I did," Elusive Mindstrike said. "Don't worry, we harnessed the power of a type of light that the burrow hounds don't like. Someone should be using it very soon." She was right. A few minutes later, they could see a bright, gentle light pouring out of what looked a little like a searchlight. That wasn't the only one to shine. There were several lights, shining at the burrow hounds. They couldn't see it, but the burrow hounds were being shepherded out of the mountain, which was rather ridiculous, considering how much trouble they caused.After almost another half hour, the lights finally shut off, and a little while after that, Smelting Scorcher finally came back in, talking about how he had faced off against the pale brown man before getting knocked out. All in all, it had been an unbelievable day.