//------------------------------// // Recovering a Family Heirloom // Story: Home is where True Peace and Love Is // by MetalBrony823 //------------------------------// The sun out here in the Stripeless Desert was getting hotter every minute Luke, his father, and their friends were passing on to look for the hideout of the Red Scar marauder clan. "Ugh! Why are we even doing this?" Said Rainbow Dash with sweat going down her face. "Uhh, because it's a decent thing to do?" Luke replied sarcastically. "Come on Rainbow. I thought you love adventures, kicking ass, and all those fun things?" Rainbow Dash let out a sigh before she said: "I know. I do love those thing but it's just hot out here." "This is certainly not good for my beautiful mane." Rarity added. "Quit your bellyaching, Rarity." Said Discord. "There's no point in whining your way out of this." "Whining?" Aaid Rarity. "When do I ever whine?" Everyone looked at her with a glare on their faces. "Really?" Asked Applejack. "When do you ever whine?" "Oh. Right." The white unicorn remembered the times about her complaining like this. "But I'm not whining, I am only complaining." "Okay. We get the point." Said Twilight. "But come on, everypony. It can't be that far from here." "Bayek said that the Red Scar live in that direction." Spike added. "But I don't remember if they live underground or in a cave." "The Red Scar you say?" Said a Male voice. They looked over in the direction where it came from, and it was a lone scimitar-horned oryx with long, curvy horns that looked lethal. He was about the size of a large sheep, or an argali type of size. "Who are you?" Said Bon Bon "You're not a bandit, are you?" Asked Twilight suspiciously. "No no, of course not. "I am not a murderous cutthroat that would take anything I can. My name is Oded and I hear you are looking for the Red Scar bandits. "Yes. Who wants to know?" Asked Luke. "Well, I know where they are hiding at. I have had a run-in with their leader: Waraabe before, and he gave me this." He turned to the right side of his body to reveal a red scar that was as long as his body. Everyone was rather shocked at how bad this scar looked on his torso. "That looks like it hurt." Lyra remarked uncomfortably. "It hurt like absolute hell." Said the oryx. "Still, I managed to fight off Waraabe and his cronies from killing me. I managed to return the favor by bruising the leader's torso with my horns." "Wow. That sounds epic." Larry admitted. "Can you take us to where they are hiding at?" "Yes. But I will not help you along the way, only because I don't think I will be as lucky as last time." Oded admitted. "I remember the path and I know it well." The others smiled, knowing they might probably find Waraabe and his wicked gang out here in this desert. As the oryx told them what to do, they went to another perilous walk across the desert, except for Discord and Rainbow Dash who were hovering above the ground with their wings. Common sights were some snakes, which freaked Twilight out due to her fear. Another type of animals they see were the gigantic black scorpions crawling on the brown-orange sand on these arid plains. "At least these scorpions don't come charging at us like hippos or elephants." Applejack remarked "You need not he alarmed, by friends." Said the scimitar oryx. "Scorpions are a vastly common sight to see around here, and so are the snakes and cobras." "And hyenas." Luke added. "We just saw a small family of them not too long ago." "Interesting. Those hyenas can be a very curious type of animal, especially with dead animals and creatures." "Are skeletons a common sight here?" Asked Fluttershy. "Well, there are a few cases where we see a number of Jackalian skeletons, and the same for zebras, oryx like myself. antelope, and other animals. "Most of those cases would be because they were captured by bedouins and left out here to die." Oded said. "Somethibg Waraabe and his gang would do from time to time." "Oh, I'm certain we can get through this. The beautiful city of Anu is not all that far from here after all." Said Zecora confidentially. "Yeah, we can see the ancient city right where we are now." Okove added. Everyone looked back to where Okove was looking at and the city was behind them with a mirage flowing over it. After about another mile, the oryx stopped and pointed to an entrance to what looks like a mausoleum or a crypt. "Here we are." Oded pointed. "Waraabe and his band of brutes are hiding in this forgotten crypt. Now, this is as far as I go for you all. For now, Anubis has where I must go." "Are you sure you'll he alright, Oded?" Asked Fluttershy qoth concern. "You look really hurt by what Waraabe did to you." "I'll be just fine. I have suffered worse pain, and besides, This scar is about four years old." "Oh. Okay.: "Farwell and good luck. Oh, and beware of Waraabe's watchdog, Hefir." "Hefir?" Asked Discord. "Never heard of him." "He's a real piece of work." Said Oded. "Hefir is a really slimy, sneaky, and cowardly Jackalian. Waraabe chose him to be his right-hand in his group." "Is he dangerous?" Asked Pinkie Pie "I wouldn't call him a worthy effort." said the oryx. "He's not even worth killing. I've seen how he cowers and runs away from fighting." "He does sound like a coward." said Rainbow Dash. "Thanks for the tip." "Anytime. Good luck on your search." then the scimitar-horned oryx went all the way back to Anubis. Looking back at the cavern entrance, looking a little uneasy by the sight of it. Still, they were doing this for a new friend, and trying to see if his brother, Farid, was alive or not. "Are we really going in there?" asked the yellow pegasus in a mildly shaky voice. "That we are." said Luke, igniting his lightsaber, and his father with his pistol. "Don't worry Fluttershy. We'll be fine. The least we can do is trend quietly in this crypt." Pinkie Made a gasp of horror, an exagerrated and long gasp before saying: "But, what about mummies!? They might rise from the grave and eat all our brains! I don't wanna go in there." This made Fluttershy eveb more scared now. "Come on, Pinkie." Said Luke with great doubt. These bandits probably cleared out this crypt and took care of the mummified bodies when they discovered and settled in it." "Luke has a point, Pinkie." Said Twilight. "Besides, we have faced scarier enemies and monsters worse than mummies." "Ohhh. Right." "Just in case." Said Luke. "Discord, do you think you can make us invisible so we can sneak ourselves inside?" "No problemo." The master of chaos boldly said. With a snap of his finger, he proofed himself and the others invisible. "And I think it would be best if you put your lightsaber away." "Good idea." Then Luke turned his lightsaber off and they all cautiously went in the cavern. As they were all inside, they suddenly got a cold feeling, like stepping into a tool shed on a warm day. Luke knew that he and the others were in for one wild ride. Lines of torches hung on the wall stretched all the way down in a far end if the corridor. Quietly and carefully, the heroes went down the hall to look for this Waraabe and his band of cutthroats, and they saw a rather short Jackalian that looked like he was ready to skin someone alive with his shorts curvy knife. “Gah, Waraabe doesn’t pay me enough to do this job.” He muttered. His voice sounded a little like a guitar in tune. This creature’s back was slightly hunched, and he wore baggy pants the color of purple, and his skin and fur were bone white. Another feature he has was some small braids dangling from his head, and he had two sharp teeth protruding from his mouth. “That must be Hefir.” Zecora whispered to her friends. All of a sudden, Spike made a sneeze so loud, it echoed through the hallway. “What? What the hell is that?” He pulled out another knife that looked like his first one. “Come out whoever you are!” “I got an idea.” Said Twilight. “Discord, turn Luke divisible when I give you the signal.” “What signal? We’re invisible.” “Just look at the magic from me horn.” “Oh. I see.” Luke slowly approached Hefir quietly from behind and ignited his lightsaber. The sound of the colorful blade igniting scared the living daylight out of the coward, and turned around to see not Luke, but the glowing blade from the lightsaber. “Sweet Horus!” Hefir exclaimed. “It’s a ghost!” Twilight’s magic appeared and Discord turned Luke divisible again. “Heeeeere’s Lukey!” He Said. He swung his lightsaber at him, but the Jackalian was fast and dodged in time to try and slice Luke with his two daggers. Larry shot his weapons from his hands, and Hefir tried running away, but he was caught in midair by Twilight’s magic. Starlight glimmer pulled out some rope and tied the coward down. “Gah! Unhand me!” Hefir struggled. “What do you want from me?!” “Give us Waraabe, and we’ll let you go.” Luke said sternly. “The bowels!” Hefir shouted in desperation. “Waraabe is in the bowels beneath this crypt! That’s all I know, i swear!” “Thank you.” Spike. They were all about to go down the caverns to look for Waraabe and Hefir exclaimed: “Wait, wait! Let me go!” “Fat chance, buddy!” Said Rainbow Dash, “We Said we would let you live, not unhand you from that rope.” Said Okove. “I expected someone a little braver than you, Hefir.” Luke remarked. “ it, you’re just a big, fat coward. What would your leader have to say about this?” Hefir continued struggling and trying to break free from the rope, but to no avail. For good measure, Starlight put some duct tape over his mouth so that none of the other Red Scar bandits would hear him scream or call for help. “Do you think he was telling the truth?” Asked Starlight “I think he was.” Said Applejack. “I can tell by his eyes that he was,” “Well I hope he doesn’t escape.” Said Fluttershy. “He can go and warn his leader about our presence,” “Nah, I tied him up real good, Fluttershy.” Applejack gloated. “I am a pretty good wrangler. No animal would ever try to escape from my rope before.” “True.” The yellow Pegasus admitted. “You’re right. He’s too afraid of us to ty and tattletale on us to his leader.” Discord snapped his finger again and he and the others were all invisible again. There were a few staircases to go down from, and the torches on the walls were showing them the way down in this crypt. Overtime, they encountered many types of bandits in this crypt: zebras, addax, oryx, khajiit, And Jackalian. There were some unpleasant conversations between these brutes, like a khajiit member said to anither Jackalian: “Did you see the way I slight her throat?” And he gave a loud laugh. “It can’t be as funny as when I kicked that little zebra boy.” Said The Jackalian. “The way he cried was hilarious! And he was like a puny insect trying to escape death!” Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, And the others were very unnerved and angered by how cruel and evil they sound. “Not to mention how you fed that baby khajiit to our dogs.” Said the Jackalian. “I fed a dog to a pair of hyenas after I was done killing it.” The Khajiit remarked. Fluttershy herself was becoming extremely angry hearing about animals suffering like this. “How dare they?” Was what she was thinking. “Hay dare they do that to those poor babies?!” “Calm down, Fluttershy.” Said Lyra. “We’ll deal with them later. For now, Waraabe is our top priority.” Everyone just snuck past these guards in this place, Twilight thought to herself: “This is just awful, I never met a group of marauders so cruel.” “Just wait until princess Celestia and Luna find out about this monsters.” Spike thought, feeling just as appalled by these monsters as Twilight and Fluttershy were. Some of the guards were taken down by Luke’s lightsaber so that they wouldn’t alert their boss. At last, they stopped and hid behind a large pile of gold these brutes had stolen, and the peeked to see a lone Jackalian on a golden throne, looking mighty like an actual king or a sultan. This Jackalian had a headdress on his head that looked like a pharaoh's crown, except it was more gold than Bayek, and it was the only color. He had red eyes glowing from his sockets and he looked like a lazy type of Jackalian. He had a small plate of armor on his right shoulder made of silver with a protruding spike growing out of it, yes, this person had to be Waraabe. He looked more clever and intimidating than any of his mates, not to mention that scar on his right left made him look more tough. Luke looked on and now that they had all found Waraabe, they needed to look for Farid and see if he was still alive. They heard Waraabe sigh in relaxation. "I really love the good life of being a king of bandits, what more could a humble Jackalian like me want in life?" "What about that Farid fella?" asked an Addax warrior. "Heh. He put up a good fight." said Waraabe coldly. "At least, he gave me this scar to prove how much of a good fighter he was before I... put an end to him." Whilst while he still didn't notice the heroes watching him, they all gasped hearing that. It turns out that they were too late in saving Farid, and this was all for nothing. However, Luke remembered Bayek asking him to bring his brother's khopesh back where it belongs. "Does that mean we failed?" asked Fluttershy "Not quite." Luke replied. "At least we can get that sword back to Bayek. And Waraabe still needs to be stopped." "Where you go," said Twilight. "We'll go with you." "And we'll help you every step of the way." said Lyra boldly. Just then, an oryx guard came rushining in the room, looking quite frantic. "Boss, boss!" he shouted, bowing to his leader. "Some of our boys are dead! I don't know who did it, but someone's in here trying to kill us!" Waraabe had a troubling look on his face, and had a thinking face on. "Damn. I bet it's that Bayek. He probably wants revenge on me for killing his pathetic brother." "We don't know who it was," said the oryx. "But this person seems deadly." "Just muster the guard and find this assassin. Bring me his head on a pike as a trophy." "Got it." then the oryx went to rally his men on the intruders. Luke gulped, knowing he was in deep trouble now. Still, he needed to look for the khopesh in this crypt. They quietly sneaked away past this marauder leader and they found themselves in a room where a skeleton was. He had a noble armor with the seal of king Anubis on the breastplate. Luke immediately recognized who this was. They turned divisible and looked at the corpse. "Poor Farid." said Fluttershy. She felt like crying. "What will we tell Bayek?" "Sometimes it's too late to save a life." said Larry. He picked up the khopesh, and looked at it. It was golden and curvy, and the handle was the color of black. "At least we can do is bring this back to Bayek and his family where it belongs." "I think not." said a voice. From behind them, Waraabe was behind them with a smug look look on his evil face. "You thought you could all hide from me?" "Waraabe!" said Zecora. "How did you all figure out we were all here?" "We Jackalians have an excellent sense of smell." then he pulled out a curvy scimitar from his back. What brings you all here to my hideout?" "We're here to help our friend Bayek out in a favor." "Ah, so that coward sent you to kill me?" Waraabe's smirk grew. "Well that was a poor choice of him. He should have came to me himself. No matter, I'll send him a message that he should not have someone do his work for him, especially for avenging his worthless brother." "You have committed very unforgivable crimes, Waraabe!" said Twilight. "If princess Celestia and Luna were here, you would be immediately arrested for your crimes." "And be put in jail for the rest of your life!" said Spike. Waraabe couldn't help but emit a loud laugh. "Do you really think jail would keep me from doing what I want? If I want to kill, I kill." "No!" Luke said. "You're terrorizing over the land of Anugypt ends now." then he turned on his lightsaber again, and aimed it at the bandit leader. "I am not afraid of anything, especially Princess Twilight, and the Elements of Harmony." the six friends gave a surprise look. "Oh yes. I know all about you and your little gang. It will be a real pleasure for me to kill you all." he made an evil laugh, and was ready to attack them all. "Farid brought me the most wonderful gift you know, and I hope you have something to compare." "Over my dead body!" Luke shouted in irritation. "That's the idea." Waraabe smile evilly. "Come out, my friends!" A large group of his friends came from behind him, and ready to kill Luke and his friends. "You're no match for us, you dog!" said Discord, pulling out his ninja armor again with a snap of his finger, and had nunchuks in his hand, making ninja sounds. "Kill them all!" the leader barked. Just like that, an all-out battle began between both sides. Starlight Glimmer kicked an addax bandit in the face, making him fall into a pile of gold, and she shouted: "is that all you got?!" Spike was dodging many slices from scimitars, khopeshes, and claws from some khajiit, a preferable weapon for that race. He was able to breath fire on some of them, even burning their buts just for fun. These bandits were very quick on their feet, and nimble in combat. Despite how fast, everyone fought the best they can against these cutthroats. Fluttershy managed to break one of the Jackalian bandits' neck, killing him instantly, Rainbow Dash was butting heads with an oryx, suffering a few bruises in the process, but she was eventually victorious. "There's so many of them!" said Starlight. "We can't give up!" Lyra said before kicking a khajiit bandit in the torso. "We all need to keep on fighting!" Luke was swinging his lightsaber here and there at many enemies, killing them instantly with no mercy. Larry was suddenly tackled by a khajiit, trying to slice him with his claws like a rabid raccoon, but Larry managed to kick him in the face with boh his feet, and shot him in the head as he was lying on the ground. Just then, he heard the sound of an enemy charging from behind him, but Luke's father was just as quick as his incoming opponent. It was a Jackalian, and he dodged a slice from his khopesh by ducking, and punched him in the face before shooting him from his chin, going through his brain. "Nice shot, Larry." Okove remarked. "Thanks. I too two years of training with a gun." Meanwhile, Luke was dodging many attacks from Waraabe himself, and he was fighting so hard against this merciless cutthroat. He wanted to help Bayek avenge his brother's death by killing the man who caused his death. Slicing and dicing, Waraabe was putting up a good fight, and he kicked Luke in the face, making him fall to the ground, but Luke was just as quick, and rolled out of the way to not be pierced from Waraabe's incoming scimitar. Luke kicked him in the face back, and punched him two times. He then had an idea, and when Waraabe was going to slice him horizontally to the right, Luke grabbed his right hand by the wrist, and cut it off with the lightsaber. The evil jackalian cried in agony, and fell to his knees on the floor. "My hand!" "Surrender, Waraabe!" Luke demanded, pointing his sword at him. "Just come with us quietly, and everything won't be worse for you." Waraabe made a small growl. "You think I will surrender to a scab like you, boy?! I would rather forfeit my life. I am the greatest thief of them all!" Then the leader looked around, and saw all of his crew were dead, and he was the only one left alive in this posse. Left with no other options, he tried charging at Luke one more time with his scimitar in his left hand, but he was sliced in the torso, falling dead on the ground. At last, justice has been served and this group was no more. Luke picked up the khopesh in his left hand and put his lightsaber back on the right side of his belt. He looked at Farid's skeleton and he said: "Rest in piece." to it "Are you okay, Luke?" asked Fluttershy "Just fine. Like I said, sometimes it's too late to save a life." Fluttershy smiled. "I know. You fought so well. I'm proud of you." and she gave him a pat on the back two times. "Bayek will want this khopesh back with him." "Agreed. Let's get out of here." said Discord.