Beyond Betrayal

by Rarostar95

The betrayal

Morning quickly came for everypony and like most of their recent nights hardly any of them got any sleep. Bamboo got up early to make breakfast for them all and plan the route for their final journey to the cave. Fluttershy was the second to get up and out of the tent, but accidently woke up Rainbow Dash and Twilight in the process. A few moments after that, they all exited the tent, followed by Raro who exited his tent but left Razor in peace to rest for a little while longer. Raro grabbed some food with Bamboo and sat down next to him.
“So how much further then?” He said in an impatient and angry tone. Bamboo replied, but in a subtle tone that Raro was not expecting from him.
“I am not going to lie; we’ve got quite a way to go yet. We lost a lot of time getting separated in those caves,” Bamboo said. Raro sighed then left Bamboo alone. However Fluttershy quickly sat down next to him as he left. Raro lowered his head and slowly plodded away. All he could hear was the faint conversation between the two of them, until Twilight and Rainbow Dash sat down with them and joined in on the conversation. Raro returned to Razor in his tent. He kneeled down beside him and shook him to wake him up. His eyes slowly began to open.
“Sorry Razor, but I think we’re going be getting off in a little while. You should grab some breakfast before we leave,” Raro suggested to him.
“Yeah… that sounds good,” Razor said in a tired voice as he struggled to get out of his sleeping bag. Just then, he slipped on his sleeping bag and landed on his wing. He screamed out in pain. Everypony then rushed into their tent to see what was going on.
“What was that? Are you alright,” Twilight asked as she poked her head into the tent.
“It-I-it’s fine,” Razor said struggling to hold in his tears.
“Well then, when you feel fit, we’ll set off in a few minutes ok,” Bamboo said to Razor and the others.
“Don’t you have any kind of first aid?” Razor asked.
“Sorry Razor, Dr. Ringer has all that kind of stuff,” Bamboo replied. Razor sighed heavily as everypony left the tent. Later that morning, after Razor finally found it in him to carry on, they all grabbed their gear, packed up their tents and set of into the distance for the long trip ahead through the woods of Cervidas. By now everypony, even the Pegasi, were no strangers to walking. Their hooves had toughened as did their legs. Bamboo on the other hand had been doing this for years and didn’t even feel slightly tired on any of his walks anymore. The cave felt so far away to all of them, especially Razor who frequently stopped for water and short rests. Bamboo began to grow impatient with the continuous stopping even though he knew what a broken limb felt like and truly felt Razors pain. They had been walking through the bland, boring forest now for three hours. Many of them felt the tiredness coming back. Suddenly out of nowhere, just as they were about to stop for a rest next to a small lake, they heard something in the bushes.
“Who’s there?” Bamboo said to the mysterious noise. The rustling then began to grow louder and closer. Bamboo edged himself forward a bit.
“Who’s there?” he said again as his tone grew louder. Just then, the pony that they would have been happiest to see came strolling out of the shrubs. It was Dr. Ringer, with the rest of his geared up ponies behind him.
Razor stepped forward. “YOU” he said in happy yet distraught voice.
“Where the hell have you been?” Bamboo asked him. Dr. Ringer looked at the dirt while his geared up ponies flung their things to the ground and sort of examined the area.
“Well…” Dr. Ringer began. “I guess I should start from the beginning”. Dr. Ringer then slowly started walking toward Bamboo. He looked him square in the eyes like he was asking for a staring competition. Just then, Bamboo was caught completely of guard as Dr. Ringer through a punch at Bamboo as hard as he could. Bamboo plummeted to the ground beneath him, with blood trickling down his face. He looked up at Dr. Ringer who still had his blood smeared hoof raised in the air.
“What the hell?” Raro said as scurried forward to help him.
“Phrase” Dr. Ringer said as he pointed to one of his ponies. The pony then pulled out a small machine gun and pointed it square at Raro. The rest of Dr. Ringer’s ponies then did the same, pulling out their guns and pointing it at the rest of them. The four henchponies had them all trapped in a circle of firearms.
“What is this?” Twilight screamed out.
“You see, while I went of on my little ‘journey’ by myself I realised this; why the hell should let all of you share this potion and gain dominant power when I could have it all for myself.” Dr. Ringer said as he was walking in circles around everypony. “I’d be so rich; I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that kind of power. I could extend my research and my company would go national. You simpletons wouldn’t have a clue what do to with that kind of power, you don’t have the knowledge or the skill,” Dr. Ringer said as he got right up in Raro’s face.
“Why though?” Bamboo asked as he wiped the blood from his face. “I’ve known you for so long, how could you do this?” Bamboo said.
“Don’t play stupid with me. You think this was a spur of the moment thing? I’ve been planning this since the day Razor told me about this potion. When I went off with my ponies I knew you would all be looking for us, so it gave me time to prepare, catch you off guard”.
“But what if this potion doesn’t even exist, what if it’s just a legend, then what?” Razor asked as he walked toward him and one of Dr. Ringer’s ponies pointed the gun directly at Razor.
“Trust me when I say, it’s real. I’ve done my own research into this for quite some time now and we’re not the first to have gone looking for it. Nopony has ever entered the cave itself as it’s blocked off by this giant stone… but I know just how to get past it,” Dr. Ringer said to Razor. Everypony then went silent and all gave an evil look directed at Dr. Ringer.
“Well C’mon then, let’s get a move on,” Dr. Ringer said to them all. “Phrase, pursuit, if any one of these ponies tries anything at all, give them a warning shot, ok?”
“Yes, sir” Phrase said as he popped a clip into his gun.
“Wait, Razor here has a broken wing; you can’t just leave him like this,” Rainbow Dash said to them.
“She’s right sir, he’ll just slow us down,” Pursuit said to Dr. Ringer.
“Fine,” Dr. Ringer said in a vicious tone. “Red Cross, mission, patch him up,” Dr. Ringer ordered two of his other ponies. The two of them then jolted over to Razor with a large med kit and placed it down beside him. They began to bandage his wing.
“Why are you even working for this bastard?” Razor said to one his ponies in a quiet tone. The pony with a Red Cross for his cutie mark said nothing back to him.
“It’s not like he’s going to give you any of this potion,” Razor asked the other pony.
“Let’s just say, he pays us… very good as well” Mission replied to him.
“It’s always about the money isn’t it,” Razor murmured to himself.