Chapter 1: The Chase.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, not even realizing she had fallen asleep.

Last night had been one of the most tiring moments of her life. Ever since the Wonderbolts Tryouts poster appeared on the local billboard, her friend Rainbow Dash had been spun into an anxious loop of exercise, condition, test, rest, rinse and repeat. RD was notorious among her friends for her aiming to please Flyers of all colors, with a somewhat boasted confidence, but this was a whole new level. Fluttershy worried for her friend; she would wear herself out before the tryouts even began, ruining her chances of success.

Because of this, Rainbow Dash insisted on having Fluttershy as "her training buddy". Honestly, 'Shy didn't feel like she was making much of a difference. Dash still pushed herself too hard, ignoring her advice on relaxing and resting. And the intense training wasn't just taking a toll on her friend; it was drastically affecting Fluttershy as well.

She would end up coming home more tired than she'd like to be, consistently forgetting about the well being of her pets and animals she had within her care. She didn't blame Angel for slapping her awake after falling asleep in his bed when she was fluffing it out.

And each morning, she would wake up late with sore muscles that made it so much harder to complete her morning chores. And then she would leave her home to train with Rainbow again, continuing the painful cycle.

How much longer will this go on? Fluttershy thought to herself as she fought to stand up, her legs burning in protest. Fluttershy had that terrible morning taste in her mouth, and as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she realized she had fallen asleep in her bathtub. She was too tired to remember anything, but assumed that she had been attempting to take a shower before going to bed.

Oh, well. saves me the walk to the bathroom She stepped out of the bathtub, and stepped onto the white, smooth floor of the room and over to her sink. She rubbed cold water into her face in an attempt to revive her energy. When she completed this task, she looked into her mirror and just barely suppressed a gasp.

Her eyes were sunken and baggy, and her pink hair had lost it's usual shine and frayed in all directions.(plus some drool had dried on her bottom lip.)

Rarity would have simply fainted at the sight of me! Fluttershy thought in anguish. She sighed, and reached for her hair brush to take care of the mess, only to find empty space where her comb always was. She sighed again, as forgetting where everything was became a common occurrence in her life ever since Rainbow's training schedules. She walked out of her bathroom to search for the brush, only to be shocked at the sight of her home.

There was fur, feathers, down, nearly every kind of shed-able covering of animals was covering her furniture, floors, and even her kitchen sink! An unpleasant smell filled the air, something that reminded her of old eggs, and Angel was wrestling with a bear cub Fluttershy had saved from a cowardly timber wolf in the Everfree forest during her last visit to Zecora's hut.

Normally, Fluttershy would have cried over what was happening to her home, but with her sore muscles, limited rest, and irritating time spent with Rainbow, she snapped.

She galloped over to her broom and began sweeping the shedding into a pile for cleaning, and then began to fly about her home, something she rarely did in fear of knocking her head into one of the hanging bird cages. At speeds that would have put RD to shame, she filled the food and water bowls of her animal friends, cleaned out their musty cages, threw out old garbage, etc, etc, etc, until she was completely sure everything was in order.

When she was able to ensure every animal was happy, healthy, and clean, she collapsed onto her couch.Anything else? Fluttershy ran through everything she had completed in her head. Fed and watered all the animals, cleaned the little ones cages, took out the garbage... Fluttershy froze when she realized what she had forgotten.

RAINBOW DASH"S TRAINING!!! She checked her clock, and realized she was two hours late!That HAS to be a record! She thought unhappily as she flew about her home, searching for her training clothes.Where ARE they?!?!? She realized she was already wearing them. She then flew out of her home and out towards the pegasi training field.Please don't be mad, please don't be mad... she was frightened of what Rainbow dash would say about her excessive lateness.

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When she finally reached the levitating field, there were several pegasi flying about, training, most preparing for the upcoming Wonderbolts tryouts, like Rainbow Dash. The field was huge; a vast disk of cloud, with training equipment of all kinds. Some pegasi were shooting through cloud hoops, others were doing wing-ups, and even a few were making failed attempts at a sonic rainboom.

No sign of her... Fluttershy hung her head in despair. She had probably got tired of waiting, and simply left without starting any training. I'm a terrible friend. Fluttershy scolded herself. You rested too long, and you let down one of your closest friends. Fluttershy nearly cried, when she suddenly heard the sound of flapping wings, and a mare gasping out words between breaths.

"Sorry...sorry I'm...la-late..." Fluttershy turned her head, and saw a sky-blue mare with a shining, multicolored mane fly towards her, practically wheezing as she sat down.

"Rainbow Dash, what are you talking about? I'M the one who's late!" Fluttershy exclaimed in surprise.

"What?...did...did you oversleep?" Rainbow Dash asked, finally starting to catch her breath. "Yeah..." Fluttershy replied sheepishly.

"So did I. I guess we've been over working it a little, huh?" Rainbow Dash chuckled. Fluttershy was surprised at her friend.

"You're not mad?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

"Considering I'm no better, not really." Rainbow Dash sighed. " Let's take a break. We...need some time to rest." Rainbow obviously hated having to admit she was tired.

"Yeah..." Fluttershy suddenly had an idea. "Hey, when our break is over, we should train at Applejack's farm! There's a lot less pegasi there, and it'd be easier to pace ourselves there, anyways." Part of the reason they overworked it was because a couple of cocky pegasi stallions had been mocking them since day 1. Fluttershy knew that only made Rainbow Dash more competitive with the other trainees.

" Good idea. I'll ask Applejack, and then we'll meet there in three days." Rainbow Dash stepped towards her."Rest up; each day we spend training puts me one step closer to joining the Wonderbolts." The Blue-furred pegasus mare flew off at a much slower pace than earlier.

Fluttershy realized she was still in a messy state; her hair was still everywhere, her training clothes were filthy from sleeping and exercising in them, and she still had dry drool on her lower lip. Everypony's staring... Fluttershy flew away from the field, fully aware of her blushing. I can't think of a worse situation... Fluttershy despaired.

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I can't think of a worse situation! Twister thought in frustration as he galloped through the Everfree forest, and away from two REALLY pissed off Snake Women.

All he could see was more and more trees, each one looking exactly like the last! The tree canopy was far too thick for any pegasus to fly through safely, and there weren't any rocks, or bushes, or anything he could as landmarks for navigation.

The pegasus stallion leaped over a small cliff and dove under it, hoping to lose his pursuers. Twister was used to being chased; he had been for over six months since his grandmother's death. But his previous pursuers were all ponies; these were supernatural snake women, possibly native to this forest. They were sharper than most; let it be a crumpled leaf, a broken branch, the tiniest clue to his presence never escaped their eyes. Twister knew these things were out for blood. They had destroyed quite a few trees in their attempts to kill him the first time.

Twister held his breath when he heard the slithering of the snake-tail-legs (whatever the hell they were called...) of the creatures. He knew the tiniest intake of breath would give away his position.

"Where did he go?" One of the snake-demons began to communicate with her partner with a terrible hiss for a voice. "How should I know? It's YOUR job to find him, and it's MY job to finish him!" The other creature snarled.

So they were hired...typical. Twister's enemies had too many prissy's in their circle. They wouldn't DARE get their hooves dirty.

Twister struggled to hold his breath longer. He was gonna have to breathe again soon, and he'd have to run when he did. He tipped his safari hat up as he scanned the area for an exit. The canopy was still too thick; no openings to be seen within the area. There wasn't any sunlight bursting through the tree's to indicate the forest's edge. Shit...no way out. Twister was gonna have to take a dangerous gamble.

He took in as much oxygen as he could within one gasp, and launched himself into the air and flew through the forest at high speed. This was extremely dangerous; flying under a tree canopy was just asking for a branch up your ass. Plus, there was a lot of tree trunks you would have to swerve around and avoid. This was tricky. Add the fact you're being chased by two angry monsters with powerful destruction spells, and you got at LEAST a 20% chance of success.

What would Granny do? Twister wondered. Nothing, he realizes, as she would never have gone into a forest during pursuit. He thought it may have been worth the risk...the castle that princess's Celestia and Luna used to live in was here in the Everfree, and it was in it the next Key Shard was located.

...And the next clue to Grandma's death. Twister thought in anguish. Now, everything could go to hell within a second, because he made a fatal, idiotic mistake. His enemies would eliminate him, get their hooves on his map, and capture all the other Key Shards.

Stay focused! Twister scolded himself. He nearly launched himself into a tree trunk, and then where would he be? Suddenly, Twister noticed a faint light to his left. Something's there! Twister swerved toward it, and as he got closer, an opening in the canopy slowly turns to his view.

Finally! Twister flew through the opening, and the next thing he knew, he was sky high.

"Take THAT, you sons-of-bitches!" Twister laughed out loud. He'd made it! He was so glad to finally be out in the open, to glide through the air...

Suddenly, a blinding amount of light and pain comes from his right flank, and Twister spirals out of control. Was it up, or down? Left, or Right? He couldn't tell. The pain was too much for him to handle, much less navigate. All he knew was he was out of control, and his right wing felt like it was tearing itself apart.

As he fell, Twister could hear a screeching in his ear, deafening him to everything else. He realizes before he crashes, that this is his own scream.

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Fluttershy had been training with Rainbow Dash at Applejack's farm when she heard the screaming. Three days had past, like it was planned, and she was more than ready to restart the training. Angel Bunny was happy, her animal friends no longer fought with one another, and she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Applejack was waiting for them outside her barn. "Alright, you two." The orange mare spoke with a southern accent that fit her appearance. She wore a cowfilly hat over her blonde mane, which she had tied up so it wouldn't get in the way of her work. "Y'all can go train out in the front, near the plains. Ah'll be bucking the apple tree's if ya need me. Stay outer' trouble." Applejack walked towards the apple acre, like she said.

"All right; lets get to work. We gotta make up for lost time." Rainbow Dash flew towards the ragtag training area Applejack had set up. " I'm ready." Fluttershy grinned as they began their training.

The day had been going wonderfully. Until the screaming filled her ears, and Fluttershy saw the pegasus stallion spiraling downwards, towards the edge of the apple farm.

Now she was galloping towards the crash site, Rainbow Dash and Applejack close behind. As she approached, the scent of blood and burning flesh became stronger and stronger, and she could see smoke rising from the site. Fluttershy was struggling to keep herself from panicking. Have to be strong; it won't help whoever it is that's injured if I start freaking out.

She moved past the rows of growing cabbages in the front as she moved forward. The smoke was rising near the border between the farm and the open plains leading to ponyville. She heard Applejack bark at Apple Bloom to stay in the barn. As she got closer, Fluttershy could see dirt kicked up all around the broken body.

Fluttershy nearly cried out; the sight before her was gruesome, even for a crash. The Stallion hadn't simply crashed; he had been shot down, evidence pointing to his right wing...or what was left of it.

The feathers and skin that was on the wing was completely burned off, and several parts of the wing itself was torn off in the crash. What was left was burned, bare muscle, some broken bone sticking out at torn parts, and there was blood EVERYWHERE. It soaked the Stallion's dull, yellow fur and his black, white, and gray colored mane, and was pooling around him. His leather vest was badly stained, and he wasn't moving...

Is he dead? Fluttershy wasn't sure what to do. Luckily, Applejack apparently did.

"Rainbow Dash! Fly T' Zecora's hut! We need somepony who knows how T' handle serious injuries!" Rainbow nodded and flew off. Applejack turned to Fluttershy. "Quick, go grab somethin' we can use t' stop the bleedin'!" Fluttershy flew back to the barn as fast as she could. Something to stop the bleeding.... Fluttershy grabbed a blanket from the top of a shelf in the corner, and flew back as fast as possible.

"Can...can we use this?" Fluttershy asked uncertainly. "Yeh, It'll do." Applejack carefully pulled the vest off of the stallion and tied the blanket tightly around his chest. The blanket was quickly staining as he bled. With blood staining his fur, it was hard to see the pegasus stallion's cutie mark clearly. The best Fluttershy could tell, it was a gray tornado.

Suddenly, the stallion's eyes flipped open, and he took a sharp, agonized breath. Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat. He let out a strangled cry, and he was reaching his left hoof out, as if he was trying to grab something that wasn't there.

"Calm down; you'll be fine." Applejack was making a failed attempt at calming him down. The stallion's eyes were wide with fear, and he was hyperventilating. His left hoof began to flail about, as if the fact that it couldn't find anything was what was making him panic.

Fluttershy immediately took action; she grabbed onto his hoof, and spoke soft and soothingly to calm him. "It's alright; we're here to help. You'll be fine. Focus on my words. Ignore the pain." Fluttershy began to sing a lullaby her father used to sing to her when she went to bed.

This wasn't calming him; he still kept trying to move his hoof and let out several short, pained gasps. Fluttershy realized he was trying to point behind her. Fluttershy turned her head, and whimpered as two hideous, snake-like creatures with two scaly tails holding them up like bipedal legs, and snake heads for hair, slithered out of the Everfree forest.

Chapter 2: The Attack.

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Fluttershy had never been more scared in her life.

When the Snake monsters slithered out of the Everfree, she had only one thought in her head. RUN. She almost did, but an instant later, she remembered the Stallion's injuries; he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It was just her and Applejack now. The cowfilly had taken an aggressive stance, and Fluttershy proceeded to take a similar position.

Suddenly, the demons opened their mouths, and spoke in a horrific, drawling hiss that somehow reminded Fluttershy of a whoopee cushion; an evil, mutant, demonic whoopee cushion.

"Give him to ussssssss." The creatures spoke in unison. "Give him to usssssss, and your pitiful livesssssss will be ssssspared." Every muscle fiber in Fluttershy's body told her to get out of there, but she knew she couldn't leave the poor colt to these monsters.

Fluttershy's muscles tensed as she spoke. "W-we won't give him to you!" Fluttershy sounded more confident than she felt. "Don't be foolish; you barely know thisssss colt." The shorter creature drawled. "Would you truly waste your life for him?" The taller creature's tongue flickered out of her mouth.

"We ain't givin' 'em up." Applejack snarled at the scaly She-devil. "We won't let ya hurt 'im anymore!"

"Ssssso be it." The creatures suddenly vanished within the shadows. They hadn't left; Fluttershy could hear them slithering in the darkness of the Everfree. Fluttershy and Applejack stepped back to the injured Pegasus to give him a better defense. He was unconscious now, leaving him completely vulnerable.

Fluttershy waited, her adrenaline pumping through her body. She was trying to remember some self defense techniques she'd seen on television. Sure, it was off of TV, but it was better than nothing.

Suddenly, the taller of the serpentine sisters lashed out from the darkness and coiled behind Applejack. The orange mare didn't stand a chance; she attempted to buck her off, but the serpent creature was too agile for it to be effective. The demon wrapped herself around the cowfilly and began to constrict her. Fluttershy flew towards the sudden conflict, attempting to pry the monster off of her friend.

The fearsome creature lashed another one of her snake appendages at Fluttershy, wrapping around her hooves and tossing her like a ragdoll.

Fluttershy skidded across the dirt and crashed into an apple tree, like a skipping stone across a river. The yellow Pegasus stumbled back into standing position, her vision blurring from her head hitting the tree trunk. When her vision cleared, she could see that Big Macintosh had come outside and was wrestling with the taller serpent fiend in an attempt to rescue his sister.

Applejack's face was turning red; it was obvious the monster's serpent appendages were suffocating her. Fluttershy started to gallop towards her friend, when tree roots suddenly shot out from the earth and wrapped themselves around her hooves. Fluttershy tripped, and she suspected she had chipped a tooth when her face met the dirt.

Fluttershy scrambled back onto her hoofs, and saw that the tree roots were rapidly growing; the shorter Snake Woman was using magic! Fluttershy leaped over the roots before they could weave into a cage, and charged towards the magic-wielding serpent.

The creature attempted to cast another spell, before Fluttershy knocked her into the ground; this began a difficult tussle between her and the serpent.

Wait...I'm seeing a pattern here. Fluttershy noticed that this serpent seemed specialized in using long range magic. The monster that was constricting Applejack was specialized in close, personal combat...

Fluttershy successfully held down the fiend. She struggled, cursing in a language Fluttershy didn't understand. She attempted at using magic, but Fluttershy was too close to her for it to work.

If up close combat is all it takes to beat THIS snake... The truth dawned on Fluttershy. We'll need magic to beat THAT snake! "Big Mac!" Fluttershy called out to the bright red stallion. He turned his head, only to be tied up and tossed to the side by Applejack's assailant, similar to how she had dealt with Fluttershy earlier. His head knocked into a rock, and he was out like a light.

NO! Fluttershy began to panic. Suddenly, the Snake Woman being held down by Fluttershy had her serpent-heads hair all bite into her leg. "AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Fluttershy released the Snake Woman, who didn't waste a moment in slithering back to the shadows. My leg... Fluttershy could feel tears rolling down her cheeks. Her front left leg had snake bites running up and down it, and it burned with a pain she knew was spreading to the rest of her body. She could feel the venom coursing through her veins, making each second more unbearable than the last.

Her vision went fuzzy, and Fluttershy collapsed. She saw that the Snake Woman who had poisoned her was slithering towards the unconscious Pegasus, while her partner began to finish off Applejack. The orange mare wasn't breathing, and she had stopped struggling. No... Fluttershy couldn't tell if Applejack was alive or not.

Suddenly, a blue streak shot across the field, launching itself into the shorter Snake Woman. The fiend hissed ferociously as Rainbow Dash beat down the miserable creature. Suddenly, a purple unicorn mare with a lavender streak in her mane stepped in front of Fluttershy's view, galloping towards her with a bag on her back filled with tonics, medicines, and antidotes.

"..Z...Zecora...?" Fluttershy realized how stupid this question was. Zecora was a Zebra; not a purple unicorn. "No. It's me, Twilight." The mare spoke with a worried smile crossing her lips. "You'll be fine." Twilight fished out a bottle filled with a red liquid.

"Twilight, d...don't worry about me..." it took Fluttershy a great deal of strength to speak, and she had to hurry. "Applejack...the...the stallion..." The poison killed her voice.

Twilight poured the red liquid onto Fluttershy's snake bites as she struggled to speak again. Suddenly, the short Snake Woman who bit Fluttershy grabbed onto Twilight's back legs and tossed her into the dirt. Fluttershy saw Rainbow Dash writhing in pain on the ground. She had been poisoned, just like Fluttershy had.

Twilight recovered quickly, and as she scrabbled back onto her hooves, her horn glowed with a purplish hue as a protective field of energy formed around her. "Fluttershy! Can you hear me?" Twilight called to her Pegasus friend as the Snake woman struck against her newly formed magical shield. Fluttershy could hear just fine; her senses were coming back to her. But the poison must have done something to her throat, because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't speak.

Suddenly, the short Snake woman began casting spells of all forms against Twilight's shield. Fluttershy could tell by looking at her that it was taking Twilight a great deal of concentration to hold the shield. Fluttershy stood up and flew towards the fiendish serpent, now prepared to avoid her snake-heads hair as she fell into another wrestling match. Twilight's shield vanished along with her horn's purplish hue as she galloped across the field to help Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy suddenly found herself pushed away from the Snake Woman when this caught her attention.

The Monster vanished within the shadows again as Fluttershy pulled herself onto her hooves. The yellow pegasus didn't care; she galloped towards her friends as she tried to get their attention.

Twilight was spreading the red liquid across Rainbow's injuries as Fluttershy caught up with them. She did everything possible to catch Twilight's attention; waved her hooves, pointed to her and Applejack, and finally started shaking the unicorn.

"What IS it, Fluttershy?" Twilight spoke with an annoyed edge to her voice. Normally, Fluttershy would have been discouraged from doing anything at all, but this was an emergency. She pointed to Applejack, as the longer of the the serpentine siblings continued her constriction. Twilight's eyes got visibly wide, and she quickly helped Rainbow Dash up. "Rainbow, go help Applejack!" Fluttershy facehooved. Only magic would stop that creature, not brute force! Twilight didn't notice Fluttershy's frustration. She was already galloping towards the injured pegasus stallion.

Twilight was mumbling to herself as she started pulling out healing supplies. The Stallion was still unconscious, and Twilight began began spreading several of the tonics on his injuries as she read instructions levitated by her magic.

Fluttershy's attention turned to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The blue mare was having great difficulty striking out at the taller Snake Woman, as she was barely able to avoid her enemy's attacks. However, the Snake woman's focus on Rainbow was still greatly helping Applejack; her grip on the cowfilly was weakened because of her focus on the blue pegasus.

Fluttershy's panic could only get worse. She had no way of telling her friends her discovery of the creature's weakness's, and it was killing them! Fluttershy decided to do something she wouldn't have done any other time. She grabbed Twilight's bags and began searching through them for a potion or tonic to help her speak again.

Cure burns, no...kill warts, no... The bag was filled with miscellaneous cures and tonics. It would take forever to find the right one!

Suddenly, Twilight pulled the bag away from Fluttershy. "What are you DOING?" Twilight looked at Fluttershy with bewilderment. Fluttershy started pointing to her throat, and mouthed IMPORTANT. Twilight shook her head. "Fluttershy, he needs my direct attention! I don't have time for this!" Twilight returned her attention to the injured pegasus.

Fluttershy wanted to scream to the sky, feeling her flutterrage coming on. Fluttershy took several deep breaths, trying her hardest to keep calm.

Rainbow Dash was whipped by one of the snake demon's appendages, and flew across the field, crashing into the barn. This action, however, proved to be Applejack's savior. The cowfilly was able to pull herself out of the Snake Woman's grip, and scrambled across the field as far from the monster as possible.

The Snake Woman's attention was no longer on Applejack, however. She had noticed Twilight healing the pegasus, and was now slithering across the field at incredible speed towards them.

Rainbow Dash was back on her hooves, and Applejack was gasping for air as she rejoined the group in the defense of the Pegasus. Maybe we can pull this off! Fluttershy was getting the butterfly's-in-her-stomach sensation as she watched the Snake Woman slither towards the group.

Twilight's horned glowed with the same purplish hue as earlier, and a spherical shield raised around the group. "Rainbow Dash!" The purple unicorn was sweating." You...you need to help him! I have to keep this up!" Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came out. A bewildered expression crossed the Blue Mare's face as she attempted to speak again, and still, no noise.

Oh, for the love of Celestia! Fluttershy pushed Rainbow aside, and began to search through the bag of potions. There weren't any cough drops, or anything for clearing throats.The best Fluttershy could find was a bottle of honey. It'll have to do. Fluttershy released a silent sigh, and she passed it onto the blue mare as she began to panic. Fluttershy then grabbed the instructions, and found that what was on it wouldn't help this Stallion at ALL.

It told how to heal burns, care for cuts, etc. The damage the stallion was suffering was far more serious. Wait a minute... Fluttershy looked more closely at his injuries, and would have screamed if she could. His skin was peeling off, ON IT'S OWN, his muscles were rotting, ON THEIR OWN, and his bones were hollowing ON THEIR OWN. The "burns" weren't burns, his body was corroding! Fluttershy pulled the tied blanket off of him, and her fears were confirmed. His wing was falling apart, his muscles rotting and his bones were weakening in his wing. The corrosion was happening fast here, as bits of rotten flesh and weakened bone fell off.

"Can't...hold it much l-longer..." Twilight looked like she was going to faint. Applejack suddenly spoke. "Alright, guy's! Ya'll get ready t' fight!" Rainbow had taken the honey, but it wasn't helping her voice. She simply nodded, and Fluttershy reluctantly did so as well. We have to hurry! Fluttershy didn't think the stallion would last much longer. All they could do was stand and fight, for now.

Twilight lowered the shield, and the Snake Woman hissed with delight. She lashed out at the unicorn, and began to slither towards the dying pegasus. Rainbow Dash launched herself at the monster, but the Snake Woman darted away just in time, and wrapped herself around the blue mare from behind. Rainbow tried to fly away, but the demon pulled her down to earth, and began to constrict her. Applejack ran towards the conflict, but was whipped by one of the snake's appendages, knocking her away. Fluttershy flew towards Twilight's limp body, and attempted to pull her back into consciousness. She was breathing, so Fluttershy knew she was alive.

Wake up! WAKE UP! Fluttershy wanted to yell, to scream, to say SOMETHING, but the poison had made that impossible, so She had to settle for trying to slap the unicorn awake.

"wha-" Twilight's eye's fluttered; the magic had taken quite a toll on her, and the Snake Woman's attacks against her shield hadn't helped. Fluttershy got Twilight on her hooves and began to wave her hooves wildly, trying to tell her to use magic on the Snake Woman.

Rainbow Dash was struggling, still being constricted by the serpent, and Applejack kept trying to strike out at it, only to knocked back several feet by the snake's appendages. The Snake Woman knew she was winning, and she was making a strange rasping sound that Fluttershy suspected was laughter.

Twilight got up groggily, and she quickly noticed the conflict. Her horn took on it's purplish glow, but it was dim and flickered. Twilight's magic summoned up the root's of the trees, and they wrapped around the Snake Woman's body and pried her off of Rainbow Dash. The Snake Woman attempted to pull the roots off, but they were powerful and numerous. Every time one of her appendages broke free, two more roots grabbed onto it again. Eventually, she was completely held down by the roots. Finally, the demon was at the mercy of Twilight's magic.

Fluttershy stepped towards the trapped creature cautiously. She was screaming bloody murder, trying to shake free, but the tree roots had her secured. She wasn't going anywhere.

"Wha-what IS that thing?" Rainbow Dash suddenly found her voice. It was weak and raspy, but she could still speak. "Ah got NO idea." Applejack stepped up beside Fluttershy. "wait...weren't there TWO of 'em?" Fluttershy realized they had only been fighting one of them.

Fluttershy cleared her throat, and finally was able to speak with a weak voice. "I-I think the other one ran a-away..." Suddenly, the Snake Woman burst into flames, screaming in pain. Everypony leaped back, shocked by what was happening. Twilight's magic weakened, and the roots released the Serpent, but it didn't matter. Before two seconds had passed, she was reduced to ashes.

"Wh-what just happened?" Fluttershy was shaking from the sudden, graphic event. "That...was a Gorgon." Twilight stepped towards them, and Rainbow Dash had to catch her when she collapsed from exhaustion. "What's a Gorgon?" The pegasus asked Twilight as she helped her back onto her hooves.

"A Gorgon is a serpent-class chimera. She isn't a natural being; she was created." Twilight seemed to have caught her second wind as she spoke. "Chimera's are under somepony's complete control. When they can't do their master's bidding, the spell used to create them wears off, and they...well..." She tipped her head towards the ashes.

Suddenly, Applejack spoke up. "Wait a minute; Ah asked ya to get Zecora! How did ya find Twilight?" The orange mare looked at Rainbow Dash with a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Zecora was gone." Rainbow had to clear her throat again; the poison's effect was wearing off, but it was still difficult for her to speak. "Twilight came down the path when I tried to come back. She was visiting Zecora, and...well, she was better than nothing."

"We don't ha-have time for this!" Fluttershy galloped towards the injured pegasus. "He's still injured, and you're all chatting like school-fillies!" She grabbed twilight's pack, and as she turned to the pegasus, she saw his wing was in an even worse condition than before. It was corroding like it was dipped in acid.

"W-what's happening to him?" Twilight stepped next to her friend. "I-I don't know...he...he's...corroding..." Fluttershy didn't even know if they could save him now.

"Wait.." Twilight's horn glowed it's purplish hue as she touched his chest with it. A few seconds later, she pulled away, with a grim look on her face. "He's been cursed. We can still save him, but we have to move NOW!" Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. "Get somepony who can take him to the hospital. MOVE!" Twilight shouted when the pegasus hesitated. She flew off at top speed towards ponyville. Twilight turned to Applejack. "Applejack, you and I are going to have to remove the core of the curse if we're gonna have any chance at saving him. In this case, the core is the limb that was struck when the curse was cast. So..." Twilight gulped. Fluttershy could tell she openly felt like vomiting. "We're gonna have to tear off his wing."

Chapter 3: The Introduction.

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Twister thought he was in an interrogation chamber when he woke up.

He opened his eyes, and they were met with a harsh, bright light. He had instinctively believed it was a lamp being shoved in his face, but when his vision cleared, he found himself lying in a bed in a white room. He heard a consistent beeping noise, and when he turned his head, he saw it was coming from a heart monitor connected to him by a wire through his front left ankle.

Twister saw through a window to his right that it was already past dark. How did I get here? Twister struggled to remember what happened earlier. Okay, I woke up this morning in my tent. Twister backtracked. He fought to remember what happened next. I was packing up, trying to decide where and when to enter the Everfree. Twister's memories started returning to him, more detailed than the last. Then, I heard the hissing and slithering, and saw the Snake Women coming after me. I had to abandon my supplies; all I had time to grab was my satchel, vest, and hat. Twister looked up, and saw a coat hanger had his vest, hat, and satchel.

FOCUS! Twister once again struggled to remember what happened next. I...I flew into the Everfree forest, hoping to lose those things. Twister groaned inwardly; if he was being chased by ponies, running into the Everfree would have been a smart move. But when you're running from supernatural monsters, or ANY creatures who rely on all five senses, running into any forest is fatal. It's not too different than trying to escape a blood raging Slendermane.

At least the trees gave him cover. The Snake Women had destroyed several trees when they first saw him, attempting to kill him. How long did I run? Twister couldn't remember how long the chase had lasted. Two, maybe three hours? Probably longer. Twister just realized how much his hooves ached from the chase. He stretched his front legs out, and noticed for the first time a scar that ran down his right hoof and up to his body. How did I get that? Twister suddenly remembered what happened near the end of the chase. Finding the opening in the canopy, flying out of the Everfree....the pain in his right wing.

Twister moved his hooves to his back, feeling for his wing, and his heart plummeted into his stomach when all he felt was a stub. "Damn it..." Twister sighed. I suppose I should just be glad I'm still alive. Twister tore the wire from his ankle; the beeping from the heart monitor was starting to irritate him.

The crippled Pegasus stepped out of the bed, wincing as he felt a sharp pain go up his front right hoof as it touched the cold floor. He ran his tongue across his teeth, grimacing from the morning taste in his mouth. He walked over to the coat hanger and put his leather vest back on. It had dry blood stains on it's right side, markings that reminded him of the catastrophe. He pulled the satchel around his shoulder, feeling through it to ensure he had everything inside it. Map, check. Key Shard, check. Emergency bits, check. First aid kit, check. Switchblade, check. Nothing was missing. Twister sighed in frustration. It would be awhile before he could buy more traveling supplies, and he wasn't sure if his emergency bits would cut it.

Twister turned back to the coat hanger, and reached for his safari hat. It was old and filthy; it's material frayed in several areas, dirt and grime was rubbed into it, and it blackened on one side, evidence of burning. He placed the ragged accessory onto his head, and looked in a mirror that was hanging on a closet door.

His fur was it's usual dull yellow color, and his mane still held it's several different shades of gray. This color was natural; he was actually only 17 years old, but he certainly didn't look like it.

Twister noticed that he had a new scar running down his right cheek, another painful reminder of the attack. His eyes had bags under them, and his grey iris's looked 50 years older than they were.

This whole adventure has taken it's toll. Twister missed his old life. Before these damn Key shards, before these pricks came after him, before his grandmother's death...

Twister's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hoofsteps and voices. He turned to the door, and distinctly heard the voice of a Stallion.

"...so try...keep it down...he still...not sure if...." The hoofsteps became louder, and the door swung open. Standing at the opened doorway was a Stallion unicorn wearing the white coat of a doctor, and with him were four mares.

The first was an earth pony with an orange coat and blonde mane. She had it tied back, and wore a cowfilly hat. The next mare was a unicorn. She had purple fur, and her mane was a darker shade of purple with a streak of lavender going through it.

The other two mares were Pegasi; the first had a blue coat of fur matching that of the sky, and a short mane with every color in the rainbow.

The other appeared more timid than her friends; her fur was a bright shade of yellow, and her mane was pink and curled. Twister remembered her from the attack. She was the mare who tried to calm me... Twister remembered waking up shortly after crashing. That Pegasus mare had been trying to calm him with some sort of lullaby when he regained consciousness.

The ponies stared in disbelief at the doorway. Suddenly, the Stallion Twister suspected was the doctor spoke up in a deep, hearty voice. "Well, isn't this a surprise!" His cheeks wrinkled as he smiled. He turned to the four mares. "Looks like we underestimated him. He's already up and at 'em!"

Twister scowled, detecting his enthusiasm was faked. "What happened?" He spoke with a gruff, somewhat sour tone.

"Oh, of course, you're probably wondering that, aren't you?" The doctor was taking his sweet time. Twister hated it when ponies did this.

"NO SHIT." Twister could remember, but he needed somepony else to confirm it for him. He wanted an explanation NOW, and the doctor quickly realized this. "No need to get testy; allow me to explain." The old unicorn pulled out a clipboard with his magic and began flipping through it.

"Let's see...you crashed outside the Apple family farm, not too far from the Everfree forest. You were under heavy pursuit by two monsters, apparently Gorgons, and they knocked you out of the sky with a corrosion curse. You were already dying as your wing fell apart. It had...significant effects on the rest of your body."

The old colt tipped his head towards Twister's right flank; the scars running along it looked as if some twisted toddler cut them into him. "These fillies took immediate action. They defended you from the monsters, and...well, it wasn't for them, you wouldn't have made it." The doctor tipped his head to the four.

"Interesting." Twister bowed his head to them. "Many thanks. Wish I could show you how grateful I really am, but I gotta run." Twister attempted to step out of the door, but the doctor blocked his path. "Hold on there, sonny." Twister hated being referred to as 'sonny', or any other nickname, for that matter. "My name is Twister." The doctor bowed his head.

"Sorry; hold on there, Twister." The doctor was losing his fake enthusiastic tone. "We need to ensure you're healthy. The curse had quite an effect on you, and we need to make sure your scars can't bother you too much. Step back in the bed so we can run some tests."

"Fine." Twister stepped back in the bed, his one wing tensing up as a sign of his frustration. The doctor moved back to the hallway. "I need to grab my equipment and some assistants. These mares can keep you company until I return." The four mares entered the room, letting the door swing closed as they passed.

There was a short, awkward silence, and finally, the Pegasus mare with the pink hair spoke up in a soft, gentle voice. "Y-you're taking your loss pretty well..." Twister chuckled. "I've lost worse things than a wing. At this point, if no lives were lost, then I consider it a victory." The mare looked surprised at this, but quickly looked away. "S-sorry..." Twister raised an eyebrow. "What on earth for?" The mare looked back. "I-I didn't mean to...remind you of what...you lost.." She stepped away, whimpering. Twister looked questioningly to the other mares, as if to ask Is she always like this?

The unicorn mare with the purple fur spoke up. "I would've thought you'd be traumatized by what happened. Losing your wing, suffering the pain of corrosion..." Twister interrupted her. " This is nothing." He tipped his head to his scarred flank. "I'm more interested in who YOU are." Twister swapped his gaze between each of the mares, giving each a questioning look.

"Oh, well...My name is Twilight Sparkle. This is Applejack," The purple mare tipped her head to the orange mare with the cowfilly hat." Howdy." Applejack smiled as she spoke. "This is Rainbow Dash." Twilight tipped her head to the cyan pegasus with the multicolored mane." And she's Fluttershy." Twilight turned her head to point her hoof at the timid pegasus. She simply nodded, hiding her face behind her pink hair.

"...Is she alright?" Twister gave himself an imaginary facehoof. He had a horrible habit of speaking his mind, even when nopony asked for his opinion. It never ended well for him.

"She's fine." The pegasus called Rainbow Dash spoke with a firm, somewhat annoyed tone. "Now, who are YOU?" She stared at him with a firm gaze and magenta eyes the color of wine.

"My name is Twister." Twister wasn't keen on telling much more than that. His old life was gone; there wasn't any reason to dig it back up. "Okay, Twister. Why were those gorgons after you?" Twilight spoke this time, an inquisitive look on her face. "I don't know..." Twister seemed to piss of all kinds of women for no reason; when he defended a mare at a pub from a drunken jackass, she slapped him. When he asked a Griffin woman about the town that same pub was in, she slapped him. Some quality about him these days just ticked women off. Twister honestly expected Rainbow Dash to slap him for his insensitive question.

But this was different. He knew exactly why those fiends were after him. But Twister didn't dare tell these mares, lest they get killed in cold blood like so many of his old friends...

Suddenly, Twister was shaken back into reality when Applejack spoke up. "Hello? Twilight asked 'nother question." She spoke with a southern accent, something Twister suspected was common at the apple farm. Twister shook his head. " Sorry...what was that again?" He turned to look at the unicorn mare again, ready to pay attention this time.

"I asked 'what were you doing in the Everfree'?" Twilight looked slightly annoyed after being ignored. Twister didn't dare tell her about the hidden treasure at the ancient castle within the dark forest. It was his only chance at finding out where the next key shard was, and finding clues as to what his assailants were after. And, in turn, another clue to the truth behind his grandmother's death. Twister was in the business long enough to understand that telling a friend could very well mean telling the enemy.

"Um...I was...Hiking?" Twister hoped this was enough; he was terrible liar. He normally just went with 'admit with attitude', but this wouldn't cut it with innocents. Applejack raised an eyebrow, obviously not buying it. "...Alright." She said after a few seconds.

Suddenly, the doctor came back in with equipment and an assistant. "Thanks for keeping him company, fillies. We'll just take some tests, and if he's truly as healthy as he looks, he can leave." His annoying faked enthusiasm had returned. Twister didn't trust this colt; if there's one thing he learned about himself, it's that his gut never lies.

" Just don't use any needles; I HATE needles." Twister spoke with an intimidating scowl on his face. The doctor looked frightened, as he correctly perceived this as a threat. "A-alright..." This told Twister everything he needed to know; This guy was phony. No doctor would let themselves get intimidated by a patient, especially an injured one.

The four mares left, the pink haired pegasus looking back. Twister gave her a smile, to ensure her that he wasn't insulted. Those green eyes reminded him of someone long ago...

The door swung shut, and Twister braced himself for what was to come. The fake doctor grabbed a thermometer, and stuck it in Twister's mouth. "Keep this here." He said as he turned back to his assistant. Twister knew that the fake doctor had no idea what he was doing. Twister was injured, not sick.

But Twister went along with it, waiting for the right moment to strike. As the doctor spoke quietly with his helper, he grabbed a small syringe and hid it up his sleeve. Twister knew about medicine. His grandmother not only taught him first aid, she taught him what medical supplies that doctors relied on were supposed to do. The doctor would have only needed a syringe if he was giving him a vaccine to resist disease. He wasn't sick. Even if he says it was to stop infection, that should have been done BEFORE he was given surgery, not after.

Twister tensed up, his one good wing preparing for flight. Damn, I forgot. Twister had been thinking of flying out of there, the pain of realization that this option was forever gone hitting him like a metal bat. Twister was gonna have to run. Good thing granny taught him to rely on his hooves as much as his wings.

The doctor turned his head, his innocent smile slowly turning to malice as he approached. "This'll only take a second..." Time seemed to slow down for Twister. This happened when his adrenaline was pumping. He could see the doctor pulling the syringe out, something that in reality took less than a second.

Suddenly, time resumed when the faker leaned over to stick the syringe into him. Twister grabbed the doctors hoof, twisted it, and the syringe flew into the air.

Twister struck the fake Doctor's throat with his free hoof, silencing his cries. Twister grabbed the syringe out of the air, and stabbed the doctor's exposed throat with it.

Chapter 4: The Escape.

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Fluttershy wasn't sure what the hay was going on when she heard the screaming.

Fluttershy was caught off guard when Twister told her that losing his wing was 'nothing'. He must have seen a lot of action. His eyes looked haunted, as if he never had a wink of sleep in his life, and his scars from the crash didn't help. He seemed friendly, but he also seemed disturbed. He looked like he was 25, maybe older, but after hearing his voice, in spite of its gruff edge, Fluttershy decided he couldn't be much older than her.

When Fluttershy and her friends left the room, Rainbow Dash immediately spoke. "I don't trust him." Fluttershy looked at her friend in surprise. "W-why?" Rainbow returned the look to Fluttershy. "It was obvious he's lying." Applejack nodded. "Ah could tell he knew somethin'...but Ah don't think we should judge 'im just yet. He seemed worried. Ah think he was lyin' for good reason."

Rainbow shook her head. "If he was worried, then that means he's guilty for something. He might be a criminal, for all we know!" It was Applejack's turn to shake her head. "Ah said worried, not guilt! It doesn't matter now. He'll tell somepony when he's ready. It's probably none of our business, anyways." The cowfilly continued her walk down the hall.

The hallway was white, paved, and the walls had dozens of doors leading into rooms in a sort of pattern. Nurses and doctors and guards kept moving around the hall, room to room and around corners. Needless to say, it was really crowded.

Suddenly, Fluttershy's blood turned to ice when she heard the sound of a mare screaming. Fluttershy turned her head, detecting the sound coming from the room they had just left.

The door to Twister's room swung open, and the assistant that was with the Doctor galloped away, screaming bloody murder. LITERALLY. Twister limped out of the room, blood on his hooves. He plopped his filthy safari hat onto his head as he left the room, limping down the left wing of the hall, opposite of Fluttershy.

The assistant ran past the group, crying in fear. Rainbow stopped her, and tried to calm her down to get an answer out of her. "What's going on?!?!" The assistant looked at the pegasus, her eyes wide with pure fear. "H-h-he killed him!" "Who killed who?" "Th-the patient! The one with the hat! he..." She started hyperventilating, her voice unintelligible at this point. Rainbow's eyes widened at this, and tossed Applejack a quick I told you so! look before flying towards Twister.

Why would he kill somepony? Fluttershy was suddenly frightened of the colt they just saved. Why would he kill a doctor? Why is he trying to escape? Something wasn't right here.

Rainbow was getting closer to the grey-maned pegasus. Twister wouldn't have any chance at outrunning Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy expected her to tackle him before he got far.

What happened next was bewildering. Twister turned his head to see Rainbow, and somehow evaded her tackle. He moved like water; even in his weakened state, he was agile. Rainbow Dash crashed into a hospital cart as Twister continued his escape, a look crossing her face that said what just happened?. Several hospital guards poured out of the doors, trying to stop Twister's escape.

Twister looked undaunted as his limp changed to a run and then a gallop as the guards came towards him. He extended his one wing, as if he was preparing for flight. What's he doing?

Suddenly, when his muscles tensed to jump over the guards, Twister hit the floor and slid under the guard in front, leaped over the second, and jumped off the back of the third, his pace not slowing when he landed on his hooves.

Rainbow Dash shook her head as she recovered from the shock, and flew off around the bend Twister disappeared behind. Fluttershy and her friends tried to follow, but their pace was slowed due to the sudden chaos in the hallway. Guards were trying to move around the corner, while doctors and nurses, some with their patients, tried to escape down the path Fluttershy and her friends were originally going down.

When Fluttershy finally got around the corner, she saw Rainbow's tail disappear up the stairway. Why is Twister going upstairs?! She wondered as guards of all shapes and sizes pushed around her, trying to go up the stairway in a very unorganized fashion.

Fluttershy eventually got fed up with "Sorry, excuse me, pardon me.." as she tried to move around the guards, and simply flew into the air and up the stairway, over the heads of the guards. She had to abandon Twilight and Applejack, but Fluttershy needed to stop Rainbow Dash from chasing that dangerous colt. There's no telling what Twister might do to her!

The stairway spiraled upward, doors appearing on every other turn, leading to a new floor. Twister was running upward, ignoring each of the doors he passed. He seemed to be focused on reaching the roof...

Rainbow Dash shot upward, trying to intercept his escape. Twister stopped when Rainbow finally landed in front of him scowling. "Why'd you do it?" She shouted at Twister as his stone-grey eyes darted side to side, seeking a way around the sudden obstacle. Fluttershy stopped to hover a floor below, trying to keep away from Twister, but close enough to talk to Rainbow.

"R-Rainbow Dash! G-get away from him!!" Fluttershy's heart was pounding. She knew Twister was crippled, but if he can manage to kill a doctor in that state, who knows what he might be able to do to her friend?

Rainbow turned her head to look at Fluttershy, and Twister took his chance. He flashed his one wing, using it as a fake-out when he struck Rainbow's stomach with his right hoof. Rainbow fell, the breath knocked out of her, as Twister continued his escape.

Rainbow got up, her hooves shaking as she tried to catch her breath. Twister must be stronger than he looks, if he could knock down RD with a single hit. Fluttershy tried to help her friend up, but she shook herself away from her. "Why'd you distract me? I had him cornered!" Rainbow galloped away, trying to fly back up the stairway to stop the escaping murderer.

"K-keep away! H-he'll kill you!" Fluttershy was getting desperate. Of course, her headstrong friend didn't listen to her, and just kept flying towards him. Fluttershy didn't think her friend would survive, if Twister could knock her down with one strike. What could she do?

Fluttershy heard the guards downstairs, bickering about who's going up the stairway. THEY protect the sick and injured?! Fluttershy's heart felt like it was going to burst from the adrenaline. She looked back upstairs, seeing Twister's tail disappearing behind the top door. Rainbow Dash wasn't far behind her target.

Fluttershy flew towards the door, hoping that it wasn't too late to stop Rainbow. When she pushed the door open, Fluttershy found herself on the roof. It was a flat, open area. There were a few vents sticking out, of course, but other than that, it was as open as a plain. The sun had set, and the stars were coming out.

Twister was galloping towards the edge, as if he was going to jump off the building. Rainbow Dash intercepted him again, knocking him away from the edge. She scowled as she stepped into an offensive position, preparing to attack.

Twister shook the dust from his mane as he pulled himself up. He had a smirk on his face when he looked up to see Rainbow Dash. "You're not gonna give up, are you?" He spoke as if she was a kid bothering her parents for candy.

"Why'd you kill the doctor? He was helping you!" Rainbow's expression didn't change as she spoke. Twister laughed. "He was trying to kill me! You really don't know what's going on, do you?" He raised an eyebrow, a stupid grin crossing his face.

"This isn't a game! How do you know he was going to kill you?" Rainbow took a step forward, trying to intimidate an answer out of him.

"He tried to inject celestia-knows-what into me with a syringe." Twister sat down, as if he detected this would take awhile. Rainbow Dash's expression finally changed from a scowl to a look of utter bewilderment. "THAT'S WHAT DOCTORS DO!!!!! ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!" Fluttershy was now absolutely scared of Twister; if he felt threatened by a syringe, then...could he be mentally ill? Whatever he was, Fluttershy had only one thought crossing her mind: GET RAINBOW OUT OF THERE.

"G-get away from him!" Fluttershy could hear her own panic rising in her voice, but she didn't care. "H-he'll k-kill you, Rainbow! RUN!" Rainbow turned her head to Fluttershy. "I can handle him!" Suddenly, a flash of yellow and gray launched itself at Rainbow Dash, knocking her over. Twister had her pinned down, his hoof digging into her left wing.

"Check the syringe's contents. It's stuck in his throat." Twister twisted his hoof to injure Rainbow's wing, but not enough to break it. Fluttershy suspected if he wanted to, Twister would have done so.

Twister ran off, diving off the edge of the building. Fluttershy helped Rainbow up, and the pegasus galloped towards the edge. Fluttershy followed, and saw Twister had landed in the large garbage can pushed against the building's side. He jumped out of it, and started running towards the Everfree forest.

Rainbow tried to stretch her wings to follow, but let out a gasp and pulled her left wing back in. "He got me good..." Rainbow looked utterly enraged, but she was obviously trying to keep it bottled up.

Suddenly, the guards burst through the doors, finally having ended their idiotic bickering at the entrance. They spread out onto the roof area, searching for him. "Where did he go?" One of the guards questioned Fluttershy.

"Uh..." Fluttershy wasn't sure what to say. He seemed angry, and he might not like the answer. What if he doesn't believe it? What if...

"He jumped off the edge. He looked as if he was running towards the road leading to Canterlot. If you hurry, you can still catch him!" Fluttershy turned her head to look at Rainbow, failing to hide her surprise. Why did she lie to the guard?

"Gotcha! Come on, boys!" The guards rushed back down the stairway, trying to get to the entrance as fast as possible. Fluttershy saw Applejack and Twilight fight their way through the crowd, finally reaching their friends.

"What's going on? Where'd he go?" Twilight had an exasperated look on her face as she spoke. She had obviously been frustrated by the guards unorganized actions, and even more frustrated at missing the action.

"H-he got away.." Fluttershy was still trying to figure out what just happened. Rainbow took over explaining.

"He killed the doctor, but he said that the doctor was trying to kill him first. I tried to get more out of him, but he got my wing good. He ran off after that." Applejack's eyes widened at this. "Why'd he think that?" Rainbow stopped, thinking back. "He said to check the contents of the syringe the doctor was going to use on him. I think he's just crazy, but it might be worth the look." "Wait. a syringe? Why was the doctor using a syringe?" Twilight stepped in, an inquisitive look on her face.

"I don't know! Doctor stuff, I think." Twilight shook her head. "He wouldn't have needed a syringe if Twister had already went through surgery." Applejack turned her head to look at Twilight. "Waddya mean?"

Twilight sat down, thinking back. "The doctor wouldn't have needed a syringe if he was just making sure Twister was healthy. Syringes are meant to inject vaccines and other medicines to boost the immune system. Twister already went through surgery, so any immunity boosters would have already been injected into him before they left him to sleep."

"So, what, the doctor was trying to poison him?" Rainbow looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. "If Twister felt his life was in danger, then...maybe..."

"Wait. W-why'd you lie to the guards?" Fluttershy was still trying to understand why Rainbow did that, and she was lost.

"You saw them. They're idiots. Besides..." An evil look crossed Rainbow's face. "Revenge is more fun alone." Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was hearing. "A-are you suggesting..."

"That we follow Twister ourselves, and find out what he's up to?" Rainbow grinned. "Yes, that's EXACTLY what we're gonna do."

Chapter 5: The Castle.

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Twister couldn't remember a time when something had been THAT easy.

The fake doctor had been relatively easy to kill. Twister only regretted letting the assistant see something that gruesome. Her scream made Twister suspect she hadn't known what the phony had been up to, and probably didn't need that kind of drama in her life. She would probably be taken into custody for questioning, after the police found out what had been in the syringe. Twister himself wondered what led the assistant to trust the fake doctor, if she had never seen him before.

Twister felt bad for any patients in the hospital who could fall victim to invading criminals. Twister hadn't seen a group of worse guards since his showdown with the Captain of the Guard at Canterlot.

And that pegasus...what was her name? Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash didn't seem to know what was going on, but Twister didn't blame her for attacking him. The situation didn't look good for him. She could have made a good fighter; she definitely had the strength for it. But she was far too cocky. She jumped right into the action, not bothering to get her facts straight, and expected to win? Never. Twisters hooves DID ache from the fight, but then, since when did they ever NOT ache?

The Everfree forest didn't seem as menacing as the legends led Twister to believe. With the...what did the Unicorn call them? Gorgons? With the Gorgons no longer chasing him, Twister actually found the Everfree quite peaceful.

FOCUS! Twister shook his head; he can't let his guard down. Perking his ears up, Twister continued onward through the forest, paying attention to his surroundings.

The forest was as he remembered it from the chase; Long, winding, with a thick tree canopy no pegasi could fly through safely. Not that I can fly anyways... Twister sighed. He hadn't quite wrapped his head around the fact that he'll never fly again. He told the mares who were with him that it was nothing, but he had been thinking painful-wise. If that's even the way to put it. He hadn't exactly thought about never flying again, and now that he did, Twister felt anger seep into him.

These bastards took everything from him. His grandmother, his friends, and now his ability to fly. What else did he have that they could take? The Key Shards. Twister remembered being given the sky-blue crystal clear diamond, as was written in his grandmother's will. Some treasure she had gained on one of her adventures in her youth, along with her inheritance money and old home. Twister knew his grandmother was rich because of all the treasures she discovered, but the money he was left with would've lasted him three lifetimes.

When Twister entered his Grandmother's home, he was automatically left with clues to a hidden secret. She left him a note, greeting him to her home, where everything was, whatnot. This was Twister's first clue. He practically grew up in that home; he knew where everything was, he didn't need a note explaining it to him. Then Twister noticed the misspellings. His grandmother was especially picky about improper spelling and grammar, something that greatly annoyed Twister. But the note had so many misspelled words, it could'v blinded him. This was his second clue.

Twister remembered the thousands of codes and ciphers his grandmother taught him. This was a rather simple one, but could be easily overlooked due to being written by a dying old mare. The way the code worked was that the first letter of every word that came before each misspelled word was a part of the hidden message.

After about 10 minutes of deciphering, Twister was left with this. FALSE PANEL. Twister spent another 10 minutes trying to find this 'FALSE PANEL', in both wardrobes, desks, and drawers. He finally found the false panel when he checked the floor of the drawer in his grandmother's work desk. Behind the false panel was a map and a note.

FOCUS!!! Twister nearly twisted his ankle stepping into a ditch. He got back up, shaking his injured hoof. Twister pulled out his map, the same one that was hidden behind the false panel. A hastily drawn X was marked over the castle in the Everfree, along with a date and time. 6 hours left... Twister was going to have to hurry, or he'll have to wait another month for the light of the moon.

Twister looked at his surroundings, finally able to properly observe them. He had to hurry; the hospital guards would be here for him soon. Let's see...Twister has to cross a river, and then a bridge hanging over a chasm. He should check the ground around him, to see if the earth is fertile. Wet earth and worms in the ground would mean a river was nearby. He would then have to listen for the clear sound of running water.

Twister started digging into the ground, and he grinned when he eventually scooped out mud and a worm. Twister started off, listening intently for the sound of running water.

Instead, he heard a scuffling noise. Distinctly the sound of hooves. Twister knew he was being followed. I'll wait. If he pretended to have no idea, then he could corner his stalkers in the castle. There, his stalkers would have no chance at escape, due to less space and more walls. Twister would be able to interrogate them, maybe finally figure out his true enemy.

Twister continued on, closing his eyes as he listening more closely to his surroundings. Other than the scuffling of his followers, he could hear birds, mice, the sound of an owl catching it's prey...water. He heard water.

Twister ran off towards the sound, his excitement getting the better of him. He pushed past the ferns, and found himself face-to-face with a riverbank.

Twister allowed himself a grin as he pulled off his vest, preparing for his swim. He started to swing his hoof, making sure he would use enough strength and timing to toss his equipment over the river. Aaaaand.... he released his equipment, watching it fly off towards the opposite riverbank. His equipment landed with a clatter, and Twister pumped his hoof. "And he sticks the landing!" Twister approached the river, shivering as he waded through it. He reached the deep end of the river, and started swimming his way over to the riverbank.

He stepped out of the river, shaking water out of his mane and tail like a wet dog. He put his vest back on as he shivered from the cold. It probably wasn't a good idea to go swimming at night. Twister was surprised by his sudden violent shivering. He put his old safari hat back on his head as he continued his trek.

Twister lifted his ear up, listening for the sound of his stalker's hooves. He didn't hear the usual scuffling, but instead heard the sound of wings flapping. Pegasus wings... Twister guessed there were two. There was force being put into them, as if they were too heavy for their wings to carry them.

Twister continued on, determined to find out more about his hidden pursuers at the castle. But first, Twister would have to find the bridge crossing the chasm.

Twister licked his hoof and held it in the air, detecting the direction the wind was blowing. He felt two blowing winds. One was normal, coming from the north, but the other felt....irregular. It came from the west. Twister started off, hoping that he'd find the chasm. As he continued his hike, Twister listened more closely, to see if his stalkers were still nearby.

He could hear the sound of scuffling hooves again, louder than the first time. Something wasn't right here. Twister could always tell if he was being followed, but his past stalkers were trained to sneak. At the very least, they were more careful than this. These followers may not work for his enemies.

Suddenly, Twister stopped himself before falling into the sudden drop that appeared in front of him. He reached the chasm, and almost fell in because he hadn't been paying attention. I'll never learn... Twister shook his head. He looked to his left, seeking the rope bridge. Just an empty chasm, nothing to the left. He turned to the right, and saw through the mist that a rope bridge dangled over the chasm from his cliff to the other.

Twister galloped towards the rope bridge, his heart leaping as he bounded. These six months of travel on hoof would finally be worth it. He reached the rope bridge, and carefully placed his good hoof on it. It held his weight. Twister placed his other hoof on the bridge, still holding back to see if it could still hold. It held on.

Twister slowly stepped through the creaky rope bridge, being very careful where he stepped. After about 5 minutes of careful movement, Twister's hoof broke one of the rotting planks. He pulled himself back, watching as the rotten wood fell into the deep chasm. "Damn..." Twister carefully stepped over the empty space that held the old plank, and continued on to the Castle.

Finally, after another ten minutes of careful movement, he finally reached the Castle. Thank Celestia! Now Twister knew why earth ponies kissed the ground.

The castle was still and dark as night. Twister approached it's doors with a small hop to his step. Stop skipping like a schoolfilly! Twister bottled his excitement. He still hasn't reached his goal. Not completely.

As Twister opened the doors, he observed the cold, still room. It was open and plain, hardly any furniture to be seen. The walls and floor had a thick coat of dust over them, to show nopony had been in the castle for a long time. Twister approached the wall nearest him, and knocked his hoof against each brick and leaned his head onto the wall to listen.

Nothing...nothing...nothing... Twister carefully listened for his stalkers between each knock. He heard the scuffling of their hooves, but something was off. From what Twister could gather, they must be observing him. If so, then why would they let themselves get close enough for him to hear? They weren't properly trained. Twister's enemies wouldn't hire amateurs.

Got it! Twister's hoof finally knocked on the right brick, found by a slightly hollow ring that an untrained ear would never have noticed. Twister pulled out his switchblade, a tool he himself crafted during his foalhood, and stuck it in between the bricks. He made sure the blade was secured, and began to push against it, forcing the brick to fall out.

In the brick's place was a hollow, curved groove. Twister reached into his satchel and pulled out his crystal-blue Key Shard, and placed it in the groove. It was a perfect fit.

The Key shard shimmered, and the wall behind Twister suddenly started folding itself into the ground, and Twister simply stared in awe as a stairway leading downwards revealed itself.

Now's my chance! Twister quickly placed the Key Shard in his satchel as he ran down the stairway, careful not to put as much pressure on his bad hoof as he did during the escape. He had to trick his stalkers into the small space, and he would charge into them from the shadows. He knew they weren't working for his enemies, but they might be working with the police force in Ponyville. If so, he'll be able to send them off with a warning to the force. Maybe then, they'll leave him alone.

Twister finally reached the bottom of the stairway, and found himself face-to-face with five different hallways. Let's see... Twister memorized what he had read in the note. The first is the worst... Twister crossed out the first hallway in his mind. The third is better than the second.... He put a plus sign above the third. The second is worse than the fourth... Twister gave the second a minus sign. And the fifth is better than the truth. Twister gave the fifth a plus sign as well. So...the hallway leading to the treasure is the fourth! Twister ran towards the fourth hallway, careful of any traps in case he was wrong.

Twister hid behind the hallway's turn and waited. He knew his stalkers would turn around the bend, ignorant of his trap. He could hear their hoofsteps, and he poised himself to strike. Wait for it.... He could hear them whispering to each other. They were mares. Wait for it.... They were coming right up to the hallway. Aaaaaaannnnnddd.....

Twister leaped out, like a cobra hiding in a hole, and tackled the first of his stalkers and held her against the wall, leaning his front knee against her throat. WAIT! Twister recognized those magenta eyes! "YOU!!!" Twister couldn't hold back his sudden anger.

"Let me go!" Rainbow Dash snapped at Twister, struggling to escape his death grip. Twister turned his head, seeing his stalkers were the four mares from the hospital. "Put 'er down!" Applejack's face was squinted in a scowl and poised in an offensive position. Twilight's horn glowed with a purplish hue, preparing to cast an offensive spell, and Fluttershy was hovering a few feet behind, her green eyes wide with fear.

Twister scowled as he released Rainbow Dash, using a great amount of self-control to NOT simply buck her in the head. "Why did you follow me!?!" Twister couldn't believe he had let innocents follow him this far. If it was his enemies, yes. The police, maybe. But innocent's?!

"We were trying to find out what you were up to! What are you doing here, and why did you attack us?" Twilight answered. Her horn had stopped glowing, but she hadn't changed her offensive position. "None of your business! Do you have ANY idea how badly you're bucking things up for the both of us!?!?"" Twister felt something he hadn't felt for a long time; panic. The last time innocent's got involved....

"W-what do you mean?" Fluttershy asked timidly. She had moved closer to the group, but kept a wary eye on Twister the entire time. She obviously didn't want to follow him in the first place. Smart filly. She must've been pressured into it by her friends.

"If I told you that, then you'd be in twice the amount of trouble you're already in." Twister calmed his tone. Something told Twister that using an angry tone on her wouldn't help him. "You need to hurry and get out of here!"

"What's gonna make us?" Rainbow Dash challenged Twister. Ballsy move, especially considering their tussle a few seconds ago. "ME." Twister straightened his back, tensed his muscles, and bared his teeth. Twister knew he could be intimidating when he wanted to be, and his scars from the chase only helped that.

But Rainbow Dash only matched his stance, staring him right in the eye. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you got." She growled through her bared teeth, her nostrils flaring. She's braver than I thought... Twister was surprised by her undaunted attitude. Surprised, not intimidated. Twister didn't want to have to actually hurt her, but he would if it could scare them off.

"WAIT!" Fluttershy suddenly stepped between Twister and Dash. "W-we're the ones asking for trouble. We're the ones who followed him and made things harder for him. Yet he's offering to let us go on our own accord. That's more than we deserve. Why should we continue this?" Twister was surprised by the pegasus' sudden assertiveness. He bowed his head to her. "THANK you. At least one of you has the grey-matter to understand that." He glared at the other mares, Rainbow Dash in particular.

"He killed that doctor! Why should we trust him?" Rainbow protested. Twister did his first physical face-hoof since his foalhood.. "Because I'M not trying to kill you instead. Trust me; in my line of work, most ponies would'v already done so." Rainbow looked at him with surprise, and then changed it to suspicion. "Then why didn't you?" "Because I'm not a monster." Twister realized he was revealing more than he should be. "Listen to your friend. It's the smarter move." Twister was going to have to be more careful about what he said.

"He's tellin' the truth." Applejack spoke up. Twister didn't know why, but the other mares nodded, seeming to accept this. "Now GO. Before-" Twister was interrupted by the sound of slithering scales. He knew that noise too well. He looked to the mares and mouthed RUN and pointed down the hall. As the four ran down the hallway, the slithering was followed by a terrible hiss for a voice that sent chills up Twister's spine. "I know you're here!" Twister followed the four down the hall, desperate ideas popping in and out of his head. This was normal; Twister's mind had been both born and trained to act this way when his adrenaline was pumping.

He continued his train of thought as he escaped, trying desperately to figure out an escape plan. It doesn't look good... Twister's only known exit and entrance was blocked by the approaching Gorgon, and it was too much to hope for the Gorgon to be stupid and take the wrong Hall. She relies on all five sense; she would easily be able to tell where he and the others went. And after the crash, Twister wasn't keen on getting too close to her.

Suddenly, the Hallway split into two paths. A fork in the road, if you will. What did the note say, now? Hmm... In turns, What's right is left, and what's left is right? Yeah, that's it! Twister was a master at word games. He knew that in another sense, it was talking about who was correct, not which direction. He just needed to be right, so, the left path it is!

"This way!" Twister whispered to the confused mares, who had been trying to decide where to go. Twister galloped down the left hall, no tripwires within his sight. Twister could still hear the Gorgon's slithering, and their pause didn't help the escape.

"Go, go, go!" Twister rushed the mares. Applejack broke from a run to a gallop, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy jumped into flight. Twilight was still the only mare who was having trouble speeding up, so Twister waited behind, letting her go in front. He followed behind when she passed, so that if the Gorgon attacked, she would attack Twister first.

As the group continued along the hall, Twister noticed it was becoming more and more narrow, and the turns were starting to get curvy. It's changing...we must be getting close. Twister was having mixed feelings about his situation. On one hoof, he was only a few hoofsteps away from finally getting what had been taking him six months to reach, but on the OTHER hoof, he was being chased by an angry Gorgon who he might end up leading it to.

Just great. Twister continued coming up with different ideas of how to deal with the Gorgon. I could send one of the mares down the wrong hall....NO. Not acceptable.They're innocent. I'm no better than my enemies if I did such a thing. Twister berated himself for even THINKING of doing something like that. What if I left behind something to throw her off...? Twister checked his old vest. It was tattered and stained. It didn't hold any sentimental value, and it wasn't good for protection. The ideal item.

Twister quickly took off his vest, and put it over his shoulder to continue his run. Twister waited anxiously for the next split. Come on, come on... The group eventually turned around a corner, and they were faced with another fork in the road. While the mares groaned, Twister quickly grabbed his vest with his mouth and launched it down the right pathway. "Come on!" Twister knew that it wouldn't misdirect the Gorgon for long, just long enough to give them time. Twister could only hope she'd run into a trap.

He galloped down the left pathway, and the mares followed. The hall lost it's gray paving and turned into cave stone. The pathway must have been built into the cave centuries ago. Twister wondered how the cave hadn't collapsed from the inwards construction, and even more about how old age still hadn't done that afterwards.

After a few more minutes of running, Twister found himself in a small cave-room. It was in the general shape of a circle, and in the center was a small pedestal. But that's not what was caught his eye; the ceiling was several hundred feet in the air, and a small hole was in it's center. Connected to the walls were dozens of large magnifying glasses about three feet in diameter, each sending a small amount of moonlight to each other, the trail of light becoming thinner and more focused after each glass.

"What the...what are these for?" Twilight approached the nearest of the magnifying glasses, examining it with awe. Twister ignored her and stepped towards the pedestal. He pulled out his blue Key Shard, and, with his heart beating louder than a drum, placed it on the small pedestal. The blue shard had one flat end that allowed it to stand up on it's own, and Twister knew this was the reason why.

He pulled out his map, and checked the date and time written on it, quickly checking his watch afterwards. 2 minutes... Twister couldn't believe how close he was. Just those two minutes stood between him and his next clue.

Twister's heart leaped into his throat when he heard a ghastly screech. The Gorgon must have fallen for my trick! Things were finally looking up for once! "W-what was that?" Fluttershy's eyes were wide, and she crept closer to her friends. "That was the Gorgon. She must have been dumber than I thought." Twister chuckled.

Twister looked up at the ceiling's hole, seeing that the moon was almost completely centered. 30 more seconds... Twister couldn't help but give a quick hoof-pump. All his hard work was finally paying off!

"So the Gorgon's dead?" Rainbow Dash looked at Twister expectantly. "I hope so. You can never tell with magic, these days." Twister hadn't been paying full attention to Rainbow's question. He was busy finding that the moon was just a few centimeters away from being fully centered. The moonlight trail was becoming more focused, and it moved towards the Key Shard. 10 more seconds... Twister felt like doing a back flip in the air. He probably would have, if he could still fly.

5...4...3...2... Twister watched the moonlight trail hit the Key Shard, and the blue crystal suddenly shone with the brilliance of the sun. Twister shielded his eyes, and soon, the light died down as the Key shard's light focused onto the wall in front of him. Twilight's attention turned from the magnifying glass to the light, along with the other three, and...well, Twister couldn't believe his eyes.

On the wall was a map of Equestria, weaved out of moonlight and focused by the Key Shard. It was beautiful sight that took Twister's breath away. But Twister knew it was so much more than a map. On the map was a single, yellow speck of light, shining like a star on the map.

"The next Key Shard is in the Mild West!" Twister scribbled the location onto his map, careful to ensure that it was on the exact spot as shown on the moon map. "What? What's a Key Shard?" Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up next to Twister. I said that out loud?!?...ah, buck. Twister already told them too much, they didn't need the word 'Key Shard' in their heads.

"Ah...nothing." Twister waved his hoof dismissively, hoping this would make it seem like it was a pointless detail. A fruitless attempt. "Didn't sound like 'nothing' when you shouted it." Rainbow glared at Twister suspiciously. "Uh...g-guys?" Twister barely heard Fluttershy's voice. Twilight was too busy admiring the moon map too notice (or care), and Applejack had joined Rainbow Dash in questioning Twister. "Now, wha's this 'bout Key Shards?" Applejack looked at Twister with genuine curiosity in her eyes, unlike the accusing stare being sent from Rainbow Dash.

"G-g-guys!" Fluttershy had panic in her voice now. Twister took the opportunity to change the subject by turning to the yellow pegasus. "What?" Twister's heart plummeted into his stomach when he saw what.

Standing at the doorway was the Gorgon; alive and angry. She had a long spear impaling her stomach, but she didn't seem to notice. The fiend opened her mouth, only five words coming out in her sinister, drawling hiss. "Give me the Key Shard!"

Chapter 6: The Truth.

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Fluttershy wasn't looking forward to a round two with the Gorgon.

When the Gorgon demanded the Key Shard, Twister had a simple reply. "Go buck yourself." The Gorgon screeched, and rock spires shot out of the ground; she was using magic to influence the room!

Twister narrowly avoided being impaled, and Rainbow Dash had shot into the air to escape an oncoming projectile. Applejack started galloping towards the Gorgon at top speed, and Twilight had to use magic of her own to defend herself from the spires. Fluttershy didn't have time to think, because she was too busy trying to escape the spears shooting out of the ground. Soon, the room had rock missiles firing from every direction.

Twister rolled away from another missile, and started his own gallop towards the Gorgon. Applejack got knocked away by a spire suddenly firing from the ground beneath her, and landed unceremoniously next to Twilight's force field. Rainbow Dash expertly evaded each of the spires as she flew towards the raging Gorgon. Twister was rolling, evading, and leaping over spear after spear on hoof, getting closer to the Gorgon with each movement. The magnifying glasses were falling off of the walls due to the sudden chaos, the broken glass making on-hoof movement dangerous.

Fluttershy stopped focusing on her friends when a spire shot out of the ground in front of her, nearly impaling her. Fluttershy panicked, and tried to run the other direction, only to be stopped again by another spire. She jumped into the air, using her wings to fly herself over the spires firing out of the earth. She was knocked out of the air by another earthy missile, knocking into Twilight's force field. Twilight lowered the shield briefly to let Fluttershy in.

When Fluttershy was secure, she saw that Applejack had continued her chase down of the Gorgon. Rainbow Dash was flying around more spires, finding it increasingly difficult to not get hit. Twister was narrowly avoiding each of the missiles, moving like....well, like a twister, to put it bluntly. He spun over, around, and away each spire in a strange, almost dance-like fashion, and his one wing was extended in an odd form, and it seemed to be messing with the air currents, manipulating the missiles movement. Is that why he's called Twister...? Fluttershy wondered. The form of evasion was foreign to her, but it was impressive, nonetheless.

The Gorgon suddenly screeched, and Fluttershy saw that Rainbow Dash finally reached her. She had the monster pinned down, and Rainbow Dash turned to look at Twister. "Got her!" Twister eyes suddenly widened, and he yelled. "GET BACK!" He attempted to run towards them, but another spire shot out and sent him flying into a wall. Twister's body disappeared behind the spires as he fell, and when Rainbow Dash attempted to kill the Gorgon, it's snake-heads hair bit her front legs. Rainbow released her, crying out in pain.

The Gorgon turned to escape, but Applejack blocked it's path. The cowfilly galloped towards the Gorgon, attempting to tackle her, but the fiend knocked her aside with another rock spire. Applejack flew into one of the still standing magnifying glasses, landing with a loud THUD with broken glass shattering and clattering around her.

"Can't...keep it up..." Twilight was sweating now as she struggled to hold up the force field. Fluttershy was frozen with fear, frustrated that she didn't know what to do. The Gorgon approached the pedestal that held the strange blue crystal that must have been "The Key Shard". She wrapped the diamond up with one of her snakelike appendages and slithered away, making that same terrible rasping noise of a laugh her dead sister had made in the attack.

Fluttershy's heart leaped when Twister suddenly jumped out of from behind a rock spire and tackled the Gorgon. He grabbed the spear lodged in her abdomen with his mouth and violently shook it while it was still in her. The Gorgon hissed, and tried to knock him away with one of her snakelike appendages, but Twister was able to avoid it by holding onto the very end of the spear, using it to keep distance between the two. He continued to violently shake it in her stomach, and the Gorgon was screeching in both pain and frustration at her predicament.

Suddenly, the fiend launched a fire spell at the pegasus, sending him flying into Twilight's force field. The Gorgon rasped in triumph, leaving the room and blocking the exit with three spires. Fluttershy could see the room was collapsing, the sudden chaos of the battle injuring it's ancient supports.

Fluttershy helped Twister pulled himself up, and saw that the exit was blocked. The pegasus began searching the area frantically for a way out, and he suddenly shouted "Fluttershy, help Twilight get out through there!" He pointed at the moon hole in the ceiling with his bad hoof, and he suddenly ran off, searching for Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

Fluttershy did as Twister said, pulling Twilight onto her back as the unicorn lowered her field. Fluttershy could see Twilight was visibly exhausted. The yellow pegasus focused on her objective, slowly floating towards the ceiling hole. The moon passed long ago, and the sky was slightly tinted blue as stars began to disappear.

Fluttershy was angry and frustrated with herself at not being able to move much faster. She was okay on her own, but with the weight of another pony LITERALLY on her shoulders, she found it extremely difficult to travel. She finally reached the hole, letting Twilight slide off her back as she landed, gasping for breath. She wasn't sure if she could do that again.

Twister's gruff voice suddenly called out Fluttershy's name from the abyss. The pink haired pegasus was reluctant to fly back into the cave, but she knew she had to. When Fluttershy moved to the hole in the earth, she could see Twister dragging Rainbow Dash and Applejack's limp bodies. He was waving his one wing to grab Fluttershy's attention, and she quickly flew down to the gray-maned pegasus. He looked..strangely familiar with his safari hat and grey mane like that, and with how the light was hitting him...Fluttershy swore she had seen something like that before.

"Y-yes?" Fluttershy shouted above the loud noise of crumbling stone. "Fluttershy, I need you to take Applejack and get her back out. I've got Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy was surprised. "B-but you c-can't fly!" She exclaimed, startled by his strange confidence. "Don't need to; just do what I said and get Applejack out!" The colt passed Applejack's limp body onto Fluttershy, and the timid pegasus was surprised by how much heavier she was than Twilight. Fluttershy knew the cowfilly had a larger build than Twi, but this was ridiculous!

Twister started off, stumbling as he held onto Rainbow Dash. He then started running up a leaning earthy pillar and jumping from spire to spire with ease, Rainbow's weight no longer seeming to be a burden to him. Fluttershy burst into the air, using all the strength she could muster to pull herself and Applejack out of the collapsing cavern. It was a slow and agonizing process; slow because Fluttershy hadn't gotten any new flying lessons between carrying out Twilight and Applejack, and agonizing because of the incredible weight on her shoulders and her own frustration at being unable to move any faster.

Fluttershy turned her head to look at Twister, and he was using some kind of earth-pony style parkour to jump from spire to spire, his pace not slowing as he moved. He wasn't having any more trouble holding onto Rainbow Dash, in spite of the fact that she was writhing in pain from the poison.

Fluttershy narrowly avoided a falling magnifying glass as she continued her flight. She was only a few feet away from the ceiling hole, and her muscles screamed for a rest. Applejack wasn't moving, but Fluttershy could feel her heart beating as she flew. Not much farther.... Fluttershy's heart leaped with joy when she finally flew out of the abyss, and landed in a heap. Fluttershy was too tired to push Applejack off of her, so she simply let her muscles rest and regain their energy before making any attempt.

Finally, Fluttershy pushed Applejack off when she had regained her energy. The yellow pegasus sat up, greedily inhaling air as she did so. Wait...where's Twister and Dash?! Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat when she realized neither of the pegasi had come out yet. She ran towards the hole in the earth, searching desperately for the pair.

As she did so, Twister suddenly leaped out of the hole, and he unceremoniously dropped the blue mare onto the ground and ran off into the trees. "WAIT! W-where are you going?!?!" Fluttershy was shocked at the crippled pegasus's sudden disappearance. Fluttershy looked back into the hole, and found that the cavern had finally completely collapsed. It was filled to the rim with stone and earth.

Fluttershy finally took the chance to observe her surroundings, and was surprised at her location. The group was in a strange area that was bordered by desert sands and the Everfree forest. Or, at least, Fluttershy THOUGHT it was the Everfree. She didn't remember it bordering a desert.

Fluttershy panicked when she remembered the state of her friends. Twilight had collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion, Applejack was still unconscious, and Rainbow Dash was rolling in the dirt, moaning and groaning from the pain of the Gorgon's poison. Suddenly, as if on cue, Rainbow's moaning went silent. Fluttershy panicked at this, thinking her friend might have died, but found that she was still rolling around in pain. The poison had simply killed her voice. AGAIN.

What is Twister doing?! Fluttershy's panic was escalating rapidly. Why would Twister just abandon them like this? She didn't know what to do, and her more competent friends are out cold. Why would he bring them this far, and just leave?

Suddenly, Twister reappeared from behind a couple of bushes, holding in his mouth... a bowl? Where did he get a bowl? On closer inspection, Fluttershy realized it was half of a coconut, being used as a bowl to hold what appeared to be plants from where she was. Where did Twister find all these things?

Fluttershy didn't have a chance to ask; Twister rushed past her, and sat down next to the cringing Rainbow Dash. He pulled out some of the supplements and mashed together what was still in the bowl with his hooves. When it was thoroughly mashed, he attempted to spread the concoction on Dash's bites, but she was moving too much for him to do it.

"Help me out!" Twister barked at Fluttershy. She was frightened by his sudden demand, and she approached Rainbow Dash. "W-what do I-I do?" Fluttershy didn't have a clue how to help. Twister looked at her, his stormy grey eyes showing genuine fear in them. "Hold her down!" He was panicking. Was Rainbow going to die? "A-alright." She grabbed onto Rainbow, using every ounce of strength left in her limbs to stop her flailing.

When Fluttershy finally had the suffering pegasus down, Twister quickly applied the concoction to her snake bites. Fluttershy realized, upon looking at the mixture, that it was a thicker form of the same medicine used on her a few days ago when SHE was bitten. As Twister cleaned his hooves, Fluttershy took the chance to ask. "W-where did you get those herbs?" She asked as Twister grabbed some of the herbs he pulled out of the bowl. He broke in half a stalk of some kind, and opened Rainbow's mouth and trickled some of the liquid pouring out of it into her throat. Rainbow Dash had finally stopped flailing; she was unconscious, but she was definitely more peaceful than earlier.

"These herbs can be found virtually anywhere, believe it or not." Twister cleaned off the broken stalk and placed it with his other herbs. "You just gotta know where to look." He grabbed a small, mint-like herb and crushed it with his hooves. He then rubbed it's remains into Rainbow's legs, around the snake bites.

"What are they supposed to do?" Fluttershy was surprised to find herself more comfortable in the colt's presence. Why? He murdered a doctor just a few hours ago, and yet... "The universal antidote is a mixture made to help with virtually ANY poison related injury. The ringstalks hold water in them, but the water gets certain chems from them that increase the voice's volume. It doesn't actually heal it, it just makes her louder. The mintlight is just supposed to lightly numb the pain of the actual bites. An optional choice." Twister spoke quickly and in one breath, similar to how Fluttershy's friend Pinkie Pie often spoke.

"Um..." Fluttershy was still anxiously awaiting an explanation as to what was going on. Why was that Gorgon chasing him, what were these 'Key Shards', and how....how was it that this strange colt seemed to know so much? Fluttershy decided to keep it simple. "W-why is that Gorgon after you?" Twister waved his hoof dismissively. "Don't worry about it." Fluttershy wanted to know more, but she gave up and conceded with "Oh...alright..."

"No, we WILL worry about it. WHY is she after you?" Twister and Fluttershy jumped. Fluttershy turned her head and saw that Twilight had gotten her bearings and was sitting up. She looked at Twister with the same kind of motherly scowl she gives Spike when he lies to her. "Ahm wonderin' that, too." Applejack suddenly seemed to have gotten her second wind. Rainbow Dash stirred, but she didn't get up.

Twister's eyes darted between each of the mares, and he sighed. "It probably doesn't matter now. The Gorgon got away, so my enemies likely already know your faces." Fluttershy's blood ran cold as he said enemies. Not only was she afraid again all at the fact that there were 'enemies' who knew her face, but the spite and hatred in Twister's voice was enough to give even Discord a shiver down his mismatched spine.

"W-what do you mean?" Fluttershy backed up a few inches, remembering what Twister had done at the hospital. Twister leaned back against one of the tree's, and he seemed to be in deep thought. "Umm..." Fluttershy wasn't sure what to do. Applejack suddenly let out an exasperated groan. "Jus' tell us already!" Twister held up a hoof. "I'm trying to figure out where to start." He pushed away from the tree and opened his mouth to speak

" Six months ago, my grandmother died." Fluttershy was thrown off guard by this. Applejack looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and said, with a slight edge of what sounded like pity; "And what exactly does that have t'do with this?" Twister scowled. "Gimme a sec, and I'll tell you!" Applejack backed up, realizing she had interrupted him.

"She left me with her home and inheritance, along with a letter. It explained her home's contents and where everything was. Except that I pretty much grew up in that home." Twilight nodded. "I see..." She looked up, and realized Twister was giving her an annoyed look. "I'm just rambling; please continue." she egged him on.

"My granny was smarter than most ponies would'v expected. I was one of the few who knew this. The letter had a code hidden within it, and..." "What kind of code?" Twilight suddenly interrupted. Twister tossed his hooves into the air, letting out a frustrated growl. "LET ME FINISH!!!" He snarled at Twilight, and she winced.

"ANYWAYS...after a few minutes of decoding, I found the message. It said 'FALSE PANEL'. When I finally found this 'false panel', behind it, Granny had left me a map and a note explaining everything."

Twister pulled his map out of his satchel, and Fluttershy realized the map was ancient; it was yellowed with age, and stains covered up several parts, and one corner was badly torn up. It was a map of all of Equestria, from Manehatten to the Mild West, from the Everfree forest to Cloudsdale.

"THIS mark here..." Twister pointed his hoof to a hastily drawn X that hovered over the Everfree forest. "Told me where to find the observatory, which would lead me to find the next of the Key Shards." "What're these Key Shards?" Twilight interrupted again. Fluttershy winced when Twister's face scrunched up, as if he was going to yell, but he suddenly seemed to think better of it and he looked up at Twilight with an apologetic stare. "Sorry...I'm getting ahead of myself."

He took a deep breath, and restarted his explanation. "My grandmother went on several adventures in her youth. She had one specific adventure in which she searched for an ancient artifact many paleontologists believed didn't exist. She called it 'The Artimus.'" He shuffled his hooves as he spoke, and Fluttershy realized he wasn't comfortable talking about his grandmother. "The Artimus was an artifact built and used by an ancient civilization of ponies that existed before even Princess Celestia."

"Before Celestia?" Rainbow Dash had finally gotten up, and her voice sounded like she was whispering into a microphone. Fluttershy cringed at the sudden volume, and Twilight and Applejack jumped back a few feet in surprise. Only Twister seemed unaffected, and he started chuckling when the mares looked to him for an explanation. "Must'v given her too much Ringstalk water." He continued his speech, as if that never happened.

"My granny; she said it was a weapon of some kind. Powerful. She spent a good few decades trying to figure out where it is. Instead, she got the next best thing; where to find the thing that would lead her to The Artimus. These were the Key Shards." His face darkened when he said Key Shards. "And I had one; before the gorgon got away with it." He scowled, but he didn't seem to be scowling at Fluttershy or her friends. His face didn't lose it's dark scowl when he continued.

"The Key Shards were built by the same civilization to locate The Artimus. By it's very nature, it was chaotic and scrambled. Every time somepony called onto it's power, it would disappear, waiting to be discovered again. The Key Shards were built to point out it's location, when it was needed. This civilization not only worshiped it's power; they feared it. They believed it was the core of chaos itself. So they also hid the Key Shards in places only their monarchy knew about."

Twister pointed back to the map. "My granny was only able to find one. But she left me with a lot to work with. To find the other Key Shards, you would have to take a Key Shard to an ancient observatory to get the location of the next Key Shard." "How many are there?" Twilight interrupted again. Twister took a deep breath, as if he was trying his hardest to control his frustration. "My grandmother believed there were six, just like there were six elements of harmony. But, it's not exactly confirmed."

"The old Castle the princess's used to live in was built over one of these observatories, so I had to take the Key Shard granny found there, and..." He shrugged. "You saw what happened there." Twilight had been nodding the whole time, processing the information she was given. Rainbow Dash had a look of disbelief on her face, and Applejack suddenly spoke up, clearing her throat to get Twister's attention.

"Who the hay was yer grandmama?" She looked at Twister with curiosity in her eye.

Fluttershy saw sadness briefly flash in Twister's eyes. He took off his safari hat and placed in his lap. Suddenly, Fluttershy realized where he looked familiar. Fluttershy couldn't quite believe it, but it made perfect sense; his grey mane, his dull yellow coat, the filthy safari hat...

Twister dusted off the old safari hat, looking at it like you would look at an old friend you'd hadn't seen in a long time. He put the hat back on, and the words that came out of Twister's mouth proved Fluttershy's suspicions.

"My grandmother was Daring Do."

Chapter 7: The Journey Begins.

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-- Sorry this chapter took so long, guys! My computer was being a dick and lost it's ability to save changes, but I was finally able to fix it! Sorry if this chapter seems rushed, I wanted to get it to you as soon as possible after I fixed the computer. Enjoy!--

Twister hadn't expected Rainbow Dash's sudden response.

"BULL-SHIT." Her voice was so loud, it echoed across the whole area. Twister covered his ears at the loud, sudden noise, wincing at the pain in them. "W-what?" Twister was shaken by the sudden noise, and Rainbow Dash seemed to realize how loud her accusation was. She tried to speak again when she started whispering. it was still a little too loud, but it was better than before.

"Daring Do is a fictional character! You honestly expect us to believe that she's your GRANDMOTHER?" Rainbow Dash glared at him with disbelief. Twilight and Applejack were visibly uncomfortable at the noise, and Fluttershy was holding her head, covering her ears. The timid pegasus edged slowly towards her friends as Rainbow Dash continued her rant of disbelief.

" You must think we're idiots if you expect us to believe that! Who are you REALLY?" Rainbow questioned him with her raspy, whisper-in-a-microphone voice. Twister sat up, in a defying posture that openly challenged Rainbow Dash. "My real name is Dashing Do." "So you DID lie to us!" Rainbow spoke as if it was an Aha! moment. Twister shook his head. "No, not completely. Twister is a nickname my friends gave me when I earned my cutie mark. I go by it now to avoid my enemies. And, to answer your first question; My grandmother knew how to disappear. But, she had to settle for being a fictional character because of all the world changing things she did." If Twister didn't have the ponies attention before, he definitely had them now.

Rainbow still had her accusing look of disbelief, Twilight still seemed to be trying to process all the information she was just given, Applejack looked REALLY confused, and Fluttershy was trying to hide behind Twilight, for some reason.

"AND, if you DO believe me about my real name, then how would I be lying about Daring Do being my granny?" Twister knew this pegasus wasn't experienced in any kind of detective work if she hadn't seen this obvious hole in her system. "Uh...well...." Twister allowed himself a brief, smug grin while Rainbow Dash struggled to explain her reasoning. She finally let out an exasperated groan and said "FINE. I believe you. But why are those...THINGS after you?"

Twister shrugged. "Beats me. Best I can tell, my enemies hired them." "Not possible." Twilight suddenly spoke up. Twister turned to her, knowing he was giving her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?" "Gorgons are serpent-class chimeras. They weren't hired; they were created. Created to get those Key Shards you seem to be after." Twilight spoke in a matter-of-factly tone. "So, my enemies are magic-users?" Twister inquired. Twilight looked at him with surprise. "Shouldn't you know?" Twister realized these mares must expect him to know everything.

"I don't know much about my enemies. All I know is that they're rich, and they want The Artimus. BADLY." Twister admitted to them. Twilight suddenly seemed to have entered deep thought after Twister said this, and Applejack spoke up. "Where d'ya figure we are?" She was exploring the area, inspecting the trees, sand, and earthy ground of the forest.

Twister shrugged. "Best I can tell, we're somewhere in the San Palomino Desert. A little...convenient, if you ask me." Twister realized this was probably a little TOO convenient, if the next Key Shard was in the Mild West. "I don't know how we moved this far out through the castle's underground halls." Twister looked back to the moon-hole of the observatory, where he had narrowly escaped the collapsing cavern. It was filled to the rim with rock; the cave had completely collapsed. The mares won't be getting back THAT way.

Twister was careful in getting up, his bad hoof still sore from running so much. "Well, we'd better get on the move." Rainbow Dash suddenly stood up, crouching in an offensive position. "What makes you think we're going with YOU?" Twister hung his head, Rainbow Dash's ignorance blowing his mind. "Because I'm your best chance at survival out here. You want to try and find your way back to Ponyville, be my guest."

Twister continued his trek, knowing that the mares weren't really left with much choice. He tried to hide another smug grin when he heard Rainbow Dash grudgingly shuffle her way along. The other three mares quickly followed, and Twilight came up next to Twister. "So, what's the plan?" There wasn't any hostility in her voice.

"Well, if my map and sense of direction is correct, then we should move to..." Twister had pulled out his map with his bad hoof, and Twilight held it with her magic to help him. "...HERE." Twister pointed with his hoof a small town that (if he was correct, mind you) wasn't too far from their current location. "Do any of you have a compass on your hooves?" Twister silently scolded himself for not thinking of grabbing his own during his last restocking.

Twilight gave Twister the map, and she closed her eyes. Focusing her magical energy, her horn's purplish hue glowed brighter. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, and her horn lost it's hue. "That's north." Twilight pointed to Twister's left, and the crippled pegasus looked back at his map.

"It's thataway." Twister pointed with his nose towards the northeast. The five ponies began their venture, and Applejack galloped up to Twister. "Whadda we do when we reach th' town?" Twister turned to look at the cowfilly, and she was looking at him with genuine curiosity in her eyes.

"I have to restock for supplies. We're gonna have a long journey, so we're gonna need them. When we restock, we'll be going to Appleloosa to find a contact of mine who'll take you to a safehouse. He'll take care of everything, and you'll be able to return to Ponyville with no harm done to you or your friends and family." Applejack suddenly stopped, a look of fear in her eyes. "Why would anypony hurt mah family?" Twister stopped as well, craning his head to answer her question.

"Nothing is sacred to these bastards. They'll do what they have to to break their foes. I should know." Twister wished he hadn't added that last part. It was only his fault that they took them from him...

Twister saw that the four mares suddenly looked afraid and ready to cry. Even Rainbow Dash looked frightened. Twister was going to have to reassure them. "Don't worry; as long as you do what I say, you'll be able to go back home without any harm to anypony." Twister realized the way he was wording it sounded like he was extorting them. "They'll be fine." Twister knew the way he said this last part was rather blunt, as if he had changed his mind, but he didn't want to panic them. Yeah, real successful there...

He hadn't seemed to have made much of a difference. Only Twilight seemed to be reassured. Applejack looked worried, Fluttershy looked ready to cry, and Rainbow Dash was glaring at him with a new kind of hostility. What's her problem with me? Twister didn't understand why the cyan pegasus was being so hostile. He wasn't the enemy; if anything, she should be relieved he didn't decide to leave them out on their own, as most ponies would'v in his line of work.

Twilight came up on Twister's right side and levitated his map with her magic. "You know...I don't remember this town being here on my world map..." Twister turned to her. "Meaning?" Twilight looked up at him, and she had a worried look on her face. "Meaning that, if this map is outdated, then this might be a ghost town." Twister scoffed. "It's not outdated."

Her eyebrow raised in annoyance. "How do you know? Look at this thing; it's ancient. If I don't remember this being on my last map, then the only logical explanation for it is that this map is outdated." Twister shook his head. "I stopped off at this town on my way to the Everfree. It's here." Twister sped up, starting to get annoyed by Twilight's constant inquiries.

"Why are you helping us?" Twister stopped and turned, finding that the pony who asked this was Fluttershy. He had expected it to be Twilight again, because Fluttershy asked this question with some strange confidence he hadn't seen before. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy looked visibly uncomfortable at the fact that everypony was looking at her now, and she muttered. "Never mind..." Twister shook his head. "No, answer me. What do you mean?" Twister knew this mare wouldn't get too far out here if she didn't even have the confidence to ask questions for her friends.

She whimpered, obviously regretting opening her mouth at all, and she looked up from her mane. "W-well...if you already have the location of the next Key Shard, then....why are you spending all this time helping us?" Twister grinned, satisfied that she had been willing to speak for her friends. "A valid question. Y'see..." Twister still continued his walk as he spoke, and the yellow pegasus flew up to him to hear him better. Sure, she was hiding behind Twilight. but it was better than before.

"...My number one priority is to keep innocents out of my situation. Once you're all safe, then my little 'quest' continues. Simple as that." Twister checked the map again, making sure he was going in the right direction. " Wait wait wait....first, why can't we just go to Ponyville? Second, how come you keep calling us 'innocents'? Third, why are you telling us all these things, if you didn't tell us before?" Rainbow Dash asked these next questions. Twister sighed. "They're all because of the same thing; my enemies. You go back to Ponyville NOW, then my assailants will just follow you there and make life hell. Second, you're called 'innocents', because you didn't do anything wrong, as far as my enemies should be concerned. Third, the reason I'm telling you this..."

Twister cut himself off when he tripped, his hoof stepping into a small hole in the ground. Twister pulled it out, and pain was radiating from it. On closer inspection, Twister realized he may have twisted his hoof. "Are ya okay?" Applejack came up to Twister, trying to get a good look at his hoof. "I'm fine!" Twister snapped at her, and he got himself up. He wasn't really okay, but they couldn't waste any time now. Applejack had backed away, scowling as she did so.

As Twister pulled himself up, he realized his bad hoof had become his good hoof. Stallion up! Twister continued his trek, biting his tongue to keep himself from crying out as he moved on. "You still haven't answered my question." Rainbow reminded Twister. He cursed the pegasus under his breath, and he stopped biting onto his tongue to speak again, using a great deal of self-control to NOT yell in pain. "I'm telling you all this because you might as well know what you're up against!" Twister hadn't meant to shout that out, but he couldn't help it. He quickly bit onto his tongue again, leaving Rainbow more confused than before.

After about a half hour of travel, Twister pulled his map out with his newly injured hoof, still chewing on his own tongue to keep from yelling. Seeing the map, Twister saw that they were only a few more miles away from the town. "We're almost there." Twister announced. He turned, and saw that none of the mares looked pleased with this news. Twilight and Fluttershy were exhausted, Applejack still looked mad from Twister snapping at her, and Rainbow was flying around in circles above his head impatiently.

"Stop that!"Twister shouted to Rainbow Dash as she continued flying in circles. "Why?" Rainbow looked back down, hovering just out of Twister's reach. "Don't waste your energy. When you're in a desert, you need to conserve it." Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively. "Don't worry about it; I got plenty of energy!" Twister sighed. "Fine, but don't expect me to carry you the rest of the way." Twister knew she was going to have to learn the hard way, and he would spitefully enjoy watching it.

After another half hour of travel, Twister saw the town on the edge of the horizon. Celstia's sun was going down, so this would be a good time to get things done. Twister nudged Twilight. "Told you so." He sped up, ignoring both Twilight's scowl, and the extreme pain that burned in Twister's twisted hoof. Twister finally reached the town, his companions a few yards behind him. Twister knew this wasn't a ghost town; there were ponies moving in and out of their homes and building as the day was ending.

"That's...odd...how come this town isn't on my map?" Twilight looked at the small town with curiosity in her eyes. Twister ignored her; he was exhausted, and he could see the other three mares were just as tired. Twister held back a laugh when he saw that Rainbow looked like the most exhausted pony in the world.

After a time of impatient waiting, the group finally caught up with Twister. The scarred pegasus was glad that everything was going well so far, but he made sure to keep his eyes and ears sharp in alert. He noticed that it was often at times like these that things went to hell.

"Alright, here's the plan; We're going in to buy the supplies. We stick together as a group. DON'T leave the group under any circumstance, and DON'T talk about....the K.S. These walls have ears." Twister hoped that Rainbow Dash was listening. She was the only one out of the mares not looking at him.

The ponies traveled down the main street, passing other ponies and horse-drawn carriages. The general store was only a few yards ahead, and Twister took the moment to get a better view of the town. There was the main street, where most of the ponies of the town were moving down, up, and across. All of the buildings looked old and rundown; the paint was old and chipped away, the wood rotting in certain parts, and even some of the carriages looked unstable.

Twister wondered even now what kept the town running. It wasn't on the world map, and several of the ponies looked sick and jobless. Twister felt uneasy; he had helped the poor during his foalhood, but these ponies reeked of dark desperation. They'v been driven to do terrible things. Twister tensed his muscles, prepared for the possibility of being mugged. He didn't like judging ponies for their appearance, but in remote towns like this, the law isn't much help.

The five ponies finally reached the general store, and Twister stepped in first. As he walked in, he saw that it wasn't much better in here; the freezers were dead, so several products had already gone bad, and there was a hole in the wall at the back where Twister suspected there must have been a break-in. Up at the cash-register was a single old colt with a gray-blue mane and white fur. He was asleep; he must not expect many customers.

" 'Scuse me?" Twister nudged the old colt once, and he jolted awake. When he got a view of his surroundings, he gave Twister a huge grin. " Customers? Howdy! Welcome to mah store!" The colt spoke in a southern accent similar to Applejack's, but it had an enthusiasm to it that Twister wouldn't have expected from somepony in a town like this.

Twister turned his head, making sure all four of the mares had come into the store with him. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Twister nodded, satisfied that the mares had been smart enough to listen.

Twister turned back to the old colt, and he was giving Twister the biggest grin he had ever seen. It unnerved him. "Yeah....we need some traveling supplies. Where can they be found here?" The old colt suddenly jumped to his hooves. "Don'cha worry none! Ah'll gettem fer ya!" The colt ran off into one of the aisle's. Twister wasn't expecting this, but he shrugged and went along with it.

As he waited, Twister fished out his bag of emergency bits and started counting the lot. "So..." Twilight spoke up. Twister looked up, raising his eyebrow expectantly. "Yeah?" "Um...how are we going to be traveling to Appleloosa?" She was back on the questions. Twister sighed; not everything good can last forever. "On hoof. I thought that was clear?"

"Ya'll goin' ta Appleloosa?!" The colt had returned to the counter, and he had grabbed some ragtag traveling equipment for five. "Ya'll want a map?" The colt already grabbed a map, and he was holding it in his mouth, as if he was offering it. "No, thanks. I already have one. How much for the equipment?" Twister answered awkwardly. He hated having to refuse him, but it was something neither affordable nor needed.

"Seventy bits! And, if ya'll are lookin' fer a ride...." The colt fished out a couple of tickets for a carriage ride out of his counter, and he handed them to Twister. "Ya'll can have these fer jus' an extra fahve bits each!" The colt had already lost Twister at seventy bits. "Sorry; I can't afford seventy. I only have fifty." Twister pulled away from the counter, but suddenly turned back. "However...I would like to buy those tickets. But, we need five. So, how much is that?" The colt had swapped expressions from one of disappointment to one of great excitement. "Like Ah said, jus' fahve bits each! Dat's a total of..." The colt scrunched his face up as he did the math. "Thirty bits!" Twister nodded. "We can afford that." The colt handed the tickets to Twister eagerly, and took the bits in his mouth and started whistling happily.

Twister walked out with the other mares, and he couldn't believe his luck! Just five bits for each ticket? What a steal...wait...

Twister froze when it dawned on him. If the colt had tickets of his own, then why wouldn't he just use them himself? Nopony would be able to get by like that in this town! "Hello?" Rainbow Dash had bumped into Twister from behind, and she was looking at him with confusion. Twister face-hooved. Why hadn't he seen this coming? He was a helluva lot smarter than this! "Come on, we don't have much time!" Twilight was looking eagerly at one of the carriages, and Twister stopped her before she could continue.

"It doesn't matter. We've been conned."

Chapter 8: The Con-Artist.

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Fluttershy couldn't believe how quickly the situation had changed.

One minute, they were on their way to a carriage for Appleloosa, and the next, they were charging into the general store to catch a con-artist. Twister bashed down the door of the general store, and as he ran into the building, Fluttershy swore she saw him briefly limp. Rainbow Dash and Applejack ran in next, and Twilight was close behind. Fluttershy didn't want to face the con if he turned out to be dangerous, but she didn't want to be alone out here, with all these ponies eyeing her like that.

Fluttershy shuddered, and reluctantly flew into the broken building. As Fluttershy flew past the rotten doors, she found that the old colt was trying to escape through the hole in the back of his store. Twister shouted, and the Con turned his head to see the five ponies. He squealed, and started running.

Twister tried to follow, but he fell flat on his face. Fluttershy was by his side in a moment's notice, and she found his left hoof was twisted at a disturbing angle. "Stop him!" Twister barked at the mares. Rainbow Dash had already taken chase, and Applejack's tail disappeared past the hole in the wall.

Twilight stepped towards Twister, her horn glowing it's purple hue as she tried to cast a healing spell, but he pushed her back with his good hoof. "Not now! Help them!" Twilight looked flustered as she was pushed out of focus of her spell, but she shook her mane and followed Twister's orders.

Fluttershy gulped as she followed her friends, peering out the hole to take in the scene. Fluttershy was looking down an alleyway, and there were crates all over the place; pushed up against the buildings, lying lopsided in the middle of the alley, and piled up on top of each other. Rainbow had shot into the air, annoyed with constantly swerving around to avoid the crates. She soared in the sky, likely trying to spot the slippery little Con.

Applejack was galloping across the alley, dodging and jumping over the dozens of crates that stood in her way. She was determined to not let the Con escape. Twilight had suddenly turned around, bumping into Fluttershy.

"W-what are you doing?" Fluttershy was surprised by her friend's sudden change in direction. Twilight moved around the stunned pegasus, calling out as she left. "I'm running around to the end of the Alleyway! I'm going to flank him!" The purple unicorn disappeared into the building, easily busting through it's rotten walls to get out of the alleyway.

Fluttershy shook herself, and jumped into the air to fly. She gulped; Fluttershy wasn't really one for flying great heights. She hovered a few feet above the highest crates, floating in a sort of middle ground between Rainbow and AJ's terrain. She could see both of her friends moving quickly across the alleyway. Fluttershy tried to speed up, but her wings were flapping to their limit. She was too slow to keep up with her friends, and the distance between Fluttershy and the two chasers slowly increased.

Fluttershy still couldn't see the escaping Con-Artist, but AJ seemed to know exactly where he was. She was expertly leaping over each of the crates, sometimes jumping from one to the other to increase speed. Fluttershy was impressed; she knew the cowfilly was good at running, but the speed in which she maintained during the chase was incredible. Fluttershy's eyes darted to Rainbow Dash, and she could see the blue pegasus was crossing the distance in a matter of mere seconds. Much faster than AJ, and she had eyes in the sky; Rainbow would likely capture the old colt before anypony else.

That's what Fluttershy was worried about. She knew the colt tricking them was rotten, but she didn't want him to get hurt. Fluttershy just wanted to get back Twister's bits, nothing else. But if Rainbow caught him before anypony else, then she might hurt him when she caught him. Fluttershy then started to worry about what Twister might do to him if Rainbow takes the Con to him. Twister seemed like a decent young colt, but he had murdered a doctor in cold blood. Who knew what Twister might do to the cheat?

Rainbow suddenly dived from the air, and Fluttershy knew the Con had lost all hope of escape. She didn't see where the blue pegasus landed, the crates blocking her view, but the surprised shout told Fluttershy everything she needed to know. AJ leaped over one of the crates, and she disappeared behind the crate Rainbow vanished behind.

Fluttershy flew towards the crate as quickly as she could, her heart leaping into her throat when she saw what was happening; Rainbow had the old colt pinned down, her angry scowl staring daggers into her victim. AJ was close behind, with a pitiful, yet angry look in her eyes.

"Look, Ah'm sorry! Ah was jus' tryin' ta get by! Don' hurt me, please!" The old colt was fruitlessly struggling to escape Rainbow's grip, his eyes wider than dish plates. Was...was he crying? Fluttershy couldn't bear to see anypony in this kind of position.

"Ya still lied and cheated us." Applejack was angry, but at least she was showing some remorse. Rainbow Dash wasn't showing any mercy. She placed her hoof on his throat, not enough to strangle, but enough to make him uncomfortable, and she hissed into his ear. "So...what do you think we do to liars and cheats?" She twisted her hoof, digging it into his throat.

Before Fluttershy could do anything, the old colt suddenly grinned. He laughed, and Fluttershy realized too late why he was laughing.

Out from behind one of the crates, a thug dressed in black clothing tackled Rainbow Dash, holding her against the alleyway wall. Applejack reacted, attempting to strike at the thug, when a second thug came up behind her from the shadows and held her down in a strangle hold. Fluttershy panicked, and as she turned to escape, a third thug grabbed her wing with his mouth and roughly yanked her down to the earth.

Fluttershy plummeted to the ground, crying out in pain as the thug held her down while twisting her wing. She felt tears running down her cheeks as she whimpered, too afraid to sob.

The Con-Artist pulled himself up, brushing off the dirt in his mane. "Alright; quick, check 'em fer any bits!" He rubbed his hooves together, cackling in a cliche villain moment. Rainbow Dash snarled at the thug that was pinning her down when he tried to check her. "Ooooohh...a feisty one! I like this mare!" The thug spoke in a deep voice that bellowed across the alley. "Let's take 'er!"

"No. We ain't kidnapping t'night. These three ain't worth much." The Con-Artist refused the thug's request, and even though he was wearing a ski mask, Fluttershy see the disappointment in his face. Fluttershy was relieved they wouldn't be kidnapping them, but her heart still felt like it would burst out of fear.

Rainbow suddenly spat in the thug's face, and he released the pegasus, wincing in surprise. "HEY! What was dat..." He didn't finish his sentence. Rainbow knocked him down, leaping from side to side as she struck out at the other thugs. Fluttershy quickly pulled herself up, tears streaming down her face as she ran to find Twilight and Twister.

It was a short search; Twilight suddenly busted down another rotting wall, appearing a few yards away from the battle. She turned her head to see her friends in danger, and her horn glowed it's purple hue as she focused a spell on the thugs.

Applejack leaped onto her hooves as the thug holding her down was knocked away by Rainbow, and she headbutted the nearest criminal. Fluttershy hid behind a crate, and watched as all hay broke loose.

Applejack bucked a thug that was trying to get her from behind again, then Twilight sent a crate flying into another thug and the Con. Rainbow was sky bombing the thug that had been holding Fluttershy down, diving out from the sky and striking out at him before flying back into the air.

Fluttershy ducked when one of the thugs flew over her head as Twilight tossed him with her magic. She cried out, and scrambled out to hide behind a different crate. The thug was unconscious, but Fluttershy wasn't taking any chances. Fluttershy peeked over another crate, and saw that the thugs were recovering from their surprise.

The thug who had been attacking Fluttershy suddenly lashed out at Rainbow Dash when she dove in to attack him again. He managed to grab one of her wings with his mouth, and yanked her down to earth. Rainbow struck him with one of her hooves as he did so, but it didn't seem to affect him. He pinned her down again, twisting her wing to keep her still.

Fluttershy's attention turned to Twilight when the purple mare cried out. The Con had attacked her from behind, and they were having a tussle in the dirt. He kept ending up on top as they rolled, pinning her down longer each time.

Fluttershy's attention again switched, this time to Applejack. The cowfilly kept striking at the two remaining thugs, trying her best to keep them at bay. But she was getting tired; her kicks were losing their force, and she was starting to get sluggish when she tried to evade an oncoming attack.

Their strategies are becoming more sophisticated... Fluttershy despaired. She wanted to jump into the fight, but her fear was getting the better of her. Each time she braced herself to jump into the fight, her blood froze and her muscles stiffened when she looked back out at the action.

"Don't tell me you started without me!" A familiar gruff, but good-natured voice rang out behind Fluttershy as she peered out at the conflict. Fluttershy turned, surprised to see Twister already back on his hooves. "H-how did you get here?" Fluttershy had seen his hoof herself. The angle in which it was twisted shouldn't have allowed him any kind of on-hoof movement.

"I paced myself. Doesn't look good for you fillies, does it?" He gave her a good-natured, but somewhat mocking grin. Fluttershy was surprised by how relaxed he was, considering what was happening. "Um....can you...uh..help?" Fluttershy knew his hoof was twisted, but if his broken hoof didn't stop him from killing a doctor and escaping a hospital, then what's to stop him here?

"Sure. I've seen enough." Twister limped over to the conflict, not even flinching when a thug sailed over his head after being bucked by AJ. He walked over to Twilight's fight with the Con, and he stretched his one wing out, flexing it. Then, Twister struck the Con over the head with one, well aimed strike with his wing. The Con-Artist fell over, unconscious. Twilight pulled herself up, shaking the dirt out of her mane.

"Go help Applejack." Twister ordered briefly before limping towards Rainbow Dash's fight. Rainbow was still held down by the thug, struggling more and more as her wing was being bent directions wings should never be bent. Twister stood up on his hind legs, and kicked out at the thug with his one good hoof. This caught the thug's attention, long enough for Rainbow to strike out at him again and scramble away. Twister started blocking the thug's attacks with his wing, and Fluttershy's attention turned to Twilight and Applejack.

Now that Twilight was helping, the battle was evened out. Each of the mares dealt with their own thug, and it didn't look good for the crooks. Twilight kept zapping her thug with some kind of lightning spell when he got too close, and AJ headbutted her thug relentlessly, eventually pinning him against a wall. Fluttershy could see AJ's strikes were knocking the breath out of him, and suddenly the wall behind him broke apart.

Fluttershy was surprised when the thug didn't come out, and when the dust cleared, she realized he had ran off, ditching his comrades. Twilight lifted the thug she was battling with her magic, and with some effort, launched him into the thug that was attacking Twister. Twister jumped back, surprised by the sudden attack. He stepped on his twisted hoof, accidentally putting all his weight on it, and he collapsed.

The two thugs high-tailed it out of there, and all that was left was the Con. The Con-Artist was groggily pulling himself up, obviously still shaken by Twister's hit. He saw his back-up had ran off, and he stumbled as he called out to them "WAIT! Don' jus' leave meh like this..." He tripped, falling on his face as he plummeted to the ground. Before he could get back up, Rainbow Dash had flown over to him and pinned him down.

Twilight ran over to Twister, her horn glowing it's purple hue as she prepared a spell. "Hang on; this might sting a little." Twister opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when his hoof gained a purple hue similar to Twilight's as the lavender unicorn used her magic. Fluttershy could see he was holding back a shout when his hoof twisted back to it's original angle. "..thanks." Twister said grudgingly as he pulled himself up. He still had a limp, but it was better than it was before. Fluttershy made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Twister carefully walked over to Rainbow Dash and the pinned Con. "I've got this." His gruff voice rang out in the alleyway, seeming to echo in the wide area. Rainbow reluctantly let Twister take her place in holding down the Con. The Con struggled, and he almost got up on his hooves when Rainbow released him, but Twister knocked him back down as quickly as he had gotten up.

"I don't like being tricked." The grey-maned pegasus growled between his teeth. The Con had a look of wild fear in his eyes, something that reminded Fluttershy of a trapped animal. Fluttershy winced as Twister lifted one of his hooves and placed it over the Con's throat, slowly digging it into him. "You wanna know what I do to liars and cheats?" The Con started shaking his head wildly, as if he expected Twister wanted an answer. "That was retorical." Twister started twisting his hoof as it dug into the Con's throat. Fluttershy couldn't watch any more of this.

"STOP!" Fluttershy cried out, the force in her voice surprising even her. Twister looked up at her, surprise clearly shown in his face. "Don't hurt him. He doesn't deserve it." Fluttershy pleaded. Then, Twister's expression changed from surprise to something Fluttershy couldn't interpret. Was it anger? Was it confusion? Was it...sadness even? Fluttershy couldn't tell.

Twister suddenly closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. He opened them again, this time looking at the Con. "Looks like it's your lucky day." Fluttershy couldn't believe her ears. He was...actually listening to her? Why? Suddenly, Twister stopped the Con when he tried to worm his way out of Twister's grip. "I didn't say you were getting away with this." Twister snarled. The Con lost his sudden look of joy when Twister said this. "So..whatcha gonna do ta meh?" The old colt asked fearfully. Twister's expression hadn't changed when he asked this.

"First, you're going to give me back my bits." Twister held one of his hooves out to the colt, even though he was pinned. The Con fished out the small bag of bits Twister had given him in the crumbling store, quickly handing them to his assailant. "Second, you're going to have to give some kind of compensation for your crime. A fine, if you will." The Con looked at him with eyes in a mixture of fear and eagerness. "O'course! Uh..howsabout Ah give ya mah traveling supplies to ya? No charge!" The Con looked at Twister with a pitiful kind of hopefulness. Twister nodded. "Now THAT'S a good compensation."

The grey-maned pegasus released the old colt, but her grabbed his shoulder with his one wing when the colt tried to run away. "Ah-ah-ah....You're coming with. I'm not going to give you the chance to cheat me again. I'll be inspecting the supplies, and they BETTER be real." Twister grinned evilly as the colt's face fell at this. "Oh...alright." Fluttershy hoped for the colt's sake that those supplies were real.

The four mares followed Twister and the Con as they trotted back to the crumbling general store, and Fluttershy bit her curled hair nervously. She was happy to have given the old colt another chance, but she was afraid of what she might have to see if he turned out to have been trying to pull another con off.

The group finally reached the old rat-hole of a store, and Fluttershy wandered in after her friends had all entered. Twister turned his head to Applejack as Fluttershy stepped in. "Hold onto him, and don't let him go till I say so." Twister gave the sleazy Con to the cowfilly, and he walked over to the supplies still sitting on the counter when the old colt had brought them over. The dull yellow pegasus unzipped the supplies, pulling out item after item, carefully inspecting each one. He turned back to the four mares, a faint expression of surprise crossing his face. "They're real. Let him go." Twister slung the supplies onto his back as he said this, and AJ released the old colt as she was told.

The old colt let out a small hoot of joy as he ran away from his own store, obviously scared witless of Twister. Flutershy realized she had been holding her breath, and she let out a sigh of relief. She was happy nopony got seriously injured in this whole battle, but Twister wasn't sharing her relief. "Let's go." He barked to the mares as he ran out of the store. Applejack quickly followed behind, Rainbow flew out of a broken window, and Twilight trotted a few yards behind them. Fluttershy yelped, and she ran to catch up to her friends. She didn't want to spend another minute in that creaky old building, and not a second in it alone.

After a few hours, Fluttershy looked back to where the group had come. The dingy little town was just a speck on the horizon line, and the desert air was getting warmer and thicker as Celestia's sun rose to the sky. Fluttershy turned back to her friends, breathing a little harder from the long hike.

Fluttershy flew into the air, careful not to fly up too high. She eventually caught up with Twilight, and Fluttershy realized the lavender unicorn was still exhausted from the fight. Twilight's eyes fluttered as she trotted, each of her breaths seeming to take enormous effort. Fluttershy flew a little faster, hoping to catch up to Twister. She didn't think traveling much farther would be good for anypony.

She passed Rainbow Dash, who had started slumping after the first half hour of travel. She hadn't listened to Twister's second warning about conserving her energy, and had one a few tricks in the air out of boredom. Now, she was exhausted and grumbling in protest about Twister's 'smart-ass remarks'.

Fluttershy flew a little faster, feeling sweat starting to trickle down her brow. Applejack was just a few feet behind Twister, and was the only pony in the group who looked fresh and ready for the day. Fluttershy flew past her, finally reaching Twister. His scars rippled down his right side, as they always have, and Fluttershy could see as she got closer that he was sweating the most out of the five ponies, and he smelled of BO as she landed next to him.

"Um...Twister?" She squeaked as the crippled pegasus turned to her. "Yeah?" Twister acknowledged the timid mare, his gruff voice still seeming to echo even in this open area. "Uh...nevermind..." She backed away from the rough colt, sorry for bothering him. She froze when she heard him say,"NO. What did you want to tell me?" Fluttershy got nervous, the force in his voice frightening her.

"Um...could we....possibly..maybe...stop and rest?" Fluttershy whimpered. Twister smiled, and Fluttershy felt her nervousness go away. "I'd love to, but it wouldn't be smart to in this heat. Sleeping in the sun in the middle of a desert would sap all of our moisture more quickly than it would if we were walking. When night comes, then we'll rest. Until then, we'll have to push on." Twister pulled out his map, and him checking it told Fluttershy the conversation was over.

Fluttershy fell back, disappointed that they would have to keep trekking in this heat. She sped up when she fell back next to Applejack, and she turned to look at the cowfilly in amazement. Fluttershy couldn't believe AJ could stand the heat like this, and for so long. Applejack turned to Fluttershy, and smiled at her friend. "Somethin' on yer mind, sugercube?" Fluttershy mumbled. "Um..how do you stand the heat?" AJ raised an eyebrow, and she leaned in. "Can't hear ya." Fluttershy reluctantly raised her voice. "Uh...How do you stand the heat?"

Applejack leaned back, smiling. "Ah've always been used ta working in the heat. Had ta, 'specially during the summer." Fluttershy nodded. "Oh...I see.." She looked onward, following Twister as they continued the trek.

About twenty minutes later, Twister suddenly stopped. "...you hear that?" He suddenly whispered. "What?" Twilight gasped for breath, collapsing in exhaustion while she had the chance. He shushed her, and Fluttershy listened intently. She could barely hear the sound of....hooves?

"GET DOWN!!!" Twister suddenly shouted when Fluttershy turned to see buffalo charging towards them. Fluttershy didn't listen to him, and instead flew into the air, too afraid to think. Fluttershy cried out in pain when a stone pelted her side, knocking her out of the sky. When she crashed, Fluttershy felt tears form in the corners of her eyes when she extended her left wig, and felt a burning pain radiate from it.

Rainbow Dash had turned sluggishly in surprise, and as she tried to attack one of the charging buffalo, she was knocked down to the ground. She didn't get up. Twilight's horn gained it's usual purple hue when she attempted to cast a spell onone of the buffalo, but suddenly fainted after a few seconds of focus. All that was left was Applejack and Twister.

Fluttershy pulled herself up, her wing stinging like it was attacked by a dozen wasps. She tried to run to her friends, but one of the buffalo tackled her and pinned her down. Applejack looked furious. "Why the hay are ya attackin' us?! We ain't done nothin' wrong!" She dodged one of the buffalo that tried to charge into her. Fluttershy guessed there must have been at least a doxen of the buffalo warriors.

One of them stepped up to Applejack, but he didn't attack. He looked equally as angry as AJ, and his deep voice rang out across the desert clearing as he spoke.

"Because you travel with a criminal, young one."

Chapter 9: The Buffalo Tribe.

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Twister can resist all kinds of pain. Distrust is one of the few he cannot.

The whole conflict went downhill from The Buffalo's accusation. Applejack surrendered, and the other three mares weren't exactly in positions to argue, so it was only Twister who stood against the Buffalo warriors.

So, he too surrendered. Not because he couldn't have fought back; he was certain that he could have made short work of the warriors before nightfall. But Applejack couldn't be lied to. Lying to her, and fighting against those who had a right to attack him, wouldn't gain any trust from the mares.

If they had any chance to get out of his situation alive, then the mares were going to have to trust him. But Twister knew Trust isn't given; it's earned. So, Twister set a plan to regain their trust in motion, beginning with surrendering to the buffalo.

So, the plan had begun. Twister's hooves were tied up with an admittedly weak rope, and Twister wondered how they managed to handle prisoners if the ropes could be ripped as easily as paper. Twister pushed this thought out of his head; he had to make a limp in order to give the Buffalo's a small sense of security that he couldn't escape.

The group was escorted through the San Palomino Desert, and Twister himself was pushed into the center of the group, buffalo surrounding him on all sides. No way could he escape now, even if he wanted to. Twister didn't care about what was happening to him, because his blood was boiling at how his companion's were being treated.

Fluttershy looked the most fearful of the four. She stumbled along, gasping each time one of the Buffalo pushed her forward. The poor thing looked ready to cry. Twilight constantly sputtered for breath, the warriors forcing her to move faster than she could, and Rainbow was too tired to give Twister her usual look of distrust. Only AJ was giving Twister a nasty look, and if looks could kill, he'd be skewered on the spot.

Twister sighed. Things will clear up on their own, and he would be ready. Twister forced himself to calm down; the buffalo wouldn't actually harm the mares, but it still didn't change the fact that they could go easier on them.

The Buffalo finally brought Twister to their camp, and he found it hadn't changed much since he last saw it; The hut's still stood in their usual positions, set up next to each other in a ring formation. This gave it a big clearing in the center, where a fire usually sat to provide warmth and light for the tribe. But, even though Luna's moon was out, there was no fire.....wait...how did Twister manage to see in the dark of night anyways?

Twister was pulled out of his observations when the Buffalo closest to him suddenly headbutted him, forcing him into the center of the camp clearing. Several buffalo women and children had come out to see what the commotion was all about, and several started jeering and tossing miscellaneous items at him. Twister grimaced at how it reminded him of the stoning he was planned to be given as a child.

Twister looked at each of the Buffalo's faces directly, giving each a defiant stare. He dared them to do worse. As Twister's head turned, he finally saw the his companion's faces. Twilight was sitting on her rump, gasping for air, her eyes fluttered as she took each breath, Rainbow was finally giving him her usual look of defiant distrust, and AJ gave him a similar look. But in her eyes....somehow, it felt worse how she did it.

Twister felt even worse when he turned to look at Fluttershy. She didn't look back, hiding her face behind her mane. It somehow...hurt. Hurt? Twister was rarely hurt by these things. If anything, she had every right to despise him. And yet...she didn't seem to. She just seemed to despair. Was she despairing FOR him? Why?

Twister was pulled out of these thought's when he heard the bellowing voice of the Buffalo chieftain, Chief Thunderhooves. "QUUUUUUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEETTTT!!!!" The Buffalo children and women stopped their jeering, turning to look to their leader for further instructions. He gave them a grim smile, knowing he had their attention. The smile was brief.

"This trial handles the defilement of our people, religion, and resources. This trial is not for the faint of heart; all parent's are asked to take their children back to their homes now!" Thundrehooves waited patiently as the buffalo shuffled between each other, children and their parent's trying to return to their homes. Twister wondered what would keep the children from hearing the trial, if the hut's were just outside of it.

He didn't press on this; as soon as all the children had moved into their homes, Thunderhooves stepped up to Twister, seeming to stare into his soul. Twister didn't see anger in the chief's eyes; only disappointment. Thunderhooves opened his mouth again, his deep voice ringing out to the whole clearing as he spoke.

"Twister, you are charged by our tribe for the defilement of our sacred rites. You willingly broke into the cave of lost memories, willingly and knowingly defiled the Sunstone, and killed three of our warriors in your attempt to escape from your fate. Do you have anything to say in your defense? Speak now, and let the gods decide if your words ring the truth." Twister couldn't believe what he was hearing. Yes, he had killed three warriors, but they had jumped to conclusions before he could explain what was happening. Twister never even HEARD of this 'cave of lost memories', nor did he ever hear about the 'Sunstone'.

Thinking back to his last visit to the tribe, Twister remembered nearly dying of thirst in the middle of the San Palomino Desert on his way to the Everfree. Chief Thunderhooves himself found Twister, and took him back to the camp and nursed him back to health. Thunderhooves had shown him the camp, given him a tour of the Desert, and gave Twister a basic understanding of their religious rites. He had NEVER mentioned any cave, or ANY stone of any kind. Twister didn't even remember entering a cave during his visit!

"I object to these accusations! Yes, I admit to....killing three warriors, but they jumped to conclusions! I did what was necessary to survive. I tried to be diplomatic, but they refused to listen! And, I never even heard of this 'cave of lost memories', or this 'Sunstone'. You never told me anything of these things!" Twister protested. Thunderhooves was his friend; Twister wouldn't lie to him. Twister just hoped Thunderhooves knew he was telling the truth.

Thunderhooves paused, closing his eyes as if to be thinking carefully of what to do next. After a moment that felt like forever, the chieftain finally reopened his eyes, and looked at Twister dead in the eye. "I want to believe you friend, but we have witnesses. I'm afraid your objections ring false."

Twister couldn't believe his ears. "Witnesses? What witnesses?" Twister knew who ever these witnesses were must be lying. "We have two witnesses. One of our own, and an outsider who helped save her life. FROM YOU. According to them, you stole the Sunstone from the Cave of Lost Memories, and killed three warriors in your escape. You injured a fourth, and she was our first witness.

Twister felt anger seeping into him. "I didn't steal anything!" Thunderhooves shook his head, and his voice had an edge of urgency in it. "We have the word of one of our own. You are an outsider, in spite of what you've done for us in the past, and the word of our tribemembers go above that of the outsiders. Admit your guilt, and your punishment will be less painful." Thunderhooves didn't sound like he was threatening Twister; it actually sounded like he was BEGGING him to gove in.

"Who's word do you have!?!" Twister shouted at the chieftain. Twister hadn't become friends with all of the Buffalo, and it would make sense if one of his rivals within the camp made the story up. Thunderhooves blinked, surprised by the force in Twister's voice. Then, he closed his eyes again, and slowly turned his head to the left. Opening his eyes, he called out, "STRONGHEART!!! COME HERE!" Twister couldn't believe his ears.

Little Strongheart was the witness? Twister never fought her, and he had become good friends with the young Buffalo warrior. Why would she make this up? Twister's thought's all came crashing down when he saw Strongheart step out from the crowd, nervously joining Thunderhooves' side.

Twister looked at the young buffalo warrior with disbelief. "Why?" Twister hadn't meant to say this, but it just came out. Strongheart lifted her chin, and she spoke with a nervous edge to her voice Twister never heard from her before. "I saw you...take the sunstone. Why?....of....of all...." She stopped speaking, and Twister was left wondering what was making her do all this.

Thunderhooves suddenly spoke up. "OUTSIDER! YOU AS WELL!" Twister hadn't seen any other ponies in the buffalo crowd, but he couldn't believe what was happening here.

The crowd parted, and a pitch black pegasus stepped through the newly opened pathway. Twister's blood ran cold, and he felt rage that only ever rose in him because of this pony. He knew this pegasus...this..."TRAITOR!!!!"

Twister lost all self control. He ripped apart his bindings, and charged into the dark pegasus with new found energy. Twister knew he was acting like an animal, but he didn't care! This pony started all of this! Twister forced the pegasus to the ground, strangling him while he was down.

He was forcing Strongheart into this! Nothing was sacred to him!! He...

Twister was pulled back by the other buffalo warriors, but he gave them a run for their money. He lashed out at the incoming warriors, determined not to let the black pegasus get away again. He brought several warriors down before a dozen of them pinned him down and dragged him away from the pegasus, and back into the clearing.

"LET ME GO!! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!!!!" Twister screamed like a madcolt. He struggled to escape his wardens, keeping his eyes on the black pegasus. Twister eventually ripped one of his hooves free and struck the throat of one of the buffalo warriors. He pulled himself away, and Twister ran towards the pegasus again. The black pegasus looked fearful, and rightfully so. Twister reached him again, relentlessly beating him down with his hooves.

Twister suddenly felt a sharp blow to the back of his head, and everything became dark.

Twister woke up, groggily taking in his surroundings. Twister shook his head, trying to clear his vision. The back of his head ached from the strike that had knocked him cold, and Twister found himself tied to a giant wooden pole. Twister's vision cleared, and he realized he wasn't alone.

On his left, Fluttershy was also tied to the pole, and AJ was tied on his right. Twister couldn't see Twilight or Rainbow Dash, but he guessed they were tied on the back of the pole.

"Well, look who's back in the land o' the livin'!" Applejack snarled spitefully at Twister. Fluttershy suddenly looked up, seeing Twister, and her eyes grew bigger than dish plates as she whimpered. Wait...is she afraid of me?

Twister realized he must have scared all of the mares with his rage. He would've facehoofed there and then, if his hooves were free. Why did he let his rage get the better of him?!

As his vision cleared up some more, Twister realized the pole was on the edge of a cliff. He could look out at the whole of the San Palomino Desert from here! Looking downwards, he realized, just at the horizon line....

"Appleloosa! Over there!" Twister leaned forward, letting himself get excited. His excitement vanished when Applejack growled, "Don' matter now, though, does it?" She glared at Twister with a kind of spite Twister hadn't seen in any other ponies before.

"So, since yer up and at 'em, why don'cha start explainin'?" The cowfilly's voice had a ticked off edge to it, and Twister realized just how bad he made the situation look for him by attacking the pegasus. "I..." Twister didn't want the fillies to know how he knew that pegasus...that damn traitor.

"You're better off not knowing." Twister sighed wretchedly. He already lost the mares trust from the accusation, but now, he wondered if he could ever earn it back. His rage had likely passed him off as a mentally unstable murderer.

"Yeah, well, we would'v been better off never knowin' ya. We still do, though, don' we?" Applejack hissed. Twister hoped AJ's lie detector skills were good enough to understand that this was a personal matter. Nothing more.

"I can't tell you." Twister put it as plain and simple as he could. He hoped he wouldn't have to deal with this any longer while here.

"Why are you tied here with me? You didn't know what I've done!" Twister was getting pissed as he started puting two and two together. That damn pegasus must have done something to make the four look bad.

"We traveled with ya, so they're keepin' us here till it's time for our interrogations. You're first." Applejack spat this last part out, as if she expected him to tell the truth when he was to be interrogated. Twister would, but the thing is, ponies only hear what they WANT to hear. Twister's side of the story wasn't something they wanted to hear.

Twister looked around, trying to see if he could find a way out of his prison. Lightly pulling on his ropes, Twister deduced they were built more recently, and that they were expertly tied. Twister wouldn't be able to rip these ties like the last. But...could he untie them? Twister leaned his head down, biting into his ropes. He pulled back when he heard a cry of disgusted surprise.

"Even after all o' this, you'd still run away?!" Applejack looked disgusted with him now. Twister racked his head up, trying to find the right words to explain. "Look, this isn't the place to explain. They won't show mercy, not with...HIM around." Twister tilted his head down to the camp, referring to the black pegasus. "We'll be safer away from here. You need to trust me on this. It's not what it looks like." Twister gave the cowfilly a pleading look. She had no reason to believe him, other than understanding he was being genuine.

The cowfilly paused, and Twister knew she realized he was telling the truth. Finally, she snarled reluctantly, "Fine. Hurry, 'cause once it's time, Ah wanna FULL explanation." AJ looked away from the crippled pegasus, and Twister took his chance. He had gotten more than he deserved, and he had to make the most of it.

Twister returned to his ropes, biting into them as thoughts rapidly entered and exited his mind. How would he explain without putting them in danger? How would he spare them of his enemies wrath?

Twister quickly pulled his head away from the ropes when he heard hoofsteps coming from the slope up the cliff. As he turned his head to the slope, he saw three figures step towards him. Two were buffalo warriors, and the third was Chief Thunderhooves himself.

"It's time."

Twister bit his bottom lip to prevent himself from crying out. Thunderhooves had his warriors tie Twister to a small wooden board nailed to a cliff wall. Twister resisted torture before, and this was no different from the last time. Other than his friend being the one putting him through it.

The buffalo torturers were using basic methods of torture that barely affected Twister in comparison to his previous interrogations. Cutting into him with small knives, giving him buffalo burns, etc etc.

Twister was going to have to give them SOMETHING, something that would buy his companions time. He didn't know where this 'Sunstone' was, or what it even IS, but the buffalo think he knows. So, in order to buy time, Twister was going to have to act like this pathetic excuse for torture was actually bending him, and give them a false location.

Once he did this, then he would be able to escape, and take the four mares to his contact in Appleloosa. Then they would be out of his situation without any more complications, and it would be a happy ending. Well, at least for them.

Twister tried to force tears to make it more believable, but to no avail. He would have to stick with the usual. "ALRIGHT! I'LL TELL YOU!! NO MORE!!!" Twister's cries of 'pain' were exaggerated. He could have handled HOURS of those pitiful bit's of pain, but he needed to make his 'confession' believable.

Thunderhooves called off the torturers, and stepped towards Twister. "Where is the Sunstone?" Twister knew he had the chieftain's attention, and he took advantage of the situation.

"It's in..." Twister drew a blank card. He realized he hadn't even thought of what false location to give them. Buck...just give them the first thing that pops in your head. Twister still drew a blank card. What was happening? He was never good at coming up with lies, but this was ridiculous!

What happened next surprised Twister. Thunderhooves sighed, and he gestured to the torturers. Twister expected them to continue his torture, but instead untied him and pulled him down from the board. Pointing at him with their horns, another buffalo rebound Twister's hooves in order to prevent him from escaping.

"Take him back to the pole. I need to speak with our ambassador." Thunderhooves marched towards the camp, and Twister suspected that black pegasus was 'the ambassador'. Twister cooperated with his warden as he was escorted back to the tying pole, where the four mares waited.

As he was brought back to the pole, Twister got his first real look at Twilight and Rainbow Dash since his surrender. Twilight was out cold, tired from using so much magic and trekking in the heat of Celestia's sun. Rainbow Dash seemed to be renewed with energy, and she was tapping her hind hoof impatiently while she sat there, all tied up. The cyan pegasus turned to look at Twister when she heard his escort, and she gave him the usual 'I don't trust you' glare.

Twister gave her a weak grin. "Y'know your face'll freeze that way if you keep it like that." Twister had been making a light-hearted joke, but Rainbow suddenly seemed to be taking it seriously. She started making several different faces, looking away from Twister while doing so. The crippled pegasus rolled his eyes.

His escort kindly tied him back up to the pole, and they pulled on it to make sure it was tight. They then left their prisoners, mumbling to each other something about 'the ambassador'. Twister tried to lean in, to grab what little audio from the buffalo's lips as possible. He needed to know what the black pegasus was doing here!

He didn't get anything. The only word he recognized was 'ambassador', and they left before Twister could hear anything else.

"Well, what's going on now?" Rainbow turned to Twister, giving him the usual scowl. Twister looked to the mares on both of his sides. On his left, Rainbow was now tied next to him, and Fluttershy was now on his right. The timid pegasus still looked fearful of him, and this somehow hurt Twister even more.

Twister shook his head, pulling himself out of these thoughts. "We're going to escape." He announced to the four mares, loud enough for them all to hear him, but quiet enough so that it couldn't be heard down at the camp. Twister bit down on his bindings, trying to tear them apart.

"WAIT! What's going on?! I want to know why these buffalo think you stole that....'Sunstone'!" Twister was surprised by how she worded that. "'Think' I stole it? You believe me?" Twister looked at her with surprise clearly shown on his face.

"While you were gone, me and AJ talked for awhile. We're going to trust you....for now." Twister couldn't believe his lucky break. "Alright. I promise, I'll explain what's going on, but first, we need to get out of here and into Appleloosa." Rainbow nodded.

"So, how do we get out?" Twister bit back into his bindings when she asked this. "Like dis." He mumbled through his teeth as he bit into the bindings. Rainbow copied Twister, biting her bindings in an animal-like fashion. After about a half-hour of biting, Twister finally tore through his first binding. He stretched himself out, wriggling and worming his way out of the binding's. With one rope ripped, all Twister had to do was struggle to loosen the rest up. Twister finally got himself out when his bindings became loose enough, and he then helped pull Rainbow out of her ties.

Rainbow flew over to get Twilight out, who was still sleeping, and Twister turned to help Fluttershy. The pink-maned pegasus flinched in surprise at his appearance, but didn't say anything as he tore away at her ropes. After about ten minutes of this, Twister finally pulled Fluttershy out, and the pegasus wandered back to her friends when Twister turned to help AJ.

"Y'know, this would go a lot faster if you helped." Twister remarked as he pulled at the cowfilly's binding's. "Naw, you seem to know whatchyer doing." The cowfilly retorted humorlessly. Twister sighed in frustration. Another ten minute's had passed, and Twister finally managed to pull AJ out of her bindings. The cowfilly stepped away from the pole, stretching her hooves out as she did so.

Twister turned his head to check on the other three mares. Rainbow had gotten Twilight out of her bindings, but was having trouble trying to get the unicorn to wake up. Fluttershy hovered a few feet away from the pair, shuffling her hooves nervously as she waited for her friends. AJ galloped past Twister, joining Rainbow in an attempt to wake Twilight up.

After three minutes had passed, and Twilight still refused to wake up, Twister groaned in exasperation. "I've got her. Just move!" Twister pulled the unconscious unicorn onto his back as the other three mares moved towards the slope. Twister followed, careful where he stepped. He wished the mares would slow down; they would give away their position if they weren't careful, and he couldn't keep up with them while carrying an unconscious pony.

The group moved down to the camp, and Twister followed the other three behind one of the huts to hide. Twister could hear the snoring of buffalo children coming from the tent, and Twister prayed to Celestia that they wouldn't wake up and hear them.

Rainbow signaled to Twister, and the group moved stealthily from hut to hut, hiding carefully behind each as they moved. Twister clumsily leaped behind another hut, careful not to drop Twilight. He was about to move on to the next hut, but he froze when he heard the sound of Thunderhooves' voice.

"I'm sorry, ambassador Nightshade, but our land is NOT for sale."

NIGHTSHADE! The black pegasus! Twister forced his anger back down, pausing to listen to the conversation within the hut.

"Come ON! My company has already done so much for you! We've given you weapons, we've given you resources, so why not sell us some of your land in return?" Nightshade's voice drawled from the tent.

"We would, except that land is sacred ground. It holds great importance to our religion, so we..."

"I know, I know! You've told me this before! The whole 'religious symbolism' speech! But this land holds it's own treasure within the ground that can prove resourceful to both parties! You just need to sell it to us to make it legal. We won't damage your precious temples, or whatever you have!"

Classic Nightshade. Never knew when 'No' means 'No'.

"I'm sorry. We cannot allow outsiders to roam freely on it. If we did that, the gods would never forgive us!"

"What gods?! Look, Celestia's laws hold nothing against this, so you don't need to worry about these 'gods' punishing you!"

"This isn't politics, ambassador. This is our religion. I'm sorry. No means NO, and that is the end of it." Twister heard the hoofsteps of the chief as he left the hut. Twister remained when he heard a small chuckle.

"Oh, it's not over. Not by a LONG shot."

Twister wanted nothing more than to stab Nightshade with his switchblade, but he knew this wasn't the time. Twister turned back to the group when he heard Rainbow hiss, "What they hay are you doing?!" Twister held his hoof up, signaling her to wait. Twister moved back to follow the mares, still being careful where he stepped.

Almost there... Twister's heart felt like it would burst from the adrenaline. He was so close to getting the group out of the camp, he couldn't help but get excited.

Then things went to hell.

Twister moved to another hut, but something happened he hadn't been expecting. Twilight suddenly gasped in surprise, and she fell with a loud THUD! off of Twister's back. Ah, Buck!

Twister pulled Twilight up, shushing her as she spoke up. "What's going on?!" The lavender unicorn was looking around wildly, confused by what was happening. "Where are we?"

"Damn it, SHUT UP!" Twister hissed at her in an urgent whisper. But, it was too late.

A buffalo woman had left her hut, looking around to see what the commotion was about. When she turned to see the five ponies, she gasped and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"THE PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING!!!!"

Chapter 10: The Contact.

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Fluttershy has done a lot of things she never thought she would do. What she did to escape the Buffalo topped them ALL.

When the buffalo woman had shouted, the whole camp came to life; warriors rushed out of their respective huts, searching for the prisoners, buffalo women and children who were still outside rushing back into their homes, and warriors already outside were charging towards the group.

Fluttershy's heart rate doubled as she turned and ran back to her friends, who fled to the edge of the small hill the camp rested on. Suddenly, Buffalo hunters galloped up from behind the hill's slope, blocking their path. Rainbow veered to the right, while Twister ran backwards. Applejack stopped, confused as to who to follow. Buffalo charged into her, pinning her down before she could do anything. Fluttershy burst into the air, her wings extending to their full wingspan as she flew over a buffalo's head.

Fluttershy scanned the area from the sky, searching for her friends. Twilight had gotten her bearings, and was trying to avoid the buffalo pursuing her as she attempted to follow Twister. The crippled pegasus was running around, under, and over the buffalo that stepped into his path in that same earth-pony style parkour. Rainbow Dash had burst into flight like Fluttershy, but instead of doing the sensible thing and try to help her friends, she was sky-bombing the buffalo on the ground beneath her.

Fluttershy turned her head, and saw that Applejack was still having trouble with her foes pinning her down. She struggle, trying to buck them while pinned, but to no avail. Fluttershy froze with fear at the thought of attacking those warriors, but they were hurting her friend! Fluttershy gulped, and charged into the buffalo who was primarily pinning the cowfilly.

Fluttershy's strength surprised her, as the buffalo she struck flew across the clearing and crashed into one of the huts. The yellow pegasus squeaked as she pulled herself higher into the sky when more buffalo tried to attack her.

Looking from the sky again, Fluttershy could see that the chaos ensuing across the camp hadn't diminished; Twister was surrounded by buffalo on all sides, giving each a defiant glare that dared them to make the first move. Twilight had built up a protective forcefield, but she didn't seem to put as much power behind it as her previous uses of it. Perhaps she didn't think the buffalo could break it as easily?

Fluttershy was pulled out of these thoughts when Rainbow Dash suddenly charged into her side, knocking her back down to earth. Fluttershy sputtered, spitting the gritty sand that had gotten in her mouth as she crashed. She turned to her blue friend, shocked at what she had done. "W-why did you do that?" Fluttershy didn't like to be too commanding, but this really caught her off guard. Rainbow turned to her, giving her a frustrated scowl. "The buffalo almost nailed you with a stone!"

A stone? Fluttershy turned, and saw that there was a pair of buffalo using a strange kind of weapon. The first buffalo's horns were huge and wide apart, and they had strings of some kind tied between them. The second was putting stones between the string, and pulled the stone back and released it, sending the stone flying into the air. Fluttershy hadn't seen any buffalo like this before, but maybe that was what knocked her out of the sky when they were ambushed?

Rainbow had jumped back into the sky, dodging the stones being flung at her as she flew towards the buffalo pair. Fluttershy didn't want to risk getting hit again, so she remained on the ground as she looked around the clearing for her friends. Buffalo were charging towards her, however, and Fluttershy leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding the buffalo's tackle. The timid pegasus squealed and ran off, not knowing where she was supposed to go.

Fluttershy took a turn around one of the huts, and found Applejack was fighting off several of the buffalo attempting to pin her again. Fluttershy continued on, searching for the others. Suddenly, Fluttershy turned back when she heard the cowfilly cry out; two buffalo had gotten her again, and were ruthlessly beating her to try and knock her out.

Fluttershy felt anger rise up in her, something that didn't happen often. Those buffalo were unnecessarily hurting her friend! Before she knew what she was doing, Fluttershy charged into one of the buffalo, knocking him to the ground and forcing his head to kiss the dirt; she was in a flutterrage.

Applejack had already struck out at the one buffalo trying to hold her down still, and was running back towards the group. Fluttershy was about to turn back to follow, but remembered the buffalo and hissed into his ear. "NEVER. DO. THAT. AGAIN." The buffalo's eyes widened at each word, and when Fluttershy released him, he ran off crying.

Fluttershy suddenly felt guilty, but quickly forgot about it when she leaped to the side, avoiding another buffalo trying to pin her. Fluttershy burst into the air, hoping that Rainbow had taken care of those buffalo with the strange catapult. She scanned the camp again, searching for her friends.

Fluttershy saw that the catapult buffalo were out cold, courtesy of Rainbow Dash, and the cyan pegasus was now fighting next to Twister, both of them surrounded by the buffalo. Twister didn't look the least bit tired; in fact, he looked more energetic than ever! His eyes were wide as he fought against the buffalo, manipulating their joints by twisting their legs and forcing them down. Was that excitement...or bloodthirst? Fluttershy forgot about this when she turned to look at Rainbow Dash. The rainbow-maned pegasus was simply leaping from side to side, striking out at the buffalo as they got too close.

Fluttershy's attention turned to Twilight, when she saw a flash of purple light in the corner of her eye. Fluttershy saw that the lavender unicorn was now going on the offensive; she cast several combat spells to knock the incoming warriors away as she plowed through to join Twister and Rainbow Dash. Next to her, Applejack was galloping along with; The cowfilly must have rejoined the unicorn when Fluttershy wasn't looking.

Fluttershy reluctantly flew down to join her friends, frightened by all the action around her. When she flew down to the ground, she burst into a gallop to try and keep up with the pair. Twilight was taking care of most of the enemies; her magic shot out from her full front range of attack. Applejack galloped a little ways behind her, leaping over the occasional unconscious buffalo. Fluttershy quickly came up behind her friends, desperate not to lose them again.

After a few minutes of this, Twilight finally stopped when she reached Twister and set up another shield. This force field protected all of her friends now; Rainbow, Twister, and Applejack had all fallen into it. The buffalo stoped charging, pausing to look at the shield in confusion. It was an odd moment of peace.

Buffalo quickly gathered around the shield, and Fluttershy could see sweat beading down Twilight's brow. All that offensive magic had taken it's toll, and this shield being as wide as it was didn't seem to help that. The ponies tensed; it was just a matter of time before the shield fell and the chaos would continue. Twister suddenly stepped towards Twilight, and he spoke in an urgent whisper Fluttershy could barely hear.

"When I say 'go', focus your power on the area around you. Release the shield in a non-lethal explosion." Twilight nodded, and she continued to focus on her magic. Twister stepped towards Rainbow, Applejack, and Fluttershyas he spoke to them. "When I say 'go', charge towards the horizon. The buffalo can't follow us all the way, and we'll be safe once we reach Appleloosa. Got it?" Rainbow and Applejack reluctantly nodded, but Fluttershy whimpered and drew away from the scarred pegasus.

That rage he showed, that anger he took out on that black pegasus...that was something she hadn't seen in Twister before. It had frightened her more than Nightmare Moon in the fight at the Everfree, and THAT was saying something. Twister looked at Fluttershy expectantly, and she was scared to answer. The dull yellow pegasus's face fell, and he turned back to face the outside.

Fluttershy felt guilty for making him feel like that, but after seeing that anger...she couldn't look at Twister the same way again. The crippled pegasus's head suddenly shot up, and he shouted "GO!!!"

So much chaos ensued after Twister shouted that one word, that even Discord himself couldn't have made things crazier.(He likely would'v just grabbed popcorn.) First, like it was planned, Twilight had released the shield, and it was released in the form of powerful energy that radiated across the whole camp. Buffalo flew back, the force of the energy knocking them out as they plummeted back to the earth. Buffalo further out were knocked back as well, but they didn't fly into the air as the buffalo closer to the group had.

Then the team charged. Fluttershy could see now, with all the buffalo out of the way, a small light at the horizon that marked Appleloosa. It would be a long gallop, but they had a chance. Twister had grabbed Twilight again as she fell over in exhaustion, leaving him far behind in comparison to the others.

Fluttershy strained herself into her fastest pace, giving a small leap into the air to fly. She turned to look at Rainbow Dash, who had burst into flight, her wings extending to full wingspan as she cut through the desert air. Applejack was galloping at her fastest gallop yet, her pace not slowing as she dashed across the sands.

Fluttershy craned her head to look back at Twister, surprised to find he was slowly catching up. Twilight lay on his back, exhausted from using so much magic. Looking back at the camp, Fluttershy found that the unconscious buffalo were stirring, and the warriors who were still conscious giving chase to the ponies.

Just at the edge of the camp, Fluttershy swore she could see the silhouette of a pegasus, simply watching the chaos unfold. She was shaken from these thoughts when Twister shouted at her. "KEEP GOING!" Fluttershy realized she had briefly paused when she saw the pegasus, and she turned back to Appleloosa and strained her wings to their limit.

They were so close, yet so far. Fluttershy could slowly see Appleloosa more clearly on the horizon, close enough to see it's roads. Yet, there was something odd about the town....

Fluttershy gasped when she heard a loud horn echo across the San Palomino Desert. Looking to her left, Fluttershy could see a train was speeding towards the Appleloosa train station, with no hint at slowing down. Fluttershy realized the group was going to have to cross the train tracks, and if they waited for the train to pass, surely the buffalo would capture them before they could cross.\

Twister suddenly shouted, "DON'T SLOW DOWN! WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING!!" Fluttershy turned to look at the crippled pegasus, and realized he had already come up just a few yards behind Applejack, and was ahead of Fluttershy. His grayscale mane streamed back as the wind hit his face, and Fluttershy wondered how he could look so calm, so collected, even in all this chaos. He seemed so sure of himself, so ready for what was to come....

Fluttershy was shaken from her thoughts again when a loud train horn reminded her of their predicament. She didn't think she could go any faster, but Fluttershy strained her wings more, feeling the sweat beading down her brow. The train was close to crossing, and Rainbow Dash soared across the tracks. Applejack soon followed her example, leaping across the tracks and collapsing on the ground in exhaustion.

Twister suddenly turned his head, biting onto Twilight's mane as he unceremoniously swung the lavender unicorn across the tracks before crossing over himself. The crippled pegasus didn't even stop to take a breath when he shouted back at Fluttershy. "HURRY!!!"

Fluttershy tried to speed herself up, but her wings were strained to their limit. She saw that the train was only a few dozen yards away from crossing, and Fluttershy gulped as she forced herself to fly higher.

Closing her eyes to keep herself from looking down she could feel the air under her blast by as the train passed. Fluttershy couldn't find the strength to flap her wings anymore, and she plummeted down to the earth. Her consciousness slipped away from her as she lay on the ground, and she swore she could see the edge of a grayscale mane in the corner of her eye, and the sound of Twister's voice as her eyes closed against her will.

Fluttershy groaned when she woke up, her head aching as if a mad dragon bucked it in. Shaking herself, she opened her eyes and found herself in a small room. As her vision cleared up, Fluttershy got a better view of the room; the bed she lay in was small and somewhat dirty, as if it hadn't been washed in awhile. To her left, Fluttershy could see a door, and to her right, a window who's blinds were closed. She couldn't tell if it was night or day, but judging from the heat of the small, airless room, it was probably day.

Stepping out of her bed, Fluttershy heard the floorboards creak as she placed her hooves down. Fluttershy stretched, realizing her wings ached more than her head. They burned whenever she tried to move them, and Fluttershy realized they were more sore than they were from her training with Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy pushed the small door open, wincing as it creaked. Peeking though the small opening, she saw that the hallway was just as small as her room, and doors just like hers lined up and down the hall. Pushing the door open wider, Fluttershy realized she could hear the muffled sound of ponies downstairs, glasses clinking together as they laughed.

Where in the name of Celestia am I? Fluttershy wondered as she stepped into the hall. Looking down her right side, Fluttershy saw stairs leading down to the room below, and she reluctantly walked down. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the first thing that she noticed was the sharp, unappealing smell of alcohol.

As Fluttershy observed her environment, she realized she was in a saloon. Several ponies laughed as they drank the night away, and mares in aprons walked around the room serving drinks. Fluttershy could feel the panic rising in her chest. How did I get here? Where am I? Where is everypony? She whipped her head around, looking desperately for a familiar face.

Fluttershy moved back towards the stairs, frightened by the presence of these drunkards. Before she could reach the stairway, Fluttershy gasped in fright when a hoof swung around her neck, and she shut her eyes in fear. She only heard laughing however, and as she looked back in confusion, Fluttershy realized it was none other than Rainbow Dash.

"You should'v seen the look on your face!" The cyan pegasus laughed as if it was the funniest thing in Equestria, and Fluttershy half-heartedly laughed along. She didn't like being scared, but in a place like this, Fluttershy was relieved to see her friend.

"Alrigh', 'nuff of that, now." Applejack came up from behind Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy whipped her head around, wondering how good of a look she really gave the saloon. Applejack chuckled, and she stepped up to the yellow pegasus. "Don'cha worry none, you're safe here. Ya'll oughta come wit me, now; Twister's gettin' antsy." The cowfilly turned around, and Fluttershy followed her. Rainbow Dash trotted along, still chuckling to herself.

The three ponies stepped out of the saloon, and Fluttershy realized she was in Appleloosa. Like her hunch told her in the room, it was daytime. Fluttershy gave a closer look, and gasped when she saw the changes the town had gone through since her last visit.

Appleloosa was a town built along a single, main road, but the road had gone through several modifications; the road was paved with gray stone bricks, like the roads of Canterlot, and the road had brand new sidewalks marking the border between the road and buildings. The town was even bigger now; new buildings taller than the original ones had been built up, and they reminded Fluttershy of the sky-scrapers in Manehatten, even though these weren't even CLOSE to their height.

"Wha...what happened to Appleloosa?" Fluttershy gaped in awe at the new buildings, their glass reflecting the suns rays into her eyes. She looked away, blinking away the small spots temporarily blinding her. Applejack scowled, and the cowfilly's voice was in a low growl as she spoke. "Ah'm not rightly sure; Braeburn's got a LOT of explainin' ta do." The orange mare was obviously displeased by the changes to Appleloosa, but Fluttershy didn't understand why; the changes made the town look amazing.

"THERE you are!" Fluttershy jumped at the familiar gruff voice, and looking back, she saw that Twister and Twilight were walking back towards them. Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow Dash; she was still afraid of the scarred pegasus, after seeing how he attacked that black pegasus...

"Care ta explain now?" Applejack glared at Twister, and Fluttershy relaxed when he sat down, tipping up his safari hat. "Well....she's awake now, so you deserve your explanation. But not here....let's go someplave private." The dull yellow pegasus turned around, his mangled grayscale mane whipping back as he did so. Fluttershy reluctantly followed the group, and after awhile, Twister stopped in front of one of the newer buildings. "This way..." Twister tipped his head towards one of the alleyways, and Fluttershy reluctantly followed her friends into the narrow path.

After making sure there was nopony else there, Twister turned back to the mares, and he opened his mouth to speak. "Look, on my way to the Everfree, I stopped here, in Appleloosa, and at the buffalo tribe." Applejack lifted an eyebrow, "And lemme guess; somepony tried ta kill ya, but'cha killed 'em first?" Twister winced, and he muttered. "..well...kinda." Applejack raised both eyebrows in surprise, and Fluttershy realized she was being sarcastic.

"Y'see..when I was traveling through the San Palomino Desert, I was attacked by a couple of thugs hired to kill me. I had to abandon my food and water, and after I lost them, I found myself stranded; no food, no water, no chance." Twister grimaced as he spoke, and Fluttershy realized it wasn't likely a pleasant memory.

Twister lost his grimace when he continued his speech. "I eventually couldn't go on, and I collapsed. I thought I was a dead stallion...then Thunderhooves appeared. He found me, and took me back to the camp. He nursed me back to health, and he showed me a few survival skills in the desert. I already knew about them, of course, but it didn't hurt to go over them again." Twister chuckled, and Fluttershy was surprised to hear this. Thunderhooves and Twister were friends? Then why did he imprison him?

Fluttershy would'v asked these questions herself, but Rainbow Dash beat her to it. "Why did you steal the Sunstone, then?" She glared at Twister, giving him the usual accusing stare. Twister sighed, and he said, "I don't even know what it IS. I don't know why he thinks I took it..." "Did you really kill three warriors?" Twilight suddenly piped up, and Twister turned to look at the lavender unicorn. "Well..yeah. But I didn't want to!" He shouted this last part when Rainbow stepped towards him.

He killed three buffalo? Why? Fluttershy stepped back a few feet, finding herself more and more scared of Twister as she learned more about him. "Then why did you do it?" Rainbow Dash snapped at him, and Twister looked down in defeat. "I...I didn't want to. They jumped to conclusions; I was apparently in a place I wasn't supposed to be in, and they attacked me. I...was forced to kill them. They refused to listen to reason. It was strange...it was as if they became somepony else entirely." Twister stared at the ground as he spoke. Recalling this event couldn't be pleasant for him.

"I had to run. All the other buffalo attacked me, not caring to listen. I had to leave the camp, and I had hoped to never go back..." Twister shook himself, forcing an attitude change. "We don't need to worry about that anymore, though. I can handle them. It's not your problem. Right now, let's just focus on finding my contact."

Twister walked past the four mares, leaving the narrow alleyway. Fluttershy's friends followed, and she reluctantly fell behind them in a small trot. Now that they were looking for Twister's contact, everything would be alright. Right? They would finally get to go home now, so why did Fluttershy feel disappointed?

The group traveled across the main road, and Fluttershy was shocked by what was happening around her; ponies were stepping in and out of small, black carriages, but they weren't pulled by any stallions. Fluttershy leaped back when light suddenly shot from the front of the carriage, and it released a roaring sound that sounded like the growl of sleeping manticore.

Fluttershy turned to her friends, and they were showing an equal amount of surprise at what they had just seen. Twilight suddenly ran up to the carriage, her eye wide with curiosity. "What is this? How interesting.." The purple unicorn was examining the strange contraption from wheel to seat, but she jumped when a pony in the front called out to her. "HEY! Get away from my car!" He threw something at Twilight, and the unicorn caught it with her magic.

"HEY! That wasn't called for!" Twilight shouted back at the pony, and he grunted. Suddenly, the growling carriage..what did he call it? A 'car'? The car suddenly pulled out, and it moved down the main road on it's own, with no ponies pulling it. How did it do that?

Fluttershy was frightened by how the rude pony had acted, and only frightened more by the strange carriage. How did it move on it's own? How did anypony stand that loud noise it made? The carriage's actions all scared Fluttershy, but she was shaken from these thoughts when Twister spoke up. "Might not want to get near a car when it's pulling out. Just a suggestion." He smirked at Twilight, and before anypony could ask him what that...THING was, he had walked into a building.

Fluttershy followed her friends in,and she could hear Twilight muttering to herself. As she walked into the building, she found the floor was paved with smooth, white marble. Looking up from her mane, Fluttershy was surprised by how clean the room looked in comparison to the town; the walls were clean with white paint, and a fancy gold chandelier hung from it's mirror ceiling. You'd think this building was in Canterlot, rather than Appleloosa.

Fluttershy looked at a pony sitting in the middle of the wide room, and she felt relief wash over her when she saw Braeburn. She remembered Applejack's cousin from her last visit to Appleloosa;the cowcolt had been one of the few ponies willing to be diplomatic over the disagreement between the farmers in Appleloosa and the buffalo tribe.

Fluttershy gasped and hid behind Applejack, her heart leaping into her throat. Braeburn was talking to a griffin, and they seemed to be in a pretty heated debate. The last griffin she met wasn't exactly the friendliest in equestria...

Twister's eyes suddenly widened, and he called out to the griffin. "HEY!" Twister had a wide grin spreading on his face, and Fluttershy was thoroughly surprised; she had never seen Twister smile like that in the short time she had known him. Is that griffin his contact? Fluttershy forced herself to calm down. She shouldn't judge the griffin just because of what the first griffin she met had acted like.

The griffin turned, and Fluttershy had a better view of his face; the griffin's body was patterned with black and white feather's, and his head was covered completely with black feathers. Below his waist was the lion body every griffin had, and it was a shining gold. His lion tail whipped around, and Fluttershy noticed that, unlike Gilda (The first griffin she had met) this griffin had thick, gold mane around his neck. It somehow reminded Fluttershy of the sun.

The griffin smiled, and he spread his front eagle legs out in a hug. "Twister! I..." The griffin suddenly dropped his smile when he had a better look at Twister. "Dude...what happened to you?!" The griffin's eyes were wide, and Twister suddenly looked down his right flank, at his scars from the gorgon attack. "Oh...long story." Twister grinned sheepishly at the griffin, and then asked, "What're you doing in Appleloosa?" The griffin groaned. "LONGER story."

Rainbow suddenly cleared her throat, and she stepped up to Twister. "Care to introduce us to your friend?" Twister facehoofed. "Ah, that's right; Girls, this is my friend, Leo." Rainbow nodded at him, and she gave Leo a reluctant hoofshake. "Nice to meet you!" The griffin's voice was loud and deep, and it echoed in the large room. Fluttershy was scared to introduce herself to the griffin. She wasn't used to total strangers...

Leo's face fell as he realized what Twister's scars meant. "Oh...dude, I'm sorry 'bout-" Twister cut his friend off. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine." Twister turned back to the mares, and he spoke apologetically. "Sorry; I have to talk with Leo in private. Wait here." Twister and Leo left the room, and Fluttershy shuffled her hooves nervously when Braeburn walked up to the group.

"Howdy! Didn't think Ah'd see ya'll here so soon!" The cowcolt grinned widely, and AJ hugged her cousin. "Good ta see ya, Braeburn. Could'ja explain what exactly happened ta Appleloosa?" Applejack obviously didn't look pleased by all of these changes.

Braeburn's face darkened, and he sighed. "A few months ago, a couple o' stallions in these fancy suits strolled inta town. They was talkin' 'bout 'new technology' and 'the new era of Equestria'. They made the sheriff sign a contract, and they brought in a whole bunch o' fancy black carriages and trains that moved on their own. They don' need any ponies to pull them; they jus' need somepony in the front to control it. Ah don' know how they work, but Ah don' think it's magic." Twilight suddenly piped up. "Why are you upset? Carriages that move on their own; wouldn't that speed up the farming process?"

Braeburn turned to the lavender unicorn, his expression showing mixed emotions Fluttershy couldn't pinpoint. "Well..yes, they did speed things up, but they replaced the ponies who made a livin' pullin' carriages. If nopony needs 'em ta do that...." Fluttershy realized what he was talking about. The new technology helped some ponies jobs, but they replaced other ponies jobs. "So, because of these new machines, ponies are losing their jobs?" Twilight looked mournful, and Fluttershy suddenly understood Braeburn's dislike of the changes.

"....How much longer till their done talking?" Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up, and Fluttershy started wondering that as well. Fluttershy forgot this when the doors behind her opened up, and three colts stepped into the building. Braeburn scowled, and Fluttershy hid behind Applejack as she looked back at them. The colts all looked earily similar; they had pale, snow-white fur covering them, and they had shaved their mane's off. They wore black, silk suits with red ties, and they wore shady glasses that hid all emotion in them.

"Whaddya want?" Braeburn stepped in front of the mares, and the colt in the middle spoke in a bored, monotone speech pattern. "We're here to speak with Mr. Do." Fluttershy felt her blood run cold; Twister's real name was Dashing Do. Were these ponies his enemies?

"Never heard o' 'em." Braeburn snarled, and Fluttershy felt the urge to scream for Twister. But she knew doing so would only make these colts attack. The colt in the middle sat down and put his right hoof into his suit jacket. "We saw Mr. Do walk into this building. We will speak with him. We are willing to use force to do so."

Braeburn scowled, and he growled. "Ah toldja, Ah never heard o' 'em! Now leave us alone." The colt nodded to his companions, and he pulled his hoof out of his jacket, and Fluttershy saw that he had a strange contraption attached to it. It was silver, and shone in the light of the room. It had strange grooves going up and down it, and a hole she couldn't see into was on the edge of each groove.

"We gave you the chance to cooperate. You leave us no choice but to use force." Fluttershy screamed as the colt pointed the contraption at Braeburn, and a loud bang pounded into her ears.

Blood spurted out of Braeburn's chest, and Fluttershy watched in horror as the cowcolt collapsed.

--Sorry this chapter took so long guys! I've had a lot of trouble so far trying to figure out what to do in it, and I'm glad I finally did. Don't worry; I'm NOT killing off Braeburn. That's all I'm revealing. Thanks for reading! I'll try to get Chapter 11 up soon to make up for it!--

Chapter 11: The Kidnapping.

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Twister was glad to see his old friend again.

After six months of on-hoof travel and unfriendly encounters, it was a nice change of pace to sit down, and trade stories with Leo. Apparently, Leo had been visiting a family friend, and was using it as a cover to act as Twister's Appleloosa contact. After telling Leo his encounter with the Gorgons, the griffin laughed.

"Leave it to you to turn losing a wing into getting FOUR mares!" Twister shook his head. Leo was likely one of the most profane creatures he had ever met. "That's not what it's like, and you know it!" The griffin waved his talons dismissively. "Whateva. So, what brings you here to Appleloosa?"

Twister grinned. He was glad to see his friend again, but he didn't want to waste any more time on idle chit-chat. Now he can finally cut to the chase. "Look, these mares....they're innocent. They didn't know what they were getting themselves into, and they followed me into the everfree castle." Leo gave an exaggerated gasp, and he then said," So, you want me to make them disappear and return to them to their homes, without a hair on their pretty little heads touched?"

Twister nodded. "Exactly. Can you do it?" Leo scoffed, and replied with,"Twist, ya know me better than anypony else. HELL YES, I can do it. But it'll take awhile before I can take them back." Twister let out a frustrated growl. "I know I'm probably gonna hate myself for asking, but why is it going to take awhile?" Leo fiddled with his mane, and Twister knew this meant he was going to ask him to do something. "Well.....four ponyville mares and a griffin aren't the most discreet group in the world."

Twister raised an eyebrow. "Meaning...?" Leo grunted, and then replied with, "So I can't safely get ALL of them out at the same time. You'll need to watch some of them while a take one of them to the safehouse at a time." Twister banged his head on the table. Why couldn't anything be easy?

"I can't do that, Leo. My enemies are here, and it's not safe for any of them to be here right now. You have to get them all out." Leo sighed. "Twister, it's not that easy. You, of all ponies, should know that." Twister pulled himself up from the table to speak. "But they can't stay with me any longer! Their lives are at stake here!!" Leo sat down and raised an eyebrow at Twister.

"Are you sure it's that? Or are you worried about another Silver?" Twister's blood somehow managed to run cold and boil at the same time at this remark. After glaring at Leo for a few moments, Twister finally hissed, "THAT'S a low blow." Leo shrugged." Are you sure? I'm just saying, Twister, that.." "NO, Leo. Silver was the only mare I cared about, and that hasn't changed."

Leo raised both eyebrows, showing surprise in his feathered face. "Twister...Silver's gone. I miss her, too, but you can't waste your life on vengeance." Twister growled. "Silver was everything to me, Leo. You, out of anybody else in Equestria, should know that."

Leo looked hurt by this. "Twist, I-" Twister held up a hoof, interrupting the griffin. "This is my decision, Leo, like it or not. Just...just get them out of here." Leo looked at Twister, as if to examine his very soul. After a while, he said, "You saw Nightshade." Twister's blood simply boiled now.

"...yes. And you know what he'll do if he finds out about them, Leo." The griffin nodded, as if to understand Twister's true intentions now. "Alright. I'll do my best, Twister, but listen....when you find him, remember that there's power in forgiveness."

Twister jumped up, yelling at his friend now. "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM!!! HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK OF FORGIVING HIM, AFTER ALL HE DID TO US?!?!" Leo didn't even flinch at this sudden outburst. "I never said to forgive Nightshade." Twister fell back, realizing what Leo meant.

"J-just...just get them out, before-" Twister was cut off when his heart skipped a beat at a loud BANG that pounded into his ears, and his blood ran cold when he heard Fluttershy scream.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Twister ran out of the room, Leo close behind him. Twister found himself in the same wide hallway he had walked through to get to the room. He turned around a corner in the large corridor, and found himself back in the lobby of the building, where he had left the mares.

Twister saw that the mares were backing away from three bald colts in suits, and one of them wore a strange, silver contraption like a boot on his hoof. But judging from the way he was pointing it at the mares, it was something far worse than a metal shoe.

Twister looked down at the marble floor, and his blood ran cold when he saw the limp body of the cowcolt Leo had been speaking with. The colt simply lay there, his scarlet blood a disturbing contrast to the pale marble floors. Twister scowled at the suited colts, and the fear in Fluttershy's eyes told him all he needed to know.

"Mr. Do. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." The colt in the middle spoke with an eerie, monotone speech pattern that sent chills up Twister's spine. Twister had the impression they were out for blood.

"What do you want?" Twister glanced at the mares with a look that said Let me handle this. Twilight stared at the colts, frozen with shock, as if she couldn't believe what just happened, Rainbow's muscles tensed up as if she was going pounce on the suited colts, and Twister swore he could see tears forming in the corner of Applejack's eyes.

The suited colt lowered his hoof, using the metal weapon as a boot, like it appeared to be. "We simply wish to take you to our employers. Our company requires your services." Twister stared daggers into them. "I only serve myself." Twister knew this sounded selfish, but it was true; he was searching for The Artimus and the Key Shards on his own accord. He wasn't doing it because it was Daring's final wish, but because it was his final purpose.

"We are willing to use force to get you to cooperate, Mr. Do. Do not make the same mistake as Mr. Braeburn." The suited colt tipped his head to the limp cowcolt, and Twister realized upon looking back at him that...what was he called? Braeburn? He saw that Braeburn was still breathing, but his breaths were frighteningly shallow.

Twister looked back up at the colts, giving them his usual defiant glare. "Alright then." Twister sat on his rump, stretching his hooves into the air as if he was surrendering. The colt grinned, his first sign of any emotion, and he gestured to his companions as they approached. Twister tensed his wing, waiting for when they got close enough.....

As if on cue, Leo soared across the room, over Twister's head, and before he could react, Leo had tackled and pinned the colt with the silver weapon. Taking the chance, Twister struck out at one colt with his wing, knocking him aside, and then tackled the second. He struggled, but Twister had him firmly pinned down. Twister lifted one of his hooves and twisted the colt's neck, without mercy.

Twister grimaced, and as he turned around, the other colt he had been fighting struck him in the head with that metal weapon. HARD. Stumbling back, Twister blinked the stars out of his eyes, fighting to keep his footing. Shaking his head, Twister's vision returned as he leapt at the colt.

The colt dodged Twister, and before he could react, he bludgeoned him with the metal-boot-weapon again. Twister fell to his knees, fighting to remain conscious. Those blows to his head HURT. Growling, Twister spung around before he was ready and fell over.

Scrambling back onto his hooves, Twister let out a short, frustrated growl at his sudden double-vision. The colt he had been fighting had lost interest in him, and was approaching the mares, his metal weapon pointed at them. Why don't they DO something?! Twister leaped at the colt, hoping to surprise him.

He didn't even get close when the colt spun around, and Twister heard that same loud bang he heard from the other room. Screaming, Twister fell back to the floor, feeling a near-invisible projectile pierce a hole through his wing.

With his vision clouded, and his ears deafened from the bang, Twister didn't know what to do. His wing was badly injured, and he could see his own blood pooling around him. Fighting back onto his hooves, Twister tried to blink the blurriness away, dragging himself back towards the colt.

Twister collapsed; he couldn't move. Struggling to remain conscious, Twister saw the corpse of the colt he had killed, and realized he had a silver weapon in his jacket, halfway pulled out. Dragging himself towards the corpse, he bared his teeth and tried to ignore the pain in his wing.

Only a few feet away from the dead colt, Twister turned his head and could barely make out through his blurred vision that the colt with the weapon had grip on Fluttershy. At least, he thought it was Fluttershy. None of the others had a pink mane, so it was the only logical assumption.

Twister kept dragging himself towards the colt, and finally grabbed the silver weapon. Strapping it onto his right hoof like a boot, Twister could barely feel a trigger within it. Pointing it at the colt, Twister tried to blink away the blurriness. He was finding it harder and harder to make out who was who in his watery range of vision.

Twister couldn't gamble their lives on this. He couldn't fire until he was sure of his surroundings. As Twister shook his head to clear his vision, he noticed his hearing was slowly coming back, as he could start to hear the mares voices more clearly. Using the colt's corpse as support, Twister lifted himself onto his rump, still trying to blink away the blurriness.

Twister's vision cleared up more, and finally, he was able to see clearly. The colt had a grip on Fluttershy, like he had assumed, and was using her as a pony shield. He was pointing the weapon at Leo and the mares, forcing them to stay back, and Twister lifted his own weapon to fire.

The colt suddenly whipped his head around to face Twister. He aimed the silver contraption at Fluttershy's head, and he spoke with that same, creepy monotone speech pattern. "Mr. Do. We wish to have the next Key Shard to come into our possession. If you wish to see this mare alive again," He pressed the contraption on Fluttershy's tear-ridden cheek. "You'll bring us the next Key Shard to us in three days time. Good day."

Suddenly, the suited colt and Fluttershy disappeared in a flash of blue light. Twister threw off his weapon, yelling in anger and frustration. Dammit, Twister! Why didn't you see this coming?! Twister forced himself to calm down; the cowcolt was still injured, and the mares were panicking.

Taking a deep breath, Twister ran towards the limp body of Braeburn, and he had a better look at his injuries; the cowcolt had been hit full on the chest by watever the hell that weapon hit him with. The injuries were pretty serious; Braeburn could die if he didn't act NOW!

"Leo! Go get help!" Twister shouted over his shoulder to his friend, and the griffin followed his orders. Twister gestured to Twilight, and the lavender unicorn ran to him. "Twi, I need you to use your magic to try and help him. Ease the pain, or better yet, fix his injuries. Anything within your power that can help would be appreciated!" Twilight nodded, and she bent over the injured cowcolt as her horn gained it's purple hue.

Applejack suddenly ran to Twister, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Why could'nja stop 'em?! Why could'nja have DONE somethin' to keep 'em from gettin' Fluttershy?!" The cowfilly was panicking, and Twister knew he had to calm her.

"He'll be fine, and we'll get Fluttershy back, but I need you to calm down! I have to focus!" Twister turned to Rainbow Dash. "See if you can find Fluttershy and that colt! They could'v been using smoke and mirrors, for all we know!" The cyan pegasus nodded, still shocked by what had just happened, and flew through the doors and out of the building.

Twister took several deep breaths while he waited for Twilight's report on Braeburn; he needed to stay calm, for AJ's sake. The lavender unicorn pulled herself away from Braeburn and turned to Twister. The grim look on her face told him he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear.

"He's alive, but barely. Whatever that colt used on him, it must'v been powerful. Especially if one shot is enough to put him in critical condition." Twister took another breath to calm himself. "Can you help him?" Twilight gave him a brisk nod. "I can, but..." "JUST DO IT!!" Twister hadn't meant to yell at the unicorn, but he was panicking himself. He was failing to hide it, and Twilight quickly returned to Braeburn after his outburst.

Applejack had come to Braeburn's side, and she was fighting her tears back to talk to the cowcolt. "Don'cha worry; Twilight...Twi'll fix ya up real good, yeh'll see! Ya'll gonna be fine!" Twister lowered his head. Applejack sounded like she was trying to convince herself, rather than Braeburn. Just like I did.... Twister shook himself back to reality. He couldn't think about Silver right now; he had to focus on the present!

The doors burst open, and Leo returned with the Appleloosa paramedics. Twister stepped aside, letting the ponies do their job. Twilight moved away from Braeburn's limp body, and she pulled Applejack away so that the paramedics could do their job. AJ was crying on Twilight's shoulder, and Twister ran to Leo amidst the chaos.

"Go help Rainbow Dash find that colt! I want to make sure he didn't just run outside, rather than use magic!" Leo nodded, and he turned to leave, but quickly turned back to Twister. "Rainbow Dash is the one with the rainbow mane, right?" Twister let out a frustrated growl. "NO SHIT!!! JUST DO IT!!" Leo backed away, surprised by Twister's outburst, and flew off to find the cyan pegasus.

"W-what do we do now?" Twister was surprised by Twilight's sudden appearance. She was still trying to comfort AJ, but she had a look of uncertainty of her own. Twister sighed and pulled off his hat. "I.....don't know." Twister admitted. He didn't have a Key Shard on him, and Fluttershy's life depended on it.

Twilight briefly left Applejack and moved to Twister. "Your wing.." Twister pushed the unicorn back. "I'm fine." Twister lied. His wing hurt like hell, but the fact that Fluttershy had just been kidnapped had made him forget. Until Twi had reminded him of it.

Twister suddenly fell to his knees, the fatique from his battle getting the better of him. Twilight quickly lit up her horn, leaning to Twister's wing to repair the gruesome hole, but he pushed her away. "Not now." Twilight looked like she was going to protest, but shut her mouth when she decided against it.

Twister put his hat back on, and he glanced back at the silver weapon he had recovered from the dead colt. Twister pulled himself up and limped towards it. Twister noticed Twilight flinching everytime he groaned, but stopped when she returned to comforting her friend. Twister looked away and trained his eyes on the weapon.

Twister finally reached it, and strapped the mettalic weapon onto his right hoof again. Twister turned back to the mares, finally deciding exactly what he was going to have to do.

"They want a Key Shard. We're gonna give it to 'em."

--Sorry for short chapter, guys! Got some bad news....School is restarting for me, so because of homework and everything, my chapters won't be published as frequently as I'd like to. Instead of the usual every 3-5 days, chapters will take every 7 days. At the end of each week, I PROMISE I'll have a new chapter up! Sorry. :( --

Chapter 12: The Enemy.

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Fluttershy couldn't believe how quickly things got out of hoof.

One minute, she's chatting with Braeburn, as if nothing had happened in the last few days, and then those colts showed up. They shot Braeburn with that...THING, and now she's been kidnapped.

After the blue light died down, Fluttershy found herself in a thin hallway. The floorboards were polished oakwood, and the walls were a calming shade of baige. The hall was at a comfortable temperature that wasn't too hot, nor too cold, but just right. It was strangely homey, for an enemy's HQ, or whatever this place was. How did I get here?

Fluttershy could feel her heartrate increase when the suited colt behind her nudged her towards a door at the end of the hall. "Move." Fluttershy followed the colt's order, fighting back her tears of fear. She didn't want to get hit by that weapon of his, like Braeburn and Twister did. Dear Celestia, I hope they're alright... Fluttershy feared for her friends safety.

As she started off down the hall, Fluttershy felt the urge to look behind her, but she resisted it. She didn't know how the colt would react to her looking back, and she didn't want to find out. Fluttershy forced her gaze towards the door at the end of the hall.

The door was polished oak, just like the floors, and Fluttershy could hear somepony arguing behind it. Fluttershy felt her heart leap into her throat; Twister told her that nothing was sacred to his enemies. What would they do to her to find out more about Twister?

It was likely that she knew even less than they did; Twister didn't reveal much about himself, other than his journey for the Key Shards, and being Daring Do's grandson. If she had a chance to stick around longer, she might'v learned more from his feathered friend.

Fluttershy finally reached the door, and she gulped when the colt reached his hoof over her shoulder to push it open. As the door swung open, the first thing Fluttershy noticed was the sudden drop in temperature. Shivering, Fluttershy stepped into the room, and marveled at how different it was compared to the hall she had just left.

First, the floor was a bare, cold stone that was uncomfortable to walk on. The room was completely bare stone, other than a polished, oakwood desk that sat in the center, with a fireplace behind it in the wall. Fluttershy wondered how the room managed to be so cold, when the fireplace looked so warm and inviting.

Fluttershy found that sitting behind the desk was a pony wearing a black cloak and hood, and he was speaking with a pitch black pegasus. Fluttershy froze when she realized that the pegasus was the same she had seen at the buffalo camp. The pegasus Twister had attacked...

The pegasus didn't seem to notice her; he was too busy arguing with the hooded pony. "Look, I can get them to sell the land WITHOUT any more manipulation. It was difficult enough to manipulate the little one, but to do so with the chieftain, at the same time?! I could never pull something like that off. And if I release the little one, she'll tell everypony the truth!"

Fluttershy gasped; so Twister really was innocent? The hooded pony looked up, and Fluttershy could barely see his face under the hood. Fluttershy saw a dark green coat of fur covering his face, and the toothless grin he gave her told Fluttershy that he must be ancient.

"Nightshade, we will have to discuss this LATER. Right now, we have a guest." The hooded colt's voice sounded old and creaky, as if he was suffering some great sickness in his lungs. He stood up, and his hood glowed a sickly green hue as he pulled it off with magic.

As the hood pulled away and revealed his face, Fluttershy noticed that her assumption that he was ancient would have been an understatement; he had hundreds of wrinkles in his face, and some of his sickly green body fur had already started falling off. He looked old enough to be Granny Smith's grandfather!

"Greetings. Please forgive me for the suddeness of all this; Hollowcolts aren't known for their hospitality." Hollowcolts? Fluttershy turned to the colt in the suit, and he didn't seem to be looking at anything; he just seemed to stare off into space.

"Yes, he is a Hollowcolt. Um, would you mind...?" The old unicorn gestured to the 'Hollowcolt', and Fluttershy suppressed a gasp at what he did next; the suited colt sat on his rump, and he pulled off his sunglasses. As his glasses pulled away from his face, Fluttershy saw that he had no eyes; just small indents where anypony's eyes should be. It was if he was a maniquiine.

"So sorry, my dear. Hollowcolts are much more welcoming than chimeras, in my eyes at least. So.....crazy. Unpredictable. Much like that Discord fellow. But Hollowcolts..." The old unicorn chuckled. "Hollowcolts are much more reliable. An older model of zombies, in fact. I honestly don't know who came up with the idea of them EATING pony flesh. Far too graphic, for my taste."

Fluttershy didn't respond; she looked down at the cold stone floor, frightened by what was to come. She jumped when she heard Nightshade yell, "SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO!" Fluttershy cried out, and when she tried to back away, the Hollowcolt pushed her forward. Nightshade glared at Fluttershy, but the old unicorn hit him with a levitating book.

"Nightshade! Show some respect! She is our guest!" He scolded Nightshade as if he had just insulted somepony invited to his party. The black pegasus looked back grudgingly at the old unicorn, then muttered. "Sorry." He stared daggers into Fluttershy; his piercing blue eyes were unnerving.

Fluttershy whimpered, still frightened by all that just happened. She just saw an old friend get injured, and then got kidnapped and taken to Celestia-knows-where, and now was being treated as the star guest to a party she didn't want to go to in the first place.

The old unicorn smiled at Fluttershy, and about seventy more wrinkles appeared on his face as a result. "And, your name is...?" Fluttershy didn't answer. Her eyes darted from Nightshade to the unicorn, finding both of them to be equally frightening.

Nightshade looked like he was about to yell at her again, but was stopped when the old unicorn spoke again. "Don't be afraid, my dear. You are my guest, and guests shouldn't feel unwelcome in my home. Nightshade! Bring me some of that 'cider' you told me about!" Nightshade growled, and as he walked away, Fluttershy saw hatred in his gaze when he looked back at the old unicorn.

"Now, let's start over. My name is Mordu." The unicorn gestured to Fluttershy to sit down where Nightshade had been sitting. Not wanting to give the Hollowcolt a reason to fire, she sat down gingerly on the leather seat. "You are...?" Mordu waited for Fluttershy's response again, and she mumbled,"....um...F-Fluttershy..." Mordu raised his ears, and he said, "Sorry, didn't catch that. Old age is catching up on me!" He chuckled, and Fluttershy felt strangely comfortable.

"M-my name...is...Fluttershy..." Fluttershy looked back down. Why did she feel more comfortable than before? Fluttershy suddenly felt anger rise up in her when she remembered what the Hollowcolt did to Braeburn. "Wait...why did you let him shoot Braeburn, then?!" Fluttershy surprised herself with her own sudden force, but she couldn't help it. Why would this colt have his servant hurt her friends, then try to play nice?

Mordu appeared caught off guard by this. He shuffled his hooves together, and said,"Hollowcolts are each given goals to execute. Sadly, they do what they deem neccessary to complete these goals. So sorry about your friend. Truly." Fluttershy was mad now.

"You still let him hurt Braeburn! What if he dies from it?! What about Twister?!?" Mordu suddenly looked up, interest showing in his wrinkled eyes. "Ah, is that what Dashing's calling himself now? Interesting....." Fluttershy's heart plummeted into her stomach when she realized what she had just done.

"Uh..." Fluttershy felt miserable. She had just blown her friend's last cover, and he'd probably suffer for it. Mordu gave Fluttershy another unnerving grin, then suddenly yelled, "NIGHTSHADE!! THE CIDER!!!!" Fluttershy sank into her seat. She couldn't say anything else, lest she gives away more about Twister.

Nightshade suddenly returned from the thin hallway, and he had two cider drinks on a silver platter. He grudgingly dropped the platter onto the desk, and he sneered at Mordu. "Anything ELSE?" He hissed spitefully at the old unicorn. Mordu chuckled, and said, "No, that'll be all. Return to your training." Nightshade nodded, and trotted away grumbling something about ungrateful old coots.

Mordu offered Fluttershy one of the cider drinks, but she shook her head rapidly. Twister told her that nothing was sacred to them; what if they had done something to the drink? Mordu shrugged, and he practically inhaled his own drink. Fluttershy was surprised by how he managed to drink it so quickly.

Dropping the empty glass back on the platter, he looked back up at Fluttershy, giving her another toothless grin. "Forgive my manners; two thousand years of imprisonment can do that to a colt." Two-thousand YEARS?! Who IS this colt? Fluttershy stared at him with disbelief.

Mordu chuckled again, apparently finding her amazement amusing. "Oh, yes, I am that old. Necromancy isn't as death-centered as Celestia would have had you believe." NECROMANCY?! Fluttershy stuttered with fear,"Your...y-you're a..." Mordu interrupted her. "YES, I'm a necromancer. Celestia imprisoned me, but we now share a mutual understanding of one another. I provide her with these amazing new devices," Mordu reached into his desk drawer, and Fluttershy gasped when she recognised the silver weapon that the Hollowcolt had used on Braeburn. "and she lets me enjoy the more sinful pleasures of life. Necromancy included."

Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was hearing. There's no WAY Celestia would want such monstrous tools! And to release a NECROMANCER?! For these THINGS?! "I don't believe you." Fluttershy spoke again, and she reminded herself to be careful of her words; she couldn't give away any more about Twister.

This time, Mordu simply laughed. "Disbelief is nothing more than unacceptance. Learn to accept the truth, and you'll be much better off, dear. But, to the matter at hoof," Mordu reached back into his drawer again, and he pulled out an old folder. "Your friend Dashing, or as you better know him, TWISTER, isn't as clean as he'd like you to believe. This," The old unicorn waved the folder in front of Fluttershy's face with his magic,"Is all the proof you need."

Mordu dropped the folder in front of Fluttershy, and she was nervous in opening it. The unicorn looked unnervingly confident, and Fluttershy dreaded what she would find in the folder. Gingerly lifting it with one hoof, Fluttershy pushed aside the silver platter and put the folder in it's place.

As Fluttershy opened the folder, she slowly felt a lump form in the back of her throat. First, there was newspaper article involving the massacre of seven ponies, completely unrelated to each other, slaughtered in a Manehatten market by a pegasus, noted to having a grayscale mane by witnesses. That...that can't be right.... There weren't any pictures to back up what these witnesses claimed, and Twister wouldn't just slaughter a group of ponies. Would he?

Looking back up from the article, Fluttershy realized Mordu was giving her another toothless grin. Realizing she was finished with that article, he egged her on. "Oh, there's more where that came from, dear! Just look back inside."

Fluttershy returned to the folder, tossing aside the article she had just read. There was another article in a full newspaper circled, and Fluttershy opened it to the marked page. This article involved the discovery of theft of the 'Sunstone', and the corpses of three buffalo warriors. Again, a pegasus claimed to have a grayscale mane was mentioned as being involved with the tribe recently, and his description by the warriors of the tribe was disturbingly similar similar to the same pegasus involved in the massacre. Again, no pictures, but one buffalo warrior marked as a witness was mentioned.

Little Strongheart.....Now I know they're lying to me. Fluttershy had just heard Nightshade admit to manipulating the young warrior, and what was keeping back the possibility that Twister was framed for the Manehatten massacre? Fluttershy felt her heart begin to race. Here, I have an opportunity to find evidence to clear Twister's name!

Fluttershy suddenly felt frightened again. What would these...necromancers do to her, now that she was at their mercy? Who's to say they're going to be any friendlier, even if she believed them?

Mordu cleared his throat, and Fluttershy realized he was waiting for her to say something. Clearing her throat nervously, Fluttershy managed to stutter out, "I-I...can't believe he would..." Fluttershy hoped she managed to pass of her nervousness as shock to what she had just read. Mordu grinned wider, and twenty more wrinkles appeared as a result.

"So, now that you have proof, can you accept Dashing's true identity?" Fluttershy didn't know how to answer, so she remained silent, as if she was still trying to soak in what she had just read.

"NIGHTSHADE!!!!" Fluttershy jumped at Mordu's sudden shout. Turning her head to the sound of galloping hooves, Fluttershy saw the pitch black pegasus burst through the door, his face red with.....exhaustion? Or anger?

"WHA-" Nightshade suddenly stopped himself, and after closing his eyes, he said," YES, lord Mordu?" Mordu grinned, and said "Please lead our guest to her quarters. She's going to need some time to soak all this in." The sickly green unicorn winked at Nightshade, and the pegasus suddenly started grinning himself as some unspoken understanding passed between them.

"This way, DEAR." Nightshade sneered at Fluttershy, and as she slowly pulled herself out of the chair and walked into the hall, she felt her flank get slapped. "HURRY UP!" Crying out, Fluttershy sped up to a gallop, running through the oakwood-and-baige hall. Feeling a gust of air blast her mane, Fluttershy stopped when she realized Nightshade had flown over her head and landed in front of her.

"Not THAT fast. Move in a trot, and don't get any funny ideas." The black pegasus turned around to move towards the wooden door opposite to the room they had just left. Fluttershy moved on, careful not to bump into the dark pegasus, and she felt another lump form in her throat when the Hollowcolt nudged her again. "Don't slow down, and don't speed up. Nightshade is real picky about that."

Did the Hollowcolt just give her advice? Didn't Mordu say that Hollowcolts were just zombies under somepony's control? Fluttershy forgot this when Nightshade spun around to face her again, and realized they had reached the end of the hall.

"Enjoy the light while you can. It's under-rated." Nightshade gave Fluttershy another unnerving grin, and he turned to the wooden door and pushed it open. Fluttershy felt her heart leap into her throat when she saw what was in the room behind it.

As the door opened, the first thing Fluttershy noticed was the smell of something rotten. When the door swung open completely, Fluttershy realized it was rotten flesh.

The room was filled with ponies in dark hoods like Mordu's, and they were all working with the corpses of animals. Bunnies, timber wolves, manticores....and even ponies.

Fluttershy wanted nothing more than to scream and run, but the Hollowcolt nudged her again, forcing her to walk into the horrifying room. As she continued along the small path running down the room, Fluttershy felt like she was going to be sick.

One hooded pony was doing some kind of ritual with the corpses of a rabbit and a mole, and he turned his head briefly to look at Fluttershy. Looking away, Fluttershy held back her tears. Why would they do such horrible things with the bodies of animals?

Fluttershy gasped again when Nightshade suddenly turned around. "These are our training grounds. Not much, I know, but Lord Mordu knows that only a select few are strong enough to learn necromancy. And even fewer make it out completely alive." Nightshade added this last part with such cold malice, it made Fluttershy want to cry out.

"Hurry up! The tour isn't over." Nightshade suddenly turned back around in a huff, as if Fluttershy just did something to deliberately annoy him. Fighting back her convulsions, Fluttershy hurried along, trying her hardest not to match the gaze of any of the necromancers.

Nightshade pushed open another door along the side of a wall, and Fluttershy immediately felt the repulsive smell of smoke hit the roof of her mouth. As they trio walked into the next room, Fluttershy felt her eyes begin to water at the amount of heat and smoke hitting her eyes.

Fluttershy saw that this room was like the engine room of a train that was super-sized; there were machines burning and releasing smoke into the room. Fluttershy wondered how this was healthy for anypony working in here.

Fluttershy walked further into the room, and found that the machines were....building weapons? The machines were moving belts of some kind, and they moved mettalic parts along while metal, bipedal arms grabbed them and put them together. Machines building machines...

Nightshade spun back around again, and Fluttershy just barely stopped herself from walking into the dark pegasus. "This is where our weapons are built and manufactured. Half goes to us..." Nightshade tipped his head to where one of the moving belts were taking fully constructed weapons. "And half goes to the rest of Equestria, in turn for our due payment. It's a system that works well for us." Nightshade's eyes beamed as he spoke of the room; Fluttershy realized it must be pride. Did he invent these things?

Fluttershy didn't have a chance to ask. Just as quickly as he started beaming, Nightshade scowled at Fluttershy and growled "Keep up!" The dark pegasus spun around again, and Fluttershy felt the Hollowcolt nudge her to move forward.

Fluttershy reluctantly trotted along, careful not to go too fast, nor too slow. Nightshade pushed another door open again, and Fluttershy found herself in a hallway just like the one she appeared in: The smell of smoke and rotting corpses somehow didn't reach this area.

Nightshade spun around again, and he walked past Fluttershy. "The Hollowcolt will take care of the rest. Just don't try anything, and he won't fire." Nightshade grinned mockingly at Fluttershy again, and disappeared through the door she just walked past.

Fluttershy gulped when the Hollowcolt pushed her forward again. "Move." The Hollowcolt spoke the word with it's usual monotone speech pattern, but it had a sense of force that scared Fluttershy. She quickly followed his order, and trotted towards the door at the end of the hall.

Again, when they reached the door, the Hollowcolt stretched it's hoof over Fluttershy's shoulder to push it open. Fluttershy stepped into the room, and was surprised by how serene it was compared to the rest of where-ever she was; it had oakwood floorboards, like the hallway, and the walls were painted that same calming shade of beige. The room had a nice large bed sitting right in the middle of the room, and Fluttershy was tempted to collapse onto it. The only thing unnerving about it was it didn't have any windows.

Fluttershy looked back at the Hollowcolt, and she watched as it closed the door behind them and sat down in front of it. Confuse, Fluttershy finally said after a few moments," Um....what...what are we...supposed to do now?" Fluttershy didn't want to give the Hollowcolt any reason to fire at her, but surely a single question couldn't hurt?

The Hollowcolt suddenly turned it's head towards Fluttershy, as if it's indent-eyes could see her. Could they? "You are to stay within your quarters until the feast." It spoke quickly and abruptly, with the same emotionless tone. Fluttershy forced herwself to ask another question," W-what...feast?"

The Hollowcolt resumed it's gaze at Fluttershy...if you could call it a gaze....and said,"Tonight, Lord Mordu has prepared a grand feast to welcome all new necromancers and guests. You are a guest, so you will be attending tonight." The Hollowcolt suddenly turned it's head away from Fluttershy, staring back into space.

Fluttershy mumbled something even she couldn't hear, and walked towards the bed. As she fell onto it, Fluttershy was surprised at how tired she was after all of that. As she closed her eyes, she feared for her friends safety; she had given away Twister's last cover, and it would only make things more difficult for him and her friends.

What about Braeburn? Would her old friend die from being shot? Did he survive? Not knowing her friend's fate was both nerve-racking and frightening for Fluttershy. What about the others? Applejack must be beside herself with grief at what happened to Braeburn, and Fluttershy wondered how Twister would handle things.

Twister...did he really kill seven ponies? No..he couldn't have....there wasn't any real evidence to suggest he was the killer, and he didn't seem like the kind of pony who would go on a killing spree. But what do you know? Fluttershy reminded herself she's only known Twister for a few days. While he did save their lives on multiple occasions, he did kill that doctor at the hospital in cold blood.

He did it to protect himself! Fluttershy scolded herself. Did he? Or could he be crazy? Fluttershy didn't know what to think of the crippled pegasus anymore. Would he hurt her friends? Is he really on their side?

And what about these...necromancers? Mordu was definitely creepy, but he seemed like a decent pony overall, and did seem sincere in his apology for Braeburn. That still doesn't excuse it! Fluttershy reminded herself. And Two-thousand years old? How is that even possible?

What about Nightshade? Fluttershy realized she had forgotten to ask the dark pegasus why Twister attacked him. Fluttershy decided she would have to keep an eye on that pegasus whenever he was in the room. He looked like he was going to tear Fluttershy apart when she didn't answer Mordu's question.

And the necromancers overall....who could such twisted, horrible things to those animals? And those ponies...Fluttershy didn't recognize any of them, but if they were willing to use the corpses of other ponies for their experiments....

Fluttershy felt her eyelids grow heavy, and before she could worry another negative thought, she had fallen into a restless sleep.

--Hope you enjoyed the chapter, guys! Next chapter is due next week, hopefully at the same time as this one! I also want to give a shout out to Pyro1101, who's feedback and ideas has helped me immensely in writing these things! READ HIS STUFF NAOW, DAMMIT! He's an amazing writer!--

Chapter 13: The Interrogation.

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Twister opened his eyes, surprised to find that he had fallen asleep.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Twister observed his surroundings; he was in the Appleloosa hospital waiting room. What am I doing here?

Suddenly, it all came back to Twister; the paramedics took Braebirn in, and Applejack had insisted on following. Unable to change the cowfilly's mind, the whole group had come along with her. Even though the doctor kept telling AJ that he would be fine, she refused to leave the hospital. This annoyed Twister greatly; Fluttershy was kidnapped and in danger, and he needed to find that Key Shard before his time was up!

Braeburn would be just fine; Fluttershy wouldn't. Twister wanted to just leave the hospital, but on the other hoof, if he did, then who knows what trouble the three mares would get into?

It's not like Twister could do anything yet; he was still waiting for Leo's report. He had ordered his old friend to go out and find information on The Key Shard, and the griffin was keen on fulfilling it. Twister didn't doubt his friend's abilities, but he didn't have much to work with other than the word "Key Shard". It wasn't likely they would learn anything on the first day.

What time is it? Twister looked at the clock hanging on the wall opposite him, and it said it was 9:14 PM. It was already dark outside, so this wasn't surprising. Twister pulled himself up as he tried to remember where the mares were.

Ah. That's right....he had gotten sick of waiting with them in the emergency room, and had gone out to the waiting room for some shut-eye till Leo returned. If they weren't deciding to be stupid today, then the mares should still be in the emergency room.

Twister pushed the door open as he trotted into the hallway. He had to get back into the emergency room to check on the three. As he moved through the hall at a slightly faster pace than normal, Twister observed his surroundings.

The hall's walls were a pale white color, and the floors were made of a polished marble similar to the building lobby where Fluttershy had been kidnapped. Doors leading into other rooms where sick patients rested lined up across the hall, and Twister could hear the patient's and their respective doctors either doing operations, or making noises relative to their sickness or pain. The hall smelled that same eerie clean smell hospital's always had.

Twister grimaced as he thought back to his little chase in Ponyville hospital. He wondered what happened to that poor assistant. She was likely being charged by now for assisting an assassin, if they had discovered the syringe's contents like good guards would. She didn't know what she had gotten into, but she still helped a potential murderer. She wouldn't get off lightly.

Twiswter started checking for the right room number; he was on the floor Braeburn's room resided. Twister counted each room as he got closer to his mark, and felt a small amount of relief wash over him when he found the room number he was looking for.

Twister pushed the door open and found exactl what he had been expecting to see; Braeburn was still unconscious on his bed, bloody bandages covering his chest where he had been shot. The doctor said Braeburn was lucky; if the paramedics hadn't gotten there sooner, he would've died. Good thing Leo was a fast flier.

Twister turned and looked at the other mares; Applejack had fallen asleep in a chair next to Braeburn's bed, her eyes swollen red from crying. Twister's heart went out to the cowfilly; seeing a treasured friend or family member get hurt was never easy.

Twister turned to check the other side of the room, and found that Rainbow Dash and Twilight were in similr positions to AJ's; they had both fallen asleep in chairs, and they each had a book in their laps. Twilight had been reading something involving magic qualities of certain crystals, or something like that. Only a hadnful of ponies would find that entertaining.

However, it was Rainbow's book that had caught Twister's attention; it was the first book in Daring Do's series of adventures, Daring Do and the Saphire Stone. Twister chuckled when he remembered granny's reaction to the book. She told Twister it was "An over-fantasized lie to the truth!" True, Daring HAD gone on an adventure for the Saphire Stone, but there wasn't any wild cats or Whats-his-name mythical villain trying to get it first. In fact, Daring told Twister that she had no problem's getting the saphire stone, other than a few traps in the temple. The only reason it was ever mentioned was because it had been Daring's first successful adventure.

Twister shook himself out of the past; he needed to focus on the present! Twister walked up to the cyan pegasus and shook her awake. "Grah-what? Wasgoinon?" Was her garbled reply.

"Get up. We got things to do, and not enough time to do them." Twister pulled Rainbow's book out of her lap and placed it back on the bookshelf. As the rainbow-maned mare struggled to pull herself up, Twister turned to Twilight and shook the lavender unicorn awake as well.

"Mmmmhuh? What is it...?" Twilight's eyes fluttered briefly, then she fell back into her sleep. Annoyed by this, Twister shook her again, a little more aggressvely this time. "GET UP. NOW." Twister growled irritably as he shook her. Finally, Twilight woke up and looked around the area, as if she was confused as to what was going on. Then she had a dawning look cross her face, and Twister turned away from her as she pulled herself up. Now all that was left was Applejack.

Twister walked toward the cowfilly, feeling a small amount of guilt rise as he shook her awake. She deserved to be left alone, after all that's happened, but unfortunately, there wasn't any time for that. "Huh? What dya need?" AJ rubbed her eyes as she awoke, and Twister realized she looked more tired awake then she did asleep.

"It's time to go. All of you, say your goodbyes to Braeburn now, but we have to go now." Twister turned and left the room, waiting for the mares to pull themselves out of the room as they fought their sleepiness. Twister thought back to what Leo told him...."Meet me in the alleyway behind City Hall. I'll have your info there."

City Hall...Twister remembered being told that that was the building where he had met up with Leo, and where they got attacked by those suited colts. It certainly looked like a city hall, that's for sure. But what was Leo talking with Braeburn about there?

As Twister paced imptiently outside of the emergency room, he suddenly sat down and opened his satchel to ensure he had everything; Switchblade, check. Emergency bits, check. Map, check. Gun, check. Twister remembered Leo explaining what that horrid weapon of those colts was after the battle. Apparently, it was called "A gun", and it fired tiny projectiles at blinding speeds, piercing the bodies of enemies instantaneously. Sounded painful. After seeing it in action, Twister deduced that it probably was. While the mares might not approve him using it, (Niether would the authorities, come to think of it) it would likely prove invaluable in his adventure.

Twister closed his satchel, hiding his gun as he heard the door open, and the three mares tepped out of the emergency room. Applejck's eyes looked redder than when she woke up, a sign she probably cried more tears for Braeburn as she said her goodbyes. Twister hated putting this mare through all of this, but he needed her to stay focued on the task at hoof.

Rainbow and Twilight looked equally exhausted, and Twister wondered how long they had slept. Did they fall aslep recently? Or did they sleep just a few minutes after Twister first left? Twister rolled his eyes in annoyance and disgust at himself. Like that detail even matters!

Twilight shook herself a little, and looked back up at Twister with that same inquisitive, intelligent look. "What are we going to do now?" Twister looked side to side, deciding that it wouldn't be safehere to talk. He looked back at Twilight and grumbled "Not now. Just follow me, and I'll explain when we get there." Twister turned and took off at a brisk pace, to the surprise of the mares.

Twister heard them scramble to catch up, nd Twister deduced from their stumblings that they were still pretty groggy. Well, they'll just have to learn to keep up. Twister moved towards the stairway, and began his decent to the bottom floor, and back to the waiting room where he had woken up.

Looking back behind him, he saw that the mares had finally woken up completely, and were already catching up to him, soon stopping at a smooth stride just a couple of feet behind him. Twister turned back to look forward, and saw that he wasn't far from the front door.

Twister pushed the door open, and stopped at the edge of the sidewalk where the curb met the road. Glancing from side to side, Twister scanned Appleloosa for it's City Hall. Finally, after looking back towards the right, Twister saw the fancy building siiting near thre center of town. It simply stood there, as a building should, and the lights coming from the two windows on it's top floor gave it the appearance of having eyes.

Twister shuddered at the thought of it being alive, and watching everything that went on in the darkened town, simply staring like Slendermane would. Twister scolded himself for this; such thoughts were childish. He couldn't honestly believe it would be alive, ucth less believe he hd compared it to Slendermane

Twister took off at the same brisk pace as before when the three mares finally caught up with him, not looking back as he approached the building. As he got closer, Twister saw the entrance to an alleyway slowly turn to his view, and Twister made a turn into it and hid behind one of the walls. He waited for the mares to catch up, and when they finally did, Twister took off again, moving deeper into the dark alley.

Finally, Twister was able to stop for real and rest in the area Leo had agreed on; here, he could explain his plans with Leo to the mares, without fearing somepony overhearing. "Okay, what's going on? How are we going to get Fluttershy back?" Rainbow Dash had suddenly fired these questions away at Twister, before he could even think of a place to begin. Thankfully, the cyan mare just gave it to him,

"We're going to find the Key Shard, like they asked, and use it to get Fluttershy back." Twilight raised both of her eyebrows, her eyes widening with surprise. "You really think they'll just give her back to us? Just like that? Weren't you the one who said that nothing was sacred to these ponies?" Twister turned to the unicorn, impressed with her memory and logic. "No, I don't think they'll give her back in return. They just want the Key Shard, and they'll say anything to get it back. They won't release Fluttershy; she'd likely become a loose end if they did. She would'v seen their faces, who they are, and they can't rsik anypony finding out. No...they'll just keep her."

Applejack scowled as Twister finished this sentence, but she didn't seem to be scowling at him. "Then what's keepin' 'em from killin' her?" The cowfilly asked this question slowly, obviously dreading Twister's answer. Twister sighed. " They won't take any chances; until they're certain that I have the Key Shard, they won't lay a hoof on her."

"How will we find them, once we have it?" Twilight suddeny piped up, her inquisitive look not changing. "We won't find them; they'll find us. Simple as that." Twister grunted in reply. He was started to get antsy; Leo had better be here soon. They needed to information now.

Twilight piped again, her questions beginning to annoy Twister. "Then what's the point of finding the Key Shard if they'll just kill her when they get it?" Twister turned back to the lavender mare, purposefully giving an egdy tone as he replied. "They'll send a few representatives in to secure the Key Shard. We kill them hen they come, we gather their information, and find their hideout. When we do, we bust Fluttershy out, and she's both safe, AND I'll get to keep the Key Shard. Anything else?"

Twilight seemed satisfied with this answer, but her eyes suddenly lit up as she barraged Twister with a dozen more questions.

"What does the Key Shard look like?"

"I don't know."

"Where do you think it is?"

"Best guess is that it's somehwere out here, in the mild west, like the map said. But I'll need some more specific info than that."

"Why are you trying to find The Artimus?"

Twister was caught off guard by this last question. He hadn't been expecting her to ask that....why was he trying to find it? Twister decided to settle on "So...so that they don't get it first. Y-you know how that works!" Twilight raised her eyebrows again, but lowered them when she suddenly asked another question.

"How did you and Leo meet?"

Twister grimaced as he thought back to his foalhood. Sure, it was when he met Leo, but it was also when he met Nightshade. And Silver...they were bittersweet memories. "I'v known him forever. Simple as that." Twister was starting to get uncomfortable with Twilight's questions.

Twilight didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but quickly dropped it when she asked a new question.

"Who was that black pegasus you attacked?"

Twister felt his old anger stir as he thought of Nightshade. That damn traitor..."A liar, a cheater, and a coward is what he is. That's all you need to know." Twister growled at Twilight, unable to prevent the intense anger welling up inside from leaking out.

Twilight seemed to realize it was a touchy subject, so she finally fell silent. At last. Sweet silence....and it was all ruined when he heard the familiar flap of griffin wings. Twister knew they were griffin wings, because they were putting more force into their flaps than a pegasus' wings would. It could only be Leo.

Twister turned to where he heard the sound of the wings, and found his assumption to be correct. Leo soared through the sky, landing just a few feet away from Twister as he stumbled on his talons. Leo blinked his eyes sleepily, and yawned. "Hope this info is worth it, Twist. Took me all day to get it."

Twister was glad his friend was here, but he couldn't wait any longer. "Unless it's in a folder, then you'd best tell me everything. Now." Leo flinched at this, and grumbled, "Fine, I'll give ya the skinny, hardass..." Skinny? Who said that anymore? "Look, there're rumors going around that a couple of thugs got their hooves on a yellow crystal of some kind. Very valuable to somepony. If it's description is correct, it's probably the Key Shard."

Twister felt adrenaline begin to pump through his system. Finally, somepony he can hit. "Where are these thugs? Tell me now, Leo!" Twister yelled this last part when the griffin hesitated. "Look, I don't know where these thugs are.." Twister felt his disappointment and rage at his friend begin to build, but it all died down when Leo added," But I know somepony who does."

"Where are they? Enough with the dramatic pauses Leo, I need ANSWERS!" Twister could feel his excitement get the better of him, but he didn't care. He was so close to finally finding the Key Shard, and he needed to know NOW!

Leo raised his talons up in defense, surprised by Twister's eagerness and aggressive tone. "Calm down! He's going to be in the saloon tonight, but-" Twister didn't wait for what Leo had to say next. Twister spun around, not caring if the others were following him or not. He had to get to the saloon!

Twister stepped out onto the sidewalk again, stopping just at the curb as he scanned the city again for the saloon. He remembered going there to give Fluttershy a place to rest, but he didn't remember where it was. Appleloosa had gotten bigger since his last visit, and it was easy for him to get lost and confused by the similar-looking buildings lining down the main street.

Twister stepped onto the road, feeling the cold, dark asphalt sending shivers up his body, all the way from bis hooves. This road was unnatural....but it wasn't his concern. Not right now. He could worry about changes to the world later, but right now, he had to find that pony!

Twister approached the front porch section of the saloon, seeing light come from it's windows, the sound of ponies partying the night away, and the sharp smell of alcohol hitting the roof of his mouth. Twister shuddered; he didn;t have a very high threshhold, evidence to the last time he drank...

Twister shook himself back into reality. As long as he just stayed away from any of that alcohol, he'd be fine. He just has to worry about finding that pony. Twister was about to step in, when he felt talons grab his shoulder. "I didn't tell ya what he looked like, now did I?" Leo's deep voice whispered into Twister's ear, and Twister gave himself an imaginary facehoof. He needed to be careful about this...he had only one shot. He couldn't screw it up!

"Fine. Gimme his description." Leo shook his head. "Not here. No time. I can point out to ya which pony it is, but you'll have to pay close attention." Twister nodded, and he turned back to step into the saloon when he heard Rainbow Dash's voice. "Hold on Twister; what're we going to do?"

Twister turned back to the cyan mare, feeling frustration begin to pulse through him. "I'm going to interrogate him. YOU three," Twister gestured to them with his single wing." Get to wait outside with old uncle Leo, once he tells me who it is."

Rainbow glared at Twister, making herself stand erect to match his height. A stance of open defiance. "I'm not gonna let you have all the action! I want to help!" Twister snorted. "Like you know anything about interrogating." Twister turned away, prepared to enter the Saloon, when 'Dash spoke up again.

"I don't need to. I can be pretty intimidating when I want to be. Besides, if it can help get Fluttershy back, then I want to do it!" Twister spun back around, using a great deal of self-control not to yell as he explained. "I'm not giving you the option. You're staying out here, with the others, while I handle this." Rainbow Dash scowled, getting in Twister's face as she hissed. "I'M DOING IT." Twister mirrored her position as he growled. "NO, YOU'RE NOT."

Leo threw his talons in the air, letting out an exasperated groan. "Guys, we don't have time for this! Either stay outside, or come on in, but we have to move NOW!" Twister turned to his friend, and nodded hesitantly. "Fine." Twister turned back to Rainbow Dash. "You can come on in and help, but stay out of my way." Rainbow nodded, still wearing that same defiant scowl.

Twister turned around, and pushed open the doors that lead into the Saloon. The horrid stench of alcoho got stronger, and Twister felt his eyes begin to water. Like the noise coming from within had suggested, there were ponies laughing the night away, drinking until they knocked themselves cold. It was a pathetic sight.

Leo nudged Twister, and the griffin sat at an empty table not to far from where they stood. Twister followed him, sitting just from across. Soon, the mares followed, and Twister found Rainbow Dash and Twilight on either side of him, with Applejack sitting next to Leo.

"Alright, Leo...point him out to me, and I'll take care of this." Twister felt like groaning when Rainbow piped up, "And what about me, huh? I said I wanted to help, and I'm going to!" Twister turned to the rainbow-maned mare, feeling his blood boiling in frustration. "You get to be the comic relief." Leo suddenly widened his eyes, and whined, "Wait! I thought I was the comic relief!"

Twister was starting to get fed up with Leo's jokes, and Rainbow's constant interventions. "FINE. YOU'RE the comic relief, and Rainbow gets to be the distraction!"Twister didn't want to waste any more time than has already been wasted. "Now point the pony out to me bfore I lose my temper, Leo."

Leo finally seemed to start taking this seriously, and started to scan the saloon for said pony. After a few seconds of this, he leaned over and muttered,"There." Twister looked where Leo pointed, and was surprised to see he was pointing at an old colt with a familiar blue mane.

"That's the con-artist we dealt with a few days ago." Twister snarled. So, it looks like this colt has turned out to be the most unlucky pony in history by being Twister's enemy TWICE. Not once, but TWICE. Leo realized this, and mumbled, "Oooh, dis gon be gud." The griffin gave a dark chuckle, and Twister leaned in to whisper to Rainbow.

"Look, I need you to distract him." Rainbow widened her eyes. "Distract him? Won't he recognize me?" Twister grunted. "You said you wanted to help. I'm giving you the chance to help. I never asked you to trick him, either. I said I wanted you to distract him. By recognizing you, he'll be distracted. Use your intimidation to force him into a room upstairs. GOT IT?!" Twister hated it when he had ti expain everything bit by bit to other ponies.

Rainbow raised her hooves in a defensive position. "Hey, I was just wonderfing.." "Then get moving." Twister growled unsympathetically at the pegasus. The mare quickly got herself up, glaring at Twister as she approached the colt. Twister turned to the other mares. "Stay with Leo, and don't get involved. Got it?" Twilight nodded quickly, obviously dreading how this situation would unfold. Applejack nodded less energetically, looking down at the table, staring out into space.

Twister moved up the nearby stairway, fishing out his gun from his satchel. After ensuring nopony could see, Twister strapped the contraption onto his right hoof and moved into position on the balcony. This was only a precaution; if Rainbow did this right, he wouldn't need to use the gun.

Twister observed the scene unfold between the two ponies as he sat there. waiting for the moment she got him out. Rainbow stepped up to the colt, and tapped on his shoulder. The colt was alone, so Twister didn't think they'd have to worry about thugs jumping them. Yet.

The colt definitely recognized 'Dash, but she grabbed his shoulder aggressively and whispered something into his ear before he could run away. The colt's eyes widened, and he nodded slowly as Rainbow pushed him towards the stairway. Twister wondered what she said, but he dreaded the possibilty that it wasn't a threat.

It didn't matter now. The con was on his way up the stairs, and he wouldn't be prepared for Twister's ambush. Wait for it....wait for it... Twister jumped out of the shadows, and pinned the old con down with his gun pointed at his head. The colt almost cried out, but Twister had struck his throat before he could say anything.

Twister yanked the colt onto his hooves by his mane and dragged him into one of the empty rooms. Twister shoved him into a wall, and heard Rainbow close th door as she followed. Twister galred at the colt dead in the eye. "Alright....I'v got questions that need answers. If you don't answer them, I'll blow your kneecaps off. Got it?" The Colt nodded his head rapidly, his eyes wide with fear at facing Twister again.

"First; why are you here, and who are you working for?" The old colt gulped, and answered quickly. "Look, after our lil' skirmish back in town, Ah needed ta find other work. Ya can't blame me for needin' a job!" Twister snarled. "And your employers?" The colt's eyes widened. "Look, Ah can't tell ya. They'll kill me if Ah do!"

Twister's eyes narrowed. "And I'll kill you if you don't tell me. What's it gonna be?" The colt's eyes fell, and he sniffled. Twister shook him violently, yelling, "WELL?!" The colt squealed, and sputtered, "F-fine! Ah'll tell ya! Jus' stop it!" Twister stopped shaking him, and held him against the wall again. "Talk fast."

""Kay, look, theres these collectors in Canterlot, y'see? They heard about this pretty yellow stone 'round here called 'The Sunstone', and they hired a bunch of mercs to nab it! Ah'm one of 'em!" Rainbow gasped. "So you ARE innocent, Twister!" Twister still held him against the wall, not showing any signs of releasing him. "Keep talking."

The colt suddenly started sobbing."Look, that's all Ah know! Ah swear! Ah don't know what their names are!" Twister pushed him against the wall harder, pressuring him. "What does this 'Sunstone' look like?" The colt swallowed, struggling to hold his tears back. "It's yellow, and shaped like a sun, but that's all Ah know! Ah didn't see it in person!"

Twister turned to Rainbow. "Thinking what I'm thinking, Rainbow?" Rainbow nodded. "That the Sunstone is the Key Shard?" Twister nodded. "That's most likely." Twister turned back to the colt. "Where is the Key- I mean, where is the Sunstone?!" The colt started sobbing again.

"Ah don't know! Ah jus' helped 'em nab a bunch of equipmemnt to smuggle it out!" Twister knew he was lying. He could see it in the way he said this. "You don't know it's specific location, but you do have an idea where it's at. Spit it out, before my pistol does it for you."

The colt swallowed again, failing to control his sobs. "It's on a train. Train 17-BE. That really is all Ah know!!" The coltclosed his eyes, his tears streaming down his cheeks. Twister nodded, satisfied. Twister dropped the colt, and he looked up hopefully. "So...can Ah go?" Twister glared at the colt, then turned to Rainbow. The look he gave her told her what he was going to do, and she didn't like it one bit.

"NO! Twister, you can't-" Rainbow didn't have a chance finish her sentence. Twister had grabbed the colt and held him down on his throat, preventing him from making any kind of noise. "I gave you the chance to leave and do something good for yourself once, and you blew it. Your too involved now...I won't let you leave here."

The colt let out a strangled cry, but before he could struggle, Twister had grabbed the colt's neck and twisted it 240 degrees. Twister pulled himself up, abandoning the lifeless body. Twister turned to Rainbow, and the marfe was giving him a look of pure horror. "You...you just.." "Killed him? Yes, I did." Twister finished her sentence for her, and pushed past her. Twister felt himself pulled back, however, when Rainbow yanked onto his mane.

"Why did you do that?! You can't just kill somepony after you say you'll let them go!" Twister faced the mare, straight at eye level. "I did it because he would'v told somepony about me before I had a chance to get the Key Shard. I can't let that happen. And I already gave him the chance to live a better life, and he wasted it." Rainbow looked furious. "And that means he deserved to..to..."

Twister shook his head. "Nopony deserves to die. Yet it still happens. Once you learn that life isn't about what you deserve, you'll be much better off." Rainbow looked tearful for just a moment. "Then why did you kill him if he didn't deserve it?" Twister gestured to the lifeless corpse of the con. "Because, he would'v just given his employers info about me in exchange for his life. I know how this system works, Rainbow Dash. You don't. THIS is why I wanted you to stay behind. I'm the one who has to do the dirty work, not you. So think before you volunteer for something next time." Twister turned away, not wanting to look at Rainbow Dash anymore. This was the part of his job he hated the most.

Rainbow suddenly spoke up." What do we do with the body?" Twister turned to her again, hating having to see her tearful, pained gaze. "Leave it. Where we're going...we'll be long gone by morning. And they'll never track me down. I promise you on that." Twister turned aay again, pushing the door open and letting it shut as Rainbow passed. She didn't look at him. Twister felt guilt wash over him. She was an innocent mare! He should have tried harder to keep her from getting involved with that!

Twister sighed and closed the door, thinking what Daring would have said. you did what you had to do, kid. Nopony could have asked for anything more. Twister shuddered. He's killed ponies before, but that horrid feeling in his chest after executing it never changed.

Twister walked down the stairs to meet with the other mares and Leo. Don't think about it right now. You'v got a train to catch.

~Hope you enjoyed this chapter guys! Chapter's will be published by Sundays at the latest from now on, since I hardly have any time to type this stuff down during the weekdays. Next chapter will be up by the next saturday-sunday! I promise! Thanks for reading!~

Chapter 14: The Feast.

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Fluttershy's eyes flipped open when she felt a cold hoof shake her awake.

"Get up." She heard the Hollowcolt's monotone order, and she turned to look at it. The Hollowcolt had finally moved for the first time they were in that room, and Fluttershy remembered hazily the events of...last night? Last noon? Fluttershy couldn't tell what time it was, without a clock or window to give her a hint.

Fluttershy reluctantly pulled herself out of the bed, and groggily allowed the Hollowcolt to nudge her along. Fluttershy attempted to rub the sleep out of her eyes as she wandered over to the oak-wood door, and whimpered when the Hollowcolt suddenly said, "Wait. You cannot leave without me." Fluttershy felt a shiver run up her spine as the Hollowcolt came up behind her and reached it's hoof over her shoulder to push the door open.

As Fluttershy trotted carefully through the beige and oak-wood hallway, she thought back to her conversation with Mordu. The sickly green unicorn seemed friendly, but something at the back of Fluttershy's mind tugged at her, crying out, "Don't trust him!" And yet, she found herself unafraid of the necromancer. Why? He's a necromancer! They do horrid things to animals every day. Why would one try to make peace?

Fluttershy realized she was more afraid of Mordu's protege, Nightshade. Back at the buffalo camp, Twister had assaulted the dark pegasus, and now she was starting to wonder just what Nightshade did to him for it. Nightshade certainly seemed like the kind of pony to have a lot of enemies, but what could he have possibly done to Twister to summon that kind of rage?

Fluttershy reached the end of the hall, and she shivered as she waited for the Hollowcolt to open it. Once it completed the next step of it's routine, Fluttershy cried out when she realized the next room wasn't the engine room Nightshade had shown her. Instead, a magnificent hall was spread out before her, with cold stone floors, but decorative carpets covered it up in certain places. Pillars lined down the hall, supporting a small balcony that ponies could sit in. The pillars themselves had banners lining them, each one with it's own symbol and color pattern, and they had lining in the edge of them with small runes in them. At the center of the hall, there was a long, oak-wood table with chairs lining them at the sides, and several ponies in hoods were sitting at it.

Fluttershy swallowed, and she continued her trot when the hollowcolt pushed her rforward, and she trotted towards an empty seat. But before she could even pull it out, she heard the Hollowcolt say, "No. You are the guest of honor. You have a special seat next to the lord and master of this home." Fluttershy nodded reluctantly, not turning to look at the Hollowcolt. She was hoping to sit as far as possible from Mordu, but she knew that she didn't have a say in the matter. Nopony does when their kidnapped.

Fluttershy followed the Hollowcolt as it lead her to a fancy seat with red velvet lining, just at the end of the table. Fluttershy slowly sat down, and she felt relieved that Mordu wasn't here yet. She didn't want to talk to anypony just yet, and the unicorn was just plain creepy.

Woah...why did I think that? Fluttershy scolded herself for thinking such shallow thoughts. He may be a necromancer, but she shouldn't judge him for his appearance! Wait....what's going on now?! Fluttershy realized how dumb that sounded; she was kidnapped, and she was scolding herself for judging the kidnappers?

Ergh......I have a headache. Fluttershy held her head, despairing at the confusion she suffered. Then, she heard a chuckle, and Mordu suddenly materialized into his seat, a small smile on his face. Fluttershy jumped up, surprised by the suddenness of it all. Mordu chuckled again, and said, "Sorry, my dear. I couldn't resist pranking you like that. You're far too serious for your own good."

Now Fluttershy was confused. Pranking her? How did he prank her? By materializing? Admittedly, it was unexpected, but it couldn;t really be classified as a prank. "Oh, dearie. My materializing wasn;t the prank; my messing with your thoughts was." Fluttershy jumped again. How did he know what she was thinking?

"Oh, calm down my dear. Allow me to clear things up for you. One of the many talents of a necromancer includes telepathy and the warping of thoughts. I couldn't resist it; it's my favorite prank!" Mordu began to laugh, and it unnerved Fluttershy. She didn;t think messing with another pony's thoughts was very funny; if anything, it's frightening.

Mordu wiped away a tear, and he said, "Don't be so serious my dear. This is a gathering time for friends, and we're all friends here, no?" He gestured to the hooded ponies lined down the table, and a few of them began to nod. Other's didn't look up, and some actually grimaced when this happened.

Fluttershy looked down miserably; she didn't want to be here any longer. These necromancer's weren't the friendly bunch, no matter how much Mordu tried to make it seem so. Reading her mind like that didn't earn any trust from her. "Very well, my dear. If it truly bothers you, then I'll stop reading your mind." Mordu sighed, his expression changing from one of joy to one of boredom.

Fluttershy nodded slightly as a thank-you, but didn't look up. She didn't really want to talk to any of these ponies. She still wondered why any of them were trying to be friendly. "My dear, you look famished! Don't tell me you only ate when we last spoke!" The unicorn clasped his hooves together, and the table suddenly filled with plates holding food, goblets holding various drinks, and scented candles.

"Dig in my dear, by all means! Today is a day to celebrate!!" Mordu laughed heartily, and the old unicorn grabbed a daphodile salad and inhaled it. His appetite hadn't changed at all since their last exchange. Fluttershy eyed a bowl filled to the rim with varied hay. She gingerly placed some of it onto her plate, and Fluttershy realized for the first time just how hungry she was.

Fluttershy dug in, and she forgot all about her manners as of before. Not only was she hungry enough to eat a full grown pony, the hay was incredibly delicious. Tearing through it, she heard Mordu chuckle. *Nice to see somepony else eat like that. Now Nightshade can't bag on me for it."

Fluttershy finally remembered her manners and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Um...where is Nightshade?" Fluttershy wanted to ask the dark pony about Twister. She doubted he'd tell the truth, but it would at least give her an idea of what happened. "I'm afraid he had unfinished business in Appleloosa. He won't return for a few more weeks." Mordu frowned, and he resumed devouring his dinner.

Fluttershy frowned as well at the inconvenience, and she returned to her hay. After a few more minutes of eating, Mordu spoke up again. "Well, I'v had my share, so I suppose this is the time for us to share a few anecdotes, no?" Some of the necromancers looked up at the unicorn, but most of them kept eating, their silence making her feel awkward.

Mordu sighed, and he turned to Fluttershy. "Well, they won't listen. Most of them only care for the training, nothing more. Such a waste...." He looked mournful for a moment, and Fluttershy couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Mordu shook himself, and gave her another toothless grin. "Well, if you have any questions, my dear, now's the time."

Fluttershy immediately felt hundreds of questions pop into her head, but one stood out among the rest. "Why...why are you treating me so well?" Mordu looked shocked. "No guest of mine will be treated with anything less! All ponies...no, all creatures are treated with equal respect within my home!" Fluttershy looked about the room, admiring it's design, the banners specifically.

"They symbolize dark spirit's power. It harnesses it, and uses it as a protective shield. A crazy little part of my culture." Mordu chuckled, then suddenly frowned apologetically. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to read your mind again. Old habits die hard..."

Fluttershy nodded. "It...it's alright....um....what country are you from?" Mordu scrunched his face up, as he fought for an answer. "It is....difficult to explain, my dear. Technically, I'm just as much Equestrian as you are, but from a different....erm....I'll go with 'era'." Fluttershy gasped.

"You're from another age?" Mordu nodded again, his eyes closed in deep thought. "Yes...my people inhabited the land five thousand years ago, before Celestia inherited it from our first ruler." The necromancers all looked up at the mention of Celestia, and the spiteful anger in their eyes gave Fluttershy the impression that she wasn't very popular here.

"What's....what's wrong with...Celestia?" Fluttershy squeaked. She didn't want to anger any of them by asking, but she's met Celestia in pony. She certainly gave nothing more than a positive effect on the land?

Mordu scowled, but he didn't seem to be scowling at her. "Celestia is a blight to Equestria, and all who inhabit it, without any of them realizing it. She's played you all like pawns." Fluttershy frowned as she listened to this, and shook her head. "Oh, no...Celstia wouldn't do that. She's a wonderful leader; she hasn't strayed us wrong before."

Mordu turned to Fluttershy, a mixture of wisdom and pity in his eyes. "Oh, really? Have you ever argued with her?" Fluttershy immediately shook her head. "No, never. Few ponies ever do...but she's usually right. I mean, she's thousands of years older..." Mordu shook his head. "This is what I was afraid of...."

Mordu sighed, and the unicorn pushed his plate away, his first sign of losing an appetite. "Celestia never told you exactly how she came to power, has she?" Fluttershy thought for a moment. "Well....she's always been around." Mordu facehoofed, and grumbled, "Nopony lives forever, my dear. Death always finds a way to claim it's victims. Anything and everything can be destroyed, and eventually will be. Even Celestia. Magic can delay that inevitability, But not forever."

Mordu leaned back in his seat, his greasy, matted mane swinging above his shoulders. "But for everything that is destroyed...something is created. My people fell....and your people rose. 'Tis the cycle of life and creation. But ponies often don't realize that while something may be gone....it will refuse to be forgotten. Everything finds a way to....return. To give the replacement a reminder of it's mistakes...and the answers behind it's achievements. This is true for every civilization. My people prospered once, but then their mistakes ruined them. Celestia thinks she can break the cycle....but she cannot."

Fluttershy's blood ran cold as he spoke of Celestia, as if she was what's wrong with the world. "I...don't think I understand..." Mordu groaned, and leaned forward. "My people induced direct slavery. Of dragons, griffins, changelings, you name it. Ponies were at the top, but the other species suffered the pain of labor. So they eventually revolted, and guess who lead them?" Fluttershy didn't know how to react. Celestia tried to end slavery...what was bad about that?

"It was bad because she lied to her followers. Used them to rise to power, and tore down the throne of our leader. She broke the promises she made to them, and while she didn't enslave them, she didn't give them what they asked for in return; equality." Fluttershy was starting to get annoyed with Mordu's mind reading, and spoke up. "Your people were still enslaving others. Celestia sounds like the good guy right now, even if she....didn't do exactly what she was supposed to."

Mordu let out a groan of frustration. "I'm not defending my civilization, Fluttershy. They deserved to fall. But it doesn't change the fact that Celestia did all this for the wrong reasons. While the other species were certainly better off then before, they still suffered injustices. The changelings were banished to their homeland, the griffins were forced to go underground, and most of the dragons were raised from birth to be servants."

Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was hearing...but it made sense. Spike WAS given to Twilight as an egg, to be her assistant. Even though he was treated well and with respect, he never really had much say in the matter. He was never offered a choice. Chrysalis's homeland was barren, and without love to feed on, she couldn't feed her people. Her attack on Canterlot was nothing more than an attempt to survive.

"And don't forget about what happened to Luna. Who can blame a pony for wanting a little recognition?" Mordu grinned. The necromancer's horn glowed, and he levitated a dusty book from a shelf towards him. When it came to him, the old pony dusted it off and hoofed it to Fluttershy. It's title read Necromancy: The pros and cons of a universal school.

"Wha-what's this for?" Fluttershy stuttered with surprise. The book's surface was cold, and the binding was of strange, seemingly sinister material. Mordu smiled, and his voice had new, somewhat cool edge to it. "This can give you the straight facts about Necromancy. It's sphere is that surrounding the twists of Life and Death, for better or for worse. Yes, necromancy brings ponies back to life, and it does have spells that can cause great pain, but it has a bright side to it as well. It can prolong the life of another pony, through healing and restoration. It doesn't revolve just around the dark twists, but also around the brighter twists as well."

Fluttershy opened the book, her hooves trembling slightly as she does so. She was frightened of what the book's contents may reveal, and she didn't like that almost hungry look of eagerness in Mordu's eyes. "Hold on a second...why do you want me to read this? More importantly, why are you so dead set on finding the Key Shards? Why do you want tThe Artimus?"

Mordu's grin faded, and he brought one hoof up to his chin in deep thought. "Well....The Artimus didn't belong to my Civilization. We found it, of course, and learned how to use it's power, but we didn't create it. In fact....I don't know who did create it. But it's so much more than a magical artifact of greatpower. It holds....knowledge."

"Knowledge?" Fluttershy echoed. "Yes, knowledge. And knowledge is a power of it's own. If we recover it, who knows what kinds of incredible technologies we'll discover? New law systems, improved versions of our own inventions, the history of Equestria from beginning to end! It could be the key to creating a new, perfect civilization."

Fluttershy was beginning to feel overwhelmed by all this. Being told Celestia is wrong, and finding out the supposed truth behind her rise to power...it was enough to overwhelm anypony. A new question popped into Fluttershy's head.

"Why are you telling me all this? Why would you trust me like this, and why would you just....give me a book about your skill?" Mordu gazed at Fluttershy, his stare beginning to unnerve Fluttershy. "Because knowledge...should be FREE. I can show you the truth to everything, my dear Fluttershy. Necromancy can be learned by anypony; it's not limited to unicorns. Nothingshould be limited to you because of your race. With necromancy, we can retrieve The Artimus and it's secrets. With that kind of knowledge...imagine, Earth Ponies, soaring through the skies, Pegasi, lifting without their hooves...the possibilities would be ebdless. Celstia is trying to prevent such wondrous change, because she believes things should remain as they should be.Why should they? If we can control reality, change our fate, create a beuatiful metropolis, then what's to stop us?"

Fluttershy couldn't lie; the image Mordu was painting in her head sounded wonderful. But with Necromancy, a school that's been forbidden for thousands of years...hold on a sec. "What are you saying, Mordu?" Mordu looked at Fluttershy, that same greedy hunger in his eyes she had seen before. "I want to teach you necromancy. To give you the chance to be a part of something bigger than what your living in now. One question remains....do you accept?"

Fluttershy couldn't believe this. Shehad just been dragged halfway across Equestria, kidnapped by this colt, and he expected her to join him? But....maybe she could do more good than harm this way. Maybe she could find out the truth behind Mordu, and discover for real if what he's saying about Celestia is true or not. She's being offered a chance to be behind enemy lines...what would Twister have done?

Fluttershy's voice shaked, but it didn't diminish the strength and impact her voice had. "Yes."

--As usual, hoped you enjoyed the chapter guys! Thanks for reading! Nect chapter will be up next weekend, just like normal.--

Chapter 15: The Train.

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Twister hated it when things couldn't just be simple.

Twister tapped his hoof impatiently as he waited outside for Applejack and the other mares. They were saying their goodbyes to Braeburn, and he sat just outside the hospital with Leo. The griffin kept messing around with his huge mane, getting it tangled and knotted then combed back down again. Rinse and repeat.

Twister finally decided this would be the best time to truly catch up with his old friend, so he struck up conversation. "So, Leo...you never really told me how you managed to get from Manehatten to Appleloosa." Leo shuddered, and he stopped fiddling with his mane long enough to reply. "It's a long and horrid story. Remind me later when we have more time to talk."

Twister grumbled, annoyed with his friend's short answer. He wasn't going to let Leo go off with the mares until he had a better idea of how things were back home. "How's the gang?" Leo sighed, and he closed his eyes. "Most of them left, after you disappeared. Without you or Jack, nothing was really holding us together. I tried to keep them around, but..." Twister sighed as well. The memory of Jack-of-Aces was bittersweet one. "What about your contacts?"

Leo scrunched his face up again as his gears clicked. "They're all over Equestria. Well, except for Canterlot....that fortress has so many guards, it's impossible for anypony to go underground." Twister grumbled under his breath. Canterlot was far too difficult to safely infiltrate. Unless you were with the monarchy, you were always being checked for something illegal. They want to keep their little metropolis nice and clean. Idiots. It's simple logic to focus your forces all over the land, not just in one specific place. It's why other towns like Manehatten are so riddled with criminals. You don't keep brushing your teeth in one specific spot every day, do you? No, because then you'd get cavities everywhere else. The monarchy was filled with imbeciles.

"That shouldn't matter. Celestia and Luna don't have anything we need, and nopony in Canterlot has any good information to help us. It's just too clean to be useful." Leo nodded. "Good point. So, how'd your little interrogation go?" Twister winced as he asked this. He hated having to kill other ponies, even if they were the enemy, but this specific kill disturbed him more than any others, all because of Rainbow. He should'v been more careful with what he said to her, or maybe she wouldn't have been as forceful to help out. She had an adventurous spirit, but she was innocent. Twister knew her witnessing his murder could ruin her chances at returning to a normal life. And her face when she watched....Twister hated himself for that.

It had to be done. He would'v told somepony about your little group, and then she, along with the other mares, would be in greater danger. Or dead. Twister failed to reassure himself. He shook himself, and muttered, "It went fine. But we'd best hurry up, before something goes wrong. We still have to find that Celestia-damned train, and I don't want it to move out of our reach." Leo nodded, and he grinned. "A train, huh? Classic.....thugs never change, do they?" Twister looked away, grumbling. "No, they don't." Leo rolled his eyes, and chanted, "Outlaws to the end."

Outlaws to the end. Jack always said that. It was his favorite thing to say. He always told Twister that the monarchy uses you, plays you like a puppet, but the minute you stand up to them, BAM, you're marked an Outlaw. Once an Outlaw, always an Outlaw, all the way down to your grave. Twister never really took much meaning from it, just thought it was a way to keep ponies in the gang around, but now he realized it had some element of truth in it.

Here's Leo, an honest-to-Celestia griffin, but when he was a foal, he was an orphan. He was turned away from countless families because of his heritage, constantly picked on for being a griffin, and finally, he snapped. He stood up for himself, and he was punished for it. The griffin ran away after that horrid incident, and was found by Jack. The earth pony had raised him as his own after that, and Leo was still hunted down because of what happened so long ago. The law didn't know the word forgiveness.

Then, there's Jack himself. He defended his father as a young colt, who was being attacked for picking food in the royal gardens. His father only did it to help his foals, and he, along with Jack's other siblings, was killed for it. And Jack was chased his whole life after that, being hunted for eating royal food, when he didn't even know it himself. And he payed for it in the end....damn the monarchy. They didn't know half of the shit the little folk went through every day.

But he knew they weren't his enemy. No, Twister's enemies were much more organized than the princess's...and twice as cruel. Twister hated not knowing who is enemies were, except for one pony in particular. Nightshade. How much Twister would love to just fire a round through his head, just for Silver....

Twister was shaken out of his bitter thoughts when the three mares stepped outside the hospital. Applejack's eyes weren't red anymore, so she hasn't cried recently. Rainbow Dash was looking down for some reason, and Twilight was the only one of the three who didn't look as if she would burst out either yelling or crying. Twister ignored these observations, and he stood up and greeted them.

"What took you so long?" Rainbow Dash suddenly whipped her head around to face him, and she snapped. "We were checking on a friend. That tends to take awhile." Twister scowled, her attitude starting to tick him off. Ever since the interrogation, she refused to look at him, and when she did, it was to snap or hiss at him. When she wasn't around, Twister felt guilty for it, but when Rainbow tried to make a point like that, it just pissed him off.

"In the meantime, one of your other friends is probably going through a sickening amount of torture because of the time we've wasted. We need to move right now." Twister spun around and headed for the station, not waiting to see if they followed or not. He heard their hesitant hoofsteps behind him, and he briefly smirked before speeding up. Rainbow could give him all the lip she wanted, but he was the one helping them right now, and she was either going to have to deal with it, or try heading back to Ponyville herself.

Twister stepped into the station and quickly scanned the area. No trains were at the station, and the pony behind the desk giving the tickets was asleep. The poor sod must not be used to working this late at night. Twister walked up to the desk, and he cleared his throat. "When will train 17-BE be coming in?" The pony still lied there, sleeping away. Twister shook the pony aswake violently, and he grumbled, "Wha? Erghermergh....mmhuh?" Twister scowled, starting to get annoyed again. "Wake up!" The pony stood upright suddenly, and he whipped his head around violently. "What?! Whazgoinon?!"

Twister sighed. "I'm asking about train 17-BE. When will it be coming in at this station?" The pony realized it was just them, and he yawned. "Whaddya want wit dat train? It's jus' a cargo train. Ya can't catch a ride on it." Twister growled, and he put his hooves on the desk and leaned in, giving the pony an intimidating stare. "My business. Where is that train?" The pony shifted uncomfortably, looking away. "Um....sir, dat train is on it's way ta Las Pegasus at the moment. I'm afraid ya won't be able to git to it until the day after tamorrow."

Twister groaned. This just complicates things even more. "Which way to Las Pegasus on the tracks?" The pony shrugged. "Ah dunno.....check the map." The pony leaned back in his chair, falling back asleep. The dumbass was going to have to learn how to work a nightshift right soon, or he was going to get himself fired. Whatever, it wasn't his problem.

Twister walked over to the map on the station wall, and he pulled his own map out to mark the tracks. He copied the tracks shape to the best of his ability, and he checked back with the pony occasionally to get the time it would take to get to Las pegasus at this point. After lots of mental math, Twister quickly judged the train's current location, and where it would be when he finally caught up with it. Twister knew where they were going to have to go, but they needed to hurry if they were going to catch it.

"Leo, where can we rent some cars? We'v got a long journey ahead of us."

Twister tilted his hat back up so it didn't block his vision. He had fallen asleep while Leo drove the car out, and he used Twister's map as a reference. Twister adjusted himself in his seat, smacking his lips as he grimaced at the same morning taste he always got. Leo had to know everypony in Appleloosa if he managed to somehow know somepony who rents out cars, AND rents them at an discount to him. Twister had to admit....when he could focus, Leo was pretty reliable.

Twister pulled his hat off, afraid of it getting blown away in the hoodless car. Twister turned his head around, to ensure that the other mares were still in the back. He remembered seeing them get back in there, but it never hurt to make sure he was right. And he was; Applejack and Twilight sat in the back, but....where was Rainbow Dash?

Twister's question was answered when he saw the rainbow-maned mare suddenly drop out from the sky to speak with Leo. What was she doing out of the car? "Hey! Get back in the car!" Rainbow gave him a defiant glare, and then turned back to Leo, ignoring Twister. "The train is just on the horizon. We're almost there." "Good." Leo gave a brisk reply, and Rainbow flew back into the air.

Twister pulled himself up a little and nudged Leo. "Whadya think your doing?!" Leo sighed, and not taking his eyes off the desert road, answered. "Rainbow Dash was gettin' antsy back there, and she still wanted to help. Honestly, Twist, she's been a great help so far. She can take care of herself, so I really don't understand why..."

Twister cut him off. "She's an innocent mare, Leo. I'm helping her right now, not the other way around. If she's seen helping us, she could get into serious trouble, ruining any chance she's got at returning to her old life." Leo turned to look at Twister, still expertly driving the car somehow. "Like how things went with Silver?"

Twister hit Leo on the head. "EYES ON THE ROAD!!" He had startled the griffin, and the car swerved a little before Leo put it back under control. After he did this, he growled under his breath. "Twist, that was a stupid move. I already had the car under control..." Twister cut him off again. "I'm not taking any chances, Leo. Keep your eyes on the road." Leo did this, but continued talking. "Suuuuurrrrrrre........that totally wasn't a cover-up to change the subject." Twister scowled. "Leo, drop it...."

"Who's Silver?" Twister's blood ran cold when Twilight piped up from behind, and he realized she had been leaning in as she eavesdropped on them. Twister whipped his head around and gave her a cold glare. "Nopony you need to know about, Twilight. Mind your own business." Applejack suddenly shot up, and she scowled at Twister. "She was jus' askin' a question, Twister! No need ta make trouble over it fer nothin'." Twister turned to the cowfilly, his glare not changing a bit. "Making trouble is what I do for a living, AJ. Why else do you think my cutie mark's a tornado?"

Applejack raised her eyebrows in surprise and puzzlement. "Ah...don' see what dat has ta do wit yer cutie mark being a tornado..." Twister sighed as he prepared his explanation. Nopony ever seemed to get why it was a tornado. "It's a tornado, because I cause trouble everywhere I go. I'm the eye of the storm, while everypony around me suffers, both friend and foe. I cause only trouble and harm for the ponies around me, no matter who they are...." Twister sighed, and he looked away.

"Silver....she died for those reasons. I unknowingly stepped on somepony's hooves, and they killed Silver for it. I won't let it happen to anypony else." Twilight leaned in a little. "Who was Silver?" Twister didn't answer, hating having to look back on her memory. AJ raised an eyebrow. "She was....more than some innocent mare, wasn't she?" Twister still looked away, letting his silence answer her. Applejack and Twilight leaned back, and Twister suddenly felt himself become colder. Leo was smart enough not to interrupt, and he could feel the sudden silence make everypony feel uncomfortable.

Suddenly, Twilight spoke up again. "Nightshade....what did he have to do with all this?" Twister's blood boiled at the mention of that wretches' name, but he managed to bottle it up enough to properly reply. "He was my friend....closer than me and Leo. My best friend, my confidant, practically a brother.....and he lied about it all. He did it all for his employers. He betrayed me, just for a couple of bits. Because of him, they were able to get to Silver, and to all of my other friends....Leo's one of the last." Leo nodded, acknowledging his own mention. "Luckily, I grew up smart enough to be prepared for those assholes. They didn't stand a chance."

Twister nodded, and he looked down at his old hat. The torn accessory was all he had left of his grandmother....damn these rich, corporate bastards. It was bad enough Twister was fighting blindly against a ghost-like enemy, but the fact that they took everypony around him as punishment crossed the line. "I'm going to find The Artimus....and use it to break those bastards before they break me." Twister's true reasoning for his adventure rang out, suddenly crystal clear to both him, and to the mares.

Twister didn't want to talk any more of Silver, or of his foalhood. If any of them knew half of what he did as a foal....he'd lose their trust completely. If they knew what he, Nightshade, and Leo did as foals, of his time with the gang....what would they do?

Suddenly, Leo broke the silence with an excited cry. "I can see the train! We're catching up to it!" Twister unbuckled his seat, and he saw Rainbow dive back to the car. He pulled his gun out, and he stood up in the car, balancing himself with the car door. He pulled his hat back onto his head, scowling as he prepared for Leo to drive the car next to the train.

"Keep quiet, you guys; we have the element of surprise on our side. I don't want to waste it." Twister tensed his muscles, ready for when they lined up to a door. Leo sped the car up a little bit, and Twister felt his own excitement begin to get the better of him. Keep calm. This'll only take a few minutes, if you manage to do this right. Twister tensed even more, ready for when they lined with the door.

Finally, Leo had the car lining with the cargo door. Twister leaped to the opened door, landing in the train car with a satisfying thud. He lifted his gun, the heavy weapon weighing down his hoof. He preferred using his bare hooves to incapacitate his enemies, but a gun would be much faster. He needed to be fast if he wanted to get the Key Shard; he didn't have the time to deal with a bunch of thugs in hoof-to-hoof combat.

Twister crouched, sneaking behind a large crate. The train car was dark, and Twister couldn't see into it without the light of the sun. Only the light of the moon gave him any sight at all, and it couldn't light up the whole area. Twister took in a deep breath, and he moved around the crate and delved deeper into the dark train car. It disturbed Twister that he couldn't see anything; he may have the element of surprise on the thieves, but they could just as easily surprise him in this horrid lighting.

Twister froze when he heard the sound of another thud. Somepony else was in the train car. He wandered through the dark room, seeking a hiding spot where he could ambush this new pony. He could'nt see anything, but he felt the corner of another crate. He moved around it, and after checking with his hooves, realized he had entered a dead end area. The only way he could go was back. But....perhaps he didn't have to quite yet. He'd be able to ambush the other pony in here from where he was.

Twister sat and waited, listening intently for the other pony's hoofsteps. Sure enough, there they were, their soft tip-tap ringing out in the metallic train car. They were trying and failing to sneak through the car. Judging from the weight they were putting down on each step, it must be a mare. Wait....the hoofsteps stopped. They must be sitting still now.....hold on. He could hear the soft flapping of wings. Pegasus wings.....this wasn't an enemy.

Twister leaped out, snarling as he yanked on Rainbow Dash's mane from the darkness. He held his hoof over her mouth to muffle her cry, and he hissed into her ear, "What the BUCK do you think you're doing?!" Rainbow yanked away, and even though he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was giving him her signature glare. At least, she was trying to. "I'm helping you!" Twister growled with frustration. Rainbow was starting to cross the line. "You REALLY want a repeat of the last time you helped me?" Rainbow pushed Twister back, and because of the darkness, he hadn't been expecting her to do it.

"I'm here to make sure you don't do to any of these ponies what you did to the con!" Twister wanted to hit Rainbow now, but he bottled his anger as best he could. "You'll only mess things up for the both of us. Get back with the other mares right now, before-" "Before what?!" Rainbow cut Twister off with a loud yell. Suddenly, Twister was blinded when a bright light flooded the train car, and he stumbled back on his rump with a loud thud.

"HEY!! Who's in here?!" Twister cursed under his breath, and he rapidly whipped his head around, blinking away his blind spots. He could see the train car was filled with wooden crates that were tall enough to hit the metal ceiling. He turned to where he remembered Rainbow being at, and saw that the cyan mare had been blinded by the light as well. She was stumbling around while blinking away rapidly, ready to fall onto her rump. Twister knew if she fell, the noise she'd make would give their position away for sure.

Twister leaped forward, and caught the cyan pegasus before she could fall. She grimaced at Twister's touch, but she was smart enough not to cry out or audibly protest. Twister let her steady herself, but if looks could kill, he'd be a small red stain on the metal floor. He put his hoof to his lips to signal her to be quiet, then lifted a hesitant hoof to step forward.

"I know somepony's in here! Come out right now, and you won't be in as much trouble as you would be normally!" Lamest attempt at luring somepony out in history. Twister steped forward, then heard loud hoofsteps and the sound of a gun clicking. "You had yer chance, crook! Now I'm ending this myself!" Twister jumped when he heard a loud bang he recognized as a gunshot, and ducked when he heard the bullet ricochet off the metal walls.

Twister readied his own gun, and he whipped to look at Rainbow Dash. "Get out of here right now." Dash gave him another of her defiant stances, but before she could open her mouth, Twister snarled, "This is bad, 'Dash! I need somepony to get back to Leo to get help! Right now, you have to be the one to do that!" Rainbow opened her mouth hesitantly, then shut it and nodded. She opened her wings and leaped into flight, quickly flying out of the train car. Twister flinched when he heard another gunshot, but remained where he was when he saw Rainbow was still flying. She disappeared past the open car door, and Twister leaned his back against one of the wooden crates.

"COME OUT, CROOK! I SAW YER PARTNER!! I'M NOT STUPID!!" Hold on....how did this pony know there were two of them? Twister shook himself; it didn't matter right now. He knew he was there, so Twister might as well play along. Twister cocked his weapon, and he fired at the ceiling. The gun's recoil jerked Twister's hoof back, and he felt a sharp pain go up his leg all the way to his back. Dammit....it hurts to use this thing? How do any of these thugs manage to use them on a daily basis?

Twister was shaken from these thoughts when he heard a gunshot in reply, and an arrogant laugh. "HAHA! I ain't stupid, crook! I have you now!" Twister rolled from his cover and behind another crate, closer to where he heard the pony talk. Didn't he realize the more he spoke, the better chance Twister had at finding him first?

Whatever. It didn't matter. Twister waited for another signal, and when nothing came, he shot at the ceiling again to encourage the pony. The pistol recoiled again, and that same pain from before went up his leg. Twister couldn't help but cry out this time.

"I'V GOTCHA NOW!" He heard rapid hoofsteps, and knew the pony was coming for Twister. It was do or die, now. If the pony managed to get around the corner, he'd shoot and kill Twister in an instant. But if Twister spun around the corner himself, before he could acknowledge his environment, the pony would get him anyways. What could he do?

Twister chose his least favorite option; he fell back, hiding behind a crate that was just behind him. He'd be able to catch him off guard there. Twister crouched behind it, and he felt a bead of sweat roll down his brow as he waited for the hoofsteps to fall silent. Then, he'd have a better chance of killing the thug first.

Twister felt his heart race, and when he heard the hoofsteps become silent, he leaped out of cover. He pointed his gun at the pony, but his excitement disappeared when he saw his company. There was one pony, with a gun like he had heard, but a gorgon and some other chimera with wolf and boar-like qualities were with him. That gorgon....it was the same gorgon who blasted his wing off. What the hell was going on here?!

Twister realized he had waited too long too late. A gunshot fired, and Twister felt a bullet tear through his chest, and he fell crying out. Twister tried to aim his gun at his enemies, but it suddenly flew out of his hoof by magic. The gorgon caught it in midair, and it gave Twister a cruel, crooked grin.

Twister grimaced, and looked at his bloody injury. The hole in chest left blood staining his vest, and it trickled down his legs. One thought ran through Twister's head before he lost consciousness.

Rainbow, please get to Leo in time...

The Chronicles Of ARTIMUS: Book One

by AlkapwnZ

Chapter 1: The Chase.

Chapter 2: The Attack.

Chapter 3: The Introduction.

Chapter 4: The Escape.

Chapter 5: The Castle.

Chapter 6: The Truth.

Chapter 7: The Journey Begins.

Chapter 8: The Con-Artist.

Chapter 9: The Buffalo Tribe.

Chapter 10: The Contact.

Chapter 11: The Kidnapping.

Chapter 12: The Enemy.

Chapter 13: The Interrogation.

Chapter 14: The Feast.

Chapter 15: The Train.

A bittersweet announcement.