//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3:On The Run pt 1(unedited) 
// Story: The Day the Sun Stood Still 
// by TheGentleSpike 
//------------------------------//

Melody was walking through a dark forest, alone without a single soul around. She was drawn further and further into this lonely place by something just ahead, she couldn't tell what it was but she was determined to find out. The sounds of her hoofsteps got louder and louder each second, this carried on until a soothing voice called out to Melody.
 
"Melody, come here my sweet little angel.."
 
The voice clearly belonged to a female. Her voice made Melody calm and was, in a strange sense, alluring. She started to walk faster and faster, desperate to find the source of the voice. She felt like finding this voice would let her escape from all the worries she has in life. That all the fear, the pain; everything that goes wrong in life would never trouble her again. Eventually, she caught up to the source of the voice. It was a mare, Melody could not make out any of her details since a fog surrounded her.
 
Before Melody could say a word to the figure, the floor broke apart. She tried to scream as she fell down into the abyss but her mouth wouldn't open. Tortured wails filled the air as she fell, coming from all directions. The voice sounded familiar to her, but at the same time, it was alien to her. 
 
After what seemed like an eternity, she hit the floor. Despite the long distance, she didn't feel any pain. She slowly got up, looking around she realised she was in complete darkness. In only a couple of seconds, light filled her eyes. She was disorientated by the sudden brightness forcing her to close her eyes, after a moment she slowly reopened them. She seemed to be in a long corridor, it seemed to be endless on both sides. She squinted her eyes as she looked in the distance, a stallion with glasses was staring at her.
 
"Dad....is that you? Daddy!"
 
The figure turned around and started walking away. She ran after them "Dad!It's me!Come back!" the figure ignored her shouts and carried on walking. Despite running at a much faster speed than the walking stallion, she couldn't catch up to them. Eventually, the stallion stopped and turned around. He looked at Melody as she ran towards him. He gently smiled as she got closer and closer. Before she could reach him, a mysterious force sent her flying through the air.
 
She hit an invisible wall and landed on the floor. As she got up, she heard a strange sound. When she looked ahead, her father's smile had turned unnaturally wide. Before she could do anything, the part of the corridor where he was standing on was broken apart. A titan sized Mantiquus burst from the floor and ripped the stallion apart. It then turned it's two heads towards Melody, unlike most Mantiquus this one actually had mouths. It opened them up as it roared, rows upon rows of sharp teeth filled both of them.
 
Melody turned and ran as the creature gave chase. The corridor broke apart and fell into the abyss as the creature tore through the building. The screams of ponies filled the air as she ran. She began to get smaller and smaller as she ran until she was eventually the same size as a filly. Tears flowed from her eyes as she ran faster and faster. The screams were getting louder, every once in a while one of the screams would sound like a cry for help. Melody was soon blocked by a wall. 
 
As she looked up, she realised the wall was actually a large cage. Hundreds of ponies were trapped inside, screaming and calling for help. They pushed their faces against the cage and pushed their hooves though the holes in the cage. Their pupils were unnaturally large and there were tiny cracks in their skin, small amounts of blood leaked from these cracks. They reached for Melody as the screaming stopped, now they were just calling for help. Melody backed away as they reached for her. "No....no, I can't help you! I'm sorry!" she cried as she said this. 
 
A loud roar caught her attention. She turned around, realising the large Mantiquus had caught up to her. Before she could react, a large stallion forced their hoof through the cage. It was too large and split apart, turning into a claw like appendage. It grabbed her around her throat and kept her still. She could only scream as the creature opened up it's mouth and lowered it's head.
 
Melody woke up covered in sweat. "Oh...just a nightmare..." she said in relief as she looked around. She was in a comfy bed. Another bed was in the other corner of the room, it was fairly spacious. The door opened revealing Thunderhoof. He was not wearing his armour. He had a tray on his back filled with food, he carried it over to a table in the room and sat down. He looked at Melody.
 
"Your finally awake, good." He gave a gentle smile as he said this.
 
"Wh-What happened? We were in the cave surrounded and-" she was cut off by Thunderhoof.
 
"You paused when the Mantiquus appeared, eventually you passed out at some point but I didn't really notice, I was busy fighting. As for how we escaped without being killed? Well, we were very lucky..."
 
Thunderhoof told Melody about his fight with the Two Mantiquus. He used his hooves and wings to emphasise what was happening. He eventually reached the part where the Mantiquus had its blade like leg on his throat.
 
"...I thought I was going to die. I closed my eyes and prepared for the end, when I heard a roar. I opened them up and you will never guess what had just happened....a Manticore had came out of nowhere and ripped the Mantiquus last head clean off. The commander guy, he was really pissed off. I mean, it took him a while to respond since he was dumbfounded at first. Can't really blame him, I was too. Manticores don't tend to just appear out of nowhere and save a random pony from death." He took a bite from a sandwich on his tray and continued the story.
 
"Anyways, so the commander got angry and fired some magic at the beast. It got knocked into the wall and I thought that I would have to get up and fight again, try and escape. At the time, it didn't cross my mind that it could of simply been hunting for food and was just trying to eat all of us. Luckily it wasn't, and I didn't have to fight at all. A whole horde of Manticores charged into the cave and started attacking the soldiers. I knew this was my opportunity so I scooped you up, you was passed out at this point by the way..."- he paused for a moment "I then carried you out of the cave, I am not sure if they noticed us because the sounds of fighting was very loud and I was focused on escaping. You are surprisingly light by the way. I managed to escape and not only that, but managed to carry us to Ponyville...I managed to be lucky enough to not run into any trouble in the forest. I rented a nice little room in an inn too, I needed a good rest after carrying you all that way. I mean, you are light, but I had to walk a long distance very slowly with a mare on my back." he said.
 
"Wait, you rented a room in an inn....with a passed out mare on your back...what?" Melody asked
 
"And we are on wanted posters too!...It was pretty easy, I covered up my face with this-" he showed off a mask and hood "and I just told them you were drunk, the owner of this place has a mother who gets drunk a lot so she bought the excuse...oh, and I carried you so she only saw your flank, not your face, don't worry." he smiled as he said this.
 
"That last part was random, but thanks for saving me from that cave. I was not looking forward to dying...by the way, why aren't you wearing your armour?" she asked
 
"Oh...they would recognise me if I did. I took off my armour, as well as yours, I couldn't carry them so I hid them in the forest. It is hidden really well so don't worry." he answered
 
"You hid our armours in a place where someone could take them? Someone could easily steal them!"
 
"What else was I supposed to do? Besides, if someone does steal them, we can get replacement armour when we get back to base, but we can't get another life if the guards capture us and kill us"
 
Melody sighed "I suppose that is true...we better head back and report our findings to-" Thunderhoof quickly stopped her from getting out of bed
 
"Whoa there, you need to rest up and heal. You may have had time to regenerate your mana but that ankle is still sprained. Drink this and rest in bed for a couple of days, besides...we aren't going back to base anyway." he gave Melody a potion.
 
She drank it before asking "What do you mean? We have to report our findings to the Knight Commander"
 
"Actually, she may have given me extra orders. They said that if the cave had an important purpose, which it did, with the unicorn doing that measurement stuff he claimed was important or whatever like you said; I would have to investigate whatever that was and find out more about it, and if it was some sort of powerful weapon or whatever, retrieve it."
 
"Why didn't I get told about this?" Thunderhoof looked around awkwardly when she said this
 
"You see...the Knight Commander was getting angry with your failures, and came up with a plan. This isn't the first time they investigated something like this, this suspicious activity has been happening all over Equestria but we never found out what. The others sent to investigate were all killed due to high security or other complications. This mission was also expected to fail as well, so she thought that you could be used as bait so the other, me, could escape with the information.  You was supposed to die so I could succeed in this mission...so technically, I disobeyed orders by saving you..."
 
They stopped talking for a bit once he said this. Melody seemed to pause for a while as she processed this information. "That....that bitch. I didn't want to get discharged but...sending me out to die?! I would rather she did that than....-" Thunderhoof covered her mouth with a hoof.
 
"Calm down, we have bounties on our head and don't want to draw attention to ourselves by shouting loudly. That doesn't matter right now, we focus on the mission. This seems really important for our fight against the Queen, who is much worse than our Knight Commander, and doing this may get you more respect from the others and possibly even her. So, focus on this now, revenge plan or whatever on the Knight Commander later, ok?" Melody nodded as he said this, he removed his hoof from her mouth.
 
"How are we going to do this when I am resting in a bed though? I don't care about my leg, I have to do something" she said.
 
"What you need to do is rest, as for the mission....I am going to think of something. Even if you weren't injured, we have no idea how to find out more. I am going to take a little walk around town, just  stay here ok?" He smiled and walked over to the tray full of food. "Here, you can have rest of it, don't worry, I haven't touched any of it." he put the tray on her lap. After this, he put on the hood and mask and left the room . He gently shut the door.
 
He walked down the corridor and went down the stairs, ponies staring at him as he went past. It covers my face but make me look suspicious...wish I had a more normal way of covering my face. 
 
As he walked out, he was stopped by two guards.
 
"Excuse me sir, but have you seen these two traitors" one was a unicorn and the other was a earth pony, two papers showing the faces of Thunderhoof and Melody was levitating in front of his face. Of course...why didn't I think of this before. It is so obvious....
 

-----Canterlot Castle-----

 
The unicorn commander walked towards the throne, a mare was sitting on it. She was an earth pony mare with an amulet around her neck. She had a dark green coat with a light green mane and tail. Her amulet had some sort of gem in the middle, it was glowing red. Her eyes were glowing the same colour. The amulet itself was confusing, it would appear as a different shape with different patterns depending on the pony viewing it. The only thing that remained consistent was the gem in the middle.
 
Standing next to the throne was a massive stallion, big enough to make a Chimera look small. This pony was feared by all, he didn't have a name but was nicknamed "Gold Smasher" due to the high amount of guards he has killed. It wasn't the most creative name. The most notable feature was his two forelegs, the hooves were split and had metal stitched into the skin, making them look like claws. His coat was dark blue. Heavy armour covered most of his body, except for his hooves. The helmet on his face covered all except for his eyes and mouth. Visible bulging white veins could be seen around his mouth.
 
"So...I hear that you are the only surviving guard from the incident. I read all about what had happened in this lovely little report you wrote. Tell me....why shouldn't I kill you? Beg for you life" the Queen glared at the commander as she said this.
 
"But, your majesty...the researchers managed to survive. I completed the objective of the mission, I have not failed-"
 
"Do not finish the sentence, you have indeed failed. 36. 36 elite unicorn guards all dead, killed by a bunch of Manticores, filthy stupid animals. This failure was because you ran away. Don't lie to me, the researchers apprentice saw this from the shadows. The rest died because you got scared. You attacked one, then ran when the rest came. You ran like a coward, and now you will die like one" she nodded to the large stallion.
 
He smiled and walked towards the commander. Before the unicorn could react, he grabbed them by the throat with one of his claw-like hooves and ripped his head clean off. He then crushed it in his grip and dropped it onto the decapitated body.
 
"Excellent work, Crusher. Guards!-" two ponies covered in armour approached the throne "Take this pathetic excuse of a commander to the creature development team, tell them to use it for project 78. They will understand." The guards nodded and took the body away.
 
"My lady, now that the traitor is dealt with, how shall we deal with this situation. The animal attacks are a problem we cannot ignore any longer."
 
"Do not worry yourself, my loyal subject. We all know who is responsible for these attacks. Soon, thanks to our torturer, we shall find the element of kindness and add her to my little garden outside. I hate having an incomplete collection after all..."
 
Somewhere in the dungeons of the castle, a large red stallion was chained to a wall. The door opened, revealing a unicorn. They were wearing a robe with a hood and mask, the only feature showing was their horn.
 
"Hello Big Macintosh, so nice of you to finally join us. It was quite rude of you to hide and cause trouble for our kind Queen, but that shall be forgiven. We just need some information from you. We know you was in an....intimate relationship with the element of kindness and since you was found hiding in the Everfree forest, it stands to reason that you were working with her. So tell me, what's her secret for getting deep into the forest without being killed by the local magic? I would appreciate it so much if you would let me know...."
 
Big Mac simply stared at the unicorn, not saying a word.
 
"Silent, eh? Thought you would have more spirit in you, the other members of your family did. I heard from the Queen how aggressive Applejack was before she turned her into a lovely little statue. I also heard that your granny had actually tried to attack her you know, hobbled on over slowly and tried to whack her with a pan. I heard she gave a nice scream before she was decapitated by a guard..." Big Mac tried to move forward, the chains barely holding him back. He spat on the unicorns mask.
 
"Ah, anger and spit, I see we aren't in the mood for being friendly. Must of hit a sore spot. Oh well, guess that means I will have to try other methods" the unicorn used magic to lift up a needle, he injected Big Mac with it. Immediately he felt pain where the chains were touching his skin.
 
"Do you know what this does? I don't know how it does it, but the effects are marvellous. They increase the sensitivity of the pain cell receptors by a large amount, making even the slightest touch painful-" to emphasise this, he picked up a knife with his magic and ran it slowly across the skin of Big Mac. He screamed in pain, it wasn't even cutting him but he felt like it was tearing through his flesh "It also ensures you cannot go unconscious, so the pain won't make you pass out"
 
The unicorn put the knife down and picked up a pair of pliers "Now that the boring part is done, lets start with some fun shall we?-" he forced Big Mac to open his mouth by punching him in the stomach, he then grabbed a tooth using the pliers and slowly ripped it out of Big Mac's mouth, causing him to scream. "I have a feeling you are going to be very eager to talk soon...."