//------------------------------//
// Tall Tale VIII 
// Story: Strider 
// by Olakaan Peliik 
//------------------------------//

	Over the past month, the Tall Tale City Guard and I have been extremely busy. We got Halberd’s private finances unsealed and matched them up with much of the information Whitefeather finally told us. The information revealed several hideouts being used by the mercenary group, which we promptly put under surveillance. The information revealed many more contacts on the streets that could be exploited.

Knight Gaze and I were in Arrow’s office going over every scrap of evidence with Whitefeather’s seven-page statement in front of us. Halberd can’t elude us forever. Arrow was out with one of the new S.W.A.T teams hitting another hideout.

“We’re missing something and it’s right in front of us,” I said kicking the chalkboard with a hoof.

“It’s bugging you too?” KG asked looking over some pictures he had in front of him.

“Halberd has evaded every attempt at apprehension we throw at him. Despite us seeing him at each location mere minutes before each raid.” I glared at the chalkboard filled with evidence like it was a suspect. It might as well be a suspect, certainly felt like it was withholding information.

“Alright, we need to take a step back. Let’s go get some food in the cafeteria.” KG stood and went to the door. I took one last look at the board, feeling as though the lines and squiggles upon it were laughing at me.  

“You coming?” he called after me.

“Yeah, let’s go.” I sighed, falling in behind him.

We made our way down to the cafeteria. The guards here had definitely made a hard turn around. Many of them had just been promoted to Guard Second Class a few weeks ago. So now KG and I weren't the only ones.

Mostly they were promoted because third class guards aren't allowed to go on high-risk missions. KG, Arrow, and I weren't enough. We needed a S.W.A.T team and so far they were not disappointing. We had two S.W.A.T teams now trained and outfitted. KG and I trained with them and received our S.W.A.T certification at the same time. It was a week long class, and I barely stayed awake for the written parts of it.

KG and I got our food after getting to the cafeteria. Today's special; Mush with a side of Mush.

“What is this stuff?” I inquired, staring at the white and brown lump on my tray.

“Protein, and other things the body needs. Just eat it,” the server said as she put a spoonful on my tray.

“If you say so,” I mumbled and followed KG to a table.

We sat down on the far end of the room and began eating. The Mush tasted like apples. Didn’t look or feel like apples in my mouth. That settled it. Eating with Aurora every night spoiled me.

“You looked troubled,” KG observed.

Sighing, I spoke. “Just this case. How was Halberd able to hide this kind of thing from the guard? The intel and evidence we’ve gathered suggest he’s been with this mercenary group since before he joined the guard. I don't understand how a pony could just throw away the oath we take like it’s a snotrag.”

“The case isn’t bothering you. The fact what this case impedes on our oath is what bothers you?” KG pressed.

I was mostly poking my mush with my utensil. “It just bothers me that somepony can squash it so easily for a promise of bits.”

He swallowed a mouthful. “I don’t like it either, the oath we take in the Equestrian Army is only a few degrees off from yours.”

“If anything yours is more strictly taken.” I agreed. KG nodded taking another bite.

After some time eating KG spoke up again. “So how are we gonna find something new in the evidence if we've been through it all?”

“I have no idea. We've been looking at everything that's there and we've found nothing new.” I said rubbing the side of my head.

That moment of silence between us seemed to last long than it did.

“Maybe that's the problem,” KG mumbled as he stared blankly at his food.

I looked up at him. “What?”

“What?” he asked breaking from his trance.

“You said that us looking at what's there is the reason we're not finding any more evidence.”

“Oh, yeah. Why, what do you have in mind?” KG asked wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Your idea. Perhaps we look for what we don't see. Missing evidence is still evidence.”

“Your hypothesis is that we find the evidence where there is none?” he asked, looking at me like I had lost my mind. “How do we do that?”

“Not a clue. But still, we should look for the holes in the evidence still and treat them like pieces of evidence.”

“You're not making any sense.” KG stared at me.

“I'm making sense to me.” I pouted.

“Well, a good thing, because I'm not following you at all,” KG said finishing his meal.

“Just come on.” I got up from the table and started toward the door with my food tray balanced on my wing.

We brought out food trays to the wash bin and immediately made our way back to Arrow’s office.

“So we look for what evidence is missing.” I started.

“You said that already,” KG said sitting back down in front of his pile of pictures.

“I know that. We know he has small little storage rooms scattered throughout and around Tall Tale that he uses as staging areas.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So where is he operating from? An operation like this needs a headquarters. And with the volume of units, we've seen he needs a place to put them.”

“You're suggesting that wherever the headquarters is it has to be big.” KG started flipping through the pictures and documents. “There is a ten-acre plot of land Halberd’s family owned but never built anything on outside the city.”

“Didn't we already send a squad out there to check it out?” I asked.

“We did, but they didn't find anything. Something about rugged terrain being the reason.”

“Interesting,” I said looking over some more documents. I looked over his bank transactions one more time. “Hey, how much do you think a secret underground headquarters would cost to build?”

Knight Gaze shrugged. “A few thousand bits. Why?”

I tapped a line on the paper. “There is a bank withdrawal here. Halberd spent thirty-four thousand bits on something.”

“That would probably cover it, especially if he was going for basic functionality.” KG nodded.

I picked my helmet up off the couch.  “We should go check out that property again.”

“But we were told to stay and go over the evidence.”

“We did. We're just following a lead. If we find anything we'll just come straight back and report it like normal.”

“Well, I suppose that does fall within the parameters of the original order.” KG pondered. “Okay let's go.”

“Grab your helmet just in case.” I pointed to the helmet on the desk.

“Yeah, I know.”





The sun was encroaching down on the horizon and the light was beginning to dim. Not quite enough for flashlights yet but it was getting dark.

“I think rough terrain was accurate,” KG said looking down a hill.

It was more or less the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. Not far from where I was shot at. Not much here other than a few hoofing trails. But the hills were steep and one could tumble down if not careful.

“There has got to be something here,” I said looking down the path we were on.

KG was looking in the direction we came from. “What makes you so sure?”

I just shrugged. “I don't know. Call it a hunch.”

“Oh, great, we're out here on a hunch. That’s reassuring,” KG said sarcastically.

“See, this is how I know I’m being a good influence on you, you’re using sarcasm more openly lately,” I commented.

“Shut up and keep your eyes peeled.” KG kicked me forward with a hoof.

“So bossy,” I said jokingly, going back to look.

KG and I continued to look over every stone, under every bush, and up every tree. But we still found nothing. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I looked up to the trees, nothing there but the wind in the branches.

“You feel that?” KG asked.

I gave him a blank look. “You mean that feeling you get when somepony is watching you without you knowing?”

He returned the same expression. “Eyup.”

“Yeah, I’m getting the same feeling.” I nodded hearing a waterfall close by. “Come on, let’s keep moving.”

We made our way down to the waterfall. It wasn't very big. Only about as big a house. It fed a stream that passed by in front of KG and I. I went down to the water and got a drink.

“So if we were being watched,” KG said, “How long until they make them reveal themselves to us?”

“Oh, I’d say once we get too close to their headquarters they’ll want to have a word with us.” I started up the waterfall.

KG followed. “Yeah, but how will we know when we're getting too close?”

Just as KG finished asking his question, s crossbow bolt flew out from behind the waterfall and landed in front of me, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. “I’d say that is a good indicator!” I said as I drew my service sword. KG did the same.

Within seconds, a team of unicorns holding crossbows in their magic appeared at the top of the waterfall. Griffons and pegasi descended from the trees. All had their weapons aimed at us.

“Lotta good swords are gonna do us right now,” KG said.

I surveyed our situation. No way I could take off, and they’d shoot KG dead before he could cast his stun spell. “Stand down Knight Gaze. They got the drop on us.” I lowered my sword.

“But—” he started to argue.

“If they wanted us dead they’d have shot us by now. I’m guessing they don't want the attention that comes with murdering one of the Guard.” I reasoned. At least, I really, really hoped that was what their reasons were. It looked like KG wanted to argue but he lowered his sword as well.

Two Griffons came up to us and took our swords. “This way and no funny business, the General wants a word with you,” one of them snarled.

Halberd gave himself a promotion? Wonderful, he has an ego. They forced us toward the waterfall. A unicorn on the inside separated the water and allowed us to enter.

“Secret lair behind a waterfall. Cliche much?” I said aloud as they opened the door, trying to cover up the fact that I was about to lose control of my bladder. My smart remark earned me a hit to the nose with the stock of a crossbow.

“Shut up!” the griffon yelled.

Getting back to my hooves, I touched a hoof to my nose. There was some blood, but I’d be fine. I stayed quiet now, figuring it was best not to antagonize them further. They led us through the caves, passing quite a few offshoots that served as barracks, cafeterias, and medical rooms. There were strings attached to some bells along the walls and ceiling. A very, and comically, cheap alarm system, interesting.

We came to a reinforced door. The mercenaries knocked and then entered. Halberd sat across a desk from us. He glared at us both with a look that would’ve frozen magma into ice. “I knew when Canterlot Academy sent you two here I’d start having trouble. And sure enough, here you are,” he growled.

KG and I glanced at each other. I was curious what the scum had to say. “I purposely wanted fat and lazy guards so Tall Tale would be easy to bring to its knees. My organization would be notorious then, and we'd be rolling in bits."

“I thought putting you with Sergeant Aurora would keep you two occupied. But that search for Whitefeather prevented my mercenaries from moving undetected. So I had to leave and see that my troops knew how to move through the streets undetected.” he sighed.

“Then everything went downhill when we tried to intercept those orders from command you were carrying.” he threw a broken pencil lazily at my hooves.

Ha! I was right.

“But now you two have found us and compromised our operations in this city too much. You’ll have to be dealt with.”

“You can't kill us. That’s too messy for you.” KG said fixing Halberd with a glare.

“As much as I’d like to, you are right. I can’t. Even if we did, your bodies would turn up eventually. Then the trail would lead right back to me and my comrades. No, I think we’ll put you in our slave shipment.”

“Slaves?” I asked, somewhat alarmed. “There haven't been any missing pony reports at the compound.”

Halberd grinned. “No, because all the ponies we took were living on the street or had no families to miss them. You two will be the only ones who don't fit that criterion.” He looked at his soldiers. “Bring them down to the holding cells for processing.” He waved. “And make sure that cargo shipment is ready. Our employers are paying us good bits to get it into Equestria and I want to be able to negotiate a bonus!” He yelled at his subordinates.

They lead us away from Halberd’s office and down further into the caves. I’ll admit I as underwhelmed with the lack of sophistication this headquarters had. I was expecting an underground version of the Guard Compound. Alas, this was not the case. It was little more than a cave.

They lead us down some pathways through the rocks and to a large area where some crude cages stood. They opened an empty cage and shoved us in. “Stay here and stay quiet.” an earth pony merc said locking the cage and heading back out of the chamber.

Once they were gone, KG spoke up. “We are screwed,” he said negatively.

I turned to him. “Hey, I don’t want to hear that defeatist attitude. I wanna hear you upbeat,” I said firmly.

KG gave me a deadpan look and then plastered on a fake smile. “We are screwed!” he repeated in a cheery voice this time.

I nodded. “There you go.”

“So got any bright ideas?” KG said moving to examine the locking mechanism on the cage.

“Not yet.” I looked up at a hole in the roof of the cave. Big enough for me to fit through carrying another pony. I looked around the cave. There were only about six other ponies, four earth ponies and two pegasi with their wings bound.

“Hard to believe that some places in this world still practice slavery. I was reading an article on the Dragonlands last week and not even they look down upon us like that.” KG poked at the lock with his magic. “Hm..” he pondered.

“Find something?” I asked moving back to him.

“It’s a very crude lock, but proof against magic. I might be able to open it if I just had—” he looked at me.

“What?” I asked just as his magic flared and I felt some of my feathers being pulled out. “Owch! Hey!” I protested.

“You wanna get out of here or not?” he asked, ignoring me and putting my feathers into the mechanism.

“You could have warned me,” I pouted.

“If I told you, it would have hurt more. Now shut up and stop being a wuss,” he said, listening to the lock as he picked it.

You're a wuss. I snapped back in my head.

I watched him work the lock. After a few minutes of him slowly fiddling with it, there was a resounding click and the cage door swung open. “Awesome,” I grinned. “You think you can go get the key to the rest of these cages from the guard out there?”

“He’s an earth pony. He won't know what hit him. Be right back with that key.” KG trotted up the walkway without another word.

I went over to the cages to reassure the others. “It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna get you out of here.” They were all covered in dirt and grime, but their eyes expressed hope. Hope was good, it was better than fear.

“Done.”

My heart leaped up into my throat and I spun around at the whispered voice. KG appeared next to me, flipping the key around in the air, half-smirking after accidentally scaring me out of my wits. “Let’s get them out of here and report this like you said we would.” He unlocked the first cage.

“Could not agree more,” I said lifting the first pony up and out of the caves. The tunnel led up to a plot of green grass, upon which I set the former prisoner down before diving back in for the others. One by one I lifted up each of the six ponies out. KG used a spell that reduced the weight on the earth ponies so I could carry them. Finally, all that was left was KG. “You ready?” I asked turning back to the hole.

At the bottom, I could see KG nodding. Just before I leaped back down to get him he was tackled by a griffon. An alarm went through my mind and I dove faster. Landing at the bottom I looked for them. KG was holding the griffon back with a shield spell, but the griffon was battering it relentlessly, and the magic barrier was starting to crack. The griffon punched the shield hard, and Knight Gaze stumbled back, dazed.

I leaped for the griffon and shoved him aside. I charged forward and swung at his head. He ducked and swiped his claws at my exposed stomach. I spread my wings and flapped over his head, landing behind him. He looked around, having lost track of me. I took advantage of his confusion and bucked him hard in the back. He grunted and fell to the ground, skidding a few feet.

I closed in to finish him off, but then he spun around, a vicious grin on his beak. A small crossbow was in his claw, aimed right at me. The sharp, triangular-headed bolt was already nocked and ready. I froze instinctively, my eyes on the arrow that was pointed at my heart.

Suddenly, a bolt of green magic flew through the air and struck the griffon in the head. His eyes rolled back and he fell to the floor, unconscious. Knight Gaze was back up on his hooves, his horn glowing with magic.

“Me saving your life is becoming a habit,” he groused, grabbing some nearby rope on the ground. We tied up and gagged the griffon and locked him in one of the cages.

“Okay, time to get out of here,” I declared, grabbing Knight Gaze and lifting him up through the tunnel.

Joining the ponies topside we lead them back to the Guard Compound.





The ponies we rescued were now getting a warm meal and all writing statements about their abductions and treatment at the hooves of their oppressors. But that was in another part of the compound, being overseen by warrant officers and medical ponies. KG and I were with both SWAT teams and about twenty of other Guards that volunteered to go and help take the caves.

“Numbers won't help them in those caves, we have the advantage with our training,” Aurora addressed everypony as we got ready to go. “Alpha team. You go with Strider and I through the back and enter that way. Charlie, you’ll backup Alpha. Bravo will assault the front gate with Sergeant Arrow and Knight Gaze. Delta, you’ll provide backup for Bravo.”

It was a basic plan. It left room for each team leader to make adjustments on the fly. I loaded an automatic crossbow that I had selected from the armory and tucked it over my shoulder.

I followed Aurora onto one of the transport wagons that was being pulled by pegasi. Their job was to drop us off, and pick us up once we were done. The flight was quiet, and we were dropped off without incident. KG was leading his teams to the front entrance, just as I was leading mine to the hole in the ground that provided air to that end of the cave.

“Down there. That small clearing,” I said, jumping out of the wagon and leading them down. I quickly found the hole and stood by while the others landed.

Aurora trotted up. “Alright, boys, by the book on this one. Strider, since you’ve been down there before, I want you on point with Colossus…” She pointed to a particularly large earth pony wearing excessively heavy armor. “His armor is designed to take a beating so you can use him for cover.”

Colossus jumped down the hole without hesitation, or help, I followed. Once down at the bottom, I used my wings to walk on my hind legs while holding the crossbow. It’s harder than it looks, don't try it at home kids.

Colossus moved to the corridor entrance to cover it. I looked at the cage where the griffon still sat. He was still tied up and looked seriously pissed off at this point. He glared at me while I just chuckled at his annoyance. I signaled for Aurora to start allowing ponies to come down.

It took a few minutes for everypony to come down but eventually, we were all there. “Lead the way,” Aurora said.

“I only know the way to Halberd’s office from here so everywhere else is fair game,” I informed her.

“That’s fine with me,” Aurora confirmed.

I nodded to her and took point with Colossus. He was built like a wall, but Atlas was bigger. I kept my eyes forward and I could hear the S.W.A.T. team cutting the crude alarms, and quietly securing the rooms as we passed. The few mercs they encountered were put down quickly.

Good thing these crossbow bolts were dipped in a fast working tranquilizer, I had to drop a few merc guards patrolling the paths. So far so good. We were coming to a fork in the path: one way lead to Halberd and the other to the front entrance.

As I rounded the fork I came face to face with another guard, KG no less. “Friendly,” he called, holding up a hoof to stop me from shooting.

“Hello,” I responded not coming up with the proper response quick enough. “If I recall there aren't any other rooms other than Halberd’s office.”

“That’s what I remember as well,” KG nodded.

Sergeant Arrow joined us at the fork. He turned to First Sergeant Aurora who came up behind me. “We got all the mercs secure and being moved out of the caves right now back there.”

“Good. All that’s left is Halberd. KG, Strider, with us. The rest of you make sure all of those scum get a not-so-nice cell in the Cage back at the compound.”

“Yes sergeant,” a guard saluted and ran off back down the corridors.

“I’ll take point,” Aurora said heading down the path toward Halberd.

Aurora had a shield up as she walked forward, Arrow had a sword in his teeth, KG was sporting a spell and sword combination. I was merely following with the crossbow holstered. I liked hoof-to-hoof combat better.

We reached the doors. Aurora and Arrow on one side and KG and I on the other. Nodding to one another we burst through the door. KG and Aurora reading their spells, Halberd didn't bother looking up. He was just sitting at his desk doing paperwork.

“It’s rude to barge into somepony's room,” Halberd said cooly.

I was immediately on edge. I nudged KG, getting his attention. “Have a shield spell ready. I have a bad feeling.”

KG just nodded and switched spells. I watched Aurora approach Halberd.

“Halberd, you are under arrest for crimes against the city of Tall Tale, and Equestria. You will return to—” Aurora started.

Halberd’s horn flared silver light and a wave of magic burst from him like a shock wave. KG was prepared and threw his shield around the both of us, but the spell knocked Aurora and Arrow into the wall and off their feet.

KG dropped his shield spell and started firing stun spells at Halberd, who was using a shield construct to protect himself as he moved toward the door.

I broke left toward the door and circled around Halberd, I jumped at him and tried to grab him but he ducked and I crashed into the stone floor.

Halberd attempted to stomp my head with a hoof but I was quick to get up and buck him in the side. With his concentration broken KG hit him with a stun spell, but only slowed him. Halberd countered with a blast of his own that knocked KG down.

I jumped on Halberd’s back and wrapped my forelegs around his neck, I used my hind legs to keep his forelegs from flailing. With a flap of my wings, I lifted up a little and put him in a chokehold that was intensified by his own weight.

Halberd’s hind legs kicked and bucked. He was struggling for oxygen, choking and gasping as he struggled futilely to get me off him. Luckily for him, I was only going for unconscious, not dead. Once Halberd’s eyes shut and he stopped kicking, I dropped him.

Landing I checked on him. I put a hoof on his neck to check for a pulse. His heart was still beating, which was good-ish. KG came over after getting back up and zapped Halberd with a stun spell for good measure.

KG nodded satisfied. “That'll do it.”

“Yeah. Perhaps we should check on the other two and get some help?”

“I'll get some help.”

I waited for KG to leave the room. Once he was gone I went over to Aurora. “First Sergeant?”

Aurora groaned.

“First Sergeant, you alright?”

“Tell me you got that mercenary scum,” Aurora groaned, feebly opening her eyes.

“He's out cold,” I informed her. For professionalism’s sake, I tried to keep myself from showing how relieved I was.

“Good, now go check on Arrow. Pretty sure he got hit too.”

“Yes First Sergeant.” I stumbled over to Arrow, my knees shaking with emotion.

Fortunately, Arrow was okay. Some more guards arrived with a medic, the Guards dragged Halberd out of the caves and the medic made sure that Aurora and Arrow were alright. We’d captured all of the mercs, freed the hostages, and taken no casualties doing it.

All in all. Today was a good day.