//------------------------------//
// Enter The Heroes 
// Story: Unexpected Adventure 
// by WhooshieWoosh 
//------------------------------//

"Hold it right there!"

We all turned and looked at the doorway and found that six ponies were standing there. Two unicorns, one purple with a dark blue mane and tale that had a streak of pink and purple in it. The other was white with a styled purple mane. Two earth ponies, one pink with a curly pink mane; the other with orange fur and a blonde mane. And two pegasi, one with a cyan coat and rainbow mane. The final pony was butter yellow with a light pink mane and was cowering behind her friends. (I didn't see this too clearly, I was given a description after.)

Grip rolled his eyes and grunted,

"What do you want."

The purple one stepped forward and struck a defiant pose.

"By order of Princess Celestia, I request, no, I demand you cease your looting at once! This treasure belong to the Princesses and as such, belong to us! The ponies they gave permission to to hunt the treasure! Not some greedy thieves!"

We all laughed at her speach. I mean, come on, did she really think we'd just be like, "oh! We're soooo sorry! Please, take all our gold and lock us in prison." Grip pointed at her and smirked.

"You look and sound ridiculous. Do you really think I give a damn about what your fat cat princess wants?"

The six ponies gasped and the purple one scowled.

"You should! Princess Celestia is the kindest, wisest, and most just ruler ever! And the greatest teacher ever! You should treat her with respect!"

He donned a mocking look of surprise before saying,

"Really!? She's that great!? Well I suppose I should tell you... that when you go back to her, tell her she can go without a little extra gold. Oh! and that she can feel free to take her kindness, justice and wisdom and shove them so far up her arse that they'll never see sunlight again!"

This drew more gasps and Twilight grew enraged.

"Nobody can say stuff like that about Princess Celestia! You'll be--"

"Laughing at how dumb you look? Yeah, I bet I will."

The blue one growled and flared her wings.

"Twi, these jerks are really making me mad! Can I kick their flanks already!"

"Twi" held out a hoof and took a deep breath while doing some sort of hoof motion.

"Not yet. Let's at least give the others a chance to do the right thing. It's what Princess Celestia would do."

She gave everyone else a meaningful look. (except me, they hadn't noticed me sitting in the corner yet.)

"I believe that none of you are so greedy and terrible that you don't deserve a chance to do the right thing. Help us find what we're looking for and--"

Everyone drew their weapons and got ready to fight. Twi looked surprised and said,

"What!? Why are you--"

Meril snarled.

"I personally trust the Princesses about as far as I can throw them."

Everyone nodded.

"But why!? Princess Celestia is--"

Grip slammed his paw on the ground.

"Princess Celestia this! Princess Celestia that! You ponies make me sick! You're all so stuck up and entitled that you can't imagine not getting what you want! Well let me ask you this. If all you ponies are so good and your Princess Celestia so great, where was she and the 'good ponies of Equestria' when I was in need!?"

Before Twilight could reply he pointed at her.

"Let me tell you a story. My father was a hard worker and my mother was the sweetest griffin you'd ever meet. Due to Equestria's booming economy, we decided to immigrate to Equestria in the hopes of bettering ourselves. Upon arriving, we had to pay fees and taxes so high, we couldn't afford a house like we'd planned. We moved into a dirty apartment in Las Pegasus and my dad went looking for work. Except, nobody would hire him! Why hire a griffin when you could hire a pony instead? So instead of getting a job that could support our family, my father was forced to take a job in a mail room! My mother had to start washing clothes just to make ends meet. And we still were being taxed to death by your precious Princess Celestia!"

"So, one day, my parents took me out to the middle of the desert to 'teach me to fly.' When I wasn't looking, they flew off and hid, leaving me all by myself in the middle of the desert. They couldn't afford to keep me, so they abandoned me! All because of you ponies and your princess. So, I spent three days crawling through the barren wastes in search of my parents when I arrived at a wealthy pony's farm. By that time I was starving and dying of thirst so I immediately shambled to his well and started to drink. I then picked some fruit to eat only for the farmer and two Royal Guards to show up. Rather than take pity on a starving orphan and let him have some water and a measly piece of fruit, he sicked the Guards on me. Rather than seeing a weary and scared orphan, he saw a nuisance that would cause him to lose a bit or two and Celestia forbid he couldn't afford to buy another painting that costs enough to support a family of four for his home!" 

"I spent the next few weeks begging for food along the road to Las Pegasus. Most ponies would ignore me. Some would spit at me and curse me or try to chase me off claiming that, 'delinquents like myself should go crawl in a sewer where we belong.' All these rich, entitled ponies were the bane of my existence. I lived in constant fear until one day, someone found me and took me in. You know who took in the scared, dirty orphan? Not one of the 'upstanding citizens of Equestria,' but a gang of thieves. They saw me and, unlike the ponies, they saw themselves. They had nothing because Equestria took everything! So I decided that I'd do what they were doing. I'd take from the takers! While you ponies sit in your ivory towers, sipping wine and eating cake, the rest of the world starves and huddles in hovels! So yeah, that's why we aren't too keen on giving up the treasure we fought and bled for to some fat little ponies looking to buy more crap they don't need with money Celestia gives to them. So feel free to see yourself out unless you want to go back to your princess in a bodybag."

All the ponies exchanged looks before Twi responded.

"Y-you're lying! There's no way that could ever happen in Equestria! But even if all that bad stuff happened in the past doesn't mean you can go around on a vindictive quest to rob as much of Equestria as possible! Surely the rest of you see that!?"

Cleghorn snorted and hefted his claymore.

"Yoor Princess has screwd us all oover plenty of times allready. Ahm not about ta get screwd again."

Everyone voiced their agreement and Twi sighed.

"Well, it was worth a shot. Alright girls! Let's bring these lying criminals to justice!"

The six mares cheered and blue flew forward in a flying tackle. Grip ducked but she was moving too fast to counter. Meanwhile, the orange mare with the stetson ran towards Cleghorn. As she spun on her front hooves and aimed a powerful buck at him, he held his sword out in front using the flat of the blade as a shield. There was a loud ringing as hooves met steel and both the mare and the minotaur staggered backwards.

"Oof! Yoor a strong lass!"

Orange whistled and replied.

"Same kin be said for you! Ahv never had nobody take a buck like that!"

They went back at it as the white unicorn sent a rain of sewing needles towards Meril. She lept out if the way before returning fire with her bow. As they exchanged shots, a perplexed Leaflet avoided being shot by a pastel colored cannon the pink one had brought.

"Where in Equestria would you have stored that thing!? And why is it full of streamers!?"

She ducked below another blast as the pink pony shrugged.

"Well it is a party cannon! And I didn't know if I'd need to throw a party when we got here!"

As the purple unicorn began trying to find a target for her spells while not hitting her friends, Gemlight wearily faced off with the yellow pegasus. 

"Aw appleseeds, I'm still tired from fighting that stupid toad!"

Yellow gulped and said in a quiet whisper,

"Um... I'm really not interested in getting into a fight, especially with a little filly. Can we just... call it a draw?"

Gem nodded and flopped onto the ground.

"Ugh, I still have toad slime all over me! This'll never come out of my fur."

"Oh, um... I can help you clean up, if you want. I, um, have some experience cleaning up after animal messes."

"Really? Thanks! You know, for a pony that's trying to take our treasure, you're pretty nice."

Yellow smiled and began helping Gemlight towards the pond in the corner of the room.

"Well, I do think everypony deserves some kindness."

As I wearily surveyed the ongoing battle, I realized why I hadn't been spotted yet. The corner of the room I was in had no light in it at all which meant that no one could see me clearly. Which would mean that so long as I stayed here, these ponies wouldn't see me. And if they didn't clearly see me, they couldn't tell Celestia exactly where I had been. So... I gotta find a way to use surprise to my advantage. Hm... these ponies seem like do-gooders so... oh! Genius idea! The heroes always fall for a hostage situation!

I summoned my knife and pointed at the purple unicorn (she was closest) and cast "dro." (Pull) She flew through the air and I caught her before using one arm to restrain her and the other to hold my knife to her throat.

"STAND DOWN! Or your friend here dies."

The five remaining ponies turned and gasped in horror at Twi's situation. Twi lit her horn up but I used my knife hand to punch it. (I'd learned from Cinders that that disrupted magic for a bit.) The attempted spell fizzled out and I menacingly whispered to my hostage,

"None of that now. You try that again and I'll saw your horn off."

She gulped and I reposition my knife.

"Now here's what's going to happen. You're all going to sit down and let my friends here tie you up. We'll leave you alive and you can wait for your Princess to rescue you or try to escape yourselves. If you attempt to follow us, we'll kill you all. I'll be taking care of your friend here after you're secure. Relax, I won't hurt her. Any questions?"

Blue growled and looked like she wanted to charge me only for white to scold her.

"Rainbow! We can't risk it! We'll have to follow along for now, as much as I hate to let myself be handled by these thugs. It's better than Twilight getting hurt."

Rainbow sighed and pulled her wings back to her sides. As the five ponies surrendered, my companions used some extra rope to securely tie them up and gag them before setting them all back to back facing away from the door (for added anxiety, not being able to see what's going on and all that.) With that done, I raised my knife and hit Twilight in the side of the jaw with the handle, knocking her unconscious. I dropped her with a thump and began to leave with my companions. From the muffled yells of our victims, they weren't happy I'd knocked out their friend.

"Oh please, she'll be fine. Now then, let's go."

As we left the temple behind, Grip clapped me on the back.

"Quick thinking, Drake. Glad you weren't too tired to help out. Goodness knows I wasn't up for a fight after that monster of a toad."

I groaned at the aching in my muscles and stiffness of my joints.

"Yeah, but I'll definitely be sore tomorrow. And I still can't see well."

Meril gave me a sympathetic look as Leaflet got out a strip of thick, black cloth.

"Here, it's no eyepatch, but if you wear this it should help you heal faster. Just let your eyes rest and recover. We've been building a wagon to carry the treasure anyway, so you can just ride along given your lack of sight."

I nodded and took the blindfold as we approached camp. Over dinner we told Cinders and Sunny about the six ponies and then started discussing who would get what share of the treasure. As we did, I reached into my coat pocket and drew back out the amulet from before. As I turned it over in my claws, I felt something rest against my side.

"Whatya got there?"

"An amulet. I picked it up in the temple."

"Ooh, it's shiny! Can I see it?"

I felt along her back until I found her neck and then put the necklace on her.

"Why don't you hold onto it for a while. It's really not my style."

She "oohed" before hugging me.

"Sweet! Thanks, Drake!"

I shook my head and ruffled her mane affectionatly.

"No prob, kid."

She huffed and booped my snout.

"I'm not a kid! I'm a thief! Just like you!"

"Keep trying, you'll get as good as me someday."

"Hmph!"

We spent the next day finishing the cart and loading the treasure while keeping an eye out for our unwanted guests. With no sign of them, and fair weather, we loaded our gear and began to exit the jungle.

(Meanwhile)

The mane six sat miserably in their camp, still shocked by how wrong everything had gone. Twilight sighed before levitating a piece of paper and beginning a letter.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Unfortunately, the treasure was stolen by a gang of thieves along with the amulet. We were unable to beat them, and as such, they got away. We are all unharmed, but they appeared to be very bitter towards you and told us a bunch of lies to try to throw us off. I'm sorry that we couldn't retrieve the amulet and I hope you can forgive my failure.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

She sighed as she rolled up the paper and then looked around. She groaned and slapped her hood to her forehead.

"Aw hay, I just remembered I left Spike back in Ponyville!"

Rarity cleared her throat to politely get her friend's attention.

"Twilight darling, I've always been meaning to ask. Why do you leave Spike at home when we go out on adventures? It would be useful to be able to send Princess Celestia a letter if we ever got into trouble too big for us to handle. Like at the temple for instance. My magic wasn't strong enough to free us so we had to wait for you to come to. If Spike was there he could have gotten help."

Pinkie raised her hoof.

"Or burned through the ropes."

Rarity nodded.

"Or that. Now, I understand that you want to keep him safe, and I too would hate to see my little Spikey Wikey get hurt, but I feel like Princess Celestia taught him to send letters for a reason, darling."

Applejack shrugged.

"She's got ah point, sugar cube."

Twilight groaned and slouched over.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

They all sat in silence until Pinkie said,

"Soo... was I the only one to notice the giant, dead toad? Or did you guys see that too?"