Taming the Wild Horse

by SFaccountant

Metalleus

Taming the Wild Horse
a My Little Pony/Ranma 0.5 crossover fanfiction
by SFaccountant

Chapter 4
Metalleus

"Is this where they're holed up?"

"Yeah, that's what Grapes said. They just looked for a building with a big enough hole in the side for them to carry the wagon right in and then set up camp inside."

"Weird that they're not keeping a lower profile. Nearly every thief in the Gulch rushed to tell us these ponies were here and that they were causing trouble. You'd think somepony with such a big bounty would be more careful."

"Like I've been TELLING you guys, causing trouble is Havoc's entire MO. The only reason he hasn't been locked up in a Canterlot dungeon is because he thrashes every guard and bounty hunter that finds him, not because he's hard to track down!"

"So how are we supposed to handle him? We're supposed to take him alive, right?"

"Not just alive. We're supposed to bring him in willingly..."

"So we talk him in. And if that doesn't work... Bribes? You brought money."

"I guess, but... I dunno. I have a REALLY bad feeling about this."

Outside a ruined windmill, a dozen armed bandits sat in front of a boarded-up house under the cover of darkness. The area was almost completely unlit, with no torches or lanterns coming from the town in general. The most obvious source of light was coming from within the windmill itself; a fire had apparently been lit within the ruins, and the glow cast a shadow of a fully-loaded traveling cart across the ground outside the gutted structure.

Under normal circumstances, the shadow itself would have been an inviting curiosity to investigate. The setup was practically perfect for a smash-and-grab: surround the building, find some entry points, and then beat down the owners and make off with the wagon. But these were far from normal circumstances, and it was setting the thieves on edge.

"It's like they're inviting us in," Air Raid growled, his eyes narrowed at the gaping hole in the windmill's base. "There's no way that these two are this sloppy. Not after they tangled with local punks as soon as they got into town. This is a trap."

Hammer Time grunted. "What does it matter? We're not here to fight." Despite that questionable assertion, a large iron maul was strapped onto his back, and he had a set of armored greaves on.

"But THEY are," Raid retorted. He aimed a foreleg - and the miniature crossbow strapped to it - toward the light. "How long do you figure they're going to give us to explain ourselves before tearing through us?"

"Luna's tail, you're such a foal!" another stallion snarled, walking past the other bandits. "Unless you're volunteering to explain to Morning Star why we gave up before these saps so much as threw a dirty look at us, stop whinnying and get a move on!"

Air Raid tried to shush the other ponies, but they had apparently tired of waiting. They walked toward the windmill, creeping across the ground with practiced stealth. Hammer Time led the procession, his head held low and his hoofsteps nearly silent.

Something in front of him caught his eye, and he suddenly froze. Every other bandit paused in an instant, their muscles tensing like coiled springs.

"Well, well, well. Look what I found," the unicorn whispered, staring at the ground. His horn started to glow, and a slight glimmer of reflected light ran up a length of twine stretched across his path. He slowly followed the line up to a broken fence, and then up to a pair of empty tin cans pinned to a post. "Classic alarm trap. Aren't they clever?"

One of the other thieves plucked a pouch from their belt, and then blew a bit of chalk dust into the air in front of them. Another length of twine was soon visible after the dust settled, stuck into the ground on one end with a nail and pulled taught to a different noisemaker.

"If they were relying on these things to catch us, then we might just catch these fools unaware," Hammer chuckled as he stepped over the tripwire.

"And that helps us... how?" Air Raid asked.

"Ponies tend to be a lot more... agreeable when they're scared," Hammer explained while he advanced again. He was moving even more slowly now, and testing the ground gingerly with every hoofstep. "What'll they think when they expected to hear us coming, only to wake up with us standing right over them?"

"They'll probably think 'Gee, it was nice of the rotten criminals to announce themselves after evading our alarms rather than killing us in our sleep. We can destroy them now,'" Raid replied bitterly.

"Raid. Seriously. Stop your moaning, will you?" Hammer Time growled as he approached the breach in the wall. He let his horn dim to nothing, satisfied that there were no more obstacles between them and their targets.
Sliding up next to the opening, Hammer carefully leaned in to take a look inside.

Much of the interior was obscured from his angle by the wagon, but he had a decent view of the camp site. A blue unicorn mare wearing a purple hat sat in front of a small, crackling fire. She was looking over several scrolls, and her horn hummed with pink energy while she read. Laying on the ground next to her was their target; he was curled up under some blankets, but was instantly recognizable thanks to his pigtail.

Hammer narrowed his eyes, and then pulled back from the breach.

"Snipes, you seeing this? Looks like the Great and Powerful Nobody is waiting up for us. Havoc is fast asleep," the burly unicorn whispered.

An earth pony with a large crossbow leaned over to get a look, and then nodded silently.

"So the dangerous one isn't awake? Good," Air Raid sighed. "Maybe we can make a deal with her."

"Deal? The hay with that," Hammer Time scoffed. "Snipes, take her out."

Only Raid's professional commitment to stealth kept him from crying out in fear. "What? What are you doing? Don't do that!" he hissed.

The pony designated as "Snipes" glanced from one bandit to another, confused. Then he unslung his crossbow and clamped it onto an aiming brace on his foreleg.

"Morning Star said to take the mare out if we could get away with it. We have the drop on 'em and Havoc is asleep. Looks like an opportunity to me," Hammer explained.

"You're going to kill her right next to her partner? Are you insane? At that proximity he could be woken up by the blood splatter alone! How do you figure we're going to talk our way out of that?"

"Good point. If we're going to do this, we have to do it right," Hammer admitted. "Snipes, make sure she doesn't land on top of our target, okay? Stocks, sneak around the wagon and get ready to move the body the second it hits the ground."

"No. No, don't any of you do any of that!" Raid snapped, barely managing to keep his voice down. "We can't play things this fast and loose! Especially not when we're trying to get on this stallion's good side!"

"Raid, would you stop being such a wimp about this? You just need to come up with something to tell him when he wakes up and sees us instead of his mare."

"Do you think that's easy? What the hay is wrong with you?!"

"What's 'wrong' with me is that I'm actually trying to follow Star's orders, while you're just looking for a way to weasel out of them."

"Getting our skulls kicked in by an enraged super-criminal isn't going to get this stallion into her bedroom, Hammer!"

As Air Raid and Hammer Time whispered to each other, Snipes kept his gaze fixed on his target and his crossbow at the ready. He had a perfect angle on the blue magician already, so he'd be able to execute her at his leisure. The shot was too perfect, almost. It was a bit strange. After they had been ambushed already, announced themselves to the entire town, made themselves easy to find, and even set up traps for the inevitable encounter, had they really arranged themselves so that a single quick arrow or throwing knife could take down their sentry as soon as they dropped their guard? It was common enough to overlook vulnerable firing angles, surely, but the situation just felt off.

The unicorn mare shook her head and then glanced up, spotting the bandit watching her. She froze, staring straight at Snipes, and then blinked.

At that moment, Snipes made his decision and surrendered himself to his special talent. The crossbow snapped up and a hoof gently tapped the release lever. The bolt was launched into the air, and the mare's eyes widened in shock as it darted toward her forehead.

Then the bolt passed straight through the magic mirror, breaking it into a thousand motes of pink light before vanishing entirely. The projectile cracked noisily against the stone wall of the windmill, and then bounced harmlessly onto the ground. The stallion sleeping on the floor, apparently not illusory, suddenly snorted, and his ear twitched.

Raid and Hammer froze, and their heads snapped around toward Snipes. Snipes slowly pulled himself back behind the cover of the wall while droplets of sweat started rolling down his head.

"Snipes? Snipes, what happened? Did you get her?" Hammer Time asked.

"Did you miss? I heard the bolt hit stone all the way from here! You're going to wake up Havoc!" Air Raid complained.

Snipes flipped a fresh bolt into his crossbow from a leg holster, but the motion was automatic; his eyes seemed unfocused and he had a slightly unnerved smile on his face.

"We... might have screwed up, guys," the bandit sniper said with a rueful chuckle.

"How? You DID miss? You never miss!"

"I didn't miss," Snipes whimpered, his ears flipping down. "That... That isn't really the problem..."

The sound of flames igniting came from above, and the bandits started in surprise. Several torches bolted to the side of the windmill ruins suddenly lit up in bursts of pink magic, and light spilled over the criminals covering in the yard. Every one of the bandits recoiled at being suddenly exposed, and then they heard an airy chuckle coming from above.

Their heads turned up toward the fan of the windmill. The silhouette of a laughing unicorn was stretched over one of the blades, but the scattered light sources made it confusing as to where the shadow was cast from. By design, no doubt.

"And you mules must be the 'real' bandits. Morning Star Gang, was it? Trixie is gratified that you were so quick in falling into her trap! Trixie didn't want to lose too much sleep while shutting down your entire criminal operation here!"

"What?!" Hammer Time stepped back, scowling up at the shadow. "You think you're going to shut us down? The Morning Star Gang? Is your horn on straight, filly?"

"I told you! I TOLD you guys!" Air Raid groaned, hanging his head.

"To be honest, even Trixie was doubtful at first about our chances. But after seeing how easily you clods were lured into an obvious setup, Trixie feels she was badly overestimating you before. Would you like to surrender now, or lose some teeth first?"

Snipes' expression went from fearful to furious in an eye blink, and the stallion hopped back before raising his crossbow to aim at the fan. "Big talk from somepony hiding in the shadows! Why don't you step on out and-"

A hefty stone block suddenly flew out of the hole in the windmill and slammed into Snipes. The shooter was thrown into the air by the impact, and he cried out in pain before he skidded into the ground hard and ended up with a mouthful of dirt.

Ranma slowly walked out of the windmill foundation, his gait sluggish and his eyelids half-open. The bandits leapt into action, scrambling away from their cover until they surrounded the martial artist on all sides.

The martial artist paused to sit down once he was out in the open, and his jaw stretched into a gaping yawn.

"... So... This feels like a good time to mention that we're not actually here to hurt you or rob you!" Air Raid said nervously.

Ranma finished yawning and then tilted his head toward the pegasus, looking annoyed.

"Ah, yes. That makes total sense. You snuck past our alarms, surrounded our camp site, and then tried to put a spike through Trixie's face so that we could have a calm, peaceful chat." The torches around the windmill sparked with magic and suddenly burned brighter, causing several of the criminals to flinch. "Do you think Trixie is stupid or something?"

"Mistakes were made! We definitely miss-stepped with that last part!" Raid shouted desperately. "But we're actually here to-"

The sound of weapons being drawn interrupted Air Raid before he managed to finish pleading his case. He turned an incredulous gaze toward Hammer Time, who was now levitating his maul in a combat stance. The other bandits had likewise readied their weapons, and were slowly positioning themselves to pounce on their pigtailed target.

"What... What are you DOING?" Raid asked incredulously. "Did you forget why we're here?"

"We're here for the pigtailed dope," Hammer said grimly. "But they're not going to listen to us. Not when they set up this whole thing to take us out in the first place! Given the circumstances, I think Morning Star wouldn't mind if we carried him in with a broken leg or two. And gave the mare a shallow grave outside town."

"Honesty is refreshing, isn't it?" Trixie chirped. "Now remember, Havoc: we need one of them awake and non-concussed enough to answer questions after this!"

Ranma stood up and nodded sleepily, looking for all the world like he was trying to stay awake in the middle of a ring of blades.

"Cheeky little brats... Get 'em, boys!" Hammer Time shouted.

The first of the bandits launched their attack. One of them fired a leg-mounted crossbow, while another leapt for his flank with dagger bared.

Ranma flipped backward, neatly avoiding both attacks. Once the dagger-wielding pony completed his missed swing the martial artist was already leaping forward again, one hoof chambered to retaliate. He slammed into the bandit's shoulder, sending the rogue skidding across the ground.

Ranma paused only a second to take in the movements of the other ruffians, and his ear twitched. Hammer's maul swung down on an arc of bright blue power, smashing into the ground while its target bounded away. The ground erupted all around the impact, kicking up a hefty spray of cracked dirt and rock in Ranma's wake, but he barely spared the attack a lingering glance.

He closed with another bandit - this one armed with blades strapped to his hooves - then sharply rolled out of the way. The raider reacted with impressive speed, shifting his weight and aiming to slash to the side, but Ranma pumped a kick into the side of his head first, sending him spinning away. Another hop avoided another crossbow bolt, narrowly missing his ankle.

Another bandit was already sprinting to attack from behind, and Hammer's maul was spinning toward him in some sort of strange, magic-powered boomerang-style attack. Ranma darted forward, narrowly evading a short sword swinging for his rear, and then ducked into a slide under the hammer.

"EEYAAAUGH!" the rogue screamed as the flying hammer smashed into him, breaking his short sword and several of his ribs into pieces. The bandit hit the ground in a twitching heap, and Ranma glanced up at the windmill.

"Come ON, you useless mules!" Hammer Time growled. His maul came swinging back to him, and then stopped dead with a pulse of blue magic. "Just pin him down for two seconds and I'll finish... huh?"

A loud whistling came from above, along with strobing colored light that illuminated the battlefield much better than the handful of torches attached to the ruins. The bandits spared a glance upward, and their eyes bulged as several multicolored, flaming rockets arced down toward the lot.

The magic fireworks exploded just above the ground, splashing fans of hot neon sparks over the dirt. The bandits flinched away, either lightly scorched by the explosion itself or at least briefly blinded and deafened by the detonation. Hammer Time reared up and whinnied, kicking his forelegs into the air.

An impact crashed into his chest, striking him off his hooves and knocking the wind out of him. Ranma bounced away while Hammer rolled into the dust, and the floating maul quivered in the air before it too fell into the dirt.

The martial artist landed in a sprint, already darting toward the next criminal while they tried to put out the fires on their tails. The relentless sound of hooves striking flesh and the bandits' howls of pain filled the cool night sky soon afterward. If they had stood any chance before, with their target surrounded, outnumbered, and mildly drowsy, that advantage had been burned away by the firework barrage. Half the raiders still had spots in their eyes and ringing in their ears when they were knocked out by a sudden blow to the jaw.

Trixie snickered to herself while she watched the combat by way of a strategically-placed magic mirror. She didn't think Ranma would have struggled to defeat the bandits in a straight fight after they'd lost the element of surprise, but with a bit of magical support the cursed stallion was unstoppable.

She tilted the mirror slightly and spotted the big unicorn pushing himself to his hooves. That one seemed to be some sort of leader, or at least had a much more impressive attack than the others. Hoisting an iron maul and swinging it capably was far beyond the telekinesis skills of the average unicorn, and even Ranma wouldn't be able to shrug off an impact that could shatter stone. Trixie's magic touched the Alchemist's Heart once again, drawing its elemental energy into a spark at the tip of her horn.

"So that's how you're hiding from us!" shouted a voice from behind, startling the unicorn. A moment later a throwing knife pierced the magic mirror, instantly breaking it apart.

Air Raid landed on the platform behind the mill's fan, one foreleg aiming his mini-crossbow at Trixie. He didn't fold his wings after landing, and Trixie could see the glint of steel among the feathers.

The magician scowled, annoyed that she had lost track of one of the combatants. "If you want to wake up with teeth tomorrow you should probably put that weapon down, featherbrain."

Raid kept the crossbow centered on the unicorn's head. "No. Call off Havoc. Then we can come to an agreement where EVERYPONY gets to go home in one piece. How does that sound?"

"GYAAAAAH!!" a pained scream from below caused the pegasus raider to flinch. It was followed by the sound of cracking stone, and then agonized sobbing.

"Trixie would guess it's a little late for that. Wouldn't you rather surrender instead?" She smirked, raising a hoof. "If you give up and tell us where your hideout is, then we don't even have to beat you! You can wander off and we'll go track down your boss."

Raid's feathers ruffled angrily, to the point that one of the hidden knives slipped loose and fell down. "That's EXACTLY what I've been trying to do, you moron! We're here to bring you to Morning Star!"

Trixie's smirk instantly turned into a scowl. "Good! Then put drop your weapon and lay down!"

"No, YOU call off Havoc and put down that magic jewel!" Raid retorted. "And hurry, before that psycho stallion kills somepony! I'm serious!" He sat back on his hind legs and placed a steadying leg on his hoof crossbow.

Trixie hesitated a moment, and then turned to the side. "Fine, have it your way. HAVOC!! STOP BEATING UP THOSE LOSERS AND GET UP HERE!!"

Air Raid glanced down at the field below. Ranma, who was in the middle of stamping on a bandit's face, paused and then looked up. Their eyes met, and the pegasus felt a chill crawl down his back.

Raid heard a popping noise, and his attention snapped back to Trixie. An expanding cloud of smoke was exploding around the magician, obscuring her from the bandit's view.

The pegasus raider felt a surge of panic, and he fired his crossbow into the shroud.

Ranma raced toward the windmill, scanning the outer wall for cracks and protrusions that could be used to climb up in a hurry.

A feminine shriek came from above, and his heart leapt into his throat. No time for climbing, then.

His speed tripled in an instant, and a haze of fiery blue surrounded the stallion. He vaulted into the air, striking the wall at an angle, and then dashed straight up the side. He passed by the platform in an eye blink, and then pushed off the wall at the same time that Air Raid drew his sword.

The pegasus knew as soon as he heard Trixie's scream that his plan to halt the fight had failed. When he spotted his target dashing up a vertical surface in front of a streak of mysterious cerulean energy, he knew that the fight was surely lost as well. If anything, the rumors he had heard concerning Havoc had been badly understated the danger of fighting him rather than being flighty exaggerations. While they often credited the mysterious stallion with abilities that shouldn't be possible for an earth pony, none of them bothered to mention that he also traveled with a reasonably astute and capable illusionist.

Ranma's hoof struck the floor just after Raid leapt away, smashing straight through the hefty planks and shaking the entire platform. He kicked his leg in Raid's direction, tearing his hoof free of the hole and sending much of the splintered flooring around it scything toward the bandit. Air Raid clenched his teeth hard around the grip of his scimitar, feeling the shrapnel strike his leg armor and stab into his chest and side. A substantial chunk of the flying splinters also tore into his wings, ripping dozens of feathers free and causing his flight to waver.

Ranma leapt. Raid swung his blade to meet him. Ranma's leg lashed out like a scorpion's tail. A ringing impact and a flash of blue briefly stunned the pegasus, and before he knew it his sword was sent spinning away through the air. Ranma landed behind the bandit, facing away, and bunched up his rear legs.

"GYAAAAGH!!" the bone-shattering kick sent Air Raid flying into the ruins of the windmill. He barreled over the stairwell, smashed through the rickety railing, and crashed into the wall opposite the fan. The pegasus whimpered painfully, and then slowly slid down the cracked stone onto the floor.

Ranma hardly spared another glance at the bandit, racing over to Trixie. The magician was lying on her side near the wall, with her eyes squeezed shut and her teeth clenched. The cause was obvious: a small crossbow bolt had pierced her hip, barely missing her cutie mark.

"Oh no, oh god, oh geez!" Ranma stood over the magician protectively, panic starting to overtake him. "Trix! Trix, are you okay?! Speak to me!"

Trixie winced, and then opened her eyes to glare at the martial artist. "Trixie took a sharp object to the leg, Ranma, not an explosion. Trixie isn't deaf. Stop yelling."

"Oh! Oh. Okay," Ranma snapped his head back and forth anxiously. "You need a bandage. I'll get a bandage! We have those in the cart, right? Or should I-"

"RANMA," Trixie interrupted. "Get it together, would you? This thing is practically a splinter. Trixie will be fine. Are all the bandits down?"

The martial artist recoiled. "Uh... I'm not sure. Maybe?" He glanced out toward the mill's fan, frowning.

"Well, Trixie hopes not, because Trixie's plan still requires one of them with enough sense and bits of jaw left to talk." She started to push herself up, gritting her teeth against the pain in her thigh.

"Whoa! Hey! Hold on! You don't need to move! I'll take care of it!" Ranma shouted, dashing around Trixie in a panic and waving his hoof.

"Oh, hush. This wound is barely more than a bee sting," she retorted, standing up fully and lifting her injured leg gingerly. "Look, it's hardly even bleeding! Now get your plot down there and captu-"

A tremendous crash came from below, and the wooden floorboards shook under their hooves. Trixie immediately stumbled from trying to balance on three legs, and Ranma pressed his hoof gently against her side to steady her.

"Wh-What was that? An earthquake? That didn't feel like an earthquake!" Trixie complained, looking around the room. She and Ranma were currently on the second floor of the windmill, which consisted of a ring of rickety wooden planks built around a large central shaft and a stairwell in the back. The floor had several holes already due to wear, lack of maintenance, and whatever incident had ripped open the wall of the structure down at ground level. After the recent tremor - whatever its cause - the floorboards were starting to come apart and collapse entirely.

Another loud impact came from below, followed by the floor shaking again. Ranma, having a great deal of experience in the various sounds of violent demolition, recognized it as a wooden support beam being smashed through.

Sections of the flooring started falling down, and Trixie staggered backward while trying to avoid putting weight on her leg. Ranma felt the boards under his hooves start to tilt, and he made a decision.

"Hold still and stand up straight!" the martial artist ordered. As soon as Trixie stopped trying to back away from the damaged flooring, Ranma ducked underneath her barrel, between her front and back legs. Trixie yelped as he stood up again, now carrying the magician on his back.

Another crack came from below, and the floor fell away underneath them.

Trixie gasped at the sudden feeling of weightlessness, and she clung tightly around Ranma's body as best she could from her position. Ranma kept his eyes down, tracking the debris collapsing around him and locking on to the safest landing spot.

His back leg lashed out, striking a floorboard and pushing him out of the way of several wooden planks splintering against the ground. Turning slightly to keep his passenger balanced, Ranma's hooves touched the ground, landing with a gentle tap. Trixie bounced slightly at the impact and squeaked, pinning her head down under her hooves while pieces of debris still crashed to the floor around them.

"Looks like that mare is pretty important to you..." snarled a nearby voice. "Why don't you give up before something BAD happens to her?"

Hammer Time stood next to the hole in the wall of the windmill, scowling at the two travelers. A thick wooden support beam, formerly lodged at an angle between the wall and the floor above, lay in front of him in two pieces. His maul hovered above the wreckage, floating in a cloud of azure power.

His horn pulsed, and the maul trembled as the magic around it swelled. "Seems like it would be hard to dodge with a pony on your back, huh? Why don't you put her down?" The maul rose higher. "When you do, I'll drop the hammer. If you move, your marefriend is paste. If you don't, you get knocked out, I leave the mare alone, and I'll carry what's left of you to Morning Star."

Trixie felt Ranma's muscles shift under her belly. He was planning to engage the bandit anyway, probably while still carrying her. "Ranma, don't you move a muscle!" she barked.

He stopped immediately, and his muscles relaxed.

"Ranma? What? What's a 'Ranma?'" Hammer asked, arching a brow.

"Me. I'm Ranma. Ranma Saotome," Ranma explained with a sigh.

"You are? I thought your name was Havoc."

"No, Trix just calls me that and everyone else picked up on it. My real name is Ranma Saotome."

"That's a weird name. You should stick with Havoc." Hammer Time nodded solemnly.

"SEE? Trixie told you!" Trixie shouted triumphantly.

"I don't care! My name is Ranma!"

"Everypony but you likes Havoc better! You should just change it."

"I'M NOT CHANGING MY NAME!" Ranma shouted. "Why are we even talking about this? Weren't you about to bash us or something?"

"Right! Yeah!" Hammer Time grinned, and his horn glowed brighter. "If you're not going to drop the mare, then you'll both... wait... HEY!"

A glance up at his maul immediately revealed the problem. Where before the weapon was surrounded by a bright azure aura, now half of the swirling magical energy was a rosy pink. The maul quivered back and forth while the magical energies dueled for control, and droplets of sweat started rolling down Hammer's brow.

"Let go of my hammer, you stupid brat!" Hammer Time commanded, taking a step forward. His horn's magic pulsed, and the blue energy crackled and surged.

"If Trixie is being honest, you're actually quite skilled at this," Trixie admitted through clenched teeth. "But Trixie isn't just skilled! Trixie is the BEST!" Her horn flared as well, and the pink magic surged back against the blue.

Ranma watched the magical struggle silently for several seconds, saying nothing while the unicorns grunted and murmured curses under their breaths. Then he turned his head to look at Trixie.

"Yo, Trix, can I move a muscle now? I don't think he can take a swing at us like that."

"What? Oh, right. Yes, that's fine. Just give Trixie a moment to get down..."

Hammer Time did a double take, and his expression started to turn from frustration and anger to panic and fear as he watched the magician lower herself onto the floor. "H-Hey, wait, this... this isn't fair! You c-can't just-"

As soon as Trixie was standing on her own hooves again, Ranma bolted for the last of the bandit intruders. Hammer threw a hasty kick forward in defense, but the martial artist didn't even bother to dodge. Hooking his leg under Hammer's, Ranma flung the larger stallion across the room, slamming him into a pile of debris.

The magic resisting Trixie's levitation broke, and her pink aura engulfed the raider's maul. Trixie sighed in relief, and then cut off her spell. The massive weapon dropped straight to the floor, making a hefty web of cracks in the stone.

"Now, then..." Trixie turned, her gait slightly awkward on three legs. "Time for Phase 3 of Trixie's plan."

Hammer Time groaned and shifted among the pile of wood and stone underneath him, and then he started to stand.

A hoof touched his back, and then none-too-gently shoved him back down into the debris. The bandit hissed against the pain and looked up nervously. Ranma stood over him, a single foreleg holding him down and his eyes narrowed to slits.

"All right, bandit goon! Spill!" Trixie shouted. "Where is Morning Star's hideout?"

"The old mine off of Metalleus Station!" Hammer Time answered immediately. "About a mile north there are some old, wrecked train tracks. Follow them heading east and you'll find the station! From there just head to the mountain range that makes up the valley wall; there's a series of caverns carved into it where they used to mine silver! Metalleus! That's our hideout!"

Ranma blinked. "Wow. I didn't really expect you to put up much resistance, but still..."

"We only came here to bring you back to the hideout with us, idiot! Why would I try to keep it from you?!" Hammer snapped. "You're the ones who insisted on fighting even after Raid tried to explain!"

"That would be the pegasus lying at the base of the stairs, right?" Trixie asked.

A tortured groan came from that direction, confirming her guess.

"He did say something like that before he shot Trixie, so Trixie is inclined to believe you about where your hideout is." The magician nodded sharply. "So, we have a destination. Ranma, you can knock him out now."

Hammer's eyes widened. "WAIT BUT I TOLD YOU WHAT YOU-" He was cut off with a sharp crack when his head was slammed against a floorboard, and a moment later he slumped into unconsciousness.

Trixie turned around toward her wagon, clicking her tongue when she noticed it was covered in chunks of debris from the floor above. "Blast. These punks really made a mess of this place. Trixie is almost impressed. It's no wonder the local guards couldn't handle them." Her horn glowed, and one by one the various floorboards and hunks of masonry flew away from the cart on streaks of pink light.

"Trix? Do you, uh, want me to help you with your leg now?" Ranma asked.

Trixie paused in her task, looking back at her bodyguard. Ranma's head was lowered, his ears were pinned back, and there was a definite note of anxious fear in his voice. Trixie couldn't help but find his mortification amusing.

"Trixie can take care of it," she assured the stallion, giving a disinterested glance at the crossbow bolt.

"Well, um, yeah, but... I just thought..." Ranma trailed off nervously, and Trixie quickly filled the gap in their conversation.

"Trixie knows exactly what you're thinking," Trixie said smugly. "You're feeling guilty because Trixie got hurt under your protection, and ashamed because Trixie predicted this sort of thing would happen when you decided to take on the bandits to begin with."

She limped over to the wagon, which didn't especially help Ranma's mood. A few blankets and boxes were levitated out of the way, and then she floated a particular pouch into the air.

"But you needn't bother. Trixie was right; so what? You may have noticed that Trixie is ALWAYS right." The pouch dropped in front of the unicorn, and her magic tugged the drawstring loose.

Ranma raised a hoof as if he was about to protest that point, but Trixie kept going. "When Trixie agreed to this goal and concocted this plan, Trixie also predicted and accepted the risk of sharp objects to the flank. That's part of the territory when a pony takes on armed criminals, and Trixie won't be scared off by a little pinprick like this."

A flash of pink surrounded the bolt's fletching, and then the projectile was pulled free. Despite her earlier bravado, Trixie squeaked in pain as the bolt fell to the floor, and her voice shook slightly when she continued.

"R-Really, something like th-this is b-barely even worth a bandage," the magician insisted, blinking away tears while she levitated a gauze patch against the bleeding puncture wound.

"Hey, make sure you disinfect that!" Ranma interrupted. "You're lucky enough it wasn't poisoned, but who knows where these jerks' weapons have been."

"Yes, yes, FINE," Trixie groused, taking a bottle of sanitizer balm and towel from her first aid bag. "While Trixie is doing this, you go around and carry the bandits outside. Drop them in a big heap in the middle of the road."

"Why? What're we doing with them?"

"Let's call it a down payment on the big bounty. Plus, these dolts supposedly like making 'examples' of their victims... Trixie thinks some turnabout is fair play." A wicked smirk crossed the magician's muzzle, and her eyes narrowed at Hammer Time's insensate body.

Then the levitating towel touched her wound, and she squeaked in pain again. "Ow! Ow! Ow! It stingssssss!"

Hammer Time had lived most of his life as a brawler and criminal. He had been in his fair share of fights, and had suffered plenty of brutal injuries, mishaps, and the occasional painful defeat.

None of these experiences prepared him for the bone-wracking misery that assaulted him when he cracked his eye open this particular morning. Light flooded his pupil, surges of pain flooded his brain from every sector of his body, and a wave of nausea rolled over him like a cattle stampede. The only incident that had even come close was a particularly nasty training accident when he'd been practicing a boomerang swing with his maul and failed to stop it in time.

And all that was before he realized he was tied up and surrounded.

The ropes had been strung around the entire gang of bandits, with some strands running between their bodies and some others just pulled taut around all twelve of them. It wasn't an exceptional binding, and any single one of the rogues could have escaped easily, even being disarmed, had they been in any condition to flee. Alas, several of the stallions were still blissfully unconscious, and those who were awake could do little more than groan and whimper.

And then, of course, there were the townsponies.

Possibly the entire population of Trotter's Gulch had formed a ring around the equine raiders. They glared, whispered to each other, and a few of them seemed to be carrying farm implements and improvised weapons. Of course, the remaining population of the town was something like forty ponies, and they were far from intimidating on their own, but being savagely beaten and restrained had a way of changing the balance of power.

"Wh... Wha happened?" Hammer gasped, his voice coming out dry and weak.

Several townsponies stopped speaking to each other and stared down at him, their expressions like stone.

"I warned you," Air Raid moaned, streams of tears slowly dribbling down his cheeks. "I told you we shouldn't have crossed him. Why? Why doesn't anypony listen to me?"

"I really didn't believe it. But maybe I was wrong about those two after all," said a new voice.

The crowd on one side parted, allowing a single pegasus mare to trot down the street. Every citizen and bandit knew her well; she was the only barkeep in Trotter's Gulch who had managed to remain open despite the constant bandit activity.

"You know what happened?" asked a townspony.

"Who did this? Are they coming for us, next?" asked another.

The barkeep had a bottle of dandelion ale wrapped in the feathers of one wing, and she stopped to take a long gulp before meeting Hammer Time's gaze. Her eyes narrowed.

"Naw, they ain't coming for us. They're here to take out the trash, s'all." A smile crossed her lips. "The general bounty on members of the Star gang will fetch a pretty penny. Mighty kind of our Great and Powerful hero to leave you to us."

Hammer Time snorted, and he finally managed to find his voice. "You'd best think again, wench. Even if those idiots managed to get the drop on us, you can't seriously think they'll take down the entire gang, much less Morning Star! Your 'Great and Powerful hero' will be buried in a ditch soon enough!"

The pegasus took another swig from her bottle while the unicorn fumed, and then smacked her lips. "Yeah, probably."

Hammer blinked. "Then you know you can't get away with turning us in, right? You lay a hoof on us, and you'll pay for it tenfold. You'll all pay!"

The other bandits - those that were awake and lucid, at any rate - glared up at the surrounding ponies. Some of the citizens flinched back, feeling unsure, while others silently seethed or kicked angrily at the dirt.

The barkeep tilted her head to the side. "Yeah, that's probably true too." She lifted her bottle to her lips again, guzzling the rest of the ale.

"Cripes mare, it's like an hour after sunrise," Air Raid mumbled.

Hammer Time sighed calmly, trying not to show how relieved he was. "Smart. Now you all just clear off. We'll get out-"

He was suddenly silenced when an ale bottle smashed against his cheek, shattering in the process. The unicorn screamed as the pain of his headache surged, to say nothing of several brand-new lacerations from sharp glass.

After sucking in air through his teeth, he cracked his eyes open to see the town bartender leaning in and glaring, almost nose-to-nose with him.

"No. Not this time, bandit scum," she snarled, pressing a hoof against his aching chest. "You've pushed the ponies around here too hard, and too often. You think we're going to bow down now, with you and your boys beaten and bound in a heap in the streets? You think we're that weak? That broken?"

"Y-You can't do this. You c-can't!" Hammer protested, his voice catching due to the pain flaring in his chest and head. "M-Morning Star is going to t-tear all of you apart! You m-may as well h-hang yourselves!"

"We'll see what kind of shape the big, bad Boss Star is in after those two troublemakers have a go," the bartender sneered, backing away. "Who knows? Maybe this is the kick in the flank we needed to get rid of you varmints once and for all. But you lot are gonna hear about it from behind bars!"

"You... That... It can't-"

The pegasus mare whistled. "Everypony, feel free to take a few swings at these losers. We don't want none running off, so we'll need to soften them up for the ride outta town. I'm gonna go get a cart team together."

"You're crazy!" Hammer Time gasped. His horn started flickering as he fed magic into it through the agony of his headache. "You're going to get everypony kill-"

A hoof slugged him in the side of the head, and his vision went fuzzy.

"W-Wait, I-" another hoof struck him, and he started to black out. All around him, the townsfolk leapt onto the captured and terrified bandits, venting the anger at their oppressors that had so long been held in check.

"Stop it, you-OOF!"

"Please! Please, no, I-GAH!"

"I told you guys! I TOLD you this would happen!" Air Raid wailed. "Why doesn't anypony-GRK!"

"...... Hey, Twilight? Are you asleep?"

Twilight Sparkle jerked slightly, and her eyelids snapped open. "What? No. What's wrong?"

She started looking around in concern. She was in a train car with Spike, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Spike had a half-eaten gem in his claws while he looked up at her, while the other two mares seemed to be playing cards. She couldn't find anything wrong; the train was still moving at a good clip through the countryside, and the car was otherwise empty.

"Nothing's wrong," Spike admitted, "but you've had your eyes closed for like ten minutes straight. Aren't you going to read?"

Twilight smiled slightly and shook her head. "No, Spike. Not this time. I need to keep checking the direction to the MacGuffin Stone. If the direction starts to shift, it will give a clue as to its distance. If its starts shifting quickly, we'll know we're almost on top of it! With no information to go on except a heading, I can't get distracted for too long."

"Where's it now?" Applejack asked. She was holding her cards out in a fan in front of her, and Rainbow Dash had a wingtip poised over them, peering closely at the farmer's reaction.

Twilight closed her eyes, and then pointed her foreleg. "There." She was aiming toward the front of the train, and just off to the left.

"So... the same direction as when we left the station?" Spike asked.

"Yes. Almost. I'd say there's been a shift of a few degrees since we set out, but very minor." Twilight opened her eyes again. "Which is good! The further we can get while traveling by train, the better! Once the heading is no longer in a similar direction to our path of travel, we'll probably have to head out on hoof."

"Ha! You lose again!" Rainbow Dash's laugh interrupted Twilight's explanation. The pegasus was grinning at Applejack, who was pouting at the sight of her one remaining card: the deck's Joker, which featured a picture of Discord on the face pointing and laughing at the viewer in much the same way Rainbow was.

"That's three rounds in a row! You're the worst at Old Mare!" Rainbow taunted.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Dash," Applejack groused. "Twi, you given any thought as to what yer gonna say when we actually track Ranma down? What if he ain't happy t'see us?"

"What? Why wouldn't he be?" Twilight asked, blinking.

"Well, far as Ah can tell, this cowpone's been hounded as an outlaw since he left Ponyville. Ya think he's just gonna sit down with an Equestrian Princess and Celestia's student and then come back with ya 'cuz ya asked nicely? If Ah were him Ah'd probably be a little upset with y'all."

Twilight frowned, furrowing her brow. Spike shook his head decisively.

"Nah. Ranma doesn't think like that. He doesn't care that Twilight's a Princess. He actually likes her a lot!" the young dragon explained.

"He d-does?" Twilight looked as surprised as the other mares, and her cheeks darkened slightly.

"Really? Didn't she nearly kill him?" Rainbow asked, causing the alicorn to flush even worse.

"Well, yeah, but he doesn't seem to care. Twi was really nice, and I guess that stuck out to him. He was really surprised that we tracked him down because we were worried about what happened to him!" Spike paused, scratching his head. "I... I don't think he had any real friends where he was from. I mean, he complains about Equestria all the time, but when he talked about his own world he didn't seem to really miss much about it. I feel like if he wasn't turned into a pony as soon as he arrived, he'd be pretty happy here."

"Ah reckon it don't help that he has an angry mob after his head here in Equestria, either," Applejack mumbled.

"Well, no, but apparently that was a problem in the other world, too." Spike chuckled awkwardly while the mares stared at him. "He, uh... he gets in a LOT of fights." Then he cleared his throat. "But anyway, I'm just saying, I don't think we have to worry about Ranma being mad at Twi or not trusting us. If we have any problem convincing him to go back with us, it'll probably be trying to separate him from Trixie."

Rainbow and Applejack shared a glance with arched eyebrows. Twilight frowned.

"Well, it's not as if Trixie can't come along as well, but I doubt she'd want to. Why would it even be a problem? He's just her bodyguard, right?" Twilight asked.

"That's what they say, sure. But I'm not buying it," Spike said, his eyes narrowing. "Those two are... well..."

The mares all leaned in slightly while staring at the dragon, hanging on his every word.

"... Well, it reminds me of some of the couples we've met in Canterlot," he said eventually. "Like, the ones that would complain and snipe at each other constantly in public, and you can't figure out why they're even friends with each other if they annoy each other so much, and then somepony tells you they're actually married."

Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked as confused as before, but Applejack chuckled knowingly. "Oh, Ah get it. Yeah, Ah know the type, all right. They say those're the happiest couples behind closed doors, if ya catch mah meaning."

"I don't," Rainbow Dash said, tilting her head to the side. "Are you saying that Ranma and Trixie are special someponies?"

"It sure didn't seem that way when I met with the two of them," Twilight said uncertainly. "Trixie insisted she was Ranma's employer..."

"Yeah, they say they aren't a couple," Spike admitted, crossing his arms over his chest. "But I dunno. There was this... energy between them when I was there. Like I was intruding on something just by being around. And when Trixie got mad and it looked like she was going to leave him, Ranma begged her to let us keep following her! They've gotta be closer than they let on."

Twilight frowned. "So you think he wouldn't come with us? Even to clear his name?"

"I don't know. But if Trixie doesn't want him to leave, you'll probably have to talk her into it rather than him," Spike shrugged. "Anyway, whatever happens when we track him down, I seriously doubt Ranma's going to be mad at you. You haven't done anything wrong."

"Except blow him up," Rainbow added quickly.

"Don't make me regret asking you along, Dash," Twilight grumbled. "I have to admit, an objection from Trixie would be something I hadn't anticipated. But until we find out whether the MacGuffin Stone is with Ranma again and what he hopes to accomplish with it, I can't guess as to why he or Trixie might object to coming back with us."

She closed her eyes and turned her thoughts to the ancient artifact that she sought.

"I'm getting more movement. The direction is shifting a little more quickly now. We'll probably have to disembark in a few stations."

"The faster, the better," Rainbow Dash grinned. Then she slapped her deck of cards. "New game?"

"Yer on!"

Atop a rickety wooden bell tower, a ragged-looking earth pony peered into a telescope and scanned the distant roads for any signs of approach.

Long ago, during a more prosperous time, the tower had been used by the battered train station next to it, announcing imminent arrivals and departures. Now both structures were on their last legs. The station had been looted, gutted, and half of it had been burnt down. The bell tower had been reinforced well enough to keep standing while its timbers slowly rotted away, but its bell had long since been stolen and melted down for scrap.

The station now served as a bandit checkpoint and scouting post, allowing the Morning Star gang to keep watch on some of the traffic between the towns. This particular morning the sentry was keeping watch for his fellow raiders, however. The team that had left the hideout the previous night had been expected back long ago, with or without their objective.

That they hadn't returned yet didn't necessarily mean they'd failed. After all, their prey might have fled Trotter's Gulch or hidden themselves too well to be discovered in a single night of searching. But as the hours passed without any sort of sighting on the main road, the sense that something had gone wrong began to grow.

A knock came from the wall of the tower.

"Boss Star wants an update. What've we got so far?" A pegasus stallion hovered near the back of the tower, his eyes peeking over a bandanna pulled taut over his muzzle.

The earth pony glanced back with a frown. "We've got nothing."

"Nothing? It's almost noon!"

"I noticed. No word from the Gulch. No messages, no signals, no unusual activity."

The pegasus groaned. "Boss Star isn't going to like that. She's been real excited since last night, and you know how much she hates being out of the loop."

"Well, if you want to go check out the town yourself nopony's stopping you. But I've got nothing." The earth pony dropped his telescope and slumped to the floor of the tower with a sigh.

After a short pause, the pegasus stepped into the tower loft and folded his wings. "Hey, do you know what this is even about? Why does Star care so much about some random stallion passing through the area? This isn't like her!"

The other stallion snorted. "It's EXACTLY like her. You think this is the first time she's done this? You're pretty new here and you're not much to look at, so I guess it's not a surprise you don't know Morning Star better." The pegasus glowered, but the earth pony continued regardless. "From time to time she catches a glimpse of some good-looking stallion she's never actually met and then becomes obsessed for a week or so. It happens often enough that some of the guys used to think it was part of her heat or something."

The bandit waved a hoof in the general direction of Trotter's Gulch. "Most of the time it's just some local that caught her eye for one dumb reason or another. She'll have him foalnapped, have her fun with him, and then eventually she'll get bored. After that they're just another one of the gang. Unless they refuse to work as a bandit, in which case..." He drew a hoof across his neck.

"... Most of the time?"

"Yeah. Sometimes it's not so simple, and things get... complicated. We don't operate very well outside of the valley." He grimaced. "One time she insisted she wanted some random stallion nopony had heard of that she'd seen in a Photo Finish gallery. Didn't even know his name! The guys spent almost a month trying to track him down before she let them give up, and she was surly for weeks afterward. This other time she decided she wanted Prince Blueblood. PRINCE BUCKING BLUEBLOOD! In that case he was easy to track down, but we didn't even get to talk to him before somepony got in a scuffle with the Royal Guard. We were lucky everypony managed to get away! Boss Star was furious. She seriously wanted to attack his countryside villa and just take the Royal Guard head-on! Then someone slipped a stolen copy of Cosmare in her bedroom and we never heard about it again."

The pegasus slumped against the wall of the tower, looking annoyed. "Why do you think Star does it? She's got plenty of stallions!"

"For the same reason she keeps stealing even though she's already rich: she enjoys taking things - and stallions - more than she enjoys owning them." The earth pony stood up again and raised his telescope. "I'm just glad that her psycho-crush is actually in the region this time. If you thought she's antsy now, you don't want to see her after pining after a photograph for a few days."

The other bandit mulled that over silently while the sentry went back to his duties.

"Whoa! Hello, there," the sentry said suddenly, fixing his telescope on a certain point in the distance. "Looks like somepony wandered in when I wasn't paying attention."

The pegasus perked up immediately. "Is it one of the guys?"

"No. Looks like... a blue pony in some sort of dumb wizard hat. It's heading for the train station."

"... That sounds kind of like the mare Grapes was talking about. Is it a mare?"

"Uh... maybe. Size looks about right, but I can't get a good look with all the tree cover. I barely caught it thanks to the color."

"Okay, well, is there anypony with her? Havoc is supposed to be with her!"

"Hmm... No. I don't see anypony else. I wonder if-"

He stopped talking when the timbers creaked under his hooves. Then a steady, wooden thumping came from below; the telltale sound of somepony ascending the ladder rapidly.

"Hey! Who goes there?!" the sentry shouted, whirling around. His fellow bandit leapt upright as well, and promptly went to draw his short sword.

He didn't get the chance. Ranma jumped up into the tower, slamming his forehead against the pegasus bandit's nose. He recoiled, surrendering his only possible opportunity to land a blow while the martial artist jumped onto the platform. Ranma sped past the winged raider and struck him in passing, kicking the pony's head into the side of the platform wall. The entire bell tower trembled at the impact, and several ominous creaking noises came from below.

The sentry already had his own blade drawn, but Ranma didn't look terribly worried as he approached. "Hey, I just wanted to check and make sure we were on the right path. The bandit hideout is over there, toward the mountains, right?"

The sentry growled an unintelligible battle cry and leapt forward, swinging his sword for Ranma's neck. Ranma shifted to the side with uncanny speed, and then slammed a hoof into the rogue's cheek and pinned his head against the wall. The sword tumbled onto the floor, bouncing away until it eventually slipped off the platform entirely and plummeted to the ground.

"Look, if you won't tell me, then we'll just have to wait until Trix gets here. If you think she'll go easier on you than I will, you're in for an ugly surprise," Ranma explained.

"Okay! Okay, just... just calm down!" the sentry said, his voice quaking and sweat beading on his forehead. "What are you doing here? Did the others find you?"

Ranma frowned. "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be the one asking questions."

"Look, it would help me out a lot if I knew I don't need to lie about anything, okay? Cut me some slack!" the bandit begged. "Morning Star wants you brought in anyway! You don't have to hurt anypony!"

"I don't know what this guy wants with me, and I don't care," Ranma said with a snort. "I'm gonna take all of you down! The villagers can figure out what to do with Morning Star after I'm through knocking him around a little and leave him in the middle of town with the rest of you jerks!"

The bandit blinked repeatedly. "Uh... Morning St-URK!" He yelped in pain when the pressure against his skull increased considerably.

"Bandit hideout! Mountains! Yes or no?" Ranma snapped.

"Yes! Fine! It's definitely in the mountains! No more! Please!" the raider gasped.

Trixie walked alongside the battered train tracks leading to the station, moving with a slightly awkward limp to put minimal pressure on her injured leg. She was obviously vulnerable at the moment - slowed, highly visible, and surrounded by rough terrain that could easily hide a dozen armed ponies from sight - but for now she was unconcerned. The bandits weren't expecting trouble to come crashing through their front door today, for whatever reason. Personally she was far more worried about thieves stumbling on the spot where they had hidden her wagon.

It's very strange that this Morning Star pony wanted to speak to Ranma without necessarily hurting him first. Does he want to recruit him? But that would be a dangerous proposition to make to an alleged rebel. Not all criminals are alike, after all. And Ranma's bounty is higher than Star's!

Trixie didn't really believe the bandits' claim that they had come in peace, but she found the more obvious explanation for their behavior equally questionable. Certainly the fight had resembled a botched diplomatic meeting more than a botched assassination attempt or a botched robbery, and the raiders had been far too eager to give up information.

A wail of terror came from above, and Trixie tilted her head to the side. A second later an unfamiliar earth pony hit the ground in front of her, bouncing off the hard-packed dirt and rolling to a stop just inches from her hooves.

"B... B... Bones..." croaked the stallion, his legs twitching and tears streaming down his face.

"So they did have sentries. These bandits really are disciplined," she mumbled, stepping over the quivering pony. She turned her head up and shouted toward the tower. "RANMA! Make sure there are no ambushes waiting! These thugs have half-decent defenses, and Trixie doesn't want any more bolts in her flank while you're sneaking around ahead!"

Ranma's head poked out of the bell tower. "I didn't find anything other than these two, but I'll check again. That guy next to you said we're on the right track to the hideout, though!"

"H-Help..." the bandit moaned, reaching out one leg toward Trixie.

Trixie didn't slow her pace, walking out of reach of the raider and closer to the train station. Ranma slid down the side of the bell tower and then hopped off near the bottom, immediately dashing off again.

The path up to the mountain range that bordered the valley was properly desolate and lacking any obvious signs of bandit activity. Some gangs might have spruced up the area around their hideout with scary signs, defensive barricades, or morbid examples of unfortunate victims, which generally defeated the entire point of a "hideout" in the first place. This gang, again, played it smart; aside from the sentry, who probably would have hidden if Ranma hadn't gotten to him first, there were no other signs that she was approaching anything other than a dusty, abandoned mine.

Trixie eventually spotted what they were looking for: a rickety-looking set of boards framing a tunnel that had been carved into the mountain. There were tracks outside the mine, but they were rusted and mostly dismantled. A sign was mounted above the frame, but its letters had completely worn off due to weather and damage. Cut into the wooden beam below it was a single word: Metalleus.

She stopped and frowned. "Ranma?"

The stallion suddenly skidded to a stop behind her, seemingly from nowhere. "Yeah? What's wrong? I couldn't find anyone else. It looks like we're clear!" He spotted the entrance in the side of the mountain. "Is that it? We found the base?"

"That's it, yes. Assuming the bandits weren't lying to us both times we cornered them." Trixie raised a hoof to her chin and narrowed her eyes.

"All right, I'll go in first and take out any bad guys," Ranma said, scuffing the ground with his hooves. "You can-"

"Ranma, let Trixie do the strategizing," she interrupted blithely.

"Why? What's wrong with my plan?" Ranma looked halfway between distressed and annoyed.

"'Rush in and beat up the bad guys' is not a plan. Besides, Trixie came along to help you clobber these lowlifes, not just carry away the loot after you're done with them," the unicorn sniffed. "On top of that, look at this arrangement! With an almost undefended entrance, these creeps definitely have something prepared inside for when somepony blunders into their home by accident. We can expect traps, or AT LEAST an alarm. Do you really want to fight off thirty angry ponies on your own, possibly while on fire?"

Ranma grimaced, and his ears flipped down. "Okay, okay, fine. What do you want to do instead?"

"Wellll..." Trixie's eyebrow arched, and then a wicked smile crossed her muzzle.

A loud whistle suddenly echoed through the cavern, piercing the damp, stuffy silence which usually dominated the mining tunnels.

Several bandits jumped in surprise, whipping around with weapons drawn, or woke up in an alarmed stupor at the noise. All were confused. The sound was completely unrecognizable to them; loud, long, and high-pitched. Then a moment later it was followed by a tremendous bang.

This sound was more familiar, as it reminded many of the criminals of explosives. Yet even in this respect the noise was... off. The detonation was loud, but there wasn't any tremor or rumble of settling earth, both of which they had come to expect from explosions within mining tunnels.

"Get up! Get up! Something's going down!" a brutish earth pony shouted, galloping into the main tunnel. "Somepony go get Morning Star! The rest of you, come with me!"

Swords, crossbows, and other instruments of battle were brandished, and the rogues flooded into the passage behind the earth pony. None had any idea what to expect as they followed the mining tracks toward the entrance, but they knew that the sound that had alerted them wasn't the camp's usual alarm. If an intruder, or even an army, had found their way into Metalleus then they would almost certainly get bogged down in the first few tunnels due to the magical and mechanical traps. But if triggering the traps hadn't been the cause of the noise in the first place, what had caused it?

This was the question at the forefront of the raiders' minds when they galloped around a corner and into a long, narrow entrance tunnel. The stallion in the lead skidded to a halt, and his heart leapt into his throat. After a few seconds, his surprise turned to confusion.

At the end of the hallway, past the numerous pressure plates and magic runes, was, well... himself. A big, muscular teal stallion with an axe in his jaws, standing off in the distance and looking confused. It wasn't easy to tell due to the dim light cast by the torches on the wall, but his copy was standing at the end of a very long stretch of rail car tracks considerably longer than the tunnel itself. Obviously an illusion.

As more ponies joined him and stumbled to a halt, they too appeared in the reflection at the end of the tunnel, staring back with confusion. Immediately the lead bandit understood what was happening.

"A mirror? What's a mirror doing here?"

More and more ponies crowded into the tunnel, staring curiously at the reflective panel. None of them could tell, at their current distance, where the boundaries of the mirror ended and the tunnel surface began, or even if it was a physical object. None of them really knew what to do about this, either. They had been expecting to catch an unfortunate wanderer or maybe a group of bounty hunters, not... whatever this was.

One unicorn in a cowl walked over to the wall and placed a hoof against it. His horn pulsed, and a series of large runic symbols cut into the wall flashed and then went dim. The alarms and the magic traps - which didn't easily discriminate between friend and foe - were deactivated.

"All right, everypony spread out a little. But watch your step and stay on the tracks!" barked the lead bandit. "Whatever we're dealing with, nopony gets past this point, okay?"

He began heading down the tunnel, his hooves falling either on the mining tracks or wooden ties that ran along the center of the path. The non-magical traps were installed to either side of the tracks in order to give the bandits a clear line in and out that could be easily navigated in the dark and allow them to use the mining carts to move goods. This necessarily meant that the raiders had to advance two at a time, in a slow-moving line, but half the mob remained in rearguard near the back, forming a veritable wall of furry muscle and weathered steel as a backup force.

While the advance group headed down the tunnel their reflections marched in unison, giving the entire affair a distinctly farcical feel while the disgruntled rogues stared themselves down. Some of the ponies searched for any signs of burns or craters, remembering that the sound that had drawn them sounded very much like a detonation. There was no obvious damage in the tunnel, however, and it was almost impossible to discern more subtle signs of damage with so little light.
The lead stallion stopped, and the entire column halted in an instant. His ear twitched, trying to pick up any sounds beyond the darkness. He tilted his head to the side, watching with increasing irritation as his reflection mimicked his movements at the end of the passage. He heard nothing. He saw nothing. No explosions, no intruders, no apparent damage to the tunnel. Nothing but his own reflection staring back at him in anxious confusion.

"All right, I've had enough of this," he growled. "Somepony take out that mirror! We'll do a sweep outside and then reset the traps. This looks like a waste of time."

A pegasus wordlessly raised his crossbow, and then fired a single bolt into his reflection at the end of the tunnel. The projectile sliced through the illusory mirror pane, instantly breaking it into a shower of glittering pink sparks. Then it embedded itself in the front of a mining cart.

The bandits started in confusion once again. Not that it was odd for mining carts to be in Metalleus; they were pretty much the only means of transportation and cargo carrying within the hideout. It WAS odd to find one hiding behind a magic mirror, though. Also, this one seemed to have some sort of red, rocket-shaped objects secured on the sides.

"Show time," said a voice from around the corner, at the end of the tunnel. A flash of pink briefly illuminated the cart more fully, and then a hissing noise came from the firework rockets attached to it.

"Wha-Hey! Wh-Who goes there?!" barked the lead bandit. He started backing up as his current circumstances dawned on him, only to bump into the other rogues crowded behind him along the tracks.

Teammates behind him, deadly traps on either side of him, and a big metal box in front of him with improvised explosive propulsion.

The fuses on the fireworks burned down to nothing, and the crackling hiss petered out before being replaced by a blazing roar.

The mining cart rocketed down the tunnel, its wheels squealing against the rusted axles and poorly maintained tracks. It smashed into the panicking bandits like a bowling ball, either throwing them aside by force or convincing those with better reflexes to abandon the track by choice.

Those that landed next to the tracks only found further punishment as their own traps were unleashed on them. Darts flew from the walls and ceiling, cutting down the rogues with a flurry of debilitating needles. Bear traps closed on stumbling hooves with jaws of steel. Razor-edged wire slashed through the air, ripping through meager leather armor and soft pony flesh. Cries of pain, shrieking metal, and bone-cracking impacts all mixed with the roar of the firework rockets as the advance guard was decimated. Even the few pegasi who managed to avoid the cart and hover over the ground were not spared, as the defenses had been installed to cripple entire platoons of invaders at once.

The bandits at the end of the tunnel scattered, diving away from the tracks before they were bowled over as well. The tracks curved gradually into a turn that followed the tunnels deeper into the mine, but the rocket-propelled cart was in no state to handle a minor course correction. The wheels wrenched free of the tracks, and the cart was sent spinning into a wall.

Then the fireworks exploded, splashing the tunnel with vibrant colored light and booming thunder.

Some of the rogues broke and ran, completely overwhelmed by the sudden noise and violence. The rest simply stayed put on the ground, hooves over their heads and tails curled around their flanks as they waited for the chaos to end.
And then, after nearly a minute of banging and bursts of neon-colored fire... it did.

"...... Is that... Is that it?" one stallion asked cautiously, his voice a near whimper. He swept his head back and forth, not daring to raise his head out of the dirt.

Groans and desperate sobbing came from further down the tunnel, but those ponies that were still unharmed disregarded it for now. After such a shocking bombardment, the rogues naturally expected some kind of general assault by whomever had done this. Surely no one would set up such a trap and smash through half their fighters only to back off and let them recover.

That was the sensible conclusion, and yet they heard nothing. No hooves stampeding down the tunnel, no roaring fireballs, and - mercifully - no more fireworks. One of the bandits jumped upright, suddenly incensed.

"That's it?! That's all you've got?!" he shouted into the darkness. "Come on! Get up, you tunnel rats! Get moving! Take them down!"

"Question..." mumbled another pony, timidly lifting a hoof. "What if that's not, in fact, all they've got? Who are we even fighting here?"

"Whoever it is, they don't even have the guts to fight us face-to-face!" the first bandit snarled, his teeth sinking into his sword's grip. "So pull yourself together and go-"

A mining cart slammed into the bandit, cutting him off with a pained yelp. It was the same mining cart that rammed through the initial vanguard, which mainly concerned the ponies because last they had seen it had crashed into a wall and collapsed upside-down.

"DAMN that was loud. Did it even work? I couldn't tell what happened what with all the explosions and screaming." Ranma grimaced and rubbed the side of his head.

The bandits stared at him in varying states of confusion and horror. A few of them scrambled to adopt a combat stance, while a few others actually dropped their weapons and fled.

"Oh. I guess we took out all those guys in the tunnel already? Yeah, okay. That worked pretty well, then," Ranma admitted.

A short sword swung toward his flank, and Ranma curved out of the way before lashing out with a hoof. He struck the bandit in the side of the head, knocking his weapon loose and stunning him, before a following back kick sent him flying back through the tunnel.

"Yeah, these guys are no threat anymore. TRIX!! I think we're clear until they come back with reinforcements!" Ranma hopped to the side when a crossbow bolt flew at him, and then dashed forward toward the shooter. A body slam threw the rogue into a rock wall with crushing force, and he slid to the ground with a shriek and a whimper.

He whirled around on another stallion that had been sneaking up on his flank with a pair of curved talons attached to his hoof. The bandit seized up upon being spotted, and then quickly lowered himself onto the ground.

"I'd like to negotiate my surrender, please," the bandit said, his voice a terrified squeak.

"I'm not really the guy to talk to for that," Ranma admitted, "hold on a sec."

He turned around to face the entry tunnel and spotted Trixie gingerly approaching over the mining tracks. She was being careful to only step on the rail ties, while also avoiding the various thugs scattered across the tunnel in varying states of agony.

"Hey, Trix! What should I do with prisoners?!" Ranma shouted.

"Prisoners? Why are you taking prisoners rather than just beating their heads in?" Trixie asked back.

"It wasn't me, this guy just surrendered before I-" A pair of steel hoof-talons arced toward his flank, and Ranma dove to the side, rolling across the dirt.

In an instant the martial artist had bounced upright and was darting toward the shocked and stuttering bandit. A hoof struck the rogue's claws hard enough to tear the weapon off, and then another one hit the stallion's jaw, knocking him to the side. A back kick finished the criminal pony, sending him skidding along the floor of the tunnel and into blissful unconsciousness.

Ranma frowned at the insensate raider, and then turned back to the entry tunnel. "Never mind about the prisoner!"

"TRY to be a little less credulous, would you?" Trixie sighed while stepping over a groaning stallion. "These ponies are cutthroats defending their livelihood, not a bunch of desperate peasants. They're not going to give up so easily."

A dark-furred shape suddenly rose in front of her and the magician recoiled, almost tripping over the tracks. It was the same stallion that had been leading the charge toward the entrance, although he had blood running down his muzzle and one of his legs was trembling badly. Trixie almost called for Ranma's help, but quickly gathered herself after taking stock of the stallion's injuries and deciding they were far worse than her own.

"And what do YOU want? You already helped clear the traps in Trixie's path; Trixie is done with you," she sneered.

"You punks... might think you're... clever..." the bandit's breath was heaving, and his eyes were clearly having trouble focusing on the mare in front of him. "Your tricks... won't work... on... Morning Star..." he spat.

The unicorn shrugged. "Trixie figured as much, actually. We were mostly planning to go the brute force route with the Head Thug. He IS in right now, isn't he?"

"Yeah," the rogue huffed. "He's... what?" His forehead creased, and his pained expression looked slightly dazed. "Morning... Morning Star is-"

"Yes, fine, whatever," Trixie sighed, gently pushing a hoof against the bandit.

He immediately toppled over onto his side, squeaking painfully when he hit the ground. Trixie walked past him without a second thought, speeding her pace slightly to get to Ranma.

"All right, Trixie doubts we'll be able to lay any more ambushes within the bandit's lair at this point. From here on out you're the star of the show, Havoc," Trixie said as she reached her traveling companion.

"Okay, Trix. Just stay close to me. These guys think they're sneaky," Ranma replied, leading them both down the corridor.

"Try not to fall for any more ruses, like ponies 'surrendering,'" the unicorn quipped, prodding her bodyguard with a hoof. "We're in their home, beating up their friends, and basically robbing them. None of these ponies are going to be laying down without a fight. They have too much to lose!"

"What if we corner Morning Star and take him down? Would they give up then? That's how it usually works, in my experience."

"Maybe. Just as often the thieves just wait for a chance to pounce and take over as head honcho," Trixie grumbled. "Let's work under the assumption that you're going to have to break every pony in this mine."

"Can do!" Ranma chirped, trotting faster down the tunnel.

Their path ahead was straightforward, following the cart tracks into the main cavern. In days long past, they constituted the primary staging area for miners working the tunnels and gathering ore to be transported to the surface. Nowadays it served as the bandits' central living space, where the thieves drank, ate, and socialized with each other when not out on missions or sleeping. These tunnels, unlike the entrance, had all the telltale signs of being lived in. Garbage was common, and many of the walls had shelving or were decorated with weapons and shields.

There were several rooms attached to the main tunnel, and Ranma stopped to check each one. Some had no door, others had wooden doors of varying strength, and a few doors were made of hammered iron and locked tight. Their uses tended to be self-evident at a glance; food stores, distilleries, latrines, bedding, or training halls. The locked doors presumably protected loot storage, although Ranma didn't take the time to rip them open; Trixie suspected they might be trapped, and reasoned there was no point in trying to loot the place while many of the occupants were working out a counter-attack. So they continued along the tracks.

What both Ranma and Trixie found odd, and increasingly ominous, is that there were no bandits in any of the rooms where the bandits would normally be sleeping, eating, or otherwise using. To be sure, most if not all of the ponies that lived in the mines would have been alerted to their presence by now, but with each new empty room they became more certain of an ambush awaiting them.

It didn't help that the light got worse deeper into the tunnel as well. The tunnels were mostly lit by mundane torches and oil lamps, along with the occasional magic jewel set in a ceiling cavity or wall fixture to provide illumination without the concern of running out of fuel. The further they advanced, however, the more torches had been put out and lamps stashed away. On purpose, certainly.

Trixie's horn flashed briefly, and then tossed a spark onto one of the extinguished torches on the wall. The resulting illumination didn't cover much of the tunnel ahead, but it stretched far enough to reach a pair of big wooden double doors blocking off the end.

"It looks like that's where the major cavern is. If there's going to be an ambush or a second line of traps, it will be there," Trixie grumbled.

Ranma moved up to the doors, leaning his side against one of them. Then he gently pushed the other open so that he could peek in on what was inside. He was slightly surprised the door wasn't locked, and not surprised at all to find that the space beyond the doorway was almost pitch dark.

"... They're here. Waiting for us in the dark," Ranma said, keeping his voice low. "I can sense them. Not quite as many as we took out near the entrance, but still a lot. You have a plan, or should I just jump in there?"

Trixie frowned, putting a hoof to her chin. "Let Trixie think... obviously it would be poor form to just stumble into an obvious ambush if we can lure them out instead or ruin their ambush. If we broke into their treasure stores, perhaps they-"

Ranma moved just a split second before the door he was leaning on was smashed into splinters. Trixie was tackled mid-sentence, and she screamed while they rolled along the ground just ahead of a spray of wooden shrapnel.

While the magician was too startled and panicked to make any sense of what was happening, Ranma's ears picked up the distinctive sound of rattling chains followed by the sound of steel striking steel. He wasn't entirely sure was to make of the noise absent any other context; a siege engine, maybe? It seemed strange to have such a device deep underground, but such a weapon would be a serious threat to him, at least.

"What the HAY was that?!" Trixie sputtered angrily, whipping her head back and forth.

"Not sure what broke the door," Ranma admitted, standing up. "I'm pretty sure we're not getting the jump on these guys, though."

Trixie was pondering whether she should even risk standing up when a mare's voice shouted out from the darkness.

"Oh, Haaaaavooooooc! Come on in, my dear! We've been waiting for you!" the voice chirped pleasantly.

Ranma was slightly surprised to hear a female among the bandit gang; every pony raider they'd encountered so far had been a stallion. Nonetheless, he set his jaw and marched into the darkness of the cavern. Trixie was left to her own devices, for now; whatever surprises lay in store he could probably weather better than her, and she seemed too stunned to offer any useful advice or orders for the moment.

He passed through the darkness at an easy trot, feeling the uneven rail ties beneath his hooves give way to proper wooden flooring. The ponies surrounding him remained still and silent. He could feel their tension easily; their anger and fear mixed together into an aura as visible as any torch to his martial artist's senses. But they didn't attack. And at the head of the band was... something else.

"Can we get a little light in here, boys? I want to see my sweetie's face!"

At that bizarre command, a pair of unicorn horns flashed.

Multiple torches all around the cavern flickered to life, as well as a few lanterns hanging from the ceiling and a pair of large braziers. Ranma was momentarily blinded, and he leapt backward on reflex, hitting the ground in a roll and then flipping upright in an instant. He landed in a crouch, his legs tense as wound springs.

"Oh, my! You're a jumpy one, aren't you?" giggled the mare.

After a few seconds, Ranma's vision adjusted to the new light. The cavern had been floored with wood and was well-furnished, with numerous benches and tables laid out in the expansive space. As expected, the remaining bandits were waiting behind barricades in a ring surrounding the room; some were purpose-built, with metal shielding and spikes, while others were simply more tables turned onto their sides. Less expected was that the ponies weren't firing at him; all were armed with crossbows or throwing weapons of some sort, but every one of them was waiting nervously rather than trying to capitalize on his brief vulnerability.

At the other end of the cavern was a tall staircase leading up from a raised wooden platform. Upon the platform sat the pair of brass braziers, and standing between them was a mare.

She had charcoal-black fur with a long, shining blond mane that seemed distinctly out of place in a dingy, abandoned cave full of criminals. A cutie mark of a sword, pointed down and wrapped in chain, was displayed prominently on her hip. Her body was quite lithe and feminine, but at the same time she was surprisingly large and muscular compared to most of the other mares he had met. Surely she had to be, considering the set of four huge greaves she had on.

Ranma stared at the armored leggings. They were massive compared to her actual legs, composed of a segmented metal sleeve and knee hinge that were wrapped up in chains. Big, ridged horseshoes almost two inches thick were mounted on the bottom, boosting the mare's height above the various stallions in the room. They had clearly seen actual combat, too; the horseshoes' edges had small dents and divots that he could easily make out from a distance.

His eyes narrowed. Ranma had seen his fair share of weapons and armor, but he couldn't guess what the purpose of the chains on her greaves could possibly be for. He did notice, however, that there was no siege device or heavy weapon in this cavern as he had initially guessed. Curious.

"Like what you see, Havoc?" the mare asked, grinning sweetly. She turned to one side, showing off her flank and cutie mark and flicking her tail. "You'll get more than an eyeful soon enough. But first, I guess we have to sort out all this... other unpleasantness."

She sighed, and her ears drooped. "Considering I haven't heard a thing from the boys I sent to get you and the way you welcomed yourself in like this, I'm guessing you rejected the offer they were supposed to make. I hope you didn't kill the poor saps. Hammer Time was one of my favorites." She pouted, fluttering her long eyelashes at the martial artist.

"They'll live long enough to enjoy a nice, long stay in jail," Ranma said dismissively. He twisted his head to one side, cracking his neck while his eyes scanned his opponents. "So, where are we at, here? Do you wanna go get Morning Star now and let me take him down right away, or is he going to make me beat up all his henchmen first?"

The armored mare blinked, and then furrowed her brow. "'Henchmen'?"

"Fine, I guess you're a henchwoman. Er... or a hench... mare?" Ranma shook his head. "Look, I'm here to beat up your boss, okay? Don't make this complicated. Where's Morning Star?"

"Morning Star is standing in front of you," Morning Star deadpanned.

Ranma was silent for several seconds, staring up at her.

Then he tilted to one side, looking to see if there was another pony behind her.

There was not.

"Oh. So you're Morning Star," Ranma said, his ears flipping down. "Great."

The bandit leader didn't seem especially bothered by his obvious disappointment. "Welcome to Metalleus, Havoc. I promise you: that's the LEAST of the surprises we have in store..."