"I bet you can race to the tree in front of us!"
"I bet you can't, Hot Shit!"
Those were the words of Hot Shot and Zap Burst, who were challenging themselves to a race. With them were Lemon Pie, who was standing with Silver Sword.
"Come on, there's no time to wait!" Silver Sword complained. "We need to escort this fine mare to Manehattan!"
"Hey, Hot Shit was the one who challenged me, not the other way around!" Zap Burst responded.
"We haven't even checked the map yet!" Hot Shot yelled.
Then, all was silent.
"Silver Sword," a worried Hot Shot asked. "where's the map?"
"The map?" Silver Sword asked.
"Yes, the map." Zap Burst answered. "Don't beat around the bush."
"I thought I had it with me." Silver Sword said.
"I really hope so. We need to get to shelter as soon as we can!" Lemon Pie yelled.
"Oh no..." Silver Sword realized. "That means that the map's back at camp, and we just trotted a considerable amount!"
Zap Burst gulped. "So, does that mean that-"
"YES!" a frustrated Silver Sword yelled. "It's too late to trot back now!"
"Because of why, exactly?" Hot Shot asked.
"Because I know Lemon Pie, and I know that she's infamous for being impatient!" Silver Sword said. "We don't want to piss her off!"
"Guys, guys, let's not raise a fuss about maps." Zap Burst said. "I can find a way!"
Hot Shot sighed as the four ponies began to trot.
======================================================================
Elsewhere in the forest, there was a bonfire, carefully being tended to to stop a forest fire from spreading.
Around it were three soldiers, clearly of Nightmare Moon's armor.
One, who was a dark blue stallion with a navy-blue mane and a bullet cutie mark said: "We've gotta do something about this 'Solar Sun Organization, and we've gotta do it fast."
"We know, Gun Shot," a green pony with a ginger mane and tail with a cutie mark of a lantern responded. "but we need to wait for the right time to strike. That's when we'll ambush them."
Then, a yellow stallion with a black mane and tail with a cutie mark of a bull spoke up. "Well, Light Shine, that is possible, but we need to wait for an opening so we can find the right time to ambush them."
"That's a good idea, Bull Horn." Gun Shot said.
Then, Light Shine saw four ponies in the distance. They were trotting and talking to each other.
In response, the guards rushed up the trees and sat on the highest branches they could find, watching from the shadows.
=======================================================================
The four ponies were still trotting, as usual.
"Is this the way?" Hot Shot asked.
"Yeah, I've been to this forest before, when I was scouting out for a lost piece of a medallion." Zap Burst said. "Therefore, I know this forest from top to bottom."
Then, Hot Shot noticed a bonfire in the distance. Around it were three ponies, clearly in Nightmare Guard's armor.
"Was this there before, Zap Burst?" Hot Shot asked, while pointing a hoof at the flames and the ponies around it.
Zap Burst took one look at it, and freaked out.
"Shit, those are Nightmare Moon's guards!"
Then, the guards headed up the trees.
"Well, they're gone, let's take it!" Hot Shot suggested.
"No!" Zap Burst responded. "It's still dangerous! They just went up to the trees, it's not like they were completely gone!"
"Besides, from what I heard, it sounds dangerous, so yeah, no." Silver Sword said.
Hot Shot just sighed as they trotted another way.
=======================================================================
Deeper into the forest, the quads were beginning to starve.
"Hey, I'm hungry," Lemon Pie, who hasn't spoken up much since they left the base, said.
"Me too." Hot Shot said.
"Count me in, I need the food right now." Silver Sword said.
"We could eat grass, right?" Zap Burst asked. "Even though we have grown to accept meat despite our herbivorous nature, we still need some grass."
"You're technically right, there." Hot Shot said.
'Even though I hate to admit that you're right.'
All four ponies promptly bent down to pick up and munch on grass.
As Hot Shot was eating grass, he felt a foreboding feeling welling up in his stomach, but he ignored it.
Then, as he picked his head up, he felt something. In fact, they all felt something.
As they began to hear sounds of strings throwing rocks at them, their hearing began to fade out as they all closed their eyes.
=======================================================================
Hot Shot woke up.
It was the middle of the night, and he was beginning to trot around. He was in a forest, and he could that by the trees towering around him.
Once he found his footing, he got out of the forest.
Beyond the forest was a couple of wooden tables lying around. There was a wooden building next to it, and it had a sign. Hot Shot couldn't read it, but it looked like a bar of some sort. Beyond that was nothing, suggesting that the building was built at a sutiable side of a mountain.
There were several ponies on the tables, and one of them caught Hot Shot's eyes.
It was the yellow mare from his dream last midnight.
Taken aback by this, he continued to watch as the yellow mare was drinking a beer. Then, a stallion came in.
The stallion was grey with a blue mane and tail with the cutie mark of an electric buzzer. His facial features were blurred specifically, for some reason, but his mouth was completely visible.
"Hey, pretty filly," the stallion said. "Name's Jerk Shot, how you doin'?"
"Oh, well, I'm not a filly anymore." the mare responded.
"Well, you're not bluffing. You look beautiful." Jerk Shot said.
"What's your name, by the way?"
"My name's Garden Moon." she said. "My maiden name is Garden Shovel."
"So, you're married, huh?" Jerk Shot asked.
"Yeah, I am." Garden Moon said.
"Well, my sex appeal knows no bounds." Jerk Shot said.
"Well, I really needed to get away from him, you know." Garden Moon said, burping due to the influence of the beer. "He's a womanizer, but he's a rather short-fused guy, constantly getting triggered at mundane things."
Then, a waiter came over.
"Do you need anything else?"
"Yeah," Garden Moon burped. "I want something a little stronger for me and my acquaintance here."
"Okay then, two tequilas for both of you, coming right up!" the waiter said, and trotted back over to the building.
"So, how's life at home?" Jerk Shot asked.
"Eh, life's been pretty okay for me." Garden Moon said. "Had to juggle my life as a stripper with life as a schoolhouse teacher in Ponyville. Summer break just came, so I'm taking advantage of the break."
"Okay then," Jerk Shot said. "How about you take the time to do some romance with me."
"No thanks, I'm married." Garden Moon replied.
"Oh well..." Jerk Shot said.
"But I will do it, but only for one night, okay?"
"Okay." Jerk Shot responded.
"At least the 'Restriction' on alcoholic drinks was lifted." Garden Moon said.
"Yeah, that ban was getting annoying at this point." Jerk Shot said.
The waiter came over.
"Here's the drinks." the waiter said as he put the glasses of tequila on their table.
"Thank you." Jerk Shot said.
The waiter nodded, and he left.
Then, the two ponies began to drink out of the glass, as they got closer to each other.
Then, Jerk Shot and Garden Moon let go of their straws and went closer.
And then, as Hot Shot watched, they put their heads together and looked at each other in an intimate gaze.
Then, Jerk Shot took Garden Moon to some trees beyond the tavern, and then he heard....sounds that he had never heard before.
'Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing?' Hot Shot thought in disbelief. 'Two ponies having sex?'
Before Hot Shot could think any further, he then felt tired, and before he knew it, he closed his eyes again.
=======================================================================
Hot Shot pried his eyes open to the sight of a prison cell.
The "cell" obviously looked like it was makeshift, judging by how the prison bars were just repurposed branches from trees. Outside of the cell, there were some objects lying around, a few sticks, some slingshots, a few stones, and the like.
However, what caught Hot Shot's eyes was not the prison, but who was outside the cell.
It looked like a rabbit, but it stood up on two legs, had fully red eyes, obviously a busted blood vessel, and looked ragged and war torn. One of it's ears were torn off, and it had a strap that connected to a buckle in the middle of it's body.
"Hey!" the rabbit said, snapping Hot Shot out of his train of thought. "Are you a spy for the Snake Alliance?"
"What?" a gobsmacked Hot Shot said.
"I said, ARE YOU A SPY?" the rabbit yelled in a tone so loud, Hot Shot had to cover his ears with his hooves.
Then, Hot Shot heard some shuffling somewhere else.
"Hey, where am I?" a voice, unmistakably Zap Burst, and also behind him.
Hot Shot turned around to see Zap Burst get up on his hooves and look around.
"Hot Shot, what are you doing here?" Zap Burst asked.
"I don't know." Hot Shot responded.
However, the rabbit spoke up.
"You are at our prison for spies, and we need to know whenever you're a spy or not."
'A prison for spies?' Hot Shot thought.
As if the rabbit could read his mind, he said: "Yes, a prison for spies."
Then, Hot Shot remembered something.
"Where are Lemon Pie and that sword guy?" Hot Shot asked.
"You mean Silver Sword?" Zap Burst answered.
"Hey, shut up, Zap Burst." Hot Shot retorted.
"They're at a facility where they are being taken to the electric chair to be questioned." the rabbit answered.
"By the way, what's your name?" Zap Burst asked.
"My name?" the rabbit said.
"Yes, your name."
"Well, my name is The Red Eye, and I am considered the best at the art of Tekai." the rabbit said.
"What happened that led to your race into a war with this 'Snake Alliance'?"
"Well, I was recruited after the war began, but I believe that one of the rabbits said something about a 'feast' and a 'betrayal'."
'Betrayal?' Hot Shot thought. 'This is getting intresting'
"By whom, exactly?" Zap Burst asked.
"Apparently, it was by a mutated snail called 'Musk'." Red Eye answered.
"Who's 'Musk'?" Hot Shot asked.
"He was apparently the best soldier on the team, until his betrayal, that is."
"Okay, good." Zap Burst said. "But before you let us rot in this horrible dungeon, can I do one last request?"
"Go ahead." Red Eye responded.
"Can you let us out of the dunegon, please?" Zap Burst said.
Then, Red Eye moved over to the keyhole, pulled out a key, and opened the cell door as the two ponies trotted out.
"Okay then, now you rest." Zap Burst said.
Then, Zap Burst readied his magic to prepare a knockout spell.
"Wait a minute." Red Eye moved back.
"GUAR-"
Red Eye's scream was cut off as he fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Why did you have to do that?" Hot Shot frantically asked.
"Because he was getting aware." Zap Burst said, matter-of-factly.
"How?" Hot Shot asked.
"Well, when I first woke up, I saw that there was no possible escape from here." Zap Burst said as he and Hot Shot began to trot down a hallway.
"But then I remembered something that me and Blue Zap's master, Master Ni-Mar taught me, a technique that I forgot about when I joined the Solar Sun Organization."
"So you wern't originally a part of the Solar Suns?" Hot Shot asked.
"No, I wasn't. In fact, I didn't join until fifteen years ago." Zap Burst explained.
"Before then, me and my brother were taught by a stallion who claimed to have supreme power above even Nightmare Moon, and taught us many tecniques. What I just used on Red Eye was a mind-control technique, which was why he let us go so easily."
"Where were you trained?"
"I was trained at the mountains beyond Equestria, trained to be the best in martial arts, and especially trained to be a 'super-soldier'."
Then, Hot Shot thought for a moment.
"What happened to your master?"
Zap Burst thought for a moment as well, although for a bit longer than Hot Shot.
"Well, fifteen years ago, a group called the 'Solar Sun Organization' entered the training dojo, demanding that the sun rise up again. Leading this group were two stallions, one who was black, and one who was blue. I later found out through the Archives and a young Flower Pot that they were Bell Apple and Whirl Wind, two of the Organization's oldest members. But before that, I didn't think of them as one of the most influental members of the Organization. I thought of them as enemies, instead."
Zap Burst stoped for a moment, then continued.
"They were brutal when they began their attack. They fought with the strength of Celestia and Star Swirl combined. Every super-soldier were getting pushed back, and I hated every second of it."
"So, what happened to this 'Ni-Mar' pony?"
"Well, while the tide was turning against us, me, Blue Zap, and another super-soldier named Diamond Zap rushed up to the stairs to protect Master Ni-Mar, but when we got there, he was gone, leaving only his robe behind."
While Hot Shot was listening he spotted some guards coming their way.
"Uh, Zap Burst?"
But Zap Burst ignored Hot Shot to tell his story. "Eventually, we lost, and all the super-soldiers were killed, except for us, which a filly that I now know as Flower Pot asked to spare. So me, Blue Zap, and Diamond Zap were recruited, and we became a part of the Organization."
"Cool story, since we're going near their guards." Hot Shot sternly said to Zap Burst.
"What?" Zap Burst yelled.
"Halt!"
Hot Shot and Zap Burst stopped as three rabbits: a white male, a black male, and a brown female, who all had gear similar to that of Red Eye's, focused their makeshift spears on the two stallions.
"Why have you escaped your prisons?" the black rabbit asked.
"I don't know, honset!" Zap Burst answered.
"Oh really?" the brown rabbit said.
"Then why did you escape from our prison when we put you there?" the black rabbit asked.
"Well, the bark of the cell was just weak, that's all!" Zap Burst said.
The white rabbit sniffed the two stallions.
"I smell lies..." the white rabbit said. "Take them to the electric chair."
The three rabbits motioned the two stallions to follow them, and follow them did the two stallions do.
=======================================================================
Silver Sword slammed his hoof into the arm of the electric chair, a makeshift chair with a 9000 volt battery attached to it's bottom and with wires running arcoss the chair.
"I won't tell you anything!" Silver Sword yelled at the group of rabbits surrounding him.
"You will!" a brown male rabbit said. "Or else, it's the electric chair for you!"
"Do I have to say this a million times?" Lemon Pie yelled. "We are not spies!"
"That's exactly what our last few spies said, before we subjected them to the chair!" another rabbit responded.
"We just ate some grass, that's all!" Silver Sword pleaded.
"And that was exactly what we wanted!" the brown rabbit said.
"How?" Lemon Pie yelled.
"Simple, we just put some dew on the grass to make it look more appetizing to any pony who stumbles across this space." yet another rabbit explained. "Then, we jump at them, shooting them with stones and knocking them out. Then, we take them back into our base, where we interrogate any potential spies that we found."
"But why this paranoia?" Lemon Pie asked.
"Paranoia's all we've got left." another rabbit, who was black, came up and explained. "I don't know what set us off first, or how the pressure was fed."
"But we suspect that the constant war against the Snake Alliance is what's setting us off." another black rabbit said.
"But why?" Silver Sword asked. "Can't we all have peace?"
"No," the black rabbit said. "because the snakes keep eating any rabbit who ventures off of our base."
"That's cruel!" Lemon Pie yelled.
"Yes, but that's not all." the brown rabbit said.
Then, three rabbits came in with two stallions.
"We bought some more spies!"
It didn't take a genius for Silver Sword and Lenon Pie to recognize the two stallions as Hot Shot and Zap Burst.
"Guys!" Silver Sword yelled. "You came!"
"You're with them?" the black rabbit asked.
"Yes." Zap Burst sighed. "We are."
"We found those trotters leaving their cell, trying to escape." the brown rabbit guard said.
"Okay then, take them to the chairs." Then black rabbit said, motioning to two chairs, both looking about the same as the other two chairs."
The three guards did as they told, taking the two stallions to the chair and strapping them.
"Okay then, it's time to find out whenever or not they are spies." the brown rabbit said.
Then, two green rabbits began to move up to the door, blocking it.
"What are you two doing?" a brown rabbit asked.
"Well, they aren't the only spies." one of the rabbits said.
Then, before everyone's eyes, the two rabbits began to contort.
Their small bodies began to strech as their limbs elongated. Their fur retracted into their bodies as scales formed in their place. Their tails and ears were next, retracting back into their bodies. And finally, to top this horror sundae, their faces twisted and streched as their pupils sharpened, their eyes became pink, and their nose and mouth areas streched out to snake-like proportions.
As all the rabbits gasped, they were still, with looks of horror on their faces.
"Spies!" a rabbit yelled. "Attack!"
In a moment, all rabbits rushed to attack the bigger and more muscle-bound anthropomorphic snakes.
A brown rabbit, who, judging by his helmet, was obviously the leader of the pack, spoke.
"So, you're really a bunch of spies?" the general asked.
"Why thanks, General Obvious!" a snake-person said, sarcastically.
The general, enraged by this statement, leaped on to the snake-people, but found himself being knocked back by their tails, which had just grown back.
As all four ponies watched, a rabbit freed all of them.
"Come on, go on, you're not guilty of being spies anymore." the rabbit said, as she freed the last pony to be strapped, Zap Burst.
"Thanks, I owe you one." Zap Burst said.
"You're only just saying that." Hot Shot said.
"Zip it, Hot Shit!" Zap Burst yelled quietly.
While all that was going on, the two lizards had already split up and was now beginning to take victims by eating them whole. While some rabbits grew lucky by managing to escape by finding openings and taking advantage of them, the rest wern't so lucky.
Then, Silver Sword stepped up and trotted over to where the rabbits put his swords.
"What are you doing?" Hot Shot harshly whispered. "You'll get killed!"
"I'd rather die than see innocent lives get wasted." Silver Sword said.
Then, Silver Sword took his swords and trotted over behind one snake-person.
At that moment, the other snake-person took notice of Silver Sword sneaking up behind his comrade.
"Spion, watch out!" the snake-person yelled.
However, Spion didn't notice, as he was chewing on a rabbit and, thus, failed to notice a sharp feeling shoving itself into his back.
"I'm busy eating, Katáskopos!" Spion answered.
Horrified, Katáskopos rushed over to Spion, but he was too late, as Hot Shot and Zap Burst tackled him, forcing the terrified snake-person to watch as the sword plunged fully into the snake's stomach.
Spion, who was eating the rabbit at that moment, realized that the sharp feeling that he felt was not the effect of the rabbit, but before he knew it, he fell down, his last thoughts being about what his family would think if he died.
Once Spion died, however, Silver Sword stood in silence, and he dropped to the ground of the room, which was fully evacuated a moment ago.
'I.....killed him.' Silver Sword looked at his hooves. 'Did he deserve to die? It might be possible that he had a family that he cared about and loved.'
Then, Silver Sword stood up and trotted over to where Katáskopos was.
"I'm sorry." Silver Sword said, seemingly to himself. "I broke the code of honor for the sake of saving a life. I tried to save lives, only to take away another."
Then, Silver Sword turned to his teammates and his escort.
"Guys." Silver Sword said. "Take all his weapons away and take him to the rabbits. And don't let them kill him, okay?"
All three ponies nodded, and then did what they were told.
=======================================================================
The four ponies trotted over to the rabbits to determine whenever or not Katáskopos lives or not.
"Silver Sword." Lemon Pie said. "It's not your fault."
"No, it was." Silver Sword said.
Hot Shot looked at Silver Sword. He had never seen what sadness was like in his life before, but he had a vauge memory of him being sad and alone, so he had to know somewhere.
"Silver Sword." Hot Shot said, in a tone that was rare for even himself. "It's okay."
"No, it's not." Silver Sword said, beginning to tear up. "It's not okay."
Then, they entered what they thought was both the exit and the lobby, where many rabbits were.
The two ponies: Hot Shot and Zap Burst, dropped Katáskopos in front of the rabbits, sans weapons.
"You defeated the spies and bought them before us?" a rabbit general asked.
"Yeah, although one was killed in the ensuing chaos." Zap Burst explained.
"Oh, right." Silver Sword, who was calming down, said.
"Well, well done!" a rabbit general said. "We would like for you to join us to defend agains-"
"No thanks." Zap Burst said. "We have to escort a mare to Manehattan to be reunited with her family."
"Oh, okay." the general said. "Good job, anyway, and bye!"
"Bye!" all four ponies yelled.
Then, they trotted out of the base by climbing up the ladder.
=======================================================================
Outside the base, the four ponies climbed out.
"Well, that was an adventure." Zap Burst said.
"And may we never speak of this again." Silver Sword said.
"My thoughts exactly!" Zap Burst yelled.
Then, they were stopped by three ponies in Nightmare Guard armor.
As the four ponies backed up, the three ponies got closer.
"This is the end for you Solar Suns!" Gun Shot yelled.
Then, Hot Shot yelled out one word in response.
"Run!"