//------------------------------//
// We Part Ways From The Serpentine 
// Story: The Hunters of Secrets 
// by Arkantos 
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Black Fall jumped on Commander Dream’s oversized shield, then heard a metallic click. Suddenly, the shield fired out several golden spikes. The Butcher leaped off and landed on the ground, quickly rolling to the left. And just in time too, as many of the spikes impacted the area where she had landed. One of them did hit a red Serpentine who had just popped her head out of the ground only to meet a quick death. But nothing happened. The red Serpentine did not die, but got up and out of the ground. Suddenly, the golden spike that hit her started to glow, and she very rapidly aged until there was nothing left but bones and rusty armor.
 
Commander Dream said, “Rats, that was supposed to be you.”
 
Black Fall replied, “Oh, I’m sorry I ruined your perfect vision of how you believed it would go down. But I for one would like to continue living. This time, when I kill you, you’ll stay dead.” She summoned one spike of earth after another and hurled them at the Commander. He dodged most of them and blocked the rest with his shield. But each time he blocked a spike, his shield would dent. It dented and dinged until several jets of smoke burst out of it and a metallic click sounded again. However, this time it was like it was breaking before it shattered like glass.
 
Black Fall slammed her spear into the ground and pulled out her sword and dagger, saying, “Oh, would you look at that! Your precious shield is destroyed! Now I can kill you properly!” And she charged at Commander Dream. Using his sword, he blocked hers, but her dagger hoof moved at the speed of lightning, and she stabbed him several times. Before he could break out of the block, she stabbed him one final time, dragging the dagger up to his throat, which caused him to bleed rapidly until a pool of his own blood could be seen.
 
Barely alive, he said, “I failed to protect this world. My friends from the Order of Time are still out there, and there’s no doubt that they are planning on how to properly handle the situation that has arisen. Mark my words, Black Fall, for I know what will happen to y-”
 
As Black Fall pulled up the spear of the first hunter, she said, “If that’s so, then they’ll be easily butchered as well.” She walked over to him and stabbed the dead pony with the spear of the first hunter, mentally saying to the spear, ‘Here’s a soul for you to gobble up.’
 
The spear began to glow red and Commander Dream’s corpse glowed blue. The blue aura began to separate from the body and soon turned into a blue misty ball. Then, red misty arms came forth from the spear and grabbed the ball. It pulled the blue ball towards itself, and finally, the sphere disappeared into the spear. A golden ring appeared on the spear, and the power of the spear said, ‘Such a strong heart, and blinded in his own beliefs. Either way, I got what I wanted. Oh, and thanks for the meal.’ Black Fall removed the spear and walked toward Poison Fang, Cobra, and Cold Blood.





When the EUP guards realized that their commander was dead, they quickly came to the conclusion that the battle was pointless and got the heck out of Dodge. The EUP Pegasus grabbed rations and a few extra weapons and placed them in the wagons. The Unicorns and Earth ponies made their way out of the Fortress; most of them galloped all the way back to Equestria, but some of them managed to jump on a hovering wagon that was being pulled by a Pegasus. With their magic, they would be able to fly the wagons into the sky. But some of the Pegasusses noticed some of the EUP forces were a bit slow, so the Pegasusses who were not pulling a wagon in the sky flew down to grab the stragglers. As they flew back up and rose higher in the sky, several arrows and spears were thrown at them. Some of the were hit and fell to their death. When the last of the EUP got out, they made their way to Equestria by air.
 
The Serpentine watched, cheered, and shot arrows at the retreating guards, or threw insults at them as they ran.
 
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Fortress, there lay the beginning of a path that led up to the top of the mountain. Poison Fang, Cobra, Cold Blood, and Black Fall walked towards this path. Poison Fang slammed his spike to the ground four times before dragging it to one of the walls of the Fortress.  
 
Cobra nodded in agreement. He looked at the ex-hunter and the Werepony and said, “The Serpentine would like to thank you for your assistance. If you need a place to lay low, don’t hesitate to ask.”
 
The Chiroptera and the Werepony looked at each other. Black Fall, staring into Cold Blood’s eyes with a loving look, replied, “Thank you for the offer, but where we’re going, well-””
 
Cold Blood began to blush as he turned to hide his face and feelings from her. He finished his partners thoughts by saying, “To be perfectly blunt, where we’re going we are probably not coming back.” After those words, Cold Blood and Black Fall began to walk their way up the mountain.
 
But Cobra, with a small hint that he knew what was going on between them, said, “Oh, we know, but Poison Fang just wanted you two to know that if things go south, and judging from your quest to not only eliminate the Hunters but also ruin the harmony of Equestria, it sounds like they will, you can always come back to this place.”  

At that, both Serpentines slithered back to the heart of the Fortress. Black Fall yelled after them, “What are you two going to do with this place?!”
 
Cobra replied, “We’re going to make this place our den and kill any EUP ponies that try to take it back.”
 
The two partners in crime remained quiet for quite some time as they made their way up the mountain. Several hours went by. It was around noon when they made it halfway up the mountain. 

Suddenly, Cold Blood said as he tried to pull out an arrow that he didn’t know was stuck in his back until Black Fall’s spear tapped against it, “The Serpentine’s plans for the fortress seem quite aggressive; but since they captured it, I suppose they can do whatever they want with it.”
 
The exhunter replied, “Let’s just get this done. I don’t want any more surprise fights, be they with bandits or worse: Hunters who will try to stop us from completing our task.”
 
After successfully pulling out that chore of an arrow, Cold Blood said, “Well, that’s gonna to leave a mark. And it’s understandable, but fret not; it looks like we are halfway there already. It’s still a long hike ahead, so don’t fall behind.”
 
Taken aback by the comment, Black Fall smiled an evil smile as she said, “If I recall correctly, during that battle, you let several arrows hit you. And  you do tend to make a mess of things sometimes, so the reason for me falling behind is probably because I’m cleaning up your mess.”
 
“Hey, that only happened 17 times…?” Cold Blood said questioningly. And with that, they continued their way up to the top of the mountain where the Hunters’ magical seal was.