Blue looked at the newsletter. He bit his lip, examining the paper. A family in Saddle Arabia murdered. He looked at Mitchell, who was screwing his wooden leg on. “So, we’re just gonna do nothing?” Blue asked.
“About what? That Arabian family?” Mitchell replied, looking up.
“Yes! A family murdered by the Blade!” Blue snapped, scrunching the paper and growling. “I thought we were supposed to protect the innocent! Not let them die!”
Mitchell nodded. “I know Lieutenant, but how could we know that the Blade was gonna do this?”
Blue shrugged. “I just… I dunno…” he sighed and looked down. Then, he looked up. “What about the Shadow Guard?”
“That Blade division?”
“Yeah. Why don’t we take them out?” Blue asked.
“Because they’re elite,” Tempest’s voice cut in as she and the others Fangs trotted in.
Blue rolled his eyes. “What do you want, hornhead?”
She narrowed her eyes. “What’s your problem hole-hooves?” she spat in retaliation.
Blue growled. “What your tongue stormfreak.”
“Blue Tooth.”
The two snarled and Tempest lunged. The two begin fighting each other. Blue Fang grabbed a hardcover book and whacked Tempest across the face. Tempest retaliated with a kick to the groin. Blue howled and lunged. The two continued punching each other.
“Cut it out!” Broken yelled. The others immediately jumped and pulled the two scufflers away from each other. Broken growled. “Enough!” he snapped, looking at the two. “Since you two can’t stop arguing, how about we send you on a mission together?!” Broken grabbed the two and dragged them towards the mission board. He ripped a bounty poster off the wall and dragged them out. He threw them out, giving them their gear and the bounty poster, then shut the door.
Blue and Tempest picked themselves up. Blue glared at Tempest. “Well great, that’s what I bucking need.” He sighed. “Gimme the dang poster.”
Tempest narrowed her eyes. “Heck no. I’m a higher rank. You obey my orders,” she snarled, holding the poster up.
“Higher rank my flank, gimme that darn poster,” Blue snapped, snatching it away from her. He looked at it, then read it. “Target: Griffax aka ‘Bleach’. Wanted for several counts of murder. He is the main bounty hunter/debt collector of the Blade. One of his crimes include blowing up a house in… Saddle Arabia?!”
Blue growled and ran off towards the train station. Tempest blinked and followed behind.
~~~
Bleach was still in Saddle Arabia. He was going to ‘collect’ another debt. He felt disgusted in himself. He despised every part of his job. Whether it was killing innocents to basically robbing them of their belongings, it always felt wrong. And he knew it all too well. But it was his only source of income. Everyone knew his face and wouldn’t accept him for any form of job.
He sighed, looking around. He soon found the dealer. He walked up to him, making sure no one was behind him. “Code word?”
“Nightchild.”
Bleach nodded and gave him the bits, taking the weapons cache. He sighed with relief. No casualties today, unlike last night. He looked around, before noticing a few Royal Guards patrolling the town. He bit his lip and tried to hide his face. Keyword: tried.
“Hey! You!”
Bleach wasted no time, drawing his revolver sidehoof and firing at the two guards, killing them. The crowd began screaming and broke out in panic as a firefight began.
Bleach ran off with the cache, firing at the guards. He ran through the market.
“Hey! Stop him!” a pony shouted. “Get him!”
Bleach ducked behind a counter, reloading his revolver crossbow. “Bucking heck… need a new crossbow…” He looked at the charging guards. One of them had a scattershot crossbow. Pump-action. His favorite. Well, apart from lever-action.
Bleach pulled out a chlorine gas grenade and threw it, pulling out his gas mask.
“Ah shoot! Chlorine!”
“Get back! Get ba—”
The grenade exploded, green gas filling the area. Many guards collapsed immediately, coughing and spitting up blood. Bleach ran over and picked up the scattershot crossbow. He ran into a building, looking at the family inside. He sighed.
“'Akhraj min huna. 'Abhath ean al'aman,” Bleach said, giving them gas masks.
The family nodded and grabbed the masks, running out. Bleach sighed. Hades would have his head if he found out, but he couldn’t care less. He loaded his crossbows and dug in, flipping a couch over and using a bookshelf to barricade the door. He reached for his radio.
“Scabre. I need extraction. I’m surrounded.”
‘Copy. We’re sending an extract team to your location.’
“Copy.” Bleach aimed just crossbow at the door, waiting.
~~~
0350 pm.
2Lt. Blue Fang & Cpt. Tempest Shadow
Fang Gang: Special Operations Team
Saddle Arabia
Paired with Tempest. Never thought I’d see the day. Buck me. We’re hunting some griffon; goes by Bleach. His real name is Griffax. Stupid name if you ask me. Anyway, me and Stormfreak Tempest have a bird to bag.
—2Lt. Blue Fang
0350 pm.
Cpt. Tempest Shadow & 2Lt. Blue Fang
Fang Gang: Special Operations Team
Saddle Arabia
Buddies with Blue Fang. Great. Big win for me. Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse, we get sent to the hottest country in the world. Saddle Arabia. We’re hunting a griffon named ‘Bleach’ Griffax. I like his name. Very unique. We arrive in a few minutes. Let’s see how Blue Tooth Blue Fang gets himself shot today.
—Cpt. Shadow
The train stopped at a station. Tempest grabbed her equipment and stood up. Her burst crossbow and very powerful sidehoof were both loaded. She had a few lightning grenades, courtesy of Borax. These sent out an electric discharge that shocked any nearby enemies. There were two settings. Lethal, and nonlethal. She chuckled and scooped them up.
Blue was fishing through his bag, grabbing his revolver crossbow scope. He smiled and slid it on. He chuckled and grabbed his primary crossbow, sliding a magazine into it. He grabbed a few more magazines and a few pin triggered dynamite sticks, which Borax called ‘grenades’. He chuckled and stood up.
He walked towards his door, but bumped into Tempest by accident. They dropped their lethal throwables.
“Ack! Tempest, you idiot!”
“Blue Fang, you dumb motherbucker!”
The two dived for cover, praying that the grenades wouldn’t go off. Thankfully, they didn’t. Blue and Tempest scowled at each other, scooping up the grenades. Blue stood up and walked out of the train car. He put his hoof over his eyes to shield them from the Arabian sun.
“Ugh… what the buck…”
Tempest rolled her eyes. “Get a tougher chitin, Blue Tooth,” she chastised, drinking from her canteen.
Blue narrowed his eyes. “Shut up Stormfreak.” He walked out and looked around. The horses looked very confused and concerned about the unreformed changeling and broken horned unicorn stepping off the train with weapons. But it was mostly Blue they were eyeing.
He growled and looked around. “Ugh… dumb horses…”
“Ahem.”
He rolled his eyes, but gulped slightly. “Shut up. Now where are those idiot guards?”
Tempest sighed. “I hope they’re up your—
Boom!
The two flinched, looking over. There was a green cloud of gas surrounding the market.
“Is that… chlorine?!” Blue asked.
Tempest punched him in the shoulder. “Of course it is Blue Tooth! Come on!” She ran off.
“Gah! Son of a— Stormfreak!” He followed behind.
~~~
The two ran into the market, looking around for the chlorine. They soon began coughing and covered their mouths. Tempest had the worst of it, however.
“Why aren’t you—” she coughed and wheezed. “C-Cough-ugh-ughing?!”
“Well, it's an evolution thing. We aren’t too susceptible to chlorine or phosphorus.” He coughed again. “But we aren’t immune to it.” He looked around. “We need masks!”
They looked around, before noticing a family escaping the chlorine with masks. They ran over.
“Excuse us!” Blue called. “We need your masks! It’s urgent!”
The family spoke in Arabian. Blue shook his head.
“No no, masks. We need need your—”
“Nahn bihajat li'aqnaeatik.”
The family nodded and the adults took their masks off and gave them to the officers.
Blue blinked and took his gas mask. “What the hay? You speak Arabian?”
“What? You don’t?” Tempest teased, slipping hers on.
Blue rolled his eyes and slipped his on. “Whatever. Can you ask them where Bleach is?”
Tempest nodded. “Min 'ayn hasalt ealaa hwla'?” she asked. They replied back. “What?!”
“What is it?” Blue asked.
“Bleach gave them the masks!”
Blue blinked. The family spoke again, pointing at a house. The two nodded and ran into the gas. The masks were very effective. Blue looked around, noticing a few dead or dying guards.
“Crap…” he said, examining one of the bodies. “Poor ponies never stood a chance…”
“No, really?” Tempest sighed.
The two continued moving, finding the house. Blue tried to open it, but it was barricaded. He snarled and stepped back.
Tempest blinked. “What are you gonna do? One punch it dow—”
Crash!
Tempest flinched, then noticed the door was gone. She looked at Blue, who’s eyes were glowing a sharp blue, before returning to normal. He chuckled and nodded at her.
“Well?”
She groaned and trotted over. She aimed her crossbow in, looking around. “Bleach! We’re here for your arrest! Come out!”
She stepped in, aiming her weapon around. “Come out! There’s nowhere to ru—”
A pony tackled her, throwing her crossbow away. Tempest pulled out her knife, aiming it at the Blade pony’s chest. The pony punched her in the face, drawing their own knife and trying to stab her.
“Hey! Motherbucker!”
The pony looked over, before being killed by Blue. The changeling chuckled and walked over. “Hey stormfreak, stop playing arou—”
A griffon whacked Blue in the back of the head with a hardcover book. Tempest rolled her eyes and grabbed her sidehoof, sending two arrows into the pony’s chest. Blue groaned and stood up.
“Heheh, you were saying, Blue Tooth?”
Blue narrowed his eyes. “Shut it Stormfreak…” he looked at the two Blade soldiers. “I thought Bleach was the only one here?”
“Must’ve called in reinforcements or something…” Tempest replied, searching the bodies.
“The heck are you doing?” Blue asked, rubbing his head.
Tempest rolled her eyes. “Checking through bodies. They might have some lethals or ammo.”
“Whatever you say…” Blue looked around. There was a kitchen. Maybe thar bucker’s in there. He trotted over. “Fang Gang Special Operations! Come out with your hooves—” he shook his head. “Claws up!”
Tempest facehoofed, causing Blue to whip around.
“Jeez, you’d think a Lieutenant would know something about his op,” she chastised, walking towards another dead Blade soldier.
Blue rolled his eyes. “Oh shut it, Stormfre—”
A flashbang went off, blinding and deafening Blue, whilst merely deafening Tempest. The pony in question whipped around to see a griffon tackling Blue, raising a knife up. Acting quickly, Tempest raised her sidehoof and shot the griffon in the claw. The griffon howled as the arrow pierced his claw, before running back into the kitchen.
Tempest ran over to Blue. “Hey, you good?”
Blue was rubbing his eyes. “Y-Yeah, just get after him!”
Tempest nodded and ran into the kitchen, where she saw a ladder that led to an open hatch in the room. She growled and climbed up as well. On the roofs, she saw the griffon on a separate roof.
“S-Stop her, brothers!” he called, turning to run. A few ponies ran out, firing automatic crossbows at Tempest. The mare jumped to their roof, dropping one of her ‘lightning’ grenades. She rolled out of the way before the grenade went off, knocking her off balance slightly. She looked over to see the grenade had exploded. She quickly checked her bag and sighed.
“Blue Tooth…” she muttered, realizing she’d taken Blue’s grenades instead of hers. Ugh… too late to turn back now… She stood up and grabbed her burstfire crossbow, running. The griffon turned to fire his sidehoof at her. Tempest dove behind a small stone railing that covered the roofs. A few ponies tried climbing up a ladder connected to the building she was on. She smirked and dropped a grenade on the climbing soldier’s head, sending him falling off with the others.
The soldier picked up the grenade, but realized all too late what it was. “Oh bu—”
By time it exploded, Tempest was on the next roof. She fired her burstfire crossbow into a griffon, who fell off the roof and alerted some of the guards.
“Hey! Stop that griffon!” Tempest called out. The guards nodded and picked up their weapons, giving chase and fighting off other Blade soldiers. Tempest nodded, watching as a unicorn guard teleported towards the griffon, tackling him. The griffon and guard wrestled, until the griffon ripped the arrow out of his claw to try and stab the guard.
Tempest’s eyes widened when she saw the pony. “Star Striker?!”
The guard looked over. “Captain Shad— Argh!”
The griffon rammed the arrow into Star’s back. The unicorn howled, stabbing the griffon in the back with an arrow of his own. The griffon sneered, throwing Star off the roof. Tempest’s jaw dropped. “No!”
Star hit the sandy grounds with a thud. Tempest yelled and threw a grenade at the griffon, then jumped to his building. The griffon swatted the grenade away, before drawing his sidehoof and shooting Tempest in the shoulder. The unicorn howled and collapsed to the ground, growling at him.
“I don’t think you should worry about me, and worry about that bomb.”
Tempest looked off the roof to see the grenade had landed in a crowd of Arabians. She felt her heart plummet.
Then, the grenade flew away from the crowd, exploding in the air. Tempest’s eyes widened and she saw a certain blue-fanged changeling running towards her with a certain object in his hoof.
“Hey birdbrain!” he called out, throwing the item. “Catch!”
The item hit the griffon in the chest, electrocuting him. He howled and stumbled. “Gah! You son of a— woah, ahh!” The griffon fell backwards, landing on his back and sending the arrow straight through his side.
Tempest breathed and looked at Blue, who smiled and saluted. She chuckled and saluted back.
~~~
Tempest looked at the unicorn, who was sitting against a wall, drinking from a canteen. He smiled at her.
“Heheh… Captain Shadow… I don't think we've had a proper introduction…” Star said jokingly.
She smiled. “Well, nothing happens by accident.”
Star nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
Tempest looked over at Blue, who was tending to the Blade griffon. She smiled a bit, then looked at Star Striker. “Say, I…” she looked back at Blue. “We, could use a soldier like you.”
Star raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
She chuckled. “Meet me at the Manehattan café. We can discuss opportunities there,” she said, smiling. Star nodded, standing up. Tempest nodded and walked over to Blue. “Well?”
Blue sighed. “He ain’t Griffax. That buck left a few hours ago…”
“Buck…” Tempest muttered.
Blue nodded. “Mhm… but…” he pulled out a feather. “We have this.”
Tempest tilted her head. “What… what even is that?”
Blue smirked. “One of Griffax’s feathers. Found it in that house. We can use it to track him as well as any other family.”
Tempest’s eyes widened. “Blue, you’re a bucking genius.”
Blue chuckled and patted her on the shoulder. “Heh, couldn’t do it without ya, Temp.”
She smiled and nodded, shaking his hoof. “Friends?”
Blue chuckled and shook hooves back. “Friends.”