//------------------------------// // 4: The Attack // Story: A Mercenary's Ending // by morbiusgreen //------------------------------// It had only been a half day since the group of ponies and their mercenary escorts had left the farm and they were already halfway to their destination. The train that the mercenary group had promised the ponies had indeed been at the old Ponyville train station waiting for them. The train’s conductor, one who Applejack knew, wasn’t too thrilled with having to make a stop, but when he saw the pony who called herself Sunset Shimmer, Applejack saw a hint of fear in his eyes as he allowed the Apples to leave their carriages in their cargo car. Since the train itself was only half full, that meant that the Apples and their hired help could make themselves comfortable in one of the emptier cars. Not much was said during that time. Some of them took the opportunity to sleep. They’d worked hard packing up the last of the family’s belongings during the first half of the morning, and seeing as though they hadn’t expected to make it so far in so short a time, they decided to recover their strength. Applejack was one of these ponies. The stresses of packing up and moving had taken a massive toll on her. She dozed on and off in her seat, being jolted awake a few times by a jostling of the car they were in whenever the train hit some sort of bump on its westerly journey. During their last hour before they arrived at White Forest Junction, however, she was awake. She felt a bit more rested, but with the sun nearing the western horizon, she knew that they wouldn’t get very far once they disembarked, so they would need to set up camp. Which was where they were now. After getting off at White Forest Junction, they only had a half hour of daylight left, which didn’t give them much time to find a campsite where they could set up for the night. Luckily, they found a large clearing near a large stream where the group set up a camp. By the time the sun was well below the horizon, they had a fire going and some stew boiling over said fire, a carrot and potato stew with various herbs and spices and tomato sauce mixed in with some water to thin it out. While they ate, however, Applejack kept stealing glances at the smaller, secondary camp some ways away where the three mercenaries had set up their own camp. They had a fire of their own, but no stew pot boiling over it. Instead, it looked like they had some food already prepared and were quietly eating, or at least two of them were. She noticed that the silent masked Revan hadn’t removed his mask. Feeling a little bad about how they’d been less than hospitable during their first encounter, she filled up three extra bowls halfway with some soup and made her way over to the second campfire, each bowl being balanced on a piece of wood. Tobias looked up when she arrived. “Hello, there,” he said with a polite nod, “is there something I can do for you?” Applejack shook her head and passed the impromptu platter with steaming soup over to him. “Ah thought y’all could use somethin’ a bit more fillin’ that whatever it is yer eatin’,” she said, “as thanks fer gettin’ us on that train and fer keepin’ watch over us.” Tobias took the piece of wood carefully and inhaled the scent of the steaming bowls. “Oh damn,” he said with a chuckle, “this stew smells absolutely amazing. Thank you very much!” “Shoot, it ain’t nothin’,” Applejack said as she watched Tobias pass the other bowls out to the other two. “Just tryin’ tah be a good host.” She thought she heard the unicorn named Sunset scoff at this, but it was Tobias who spoke next. “Well, this’ll definitely send us to bed with full stomachs tonight instead of our normal hard tack. Thank you again.” “Yes…thanks,” Sunset added, although Applejack couldn’t hear any sort of gratitude in her voice. When the silent third member called Revan looked up, Applejack froze. The glowing sky blue eyes of his mask were locked onto her. It was a terrifying few moments before Revan simply nodded at her. Applejack felt a bit of her fear of this Revan ebb away. He may have been a silent member, but it seemed as if he was grateful. She decided to speak up. “Yah really don’t talk much, do ya, stranger?” Tobias looked up, a little apprehension in his face. The pony, who was now not wearing her cowl, goggles and hood, looked up, a small piece of bread in her magic. They both turned to Revan. The mysterious figure seemed to be looking at Applejack, but without being able to see a face, it was hard to tell. The blue glowing eyes on the mask simply looked at her. Finally, she heard the voice of this mysterious Revan for the first time. “Only when necessary.” She was taken aback by the voice. It was deep and had what she could only describe as an artificial tone to it. She was, frankly, even more intimidated by this creature than before. Still, she knew that she’d rather have him on her side than as an enemy. She slowly nodded. “Kinda like mah brother. He’s a stallion of few words.”Revan’s head tilted slightly, looking towards the fire where the Apples all sat. He then turned his head back to Applejack, slowly nodding in response. She knew that while he wasn’t a pony, she knew that type of nod. “Ah, well,” she stammered out, “ah’ll leave y’all tah eatin’. Hope y’all enjoy the soup.” “We will,” Tobias said with a smile, “and thanks again!” Applejack smiled, turned, and walked back to their camp. As she did so, she couldn’t help but look back one more time. There was something about Revan that she couldn’t put her hoof on. It was eating at her, but she couldn’t understand why. Shaking her head, she turned back and made her way back to camp. The fires were both dim now as everyone in both camps were asleep. The sky above was clear of any clouds and the only noises to be heard were the sounds of wind through nearby trees along with some occasional nighttime animal noises. Sunset was out on watch, using her enchanted goggles to enhance her vision. Everything around her was brighter, and with the lack of a moon until later that night it helped her spot any movement and focus on it. She’d volunteered for first watch because one, she wanted to get a feel for how guard duty went, and two, she didn’t want to be in the middle or at the end. First shift, in her mind, was always the easiest shift. As she patrolled both campsites, she heard whispering coming from the two singular tents that Tobias and Revan both shared. Curious, she slowly crept back up to see if she could hear anything. She caught the tail end of Tobias saying something. “-things being as they are, we may become targets, especially with this being the family of a former Harmony Bearer.” She listened, and to her surprise the voice that replied was not the same as the voice from the mask. It sounded more, well, normal. “Equestria has become a more dangerous place in the past three years,” the new voice said. Sunset noted that the voice was indeed male, although unlike the voice she’d heard coming from the mask, this one lacked the menacing edge. It was still deadly serious, however. “Did the Guild Master have anything to say?” “You know the answer to that,” Tobias said. “Yeah, suppose so,” Revan, or so she assumed, replied. “The next couple of days are going to be a bit rough.” “At least we got halfway there already,” Tobias said, “so that’s a plus.” “True,” Revan said, “but we’re on the edge of former Equestrian soil. It’s still just as lawless as the Badlands.” “I’ve heard the rumors,” Tobias said. “You ready to face ponies again?” Revan was silent for a bit, then his voice replied, “As ready as I’ll ever be.” “Good. I have the splints and medical supplies ready just in case,” Tobias said with a chuckle. A chuckle which Revan didn’t join in on. As Tobias went quiet, Revan said, “My shift is in a few hours. I’m going to sleep.” “Sure thing,” Tobias said, “goodnight.” “Night,” Revan said, and with that, there was silence again. This left Sunset with several questions about what she’d just heard. As she walked away to go back to her patrol. The most intriguing thing she had heard about was that this Revan had faced ponies in the past. She wasn’t sure why Tobias had phrased it that way, but it piqued her interest. She decided that she’d try and get some more information at a later date. She just had to be patient. So, she resumed her watch, keeping her thoughts in the back of her mind and her attention on the here and now. The waning moon above shone its dim silvery light on the sleeping ponies below. It reflected off of the serene lake which was disturbed by a slight breeze, leaving ripples on the surface. The noises of nocturnal animals were remote. An owl hooted nearby, a group of wild wolves howled in the distance, and a few branches were snapped by the careless hoof of a pony who wasn’t looking where he was going. “Hush!” one of the other ponies in the small group hissed back at the first pony, “or do you want to wake up the whole world with that racket!” “Sorry,” the first pony said a bit loudly. “Quiet!” another pony whispered. “Sir, we’re almost there,” another pony said. “Alright, everypony, put your stealth game on,” the apparent leader of the group said. He pulled on a chain in his hoof before looking back. “Mango, come.” The pony attached to the chain, an extremely burly but rather dim earth pony stallion named Mango Wrecker, came forward, looking nervously at the whip on the belt of the leader. “What Mango gonna do?” Mango asked. “Sit down,” the leader said, and the burly pony did so. The pony in charge, a unicorn stallion named Dirty Hunter, who preferred to go by Hunter, walked over to the edge of the small valley, looking down with the rest of the group of bandits and thugs. Below, the camp lay still, unsuspecting. Hunter grinned and turned back to the others. “Just like you predicted, Ace.” Ace Hole, the unicorn stallion strategist of the group, pushed his glasses up as he looked down at the camp. “We shouldn’t be too hasty,” he whispered, “for all we know, they’ve asked somepony to protect them.” “Pff, with their reputation who’d come to their rescue,” Hunter said with a smirk. Oneshot, their expert pegasus bowstallion, came up and looked down. His eyesight was better than most ponies and he scanned the area below. “I don’t see anypony on any sort of patrol,” he whispered. “We should get the lay of the land first,” Ace said. “Yes,” Hunter agreed before he motioned for his group to fan out. He stayed beside Mango, looking down at the camp as Ace, Oneshot, and a mysterious former earth pony soldier in the Royal Guard who only called himself ‘Echo’ walked on the edge, looking down at the peaceful, unsuspecting looking camp. He looked around at the others in their group, looking for signs that there might be some sort of lookout. He thought it foolish for anypony out this far not to set up a lookout, but these were Ponyvillians, after all. Ignorant fools who had disgraced themselves. Oneshot got Hunter’s attention with a wave of his wing. Hunter looked over and read the hoof signals that they’d come up with to communicate over large distances. Doing a quick translation, Hunter gathered that there was some sort of lookout, but there was only one that he could see. A unicorn, and a mare at that. Hunter grinned. Once they were done with those last Ponyvillians, they’d have another to have fun with. Unicorns were always the most fun to break. He waited a bit to see if anypony else found another lookout, although he trusted Oneshot’s abilities. There was none. Eventually, the other three returned to their initial lookout point. “Report,” Hunter said. “Two encampments,” Oneshot said. “The main one is to the north and the smaller one is to the south. Main one has a few carriages sitting right out in the open. Smaller one is probably where there are other lookouts or escorts.” “Judging by the number of tracks we saw,” the elusive Echo said, “there are eight ponies in that bigger camp. If that unicorn is one of the escort group, then that group consists of three.” “And those other tracks?” Hunter asked. Echo shook his head. “One’s feline, but the other one is wearing some sort of boot. I’ve never seen one like that before. Still, it’s likely from the strides taken that the owner of those boots is bipedal.” “We go smash now?” Mango asked. “Hush, Mango,” Hunter said, giving the chain one harsh pull which made the bigger pony hiss in pain. “We’ll smash them soon.” Hunter turned back to the others. “An abyssinian, probably. Anypony here tangled with one of their kind?” A cursory glance informed him that they hadn’t. “Me neither, so we should be careful. If the third creature isn’t leaving any tracks, maybe it’s another abyssinian who likes wearing boots. From what I know about them, they’re incredibly flexible and tough to beat in a fight. But that’s why we have Mango here.” “So, take out the escort first?” Oneshot asked. Ace once more adjusted his glasses. “I’d advise that we move towards the main camp first. I watched the unicorn lookout. She has a pattern she follows and if we time it right, we can have those Ponyvillians all where we want them. Then we get the biggest payday the guild’s ever seen.” Hunter grinned. “Okay, we have a few hours before daylight, and I’d like this done quickly. Time to strategize.” Applejack woke up with a jolt, sitting up in her cot and panting heavily. She’d had yet another one of her night terrors regarding Jason Wright. They were always the same: she’d see his lifeless hanging corpse on the apple tree of her once beautiful orchard after hearing the sickening crunch of his neck being snapped. She would feel the same feeling of nausea as the dream, more detailed than any other, revealed every inch of his scarred and deformed body to her. The lightning strike scar made by Rainbow Dash, the multiple buck scars on his chest, arms, and sides, one prominent scar made by her, the bite marks made by her sadly now deceased dog Winnona (who had died after eating an apple tainted with the rot some months prior), the gaunt form caused from lack of food, his tattered and graying head of long wild hair, and the lifeless eyes which stared into her soul. The night terrors had come less and less as time went on, but she still had them, and they all ended the same way. The lifeless corpse would come back to life, snap the rope away, and begin walking towards Applejack, who was frozen in place and unable to move. The boney hands of the now dead human would reach up, grab her by the throat, and with his one good eye, would stare at her, not saying a word, but instead choking her. And just as she felt the life go out of her, it would be her on the hanging noose instead of Jason, who would simply look at her with a mixture of rage and sadness. That was when she would be able to move and try and escape, trying also to call out apology after apology, but she would be unable to do so. The dream version of Jason would just turn and walk away, not helping her in the slightest, just like she’d never helped him. And then, Applejack and the entire tree she hung from would fall into a pit, heading towards an eternal pit of flames. This was when she would wake up most times, although other nights she’d wake up earlier. Applejack slowly moved to the side, putting her hooves on the ground beside her cot. She couldn’t see much, but in the dim moonlight that came from above, she knew it must be early morning. She took time to calm down, taking a few quiet deep breaths so as not to wake the ponies in the other tents around her. She slowly made her way over to where she remembered her canteen being placed. She swallowed a few sips, which helped her stomach settle. She didn’t want to hurl anything extra up because she knew she’d need the strength, especially if they were to build a brand new home once they got to Maretime Bay. She turned and was about to open the tent flap to let some fresh air in when a shadow fell across the tent. She paused, looking at the hulking pony figure that stood on what looked like a distant hill. The outline wasn’t too clear, but even she knew that nopony in their group had a figure like this. Not even that unicorn mare who was with the mercenary group. When a second pony figure emerged and spread a pair of wings, she knew they weren’t part of her group. Especially since she saw that the pegasus pony held a bow and arrow in their hooves. Panicking, Applejack ran out and looked in the distance to see two ponies. The one with a bow and arrow had a flaming arrow pointed directly at the camp. So, she did the only thing she knew how to do in that moment. She alerted the camp. “Bandits!” she shouted as she ran along the encampment, screaming the words over and over again. However, she didn’t get too far before there was an explosion behind her, sending her sprawling onto her back. She groaned and sat up, looking back to see one of the carriages full of belongings decimated and catching fire quickly. “No!” she shouted in agony as she quickly got back on her hooves and tried to rush forward to put out the fire. However, another explosion rocked the ground and struck the second carriage, causing more of their belongings to be destroyed. By this time, the others in camp were awake and running out, dazed and confused by what was happening. When Granny Smith saw the burning wreckage that was once their belongings, she screamed in utter agony, further shattering Applejack’s heart. A blast of orange magic from further up the hill caught Applejack’s attention, and a third explosion rocked the night, only this explosion was in midair, illuminating the area around them and scattering small pieces of whatever was being shot at them all around. Now fully awake, Applejack went into defensive mode, looking for anything she could use as a weapon to defend her family. She spotted an older iron frying pan that she grabbed, holding it up as she tried to get a sense of what was happening. Because of the fire caused by whatever their attackers had launched at them, she couldn’t see into the darkness too much, but she did hear blasts of magic being fired and what sounded like the hooves of a massive bull charging towards them. Three stallions, her brother, Merry, and Pippin, ran past her towards a hulking beast that was making its way towards them at high speed. The burly creature was tackled by all three stallions, but Applejack watched them all be thrown back. “Mango smash!” the deep voice of the creature, which Applejack now saw to be a massive earth pony stallion, shouted in hat could only be described as excitement as he bucked the three stallions away like they were nothing but ragdolls. Golden and Blue were pulling Granny Smith and Apple Bloom away from the camp, the former fighting to get away from Golden and Apple Bloom only crying in sadness and confusion. Applejack gripped her pan, rage building inside her as she launched herself at the stallion, bringing the pan down to try and knock him out. Unfortunately, it seemed as if this stallion’s head was made of solid rock because her attack only served to make the rampaging stallion even more excited. He stomped past them, and Applejack heard somepony cry out in pain along with the snapping of a bone. Applejack looked around, and to her dismay saw Big Mac holding one of his forelegs with the other. It was bent back at an angle that was unnatural. She ran up to him while Merry and Pippin ran over to the rampaging maniac who was tearing their camp apart. “Big Mac!” she shouted. Big Mac looked up at her, his deep green eyes full of pain, but not the pain of his broken leg. It was the pain of failure, something she knew all too well just by looking in the mirror every morning. “I’ll be fine,” he grunted as from behind them they both heard the sound of magic being shot at somepony. “Go!” And with that, he shoved her off. “Protect our kin!” Knowing that there wasn’t much she could do, she turned and ran back into the fray, her pan in hoof as she saw the large earth pony start to get up. Golden was once more charging her horn, aiming it down at the massive pony, but before she could do anything a blast of magic struck her, sending her sprawling. Blue launched into the air, quickly scanning the skies before she was struck with some sort of net, bringing her down. However, Golden’s magic struck the net and caused it to evaporate. Applejack continued her attack on the massive stallion, Merry and Pippin trying their best to hold him down, but it was as if nothing could hold back this rampaging beast. He simply stomped through their campgrounds, destroying everything in his path. Applejack tried striking him in the head again and again, but it didn’t work, and soon her pan shattered, sending metal everywhere. She resorted to using her hooves, but the raging hulk was unable to be stopped. That was, until he stopped himself. The sudden halt sent the three ponies on his back flying off, landing right beside a familiar face. Tobias looked down at the three, a serious look on his own face. “Stop the fires,” he said as he stepped between the pony and Applejack, “and leave Mango to me.” The stallion saw Tobias and waved. “Hi, Tob!” “You know ‘im?!” Applejack asked in an accusing tone. “No time to explain, just go,” Tobias ordered before launching himself at the hulking beast. “Come on, Mango, time to play!” For a few moments, Applejack watched as the he seemed to dance around the hulking creature. The stallion apparently named Mango tried to grab at Tobias, but the way he was doing it made it seem that he thought this was some sort of game. Still, the cat was leading Mango away from the camp towards the lake, so that was a plus. Pippin caught her attention and pulled her away. She grabbed a blanket and began putting the flames out as best as she could, but something about it was off. The fire wasn’t going out like normal fires would, and even the buckets of water from the lake that Merry would bring to help douse it didn’t seem to be working as well. There was also a foul smell from the fire itself. A figure was suddenly thrown onto the ground nearby, and a grunt could be heard from said figure. Applejack turned to see a unicorn slowly getting to their feet, only to be blasted away with another shot of orange magic. Sunset Shimmer, the unicorn mercenary, stepped forward, horn lit up and ready to go. “You made a big mistake attacking me, little stallion,” she said with a smirk. “I’ll lay you out just like I laid out your four eyed companion!” “Nnng,” the stallion, a dark brown unicorn wearing a red bandana, stood and glared at the orange unicorn. “Just because you’re with Shadow Dawn and that freak Revan doesn’t mean shit,” he spat, aiming his horn at Sunset and firing a blast, which the mare deflected with a dim orange magic shield. “That bastard isn’t worth being a mercenary-” He was silenced by a powerful blast of magic again, only this one froze the unicorn in ice. Sunset looked down at the stallion with a look of disdain. “Nopony cares what you think,” she spat. The ice began to crack, which caused Sunset to arch an eyebrow. Applejack and the two stallions had barely enough time to duck as the ice exploded, revealing a very angry unicorn. “How dare you?! Is there no honor among mercenaries anymore?!” He fired a blast at Sunset, but this time she was flung back, unable to deflect it with her magic. She was sent flying, tumbling across the ground like a ragdoll before coming to a halt and standing again, only for the unicorn to buck her in the chest. A blast of magic from Sunset caught the attacker on the side of the face, however, and caused him to fall to the side, screaming in pain. Applejack turned away, going back to trying to stop the fires. The magic blasts from nearby seemed to grow more distant. The fires, thanks to both Merry and Pippin dousing the flames with water now, were slowly but surely being put out. Just as the first fire was being extinguished, something crashed into the second fire. Applejack turned and saw two ponies, an earth pony with a sword in his hoof and a pegasus with a bow and arrow, slowly approaching the flames. Applejack turned and saw, to her astonishment, a figure rising out of said flames. It was Revan, and in his claws he held a deadly looking black blade along with a small black circular shield. There were a few arrows sticking out of the shield, but Applejack also noticed that there was an arrow in his shoulder. She watched as he reached up, snapped the majority of it out of him and tossed the broken piece of wood aside before he used his blade to cut through the other arrows stuck in his shield. The pegasus frowned and took aim again. “I never liked you, Revan,” he spat. When the figure, who had slowly walked out of the flames, didn’t respond, he growled and aimed at him. Revan was instantly on the defensive, holding his shield up in anticipation. The glowing blue eyes of his mask were still terrifying to look at despite Applejack knowing that he had been injured. When the pegasus let loose his arrow, Revan reflected instantly, catching it in his shield. However, he wasn’t fast enough to block the second arrow that the pegasus let loose. Time slowed as Applejack watched in horror while the arrow sped for Revan’s mask. Upon impact, the arrow simply shattered, exploding into shards. This seemed to catch both ponies off guard, which Revan used to his advantage. He ran towards the two ponies, weapon at the ready. The two ponies quickly recovered and while the pegasus took to the skies, the larger earth pony rushed towards Revan. The earth pony took a swing at the strange masked figure with his sword. Revan deflected it, then bashed at the pony’s muzzle with the hilt of his blade, sending the pony sprawling. An arrow suddenly appeared right in Revan’s shield arm, causing the masked figure to look up just in time to deflect another arrow with his shield. This gave the earth pony a chance to attack, but before he could a blast of orange magic caught him in the head, sending the pony sprawling into unconsciousness. Applejack looked towards the source to see Sunset nodding at Revan before going back to face her own opponent. Revan quickly cut off both ends of the arrow that were in his arm and faced the pegasus pony again. The pony reached into his quiver, only to find he had no more arrows, so instead, he sped down, crashing into Revan hoof first. The two tumbled over each other onto the ground, grappling at each other with their hooves and claws. Once again, Applejack didn’t have time to watch as the fight was leading away from the fire. The others had joined now. Granny was tending to Big Mac’s broken foreleg while Golden was trying to use her magic to drag water through the air towards the fire. Blue was flying back and forth from the water to the second fire with buckets as fast as she could. With the extra help the fire was quickly being put out. When the last of the flames were put out, there was darkness. With her eyes not used to the dark yet, Applejack looked around wildly, only seeing shadows. Two unicorns were still fighting, but that fight quickly ended with a cry from the unicorn stallion as Sunset knocked him out. Tobias was still flipping and jumping over the large stallion, avoiding strike after strike. And the only form of light from the third fight, the one between Revan and the pegasus, was the glowing mask of the strange being. Revan was quickly brought to the ground, the two tumbling around until Applejack saw the pegasus reach down and apparently pull the head off of Revan. However, when he looked down at the figure, he froze. “No way…you’re one of them!” He then chuckled darkly as he tossed the mask aside, then brought his hoof down onto Revan’s head. Applejack heard Revan grunting in pain as the hoof struck him. Revan raised his arms and deflected more and more hoof strikes. With a snarl, the pegasus raised a hoof to strike. “I’ll end your race here and-” BANG! A loud explosion rang out. The pegasus froze, hoof still in midair. For a few agonizing seconds, nothing could be heard. Even Tobias and the pony named Mango stopped, turning to see what was happening. Then, the pegasus began falling. Revan reached up and shoved the pegasus to the side, slowly sitting up, covering his face with his hood and retrieving the mask. He placed it over his face again, and Applejack could hear a strange hiss from it. In the dark, Applejack saw him place an object on his belt, a gleam of metal from it reflecting in the moonlight. Tobias and Mango were instantly by Revan’s side. Tobias was the first to speak. “Did you use-?” “Yes,” was all that Revan said before taking a step, stumbling a bit. “Mask friend okay?” Mango asked in what sounded like concern. Sunset appeared and cast a large orb of light in the air, illuminating the four. When Tobias saw the two arrows in Revan’s shoulder and arm, his eyes went wide. “Mango, help me carry him!” he ordered. Mango knelt down and Tobias helped Revan onto the back of the massive stallion. Applejack couldn’t wait any longer. She had to know just what was going on. She galloped up and got Tobias’ attention. “What in tarnation is happenin’ here? Who are these ponies?” Tobias turned back to her. “I don’t have time to discuss it,” he said with severity, “but when I’m done healing Revan, I’ll let you know.” “I know a few healing spells,” Sunset said, coming forward. He then turned to Sunset. “Magic doesn’t affect him like it does us,” he explained, “he needs non-magical means of healing. Come on, Mango.” With that, the large pony stallion, Tobias, and Revan all headed back to their camp. When morning came, the extent of the damage done to the caravan was revealed in full. Nearly three-fourths of the belongings of the Apple family had been destroyed. Valuable heirlooms, old silverware, some clothes, and even a good number of farming tools were destroyed by the fire. Thankfully, most of the food wasn’t destroyed along with their bits, so they would still be able to use both when building their new farm and barn. Still, many of the reserve apple seeds had been destroyed as well, so they would have to start small. There were a few zapp apple seeds that were spared, so they could at least get something going. Tobias was busily tending to his friend’s wounds, having already pulled the shafts out of both injuries and having sewn them both up. He looked down at his now unconscious partner, seeing how Gregory was wincing in pain at everything he did even in his sleep. He’d given Gregory a potion made to help ease pain and to keep him unconscious, but with how this human’s body reacted to potions or any form of magic, the effects were greatly diminished. Revan’s face was heavily bruised, but with the zebra salve he had applied to Gregory’s face, he hoped that the swelling would go down. He looked down at his friend’s belt and sighed. “I wish you could have found another way to deal with Oneshot than killing him,” Tobias said sadly, “but he knew the risks as much as we did…” He finished changing the wounds, then made his way outside where three of the remaining four members of Bad Squad, a group of mercenaries from the mercenary guild in Thornfall, were tied and disarmed, being looked after by their newest member Sunset Shimmer. Hunter, Echo, and Ace were looking up at Tobias with a scowl as he approached. Mango was not tied up because Tobias knew that Mango was only being abused by these other ponies just so they could use his strength. He walked up in front of the three and drew one of the rapiers at his side, aiming it at Hunter’s neck. “Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t just kill you now,” he demanded. Hunter spat at the ground. “Don’t give me that empty threat,” he growled, “it’s not our fault we were hired to take these ponies. We take jobs, same as you.” Sunset glared at them, raising her horn which began to glow. “And just who hired you?” she demanded. Hunter looked at her. “You must be new,” he said with a grin, “because no mercenary gives away secrets like that. We do have a sense of honor.” “You have no honor,” Tobias said in a threatening tone, pointing the tip of his blade against Hunter’s neck. “You sold your own parents out to make a quick bit.” “And I’d do it again too,” Hunter bragged, seeming unconcerned with the tip of the rapier against his throat. Tobias slowly removed his blade from Hunter’s neck, instead placing it against Ace’s neck instead. “How many others were hired to chase these ponies, and by whom?” he knew Hunter and Ace were brothers, the last of their family, and while Hunter and Ace may have betrayed their parents, he knew that Hunter would do nearly anything to protect his little brother. Hunter’s smirk faded immediately and he struggled against his restraints, but Sunset kept him in place with her magic. “Just try it, I dare you,” she said, “and that pegasus we killed won’t be the only casualty.” Tobias inwardly winced at this. Sunset was a powerful unicorn, that much was clear, but her attitude was very atypical of any pony he knew of here. She had the hints of a Canterlot accent in her voice, so if she was from there, he wondered just what had happened to make her actually threaten death to someone. Then again, he had to remind himself that the ponies of Ponyville had woken up and chosen violence against the only other human besides his companion to enter this world, so he had to concede that ponies were not the perfect society they portrayed themselves as to the world. Not only that, but the ponies that Gregory had met upon his arrival had been equally as cruel and violent towards him, chasing him out of Dodge City without a second’s hesitation. “Our new team member’s words aside,” he said, throwing Sunset a warning glare before turning back to Hunter, “I suggest you start talking. We’ve been hired to protect the family whose belongings you so callously destroyed, and if the boss was stupid enough to approve a job that conflicts with ours, heads will roll. Starting with your dear little brother.” He pressed the tip of his sword against Ace’s neck deeper, enough to cause a cut to open. Hunter’s scowl deepened, but soon he snorted in a very equine manner before saying, “In my saddlebags.” Sunset walked over and lifted the saddlebags with her magic. She dumped all of the contents out, which revealed a number of different weapons, tools, a large bag of what sounded like coins, and a piece of parchment paper. A very fancy looking scroll which she unraveled and read silently. She apparently had to take a double take, reading the words more carefully before she floated the scroll over to Tobias. “Somepony really didn’t want those ponies reaching Maretime Bay,” she said. Tobias read the scroll carefully. To whom it may concern, It has come to the attention of our group that the former Element of Honesty and her family are leaving their abode. We will be paying handsomely in advance to ensure that they do not reach their destination. Dead or alive it doesn’t matter to us. The first half of your payment is enclosed below, and we will pay the second half upon completion. SHADOWS WILL FALL Tobias raised an eyebrow, then both shot up in alarm and realization. He turned back to the three remaining members of Bad Squad. “You won’t die,” he said as he stuffed the scroll into his pocket, “but that money of yours won’t be going back to Thornfall with you.” With several precise slashes, the ropes binding them together were cut. He then removed the two magic suppression rings on Hunter’s and Ace’s horns. As Sunset lifted the bag of money off of the ground, Tobias kicked the bag over to them. “Get out of here.” “We won’t be the only ones after them, you know?” Hunter said as he lifted his bag and belongings away, “so don’t expect the next few days on the road to be easy.” With that, the three remaining ponies grabbed the wrapped-up body of their dead companion, which Echo placed on his back, and began galloping away, heading up and over the hill. Sunset approached Tobias afterwards, giving him the bag of bits which he took. It was hefty, and he placed it in his bag to show to his friend Gregory later. “Any idea who hired those morons?” she asked. Tobias knew all too well. He’d heard about them somewhere, but couldn’t quite recall where he’d heard about them at the moment. Still, just the thought of who these folks were sent shivers down his spine. He looked at Sunset. “Tell the clients they need to pack up everything double time. We have to get moving now.” As he walked back into Gregory’s tent, he saw that his friend was already awake, wincing as he sat up and looked at the wounds on his shield arm. When he saw Tobias’ expression, Gregory stiffened. “Toby, what’s wrong?” he asked, wincing more as he spoke. Tobias handed the paper to Gregory, who read it over. He read it, then looked back at Tobias with a worried look, his face pale, although whether that was from the blood loss, fear, or both, Tobias couldn’t say. “Why would they be interested in the Apple family?” “I don’t know,” Tobias said, “but we need to get moving.” Gregory nodded, grabbed his mask, and placed it over his head, the standard hiss of air heard as it was sealed. “Then let’s move.” With that, they struck camp. Their mission now had a sense of urgency, but Shadow Dawn never broke a contract, even if someone was after their charges. It was their creed, their mantra, their promise, to be a better breed of mercenary.