Sunset’s first glimpse of Maretime Bay was met with mixed feelings from her. For one thing, she could appreciate that, despite being only a couple of years old, the town had a more modern day look, unlike the backwater dump that had been Ponyville. The buildings didn’t have the plainly outdated and dangerous thatched roofing that seemed to be all the rage in most towns. The town was less colorful than other places in Equestria. Sure, there were some buildings that had some color, but for the most part they were muted. There was a large factory being built on a small hill overlooking the town, although for what purpose she couldn’t guess.
Secondly, she could appreciate just how orderly it was. This town was apparently planned out, and had a very good aesthetic. Ponyville didn’t have that. Instead, it was more haphazard, and emergency services would have a harder time reaching their destinations in a town such as that. At least here, the roads were smooth and well-marked.
On the other hoof, Sunset could hardly accept that these sadists and country hicks even deserved a city of their own. What they’d done was a crime that deserved time in the deepest, darkest dungeons of Canterlot, and in the case of the Inhumane Six as they had become known throughout Equestria, Tartarus. If nothing else, they shouldn’t be allowed to be around each other where they could propagate their hate, xenophobia, and speciesism.
She looked back at their group. Their clients were down to two carts of what they could recover from the attack more than two days ago. At least since then there had been no more attacks despite Hunter’s warnings, but with Revan and Big Mac both injured, Sunset and Tobias had to pick up the slack on watch. The two other stallions in the Apple group had even joined in on the watch.
Mango, their new tagalong, was pulling both carts, each of which also carried the injured members of their party. Revan was in the front carriage and Big Mac the back one. Both acted as their lookouts during the day, while at the same time not speaking much. Camps had been shared after that fateful attack.
Sunset quickly grew to learn from Tobias that the group that had attacked them, Bad Squad, had poorly mistreated Mango and used his love to destroy in their jobs. He might not have been a smart pony, only speaking in fragmented sentences and referring to himself in the third person, but Mango had cried and apologized over and over again once Tobias had calmly explained what he’d done. In fact, it had been his idea to pull the carriages to act as penance for his actions.
Surprisingly, it had been the normally silent Revan who’d taken Mango aside most nights to have conversations with the massive stallion. The dark green colored unicorn with the dim red and orange striped mane and tail always seemed to look better after one of these talks, especially when he’d been given a mango to eat. When Sunset asked about him, Tobias could only say that he knew little about the stallion, only that he had a very hard life growing up on a farm before he ran away and was found by Bad Squad some years ago.
She was brought out of her reverie by the sound of flapping. Looking up, she saw an approaching pegasus. Golden came flying over just then and landed in front of the group. She’d gone down to the town ahead of them to find a contact who would show them to their destination. When she landed, she walked up to Applejack. “She’s coming soon,” she said, “but we might have to wait a few minutes. She said she had to, and I quote, ‘…freshen up a bit.’”
Applejack snorted and whinnied a bit. “Sounds like her, alright,” she said before turning back. “Alright, everypony, let’s take a breather.”
As everyone stopped and either took out some food or water to tide them over, Sunset saw Revan slowly climb over his seat on the carriage, landing heavily on his feet before walking over to Mango. The large stallion saw him coming and smiled. “Mask friend! Mask friend feeling better?” When Revan touched his injuries and nodded a bit, Mango looked relieved. “Good. Mango happy. Not like seeing mask friend hurt.”
Sunset walked over to the two. “You sure you’re feeling alright?” she asked, catching the attention of the masked biped and the massive stallion. “I know Tobias said magic isn’t effective on you as much as it would be for others, but I do know a few spells and I’m more powerful than your average unicorn.”
Revan stared at her, the glowing sky blue lights on his mask making it look like he wasn’t blinking. Mango put a surprisingly gentle hoof on Revan’s back. “Mango want friend with no ouchies. Please?” His deep orange eyes looked at Revan pleadingly.
Revan looked back at Mango, then back at Sunset. “The clothes stay on,” was all he said.
She was a bit frustrated by this, but could work with it. She nodded in agreement and raised her horn. Two areas of his arm where the injuries were located became illuminated by her magic, and at once she realized that this would not be as easy as she thought. She felt that the magic touch on the creature’s skin was being drained into him, like he was some sort of magical sink that pulled the magic down the metaphorical drain that were his injuries. She increased the magic around the wounds, focusing all of her energy into trying to activate and speed up his body’s normal healing process.
She felt like there was some success, but without being able to see his skin, scales, fur, or whatever he had, she couldn’t make that determination. Still, the more she cast, the more magic seemed to seep into him. It was as if he was some kind of magic black hole, letting not even light escape. That thought got a chuckle out of her. Perhaps Black Hole would be a good handle for him, not Revan, whatever that meant.
After a few minutes, she stopped casting, looking up at Revan. “How’s that feel?” she asked.
Revan reached over and gently squeezed one of the injured areas. He turned back to her and nodded. “Better,” he said.
Sunset sat on her haunches, suddenly exhausted. She didn’t realize how draining even those healing spells had been on her. She hadn’t been too magically drained ever since she’d left Canterlot, but this Revan was not a normal creature to heal by any means.
“Mask friend not hurt now?” Mango asked. “We can play later?”
Revan looked back. “It still hurts a bit,” he said, “so we probably won’t be able to play. Ask Tobias.”
Mango’s ears flattened like an upset foal. “Mango want to stay with mask friend. Want to play.”
“Another time, I promise,” Revan said.
Everyone heard the sound of an approaching pony just then, so their attention was turned to a white unicorn mare with deep purple mane and tail. Sunset scowled. She knew this face well. The former Bearer of Generosity who had scorned her duties had arrived. She watched as Applejack hesitantly approached. The two looked at each other for a while before the farm mare spoke up. “Howdy, Rarity. Nice tah see yah again.”
Rarity looked at them, then at the rest. To Sunset’s eyes, she looked a far cry from the images of the former fashionista she saw in the newspapers. Her mane wasn’t as well kept as it appeared to have been from the press photographs of her, as she had her mane tied back. Her tail wasn’t curled as much and was a lot straighter. Her eyes looked a lot less lively, but there were no bags under them. She turned back to Applejack and spoke. “It’s nice to see you too, Applejack,” she said, “but who are these newcomers with you?”
“We brought a couple cousins of ours tah help us move,” Applejack replied.
“Yes, I remember them from your last family reunion in…in Ponyville,” she said, “but I meant the other three.”
Applejack hesitated, but it was Tobias who spoke first. “Hello there, miss,” he said with a polite bow and a smile. “Name’s Tobias. Your family hired us to protect them during this trip.”
Rarity made a face at this, then turned back to Applejack. “Are these…mercenaries?”
Applejack nodded. “Ah know what yer thinkin’ sugarcube, but-”
“Surely you can’t be serious!” the unicorn exclaimed. “Mercenaries would sell their soul to Thanatos if it meant they could make a quick bit! How do you know they won’t betray you even now!?”
“They saved our lives when we were attacked by another group of mercenaries,” Applejack explained with a stern frown, “and it’s attitudes like yours that put us where we are now, Rarity.”
Rarity fell back a bit, ears flat against her face. “You were attacked…?” she asked in shock.
“And we’re lucky we all weren’t killed,” Merry said.
“These three saved us, and one of them even got injured protecting us,” Pippin added.
Rarity looked at the three with what Sunset assumed was a newfound respect, albeit begrudgingly. “I see,” was all she said before turning back to Applejack. “Well, why don’t you and you…companions…follow me? I’ll show you to that farmland I saw.”
“Alright, everypony! Time tah mosey on along!” Applejack called out.
Tobias returned to where Revan was and gently pushed him into the carriage. “We’re almost there,” he said, “so rest. We’ll help them unpack before anything.”
Revan nodded and made his way back to the carriage, climbing in as the group headed into the new town. Sunset trotted beside the cart, looking around but keeping a constant vigilant eye on the one called Rarity. She didn’t particularly care for how she acted towards her and the two other mercenaries. She reminded Sunset of one of those self-important ponies from Canterlot, ponies she absolutely despised. They always looked down on those they deemed lesser than themselves, and they didn’t care about the common pony. She’d read about how it used to be when she’d been Celestia’s student. The nobility had fallen far from grace.
“Boy, howdy,” Applejack said as she looked at the large stretch of land before her, “this oughta do us more than just fine!”
Stretched out before them, near the easternmost edge of Maretime Bay, sat a veritable treasure trove of prime farmland just waiting to be tilled. The grasslands they stood in looked fertile, and to Applejack’s keen senses, felt and smelled fertile. It stretched out far, not as far as Sweet Apple Acres, but it was more than enough for some orchards to be planted, along with other crops as well. The breeze that came from the ocean was something she might need to get used to, but she felt like in the coming years the familiar farm smells would overpower the faintly salty breeze.
Granny Smith slowly walked up beside Applejack looked down at the tired family matriarch as she scanned the area around them. Nopony spoke as she looked around, then to Applejack’s relief, she slowly nodded. “We can build our new farmhouse right near that patch of brush there,” she said, then turned and pointed in another direction. “The farm can be there,” she added, pointing to a flat spot to their right.
Applejack could somewhat see what she was trying to do. She was trying to recreate the look of Sweet Apple Acres. Not that she could blame the older mare, of course. She was itching to do the same thing. If Granny hadn’t made some excellent choices in placement, she might have argued, but where she’d pointed were actually perfect locations for the future barn and farmhouse.
Nearby, Applejack looked over and saw Rarity standing and glancing with some suspicion at Tobias, Revan, Mango, and Sunset. The burly earth pony was talking with a smile to Revan, who she saw was replying in short sentences. Tobias had told her a bit about Mango’s story and it broke her heart to hear that ponies could be so cruel. Of course, she had to remind herself of her own shortcomings. A part of her wondered if she could ask this Mango to work in helping to build as a farmhoof, but upon seeing how happy he seemed to be with this Revan creature, she dismissed the idea.
That was, until Tobias walked up and unhitched the large pony from the cart and spoke with him. Mango’s smile faded and he looked a bit uncertain, looking around the area before glancing over at the Apple family, all of whom were exploring their new land. When he turned to Revan, the masked biped only nodded. Tobias then turned towards Applejack, leading Mango towards her. The massive stallion looked nervous as Tobias said, “Pardon the intrusion, everyone, but would you be interested in a proposition?”
“What kind of proposition?” Granny Smith, who hadn’t left Applejack’s side, asked as she too turned to face the cat.
Tobias nodded politely to her. “Pardon me, ma’am, but I think I might have a solution that helps everyone here.” He turned to Mango. “See, Mango Wrecker here grew up on a farm as well. He’s strong, dependable, and I’m pretty sure he can till a field a lot faster than anyone you have. He might not speak with full sentences, but he’s smart.”
“Mango sorry he destroyed your things,” the pony in question said with regret. “Mango wants to work off debt and help here. Please?”
Applejack was a bit surprised by this. This stallion was bigger than Big Mac, and he was on the bigger side of stallions that she’d seen in her life. Still, she couldn’t ignore the look of regret on his face. They could use all the ponypower they could get, and despite Merry, Pippin, Golden and Blue planning on moving here to become permanent members of the farm when things were settled down, that still wouldn’t be enough. When they’d started to expand Sweet Apple Acres all those years ago, they’d had the help of many other ponies in their extended family, but since they’d been cut off, Applejack was more willing to acknowledge that a stallion like this Mango would be useful.
Granny, however, didn’t look too trusting of the burly stallion. “And just why should we trust yeh, eh? Yah done destroyed nearly everythin’ we owned, and yer nothin’ but a mercenary.”
“Granny, that’s a similar attitude to what got us in trouble with Jason,” Applejack said. “Besides, we need the help.”
“Mango not smart, but Mango good listener,” Mango said. “Mango knows farm life.”
“But then why were yeh part of a mercenary group?” Granny asked, eyes narrowed at the stallion.
“Granny!” Applejack admonished.
“Mango only pawn in game of life,” Mango said in an oddly sage way.
Granny looked at the large pony with confusion. “Beg yer pardon?”
“Ma’am, let me explain,” Tobias said, stepping forward. “Mango is a good pony, but he can easily be led astray. That’s one of his flaws. The other flaw is he loves to destroy things. It’s something of a stress relief for him. I don’t know much about his foalhood, but from what I know it wasn’t a good one. He just needs a healthier outlet for his impulses.” He gestured to a large forest on the edge of the grasslands. “He could easily buck down plenty of those trees for your new house and barn and even pull up the trees to help expand your farmland.”
Granny frowned, but slowly began to nod before she looked at Mango. “Ah’ll be keepin’ an eye on yah, sonny boy,” she said, pointing a hoof at him, “but yer okay tuh stay here. Fer now.”
Mango’s eyes lit up with joy and he nodded. “Mango will work hard!” he said as he jumped up and landed heavily, causing everyone to stumble back at the sheer force of his jump. He noticed this and looked sheepish. “Sorry,” he said.
Applejack gave a small smile. “Come on, partner,” she said to Mango, “why dontcha help us unpack everything we got left? Then we can git tah work gettin’ the wood fer the new farmhouse.”
The sun was just beginning its descent towards the west. Tobias, Sunset and Revan were walking through the town of Maretime Bay. They’d gotten their necessary signature from the Apple family and had departed. Tobias had offered to help get things set up before they left for no extra charge, but Granny Smith had simply thanked them for their offer before saying that the Apples would take care of their own. Mango would be there with them as a hired hoof as his massive strength would help.
With nothing more to do and having been paid, not to mention the amount of money they’d liberated from Bad Squad, the mercenary group walked through the streets. Tobias caught something nearby, a bakery of sorts, and decided to stop in to get something for the group as a means of celebrating a job well done.
As Sunset and Revan waited outside, the powerful unicorn looked up at her companion, noticing that Revan was leaning against a wall and observing the brand-new town. His arms were crossed and even in the bright summer sun the blue glow from his mask’s eyes was still clearly visible. She slowly walked up to stand beside him, looking around at the new town.
She’d seen the town from the hill where their clients were now setting up shop. She had to admit, Maretime Bay was, in its own way, impressive. Seeing things from below only reinforced the fact.Still, while the town here was new and looked bright, the attitudes of the ponies around her told a different story. Sure, on the surface they seemed to act like most friendly ponies did, but Sunset had a very unique ability: the ability to be more aware of the emotions of those around her. She knew she was an Empath.
She’d always had this talent, and it had led to her being ostracized when she was much younger. It had led to her cutting herself off from making any friends, especially during the time when she’d been Celestia’s student. And this ability let her see something that others might not have picked up on, that being that there was an underlying darkness in Maretime Bay. A negativity that almost oozed from them.
She frowned. She knew most of, if not all, of these ponies were from that blasted town of Ponyville, shunted off to the side so as not to cause trouble for the rest of the kingdom. Sure, her old teacher might have said she was doing this to ‘protect her little ponies from each other’ but she was wise to what Celestia was all about. Any real threat was always put out of sight and out of mind.
Unsure why she did so, she spoke. “Lovely town. Leagues better than Thornfall.” She waited for an answer, looking at Revan, but all he did was stare back down at the town. He may have had a reaction under that mask of his, but she’d never know. That mask hid everything. Revan seemed to be able to hide his emotional state from her empathic ability better than anyone she’d known. The mask certainly helped with that, but his lack of reaction gave her nothing. She turned back and continued. “The perfect little hideaway for psychopaths and murderers.” When there was still no response, she gave Revan a curious look. “You really don’t talk much, do you?”
Revan finally spoke. “Only when needed,” the voice from his mask said.
“Aha! But you didn’t need to talk right then, did you?” she asked, pointing a hoof at him, “You could have just nodded or ignored me. Besides, I know you talk more than you have with me.”
Revan turned his head to her, and Sunset inwardly smiled triumphantly. She didn’t need to see his face to know he probably had a confused expression on whatever face he had underneath. Pressing her advantage, she said, “I heard you talking with Tobias a couple hours before the attack.”
Revan stood in silence for a bit, before he said, “He’s earned my full trust. You haven’t.” He then turned back to looking at the town.
This stung Sunset’s pride, but her years in the world taught her to look between the lines of what others said a lot, looking for the hidden meaning. “Okay, I suppose that’s a fair point,” she conceded, “I mean, you don’t know me yet. But surely helping to defeat those other mercenaries gained some trust?”
“There’s a difference between defending a client and wailing on some thugs,” Revan retorted.
Sunset scowled at that. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“I saw you fight those two unicorns,” he replied. He turned and faced her completely, arms crossed as he looked down at her. She didn’t need to be an expert in bipedal body language to know he was disappointed. “You strike me as a powerful unicorn but you toyed with them. As mercenaries, Shadow Dawn works to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. You prolonged your fight. We don’t get paid by the hour. The sooner we get our jobs done, the sooner we can find another and earn more money.”
Sunset felt her ears being splayed back against her head. Was she being scolded like she was some foal!? She felt the hot sting of humiliating anger rising from within her before she turned back to the town, taking a few deep breaths of slightly salty sea air to help her calm down. “Noted…” she said through clenched teeth.
The infuriating thing was, Revan was right. She had been toying with the four eyed pony and his friend. It had been a chance to stretch her magical abilities in combat and she had thoroughly enjoyed herself while she took them down. She had to admit, she knew little about mercenary work, but the fact that they were paid for each job they took made his words make sense. They weren’t working eight-hour days and earning bits every hour. They lived from job to job, so from a certain point of view, it made sense to finish a job quickly so they could go to the next one. Especially a party like this one which never betrayed their clients like other mercenaries were known to do.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a new pair of hoofsteps began approaching them. Sunset looked down the street and her eyes went wide before narrowing at the certain purple alicorn who’d stopped nearby, breathing heavily from apparent exertion. She looked around, then locked eyes with Sunset. “Ah, um, excuse me,” Twilight Sparkle said in between big gulps of air, “but did you see a number of earth ponies coming through here? One of them would be orange with some apples for a cutie mark?”
Before Sunset could give her a snippy remark, Revan spoke. “Over there,” he said. Sunset turned to see he was pointing towards the hill.
Twilight jumped at the voice, turning to look at Revan. A look of uncertainty and fear passed over her face, but she just nodded. “Th-Thank you, sir,” she said before turning and walking past them.
She didn’t get far, though, as a group of eight ponies spotted her, a unicorn mare and seven stallions, three unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies. Their scowls were plainly obvious as one of them spat on the ground in front of where Twilight was about to step. “Bitch,” one stallion snarled.
Sunset watched as Twilight paused, looking down at the spittle on the ground. She then walked over it before the mare spat on her cheek. “This town doesn’t need you, cunt,” the young mare said with venom in her voice.
Sunset watched this go down with some amusement and vindication. She absolutely loathed Twilight Sparkle, former Princess of Friendship, and a twisted part of her was amused by what she was seeing. However, that amusement was quickly replaced by disgust when one of the larger ponies approached and struck Twilight in the eye, sending her sprawling. The pony who did so was a larger earth pony, so the strike would have definitely hurt. “Go back to that lighthouse and away from town,” the pony said, “we don’t want you here!”
Twilight simply stood up, no fight in her eyes as she hung her head low. Her ears were pinned down by her side. “I’m sorry…” she whimpered, tears in her eyes.
“Sorry doesn’t bring back your torture experiment, now does it?” the mare said before looking back at the stallions. “Show her what we mean, boys.”
The stallions moved closer to Twilight, who didn’t move. Some of them cracked their necks and they all were about to strike when a shadow moved past Sunset. A familiar metal pole hit the ground, blocking the hoof of the pony who had thrown the first strike. A metallic clang rang out and the stallions jumped back, holding his hoof in pain. He looked up at the masked figure of Revan, who was staring at the stallion with those blue glowing eyes of his. “Stay out of this fight, stranger,” one of the stallions said, staring at the hooded figure.
Sunset watched with some curiosity as Revan didn’t move, the metal pole standing between them and the now confused looking Twilight, who was looking up at Revan. The mare of the group, a unicorn, stepped forward, horn beginning to ignite. “This isn’t your place,” she snapped, aiming her horn at him. “Get out of the way, now.”
“W-What are you doing?” Sunset heard Twilight asking in alarm.
Sunset was thrown back into a memory. She remembered being stranded in the Badlands with no water left and no food. She thought she would be able to cross the hot sands, but had used up all of her food and supplies in a few days. If it hadn’t been for Revan and Tobias, she’d have died out there.
She was brought back to the present when Tobias said, “What’s going on out here?”
The ponies turned and they frowned when they saw the abyssinian walking up, a box of donuts in his claws. “Don’t you get involved too, cat,” the mare, clearly the leader of this group of ponies, snapped.
Tobias raised an eyebrow, then looked at the situation. Looking at Revan, he sighed. “Couldn’t help but get involved in helping the helpless, eh?” he asked as he carefully set the box down on the ground. Quickly, he drew a pair of rapiers that were attached to his hip. The sound rang in the air as he leaped up and landed beside Revan with the grace and agility of a feline. He stood to the side, leaving himself as less of a target as he held out one arm towards them while the other moved behind his back, pointing in the same direction as the first rapier, a form that Sunset had never seen before.
The stallions, six of them, began encircling the two. The masked figure just stood there, hand on his metal staff unmoving. Tobias stood beside him, looking at their opponents. Twilight looked flabbergasted at what was happening, looking up at the two defending her. “Please…don’t do this, you two…I’m not worth it.”
“You’re right, you’re not,” the mare said before suddenly teleporting beside Twilight and bucking her hard. This sent the alicorn into a wall hard enough that she fell to the ground unconscious. The mare who’d attacked raised a hoof at the abyssinian and the masked Revan. “Get them!”
All seven stallions moved in at this, eyes full of rage and hatred. One of them, a unicorn, leaped at Revan, but the larger biped twirled his metal staff, bringing it crashing down on the stallion’s head. The stallion went down hard, completely unconscious. This caught the others off guard, making it easier for Tobias to use the back of one of his rapiers to strike another blow on the back of another stallion’s head, this one the earth pony who’d struck Twilight. He too went down with a heavy thud.
Sunset watched in stunned silence as the other unicorn stallion lowered his horn and fired a blast of magic directly at the masked Revan. Revan was quick to react as he lifted his metal staff in a defensive position. The magic struck the staff and then…nothing. It was as if the staff was absorbing the magic. The stallion had only a moment to look in shock before Revan twirled his staff with an expert flourish before striking the still glowing horn. Sunset winced at that as the stallion went down, holding his horn and screaming in agony.
She watched as the two pegasi leaped into the air out of the range of Tobias’ rapiers and Revan’s staff. Something inside of Sunset stirred, and before she could even think of consequences of her actions, she raised her horn and caught the two pegasi in her magic, bringing them both slamming into the ground with a heavy THUD, knocking the wind out of them.
Looking over at Tobias, she saw that he was dancing deftly around the remaining earth pony stallion, leaping up and landing strike after strike on the stallion, leaving very shallow cuts on his fur. It looked to Sunset as if Tobias was aiming not to kill but to subdue.
Sunset turned to Revan, seeing if she could help him, but he looked to be holding his own against the remaining unicorn, albeit barely. He was being pushed back by a more powerful magic blast that was being absorbed by the staff yet again. The stallion ceased his magical blast before swiftly leaping towards Revan, who took the brunt of the sudden attack in his stomach, sending him sprawling onto the ground, his staff flying out of his hand. With another blast, Revan was sent into the side of a building before slumping down, barely moving.
Sunset reacted with hostility, firing off a blast of her own magic at the unicorn stallion. He must not have been expecting it since he was flung into several empty barrels, causing them to shatter. This did knock the stallion out, but when she turned to face the mare, she was gone. Instead, she’d somehow gotten over to where Revan was, lifting him up in her magic and snarling at the remaining two. “That’s enough!”
Tobias, having just struck the earth pony with his sword and knocking said pony out, held out his swords towards the mare while Sunset lowered her head, her horn ignited. The mare, however, didn’t react. Instead, a small bit of her magic wrapped around Revan’s wrists, moving them behind his back. Revan twitched a bit and he began to thrash about. Sunset was about to fire her own magic but Tobias placed a claw on her withers. “Easy now,” he said, “no need for any more violence.”
“Shut up, cat!” the mare bellowed, moving the arms back further, causing Revan to move around further.
Tobias dropped his rapiers and raised his arms. “No need to go further. We surrender.”
Sunset looked up at Tobias incredulously. She knew she could take this mare out with a flash, but when she saw the mare’s spell, she realized that if she tried anything, the mare could snap Revan’s arms out of a reflex of sorts once her magic struck the mare. With an angry snort, she stood and deignited her horn. With that, she felt herself being pushed into the ground. Next to her, Tobias was pushed down by the now recovered larger earth pony stallion. The two pegasi she’d brought down were the ones holding her down.
The mare smirked in triumph, causing rage to build within Sunset. She knew she was stronger than this pathetic pony, but she had the upper hoof in this situation and with Revan in danger, any move could cause this clearly violent mare to cause further pain to Revan. She watched as the mare brought the masked figure down, forcing him to his knees. “Now then, let’s see just what kind of freak we have underneath that mask of yours, huh?”
Tobias’ eyes went wide and he struggled against his captor. “No! Don’t!”
The mare turned and looked with a smirk at Tobias. “And just why should I listen to you?”
“His face…can’t be seen,” Tobias said. “It’s too dangerous to be seen! Anyone who looks into his real eyes will be turned to stone!”
The mare stared silently at Tobias before throwing her head back and laughing hard. “The gorgon is an old mare’s tale,” she said with derision, “and besides, where are his snakes?” She turned and her magic enveloped Revan’s mask, only to vanish and seem to seep into the mask. “The buck…?”
“Don’t remove his mask!” Tobias shouted in a more desperate tone.
“I wonder what secrets you’re hiding under that mask of yours?” the mare said, ignoring the abyssinian. She turned to the second earth pony stallion who was just coming to. “You! Pull this mask off for me!”
The earth pony shook his head swiftly, blinking a few times before walking up and placing both hooves on either side of Revan’s mask. He pulled, but nothing seemed to give. With a grunt, he tried again but failed. A third attempt sent him sprawling back as he lost the grip on the mask.
“Pathetic,” she growled as she reached out with her magic once more, trying to tear it off. Once again, though, the magic seeped into the mask. Enraged, the pony let him go, then turned and bucked the figure square in the chest. This sent Revan flying into a wall that led down an alley.
“Revan!” Tobias shouted in terror as he tried his best to break free, but the ponies were too strong for him.
The mare trotted over to the alley and looked in. Her horn began glowing, and Sunset saw the telltale signs of dark magic begin forming around her horns and eyes. “This is for-”
A loud CRACK rang out, and the mare’s horn shattered. She screamed in pain as she rolled around, the empty spot on her forehead that was her horn bleeding all over the ground. Sunset felt the grip on her loosen. Using this opportunity, she created a magic shield around her that flung the two pegasi off of her before she blasted the earth pony off of Tobias.
The abyssinian wasted no time in picking up his rapiers and rushing towards the alley. He looked in and his eyes widened in horror. He ran into said alley. Sunset stood and looked around, seeing that there were some local town guards finally showing their worthless flanks. One of them looked at the bleeding and now unconscious mare, then back at Sunset. “What happened here?”
“Um…these seven here attacked this pony and her friends,” Twilight, who had only come back to consciousness just a few moments before, stepped forward and gestured to Sunset. “They were trying to defend me and these seven attacked.”
The guard looked at the mare who was now being tended to by a corpspony. Shaking his head, he said, “These ponies have been nothing but trouble since the day they moved here. Looks like trouble finally caught up with them.”
At that moment, Tobias came out from the alley, holding the still masked Revan. There may have been no fur or scales showing from the masked being, but the way he hung showed that he was seriously injured. Twilight looked over and her eyes shot open in horror. “Is he okay?” she asked Tobias.
“No,” he said, “he’s been injured by ponies. Again.” Tobias sounded bitter at the accusation before he took a deep breath and exhaled.
“One of our corsponies can have a look at him,” the guard said.
Tobias shook his head fervently. “No. He can’t be seen by anyone. He doesn’t like showing anyone but me his face. Besides, magical means of healing don’t work on him as effectively as they would you or me.”
The guard frowned at this. “I see.”
“We’ll need to stay the night somewhere,” Tobias said, turning to the guard. “Does this town have an inn?”
“Not yet,” the guard said.
“Um…you could stay with me for the night,” Twilight said, raising a hesitant hoof. “I live in the town lighthouse and there are a couple spare rooms where you could sleep.”
Sunset bristled at this. She didn’t like to be beholden to this fraudulent ex-princess. Still, she was the newbie in this group, so she had to defer to the other two. Looking up at Tobias, she saw to her dismay that he was looking down at Twilight with a thoughtful expression on his face. After a few seconds, he sighed and nodded. “Do you have a bath that can fit us? I may need to do some sort of work on Revan and I’ll need a place to lay him down and wash him.”
Twilight nodded before turning to the guards. “I’ll take them to my house.”
The guard frowned at his, but nodded before turning to Tobias and Revan. “I realize I can’t ask you to stay and give your testimony against this attack,” he said, looking at the ponies who were now being arrested, “but I hope that we can talk to you later about this incident.”
“No promises,” Tobias said. “After all, we have to get back to our home and get another job as soon as possible.”
“Understood.” The guard then turned to the others. “Get them to the hospital, but under guard!”
As the guards continued cleaning up the mess, Sunset looked at the nervous looking purple alicorn. She was looking up in the direction of the Apple farm, but then turned back to the group. “I’ll show you to the house.” With that, she turned and began walking down the street, heading up towards the edge of town.
Sunset followed, keeping a close eye on Revan and Tobias. The former was limping slightly but being held up by the abyssinian. She sighed and walked beside the two. This wasn’t how she expected her return to Equestria to go.
The nurse looked down at the now hornless unicorn mare lying on the bed. A half hour ago, the local town guards had brought this mare in along with the shattered remains of her horn in the hopes that the doctors could use the reconstitution spell to put it back together. However, every time they tried, the pieces of the horn would always lose their cohesion several seconds later. It was as if the magic holding the horn together would vanish, leaving nothing but the discarded pieces of the horn. Even when they tried to put the horn itself back together, the same thing happened. If the doctors couldn’t do something soon, this pony would never have a horn again.
Currently, the pieces of the horn were being kept inside a bucket of ice and the broken horn, after being cleaned and wrapped up, was being kept cold with an ice pack. The other stallions who’d been brought in were being treated for some less severe injuries, although one of them had cuts that weren’t able to be healed by the standard magic healing spells. The other injuries, while minor, were in a sense unusual. It took a bit more magic to heal them than other similar injuries.
The nurse left the room to grab something. She headed to a storage closet to grab more gauze when she overheard two doctors talking. She paused and listened in, recognizing the voices of doctors Charlie Horse and Neck Brace.
“…you sure about that? The description of that third creature that they attacked sounds like…you know…” Dr. Brace said.
“Look, I’ve been around a bit more than most ponies,” Doctor Horse said, “and there is no intelligent creature in the world with five talons or appendages on each claw or paw. Dragons have four talons, abyssinians have four, hippogriffs have four, you see my point? This creature had five on each. Sounds familiar?”
“Not rea-” Doctor Brace paused and there was a pregnant silence between the two. “You don’t think…”
“I don’t know to be honest,” Doctor Horse said, “but if this creature is one, it would make sense why he would hide his entire body. After what happened to the first one, wouldn’t you be cautious?”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Doctor Brace said, “I mean, the whole world knows what this town did to Jason, so if another human did show up, he’d know about it more than likely.”
The nurse’s ears perked up at this. Was she hearing right? Was one of the victims of the assault really…a human…? She listened closer, but the voices faded away as the doctors turned a corner. She waited for a bit before she grabbed the gauze and trotted down the hall back to the medical ward. As she did so, she looked down at the bottom of her left hoof. A single black spot was tattooed onto the bottom. She smirked as she put it back down.
She would need to report this. Perhaps in time, they could determine whether or not this mystery creature was another human. Because, if so, they could move things along much faster. Especially since human bodies had absolutely no magic, the use of a living human would be…interesting.
Her superior had to be notified of this immediately. Her majesty would definitely be quite intrigued. It could throw a wrench into her plans for Equestria, after all…