“WHAT!!! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?!?”
As the shocked stallion stood up, his companion put his hoof on his shoulder and pulled him back into his seat, “Shhhhh! There isn’t any reason to make a scene.”
The shocked stallion continued, “But… you realize what’s going to happen next right?”
“Um… yea, I'm going to get away scot free, why?”
the stallion looked around as he replied, “no… The Cutters are going to come for you. you’re as good as dead.”
The confident stallion replied, “The Cutters? HA! I left them on some Celestia Forsaken Battlefield facing off against en entire army of Saddle Arabian Knights while my army and I retreated from the area. There is no way they survived that.”
the cautious stallion replied, “Don’t underestimate them… I heard the stories. One is said to have crushed a minotaur head with his bare hooves, one’s beauty is sharp enough to cut through iron, and the last member is said to be the Grim Reaper herself. I bet they survived, and if you really abandon them with no intention on paying for their services… then I bet they are here and watching us right now.”
“Oh, spare me the pony-tales. They are flesh and blood just like you and me. And we all know that blood can spill if cut deep enough by a blade. Besides, why do you think I came to Stalliongrad? We all know that for some reason they avoid Equestria. So I'm safe here even if they survived … which they didn’t.”
The nervous stallion stood up and left the table, “Say what you want… but I'm avoiding you from now on… the last thing I need it to get involved with the pony who ripped off The Cutters… because they will be ripping you apart once they find you.”
As the nervous stallion trotted off, the ex-soldier laughed in his drunken stupor, “HA Fine then! Go off and hide coward! Meanwhile I'm going to live my life care free knowing that there is nothing to be afraid o…”
The cocky stallion froze as Traipse trotted up to the table and sat down, across from him “Hello again General Lancer… it’s been about a week and still no word. I was beginning to think you were avoiding us.”
The now terrified stallion tried to stand up, “I'm going to get another drink would you lik…”
Before he could continue, he stopped when he felt the cold steel of a Scythe cradle his neck, “No… you will sit and chat a while. We have some business to discuss.”
As Lancer sat back down, The Reaper and Blade trotted out from behind him and stood blocking his escape routes. Traipse sat back in his chair as he continued, “Please sit. Stay a while. We have much to discuss.”
“L-like what?”
Traipse leaned over the table and smiled, “Oh I don’t know… the weather, what’s happened in the past week, what it is you’re drinking, or we could always discu…”
Blade impatiently opened her wing and slammed her weapon down on the table cutting the stallion’s wooden mug in half, “WHERE IS OUR MONEY!?!”
Traipse sighed, “Way to be subtle Blade… but yes, where is our payment?”
the stallion tried to make an excuse, “B-But… We lost the war… you still expect me to pay?”
Traipse smiled, “We still took enemy lives… we still risked our own. We get what’s owed, despite the war’s results… it’s what you agreed on when you hired us… remember?”
The stallion nervously looked at each member of The Cutters, “But… But… I… I don’t have the money… will you accepted a late payment? I swear I'll get it to you as soon as I can.”
Blade smiled, “Colt, if I had one bit for every time I’ve heard that before… I wouldn’t need your money.”
“But… But…”
Traipse stood up as he replied, “Well it looks like we will have to start negotiating a settlement… come with me general.”
Scy picked up the stallion onto his hooves and trotted behind him as the four ponies made their way into the back room of the pub. Before they entered, Blade placed a bag of bits on the bar and spoke to the bartender, we need your back room for negotiations.”
Knowing how the mercenaries worked, the bartender pulled the bag below his counter and replied, “Try not to make a mess.”
Then the four ponies entered the room as Traipse asked, “Well who’s up?”
Blade replied first, “I did the last one… I think it’s the boss’s turn.”
Traipse looked at The Reaper, “Scy?”
The Reaper shook her head, “I'm… not feeling up to this today… you can take this one Traipse.”
Trying not to show his concern in front of their contractor, Traipse trotted close to The Reaper and quietly asked, “Serenity? Are you ok?”
she replied quietly, “I'm fine Tri… I'm just not feeling well is all. And please don’t call me by my name in front of Blade… you know I want to keep that quiet.”
Traipse sighed, “Sorry Scy… but I'm a little worried, you haven’t been acting yourself lately. Is something wrong?”
The Reaper smiled, “I'm fine Tri… we can discuss this later… in private.”
Traipse nodded his head, took a few steps back and replied a little louder, “Well then if it’s alright with you could I borrow one of your needles? You know for negotiations?”
Scy smiled and pulled out one of her throwing needles, “Just don’t kill him.”
As Traipse took the needle from Scy, he whispered to her, “I love you.”
The Reaper could only smile as she turned towards Blade, “let’s make sure they aren’t interrupted, shall we?”
Blade smiled, “You got it boss.”
the two mares stepped outside and left Traipse alone with the nervous stallion as they closed the door and locked it from the outside. Then the two mares stood there as if they were pulling some kind of guard outside the door so that nopony could interrupt the two stallions inside.
As they stood there Scy cringed, then looked forward as if nothing happened, then Blade asked, “Boss? Are you ok?”
Scy sighed, “I told you to stop calling me boss. And yes… I'm fine.”
Blade looked at the ground and replied, “well… if I may be so bold to say… you haven’t been acting like your usual self lately. You’ve been more… quiet. Is something bothering you?”
The Reaper shook her head, “Sorry, I didn’t realize it. there isn’t anything wrong Blade, I’ve just been… a lot more alert with our surroundings. Maybe it was that mission a few weeks ago. You know when we failed to protect that Zebracan chief.”
Blade shook her head, “I don’t think so, you seemed fine after that, it was about the middle of last week that you started acting like this.”
The Reaper knew exactly what Blade was talking about but she didn’t want the others to know anything so she Tried to defend herself, “I don’t know… maybe it was something I ate.”
Blade thought to herself then asked, “Is… is everything going well with you and Tri? I mean… how is your relatio…”
“That is too bold!”
Blade looked away as Scy gave her an irritated look, “Sorry… I shouldn’t pry into business that isn’t my own. But still, if there is anything you want to talk about boss. I'm right here. We gals gotta stick together right?”
With absolutely no intention of ever letting Blade find out what the problem is, Scy lied, “Don’t worry, if something is wrong… I'll let you know. And… Blade?”
“Yes?”
“Stop calling me boss!”
Blade smiled, “Whatever you say… boss.”
As the two ended their conversation, screams of horror and pain started to pierce the door, causing all the ponies in the room to feel nervous. But what it was that caused some of the ponies to leave the building, was when the screams slowly subsided until all was quiet in the room. After the screaming stopped, not a word was spoken in the entire building… the usually rowdy pub was now quiet as a cemetery. Everypony in the room grew even more afraid when Blade sighed and spoke, “Great… he killed another one. Traipse needs to get some self-control.”
Finally, the door behind the two mares opened as Traipse casually trotted out, “We finally came to an agreement. Now his debt is paid… shall we leave?”
Blade asked, “Did you kill him?”
Traipse handed The Reaper a blood soaked needle and replied, “No… he fainted through the pain. Either way… he won’t be seeing us again… ever.”
Blade replied, “Aww… and I kinda liked those baby blue eyes of his.”
Traipse smiled, “If you want them, they’re still in there. you’d just have to find them first.”
Blade shook her head, “No thank you… I'm fine. So are we on our way then?”
Before Traipse could reply, Scy spoke up, “Actually… if it’s not too much trouble. Would either of you mind if we spent a few more days in Equestria? I would like to take a look at this kingdom if you two don’t mind.”
Blade and Scy both looked at Traipse, knowing that he would be the one to object to the request. However, when he looked at the interest on The Reapers face, he just sighed, “Well, I guess we could stay a little while longer.”
Blade nodded her head, “Alright then why don’t we find an inn to stay at.”
The Reaper replied, “Actually Blade… could you find us a place. I want to speak with Traipse for a second.”
Knowing that the two cared for each other Blade nodded her head, “Not a problem boss. I'll catch you later then.”
As Blade went toward the residential district of Stalliongrad, Traipse and Scy both trotted down the road in the other direction as Scy spoke, “Traipse? why didn’t you tell me that Equestria was such a beautiful place?”
Traipse replied, “Because I never wanted to step into this nation. that’s why”
Scy lowered her head, “I know you don’t like the princesses, but look at this place. Everypony here is happy and nice. There hasn’t even been a war in this nation since before either of us were born. This is almost a perfect place to live.”
Traipse nodded his head, “When the rulers are looked up to as gods… it has to be.”
Scy leaned her head on Traipse shoulder as they continued trotting together, “Tri?”
“Yes Serenity?”
“what do you plan to do once you decide to stop being a mercenary?”
“What?”
“You know… where will you go? What would you do for money, after you decide to stop fighting.”
Traipse thought to himself as he replied, “I never planned to stop fighting. In fact, I expect to die someday on a battlefield. But till that day, I want to remain by your side.”
Scy took her head of his shoulder and replied, “you mean… all you want to do, is earn money by fighting? And that’s it?”
Traipse nodded his head, “Serenity, I'm a mercenary. War is all I know, it’s all I can do. even if I chose to stop… how long would I last. One month?… one week?... only to find myself back on a battlefield? I know who I am, and I won’t deny it.”
Scy continued, “what about… you know… starting a family, raising a foal. Living like every other stallion?”
Traipse replied, “Serenity? Is something wrong? You’re acting strange.”
The Reaper sighed, “I just worry about you… about us. What if one of us falls in the next mission?
Wha…”
While Scy was talking, Traipse silenced her by putting his hoof against her chin, then leaning in and kissing her. As soon as their kiss ended Traipse replied, “Serenity… we have been through all sorts of missions. Some good, some bad. but I know that what happens to us will always hold some kind of risk… but that’s who we are. We will be fine, besides you’re a better fighter than anypony in this world. Even better than Blade and me. We will be fine. Just trust me.”
The Reaper smiled, and replied, “You’re right Traipse… I'm sorry; I guess I'm just overthinking things.”
Traipse smiled, “Let’s just get back to Blade, I'm sure by now she has found a place for us to stay for the night.”
As the two ponies started back to meet with Blade, two shadowy figures watched closely from a nearby alley, “The rumors were true… The Cutters are in Stalliongrad. Notify the general at once, it’s time for him to settle the score.”
Later that night, in an inn at the edge of town, Traipse and The Reaper slept soundly as a loud crash woke them up. Traipse was the first of the two to sit up and look around, only to see light shining through the now broken window as a small rock rolled around in the pile of broken glass on the floor. “CUTTERS!!! We know you’re in there! It’s time to settle the score! Come out and face the will of Titan!”
Both Traipse and The Reaper quickly got out of the bed and leaned against both sides of the window as Traipse whispered, “Titan? I thought he was dead?”
Scy Replied, “No remember, you let this one live. But why would he want revenge after all these years? Did it take this long for him to learn how to fight with one arm?”
Traipse peeked out the window at the one armed General and his army of minotaur that had flooded the streets of Stalliongrad. Looking into the army he replied, “the coward can’t use his right hand anymore so he decided to use an army instead.”
The door to their room slowly opened as Blade came trotting in with her mane all frizzled and an annoyed look on her face, “Who is that? A friend of yours?”
Traipse nodded, “yep, one of our better friends. But it looks like he wants a reunion. Well Scy? What do you think… care to improvise?”
The Reaper put on her cloak, and picked up her Scythe as she vanished into the darkness of the room’s shadows, “Way ahead of you.”
Traipse smiled shortly after she vanished, “You know, something about the way she does that just makes me love her even more.”
Blade trotted up to Traipse and nudged him, “You two weren’t… you know.”
Traipse sighed, “Blade… grow up…”
Before Blade could reply, a small grenade with a lit fuse came flying through the window as Traipse reacted, “GET DOWN!”
Outside, Titan and his soldiers smiled as they watched the entire window shatter and fly outwards as the explosion threw shrapnel and debris out of the inn. After the dust started to settle, Titan spoke to a few of his soldiers standing to his side, “find their corpses and bring them to me… if they are still alive, kill them.”
Four soldiers broke off from the formation and approached the burning inn to search for the bodies, then the soldier trailing behind the other three collapse unexpectedly. The three turned and gathered at their fallen comrade to see what happened to him. but before they could find out, they too unexpectedly fell to the ground.
The soldier standing right next to Titan started to step forward to see what was happening, but then out of the corner of his eye, Titan spotted a glare fly right over his shoulder and stick into the back of the Minotaur’s head, killing him on contact. Seeing this Titan turned around and yelled, “THE REAPER!!! ALL SOLDIERS FAN OUT AND FIND HER!!!”
The minotaur formation then circled their general and started watching everything around them. They knew The Reaper was the most feared of the three, and they knew that the shadows were her favorite place to strike from, but nothing could prepare any of them for the horror that came next.
One of the lower soldiers looked towards his leader and asked, “General Titan sir… are the stories about her tr…”
the soldier went silent and he fell to the ground after his leg was just severed by a fast moving blade. As the silence slowly became screams of agony Titan frantically grabbed the soldier by his armor and picked him up to eye level, “Where is she?! Did you see her? DID ANY OF YOU SEE THE REAPER!?!”
All the minotaur soldiers looked around in worry as one replied, “General! It’s too dark! We can’t see a…”
the soldiers watched in horror as a Scythe blade came from behind the talking minotaur, rested the shaft on his waist with the curving blade in front of him. But before the soldier could react, the scythe blade jerked backward, cutting him in half before vanishing into the shadows surrounding the now terrified Minotaur soldiers.
Titan tried all he could to keep his soldiers calm and focused, but the horrifying sight of their latest fatality made it harder to do so. In fact, a few soldiers dropped their weapons and started sprinting away from the rest of the formation screaming in fear. But as they did, a dark figure came flying out from an alley they were running by, and using its wings, removed the heads of the fleeing soldiers before vanishing into the alley across the street. Now his soldiers weren’t only terrified, they were starting to question whether they were facing mortal ponies or actual demons. Titan called to his soldiers, “HOLD YOUR GROUND!!! WE ARE PROUD MINOTAUR! WE WILL NOT FALL TO P…”
before Titan could finish his sentence, a dark shadow covered the army, as a cloaked figure hovered in the light of the moon. This was the chance Titan was waiting for but rather than ordering the attack, he stood there hypnotized by the dark figure, as the cloak opened up and a large number of needles rained down upon the army from the dark shadow, as if it were a shadowy rain of death.
The minotaur that were able to keep their senses blocked the rain with their shields however, most were either too terrified, or mesmerized by the sight to defend themselves accordingly. So the rain of needles fell on the small army, killing a large number of soldiers, as a shadowy figure once again flew out of an alley focusing its attacks on minotaur’s necks. With the minotaur soldiers falling in groups now, Titan couldn’t keep them all calm enough to follow his orders, “CALM DOWN!!! HOLD YOUR GROUND!!! DON’T LET THEM DEFEAT YOU SO EASILY! THEY AR JUST TRYING TO GET INTO YO…”
Titan turned around and stopped speaking as he saw Traipse standing in front of him with an expressionless stare, “I can’t say I'm glad to see you again, but I am happy to see that you’re still Left handed… I would have guessed you learned your lesson by now, but I guess I'll have to kill you this time..”
Titan sneered at the confident mercenary, “SOLDIERS KILL HIM!!!”
the surrounding soldiers didn’t follow the order, if they weren’t distracted by the horrors surrounding them, then they were too terrified to act.
As Traipse readied himself to attack, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye, so he changed his plan, “Perhaps we will finish this another time…”
Traipse then turned around and sprinted back into the alley beside the now burning inn as both Blade and The Reaper stopped their attacks, and vanished along with their companion. Titan yelled his order, “DON’T LET HIM GET AWAY AFTER HIM!!! KILL HIM!!!”
with the chaos surrounding the army, now ceased, Titan’s soldiers finally started to follow their general’s orders, but as they did, they stopped immediately after a group of Pegasi landed in front of them and drew their weapons. Titan looked around in confusion, as an army of Pegasi, dropped down from above and surrounded his army, drawing their weapons and holding them in a hostile manner. Then a Mare landed in front of the small army and yelled in anger, “What is going on here! What are an army of minotaur doing in my kingdom!”
Knowing who he was talking to, Titan stepped forward and bowed in respect, “Princess Luna of Equestria… I ask your forgiveness for my intrusion. But my army and I are here to apprehend some fugitives of the land of the black sand!”
Princess Luna was not impressed with his reply so she reminded him, “According to international law… if a fugitive fleas from your nation into another, you will inform that nation of the threat and allow the ruler of said nation to deal with the situation accordingly. But you coming here and terrorize my subjects with an army of minotaur is in my book, an act of war!”
Titan nodded his head, “I understand your majesty… but I request to apprehend the fugitives efore I le…”
“DENIED! Leave Equestria at once!”
Titan looked around and noticed that the princess wasn’t going to let him get his revenge, so he sighed as he replied, “Yes your majesty… as you wish.”
Not far out of town, Traipse, stood watching the scene from a hill, as Blade flew up, “Score one for the princess… so did you get what you wanted Tri?”
Scy flew up and landed just as Traipse replied, “No… I wanted to see him die. but I saw one of the Equestrian pegasi first, so I left before they moved in.”
Blade shook her head, “I guess this only proves that we’ve made quite a few enemies in our travels.”
hearing Blade say those words put The Reaper in deep thought, while Traipse turned and replied, “Well any enemy we face will die. we’ve come too far to let something so simple scare us now.”
With her thought still in mind, Scy spoke, “We should set up camp in the Everfree Forest. nopony will look for us there.”
Traipse nodded his head, “Agreed, let’s go.”
Without seeing the worry on her face, Traipse trotted past Scy and down the road.
The three ponies then continued down the road towards the Everfree Forest, the whole time, Scy kept Blade’s words in her mind. She started to wonder, of how many other enemies they made. And of them, how many would attack them on sight. She was wondering, how far would their enemies go to kill them? And what would happen if a chance came to corner them? With this thought in mind, Scy continued traveling with her team in silence until they finally reached the Everfree Forest. shortly after entering the forest, Scy looked at Blade’s wing and asked, “Um… isn’t that uncomfortable?”
Blade shrugged her shoulders, “actually once you get used to the weight, it’s really not bad.”
Scy smiled, “No, not your weapon… that.”
Blade paused and opened her wing to look at what Scy was talking about. Lodged in her weapon; Blade found one of The Reapers throwing needles that had pierced her weapons armor but only clipped one feather.
Blade started to laugh, “Well It looks like The Reaper almost struck me down too. I guess that will teach me to fly through your rain of death”
Scy smiled, “At least you only had a feather cut, that’s more than I could say for most of the minotaur.”
Blade smiled, “That was an amazing move though boss, flying into the moon like that and raining your needles down… that even gave me chills.”
Scy replied, “I’ve wanted to try something like that for a long time, but a move like that doesn’t give me time to aim my needles so I can only use it on a crowd.”
Blade nodded her head, “Well either way, you’re good at what you do… it’s no question as to why they call you The Reaper.”
Adding this comment to her thoughts only made The Reaper feel worse as Traipse interrupted their conversation, “We will set up here for the rest of the night, is that fine?”
Blade sighed as she looked at the campsite, “Well it isn’t a luxury suite… but it will do.”
With her mind still troubled, Scy replied, “Yea… this is fine…”
Traipse felt concerned, “Scy? Is everything alright? You seem distracted.”
Scy lied, “No I'm fine… I'm just tired… I'll feel better once we get some uninterrupted sleep.”
Traipse believed her lie as he pulled a blanket from his saddlebag and laid it on the ground, “maybe we all just need a little shut eye. Tomorrow we will leave Equestria and be back on the road to our next job.”
Blade pulled her own blanket out and laid down on it, while Traipse laid down on his and Scy laid down next to him, “Hmm… I guess you’re right.”
As the Scy laid against the pony she loved, Both Traipse and Blade fell asleep. However, The Reaper didn’t.
After knowing that her comrades were asleep, she took out a quill, and paper and started writing a note. She continued writing calmly while choosing her words perfectly, then as she finished, she tied the note to the same throwing needle that was in Blade’s wing, and stuck it into a stump in the center of their camp. Then with tears rolling down her face, she kissed Traipse cheek and whispered, “I'm sorry… but this is for the best… I… I love you. and I always will.”
Scy then turned, and put the hood on her cloak up, as she vanished into the night. A few hours later, as the sun began to rise Traipse woke up and noticed that Scy wasn’t lying next to him so he sat up and looked around, but the only thing he found out of the ordinary was the letter she had written. Suspecting that it could be a trap, Traipse cautiously approached the letter, opened it while looking around, then read it.
After reading what was written, Traipse sat in a state of confusion and shock. Slowly and carefully, he reread the letter to make sure he understood completely what it meant, but no matter how many times he read those words, they meant the same thing. Traipse closed the letter and held it in his hooves for a few seconds. In his mind, he couldn’t tell if this was real… or some nightmare. Over and over, he thought of how to solve this new problem… but each and every way ended with the same result. Traipse closed his eyes and mumbled to himself, “No… Serenity, Please… no…”
for the first time since he was a foal, Traipse started to cry silently, “No… Scy… why… why w…”
Traipse quickly wiped his eyes, and hid the letter when he heard Blade waking up behind him. As she stood up and stretched, she looked over at Traipse and spoke, “You two are up a little early this morning… so uh where’s the boss?”
Thinking fast, Traipse replied, “She went to scout the area in case we were followed. Looks like we are in the clear. I'll go tell her you’re awake so we can get moving.”
Without suspecting anything, Blade continued stretching as she replied, “Take your time, I'm in no hurry… but if you see a stream, could you tell me, just because I travel like a mercenary doesn’t mean I want to smell like one.”
Traipse hid his concerns as he turned towards the forest, “Sure… sure…I'll do that.”
Before he vanished into the forest, Blade stopped him, “Traipse? is everything alright? You seem troubled.”
Traipse didn’t turn around, instead he continued trotting as he replied, “I just didn’t sleep well. that’s all. I'll be back in a few.”
Traipse wondered through the forest for a while until he reached a sudden drop off that lead into a clearing in the middle of the forest. at first Traipse looked into the clearing in hopes that he would see The Reaper… but then he just gave it up. he knew that if she were down there, she would hide herself and never be seen by him, even if he Tried his hardest. Traipse sighed as he sat down on the ledge of the drop-off and took out the note. As he started rereading it for what seemed like the hundredth time, he started to tear up again, it wasn’t so much that she was gone, but more along the lines that she felt she had to secretly leave that hurt the most. As he sat there with tears rolling down his face, an all too familiar voice was heard, “You… I finally found you.”
Traipse began to tremble in an almost uncontrollable rage as he wiped away his tears, turned his head, and glared at his approaching enemy out the corner of his eye, “Today is a bad day for you to get on my bad side… if I were you, I’d leave here while I still have an army to command.”
Titan and his soldiers started to laugh, “Actually, I think it would be wise for you to just give up. “If I'm not mistaken you’re all alone here, and I know for a fact that you can’t beat all of us by yourself. I know because if I remember right, we beat you many years ago back when we hired you. so we know that you don’t stand a chance. Now you will pay for the loss of my nation to the Griffin Kingdoms, Not to mention my arm.”
Traipse turned and replied with no concern or gloating in his voice, “Your nation fell because you were a coward…Your army in Stalliongrad had no chance because they were being led by incompetence. So of you… I'm not worried one bit, because there is nothing in this world that you or anypony else in existence can do, to make you seem even worthy enough to breath the same air that I do. You… fell because you’re nothing… your incompetence proves you’re nothing, and if I were you… I’d kill myself because you’re more useless now then the corpse you would leave behind.”
Traipse words gave Titan a strange combination of both rage, and fear, but it was Traipse lack of emotion in saying such words that made it seem worse. Titan Picked up his war hammer and charged in rage, “I'll SHOW YOU NOTHING!!!”
Traipse held his ground without even bracing himself for an attack. With his enemy getting closer Traipse just gave him an unamused stare as he watch. When Titan was close enough, he swung his hammer downward smashing the ground that Traipse was standing on as Traipse ducked forward dodging the attack. Then Traipse quickly pulled the needle that The Reaper left behind and stabbed Titan in his hand causing him to let go of the massive hammer. Using his momentum Traipse picked up the hammer and spun around as he swung it right into Titan’s legs, breaking his left leg and knocking the other out from under him. Titan fell to the ground, but no screams were heard since Traipse continued spinning around as he brought the hammer up above his head, and used the momentum, his strength and the hammer’s weight, to bring it down on Titan head, killing him instantly as the large minotaur skull caved in to the massive hammer’s power.
Titan’s soldiers were shocked, Titan only managed one attack, but with Traipse countering with only three, the battle was over in less than sixty seconds. The army drew their weapons as another soldier yelled, “He can’t face us all, don’t let him get away! He will pay for killing our leader!”
As he stood there silently, still holding onto the massive hammer’s handle, Traipse looked at the army and spoke with a terrifying calmness, “Any who face me today… will die, and I swear to you now… it won’t be painless.”
As Traipse let go of the hammer leaving it on the crushed corpse’s head, the Minotaur army charged forward, knowing nothing of what fate awaited them.
About forty-five minutes later Blade sat back at her camp in worry, as Traipse came trotting up, “Tri? Where have you been? I know I told you to take your time but you’ve been gone almost an hour.”
Traipse nodded, “Sorry, I found a stream and decided to wash up on my way back.”
Blade nudged him on his shoulder, “and you didn’t tell me? Gee thanks a lot Tri. But where is the boss? Is she washing up now? Or did you two wash up together?”
Traipse Tried to hold in his troubles as he replied, “She… she decided to go to Gryphus to meet with a personal friend. She says she will meet up with us near Kestrel in a few days.”
“Kestrel? What is in Kestrel that would require us to travel there?”
Traipse continued his lie, “You know Scy… she is always willing to find whatever she decides to look for. I’d say we should just trust her on this decision. “
Blade thought to herself, “but it’s not like her to travel alone like this…”
This time Traipse replied with the truth, “There must be a lot going through her mind with the whole Titan mess yesterday, I think it’s a good idea to just let her do as she pleases… she has never given us any reason not to trust her.”
Not far from their location, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and a number of their royal guards were flying over the forest following a report that some of the Minotaur who were being escorted out of Equestria, had escaped and fled. However, it wasn’t long before one of their soldiers stopped in horror, “Y-Your majesties?”
The princesses stopped and looked down into the Everfree forest at the clearing near a drop off. But the land wasn’t green like the rest of the forest, it was red… blood red. Down below scattered all over the clearing were severed limbs, crushed skills and mutilated corpses of minotaur soldiers, only most weren’t even identifiable as minotaur anymore. Some had been killed so mercilessly, that the horrifyingly scared expressions remained on their lifeless faces, or at least those that still had a face.
As the group of ponies landed in the corpse-filled meadow, Princess Luna held her hoof over her mouth and averted her eyes in horror, “S-sister? What could have done this? what heartless creature could have caused such a sick act?”
Princess Celestia also felt like throwing up, but she held her composer as she investigated the area, “from the hoof prints on the ground, I’d say it was done by a pony.”
Princess Luna replied, “But… that can’t be possible. nopony could have faced an army this size and mercilessly kill them in such a… “
Princess Luna stopped as she saw something on the ground that clashed with the blood red surroundings. When princess Luna picked it up, she called to her sister, “Tia! Look at this, it’s a note.”
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both looked at the note as it read:
“To my wonderful team and friends,
The past few years, have been like a dream. We have done many missions while working for leaders and contractors of all type to include both good and bad. But a series of event have come up that require me to change my lifestyle. I don’t know how to say this, so I'll just come out and say it, Traipse… Blade… I'm pregnant. And I know that leading a life of mother hood with the lifestyle that I live now is impossible. For one, I don’t want my foal to know the horrors of war, or even see a life end in the ways that war shows. I especially don’t want our foal to know that his/her mother and father were responsible for many of those deaths. Also being attacked by Titan made me realize something, as a famous mercenary, we can never live a life of peace and tranquility. So raising a foal in such a life would be impossible.
I know that you two have lived your life following your own decisions… so I won’t ask. If you want to end your life as a mercenary, then you may find me somewhere in Equestria. however, if the life of a mercenary is the life you choose… then I would kindly ask that you don’t come looking for me. I have to think of our foal’s future. Traipse… you’re our foals father, and I won’t give you any reason why you shouldn’t be with him/her. But I only ask, that you give up your life as a mercenary. I don’t want him/her to see death. And I only want to keep him/her as far from war as possible. I know this is a tough decision… but I can only let you make it in my absence. You two are the only friend I have left, and I hope I can see you two in the future… but it won’t be The Reaper that sees you, because from this day forth… The Reaper is dead.
Good Bye
Serenity”