//------------------------------// // That Bitter Taste of Death // Story: To Protect and Serve // by iMan203 //------------------------------// I had come to a decision to stay in Appleloosa until the sheriff returned to the town with the majority of his deputies, since more rogue bandits had shown up everyday, causing disturbances throughout the quiet little town. Bronze and I stuck around the bar and restaurant most of the week, where all of the drunks and bandits were usually causing a large amount of trouble. I had also picked up an afternoon job at the bar distilling liquor and baking apple pie with my special fire. Since I could create a blaze that burnt slow and controlled for apple pie and extremely hot to distill liquor in high quality, I stuck around the bar for most of the time we were there. The owner appreciated my ability and payed me generously for such quality work. My uniform that we wore on guard duty was starting to get warn down from all the intense heat and all that week, somepony would have to fix it up at some point. Bronze Hammer took the liberty of helping out on the apple orchard of Appleloosa with Braeburn and family. They all got to know each other much better than before, considering Bronze was almost part of the family itself. The family couldn't be any happier for making a hard working mare like Applejack so happy in every way and were glad to have a hard working country stallion around the family and the farms. During the day, Tiki and Silver Dust did their own little patrol through the small town, hunting out any signs of trouble and eliminating any bad ponies from the streets. Silver Dust had been able to talk with the amulet more after our strange encounter through me. He was able to pick up on many more different spells, like a communication spell that allowed for mental communication between a group of selected ponies. While Tiki was flying, he would be able to whisper the location of a suspicious character and give Silver a mental image of where he is located. Throughout the week, the pair had busted over 30 bandits and trouble makers in the town alone. I had to stop a plethora of drunks and trouble inducing bandits at the bar, and Bronze Hammer actually ratted out a goblin camp within the Appleloosa orchard. Without actually having to do anything, Bronze Hammer pointed out the campsite clearing to a group of stampeding buffalo to clear flat. Within minutes the camp and everything living at it was flattened and the buffalo continued on their way. One of the days a dangerous hostage situation had taken place while Bronse Hammer and I were busy working. We didn't even get notice of the situation before Tiki and Silver Dust had handled the situation. It took two trained soldiers to accomplish this task under such pressure, and the pair showed they had what it took. A stallion had taken a filly hostage in the second floor of the local tavern at the end of the towns main road. He had locked the door in and had a knife up to the filly's throat, demanding a ransom and to walk out of the town untouched. His demand was too much for such a town to compensate for, showing that the stallion was clearly not in the right mind. Silver Dust and Tiki had shown up to the scene while the stallion barricaded the door and captured the by standing filly. After minutes of devising a plan, the two ponies took action. Tiki removed the bow from his back and took position on the parallel building from the tavern. After sitting at the door for 30 seconds, Silver Dust had been working on the window from the mental image Tiki was sending him of the lock. The only window in the room had been unlocked and slowly slid open, while the Stallion was ranting about his ransom and the hostage. Tiki then proceeded to take his only shot at the stallion, making sure not to harm the filly in his grasp. The arrow flew from the bow and struck the stallion right through the neck, only grazing the filly's ear. After clearing the obstructions from the door, Silver Dust retrieved the little filly from the room and removed most of the image of the dead stallion from her mind. She still remembered what had happened, but she didn't have the blood and violence haunting her for the next few weeks. After a celebration and a small reward that day, Tiki and Silver Dust spent their night at the local bar. They decided to go later at night when nopony would be there to bother them after the days events. "We did good out there. I'm pretty impressed by that shot you took through the window today." Silver complimented. "Yeah, it was pretty good." Tiki said, his eyes looking distantly into his mug. "Alright I can see it in your look, whats up?" Silver Dust asked. "What're you talking about? Is it really that obvious?" Tiki asked. "Yeah, and its got somepony written all over it, whats bothering you?" Silver asked. "It's just Rarity, I guess. We left too soon..." Tiki said, bowing his head closer to his mug. "I know what you mean..." Silver said, feeling the same tinge of sorrow. "It's just love, bro. Sometimes it hurts but it's nothing to worry about." Silver said reassuringly. "I can't get her out of my head right now... She's gotten us to that flirty point in a relationship, really flirty." Tiki said nervously. "Yeah? How do you feel about that?" Silver asked. "Well, I'm not really sure. Right now I just want to jump out of a window, its so confusing!" Tiki groaned, drinking another gulp of cider. "So you're anxious, you don't want to mess anything up? Or you're hesitant on committing to one mare?" Silver asked for specification. "Both, pretty much." Tiki said flatly. "Well, if I had advice to throw out there, I'd say just go off of your first reaction to things and show your true self. Rarity seemed to enjoy that side of you to come this far into things." Silver said, elbowing Tiki playfully. Tiki sighed, "you're pretty much right, I'll keep doing things my way then, with your advice." After finishing their cider, both stallions went back to barn to prepare for the trip to Baltimare the next morning. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Rise and shine, boys! I think today will do well for a letter day!" I said energetically early that morning. "Ah man... That cider really comes back and bites you the next morning." Tiki said, rubbing his temple. "I don't know, I'm not feeling it. I guess it's the amulet keeping my head clear." Silver said. "Well I'll give you guys some time on those letters, I'm gonna go see what Braeburn has for breakfast today." I said, walking towards the house. "Just remember, keep things all you, don't change the majority of things to make Rarity like it more." Silver said, advising Tiki. "Got it. Keep it simple and relaxed." Tiki said, writing down his thoughts on a white canvas of paper. Silver Dust's amulet glowed pale red. After a few minutes Tiki and Bronze took notice to Silver Dust's statued position. "We need to get to the house now. Goblin problems!" Silver said, snapping out of his trance and running for the estate. I walked through the front door silently, making sure not to wake anypony incase they were still sleeping. It was a Sunday, so I didn't know if I was supposed to be up early in their house. I soon took noticed of the mangled living room and crept slowly towards the kitchen. "Braeburn? Anypony around?" I whispered in the dim morning light. As I walked into the kitchen, there was food all over the countertop and floor. Chairs were thrown about the room and the large dining room table was overturned. I now started to worry about the events that took place before I had arrived. I ran to the front door and began to leave, until a group of goblins walked from the other room and called out to me. I turned around to see a group of four goblins, one at the front door and three others holding ponies with blades to their necks. "Now, approach the front door, slowly." The leading goblin said with a Cheshire grin across his face. "You can take what you want, as long as you don't hurt anypony in there." I said. "Oh, but you don't understand! Ponies will be hurt! We're here for revenge for the destruction of base camp 107!" The goblin yelled in rage. "I'm not sure which one that is, we've gone through a lot of your camps in the past few days." I said, clearly the wrong choice of words. "That's it! Bludge! Do your job!" The goblin yelled once again. "Bludge hurt pony!" The largest of the goblins yelled in a dull tone, dragging a jagged blade across a little colt's back. Three ponies were held hostage, the mother of the family, Braeburn himself, and a little colt I had spoke to the dinner of our arrival. The mother was, of course, reacting in the worst way. She fought as much as she could to free herself from the bindings of the goblin. Her little boy had just fallen to the ground. Blood spilled across the floor as the leader goblin laughed menacingly. Braeburn and I shared the same reaction of shock and horror as the body of the little colt hit the floor, still fighting for life. The goblin holding the mother hostage soon knocked the mare unconscious and letting her drop to the floor. I had rage building up, my internal core firing up for a pure blood-letting of my enemies. Before I lunged at the group, exploding into flames, an arrow flew over my shoulder and hit the captor of the mother in the right eye. A large metal lamp was levitated over the holder of Braeburn, knocking the goblin unconscious. At the opportunity, I shot over the overturned couch in the middle of the room and brought the killer of the colt down on the ground. I thrust my hoof into his esophagus, almost removing his head from his body. As Silver Dust had rushed into the room, I motioned to the colt laying on the ground. I had dashed out of the door, almost flying off the ground, charging at the leader of the goblins. He had taken off a bit ago, after viewing his men drop one by one. I had leaped onto his back and bashed his skull in mercilessly before unleashing fiery hell onto his body. After returning to the scene hastily, I came just in the for the aftermath of the conflict. Silver Dust had snapped the mother back to consciousness and began to work on the colt lying on the ground. "You can save him right? Ah'm gonna be able to hold him again?!" The mother said panic stricken, tears running down her face. "Just stay calm, I can't salvage any of the blood spilt because its been mixed with the goblins, I can only seal the wound and allow time to rest." Silver said hastily. "Momma, its ok... No matter what happens... Ah'll be ok..." The colt said faintly through the pain. "No! Stay with us! Don't leave me!" The mother said frantically. "It should be alright now, the wound is almost sealed and he'll be working within a week." Silver said. "Oh thank Celestia! Thank you for saving him!" She said, tears running down her face. "No, momma... Ah'm leavin' today. Ah can still feel it..." The colt said, staggering from his mother's grip. "What're ya talkin' about? The nice unicorn fixed ya right up!" The mother began to speak frantically. "Ah can feel it though, somethin' ain't right. It's ok though momma, ah'll be watchin' you... From up there." The colt said, laying on the floor. "What's going on?! I thought I fixed him! Let me take another look..." Silver said, scanning deeper over the scar of the sword. "Son of Discord! Nerve damage?! How did I miss that? Hold on..." Silver said, going to work once again on the inside of the colt. "Nah, it's too late, but ah'm ok, ah'm gonna go somewhere else and ah'll be just fine..." The colt said faintly with a smile upon his face. It was too late, as the colt said. The little pony's body went limp and he only hung in Silver Dust's arm. The mother soon took the child in her grasp and whispered prayers into his forehead, kissing it repeatedly. The tears started to flow rapidly once again as the mother felt the lack of breathing from the colt's body. Braeburn couldn't help but sit at her side, trying to be strong and hold back the tears. I myself couldn't, knowing that my actions today could've prevented this happening if I had done one little thing different. If I had kept my mouth to myself in such a situation. If only... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today wasn't the day of departure. There was still a small funeral to be held. A grave had been dug out by the family members and the buffalo who knew the jolly little boy well. Tears were shed throughout the day. The buffalo had given approval of burying the little colt in the sacred buffalo stampeding grounds, under the little pony's favorite apple tree. I soon learned the names of the family, after they truly thanked me for protecting their home and any further deaths that could've been caused by goblins. The little colt's name was Tommy Appleseed, which I felt was only a bit ironic to the relation of Johnny Appleseed in some way. The mother's name was Charlotte Blossom, who shed tears throughout the day. The sheriff had arrived in time for the funeral, also. I had felt so much guilt at the loss of such a little colt's life, I could only blame myself for my actions. Braeburn strongly disagreed and said there was nothing else to be avoided. He had convinced me that I had prevented so much more from happening. The rest of the entire family had been sleeping upstairs, none of them were touched by any goblins thanks to the arrival of us four in the morning. The ceremony had taken place and the burial rituals were performed. I was asked by the entire family to cremate the little colt before they let him rest. "Tommy would've agreed to it, also. You were the one who protected our family and stopped the intruders." Braeburn told me. "No, I was the one who arrived at your doorstep and watched your youngest brother drop to the floor from a sword." I said bitterly. "You need to stop blamin' yourself for what happened today. If it weren't for your squad, our entire family could've been mercilessly slaughtered by a group of green thugs!" Braeburn said strongly. "Alright, I'll do it. I'll do it for the little colt you've all come to love." I said shakily. There was no need to remove the corpse from the casket. The fire was magic induced and wouldn't burn anything else, as I had explained. I allowed the flames of sorrow and forgiveness to dance across the pony laying in the casket. The flames weren't my original royal blue aura, it was a lighter blue tinted with a green center. It wasn't any ordinary fire, so there couldn't really be any possible explanation for the color change except for strong emotions. Many touching things were said that afternoon by both friends and family. Gestures of thanks were given out to the four ponies that protected the Apple family that works the orchard hard everyday. Silver Dust's amulet had glowed a purple sorrowful color that day, showing the emotion of everypony around him. Bronze was troubled during the afternoon when he thought about Applejack and how he was going to explain this to her. There was only one way, and it was to speak to her in person. I took Bronze Hammer down to the estate, to a barrel of water in the back of the barn. We looked into the barrel as I dropped a single spark into the pool. The spark danced circles around the rim of the bucket until hitting the center of the pool and creating a single perfect ripple to the edges of the barrel. The ripple came back to the center and changed our reflections into a single image of Applejack, staring down into our eyes, into the river at Ponyville. It took a little bit for Applejack to realize what had happened. At first she just kept staring, but then I tilted my head and gave a wave through the water. "Am ah seein' things? Or have y'all learned a new trick or two on your little adventure?" Applejack asked, completely thrown off. "I would say both, but that's not important right now, we have some grave news for you... It's about the Apple family of Appleloosa." I said gravely. "What happened? Have y'all talked to them much? Did they not like Bronze?" Applejack asked worriedly. "Don't worry, they've taken a likin' to me, but this ain't about me. It's about little Tommy." Bronze said solemnly. "What's happened? Has he gotten bigger? Is he a little trouble maker now a days?" Applejack asked suspiciously. "Well... There's no other easier way to say this. He's dead." I choked out the words. "What do ya mean... Dead...?" Applejack froze, the idea hitting her like a train. "Goblins... It was the last day... We were going to leave, and then I walked into the house..." I said, flashing back to the scene of the tattered house. "They had Charlotte and Braeburn tied up, everypony else was sleeping, Ironclad walked in the wrong place at the wrong time." Bronze said, glaring at me. "I could've stopped them, but I just watched his body hit the floor and I froze..." I muttered. "Why didnt ya do it then?! Why didn't you stop them?!" Applejack said, tears running down her cheeks. "He couldn't, what he did was the best he could do. Ah'm sure if he moved to stop it there would've been two more casualties in the Apple family today..." Bronze said, hurt by AJ's frustration. "Who're ya talkin' to?" Big Mac's voice echoed in the background. "Bic Mac! Little Tommy Appleseed! He's dead..." Applejack said sadly. "Nope. No, nah that can't be true, is it?" Big Mac said in shock. "Goblins. Just today, ah'll explain the rest in the house with Granny Smith and maybe Apple Bloom." Applejack said, tears running down her face. "Eeyup..." Big Mac said, a single tear running down the left side of his face. "Alright, I'll leave you to yourselves there in Ponyville, I'm going back to the ceremony." I said mournfully. That night was a hard night to sleep. Everypony kept talking about their actions today. Thoughts kept floating through our heads and circulating through the room as we spoke our minds. After an hour of talking and mourning, the amulet had returned to it's default color and put us all into a deep sleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The next morning come hard and early. We all awoke at the same time, still drowsy from being up late last night. I had gone to the back door of the estate and spoke to Braeburn before we left. I let him know that we were setting out for Baltimare and wished the family best of luck for the future. Braeburn gave us each a breakfast snack to go, and we all grabbed a couple apples from the orchard on the start of our walk. It was nothing but desert for the day, nothing in sight for miles in all directions, but at least we knew where we were going. Tiki had gathered whisks of clouds from the air into one blanket of cloud shading us from the heat of the day. It was getting closer to winter, so at least the sun wasn't as strong as it could've been during the summer days. We spent the night on a flat, soft, sandy area we came across at dusk. The tent wasn't needed that night, there was no wind to chill us to the bone, so we all piled over the sand pit I had warmed with my internal fire. The next few day was spent walking and the third was wasted playing around through an oasis of cool water and tropical desert plants. The fruit growing on the cacti were amazing and the water was crystal clear and refreshing to swim through. Plenty of desert life flocked the oasis to enjoy its supply of water and food. All different typed of birds, lizards, and bugs were found in every area of the desert resort. After spending the night in the tent off to the side of the oasis, we woke up the next morning with it mysteriously gone. Nopony could explain what had happened, and didn't need to as far as we were concerned about it. We spent the entire morning questioning what had happened last night, but no answers could be discovered. About high noon, we saw a small town in the distance and became extremely worried that we walked all the way back to Appleloosa somehow. The mystery of the oasis had come up again, but soon went back to being a mystery as we approached the small desert town of Dodge Junction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Thank Celestia that this is a different town. I would've died a little bit inside if we had to hoof it through the desert all over again." Tiki said. "You flew like 99% of the entire trip! The only thing you should complain about are wing cramps or something." Silver Dust said. "That's true, but I had to push and entire cloud through the desert. You don't know how hard that is." Tiki said boastfully. "You're right. We have no idea how much you could be lying right now. Pushing a cloud could be next to nothing." I said jokingly. "That don't matter right now, we all just gotta find somepony to talk to in this small town." Bronze suggested. "You're right, I'm getting pretty hungry from all that walking." I said. "I guess we can just head into the tavern for a snack, maybe the owner will know a good place to bunk for the night." Silver said. "True, but thats not our main focus, we need to make sure this town is in safety before we just spend a night and walk out to Baltimare." I said. We walked into the tavern at the entrance of the town one at a time, receiving mixed looks from all different ponies sitting at the tables and bar. As we kept walking, our uniform was recognized by a single pony sitting at the bar at the far left. He had recognized us from when we defeated Blaze Whiplash in Appleloosa. "A toast to the Appleloosa heroes!" The stallion shouted out to the crowd. A roar of hoorahs spread through the room as we sat down at a table in the back. A pretty little blonde mare had come over to the table to take our orders and such. She was blonde all the way, her coat was a sandy blonde while her curly mane was a brighter white blonde, which flowed down the left side of her neck and in her face. "What can I get you soldiers for this fine afternoon?" She asked politely. "Just cider, all of us." I replied nicely. "Alright, I hope you're all accustomed to cherry cider!" She said, walking back to the bar. "Cherry cider? Five minutes in and I'm beginning to like this place already." Tiki said happily. "Alright, I hope she isn't busy today, I've got plenty of questions to ask somepony about this place." I said more seriously. The mare returned to our table with a tray of cider mugs filled with dark red, syrupy sweet drinks, much different from regular cider. Each of us took a small drink of the cherry cider and continued like it was regular apple cider. The consistency was a bit thicker and there was a tart aftertaste, but it was still a good drink and we all enjoyed the beverage. I had the mare sit down for a bit so I could ask her a couple of questions. I learned we were in Dodge Junction, the city Applejack had worked in when she didn't bring home the money she had promised from the Canterlot rodeo. The cherry factory was on the outside of town, in front of the cherry orchard. Beyond that point is Hayseed Swamp, a point of interest where a supposed goblin hideout is located. The only reason nopony has gone to try and eliminate the nuisance is because a dragon has claimed the area as his personal territory and won't allow ponies within the area. After purchasing a room from the tavern, we all headed upstairs to unload our gear and enjoy some more of the town. Tomorrow we had a situation to deal with, and it wasnt going to be as easy as a group of bandits. After the afternoon was spent exploring the town and speaking with some of the townsfolk about the goblins, we learned that they've been a nuisance throughout the town for the last few days. We returned to the tavern for another round of cider and dinner before heading to bed earlier than usual. There were only two beds in the room, but at least they were big enough to hold two ponies each. None of the others were very eager to share a bed, and I didn't mind it at all. Tiki was sharing a bed with me because of my warm central fire. It acted like a heater running on nothing but the air around us, warming up the space quickly to a toasty mellow warmth, much better than the cold windy night outside right now. Silver Dust and Bronze Hammer shared the other bed, along with the amulet, who put the two in the same dreams throughout the night and enjoying subconscious conversation with the ponies. There was more talk of the lord of bliss and what was to become of our adventures. Nothing bad haunted any of us, only good things were spoken of the future. The amulet itself had mourned the death of the little colt from Appleloosa, as if it were a real pony along with the rest of us. I had begun to really wonder where this amulet came from and what it's history had to tell for us. The last image I remember of the night was a pair of wings, the bottom had been a pale yellow color, with the top a deep blue shade. They weren't feathered, nor were they scaly. A pair of great, majestic wings covered in a sheeted layer of fluffy down. The fuzz made the winds appear as if they were made from the clouds of Cloudsdale, but I couldn't tell what creature they belonged to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Everypony awoke the next morning, feeling completely refreshed from the comfortable beds we got to sleep in. It's been days since we've slept in actual beds, something that has become scarce on the roads of Equestria. I had awoken first, looking over to see Tiki's wings had wrapped around me some time during the night. I don't blame him for getting cold during the night, I could feel the draft floating through the room myself. Although his wings had found their way around my torso, Tiki himself still faced the opposite way I did through the night. Silver Dust and Bronze Hammer had slept peacefully through the night also, facing their own way off the side of the bed. As I moved from the bed, I repositioned Tiki's wings in the bed so I could go downstairs into the tavern to see what I could do. Tiki woke up to the sudden movement and silently followed me downstairs to the large, open room. There were many tables along the sides of the walls, a bar along the wall next to the stairs, and a large fireplace in the center of the room. The draft in our room probably came from a small crack in the chimney leading through the side of the room. The fire pit wasn't being used at the moment, but was keeping the building warm late last night as the last of the customers had left the building for their own homes. The owners of the tavern were and older couple, doing quite well with business and all. They only had one mare working the the tables while the wife took the rest of them on busy days and the older stallion managed the bar throughout the day. Business was slower, but they still had a strong income from all of the visitors that come through the town. In order to suffice for any cash that wasn't made due to a lack of food business, they had started to rent out the attic rooms to visitors of the town if it was needed. There were two rooms, each with two smaller beds and a single desk in between them. The upkeep was minimal and easy on the old couple, but sometimes additional assistance was needed. The young blonde mare that worked the tavern with the couple was a tough mare who could handle herself with heavy lifting and such, and could stop most trouble makers without having to call a deputy over. Even though everything seemed good in this small town for most of the businesses, it could all change due to the recent goblin attacks on the town. Goblins come in and ransack a building or two for supplies and usually cause trouble for the late night wanderers on the street. The raids are becoming more frequent and a few deputies have been hurt trying to stop their terror. As Tiki and I went down the stairs, the older stallion was wiping down his bar and the young mare was sweeping out the floors. The two were preparing for opening and the wife of the owner was in bed, sick with an unusual cold. Due to her old age, the stallion explained, she might not be around much longer if she doesn't pull through this. I had told the old Stallion that our friend, Silver Dust, could possibly help with this problem and cure his wife. Both ponies jumped at the idea and were very impatient waiting for the unicorn to come down the stairs. Tiki and I had a been served cups of hot chocolate with toast and oatmeal, the usual breakfast selection of most ponies that walked into the tavern for breakfast. The old Stallion working the bar didn't talk much, at least not compared to the mare, who sat down with us for her breakfast and had plenty of questions to ask. "So you four are traveling all of Equestria? What for?" She had asked, intrigued. "We're going on the order of Princess Celestia, there's a lot you don't know about us, but I'd be happy to start talking." I said, taking a drink of hot chocolate. "Well, we might as well start off with names. I'm Sonny. Sonny Peach!" She said happily, explaining her cutie mark of a bright yellow peach, cut down the middle of the core. "I'm Tiki, and this is Ironclad. There's just so much to talk about! Where do we start?" Tiki looked over to me after a spoonful of oatmeal. "Well, we might as well start by explaining where we came from." I said. "I definitely want to know which city produced such a look from you, you practically look like a dragon with your looks!" She said. "Well, I've come from another universe, along with Tiki and the others. We're from a technologically advanced dimension that sent us into here as a test." I explained. "I remember the letter that Princess Celestia sent out across Equestria that one day! You four certainly fit into our world just fine." Sonny complimented. "Surprisingly we do, coming from our original world. This dimension would fall to pieces if it were ever exposed to the true nature of our original race." I said darkly. "Is it really that bad? Was there a lot of war?" She asked, puzzled by my lack of description. "We don't need to talk about it here, but there was much more than war. Our race was divided among itself by many different groups." Tiki chimed in. "You mean like us? Like ponies, Pegasi, and unicorns?" Sonny asked with a horrified expression. "No no, nothing like that. It's more just ways of life and beliefs. There were so many to choose from and many take it very seriously where we originate." I said, sorrow tinged in my voice. "Alright enough of this then, tell me about your jobs, unless its classified or something." Sonny looked away for a bit. "No, our job is to remove the goblin problems from Equestria, one city at a time." I said. "Yeah, but we've been doing a bit more than that lately, since bandits don't qualify as goblins." Tiki mumbled. "That didn't matter, its still part of our job to protect everypony that needs it." I said. "Well you can continue doing your job when you get rid of these goblins, the only problem is the dragon safeguarding the campsite of the goblins." Sonny had warned. "I don't think that will be a problem, I have my ways with the beasts." I said smiling. Silver Dust and Bronze Hammer came down the stairs drowsily, just waking from their slumber. Before receiving their breakfast, the old stallion asked Silver Dust to try and help his wife. Silver didn't turn down the stallion from help and soon went to check up on the older mare sick in her bed. Bronze Hammer was served his breakfast tray and sat down with the rest of us to enjoy the conversation. I continued to explain our plan for Hayseed Swamp and why I looked so much different from the other ponies around me. At first the young mare had thought it was a side effect from coming from another world, but I had explained the genetic change done to my body. I told her it was to be used against anypony who stood in my way and to give me administrative power over this world, but it only lead to the creation of a new ancient power. After we had disconnected from our original world in the horrible lab accident my power had gone through and taken its own form in this world. The closest it came to was the ancient governing powers of a dragon lord. After that, I had gone into detail with the ancient times of beasts and fire, and how Equestria was truly formed. Sonny was very religious though, and told me not to speak about such things around other ponies around here, even though she completely believed me. I knew what she was talking about with the religious folk in a small town and all, so I promised to keep my lips sealed about the story. Silver Dust soon emerged from the back room where the older couple lived while they weren't running their establishment. The mysterious spices that Zecora had given to Silver Dust proved to be extremely useful. One of the powders started to react to the air in the room of the sick pony. Silver Dust only had few explanations for this, and decided to give the powder to the mare by mixing a bit into her cup of tea. The mare drank the concoction and soon showed physical improvement of her original condition. Silver Dust then mixed a bit more into the rest of her cup. The mare drank the rest of the tea and showed signs of major improvement. One of the side effects must've been sleep, because she soon started to rest after the medicine was given to her. The old stallion couldn't thank us enough for saving his wife, and didn't charge us for the night in the room we stayed in. Silver Dust finally joined us for breakfast as we all sat down and ate, enjoying conversation right before customers started to show up at the door. We finished the meal and said our goodbyes and walked through the front door to begin our job for the day. The Hayseed Swamp was, well, a swamp. It was very damp and the ground wasn't stable to walk anywhere. We hiked through trails of muck and swamp water looking for the goblin hideout. Tiki had hovered through the trees above looking for the camp site while we struggled through the mess of brush and mud. After an hour of trekking through the mess, we finally came across solid ground leading into a lush green forest. Tiki had flown up high into the sky to observe the plot of land from the sky. It was apparently an island of green in the grey, mucky swamp stretching approximately one mile wide and another one and a half long. We started to walk through the floating island of green and stumbled onto a resting dragon blocking the only trail through the area. The only thing left to do was confront him and ask him about the campsite. None of the others liked the idea, but it had to be done. Since I was the only pony here who was completely fire proof, I stepped up to confront the dragon while the others watched from a distance. I had remembered the respect gained by all of the other dragons that night of the migration. I had full confidence this one would also obey my consent if he knew who I was. "Dragon! Address yourself! I have only a single question for you." I said strongly. "Dragon lord. What brings you to my territory?" The dragon asked drowsily. "I'm investigating a goblin infestation in the area, I have orders to eliminate the campsite." I said. "Orders? The might dragon lord takes orders from ponies to do such dirty work?" The dragon chuckled. "This is why some question your power. This is why you cannot fully control your subjects before you." The dragon explained. "I can easily control everything in Equestria, I choose not to though." I said. "Of course not. You're only the lord of bliss, a very weak form of power at most." The dragon said insultingly. "So you think you can defeat me? Right now? Right here?" I challenged. "Of course I can, you haven't even discovered your true power yet, you are only a shell of what you can possibly do." The dragon said, stretching its wings across the trail. Show him your power. "I will make you kneel before me! Will you then question my power?!" I said loudly. "Give me your best! I want to see what your power shows for such a weak element such as 'bliss'." The dragon said mockingly. I did not stall any longer, nor did I question the inspiring voice that echoed in my head. The scaled pattern on my coat shown out and my eyes glowed as rings of blue whisks of fire swirled around my feet. Everypony watched in horror as I unleashed a fiery blast that made an explosive contact onto the dragon's chest. The beast was thrown off his feet and through a few trees before stopping. Everything around us was dried and singed by the heat, my uniform taking a burning toll from the intense heat. After laying there in tense pain, the dragon stood up to release a downpour of fire and heat on myself. The fire continued to pour down for a moment, catching fire to everything around the area. You shall not fall, fight for your era. I had opened my eyes in the middle of the vortex of flame only to instantly react by jumping up through the vortex towards the Dragon's head. I didn't know how high I had to jump, so I just shot up as high as I could go. After coming out of the vortex, I was just above the dragon's scaly head, which was about 18 feet from the ground. I brought one of my back hooves down upon his head, bringing his whole body down to the ground. I held his thick, strong neck down on the ground as if it were just another twig in the forest. Show no mercy, you shall be rewarded. My mouth started to tingle as flames started to jump from my mouth. I held the heat until I could no longer withstand the energy, dropping a ball of explosive magical flames onto the dragon's face. Everything went white, changing to black shortly as smoke filled the surrounding area. The dragon had survived the blast, holding onto life by a simple string of hope. "I submit. You have proven yourself..." The dragon muttered, fainting from the pain coming across his body. Everypony just looked at me while I stood there, fading in and out of consciousness while the smoke had cleared. Enjoy your reward, you have performed well. The voice echoed off into the back of my head as the smoke cleared and I calmed down from my "performance." Everypony was still staring at me in disbelief. I could understand why, but they were all used to the more vicious side of myself from the few battles before. It wasn't myself that worried any of them, it was my uniform. I still felt my uniform on my body, the sleeves were down on my arms, I was just missing some pockets. I felt the fabric along my back, it wasn't the same and was extremely lightweight. It felt more like a short robe along my back and ending about 6 inches from my tail. The two sides of the clothe draped down near my legs and almost felt like a cape swinging at my movement. I could feel a collar around the neck of the robe coming up around my mane and stopping before my ears to leave my field of vision unhindered. The collar came up about three inches from the base of my ears and felt lightweight but stiff from movement. The sleeves of the robe were very loose and light, allowing easy movement and maximum comfort for wearing all the time. The entire robe itself was extremely comfortable and could be worn as long as I wanted to wear it, I didn't feel anything uncomfortable about it. I almost felt like I wasn't wearing anything. One of the large boulders to the side that had been melted from the fire was glassed over and acted almost like a mirror for myself. I looked into the reflection to see the azure weavings of curls, wings, tails and claws around the entire robe. The etchings seemed to glow hot from the recent battle as if they were blue coals in a fire. The heads of the deep blue dragon etchings curled around on the collar, with the mouths opening off at the edges of the collar. The design was extremely familiar, I remembered it from the sword I had placed in the grave of Glimmer Hunt. Memories came back to me as the blue glow returned to the etchings and the eyes turned a dark golden color, matching the rim of the collar. The gold sealed in place and gave the collar extra stability. Gold edging sealed the back of the robe as well as the sleeves. Everything about this outfit seemed as if it were from another world. I had a good feeling that the clothing was fire proof, along with anything else proof, but that would have to be tested later. "Where did THAT come from?!" Tiki asked, breaking the seemingly eternal silence. "There was this voice in my head, fueling my emotions through the fight..." I said. "Was it the amulet? Did it sound familiar." Silver asked. "I did nothing of the such!" The amulet echoed. "It was a new voice, but he said that I earned a reward for performing so well. I think he knows about us, he's watching us." I said. "Well ah don't know if he can hear us or not, but we all better get some sorta outfit like that!" Bronze said. At these words, each of the three ponies were engulfed in a deep ruby flame with a purple edging. The flame only lasted a few moments, destroying the original fabrics and replacing them with new robes, similar to mine, but having their own unique differences. Tiki had slightly longer sleeves, in exchange for a shorter collar and less of a back to the robe to reduce wind resistance. The original arrow pouch he had carried was also embroidered with the dragon design down the sash of the pouch. Bronze Hammer had a similar collar and robe design to myself, but his torso was covered with a Dragon scale patterned chain mail within the double stitched torso of the robe. The end of the robe before his tail came down the sides lower than mine and were also visibly thicker stitching than all of our other robes. Silver Dust had a long sleeved loose robe, the sleeves much more open at the end then our other designs. Instead of a collar, a large hood was in place. The tail of the hood flew back like a dragon's tail, curling towards the bottom at the end. The hood itself was very open and had been crafter perfectly to accommodate the horn of a unicorn with out awkwardly showing a horn through the fabric. The robe itself stayed the same as my torso design. One surprising thing that had happened was the amulet upon Silver Dust's neck had bound with the robe at the end of the chain it was linked to and became part of the uniform. "This is intriguing. I feel much more free and powerful than before. I've just got room to stretch my magical energy through the whole robe is all." The amulet said, much louder and clearer than when it was just a necklace. "Well I guess we'll be able to speak more often with this change." I chuckled. "Well, what happens now? We just got pimped out so hard, how do we top this?" Tiki asked. "I'm thinking about testing the limits of the new look." I said. "Lets get to it. Ah'll just take mine off so we can slash it with a sword a bit." Bronze offered. "Alright, I know that the stuff has to be fire proof, lets get to the cutting of the test subject." I said eagerly. "I want to take the first swing!" Tiki said. One of the swords Tiki had was pulled from an inside tether of the robe. He brought the sword down on the side of the robe and cut clean through the extremely thin fabric with one small swing. "Are you kidding me? I just ruined Bronze's robe, sorry guys." Tiki said disappointedly. "What're you talking about? I don't even think you hit the fabric." Silver chuckled. "But I felt the fabric tear! I saw the hole in the side!" Tiki said, looking back to the place of impact. "I saw it, too. I also witness the hole restitch itself when you turned away, it was pretty cool." I said. "Huh, so I guess it's somewhat sword proof, lets see how it does against magic." Tiki suggested. "Alright, everypony stand back." Silver Dust warned. After the fight with Blaze, Silver managed to pick up on the magic missile trick. He also found the spell in the book he had received from Twilight about different spells of magic. Although it wasn't supercharged by the amulet, he was able to cast the spell and do some damage to the robe itself. The white fabric had charred and ripped a bit, but within seconds the charred marks disappeared and the rip holes closed up. The robes were somewhat magic resistant compared to what would've happened to regular cloth. Our original uniforms would've easily disintegrated from a magic blast such as that. "Well, even if you guys aren't magic resistant, I can keep you safe from projectiles." The amulet echoed from the hood. "Alright, there's only one more thing that I've started to wonder now. Somepony has to wear the uniform while I slash their arm." Silver Dust requested. "Alright. Lets get this over with..." Tiki groaned. "Alright, even if it doesn't seal your wound, I can do that myself." Silver said, whipping out the blade fastened to his tail. The blade was quickly slashed across the robe and Tiki's left arm. The blade cut through the cloth like butter and grazed Tiki's arm. Blood started to drip down the fabric as the cloth started its closing process. It took much longer than usual to close the cloth only because Tiki's cut was being sealed along with the fabric. "I'm just guessing that the bigger the wound, the longer the process will take." I said. "You're most likely right, which means if anypony takes a sword to the back, I'm going to have to fix it up before the robe can get to it." Silver said. "I hope you can fix a back the right way, we don't want any more incidents..." Tiki spoke out. Everypony glared at the Pegasus for such a remark and we all soon kept walking. We soon discovered that out clothing was completely stain proof to add onto everything else. The mud and swamp water repeatedly fell onto the sides of our robes, only to slide off and disappear from the bright white cloth as if nothing had ever happened. We all agreed not to mention this to Rarity until it was necessary. We all knew how much she would freak out if we had stain proof fabric. Besides the fact that we didn't even know where the robes even came from, we weren't sure how to explain it to everypony that asked where they could purchase such an outfit. After walking through the forested areas for a bit, I figured that if we rolled back the collar and kept the back from draping so much, it would look like any other regular outfit from a high class area such as Canterlot. The only other thing would be the unusual properties such as mending by itself and instantly removing stains. I would explain that later to anypony who asked if it came to that. We all continued walking through the forest, heading towards the location given to us by the fallen dragon. After our fight, he had come back to consciousness shortly and didn't hesitate to argue. Our new uniform had struck something within his memory and he answered my question without hesitation and complete obedience. After we set off he crawled back into his den above the large boulder on the side of the hill. We had been walking for about ten minutes now, nearing the other edge of the forested plot of land. Tiki came down to warn us about the small cloud of smoke that rose from a small clearing near the boggy waters of the other edge. It was surely to be the camp we've been hunting for all of today. The sun was starting to set and we only had so many hours of daylight left to crush this camp and return to the tavern. It was a much larger base of about 30 or so goblins. Tents were lined up along the sides of the clearing and a large fire pit was built in the center. Goblins were waltzing around everywhere, enjoying the food and drink they've stolen from Dodge Junction and dancing around the open fire. There was a charred body of a pony skewered to a stick sitting over the open fire. Tiki had taken position in the sky, walking the rest of us through our positioning. We were all preparing to engage an ambush on the entire camp, wiping out the majority of the goblins before they could react. Silver Dust had been using the mental communication system with all of us together, which usually wouldn't have worked, but the amulet was able to tap into my energy pool with my consent before the operation took place. First thing that we did was position myself behind the tents so I could light them ablaze when the fighting broke out. Many of the goblins were located in some of the tents, I could see each of them with my Draconian eyes. Silver Dust took position down near the boggy water, ready for any goblins to approach the waters edge to be ambushed. Bronze Hammer took position in the bushes aside the fire pit where a large group of armed goblins had been sitting, eating away at the cooked corpse. Tiki was still in the sky, bow readied, incase he had to take down any straggling goblins that would screw up the plan. The sun began to set and the light started to fade away from the land. The next goblin had approached the water, gathering it for a drink and for cooking at the fire pit. As he bent in to gather water in his bucket, Silver Dust was given the all clear to take down the first target of the night. He lashed his blade clean through the neck of the target and shoved him into the dark, muddy bog. Two more goblins had approached the waterside to investigate. Silver Dust quickly moved from the bush, landing another strike through the neck of one of the goblins while snapping the neck of the other. Both of the bodies were thrown into the bog and everything continued as planned. One of the bodies had been positioned in the camp for the group of armed goblins to see. As stupid as they were, they sat there for quite a while wonder what had happened, instead of warning for intruders. Bronze Hammer then charged the group of seven armed guards and knocked most of them into the fire pit. Two had landed to the side, which were soon assassinated by a falling arrow and Silver Dust. The first goblin to receive the impact of the hammer had been mangled on the head and had to be kicked off by Bronze into the fire pit. At the sound of violence, a swarm of goblins had jumped up and started to arm themselves. Before most of them could escape, I set fire to all six tents and they burnt up in an instant. The leader and a few of his men escaped the tent with minor to moderate burns as the blue aura of the blaze glowed on their faces, claiming the lives of all their fellow comrades. "Surrender now in the name of the Princess!" I commanded. "We'd rather die than be taken prisoner by ponies!" The leader grunted. "Have it your way. Another day gone by and no prisoners taken." I smirked and started walking to the group with the other three following my back. These goblins were trained to the best of their abilities, fighting them was a definite challenge. There was a goblin for each of us, a dark wizard, a brute, an archer, and a leader. We each separated to continue the fight with our destined matches. Silver Dust was soon locked in a close quarters battle between the wizard, exchanging magical blasts and the occasional lash of a small blade. Each parried the other with a magical shield and a returning blast one after another. The only determining factor of who would win this duel would be the one with the most endurance. Tiki had kept the archer busy and saved Bronze Hammer from an arrow to the neck. The archer had taken a point back behind a tree, drawing an arrow to his bow and taking aim for the largest of the ponies. With Tiki's eagle vision, he could spot the hidden assassin and which pony he was taking aim for. As the arrow left the string and flew for Bronze Hammer, Tiki had shot his own arrow, splitting the original in half and landing them both in the flames. Another arrow was fired at the archer from the sky, striking his bow through the center and rendering it useless. The archer then pulled two knives from his sides and continued into battle. Tiki soon met this goblin face to face for a duel to be remembered. Bronze Hammer had met the large brute of a goblin on the field, hammer in his grip. The brute himself carried a spiked mace made of wood with a skull fastened on the end. Both warriors met weapon to weapon in a test of strength, trying to force the other to the ground as hard as they could. This continued back and forth between the two, neither of them determined to lose this test of strength. I had no weapon to use against the leader of the campsite, so I just blocked his blows through my hooves and returned the favor with a belch of flame of a quick punch. He was powerful enough to deflect my flames with his metal shield and could parry my hooves from a swing of is sword. After a small time of fighting, my from hooves started to sting from taking a blade bare-hoofed and the strikes landed on my body were becoming sore from the impact. This belongs to you, use it wisely. The voice returned to my head and I felt a small amount of weight pile up in one of the tethers of my robe. I forced the goblin back with a blast of magic induced flame and drew a sword from my side. It was a shorter sword, but very broad. It was unbelievably lightweight and had the same azure dragon markings as the robes and the monument I had made of Glimmer. The sides of the blade were extremely sharp and surprisingly thin. Usually a sword of this design would break from the width of the blade, but this was clearly different. I took one swing at the shocked goblin leader and pierced his shield, leaving a split down the middle. The length of the sword was only a third of the way longer than Tiki's short sword and was about double the width. The engravings glimmered like those on my robes, and the gaping mouth of the head lead down to the point of the sword. I had taken another swing at the leader and slashed his blade clean in half. I took another swing at the shield and severed the edge of the metal plating. One burst of fire eliminated the opponent and I watched as the other three were just finishing their fights. Tiki had knocked the two blades from the other archer with his hooves as he brought his wings down with the two swords and severed both arms of the archer. Driving a blade through the neck of the goblin, Tiki finished the job and returned to my side blood stains slowly dissipating from his robes. After another collision from Bronze's hammer, the mace of the brute goblin had snapped and his skull was bashed in with the head of the hammer, and easier way to go from such a weapon. Bronze Hammer baked the brain matter off his hammer in the fire and returned to Tiki and I. Neither Silver nor the wizard showed signs of exhaust, so the amulet had helped Silver end the ongoing fight by placing a barrier behind the wizard, reflecting a stray magic bolt back into the goblin's spine, splattering him all over Silver Dust. Luckily, Silver had his hood down over his face so that most of the blood landed on the robe and quickly disappeared from sight. We all looked at each other, campsite destroyed and burnt to the ground. Each of us had blood stained on our tails and some of our mane. We all laughed at the sight and decided to go home before it got too late. The battle had ended and my sword disappeared into flames for the next battle I would need it in. The sun had already set as we piled all of the bodies into the fire pit and leveled the campsite for the vegetation to later grow back into. The journey home wasn't so long since we galloped all the way home through the bog and made it back within 15 minutes time. After everypony got back to the tavern, we washed up in the back and entered through the front door again. Customers looked at us from all directions, mainly focusing on our uniform. I had everypony roll down their collar and tie down their robes in the back, which mostly covered up the whole flashy look, but didn't hide the intriguing azure decor along the backs and edges of our robes. We all sat down in one of the back tables and each had a round of cherry cider. "I'm guessing you all got rid of all the goblins, judging by the clean up session in the back." Sonny chuckled. "You guessed right, no more problems in Dodge Junction." I said. "That's good to hear, now I can go home and sleep in peace!" She said, feeling relieved. "I think I'm going to do that same after being out in that swamp all day." Tiki groaned. "You were flying the entire time though!" Silver argued. "Yeah, but my wings are killing me!" Tiki said, stretching his wing out. "Whatever, I think we can all sleep in peace tonight after such a day." I said, breaking apart the pointless argument. Alright, y'all finish your drinks and get to bed, I've still got to finish my shift." Sonny said, standing up from her break. "Alright, have fun! Call us down if there are any problems." I said. Everypony had fallen asleep that night, no dreams or disturbances to remember. The amulet had let us sleep deeply without any dreaming or such to be done. The only thing that had happened in the night was Silver Dust being awoken by the amulet late in the night. A disturbance of two ponies had been detected outside by the amulet. There was a small bring ping from the gem and Silver Dust jumped from bed quickly and silently. "What's going on?" Silver mumbled. "We've got a problem outside." The amulet echoed quietly. "Alright, let's get this over with." Silver said irritatedly. The faint sound of two ponies arguing outside could be heard in the hallway of the second floor of the tavern. Sonny was leaving from her shift and walking home, when a mysterious stallion stopped her outside causing trouble. Silver watched momentarily from the back of the tavern through the front window of the door as the stallion became increasingly angry at the blonde mare's resistant attitude. After hearing the sound of Sonny being thrown against the front door, Silver Dust burst through the entrance and threw the stallion to the ground. "Sonny? Who is this?!" Silver asked frantically. "It's my step brother! He's here because I didn't come home earlier like he told me to..." Sonny said painfully from the ground. "And you've got no business in this! She belongs to the family and she is to do what she is told!" The stallion said angrily. "She isn't coming home tonight, not with a brute like you." Silver Dust said, throwing his hood over his head. "Lets finish this." The amulet echoed in. The stallion stood up and charged Silver head on. Before anything was done, Silver tripped the stallion to the ground. The stallion bucked his hooves out, knocking Silver to the ground. The stallion rolled over on top of him and landed one good punch to the face before a barrier stopped the second blow from happening. This gave the unicorn enough time to recover and throw the step brother from himself. The stallion was thrown onto the floor as Silver Dust came up from the floor back onto his hooves. The stallion soon charged again. Silver Dust met this attack with a speeding hoof to the center of the face, knocking the stallion back onto the floor, this time he didn't get up from the blow. "Alright, you go get a deputy, I'll keep him here." Silver said as Sonny got up from the ground. "Thank you, for everything. If you and your group hadn't shown up for these few days, I could be in a much worse place right now..." Sonny said. "It's alright, you'll be in a much better place after this, as soon as we get an officer over here and you explain what's going on." Silver said. A deputy of the Dodge Junction police department had shown up about 5 minutes later to arrest the assaulter of the blonde mare and take him away for the night. The owner of the tavern had woken up from the commotion and invited Sonny to stay in the other vacant room for the night, free of charge. The blonde mare soon explained that her father married a snooty unicorn with an earth pony son, who was 3 years older than her and out of control. Since Sonny was legally old enough to leave the household she lived in, the owners invited her to stay at the tavern until she found her own home and some peace of mind. After this whole scene, which lasted about ten minutes, everypony went back to bed and slept the night away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I arose the next morning in the early hours. I had to figure out how we were going to carry the stuff we had packed in our original uniforms, since this new robe style has left us with almost no pockets, just two very large side pockets on the cape of the robe. I grabbed the edge of on of the sides to reach my pocket. I wanted to see how deep the pocket was to figure out how much stuff we could fit. To my surprise, my entire arm dove into the never ending slot and I almost fell into the vortex. This was extremely strange and I was now trying to figure out what would happen if I put something into the endless pit. I dropped a bit down the pocket and I soon felt it hit the end of the pocket. As I reached in I grabbed the coin out of mid air and pulled it back out. I solved our packing problem and stuffed all of my gear into the pockets. There was no weight added when all of these items were inside the pocket, which only made things easier. I was really beginning to enjoy having this new look. Nopony was up at this time in the morning because of the late night incident with Sonny and all. I went out to the back alley to figure out my new weapon. Last night a godly sword had come into my possession and burst into the flames when the fighting was over. I wanted to know how to get it again, and I sat outside for a while smoldering from my mouth. I thought about trying to bring it forth through some magic and fire until that voice echoed in my head again. It's a powerful weapon, I do not think you are ready. "Who are you?" I asked immediately. I am not important right now, but we shall meet someday. "Why can I not wield the weapon you presented to me last night?" I asked. I am thinking over the decision to provide it to you. I am not sure if such power should be left in Equestria for so long. "What power? What does such a blade wield?" I asked. It possesses emotion. The blade will pierce anything you put your mindset to you. With the power of friendship and love, your element of bliss can render you invulnerable with such a blade. "There are so many questions to ask! I want to know everything." I said. All in good time. I guess I shall leave you with your elemental blade. Use it wisely. The voice trailed off into the back of my head once again as it spoke those final words. I had sat in the alley for a few moments thinking about what had just happened. After contemplating the event I had puffed a plume of smoke with the sword's engravings glowing through the plume. After taking shape and definition, the sword fell to the ground, still glowing with heat. I picked up the blade, examining it closely. Nothing had changed from it since last night. I was wondering what kind of metal the blade was crafter from, and what the handle was made of. The metal of the blade was a gleaming white metal, brighter and whiter than silver. There was still a metallic reflection but the color itself was brighter than many other metals know to ponies. The blue engravings seemed to be made from a sort of magical gem infused into the sword. The hilt was hard to tell. It had a wooden feeling, but it was a dull green color and was slightly mendable. The grip of the material was superb and allowed me to swing the weightless blade at unimaginable speeds. I had sound the blade around carelessly for a while, enjoying the feeling. Only one bad swing left the blade halfway submerged into a stone wall and completely slashed through a metal trash bin in the alleyway. Nothing seemed to be damaged beyond repair and could still continuing what it did. The wall still stood firmly and the trash can was still able to hold garbage. I tried to fit the blade into one of the pockets, but it hit the end of the pocket half way in. The sword was unaffected by whatever magic the pockets had used to store so many items, so I had to sheathe it in the tether under the cape on my robe. The sword was only ridiculously wide, about 6 inches in width, and was still quite short so it remained concealed within my robes. The sun was rising over the horizon now and I went back into the tavern. Sonny was up early starting her routine of cleaning up the tavern before opening. She was sweeping the floors and wiping off the dirty tables when I walked in. "That outfit you guys picked up in the forest looks pretty comfortable." Sonny said. "Yeah, I'm liking it more and more every day." I said, looking down at the robes across my chest. "I just hope ponies don't give you too much trouble on where you got it from." Sonny said worriedly. "Yeah, it'll be a lot of explaining to do for everypony that asks." I sighed as I sat down at the bar. "Just like yesterday morning?" The old stallion running the bar asked. "Yeah, that was pretty good yesterday. I wouldn't mind having it again." I smiled. "I haven't eaten yet either, could I get a bite to eat also?" Sonny asked politely. "Please, you can call me Joe, or Paps, now that you're living with us for the time being." The old stallion smiled as he turned around and begin fixing our dishes. "Thanks Paps. It's nice to have some family after last night..." Sonny said quietly as a tear ran down her cheek. "You've been working here so long, It'd be a shame not to be able to call you part of the family now." Joe smiled. The other three stallions came down the stairs a bit later, plates of food in their designated spots. Each of them were dressed in their robes, and I explained the never ending pockets on the robes. Tiki dropped his fork into his left pocket to test this out, and almost lost it in the floating depths of the pocket. After breakfast everypony packed their things into their pockets and were ready to set off for Baltimare. We said our goodbyes and walked out of the tavern towards the Hayseed Swamp. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Due to the harsh conditions of the area, it took about a week of wandering to get through the entire hayseed swamp while eliminating goblins from the area. There were times where we had to float out tent on the bog. Luckily enough the tent was totally waterproof, so we didn't have to fear anything when we were submerged halfway into the bog. There were other creatures that had to be fought, including a hydra that we decided to evade in the thick mangroves along one of the solid grounded areas. It wasn't a fun time out in the swamp, but we had a job to do and we made the most of our trip. There were plenty of water plants and bulbs that were very good to eat if cooked correctly. Most of the plants were very starchy, but none tasted bad and were supposedly high energy foods. At the end of the last day of the week, Tiki had spotted the peaks of tall buildings in the distance as we were tripping through the muddy waters of the bog. We had approached the town at sundown and didn't have any time to find a place to stay for the night, so we just pitched the tent once again outside of the town. We had a better sleep that night than in the bog due to the solid ground and dry air. The next morning we all slept in until the sun was shining in the sky and the glare had come through the top of the tent and had awoken us all. I wrapped the tent back up into my pocket as we all prepared to enter the big bustling city. Each of us fastened our cape down and rolled up our collar to try and blend into the crowds more. As we walked into the town, many ponies gave us a strange look from out outfit and probably from the scars we've picked up over the passing time. I've lost track of time now, it could've been a month or two since we left Ponyville. I was sending letters to the ponies back home, and they were sending back. I had learned that Rainbow Dash had gone to the wonderbolts boot camp and that one of the dragons that had fought with me had taken a nap in the mountain in the distance. The dragon was blowing smoke over Ponyville and had to be stopped before it spread throughout the land. I remembered this occurrence happening in one of the episodes back in our world, and now it was happening now. One of the recent letters had also talked about the new rulers of the crystal empire and how discord was being reformed by Fluttershy. I wished the ponies the best of luck in their adventures in the latest letter and continued our own adventures in Baltimare. As we walked through the city, we looked through all of the windows of the shop and took notice of everypony in the crowds of the streets. The streets had gone from dirt and dust to cement and cobblestone. The buildings were no longer wooden houses but large stone buildings. There were many streets throughout the town and would be easy to get lost on if we didn't play things out smart. I was lucky and had Tiki with us to help navigate over the areas, but we had to be cautious about the no flying rule some of the guards had warned about. We had high class medals that showed us as trained soldiers and powerful commanders, but we still had to register for a flying pass through the city. As we continued walking, I noticed a pair of red mustached stallions that couldn't be mistaken for anypony else. Flim and Flam had fled to Baltimare after the crushing defeat of their buyers of the death machine. They had certainly gained some riches from the deal and were hiding out in a large city such as Baltimare. "Guys, take a look at the table in front of the cafe, 2 o'clock on our left." I said briefly. "Alright, what's the plan?" Silver asked quietly on the streets. "I know that they're high class criminals for doing business with the goblins, but the royal guard hasn't given a warrant for their arrests because I haven't told the Princess about their part in the first battle." I explained. "What do we do now?" Tiki asked. "Only thing we CAN do is to wait it out while I get a letter to the princess. Silver I want you to follow these stallions for the day. Sync up the mental communication so I can contact you when I have the document for the arrest." I explained. "Alright, we're good to go. They won't get away this time." Silver said, throwing his hood over his head. "Alright, everypony else, hoods up and capes down, cover your face and cutie mark." I said. "Aw yeah! We look like badass mercenaries!" Tiki shouted softly within our group. "Let's just walk the other way while Silver keeps an eye on our targets." I said. As we walked deeper into the town, things began to turn a more dull shade of grey. Everything looked sad and depressing and got worse the more we walked towards the center of the town. Something wasn't right, but at least there weren't any goblins in sight. We got to the center of town, with a large fountain in the center. There was a well off to the side providing water for all of the ponies in town. We hoisted up a bucket of water for a drink. The water tasted fine and didn't look suspicious, but the ponies and buildings around us looked so dark and gloomy, as if a stormy cloud had rolled over the sky. There were only a few white clouds dotting the sky, but it was almost as if the sun was being absorbed by something floating over the center of the city. We all looked at each other in confusion, knowing that there was something wrong going on here. Earlier today I had sent out a letter to Princess Celestia about the Flim Flam brothers and the crimes they have commited against all the ponies of Equestria. I explained that we needed document to arrest them for their past crimes. While we were at the well, I had felt a massive sneeze coming on. I wasn't thinking like I should've. I put my head into the well to sneeze so that the flames didn't brown the nearby townsfolk to a crisp. As I blew the blue flame from my muzzle, the warrant of arrest flew down the well and I heard the wax seal hit the bottom. There was no splash, which was strange and relieving at the same time. The other two looked at me in shock. Tiki couldn't help but start laughing his flank off while Bronze Hammer sat there in shock with me, realizing what I had just done. Silver Dust wasn't around to levitate the warrant from the hole and the warrant to arrest the two criminals had been lost down a well. We've come to an impasse that would be very time consuming to work around, so I kept Silver Dust focused on the two ponies until they settled down somewhere for the night. While Silver tracked the unicorn brothers down, I had gotten everypony dinner after we investigated the town a bit more and bought a room in a small motel at the center of the city. During the day we also cleared Tiki for a flying license with the medals of honor we received for our duties out in the goblin war. Everypony on the force, whether it be police or royal guard, recognized the design of the medal and the engravings on the back. It was a high class achievement that not very many ponies had achieved and were still around today to show it off. Tiki had dropped Silver Dust some dinner while he was on watch duty over the two unicorns. After about another hour of watch, the brothers went into their fancy apartment on the top floor of a fancy housing block. The four of us went to bed that night and decided to get the warrant out of the well just before the sun rose over the horizon. "You seriously dropped the warrant down the well?" Silver laughed. "I didn't drop anything. I had to sneeze and I didn't want any casualties from one outburst. The letter was just the cause of my sneezing and was shot down the well." I said, annoyed at my mistake. "That's literally the funniest thing that's happened since the fight with Blaze back in Appleloosa!" Tiki said, rolling around on his bed laughing. "You just remember who you're sleepin' with, mister giggles!" Bronze said, eyeing myself laying in the bed closest to the window. "Why can't there be an option for four beds to a room?" I asked pointlessly. "Not sure, but it would be a mighty smart idea." Bronze replied. "Alright, let's just get to bed and worry about it tomorrow morning." Silver Dust said. Everypony laid down in their bed and soon fell asleep. I had been facing the window looking out over the center of town, where the warrant was at the bottom of the well. The moon was shining bright in my face, so I used my collar to keep the moon from shining through. At the corner of my vision where the collar cut off, I saw something strange near the well. There was a glowing flare of toxic purple floating from the well. It looked as if plumes of purple heat and smoke were arising from the bottom of the well. The clouds drifted through the city, creating an ominous mist in the streets and seeping through the windows of the houses along the sides. As the mist started to approach our room, I called out to the other three. "Everypony! Front and center!" I yelled in a panic. "What the buck is going on?!" Tiki asked frantically, falling out of bed. "We've got a problem coming our way fast! Look out the window!" I said, pointing to the mist coming from the well. "It doesn't look safe, everypony stay within the barrier!" The amulet echoed from Silver Dust's hood. "Alright, but we have to get down in that well. I think the source of power is down there!" I yelled over the humming noise now coming from the well. All four of us rushed down the stairs of the second floor running out the building to stop whatever was happening. Other ponies soon arose and entered the streets as well, but they weren't in the right mind. They were completely grey in the night with no color or definition in their eyes. The citizens wandered the streets aimlessly like zombies. As we pushed through the crowd, we reached the center, which was completely empty of citizens. As we approached the well, goblins started to poor out of the hole in the ground. We each took a position as we started to slash the dark clones to the ground. The mist that had been exiting the well had ceased and we were free from the bubble shield that was keeping us from performing at full potential. As we spread out through the crowd we opened up and started eliminating the mass by the groups. Bronze Hammer brought his hammer across the crowd with a sweeping strike, disabling ten goblins at a time with each strike. Silver dust had been popping missiles into the groups and lashing out his blade at anything that got too close, with the amulet pushing back the group with a pulse of magic every so often. Tiki was floating through the air, dragging his swords along the heads and necks of the crowds of green soldiers walking the grounds. Trails of bodies fell in his path as he continued to eliminate the warriors. I had my broadsword out, slashing the green enemies into halves and pieces with speedy swipes of my sword. Bodies were starting to pile up along the streets and blood flowed down the gutters as if it were storming red water. The swarm had stopped crawling from the well as the last goblin jumped from the hole, a deep purple glowing crystal in his hand. He held the power and ran through the crowd, trying to escape our fury. He also held the warrant of the Flim Flam brothers. Running down the street, the little goblin waved the crystal to our direction, sending the zombified ponies to our direction. "Tiki! Go for the crystal!" I said, pointing to the fleeing goblin with my sword. "I'm on it!" Tiki said, firing an arrow for the goblin's knee. "Everypony be careful of where you attack! Citizens are in the field now and we can't have any casualties!" I warned. The arrow flew through the air at an amazing speed, striking the goblin right at the knee, but the crystal's power was guarding it's carrier and allowed for him to escape. I dropped a fire bomb in the middle of the goblin group, eliminating the most of them without scorching the ponies on the outer edge of the group. We all pushed our way through the crowd of bodies and ponies as we hoofed it toward the fleeing goblin. It was a dramatic chase through the streets of the town, running through different alleyways and dodging miscellaneous zombified ponies. In the end we all went in a big loop until we reached the complex of the Flim Flam brothers. The goblin dashed around the corner as we followed, being met by a large contraption built more for speed than for fighting. The two brothers were in the front ready to drive off in haste at the sight if the four of us. The goblin hopped onto the back and the unicorns charged up the machine. Within a moments notice, the vehicle was moving down the street and heading out of the town. We continued our chase, hoofing it double time to keep up with the targets. At the edge of the city, the vehicle took a turn down a dirt road heading for the Everfree forest. Tiki shot one more well placed arrow into the gears of the vehicle, causing them to grind and stop momentarily. The contraption halted and kicked up, flinging the small goblin off the back and onto the ground. I had charged up to the crystal in the goblin's hand. Bringing the sword down upon the evil source of power, the two energies collided and sparks of power jumped in all directions. As I continued pressing on the gem, the goblin's hand started to melt, as his skin started to char and smolder. Through the sounds of screaming and the feelings of death and pain being projected by the crystal, I though about Ponyville and everypony living there. I thought about Twilight Sparkle and the other 5 ponies. The thought of each pony's face gave my sword and I power. The dragon engravings lit up through my sword and my robe, along with everypony else's robes. The crystal started to spark and crack, until I raised my sword and brought it down once more, slicing clean through the gem and into the ground. Colors exploded everywhere and jumped through the air as the hundreds of goblin bodies disintegrated into nothing. The moon had started to glow brightly down on the city as the colors jumped to their original spots, returning joy and happiness to the gloomy city we had walked into earlier that day. The sounds of confused voices flooded through the streets, followed by screams of terror. We ran into the city once more to be greeted by a large machine, headlights shining in our faces. One of the death machines used in the war had appeared from one of the garages of the complex that the Flim Flam brothers stayed in. It's design had changed since our last encounter, becoming much larger and invulnerable to outside attacks. The only way to destroy such a contraption would be through the inside. We had nowhere else to run, it was a small one way street. The machine started charging down the street, blades spinning into a pit of metal through the inside of the processing machine. Citizens started to run the other way as the four of us stood in the presence of such a monstrosity. "What do we do?!" Tiki said frantically. "Well, you can fly! We can run!" Silver said, still hesitating to turn in the other direction. "I've got the strangest idea." I said with a smile. I whipped off my robe and chucked it into the center of the machine. The cloth of the robes was soon torn to shreds as the blades began to process the fabric. The regenerative power of the robes started to kick in as the fabric bound itself through the blades, trying to retake its original shape. After a fe moments of this, the fabric began to thicken around the blades as the machine started to clog and the gears started to grind. The machine then came to a stop, smoking and shaking as it broke down into pieces from the fabric. When it finally stopped moving, I went up and removed the tattered robes from the core of the processing area. The cloth turned into a near liquid form as it loosened from the blades. My robe then whipped back into its original form and texture as I fastened it to my body again. "Alright... Everything is taken care of, lets just go to bed." Silver Dust said, exhausted like the rest of us. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The next morning came quickly after last nights events had calmed down. I gave everypony some time to sleep in, along with myself. When we awoke and went down to the streets, we were greeted by a flood of gracious ponies. They were all thanking us for our job well done and talked about a dark dream they were trapped in. The mayor of Baltimare came down to personally thank us for our duties and supplied us with more food and such for our next journey. A ceremony was held in the square as we were yet again flooded by thanks from the citizens of the incident last night. The colors around us had been returned to normal and Baltimare looked like a whole new city. Princess Celestia had arrived to congratulate us about an hour after the ceremony started. I informed her about the escape of the Flim Flam brothers. We were excused from this when she learned of the swarm of goblins that had emerged at the time. When she returned to Canterlot, a full scale search for the two wanted ponies was released. Every town received warning and wanted posters with a bounty for their captures. We spent about another week or so. The mayor had asked us to stay for a while, courtesy of the city itself. We decided to stay to make sure nothing bad stuck around. After dealing with a few incidents over the week, we were ready to head out for our next destination and clear out more foes who threaten the safety of the creatures of Equestria.