Jack was walking his new friend Fluttershy over to her cottage. What made the situation somewhat more tense is that they were both too shy to talk to each other. 'Come on, say something' he thought to himself. "I had a nice time, Fluttershy" he said in a somewhat nervous tone.
"Oh, I did too" Fluttershy replied.
"I'm glad you did." 'That's right Jack, keep it up.'
"So Jack, how do you like Ponyville so far?"
"The welcome party was great. The ponies were nice, and I felt like I was home." Eventually the two stopped by Fluttershy's house. Jack turned his head and shuddered a little.
"What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked him.
"You live near the Everfree Forest?"
"Oh, you know about the place?" She asked.
"Read about it. I don't think that's a safe place" he said.
"Don't worry Jack, I can take care of myself" she said.
"Are you sure? Because..." He glanced back at the forest entrance and shivered.
"Do you want to come inside?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yes... Yes I would" he said. 'God I'm scared of this place already.'
Inside the Everfree Forest
"Sir, no sign of the rings" a soldier said.
"No shit, Sherlock" Sir Prize said. "Alright boys, pack it up, we're leaving this fucking place. Already wasted ammo on two worthless creatures." Sir Prize and his squad began to make their way out of the forest until one soldier stopped.
"Wait" he said, sir Prize and the group turned around.
"What?" He asked.
"Maybe we overlooked something. Did we try digging?" He asked. Sir Prize approached the soldier and glared at him.
"We searched for a fucking long time. That Horseman lied to us! When I find him, I'm going to kill him!"
"Yes, I'm sure you will, but I just want to say--" Sir Prize yanked the soldier's assault rifle out of his hands, dropped it on the ground, drew a silenced handgun, cocked it, and shot the soldier point blank in the head.
"Fucking idiot" he spat as he stared at the dead body. He turned to his shocked soldiers. "Keep your silencers on. Once we get out of this hellhole, we're storming through Ponyville."
"But sir, there's only 10 of us" a soldier said. Sir Prize pointed his gun at him.
"Wait, wait, wait! I'm just saying that what if the Horsemen are here?"
"Don't be stupid" he said. "The Horsemen are in Canterlot."
"Don't be so sure" a voice said. Sir Prize and the other soldiers turned their heads and saw a stallion approaching them. The stallion had a black coat, mane and tail but the latter and his mane had white streaks on them. He had amber colored eyes, and his cutie mark is a white king chess piece.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Sir Prize asked, still keeping his gun up.
"The name's Checkmate" the stallion said. "Anyone you want captured, I'm the one you should hire."
"Guess what, horse, I'm the leader and you follow me." Checkmate laughed and shook his head.
"I'm afraid that won't happen because you see... I heard you know Princess Celestia." Sir Prize widened his eyes.
"What?" He asked, lowering his gun.
"That's right. The news of you, a human arriving to Equestria spread quickly. I got the most info of it."
"How do you know her?" Sir Prize asked, interested.
"It's simple. I was once her royal guard. But after a plot to overthrow her from her throne, I was exiled to the Everfree Forest. Very calm place. Gives a villain like myself lots of time to think."
"Go on" a soldier said. Sir Prize turned to him and shot him in the head.
"Go on" Sir Prize said, switching the safety of his gun on.
"I did my time of thinking and I came to a conclusion. I'm ready to overthrow Princess Celestia from her throne and take over Equestria."
"Wait a minute Checkmate, taking over Equestria is my destiny."
"I know, I know" Checkmate said calmly. "My plan is to get you and your team up to Canterlot and watch as you succeed."
"You sound like you're certain that we'll fail."
"Yes, you will fail. Because the Four Horsemen will stop you."
"Then we'll get rid of them together" Sir Prize said.
"I capture. I don't kill" Checkmate said as he turned around.
"I need your help to at least capture one" Sir Prize said.
"Deal but on one condition."
"Name it."
"We share one target together" he said as he faced him once more.
"Who?" He asked. Checkmate looked at him as if he was stupid and wasn't paying attention during their conversation.
"The one who lives in Canterlot? The one who I've been guarding almost all my life? The one you truly hate to the point you want to kill? Ring any bells?"
"Yes" Sir Prize said in a realizing tone.
"Bingo" Checkmate said with a smile. "I love it when an idiot gets his thoughts straight."
Fluttershy's Cottage
Jack and Fluttershy were in the cottage drinking tea. "Wow Fluttershy, you make the best tea" he commented. 'Come on Jack, you just met her. Don't go diving into a relationship yet.'
"Thank you Jack" Fluttershy said as she sipped her tea. She placed her cup down and stood up.
'Oh God what is she going to do?' Jack thought to himself.
"I'll be right back" she said as went up to her room. Jack leaned against his chair and sighed.
'That was a close one. I thought she was going to' a shadowy figure walked past the window. "What the hell?" He asked. He got up from the chair and approached the door. "Who's there?" He asked as he opened the door. He stepped out and looked around. A soldier crept up behind him with a choloformed rag. Unfortunately for the soldier, his footsteps were audible. Jack turned around and tackled the soldier to the ground and began to punch him. While the two scuffled Jack grabbed the rag and thrust it into the soldier's face. While the opponent tried to fight off the rag, Jack reached for the silenced handgun. Timing it perfectly, he let go of the rag, cocked the handgun, and shot the the soldier. He got up and reentered the cottage. Noises upstairs caught his attention. "Fluttershy?" He asked as he approached the stairs. Stepping quietly into the kitchen, armed with silenced assault rifles were a few soldiers. Jack saw their shadows and ducked under the staircase and switched on the safety.
"Search the area" one of the soldiers said. Jack watched as the soldiers searched the living room. He slowly crawled out from under the staircase and entered the kitchen. One soldier turned around and aimed his gun. He approached the kitchen and readied to fire. Jack was leaning against the wall holding a kitchen knife. When the soldier stepped into the kitchen, Jack ambushed him. He jumped out in front of him and slit his throat with the knife. The soldier's gurgled cry caught the attention of the others. Jack dropped the knife and quickly grabbed the assault rifle.
"Get him!" One of the soldiers shouted.
"Don't shoot!" Checkmate shouted as descended from the stairs followed by Sir Prize. "Mr. Wild Card" he said. "Step out of your hiding spot so we could negotiate."
"How do you know me?" He asked as he held the gun close to him.
"I have a way of understanding my opponents" Checkmate said.
"I'm not telling you where the others are" he said.
"That son of a--" before Sir Prize could charge at him, Checkmate stepped in front of him. "Let me go! I wanna kill the bastard."
"Please with that gun? If I recall correctly, you used 5 to kill a manticore, another 5 to kill a sea serpent and two to kill two of your soldiers in the forest."
"So?" Sir Prize asked.
"I'm just curious why you're running around with an empty gun." Sir Prize raised his gun and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. He dug around his pockets and was shocked to find that he ran out of mags. Checkmate smirked.
"Where's Fluttershy?" Jack asked.
"She's up in her room. Don't worry, she's safe. It's you who's in a troubling situation" Checkmate answered.
"What do you want?"
"I want to make a deal with you."
"I'm not making a deal with a bastard like you. I'm not betraying my Horsemen brethren."
"Don't worry Mr. Wild Card, you're not going to betray anybody."
"What the fuck are you doing?" Sir Prize asked. Checkmate ignored him.
"Here's the plan Mr. Wild Card. In two nights, I'm going up to Canterlot with Sir Prize and a team of elite soldiers to raid Canterlot. I have also came up with a catch. If I see you or any of your comrades wear the rings. That's right, if I see any of you wear the rings and wear the armor, I will execute Princess Celestia with no hesitation. Go to Canterlot as normal human beings. Oh and one other thing..." He turned to a soldier and gestured him to fire one shot. The soldier raised his gun up and fired. The group heard a grunt of pain. "When hiding from an enemy who plans to make a deal with you, don't lean against the opposite side of the wall. It's too cliche." The group turned around and left the cottage, leaving Jack bleeding on the kitchen floor.
"Fluttershy..." He moaned in pain.