//------------------------------// // Episode 2: Down the Drain // Story: TCB: Yellowstone: The Series // by Anonsi //------------------------------// Yellowstone: The Series By: Anonsi(Bringing you more errors than ever before) Episode: 2 Down the Drain ____________________________________________________________________________ For ages, Equestria has existed separate from the rest of the world, protected by a magical barrier that prevented it from being seen, touched, or reached by humans and their machines. But five years ago, the ponies of Equestria landed on the shores of human lands claiming to be there to save the earth and humanity from pollution, hate, and greed. To do this, the top human scientists and pony magicians created a potion to turn humans into ponies in places called, Conversion Bureaus. Within two years of its release, more than half the total human populace on Earth has converted. The balance of the world has been forever altered, as the remaining human nations form new governments for those humans that remain. Twilight Sparkle and her companions have just now returned from doing battle with the Headless Horseman. With the help of the human task force under the command of Agent Hawk, the grisly phantom was able to be destroyed. But not all ponies escaped unscarred, as Pinkie Pie witnessed the deaths of many innocent ponies and humans at the hands of the Horseman, and even now grapples with the awful images trapped in her mind... Having returned to her Conversion Bureau, Twilight was met by not only Princess Celestia herself, but also the human president: Joseph McCullough. Both rulers bore information of the group’s future purpose. After moving to one of the many lounges in the Bureau, the ponies and humans prepare for whatever news the two powerful leaders have to offer… ____________________________________________________________________________ As excited as Twilight was to finally be back in a place not infested with ghostly murderers, as well as to be in the presence of her monarch and mentor, she wanted nothing more than to find a bed and collapse into it. The rather comfy couch on which she, and her five friends, now sat was already lulling the young mare into a sleepy haze. From what she could see with her blurred vision, Hawk and the other humans were all sitting on the couch opposite her friends, with Celestia and the human leader standing between both parties. Twilight noted everyone looked a bit worse for wear. As far as her friends were concerned, Rarity had tree sap all over her rump, Pinkie looked deflated, Applejack was still pulling twigs out of her mane with help from Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy was just looking tired. But thankfully no pony was hurt. At least no pony she knew. Celestia’s melodious voice wasn’t helping Twilight stay awake either. “As you know my dear little ponies,” came her mentor’s soothing and motherly voice, “the human world is a harsh and dangerous place for us Equestrians.” ‘But not for humans,’ Twilight thought, absent mindedly looking at Agent Hawk. ‘They were doing fine before we got here.’ “But now, things have escalated. Magic has leaked out from our homeland and has given birth to abominations against life itself.” Twilight rested her head on the arm rest of the couch, still drearily looking at the human in the long brown leather coat and wide brim hat. ‘Well, except for the whole greed and economic depression and pollution thing. But they certainly weren’t in danger from animals, or ghosts.’ “As such, you all will be helping President Joseph’s team to fend off any threat to the ponies and humans that inhabit these lands until the magical energies that run rampant throughout the world subside.” ‘After all, just look at those hands! They’re like, the best tool in the world!’ Twilight raised her front hooves to her face, ‘Hands certainly would make picking things up easier, especially if I didn’t have my magic.’ “What this means Miss Applejack, is that the human agents will be staying here with you at the Bureau, in an effort to breed trust and a feeling of camaraderie. As of now, you are all in the Elite Equestrian Guard.” Twilight’s half awake gaze once again fell on Hawk, who seemed to be looking at her now, ‘What would a pony with hands even look like? Maybe there’s a spell I could use to…’ “Twilight?” Twilight closed her eyes and tried to imagine what a pony would look like with hands. It was silly enough to elicit a giggle, ‘That looks ridiculous, I might as well just make a spell to turn me human. Oh Celestia, what would I look like as a human?’ Rarity nudged Twilight in the ribs and whispered into her ear, “Twilight! The Princess is talking to you!” Pain from her ribs snapping her back to reality, Twilight sat straight up. “W-w-Yes Princess! I’m here, and awake, and I’ve been listening!” She gave a wide smile, hoping that it would hide how red her face had turned. Celestia just smiled and continued, “I’m sure you were Twilight, and I know you must be exhausted from last night’s mission, but I’m going to need you to show the human agents to their rooms after the President’s briefing.” Twilight cocked an eyebrow, “Wait…huh?” The sound of Celestia’s words echoed in her mind, “OH right! Humans. Living with us now. Right, got it.” Twilight’s mind focused on a single fact of that statement, ‘Wait…’ Celestia let out a quiet and dainty laugh that sounded as divine as the goddess looked, “Indeed my faithful student. Now if you would all give your attention to President Joseph…” She unfurled a wing and pointed it at the aged man. “Thank you Princess,” he said stepping forward, “Time for the bad news.” The ponies gulped in unison while the human agents leaned forward, listening intently. “For the past week, dogs, cats, and other forms of city fauna have been disappearing in Greenwich Village at an alarming rate.” Fluttershy put her hooves to her mouth and gasped, “Those poor animals! Don’t they have owners, or somepony to look after them?” The President gave her a flat look, “Some of them did, but most were just strays. At first, city officials believed they were just moving to other parts of the city or, getting stuck in a pipe somewhere…” “What are we doing here then?!” cried Fluttershy, “We have to find those poor, innocent little animals and give them a home! Poor little things are probably shivering alone in some dirty and dark hole and crying out for somepony to help them!” The President’s face contorted into an expression of guilt. He obviously did not want to tell the sensitive pegasus the next part, but duty dictated he did, “Recent information says otherwise miss.” The President took a zip-lock bag out of his pocket and held it up for everyone to see. Inside of it was a dog collar, and even Twilight’s groggy vision could see it was caked with dried blood. Twilight’s friends, especially Fluttershy, all put their hooves over their mouths and looked away. “From what we can tell,” the president said as he replaced the bag into his pocket, “all of the missing animals were hunted down and eaten by a foreign predator, and last night we were fortunate enough to get an eye witness with a camera.” The President removed a medium sized orange folder from within his suit jacket and threw it onto the coffee table that sat between the two couches. As it landed, a single photo slid out of it. The creature in the photo was in the process of diving into a manhole, and all that could be seen was two powerful looking legs and a crocodilian tail. Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side, “It certainly looks nasty.” Hawk picked up the photo and examined it closely. “That it does. It’ll look even worse when I put a pound of lead into it.” Megan put a hand on Hawk’s shoulder and pointed to the red spot on the man’s arm, “You’re not going anywhere near a sewer with a bite wound like that.” Hawk gave a plaintive look at the woman, “But…” “No buts,” said Megan, “Doctor’s orders. Dimitri and Zorro can take care of this.” “Actually,” said Zorro giving a slight cough, “I might have a tiny little cold.” Megan rolled her eyes, “Ugh, fine. I’ll go with Dimitri and Fluttershy can bandage up Hawk. Applejack, you want to go on an adventure into the Manhattan sewer system with me?” The orange earth pony removed her hat and scratched her chin, “Well, weighing the prospects of such a venture, Ah’d have to say...” A devious smile crossed her face as she replaced her hat, “Darn tootin’! I’m not gonna let some varmint get away with munchin’ on somepony’s pet dog!” Dash jumped onto the coffee table with wings fully extended, “Hay yeah! Count me in too! No way am I not going on an adventure!” “Замечатель! This vill be like game of Dungeon and Dragon!” Dimitri received an odd look from everyone in the room. President Joseph patted the young man on the back while laughing to himself, “Well then Dimitri, you and the others best get rolling.” *** An hour later, Megan Dimitri, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were all standing around an open manhole with an old van Megan had commandeered from the parking lot that was full of supplies. Thankfully, the ponies didn’t question where Megan had found it or why she had to hot-wire the vehicle to make it start. Though Megan was more thankful that the ponies didn’t ask her about the ‘Free Candy’ sign they found in the back. With a brisk huff, Megan walked over to the van and opened the back, “Come on Dimitri, let’s unload the stuff.” “Vhy is it alvays me?” asked the young man to no one in particular. “Because ponies don’t have hands!” Megan called back. “Now stop crying and earn your keep.” Dimitri could only reply with a heavy sigh and moved to help unpack the several boxes they had packed before leaving the Bureau. “Hey AJ…” whispered Dash as she stretched out her legs. Applejack began swinging her lasso in long practice loops with her mouth, causing her reply to be somewhat muffled, “Yeah Dashie?” “You think Twilight and that human in the coat have a thing for each other?” Applejack very nearly swallowed her rope. “W-Where in tarnation did you get a strange idea like that?!” Dash leaned over to her friend, “Were you not in that briefing? Twilight was totally giving him bedroom eyes the entire time!” “And what, if’n you don’t mind me askin’, are ‘bedroom eyes’?” Dash rolled her eyes, “Ugh, it’s the look one pony gives to another when they want to…you know…do it.” Applejack furrowed her brow, “Oh. And you think Twilight wants ta…An Hawk wants to…Twilight…” The earth pony’s mind swam with implications. The two did spend all last night in that graveyard together. “Ya know, now that ya mention it, I do recall Twilight not peeling her eyes away from ‘im.” Megan dropped a large box down in between the two ponies, causing them to jump in fright. “What’re ya’ll talking about?” she asked with a smile, “Certain stallions you two might have an eye on perhaps?” Applejack and Dash’s faces grew an intense shade of red. Dimitri walked into the group and knelt over the box, sighing under his breath, “Может быть они говорили о том, насколько они хотят иметь секс друг с другом?” Megan gave him a dirty look and a punch in the shoulder, “For that you get to go in first.” Dimitri rubbed the spot where she hit him and gave a sorry look. “What did he say?” asked Applejack, now more confused than embarrassed. “Nothing worth repeating,” replied Megan. “So anyvay…” Dimitri interjected as he dug through the box’s contents with his good arm, “Vhat ve have for today’s adventure is: instant torches, flare gun vith ten shots, three fifty-thousand wolt tasers, vith safeties off,” He turned to the ponies as if answering an unasked question, “So prolonged exposure might just melt your skin off. Next ve have tomahawks and throwing hatchets,” he suddenly reeled back a bit, “and a two pound block of C4?” Megan cocked an eyebrow, “C4? Who put C4 in my box?!” “What in tarnation’s see four?” asked Applejack leaning her head in close enough to sniff the strange block of putty. “Big explosive, wery dangerous, wery loud,” replied Dimitri turning the brick shaped object over in his hands. There was a small pink square of paper on the bottom of the brick, and on it was a message. “Oh look! A sticky note!” Dimitri plucked it off, his face brightening as he read, “Just in case. Love Hawk.” “Awww, well ain’t that sweet!” said Applejack forcing a smile, making sure to give an ‘oh-my-goodness-you-might-be-right’ glance at Dash. Dash returned it with an ‘I-told-you-so’ grin. Megan placed her hand over her face and sighed, “I am going to kill that man.” *** An instant torch dropped down through the manhole and hit the cold stone with a clack. Seconds later, a young man with a large axe on his back climbed down the ladder that led to the street, touching down in the old stonework. Dimitri picked up the torch and held it above his head, illuminating thirty or so feet of darkness. The sewer tunnel had a roof made of old brick, and was wide enough to be a road. Old pipes criss-crossed on the ceiling, and occasionally thrummed with activity. After surveying the immediate area, he called up to those above him, “Clear!” Megan climbed down next, two tomahawks looped around her belt, and a flare gun holstered at her hip. As she touched down next to the young man, she wiped her hands off on her blue jeans and took in a few breaths of air. “Well, it doesn’t smell bad,” she said at length, “Weird.” “Megan?” called Applejack from the street, “Ah-Ah’m ready ta’ come down! You ready to catch me?” Megan looked up at the pony head that hovered above the manhole, “I sure am sugar-cube!” The woman stretched out her arms, preparing to catch the small equine. Applejack backed away from the hole to get some distance, “Okay! Here Ah go!” She ran towards the opened and jumped into the air, curling into a canon-ball dive, “YEE-HAW!” Falling straight through the manhole and into Megan’s awaiting arms, she gave out a dainty “Oomf!” Feeling the arms of her human friend support her form, the orange pony opened her eyes to see Megan’s smiling face. “You’re lighter than you look,” said the woman. “Hey, Ah can be dainty if Ah want ta’ be,” Applejack replied as Megan placed her on solid ground, “Jus’ don’t on account of it not bein’ all that practical.” “Yeah, that’s what I like about you AJ,” called Rainbow Dash as she jumped down from the opening, flaring out her wings and gliding smoothly to the ground. “You aren’t afraid to have fun and get dirty, unlike Rarity.” “Vhy vould she vant to pass up a glorious opportunity like this?” Dimitri asked in earnest. “It is not every day one gets to go into dungeon and hunt lizard man. Ад, I vould do this even if I vasn’t part of the Agency.” Applejack rolled her eyes in wide arcs, “Ah don’t think Rarity would care much fer the decorations, or the murderous lizard creature that might be stalkin’ ‘round down here.” “Speaking of ol’ scaly,” said Dash looking down both directions of the sewer, seeing only darkness. “Where do we start looking for him anyway?” “Downstream,” said Megan, “Any animals that had drowned during a storm would flow that way, making for an easy meal, and I got a feeling this thing wouldn’t mind getting wet.” Wincing at the cold analysis, Applejack asked the next question, “An’ which way is downstream? It all looks a might flat down here to me.” Glancing around the gloomy tunnel the orange pony added, “Then again, Ah can’t see much of anything down here.” "I can answer this one!” exclaimed Dimitri, removing a bottle of water from his army surplus cargo pants. He bent over and began pouring it out slowly onto the ground making sure it didn’t splash. Sure enough, as the puddle grew a small tendril of water began to trail off down into the darkness. With a swarthy looking smile, Dimitri tossed an instant torch over to Megan. Immediately after catching the long brown stick, she cracked the top off of it, causing the tip to burst into a bright white light. “You lead Mr. Scientist,” said Megan patting the young man on the back, “I’ll bring up the rear. AJ, you and Dash keep an eye out for side passages that look like something might be using them.” As they fell into the marching order Dash asked, “What kind of signs of life does a lizard monster give?” “Oh you known, average stuff,” replied Megan, “Claw marks on the walls and bricks, loose scales on the ground, maybe a footprint in some dirt…” “Bones,” added Dimitri. Megan nodded in agreement, “Definitely bones.” Dash and Applejack exchanged glances, and together they both gulped. *** Meanwhile, at the Bureau, an exhausted Twilight had long since been carried to her bed by her concerned mentor Princess Celestia, who had to depart with President Joseph shortly after. They had to leave in order to prepare a statement to the general populace, they had to tell the people what the bridging of the two worlds had wrought. After the goodbyes, everyone had gone off to do what they thought needed to be done. Fluttershy patched up Hawk’s bite wound from the ghastly business of the previous night, and after that the yellow pegasus had gone out to her little animal sanctuary and tended her flock. Rarity went to go take a bath with a trashy novella called, “The Stallion from the South,” and had not been seen since. As for the human Hawk, he and his friend Zorro were busy picking out their rooms and converting one of the lounges into a briefing room/communications headquarters. Zorro had conveniently ceased coughing around the time he selected his room, which occurred before any of the other humans had a chance to pick rooms of their own. Pinkie on the other hand, sat alone in the cafeteria. It was just past lunchtime, so all the humans and ponified people had left to go back to their rooms while giving a wide berth to the human agents. Pinkie sighed and closed her eyes, and was instantly bombarded with images of a Headless Horseman, laughing maniacally as he decapitated pony after pony, their dead eyes always looking at Pinkie no matter how they landed. Shaking her head clear of the images, the pink mare concluded that she would never sleep again. Not if such horrible things were now stuck in her mind. A little voice in her head spoke up, ‘They are gone, and they are never coming back. Their families are going to be so sad to know that you survived instead of their brother, or sister, or son, or daughter...’ She shook her head more hoping to quiet the voice, but it persisted. ‘How are you going to live with yourself knowing that if you had warned them sooner, they might still be alive?’ A cup of tea slid into Pinkie’s vision from across the table. “You look terrible,” came a cold, but undeniably feminine voice. Looking up, Pinkie saw Captain Barnes with a cup of her own. “OH! Hey there Ms. Barnes…wh-w-what are you doing here?” “Captain,” replied Barnes in a flat tone, her eyes unreadable behind her shaded sunglasses. “Huh?” “My rank is captain,” she took a sip of her tea, “and unless my intel was wrong, you are Pinkamena Diane Pie, the element of laughter and joy.” Pinkie lowered her head, “Yeah…that’s me, but I just go by Pinkie usually Mis…I mean, Captain Barnes.” Pinkie started running her hooves through her straight hair, hoping that the human would soon leave. Barnes leaned forward, “You do not look very happy for the embodiment of joy.” Pinkie debated whether talking to Barnes was a good idea. In the brief amount of time she had known the woman, Barnes had not once smiled or given any indication of feeling anything. Pinkie watched the swirls of steam rise from her tea cup and decided to go for it. “I keep having nightmares about last night, or maybe I should call them daymares…I don’t know. It’s just that...last night something bad happened to a lot of innocent people for no reason, and I couldn’t help them and now I have to live with the images of people dying and screaming and…” Tears started rolling down Pinkie’s face as the images of dead bodies and screaming heads filled her vision. Barnes took another sip of her tea, “That’s the world for you, and you had best learn to cope with it. Last night was just another incident in the long history of bad things happening to good people.” The prospect of having to watch more innocent people die did not set well with Pinkie Pie at all, and she knew that this would never have happened in Equestria. ‘But you’re not in Equestria anymore Pinkie, you are in Human Lands. Here, pointless death and sorrow is the norm. Here, the world hates you". The pink mare looked into the dark shading of Barnes’ sunglasses, “How do you cope with it? I mean…I can’t…” Barnes placed her tea cup down in front of her, her voice changing from her normally steely tone to one that had equal parts concern and tenderness, “You find a friend and you talk about it. Usually over a cup of tea.”. Pinkie was taken aback from the sudden change in the human’s voice, and looked down at the hot cup of tea in front of her. Its swirling strands of steam looked like they were dancing, as if they were trying to cheer up the pink pony. “Now Pinkie,” Barnes pushed Pinkie Pie’s tea cup closer to the mare and asked in her new soft voice, “do you have anything you want to talk about with me?” For the first time since last night Pinkie Pie felt a smile cross her face. Making new friends always cheered Pinkie up. *** “What is that?” asked Dash in regards to a large gap in the smooth stone work of the wall. Dimitri raised his torch in an effort to shine more light into the breach they had discovered, “I think…it is vhat is called a ‘hole in the vall’.” He looked at the rainbow pegasus and shrugged, “But that is just my opinion.” “Tha’ real question is what’s on the other side of it?” added Applejack as she walked up to it. “Dash,” began Megan, “can you feel if air is going in or out of the hole?” “Sure thing,” she replied flaring out her wings and her feathers began wobbling as air brushed past them. “There is definitely a breeze coming out of here,” she paused, “A warm breeze.” “That sounds like our lair!” Dimitri exclaimed. He threw his instant torch into the hole, illuminating the descending tunnel, and readied his large axe. “Lead on General Harth,” said Megan sarcastically. Applejack cocked an eyebrow, “Who?” “Old var hero,” replied Dimitri walking into the hole, followed by Applejack and then Dash. Megan took out a tomahawk and flipped it in her hands a couple times, “Didn’t he punch the first pony he met?” She gave a quick glance around before entering the tunnel after the ponies. Dash exchanged a surprised look with Applejack and hesitantly asked, “Why would he do that?” Dimitri responded in a light hearted way, “From vhat I hear, he did not agree vith concept of pegasus. Something about pony vith vings bothered him, and he did not like it vhen pony flew into his face to say hello. So he punch it in face.” “Sounds like a real …” Applejack paused to search for the right word. Dash jumped on the opportunity, “Ass.” The two humans stopped in their tracks and looked at Rainbow Dash in profound surprise, causing the pegasus some discomfort. At length, Megan and Dimitri looked at each other and nodded in agreement. “Sounds right to me,” they said in tandem, after which they both erupted into laughter and continued down the passageway. After some time of traveling down the tunnel, they group came upon an opening into a large dark cavern. There was the sound of running water, and a warm breeze blew through the darkness, and it carried with it the smell of rot and death. “Okay, now it smells bad,” quipped Megan as she drew the flare gun from her hip. Pointing it to the ceiling, or what she thought was the ceiling, she fired off her first flare. The flare spread light all throughout the cavern, which in fact turned out to be a half-flooded train terminal. The structure itself resembled an old, weathered, and decrepit version of Grand Central Station. It was large and seemed to be made out of big stone blocks and bricks held together by subterranean molds and moss. The building appeared to have merged with the cavern wall, and as such was suspended above an underground lake, with only an ancient staircase to bridge the entrance of the cavern to the station. The party all gasped in amazement as they took in the sheer enormity of the expanse. As the first flare began to dim, Applejack thought she saw something duck into the water at the last second. “Megan! Fire up another one of them flares quick!” Megan eagerly complied, loading and firing another bright red flare up towards the ceiling of the cavern. Once again the worn architecture was revealed in all of its forgotten splendor. “Did you see something sugar cube?” asked Megan, her eyes scanning the surface of the waters. There was nothing, not even a ripple. “Ah thought ah did.” “Let us get into the structure,” suggested Dimitri, “I feel somevhat exposed out here.” “Tell me about it,” said Dash as the flare began to dim again. Darkness fell around them, leaving only the illumination of Megan’s instant torch as their light source. As Megan was loading another flare, the sound of something emerging from water came from somewhere in the gloom, followed by a low hiss and heavy, squishy sounding footfalls. “Tell me again why you guys didn’t bring your guns,” Dash asked while her herd instincts kicked in, moving her closer to Applejack. The squishy footsteps were getting louder, and so was the hissing. Dimitri hefted his axe and faced the approaching sound, “If I fired mine underground, there vould be a good chance of us all going deaf.” “Mine’s a sniper rifle, not good for close quarters,” added Megan pointing the flare gun at the roof, “And no way am I bringing my daddy’s Winchester into a goddamn sewer.” She fired off the flare and dropped the launcher, pulling a tomahawk from her belt. On the staircase in front of them, rather unfazed by the flare’s red light, stood a scaled creature that reminded Applejack and Dash of Spike, except taller and far less cute. It was supported by two powerful legs, trailing behind it was a long tail that swept back and forth across the ground silently. At the ends of its muscled arms was a pair of very sharp looking claws, which opened and closed with each step the creature took. Its eyes gleamed with the cold stare only a reptile could give, and at the end of its short snout was a toothy maw which emitted the hissing noise that could curdle milk. After recovering from the shock of seeing a Lizard Man, Megan threw a tomahawk at it, striking it squarely in its chest. Unfortunately, this only seemed to anger it. Dimitri charged it, coming at it with a downward swing and imbedding his axe in the creature's chest. Unfortunately the Lizard Man was faster than it looked and backhanded the young man in the chest and sent him flying into the water a good ten feet away. “Сын сука!” was all Dimitri could yell before he hit the water. Applejack charged the Lizard Man going in low, as Rainbow Dash took flight and circled around behind it coming in high. The pegasus shouted a battle cry as she flew in for the strike, “Take this you overgrown Iguana!” The Lizard Man quickly turned around sweeping Applejack off her hooves with its tail, as it swatted Dash down to the ground with a claw. It let out a roar of victory as it hovered over the stunned pegasus, extending a claw to pick her up. Before it could however, Megan lept onto the Lizard Man’s back with a live taser. “Taste lightning bog breath!” Megan jammed the crackling taser into the Lizard Man’s neck, causing the beast to release a terrifying roar that echoed loudly within the cavern. The Lizard Man summoned the strength to resist the pain of being electrocuted and raised a massive claw imbedding its nails into Megan’s back. Her scream was almost as awful as the Lizard Man’s. Now with a firm grip, the monster flung Megan over its head into the ancient brick staircase, smoke rising from its neck as well as the axe blade stuck in its chest. The beast stepped on Dash on its way to Megan’s prone and bleeding body, sending the air out of the pegasus’ lungs before she could stand up. The Lizard Man now loomed above Megan, who was trying desperately to reach for another tomahawk. Grabbing the woman by the neck, the creature lifted Megan up to eye level and resumed its hissing noise. It suddenly found a lasso around its neck and tried to resist being pulled backwards by Applejack. “Don’t you touch her you son of a bitch!” cried the orange pony through gritted teeth. She heaved again against the monstrosity, forcing it to take a step back. The light of the flare was dimming as Megan finally found a grip on the tomahawk. After another heave from Applejack, Megan swung at the Lizard Man’s neck, burying the small hatchet deep into the creature’s scaly flesh. The monster released its grip on the woman, who rolled across the damp stones in the direction of the station. Rainbow Dash had gotten back up and gripped the rope with Applejack, giving it as strong a pull as she could muster. With two ponies pulling on it, and a tomahawk in its neck to boot, the Lizard Man toppled down the stairs, dislodging Dimitri's axe on the way down. It landed at the bottom of the steps with a satisfying thump and remained motionless. Any thoughts of celebration died as the flare did, surrounding the party in total darkness. There was a splash not long after as the hissing noise disappeared. Megan lit an instant torch creating a circle of light. The Lizard Man had slipped free of the lasso and the water rippled with recent activity. “Dimitri?!” called Megan, “Get to land as fast as possible!” “Vorking on it!” replied Dimitri, just now swimming into the small area of light. “That thing has nasty left hook you know.” Megan winced, feeling burning hot pain from the fresh wounds on her back, “I know what you mean.” Rainbow Dash took flight and hovered over Dimitri, “Hold on, I got ya!” She somehow gripped onto his shoulders with her front hooves and began dragging the young man through the water towards the stone walkway. Applejack had recovered her lasso and moved next to Megan, who had taken to sitting down on the old brick stairs. “How’re ya’ holding up there sugar-cube? Ya’ took quite a hit from that…thing.” Megan sat very still and only glanced at the orange pony, “My back hurts.” Applejack gave a weak smile to her friend, “Well ah reckon it would after hittin’ them stairs like that!” With a soft nuzzle to Megan’s face she began to move behind the woman, “Let me have a look see an maybe ah can massage it or-” She let out a gasp when she saw Megan’s back. Blood was leaking from five dime sized holes and was streaming down the woman’s back, forming a pool on the bricks. “Dear Celestia…” “AJ,” said Megan, “I need you to do something for me.” “Y-yeah?” Megan slowly moved her arm and presented Applejack with the lit instant torch, “Take this and cauterize my wounds.” “Vait!” called Dimitri while he climbed onto the shore, “Disinfect first, then seal! Do not vant infection!” “You got alcohol on you?” replied the woman. Dimitri ran up to her and pulled out a flask from his back pocket, “Law one of living in Russia: Alvays carry Vodka.” he gave her a big smile, which she returned with a weak chuckle. Wasting no time Dimitri opened it and moved behind her pausing only to say, “You might vant to bite down on something.” Rainbow Dash, who had flown in after Dimitri, grabbed the end of Applejack’s rope and offered it to Megan. The woman took it and gingerly placed it in her mouth, already biting down hard. “Here ve go,” said Dimitri as he began to pour. *** They had all moved into the station portion of the cavern, only barely noticing the ornate stonework that adorned the front entryway. Megan was resting her head on Applejack, who was all too eager to offer the small service. The orange pony was just glad that Megan was alive, if a bit burned. Dimitri and Dash had set up a perimeter of instant torches, shedding light into the large and empty building. It was majestic to say the least, but also had an air of mystery to it. Dash had asked Dimitri about it, but he didn’t know of any train stations that had sunk beneath the earth. “More than likely, it manifested. Like spooky town of horseman,” he had offered. The words had done little to make the pegasus feel better. Rainbow Dash had since been pacing back and forth. “I think we need to go,” she said, “Like, back to the surface and-I don’t know-seal off the sewers or something!” “One problem with that Dashie,” countered Applejack, “This Lizard-thingy will still be down here.” “And now it knows it can compete vith humans and ponies,” added Dimitri. “No kidding,” groaned Megan. Something in the darkness climbed out of the water. The sound of wet footsteps echoed through the cavern, followed by a low hiss. Dimitri grabbed his long axe and moved to the center of the torch ring. “He’s back!” said the young man tensing up. Dash flew in soon after looking somewhat shaken. “Anypony got a plan?” she asked. Applejack gently moved out from under Megan and trotted to the center, her mind abuzz. “Ah got an idea. Me an’ Dash wait on opposite sides of tha’ entrance with them zappy things and jump the varmint when it enters. Then Dimitri hits it with his axe.” She looked at the other two, who looked at each other and nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me!” exclaimed Dash, much of her confidence returning. Dimitri handed the ponies the tasers, giving quick instructions on how they worked before the ponies ran into positions. The wet footsteps were very close, but they still couldn’t see the creature. Dimitri took an instant torch from the ring and tossed it through the door. The Lizard Man was just now cresting the lip of the staircase. It had removed the tomahawks from its chest and neck at some point during its disappearance and seemed no worse for wear as a result. After what seemed to be an agonizing eternity of its slow, wet, footsteps getting closer and closer, and its reptilian hiss getting louder and louder, it was finally at the door. “NOW!” screamed Dimitri, as Applejack and Dash jumped at its sides, tasers crackling loudly. The Lizard Man let out a pained roar as electricity shot through every vein of its body. Dimitri let out a roar of his own as he charged the monster and brought his axe down into its chest. It staggered backwards a few feet as Dimitri yanked his weapon out of the creature’s chest. “Zap it again!” yelled Megan, as Dash and Applejack lunged at it again, hoping that the beast would just die. But it was faster than it looked. Before they could connect, the Lizard Man fell to all fours and swatted at the ponies with its tail knocking them away. Dimitri came at it with his axe again, but the creature ducked to the side, avoiding the strike. Standing on its legs again, the monster grabbed Dimitri with its two powerful claws and threw him into a nearby support column. The wound in the Lizard Man’s chest was hemorrhaging greenish colored blood, and its hissing was becoming labored and forced. With some effort, it moved towards the prey that was giving it the least trouble. Megan gripped onto the soft putty-like ball in her hand, and with considerable agony, rose to her feet to face the monster. She took a quick glance around: Dimitri had hit that pillar hard and wasn’t moving, while Applejack and Dash were still pulling themselves together. Then there was the Lizard Man, taking its time lumbering over to Megan with one claw covering its chest and the other preparing for a strike. Her body was only willing to try this once, so she had to make it count. That didn’t stop her from making one last act of bravado however. She raised both her arms out, one had the ball of putty with detonation pins in it, the other a small black box. “If there’s enough of you left after this, I am so making you into a wallet,” she taunted. The Lizard Man moved in closer and raised both arms, with the obvious intent to rip her to shreds. Megan saw her opening and tackled the abomination with a war cry that put whatever the monster called a roar to shame. She plunged the putty ball into the open wound in the Lizard Man’s chest. The creature roared in agony as Megan made sure the baseball sized portion of C4 she had just armed was good and lodged in the beast’s stomach. Deciding that the C4 was in there well enough, Megan retracted her arm and rolled out of the creatures reach. “APPLEJACK!” called Megan, “GET THAT THING THE BUCK OUT OF HERE!” Applejack, who had been regaining her senses from a hit to the head, heard the command clear as a bell. “Come on Dash! Time ta’ show this critter who’s boss!” “Right behind you AJ!” replied the pegasus. The Lizard Man was too distracted clutching its stomach and chest with its claws to notice the two ponies run in front of it and rear their hind legs. Together, the two ponies bucked the scaly monster in its stomach and sent it flying a good six feet out the entrance. The Lizard Man hit the stairs and rolled down the length of them, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. “Aaaand he’s outta there!” called Rainbow Dash as she trotted to the entrance, “Team Awesome: Two! Monsters: Zero! Suck on that you scaly son of a b-” The Lizard Man exploded. The force from the explosion itself was enough to send Rainbow Dash back a good foot and a half, whereas the noise left a very loud ringing in the ears of all who still had ears. Dash had to shake her head a couple times to stop her eyes from spinning. Megan leaned against a nearby wall, almost collapsing out right, and left a trail of blood as she slid down to the ground. *** “They’re back!” screamed Pinkie Pie bouncing with excitement. “You know what this means Rarity?!” The white unicorn gazed over her early sketches for team uniforms, “I can guess. Could it possibly be a-” “That’s right! A PARTY! Oh I’m going to need some balloons and some glitter and some streamers and some cake and a TROMBONE!” The bright pink mare zipped out of the entrance hall of the Bureau, giggling madly. Rarity just sighed and made herself look presentable, no doubt her friends wouldn’t mind seeing something nice and clean after being down in those awful sewers. Rarity put on an award winning smile, fueled by genuine relief that all four of those that had left had returned. Then she saw that one was not so much walking towards the front door, as much as leaning on the others and bleeding all over the place. Rarity’s smile faded as she turned to the receptionist, “Ditzy! Get Fluttershy to the medical room immediately! She is about to have another patient!” The wall eyed pony slammed a hoof to her forehead and sped off like a bullet towards the animal sanctuary. Rarity meanwhile busied herself by preparing a spell to carry the wounded. Dimitri, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack all rushed into the front room, all in some way supporting the bleeding Megan. “Rarity,” started the orange pony, “Megan’s hurt bad in the back an’ we need to get her to the nursing room fast.” “That’s why I’m here AJ,” replied Rarity with a tone as graceful as ever. Her horn glowed, and the air around Megan followed suit. Soon she became weightless and floated through the air, her back facing up. Without another word, Rarity galloped off towards the nursing room with the floating Megan in tow, the other three following close behind. *** Megan woke up three hours later, counting five dull pains in her back and feeling rather woozy. She was lying on her stomach in what she then decided was the most comfortable bed in the world. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was a very concerned looking orange pony. Summoning every ounce of strength, she said, “Hey there sugar-cube.” Applejack’s smile was sweet and pure, and made Megan feel better instantly. Not good enough to punch lizard men with high explosive of course, but better than how she had felt a few seconds ago. Applejack nuzzled Megan’s cheek saying, “Hey there yerself! You had us all worried sick.” “Is Zorro here?” asked Megan weakly. Applejack nodded, “He’s right here. He, Hawk an’ me haven’t left your side since Rarity brought you in, not even ta’ use the bathroom.” Zorro’s sultry voice came from the other side of the bed, “How are you doing mi querida muchacha?” Megan shifted her head to look at the man. His normally suave face was blemished with worry. “Zorro,” she whispered. He leaned in closer, “Yes Megan?” “Next time you have a cold…” she gripped the collar of his shirt and pulled him in close, “Do me a favor and suck it up.” She let go of Zorro, the last of her strength spent. Closing her eyes, she turned her head back to face Applejack’s direction. “Hey Megan,” came Hawk’s voice. With great effort, Megan opened her eyes again. “Yeah Hawk?” Hawk stepped into her vision holding something behind his back. “When you came in, you were clutching some lizard skin, so I took the liberty of making this for you while you were out.” He presented Megan with a small coin purse made from Lizard Man skin. “Ta-da!” Megan just rolled her eyes and smiled, falling asleep soon after. The End Episode 2 is done Onto episode 3! Let’s hope I can keep this up.