Dodge Junction, an out-of-the-way sort of neighborhood very similar to Appleloosa, and quite hot, as Dusk wiped the sweat from his brow as he and his sister walked through the town, having just departed the train station.
“I can understand why Storm Shadow would come to a dung-heap like this, but did he have to choose one so hot?”
“Oh suck it up, and keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious,” Rose hissed as she discreetly scanned their surroundings without making it obvious.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” muttered Dusk. “I mean, I’m not even sure we can catch this guy but what makes you think we can do it before Captain Shining Armor assigns a platoon to apprehend this guy?”
“Because I sent them in an entirely different direction,” Rose replied with a smirk.
“Say what?” Dusk gave her a flat look.
“Shining Armor did in fact assign a platoon to go after Storm Shadow,” Rose explained, “but I intercepted the paperwork and forged an entirely different destination. Those poor saps are on their way to Tall Tale!”
“Oh that’s comforting,” Dusk scoffed, “not only have we gone AWOL in undertaking a dangerous mission to capture a dangerous escapee, without permission, I am now an accessory to an obstruction of justice!”
“Shut it!” Rose hissed to him and yanked him into an alley. “Look, over by the saloon…”
Dusk carefully peered around the corner and looked. Leaning against the wall, next to the swinging doors, was a suspicious-looking character wearing a fedora that shaded his eyes, and a poncho around his shoulders. His coat was orange, with a curly brown tail, and oddly had what looked to be a rubber chicken set on the floor next to him.
The character then blew what looked to be a party favor.
“What the buck is a pony, dressed like that and with a rubber chicken, doing there?” Rose asked with a pregnant tone.
“…Relaxing in the shade of the saloon’s awning?” Dusk suggested with a tone one might use to say ‘are you serious’.
“He could be some shady local in this town,” Rose ignored the sarcasm. “Perhaps he’s even connected somehow to Storm Shadow!”
“And your theory is based on the way he’s dressed, the manner in which he is publically displaying himself, and that he has a rubber chicken with him,” deadpanned Dusk.
“Work with me here!” Rose growled. “We have to start somewhere, don’t we?”
Dusk sighed and resigned, “Fine, but we can’t just walk up to the guy and start throwing accusations! …At the very least, we need to get him alone.”
“Leave that to me,” Rose smirked as she stepped out into the open.
Dusk watched his sister, walking confidently, in her leather armor concealed by a threadbare cloak, much like what he himself was wearing, along with the jeweled band around her neck. He saw her walk up to the guy and they appeared to shoot the breeze when Rose apparently invited the pony to follow her.
Dusk got the idea and hid behind a rain barrel.
At that moment however, three stallions from Ponyville were ambling into town, panting from the desert heat as they sighed in relief.
“I cannot wait to get myself a nice cold glass of cider,” panted Midnight, not just from the heat. They’d been taking turns pulling the wagon of apple pies, and he had the thing strapped around his barrel.
“Sorry the cloud I brought didn’t last, guys,” Thunderlane apologized, lamenting how the cloud he’d brought to provide shade left them too quickly.
“I didn’t take into account the heat vaporizing it so fast.”
“Well, wer’ here, fellas,” Big Mac stated. “Let’s wet our whistles, then we’ll finish this delivery.”
“AUGH!! Help! Somepony!”
They looked and saw an orange earth pony with a brown curly mane that looked oddly familiar as he ran from two cloaked unicorns. The two assaulters’ horns whipped out tendrils of mana that whiplashed the orange pony, ensnaring him by the neck and one of his hind legs, making him fall flat on his face.
“Tie him up!” said one of the unicorns, the voice betraying her gender, as they moved in on their victim.
“Hey!”
Before they could approach the pony they’d assaulted, the two unicorns found themselves surrounded as Midnight, Big Mac, and Thunderlane took up a triangle formation around them, Midnight saying, “Back off and this can end amicably.”
“Stay out of our business,” the unicorn mare snapped, “this doesn’t concern you!”
“Boys? Cut `em off!” Midnight ordered and all of a sudden, they each erupted in pillars of power, midnight surrounded in a pillar of blue flames, Big Mac in a pillar of red light that caused the pebbles and rocks around him to rise from the sheer intensity, while Thunderlane was surrounded n a yellow pillar that crackled with electricity, and between the three of them they formed a golden three-sided barrier, that cut off the two unicorns’ energy lines to the pony they’d attacked, enabling him to run away.
“What the- What happened to our magic?!” demanded the other unicorn, his voice sounding a tad panicky.
“This barrier nullifies all active magic caught within it,” Midnight explained, “and entraps anypony inside! Now, why did you attack this pony?”
“We wanted to get info from him,” the unicorn mare explained, “we’re… on a mission.”
“Well that’s no excuse for terrorizing somepony,” Thunderlane scolded, “We’ll lower the barrier if you don’t act up and cause anymore trouble.”
“Eeyup,” agreed Big Mac.
The two unicorns looked at each other and nodded, the male saying, “Fine, we’ll be civil.”
The three cut off the magic, and instantly the barrier fell and faded into nothing. They approached the two unicorns slowly as the mare whispered, “Let’s talk in the alley.”
They took her suggestion and once they were in the alley, the mare said, “My name is Ruby Rose, this is my brother Dusk Storm. We’re… on an undercover mission to capture an escaped murderer.”
“We followed a lead to this town,” Dusk added. “But I’d like to ask, how in the hay did you guys all form that barrier?”
“Wait a minute, big brother…” Rose gave each of the stallions a close look. “I know them! You guys are the Guardians of Harmony, you helped the Elements of Harmony beat Nightmare Moon and Discord!”
“No way,” Dusk was stupefied. “You guys are heroes! We listened to a lecture about you guys back at the academy!”
“Academy?” Thunderlane echoed. “I thought you guys were on some kind of mission, what would you be doing in an academy?”
“Uh…!” Rose and Dusk realized they’d been tripped up but luckily Dusk saved face, “We… attended a lecture at the Artemis Academy with our superior, he gave a lecture to the students about you and the Elements of Harmony.”
“Oh, nice to know we’re getting recognition,” Midnight chuckled.
“Anyway,” Rose butted in, “the guy we’re after is a master criminal, and a cold-blooded killer, Storm Shadow.”
“Ah’ve heard’a him,” Big Mac spoke up, “tha’ hombre’s one’a th’ worst ponies ever t’ live!”
“Tell us more,” Midnight suggested.
Suddenly, they heard a scuffling and looked to see somepony run off.
“I don’t know who that is but after him!” Rose screamed.
At once, the five ponies chased after the eavesdropper, seeing it was an earth pony, wearing saddlebags. One of which got a loose strap and something fell from it. While the others chased after the pony, Midnight stopped to see the dropped object and saw it was some kind of amulet, black and red, with a malevolent unicorn face and wings.
Thunderlane quickly caught up with the pony, forcing him down while the others caught up with them at the end of the street. The pony had a pale blue coat and brown mane, his cutie-mark was an open book with a hollowed out compartment containing a wrapped package.
Dusk and Rose approached, Dusk saying, “Who are you and why were you eavesdropping on us?”
“I didn’t do nuttin’,” the pony insisted in a Manehatten accent. “I’m just doin’ a job, nuttin’ more.”
“What kind of job?” Midnight asked as he came up. “And what is this?”
He levitated out the scary looking amulet, the pony trying to snatch it, saying, “Give that back, I gotta deliver dat thing!”
“To who?” Dusk inquired with a raised brow. “To Storm Shadow perhaps?”
“I got nuttin’ to say t’ you coppers!” the pony spat.
But at that moment, Midnight released an aura of power, his eyes glowing pure white as they narrowed upon the pony, making him shiver.
“Look, I was just s’posed t’ deliver the thing! I was gonna meet with somepony at the saloon and drop it off to them! But then I hoid you mugs talkin’ about Storm Shadow!”
As the courier spilled his guts, the ponies were spied on from the rooftops by two ponies. Nodding to each other, they ran off. They quickly made their way to the hideout where a Pegasus stallion was drying himself off, his coat now glistening black like obsidian, his cutie-mark was a skull with a crisscrossing katana and cutlass behind it.
“Do you have it…?” he asked in a low oily voice.
“No boss,” one of the thugs replied. “The delivery boy got nabbed, by a couple royal guards undercover, and it looks like they’re now being helped by those Guardians of Harmony everypony’s heard about. One of them got a hold of the Alicorn Amulet.”
The sound of something whistling through the air preceded the feather-shaped blade impaling the poor sucker in the head by a split-second. The other pony gaped in horror at his partner as he fell to the floor, dead.
“And you allowed an object of such power to fall into the hooves of my enemies…” the pony seethed lowly as he glared at his remaining flunky, who was sweating bullets, his pupils reduced to pin-pricks.
“I swear, if you want anything done right, do it yourself… This turn of events is unfortunate. The undercover guards are merely an annoyance but the Guardians of Harmony could prove to be a real threat to my designs.”
“W-what should we do, b-b-boss?” dreaded the flunky, mentally regretting ever getting involved with this psycho.
“Well, the courier hardly knows much,” Storm Shadow said in a blasé tone, “but knowledge is power, power these annoyances could very well use against me, worse yet if they somehow utilize the Alicorn Amulet. I must get my hooves on it… We will wait for the opportune moment come nightfall. I will have that amulet, and I will kill these fools for getting involved in my business…”