Marks of Babylon
Chp. 2
Hunting Instinct
After a traumatic night of an attack seemingly from out of the blue, the six of them separated back to where they came from.
The next morning eventually came round, with Twilight spending the night at Fluttershy's cottage.
It took about 2 hours of trying, but she finally let herself fall asleep after the amount of concern for her castle. Thankfully, Owlicious was spared, and went with her at the time of the attack and went with her to stay with Fluttershy.
'Thank Celestia that Spike wasn't there at the time.' Twilight thought, thinking back to the previous night.
As soon as she went to see her she was greeted by a plate of daisy pancakes; her favorite.
"Good morning." Said Fluttershy as she beamed at her awoken friend. All she saw in return was a sad frown.
"Hey, Fluttershy. Guess you slept better than me."
It took her a little while to understand what was up, but then she remembered the events of last night.
"I'm so sorry about what happened, Twilight. I know that this isn't going to be easy to go through. But I want you to know that you, Owlicious and Spike are welcome to stay here as long as you need to." Twilight then smiled properly and was about to say something, but was then cut of by a familiar voice.
"Thanks, Flutters." The princess sadly replied, letting out a sorrowful sigh.
"Well, that's an option..." Twilight and Fluttershy then turned around to see their favorite (and only) Dragoniquis, swinging from the ceiling with his tail, pink dressing gown on and cup of coffee in hand, defying the laws of physics.
"Or to save on time and bits, I could just use my magic to repair the damage." Discord finished, taking a sip from the upside down mug.
"Really?" Twilight asked, conflicting about whether or not to trust her former enemy.
"Why, of course. Would I lie to you?" Discord asked, seemingly innocent in his tone.
"Yes." Twilight bluntly said to him. "And if I go back, and see my castle has been turned into a funhouse, or a giant milkshake, or an aquarium or anything other than the way it was, I WILL encase you back in stone."
"Twilight!" Fluttershy quietly snapped. "There's no need for threats; he's only trying to help."
The princess took a deep breath, exhaling to calm herself down.
"You're right, I'm sorry." She said, looking back at him. "Will you fix it, then?"
The Spirit smugly looked at her in response, before swinging back onto his feet.
"I'll do my best, ma'am."
A knock on the door interrupted them.
"Now who could that be?" Fluttershy wondered as she approached the door to answer. The other two followed. When she opened it they saw the sight of Applejack, Spike and the former crusaders.
Her assistant ran up and hugged her tightly. It took her a second. but she returned it.
"Twilight, are you alright?" Her concerned assistant worried.
"No need to worry Spike; I'm fine." She calmly said.
"We heard what happened and thought you-" Sweetie said, but Twilight just continued to smile.
"Sure did have a strange night then." Applejack stated. "Anyway, ah prepared a cider for ya two. Why not come down mine an we'll try ta find out more on them stallions that came last night, Sugarcube?"
"Sounds good. Thanks AJ." Said Twilight.
"Yaay." Replied Fluttershy. The seven of them went down to Apples farm as Discord disappeared in his flash of light to fix Twilight's castle.
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As the flash of light reappeared a moment later, the spirit saw the crowd of ponies stood at the castle observing the devastation that recently took place there.
"Well, it's a good thing that this story didn't spread(!)" He said, leaning over to the camera and telling the audience.
As the crowd continued to observe the destroyed tree, the loud clamour of a fire truck siren blared behind them, making everyone cover their ears. As they turned around, they dodged out of the way, watching Discord driving the vehicle, donning a firefighter suit.
"Stand clear, ponies! The unqualified hero is here to save the day!" He shouted stepping out of the truck.
He waltzed up to the tree castle, picking up a fire axe. There was a serious expression on his face, as he was about to swing it at the front door. Before he brought it down, the axe opened, revealing another pair of arms, holding another axe, followed by another, then another.
The dragoniquis was about to strike the tree with the extended weapon, before he tossed it away, and instead snapped his fingers.
'Now that was easy, wasn't it? So someone came for a raid on her castle?' Discord thought to himself, walking away smugly. 'Well, looks like the precious little princess Twilight really HASN'T brought peace and friendship to Equestria. I can't imagine how much longer that would've taken had the Elements tried to-"
He was cut off from his inner dialogue by the sound of ruble collapsing behind him. Discord slowly turned around, and to his surprise saw that the damage was still there.
"Hm? That's peculiar." He remarked, snapping his fingers again. The flash happened again, but still the same result. He tried again and again, but nothing was getting through to it.
"Never before has my power over chaos been so cruel as to betray me, than as of right now. Oh, woe is me!" He declared, falling to his knees in an over-the-top dramatic fashion. As he looked defeated, he tried snapping his claws again, but still nothing. "Oh, come on!"
He got back up and placed his hand on the tree castle, but regretted it in an instant when he felt it burn him. "Ooh, crispy."
Suddenly, his hand then caught on fire, but the pain wasn't present. He turned his other hand into a fire extinguisher and snuffed it out.
"Hmm... A little too well done for my taste, but It's something." He told himself. "Now then, who could be doing this? If even my magic isn't enough, and the elements aren't aware of these vandals, then they have to be something quite special."
"Vance!"
The millisecond that word reached his ears, everything that he joking about was completely out of the window. His goat face turned white, his deer and dragon legs felt weak, his snake tail stood on end, his gryphon and lion arms were shaking and his pony heart sank at the name he just said, and the pony that just said it.
Slowly, after hearing hoofsteps approaching him from behind, he turned around, and he felt his own emotions have a war with each other over how to feel.
Happy? Sad? Angry? Betrayed? Scared? Relived? Powerless? Cocky? Even more scared? Either way it didn't matter, he knew full well that only two outcomes would happen in the next few seconds.
Five ponies. Five ponies that he recognised from a deep and personal history with them.
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As soon as the girls got to the farm, they were immediately greeted by the sight of the other elements. They noticed the other six walk up to Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie was the first to notice them and rushed over with a cider dish.
"Hey there Twi! How was your night at Flutter's? I bet it was really great spending more time with her, cause I've never slept at hers myself, although I did hear that she once baby sat the crusaders, and believe me, babysitting is no easy task, like I remember this one time when pumpkin and pound went to go-" pinkie aimlessly rambled. She was cut off by Twilight again.
"Pinkie, not the priority right now." Twilight said, fed up with this unfinished conversation. "Thanks for bringing the cider."
Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack joined the others at the table site. They got straight down to business as they thought of all possibilities of who the mysterious stallions could be.
"So how many known stallion enemies do we actually have besides the ones we've beaten or befriended already?" Twilight questioned. As expected none of her friends had a ready reply and silence flew across the area.
"Well..." Rainbow Dash started. "We don't really know their back story. For all we know they could be doing this for a good cause after all."
"Yep, because nothin' says 'Ah'm a good guy' like terrorizing and vandalism(!)" Applejack responded, taking a sip of her cider.
"I guess anything is possible." Spike replied. "As long as they don't do anything else bad."
As if it was on queue, they then experienced a large magnitude beneath them. This caused everything around them to shake and a small amount of the barn to peel of, drinks to get knocked over, crops to become damaged, and generally cause devastation..
Applejack rushed over to her home and tried to stop anymore of her property from getting wrecked. Luckily, she wasn't alone, as Big Mac, Applebloom and Granny Smith also rushed out of the barn to help with the sudden property damage.
"What in tarnation's goin' on out here?" Granny Smith exclaimed, holding what she could in her old hooves.
Once the quake had finally ceased another strange cause occurred out of nowhere. A massive rock statue in the shape of a dog rose from the dirt beneath and was facing Applejack.
Everypony (and dragon) just stood there and gazed in awe as nothing else happened, until it did.
The jaw snapped off and fell to the ground as from the mouth fell a new and familiar face. Once the dust cleared the Mane six stood in shock when they all saw the 'face' of who it was.
"So how's yer day goin'?" The apparently Texas pony asked Applejack as he walked up to her.
It was him. From last night. The same coat, the same clothes, the same voice, the same hat, the same grey beard, the same grey mane, but no mask. They could see his clothes more clearly now, which consists of blue jeans, light brown chaps, a brown cowboy top, and black waistcoat, along with his black cowboy hat.
Every article of his clothing appeared to have either a dog, or a dog emblem on it.
"Y'all are either mighty brave or mighty dumb to show yer face round these here parts." She counteracted and became furious.
"That's just all talk from ya, Applejack. Y'all got the muscle ta back up them there fightin' words?" He laughed. He didn't seem to be taking Twilight or any of her friends seriously.
"Nopony goes round messin' with ma friends. Ah'm gonna avenge Twilight by any means."
Suddenly then, a light started to emit from Applejack's body and seemed to be absorbed by him into his body. The light was similar to Twilight's but was as brown as the stallions coat instead of blue. The enemy seemed to smile as it appeared to make him stronger.
"If ah were you, Applejack, ah'd make sure ah knew who it were that ah was up against, before goin' straight at them. Heck, if we were given tha order an' permission last night, the boys an' ah woulda ripped y'all ta pieces." The Texan responded to her, walking over to her family.
"Hold it right there!" Applejack commanded the stallion, to which he ignored completely.
"Ah see ya haven't aged a day, Granny Smith. Except every single day you've been alive. Heh heh heh." He said to the elderly pony, as she squinted her eyes even more than usual.
"Er... Ya sound mighty familiar ta me, sugar. Do ah know ya?" She responded, getting a feel of his face.
"Aw, Smith, ya hurting mah heart. How can ya not recognize this pretty face, even after all we've been through?" He asked, putting on a puppy dog look. He took her hooves off him, and took a step to the side.
"Well, I'll be a sonova goat-snap; Big Macintosh." He looked over the big red pony.
"...Eeyup." Big Mac said sternly, facing him with a strict look in his face.
"Heh. Haven't seen ya since y'all was just a lil' foal, sleepin' on the hay. Koowee, ain't you grown up since then." He replied, staring right back with an cocky smile.
"How do ya know ma family, mister?" Applebloom asked the older pony, hiding behind Big Mac as she did. Smart move.
"Ah never forgot 'em, Applebloom." He answered, looking down at her.
They both then heard a growl from next to her, and he looked down at it, a warm smile appeared on his face.
Winona was growling at the stallion, as he just stared down back at her. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and crunchy, and handed it over to her.
The dog then sniffed it, before taking it into her mouth, chewing on it happily. It looked to be some kind of dog treat, which was questionable as to why he was carrying it around with him.
"Yer such a precious one, Winona. Shame yer on the wrong side, isn't it? Yesh it ish." He said, rubbing her head, as she panted in delight.
"Ah thought that ya were here fer me, not them." Applejack reminded the Texan, as he walked back over to her. Suddenly, the same brown light that matched his coat reappeared, and he breathed it in again.
"Truth be told, lil' lady, ah was gonna be here fer Buttercup and Bright Mac. Am ah a bit late to the party?"
Applejack and her family gasped at the mention of these names. "WHAT did ya just say!?!"
'Whewee! This cowgirl's gettin' more and more riled up by me by the sec'. Gotta make sure she stays obsessed wit' gettin' me outta here.' The stallion thought to himself, before speaking again. "Ah said ah came 'ere ta see the REAL owners of this farm."
Applejack stormed up to him and pointed her hoof in his face.
"Mah parents have got nothin' ta do wit' YOU!!" She roared.
"Wrong call, cowgirl; Buttercup and Bright Mac got a lot ta do wit' me. Well, at least, they HAD, until the accident."
"Who are you!?" Twilight shouted from a few feet away. "What do you want from us, and how do you know Applejack's parents?!"
The stallion looked at her from afar. The eye slots on his mask lit up for a second when he got a better look at her.
'Don't look like somthin' ah couldn't handle mahself. If she's the one that took on Vance and Tirek, then ah guess we could make a Ingen-'
He stopped his inner monologue when he got a glimpse at Spike.
'Well, ah'll be a son-ova-rattlesnake, that one's his fourth! Xerv's gonna hear 'bout this.' He looked back at Applejack and moved her hoof out the way.
"Ah reckon we could make a bargain right here 'n' now. Fight me and win and I'll tell you all ya need to and be on ma way out." This time the look in his mask's eyes seemed different; as though he was getting what he came here for.
She noticed this straight away and replied.
"So if ah fight you, y'all will take your friends and shoo from Equestria?" She asked with a bit of hope.
"We'll see what happens. IF ya win." She wasn't sure if to trust him or not, but she felt as though she had no choice. A great force of mistrust shot straight through her mind, and as it did a dark yellow aura exerted out of Rarity's chest.
"All right then partner, ya got a deal." Was her final statement before they each took different sides of the field to begin their rumble.
"Oh, and one more thing." he added as he pulled something out from his trouser pocket. It appeared to be a small hand sized yellow glass panel with a faint rainbow at the bottom-left and top-right corners.
Now Applejack looked nervous. "What in tarnation is that?"
Just then the panel flew up as he shouted: "Babylon Mummu-god of purity!" And within seconds they were both trapped in a circular brown field with the shape of a symbol on the floor with no walls or ceilings.
The symbol was the same brown lines as the one he wore on his mask, which were a curve from the bottom left to the center right which had three brown spikes shooting outwards.
"This looks dangerous!" Rainbow declared as she prepared herself for a strike. "Come on, let's help her out!"
The Pegasus rushed over to attack him.
'This outta be funny.' He thought, with a smile on his face.
"Take this you little- BWAAAHH!!" She shrieked as she was shocked, a nanosecond before she was knocked back from it.
It seemed no-one could get in or out of the field.
"That coulda gone a lot better fer ya, sugar." The stallion merely laughed at her efforts.
Her friends were then about to help her back up when they noticed something about the barrier. From where Rainbow had just touched it, their was a kind of vibration on it, evident by the light on it rippling.
"Oh and ta answer one of yer questions from before, princess, mah name's Pounce. Roranxoa Pounce. If it makes it any easier. But y'all can just call me Xoa if ya want."
"Well, what exactly do you want from us, Xoa?" Twilight asked, hoping that she could get some answers.
"Oh right, like yer gonna give me what ah want just 'coz ah told ya. Ah know that that's not how it works, princess; ya gotta earn what ya want in life, not just get it."
"Maybe, but at least let us know what it is that you're after." Twilight responded.
"All in time there lassie." He smugly answered, before turning to Applejack with a somewhat serious face. "But fer now, let's see what cha got!"
He then ran up to Applejack directly, stopped in front of her, jumped up, and tried to slam her with his forehoof. She dodged out of the way by rolling to the side. As his impact landed on the ground, another vibration emerged.
She and her friends were shocked at first as they had not witnessed this power before, especially from an earth pony.
"Whoa nelly!" Applejack said, as she struggled to keep standing. She turned around, and raised an eyebrow at him. "How'd ya do that?"
"Ah guess ya could say that ah had a good teacher. Kinda reminds me of a certain farmer that y'all used ta know." Roranxoa answered, as the two were circling each other in a standoff fashion.
"Who do ya mean, Xoa?"
"Who'd ya think, 'Sugarcube'? Ah'm talking about that ungrateful hoarder YOU call a father."
Applejack's relatives all changed their facial expressions from just anger to shock at the fourth mention of his name.
"Back off! Mah family and its business has nothin' ta do wit' ya, got it!?"
"Yer family business has got EVERYTHIN' ta do wit' me, mah sweet." The tone in his voice was sounding as if he knew what he was saying was astonishing to them.
However, even more astonishing was what he did next: raised his hoof high, and as he did, chains broke out and rose from the ground. He moved his hoof slightly and the chains then followed, until he forced them forward to attack Applejack.
She managed to turn around quickly to buck the first chain and knock it down. However, she wasn't as fortunate with the second one, as it grabbed her by the hoof and wrapped round her.
"If it weren't fer him, then ah'd be livin' the life that ah wanted. But, looks as though it weren't ta be; yer ma and pa didn't want me to get on wit' mah life."
The chain around her then picked her up and threw her against the floor, then to one side of the force field wall, then to another, then to the floor then released its grip when it threw her in the air. Once she had hit the ground the chain went back under.
"What...*cough* What do... mah parents got ta do wit' ya Xoa?" Applejack asked, staring at the sky above her.
"Ah have a funny feeling that ya couldn't care less even if ah told ya. If yer one of their offspring's, then some of that ungrateful blood is still running through yer veins."
She somehow found the strength to stand, but by the time she had Xoa was ready.
"Catch!" Xoa called behind him, as a pillar made of rock was formed in front of him and he bucked it straight in to her.
"Gah!" She shouted in pain, as she fell to the ground again.
Meanwhile, on the outside of the barrier, the Apple family had made their way over to the rest of the girls.
"What's goin' on, Twilight?" Applebloom asked, sounding scared for her sister's well-being. "How does that pony know mah parents? How does he know US?"
"I wish I knew, Applebloom." Twilight answered, looking concerned for it, too. The blue light shined from inside her again. "But this is only the second time we've seen this guy."
"And it looks like he's too scared to take us all on, without his friends." Rainbow added, before trying to get Xoa's attention again. "Hey, cowboy! If you wanna fight, let me tag in for her!"
"Yer not mah target, Rainball!" He replied from inside, before picking up Applejack.
"What've ya got against mah family!?" Applejack asked him, trying to break free from his grip.
"Ah worked mahself ta the bone fer them, an' they just shoved me off fer it!"
Roranxoa proceeded to throw her away onto the ground.
Not giving her the chance to get back up, he pounced above her. It looked like he was aiming to slam down on her, preferably with his power to shake the ground in mind as he landed.
Fortunately, she was able to dodge out of the way and get back up before he slammed on the ground. The vibrations still shook the floor, but now she was in prime position for her to kick him right in the face with her back legs.
She did so, kicking him in the face and knocking him to the ground.
"Oof! Heh, not back." He said, stomping the ground with his back hoof, propelling himself back to standing on all fours.
"Darn right! Ah don't know what ya want with me or mah family, but ah ain't goin' down without a fight!"
"That's what ah want. C'mon, let's see ya using that muscle, kid!"
Roranxoa stomped his hooves on the ground again. This time, the ground below AJ started to shake, before rising from the dirt and into the air on a pillar of some kind.
"Whoaa, hey!" She yelled, as she ascended into the air.
"Catch!" She heard him yell back to her, as she could see something approaching her from below at a rapid pace. It was another chain.
"Whoa!" She muttered as she dodged the incoming metal. However, she once again fell bait to him, as another chain bound itself to her back leg.
"Uh-oh..."
The chain pulled her down from the pillar, dragging her down the slope as it did.
"Oof! Arg! Ow!" She mumbled, hitting the rocky pillar numerous times.
It took a few seconds, but she reached the bottom. However, that didn't mean that the chain would cease.
Instead, it pulled itself further into the ground, trying to take her down with it.
"Arghhhh..." Applejack strained to break her leg free of the bind. "Gahhh!"
It took a few moments, but she found herself free of it.
"Heads up." He said from behind the pillar next to her.
As she turned to see him, looking ready to face him still, her ears dropped and her eyes shrunk when she saw what was about to happen.
Judging from the heavy bucking sounds and the amount of stone and rubble falling from the pillar, he had just kicked it down right on top of her.
"Oh no..." Was all she could say, before the pillar came crashing down on her, smashing into the ground below.
There was no mistaking the result: Applejack was done.
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Roranxoa maniacally laughed.
After he had finished, others immediately ran up to Applejack.
The forcefield seemed to get smaller, until Roranxoa shouted out "INVERT!", then the field disappeared completely.
"Aww... Now ya don't look like a happy farmer." He tried to restrain his laugh.
He stopped Twilight and said "If ya still want answers, she'll explain everything."
Twilight then looked confused, as it wasn't clear who he was indicating. Before she could ask, he was pulled away by someone.
"Ah'm gonna break you." Big Mac said to him, his snout inches away from his, the look of anger in his eyes, and his hoof grabbing onto his clothes.
"Listen, handsome." Xoa said, as he calmly got Big Mac off him. "In answer ta Applebloom's question, ah know y'all 'cause ah used ta do a lil' business with yer ma and pa."
Big Mac's face turned slightly less angry and more worried for a second.
"Before that scumbag cut me off, Ah used ta fight yer pa all the time, and ah won each time. He was much older and much stronger than ya are now. Plus, y'all just saw what ah did ta the Element of Honesty, ah think ah can take on any raw muscle."
As much as Big Mac wanted to, he knew that, if what Xoa just said was true, he couldn't just go at him head-on.
Regretfully, the big bulky stallion backed off a few steps, instead turning to tend his injured sister.
Knowing that he not only beat one of the saviors of this world, Xoa then turned to Twilight.
"How could you do something like this!?" Twilight fiercely asked the cowboy. "What did she do to you!? What did any of us do to any of you!?"
"That's on a need ta know basis, princess." The Mark answered back. "An' if yer princess hasn't told y'all yet, then she clearly don't think ya need ta know."
"That's not true at all! I'm sure the princess will tell us everything we need to know straight away!"
"Yeah, ah doubt that. If that was ta case, she woulda done hen she knew about it the second we arrived at yer castle."
This earnt a grunt from the princess, before she shook her head in denial.
"That's not true! You're a liar!"
"Believe what cha want, princess. But unlike y'all, ah at least know what ah'm up against."
The others that heard him say this turned to face the pair, with a look of concern and/or anger on their faces.
"Next step, Traitors ain't taken lightly." He finished, ready to punch the ground again.
He did so, re-enacting the vibration that had tremored several times before. With that, the same hole that appeared last night came.
"T..." Applejack weakly murmured, trying her best to painfully reach her hoof out. "Twi... Li..."
"Ah'll see y'all again real soon." Roranxoa announced, turning around to face Applejack. "You especially, Apples."
"W... Wai..." The Element Of Honesty once again wheezed out, trying to make herself heard.
Ignoring her plea, the cowboy jumped down into the hole he created, allowing it to close itself and restore the ground to what it was before.
"Applejack!" Twilight called out, running over to join the others. "Are you alright!?"
"Gee, I don't know(!)" Rainbow Dash sarcastically answered on her behalf. "Does she look alright to you!?"
"Girls, you're not helping!" Rarity snapped at the pair. "We need to get her help, now!"
"Rarity's right, we need all hooves on deck! Fluttershy, what can you do!?"
"I-I-I can try my best! I can probably tend to her injuries, but-"
"That'll do!" Twilight responded again. "Get as much equipment as you can and do whatever you can!"
10 seconds had passed after he left as AJ seemed to be coming to. Everypony (and dragon) was then relieved until something else came to worry them.
Not too far away, round about Twilight's house, a rainbow shot out of the ground and impacted beneath. As soon as they saw it they recognized it instantly: it was the same magic that they used to seal Discord away. But had a dark aura all around it. This could only mean one thing, and they were right.
Soon enough they heard Discords shout in the distance. Spike, AB, Sweetie, Scootaloo and Big Mac stayed to heal AJ. Everypony else went back to Twilight's.