//------------------------------// // #7 Getting Unaquainted // Story: The Non-Relic // by Zackrobbman //------------------------------// "So," said Twilight as she moved her face freakishly close to Daring's. "What's this...boy like?" Daring sighed. That was probably the tenth time Twilight had asked her that question. She'd answered it and many others along the way to the train station by saying she didn't know. She'd only seen him once, and she'd gotten a concussion soon after. She'd explained this to Twilight several times, but she kept asking away. She felt like she was being followed around by her mother on prom night. Which was weird, seeing as she never went to prom. Wasn’t like she was attracting any stallions, seeing as they were all scared of her. "Twilight," said Daring as she turned to give her a no-bull-crap look. "If you ask me that one more time, I'm going to do something violent." Oh, yeah. I don't cuss. You don't like it, you can sit on it. "You don't get it!" fussed Twilight as she jumped from side to side on her hooves. Ponies around them would've been staring at her, but they'd gotten used to her losing it once in a while. "This is basically just like a foreign ambassador visit, but he's from another world! Not only that, but he's dangerous! He could be even worse than yaks!" With that last statement, a nearby Yak turned his head to look at the two. "Pony no like yaks!?" asked the large yak accusingly, catching Twilight and Daring's attention. "No, no, no!" said twilight, waving her hooves. "I didn't mean it like that! It's just that-" "You no like yak because yak BLACK!?" The yak was indeed covered in a black coat of fur and dark skinned. Although his hair covered his face, if one were to get close enough without getting beaten near-death, you would notice that he had a black eye-patch over his left eye. "I didn't say anything about you being black!" shouted Twilight fearfully. "Now you YELL at black yak!?" "What?! I-" "Thorny?" said Daring as she squinted to get a better look at the yak. The yak stopped glaring at Twilight and looked at Daring. "Why you know black yak's name?" asked the yak as he moved his face closer to Daring's in a threatening gesture. Daring merely stared at him blankly as she tried not to gag from the yak's familiar, yet extremely grotesque breath. "It's me...that mare from the bar." said the adventurer cooly. "You tried to kill me back in Vanhoover?" Thorny cocked his head and sized Daring up. She had taken off her shades and lifted her hood back a little to let him get a better look. He remembered her face, but felt something was missing. "Black yak can't remember." "Maybe a buck to the go-nads would help...ya big, black, cyclops." Now, if any other pony had sad that to Thorny, he'd have picked them up and shoved their head so far up their own behind that their head would’ve emerged through their own mouth. But something about the way she'd said it made his mind begin to work backwards to two years ago... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Daring was tired and sore. She'd just narrowly escaped a pack of Diamond dogs that were after the artifact she'd "liberated" from them. It was the Golden Claw, a powerful artifact that could tear rifts into time and space and link Tartarus to Equestria. Celestia had entrusted the artifact to them decades ago, but she had to recall her trust when they started using it to summon creatures to dig for them, which none of them ever did. Why? Because taming a rabid, three-headed lizard-lion made of explosions is darn near impossible. So instead, the creatures would escape and force whole towns to evacuate. They'd recently thrown the claw into Tartarus itself to prevent Celestia from getting it, but Discord found it floating outside his house and nonchalantly threw it out of Tartarus after getting bored with it. At least, that's what he said. Celestia was convinced that he'd done it purely to watch her scuffle around Equestria to find it. And so she contacted Daring, who was still secretly researching the center of the Everfree. At first, she was planning to pretend she didn't get the letter for a few days. She wanted to go to Vanhoover to follow up on a lead on the Everfree's center. Then, when she arrived there, she over heard a few Diamond dogs in an alley talking about a "shiny claw". Her conscience getting the better of her, she decided to follow them at a distance until they met up with another diamond dog. This one was cloaked and very big. When he removed his hood, Daring recognized him as Foam, one of the Diamond dog's alphas. She'd ran into him before when she was on another job, and they'd gotten into a scuffle that she couldn't bring herself to forget. Daring watched as he produced the Golden Claw from his cloak while she snickered at the cast he was still wearing on his other arm from their last encounter. Long story short, she swooped down and snatched it. Foam and the others followed her, shooting arrows and stuff at her. None of them managed to hit her, but Foam manged to tackle her from a roof-top and send the two barreling toward the ground. Even with one arm, she couldn't help but notice that he was still her physical superior. He was opening his foam-filled mouth to take a chunk out of her throat when they hit the ground. Well, not they. Just him. The impact was enough to knock him out, but Daring had to stretch to make sure her spine hadn't been nearly snapped from the alpha's death grip. After surmising that she was ok, she stuffed the claw into one of her saddle-bags and trotted away from the scene as ponies watched in awe. Somepony would eventually call an ambulance to pick up Foam. Daring secretly hated herself for hoping he was in a coma or dead. If he woke up and still remembered everything, he'd call the police and say that she'd stolen the claw from him. Which she did. So she decided to kill two birds with one stone by heading to a little-known bar on the outskirts of town. She could pay the bartender to keep quiet if the authorities came asking around, and she needed a drink. Believe it or not, Foam didn't hit the ground first because it had been planned. It was an accident. So Daring's nerves were a bit jumpy. She kept imagining her head being torn off by Foam's ridiculously powerful jaws after breaking every bone in her body upon impact with the ground. She wanted to STOP imagining that, since it was basically what should have happened. When you come that close to death, you might get the need to sit down and evaluate your life choices. Or get drunk. So there she was, standing outside Fable-Hoof's Tavern looking tired, jittery, and annoyed. She'd been to the bar only once before, and it was a brief visit. All she could remember about it was that it was shady, and filled with shady ponies to boot. She didn't know what to expect of it now. She didn't care though, so she just walked in. The smell of bile, alcohol and smoke filled her nostrils, making her wince. She ignored the curious and ominous stares from the murderous ponies around her and kept her eye's focused on the gruff, yet well-groomed bartender standing behind the counter. She kept right on trotting, trying to become a background pony like Lyra and the others. The bartender watched her as she approached him, squinting to get a better look at her. He had a red coat with a dark orange mane that he'd obviously spent hours a day keeping up. His cold, blue eyes gave Daring a once over once she was seated in front of him. "You look familiar." said the bartender as Daring tried to keep her face shadowed underneath her pith helm. True, she was famous, but not everpony liked to read. The ones in her immediate vicinity probably didn't even know how to. Maybe he recognized her from her previous visit some time ago. It didn't matter. Daring took a small satchel of bits and plopped it down in front of him. "No I don't." she said sternly. The bartender opened the satchel and inspected its contents closely. "Sorry." said the bartender as he nodded his head and took the satchel. "Trick of the light. What can I get for ya?" Daring knew the guy could still rat her out if the cops showed up later, but she also knew a guy like him could only stay afloat by actually doing what he's paid to do. Information brokers worked that way. If they took somepony's money and still ratted them out, they could be very easily found and killed for doing so. They couldn't even accept buy-outs from cops, since the result would still be the same. It was one of those first-come, first-served type deals. "Hard Applejack Daniels." "Comin' up." The bartender trotted away to grab her drink. She didn't really plan on getting drunk that day. If anything, she just wanted the satisfaction of knowing she'd gotten a drink to drown her recent experience. Also, getting drunk was on her list of "The fastest ways to die". She couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten drunk, which probably meant she never had. She'd never died either, so it was a rule she'd follow to her grave. "Here ya go miss." said the bartender as he sat the glass down in front of her. Without hesitation, she took a sip of the glass and swallowed it. Sure, it could've been spiked, but it also might not have been. Ahuizotl avoided Vanhoover because everypony there hated his guts. As for why, go write a book about it. She let out a contented sigh as she felt her nerves begin to settle down. This attracted the attention of a tipsy stallion sitting two seats to her left. "Hey there, dark and mysterious." said the stallion as he got up to sit in the seat next to her. "What brings you to the seedy side of Vanhoover?" Daring's eye twitched in annoyance. "Please," she said with a dismissive look. "I just want to finish my drink and leave." "I can wait." "Please don't." As the stallion was about to say something else, they felt the floor shaking beneath them. They both turned around to see a yak towering over them. A big, black, yak. "You take black yak's seat!" boomed the yak at the now cowering stallion. "N-N-N-NO! I-I was just mov-" "BLACK YAK MAD!" With that, the yak back-hoofed the stallion up-side his head, sending him to the wall at the end of the counter and knocking out a couple of his teeth. The ponies around them just laughed and jeered at the now unconscious or dead stallion before resuming what they were doing. The yak sat down and wiped the bloody teeth off the counter before signaling the bartender, who promptly reached up to grab a bottle of wine before setting it down in front of the yak. Daring noted that the wine the yak had gotten was Cold Bite, a wine altered to literally freeze as it made its way to your gut. It was lethal to anypony that didn't have the stomach for it, often used to poison others and cause them to experience a slow and painful death. Yaks could take it, but even then, very few of them could. Daring quit staring at the yak's drink before he could notice and resumed drinking hers. "So Thorny," said the Bartender as he grabbed a rag to wipe the specks of blood off the counter. "How goes those anger management classes?" After taking a long sip of the Cold Bite, the yak wiped his mouth and set the bottle down hard. "Black yak intimidate counselor." said Thorny. "Counselor quit on me!" "How surprising." said the bartender as he inspected the shiny marble-top counter closely for any remaining blood-stains. "I'm sorry to hear that." "Counselor probably just not like black yaks!" "Those days are over Thorny." said the bartender as he smiled and shook his head. "No one thinks black yaks are evil wizards anymore." "But ponies always give black yak weird looks!" "That's because you're huge, Thorny. You can also three-day punch anypony as easily as you could swat a fly." "But there big ponies too!" exclaimed Thorny. "Like big blue stallion pony with red eyes!" Daring stopped mid-sip. "You mean Backbone?" said the Bartender with a smirk. Daring had to resist spitting out her drink. "Yes! Black yak need both arms to arm wrestle him!" "Yeah, well I don't even know if he's equine. Plus, he doesn't go around town giving ponies free dental service at the drop of a hair." "When was he last here?" asked Daring, raising her head. Thorny and the bartender turned to look at her with peaked interest. "You know him?" asked the bartender. "Yes." said Daring quickly. "When was he last here?" The bartender put a hoof on his chin in thought. Daring began to worry that he was going to charge her. Thankfully, for his sake, he was feeling generous that day. "Hm. I'd have to say about...a month ago?" said the bartender as he pointed to Thorny. The yak nodded his head. "Black yak challenge big blue pony to arm wrestle." "And I lost a lot of money." said the bartender. "I honestly didn't think he had a chance against Thorny." "Is he still here?" asked Daring, trying not to let her desperation show. "Nah." said the bartender as he shook his head. "He was only in Vanhoover for a week. He was just here to let that famous singer sister of his do a show here." "Where was she touring next?" "Heard she was going to Ma-" "POLICE!" The trio along with everypony else in the bar turned their heads towards the entrance. Three guards clad in arrow-proof vests were standing there, each one holding up his badge. Daring's mind raced. She knew what was going to happen next. "WE'RE LOOKING FOR A TAN MARE BEARING THIS CUTIE MARK!" shouted one of the guards as he held up a piece of paper with a drawing of her cutie mark. Daring internally cursed. Foam had somehow willed himself to wake up even though he should've been out for at least a day and a half...or dead. Even then, how did they figure she'd be at a shady bar on the outskirts of town? Daring mentally face-hoofed. Right. If you want to find a shady character, you check the shadiest of spots first. Thankfully, the lighting in the bar wasn't all that great. It would be maybe another three seconds before they spotted her, and perhaps another second before somepony in the bar pointed to her. This was ample time for her to think up a cacophony of plans. Her tactical mind re-created the bar and everything around her, almost rendering her omnipresent. Potential weapons were everywhere, ranging from bottles to hot cigarette butts. There were only three of them, so taking them out wouldn't be a challenge, but Daring wasn't a criminal that beat up cops. She was just a grave-robber. And maybe a high-class thief. And a killer! Stay out of the flash-backs. You'll confuse the readers. You're no fun! Duly noted...creep. Ahem Scrapping any plan that involved hurting or possibly killing the police officers, her mind instinctively thought up a better plan. Thorny, realizing that the picture wasn't him or anypony he cared about, had resumed drinking his beer. Daring smiled. It was time to have some fun. As quickly as she could, she swung her hoof to the left, smashing the lower half of the yaks bottle. The resulting momentum sent the splash of the icy cold liquid to Thorny's left, where a stallion sat with his back to him. The beer splashed against the stallion's back, freezing on contact. The stallion then emitted a shrill scream that could put any female singer to absolute shame. The scream was so loud, that another stallion who was sitting at a table close to them lurched, sending the contents of his mug into the air. His drink landed on the cream-colored stallion sitting across from him, who happened to be a well-known gang leader. The gang leader, shaking with anger and drunk, picked up his half-full bottle of whiskey and smashed it onto the table, splashing its contents on anypony sitting at the there. The entire table started fighting. Encouraged by the fight, another stallion in the bar smiled and felt it was a good time to try his left hoof on the stallion next to him. The blow hit the stallion hard, sending the bottle he was drinking careening towards the back of a confused yak's head. The bottle smashed into Thorny's head, drenching him in cheap wine. Thorny's single, un-patched, eye, bulged with anger. "BLACK YAK MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" shouted Thorny as he rose up and turned to face the rest of the bar, making the police officers flinch. Thorny charged into the direction he thought the bottle came from and sent a few stallions and a now smashed table into the air. One of said stallions landed on another table, smashing it and sending drink everywhere. "SCREW IT!" said one of the now dripping wet stallions as he stood up with a bottle. "I'M HAVIN' A BAD DAY ANYWAY!" And so the bar-fight began. "I hate you." said the bartender as he ducked to avoid another bottle of expensive liquor. To him at least. Daring chuckled and smirked, turning around to admire her handiwork. "Haters gone' haARGH!" The bartender was spared Daring's annoying quip when a grey police pegasus slammed into her side, pinning her to the floor. "I saw that!" shouted the pegasus as Daring struggled to get free. "You're under arrest!" Daring looked to her left and saw Thorny with two stallions in a choke hold. "HEY!" she shouted. "YA BIG, BLACK, CYCLOPS!" Despite the ruckus, Thorny's ears singled out her insult. He turned his head and saw Daring sticking her tongue out at him. He growled, dropped the two barely alive stallions, and charged for her. "Sorry." said Daring as she got her hind hooves underneath the confused pegasus's stomach. "Can't have you following me." With that, she pushed him off of her and into Thorny, obscuring the yak's vision. She rolled out of the way just before Thorny could flatten her and watched as he stopped abruptly and sent the pegasus barreling through the brick wall like a football would a stack of wooden blocks. She was barely able to get in a laugh before Thorny turned and saw her laying on the ground. Daring ceased her laughter immediately. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You." said Thorny as he gritted his teeth in anger. "You sucker buck black yak in testicles and fly away!" "And then I sent you that crate of Cold Bite as consolation." said Daring, smiling nervously. "...Cold Bite?" said Twilight, awestruck. "That stuff is LETHAL!" "So YOU send black yak secret stash." said thorny, stepping away. "Yep! Do you still want to kill me?" Thorny seemed to think about this deeply. He wanted to tell her that he needed surgery to fix his testicles after that day, but he was also thankful for the Cold Bite, seeing as the bar he frequented had been closed down at the city's recommendation. "Then black yak forgive you." "Really?" said Daring incredulously before catching herself and clearing her throat. "I mean...cool." After that, they just stood in silence for a while as Thorny stared at them. Twilight was trying to figure out what to feel at the moment. She just found out that this yak was hording an illegal substance that Daring had illegally procured for him which probably meant it was being illegally stored somewhere. She was the princess of friendship, but she needed to up-hold justice all the same. She also needed to up-hold peace, so she kept her mouth shut for the time being. She had a feeling Daring would explain later. "So what brings you here?" asked Daring, figuring a little small talk would help pass the time. "New counselor say black yak should visit peaceful Pony town." said Thorny. "Counselor say it would help calm black yak down." "Has it worked?" "Black yak take anger management classes here. Now, instead of beating ponies up for offensive racial slurs, black yak handle matter by civilly suing ponies in court of law!" "That's...nice?" "Black yak learn true meaning of friendship. Black yak leave to travel world in hopes of aiding those who suffer from short temper! Black yak get famous!" said Thorny, shaking his hoof in front of him. "Why do you keep referring to yourself as 'black yak'?" asked Daring, unable to bear it any longer. She wrote books after all. "Isn't your name Thorny?" "NO!" said the yak angrily, causing Daring and Twilight to flinch. "THAT NOT BLACK YAK'S NAME! BLACK YAK HAVE NO NAME!" "So why did the guy at the bar call you Thorny?" asked Daring, causing Thorny to snort. "Black yak get nick-name after last big break-up. Ex go spreading rumors and ponies start calling black yak strange name!" "Oh...so, should we ever meet again, what should I call you?" "Anything but Thorny!" "Ok." said Daring as she put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "So....can I call you-" "No." With that, they could hear the trainr far off in the distance, drawing everypony's attention. To Twilight and Daring's surprise, it was a normal looking train. You'd think that transporting a dangerous creature would warrant some kind of defensive precautions, but...maybe it didn't. "That is the train right?" asked Daring, keeping her eyes TRAINED on it. Oh, you're hilarious. Your mother. As the train pulled up to them and stopped, Twilight scanned it for anything out of the ordinary. Other than it being only two cars long, there was nothing. Almost. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but something felt off. She could sense the presence of many powerful and familiar energies. "I...don't know." said the alicorn as she looked through the windows. Ponies could be seen sitting down inside, but there were no guards...or any weird bi-pedal boy. "She said the next train...right?" asked Daring as she stepped closer. No sooner, the door to the second car slid open. As the ponies filed out of the train, she saw no guards or the boy who she was tasked with watching over. Just your average, normal-looking, background ponies. "OW!" Twilight and Daring looked up to see a purple pegasus mare rubbing her head like she'd just hit something. This was odd, because there was nothing in front of her or around her for her to hit her head against. Annoyed, the pegasus mare waved her hoof in front of her as if to check for something. When she felt nothing, she shrugged and kept flying passed, her eyes darting around her for whatever she hit. "Package for princess Twilight Sparkle?" yelled a stallion as he and a slew of other stallions exited the train. Confused, Twilight walked up to the stallion. "A package?" said Twilight, causing the stallion to nod. "Yep." said the stallion as he gestured to the inside of the train where a large box was sitting. It was bigger than her, almost too big to fit in the train. "Princess Celestia asked us to personally carry it to the castle for you." "Carry it? Why?" asked Twilight as she gestured to her horn. "I could probably carry it myself." "Well, due to the package's other-worldly qualities, it can't be carried with magic." "Other-worldly-....Oh." said Twilight, her eye's widening in realization. "Other-worldly." "Other-worldly." repeated the stallion calmly with a nod. Twilight winked at the stallion to communicate her understanding, but to other ponies, it just looked like she was affirming a date or a "fun night" in secret. "Alright Da-" began Twilight, only to have a mustard colored hoof jammed into her mouth. Daring gestured to the surrounding ponies with her eyes before withdrawing her hoof. Twilight smiled sheepishly. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Listen miss,” said Backbone calmly after exhaling to calm his agitated nerves. “I’d like to help you, but I can’t.” “Liar!” shouted the old mare, speckling his face with old spit that smelled of prunes. “The sign outside yer shop says you can fix anything!” “Mrs. Smith, it MELTED. I can’t fix it!” “Nonsense!” said Granny Smith as she pointed to the hardened metal blob on the counter that used to be the engine to the Apple family’s lawn-mower. “All’s ya gotta do is smelt it back to the way it used to be.” “Wha-” “I’ve seen mechanics do it before. Now get ta smeltin’!” Backbone’s face contorted into unfathomable confusion as Granny Smith turned around and headed towards the front entrance. “I expect it to be fixed by ta’morrow!” said the old mare as she opened the front entrance. “That’s impossible!” said Backbone, snapping out of his irritated stupor. “Oh?” said Granny Smith, stopping half-way out of the door and feigning thought with a hoof to her chin. “Maybe I’ll send AppleBloom and er’ friends over-” “NO!” shouted Backbone, his face now a lighter shade of blue. “One o’clock! Tomorrow afternoon!” Granny Smith acknowledged his word with a satisfied nod before gesturing to the large red stallion who was standing by the door chewing on a piece of grain, whom we all know is Big Macintosh. If you don’t, how did you even get here? “C’mon, Big Macintosh. Let’s leave im’ to it.” Big Mac nodded and followed his grandmother out of the shop, leaving Backbone with his head in his hooves. There was no way he would be able to fix the engine. He’d only succeeded in kicking the can a foot down the road. He could already imagine the Cutie Mark Crusaders dancing around his molten-metal covered body while chanting that accursed dirge. Well, there was one way out. He could convince to the mayor to lock the three away in a mental asylum. It was obvious that they were insane. True, they were only foals, but there was a very fine line between foalish and down-right psychotic. No, these were not your ordinary foals. Some time ago, they’d managed to spike his drink and sedate him before tying him up putting him on their make-shift operating table. Fortunately, despite them emptying a whole bottle of sleeping pills into his drink, he was awake enough to feel that first, long, deep, incision down his stomach. They’d used a machete. A freaking machete. A SHARPENED one at that. After screaming and breaking out of the chains they’d bound him in, he ran all the way to the hospital while trying to literally keep his intestines from falling out. He tried to tell the doctors what happened, but you can imagine what the doctors thought once he told them he’d been kidnapped by three foals who had tried to cut him open like a Cornish, game, hen. The drugs in his system didn’t help his case, so they wrote him off as a suicide attempt that had hallucinated and hurt himself on accident. Then the three fillies showed up and confirmed the story as true. They told them that Backbone was sick, and that they were trying to help him. He’d been complaining about a stomach ache for days, so they figured they’d do surgery and discover the cause of it. Lies. Those fillies were trying to kill him. They’d told everypony they had used a sharpened machete because of how thick Backbone’s hide was. Yep, those fillies were smooth. He’d have to be smart to prove it to the town. But first, he needed proof. Something that confirmed that they were insane, or, the most likely option, hell-spawns from Tartarus. He couldn’t have been their only victim. Maybe someone close to them would know somethi- “Sorry about that.” said a deep, familiar voice, breaking Backbone’s train of thought. He looked up to see big Macintosh staring at him with those emotionless, bored half-circles he called eyes. Backbone merely stared back at him with a similar expression, but instead of boredom, his eyes were angry and strained with fear. Backbone’s glare sharpened as he pointed a hoof at Big Mac. “You.” said Backbone in an icy tone before pointing to the melted engine in front of him. “What...happened?” Big mac cringed as he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Shoot!” said Big Mac as he got off the lawn mower and opened the hood. Smoke billowed out, causing him to cough and wave his hoof. “Just got this thing.” “Hey! Big Mac!” said the familiar voice of a tiny dragon. Big Mac turned to see Spike running towards him with his cute little reptilian feet. Big Mac merely acknowledged him with a friendly nod before diverting his gaze back to the lawn-mower. “Need help with anything.” Big Mac pondered the question for a minute as he stared at the smoking engine in front of him. “Nnope.” “Oh.” said Spike dejectedly. “You sure?” “Eeyup.” said Big Mac with a nod. “Rats! Nopony needs help with anything today. Rarity’s doing hair, Applejack practically ran away from me, Fluttershy tried to smother me with love, I couldn’t keep up with Pinkie, Raibow Dash is away, and Twilight doesn’t need help with anything today. It’s frustrating! There’s nothing to do-” Spike trailed off when he finally saw the plume of smoke rising out of the lawn Mover’s engine. Without another word, and to Big Mac’s surprise, he hopped up onto the lawn mower and inspected the engine. “Hm. I’ve read a few books about engines.” said Spike. “I think I can fix this!” “That’s okay Spike-” “Yeah, a weld on that lose pipe should do it!” “Spike-” “I can finally try out that new concentrated fire-breathign technique I’ve been working on!” The little dragon took in a large gulp of air. Soon afterwards, his cheeks began to glow a bright orange color. “Wait!” shouted Big Mac, but alas, he was too late. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Backbone shook his head hopelessly. “Eeyup.” said Big Mac with a nod. “I reckon you won’t be at tonights card game?” “Yeah.” said the mechanic in a disappointed tone. He and Big Mac had become acquaintances one day when they met at a trad-off. It was a very short conversation. They happened to be standing next to each other while watching two other guys play a game of cards to determine who would trade for an item. Backbone said something out loud about how they could’ve been better at it. Big Mac heard it and looked at him. Then he invited Backbone to play cards with him and a few other stallions later in Ponyville. So now, whenever Backbone is in town, he gets together with Big Mac to play cards...and loses every single time. Bragging, rather intentional or not, always leads to humiliation. Backbone leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling in thought. He’d definitely lied to Granny Smith. She’d come back tomorrow and find the engine just the way it was. Then she’d call that little demon spawn and her friends would appear behind him with a machete. Then he’d probably die. Or worse. She’d send Applejack. The mare had never tried to physically force herself on him, but that’s what really scared him. That could change whenever she wanted. So Backbone thought of other plans. Maybe he could skip town? He was sure Daring wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t like she was crazy for him or something. Hopefully. Last thing he needed was for her to turn yandere on him. He’d seen what she could do with a blade, and that alone was enough reason to stay far onto her good side. He decided not to skip town. “Say, Big Mac.” “Eeyup?” “You’re friends with Twilight right?” “Eeyup.” “And she’s good at magic right?” “Eeyup.” “You think she could um...magic this engine back to the way it was?” Big Mac put his hoof to his chin in thought. Then, hearing a cacophony of footsteps outside the store, he turned to look out one of the stores window. The purple princess of friendship could be seen galloping passed with a bunch of stallions and hooded figure. The stallions were carrying a large box. “Reckon you could ask her yer’self.” answered Big Mac before pointing his hoof out the window. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “You always sweat this much?” asked Daring warily. Twilight, beaming with a fake smile that would put a celebrity to shame, shakily turned her head to face Daring. “No.” answered the alicorn as she waved at a few ponies passing them by. “You really need to calm down.” “Calm down?” whispered Twilight, her expression defying the massive amount of ice in her tone. Her face reddened with anger, but she remembered Cadences relaxation exercises and calmed down before she could blurt out something that would bring even more attention to themselves. “You’re right. I should just relax.I should forget that we’re carting a creature through town that’s basically the equivalent of a walking, breathing, schizophrenic, atomic bomb.” With that statement, Daring cringed and felt the weight of her actions once more. Backbone often got into trouble trying to hang with her, but that was his fault. He’d gotten himself involved with her on his terms. He’d literally asked for it. But now... She watched a group of fillies and colts rush passed them, playing catch. Daring shook the thoughts away. “Hey!” said a familiar voice Daring instantly recognized. She, Twilight, and the stallions from the train turned to see Backbone rushing out of a building. The stallions appeared to take defensive stances, making Backbone slow down to a stop. He recognized Daring in her ridiculous disguise. She was making zipping gestures by her mouth to indicate the very obvious fact that she was in incognito. Noticing Backbone’s apprehensive state, Twilight spoke up. “It’s ok. He’s with her.” With that, the stallions ceased their defensive stances gave him a nod. It kinda freaked Backbone out, since they looked like a bunch of rough construction workers and sea-stallions. Their movements instantly set off a familiar feeling within him, but he had more pressing matters. “Princess Twilight Sparkle,” stated Backbone as courteously as he could. “I need your help.” “Oh?” said the princess of friendship, eager to solve a friendship problem again.”What’s the problem?” In response, Backbone let the molten engine slide off his back and onto the ground with a heavy thud. “You think you could uh...fix this?” Twilight looked at the metal glob blankly. So it wasn’t a friendship problem. Didn’t matter, She still enjoyed helping. But first things first. “What is...it?” she asked. “It used to be an engine. I can’t fix it with anything I have.” A snicker could be heard from one of the stallions, but Backbone couldn’t figure out which one. They all looked like they were made of stone. They might as well have been dead. “Oh.” “I think I heard somewhere that you’re really good with magic?” “Um, yes. Many ponies believe that, but I only specialize in controlling it. Although I’ve read a few books on engines, I’m fairly certain the only thing I can fix is a door.” “Oh.” said Backbone dejectedly. But before he could start thinking about seriously skipping town, a dark-green, unicorn, stallion with a worn, gray, bandanna tied around his head stepped forward and raised his hoof. “Yes?” said Twilight, noticing him. “Permission to speak your majesty.” said the stallion in a deep, raspy, scotland accent. Twilight, not used to this, had a brief brain fart before responding. “Permission granted?” With a nod, the stallion turned to Backbone. “If ya’d like, I could fix it for ye.” “Really?” said Backbone, a gleam of hope in his eyes. “Sure. I specialize in usin’ me magic to fix all things mechanical.” After stating this, the stallion turned and pointed to his cutie mark. It was just a picture of a cog, but the way it was positioned made Backbone cock his head. It looked oddly familiar to him, but he neglected to stare. He was a stallion after all. “Oh,” said Backbone with a nod. “Sweet! How much?” “No cost.” said the highlander with a shake of his head. “I just want to speak with ye’ when we reach the castle.” Backbone eyed the stallion wearily. Here was some random guy offering to do the impossible basically for free. If that wasn’t shady, he didn’t know what was. It wasn’t like he was Daring though. Now her, SHE had a lot of enemies. He had maybe a few. Most of which probably included the families of the birds he accidentally shredded with his choppers while riding his airship. Thankfully, Daring had dealt with pretty much anypony that was out for his head. After thinking it over, he shrugged and trotted over next to Daring. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. Besides, if anything happened, he was sure Daring would help him out. He’d still probably get shot or something, but he’d be okay with her around. If he even needed the help. He and the group then began their trot to the castle. Backbone waved goodbye to Big Mac as the farmer was leaving his shop. “You started a business here?” asked Daring quietly without turning her head. “I told you I was gonna do something.” said the mechanic. “Can’t just sit around enjoying Celestia’s income.” “About that,” said Daring even quieter as she eyed the stallions and Twilight. “That doesn’t seem a bit fishy to you?” “What’re you talking about Daring?” “I know her sister blasted your ship and nearly killed you and sister, but free income?” “She can do that.” “Nothing is free Backbone.” “Not even FREE income?” “Not even free income.” ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Have you ever unwrapped a gift? Just from looking at it, you get chills. Of the good kind. There could be anything inside, ranging from a new game console to a stupid sweater inside a game-console shaped box. Or a bomb. That’s probably happened alot and simply never been on the news. That’s kind of how Daring and Twilight felt, only they got the bad kind of chills. The kind of chills you might get if you were about to open up a crate containing a lion that was being eerily quiet. Daring certainly wished it was a lion. She’d tamed plenty of those in the past and had actually been put into the record books for the most lions tamed in eight minutes with a whip. Others had tried, but let’s just say they never made it into the record book. But this was no animal. Maybe. She didn’t really know. It seemed to act like one at least. If it were intelligent, she hadn’t heard it speak yet. And that bugged her. The whole walk to the castle, she didn’t hear a peep out of it. Not a sound. Once inside the castle, she was afraid they were going to open it up to discover that it wasn’t there. Cause that would be great. Nothing like a loose trans-dimensional potential harbinger of death running around the place to spice things up. Like that hasn’t happened to Ponyville before. A chalk-white stallion stepped forward in front of the other worker stallions and turned to face them. “Alright!” shouted the stallion . “FORMATION!” In response, the other worker stallions set down the box and positioned themselves around it, encircling it.. “Lieutenant!” shouted the stallion once more. “Disguises!” With that, one of the worker stallions’s horns began to glow a bright grey. Then slowly, the air around all the worker stallions began to shimmer and become fuzzy. Twilight and Backbone watched in awe as Daring merely stood there, looking as bored as ever. In a sizzling plume of smoke, the disguises were gone. Now, in place of a bunch of tough, haggard loooking, worker stallions were over a dozen heavily armored royal day guards. With spears. And crossbows. They even had shot-guns strapped to their backs. Remember when I said it was illegal to carry guns in Celestia’s kingdom? Yeah, so this came as a huge shock to twilight. . Daring didn’t really care that much. She knew the guard had guns stashed away for a rainy day, and she definitely wasn’t unfamiliar with them. The only thing that bugged her was why. Any unicorn guard didn’t need a gun to do what their horns could do better. I mean, think about it. Would you rather take a bullet or a laser blast hot enough to go through you faster than a gallon of eggnog would a lactose person? Did I mention that most offensive spells explode on impact? The large crate had also been under a disguise. It now looked like a large, steel safe without a dial and a few holes in it for breathing. It kind of explained why they needed more than one stallion to carry it. It also explained why the ground shook when they set it down after arriving. It had a large door in front, but there didn’t seem to be anyway to open it. It lacked a knob or lever to unlock it. Captain Shining Armor, who was was now standing in place of the chalk-white stallion who was barking orders, also had a gun strapped to his back to horrifically complement his shield and spear. Twilight didn’t like guns. Most ponies didn’t. Unicorn blasts, although powerful, could be set to stun at the users preference. Because of this, ponies found little purpose in creating stun guns. In fact, ponies felt there was no purpose in creating them at all. The only reason they existed was because earth ponies wanted a way to defend themselves if need be. They even had strange properties that ignored magic, since the ammunition was made using a mineral not on any periodic chart she'd seen. Guns were only made to kill. Having one meant you were planning to take somepony’s life and whatever relationships their life consisted of. It was just plain wrong seeing her brother holding one. “READY!” shouted the captain. “AIM!” The guards each took out their weapons and took aim at the box, rearing up on their hind hooves in order to properly position themselves. Even the unicorns. Why couldn’t they just levitate them? Why were they preparing to use lethal force against the creature? Twilight had dealt with many bad ponies in the past, but none of them ever required lethal force. Sure, there were the changelings, but even through a full-scale attack, none of them were killed. Sure, they might have just barely managed to limp home, but they were fine. She’d never solved a problem using lethal force. She’d never had to. Why was that changing? What made this situation so different? Sure, the thing might be powerful, but so was Discord. If he got out of line, he was imprisoned, and according to what she’s learned, so was this boy. Why couldn’t they do it again? She watched in horror as her brother aimed his gun at the box. He seemed so natural with it, as if he’d been training for decades. The intense look in his eyes didn’t help the situation either. His horn began to glow a light purple. Shortly afterwards, Twilight, Daring, and Backbone found themselves encased in a purple shield. “Open it.” commanded Shining. With a nod, two unicorn stallions walked up to the front of the steel box and their horns began to grow. Daring could hear the locking mechanisms begin to slide out of place from within. She watched slowly as the unicorns also used their horns to slowly lower the door down to the floor. Inside was the creature she’d liberated from the Everfree. He was just standing there, his hands and feet bound in some kind of magical, glowing rope. He was now dressed differently, wearing blue jeans and a gray long-sleeve shirt. Guess she got sick of seeing him wearing clothes that were more blood than fabric. said the chrome figment of Daring’s imagination as it approached the boy. How ya’ doing old pal! Old roomie! The boy’s eyes darted from left to right. He became acutely aware of all the weapons that were aimed at him at the moment and took a step back. Like any sensible person would. “It’s ok kid.” said Shining, lacing his words with kindness despite the gun he was still aiming at him. “This is just a precaution.” The boy just stared at him. “If YOU don’t mean us any harm,” said the captain, pausing and giving the boy a fierce glare. “WE won’t mean YOU any harm.” he finished in a cold tone his sister had never heard him speak in before. Unbeknownst to everyone but the captain, the boy’s bindings had been tightened with those words. Unbearably so. If one were to be close enough to the boy, they would be able to hear the magical bindings as they tightened around his wrists, nearly crushing them as a boa-constrictor would a foal’s neck. Despite this, the boy showed no signs of pain or discomfort. The boy nodded in understanding, his face as blank as ever. Shining armor nodded back, as if agreeing to some pact. Then his horn began to glow and the boy’s bindings disappeared into thin air. Almost as quickly as they vanished, Shining’s demeanor changed back into it’s happy, patriotic state. Didn’t lower his gun though. He’d also disabled the shields he’d casts on Twilight, Daring, and Backbone. Or so one might think. The shields were still there. It just didn’t look like it. His talent was using defensive spells, and in extension, modifying them. To him, it was the oldest trick in the book. He’d used the tactic with Celestia when she was dealing with decidedly untrustworthy delegates from even more untrustworthy continents. He’d pretend to dispel a shield on the princess and let a delegate get close to her to shake on some binding agreement or something. It was then that they could decide if the delegate could be trusted without the princess actually being in danger. This time was no different, only the delegate was from another world. Or dimension. Or even Tartarus itself as some of his comrades had been saying among themselves. “Alright, kid. You may now meet the good ponies you’ll be staying with.” The boy’s eyes veered over to Daring, catching her off guard. Nothing seemed to have changed about him other than his clothes. His eye’s were still devoid, black, pools of the unknown. She looked away from him and nudged Twilight. Used to being the one that has to step up in situations like this, she put the thoughts her brother and his guns to the side and stepped forward. “Greetings.” said the Alicorn with a kind smile. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” The boy just stared at her without answering, making the pit of nervousness in Twilight’s stomach begin to bubble even more. Did he not speak equestrian? Had she said something wrong? Or was he just a jerk? “He can’t talk.” said Daring. “Oh.” said Twilight. She chose not to ask why so as to not look pushy. Which was ironic given the circumstances he was being put in. Not being prepared for this, Twilight thought up a plan B to keep things moving. “So,” said Twilight as she slowly turned to face Daring. “Going to introduce yourself?” Daring sighed, knowing it was an order addressed as a question. She looked around the room cautiously. They were in the main room of the castle, just beyond the front door. There were many windows and aside from the ponies inside and a few furnishings, the place was empty. Oh, stop it! exclaimed the chrome figment. There aren’t any rainbow haired fan-girls anywhere nearby and I’m sure your ridiculous disguise isn’t fooling anyone. Irritably, Daring flung back her hood and took off her shades. She and the kid had already met, but she doubted that tying him up to the mast of a ship counted as a proper introduction. After a brief pause that mostly consisted of her struggling to make steady eye-contact with the kid, she went for it. “Um..hello. You may remember me from before. And him.” she pointed at Backbone. He didn’t react though. He was standing stock-still, staring intensely at a guard standing across from him at the opposite end of the room. Paying it no heed, she continued. “We, uh...tied you up to the mast of the ship we were flying. I apologize for that and anything bad that may have happened to you afterwards, seeing how this is all technically my fault. Anyway, that’s all in the past. If you don’t mind, I’d like to start anew.” “My name is Daring Do. I’m an adventurer. I don’t know if you have those wherever you come from, but it means that I-” Rob dead people’s graves. “Procure...dangerous old and powerful artifacts in order to keep them out of the hooves of somepony that may wish to use it for selfish gain or evil.” Oh? I thought you got fired. Daring gritted her teeth. “I was recently...suspended from my duties in order to...I guess take care of you.” And to apply the ever stinging salve of righteous discipline that Sun-Butt slapped onto your posterior! “WOULD YOU-” Twilight and even a few guards turned in acknowledgment of the former adventurer’s outburst. Fortunately, Daring was able to quickly calm herself down before they could see her fierce expression. She began to sweat as she felt all of them staring at her. “Sorry.” she said, thinking of a play-off. “Just got out of the hospital a few days ago. Jaw still flares up in pain sometimes. Anyway, I was going to ask if you would...uh...mind sticking close to me in...the coming days! Yeah. You’re technically a relic yourself, so you kind of fall into my specific range of talents. So it’s also kind of my job to look after you and keep you out of harms way. Or,” she paused as she chose her next words. “From what I’ve heard, keep harms way out of YOU.” At this, she just barely catches the kid flick his eyes to the floor before he looks back at her. “So I guess you could say that I wasn’t technically fi-...SUSPENDED...from my career. I just made a poor decision while on duty, and like any good employee, I have to clean up what I mess up.” So you’re implying that he’s a mess to be cleaned up? Classy. Daring’s eye twitched. Oh, the things she’d do if he wasn’t a figment of her imagination. Ahuizotl may be a creep, but she’d picked up various torture ideas from her many encounters with him. Real sick stuff that works on any creature. “So, um...that’s about it. We’ll be living in this castle, so if we ever get separated, just try to make your way back here or find Twilight. She may seem a bit odd,” “Hey!” “But I can assure you that she has nothing but your best interest at heart. I mean, I do too, but...you get the point.” And that was all. Daring hadn’t come prepared to give a speech. She hadn’t come prepared for any of this. It just all seemed to happen so fast. She didn’t even really feel like she was there. She felt detached. She’d just been fired a few days ago and had a spike driven through the path leading to her life’s goals. It felt like she’d had a spike driven through HER, and she was numb from blood loss. She felt empty, like a body without a soul. Odd. She could recall thinking the same thing of the kid when she looked into his eyes. “Do you understand her?” asked captain Armor. The boy quickly nodded in response. It bothered Shining how compliant he was being. Most of the time, being locked up in a metal box and threatened with your life would cause a spike in spitefulness. “Very well then.” said Shining as he finally holstered his weapon on his back and got back onto his hooves. “You can come out now.” The kid hesitated slightly before beginning to slowly walk out of the metal box and down the ramp that doubled as the door. Daring watched him closely as he walked out and to her, instinctively expecting him to lounge at her or something. But he didn’t. He just walked over to her and stood by her side, staring blankly in front of him. The way he walked was very odd. It was like his body and mind were on auto pilot, just a tangled mess of sensors and instincts. “Alright, stallions!” shouted Shining. “You know your patrols! 24 lookouts, six shifts! We need a perimeter set up four hours ago! Remember to keep sharp and be ready to act at any given moment! We can’t afford any horse-playing!” Ha! “Dismissed!” With that final word, the troops began to file out of the front entrance, donning their construction disguises once more. Only one of them stayed besides captain Armor. It was grey stallion with a bandanna, a black goatee, and a golden chest plate as his only piece of armor. His cutie mar was a spiked gear with lit bomb fuse coming out of it. It was the same unicorn stallion Backbone had practically been glaring at the whole time. “You’re staying to help him with his problem?” asked Shining as he pointed to Backbone. “Aye, sir!” “Alright. Finish that and meet up with F in D at sundown.” “Aye, sir.” Nodding, Shining turned to his sister. “I’m guessing you want to talk to me?” Twilight looked at him as if he’d asked a stupid question. “Of course.” replied the alicorn irritably. Shining ran a hoof down his face. “Yes, of course.” he replied. “I don’t have time right now, but princess Celestia will send a letter tonight explaining everything.” “I thought guns were illegal? They go against everything I-” “The princess...will explain everything.” said Shining, holding up a hoof. Twilight definitely wasn’t satisfied with his non-answer. She was angry, but she was also anxious. Celestia might somehow explain why the guard had access to guns and why, but she probably wouldn’t outright tell her if her brother had needed to use them before. She remembered the deftness he had handling the gun. The look in his eyes when aiming...it made her afraid of the answer. It hurt Shining to see his little sister pondering over the matter, conjuring up possibilities and outcomes. She’d looked up to him her whole life. Despite having great power, Shining never abused it. He kept his ego in check and hated the thought of hurting another. She’d actually seen him cry when he stepped on a spider one day. He’d had a large impact on her view of the world and generally who she was. Now, she could’ve been doubting all of it. “Look,” began the captain, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “I’m the same big brother you’ve always known. I haven’t changed. You got that?” Twilight sighed through her nose and nodded after a long pause. Sure, he could’ve been lying, seeing as he’d obviously kept secrets from her, but if there was anything she learned from discord, it was that you should always give somepony the benefit of the doubt. “Ok.” said the alicorn, her tone letting him know that it wasn’t over. “Good. Thank you. When I get some free time, we’ll talk some more.” “Alright.” “Ok, then. I’ll always be close by in case something happens, but on the off chance that I’m not...” he paused, waving a hoof around like he didn’t want to say the next part. Cause he didn’t. “Use your new-found abilities to do what you need to do.” “You mean...ki-” “WHAT-EVER...you need to do.” said the captain, nearly regretting the commanding tone he had. Nearly. Understanding what he meant, Twilight nodded while looking at the floor dejectedly. One second, it’s peace and friendship without the use of violence. The next, it’s kill or be killed. It made her sick to the stomach. It was the opposite of what she believed in. Why? Deciding that there was really nothing more to say, Shining bid her farewell and left, making sure to give the kid one last, threatening, glance before shutting the door. Twilight stared at it for a bit before turning and walking away. She felt the need for someplace quiet to think. After Shining left, the remaining guard with the bandanna began to walk towards Backbone and Daring. Then he stopped, just a foot away from the mechanic. The guard was smiling like a guy who’d made someone realize just how stupid they were. “Bampot.” said Backbone, still glaring at the guard. The guard put on a hurt face. “Aye, come now! Friend’s call me Bam!” “Why do I give a frick? That’s the name your mom RIGHTFULLY gave you as a baby isn’t it?” “I’m sensing some history here.” said Daring. “And some resentment.” “Can you just fix my engine and go?” said Backbone, ignoring Daring. “But we’ve got so much ta’ catch up on mate!” “Backbone, who is this!?” asked Daring nudging him in the leg hard. The mechanic sighed. If he didn’t answer, she might do something violent. I wasn’t kidding when I said she’d handled most of his conflicts. “Remember when you said that nothing was free? Not even free income?” “Yeah?” “You were right.” “I know.” “Shut-up.” ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Backbone watched in amazement and slight anger as Bampot repaired the engine. He’d used his magic to heat the metal up until it was bright orange and as soft as clay. He then molded the engine back to it’s original shape, using the specs Backbone had given him about it’s make and model. Even the parts inside had been molded back to their original, functioning state. By the time he was done, you wouldn’t be able to tell that a little baby dragon shot a laser-beam at it. “There!” said Bampot with a confident smirk. “Good as new.” Backbone squinted his eyes at him angrily, as if to say that his magic still couldn’t trump his expertise. But it could. He snatched the three-hundred pound engine out of the air like it was made of cardboard before securing it to his back using a strap. “Thanks.” said Backbone regretfully, trying hard to keep his tone mellow through his gritted teeth. “Anything for an old mat-” “Now go away.” said the mechanic as he turned to walk up the steps. They’d gone into the basement of the castle at Daring’s humble suggestion. She claimed it was to keep the castle clean as far as visitors were concerned, but she had other reasons. It was big, empty, and secluded. The perfect spot to take out a corrupt guard without getting killed by other guards if it came to it. Remember kids! Paranoia saves lives! You’d know. Screw you. Bampot watched Backbone walk away from him, his cocky smile diminishing with every step he took until it was gone. He let out a sigh. “Ye’ know we’re not done here mate.” said the Scothoof guard. “Then get to the point!” said Backbone, turning around quickly. “Fine!” said Bampot, his face finally developing a tinge of irritation. “Just thought that since it’s been nearly ten years-” “If I were to have not seen you for a million years, it would be too soon. What do you want?!” “The princess,” said Bampot, holding up a hoof and closing his eyes. “Wanted to know if you could do her a favor in excahnge for the income she’s been sending you.” “What?” “She wants you to work with us.” “The guard?” “No. US. The team.” “You mean-” “That’s bloody right mate.” said Bampot, his smirk reappearing. “The whole bloody team is in town.” Backbone just stood there with his mouth slightly agape, not saying a thing. Daring waved a hoof in front of his face, trying to snap him out of it. His hoof suddenly came up and knocked hers away. “They’re all here,” began the mechanic. “But they sent YOU to talk to me?” Bampot sighed through his nose and shook his head, losing his irritated edge. “I was hopin’ I could apologi-” “No!” said Backbone, cutting him off and stepping up to him. He stared daggers into Bampot’s sorrowful eyes, daring him to continue, begging him. He didn’t. “I don’t really have a choice with this, but if I’m gonna do this,” Backbone tapped his hoof to Bampot’s chest and adopted an icy cold tone. “I don’t want you talking to me. I don’t want you to say a darn WORD to me! Got it?” Bampot stared back at him, his expression rivaling shock. And something else. Pain. Complying with Backbone’s wish, Bampot shut his eyes and walked around him toward the stairs. Backbone watched him, half expecting him to turn and say one last thing, but he didn’t. He just continued up the steps and out the door, shutting it behind him. Even after he’d left, Backbone just kept glaring up the steps, as if his glare could pierce through the wall. Daring walked up to him with the kid right on her heels, looking as confused and darting her eyes between the door and Backbone. She seldom saw Backbone get that angry at someone. He was usually a very calm guy. I mean, you’d have to be when hanging around Daring. Oh, look! You two have something in common. “What was that all about?” asked Daring, trying to ignore the chrome retard who appeared to be talking to himself. Backbone just shook his head in response and sighed before turning around and looking at the kid. “You hungry kid?” Without hesitation, the kid nodded. Daring was about to scold him for changing the subject, but then her stomach growled. “Fine, then.” said the adventurer as she and the kid walked toward the stairs. “Over lunch then?” ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Why aren’t the locals freakin’ out right now?” asked Backbone as he watched the citizens of Ponyville pass by the kid without a second glance. Some had even stopped to wave at him. “The ponies here have seen things Backbone.” said Daring. “Things that don’t even make any sense.” “So they just take it in stride now?” “Yep. Just like me. I think it’s a necessary part to maturing.” Backbone looked down toward the kid. He was looking around at the buildings and the ponies as they walked, unblinking. They’d occasionally pass one of the day-guards, whom would always stare at the boy intently, waiting for him to do something. “Don’t they know who he is?” asked Backbone. “If he’s as...memorable as Celestia has made him out to be, shouldn’t they be trying to kill him right now?” “All historical articles regarding him and his incident were either locked away or burned.” answered Daring, making sure to keep her voice low. “At least, the descriptions of him were. The event is still recorded, but all literature and folk-lore regard him as just a monster.” Realizing what she’d said, she looked down toward the boy. If it had bothered him, he wasn’t showing it. He just kept looking forward. “Can we talk about something else?” asked the mustard pegasus. “Like what all that was about back at the castle?” “I never agreed to do that.” “What? You’re leaving me in the dark?” asked Daring, putting on a hurt face. “I thought we were like a couple or something!” “Then let’s trade secrets.” said Backbone with an evil smirk. “Yours for mine.” Daring cocked an eyebrow at him, as if to test the water. “What do you wanna know?” she asked, not taking her eyes off of him. “Four years ago in the Ru’kua jungle. What happened?” Looking into it! said the chrome Discord as he literally shoved his head into hers, as if looking deep into a chest. Daring turned away and looked forward, her hood hiding her face. “The Ru’kua.” she repeated, her voice taking on an odd monotone. It was the primary domain of a slave ring, responsible for countless missing ponies reports across Equestria. Rumor had it that their camp was somehow concealed from view with a spell, making the guards efforts to locate it useless. Then one day they kidnapped a mustard colored pegasus wearing a pith helm who’d ventured too close. DAGH! screamed the chrome copy as he yanked his head out of hers, wearing a horrified expression. “I snuck out.” said Daring simply. “I know that!” said Backbone while rolling his eyes. “I’m talking about what happened to the camp.” “Oh.” “Locals tipped the guard off to the rising smoke. They ran into you on their way there.” “Right.” “When they reached the camp, all the slave-drivers were dead.” “A marauder band got to them. Burned the whole place to the ground.” said Daring with a shrug. She could see Sugar-Cube Corner in the distance. She desperately wanted to be there already. “They killed the other prisoners too?” “No. They...the slave-drivers killed them. Tortured them to death.” “Why?” “Because I was worth more than all of them put together.” “Oh.” said Backbone, looking away from her slowly. He didn’t say anything for a while after that, knowing how she felt. She'd been caught and it resulted in their deaths. She blamed herself. He decided to curve the conversation a little. “Well,” he began. “Whoever those marauders were, they gave those slave-drivers what they deserved.” “M-hm.” mumbled Daring as she kept her eye’s trained on Sugar-Cube Corner. It was close now. “From what the investigation stated-” “I thought you didn’t read the news?” interrupted Daring. “I have a sister you know.” said the mechanic while shaking his head. “She's famous and has connections with various reporters. We often talk about what they don't say in the papers. Anyway, from what the investigation stated,” Getting closer. “All of the slave-drivers had been killed gruesomely. Hacked to pieces by the looks of it. It was like they were fighting animals. They found bodies scattered far away from the camp in all directions.” Almost there. “Despite being armed to the teeth with guns,the slave-drivers had tried to run, but whoever was killing them wanted none of them to survive. They wanted to be thorough. And they wanted them scared before their demise. ” She could smell the baked goods inside. “And as for the leader, they could barely identify him. Had to literally put him back together once they found him.” Why did they vote to eat here? It was so darn far! “Based on the trail the guards found, they’d...hacked off his limbs as they dragged him half a mile away from the camp.” Just a few more yards. “Hacked off his cutie mark too. The guards followed the bloody trail all the way up to a tree.” Daring’s left eye twitched. “What they found though...it became clear to the guards that they were just getting started with him.” “HI!” Backbone nearly jumped out of his skin at Pinkie’s sudden greeting. She’d come out of no-where. Literally, she’d just popped up into his vision when they got a foot away from the door to her home. Right in his face. Daring, on the other hand, didn’t react. At all. In fact, she was still looking forward, staring hard at the door. Her hoof was out, about to to push it open. Even when pinkie suddenly popped up in front of shortly afterwards, she didn’t move. “And hello to you to-” Pinkie stopped, blinking as she stared into Daring’s eyes. "Oh~! Your eyes are all glowy’!” Daring still didn’t move. Noticing this, pinkie bonked her on the head a few times. “Hello?” said the pink pony. “Anyone inside that oh so mysterious cloak?” Daring blinked. For the first time, she noticed the big blue eyes practically staring into her soul. “Huh?” said the adventurer, backing up a bit. “Aw! They’re not glowing anymore!” “What?” “And just who might this little cutie be?” said the party pony as she...for lack of a better word, gravitated toward the kid. As usual with pretty much anypony that addressed him, he just stared up at her. “That’s uh...” trailed off Daring, starting to get her bearings. “That’s um...you know...the relic I found?” “Silly, I know that!” replied the party mare as she hopped backwards with her iconic bouncing sound. “What’s the little guy’s name?” Daring looked towards the kid, expecting him to look back at her and give her some sort of clue. But he didn’t. “I don’t know if he has one.” said Daring with a shrug. “Kid, what’s your name?” He just looked at her and shrugged. “You don’t know?” asked the adventurer with a raised eyebrow. “You know, as a writer, I find that highly unoriginal and annoying.” “Hmmm...” thought Pinkie as she held a hoof to her chin. She stared at him hard, obviously thinking about something. “What, Celestia never gave him a name?” asked Backbone, finally recovering from his minor heart-attack. “If she did, he’d remember it right?” replied Daring. “Can’t think of a good one right now.” said Pinkie, scratching the back of her head. “I wanted to call him Blackey because his eyes are so black but then I wanted to call him Snappy because it makes me feel funny if I look into his eyes for too long but I also wanted to call him Red because of his shirt but that’s silly Big Mac is red too so then I thought I’d call him Dusty because he’s like really old but he doesn’t look like it so I thought-” Daring put a hoof to her mouth, silencing the rambling mare. “I think we’ll just call him Kid for now. Is that fine?” Pinkie nodded. “Good. You won’t do that again if I take my hoof away will you?” Pinkie shook her head. “Good.” said Daring as she took her hoof away. “Thank you.” “Sorry.” said the pink mare with a giggle. “I tend to do that sometimes.” “Can you give us a fair warning before it happens again?” “Okie-dokie-lokie!” said Pinkie with a hop. “Now who’s hungry?”