Chapter Eleven: Distrust
Chapter Eleven: Distrust
After preparations had been made, Watcher, Techorse, Clyde, and Umbra had gathered at Umbra’s office to discuss in detail what is to come at Mount Chimera. Something Watcher wasn’t too keen on allowing the Princess to enter such a horrific place.
“I’m fine with Aura and Affinity going cause as Clyde had stated he’ll be needing more hooves to search, but Celestia going with them spells trouble, and you know that Techorse.” Watcher said, glaring at the stallion as Clyde sat silently in his chair, twirling his revolver.
“Watcher, I assure you it’s necessary for Celestia to go,” Techorse repeated, having already tried to reassure him earlier in the meeting, “she knows who the princesses are and what they were like the most. She may be able to find the new princess more quickly and save us time.”
“And also get captured and locked up!” Watcher shouted, groaning as he rubbed the ridge of his snout. “It’ll be better for her to remain here with Umbra. Last thing we need is trouble.”
“I get that you’re worried, but she’s got Clyde defending her,” argued the other stallion, “and besides that, have you even asked Celestia how she feels about this, or are you making all her decisions for her now?”
“Yeah, cause I want the guy ogling her almost all the time protecting her… No thanks. And it’s not like I don’t trust her… just… worried she’ll make a wrong decision… again,” Watcher explained, coughing slightly as everypony stared at him blankly.
“You know I’m one of the top ten bounty hunters in Equestria… I can keep the little lady safe while we search for this… make believe unipeg,” Clyde responded, placing his revolver back into its holster, “Trust me, she’s in good hooves.”
“Not inspiring confidence you know…” Watcher responded, but was quickly pulled into a tight embrace by Umbra.
“Now Watchy, you know you can’t tell a lady what she can and can not do… So unless you want me to cuddle with you right now in front of everypony, I suggest you stop trying to control the princess okay?” Umbra threatened as she batted her eyelashes at him.
He visibly recoiled from her, prompting Techorse to step up, “Look Watcher, I know it’s worrisome, but I promise Celestia will be fine on her own. You haven’t even seen the weapon I created for her yet.”
“You made Celestia a weapon? Hope you tested that,” Watcher answered, not being convinced.
“It has been tested, on another unicorn,” Techorse chuckled, “when you see it on her, you’ll be more convinced she can stand on her own. At least see it before worrying please?”
He hardly trusted the ‘infernal’ machines Techorse could come up with, and it wasn’t something he wanted to see, especially in Celestia’s hooves. Knowing her, she’d blow herself up with it and leave a smoldering crater where she once stood. Still, Umbra seemed unamused with his lack of trust in the situation, and getting any more unwanted affection was an equally bad choice to letting Celestia run wild.
“I… fine,” he finally said, “I’ll look at it. Maybe she’ll be okay.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Techorse, smiling, “you won’t regret it.”
“Probably will...”
“There’s still one more thing to go over, right Tech?” asked Clyde, nudging him about the even worse news to come.
He frowned in response, “Right… There is one more thing about this plan I’ve got to talk about. But we need the others, too.”
Taking a deep breath Watcher nodded his head. “I’ll fetch everypony.”
Outside the Mansion
Celestia wasn’t sure what the others were talking about exactly, but she had a feeling that it involved her specifically, given the fact that most of everypony’s eyes were on her. She wanted to go in and tell them that she was going to help find her student no matter the cost, but before she could do anything, a hoof grabbed hold of her shoulder, turning her head to see Aura by her side.
“Oh, Aura, you startled me.”
“Sorry, probably should have called out to you, but Affinity and I were waiting for you to meet us at the front gate, but you were taking a while so I came to find you,” Aura explained.
“Sorry, I was distracted… I’m honestly curious what they are talking about,” She responded with a hitch in her voice, something Aura was able to pick up on, “do you suppose this mission is a good idea?”
“Don’t be worried about the mission, you’ve got us!” Aura Lace comforted her.
“Think Watcher’s worried about us?” She asked suddenly.
“Pfft, he could care less if we died,” Aura answered thoughtlessly.
“Oh…” sighed the princess mournfully, “I just thought that… I don’t know, forget I said anything?”
Aura Lace immediately regretted saying what she had said, even in jest, but let her thoughts wander over to Techorse, who looked just about ready to speak up. He seemed to have some other kind of regret on his mind, but she couldn’t tell what.
“Hey Tech, you’ve got us all gathered here again, what’s on your mind?” she asked, getting his attention.
He stayed silent and nervous for a second, before Clyde insisted, “Go on. Tell them.”
Techorse scanned over the group with his blue eyes before drawing together all of his mental strength and taking a deep breath for what was to come next.
“I have to be honest with you all. This is an incredibly dangerous mission that we’re badly undertrained for,” he started, “it will be very hard to survive, even if everything goes according to plan and we use our weapons and supplies effectively.”
“We can always flee from the prisoners if things get too rough,” Affinity scoffed, “they can’t actually leave the prison after all.”
“No Affinity, that’s not what I mean,” insisted the inventor, raising the urgency in his voice, “the prison is not simply a cage for those prisoners. It’s their home.”
“You’re stalling, Techorse,” criticized Watcher, “and not making me feel any better about this.”
“Watcher, please!” pleaded Celestia, “Let him speak.”
“It’s okay, Celestia, he’s right, I’m not being direct enough,” answered the other stallion, holding a hoof up, “I’ll cut to the chase...”
After taking another breath, he continued, “Mount Chimera was populated as an experiment a long time ago, nopony knows by who or how. For some reason, a cult started among some of the residents, and they became cannibalistic. This leads to a level of organization, and a caste system within the prison… the hunters and their food supply.”
“If we die, I don’t think I’m going to care if something eats my corpse,” said Affinity, pushing up his glasses and trying to shrug it off casually, “so a cult is no issue.”
His friend shook his head, “That’s just it, Affinity, it is an issue. I know because… Clyde and I have been there before.”
Clyde stepped up, knowing he had to contribute, “And… somepony we cared about… died in that prison… and we could do nothing. Cannibals are just the tip of the iceberg as there are all kinds of notorious criminals, killers, monsters, you name it. When we go in there… and when you come out… you’ll never be the same again. So I’m asking all of you, if you want to help find this princess, then come with me, but you’ll lose a part of yourself… hopefully not literally.”
“E… excuse me?” asked Aura, ears drooping back.
Techorse blew a little air out of his snout and took over from Clyde again, “Clyde has a lot of emotion invested in our history with that prison, but I’ll make it a bit more clear. This prison is basically it’s own nation. This isn’t going to be a quest, it’s going to be a war.”
After a long silence, Affinity spoke up, “War? Well that’s nothing new. War by the Order took away our families and businesses. War took away our homes. If these ‘prisoners’ are in the way of what we need to stop the Order… then we’ll go to war with them, Tech.”
“Pfft… Well either way, try not to get cocky Affinity, I may not have experienced the horrors those two have, but I can tell you that this isn’t something to joke about… So I suggest you take my advice and actually consider everypony around you. Cause not everypony is the same as you,” Watcher explained.
“You watch your mouth, Watcher,” Clyde said, poking him with a hoof, “at least he’s invested in this. He’s lost things important to him, too.”
“And you should watch your tone cowboy… I didn’t say anything like that… He should be considerate to those around him… like his sister,” Watcher said, poking the shorter stallion back, “You better look after Celestia, cause if something happens to her or the others I will see to it personally you’re dealt with!”
“Like I told you before… She’s in good hooves. So you better be kind to my buddy,” Clyde responded, earning a firm nod from the large unicorn as he shoved past him, Clyde noticing his gaze was on Celestia for a brief moment before trotting his way to the front gate, “You better get going Techboy, don’t want to lose the big guy so soon right?”
“One last thing, Clyde, I have a promise to keep to Watcher,” he said, bringing the argument to an abrupt close, “hey, Celestia.”
“Yes, Tech?” she answered.
“Come on up, I’ve got some gear for you too,” he said, pulling out another one of his mysterious oversized briefcases from behind a nearby stone wall.
Celestia seemed curious, “Oh? For me?”
Techorse nodded and opened the latches on the briefcase using the robotic arms on his saddle, the case’s lid dropped away, and the ponies all peered into the foam-lined container to see what was inside. Celestia’s facial expression went from curiosity to joy very quickly as Techorse reached inside and brought out two matching pairs of ornamental gold shoes, just like the ones she remembered wearing so long ago. This time, however, they each had a single emblem on the front part that rode up the leg, a ruby gemstone fixed in the center.
“Oh… Techorse, they’re beautiful!” she cooed, “These are just like my old ones!”
“Oh for… shoes?!” Watcher groaned, “You made her shoes, Tech!?”
He wagged a mechanical finger, “Not just any shoes, Watcher. These armored royal slippers have a magic field continuation system inside of them, crafted on a microchip in each. Princess Celestia will be able to transfer magic energy to them to create small force fields and block incoming projectiles with them!”
Celestia raised her front right leg across her body, focusing on a barrier spell aimed at her hoof. A semicircular aura of golden energy appeared around the shoe, covering her entire front with defensive magical particles. Impressed, she dismissed the spell and lowered her hoof to the ground as gold sparks fluttered to the ground.
“Ahh, fashionable and functionable, just like my suit,” Aura said, wiggling her eyebrows, “are you sure you’re not a clothing designer like us, Tech?”
“Can’t say you don’t inspire me,” he answered softly, making Aura blush.
She stuttered, “Oh, I… you know what I meant.”
Princess Celestia had already taken her shoes and put them on, admiring their design as it was almost a perfect match, “These are so accurate! How did you know, Techorse?”
“The old storybook my parents read me had you wearing them, I thought you might like them back,” he said, chuckling, “and your reaction to them proves to me once again, you’re the Princess!”
“Some weapon,” muttered Watcher, rolling his eyes.
“Doubt they work, do ya?” asked Clyde.
“Oh no, knowing Tech they work, it’s just not a real weapon, it’s a shield,” he continued.
“You were worried about Celestia being safe,” reminded Umbra, “and these highly chique shoes will do that!”
“Tch! As if Celestia actually needs gadgets, you are forgetting she’s the fricken Goddess of the Sun.” Watcher stated, making his way towards the front gate of the mansion, his horn glowing as two saddle bags appeared beside him. The unicorn then slung them over his back and donned his cloak before turning away and running off. With a deep sigh, Techorse bid a quick goodbye to the others and after Watcher.
It was going to be a long mission...
Two Hours Later
It was difficult for the large unicorn to have to walk alongside the earth pony he distrusted the most, hardly able to consider the bounty hunter a friend. Watcher wanted nothing more than to make it to Whitetail Woods as soon as possible so that he could be over this and leave everything behind, especially Techorse. The perceived self-righteousness and self-importance made him want to puke, not to mention his continuous attempts to win over who he thought were his actual friends.
“We’re making good time,” said the stallion, “if we keep on this path we’ll intercept the quarry and be able to camp one night before heading for the mountain.”
“Don’t talk to me,” Watcher growled, feeling a pebble enter the frog of his hoof.
He raised an eyebrow in return, “Come on, Watcher, why do you have to be so annoyed by everypony? I don’t want to be out here either, but we have to if we want any chance of helping the princess.”
“Let me ask you something…” he started, stopping in place before turning around to face the shorter earth pony before removing his hood. “How long do you plan on hiding the fact that you're a bounty hunter… just like Clyde?”
Techorse stepped in front of him to force him to stop, which on the upside allowed Watcher to remove the pebble while he addressed him.
“I hid it from you because if I told you in the situation where we met, you would have immediately mistaken me for someone trying to poach the bounty on you,” he stated, frowning, “but since you aren’t aware… I’m not a normal bounty hunter. Money isn’t my king.”
“Pfft, yeah right! How else are you going to afford alllll that gear and metal you make for your gadgets? Last I checked bounty hunters are hired to do a job and make profit, am I wrong or has the term changed in the last decade or so?”
His companion looked hurt, but insisted on making him understand, “At this point, I think you’re just trying to say hurtful things because you find it fun, Watcher. Or do you actually want me to answer that question?”
“I already know the answer to that… no matter how you cut it, a bounty hunter helps if there’s something to get out of it,” Watcher stated clearly as he pulled his hood over his head and trotted past the shorter pony before looking up at the sky. “I get it… something happened to you awhile back and you decided to go in as a hired thug, but I know for a fact that wasn’t the right choice."
“Well, now I know you just like to say hurtful things,” Techorse answered after a momentary pause, a mix of anger and disappointment about him, “so I’m just going to tell you one more time. I became a bounty hunter because this war doesn’t bring enough of those creeps in the Order to justice. I’m only collecting the money to fund my gadget program, so that I can continue to hunt those war criminals down and see them face trial.”
“Hmm, well can’t say that life isn’t boring. Still, that’s not the correct path to take. I’m not interested in your sob story, so I’ll get to the point,” Watcher said, looking back and tilting his neck so that the vertebrae inside audibly cracked, “I am willing to work with you and I am even willing to give you a chance to prove yourself to me, which is why I agreed to us splitting up, besides personal reasons that is. However, not a single word to Celestia or anypony else about who you are or where you came from. Last thing we need is more drama in the group.”
“Prove myself to… Watcher, are you even listening to yourself?” Techorse said, almost about to burst out laughing, “Forget about it. I won’t tell the others unless they have to know, promise. You can at least count on me keeping my word, you know.”
“I don’t trust you… but you can try to earn my trust by the end of our mission. It’s a three day’s travel to Whitetail woods byt hoof, but we can probably get there by morning if we can reach the trainstation.” He explained, as the two stallions began to move again down the dirt road.
Incredible. He has absolutely no idea how the world works, Techorse thought, shaking his head, guess I’m glad I’ve got his back… he’s going to need it.
Further down the trail, the two heard noises that sounded like a faint call for help, plus some amount of yelling and colorful language. Ears attuned to that sort of thing, Techorse nudged Watcher and made him follow to investigate the noise. They came to a small campsite just off the beaten path, the place Watcher suggested avoiding for the evening in order to make good time. Carefully positioning themselves behind a nice chunk of stone, the two peered over to see what was going on in the dirt area meant for travelers to rest. In the center, a broken-down cart or drayman of some kind was being searched through by a group of gray-plumaged griffons, the damage to the cart’s wheels very obviously done on purpose. Techorse counted a total of seven of them, five looting the wagon, and two standing guard over their would-be victims.
“Please… this is all we have!” begged a mare in the bound group, she and her sister tied next to each other, “Don’t do this!”
“Aunt Sarsaparilla, are they going to hurt us?” asked a small voice next to her.
Watcher looked where Techorse was looking and saw him, a small colt just as tied up as the others. His brown coat with white spots reminded him of someone, although he couldn’t remember who. The poor youngster was fearing for his life, at an age where he should be safely in school.
“They won’t,” assured the other mare, hoping his mother would calm down.
“Just take the cargo and leave,” said one of three stallions in the group of captives, the griffons wisely taking extra care to restrain their horns with a set of inhibitor rings, “we just want to make it out of this, okay?”
“Shut the hell up!” shouted one of the griffons watching them in a squeaky voice, knocking the father upside the head, “You idiots didn’t pay us the toll we asked for, so we get to decide what happens to you even if we are taking the goods, got it?”
Techorse stared at the group, knowing the two griffons yelling at their captives were keeping watch, just not in their direction. He wasn’t sure if they planned to slaughter the family or not, although the cold of the coming night might do their job for them if they didn’t do something about it.
Watcher could see the proverbial gears turning inside Techorse’s head while analyzing the group, and whispered, “I know what you’re thinking, you green idiot, and the answer is no! N-O.”
“Seven aggressors, five unaware,” Tech whispered back, pretending Watcher wasn’t trying to get out of helping, “the best way to handle it is to pretend to be someone else who can be robbed, then let an accomplice free the captives before attacking.”
“I suppose one of us could try to distract a couple of them, lure them away into the treeline while the other frees the hostages?” Watcher suggested. “Either way, we’re gonna have to get our hooves dirty it seems.”
“We can easily avoid there being seven or more bodies,” Techorse answered back, voice not quite a whisper but still quiet, “just flank around back and untie the hostages. I’ll keep these guys busy by pretending to want to play along with their grift, that toll they mentioned. They’ll flee once we knock out one or two. They want easy targets.”
“Hmm… maybe, but I’m not entirely sure. I could try to distract them, but… when I was at the orphanage I was always picked on by a group of griffons. Even though I was the biggest there, they always attacked me no matter what I said or how I tried to reason with them. Besides, the last thing we need to do is make too much noise.”
“Y… you were an orphan?” Techorse asked, a heartstring clearly tugged, “Then try to understand, Watcher, if we don’t help... that little colt is going to be an orphan too! Just do what I asked.”
“Now I never said I wasn’t going to help, I merely suggested I would distract them… I always somehow draw them to me. We’ll go with your plan, but instead of you I’ll go while you free them.” Watcher explained.
Techorse knew his own distraction would be more effective since he had practiced it a million times on his own missions. However, perhaps this was a way to earn that ever-valuable commodity called trust from Watcher.
“You’ve got a good point, I should go free the family since I’ve got my gadgets to get those ropes undone faster. Let’s go with your version of the plan,” he said, smiling, “I’ve got a path planned out to the captives already, so good luck!”
The inventor started crawling through some nearby bushes to flank around to where he could get to the family unseen. This left Watcher alone, and sort of stunned that he hadn’t insisted on doing things his own way. With a deep sigh, he removed his cloak and set it by the nearby bushes before proceeding forward.
‘Let’s hope this works, last thing we want is to make too much noise and draw the Order in,’ Watcher thought to himself as he made his way towards the cart, pretending to mind his own business while whistling.
Right away, the two griffons watching the family saw him coming, and thought themselves extremely lucky, a smile of sorts coming across their beaks. They walked up to him, drawing their long combat knives and smirking.
“You lost, mister?” asked one of the bandits, his brown hood down on his cloak, “we’re very busy here, if you couldn’t tell...”
To try and be intimidating, the other avian licked the blade of his knife, which did nothing more than gross Watcher out.
“Ugh,” said the other robber, “how many times do I have to say not to do that? You’re going to cut yourself up, birdbrain!”
“Look,” answered the other bandit, putting his knife down, “point is, pony, we’re busy here. We’ll get to you in a bit, okay?”
“Really thought a couple of you would help me out here with directions,” Watcher asked, showing a fake smile.
“Suuuure, here’s some directions for ya,” chuckled the closer one of the two, “hand over about 120 bits of hard cash, and we’ll send you on your way. Unless you want to join these nice folks back here who were too cheap to pay up!”
The griffon looked back, and Watcher felt his heart race, but thankfully Techorse had yet to emerge from the treeline to go initiate his rescue. As much as the stallion wanted to destroy these two birds and get over there, he would have to keep them from looking there again.
“Are you gonna pay up or what?” asked the second bandit, pointing the knife right under Watcher’s neck, “This could be a lot easier if you just cooperate!”
“Hey now, no need to get your feathers ruffled… I have a spare satchel with my bits a little ways that way. You get your bits, I get my directions, everypony wins right?” Watcher suggested, chuckling a bit despite receiving a few glares from some of the griffons busy looting.
Techorse had finally decided to make his move, creeping out from behind a nearby oak tree. He had already deployed his saddle’s robotic arms, having equipped a surprisingly large bayonet in his right hand to cut the ropes with. Watcher gave a quick glance, trying not to blow his friends’ cover, but his facial expression twitched a bit at seeing the knife.
Where did he get that?! He thought.
“Hmmm, finally, a pony that knows how a damn toll road works,” laughed the first brigand, “fine, no reason for us to all go though. I’ll just help you with the money. My buddy here can go back to making sure these toll-skipping lawbreakers stay put!”
“No!” snapped Watcher before the other one could turn around and see Techorse approaching.
“Huh? Why not?” he asked, “Haven’t you figured out yet what’s going on, you moron? We’re in charge here.”
“I mean… I can pay double the amount they have to pay. I’m probably going to need a little help since it’s pretty heavy, even for myself,” Watcher said, surprising the griffons as all of them started grinning.
Now the bandits were suspicious, and one of them muttered to the other, “Hmm, either a trust fund kiddie, or we’re being had here…”
Come on Tech, hurry up!
Techorse reached the family, choosing the stallions first as they were the closest. The young pony spotted him, and was about to raise his voice, but Techorse held his left mechanical pointer finger in front of his lips. Thankfully the colt got the message and nodded slowly as the stranger worked to cut away his dad and uncles’ ropes. Once they were free, he whispered quietly to them to start preparing any kind of spell useful in knocking out the five renegades looting their supplies.
Watcher continued to play dumb to buy the remaining crucial seconds needed, “Look it’s clearly obvious you have the upper hoof so why would I lie?”
The first griffon wasn’t having it, and flipped his knife into a back facing position, ready to slash, “You’re just playing dumb, ain’t ya? There’s no way you don’t know what’s going on here. Pay up with what you have on hoof, or watch what this can do to your neck, pony!”
At this point, Techorse had freed the hostages, the family of unicorns having fully charged horns and primed to strike. The bounty hunter looked Watcher directly in the eyes, and then nodded casually with a big smile on his face.
Taking the hint, he also smiled, “Alright, let me just reach into my satchel then...”
Doing just that, he reached into his stachel before pulling out not a bag of bits but his hoof clutched tightly. Striking the griffon across his beak, he sent him crashing into two others, then the unicorn promptly lit his horn and shot a blast of magic at another griffon. Immediately the remaining opponents raiding the cart stopped and drew their weapons, stepping out from behind their position to attack Watcher with a set of crossbows. They heard a whistling noise, which was made by Techorse putting two metal fingers in his mouth and blowing hard, and turned to face it instead. What they found was a very angry and very much not tied up family of unicorns in a firing line, and the raiders immediately ate a wide variety of low-level fire, ice and electric spells, screaming in surprise and agony as they did so.
“Gah… you son of a… die!” shouted the last standing griffon, slashing wildly at Watcher’s neck with his dagger.
The stallion skillfully dodged the blade, but the bandit’s agility had permitted him to bring the knife back up in a stabbing position over his head, an angle he hadn’t anticipated. Just as he was about to bring the blade down, a beam of coherent light entered his hand, frying a hole through it and forcing him to drop the blade as the shock of the deep burn registered as pain in his nervous system.
“AHHHHHH!” he screamed, dropping to the ground and rolling with his taloned hand clutched at his chest.
Watcher looked behind the now writhing leader, and saw Techorse standing there with his lasers drawn, smoke pouring from one of the barrels.
“You could have hit me, you know,” he said blankly.
“Oh, um… I guess you’re right,” answered Techorse sheepishly, “I didn’t, though!”
“Hmph!” Watcher grunted as a smirk appeared across his face, his horn glowed a dark vibrant red as his hoof began to be surrounded by it. “Here’s that toll payment you’ve been asking for, bastard!”
Techorse could sense what was about to happen and called out, “Watcher, no!”
But he ignored him and struck him in the chest, putting the hapless griffon right through the bed of the broken cart. “If the rest of you don’t want me to pound ya into the ground, take your boss and get out of here! NOW!”
Seeing how the black unicorn’s eyes turned red with black slits sent shivers down the remaining griffons standing as they rapidly started flapping their wings and took off, leaving their unconscious boss behind.
“Geez, you’d think they’d at least care enough about their boss,” Watcher muttered as the red aura that surrounded his hooves vanished and his eyes turned to normal.
Techorse, just thankful that he hadn’t splattered the griffon in front of the young one, took a deep breath and stowed his guns away. All things considered, the plan had worked, and the hostages were no worse for wear, save the loss of their cart since it was now splintered from Watcher’s show of force.
“Thank you so much for saving us, strangers,” said one of the stallions, looking like he was about to cry, “I thought we were going to be slashed for sure!”
“No need to thank us… and sorry for the cart, we’ll be sure to have this guy tied up and have somepony help you get a new cart.” Watcher replied, almost smiling at them.
6:00 PM
Not wanting to stick around any longer then they needed to, Watcher and Techorse continued to move down the path to hopefully reach the train station. As it would be the fastest route to reach Whitetail Woods and make it back in time to help search for the missing princess. However, Watcher had a feeling that more trouble was heading towards them with everything that had currently transpired. It was only a matter of time before somepony more dangerous than a group of bandits came to kill them. The large unicorn couldn't help but look towards the sun setting once again as the light shined through the trees. It wasn’t everyday he got to look at a sunset, but he was quickly interrupted by the sounds of growling which he was all too familiar with.
"I take it you're hungry now?" He asked the inventor behind him.
"I don’t mean to complain at you, but the folks we helped offered to cook us a meal to thank us and you turned them down. Kinda rude to decline a dinner invitation, for future reference," Techorse replied in a low groan as he continued to trot behind his companion, "We've been walking quite a while now, so if we’re stopping, we’ve definitely earned it."
With a deep hum, Watcher began to wonder if making camp wasn't such a bad idea, but it'll take the two of them longer to reach the nearest train station and by their current pace, they'd make it by nightfall. It was hard to decide, but the unicorn had made up his mind as he faced his ally.
"It'll be another two hours until we reach the station. We can eat then, but surely you must have packed some snacks in those bags? Unless it's just a bunch of junk you couldn’t part from?" He asked, earning a cold glare from the earth pony.
"Ha! Well, luckily I packed some trail mix just in case," Techorse rebutted as he opened his saddlebag and pulled out a small bag only to find that there was no trail mix, but a small red breezie inside, chewing on what remained of a peanut in his little plastic bag.
"So much for that now." Watcher replied as a smirk formed on his face as Techorse gave the little breezie a deadpan stare.
"Scarlet!? What are you doing in my bag?" .
“Oh… um, s...sorry,” she stuttered, embarrassed in her gluttony.
“That was two pounds of snacks… how did you eat all of that trail mix without dying?” asked Techorse, more amazed than annoyed.
"My question is how did she get into your saddle? You have that on almost ninety percent of the time," Watcher wondered, "I guess those breezies aren't that hard to miss."
"I'm here because we discussed this remember? Or did you boys forget that I was even supposed to be here to help you?"
Techorse nodded, “Ah, that’s right… Clyde did mention sending one of the two with us on this mission. Just in case things went south, but what I’m wondering is how you got into this dork’s bag without anypony noticing, especially your twin sister.”
The little just shrugged as she flew over to Watcher and landed atop of his head and nestled into his mane, “Just go with it.”
“You're a strange one, you know that?” Watcher responded as he himself also shrugged as Techorse stowed the now empty pouch of trail mix into another bag.
Meanwhile
Midnight Blaze watched from a distance how Watcher and Techorse continued to proceed towards the train station. After what felt like an eternity, the blue unicorn wanted nothing more than to settle the score with the two stallions who injured him so badly and humiliated him in the process. However, he restrained himself from going after them immediately… everything was part of the bigger plan he had in mind. As of now, “preparations” for the two unknowing ponies were waiting for them at the train station.
“Amate? Have Celestia and her little band of misfits left the mansion?” Midnight asked, as the bounty hunter appeared from behind the treelines and gave a soft grunt.
Amate signaled to him that the Princess of the Sun was making her way over to Mount Chimera, and more importantly, that her party was going to reach the prison well before them given their own travel speed.
Midnight simply chuckled in response, “Oh, they won’t beat us there. Trust me.”
He wasn’t going to let them get the advantage in any way at all. The unicorn had already determined the location of the prison a while back after buying that information off of some of the Everfree City locals via his spies. In addition, all the magical materials and energy he had stolen from the unwitting donors he had ambushed would allow him to teleport himself and Amate to the prison directly. Of course, once they were inside, they’d have to wait a long time to gather enough magic energy to make another jump. It was a risk he was more than willing to take in the name of vengeance, however.
“I promise Watcher, we will meet again… and next time I’ll be reborn.” Midnight said, his horning glowing brightly as he and Amate vanished in a bright flash of light, transiting to the prison through the fabric of space.
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Oh crud! Twilight's going to be in big trouble with Midnight and his companion already there (I could be wrong since she has a deep reserve of magic in her).
Also, I'm grateful that Watcher and Tech rescued that family.