Mayhem On The Mountain

by Bluecatcinema

From Bad To Worse

Crack and his followers glared at the intruding group. The group showed varied expressions, with Survival worried, Fury annoyed, Aural shocked (mostly by Caboose’s destructive power display), Caboose sheepish, and Fletcher putting on a brave face.

“Okay, who the hell are you lot?” Crack demanded.

“I’m afraid we’ll be the ones asking the questions here.” Fletcher glared, an authoritative edge to his voice. He knew the situation they were in was not ideal, “If I am not mistaken, all of you are manufacturing Jade Jape, a drug that has been banned all across Equestria, correct?”

“What if we are?” Crack glared back, not backing down, “What’s it to ya?”

“Well, surely you must know that manufacturing and distributing an illicit drug is against the law.” Fletcher declared, “With the amounts here, all of you are looking at a hefty prison sentence. That being said, as Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, as well as an agent of the Royal Defense Legion, I’m placing you all under arrest!”

“Oh, yeah, that’ll win ‘em over.” Fury rolled his eyes.

“I had to say something, shush.” Fletcher whispered harshly back at him without looking.

“Oh-ho, ya getting this, guys?” Crack snorted, as a few of his fellow smugglers chuckled and sneered, “Yeah, ain’t gonna happen, buddy.”

“That wasn’t a suggestion.” Fletcher snarled, “Surrender now or-”

“-Or what?” Crack interrupted, “You don’t seem to grasp your situation here, ‘Captain’. This here mountain is considered sacred grounds. Now, I ain’t some politician or lawmaker, but I can tell ya that we are outside any of your fancy-pants jurisdiction.”

"I didn't know Fancypants was part of the Royal Guard." Caboose frowned in confusion, as he turned to Fletcher. "When did that happen?”

“Not now, Caboose.” Fletcher chided, as he turned back to Crack, “I am well aware of our location. But as you must know, we have been summoned here, courtesy of Master Mantra and the Wise Lotus. What more, the sacred grounds’ laws do not protect trespassers, let alone drug smugglers. So, want to try again?”

The drug smugglers’ sneers faded, as concern grew among them.

“Hey, Crack, these guys wouldn’t happen to be the ones that were called here, right?” A thug frowned.

“Can’t be. The boss said they were dealt with!” Another thug gasped.

“Well, clearly they didn’t do a good job.” One drug maker huffed.

“Shut up!” Crack barked, silencing them, “Even if they think they can arrest us, we got them outnumbered a hundred to five! And no help for miles! If they think they’re stallions enough, they’re welcome to try and take us!”

“He’s right, you know.” Survival murmured, “We’re at a serious disadvantage here.”

“Oh, please, we can take them.” Fury growled. “I eat chumps like these for breakfast.”

“Ooh, is that healthy?” Caboose winced. “Can’t imagine drug dealers make for a healthy diet.”

Aural stared at Caboose, before turning to Fury. “Is he… you know…” He whispered, “A ‘special needs’ pony?”

“No. As much as that would make sense, he is not.” Fury hissed.

“Stand your ground, guys. We’ve been in tougher situations.” Fletcher declared.

A tense stand-off ensued, neither side seemingly out to make the first move, each waiting for the other to try something.

Narco, having not left Crack’s side the whole time, was looking around nervously, not liking the prospect of being dragged into a fight so soon after his escape from captivity. Immediately, his eyes captured the sight of Aural. To his horror, Aural seem to take notice of him.

The donkey gave an evil grin, which went unnoticed by his companions, seemingly delighted to see his former prisoner again.

“Oh, Faust, no!” Narco screamed, surprising everyone. “Kill 'em all! Kill 'em all right now!"

Pandemonium ensued.

"Waste 'em!" Crack roared, taking Narco's sudden, unexplained freakout as reason enough to eliminate the intruders.

"Okay, team, take them!" Fletcher instructed.

Despite being outnumbered, the team gave it their all.

"You made a big mistake coming here, punk!" One Pegasus snarled as he circled Caboose.

"Yeah, I didn't bring my brothers along." Caboose retorted. "They'd give you Jade Jape pedllers a real beatin'. Guess I'll just have to try to do the job myself..."

"Give it your best-urrk!" The Pegasus grunted mid-sentence, as Caboose punched him in the face. He promptly collapsed.

"That's my Sunday best punch!" Caboose grinned. "Hope ya like it!"

At the same time, Fletcher was accosted by a pair of grizzled Earth Pony stallions.

"Two on one." One smirked.

"My kinda fun!" The other added.

"Mine too." Fletcher smiled.

The two stallions charged at Fletcher together. Fletcher responded by catching the punch of the first to strike, and threw him into the other, knocking them both out.

Meanwhile, a half dozen thugs attacked Fury at once.

"Kill the bird-cat!" One spat.

They Diamond Dogpiled the Griffon, seemingly pinning him down... only for a miniature tornado to come into being from under them, sending the whole group flying.

"Didn't expect that from a 'bird-cat', did ya?" Fury smirked.

At the same time, one thuggish Unicorn charged at Survival.

"Hope ya like hoof sandwiches, punk!" He spat.

"Actually, I prefer a vegan diet." Survival shrugged.

"Real funny." The thug sneered. "How's this for a punchline?!"

The thug tried to punch Survival, who narrowly avoided the strike.

"Hold still!" The thug yelled.

"No thanks!" Survival ducked another hit.

"You little..." The thug growled.

The thug kept throwing punches, and Survival kept dodging. Before long, Survival found himself backed up against a wall.

"Gotcha now..." The thug jeered.

Knowing he had no more avenues to evade his opponent, Survival, driven by self-preservation, threw a punch. He wasn't as strong as his enemy, but the sudden move had surprise on its side.

"Ugh!" The thug grunted, dropping to the floor.

"Aw, jeez..." Survival panted, waving his bruised hoof. "How do other ponies do this all the time?"

A yell rang out as a thug crashed into the wall right next to Survival, making a big indent.

“Lauren!” Survival jumped.

“Sorry about that.” Aural declared, trotting slowly on his hind legs as he was choking a thug in a headlock, the pony in question gagging in an almost comedic fashion. “Hard to aim my kicks when choking ponies.”

“You did that?” Survival gaped, glancing at the unconscious thug embedded in the wall. He looked like he was gonna need medical help eventually.

“Oh, yeah. We donkeys are kinda infamous for our kicks. I’m no different.” Aural shrugged, the thug beginning to turn blue. “But enough about me. I couldn’t help but notice you were having trouble there.” Survival frowned at him in confusion. “Aural sense, remember?”

“Trust me, I’m fine.” Survival mopped his brow, a bit embarrassed.

“You sure? I mean, I would think a member of the RDL would not suck at fighting, yet- one moment, this guy is annoying me.” Aural chucked the blue-faced thug at another thug who was approaching him and Survival, knocking them out. “As I was saying: yet here you are… sucking.”

"I'm new at this, okay?!" Survival said testily. "I was merely an attending physician before all this, and even then, I was told there wasn’t going to be any fighting on this mission. They said it was more centered around training."

“Ah, first mission?” Aural said sympathetically. Another thug charged from behind him, but the donkey quickly leapt into the air and elbow-dropped him in an instant. He then returned to his hooves, “Well, sorry to hear that, but you should have known better. Life doesn’t always go to plan. Hell, most of the time, it goes out of its way to buck you over. I mean, look at me. I was born blind to asshole parents who didn’t want me and ditched me on this mountain.”

“Thanks for the tip.” Survival scowled.

“Look, I’m gonna drop some good ol’ ‘Aural’ wisdom on you.” Aural smiled, as a burly Earth Pony thug came in swinging at him. Aural effortlessly caught it and twisted it, the opponent screaming in pain. “If you’re gonna survive in life, you have to stick to your own strengths. Take me for example. I got my martial arts know-how from being a Wise Lotus and-”

Aural charged up an orb of aura in his free front hoof and slammed it into the screaming thug’s face, sending him flying.

“Well, Aura.” Aural finished with a smirk. He then gestured to Fletcher, who was in the midst of a clash with two knife-wielding thugs. “Your captain's got his military training.” He turned to Fury, who was using his Nightcrawler abilities to fling multiple spears, pinning some dealers to the wall. “Cat-butt has dark magic.” He then pointed to Caboose, who was twirling and spinning around like a ballerina, avoiding the attackers of several confused thugs. Aural blanched, “...I honestly don’t know what he has.”

Aural returned to face Survival.

“But the point is, everyone has something that they can rely on to get through life. It’s only a matter of figuring out what that ‘something’ is. What do you have, kid? What’s your strength?” Aural asked.

“Well, I’m good at reading ponies.” Survival answered hesitantly. Aural looked at him expectantly, silently asking for more, as Survival pulled out a combat knife he was given for the mission, “That, and I do know how to use a knife. But I don’t know if that will amount to much.”

“Hey, from that alone, I can tell you’re smart, and you know how to cut a guy.” Aural smiled, “All you gotta do is apply that to everyday situations, like right now. It’s like what they taught me up there: know your enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles… or something like that.” Aural patted him on the shoulder, “Think on that. Now if you excuse me… YAAARRRHH!!”

Aural let out a battle cry as he charged out towards another group of thugs, who weren’t definitely not expecting a blind donkey to go charging at him like a madpony.

“Hmm, stick to my own strengths…” Survival frowned, as another crook drew near, "Here goes nothing..."

The crook took note of Survival’s knife as he held it up.

"Is that all you've got?" He sneered. "What are ya gonna do, butter my bread?"

"Something like that." Survival assumed what he hoped was an intimidating combat pose.

"This is gonna be easier than I thought..." The crook scoffed, clearly not intimidated in the least.

'Okay, he's clearly not lacking in the confidence department...' Survival thought. 'I can use that against him...'

"I'll bet I don't even need this." Survival faked some bravado as his waved the knife. "You're probably a total wimp."

"Wimp?!" The crook snarled.

"That's right." Survival's eyes flicked from left to right, taking in his surroundings. "I'll bet I could whup you with just one hoof. Make you cry like a newborn foal, too."

"Why, you...!" The crook, his anger at his limit, charged.

Survival dodged his foe's attack at the last second, tripping him as he went by.

"Gahh!" The crook yelped, as he collided with a pile of crates, upon which some sacks of Jade Jape had been tied to. "Ugh..." He groaned, his head aching.

"On second thought, I might need this after all." Survival used his knife to sever the ropes. He then struck the pile of crates, causing them to wobble. The sacks promptly collapsed on top of the crook. "And I wasn't kidding about the 'one hoof' thing either." He waved the hoof he had used to trip the crook.

Survival walked away, feeling quite proud of himself. Then he saw another thug.

'This is starting to get fun...' He smiled.

Across the cavern, Crack confronted Fury.

"You're a long way from the sky, birdy." Crack grinned.

"But never far from smug losers just beggin' for a beatin'." Fury smirked back.

"We'll see who gets beat." Crack drew a machete.

"Yeah, we will." Fury spawned one of his spears.

The two charged at each others, their blades locking in conflict.

"I don't know what you and yer buddies are doin’ down here, but you're not gonna leave here alive!" Crack snarled.

"Promises, promises..." Fury smirked.

Crack kicked Fury in the chest, pushing him back. He tried to capitalize on this by aiming his machete for the Griffon's left talon, but Fury recovered in time to block the attack.

"My turn." Fury smirked.

Fury jabbed Crack in the forehead with the point of his beak.

"Gah!" Crack stumbled back. "You lousy-!"

But Crack didn't get to finish his sentence, as Fury took advantage of foe clutching his wounded forehead to land a haymaker on his jaw.

"Ugh!" The stallion stumbled back. "Now you're gonna get it!"

Crack swung his machete wildly, forcing Fury to back away. But the Griffon was far from finished; Holding both sides of his spear, he blocked the next swing, and followed up by twisting his weapon to one side, sending the machete flying.

"My blade!" Crack yelled.

"You want it? Go get it!" Fury unleashed another burst of wind, sending Crack flying across the cavern.

"Ahhhhh!" Crack yelped as he flew over the battlefield, falling hard on the stone floor.

"Lousy, mangy-feathered..." He scowled, trying to put more distance between himself and Fury.

Suddenly, Narco grabbed him and pulled him aside. In his surprise, Crack almost punched his subordinate in the face.

"What d'ya think yer doin', surprising me like that?!" Crack snarled. "And why aren't you helping to defend our place of business, ya coward?"

"We gotta go, boss!" Narco said panickedly. "Right now!"

"Run away?" Crack scoffed. "Let five misfits drive us away from our lucrative business?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Narco nodded.

"Okay, what is your deal, Narc?!" Crack demanded, “What has you so damn scared?!”

"It's the donkey that's my 'deal'." Narco said, barely able to reign in his trauma. "He was the one who kept me as his prisoner and made me write those letters. Not to mention he’s clobbering our guys like nothing!"

"Seriously?" Crack scoffed dismissively. "The donkey? He's blind!"

"That may be." Narco nodded. "But he also has the power of aura! Look!"

Crack glanced across the cavern, where Aural was being charged by Payload, one of his biggest, toughest flunkies. Aural, using unfeasible agility, leapt over Payload, and struck him with an aura blast from behind before the brawny thug could recover. Payload tumbled to the ground, completely unconscious.

“See?!” Narco cried.

“Aura?” Crack gasped, “Wait a minute, a donkey with aura… that could only be… no, oh no, it can’t be. He said he was dead!”

"Crack?" Narco asked, worried.

"You're right, Narco, we gotta get out of here!" Crack suddenly changed his opinion. "RUN!!" He called out to his underlings. "EVERYPONY FOR THEMSELVES!!"

The thugs and crooks (those who were still conscious, at least) all developed looks of confusion as Crack and Narco ran for the nearest exit.

"Did the boss just run?" One asked.

"He's actually scared?" Another gaped.

"I say we do the same!" A third yelped.

With that, the remainder of Crack's followers began to evacuate the room.

The heroes were also perplexed by Crack's sudden change of heart, but shook it off quickly as they realized their foes were trying to escape (several carrying their fallen comrades, despite Crack's words).

"Don't let them get away!" Fletcher ordered. "Try to round up as many as you can. We need to get to the bottom of this!"

"With pleasure." Fury grinned, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting would-be escapee.

Aural was eager to assist in this part of the operation (hoping he could recapture Narco along the way), but stopped in his tracks as his aura senses detected something approaching the mountain. Something big.

"What is up with you, old timer?" Fury scowled, taking note of Aural's sudden hesitation.

"We have to go." Aural said quietly.

"Come again?" Survival frowned.

"Forget these guys." Aural insisted. "We gotta get back up the mountain, now!"

"Why?" Fletcher asked, his suspicions raised.

"And why do we have to skip mopping up the stragglers?" Fury added. "That's my favorite part!"

"Don't argue with me!" Aural turned and started running toward the cavern they came into the workshop from. "Follow me, now!"

"Ooh, I love follow the leader!" Caboose grinned, as he followed Aural.

"Maybe we should follow him." Survival suggested. "He did seem kind of panicked about something..."

"Seriously?" Fury scoffed. "We have to get after those goons, before they get away!"

"I think Survival may be right." Fletcher mused. "There's definitely something about Aural that feels... off. We can't let him out of our sight. So let's go."

"Fine..." Fury rolled his eyes. "But next time there are goons to be beaten up, I get to take out most of them!"

"Deal." Survival shrugged, still not quite at ease with fullscale combat.

The trio ran out of the room at full speed. They soon caught up with Caboose, who was lagging not far behind Aural.

"Hey guys, what took ya so long?" Caboose smiled good-naturedly.

"We stopped for tea and biscuits." Fury put on a faux-fancy accent.

"Don't suppose you got any left?" Caboose smiled, once again missing Fury's sarcasm.

"Hurry up back there!" Aural called. "This isn't the time for a leisurely jog around the block! Move it!"

"You heard the donkey." Fletcher nodded. "Let's move."

"I'll move some of his teeth right out of his mouth..." Fury muttered under his breath.

The group followed Aural as he seemed to be leading them back the way they came... that is, until they reached the fork in the caverns, and Aural led them down the alternate path.

"Hurry!" He called. "This way!"

While the others followed without questioning it, both Survival and Fury noted the discrepancy.

"...Wait, if this is the way out, then why did he lead us down the other way before?" Survival frowned.

"Probably to get some cheap laughs outta messin' with us." Fury scowled. "Something for which I look forward to paying him back for when all this is over..."

Soon enough, they finally reached the exit. They emerged outside to find it was now early morning. As such, it was easy to see that nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be taking place.

"Looks about the same to me." Fletcher frowned.

"Yeah, everything looks just fine." Survival agreed. "There's nothing here that seems like any kind of dire emergency."

"So why did the old bag get us rushing out here?" Fury snarled, deeply annoyed.

"Maybe he thought we could use the cardio?" Caboose shrugged.

Aural was gazing out into the distance, his expression panicked.

"Okay, Aural, that's enough of the games." Fletcher said humorlessly. "What's going on?"

"Yeah, what's got you so spooked?" Survival asked.

"Something big." Aural briefly glanced at them, then returned to his worried vigil. "Something bad is about to arrive, and we need to get up to the top of the mountain right now."

"Something bad?" Survival frowned. "What does that mean?"

"No time to explain." Aural declared. "We need to get mov-"

"Okay, I've had enough of this!" Fury erupted, stomping towards him.

“Fury!” Fletcher glared.

“Don’t even, Fletch!” Fury snapped, cutting him off, “Everything about this stinks like catfish! From the very moment we met this asshole, he’s been trying to get us back up to the monastery, yet refused to tell us! Yet he apparently had the time to lead us to a drug operation to bust?! He knows something we don’t, and I ain’t budging from this spot that he starts talking!”

“I already told you, there is no time!” Aural roared.

“Then start making some!” Fury demanded, “Or else I’ll-”

Before Fury could finish making his threat, his voice was drowned out by a loud rumbling sound. The group looked up, and watched in shock as an airship flew overhead.

“What the-?!” Fletcher gasped.

“An airship?!” Fury asked.

“Wait…” Survival quickly glanced at the side of it… and his blood went cold, as the familiar eagle sigil with the two Fs was emblazoned for all to see, “Oh no! It’s the Forefathers!”

"You know, for a 'secret organization', those guys sure like putting their logo on everything." Caboose noted.

“But what are they doing here?!” Fury frowned, his anger at Aural forgotten for the moment. His frown turned to a scowl. “Oh hell no, you don’t think they’re the ones who wrote the letters after all?!”

“But that doesn’t add up!” Survival grimaced, “Sending threatening letters so many times only to now act on them? And what about everything else that’s been going on?”

"This is hardly the time to discuss their motives!" Fletcher shook his head.

“Yeah, let’s buckin’ mosey like I told you to!” Aural roared as he began running up the stairs.

"They're" Survival noted. "We have to get up there and face the Forefathers before they can put whatever plan they have in motion!"

"And y'know, move the plot along." Caboose added.

"Okay, fine." Fury scowled. "But I still don't trust that guy..."

The agents followed Aural up the stairs.

Up above, the monks, drawn out of the monastery by the noise, also looked on in horror at their uninvited visitor. To the east, the Red Rio had a clear view of the approaching airship. Back at RDL headquarters, the image was depicted with terrifying clarity to Ballista, Black, Sterling, and Armory.

“Oh no. It can’t be…” Ballista whispered.

“The Forefathers, here?!” Black asked. “Now? But why?”

"They must've found out about the fountain somehow." Armory frowned.

"Look at the size of that thing." Sterling said grimly. "There's got to be a ton of Forefather agents on board. And we still hadn’t found our friends!"

“Let’s not panic.” Ballista soothed everyone, “The Wise Lotus are supposed to be trained for situations like this. Peace-loving or not, surely they can handle a airship full of grunts-”

Right on cue, the ship's hatch opened. The four viewers went silent as they beheld the horrific, wispy visage of Silas. The shadow pony, with a wicked grin, jumped down the ten feet from the ship to the mountainside and landed on the ground, the impact kicking up dust and shadow.

Behind him, several ropes dropped down as Earth Ponies and Unicorn agents rappeled down. The Pegasus ones simply opted to float down.

“...Oh, buck.” Ballista gaped.

“Is that…” Armory whispered.

"Silas." Black said, quiet horror in his voice.

"Faust help us." Sterling whispered. "Faust help them all..."

Meanwhile, Fletcher and company were rushing up the stairs that led to the monastery.

“Hoi… hoi…” Caboose wheezed. “Lauren Faust, would it have killed them to put in an elevator?!”

“Heh, now you know how it feels.” Fury hissed, exhausted, but feeling vindicated.

“Dammit, we'll never make it up there in time!" Survival said breathlessly.

"Maybe not all of us. " Fletcher nodded. "Fury, you fly up ahead. Help the others hold off the uninvited guests for as long as you can!"

“Thought you never ask. Was getting sick of walking anyways.” Fury panted, as he spread his wings. He turned to Caboose. “Need a ride, Napoleon?!”

"Me?" Caboose frowned, “For realsies?!”

“Yeah, for ‘realsies’. Sure as I am that I can take them all, I’m not riskin' it with all those baldies’ lives at stake!” Fury glared. “Plus, if we’re unlucky and Silas is up there with them, I’m gonna need some magic firepower to level his ass!”

"Well, since you put it like that..." Caboose leapt onto Fury's back. "Onwards, to battle, my faithful steed!"

"Don't push your luck!" Fury scowled.

Fury's paws and talons departed from the stone steps, and he and his passengers soared upwards, toward the top of the stairs.

"Good luck, guys!" Survival called. "We'll be there as soon as we can!"

"Just as soon as we run out of stairs..." Fletcher groaned.

“Hoo, yeah, that doofus was right.” Aural sighed, “Really should’ve pushed for that elevator when I had the chance.”

The remaining three galloped up the stone steps as fast as they could, grim expressions on their faces as they drew nearer and nearer to the confrontation that awaited them above.