To Equestria And Beyond (Rewrite In Progress)

by NightFurySpeedey8156

Chapter 18: Sounding The Alarms

The next morning…

Fury woke up refreshed and ready to take on the day. The Crystal Empire's beds were even more comfortable than his villa. He got out of bed and walked out into the hall, heading towards the kitchen to grab breakfast. He was excited to get this operation on the road and wanted to start as early as possible, but he knew he needed to fuel up before he did anything important.

He soon reached the kitchen and opened the doors to see that no one else was around.

Huh, I guess I'm the first one up.

He strode over to where a refrigerator stood and opened it, revealing all of the food he could ever want. He looked around inside and frowned, it was all carrots and hay.

Blech! Definitely not!

He pulled his head up and closed the fridge with disappointment, there was nothing he could eat that he would want. That was until he saw a cake under a glass dome. It was a pound cake with a light glaze over it, ripe for eating. Fury knew that he shouldn't be thinking what he was thinking, but his hungry tummy guided his movements for him as he removed the glass dome and licked his lips. He slowly leaned in on the cake, his stomach calling out to him as he got closer and closer. But his fun was soon stopped by a cheeky voice in his ear…

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Fury froze up. He didn't hear whoever was next to him come into the room, but they were here now. He looked over to his left and saw a pink princess smiling at him.

"W-well, I was… I was just." Fury stuttered as he tried to come up with an excuse, but his tummy ended up speaking for him. Cadence giggled and lowered her head to his stomach to get a better idea of what it was "saying", playing along with her shenanigans.

"Oh, what was that?" She asked, Fury's stomach gurgled in response.

Oh great, she's going all goofy on me now? Fury said to himself.

"You want a piece of cake, is that it?" Another low groan sounded as an answer. Fury blushed as Cadence joked around with him, he felt so embarrassed at the scene that was unfolding.

"I- I- I was just observing the artistic qualities of this cake. Yeah." Night Fury gave his best excuse. "The scroll I read said I had to be an appreciator of beauty."

"Mmmhmm." Cadence nodded. "And would that beauty be with your eyes or your tongue?" She asked with a playful smirk.

Night Fury could endure cragodiles but not Princess Cadence who felt like an old babysitter of his.

"Okay fine, you got me! It's the tongue!" He admitted while salivating. "I want that delicious fluffy cake. I want it in my belly, at least part of it!"

Cadence chuckled at this. "Slow down, Fury. I was just playing around." She gave Night Fury a couple slices of cake. "Here, it's on me."

"Thank you!" Night Fury ate away like a wild animal. He was eating even quicker than usual.

Cadence chuckled at this.

"You're an even bigger eater than Twilight is with hay burgers!"

"Hey I gotta fill myself up with tasty treats today! After all," Fury gulped. "I'm gonna need all the food I can get for this mission. It's gonna be very tough. I am still a rookie to these new techniques." Fury admitted to Cadence.

Cadence looked at him understanding.

"I understand. This is a big day for you. I know how hard it was when Celestia made me into the Princess of Love. I had to learn how to use and control my powers responsibly. And I had to learn a lot of hard lessons like when I got swapped by Chrysalis. But in the end I made it out through effort and my friends and I'm sure it will be likewise for you." Cadence reassured him.

Night Fury smiled at this.

"You're right about that! And also, that comment about my appetite was not wrong. Heh, honestly, I could probably make an entire full-sized cake disappear like a magic trick!"

"I would be more surprised if you weren't able to do that!" Cadence laughed along with Night Fury.

Night Fury always liked Princess Cadence. Despite being a princess, she was probably the most laid back and easy going of any of the princesses. She also felt like the older sister he never had. She was definitely more laid back then Shining Professional Armor who could be a bit strict. Fury respected and admired him, but he was a bit stuck up sometimes.

"Well hello, I didn't know we had a cake thief in the castle." Another voice said.

It was a familiar masculine voice. It was none other than Shining Armor.

"Oh um hi Shining Armor, I was just-"

"I'll let your cake hunting have a pass since stealth is important to our mission." Shining said. "And I'm sorry I overreacted to your prank. I'm a bit strict sometimes. But I want you to be creative on the battlefield. That will give us the edge."

Night Fury appreciated his statement.

"Well that's nice to hear, thanks." Then Fury went straight to the point. "But let's get down to business. When are we moving out? I wanna put my new power through its paces." Fury asked.

"It's a good thing you asked, because Celestia, Luna and the other guards are waiting at the edge of the swamp for you."

"Wow, they're out and gone already? Maybe all this food is starting to get to me, hehe." Fury joked, poking at his pudge.

"Hm, don't worry, I think it makes you look cute." Cadence giggled, poking at him herself. Fury chuckled at the sensation.

"What the- Hey!" Night Fury now realized Cadence was about to use her royal weapon: her rather tickly hooves.

"Ah ha ha ah ha! Cut it out, it tickles!" Night Fury yelled out loud, trying to get away. But Cadence swiftly put him in a squeeze hold.

"Nope!" Cadence continued. Shining Armor looked a bit satisfied that Fury was getting the revenge he deserved. It felt all too good to see him helplessly trying to get away from what was inevitable. Even he had his limits.

And so the ponies decided to get ready, do some training and head out to the edge of the swamp. Fury was both excited and nervous about the operation, he couldn't explain how he was feeling at that moment. He wanted to get this over with as fast as possible, but he also was scared of what might happen to him or anyone else who would be there. He was confident in his ability to change form at his will and was ready to proceed with the plan, but knew that he couldn't go too overboard with it as to not cause any problems.

-

Croak. Croak.

The sounds of bullfrogs and swamp sludge bubbling filled the air as the group trudged through the marsh. It was evening in the massive swamp. It was far from anything like the Crystal Empire. Rather than sleek and elegant, it was moist, grimy and filthy.

Most ponies would refuse to step one hoof in the swamp. Which is why it was a perfect hideout for ponies like Green Bits.

"Sheesh, I'm glad Rarity isn't here, she would be having a heart attack if she had to make her way through this!" Fury said as he swam through the murky waters in his Cragodile form. "But, it's just us and all of this muddy swamp. I kinda feel bad for you guys. You can hop on my back if you want, I'm pretty sure I can handle the weight."

"We're fine, mate!" said one of the maritime troops in armor that completely covered them up with masks to go underwater. "We've trained for situations like this. Honestly I feel like I'm one with the mildew of this area!"

I knew some ponies liked nature, but I think these guys take it to a whole 'nother level! Fury thought, still swimming along.

Luckily everyone was getting along nicely although they did have to avoid some logs and navigate through some difficult plants.

But suddenly…

"Wait, I hear something." Shining Armor said, also with that maritime armor. "Get behind this tree! Fury, go under so they don't see you!"

"Will do!" The giant reptile replied, going under the water to hide himself.

They did so. And they heard a group of ponies talking. Night Fury peeked out to see about ten guards on solid ground, some eating around a fire while others were keeping watch over the water. Fury sighed.

"Looks like we have some company. They're guarding our only way to the rest of the swamp." Fury said

"How about we just swim under? You can do that, can't you?" One of the younger troops asked.

"It's too shallow, and I'm too big!" Fury said, looking underwater. "I haven't been able to turn into smaller aquatic creatures yet since I don't have as much familiarity with them or training with my powers."

"Well, looks like we're going to have to get them out of the way ourselves." Shining Armor said. "Guards, ready yourselves for a sneak attack behind those trees! Fury, try to camouflage with the swamp and when I give the signal, pop up and do your thing."

"You got it!" Fury said, swimming to a batch of logs and sinking into the water as low as he could to get out of sight. Shining Armor and the maritime guards hid amongst the trees, ready to attack. Then, they heard one of the bodyguards say something rather interesting…

"You hear what the boss said about the shipment gone wrong?" One burley unicorn said.

"Yeah, he sounded pretty ticked off. Molten Steel is gonna get the whooping of his life, if he survived." An earth pony commented.

"The boss said that he's gonna be moving out of the swamp and to the snowy mountains out north. He's gonna be going out of the east trail and through the everglades."

"Yeah, but he better be careful though, I heard the water is infested with Cragodiles." The earth pony said with some fear.

"True, but he'll be able to avoid them for the majority of the trip out of here. The water is pretty shallow here, so what chance does he have of running into one?" The unicorn said with a chuckle.

Before the conversation went any further, a battle cry sounded from the trees…

"Attack!" A loud voice came.

Roar!!!

Within seconds, four guards, Shining Armor and a giant, black Cragodile raided the campsite. Though outnumbered, the shock of seeing a giant possibly mutant Cragodile, and the surprise made it easy to overwhelm the bodyguards who were crying out loud.

Having overwhelmed the throng of bodyguards, Night Fury and the others were able to proceed without the guards notifying the others. Fury felt quite a bit of pride. He was also thankful ponies did not yet know that a black Cragodile meant it was a Speed Shifter and would be able to exploit these weaknesses.

"Nice work, everypony." Shining Armor said as they kept swimming forward. "You ambushed them and gave them quite a fright!"

"Especially Night Fury!" One of the guards said. "Maybe you should join us!"

"Thanks but I already have a busy life," Night Fury as a Cragodile said. "Especially after all this Chosen One stuff is over with, I'm just gonna chill out and relax after this."

"Let's get back on topic though." Shining Armor said. "It seems like Green Bits is planning on making a break for the northern mountains. We need to get a warning out to the princesses. Fury, you're the fastest out of all of us. You think you can swim back and give them the heads up?"

"No problem, I'm on my way!" Fury exclaimed, returning to the water and swimming back the way he had come.

"Okay, with that being taken care of, we need to keep moving. Let's go." Shining ordered. The other guards saluted to the Captain and followed his lead. As for Night Fury, he swam as fast as his big body would let him get back to the princesses. While he was rather disappointed that he would have to miss out on the full trip to the hideout, he knew what was more important.

-

"I wonder how they're getting along?" Luna asked as she sat in a lawn chair under a tree.

"I hope they're okay, this is a rather dangerous foe we're dealing with." Cadence added.

"Do not worry, dear niece, sure they are getting along just fine." Celestia soothed, placing a wing over the worried princess of love. Cadence smiled at the reassurance, she was glad that her aunt had faith in their allies. Just as she was looking out into the dark swamp, a pair of red eyes poked up from the water, followed by a reptile-like snarl.

ROARRRRRR!!!!

"Ahhhh!!!" Cadence jumped back not expecting a Cragodile to be in the part of the swamp. She, being a princess, was more than ready to fight. Until she noticed this Cragodile was black not green. She recovered from her shocked state.

"Okay, very funny, Night Fury. Now get out of that gross water." Cadence said, rolling her eyes.

"Ugh, fine. Party pooper." He said snootily, walking out of the water and revealing his full, scaly form.

"While that was pretty amusing, I'm actually here to deliver a message." Night Fury said, turning serious. "I have some news of where our favorite criminal is going."

Night Fury explained where Green Bits was intending to go and how he was going to leave the swamp.

"The Northern Mountains are notoriously hard to navigate. It would be even harder if he escaped there." Cadence said.

"Indeed Cadence." Luna agreed. "But it might be a good chance for a good old fashioned ambush." Luna said with some excitement. "This Green Bits should not be so cocky as to think this will all go according to plan."

Night Fury smiled at Luna's excitement for stealth and ambushes.

"Well, it's a deal then, Luna. We heard that he was going to be taking a trail out of the east side of the swamp. And I'm coming with you guys on this one. I mean I may be tough, but I think those murkweed fumes are starting to make me lightheaded." Fury chuckled.

"It is a deal." Celestia said. "We will be involved in this if it means we get information on this troublemaker. I am ready to fight like I did in olden times."

Night Fury then looked to the swamp water.

"Look out, Green Bits! Here we come! And I have some princesses along this time!" He proclaimed excitedly.

-

Meanwhile Shining Armor and the maritime guards were now trudging on the ground going through the ferns and vines. It was now nighttime. While for the Maritime troops it was a little disappointing to be out of the water for so long, Shining was certainly relieved.

Shining Armor told everyone to stop marching, since he heard more commotion. But this time it was a whole base, a wooden fortress that looked like a bit of a castle. He could see many guards. And also a lot more carriages than usual. It was apparent Green Bits and his goons were planning to leave.

"No wonder why he is so feared. He has a small army in there!" One of his soldiers whispered as he looked through the bush.

"Because he is a relentless leader! He's like King Sombra if he got control of the Crystal Empire but more secluded."

"Oooh, yeah. That is definitely a problem."

"Alright, focus up, guys and gals!" Shining Armor brought his young troops back to focus. "We need a way to sneak in and snag the guy without getting caught."

"Well it's a good thing I got the message out on time." A voice said. Shining Armor and the guards looked to their left to see the princesses riding on top of Night Fury's back.

"Yeesh, you guys don't have to sneak up like that all the time!" Shining complained. Everyone but him had a mild chuckle from that. "It's not funny."

"Okay, great jokes aside," Fury smugly said. "how are we gonna capture him with all those guards?"

"I thought of an idea." Luna chimed in. "What if we do a stealth wipe of the entire compound? Take out every guard silently until we're left with our villain and we catch him there!" She said with unusual excitement.

Everyone murmured agreements while Fury just stayed silent and blushed.

Good grief, she's even beautiful with her words! I think I've found my match. He said to himself.

"That's a good plan! Alright everyone, let's get this done." Shining said. "Fury, you take the princesses to the front gate and clear a path inside. Once we get in, we start silently sweeping the compound until we corner our suspect."

"Sounds good. And by the way, how good are you three at holding your breath?" Fury asked.

"Fury, we're goddesses. We basically have iron lungs, we can take some underwater stealth swimming." Cadence said plainly, the other two nodding in agreement. Night Fury found that both weird and cool.

"Well that's good. Breathe in deep, because we're going under." He instructed. The princesses took deep breaths, grabbing onto his scales as he went under the water and began swimming to the front gate, leaving Shining Armor and the Maritime guards to wait for them.

Under the water, they saw a whole bunch of roots. It was a bit difficult to navigate but thankfully Night Fury was able to chew some of them up with his big jaw, opening a path to go in. They soon resurfaced near the muddy path out of the compound. Fury crawled out of the water and hid in some bushes with the princesses beside him as they looked out to the convoy of carriages outside of the gates.

"If we're going to take them out silently, that means a low profile. Fury, you know what that means…" Celestia said.

"Sure do." He replied, changing back to his original feline shape. "Ahhh, it feels good to have my paws back."

Night Fury then quickly analyzed the situation. He had to decide the best route to take out as many enemies without the others knowing.

"Watch and learn, ladies." Night Fury said as he readied himself.

He went into a bush close to a lone guard. He threw a rock in the shadows and he efficiently took care of the goon

Then he saw six guards warming themselves up next to a fire by the convoy. A harder task to deal with but he had another idea. He saw a pool of water and there seemed to be a Cragodile nest. Night Fury decided to take the egg and put it by the guards so the Cragodile mother would be very angry at the guards. He wanted to save being a Cragodile for later since he wanted to conserve energy for Green Bits. Being a Cragodile with his level of experience was very draining and anyways many real Cragodile were more powerful than a Speed Shifter one.

He stealthily went into the nest, careful not to disturb the mother who was sound asleep. Speed Shifters had the ability of stealth. So he came in and placed the egg near the bodyguards.

"Alright, here goes nothing…" Fury whistled loudly, waking up the giant reptile. The mother soon realized what had happened and went on the attack, sending the remaining guards scurrying around in a frenzy.

ROARRRRRRR!!!!

"Aaaahhh! It's gonna eat us!"

"No, stand your ground, you dolts!"

"Who cares about that?! Rather have my legs still attached to my body than look like a pony-sized carrot dog in the water!"

Fury watched the chaos from above in a tree, trying his best not to laugh out loud. But he was failing miserably.

"This is just too good!" Night Fury said while snickering. "Welp, while they're distracted, I got one more place to disrupt. I'll let the mommy Cragodile do her job."

He went to a heavily guarded bridge in front of the convoy. There were so many ponies keeping guard. "What can I do now? I can't just attack all of them and there don't seem to be any other animals available… Except for me." He smiled deviously looking at the supports for the wooden bridge. He remembered a familiar animal when he was with Discord. It was a small plump beast called a beaver. Transforming into one expands less energy than a Cragodile, but still gets the job done for him.

"Time to give this bridge a more… watery support plan." He said deviously. He whispered to the princesses who were still chuckling at the Cragodile mishap to look in his direction. They did so and saw him transform into a beaver as he splashed down into the water, getting the guards attention as he began chewing away at the jungle wood.

"Huh, what was that noise?"

"Is it a beaver?"

"Don't be a blockhead! Beavers don't live in this Celestia forsaken slime hole!" The other guard replied.

Night Fury kept on about his business. He started to have an appetite for wood. It was strange. He was almost done. Though he wished he sounded a bit quieter.

"Wait, do you guys hear chewing?"

"Nah, it sounds more like chipping. Like a beaver chomping at a stick."

"Yeah, and I can hear a slight creaking too. Do you guys think there's a beaver eating at the bridge-'' Just as one of the guards finished his sentence, the bridge gave way and splashed down into the river.

"I TOLD YOU SOMETHING WAS WRONG!!!" said the suspicious guard now being carried by the rapids.

"Have a nice swim, folks." Night Fury said cheekily.

Night Fury reviewed his progress. The convoy was now defenseless and wouldn't be moving for a while. But he realized he had to hurry because it would only be a matter of time before they realized this was not nature but intentional sabotage. But some applause from behind him filled the black beaver's ears before he made a move.

"Bravo, bravo! What a show!" Cadence called while Celestia did the same and Luna rolled around laughing.

"Who would have thought a little plump aquatic mammal could be so damaging." Celestia laughed.

"Indeed sister. Shape shifting is not to be taken lightly!" Luna said while trying to resist in vain of her laughter.

Night Fury felt great.

"Thank you very much folks." He bowed as if he were a magician getting applause from a crowd. "I had to think a bit about these guards. I can't believe this guy has so many of them. But they were no problem for a Speed Shifter warrior! And as a bonus, I get free lunch from the wood!"

Meanwhile, Shining Armor was planning out what to do next.

"Alright everyone. It's time for the final stage. Capturing our Green Bits figure. He should be close by. Now that this convoy is delayed, we can go get him now!" Shining said with sternness yet seriousness.

Night Fury was now excited to finally capture this Green Bits figure.

"So have you and your guards located him yet?" Night Fury asked.

"We have. He's in a hut at the back of the compound, we'll have to go through more bodyguards though."

"Pfft, no problem. That's the easiest thing to do. C'mon ladies, we're going in!" Fury called, prompting the princesses to reveal themselves and stand next to the rest of the group at the entrance.

"Okay, we'll split up. Fury and the princesses will take the east side and we'll take the west. Is everyone ready? Okay, let's go!"

Everyone proceeded along their ways into the compound.

Shining Armor and his troops snuck past buildings and into the shadows to avoid the guards seeing them. And then they took out the guards. It was swift and efficient even if not quite as swift as Night Fury's. They finally made it into position behind a wooden house and saw the bigger house that Green Bits was in.

Meanwhile Nightfury climbed up the trees as a monkey to avoid being spotted while getting into the west flank of the house. He gave Shining the signal that he was ready to go into the house.

This was it. They had to get this guy.

"Alright princesses, are you ready to get this guys info?" Fury asked while getting ready.

"Ready." Celestia said.

"Ready!" Cadence said, smirking.

Luna simply nodded.

There were guards around the windows. Night Fury and the princesses were at the front doors and Shining and his maritime troops were at the other.

On the count of three.

Three…

Two…

One…

"Equestrian Royal Guard, everypony freeze!"

Crash

All the windows crashed open and the doors were bursting. All of the bodyguards were surprised. They couldn't hold back the sudden shock of all these powerful creatures coming at them.

Everyone swiftly ran through each room of the compound until they came across one room.

SLAM

"Surprise losers, guess who here? Oh oh Ah ah, baby!" The black monkey cried as he rushed in.

Night Fury pushed it out of the way to reveal a well dressed mustached stallion. He looked completely different then his ragged bodyguards. He was clearly rich enough to hire his own operations. Despite this, instead of being afraid the gangster seemed surprisingly civil.

"Well, well, so you're the ponies who have caused all my business to be delayed." He said with an ominously calm voice.

"And the feline you decided to try and kill off!" Fury said, returning to his true form.

"My goodness, I did not think you would still be this powerful, considering my bomb. You Speed Shifters are quite something." Green Bits paced around. "I have to admit you have made things very hard for us, Night Fury. You couldn't just accept your death."

Night Fury growled at him.

"You got that right, punk. And now you're gonna tell me who you were working for!" Fury demanded "Unless you want to be Cragodile bait!" He said, showing his claws.

"Oh, I'm not telling you anything. You are the one thing that I would never associate with. And even if I told you, you would be dead before you get out of this place." Green Bits said. Fury was quite aggravated with him and was tempted to just eat the muscle off of his bones, but Luna held a hoof in front of him as a sign that it wasn't worth it.

"Don't let him get to you. He's trying to get under your skin." Luna said. "We must not let him."

Fury listened and simply tossed the criminal to the ground. "You're right. But I will find out this info."

Celestia noticed how calm the crime boss was. Too calm.

"What are you playing at?" She said, "Most captured ponies would not talk so loosely to their captors."

"Why, I'm not playing at anything. This is just a matter of getting rid of who I was told to kill. Nothing more, nothing less. And there's still one way I can do that."

"One way?" Shining Armor said immediately looking around the room.

"I swear if you dare attempt to do anything now…" Luna said.

"Oh don't worry. Ha ha ha." He chuckled. "I already have."

Beep

Then all of a sudden they saw a bunch of gas in the rooms. Green Bits threw a chair at Night Fury which didn't damage him but did delay him as he ran out the house. As he did he used his spell to seal the house's windows.

"Wait… Chorus gas?!?" Fury exclaimed.

"What's chorus gas?" Cadence asked.

"It's a neurotoxin that's exclusive to my home. The gas, UHG, can seep into the brain and rip the neurons into smithereens by causing uncontrollable adrenaline surges to make the nerves in the body to fire off randomly…" He wheezed. "This gas has a one punch effect on one creature and one creature only…"

"And who's that?!"

…

"Me…" Fury said, dropping to the floor.

"Night Fury?! Night Fury?!?!?!" Luna said with intimidation.

"We have to get him out of here, now!" Celestia said.

"How?!" Cadence asked.

Shining Armor looked around the room for an opening. At first it seemed hopeless but he managed to see a hole. It must have been a weak spot. Shining used his beam to destroy the wall.

"This way!" Shining exclaimed.

Everypony went out of the gas filled building. Luna was carrying Fury incapacitated body on her back away from the building.

"Something must be done to help him!" Luna said.

Cough Cough! Fury wheezed, still weakened.

"Wait, he's still okay?!"

"I think he's just blacked out. But there's no reason to not give him medical attention." Celestia warned, concern running through her head.

"Medic, get over here! And you two, get after him!" Shining ordered. A medic soon appeared on the scene and two guards went after Green Bits.

The medic pony began to give the feline chest compression and other first aid to help him.

"Ow! Hey hey, I'm up!" Fury said, jumping up and holding the medic at leg length.

"Fury, are you okay?" Cadence asked, turning his head towards her with a hoof.

"Yeah, I think I just blacked out. Thankfully, Chorus gas is a slow working toxin. So I think I just passed out from the gas itself." Fury said while getting his bearings. But then he suddenly realized. "Green Bits! Where is he?" He said looking around to see if he was among them.

"I sent a few guards to track him down. But for right now, you're the priority." Shining said.

"Well, as long as there's still a chance to get him, I'm fine. I know good and well that this is something I can't object to." Fury admitted. He didn't want to say that he was going to stay down after getting gassed, but he knew that his health was more important.

"But hang on, if he knew that Chorus gas was one of my weaknesses, then he had knowledge of my biological makeup. Princess Celestia, are there any books or records of my kind and our biology in Equestria?"

Celestia wondered for a bit.

"I don't think we do… Except maybe for two. Twilight has one of them and the other was in the Canterlot Secret Archives, which is only available to royalty and anypony that I or Luna approved of."

"Well, it can't be Twilight because why would she have anything against me? And besides, she still has her copy of those records and she knows better than to show random ponies that info. So someone had to have gotten the copy from the archives. And it would make sense since when we were in Manehatten, I heard that The Chosen One was apparently royalty." Night Fury wondered aloud.

"Dang it! The Chosen One must have given the document to Green Bits!" Night Fury said. "Luckily I guess the book had limited knowledge since I survived that bomb."

One of the guards came back to Shining and the rest.

"Well, did you find him?!" Shining asked.

"Not yet. But we did find this." The guard replied, holding a book up that had a paw mark on the cover and the title…

Speed Shifters And You

A Biological Overview

"By the moon and stars, are those the records?!" Luna asked.

"They are, and I can tell that this is from the archives because it has my signature engraved on the back cover." Celestia said, taking the book in her magic and flipping it around to reveal the signature.

Celestia was surprised that this top secret document ended up in the hooves of such a nefarious villain. She even noticed on the margins of the pages some notes Green Bits must have written about weapons against Fury.

Night Fury saw the scribbles.

"Gee, this guy was really devious. He even wrote his own notes about me and me specifically. I must be one lucky fella if I'm getting all this attention, heh." Fury chuckled.

"You know, I still can't believe that after almost dying twice that you're still making jokes and laughing." Cadence remarked.

"It's good to keep a sense of humor especially in dire times. My dad taught me that." Night Fury said reminiscing.

"Hey, look at this note!" Shining Armor said.

"This book has been quite useful to me. I thank this regal pony for being so helpful. But I will say I also do have someone else to thank. This cloaked guy said he had it for Night Fury's tribe for a while. And he gave me some pointers not even found in this journal. It has been quite useful. Like about how his kind keeps the original color of the Speed Shifter. In Fury's case, black."

"He knew about my color?!" Night Fury said surprised. "Maybe this guy knew for a while I was planning to get to him. And even worse he knew about my tribe!"

Night Fury really wanted to get Green Bits now. He was too dangerous to be free to Fury.

"I have to stop him!" He said while trying to get up.

"Ambassador please, keep in position. We need to heal you up more." Said the medic.

"Thanks but I really can't let that psycho escape again!" Fury said with some desperation. He grunted while getting up, still wheezing slightly from the gas. "He can't have gone far with us destroying the bridge. If I hurry up I might just catch him!"

"Fury, my guards will do the trick."

"I don't want to take any chances and besides they could use my help." Fury countered.

Everypony looked to Celestia for an answer except for Luna who was merely looking at Night Fury, amazed at his will.

"Look, I know you all are concerned about my health, but I am not going to sit idly by and watch my one chance at stopping all of this just get away from me. I'd rather die knowing that I made a difference than staying alive and sitting on the sidelines." Fury said with remorse. "Like my elders and parents always told me, 'A thousand deaths to salvage what's right, is more valuable than just one for the bare minimum'. "

Luna admired this and spoke up.

"I think it is worth it."

Even Shining Armor looked at this with admiration. This philosophy of Night Fury is exactly what Shining would abide by. He now truly understands and respects Fury.

"If you think it can work, then just be as quick as possible. Don't delay once. Be quick so you don't have to move around excessively." Shining implored him.

"You got it, Shining." Night Fury said looking at the wilderness. "I need to be quick, I feel like I could collapse in a few minutes if I don't hurry." He revved himself up with energy. "Green Bits, HERE I COME!"

He zapped forward with his Speed Shifter energy into the forest. He followed the path that the guard had found in the book. He wondered where he could possibly be. If the guards were going in one direction, he figured he might as well go the opposite direction to cover more ground.

So far he had not noticed too much. Just a bunch of trees. But he remembered what that guy looked like with his fancy suit and tie. And then he had an idea. Maybe he would become a monkey to see the distance. He did so and swiftly climbed and swung on the vines.

It felt weird but somewhat enjoyable to swing on vines.

But he finally found what he was looking for: a piece of a suit. Bullseye. In his speed Shifter form he decided to track down the scent of the cloth.

And there he came across Green Bits trying to inflate a boat to get across the moat. Fury had him right where he wanted him.

"But I have to hurry. I'm losing energy!"

He came up and decided to pounce on Green Bits. The crime lord barely dodged his attack.

"Not bad kitty! But you should know as someone who was part of the Royal Guards I know a thing or two about fighting. Let's see who wins tonight!" Green Bits said ready for battle.

"Okay then, if you want to be that way about it, then how about I show you my advantage?" Fury said coldly, slipping into the darkness of the shadows while chuckling.

"You see, Green Bits, while you have experience in physical combat… I have experience in another type of combat." Fury echoed, landing a clean hit on Green Bits and disappearing into the shadows once more. "The battle of the mind."

"Where did that runt go?! I can't see him!"

"That's exactly my point, you're beginning to see that you're outmatched…"

Fury landed another hit…

"Outwitted…"

And another…

"Scared…"

And another…

"Hopeless…"

Green Bits was enraged.

"Ahhhh, this is not fair! I am the greatest criminal in Equestria! I can't let you best me!!!!" He said in rage.

"Well that's just the thing." Fury said as he was behind him. "You may feel like you can best me, but here in the swamp,"

Wack!

"I have become king. And you have just become a pawn." Night Fury said grandly. By now, the rest of the group had already shown up to the scene of battle and we're watching with intent as they saw Fury do his thing.

"The darkness is my ally…"

Wack!

"And with the goddess that controls it as my witness, you will be eliminated." Fury coldly declared, referencing Princess Luna herself.

Thrash!

He flung the unicorn several feet into a tree. Green Bits was now starting to be more frightened by his foe. But he had one last move to pull off.

"Eat this, predator!" Green Bits said as he drank a potion. "This drink is specially designed to deal with your kind! I will use my beam to take you down! Ahhhhhhhh!" He said as he shot a beam at him.

Night Fury felt quite overwhelmed. Green Bits was giving it his all.

"But if you think this beam will stop me, you're dead wrong!!!" Night Fury said, using his red energy to protect himself. He focused his mind. He knew he had to act fast as he had only a few seconds before his power would wear off. And after awhile of resisting that beam of energy, Night Fury struck back.

ROARRRR!!!

Like a lightning strike in a storm, Fury let out a shockwave that disrupted Green Bits. The well dressed crime boss flew backward through the trees, leaving a trench in his wake as the surrounding trees were obliterated in Fury's EMP.

After this Night Fury's energy wore down. He had lost all of his energy at this point. But he also saw that Green Bits was completely helpless, so he did his job. His friends can capture the unicorn now. Though exhausted, he gave a smug grin at Green Bits.

"Well, looks like you've been outmatched. Now, finish what has to be done." Fury proclaimed, walking through the trench until he was face to face with the beaten up crime boss.

"You really think that you've won? The Chosen One will eradicate you, you useless scum." He said coughing.

"Well, you may be right about somepony getting eradicated, but I think we both know who's about to suffer that fate." Fury said, smirking as he raised his paw and extended his razor sharp claws.

"Get back! Get back!" Green Bits cried out.

"Oh, that's not happening! You have information that I just can't risk getting out. Even if I just do the bare minimum and arrest you, there's still the chance that you or somepony else might break you out of your confinement. And I know only one way to deal with somepony who has information of my kind and plans on using it to erase us…"

"What do you want from me?! I'll do anything you want! There I said it! Just tell me what you want!" Green Bits cried like a little colt.

"That's more like it. Better than telling your victor that I will be defeated. I might not feed you to a manticore or eat you myself if you do one thing for me." He said putting his nail on the unicorn's neck.

"Yes, anything to spare my life! Please, name it and I'll do it!" Green Bits cried on the verge of tears

"Who is this Chosen One guy? He seems like a pretty chill guy. I would like to meet him claw to face."

The unicorn seemed a little hesitant once again. He worried what could happen.

"Um… I uh…"

"Better hurry up and tell me, because I'm starting to feel a little… peckish." Fury deviously whispered.

"If I tell you he'll have my head for sure!" Green Bits said. "He might make it painful too!"

"Ironic since you seem to like to do the same to your own minions. But let's be honest, if you tell me, at least you'll have some chance of your pathetic life existing. But if you don't tell me in a few seconds, I will know what the taste of a well dressed spoiled business stallion is like…"

He licked his teeth only an inch away from Green Bits.

"Alright I'll tell you!" Green Bits exclaimed. "I'll tell you the Chosen One!"

"Good boy!" Fury then turned cheerfully sarcastic and patted his head. "Go ahead and tell us."

"Okay. It's… it's…"

"My stomach is getting impatient."

"It's Prince Blueblood okay!"

All of a sudden Fury's expression changed from confident and cocky to shocked.

"Wait, the Blueblood? The nephew to the royal sisters?"

Green Bits nodded his head.

The princesses were shocked at this. Especially Celestoa and Cadence.

"Wait, are you being serious here, Green Bits?" Cadence asked incredulously. "That pampered prince is the one that has been doing all of this mess?" Cadence laughed a little. "He's too busy thinking about how he looks to actually go through all that effort!"

Celestia on the other hoof was still wondering if this was true or not.

"It's all true! The Ponyville museum, the Manehattan speaking, the bombing… it was all him! He started it all right after Fury's speech about peace between us and his kind! He came to me, The Truther and The Manipulator to put him in his place."

"So you three were all contracted killers to take me out?" Fury questioned.

"No, we were just pawns in his master plan to eradicate you and your kind! He had dirt on all of us and threatened to do the same to us as he did you! He would've killed us if we didn't cooperate!" Green Bits pleaded.

Celestia in many ways was confused and even distressed by this news to some extent.

"My nephew is many things. He is an annoying nuisance, he is spoiled, but he is not some murderer! How do I know you are not lying!" Celestia said

"It's all true your highness, think about Blueblood. Despite him seeming spoiled, you know he is very clever and he always has something up his sleeve. Remember that speech he gave? That was just a sample of what he was intending. You should not underestimate what some might be." Green Bits bluntly said.

Celestia started to see that Blueblood probably was indeed the Chosen One. It all made sense. Celestia was one of the few ponies who saw that Blueblood was not just a spoiled prince but a genius. Though now she realized he was an evil genius.

"He's not wrong. And besides, remember the description that I got from the ponies in Manehatten? Blue eyes, golden hair? And they also said that he was practically royalty! It may have been slim pickings back then, but now, it's concrete evidence that this was all him." Fury said, recalling his time as the fabled Storm Chaser.

Now Cadence instead of laughing realized the horrific truth. Prince Blueblood was playing chess behind the scenes the whole time.

Celestia was silent for a moment. This was somewhat hard news.

"I always thought my nephew, for all his flaws, had great potential. He could have been greater but it seems he chose the wrong path. He might have acted unseemly, but I know he was dedicated to the royal family. It seems though his love for me and the princesses did not extend to others." Celestia said. "Perhaps I should have been more stern with him."

"Please, stay strong, sister. We may have known him for all his life, but we haven't known everything in his life." Luna chimed in, placing a wing over her sister. Celestia smiled at the soothing reassurance from Luna, she was grateful that she was back.

"He has made a choice. Unfortunately he picked the wrong one." Celestia said with anger. "And for that he must be judged."

"So, uh, can you let me go now since I gave the info, Your Highness?" The criminal asked the princess.

She then looked into the eyes of Green Bits. "You have done well in telling us this information. You will now have your reward. To rot in the pits of Tartarus with all the horrible creatures that are just like yourself!" She said with wrath.

"Wait if I gave that info don't I deserve a better treatment then th-"

Then Night Fury turned the criminal's head to face him.

"If you speak one more word, I swear on the gods themselves, I will tear the muscle right off your bones for a snack…" Fury said.

"And I do not mind permitting him to do so." Celestia added.

The criminal simply nodded before two guards came over to give him hoof cuffs.

"Take him away!" Shining Armor said.

Green Bits then grumbled.

"Wait!" Night Fury said. "Before you go I need to know one more thing."

"What do you want?" Green Bits asked.

"I saw in your book there was some cloaked figure who wanted to quote, "destroy my tribe". Do you know anything at all about this guy?" Fury asked this time with less threatening since he was more curious than anything.

The hardened criminal saw no point in hiding this info.

"Well, I don't really know. All I know is that he knew about your kind quite well. He mentioned something about finishing off Obsidian and last legacy. He said how he wished he captured you earlier just like your parents." Green Bits said.

Fury was now immediately interested in this news.

"Captured? Does that mean they're still alive?!"

"From what I recall, I think he said yes. I think he sold them to some slaves from some Ancient Forest area. And he wanted to kill you partly to grieve your parents and also because you were important for some reason. And gave me some information on how your Speed Shifters worked. Although apparently I guess he didn't know everything about your tribe."

"Wait wait, hold on! Fury, you know this 'Obsidian'?" Cadence asked.

"Of course I know him, he's my dad!"

"Your father?!" Everyone said, surprised. Except for Luna, having already heard Fury's gripes about his parents.

"Yeah I haven't seen my folks in a long while. They were captured right in front of me. I always regretted not being able to save them." Fury said with regret.

Luna remembered Night Fury mentioning this traumatic incident to her. She felt sorry for him and put a wing around him.

"I am sure they would be proud of you now." Luna said.

"Thanks Luna." Night Fury said. "But that means I still have a chance to save them!" He said with joy. "I will find them and I will bring them back to safety. I swear by the Power within me I will find them."

Although Night Fury knew this meant he also has some other presumably Speed Shifter foe out to get him. He might need to talk to the Emperor for this.

"Ahem, anyways, as much as I hate to admit it, thanks for the info. Now get your pampered butt out of my face and into Tartarus!" Fury said to the criminal. The guards proceeded to take the still grumbling criminal away, Shining Armor holding back to say something to Night Fury.

"We'll meet you back at the castle, I have a feeling that you four will have some things to talk about." He said, walking off with the rest of the guards.

"He's right, you have to fill us in on what the deal is with your parents." Cadence implored.

"I… don't feel comfortable talking about it right now. But I know somepony else who could." Fury said, looking up to Luna and nodding. Luna took his acknowledgment and proceeded to tell Cadence and Celestia about his situation.

Cadence and Celestia never realized he had such terrible things happen. Night Fury had been through much even before he first went to Canterlot.

Celestia spoke up.

"All I can say is this. After all this drama with my nephew is sorted out. We will help to find your parents as soon as possible. You Night Fury can be proud that you have done so much so far." Celestia congratulated him.

"I agree." Cadence said. "You've faced so much. But you still kept going. Don't ever forget that." Cadence said, hugging the now teary eyed feline.

"Thank you both. It's been hard to keep going with all of this on my back, but at least I don't have to go through it on my own anymore." Fury said, smiling as tears of happiness rolled down his face. He broke the embrace.

"And besides, nothing like having a little fun to keep you going right?" Fury chuckled.

"Hm, and there's that trademark, charming humor." Celestia said, giving her own hug. "Don't ever change, big guy."

Night Fury after being comforted. Now changed his expression to determination.

"Well now I have to think about Prince Blueblood. He probably is still out to get me. But we're going to stop him!"

Celestia responded.

"We have to be careful. He has access to a lot of Canterlot's secrets. Luckily we have secrets even he doesn't know of."

"I must agree, he can be anywhere he wants without a batted eyelash. We must take extreme caution." Luna added.

"I'm sure we can make that happen. Watch out Blueblood, this ambassador is coming for you!" Fury declared with confidence before switching to a more cheeky smile.

"Oh, and Cadence, you know that little joke you pulled on me this morning?" He said innocently.

"Yes, why?" She replied.

"I almost forgot to get you back for that. So eat this!" Fury said, using his power to kick up as much mud as he could into Cadence's face.

"See you back at the castle, sweet cheeks! Haha!" Night Fury said as he ran off.

Cadence almost got mad at her mane getting all diery. But she was amused nonetheless.

"That Night Fury he always has something up his sleeve." Cadence said, shaking her head while chuckling. "I guess that's what keeps him alive."

Comments

[TheArbiter1]

11433453
main character

[NightFurySpeedey8156]

11452683
If you're asking, it's Night Fury

[TheArbiter1]

11452954
No I'm asnwering that MC means main character and the other reviewer was asking how do they look like

[NightFurySpeedey8156]

11453380
Oh, he's a black Jaguar. About at tall as alicorn Twilight.