> The True Nightmare: The Hunt
>  by Feather Note
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> Prologue: Waning Dreams
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A heartbeat, then a second and third as a pony slowly opened her eyes. The darkness of night greeting her pale magenta eyes as she slowly gazed across the starry sky. She grunted as she gradually rose, wings trembling in the night’s cold air. Breathing in slowly, she tried to walk, but stopped, her back legs seizing as she quickly fell back to the ground. She gasped, nuzzling her side as an uncomfortable pain throbbed along her barrel.

‘W-what is this, wh-where am I, and… why is it night?’ The mare quickly looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. ‘The sun was only above the mountaintops the last time… wait… where’s Luna?! Or Twilight, or Cadence?!’ Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she looked down and examined her white coat, stopping to gingerly run a hoof along a sequence of marks and cuts, before recoiling at the sensation of a warm liquid. Raising her hoof in front of her muzzle, it was dripping with the bright scarlet fluid she had felt. ‘Blood… is this… my blood?’

Trying to recall recent events prior to blacking out, she tried to focus on the last thing she could remember. The mare thought and thought, but could not remember what had taken place. Sighing, she stood up, grimacing at the reminder of pain in her side. Spreading her wings, she quickly took flight, hoping to find her sister and friends. ‘Whatever has taken place, hopefully, my sister and former student will know what is going on.‘

She scanned the ground below her as she flew, hoping to find at least some form of activity on the earth. Her ethereal mane flowed in the wind, the light cerulean, turquoise and cobalt blue mix glowed as the light of the moon washed over it, the pale pink streak darkening from its weak luminescence. A faint orange light caught her attention and her gaze darted across the horizon. From a distance, it resembled the delicate glow of a campfire. However, what she saw as she neared the growing blaze made her eyes widen while her wings faltered for a moment.

Nearing the town that she cherished, she found it in ruins as fires ran rampant. Flames licked up the sides of dilapidated buildings, looking as if nopony had even passed through the town for twenty moons. Landing in the middle of the square, she scanned the area slowly, hoping to find anypony that would answer her ever-growing questions. Steadily taking a few steps forward, she stopped when her hoof splashed in some sort of liquid below her gilded horseshoe. The mare gulped before willing herself to look down. She tried to scream, but her voice died in her throat and terror flashed in her eyes as she saw the sticky and foul smelling liquid pool around her hoof, flowing sluggishly across the dirt road beneath her hooves.

The pony quickly backed up, breathing heavily as the sight of what must have been one of her subject’s blood made her shudder. She panted heavily, catching her breath as best she could, and looked for where the blood came from. She gasped at the sight before her, as her eyes darted across the corpse-laden streets. Wide-eyed, she teared up at the sight, backing up as the smell of decay hit her nose. Her hoof hit something as she stumbled away from the horrifying scene. She stopped, turning around slowly. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at one of her subjects, a pony whose stomach was ripped open, ribs pried apart, and entrails pulled out of his chest cavity. His blank gaze marked the last moments of terror that he spent alive, staring at something so unimaginably frightening.

“No… my l-little ponies…” The mare murmured, tears steadily streaming down her face. She neared the deceased pony and gently guided her hoof towards his eyes, closing them as she whimpered quietly.

The mare looked behind her and shakily surveyed the sight around her. Ponies’ bodies were lying in the street, all disfigured in some grotesque manner, but each expression showed the same fear and terror as the pony that laid before her. The mare backed up as her breath quickened once more, her eyes darting from one carcass to another. Her flank bumped into something. Standing still, she turned around slowly, and the tree that her student once called home was there to face her. Its windows were broken with their glass littering the ground and the door creaked as it swung on one of its hinges.

‘Please, let Twilight be safe.’ The alicorn hurriedly ran into the library to find nothing but books torn apart and lying on the ground with their pages scattered everywhere. She scanned the walls that were marred by the claws of some creature, but no blood was present, prompting the mare sighed with relief. ‘Thank goodness. This means that Twilight is alright.’ A noise interrupted that brief, joyful spark as her gaze turned towards the doorway.

Cautiously, the mare quietly walked towards the opened entrance and looked out to the town. Checking both to her the left and right, she saw nothing that could have made the noise. Taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly to steady herself, she walked outside to turn towards the direction of her home. ‘If Ponyville is in disarray, then what of Canterlot?’ Opening her wings once more, she took off with a powerful flap of her large wings. Her flight towards her destination didn’t take long, as she soon neared the once glorious city.

Her eyes widened as she saw the same destruction wrought here as of in Ponyville. ‘No… this cannot be…’ The same bright and blazing flames that riddled Ponyville were here in greater numbers. She scanned the city, finding that the castle gates were knocked down along with the gruesome sight of her Royal Guards slaughtered like the inhabitants of Ponyville were. Landing near the stairs outside her throneroom, she slowly lifted her head towards her surroundings.

She blankly stared at the mess around her, letting the sheer mass of destruction sink in. She stared at the open doors of her castle, as they somehow managed to cling to their hinges. A gust of flame and smoke added to her pain, the awful smell forming a lump in her throat as she wondered about the fates of the others.

Breathing in once more, she hesitantly walked in and saw small fires scattered about the room. The throne room was illuminated in an eerie orange light as she looked on at the destruction. Her gaze rested on the colored glass pictures. The glass paintings of when the Element Bearers defeated both Discord and Nightmare Moon were partly shattered and missing pieces. The fringes of the panes barely held them in place as large shards had fallen from where five of the bearers of the elements of harmony were once immortalized. Twilight stood alone in the circle of magic in the center of the window, alone in the magic that friendship had bestown upon her. The full picture of Twilight when she became an alicorn remained fairly intact, but its surface started to crack as Celestia continued to examine it.

Memories of what happened before she blacked out slowly emerged; she recalled a terrifying monster that had come to Equestria in an alien ship when it crashed onto the planet’s surface. ‘Is… this the creature’s doing?’ An anger rose within her as she silently vowed to kill the creature when she found it. ‘But, for now… I have to find the others.’ Walking off into the right hallway, her horn lit up with a golden-yellow aura as she summoned her magic, lighting up the darkened hallways.

As she wearily trotted on, the smell of flesh and blood invaded her nose, making her gag violently. Tearing at the sight of all her ponies, lifeless after giving their lives in a valiant attempt to kill the creature that had invaded her home. She tripped over one of the pony’s hooves and looked at the body. She could taste bile at the back of her throat as she saw the mare lying lifelessly before her. The mare’s once brilliant gamboge coat had faded to a paler orange, stained bright brown in several places with her own blood. Her sap green eyes dully reflected Celestia’s magic. “Applejack… no…”

A large hole was torn in the farm pony’s throat, still leaking blood. Whimpering quietly, the alicorn closed the mare’s eyes and continued on at a slower pace. She moved into a long hallway and passed by more bodies that were mangled beyond recognition as her light filled the hall, pushing back the shadows. There, she discovered two more ponies she recognized that had met similarly horrible ends.

“Rainbow Dash… Pinkie Pie… I’m so sorry. I-I couldn’t save you…” The light cyan blue pegasus was slouched against the wall, her cerise eyes faded. Her once rainbow colored mane completely turned red, stained with her own blood. The injury she had sustained when she took on the monster had opened up again while her wings were ripped apart, broken bones protruding from her back. Pinkie Pie’s light cerulean eyes were closed, her once puffy dark pink mane hung matted to her side, and the party mare’s pink coat was covered in her own blood around the deep gashes along her sides. One of her legs was missing, pulled out of the socket by her killer and tossed aside.

Crying quietly, the mare closed Rainbow Dash’s eyes and stared at both the deceased mares. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry my little ponies…” A scream interrupted her words, she looked around for the source, but with her horn emitting light, she couldn’t see past where her light did not reach the shadows. Scanning the walls around her, she saw an open door and ran to it. Her horn’s light reflected off the door handle as she looked around the small room for a brief moment. Dimming the golden light of her horn, she looked out through the crack in the door, hearing the footsteps of something drawing closer. The light outside of the room was almost nonexistent, but she could see well enough to notice a large outline walking past the door. As it passed her door, it slowly peered through the crack, its eyeless gaze moving over her figure, yet she couldn’t tell if it could see her or not. Its head was elongated, with a long tail that swung slowly around behind it. Images came back, vivid and detailed, as the monster in front of her slowly turned. The name formed itself in the soundless motions of her muzzle as she remembered her student explaining what this nightmare was and what it could do.  

It walked over to where she once stood and hissed at the two mares that laid there before moving on as it scanned the hallways with its eyeless gaze. It soon passed out of her vision and continued on, its echoing footsteps soon fading away. Sighing with relief, the alicorn lit her horn once more. She turned around to face the room she was in and let out a breathless scream when she saw another one of her dead friends laying on a steel bed.

“Rarity…” The beautiful mare had a large hole in her chest, her azure blue eyes frozen with the incomprehensible fear that gripped her during her final moments. The mare’s indigo mane and tail had fallen from their curled forms and now laid tangled as her hair hung above the ground. Another memory resurfaced as the alicorn recalled that she had one of the creatures attached to her face infecting her with its spawn before they took on one of them. ‘It’s… that was the Xenomorph inside Rarity… which means…’ A second memory flashed in her mind as she remembered that this was the first stage of its life cycle, the facehugger. When they found the fashionista, she was cocooned to a wall in the lair of the Queen, an egg layer capable of generating more.

The alicorn recalled the battle at the Royal Sisters’ castle. She and the other three princesses were busy fighting the Xenomorph when it hurled a large piece of the concrete castle. She landed in a heap after it hit her, making her black out. The Queen must have gone on a rampage through Ponyville before making quick work of her own city, and the smaller one had probably been born after the attack had begun. She needed to find the remaining survivors quickly. She walked over to the deceased mare and closed her eyes, tears freely splashing around her hooves before she turned and left the small room behind her.

Increasing her pace, she trotted past the open doorways, moving through the castle as she continued her search. Faint noises echoed through the building and the mare’s fur stood on end as she kept a lookout for the Xenomorph that roamed her halls.

Making her way to the library, she noticed that the place was also demolished. Books laid scattered and torn apart, bookshelves were knocked over or broken into pieces. Silently flying up to the upper floor, she saw a body hanging off the side of a broken balcony and moved closer to it. Tears ran in rivulets around her cheeks as she spoke to the remains of another dear friend, “Fluttershy… not you, too…” She couldn’t look at the horribly disfigured pegasus any longer and sluggishly walked away. As she walked into the next room, she felt the floor give away beneath her before falling into the other side of the library.

Groaning, she got up and looked around. Dust flew up as the noise of the tumbling concrete soon ceased. Standing up, she examined herself before sighing with relief. A hissing sound emanated from behind her, causing her to stiffen. Slowly turning her head to see what had caused the noise, she saw nothing, then, a gleam of silver light glinted from the Xenomorph’s teeth, slime dripping down its bared fangs. It growled at her and slowly crawled in her direction.

Backing up slowly, she lit her horn up. It jumped at her, screaming as it closed in. She focused and fired a beam of her magic that sent it flying back. Screeching as it hit the wall, it burst through and clung to the wall outside as rubble soon covered up the gaping hole. Snarling in frustration, it ran along the wall, looking for a way back in. The alicorn ran as fast as she could. ‘I need to find the others and get them out of here. Canterlot has been lost… we need to find a safer place for the time being.’ With that goal in mind, she quickened her stride and broke into a full gallop.

Nearing the meeting room, she swiftly looked inside before barreling in. She came to a skidding halt when she heard the sounds of a pony moaning and hastily scanned the room, breathing heavily as she looked around.

“P-Princess Celestia…” A voice murmured behind the regal alicorn as she looked back. She teared up at the sight of her former student, hung against the wall in a black and sticky substance.

“Twilight… you're okay.” She looked to the lavender alicorn’s left and saw her niece. “Cadence…” Another figure moved farther to the left. “Luna… you're all okay!” The three mares were all held in the same black substance. She looked to the right of the ponies and gasped at the small drake, Spike, and alicorn filly, Nyx, restrained in the same manner as the three princesses. However, what held her stare were the two facehuggers attached to their faces, the spider-like creatures pulsating as they delivered the horrifying embryos into the children.

“Sister… you must leave us…” Luna spoke up wearily as she stared towards her sister.

“No! I’m going to free you all from this horrible place.” Celestia said, running towards the three princesses.

“Auntie… just go… it’s too late for us…” Cadence weakly pleaded, her eyes closed as she looked away.

“No! I won’t leave you all to rot in this place!” A scream sounded from her right, stopping Celestia in her tracks as she neared the group. The Xenomorph had found its way to her, standing up on its hind legs as it growled at the pest that had invaded its nest.

Celestia defiantly stood her ground as she declared, “You shall pay for what you have done, you monster!” She lit up her horn and backpedaled, trying to put as much distance between herself and the nightmare. It simply screeched and stood its ground.

Celestia had charged her magic and was ready to blast the unmoving creature, but a sickening squelch sounded behind her. Celestia gasped at the sudden pain in her back.

“Celestia, no!” Twilight screamed. Cadence opened her eyes to see what had taken place, and whimpered at the sight, tears running down her cheeks.

“Sister… why didn’t you save yourself?” Luna weakly demanded as tears of pain ran down her face as well. Celestia was lifted off the ground as a large black blade underneath her gleaned in the moon’s weak light, dripping with her blood. She was turned around and heard the sound of heavy breathing. She couldn’t scream at what she saw, for her energy had all but left her. Her eyes widened as she saw the terror that had arrived in Equestria. The Queen Xenomorph stared down at the alicorn with its eyeless gaze as it moved her closer.

Blood welled out from her mouth as she could only stare at the nightmare before her. It screamed in triumph as it opened its mouth. She was moved face to face with the frightening creature. Something shot out of its mouth and darkness was all she could see. The pain left her, and so did any feeling she once had. Except for one last thought, ‘Sister… Twilight… Cadence… everypony… I’m so sorry. I-I failed you all…’
> Chapter I: Deception Revealed
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“AAAAHHHH!” The regal alicorn awoke, screaming in terror and bolting upright in her bed. She breathed heavily, feeling cold beads of sweat run down her forehead and body. It wasn’t real. She was sleeping in her room. Her mind came to that conclusion as she scanned the eerily illuminated room, bathed in moonlight. ‘It… felt so real…’ Shaking uncontrollably, she sobbed quietly into her hooves. Tears of pain freely escaped, staining not only her cheeks, but dampening her coat as well.

For weeks, even though the nightmare was gone, it haunted her every waking moment. The creature may have died, but in the long run, it was still lurking, still casting the shadows of fear across the minds of the ponies who experienced its nightmarish effects. The noise of her door creaking open caught her attention.

“Sister… is everything alright?” A voice whispered from the darkness as a dark blue alicorn stuck her head through the crack in the doorway.

Celestia looked up at her younger sister, her tear-stained face already giving Luna an answer. “Luna… it happened again.”

“The creature?” The younger mare asked, walking up to the bedside.

“Yes… it was worse this time.”

“Shhh… you do not have to go into detail.” The darker alicorn spoke softly. As she sat upon the bedside and ran her hoof through her sister’s hair, the elder sister moved closer to the dark alicorn and nuzzled her cheek, closing her eyes while her quick and uneven breathing started to slow. “I felt your fear and terror as I patrolled the dreamscape and quickly made my way to you.”

“It… it was awful. I saw… Ponyville in ruins. Canterlot met a similar fate, and when I went to see what had taken place… I…” Celestia choked up , silently sobbing at the memory of everypony she loved either being killed by the nightmare or hanging against the wall, awaiting the cruel fate of giving birth to more of the terrible monsters. Her younger sister wrapped her hooves around her elder sister, gently embracing her.

“Everything will be okay, the creature is gone now. Maybe not from our minds, but from existence.” In the aftermath of the incident in Ponyville, Luna’s patrols in the dreamscape had become more tedious as the Princess of the Night was busy trying to help those who dreamed of this terrible creature find peace and comfort. Luna herself spent countless hours filled with restless sleep. Although she wasn’t physically affected, her mentality was wearing thin.

Celestia sniffled, a sad smile forming across her lips. “Y-you're right.” The regal alicorn, however, could not help but think about the creature. When she and her friends were waiting in the hospital to hear the outcome of Rarity, the doctor told them that the Xenomorph embryo had been taken care of. That’s when a terrible thought came to the Princess of the Day. She hadn’t actually witnessed the death of the last Xenomorph. At the time, she was more concerned about the wellbeing of Rarity and the others that had been wounded, physically, mentally, or otherwise. As she reflected back to that day, she became more and more paranoid. The rational part of her mind tried to tell her that the beast was dead and there was nothing to worry about. However, an overwhelming sense of dread nearly drove her to a state of panic. She had to be sure.

The alicorn wiped her tears away and pushed her younger sister aside before getting off her bed and standing up. “Sister…?” Luna murmured, seeing a look she hadn’t seen for a long time, not since Discord ruled in terror.

Celestia looked down to her younger sibling and said, “Luna… I want to pay the doctor a visit.”

“You mean the stallion from before? He told us that the creature was dead.”

The regal alicorn walked away as Luna spoke, before turning around to speak in a low tone. “Yes… he did.”

Luna quickly trotted to her sister’s side, matching the quickened pace as she stared in worry. “And when we visit this doctor… what do you plan to say?”

“I just want to talk to him, nothing more and nothing less.”

The younger sister looked away, wondering what her dear sister was truly planning. After a couple of minutes, the two princesses strode through the doors of the hospital, followed by a squad of stern looking royal guards. All the ponies inside bowed down to their unexpected entrance. As the regal alicorns proceeded to move towards the check-in desk, the pony behind it smiled brightly as she greeted them. “Good morning, Your Highnesses. What brings you here?”

“Where is Dr. Needle Pin?” Celestia spoke in a low, almost scolding tone.

The mare cowered under the gaze of the beloved Princess. Lowering herself behind the desk, she muttered, “Umm, he’s on f-floor two, Y-Your Highness…”

“Thank you.” The white alicorn simply stated before turning away and headed towards the stairs. Luna hastily followed behind her.

As the group walked up the stairs, Luna couldn’t help but ask, “Celestia… I know that these nightmares have hurt many of our subjects, but I know you are going to do more than simply ‘talk’ with the doctor.” Her sister stopped mid-stride and looked back. “There is another way for this to be resolved without intimidation. He did say they disposed of the embryo.”

“But we didn’t see the body… did we?” Celestia reminded the dark alicorn.   

“Well, no… but he wouldn’t lie to us… right?”

“We shall see…” The white alicorn continued up the stairs with her sister and the guards following closely behind. When the two sisters came to the doctor’s door, Celestia raised her right hoof and knocked against it.

A voice came from within and the sound of hoofsteps could be heard drawing closer to the door. “Just a second!” The door unlocked and swung into the room, revealing a unicorn stallion. “Welcome to my humble… abode…” He froze under the gaze of Celestia. His knees began to tremble as his sight swept across the other regal sister and their entourage of guards.

“Hello, Doctor Pin. We would like to have a word with you.”

He gulped silently before saying, “Sure, sure, come on in.” He waved his hoof, inviting them in before turning back into his office. When the alicorns entered the office, the guards immediately stood guard outside the room, closing the door behind them. “Please, please, uh, take a seat. I wasn’t expecting company this morning. Rather, I wasn’t expecting any business of this significance this early, your Highnesses.” The two mares sat in the chairs he pulled forward for them. He took his own seat and clapped his hooves together before saying, “So… what brings you here?”

Celestia continued to gaze upon the stallion before quietly inquiring, “Where is it?”

“Where is what?” Needle Pin murmured, looking at the door past the two.

“Where is the embryo?”

He stayed silent for a brief moment before chuckling, “Oh, that thing. We disposed of the embryo weeks ago.” His eyes darted between the two before asking. “… Why?”

“I want to see it.” Dr. Pin hesitated. When he didn’t answer her, Celestia spoke louder. “Where is it? I need to see it!”

“But… it’s gone… we threw it away.” He laughed a little before saying, “We can’t recover the specimen. It’s gone, dead, kaput. You do not need to worry so much, Your Majesties.”

Celestia leaned a little closer to the stallion as she watched him lean back away from her, beads of sweat running down his brow. Her magenta eyes narrowed and her voice lowered to a menacing whisper. “You’re lying to me.”

“But, sister he must be telling the truth. Why would he lie to us?”

“Where is it?!” She demanded, the volume of her voice rapidly rising.

He flinched under her furious gaze and trembled. “I… I can’t show you it…”

“Why not?”

“B-because… it’s not here anymore.”

Celestia’s calm and composed manner was replaced with a desperation and rage as she sprung up from her chair and leered over the stallion, making him shrink back. “What do you mean?”

“I… I…” He stuttered, losing his composure under the piercing gaze and demanding questions until he faltered under the pressure. “Alright! It’s not here anymore because it’s gone! I sold it!”

Luna stood up quickly and walked over to Doctor Pin. “You what!?”

“You… sold it…?” Celestia murmured, her eyes widening at the horrible revelation.

“I sold it… to a pony named Dr. Caballeron. He paid handsomely for the embryo, about five thousand bits. He even threw in another five hundred just to make sure I kept quiet.”

“Do you have any idea what you have done?!” Luna knocked the chair from under the doctor. He fell to the floor in a heap and scurried away from the regal sisters. “You have not only jeopardized the safety of Equestria, but lives are now in the most immediate danger!”

Celestia was frozen, as all those nightmares came crashing into her mind all at once. Each and every terrifying moment she experienced with that horrible creature felt that much closer to becoming reality. She lit her horn in a golden-yellow aura and pulled the stallion up by the collar, glaring at him. “You… how dare you! Ponies’ lives have already been destroyed by this creature once, I will not let it happen again!”

“You're a traitor to all of ponykind, Needle Pin!” Luna yelled, casting her own glare at the doctor. “We lost a Prince to this monster! And you sold it… I cannot believe that a pony such as you would give in to their own greedy desires!”

“B-But...Your Majesties! I can…” he began to stutter, but Celestia silenced him with a growl.

“You can explain?” She finished for him. “Guards!” At her command, the soldiers waiting outside the door burst in and rushed to the Princesses’ side. Celestia dropped the doctor on his flank, and before he could react he found himself surrounded by spears. “Dr. Needle Pin, you are under arrest for treason.”

“Treason!?” He squeaked in terror. “No! I…” The tips of the spears circling him drew closer to his neck, silencing him.

“Take him away.” The white alicorn ordered. The doctor kicked, screamed, and sobbed as they dragged him out of the office. He tried pleading for mercy, but Celestia and Luna remained silent. Luna watched as the condemned doctor was taken away, but Celestia stared into the distance, too preoccupied by her own dread to even care about Needle Pin’s plight.

Luna turned to face Celestia and saw the horror in her sister’s eyes.“Sister… are you alright?”

The regal alicorn came out of her daze and murmured, “I… will be…” She turned to look back to her sister and said, “You realize what this means, right? The nightmare that we once thought was dead is alive.”

“Yes… it is horrifying to hear of such a return.” Luna paused before asking, “Who is this Dr. Caballeron he spoke of? I do not recall hearing about this subject of ours.”

“I have not the faintest clue either. But whoever he is, we need to find him and retrieve the embryo before this creature falls into the wrong hooves.”

“But where do we even begin?” Luna inquired as she and Celestia walked out of the Doctor’s room. Once outside the hospital, they discussed possible courses of action during the trip back to the castle. “Equestria isn’t such a small place, Tia. How will we find this pony?”

“We will enlist the help of one pony I know of.” Celestia replied as they entered the castle.

“You know somepony who could provide assistance?”

“Yes, I know of a certain-”

“Auntie!” A whining voice interrupted her. The two Princesses turned to look towards the door and sighed as a white unicorn with a golden mane walked into the room.

“What is it, Blueblood?” Celestia asked half-heartedly.

“What is it? Oh, I’ll tell you the problem. These servants are so useless. Sometimes it’s like I’m talking to a dog or a deaf pony. They can’t even hear my needs or even get what I actually want when I have perfectly given them every detail.”

“And how is it such a big problem?” Luna inquired, quickly losing her patience.

“Well, you need better ponies that can actually understand what I need and get it to me at a moment’s notice.” He closed his eyes and then chuckled before saying, “Oh, and I also want a raise in my royal allowance.”

“How could you possibly need a bigger allowance?” Luna asked with a roll of her eyes.

“I need a new yacht. The latest model is coming out soon and I want to have enough to purchase it and fund a christening party for it.” He explained, looking proud of himself and his “brilliant” plan.

“Blueblood, you receive an adequate allowance as it is.” Celestia told him.

“But, Auntie!”

“No buts, Blueblood. Now, I suggest you leave.” Celestia ordered. “Luna and I were busy talking about matters that are more important than how much of the royal treasury you drain every week.”

He stuttered as he tried to voice whatever "well-thought-out" excuse he could think up, but with the gaze of both princesses upon him, he didn’t say anything. He threw his head back with an annoyed groan and walked back out the door.

Celestia closed her eyes and sighed, “As I was saying, I have an idea who can help us. She’s a mutual friend we share with the Element Bearers. She is located out in the upper forest regions of Equestria, living in seclusion from everypony else.”

“You don’t mean Daring Do, do you?” Luna asked.

“The same. She is definitely the right mare for a task of this magnitude.”

A thought came to mind, and Luna had to ask, “What about informing the others. Twilight Sparkle and-”

“No!” Celestia yelled, turning her gaze upon her sister. Luna faltered, shivering at the tone her sister had used. The white alicorn shook her head before continuing in a softer tone. “No… they cannot go through this ordeal again. You and I saw how this has changed their lives and how badly it affected all of them. I do not wish to go through it another time.”

Luna nodded, gazing out into the dark sky. “So, who will we send to inform this pony? We need to have somepony we can trust.”

Celestia looked back to her sister and murmured, “I believe I have an idea for who I want to send. I just hope that the mare doesn’t take offense for us disturbing her.”

With the plan set in motion, the Princess of the Day walked out onto the balcony located to the right of the hallway the two were in and lit her horn in the golden-yellow aura again. The sun slowly began to fill the sky with its natural and radiant orange and yellow light. Another dawn had risen, yet the mood had changed drastically. The creature was still alive, and this once again meant trouble, not only for Equestria and its inhabitants, but for the whole world.
> Chapter II: Unexpected Visitors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun soon rose to its highest peak in the afternoon sky over the forest in the region northwest of Galloping Gorge. A small rundown house sat in the middle of nowhere. Inside the house was a pegasus mare, who sat upon a chair as she looked at her typewriter. An elegant hat sat upon her head, concealing her grayscale hair. Her red glasses framed her rose colored eyes as they darted back and forth across the paper firmly held in the machine under her gaze. Her light gold coat was almost completely hidden away under a violet shaw that covered her back all the way to the floor, obscuring her tail and cutie mark.

She had returned to her typewriter after seeing a few trespassers off her property and was busy trying to figure out what she should write next. ‘It’s been awhile since I’ve been on an adventure. Nothing much to write about if nothing happens.’ Her last book received great reviews, as a new character had appeared in her story. Sometime ago, she had a run in with six mares, particularly a pegasus mare named Rainbow Dash, who had gone out of their way to help her on a dire mission. Even though she had been turned down time after time, the rainbow maned mare would not relent. The mare sitting before the typewriter chuckled at the memory, it seemed like she had seen those unlikely heroines only yesterday.

However, she had received news some time ago about a terrible accident. There was a mass funeral she did not attend, but from what she heard, many ponies had died after a monster had appeared in Equestria. Where it came from was unknown from what her sources told her. More information came later, with which she found out that the Element Bearers were involved, along with the Royal Sisters and even the Princess of the Crystal Empire. She had learned that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s husband was killed in action as well.

Even the friends she had gained weren’t spared from bodily harm. There were rumors that they were injured by the creature’s before it was finally killed by the princesses. ‘Rainbow Dash… my friends…’ She never was one for social activity. After fighting with her nemesis time and time again, she learned to never trust anypony else and was always weary around strangers, but her experience with Rainbow Dash and the friends got her thinking; maybe she could trust some ponies.

A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked towards the offending sound. Getting up from her seat, she walked over to the door and peeked out her window. She saw three ponies, two of them looked like members of the Royal Guard as they stood at attention behind one that looked like Prince Blueblood. Cautiously opening the door, she pulled it so that only her muzzle and eyes were visible to the ponies outside. “What do you want? I’m a little busy here.”

“You must be A.K. Yearling. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yeah… likewise. Now how about you leave?” She went to close the door, but it was stopped when the regal stallion moved a hoof to intercept it.

“Now now, we have to talk. Princess Celestia...” He spoke, dragging out the in his aunt’s name before continuing, “has personally asked me to acquire your assistance.”

“Assistance, what for? I don’t believe she’s in great need of a writer.”

“Ahh, but that’s where you're wrong. We need your help, Yearling.” He chuckled before saying, “or should I say… Daring Do.” Blueblood smirked.

The pegasus stood still, mouth agape before she spoke. “How do you know my name?”

“Oh, we have our sources. Very reliable sources. In fact, we have known about you for quite some time.”

The now revealed adventurer looked away for a moment, muttering under her breath before she fully opened the door for them. Blueblood sauntered in leaving the guards to station themselves outside the door as Daring closed it behind him. She moved back to her chair and sat down again, watching Blueblood sit down in one of the other chairs and crossing one of his legs over the other. “Alright, so what do you want?” Daring inquired half-heartedly.

“Now… Ms. Do.” Blueblood paused before saying, “Ahem, I would like to speak to Daring. Not her writer.”

Grumbling under her breath, she pulled off the purple cloak, revealing a pale jungle green and yellow colored jacket underneath. Daring took off her glasses and placed them on the desk behind her, while pulling off her hat and replacing it with her trademark pith helmet. “So… anything else, Your Highness?” She inquired, glaring at the annoying prince.

“That’s better.” Blueblood cleared his throat before he finally delivered his aunt's request. “Princess Celestia has requested your help. Have you ever heard of a pony named Dr. Caballeron?”

Daring leaned closer to the Prince, her interest piqued after hearing the name of an old foe of hers. "What about Dr. Caballeron?"

"Well, he has come into possession of an item that could prove to be of great importance to my Aunts. However, if in the wrong hooves, its power would be corrupted and used for more sinister purposes." The prince explained, shrugging slightly.

Daring rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Considering she had nothing to write about at the moment, it would be best if she went on some sort of adventure. "So... what's in it for me?" Daring inquired, leaning back onto her desk.

"A hefty reward paid for in bits. About six, no, eight thousand."

‘Wow... must be pretty important for the Princesses.’ "So, I snatch the item from Caballeron, make my way to Canterlot, deliver the cargo, and get paid... correct?"

“Precisely. We’ll have your reward waiting for you when you arrive with the package.”

Daring looked away for a brief moment before asking, “What is the item of interest? It sounds awfully important if the Princesses are willing to pay eight thousand bits for it.”

Blueblood chuckled, “I am sorry, but that information is classified. Even I have no clue as to what they deem to be so important. They didn’t exactly let me in on the secret.”

The pegasus mare sighed, tapping her right hoof on the desk before saying. “Alright, you convinced me. I’ll go and get this item that the Princesses want and return it to you.”

“That is most wonderful news. Now, you’ll want to see another pony, his name is Fancy Pants, and he’ll assist you with equipment, the team and-”

“Woah, woah, woah… ‘team’?” Daring chuckled slightly, before continuing, “Sorry, but I work alone.”

“I’m afraid that it isn’t an option. You are to work with a team to retrieve the item. It’s either that or no deal.”

Daring sighed, grumbling under her breath again and looking away from the Prince’s smug expression. She turned back to face him and relented. “Okay, so where is this ‘Fancy Pants’, if I may ask?”

“He will meet you a few hours from now in Canterlot. There, you’ll join a team he has assembled for you. They shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

Daring bit her lip, thinking carefully about the objective and conditions. She weighed her options and then raised a hoof towards him. He gladly moved a hoof towards hers and they shook. “Blueblood, I believe you can count me in on this trip.”

He chuckled, and replied, “That is most wonderful to hear, Daring Do. I believe my aunts will be very happy to hear this.”



~~~



Hundreds of miles above the planet, a ship was orbiting in sync with the rotation of the planet. Onboard, a large bipedal creature loomed over a hologram, watching and working as the ship’s sensors scanned the planet for any sign that the Serpent was there. The search was initiated a couple of days ago and so far nothing had shown up on the radar that could potentially lead to where it was.

From what the creature had seen, a ship had crash landed on the planet a few weeks ago. It was the same human ship they had tracked from the planet the humans called “Erebus.” An indication of some precious cargo it could have been carrying had been found. Traces of Serpent DNA were detected by the ship’s scanners. The scans of the human vessel also picked up the remains of the crew, not all of them were killed by the crash: another important hint to a possible Serpent to be hunted.

One of the scanners’ signals went off, ringing that it had found something. The bipedal creature moved its hand towards the hologram and enhanced the image, the picture zooming in on to where it was last located. An image popped forward, showing an infant Serpent coiled up in a containment field of some sort. The bipedal creature observing the hologram didn’t recognize that particular type of energy, but from what it could tell, it was preventing the Serpent from growing. More importantly, the creature could see the crest on the infant Serpent’s head, marking it as a Queen.

Three more bipedal creatures walked up from behind the first and examined the image. They looked between themselves and then roared enthusiastically, thrilled by their find. If they were able to retrieve the Serpent Queen, they would be able to harvest her eggs for countless glorious hunts to come.

The first being waved its hand over the hologram and it expanded. Carrying the Serpent’s tiny prison was a four legged creature. There were others like it nearby and they seemed to be transporting it somewhere. The four bipedal creatures made an irritated clicking noise. Those foolish creatures had no idea what they had in their possession. It was only a matter of time before the Serpent inevitably escaped and reproduced, dooming their planet and ruining the chance for a proper hunt. They had to act fast or all would be for naught.

As the other three continued to stare at the image, the being that had been operating the hologram turned around and left the bridge of the ship. It entered another room and went to a wall that opened up to reveal an arsenal. It grabbed a variety of weapons: a spear that contracted, a disc with a sharpened edge, a miniature cannon that it mounted upon its shoulder, and a gauntlet. After arming itself, it went to another wall and picked up a metallic mask with a clawed hand, placing it upon its face

Moments later, there was miniature explosion as a smaller pod broke away from the ship and headed towards the planet below.
> Chapter III: Fancy Pants
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours had passed since the visit from Blueblood and Daring Do was already riding in a train headed for Canterlot. She had her disguise on knowing that even if Blueblood had promised not to reveal her identity, other ponies might freak out if they saw Daring Do walking down the streets of Canterlot. Besides, she wasn’t so sure he was actually telling her the truth or just what she wanted to hear.

Either way, she was at least grateful for this opportunity. With her mind coming up with blanks for any new story ideas, going on this adventure would be a surefire way to generate a new story to write. As she looked out the window, she could see the majestic spires of the capital city drawing closer as the train made its way up the winding path of the mountain.

This was one of the very few trips into the city that she had ever made. After all, the noise of the city was just too loud for her to concentrate. That and she would be constantly bombarded by admirers asking her for autographs, pictures, and even locks of her hair. For this reason, Daring Do took on the A.K. Yearling persona and her real identity became a fictional character.

The train slowly came to a screeching halt while the station came into Daring’s view. The rest of the passengers filed out as the doors opened, spreading out as the ponies entered the lower part of the city. Daring took another route, leading her up to the business sector of the city. She looked around, seeing all sorts of emblems and insignias of various influential ponies on the buildings. However, she was looking for one in particular. She stopped when she came to a large building surrounded by a skydock with a fleet of airships in port. Over the front door was the image of three crowns: the cutie mark of one Fancy Pants.

Knowing she had found the place, she walked up the steps of the building, examining the establishment before her. From what she could tell, whoever this Fancy Pants was, he was very rich. To have a small array of airships and even a docking area for them was quite an impressive sight. It also indicated he owned his own shipping industry.

She stepped up to the top of the stairs and noticed a pony walking out onto a balcony far to the right and couldn’t help but look towards the pony. When she did, stopping for a brief moment, she recognized the unicorn. Her mane was a dark indigo that flowed over her flawless white coat with a slight wave at the end. She wore a black wool sweater and shoes with a red beret comfortably seated on the right side of her head. She recognized her as one of Rainbow Dash's friends and one of the Elements of Harmony, yet there was something different about her. The way she carried herself and even the expression on the unicorn’s face were different from before. Though she wore a smile for the group of high class ponies accompanying her, Daring could see the distant look in her blue eyes. Those eyes carried so much pain, fear, and distress. Daring had seen that look before, it was the look of a pony that had experienced something truly awful. What could such a prim and proper mare like herself have experienced to rattle her like that?

The mare looked in her direction and Daring’s eyes briefly made contact with the unicorn’s gaze. A look of surprise showed on the unicorn mare, but the pegasus looked away and continued on. Even though the look on the mare’s face that said she recognized Daring was expected, she didn’t come here for idle chit chat, she came here with a job to do.

She entered through the door and looked around at the inside of the establishment, a fountain and foliage standing before her in the large atrium. The lobby was furnished with expensive pottery and comfortable looking sofas and chairs. There was a mare sitting at the receptionist's desk, but Daring bypassed her and made her way down a hall. As she continued on, she could hear faint chit chat nearby and went to investigate it.

Daring walked around the corner and saw four ponies, all sitting down in chairs that were assembled in a half-circle. There were two earth ponies, a younger looking one and a huge, gruff looking one, a pegasus, and a unicorn.

The younger gray earth pony wore a dark blue jacket with the hood pulled down, revealing his mess of brown hair. His eyes were an ultramarine and his cutie mark was a horseshoe pointing up. The larger one wore a flak jacket and his dark blue mane was buzzed. His face was frozen in a scowl as he stared down at the smaller stallion with his burgundy eyes. His cutie mark was two warhammers crossed into an “x”.

The pegasus sitting across from the gray pony had maroon fur and wore sunglasses over his golden eyes, a black vest, and a Stetson with the brim on the left side turned up, covering the black mane streaked with scarlet. His cutie mark was a black arrow and a toothpick hung from his muzzle, being chewed every so often.

The unicorn with a brunswick green coat was the only female and wore a matching hooded cloak with white symbols decorating it. From within the hood, pale, ice blue eyes that seemed to glow peered at the others with a look that could chill anypony just by making eye contact with her.

The younger stallion sat on the chair adjacent to the cloaked pony and looked to the red pegasus, shifting around in his seat excitedly. “Hey, tell us about that one mission again. I cannot get enough of that one part.”

“Alright, alright, so, I’m sitting there, you know, doing my usual business and scoping out a guy. I nearly had him in my sights and that’s when I noticed his buddy looking in my direction,” the pegasus stallion said with an accent while smirking, “and that’s when I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if his mate saw me.’ The next thing I know, a bolt of magic hits the railing I’m leaning on and I said, ‘Yes. Yes he did.’ So I had to act fast. I lined up the shot, took it, and got the Tartarus out of there!”

“I still can’t believe you managed to get your hide out of there in one piece.” Spoke the female this time. “After all, I heard your last boss gave you a hard time for your screw up.”

The burgundy pegasus chuckled before adding, “Yeah, thought she was going to tan my flank for sure. But, in the end, I got the job done.” His chuckling died as his eyes flicked towards the check-in station and turned to see Daring looking at the group.

Noticing the burgundy pegasus looking at somepony, the other three turned to face Daring as her hoofsteps echoed through the lounge area. The female unicorn stood from her seat and slowly made her way towards the disguised Daring Do, staring at her with those chilling eyes. “Well, well, well, who do we have here?”

“I’m here to see Fancy Pants.” Daring explained.

“You're here to see Mr. Fancy Pants? I’m sorry, but we have orders not to let anypony in unless they have an appointment.” The dark green mare smirked as she stood face to face with Daring, challenging her with a cold gaze. As the mare got closer to her, Daring could see strands of black hair streaked with pale blue framing the unicorn’s face under the hood. The fearless explorer, however, was accustomed with dealing with things much worse than these four ponies. Instead of being intimidated, she stared back at the mare through her fake glasses.

“I’m here on an important mission from the Princesses. It’s imperative that I meet with your employer.” The three stallions straightened up and locked their eyes on the female unicorn.

The unicorn mare looked to them and then back to the pegasus in front of her. “So… who are you supposed to be, then?”

“Who I am is none of your concern. What does matter is that I’m supposed to be talking to Fancy Pants right now.”

“Hmm, demanding, aren’t we?” The mare chuckled slightly, looking away with a swoop of her cloak. “Well, since you’ve been ‘asking’ so nicely… Roughneck, go tell Mr. Pants he has a visitor.”

“Why me?” Roughneck whined.

“Because I said so, that’s why.” The unicorn glared at him.

“Ugh, fine! I don’t know why I have to do everything around here.” He mumbled as he went to the office’s door. “Why don’t you get off your fat flank and do it yourself?”

The unicorn’s horn glowed with a pale blue aura and her eyes widened in rage. A bolt of magic shot out towards the young stallion’s flank, making Roughneck yelp as it stung his hindquarters. He rubbed his sore flanks, cursing under his breath, and then entered the office. After he was out of sight, the mare looked back at her own flank, staring at it. Even Daring couldn’t help but take a quick look and thought she didn’t look fat at all. Daring Do couldn’t help but to quietly chuckle after their bickering.

The unicorn’s hood swayed as she stared at the golden brown pegasus, glaring at her. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing, really. I was just thinking you and your coltfriend are so cute together.” The maroon pegasus and the orange earth pony gave each other amused, yet almost nervous looks as the hooded unicorn seethed.

“What did you say!?” She screeched, pressing her muzzle up against Daring’s.

“I said, ‘a little mouthwash goes a long way,’ if you know what I mean.” Daring Do grinned as she saw the unicorn’s pale eyes bulge as she grit her teeth.

“That’s a lot of talk coming from a spinster!” The unicorn shot back, eyes quickly glancing across the disguise. Daring narrowed her eyes and raised an unseen hoof under her shawl, ready to knock the unicorn’s lights out, but inhaled deeply through her nose and slowly exhaled as she lowered it back to the floor. Nopony seemed to have recognized her true identity, at least her disguise as A.K. Yearling was effective. “Somepony ought to teach you a lesson!”

“That’s quite enough, Miss Rune.” A sophisticated voice said from the office doorway. Both mares’ heads turned towards a mustached white unicorn stallion with a royal blue mane wearing a suit coat and a monocle. From the three golden crown cutie mark, Daring Do knew who he was.

“Fancy Pants, I presume.” Daring called out.

“Indeed, I am. And, if i may ask, who might you be?”

“I’m A.K. Yearling. I’ve been sent here by-”

“The A.K. Yearling?” He asked while raising an eyebrow. “The reclusive author of the popular Daring Do novels?”

“The same.” She confirmed.

“Oh, my dear, this is an unexpected pleasure. Please, come in, come in. Miss Rune, if you wouldn’t mind.” Crystal Rune grumbled furiously as she reluctantly stepped aside and allowed “A.K. Yearling” to pass by. Roughneck, who was standing at Fancy Pants’ side, snickered at Rune’s humiliation. However, he stopped laughing when his hoof was encased in a pale blue aura and punched him in the face.

“Ow! Motherfu…” His expletive was cut off when the door closed behind him.

Fancy Pants took his seat behind his desk as Daring sat in one across from him. On the desk stood a framed picture of a statuesque white unicorn mare with a pink mane. She was reclining on a bed with white sheets and was giving an inviting look. At the bottom of the picture were the words, “To my darling husband. Love, Fleur,” accompanied by a lip shaped smear of red lipstick. Even though she lived in the remote parts of Equestria, she recognized the mare as the famous supermodel, Fleur Dis Lee. “I am terribly sorry, Miss Yearling. Do forgive Miss Rune. She and her crew’s behavior are far from savory, but they are excellent at their profession.”

“I was not aware you were in the habit of hiring mercenaries.”

“Well, I prefer a less dirty word than that, but even I need ponies of their talents to ensure the safety of my shipments.” He claimed.

“And perhaps ‘take care’ of the competition?” She raised an eyebrow.

Fancy Pants sighed, a frown forming on his lips. “Miss Yearling, you wound me. I would never lower myself to that level or jeopardize my company’s good image in such a manner.”

The pegasus frowned all the same. “I can’t help but say what I see. Those mercenaries are just more of the low-life scum I would usually see.”

The unicorn simply chuckled, “Yes… I’d imagine you would see quite a few.” He clopped his hooves together, “After all, somepony in your line of work would know quite a few things about trust… isn’t that right, Daring Do?”

Daring stared wide-eyed, mouth agape as another pony had seen through her disguise. “But… but-”

“How did I know?” He finished for the surprised mare, chuckling once more. “If you're as old as I am, living the life of owning a company as large as mine will teach you a few tricks. Besides…” He then reached down and pulled out a copy of Daring Do and the Forbidden City of Clouds and placed it on the desk. On it was a picture of Daring Do and one of her nemesi, Doctor Caballeron. “I’m quite familiar with your work. Doctor Caballeron is a business rival of mine. If he is real, then Daring Do is real. Who better to write her stories than the mare herself?”

Daring chuckled, surprised and amused by his intuitive manner. “You are quite the surprising pony.”

He chuckled this time before adding, “Well, I do try my best.”

A thought popped into her mind, she had to ask about that one unicorn. “By the way, I noticed you talking to a mare as I arrived, Rarity, was it?”

“Ah, yes… Rarity. Quite the remarkable mare, isn’t she? One of the most promising up-and-coming names in fashion. The pony everypony should know, or so I’ve heard.”

“Well, when I looked at her, she seemed a little… off. Is she alright? I heard something terrible happened in Ponyville. ”

A frown formed on his face, recalling the events she went through. “Right… I’m not surprised the news has spread so far that even you would hear about it.” He breathed in, sighing at the memory of seeing his favorite fashionista so distraught. “She… well, went through something terrible. A horrible monster attack Ponyville. It killed many ponies, some of which were friends of hers.”

“You don’t mean the Elements of Harmony, do you?” She asked, fearing for the six mares’ lives.

“No… thank Celestia they made it. Only a couple of them were injured badly. The one named Applejack was stabbed in the shoulder and the one named Rainbow Dash…”

“Rainbow Dash!?” She almost screamed, fearing for one of the only ponies she could call “friend” and one of her biggest fans. “Is she okay!?”

“Yes, she’s expected to make a full recovery.” He answered slowly.

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“The monster impaled her right through her stomach. Nearly killed her.” Daring Do stared at him in disbelief. Rainbow Dash was a pegasus so similar to herself. Both were fearless, bold, and determined to accomplish their goals, no matter the cost. To hear that she almost died was too much.

“But that is nothing compared to what happened to Rarity.” Snapping out of her stupor, Daring continued to listen. “This horrible creature was apparently like an overgrown parasite. Very much like the spider wasp, it lays its young in its victims’ chests, where they incubate until they burst their way out. Poor Rarity had one of those things growing inside her. But she was very fortunate. They were able to rescue her from the monster’s lair in time and remove the creature’s spawn before it was too late. Tragically, it was too late for every other pony infected and they didn’t make it, including Prince Shining Armor.”

To hear all of this was just so unreal. Daring Do had been a loner for most of her life and the first friends she had made in a long time almost died at the claws of an unspeakable creature. She looked away, quickly recovering her composure before facing him again. “But that is a subject I do not like to reminisce on.” Fancy Pants rested his hooves on the desk. “So… how about we get back to the real subject?”

Daring looked back up and nodded. “Yes, I was sent here because the Princesses need me to recover an item of great importance. They believe it is in the possession of Caballeron.”

“Yes, a shrewd businessman. Never agreed with his tactics on acquiring certain items. However, it will be an honor to assist you on our mission for the Princesses.”

“Where was he last located, do you know?” Daring inquired, leaning forward on the desk.

“I do not know. He was last reported heading towards the Tenochtitlan Basin. Rumor has it that he has a new business partner and even I don’t know who he or she is, though I have my suspicions.” Fancy Pants sighed, “Whoever it is, I still believe that he is making his way towards this partner.”

“For what purpose?”

“I don’t know. But, this is Caballeron we’re talking about so I’m certain it can’t be anything good. What exactly are the Princesses sending you to recover?”

“I’m not sure. I was only told it could be dangerous in the wrong hooves.”

“Could Ahuizotl be behind this?” The stallion raised his hoof.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Those two have been working together for years.” Daring raised a hoof to her chin. “So, how will I get there? It will take days to get to the Basin on train, even longer by hiking. And I can’t exactly fly myself and my equipment all the way there. And I believe we don’t have the time to waste, right?”

“Exactly, that is why I am lending you one of my airships.”

“An airship?” Daring murmured, her eyes widening at the prospect of riding in one of the massive aerial vehicles.

Fancy chuckled, seeing the surprise on her face. “I can imagine that you haven’t been on one before, correct?” She nodded in reply. “Well, do not worry. They are completely safe. I’ve made sure that each ship is fully functional and fit for flight.”

“Has...”

“Anypony gone near them?” The white unicorn finished another sentence for the pegasus. “No, I have taken all the necessary precautions.”

“Well, you seem to on top of things.”

“It pays to be attentive. Especially since there are those who you cannot trust.” Daring nodded in agreement. Fancy Pants clapped his hooves together before continuing. “Well, shall we proceed to the docking area?”

“Let’s.” Daring simply agreed with a grin. The two got up from their chairs before Fancy Pants opened the door, leading the mare outside the room. The group of mercs heard the door open and turned to watch the two step out.

“We have an agreement. Crystal, you and your team will be accompanying Miss Do to the Tenochtitlan Basin to reclaim a certain object, so I want you all to get ready. You’ll be leaving in a few hours.” The mercs looked between each other and the legendary explorer. They looked to Rune, who nodded in reluctant acceptance. As they stood up and filed out the room, Daring stared at them until her gaze met Rune’s once more. The unicorn mare glared at her as she left with the others. Daring did the same, refusing to break eye contact until she disappeared from sight.

Fancy Pants sighed, “Do not mind her. She’s just concerned for the safety of everypony on this trip.”

“Yeah… ‘concerned.’ I could definitely see when she zapped Roughneck on his flank that she was totally worried for his safety.”

Fancy frowned, looking away. “Yes… her methods are very… ‘barbaric’, but she gets the job done none the less.”

“Look, Fancy Pants, I don’t need a team. I usually work alone.” Besides, she didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of working with Crystal and her gang.

“Trust me, Miss Do. They may be rough around the edges, but they’re dependable. You’ll need help on this one.”

Daring was going to reply, but they heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching them. The pony that rounded the corner was the fashionista they talked about for only a brief moment. Daring saw the same smile she had seen upon arriving to the building and the same gaze. The white unicorn had a red beret, tilted to the right side on her head. A black wool sweater and shoes. Her indigo mane was out of its usual curl and flattened out so it hung from both sides, hanging over her sweater. The tips of her hair were wavy and flowed in the wind as she increased her pace.

“Well, I must be off, Fancy Pants.” She hugged the stallion, keeping her smile. The mare turned towards the light gold pegasus and hugged her as well. “It is good to see you, Daring. I was so surprised to see you arriving here that I just had to come and see you before I returned to Ponyville.”

The unicorn mare pulled away and looked towards Fancy Pants, still holding onto Daring’s shoulders. He smiled back at her before declaring: “It was a great pleasure to see you again, Rarity. You are always welcome at my establishment.” As Rarity let go of Daring Do, she closed her eyes in a wince and placed a hoof on her chest. “Are you alright, my dear?”

“Oh, yes.” She reassured them, but retained her pained expression and staggered a bit. Fancy Pants moved to her side, ready to catch her if she fainted, but she shook her head and smiled as the discomfort passed. “I’m alright, really.”

Daring and Fancy gave her an unconvinced look as Daring’s gaze moved to the white mare’s chest. She knew that underneath the black sweater there must have been a scar from her experience with her “unwanted pregnancy.” Daring couldn’t help but say, “Rarity… I… heard what happened to everypony. I’m sorry.”

The unicorns expression changed from a smile to a frown. “It’s… alright… really.” Despite trying to remain calm, her tone had changed drastically. Her voice sounded a little ragged as tears brimmed the corners of her crystal blue eyes, already smudging the edges of her mascara. She quickly wiped her eyes.

“Rarity…”

“I-I’m… I’m sorry… I have to go…” As more tears came she quickly made her exit, Fancy Pants and Daring Do watching her leave with sympathetic looks on their faces.

Fancy Pants sighed, a sad frown formed on his lips as he turned to look at Daring Do. “Poor girl… she was always so bright and cheerful before all this. Now… she’s so distant and… well, you saw how she is.”

Daring looked in his eyes and then back over to where Rarity had left in a hurry. There was a sense that she wanted to comfort her friend and help her, but there were other important matters at hoof. She looked back to Fancy Pants and said, “Well, I better get ready. It’s going to be a long journey and I’ll need to be prepared for what lies ahead.”

“Of course. Allow me to show you to the airship.”
> Chapter IV: Meet the Crew
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was slowly descending from its perch high in the sky when Daring Do and Fancy Pants walked out of the building. The two ponies moved alongside each other as they exited through the doors and set hoof onto the airship docking area.

“So, Miss Do, are you ready for this adventure?” Fancy Pants asked, examining the large airship as the two moved over to the ship’s loading ramp . “I’m sure it shall be very exciting and full of dangers, but I trust in your ability to keep everypony safe.”

“Don’t worry, if you say they’re good at what they do, then I’ll have nothing to worry about.”

He chuckled slightly, moving his gaze to the light gold pegasus. “That is certainly true. I do hope you all get acquainted. Need I remind you that you’re working with a team now? I do not want to hear about any fighting between anypony.”

“As long as Crystal Rune keeps out of the way we’ll have no trouble at all.” Daring explained, dismissively waving a hoof at Fancy Pants.

The white unicorn simply sighed as they approached one of the large airships. Its rotor blades spun slowly, creating small gusts of wind that steadily picked up with every rotation. Daring caught hold of her hat before it almost flew off her head and Fancy Pants shielded himself with one hoof as his blue mane whipped in the wind.

Up ahead, Daring and Fancy Pants spotted three of the mercenaries and watched them load their gear up onto the ship, climbing up and down the cargo hold’s ramp. As they approached the stallions, they spotted Rune watching Black Arrow, Rugged Muzzle, and Roughneck doing most of the menial labor. Rune stood on the catwalk by the cargo hold’s door, her cloak billowing in the wind.

“Hello, my good sirs. I do hope that everything is ready for the trip?” Fancy Pants addressed the three stallions with a polite smile.

“Yep. We got our gear and the more mandatory items. Everything is in order.” A proud grin spread across Black Arrow’s muzzle.

“Good, I trust, then, that you all will return in one piece?”

“Well, why wouldn’t we? Otherwise, how else would we get paid?” Roughneck piped up, grinning stupidly. Black Arrow waved towards the large earth pony as he walked up the stairs leading up to the door out of the cargo hold, motioning for the dark orange stallion to quickly board the airship. Daring Do stepped towards the ramp to follow them.

“Oh, and Miss Do!” She stopped to look back at the regal unicorn. “Remember, do try not to get hurt. I would feel horrible for putting you in any danger. I’d rather see you in one piece than in any more than a dozen.”

Daring Do tipped her hat towards Fancy Pants and smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m always careful about what I do.”

With that, she faced back up the ramp and proceeded to the top near the stairs of the catwalk. She turned to wave to the stallion and watched as he waved back. The airship slowly lifted into the air and Fancy Pants’ image shrank as it ascended from the harbor while the buildings and spires slowly faded away until they were no longer visible.

Daring sighed and looked over to the door leading out of cargo hold. She watched as three of the mercenaries left through the door while Black Arrow waved her over before leaving as well.

“This sure is going to be interesting.” Knowing how mercenaries were, she was sure that they only took this job for the money. She reached the door after walking up the stairs and opened it. Inside, the four ponies were sitting in chairs that were aligned in a circle so they could talk to each other easier. They turned to face her when they heard the noise of the door closing.

She stared at them as she walked over to take a seat between Black Arrow and Roughneck. All was silent as nopony really spoke for those first few minutes. Daring decided to break the ice with, “So, how did all of you meet each other?”

Rune smirked and answered, “I found all of them, really. First, it was Rugged Muzzle over here.” She pointed to the big earth pony. He looked Daring’s way and nodded. “Next, we have Black Arrow. I heard about him and his reputation some time after he had a falling out with his last boss.”

“Good day to yah, Daring. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Black Arrow said, tipping his hat.

“And last but not least.” Crystal pointed towards the gray earth pony. “We have little Roughneck over here-”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Roughneck interrupted, ‘little’? Ahaha, that’s cute, Crystal.”

“He’s also our rookie. How I found him… well, let’s save that story for another time.” Rune leaned back in her chair. “Any other questions, Daring Do?”

“What’s your job? I mean, you all have a specific detail in each of your job descriptions, right?”

“That is correct. So, let us first start off with Black Arrow.” Rune turned to look at the pegasus. “Arrow, if you would?”

“Right. So, my job…” The maroon pegasus started off, leaning to the side and pulling something from the side of his chair. When he did, Daring stared wide-eyed as he pulled a crossbow from the chair’s side. It was relatively small for a stallion his size. “As I was saying, I am the sniper and assassin of this team. If there’s a problem that can’t be solved with reason or up close and personal, it’s my job to take them out.”

“So, basically, you're just a hitpony, right?” Daring deadpanned. The comment made the pegasus chuckle slightly.

“Nah, hitponies are more up close and personal most of the time. Me, I’d like to think that it’s more of a job. Good work, good pay, mostly outdoors.”

“Yeah, a job where you kill others without actually getting your hooves dirty.” Daring remarked.

“Now… that may be true, but as long as there are two ponies left in Equestria, somepony is going to want somepony dead. And, unlike some blokes out there, you always have to be professional about your job.”

“What about those you affect? Some of these ponies you kill have families.”

Black Arrow chuckled as he stared at Daring. “Look here, mate, they may have families, but whenever a job needs to be taken care of you can’t afford to feel remorse for the poor bloke. Besides, professionals have standards. Be polite, be efficient,” he pointed the crossbow at Daring, “and have a plan to kill everypony you meet.”

Daring Do furrowed her brow at the pegasus, leaning back into her chair as he kept the crossbow pointed at her. He chuckled and moved it so it pointed towards the ceiling.

“Cool, cool. That’s good ‘n all, but it’s my turn now.” The gray earth pony stood up, moving around a little, “So, first of all, when we’re talking about me… it’s kind of a big deal.”

“Oh, here he goes.” Rune murmured as she looked away.

“I mean, do you even know who I am?”

“Should I?” Daring deadpanned.

“Ahaha, yeah, you're pretty cute, aren’t you?” He smiled. “Anywho, I’m the stallion you go to if you need to steal a few things or smuggle some illegal items.”

“So a common thief, am I correct?” Daring inquired.

“Oooh, you think you’re a big shot, huh? Who do you think you are?”

“Are you serious?” The adventurer exclaimed. “I’m Daring Do.”

“Uh, sorry. Are you supposed to be important?”

“Are you dense or something?” Crystal gawked at his ignorance. “Everypony knows about Daring Do.”

“Uuhhhh…” Roughneck stared at Crystal Rune with a blank look.

“Ugh! Daring Do! You know, legendary explorer of the Tenochtitlan Basin?” The gray earth pony just blinked. “She has an entire book series all about her.”

“Is there a movie for it?”

“Are you… I can’t believe that you do not know who she is!” The dark green unicorn almost yelled.

“Forget it, Rune.” Black Arrow told her. “This is Roughneck you’re talking to. The boy probably hasn’t read anything that isn’t Playcolt. Then again, stallions don’t really buy those for the articles.”

“Hey, I resent that! There’s also… I mean, I read other things, too!” Roughneck claimed. Daring only rolled her eyes while Black Arrow snickered.

“Right, so you know Roughneck now. Hopeless mess, isn’t he?” Crystal shook her head. “Now, since he is done speaking, I would say that Rugged Muzzle would speak to you, but he doesn’t say much at all, really. I’ll let you know, Daring, that he his our enforcer and our muscle. In case you try anything, he’ll respond in his own way.” The large earth pony looked towards the adventurer and cracked his neck. “And as for me, let’s just say that I’m the leader and the brains around here. Nopony else gives orders except for me, do you understand that?” Rune declared, staring at the light gold pegasus with her cold eyes.

“I thought Fancy Pants was the boss.” Daring remarked.

“Wrong. He’s just a client. When we’re on the job, I’m the boss. Got it?” Crystal asked as she inched closer to Daring’s face.

Daring rose up, not backing down from such petty intimidation. “I think I get the point. Either way, I work better alone. You’ll be the ones slowing me down so just try to keep up. Did you get that?”

The dark green unicorn chuckled a little as she backed off slightly. “Alright, then. Now that we have established the rules, I think we’ll be able to ‘understand’ one another better.” Crystal smirked before turning and walking away from the group.

“Uhh, just a word of advice, mate. You really do not want to get on Rune’s bad side. Trust me.” Black Arrow leaned towards Daring.

“What’s she going to do? I’m not afraid of her.” The light gold pegasus huffed, glaring at where the unicorn had disappeared.

“I admire your spirit and all, but you haven’t seen what she does to poor blokes who don’t listen.”

“I’ve seen and experienced worse than what she could possibly dish out.” The pegasus mare leaned back in her chair and looked away from the others.

Black Arrow looked towards the other two stallions and sighed. “This is going to be quite the interesting adventure.”



~~~



The sun slowly rose into the sky as the morning proceeded. The jungle was quiet with only the occasional sound of a bird chirping within the dense vegetation. A soft boom sounded before the roar of an unknown noise echoed throughout the tropical forest. The native animals froze in their tracks, their heads turning towards the source of the strange, crashing noise.

Deer, birds, and other creatures quietly approached the unknown object, glancing at it warily and curiously. The top of the object opened, yet nothing seemed to appear. A flash of movement quickly left the metallic pod-like structure, sending the surrounding animals bolting in fright as the occupant crashed through the thick jungle canopy, leaves rustling violently in its wake. The strange being landed on a tree branch a few meters above its pod before hastily jumping away from branch to branch. It stopped, looking at its surroundings before raising its arm. There was a small metallic wristband that it opened by flipping the top up.

It moved its other hand and pressed a few buttons. A small hologram appeared from the armband, showing the position of its prize: the being that was carrying the serpent. A quiet beep emanated from the hologram as more of the four legged inhabitants of this planet appeared nearby. From what it saw, there was a camp stationed close to where the target and the others were headed. It quickly made its way over to where the campsite was and as it approached, it noticed the camp was full of activity.

In its sight, the world looked like a variety of cool blue shades, representing ambient temperatures, but there were figures composed of warmer colors moving on the ground below its perch. The shades of red, yellow, and green indicated body heat and their shapes told that they were the same species as the target. The beings it saw were similar to the ones it had seen on a planet far across the galaxy, the homeworld of the “humans”. They kept such four legged creatures as beasts of burden, but these were physiologically different. Some of them seemed to have a horn-like appendage growing out of the top of their heads while others had wings growing out of their backs. Even those that resembled the animals on the other planet were different. They were carrying loads that should have been too much for their small frames to support. Not only were these equine beings physically different, they were intelligent as well. They wore clothing, spoke to each other, used advanced tools, and even carried weapons.

As it watched the equines, it noted that the ones with horns seemed to be levitating various objects above them. The observer pressed a button on its gauntlet and its vision changed with a flash of color, making the world take on a yellow color scheme instead of blue. Looking back at the floating objects, a blurry distortion surrounded the image. It pressed the button again, changing the world to gray. The image of the floating objects were clearer now and it could see that they were being lifted up by an aura of energy that corresponded to a matching aura around the equines’ horns, each having their own signature color. How these creatures could generate this sort of power, the being in the shadows didn’t know. This type of energy was unknown to it and it assumed it must be some sort of magic, a concept not unfamiliar to its kind.

The figure watching the camp came to the conclusion that these beings, despite their harmless appearances, were worthy prey. The ones with horns had access to either a form of telekinesis or a type of sorcery, the plain ones had strength, and the winged ones could fly. Besides, these equines were armed with spears and crossbows and the observer couldn’t let the opportunity to hunt a new species slip past it.

Seeing that the prize and target were heading its way, it made a clicking growl and crawled through the treetops, making its way to the camp below. It stood just out of sight on a branch a few meters over their heads before two blades extended from its right gauntlet with a metallic ring. It pressed another button on its left gauntlet which caused the light to bend and ripple around its body, making it vanish with the only trace of where it originally stood being a flash of blue light that resonated over its eyes before finally dissipating from sight.
> Chapter V: The Marksman
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The airship reached its destination and landed in the heart the Tenochtitlan Basin. Time was of the essence, for their target already had a major head start and in order to make up for the lost time, they needed to get on the move and fast. Hard at work, the five ponies quickly got their gear and other essentials before taking off. The sun was lowering in the sky as the trek continued, the heat from the sun’s rays bearing down on the five ponies.

As Daring and the others walked on, she couldn’t help but look at what type of weapons each pony was carrying. She saw Black Arrow’s crossbow before, but he also carried a machete with a black handle and silver blade in a yellow scabbard that matched his eyes.

Roughneck carried two small daggers, both had dark brown handles and gold guards. The blades’ outer edges were silver with a gold line running down the spine of each blade.

Rugged Muzzle carried on his back an engraved warhammer with dark blue markings wrapped around the base. Light reflected onto the steel off the handle, the head shining a light gray contrasted by the darker blue spike.

Crystal Rune, however, didn’t carry any weapons that Daring could see. She wasn’t even able to get a look at Rune’s cutie mark since she wore that cloak all the time. Daring couldn’t get what her problem was. Crystal was cold, angry, and different from most of the mercenaries she’d dealt with before.

“Dear Celestia… it’s hotter than Rune’s temper on a bad day.” Roughneck remarked.

“Oh, ha ha, Roughneck. Very funny. I suppose you would like some of my magic to cool you down?” Crystal Rune glanced back at the sweating stallion.

“No, no, I’m fine.” He quickly replied, looking away from the mare’s cold gaze.

“How often do you guys argue with each other?” Daring’s eyes darted between the four mercenaries.

“Not often, it’s usually just Roughneck trying to impress everpony.” Black Arrow answered for her, giving the gray stallion a mischievous smirk.

“Hey, I’m like the best thief you guys ever picked up. Of course I’m awesome, why wouldn’t I be?” Roughneck said, flexing his right foreleg, “Ah, jeez, look at that.”

Daring just rolled her eyes. As the trek went on, they stopped in a shaded treeline to take a quick water break. “Alright, everypony, we don’t have much time to waste so let’s take a five minute break and continue on.” Crystal Rune announced, gazing at everypony and making sure they got the message.

The group quickly set their gear down and took out their individual water pouches. Daring poured some into her dry mouth and relished the cool feeling on her parched tongue. She raised it above herself and poured a bit on her mane, shaking it off quickly. As she stared at the group, her eyes caught Roughneck's for a moment before he craned his neck to face away from her. She raised an eyebrow before rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

Daring looked above her at the paling orange of the early evening sky. ‘Have we been walking for that long? Time sure has a way of passing us by.’ A metallic clunking noise snatched her attention and she looked towards the source. A helmet, golden-yellow in color, rolled a few inches away from Black Arrow. He picked it up, sighing as he stared, deep in thought. “Hey, Arrow, what’s with the Royal Guard helmet?”

Snapped out of his thoughts, he looked her way. “Oh, this? It’s just a memento from a life I used to have. Good memories, this brings back.”

“What do you mean? Did you know somepony in the Royal Guard?” Daring slowly made her way towards him.

“Actually, it’s from his time as a Royal Guard. Quite interesting, knowing he was one, huh?” Roughneck stated, his attention on the helm as well.

“Hold on a second, you were a Royal Guard, Arrow?” Daring looked thoughtfully at the gleaming helmet, surprised an assassin like him used to be a soldier.

“Yeah, quite the interesting experience, it was. Life was a breeze during my time as a Royal Guard. All I really had to do was to protect Princess Celestia. Even then, I was renowned for my sniping capabilities.”

“You protected Princess Celestia?” Daring’s eyes widened.

“Yep. I had the job for more than nine years. A lot of ponies were envious of my assignment. My friends used to give me quite the time, enjoyable, really.” He sighed, his gaze darkening. “Then, it all changed after that one fateful day.”

Daring walked up to his side and raised a hoof to his shoulder. “What happened?”

“Ah, a memory I don’t like to relieve too often. But, for a sheila like you, I’m sure you would like to know.” He chuckled afterwards, putting the helmet away, he stood back up and looked over to Daring. “Well, I guess you could say it all started a year before I was finally honorably discharged. I was assigned to a squad that had orders to escort a highly-valued noble to Canterlot. Things went smoothly until we were ambushed.”

“Ambushed, by who?” Daring asked.

“You could say it was just a bunch of bandits, but, funny thing was, it felt like they knew where we’d be and when. I tried my best to fend off some of the blokes, hit a few here and there, but they overwhelmed my position. One of the lucky mates got me good with his dagger, but I hit him with my own little shortsword, and our little disagreement ended quickly. I got separated from the squad, and before long, I made my way back to them.”

Arrow sighed again, before continuing on. “When I found them, it was already too late. Nasty blokes had killed them all. I searched for the noble and didn’t find him in his hiding hole. So, I tracked them down and discovered their camp, not too far away from where they ambushed us. Once I did, I had this feeling well up inside. You could say I wanted some much needed payback. After I found it, it was all just a hazy memory.”



~~~



One Year Ago

Shadows loomed through the darkened forest under the moon's faint and delicate light stretched over the land, haunting and unsettling to the sight of anypony that dared to venture into its seemingly endless vastness. Jubilant cheers broke the silence that seemed to hold the forest. Flames of fire pits danced in their stony prisons as the ponies celebrated in their most recent victory.

“Friends, today is a day that shall be known for years to come.” A unicorn stallion declared, raising his mug filled with sweet apple cider. “Today, we celebrate in our glorious victory, the capture of one of Canterlot’s pampered nobles, Feather Note.” The sound of mugs clinking and cries of joy ringing through the camp echoed across the small field.

“To think it would be so easy to storm that small escort party, especially with ten highly trained Royal Guards.” A pegasus mare joined in, laughing. “The Royal Guards: something that everypony should fear, and here we have shown that they aren’t so tough.”

“Now that we have captured Feather Note, his riches will be shared with everypony here. Soon, we’ll not have to worry about going hungry ever again!” Roars of ponies sounded, but a silent hush from the light blue pegasus mare brought the crowd to a quiet standstill as she looked over to a pony hidden in shadows.

“Now, let us continue this celebration with a well deserved song.” Pointing towards the earth pony, she said, “Strum Tune, how about it?”

The earth pony slowly rose from his chair, a small fiddle held in his right hoof and a smile at his awaiting crowd. “With pleasure.” Bringing up a bow he held in his left hoof, he started off with a slow yet soothing note, getting the crowd’s attention. The fiddler’s bow increased in tempo, the pitch reaching higher heights.

Out near the border of the camp, a lone guard stood post, snoring with a mug of spilt cider positioned near his right hoof. A quiet rustling of the brush next to him made the guard stir, but he continued to snore. A hoof slowly exited from the shadows with another following not far behind. The assailant’s eyes keeping focus on his target from within the darkness. Moving slowly, the first hoof wrapped itself around the guard’s mouth, while the second hoof moved to the bottom of his chin. In one quick movement, the hidden pony quickly torqued the neck of the sleeping pony, the guard’s eyes shot open as a soft snap sounded. The mysterious pony slowly eased the limp body of the earth pony to the ground before dragging him back into the brush.

Two more guards walked nearby, conversing with one another as they made their night patrol. Unaware of the guard’s disappearance, the two passed by and the hidden pony crept silently through the shadows of the nearest tent. His eyes scanning every direction, not making the slightest sound as he crawled slowly around each corner.

The pegasus stopped in his tracks as he saw the shadows of two ponies coming into view. Looking for the source, he spotted two pegasi nearby. Remembering his surveillance of the campsite earlier, the maroon stallion recalled seeing two ponies addressing the rest of this band and figured that those two could possibly be somewhat of a conjoined leadership. He sought to find those two and isolate them.

In the maroon pegasus’ way were two stationary guards. Taking out his crossbow, he brought the pegasus stallion into his sight and moved closer. Once in a decent position, he fired the bolt. A silent thwip echoed before the tearing of flesh grabbed the other guard's attention. Quickly flipping his shortsword out of his sheath, he ran up to the pegasus mare, who was rearing up on her hind legs, gasping in surprise as she looked for the source of where the bolt came from. She caught a glimpse of movement to her side as the maroon pegasus closing the distance.

He twisted his shortsword and tossed it, the blade impacting the mare’s chest before she could sound the alarm. The vast jungle swallowed the mare’s brief cry before she fell to the ground. The stallion pegasus walked over to the mare and gently pulled the blade from her chest. Moving over to the stallion, he carefully lifted his head and pulled the bolt through the pegasus. Glancing over his shoulder, he cautiously looked about for any signs of movement before gently dragging them underneath the underhanging branches of some nearby brush before moving on.

He made his way back over to the nearest tent, crawling over to the corner and moving his head to check what lay beyond. He could see a large group of the bandits, all clapping their hooves as the fiddler was increasing his tempo, the bow and strings producing a lovely tune. Scanning the crowd, he noticed the speakers from earlier and waited for the opportune moment. Another round of applause came as the fiddler finished, bowing to the crowd before disappearing into his tent. The group of bandits dispersed, some wobbling on their four legs, consumed by the cider they drank, others talking amongst themselves.

The maroon pegasus’s gaze kept track of the light blue pegasus and the dark brown unicorn as they crept towards a wooden building. Silently creeping towards his target, the maroon pegasus crawled through the darkness, keeping out of sight. Silently walking over to the side of the small house, the pegasus stallion scanned the entire building, finding a door facing away from the camp and into the dark and desolate forest. Putting his ear against the wooden structure, he listened in on the voices from inside, the tone worried in nature.

“Where’s the noble that we captured?” A male voice inquired.

“Last time I heard, he was brought to the boss.” The a female voice answered.

‘Boss? So these two aren’t the leaders then.’

“Hey, Hex Sphere? Do you think that was a good idea, attacking those Royal Guardsmen like that?” The female voice asked.

“Why do you ask Rain Cloud?” Hex asked.

“Well, you know what Celestia would do to us if she found out about this. Not to mention that the Royal Guard would come after us.” Rain pointed out, the sound of chair shifting from the inside.

“Don’t worry Rain. I hardly think that the Royal Guard will find us. You're just worrying too much. There’s no way that they’ll find us.”

‘Wanna bet?’ The maroon pegasus silently opened the door, flaring his wings up. With the flap of his wings, he propelled himself forward, smashing into the unicorn. Yelping in surprise, the unicorn was sent flying into the wall, leaving a crack in the wooden surface as he slid down. Rain Cloud jumped up from her seat and ran over to the shelf on her left, hastily trying to clutch a small silver dagger. The maroon pegasus glanced behind him, flipped off the wall, grabbed his crossbow, and fired a bolt. The mare’s hoof was caught by the bolt, flying towards the wall. Entrapped, she yelled in pain. Blood slowly poured from the wound as Rain pulled at the bolt stuck in the woodwork.

The maroon pegasus rushed over, putting a hoof to her mouth, trying to keep her quiet. He felt a presence wrap around his body as he was lifted up into the air before a rush of wind whipped over his ears as he was tossed over to the wall near the entrance. Sliding down, he watched the unicorn rush him, a small sword in his left hoof. He felt something brush his hind leg and he kicked it towards the aggressor, tripping Hex with a chair and sending him crashing onto the floor. The stallion pegasus flapped his wings to bring himself back onto his hooves.

Walking over to the unicorn stallion, Arrow grabbed the pony by the neck and slammed him against the wall, holding him up by his neck. Hex struggled against the maroon pegasus’s grip, kicking and gasping for air. Moving closer, Arrow glared at the pony in his grasp and murmured, “Alright, you’ll listen, and listen good. You tell me what I need to know and I won’t have to do anything drastic.” Hex’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, before he nodded slowly. “Tell me… where is the noble you have taken from us? I would like to have him back, if you don’t mind.”

“Don’t tell him, Hex. He’s just going to report us to the Princess when he’s done.” Rain Cloud pleaded, struggling against the bolt that pinned her hoof to the wall.

“Well, she’s half-right, anyway.” Arrow said, before pointing the crossbow at her.

“No… d-don’t. I’ll tell you anything… just please don’t hurt her.” Hex pleaded, breathing heavily, his eyes gazing at the injured mare, half-lidded.

“Good choice, mate. Now, where is Feather Note?”

“He’s… he’s in the main building. The large one in the c-center of the camp.” He noticed Rain shaking her head, her pupils widening, mouthing the words “Please, don’t do it.” Hex ignored her pleas and continued on. “Our boss… s-she probably has him in the b-basement. I-I don’t know anything else… I s-swear.”

“Good.” He let go of the unicorn before hitting him over the head with his crossbow, knocking the dark brown stallion unconscious. Turning to face the light blue mare, he stared at her for only a moment before quietly heading out the door, leaving her to struggle with the bolt.

Scanning the camp once more, the building Hex talked about was where he said it was. Right in the center of camp. ‘Oh, bugger… this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. But there are so many guards patrolling that area.’ Raising a hoof to his chin, he contemplated how to approach the house. Looking up, he smiled and flared his wings. With a couple of flaps, he took off into the sky, flying high into the cold air. His eyes darted across the camp, seeing most of the guards were keeping their focus on the outer perimeter. ‘It seems they forgot to look up.’ Letting his wings fall to his sides, he descended downwards towards the main building, the wind blowing across his helmet, making a quiet whirring sound. When the house was just below him, he opened his wings up to slow himself into a gentle glide.

He spotted a small balcony on his descent and made his way to it, landing with a click of his hooves before ruffling his feathers as he closed his wings. Walking over to the door, he grabbed the knob and cracked it open slightly. The creaking of the door echoed in the room, but nopony was there to be found. Sighing with relief, he opened the door fully before entering through it, closing it behind him after he entered the building. The stallion pegasus scanned the room, his pupils growing as his sight adjusted to the darkness. Looking to his right, he noticed a hallway moving further inside. He proceeded cautiously down the hall, keeping to the shadows.

There was no sound or movement as far as he could see. Only the whispers of a slight breeze and the creaking of the floorboards underneath his hooves. His ears tilted to the sudden sound of a faint voice. ‘Is that somepony screaming?’ Moving to the railing at his left, he scanned the area below him and noticed a faint flicker of light from inside one of the doors downstairs. Making his way through the shadows of the entrance hall, he walked down the stairs, each step creaking under his weight.

Grabbing the knob, he twisted it and pulled the door open, the screams of a pony getting louder. ‘This must be the basement then.’ Making his way down, the screams of the pony were accompanied by a low buzzing sound. ‘Whatever is happening to the noble, it doesn’t sound good.’ A blue light caught the maroon pegasus’s attention, it flickered on and off. The sound of the light began to remind him of electricity, and with the screams of pain, he guessed Feather Note was being tortured horrendously.

Quickly making his way over to where the blue light was flashing, Arrow scanned the room before his gaze swept over two ponies. One was hidden in a black cloak while the other was standing at attention.

“Now… are you going to talk?” The cloaked pony asked in a low, menacing tone. Judging from the sound of the voice, it was a mare.

“P-please…” The noble murmured weakly as he coughed up blood, scarlet liquid splattering the ground beneath his hooves. “P-please stop… I-I haven’t d-done anything to you…”

“You’re going to tell me where those safes are or else. Do you want another round of electricity?” The cloaked pony threatened, her hood’s inside lighting up with the same blue light Arrow saw earlier.

The noble’s eyes widened, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks as he shook his head. “N-no… p-please don’t do it again… I-I don’t know where they are… I am t-telling the truth…”

The cloaked mare clicked her tongue multiple times, shaking her head. “You could have saved yourself this punishment, but I guess you must love this sort of thing.” A bolt of electricity shot out from her cloak, the noble screaming in pain once more as energy coursed through his veins. Arrow flinched, watching the process of Feather Note’s torture was almost too much. Taking his crossbow off his back, he kicked the door down and shot the pony standing at attention.

The mare electrocuting the noble turned around to see a bolt coming right for her. It went through her right forearm and pinned her against the wall. Another soft thwip sounded out, followed by another thumping noise. The mare screamed in pain, both forearms now pinned, blood flowing down the walls.

The maroon pegasus hurried over to Feather Note, checking to see if the noble was alright. The maroon pegasus shook the stallion, but he do not move. Moving his hoof to the earth pony’s neck, he felt no pulse. Sighing, he realized that it was too late and removed his hoof from the dead pony.

Moving his attention to the cloaked pony, he walked over to the mare and threw off her hood. Arrow’s eyes widened when he saw somepony familiar. “S-Storm Surge… this can’t be…”

Voice ragged and weak, the unicorn mare looked up, glaring at the pegasus before her. “What’s wrong, Black Arrow, s-surprised to see a fellow comrade l-leading a group of b-bandits?”

“No… why?” Arrow murmured, stepping away from the scarlet red unicorn.

“Why? It’s not only because of Princess Celestia, but everypony else. Our beloved Majesty sure does give us praise for doing a good job, but that’s it. And the citizens we protect… do they show any gratitude for our job? For protecting them from the dangers of those who would come to harm us? There is none!” Storm spat the few last words, eyes bulging as she pulled against the bolts. “We protect those ungrateful brats, and what kind of gratitude is shown? None!”

“Storm Surge…” Black Arrow began, but realized she was too far gone. Sighing, he shook his head and stared the unicorn mare in the eyes. “Storm… you disappoint me. How… how could you possibly believe that we are not praised for our work? The citizens we protect thank us everyday for our valiant efforts in keeping them safe from both outsiders and troublemakers alike.”

“Then you’re a fool, Black Arrow. Just like everypony else is.” Storm glared back at him.

Arrow shook his head. “No, Storm, you are the fool for believing that.” Pointing his crossbow at the trapped mare, he pulled the trigger and another soft thwip sounded with another thump, the third arrow going straight through the unicorn mare’s head and out the other side. Blood splattered against the walls with a sickening squelch, droplets spraying the wall behind her. Softly moving her head out of the way, he pulled the bolt out before the other two. Catching her deceased body, he laid her gently on the ground, moving his hoof over her eyes to close them. He sighed, knowing that the dirty work had been done.  



~~~



“Wow, you killed all of those bandits on your own?” Daring inquired, shivering at the thought of what could have been going through Black Arrow’s mind.

“In a way, I didn’t purposely mean to do what I did, but in any case, it was payback for all my brothers and sisters.” The maroon pegasus murmured, staring towards the ground.

“So, what happened after the incident?” Daring gently move a hoof to his shoulder.

Arrow chuckled slightly, smiling as he did. “Now, that’s where it got interesting for the first time in my life. After I came back, the others were all completely silent. Seeing somepony covered in another pony’s blood is something you wouldn’t normally see everyday now. Once I reached the throne room, I saw quite the shocked expression on the Royal Majesty herself. She asked what happened and I simply replied by saying that ‘I was doing what I was told to do.’ After my debriefing, Princess Celestia let me take leave for about a good three to four months. Once she deemed me fit to return, I did so with haste. After Luna returned, I was assigned to protect her since not many ponies were happy with her return at all.” He sighed, a long look in his eyes showed something filled with nothing but regret and sorrow. “That was, however, what got me discharged.”

“Guarding Princess Luna got you discharged, how?”

“A moment of ‘unprofessionalism’, I might say. It all started one night. A month had passed since her Royal Majesty’s sister reclaimed her rightful title. I was standing guard outside the tower next to the archway to Luna’s wing of the castle. A pony, pegasus, if I recall, suddenly ran up to the guards and demanded to see the younger alicorn. He was denied over and over and, by the looks of it, not very pleased with their answer. After a while of arguing, I went down and replaced the guard stationed there, telling him to take a break while I dealt with the situation.”

“And here it comes.” Roughneck muttered, smiling as if the story was one out of legend.



~~~



Six Months Before

“I demand to see Princess Luna!” The desperate stallion yelled, seething at the guard before him.

Black Arrow looked up to see the Princess of the Night shivering in fright, staring at the deranged pegasus. He gazed back to the pegasus and noticed a small object behind the pony. He took a moment to make out the small object and saw a silver blade hiding behind his right wing. Knowing that Luna could be in the most immediate danger, he acted without a second thought. He unlatched his crossbow and slowly drew it to his side, making sure the pony didn’t see it. When the pony began yelling again, he pointed it at the pegasus and pulled the trigger. A thwip echoed throughout the courtyard and a moment of silence ensued before the deranged pony fell to the ground. Blood welled from the bolt that pierced his head between his eyes.

A collective gasp of surprise sounded behind the maroon pegasus. Arrow looked back up to the princess and saw only terror in her eyes. He didn’t blink, however, he just turned to face the dead pony before him. He walked over to the pegasus and pulled the bolt gently through his head and out of its resting place. Placing it back in the case before walking away, leaving the other ponies to just stare at him as he left the mess behind.



~~~



“You… killed the pony?” Daring murmured, staring wide eyed at his revelation.

“To tell the truth, I didn’t feel any sense of remorse for the poor bloke. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time.”

“So what happened next?” The light gold pegasus asked.

“Well, a few Royal Guard members came in and guided me to the throne room, keeping their distance from me like I was some criminal or something. That’s where I ended up where I am today.”



~~~



“Black Arrow. Do you know why you are here right now?” Princess Celestia inquired, staring at the maroon pegasus who sat before her. Princess Luna was at her side, shaken by what had happened. Not only by the crazed pony demanding to see her, but seeing him die in such a brutal way severely troubled her. Some ponies, such as the one that Black Arrow had killed, were under the impression she was Nightmare Moon waiting to strike when Celestia least expected it. There had been many protests and even threats sent via mail, but no attempts on her life had yet been made.

“Yes… I believe I do know the reason why.” He blankly gazed back at the princesses.

“Then tell me… why did you kill an innocent pony? Don’t you feel horrible for doing it, Black Arrow? All ponies should feel regret for committing such a heinous act like this. What did he do to deserve such a horrible fate?” The white alicorn questioned.

“He wasn’t innocent and I was just doing what my job required me to do. He had a knife behind his back and, for reasons I believe that would have caused harm to your sister, he was ordering us to let him see Luna. So, in order to protect your sister, I did what I thought was right.” He answered, still staring at Celestia.

“But… violence should only be used when peace cannot restore the problem at hoof.” Princess Celestia reasoned, eyeing the maroon pegasus nervously.

“To me, it’s just like what happened about four months ago. When all my brothers and sisters were dead and when any important pony is in danger like Luna just was, I did what my duty told me to do. I was ordered to protect Luna at all costs, no matter who it is.”

Celestia shivered slightly, ‘How did he cope with what he did?’ “Black Arrow, did you not feel any remorse or sadness when you killed the bandits four months ago? What you went through would be traumatizing for anypony. Killing should never be easy, even when it’s in self-defense or to protect another.”

“No… they were just bandits. In my eyes, they were no longer ponies, only monsters, dogs that needed to be put down.”

The answer stunned the entire group inside the hall, all except for Arrow. Both sisters were at a loss for words after what he said. Shining Armor, the Captain of the Royal Guard, stood up from his place before the sisters and spoke, “Arrow… can you feel anything for ponies now, or have you lost all emotions after what happened?”

“I don’t recall. After what happened, I don’t remember much of the incident after I found the camp.”

Celestia turned to face Shining and then Luna. They both nodded and the white alicorn spoke once more. “Black Arrow… it pains me greatly to see you like this. I… I hate having to do this… but I cannot see any more use from you in this condition.”

Black Arrow stared at the ground, a faint frown forming on his lips. “I understand perfectly well, your Majesty.”

“Then you can see that you are no longer fit for a life within the guard. I am sorry, but you are a danger to your comrades and innocent ponies alike.”

The maroon guard bowed one last time to both princesses before turning around and silently walking out. Celestia watched the stallion walk out before he finally disappeared from her sight. She sighed and murmured to herself, “Arrow… your skills were something that could have been useful to us in the future… I am sorry.”



~~~



“After I lost the job as a Royal Guard, I was later picked up by Rune. She heard about my skills with the crossbow and hired me.”

Daring stared thoughtfully at the maroon pegasus. During her years as an explorer and adventurer, she had seen some terrible things and met some unsavory characters, but his bleak story was definitely near the top of her list. “Wow… I’m-”

“Don’t say sorry. I had a while to think about why I failed my job, but with time, I got over it and moved on.” He looked back up to Daring Do and smiled.

The adventurer smiled back, before turning to see Crystal Rune standing at the foot of the hill. Picking herself up, she walked over to the mare. Thinking along the way, she thought what would be best to say to her. She stood at the unicorn mare’s side, glancing in the same direction as her. “So, how’s it look?”

“It’s clear from what I’ve seen. How’s everypony doing back there?” Crystal glanced at the adventurer.

“Everypony is ready to continue.” Daring answered. “How about you?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” Crystal Rune reassured, her hood softly flowing in the breeze.

Daring glanced at Crystal Rune, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure? You haven’t taken a drink of water since we took a break.”

Crystal Rune simply chuckled, “I don’t need water.” A pale ice blue aura lit the darkness of the unicorn mare’s hood. All around Daring, the air began to cool and a cold breeze flowed over her coat. She moved her left hoof and felt a warm air only a few inches away from her. “It’s an ice spell. I can make it cold around where I stand. It reaches out a few feet and helps out when we’re in places like this.”

“Huh, no wonder you're so frigid all the time.” Daring joked, mischievously smirking.

“Oh, ha, ha, very funny, Daring. I don’t suppose you have anymore jokes to lighten the mood, huh?” Crystal Rune pulled back her hood, revealing her face to the adventurer for the first time. Even without the shadows of her hood, her ice blue eyes still seemed to glow. Her black mane’s ice blue streaks showed more vibrantly in the natural light.

“Look, I know our first meeting didn’t exactly take off with a high note, but I’m trying to fix that.” Daring reasoned, her sincere gaze told Crystal Rune that she was telling the truth.

The unicorn shook her head. “I know, I was being a moron, too, but what’s important right now is that we get on the move. Dr. Caballeron shouldn’t be too far now, and from the looks of it, I’d say we still have enough daylight to find him.” Crystal Rune turned around and walked back to the group.

Daring sighed, staring back at her. “Well, so much for trying to patch things up.” A spear suddenly landed right next to the tree she was stood by. The bushes rustled as ponies ran out from their hiding place, weapons drawn as they surrounded the group.

“Everypony get back!” Crystal Rune ordered, an ice blue aura resonated from her horn as she prepared a spell. Black Arrow quickly unlatched his crossbow and brandished it, switching from target to target as he tried to see which one would come close enough.

Roughneck stumbled backwards, falling on his flank. He quickly recovered and brought out his two daggers, holding one in his mouth with the other firmly held in his right hoof. Rugged Muzzle grunted, reaching for the warhammer on his back, he lifted it off and stood up on his hind legs, wielding the weapon in both hooves, growling at all the ponies that surrounded them. Wooden spears and axes pointed in their direction. Daring Do backed up, warily keeping her eye on all the ponies surrounding them.

“Halt!” A voice yelled out from somewhere in the large group of ponies. An earth pony with indigo paint streaked across his muzzle came walking slowly out from the group of  ponies, the others opening a path for him. He stopped in front of Daring and the others and demanded, “Who are you trespassers? Leave this place and never return.”

“Sorry, pal, but we’re after an important item of interest at the moment and right now, we need to hurry up. So, if you would kindly call off your ponies and let us move on, that would be great.” Crystal Rune ordered, glaring at the pony who confronted them.

“I am sorry, but you cannot go any fur-” The pony who seemed to be the leader of the group stopped talking as he saw Daring Do. His eyes widened with surprise before he chuckled. “Well, it is good to see you again, Daring Do.”

The light gold pegasus titled her head to the side, when Daring remembered who it was, she smiled. “Well, I thought I’d never see you again, Wise Heart.”

The earth pony smiled back, “It is with great pleasure that I can thank you for helping us be free of that monster, Ahuizotl. He was never quite a good leader.”

“Don’t worry, it just means that he’ll be another step behind me.” Daring replied, smiling at the old friend.

“I’m sorry, but how do you know these guys?” Crystal Rune inquired, her horn still glowing in the blue aura.

“Oh, I helped get them free of Ahuizotl after I had a run-in with the Element Bearers. They helped me stop him from pulling the Tenochtitlan Basin into chaos.”

“That is correct. We are ever so grateful.” Wise Heart added, dipping his head Daring’s way. He looked back up and said, “So tell me… what brings you out here to the Tenochtitlan Basin?”

“We’re looking for Dr. Caballeron. He has something of high value and we need to take it from him.” Daring said, only giving him a simple explanation.

“Ah, Dr. Caballeron. Yes, we have been watching him for some time. He is currently heading towards a camp of some strange ponies, all wearing these different types of clothing with an ‘N’ on the chest piece of each one.”

“I’ve never heard of a group out here looking like that before…” Daring murmured. Whoever these ponies were, it didn’t sound good.

“If you're wondering where they went, they’re heading down the path over there.” Wise Heart directed, pointing towards the northeast.

“Got it. Thanks a bunch, Wise Heart.” The light gold pegasus tipped her hat towards him.

“But… I would be careful if I were you… something has come into the forest, something very dark.”

“What is he talking about?” Crystal Rune inquired.

“The animals have fled from a certain area of the forest. We spotted an object falling from the sky. When we went to check it, the object was something none of us have ever seen before. We fear it is an omen. Do be careful, Daring.” The old earth pony warned.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure we can handle it.” Daring Do proclaimed, raising a hoof into the air.

“Just be careful, Daring Do. Whatever that unknown object was, I fear it carried something that is not of this world.” Wise Heart pressed, falling back into the ranks of his stallions and mares. As quick as they appeared, they left without a trace.

Daring stared back at the mercs, and saw the cloaked pony turn and walk off in the direction Wise Heart pointed. “Well, what are we all waiting for?” Crystal Rune asked before walking off. The other three mercs quickly followed suit, leaving Daring to stand alone for a brief moment. She wondered what Wise Heart was talking about. ‘Just be careful, Daring Do. Whatever that unknown object was, I fear it carried something that is not of this world.’ From what he said, it didn’t feel right.

Shaking off the feeling, she quickly caught up with the others. “Okay, everypony, stay alert. If what Wise Heart said is true, Dr. Caballeron should be close by, hopefully.” Crystal Rune announced.

“He did mention a camp, right?” Roughneck mentioned, looking uneasily at the unicorn.

“So whoever he’s going to give the item of interest to is close by then. Come on everypony let’s hustle!” The dark green mare yelled, breaking into a full gallop.

Everypony else soon followed suite and hurried after the unicorn. Even with these mercs going full speed, Daring Do was able to keep up with the four. After all, she was used to running from her nemeses most of the time.

Crystal Rune quickly halted, waving the other ponies to slow down. The others stopped, with Black Arrow quickly trotting to her side. “What’s the matter?” Arrow asked, scanning in the direction she was facing.

“Everypony, quietly move forward.” The unicorn murmured. She crouched low and slowly crawled forward. Black Arrow turned to face the others and nodded. Barely a leaf rustled as the group made their way at a snail’s pace. Crystal Rune raised her hoof up, signaling the others to stop.

Daring tried to see what was up ahead, wondering what the unicorn had spotted. It was then she heard voices, soft and hushed. “How much closer are we to the camp?” A slightly deep voiced stallion asked.

“Not much farther now. In fact, it should be up ahead.” Said another male voice with an accent. Daring knew and recognized that voice from anywhere.

“Are you sure we can trust the client, I mean, have you ever heard of this pony before?” A mare’s voice spoke this time.

“Not really, no, but he told me he would pay a large sum of bits for this package.” The pony that spoke only for a short moment was gruff in tone, but amidst everypony else’s confusion, one pony remembered the voice easily.

‘Caballeron...’ Daring kept her gaze on where the stallion was walking.

“Alright, everypony… follow my lead and keep quiet. We have the element of surprise here, so let’s not alert our friends to our presence.” Crystal Rune whispered, slowly crawling forward. The others followed, making sure not to step on anything that would create a hint of noise.

It was about a half-hour later when Caballeron spoke again. “There’s the camp. Now, just let me do all the talking. I’m sure our client is eager to receive this item.”

The group went out of view as they made their way through a thick layer of brush. Crystal Rune cursed under her breath before turning around. “Ahh… great. There’s no telling what’s on the other side of that.” She looked towards Black Arrow, “Go check it out. Don’t take any risks. All I want to know is how far the camp is from that brush there.”

The maroon pegasus nodded and quietly crawled over to the brush with haste. Crystal Rune sighed in frustration. “I was hoping he wouldn’t have made it back to the camp. So listen up, everypony. If worse comes to worse, we may have to get a little loud.”

“Why can’t you just let Black Arrow take them out?” Roughneck suggested.

“Because I don’t want him to hit the prize. I don’t doubt his sniping skills, but with such a valuable object, we can’t risk damaging it. So, I want everypony to be as quiet as possible. If one of the guards is alerted, then this whole trip would have been for nothing. Understood?”

Everypony nodded while Daring smiled. “Of course, I haven’t snuck into ancient and hidden temples filled with booby traps just to give up afterwards.”

Black Arrow quickly returned, panting only slightly. “Okay, I’ve had a look, but strange thing is, I can’t see Dr. Caballeron.”

“What?” Crystal Rune inquired as she stared back at the maroon pegasus.

“That’s not all, I don’t see any ponies from the camp in sight either. It’s just empty.”

“Empty?” Daring repeated. “But, why?”

“Good question that we don’t have answers to.” Crystal raised a hoof to her chin before saying, “Okay, let’s go in quiet and scope it out. We need to know what happened.” The others nodded and slowly followed the dark green mare. They quietly passed through the brush and saw a large camp standing a few meters away. Like Black Arrow said, there was nopony to be seen. “Alright, everypony, stay frosty. We don’t know where they went so keep a sharp lookout.”

Roughneck felt something warm hit his right forearm and looked down, only to recoil at the sight. He covered his mouth, muffling the surprised scream.

“Will you shut up? We need to remain quiet.” Rune furiously whispered. The dark green unicorn felt something wet hit her ear. She raised a hoof to the sensation and moved her hoof back into her view. She stared wide-eyed, at the blood covering her hoof. The unicorn slowly looked up and gasped at the sight above her.

Daring and the others looked to where the dark green unicorn was staring and were completely terrified by what they saw. Above them were bodies of ponies with their bare flesh exposed. A sickening stench invaded their noses, making some of the group gag. “Is… are those ponies?” Daring murmured, completely stunned beyond comprehension.

“That, they are. I don’t even know what type of sicko would do this…” Rune said, her gaze fixated on the disgusting sight above her. The only thing the group could tell was that somepony, or something, did this. But who, or what, committed such a vile act remained a mystery.



~~~



The sun’s heat had died down considerably, but its rays were still visible to a lone creature that sat in a throne. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, wondering when his accomplice would arrive. ‘I have not seen Caballeron for a long time. I hope he isn’t up to anything.’

Five cats, a leopard, a black leopard, a lynx, a cheetah, and a small white cat arrived, making their way up to the creature. The lynx mewed something into his right ear, the creature eyeing the cat curiously. “Oh, you have found something?” He inquired.

The black leopard moved up to his right, growling the message to the being that understood him. his eyes widened before the creature clenched his hand into a tight fist. “What! That foolish pony has betrayed me?!” The creature roared in anger, slamming his fist on the armrest of his throne. “Caballeron will pay for his insolence!” The creature stood from his throne, quickly making his way to find Caballeron with the five cats following behind him. ‘When I find you, Caballeron, you’re going to wish you never went back on your word!’
> Chapter VI: The Thief
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What happened to them? I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.” Daring Do inquired as she scanned the lifeless bodies hanging above the group. She shivered at the thought of being skinned alive.

“I don’t know.” Crystal Rune replied, her blue eyes widening as the group stared up in horror at the bodies above them as they swung slightly in the breeze. “But whatever did this… it looks recent.”

“So you’re saying that whatever did this...” Roughneck pointed up to the hanging bodies, “is still around?” He took a few paces back, his breathing rate increasing as he searched for any sign to where it could be hiding.

Black Arrow trotted over to the frightened stallion and shook him roughly. “Get a hold of yourself, mate. You’re a stallion, not some frightened colt.”

“But,” Roughneck began. “But those ponies…”

“Calm down, Roughneck.” Rune spoke, turning to face the young stallion. “Whatever was here is gone now, so stop whining.” The gray earth pony’s pupils returned from being pinpricks, as he slowly breathed in and out, regaining his composure. “Now if you're done having a moment, we need to find out what happened here and figure out where Dr. Caballeron and his crew went.”

“It’s no use searching the camp. Caballeron obviously wouldn’t stick around here if he saw the ponies up there.” Daring pointed out. She walked back and forth, rubbing her chin thoughtfully before looking over to face Rune. “Do you think we could get a few of those ponies down?”

“Why?” Crystal asked, staring at Daring as if she was insane.

“Because they might have some clue as to who they were. We have no other leads to go on right now so there’s a good place to start.” Daring added, walking up to one of the tents and going through the flaps.

Rune raised a hoof to her chin and thought about what Daring said. ‘What she says is true. Those ponies up there might have some indication as to who they once were.’ Putting her hoof down, she turned to face Black Arrow and ordered. “Alright, Black Arrow you heard Daring. Fly up there and cut a couple of those ponies down.”

The maroon pegasus nodded and with a quick flap of his wings, he took off. Flying up to a couple of the skinned ponies, he took out his shortsword and slashed a couple of the ropes. They fell to the earth with a loud thud, blood splattering a couple feet around each body, causing the group of mercenaries to grimace. Arrow landed beside Rune before folding his wings.

The dark green unicorn nodded her thanks and walked over to the first body. She kneeled, gagging as its scent flowed into her mouth. After a thorough search, she didn’t find anything on the first skinned corpse. Walking around the first body, she went to see the next one, and like the last one, nothing came up. She stood back up, shaking her head. “Well… so much for just looking.” Reaching a hoof over to the body, she pushed into the pony’s flesh, gagging at the smell of decay. The pony’s flesh contracted under her hoof as she moved around, the stench of death quickly flowing into her nose. ‘Oh… s-so disgusting...’

Feeling nothing but blood and flesh, Rune pulled her hoof out, shuddering from the slimy texture.

The tent flaps parted as the light gold pegasus made her way to the dark green unicorn. “What did you find?” Daring asked, moving next to Rune.

“Nothing… sadly.” The unicorn sighed, raising her hooves in front of her muzzle.

“Wait… you actually put your hooves on that carcass?” Black Arrow furrowed his brow. Roughneck stood back, turning away and gagging, while Daring looked between Rune and her bloodied hooves, and yet, Rugged Muzzle didn’t seem fazed at all.

“So, what now?” Roughneck piped up. The other three mercs turned towards him to see a shivering mess of a pony. “I mean… where do we even begin?”

“Has anypony else found anything yet?” Rune asked, looking at her companions.

“There wasn’t anything in the tents.” Daring shrugged.

“I found something… rather quite interesting to say the least.” Black Arrow spoke up, waving for the ponies to follow him.

“By interesting… what did you find Arrow?” Crystal raised an eyebrow.

“I found the leftovers of our friends.” The maroon pegasus conveyed, pointing over to a pile hidden behind a bush. The smell of flesh floated on the breeze, skins and the clothes that the ponies once wore laid in a heap on the jungle floor.

Roughneck covered his mouth at the sight, choking as he turned around. Daring shivered a little, empathetic for the ponies that were killed in such a brutal way. Crystal, Arrow, and Rugged Muzzle simply stared at the gore before them. “I believe that our killer, left quite the decent clue behind. We certainly know that it isn’t a pony that did this. Whatever it was… was definitely a hunter of some sorts.”

“But what creature would do something like this?” Daring inquired, eyeing the pile worriedly.

“That is an answer I’d like to know.” Arrow replied, moving over to the pile of skins and clothing. He kneeled next to a piece of cloth and examined it. Rune and the others moved closer, looking over the ‘leftovers’. From what they could see, the cloth had a large tear in it, ragged in shape. “Whatever tore through their clothing, its weapon of choice easily cut through them.”

“Do you think there’s any sort of clue as to who these ponies were?” Rune asked, looking at the pegasus.

“Hmm… let me just take a look.” Arrow reached his hooves in, moving the hides aside as he examined each piece of cloth.

“Ugh, don’t touch that with your hooves.” Roughneck griped.

“You have any better ideas, Roughneck? I didn’t see Crystal Rune complaining after she searched that pony’s carcass.” Arrow smirked before turning back to the pile of flesh.

Rune rolled her eyes at the gray earth pony’s complaints and moved over to another part of the pile, sifting through the flesh and shredded clothing, trying to find anything that would give them a clue. “You know… something surprises me.” Arrow thought out loud.

“What’s that?” Rune asked, looking up at the maroon pegasus.

“I thought that whatever killed those ponies would be after their hides, but it just left them here with the clothing.”

The dark green unicorn looked back down and realized that what Arrow said was true. “Yeah… why would it just leave their hides?”

“Who knows,” Daring said, reluctantly moving over to the pile. Rugged Muzzle moved between Arrow and Rune, joining the search effort. Daring hesitantly moved a hoof forward and began rummaging through the pile as well, retching as the smell of decay flowed through her nose.

Rune felt a small metallic object brush her hoof. Grabbing it, she yanked it loose from the pile, a piece of cloth coming along with it. The chest piece was a silver gray, but what attracted her attention was the logo ensigned on a round black badge. A large yellow ‘N’ was located in the middle, followed by a white line on the bottom, spelling out ‘Neighland Industries’ in blocky letters. “Hey guys, I think I found out who our mysterious ponies are, or at least who they work for.

The others gathered around Crystal, all looking at the badge she held with a bloodied hoof. “Have you ever seen a company’s logo look like this Crystal?” Daring inquired, her gaze shifting from the clothing to the dark green unicorn.

“No.” Rune admitted. “I’ve never seen any logo like this before. Or, at least, we’ve never done business with them.”

“Guys,” Black Arrow began, “just who are we dealing with here?”

“I don’t know, but we do know the obvious.” Crystal said, her thoughts centering on the reason Dr. Caballeron was heading this way. “I would say that these ponies were who our target was going to.”

“You mean to say that these Neighland ponies are Dr. Caballeron’s new clients?” Daring asked.

“There was no other reason why he would travel for hundreds of miles and go through the middle of the jungle. This has to be why he is here. This was obviously the rendezvous station. He was going to deliver the item we’re after and collect his reward.” Rune explained, and the more she guessed these reasons, the more the picture came together.

“That still doesn’t explain what happened to them.” Roughneck mentioned, still shaking in his fur. “I mean… what kind of sick freak would do such a thing?”

“I don’t believe it could have been a pony.” Black Arrow spoke up this time. “For starters, a sane pony would never stoop this low, even if it was in self-defense.”

“What about the ponies that live in this jungle?” Rune asked, turning to face the bowman. “Could they have done this?”

“Maybe, but I don’t believe it was pony. It was something else entirely.” Arrow concluded, shaking his head for the poor ponies who met with such terrible ends.

“It wasn’t the ponies that live here. I know them and they wouldn’t do something like this.” Daring told them while she stood up, scanning the trees that surrounded them. “Well, we won’t find out by just sitting on our flanks all day long. We still have to catch Dr. Caballeron. And given that they possibly panicked after seeing this place in such a mess, I’d bet we can find some tracks leading towards where he took off.”

Rune turned to the other three and nodded. Roughneck looked back up to the other ponies hanging from the trees and said. “What about those ponies?”

“What about them?” Crystal inquired, staring back at the gray earth pony.

“I mean… shouldn’t we give them a proper burial?” Roughneck suggested, gazing up to the skinned ponies.

“Can’t.” Rune stated. “It would take too long and we don’t have time on our sides.” The dark green unicorn moved over to Black Arrow’s side before asking him. “Did you find any tracks while we came in?”

“No, none that were noticeable, anyway. Don’t worry, I’ll have a look around the perimeter.” With those words, he quickly trotted off.

Rune nodded and moved over to a log that was perched a few meters from the camp. Sitting down, she took out her water pouch and took a few gulps of the cold water. Looking back down at her bloodied hooves, she poured the water over them, the clear liquid running through her fur, washing away the blood in straggling lines until she scrubbed it out. Sighing, she looked at the mess above her once more. For the first time in a while, she shivered. What the ponies stationed at this camp went through was not only horrifying, but to die like that was something out of a horror story: a group of ponies surviving against all odds when a psychotic killer was after them, wanting to obtain fresh coats from both mares and stallions alike.

The log shifted slightly, making the cloaked pony look over to her right. There sat Daring Do, staring at the ground before gazing up at her. Crystal turned to look away and they sat in awkward silence until Daring spoke up. “Hey… I was curious about something.”

“What do you mean by that?” Rune turned to face the light gold pegasus.

“Well, about Roughneck. How did he end up with you guys?” Daring pointed to the grey stallion, he was keeping his gaze focused on the ground. “He seems a little more innocent then you guys. How did you find him?”

Crystal Rune chuckled, turning her gaze in the stallion’s direction. “That is actually an interesting little story. You see, I didn’t enlist him like Rugged Muzzle or Black Arrow. I actually found him… or let’s just say that he found us.”



~~~



The moon slowly rose into the sky, casting its eery silver glow across the city of Manehatten. Echos of ponies discussing daily life and the sound of carriage wheels moving through the streets was just another routine these city ponies followed. The silent clacking of hooves resonated in the alleyway as a pony dressed in black slowly moved within the shadows.

Living in this city wasn’t easy, especially for a pony like him. He had fought hard to survive each day and struggled to feed himself on most occasions. Two empty sheathes hung from his sides as the stallion scanned the alleyways he passed, eyes squinted slightly in the dark.

He turned his gaze to one of the many concrete buildings surrounding him and stopped for a brief moment when one building caught his attention. ‘There it is...’ Quickly trotting up to the building, he crouched below the window before cautiously peering above the windowsill. The room was dark and there was no sign of movement.

Carefully moving a hoof over to the latch, he found that it was surprisingly unlocked. ‘Huh… it wasn’t open the last time.’ Looking over the room once more, he gently put one hoof over the windowsill before moving his other three in. The quiet clacking of his hooves echoed in the room as the pony slowly made his way forward. A gleam of light caught his eye and the pony’s head turned to the left. He moved over to the object laying on the desk and smiled. ‘Yes… they’re still here.’

The daggers laid crossed in the shape of an ‘x’. Slowly, he moved his hoof over to the two blades. The light turned on unexpectedly, the stallion froze and quickly looked around the room. A clap of hooves echoed behind him. Slowly, he turned and saw a pony hidden underneath a dark green cloak with white markings etched into the cloth sitting down in a chair against the wall. “Well I’m glad to see you again… thief.”

Before the stallion could react, two other ponies rushed in from behind a set of doors to his left. The large dark orange stallion grabbed him, lifting him off the ground. The smaller stallion struggled under the strength the larger pony possessed. Realizing he was in deep trouble, he acted quickly, snapping his head back. He felt the back of his head come into contact with the stallions muzzle, feeling the grip of the larger stallion leave him. He glanced back and saw the larger stallion gripping his face, letting out a cry of pain.

Rolling over to the desk where the two daggers lay, he quickly grabbed one in his right hoof, flipping the other and catching it in his mouth. Turning around, he slid his left foreleg, getting in a crouched stance, but was met with a crossbow pointing straight at him. The stallion behind it kept a steady aim, murmuring, “If I were you, mate… I wouldn’t move. One step, one twitch… and a bolt is going straight through your head.” Pointing to the daggers, the stallion pegasus gestured at the ground with his crossbow. “Now… put those daggers down.”

Seeing no way out, the smaller pony reluctantly dropped his daggers, glaring at the mare that called him out earlier. The cloaked pony rose up from the chair and slowly made her way over to him. “My, you certainly do have quite the skills. Too bad you robbed me earlier of one of my valuable artifacts.” A pale ice blue light resonated from within the hood that hid her face as she lifted the two daggers from the ground, looking them over as the stallion in front of her growled. “I take it that these two weapons are very important to you. Family heirlooms, I presume?”

The dark grey earth pony looked away, a frown forming on his muzzle. “Oh… then they are stolen. From a merchant I take it?” She gazed at the gold colored spines, smirking as she looked back up to the younger stallion. “I wonder how many bits these two fine weapons cost? A couple, maybe even thirty-five hundred bits?”

“Yeah, well I’m pretty sure you have, like, a hundred more pieces of your precious jewelry lying around.” The younger stallion smirked, pulling his hoodie down to reveal a mess of black hair. “So why not just get it over with now?”

“Well…” The dark green mare began, looking out the window. “I do have two very reliable ponies with me but I’m looking to expand my ranks.” Turning to face the dark grey stallion before her. “And when you escaped, I was actually quite impressed with your skills. Nopony I have met before has been able to evade the accuracy of Black Arrow, here.” She gestured to the pony at her right, the stallion smiled as he heard his name called. “And you certainly surprise me with your skill.” Raising a hoof to her chin, she rubbed it thoughtfully before bringing it back down. “How about a proposition?”

“Like what?” The gray earth pony asked, his right eyebrow raising slightly.

“You, my young friend, if you join my little group here I will give you back your daggers.” As she promised, the two daggers floated over to the stallion, placing themselves back into their rightful sheathes. “And as an added bonus, I’ll pay you for your work.”

“And if I refuse?” The young earth pony stepped back slightly.

“Well, my friend, Rugged Muzzle, here.” The unicorn pointed to her left at the large earth pony. The dark orange stallion cracked his neck, his emotionless gaze locked on the smaller earth pony. “I’ll order him to break your legs, take away your daggers, and throw you back out onto the streets of Manehatten.”

The dark gray earth pony gulped, shivering under the gaze of the three ponies. Looking back outside he tried to think of some way out of this situation, but realized that the pegasus wielding the crossbow was only a couple feet in front of him, and being how close he was, he wasn’t so sure he would get away unscathed. He turned to face the mare, seeing her hoof extended towards him. He moved closer and shook it with a sigh, “Alright… you convinced me.”

“Good decision, my friend… very well done.”



~~~



The leaves rustled in the wind as the day began to wind down. The sun's warm rays weakened as it slowly descended from its place above the world. Above the forest floor, the creature perched itself above the jungle floor, balancing on one of the many branches that covered the floor of the forest in shadows.

It held one of the many pony heads it gained after attacking the camp earlier, gazing over them with interest. It drew a capsule containing a dark blue colored liquid. Opening the bottle’s cap, it poured the liquid over the pony’s head. The flesh reacted to the effects of the liquid and the creature watched as fumes of smoke rose from the pony’s head, the smell of rotting flesh quickly filling the air. A few seconds passed, and the pony’s head was reduced to nothing but a skull, all the flesh eaten away by the liquid.

Snarling, the creature added the skull to its collection of the other ponies it had killed. It turned its head, hearing voices echoing nearby, distorted by its audio sensor. Standing up, the creature quickly jumped from branch to branch, nearing the sounds it heard. Making its way forward, it recalled the direction it was heading and remembered the camp full of ponies. Upon returning, it hid behind a layer of branches, its vision of the camp was clear as it lay hidden from sight.

It scanned the grounds below, picking up five heat signatures. These ponies it noticed were definitely different. The clothing they wore did not resemble the ponies it had killed earlier. Watching with interest, the creature kept its gaze on them, studying the weapons these new ponies held.



~~~



“After some time, Roughneck adjusted to his new life and took to it faster than expected.” Rune murmured, closing her eyes and lowering herself, smiling.

Daring was surprised to say the least. Glancing back over to the grey earth pony, she caught his gaze and felt a little empathetic. He smiled and went back to flipping a coin. Daring found herself smiling back, surprisingly, before turning back to Rune. “So, how come he’s still so innocent? I mean, you saw the way he reacted to those bodies up there.” Daring asked, pointing up to the macabre sight hanging above them.

“I only sent him on a few menial tasks that weren’t too complicated. He’s the only one who hasn’t seen the worst that most missions have to offer.”

Black Arrow moved to Rune’s side and murmured. “Crystal, I found something.”

Crystal turned to face the pegasus and nodded. Looking back to Daring Do, she chuckled slightly. “This sounds important.” Daring nodded and got up as well, both mares quickly making their way over to where Black Arrow stood “So, what did you find?”

“A few set of hoofprints. Guessing who these belong to, Dr. Caballeron and his crew went this way.” Arrow pointed to a series of hoofprints leading away from the camp.

“Alright then, everypony, let’s get going. We don’t have much time to waste as it is. Dr. Caballeron and his buddies have a small head start on us and it’s almost nightfall. The sooner we can acquire the package the better.” Rune ordered, quickly running off in the direction of the hoofprints.

Everypony else stared at one another before hastily taking off to catch up with Crystal Rune. Minutes passed and the ponies heard a set of voices off in the distance. Rune glanced back at the others, waving her hoof for them to crouch and slowly make their way to the source. As they got closer, the sounds became clearer until they recognized who was talking.

“What in Equestria was that!?” One of the ponies asked, his eyes darting around as he looked for something out of the ordinary.

“Did you see all those ponies? They were just hanging there, nothing but flesh. What kind of sick pony or thing would do that?” One of the other stallions asked.

“Quiet! All of you.” Dr. Caballeron shouted, staring at the others with his slitted eyes. “We do not have time to act like whiny foals. In case you haven’t noticed, our original rendezvous point has been compromised.”

“Where do we go now? The client didn’t specify where to go if the camp wasn’t occupied.” A mare in Dr. Caballeron’s group spoke up.

“Our client told us that he is located in an area somewhere in deeper areas of the Tenochtitlan Basin. So we’re going to search until we find him.”

“But the Tenochtitlan Basin stretches out for miles on end! How are we supposed to find it when there’s something in these woods that could come after us!?”

“Enough with this talk of what dangers lurk within these jungles. There is nothing in these woods that can harm us.” Dr. Caballeron declared. A growling noise emanated from within the bushes surrounding them until the animal they heard, a black leopard, slowly walked out, snarling as it circled the group of ponies in a crouched stance.

A small lynx jumped in from behind one of the ponies, hissing at one of Caballeron's henchmen who stumbled backwards, falling on his rear. A cheetah, followed by a tiger, came out from the brush, ears folded back as they growled like the black leopard. “CABALLERON!” A voice yelled, echoing around the brush, as a large dark blue colored creature jumped from the treeline, landing with a loud thud.

“It’s Ahuizotl.” Daring murmured, staring wide-eyed at her old nemesis.  

“What’s he doing here?” Rune whispered, glaring as Ahuizotl approached Dr. Caballeron.

“Did you really think you could fool me?” Ahuizotl questioned, glaring at the shivering pony in front of him.

“W-why, of course n-not, Ahuizotl… what would make you s-say that?” Dr. Caballeron stuttered, smiling nervously as the strange monkey-like creature moved closer.

“Well, would you mind telling me what you have hiding in that saddlebag of yours? I’d really hate to decommission my favorite pony.”

“Oh… you mean t-this?” The tan stallion reached into the saddlebag, pulling out a hidden case.

“Whatever your client is asking, I want a split of the money, got it?” Ahuizotl demanded, before reaching out with his right hand. “Now hand it over.”

“S-sure.” Dr. Caballeron flinched as Ahuizotl swiped it from his hoof, shaking as he cowered under the harsh gaze of his former client.

Ahuizotl examined the small case, moving it around so he could see it from every angle. He opened the lid and lifted the black silk covering what was inside. He smiled in interest at what he saw under the cover, chuckling slightly before bringing the case over to the hand on his tail. “I think there has been a change in plans.”

“W-what do you mean?” Dr. Caballeron asked, looking at the small case that was now in Ahuizotl’s possession.

“Whatever this… ‘thing’ is, it will be mine alone. Nopony will be taking it away from me!” Ahuizotl laughed before quickly taking off back into the brush.

“No! He must not escape!” Crystal Rune shouted, hastily taking off after the large creature, breaking her cover.

“Quick, everypony, we must not let Ahuizotl get away!” Black Arrow added, the ponies under cover took off after Rune and the monkey-like creature. Ahuizotl’s loyal cats yowled in surprise at the interlopers, but took after the ponies chasing their master.

Dr. Caballeron and his crew stood still for a moment, before he turned around and ordered. “We must not let them escape. Quickly, we must-”

One of his henchmen was thrown to the ground, something pinned him down, covered in the pony’s blood. A few sparks of electricity showed a silver spear jutting from the pony’s torso. Another small noise resonated around the area, followed by a scream as something pinned another stallion to a tree. A disc-like object with protruding blades was visible from the pony’s barrel, blood slowly poured from the wound and down the bark of the tree. A very low and frequent humming noise sounded as a red laser targeted the mare of the group. A loud boom reverberated as a blue beam of energy hit the pony dead-on, blowing her head into chunks of flesh.

Dr. Caballeron was breathing heavily, seeing his ponies being slaughtered so easily by an invisible force. His eyes darted around as he searched for a sign of what it could be. A thud sounded from behind the pony and he froze in place. Slowly, he turned to face whatever it was and gasped as a blurred figure stood to its full height. He tried to hit it, but it intercepted his hoof with a clawed hand and bent his hoof. Dr. Caballeron screamed in pain, he desperately tried to break free from the vice like grip, but to no avail.

The creature switched from its infrared scan to x-ray scan. It looked through the pony’s saddlebag, trying to find the Serpent, but there was no indication that it was there. Roaring in anger, the creature shot a blade from its gauntlet and stabbed the pony through the chest. Dr. Caballeron gasped in pain as was lifted from the ground with ease. It shot out the other gauntlet’s blades and slashed at the pony's neck, separating Dr. Caballeron’s head from his body. The creature made a clicking snarl, pleased that it had another head to add to its collection.

While it was busy dealing with Dr. Caballeron's group, Crystal was busy trying to catch up with Ahuizotl. The large creature was fast, she had to give him that, but he was making such a racket, it was almost impossible not to lose him. A sudden weight hit her side. Yelling in surprise, Rune was knocked off her hooves and sent straight into a tree. Quickly recovering, she watched as the black leopard came sprinting straight at her, leaping with outstretched claws. She ducked as it slammed into the tree behind her. Yowling in pain, it rose back up onto all fours and slashed at the dark green unicorn, Rune barely avoiding the claws of death. Summoning her magic, she encased the black leopard in a pale ice aura and threw it against another tree, pinning it on the wooden surface. It screamed in rage, thrashing about in its magical prison.

Crystal heard another roar and turned to see the tiger running straight for her. She shielded herself, bracing for the worst. Another yowl, this time farther away. Rune wondered why the tiger hadn't barreled into her yet, and moved her hoof down to see that Rugged Muzzle was wrestling the large striped cat, pinning it to the ground with his large warhammer, keeping it against the cat's neck as it struggled to break free. The large earth pony looked her way and nodded, grunting with effort as the tiger kept pushing back.

She saw Daring Do staring at the scene she and Rugged were in and yelled out to the light gold pegasus. "Go! Don't worry about us, we'll take care of the kitties here! Get the case from Ahuizotl before he gets away!"

Daring nodded and quickly took off, hot in her pursuit to catch up with her nemesis. Another cry was heard as Rune paid attention to the black leopard she had in her grasp. It kept yowling out, trying to break free of Crystal's magic hold. The pale blue aura around her horn intensified, and the leopard's bottom paws began to shake. Ice slowly formed around the black fur of the leopard, its cries of rage turning into screams of pain.

As Crystal was busy freezing the cat in her hold, she looked to her left, seeing that Black Arrow was dealing with the lynx easily, flying away from its claws while kicking the cat around. On the other hoof, Roughneck was on the ground, keeping the cheetah he fought with away from him using his bottom hooves, fumbling around for his daggers in the process of trying to not get ripped to shreds. "Yo, Black Arrow! Mind switching with me!?" Roughneck asked, pushing the cheetah away as he got a firm hold on his daggers.

"Nah, you seem to be holding up." Black Arrow replied, kicking the lynx away from him, hearing another scream of pain.

While the mercs were busy dealing with the cats, Daring was closing in on her target. Licking her lips, she flapped her wings before taking off into the air. Ahuizotl turned to look behind him, laughing as he thought he lost Daring Do. He felt something lift off his tail hand and stopped. Clenching the fist, he only felt air and growled as he saw Daring smile at him as she landed a few feet away with the case held by her left forearm. "Daring Do! Give that back to me right now!" Ahuizotl demanded, crouching down as he neared the light gold pegasus.

"No can do, Ahuizotl. You should know me by now." Daring smirked, lifting off into the air with the flap of her wings as the creature jumped at her.

Landing on all four feet, Ahuizotl turned around and glared at the pegasus. "What are you even doing with those mercenaries? You never work with anypony else."

"Oh, Ahuizotl, I just can't seem to stay away from you." Daring bantered, smiling as she avoided the question.

The creature slightly laughed. "You know, it won't be funny when I pry that case from your cold, dead hooves!"

"Well, then." Daring started, spreading her forearms wide open. "What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

Ahuizotl howled in rage, sprinting towards the mare. Daring smiled and ducked as he tried to grab her before bringing a hoof upwards, making contact with his chin and sending him flying back, screaming in pain. He landed with a loud thud, losing his breath. He slowly got up and noticed that the mare was nowhere to be found. He growled in rage, yelling, "Curse you, Daring Doooo!"

The mare chuckled silently to herself as she flew away from Ahuizotl. Landing back onto the ground, she folded her wings and made her way towards the others. She heard a snap of twigs and saw Crystal and the other three mercs making their way towards her. Smiling, she lifted up the case and announced, "Look what I got."

Rune smiled, encasing the object in a pale blue aura. Checking for any dents, she opened the lid and lifted the black silky covering up to inspect the item for any damage. Daring couldn’t see what the prize was, but whatever it was, it appeared to be contained in a glass cylinder of sorts. Rune drew a sigh of relief when she saw it was intact, and then quickly shut the case when she noticed Daring Do trying to sneak a peak. "Cargo hasn't been damaged. Nice job, Daring Do."

"Where's Ahuizotl now?" Black Arrow asked, drawing the attention of the mare.

"I lost him." Daring simply replied, smiling as she reminisced in the scene of punching Ahuizotl on the chin so hard that it sent him flying. "What about the cats?" The light gold pegasus inquired.

"Them? They've been taken care of." Rune smirked, looking at the black leopard that was frozen against the tree behind the group. It struggled as it tried to free itself from its icy restraints.

"We chased the other three off, they won’t be showing their mugs anytime soon." Black Arrow said, his expression unchanging.

Daring smiled as she eyed the valued case. Nopony told her what its contents were, not even Prince Blueblood. Curious, she asked "So... can I have a look at what's inside the case now?"

"N-no... not yet." Rune replied, her eyes darting in the other direction. "Our client said that nopony except for me can see the item of interest."

"Well, that sucks. I was hoping to get a peek at what our prize was, but if it’s orders from the client." A drop of rain splattered on Daring's muzzle, making her look up to see more drops of water come splashing down. Looking back to the mercenaries, she said. "So, where are going to set up for camp? 'Cause Ahuizotl will be here any minute, and I don't want to have to deal with him again."

Rune raised a hoof to her chin before saying. "I believe there's a spot nearby. It’s a couple of miles that way, but we'll make it there in due time."

Daring nodded and followed the mercs as they took off towards where Rune suggested they camp, the rain picking up as their journey seemed to be finally over.
> Chapter VII: Strength of Heart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rain was steadily trickling down by the time Daring and her group got their campsite set up. The sun's light had vanished, replaced with a dark and gloomy sky. An orange light shone in the darkness, hidden under a tarp constructed to keep the rain from extinguishing the flames. The group sat around the fire, laughing and keeping warm after their successful capture of the target. "Oh, sweet Celestia! You should've seen Ahuizotl's face when I took the case right from under his nose!" Daring exclaimed, laughing afterwards. "I almost couldn't keep a straight face when I confronted him."

"Did you say anything to him that was memorable?" Roughneck asked, shifting on the ground as Daring told her story.

Daring raised a hoof to her chin, before smiling and laughing once more. "Oh, oh, it’s when he asked me about you guys. He was wondering why I came here and brought you guys along. Instead of answering the question fully, I said, ‘it’s because I just can't stay away from you’." A uproar of laughter ensued among the group, and even Rune was chuckling slightly at Daring’s retelling of the encounter with Ahuizotl.

Everypony soon calmed down and the laughter soon ceased. “Hey, Rune, you sure that tarp’s not going to catch on fire?” Daring pointed to the flames lapping at the underside of the cloth.

“Don’t worry, Daring, I cast a cold spell on it. That tarp won’t be catching on fire anytime soon.” Crystal reassured with a wave of her hoof.

Everypony went quiet, staring down at the fire as it danced inside the rocky pit, its waves of warmth keeping them comfortable. The pitter patter of the rain increased, slowly growing into a shower. Crystal yawned quietly, stretching her forelegs before getting up. “Well, better get some rest. Tomorrow we head back to the airship, and from there it’s delivering the item to our client.” Turning towards her tent, she pushed the flaps away, disappearing from sight.

Black Arrow did the same, standing up without a word and walking into his own tent. Even Rugged Muzzle moved inside his shelter, zipping up the entrance behind him. All remained quiet as Daring and Roughneck were left alone outside, a silent mood washing over the two. She glanced in his direction once or twice and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. It was only a moment later when her gaze moved over him again did she see that he was shivering.

Moving over to his side, she put a hoof on his shoulder, only to have him jump at the touch. When he saw the adventurer, he sighed and murmured. “Sorry about that. Just wasn’t expecting you to sneak up on me.”

An eyebrow arched over Daring's features as she shifted closer to sit next to him. “Hey, you alright?”

He glanced at her for a moment before replying. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking of how I took that Cheetah on, mono y mono.” Chuckling a little, he kept staring in the opposite direction.

“Are you sure? I did see you shaking a little.”

“Shivering? Me? Please, I’m just, uh, chilling out, ya know?” Roughneck stretched, grinning as he rested his hooves on the back of his head.

Daring frowned, raising a questioning eyebrow. “Okay, how about you tell the truth?” His grin faltered as she continued. “I can tell that you’re lying.”

The gray earth pony chuckled, quieting down as he looked away from her questioning stare. Sighing, he gazed back up, a more somber expression on his features. “I… I just don’t feel so sure about this mission anymore. After seeing all those ponies skinned-” His voice faltered for a brief moment. “I haven’t seen anything like that before.”

Daring remembered an earlier conversation with Crystal Rune about Roughneck. “So you're not used to seeing ponies brutally murdered? But, you said your job description was being the thief. So you’ve never killed a pony, even if you were ever caught?”

“No. I never did. Usually, I just knocked them out, or pushed them to the side. I barely ever had to use my daggers, and the thought of stabbing somepony doesn’t feel right.”

“But then how did you escape when you got caught in the act? In fact, how did you even pick up thievery in the first place?”

“I… well,” Roughneck murmured quietly, looking away from her gaze. He felt something on his left shoulder and turned to see Daring’s reassuring smile behind the gentle hoof on his shoulder. He sighed before sadly smiling. “I guess it all started when I was just a colt. I lived with what you could say was a big family, even if it did only consist of my father, my mother, three older brothers, and a younger sister. And we weren’t doing as well as my mother and father had hoped. They dreamed of being able to one day start a business of their own and moved to Manehattan. But when they arrived, they found life in the big city wasn’t what they thought it was cracked up to be.”

“What do you mean by that?” Daring asked.

“My family was one of the poorer families living in Manehattan, and it was eight years before I would hear that Princess Luna returned home. My biggest brother, Flashnote, was the luckiest of all my siblings. He was able to get through school easily and went on from there to college, going after the dream that my father was never able to achieve.”

“What about your parents?” The pegasus frowned, crossing her forearms.

“Father was working at a low wage job, one he didn’t like too much, while my mother stayed home looking after us. She didn’t have it easy with my two older brothers. They were the worst, always causing trouble and stealing from others.”

“They sound like fun.” Daring murmured, rolling her eyes.

“They sure weren’t the easiest to get along with, but we worked out our differences. My little sister was a different story altogether. She was sweet and kind, always seeing the good in anypony.” Roughneck sighed, looking down at the ground with closed eyes.

“But that doesn’t explain how you started stealing.” The pegasus questioned, furrowing her brow.

“I was what you could call a good foal. I was nice and friendly. Although, that's where my two older brothers took advantage of me most of the time, teasing me and calling me names. I didn’t really bother with them and I just shrugged off whatever they said.”

Daring Do frowned, remembering the times he tried to joke around with her. She felt bad for waving off his determination to make another friend. ‘And I mean… I’m still trying to get used to this whole ‘friendship’ thing.’

“It’s what happened during a normal week in our family that shook us to the core.” Roughneck murmured, bringing Daring out of her world of thoughts. “My dad got sick one afternoon. He came back from work, tired as usual, but he wasn’t normal. He fell to the ground, whispering that somepony was sick at work, infecting a few other ponies with a virus. He laid in bed for weeks.” The gray stallion frowned, lowering his head. “Then, one day… he never woke back up.”

The adventurer sat, mouth agape, while she noticed a few tears running down his cheeks, his expression frozen in a scowl. Staring in silence, she waited for him to continue. “After he died… my oldest brother grew distant. Then a few weeks later, we never heard from him again. My mom took it the hardest, and soon went out looking for any job she could get, just to support us. My two older brothers took advantage of her absence and freely stole from others. I… guess you could say I was curious, wondering how they were able to do all of this. I tried it out one day, and felt such an adrenaline rush. Pretty soon, stealing became a daily activity of mine. I wasn’t harsh, however, like my brothers were, pushing others around for stuff. I usually gave whatever I could get to my sister or mom and even to others who were just as unfortunate as us.”

“But it was more innocent. I mean, you didn’t really know it was bad at first, right?” Daring moved closer to the stallion, staring at him intently.

He turned to face her and slowly nodded. “I didn’t even know I’d get in trouble for it. But my mom caught me stealing one day and told me never to do such a thing ever again. I stopped for a couple of weeks, but I went right back to it. Thing is… I never knew how worried my mom was for me. She wasn’t able to stop my older brothers from stealing. They were too far gone.” Roughneck sighed, sitting in the silence for a moment before continuing. “Then one day… they were arrested. The police said they tried to kill a colt for a large amount of bits he had. My mother was devastated… I, however, didn’t feel all that bad about their arrest. To me, it served them right for trying to hurt another pony.”

Hearing the tragedy of another stallion’s life was unsettling at best, given how hard Roughneck had it. “So after that, it was just you, your mom, and your sister?”

“Yeah…” The gray earth pony murmured. “My mom was still having a hard time with her own job and I was just beginning to grow into being a young stallion. I was stealing still, but I had a better mindset about the reasons why. It was to give to others, and to my sister and mother. Of course, she had her suspicions on how I kept getting all these expensive things. I do think she knew, but she never got after me about it. My sister was still the same young and energetic filly I knew.” The stallion chuckled slightly. “She was a hooffull at times, but she was growing into a fine quilter.”

“How was your sister able to quilt if you were so poor?” Daring inquired, staring thoughtfully as his story kept going.

“She was able to scrounge up some leftover clothing, quilting needles and all. Sometimes, I was able to snag a couple of items for her.” Tears slowly poured from the corners of his eyes, as his smile soon faded away back into its frown. “I… I remember the last thing she said to me… was that she loved her big brother, and wished me to never change… before she was taken away.”

“By who?”

“She was taken away by civil services. They showed up at the door one day and talked with my mom, alone. They were in there for hours. The door opened, and I saw my mom crying, but I didn’t know why. I heard my sister screaming and ran out the door… only to watch them take her away. ‘An unsuitable environment to raise a filly,’ they said.” He bitterly spat. “After that… my mom died a few days later, brokenhearted. And then I was alone...”

Daring felt a pang of sympathy in her heart as she stared at the young stallion. Here was a pony, who had everything taken away from him at such a young age. He lived a hard life, not knowing when he would finally get a break from it all. The light gold mare looked down, frowning. She looked back up to see Roughneck quietly whimpering. Moving closer to him, she bit her lip before wrapping a foreleg across his shoulders. He turned to face her, before closing his eyes and hugging her, causing her eyes to widen with surprise. She was about to say something, but thought better of it, allowing him to hug her and even patted his back comfortingly.

Hidden from sight, Crystal had heard every word. She watched him from the shadows, seeing Roughneck in a new light. All this time, she had thought he was just a common thief; a petty criminal that only cared about himself. To her, he had been just another asset, just like the rest of her crew. She never realized there was so much more to him. Crystal frowned at her ignorance and looked down at the ground, wondering what tales the other ponies had to tell.

Eventually, Roughneck pulled away from Daring, sadly smiling as he wiped a few tears away. After Roughneck regained his composure, Daring asked, “And after you found Crystal, how did you feel knowing you finally were able to keep yourself fed, to be able to finally take care of yourself?”

“I was… relieved. But that didn’t stop me from what I loved to do: to be able to give to others that needed it the most.”

“You’re a good stallion, Roughneck. Don’t let anypony tell you differently. Even when you hit rock bottom, you still tried to help others. Always remember what your sister told you; never change who you are.” She neared his forehead and gently kissed it. Surprised, the stallion looked at her, watching her get up and walk away as he rubbed the spot where she kissed him.

‘Why on earth did I kiss him?’ As Daring pondered, she spotted Rune walking away. Curious, she silently followed the mare to her tent and watched her walk back in through the flaps. Breathing in, she walked through them as well, “I can take it that you heard Roughneck’s story?”

The unicorn flinched slightly, surprised by Daring’s unexpected arrival, she turned around and nodded. “Yeah… I didn’t know that he went through something as horrible as that.”

“And is this the way you really want to treat your workers? If they have been through so much, do they need to go through more heartache and trouble?” Daring challenged, frowning at the unicorn.

“What do you expect me to do? Give them the day off; tell them everything will be better? That’s not how it works out.” Turning towards the unlit lamp, she summoned her magic, casting a pale blue light in the darkness and igniting the candle, banishing the shadows from the tent. “Darkness can only be chased away if you have finally put an end to your suffering.”

For the first time since they met, Crystal was without her cloak. Daring finally got to see the rest of her coat, still retaining the dark green color she saw through the hood. Her hair retained the same sheen of black and ice blue, yet there was one part of her she finally saw: Rune’s cutie mark. Unsurprisingly, she saw a rune inscribed with ancient words littered across the blue mark. Chuckling slightly, the light gold mare pointed to the cutie mark on Crystal’s flank and said, “I guess that’s why they call you ‘Rune’.”

The dark green unicorn looked back at the mark, a small smile creeping up on her lips. “Yeah. I was just a filly when I got this, didn’t ever foresee that I would have been so strong with magic.”

“Do I hear somepony hiding something?” Daring smirked.

Rune looked her way and murmured, “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“I promise that I won’t laugh, nor will I say anything about it.” Daring promised, moving over to Rune’s side and sitting down on the ground with her.

Rune sighed, smiling at the adventurer’s determination. “Alright, I guess it all started at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“Celestia’s School? You were a student there?” Daring asked.

Rune nodded, “Yeah, it was the first time I’d ever been to such an esteemed place.”



~~~



‘I first started out as just any normal student, with hopes and dreams of making it big. I showed a lot of potential for magic when I was little, and my parents thought it was best to sign me up at Celestia’s School.’

‘Were you ever at the top of your class?’ Daring interjected.

‘Not at the beginning, no. You could say that a pony named Sunset Shimmer was the best out of anypony there.’ A memory flashed across Rune’s eyes as she was brought back to when she was younger. In a classroom, she was sitting beside a few of her classmates, glued to a book as more ponies walked through the door. In one area of the column of seats was Sunset Shimmer, talking to a couple of her fellow students. Rune glanced in her general direction a few times, not paying much attention to her surroundings. ‘Back then… Sunset was the big shot on campus. You could say that I was pretty envious of her. Those that Celestia personally taught were always praised. I was hoping to get that same recognition as Shimmer.’

“Good morning, my students.” The gruff sound of an old unicorn announced as he walked in through the doorway. The chatter ceased as everypony smiled. Even Rune put her book down, smiling as she awaited the lesson. “I do hope you all had a good night’s sleep. Today, we’re going to talk about everypony’s favorite subject: The fundamentals on magic and how to safely cast spells.”

‘You see… I wasn’t as strong with magic back then as somepony like Sunset Shimmer, but I was clever enough to memorize most of the complex spells that most ponies couldn’t even pull off without countless hours of studying.’ As part of a demonstration, Crystal stood in the middle of the classroom, her horn lit in her pale ice blue aura that swirled around her.

“Now, you do know this is a protective spell, correct?” The teacher inquired, staring at the dark green unicorn.

“Of course. Don’t worry, I am positive I can pull this off.” A flash of pale blue surrounded the mare and everypony shielded their eyes from the blinding light. The luminescence flickered away, letting the teacher and the other unicorns put their hooves down. Everypony gasped, seeing a thick layer of ice surrounding the dark green unicorn.

Through a small visor, Rune looked up to the teacher. “So, is this alright?” Crystal asked in a softer tone.

The old unicorn stared for a while longer, before regaining his composure. “This is certainly quite the protection spell. Wherever did you learn such a complex spell?”

“I came up with it, actually.” Rune replied, blushing slightly behind her ice helmet.

“Isn’t it cold in there?” Sunset questioned, unimpressed.

“Not really, no. I was able to mix the spell with two other counteractive agents, both temperature spells. I put one around me to keep me warm and safe from the cold, while I’m able keep the ice from melting as well by surrounding it with a cold spell.”

A few ponies began to murmur, glancing excitedly at each other while the teacher chuckled silently to himself. “Well done, my little pony. You certainly have quite the ability.”

Crystal Rune looked up to the stallion, smiling as her eyes widened from such praise, but then frowned as she wiggled about in her ice armor. “Um… I have a little problem. I can’t move!”

‘So… that is really where things began to change for the better.’

‘How so?’ Daring asked.

‘Well, I noticed that a few more ponies were interested in my abilities, and it was quite funny to see the shock of surprise from those who doubted me. But I never talked to most of them. After some time… Sunset Shimmer walked up to me one day.’

“Hello there, Crystal.” Sunset Shimmer greeted, smirking as she walked up to the dark green mare.

“Oh… hi, Sunset.” Crystal murmured back, not looking up as she focused on her book.

“I was wondering, Crystal, if you would like to team up with me.”

“Team? What do you mean?” The dark green unicorn asked.

“I thought that since we’re both so good at magic, maybe you’d like to help me out with a few spells.”

“Sure. I’d be happy to help.” ‘I found it funny that Sunset was taking an interest in my abilities. She was always so high and mighty, not seeming to care for anypony else’s goals but her own. But the funny thing was that she started warming up to me. And I even got a little more social because of her.'

“Alright, my little ponies, I do not want anypony here to get hurt at all. We are just practicing, so please take great care with how strong your magic is.” Celestia instructed, sitting a few meters away from the two fillies. The two unicorns nodded, smiling at their mentor before turning to face each other, both smirking as their horns lit in each own’s aura.

“You ready, Sunset Shimmer?” Crystal Rune asked, smiling at her opponent.

“Of course I am. You just try and see if you can win this time.” Sunset replied, both mares giving each other determined smiles.

‘I always thought I could take the gifted mare on, but most of time she won.’ Sunset fell to the ground on her side, quickly getting back up and dodging another pale blue beam of magic. In her crosshairs was the dark green unicorn, who was using the range she had to her advantage.

The light amber pony quickly dodged a few more beams of energy, taking cover behind a pillar as some of the beams flew by, hitting the wall behind Sunset. The young mare raised a hoof to her chin, rubbing it thoughtfully before smiling. She glanced over to the dark unicorn, seeing Rune hiding behind another pillar, breathing heavily.

Shimmer summoned her magic once more, casting a light opal shield around herself, disappearing from sight before looking back to where Crystal was. Summoning her magic, she sent a beam, curving it towards where the dark green unicorn was hiding. It blew up from under her, sending Crystal crashing down to the ground, briefly gasping for air as she felt the wind get knocked from her. ‘But sometimes, I would win instead of Sunset.'

Rune glanced back up, seeing the unicorn’s horn lit in her opal aura. ‘Okay, think. She’s about to hit me with another spell, and if I don’t counteract it, I’m for sure to lose.’ An idea came to mind, and she quickly took the defensive, surrounding herself with a pale ice blue aura before glowing brightly.

‘What in Equestria is she doing?’ Sunset thought, shielding her eyes from the blinding light with a hoof. When the light died down, the light amber unicorn removed her hoof and gasped. “What… that spell again?” Rune stood up, the sun’s light glinting off the protective layer of ice armor around her body.

Rune lit her horn, a beam of energy shot out from inside the visor, striking the dumbfounded unicorn. Sunset was knocked off her hooves, skidding across the ground. Getting up slowly, she looked up to see Crystal standing over her as she proclaimed. “I think I won this time.”

“Jeez, you sure have gotten stronger with your magic.” Sunset murmured, sitting on her flank as she finally pushed herself up.

“Well, I had your help.” Rune smiled inside her armor.

“Do you think you could teach me this trick sometime?” The light amber mare asked, studying the gleaming pony before her.

“Of course, I’d love to teach you the basics. You might find it a little strenuous at first, but I assure you that it isn’t too difficult.”

“A spell like this shouldn’t be that difficult. I could easily get it.” Sunset smirked.

Celestia couldn’t help but giggle slightly. Seeing these two ponies share a common interest was good to say the least. “I do not want to break such a good conversation.” Celestia said over the two ponies. “But need I remind you that we are currently in class. Aren’t you two supposed to be doing something else?”

“Oh, right.” Shimmer murmured, summoning her magic aura, Rune doing the same as both mares prepared for practice once more.

‘Sunset was something of a close friend, you could say. But over the years, she changed. She became so power hungry, so ambitious. Mind you, everypony, including myself, was set on achieving our best to get Celestia’s attention, but she pushed everything so far. Then… one day things just went downhill.’

“Sunset Shimmer, what’s wrong?” Rune asked, seeing the light amber mare’s hair sticking up at unnaturally angles.

The other unicorn looked at Crystal, her eyes narrowing at the dark green unicorn. “Oh, well, if it isn’t the pony who thinks that she’s so better than me. What a joke that is.”

“Woah, what’s your problem? I just asked if you were alright. Why are you being such a jerk?” Rune recoiled, her muzzle scrunching up at the harsh tone of her friend.

“Me, a jerk? Please, I’m not the one that has ruined my relationship with Princess Celestia. She thinks I’m too ambitious, too demanding.” Laughing, she turned to face the other mare. “Did you really believe that I was your friend, that nothing bad would happen between us? You’re such a moron.”

‘I’ve never felt so attacked in my life. To hear the friend I thought she was saying all these things to me… it was hard to swallow. After her rant, I shot back by telling her what a fool she was, thinking that she was on top of the world when she really just like anypony else. After that heated argument, we never spoke to each other again.’

‘Is that how you became so… distant?' Daring asked, eyeing the mare sadly.

‘After hearing a pony I thought to be my friend say such things… I went mute. Barely ever talking, I didn’t even acknowledge most ponies who said ‘hello'. A little while later, I heard Sunset had disappeared. To where, I didn’t care at all. She was basically nothing to me by that point. It was only a few days later that I got the surprise of my life.’


“Hello there, Princess Celestia.” Crystal Rune acknowledged, bowing to the regal alicorn as she entered through the door to her dorm room.

Princess Celestia giggled slightly, before saying, “Please, just Celestia is fine.”

“But… why?” Rune inquired, looking thoughtfully up to the white alicorn.

“I have seen the way you are with your magic. Unlike most ponies, you have an innate gift. The magic you hold is stronger than any regular unicorn. Since that is the case, I would like to help you harness this ability.”

“Harness it… wait, what do you mean?” Crystal asked.

“I would like to take you under my wing as my new private pupil.” Celestia added, smiling at the dark green unicorn.

Rune held her breath, her eyes shrinking to pinpricks as she was offered such a proposition. Her mouth hung agape until a wide smile spread across her face. “You… you really mean it!?” Tears began to form at the sides of her eyes as she shook slightly.

Celestia kneeled down to Rune’s level, smiling gently at the unicorn. “Of course, Crystal. I really do mean it.”

‘You couldn’t believe how ecstatic I was when she asked me to be her star pupil.’ Rune rushed over to the alicorn and hugged her. Celestia was a little surprised at first, as she was pushed back slightly, but gently returned her embrace. When Crystal released her, the regal alicorn could see tears forming at the corners of her eyes. “Thank you… thank you so much, Celestia…”

‘To have that type of feeling, that you finally made it… was something so astonishing. But after Sunset, it was still hard to feel like I accomplished something great. I made it to the top, a student to Princess Celestia. However, it felt like just a wish wasted. I then noticed another pony, a lavender mare named Twilight Sparkle.’

‘Wait, you mean the Twilight Sparkle?’ Daring inquired, surprised to hear the mare say the Princess of Friendship’s name.

‘I barely knew who she was. I only saw her on a couple of occasions, but never made any attempt to talk with her, not after what happened with the friendship I thought I had. I graduated not long after, but the whole event left a sour taste in my mouth. Soon after, I decided it to be best if I just disappeared.'



~~~



“So I left. Nopony, not even Celestia saw me ever again.” She faced Daring Do, opening her eyes as a single small tear, unseen by Daring, dripped down across the dark green unicorn’s cheek. “After that, I never thought about anypony else ever again. Not until you asked me, however.” Rune mentioned, looking away once more.

“So… it’s been a long time since you’ve seen Celestia, huh?” Rune nodded, giving way to another question she had to ask. “Have you heard about what Twilight’s gone through?”

“You mean becoming a princess, and the recent event over in Ponyville? Yes… I heard.” Crystal whispered, sighing at the many memories flooding her mind once more. When she heard that Twilight became an alicorn not long after becoming a student to Celestia, she felt utterly betrayed. It was though Celestia replaced her with a newer model as soon as the old one outlived its usefulness. ‘Just like she replaced Sunset with me.’ She bitterly thought.

“Are you going to be alright?” Daring inquired, leaning forward a little.

“Of course.” Crystal reassured, shaking her head a little before looking back. “But if you tell anypony about this, I’ll personally beat you into the ground.” Smiling a little at Daring with a playful tone.

“Don’t worry, Crystal. When it comes to hiding secrets, I’m a pony you can count on.” Daring got up and walked over to the tent flaps, but stopped as she brushed them open. Staring back at Rune, she said. “Crystal… I know you like to keep your emotions bottled up, I used to be that way, too, but maybe it’s time you talked to the others some more.” Leaving her with those words, she stepped out of the tent. The dark unicorn sighed, staring back down at the ground. Daring was a great pony, and surprisingly enough one that seemed to be able to talk to the others despite her reputation of being a recluse. But that one regretful thought laid dormant in her mind: the command that the client issued her.

Getting up, she walked out through her tent flaps. The rain had finally slowed to a gentle sprinkle, the wind slowly moving the trees around as the leaves rustled against one another. She breathed in the forest air, the scent of wet grass surrounding her. She spotted Rugged Muzzle sitting next by his tent, staring out into the forest.

Making her way over to the large stallion, she stood next to him, asking. “How’s it look? Any sign of movement?” The stallion shook his head, letting the mare heave a sigh of relief. ‘That’s good to hear.’ She admired Rugged Muzzle, not only for his strength, but his ability to feel nothing and remain in control of his emotions during combat. He always wore that same monotone expression whenever she saw him.

“You seem troubled, comrade.” The dark orange stallion spoke in a heavy Stalliongrad accent.

“Yeah… I guess you could say-” She stopped, gasping. “Wait you, you can actually talk?” Rune was surprised to say the least.

“Da. I just never found the moment to talk. It is far better being quiet and collective, then running your mouth with pointless words.”

“But… why keep quiet until now?” Rune murmured, moving to the stallion’s side.

“Because you seem sad. I’m never big on words, but I am there for my friends. My life as a soldier was the one I only knew, until you hired me.” He looked at Rune with his emotionless gaze and murmured, “What is it that upsets you?”

Crystal looked down, frowning. “It’s the orders from our client. About what we will need to do.”

“Mmm… do you feel that it’s right?” Rugged Muzzle asked.

“No… but what else are we supposed to do?” Rune fretted, her eyes darted around, grabbing her head as she struggled to figure out what the right decision was.

The dark orange stallion turned to face her. “Do what heart tells you.” He simply said, before standing up. “I will take the first watch tonight. Goodnight, moya sestrenka.” He smiled, watching Rune furrow her brow.

'‘Sestrenka’ means little sister in his native language, right?’ Rune thought to herself. Crystal Rune looked away, smiling. She walked off, leaving the large earth pony alone. As his watch continued, Rugged Muzzle looked to the night sky and saw the moon was at its zenith, the world lit in its fragile light.

The dark orange stallion scanned the treeline, gazing out into the forest. He swiveled his ears, a faint noise catching his attention. It was a voice, resonating around the forest around him. Gazing out at the forest before him, he snorted, moving to investigate the strange noise.

As he walked on, the voice got louder the further he ventured into the jungle. He looked to his sides, keeping a wary watch for whatever creature it could be. He stopped in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by low lying brush. The noise abruptly stopped and the large stallion noticed something move within the brush, hearing the faint sound of footsteps.

He turned around and saw dust fly up from the ground as a blurred figure stood. The pony stared at the blurry figure, raising an eyebrow as he tried to make out what he was seeing before him. He grabbed the warhammer from his back, placing it on both hooves as he stood up on his hind legs, grunting with effort.

The creature turned its invisibility off, intrigued by the pony before it. After it had dispatched Caballeron, it continued to pursue the Serpent and observed the mercenaries doing battle with the jungle cats along the way. From what it saw, this team of ponies were quite skilled and could pose a threat to it. Thus it decided to eliminate the opposition before attempting to retrieve the Serpent and perhaps have some sport on the side. This stallion was larger and stronger than its compatriots and it believed this pony would offer it the greatest challenge. Seeing the large pony draw his weapon, it growled once more and unsheathed both sets of blades from its gauntlets.

Rugged Muzzle stared at this unknown creature. It stood as tall as a minotaur, but he couldn’t make anything else out in the cover of night. He gazed at the blades protruding from its gauntlets, recalling the ponies that were skinned. “So… you were the creature that killed those ponies? If so… then this should be fun.”

The towering creature snarled in response before both combatants charged each other. The bipedal monster took a swipe at Rugged as they passed each other, the dark orange earth pony barely avoiding the metal blades as he jumped away. He turned around and quickly swung the hammer, making contact with the alien’s chest.

It roared in pain as it was sent skidding across the ground, dirt and dust flying from under its feet. Stopping itself, the creature looked up to see the pony charging. Taking a bladed disc out, it threw it at Rugged and watched him block it with the warhammer, but not without being knocked back by the force of the weapon. Seeing its chance, the creature quickly ran towards the pony, its long strides closing the distance considerably.

Sheathing one of its gauntlets, it rammed a fist straight into the jaw of its opponent, sending Rugged flying some distance before landing back onto the ground with a thud. Walking over to the pony, it picked him up with one clawed hand, gazing at the pony before it. The creature was fascinated with this pony’s determination and skill, and considered him to be a worthy opponent. Honoring this pony’s ability to fight, it dropped him to the ground, Rugged gasping for breath as he slowly crawled, trying to reach his weapon. The alien kicked the warhammer away, grabbing the dark orange earth pony again, turning him around, facing away from the creature.

Unsheathing the blade in his right gauntlet, the creature pulled its fist back and then thrusted the blade forward, piercing Rugged Muzzle’s chest. The pony groaned in agony, looking down at the bloodied blade. The creature pulled off, unsheathed the other gauntlet, and with one quick swipe, cut the stallion’s head off, catching it as it flew through the air. Such a worthy foe as this pony was something it enjoyed. Winning the fight, it raised Rugged Muzzle’s head to the heavens and roared in victory. Looking back at the head admiringly, he ran a clawed finger across the dead pony’s brow before stashing it away and disappearing back into the forest, leaving the decapitated body behind.
> Chapter VIII: Mournful Fallen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The quiet rustling of leaves echoed in the forest as the morning sun hid under a blanket of clouds, graying the chilly morning. Smoke faintly rose from the dying fire, embers glowing within the ashes of charred logs. Crystal Rune awoke with a yawn, stretching her forelegs. Rubbing her eyes, she blinked the remnants of sleep away. Raising an eyebrow, she brushed the sleeping bag off her legs, getting up onto all fours before making her way towards the entrance to her tent.

She brushed the flaps aside, squinting in the harsh gray light outside. It was quiet; an eerie silence had fallen over the woods. 'Where’s Rugged Muzzle? He was supposed to alert me when it was my turn for watch.’ Scanning the campsite from the tent, she didn’t notice the dark orange earth pony anywhere. Cautiously stepping forward, she warily looked at the surrounding treeline. Nothing seemed out of place as far as she could tell, but the silence of the forest was a little unnerving.

She swiveled her ears, hearing a noise behind her. When she turned around, she saw tent flaps brush aside as Black Arrow stepped out of his tent. The maroon pegasus yawned, rubbing his eyes. He looked her way and murmured, “Morning, Crystal.” Yawning again, he continued, “Get a good night’s rest?”

“Yeah… a little too much sleep for my liking.” Crystal murmured, turning away from the stallion as she continued her search.

Arrow raised an eyebrow as he watched her scan the area. “What’s wrong? Did you see something?”

“No, that’s not it. It’s Rugged Muzzle.” She said, turning around to face the stallion again. “He didn’t check in with me from his watch. He should have reported in a few hours ago.”

Black Arrow frowned, going through the tent flaps again for a few moments before coming back out with his outfit and his crossbow at the ready. “When was the the last time you checked in with him?” The stallion asked as he made his way over to the dark green unicorn.

Rune shook her head in worry. “It was last night, before I went to bed.” Pointing over to the north side of their campsite. “He was stationed over there.”

Arrow nodded and trotted over to where the mare pointed, quickly scanning the area before moving further into the forest.

Daring opened her eyes, standing up while rubbing the small fragments of grime from them. She heard ponies talking outside her tent and moved over to the entrance. Unzipping her tent flaps, she pushed them aside and walked out, Rune turned to face her with a frown. She heard the tent next to her open, Roughneck popped his head out as he murmured tiredly, blinking at the mare, “Hey, Rune? What’s with all the commotion out here?”

Daring turned to face the dark green unicorn and asked. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s Rugged Muzzle. He’s gone.” The dark unicorn murmured, looking over where the dark orange stallion was last.

“Gone? What are you talking about?” Roughneck inquired, raising an eyebrow as he made his way over to the unicorn.

“He didn’t report in.” Crystal said, looking at the stallion.

“Then what are we sitting around here for?” Roughneck questioned, quickly running back into his tent. He came back out with his jacket on and two daggers swaying at his sides as he trotted over to the south side of the camp. “We need to find him. If something like that creature from yesterday has found him, he needs help.”

Shaking her head, Crystal nodded and trotted into her tent, pulling her cloak on before coming back out. Daring Do made her way over to her side, matching the unicorn’s pace. “Don’t worry, Crystal. I’m sure Rugged Muzzle didn’t go too far.” The pegasus reassured her with a smile.

Rune nodded and the two mares quickly ran off into the forest. As the search began, Black Arrow noticed hoof tracks on the ground. Crouching closer, he inspected them and found a trail leading away from the camp. ‘These are Rugged Muzzle’s alright.’ The tracks were deeply imprinted into the mud, he looked up to see more tracks leading further into the jungle. ‘Why did he leave the camp? It’s too dangerous to be out here alone.’ Following the hoofprints, the pegasus quickened his pace.

He looked up and noticed a clearing through the brush. Seeing that the tracks led through the bushes, Arrow brushed the foliage aside as he looked out into the open field before him. He gasped at something lying on the ground only a few feet away, his eyes widening. “No… it can’t be.” Hastily turning around, he opened his wings and flew back through the trees, creating a racket as he flew through the branches in a hurry. ‘Why… that idiot!’ He closed his eyes and flew faster until finally breaking free from the brush. Gliding back to the ground, he ran into the middle of camp, calling out. “Rune! Roughneck! Daring Do!”

Daring heard his cry, and looking over to Rune, she nodded as well. Watching the unicorn run off, she picked up her pace, racing back to the campsite. Finally breaking away from the treeline, she saw the pegasus breathing heavily, his pupils shrunk to pinpricks as he shuddered. Rune skidded to a halt as she approached the pegasus. “Arrow, what happened, what did you find?” The unicorn quickly asked.

The maroon pegasus looked back up, shivering as he murmured. “I… I found something.”

It was a surprise to see the pegasus shiver, something Daring didn’t think he was capable of. Rune spoke up and asked. “Please, show us. What did you find?”

Arrow nodded shakily, trotting onward as he lead the group through the forest. The ponies noticed hoof prints as the stallion led them onward, seeing that they belonged to Rugged Muzzle from the deep imprint. ‘Where did you go, Rugged Muzzle?’ Rune thought, furrowing her brow. As the group continued to walk on, they came across an area of brush.

Arrow stopped and pointed towards it, looking away from the group. Seeing the pegasus with a somber expression, Daring and the other two quickly ran through the brush. Rune breathlessly screamed at the sight on the forest floor before her, Roughneck stared wordlessly, and Daring gasped. Lying on the ground was Rugged Muzzle, blood trickling from where his head would be and the wound in the middle of his chest. “Rugged… Muzzle…” Crystal whispered, her pupils shrinking as she stared at the horrifying sight.

“What… what did this?” Roughneck murmured, a frown morphing his features as he stared wide-eyed at the decapitated body.

Black Arrow walked through the brush, scanning the ground for any sign of clues. Moving a few feet adjacent to where Rugged’s body was, he noticed a large indentation in the ground. “Something skidded across the ground here.” The other three ponies turned towards Arrow as he spoke.

The maroon pegasus kneeled, looking for any other indications to what happened. He noticed more skid marks off to the side, smaller than the ones he was next to. “It seems whatever he was fighting knocked him back quite a distance.”

“But what kind of animal could do this? This isn’t the work of a pony.” Roughneck stated, looking back at the dead body of Rugged with squinted eyes.

Arrow scanned the ground as he continued his search. His eyes widened at what he saw after walking further away from the body. “Hey, guys… I think I found something.” The other ponies rushed over to his side, only to stare at the object below them. A large footprint was imprinted into the moist dirt below them. “Has anypony else ever seen prints like these before?”

“No. These footprints are way too big for something to be living in the Tenochtitlan Basin.” Rune murmured, kneeling down to get a better look at the print.

“It could be Ahuizotl’s print.” Daring pointed out. “I’ve seen his feet before, and they look like this.”

“But did he ever have claws at the end of them?” Arrow interjected, pointing to the imprint. There was an indication at the toe prints, something short but sharp extended out an inch or two. “Because a Chimera could easily have those type of feet, too.”

“But Rugged Muzzle would be more than a match for a Chimera. And didn’t we lose Ahuizotl?” Roughneck stated, looking around the group.

“Yes, but it has to be something.” Rune said, furrowing her brow.

A sudden thought came to mind as Daring looked at the footprints; she recalled Wise Heart’s words. She looked over to everypony else. “Hey… do you remember what Wise Heart said?”

“What do you mean?” Arrow inquired, raising an eyebrow at the mare.

“He warned us, saying that something came down from the sky. He said that whatever came from the object was something not from this world.”

The other ponies looked at each other, remembering the eerie warning. “But, I thought the old pony was spurting nonsense. You mean to tell us that what he was saying may actually be true?” Rune asked, raising a hoof.

Daring Do nodded. “It may be the creature that also killed all those ponies at the camp, too.” The three ponies looked to each other again, reconsidering the old stallion’s warning.

“You mean to tell us… that whatever killed those ponies, got to Rugged Muzzle?” Roughneck asked, shivering a little as his voice faltered.

Rune looked towards the body of her fallen comrade. She looked away before realizing that they had the item back at camp. Closing her eyes, she murmured. “Come on, let’s get going.”

“Wait, we're just going to leave Rugged Muzzle’s body here?” Roughneck argued.

“We need to get going. The item we have is important to the mission.” The unicorn said, not looking back at the young stallion.

“What is your problem!?” Roughneck yelled, glaring at the unicorn. Crystal flinched before turning around to see the dark grey pony snarl at her. Daring watched the two stand in a silence that seemed to last forever before the dark grey earth pony spoke again, “You expect us just to leave Rugged Muzzle here to let his body be picked on by scavengers and not even give him a proper burial!?”

“We need to get going. Right now, the mission is more important than attending to Rugged.” Crystal reasoned, furrowing her brow at the stallion.

“It’s always about the mission, isn’t it, Rune!? The mission is always more important than the needs of others. You never cared about anypony except yourself-”

“Listen here, Roughneck!” Crystal shot back, walking over to the stallion to tower over him. He didn’t flinch and stood as tall as her. Daring went to intervene, but was stopped by Black Arrow; he looked to her and shook his head. Daring reluctantly stood back, watching the two argue. “The mission is our main reason for being out here. If we waste any more time standing around, we jeopardize the mission. Now be a good little stallion and follow my orders or else I’ll drag you back to the camp myself if I have to!”

Daring Do saw the dark grey earth pony backpedal, glaring at the unicorn for a while longer. He looked back to the body of Rugged Muzzle before reluctantly walking back to the campsite, pushing the brush aside without another word. Rune looked back to see Arrow staring at her with a blank expression before doing the same.

Daring slowly walked past the mare, staring worriedly at Crystal. She finally turned away before trotting to catch up with the other two. Crystal stood alone in the clearing, looking down to the ground. She gazed back at Rugged Muzzle’s body before looking away, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. The dark orange stallion was a good teammate and had served a good amount of time as her enforcer. To see him on the ground, motionless and without his head, chilled her to the core. Crystal shook her head, throwing off any tears she had before walking back in the direction of the camp, leaving the body of her fallen comrade.



~~~



“Ahhh! Curse that Daring Do!” Ahuizotl yelled as he slammed a fist into the ground. His feline friends watched as he smashed the ground for quite some time, cleaning themselves or lying on their sides as they listened to him blabber on. “That annoying little pony keeps getting in my way! She is the bane of my existence! Every time I have gotten close to my goals, she just happens to find out and interrupts every single one! That stupid pony ruins everything!” Clenching his fists together, he shouted up at the heavens, “Curse you, Daring Do!” He had enough of the pony, enough of her interfering with his plans.

“Well, no more! No more Daring Do! That mare is going to pay!” He snorted, growling as he roared into the gray sky. Looking back over to his cats, he pointed to them and barked. “All of you! Go home! I will deal with Daring Do myself!” The cats looked to each other before getting up and running back to the temple. Looking out into the open forest, Ahuizotl chuckled before erupting into laughter. “When I find you, Daring Do, you will wish you were never born!”



~~~



Daring Do stared at the mercenaries around her, seeing nothing but frowns. The walk back to the airship had been silent so far; nopony dared to speak up, not after what happened earlier. The pegasus mare looked around her, noticing that Rune’s gaze was locked on the ground, frowning as she walked on. Black Arrow was leading the group, showing no emotion as far as she could tell. Yet, Roughneck was glaring at the unicorn with a frown.

Daring sighed, wondering how Rune could even think about leaving Rugged Muzzle’s body like that. She thought that Crystal would have listened to her instead of keeping her emotions inside. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.

Rune looked up to the others before saying. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

A loud thud resonated to their right, making the ponies jump in surprise. Dust flew up before they heard a voice. “Daring Do! You’re going to pay for interfering with my plans!” Ahuizotl stood, roaring at the ponies before him.

“I thought we lost this guy!” Rune yelled, staring at the adventurer. Daring shrugged, smiling sheepishly. The creature charged them, creating a racket as he pushed past both trees and brush alike to get to the group. “Quick, we need to get back to the airship and fast!” Rune quickly ran off, the other three ponies following suite.

“You’re not going to get away from me this time!” Ahuizotl yelled as he ran after the ponies.

Daring looked behind her and saw that her nemesis wasn’t too far behind. “Uh, I don’t want to worry everypony, but Ahuizotl is catching up!”

Rune activated her magic, surrounding the group in a pale blue aura before teleporting. Just as Ahuizotl jumped to grab Daring, she vanished as he hit the ground, skidding on his chest and stomach. Growling in rage, he kept running straight, hoping to find them further ahead.

The group reappeared in a pale blue flash of light in a clearing, the airship visible in the distance. Daring shook her head and saw Rune rub hers a little before ordering, “Everypony, head to the ship right now!”

As the group closed in, they noticed movement on the deck of the ship. However, Black Arrow skidded to a stop and leaped into the bushes. Before Daring or the others could ask what he was doing, he urgently whispered, “Get down!”

They heeded his warning and joined him in the cover of the foliage. Daring Do and Rune crawled up to where the sniper was lying and peered out at the ship. From the rear, Roughneck asked, “What is it? What’s going on?”

Rune shushed him before looking forward again. Black Arrow pointed with his hoof at the ponies aboard the airship and whispered, “Look.”

Daring squinted at the figures and noticed that what she thought were the pilots that worked for Fancy Pants were wearing body armor and masks to conceal their identities. On the shoulder guards of the ponies’ armor was a bold, yellow ‘N’.

“Recognize the insignia?” Black Arrow asked.

Daring Do nodded and responded. “Neighland Industries.”

“Huh?” A confused Roughneck asked from the back.

“They’re the ponies we saw skinned and strung up yesterday.” Daring explained, casting a glance over her shoulder at the gray earth pony. “The company that Caballeron was supposed to meet and deliver the package to.”

As they watched, they noticed some of the Neighland ponies dragging something from the airship. It looked like the bodies of the pilots.

“We need that ship.” Rune resolutely stated. “It’s our only way out of the basin.”

“Yeah, so I say we rush them and take back the ship!” Roughneck declared.

“Not a good idea, mate.” Rejected the maroon stallion. “Take a closer look.” Upon further inspection, they could see that there were over a dozen ponies, all appeared to be armed. Most of them were carrying crossbows, but they looked more advanced than Black Arrow’s. Along with the archers, there were also large earth pony stallions, each of them a match for Rugged Muzzle’s physique, along with a team of unicorns, their horns glowing with magic as they rummaged the ship’s contents in search of something.

“It’s not here, sir.” They heard one of the masked unicorns report to another pony whose image was obscured in the shadows of the jungle’s canopy.

“Where is it?” A gruff, yet sophisticated voice asked a kneeling pony before him. Daring could make out that it was one of the pilots.

“I-I swear I don’t know!” The cowering pilot stammered.

“My team was supposed to receive something important from my contact yesterday, but they failed to report on time, and when I decided to handle the matter personally, what do I find?” He asked rhetorically. “My ponies were killed, the contact as well, and the package was missing. Now tell me, where do you suppose it could be?”

“I keep telling you, we don’t have it!” The desperate pony shouted. A nearby archer struck his face with the butt of his crossbow, causing the pilot to whimper in pain. Enraged, Daring was about burst out of her hiding spot and charge the assailants, but she felt a hoof pinning hers down. She looked over and saw Black Arrow shaking his head. Reluctantly, she laid back down on the grass and continued to watch, glaring at the pony interrogating the pilot.

“With my ponies and my recently departed friend, Dr. Caballeron, dead and the package gone, I decided to have a look around the area and, to my surprise, I find an airship and crew belonging to a rival company of mine. I assumed that if I was here, then perhaps Fancy Pants sent ponies here for the same thing. Dr. Caballeron was notorious for double crossing ponies in order to obtain a better offer. So, how much was Fancy Pants offering?”

“Please… I don’t know what you’re talking about!” The pilot sobbed as the archer placed the crossbow against the side of his head. The stallion in the shadows remained silent as the pony before him continued to beg. Seeing that he wasn’t going to get any more information from his captive, he looked to the archer with a curt nod and walked away. Daring could hear multiple shots from the crossbow, indicating it was an advanced automatic weapon, and saw the pilot’s body collapse to the ground, multiple bolts sticking out of the side of his head. Daring looked away, cursing the Neighland ponies under her breath.

A crashing noise resonated from behind them, not too far away. Daring looked back and sighed. “I think Ahuizotl has caught up with us.” She murmured, watching for signs of her nemesis.

“I think it’s time we ditched this scene. Come on, everypony, we need to get out of here.” Crystal ordered. The group quickly got up and took off, leaving the ship behind and losing Ahuizotl. As they left, they heard the shouting of somepony, accompanied by the noise of crossbow bolts and magic beams landing around them. The ponies ran for sometime, the noise of bolts and magic hitting the trees and ground slowly grew quiet as they retreated. They kept running, not stopping until they were sure that nopony was following them. Breathing heavily, the group settled down and took out their pouches filled with water, gulping greedily. The light gold pegasus watched as Rune got back up before saying. “Alright, so the airship is unreachable at this point, thanks to those Neighland ponies.”

“How did they find our airship, though? It was well hidden.” Black Arrow pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“No clue. But seeing how well-armed they were, I’d say our best bet is waiting until tonight before we attack.” Waving the maroon pegasus over, the two walked away from Roughneck and Daring, leaving them alone.

Roughneck looked at the ground, frowning. Daring looked his way with a frown of her own, wanting to comfort the poor stallion. He looked back up to her and murmured. “Hey, Daring… I need to tell you something.”

“What’s up? I mean, we did just get chased off by a bunch of ponies and Ahuizotl. What do you need to talk about?” Daring murmured, breathing heavily.

“I… we need to get out of here.” Roughneck simply said.

“Why? We need to stick together with the others.” Daring pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“But… Crystal. She’s going to betray you... and kill you.”

“What?” Daring murmured, her eyes widening at this revelation. She then scowled and looked at the ground. ‘Figures. I start to trust somepony and they try to stab me in the back.’


“It was the client’s orders… when we got the mission, Rune told us that we were to kill you when we got the target.” The grey pony said, pulling the case out from his saddlebag.

“How did you get that?” The pegasus inquired, looking down at the item.

“I stole it from Rune.” Roughneck said as he let Daring take a hold of it. “This was all a setup. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna actually wanted this to be destroyed, but our client said otherwise.”

“So the princesses actually want this item to be destroyed? Why?”

“I don’t have a clue. Rune never told us what was inside this thing.” He looked at the case intently. Daring looked at it again, moving the case around. “I know you probably don’t trust me after what I’ve said, but I don’t want to kill you.” Roughneck reassured, frowning sadly.

Daring looked at the stallion, her brow furrowing. True, she didn’t really trust most ponies, and after hearing this she wasn’t so sure. But he told her about his past and seeing him wanting to help her, she decided to trust him for now. Looking back to the case, she opened it up and took the tube out. The soft, black silk covering it was still over it, providing ample protection. “Whatever this is, they wanted to make sure it didn’t break.” Taking the silk off, she gasped at the sight before her.

Held inside the glass case was a small creature of some kind. It looked to be covered in bits of blood, while the rest of it was a pale, fleshy color. A long tail extended out of its back with a set of spindly arms and legs opposite that. But its head was elongated, stretching out until it flattened out to a crest, the tip of it a black color. The most unsettling feature was its lack of eyes. “What… what is this thing?”

“Is th-that thing alive?” Roughneck stuttered, staring wide eyed at the creature held within the case.

Daring already has an idea of what it is. Remembering what Fancy Pants told her. ‘But that is nothing compared to what happened to Rarity. This horrible creature was apparently like an overgrown parasite. Very much like the spider wasp, it lays its young in its victims’ chests, where they incubate until they burst their way out. Poor Rarity had one of those things growing inside her. But she was very fortunate. They were able to rescue her from the monster’s lair in time and remove the creature’s spawn before it was too late.’

“This…” Daring started to say. “This is the creature that attacked Ponyville. And we’ve been carrying it this whole time.”

“You’re actually talking about the monster that killed all those ponies?” Roughneck murmured, staring wide-eyed at the nightmare frozen in suspended animation inside the case.

Daring nodded as she put the silk over it again, placing it securely back into the case before closing it. Stowing it in her saddlebag, she said. “Come on, Roughneck. We need to get this to Canterlot and fast.” He nodded, quickly running along side her as they ran off.



~~~



“So that about sums up the plan.” Black Arrow murmured, looking up at Rune. “Think this should be over pretty quickly.”

“Don’t underestimate those ponies. They were able to find our airship and commandeer it. I don’t think they’ll be letting us take it back so easily.” Rune pointed out, looking down at the ground. The plan was well-thought-out, it was just a matter of luck if they were able to pull it off without a hitch.

“Hey, Rune. You alright?” Arrow asked, seeing the unicorn frowning sadly.

She looked up at him, and murmured. “I… I don’t know about whether we should kill Daring Do or not. I mean… after what happened to Rugged Muzzle and a conversation I overheard with Daring and Roughneck… I don’t know if I can go through with it.”

Arrow looked at her with his normal emotionless expression, before he asked. “I can see why you don’t want to. She has grown on everypony, and it seems that even you have lightened up a bit more than usual. The question is… do you want to go through with it?”

Crystal looked away, frowning as she thought of what to do. After all the things Daring said, after what she went through, even telling her about her own past. ‘I… I can’t… I can’t do it.’ She looked back over to Arrow and whispered. “No.”

“Then how about we tell her?” Rune went to interrupt him, but he waved her off and said. “I know that she won’t react all too well, but is it better to keep it a secret any longer?”

Crystal stared for a moment longer, before shaking her head. “No… she needs to know.” The unicorn turned around and trotted back to the other two, not seeing the smile spread across Arrow’s features. He caught up and walked with her. When they got back to the spot where they left the other two, they were nowhere to be found. “Where’s Daring and Roughneck?” Rune murmured, looking around the area.

“They should be here.” Arrow reassured, scanning the area, there seemed to be no trace of the two ponies. Moving towards the area adjacent to them, he spotted a set of hoofprints and waved her over. “They seemed to be in a hurry.”

“But for what reason?” Rune asked. She felt around in her saddlebag, feeling something missing. Taking it off, she went through both sides of the saddlebag, frantically throwing things out. “It’s not here!”

“What? What’s the problem?” Arrow inquired, rushing to her side.

“The case, it’s not in my saddlebag!” Crystal stood up, grabbing her head and shaking it. “No. It was in there the last time I checked.” Looking over to the direction of the hoofprints, she thought about why they left and suddenly thought of the case. ‘The case… the creature. It’s with them.’ Bolting off in the direction of the hoofprints, she left Black Arrow behind.

The maroon pegasus caught up with her and asked. “What? Why did you take off like that?”

“Daring Do and Roughneck. They have the case.” Rune said, cursing them silently. ‘Why? We don’t have the airship and being alone is the worst idea possible right now.’

Arrow realized the situation and nodded. Keeping up with the mare as they hurried after the two ponies.



~~~



Ahuizotl headed back to the last spot he had encountered Dr. Caballeron. After losing the group of ponies and seeing all of those other ponies guarding the ship, he knew that his old business partner was around here somewhere. “When I find that annoying pony. I’m going to make him tell me everything he knows about that creature.”

Having the ponies escape his grasp once again, he was infuriated. He was so close to getting Daring Do, but to have her disappear as soon as he almost had her made him growl at the memory. Walking into the opening where he caught Dr. Caballeron, it didn’t take long to locate him, or where he laid on the ground. His eyes widened, seeing his old business partner, dead on the ground without his head. Ahuizotl snorted, seeing that there was no use in searching the pony.

He looked around, seeing that his other comrades were dead as well, all killed by whatever got Caballeron. “I guess there is no other option. I’m going to find Daring Do, and make her tell me what that creature is.”



~~~



“Come on, Roughneck, we need to keep going.” Daring said, running alongside Roughneck. The stallion was slowing down a little, but kept at it. The sky began to darken slightly as they continued to run onwards. The two slowed down as they trotted on, the trees slowly swaying in the wind around them.

Daring swiveled her ears as she heard the faint sound of a waterfall nearby. “I know you're tired, but we need to keep moving.”

“I can see… why you run away from ponies so much.” Roughneck breathed heavily, sitting down as he caught his breath. They had been running for some time, and had gotten far from where Crystal Rune and Black Arrow were. “How far do you think we’ve gone?”

“I don’t know, but so long as we keep moving along, I think we’ll be fine.” A clicking sound resonated at Daring’s right ear. She turned to see what caused the noise, only to see a pony walking towards her with a crossbow drawn.

More ponies surrounded the two, all pointing crossbows at them as Daring looked around. Roughneck stumbled back, quickly pulling both daggers out as he got ready to fight the unknown ponies. The two ponies in the center stood back to back, as they watched the group warily.

One of the mysterious ponies ordered, readying the crossbow in his hooves. “Get down on the ground!” Daring noticed that they were the same ponies from the airship.

Another mare yelled, pointing at Roughneck. “Drop those weapons!” The dark grey earth pony reluctantly dropped them to the ground. The unknown ponies at the front stepped aside and another mysterious pony walked towards them. As the pony came into view, Daring saw that it was a stallion with graying brown hair around his polished horn. His eyes were green, his coat a darker yellow. Unlike the others, he simply wore a dark overcoat. The pony stopped a few feet in front of them, smirking as he said. “Why, hello there, Daring Do, it’s nice to meet the famous adventurer.” It was the same gruff voice from before. Daring stood still, glaring at the pony as he stood a few feet from them.

Pain erupted from the back of the adventurer’s head and she fell to the ground. She gritted her teeth as she held her head, figuring that one of the guards must of hit her with the butt of a crossbow. She heard another thud and she saw Roughneck land beside her, cursing as he gripped the back of his head.

“Who the fu-” Roughneck was about to ask before a hoof to the face silenced him. Daring looked up to the older unicorn before her and saw that his cutie mark was a white chess piece; a bishop.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Bishop Neighland, and you have something that belongs to me.”
> Chapter IX: Preparation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So you’re Neighland!” Daring shouted as she glared at the pony standing a few feet away from her.

“Why, yes. And you, of course, are the famous Daring Do from the popular stories. I can say I knew that you did exist, but never would have I imagined I would have the privilege to meet face to face with such an extraordinary pony.” Neighland smirked. He looked over to one of the masked ponies and ordered, “Search that saddlebag, they might be carrying what we are after.”

The pony saluted before making his way over to bag set on the ground. Daring struggled as the pony searched the bag on top of her back. She tried to rise up on her hooves, only to feel another sharp pain to the back of her head. Yelping in pain, she clutched the back of her head, closing her eyes for a brief moment. Opening her eyes again, a shadow flashed by, followed by a hoof to her face.

“Hey!” Roughneck yelled, but then gasped as a leg made contact with his stomach, causing him to grab his barrel and cough up blood. A hoof moved within his line of sight followed by a sharp sting to the side of his head.

Neighland shook his head at the sight before turning to face the pony searching the saddlebag. The stallion retrieved the briefcase from the bag before standing to walk over to give it to Neighland. Taking it from the hooves of the pony, he nodded his thanks and looked to the two ponies on the ground.

“It seems you two brought me exactly what I wanted. I would thank you both for your help, but I have more pressing matters to attend to.” Handing it off to a pony at his right, he leaned closer to whisper his instructions, “Take this to the facility.”

Daring watched the mare holding the briefcase nod to Neighland before waving some of the masked ponies over. The mare disappeared into the thicket of brush, rustling the branches as she left. “No!” The adventurer yelled out. A clicking noise resonated from the right side of her head as she felt the tip of a crossbow bolt prod the side of her face. Sitting still, she swiveled her eyes, seeing the masked pony behind the crossbow.

One of the ponies moved next to Neighland. “Sir, what shall we do with them?” The masked stallion asked.

The business pony looked over to the two captives for a brief moment before turning back to the stallion. “Do what you will with them.” He gave a curt nod to the ponies behind her. A sudden pain shot up her body as she felt a hoof hit the side of her face.

“Leave her alone!” Roughneck yelled as he sprung up from the ground, punching one of the Neighland ponies. One of the masked thugs retaliated by hitting him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him as he fell back to the ground. Roughneck kneeled, gasping for air before the butt of a crossbow made contact with his head, three other guards charged in to pummel him further as he slumped in a heap.

“Now if you two will excuse me, I must depart for a meeting back at Neighland Industries. The company Yupony and I will be working out a deal on a merger.” With those words, Neighland disappeared through a group of the masked guards, leaving the brutal scene.

Daring shielded herself with her forelegs, feeling hooves hit her stomach and sides. Every hit she took seared with pain, making her cry out. She felt herself being heaved from ground before roughly being sat back on her haunches. She looked up at a uniformed stallion in front of her and swung a hoof at him, striking his face. He backed off, swearing in pain, but before she could swing at him again, her forelegs were pulled back by another two guards. “Well, isn’t this precious. Mare thinks she stands a chance.” One of the guards joked.

“Oooh, a feisty one.” The guard she struck cruelly grinned, rubbing his sore jaw. He spat out a tooth she had knocked loose and stared at it as it laid on the grass in a mixture of blood and spit. He nodded as he leered over her again. Leaning close, he whispered, “That’ll cost ya, and I think I know how you can make up for it.” He smiled before pushing his lips into hers. The mare gasped, but desperately struggled against the masked pony. A warm and slimy appendage wormed its way into her mouth, her eyes widening in disgust as she fought back, her screams of anger muffled by the stallion’s mouth. Thinking fast, she bit down with all her force, nearly gagging on the warm, viscous liquid that poured into her mouth.

The stallion screamed in pain, struggling to free his tongue. She let go as his friends helped to pull him back, causing them to fall into a heap on the ground. Another of the masked ponies watching the scene rushed over, but as she heard his hoofsteps coming from her right, she brought her right hind leg back and kicked him in the groin. With a howl of pain, the stallion dropped to the jungle floor, holding his wounded pride as he rolled about on the ground. Running to Roughneck’s side, she punched one of the assaulting guards, knocking him aside and freeing Roughneck to strike one of the guards as he finally got to his hooves.

Before they could make a break for the trees, Daring felt another hoof hit her and saw Roughneck go down as well. More hooves gripped her as she felt something around her forelegs, tying them together. Looking around, she gasped as she saw Roughneck, bruised with blood slowly trickling out of his mouth. The stallion chuckled lightly, murmuring weakly, “Is… th-that all you got?” A hoof greeted his jaw with a spurt of blood.

“Oooh, you’re gonna pay for that.” Threatened the stallion that she bit. He spat blood at her hooves before looking behind her, smirking at what he saw. “Tie them up to that.”

Daring growled, looking at the other ponies with a scowl of pure hatred. She felt the ground slide underneath her legs. Looking back, a pony was dragging her to a fallen tree. The light gold pegasus turned to see Roughneck dragged as well, drooping over slightly.

The sound of water grew ever closer as it echoed behind her. Though she couldn’t see it, she knew that a river must be behind her. Fumbling with the rope tied around her hooves, she tried to loosen the bindings. She watched as a couple more ponies moved in front of her, holding more rope. She felt the pony dragging her push her against the fallen tree as the other two handed the rope off to one of her captors. Daring watched as they circled them three times before she felt the rope tighten around her forelegs and chest. She tried to break free, but the ropes were too tight.

“Push them in!” One of the stallions shouted. Everything turned upside down as she and Roughneck plunged into the cold river, the chilling waters stinging their cuts and bruises as they were washed along.

The log burst from the water, the mare gasping for air as the log finally settled. Hearing the stallion coughing from the other side of the log, she asked, “Hey… are you okay?”

“Yeah…” Roughneck weakly said between coughs.

“Well… that could have gone better…”

“I guess… we did just get pummeled there.” The gray earth pony noted, shivering as the log bobbed in the freezing river.

“Hey… at least we aren’t in the clutches of those guys anymore.” Grunting with effort, she struggled with the rope, gasping for breath in her already weakened state. “I don’t know about you or anypony else… but I think I’m getting all funned out.”

“You think this is fun?” Roughneck furrowed his brow.

“Oh, sure... being beaten half-to-death and thrown into a river is a hoot.” Daring rolled her eyes.

A long pause quieted the conversation before Roughneck murmured. “Oh no…”

“What… what’s the matter?” Daring swiveled her ears, only to hear the sound of roaring water. Sighing, she closed her eyes before opening them with a deadpanned expression as she rhetorically asked, “Don’t tell me… we’re about to go over a waterfall… right?”

“Yep.”

“And I’m guessing there are sharp rocks at the bottom?”

“Umm… most likely.”

A faint smile crept along her features, reopening a few of the cuts of her muzzle. Even with the pummeling she received from those Neighland guards, she couldn’t help but chuckle a little from the roaring falls behind them, looming ever closer. “...Bring it on.”

Her world once again spun around her as the log crested the waterfall. The mare yelling in excitement as they went over. “Booyahahaha!”

The log disappeared into the misty river below, the roaring of the falls engulfed them. Underneath the water, Daring had finally broken free from her bindings and smiled at her success. She watched the log turn over, but Roughneck was nowhere to be found. Her eyes widened as she scanned the dark depths of the water, desperately trying to find where the stallion disappeared to.

Bubbles escaped from her mouth as she gasped, seeing the young earth pony floating motionlessly in the water. Swimming towards Roughneck, she wrapped a hoof around his barrel and swam up to the surface. She broke through, gasping for air as she pushed the dark gray pony onto the muddy shore above them.

The light gold mare pushed herself up, flopping onto her back. She breathed heavily, trying to regain the air in her lungs that she lost. Looking over to Roughneck, she saw the stallion’s motionless body. Hurrying over to him, she yelled, “Roughneck! Don’t you dare do this to me!” Putting her hooves on his chest, Daring pushed into him, trying to pump his heart. “Come on, breath, Roughneck… breath!”

Leaning over his muzzle, she pressed her lips to his, breathing into his mouth. She went back to his chest and pushed into him again, her breathing ragged as panicked tears threatened to escape her eyes. “No… no!” She closed her eyes and shouted in frustration. She pressed her mouth against his once more and exhaled.

She felt her body lower as the stallion moved a hoof over the back of her neck to pull her closer until she felt their lips meet once more. She gasped in surprise, pushing up slightly until she broke away from him. As she sat up, she saw him chuckling, coughing up water between each laugh.

Moving her foreleg from her side, she punched his face, absolutely livid. The stallion yelped in surprise, rubbing the area she hit. “Ow! What the heck was that for?” Roughneck complained.

“That was for scaring me.” Moving back down, she kissed him, her eyes closing and her face blushing a little. It was a moment before she broke away again, whispering gently this time. “And that… was for you.”

Roughneck smiled before pulling the mare close and hugging her. Daring didn’t hesitate and gladly accepted his gentle embrace. Her limbs wobbled as what little strength she had left her. She fell and rolled to his side. Both of them panted, exhausted from the ordeal. Daring tried to move, but her legs felt as though they were made of lead. She then decided to give up on standing for the time being. As long as Neighland’s grunts thought they were dead, they wouldn’t come after them. For now, they were safe.

Just as she closed her eyes and sighed in relief, she gasped in surprise as a sudden pressure hit her chest before she was lifted off the ground. Daring tried to fight back, but couldn’t make out what held her in its grasp. Her eyes widened at the blurry figure that loomed over her with an iron-like grip. A wave of blue electricity danced across the towering creature, her mouth agape as she stared.

There, standing in front of her, the creature’s silver mask shined in the frail light of the darkening gray sky. It’s body appeared to be a pale yellow at the chest area with the rest being a mottled dark brown and black. A tight black mesh covered its muscular body and it wore plated armor on its left breast, thighs, and shoulders. On its back, a mechanical turret was aimed at her over its left shoulder. Both of its forearms were adorned with twin-bladed gauntlets. Across its chest was a bandolier of skulls, most from creatures that she had never seen in any of her many adventures. However, a few of them did resemble a pony’s skull, and her eyes stopped as she looked at the largest one, still covered with a thin sheen of blood. ‘This must be what had killed and skinned those ponies the other day.’

“Let her go!” Roughneck yelled as he tried to get up, but flopped back down in the mud when his legs failed him. The monster looked to the pony sluggishly squirming at its feet and kicked it away with an annoyed snarl, sending the dark grey earth stallion tumbling along the ground.

“Roughneck!” Daring yelled as she reached a hoof towards him. The creature turned to face the mare in its grasp and slammed her into a nearby tree, pressing her against the bark as she struggled in its grasp. It tilted its head, clicking as it looked over the mare. It switched its mask’s vision to x-ray as it looked into her saddlebag. Looking back to the stallion on the ground, it did the same and did not see what it was after in his saddlebag either; there was no case, and no Serpent to be found. It roared in anger and tossed her aside, throwing her against Roughneck with a thud. It could have easily killed them, but there would be no sport in it. They were too weak to defend themselves or to even stand. Besides, they didn’t have what it was looking for anymore. Pressing a button on its left gauntlet, it disappeared in a ripple of shimmering light and leaped to the trees above the ponies. Daring watched the leaves rustle as the creature crashed from tree to tree as it continued its search.

Daring groaned in pain as Roughneck put a hoof on her, “Are you okay?”

“Ye-yeah… I’m fine.” She looked up, staring in the direction the creature took off in. ‘That… was too close.’ Groaning in pain, she tried to stand, but fell back to the ground.

“Don’t try to move… we both need to rest…” Roughneck panted, nuzzling the mare gently.

She looked back and nodded weakly, nuzzling the stallion. She laid down on the ground, staring up at the trees. The world seemed to spin around her, the trees above her swirling in her vision. Her eyes flickered and started to droop as her sight dimmed. In her fatigue, time lost all meaning and she barely noticed the sky darkening as the sun started to set. Her eyes continued to grow heavy and despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stay awake.

When she woke back up, she discovered that the sky had grown darker. What seemed to be only moments had actually been hours. The clouds above them had finally floated away, revealing Luna’s moon glowing in the night sky. She realized that she must had fallen asleep, a risky thing to do in the jungle. An animal could have come upon them and ate them or they could have been discovered by Neighland’s crew, Ahuizotl, or Rune and Black Arrow. She looked over to Roughneck and saw that he was snoring. She tried to reach over to wake him up, but her body screamed in protest. She moaned as she could feel all the places Neighland’s thugs had beat her throb in pain. Her eyes still felt heavy with sleep, but she couldn’t black out again, not without somepony keeping watch.

Her eyes widened as she heard the bushes a few feet from them rustle. Trying to stand up, she flopped back to the ground, gasping as she hit a bruise on her side. Looking up, she watched as the foliage was brushed aside. She glared as she saw Crystal Rune and Black Arrow walking out from the treeline.

The dark green unicorn moved over to them, standing over the two exhausted ponies. The light gold pegasus knew she and Roughneck were done for. Tired and badly beaten, she was about to say something before feeling a pressure wrap around them. She breathed silently, her eyes widening in surprise as she found herself in Rune’s oddly warm embrace. It took her a moment to realize that the unicorn was hugging her.

“I’m so glad you guys are okay.” Rune exclaimed before lifting herself up, still keeping contact with their shoulders. She looked over to Roughneck and scolded. “Don’t you ever do something like this ever again! You two should count yourselves lucky for escaping with only bruises and cuts.” She looked back over to Black Arrow and nodded. The maroon pegasus quickly trotted over to Roughneck and helped him up, supporting the gray pony on his shoulder before walking back into the forest.

Daring looked up to see Crystal stare down at her, before she murmured. “Roughneck told you about my plan, didn’t he? Is that why you two took off?” The bruised mare nodded, her frown still apparent. The dark green unicorn moved a hoof over to Daring, “I thought about it… and discussed it with Black Arrow.” Lifting the mare up, she let her lean on her shoulder and continued. “I just couldn’t do it. I don’t care how much I was being paid. Besides, I couldn’t leave a friend out here. Not after what we’ve been through.”

Daring looked in awe. Was this the same pony she had met before? She was different, her smile more apparent on her features. “I’m sorry… but who are you and what have you done with Crystal Rune? Because the last time I checked, she barely ever smiled. Are you changeling or something?”

Crystal giggled a little, making Daring raise an eyebrow. “I’m not a changeling. I am certainly the same mare I was before. I’ve just… improved my outlook on everypony else, that’s all.”

The adventurer had seen quite a few interesting moments in the life she lived, but this sure did surprise her. A smile formed on her lips as she looked to the mare on her right. Slowly, Rune led Daring back into the treeline, the group disappearing into the thicket.

Some time had passed before the group moved into an open clearing. Black Arrow and Crystal gently laid the two injured ponies on the ground. Arrow looked around and noticed a few branches lying around. Gathering them up, he set them in a pile before nodding over to Rune. The unicorn nodded back and lit her magic, sending a small ball of flames to the pile of wood. It wouldn’t last for long, but she knew it would at least keep them warm.

Crystal Rune opened her saddlebag with her magic still active, pulling out a medikit. Opening the case, she pulled out a small bottle, clear liquid sloshed inside as she took the cap off. Taking a small rag out, she poured the liquid onto the cloth and then moved over to Roughneck to press it onto his jaw. The stallion recoiled in pain, but stood firm, groaning as the liquid stung his wounds. After looking over the stallion, she poured more of the liquid on the cloth and went over to Daring. Pressing it over her foreleg, the light gold pegasus gasped, closing her eyes as the alcohol seeped into her bruises and cuts.

“How did you two end up like this?” Rune asked, looking down at the bruises the mare had.

“It was a pony named Neighland.” She saw Rune look up, her eyes drooping a little. “He and his thugs pummeled us.”

“I would say beaten about half-to-death would be more like it.” Roughneck piped up, looking over to Rune.

Crystal noticed a faint red mark, seeing dried blood seeping from Daring lips. “What happened there?” The dark green unicorn asked.

The light gold pegasus looked away, a frown forming on her features. “One of those… goons, tried to… I guess you can say he tried to get fresh with me.” She smirked at the memory of biting his tongue. “I made sure to leave him something to remember me by.”

The unicorn smiled, before dressing her other wounds. “Did anything else happen? Because I can guess they tossed you two into the river, considering how wet your clothes are.”

Daring frowned, remembering the creature that had almost killed her. “We… Roughneck and I found out what killed Rugged Muzzle.”

Rune stopped dressing her bruises and stared at the adventurer. Daring looked up and continued, “It was… it was pretty tall, I’d say it matched the height of a minotaur, yet there wasn’t any fur on it. It wore a mask and it seemed to be carrying these weird looking devices. It was looking for something… the case! Neighland has the case!”

“What!?” Rune yelled, standing up in surprise. Crystal looked away, cursing under her breath. “Well that complicates matters even more. Where did he go?”

“Neighland said he was off back to his headquarters somewhere else. He gave the case to another one of his goons. He said something about a facility.” Daring answered, looking up at the Rune.

Turning to Black Arrow, Rune asked. “Do you think we can track down where the ponies were headed?” He nodded. “Good, we’re going to find that case and when we do…”

“When we do, are you going to destroy it?” Daring inquired, raising an eyebrow as she waited for the mare to answer her. Rune looked away but Daring continued, “You know what’s inside that case. If anypony get’s their hooves on that thing, it means big trouble for the rest of the world. Do you realize what that monster did to Ponyville, much less what it did to the Element Bearers? It almost killed three of them, and it killed about thirty-two ponies in a three-day period. I don’t think that Equestria would last a month with those things running around, less than a year for the other nations.”

The mission had always been important, Rune knew that better than anypony, but what Daring said was right. If she took it to the client who wanted it alive, she didn’t know what they would do with such a creature. Closing her eyes, she thought for a moment before opening them again. Turning to face Daring, she said, “I do realize how dangerous the creature is, and I do know how much the client wanted it for… but you’re right.” Smiling, she added, “The creature must be destroyed. In the wrong hooves, it could be used to do terrible things.”

Daring nodded, smiling as the unicorn listened to reason. Crystal looked through her saddlebags before handing something back to Roughneck. He looked into her hooves and smiled as he saw his two daggers. “Thought you might need these.” Rune murmured, watching the stallion take them from her hooves before settling them back in their respective sheaths.

“Thanks, Crystal. I really owe yah on this one.” Roughneck smiled.

“Don’t mention it.” Crystal said before smiling back at the stallion.

“You know, I’ve never seen you this nice to anypony else before.” The gray earth pony teased, chuckling slightly.

“Well… Daring reminded me of something pretty important, something that I once thought was a lost cause.” Rune said, resting a hoof on his shoulder. She looked back to the others, “Alright, everypony. Neighland and his thugs have stolen the creature from us. We’re going to get it back.”

“And destroy it.” Daring added, looking to the others. “I think everypony here is familiar with what happened over in Ponyville.” A silence wrapped the ponies as they thought back to the day it made the headlines.

“Our new plan is to retrieve the creature from said facility that may be hiding somewhere in the Tenochtitlan Basin. When we do retrieve it, we shall destroy it. No amount of bits is worth over the lives of other ponies.” The others nodded in agreement. With their plan set, Rune moved over to the two injured ponies, “You two need to rest. Judging by the light of the moon, I’d say its close to midnight.” Daring tried to interrupt but the unicorn waved her off. “I know how important acquiring the creature is, but we won’t be able to pull it off with you two in this condition.”

Daring reluctantly nodded, Rune pulled a blanket out from her saddlebag, laying it over the mare. The dark unicorn smiled before pulling another out for Roughneck. The light gold pegasus smiled, happy to see that Crystal really had opened up. Turning on her side, she closed her eyes and felt the weariness of sleep take hold, locking her in the darkness of her mind.
> Chapter X: Nemesis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clouds slowly moved overhead as drops of rain pattered against the trees and foliage of the Tenochtitlan Basin. Daring’s eyes fluttered as she slowly opened them, moving a hoof to her muzzle to wipe away the cold beads of water as they poured onto her from the dark, gray sky. Her muscles ached in protest as she stood, groaning from the pain of her cuts and bruises. She looked around the makeshift campsite and noticed Crystal Rune talking to Black Arrow.

Looking to her side, she saw Roughneck still asleep, snoring deeply as he laid on his side. Shaking her head, she made her way to the dark green unicorn while looking up to the dark and dreary early morning. ‘Well, so much for a dry morning.’ She looked back to see Rune had turned around and was walking towards her. Stopping a few feet away from where Rune stood, she inquired, “Anything happen while me and Roughneck were out?”

Crystal shook her head. “Nothing eventful. Everything has been pretty quiet.” The dark green unicorn looked over Daring’s cuts and bruises and murmured. “How you holding up?”

Daring looked down to her sides with a grimace, but she waved off her concern. “I’m fine. Nothing that I can’t handle.” Rune nodded and walked over to Roughneck, nudging his shoulder with a hoof. The dark grey stallion awoke with a grunt before getting to his hooves. He groaned in pain, but shook himself off.

“What a cold morning this is.” He stated, looking around the small open area before facing Crystal. “So, find any lead on where our case is at?”

“Black Arrow came back and said he found a trail next to a river. Sounds like the area you and those Neighland ponies were at.” The unicorn confirmed, waving the maroon pegasus over.

“Did you find anything else?” Daring inquired, turning to face him.

“Only the tracks they left behind.” The stallion chuckled before adding. “For such a professional company, they sure do leave quite the set of tracks behind.”

“Alright, everypony.” Rune announced, walking to the front of the group. “We need to get over to the facility these Neighland ponies were talking about. We don’t have any idea what they intend for the monster we were carrying around, but judging by how anxious they were to get their hooves on it, I’d say they don’t have any good intentions on how they're going to use the creature.”

“And when we do find this facility, we’ll break in, locate the creature, and kill it.” Black Arrow added with a nod before continuing, “We’ll also have to consider using stealth. Those Neighland Ponies don’t seem to screw around when it comes to the force of guards they have. Last time we saw them, they were carrying crossbows more advanced than mine and were back up by unicorns and ponies who look like they’ve been hitting the gym way too hard.”

“Did you ever find the facility?” Roughneck asked this time, moving to Daring Do’s side.

“No. I found the trail and made my way back. After all, we do have another creature on the loose out there, and it seems to be more frightening and quiet than Ahuizotl could ever be.” Arrow grimaced, looking around the tree line cautiously for any sign of movement.

“Well then, let’s get a move on. If we want to keep the element of surprise, we need to make it there while its still dark out.” Crystal said, trotting through the brush. The others following suite.

Walking through the forest, the eerie silence followed by the pattering of the rain as it got heavier unsettled the group. Each pony looking at the treetops above, wondering whether the creature that ambushed Daring Do and Roughneck was following them. After the short trek, Arrow led them to the Neighland ponies’ trail. “See, what did I say? These blokes are just a messy bunch. Funny how they have all this technology, yet the one thing they don’t think about is covering up their trail.” The pegasus chuckled afterwards, moving farther ahead.

Crystal Rune followed close behind as Daring and Roughneck scanned the area. The memory of yesterday’s brutal struggle played back in their minds. “I can’t wait to get back at those guys.” Roughneck murmured, his brow furrowing as he slowly took in the scenery of the area.

“You and me both.” Daring called over her shoulder, glaring as she shuddered with the ghostly remnant of iron in her muzzle.‘When I find those ponies… they’re going to regret what they tried to do.'

The ponies left the desolate area and followed the trail left behind by the Neighland ponies. The walk seemed to go on and on as the group made their way through the jungle. The misty droplets intensified into a downpour as the ponies continued their trek through the moist forest. The ponies’ quick and steady pace was now reduced to an agonizingly slow walk as the forest floor’s grass and dirt covered surface turned into slippery mud.

“How long does this trail go on for? It feels like it’s been hours!” Roughneck piped up, slipping in the mud and falling on his side. Cursing silently, he got back up and continued on.

“Don’t gripe, Roughneck. This trail can’t go on forever.” Black Arrow reassured, pushing through the thick foliage as the group moved on.

Daring looked up into the sky, only to notice a faint light shining in the stormy sky that lit the clouds above the treeline. “Hey, look up.” The light gold pegasus announced as she pointed upwards, drawing the others’ attention to monster. “I’d like to guess that would be the guys we’re looking for.”

“Doesn’t look too far off. What do you think, Arrow?” Rune looked over to her right as she spoke to the maroon pegasus.

“I’d guess about at least a quarter of a mile.” Black Arrow suggested.

The mercenaries looked to one another, nodding before they continued on with a new sense of vigor as they closed in on their target. Minutes later, they came to a hilltop, the group looking around before they all spotted the object at the same time. Sitting out in the distance was a large compound-like station, bright blue lights shimmered all over the building, with pale yellow spotlights lighting the air and surrounding jungle. Daring looked to the right of the building and noticed another one. Unlike the Neighland facility, it lacked any lights and was made of stone. “This is an ancient temple, but way out here?” Daring murmured, the other ponies turning to follow her stare. The pyramid rose from the center of the site, the ancient hieroglyphics depicting an ancient race from long ago.

“What are they doing with an ancient temple?” Roughneck raised a single eyebrow as he looked between the compound and the temple.

“Who knows, but look at the security detail on that compound.” Crystal pointed out, pointing back to the compound. The same masked ponies from before were there, many carrying the same automatic crossbows.

“Wow… that’s quite the tough looking security detail. Reminds me of that one job we had in Vanhoover.” Black Arrow recalled, staring wide-eyed.

“Yeah, well, those ponies weren’t carrying around high powered weapons like these.” Rune pointed out, looking down at the compound. She looked over to the temple and didn’t notice any movement. “Hey. I don’t see any guards making their rounds at the ancient temple.”

“Yeah.” Black Arrow murmured, looking to the others. “We’ll head down that way. They won’t notice us if we sneak in through the ruined temple.” The others nodded. With that, the group made their way down the hill, hurrying their pace as they neared the ruins.


~~~


Up above on the pinnacle of the pyramid, the alien stood tall, scanning the compound in search of its prize. It noticed all the guards moving through their patrols. Its vision changed with a green flash as it adjusted the visual setting of its mask, turning everything a shade darker. As it looked through the building, it could see a small, faint green blur inside the compound. Clicking in interest, it zoomed in on the small shape, a familiar shape, one that it saw before.

Snarling with satisfaction, it knew that it found the Serpent. The snapping of twigs alerted its audio receptors, and its head snapped to the side as its eyes scanned for the source of a sudden noise. It noticed four ponies walking up to the ancient building beneath its feet. It growled in annoyance, seeing these ponies as just another nuisance that would get in the way. While observing the ponies, it recognized two of them from earlier. It was interested in the resilience of these two ponies, recalling how weak they were from the scuffle it saw earlier.

If they were resilient enough to recover so quickly, then these two and their companions once again qualified as worthy prey. It growled at the seemingly bountiful challenge it was presented with, even if they were nothing more than just a simple obstacle or annoyance. They were obviously after the Serpent as well and, therefore, had to be eliminated.

Pressing a sequence of buttons on its gauntlet, it turned itself invisible. As it crouched low, it noticed faint movement somewhere far off from the group. Wondering what such a creature was creating this disturbance, it leaped from the top of the temple, crashing into the treetops below before heading towards the unknown creature.


~~~


Making their way through the ruins, the group came to a ledge that overlooked the facility. Black Arrow scouted the facility, Daring looked around the area and shivered. ‘That thing… I know I saw Rugged Muzzle’s skull. How could a creature like that do such a thing? Why is it hunting us?’

“How old do you think this building is?” Roughneck asked as they passed by it.

“Must be centuries, at least. I can’t imagine why these ponies have set up near a place like this.” Rune murmured, looking up to the ancient building next to them.

Black Arrow quickly returned, moving towards the dark unicorn. “Haven’t seen anything as far as a pony. I did, however, find a way down that brings us closer to the compound.”

“Alright then. Let’s get a move on. We need to get inside before we lose the cover of darkness.” Rune announced, following Arrow as he led them through the temple. Daring looked back towards the entrance before gazing at the compound. It was so close now, but with the spotlights hovering around, she saw no way to get past them. Sighing, she quickly caught up with the others.

The darkness around the group unsettled the ponies, seeing nothing that could be distinguishable within the shadows of the ancient building. Making their way out of the building, Daring rushed to Rune’s side, “Hey, Rune… who’s the client you’re working for? It wasn’t Fancy Pants, was it?”

“Oh… the client’s name? It wasn’t Fancy Pants. He came to us a few days before you showed up at Fancy Pants’ and told us about the job. He told us that we were to escort somepony as they retrieved something and then to take them out as soon as they got it before bringing it back to him. He didn’t exactly give his name out and I didn’t see him in person, but I’d recognize that voice anywhere. It was-”

A loud roar interrupted her as she and the others turned around, backing up as something jumped onto the ground in front of them. Dust flew up as a large figure stood on its hind legs, roaring at the group. Daring shielded her eyes from the dust, and let her hoof down. She gasped, before groaning in annoyance. “Not you again.”

“I am tired of you disrupting all my plans, Daring Do! No longer will you be a nuisance to me! I will destroy you all, here and now!” Ahuizotl launched himself into the air, lunging right towards Daring Do.

A flap of wings sounded from the adventurer’s right side, and Daring turned to see Black Arrow bolt from the ground, crossbow in his hooves. He yelled as he kicked Ahuizotl in the chest, flipping before his crossbow’s butt met canine-like face with a loud crack.

Their aggressor was knocked to the ground, landing on his feet as he roared at the group of ponies. “Anypony got any bright ideas?” Roughneck asked, unsheathing both daggers and crouching low, one dagger on his right hoof and the other in his mouth.

“We can’t lead this guy to the compound, he’ll just complicate things.” Rune scowled, her horn glowing with a pale ice blue aura.

“So then, we take him on and drive him back?” Daring inquired, glancing at the magic’s aura. Rune nodded, smirking as she fired a beam of magic at Ahuizotl, sending the creature skidding back.

Daring chuckled slightly before smiling. “This is going to be fun.” Flapping her wings, she lifted off the ground and sped off towards Ahuizotl. The creature stared at her, fangs bared behind a quivering scowl. With a guttural roar that echoed through the jungle, he charged her, the two going head to head as they rapidly closed the ground between themselves.

Black Arrow flew in front of her and shot a bolt off. Ahuizotl rolled out of the way and sprinted at the maroon pegasus with a cocked arm, smashing the pegasus's chest as they made contact. Arrow grunted as he was sent tumbling across the ground, coming to a halt. He lifted himself up shakily, pushing himself up with his fore legs.

Seeing an opening, Daring dashed towards Ahuizotl with a swift right hook to his jaw, twirling him around in daze. Roughneck charged towards Ahuizotl and bucked him in the chest before spinning around to slash at his arms.

Ahuizotl howled in pain before turning on the dark grey stallion. He yowled in anger and knocked him aside with a sudden burst of strength, flinging the earth pony through the air and into a tree with a loud thud. Roughneck slid down against the wall for a brief moment before crashing down to the ground with another thud. “Roughneck!” Daring called out. Grinding her teeth, she took flight and sped towards Ahuizotl again.

Bringing her right foreleg back again, she aimed it at Ahuizotl. Hitting him once more, she smiled but gasped as he turned and grabbed her. Struggling against his grip, she grunted as she tried to pry herself free. Ahuizotl laughed at the pony’s vain struggle and gloated, “You cannot go anywhere now, Daring Do! I have you right where I want you.”

He lifted her into the air until Daring felt the wind rush through her mane. Closing her eyes, she awaited the inevitable feeling of the ground beneath her, but felt Ahuizotl’s grip loosen. Daring crashed to the ground, grunting as she scrambled to her hooves. Daring turned to face her nemesis, only to see Crystal Rune repeatedly blasting Ahuizotl with pale blue beams of magic.

She looked back after seeing Daring get up from the ground. “You okay?” She called to the pegasus. The adventurer looked up and nodded. She watched as Rune turned back, only for her to be suddenly launched into the air, yowling in pain. Her magic flickered out when she slammed back to the ground, moaning as she tried to rise.

“No!” Daring yelled out, turning towards her nemesis with a scowl.

“I won’t be stopped this time!” Ahuizotl roared, charging Daring once more. She got up and stood her ground. Dust whipped up into the air in front of her suddenly, stopping Ahuizotl's charge as he stared at the new being with wide eyes.

Daring slowly backed away, recognizing the blurry figure from last night’s encounter. “No… it’s back.” She murmured to herself, hurrying to Crystal’s side. She helped her up and stared back as the other ponies made their way back to the group.

“Why is it just standing there?” Roughneck whispered, keeping his gaze locked on the figure standing in front of Ahuizotl.

A blue wave of energy shimmered around the form before the creature became visible. Clicking as it stared at the blue creature, it tilted its head to the side, staring in interest at this seemingly formidable opponent. It watched the battle from the treetops, intrigued by the way it fought. If something like this was able to hold off four ponies, it was definitely a worthy foe to fight. It didn’t unsheathe its blades from its gauntlets, rather wanting to take this creature on fist to fist. “How dare you interrupt our fight!? You will pay for your insolence!”

Ahuizotl charged, grabbing its shoulders to push it across the ground. The alien fought back with its strength, stopping Ahuizotl in his path before grabbing his arm and throwing him to the side. Ahuizotl landed on his feet before charging again.

The alien pulled his fist back and smashed Ahuizotl’s face with a loud crack, sending him skidding across the ground. It walked towards the downed Ahuizotl and grabbed him by the throat. He hit Ahuizotl’s jaw again before repeatedly striking his face with a clenched fist, sending bloody teeth flying out of Ahuizotl’s mouth with each blow.

Ahuizotl roared and reached his tail-hand over his head, tightly gripping the alien’s mask. The creature grabbed hold of the tail and pulled it, yanking its grasp free from the mask. It punched Ahuizotl in the face again before bringing another clawed hand to the tail and breaking it.

Ahuizotl screamed in pain, yanking his tail from the grasp of the alien. It quickly grabbed Ahuizotl’s neck and lifted him into the air, eliciting a choked cry from the blue-furred monster.

“Come on, we need to get out of here!” Rune yelled to the group, spinning before taking off with the other two mercenaries. Daring looked back and ran with the others, catching up to them before turning around again.

The alien creature slammed Ahuizotl into the ground, growling as it gripped his neck tighter. Ahuizotl choked as he grabbed at the clawed hands, gasping as the alien tightened its grip. The bones in Ahuizotl’s neck crackled and popped from the strain and his flesh began to tear. The alien jerked at Ahuizotl’s neck again, causing him to cough up blood. Accompanied by the awful sound of ripping flesh, the alien roared as he pulled one last time. Blood erupted from Ahuizotl’s neck as his head and spine were wrenched from his body.

Daring gasped as she saw Ahuizotl’s headless form collapse on the temple floor, his blood pooling around his body. Ahuizotl, her nemesis, who always tried to kill her and create chaos in the Tenochtitlan Basin, was dead. It was something she just couldn’t believe, yet, there was his head, clutched in the creature’s claws.

The alien roared in triumph, raising Ahuizotl’s head and spinal column to the heavens as blood dripped onto its mask. It brought his head back down and looked over it, running a clawed hand over his face, looking at the newest head to add to its collection.

Daring couldn’t help but just stare at Ahuizotl’s head in the grasp of this alien. As she watched with disbelieving eyes, she slowly shook her head. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and turned to see Crystal Rune. “Come on, Daring, we need to get out of here.”

The light gold pegasus hesitated for a moment before following behind the dark green unicorn. As the ponies ran off, the alien creature turned to watch them. Lowering the head of Ahuizotl, it stashed it in the black mesh sack on its left side, giving his head its own place amongst the others before pressing a few buttons on its gauntlet and jumping into the treetops.

The group hurried as they ran towards the loading bay. As they neared, they overheard the Neighland ponies as they drew closer to their position. Black Arrow looked around quickly and spotted an area of brush near the gates. Directing the others, they quickly took shelter, watching as the guards ran past them.

“Did you hear that?” One of the guards asked as they walked by in a hurry.

“Yeah. Never heard anything that sounded like that before.” Another guard murmured.

“Doesn’t sound friendly, that’s for sure.” A third guard said.

“Should we call it in?” The second guard asked.

“Let’s see what it is first so we know what to call it in as.” The first said before rushing in the direction of the ruins with the other two following behind him.

Watching the three guards until they finally disappeared, the group snuck into the loading bay. Carefully making their way in, they looked around at the plethora of crates, shipping equipment, and other various cargo. “Come on, let’s get out of this area, we’re too exposed.” Black Arrow whispered, quickly leading the group towards the door at the end of the hanger. They went through door, leaving the cargo bay behind and making their way inside, searching for their prize.
> Chapter XI: The Clash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The facility lights calmly lit the hallways with fluorescent lighting as the group silently made their way through the compound. Everypony was on high alert, silently walking through each hallway with only the quiet clacking of their hooves. So far, they were able to sneak past a few guards without having to do anything drastic. Even so, they were amazed by much of the advanced technology that they walked past by, seeing some doors that were able to open on their own and indoor fluorescent lighting that rivaled most buildings in Manehatten.

“These guys have some serious tech here.” Black Arrow remarked, raising an eyebrow as a door in front of him flickered a green color briefly before opening with a hiss.

“Yeah, this is decades ahead of most Equestrian technology.” Rune stated, closely inspecting some of the lights above the group. When she waved her hoof in front of it, it immediately turned off, but turned back on when she waved again.

“I’m surprised these guys are able to stay unknown with such advancements in technology. Doesn’t Celestia know about them?” Roughneck said, leaning out as he peeked around the corner to the next hallway.

“Who knows. I didn’t hear Fancy Pants mention these guys when I met him, so that means that they’re probably very secluded and secretive.” Daring crawled up to the window by the door that Black Arrow was examining, cautiously looking through the glass to see if anypony was coming.

“Well, what we need is a map.” The dark green unicorn looked to the group. “We can’t walk around the compound without knowing where we are.”

“But where are we going to find one?” Roughneck stated, looking over at Rune with a frown. “I mean, they probably just don’t leave one lying out in the middle of a hallway.”

“Standing here all day isn’t going to get us anywhere. We might as well keep going.” Arrow murmured, waving the others as he quietly rounded the corner where Roughneck kept a lookout down the next hallway. The other three ponies followed, catching up with him quickly.

As they silently continued on, they listened intently to the faint sounds doors opening and closing elsewhere in the facility. As the four were making their way down a hallway, they heard voices coming from around the corner and soon saw shadows making their way around the bend. Her heart racing, Daring flew to the ceiling and braced her hooves against the walls. Black Arrow followed her example while Roughneck looked around desperately, sweating profusely. Crystal Rune grabbed him and pulled him towards a nearby door. After waving her hoof in front of the green sensor, it slid open and they ducked inside. The voices coming from down the hall grew louder as Rune looked for a hiding spot within the vacant room. She pulled Roughneck underneath a table just as they heard the confused voices of the patrolling Neighland employees. Rune’s horn glowed with her icy blue magic and a shimmering bubble wrapped around her and the gray earth pony. A moment before the guards came in to investigate, the pair disappeared from sight. The guards looked about the room for a moment before shrugging and heading back out.

“Stupid doors. I swear, something’s wrong with the door system.” The guard that spoke waved his hoof in front of the door and it closed. Daring Do watched as they continued down the hall and went around the other corner. Once the coast was clear, she and Black Arrow dropped down and went to the door. It opened and Roughneck and Rune reappeared in another shimmer of magic. Nodding to each other, they left the room and continued on their way, but not before remembering to close the door again.

“Hey, do you see that?” Rune pointed up towards a small sign with a green light. The light shone from words inscribed on the metallic plate that said ‘Research Lab’. “I think we may have found out where to go.”

“Alright, everypony, let’s quickly finish this before somepony finds us.” Daring quietly announced, the group silently trotting as they moved on.



~~~



The trees shook as the masked hunter landed on the compound’s roof. Snarling as it stood. The ponies that it saw walk under the ancient temple had made it inside, complicating its mission to capture the Serpent. Looking at the rooftop, it scanned the building again before locating where the Serpent was being held. Switching to its infrared vision, the guards in the surrounding area lit up in its visor. It uttered a clicking growl in annoyance; it needed to get those guards away from the area.

Silently moving to the far side of the compound, it pulled a small, bronze, triangle-like item from its back. Orange lights glowed on the silver lines that connected to the center of the device. It looked to the roof below it before gently placing it. Walking across the building’s roof to another area of the compound, it placed another device before moving again. After placing a few of the devices, it pressed a button on its wrist pad, causing the triangular objects’ cores to glow red. Pressing the button again, the first device’s light began to flash with a quickly increasing pace.



~~~



A loud explosion shook the building, stumbling the four ponies as they tried to keep themselves upright. “What in Celestia’s name was that!?” Roughneck yelled, his eyes darting back and forth as he shivered where he stood.

The entire hallway was bathed in a red light of the facility’s emergency strobe lights, klaxons echoing through the hallways before another explosion rocked the entire compound. Daring looked around the halls before yelling, “What the heck is going on!?”

“Whatever it is, something’s rocking this entire facility.” Rune said, trying to keep herself steady on her four hooves. “We need to find that Alien before whatever is making those explosions makes its way towards us.”

The group quickly ran through the hallways, seeing that most of the guards were running to whatever was causing the explosions. Daring yelled as the sound of a metal object clanged against the wall next to her. She stopped and ducked, along with the others taking cover behind a corner. “All of you, put your hooves in the air right now!” A guard yelled as a squad of ten ponies took cover down the hallway on the right of Crystal’s group.

“Okay, guess we're going to have to get loud.” Crystal murmured, shaking her head as she summoned her magic. She peeked around the corner and shot a beam of magic at one of the guards, making him yell out before thumping on the ground. The other Neighland guards fired their crossbows, the bolts coming in waves as they bounced off the metal wall. Rune ducked behind the cover of the corner, being replaced by Arrow as he took his crossbow off his back and shot a bolt off. The deadly projectile zipping through the air as it hit one of the guards, his cry of pain cut short as the bolt pierced his neck, blood spraying the ground as he hit the floor.

Arrow jumped back as two bolts zipped past his muzzle and bounced against the wall behind them. Getting back on his hooves, he looked around the corner and saw that seven of the guards were still up, firing bolts at their position. “Those crossbows sure do have a lot of bolts.” Black Arrow mused, shaking his head as he wound his crossbow. A loud explosion blasted through the wall, sending the Neighland guards flying down the hallway away from the group. The Neighland ponies each landed with the loud clunking of their gear, remaining motionless where they laid.

The group had hid behind the corner from the explosion and each popped a head around the corner to check the aftermath. Daring herself didn’t see any movement, except for the flames that flickered from the explosion. “Come on, we need to hurry.” Rune ordered, before taking off down the hall towards the carnage.

“Aren’t we supposed to run away from where the explosions are coming from?” Roughneck glanced at the others as they ran off towards the flames. Looking around himself, he shook his head before running after the others, catching up to them quickly. Daring looked about the room, seeing that most of the ponies were running for their lives and completely ignoring them. She didn’t, however, have time to think about why these ponies didn’t try to stop them and continued on with the others.

It didn’t take them long before they reached a door with the sign on it saying, “Research Lab.” The adventurer smiled as she reached to open the door, but it opened on its own. She cautiously looked through and noticed a large blue magic field surrounding something below them. Next to it was a generator powered by a large blue crystal protruding from the side of a wall, the blue pulse of magic moving towards the shield through cables as the generator created a loud and vibrating noise. She moved further out, only to hear the sounds of crossbows firing. She gasped as she ducked out of the way, seeing bolts hit the side of the door above where her head was only a moment ago.

She saw a number of guards that remained in their position, even with the alarms blaring. Daring quickly took cover behind the wall where the door was. “Hey, I think we have company.”

“Yeah, too bad these guys didn’t leave their posts. Thought they’d finally make it easier on us.” Black Arrow mused before taking a position on the opposite side of Daring. He poked his head out and fired his crossbow at one of the guards, the stallion screaming as he dropped to the ground. Rune charged through the door before hiding behind the cover of a low wall, firing off a few shots of her magic.

The scream of another Neighland guard rang out, Rune watching as the Neighland mare fell down to the area below them. Daring watched as Black Arrow and Roughneck joined Crystal, Arrow firing another bolt before taking cover. Seeing her opportunity, she quickly joined the others and hid behind the cover of the metal wall. Bolts and magic beams echoed throughout the room as both sides fired at one another.

Daring looked down to the floor below and gasped as she saw the prize they were looking for floating within the blue glow of the circular magical field. The flesh colored larva bobbed slightly as it was suspended in the air, but otherwise remained motionless in its magical stasis. Its tiny limbs were curled up against its body in the fetal position and its tail was curled around it as it slept in its prison. “Hey, guys! I found the Alien. It’s down there on the first floor!”

Roughneck peeked over the edge as well, before looking over to a side of the room downstairs. “Hey, Rune. We got ponies down there trying to carry it out of its little room!” He stated, dropping as a bolt of magic zipped past his head.

“We need to end this now! Those Neighland ponies cannot be allowed to take the Alien. If they get away, we may never have the chance of capturing it ever again!” Rune yelled, before rising up and shooting another pony with a beam of magic.

Daring Do unfurled her wings, but a bolt whizzed passed her ear and struck the wall beside her, causing her to flinch. She prepared to take off again, but another bolt flew dangerously close to her. With all the bolts and beams of magic flying about the room, flying wasn’t going to be an option for the time being.

A loud explosion echoed above the Neighland guards before the ceiling collapsed on them, crushing an unluckier few. The masked mares and stallions got back to their hooves before continuing their fire on the three ponies. Daring looked over to their position, before seeing a blurry figure land near the guards. She watched as the Neighland enforcers took no notice of the invisible intruder and continued to fire upon their position. She watched as the blurry figure passed by the Neighland guards with such ease before disappearing from sight. ‘Oh great! The hunter’s here, too!’

She glanced back in time to see one of the guards shot a beam of magic at her, but missed his target and fired straight at the generator. The beam of magic exploded against the crystal, the gem cracking from the impact before a loud alarm sounded. A voice echoed on the comms around the building and the room saying. “Attention! Attention! All staff must evacuate the building immediately. The Magic Crystal has been damaged. Magical meltdown is imminent. Please evacuate the building and head to the emergency docks. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!”

“Oh… that sounds wonderful!” Roughneck yelled, looking towards the crystal as it shone a piercing blue, intensifying as the cracks continued to slowly spread across its surface. When the firing suddenly ceased, Daring looked up to see that the guards were looking at the alarm as well, before turning to run down the hallway where the blurry figure fled.

The field slowly gave way, before disappearing entirely. Down below, the creature dropped to the ground, growling as it finally awakened. It looked up, quietly snarling as it tried to stand up on its legs, adjusting its sight to the unknown surroundings. It turned towards the door leading down another hallway before finally standing upright. A loud and obnoxious noise assaulted its sensory organs and it turned to gaze at a red light twirling inside a glass container, hissing at the annoyance. Looking up at the railing, it noticed four ponies, snarling as it watched them stare at it. In its current state, it knew all of these beings posed a threat. It turned to the door, running awkwardly on its small legs as it charged through the archway.

Daring’s ears perked up as she heard the squeals of the Alien, turning towards the noise and quickly trotting over to the side of the railing, seeing the small creature run out of the room downstairs. “NO! It’s going to escape!” Daring yelled out, running towards the edge of the top floor. She went to jump over the railing, but stopped as she saw a blurry figure land in the room below them. She watched as it turned to face them, but quickly moved towards the direction of the Alien. “The hunter. Rune, the invisible thing is going after it!”

Rune quickly ran to her side, summoning her magic as she looked over the edge, eyes quickly locking onto the blur before she swiveled her horn and fired off a beam. The hunter stumbled under the force of the projectile and growled in annoyance while turning to face the group of ponies above it. Bringing a clawed hand to its side, it grasped a small cylinder object and tossed it straight at the unicorn.

The light gold pegasus watched as something extended from the object leaving the hunter’s hand, she squinted her eyes, not able to make out what it was until she heard Black Arrow yell out, “Crystal, get down!”

Black Arrow dived towards the unicorn and shoved her to the ground. A loud crack sounded from behind her and she quickly spun around as she raised herself up, gasping as she saw Black Arrow’s lifeless body swaying on the wall. An invisible object tainted in the stallion’s blood soon became wrapped in a wave of blue energy, slowly appearing to the ponies. “Black Arrow, no!” Crystal yelled out, rushing to the lifeless stallion. She pulled at the blood tainted object, a silver spear with unreadable markings were inscribed around the shaft of the metallic rod protruding from the side of his chest, firmly stuck in the crack it created in the wall. The invisible hunter growled in satisfaction, seeing that it distracted the equines for the time being, and turned away from the ponies to pursue the Serpent.

She pulled at the spear, grunting with effort before finally wrenching it loose. Arrow’s body slid off of the spear and onto the ground, leaving a streak of his blood on the wall. Rune quickly crawled over to his body, her eyes widening at the sight. A pool of blood formed around the now-deceased sniper, his body unmoving beneath the unicorn as tears threatened to escape her eyes. “No… no, no, no! No!” Rune screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she held her dead friend in her hooves.

Daring looked over to her, before the sparking energy crystal arced with a support beam. ‘That doesn’t look good…’, she rushed to her friends, stopping just short of the pooling blood, “Crystal Rune! We need to get out of here!”

The dark green unicorn didn’t respond, sitting in silence while cradling the body of Black Arrow in her fore legs. The adventurer grabbed a hold of her shoulders, turning the unicorn around to face her muzzle, but saw no hint of recognition in her glazed eyes. Daring shook her, “Please! I know how much it hurts to see Black Arrow dead, but right now we need to leave this building! There’s nothing we can do for him anymore!”

Crystal’s eyes darted around before she closed them. She shook her head and stared back at the pegasus. She looked back down to the body of her fallen comrade before reluctantly letting him go. Daring grabbed her hoof, quickly helping her up before heading towards the door that brought them into the Alien’s holding chamber, Rune’s attention fixed on Black Arrow the entire time. ‘We need to find another way down, maybe we could outmaneuver them in the hallways.’

Daring looked over her shoulder to see Roughneck looking at the ground, shaking slightly, before stiffly getting to his hooves and ambling towards the edge of the floor. “That thing… that monster is going to pay!” The stallion murmured before vaulting over the edge of the railing.

“Roughneck! What in Celestia’s name are you doing!?” Daring and Rune quickly ran to the edge, watching the grey earth pony running through the door. The two mares quickly jumped down, following the stallion as he chased after the hunter. Both ponies quickly trying to catch up with the angry grey earth pony, seeing him round another corner in his pursuit.

They quickly caught up with Roughneck, before Daring shoved him against the wall. “What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?” The adventurer questioned, keeping him in place.

“I’m going to kill that monster! He killed Rugged Muzzle and Black Arrow!” Roughneck yelled, struggling against Daring as he tried to push himself along the wall.

“Enough, Roughneck!” Daring ordered, looking at the stallion with a frown. “I know how you feel, but right now we need to think. If it’s after the Alien as well, then we need to separate them, so we don’t have to deal with it when we acquire the little nightmare.” Roughneck stopped fighting, looking away from Daring Do who spoke as she let go, “First of all, we need a distraction, so we stand a chance of escaping with the tiny monster.”


“Alright, but when we do, how long will it take before the monster finds us? I mean, we need to take care of it first.” Rune mentioned, looking over to Daring. Something was off with the dark green unicorn, Daring noticed as she listened to her friend.

Just as Daring opened her muzzle, she heard the Alien screech before catching a glimpse of it running down the hallway to their right and disappearing around another corner. “Come on!” Daring shouted, chasing after the small Alien. Crystal Rune and Roughneck hastily taking off after her.

Daring’s ears perked up as a roar from the hallway before her, watching a blurry figure run as they heard its footsteps echo through the corridor. The adventurer saw a blue light suddenly illuminate the red light around them before watching a beam of magic fly past her and up at the ceiling. The hallway rumbled as it collapsed, cutting the hunter off from the Alien. The blurred figure stopped as the dust settled, standing tall as it stared at the blocked-off corridor.

The hunter growled in annoyance, before looking behind its shoulder. It saw the three ponies standing in defiance, one equine in particular with its horn lit up in a ice blue aura. These ponies had gotten in its way too many times, and now the Serpent it was after was behind this wall of debris, or under it. These ponies had cost it the prize it sought, and snarled at the three.

The three ponies watched as it walked towards them, one menacing step at a time. “Hey, umm… it’s heading our way right now.” Roughneck piped up, his eyes darting between the two mares. “Shouldn’t we, you know… run?”

The hunter kept making his way steadily towards the three equines, the trio staring as it got closer. Daring, however, noticed that it didn’t seem to be staring at either her or Roughneck, but at Rune, never wavering from the dark green unicorn. Crystal summoned her magic and shot another beam, the bolt hitting the monster’s chest. The beam exploded in a flash of blue light as it made contact, but the invisible hunter shrugged it off before picking up its stride and going into a full charge.

Daring expected another beam to fly past her, but turned to see that Crystal’s magic had faded away. The unicorn stared at the rapidly approaching hunter with her mouth agape, unmoving as her pupils that shrank to pinpricks as the invisible monster continued to charge them.

The hunter growled as it raised its arm, twin blades shooting out from its gauntlet with a resounding “shink”. With a snarl, it thrust the arm forward, Rune raising a hoof in vain to protect herself from the blow. Rune closed her eyes as the twin blades came within inches of her torso, but suddenly sliced into the ground, scraping as the hunter let out another annoyed growl.

Daring and Rune looked to see that Roughneck had jumped on its back and wrapped his hooves around its neck, the monster standing up as it clawed for the pony clinging for dear life. With each twist of the creature’s body, Roughneck was flung about, barely managing to keep his grip.

“Roughneck!” Daring Do shouted as the hunter thrashed about.

“Go! You need to stop the thing before it escapes!” Roughneck ordered the two mares. “Leave me, I’ll try to keep him busy!” He looked down at the monster he clung onto, ducking each time one of its clawed hands reached towards him, nearly grabbing him as the hunter struggled to get the pest on its back. All the while, its laser targeted the two mares as they stood at the end of the hall, guiding a bright blue beam of energy that blasted the wall next to the mares, knocking them to their sides.

Daring and Crystal got back up, but stood watching for a moment longer before they ran down the hall, stopping to look back only as they reached the end of the corridor. The hunter finally grasped Roughneck’s mane before flinging him off its back with overwhelming strength and pinning him against the wall. Grabbing his neck, the monster unsheathed the twin-bladed gauntlet on its right arm before cocking it back and roaring as it stabbed the stallion through the chest, growling in satisfaction as it heard the equine’s pitiful screams.

“Roughneck!” Crystal and Daring screamed at the same time, watching the pony struggle under the hunter’s grip. The light emanating from the generator room began to glow brighter and brighter as the cracks on the crystal’s surface multiplied before spreading over the entire gem. Blood and spittle flew from the grey stallion’s lips as he grimaced up at the hunter. “Wow… you… are one ugly… mother-” A blinding light briefly shone before a blue wave of energy violently rippled from the room, engulfing the hunter and Roughneck instantly.

Crystal Rune turned to face Daring and grabbed a hold of the light gold pegasus, shrouding the two in an ice blue shield, grunting under the force of the shockwave. The bright blue explosion engulfed them as it hit the magic sphere, the force disorienting Daring as it rocked Rune’s barrier, her eyes feeling heavier and heavier before Daring blacked out.



~~~



After the explosion, the room was in complete ruin. The rest of the compound was either damaged beyond repair or missing, large chunks of the building were scattered across the floor. All was dark before Daring opened her eyes, the light stinging her vision before finally adjusting to let her see what was left of the facility around them. Her whole body throbbed in pain as she got up slowly, looking around herself and the area around her.

The smoldering flames flickered in the surrounding destruction, warming her body as she shook her head. “Crystal… Roughneck…!” She yelled, her voice cracking as she coughed from the smoke. Her ears flicked down as heavy rubble was tossed about. Turning towards the noise, she saw Rune shakily standing, coughing between ragged breaths. Daring slowly made her way over to the mare, legs shaking as she wobbled from side to side. “Rune… are you okay?”

The dark green unicorn looked at her with squinted eyes, before nodding. “Yeah… I’m alright.” Both mares twitched as coughing sounded nearby, before realizing that Roughneck was gone. Looking frantically for the source, Daring scanned the area until she found the stallion underneath a small pile of rubble. Calling Crystal over, she quickly dug him out, before grabbing hold of him and pulling him up, only for him to fall down.

“Daring… I can’t… move anymore. You need to… get out of here.” He murmured, flecking blood across the ground as it trickled down the sides of his mouth.

“No… we’re not leaving you here to die.” Daring shook her head, grabbing hold of the stallion before propping him up at her side. She coaxed him into moving only a couple of feet before he fell down again.

“Daring… please stop. I… I’m not going to make it.” Roughneck whispered, coughing again as he slowly closed his eyes, rapidly blinking them wide open as Daring placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“Don’t you dare say that!” Rune sobbed, frowning at the stallion as she sunk to the ground, tears freely running from her eyes.

“I’m… s-sorry. But I just can’t go on… you two need to get out of here… now…” The stallion ordered, laying his head against the ground as he stared up at the sky.

“You are going to make it!” Daring quietly yelled, tears dripping down her muzzle.

“I… I can’t, Daring… I can’t feel my legs… you need to get out of here… please… for me.” Daring’s eyes widened at his words. She felt something in her hooves, before looking down to see his daggers and their sheaths in her right hoof. “You… go on. Please… live on for me. I… I want you to… to do something for me. My… s-sister I was talking about that night a couple of days ago… I want you to find her… tell her… that… t-that her brother misses her… that her brother loved her… can you do that for me?” Tears trickled down his cheeks, washing small rivers through the grime and blood as he stared up at the light gold pegasus.

Daring stared down at him before nodding. “Yes… I will. W-what’s her name?”

He looked up, before his eyes slowly began to close. “Her name… her name is… Coco…” He murmured with his last breath, before his eyes fluttered shut and his chest fell for the last time.

Daring and Rune stared down at the unmoving body of Roughneck, crying quietly as they looked to each other. As Crystal gazed back to the grey stallion’s unmoving body, memories passed through her thoughts as she recalled what she did before. She was so horrible to her teammates, never taking any of their concerns into consideration and not even giving a second thought to their own well being. As she stared down at the last member of her team, she couldn’t believe that he was gone. So much was lost, and now she couldn’t even make it up for how she treated them.

A loud explosion emanated from behind them as rubble was launched from part of the building. They quickly spun around to see what caused it, only to see that the monster they thought was killed in the explosion slowly rising from the ground. It stared at them before it yelled. “Motherbucker!” The creature’s voice box in the mask was distorted, however, the voice of Roughneck was loud and clear as it roared at them behind the broken mask.

“That thing is still alive… that can’t be possible.” Rune murmured, gazing back at the hunter, eyes wide.

The hunter looked at them, snarling at the equines that cost it the Serpent it was hunting. It turned to look at its equipment, growling as most of the devices on its belt were destroyed. It looked to the cannon on its left shoulder, electricity sparking from the distorted metal. Bringing its clawed hand up, it ripped the cannon off and threw it away. Taking off the belt with the rest of its ruined equipment, it dropped them to the ground by its feet. It looked back up to the two mares and growled before striding over to them. It held something in its clawed hand, gripping it tightly as it extended into an ornate spear with the ringing of well-polished metal.

A horrible realization washed over Crystal and Daring as they looked at the spear in its hand: the same type of weapon that it used to kill Black Arrow was going to be used against them.

A loud screech sounded behind Rune and Daring, both ponies turning to see what it was. They gasped as they saw the small Alien crawl out from the rubble, hissing as it finally freed itself from the rubble and began to slither away. Daring heard the hunter snarl and swivel its helmet. The light gold pegasus turned to the dark green unicorn to her right, “Rune, I need you to go after the Alien.”

“What!?” Rune looked back at her, “What about you? I can’t leave you alone with this thing!” The unicorn pointed at the hunter as it got closer.

“Well, we can’t let the Alien get away. If we do, it’ll be Ponyville all over again.” Daring looked down at Roughneck’s daggers before holding one in her right hoof and bringing the other one up to her muzzle. Before she grabbed it with her mouth, she turned to face Rune and mused. “Besides… I think I can take this guy on my own.” Daring smiled at the unicorn, before putting the second dagger in her muzzle, firmly biting into the handle.

Crystal looked at her before nodding and ran after the small chestburster. A loud rumbling sounded as Daring watched her chase after the Alien, until a large piece of the building landed where Rune disappeared. “Rune! No!” She screamed, her cry muffled by the dagger. She heard the hunter snarl before turning to face it, her eyes widening as it lifted a hand up to its mask.

It unhooked part of the mask, a small blast of air shooting from the tube, before it moved to the other side of its mask, unhooking several more lines. It brought its other hand up and grabbed the mask from both sides before pulling it off. It brought the mask down before dropping it to the ground, the metallic object clanging against the concrete rubble. Daring’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, her breath catching in her throat as she finally saw what was under the mask.

The hunter’s face was a pale yellow, black bristles covering the sides of where the eyebrows should have been. Four mandibles hung from the sides of its mouth, as a set of small sharp teeth lined a mouth behind the mandibles. Its eyes were a dirty yellow as it glared at the light gold pegasus. Daring shook her head before saying, “Roughneck was right… you are ugly.”

The creature roared at her before charging. Daring stood fast before shaking her head and charging the predator. It held a cocked fist back and swung at the pegasus. She dodged underneath it and lashed out with the dagger in her right hoof, glowing green blood spurting from the cut in its stomach. The hunter roared in pain and spun the spear in its right hand, striking the pegasus.

Daring yelped as hit her square in the chest, sending her skidding across the ground before slamming into a wall, gasping as the wind was knocked out of her. Hitting the ground, she quickly recovered before flapping her wings and flying at the monster. It quickly charged before swinging at her again, Daring ducking under the blow again before slicing the monster with both daggers, one hitting its left arm and the other scoring another cut across the hunter’s chest, its blood spurting onto her muzzle before its arm hit her right across the face, sending her skidding across the ground.

The hunter roared before making its way over to the downed pegasus. She got up quickly but was met with a swift kick to the side, yelling in pain as she hit the wall once more. Dazed, she saw the figure move leer over her once more. The hunter pointed the spear at her and drove it downwards. Daring yelped, rolling side to the side as the metallic rod cleaved the ground. She glanced at the spear, before bringing one of her back legs up and kicked the spear from its grasp, the rod flipping in the air before landing, pointing straight up as it lodged itself in the ground. The hunter growled in annoyance before quickly reaching for the equine’s neck. She gasped and her eyes widened as the creature’s clawed hand grasp her neck with a vice-like grip, its claws digging into her flesh. She grabbed at its hand, trying to pry the clawed fingers from her throat in vain.

Daring brought the dagger in her right hoof up and stabbed the creature’s exposed chest, the hunter roaring in pain before tossing her over to the side. She landed on the ground a few feet away from the monster, painting the ground red as she coughed.

As the light gold pegasus raised herself up, the hunter stormed towards her. She saw the blood glowing from its cuts, but it just seemed to shrug the wounds off as if they were nothing. ‘This thing just doesn’t give up. how much will it take to make this thing keel over?’ She turned to her right, looking up at a part of a wall that was still hanging onto one of the pillars. Seeing it on the verge of collapse, Daring smirked and flapped her wings before taking off and flying right at the hunter. ‘If this works, the monster will get crushed under the wall and all of this will finally end!’


She yelled as she flew straight at  the hunter, swinging the blade in her hoof and striking another cut on the creature, hearing another roar of pain before spinning to it again with the dagger in her mouth.

It swung its arm at her, missing as she swerved under the punch and sped off towards the wall. It roared and unsheathed its gauntlets before taking chase, jumping after her with incredible bounds. Daring looked behind her and smiled as it took the bait. “Just follow me!” She called out, speeding off. She landed with a skid before turning around to face the hunter.

She saw it land, stand up, and make its way towards her. ‘That’s it… just a little closer.’ The creature stopped before looking at where she was positioned. It saw the wall behind her and noticed it shake. It snarled and found her tactic to be a smart one, but one that did not easily fool it. However, it would play her game and continued to walk towards the stationed pegasus.

Daring smirked, watching as one of the twin bladed gauntlets lunge straight for her. She jumped out of the way, but gasped as it moved the gauntlet and headed right towards her. She screamed as the blade cut her right foreleg. Daring landed on the ground, gasping in pain before looking down. It wasn’t a serious injury, but her vision blurred as it grabbed her neck again, raising her into the air. The light gold pegasus reached to stab its chest again, but the hunter’s claws quickly grabbed her hoof, ripping the dagger away and tossing it to the side.

It raised a clawed hand into a fist before striking her muzzle, sending the other dagger clattering to the ground. Daring yelped in pain, before her head violently jerked as the creature suddenly raised her above its head. Before she could struggle, the wind was knocked out of her as the hunter slammed her into the ground, pinning her with one clawed hand.

She squinted as it rose one arm, the blade extending even further as it growled in victory. ‘No… I can’t have come this far… just to lose. This will all have been in vain for my friends… Rugged Muzzle… Black Arrow… Roughneck… Crystal Rune… Rainbow Dash and her friends... I won’t let this happen.’ A light glinted in the corner of her eye, catching her attention as she turned to see what it was. She noticed the metallic spear sitting only a few inches from her. She reached out for the spear, grunting as her hoof shook, scrabbling at the ground as her hoof inched near the handle of the spear.

The hunter cocked its arm and thrust the blade at the helpless pegasus. She screamed as she pulled the spear and swung it towards the monster, watching as blood squirted from the hunter’s chest as the spear pierced it. The hunter roared as it stumbled backwards, growling as it grabbed the spear. Glowing blood trailed down the shaft and smeared under its shaking grip before it roared, wrenching it out with a splatter of blood. Daring quickly took to the air with a powerful flap of her wings and headed right towards the column. She yelled as she shoulder-checked, knocking the support loose.

A loud rumble heralded the toppling wall, the hunter looked behind it with a roar of surprise as it watched the wall loom over it before finally collapsing onto the creature. Daring slid across the ground, closing her eyes for a moment. Dust hung in the air around the pegasus as she stood on wobbly legs, cautiously approaching the rubble. When the dust cleared, she saw the hunter beneath the wall, its glowing blood slowly trickling from its mouth.

She wiped her brow, seeing that the monster was finally defeated. A weak cough erupted from the hunter and Daring’s eyes widened, “Are you kidding me?” She jumped back, quickly retrieving both daggers from the ground and whirled to face the threat once more, but saw that the creature was pinned under the wall. Sighing with exhaustion, Daring looked down to the sheaths at her sides and slid the daggers back into them, quickly glancing back up towards the hunter.

The hunter looked up at the pegasus mare, and was surprised that this equine had beat it in combat. It realized that she was a worthy foe, one that his brothers would have to be wary of. Looking down to his wrist pad, it flipped it open before pressing a sequence of buttons, loud beeps emanating from the metallic equipment. Daring looked down and noticed a sequence of lights on the wrist pad before watching one disappear from the rightmost box.

She looked back to the hunter, her eyes widening at her own revelation. “Oh, horse apples…” The monster underneath the wall quietly chuckled, rising in volume as balled its clawed hands into fists. Daring backed away from the creature’s crazed laughter, turning to fly away, but she saw Roughneck’s body slumped on the ground, Black Arrow’s lay not too far from it. Daring gasped and frantically glanced about the room. “Oh no, Crystal! She’s still somewhere in here!”

The corridor Rune had entered was now buried under debris, but Daring spotted an open door with daylight pouring in. She panickedly looked between the two paths, allthewhile the hunter’s wrist pad continued to beep urgently between red flashes. She shook her head before murmuring, “I’m… I’m sorry.” With a powerful gust from her wings, she launched into the air, heading outside through the door. The sun’s morning horizon welcomed her with its warm rays of light.

The countdown on the creature’s wrist pad quickly reached its last box and the symbol disappeared before a bright blue flash of light exploded into a huge field of blue energy. Daring looked back, grimacing as the explosion gained on her. She turned away and beat her wings harder as she pulled her limbs close, but the heat of the explosion set the tip of her tail aflame, the warmth slowly enveloping her, singing her feathers.

Daring spun in the air, her wings feeling like bricks as she tried to right herself until she saw the array of trees below her. She shielded herself as good as she could with her forelegs, feeling the force of the shockwave carry her through the sky as she braced herself. Her body was launched into the jungle, crashing through countless branches before slamming to the ground with a dull thud, skidding and bouncing across the dirt before coming to a halt. Shakily, she looked up at the mushroom cloud forming above where the facility used to be. Muscles that had long been overstressed finally loosened as her eyelids drooped while her head hit the ground, a grayscale mane hanging over her face like a dirty mop.
> Epilogue: The Calm Before The Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A soft breeze blew through the trees, chilling the air as the sun’s rays of warmth cradled the land below. The gentle wind and the rustling of leaves surrounding the motionless mare was all that seemed to echo around the silent forest. All of these things quietly told of a peaceful moment that felt more eerie than safe. A quiet groan disturbed the tranquil yet otherworldly scene as the waking mare slowly dragged her hoof closer to her barrel.

The pegasus slowly opened her eyes, clenching her teeth together as she felt the spasms of her muscles throb in searing pain, screaming at her to resume the sleep that her body needed to heal itself. Ignoring her body’s plight, she trembled as she raised one hoof up before pressing it against the ground, shivering as she lifted her muzzle, staring at the foliage and glistening in the cold wet grass all around her.

Raising another hoof, she pressed it on the ground before raising herself up slowly, shaking as she lifted the upper part of her figure. Her front hooves wobbled violently as she forced herself up. ‘No… you’re not going to give out on me… not now.’ 

Moving her back legs up, she steadily rose to her hooves, standing still as she adjusted herself to the weight of her own body. The aching in her muscles persisted, pulsating through the entirety of her nerves. Slowly, she let her rump rest on the ground, her chest steadily expanding and contracting as she gazed down. Daring slowly blinked her eyes, watching the ground sway underneath her, the blades of grass seeming to almost multiply as she tried to keep herself from falling over.

Blinking once more, she gazed at the area around her, taking the time to note her surroundings. The open area around her was shaded, only a few streams of the sun’s rays of light broke through the covering of the jungle Daring sat in. Looking up, the large billowing cloud from the explosion was gone now. The only trace of it was a trail of light smoke that marked where the compound once stood.

Lowering her muzzle, she closed her eyes and sadly reflected on the events that took place. Two beings came in hazy images, a frown forming on her muzzle as she remembered the last moments she had with Dr. Caballeron and Ahuizotl. Daring recalled all the hard times her nemeses gave her, from trying to collect rare and dangerous artifacts to conquering the Tenochtitlan Basin. Now, Ahuizotl was dead, and Dr. Caballeron most likely was as well. It was an unsettling thought, as if something was gone, like some part of herself was taken away. Her whole life had been dedicated to stopping the crazed dog-monkey creature and greedy stallion, but she never imagined how she would feel if they just disappeared.

The images of her enemies disappeared and were replaced by friendlier faces, ones that brought a smile to her muzzle. She saw Rugged Muzzle, nodding to her in the silent yet stoic fashion she had come to know. Although Daring hardly knew him, she was sad because Rugged Muzzle deserved better, not to die and have his head be used as something’s personal decoration.

Black Arrow then appeared in the large earth ponies place, the maroon pegasus tipping his hat to her. Just as reserved as the larger stallion was, but kind in a certain way and wanted the best for everypony. The sickening sound of the spear pinning the stallion’s body to the wall after his selfless sacrifice sounded through her mind, tears threatening to leak out from her closed eyes as the memory of the maroon pegasus faded away.

A third pony, Roughneck appeared by her side in an ethereal form, as she remembered the night when he revealed his tragic story to her. He turned to face her with a toothy grin, smiling like the dork he was. Roughneck definitely was one of the weirder ponies of the group, but he was likeable all the same. She could feel the faint warmth on her lips as she remembered the very tame but intimate moment by the river after he almost drowned. Tears slowly leaked out from her eyes and trickled down her muzzle.

She choked up a little as she remembered the leader of the group. Crystal Rune wasn’t the nicest of ponies at the beginning, but she had changed so much since Daring herself came into the picture. Seeing a smile was something she never thought she would ever see coming from such a cynical unicorn, but it was worth it even more since she was the pony who helped her see that friends were important, even when she herself was still learning about friendship.

Opening her eyes, she murmured to herself. “I’m so sorry. I was supposed to keep you all safe. I was expected to make sure you would all return home safely.” Daring brought a hoof to her eyes and wiped away the tears, sniffling a little before standing up. ‘I can’t be crying now. Not after everything that happened.’ Princess Celestia still needed to be informed about what happened, and that the Alien was dead. ‘If Rune was still inside the building… then the Alien should be dead as well.’ Turning herself around, she began to make her way towards the edge of the clearing, but noticed something off to her right. She turned towards and sadly smiled as she recognized her hat. Moving over to the lone pith helmet, she picked it up, brushed it off, and brought it over top her head, placing it back in its rightful place before replacing her smile with a determined frown.

Glancing back to her wings, she ruffled her feathers without so much as a wince. Spreading them out slowly, she steadily began to flap her wings until lifting off the ground and flying into the air. Rising above the treeline, she looked up to the sun and took a moment to calculate the direction she needed to go before making her way southeast. Daring swiveled her ears as a loud whistle pierced the air. Turning, she frowned as she spotted a ship, but it wasn’t just the ship she glared at, it was the large “Neighland Industries” logo on the side of the ship. ‘Princess Celestia needs to know about Neighland. He needs to be stopped before he does something even worse.’ Glancing at the ship one last time, she hurriedly flew towards Canterlot, hoping that Celestia would be ready to hear the events that she went through.



~~~



A loud whistle pierced the silent sloshing of the waves against the beach as the Neighland Industries cargo ship slowly pushed through the water towards its destination. Upon the deck, the crew of the ship was busy loading cargo carriers in certain areas of the deck. Inside, ponies were rushing about as the ship radioed the destruction of the facility.

Down below in the cargo hold, hiding away in a dark area was a cloaked unicorn leaning against the wall, eyes closed as she tried to rest. However, her mind was restless as all the moments she had treated her former team members so badly haunted her. Crystal fidgeted, groaning as she tried to shake them away, but each thought forced its way back into her mind, reminding her of every single time where she could have treated her crew better.

Finding it hard to rest, she opened her eyes. A fresh wave of tears dripped down her muzzle as remembered the last moments she spent with each of her team. ‘I’m so sorry… Rugged Muzzle… Black Arrow… Roughneck… I’m so sorry… I should have been… more considerate… I should have been a better leader...’ 


~~~



After the hallway she ran into collapsed behind her, she peered through the dust that fogged her vision, a small pain rippled through her chest as she coughed silently after inhaling the smoke that surrounded her. Moving forward, she got out of the haze but could not see where the Alien went. Crystal hurriedly looked everywhere for the little monster, but could not find a trace of it anywhere. She flinched as debris from the ceiling above fell to her right, splitting apart on the ground as a wave of heat rushed around her body.

Seeing how the building around her wasn’t going to stay up for much longer, she quickly ran out as fast as she could, finding an exit and rushing out into the cold sunny morning outside the compound. She looked back, hoping that Daring had gotten out in time before facing forward once more. A loud whistle thundered through the air, grabbing the mare’s attention as she turned to look for the source. A large freighter ship was docked at the loading bay of the facility, with ponies quickly hurrying aboard.

Rune glanced at the compound behind her and didn’t want to run back in, knowing it could collapse on her if she did. Looking back at the ship, she quickly ran towards the it and ducked behind a few barrels as she approached the loading ramp. Seeing that the guards and the rest of the crew were scrambling about to evacuate the collapsing facility, Rune crept out from her hiding spot and sneaked behind them while they weren’t looking.

It took some time before she finally managed to make it up the ramp that boarded the ship, slowly making her way past more guards that were running about. Rune scanned the deck of the ship, stopping as she saw the door going into the ship itself. A bright blue light appeared out the corner of her eye accompanied by a deafening explosion, making her turn to face the direction of the building. Her eyes widened as she gazed at a large blue energy, engulfing the entire building and more. An alarm echoed across the deck of the ship, ponies running towards doors that led inside, as the ship slowly set sail away from the wave of blue light that steadily came closer. Rune looked back to the harbor and saw that there were a few ponies still trapped on the docks. They waved their hooves in the air in hopes the ship would return for them. Rune looked up to the bridge, watching the crew behind the glass simply do nothing. The ponies on the dock kept waving in hopes the ship would turn back for them, but they were ultimately consumed by the searing light. 

“Daring…” Rune whispered hopelessly before shutting her eyes and looking away. Silently, she made her way over to the door, opening it quietly and shutting it behind herself.



~~~



As she curled up behind stack of large shipping crates, Rune mournfully thought of the light gold pegasus and of the last time she saw her. ‘I hope she got out of there.’ In an attempt to cheer herself up, she reminded herself that Daring Do was a capable adventurer, recalling all the stories of her past adventures. Surely she could handle the hunter that had killed her entire team and escape in time. ‘And if that Alien was still there… it would have gone up with the facility. It has to be dead. But not Daring. Not her...’ Rune wasn’t, however, too optimistic about that belief, but it was all she could go on for now. As sleep finally proceeded to take her in its gentle grasp, she knew that wherever this ship ended up, she would need to get out of there as fast as possible when it docked. ‘I can worry about that later.’ She soon went to sleep, faintly breathing as she was relieved that the nightmare was over.



~~~



“Hey, did you hear about the facility? Advisers said that the generator blew up.” A Neighland worker mentioned, leaning against a wall as she informed the stallion to her right, watching him load up the last of his crates.

“No kidding? I thought the crystal that powered the generator wouldn’t have done something like that. What could have ruptured it?” The stallion inquired, heaving a crate onto one of the shelves.

“Don’t know. There was another explosion, bigger than the generator, that’s for sure.”

“Wow…” The stallion looked over to the mare and raised a single eyebrow before asking. “Say… are you one of the guards that worked in ‘Containment’?”

The masked mare tilted her head a little, before answering. “Yeah, why?”

“I heard quite a few tales about that sector. Some ponies said that place was filled with all sorts of weird items. Was there anything in particular you were guarding?”

The mare rubbed her chin thoughtfully before speaking. “Well, there was this pretty creepy… ‘creature’ that I and a few others were guarding. Goddess, it was awful looking.”

“Oh yeah, how bad was it?”

“No eyes, no fur. Blood covering it and a tiny pair of forearms and legs with a long, fleshy tail.”

“Ugh.” The stallion shivered. “Wow, that definitely sounds like something I wouldn’t want to meet. Has the boss heard about it yet?”

“You mean Neighland? Oh yeah, the adviser just got his ear chewed off. Never heard anypony use such colorful language before. Was pretty irate that we lost it.” The masked mare chuckled slightly. “He said it was important for a top secret bio-weapons division that he had conjured up. Don’t know why he thought something like that could be used as a weapon. Then again, he could be right.”

“We may never know what the boss is thinking.” The stallion murmured, marking off the items on the checklist he had in his hooves. “Everything checks out here. Nothings been taken or misplaced.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here. I don’t like hanging around the lower decks of this ship. Always give me the creeps.” The two Neighland workers continued their conversation as they walked through the door, shutting it behind them with a ‘clang’. Everything in the room was eerily quiet, before the screech of a rat echoed. The mammal’s cries of pain were punctuated with a loud crack before silence ruled the room once more.

A little further back in the room, there laid the rat, blood pooling from its body. A red light illuminated the small being standing still, its eyeless head pointing downward before it lifted its muzzle. It held the rat inside its mouth as blood poured from its teeth. The alien thrusted its head forward as it gulped the small rodent down, the body of the deceased mammal was jerked around violently until its tail slithered past its incisors and down the nightmarish creature’s gullet. A red liquid continued to drip from its mouth, accompanied by the saliva that trickled out from its jaws. The small Xenomorph breathed heavily as it looked about the large room, scanning its surroundings. 

Small tears ran through the skin on its body, flaking off. Standing up on two legs, it looked at the closed door, the red light casting the alien’s large shadow, its height increased after the molt. It raised its tiny eyeless head and screeched, a high pitched shriek echoing around the room as a mist like breath poured out of its mouth like a fog machine. It tilted its head, the light tapping of its feet hitting the ground silently resonating in the room as the creature moved towards the door. It would find more prey to help it grow, and then continue its predecessor’s work. All that mattered was the Hive.