The Non-Relic

by Zackrobbman

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Luna, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Daring Do, Tragedy, Adventure, Discord, Princess Celestia, Human, Main 6
Length: 72026

Daring Do ventures into the center of the Everfree to discover the cause of it all. Unfortunately for her and Equestria, it's not a relic or ancient artifact.

For years, Ponyville has wondered why the Everfree forest is the way it is. Why does everything there want to eat you or kill you as a means of recreation? It'd be nice to, for once, not worry about the town being destroyed by a giant, luminescent, bear-thing that Celestia seems too lazy to do anything about. What if there was some way to...NORMALIZE it or something?

Daring Do wondered the same thing. In fact, if she could discover the fabled center of the Everfree and do something to neutralize it, she'd finally do something big to live up to her parents name! Just think, "We can take walks into the Everfree because of Daring Do!" So she set out to find this so-called center. She would bring back proof of how she did it. The fabled artifact that generated the chaos that was clearly evident in the Everfree. She'd bring it back and finally have enough money to buy a home with some decent SECURITY measures. Yep. It was a simple plan by her standards. There's only one problem though.

Where's the relic? And what's this weird lookin' THING in the center?

Authors Note:

Bruh'....front page?! Schweet! Thanks guys!:pinkiesad2:

Published 2015-05-20 23:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-04-03 08:54:01 UTC

#1 Chaos...I HATE chaos

It was a beautiful and…chaotic day in the Everfree forest. The trees stood tall over the overgrown landscape, blocking out the sun it an attempt to stop that overgrowth. Unfortunately, when one is this deep in the Everfree, the plants find other ways to grow. Their roots reach out of the ground and grab whatever they have the strength to pull under into their acidulous pits. It’s because of this that not many animals roam these woodlands, although it wasn’t really their choice since they never expected the dandelions to try and eat them. Yes, the depths of the Everfree are something no mammal has ever seen. Adventurers have all gone in looking for the fabled crown of the civilization that once thrived here, but none have returned. Their causes of death may have all very well been the carnivorous plants, but take it from me. There are other, things to be afraid of in this haven of evil.

Because of her nature, Ms. Do ignored the un-proven legends of the guardian that was said to have guarded the center of the Everfree since its creation. These rumors were made up as excuses as to why adventurers never came back, but Daring was soon to find out that they were true. She had her grandfather’s instincts, and that’s what saved her from the plants. They looked far too peaceful and harmless to reside in the Everfree. She made up a rule to stay far away from them at all cost, but this didn’t protect her for long, as adventurers before her had picked up on the oddity.

She was about to sit and take a break from her week long journey when her hoof stepped on something. She looked down and jolted. She had just smashed somepony’s skeletal remains. She stepped back and instinctively looked around. The remains were everywhere. A rib here, a wing there, a horn barely hanging on to a unicorns skull, she’d practically stepped into one of mother-natures many graveyards. She began to feel sick. Of course, Daring had seen her fair share of remains, but these weren’t the remains of forgotten civilizations. Daring squinted as she looked at the clothes that still hung onto them. They were all adventurers before they met their end. One of them had the apparel of an earth pony that went missing over two hundred years ago during a trip around the world in a blimp. His name was Wind Drift and she’d idolized him as a child. She wanted to be just like him.

Daring managed a fearful chuckle before realizing something. Her childhood idol disappeared in a blimp. How did he end up down here, dead? Her ear twitched when she heard the sickening sound. She jumped back before a green vine could pin her to the earth from above. She looked up to see dozens more, unraveling from the branches of the trees like spear-headed snakes. Instead of running away, Daring bounded forward, narrowly avoiding the vines that speared the earth. She didn’t come all this way to run away. During their unraveling, more skeletal remains dropped from above and burst apart. One of them revealed an old, but sharp machete that Daring picked up in her mouth as she ran. More vines slung down in front of her in an attempt to deter her path, but she sliced right through them with no problems. Well, almost. The vines began to become much more aggressive as she kept running, occasionally scraping her face and body. She didn’t know how she was still alive. She knew her instincts wouldn’t last forever as she struggled to dodge the vines. She needed a way to get away from the trees. They seemed to be everywhere though. She noticed that these trees weren’t really made of bark. They looked more like giant, bumpy plant stems with vines instead of leaves.

Daring’s brain ran through her options. When she looked left and right, she could only see more of these blood-thirsty trees increasing in number. Her determined glare faltered a bit at the thought of her running out of breath and dying, but she shook the thought away. She needed to keep her fire burning until she could figure out what to do. She soon realized that the trees didn’t have eyes. Her eyes widened as she thought of other ways blind animals could see. The vines got her to thinking about spiders. How did some of them know that some poor unsuspecting fly had been caught in their web.

Vibrations.

Daring stopped running and started leaping, making her impacts less frequent. Just as she’d hoped, the vines started becoming less and less accurate until their impacts lagged several feet behind her. She looked back and smiled at her progress. That’s why she didn’t see where the ground ended. After noticing that her front hooves hadn’t connected yet, she looked down only to see complete darkness. Her eyes widened and she had to fight back the urge to yelp in order to keep her machete. She looked in front of her and saw that she was next to a dirt wall. She clenched her teeth and stuck her machete deep into it to stop herself from falling.

She considered herself extremely fortunate that she constantly chewed gum while writing and that the adventurer who had bought the machete wasn’t cheap. Being a Pegasus helped with the weight issue. She hung there for a while as she gazed up the steep fissure she was in. From her position, she could tell that some kind of earthquake had split earth apart, leaving the large fissure. She could also see that the fissure was bending around on both sides of her, making her think that it formed a circle. She’d robbed…”explored” many temples in the past that had been separated from the land by large ditches filled with water and hungry alligators. This didn’t seem like any of those since it appeared bottomless and there weren’t any amphibious predators to speak of. It really did seem as if the ground just gave way and fell to the center of the earth.

Daring shook her head to clear her mind of the pointless thoughts and started thinking about why something hadn’t shot out of the dirt and killed her. Were there really no carnivorous plants anywhere inside where she was hanging from? Daring waited a little longer, listening for sounds inside of the dirt wall. When she heard nothing, her pupils darted from side to side to make sure there weren’t any plants that could take her down from an aerial position. Sure, the vines only reacted to vibrations, but she didn’t want to find out first-hoof how the trees brought down her idol’s blimp. The only reason she began to flap her wings was because there seemed to be no pony-eating vegetation ahead of where she fell from, so maybe there weren’t any trees capable of taking down a blimp either? She yanked the machete out of the dirt before flying upwards slowly. She was primed and ready for something to jut out at her from either side of the chasm, but nothing happened. As she approached the top of the chasm, her heart began to beat faster. Nothing excited her more than temples. She just couldn’t help it. Seeing one was always undeniable proof that her research, efforts, and time didn’t amount to nothing.

She peeked over the edge with a giddy smile once she was ground level.

It was…

It was…

Not there?

Daring’s expression went from giddy, to shocked, to seething anger. Was she wrong? There weren’t even any trees. Just a weedy grass plain that stretched half a mile or so in all directions from the center. She was right about the chasm being a circle, making the grassy plain an island. That explained why nothing was actively trying to maul her. Or eat her. Or turn her into stone. Or, based on what happened with that fifty-foot radioactive snake she encountered the first day inside, disintegrate her.

She would’ve been grateful if she wasn’t on the verge of tears with anger. She’d spent three years researching this place, just trying to prove it existed. It took another year to find it. Everything she’d gone through the past few weeks had proved that the Everfree had an origin. She flew up and landed on the island and tried to calm herself. Maybe there was a hidden button around somewhere? That’s how it usually happened. Yes, she was just too excited to think about it. She resisted the urge to throw her pith-helm on the ground to stomp on it and resolved to look for the entrance. It had to be underground. She flew up just below the tops of the trees just to be cautious and scanned the area.

Aside from a few rocks here and there, she couldn’t see anything. Aside from the fact that she was probably flying above the center of the Everfree and not noticing anything weird, nothing stood out. She decided to land and inspect the ground meticulously out of desperation. A fear began to rise in her gut. What if it was like the opal filly catastrophe? What if she needed to visit three other temples to assemble the key in order to open this one? Her breathing began to increase in pace as she began galloping around looking for something…anything that would resemble an entrance or a button.

Nothing.

She felt like a tea kettle about to pop. She was tired, dehydrated, starving, and she just wanted to go home at that point. Yes, when she got home, she’d write a VERY irate book full of reasons why the person who started the rumor and set the clues should be brought back from the dead to be murdered over and over.

With a spoon. Slowly, inefficiently, murdered with a spoon.

“RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” Daring swung the machete into the air and opened her mouth to watch it fly. She wanted to rate the amount of anger she had exhibited by seeing how far she’d launched it, but she was going to be very disappointed. The ground underneath her shook and she heard a very loud humming noise. She frantically looked around and hovered up off the ground just in case plant-zilla was about open its mouth and eat her. Something stung the side of her cheek and she winced. The feeling was followed by the sight of the machete she’d thrown embedding itself into the dirt upright. She instantly noticed how the dirt made a loud clanging noise when the machete hit. She focused on the machete and her mind raced as warm blood oozed from the cut on her face.

The velocity at which the machete had been soaring didn’t match up with how deep it should have gone into the dirt. It made a clanging noise when it hit. How did it come back in the first place? My cheek stings. Hope that machete wasn’t contagious. Why is the ground shaking? What’s making that loud humming noise? Should I fly away? No. The trees will bring me down. I’d have to gallop on hoof-

…

What’s that purple stuff pulsating like a vein below the grass?

There was indeed a purple glow that pulsated under the ground beneath her. They looked like veins and each time they pulsated, the glow would become brighter. Daring decided to continue hovering where she was and readied herself for danger. The purple veins began to appear outside of the island and throughout the carnivorous plant-life around it. She heard cracking and what sounded like something being stretched as she watched the trees grow even bigger than they were. Somewhere below her, she heard a loud roar that added to the vibrations throughout the ground and created ones in the air. At that point, Daring had no idea what was happening but one thing was for sure. The purple veins were creating these evil plants and they were originating from somewhere below the temple-less island.

After a few more minutes, the pulsating veins disappeared and the shaking and humming gradually faded. Daring remained in the air for a few more minutes and watched the landscape wide-eyed for any other oddities. When she was half-way certain that nothing else was going to happen, she began to think again.

So this really IS the center of the Everfree. It DOES exist. The only problem is that there’s nothing to bring back with me because there is no TEMPLE! All I’ve got is that stupid..rusty…machete…

Daring’s gaze averted from the invisible force she was thinking at to the machete still embedded into the ground. She slowly began to hover down towards it. After landing, she moved in closer to examine the ground it was embedded in. She bopped the machete on top with her hoof a few times before feeling and hearing it hitting something metal. She raised her eyebrow with a smirk and began to dig at the ground with her hooves.

After she dug away the dirt keeping the machete upright, it fell to the metal ground she was now staring at. What she noticed first was that it looked completely spotless despite the dirt and the machete. It looked like pure chrome. She began to dig around it a bit more and uncovered more chrome ground, also spotless. It was as if all the years hadn’t effected it in the least. This piqued her interest and she began digging all over. She uncovered bumps in the chrome where she remembered seeing the purple glow. Her giddiness was returning full force as she frantically dug holes everywhere. Questions arose in her mind that she knew had juicy answers. At that moment, she was wondering why a temple would be made out of chrome metal instead of the usual old and decayed stone. She was also wondering why it seemed to act as a magnet to the machete. Was the whole thing just some giant magnet? Was that the reason the Everfree was so deadly? She shook her head. She was fairly certain that the Everfree was created by chaotic magic, a blemish left behind from Discord’s reign. It didn’t seem too far-fetched for chaos to create a chrome temple. She’d even read somewhere that chaotic magic had a tendency to attract metal objects.

Daring began to imagine what it would be like to be the pony that stopped the flow of chaos magic throughout the Everfree, restoring it to its once peaceful state. She’d probably go down in history as the greatest adventurer of all time! No, she’d become the coolest pony period! All she’d have to worry about would be the publicity. Daring preferred to remain anonymous to the world as fame increased for her amazing persona.

Daring shook her head again. First, she’d need to find a way inside if there was a way. Then she’d have to survive whatever twisted and unpredictable traps awaited below. She was sure they would be like nothing she’d ever seen, and that was really saying something. She also knew that there probably wasn’t some relic down there that would cause the whole place to collapse like the other temples.

Or was there?

Something was creating the chaos and she had an instinctive hunch that it wasn’t the chrome. Maybe there really was some relic down there that served as the source of the temple’s chaos. What baffled her was the relic’s power. Discord surely couldn’t have imbued some object with enough chaotic energy to last this long and generate this much power. Even if he were the source of the temples power, it would have died off long ago. He wasn’t some all-powerful deity, and neither were any of the princesses. This sent a shiver down Daring’s spine. Perhaps she was a little in over her head? Who’s to say that this relic wouldn’t vaporize her with its raw amount of power if she dared to look at it?

…

Daring chuckled. She continued digging around as she searched for an entrance or at least some kind of button. She’d been digging up the grass and dirt for at least half an hour when she noticed the burning sensation on her chest. She looked down and noticed a faint glow coming from one of her lapel pockets. Her gaze dead-panned up before she face-hoofed.

“Duh!” she said before opening the lapel and pulling out the glowing red object with her teeth and setting it on the top of her right hoof. She’d completely forgotten about it in her strained efforts to stay alive. The Indescribable Object.

Before Daring set off on her journey, she did lots research on chaos and potential leads to the temple. She’d come across a chapter about an indescribable object that was found on a mare’s doorstep a few hundred years after Discord’s reign. The book could provide no explanation as to what the object looked like nor could anyone draw it. It was simply impossible. In fact, a pony could go completely bonkers if one looked at it for too long or tried to describe it. Daring had a hunch that she’d need it and set out for Canterlot where it was last seen. She knew that she’d get no-where asking royalty about such an infamous object and decided to go to the very-well-hidden Canterlot black market. Long-story short, she got the artifact and was chased out of Canterlot by a flock of extremely angry Griffons that planned to “invite her over for dinner”.

Like the book said, she couldn’t look directly at it for too long. It seemed to be made out every mineral the earth provided. It gave her a headache and hurt her eyes. She wanted to keep it close to her person and decided to put it in her chest-pocket. It was a good call, seeing as she’d lost her back-pack on the way to the temple. Again.

It didn’t occur to her that the object might have been a key, since she couldn’t tell if it looked like one.

Daring could tell through her peripheral vision that the object was glowing orange. If experience had taught her anything, it was that things tend to glow when they react to something. The artifact had to be glowing because of its proximity to the temple. Daring took a few experimental steps forward and noticed the object get brighter. She began galloping forward and the artifact kept glowing brighter with each step.

And hotter.

“D-OW!” Daring yelped before wrenching her hoof from under the artifact, causing it to clang against the chrome. She stepped back and shielded her eyes as it became still brighter. She noticed that the strong glow was beginning to shake violently, almost as if it were going to explode. Realizing this, Daring turned tail and ran away from the artifact. Her hoof caught on one of the chrome’s veins and she fell over it.

That’s what saved her.

The artifact did in fact explode, sending a searing hot, bright orange wave of destruction in all directions. The chrome vein Daring tripped over was just high enough to shield her from the blast, singing the top of her hat.

The explosion was short-lived however. The wave seared off all of the remaining grass on the island in less than half a second, taking out some of the trees on the other side of the chasm. All that remained on the island was the glowing hot chrome and the petrified Pegasus still on her stomach, holding her burning pith-helm over her head.

She didn’t want to move for a while. Even through she’d avoided the blast, she still felt like someone had poured boiling water on her back. Sure, she was daring, but that didn’t mean she was fearless. Being fearless and stupid was a very quick way to get an adventurer killed. In this case, it was fear that kept her from becoming a cloud of ash that would join the other victims of the Everfree.

When she was sure that the explosion was over, she slowly rose on all fours and turned around, the air still hot from the blast. There, where the artifact was supposed to be, was something that Daring had expected to make no sense given the circumstances.

A door knob. With a hey-hole. Just lying on the ground.

Daring just stared at it with a dumbfounded expression. Out of all the questions she had piling up, only one seemed to matter. Did she need another key? The artifact was all that she had on her. She licked her hoof and put out the flame on her pith helm, hoping that it would help her mind cool down. Should she go over to the door knob and pull it? Would it explode? A noise coming from behind her interrupted her thoughts and made her turn around quickly. Some of the glowing orange heat that was blanketing the chrome was…falling up into the air like drops of water. Daring watched as the heat left the chrome and gathered up into a large glowing ball of hot air. Then suddenly, the glowing ball quickly shrank and condensed into a small, golden, key. It fell to the ground with a high-pitched clang.

This is why Daring hated chaos. It made no sense and rendered her experience useless. Then, as if to irritate her further, a chrome cylindrical pedestal quickly elevated out of the ground like clay, sending the key into the air. Daring watched the key like a starving manticore and had to resist the urge to fly up and get it. When the key came back down, it landed in the palm of a chrome…hand? The cylindrical pedestal had formed a hand at the end of it and had extended even more to form an arm. She knew what hands were because of Diamond dogs and Minotaur’s, but this hand was different. Instead of just four fingers, there were five, and they didn’t look as bulky as the ones she’d seen. The chrome hand tossed the key up and down playfully before throwing it straight over Daring’s head. She flinched and turned around to see another hand protrude out of the chrome and catch it. The key then glowed brightly before shaping itself into a ball. Another arm popped out of the ground close to the one holding the “ball” but instead of a hand, it had a baseball glove. The hand and the glove threw the ball back and forth before the un-gloved hand reared back suddenly after catching it. Daring’s eyes widened and she ducked down before the hand could launch the ball in her direction with alarming speed. A loud crack soon followed that reminded Daring of a bat hitting a baseball. She twisted around to see that the cause of such a noise was in fact a baseball bat. A faceless chrome head had extended out of the ground and had one hand over its eyes as it looked up to the sky. Daring couldn’t help but notice just how weird the head looked. It had no muzzle and its face generally looked lit had been mashed in. Nevertheless, she followed the heads gaze up to the sky where she saw a light becoming smaller and smaller. The key.

Just when she thought it was leaving the planet, it exploded. Into a thousand, tiny, little pieces. Daring watched dumbstruck as her only means of entering the temple was blown to smithereens. After she was sure that the pieces weren’t going to chaotically mend themselves into some other senseless object, her gaze slowly lowered to where the head and arms used to be. They were gone. She looked left and right, her anger and patience thinning at the sheer ridiculousness of what just happened. She kept pointlessly asking herself the same question over and over.

Why?

The head and the hands were no-where to be seen. She felt the need to yell at them, but since she couldn’t find them, she resigned to yelling at the air.

“JERKS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?” Daring yelled as she stomped her hoof, hoping the chrome beings could feel it. “You don’t even…wha-…I hate you all! You’re all BASTARDS! This whole quest is a BASTARD!”

“Mustard?”

Daring’s vision was suddenly enveloped in yellow by a goop-like substance. She didn’t try to wipe it away. She let it ooze down her face onto the ground, knowing by the smell that it was in fact mustard. The anger that radiated in her red eyes burned like a wild-fire when she opened them. Her teeth were gritted and she could feel herself shaking with murderous hatred. Her face was as red as a tomato, and one could probably see the steam coming out of her ears.

The being in front of her looked almost exactly like Discord himself in all his ridiculously irritating glory. It had the same yellow eyes with red pupils, the same lions paw, the same skinny, griffon’s hand, the same goat snout, the same dragons tail, snake-like body, and everything. The only difference was that it was completely made of chrome, its eyes being the only things that retained their color. It towered over Daring by a good ten feet. She could see the mustard bottle squeezed inward in his left, griffon’s hand. The look on its face was one of amusement and anticipation.

“…Ponies.” Said the chrome draconeous with an unamused expression. “You never get the jokes. No, you never do.”

“Where’s the key?” Daring asked quickly, the tone of her voice strained with ferocity and frustration. The draconeous merely raised one of its slender eyebrows and stared at her for a while. It then shook its head and bent its snake-like frame in several ninety-degree angles, eliciting dozens of snaps and pops. After it was satisfied with its millennial stretches, it sighed and smiled with relief.

Then its paw quickly raised into the air and produced a glowing, golden, key.

“This key?” Teased the draconeous.

“YES!” Daring shouted with conflicted feelings of triumph and anger. The chrome copy proceeded to lower it to Daring with a calm expression that would have resembled kindness had its eyes not defied every notion of such a thing. Daring, not one to hesitate in situations like this, quickly swiped her hoof at the key, knocking it into the air with a high-pitched clang. She then caught it in her teeth and backed away from the draconeous, fearing further frustration. Or death.

She was not spared.

In an instant, the key grew tiny legs and arms. The sudden formation caused Daring to open her mouth in an abrupt yelp, allowing the now fully mobile key to make its escape. Daring watched it scurry back to the chrome Draconeous, proceeding to hide behind one of its mismatched legs.

Daring’s gaze narrowed at the key with seething anger, then that same gaze went to the draconeous.

“Oh dear.” It said as it lowered its weird head down to look at the key cowering behind it’s leg. “It appears that you’ve frightened it with your complete lack of manners or scruples. Just look at the little guy.” It picked the key up slowly hefted it onto its shoulder where it lightly patted the key like a sobbing baby.

Daring began to wonder many things at that moment. She didn’t know if it was out of anger or her lack of food or water, but she began to wonder if any of it was real. The key. The temple. The center of the Everfree. What if it was all just some big, cruel prank by discord? Just a trap to ensnare and kill over-zealous adventurers? What if the real Discord hadn’t actually reformed, and was watching her right now, laughing it up over a bowl of chocolate dip and paper. In fact, what if she was dead? Was this what pony-hell was like? What if was all just some big dream she was having that she couldn’t wake up from? What if the center of the chaos had another center and she’d gone too far into it to keep a grip on reality? Chaos-ception?

Daring could feel her eyes drifting into opposite directions and shook her head to focus on her current goal. Killing the chrome draconeous. No, wait. That’s not right. The key. Yes, she needed to get that key back from the draconeous. She could think about killing him later if it were possible.

“Just…give me the key.” Said Daring while trying to fight back a migraine. The draconeous laughed before snapping a talon. The key went up in flames instantly and its expression turned serious.

Then Daring got that sinking feeling.

Her eyes shot down to see her hooves sinking into the chrome like quicksand. She instinctively flapped her wings but was met with another strange feeling. She looked behind her to see they were gone. Ignoring the shock, she tried to free her hooves from the chrome but to no avail. It wasn’t like she was sinking into quicksand. It as if she were sinking into a big, sticky wad of gum. Her eyes dilated when she realized just how screwed she was about to be.

“Foolish mare.” Said the draconeous with the same scowl discord would have before getting serious. “There is no key. I decide who goes into the temple and who doesn’t. “

The sticky, goo-like chrome was already above her belly and beginning to reach her neck.

“There’s a reason I tried to incinerate you. Ponies are not allowed here.”

The chrome goo had completely enveloped her body and was now getting close to her muzzle. She began to run over dozens of possible escape scenarios in her mind.

Ok, ok. Relax. How have you gotten out of situations like this in the past? Right, I don’t have my whip with me. There’s also nothing to lasso to even if I did have it. Losing time. Sinking much slower now, but still sinking. Next plan. I could persuade it to give me a hand with the time that I can still use my mouth. Retard. The hand would just pop off as soon as I bit it. There’s probably nothing to bargain with anyway.

“You should have stayed away.” continued the draconeous. “The countless adventurers before you should have been enough reason to turn back and never return. Now, I’m going to turn you into yet another example of why ponies should keep their snouts out of other’s business.”

Crap! Better take in a big gulp of air!

Daring managed to do just that before the chrome goo began to cover her snout. Now she couldn’t breathe if she wanted to. She had to close her eyes a little to keep the chrome out of them.

“Don’t worry though. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not a monster. I’ll only proceed to mutilate and present your body after you suffocate and die. I’m sure that Daring Do’s eviscerated corpse will be much more than enough reason to leave this place alone. I don’t enjoy killing ponies, but I have my orders.” The draconeous chuckled. "Heh. Orders."

Daring had to fully close her eyes as the chrome goo started to cover her head. This added to the panic she was experiencing, and that wasn’t good for her lungs. Her heart was beating too fast and demanding too much energy, which she needed oxygen to provide. She wouldn’t be able to hold her breathe for long. Even then, she was beginning to strain. She couldn’t believe that she was actually about to die. She had family in Canterlot. They were never very nice to her, but she knew they loved her. It was just tough love. How would they feel after not seeing another letter from her? They’d get worried sick and set out to find her. They would find the note laid on her dresser next to her bed. The letter telling them that she was most-likely dead. How would they feel? They took pride in their daughter and devoted so much work and time trying to prepare her for her adventurous life. Her father taught her the essentials of hoof-to-hoof combat and how to strategize in seemingly over-whelming situations. Her mother taught her the meaning of her cutie mark and how to use her knack for adventure and resourcefulness. She’d even shared some of her own adventures she’d had with her father. He parents had saved the world countless times before Daring was born. Daring and her parents hoped she’d be able to keep the figurative torch burning bright and do the same.

Daring could feel her eyes watering as the goop fully submerged them. Her lungs were screaming for air. Her ears were still above goo-level and she could hear the freak of nature humming a dirge. She hated him. Her hatred helped her forget about a her straining lungs for just a few more seconds before the reality of her situation dawned on her once more.

She was really about to die.

Of course I’m about to die! This is the freaking center of the Everfree! What, did I think I was just going to waltz in here and do my thing like the rest of them? Stupid. Just…stupid.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP

“…Hm? What’s this?”

Daring now only had about a few seconds of endurance left. She could hear her heart going crazy as it strained to keep her body running on the remaining oxygen in her lungs. Usually, in situations like this one, Daring would always escape at the last second. Not this time. Unable to take it anymore, she breathed in the goo. Her body shook and vibrated from the lack of air as she began to black out.

*COUGH*

Daring’s eyes shot open as she coughed and tried to breathe in. For a few seconds her brain wasn’t even working, relying solely on instincts. She kept trying to breathe, but felt something constructing her air way. She turned over and proceeded to cough out the now fluid chrome that was in her lungs. It tasted horrible, although her brain wasn’t alive enough to assign a word to it. Or to make any words really.

“Oh, great!” said an alarmingly familiar voice. Daring turned her head to see two, mismatched legs standing by her. After coughing out the last remaining goo, she wiped her mouth and wiped the strained tears out of her eyes. She looked up through squinted eyes to make out the chrome freaks snake-like body and head. Her vision was hazy, but she couldn’t mistake it’s red, insane eyes. Her brain tried to make words.

“…Hu-…Whabidda…whaba…haa-“

“I thought you were a goner!” spoke the chrome copy. “One more second in that goo, and I might not have been capable of bringing you back. At least, not without some major…changes.” With that last bit, a bunch of electrical pony appendages and surgery equipment fell to the ground right behind his back. The draconeous smiled sheepishly.

Daring coughed a few more times and took a couple breaths as her brain began to turn on. This had happened to her many times before in the past, so she had some experience piecing her brain back together through the use of several questions.

Head injury? No. Don’t feel any pain top-side. Gagged or strangled? Sort of feels like it. I coughed up some stuff. Either it was blood from an internal injury or I drowned.

With that thought, Daring looked down to the ground in an attempt to find out what she’d coughed up. She saw nothing but a smooth, silvery surface below her. She noticed that she wasn’t wet either. It confused her, but the being standing next to her confused her more. Did he say that he brought her back? Why? Who was this strange thing next to her? Daring looked up again to get a look at its face.

“D…Discord?” Daring said between breaths. The draconeous smiled and chuckled.

“No, no, no. I’m no where NEAR that good-looking. Anyway, names are for friends. So you’ll just have to make something up.” So it wasn’t friendly. What else could one expect from a chrome draconeous? “If you’re wondering why you feel like you just recently passed, it’s because I tried to kill you.” Daring’s eyes went wide and she clumsily stood up. He had tried to kill her? Why? Didn’t matter at the moment. The main question was rather he’d try to do it again. It was at that moment that she realized that she was completely bare aside from the shirt she wore. Even her wings were gone. Her pith helm was missing, and that didn’t sit well with her. She looked all over the ground for it and finally noticed how dark it was. She had woken up in a literal small circle of light with nothing but darkness surrounding it. She looked up for the source of the light and found nothing but more darkness. This made her oddly sensitive noggin feel even colder as she stared up at the bottomless pit above her. She started to walk out of the circle when something grabbed her tail and yanked her back.

“Ah, ah, ah!” said the chrome creature. Daring looked back at him irritably. “You are inside THE temple of chaos. You especially should know the consequences of leaping before you look.” To illustrate his point, he suddenly materialized a cage of birds in front of him and opened the latch to the cage’s door to let out one bird before quickly closing it. The bird flew into the dark nothingness, glad to be free.

Now, have you ever heard a bird scream? I’m not talking about a very loud chirp, I mean screaming. Screaming like an actual per-AHEM, pony. This is what Daring heard when the sound of it’s flapping wings was suddenly silenced and replaced by crunching, ripping, chewing noises followed by deep, loud grunts. The scream the bird let out exhibited so much agony and terror that it would forever haunt Daring’s dreams and further remind her of their sentiency. After one final crunch, chewing noises followed and resonated throughout the abyss. When they stopped, Daring heard what sounded like something very big swallowing a meal.

Daring was frozen in place, not wanting to move. That could have been her. She jolted and stepped back towards the draconeous when two, glowing red eyes suddenly opened in the darkness from where she heard the bird scream. They were perfect circles, staring deep into Daring’s frightened soul. She wished the eyes looked more sinister, more evil, but no. Just two glowing dots filled with insanity not known to pony-kind. She felt a shiver run up her spine.
…Wait, did he say that she was IN the temple of chaos?

Glad to look away from the eyes, she looked up at the draconeous.

“I’m in the temple?” she asked, as if she hadn’t heard him right.

“Did I not just say that?” replied the draconeous. “There are most likely dozens of questions in your tiny pony brain regarding what has, and is happening. Allow me to explain!” The circle of light suddenly expanded and caused Daring to immediately turn back to look at the eyes.

They were still there, but seemed to be the same distance outside of the circle that they had been before it was augmented. She still felt nervous about them though. Something suddenly kicked her hind legs out from under her and caused her to fall onto her flank onto something soft. She looked down to see a puffy, red, pillow with an elegant shape and design she’d gotten used to seeing in Canterlot. She turned back around and saw that the draconeous was now sitting in a chair by a lit fireplace. He was adorned in a brown and red robe with some reading glasses while neatly sipping a cup of what looked like hot chocolate. Daring’s pillow slid closer to the chrome-copy on its own accord and a glass of water appeared in front of her.

After looking back and forth at the draconeous and the cup of water for a minute or so, she came to the conclusion that he could easily kill her if he wanted and had no real reason to do what he was doing. Technically that unsettled her even more, but what could she do about it? Daring grabbed the glass with both hooves and gulped the icy water down in less than three seconds. Having some fresh, cold water in her gut after so long made her feel a little nauseous, but she held the contents of her stomach.

“Now, if you’re all settled in, I can begin.” Stated the draconeous as he set the cup on a plate on top of his head.

“A long, LONG time ago, my creator, Discord, took over Esquestria and ruled with a rubber fist. Times were great back then. There were no laws of physics or any laws in general to dampen the fun. It was complete chaos, just the way it should be. As you may know, Celestia and her brick-headed sister ended his reign by turning him into stone with the power of friendship.” The draconeous said that last word with a shudder, as if he were going throw up from the sheer stupidity of the statement. “However, Discord didn’t go down without a fight. He sum-…what?” The draconeous looked up towards the nothingness and squinted. Daring looked up to see why he stopped but saw nothing. She looked back at him and raised an eyebrow in doubt of the creatures sanity.

“What do you mean I’m spoiling the story? …You’ve got to be kidding me!” Daring began to feel even more uncomfortable knowing that the only thing keeping her away from that…thing in the abyss around them was a heartless fake, draconeous, thing that was actively having a mental break-down. She listened nervously as he continued to talk to his imaginary friend.

“If you’re a good writer, you can just find a way around it! …No, that would-…No, I agree that ambiguity goes with creativity but-…What do you mean I don’t know anything about writing?! I came from YOUR head! You’re basically talking to your SELF! …Don’t talk to ME about laws! YOU’RE breaking the fourth wall!...Pinkie Pie has nothing-…FINE!” With that, the draconeous’s robe, his fire-place, his chair, and Daring’s pillow erupted into flames with the snap of a talon. Fortunately, Daring wasn’t sitting on the pillow. She had a gotten up and started to back away before remembering the eyes. The draconeous gave a dead-pan stare as he proceeded to summarize his story and skip to the end.

“Long-story short, “ began the draconeous. “Discord built this temple as the center of all the chaos in the Everfree and assigned me as it’s guardian. I was given instructions to kill any pony that has laid eyes on this temple and I was doing pretty well. The forest got most of them, but I was always the cherry-bomb on top just in case someone like you got too close. None of them got as far as you though. No one else decided to bring the Discordia remnant, which is what you brought with you. It was in fact the key to the temple, but it was a mistake that Discord instructed me to undo. Hence, I tried to kill two birds with one stone by blowing it up in your face.” Daring’s eye’s went wide when she remembered the blast. The chrome draconeous chuckled before continuing. “It didn’t work, and boy did I get a kick out of it. So, since you put me in a lighter state of mind, I toyed with you a bit before trying to kill you again by drowning you in liquid chrome. It would’ve worked too, but get this,” The draconeous suddenly materialized a strange device in front of Daring. It looked like a some kind of small box with a screen and numbered buttons on it.

“Discord sent me a text message about a year ago telling me to disregard my previous orders and let any traveling pony’s into the temple!” Daring understood that there was a message, but didn’t know what the small button-box had to do with it. The draconeous fell onto his back and started laughing like he’d heard a joke from Big Macintosh’s stand-up comedy night. “Just…hehe…just think. I was about to kill you and eviscerate your body to scare off other pony’s and the text arrived just in time! The phone service was halted by the chaos energy in the forest, making the signal travel at a snails pace. Had you arrived a minute sooner, you’d be DEAD! HAHAHAHAAAAA!”

Daring reared back at the draconeous’s laughter and tried to understand why it was funny that she was almost killed and mutilated.

It’s chaos. She thought. You’re not supposed to understand it, let alone get the jokes.

“Where’s the artifact?” Daring asked, anxious to get it and leave. The Draconeous stopped laughing and wiped a tear from his eye.

“Don’t get your feathers in a bunch.” He said before snapping a talon again. A path of light about ten feet across began to form out of the darkness to the left of the circle. Daring watched as it extended like a roll of carpet at a wedding before it finally stopped. After a few seconds, another circle of light a little smaller than the one she was standing in suddenly appeared at the end of the path. What was in the center of the small circle made Daring’s whole face perk up.

There was some kind of weird looking thing encased inside of a magically sealed glass ball. From what she could see, she assumed it had four appendages and a small head. It’s hooves were all wrong though. She could see what looked like hands on the ends of two of its appendages and long shoes on the ends of the other two. It seemed fully clothed in a matching set of black jeans and a baggy shirt with a piece toward the head that Daring realized made it a hoodie. Its sleeves were rolled up to the middle of its top appendages. It had a short but messy black mane that served as the only hair on its body aside from its eyebrows. Its pale skin seemed to shine in the non-existent light source.

Daring was used to seeing odd creatures seeing as most of them had tried to kill and eat her in the past, so she wasn’t really all that awestruck. She was actually sizing up the creature with her crimson red eyes and thinking of ways she could kill it if it were to escape and attack her.

Hm. Probably bi-pedal. Not even that big. If it were to stand up in front of me on two legs, it would be just an inch shorter than me. Or an inch taller. No biggie. It has a neck, so if things get to it, I could just snap its neck. Wait, why am I even looking at this thing?

“Where’s the artifact?” Daring asked as she turned her head to see the draconeous walking towards her with his hands behind his back. He gave her a light chuckle before responding.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t playing dumb just now.”

“What do you mean?” Daring asked. The draconeous simply gave her an are-you-serious look.

“Tsk, tsk. I expected more out of the top-notch explorer, Daring Do. Take a look at him again and you tell me where the artifact is.” Daring squinted her eyes in confusion before turning back to the thing in the center of the circle.

Him? She thought. She stepped closer and finally noticed the chrome veins holding the crystal ball in the air. Upon even closer inspection, she noticed the faint glow of a pulsating purple inside each vein. Her eyes widened in shock.

“This…this thing is the CENTER of it all!?” she exclaimed as she stepped back.

“Ah, NOW she gets it!” said the draconeous in a strained old-man voice before throwing away a walking cane and ripping off a long, fake, beard. Daring stepped closer, her muzzle inches from the ball. She could feel heat coming from it.

“It’s alive?” Daring asked more to herself than to the draconeous.

“Very much so.” Replied the draconeous. Daring looked up at what appeared to be its face. It’s eyes were closed and she could just barely see the rise and fall of its chest. It seemed to be peacefully sleeping there, cut off from the rest of the world. It was kept suspended inside the magical ball as if it were filled with water.

“It’s been here all this time?” Daring asked, putting her hoof on the ball. “Just trapped in this temple like some un-born fetus?”

“Yes, and good thing too.”

…

The author began to massage the bridge of his nose and sigh while shaking his head. He eyed the delete key thoughtfully, wondering if something could be CHANGED.

The draconeous nervously cleared his throat, realizing what he’d just said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Daring asked, eyeing the draconeous like a perpetrator under investigation.

“NOTHING, nothing!” The draconeous quickly answered. Daring gave him a look that let him know that she would probably bring it up later before turning her attention back to the creature.

“Ok. So do I get him out? Will it kill him?”

“Mmmm, no. But it probably WILL kill ME.” Replied the draconeous with a thoughtful talon on his chin. Daring gave him a questioning look. Picking up on it, the draconeous chose to elaborate. “You see, although this temple is like a clay playground for me, I am also part of it.” He said the last part while gesturing to his chrome body. “As you know, removing the main piece from any temple usually causes it to fall apart or blow up for some inane reason. So, since I’m PART of the temple-“

“You’ll die.” Daring interjected. “Y’know, I think I may be fine with that considering how funny you thought my near-death experience was.”

“Those kind of comments hurt my dear!” said the draconeous as he feigned injury.

“Yeah, right.” Said Daring as she began circling the ball, wondering how she was expected to get the creature out of there after she found a way to open the thing.

“You know, you shouldn’t talk that way to the one being that’s going to provide a way out of here.” With that, the draconeous snapped his talon one last time. In an instant, the magical ball shattered and the chrome veins began to literally evaporate. The creature fell to the floor and the ground began to shake. Daring turned to where the draconeous was but couldn’t see him anywhere. She turned back to the creature on the ground, expecting it to get up and do…something. Instead, it just laid there sprawled out on the chrome floor.

The now evaporating chrome floor.

Daring watched with pinpricked pupils as the illuminated circle and path began to burn away. Her gaze shot up in front of her into the darkness.

The red eyes were still there, and they were no longer far off into the abyss. They were right at the edge of the circle, advancing as it burned away. Each eye was about the size of her head, and she could smell the putrid remains of its countless victims now that she was so close. The creature wasn’t moving and the darkness was closing in on her. She didn’t know what to do or where to go. The path she’d considered running to had already burned away, and the circle she was standing in was getting very small very quickly.

The eyes were now just ten feet in front of her.

She immediately looked down to the creature and saw that the eyes were maybe a foot away from it. Her breathing became rugged as she thought about what she was going to do.

Her eyes narrowed in determination, and she sprinted to the unconscious body of the creature. She bit it by its hood and yanked it away from the advancing darkness just before it could envelop it’s foot. Although she really couldn’t tell because of the adrenaline coursing through her, the creature was much heavier than it should have been for its size.

“Good choice!” rang that accursed draconeous’s voice. “Now, look up and go to the light!”

Daring looked up to see a small circle of light above her in the dark abyss, but it was getting smaller by the second, and the eyes were now four feet in front of them.

Daring bit into the creatures hood with her teeth and jumped up…

Only to fall back to the ground with the creature in tow.

“Oops! Apologies!” said the echoing voice of the draconeous. Daring heard one last, LAST snap of a talon, and her wings flashed back into existence. She wasted absolutely no time in taking off towards the light above her with the creature’s hood tightly held in her teeth.

She felt something yank on her tail and looked down to see the eyes right below her along with a gigantic set of dark, razor sharp teeth that clamped down on her tail. Daring struggled with her wings but was getting no-where. It was dragging her and the creature down slowly, and the light above them was getting smaller and smaller.

“RRRRRGGGHHH!” she growled as she flapped her wings with speed and strength that resembled the cyan Pegasus herself. But it was pointless. It’s jaws were just too strong. She had to do something quick!

“C’MON!” shouted the draconeous from seemingly no-where. “I CAN’T HOLD IT MUCH LONGER!”

Daring looked down at the creatures eyes. She had an idea, but she was far too afraid to do it.

“But daddy, I’m scared of bad ponies!” Daring said as she stood in her father’s personal training room. In front of her stood her father, painted up to look like one of the goons that he’d taught her about. He towered over her and tried to look as menacing as he could. She was only twelve years old, and although she was taught well by her father, she just couldn’t spar with him like this. She’d had a bad experience when she was six, where one of her father’s enemies had kidnapped her and threatened to cut off her cutie-mark if she didn’t tell her father’s secrets. Ever since, even with how easily her father dealt with the stallions in the back of that carriage, she was terrified of them.

Her father knew this and decided to have a change of scenery in order to dispel the fear.

“I know, Daring.” Her father responded. “I know what happened, but you must not be afraid. You can’t be afraid of anything. As you’ve noticed for the past ten minutes, it makes you hesitate to act, leaving you open for a potentially fatal blow. You MUST dispel your fears.”

“But…but I can’t!” Daring said as tears began to well up in her eyes. She sat down on her haunches and proceeded to sob. Now, her father wasn’t a fan of emotions. He preferred he didn’t have them and tried his best to do away with them, but he couldn’t ignore his broken and sobbing daughter. He sighed and trotted up to her. He put a consoling hoof to her chin and lifted it up.

“You know, one day shortly after your mother and I were blessed with you, I had to be whisked away to some excavation site to examine an ancient text that spoke of the Pearl Sun-Dial. After I deciphered it, they knocked me out and locked me in a room with a bag over my head.” Daring’s father satirically imitated being clonked over the head. “I was terrified. They told me they were going to cut my heart out and hang me as a sacrifice to some pagan god. When they finally uncovered my head, I was sitting in a chair on top of a temple seconds away from being killed.
“There were so many bad ponies there. So was Ahuizotl. You know how scary he is. Do you know what helped me get over my fear?” Daring sniffled and shook her head. “I thought about you and your mother. I thought about how those bad ponies were going to take me away from you. They stopped being scary, and became nothing but my enemies. Evil obstacles in between me and those that I loved.” Daring noticed her father’s eyes become fierce with hatred as he envisioned the memory. “I fought them all. Yes, I fought hoof to claw and hand with Ahuizotl himself.” Daring gasped. Her father’s hate filled glare softened into a playful smile. “I can still remember him running away from me with his tail in between his legs. That day is probably the sole reason he’s so afraid of whips!” He ruffled her mane with a chuckle and Daring couldn’t help but laugh as well. “So, do you understand Daring?”

“I…I think so.”

“If you ever get so scared, so terrified that you can’t even fight back, remember what’s really happening. Remember that THEY are trying to take YOU away from US. They are nothing but your enemies. Make them wish they’d never tried.”

Daring’s eyes narrowed fiercely as she stared deep into the beasts glowing red eyes. Everything proceeded to move in slow motion. Daring stopped flapping her wings very briefly. The beast took the opportunity to loosen its jaws on her tail and rise up for a more satisfying bite. Just like Daring wanted it too. The second she was released, she reared up her hind hooves and prepared to buck them as hard as she could. When the beasts jaws were close enough, she let loose.

Her hooves connected with its top row of teeth with a deafening crack. The force sent a shiver up Daring’s spine, but she didn’t cease to follow through with her buck. The beast’s eyes squinted in pain as the teeth she struck cracked and shattered. The impact was so great that even the teeth she didn’t strike were shattered by the shock-wave.

With a loud, pained, screech, the beast began to fall away back into the darkness. Daring smirked and started flapping again. She wanted to make a joke about the beast’s dental plan, but had to fight very hard to resist considering the creature she was holding onto in her mouth.

She’d yell it out later.

“DARING!”

Daring’s right hoof shot up into the air, hitting the large dark-blue stallion in his jaw. He was of a burly sort, so instead of flying a few feet into the air and backwards like most stallions usually would, his jaw was merely knocked up a ninety degree angle with a painful crunch. The stallion slowly lowered his jaw and stared at Daring’s frightened expression with a bored look.

“This reminds me of why I broke up with you.” Said the stallion before spitting a speck of blood out of the right corner of his mouth. Upon recognizing him, Daring gave a relieved sigh before chuckling.

“Because your health insurance bill was too high?” she said with a grin. The stallion rolled his eyes and helped her off the wooden table she was laid on. She immediately noticed the wind blowing into her face and the lack of a ceiling. She was on some kind wooden ship high into the clouds. It had the appearance of a pirate ship with a mast and sail to capture the look, but it was powered by a steam engine at the back that had twisting propellers on the bottom to keep it airborne. It was big enough to be a small house, which Daring knew it was. She’d been on this ship many times in the past. She noticed that the state of the ship had improved considerably ever since she stopped living there, minus a bunch of random patch-work dotting the thing. It looked like something had punched a bunch of holes in it.

The same could be said about the stallion in front of her. Usually, he’d be covered in bandages or actively trying to pull an arrow out of his hide, but he looked alright. Of course, he still had a bandage here and there from accidents in general, but it was nothing that couldn’t be explained by his cutie mark…I still think they should make up a more masculine term for stallions. Anyway, it was a picture of a heart in front of two bone-like wrenches that crossed like an X. On the heart were at least seven white bandages that partially covered cuts. Yes, he was quite the clumsy stallion. He’d also built and maintained the ship they were flying in, which was made much easier now that he was no longer with Daring.

His eyes were a vivid crimson and often had that bored look about them. His mane and tail were a slightly lighter shade of blue than his coat and one could easily tell that he’d never owned a comb or brush. In fact, if he were to be given a comb or brush, he’d be met with same amount of confusion as I would if given a Rubik’s cube, and eat it.

“So, Backbone…” addressed daring as she casually leaned against the table and gave him a questionable smile with a raised eyebrow. “I’m guessing you weren’t following me?”

“No. No I wasn’t.” answered Backbone before walking towards the door to the small cabin that made up the back of the ship. “I just happened to be flying by.”

“You happened to just be flying over the center of the Everfree-“

“Shutup! “

“Aw, does big, tough, Backbone miss me?” said Daring with a false sultry gaze.

“About as much as I miss the feeling of an arrow being centimeters away from my heart.”

“I got it out didn’t I?”

The stallion shook his head before opening the door to the cabin at the back of the ship and gesturing for her to follow. The inside of the cabin looked just like she remembered. The engine roared past the back wall like soothing music to her ears. The room was dark except for the fire place at the back wall that was crackling and popping with flames and illuminating the brown and comfy couch in front of it. Tools and diagrams littered the floor and Daring had to step over them carefully as she walked in. Backbone wasn’t so careful and gritted his teeth when he stepped on an upright nail. He yanked it out with his teeth and flung it across the room where it hit one of the many pictures of him and his little sister. Daring couldn’t help but stare at them as they walked toward the couch.

“Sorry about your sister.” Daring said solemnly. Backbone sighed and stopped walking.

“It’s fine. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know, but-“

Suddenly, the bathroom door swung open, bathing the room with light and revealing a dark pink mare with a towel on her back. Her light blue mane was short and hung over her face loosely as the water trickled off of it. She stared angrily at her brother and Daring as they hung their heads.

“I knew I heard that suicidal mare!” shouted the angry mare. “What’s SHE doing back here!?”

“It was so long and beautiful!” Backbone sobbed as he eyed one of the old pictures on the wall, his sister then having a long, beautiful, flowing mane that rivaled the princesses.

“That hair could have gone places.” Said Daring in a raspy voice as she bitterly fought back a tear. Backbone’s sister stared at them blankly as they sobbed quietly behind the couch.

“Are you still fuming about my hair?” asked the mare. “I got LICE from that sadist next to you. It HAD to be cut. It contrasted with my personality anyway!” This was true. Her cutie mark was a dark green rose stem. That was it. No rose at the top.

“I don’t even KNOW her anymore!” shouted Backbone. Daring put a comforting hoof on his shoulder as he sobbed.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” She said before turning her attention to the pink mare. Daring gave her a big, mocking smile. “Hey, Thistle! Hate the new mane-cut by the way.”

“It was your fault! SCREW YOU” Thistle shouted angrily.

“Now when I look at her,” said Backbone, starting to calm down. “I see nothing but wasted potential.” Thistle wished there was a wooden beam around to bang her head against. She would bang her head against one of the wooden walls, but it would probably break.

“So,” started Daring as she took her hoof off of Backbones shoulder. “Why’d you bring me in here anyway?”

“Right, right.” Said Backbone before pointing to the couch with a hoof. “What’s that thing on the couch?” Daring approached the couch and got up on her hind legs to peek over it. Her eye-brows furrowed in confusion.

“What thing?” Daring asked before looking back at Backbone. Having a bad feeling about what that question generally meant, Backbone trotted up to the couch and looked over the…armrest to see that the creature was in fact not there. His breathing increased in pace as he began to question whether or not being near Daring would kill him this time.

“Rose?” said Backbone. “Have you-…Rose?” She wasn’t looking at him and the expression she wore was one of pure terror as she stood in the bathroom doorway. She seemed to be staring past him, so Daring and Backbone slowly turned their heads to see what was paralyzing the mare.

Two eyes stared back them. The whites of them contrasted the darkness as they gave a faint glow. Even the pitch black pupils seemed to have their own shadowy glow as they stared intently at Daring. The eyes seemed to be locked on her, staring deep into her soul and ignoring the other ponies in the room. The flickering flames from the fireplace revealed specks and contours of the being in front of them, confirming that it was in fact the creature Daring had pulled out of the temple. She couldn’t help but notice that it was standing perfectly still, as if it weren’t even breathing.

Backbone began to slowly trot backwards toward his sister as daring did the first thing that came to her mind. Talk to it.

“Are you,” she began after gulping. “friendly?” The eyes just kept staring at her, un-moving. Daring moved her head from side to side. The eyes followed her, making her feel even more un-easy. In a different light, the eyes reminded her of the beast she’d encountered in the temple. She felt that the best way to counteract this un-easy feeling was to be a little more direct. “Hello? Can you understand me?”

The creature seemed taken aback by the question and nodded quickly. The sudden movement shocked everypony in the room, causing Backbone to adopt a defensive stance in front of his sister. He didn’t look all that threatening though. He tried to keep a stoic face, but one could tell by his eyes that he would probably scream like a little girl if the creature decided to attack.

“Okay!” Daring exclaimed. “Are you FRIENDLY?” The creature nodded its head again, forcing a relieved sigh out of Daring. She wasn’t so much afraid, but she knew she would feel guilty if she was alive enough to remember how she was the one that got Backbone and his sister killed.

“Alright. Come into the light so we can see ya. Wouldn’t want Backbone to pee himself. Again.”

“I TOLD you, one of the bad guys spilled lemon juice on me!” Backbone shouted in a defensive tone.

“Whatever.”

Daring watched with a buzz of excitement as the creature revealed itself in the flames. Like Daring thought it was bi-pedal, not looking any different than it did in the temple. It was still wearing the hoodie, which Daring began to see several rips and tears in. The pants were no different. Underneath the hoodies rips she could see what looked like a white shirt. The creature’s eyes had lost their glow when it stepped into the light of the flames, looking somewhat normal by pony standards. Even then, the creature didn’t seem to be breathing. It stood completely still, as if in shock. It’s skin color did nothing to refute the assumption because of how pale it was. Daring couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but she had a hunch that even by this creature’s standards, it wasn’t normal. Something was definitely off about it. Even in the light, its pupils looked like pitch black pools of nothingness and madness. They looked black, but they could’ve been any color. Despite it being maybe half an inch shorter than her, It made her feel wobbly to look directly into its eyes for too long, kind of like the Indescribable Object from before. She cleared her throat as an excuse to look away from it and think for a second.

“Ok, alright.” Said Daring. “Who are you?” The creature stood there without answering, as if hoping that its other-worldly gaze would be answer enough. “The silent treatment again?”

In one frighteningly surreal and fluid motion, the creature raised it’s right arm and pointed a finger at its mouth before shaking its head.

“You don’t talk?” Daring asked. The creature nodded briefly, not taking its odd and uncomfortable eyes off of her. “So, you have a mouth, but you don’t talk?” The creature nodded again. Daring also noticed the way it didn’t seem to understand the concept of facial expressions. It didn’t seem happy, or sad, or angry, or even fearful. One couldn’t tell what it was feeling like. It actually could have been any of those expressions, depending on how one would look at it.

As Daring tried to think of ways to get valuable information out of it without the use of words, they all stood in silence. The creature did not move, and kept its gaze exclusively on Daring. Backbone and his sister were prepared to begrudgingly abandon the ship, but Backbone wasn’t finished installing the new escape pod from when Daring used it to eject that chimera from the ship. They’d probably have to jump. Backbone scolded himself for flying the ship so high up.

“Even if you are friendly,” Daring started. “You understand that we can’t just…trust you. I think…I think my friends here would appreciate it if you…uh…went somewhere where we can keep an eye on you.” The creature stared at her as it waited on her to be more specific. “Any ideas Backbone?” Backbone was taken aback by the sudden transition, hoping that the creature would keep its creepy eyes locked on the trouble making mare in front of him. Fortunately it did, which was even creepier.

“I…think I have an Idea.”

It was a pretty nice day out. The sun was high in the sky, blanketing the now not-so-chaotic Everfree in warmth and beauty. The clouds in the sky looked as if they’d been painted with a brush. The sky itself was especially blue and plush. Yes, from front of the ship, it was a nice view. Daring was hoping that it would be enough to keep the creature’s mind off of the fact that it had been tied to the mast of the ship in a selfish attempt to keep everyone safe.

“You sure this is necessary?” Daring asked Backbone as they examined their handy work.

“Well,” said Backbone matter-of-factly. “I’ve got a cage somewhere in the hull-“

“This is fine.” Daring said abruptly. The creature was very submissive while being tied up. It walked out of the cabin and sat at the base of the mast while Daring and Backbone tightly wrapped the rope around it. It didn’t make any sounds or even wince at how tightly they’d tied him up. It just sat there, looking at Daring the entire time. She felt like she had an iron over her head as it watched her. She’d been stalked before, but this was different. She was sure that it was significant that it only stared at her, but she couldn’t figure out whether it was bad or good that it did so. This led to other suspicions.
Had she rescued it, or had she released it?

“So what the hay is this thing?” asked Backbone, turning his head but keeping his eyes focused on the creature. Daring thought about it before answering, realizing how crazy she’d sound.

“The center of it all, man.” She said with a sense of inner revelation.

“The center of what?”

“The Everfree.” Her answer caused Backbone’s eyes to shrink as he realized what she’d just said.

“Hold on, hold on…you actually DID IT?!” said Backbone as he gave Daring his full attention.

“Yep.” Daring replied with a confident smile. Then something dawned on her and she raised an eyebrow before turning to look at Backbone. “Wait, what do you mean I DID it? You knew what I was doing?”

“…Well, I-“

“So, you WERE looking out for me!” said Daring with a knowing grin. Backbone sighed and walked to the side of the ship. “…Oh no. You still haven’t gotten over me have you?” Backbone gave her an indignant snort in reply. “I KNEW IT!” Daring shouted as she rose on her hind legs and clapped her front hooves. Backbone gritted his teeth in annoyance. “No one could ignore a flank this good lookin’.” Daring joked as she trotted up to his side. She looked up to him and her smile fell slowly. Backbone wasn’t tearing up or some sappy stuff like that. No, it was the lack of feeling on his face that caught Daring off guard. She knew that face. It was the face he made when he was hurt and pissed.

“…Look, man. I’m sorry.” Daring said through a sigh. “But you know why we can’t be like that. You are all your sister has left and…I gotta do my thing for the fate of Equestria.”

“I know.” Backbone agreed sternly. With that said, there wasn’t much else to talk about. They stood there in silence as they watched the Everfree go by below them. Even from that high up, she could see the trees beneath her losing their savage and twisted look. Sunlight was beginning to seep through and touch ground that had not met sunlight for centuries. Some of the animals didn’t react well to it. She watched as abnormally large snake thing tried to slither quickly away from the blotches of sunlight that were being let through. Each time the sun touched it, its rouch scales would sizzle and pop, glowing a bright orange. It hissed in pain as it slithered for its life. It eventually met a dead end between a growing patch of sunlight and a steep dirt hill. It a last ditch effort, its eyes glowed and shot out a yellow hot beam towards the growing patch of sunlight, as if it would be too hot for the sun to handle. It recoiled as far back against the dirt wall as it could, but it wasn’t enough. The angle of the sun was perfect for the snakes position, practically aiming at it. Once the branches began to recede and the leaves started to shrink, the snake was literally toast. It’s body glowed red hot and exploded in a flurry of sparks and fire, leaving no trace of it ever existing aside from the black splotch where it exploded.
Daring watched this happen to Manticores, Chimeras, Cockatrices, and many other Everfree wild-life as the vast forest returned to normal. She would’ve felt bad for them if it weren’t for the thousands of ponies they had killed and devoured, as well as the number of times they nearly killed HER.

She also noticed the large number of freaky bird corpses that littered the ground. They all looked like large crows with no eyes and fanged jaws instead of beaks. They didn’t burn up in the sunlight, so they had to have been able to bear it while they were alive and flying above the trees. She thought about the other explorers that had tried to fly to the center and put two and two together. This also made her think about a few other things.

“Where’d you find me?” asked Daring in an attempt to break the cold silence. “And how come the bird things didn’t kill you?” Backbone sighed again.

“The bird things WERE going to kill us.” Said Backbone. “We had locked ourselves inside the cabin and they pecked away at the ship like tiny jack-hammers. Then, just when they were about to get through or bring the ship down, they all suddenly dropped dead.” Backbone looked to Daring to see her nodding in a ‘Well, what did you expect?’ manner. “We found you and the creature unconscious at the edge of some large, circular, mile wide chasm.” Daring cocked an eyebrow.

“Circular chasm? Like a big hole?” she questioned.

“Yeah.”

“No…circular island in the middle of it?”

“No. Why, was it there before?”

“Yes.” Daring said with an air of confidence. “It was the temple!”

“…Right, right. You always did have a knack for destroying anything in connection with you.” Backbone meant for the remark to hurt Daring, but he got a different reaction. Daring nuzzled his neck affectionately, causing him to shudder.

“Not if that something is as tough as you.” Daring said soothingly, warmth and love radiating from her voice like a bonfire. Backbone stood still as a statue, trying to figure out what he was feeling at the moment. He wanted to push her away. He wanted to tell her off. “You know,” Daring said, resting her head against him with her eyes closed. “If you want to start over, all you have to do is say so.” He didn’t want to tell her off. He wanted to stay like that, with her comfortably nuzzled up against him. He began to remember the nights he’d spend with her like this. Back then, he felt like he was content. Back then, he didn’t have to feel like it was wrong. Back then, he could just let go and accept her affections. But that was before he knew the danger. Before his sister was nearly taken away from him.

Backbone shook his head and snorted before turning and walking back towards the cabin. Daring stumbled to stop herself from falling with a look of mild shock on her face. Backbone opened the cabin door and looked back to Daring. “Doesn’t look like YOU are over it either.” With that said, Backbone slammed the door shut, leaving a surprised Daring alone on the deck with the creature. It was tied to the mast facing the front of the ship, but when Daring turned to look at it, she found its head turned to the side with one eye staring back at her.

“What’re you lookin’ at?” Daring said angrily. The creature looked at her a little longer before slowly turning its head back to face the front of the ship. “Humpf!” She turned back towards the hoof rest and stared out at the sky. The ship was moving pretty fast, and the wind whipped against her face as a result. Now that Backbone was gone, she suddenly felt cold. This feeling was multiplied by a hundred when she noticed that she was still missing her pith helm.

“…It’s not fair.”

Daring was curled up against some crates on the deck by nightfall, fast asleep. She would’ve slept in the cabin, but she just couldn’t bring herself to face Backbone again. She was hurt, and she was angry. Conflicted. Not knowing how to deal with her emotions, she resigned to take a nap outside behind some crates to keep the wind from becoming too uncomfortable. Backbone kept himself busy rebuilding the escape pod in the hull of the ship. His sister Thistle offered to help, but Backbone gave her the cold shoulder. She decided that it would be best to just wait things out by playing her harp. She went to her cabin, set it up, closed her eyes, and let loose. Contrary to most harp players, Thistle was very different. When she played, instead of a heart-warming sound, she produced a sound that tugged at the heart of any and all who heard her. It still sounded beautiful, but it was also painful to listen to, practically wrenching feelings of sadness, shame, and pain out of its listeners. Her performances around the globe would have the audience crying while she played and sang with her spitefully angelic voice, but by the end of her performance, everypony would be happy to have let it all out, showing deep appreciation for her talent. Even her brother would have to leave to avoid becoming all teary eyed. She wished he wouldn’t be so embarrassed though. If anything, Backbone needed, no, deserved, to cry. Over half the songs she wrote were about her brother and the things she’d watch him go through. Through and through, Thistle understood better than anypony what the true meaning of pain and the sacrifice of beauty was.

Strangely enough though, her music never affected her the way it affected others. No, it soothed her. It didn’t make her happy, but it made her feel content, as if the pain she was feeling was being syphoned away into her harp and out into the air. In a sense, she was spending it, something many ponies wished they could do with their emotions without doing something stupid or hurtful. Because of this, Thistle could completely lose herself while playing, blocking out the world and entering her own. It was the way she dealt with it all. The same could be said about Backbone. Whenever something bothered him, he’d lose himself in his work. As for Daring, well, she slept it off. She dreamt about her days as a child, training with her parents and eating ice cream on a corner in Canterlot with her mom. She also dreamt about generally being awesome.

It was because of this that no one heard Luna’s royal voice shout angrily throughout the sky. The force of the angry yell shook the ship, causing Backbone to mess up a weld, causing Thistle to pluck a string too hard, causing Daring to suddenly swing her right hoof at one of the crates in front of her. By the time they had all done this, it was too late.

A bright, dark blue beam shot through the sky like a lightning bolt, hitting the ship right through the hull. The resulting explosion completely destroyed the ship, blowing it and its occupants away in all directions.

Daring was the first to regain consciousness. She was falling and in immense pain. She started flapping on reflex, stopping herself in mid-air. Burning, wooden debris landed on tob of her as a result, sharpening the searing pain in her head.She gritted her teeth and flew from under the falling projectiles as she tried to focus her eyesight and see through the blinding light of the flames. She began to fly away from the scene as fast as she could, dodging debris and…Backbone’s couch. She watched as it fell to the forest floor, half burnt away by fire. It was all she needed to remember and realize what was going on. The ship was gone. Blown up somehow. Backbone and his sister had to be amongst the falling wreckage.

She had to save them.

She began flying around, frantically searching through the burning debris for any sign of Backbone or his sister. For what seemed like hours but could’ve only been seconds, she didn’t see anything but the remains of Backbone’s ship, ‘The Old Re-fixable’.

“This is all my fault..” daring gasped as she took in the absolute chaos. She zoomed downward, convinced by the lack of wreckage above her that her friends were getting close to the ground. “BACKBOOOOONE!” She screamed loudly, hoping for a response. She was now maybe around two hundred feet in the air. At the current rate, they’d hit the ground in less than four seconds.

One…

She spotted Backbones tail through a mass of burning wreckage. She couldn't see Thistle anywhere.

Two…

She sped up and dive-bombed in Backbone’s direction, honing her body into a spear.

Three…

She reached for him as they neared the trees.

Four

She grabbed him and in one humungous, strenuous, effort, pulled him up. The abrupt stop sent a wave of ridiculous pain through her wings and caused her to flap off-balance. They fell through the trees and Daring hit her head.

“…sle…isle…THISTLE!”

Daring’s eyes shot open. She was staring up at the opening she’d left through the trees. Her head was in so much pain that she was sure she was either dying or close to it. The flames seemed to be everywhere around her, causing her to jolt and stand upright. Upon doing so, she nearly fell back down.
YEP. Front right hoof is jacked up…again. She thought. She heard cracking behind her and turned to see a tree slowly falling in her direction as a result of the flames eating away at it. She quickly limp-dodged out the way before it landed. The smell of burning wood was so thick that her breathes were short and far-between. Parts of the ship littered the forest, slowly turning it into a fiery death pit. Daring limped through the inferno as quickly as she could trying to find a clearing. She started to flap her wings but was immediately met with an excruciating shock of pain that made her yelp. Either her wings were broken, or strained out. Flying would be impossible for the next couple days either way.

“Thistle?” called Backbone’s voice from somewhere in the flames. Daring could hear galloping getting closer and closer from in back of her. Daring turned and saw Backbone leaping through the flames, bleeding all over with scorch marks all over him. The look he had on his face was one of desperation mixed with horror. He stared at Daring for maybe half a second before running off into the flames again.

“THISTLLLLLLLLLLE!” He called out with even more desperation.

“Backbone! Wai-“ Daring was cut off by a strong wind that extinguished the flames around her and sent her flying backwards into a tree. She hit her head against the trunk, nearly making her black out again. She looked up to where the source of the wind seemed to come from and saw what looked like an armored Princess Luna descending to the ground.

“…Wha-“

“TRAITOR!” Luna shouted in her royal voice, enveloping Daring in her magic. It wasn’t gentle, putting a little too much pressure on her throat. “THEE HAS BETRAYED US ALL!” Luna used to her magic to fling Daring up and over the burning foliage. Knowing that one more impact to the head would probably kill her, she closed her eyes and braced for impact.

Nothing. The air around her stopped rushing, and she felt nothing. She peeked an eye open to see that she was now an inch away from the ground, somehow hovering in the air.

“SISTER!” Boomed another, familiar royal Canterlot voice. “DESIST IMMEDIATELY!”

Daring turned her head and her eyes widened at the sight before her. Standing maybe a foot away from her was Princess Celestia herself, adorned in her powerful regal armor. She glowed almost as brightly as the sun itself, the heat radiating from her causing Daring to feel uneasy and sweat, Her eyes were glowing orbs of fierce rage and power. Daring gaped at her as Celestia levitated her upright.

“THISTLE!” Shouted Backbone as he came galloping out of a nearby thicket of flames. “PRINCESS, YOU HAVE TO HELP ME! MY SISTER, I CAN’T FIND HER!” Celestia glowered at Backbone as he pleaded with her before suddenly and quickly turning her head to look at an especially large fire about a dozen yards in front of her. It seemed to be where most of the wreckage fell. Backbone frantically looked between the princess and the fire.

“Do you…see her?” Backbone let out in tired gasps. Celestia narrowed her eyes further in an attempt to see what was in the wreckage. Daring, despite her ear-splitting headache, decided chip in and tried to make out what was so interesting in the wreckage.

…She could see a figure pushing the wreckage aside as it emerged from the flames.

A bi-pedal.

As if on cue, Luna appeared next to Celestia in a flash of light. Upon noticing what her sister was staring at, Luna’s glowing white eyes went wide with alarm. “THINE ENEMY IS HERE!” she shouted as she began charging her horn. “WE MUST STRIKE NOW SISTER!”

The bi-pedal began making its way out of the flames, the heat somehow not deterring it.

“SISTER!” shouted Luna loudly as she kept charging her horn. “NOW!”

Celestia’s horn began to glow as the creature emerged from the flames. Daring noticed that it was carrying something above it that seemed to be bundled up by what looked like the creature's hoodie. Then, from the light the princesses were emitting from their horns, she noticed the bright blue hair sticking out of whatever it was…

Thistle.

“Thistle?” Backbone said in disbelief. “THISTLE!” He charged for the creature holding his bundled up sister but was abruptly yanked back by a golden aura. Daring was in turn, dropped to the ground.

“STAY BACK!” Celestia shouted authoritatively.

“WE MUST STRIKE NOW SISTER!” Luna yelled again. Nodding, Celestia began to charge her horn.

“NO!” Backbone shouted as he struggled against the princesses powerful aura. “IT HAS MY SISTER!”

“IT’S KILLED HER! IT’S A TRICK!” Luna rebutted. The earth was now shaking with the force of the blast they were going to release.

“PLEASE!” Backbone yelled out. Daring could hear it in that yell. He was about to crack. His throat was choking up with tears. Daring could already feel the guilt that would be soon to come.

She got up on her hooves quickly, ignoring the pain in blind fear. She dashed forward as fast as she could and jumped high into the air.

“STOP!” She yelled as loud as she possibly could. The spell discharged from the princesses as Celestia watched Daring jump in front of the shot. Celestia's eyes widened in horror as she turned her horn upward and pushed her sister to the side. The blasts just barely missed Daring, singing her fur and her skin. The shots flew off into the distance. Half a second afterwards, the earth shook violently as the blasts hit something and exploded. They were like small nukes, sending out a shockwave before a wave of searing heat. Fortunately, they were too far away to pose a threat to the ponies…or the creature.

Daring fell to the ground, finally listening to her body's complaints.

With an effort all too familiar to the mustard colored adventurer, especially recently Daring opened her eyes. Slowly. They felt heavier than usual, and it took her a moment to remember why. She'd been to countless hospital throughout her life. In nearly every visit, they's have to pump healing magic into her to keep her alive, causing various side effects. One of which was extreme lethargy.

"G-Great..." she breathed out in a raspy voice. Once her vision was cleared up, she noticed the white ceiling. The very familiar white ceiling of the Canterlot Emergency Hospital. In fact, because of the large crack in the ceiling, Daring got the feeling that she'd been in that exact same room in the past.

She slowly looked to her left and saw a heart monitor. It appeared to be working, but she couldn't hear the beeping it resonated. Another symptom of healing magic was a temporary loss of hearing. Especially if the healing magic was applied to the brain. Beyond the heart monitor, sleeping soundly in a chair, was Backbone. Just looking at him made her remember everything. The center of the Everfree, the metal copy of Discord, the creature, Backbones ship, and...the explosion.

The explosion that may have killed his sister.

Suddenly, as if sensing her growing fear and guilt, Backbone's eyes shot open, almost as if he'd never even been asleep. He stared at her as she looked back at him, her eyes half-closed. She almost naturally overlooked the bandages all over his body, seeing as it was common for him. Growing uncomfortable with the silence and anxiety over his sister's fate, Daring spoke up in a strained raspy voice.

"Where's This-"

"She's fine." said Backbone stoically. Daring let out a relieved sigh. She hadn't been that nervous for at least a full year, and that my friends, is truly saying something. "She was farthest from the engine, so she only got a concussion along with some cuts, bruises and burns. She's awake now."

Daring accepted the news with a slow nod before turning her head to look back at the ceiling.

"You're here to leave me alone forever now?" she asked blankly. Backbone only answered with silence, holding his head down. "Well, if that's the case, I'M dumping YOU."

Backbone looked back at her slightly flustered.

"What?"

"You heard me." said Daring with a smirk. "I'm not going to be the dumpee'."

"Daring-"

"No. Don't draw it out. These things are meant to be done like d-duct tape."

"...Daring-"

"Or, in your case, like a-arrows."

"DARING-"

"I'm sure we'll find o-others. Well, maybe you will with your tough, sexy, self. I'm pretty sure no one will want to hang around with an accident prone, tomboyish, l-loser-"

"I"M NOT LEAVING YOU!"

Daring's eyes, brimming with tears, widened slightly with Backbone's outburst. She turned her head to face him and noticed that he was now standing up, breathing heavily with anger. Realizing what he'd done, he calmed down and sat back into his chair with a sigh.

"W-what?" said Daring. Backbone looked at her with a worried expression.

"Look," he began. "Thistle and I had a talk when she woke up a few hours ealier and...well, I was telling her about how I would make sure I never saw you again and that I was sorry. I told her all these plans I'd concocted to distance myself from you and anything involved with you." Backbone looked down dejectedly. "Then she slapped me."

Darings eyes widened even more. You wake up from a near death experience only to slap the one who was worried the most about you? That girl surely lives up to her namesake.

"She called me an idiot and basically told me off. Said she didn't like you, but if you made me happy and vice-versa, she wouldn't let me let HER stand in the way of it. No matter what."

Daring was speechless. Well, until she wasn't.

"Sure. Thistle approves of YOU being with ME? You must be hyped up on anesthetics or som-"

"Daring, stop being a retard for five seconds." said Backbone with a stern look. "Anyway, I argued back about it, figuring that the drugs were dulling her judgment. But she wouldn't have it. Threatened to show you those old high-school photos of me at the graduation ceremony."

"The graduation ceremony?" asked daring as she raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"That's not the point. What I'm trying to say, is that my sister talked some sense into me. She's a grown mare, and she can make her own decisions. If one of those decisions means putting her life on the line to make her brother happy, than she can do that. I can't control her life." After this, there was a long pause, as if he were taking yet another moment to let this sink in for himself.

"S-So?" said Daring, edging him on. Backbone looked up at her once more and gave her a determined look.

"Whether it be arrows or swords that run me through, my special somepony, will always be Daring Do."

They continued to stare at each other for a while. Then Daring wiped the tears from her eyes and slowly got out of bed. Her hooves were shaky, but she was used to it. She slowly walked over to Backbone, his gaze still determined and serious, and put her hoof on his shoulder.

"Backbone.." said Daring with a heartfelt look. "You must take an oath now." This caused Backbones determined gaze to shift into confusion as he stared deeply into her mysterious, vivid, crimson eyes. "That you will never, EVER, recite a love poem in public as long as you live."

"Psh!"

Daring gave him a little peck on the lips before embracing him in a shaky, consoling, hug. Backbone savored the feeling of her embrace, wishing that he could just stay that way for the rest of the evening. But as usual with life and pleasure, it always ends too soon.

"Ok." said Back bone as he pushed daring back just enough for them to be face to face. "I'm being selfish. There are other things I came here to tell you. Some pretty important things."

"Fire away." said Daring with a flick of her mane. Backbone took a moment to collect his thoughts and form his next sentence.

"Ummm...you're a terrorist."

Daring stared at him curiously, blinking a few times.

"What?" she asked.

"Princess Luna is VERY pissed off about what you did, and she sorta...kinda...wants to banish or be-head you."

"WHAT!?" shouted Daring, jumping away and instinctively flaring out her wings. The action causes her to hiss and grit her teeth in pain before immediately retracting them. "Ow...WHY!?"

"I don't know." said Backbone with a defeated sigh. "Luna shouted that it was none of my business. But I'm pretty sure it's not because you normalized the Everfree."

Daring's eyes widened in realization.

"That weird thing I found..."

Author's Note

So this is the first story I've ever done on here. Be brutally honest. XD

#2 Fired Both Ways

After the grim news, Backbone informed Daring about her court date following her release from the hospital. It was to be a private court session with no jury, and Daring knew that wasn't good. You see, Celestia's ability to rule is solely focused on the amount she shows. There's nothing unloving about justice or punishing criminals, but the death penalty and banishment were still viewed as a kind of taboo in Equestria. To see their ruler personally condemn one her own subjects to death would be like watching a beloved mother stab one of her children through the heart.

It would make her seem like stone-hearted dictator underneath her warm smile, and everyone hates fake smiles. Even though Celestia wasn't like that at all, she didn't want to deal with rumors about her "dictator side". Her subjects were already slightly fearful of her because of her past. Rumors of her in battle when things weren't so harmonious give even the toughest of the royal guard nightmares. Luna had seen it herself.

Hence, whenever crimes were bad enough to be brought before the princesses themselves, they were held privately.

Daring wanted very badly to forget this knowledge. Unfortunately, for the next two days, she couldn't. She did nothing but stare blankly at the wall in front of her bed and barely talked at all the few times Backbone visited her.

You'd think she'd be more appreciative of her only real friend, but nope. Silence. Then again, he was also being very quiet. He was just as nervous as her, if not much more. He couldn't imagine living his life without daring. Well, actually no. He could. He'd fix things for money for the rest of his life and die of loneliness and a bitter heart, much like I think I will. It's no little known fact that most fanfic authors are single. I'd like to say i don't know why, but from what I'm writing and what I've read, I think I know why. We're generally just, plain, weird.

....

Ahem!

So Daring waited anxiously, at times breaking into sweats. From what Backbone had told her, she'd basically committed heavy treason against Equestria. How, he didn't know. Or if he did, he wouldn't tell her.

Part of her knew why she was being tried. It was common knowledge that the center of the Everfree was off limits to adventurers, but Daring didn't know why. She figured it was because of the immense power involved and how dangerous one pony could become if they held the power of the Everfree in their ha-HOOVES, but there were no laws stating that the center of the Everfree was to be left alone. Also, Daring and her family had been given an actual permit by Celestia herself that allowed them to handle rare or powerful objects without national supervision. Had she over-stepped an unsaid but obvious boundary? If so, she could argue that over-stepping boundaries was her job.

The moment her wings and head had healed enough for her release, guards were already pouring into the hospital to fetch her. FAR too many guards. Celestia's personal Day guards at that. It was a known fact that Daring was a dangerous and resourceful pony, but she doubted she was dangerous enough to take down one Day guard. Let alone a dozen.

They escorted her to a carriage outside of the hospital where she found Celestia sitting stoically in one of the seats. She looked over to Daring with her famous poker face and motioned for her to get into the carriage. Celestia said nothing as Daring got inside. Every time Daring dared to look up at her, she found that same poker face staring scorching holes into her.

The ride to the castle court room was pure torture. Celestia remained silent the whole ride. Daring felt like her stomach was burning from some secret spell Celestia had cast. She wanted to jump off the carriage as it zoomed through the sky, but her wings weren't yet ready for that kind of strain, and she'd be speared through a few dozen times before reaching the edge of the carriage.

That chrome copy of Discord had planned to kill her before mutilating her body. She feared that Celestia wouldn't give her that privilege.

Finally, the castle was in sight. Guards bowed before the princess as they landed on a large balcony over-looking Canterlot. Celestia and the guards wasted no time in ushering Daring out of the carriage and into the castle.

Then, in a flash of light from Celstia's horn, they were in what appeared to be the royal court-room. Daring noticed that she was sitting down in a wooden chair and that Celestia was seated in front of her in the center of a tall, marble-white, half-circle, desk. To her right sat an extremely angry Luna, who's eyes were literally smoking white.

Surprisingly, sitting to the far left of Celestia, was discord. It was common knowledge that he was now completely reformed. Giant goat-demon things tend to have that effect on pretty much any creature. He seemed worried, something she couldn't help but be fascinated by. And scared. Discord seldom worried about anything until things got serious. As in, the-world-is-about-to-end serious.

Two guards stood behind her by the entrance to the courtroom, which was strange seeing as no one cared enough to use it. Did every door in the castle have a pair of guards to watch over them? Perhaps they measured the success of their careers by how many doors they'd guarded?

"Daring Do," addressed Celestia, causing Daring to jump in her seat. "Do you know why you are here?"

Daring stared at the princess, beginning to sweat. She didn't. Nope. Not even in the slightest. Telling Celestia that would make her appear unrepentant, and an unrepentant criminal is the worst kind.

Or not. I don't own a book of general, philosophical sayings.

Daring tugged at her collar, wishing she had her pith helm with her at that moment to help her feel more confident and less sweaty. She figured she'd better speak up before Celestia had a chance to angrily rephrase the question.

"Um...to be honest, your majesty...no. I haven't the slightest idea."

"LIES!" shouted Luna in the royal Canterlot voice, causing the room to shake and Daring to jump and cover her face with her hooves. She was daring. Not fearless. So I wouldn't advise holding it against her, especially since a complete lack of fear is stupidity. "THINE MASTERS SEEK TO DECIEVE US SISTER!"

"Calm yourself sister." said Celestia in soothing voice. "I understand that you have personal ties to this case, but we must up-hold justice. Not the blind accusations of our hearts."

Luna, with much difficulty, finally composed herself and made her eyes cease their furious glow. Daring peeked at her from behind her hooves, sighing with relief. She'd already experienced a sliver of the moon princesses strength when she'd been blown off a ship and hurled into a tree. She doubted that her fathers righteous fury could stand up to her.

"Ms. Do," began Celestia. "You are being put on trial for the release of one of Equestrias most lethal threats."

Daring was taken aback by the statement. Forgetting formality, she voiced her concern.

"W-What? How? Who?"

Celestia stared at her with a stoic, yet contemplative stare.

"Do you recall what you found in the Everfree?" asked Celestia without breaking eye contact.

"Y-yes." said Daring. "I...I found what I think was the equivalent of the temple of chaos and then saved this weird looking creature that seemed to be the source of it all." Daring almost didn't notice Celestia wince when she mentioned the creature. "I'm guessing that the creature is reason I'm here?"

"Boy." corrected Celestia.

"Huh?"

"He isn't a creature. He's just a boy."

There was a moment of silence as Daring waited for Celestia to elaborate. To her surprise, Celestia got up from her seat and began walking towards the stairs leading to the main floor.

"The Everfree has been the cause of many problems throughout the years." started the sun princess as she walked. To Daring's relief, she was no longer looking at her. "Manticores." she started down the stairs slowly. "Cockatrices." her golden-clad hooves touched the main floor. "Ursa's that trample whole villages in one fell swoop." she began her slow trot towards daring. "And many other creatures nopony has ever lived to tell about." she stopped in front of daring, focusing her unreadable expression on her once more. "One may begin to think, 'Why won't the princesses do anything about the Everfree?'." she kneeled down to look daring straight into her freaked out, crimson, eyes. "What do you think Daring?"

The adventurer felt like she couldn't move. Daring had never been personally spoken to by the princess for this long. She mainly communicated her exploits and adventures with the princesses through mail correspondence. The few times she had spoken with Celestia, she seemed genuinely happy, as if nothing Daring told her could possibly anger her. Now, although she couldn't tell what the bearer of the sun was feeling, Daring knew it wasn't happiness. No. It was something else. She couldn't help but wonder if this was the face Celestia wore when when she killed somepony.

Considering all this, Daring was aware of the context within the princess's question. She knew that Celestia was aware of Daring's research skills. She knew Daring had come upon the same question while trying to find out what was causing the flow of chaos in the Everfree. Daring didn't want to answer that question now because of her answer before.

She didn't know. And she didn't care.

After realizing she wouldn't get an answer due to Daring's conflicted state, Celestia sighed and resumed walking passed her.

"You see Daring," began the princess in a slightly louder tone. "Not every hole has a golden horse shoe at the bottom." Daring turned to look at the princess and saw her standing in the walkway bisecting the jury seating area. She turned to stare back at Daring with a look no longer hollow. Her face now looked pained. "Sometimes, it's just a dark, bottomless, pit."

Understanding Celestia's point, Daring's ears splayed backwards in shame. Her father had told her that once, but she disregarded it as something she'd never really need to take into account. He'd told her that her special talent wasn't discovering secrets for personal gain. It was to keep those secrets away from those that would misuse them. She could still remember what her father said a few days before she'd left out to start her own life.

"A good cutie mark doesn't make a good pony. A bad cutie mark doesn't make a bad pony. That's entirely up the bearer."

Seeing the guilty expression on Daring's face, Celestia trotted up to her and lifted her...chin? Snout? She then looked into Daring eyes with a comforting, but stern look only she could really do.

"Now do you understand why you're here?" asked Celestia softly.

"Yes." said Daring plainly. She was aware that her ego and personal want may have put Equestria at risk, and nothing displeased Celestia more than hurting her subjects.

Celestia sighed as she released Daring.

"When this duty was assigned to you and your parents, you all became very dangerous ponies. Your father could track down anything no matter how far or well hidden. You're mother always found a way, even if there wasn't one to begin with." Celestia's expression hardened, causing Daring to inch backwards into her seat. "Then they bore a child that could do both these things as her special talent. On top of that, they conditioned you to be a killer if it came to it, and I find it has come to that many times."

Daring suddenly had a flashback of the night she had to defend herself against three griffon assassins. She could still remember standing in the moonlight of her window with a knife in her mouth, covered in the blood of her assailants as she stared at their motionless, maimed, bodies. Shaking the memory away as she did with so many others like it, she swallowed at what Celestia was implying.

"Your general skillset and the fact that I've trusted you with the powerful artifacts you find practically makes you a threat to Equestria yourself. You understand why I've had to take such a heavy-hoofed approach."

Daring nodded. She could only imagine the damage her father could've done had he decided to basically turn evil. Her mother would be even worse.

With a reciprocated nod and a flash of blinding light, Celestia was back behind the judges counter.

"Daring do," said the sun bearer with authority. "As punishment for your actions," Daring shrunk back and winced like she was about to take a punch. It might as well have been. "You are hear-by banned from any activities regarding your duty as the royal treasury protector." Daring opened her eyes, thinking she'd heard her wrong. No, she wasn't relieved. The death penalty would have been better. She looked up to Celestia with a look of pure shock and betrayal.

"How long?" Daring asked, once again not caring about the rule to remain silent in the court unless permitted to speak. Luna was visibly agitated by this.

"Until further notice." said Celestia with a slow nod.

Daring's tense posture drooped a little as she thought of the pros of her current predicament.

At least I'm not banned forever. Maybe. I guess I can work with maybe. I usually work with maybe's.

"In addition," said Celestia as she held up a hoof causing daring's ears to flick upwards. "You will be moved to Ponyville where you will be closely monitored by Twilight Sparkle." Daring didn't mind being watched by Twilight Sparkle. She was a fan, but she wasn't...overly attached to be euphemistical. She could already imagine waking up in the middle of the night to see that rainbow maned pegasus watching her sleep through a window. Daring shuddered at the thought. "This is being done for both your physical and mental safety. Complete isolation is seldom good for either of these."

Discord gave a half-hearted chuckle which caused luna to give him a stern look. Luna often doubted her sisters call to make him an official judge, but even she knew that Discord wasn't stupid. He was actually a few centuries older than both her and her sister, making him quite experienced. Considering his recent double-reformation and his refusal to kill any-pony throughout all his years as a menace, it could be said that he still maintained a sliver of justice in his metaphysical heart.

A sliver that was growing gradually bigger over time. Celestia felt that he would make a great judge someday. He just needed a little practice. Or alot. The point is, he was there to mainly watch and learn.

Most court dates, Disocrd sat behind the judges counter looking like an angry old man. But not this one. After all, it was his fault any of this was happening. Because of his recently reformed conscience, it bothered him to no end.

"Lastly," said Celestia, ignoring Discords antics. "You will be charged with the supervision of the boy you found in the Everfree." Daring's eyes widened in shock.

"But, I thought you said-" Celestia silenced her with a raised hoof.

"True, he may be dangerous, but so are you. I feel you both could benefit from some time in Ponyville."

Realizing that she couldn't argue, Daring accepted her charge with a sigh. She'd freed it, now she'd have to take care of it. If she didn't and something bad happened, she guessed that she'd be the first to get the sharp end of the stick. It was only fair right?

"Do you wish to make an appeal against your verdict?" asked Celestia. Daring felt like the question was a threat.

"No, your highness." said Daring with a defeated shake of her head.

"Understood. Do the other judges concur?"

"I concur." said Discord as he looked out one of the many large windows in the room with a thoughtful look. Celestia nodded and looked to her sister, who was glaring at Daring. After what seemed like hours, the moon bearer sighed through gritted teeth.

"I...concur." said luna with a shake of her head. Smiling softly, Celestia nodded once more before shifting her gaze to Daring.

"Good."

"That's...actually not that bad." said Backbone with a shrug. "Gives you more time to write."

He and Daring were standing at the back of a train heading for Ponyville, getting some fresh air. The wind billowed through Daring's hair as she gazed at Canterlot's shrinking form with the sun setting behind it. She gave a snort in bitter agreement.

"I guess." said Daring.

"Beats letting Luna get a piece of you." said Backbone with a half-hearted smile that didn't phase Daring's angry, depressed, demeanor in the slightest.

"Barely." she said with her muzzle resting on the railing.

"I didn't think you hated being cooped up that much."

"I do."

"Well, c'mon. It's Ponyville. Stuff always happens there."

"Why are you coming with me?"

Backbone seemed offended by the question.

"What do you mean, why am I coming with you? Have you forgotten my love poem?"

Daring cringed, trying not to smile.

"No. Have you forgotten the oath?"

"I never agreed to take that oath."

Daring buried her head into her hooves on the railing, splaying her ears backwards.

"...Please....please don-"

"Whether it be arrows or swords that run me through,"

"I will grind your face into these train tracks."

"My special somepony,"

"BACKBONE!"

"Will always be daring dAGH!"

Before Backbone could even register Daring's movements, she had him in a chokehold. For any other stallion, it would have been deadly after the first few seconds, but Backbone's throat was unusually thick and strong. He could stay like that for at least half an hour. Well, he would have if Daring hadn't tipped him over the railing with his face inches from the railroad tracks. She wasn't trying to pointlessly strangle him anymore, but Backbone was sure he'd asphyxiate himself by screaming. Daring was holding him by his tail with her mouth.

"AAAAAAH! PULLMEUPPULLMEUP!"

"I warnsh dyou!" said Daring as she resisted the urge to laugh and accidentally kill him.

"IACCEPTTHEOATH!"

Daring's smirk grew as she leaned her head down and to the side as if to hear him more clearly. This in turn caused Backbone's muzzle to hover half an inch above the train tracks.

"Whaaaaadsh?"

"I ACCEPT THE OATH!"

"Goodsh."

With a painful and powerful yank, Daring pulled Backbone back over the railing. He fell on his belly, hyperventilating with a terrified expression. Daring began girlishly giggling uncontrollably with a crooked smile.

"You..."said Backbone through gasps for air. "Have a....SICK...sense of humor."

"Hmhm! I know!"

Smiling at his near-death attempt to make her laugh and cheer up, he gradually got back up to his hooves and regained control of his breathing.

"What if a bump in the tracks caused you to drop me?"

"I don't know." said Daring as she began to calm down. "Whoops?"

"You really are insane."

"Yep!"

"That's hot."

Daring blushed and looked away as she walked back over to the railing, now looking more happy and content.

"So," she began. "The princesses said it would be okay if you came with me?"

"Yeah." said Backbone as he approached the railing to stand next to Daring. "They figured a paid vacation in Ponyville would kind of make up for nearly blasting me and my sister to smithereens."

"For how long?"

"Until they build me another ship." chuckled Backbone. "Regardless, I insisted that they let me keep working. To keep busy and all that."

"Sounds like you." said Daring with a smile. "You always hated mooching off of other ponies."

"What about that thing?" asked Backbone as he scratched his head.

"Huh?"

"That creature you found in the Everfree. Didn't they say he was coming with you? I didn't see him on the train."

"Boy." corrected Daring.

"What?"

"It's a boy. At least that's what Celestia told me."

Backbone raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"So, this boy is the reason you had to go to royal court? Why?"

Daring shrugged.

"Celestia knows I'm curious but she hasn't told me. I'm guessing she wants this hush-hush."

"Yeah." said Backbone with a yawn. "Luna told me not to talk about it to anyone other than you. She kinda threatened me."

"I figured. Anyway, he's supposed to be arriving in a few days. Probably have to domesticate the kid or something."

Backbone simply nodded and enjoyed the beautiful, yet somehow still threatening, sight of the sun receding behind Canterlot. He felt that the sunset and sun-rise were done with different suns. One indicated beauty, love, and hope. The other symbolized dread, coming darkness, and, for some reason he couldn't put his hoof on, bloodshed. Much like Celestia herself.

There were biographies of Princess Twilight, Princess Cadence, and even princess Luna, but there were absolutely none of Princess Celestia. No one knew anything about her past other than what was passed down by word-of-mouth, and most of the stories did not seem realistic. They were scary.

Daring yawned and stretched, having thought of similar things unbeknownst to Backbone. The only difference being that she associated herself with bloody sunsets more so than Celestia. She was tired. Anytime she was bothered by bad memories, she was tired. She wanted to sleep.

"I'm turning in." she said simply, much to Backbone's surprise.

"No make out session before bed?" asked Backbone with a smirk as Daring walked to the door leading inside the train.

"As tempting as that sounds, I want enough patience to deal with Ponyville tomorrow." Daring said as she opened the door. She stopped and turned around with a raised eyebrow. "You're okay with that right?"

"Honestly?" said Backbone with warm smile. "I've been more than content with the little, meaningful pecks you give me on rare occasions. Looking forward to them keeps me going."

"No they don't." said Daring.

"Hey, I'm not friends with the Apple family for my dishonesty."

Daring knew he was right, so she couldn't stop the oncoming blush. She hated how this one stallion could make her blush like a little school-filly. Perhaps it was because he was the first to take an interest in her? She'd been kind of a loner until she'd gotten him literally wrapped up into one of her adventures three years ago. But thats a story for another time. Or, in Daring's mind, a Joke for another time.

She looked into the train car. There wasn't anyone inside, and it was pitch dark with the windows being the only sources of light. She stepped inside, but then stepped back because of a memory.

She didn't like trains.

"Actually?" said Daring without looking back. "You mind turning in with me?"

Backbone had been watching her, anticipating her actions, her memories, and her question. She'd told him stories about trains that even scared him.

"Of course." he said, his warm smile apparent in his tone. Daring didn't dare enter the train until Backbone was at her side. She then proceeded to slowly make her way towards one of the seats, her crimson eyes wide and her ears perked up in full alert. She stared at the comfy looking couch before her. No matter how much she stared at it, she couldn't imagine sleeping there.

"Here." said Backbone before biting the cushion on the couch. With barely any effort, he ripped the cushion off the couch and layed it on the floor of the train car.

"What are you doing?" asked Daring. "That's property damage!"

"Celestia's got my back." he said as he ripped off another cushion. She watched in confused shock as he proceeded to do this with eight other cushions, rendering the train cart couch-less. He arranged the cushions on the floor into what Daring assumed was a large bed.

Big enough for the two of them.

"Oh."

"Yeah." said Backbone before dragging two large covers from one of the train compartments. Daring trotted to the makeshift mattress and sat down. Backbone draped the covers over her and laid down beside the blushing adventurer.

"You don't have to-"

"I want to." said Backbone cutting her off. Using one of his large upper legs, he effortlessly dragged her closer to him until she could feel his heartbeat through the covers.

"This is embarrassing." she mumbled.

"You need to sleep." said Backbone. "I'm hoping this will keep you from having night mares and socking me in the jaw when you wake up. Or worse."

Daring giggled.

"You're stupid."

"Those punches hurt man. They remind me of the days when I used to spar with my old man."

"How's he doing?" asked Daring after a pause.

"Bedridden, but I bet he could still tie knots with my spine if he really wanted to."

Daring giggled again.

"Thanks. For everything."

"You heard my poem right?"

"Oh, I'm never going to forget that." said Daring before pecking him on the cheek playfully and snuggling up to him. She was a loner, but so was Backbone. Why? Well, it's hard to make friends when you spend ninety percent of your time in the air and only talk to an insane mare that thinks nearly killing you is funny. Daring was a loner because she didn't want anypony to get killed by proximity Two negatives make a positive right? No one really wants to be alone.

Author's Note

So I totally read through the comments and am palnning on re-doing that whole first chapter. And possibly this one. Yeah, definitely this one. Regardless, please be just as honest with this chapter as you all were with the first one. It helps me steer this thing! If it seems rushed, I'm sorry. I'm anxious to keep this updated so that it doesn't get forgotten or something like that. By me. I'm very forgetful. :derpyderp2:

# 3 Normality

The boy laid still on the cold, cobblestone, floor with a small window as the only source of light in his cell. A brilliant full moon shone through it, illuminating his still form. He was sitting down with his knees in his arms as he stared at the moon with an empty, yet alert, look. He'd been staring out the window the entire day, literally doing nothing else.

Despite this, the Night guards outside his cell remained on full alert, watching the sleeping creature like an eagle tracking its prey.

In comparison to them, the creature was tiny, only coming up to their chins or lower. This left them wondering why they'd been put on full alert when the boy was brought in. The princesses wanted every guard on duty to abandon their preordained posts in order to assist in making the dungeons as secure as possible. It didn't make sense.

If the boy tried anything, the guards posted at his cell were more than confident in their abilities to restrain or kill him. Because of the energy imbued in their armor, they harbored extraordinary strength and reflexes. Just one guard alone was enough to easily overpower a manticore or hydra, so they were pretty certain they'd have no problems dealing with the small creature that was said to have also come from the Everfree. Even if it was the cause of it all.

One of the guards, Night Year, shook his head.

"I don't get it."

"Get what?" said his partner and best friend, Shadow Phase.

"The whole thing, Shadow."

Shadow sighed and shook his head as well, remembering that the cell was sound proofed.

"The princesses deemed this thing a level one threat. They wouldn't lie to us, Night."

"I'd never accuse our rulers of lying. For all we know, this thing gives deadly hugs. I'm just wondering why they decided to lock it up instead of kill it if it's that dangerous."

"Doesn't matter to me." said Shadow with a shrug. "I'm three doors away from a promotion."

"How are things with the boy?" said an alarmingly soothing voice from behind them. The two guards turned around with their spears at the ready only to see Celestia standing before them. They immediately retreated their spears with a sigh before bowing before her.

"Our apologies your highness." said Shadow frantically. Celestia shook her head and waved a hoof dismissively.

"No need to apologize." she said with a warm smile. "Although my sister demands paragon-like discipline, I know that communication is vital in any profession. Even when it is unneeded."

Although he was grateful for her forgiveness, he had to resist the urge to tell her that he'd been apologizing for pointing his spear at her. She probably didn't care anyway, seeing as they posed no threat to her.

Not wanting to disregard her previous question, Night Year spoke up.

"Everything is fine your majesty." he said as he and his partner rose up from the ground. "The creature hasn't moved from that spot, choosing to look out the window."

"Good. You are dismissed."

Night and Shadow looked at each other as if to ascertain that they'd heard her correctly. They had.

"Y-Your highness?" said Shadow with an ear perked up.

"You are dismissed." Repeated Celestia calmly with a nod. The guards gave her a perplexed and worried look before nodding and starting off down the hall. Disobeying orders could land them guarding the gates to Tartarus, and that didn't end well for any guard. Rumors had it that just standing next to the gates could drive anypony insane. Guards unfortunate enough to be posted there often ended up in a mental hospital as a vegetable. Or worse. An actual vegetable. It was still a mystery how Discord could live there so peacefully.

When the guards had exited the dark corridor through a door, Celestia waited a while just to make sure they were out of earshot. She then turned her gaze back to the boy inside the cell.

One would think that an explosion and a conflagration would be enough to sear off its clothing, but it wasn't. His pants and shoes still looked the same as they did before the explosion.

They looked no different than they did when she'd sealed him away.

Her demeanor sagged and she took a step towards his door. She opened it and disarmed the barrier Shining Armor had cast on it. Then the sound barrier.

Then the boy's head turned.

He looked at Celestia as she entered the room, staring deep into her magenta eyes before averting them to the floor. Most ponies would have shrunk back upon seeing his eyes, but not Celestia. To her, they were no different than a cutie mark on a beloved child.

Upon closer inspection, Celestia could see burns and cuts on his face and hands. She could remember seeing similar wounds on his upper body when he was walking out of the fire with Thistle wrapped up in his shirt and hoodie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shocked at what the gray haired pegasus had done, Celestia backpedaled to look at her unconscious form on the ground. She was still breathing, but from a quick scan with her horn, Celestia knew she wouldn't be for long unless treated soon.

Luna growled at Daring before turning her attention back to the creature emerging from the fire. She began to charge her horn once more.

"Stop."

Shocked with her sister's calm and quiet tone, Luna gave her a confused look.

"He APPROACHES, sister!" said Luna through gritted teeth.

"He's carrying a pony Luna."

"He's trying to use her as incentive to avoid our wrath Tia! He's done this before!"

Celestia squinted and scanned the bundled up pony the creature was carrying above it. It was a mare, and she was alive. The creature steadily made it's way toward them, the flames shadowing its form from behind.

"FOUL BEAST!" shouted Luna as she finished charging her horn.

"NO!" shouted Celestia as she reached for her sister once more.

But she was too late.

Before Celestia could tackle her sister, the dark, searing, blast zoomed towards the creature. Celestia recognized the blast's dark-blue, color, knowing Luna had fired a shot intended to kill. Then she looked towards the creature. Things seemed to move in slow motion as she saw the light from the blast illuminate it's face as it was now inches in front of it. Where she expected to see two pitch black circles with red dots in the center for eyes, she saw something that made her heart freeze.

His eyes were normal, Just the way she remembered them.

Then it's face was gone. The blast continued on it's merry way and completely disintegrated a few trees in the distance in an explosion, adding to the inferno. Celestia tumbled with her sister as she tackled her to the ground. Luna struggled to get free as Celestia pinned her to the earth.

"LET GO!" shouted Luna with her eyes strained shut.

"Luna, STOP!" Celestia shouted back. Realizing that her eyes had been shut, Luna opened them and began to charge her horn as she frantically looked around for the boy.

Her eyes grew wide in terror.

He was standing right in front of them. He was no longer holding the bundled up mare, and was staring down at her with his wide, unstable, eyes. They were now glowing, with his black pupils seeming to give off their own, dark, glow. His exposed upper body was covered in smoking burns and cuts, but he didn't seem bothered by them at all. He was standing completely still.

Celestia turned to see what her sister was gaping at and jolted, joining her sister in shock. Noticing that he wasn't carrying the bundled up mare, she looked around for her fearfully.

Backbone was standing over the now un-bundled mare with his ear to her chest. He let out a relieved sigh before cradling her in his hooves.

Luna began to shake. A voice at the back of her head had told her the boy wouldn't need a hostage to get to them, but another, bitter voice overpowered it. She wanted him dead. She always wanted him dead. Even if it meant harming an innocent.

Celestia, still confused, looked back at the boy. He was still staring at Luna, completely ignoring her. Slowly, she inched away from the boy while nudging Luna to do the same. Luna didn't want to move, or rather, her body did not want to. She felt like a normal pony standing before manticore, but she complied. Even as she got up, the boy followed her with his gaze.

"S-Sister-"

"Shh!" breathed Celestia as they stood over the boy apprehensively. Celestia looked over to Luna's horn to see it still gathering energy. "Stop charging your horn."

"But-"

"Do it Luna!" said Celestia sternly. Reluctantly, the moon princess quit charging her horn with shaky breaths. Then they waited, their breaths stopping. They waited for what seemed like hours, which could have only been seconds. Then, gradually, the glow in the boys eyes receded. He took a step back and looked up at Celestia, much to her surprise. But then he looked down at the ground by her hooves, seemingly unable to meet her gaze.

Taking this gesture as a good sign, Celestia spoke.

"D-Did you save that mare?" she asked, failing to keep the shakiness out of her voice. The boy slowly looked over to Backbone and his sister. Backbone was also staring back at him. After a few seconds, Backbone smiled appreciatively.

"Thanks pal." he said, barely audible above the roaring flames.

The boy turned back to Celestia and tried to look her in the eyes. But he couldn't. He looked back towards the ground and nodded. Celestia's mouth hung open slightly, her heart of gold growing bigger with the new strands of hope that were being laced into it.

Before she could ask her next question, she heard what sounded like wings flapping behind her. She turned her head to see Shining Armor and what looked like fifty Night Guards landing on the scorched earth, surrounding the princesses and the boy.

"*huff* O-Orders?" breathed shining as he and the other guards aimed their spears at the boy, waiting for the order to attack.

But it never came.

Composing herself and putting her mind back on edge, Princess Celestia raised her hoof.

"Restrain him, but do NOT harm him in any way."

With an affirmative nod, shining motioned for three guards to move in. The three guards he gestured to produced what appeared to be thin, transparent, cords from their saddle-bags before trotting towards the boy. One of the guard's horns lit up in a dark-blue aura that also enveloped the cords and levitated them towards the still motionless boy. Without any resistance, the guard was able to tie what he assumed were the boys wrists and ankles together tightly before solidifying the cords into diamond with his horn.

Then Shining's horn began to glow a powerful, radiant, purple. A similarly colored circle began to form around the boy, forming a bubble even stronger than his bindings.

Shining obviously wasn't a Night Guard. For the princess to have summoned him on such short notice at this time of night was strange to him. He became acutely aware that she may have summoned him purely for the purpose of capturing the creature.

It didn't matter to him. Being woken up at odd hours was nothing compared to Tarturus duty.

Luna, still recovering from her shock, looked back and forth between the imprisoned boy and Celestia worriedly.

"What are you doing Tia?" she asked.

"The same thing I did with you and Discord, Luna." said Celestia firmly without looking at her sister. "Saving what I can."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She'd ordered the guards to give him back his shirt and hoodie when they locked him up. She would have ordered that they give him medical treatment, but his intentions were still unclear. He could have been putting on a facade just to get back into Canterlot.

She planned to find out right then.

With a desperate, determined look, Celestia's horn glowed a brilliant gold. The boy was encased in the golden aura and lifted up off the ground. He hung motionless in the air, averting the princesses gaze. If hew was alarmed by her sudden action, he didn't show it.

Celestia thought about what she was about to do. It wouldn't be the smartest thing she'd done, but she needed to know.

She flung the boy towards her and embraced him in a strong hug. Her eyes were shut tightly, trying her best to dispel all fear in her rapidly beating heart and replace it with as much love as she could. The side of the boy's head was firmly pressed against her chest. His eyes stared at the wall blankly, no emotion showing at all. He felt heavier than he should have been for his size, and his body was cold to the touch. It like she was holding onto an empty, yet heavy weight. A burden. An obsession.

Celestia waited. She waited, but she was conflicted as to what she was waiting for. It was one of those one-or-the-other type deals. Part of her waited for death, or something close to it. She'd actually come prepared for it. Although the embrace had the appearance of a hug, it was really a death lock. Something she'd forced herself to learn for just this occasion.

If her heartbeat were to cease for any reason, her body and anything encased in her magic would take a one way trip to the center of the sun. It wasn't perfected, seeing as a sneeze would ruin everything, but it was the best she could come up with. That way, the boy wouldn't be allowed to roam free and-

Celestia felt a pressure around the sides of her neck. Frightened, she looked down. The boy was embracing her back. Or about to snap her neck. She selfishly went with the former and chose to simply stand there.

Then her fears and doubts were dispelled.

She watched in elated fascination as the cuts and burns on his head and arms began to slowly glow a dense, bright, blue. They then began to slowly heal. The burned skin was replaced with new skin in seconds, leaving it as good as new. The cuts sealed up, not leaving so much as a scar.

As they were healing, she could feel something thumping in the boy's chest. A heartbeat, something that hadn't been there before. With every beat, the Boy's wounds healed a little more.

Once he was fully healed up, the blue glow that seemed to be doing the healing disappeared. Unbeknownst to Celestia, so had the blue glow in his eyes, which were now closed peacefully. She felt his heartbeat cease gradually, leaving her confused, but with a feeling of accomplishment.

It had worked. It had actually worked. His wounds had healed, and more importantly, he wasn't a threat. Not to her people.

Not to her.

Not to anyone.

Tears began to form in her eyes as she smiled lovingly. She embraced him tighter, her horn no longer glowing.

Author's Note

OK, these chapters are getting shorter, but that's not necessarily my intent. I just wanted to keep this updated regularly....enough. Regularly enough.
Thanks for the feedback and the votes by the way!

#4 Anywhere but here

Steam Cloud had his fair share of bad days throughout his life. He was up in his eighty's, and felt he deserved a break. No, not a vacation. He loved his job. Trains were his lot in life. Like that kid in that 'I Like Trains' animation, just far less homicidal. He enjoyed riding them, knew everything about them, and kept busy maintaining them even on his off hours.

Of course, there were times that made him wish he wasn't a train conductor, like the time Tree Hugger had ridden on his train. He'd scrubbed the whole carriage down with a brush and a fresh smelling detergent, but he still couldn't get the salt smell out of the walls.

Or like the time when Pinkie Pie threw him his eighty-first birthday party while he was working. The train had nearly derailed off a cliff and he'd had a heart attack in the process. Despite his vehement pleas, she'd only been banned from trains for a year and a half. He still wanted to sue her because of the nightmares he'd been having about that day ever since.

Or like now.

He stood in the door way of the last carriage with a look of horror motionlessly plastered on his face. He looked like a woman who had just walked into a room of scurrying rats. Or me the day I arrived home to find out that I'd been robbed of my whole TV set along with all the expensive gaming accessories on it.

The cushions had all been ripped from the seats. They were now lying on the center of the floor with two ponies sleeping on them.

They had actually ripped the cushions from the seats. The expensive cushions. The expensive cushions that he'd bought himself.

His face began to flush red as his horror changed to seething anger. His doctor had practically ordered him to keep his anger in check because of his heart's condition, but for all he cared, his doctor could go screw himself backwards.

He reared up on his hind legs and slammed his hooves onto the floor of the carriage with all his might.

Daring's eyes flew open. Her forehoof flew out from under her, finding Backbones snout.

"OW!" shouted Backbone angrily as the blow woke him up and sent his head to the side ninety degrees. He slowly opened his eyes irritably as he instinctively looked over to see Daring.

"Sorry about that." she said apologetically as Backbone glared at her.
Without looking, Steam Cloud bumped a hidden compartment by the door with his elbow. It opened up downwards to reveal a shotgun. He grabbed it and stood on his hind hooves to aim it at them. Guns were mainly used by griffons, but due to high demand in the black market, some of their weapons had been modified for use by ponies.

It was also illegal to have one in Canterlot or Ponyville, but Steam Cloud didn't have no time for dat'.

"GIT' THE HELL OF' MY TRAIN!" said Steam Cloud in an Irish accented tone. Backbone and Daring quickly got to their hooves and backed up, now very much wide awake.
"Ok man, just be cool-" started Backbone as he raised a hoof.

"I'M GONNA COUNT TA' FOUR!" said Steam Cloud before pumping the shotgun, eager to use it for the first time. Wasting literally no time, Daring jumped out of one of the trains open windows, leaving Backbone by himself.

"ONE!" shouted the pissed off train conductor through gritted teeth.

"Look, Celestia is going to pay for-"

"THREEEEEEE!" shouted Steam cloud, his anger now making his voice shaky. Backboned turned tail and ran through the left-open door at the back of the carriage. For a big pony, he sure could run.

"So you talked with Mayor Mare right?" said Daring after biting into an apple.

"Yep. It's all been approved through mail correspondence." replied Backbone with a mouthful of hay-sandwich. They were sitting at a table in one of the only restaurants in Ponyville, The Hayarchy.

Don't laugh at my names.

"Why are you wearing that weird disguise?" asked backbone as he suppressed a laugh. She was wearing a long, brown, cloak with shades darker than a celebrity's heart. No parts of her were visible other than her muzzle and hooves.

"...Over-enthusiastic fans." replied Daring as she looked around. They couldn't get a table inside because the restaurant was full, so they had to sit outside. Right by the town's main road.

"Hm. I guess that makes sense. But you look mysterious."

"That's the point Backbone."

"No, no, I mean you look MYSTERIOUS. Too mysterious. Ponies are going to stare."

"Let them." said Daring. "Better to be mysterious than me."

"Doesn't Princess Twilight know you're here?"

"She was probably at the train station." said Daring with a smirk. "Guess she missed us."

Backbone chuckled, but a worried feeling settled in his gut. From the few brief times he visited Ponyville, he knew Twilight Sparkle did NOT approve of inconveniences. She was scary before she was an Alicorn. He suddenly found himself looking from side to side.

"What about Thistle?" asked Daring. "What's she going to do?"

"She's staying in Canterlot. Although she doesn't mind you and I being together, she doesn't want to be anywhere near you." Daring nodded her head in an I-guess-that-makes-sense fashion. Thistle was one of those ponies that simply enjoyed everyday life...somehow.

The two isolationist love-birds got quiet when the nearby tables became occupied. Daring kept quiet because she didn't want to screw up and let something slip about her recent endeavors. Backbone was quiet for similar reasons, but he also just didn't want to be noticed. Why? Battle-scars. He was covered in them. And everypony knows that mares dig battle-scars. Especially the ones that don't know how to take no for an ans-

"Hey, sugarcube!"

"DAGH!"

Backbone jumped in his seat with the sudden greeting, the words laced with the same southern drawl he'd had nightmares about.

"A-Applejack!" greeted Backbone shakily, trying to conceal his fear. "H-How's it going?"

The orange farm pony looked up to the sky thoughtfully with a faint smirk.

"Ah'd have ta' say fine." Then she looked deep into Backbones eyes with a hungry stare. "Could be better though."

Backbone stared back at her, still as a statue. He was smiling, but one could easily tell by his eyes that he was primed and ready to dash a country mile. Wait...no. She'd like that.

Daring looked back and forth from Backbone to the familiar orange mare, waiting for one of them to speak. But they didn't. On top of that, ponies seated around them were now staring at the scene with interest. Some of the mares were squinting at Backbone as if they'd seen him before. Some stallions were glaring at him with jealously far too potent to be concealed.

Daring could tell by how he flicked his eyes to her every now and then that he was waiting for her to do something. She cleared her throat loudly, causing Applejack to turn to her slowly with her ears perked up.

"Oh, howdy!" said Applejack with a tip of her hat. "Twilight says ta' meet'er at the castle soon as ya' can."

"Wha-"

"So!" said the farm pony, diverting her gaze back to Backbone. "What's with those new bandages?" she took a slow step towards the now shivering mechanic. "Mind if ah' take a look underneath?"

"Wellwouldyalookatthetime!" said Backbone as he turned to look at some non-existent clock somewhere in the restaurant. He rose from his seat and vehemently motioned for Daring to copy. "Wedbettergetgoingseeya!"

With that, Backbone was dragging Daring towards the entrance of the restaurant, forgetting about their un-eaten food and their bill. When Daring looked back, she could see Applejack still staring at them as they left. Then she licked her lips, and Daring cringed.

"What was that all about?" said Daring as she caught her breath. She and Backbone were now a good distance away from the restaurant, bordering the edge of town. Despite this, Backbone kept looking around frantically, almost not hearing Daring's question.

"Mind if I we not talk about that right now?" he said quickly. Daring raised an eyebrow before shrugging and taking a look at her surroundings. Due to the lack of businesses, there were very few ponies milling about. She and Backbone were standing next to a building that looked like a big, fancy, carousel that somehow doubled as a house. A sign in the window read "open".

"What are we doing here?" asked Daring.

"I want a disguise." answered Backbone as he began trotting towards the big carousel house. He knocked on the door a few times and waited frantically, looking behind him occasionally. Daring merely cocked her head. If this strange building was a shop, then where was the sign? The open sign in the window could mean anything. It seemed shady. Given her line of work, detecting shadiness was something she was very good at.

"Just a moment!" yelled a mare's voice from behind the door. Daring could tell just from hearing the mare that she was from Canterlot or had at least spent a great deal of time there. It was refined and high pitched, yet also loose at the same time. Oh! I know! She sounds like a flapper from the nineteen twenties! Booyah!

A white, pristine, unicorn, mare with a stylish, curled, purple mane opened the door with a smile. Upon seeing Backbone, her smile faltered and disappeared altogether. The mare began craning her neck to look behind Backbone on both sides of him.

Her eyes fell on Daring for a moment, but flitted past her without a moments notice.

"Where is she?" asked the unicorn mare, whom Daring was beginning to recognize.

"Canterlot." said Backbone with a dismissive wave of his hoof. The mare seemed agitated by this and furrowed her brow.

"Good!" said the mare as she quickly turned around and began trotting back into the building. Without an invitation, Backbone followed her into the building. Daring followed after him, wondering if he'd had a history with the elegant mare. She smirked, but she couldn't help but feel a little put off by the thought.

"Sweetie Belle!" shouted the white mare. A cacophony of noises in a room above her made her eyes veer up to the ceiling. Then she heard a crash. And then another crash followed by the sounds of a shattering window and a screaming monkey. Hearing a thump behind her, the trio turned around and looked out the open door to see what was in fact a monkey running off into the distance....wearing a tutu and make-up.

After she watched the monkey climb up a building and disappear, she turned back around to see the white mare in complete shock.

Or anger. No, definitely anger. Flapper on fire.

"RRRRRGL!" she growled as her face glowed a heated red. She stormed off towards a set of stairs at the opposite end of the room and proceeded to climb them like a lumbering giant.

"What's happening?" asked Daring.

"Crusaders." answered Backbone with a shrug.

As Daring tried to think of reasons crusaders would be in an elegant unicorn's home, she heard arguing and bickering coming from upstairs. It sounded serious, and she could make out three other seemingly younger voices aside from the white mare. They were easily drowned out by the white mares yelling.

Soon, the white mare (ok, that's getting annoying) returned from upstairs with three small fillies. They were also dressed in tutu's and make up. They would have looked adorable, had the make-up not been done so horrifically wrong. Seriously. Lipstick was smeared all over their faces like a baby doll that's been drawn on by a toddler. Their eyes were puffy, teary, and red from false eyelashes they'd seemingly jammed into their eye sockets. One of them even had what appeared to be feces in her hair.

All three of them looked dejected and sad as they walked passed Daring and towards the door. Then they stopped and turned around.

"I know we messed up sis, but-"

"Messed up?" said the white mare. "You tried to to teach a monkey how to dance and do make up! IN MY HOUSE!"

"But we can't go all the way to Applebloom's farm like this!" said an apparently cream colored filly with a curly purple and pink mane. "Diamond Tiara will never let us live it down!"

"You should have though of that before doing what you did. I can't have you bathing in my bathtub covered in all of that ilk!"

"But-"

"Out!" said the white mare with an outstretched hoof and a stern look. The fillies sighed and began their trot out of the door with their ears splayed back and their heads low. As soon as they'd left, Rarity shut the door and let out a frustrated huff.

"Sorry about that." she said as she rubbed her left temple. "My younger sister and her friends tend to come up with these ridiculous ideas to get their cutie marks."

"I remember." said Backbone. He could still hear them chanting that horrible dirge.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Surgeons!"

He visibly shivered.

Rarity, remembering the incident, gave an apologetic smile. There were reasons Backbone hadn't returned to Ponyville, Applejack and the Cutie Mark Murderers being just two of them.

"Right, right." said the finicky unicorn. "Well, what can I do for you?"

"I need a disguise."

The unicorn smirked...ya know what? You all know who I'm talking about.

RARITY smirked and raised an eyebrow at Backbone.

"Mare trouble?" she asked slyly, causing the mechanic to glare at her slightly. "A disguise won't help you there deary." She glanced behind him and stared at Daring. "Isn't that right Ms. Do?"

Daring stared at her blankly, her mouth agape. She'd bought the disguise for a small price, being the cheap adventurer she was, but she didn't think it was that cheap. What? You don't think she's cheap? Let me ask you this. Would you rob temples filled with deadly traps and monsters armed with nothing but a whip? No? I thought so.

"Twilight insists you visit her as soon as you can Ms. Do."

"How do you all keep seeing through my disguise?" asked Daring, angry now.

"I make disguises darling. I can practically see through them. As for Applejack, she IS the element of honesty. She can detect lies both tangible and intangible."

"How do you know we ran into Applejack?" asked Backbone. Rarity opened her mouth to respond when Daring cut her off.

"That pink mare has be tailing me since we got off the train." she said as she cocked her head towards a window on the left side of the room. When they looked, they saw a large bush outside the window...with a pair of binoculars extending out of it. Upon being noticed, the binoculars sunk back into the bush.

"I remember seeing her the last time we ran into each other. I'm guessing you' keep each other informed, as good friends should." Daring sighed. "You're all going to be watching me aren't you?"

Rarity looked around the room nervously and scraped the floor with her hoof.

"Twilight could better explain it to you."

Most of the ponies in ponyville didn't like the castle of friendship. No, not because of what it stood for. Ponies didn't like it because of what it was. A big shiny castle. Sure it looked nice and all, but one must remember that Ponyville is relatively small town. Plopping a big shiny castle in it was just....weird. It just stood out too much. Now, whenever somepony would ask about what ponyville was, the castle would unfailingly become part of if not the majority of the answer. Poyville was now classified as the stool the castle of friendship stood proudly on top of.

It was also very bright, seeing as it was seemingly made out of the same mineral that formed the castle of love in the crystal empire. Well, actually no. It was even brighter. The glare off the thing forced ponies to cover their eyes with a hoof as they walked passed.

This included Daring and Backbone as they approached it.

"This is new." said Backbone as he nearly tripped over a bump in the road Mayor Mare didn't care enough to fix yet.

"Yes. The famous Castle of Friendship." said Daring.

"Castle of Friendship?" said Backbone questioningly. "That's in Ponyville?"

"I don't recall there being rocks to live under in the sky."

"I don't recall there being a personalized mail delivery service for large, flying, house-ships that are constantly on the move."

"You never thought to land and pick up a newspaper from time to time?"

"No."

"So you're a sky hermit."

"The sky doesn't have land for the princesses to tax." said backbone as they began ascending the stairs to the o-so-great Castle of friendship.

"What about Cloudsdale?"

"A sign of greed."

They approached the large double doors to the castle. Now that the sun was blocked, Daring could see enough to knock on the door with her hoof. Before long, she could hear what sounded like tiny footsteps approaching the door from the other side. Daring expected to hear the sliding of locks and chains, but there were none. She guessed robbing the castle of the alicorn that could match Tirek's power was a thought non-existent in the minds of ponies.

The door opened to reveal a small, purple, green-frilled dragon who was probably often mistaken for a lizard. Or a plushy.

It stared at Daring and Backbone for a moment before narrowing it's slitted green eyes.

"You're late!" he said in a tone that could only be considered mature for a ten-year-old. "Twilights been going crazy ever since you ran away from her at the train station!"

Daring stared at the little dragon. She considered telling him about the train conductor, but a part of her didn't want him to get into trouble for owning a gun. Strange how mercy works isn't it?

"Sorry about that." she said, removing her shades. "Had to use the bathroom."

The dragon whom we all know is Spike stared at her a little longer as if she were hiding something. Darings bored look did not falter.

"Who's he?" asked Spike, pointing a claw at a bewildered Backbone. Every dragon that he'd met had tried to kill him, regardless of size. He'd never met one as docile, intelligent, or as adorable as the one that stood before him.

"Aw, look at him point his wittle' finger." said Back bone as he taped Spikes hand with his hoof.

"Quit!" Spike said embarrassed, slapping his hoof away. "Who ARE you?"

Daring and Backbone looked at each other quickly before turning back to the baby dragon.

"He's a friend."

"I'm a friend." they both said in unison. They didn't know why they didn't just come out with the truth. Perhaps it was because Daring would be embarrassed to do so, and perhaps Backbone knew that.

Spike nodded.

"Ok." the dragon said. "He has to stay outside though."

"I can't take my FRIEND into the castle of FRIENDSHIP?" asked Daring with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I don't make the rules. I just enforce them." said spike, waving his hands dismissively.

"Aw, he's a wittle' baby bouncer!" said Backbone, causing Spike to growl and blow soot out of his nostrils.

"Why are you acting like this is the first time you've met him?" asked Daring. "I thought you visited Twilight in the past?"

"I did." said Backbone. "But he was always upstairs asleep, probably curled up into an adorable wittle bal-"

Before Spike could hear the last word of his sentence, he yanked Daring into the door by her hoof and slammed it.

"You had to use the bathroom?" asked Twilight skeptically as she stared at the now undisguised former-adventurer in front of her.

"Yes." affirmed Daring.

"There are at least thirty seven different outhouses from here to the train-station, and Pinkie says you didn't use any of them."

Daring cursed under her breath. She was about to make up another lie when Twilight raised a hoof.

"Never mind." she said with a sigh. "I'm just glad you're here and not halfway to Trottingham in an attempt to escape the law."

"Oh. That's go-"

"Although," said Twilight, cutting her off. "You can see that the stunt you pulled didn't help my mood."

Daring nodded with a grimace. Twilight looked like a mess. Her hair was unkempt, her fur and wings were ruffled, and Daring could see her twitch ever so often. Fortunately, that was it. The room they were sitting in seemed intact, showing no signs of an alicorn's wrath.

It was a pretty big room, as to be expected from a castle, but it was nearly empty. The only items in the room were the cushions and coffee table Daring and Twilight were sitting at. If your home were suddenly blown to pieces and you were given a castle, you'd probably have issues with furnishing too.

"Just imagine," began the alicorn. After taking a sip of her tea. "Celestia gives me the task of receiving you at the train station. Then you run away. I then have to tell her that I've lost you and that there's a dangerous criminal lose in Equestria."

"Criminal?" said Daring before sipping her tea. Twilight's ears splayed backwards.

"Sorry."

"I dislike euphemisms Ms. Sparkle, so it's perfectly fine."

"Right." said Twilight before composing herself. "I'm assuming you want to know what the terms of your stay are?"

Daring simply nodded.

"Well, for starters, you can't leave Ponyville for any reason without my say-so."
"That's a given."

"Mhm. As for where you're staying, I've arranged for you to stay in the castle. This way, I can keep an eye on you."

"Ok."

"And other than staying in Ponyville, there is to be no activity regarding your occupation whatsoever. Celestia wants to make sure you know that."

"What if my work finds me?" asked Daring as she looked out one of the many large windows in the room. She could see a blimp with a pink pony watching her through binoculars.

"Then we'll handle it. You can't get involved in any way."

There was a long pause as Daring proceeded to stare at Twilight blankly. She's said she'd handle it. Did she understand what that would mean? Daring needed to be sure.

"Have you ever...killed somepony Twilight?"

The alicorn nearly spat out her tea but managed to stop herself. She gave Daring a horrified look.

"What? No!" she said quickly. "Why would you ask me that?"

Daring let out an exasperated sigh and rested her forehead on her hooves. Memories of dead assailants filled her mind. Each and every one felt like a rock in her gut that made her feel lethargic and sick, but it wasn't because she felt guilty.

Swallowing hard, she waved a hoof dismissively before raising her head.

"No reason. Just...try to make sure my work doesn't find me."

"...O...Ok." said Twilight before clearing her throat. "As for the creature, Celestia wants you to be with him as much as possible, so he will also be living here."

Daring instinctively didn't like the idea of the boy staying with her, but she waved it off. It baffled her why Celetia would send such a dangerous creature to Ponyville with her, but she trusted the princess. Still, she felt it was significant.

If someone had to stash a dormant atomic bomb that could wipe out the planet somewhere on the earth, would it matter where you stash it? You could hide it in the most remote part of the world or right, dab, in the middle of civilization, but if the bomb were to go off, the effect would be the same. The world would be obliterated. There would be no hope no matter where it was on the planet.

Perhaps it was the same with the creature?

"Of course," began Twilight. "My friends and I will do everything we can to help you with the creature and make your stay as comfortable a possible."

Daring held back a chuckle. She'd be about as comfortable as an elephant in a closet. But worse. She'd be an elephant in a closet with an over-obsessive fan and her stalker friends.

Twilight giggled as she clapped her hooves.

"Oh, this is going to be just like that time in The Legend of the Crystal Horseshoe where you were captured by diamond dogs and held in a prison for three months!"

Daring narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Two fans. She'd be locked in a closet with two over-obsessive fans and their stalker friends.

Just as she was beginning to contemplate how things could be any worse, she felt a chill run over her head.

...And her pith helm was still missing.

She slammed her head against the table repeatedly

Author's Note

It was uh...it was hell trying to publish this one on my phone. Not having internets on my compuper sucks. My keyboard wouldn't show up online, so I had to download all these dern' apps just to put docs ON my phone, then I had to copy and paste the story onto my clipboard and paste it ln the site, which kept crashing every five seconds literally. Even now, I'm typing this onto a clipboard to paste into the authors notes. At least I've got a sure-fire way to get my chapters here now. So, it spite of my efforts, I hope you enjoy.
....Hold on...pinkie's trying to break the fourth wall. I'll be seeing you all.

#5 It's just paranoia

It was a beautiful morning in Canterlot. More so than usual. The sunlight just seemed more vivid, making anything it touched look more alive and vibrant. Even old...oldER ponies got up feeling like a spring chicken. Even if it meant throwing out their back.

Luna didn't like it.

Her nightly duties were over, and it was time to rest, but she didn't feel like sleeping. As many guards and maids could see as she made her way to her sister's chambers, she was not in a good mood. None of them even bothered to ask why, fearing that she'd shout the answer loud enough to blow off their faces.

She knocked on Celestia's door hard, nearly splintering the wood.

"Coming!~" said Celestia in a sing-song voice. Her apparent glee angered Luna to no end. How could she possibly be this happy? How DARE she!

The door opened to reveal a beaming Celestia.

"Good morning sister!" she said before giving Luna a lightning quick bear-hug.

"G-Good...morning."breathed Luna through gritted teeth as she waited for her sister to let go. She knew from countless experiences that resisting one of Celestia's bear hugs was as pointless as getting Discord to make sense.

"Wanted to wish me a good-day before resting?" asked Celestia before setting her sister down. Luna calmy gasped for air before composing her self.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away!"

Luna's scowl deepened.

"Do I really have to?" asked Luna, glaring at her sister.

"Whatever do you mean?" asked Celestia in mock confusion, causing Luna's eyes to glow. She humored her.

"I went to check on the creature before heading to bed only to discover that the guards stationed there during the night were gone and so was the creature."

"Yes?" said Celestia, still grinning.

"When I asked them what happened in my panic, they said that YOU relieved them of duty."

"I did?" asked Celestia in mock surprise. Luna's eye twitched. She could remember Discord talking about a strange phenomenon called trolling that he'd learned from another world. Smoke began to rise from her eyes.

"Tia, I'm in no mood for your games."

Celestia giggled.

"Alright, then." she said before stepping back and opening the door. With Celestia out of the way, she could see the majority of her chambers. There, sleeping soundly in her bed with the covers wrapped around him like a baby, was the creature.

This surprised Luna for two reasons. One, was obvious. The creature wasn't locked up where it couldn't harm anypony. Second, she couldn't remember the last time she saw it sleeping like this. She stared at the creature, trying to figure out what she should be feeling at the moment.

Should she be calling out to the guards to subdue him? Should she run away screaming? Should she admit her sister to a mental ward? Or should she just stand there?

She just stood there.

"Well?" said Celestia. "Aren't you going to ask me what's going on?"

Luna, although unseen to the naked eye, was taken aback by the question. Why? Because it was a dumb question, and that's an understatement. Celestia didn't wait for her sister to reply, jumping giddily on her hooves.

"He's back to normal!" she shouted while grabbing Luna and shaking her in the air.

Normal? Him? What was normal for him? She couldn't really remember. But the way he lay there sleeping, curled up in those covers...it reached deep into her subconscious and jerked at something familiar. Something she hadn't felt for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna stood outside her chambers, enjoying the sight of Canterlot under her expertly crafted night sky. Unlike her sister, Luna loved the sight of the city. There just didn't seem to be anything quite as beautiful as the spark of civilization at night. In fact, everything about Canterlot seemed different at night. Instead of the usual bustle of ponies on their way to work, it was filled with ponies celebrating the end to another working day.

In fact, some ponies only came out at night, the reason being that their particular talents were best applied when the moon was in the place of the sun. Like the bat-ponies that were on guard during the night. Or the ponies that only opened their taverns at night.

Or a stallion gardener who's talent was growing rare plants using her moonlight.

He was an odd pony. She never saw him exit his home to do anything other than tend to his garden, deliver his plants, or buy groceries. Both of these tasks he did at night. On his trips through town, he never stopped by any taverns or took part in any celebrations. Yes, the only flowers he stopped to smell were the ones he'd grown.

He was also very nice. Although he avoided crowded places, it wasn't like he despised other ponies. He often assisted any pony he saw in need while out in the town. He'd help an older stallion every night with closing his lumber shop. He'd help clean up any messes on the streets. He even took out time to play ball with a number of bat fillies and colts.

That last one was strange to Luna. At a young age, bat-ponies were often fearful of ponies. They often kept to the darkest alleys of the city during celebrations or other nightly events that rendered the streets too crowded. Whenever a pony would walk by, they would scatter.

But not with this stallion gardener. True, he had a dark-grey coat and a black mane with yellow eyes, but he wasn't a bat-pony. Despite this, young bat-pony's would flock to him whenever they saw him at night, showing no signs of fear. In fact, they treated him like family, sometimes asking their parents to let him eat dinner with them. The parents would often happily accept.

From what she'd stalked-AHEM-seen, all of his clients were bat-ponies. No regular ponies wanted to buy his flowers. Maybe it was because they were slightly menacing in appearance? She didn't think so. She could understand why others would think that, what with them being dark colors and sometimes being crooked and covered with spikes, but she actually admired them.

She considered going down to get one for herself, but she couldn't. Every time she even thought about doing so, she felt the unfamiliar feeling of fear bubble-forth in her gut. She didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she was afraid of leaving a bad impression? Her sister often said that she could be very awkward at times. It wasn't really her fault though. She rarely got the chance to speak to her subjects since they were asleep when she was on duty, and she wasn't the party-pony her sister was, so she couldn't rightfully fit in with the ponies up at night.

The bat-ponies loved and adored her, but just a bit too much for her liking. It's hard to hold a conversation with someone when they're constantly praising you as if you're their god.

"Enjoying the sights, sister?" said a familiar voice from behind her. Luna gasped in surprise before quickly turning around.

"Tia!" said Luna in relief. "Don't do that!"

"I can't help it." said Celestia with a shrug. "Stealth tactics tend to stick with you."

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Don't you remember? I promised we'd spend some time together two weeks ago."

"Oh." said Luna, remembering. "I didn't think you'd deny your sleep just for that."

"Yes, well...not knowing where Discord is or what he's going to do next tends to take up all of your time."

"I understand." said Luna in an exasperated tone. "Any findings?"

"No." said Celestia sternly. "Nopony has heard of or seen him for the past four weeks. I don't like it."

"Do not worry sister." said Luna with a hoof on her sister's withers. "Discord may be out for the rule of Equestria, but even he has standards. He won't try to kill anypony."

"He's chaos personified, Luna. There's no telling [i[what he'll do."

"His one flaw is his predictable obsession with being unpredictable. Killing a pony would be like losing for him."

Celestia pondered this a little. Discord wanted to rule Equestria because he felt it needed the extra spice. He wanted to show ponies that being chaotic had it's good sides. Killing a pony just to prove that it could be a good thing would be a desperate reach for victory that would ultimately lead to a loss on his part. After all, what subject likes a ruler that kills it's subjects just for the purpose of being unpredictable?

If he were selfishly obsessed with being unpredictable, he'd kill a pony. This would serve as a testament of his inability to rule. Then again, it would be predictable for somepony obsessed with being unpredictable to kill somepony just to appear unpredictable. So maybe he'd reason that killing a pony was the normal, predictable thing to do, making him look like somepony who isn't obsessed with being unpredictable. Wouldn't that make him appear unintentionally unpredictable to do what's predictable?

"Tia?"

Celestia shook her head.

"Yes?"

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Why?"

"Thine eyes were veering off to opposite sides."

"Oh." Celestia chuckled. "It is unwise to try to make sense of him."

Luna smiled in response to her sister before resuming her watch over Canterlot. Specifically the night gardener. Celestia stepped beside her and admired the city.

It wasn't long before she noticed.

"I didn't think you to be the stalking type." said Celestia with a smirk. Luna jolted.

"What do you mean?" she asked, completely oblivious.

"There's an entire city to be watching over, but you are staring solely at that section. At a house in particular."

Luna's eye's darted to and fro between her sister and the gardeners home.

"Casablanca is his name." said Celestia. "He wasn't born in Canterlot."

"I surmised." said Luna, pondering his name. It sounded lovely. Everything about the stallion was lovely.

"Nopony knows where he's from." continued Celestia. "It's as if he just appeared one day and began raising his garden. Stirred up quite the hornets nest where the guard is concerned."

"Casablanca." repeated Luna with a smile. Celestia smirked.

"You like his name?"

"Yes."

"You love his name?"

Luna looked at her sister.

"That is an odd ques-"

"I'M'UNNA TAN YO HIDE!"

The two sisters turned quickly toward the source of the disturbance. Far below them on the streets of Canterlot was a rather odd scene. There was a large, brown, earth stallion running through the streets with what appeared to be a cross-bow in his mouth. He had a black eye and numerous bruises on his body. His expression was absolutely livid, as if he'd lived his whole life just to prepare for the rage he was now experiencing.

Even stranger was who...or rather WHAT he was chasing. It appeared to be a small bi-pedal creature with barely any hair on it's body save the hair on it's head. It was running very fast, faster than anypony she'd ever seen aside from herself and her sister.

Still stranger were the numerous arrows sticking out of it's body. It seemed to be bleeding heavily, but it ran as if there was nothing wrong with it at all. It was wearing clothing, instantly keying Celestia's interest. She'd come to learn that anything wearing clothing was intelligent. Don't ask me how. Go write a story about it sometime.

As it zoomed through town, the bi-pedal occasionally turned around to see if the large stallion was still chasing it. Celestia couldn't help but notice the expression on it's face. It's eyes were wide with terror and exhaustion, like it had been running for days on end in a world completely unfamiliar to it. It's mouth was closed and neutral, defying it's terrified look.

She watched as the bi-pedal ran into a wooden carriage containing countless watermelons. The carriage exploded into a flurry of splinters and smashed watermelon bits, not deterring the creature at all. The stallion that was pulling the carriage stared at the creature in shock.

"HEATHEN!" shouted the stallion as he unhitched himself and took off after the creature.

The scene was beginning to look like one of those old road-runner cartoons, with the creature being the bi-pedalus runnicus and the stallions the pissed-offus ponicus.

"What is that...thing?" said Luna.

"I don't know, but it's bleeding. It needs help." Celestia stared at the pony with the crossbow, narrowing her eyes in anger and recognition. "And the one with the cross-bow is a renowned bounty hunter."

Before Luna could say anything, Celestia took off, eager to apprehend the bounty hunter and confront the bi-pedal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"L..a? LUNA!"

"Huh? Wh-what?"

"Didn't you hear me?" said Celestia gleefully. "He's back to normal!"

Luna looked at the sleeping creature again, this time resisting the urge to have a flashback. Despite it's sleeping state, Luna could not shake the feeling of terror within her.

"He should be in the dungeons." said Luna as she kept her eyes fixed on the creature, as if it would open it's blood-thirsty eyes and attack if she looked away.

"I understand your concern." said Celestia, restraining her excitement. "But it is true. I proved it myself."

"How?"

"Remember that technique I conjured up to persuade the griffin king not kill me when I was captured?"

"I believe we all do." said Luna with an exaggerated nod.

"Well, I used it with him." said Celestia as she pointed a hoof at the creature.

It took Luna a few seconds to figure out what that meant.

"...You snuck into the dungeons, RELIEVED the guards on duty, ENTERED the creature-"

"Boy."

"...CREATURE'S...cell, and HUGGED HIM!?"

"He wasn't always a monster Luna!" said Celestia, now angered.

"HE COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!"

"LIKE YOU!?"

Luna's anger visibly dissolved like drooping ice. After realizing what she'd said, Celestia stopped scowling and turned her head away, feeling conflicted. They stood in silence for a while, neither of them attempting to make eye contact. The guards outside resisted the urge to look.

The princesses often bickered, but it was rare for them to raise their voices at one another. Even rarer for Celestia to bring up Luna's past.

Celestia sighed and walked over to gaze out of one of her windows, trying to calm her nerves.

"Everyone deserves a chance Luna, and I'd willingly put my life on the line for that chance any day or night."

Luna didn't respond, choosing to mask her hurt with anger and indifference. She turned around and headed towards the door.

"I want him escorted to Ponyville by Captain Armor. I will make the arrangements." said Luna sternly.

"It wouldn't matter."

Luna stopped just before exiting the room and turned to look at her sister with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" she asked.

"If he reverts back to...what he was before...it won't matter what we do." Celestia turned to fix her sister with an emotionless gaze. "We've already failed once. Discord won't be able to imprison him again. If we fail this time, there will be no stopping him."

"Unless we kill him first." said Luna. Celestia merely stared at her. Then she shook her head and chuckled darkly before looking back out the window..

"Like last time?"

Luna's scowl deepened. She took that as her cue to leave the room and shut the door.

Celestia continued gazing out of her window. She watched the beautiful morning sunlight wake up her city and her beloved subjects. She was comforted knowing that they were about to enjoy the privilege of living yet another day under her care and love. It made her giddy just thinking about it, but something in particular was worrying her.

"You don't have to pretend you weren't listening."

The boy's eyes opened instantly. He looked at Celestia with an expression that still could not be read. Well, read by anyone other than Celestia.

"Don't worry." said Celestia as she walked over to the bed. "Unless you purposefully attempt to harm anypony, I won't humor her idea. It's generally not the way I handle things."

The boy looked away from her before unraveling himself and slowly getting out of bed. He stretched and yawned, feeling rejuvenated in the warm sunlight. Afterwards, he just stood there, staring at the door Luna exited through. Celestia wondered if he was thinking about the reason the argument had started in the first place.

About the things he'd done.

Celestia didn't know if he remembered anything about his actions, but she didn't want to ask him. She had a hunch that he did remember based on the way he kept avoiding eye contact, but perhaps he was trying to forget it.

She shook her head. No. One does not simply forget what he's done.

She looked at his tattered, stained, clothes. She didn't like them. She used her horn to levitate him onto her back and put on a motherly smile

"Let's get you some new clothes hm?"

"Who...or rather what have I made these clothes for?" asked the stallion tailor. He had a slender frame with a reddish-brown coat and a red mane that was done up in a...ugh...ponytail.

The garments he had draped on his back were nothing special. Just a gray, long-sleeve shirt and a pair of blue-jeans. What baffled him was the shape. The sleeves were way too high above a pony's chest and the pant's were far too straight and long. Even minotaurs' wouldn't be able to wear them without some major modifications. The black, lace-less sneakers were also oddly shaped.

Celestia smiled at the stallion as she levitated the clothes off of his back

"A breed of creature the likes of which you have never seen."

The tailor gave her a confused look before shrugging and bidding her farewell. It wasn't his job to concern himself with newly discovered creatures. He'd tried that as a colt and had nearly been eaten more times than he'd like to admit. His family consisted of a band of hunters that sought out rare and dangerous creatures. He'd gotten his cutie mark the day he decided to design a camouflage outfit for his older brother.

Celestia let out a sigh of relief when the tailor was out of sight. She knew about his family. She knew about his great-grandfather, Hoof-Helsing. He'd hunted and captured many dangerous creatures with ease throughout his life, creating a name for himself as the greatest monster hunter ever conceived. He'd even managed to snare and trap Cerberus. Why? Because he decided he wanted another pet one morning.

She also knew about his last hunt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He'd been hot on the trail of a creature that had massacred a whole village over a night, guards and all. After three days, his family, more specifically his overly-protective wife, began to get worried. He'd neglected to take his son's with him, and she dreaded why. On top of that, he'd left quickly during the middle of the night. He never left without giving her a goodbye kiss.

She organized a search party and ventured out, tracking her husband like the animal he often willed himself to become. Fortunately, she'd convinced her husband to leave clues during his hunts in case something happened. That way, she'd be able to find him as fast as possible.

Using these clues, she was able to track him through the dense forests that blanketed the area. The clues were usually just rocks or sticks arranged in a circle, but that changed a few days into the search.

They came upon a large opening in the forest, but I'm not just talking about an open field with grass. The reason there was a clearing was because the trees had been knocked down, snapped in half, and broken to pieces. From that point on, the trail changed from sticks and stones to fallen trees and branches.

And steel-tipped arrows.

Helsing created all of his weapons. The perfectly aerodynamic shape of the arrows were of his craftmanship, the best of their time. He'd tried to shoot whatever he was tracking. And he didn't miss. Helsing never missed. All of the arrow-heads were either broken off or dented flat, indicating that they'd hit something and bounced right off. These were arrows that could pierce through a dragon's hide and out the other end, so the search party became afraid, both for themselves, and for what they'd find. But his wife was determined. She'd find Helsing, or die trying.

A few more hours later, the search party stumbled upon something that brought Helsing's wife to tears almost instantly.

His breast-plate.

It was mangled and torn apart as if it were aluminum, which it definitely wasn't. He'd created the breast-plate from a metal that even dragon's couldn't bite through without the immediate need of a dentist, but there it lay. As they got closer to it, they could even see teeth marks.

When they looked around, they could see several charred holes on the trees, as if they'd been blasted by fire. Some of them had even been blasted in half. Helsing wasn't a unicorn, nor did he carry any explosive weaponry that could potentially harm innocents. The search party began to think it was a dragon, but if that were the case, why would it wait to blow flames a few hours into the chase? The charred marks also didn't match up with dragons breath. They seemed succint and concentrated, like a unicorn blast.

To make matters worse, the trail of fallen tree's stopped, and a blood trail began. Judging by how Helsing's dog whinnied when she sniffed it, the blood belonged to him.

A day later into the search, the blood-trail hadn't let up. This was strange, seeing as Helsing wasn't dumb enough not to tend to a wound and stop the bleeding. He always carried medical supplies with him. To further this point, they came across an empty bottle of antiseptic and alcohol surrounded by shreds of gauze. He'd stopped to patch himself up, but judging by the continued blood-trail, he was either bleeding too profusely or didn't have enough gauze to cover his wounds.

Later, it became obvious from the way the ground looked that Helsing had lost the strength to trot and was now crawling, leaving a smeared blood-trail behind him. His wife argued with the search party to decline rest so that they could find her husband before he bled out. After all, the blood trail was getting fresher, indicating that they weren't far behind him.

The next morning, as they were close to collapsing from a lack of rest, they had somepony climb a tree once more to scan ahead for dangers or clues. Less than thirty minutes away, there was a small plume of smoke rising from the trees.

His wife took off with a look of tearful joy on her face, leaving the search party to chase after her. As she got closer, she began to see somepony sitting down in front of a tree...

It was princess Celestia.

The princess heard the group approaching from behind and turned to look at them. The sight was enough to slow both Helsing's wife and the search party to a slow trot.

When they were less than five feet away from her, they stopped and stared at the princess with a look of bewilderment. She was wearing her royal, golden, armor, but she looked beaten up. One of her eye's was swollen and there was blood trailing from her swollen muzzle. Her armor, said to to be indestructible, was covered in dents and scrapes.

Even more surprising was the look on her face. Teary eyed and pain stricken. They'd never seen her look like that before. They could also hear sobbing, but not from her. It sounded like a young colt or filly.

Without a word, Celestia stood and stepped aside.

There, sitting at the base of the tree, was a burly, silvery-gray stallion with a black mane that had a white stripe running through the middle of it. Helsing. His body was limp and motionless. His left forehoof appeared to be horrifically broken and his whole body was covered in cuts and bruises. His midsection looked the worst. It was wrapped in bandages, but completely soaked in dark, fresh, blood. There was blood dripping from his nose and mouth where his head hung low...there was blood everywhere.

Sitting to his left was a sobbing dark-blue colt with a blonde mane. Helsing's wife recognized him as one of the colts from the village that had been destroyed. He was also covered in scrapes and bruises, but aside from his bandaged hoof, none appeared serious.

Helsing's wife stepped forward, filled with as much denial as she could possibly muster. Each step felt heavy, as if there weren't enough air in her lungs to trot..

"H-Hoof?" she said as she gradually got closer. "I've been worried s-sick about you..." She was now standing right in front of him, her tears still flowing freely. For a while, she just stared at him, as she were waiting for something. "Hoof? Why won't you...why won't you say something?"

The search party looked away from the scene. Celestia levitated the crying colt to her and let him sob into her chest before doing the same.

"HOOF!" she yelled as she put her hooves on his shoulders. "I'M IN NO MOOD FOR-"

She wrenched her hooves back with a gasp.

Cold. Ice cold.

She backed away and nearly fell onto her haunches with disbelieving, pin-pricked eyes. She started to shake as her shocked expression gave way to to pain and tears. Slowly, she raised her hooves in front of her and stared at them as if they weren't there. As if they were infected with a deadly disease. As if they were lies themselves.

"I...I'm sorry..." said Celestia in a broken tone.

Helsing's wife moved her hooves to her eyes and screamed before breaking out into loud sobs.

The search party also began to cry. Except one. Helsing's brother, Grim. Upon realizing that his only brother had been murdered, his heart began to beat faster. HIS brother, the one he'd promised to take care of on their parent's deathbeds'. HIS brother, the pony he'd taught everything he knew. HIS brother...

The one that was killed by a true MONSTER.

Through a teary haze, he looked at the ground in front of his deceased brother. There was a burnt out campfire, and something next to it. There lied Helsing's dagger. Or what was left of it. Half of the blade was missing, as if it had been snapped off somehow. It was made of an even harder alloy than his breast-plate.

Below it was a jaggedly carved picture in the dirt. It was difficult to see because of the hoof-steps and blood, but one feature was clear.

A bi-pedal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do you really believe you can keep him a secret from the world?"

Celestia blinked twice before looking around the hallway. She saw no one, but recognized his voice.

"All they know is that a creature took hundreds of lives a long time ago." said Celestia as she began trotting back to her throne room for duty. "I doubt that they'll associate that with him."

A pair of eyes opened on the wall, revealing two red pupils. Discord then materialized the rest of his body and stepped out of the wall as if it wasn't solid at all.

"I'm aware that you've taken measures to ensure that Equestria forgets about him," said Discord as he floated after her. "But I wouldn't count on it."

"And why's that?" said Celestia with a threatening tone.

"Your subjects aren't stupid." In a flash of light, Discord appeared in Celestia's path. "They will find out."

"Not if we do our jobs." said Celestia sternly.

"It's only a matter of time before Luna finds out that he can be killed now."

"Any chaotic phenomenon to report following his release?" said Celestia as she walked around him. Discord was put off by her obvious denial, but he sighed and gave up. The mare had made up her mind to ignore it.

"I've kept my ear to the ground." said Discord as he pointed to where one of his ears should have been. "So far, nothing out of the ordinary your majesty."

"Good." said Celestia, rolling her eyes at his tone. They approached the door to the throne room and opened it. "The last thing we need is more ch-"

"YOUR MAJESTY!"

Discord and Celstia turned their heads to see two panic stricken guards running up to them.

"What's wrong?" said Celestia, fearing the worst. She'd left the boy in her room. Had he-

"THERE'S BEEN A MURDER!"

Author's Note

Ok! Starting to get the hang of posting these chapters via mobile phone. Still annoying though. Also, I left out some details during the Helsing part on purpose. Try to piece together what happened! :) Have some fun eh? :ajsmug:

Also, Pinkie says hi. :pinkiehappy:
If you're seeing two authors notes, don't ask me why. I just don't know what went wrong.:derpyderp1:

#6 Things get better

"Oh, my..." said Celestia as she stared at the lifeless pony on the ground.

"Yeah." said Clear Glass as he motioned for a few cops to disperse the crowd of ponies that had gathered around the scene. He had a blue coat and a dark blue mane with sharp and experienced gray eyes. Take a guess at what his cutie mark was. He'd been Canterlot's Head Detective for years, and if there was one thing he learned in the very few homicide cases he'd worked on, it was that you didn't want ponies to see the body. It would make it hell for Luna's nightly duties, and she, in turn, made it hell for him.

"What...happened?" asked Celestia as she examined the body. It was hard for her to tell, but it appeared to be a dark-orange stallion. The body was covered from head to hoof in deep cuts she could only assume were stab wounds. One of his eyes appeared to have been gouged out while the other was swollen shut. His midsection had been cut open, revealing his intestines.

Celestia had seen worse. Much worse. Despite this, she could never get used to seeing somepony dead. It didn't matter how bad the body looked. It just made her feel sick to know that the dead pony's life was over. No more mornings. No more nights. No more chances. Just...dead. Like she had nearly been countless times.

"Witnesses say he was dropped out of the sky about seven minutes ago." said Clear Glass as he levitated a magnifying glass and steel pick out of a pouch on his back-pack. Celestia stared at the stallions face. She tried to remember him. She knew just about everypony in Canterlot. It bothered her that she couldn't recognize him. For more reasons than one.

"He was a pegasus." stated Celestia as she spotted the stump of nerve endings on his withers. It sickened her that she was relieved to see that his wings had been hacked off, not pulled. Pegasi wings were extremely tough and leathery, but the boy wouldn't need to cut them. He never did.

"Yep, but get this." Clear Glass levitated the body onto it's other side. "Whoever did it only hacked off one wing." Although broken, it was still there, lying limp and caked with blood. It was outstretched, and judging by the angle, it was broken upon impact with the ground.

"Impossible..." said Celestia. Clear Glass shook his head in bewilderment.

"Nope. Pegasi automatically flare their wings when falling, but they always go limp when they die." Clear Glass indicated this by gently wiggling the dead stallions remaining wing. "Somehow, this guy was alive before hitting the ground."

"There are deep stab wounds in his head!" said Celestia as she pointed at said wounds with her hoof. "Let's not forget the ones on his chest and throat."

"My first guess was that he was being stabbed while falling, but witnesses didn't report anypony else falling with him. My other guess is that he was-"

"Cursed..." said Celestia practically to herself. Then her eye's narrowed. "May I see a cloth?"

"Sure." Clear Glass levitated a small cloth out of his backpack and felt a strain in his horn as Celestia quickly yanked it away from him with her magic. She used the cloth to quickly wipe off the dead stallions posterior.

Celestia gasped as she stepped back, letting the cloth fall to the ground. Clear glass looked at the symbol adorning the stallions flank. His face wrinkled up in confusion.

"Odd..." he said as he got a closer look with his magnifying glass. The stallion's cutie mark was a black, spiraling, hole with a red outline. "What's this thing supposed to mean?"

He didn't receive an answer. When he turned to look at her, Celestia appeared frozen in place, her mouth hanging slightly open. Her eyes had a distant look, as if she were staring through the very fabric of time.

"Your highness?"

"Hatred?" said Celestia as she began to back even further away and shake her head in denial.

"What about hatred?" asked Clear Glass. Celestia managed to break free from her daze and looked at him before composing her self and steadying her breathing. Her father had always stressed that the second most important quality of any ruler is the ability to remain calm, no matter how in-equine it might seem to do so. Nothing meant the end was certain.

Nothing.

Celestia inwardly steeled her resolve and began concocting a game plan.

"Clear Glass?"

"Yes, your highness?"

"I want you to use as many resources as you possibly can to conduct a search throughout Canterlot for anypony or anything with this insignia. This is of the utmost importance right now."

Clear Glass gave an affirmative nod before looking back at the body.

"What about him?" he asked. Celestia walked over to the body and levitated a bloody, blue strand of hair from one of the stab wounds in the stallion's throat.

"I'm going to talk to its killer."

Without any further input, Celestia unfurled her wings and took off, motioning for the guards she'd taken with her to stay put. Clear Glass scratched his head as he watched her leave.

"It?"

Celestia slowly glided to the ground and landed softly, her golden-clad hooves barely making a sound. The street she was on was quiet as usual, with no more then a few ponies there to stare at her like she didn't belong out of the castle. One of them had actually shivered while trotting passed her.

Celestia let out a sigh.

Why did her subjects view her as some greater-than-thou being that was always seeking to judge and punish? Luna was socially awkward, but she at least had the love and respect of the bat-ponies. Celestia had but only a handful of ponies that would often greet her as a friend rather than a ruler. She wished that her subjects would understand that ruling Equestria was only her occupation and her passion. Not who she was as a whole.

Well, they did know about her cake addiction. At least she had that going for her.

Removing the passerby's uncomfortable stares from her mind, she walked up to her destination and lightly knocked on the door. Well, no. She was about to knock on the door, but it opened right before her hoof could make contact.

"Princess Celestia!" said Minuette with a smile and gleeful attitude that rivaled the pink party-pony herself. "Nice to see you! Lovely morning we're having! What are you doing here?"

Celestia merely stared at the blue unicorn with a look completely absent of emotion.

"May I come inside?" asked Celestia calmly. Minuette seemed to pause before answering, as if she were actually contemplating whether or not the mother of her nation was allowed to come into her house.

"Of course!" said Minuette as she stepped aside. Celestia lowered her head and walked inside. She noticed how Minuette shut and locked the door behind her the moment she was out of the door's range. It was a customary thing to do, but the way Minuette did it just seemed...ominous.

"Here!" said Minuette as she walked over to her kitchen table and pulled out a chair for Celestia to sit on. It was a bit too small for her, but she had grown accustomed to sitting in small chairs over time. Minuette promptly levitated a cup of freshly brewed tea in front the alicorn and set it down onto the table. "Make yourself comfortable! I'll be right back!"

Celestia noticed Minuette's damp mane.

"Did I interrupt your shower?" asked Celestia.

"Oh, no." said Minuette with a dismissive hoof as she turned to trot away. "Just finishing up."

Celestia looked up at a clock hanging above the kitchen sink.

"It's unlike you to shower so late in the morning." said Celestia as she sipped her tea.

Minuette stopped in her tracks. It could have just been her imagination, but Celestia could've sworn she saw Minuette's body twitch.

"I...spilled something on myself." said Minuette as she continued her trot out of the room. "Yep. Had to take another shower before heading out."

"What did you spill?"

Minuette stopped again right before exiting the room. She giggled, but it wasn't natural, as if she were trying to force it down unsuccessfully.

"Oh, just some hair dye. Moon Dancer left it here the other week and forgot to put the top back on."

"Really?" said Celestia with a raised eyebrow. "I thought the company that manufactured hair dye in Canterlot made it magically removable with a simple spell found on the bottle."

"Oh?"

"Yes." said Celestia with a nod. "I'm sure Moon Dancer wouldn't allow you to dye her hair or vice-versa without informing you of it. It wouldn't be like her."

"Well..." said Minuette with another suppressed giggle. "I tried to do that, but it wouldn't work. Probably just a defective product."

"Hm. That's strange. That spell can remove just about anything...unless it's biological in nature. Like...blood for instance."

"Blood?" said Minuette, turning her head. As she said it, her smile grew slightly and her eyes lit up in fascination. She began to giggle some more, but this time it seemed deeper and even more restrained. She could barely voice her next sentence."Why...would I be covered in blood?"

There was a long silence as Celestia and Minuette stared at one another. They were a good ten feet apart, but Celestia noticed something about her. Her smile was crooked. Like a zig-zag in an up-curve.

"You can trust me Minuette."

"Oh, I know that!"

Celestia sighed in defeat. She closed her eyes slowly and concentrated. When she opened them, they were glowing a bright red, and so was her horn.

"There is one spell that removes organic matter." said Celestia darkly. Minuette felt a prickling/pulling sensation on the back of her neck. She giggled.

"That tickles!"

After a few seconds, the tingling sensation stopped. A glowing red orb floated from around Minuette up to her face. Upon closer inspection, she could see a dark-red liquid being levitated within the aura.

"Oopsie!" said Minuette cheerily. "Guess I missed a spot! Thanks for getting it."

"This is organic in origin Minuettte." said Celestia sternly. "It's not hair dye."

"Oh! That's right!" said Minuette as she scratched the back of her head and put on a pained expression. "I cut myself while I was-"

"This is also not your blood."

Minuette looked at celestia. And then back to the droplet of blood. She suddenly remembered Moon Dancer reading to her about an Alicorn's ability to conduct DNA tests using a spell thought forbidden centuries ago. As for why it was forbidden, the spell could also be used to manipulate blood. If an alicorn didn't like somepony enough, he or she could cause said pony to rapidly and explosively eject all of said pony's blood through said pony's anus.

When she'd learned about it, Minuette laughed hysterically, causing Moon Dancer to grow leary of her company.

"We've talked before, Minuette." said Celestia soothingly. "Please, just tell me what happened."

Minuette's smile didn't falter. In fact, in grew even more, becoming even more crooked. Her eye's shrank to pin-pricks and she began to giggle, getting louder with each passing second. As Celestia watched her double over in laughter, she could see a pained look on Minuettes face.

Luna stared up at her bed-room ceiling with wide, angry eyes, She had the covers pulled over her chest and all the blinds were closed. She'd sound proofed her room a few hours before. She'd even cast a spell to make her ceiling imitate the night sky she'd grown so fond of. Despite all this, she couldn't sleep. Not even for a second.

Her body was tired, but her mind was on over-drive. She was angry. Furious. Livid. If you were to be standing next to her bed in her room, you would be able to see her glowing hot eyes twitch ever now and then. Then she'd see you and probably vaporize you thinking you were the boy coming to kill her. Or Discord peeping on her.

All she could think about was the boy. Well, actually she was thinking about ways to kill him, but that's basically the same thing. She was also thinking about the many ways he could kill her. Every time she did, her eyes would dim slightly out of fear. Unlike killing him, that was a very real possibility. Especially with him so close to her.

Why was Celestia doing this? Was it really because she wanted to give him another chance? After he'd turned all those years ago, it seemed that every day was another chance for him. Celestia would try to talk to him, to reach whatever doubled as his heart. But time and time again, she failed. No. He failed her. Many times. Far too many.

He didn't deserve any more chances. He could not be forgiven. She didn't care if he'd changed or not. He deserved death. Every second he was alive was a mockery of everything she stood for, another sliver of doubt and fear working its way into her inner being.

Her angry breathes caught in her throat when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

Two, red, glowing, dots.

Luna's anger immediately left her, leaving her petrified and afraid.

"...N..no..." she barely choked out as she found the will to slowly begin inching away from the eyes.

They inched towards her.

Her room was pitch-black, but she was certain of who the eyes belonged to. She'd seen them many years ago in her old bed-room.

Luna gasped when she ran out of bed and fell to the floor in a mess of covers. She quickly scrambled to her hooves, throwing the covers off of her.

The eyes were gone.

She looked around her room frantically. For some odd reason, it had become even darker. So dark that even she couldn't see through it. She couldn't even see her bed anymore. When she looked up, her night sky was gone, replaced with a topless abyss.

Her heart was beginning to beat faster, making her fear escalate to panic. She didn't want to move because she didn't know where he was. Any step she took could be in his direction. But she knew she couldn't just stand there.

She tried to calm her breathing as she began to think. He was there. Somewhere. Playing with her, trying to break her spirit. She wouldn't allow him. She was the princess of the night. She entered ponies dreams and helped them conquer all of their fears. She was the master of fear. This little boy wasn't going to faze her.

All of those thoughts were nice, but there was still him. She'd have to somehow survive this encounter despite being blind with her in enfilade. He could strike at any moment. Without a plan, she wouldn't last a second. She thought against using her horn to light up the room, since she would most likely get it forcefully removed in the process.

Luna looked over to where her closet should have been. Her sister kept her armor tucked away in the castle armory where even the best thieves couldn't get to it. Luna thought herself smarter than that. She kept her armor in her closet, where she could get to it quickly. He probably didn't know it was there, so if she bumbled around to it feigning fear, he might not attack and give her a chance to put it on.

All she'd need to do was touch the armor with her horn, and it would appear on her. The flash of light resulting from it would most likely cause him to attack. Her armor could provide just enough protection for her to be badly injured, but not killed on the spot.

She began a slow trot to where her closet should've been, making sure to appear afraid. He'd never used fear tactics before though. At least not intentionally. Part of what made him him so dangerous was his lack of hesitation. He didn't care for theatrics.

The resulting struggle would cause enough confusion for her to strike back or at least put some distance between her and him. She'd escape her room and alert the guards and her sister, however pointless it may be. From that point on, she'd just have to figure out a way to get Celestia her armor. Together, she increased her feeble chances of survival by a good twenty percent.

She mentally berated herself for making such a far-fetched and desperate plan.

Her hoof tripped over something and caused her to fall forward. She caught herself just in time for her snout to hit something wooden. Her heart jumped when she heard the clanging of metal inside of what she'd hit. It was her closet, and her armor was just through the door.

She turned around. The eye's were back, just floating in the darkness motionlessly. The fear she displayed then wasn't for show, and she had to will herself to move again. Her eyes began to water as it inched closer to her. She felt her heart drop into her gut and the blood drain from her face.

No.

She was the princess of the night. She WAS a nightmare at one point.

Her hoof reached out for the door handle and hooked around it. She gulped as the thought of him reaching her wracked her mind. He was only a yard in front of her now. She steeled herself, closed her eyes, and yanked open the closet door as quickly as she could before jamming her horn inside.

*SQUISH*

She opened them again, confused. Her horn had obviously not touched her armor. It had speared through something...else.

When she looked up, she suppressed a scream.

A red light had engulfed her closet, and on the other end of her horn, was the pulverized remains of a large pony. A large, white pony.

Luna jumped back and quickly removed her horn from her sister's barely recognizable corpse, causing it to fall forwards out of the closet. She immediately noticed that her head was missing. The same red light began to engulf the rest of the room behind her.

"..L..una..."

Luna's tears began to flow freely as she turned around.

The boy was standing right in front of her now. He was looking up to her with beady red circles surrounded by blackness.

With her sister's bloody head held tightly in his hand by her mane.

"...Lun..a..." croaked Celestia's battered head as blood dribbled from it.

"NO!" shouted Luna as she backed away from the sight with panicked hooves. "GET AWAY!"

The boy continued to stare holes into her as he held Celestia's twitching head. The mutilated remains of other ponies could now be seen, littered around the room.

Cadence...

Captain Armor...

Twilight...

Applejack...

Rainbow Dash...

Rarity...

Fluttershy...

Pinkiepie...

All of them, despite being torn to pieces, were still twitching, gurgling incoherent noises.

"How...how could you DO THIS!?" shouted Luna as she broke down in tears.

The boy merely cocked his head to the side, dropped Celestia's head, and lunged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"LUNA!"

Luna woke up in a cold sweat, her stomach turning over. Her door was open, flooding her room with light. Her vision was hazy and she was trembling like she was having a seizure, but she could see Celestia by her side, trying to calm her down by shaking her.

"I'M HERE!" shouted Celestia as she stared deeply into Luna's shrunken eyes. Luna stared back, her mind fighting to get a grip on reality. There were tears flowing from her fear-stricken, blood-shot eyes. Celestia then hugged her tightly. Luna began sobbing.

"Ni-nightmare." said Luna through choked sobs. Celestia said nothing, choosing to hold her little sister tightly in response. "He...you..."
"I'm here, Luna."

Ever heard of that saying about how great power comes with great responsibility? No?

You freakin' liar.

Anyway, that applies to everything. Even talking, techni-color ponies from other worlds. What most ponies don't know about Luna is that being the princess of the night comes with a terrible catch.

Her "nightmares" were the worst. They were unlike anything anypony had ever dreamed of, spearing into her core values and violently ripping them to pieces. To make matters worse, she couldn't tell when they started. As long as fear was present within her being, they could start at anytime and anywhere.

Anypony else, perhaps even Celestia herself, would be driven mad by the condition. But Luna was stubborn and a true leader deep at her core. She knew that if she lost herself, she'd lose everyone else. For good this time. But in the end, that did next to nothing for her. What really kept her sane and away from suicidal thoughts was her sister.

Celestia gave off a kind of warmth to anypony she was around. Sometimes, it was terrifyingly hot. Especially to scum-for-suitors. Most times, it was motherly and warm, giving off the feeling of love and safety.

Luna felt this warmth as Celestia hugged her. The cold, festering, darkness within her slowly began to ebb away as it was replaced with warmth and confidence.

By this point, the guards had finally arrived at what was left of Luna's bedroom door. It appeared to have been blown off or incinerated, putting them on alert. They were then confused to see Celestia hugging her shivering sister like a mother would a child. They'd expected an assassin. The noises coming from her room seemed to be a dead giveaway. But nope. Just another one of Luna's nightmares.

"Geez..."muttered one of the guards as he exhaled. "She needs to see a doctor."

"Shut it, Cobalt!" said the other guard with a stern look.

Luna's shivering and erratic breathing finally came to a hault. Despite this, she chose to savor her sister's embrace for just a little while longer. It wasn't rare to get a hug from her sister, but it was rare not to get bear-hug. She let out a steady sigh.

"I..I'm fine now." said Luna. Celestia nodded before letting go of her. She had also been savoring the hug. Luna wasn't exactly the most huggable pony.

Ok, before I go on, I just want you Brony's to know I'm not saying Luna isn't huggable. I'm just saying that...let me rephrase that statement...

Luna thought hugs were childish, so she often avoided hugging, making her un-huggable in a physical sense.

There. I did that just to be safe. I don't want some rainbow colored dude with a tail tracking me down and walkin' up on me on the street with a shiv done up like Celestia's horn. That would be terrifying.

Ok, back to the story....

Reluctantly, Luna and Celestia broke away from each other. Luna then cleared her throat and composed herself to look as regal as she usually did.

"I apologize for the disturbance." said Luna plainly.

"It is fine Luna." said Celestia before moving off the bed. "I'll be here for you as many times as it takes."

"Thank you." said Luna as she looked over to see the guards surveying the smoldering remains of her expensive bed-room door. "Did you forget you had a key again?"

Celestia's face went pale. The last time she blew up Luna's door, she promised to pay for the next one, something she couldn't really do at the moment without cutting into her cake fund. Her mind raced.

"It was like that when I found it." said Celestia slyly. One of the guards, the aforementioned Cobalt, squinted his eyes in confusion.

"But I could've sworn I sworn I saw-"

"A monster from Tartarus blow up her door?" said Celestia as she slowly turned her head to look at Cobalt with mock surprise. "Maybe I should assign another guard to TARTARUS DUTY to help them out?"

The rookie guard was about to open his mouth when the other guard jabbed hin in the side with a hoof. Cobalt turned to see the guard shaking his head and making cutting motions on his neck Cobalt gulped in realization.

"Uh...yeah!" said Cobalt nervously. "It was a um...some thing with wings and fire breath!"

"A dragon?" said Luna with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, your majesty!" said Cobalt with a salute. Luna squinted at him long and hard without a word, making him begin to sweat. Celestia figured she'd best intervene before the young guard peed himself for the second time that week.

"Well," began Celestia as she stepped into Luna's vision to hide Cobalt's shaking. "Now that I'm here, there's something I think you need to see."

Luna considered putting it off until later so that she could get some rest, but she'd seen how that turned out. In fact, just being in her room made her feel afraid. She needed to get out of there.

"Fine." she said as she got out of bed and levitated her crown off of her dresser. "It's not like I'll be able to sleep anyway."

Daring sat at her desk with a bored expression plastered on her face. Well, maybe not boredom. Perhaps it was hopelessness. Celestia basically told her she was fired until further notice, and considering how used to the passage of time Celestia had grown, that could mean years. DECADES even!

Then again, had she really messed up that bad? If she could remember correctly from a newspaper she'd read, seven fillies had turned up missing after venturing into the Everfree last year, and that was just one of many instances. She felt she was doing something good for pony-kind. Sure, she had a few ulterior motives, but could you blame her for wanting enough money to buy a decent security system? One get's sick of waking up to robbers and assassins in the dead of night. And she was sick of scrubbing the blood out of her carpets.

......

Daring shook the thoughts away.

She'd expected to be on a long-deserved vacation at this point, but nope. She was stuck in the big empty Castle of Friendship, in a room with nothing in it but a desk, a large window, and a simple bed. She desperately wished there was a clock. Her things were supposed to be arriving on the next train, and she couldn't tell if it was an hour away or five minutes away.

"Ms. Do?" called the muffled voice of Twilight Sparkle behind her door. "You in there?"

"Is the train almost here?" asked Daring in reply.

"Not yet." said Twilight as she opened the door to Daring's new room. "We still have another few hours."

"Fantastic."

"Something happened in Canterlot." said Twilight as she scratched the back of her head with a hoof. "But I have an Idea in mind to pass the time."

"Furnish your castle?"

"No, I tried that already. I was thinking I could introduce you to my friends."

What a splendid Idea!

Daring froze when she heard the familiar voice. When she turned around to face Twilight and discover who had spoken, she visibly jumped in her seat.

There, idly standing right next to Twilight with it's paws folded behind it's back, was the chrome draconius from the temple in the center of the Everfree.

Daring's eye's flicked from Twilight to the chrome copy, expecting an immediate explanation.

Twilight winced in suspicion and looked to her right, trying to figure out what Daring was staring at.

"Ms. Do?" said Twilight, beginning to get worried. "Is something wrong?"

Daring started to raise her hoof to point when the chrome copy raised his paw to stop her.

Ah-ah-ah! This isn't the time to appear insane. Being cooped up in Ponyville is the bee's knees compared a mental ward. Especially for ponies as dangerous as you!

Daring's eyes furrowed in confusion. She'd just seen Twilight look directly at him and then back at her. Either she really couldn't see him, or Celestia had entrusted her power to an idiot. The latter was unlikely, despite her quirks, so the only other sensible explanation was that only she could see him.

Bravo! clapped the draconius. She figured it out!

And he could read her mind. She didn't like this. She didn't like this at all.

"Hellooo~?" said Twilight, waving a hoof from side to side to get Daring's attention. Daring blinked twice before looking at Twilight again.

Go on...say something before she writes to Celestia about you blanking out on her.

"Yes?" said Daring, trying to steady her nerves.

"Are you alright?" asked Twilight apprehensively.

"Uh, yeah. Just uh...just remembered something."

"Really? What?"

Daring stared at Twilight like a deer in headlights as her mind raced.

"I..."

"Yes?"

"Need a disguise before I can leave." said Daring unsurely. Twilight looked down on the floor and almost immediately saw the disguise Daring was wearing the day before.

"You mean that one?" said Twilight as she pointed to the purple cloak and glasses. Daring looked down and feigned realization.

"Oh, there it is!" said Daring as she got up and approached it. "I've been looking for it all morning! Thanks!"

"You're...welcome?" said Twilight as she nodded unsurely. Daring could hear the chrome draconius chuckling, but didn't dare glare at him.

Maybe if she didn't look at him, he would go away.

"Aren't you going to...bathe?" said Twilight as she watched Daring put the cloak on. "There's a bathroom down the hall."

Daring froze right before she could slip on her shades. She could practically feel the draconius staring holes into her flank.

Oh goody!

"Nope." said Daring as she put on the shades and pulled the hood over her head.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Nope."

"...I can assure you that's it's very cle-"

"Nope."

"But-"

"Nope."

"..."

"Nope."

"Urgh! Fine!" said Twilight as she turned around to leave in defeat. "Who do you want to visit first?"

So off they went to visit Fluttershy. Why? Daring had technically already met the rest of them and wanted to avoid Rainbow Dash at all cost. Twilight had insisted on her meeting them formally, but Daring thought it was stupid. Mainly because she didn't understand what a formal introduction was. Twilight had already stated her friends names, so it couldn't be just to find out who they were.

Daring obviously didn't need an introduction, since they all...well hopefully all of them but Rainbow Dash knew who she was and what she was here for. That thought scared her though. If Rainbow Dash knew she was here, wouldn't she have been the first to track her down and meet her? What if she was too nervous to approach her and was watching her from the skies?

Daring looked up.

They were walking on a path that ran through a small stretch of trees, but she could just barely make out a pink blimp far off into the distance. She saw the glint of light from a pair of binoculars peering at her from the cockpit.

It was that weird pink pony. Didn't she have a job? A life?

"Don't worry about Pinkie." said Twilight, catching Daring's attention. "Trust me. Shes an enigma without any rhyme or reason."

"Like the center of the Everfree..." said Daring thoughtfully. Twilight craned her neck to look at Daring incredulously.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't think I know yet." said Daring, shaking her head. Twilight stared at her a little longer before looking away.

"I tried to understand her once." said Twilight. "She has this...ability she calls Pinkie Sense. I tried to disprove it and failed. I then tried to understand it and failed. In the process, I nearly lost my mind."

"You read alot of history books right?" asked Daring, taking her gaze off the blimp.

"Of course. History is what all things consist of."

Especially your average, elderly, sun-butt. echoed the chrome draconious from seemingly no where. Daring ignored him.

"Have you ever read about Chaotic Fallout?"

Sounds like a sweet sequel.

"Yes." answered Twilight. "The Everfree is...was probably the best example of that."

"Have you ever read about its effects on ponies?"

Twilight shuddered.

"Yes, unfortunately. Ponies suffered terrible side effects ranging from unexplained mood-swings to horrifying mutations. All cases ended in death."

"Close." said Daring with a smirk. "Most cases. Some lived on."

Twilight looked at Daring again with piqued interest. She knew she hadn't read every book on Chaotic Fallout, but she could remember reading from several sources that all cases ended in death. She felt that her methodology for acquiring knowledge was being threatened.

"Where'd you read that?" asked Twilight skeptically.

"I didn't read it anywhere." said Daring with a curt shake of her head. "Not all knowledge is stored in a book. Actually, most of it isn't. From what I've experienced as an adventurer, real knowledge is in between the lines and more hooves on."

Twilight tilted her head to the side slightly. She was right. Twilight hadn't become the princess of friendship by reading books. In fact, reading less may have been the direct cause of it. Knowledge was everything to her, but she couldn't find any good books on friendship. She tried the Friendship for Dummies guide, but she put the book away when she went a little loco and started demanding a ponies name in order to continue the friendship making process. It was one of the few things she knew of that wasn't by the book.

"So, what does that have to do with Pinkie?"

"I don't yet." said Daring, still wishing she had her pith helm. "It's not my business to know anymore."

Twilight wanted to question her further, but she knew she'd struck a nerve and decided to let the subject drop. Still, she was curious about why Pinkie would have anything to do with Daring's occupation. Pinkie seemed to be an open book. She learned new things about her nearly everyday. The fact that she held secrets bothered her.

What secret was so bad that even Pinkie wouldn't open up to her friends about it?

As usual, Fluttershy's cottage was beautiful and serene. Little woodland critters skittered about on the lush, green, grass while birds perched themselves on the various vibrant plants that hung from the cottage. There was also a chrome draconious flying around the house, scrutinizing its every detail, but unfortunately, only Daring could see that.

I don't know what it is about this cottage, but I'm digging the natural aesthetic. Very loose. Very...chaotic.

Daring's eye twitched. She did not want to get used to this.

"Whoah..." said Daring as she forced herself to ignore the hallucination. "This place is beautiful. She must really like animals."

"Yes." said Twilight as she sat on her haunches and messaged her temples with her hooves. "She LOVES animals."

"Right, I audibly noted that."

"She loves ALL animals." as Twilight said this, she gave Daring a worried look. Daring took a moment to figure out what she was implying, but didn't get it. Chrome Discord's head slowly descended between them with a giddy look. Daring's eyes veered off to him and quickly back to Twilight.

"Ok...what's with the look?" asked Daring, mentally slapping herself for asking both of them.

Twilight sighed.

"Even the animals in the Everfree."

Daring cocked an eyebrow incredulously.

"Manticores?"

"Yes."

"Ursa's?"

"Yes."

"Cockatrices?"

"Yes!"

"I guess that's a problem then."

A prolonged creaking noise was heard coming from Fluttershy's Cottage. When Twilight and Daring looked, they could see the front door of the cottage slightly open with a butter-yellow mare with a pink-blossom mane peeking through it.

Oh, how adorable!

"He-Hello?" said the timid mare, eyeing Daring like a scared filly.

"Fluttershy!" said Twilight, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. "How are you?"

"...I'm...ok?" answered Fluttershy cautiously. She kept her eye's trained on Daring before pointing her hoof. "W-Who's that?"

"Oh, sorry!" said Twilight as she turned to look at Daring. "Would you mind introducing yourself?"

Daring sighed.

"I doubt introductions are really needed." said the cloaked adventurer as she pulled back her hood and took off her shades.

"Oh!" exclaimed Fluttershy. "Ms. Do! I couldn't recognize you under-"

"My disguise?" said Daring giving a half-hearted smile. At least somepony wasn't able to call out her aesthetic fib. "It's not fun being famous. You probably already know that, what with you being a former super-model and all."

Fluttershy blushed

"Y-You remember that?"

"I do try to read the papers when Ahuizotl isn't trapping me in some dramatic torture chamber." This elicited a giggle from both Twilight and Fluttershy, easing Daring's mood. If she was able to laugh at one of her morbid jokes, she probably wasn't mad at her about the unintentionally intentional genocide of the Everfree. This also most likely meant that Fluttershy didn't know that it was Daring that had caused it, or that it had even happened at all. If this was true, it meant that the information Celestia sent to Twilight's friends didn't include anything about what happened to the Everfree, or how she may have doomed Equestria by freeing a dangerous creature. It was just Twilight, who seemed to be taking it freakishly well.

Daring loved keeping secrets.

"...So um..." began Fluttershy. "Would you like some tea?"

"This is some really good tea Ms. Fluttershy." said Daring after taking a sip. She'd tasted alot of tea traveling the world, but she'd never tasted something quite so sweet and soft. It was even the perfect temperature.

"Thank you." said Fluttershy with a small smile. The three of them were sitting at a table in her living room. The various animals around them skittered about as they normally would, occasionally giving Daring a curious look. There was even a bear sitting in a corner with a jar of warm honey, happily chugging it down.

"You must REALLY love animals."

"Mhm. Said Fluttershy as she watched a blue-jay come alight on her snout, making her giggle. "I've always loved them. Why, I couldn't imagine living without them."

"I see." said Daring as her eyes surveyed her house. How did somepony live like this? Did all the animal feces grow legs and form a single file line to the toilet? Or had she personally trained them all to leave her home and do their duty outside? She couldn't smell anything unpleasant while she was there, so she clearly did something.

"Fluttershy is the best there is when it comes to taking care of animals." said Twilight proudly. "She's Ponyville's veterinarian."

"Oh, I'm not really certified or anything." said Fluttershy with a nervous guffaw. "Everypony just thinks I am."

"Well, title is given, not taken." said Daring.

"True." agreed Twilight with a smile. A silence fell over the room as the three stared into their tea-cups, trying to think of something to talk about. Trying to ignore the elephant in the room. No, not a literal one. Even Fluttershy doesn't keep elephants in her ho-

*PHWWOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU*

...My mistake.

"Oh, dear." said Fluttershy as they felt the house shake. "I think some of the mice got into Tiny's room." she got up from her pillow and began to trot toward the stairs. "I'm going to go check on him to see if he's ok. Will you two be alright? Need anything before I go?"

Daring looked above her head and envisioned herself being flattened underneath an elephant. Contrary to popular belief, having an elephant dropped on you is not "cartoony" at all. Daring would know, since she could remember dropping one on a bad guy a year before.

"No," said Daring. "I think Tiny is more important right now."

With a nod, Fluttershy headed upstairs to cater to the elephant that in my honest opinion, had no business being there. After she was out of ear-shot, Daring tapped Twilight on her shoulder as she was sipping her tea.

"Yes?"

"Does she know?" asked Daring in a hushed tone.

"Know what?"

"You know, about me."

"Oh!" said Twilight as she set down her tea cup. "Actually no. She only knows that you should be kept under supervision."

Daring let out a relieved sigh.

"So she doesn't know that I technically murdered all the creatures of the Everfree?" Twilight shook her head.

"She, along with everypony else in town, probably doesn't even know that something's happened to the Everfree at all. Celestia wants to to keep it a secret just to be safe."

"That's a relief." said Daring as she began to relax her tense muscles. "I was beginning to think that she was only being nice to me to catch me off guard and kill me later."

"What?!" exclaimed Twilight, nearly spitting out her tea. "Why would she do that?!"

"She loves animals and I kinda killed a bunch of them. She'd naturally hate me."

"Fluttershy doesn't love animals THAT much!"

Or so she said. A mongst the vast sea of knowledge and wisdom she accumulated over the years, she knew that everypony had secrets. Dark ones. For all she knew, Fluttershy had a shed somewhere filled with rotting animal heads and torture equipment.

Speaking of dark secrets, started Chrome Discord as he flew out of Daring's ear. From what I can see in your memories, you've accumulated a rather impressive death tol-

"Ok, then." said Daring as she shrugged her shoulders. "Guess that means I can drink the tea then."

"...You haven't been drinking the tea?" asked Twilight, sort of weirded out.

"No."

"But I saw you take several sips."

Daring showed Twilight her cup. It was just as full as it was when Fluttershy first poured it for her.

"So you've just been sipping it and spitting it back into the cup?"

"Yep."

"...Ew."

Yes. Disgusting.

"Look, I've had my tea spiked so many times that even I don't think it's funny."

"Right. I read about those." said Twilight, massaging her temples.

As Daring was about to explain how tea had been responsible for several government takeovers and abductions, a series of knocking came from the front door.

"TW-*gasp* TWILIGHT!" shouted the familiar voice of a cute baby dragon. "URGEN- *pant* URGENT LETTER FROM PRINCESS CELESTIA!"

Twilight's eyes widened.

"Coming!" shouted the purple alicorn as she flared her wings and zoomed towards the door. When she opened it, Spike fell face-first to the floor in an exhausted heap. Despite this, he still had his arm outstretched with the scroll in hand. The insignia found on it was the same royal seal, but it was glowing yellow, signifying that it was to be opened by Twilight as soon as possible.

Wasting no time, Twilight levitated the letter from spike's hand and opened it. Her eye's fervently scanned the words on the page like a bitter english teacher would her least favorite students book report. After finishing it, her head reeled back in shock.

"Today?! He's arriving today?! On the next train?!"

"Nice." said Daring in a bitter tone.

As if to agitate her further, Chrome Discord donned a party cap and threw streamers in Daring's face. She was unfazed by them until they hit the ground where they burst into flames with loud pops, causing her to dance around and look like an idiot.

Yes! shouted the chrome copy as he began to do a moon walk in the air. Now the fun can really begin!

Author's Note

Sorry this one took forever, but I did alot of reviewing and actually tried to take my time with this. I've also been working alot, so I'm not always in the mood to write. Hope you guys enjoy this one. I'm still self-teaching myself the concept of setting the stage. I REALLY want to master that down pat. Would make writing so much funner!:pinkiehappy:

#7 Getting Unaquainted

"So," said Twilight as she moved her face freakishly close to Daring's. "What's this...boy like?"

Daring sighed. That was probably the tenth time Twilight had asked her that question. She'd answered it and many others along the way to the train station by saying she didn't know. She'd only seen him once, and she'd gotten a concussion soon after. She'd explained this to Twilight several times, but she kept asking away. She felt like she was being followed around by her mother on prom night. Which was weird, seeing as she never went to prom. Wasn’t like she was attracting any stallions, seeing as they were all scared of her.

"Twilight," said Daring as she turned to give her a no-bull-crap look. "If you ask me that one more time, I'm going to do something violent."

Oh, yeah. I don't cuss. You don't like it, you can sit on it.

"You don't get it!" fussed Twilight as she jumped from side to side on her hooves. Ponies around them would've been staring at her, but they'd gotten used to her losing it once in a while. "This is basically just like a foreign ambassador visit, but he's from another world! Not only that, but he's dangerous! He could be even worse than yaks!"

With that last statement, a nearby Yak turned his head to look at the two.

"Pony no like yaks!?" asked the large yak accusingly, catching Twilight and Daring's attention.

"No, no, no!" said twilight, waving her hooves. "I didn't mean it like that! It's just that-"

"You no like yak because yak BLACK!?"

The yak was indeed covered in a black coat of fur and dark skinned. Although his hair covered his face, if one were to get close enough without getting beaten near-death, you would notice that he had a black eye-patch over his left eye.

"I didn't say anything about you being black!" shouted Twilight fearfully.

"Now you YELL at black yak!?"

"What?! I-"

"Thorny?" said Daring as she squinted to get a better look at the yak. The yak stopped glaring at Twilight and looked at Daring.

"Why you know black yak's name?" asked the yak as he moved his face closer to Daring's in a threatening gesture. Daring merely stared at him blankly as she tried not to gag from the yak's familiar, yet extremely grotesque breath.

"It's me...that mare from the bar." said the adventurer cooly. "You tried to kill me back in Vanhoover?"

Thorny cocked his head and sized Daring up. She had taken off her shades and lifted her hood back a little to let him get a better look. He remembered her face, but felt something was missing.

"Black yak can't remember."

"Maybe a buck to the go-nads would help...ya big, black, cyclops."

Now, if any other pony had sad that to Thorny, he'd have picked them up and shoved their head so far up their own behind that their head would’ve emerged through their own mouth. But something about the way she'd said it made his mind begin to work backwards to two years ago...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daring was tired and sore. She'd just narrowly escaped a pack of Diamond dogs that were after the artifact she'd "liberated" from them. It was the Golden Claw, a powerful artifact that could tear rifts into time and space and link Tartarus to Equestria. Celestia had entrusted the artifact to them decades ago, but she had to recall her trust when they started using it to summon creatures to dig for them, which none of them ever did. Why? Because taming a rabid, three-headed lizard-lion made of explosions is darn near impossible. So instead, the creatures would escape and force whole towns to evacuate.

They'd recently thrown the claw into Tartarus itself to prevent Celestia from getting it, but Discord found it floating outside his house and nonchalantly threw it out of Tartarus after getting bored with it. At least, that's what he said. Celestia was convinced that he'd done it purely to watch her scuffle around Equestria to find it.

And so she contacted Daring, who was still secretly researching the center of the Everfree. At first, she was planning to pretend she didn't get the letter for a few days. She wanted to go to Vanhoover to follow up on a lead on the Everfree's center. Then, when she arrived there, she over heard a few Diamond dogs in an alley talking about a "shiny claw".

Her conscience getting the better of her, she decided to follow them at a distance until they met up with another diamond dog. This one was cloaked and very big. When he removed his hood, Daring recognized him as Foam, one of the Diamond dog's alphas. She'd ran into him before when she was on another job, and they'd gotten into a scuffle that she couldn't bring herself to forget. Daring watched as he produced the Golden Claw from his cloak while she snickered at the cast he was still wearing on his other arm from their last encounter.

Long story short, she swooped down and snatched it. Foam and the others followed her, shooting arrows and stuff at her. None of them managed to hit her, but Foam manged to tackle her from a roof-top and send the two barreling toward the ground. Even with one arm, she couldn't help but notice that he was still her physical superior. He was opening his foam-filled mouth to take a chunk out of her throat when they hit the ground. Well, not they. Just him.

The impact was enough to knock him out, but Daring had to stretch to make sure her spine hadn't been nearly snapped from the alpha's death grip. After surmising that she was ok, she stuffed the claw into one of her saddle-bags and trotted away from the scene as ponies watched in awe. Somepony would eventually call an ambulance to pick up Foam.

Daring secretly hated herself for hoping he was in a coma or dead. If he woke up and still remembered everything, he'd call the police and say that she'd stolen the claw from him. Which she did.

So she decided to kill two birds with one stone by heading to a little-known bar on the outskirts of town. She could pay the bartender to keep quiet if the authorities came asking around, and she needed a drink. Believe it or not, Foam didn't hit the ground first because it had been planned. It was an accident. So Daring's nerves were a bit jumpy. She kept imagining her head being torn off by Foam's ridiculously powerful jaws after breaking every bone in her body upon impact with the ground. She wanted to STOP imagining that, since it was basically what should have happened. When you come that close to death, you might get the need to sit down and evaluate your life choices.

Or get drunk.

So there she was, standing outside Fable-Hoof's Tavern looking tired, jittery, and annoyed. She'd been to the bar only once before, and it was a brief visit. All she could remember about it was that it was shady, and filled with shady ponies to boot. She didn't know what to expect of it now. She didn't care though, so she just walked in.

The smell of bile, alcohol and smoke filled her nostrils, making her wince. She ignored the curious and ominous stares from the murderous ponies around her and kept her eye's focused on the gruff, yet well-groomed bartender standing behind the counter. She kept right on trotting, trying to become a background pony like Lyra and the others.

The bartender watched her as she approached him, squinting to get a better look at her. He had a red coat with a dark orange mane that he'd obviously spent hours a day keeping up. His cold, blue eyes gave Daring a once over once she was seated in front of him.

"You look familiar." said the bartender as Daring tried to keep her face shadowed underneath her pith helm. True, she was famous, but not everpony liked to read. The ones in her immediate vicinity probably didn't even know how to. Maybe he recognized her from her previous visit some time ago. It didn't matter.

Daring took a small satchel of bits and plopped it down in front of him.

"No I don't." she said sternly. The bartender opened the satchel and inspected its contents closely.

"Sorry." said the bartender as he nodded his head and took the satchel. "Trick of the light. What can I get for ya?"

Daring knew the guy could still rat her out if the cops showed up later, but she also knew a guy like him could only stay afloat by actually doing what he's paid to do. Information brokers worked that way. If they took somepony's money and still ratted them out, they could be very easily found and killed for doing so. They couldn't even accept buy-outs from cops, since the result would still be the same. It was one of those first-come, first-served type deals.

"Hard Applejack Daniels."

"Comin' up."

The bartender trotted away to grab her drink. She didn't really plan on getting drunk that day. If anything, she just wanted the satisfaction of knowing she'd gotten a drink to drown her recent experience. Also, getting drunk was on her list of "The fastest ways to die". She couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten drunk, which probably meant she never had. She'd never died either, so it was a rule she'd follow to her grave.

"Here ya go miss." said the bartender as he sat the glass down in front of her. Without hesitation, she took a sip of the glass and swallowed it. Sure, it could've been spiked, but it also might not have been. Ahuizotl avoided Vanhoover because everypony there hated his guts. As for why, go write a book about it.

She let out a contented sigh as she felt her nerves begin to settle down. This attracted the attention of a tipsy stallion sitting two seats to her left.

"Hey there, dark and mysterious." said the stallion as he got up to sit in the seat next to her. "What brings you to the seedy side of Vanhoover?"

Daring's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Please," she said with a dismissive look. "I just want to finish my drink and leave."

"I can wait."

"Please don't."

As the stallion was about to say something else, they felt the floor shaking beneath them. They both turned around to see a yak towering over them. A big, black, yak.

"You take black yak's seat!" boomed the yak at the now cowering stallion.

"N-N-N-NO! I-I was just mov-"

"BLACK YAK MAD!"

With that, the yak back-hoofed the stallion up-side his head, sending him to the wall at the end of the counter and knocking out a couple of his teeth. The ponies around them just laughed and jeered at the now unconscious or dead stallion before resuming what they were doing.

The yak sat down and wiped the bloody teeth off the counter before signaling the bartender, who promptly reached up to grab a bottle of wine before setting it down in front of the yak. Daring noted that the wine the yak had gotten was Cold Bite, a wine altered to literally freeze as it made its way to your gut. It was lethal to anypony that didn't have the stomach for it, often used to poison others and cause them to experience a slow and painful death. Yaks could take it, but even then, very few of them could.

Daring quit staring at the yak's drink before he could notice and resumed drinking hers.

"So Thorny," said the Bartender as he grabbed a rag to wipe the specks of blood off the counter. "How goes those anger management classes?"

After taking a long sip of the Cold Bite, the yak wiped his mouth and set the bottle down hard.

"Black yak intimidate counselor." said Thorny. "Counselor quit on me!"

"How surprising." said the bartender as he inspected the shiny marble-top counter closely for any remaining blood-stains. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Counselor probably just not like black yaks!"

"Those days are over Thorny." said the bartender as he smiled and shook his head. "No one thinks black yaks are evil wizards anymore."

"But ponies always give black yak weird looks!"

"That's because you're huge, Thorny. You can also three-day punch anypony as easily as you could swat a fly."

"But there big ponies too!" exclaimed Thorny. "Like big blue stallion pony with red eyes!"

Daring stopped mid-sip.

"You mean Backbone?" said the Bartender with a smirk. Daring had to resist spitting out her drink.

"Yes! Black yak need both arms to arm wrestle him!"

"Yeah, well I don't even know if he's equine. Plus, he doesn't go around town giving ponies free dental service at the drop of a hair."

"When was he last here?" asked Daring, raising her head. Thorny and the bartender turned to look at her with peaked interest.

"You know him?" asked the bartender.

"Yes." said Daring quickly. "When was he last here?"

The bartender put a hoof on his chin in thought. Daring began to worry that he was going to charge her. Thankfully, for his sake, he was feeling generous that day.

"Hm. I'd have to say about...a month ago?" said the bartender as he pointed to Thorny. The yak nodded his head.

"Black yak challenge big blue pony to arm wrestle."

"And I lost a lot of money." said the bartender. "I honestly didn't think he had a chance against Thorny."

"Is he still here?" asked Daring, trying not to let her desperation show.

"Nah." said the bartender as he shook his head. "He was only in Vanhoover for a week. He was just here to let that famous singer sister of his do a show here."

"Where was she touring next?"

"Heard she was going to Ma-"

"POLICE!"

The trio along with everypony else in the bar turned their heads towards the entrance. Three guards clad in arrow-proof vests were standing there, each one holding up his badge.

Daring's mind raced. She knew what was going to happen next.

"WE'RE LOOKING FOR A TAN MARE BEARING THIS CUTIE MARK!" shouted one of the guards as he held up a piece of paper with a drawing of her cutie mark. Daring internally cursed. Foam had somehow willed himself to wake up even though he should've been out for at least a day and a half...or dead.

Even then, how did they figure she'd be at a shady bar on the outskirts of town?

Daring mentally face-hoofed. Right. If you want to find a shady character, you check the shadiest of spots first.

Thankfully, the lighting in the bar wasn't all that great. It would be maybe another three seconds before they spotted her, and perhaps another second before somepony in the bar pointed to her. This was ample time for her to think up a cacophony of plans.

Her tactical mind re-created the bar and everything around her, almost rendering her omnipresent. Potential weapons were everywhere, ranging from bottles to hot cigarette butts. There were only three of them, so taking them out wouldn't be a challenge, but Daring wasn't a criminal that beat up cops. She was just a grave-robber. And maybe a high-class thief.

And a killer!

Stay out of the flash-backs. You'll confuse the readers.

You're no fun!

Duly noted...creep.

Ahem

Scrapping any plan that involved hurting or possibly killing the police officers, her mind instinctively thought up a better plan.

Thorny, realizing that the picture wasn't him or anypony he cared about, had resumed drinking his beer. Daring smiled. It was time to have some fun.

As quickly as she could, she swung her hoof to the left, smashing the lower half of the yaks bottle. The resulting momentum sent the splash of the icy cold liquid to Thorny's left, where a stallion sat with his back to him. The beer splashed against the stallion's back, freezing on contact. The stallion then emitted a shrill scream that could put any female singer to absolute shame.

The scream was so loud, that another stallion who was sitting at a table close to them lurched, sending the contents of his mug into the air. His drink landed on the cream-colored stallion sitting across from him, who happened to be a well-known gang leader. The gang leader, shaking with anger and drunk, picked up his half-full bottle of whiskey and smashed it onto the table, splashing its contents on anypony sitting at the there.

The entire table started fighting.

Encouraged by the fight, another stallion in the bar smiled and felt it was a good time to try his left hoof on the stallion next to him. The blow hit the stallion hard, sending the bottle he was drinking careening towards the back of a confused yak's head. The bottle smashed into Thorny's head, drenching him in cheap wine.

Thorny's single, un-patched, eye, bulged with anger.

"BLACK YAK MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" shouted Thorny as he rose up and turned to face the rest of the bar, making the police officers flinch. Thorny charged into the direction he thought the bottle came from and sent a few stallions and a now smashed table into the air. One of said stallions landed on another table, smashing it and sending drink everywhere.

"SCREW IT!" said one of the now dripping wet stallions as he stood up with a bottle. "I'M HAVIN' A BAD DAY ANYWAY!"

And so the bar-fight began.

"I hate you." said the bartender as he ducked to avoid another bottle of expensive liquor. To him at least. Daring chuckled and smirked, turning around to admire her handiwork.

"Haters gone' haARGH!" The bartender was spared Daring's annoying quip when a grey police pegasus slammed into her side, pinning her to the floor.

"I saw that!" shouted the pegasus as Daring struggled to get free. "You're under arrest!"

Daring looked to her left and saw Thorny with two stallions in a choke hold.

"HEY!" she shouted. "YA BIG, BLACK, CYCLOPS!"

Despite the ruckus, Thorny's ears singled out her insult. He turned his head and saw Daring sticking her tongue out at him. He growled, dropped the two barely alive stallions, and charged for her.

"Sorry." said Daring as she got her hind hooves underneath the confused pegasus's stomach. "Can't have you following me." With that, she pushed him off of her and into Thorny, obscuring the yak's vision. She rolled out of the way just before Thorny could flatten her and watched as he stopped abruptly and sent the pegasus barreling through the brick wall like a football would a stack of wooden blocks.

She was barely able to get in a laugh before Thorny turned and saw her laying on the ground. Daring ceased her laughter immediately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You." said Thorny as he gritted his teeth in anger. "You sucker buck black yak in testicles and fly away!"

"And then I sent you that crate of Cold Bite as consolation." said Daring, smiling nervously.

"...Cold Bite?" said Twilight, awestruck. "That stuff is LETHAL!"

"So YOU send black yak secret stash." said thorny, stepping away.

"Yep! Do you still want to kill me?"

Thorny seemed to think about this deeply. He wanted to tell her that he needed surgery to fix his testicles after that day, but he was also thankful for the Cold Bite, seeing as the bar he frequented had been closed down at the city's recommendation.

"Then black yak forgive you."

"Really?" said Daring incredulously before catching herself and clearing her throat. "I mean...cool."

After that, they just stood in silence for a while as Thorny stared at them. Twilight was trying to figure out what to feel at the moment. She just found out that this yak was hording an illegal substance that Daring had illegally procured for him which probably meant it was being illegally stored somewhere. She was the princess of friendship, but she needed to up-hold justice all the same.

She also needed to up-hold peace, so she kept her mouth shut for the time being. She had a feeling Daring would explain later.

"So what brings you here?" asked Daring, figuring a little small talk would help pass the time.

"New counselor say black yak should visit peaceful Pony town." said Thorny. "Counselor say it would help calm black yak down."

"Has it worked?"

"Black yak take anger management classes here. Now, instead of beating ponies up for offensive racial slurs, black yak handle matter by civilly suing ponies in court of law!"

"That's...nice?"

"Black yak learn true meaning of friendship. Black yak leave to travel world in hopes of aiding those who suffer from short temper! Black yak get famous!" said Thorny, shaking his hoof in front of him.

"Why do you keep referring to yourself as 'black yak'?" asked Daring, unable to bear it any longer. She wrote books after all. "Isn't your name Thorny?"

"NO!" said the yak angrily, causing Daring and Twilight to flinch. "THAT NOT BLACK YAK'S NAME! BLACK YAK HAVE NO NAME!"

"So why did the guy at the bar call you Thorny?" asked Daring, causing Thorny to snort.

"Black yak get nick-name after last big break-up. Ex go spreading rumors and ponies start calling black yak strange name!"

"Oh...so, should we ever meet again, what should I call you?"

"Anything but Thorny!"

"Ok." said Daring as she put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "So....can I call you-"

"No."

With that, they could hear the trainr far off in the distance, drawing everypony's attention. To Twilight and Daring's surprise, it was a normal looking train. You'd think that transporting a dangerous creature would warrant some kind of defensive precautions, but...maybe it didn't.

"That is the train right?" asked Daring, keeping her eyes TRAINED on it.

Oh, you're hilarious.

Your mother.

As the train pulled up to them and stopped, Twilight scanned it for anything out of the ordinary. Other than it being only two cars long, there was nothing. Almost. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but something felt off. She could sense the presence of many powerful and familiar energies.

"I...don't know." said the alicorn as she looked through the windows. Ponies could be seen sitting down inside, but there were no guards...or any weird bi-pedal boy.

"She said the next train...right?" asked Daring as she stepped closer. No sooner, the door to the second car slid open. As the ponies filed out of the train, she saw no guards or the boy who she was tasked with watching over. Just your average, normal-looking, background ponies.

"OW!"

Twilight and Daring looked up to see a purple pegasus mare rubbing her head like she'd just hit something. This was odd, because there was nothing in front of her or around her for her to hit her head against. Annoyed, the pegasus mare waved her hoof in front of her as if to check for something. When she felt nothing, she shrugged and kept flying passed, her eyes darting around her for whatever she hit.

"Package for princess Twilight Sparkle?" yelled a stallion as he and a slew of other stallions exited the train. Confused, Twilight walked up to the stallion.

"A package?" said Twilight, causing the stallion to nod.

"Yep." said the stallion as he gestured to the inside of the train where a large box was sitting. It was bigger than her, almost too big to fit in the train. "Princess Celestia asked us to personally carry it to the castle for you."

"Carry it? Why?" asked Twilight as she gestured to her horn. "I could probably carry it myself."

"Well, due to the package's other-worldly qualities, it can't be carried with magic."

"Other-worldly-....Oh." said Twilight, her eye's widening in realization. "Other-worldly."

"Other-worldly." repeated the stallion calmly with a nod. Twilight winked at the stallion to communicate her understanding, but to other ponies, it just looked like she was affirming a date or a "fun night" in secret.

"Alright Da-" began Twilight, only to have a mustard colored hoof jammed into her mouth. Daring gestured to the surrounding ponies with her eyes before withdrawing her hoof. Twilight smiled sheepishly.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Listen miss,” said Backbone calmly after exhaling to calm his agitated nerves. “I’d like to help you, but I can’t.”

“Liar!” shouted the old mare, speckling his face with old spit that smelled of prunes. “The sign outside yer shop says you can fix anything!”

“Mrs. Smith, it MELTED. I can’t fix it!”

“Nonsense!” said Granny Smith as she pointed to the hardened metal blob on the counter that used to be the engine to the Apple family’s lawn-mower. “All’s ya gotta do is smelt it back to the way it used to be.”

“Wha-”

“I’ve seen mechanics do it before. Now get ta smeltin’!”

Backbone’s face contorted into unfathomable confusion as Granny Smith turned around and headed towards the front entrance.

“I expect it to be fixed by ta’morrow!” said the old mare as she opened the front entrance.

“That’s impossible!” said Backbone, snapping out of his irritated stupor.

“Oh?” said Granny Smith, stopping half-way out of the door and feigning thought with a hoof to her chin. “Maybe I’ll send AppleBloom and er’ friends over-”

“NO!” shouted Backbone, his face now a lighter shade of blue. “One o’clock! Tomorrow afternoon!”

Granny Smith acknowledged his word with a satisfied nod before gesturing to the large red stallion who was standing by the door chewing on a piece of grain, whom we all know is Big Macintosh. If you don’t, how did you even get here?

“C’mon, Big Macintosh. Let’s leave im’ to it.”

Big Mac nodded and followed his grandmother out of the shop, leaving Backbone with his head in his hooves. There was no way he would be able to fix the engine. He’d only succeeded in kicking the can a foot down the road. He could already imagine the Cutie Mark Crusaders dancing around his molten-metal covered body while chanting that accursed dirge.

Well, there was one way out. He could convince to the mayor to lock the three away in a mental asylum. It was obvious that they were insane. True, they were only foals, but there was a very fine line between foalish and down-right psychotic. No, these were not your ordinary foals.

Some time ago, they’d managed to spike his drink and sedate him before tying him up putting him on their make-shift operating table. Fortunately, despite them emptying a whole bottle of sleeping pills into his drink, he was awake enough to feel that first, long, deep, incision down his stomach. They’d used a machete. A freaking machete. A SHARPENED one at that.

After screaming and breaking out of the chains they’d bound him in, he ran all the way to the hospital while trying to literally keep his intestines from falling out. He tried to tell the doctors what happened, but you can imagine what the doctors thought once he told them he’d been kidnapped by three foals who had tried to cut him open like a Cornish, game, hen.

The drugs in his system didn’t help his case, so they wrote him off as a suicide attempt that had hallucinated and hurt himself on accident. Then the three fillies showed up and confirmed the story as true. They told them that Backbone was sick, and that they were trying to help him. He’d been complaining about a stomach ache for days, so they figured they’d do surgery and discover the cause of it.

Lies.

Those fillies were trying to kill him. They’d told everypony they had used a sharpened machete because of how thick Backbone’s hide was. Yep, those fillies were smooth. He’d have to be smart to prove it to the town. But first, he needed proof. Something that confirmed that they were insane, or, the most likely option, hell-spawns from Tartarus. He couldn’t have been their only victim. Maybe someone close to them would know somethi-

“Sorry about that.” said a deep, familiar voice, breaking Backbone’s train of thought. He looked up to see big Macintosh staring at him with those emotionless, bored half-circles he called eyes. Backbone merely stared back at him with a similar expression, but instead of boredom, his eyes were angry and strained with fear. Backbone’s glare sharpened as he pointed a hoof at Big Mac.

“You.” said Backbone in an icy tone before pointing to the melted engine in front of him. “What...happened?”

Big mac cringed as he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shoot!” said Big Mac as he got off the lawn mower and opened the hood. Smoke billowed out, causing him to cough and wave his hoof. “Just got this thing.”

“Hey! Big Mac!” said the familiar voice of a tiny dragon. Big Mac turned to see Spike running towards him with his cute little reptilian feet.

Big Mac merely acknowledged him with a friendly nod before diverting his gaze back to the lawn-mower.

“Need help with anything.”

Big Mac pondered the question for a minute as he stared at the smoking engine in front of him.

“Nnope.”

“Oh.” said Spike dejectedly. “You sure?”

“Eeyup.” said Big Mac with a nod.

“Rats! Nopony needs help with anything today. Rarity’s doing hair, Applejack practically ran away from me, Fluttershy tried to smother me with love, I couldn’t keep up with Pinkie, Raibow Dash is away, and Twilight doesn’t need help with anything today. It’s frustrating! There’s nothing to do-”

Spike trailed off when he finally saw the plume of smoke rising out of the lawn Mover’s engine. Without another word, and to Big Mac’s surprise, he hopped up onto the lawn mower and inspected the engine.

“Hm. I’ve read a few books about engines.” said Spike. “I think I can fix this!”

“That’s okay Spike-”

“Yeah, a weld on that lose pipe should do it!”

“Spike-”

“I can finally try out that new concentrated fire-breathign technique I’ve been working on!” The little dragon took in a large gulp of air. Soon afterwards, his cheeks began to glow a bright orange color.

“Wait!” shouted Big Mac, but alas, he was too late.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Backbone shook his head hopelessly.

“Eeyup.” said Big Mac with a nod. “I reckon you won’t be at tonights card game?”

“Yeah.” said the mechanic in a disappointed tone. He and Big Mac had become acquaintances one day when they met at a trad-off. It was a very short conversation. They happened to be standing next to each other while watching two other guys play a game of cards to determine who would trade for an item.

Backbone said something out loud about how they could’ve been better at it. Big Mac heard it and looked at him. Then he invited Backbone to play cards with him and a few other stallions later in Ponyville. So now, whenever Backbone is in town, he gets together with Big Mac to play cards...and loses every single time. Bragging, rather intentional or not, always leads to humiliation.

Backbone leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling in thought. He’d definitely lied to Granny Smith. She’d come back tomorrow and find the engine just the way it was. Then she’d call that little demon spawn and her friends would appear behind him with a machete. Then he’d probably die. Or worse. She’d send Applejack. The mare had never tried to physically force herself on him, but that’s what really scared him.

That could change whenever she wanted.

So Backbone thought of other plans. Maybe he could skip town? He was sure Daring wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t like she was crazy for him or something. Hopefully. Last thing he needed was for her to turn yandere on him. He’d seen what she could do with a blade, and that alone was enough reason to stay far onto her good side.

He decided not to skip town.

“Say, Big Mac.”

“Eeyup?”

“You’re friends with Twilight right?”

“Eeyup.”

“And she’s good at magic right?”

“Eeyup.”

“You think she could um...magic this engine back to the way it was?”

Big Mac put his hoof to his chin in thought. Then, hearing a cacophony of footsteps outside the store, he turned to look out one of the stores window. The purple princess of friendship could be seen galloping passed with a bunch of stallions and hooded figure. The stallions were carrying a large box.

“Reckon you could ask her yer’self.” answered Big Mac before pointing his hoof out the window.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“You always sweat this much?” asked Daring warily. Twilight, beaming with a fake smile that would put a celebrity to shame, shakily turned her head to face Daring.

“No.” answered the alicorn as she waved at a few ponies passing them by.

“You really need to calm down.”

“Calm down?” whispered Twilight, her expression defying the massive amount of ice in her tone. Her face reddened with anger, but she remembered Cadences relaxation exercises and calmed down before she could blurt out something that would bring even more attention to themselves.
“You’re right. I should just relax.I should forget that we’re carting a creature through town that’s basically the equivalent of a walking, breathing, schizophrenic, atomic bomb.”

With that statement, Daring cringed and felt the weight of her actions once more. Backbone often got into trouble trying to hang with her, but that was his fault. He’d gotten himself involved with her on his terms. He’d literally asked for it. But now...

She watched a group of fillies and colts rush passed them, playing catch.

Daring shook the thoughts away.

“Hey!” said a familiar voice Daring instantly recognized. She, Twilight, and the stallions from the train turned to see Backbone rushing out of a building. The stallions appeared to take defensive stances, making Backbone slow down to a stop. He recognized Daring in her ridiculous disguise. She was making zipping gestures by her mouth to indicate the very obvious fact that she was in incognito.

Noticing Backbone’s apprehensive state, Twilight spoke up.

“It’s ok. He’s with her.”

With that, the stallions ceased their defensive stances gave him a nod. It kinda freaked Backbone out, since they looked like a bunch of rough construction workers and sea-stallions. Their movements instantly set off a familiar feeling within him, but he had more pressing matters.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” stated Backbone as courteously as he could. “I need your help.”

“Oh?” said the princess of friendship, eager to solve a friendship problem again.”What’s the problem?”

In response, Backbone let the molten engine slide off his back and onto the ground with a heavy thud.

“You think you could uh...fix this?”

Twilight looked at the metal glob blankly. So it wasn’t a friendship problem. Didn’t matter, She still enjoyed helping. But first things first.

“What is...it?” she asked.

“It used to be an engine. I can’t fix it with anything I have.”

A snicker could be heard from one of the stallions, but Backbone couldn’t figure out which one. They all looked like they were made of stone. They might as well have been dead.

“Oh.”

“I think I heard somewhere that you’re really good with magic?”

“Um, yes. Many ponies believe that, but I only specialize in controlling it. Although I’ve read a few books on engines, I’m fairly certain the only thing I can fix is a door.”

“Oh.” said Backbone dejectedly. But before he could start thinking about seriously skipping town, a dark-green, unicorn, stallion with a worn, gray, bandanna tied around his head stepped forward and raised his hoof.

“Yes?” said Twilight, noticing him.

“Permission to speak your majesty.” said the stallion in a deep, raspy, scotland accent. Twilight, not used to this, had a brief brain fart before responding.

“Permission granted?”

With a nod, the stallion turned to Backbone.

“If ya’d like, I could fix it for ye.”

“Really?” said Backbone, a gleam of hope in his eyes.

“Sure. I specialize in usin’ me magic to fix all things mechanical.” After stating this, the stallion turned and pointed to his cutie mark. It was just a picture of a cog, but the way it was positioned made Backbone cock his head. It looked oddly familiar to him, but he neglected to stare. He was a stallion after all.

“Oh,” said Backbone with a nod. “Sweet! How much?”

“No cost.” said the highlander with a shake of his head. “I just want to speak with ye’ when we reach the castle.”

Backbone eyed the stallion wearily. Here was some random guy offering to do the impossible basically for free. If that wasn’t shady, he didn’t know what was. It wasn’t like he was Daring though. Now her, SHE had a lot of enemies. He had maybe a few. Most of which probably included the families of the birds he accidentally shredded with his choppers while riding his airship.

Thankfully, Daring had dealt with pretty much anypony that was out for his head.

After thinking it over, he shrugged and trotted over next to Daring. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. Besides, if anything happened, he was sure Daring would help him out. He’d still probably get shot or something, but he’d be okay with her around.

If he even needed the help.

He and the group then began their trot to the castle. Backbone waved goodbye to Big Mac as the farmer was leaving his shop.

“You started a business here?” asked Daring quietly without turning her head.

“I told you I was gonna do something.” said the mechanic. “Can’t just sit around enjoying Celestia’s income.”

“About that,” said Daring even quieter as she eyed the stallions and Twilight. “That doesn’t seem a bit fishy to you?”

“What’re you talking about Daring?”

“I know her sister blasted your ship and nearly killed you and sister, but free income?”

“She can do that.”

“Nothing is free Backbone.”

“Not even FREE income?”

“Not even free income.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have you ever unwrapped a gift? Just from looking at it, you get chills. Of the good kind. There could be anything inside, ranging from a new game console to a stupid sweater inside a game-console shaped box. Or a bomb. That’s probably happened alot and simply never been on the news.

That’s kind of how Daring and Twilight felt, only they got the bad kind of chills. The kind of chills you might get if you were about to open up a crate containing a lion that was being eerily quiet. Daring certainly wished it was a lion. She’d tamed plenty of those in the past and had actually been put into the record books for the most lions tamed in eight minutes with a whip. Others had tried, but let’s just say they never made it into the record book.

But this was no animal. Maybe. She didn’t really know. It seemed to act like one at least. If it were intelligent, she hadn’t heard it speak yet. And that bugged her. The whole walk to the castle, she didn’t hear a peep out of it. Not a sound. Once inside the castle, she was afraid they were going to open it up to discover that it wasn’t there. Cause that would be great. Nothing like a loose trans-dimensional potential harbinger of death running around the place to spice things up.

Like that hasn’t happened to Ponyville before.

A chalk-white stallion stepped forward in front of the other worker stallions and turned to face them.

“Alright!” shouted the stallion . “FORMATION!”

In response, the other worker stallions set down the box and positioned themselves around it, encircling it..

“Lieutenant!” shouted the stallion once more. “Disguises!”

With that, one of the worker stallions’s horns began to glow a bright grey. Then slowly, the air around all the worker stallions began to shimmer and become fuzzy. Twilight and Backbone watched in awe as Daring merely stood there, looking as bored as ever.

In a sizzling plume of smoke, the disguises were gone. Now, in place of a bunch of tough, haggard loooking, worker stallions were over a dozen heavily armored royal day guards. With spears. And crossbows. They even had shot-guns strapped to their backs. Remember when I said it was illegal to carry guns in Celestia’s kingdom? Yeah, so this came as a huge shock to twilight. .

Daring didn’t really care that much. She knew the guard had guns stashed away for a rainy day, and she definitely wasn’t unfamiliar with them. The only thing that bugged her was why. Any unicorn guard didn’t need a gun to do what their horns could do better. I mean, think about it. Would you rather take a bullet or a laser blast hot enough to go through you faster than a gallon of eggnog would a lactose person? Did I mention that most offensive spells explode on impact?

The large crate had also been under a disguise. It now looked like a large, steel safe without a dial and a few holes in it for breathing. It kind of explained why they needed more than one stallion to carry it. It also explained why the ground shook when they set it down after arriving. It had a large door in front, but there didn’t seem to be anyway to open it. It lacked a knob or lever to unlock it.

Captain Shining Armor, who was was now standing in place of the chalk-white stallion who was barking orders, also had a gun strapped to his back to horrifically complement his shield and spear.

Twilight didn’t like guns. Most ponies didn’t. Unicorn blasts, although powerful, could be set to stun at the users preference. Because of this, ponies found little purpose in creating stun guns. In fact, ponies felt there was no purpose in creating them at all. The only reason they existed was because earth ponies wanted a way to defend themselves if need be. They even had strange properties that ignored magic, since the ammunition was made using a mineral not on any periodic chart she'd seen. Guns were only made to kill. Having one meant you were planning to take somepony’s life and whatever relationships their life consisted of. It was just plain wrong seeing her brother holding one.

“READY!” shouted the captain. “AIM!”

The guards each took out their weapons and took aim at the box, rearing up on their hind hooves in order to properly position themselves. Even the unicorns. Why couldn’t they just levitate them? Why were they preparing to use lethal force against the creature? Twilight had dealt with many bad ponies in the past, but none of them ever required lethal force. Sure, there were the changelings, but even through a full-scale attack, none of them were killed. Sure, they might have just barely managed to limp home, but they were fine.

She’d never solved a problem using lethal force. She’d never had to. Why was that changing? What made this situation so different? Sure, the thing might be powerful, but so was Discord. If he got out of line, he was imprisoned, and according to what she’s learned, so was this boy. Why couldn’t they do it again?

She watched in horror as her brother aimed his gun at the box. He seemed so natural with it, as if he’d been training for decades. The intense look in his eyes didn’t help the situation either. His horn began to glow a light purple. Shortly afterwards, Twilight, Daring, and Backbone found themselves encased in a purple shield.

“Open it.” commanded Shining. With a nod, two unicorn stallions walked up to the front of the steel box and their horns began to grow. Daring could hear the locking mechanisms begin to slide out of place from within. She watched slowly as the unicorns also used their horns to slowly lower the door down to the floor.

Inside was the creature she’d liberated from the Everfree. He was just standing there, his hands and feet bound in some kind of magical, glowing rope. He was now dressed differently, wearing blue jeans and a gray long-sleeve shirt.

Guess she got sick of seeing him wearing clothes that were more blood than fabric. said the chrome figment of Daring’s imagination as it approached the boy. How ya’ doing old pal! Old roomie!

The boy’s eyes darted from left to right. He became acutely aware of all the weapons that were aimed at him at the moment and took a step back. Like any sensible person would.

“It’s ok kid.” said Shining, lacing his words with kindness despite the gun he was still aiming at him. “This is just a precaution.”

The boy just stared at him.

“If YOU don’t mean us any harm,” said the captain, pausing and giving the boy a fierce glare. “WE won’t mean YOU any harm.” he finished in a cold tone his sister had never heard him speak in before.

Unbeknownst to everyone but the captain, the boy’s bindings had been tightened with those words. Unbearably so. If one were to be close enough to the boy, they would be able to hear the magical bindings as they tightened around his wrists, nearly crushing them as a boa-constrictor would a foal’s neck. Despite this, the boy showed no signs of pain or discomfort.

The boy nodded in understanding, his face as blank as ever. Shining armor nodded back, as if agreeing to some pact. Then his horn began to glow and the boy’s bindings disappeared into thin air. Almost as quickly as they vanished, Shining’s demeanor changed back into it’s happy, patriotic state. Didn’t lower his gun though.

He’d also disabled the shields he’d casts on Twilight, Daring, and Backbone. Or so one might think. The shields were still there. It just didn’t look like it. His talent was using defensive spells, and in extension, modifying them. To him, it was the oldest trick in the book. He’d used the tactic with Celestia when she was dealing with decidedly untrustworthy delegates from even more untrustworthy continents.

He’d pretend to dispel a shield on the princess and let a delegate get close to her to shake on some binding agreement or something. It was then that they could decide if the delegate could be trusted without the princess actually being in danger. This time was no different, only the delegate was from another world. Or dimension. Or even Tartarus itself as some of his comrades had been saying among themselves.

“Alright, kid. You may now meet the good ponies you’ll be staying with.”

The boy’s eyes veered over to Daring, catching her off guard. Nothing seemed to have changed about him other than his clothes. His eye’s were still devoid, black, pools of the unknown. She looked away from him and nudged Twilight.

Used to being the one that has to step up in situations like this, she put the thoughts her brother and his guns to the side and stepped forward.

“Greetings.” said the Alicorn with a kind smile. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?”

The boy just stared at her without answering, making the pit of nervousness in Twilight’s stomach begin to bubble even more. Did he not speak equestrian? Had she said something wrong? Or was he just a jerk?

“He can’t talk.” said Daring.

“Oh.” said Twilight. She chose not to ask why so as to not look pushy. Which was ironic given the circumstances he was being put in.

Not being prepared for this, Twilight thought up a plan B to keep things moving.

“So,” said Twilight as she slowly turned to face Daring. “Going to introduce yourself?”

Daring sighed, knowing it was an order addressed as a question. She looked around the room cautiously. They were in the main room of the castle, just beyond the front door. There were many windows and aside from the ponies inside and a few furnishings, the place was empty.

Oh, stop it! exclaimed the chrome figment. There aren’t any rainbow haired fan-girls anywhere nearby and I’m sure your ridiculous disguise isn’t fooling anyone.

Irritably, Daring flung back her hood and took off her shades. She and the kid had already met, but she doubted that tying him up to the mast of a ship counted as a proper introduction. After a brief pause that mostly consisted of her struggling to make steady eye-contact with the kid, she went for it.

“Um..hello. You may remember me from before. And him.” she pointed at Backbone. He didn’t react though. He was standing stock-still, staring intensely at a guard standing across from him at the opposite end of the room. Paying it no heed, she continued.

“We, uh...tied you up to the mast of the ship we were flying. I apologize for that and anything bad that may have happened to you afterwards, seeing how this is all technically my fault. Anyway, that’s all in the past. If you don’t mind, I’d like to start anew.”

“My name is Daring Do. I’m an adventurer. I don’t know if you have those wherever you come from, but it means that I-”

Rob dead people’s graves.

“Procure...dangerous old and powerful artifacts in order to keep them out of the hooves of somepony that may wish to use it for selfish gain or evil.”

Oh? I thought you got fired.

Daring gritted her teeth.

“I was recently...suspended from my duties in order to...I guess take care of you.”

And to apply the ever stinging salve of righteous discipline that Sun-Butt slapped onto your posterior!

“WOULD YOU-”

Twilight and even a few guards turned in acknowledgment of the former adventurer’s outburst. Fortunately, Daring was able to quickly calm herself down before they could see her fierce expression. She began to sweat as she felt all of them staring at her.

“Sorry.” she said, thinking of a play-off. “Just got out of the hospital a few days ago. Jaw still flares up in pain sometimes. Anyway, I was going to ask if you would...uh...mind sticking close to me in...the coming days! Yeah. You’re technically a relic yourself, so you kind of fall into my specific range of talents. So it’s also kind of my job to look after you and keep you out of harms way. Or,” she paused as she chose her next words. “From what I’ve heard, keep harms way out of YOU.”

At this, she just barely catches the kid flick his eyes to the floor before he looks back at her.

“So I guess you could say that I wasn’t technically fi-...SUSPENDED...from my career. I just made a poor decision while on duty, and like any good employee, I have to clean up what I mess up.”

So you’re implying that he’s a mess to be cleaned up? Classy.

Daring’s eye twitched. Oh, the things she’d do if he wasn’t a figment of her imagination. Ahuizotl may be a creep, but she’d picked up various torture ideas from her many encounters with him. Real sick stuff that works on any creature.

“So, um...that’s about it. We’ll be living in this castle, so if we ever get separated, just try to make your way back here or find Twilight. She may seem a bit odd,”

“Hey!”

“But I can assure you that she has nothing but your best interest at heart. I mean, I do too, but...you get the point.”

And that was all. Daring hadn’t come prepared to give a speech. She hadn’t come prepared for any of this. It just all seemed to happen so fast. She didn’t even really feel like she was there. She felt detached. She’d just been fired a few days ago and had a spike driven through the path leading to her life’s goals. It felt like she’d had a spike driven through HER, and she was numb from blood loss. She felt empty, like a body without a soul.

Odd. She could recall thinking the same thing of the kid when she looked into his eyes.

“Do you understand her?” asked captain Armor. The boy quickly nodded in response. It bothered Shining how compliant he was being. Most of the time, being locked up in a metal box and threatened with your life would cause a spike in spitefulness.

“Very well then.” said Shining as he finally holstered his weapon on his back and got back onto his hooves. “You can come out now.”

The kid hesitated slightly before beginning to slowly walk out of the metal box and down the ramp that doubled as the door. Daring watched him closely as he walked out and to her, instinctively expecting him to lounge at her or something. But he didn’t. He just walked over to her and stood by her side, staring blankly in front of him. The way he walked was very odd. It was like his body and mind were on auto pilot, just a tangled mess of sensors and instincts.

“Alright, stallions!” shouted Shining. “You know your patrols! 24 lookouts, six shifts! We need a perimeter set up four hours ago! Remember to keep sharp and be ready to act at any given moment! We can’t afford any horse-playing!”

Ha!

“Dismissed!”

With that final word, the troops began to file out of the front entrance, donning their construction disguises once more. Only one of them stayed besides captain Armor. It was grey stallion with a bandanna, a black goatee, and a golden chest plate as his only piece of armor. His cutie mar was a spiked gear with lit bomb fuse coming out of it.

It was the same unicorn stallion Backbone had practically been glaring at the whole time.

“You’re staying to help him with his problem?” asked Shining as he pointed to Backbone.

“Aye, sir!”

“Alright. Finish that and meet up with F in D at sundown.”

“Aye, sir.”

Nodding, Shining turned to his sister.

“I’m guessing you want to talk to me?”

Twilight looked at him as if he’d asked a stupid question.

“Of course.” replied the alicorn irritably. Shining ran a hoof down his face.

“Yes, of course.” he replied. “I don’t have time right now, but princess Celestia will send a letter tonight explaining everything.”

“I thought guns were illegal? They go against everything I-”

“The princess...will explain everything.” said Shining, holding up a hoof. Twilight definitely wasn’t satisfied with his non-answer. She was angry, but she was also anxious. Celestia might somehow explain why the guard had access to guns and why, but she probably wouldn’t outright tell her if her brother had needed to use them before. She remembered the deftness he had handling the gun. The look in his eyes when aiming...it made her afraid of the answer.

It hurt Shining to see his little sister pondering over the matter, conjuring up possibilities and outcomes. She’d looked up to him her whole life. Despite having great power, Shining never abused it. He kept his ego in check and hated the thought of hurting another. She’d actually seen him cry when he stepped on a spider one day. He’d had a large impact on her view of the world and generally who she was.

Now, she could’ve been doubting all of it.

“Look,” began the captain, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “I’m the same big brother you’ve always known. I haven’t changed. You got that?”

Twilight sighed through her nose and nodded after a long pause. Sure, he could’ve been lying, seeing as he’d obviously kept secrets from her, but if there was anything she learned from discord, it was that you should always give somepony the benefit of the doubt.

“Ok.” said the alicorn, her tone letting him know that it wasn’t over.

“Good. Thank you. When I get some free time, we’ll talk some more.”

“Alright.”

“Ok, then. I’ll always be close by in case something happens, but on the off chance that I’m not...” he paused, waving a hoof around like he didn’t want to say the next part. Cause he didn’t. “Use your new-found abilities to do what you need to do.”

“You mean...ki-”

“WHAT-EVER...you need to do.” said the captain, nearly regretting the commanding tone he had. Nearly.

Understanding what he meant, Twilight nodded while looking at the floor dejectedly. One second, it’s peace and friendship without the use of violence. The next, it’s kill or be killed. It made her sick to the stomach. It was the opposite of what she believed in. Why?

Deciding that there was really nothing more to say, Shining bid her farewell and left, making sure to give the kid one last, threatening, glance before shutting the door. Twilight stared at it for a bit before turning and walking away. She felt the need for someplace quiet to think.

After Shining left, the remaining guard with the bandanna began to walk towards Backbone and Daring. Then he stopped, just a foot away from the mechanic. The guard was smiling like a guy who’d made someone realize just how stupid they were.

“Bampot.” said Backbone, still glaring at the guard. The guard put on a hurt face.

“Aye, come now! Friend’s call me Bam!”

“Why do I give a frick? That’s the name your mom RIGHTFULLY gave you as a baby isn’t it?”

“I’m sensing some history here.” said Daring. “And some resentment.”

“Can you just fix my engine and go?” said Backbone, ignoring Daring.

“But we’ve got so much ta’ catch up on mate!”

“Backbone, who is this!?” asked Daring nudging him in the leg hard. The mechanic sighed. If he didn’t answer, she might do something violent. I wasn’t kidding when I said she’d handled most of his conflicts.

“Remember when you said that nothing was free? Not even free income?”

“Yeah?”

“You were right.”

“I know.”

“Shut-up.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Backbone watched in amazement and slight anger as Bampot repaired the engine. He’d used his magic to heat the metal up until it was bright orange and as soft as clay. He then molded the engine back to it’s original shape, using the specs Backbone had given him about it’s make and model. Even the parts inside had been molded back to their original, functioning state. By the time he was done, you wouldn’t be able to tell that a little baby dragon shot a laser-beam at it.

“There!” said Bampot with a confident smirk. “Good as new.”

Backbone squinted his eyes at him angrily, as if to say that his magic still couldn’t trump his expertise. But it could. He snatched the three-hundred pound engine out of the air like it was made of cardboard before securing it to his back using a strap.

“Thanks.” said Backbone regretfully, trying hard to keep his tone mellow through his gritted teeth.

“Anything for an old mat-”

“Now go away.” said the mechanic as he turned to walk up the steps. They’d gone into the basement of the castle at Daring’s humble suggestion. She claimed it was to keep the castle clean as far as visitors were concerned, but she had other reasons. It was big, empty, and secluded. The perfect spot to take out a corrupt guard without getting killed by other guards if it came to it.

Remember kids! Paranoia saves lives!

You’d know.

Screw you.

Bampot watched Backbone walk away from him, his cocky smile diminishing with every step he took until it was gone. He let out a sigh.

“Ye’ know we’re not done here mate.” said the Scothoof guard.

“Then get to the point!” said Backbone, turning around quickly.

“Fine!” said Bampot, his face finally developing a tinge of irritation. “Just thought that since it’s been nearly ten years-”

“If I were to have not seen you for a million years, it would be too soon. What do you want?!”

“The princess,” said Bampot, holding up a hoof and closing his eyes. “Wanted to know if you could do her a favor in excahnge for the income she’s been sending you.”

“What?”

“She wants you to work with us.”

“The guard?”

“No. US. The team.”

“You mean-”

“That’s bloody right mate.” said Bampot, his smirk reappearing. “The whole bloody team is in town.”

Backbone just stood there with his mouth slightly agape, not saying a thing. Daring waved a hoof in front of his face, trying to snap him out of it. His hoof suddenly came up and knocked hers away.

“They’re all here,” began the mechanic. “But they sent YOU to talk to me?”

Bampot sighed through his nose and shook his head, losing his irritated edge.

“I was hopin’ I could apologi-”

“No!” said Backbone, cutting him off and stepping up to him. He stared daggers into Bampot’s sorrowful eyes, daring him to continue, begging him. He didn’t. “I don’t really have a choice with this, but if I’m gonna do this,” Backbone tapped his hoof to Bampot’s chest and adopted an icy cold tone. “I don’t want you talking to me. I don’t want you to say a darn WORD to me! Got it?”

Bampot stared back at him, his expression rivaling shock. And something else.

Pain.

Complying with Backbone’s wish, Bampot shut his eyes and walked around him toward the stairs. Backbone watched him, half expecting him to turn and say one last thing, but he didn’t. He just continued up the steps and out the door, shutting it behind him.

Even after he’d left, Backbone just kept glaring up the steps, as if his glare could pierce through the wall. Daring walked up to him with the kid right on her heels, looking as confused and darting her eyes between the door and Backbone. She seldom saw Backbone get that angry at someone. He was usually a very calm guy. I mean, you’d have to be when hanging around Daring.

Oh, look! You two have something in common.

“What was that all about?” asked Daring, trying to ignore the chrome retard who appeared to be talking to himself. Backbone just shook his head in response and sighed before turning around and looking at the kid.

“You hungry kid?”

Without hesitation, the kid nodded. Daring was about to scold him for changing the subject, but then her stomach growled.

“Fine, then.” said the adventurer as she and the kid walked toward the stairs. “Over lunch then?”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Why aren’t the locals freakin’ out right now?” asked Backbone as he watched the citizens of Ponyville pass by the kid without a second glance. Some had even stopped to wave at him.

“The ponies here have seen things Backbone.” said Daring. “Things that don’t even make any sense.”

“So they just take it in stride now?”

“Yep. Just like me. I think it’s a necessary part to maturing.”

Backbone looked down toward the kid. He was looking around at the buildings and the ponies as they walked, unblinking. They’d occasionally pass one of the day-guards, whom would always stare at the boy intently, waiting for him to do something.
“Don’t they know who he is?” asked Backbone. “If he’s as...memorable as Celestia has made him out to be, shouldn’t they be trying to kill him right now?”

“All historical articles regarding him and his incident were either locked away or burned.” answered Daring, making sure to keep her voice low. “At least, the descriptions of him were. The event is still recorded, but all literature and folk-lore regard him as just a monster.”

Realizing what she’d said, she looked down toward the boy. If it had bothered him, he wasn’t showing it.

He just kept looking forward.

“Can we talk about something else?” asked the mustard pegasus. “Like what all that was about back at the castle?”

“I never agreed to do that.”

“What? You’re leaving me in the dark?” asked Daring, putting on a hurt face. “I thought we were like a couple or something!”

“Then let’s trade secrets.” said Backbone with an evil smirk. “Yours for mine.”

Daring cocked an eyebrow at him, as if to test the water.

“What do you wanna know?” she asked, not taking her eyes off of him.

“Four years ago in the Ru’kua jungle. What happened?”

Looking into it! said the chrome Discord as he literally shoved his head into hers, as if looking deep into a chest.

Daring turned away and looked forward, her hood hiding her face.

“The Ru’kua.” she repeated, her voice taking on an odd monotone. It was the primary domain of a slave ring, responsible for countless missing ponies reports across Equestria. Rumor had it that their camp was somehow concealed from view with a spell, making the guards efforts to locate it useless. Then one day they kidnapped a mustard colored pegasus wearing a pith helm who’d ventured too close.

DAGH! screamed the chrome copy as he yanked his head out of hers, wearing a horrified expression.

“I snuck out.” said Daring simply.

“I know that!” said Backbone while rolling his eyes. “I’m talking about what happened to the camp.”

“Oh.”

“Locals tipped the guard off to the rising smoke. They ran into you on their way there.”

“Right.”

“When they reached the camp, all the slave-drivers were dead.”

“A marauder band got to them. Burned the whole place to the ground.” said Daring with a shrug. She could see Sugar-Cube Corner in the distance. She desperately wanted to be there already.

“They killed the other prisoners too?”

“No. They...the slave-drivers killed them. Tortured them to death.”

“Why?”

“Because I was worth more than all of them put together.”

“Oh.” said Backbone, looking away from her slowly. He didn’t say anything for a while after that, knowing how she felt. She'd been caught and it resulted in their deaths. She blamed herself. He decided to curve the conversation a little.

“Well,” he began. “Whoever those marauders were, they gave those slave-drivers what they deserved.”

“M-hm.” mumbled Daring as she kept her eye’s trained on Sugar-Cube Corner. It was close now.

“From what the investigation stated-”

“I thought you didn’t read the news?” interrupted Daring.

“I have a sister you know.” said the mechanic while shaking his head. “She's famous and has connections with various reporters. We often talk about what they don't say in the papers. Anyway, from what the investigation stated,”

Getting closer.

“All of the slave-drivers had been killed gruesomely. Hacked to pieces by the looks of it. It was like they were fighting animals. They found bodies scattered far away from the camp in all directions.”

Almost there.

“Despite being armed to the teeth with guns,the slave-drivers had tried to run, but whoever was killing them wanted none of them to survive. They wanted to be thorough. And they wanted them scared before their demise. ”

She could smell the baked goods inside.

“And as for the leader, they could barely identify him. Had to literally put him back together once they found him.”

Why did they vote to eat here? It was so darn far!

“Based on the trail the guards found, they’d...hacked off his limbs as they dragged him half a mile away from the camp.”

Just a few more yards.

“Hacked off his cutie mark too. The guards followed the bloody trail all the way up to a tree.”

Daring’s left eye twitched.

“What they found though...it became clear to the guards that they were just getting started with him.”

“HI!”

Backbone nearly jumped out of his skin at Pinkie’s sudden greeting. She’d come out of no-where. Literally, she’d just popped up into his vision when they got a foot away from the door to her home. Right in his face.

Daring, on the other hand, didn’t react. At all. In fact, she was still looking forward, staring hard at the door. Her hoof was out, about to to push it open. Even when pinkie suddenly popped up in front of shortly afterwards, she didn’t move.

“And hello to you to-” Pinkie stopped, blinking as she stared into Daring’s eyes. "Oh~! Your eyes are all glowy’!”

Daring still didn’t move. Noticing this, pinkie bonked her on the head a few times.

“Hello?” said the pink pony. “Anyone inside that oh so mysterious cloak?”

Daring blinked. For the first time, she noticed the big blue eyes practically staring into her soul.

“Huh?” said the adventurer, backing up a bit.

“Aw! They’re not glowing anymore!”

“What?”

“And just who might this little cutie be?” said the party pony as she...for lack of a better word, gravitated toward the kid. As usual with pretty much anypony that addressed him, he just stared up at her.

“That’s uh...” trailed off Daring, starting to get her bearings. “That’s um...you know...the relic I found?”

“Silly, I know that!” replied the party mare as she hopped backwards with her iconic bouncing sound. “What’s the little guy’s name?”

Daring looked towards the kid, expecting him to look back at her and give her some sort of clue. But he didn’t.

“I don’t know if he has one.” said Daring with a shrug. “Kid, what’s your name?”

He just looked at her and shrugged.

“You don’t know?” asked the adventurer with a raised eyebrow. “You know, as a writer, I find that highly unoriginal and annoying.”

“Hmmm...” thought Pinkie as she held a hoof to her chin. She stared at him hard, obviously thinking about something.

“What, Celestia never gave him a name?” asked Backbone, finally recovering from his minor heart-attack.

“If she did, he’d remember it right?” replied Daring.

“Can’t think of a good one right now.” said Pinkie, scratching the back of her head. “I wanted to call him Blackey because his eyes are so black but then I wanted to call him Snappy because it makes me feel funny if I look into his eyes for too long but I also wanted to call him Red because of his shirt but that’s silly Big Mac is red too so then I thought I’d call him Dusty because he’s like really old but he doesn’t look like it so I thought-”

Daring put a hoof to her mouth, silencing the rambling mare.

“I think we’ll just call him Kid for now. Is that fine?”

Pinkie nodded.

“Good. You won’t do that again if I take my hoof away will you?”

Pinkie shook her head.

“Good.” said Daring as she took her hoof away. “Thank you.”

“Sorry.” said the pink mare with a giggle. “I tend to do that sometimes.”

“Can you give us a fair warning before it happens again?”

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” said Pinkie with a hop. “Now who’s hungry?”

Author's Note

Writers block ain't no joke yall'. Especially for me. Since I think everything I write after I read over it sucks, it's hard for me to continue anything writer related. Except school assignments. I never really cared about them. XD But this is different. This is for fun. If it's not fun to write, I don't write. But what I've come to learn, is that writing isn't for people who are obsessed with instant gratification. Ya gotta be real patient and wait for the fun to come once you've set your pieces up. Ya can't just jump to the climax every five seconds because you want to get to the part you want to write. There has to be stuff before that. That stuff is your story. Without a story, what is it? Why does it mean anything? Why is the joke funny? Where'd the moral come from? Who are these people? Despite this realization and the fact that this chapter was thirty pages long, I still feel like it was rushed. But I had fun, and I like to share fun! :pinkiehappy:

Because you so RARELY get the chance in your real life.

....Go fall down some steps....wit'cho ugly imaginary self.

#8 Night Mare

"What!?" exclaimed Luna in a sharp whisper. "Are you SURE sister?"

"Yes." nodded Celestia. "Both I and the coroner can confirm it. It bore the same cutie mark as they did before."

Luna looked down as she and her sister walked down one of the numerous hallways of the Canterlot Mental Health hospital. She'd been there many times in the past to aid doctors with her ability to enter ones dreams. Despite her experience and the clean and safe look of the hospital, she still viewed it as a mad house. Mentally ill ponies had the worst nightmares.

"But...that means-"

"I know." said Celestia as she raised a hoof in understanding. "That is why we're going to talk to it's killer. We may be able to obtain information regarding their plans, and what they're doing now."

Luna stared at her sister hard. She examined every inch of her face, looking for doubt or worry. But she didn't see any. Was she trying to stay calm for her? Or was she actually confident that she could handle this?

"Then what?" asked Luna, nearly making Celestia stop in her tracks.

"..."

"...Sister?"

"One thing at a time Luna." said the white alicorn with a sigh. "If we're going to make a guess, we're going to make an educated one."

Minuette looked very comfortable in her straight jacket. One could even say that she looked at home. Sure, she was in a small padded cell blocked off by a magical force field that nullified her magical abilities, but it could be worse. She COULD have gone to jail, and from what she'd learned, their cells weren't padded and they didn't give you anything to keep you warm and cozy. They didn't even let her whistle! But this place though, it was a welcome change of scenery. She could whistle a happy tune all she wanted and the guards outside the cell wouldn't even flinch! It was quiet too. No angry cell mates across the hall to call her names or yell threats at her. No guards that would walk up to her cell for no good reason and read her file to her in front of everypony. Then they'd laugh at her and the inmates would give her horrified looks as she cried and begged them to stop...

She whistled louder.

Nope! No one to make ol' Minuette feel bad here! It was just her, her cozy coat, and her comfy cell. No one else. She'd been worried when the guards came into her house to arrest her. Scared even. But maybe, since Celestia was there, they'd decided to go easy on her. Maybe she'd recommended a cell like this because she knew she didn't like the other ones. Celestia always was nice to her. Almost like a mother. She never called her crazy or worthless or...

She began to bob her head to the tune she was whistling.

She sure wished she had a book to read. Moondancer had tons of books. Most of them were about science and were really hard to understand without her help, but it was something to do nonetheless. She was so smart, but she never talked down to her like she was dumb or something. Ever since Twilight came over, Moondancer had really began to show her true colors. She was really fun to be around, always making those crazy experiments. Lemon Hearts and Twinkle shine were nice too. They never asked her about her files. None of them were ever concerned about her files. Her files didn't matter to them.

Her whistling became quieter and softer.

She loved her friends. She didn't know what she'd do without them. Any time it was hard to whistle, they were there for her. She couldn't wait to see them again.

"Minuette." called a soft and motherly tone. Opening her eyes, Minuette looked up and stopped whistling. At some point, the magical force field separating her cell from the hallway had dissipated and the princesses had entered.

"Hey!" said Minuette, her eyes focusing intently on Celestia. "You came back! Thanks for the cell by the way. It's nice and cozy!"

"How are you doing Minuette?" asked Celestia genuinely.

"I'm great! Oh, sorry. Where are my manners? How have you been princess Luna?"

Luna seemed taken a back by the question, looking to her sister. Celestia merely gestured for her to respond.

"I've...been better." replied Luna wearily. The mare in front of her was much too cheery. From her experiences, she'd learned that the happy ones were the worst kind of crazy. They'd always smile at you and ask you how you how you were doing before vehemently explaining how much they'd like to gut you. And they'd do it too if given the chance. She'd nearly learned that the hard way.

"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that." said the odd mare, putting on a sad face. "You should try whistling a tune! It helps keep those bad thoughts at bay! Like this!"

Before Minuette could start whistling, Celestia decided to get to the point of their visit.

"Minuette," called Celestia, halting Minuette's impromptu whistling lesson. "What happened?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you kill that stallion?"

"..."

"Minuette?"

"I don't know."

Celestia squinted. She loved Minuette dearly just like anypony else, but as a ruler, she'd come to learn that outcomes don't over-rule motives. She'd killed a creature that needed to die. But it looked like a stallion. Based on what she'd just said, she didn't KNOW it wasn't a stallion. That made things painfully complicated for Celestia.

"You don't know?" asked the white alicorn. "How do you stab a pony that many times and not know why?"

"I blanked out." said Minuette with a shrug.

"How did you blank out?"

"I was on my way to Moondancer's house to help her move out and decided to take a shortcut through an alleyway. Then I saw this black, pony-like mass with two, beady, red eyes. It lunged at me. The next thing I know, I'm on a rooftop, covered in blood, levitating a bloody knife."

Celestia sighed. So much for an educated decision.

"So you don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"

"Nope!" said Minuette happily.

"Well, that confirms it." said Luna looking away in thought. Celestia nodded and massaged her temples.

"Confirms what?" asked Minuette. The princesses looked at each other. She was a civilian, but she wasn't a normal civilian. Normal civilians freak out and start causing problems if they learn of something that frightens them, but civilians like Minuette just keep smiling. No matter what. But Celestia had know about Minuette and her problems for years now. She knew that despite her cheery attitude, Minuette was dead inside. She'd done terrible things that she could never forgive herself for. Due to this, Minuette was always at a constant struggle with herself, trying desperately to forget her past and move on, not letting anything get to her.

She'd been doing so well for the past seven years. She'd gotten a job, a place to live, and many great friends. One of whom was her star pupil. Celestia no longer checked up on her in fear, but with joy. It made her happy to see Minuette stop and look at her friends, appreciating what she'd thought she'd never achieve. Other than the pills she had to take on a daily basis to keep herself from having a break-down, her life was fulfilling and normal. One would never guess that she'd done the things she had done. Or believe it.

But now, despite her demeanor, Celestia knew Minuette was on the verge crying. In her mind, she'd killed somepony. In her mind, she was guilty. In her mind, she'd never be able to see her friends again, and would lose everypony's trust and love forever. She was just in shock, not wanting to accept this vile reality she was trapped in.

So Celestia decided to put those fears at ease.

"You didn't kill anypony Minuette." said Celestia in a soothing tone as she stepped forward. Minuette stared at her blankly.

"But...I-"

"What you killed...was a vile creature. A threat to equine life as we very well know them to be."

"But when I peeked over the roof-top-"

"It looked like a stallion?" Interjected Luna. "They are like Changelings, but far worse. They can shape-shift to take the form of any creature, but instead of feeding off of love, they feed off of hate."

"Like king Sombra?" asked Minuette. Luna shook her head.

"No. The hate they thrive from is...different than the hate king Sombra used. This hate is chaotic in nature, even otherworldly."

"It apparently exists in all of us." continued Celestia. "A hate much more feral and violent than the hate we know. It moves ponies to do...unspeakable things."

Minuette looked back and forth between the two princesses. They were talking about her.

"We're not pointing you out or anything." said Celestia with a dismissive hoof. "It's just a fact that it exist in us all, often triggered by extreme circumstances. When festered to fruition, it causes the pony to lose that mental pillar that supports a genuine love for life, the one thing that even king Sombra and many other villainous ponies have had in the past. This kept them from...breaking the rules so to say."

"This is true." said a hauntingly familiar voice from seemingly no-where. Discord entered the room from a wall like a ghost, a practice the princesses had unfortunately grown accustomed to. "Although I may have seemed like a tyrannical jerk, I never had the heart to kill anypony to get what I wanted."

"And as such, we didn't have the heart to kill you." said Celestia with a smirk.

"Speak for thine self." sneered Luna to Celestia's dismay.

"Good to see you too Lulu." said Discord as he made a baby face, causing Luna to grind her teeth. No matter how much she tried to deny it, he was much older than both of them. "But, yes. I knew that Twilight and her friends possessed the power to usurp my impromptu throne, but I never once entertained the thought of doing away with them. I felt bad when I caused them to lose hope in all that they'd believed in! Let alone kill them."

"I like how you made it rain chocolate milk!" said Minuette with a giddy smile.

"...Thank you?" said the draconius wearily. "So did Celestia. Anyway, that's what this particular form of hate dismisses. IT doesn't care about up-holding standards or proving points. It skips all the morality and gets straight to solving the problem in the most horrid way possible. That's what makes these creatures' so dangerous. They are made of nothing but hate. The really hateful kind of hate that we've been talking about. "

"One that YOU are responsible for creating."added Luna.

"No, now," said Discord while wagging his finger. "She doesn't need to hear any of that. Save it for Twilight, since I'm SURE she wants to know what all the fuss is about. What this pony here needs to know is that she's unique in more ways than one."

"How so?" asked Celestia.

"Well, you and I both know that these creatures feed off of hatred. We also know that the victims they feed from get incinerated on the spot."

"With haste now!" said Luna irritably, stomping a hoof. To her, every word that came out of the draconius's mouth was a jest.

"Easy there Lulu." rebutted Discord. "Because of this particular hatred's chaotic nature, I can sense residue of it. And from what I'm seeing, the creature that this pony turned into cottage cheese had actually fed off of her, which is odd because she's not a smoldering pile of ash right now."

"I see." said Celestia thoughtfully. "Why?"

"Beats me!" said Discord with a shrug. "That's what I think we're going to find out if we know what's good for us."

"You want us to study her?" asked Celestia, her tone displaying her disdain for the idea.

"Or we could release her back onto the streets of Canterlot so that they can find and assassinate her." said Discord darkly. "I visited the coroner and did my own little autopsy of the creatures mind. There's residue of a clairvoyance spell in it's brain."

"So they all saw her kill it from wherever they're hiding." finished Luna thoughtfully.

"Yes. And I'm sure that any other scouts already here or soon to visit will make it their prime directive to tie up loose ends. She survived an attack. Whether they know why or not, I feel it would be safer for her to remain in your care until this blows over or blows up."

Celestia gave Discord her famous poker face. He stared back at her expectantly. It wasn't really his place to aid in making decisions, seeing as he had pretty much zero experience in leading a nation, but he felt he'd had something worthy to contribute.

Celestia smiled.

"My thoughts exactly." said the alicorn with a nod. "The safety of any ruler's subjects is always foremost in their minds. We will keep Minuette in custody until we can find a way for her to return to the public without attracting any un-due attention."

"But...what about my friends?" said Minuette in a meek tone.

"Another reason we will be keeping you in custody is for the safety of others." answered Celestia. "There's no telling what you'll do if you blank out again. I wouldn't want you to harm anypony. Please understand."

"Ok!" said Minuette cheerily. Celestia sighed. She wished that Minuette would be more forthcoming with her. She hated seeing her mask her hurt with that blasted smile. It made her sick to the stomach every time she saw it.

"I'll find a way for you to keep in touch with your friends. But for now, we're going to move you to a more secure location."

"Road trip!" said the blue mare enthusiastically, causing Celestia to shake her head hopelessly.

"Very well then." said Luna as she turned around to leave the cell. "I shall make the arrangements and meet up with you later Tia."

Celestia nodded in agreement as she watched her sister leave the room. When he was sure she was gone, Discord snapped his talon and a sound proof bubble formed around him and Celstia.

"Something you want to tell me?" asked Celstia calmly.

"Yes. I couldn't risk her having a temper tantrum and getting us off topic."

"What is it?" asked Celestia, turning to face him.

"It concerns the boy." said Discord with a serious look.

"I've already sent him to Ponyville."

Discord stared at her hard, as if he was replaying her statement in his mind over and over.

"Before I continue," he said, holding up a talon. "Why did you send him to Ponyville?"

"I've been watching the village for years." said Celestia, reminiscing over all the times the small town shined where other larger ones didn't. "Everpony there is trust worthy and hard-working. Not to mention the elements are there."

"So if something goes awry, your assuming they can just shoot it with a giant friendship beam of death?"

Celestia tapped her chin with her hoof, feigning deep thought.

"It's never failed before. It even worked in another dimension with creatures similar to him."

"He's not from there!"

"I know, but if something does go wrong, the elements will be our last hope. They're stronger now than ever, and I really don't want them to be far off when...IF something does happen."

Discord pondered over her words. He'd been hit by that terrifying beam of feelings more than once, and he could vividly remember how utterly powerless he was before its might.He felt confident nothing could stand up to it, but he still had his doubts. The kid had brought things with him when he'd first arrived. New things that Celestia and her sister had never dealt with before, things that didn't play by Equestria's rules. He was around when these things showed up, but he was a statue. If it weren't for the surprisingly talkative guards that watched over him day in and day out, he would've never known about them.

Back then, the elements weren't strong enough to deal with the problems that arose, but it wasn't because of the elements. It was because of it's two bearers. Luna's heart had been filled with rage and hate at the time, causing a massive backfire with horrible consequences.

"Very well then." said Discord, dismissing the matter. "I needed to talk to you about the scout. As I mentioned earlier, it had traces of Clairvoyance residue in its head."

"And since they lack the ability to cast that spell, you believe somepony is working with them."

"Yes." said Discord with a nod. "I've even heard chatter in Manehattan about a bounty being placed on his head."

Celestia sighed.

"I don't understand." she said as she shook her head dejectedly.

"I know." said Discord. "What kind of pony would be willing to work with a bunch of savages whose only intent is to wipe out ponykind as we know it? Doesn't this pony understand that NOPONY wins in that scenario?"

"...Well...either way, I sent dozens of our best guards to accompany him, including captain armor himself. They should be able to handle anypony that tries to get to him."

Her horn glowed and the sound bubble popped. With a popping noise and everything.

"You're confident?" asked Discord as Celestia walked passed him to exit the cell.

"All four of the Steam operatives are there." said the princess, stopping at the doorway. "And the guards aren't the only ponies there to be afraid of."

"Hm?"

"Minuette?" called Celestia. "I'll be back to check you out shortly."

"Sure thing princess!" said the blue mare with a wide smile. Discord knew what insanity was from personal experience, but her smile still unsettled him.

Celestia left the cell and trotted down the hall. It wasn't until her hoof-steps could no longer be heard that Discord decided to raise his head out of it's confused stupor. His gaze panned over to the open cell door.

"But you hate bounty hunters."

As usual, Sugar-cube corner was bustling with buisness. The cakes and everypony's favorite pink pony were hard at work trying to meat the sweet demands of their customers. It would've been a lot harder had Pinkie not had the ability to seemingly teleport to and from the kitchen. She'd appear at someones table, ask them what they wanted, and then disappear. It was another oddity that Ponyville had grown accustomed to. They had to with Pinkie around. Any time she wasn't zipping around the town or jumping around like a pink, fuzzy, spring, ponies knew something was up. Or down, as she'd often correct them.

Her cooking skills were un-matched by any in ponyville, but that's because her skills were impossible. She could bake a cake that took thirty minutes to bake in ten seconds. She could mix cake batter at the speed of sound without letting a single drop land anywhere. She could even pull ingredients out of her hair. Yes, she was an impossible baker. Her life defied many laws, but she seemed to be oblivious to it.

One of those laws were that her cupcakes were irresistible.

"You're really not going to eat that?" asked Backbone, three pieces of cake still in his mouth. The kid made no response, choosing to simply stare at the little cupcake with indifference. It freaked Backbone out. He loved food, and if it weren't for Sugar-Cube corner, he'd probably avoid Ponyville as much as he could. Why else would he return to the town where three fillies tried to kill him? And let's not forget the orange farm mare that seemed to be stalking him at every turn. Applejack was sitting at a table on the far side of the bakery, and she hadn't stopped staring at him since he walked in.

Daring finished her second cupcake and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Can't say I'm surprised." said the former adventurer. "He IS a different species and all that."

"So what does he eat?" said Backbone, his mouth still filled with cake.

"Maybe he's a carnivore." said Daring with a shrug. Backbone chuckled, nearly choking on his cake that he absolutely refused to swallow.

"This little guy? Daring, don't be stu-"

"And now I present to you!" said Pinkie's high-pitched voice from seemingly everywhere. Then she popped up from under the table holding a dome-covered, metal, platter. Backbone began to choke. "THE MEAT CAKE!~"

The party pony then removed the metal dome-lid.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Daring as she reared back at the sight. On the platter was a piece of meat that looked like it'd been molded into the shape of a cupcake. It didn't even seem to be baked. "What is THAT?"

"A meat cake silly!" replied Pinkie, holding the platter out to the kid. His eyes followed the dish like a moth to a flame.

"A cupcake that's made of MEAT?" gestured Daring, as if to ascertain a fact.

"Well it's not made of PLANTS silly!" said Pinkie with a giggle.

"...H...How did you even make that?!"

"Celestia sent me the recipe!" said Pinkie as she set the meat-cake down in front of the kid. "She said it was his personal favorite. But I didn't need it."

"Why?"

"I've had LOT'S of practice."

Daring's eyes widened, and Backbone forgot that he was choking.

"...What?" said Daring, wondering if she'd stumbled into a story she'd read.

"A griffon came by one day." replied Pinkie simply. Like you, Daring's mind was also brimming with questions. Most of which she was much too scared to ask. She stared at Pinkie for a few seconds, waiting for her to continue the story, but she didn't. She just stood there, smiling at her with those cold, blue, eyes. The silence implied something that Daring didn't want look further into.

"...Ok." said Daring with a slow nod.

"Eyup-eroonie'! Enjoy!" said Pinkie before disappearing in a pony-shaped cloud of smoke. Daring looked around for where she could've gone but couldn't find her anywhere. Didn't matter. She appeared to be gone, and that put Daring at ease. She slapped Backbone on the back, causing him to cough his food out of his mouth and onto the plate in front of him.

"It's official." said Daring. "That pony is NOT just eccentric." After Backbone stopped coughing, he raised his hoof and nodded.

"I...I second that." agreed the mechanic. "Her and those kids...there's something wrong with them."

"And applejack?" said Daring. Backbone turned slightly to peek at the orange mare. Her sultry gaze hadn't swayed away from him in the slightest. He jerked his back.

"Can we just hurry up and leave?" asked Backbone with a shudder. "I don't want to eat anymore."

"Sure. Just as soon as the kid finishes his...meat-cake." Both Daring and Backbone looked at him. Daring had a more fascinated look while backbone had one that practically yelled hurry-up-so-we-can-get-the-hell-out-of-here. He took it as his cue to grab the meat cake open his mouth to take a bite.

Sharp. It was the only word Daring could think of as she stared hard at his teeth. She'd only had a glimpse before he chomped down on the meat cake like it was nothing new, but she could clearly see the rows of wickedly sharp canines in his mouth. He was definitely a carnivore.

A few ponies sitting at tables close to them stared in horror as he chewed the piece he bit off and swallowed it before taking another bite. They could hear bit's of bones being crushed like potato chips as the kid grounded them into something he could swallow. Red liquid that Daring assumed was leftover blood trailed down his chin before he used a hand to wipe it off.

As the kid threw the last piece of the meat cake into his mouth, Daring looked around and noticed the increasing number of ponies that were staring at them. She was already wearing an admittedly stupid disguise to begin with and she didn't need the extra attention. She imagined it would be a nightmare if she was discovered.

"Ok, let's go." said Daring as she quickly got up and headed towards the door. Backbone didn't hesitate to get up and follow her, and neither did the kid.

Daring peeked behind one last time before exiting the building, looking at everypony's curious stares. They were acting like they'd never seen a griffon eat meat before. But then again, he wasn't a griffon. So perhaps it came as a bit of a shock that the town's newcomer ate raw meat? Or maybe most griffons had the decency to have their meat cooked and prepared before digging in? Either way, she felt that they were overreacting. It wasn't like he would eat a pony or anything like that. He'd have done it by now.

During that quick peek, daring couldn't help but notice one white stallion staring at the boy. Unlike all the others, he was smirking at him.

As if he'd just won the lottery.

"So what'tre you gonna do now?" asked Backbone before stopping in front of his shop.

"I dunno." answered Daring. "You?"

"I have to finish a few more projects before meeting with my old team in a few hours."

"Oh, right."

"Yeah. You gonna be good on bits?" asked Backbone as he pointed at her. "I had to pay for the food at Sugarcube corner."

"Backbone, I'm famous." said Daring with a dead-pan look. "It's just taking a while for my stuff to get here."

"How long do they expect you to wait?"

"Shouldn't be more than an hour or two. Until then, I'll be fine."

"Ok." nodded Backbone. "And him?"

Daring looked down towards the kid, who seemed to be watching the various ponies that passed by. What about him? She didn't know what she was supposed to be doing with the kid in the first place. Was he there just to annoy her? Cause so far, he wasn't that bad. Sure it bothered her a little that he followed her everywhere and he was a little creepy, but he hadn't done any of the things that seriously annoyed her. Like try to kill her or flatter her like an overzealous fan.

"I'm going to go talk to Twilight." replied Daring. "i don't really know what to do with him."

"Seems like a good idea." nodded the mechanic. "So I guess I'll see ya around?"

"Yeah." replied Daring as she scratched the back of her head in tandem with Backbone.

"Uh, Ok."

"Yep."

"..."

They both knew why they couldn't just say goodbye and go about their business. Daring was a writer, meaning that she most likely read alot of books in her spare time. She knew that in most romance novels, situations like this always ended with a kiss or some show of affection. It wasn't that she thought hugs and kisses were stupid, it was just that she was in public, with at least a dozen ponies in the immediate vicinity. Something about showing her feelings in public made her want to gag. She didn't want to do it, but she also didn't want Backbone to feel bad.

Backbone felt a similar way, although he wouldn't have minded if she went in for the kiss. He was tough guy, but he was still a little shy about putting his feelings out there. When he recited that corny poem to Daring while they were in the hospital, they were alone. Now, with all the ponies around him, he was too afraid to so much as hug her. Would she take it the wrong way if he didn't? Would he seem like less of a stallion? A coward even? Or would Daring understand that he just wasn't into that corny love-story stuff?

So for the next minute, they just stood there, avoiding eye contact in awkward silence. The kid was looking back and forth between the two, waiting for something to happen. Backbone pretended to be looking at something of interest on the street and Daring appeared to checking her hoof for scuff marks.

"I love you!"

The three of them turned their heads to the sound of the mare's voice. They saw a pink mare and a tan stallion rubbing their snouts together in front of a lettuce stand.

"Not as much as I love you!" replied the stallion.

"Oh, I don't think so!" said the mare before pecking him on the lips.

"Please, schmoopy-poo, I need to get back to work."

"I just wanted to kiss my hubby-bunny goodbye!"

"And I appreciate that angel baby."

"Oh, alright." said the mare as she broke away and began to leave."Cuppy cake."

"Gum drop." waved the stallion.

"Gummy bear."

"Honey pie."

"Hubby wubby."

"Lady bug!"

"Big daddy!"

PLEASE! shouted Chrome Discord as he ripped off his ears. SOMEPONY KILL THEM!

"Puddin'!"

"Pookie bear!"

"Sugarplum!"

"Sweetums!"

Eventually, the mare was too far away for the romantic banter to continue.

Backbone and Daring had never seen anything so horrifying in their entire lives, and they'd seen some stuff. Their faces were so twisted in fear that one would need to make up a new word to describe their expressions. Or be a better writer than me. Cause I don't have a very large vocabulary. They looked at each other.

Without another word, Backbone went into his shop and Daring trotted away with the kid behind her.

Twilight vigorously paced back and forth in her room, deep in thought. The clock mounted above her bedroom door read five o'clock. She'd been waiting for a while now, and she knew she still had a few hours at best before Celestia's letter came. She didn't know how to feel about the kid, about the guns, about her brother, about the whole situation. There were so many questions unanswered and she couldn't relax. They agitated her to no end, not allowing her to focus on her work as a princess. She'd finished reviewing the various friendship letters she'd planned to read, but her duties didn't end there. As the princess of friendship, she felt obligated to study everything she could regarding the elements, whose capabilities relied solely on the power of friendship. Her new-found resources as a princess and her access to the underground library underneath the princesses old castle enabled her to study the elements and their abilities more thoroughly than she'd ever imagined.

After reviewing her friendship reports, she'd planned to finish her day by reading a few dozen books, but after the fiasco with the kid and all the guns, she just couldn't focus. She'd been sending letter after letter to princess Celestia about her concerns, hoping to get an early reply. Unfortunately, the only thing that did was make her assistant very tired.

"Twilight..." gasped Spike while laying on her bed in a heap of exhaustion. "I know I've said this at least a hundred times today...but you need to calm down."

"Calm down?!" exclaimed Twilight as she turned sharply to look back at him. "Spike, do you know what guns are for?"

"...Keeping the peace?"

"No! Think Spike. Why do guns even exists?"

Spike genuinely thought about it. He'd heard Applejack joke about having a musket once, but it was never confirmed.

"...Because...earth ponies needed a way to defend themselves?"

"No! Well, yes, but no! The ammunition for guns is harvested from an element that defies all magic. A pony could take down Celestia with just a few shots!"

"Oh."

"That's why Celestia banned them. They're too dangerous and they're only good for ONE thing!"

"C'mon Twilight, it's not like killing is something new to equestria." said Spike as he sat up. "Remember that old dragon that went senile and tried to torch a family in Canterlot a year ago?"

"Yes." said Twilight irritably, knowing what he was getting at.

"If I can recall correctly, Celestia shot a white hot beam through his head before he could hurt anypony."

"But that was because it was sudden! She didn't commandeer an army of gun-tooting guards to wait outside of Canterlot! She'd went to the dragon her self to try and reason with him, but he was too far gone."

"So she did what she needed to do."

"This situation isn't like that Spike!"

AS the little Dragon held his hand up to make a retort, his cheeks bulged, he went cross-eyed, and he belched, sending a scroll to the floor in a dissipating flurry of green flames. Twilight wasted no time in running up to it to discover that it had Celestia's royal seal.

"YES!" shouted Twilight as she used her magic to unravel it.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I read through the mountain of letters you sent me, and I truly DO understand your concerns. I've taught you to win battles though acts of kindness and through the power friendship rather than violence. So now that you've seen your brother with a weapon that practically symbolizes the one-way path of violence, you are confused. Angry even. You may even think I've been lying to you all this time while stockpiling the worlds largest gun supply for war. I can assure you I have not. The way you were taught was and still is the right way. Love has never failed before, and it will not fail now if we strive show it in our actions. And those guns? I barely have any. The ones you saw with your brother are more than half of my supply. I only keep them for emergencies. You see, evil...is real. TRUE evil. The kind of evil that doesn't accept reason, or kindness, or love. There are some evils that must be dealt with before they can spread and cost somepony their life. You must understand this, because that evil is now among us. It is why I had the boy sent to you sooner.

Love never fails, but love has many forms. Love is what made me kill that dragon a year ago. Love is what made me banish my own sister to the moon. Love is what held me back from aiding you in many of your adventures. If I had intervened, you may have begun to rely on me too much. You see, I've ruled by the same virtues I've taught you, only I've been around long enough to put those virtues to the ultimate test. I have had to do things I am not proud of, things that plague me every single night and occasionally during the day. But I did these things for those whom I loved, and for love itself. Cadence helped me to realize this.

But that aside, the weapons you saw your brother with are NOT to be used on anypony unless completely necessary for the preservation of an innocents life. I've forbidden the guards to use them other wise and only as a last resort. But that should never happen, since the guns aren't there for ponies. The guard is perfectly capable of handling anypony without the use of firearms. You may have thought the guns were there for the boy, but if he were to...revert back to what he was before he was imprisoned, I can assure you that they would be completely useless against him. No, I have a different threat in mind and they are definitely not equine, nor person, But as for the boy, I want you to make it your prime goal to teach him all there is to know about friendship and love, the same things you have learned through your many adventures with YOUR friends.

The same goes for Daring. She thinks I've fired her, but in actuality, I'm forcing her to learn the value of companionship. You'd think she'd have learned from her encounter with you and your friends, but she has many inner demons to sort out due to an event I'd rather not discuss without her permission. For the past year, she's been trying to handle them on her own, not even accepting MY help. So I sent her there with the boy as a dual learning experience, AND because the boy technically counts as a relic, and we all know she's the best when it comes to those. I trust she'll keep him safe and out of the wrong hands.

So please, don't worry yourself. Friendship and love will always be the right way, but there are different kinds. Give the boy and Daring the full friendship experience. And remember to just keep doing what you've been doing. I don't just trust you because you were my student, but because you ARE my friend. I'll be keeping in touch to keep you informed on what to do and what not to do.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia.

"So?" said Spike, now by her side. "What's it say?"

When she didn't answer, he started poking her in the side. After re-reading the letter a few more times, she sighed and set it down on her bedside table with her magic as she trotted over to sit on her bed. The letter had relieved her, but had also left an unsettling feeling in her gut she knew would be there for the rest of her life. If it came down to it one day, would she be able to take a pony's life for the greater good?

"What'd she say about the guns?" asked Spike, his interest fully peeked. "What's gonna happen with the creature?"

She didn't like asking herself that. She'd never really had to, seeing as most villain's she'd dealt with had never really forced her to make that choice. Now things were changing. Apparently there was a villain out there that couldn't be swayed or turned into stone by the power of friendship. This one would simply need to...disappear.

"Twilight! Hello!?"

But it would be the right thing to do. If evil that bad was allowed to carry on, the consequences would far out-weigh any guilt or sorrow. She could recal the elements turning Discord to stone because of the good that was still left in his heart. If he'd had none, would they have simply killed him? She hated the thought of him being dead. Although he was extremely annoying, he was kind of like a fun uncle. The bad kind that would always get you into trouble and teach you how to cuss like an adult. But if that were the case, it would mean that Tirek still had a sliver of goodwill left somewhere in his heart. Despite his crimes and the fact that he'd actively tried to kill her, he was salvageable. So perhaps the same could be said of this so-called, irredeemable villain.

But like with all redeemable villains, she'd need some understanding.

"Spike?" called Twilight as she lifted her head.

"...Yeah?" said Spike, irritated.

"Could you watch the place for bit?" asked the alicorn as she hopped out of bed. "I've got some studying to do."

"So we can't see Twilight at the moment?" asked Daring.

"Sorry, no." replied Spike apologetically. "She was stressing out earlier, but then she just left, saying she had to do some studying."

"Right." said Daring with a sigh. "Did she say where she was going?"

"Nope. I tried to ask her, but when she thinks she's on to something, she sorta blocks out the world around her. Maybe I could help?"

"I was hoping to talk to her about the kid here." said Daring as she gestured in back of her. Spike peeked around her and saw the kid standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Oh!" exclaimed the tiny dragon as he ran passed her towards him. "I don't think I got to properly meet you." Once he was standing in front of him, Spike held his claw out. "My name's Spike. I'm Twilight's number one assistant."

The kid seemed to hesitate before slowly raising his hand. Spike shook it happily. It wasn't everyday he got the chance to shake hands with somepony who had fingers.

"What's your name?"

The kid shrugged.

"You...don't know?" said spike quizzically.

"Yeah." confirmed Daring. "And he doesn't talk either."

"Oh." said Spike awkwardly. "Why?"

"I think I can remember him agreeing that he CAN talk, but he just doesn't."

"Why not?"

"I dunno." said Daring with a shrug. "If he could talk, I'm sure he'd explain." Spike thought for a few seconds. He'd met mute ponies before, and he had a simple solution for it.

"Can he...can YOU write?" asked the dragon, earning a nod from the kid. "Good!" Spike then stepped back bulged his cheeks. A fiery belch followed that materialized a piece of paper on a clipboard, and a quill. Daring knew she'd be trying to figure that one out for at least a week.

"Would you mind writing why you don't talk?" asked the dragon as he held the quill and clipboard up to him. Nodding, the kid took the clipboard from him and wrote something before handing it back. Spike examined the paper carefully, eager to see if the reason was something he could fix with Twilight's help. But, of course, there was a problem.

It looked like gibberish.

"Um...I can't read this." stated Spike, confused. "Is this another language?"

"Let me see." asked Daring as she trotted over to him. As Spike had stated, it was gibberish. Almost. Looking at the shapes on the paper rattled her memory and caused her to remember something similar she'd read about in a book. No, not similar. Just like it.

"Can you read this?" asked Spike, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"...Uh, no. No."

"Well that's one idea out the window." said Spike before burning the clip-board and quill up with a breath of green fire.

"Didn't see that one coming." quipped Daring.

"Worth a shot. So!" said Spike. "What did you want to talk to Twilight about?"

"What to do with him." said Daring matter-of-factly. "As much as I love him following me everywhere, I was wondering if there was anything...constructive for him to do. You know, to pass the time?"

"...Hm...maybe he could get a job?"

Daring chuckled at the suggestion.

"You think somepony would hire him?"

"Sure! He may be new to town...and this world, but the ponies here are pretty excepting. I mean, look at me!" said Spike as he twirled around. "I turned into a giant, treasure-hoarding dragon once and everypony still thinks I'm cute."

A few mares laughed at the little dragon as they walked passed, making Spike blush in embarrassment. Although it had its perks, the cute thing was ruining his reputation.

"You also live with Twilight, so that probably helps." said Daring. "He's a never-before-seen creature that eats-"

"I wouldn't say that." Interjected Spike. "Twilight and I once visited a world with a bunch of creatures that look almost exactly like him, but they weren't as...."

"Creepy looking?"

"I was going to say unique. Anyway, I'm sure somepony will give him a chance."

"So no pony hired him?" asked Rarity in surprise.

"Nope." said Daring, exasperated from running around the town. "I see word gets around pretty fast here."

"Cons of a small town my dear." said Rarity as she was taking the measurements for a new dress. "But if you don't mind me asking, what 'word' is getting around about him?"

"That he eat's ponies." said Daring with chuckle.

"Good lord!" exclaimed Rarity, turning to look at the kid. "He...doesn't, right?"

"No." said the pegasus as she waved a hoof dismissively. "I'm certain he doesn't." Then Daring turned her head slowly to look at the kid beside her. "You don't right?"

The kid shook his head, but only after a pause. A very short pause, but a pause nonetheless. A pause just long enough to instill a speck of doubt and fear in Daring's mind. It wasn't one of those questions you needed to think about. At all. Not even for the smallest interval of time, because there was only one right answer.

"Oh." said Rarity, calming down. "That's good. But where did the rumor come from?"

"When we were at Sugar-Cube corner, your pink friend served him a cupcake made entirely of meat and bits of bone. And he ate it."

Rarity had a little more than few questions regarding why her friend had such a confection to begin with, but she was experienced enough to know that one does not simply question Pinkie Pie. Especially with terms such as 'why'.

"Oh." said Rarity. "I guess that's a little unsettling, but we've had griffons visit us too. I don't understand why everypony is so hesitant to give him some work."

"That's actually the reason I'm visiting you." said Daring. "I was wondering if you had something for him."

"So you're not here to replace that dreadful looking cloak?"

"...No."

"Oh." said Rarity before biting her lip. "Well, as much as I'd love to help you, I already have an assistant, and he can get a little...competitive."

"..So...no?"

Rarity nodded.

"Great." huffed Daring.

"Are you sure you've asked everypony?"

When Daring thought about it, she wasn't entirely sure. She'd gone house to house and asked pretty much any pony she'd encountered on the street. The ones that didn't run away or slam the door in response claimed they didn't want a creature on their staff that the towns-folk were clearly avoiding. Even Sugar-Cube Corner turned her down. They claimed that having one odd creature on their staff was more than enough.

Even the massage parlor, who'd posted a help-wanted sign on the door, decided to forgo her offer. At first, they were enthusiastic to hire somepony new. Especially one with fingers. They'd brought the kid in to let him test his skills on a volunteer and taught him the ropes, but when the kid tried his hand, he ended up nearly snapping the stallions spine and making him scream like a filly. Thankfully, the volunteer form he'd signed kept him from pressing charges.

"Well...no. I haven't asked all of your friends. I was going to try Applejaack next and maybe Fluttershy afterwards."

"Hm. Well, you can try Fluttershy, but I get this feeling that the animals there wouldn't except him."

"Yes, I'd also assumed as much." said Daring matter-of-factly. "No offense kid."'

The kid shrugged.

"Ok, then." said Daring as she got up and readied herself to leave. "Guess we're off to visit the stalk-...Applejack."

"If you don't mind me asking," began Rarity before she could make her way to the door. "Why are you so adamant about finding him work? You've both barely had anytime to settle in."

"I...just think it would be good for him to keep busy doing something productive." lied Daring. "Maybe the town will warm up to him if they realize he's just another hard-working citizen."

"Hm?" said Rarity. "And here I thought it was because you just wanted to get rid of him."

The kid turned his head to Daring curiously.

"What?" said Daring nervously. "No! No, that's preposterous! I mean, he may be a little strange, but he's alright."

"...Oh. Ok." chuckled Rarity.

"What's...so funny?" asked Daring.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I say that about alot of my friends nowadays."

"Oh...well, we'd best get going then." said Daring as she and the kid headed towards the door. "I wanna do this before it gets dark."

"Toodaloo!" waved Rarity. "Do be safe!"

The path Daring and the Kid took to Sweet Apple Acres was quiet and serene, with the only noise being the skittering woodland animals in the trees on either side of the path. It was a welcome change for Daring, and it gave her ample time to think. When she'd went to court to receive her punishment, Celestia told her she was being sent to Ponyville for her physical and mental protection. Why? Celestia knew Daring was pretty good at taking care of herself. Because of the large amount of ponies and creatures alike that wanted nothing more than to see her mangled corpse in a coffin or a barrel full of acid, she was always in danger. Despite this, Celestia never felt the need to send her away to a safer place. Ponyville wasn't even that safe to begin with! it was actually ranked as one of the top 3 worst places to live because of its close proximity to the Everfree and just the general crap that happened to it on a regular basis. There were even rumors circulating about a portal to Tartarus that somepony opened up. Daring already had a tendency to attract trouble wherever she went, so every second she spent there made her feel like a big red target that just kept getting bigger.

So what exactly was she being protected from that was worse than all the lunatics she'd dealt with? Was it a giant, walking, conglomerate of snakes? Cause that would've actually been scary. If it was anything snake related, she'd understand, but that was unlikely.

And what about the mental aspect? Was she worried that Daring would go nuts? Why would she? She'd dealt with plenty of things that should've sent her off the deep end, the most effective one being the temple in the Everfree. If you could call it a temple. Even then, she came out mentally unscathed.

Are we THERE yet? groaned chrome Discord.

Well, mostly. She BASICALLY came out of there mentally unscathed. She was sure he'd go away if she just kept ignoring him. Just like certain memories of hers. Out of mind, out of existence. That's how sane people handle the bad things that happen to them right?

You know, you're almost as quiet as my old roomie' here. quipped the chrome draconius as he floated lazily around them. I guess thats another thing you two have in common.

Daring's eye twitched again, a habit that was beginning to scare her. Maybe Celestia was right. Maybe she was losing it and was just working too hard to notice it. It wouldn't be surprising if all the concussions she'd accumulated over the years had finally culminated into one big mental disorder. Maybe she just needed some time off. Celestia had offered her numerous vacations in the past, but she'd always brush the princess off, saying she'd get around to one eventually. And she'd actually planned to. For Daring, adventuring was an addiction. She'd tell herself that she'd relax and take it easy for a while, but then she'd remember some old myth or legend. She'd then start researching it and whammo'. Another long, perilous, adventure. So for her, researching was like being an alcoholic and walking into a bar on free beer night.

The worst part about it was that her wanton adventuring would often lead Ahuizotl or some other nut job to whatever she was looking for. This would turn a somewhat casual venture into something where the fate of Equestria was involved. It was very annoying. She often wondered what her enemies were doing while they weren't trying to kill her. It seemed like they were always watching her, waiting to jump out and give some dumb monologue they'd spent the month preparing about how they'd finally beaten her.

It brought her a great deal of joy just knowing they'd never gotten the chance to finish one.

A white picketed fence with a sign that read 'Sweet Apple Acres' marked the entrance to the famous apple orchard. There was also another sign beside it that read 'Do not eat, throw, or touch these apples without buyin. Or else! I'm talkin' to you R.D!'.

So they owned every apple in the orchard and didn't want anypony touching them. This made her feel reluctant to enter the orchard at all. If she'd owned the orchard and somepony just waltzed in without permission, she'd probably tie their legs with their own tail and watch them hop away. But that was just her. Maybe the ponies here were different. Plus, she was looking for employment opportunities. How else would she apply?

Just then, two small colts hopped onto the path from the trees. One was tall and orange, the other was short and grey. Each had an apple firmly grasped in their teeth, looking at Daring and the kid like two deer in a cars headlights.

"...MONSTER!" shouted the grey one, dropping his apple on the ground and taking off.

"Seriously?" said Daring as she watched him run passed her. She turned her head to look at the orange one, who strangely, hadn't moved an inch.

"What's wrong with your fri-"

"MONSTER!" interrupted the orange colt as he spat out his apple and ran after his friend. Daring squinted her eyes in anger. At least she knew how the rumors were being spread so fast. Darn kids. What they needed was a reality check and good old fashioned spankin'.

"They act like they've never seen a monster in Ponyville before. Sheesh." said Daring as she resumed her walk. She stopped when she didn't hear the kid following her. When she turned around, he was wiping off one of the apples the two colts had dropped. After inspecting it to make sure it was clean, he took a bite out of it.

"I thought you only ate meat?" asked Daring in confusion. The kid shook his head. "So you can eat vegetables and fruits then?" The kid nooded before taking another bite. "...So you just don't like sweets then?" The kid nodded again.

So he was an omnivore. It wasn't unheard of to her. She'd met a few in her travels, although most of them were ponies that decided to explore outside of the food chain designated to them at birth. She had the bite mark on one of her hind legs to prove it. But something didn't make sense. As a filly in home-school, she learned that carnivores had all sharp teeth for tearing flesh and herbivores like her had flat teeth for grinding veggies. Omnivores would have a combination of both,but the kid didn't. As far as she'd seen, every tooth in his mouth looked sharp enough to chew through steel.

It was as if he'd been born an omnivore and somehow ended up with a carnivores teeth later on in his life. She'd ask him if that was really what happened, but as you already know, that would be fruitless. She'd need to talk to somepony that knew all about him.

Daring heard hoofsteps rapidly approaching from her left and deftly jumped backwards to avoid the charging form of Applejack coming out of the trees. She wasn't wearing her trademark stetson, and she was angry.

"GOTCHA NOW YA LITT-" Applejack stopped when she realized the pony she was talking to was neither little, grey, or orange.

"You ok?" asked Daring. Applejack looked at her for a bit before looking left and right. Then she saw the kid...eating an apple.

"Wha-...are you two the ones those two little thieves were workin' for?" asked Applejack, getting angry again.

"...No, but I did see the two colts your talking about run passed us less than a minute ago."

Applejack stared at Daring hard, as if she were trying to use sheer willpower to determine whether or not she was lying. Then she looked behind her at the kid, who was just finishing the apple he was eating. He swallowed his last bite slowly, feeling the hostility radiating from Applejack's fierce glare.

"Then why's he eatin' one of mah apples?"

"He didn't pick that one from one of your trees." said Daring, shaking her head. "When the those two colts saw him, they screamed, causing them to drop the apples in their mouths . Because he can't read that sign over there," she said, pointing a hoof at the sign on the fence. "He picked up one of them and ate it, not knowing he wasn't allowed."

Applejack pondered Daring's story carefully, staring deep into her eyes. Then, not being able to label Daring as a liar, she gave the kid the same look, looking for any scrap of dishonesty. But he was different. His eyes yielded nothing to her. No lies, no truths, no emotion whatsoever. The longer she stared into them, the more she felt this growing sense of fear. They were just so black. She'd been taught that the eyes were the gateway to the soul growing up, so it sent a visible shiver down her spine to imagine what this creature's soul was like.

"What's wrong with his...eyes?" asked Applejack as she turned away.

"I don't know. Look, I was actually on my way down here to ask you if you could let him work for you."

Applejack looked at her blankly.

"...Work fer' me?"

"Yeah. I figured some work would be good for him and help him fit in around here. I tried everywhere else, but didn't have any luck."

"So ya just brought him here?"

"...Yes."

Applejack put a hoof to her chin in thought before looking at the kid again, this time avoiding his eyes and sizing him up. Twilight had told her to be nice to the kid and treat him as she'd treat anypony else. She couldn't turn him away just because he was different...and creepy. She could also always use a helping hoof...or hand in this case.

"Alright." said the farmer with a shrug before she trotted over to him and held up a hoof. "Tha'names Applejack. Pleased ta meet'cha."

After casting a quick glance at Daring, the kid reached up his hand and grabbed her hoof the best he could. Without warning, she swung her hoof up and down hard enough to make the kid leave the ground a few times.

"What's yers'?" asked the farm mare with a genuine smile.

"He doesn't talk." said Daring as she walked up to them.

"Oh. So...what's his name?"

"He doesn't know."

Applejack scratched her head.

"...Uh...alrighty' then."

Sweet Apple Acres was as beautiful as ever in the glimmering sunlight. The apples on the trees and in the buckets surrounding them had a special shine to them that made them look as if they were all made of gold. Even the trees they grew from looked vibrant and alive despite their old age and the frequent bucks they got on a regular basis. Daring could imagine herself lying down by a tree, relaxing in the afternoon sunlight after a hard days work. That image would be complete if she had a pith helm to pull over her eyes as she slept.

"So," began Applejack, eager to break the awkward silence as they made their way to the barn. "If'n ya don't mind me askin', what did ya do to end up in Ponyville?"

"...You guys know I'm not here by choice?" asked Daring.

"Well, when Twilight told us to keep an eye on you to make sure ya didn't try ta' leave Ponyville, I sort of figured somethin' was up."

"Oh."

"...Ya wanna talk about it?"

Daring was bothered by the whole fiasco, but she didn't feel embarrassed. She FOUND the center of the Everfree, the one thing no adventurer had ever done. And LIVED, that is. All she wanted to do was brag about it to somepony. She also wanted some cash to compensate her troubles, but one out of two wasn't bad. Especially when Luna wanted to lock her up. Or kill her.

"Well," said Daring with a smirk. "You guys ever heard of that old legend regarding the center of the Everfree?"

"...The center?" questioned Applejack. "To be honest, I didn't know it had one. Granny told us the place was just wild."

"To an extent, you'd be correct. Some of the creatures you've seen coming out of it are just animals that mutated as a result of years of exposure to the Everfree's chaotic energy. But there are creatures inside that weren't affected. Creatures that had originated from the Everfree itself."

"Huh." said Appleack thoughtfully. "So Manticores are just mutated lions?"

"Some of them. But the deeper in they are, the more consumed by the energy they become. Eventually, their minds become so consumed by the chaos that they become downright evil."

"Timberwolves?"

"All evil. They come directly from the center."

"You're sayin' that the Everfree created those things from it's center?"

"Yes. But that isn't common knowledge. I could count the number of ponies that know about it on his hands." said Daring as she pointed to the kid. "It was a myth, a desperate hypothesis made to give the Everfree some form of rhyme or reason. But the thing about myths is that-"

"They always have a bit of truth in em." continued Applejack as she picked her fallen stetson hat up off the ground. "I'm a firm believer in that."

"Your wise to be that way Ms. Applejack." said Daring with a curt nod. "Because as it turns out, there really was a center. A few old texts I'd read talked about a temple at the center of the Everfree that contained its power source. That's what I set out to find."

"Sounds a bit risky."

Daring chuckled.

"Yeah, it was. I lost count of my near-death experiences during the first three days."

"...Ya weren't scared or nuthin'?"

"Terrified. Most of the creatures inside were completely new species and I had no idea how I'd handle them. I'd even lost my pack halfway through leaving me with no food or water that wouldn't melt my insides on contact. But that fear is my number one tool when it comes to staying alive. It keeps my mind sharp."

"Heh. I can relate." said Applejack with an easy smile. "Ma' sister's been in more life-threatening scenarios than I'd like ta admit, and I'm always worried about losin' her. Its like I have some sorta sixth sense that goes off whenever she's in trouble."

"Like a sister sense."

"I guess you could call it that. Anyway, so you found this center of the Everfree and then what?"

"Well...after nearly being killed by this weird chrome copy of Discord-"

"Discord was there?" siad Applejack as she stopped and turned her head.

"No. Just a chrome colored COPY of him. Although it claimed to have been a guardian created by the real Discord."

"Oh." said Applejack as she resumed walking. "So this thing nearly took you out?"

"Yep. Successfully drowned me in some chrome goop that I think was the roof of the temple. I thought it was the end."

Applejack's eyebrow rose curiously.

"...An then ya' just woke back up?"

"No, it brought me back to life somehow. Inside the temple. He claimed to have done so because of a message he'd received on this little black box from the real Discord, basically telling him not to kill anymore ponies that ventured too close. It had arrived right on time too."

"Message on a little black box?"

"I don't know." shrugged Daring. "I've actually omitted parts of the story simply because I can't understand them. At all. I nearly went nuts in there."

Nearly?

"Anyway," continued Daring. "He started talking nonsense before revealing the source of the Everfree's power."

"And what was that?"

"Him." said Daring as she pointed behind her at he kid.

Applejack turned around and looked back and forth between Daring's hoof and the kid, as if to ascertain that it was in fact pointing at him.

"...Him?" said Applejack as she gave Daring an incredulous look. Daring nodded in reply. "But he's so...small. How could he have been the one causing all of that ruckus in the Everfree?"

"The question of the week, Ms. Applejack. I don't know. But I'm sure the princesses do,"

Applejack craned her neck to get a better look at the kid once more.

"I mean, his eyes might be creepy an all, but he don't look evil. If the Everfree had a center, I was expectin' somethin' a bit more...well evil lookin'."

"Me too." said Daring as she glanced at the kid. "But looks can be deceiving. Anyway, to make a long story short,
i barely escaped with the kid, got rescued by Backbone, the Everfree started to die out, and then I was nearly killed by Luna."

"Whoa, nelly!" said Applejack with a furrowed brow. "Now why in Sam hill would she do that?"

"The same reason Celestia never asked me to search for it despite the Everfree's many dangers. They didn't want him to be found."

Applejack stopped again. From what she was hearing, and she tended to be a good listener, the princesses knew about this fabled center of the Everfree and not only did nothing to do away with it, but tried to keep it a secret. It tugged at her heart to think the princesses were doing it with ill intentions, but she'd learned to give ponies the benefit of the doubt. Especially ones that had proven time and time again that they cared about those around them. So the gears in her head began to turn. The Everfree had been responsible for the deaths of many ponies over the years, many of which nearly being her immediate family and friends. The princesses knew this and did nothing.

"Why?" asked Applejack more to herself than to Daring.

"Can't say." shrugged Daring. "I've got a few ideas, but none of them have a solid enough basis to start spreading around."

The answer did little to comfort Applejack, but she could respect Daring's answer simply because she knew what it felt like to have semi-false rumors spread around town about her. Slander was like an acidic glue, maddeningly painful and hard to get rid of once applied. But it wasn't like she couldn't keep a secret. True, her lying skills were satirically bad, but she wouldn't have to lie. She'd treat the secret just like all the other secrets she kept, by simply telling ponies that she didn't want to tell them.

No, the main reason she didn't try to rattle Daring's mind for more info was because in Sweet Apple Acres, the trees had ears.

"Applebloom!" called Applejack irritably. "Ah, thought I taught you better'n ta ease-drop on ponies! Get outta that tree!"

"Doh' hayseeds!"" exclaimed the adorable voice of a an adorable filly. The trio watched as a yellow filly with a red mane and tail with a matching bow-tie on her head dropped to the ground in a heap. Following her was an orange filly pegasus with a purple mane and tail, who had tried and failed to stop her abrupt descent by flapping her tiny wings like a hummingbird. She reminded Daring of a chicken for some reason.

"Ow!" yelled Applebloom when her orange friend landed on top of her. "Get offa' me Scootaloo!"

"Sorry!" said Scootaloo as she got off her friend and dusted her off. "Guess those lessons from Rainbow Dash haven't really set in yet."

"Right." said Applebloom as she got up and righted her bow.

"All right you two!" said Applejack authoritatively. "Apologize to Ms. Do!"

Sighing, the two fillies trotted up to Daring and hung their heads low, making Daring uncomfortable.

"We're sorry." said the two fillies in unison.

"But we were only listenin' because we saw that thing with her!" said Applebloom as she pointed at the kid.

"Yeah!" continued Scootaloo. "We heard that there was some bi-pedal creature in town that ate ponies!"

"He don't eat ponies!" said Applejack irritably. Then she looked at Daring. "He doesn't, right?"

"*sigh* No."

"See?" said Applejack as she pointed a hoof at Daring. "Ms. Do here's been with him all day and he ain't done nothin' to'er! Who told you he ate ponies?"

"...Snips and Snails." said Applebloom, knowing that she wouldn't like that answer.

"Applebloom," said Applejack as she closed her eyes and shook her head. "What did I tell you about listenin' to those two?"

"But we weren't listenin'!" said Applebloom. "We ignored em' at first, but then we saw it walkin' with ya'll and panicked."

"Yeah!" added Scootaloo. "But you guys didn't seem afraid of it so...we kinda hid in that tree and listened in. But it was only to make sure it didn't have you guys under some hypnotic spell."

Daring laughed. Hypnotic spell. First he ate ponies. Now he could hypnotize them. It was starting to get so bad that it was funny. Sooner or later, ponies would be telling each other that he was a changeling spy that took a form from another dimension.

...

It comforted Daring that she wasn't an extrovert thinker.

Applejack shook her head as she repressed a laugh.

"He doesn't have us under some hypnotic spell." said the farmer as she stepped aside to give them a full view of the kid. "He's new ta town and he don't mean us any harm. Right Ms. Do?"

"...Yes." hesitated Daring.

"Right. So he'd probably appreciate it if ya'll quit treatin' im' like a creature outta the Everfree."

Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at each other briefly.

"...But ya'll said he WAS a creature outta the Everfree."

Applejack face-hoofed.

It vexes me how that doesn't seem to hurt you ponies.

"Ya'll know what I mean! Now," said Applejack before facing the kid. "You don't talk or nuthin, so I'll introduce ya. This here's ma little sister Applebloom and her friend Scootaloo."

The kid looked at the two and did a little wave. The action helped solidify the notion that the kid wasn't some wild animal and made them feel more at ease. As a result, the two waved back.

"So...what's his name?" asked Scootaloo as she stepped forward.

"He...don't know." said Applejack as she scratched her head.

"He don't know his own name?" repeated Applebloom. "Did he hit his head or somethin?"

"Something like that." replied Daring.

"...Well, can't he just ask his friends or his family?"

Then, just as Appleboom had finished that sentence, the two fillies saw a glint of red flash in the kid's eyes. It was a piercing glint, making the two fillies want to look away in fear. But just as soon as it happened, the kid shut his eyes hard and grimaced, as if he'd had a brief but extremely painful migraine. He started massaging his eyes.

"...You ok mister?" asked Applebloom, not understanding what she just saw. Applejack and Daring looked back to see him nodding and blinking a few times before resuming his normal, un-readable look.

"...What happened?" asked Applejack. "You alright?"

The kid nodded again. Applejack wasn't completely satisfied with the gesture, but if he said he was alright, she'd hold him to it. She had a job for him after all.

"Well, alrighty then." said the farmer as she turned and resumed her trot to the barn. "I got a job that should be just perfect for you."

"So, as ya can see," beagan Applejack. "The barn's lookin' good and all, it just needs to be repainted. Big Mac gave it a fresh coat a month ago, but he bought the wrong paint."

Big Mac, who was walking out of the barn with an empty cart, gave his sister a stubborn glare. The barn looked sturdy, but that was it. There wasn't a drop of paint on it anywhere. There were what seemed to be a dozen separate gallons of paint sitting against it on the outside, none of which had been opened.

"Because of that, the paint started chippin' away. I had to scrap it all off. I was gonna do it ma'self when I got the time, but seein' as you got hands and all, I figured you could paint it alot easier than me...think ya could do that fer me?"

The kid looked up at the barn, as if to take a guess at how much time it would take to paint it. He nodded.

"Much appreciated." said Applejack with a smile.

"If you don't mind me asking," began Daring. "How much will you be paying him?"

"S'a fare question." responded Applejack. She looked at the kid. "How does forty bits sound?"

Daring looked at the kid. There was no telling how long he'd been Equestria, seeing as there was no way to pinpoint the time the Everfree had been created, but it would be safe to say that it was a VERY long time ago. Ten bits could probably buy a house back then. Now, ten bits could barely buy somepony a decent sofa. In Canterlot, ten bits might get you fancy pen.

Before Daring could tell the kid that forty bits was actually decent pay for painting a barn, the kid nodded. Had Celestia brought him up to speed on Equestrias currency system? Or did he just not care? Either way, he accepted the job, and he'd be out of her mane for a spell.

"Great!" nodded Applejack. "Guess I'll leave ya to it then."

"Can we help?" asked Applebloom as she stepped forward. Her sister gave her a quizzical look. She'd already completed all of her chores and had the whole day to play. Why would she want to spend the rest of it painting a barn with a being that talked less than Big Mac?

"Why?" asked Applejack. "What're ya'll plannin'?"

"Nuthin'." replied Applebloom as she shook her head. "We just figured we could help im' out is all. It's the least we could do for eavesdroppin' on im'.

"And I like to paint!" exclaimed Scootaloo cheerily.

"...Alrighty then. You can help."

The two young fillies jumped into the air with a triumphant 'yes'. Applejack shook her head and began to leave. Then she noticed how high the sun was and remembered something.

"Say, Scootaloo," called Applejack.

"Huh?" said the orange filly.

"Shouldn't you be out practicin' how ta fly with R.D right now?"

"Yeah." said Scootaloo as she scratched the back of her head. "I went to the usual spot we meet up at, but she wasn't there."

"Really? You sure she just wasn't runnin' a bit late?"

"I um...sort of waited there for...three hours. I think something might've come up at her job."

Applejack squinted. It was most definitely NOT like Rainbow Dash to leave somepony hangin'. If she said she was going to be there for somepony, sure as sugar is sweet, she was there. Especially for Scootlaoo's training. She was only free to hangout with her one day out of the week, and she made sure the weather-ponies in Cloudsdale knew that. If they scheduled her to work on that day, she'd tell them no flat-out. It usually never even came to that since they didn't mind working around it in her schedule. So why hadn't she showed up?

"...Have you seen her?" asked Scootaloo.

"...Actually, come ta think of it, I haven't seen her fer two days."

"Two DAYS?" repeated Scootaloo. "Is she alright?!"

"Ah'm sure she's fine." said Applejack with a dismissive hoof. "Sometimes she'll go outta town to participate in some race and forget to tell anypony.

"Oh."

"Eeyep. Now ya'll be careful paintin' that barn."

As Applejack turned and trotted away, the kid made his way over to the cans of paint and picked one up.

"Here!" said Applebloom as she rushed inside the barn to grab a screwdriver. "Use thi-"

The kid took a finger and wedged it into the seam of the can before popping the top off, revealing the shiny red paint inside.

"...Oh..." said Applebloom, dropping the screwdriver. "Must be nice havin' fingers and what-not."

"It's like having a bunch of tools on your hooves!" said Scootaloo.

Daring watched the scene with a contented smile. She had a feeling he'd be just fine without her. She was turning to leave when she heard hoof-steps approaching from behind her.

"Um...hello, Ms. Do." said a familiar voice. She turned around to see Scootaloo staring up at her nervously. Daring stared back at her, awed by the cute little filly's face.

"Hey'a kiddo." said Daring with a kind smile. "Your name's Scootaloo right?"

"Y-Yup." said the orange filly. "So you're THE Daring Do?"

"That's what it says on my library card." chuckled Daring. "Although, I'd appreciate it if you and your friend kept that a secret."

"Not a problem!" saluted Scootaloo. "Your identity is safe in my hooves!"

"Thanks. I wouldn't want any over-zealous fans following me around everywhere."

"You mean Rainbow Dash?"

Daring blinked.

"You know?"

"Of course!" said Scootaloo as she rolled her eyes. "She's ALWAYS talking about something she read in one of your books. She'd totally freak if she knew you were here."

"Heartwarming."

"Is it true that the stories you write are actually real things that happened to you?"

Daring ruffled her wings. This kid seemed to be pretty close with Rainbow Dash. That probably meant that she'd heard about how they'd been on an adventure together. Or maybe Rainbow Dash went around town bragging as she showed everypony the book she'd co-starred in. It was only the one book though. No other copy included her for her own safety. She'd only sent her that one as a thank you gift.

She didn't really want ponies to know that most of what she wrote was non-fiction, but at this point, the cat was clearly out of the bag.

"Yeah. Well, most of them." said Daring with a shrug. "Some of them I just have to make up to keep my publisher out of my mane."

"Cool!" said Scootaloo as she hopped up and down. "It must be real fun having all of those adventures."

Daring wanted to deny that. She wanted to deny it hard. There wasn't anything enjoyable about her near-death experiences. A bullet grazing your cheek, an ax giving you a close shave, a dragon nearly chomping your legs off during a narrow escape...how the hell could any of that have been fun? True, one might feel a sense of accomplishment to have survived these scenarios, but that's normal. Her books gave ponies the wrong idea because they excluded any of her more graphic encounters. If she'd kept that stuff in there, her books would be labeled a horror genre. Or worse. A generic slasher. Books Celestia herself didn't approve of. And me.

"You'd be surprised, Scootaloo." said Daring with a dead-pan look that defied her smile."Sometimes it dawns on you that you only have one shot at this life.It can get PRET-TY scary sometimes."

"Scary." repeated Scootaloo. "Boy, does that bring back memories."

"...Huh?"

"One day, me and Rainbow Dash were out camping and I got totally scared by some story she'd told me. I tried to hide it from her, but ended up having to tell her anyway. I can remember her telling me that she was scared by that same story at my age."

"Rainbow Dash? Scared?"

"Yeah, she said that if I told anypony, she'd deny it. Anyway, after that, she told me she'd take me under her wing and we became like sisters. It was first day we really got to hang out. I can remember her zooming through the air while holding me up above her...it was awesome. That day, I decided that I'd grow up to fly just like her." After stating this, Scootaloo paused and hung her head low.

"...You were really looking forward to training with her today weren't you?" asked Daring.

Scootaloo nodded.

"Yeah...she's never missed a day before. For anything. I hope she's okay."

"I'm sure she's fine." chuckled Daring. "From what I've seen, she can porbably handle herself."

"Yeah."

From what Daring could hear in the filly's tone, Scootaloo wasn't so sure. But Daring was never good with telling other ponies that everything would be alright. She'd done that before, and everything turned out worse than she'd imagined. Ever since, she'd grown accustomed to telling ponies that things probably wouldn't work out, but they could still be happy. You might be able to guess that ponies didn't react favorably to her when she said that. The truth is often painful to stomach, like drinking a bottle of NyQuil in one continuous gulp. She eventually decided to just keep her mouth shut. Sometimes, there's just nothing to say to some ponies.

But she couldn't just do that to the filly in front of her. She looked sad, and it tugged at Daring's heart as it would any normal being. The only problem was that she didn't know what so say. So she did the only sensible thing one would do when the current topic ran out of rope. Changed the subject.

"...Well," started Daring with a shrug. "I could teach you a few pointers."

Scootaloo's eyes went wide.

"Really?!" said the filly excitedly. "You wouldn't mind?"

"Nah. I mean, I may not be as fast as Rainbow Dash, but I've learned a thing or two from my adventures."

"That would be AWESOME! I can't wait to tell Rainbow Dash when she gets back!"

Daring smiled.

"Ok, then. I guess we should find an open spot to train. But first, we'd better ask Applejack."

"Hey, Applebloom!" called Scootaloo. Applebloom was struggling to open a can of paint with her bare teeth when she heard her.

"Yeah?" she called back.

"Do you think your sister would mind if me and Daring trained out here?"

"...Hm, nah. Just make sure ya'll use an open field."

"Great!" said Scootlaoo as she jumped into the air and buzzed her wings.

The day went buy quickly for them. Applebloom and the kid were having a blast painting the barn. Well, Applebloom was. The kid was more or less disinterested in it. He occasionally stopped painting to give attention to one of Applebloom's crazy CMC stories. He didn't respond or even react facially, but she got the feeling that he was a good listener. Anypony else would have begged her to be quiet.

Despite her constant story-telling, the barn was completely painted by the time the sun had set. For a kid who didn't seem to care about anything, he sure could paint fast. Being able to easily open a can without having to use a tool on the ground probably helped. Applebloom had tried to open cans like him with her teeth, but only succeeded in giving herself a major toothache.

Daring and Scootaloo had a blast, to say the least. Scootaloo was surprised to find out that Daring was almost as fast as Rainbow Dash. Even her control and aerodynamic ability rivaled the cyan pegasus. As Daring held the filly high in the air as she flew, Scootaloo flapped her wings as hard as she could. She imagined that she was older, flying in the sky like she always wanted to. She had no fear of falling. It filled her heart with determination, just like it did when she was with Rainbow Dash. She almost couldn't tell the difference. At the end, she didn't feel like she she'd missed a day of training. She felt content.

Daring knew she was replacing a pony she'd never be able to match in speed without a few more years of training, but she really wanted to make the filly happy. She didn't know why. She'd barely known Scootaloo, but something about the situation reached out to her. It was as if she felt the filly's pain somehow. The pain of being abandoned. She wasn't sure if that was the case with Scootaloo, but she wanted her to stop feeling that as soon as possible. So, despite her recovering wing and the doctors orders to not use it for a week at the least, she put her all into making the filly feel like she was with her idol.

She surprised herself. She honestly didn't know she was that fast. She did wing push-ups on a daily basis, but she was certain she didn't train as hard as Rainbow Dash. Perhaps her conditioning came from the numerous encounters she had with griffons? She may have been too scared of being eaten to realize how much she was exerting herself. The griffons chasing her were often part of a very large cult that was known for eating it's enemies alive for some stupid, spiritualistic reason. Even if that was where her conditioning came from, she was happy to have gotten it. The orange filly was shouting gleefully as she held her. She didn't seem at all disappointed.

This made Daring's day.

After the kid and Applebloom were done painting the barn, the went over to where they saw Daring and Scootaloo flying. Applebloom was going to call out to them, but when she saw how much fun Scootaloo was having, she decided not to. She loved seeing her friends genuinely happy. So, she just sat down and watched, enjoying the atmosphere.

"...She sure looks happy." said Applebloom. "It's like she's with Rainbow Dash."

The kid looked up at the two pegasi curiously. Daring flew close to them a few times,allowing the kid to see the look of joy on both their faces. All day, Daring had looked bothered. Angry even. Now, it was like she was a different person. The sky was her domain, and none of her problems seemed to follow her there.

"I can remember when Rainbow Dash took me fer' a spin." said Applebloom as her eyes followed her friend in the sky. "I thought it would be scary, seein' as I'm not suppos' ta fly an all...but it was actually really fun. That feelin' o' weightlessness...I gotta admit I'd never experienced anythin' like it."

The filly turned her head to the kid, who was also watching the two fly around in the beautiful sunset.

"I'm only guessin' here, but I reckon you can't fly right? I mean, ya got no wings."

The kid nodded, not taking his eyes off the two pegasi in the sky.

"Ya ever thought about what it's like ta fly?"

The kid didn't answer immediately, as if he needed to think about it. He watched Scootaloo and Daring a little longer before finally nodding his head.

"Then why don'tcha ask er' fer a ride then?" said a familiar voice. The kid and Applebloom turned around to see Applejack also looking up into the sky. Then, once she realized her question had an obvious answer, she face-hoofed and shook her head.

"Hey!" called Applejack. "The kid want's a ride too!"

Hearing her, Daring hovered back to the ground, setting Scootaloo down. She looked at the kid curiously. She was a little tuckered out, and her wing was hurting pretty badly, but like Scootaloo, she didn't want him to feel left out or abandoned. She turned to the side and folded her wing.

"Ok." she said with a shrug. "Hop on."

The kid looked at Applejack, as if to ascertain that he hadn't actually said anything. Thinking it was a look of appreciation, she smiled and gestured for him to go ahead.

"C'mon kid." said Daring. "Before the pain in my wing gets worse."

Reluctantly, the kid walked towards her. When he hopped onto her back, Daring instantly noticed that he was heavier than Scootaloo. Not too heavy, but it was noticeable. If her injured wing could talk, it would be begging her not to do this. She felt his hands reach around her neck. They felt cold, as if he hadn't been walking around in the sun all day.

"Ready?" asked Daring as she craned her neck to look at him. The kid shrugged. "Good enough. Hold on!"

With that, the kid felt a rush of air as she took off high into the sky. Daring felt him tighten his grip as she strained her wings to get higher. Once they were up high enough, Daring looked behind her to check on the kid. His expression still hadn't changed, but it could've been the look of excitement...or fear. It was hard to tell, since he always looked alert. She also noticed that he wasn't looking at her. He seemed to be looking straight through her at the setting sun. She cocked an eyebrow and waved a hoof in front of his face. His eyes didn't follow it.

"You ok?" she asked. Then, she thought she saw a speck of radiant blue appear briefly in his eyes. It could have just been her exhaustion, but when she saw it, a strong feeling of contentment washed over her. Then, a memory of her mother reading her a bed-time story seemed to force its way to the front of her mind. It was vivid, as if she was experiencing it for the first time. She could almost smell the cinnamon apple shampoo in her mother's hair. She could feel her mother's warmth as she sat beside her, bundled up in her bed-sheets.

Daring shook her head and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them. The kid was looking at her.

But, for the first time since they'd met, looking into his eyes didn't fill her with dread. They were still blacker than night itself, but they didn't seem endless anymore. For the first time, she felt like she was looking at a being with a functioning soul. When she realized that she was staring, she chuckled nervously and shook her head again.

"Sorry." said the former adventurer. "I think I'm getting tired. Let's hurry up and give you the full-flight experience before we both drop out of the sky eh?"

The kid nodded, and she took off again, albeit a bit slower for the kid's safety.

By the time Daring had decided to land, it was dark out. The night sky bathed the land in a brilliant, calming moonlight. Scootaloo had already gone home and Applebloom had leave so she could do her homework. Applejack had originally planned to call the kid and Daring inside so that they could eat, but decided to wait a little longer. The kid had done a good job painting the barn, and he'd done it fast too. He deserved a some hang-time.

"Ok," panted Daring as she landed, nearly toppling over. "I think...that's all I got for today."

"I reckon ya'll look like ya been working in the orchard all day Miss Do." chuckled Applejack. "Whenever your ready, there's some food Granny cooked right inside the house."

"Th-thank you." said Daring between breathes. "Now...if you wouldn't mind kid, could you please...get off my back?"

Nodding, the kid hopped off, making Daring feel like a hundred pounds had been lifted off of her.

"Sure thing, Miss Do." Nodded Applejack with a smile. "I reckon ya'll deserve a meal for a day's hard work."

"...But all I did was fly around for an hour or two."

"And ya look like ya gave it yer all." joked Applejack. "Plus, most places are closed about this time and I'd feel bad if'n I sent ya'll home starving."

"Oh...well, thanks again."

"M-hm. I'll be in the barn tidying up when ya'll are ready ta collect yer pay."

Daring nodded in acknowledgement, and Applejack left. Afterwards, the two of them just stood there for a moment, admiring the night sky. Daring still found it hard to believe that a pony as blood-thirsty and judgmental as Luna would be capable of presenting such beauty. From the moment Daring was given the duties Celestia had bestowed upon her, Luna didn't like her. It wasn't that she'd done anything wrong, it was just that she didn't trust Daring. And she had every right not to. It would be easy to use a relic to do something evil. Too easy.

But at every turn, Daring had proved her wrong. Although her methods of procuring them may have seemed extreme and at times morally disputable, she never used a relic for selfish gain. Despite this and her sisters admonitions, Luna still doubted that she could be trusted. Whenever she'd arrive to submit a relic to Celestia, Luna would always be there, looking at her with this strange glare. As if she knew something about her. Something very bad. It's like that look your best pal would give you after you shagged his wife...and killed his dog.

But as far as Daring was concerned, she had no secrets. Why? Because secrets are no longer secrets once revealed, and Celestia had discovered all of them. None of them, except maybe one if one were to look at it the wrong way, were cause enough for that kind of treatment.

When Luna found out about Daring's unauthorized dealings in the Everfree, she must have done a little victory dance before heading off to kill her.

"It's a pretty nice view right?" said Daring as she laid down on her back with her hooves behind her head. "Even after all these years, I can still appreciate it. Makes me happier to be alive you know?"

The kid put his hands in his pockets as he looked up at the moon. Daring knew he couldn't respond, but she got the feeling he was listening.

"Staring up into the sky like this," continued Daring. "Without a care in the world...it reminds me of myself when I was a kid. I did alot of studying and training with my parents back then, so, some days, my only free-time would be at mid-night. Too tired to do anything, I'd just lay outside on the grass and stare at the moon, wondering how it got there and all. I used to come up with some rather hilarious ideas, one of which involving princess Luna cutting a massive cheese." chuckled Daring. "I wanted to be just like my mother, having all the answers to everything."

"So eventually, I started taking some of my dads books outside with me when I was star gazing. I could barely read, but I tried my best to understand them. Before I knew it, I was nose deep in more than one book at a time, analyzing them for patterns and connections. In time, I started reading up on the relic my dad was looking for at the time. He'd been spending weeks trying to find it, but to no avail."

"He was about to scrap the search for later, but I came running up to him with an open book in my mouth, practically shouting the relic's whereabouts. I'll never forget what it was called. The Amethyst Horn. The legends I read about it all said that it came from a crystal alicorn born from the earth itself. Supposedly, it could create any mineral it thought of, making a particular colony very rich."

"From what I'd read, the alicorn was blown to pieces by a king who felt it's powers were corrupting the people with greed. All that was left was its horn. The king took the horn and hid it far away from the colony. He took its whereabouts with him to the grave. Ever since, ponies had been trying to find it. When I tried to tell my dad where it was, he laughed, ruffled my mane, and told me he appreciated the enthusiasm. It kind of made me mad."

"SO...I stole his blimp when they were sleeping and went after it myself. Believe it or not, I was more scared of him finding out about what I did than I was getting killed along the way. It would take over a day to get to the spot I'd marked in the book, so I was certain I'd get found out if he hadn't already noticed his blimp was gone. But I was so mad that I didn't sleep the whole way there."

"I kept wondering why he didn't take me seriously. It couldn't have been because I was wrong. All the details led to that specific position. I thought he ignored me just because I was filly. He didn't think I was smart enough to do it on my own. But I'd show him. It was easy to pin-point the Horn's whereabouts. It confused me how he missed it. I wanted to show him up so BAD kid. It was the only thing on my mind on the way there."

"I almost jumped out of the blimp when I saw the temple. I'll never forget the feeling of being right. I just KNEW the artifact would be in there, so it came as a big surprise whenWHOAH!"

Daring moved her head to the side just fast enough to avoid the arrow. It nipped her ear before embedding itself into the ground with an alarming 'thunk'. Her instincts kicked in like a switch, and she was on her hooves, looking up into the sky for the assailant.

"Kid," said the adventurer as she moved close to him. "I'm gonna need you to stay as close to me as you can and do as I say, ok?"

He nodded quickly, his eyes still fixated on the metal, black arrow that had sunk itself into the ground. Daring's ears picked up on a faint, yet irregular sound in the distance, causing her ears to twitch. She deftly moved her head to the right and cleanly avoided another arrow. Now she knew where it had been fired from, and that whoever had shot it was good. The first arrow had been shot upwards and had arc'd down towards her. The second one was a straight shot. Both would've turned her head into a kebab.

They seemed to only be aiming for her, but she didn't take any chances as she bit the kid's shirt and practically yanked him behind a tree with her. Even if they were aiming for her, they could easily use the kid as bait. But she still had one glaring issue. She didn't know where the assailant was now. The second shot seemed to have been fired from a different spot, meaning that there was more than one, or that the sharp-shooter was very fast.

She remembered something her father had taught her about long-range attackers. Most would think that the farther away you are, the better your chances of survival. He'd taught her the opposite. At a longer range, an attacker wouldn't require as much movement to adjust their sights on you and aim more quickly. Close-up, hitting a moving target would be much more difficult. Especially one as fast as Daring, who he'd trained to be faster than the pull of a trigger. But first she'd need to get close, and before that, she'd need to locate the sniper.

She started to lean her head out from behind the tree, but another arrow practically grazed her nose, forcing her to rear her head back. Even though it was dark out, the sniper could see her from far away. It didn't matter anyway. Daring knew where the arrows were coming from. Knowing the sniper would have to reload another arrow before being ready to shoot, Daring dashed out of cover to where the sniper was firing from.

Just as she anticipated, she heard the flapping of wings as the sniper changed position. She was also able to distinguish the sound of the sniper cocking the arrow in a slide, signifying that the arrows weren't coming from a bow, but a small harpoon gun. The lack of fire from other directions also proved that their was only one sniper. Daring grinned as she she kept her eyes on the silhouetted pegasus as it flew from tree to tree, cleanly missing her with every shot. As she got closer, she could hear the pegasus mare cursing under her breath in irritation.

The pegasus flew frantically, trying to keep as much distance as she could, but Daring kept her on the move. The pegasus kept shooting frantically, her shots becoming less and less accurate as she panicked. Daring seemed to be everywhere now, appearing from behind trees in an unorthodox manner. She'd even managed to catch one of the arrows in her teeth at one point. With each passing second, it began to feel more and more like a game of whack-a-mole, only with a harpoon gun and with the settings turned up to impossible. On top of everything, she was running out of ammunition. But she didn't notice until it was too late.

When she reached behind her to grab another arrow, she felt nothing. She turned her head nervously, but managed to find one. Her last one. She turned back around and loaded her harpoon gun, but something was wrong. She could hear nothing. She flew higher into the air and did a full 360 as she looked around for Daring. There were just too many trees, and no way of telling which one she was behind.

Suddenly, something hit one of her wings hard.

The pegasus cried out in agony before failing to keep herself air-born with one wing. And so she went plummeting to the ground. She landed in a tree, bouncing off all of the branches before finally hitting the ground hard enough to have the wind knocked out of her. Out of fear, she recovered quickly, looking around her for Daring. She saw nothing, only trees. She looked at her wing, discovering what ha hit it. There was an arrow in it, close to the base of her left wing. She might never fly again.

Angry, she raised her harpoon gun in front of her, her teeth ready to bite down on the trigger. She scanned the area again, afraid to move, but too prideful to back down and surrender.

"Bring an actual rifle next time." said Daring from above her. The pegasus aimed up and let shot the arrow through the foliage of the tree, missing a grinning Daring. A hoof connected with the pegasus's snout, sending her careening backwards. She recovered quickly and extended the blade strapped to one of her hooves. Daring landed in front of her, her red eyes boring holes into her own.

"You're a pretty good shot, you know that?" quipped Daring. Even angrier, the pegasus lounged forward with the blade. It passed through air, leaving the mare confused. She then felt a powerful buck to her side, cracking a few of her ribs. The blow knocked her to the ground, making her hold her side in pain.

"You probably already know what I want to ask you." said Daring as she walked up to the pegasus and put a hoof on her cracked ribs. "Who are you and why are you here?"

The pegasus didn't respond, choosing to glare up at Daring spitefully. Daring pushed down, breaking a rib off and causing the pegasus to yelp in pain.

"A doctor once told me that ribs grow back." said Daring as she kept her gaze fixed on the bat-pony's face. "I found out that they DON'T. Either way, you can live without em. So I won't feel bad for breaking a few. I don't think you want that though, so answering my question would be the smart thing to do, yeah?."

The bat-pony slowly opened her pained eyes, hatred brimming forth along with tears. She opened her mouth.

"Ms. Do?"

Daring and the sniper turned their heads to the sound of the filly's voice. There, standing a few feet away, was Applebloom. The look on her face was one of utter disbelief.

"...W-What're you doin'?" asked the filly.

"Applebloom..." began Daring nervously. "T-This isn't-"

The side of Daring's head exploded with pain, and everything went black.

When she came to, her vision was hazy, and her right ear was ringing. She felt like a grenade had gone off right next to her head, leaving her with a headache she knew she'd never forget. Had Luna showed up again and tried to blast her with another personalized moon death-ray? Groggily, she tried her best to ignore the pain and the metallic taste of blood in her mouth as she rose to her hooves. As soon as she'd done so, she saw a large figure rushing towards her. Instinctively and half-awake, she dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding something that made her feel like her whole body was made of thin wood. She looked behind her and her vision began to clear up.

In front of her was a very muscular stallion that almost reminded her of backbone. He was twice her height and covered in black fur. He had cold blue eyes to match the stare he was giving her.

"Oh...h-hell." she croaked out before he charged again. She jumped and flew upwards. Her wing exploded with pain, but she managed to avoid his attack. Unfortunately, she fell to the ground like a sack of rocks, making her head-ache even worse. When she looked up, she saw the stallion charging at her again. Every synapse in her head was telling her she would die if she didn't move, but she just couldn't do it fast enough. The stallion raised his hoof as he charged, ready turn her head into tomato paste.

THOOM!

A shock-wave of air and raw force passed over her following the loud sound, causing her to instinctively shield her head. When she uncovered her face and looked up, she saw who appeared to be the kid, standing in front of her.

Confused, the stallion blinked at the kid, as if uncertain he was there. He then looked over to his hoof, which the kid had stopped with his hand. He then looked into the kid's face, who's eyes appeared to be over-shadowed in the moon-light. Irritated, the stallion raised his other hoof and swung at the kid. The kid's other hand shot up and blocked the blow, stopping it instantly.

The stallion grunted angrily as he tried to move his hooves forward, using every muscle in his body. But the kid didn't move an inch. It was like he was pushing up against an unmovable object. Suddenly, the stallion saw two, tiny, red, dots appear slowly in the kids over-shadowed eyes. They filled the stallion with terror, a feeling he hadn't felt for years. When he tried to pull back, the kid reached above his hooves and grabbed his forelimbs, squeezing them hard enough make crunching sounds.

Screaming in pain and fear, the stallion tried even harder to get away, but it was useless. The kid kept staring at him, squeezing his forelimbs harder and harder. Eventually, his fingers broke the stallion's skin and seeped into his meat, causing blood to spurt outwards and onto the kid's face. Then, just when it seemed like he was going to rip his forelimbs off, the kid shook his head and the red dots in his eyes faded away, along with the shadow that seemed to cover them. The kid looked up at the stallion, and then looked at what he was doing to him. He then looked behind him at an injured, but completely awe-struck Daring.

"DAAGH!" yelled the stallion as he struggled to get free."HELP! HEEEEELLP!"

The kid looked back at him with a blank expression, loosening his grip on his forelimbs.

Then he pulled him into a head-butt.

The blow sent the stallion flying backwards like an arrow, fragments of his bloodied teeth scattering everywhere. The stallion hit a tree hard, causing it to splinter and crack. By the way he landed on the ground, it was safe to say he was unconscious. Maybe for the next year even. He'd need some serious plastic surgery on his snout too.

Daring didn't know whether she should be shocked or not. To the average eye, he didn't look that strong. His arms seemed well-toned for a creature like himself, but definitely no where near buff enough to do that. It didn't make sense. Then again, he was found at the center of the Everfree, the power house of things not sensible, so it made sense that he didn't make sense.

Still in massive pain, Daring slowly stood up on her hooves. She spat out another glob of blood and put a hoof to the side of her head. When she brought it out in front of her, there was blood on it, just as she'd expected. It was hard to believe that the stallion wasn't armed with some kind of mace or hammer. The fact that he was using only his hooves scared her. The only other stallion she knew to be that strong was Backbone, but if he'd been the one that hit her, she'd have been taking a dirt nap.

She slowly trotted up to the kid. After head-butting the stallion, he didn't move. He just kept standing there, looking at the stallion's crumpled up form at the base of the tree. As she got closer, she could see his hands twitch every now and then, his fingers dripping with blood.

"Hey...kid." called Daring. Getting no answer, she trotted up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Still nothing. "Kid? You spacin' out on me again?"

Then she heard a click. A very familiar click. She looked to her right and barely had time to process what she saw. The downed bat-pony was lying on her side with her arrow-gun raised. The arrow in her wing was gone, leaving a bloody hole. She was aiming at her with a look that didn't care about anything else around her. Just the target.

No, she wasn't aiming at her.

Without barely any time to react, the bat-pony shot the arrow, straight at the kid's head. Daring raised her hooves as fast as she could, getting ready to push the kid out of the way. By the time her hooves touched his back, the arrow wasn't even three feet away. Daring pushed him forward as hard as she could, hoping the brute force she'd exerted would be enough to compensate for the arrows speed.

It missed, grazing the back of the kid's neck and cutting off one of Daring's bangs before hitting a tree somewhere in the distance. Daring fell forward and so did the kid, but Daring recovered quickly, and gave the bat-pony a glare she'd never forget.

Scared, the bat-pony turned and fumbled around trying to get back on her hooves. But her crushed ribs didn't agree with that, causing her to fall down again. As soon as she hit the ground, she felt something land on her back hard, shoving her face into the dirt.

"I'll never understand you assassins."

The bat-pony felt something grab her wing and yank it upwards, causing her to shriek out in pain.

"You get seriously injured on the job, and always decide to carry it out, as if you're fulfilling some ludicrous duty or something."

She feels her wing twist a full 180, causing her to wail desperately.

"You could be on your last leg, slowly dying, and all you can think about is killing your target and cashing it in? What's wrong with you? Do I have to completely cripple you so that you can understand how pointless this all is?"

Her wing is yanked sideways, causing her to turn onto her back. She see's Daring's red eyes staring down at her with a look she'd never expected from the adventurer. Her eye's almost seemed to glow with hatred in the night.

"If you can be that dedicated to something, why not consider a career change? Accounting, maybe? Or, based on your cutie mark, you could teach ponies to shoot arrows or something. How's that sound?"

The bat-pony chose to be silent once again, this time looking at her with a look of fear. She could tell just by looking into her eyes that Daring had seen things. Done things even worse than she'd done. Killed more ponies than her. It felt like she was staring into the eyes of a psychopath...or a monster.

"....No answer?" said Daring, giving the bat-pony a curious look. "Huh. I'll give you some time to dream on it."

With that, Daring gave her a swift blow to the temple. The bat-pony stopped shaking in fear and went limp, slumping into unconsciousness. Daring stepped off of her, shaking her head. She'd given that speech before to other assassins. Each gave her the same, stubborn reaction, as if killing ponies was their destiny or something.

Daring didn't believe in Destiny. The term itself was a curse word to her.

Listening out for any other try-hard, die-hard assassins, she walked back to where she'd pushed the kid. She found him sitting on the ground, still looking at the stallion he'd head-butted to a tree. She could see a cut bleeding ever so slightly on the back of his neck.

"You okay kid?" she asked, beginning to get annoyed by his catatonic state. Once again, he didn't answer. With her mind made up, she trotted over to him and bopped him lightly on the head.

"Hey!" she called, stepping around to face him. "I'm talking to you here!"

The kid brought a hand up to his head and rubbed the spot she'd hit before looking up at her.

"Do I have your attention?" said Daring, bringing a hoof to the side of her aching head. The kid nodded. "Good. Now...are you OKAY?"

The kid stared at her for a little, as if pondering the right answer. He looked back at the stallion. Then he slowly shook his head.

"....Wh-"

"WHAT IN TARNATION IS GOIN' ON OUT HERE!?"

"Ow!"

"Hold still now." said Granny Smith as she swabbed the wound on Daring's head with an alcohol soaked cloth. "The burnin' means its workin'."

"That fella sure got ya good." said Applejack as she watched with sympathetic pain.

"Did you tie them up with something?" asked Daring as she sat in front of Granny Smith calmly.

"Big Mac tied em up tight and threw em into the barn." replied Applejack as she looked out her living room window. She saw Big Mac's silhouette walking out of the barn looking tired. He shut the doors and locked them behind him. "Who were those two?"

"Beats me." said Daring as she looked at the kid on the couch. He was lying down on his side, turned away from them all. He'd expressed that he wasn't okay. She didn't know what that meant or how she felt about that. "I think they meant to kill us both though."

"...Anyone you might know with a grudge against ya?"

"Oh, tons of ponies." said Daring with a chuckle. "Too many to single one out. But, since they both appeared to be bat-ponies, I'm guessing...the Red Flares?"

"Who'er they?" asked Applejack as she trotted to the couch the kid was lying on and sat on it.

"Just another bunch of low-life assassins that pretend they're doing the world a favor by killing ponies. They're strictly just bat-ponies, and they...ow...they may be mad at me for intervening in an assassination attempt on a friend of mine."

"How many of them are there?" asked Applejack with a worried look.

"After I revealed them to Celestia a few years ago? You probably have a third of them in your barn right now. The rest of them are in jail. Or worse."

"Oh."

"...How's Applebloom doing?" asked Daring, noticing the look on Applejack's face.

"She's fine." said the farmer with a nod. "A little shaken up, but she ain't hurt or nuthin'."

"That's a relief." said Daring with sigh. "I saw her before I got hit."

"Yeah, she'd run back to get me as fast as she could, sayin' some monster was attackin' you. I told her to stay in the house while Big Mac and I went out see what was goin' on."

"Where is she now?"

"In her room. I went ta check on er' a few times." Applejack grimaced worriedly. "You think there's more of em...out there?"

Daring winced again as Granny Smith dabbed at her head. It was certainly possible that the duo could've been a trio or more, but at the moment, she wasn't being attacked. If there were more assassins on the orchard, they were waiting for the right chance to strike, or they were running away with their tails between their legs. After seeing what the kid had done, most likely the latter.

"I doubt it." shrugged Daring. "I get the feeling they've seen enough." she said, pointing to the kid.

"Yeah." said Applejack as she turned to look at the kid. Although he was lying down, his eyes were wide open. "Hard to believe that a little guy like him could do that to a stallion three times his size."

Granny smith finished cleaning the wound and placed a bandage on it along with some ointment to help it heal. Daring's head was still hurting like crazy, but the sharp pain coming from where the stallion had hit her dulled a little. She could imagine the pain the stallion would feel when he awoke. If he awoke. Maybe it'd be a mercy if he didn't.

"There ya go." said Granny Smith as she leaned back in her chair placed her medical supplies on a stand near her. "It's all cleaned up. I'm no doctor now, but I suggest you don't sleep for a few hours at least."

All Daring wanted to do was sleep, and that's an understatement. She was already tired from all the flying and fighting. That coupled with her head-ache made her feel like falling out on the spot. But she had something to do first.

"Yes." said Daring as she rose to her hooves, wobbling slightly. "Thank you Mrs. Smith. I should go find a guard. I think this fits into their job description."

"Ya'll gonna be okay?" asked Applejack, getting off the couch.

"Only time will tell." answered Daring, walking over to the kid. She tapped him on the shoulder. "You ready to go kid?"

The kid did nothing. He just continued to stare into the couch blankly, causing Daring to worry. She wanted to ask if he was alright, but she felt like repeating that would only make it an even stupider question. Daring sighed. She wasn't good with this kind of thing, and she hated saying sappy things. She didn't even know what was bothering the kid. Did he feel bad about beating down that stallion and saving her life? Was he some kind of pacifist? She hoped not, or their relationship was going to become very difficult as time went by.

Daring heard the creak of the rocking chair Granny Smith was seated in with her hoof-steps soon following it. Daring watched as she approached the kid and brought a hoof to his head, caressing it as she would a child. The kid visibly shuddered.

"C'mon now," said Granny. "I'd feel much better knowin' you were there to protect Ms. Do on her way inta' town."

The kid didn't move, allowing the old, motherly mare to stroke his head for a while. Daring watched the scene, confused about what rubbing his head was supposed to do. She didn't seem at all afraid of the kid, her eyes reflecting the same look of motherly affection Daring recognized from her mother. Was she really this excepting, or was she just a crazy old mare?

The kid sighed, got up, and stepped off the couch.

"Good boy." said Granny with a smile. "Now, before ya'll leave, come on into the kitchen and get yer' self some food. All ya can eat. I'd say ya earned it for the day."

Author's Note

Whew! Is this my longest one? Anyway, sorry about the wait. I get writers block and get scared of writing sometimes. And by sometimes, I mean every other day. If I'm not having fun while doing it, I don't write. Also, I've been busy with stuff. Bills don't pay themselves, and I don't sleep at night. Seriously. It's 4:37 AM right now and I'm barely sleepy. Might not go to bed till six. Then I have to be up before twelve to start my workday, which ends at one in the morning. So yeah, been busy. But it's mainly just writers block. Especially when I read what I've written. It makes me too anxious to carry on. But fear not! I shall continue! I have very little to do with my life at the moment anyway! Sorry about the wait, and i hope you like the new chapter. :pinkiehappy: