Chapter 3

About Time

(Minor Dark)

The sky was turning orange, that is what Hash noticed and when the sky turned orange then night would descend unleashing whatever terrors that lurked inside. Time was running out, they had left the outpost two hours ago and they only recently found one of the ponies that they came to rescue. If they couldn't find the other then they were more than likely going to be left for dead.

"We'll keep looking for another thirty minuets. If we can't find them then.... I won't put your lives in danger." Dark stated.

Doc looked at him curiously.

"Isn't putting your life on the part of what being a guard is about?"

"If we were anywhere else yes, but, at night this place is on par with the Everfree forest. And I will not ask for you to basically commit suicide for somepony that may already be dead."

Hash continued to look around while Doc and Dark debated what would be best to do. She then noticed slight movement in a nearby bush which she proceeded to look behind hoping it was the pony they were looking for. What she found behind the bush was not a pony but a strange looking lizard creature. The creature had a green shell like carapace, the body stance like a rat but its neck curved like a snake, Its tale was about six inches long with a scythe like blade on its end. The creature had small curved red spikes protruding out staring from the top of its head, down its back and ending at the tail. The creature had triangular eyes which seemed to glow a deep shade of red, two large fangs could be seen sticking out its lips on either side of its mouth. Its fangs, claws, and tail spike were as black as night But none of this mattered to what laid underneath its black claws. A rabbit or what used to be called a rabbit, one of its legs was hanging out of the creatures mouth, its chest and torso were pried open, and some of its innards could be found in random areas as if they were tossed around. The creature just stared at Hash as she looked back pale faced at the horror she had found.

"Hash get away from that thing!" Doc yells, tossing a stone at the creature. The stone misses but with a frightened hiss the creature turns and runs into a small hole in the ground.

"W-what was t-that?" Hash stammers still shocked at what she had discovered.

"That was one of the few creatures that live outside of Equestria." Dark said walking up to the hole. "I heard stories about them from travelers, I think they call them Dracken."

"I think we should keep moving" Doc said while nudging Hash to start walking away from the rabbit remains.

Twenty minutes later

"You ok Hash?" Doc asked concerned for his friend who had said nothing since their.... discovery.

"Ye-Yeah, I just never seen something that..." Hash slowly goes quite the memory of the gruesome image of the Dracken and the ripped open rabbit comes back into her mind.

Dark was a little further ahead of Doc and Hash. As much as he hated seeing one of his subordinates distressed they had a job to do and time was running out. Up ahead Dark can see the outlines of what looked liked a destroyed cart.

"Looks like we found what we are looking for" Dark said to his companions, both of whom looked at the wreckage ahead of them.

"I hope were not to late" Hash whispered finally breaking the silence she had held for twenty minutes. The closer they approached the cart they couldn't see any signs of anypony that would be nearby. When they walked around the wrecked cart they found two things:

1.) There was a dead manticore amongst the cart debris,

2.) There was a dark gray Earth pony stallion laying on his back next to a tree a yard away from said manticore corpse.

"What in the buck" Doc whispered to himself. After a moment Dark nudges him with a hoof.

"You should probably go and see if that pony is alive" Dark says reminding Doc of the reason why they were there. The three ponies walk past the manticore to the stallion next to the tree.

"This guy took a major beating from that manticore" Doc said with a whistle, as he examined the stallion.

"I-Is he d-dead?" Hash muttered. By the end of the day she'll probably have nightmares for months. Doc placed one of his ears over the stallions chest focusing on hearing for a sign of life.

"His heart is beating very slowly and his breathing even slower." Doc pulls his head up to further examine his patient. "Minor cuts to his muzzle a broken foreleg and.... Wait a minute." Doc takes a closer look at the stitching on the stallions chest. "It looks like he or somepony stitched up thins chest wound."

"Well that's good isn't it?" Hash asked

"Frankly that isn't really important, but is, is that this wound couldn't have been caused by that manticore the laceration doesn't match the animals teeth, claws, or tail size."

"So what caused it? Do you think that Drak-whatever did this?" Hash asked looking around for any signs of the creature they encountered earlier.

"No this did that" Dark says tossing a bloodied bone fragment on the ground. "There's a trail of blood from here to a cave nearby I think our friend here did this to himself."

"But why would he-" Doc stops his question and notices that there is some green mixed with the stallions blood on his coat. Getting his face closer to the anomaly he sniffs it just to reel his head back coughing.

"What? Are you alright Doc?" Hash asks her friend with concern.

"I'm fine" Doc clears his throat. "There's manticore poison mixed with his blood. My best bet is that he wounded himself so the poison wouldn't get to his heart."

"Clever crazy bastard" Dark says with what could have been suppressed smirk. "Didn't so good seeming how he probably lost a lot of blood to get the poison out."

"He probably still is since he cut open an artery that leads to his heart." Doc pulls out a small vile from his medical bag and pours the contents down the unconscious pony's throat. "This will heal his internal bleeding but wont do much for his leg. We need to get him back to the outpost if I'm to treat him properly"

"Then we better use a teleportation spell, private Hash if you will." Dark says as he nudges her.

"Uh- yes sir!" Hash says as she fires up her horn, she wasn't very good with advanced magic but teleportation came a little easier for her. Silver aura surrounds the four ponies and with a bright flash they were gone.

Author's Note

Well that took forever eh? I'm really relieved that I got this chapter done. Speaking of which next one will probably be longer now I am out of school and have a job so hope this chapter will be satisfying for you all. Also shocker the green wasn't Changeling blood OMG! yah thought I was going to pull something as cliché as that? All seriousness I will have a changeling in this story but not for a while so sorry for those who were excited for "The Stallion" being a changeling but he is in fact a Earth pony. Also he does have a name I'm not going to leave him with something that lame.