Chapter 6

---Invasion---

BOOM!!!

I was wide awake after that explosion, and I raced to my hooves to try and find out what it could have been.

“Maybe an accident happened in research and development, but that explosion seemed too big for a research experiment,” I said as I moved to the living room, only to barely dodge a machete from a pony I did not recognize.

An earth pony with spiked leather barding moved to try and cut me with his machete again, but I quickly kicked it out of his mouth and grabbed him around the neck. I threw him to the ground and wrapped my hooves around his neck. He struggled in my grip and managed to hit me in the side of my head, but I didn’t let go. After some struggling, I pulled with all my strength and twisted his head, breaking his neck immediately.

I turned to see Mom fighting against two more earth ponies, one armed with a machete, while the other had a miniature chainsaw in his mouth. Both charged at mother like blind fools, I almost felt sorry for what was about to happen. Mom moved to the right of the chainsaw pony and kicked the side of his head to force his weapon into the neck of his companion. The machete pony fell to the ground drowning in his own blood.

The chainsaw pony turned back to Mom with hatred in his eyes, swinging his head to cut her. But Mom quickly moved again, and struck him in the jaw under his weapon, knocking it out of his mouth. She then moved to grab his head and slam him hard against the wall, a loud crack told me his skull had caved, and he hit the ground dead.

I moved over to Mom, and looked at the ponies, “Mom, how did these ponies get in here and why did they attack us?” I said with confusion in my voice.

“I am not sure sweetheart, but I feel like this is far from over. There are surely more of these invaders, keep on your guard.” Mom said as she looked around cautiously.

Suddenly, the intercom system came online.

“Emergency, Emergency, This is Overmare Cherry Cobbler, The Stable door has been breached. All citizens are to report to Level 10 for their own safety. Security team split to help civilians and repel the invaders. All Guardians are to collect their weapons from the Melee Training hall on Level 6 and prepare for combat. Lethal force is authorized. All Master Level Guardians have been briefed with instructions to be given out in the Melee Hall. This is not a drill!”

I could not believe what I was hearing, the Stable had been breached. I did not think it was possible, but it was happening right at this moment. I knew now that this was serious and I needed to take action, to protect my home.

I turned to Mom and looked at her with determination. “Mom, head out and help the citizens get to Level 10. I need to get my weapons, and join the fight.”

Mom looked at me and put a hoof on my shoulder, “Be careful my son, I have an uneasy feeling about this invasion,” Mom said before removing her hoof and making her way into the hall.

I moved outside our room, and went to Keira’s so we could leave to get our weapons. I found three dead ponies outside her home, and Keira walked out a moment later. Her parents came out after her, and started moving towards the hall that led to the elevator.

After making sure her parents got away safely, Keira looked over to me, “Shadow, what the hell is going on? Where did all these ponies come from? And how did they open the stable door?” Keira asked me with a mix of worry and rage.

“I don’t know Keira, I’ve got a bad feeling about this. For now, we need to get our weapons, then we can figure out what these ponies want,” I said to Keira as I started to head down the corridor towards the melee hall. Keira followed after me, and we met several other guardians along the way.

As we passed the next turn in the hallway, I heard a single gunshot and started running. We found a few more Guardians along the way, but we did not slow down. Finally, we made it to the last turn that led to the entrance to the melee training hall.

A huge crowd of guardians were standing around the door, but nobody moved as they seemed to be staring at something in horror. I moved through the crowd to see what was going on and when I got to the front, I froze.

There, lying in a pool of his own blood, was Master Broadsword, a single bullet wound right between his eyes. I could not believe my eyes, but the surprises were not over as I looked to see who was holding the gun that caused this tragedy. What I saw made my blood boil in my veins with hatred stronger than I had ever felt in my life.

“SABER!” I roared in fury as I saw the red-coated guardian unicorn holding a 10mm pistol in his magic. He wore his usual sadistic smirk as he looked at me, and the crowd that was gathered behind me. Keira finally made it through the crowd, and proceeded to stand at my side most likely glaring at Saber too.

“Shadow, Keira, nice of you to join us. I was just about to start my proposal when you arrived,” Saber said as he holstered the pistol and moved to address us with whatever he had to say.

“Guardians of Stable 100, the time has come that we take our rightful place among the ponies of the world. I have been in contact with a group of ponies from the surface for months now, feeding them Intel about the stable. Their leader has shown a great interest in our abilities. He wishes to have us as his personal army, who will resettle the surface, and bring law and order back to the savage world above. He promises all of us riches, power, and anything our hearts desire in exchange for our loyalty and obedience. He has already named me his commander, and put me in charge of the troops here in Stable 100,” Saber said with a voice that made me want to punch his teeth in.

He led these invaders into our home, murdered innocent ponies and zebras that had called this place home alongside him. He killed Master Broadsword in cold blood, and he expects us to join under his command for an enemy that we know nothing about.

“Now my fellow guardians, who will join me as we take our rightful place on the surface?” Saber said as he finished his little speech.

I moved forward and looked him dead in the eye, “Saber, you betrayed your stable, killed Master Broadsword and innocent civilians, and you expect us to follow you to someone responsible for killing our people. You are even more foolish than I thought,” I said before turning to the crowd around me.

“Well, my fellow guardians, who here wishes to join this traitor in his delusions?” I asked loudly over the crowd.

My answer was clear as all of them glared over at Saber with hatred in their eyes. Looking back at Saber, he strangely did not look worried by the fact that he had well over one hundred ponies and zebras glaring at him with the urge to kill.

Saber then looked at me for a second and faced the crowd, “I guess I forgot to mention that you do not have a choice in the matter, none of you have your weapons and I have a squad of ponies armed to the teeth only a few minutes away. If you decide to refuse, all of you will be executed for treason.”

I could not believe how arrogant he was, and it was at that moment that I had enough of his bullshit. I turned to him and charged, he tried to pull out his pistol again, but I had closed the distance and knocked it away. I tackled Saber to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the face. But he teleported out from under me and disappeared as my hoof hit the hard floor.

I looked around for him and saw that the crowd had turned towards the corner that led to the atrium. The crowd moved aside so I could see, and I saw him standing there downing a healing potion. He then glared at me, and motioned behind him with his hoof before vanishing around the corner; the coward.

Soon after he left, ponies with guns and machetes moved around every exit, as they tried to trap us, but what they did not expect was a zebra stallion come from behind them and snap the neck of one pony who had an assault rifle. Master Cross moved like lightning as he bucked the next pony so hard he made a dent in the wall. I quickly moved past the crowd, Keira right behind me, as we made it to the ponies, and started giving them hell. Between the three of us, it wasn’t much of a challenge, they most likely thought that we would not risk fighting back unarmed. Boy were they wrong.

As the last one fell, we looked to each other, and despite a few scratched and grazed bullets, no one got hurt. Master Cross moved to the front of the crowd and addressed us with a serious look, one you did not see on his face often.

“Alright kids, we’ve got to arm ourselves and move to clean up the rest of these ponies. After gathering your weapons, we shall split into four strike teams. One team will head to Level 10 and secure the civilians, on the way, escort any injured or trapped civilian to Level 10. The next team will make their way to the Overmare’s office, we need to make sure Cherry and Zira are secured. Next team will make their way to research and development, supposedly the ponies are after something here, and we need to stop them at all cost. The last team will make their way to the atrium and give these bastards hell,” Master Cross finished giving us our orders.

As he finished, we all turned to see that the other Master level guardians had arrived. Master Gutshot, a green earth pony stallion, who was a firearms specialist and instructor. Master Ivy, a zebra mare who was the Guardian’s alchemy teacher, where Mom taught anyone willing to learn. Master Rune, a blue unicorn mare who was our magic instructor. And finally Master Zala, a zebra mare who specialized in stealth and espionage.

They all joined Master Cross up front and saw the body of Master Broadsword on the ground. Master Gutshot spoke up first, “Who did this?”

I moved to the front and spoke, “It was Saber, he was the one who opened the stable door and let these ponies in. He had been in contact with someone from the outside, and he was promised power in exchange for information about the stable. He tried to force us to work under him, but we refused. He disappeared a while ago heading towards the atrium.”

All the masters looked at me with mixed expressions of shock and rage. It was Master Zala that spoke to me first, “Shadow, did he say who he was working for, or what they wanted?”

I looked to her, “He said they wanted us as a personal army, then he was spouting off about resettling the surface. But I have a feeling the ponies here are after something else if they are moving towards R&D.”

She nodded and looked to the other masters, “We must move quickly, if they are moving towards R&D, there is no telling what secrets they could be after.”

Master Rune spoke next, “Alright all of you, arm yourselves and split off into teams. I want the majority of the team heading to Level 10 to be unicorns who specialize in shields, we need to protect our civilians at all cost. The other teams try to be diverse and balanced. Use what we have taught you.”

Master Ivy moved up to address us next, “Each of us will be leading a team to guide you through this crisis. I shall accompany the team that will be heading to Level 10, any injured should be treated there. Master Gutshot will lead the attack on the atrium, Master Zala, and Master Rune will lead their team to secure the Overmares, and Master Cross will lead his team to secure research and development on Level 8.”

“Alright kiddos, you have your orders, let’s get moving and kick these bastards out of our stable,” Master Cross said as he opened the door to the melee training hall.

I quickly moved along with Keira inside towards the locker room, but as we got close, I noticed something on the floor.

“Everyone stop! We got mines in the doorway!” I shouted after seeing about ten frag mines on the floor inside the doorway leading to the weapons lockers. A few unicorns came to the front of the crowd and used their magic to disarm the mines and move them out of the way.

Keira came up beside me, “Saber probably set them up in case we got passed him. I am going to kill him in the most painful way possible when we catch up to him.”

“Don’t worry Keira, we will deal with that traitor when the time comes. For now, we need to focus on protecting our home, and killing those that threaten it,” I said moving into the doorway and turning towards the stallion’s locker room.

I walked towards my locker and opened it with my pipbuck. I quickly grabbed Venta and Umbra, and secured them to my back. I was now ready to take on this invasion force and may the goddesses have mercy on any who oppose us. I was pissed, and I was going to kill any outsider, and then find Saber so he could stand trial for what he has done. I moved outside finding Keira who had gathered her whip and was waiting for me.

After we made our way back to the entrance, it was time to pick a group to join. It was a no-brainer for us. Keira and I walked over to join Master Cross’ group, the old zebra saw us approach and smiled. He wore his special made retractable hoof claws which were perfect for unarmed combat. He could slice through body armor like it was tissue paper.

“I couldn’t ask for better recruits on my team. So my prized pupils, are you ready to send these scumbags back to Tartarus?” Master Cross said with a smirk towards us as the other volunteers for the R&D team gathered around us.

“Let’s go kick some ass Master Cross, and show these ponies that they made the biggest mistakes of their lives coming here,” Keira said with a grin that would scare any invader into pissing themselves.

After some final preparations, all Guardians left the training hall and marched in different directions to complete their tasks. Our group was around twenty guardians including myself, Keira and Master Cross. The majority of the guardians went to the atrium to fight off the main force of enemies. We had our mission, reach the research and development level of the stable, and eliminate all forces there, preventing them from stealing any valuable information.

As we moved through the stable hallways, not many ponies had attacked us, other than the occasional idiot that tried to hide around a corner with a machete. It was strange, if the one in charge knew so much about us, why were his forces so ill-equipped? If he knew our fighting styles, he would know that more firearms and explosives would work better than machetes and melee combat weapons. I walked alongside Keira pondering this as we made our way through the dull gray hallways towards the stairs that would take us to R&D.

A high pitch scream pierced the air, and all of us were immediately on alert. But as I listened to the screaming, I soon gained a look of horror on my face as the voice that was screaming sounded so familiar.

“Silver!” I yelled as I bolted past everyone towards the direction of the scream, worry filled my being as I thought of what could be happening to her. I prayed to the Goddess Luna that I wasn’t too late. Coming up to a room off the path to R&D, I drew Venta ready to face what was threatening Silver. When I opened the door, I saw something that killed what little restraint and mercy I had for these invaders.

Silver and Auntie Text were both tied up with ropes and were sprawled out on desks with four stallions around them. Two were right behind them, and I knew exactly what they were planning to do. They had no idea how bad they’d fucked up.

“Get away from them!” I said as I charged them full speed. All four stallions immediately turned, their faces got a look of fear as I closed the distance. I swung Venta with blinding speed at the closest stallion, cleaving his head clean from his shoulders. Another stallion tried to tackle me from behind, but I quickly drew Umbra and stabbed him through the neck.

The third stallion tried to throw a chair at me, which I simply knocked away with Venta. I moved over to him and thrust my sword straight into his heart. As I pulled my blade out, the last stallion, a unicorn, had made it to the weapons that he and his friends had left on a desk. He pulled out a shotgun with his magic, turning to point it directly at me. I swiftly moved around the room, and the stallion took three shots, with only the last one grazing my hind leg. I quickly jumped and threw Umbra at him. My aim was true, and my dagger pierced right into his left eye. The shotgun dropped from his magical grip, and he fell in a pool of his own blood. I used my magic to retrieve my dagger and quickly moved over to Silver and Auntie.

As soon as I undid their bonds, Silver latched onto me in a tight hug, choked sobs coming from her exhausted throat. I held her tightly as Keira, and Master Cross caught up with me and saw Silver sobbing into my chest. Auntie Text was shaken as well and as soon as Master Cross was in range, she quickly hugged him, which he returned.

“Text, what the hell happened in here? Why aren’t you two at Level 10 with the other civilians?” Master Cross asked as he stroked Auntie’s mane to try and calm her down.

Auntie pulled away from Cross so she could speak, her voice was shaky, “We heard... the Overmare’s message, a..and rushed out of our quarters to head to the elevators. But they had disabled the elevator. ...So we tried to go for the stairs. But... those four stallions found us on our way to the stairwell, and they dragged us in here. They tied us up, and they… they...”

Silver cried even louder, and I held her as tightly and comfortingly as I could. Auntie didn’t need to finish her sentence, we all got the idea. Auntie broke up into tears, burying her face in Cross’ shoulder. It was then that Keira came up, and joined in my embrace with Silver, stroking her mane.

“Shhh, its ok Silver. We won’t let them touch you again. I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Keira said as she continued to help me comfort Silver.

Master Cross gave Auntie Text one last embrace before he pulled away and spoke, “Ok, I need someone to take these two to Level 10 with the other civilians. After they are safe, you can stay and help defend the civilians, or meet up with us at R&D.”

“I’ll take them Master,” Keira said almost immediately after Cross had finished talking. “I can take multiple opponents out quickly, and I know my way around Level 10. I’ll meet up with you all at R&D.”

Auntie turned to Keira and smiled, “Thank you Keira, you are a blessing from the Goddess herself,” Auntie then turned to me and spoke, “Shadow, watch your back and be careful.”

I smiled and gave her one last embrace, “Don’t worry Auntie, I’ll be fine.”

Auntie smiled, and she departed with Keira and Silver as they made their way to a nearby stairwell that would take them to Level 10. I know Keira will keep them safe, and I know that after this ordeal, Silver will need all the comfort I can give her. I then turned to see that everyone was moving towards another stairwell that would take us to Level 8 where R&D was located. Time for some payback.

We all moved through the stairwell, and began our descent to Level 8. We needed to go down two levels in the stairwell, and had no idea when the enemy would try an ambush, or setup a trap. Our senses were on high alert, and as level 7 came into a view, a unicorn in the front disarmed a grenade bouquet that the enemy had set up. I’ll give these guys credit, they knew how to set up traps.

As we moved past Level 7, something caught my eye. A shimmer in the air like light reflecting off of water. I immediately thrust my hoof in the direction of the shimmer and felt something. I grabbed at whatever I could and threw it over my shoulder to land it on the floor as I put my hoof where I guessed its neck was.

The shimmer was gone and replacing it was an earth pony mare with a sickly green coat and mane. She seemed dazed from my throw, and wasn’t struggling at first, but once she saw me and some others staring down at her, she started to panic. I saw a pistol at her side and quickly removed it with magic, holding it over her head in my white magical glow.

“Now, hold on there freaks, let’s just talk about this for a second ok, no need to do something drastic,” She said with a nervous chuckle.

“That depends entirely on you, and if you give us the answers we want. Also calling us freaks is a bit counterproductive in your situation, don’t you think?” Master Cross said as he came up to my right looking down at the mare.

“Look, I’m just doing what they pay me to do, so maybe we can work out a deal?” The mare said with a smile that screamed dishonesty. So I hit her in the head with her own gun, causing her to yelp as blood started pouring from her forehead.

“We don’t deal with scum like you, now tell us why you are here, and what you are after.” Master Cross said in a calm but firm voice that meant that he was serious.

“Fuck you, if I tell you anything, the boss will fucking kill me,” The mare said in a defiant tone.

Master Cross looked unamused and looked at me with a stern expression. I understood the silent message and dragged the mare over to the railing of the stairwell that had an opening in the middle of it that led to the bottom level of the Stable. No way to survive if you accidentally fell over.

The mare figured out what I was doing when I hoisted her up and held her in my magic grip over the railing. She started squirming with a look of pure terror.

Master Cross walked over to stand right beside me and addressed the mare again, “Trust me, Miss, we can do far worse than this boss of yours. Now tell us what we want to know, and I suggest you do it quickly, my pupil’s magic can be unstable at times, and he might lose his grip on you any second.”

The mare was now in tears, and started begging, “Ok, ok I’ll talk, please just put me down!” I simply held my focus and looked at her with a hard expression.

“Talk first, then we decide whether or not to let you go,” Master Cross replied to her with a tone that did not warrant an argument.

“Ok, ok, some guy came into our base with a bunch of heavily armored ponies and wanted to hire us for a job. He offered more caps than we had ever seen in our lives, so our leader took the job without question. We were told to infiltrate this stable and help the inside agent. They didn’t tell us what they wanted from this stable, only that we needed to kill any who stood in the way of the inside agent they had here, and the cloaked mare that led us here.” The mare spilled the beans finally and kept going as I just held her in midair.

I asked the next question, “Where is your leader, and this cloaked mare that led you here?”

She hesitated for a second, so I shook her in my magic until she spoke again, “Ok, ok stop, our leader is in the atrium, fighting. He wanted to go for the Overmares, probably to make them his bitches. And the last time I saw the cloaked mare was when she stationed me in this stairwell to warn her of any incoming security, or you freaks. She kept talking about going to the research and development area or something like that. That’s all I know I promise!” She didn’t seem like she was lying, and that was all the information we needed. I brought her over the railing again and dropped her in front of us.

Master Cross looked at her and said, “Normally I’d let you go now for all the information that you have given us, but you invaded our home, and even if we let you go, you could tell others of our stable.”

The mare’s face grew pale as she started to sob, Master Cross simply lifted his specially made hoof claws and pierced her neck. She screamed and then drowned in her own blood. A cruel act, but one that was necessary. She would have gotten reinforcements, or spread the word outside the stable, and who knows what else would come here.

Master Cross then turned to us and spoke, “Alright kiddos, here’s the plan, we need to get to R&D as fast as possible. If this cloaked mare came here and went straight for R&D, then there is no telling what secrets she could be after. Once we arrive, spread out and kill any invaders, secure the scientist, and find this cloaked mare, but keep her alive if at all possible. She could have more information for us.”

All of us replied to our new orders, “Yes Sir!”

After that, we all moved out at a greater pace towards R&D. We knew more of the enemies plan, and who we were after. This cloaked mare was in for a bad time with us coming for her. As we finally made it to Level 8, we all moved towards the door that led into the hallway. I opened the door with my magic when everyone was clear of the doorway, just in case of an ambush. No shots were fired, and the coast seemed clear. Master Cross peaked out into the hallway, and gestured us to move out.

We all knew our mission, so we split off in different directions. Master Cross, myself and five others took the main corridor leading to the science lab. I unsheathed Venta, and had it at the ready. Just as we made it to the hallway that ended with the door to the main lab, two large earth pony stallions saw us and opened-fire with their assault rifles. We all ducked behind the corner and avoided the bullets. One of the earth pony guardians that was with us had apparently gotten a frag grenade from one of the invaders that he slew, so he pulled the pin and tossed it at the two stallions. The grenade exploded and we heard the screams of pain from one of the stallions.

Master Cross leaped into action, and crossed the distance quickly. As he came up to the second stallion who had avoided most of the shrapnel of the grenade, he extended his hoof claws and tackled the stallion. As the stallion landed on his back, Master Cross took his claws and ripped his throat out with precision. The stallion’s head laid back as he died quickly.

We all moved up to join Cross as he got off the stallion. I took the lead in front of Master Cross and took a look inside the lab. The lab was split into two separate rooms, the first one was for discussion and planning, tables and chairs all around with papers everywhere. Someone had been looking for a specific document judging by all the papers that were littering the floor, as well as the desks. The next room held all the experimental chambers and materials, protective glass shielding around each chamber to protect those who were outside the room. It also housed the Stable-Tec mainframe.

Looking around the first room, I saw several doctors and scientists who were laying on their bellies with looks of fear and distress. Strangely there was only one guard watching all of them, I guess that the ones outside were his backup. I gestured with my hoof for everyone behind me to stay put and keep quiet. I drew my dagger Umbra silently, and moved towards the stallion as quietly as possible, which was not easy thanks to everything on the floor.

As I crept closer, one of the scientists, a unicorn mare, started to cry and try and talk to their captor, “Please, just let us go, we already told your boss where the information she wanted is, why are you doing this?”

The guard, an earth pony in metal armor, looked to her and hit her in the face with a security baton, no doubt taken from one of our security team. He then spoke, “Shut your mouth and keep still like a good little bitch. You go when the boss says you can go.”

I picked up my pace as my anger grew from that action. I soon found myself right behind the scumbag, and before he could blink, Umbra was stabbed to the hilt in his neck. He didn’t have time to respond, and I held my hoof against his mouth so as not to alert any others that might be close. He soon went limp, and I pulled my dagger out of his neck. The scientist had all seen me by this point, and they all looked relieved to see a Guardian.

Master Cross soon came in with the others and helped the scientists back to their hooves. One unicorn stallion came up to Master Cross and spoke, “Master Cross, we thank you for coming to our rescue.”

Master Cross replied, “I only wish we could have gotten here sooner, is everyone alright?”

The stallion nodded, “A few bruises, but nothing serious, but your work is not done. The mare who led these ruffians is in the next room, and she is trying to steal important information from the database,” He pointed to the door to the next room, and his tone held a sense of urgency.

I walked up and addressed the scientist, “Does she have anyone else with her?”

The scientist looked at me with a hint of fear, “No she doesn’t, but I would proceed with caution, there was something about her that scared me to my core. She wore a cloak, so, I don’t know if she is armed.”

I nodded and looked to Master Cross, “Master, you watch this room in case reinforcements come in, I’ll sneak up on this mare and try to take her alive,” He nodded to me, and I made my way to the door.

Opening the door, I peeked inside and saw that no one was around, so I made my way inside the hallway. I listened for any sign of movement but none came, whoever this mare was, she was masking her presence well. I had an idea where the mainframe was kept so I made my way to the end of the hallway, the closed door, of course. But when I got up to the door, it opened without my touching anything, and on the other side, I saw the cloaked mare, standing in front of the mainframe with her back to me.

I walked in, and she immediately addressed me without turning, “I was hoping I would run into you in this place, fate seems to have brought us together at last.”

I stopped around twenty feet away from her with my sword drawn. What she said made no sense, she couldn’t have known me, and she hadn’t even turned around.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I asked, “Who are you? And why do you sound like you know me?”

What happened next made my skin crawl, she laughed. Her laugh made shivers go down my spine, and the air in the room seemed to get colder. She then turned, and all I could see of her face were two burning red eyes. I immediately tensed up and readied myself for a fight, yet, she only looked at me with curiosity.

“Hmm, you truly are him, I have wanted to meet you for so long. It’s why I volunteered for this mission. I’m rather bored waiting for this download to finish, why don’t we have a bit of fun?” She then lunged at me with incredible speed.

I dodged her assault and brought my sword to bear, attempting to slice at her side as she turned to face me. What was odd was she didn’t even try to dodge, simply taking the cut that tore at her cloak, revealing a black coat underneath.

“Oooooh yes! That’s what I’m talking about,” She said as if she enjoyed the pain, her blood was soaking the cloak, and then miraculously the bleeding stopped as if her wound had healed already. But, that was impossible.

“You sure know how to have some fun, but I think you need to step up your game. Come at me with the intent to kill, let us have some real fun,” She said with a crazed sounding voice that made me nervous. What was this mare’s deal?

I drew Umbra from my back and took a stance with both blades, my sword pointing at the mare and my dagger crossed over sideways just above the guard of my sword. With this stance, I could be ready for any tricks that this mare could be hiding.

She actually giggled at my stance, “Well, this is going to get interesting, come on then. Show me your strength.”

I charged full speed and swung my blade to slash across her chest, and this time she did dodge, moving around me with a graceful step and simply stood behind me. I quickly moved to stab at her with my dagger, and she took the hit this time as I dug it into her shoulder. Holding it there with my magic, she seemed like she was in bliss from the pain. I had never faced an opponent like this.

She then looked at me, and punched me right in the face, her strength was on par with Master Cross, and it hurt like a bitch. Rolling to land on my hooves, I held my nose as blood poured out of it. But I had a feeling that she wasn’t even trying, like she was playing with me.

Standing up straight, I faced her as she had her back to the door of the chamber. “I’ll admit, that was a good hit, I don’t know who you are, but you are strong. I have been holding back in hope to take you alive for questioning.”

I pointed Venta straight at her and spoke in a clear calm voice, “But now I see that if I am to capture you, I will have to come at you with the intent to kill.”

She just smirked and giggled again, “About time you figured that out, well then come on, show me your full strength.”

I lunged at her at full speed, my blade poised to stab her in the heart. And yet again she did not dodge as my blade dug into her chest and pierced her heart. I cursed inwardly and regretted taking things too far. But I felt my blade move, and a hoof was placed on the guard. I looked up in horror as the mare had blood coming from her mouth, still wearing that expression of bliss.

“Oh yes that is incredible, no one has ever had the guts to stab me like this. I feel the pain flowing through me, and it’s delicious,” The mare said as she drew my blade further into her chest. I tried to pull it out, but her strength held it in place.

Ding! A sound came from behind me. I saw that her download had been completed. She looked at me with disappointment in her eyes now.

“Oh darn, I wanted to play some more, but duty calls, and I cannot be late for the meeting. Sorry Shadow, but we must part for now. Hopefully, we can meet again, and have some more fun,” The mare said as she walked forward, stabbing my blade further into her body and drew her hoof back to strike at me. There was no time to dodge or pull my sword out. I didn’t know what to do.

Then out of nowhere, a whip wrapped around her neck and she paused in her attack. I looked over her shoulder to see Keira in the doorway. She had her whip in her hoof and a look that would make any other pony piss themselves.

The mare looked over her shoulder like the whip didn’t even bother her and spoke to Keira, “It isn’t polite to interrupt somepony when they are trying to have some fun, zebra.”

Keira simply shrugged and spoke, “Sorry to spoil your fun, but you were about to hit my best friend, now you have two choices. You can surrender, and come with us, or I cut off your head. Which will it be?”

The mare simply looked at Keira and said, “You aren’t worth my time, go away and let me finish my fun, before I hang you by this precious whip of yours.”

It happened in an instant, the spikes on Keira’s whip came out, and she pulled at her whip. The mare’s head came off, and rolled on the ground, the rest of her body slumped forward. I pulled my blade out and walked to Keira.

“Thanks, Keira, she was starting to creep me out. It was like she enjoyed the pain,” I said giving Keira a quick hug.

She smiled at me and said, “I leave you for an hour, and you get some crazy mare with a pain fetish trying to kill you. You are so lost without me.”

“Now why would I ever want to kill him, we have so much more to do before we get to that,” A familiar voice behind us said, and we both froze. I turned around, and saw that the body of the mare was back on her hooves with her head back in place. Looking over I saw that the head that Keira had cut off was now a pool of blood. The mare looked at us with a bored expression.

“You are such a killjoy, zebra, but I suppose I need to go anyway,” The mare turned and pulled out a holodisk from the mainframe.

I quickly got back to an aggressive stance, and Keira followed my actions. “If you think we’re just gonna let you walk out of here with that, you are mistaken,” I drew my blade and pointed it right at her.

“Oh don’t worry Shadow, we shall meet again, soon I hope,” The mare said as she reached into her cloak.

“How do you know my name?” I asked the question that had been plaguing my mind since she called me by name earlier. I had never told her, and no pony would have told her on her way here. And she said it like she was familiar with me.

“Oh I know a lot about you Shadow Strike, but unfortunately we are out of time. Until we meet again,” The mare said as she threw something at both mine and Keira’s hooves. It looked like a potion vial, and as soon as it shattered on the floor, black smoke came out of it. Keira and I started to cough, and I soon felt sleepy. I felt so tired that I couldn’t stand anymore. I fell over on my side, and heard Keira do the same. The last thing I remember was a hoof brushing across my mane, and then everything went black.

Footnote:

No Status Change

Author's Note

Hey guys, Hades here. First off I want to apologize for long wait for this chapter.

I had some rough times with college and not a lot of time to write. Plus a bit of writers block.

This is the longest chapter yet and man what a dose.

Who is the cloaked mare and how does she know Shadow?

What happened to Saber?

And what will come next.

Until next time, thank you for reading. Feel free to leave a comment.

Edit: Made a little mistake with Zephira (Shadow's Mother) and Master Ivy. Master Ivy teaches only Guardians in Alchemy while Zephira teaches both Guardians and Civilians.