Harmony: Heroes of Gimlé - Arc I: Rainstorm

Chapters

Chapter 1: Attack on the Friendship Express
Chapter 2: Kill or be Killed
Chapter 3: Taskforce Sigma
Chapter 4: Those Who Watch From The Void
Chapter 5: The First Day
Chapter 6: Red Rat - Formula Eleven
Chapter 7: Twilight's Folly
Chapter 8: What We Believe Vs. The Truth
Chapter 9: Assault on Moss Mare Spire
Chapter 10: Rain Vs Rán
Chapter 0: The Falling Rain

Chapter 1: Attack on the Friendship Express

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Friendship Express (en route to Ponyville), April 15th, Year: 2, Reformation Era, 12:06 PM -

The train sped down the tracks as it headed toward its destination of Ponyville, the countryside whizzing on past the window. Onboard one of the centermost cars sat about a dozen or so ponies and toward the middle of the car, six mares sat together chatting about the day's events. These friends were in fact, the living embodiments of the elements of harmony and were responsible for defeating Nightmare Moon, returning her to her former self, Princess Luna Solstice and allowing her to once again rule side by side with her dear older sister, Princess Celestia. With this, the thousand-year "Solaris era" - which had seen Celestia as the sole leader of the royal parliament - had ended, and with the subsequent defeats and reformation of other former enemies of the nation, had prompted state chroniclers to name the new era in honor of these achievements and as a testament to the vast number of changes sweeping across both the government and the day-to-day lives of Equestria's citizens.

"I had such a lovely time at Manehattan Escapes, I hope we can go back sometime and try it again," said Fluttershy, a soft-spoken yellow pegasus with small feathered wings, deep aqua green eyes, and long flowing light-pink hair on both her head and tail. She wore a low cut sleeveless t-shirt, a green skirt and matching green boots with a white floral pattern etched into them, and visible on her chest, just below her neck, was a crest resembling three blue butterflies with pink wings.

"Oh you bet your plot will go back - and soon - cause there's nooo way in Hell I'm gonna stand for us losing at something friendship based, especially to a bunch of unfriendly griffons!" proclaimed another pegasus, her small wings spreading wide as she stood up. This one was blue with reddish-purple eyes and long rainbow-colored hair and wore a dark-pink mini-skirt with black shorts underneath, a pair of blue sneakers that had white toes and heels with matching shoelaces, and a plain white tank top shirt with a small short-sleeved denim jacket, and rainbow-colored wristbands on both her wrists. Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria, member of the elite pegasus special ops squad and part-time aerial performers the Wonderbolts, and the element of loyalty, hardly seemed to take notice when a few of the other passengers on their car, got up and left for one of the other cars following her outburst.

"Now just you hold on a minute there sugar-cube. How’d y’all know those griffons were all that unfriendly? We ain't met none of em, so for all we know, they might a been the most neighborliest folks around!" said a light-orange earkin or "earth pony" with long straw-colored hair tied off at the end with a red hair-tie, vivid green eyes, and white freckled cheeks. She wore a red flannel shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a Stetson hat with her ears sticking out on either side and a pair of blue jeans and boots. Applejack sat there - eyebrow raised - slicing an apple with a large, ornate bowie knife she always carried with her, staring at Rainbow Dash and waiting for her response, and saw out of the corner of her eye, more passengers leaving.

"Why AJ's right darling." said a snow-white unicorn with a small horn at the top of her forehead, long purple hair, and icy-blue eyes. "We shouldn't make wild assumptions without any evidence to back them up, it just isn't fair now is it?" she asked. This mare was dressed in a frilly light-baby blue blouse with puffy short sleeves and a knee-length light-purple skirt, with a dainty deep-purple belt bearing a silver buckle. She also wore deep-purple knee-high boots with light-purple fringes at the top with real diamonds embedded there, and thin golden bracelets around her wrists. Rarity Adamant started to feel a slight tinge of guilt on behalf of her friend, as she saw more and more ponies leaving their car. "Now honestly Miss Dash, if you don't cool it down right now ponies are going to start to think you have some manner of prejudice against griffons! Is that really what you want?" she scolded.

"W-what!?" said Dash bewildered. "You know that's a load of crap! Besides, I love griffons and you know it!" she said in defense of herself.

"I'll have to remember to tell Gilda that next time we see her!" another earkin playfully chimed in. This one had light-pink skin, blue eyes and the hair on both her head and tail was a mass of long dark-pink curls. Pinkamena Diane Pie - or Pinkie Pie for short - had a pink bracelet on her right wrist and a blue one on the other, and wore a sleeveless white shirt with purple fringes which had a big pink heart emblazoned on the front. Over that, she wore a small simple light-blue short-sleeved jacket made of the softest cloth. She also had on light-blue boots laced up not with shoestrings, but white ribbons tied up in big bows at the top and a long pink skirt with a dark-purple sash around her waist tied in a large bow off to her right side.

Though Pinkie was trying to be her usual upbeat self, she couldn't help but frown as she shook from the feeling of another shiver running up her spine. As the element of laughter, one of the best bakers in Ponyville, and one of Equestria's premiere party planners, all she ever wanted was to see others smile, and the shivers she'd been having since boarding the train made focusing on making her friends laugh increasingly hard, especially since these chills didn't feel like normal ones caused by the cold, but something else, something vaguely familiar...

"H-hey! That's not what I meant, Pinkie!" Shouted Rainbow Dash. When Pinkie didn't respond, Dash opened her mouth to ask what was wrong but was cut off by a surprised yelp of pain.

"Sweet Celestia, those are spicy!" shouted a violet alicorn with bright purple eyes. She had long midnight-blue hair with purple and pink vertical stripes running down its length, a horn on top of her head and wings just slightly bigger than those of her two pegasi companions. She was wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt with a black tie, a dark-purple vest over it with a matching plaid skirt, and dark-purple socks with black dress shoes. Twilight Sparkle began frantically searching for something to drink to soothe the horrible pain in her mouth but to no avail. As the princess of friendship racked her brain to try to remember any spell which might be able to do the trick, one of her friends grabbed the culprit bag to examine the source of Twilight's distress.

"'Way-2-Hot brand spicy pretzels! Now with double the burn!'?" Rainbow Dash read the label off the front of the bag Trixie had made Starlight give Twilight before departing for Manehattan, as the alicorn stood there fanning her tongue. Twilight, having just remembered a spell for neutralizing capsaicin, lit up her horn to cast the spell, causing the pain to dissipate, and with that, let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't suppose Trixie got those just to mess with you, you think?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight.

"No, I'm sure she meant well," said Twilight. "It's my own fault for not reading the label on the bag," she finished.

"Plus I've seen her eatn' that brand before, they're her favorite and she wouldn't just share them with anypony. I think Trixie was actually tryin' to be nice...well, for Starlight's sake anyway's." Applejack reasoned.

"Tut, tut, tut, really Dashy? Again with the accusations? Why I'm starting to think you're becoming paranoid." Rarity said, a coy smile forming on her face.

"Oh, quit teasing me, will ya?" Dash asked as a smile began forming on her face as well.

"Us, 'teasin' you'? Now why in tarnation would you ever think we'd do something like that, sugar-cube?" AJ asked, a tone of mock surprise audible in her voice, causing the girls to start laughing, all except for - surprisingly enough - Pinkie Pie, who was lost in thought. Pinkie was desperately trying to think back to when she might have previously felt these kinds of chills before, as well as why they seemed to be getting stronger and more frequent...

"Hey, are you ok?" Dash asked Pinkie. Just then, Pinkie suddenly leaped out of her seat and started looking around with a worried expression on her face.

"I remember where I've felt these chills before!" she blurted out.

"Uh...beggin' your pardon there Pinkie Pie, but just what are y’all goin' on about?" asked Applejack, an obvious look of confusion on her face.

"Yea, what "chills" are you talking about, Pink's?" Rainbow asked.

"I've been having these really weird shivers since we got back on the train to go home." Pinkie started to explain. "I just remembered the last time I had them!" she said. The others looked at one another, all of them with confused expressions on their faces.

"Were you cold at the time?" Fluttershy offered innocently, her cheeks puffing out a bit as she did so.

"No! It was right before the Bugbear attacked us several months ago!" Pinkie exclaimed. The others thought back to the day of Cranky Doodle Donkey's wedding to his once long-lost love Matilda and how a Bugbear had seemingly at random attacked them, though oddly enough no one else. Of course, everything about the day in question had been...peculiar, so at the time they never really gave it too much thought. However, looking back now they did recall Pinkie complaining about having "weird shivers" up and down her spine just before the attack. Back then when this had happened, they figured she'd simply been coming down with a cold or something, but now...

"For the love of Celestia, don't tell me that's some kind of Pinkie sense for Bugbear attacks or something?" Rainbow said as she winced slightly, remembering the painful bite the creature had dealt her during the day-long battle. "Pinkie sense" was a precognitive ability that ran through the Pie clan and manifested itself similarly to rheumatism, but instead of being triggered by a change in the weather, it was triggered by...something else. What this was - no one had ever definitively deduced - but whatever caused Pinkie sense, all of them knew better than to ignore it.

"I don't think so..." Pinkie said, looking apprehensive. "...Not exactly anyway. Remember how that thing seemed determined to take us out - whatever the cost?" Pinkie asked.

"Now that you mention it, it did seem a might bit focused on us." Applejack stated, stroking her chin in thought. "Now that I think of it, the darn thing only came after us - heck, we might not have beaten it otherwise!" AJ added. True, the Bugbear had been so determined to kill them, it hadn't seemed to care about anything or anyone else, not even its own wellbeing. It had focused so much on attacking them that it had allowed itself to be mortally injured when a few brave (though perhaps a tad reckless) ponies tried to intervene, one managing to shoot it in the neck. Though not enough to kill such a powerful beast immediately it had ultimately proved fatal, in fact only once during the fight had it seemed to lose focus on the girls. It had spotted a strange yet familiar looking mare with a briefcase wearing large glasses and who had - oddly enough - a thick bushy mustache and matching eyebrows attempting to flee from it, allowing Rainbow Dash to knock the wind out of the monster and end the battle.

"Yes, I remember..." said Fluttershy glumly. Though RD and the others had avoided inflicting any serious injuries to it, the loss of blood from the earlier gunshot wound had taken its toll on the creature, and try as she might Fluttershy was powerless to save the beast. This made all the worse by her inability to talk it down when it had attacked them in the first place, which had been an unpleasant surprise as her special talent allowed her to talk to - and thus usually control - animals of all kinds. Worse still was when she had attempted to help the Bugbear, it had used its last remaining strength to keep her at bay. When she asked it why it wouldn't let her help it, with its dying breath it replied in beast-tongue, "I'm...finally...free..." then gave one final shake before passing. Given her love of animals, the whole event had left Fluttershy shaken, but she had been able to pull herself together enough in time for the wedding.

Even now though, it still bothered her greatly as she blamed herself for the creature's attack and subsequent death. "Sorry Flutters," Rainbow said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. Fluttershy and she had been friends since childhood and were like sisters. RD could always tell when she was in pain and knew how much it had upset her when she had failed to save the Bugbear's life. "Ok, so what about the Bugbear attack?" she said, returning her attention to Pinkie.

"Well, the only time I can remember getting shivers like this is when I or somepony around me had their life threatened." Pinkie explained. "I think we're in serious danger girls!" she finished. Rainbow Dash started to reply when Rarity interjected.

"Did anypony notice the way the other passengers on board were looking at us?..." asked Rarity, a concerned look on her face. "At first I thought they were just looking at us because - well we are somewhat famous after all - but now I'm starting to wonder..."

"Come to think of it, I've been noticin' them shootin' us dirty looks ever since we got on," said Applejack. "Thought it was just my imagination, but now..."

"Excuse me but..." Fluttershy spoke up. "Has anypony noticed that we're the only ones in this car right now?..."

"Oh, Celestia damn it!", Rainbow Dash shouted as she jumped up and immediately took a combat stance. Since becoming a recruit at Wonder Bolt's Academy, she had been taking all sorts of military combat training, as it was a requirement for all recruit's to be proficient in multiple forms of self-defense and - at least - basic weapon's training. Becoming a full-fledged member, her training was more demanding than ever, now including everything from advanced combat tactics to resisting torture. Rainbow being Rainbow, however, she'd risen to the occasion and taken to the training like a fish to water, though she was furious with herself right now as something from her training had only just now occurred to her. "Those ponies, the way they moved, how they walked and were positioned around us, plus the way they left the car...I recognize this from my training at the academy! These are military tactics!" RD explained.

"I think we've walked into an -" before RD could finish her sentence the doors at both ends of the car opened and a small object was thrown into the car from each end. "- AMBUSH!" Rainbow yelled just before the objects burst, filling the car with thick smoke.

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Edge of Ponyville (Friendship Station), April 15th, Year: 2, Reformation Era, 12:21 PM -

A small orange filly with short pinkish-purple hair, deep violet eyes and a pair of wings unusually small for an eleven-year-old pegasus like herself, sat on a bench at the train station happily humming to herself as she kicked her feet back and forth. Scootaloo Slipstream was a proud member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were a small group of fillies who helped others with issues involving their crests, whether it was obtaining one in the first place or rediscovering its meaning. She wore a dark cool-grey hoodie with a light-blue shirt underneath, with a pair of green cargo shorts, light-blue socks with dark cool-grey sneakers, and a light-blue watch on her right wrist which she checked every two minutes. "Rainbow Dash said she and the others would be here around twelve-thirty," she said aloud to herself.

She knew Rainbow and the others wanted to go to the spa once they got back, but was hoping to convince RD to hang out with her later that day. She was her big sister after all, at least in spirit, and it had been a while since they'd done anything together, and seeing as her aunts were out of town on business at the time, and the other CMC's were off doing their own things right now it was just her, all alone. Her Mother and Father were also "away on business", or, at least, it was what her aunts had been telling her for the last several months, but Scootaloo was sure she knew the truth...

*BOOM!* Scootaloo leaped what felt like a mile into the air and when she looked in the direction of the sound - a few miles down the tracks - she felt the bottom fall out of her stomach. "Oh no..." she said in a barely audible tone. "I gotta get help!" she thought to herself as she hopped on her scooter and sped off toward Ponyville.

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Ponyville (Twilight's Castle), April 15th, Year: 2, Reformation Era, 12:14 PM -

"Just a little more...-" directed a purple scaly twelve-year-old boy - just a tad taller than the colts his age - with a tail and green spikes growing on the sides of his head, as well as in a forward direction starting just above the base of his neck bone and along the center of his head. He wore a dark-red vest with a sleeveless dark-yellow t-shirt and blue jean shorts, though he wasn't wearing any shoes, then again dragons like Spike typically didn't. Twilight had hatched Spike back when she was just a filly and since then, he'd been her number one assistant and she'd raised him as his surrogate big sister. "-...and...perfect!" he exclaimed happily.

"*sigh* What a relief!" said a light purple unicorn mare who had long purple hair with white-blue highlights and blueish-purple eyes. Just under her neck was a crest resembling a dark-purple four-pointed star with a white four-pointed starburst behind it and two smoke swirls coming off the top, each one-half light-mint-green and the other half dark-mint-green. She was dressed in a dark-mint-green V-neck t-shirt with a sleeveless leather black vest over it and a pink t-shirt underneath. She also wore black jeans with holes up and down them, black high heel boots with pink shoelaces, a black watch with pink hands on her left wrist, and a pink toboggan with a white sparkle pattern all over it. The former cult leader and time-traveler who had nearly ended the world, sat down - relieved the hectic mess her best friend had landed her in, was over. Having recently led three of her friends to save the most powerful ponies in Equestria from the now - mostly - reformed changelings as well as graduating from being Twilight's pupil, Starlight Glimmer had been extremely busy over the last several days.

"You said it!" said the other mare as she too took a seat, she was a light-blue unicorn with long white hair and dark purple eyes. She was sporting a purple wizard's hat covered in various stars with a matching cape bearing a crystal clasp, a short blue long-sleeved dress with a small dark-blue vest laced in front with purple strings, and dark-blue boots. This was "the great and powerful" Trixie Lulamoon, a traveling stage magician and wannabe rival to Twilight Sparkle. She was being taught some new magic by Starlight, but unfortunately for all involved Trixie had gotten a little carried away when attempting a teleport spell. This resulted in Trixie accidentally teleporting Twilight's "friendship map" - a powerful device that led the elements to those suffering "friendship problems" - to what had turned out to be Ponyville day spa, and the two had just finished returning it to the castle.

"And just in time too!" Spike said, taking a seat before continuing. "The girls should be getting back any second now..." They knew the elements should have hit town several minutes ago and should be walking through the door soon - yet as the minutes ticked by with no sign of them, something seemed off.

"That's strange," said Starlight. "They should be back by now and it's not like Twilight to be late."

"Oh I'm sure they're just taking their sweet time walking back here is all." dismissed Trixie with a wave of her hand. "Hey! Since they're taking so long, how about you teach me some more magic Starlight?" Trixie asked, an eager look in her eye. Starlight shot her a stern look, making the light-blue unicorn sink deeper into her chair, a nervous look on her face. Starlight loved her friend and wanted to help her with her magic, but she'd had enough of Trixie's shenanigans for one day.

"Maybe something is holding up the train? '' I'll just go down to the station an-" Spike was cut off mid-sentence when the door to the castle burst open, and a horribly distressed looking Scootaloo stumbled in, panting and looking like she might start to cry, or pass out, or both.

"*pant* Y-you -*pant*- g-got too -*pant*- hur-hurry *pant*" the filly struggled to get the words out. Spike and the girls hurried over to Scootaloo to try to calm her down and see what was wrong.

"It will be alright Scootaloo, just take a deep breath and tell us what's the matter." Starlight said, trying to comfort her.

"No, there's no time!" Scootaloo shouted, a look of terror on her face. "Its the train! It blew up!" Starlight and the others gasped in unison, their faces now sharing the horrified look of Schootaloo's own as they all feared the worst for their friends.

Chapter 1: Finished

Chapter 2: Kill or be Killed

"B-but Princess! It's all my f-fault!" sobbed a small, violet unicorn filly.

"There, there Twilight everything's going to be alright," said a tall white alicorn mare as she bent down to her knees, in an attempt to be on a more even level with the distraught child before her. "You couldn't have possibly known that any of this would happen," she said.

"B-but I promised him I'd be there early! If I had been there to help like I said I would, it would have worked like it was supposed to and he would have passed and no pony would have gotten hurt and he wouldn't have gotten hurt or blamed or -" once again the little girl burst into tears.

"Oh Twilight..." the alicorn held the filly in an embrace and began sobbing as well. The small unicorn could feel her mentor's tears flowing freely, then without warning, it stopped. What replaced it was the feeling of her arms being squeezed painfully hard and when she was finally able to look upon the figure again, it was no longer Princess Celestia. They were too close to see most of the individual's features except for their eyes, which were completely pitch-black save for the irises which were glowing a vivid electric blue. The figure then shouted in Twilight's face with an angry, terrifying tone and volume.

"No matter what, I will never forgive you for abandoning me and ruining my life, you traitor!"

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Ponyville (Ponyville General Hospital), April 18th, year 2, Reformation era, 11:17 AM -

Twilight woke up from her dream, tears running down her eyes. It took a moment for her to get her bearings and recall where she was and how she got there, then it all started slowly coming back to her. I must be at the hospital... she thought to herself as she slowly began to regain her senses. She quickly noticed she was covered in bandages and had an iv drip with various fluids being fed into her arm, likely a cocktail of water, healing potions, and painkillers. Then she looked to her left and saw to her surprise, Trixie sitting next to her bed and softly crying as Starlight sat next to her trying to comfort her.

"All those mean things I've said about her and to her, all the times I've tried to one-up her or just get under her skin. Now look at her, she could have died and I'd never have gotten to tell her how much I just wanted to be like her - how much I wanted to be friends with her!" Trixie said, fighting back another wave of tears.

Trixie...I had no idea... Twilight thought to herself as she listened to Trixie as Starlight tried to console her, neither of them having noticed Twilight's return to consciousness.

"But she's alive and well, Trix. You heard the doctor, alicorns have incredible regenerative powers so in a few more days it'll be like nothing ever happened," Starlight reassured her best friend. "That's why she hasn't woken up in a couple of days, her body is just focusing on repairing itself, that's all.” Now Twilight was really confused, why was she even in the hospital in the first place? What had left her in such bad shape as to put her in an alicorn's 'healing sleep' for a couple of days? Furthermore, where were her friends-! It was at this moment she remembered the attack on the train.

"The girls, they need help!" she exclaimed while trying to get up.

"Twilight, don't try to move!" Starlight yelled, getting up from her seat to hold Twilight down. "The others are alright but you're still pretty banged up! Now lie still or you'll just reopen all your wounds!" Upon hearing her friends were safe, Twilight relented and did as she was told, exhaling a sigh of relief as she did so. "I'll go get everypony and let them know you're awake," Starlight said. "Trixie, you stay with her until I get back, should take just a minute," Trixie nodded her head in agreement and Starlight bolted from the room. Trixie turned and stared at Twilight for what felt like ages, trying to decide what to say or how to act. She thought about smarting off to her in an attempt to save face, but Twilight spoke first.

"You know, those tricks you perform at your shows?" Twilight asked Trixie. "They're really amazing and a lot of them are just beautiful to watch. I know your real magic isn't very powerful right now, but what you accomplish without it is really impressive. I mean, you survived going through the heart of the changeling kingdom with barely a scratch, but with all my power I can't even take the train home without ending up like this," Twilight said with a weak smile, hoping to make Trixie feel better. The result, however, was Trixie losing control and starting to ball at the top of her lungs.

"Just what in tarnation is all that ruckus over!?" Applejack asked as she, the other elements of harmony, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, and a few doctors all came running into the room one after the other in quick succession.

"It's my fault...I think," Twilight said as everyone gathered around her, with Starlight rushing over to Trixie's side to comfort her.

"*sniff* No, It's my fault, I've been such a jerk to you Twilight," said Trixie as she fought to regain her composure. "I even ruined the wonderful tea cakes Starlight made for you and the others and made her give you those smelly pretzels," she finished before pulling out a tissue to blow her nose on.

"Then I guess I owe you my life, Trixie," Twilight said, smiling at her. "Those 'smelly pretzels' are probably the only reason I'm talking to any of you right now," she finished. Everyone - especially Trixie - stood there visibly confused by the odd statement.

"...Yeah - think we need to compare notes on this one," Rainbow Dash spoke after a few moments of stunned silence. They then began to do just that, swapping stories of how the attack had unfolded from each of their perspectives.

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Friendship Express (en route to Ponyville), April 15, Year 2, Reformation era, 12:13 PM -

"I recognize this from my training at the academy! These are military tactics!" RD explained. "I think we've walked into an -" before RD could finish her sentence the doors at both ends of the car opened and a small object was thrown into the car from each end. "- AMBUSH!" Rainbow yelled just before the objects burst, filling the car with thick smoke. As smoke obscured everything around them, Rarity and Fluttershy were grabbed from behind by somepony and in a flash of light, they were gone. Next, it was Applejack and Pinkie Pie's turn to be spirited away, as another assailant ran up behind them, grabbing hold of the two and vanishing with the pair into thin air, with nary a trace left. Finally, Rainbow Dash was seized from behind, and just as with the others she too disappeared in an instant, leaving Twilight to fend for herself.

When she opened her eyes, Rainbow Dash was in the lattermost car of the Friendship Express, still in the clutches of her would-be abductor. "Now I've got you, you little bit-ouch - oof!" the unicorn who had taken her was interrupted when RD had jerked her head back - striking him hard in the nose. She then proceeded to break free from him, and deliver a powerful knee to the gut, followed by a vicious right hook to the face, causing him to fall in a heap on the floor.

"Serves you right, asshole!" Rainbow said with a sneer as she spat on her unconscious attacker, but her victory was short-lived as three more assailants - two pegasi and an earkin - stepped through one of the doors. The pegasi carried a revolver each, the earkin standing in-between them had a repeating rifle and all three took aim and began firing at RD. "Oh fuck!" Rainbow swore as she took cover behind a seat just as a few shots flew past her, one close enough for her to feel the heat coming off it. She looked around hoping for something, anything able to help her and saw the unicorn she'd knocked out had a revolver on his person as well, she reached out and just managed to grab it as another shot whizzed past her outstretched arm. Ok Rainbow, you got this, it's what you trained for! she thought to herself as her attackers drew near. Though she had indeed trained for this kind of scenario and had even been on a few combat missions with the Wonderbolts, she hadn't had to kill anyone yet but this was different, this was life or death and she knew what she would have to do.

For my friends! she thought to herself as she mentally prepared herself for what was coming next. She peeked over the side of her cover and noticed each attacker would move up by one seat one at a time, immediately getting back into cover while the other two stood guard. Well, that tears it! thought Rainbow Dash as she observed the behavior. Definitely military trained, but no uniform or military-grade hardware, so either undercover or possibly a rogue merc guild? RD surmised, racking her brain trying to think why either one would come after her and her friends. "Damn it, figure it out later!" Rainbow said to herself as she heard one of them almost upon her and with her gun at-the-ready, she ducked out of cover to meet her would-be attacker. Before he could fire Rainbow shot first, hitting her enemy square in the head causing him to lurch back and hit the floor - dead.

As Rainbow's fight for survival began, Rarity’s and Fluttershy's own struggle was getting underway as the two found themselves in a similar predicament. The moment they and their abductor materialized in the car just behind the train's engine, the attacker pushed the two away and immediately hit Fluttershy with a kinetic blast spell from her horn, sending her flying across the car towards the engine. "I'll finish her off after I put you down!" the attacker said to Rarity.

"Ohhh, It! Is! On!" Rarity responded angrily. She could see Fluttershy wasn't seriously hurt as the pegasus started to pick herself up, and knew if she wanted to keep her that way she needed to focus on their attacker. Said attacker, believing she'd spotted an opening, lunged at Rarity and found out the hard way what someone who's been practicing the highly aesthetic and potent martial art Bakti Neighgara since the age of four can do. Rarity dealt a sweeping kick to her opponent's advancing leg, causing her to lose her balance and fall forward. During which, Rarity grabbed her opponent's arm with one hand and her face with the other, and using the attacker's own forward momentum to flip her around, slammed her head into the floor, knocking her out cold.

"Sorry darling, but you really shouldn't have been so rude as to threaten any of my friends!" Rarity said to the unconscious mare at her feet. She then noticed a bandage wrapped around the mare's arm and it had slipped just enough to show what seemed to be the hint of a crest, though Rarity couldn't see enough of it to tell what it was. "Now what do we have here?" she asked as she bent over to try and move the bandage back to see what her attacker's crest was, hoping it might help her friends and her figure out who was after them. Unfortunately for Rarity, she hadn't noticed an unfamiliar pegasus sneaking up behind her, though Fluttershy - who had finally gotten up off the floor - did and tried to warn her friend.

"Rarity! Look out!" Fluttershy screamed at her friend, causing Rarity to jump up just in time to see the attack coming, but there wasn't enough time for her to dodge or block the punch that struck her at the base of her horn.

Damn! Rarity thought as she stumbled a bit, nearly tripping over her earlier opponent. Aside from the sharp blow to her head leaving her in a daze, when a unicorn is hit hard below their horn right at its base - just where she had been struck - it temporarily disrupts their ability to channel magic through it. Rarity was stunned and without the use of her horn, at least for a few moments - a few moments she couldn't afford.

"Here, let me help you!" the attacker snarled at Rarity as he grabbed her hard by the wrist and threw her into a nearby seat. He then grabbed a heavy mace from his incapacitated partner as she lay on the floor, and held Rarity down by the scuff of her blouse as he raised the weapon above his head. "Let's see you run your smug-ass mouth once your fuckin' skull’s caved in!" he said menacingly as he prepared to murder the mare before him. Just then, he felt a sharp blow on the back-left side of his head, causing him to drop the mace and stumble back away from his would-be victim. To the shock and dismay of both Rarity and the dazed pegasus, standing behind him in a boxing stance was Fluttershy who began an attack of her own.

"Keep! Your! Damn! Hands! Off of her!" Fluttershy yelled as loud as she could, striking her opponent in the face with a flurry of powerful jabs with every word she screamed. Finally, with one more powerful left jab right between his eyes, the pegasus hit the floor, out like a light with two blackening eyes, a rapidly swelling face, and a broken, bloody nose. Rarity stood up, her mouth hanging open in disbelief as she stared at Fluttershy, then at the pegasus on the floor, then back at her friend again.

"Sweet Celestia, where did you learn to do that darling, and when?" Rarity inquired as she rubbed her forehead where she'd been hit just moments ago.

"Oh, well...back when Dash and I went to our flight school reunion at Cloudsdale we ran into Gilda. Her and I made up and the three of us hung out together through most of it," Fluttershy began explaining. "During that, I told her about my self-confidence issues and she gave me a book on pugilism and taught me a few moves herself, she even said I was a natural and since then, I've been practicing every day and it really has made me feel more confident in myself," Fluttershy said, starting to blush and fidget. "Gilda is a really lovely person once you get to know her..." she trailed off, blushing even harder now.

"Ohhh she is, is she?" Rarity chortled, giving Fluttershy a playful look which only served to make the yellow pegasi's face completely turn a deep shade of crimson. Just then a bullet flew right between the two of them, bringing them back to reality and causing them both to take cover across from each other as three more enemy pegasi entered the car firing revolvers at the duo. "Don't suppose Gilda also gave you a book on gunfighting as well darling?" Rarity asked Fluttershy who was hiding behind a seat just across from her.

"Hmm-umm!" Fluttershy squeaked fearfully as she shook her head no, tears just forming at the corners of her eyes. Rarity looked around hoping something would inspire her to think of a way to get them out of this mess when she noticed the unicorn she had KOed earlier had a smoke grenade like the ones from the start of the ambush.

"Idea!" Rarity cheered, and using a compact mirror she had on her, she peeked in the direction the gunshots had come from and saw their assailants were taking cover near the door to the previous car. Two of them had their heads sticking up enough over the seats to keep an eye on Rarity’s and Fluttershy's location while the other had just begun to slowly make his way forward between the rows of seats. Enough time had passed for her to regain use of her magic, and so with a singular motion while pulling its pin she levitated the smoke bomb at high speed towards the third attacker, accidentally hitting him below the crotch. He fell to his knees with a scream of pain and curled up like a worm on a fishhook. A moment later the entire end of the car was shrouded in smoke, giving Rarity the chance to leap out of cover and attack using her own kinetic blast spell. Though she couldn't see through the smoke, thanks to Rarity's near eidetic memory being surpassed only by Twilight's, she remembered exactly where her opponents were located and hit all three. When the smoke cleared the three assailants lay unconscious and Rarity let out a sigh of relief, glad that she and Fluttershy were still alive, though still aware the danger had not yet passed.

While all of this had been happening, Applejack and Pinkie Pie along with their abductor appeared several cars down from the middle car where they had been taken from, and just a few cars in front of the last car where Rainbow Dash was. Pinkie immediately slipped away from the unicorn's grasp and before he could react, AJ bucked him hard in the chest, sending him flying backward nearly to the other end of the car leaving him a crumpled, incapacitated heap on the floor. "Y’all alright Pinkie?" Applejack asked as she looked around to see if the coast was clear.

"I'm a whooole lot better-off than that guy," Pinkie said, pointing to the downed unicorn who miraculously didn't seem to be at risk of death, though no doubt he'd cracked several ribs - at least - and wouldn't be moving around a whole lot anytime soon. Then the door in front of the unicorn flew open and in charged an earkin stallion with a shotgun followed by an earkin mare with a tomahawk, murderous intent in their eyes. "Don't worry AJ, we can take them!" Pinkie said as she pulled a cupcake from seemingly out of nowhere and tossed it at the stallion, smacking him in the face, blinding him as Applejack leaped into the air and kicked him square in the head, leaving the earkin down for the count. Aside from the other services the Apple clan had provided Ponyville, they'd also served as protectors for the village in times of need, and AJ was no stranger to combat, having helped to fend off the occasional bandit attack here and there. AJ drew her bowie knife as the earkin mare headed straight for her, their weapons coming together in a stalemate. Just as the two crossed weapons, Pinkie was visibly stricken with another shiver down her spine, signaling more danger.

"Errr - what is it Pinkie!?" Applejack grunted, having seen Pinkie react to the shiver from out of the corner of her eye while still locked in a struggle with her opponent.

"I think Rainbow Dash needs my help!" shouted Pinkie, not entirely sure how she knew this.

"Then git!" AJ shouted back as her weapon parted ways with her enemy's, only for them to lock together again when she took another swing at AJ with her tomahawk. "I'll be fine here on my own, just hurry up and get to Dash!" AJ said to Pinkie.

"But Applejack!" Pinkie yelped.

"Go! Now!" Applejack ordered Pinkie.

"Fine, but if you get killed, I’ll never forgive you!" Pinkie yelled at AJ as she turned and headed for the last car.

"Pinkie promise Ah won’t, sugar-cube!" AJ hollered back at Pinkie Pie before turning her full attention to her opponent.

"Looks like it's just you and me now, 'sugar-cube.'" AJ's attacker said, using a mock country accent when saying sugar-cube.

"Whoa Nelly, are y’all maken' fun of my countryisms!?" Applejack asked, a mixture of anger and offense audible in her voice.

"Wow, and here I thought an inbred hick like you wouldn't have the brain cells needed to understand when somepony was talking to- ugh!" she was cut off when AJ kneed her hard in the stomach, then shoved her back.

"I don't much appreciate that there accusation you bitch!" AJ said furiously. Applejack was on the attack now, slashing and swiping wildly at her enemy, her opponent barely managing to block AJ's attacks, but with one well-placed swing by AJ's adversary, both their weapons went flying out of each other's grasps. The two mares scrambled to retrieve their weapons but when AJ found the shattered remains of the tomahawk she gulped hard saying "Oh boy..."

"That was my favorite tomahawk you hick-bitch!" said the other mare, as Applejack looked up to see her holding the bowie knife. "I think this will make a decent enough replacement though..." she said with a sneer.

"That there belonged to my Pa..." AJ said with an angry tone to her voice.

"Oh, poor thing," AJ's opponent said mockingly. "Here, you can have it back then!" she said as she prepared to throw the knife at Applejack.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, sugar-cube," AJ warned her attacker. Applejack's enemy smiled, giving a quick chuckle as she chucked AJ's knife at her, only for it to fly less than three feet before stopping mid-air then flipping left and flying right back at her, sinking itself deep into her throat, the tip jutting out the back of her neck.

"What the fuck?..." the mare barely managing to gargle out her last words before falling to the floor dead.

"Sorry there, miss, I tried to warn y’awl. That there's an Apple clan heirloom and it don't take none too kindly to ponies using it without its owner's permission - especially against an Apple clan member," AJ explained as she pulled the blade from the corpse's throat. Despite the fact she just pulled it from a recently active carotid artery, the bowie knife was completely immaculate, showing not a single speck of dirt or blood, thanks to it being forged from white mythril, the second rarest form of mythril on Gimlé.

As Applejack looked over the tool left to her by her late father, more enemies entered the car, two more earkin with revolvers and two pegasi armed with a rifle each. AJ didn't miss a beat, lunging for the shotgun left by the earkin she'd knocked out earlier, then leaping over three of the seats to meet the two new earkin in the car’s front, shooting both of them dead in quick succession before they could react. She then turned her attention to the hostile pegasi. As one tried to raise his rifle, she closed the distance between them and slammed the butt of her shotgun into the side of his face, knocking him out before he'd lifted his firearm enough to take aim. Next it was the other pegasi's turn but as he aimed his weapon at Applejack, she drew her knife once more and ran it through the side of the rifle's barrel, keeping her opponent from firing a single shot. With that out of the way, AJ pulled the weapon from the pegasi's grasp, and then smashed him square in the jaw, sending a few of his teeth flying and leaving him out cold. Applejack had been forced to kill attacking bandits in the past, but still wouldn't take anypony’s life if she could avoid it.

In the lattermost car, Rainbow Dash - having just shot the second pegasus in the chest - aimed with her appropriated revolver at her remaining combatant - the earkin with the repeating rifle - just as he aimed at her. Their gunfight had been drawn-out and bloody, with Rainbow having been shot through the far side of her right leg causing every pained step she took to be a challenge, as well as leaving her pegasi opponents dead, and the earkin before her missing an ear. "Its a draw," said Rainbow - knowing one couldn't take a shot without risk the other would too - and secretly hoping against all hope she wouldn't have to kill anyone else. The earkin was silent for what felt to Dash like an eternity before letting out a sigh, then staring into Dash's eyes and replying.

"Signing on, me and my comrades all knew this would likely be a suicide mission," the earkin said, speaking as calmly as he possibly could. "I can't speak for all of us, but personally, I don't want anypony on this train to die - not even you or your friends. But this isn't about what any of us want, it's about what's necessary for the greater good..." he said, as he slowly began to squeeze the trigger of his firearm. "... and all of us are prepared to sacrifice everything, even ourselves if needed!" Realizing she was about to be shot, Rainbow panicking, squeezed the trigger of her gun just as the stallion in front of her did so - *click*. The sound made by the empty guns seemed to echo on forever as the two stared at one another in complete silence but unharmed, knowing full well the only reason either was still alive was little more than sheer dumb luck. Suddenly, the door on the forward end of the car flew open and in pronked Pinkie.

"Dashy! I'm here to rescue you!" the pink pony blurted out.

"Pinkie!? What are yo- oof!" Dash shouted as the earkin tackled her to the ground, landing on top of her and pinning her down. He had tossed aside the spent rifle and drawn a small knife which he was attempting to sink into RD's throat. As she lay there, using all her strength to push back against her attacker, she wished she could use her pegasus magic, but knew there simply wasn't enough room for her to safely do so, or she'd have ended the fight long ago. As the earkin pressed the knife further and further down - the tip piercing Rainbow's flesh just enough to draw blood - he was about to finish the pegasus off when Pinkie called out to him.

"Yoo-hoo!" Pinkie cried out to the earkin, and instinctively he turned to look at her, his jaw-dropping open at the sight before him. To the would-be killer's dismay, Pinkie Pie was pointing at him with a large blue cannon with large dandelion pictures taking up most of its pink wheels. Pinkie's party cannon was nearly as big as she was, begging the question - where had she pulled the weapon out from?

"B-but how!? Where!?" the earkin babbling as he sat up, dropping his knife in the process due to the shock of seeing a large piece of artillery, which had seemingly just appeared out of nowhere, aimed right at him.

"Word of advice pal," Rainbow said, drawing the earkin's attention back to her. Knowing he was no longer a threat to her, Rainbow Dash had her hands behind her head as if relaxing, an incredibly smug look on her face as she spoke to her attacker. "It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it. Trust me, buddy, you'll be much better off," she finished. The earkin opened his mouth to say something to RD, but never got the chance as Pinkie fired the party cannon, launching a mass of cake batter and confetti straight at the hapless assailant, sending him flying through the car's back door and off the train entirely. "Ok, maybe I wasn't quite right about the whole 'being much better off' thing," Dash said as she stared through the hole where a door had been before her enemy's exit. Rainbow then looked over at Pinkie and was about to thank her when she saw another earkin sneaking up behind her.

"Look out!" RD called out to Pinkie Pie, who didn't need telling twice as she quickly flipped the party cannon's barrel upward and holding on to its exit, leaped up to slam her foot onto the side of one of the seats. Pinkie then kicked off against it, spinning the cannon and herself around so it now faced the new enemy, at which point Pinkie then flipped the barrel back down so it was now aimed at the unlucky attacker. Pinkie then donned a sinister smile as she prepared to fire the weapon, the pony in front of her seeing the expression on her face and realizing what was about to happen said just two words.

"Awwwww, crud..." he was then blasted clear across the car to the front where he then - thanks to earkin having very strong bones and durable bodies - found himself quite literally stuck in the door at just under his chest, pinning his arms to his sides. He'd hit the door with just enough force to bend it in such a way as to jam it, and looking up he saw a few of his allies on top of the train looking down at him, having come to see what had caused all the noise.

"Hey, Reg! So...did ya get em yet?" one of them shouted down to the trapped earkin, completely missing the obvious.

"Oh yeah, this is just how my clan has celebrated victory for generations, by rammin’ our damn skulls through friggin’ doors hard enough to nearly knock ourselves clean out!" Reg replied with a clearly annoyed and sarcastic tone in his voice.

"Really? Sounds kind of painful to me," said another one who was very confused by his friend's strange family tradition. Reg let out a groan of frustration at the stupidity of the two morons above him, half wishing he'd been the one who had gotten evicted from the locomotive. As RD and Pinkie could hear the attacker she had just lodged in the door in front of them arguing with somepony outside about something, Pinkie offered a hand to Rainbow, who was still on the floor.

"What do you think that's about?" Pinkie asked as she turned to look at Rainbow, but saw she was staring sadly at one of the pegasi she had killed.

I...I killed him... RD thought as she gazed at the corpse, she felt like she was going to be sick. Everypony she'd killed during the fight - though they'd been trying to kill her and her friends - were still ponies, they must have friends, families, maybe even lovers, - none of whom would ever see them again - all because of her. They were alive...and I killed them...me... Rainbow was still mulling it over in her mind, struggling to wrap her head around it when she was brought back to reality by a hand on her shoulder.

"Dashy...I know it hurts, but you can't think about that right now," Pinkie said to her friend. Growing up on a rock farm in the middle of nowhere she'd seen a few bandit attacks, her family members and her having even been forced to fight to the death against them, so she had some idea of what Dash was going through right now. Pinkie then noticed Rainbow's gunshot wound, which was still bleeding somewhat. The bullet had gone clear through Rainbow's leg but entered far enough out from the bone that it wasn't too serious an injury. Pinkie knelt down to tend to her using some extra ribbons she carried with her to tie a clean hanky she had over the wound and then spoke to her friend again. "It's terrible having to do something like that, but you didn't have a choice. It was either you or them, and they would have just gone after the rest of us next and either we would have had to kill them or we'd be killed by them," Pinkie said as she finished applying the makeshift bandage to Rainbow's leg.

"If we let it get to us right now though, we could end up losing our friends to them, so, for now, we need to stay focused on getting to the others, then once this is over we can all cry about this together," Pinkie said standing up and giving Dash a big, earnest - yet sad - smile, minuscule tears forming in the corners of her eyes as RD noticed her mane was drooping a bit.

"Pinkie..." Dash's voice trailing off as she spoke her friend's name, realizing she wasn't the only one disturbed by the bloodshed. Rainbow knew Pinkie had had to kill a couple of bandits during a raid on her family's rock farm when she was young. In fact, it had been what caused her to move to Ponyville where her Nana Pinkie had finished raising her. It had taken Pinkie years to come to grips with what had happened but she had, though not since that awful day had Pinkie been in a position like this and it had to be taking its toll on her. Dash knew she was right, they couldn't afford the luxury of breaking down right now, and turning to Pinkie she said: "Right, let's figure out where the others are and how to get to them asap!"

"Don't think we can go through here," Pinkie said as she examined the door Reg was occupying.

"Hey, better idea!" Rainbow smirked, pointing out the missing door toward the back of the car. With that, the two rushed over to their exit and climbed up to the top of the train, where they saw a few dozen ponies were all spread out along the train's roof, armed with varying forms of weaponry. Axes, swords, flails, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, and more, all wielded by a diverse mix of pegasi, unicorns, and earkin. It wouldn't be easy but Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were ready to go.

Pinkie taking note of the opposition spoke to RD. "I know there's a whole bunch of them Rainbow but don't worry, as long as we stay together we'l-"

"Oh, they're in for it now Pinks!" Dash interrupted, a confident smile spreading across her face. This was just what she'd been waiting for, open-air, and now the ball was in her court. Rainbow was a decent fighter on foot, but give her the sky and she was truly a force to be reckoned with. RD took a deep breath and exhaled as she readied herself for takeoff, then just as the enemy finally noticed her and Pinkie, with her small wings buzzing like those of a hummingbird, she rocketed towards her adversaries. In a flash she had knocked several of them off the train. Seeing this, eight well-armed pegasi took to the air as well to engage Dash in a vicious aerial dogfight, while all of them strove to keep up with the speeding train.

As she watched her friend literally fly circles around her attackers, Pinkie smiled and waved happily in Rainbow's direction as she shouted, "Okie-dokie-loki, that works too Dashy!" Rainbow was untouchable, zooming around her pegasi foes faster than some of them were even able to track despite pegasi having 20/4 vision. Though being armed to the teeth as they were did give them a slight advantage - or so they thought. As one of them came up behind Rainbow she took careful aim at her blue adversary. Taking into account target deflection she was about to shoot Rainbow when in the blink of an eye Dash was gone.

Before the attacker could even try to look for her target, she felt a hoof slam into the small of her back as Dash struck her from above at blinding speed, sending the pegasus tumbling down through the air, then RD flew back around and followed up with a sharp right hook to the face - knocking her out. Dash then grabbed her by the ankles and dumped the unconscious foe safely on the ground, then proceeded to dispense with her other opponents similarly, defeating them all one by one till she alone commanded the sky. She had opted to not KO a couple of pegasi instead, busting one wing on each of them, forcing them to land, and as they watched the train fade into the distance, they turned to one another confused as to why they were still alive.

"This makes no sense, we should all be dead right now!" said a white pegasus to his red counterpart. "Does she really take us so lightly as to think we're not worth putting down!?" he asked.

"...I don't think that's it..." the red pegasus answered, straining to look back at his broken wing, which as far as he could tell had suffered no permanent damage. "If it was like that she wouldn't have gone to the extra trouble and risk of catching our buddies when she knocked them out, and she clearly has the skill to take us out so that's not it either. The rest of them are the same way, only killing us off as needed. Call me crazy, but I don't think they want to kill anypony," surmised the red pegasus.

"Then care to remind me why we're trying to kill them in the first place!?" the white pegasus demanded to know. "Cause last I checked, the oath says 'defending th- !'"

"I know what the damn oath says, and you know why we're doing this!" the red pegasus angrily interjected. A deafening silence filled the air between them and they both stared at the ground, neither wanted to kill their targets but they had no choice. "It's them or Equestria," the red pegasus finished glumly.

Back above the train Dash was about to engage more enemies when she happened to look over at the car just behind the engine and saw Rarity waving to her out one of the windows. Dash was overjoyed and flew down to see her friend, "Boy am I glad to see you, Rarity!" Rainbow happily greeted her as she stuck her head in through the window.

"Oh, I'm overjoyed to see you as well darling!" Rarity said to Rainbow, almost wanting to jump out of the window and give her friend a Pinkie Pie-esque hug.

"Are you alright!? Are the others with you!?" Rainbow asked fearing the worst for them.

"Fluttershy's with me and we're alright, but I haven't the slightest clue where the others are," Rarity said with urgency in her voice. "So you haven't seen any of our friends yet?" she asked Rainbow.

"Well, Pinkie's with me and -" Dash was cut off by the sound of the party cannon going off somewhere above them and Pinkie cackling as several batter-covered ponies were ejected from the train's roof.

"Party cannon?" Rarity asked in a dry, monotone voice with a blank expression on her face.

"Party cannon," Rainbow answered back with the same tone and expression. "We’ve got to find the others!" Rainbow said.

"You've got to find the others. Fluttershy and I had to barricade the door to the back to slow these...ruffians down. The door to the engine won't budge so until we thin these hooligans out a bit, I'm afraid we're trapped in here for the moment," Rarity explained. Just then, one of their attackers shoved an arm through the backdoor's window and tried to aim his gun at Rarity, only for Fluttershy - who was right next to the door - to punch his arm hard enough to break it, causing him to drop the weapon and retract the damaged limb with a howl of pain.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this, starting with finding Twilight!" RD said confidently. Just then the two mares noticed a flash of purple light coming from the centermost car and recognized it at once.

"Hey, I'm pretty good at this!" Dash said as she headed off toward the source of the flash. As soon as she reached her destination, she looked through a window and sure enough, there was Twilight with a barrier spell around her deflecting numerous bullets being shot at her from both ends of the car. Every once in a while she'd open a small gap in the barrier just big enough to squeeze a kinetic blast through and incapacitate an enemy, but as one went down they would be pulled out of the car by an ally and a new combatant would take their place. It was obvious the attackers had labeled Twilight a priority and were determined to eliminate the princess of friendship by any means necessary, though at the moment it seemed far too lofty a goal as she remained completely unharmed thus far. "Don't worry Twilight, the cavalry’s here!" Dash exclaimed just before ducking below the window as a bullet was sent her way, preventing her from entering Twilight's car.

"No Rainbow Dash, stay out of here!" Twilight ordered while still maintaining her barrier.

"But it looks like you could use some help!" Dash pointed out while keeping her head safely below the window, forcing her to shout to be heard over the wind outside.

"No, I'm alright for now, but I can't keep this up and cover you while you climb in. You need to find the others, then let me know when all of you get to the roof, once you do I'll teleport up there with you and then teleport us all home!" Twilight said, shouting her plan to RD, fully aware the enemy could likely hear every word but not seeing any other option.

"Can't you teleport up there first and then I'll get the others to you or something?" Dash asked Twilight.

"And let them swamp the roof like this? It's clear I'm their main target so they'll likely continue to focus their forces wherever I'm at at the time, and it will take most of them a while to get up there and that will give me enough time to get us the Hell out of here! If I head up there now before you and the others get into place, you wouldn't be able to get close enough to me for all of us to leave, and I won't go without you!" Twilight explained to her friend.

"Ohhh - fine, but be ready to leave soon!" Dash shouted as she took off to find Applejack. She'd no sooner begun her search, when she saw a unicorn fly out a window on a car near the back of the train and from the same window out popped AJ's head as she shouted after her now long-gone foe.

"And don't yawl dare tell me 'My Mother was a whore' ever again!"

"Wow AJ, what the Hell was that all about!?" Rainbow Dash asked her friend.

"Rainbow Dash, I'm sure glad to see y’awl are alright! That thar’ suma-bitch and two of his buddies, been talkin' shit bout my family - like callin' my Ma a ‘whore’ and such!" Applejack said, clearly furious about the insults aimed her way, but none the less thrilled to see Rainbow alive and well.

"Ugh...Not too bad for a hick..." said a pegasus as he started picking himself up off the floor right behind Applejack, and began making his way toward her. "Guess you're a lot tougher than I tho- oof!"

"Hey back there, would yawl mind pipin’' down for a spell?" AJ asked calmly as - without even turning away from her friend - she bucked the would-be attacker hard in the mouth, knocking most of his teeth - and him - out.

"Look AJ, I found everypony and Twilight has a plan to get us out of here, so we need to move now!" Dash instructed.

"Well, what are we waitin' for, sugar-cube!?" Applejack replied happily.

While the others readied for their escape, Twilight continued to successfully keep her attackers at bay - though for how much longer she'd be able to was anyone's guess. "Damn, you heard her, they're going to make a break for it soon!" said one assailant to the others as they stood just outside Twilight's car.

"What are we gonna do? We can't let them escape, and we're just about out of reinforcements!" said another enemy.

"We're almost at Friendship Station at Ponyville and on top of that, I can't get Sightshroud to answer the fuckn' radio!" For all we know, the bastard's not even on the stupid train anymore!" a third one informed them as he entered their car.

"B-but he was supposed to be holed up in the engine car- keeping his illusion spell up! You telling me there might not even be anything covering up what's happening on the train right now!? The ancestor's-damned military could be on top of us any minute!" said the second one in disbelief.

"Furyin was right, his brother's a no-good coward! Traitor must have ditched us the minute the train hit the countryside, right when we started the attack!" said the first one angrily.

"Then we have no choice, we'll have to go with plan B," the third one said, his comrades nodding in agreement. Twilight stood ready to fight on - her barrier still up - when she saw a makeshift white flag wave in the doorway. This confused her quite a bit but gave her a sliver of hope the battle might finally be over.

"What is it? Are you ready to surrender?" Twilight asked, still not dropping her guard or her barrier.

"Actually, I was about to ask you the same thing," said a large earkin as he stepped through the doorway, holding a small pegasus in front of him with one arm, a revolver pointed at his head. Judging by the clothes the pegasus was wearing Twilight surmised he was the train's firepony, whom they must have taken hostage sometime after the train had departed. The Friendship Express was designed to only need coal shoveled into its furnace once every several hours thanks to both its physical construction and the various enchantments it was imbued with. Twilight knew this meant her foes needn't fear the train stopping without him for a while, thus they could afford to kill him if she didn't comply and she feared what might happen if she made any miscalculations with her next move. "Put down you're barrier, stick your hands straight in the air - fingers spread wide, get on your knees, and close your eyes, and I promise it will be quick and painless," said the earkin as the rest of his allies poured into the car from behind him - guns drawn and trained on the alicorn princess.

"Promise me you won't hurt him! Twilight yelled at the pony before her.

"I give you my word Princess, no pony else on this train has to die today, just you," the earkin said to Twilight.

"Fine," she said, doing as she had been told while the surrounding enemies prepared to open fire on her.

"Sorry, I wish there were another way, but this has to be done," said the earkin as he pointed his gun at Twilight, preparing to shoot her along with the others. Just as they were about to fire, a piercing violet light flashed from her horn, blinding her attackers, and leaving them immobilized, Twilight had used her crowd-freezing spell to trap everyone in the car but her and the firepony. She immediately ran to the firepony who was lying on the floor to see if he was alright and after a quick check, she determined he was unharmed much to her relief.

"Get up, we got to go now!" Twilight said looking behind her to make sure no one was coming up behind her. "My friends should be waiting for me on the roof, once we're together I can get all of us to safety, but I can't keep my crowd-freezing spell up forever, so we have to go right now!" Twilight said as she turned back around to face the firepony, only to be met with a revolver pointed right below her horn - barely a centimeter above her forehead - by the very pony she had just rescued. This had been a miscalculation on Twilight's part, she hadn't once considered the hostage might be a diversion just to get her to drop her guard, that the firepony might be one of them, or that after everything she had been through over the last two years, that a simple train ride back home with her friends might cost her, her life. *Bang!* Twilight had just started channeling energy into her horn for a protection spell while simultaneously trying to back away from the gun when the firepony had fired it. As a result, he had barely missed shooting her and instead had shot her horn right above the base - the bullet bouncing off due to the protective power she'd been pouring into it for a barrier spell - and cracked it, causing her to fall backward and slam her head hard onto the floor.

The other enemies - freed from Twilight's spell - started getting up off the floor, picking up their weapons as they went. Twilight stood up as well, in an unbelievable amount of pain due in part to getting a concussion and even more to her now cracked horn, being perhaps the worst physical pain of her entire life. When a unicorn, or alicorn, in this case, suffers an injury of this kind, it can make using their horn dangerous as magic channeled through it is highly unstable and unpredictable. Though there are certain exceptions depending on the cause of the damage, a damaged horn can heal over time - even if broken clean off - and in the case of alicorns, a damaged horn takes even less time to heal, but Twilight didn't have anywhere near that much time. Unable to think clearly and with desperation setting in as her assailants prepared to finish the job, Twilight began trying to cast a barrier-push spell in the hope she might be able to clear an escape path.

Meanwhile on the roof of the train, as the last few would-be assassins were promptly dealt with by the rest of the elements, who were slowly but surely drawing near their agreed-upon rendezvous point, the two remaining enemies (who happen to be the ones annoying Reg earlier with their obliviousness), snuck down to where he was trapped and attempted to free him. "Reg, I thought you said you got them!" said one of them - a unicorn mare as she began using magic to try to shove her friend back through the door.

"Yea Reg, why celebrate gettin' em if you didn't get em?" added another pony - this one a pegasus stallion - as he pushed against Reg's face, also trying to extricate him from the door.

Why couldn't that stupid cannon have killed me? Reg thought to himself, unable to freely speak his mind at the time due to the combined pressure on his face keeping his mouth sealed shut. Then just as the dense duo managed to free Reg, a fierce rumbling shot through the whole train, something which had not gone unnoticed topside as the elements looked around, confused as to what might be causing it.

"What in Sam Hill is goin' on now!?" Applejack asked irritably as the train began to shake more and more sporadically.

"Girls, I think it's Twilight!" Pinkie yelled, causing the others to turn and see her shivering uncontrollably, "I think she needs our he-!" Pinkie never got to finish her warning as the middle car - which was right in front of them - ruptured in a flash of purple light. As the five mares were catapulted into the air, all making attempts at a safe landing, Pinkie fired her party cannon midair at the ground, right where she was headed, to create a soft landing for herself. AJ aimed in the general direction she seemed to be headed and threw her knife at the ground, its magical properties turning the otherwise hard ground into a large, soft, bubble of mud, breaking her fall, though at the small price of a slight blow to her dignity, as the result was a sprained ankle and her being covered head-to-toe in mud. Rarity was lucky enough to be in close proximity to Fluttershy, who safely caught the unicorn as she flew through the air. Rainbow was closest to the explosion and as she took off, she did her best to dodge the incoming debris but was struck in the head by a small piece causing her to fall out of the sky and land near the obliterated car.

Twilight lay on the tracks, motionless - at first - but slowly opened her eyes and looked around, and seeing the destruction she'd wrought she felt panic start to well up within her. I...have to...find...my friends... she thought to herself as she tried to stand up, but the only limb not broken by her failed spell was her left arm. Her wings, legs, and right arm were badly broken. Even her horn was now almost completely broken, the pain was nearly unbearable. Still, she continued dragging herself through the wreckage of the train, desperate to find her friends, when Twilight heard somepony walking up behind her, she barely managed to flip herself over to see the badly injured - but still quite mobile - earkin stallion that had taken the firepony "hostage" earlier. The stallion was covered head-to-hoof in painful-looking cuts and bruises, his left leg was a twisted mess, and his breathing was ragged and forced, and his eyes were filled with rage.

"You cunt!" he bellowed at Twilight before lunging on top of her and wrapping his fingers tightly around her throat, determined to strangle the life out of the young mare. Twilight couldn't breathe, couldn't get away, and even if her horn wasn't so badly damaged, she had neither the strength or focus to cast even the simplest magic. Desperate, Twilight groped around with her left hand for something, anything she could use to save herself. That’s when she felt the bag of spicy pretzels Trixie had given her on Starlight's behalf. Thinking quickly, she reached into the bag and grabbed a handful of the now pulverized pretzels and threw the dust directly into the earkin's face, causing him to leap backward and up away from the princess, using his unbroken leg, and loudly scream in agony. As he stumbled backward in pain, Twilight fought to stay awake while using her remaining stamina to crawl away from the earkin, but she'd barely gotten a few feet away when he managed to wipe enough of the agonizing powder from his eyes to see her trying to escape and shouted at her, "Just where do you think your g-!?" he was silenced by a sizable pipe with enough force to kill him instantly.

"Son of a bitch!" a furious and badly battered Rainbow Dash snarled at the dead earkin, as she held onto the improvised weapon. Her wings seemed roughed up, but unbroken and she was barely able to walk. She had scrapes and bruises up and down her body, otherwise, though, her crash landing hadn't seemed to cause too much damage to her. "Heard that ass-hole screaming in pain and went to see what the deal was, found you here Twilight...Twilight!?" Rainbow tried to get her friend to respond, but Twilight's consciousness was fading quickly. As she turned her head toward a small, nearby patch of woods, Twilight saw what looked like a pony in a tattered, brown cloak watching her from just behind one of the trees, in her condition she couldn't be sure but he looked somewhat familiar.

"Shadow Lock?..." Twilight barely managed to whisper the name of the unicorn she and her friends had gone up against just three days earlier when everything went black.

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Ponyville (Ponyville General Hospital), April 18th, year 2, Reformation era, 12:43 PM -

Rainbow Dash was walking down one of the halls at Ponyville General on her way to see Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, who'd asked to speak with her just a short while ago. As Rainbow headed towards her destination, she was lost in thought over the accounts the others had given on their experiences during the attempt on the lives of her friends and her, still processing everything that had happened as of late. After Twilight had explained to everyone how Trixie's snacks had saved her life by buying her enough time for Rainbow to find her, it had hit Twilight that in her own words, "If it wasn't for those 'smelly pretzels' she’d be dead" and upon stating this fact out loud she'd burst into tears, and to everypony’s surprise, Trixie was the first to try to comfort the princess of friendship, with a tearful embrace. I Can't make up my mind which is more shocking. Twilight's life being saved by those crappy pretzels, or Trixie actually crying for Twilight and being nice to her for once... Rainbow thought to herself as she continued down the hallway.

She also thought about what Princess Celestia had said, "You should be well enough to travel in a few days, and as soon as you are, I want all of you to report to Canterlot Palace - that means the three of you as well," Celestia had said gesturing towards Spike, Starlight, and Trixie. "By then preparations should be complete, and we'll have some more long-term protection ready for you. Until then, all of you shall remain here together while Princess Luna personally stands guard over you, ," she'd informed them. When asked what she meant by "long-term protection" Celestia had told them, "Shining Armor and I have been busy picking out some of Equestria's best warriors to look after you until the culprits behind this attack are brought to justice," she'd then given another long pause before going on. "I've also sent word to an old friend of mine - somepony you were once acquainted with long ago Twilight," and when pressed for further information about who she was referring to, she had only answered, "He's a very skilled mercenary whom I trust dearly," Then before anyone could question her further, Celestia had left the room at a brisk pace, no doubt wanting to get back to choosing the aforementioned guards who would soon be watching over them.

I get the guard detail, but why some random merc? Is he some kind of ex-Wonderbolt or some freelance unicorn demon hunter? Maybe he's some ancient dragon warrior that helped the Princess defeat some horrible monster from a thousand years ago, or maybe he is some kind of horrible monster from a thousand years ago! Rainbow was so lost in thought she almost smacked right into the door to the small office where she was supposed to meet Spitfire. Rainbow let out a sigh and then knocked on the door, unsure of what to expect. She'd already been debriefed about the incident and had even filled out a detailed report on it (With twelve copies! Carbon paper won’t make that many copies, each had to be filled in by hand!), which had not been fun. Perhaps that was what this was about, maybe she'd made a mistake on it and Spitfire had come to personally chew her out over it?

Dash gulped as she heard a gruff, somewhat raspy, yet still clearly female voice bark from the other side of the door, "Come in!".Dash did as she was told and opened the door to find a brilliant gold pegasus mare with fiery hair, strong orange eyes somewhat obscured by a pair of dark aviators sunglasses, and wearing a dark-blue mare’s suit and tie, adorned with a myriad of service medals. "Ah, there you are Crash, have a seat," Spitfire said, addressing RD by her Wonderbolts handle, a name which had once been a great source of pain for her but had been redefined for her by the elite corps, and now was something she took great pride in. This caught Rainbow off guard, as she had expected to be yelled at for something, but even though Spitfire's voice still held a serious no-nonsense tone to it, there seemed to be just the slightest hint of gentleness barely audible within. Rainbow knew better than to make her commanding officer repeat herself, so she did as instructed and sat down in front of the desk, which according to the wooden nameplate facing her, belonged to a "Dr. Top". Though the silence hanging in the air felt like it went on forever to Dash, in reality, it was mere moments before Spitfire spoke again.

"I've read through your report, Crash," Spitfire said to Rainbow.

Celestia damn it, I did screw-up something in my report! Dash thought to herself, dread starting to sink in. "Sorry, ma’am! I'll do better ne-!" Rainbow was silenced with a wave of her superior's hand. Oh crap, now I'm really gonna get it! Dash thought as she braced herself for the dressing-down of the century, but it never came.

"Your work that day was exemplary, and we're all proud of you soldier," Spitfire said with a warm smile, leaving Rainbow Dash speechless, "From what's here in your report, and what we've learned from other reports regarding the events that took place during the April 15th incident, you performed admirably in the face of adversity. Overcoming incredible odds, keeping calm in the face of almost certain death, and even managing to save Princess Twilight Sparkle's life. You've done the Wonderbolts and your country proud!" Spitfire exclaimed. Dash sat there in stunned silence for the longest time, unsure of how to react. She’d been expecting some kind of scolding from the commander, not praise. Rainbow stared down at the floor, then quietly spoke up.

"T-thank you ma’am, but that's not really necessary, Twi- I mean Princess Twilight's my friend. I would have saved her and the others no matter what..." Dash's voice trailed off as she replied to her commander. "So...is there anything else ma’am?" Dash asked, eager to leave.

"There is," Spitfire said with a sigh, "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm going to just cut to the chase. I know this was the first time you ever had to kill anypony," she said as she removed her sunglasses, a concerned look on her face. "I came here to let you know, if you need to talk about it, the rest of the Wonderbolts and I are always ready and willing to listen. We've all been through this kind of thing before and we're all in this together, we're family Crash," Spitfire finished, a stern yet caring look in her eyes.

"Y-yeah, thanks but I'm cool!" said Rainbow as she shot up out of her seat, and turned to leave.

"Rainbow Dash...nopony is 'cool' after going through what you've gone through," Spitfire said, trying to reason with Dash. "It's not healthy for you or anypony around you to keep this all bottled up! You need to face this now while you have the chance before- !"

"Ma’am I'm fine, I don't need to talk about anything!" Dash interjected as she wrapped her fingers around the doorknob, panic in her voice. "Now I got a lot of stuff I got to do, so-!"

"You looked in their eyes, didn't you?" now it was Spitfire's turn to interrupt Rainbow Dash, stopping the blue pegasus cold in her tracks. "You can tell they're gone, that there isn't a soul behind them anymore, can't you? And the hardest part isn't even knowing that those eyes are empty because of you, it’s that if you hadn't done it, then they'd have killed you and your friends instead, and then your eyes would have been empty, just like theirs," Spitfire finished, recalling the first time she'd ever had to kill somepony. Rainbow stood there, paralyzed as her mind drifted back to that horrible day, and how she had indeed looked into the cold, lifeless eyes of one of her assailants. It had been the first one she had shot, she'd watched the light flicker out of his eyes as he laid there, bleeding out from the gunshot wound she'd put between his eyes. She'd put it there between his eyes, his lifeless eyes. Suddenly, Dash spun around and made a b-line for a nearby garbage can, barely making it in time for her to vomit into it.

Spitfire walked over to Dash's side as she hung her head over the edge, in case she needed to use it again, then Spitfire knelt down to Dash's level and put her hand on her shoulder. Rainbow slowly turned her head to meet Spitfire's gaze, tears streaming down her face and a small strand of saliva still hanging from her chin. "I-I killed them, I didn't want to and I tried not to kill as many of them as I could, but I still had to kill some of them, cause if I hadn't then me and my friends would have..." Dash couldn't bring herself to finish the statement, it was just too hard for her to right then. Rainbow then burst into tears as Spitfire embraced her, as RD sobbed, no longer able to contain her emotions.

"You'll be alright, I promise..." Spitfire said as she patted Rainbow Dash's back, she knew Dash needed to confront her pain now, while she was - at least relatively - safe at the moment, because who knew how long before she'd have the chance to do so again.

Chapter 2: Finished

Chapter 3: Taskforce Sigma

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, the Smoky Mountains (Just outside Cedarhoof village), April 17th, year 2, Reformation era, 5:23 PM -

Celestia's sun was beginning to set in the sky over a massive log cabin - or what was left of it, anyway. "Cedarhoof Manor" had been built by the pony who had founded the nearby logging community village long ago as a place for the enterprising, hardworking, and kindly lumberjack pony to live out his retirement. Nearly half a century after Cedarhoof's passing, however, it had become a bandit camp, from which the occupants had extorted the many neighboring small villages for almost everything they'd had in exchange for "protection". Now, the once immaculate wooden mansion was little more than shattered ruins, with the dead and dying bodies of said bandits strewn about, with a few flocks of buzzards, and several murders of crows that had arrived to feast upon the carnage. One large crow could be seen attending to one such corpse, though strangely enough, it wasn't picking at his flesh, instead it seemed to be picking through his pockets as if looking for something. This "crow" didn't seem normal at all, it's feathers were an almost black shade of dark cool-grey, it's beak and legs appearing to be metallic silver, and the sclera of its eyes was pitch black, with its irises glowing electric-blue.

This, however, was of little consequence to a surviving pegasus bandit, who was badly injured and crawling across the ground, desperately trying to get away from the site of the massacre. Celestia damn-it! he thought to himself as he continued to crawl for his life, the pain throughout his body was immeasurable, but his overwhelming fear was more than enough for him to power through it. How could one pony do all this? he wondered to himself as he recalled the battle, how he'd spotted a taller than average stallion coming up the path leading to their base. That just as he shouted a warning to his comrades the mystery stallion had taken aim at him with a strange looking handgun and shot him through the shoulder. That he'd been shocked by the range of the unusual gun, that he couldn't even tell how it was reloaded, or if it even was a revolver. Alerted to the attacker's arrival, his allies had then taken aim at the assailant with their rifles and fired - hitting him square in the chest - but it hadn't even drawn blood, and had barely slowed him down.

"Where do you think you're going friend? Leaving so soon? I won’t hear of it, the party’s just getting started!” said a figure behind the bandit, causing him to flip himself over, finally getting a close-up look at the stallion who had wrought all the destruction. He saw the attacker was wearing a long light cool-grey duster with matching cavalry hat and pants. His hat had a long string of shriveled, charred looking beads wrapped around it several times and tied off in the back, with each bead a different color. He also wore a strange-looking dark cool-grey armored vest across his chest which had a somewhat fabric-like texture to it, with matching greaves and gauntlet on his left arm, partially obscured by the sleeve of his duster, each bearing magical runes. The right sleeve of his duster was rolled up to his elbow, showing an unusual and ancient-looking dark-bronze colored contraption taking up most of his forearm and the back of his hand, and almost seemed to hum with magical energy, though it seemed to lack any visible runes. He was armed with a pair of sheathed, short katana swords, one crossed over the other in an x pattern below his lower back, about where his tail should have been and had a large shotgun holstered across his back.

Also among his armaments were numerous knives, bullets, clips, blades, pouches, as well as another pistol identical to the one the bandit had been shot with. As the bandit looked up at the figure's face, he saw everything from his throat to his nose was covered by a balaclava that matched his vest and had its own set of engravings. He then took note of what physical features the pony had beyond his equipment, and it became clear to him this wasn't a pony at all. Though his snow-white hair and pale skin weren't particularly odd, everything else about him - from his height to him having five fingers instead of four, to his lack of both a tail and equine ears, to his slightly shorter than normal muzzle - was very bizarre. Most shocking of all though were his eyes which were completely pitch black except for the irises, which brightly glowed an electric-blue, the likes of which the bandit had never seen before.

"Now, I'm only gonna ask you this nicely once. Where's the key to that chest you dick-stains swiped from Gravelfield?" the figure asked with an unnerving calmness to his voice, considering the bloodbath he'd just carried out.

"T-that's what t-this is about!?" the bandit asked in disbelief. "That chest the others took from that little village a few miles over!? I-I don't know I swear, b-but the chest is over -!" the bandit was silenced by the figure drawing his shotgun, putting the bandit in fear he was about to be shot.

"Hold on to that thought, sweetness," the figure said as he turned around to investigate a nearby sound, walking over to another bandit - this one a unicorn mare - and examined her for a moment. Then without warning, he put the muzzle of the shotgun to the back of her head and fired, then turned around and walked back to the now only remaining bandit, addressing him again. "Sorry ‘bout that Feathers, now where were we again? Ah yes, you'd just wasted my time by telling me something I already knew, *tut-tut-tut* for shame," the figure said with a mock tone to his voice. "You see tits-for-brains, I already found the God-damn chest when I used the fucker to try and flatten one of your buddy's heads - very effective by the way, FYI! But, it's enchanted as ball's and could take forever to crack and the people whose valuables you ass-wipes locked away in there kinda need in, sooner rather than later, you follow?" the figure explained. "So since you apparently don't have any useful information for me..." the figure said as he aimed his shotgun at the bandit, preparing to shoot him when the strange crow, which had been searching one of the dead bandits earlier, let out a loud caw. The figure lowered his weapon and addressed the bird, "Wait, you found it Huginn? Haha, it's your lucky day shit-bag!" the figure said, holstering his shotgun and rushing over to the bandit to pat him on the shoulder, much to the bandit's surprise.

"S-so you're not gonna kill me?" the bandit asked with a hopeful tone in his voice.

"Nope, not killing you! See, I'm on a tight schedule and have to get this stuff back to the townspeople you guys stole it from ASAP. But seeing as how Huginn found the key, I've got plenty of time to drop you off at the nearest dungeon and get the chest and this key over to Gravelfield!" the figure happily explained, as Huginn flew overhead and dropped said key into his outstretched hand. At that moment, the figure felt something vibrating in his pocket, he then reached his hand in and pulled out a small golden lighter with Celestia's crest emblazoned on it. "Could ya give me a minute here, Feathers?" the figure asked the bandit - who by now was leaning back against the small remains of a wall - who eagerly shook his head in agreement. The figure then flipped the lighter's switch and out of a puff of golden flames, appeared a letter and a recent issue of the Canterlot Chronicle, the frontline of which read

Princess in Peril!

Twilight Attacked On Train

The figure then quickly read the letter, after which he turned back to the bandit, a grim look in his eye as he spoke, "Sorry, change of plans," he said as he stretched out his right hand. Under his wrist from the device on his arm, he shot a long thin string looking as if it were composed of hot embers, which pinned itself to a nearby revolver lying on the ground, and then retracted itself, bringing the weapon to the figure's hand.

With the weapon in hand he took aim at the bandit, "But you said you'd let me live!" the bandit shouted at the figure, fear evident in his voice.

"Yeah, I wonder how many times someone you held at gunpoint said the same thing to you before they died?" the figure said as he cocked the weapon and prepared to shoot.

"Please let me live, I'll do anything, I'll confess to all the stuff me and the other's did, I'll never do anything bad again for the rest of my life, please!" the bandit pleaded with the figure, sincerity mixed with fear in his voice.

"Oh, stow it!" The figure barked at the now sobbing bandit, "I said I was on a tight schedule and had just enough time to take care of you and the chest, not you, the chest, and this!" he said shaking the paper at the bandit. "This and the people of Gravelfield are priority number one, not you! Besides, we both know scum like you never change, trust me, I know that firsthand!" the figure explained. The bandit opened his mouth, reaching his hand out to him, as he tried to reason with the figure one last time, but he never got the chance as the sound of a gunshot pierced the orange and red sky, the bandit's hand falling to his side, lifeless. The figure then turned around as he tossed the stolen weapon aside, he couldn't help but feel...something...guilt maybe? No, couldn't be that, surely. No, it had to be irritation at the fact Celestia had asked him to rescue Twilight of all ponies and her damn friends!

Celestia had to know he hadn't forgiven Twilight for what happened at the potion exam all those years ago - let alone her most recent transgression - even though the princess of the sun and him had recently started patching their relationship together, this was pushing it. The figure was brought back to reality by Huginn perching himself on his shoulder, the bird then turned and cawed at him, and though the figure's ears did indeed hear a “caw”, something very different reverberated throughout his mind. "Jesus Rainstorm, that was a bit excessive, don't you think?" the words echoed throughout the figure's mind as the bird let-out another caw, "I know he wasn't exactly Mr. Rogers, but still...that was ruthless, even for you..." echoed the voice in Rainstorm's head with earnest concern. Then Huginn cawed at Rainstorm again, "Killing someone in the heat of battle is one thing, but that was too much! You're a merc, not an executioner! You think Celestia will be happy about this when she finds out -!?" Huginn's lecture was cut short by Rainstorm shoving the paper in front of him, causing the bird to nearly fall off his perch. "What, when!? I told you we should read the paper more often you idiot!" Huginn communicated to Rainstorm through a squawk, "Still, this doesn't excuse your behavior!"

"Pipe down you glorified pigeon!" Rainstorm snapped at the bird as he swatted him off his shoulder, "Mom-horse asked me to head to Canterlot Palace pronto, so we don't have the time to go to the nearest damn dungeon and return the stolen goods! If I had to guess, I'd say she wants me to hunt down whoever's behind it and bring them down, before Twilight gets crossed out by whomever it is that - let's be honest - would probably be doing everyone a favor. However, as much as I hate to admit it, Twilight and her friends' safety is a matter of national security - due in large part to the fact that if there is a God, he must have a sick-fuckin' sense of humor!" Rainstorm shouted angrily at no one in particular.

"Alright -a number of things I need to complain about!" Huginn communicated to Rainstorm through another caw.

Here we go... Rainstorm thought to himself as he let out a groan and pinched the bridge of his nose between his tightly shut eyes.

Then Huginn began to caw, the meaning behind the noise echoing through Rain's head, "First off, 'glorified pigeon', really? Not sure but I think that was racist - yeah, calling it racist! Secondly, I could have you fined for animal cruelty, swatting me off like that! Thirdly, that still doesn't give you the right to just kill someone who's LITERALLY begging for their life, period! Fourthly, -!"

"For the love of all the saints, in all of Christendom, will you please, please, please, kindly shut the holy-fuckn'-hell up, you sad-assed excuse for a cat toy!?" Rainstorm rudely interrupted the bird, pleading with him for silence. If looks alone could kill, the one Rain's feathered companion shot him at that moment would have left only a gaping, smoldering crater, thousands of miles in both width and depth, right where he was standing. Ignoring this, however, Rainstorm began to explain as he headed towards the enchanted, bloodstained chest among the ruins of the manor. "First off, I've called you sooo much worse than 'glorified pigeon'! Secondly, yeah, if you were an animal, then you could get me for 'animal cruelty' - and rightfully so! But we both know the only thing I'd get for swatting your candy-ass is maybe a lecture against self-harm - at most! Thirdly, the people at Gravelfield need that stuff back before tomorrow morning, or Rich Incorporated, buys-out their land. Sadly I can't find any sign of law-breaking on this Filthy Rich guy's part, so the only way we save these folks is getting this chest and key to them immediately - if not sooner!" Rain said as he hoisted the massive chest up over his head, which was an easy task thanks to its enchantments lowering its weight to only a few pounds whenever someone held on to the handle.

"And finally, even without this business with Tirek serving as proof that monsters - whether made of parts from one type of creature or several - never change, we saw all the evidence of it at Fort Jagged, or did you forget!?" Rainstorm finished as he stared at Huginn, waiting for his response. The bird was silent for a long time as he followed behind Rain Storm as they headed down the trail toward Cedarhoof village, where their transportation awaited them. A memory came to Huginn - that of Rain on his knees, weeping as he cradled a small, badly mutilated figure in his arms - when he finally answered, it was with a mournful sounding caw.

"No...I haven't forgotten..." Huginn replied as he landed on Rainstorm's shoulder once again, "How could either of us ever forget?...".

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Canterlot (Canterlot Palace), April 21st, year 2, Reformation era, 10:49 AM -

It was a bright sunny morning as Twilight, Spike, and the other elements of harmony, along with Starlight and Trixie were escorted to the Canterlot Palaces throne room by Princess Luna, Celestia's younger sister and co-leader of the Equestrian parliament. Luna was slightly shorter than her sister, and had dark-blue skin, cyan eyes and long flowing ethereal hair resembling a starry night sky on her head and tail, and seemed to have a barely visible dark aura, as well as a runic crescent moon crest on her chest. She wore a beautiful long, black dress with a silver belt around her waist with a cyan stone in the middle, an ancient-looking sheathed sword resembling a katana hanging on the right. She also wore a silver bertha and armbands, each with their own cyan-colored stone. Though not completely healed from the attack on the train, the elements had recovered enough to travel, and though still fairly shook up seemed to be in good spirits, talking to one another as they headed to their destination. "Why do ponies always gotta pick a fight with us!? It's getn' to be so a filly can't even ride the train in peace!" Applejack said angrily as she snorted.

"Ruffians! Perhaps the next time we travel we should just have you bring some lawn equipment for protection?" Rarity said with a wink to AJ, recalling how once while they'd been in Manehattan trying to resolve a friendship problem involving a community theatrical performance in the park, someone had made the mistake of getting on the country mare's bad side. Applejack had been working all day in the park, trying to fix it up for the event - something it desperately needed - when a stranger had walked up to her, demanding all of her bits for use of "his" park. Applejack, having already had a long, exhausting day, had shown a great deal of mercy and restraint when she'd politely offered enough for him to get some lunch with, in exchange for leaving her alone. His response was to pull a switchblade on her and attack, but before he could do any harm, Applejack had reacted by slamming the back of her fist into his face, then had beat him using the shovel she'd been working with, hospitalizing him.

"Darn straight filly!" Applejack agreed. "We Apples are not to be trifled with! Though, I think poor Big Mac nearly had a heart attack when he found out what happened," AJ said, feeling sorry for her older brother as she remembered the look of shock and horror on his face when she'd told him about the attack on the train.

"Didn't Big Mac just get home yesterday?" asked Starlight. "Seems like it took him quite a while to deliver that last shipment of apples," she said, confused.

"Yeah I know, I admit I was confused 'bout it myself for a spell, but I think what it is, is he's done found himself a special somepony," AJ explained, a slight hint of excitement in her voice.

"Yeah, Cheerilee," Rainbow Dash said with absolute certainty. Applejack covered her mouth with her hand as she started to snicker, leaving Rainbow somewhat confused. "What's so funny AJ?" RD asked her friend.

"You think Mac and Cheerilee are an item? Ha, at least it seems to work on some ponies!" AJ said with a chuckle.

"What are you talking about? I've seen Mac and Cheerilee together loads of times, I've even seen them flirt with each other!" Rainbow protested!

"Sugar-cube, the reason they hang out together so much, is that they've been best friends since they were foals! As for the flirtin' they do with each other, it's cause they both kept getn' hit on so much that they started actin' like a couple to try to get ponies to leave them alone. Didn't really help Big Mac out that much, but it got ponies to back off of Cheerilee, and they started havin’ a laugh out of it from messin' with everypony, so they kept it up," Applejack explained.

"Wait, are you absolutely sure they're not together, like one-hundred percent sure!?" Dash said, a slight hint of desperation in her voice.

"Sure-as-shootin' sugar-cube! Truth is I don't know if Cheerilee's ever gone out with anypony - on a real date anyway - now that I thank of it," Applejack stated, recalling to the best of her knowledge she'd never heard of the school teacher mention any significant other in all the time she'd known her.

"So they've really never dated, ever?" Dash asked one last time, a barely noticeable tone of defeat in her voice.

"Nope, but like I said, I'm pretty sure Big Mac's finally found himself a filly he's interested in out of town," Applejack said noting her brother had been making a lot of solo apple deliveries to Starlight Glimmers old town. As the group headed onward, Rainbow Dash was left behind thinking to herself, Don't worry, it's been ages since then, no way she'll re-. Dash was brought back to reality by the tapping of a booted hoof behind her, and as she slowly turned around, she was sure she knew the source of it. Sure enough, there was Fluttershy, tapping her boot on the floor, her hand outstretched as if waiting for something, a smug look on her face.

"Son of a bitch," RD swore in defeat as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small gold coin with the Equestrian seal in silver on one side, and a Canterian numeral five on the other - also in silver - and handed it to Fluttershy.

"Thank you," said Fluttershy, having won the longstanding bet with her friend, who had wagered five bits, Cheerilee and Big Mac would be getting married next. Shortly after Cranky and Matilda's wedding, Rainbow Dash had pressured Fluttershy into a bet that, ironically, she was now the winner of. "I tried to tell you they were just friends, but you just wouldn't listen, would you?" Fluttershy stated as she pocketed the money.

"But how did you know?" asked Rainbow.

Fluttershy was deathly silent for a short while before responding, "Well...you remember that one time a few years back during my first cider season?" she asked Rainbow, who nodded yes as she recalled treating her best friend to her first alcoholic beverage. "Well, as we found out the hard way, I can't really hold my liquor all that well...and...well... I might have kind of drunkenly asked Cheerilee out...and she kind of told me 'No'," Fluttershy said as she put on a forced smile, her whole face turning a deep crimson, "But she was very polite about it!" she quickly added.

"But how does that tell you that she and Mac weren't a thing?" Dash asked, still quite puzzled.

"Well, I may have been drunk enough to ask my crush out, but I wasn't so drunk that getting turned down by her didn't hurt," Fluttershy continued to explain, "After she shot me down I ran off to cry and seeing how upset I was she realized that I wasn't just looking for a one night stand and ran after me to make sure I'd be ok. Once I was sober enough she explained that it had nothing to do with me and that she just isn't able to feel that way about anypony," she finished.

"So, is she asexual or something?" Rainbow asked.

"Umm-hum. Sadly, even after explaining it to most ponies that tried hitting on her, a lot of them seemed to either not understand or not care, so after a while, she and Big Mac must have started pretending to be together. It probably wouldn't stop most ponies from coming onto Big Mac, however as big and tough as he looks it probably was enough of a deterrent for a lot of them to leave Cheerilee in peace," Fluttershy surmised.

"Sorry, she wouldn't go out with you Flutters," Rainbow apologized to her friend.

"Oh my, don't worry about it Dashy, It was years ago and I've gotten over it. Besides, I may not have gotten the girl, but at least I was able to make a wonderful new friend," Fluttershy said with a happy smile.

"Wait a minute, if you knew they weren't together, then why'd you let me make that bet?" Rainbow Dash asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Again, I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't shut up and listen to me for five seconds so I gave up trying to reason with you and played along," Fluttershy said, now with a hint of irritation in her voice. "I actually would have been happy to let it go and forget about the whole thing, but you're just so stubborn sometimes. You really need to learn to listen more often when somepony's trying to tell you something," she said, somewhat scolding Dash. Rainbow opened her mouth to interject, but quickly shut it and let out a sigh.

"*sigh* You're right Fluttershy, guess I do still need to work on that, huh?" Rainbow said, looking up and giving her friend a weak smile. Fluttershy returned the smile and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She knew Dash hadn't meant any harm by it. Though she tended to be a bit more patient with her, Rainbow still needed to learn to be more patient with others and just in general. The two then sped up to rejoin the others.

"Are you ready my friends?" Luna asked the party once they reached their destination, and as soon as they nodded their heads yes, she opened the large double doors to the throne room. It was a massive and immaculate room with gorgeous stained-glass windows - a few of which depicted the victories of the elements in their adventures. A row of large white columns lined up in a row which led to a beautiful golden throne, from which rose Celestia to greet them, she was not the only one present though. Luna led her charges into the room to meet her sister and those who were with her, all while a figure looked on above from the trusses. "Greetings my sister!" Luna happily exclaimed as she and Celestia embraced.

"I've missed you Luna, and you as well," Celestia said, breaking away from the hug to look at the new arrivals.

"I've missed you too, Princess!" Twilight said as she ran over to hug her longtime mentor as well.

"Hey kid, how about me?" said a taller than normal white unicorn stallion in a lighthearted manner. He had shoulder-length dark-blue hair with streaks of light-blue running through it, cerulean eyes and wore a red vest with a gold-colored neck and cuffs with white pants, black dress shoes, and a brown leather belt.

"Oh, I could never forget my big brother!" Twilight said as she turned to give Shining Armor a tight hug. She then looked to see another pony slightly taller than her approach, bearing a crest resembling a crystal heart with gold tassel beneath it on her chest. She was an alicorn mare with light pink skin, light-purple eyes, and long violet hair with rose and light-gold streaks through it, and her attire consisted of a beautiful ruby-colored dress with a carmine bodice, and gold armbands with matching shoes. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza - or Cadance as the princess of love was most often called - was next to receive a hug from Twilight Sparkle.

"How's my favorite sister-in-law?" Cadance asked as the two ended the hug.

"I've been better..." Twilight said glumly.

"I know Twilight, but it will get better, I promise," Cadance said as she stroked Twilight's cheek reassuringly.

"Starting with the protection the princess and I have lined up for you!" Shining Armor proclaimed, and with that Princess Celestia nodded and turned her head in the direction of a door in the far left corner behind her throne.

"If you would be so kind as to introduce yourselves," Celestia spoke gently yet loudly in the direction of the door, which opened a few seconds later as five individuals entered through it. Except for one, they all wore armor which looked very much like the Equestrian standard issue, closely resembling ancient Roman armor but with many design features that wouldn't look out of place on a modern battlefield. Instead of silver or gold, however, the mythril armor was painted black, leaving the type of mythril used in its construction a mystery. The nearly six-foot-tall soldier in front looked much like a thin, male griffin with large wings and big dark-violet eyes, but with a mostly green color pattern, and the slightly larger beak of a parrotany and he lacked any talons. The second soldier to enter was also a male, taller than Celestia and had somewhat pig-like features including a pig-like snout, ears, and light-pink skin, he was also heavyset and had two big tusks, light-brown eyes and was nearly bald save for a short grey ponytail. The third soldier - this one a five-foot female armed to the teeth - was a gnoll, with prominent canine features such as her very short dark-cool-grey fur, long flowing grey and white hair, long dog-like muzzle, and whose glowing red irises took up most of her large eyes.

Next up was a light-brown older looking stallion with long white hair, wearing orange robes and bandages over his eyes and forehead, carrying a golden staff taller than him, with blood-red runes on it and two glowing light-blue crystals deeply embedded at either end. Finally, entered a grey pegasus mare with green eyes who had long light-blue hair and a big warm smile across her face. They all lined up side-by-side at attention in front of the throne, and as they faced the double-doors, sounded off starting with the one on the far left.

"Technical Sergeant Jasper Emerald - aerial combat specialist for the EAF - reporting for duty!" shouted the green avian.

"Major General Boris Swinelee - expert military strategist for the southern division of the EPU - reportin' for duty!" shouted the largest soldier.

"Second Lieutenant Bezuchastnyy Belizna - weapons and explosives expert with Equestrian eastern border defense - reporting for duty!" The gnoll woman shouted.

"I am Mángdán Kàndào Duō, the High-Priest-In-Waiting of Mén tú de Wùzōng máo Monastery and am well disciplined in numerous different martial arts. I am most honored to meet you," the old monk said as he gave a small polite bow.

"Private Grey Breeze...I'm good at things...normally...also reporting for duty..." said the pegasus at the far end, causing three of her comrades to roll their eyes. Though most of the elements and their friends simply looked confused at each other, Rainbow Dash stared, open-mouth at the five figures in front of them. Though she didn't recognize the monk or the pegasus, she knew the other names from hearing them at the academy.

Cannonball Boris, Death's wings Jasper, and the Butcher of Canyon Road!? Those three are EPU legends, if the princess asked them to look after us, things must be worse than I thought! The hell is going on? Rainbow thought to herself. "Wait a minute, if you're our protection, then why the heck's some random merc getting put in charge?- Err, with all due respect!" RD said, straightening up as she remembered that not only was she in the presence of the other three princesses, but also in the presence of Equestrian military heroes who might not be as forgiving.

"You can relax, soldier, as long as we're your guards, ya don't have to be so uptight 'round us," Borus said with a genuinely friendly tone. "As for why we're taken' orders from a merc, it's because from what we can tell, the attack was carried out by mercs - damn good ones, I'd wager. So Princess Celestia decided to fight fire with fire and call on the best merc she could think of, one she knew personally and trusted with her life. That 'bout sum it up your majesty?" he finished as he turned to Celestia, who nodded in agreement.

"Exactly, and now that they've introduced themselves, why don't you come out now!?" Celestia said raising her voice enough she was sure everyone in the room could hear her.

"But I still don't get it, just who did you put in char- ah!" Rainbow was interrupted when a three-bladed fan-like weapon flew past her face so close it sliced off a few of the hairs on her head , before flying upward through the air and into the outstretched hand of a figure standing on the trusses, all dressed in grey.

"An idiot," answered the figure as he put the weapon away, then leaped down to the floor and upon landing, the runes on his greaves lit up for an instant as a faint wave of energy could be seen escaping as a ripple.

He just has to make an entrance... Shining thought to himself, rolling his eyes as the figure stood up from his landing.

"H-hey, you could kill somepony like that, you jerk!" Dash angrily snapped at Rainstorm.

"Doesn't seem like I'd have to try all that hard, Feathers," Rain said coldly as he stared into the blue pegasi's eyes.

"Why you, I don't know what your deal is, but if you're here to start trouble, I'll beat the crap out of you!" Dash shouted, enraged by Rain's callous demeanor.

"Any time Feathers" said Rain Storm as he held up his right arm and motioned with his hand for her to come at him, trying to goad Rainbow Dash into action; and it worked. Before anyone could stop her, Rainbow gave a confident sneer and charged at Rainstorm, who proceeded to use the device on his arm to near-instantly generate and propel a net made of glowing embers at her just as he jumped out of the way. Before Rainbow knew what had happened, she was ensnared in the net, which surprisingly enough though warm was nowhere as hot as it looked. Unable to flap her wings, RD came crashing down onto the floor and skidded a few feet before Rain latched onto her with the device, dragging her back toward him. Once she was at his feet he drew one of his twin pistols, putting it to the back of her head, and before she could react it was too late.

"Bang!" Rain shouted while still keeping his gun against the back of Rainbow's head. "Your dead, Feathers...or maybe your friends are, cause with you as my hostage, I can make them do anything I want, anything, beat each other, run away...even strip. Or I could order the little hayseed over there to take that knife of hers and remove her friends' wings and horns, then get rid of her knife with the promise that I wouldn't hurt you. Of course, if they didn't comply, I'd just take a knife of my own and start slicing things off - things I'm sure you'd miss - until they obeyed. Then once I was sure that they couldn't fight back I'd kill them one-by-one and then you, all because you lost your temper," Rainstorm said, causing RD and her friend's eyes to widen at his words.

Rain then holstered his pistol as he stood up, and a second later the net crumbled into ashes which then vanished completely allowing Rainbow to stand up. "And that's what I can do all by my-lonesome, let alone if I had backup with me. Each of you have the strength, speed, and skill to where all of you should be able to take care of yourselves, but no instead some poor shmuck along with these poor shmucks - no offense -" Rainstorm said to the five soldiers as he gestured toward them, "- now have to babysit you sorry six and your dumb-ass friends, all at taxpayers expense! Oh yeah, no offense," Rain said dismissively to Spike, Starlight, and Trixie as something of an afterthought.

"Wait a minute? A merc dressed all in grey, with advanced firearms, two short drakana swords, black eyes with glowing blue irises, and an artifact on his right arm that makes things out of ash. Your Rainstorm, aren't you!?" Rainbow asked.

"Give the lady a cigar! Looks like all those face-first landings into the ground haven't knocked all your brains out -yet," Rain chortled.

"W-wait, is it really you, Rain?" Everypony turned to see Twilight staring at Rain in disbelief.

"So the Princess of Friendship deigns to remember her old alchemy partner, well aren't I just the luckiest damn human on all of Gimlé? - (mostly because I'm the only human on Gimlé)!" Rain added under his breath.

"Wow Twilight, you're telling me you know Rainstorm, and he's a human!?" RD asked bewildered. It was true, Twilight had indeed gone to school with a white-haired human boy who had black eyes with blue irises, but he'd gone by another name at the time.

Twilight was quiet for a moment then spoke, "Well, back when I knew him, he went by Raind-".

"Well it's 'Rainstorm' now, and you of all people don't have any right to talk about my past, understand?" Rain interjected, promptly shutting Twilight up, she couldn't help but wonder why Rain was here, it couldn't be... "Thank God these D-bags are their headache and not mine!" Rainstorm said gesturing toward the elite soldiers with his head, "I kind of feel sorry for the poor dick-stain that has to lead this sad excuse for a circus!"

"Rainstorm, you should know that -" Celestia was interrupted by the merc as he addressed her.

"All I need to know Princess is ‘who it is...who do you want me to kill?’ " Rainstorm said in an unfeeling manner.

"Well actually, I -" Celestia was interrupted again.

"How can you talk about killing ponies so...so...so nonchalantly!?" Twilight spoke up angrily, she'd been feeling sorry for Rainstorm considering their past and had cut him a break where his earlier actions with Rainbow were concerned - believing he'd simply been trying to make an important point - but this? "Celestia would never hire somepony just to kill anypony!"

"That's just it though Twilight, I -" once again Celestia was cut off by Rainstorm.

"Well aren't we naïve? Listen 'princess', unlike some weak-assed wanna-be rulers, Celestia has the spine to do what needs to be done! You know, unlike some people who have the power to take out a whole squad of hostiles in an instant, but prefer to play the damsel in distress! Fuckn' Hell, I'm glad I'm not stuck with your candy-ass!"

"But that's what I'm trying to tell you -!" Celestia - now clearly starting to lose her patience - was then interrupted again by Twilight.

"You think I let this happen!? Just because some of us aren't cold-blooded murderers like you, yo- !"

"Will the both of you be quiet!" Celestia roared using her "royal Canterlot voice" causing the entire palace to shake as if in an earthquake, and ponies out in the streets to be able to hear her, followed by dead silence. She then took a few calming breaths before speaking again - this time with her normal tone of voice. "Rainy, Sweetie, you're the one in charge of the task force," she said with an almost motherly tone. Rainstorm just stared at her in silent disbelief for almost a minute before he heard a flamboyant voice addressing him with a mocking tone.

"Guess that makes you the 'dick-stain', Sweet-pea!" Jasper cheerfully said to Rain with a wink. Another minute passed, and then the merc finally responded.

"Geahh!" Rain screamed so loudly he could be heard throughout the palace, "No-no-no-no - oh, and by the way, before I forget, FUCK NO!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, his pale face turning a shade of crimson with rage. "There is noooo way in Hell, Tartarus, limbo, the moon, or any-fucking-where else that you or anyone could ever make me babysit these technicolor assholes if my very soul depended on it - and that time I meant all the goddamn offense possible!" he shouted as he gestured toward the elements, all of whom certainly did seem to take offense at his words. Well, he's taking it better than I'd dared to imagine he would. I thought for sure he'd use one of his guns to shoot out a window, repel down to the courtyard, and make a break for it. Celestia thought to herself, an exasperated expression on her face. She then attempted to calm Rain down.

"Look Rainstorm, this is a matter of national security, we need you on this," Celestia said, trying to reason with Rain.

"Then why don't you assign more soldiers to this, leave Borus in charge, and leave me the Hell alone, or did you forget the little fact that 'your most faithful student' stabbed me in the back!?", Rain asked Celestia before continuing his rant, "I'm leaving now, because if you think I'd ever do jack-shit for Twilight or anyone that she'd call a friend then guess again, because on the day I decide to be her little servant-boy, answering her beck and call - on that day...I'll send your happy glowy ass a postcard! Until then, however..." With that, Rainstorm turned on his heel and started toward the door when a voice called out to him.

"Please Rain..." Shining said pleadingly.

Oh, he wouldn't... Rainstorm thought to himself as he turned to face the unicorn prince.

"I've never asked you for anything like this before, and she's my little sister, so I'm asking you now -" Shining Armor continued.

Don't you dare even think of it you-! Rain thought, screaming inside his head at Shining as he talked, but before he could finish the thought, Shining finished his sentence.

"- as my best friend" Shining finished. With that, the room fell deathly quiet for a moment, then Rainstorm finally replied.

"You asshole..." Rain said quietly, "Playing the best friend card like that... *sigh* How could I refuse, you jerk?" he relented, a tired look in his eyes.

"So you'll do it!?" Shining asked hopefully.

"Only under certain conditions!" Rain demanded, "First off, I'm not calling Twilight 'princess' or 'your highness' or anything like that - same goes for her friends - I'm the one calling the shots, not them! Got it?" he said, motioning again at the elements, "And another thing, I'm not a friggin charity - I'd damn well better be paid and paid well, understood!?" Rain finished as he pointed a finger at Celestia.

Who the hell does this asshole think he is - talking to the princess like that? Rainbow thought to herself angrily as the merc made his demands. Dash was furious - at herself for letting this guy beat her so easily, and at him, for the way he was talking to everyone - especially her friends -, as well as at the fact Princess Celestia was letting him get away with it. I don't care if Twilight 'stabbed him in the back', that doesn't give him the right t- wait a minute! It had suddenly occurred to her what Rain had said about Twilight. What did he mean by that? What happened between them when they were younger and did Shining just call him his 'best friend'? How the Hell do they know each other? Rainbow pondered to herself as Celestia spoke.

"I already figured this would be pricey, so do try to calm down will you?" Celestia said as she rolled her eyes at Rain. She then walked over to him and held out a small brown, burlap pouch, which he accepted - the weight of which caught the merc off guard. When he inspected its contents he was surprised to see what must have been more than sixty golden coins, each emblazoned with the Equestrian royal seal on one side and the symbol "L" on the other. "One-thousand five-hundred bits a week, with a one time two-thousand bits bonus if you accept the job now," she said to a speechless Rainstorm. He wasn't the only one shocked by the amount, Huginn - who had been perched on the trusses above them - nearly fell off, the five soldiers' eyes widened in disbelief, and the elements and their friends stared open-mouthed at Celestia.

Holy crap! Rainstorm thought to himself, What's in my hand right now is more than I usually make per bounty, let alone what I'll have earned in a month of this job!, he continued mulling it over in his mind. He knew depending on who they were dealing with, a job like this would either last for about a month, or it could last a few years. A few years..., it had suddenly dawned on him just what he'd gotten himself into, months - possibly years being stuck with Twilight and her friends. Rain gulped hard as he realized he'd just walked into the fifth circle of Hell - at least -, but it was for his best friend, Money or no, I'm already in. I promised Shining, and I won't let him down when he needs me the most - not again!, he thought to himself. *sigh* "That should just cover it," Rain said to Celestia.

"Now then, if I'm to be in charge of this group, I'll need to know more about my new comrades-in-arms," Rain said as he walked up to Grey Breeze and stared intently into her eyes. Her eyes darted around the room as she chuckled nervously, at which point Rain noticed a strange shimmer in her eyes, causing him to smile from beneath his balaclava, as he drew one of his guns out and pointed it right at her head. The seemingly unprovoked act of hostility caused the elements to look at him in shock, before taking an offensive stance - ready to save the soldier from the maniac.

The kid’s still got it... Boris thought to himself, as he looked on.

It’s not surprising he caught her so easily. It's hardly her best work. Belizna thought to herself, unimpressed by the merc's achievement.

"H-hey there now, let's not do anything too hasty, ok!?" Grey Breeze pleaded nervously, as Rainstorm continued to point his gun at her head.

"Then drop the act, before I drop you!" Rain demanded as he cocked his gun, the pegasus then turned to look at Celestia as if for advice, to which Celestia calmly nodded her head.

"Ohh - damn it!" the grey pegasus swore just before being consumed by what appeared to be blue and white flames, and an instant later, the pegasus was gone - replaced by an insectoid-like, pony-looking creature. The changeling before them appeared to be female and had a pale green head, neck, arms, and legs. Her torso was pale yellow and looked to be covered in hardened plates, with three purplish-pink crystal-looking objects just under her neck, matching the casing around her wings. Her tail - looking somewhat like an insect's wings - was also purplish-pink, as were the insides of the long, pointy ears on her head, which had an antenna in front of them each. She had two large deep-blue eyes - resembling two sapphires - just underneath which were several tiny black speckles, giving her the appearance of having freckles. "How'd you know!?" the changeling asked a tone of genuine curiosity in her voice.

"Changelings can look like damn near anyone or anything, but I noticed something about your people, there are things you can't disguise. I noticed that your auras stay the same no matter what form you take, that they flare whenever you shapeshift, and that a 'reformed' changeling's auras are blue and white, while a 'parasitic' changeling’s are green and white. Perhaps most important of all, I've noticed that when disguised as someone else, whenever your eyes catch the reflection of the light, the shimmer reveals both which type of changeling you are, and what your eyes look like underneath," Rain Storm explained. "Think of it as a sort of...a 'changeling tell'. Now it's your turn - start talking," Rain threatened, still brandishing the pistol.

"Chitny - freelance espionage specialist and expert saboteur!" the changeling shouted as she saluted. Rainstorm raised an eyebrow at her, and as if reading his mind she immediately spoke up, "In my defense, I only got Celestia's summons less than a half-hour ago, if I'd had at least forty minutes, I would have come up with a much better cover!" This, in turn, caused everyone in the room to turn and look at the princess of the sun, who then looked off in a corner, scrunching up her nose as she did so. "So...are we good?" Chitny asked Rain, drawing everyone's attention back to the two of them, as he pondered the changeling's words for a moment before responding.

"Sure!" Rainstorm answered her as he holstered his gun, "But next time, just be straight with me. I don't much care what species any of you are from, all I care about is that you're honest with me, that you're good at your job, and that you're committed. Beyond that, I don't give a damn what's in your blood or between your legs, ok?" Rain explained to Chitny, as well as everyone else in the room. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, how about you tell me more about yourself?" Rain asked Chitny. He then looked up just in time to catch a thick binder full of papers tossed to him by Shining Armor, and upon inspection, he realized it contained detailed information about both his charges, the task force members, and the attack on the Friendship Express.

"That contains everything you'll need to know to do your job!" Shining explained happily to Rain. Rain looked over the binder and noticed the cover read in bold print ponish letters, 'Taskforce Sigma'.

"Taskforce Sigma, huh?..." Rain read the name of the cover out loud.

"Knowing you, I thought that if nothing else you'd think it sounded cool," Cadance said, smiling at Rain, "And that's not all, read the section on Chitny, I think you'll like what it has to say about her," she instructed him. He complied, and upon reading her dossier, his jaw dropped. Knowing full well by the look in his eyes he'd found what she'd wanted him to, Cadance spoke, "It was Shining's idea!"

"You're that Chitny!?" Rain asked Chitny, staring at her as if she were some strange, otherworldly creature.

"Yes, yes I am!" Chitny said proudly as she puffed out her chest.

"Holy crap Shiny, I love you man!" Rain said with a hearty laugh. "And you, I am so, so sorry about the whole 'gun-in-your-face' thing, do-over?" he asked Chitny pleadingly as he held out his hand.

"Sure, I've never been one to hold a grudge!" Chitny said happily as she accepted Rainstorm's hand in a strong handshake.

"Uh...I'm confused, are you famous for something?" Pinkie asked, having been quiet for far longer than was normal for her and had gotten tired of it. Rain was about to chastise the pink earkin for not recognizing the name, but then recalled he'd missed the obvious himself, and had even less of an excuse, so he took a deep breath and answered her calmly.

"Chitny is one of the 'Wilder Three' - living legends among the mercenary community," he explained.

"Wait, you mean the Wilder Three!?" Rainbow asked, clearly shocked by the revelation, "They're the most awesome mercenaries ever!" Dash shouted in excitement, having gone full fan-girl.

Well shit, she actually knows her stuff. Rain thought to himself as he listened to RD go on about the Wilder Three. In truth, he was still kicking himself over not recognizing Chitny's name sooner, though that's not the only thing that should have tipped him off. The Wilder Three had been his childhood heroes - Celestia having told him stories of their exploits every night before bed. The stern donkey, the keen-witted lamia, and the stealthy shape-shifter - together they formed a team of unstoppable heroes who saved Equestria innumerable times, often from seemingly impossible odds. These stories had wowed Rain as a child and now he'd finally get to work with one of them, it was a dream come true! "Shiny you bastard!" Rain exclaimed happily, "I'd kiss you, but I don't want Cadance getting jealous!" he joked, causing Cadance to chuckle and Shining to groan as he face-palmed. "Well now that I know who you really are, would you mind telling me why you agreed to join the task force?" Rainstorm asked Chitny.

"I just want to protect ponies - always have," Chitny answered truthfully, "With everything that's been going on lately, if anything were to happen to the elements of harmony, Equestria would be in serious danger. Besides, with all the lives they've saved I think they deserve to have someone take care of them for a change," Chitny finished. Rain thought about arguing that last point with her, but decided against it and instead moved on to Mángdán Kàndào Duō.

"So, what's your story? What kind of battlefield experience do you have? What gets you out of bed and into those robes every day, hum?" Rain asked the old monk, who gave a small smile before speaking.

"I was born one-hundred and ninety-three years ago to a maid in a small but wealthy village called Highsprings. I never knew my father, and I do not know my mother's face - or any face for that matter - as I was born without eyes, though I do remember both her and the mare she worked for were close friends and treated me very kindly, as did the other villagers," Mángdán told Rain, who listened intently.

"Wait, I think I remember reading about Highsprings village a long time ago," Twilight interjected, "But I thought it fell victim to a virus that wiped out everypony there?" she finished, a confused look on her face.

"*sigh* All but one..." Mángdán answered her, filling the room with a deafening silence once again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Twilight said a look of concern on her face as her voice trailed off.

"It is quite alright, Princess. I know you meant no harm with your words. Few know that Highsprings had a survivor, and I have had a very long time to make my peace with that tragedy," Mángdán said to Twilight. "Besides, I am not the only one who suffered so greatly at that time, as I'm sure a learned pony like yourself is well aware," Mángdán added.

"Evermourn..." Twilight said sadly.

"Evermourn?" Trixie asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"Let me guess, history class was not 'great and powerful' enough to bother showing up for your lessons?" Rain smarted off at Trixie.

"Hey, that's not it at all! I totally showed up for my history lessons!... They were just so boring that I fell asleep during class, that's all," Trixie replied, causing several people in the throne room to groan, and Starlight to give a slight smile as she rolled her eyes at her best friend.

"For a long time, all sorts of folks who wanted to join the military had several bases ta train at like Wonderbolts Academy, Fort Jagged, or Everfree Boot Camp - all of which turned out damn good soldiers left, right, and center," Boris began to explain. "Things were pretty good till 817, then a real nasty virus swept through our bases, and eventually spread throughout most of the country, we came to call this plague 'the Evermourn virus', cause of the grief it caused so many. Even though it hit our military installations the worst, there were quite a few civilian locations that got hit by it pretty bad, like Highsprings for example, not ta mention my people were nearly driven to extinction by it. Still, the worse damage it did was to our military strength - damn virus halfway gutted the EPU, and with many members of law enforcement enlisting or bein’ drafted to try ta pick up the slack at the border, Equestria saw a crime wave the likes of which it ain't seen before or since," Borus finished with a stern expression on his face.

"Wow, that sounds really scary," Trixie said with a concerned look on her face before her expression changed to one of excitement as she asked, "What happened next!?" earning a light chuckle from Borus.

"We mercs happened," Rainstorm answered Trixie. "Now enough with the history lesson, let me get back to my questions," he finished, causing Trixie to pout and stick her tongue out at him once his back was turned. "So, you survived Evermourn, how?" he asked.

"Word of the symptoms of Evermourn quickly became infamous, after all when good mares and stallions start trying to tear each other apart until either they run out of victims or die themselves, word of such things often travels fast. High fever, bloodshot eyes, bloody tears, convulsions, then finally the victim tries to attack any living thing in sight and a few hours later the infected that haven't been killed themselves, die due to internal hemorrhaging, a truly horrible fate to be sure," Mángdán said, a grim tone in his voice. "The virus is quick-acting, each preliminary symptom following the other within less than thirty minutes until it reaches the hostility stage, which can last for hours. By the time a few dozen of the villagers had already progressed to the bloody tears stage, my mother knew there was not enough time to get us down the mountain without fear of attack. In desperation, she shut me up in the closet with a small canteen of water and told me to barricade the door and not let anyone in for the next twenty-four hours - not even her, as she too had begun to weep tears of blood and knew she'd contracted the illness as well. For nearly half an hour I listened to her sobbing and screaming as the convulsions racked her body in pain, then spent the next fifteen hours listening to her desperately begging me to open the door so she could kill me," he finished.

Once again, the throne room fell deathly quiet as almost everyone stared sadly at the old monk in front of them, then the silence was broken as he continued his story.

"Out of fear, I stayed in that closet for forty-eight hours, only leaving it after I had run out of water and became thirsty. Fortunately, I was young enough to be immune to the virus as it only infects adults, however, the other children had not been fortunate enough to find safety and had been slaughtered, leaving me as the only survivor. Eventually, a group of monks from Mén tú de Wùzōng máo Monastery made it up the mountain and found me amongst the carnage and were kind enough to take me back with them. From that day on, I swore to do all I could to live up to their example and help those in need and over time, I joined their ranks and even earned the honor of becoming the next high priest of our order. In accordance with our sacred laws and traditions, however, before one ascends to this position, one must set out upon the great wandering, where one travels the land for three years just as our order's founder did before she created it, and see all one can and meditate on what they witness," Mángdán finished with an optimistic smile on his face.

"Traveling abroad, and instead of taking it easy you opt to help protect others? Commendable!" Rainstorm said, a warm smile hidden under his balaclava. "So, how about you, what's your deal...Bezuchastnyy Belizna, wasn't it?" Rain asked the gnoll woman as he walked up to her.

"Da," Belizna said firmly as she stared unflinchingly into Rain's eyes. "Everything you need to know is in the dossier, sir," She said, still looking directly into his eyes with a coldness he'd rarely seen in most people.

"Oh, I know what it says in the dossier, but I want to hear it directly from you," Rainstorm said, meeting Belizna's steely gaze.

She stared back at him in cold silence for a few moments, then replied, "I'm not with the Diamond Dog Rebellion if that's what you're thinking" she snarled.

"I didn't think so, but that's not what I'm asking. Just because you're a gnoll, doesn't mean I expect you to blindly follow the likes of Weiler," Rain said, not once breaking eye contact with Belizna as he spoke. "Still, no one in their right mind who knows anything about your people's history would blame you for holding some kind of grudge against Equestria, yet you've served this country and its people loyally for years. I would like to know why, please?" he asked. This took Belizna completely by surprise. She was so used to most Equestrians - pony or not - either assuming she was a Dimond Dog and thus a threat to everyone around her or simply treating her like a 'loyal dog' and not caring about her motives, she was utterly unprepared for anyone to actually inquire about her reasons. That earns him a proper answer. she thought to herself before speaking to Rainstorm again.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't hate most ponies both for what their ancestors did to my people and for what many of them put us through even today -" Belizna said, sounding much calmer as she spoke this time, "- but even if I believed for a second that we had the power to drive every single non-gnoll out of our homeland, what would it accomplish? Before the ponies invaded our land and drove us out, we were constantly warring against each other. I simply can not see how we'd keep from going right back to that at this time, and I feel we've slaughtered enough of our own kind - trust me, I know. I want to change everything, my people, the ponies, all of Equestria and every one of her citizens for the better and the only way I can do that is from within," she finished, fire in her eyes. "Well, there's your answer. Satisfied?" Belizna asked.

"Very!" Rainstorm responded, having gotten what he wanted. He then moved on to the next soldier in the lineup. Borus Swinelee stood patiently in attention, a pleasant smile across his large face. "Well, how about you, sir?" Rain said as he saluted the old soldier, the respect audible in his voice. Boris gave a hearty chuckle before responding.

"Well kid, I'm due ta retire soon, but before I do, I wanted ta get one last big mission under my belt - my last hurrah, ya know? - And well, when Canterlot's Shinning Agis asked me ta be a part of this task force, it just seemed the perfect way ta wrap up my military career! It's as simple as that, sir!" Borus finished, returning Rain's salute.

"I'm looking forward to working with you again," Rain said as he turned to make his way toward the last soldier in the lineup, Borus nodding in agreement as he did so. Finally, there was technical sergeant Jasper, but as Rainstorm began to open his mouth, Jasper interrupted him.

"Sweet-pea, let me just warn you right now, call me feathers or any other stupid name and I'll totes rip off your head and shit down your neck, mmk?" Jasper said with unceasing pleasantness to his voice and matching smile which did little to hide the sincerity of his words. Rainstorm - knowing the reputation of Death's wings Jasper gulped quietly and nodded in agreement. "Now, if you're wondering about why I signed on, that's easy; if anything happens to the elements of harmony, we're all screwed. In other words, I just want to survive, that's all," he said. "Not that I'm unwilling to give my life for my country, but there's a difference between giving your life for a noble cause, and throwing your life away for one - and then there's just straight-up rolling over and dying for no good reason, which is what letting anything happen to these lovely ladies would be. If I've got to die, you can bet your ass I'll be going down fighting - sir!" Jasper said with a wink and a salute.

"Eh, good enough for me," Rain said as he shrugged his shoulders and walked back toward Celestia. "Everything seems to be in order," he said looking back at the taskforce. "I think they'll make an excellent team!"

"I'm glad you approve!" Princess Celestia replied. "Now Rainstorm, while Borus supervises preparations for all of you to head back to Ponyville, there are some things I'd like to discuss with you...in private," Celestia told Rain, before turning to leave the throne room. Rain nodded his head, following closely behind her.

"Where are they off to?" Rainbow Dash asked as she watched them leave.

Chapter 3: Finished

Chapter 4: Those Who Watch From The Void

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Canterlot (Canterlot Palace - Celestia's room), April 21st, year 2, Reformation era, 11:50 AM -

"So it turns out that it was just Luna messing with me using some cat toy laser pointer she got from a little colt in Ponyville! Hahaha!" Princess Celestia cackled as she finished telling Rainstorm about another one of her and her sister's infamous 'prank offs', however, Celestia had been the victim this time, though she didn't seem to mind. Finally, she calmed down enough to address Rain. "Oh Sweetie, lighten up, will you? With all the money you'll be making from this, I'm surprised that you're not hopping up and down with joy," Celestia said, having noticed he had been looking around the room angrily with his arms crossed. Celestia's room was a large, bright, immaculate white chamber with a big comfortable bed, personal study, and a balcony overlooking the city. There were a few dozen or so knickknacks here and there on display and a couple of bookshelves, the contents of which ranged from romance to horror, to comedy, and everything in between. In the middle of the room was a small table with a bowl of chocolate-covered cherries and a couple of chairs around it, two of which were occupied by Celestia and Rainstorm.

"Oh yea, this is the greatest fuckn' day of my whole goddamn life - being stuck babysitting 'the princess of friendship' for what could be years, Celestia - years!" Rain said angrily.

"Oh yes, how dare I pay the mighty Rainstorm an exorbitant amount of bits to watch over eight beautiful single mares along with a team of elite soldiers, two of whom also happen to be beautiful, single mares - one of whom even happens to be a childhood hero of yours I might add - all of which are very successful, in a town with a nearly four-to-one female population - a good number of which I'm willing to bet are single as well! Oh yes, I'm sooo cruel to you, aren't I?" Celestia retorted mockingly.

"Ok, first of all - I do NOT want or need the closest thing to a mother I've ever known trying to get me laid - and I sure as hell don't need to think about it!" Rain said with a noticeable shutter, "Secondly - as for the 'beautiful, single mares', aside from my obvious disdain for princess purple-ass ruling her out, I think at least one's a lesbian, one seems so stuck-up that I think I'd rather put my dick in an anthill then spend any more time with her than I have to, two straight-up hate me, one's waaaay older than I am and probably wouldn't go for me, two are complete airheads, two - from what I've read in the dossier - have a tendency for recklessness that would likely get me killed if I were to try to date them, and finally, when pray tell do you suppose I'll actually have any free time to try my luck with anyone else in Ponyvi- why are you snickering?" Rain had finally noticed Celestia's attempts to conceal her snickering.

"Princess purple-ass," Celestia chuckled, though she immediately regained her composure once she saw Rainstorm looking daggers at her. "Don't look at me like that, you knew full well I was listening. Can you really blame Applejack for not liking you after you deliberately tried to offend her and her friends? Same with Belizna, as for Rarity, she can seem a bit stuck-up at first, but there's a reason she's the element of generosity. Pinkie Pie isn't an airhead, she's actually fairly smart, as for Trixie, she...uh well... Starlight and Rainbow Dash may live...dangerously, but they're also quite capable of getting themselves and those around them out of trouble - not to mention you're a fine one to talk about being reckless! Changelings are among the longest living races on Gimlé, many capable of living more than a thousand years and Chitny from what I can tell is more than willing to date younger stallions and come on Rainy, she's a shapeshifter!" Celestia said with a wink. She clearly knew both Rainstorm and the others well enough to know exactly who he'd been referring to. She took a sip of tea before continuing. "Also, you don't have to worry about being able to get some rest and free time here and there. You and the task force will be joined by a detachment of thirty guards and use Twilight's Castle as your base of operations during this mission, allowing each of you to take the occasional break. Now as for Fluttershy...have you ever considered getting a sex-change?" Celestia finished, again snickering to herself as she took another sip of tea. as she did so, she barely noticed a chocolate-covered cherry bounce off her head.

"You know, I got those for you to eat and not to pelt me with?" Celestia said as she looked up at Rainstorm.

"Yea, well maybe I'm not feeling hungr- !" before Rain could finish his sentence he was cut off by Celestia.

"Eat the damn candy, Rain," Celestia ordered just before sipping more tea. Though she maintained a fairly calm tone of voice, he could detect the barest hint of irritation within.

"Yes, mam," he relented, pulling down his balaclava to pop a cherry into his mouth. They had been his favorite snack as a child and Celestia knew this.

"In all seriousness though..." Celestia started, her voice taking on a more earnest tone, "Perhaps after this mission’s over you should consider trying to get to know somepony, maybe settle down and start a family?" she asked. Rain was quiet for a long time as he mulled over her words. Him a family man? After what felt like an eternity of silence he finally responded.

"Sorry...been there, tried that, and we both know that didn't end well for anyone either time..." his voice trailed off.

"I know what happened at Fort Jagged must still haunt you, but Morning Dew and Wallflower would want you to move on. It's been so long..." Celestia said, trying to reason with him as he stood up.

"It's more than just that," Rain said as he pulled his balaclava back over his face, "And no, it's not just about Dee Dee either."

"Does it have anything to do with that bandit you killed the other day?" Celestia inquired, causing Rain to stop dead in his tracks. "Don't look so surprised, Rain. I don't need a familiar to have eyes and ears in far-off places, I know what happened on your last mission. I know you feel guilty about Rockjaw, but you can't let that lead you to become the very kind of monster yo- !"

"That's not it Celestia!" Rain shouted at her, "...I...I..." Rain struggled to find the words he needed, but needn't have bothered.

"...I see...the changes to the way you talk, the sudden quantum surge in sophistication to your weapon designs, the way you've been getting more and more distant with everypony..." Celestia said, a look of dawning comprehension forming on her face, "...How much...how much do you remember?..." Celestia asked, her voice barely audible.

"All of it..." Rain said.

"...What happened, what was it like over there, how did you end up here, and when did your memory come back in the first place?" she asked, half dreading what she might hear.

"...I think you already know when it was that my memories came back," Rain said to Celestia, avoiding eye contact with her as he spoke. It was true, in her heart of hearts she'd known the moment it had happened.

"Lord Tirek," she said as she tried to brace herself for what she might hear, but nothing could have ever prepared her for the story she was about to be told...

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Canterlot (Canterlot Palace - hangar seven), April 21st, year 2, Reformation era, 11:58 AM -

"What!?" Rainbow Dash shouted in surprise at what she'd just been told, "He's Celestia's son!?"

"More like her unofficially adopted son," Twilight went on to explain as they and the task force continued to work. The elements and the task force as well as Starlight, Trixie, and Spike were in a large airship hangar, busy loading a few crates of supplies onto one such vessel. The hangar was a massive industrial-looking chamber filled with various machines ranging in all sizes and shapes including several massive mechanical arms for repairing and refitting different types of airships such as the one they were loading up. It was a medium-sized carrier capable of transporting twenty people comfortably while still having room for supplies, it was silver in coloration and appeared to have seen some dogfights in the past as evidenced by the numerous pockmarks and scars. The top was covered in thick and sturdy yet lightweight armor plating protecting its envelope and on either side two disc-like structures with large stone discs made of enchanted tourmaline in the center of each one. There were several large guns mounted at various locations, including two adjoined to the front of the cockpit and on the side of the vessel the words 'Quicksilver' stood out in bold blue ponish print.

"Even though she raised him from an early age, for whatever reason, she never formally adopted him," Twilight explained as they carried more small crates onto the ship.

"Gee, it can't have nothin' to do with his charmin' personality could it?" Applejack said sarcastically as she placed a rather large crate inside the airship.

"I take it you're not a fan, darling?" Rarity inquired as she too placed a much smaller crate down next to it.

"You heard the way he talked to everypony, Rarity! Ben' as disrespectful as he could, talkin' down to Twilight like he did, and threatenin' ponies left and right like it weren't nothin'!" AJ said with an angry snort. "If y’all ask me, he needs a good buck to the teeth! Besides, I just don't trust mercs," she finished.

"Why, did one say something bad about apples or something?" Trixie asked, having decided to place her crate down on the ground to use as a makeshift seat while she listened to the others talk.

"Let's just say my family and I have had some bad experiences with them in the past and we'll leave it at that, alright?" AJ said, a frustrated tone in her voice.

"Ok..." Trixie complied, noting Applejack's evident foul mood and turned to Boris to ask him some questions instead. "So Boris, right? - What's the deal with mercenaries and what did they have to do with this Evermourn virus thingy?" she asked. Borus, having just loaded the last of his crates onto the ship and noticing the only one left was the one Trixie was using as a chair, decided there was no harm in them taking a short break while he gave them a quick history lesson, especially if it meant it might help them to better understand - and thus perhaps better get along with - Rainstorm.

"Alright, we got some time before we're due to head out," Boris said as the others gathered around him to hear what he had to say. "Well like I said before, with Evermourn having left our military in such a lousy state, the EPU had to draft most anyone and everyone what had combat experience just to keep our enemies from deciding to launch a full-scale invasion, which lead to a major spike in crime. Fortunately, there were a few vet's here and there who for one reason or another weren't drafted and were able to help out some, of course, they couldn't be expected to fight crime all across Equestria by themselves so they started trainin' civilians how to fight and over time, they formed militias," Boris told the group as they listened intently. "In the beginning, there were seven major militias that formed up; the Crusaders of Light, the Sky Demons, the Battle Corps, the Shǒumén Rén de Xīwàng, the Bone-crushers Society, the Shaded Legion, and the Oath of Magnus. It didn't take long for these seven militias to get big enough and skilled enough to eventually beat the criminal element back down to manageable levels and Equestria to get back to some semblance of peace. Of course, they knew if they just disbanded that the crime rate would start rocketing back up again, but at the same time, the upkeep for these militias was startin' to get pricey - until folks started insisting on paying them for their services that is. At first, the militias refused, but as time went on and the bills started pilin' up, they eventually had no choice but to accept."

"I take it the EPU wasn't exactly thrilled to hear about that?" asked Starlight.

"Heh, you could say that...'' Boris said as he began to continue. "At the time mercenary meant in Equestria what it still means in most of the world, glorified mass murderers for hire, and our laws reflected that. When the militias started accepting payment for their work, the government labeled them as mercenaries and ordered ‘em to disband, to which the militias - as well as most of the civilians - told them to go screw themselves. You have to understand, it's not like the civvies and the militias held any ill will towards the government or the military either one for the draft, they understood full well that they didn't have any other choice in trying to secure our borders, but to label good men and women criminals after everything they'd done for our country? No, that was too much for most folks. Eventually, they decided 'if they’re gonna call us mercenaries, then fine, we'll take that label and make it our own!' and started doing just that, mostly just to mock their detractors, which only pissed off their biggest critics out of all of em' - the government and the EPU - even more," he explained to Twilight and the others.

"The 'mercenaries' kept doin' what they do best, protectin' people and solving problems the EPU were too busy to deal with and normal law enforcement were either too understaffed or ill-equipped ta take on," before Boris could go on, he noticed Spike looked as if he wanted to ask something, "Go on kid, I can tell something's buggin' you. Go ahead and ask, I promise I don't bite! Ha-ha!" Boris's hearty laughter and pleasant demeanor seemed to ease Spike enough he felt comfortable addressing him.

"Well...it's just if they wanted to help protect ponies, then why didn't they just join the EPU or the police?" Spike asked, only to be answered by Rainbow Dash instead.

"Even the most ground-level law enforcement agencies have high standards that can require rigorous mental, physical, and mystical training in loads of different fields - and that's just to qualify for acceptance into an academy or other training facilities for one of those agencies," Dash said to Spike, "It's even harder to get into any branch of the EPU! I had to work my butt off ever since I was a teenager just so the Wonderbolts would give me a chance to try qualifying for the reserves!" she explained.

"That's right Spike. I remember Shining started his military training shortly after he turned fourteen," Twilight added.

"That's right. Ya see the folks that were drafted weren't sent straight to our borders, they were sent to what training facilities that had either survived or had been established to replace the ones that hadn't," Boris continued. "We'd had a pretty strong military presence throughout the land, but with our forces thinned out so much, we had to divert everyone we could from their various posts throughout Equestria to our borders to deter would-be-invaders."

"So what you're saying is, there wasn't much time or very many options, right?" Spike asked.

"Right kid, or to put it another way, we were damned if we did, but even more so if we didn't," Boris went on, "Of course, the mercs still couldn't get the officials to admit the country needed them until... Well, let's just say one of the bandit gangs got...ambitious..."

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Canterlot (Canterlot Palace - Celestia's room), April 21st, year 2, Reformation era, 12:00 PM -

"...So you see, that's why I have no right to have a family of my own..." Rain said, finishing his story as he pulled up his balaclava and turning his back to Celestia, his eyes not once meeting hers. Celestia had a hand over her mouth, tears running down her face as she slumped down to her knees and using her free hand to support herself, Rain could just barely make out what she was saying as it was little more than a whisper.

"No, no, no, no..." Is all she could say, the shock of what she'd just learned leaving her all but speechless. How can this be? Why him? Why my little Raindrop? Celestia thought to herself, trying desperately to wrap her mind around what the man she'd raised since childhood had revealed to her about his origins, but to no avail. She was so lost in thought she didn't even notice Rainstorm open the door and leave. He hated leaving her like this, but he didn't know what else he could do, after all, it's not every day you hear something like that - least of all from a loved one. Rain figured the best thing for her was to just give her some time to herself to process the information, but he had no sooner shut the door to the princess of the sun's bedroom than he heard a familiar voice next to him.

"Ancestors...just when I thought I'd seen and heard everything in this line of work... *cough*," the figure said just as he started to cough. He was a light-brown stallion with short, slicked-back salt and pepper main, wearing pitch-black sunglasses which concealed his eyes and a black suit and tie.

"I take it you heard everything, Agent Furlong?" Rain asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Every word... I wish there was something I could say or do, but all I have to offer right now are my condolences," Furlong said. Agent Furlong was chief of the top-secret black ops agency known as the Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria - or "S.M.I.L.E." for short - and Rain had had dealings with them before.

"I thought S.M.I.L.E. CC was in Manehattan, what are you doing here?" Rain asked.

"Classified," Furlong responded, "Had some time to kill before I headed back to Central Command though and wanted to see if I could catch you - say hi, but I never expected..." Furlong's voice trailed off. Though Rain believed the agent did care, he knew better than to take his word that this was nothing more than a social call.

"No offense Furlong, but cut the crap. I know you want something from me and considering I've already helped you and your agency out a bit with your tech - in spite my better judgment I might add - I'm not really in the mood to give away any more secrets, nor am I willing to change my mind about joining you," Rain said, with a matter-of-fact tone.

"After what I heard today, I don't blame you for your position on either of those, but that's not why I'm here," Furlong said. "Look Rain... after the way you helped agent's Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops during the changeling invasion and given the work we've done together in the past, I'v- *cough* I've come to respect you. This attack... It happened on our watch Rainstorm, our watch and in our own backyard no less! *sigh* I guess what I'm trying to say is... Please Rainstorm... Keep them safe, ok?" Furlong asked pleadingly.

"Of course I will, it's what I was hired to do," Rain replied.

"Heh, don't know why I bothered asking," Furlong gave a light chuckle as he turned to leave, "Of course you'll protect them, it's what you do best - *cough*," he said, coughing as he waved goodbye to Rain. As Rain turned to head in the opposite direction, toward hangar seven, he was greeted by two more familiar faces.

"Hey Rain, we were hoping to run into you!" Cadance said as she walked up to Rainstorm, Shining Armor close behind her.

"Who was that guy?" Shining asked as the two stood on either side of Rain, looking in the direction Agent Furlong had gone off in.

"Oh, just someone I know," Rainstorm said calmly as he then just as nonchalantly elbowed Shining in the gut without even looking in his direction, causing him to stagger back clutching at his stomach with both arms and gasping for air.

"Ugh, what the hell!?" Shining yelled at Rain, a mixture of pain and confusion in his voice.

"That's for strong-arming me into babysitting your little sister and her stupid friends ya douche bag!" Rain snapped at his friend.

"Oh, for the love of Celestia, you're still mad about that!?" Shining asked incredulously as he straightened himself up.

"Yes, yes I am!" he replied, turning to face Shining Armor. "Aside from the history between Twilight and me, what on Gimlé made you think it was a good idea? I mean come on man, you know my specialty is search-and-destroy! By Cerberus's nine balls, I can't guard so much as a peanut butter sandwich and you know it!" Rain yelled at Shining.

"Alright, first of all, the only reason you failed to guard my peanut butter sandwich that time when we played royal guard as kids is because - like a jackass - you ate it once my back was turned!" Shining snapped back at Rain, "Furthermore, it wasn't my idea, it was Celestia's."

"What do you mean 'it was Celestia's'?" Rain asked in surprise, "I thought you'd asked Celestia to convince me to watch over your sister?"

"Don't get me wrong, I meant what I said back in the throne room, I trust you to protect Twily more than I trust anyone else to, but when Celestia told me she wanted you to head Taskforce Sigma and help guard everypony, I actually tried to convince her to send you after these rogue mercs instead, however, the princess insisted on you being on guard duty," Shining Armor explained. Why? Why would she push so hard to get me assigned to this mission though? Rain thought to himself. It really wasn't just the fact he hated Twilight which made him such an odd choice for this mission, in fact, now that he thought about it, there was something very strange about the whole situation. The report in the dossier he'd read stated the mercs who hadn't escaped weren't able to be analyzed due to their bodies being destroyed by what was described as some sort of 'greenish-yellow and black flames' which had erupted from a seal which had appeared on them. The report had also stated no finger marks, blood, psychic imprints, arcane residue, hair, or fibers had been found and on top of that, the weapons and bullets had yielded no discernable evidence either.

"Someone went to a lot of trouble to cover their tracks..." Rain said, thinking out loud. It's not like Twilight and her friends haven't made their fair share of enemies, but... this seems... different somehow..."

"I agree, I've never heard of magic that worked like this," Cadance said. "And I can't think of anypony that might be able to cast magic like this that would use this sort of tactic - employing mercenaries like this," she wondered aloud.

"Well, if anything goes wrong, I'll just blame it on your wuss of a husband," Rain said matter-of-factly to Cadance, causing a look of confusion and offense to mark Shining's face.

"Hmm...I guess he is a bit of a wuss now that I think of it..." Cadance replied, causing Shining to be even more shocked and offended.

"Hey, what the Hell’sup with that you guys!?" Shining protested.

"Oh, don't get all triggered Shiny. It's not your fault you're a wuss," Rain teased him.

"Yeah babe, it's alright. I mean look at it this way, you may be a wuss, but you're my wuss!" Cadance cheerfully stated as she threw an arm around her annoyed husband's back to draw him in for a one-armed hug.

"*sigh* Why is it that both my best friend and the love of my life are both trolls?" Shining Armor asked with an exasperated tone. This caused Cadance and Rainstorm to shoot each other a mischievous look. Cadance quickly released Shining from her grasp and backed away. Before Shining could ask her what was wrong, Rain put a hand on his shoulder and spoke.

"Shining...all this time...why... WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TRUE FEELINGS!?" Rain shouted as he embraced Shining in a crushing hug, his face getting uncomfortably close to Shining's. Shining turned to Cadance in confusion, only to see her mock-crying.

"How could you!? Waiting to friendzone me until after we'd already been married for more than a year - for the love of Celestia, we had a child together!" Cadance wailed as her obviously fake crying continued, much to Shining's dismay.

"Don't listen to her my darling! Let’s run away together!" Rain proclaimed in an overly-dramatic tone. "We'll elope and live out our days among the yaks, just as we always dreamt!" Rain said as he got right in Shining's face and batted his eyelashes at him. This resulted in Shining trying desperately to push Rain away, all while Cadance laughed at the image before her.

"No, you can't make me live with the yaks, I won't!" Shining yelled as he was finally able to break free of Rain's grasp. He turned around to see both Rain and Cadance were in hysterics, the two of them laughing to the point of tears. "Grr, screw you two weirdos!" Shining said as he marched off in a huff.

"Don't worry, he's not as mad as he seems," Cadance said to Rain as their laughter finally died down and she turned to look at him.

"I know, I know. If he was gonna stop being my friend over a bit of teasing, he'd have done so a long time ago," Rain said to Cadance. Then the look in his eyes became more intense as he turned to face the Princess of Love. "In all seriousness though, I am worried about the both of you, and Flurry Heart as well. If someone is gunning for Twilight and her friends - whether it's political or personal - then there's a damn good chance they'll be going after you too," he said.

"Don't worry. We've called on a couple of old friends to look after us until this whole mess is settled," Cadance explained.

Planet Gimlé, The Frozen North, Wendigo Waists (Last Tomb of the Geokin - Entrance Chamber), April 21st, year 2, Reformation era, 12:00 PM -

In a massive, frozen ruin, located within a recently discovered cave, a unicorn stallion with chiseled features 'sat' meditating and floating a couple of feet off the ground. His skin was a deep-dark grey, he had pitch-black sideburns with a matching mane which was smoothed back, and though closed at the time, he had dark green eyes which seemed to bore into one's very soul. He wore fine black robes, silver greaves, armbands, and circlet which bore a smooth green stone on the front, as well as a deep crimson cloak draped across his shoulders. Sombra had once been driven to monstrous acts against the ponies of the Crystal Empire by visions shown to him by the Crystal Heart - the literal and metaphoric core of the empire - which had depicted so. However, when his best friend Radiant Hope proved their fates were not set in stone, he made the ultimate sacrifice to save the Crystal Ponies and their empire, only to then be rescued at the last minute by Twilight along with the other three princesses.

Feeling indebted to the princesses - especially Cadance - he and Hope had gone in search of the fragments of Queen Amore, who was the first ruler of the Crystal Empire, and whom Sombra had turned into black crystal, scattering her shattered remains across the world. They'd hoped to restore her, but had made a few discoveries which had forced them to shift their focus toward other concerns for the time being. Now the former dark lord was deep in meditation as his shadow expanded across the floor in a wide circle until it was roughly eight-feet in width. Slowly, but surely, small orbs made of shadow rose up from his own enlarged shadow, hovering in the air like semi transparent black bubbles until they numbered in more than a dozen. As the exercise continued, Hope, who - while suspended from a harness - had been examining ancient symbols on the top of one of the large pillars, watched her friend 'taking a break' from all the hard work he'd been doing, exasperation reflected in her dark-blue eyes.

"*sigh* He's going to work himself into an early grave if he keeps this up," she said to herself as a cold breeze hit her face, causing her to shiver slightly and feel grateful for the clothes Sombra had bought her for their journey. The dark-pink unicorn had on a thick purple winter coat with matching pants and a toboggan with a pink, white, and black striped pattern going from top to bottom which mostly concealed her long whitish-blue mane, without which, she'd have quickly frozen to death. She couldn't help but feel bad for Sombra, who didn't have any winter clothing, having said it was unnecessary for him as his Umbran nature allowed him to easily survive the harsh cold even without the proper equipment. "I know he has enough umbra in him to not freeze to death, but I also know he has enough pony in him to where this much cold has to be painful to him," she said out loud to herself again, wishing she'd been able to convince him to get some warmer clothes for himself as well. She knew Sombra was determined to push his limits and become stronger since the odd events that had begun to unfold around them started. Since shifting focus in their investigation, on multiple occasions they'd had near-fatal 'accidents', had every single lead they'd pursued - including researchers and experts - vanish without a trace before they could find them, and through it all, neither could shake the feeling someone or something was following them.

Suddenly the sound of something moving from a small pile of rubble several feet to the right of Sombra caused him to immediately snap his head in its direction and his shadow orbs to lengthen, thin out, and crystallize into multiple sharpened crystals, all of which were aimed at the source of the sound. A second later, a small white mouse with red eyes poked its head out from behind the rubble before scampering off in the direction of the cave's mouth, after which, Sombra let out a sigh of relief and his shadowy constructs returned to their original shape. "Dude, you nearly skewered an innocent little tundra mouse. You really need to chill - uh, so to speak," Hope said as a smile crossed her face due to her unintended pun.

"Yes...you're right. Perhaps it's time that we both take a break - a real one," Sombra said, uncertainty clear in his voice. He hadn't been startled by the noise the mouse had made so much as by the presence he'd felt. For a brief second, he'd thought he'd sensed a malicious, dangerous presence in the ruin with them, but it was so fleeting he was unsure if it had just been his imagination, or something else. His body lowered down to the ground allowing him to sit normally, just as he heard what sounded like a soft, yet loud 'blerp' in the distance. A small, white, fuzzy, snake-looking creature with feathery wings flew in from the direction of the cave's entrance, the end of its long tail wrapped around a thick, round, manila tube, "Ahh, Snowy's arrived with our mail from town," Sombra exclaimed as the creature dropped the package into his outstretched arms.

"Mind if I read the sports section while you read the funnies?" Radiant Hope asked as she started heading back down the pillar she was on.

"Sure thing!" Sombra replied happily as he opened the package to discover both a copy of the Canterlot Chronicle and a letter bearing the royal seal of the Crystal Empire. It was then the headline on the newspaper caught his eye, causing his stomach to lurch, "Oh, no..." Sombra said, his words a barely audible whisper.

"What's wrong, Somb- !", Hope, who had just reached Sombra's side, stopped mid sentence when she saw the headline on the front page. "Why would someone want to hurt Twilight!?" she asked as she took the paper from Sombra, clearly distressed by the news. Sombra then opened the letter and quickly read it before handing that too to his friend.

"I'm not sure, but Cadance and Shining have asked us to return to the Crystal Empire to protect them and Flurry Heart. We should leave for the empire at once," Sombra said.

"Before you go..." a voice sounded out from the other end of the ruin, "...I could really use your help with something, guys!", said an armor-clad figure walking towards them. The two turned to look at the figure headed in their direction, confused as to how they could have gotten in there as they'd been the ones to open the millennia-old ruin and no one could have gotten past them without them noticing, with or without teleportation.

"Who are you, and how did you get in here!" Sombra demanded, putting himself between Hope and the figure. The figure put his hands up to indicate he meant no harm and came no closer.

"I'm a friend, trust me, Sombra," the figure answered him, "As for how I got in here...well...that's gonna take some explaining..."

"...I'm listening..." Sombra said, not being able to sense any ill intent from the stranger and wanting to at least hear him out before deciding what to do next.

"Ok, where to start?..." the figure said, more to himself than anyone else and rubbing the back of his head as he searched for the right words to say. "So...what do you two know about 'interdimensional travel'?" asked the figure, causing both Hope and Sombra to exchange perplexed looks, "Yeah...that's what I was afraid of..." the figure said with a groan.

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Canterlot (Canterlot Palace - hangar seven), April 21st, year 2, Reformation era, 12:07 PM -

"'Ambitious'?" Trixie repeated, "What, did they rob a bank or something?" she asked.

"Oh, they aimed ah bit higher than that, kid..." Boris replied, "Pack of bandits took over a little village built where the old Everfree Bootcamp used ta be, 'place called 'Daisyberg' back in 836 Sol, slaughtered every man, woman, and child there and used it as a base of operations, and that was only the beginnin’. Bastards attacked a royal caravan and killed everyone, everyone that is 'cept for Prince Shining Sapphire, nephew ta none other than Princess Celestia herself and instead, took him as their hostage!"

"I can't see that going over too well," Starlight said.

"Not in the slightest," Boris said, shaking his head. "Mind ya now, it wasn't as simple as sendin' in the EPU to clean the place out. Our military had recovered quite a bit by then, but we were still tied up at the border for the most part, and the closest thing ta local law enforcement was the royal Canterlot guard, who couldn't just up and leave Canterlot ta go chasin' down crooks without the go-ahead from parliament, and that's where we hit a snag. Though they've gotten a bit better about not draggin' their heels on every little matter, at the time, they couldn't agree on nothin' - not even this! Half of them wanted to send in the military and just mow down everyone in sight until they found the prince, 'other half wanted to try ta negotiate with them out of fear the prince might get harmed, and because it was family, Celestia had ta recuse herself from the voting so, she couldn't break the deadlock. It gets worse though," he paused to take a sip of water from a hip flask he'd pulled out from a pouch on his armor.

"'Worse'? How could it get worse?" Spike asked as Boris put the flask away.

"Well, ever since Evermourn tore our military strength a new one, our rivals had been keepin' close eyes on us, lookin' for any chinks in our armor so ta speak. This was the first time in centuries that anyone had actually posed a real threat to a member of the royal family and up till now the idea that Celestia and her bloodline are of divinity and can't be overcome save by one of their own had deterred anyone from invading outright. If word got out that a mess of bandits got the upper hand on a member of the Solstice bloodline and neither Celestia nor the EPU could do anything about it, it could be taken as a sign of weakness - an open invitation for every other nation ta invade. It could have led us inta full-scale war, and on multiple fronts no less," Boris explained.

"But didn't Equestria have any friends back then? They wouldn't have let Equestria get taken over by anypony, right?" asked Spike.

"Of course we had 'friends' back then," Boris further explained, "In fact, some of them were such good friends that they would have assumed control over Equestria for us - just until things had settled and we were 'fit' ta govern ourselves again, of course. We have plenty of well-meanin' allies, but between how strategic our country's location is, as well as our resources, magic, and technology, no one in their right mind would risk all of that fallin' inta the wrong hands, I mean, if the day came that Saddle Arabia's Sultan claimed this land as Saddle territory and gained access ta it all, he'd declare war on the rest of Gimlé the very next day! In truth though, we weren't worried as much about losin' Equestria as much as what the cost of preventing that would be. Sure, we'd win, but not without a lot of casualties on both sides."

"Well maybe if a certain sun goddess wouldn't sit on her plot all day..." Trixie said under her breath, but not quite quietly enough to go unheard as evidenced by everyone turning their heads to look at her. "What!?" she said defensively.

"There's a very good reason why the Two Sisters rarely participate in combat themselves when they can avoid it," Belizna responded, "Though Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both have alicorn bodies, bonded to each of their souls is a spark of divinity. It is why they do not age, do not get sick, and have no direct blood heirs. Even though they are only demigods, the little divinity they have gives them unimaginable power. Power that even their alicorn bodies can barely contain - which is why they emit a constant aura, even after going to such great lengths to control their power, some of their spiritual energy is constantly escaping and is intense enough to be visible to the naked eye. The whole reason Celestia lost to Queen Chrysalis during the Green Wedding was that she held back just a bit too much, and Chrysalis was merely lucky. If Celestia had used more power than that and lost control, a large portion of the country may have been destroyed. That is why the princesses are so often forced to rely on your friends," she finished, still giving Trixie a cold stare.

"Oh..." Trixie said, mortified.

"And that's why it really started getting folks nervous when some of the politicians started floatin' around the idea that maybe Celestia should handle it herself," Boris continued, "On the one hand, she could easily take down the lot of them all by herself and save her nephew - remindin' the world why Equestria's ruler is not to be trifled with, in the process, but on the other hand, if she weren't careful, not only might Sapphire have been killed in the process, but given Daisyberg's proximity ta Canterlot, if she'd made one mistake, she could have done real damage ta the nation's capital - not ta mention any other important locations. That's when our military forces positioned just outside Daisyberg got one helluva update; from prince Shining Sapphire himself - in person! While everyone had been hemmin' and hawin' 'bout what ta do, the leaders of the first seven mercenary guilds had snuck in and not only rescued the prince, but once they'd gotten him ta safety, they'd then gone back in and sabotaged their defenses, booby-trapped their armory, and planted various other traps and pitfalls throughout the village - all without anyone noticin'! In short, they crippled the bandits completely without them even realizin' it and offered them up ta the EPU all gift-wrapped and everything. Left defenseless and without a single bargainin' chip ta their name, the EPU invited the merc forces that had been stationed nearby to join them for the rest of the op, and side-by-side, the mercs and the EPU swept in and razed the whole damn village to the ground. Over four-hundred bandits were occupying the village at the time, but with a combined force of just over a hundred mercs and soldiers fightin' together, every last bandit was dead in less than six minutes with not a single EPU or mercenary casualty and just a few minor injuries," Boris said before retrieving his flask for another drink of water.

"...But why? …Why kill the bandits if they were no longer a threat!?" Twilight asked, a hint of anger in her voice.

"Cause they called inta question whether the government or the military was in charge of the country," Boris continued, "Like I said, all eyes were on us, and not just abroad. Lots of folks mistake ‘mercy’ for ‘weakness’. If these bandits hadn't been made an example of it could have emboldened others ta try ta get away with more and more. This could have easily snowballed inta an even worse situation than what we were dealin' with at the border, and potentially lead ta a full-blown coup attempt. Sadly, sometimes the best way for rulers ta avoid having ta shed an ocean of blood is ta show that they won’t think twice before sheddin’ a lake of blood. We had ta remind both the criminal element and the world that we were still under control of our own homeland or risk things gettin' even bloodier down the road," he said glumly. Twilight didn't respond, instead opting to just stare at the ground silently. I hate to agree with Rainstorm, but he may be right about the Princess of Friendship being too soft... Belizna thought to herself as she observed Twilight's reaction.

"So, what happened after that?" asked Spike.

"The rest, as they say, is history," Boris continued. "With the astoundin' results the mercenaries produced, the newfound respect and support of the EPU, the glowing endorsement from Prince Shining Sapphire, and the gratitude of both the whole royal family all the way up ta Celestia herself and parliament, the mercs finally got what they'd always wanted; respect and recognition. Parliament, with plenty of advice and input from both the EPU and the mercs, drafted and passed The Mercenary Militia Concordance in a record-breaking forty-five minutes, regulating mercenary guilds, squads, and solo freelancers, in essence, makin' them a new pseudo-branch of civil defense somewhere between Law enforcement and military. Now if you want ta be a lawfully recognized merc, you need to take a brief trainin' course and become registered," Boris finished as he sat up, "Oh, and you have ta take the oath of course."

"What oath is that?" asked Spike as he and everyone else except for Trixie - who was now busy fidgeting with the clasp on her cape - began to get up as well, but before Boris could respond, another voice from behind them answered Spike for him.

"'To defend all Equestrian citizens from evil, be it foreign or domestic. To fight with all my being and stand against the oncoming storm. To carry my charges on my back and my fallen comrades in my heart across a blood-soaked battlefield to a brighter future. Until my dying breath, I shall not yield.'," Rainstorm said, having just arrived with Shining and Cadance in toe. "It's an oath all mercs - myself included - take deadly seriously."

"How good are y'all at keepin' that there 'oath' though?" Applejack asked, more as a slight against Rainstorm than a real question, something which caught everyone present by surprise, except for Rainstorm himself, who after a pause responded.

"...Not as good as I wish..." Rain said, but before anyone could inquire as to what he meant, he walked up to Trixie, who was still messing with the clasp on her cape, and in one fell swoop, snatched the box out from under her, causing her to land unflatteringly on her backside with a light “thud”.

"Ow!" Trixie exclaimed, shooting Rainstorm a dirty look as she got up, rubbing her behind as she did so.

"This is the last package, right? Where's the captain, is he ready? I want to get on with this ASAP!" Rain said.

"I am kapitan of this ship and I have been ready for while now!" barked a gruff voice belonging to a gnoll man standing almost six-foot-tall with medium length dark-cool grey fur with strands of white here and there in it. The gnoll wore a blueish-white vest and jeans and a pair of brown work boots on his feet, though, perhaps his most prominent feature was a vicious-looking hook where his right hand should have been. "My name is Bezuchastnyy Moroz and if these motornyye rty are done holding us up, I'd be more than happy to take off!" he said happily as he took the box from Rain.

"Sorry, starshiy brat," Belizna said apologetically to Moroz.

"Bah!" he replied as he playfully bumped into her before turning around to re-board the Quicksilver. "I'll be in cockpit, waiting for your word, so, you just let me know when ready for takeoff, da?" he said before heading back inside the ship. As Twilight said her goodbyes to her brother and her sister-in-law, the rest of the group headed inside the ship except for Rainstorm, who seemed to be waiting for something, but soon the two found each other, the only ones still not on board. The two stared at one another for what felt like the longest time, both dreading the coming months, finally, the awkward silence was broken by Celestia's arrival.

"Take care, Rainy," Celestia said to Rain, her eyes still red and puffy from where she'd been crying, something Twilight didn't pick up on at first until Celestia pulled her over to one side to whisper something to her, "Please, be patient with him. I know he's rough around the edges, but he's only that way because of what he's had to go through." Twilight started wondering if Rain had said something to make Celestia cry and in her frustration and confusion, thought maybe what her former teacher was referring to was the incident from their childhood, but before she could ask, she heard a distinctive caw as Huginn swooped down and landed on Rainstorm's shoulder.

"About damn time, you godforsaken goth-chicken!" Rain snapped at Huginn, who in turn began to angrily caw back at him in what appeared to be some kind of argument with Rain, "Oh, you're right, you're more of an emo-turkey, than a goth-chicken!... No! Your mother!... Like I've never been called a mother before!... Yes, I have called myself a mother before!... Well, technically I guess I have slept with a few actual mothers before... One, you don't have a sex drive, and two, even if you did, there's plenty of birds for you to bang so, go ahead and go a bird-bangin' for all I care - no one's stopping you!... Oh, God no! Why would you even threaten something like that!?..." This bizarre interaction continued as Rainstorm and Huginn boarded the airship together, much to the dismay of Twilight, who had witnessed the whole display, causing her to arrive at what she felt was a sound conclusion.

"Oh, holy Celestia, he's insane..." Twilight said under her breath as she reluctantly followed behind him. Soon after, the thrust discs on the airship began to light up and moments later, the Quicksilver took off like a bullet into the blue sky.

"It's about time for us to head home too, Shining," Cadance said to her husband as they turned to leave the hanger, leaving Celestia alone, but not for long as her shadow began to bend and warp as Luna rose from it to join her sister.

"Darn it, I didn't get to say goodbye!" Luna exclaimed disappointedly, she then looked around to see if anyone else was within hearing distance and then used her magic to scan the area one last time for any prying eyes or ears before whispering to her sister, "I still think we should have told them everything," she said, a hint of frustration in her voice.

"'Everything'? Such as?..." Celestia asked, frustration evident in her voice as well.

"Well, for starters, there's the truth!" Luna snapped at Celestia, eliciting a harsh glance from her sister, "I know you think you're protecting them - especially Rainstorm - but this will only lead to further complications down the road," she said, trying to reason with Celestia.

"But, the truth could devastate him," Celestia explained to Luna, "He's been through so much already... I...I just can't bear to see him hurt anymore..." she said as her voice trailed off. Luna let out a sigh as she turned to walk away, knowing full well there was no reasoning with Celestia at this point.

"He'll find out sooner or later..." Luna said glumly before leaving the Princess of the Sun alone with her thoughts, unaware that not only had their whole conversation they'd just had, been observed the whole time but everything that had taken place at the palace had been observed from far, far away, where neither Luna's shadows nor Celestia's foresight could reach...

~~Where the screams gather~~, ∞, year Null, N/A era, 0 -

Somewhere, neither here nor there, in a dark space filled with a low, indiscernible noise, lit only by the distant flicker of greenish-yellow energy amongst a pitch-black void, on a massive rocky formation, near the very edge of it - a mere speck by comparison to the rest of the formation - sat a figure on a large, battered-looking throne overlooking a sunken nine-foot wide well with more of the sickly-looking energy glowing within it. This figure wore a massive, black, tattered cloak which covered his entire body, but failed to hide the faint light of, what were presumably, his eyes, which too matched the light in the well. "Secrets and lies, secrets and lies, all you fragments really are, are miserable, worthless piles of secrets and lies..." the figure mused to himself, struggling to keep from laughing out loud. The figure had watched everything that had transpired in Canterlot Castle as reflected in the light of the well and was quite amused by everything they'd seen and heard, "No matter how many times we do this, it never ceases to be humorous... How easily they are manipulated... I'd almost feel sorry for them, were it not for..." there voice trailed off as they noticed a new figure join them.

"My, my! Someone certainly seems to be enjoying their handiwork," said the new arrival with a long drawl. He wore an all-white, fairly snug one-piece suit with a hood pulled up over his head, nearly obscuring his head and face completely, save for his pail nose, mouth, and chin. This new figure seemed quite human in both height and shape, though oddly, his exposed human-looking hands lacked any fingernails.

"Ah, Weiss my dear friend!" exclaimed the cloaked figure, "So, anything of note to report?" he asked, to which Weiss responded with a grin.

"That Sombra is definitely one to be wary of. He actually sensed me for a second there, and I was forced to run off to avoid detection," said Weiss. "And in spite of destroying as many leads as I could find, those two still managed to find an old geokin ruin we missed, one that for some reason seems to be generating some sort of quantum interference. *yawn* Other than that though, it seems to be rather unremarkable," Weiss said as he stretched and yawned, folding his hands behind his head to use as support.

"Well, if I recall correctly, isn't that where Loki took his own life at the end of their world's last age?" asked the cloaked figure.

"Ah, yes! I remember now!" Weiss replied, "Has it really been fifty-million years already? You don't suppose he was making one last attempt to 'save the world', do you?" Weiss inquired.

"If so, it failed like all the others," the cloaked figure responded, "His people were dead, his world was for all intents and purposes dead, and Ragnarök walked the world, cleansing it for the next age. There was nothing left that he could do so, he likely merely wished to end his own life on his terms," the cloaked figure surmised.

"Mortals, demigods, even full-fledged gods themselves; they truly are all hopeless, aren't they?" Weiss asked with an obvious air of amusement in his voice.

"Still, you should return to the site as soon as possible and destroy it, just to be safe," the cloaked figure advised Weiss, but before he could respond, a light erupted from the well and the translucent image of a dark-grey unicorn with dark-green eyes, a short, messy main, wearing glasses and a tattered brown cloak appeared before them.

"M-master, I-I know I should have reported back sooner, b-but there were c-complications and- !"

"Don't waste the master’s time with your pitiful excuses little brother!" shouted another cloaked unicorn who had just appeared several feet away from the well. This one was light-grey, had a messy, shoulder-length dark-brown main and deep-crimson eyes. "You failed to kill the Princess of Friendship and her friends and were just too scared to face the master's wrath. It's as I tried to warn those fools, you're nothing but a pathetic coward," the second unicorn stated with a sneer.

"S-shut up, Furyin!" demanded the first unicorn.

"Both of you, be silent!" the cloaked figure said to both unicorns calmly, but with authority. "Furyinvoke, you berate your younger brother for his failure, yet, did you even once offer any form of aid - if not for his sake, then for the sake of our goals? No, you merely sat safely in the bushes and watched the carnage unfold, and as a result, Twilight Sparkle saw you!" he said, causing Furyin to look down at the ground as he rubbed the back of his head through the hood of his cloak as the first unicorn dawned a smug expression, though, it was short-lived as the cloaked figure turned his attention to him next. "And you, Sightshroud! You were to report back immediately after the attack on the Friendship Express was over, yet instead, you not only abandoned the train the moment it seemed like you might have to do any fighting yourself, but then hid for several days - not from the authorities, the elements, or even your eldest brother, Shadow Lock - but from me! As if you could ever hide from me!" the cloaked figure snarled before revealing a long, humanoid finger with a long, sharp, sickly-yellow fingernail at the end of it. He then made a quick curling motion with his finger, only to slowly uncurl it to reveal a small amount of blood on the end of it. Sightshroud then lifted his hand up to his face and realized there was a fresh, bleeding scratch on it. "Furyin is correct, you are a coward!" the cloaked figure snapped at him.

"F-forgive me, my master!" Sightshroud pleaded with the cloaked figure before they raised their hand to silence him.

"Allow me to make something inescapably clear... I don't mind competition between the two of you. In fact, I even encourage it, as only one of you shall be chosen to become my heir and inherit all that is mine, but I must draw the line at this sibling rivalry interfering with our plans! If this becomes too regular an occurrence then I shall put an end to it myself. Permanently! Understood?" the cloaked figure asked with a coldblooded tone of voice.

"Yes, master," the unicorn brothers said in unison.

"Good... Now, be gone from my sight - the both of you!" ordered the cloaked figure, and the two unicorns obeyed as the hologram of Sightshroud vanished and Furyinvoke disappeared in a flash of orange light.

"It's so hard to find good pawns these days, eh, master?" Weiss asked amusedly

"You have no idea, Weiss..." the cloaked figure said, slowly shaking his head in the process, "Perhaps it's time for me to start getting directly involved again myself?" they pondered.

"Are you sure that's wise in your current condition, master?" Weiss asked.

"Well, if all goes according to plan, that shouldn't be an issue for much longer. And if not?... Well, there's a reason I keep those two idiots around," the cloaked figure explained.

"*sigh* Very well, master," Weiss sighed as he relented, "So, how do you intend to proceed then?" he asked. The cloaked figure thought for a moment before spinning his throne around and looking off into the distance at a massive sphere of white light. He could just make out six figures suspended near the perimeter of the sphere, surrounding a much larger creature in the center, all seven of which seemed frozen in time.

"I have a few ideas..." mused the cloaked figure.

Planet Gimlé, Equestrian aerospace, The Quicksilver (en route to Ponyville), April 21st, year 2, Reformation era, 12:29 PM -

"Are we there yet!?" asked Pinkie Pie excitedly, much to Rainstorm’s disdain.

"Saints preserve me, for the billionth fucking time, it takes a little over a half-hour to get from Canterlot to Ponyville via roc-class airship so, now we should have about..." Rainstorm snapped as he angrily yanked a pocket watch from his left pants pocket, "...Ten to fifteen minutes left before we hit town, so, shut the Hell up because if you ask that damn question one more time, I'll rip both your legs off and shove them down your throat!" he finished yelling at Pinkie, who seemed mildly upset by his reaction.

“Well! I see that someone isn’t Celestia’s Cheery Little Sunbeam today.” Pinkie said.

"Well, at least she ain't hollerin' at her pet bird like some bloomin' eejit!" Applejack snapped back at Rainstorm in defense of her friend. As everyone else had already been sitting in the back of the Quicksilver when Rainstorm, Huginn, and Twilight boarded, they'd all heard Rain seemingly having a one-sided argument with the bird on his shoulder.

"Oh, go take your opinions and shove them up your ass, 'eejit'!" Rain said the last word with a mock country accent.

"Now, y’all listen here, ya sumah-bitch!..." AJ shouted as she rose from her seat and started stomping over to Rain.

"Now stop it, both of ya!" shouted Boris as he got up and stood in between the two. "I know neither of ya are none too thrilled about this arrangement, but we all have a job ta do. Rainstorm, it's our job ta protect them all, and for that, ya need ta keep a level head about ya. The enemy could attack us at any minute and if yer all wound up or upset, it just makes their job all the easier. Yer in charge. Ya can't afford ta be losin' yer cool and gettin' inta fights with the people ya swore to take care of, and you -" Borus then turned to address Applejack, "- I don't know what yer problem is with Rainstorm or mercs in general, but you and yer friends need ta let us protect ya, and if yer gettin' inta fights with any of us, it makes our job that much harder. I know ya don't like how Rainstorm talks ta yer friends, I can't blame ya, and he may not be one of the friendliest folks around-".

"Hey!", Rain said defensively, cutting Borus off, though he paid him little heed as he continued talking to Applejack.

"-But I've fought alongside him before, and I can tell you from personal experience, he's good people...once ya get ta know him anyways. All of ya, just ask yerselves this; just like ya've got what ya feel are valid reasons for the way ya feel, maybe the other guy - or gal - has their own valid reasons. Nothin' happens in ah vacuum," Borus finished before sitting back down. After a minute, Applejack took a deep breath, then exhaled before speaking again.

"I'm...sorry..." she said reluctantly before sitting back down.

"*sigh* I'm sorry too - to both of you," Rain said, as he addressed both AJ and Pinkie.

"Where's my apology?" Trixie asked in a huff.

"Don't push it," Rainstorm warned before Moroz' voice came in over the intercom.

"We are here, but we are having slight problem!" Moroz announced, prompting both Rainstorm and Belizna to march up and into the cockpit to see what was up.

"What's wrong, starshiy brat?" Balizna asked as she entered the cockpit with Rainstorm close behind her.

"These idioty forgot to mention this gaudy thing is lacking airship hangar!" Moroz said irritably while gesturing out the window toward the massive structure below. It was an enormous crystalline tree with a large door which appeared to be made of solid gold at the base of the tree's trunk, and whose many branches held up a large castle made of crystal and gold.

"This is where the Princess of Irritation lives?" Rain said, trying not to burst out laughing, "Goddamn, karma's a bitch, huh? No damn wonder the show only lasted three seasons..." he said more to himself than anyone else.

"Hum?" Balizna asked, having not quite heard the last statement from Rainstorm.

"Oh, nothing," He said, hand waving the subject.

"Well, what in Tartarus are we going to do? There is no way I'm parking my pride and joy on the grass!" Moroz said stubbornly.

"The extra guards should be here before too long. They likely have a prefab landing pad ready to set up once they get here," Rain reasoned.

"Well, they'd better hurry up, befo- !" Moroz was cut off as Jasper poked his head in wearing a concerned expression on his face.

"Uh...sweet-peas, you might want to come take a look at this..." he said as he headed back toward the others, with Rainstorm and Belizna right behind him. When they returned to the rear of the ship, they saw the elements of harmony glowing brightly, their crests shining through their clothing.

"What's going on now!?" Asked a surprised Rainbow Dash before Moroz spoke over the intercom once again.

"You are not going to believe what I am seeing..." Moroz said, bewilderment clear in his voice.

"For fuck's sake! What do I look like, a fuckin' yoyo?" Rain complained as he and Belizna rushed back to the cockpit to see what was happening now. The two arrived just in the nick of time to see some of the branches toward the back of the now glowing Tree Castle start to extend and change shape as a new dome-like structure took shape. Moments later, a new airship hangar had formed with a mostly transparent crystal dome over it, which then opened itself for the Quicksilver to land.

"Krov' Pervogo Volka..." Moroz said under his breath as he initiated the landing procedure. Several minutes later the group was walking through the castle, looking for rooms to call their own.

"Now, once the guards arrive, ya ladies will be free ta return to yer homes if ya wish," Boris explained, "Jasper, yer with Rainbow Dash, Balizna's with Applejack, Chitny's with Rarity, Mángdán will keep watch over Fluttershy, and I'll keep an eye on Pinkie Pie," Borus finished.

"Aww, I wanted to go with Rarity!" wined Jasper, "Not that I have anything against you, sweet-pea! It's just that it's not every day you get to call one of Equestria's premier fashionista's your roomy!" he quickly explained to Rainbow, as to try to avoid insulting her. "I was really looking forward to trying on some cute new clothes..." Jasper's voice trailed off sadly.

"Sorry, but as Boris said earlier, we can't afford any distractions - that includes drooling over fashion," Rain explained. Seeing his disappointed expression, Rarity walked next to Jasper and whispered to him.

"Don't worry. Feel free to come by the shop whenever you have a break," Rarity said with a wink, causing Jasper to beam.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave Twilight and Rainstorm alone?" Starlight asked, having noticed the cold looks the two had been shooting each other since they'd boarded the Quicksilver.

"Pfff! Don't worry Starlight!" Pinkie chimed in, "Borus and I talked about it, and I've decided to sleep over here until this is over so, you have nothing to be afraid of!" she exclaimed happily.

"Thought it was best ta keep the Cake clan out of this if at all possible," Borus explained, "We've also decided ta have Trixie postpone all her magic shows and have her sleep here as well for the time bein'."

"Great, just what I needed," Rainstorm groaned as he struggled to pry open what he thought was a door to one of the spare bedrooms, "Not only am I stuck living in the biggest eyesore on Gimlé with Twilight, but I have to live with her two most annoying frien- Geahh!" he screamed as he finally succeeded at opening the door, only to realize it was actually a small broom closet completely packed with teacups, which had at that point erupted forth, burying him.

"Whoopsie..." Trixie said sheepishly as Rainstorm stuck his head out from under the pile of teacups while nearly everyone else just stared at the peculiar scene with perplexed looks on their faces, except for Jasper, AJ, and Rainbow who couldn't help but to snicker at Rainstorm's misfortune. Meanwhile, Spike and Starlight both exchanged nervous looks as they hadn't gotten the chance to explain what transpired at the castle the day of the attack given all the chaos over the last few days. As Rain sat amongst the pile of teacups with only his head and right arm sticking out, he rested his face in his hand and stared daggers at all of them.

"Fuckin' -" he flinched a bit as he was cut off by another teacup toppling out of the broom closet, only to bounce off his head and join its fellows in the pile,"- Reee," Rain finished, already coming to the conclusion whatever Celestia was paying him, it wouldn't be anywhere near enough to make up for what he was going to have to endure.

Chapter 4: Finished

Chapter 5: The First Day

Planet Earth, The National Republic of America, Area 10 (Near what was once Kansas City), July 7th, year 2053 AD, 6:00 AM -

In the courtyard of a massive military complex, a group of thirty-six soldiers in sleek, dark-green, futuristic combat armor stood in attention as a scientist walked toward them, two more soldiers on either side of him. "So, out of all the failures, these are our new metasoldiers?" asked the scientist, who wore a white lab coat blue shirt with a red tie, brown khakis, and glasses. He had short, brown hair with streaks of grey all throughout, cold, yellow eyes and a look of disdain on his face. "Well, it's better than I expected," he sighed before continuing. "Hello, I am Dr. Gideon G. Mac Tíre, and I'm putting together a special task force. Now, I only require one more individual for this task force - namely the one with the highest performance score- " Dr. Mac Tíre said as he brandished a computer tablet, "- As for the rest of you...as far as I'm concerned, you're all just cannon fodder and I couldn't care less what happens to any of you really," he finished. This caused a few of the soldiers to quickly shoot one another concerned glances before returning their attention to Dr. Mac Tíre, who was too busy going over the notes on his tablet to care.

"Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh duh..." the doctor muttered to himself as he scanned the information on the tablet before he found what he was looking for. "Aha! You are the one I want! Privet Marcos Almendarez, today is your lucky day!" Dr. Mac Tíre declared cheerfully.

"Bullshit!" protested another soldier, "You're going to let some foreigner join some kind of government task force!? At least, tell me he's a tier-two!" he demanded. Dr. Mac Tíre looked at him, then at the small, metal plate on the left half of his chest bearing his ID number for a second before skimming through the tablet once again.

"Ah, here we go. Dennis Jurkowski, is it?" he asked the angry soldier.

"Yeah, that's me!" he snapped at the doctor.

"Could you please remove your helmet for me?" Dr. Mac Tíre asked politely, to which the soldier looked at the other four soldiers, who all nodded in agreement and so he complied. "Thank you," the doctor said with a smile before quickly pulling out an advanced-looking pistol and shooting the man right between the eyes. "Anyone else care to question a tier-one?" the doctor said calmly as he looked around, only holstering his gun once he was sure he would hear no further opposition, "Now, Privet Almendarez could you please step forward?" he asked. Nervously, the soldier stepped forward, over Dennis's deceased body, before standing face to face with the doctor and saluting him. "Welcome to Taskforce Sigma."

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Ponyville (Tree Castle - Rainstorm's room), April 22nd, year 2, Reformation era, 6:00 AM -

Rainstorm quickly sat up, stirred out of sleep by the sound of an alarm clock on the nightstand next to his bed. He turned and reached for the clock to turn the alarm off. He noted it read six am before giving the mechanism on top a gentle smack, silencing it He then sat up straight and yawned loudly before rubbing his eyes and then looking around at his surroundings. The room he'd chosen was a large, but simple twenty-six, by eighteen, by twelve with an eight by eight by twelve closet, a large window, warm, plush carpeting, crystalline walls and ceiling and even a small bathroom complete with shower. It was furnished with an oak writing desk, a large bookshelf, a comfy armchair with matching footstool, a large trunk for storage, two large wardrobes, nightstand, and the comfortable queen-sized bed he'd just woken up in.

"I hate to admit it, but as ugly as this place is on the outside, I can definitely see why a princess - or any form of royalty for that matter - would want to live in a place like this..."Rain thought to himself before his thoughts wandered to the dream he'd been having before he woke up. "Dreaming of the past like some old man..."he thought to himself as he rested his face in his left hand, "...I'd almost forgotten what a prick the good doctor could be…”Rain thought with a chuckle before looking back at the clock which now read six-ten am. "Whelp, time for this old man to get his ass out of bed!" he said out loud before jumping out of bed and heading towards the shower. A few minutes later, Rainstorm was clean and fully dressed and after opening the window in his room to let Huginn in, the two headed out the door. As Rain made his way to the kitchen, Huginn perched on his right shoulder, he would regularly pass a pair of guards. They would salute him, sometimes wishing him a good morning as well, and he would in turn nod in their direction and return the good morning with one of his own.

"They certainly seem to have integrated themselves here rather quickly, huh?" asked Huginn through a caw.

"Give 'em one thing, if nothing else, they're efficient," Rain said before running into Moroz, who was carrying a small box.

"Morning Rainstorm," greeted Moroz.

"Morning," Rain replied, "You headed to grab some breakfast?" Rain asked, the package having not registered in his mind yet.

"Da, they've got breakfast set up in the map room. I was on my way to join them and figured I'd bring this with me, so, I could hand them out to everyone," Moroz explained. This caused Rain's still clouded mind to finally hone in on the box.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Just sent here from EPU R and D, out of Canterlot. Should come in useful," Moroz explained as he turned in the direction of the map room, Rainstorm following close behind him. The map room, which was filled with people getting their breakfast for the day, was a massive chamber with a giant chandelier that appeared to have once been the roots of an enormous tree, with numerous pictures, lights, and other assorted baubles hanging from it. In the center of the map room, directly underneath the tree root chandelier, was a large, crystal table with seven thrones surrounding it, six of which were occupied by one of the Elements of Harmony each, who had already gotten their breakfast. Nearby, there were about two-dozen folding tables, half of which had folding chairs placed at them, and the others stacked high with an assortment of food, including much to Rain's surprise and delight, a couple plates of sausages and bacon. What caught his attention the most though, was four pots of coffee, one of which oddly enough, was set far apart from the others.

"Sir, I wouldn't even think of it if I were you," said a pegasus soldier with a scrunched up face from behind Rainstorm as she threw away a paper travel cup, "I don't know who made that coffee or what they put in it, but it's way too strong," she warned before grabbing a new travel cup and filling it from one of the other three pots of coffee. Intrigued, Rain stepped up to grab a cup for himself, and poured some of the loan pot's contents into it, giving one final quick look around to make sure no one was looking at him before pulling his balaclava down just long enough to take a sip of the pitch-black brew.

"Holy crap, this is my kind of coffee!" he said as he quickly pulled his balaclava back up, appreciating the strength of the drink. He then filled his cup to the brim with the coffee before loading up a paper plate with bacon, sausages, biscuits, and eggs to take back to his room, but before he could exit the map room, Boris called out to him.

"Hey, Rainstorm, why don't ya sit and have breakfast with us?" Boris cheerfully asked from the folding table closest to the crystal table. "We need ta talk 'bout today's schedule anyways."

"*sigh* Fine, I'll stick around for the meeting, but I'm eating my breakfast in my room afterward," Rain informed Boris before pulling out a large napkin with many different runes on it and a magic circle in the middle and placing it over his plate, at which point the ends of the napkin folded themselves under the plate, sealing it completely. He then reluctantly took a seat at the end of the folding table closest to the crystal table.

"Might rude to be plannin' to eat your food in your room, don't you think?" asked Applejack, already sounding irritated with Rainstorm.

"Says the chick who wears her hat to breakfast," Rain retorted.

"But yawl are wearin' your hat!" AJ pointed out defensively.

"Yes, but you see, I can't stand you or any of your friends so, I have a perfectly good reason for being rude. What's your excuse?" Rain smarted off at Applejack, causing her to look as if she could slap the mercenary.

"I thought we were past all this..." Boris groaned as he shut his eyes tight and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was at that moment Twilight spoke up.

"Anypony noticed something off about the map?" she asked, changing the subject.

"What map?" Rainstorm asked.

"The Crystal Map," Twilight said pointing at the large crystal table she and her friends were sitting at.

"Jumping Jesus! This thing's the Crystal Map!?" Rainstorm asked with alarm, "And you've been using it as a friggin dinner table!? What in the holy Hell is wrong with you idiots!?", he bellowed. Rain had heard about the map and its capabilities and though he didn't see much use in helping people out with "friendship problems", he still understood its importance, not just to the elements, but to Equestria's safety.

"Relax, darling. The map is far too strong for us to have to worry about damaging it with a little food or drink," Rarity tried assuring Rain.

"Rarity's right!" Pinkie chimed in, "Besides, we've laid down on it, done arts and crafts on it, danced on it, played with our pets on it, played games on it- Oh, that reminds me! Later today we're going to have a game day here, would you like to join us? Uh...Rainy?..." Pinkie asked with concern in her voice having just noticed the panicked look in Rainstorm's eyes.

"Y-you use the super-powerful, one-of-a-kind, magical map given to you by ancient, all-powerful, mysterious, arcane forces..as a regular table?..." Rain barely managed to say the words as he struggled to not fall out of his chair.

"It's very easy to clean," Fluttershy said in an attempt to calm him.

"THAT'S NOT THE GODDAMN POINT!" Rain yelled at the top of his voice, catching the Elements by surprise. "Don't you stupid, ignorant, dumbasses realize that if anything happens to that map, we're all up shit's creek without a paddle, or did you collections of extra chromosomes forget that you can't just go down to the local Quills and Sofas and by another one!?" Rain finished as he stood up, fuming over the thoughtlessness exhibited by them.

"That's enough!" Twilight shouted, slamming the palms of her hands down onto the Crystal Map as she too stood up. "Ever since yesterday, you've thrown around threats of death and violence like it was nothing, been nothing but nasty to my friends, disrespectful to my family and my mentor, and even now, you're still talking down to us, and in my own home no less! I know I messed up in the past and for that, I'm sorry, but I won't allow you to keep putting me or my friends down, your services are no longer required! I order you to get out of my castle!" Twilight demanded as she gestured in the direction of the door, her face a deep-red with rage. This put Rain in an odd position. On the one hand, even though he'd like nothing better than to never have to see Twilight or her friends ever again, he’d sworn to both Celestia and Shining Armor he would look after them until the crisis was over. On the other hand, he hadn't been formally ordered by either Celestia or Shining to do so, but whether Twilight realized it or not, she had just given him a formal order to leave.

In accordance with the Mercenary-Militia Concordance, a ruling prince or princess could order a lone or freelance Equestrian mercenary to either defend a person, place, or thing in the absence of able-bodied members of the royal guard if they were reasonably capable of doing so, or order them to abandon a post if they were reasonably able and there were others who could take their place. This could be overridden either by the one who gave the order, or if the order went against those of two or more other ruling princes or princesses, but because he'd been hired to protect them and not ordered to do so by Shining, Cadance, Luna, or Celestia, he had no choice but to comply. Rainstorm looked at Boris and shrugged his shoulders before saying, "Sorry, but it's out of my hands," and then turned to leave the castle.

"Damn it!" said Boris as he got up to give chase, managing to catch up to Rainstorm just as he reached the front doors. "Now, hold up Rainstorm. I know ya don't want ta be here, but how about yer promise to Princess Celestia and Prince Shining Armor?" he asked Rain, trying to reason with him.

"As much as I hate Twilight and her friends, it's not that I don't want to stay, but you heard her. She said, and I quote, 'I order you to get out of my castle'. I can't go against the MMC, if I do, I could lose my certification and wind up without a job!" Rain explained.

"I know, I know..." Boris said as he racked his mind trying to find a solution to the situation, "...Look, I'll try ta reason with the princess and get her ta rescind the order. In the meantime, just...take Jasper with ya and...I don't know...survey the town or something? Get a feel for the land. Try and think of ways ta fortify the area, just in case," Boris suggested.

"Fine, but you'll have to go get Jasper yourself - and please be as quick as possible? I need to get away from this eyesore ASAP," Rain said as he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway outside the castle. Boris ran back to get Jasper and have a few words with Twilight. Once he got there, he could tell the Princess of Friendship was still livid over the whole ordeal.

"Jasper, I need ya ta tag along with Rainstorm, keep an eye on him, just in case," Boris asked the humanoid avian.

"Will do, sir!" he said, getting up and quickly heading off in the direction of the front door. As soon as Jasper was gone, Boris turned to Twilight with a frustrated expression.

"Princess Twilight, we need ta have a talk," he said sternly.

"About what!?" Twilight snapped before she could stop herself, "I...I'm sorry about snapping at you Boris. It's just that Rainstorm is just...such a...such a...such a- ".

"Bossy jerk?" Rainbow Dash offered.

"Rude ruffian?" Rarity added.

"Meany?" Pinkie chimed in.

"Short-tempered individual?" Fluttershy suggested.

"Lowdown, good-for-nothing, foulmouthed, flea-bitten, unhinged, hateful, unlikeable, nasty-assed, scumbag and biggest bastard of a varmint north of Appleloosa," Applejack said bitterly as the others stared at her for a moment before Twilight answered.

"Yes!" she said, agreeing with each of her friends.

"*sigh* I know he hasn't been very nice ta ya, but this ain't about him being nice or ya likin' him," Boris said, hoping to reason with the alicorn, "He's good at what he does - damn good, and that's what matters right now. After this is over, y'all never have ta see him again, but for now, he's tryin' ta fulfill a promise he made ta yer brother and Princess Celestia, and ya just ordered him ta go against that promise. He can't disobey a direct order from a rulin' member of royalty, so ya put him in a real bind. Please princess, resend the order - if not for ya and yer friend's sakes, than for that of Shining and Princess Celestia?" he pleaded. Twilight thought long and hard before responding.

"I'll think about it," she said, causing Boris to let out a groan as he buried his face in his right hand.

Rain and Jasper walked side-by-side down a stretch of road, taking in the sights as Huginn flew overhead, surveying the town. They would occasionally shoot each other glances out of the corner of their eye but had yet to say much to one another. Finally, Rainstorm broke the awkward silence, "So...nice weather we're having, huh?" he asked Jasper who nodded in agreement. The weather was indeed quite pleasant - a pure-blue sky, with only a couple of clouds here and there.

"Yep. The pegasi have really outdone themselves this time!" Jasper replied cheerfully. "So, where do you want to start with the survey?" he asked, hoping to keep Rainstorm's mind off Twilight and the others long enough to finish calming down, and long enough for Boris to convince Twilight to resend her order.

"Already on it," Rainstorm said as he pointed up into the sky at Huginn.

"You aren't a beast-master by any chance, are you?" Jasper asked, looking at Rain with confusion.

"Nope!" he answered in return, "First off, you have to have magic in order to be a beast-master, and I don't have so much as a spark of magic to my name. Secondly, even if I was, Huginn isn't a beast so it wouldn't matter either way," Rain explained.

"Wait, I'm confused. What do you mean he's not a beast?" Jasper asked, but before Rainstorm could reply, a voice called out to him from across the street.

"That is you, isn't it Rain!?" exclaimed a unicorn mare with a pale, light grayish cyan main with white highlights, light aquamarine skin, and brilliant golden eyes. She had on a bright-yellow halter tank top, a red skirt which came down to her knees, and white boots halfway up to her knees. "Hey Bon Bon, guess who it is!" the unicorn yelled at an earkin mare behind her.

"Hey, it's been a while, Rainstorm!" Bon Bon said enthusiastically. Bon Bon had light apple greenish-grey skin, a cobalt main with light fuchsia stripes in it, arctic-blue eyes, and wore a light-brown t-shirt, denim shorts, with white socks and red sneakers. Rain happily returned the greeting.

"Hey, Lyra and Bon Bon! Haven't seen you two since the inva-".

"The Invasion of the Body Takers! Yes, that was such a good movie, we should really go see one together again sometime!" Bon Bon interrupted nervously. "My favorite part was when the one heroine said ‘loose lips sink ships' just before she threw the brainless side character into the woodchipper, remember?" Bon Bon said through gritted teeth as she put particular emphasis on the last word, causing Rain to gulp.

"Y-yeah...grea-great movie..." he mumbled.

"Gee, could they be any more transparent?" Jasper thought to himself. Between Bon Bon laying it on so thick, the fact that - in Jasper's opinion - no one would be caught dead watching such a poorly done remake, and the recent Changeling invasion, that was most likely what Rain was referring to. However, he had no idea why they felt the need for all the secrecy but decided it best not to pry, at least for now.

"We actually heard you were in town and went out to see if we could find you!" Lyra said to Rainstorm.

"Wait, how did you know I was in town?" he asked, puzzled.

"Aunty Vi!" Lyra explained.

"Ah, Doctor Viola Heartstrings." Rain thought to himself. Viola Heartstrings was one of the heads of EPU research and development, as well as being the one who raised Lyra from a very young age. She'd been fascinated with Rain ever since he came to Equestria, and Celestia had assigned her to gather as much data on him as possible, leading her to quickly become his de facto pediatrician. Though their relationship had started out largely scientific, Viola quickly came to see him as something of a nephew, and he, in turn, had come to see her as his own aunt. "I really do need to visit her the next time I get the chance..." he said out loud.

"Yeah, the three of us can go together sometime soon! Speaking of, you on the clock right now?" Lyra asked.

"That is a damn-good question," Rain said bitterly, causing Bon Bon to look at him confused, but Lyra already had it figured out.

"Oh boy, what happened between you two this time?" Lyra inquired.

"TLDR; Princess Twilight ordered him to buzz off after he wouldn't stop picking on her and her friends. Oh, I'm Jasper, by-the-by," Jasper added, having just realized he hadn't yet introduced himself.

"Oh. She's Lyra, and I'm Bon Bon," Bon Bon said, formally introducing her and her friend. "Now, what's this about Rain picking on Twilight and her friends?"

"Those two have never gotten along, Bon. Ever since they were little, they've always butted heads," Lyra explained to Bon Bon. Rainstorm opened his mouth to protest but was quickly interrupted by a caw from Huginn.

"Incoming!" Huginn tried warning Rain. He looked up just in time to see - much to his dismay - some sort of flying contraption reminiscent of the Wright Brothers' famous flying machine coming straight for him, eliciting a high-pitched scream from the merc. Thinking it might be an enemy attacking him he made a mad dash to try to get away from it, or if nothing else, get away from the others so as not to risk harm to any of them. He ran as fast as he could, but though he did manage to get a safe distance away from Jasper and the girls, he just couldn't outrun the flying construct, which luckily for him, seemed to be making every effort to slow down and not crash into him, sadly, it was unavoidable. With a deafening crash, Rain lay bruised and battered under the wreckage as four children crawled out from the remains of the construct.

"Ouch...I think I might have pulled something," said Scootaloo as she stood up and started dusting herself off.

"I'm just happy that no pony got hurt," said a pale, light grayish-olive skinned earkin filly with brilliant gamboge eyes, a bright red main with a reddish-pink bow tied behind it, and who wore a green t-shirt and blue overalls with brown work boots. She hadn't yet noticed they had indeed hit Rainstorm.

"Yeah, me too," said a light-grey unicorn filly with a grayish mulberry main with pale, light grayish rose streaks, and pale, light grayish harlequin eyes. She was wearing an orange knee-length dress with yellow short sleeves and matching orange slippers. "Sorry, about your flying machine, Acestream," she apologized to a young earkin colt with a reddish-brown main, white skin, and violet eyes, as she helped extricate him from the wreckage.

"No worries, Sweetie Belle," said Acestream, who was wearing a green t-shirt and blackish-grey pants, with black sneakers, "I'm just happy it took off. I mean, yeah, it crashed, but I loved designing it, building it, and - best of all - actually flying it! You girls were right, I don't know why I was so afraid of failure! I... I feel like this is what I was meant to do with my life, like, it's my purpose!" Just as the colt finished his sentence, a brilliant light shown from his right arm through the sleeve on his t-shirt, and as if some invisible hand was drawing on the child, slowly a runic-looking tattoo began to take shape. As soon as the spectacle ended, the colt had a new "cutie mark" - as the crests of children were often referred to as - of a wrench crossed with a screwdriver overlapped by a flying machine. "I-I did it, I finally got my cutie mark!" Acestream happily proclaimed as he began jumping up and down with excitement. The whole time this had been going on, Rainstorm had been struggling to free himself from the crashed air vehicle, everything above his waist still buried underneath it.

"Whelp, it could be worse..." Rain thought to himself, just before he felt Acestream's hoof land full-force on his crotch, causing him to let out a blood-curdling scream, which finally drew the four children's attention to him.

"Ahh!" all four screamed in unison upon the realization they had indeed crashed into someone, and they scrambled to excavate Rainstorm from underneath the now-defunct construct, just as Jasper and the girls arrived on the scene.

"What in the holy Hell were you little idiots thinking!? You must be friggin suicidal or friggin stupid to go flying some kind of damn airplane around town like that! Especially you!" he said, pointing to Scootaloo, "Why a damn pegasus your age needs a damn plane to fly around is beyond me, you lazy brat!" The statement left Scootaloo fuming. Her wings had stopped developing early on in her life, keeping her from being able to fly like other pegasi, and had always been a source of shame and anger, but with recent events in her life, it had become an even more sensitive issue for her. She stared daggers at Rain, but he didn't seem to notice as he continued scolding them. "I hope the four of you nimrods, at the very least, understand you could have got someone ki- Ow!]" Rain let out a cry as he realized the hard way he'd cracked several ribs.

"Uh... I got to show my parents my cutie mark, see you later!" Acestream shouted as he ran off, leaving the CMC's to fend for themselves, much to their dismay.

"Hey, get ba- err!" Rain let out another grunt, the physical pain stopping him from yelling. He then pulled a featureless, tiny, white, humanoid doll made of cloth from one of his pockets and gave it a quick squeeze in his left hand before staring intently at it. Dozens of black and blue spots appeared all over it along with multiple minute, pink streaks thinner than a hair, "Well, I lucked out, just a few fractures. Should be easy enough to patch up," he thought to himself as he reached into a pouch with his right hand and pulled out a tiny glass vial filled with a light-pink liquid, popped the cap off with his thumb, turned his head away from everyone, then pulled down his balaclava just long enough to drink the potion, before returning the now empty bottle to its pouch. He almost immediately felt a cool, soothing, tingling sensation surge from his stomach and then throughout the rest of his body.

"Hey mister, we should get you to a doctor!" Apple Bloom said with concern.

"Don't worry. I don't think that will be necessary," Jasper told Applebloom reassuringly. "He just took a health potion, so he should be good." Sure enough, over the course of a few seconds, his bruises faded away and his fractures healed up until his body was in just as good a condition as it was prior to the wreck.

"Ah, much better..." Rain said before returning the doll to his pocket, but not before he noticed a small, purple mass that went across the doll's chest and down to its stomach, "So, still at least a few more days before it clears up and I can use my trump card again... Best to stay out of any serious trouble until then if I can avoid it," Rain thought to himself before turning back to face the CMC's, "Now, you three brats are gonna have some explaining to do once your parents hear about this!" Rain scolded them, causing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to exchange a look of concern and Scootaloo to just stare quietly at the ground. Bon Bon quickly pulled Rainstorm aside and whispered into his ear.

"Uh...ixnay with the arentstpay and the lyingfay!", she whispered through gritted teeth.

"Why sho- ! ...Wait a minute..." Rain whispered back as he finally started to realize who the three were. "That's right, those three should be the Cutie Mark Crusaders if I'm not mistaken. Which should also mean...Sweetie Belle's parents are hardly ever around, Apple Bloom's were pretty much all but confirmed deceased, and Scootaloo's..." Rain's thought's trailed off as something just occurred to him causing his blood to run cold. "She looks a lot like..." Rain said to himself as the realization hit him like a title wave.

"Please mister, we're really sorry about the accident. We were just tryin' to help that pony get his cutie mark, and things just got out of control," Apple Bloom apologized to Rainstorm.

"Yeah. Next time we promise to be more careful," Sweetie Belle promised him.

"And no pony got hurt- Err, permanently anyway..." Scootaloo corrected herself sheepishly.

"Please forgive us," the CMC's all said in unison, as sweetly and innocently as any child ever could.

"Ah, fuck my rotten life..." Rain thought to himself as he facepalmed. He knew it was over for him the moment the three children had given him the puppy dog eyes. He had met his match.

"Come on, princess," Boris said, pleading with Twilight as she and her friends (attempted) to play a card game called 'Last one standing', in spite of the interruption. The rest of the guards and the task force had vacated the map room shortly after breakfast to patrol the castle, leaving the package Moroz had brought with him sitting on a nearby folding table, completely forgotten in the aftermath of the fight earlier.

"I said I'd think about it and I'm still thinking!" Twilight said, trying very hard not to snap at Boris again as she laid down a purple card with three stars on it, "Look, I'm trying to let it go, but how am I supposed to calm down when you keep asking me about it!?" Twilight was still mad about Rainstorm's attitude towards her and her friends and though she'd been trying to get over her anger, so she'd be able to resend her order, if only to keep Celestia and Shining happy, she was finding it far more difficult than she'd anticipated.

"Why in the world do we even need that rattlesnake in the first place!?" Applejack asked as she placed a purple card of her own with seven stars on it on top of Twilight's card, "I mean, we got ourselves plenty of protection near as I can tell. Just how's some random merc gonna make that much of a difference anyways?"

"First off, this is the third time I've asked ya 'bout it - and that's countin' right after he left. Secondly, he ain't just some 'random merc'. He's considered one of the best in the business - a livin' legend. There's a reason he's ranked number seven among the Deadly Seven," Boris informed them.

"What's the 'Deadly Seven'?" Fluttershy asked as she added a pink card with seven stars to the growing pile, leaving her with a single card left, "*gasp* last one standing!" she chimed excitedly.

"Sorry, darling," Rarity said smugly as she then placed a pink card with a giant 'X' across it on top.

"Oh...fiddlesticks!" Fluttershy said with mild hints of annoyance and disappointment in her voice as she then drew seven cards from the deck.

"The Deadly Seven are the most dangerous warriors recognized by the EPU in all of Equestria. Other than the princesses anyway," Rainbow Dash explained as she drew a few cards before finally playing a pink card with five stars on it.

"My brother is on that list too, as number four," Twilight added as she watched Pinkie play a green card with five stars on it, "I'm not sure who else is on that list, but I know it's not easy to get on there," she said as she played a green card with nine stars on it.

"It's not," Boris stated, "Ya can't just be strong, ya gotta be smart, resourceful, and quick on yer feet. Rainstorm may be the low man on the totem pole, so ta speak, but given the fact that he can't use magic himself, but still made it on that list at all oughta tell ya he's no ordinary mercenary," Boris explained.

"Wait! What do you mean he can't use magic!?" Rainbow asked, surprised by the notion of someone not having magic - especially a well-known mercenary like Rainstorm.

"It's true," Twilight replied to Rainbow, "Rainstorm is one of the only ponies out there that I know of who has no magical powers of his own at all. He might be able to draw out magical effects through potions created through witchcraft like Zecora does, but he can't channel or generate magic directly from his own body or soul," Twilight explained as her and her friends waited on Applejack to make a move. Applejack had been quietly mulling over which of her four cards to play, but finally decided to play a black card with the symbol for chaos - six arrows pointing outward in a starburst pattern - causing the rest to groan as they placed the cards in their hands face down in a pile and AJ proceeded to shuffle them, then deal the mixed cards back to everyone until they all had the same number of cards in their hands they did before.

"Grr! Now, how in tarnation did I end up with the exact same cards in my hand as when I played that black card!?" Applejack asked in confusion as the others chuckled except for RD.

"Oh my gosh, what even is this hand!?" she said exasperatedly.

"I'm confused though," Pinkie said, turning her attention back to the subject of Rainstorm, "Even Yaks have a little bit of magic they can use. I thought everypony in the world has at least some magic, but you're saying Rainy doesn't?" she asked, perplexed, while Fluttershy played a blue card with five stars on it.

"Well, from my understandin', y’all need a soul to have magic. Wouldn't be none too surprised to hear that asshole don't got no soul!" AJ bitterly said as Rarity played a blue card with six stars on it.

"Hey, let's not take it too far, Applejack," Twilight said to her, "I think going as far to call Rain 'soulless' is going just a bit overboard. Yeah, he's not a nice guy, but I wouldn't say he's soulless," Twilight said as Rainbow Dash groaned and started drawing cards from the deck.

"*sigh* You're right, sugar-cube. Sorry," Applejack apologized, while Rainbow continued drawing cards.

"It's probably something about his physiology or where he comes from that makes him unable to cast magic," Twilight theorized just as a tired-looking Spike, Starlight, and Trixie entered the map room. They'd been up most of the night and had even skipped breakfast trying to find all the teacups Trixie had created during the friendship retreat and had finally succeeded in setting everything back to normal as discreetly as possible, other than the teacup-poodle Trixie had unwittingly created and decided to keep as a pet, which was following close beside her. "Hey you three, where were you this morning, and what in Equestria is that thing?" Twilight asked, having just noticed Trixie's new pet.

"*gasp* He is not a thing, Twilight! He's a one-hundred percent, purebred teacup-poodle, and his name is Bartholomew!" Trixie said defensively as Bartholomew yipped happily at her.

"...Ok..." Twilight said, deciding to leave the subject alone, instead, opting to ask about something else. "I feel like the map is a few centimeters off for some reason. Any idea what might have happened?" she asked, still uninformed by the trio about their escapades a few days prior. The three denied any knowledge concerning the issue and quickly left, nervously laughing the whole time. "What?..." Twilight asked, now more confused than ever.

" ’Where he comes from’? Do you mean that world where Sunset Shimmer lives with our counterparts...Terra, I believe she called it?" Rarity asked as RD finally managed to draw and play a blue card with a single star on it. Twilight gave a long pause as she thought, before answering Rarity.

"...I...I'm not sure. I don't think he comes from Terra, but I could be wrong," Twilight said, just now realizing she'd never given Rainstorm's origins much thought, "I know most of Terra's inhabitants don't even believe magic exists, and think it's just something make-believe, but...I was under the impression that he literally fell out of the sky - along with all sorts of weird machinery. No mirror or anything," Twilight said. Twilight had traveled to the world of Terra on several occasions, via a magic mirror. Within that alternate reality, there seemed to be little-to-no magic, and the only intelligent creatures present were humans, many of whom were near-perfect doppelgangers of nearly everyone she knew, even herself, but she wasn't sure if Rain came from there or not.

"I highly doubt that's where Rain comes from, Princess," Boris said to Twilight, "Most of the information 'bout the night Rainstorm came to our world is top-secret - I doubt even he has all the details. That said, based on yer reports concernin' everything ya encountered on Terra, and what little I do know 'bout that night, I'd say he comes from yet a whole nother world all tagether."

"You're kiddin'. Just how many different worlds could there be out there?..." AJ asked, slightly in awe at the idea of yet another entire world besides Gimlé existing out there somewhere.

“Mathematically, you can justify no worlds, one world, and infinite worlds. The math doesn’t permit any other number to exist. Of course, just because they exist doesn’t mean they’re accessible from Gimlé,” explained Twilight.

"So, the dude's some kind of alien or something? Guess that would explain how he took back Fort Jagged all by himself," Rainbow surmised.

"You mean that old fort that was abandoned during the Evermourn epidemic a really long time ago?" Fluttershy asked, her and the others taking a break from their card game to listen to Rainbow Dash.

"Well, from what I heard, it got turned into a town several decades later, but got taken over by the Rockjaw Crew, a bunch of raiders led by an earkin named Rockjaw, almost four years ago, "Rainbow explained.

"I remember hearin' about Rockjaw,'' Applejack remarked with a shiver, "The things I heard he did used to give me nightmares. The whole family was always terrified by the idea that he might pay Ponyville a visit. In fact, Granny Smith even said that if we ever caught wind he was gonna come ah callin', that we were to leave the farm and get as far away as possible, as fast as possible. Dyin' while fightin' for your home's one thing, but if that evil sumah-bitch got a hold of you, you'd be better off takin’ your own life," she finished with another shiver.

"Especially if you were a mare," Rainbow said, clearly uncomfortable with the train of thought, before she continued with her story, "The Rockjaw Crew took over Fort Jagged and killed everypony there, but by the time the military managed to force their way in, Rockjaw and his raiders were all dead - all two-hundred of them - all killed by one lone merc. And that merc was none other than The Wolf of Canterlot himself, Rainstorm!" Rainbow finished, dramatically.

"'The Wolf of Canterlot'?" Applejack asked, not sounding very impressed, "Ifn' y’all ask me, that whole story right there sounds like a load of hogwash to me. And while we're at it, just what kind of nickname is 'the Wolf of Canterlot' supposed to be anyways?" AJ asked, finding Rainbow's story highly suspect.

"Rain and Shining both got their nicknames during the last big conflict here in Equestria, and what Rainbow said 'bout Rainstorm and Fort Jagged is all true, though no one's entirely sure how he managed ta do it, though I have mah suspicions," Boris informed Applejack.

"Yeah, famous warriors like Shining and Rainstorm get all kinds of really cool nicknames, but I think the coolest name he got was from taking out the Rockjaw Crew - The Grand Reaper of Fort Jagged!" Rainbow stated excitedly.

"I'd really avoid bringin' up that name or that fort in front of him, trust me," Boris warned them.

"Let me guess, he made up a fancy nickname for himself to stroke his own ego about takin' down a ton of bandits, and we need special permission from him to speak it or something?" Applejack said irritably, "Cause, if he or anypony else thinks I'm askin' his permission for anything, they've got another thi- !"

"There's nothin' 'fancy' 'bout that damn name and he sure as Hell didn't make it up himself, and if any of ya have even a shred of decency, ya won't dare mention it or that ancestors-forsaken fort within earshot of Rainstorm, ya hear me!?" Boris interrupted AJ, bellowing angrily as he did so and catching everyone in the map room off-guard.

"What in the Sam Hill's gotten into you, Boris!?" Applejack asked defensively, "And why should any of us make any special considerations for him, when he's been nothin' but rude to us!?" AJ angrily demanded. Boris was quiet for a minute before finally answering her.

"Ya know that most recent conflict I mentioned earlier, the one he and Shining fought tagether in? They served under me in that one and it's one I know you're quite familiar with - the Brick Orchard Conflicts. Now, there are things 'bout that war I'm willin' ta talk 'bout, but there's a whole lot I went through and saw during that war - and others - I'd prefer ta take with me ta my grave - same goes for them and ta battles they fought both durin, before, and after Brick Orchard. Miss Applejack, I know ya and yer family knows more than its fair share of tragedy and heartache, things ya don't talk with nobody 'bout - not even yer best friends. Ta put it bluntly, there are just some things that are best left alone, wouldn't ya agree?" Boris asked a gaunt-looking Applejack, whose eye's were the size of dinner plates. "Now, I'm gonna go find Rainstorm and me and him are gonna have words over his behavior as well, but afterwards, I'm bringin' him back to the front door, where ya -" Boris said pointing to Twilight, "- Will be waitin' ta rescind yer order, cause if all three of ya don't knock off this nonsense, I will make damn sure ta get Princess Celestia involved and trust me, none of ya are gonna like that! Understood!?" Boris asked furiously before turning to leave without an answer.

"...What the Hell was all that about?..." Rainbow asked as Applejack quickly stormed out of the map room without saying a word or making eye contact with anyone, all while Rarity was quietly deep in thought.

"That's right... Rainstorm visited my shop around that time to buy a wedding dress and a little pegasus filly's formal dress..." she thought to herself. "...Wait, I'm sure he mentioned that he was living in a settlement named Fort Jagged at the time...but that would mean...!" her eyes widened as a horrible thought crept its way into her mind, the implications of which only worsened as the conversation they'd had that day came flooding back to her. "Oh, no..." Rarity said covering her mouth as she did so. "E-excuse me darlings, I-I need to go powder my nose!" Rarity said, quickly excusing herself from the map room. She ran as fast as she could to one of the bathrooms in the castle and locked herself in. She hoped and prayed to Celestia, to her ancestors, to anyone that might hear her out that she was wrong, that what she feared had driven Rain to go up against an army of raiders all alone was wrong... But in her heart-of-hearts, she knew the horrible truth and wept for the mercenary she had only just a few hours earlier been glad to see Twilight order away.

"Where are they putting it all?..." Rainstorm asked himself out loud in disbelief as he watched the three fillies each devour their second helping of hayburgers and fries, wolfing them down like rabid monsters tearing apart a fresh animal carcass.

"They're growing fillies, what did you expect?" asked a fairly amused Bon Bon.

"I sure as heck didn't expect to drop nearly a hundred bits on food when I can't eat a single bite of it and haven't had any food all day..." Rain grumbled under his breath.

"Well, don't look at me, hun," Jasper said as he took a swig of a large diet soda, "Gotta say, the salad I got was pretty good - especially for it being free!" he said happily.

"It's not a 'free salad' if someone else is paying for it!" Rain said to Jasper through gritted teeth.

"It's free to me!" Jasper retorted with a wink.

"Thinks ahbin fer tha food, musta" Apple Bloom said through a mouth full of food.

"Yes, thank you. Crusading always leaves us famished," Sweetie Belle said, having had enough manors to swallow her food before addressing Rainstorm.

"*EEERRRPPP* Yeah, that really hit the spot!" Scootaloo said as she pat her stomach.

"Same here!" Lyra said, Bon Bon nodding in agreement.

"*sigh* I'm glad you guys enjoyed it," Rain said earnestly. Though he still regretted missing out on breakfast, he was genuinely happy to treat them all to lunch - even Jasper - though he still wasn't quite sure how he'd been talked into it when he was the one who had gotten hurt. He then caught himself staring at Scootaloo, still in disbelief over the uncanny resemblance.

"Hey, mister?" Scootaloo asked, snapping Rainstorm out of his trance.

"Look, you three, could you knock off the 'mister' stuff? Just call me Rainstorm, or Rain if you'd prefer," Rainstorm told the CMC's.

"Oh sorry, mister- I mean, Rainstorm!" Scootaloo quickly corrected herself, "Well, it's just that you keep staring at me. Is there something wrong?" she asked, not wanting to admit the fact Rain's staring was starting to creep her out a little.

"It's just...you look a lot like a little girl I used to know...someone I cared about a lot..." Rain answered her, "Other than the color of your skin and hair, you look almost exactly like her - right down to the wings. You could almost be her big sister..." he explained.

"My wings?" Scootaloo asked, now quite curious considering she had never met another pegasus with the same condition as her. She also liked the sound of her getting to be an honorary big sister to someone in the same way Rainbow Dash was to her, "I've heard of a few other pegasi whose wings stopped growing right, but I've never met one in person. You think you could introduce us sometime!?" she asked excitedly. Rainstorm went quiet for a long time as he stared down at the floor and then, finally spoke.

"I... I wish I could. I can see you two getting along thick as thieves... I can't though. She passed away a few years ago..." Rain said, the sadness audible in his voice. Everyone at the table stared back at him for a few minutes, until Scootaloo spoke again.

"Oh...I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Scootaloo apologized to Rainstorm.

"No harm, kiddo," Rain warmly assured her, "So, what's on the agenda for you girls next?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, "We promised to help out on the farm today. Any chance you'd like to tag along, Rain? It's hard work, but you can make it lots of fun if you know how!"

"*sigh* I guess I don't have anything better to do today..." Rain relented.

"Sorry, but we've got errands to run," Bon Bon said as she and Lyra stood up to leave.

"It was great getting to spend time with you again, Rain. All of us will have to get together and do this again sometime," Lyra chimed.

"Oh, you know it girl!" Jasper agreed cheerfully.

"And when we do, it will be on your tab!" Rain informed Jasper through gritted teeth, "Oh, and don't expect to sit around at the Apple Farm and do nothing the whole time either!"

"Oh, boy..." Jasper said with a nervous grin as he realized he was about to end up paying for that salad after all. Thirty-odd minutes later, the five of them arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, which featured a large farmhouse, barn, several dozen crop fields of varying types of crops, multiple animal pins, each with different livestock, and an enormous apple orchard which looked as though it went on forever. "Oh, wow..." Jasper thought to himself as he took in the sight, “Guess Rainstorm was right, there really are no free salads..." he thought as they arrived at the front door, and Apple Bloom knocked on it a few times, prompting an elderly green mare to open it. She had light orange eyes, a white mane, and tail tied back in a tight bun, and wore a long, light-brown gown, with brown boots, and a large, frilly, light-orange handkerchief around her neck, covered in red apples.

"There you are, Apple Bloom," she said sweetly.

"We're here Granny, and we brought some new friends who wanna help out too!" Apple Bloom excitedly explained to her, prompting Rain and Jasper to introduce themselves.

"It's a pleasure to meet y’all. You can call me, Granny Smith," the elderly mare introduced herself, "Normally, my other two grandchildren and Apple Bloom do most of the work 'round here, but my eldest granddaughter just went through quite the ordeal, and we wanted to give her another day or two to rest before she gets back to work. As fer my grandson, he's off makin' a bulk delivery a few towns away and likely won't make it back till this evenin'," Granny Smith explained.

"He really wanted to stay, but Granny insisted that he go," Apple Bloom added.

"I didn't think it’d do him no good stickin' round here frettin' over his sister," Granny Smith explained, "Enough of that now. We got work to do!" she proclaimed. She then went about explaining what she needed the group to do around the farm and the five of them went about their tasks. From maintenance on the farmhouse to feeding the animals, to collecting apples, and so on, until by three past two pm, they were halfway through tending a large garden.

"Whew! Definitely no such thing as a free salad!" Jasper said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Scootaloo was fighting with some weeds here and there, Sweetie was working on the upkeep for the flowers, and Apple Bloom had been watering some other plants, when the Apple family's border collie, Winona, decided to playfully tackle her to the ground. Rainstorm meanwhile, was busy repairing the fence surrounding the garden.

"Ahh, you got nothing to complain about!" Rain told Jasper, "At least you've got a full stomach," Rain said sadly as his stomach growled loudly.

"Again, no one said you couldn't get a salad at the Hey, Burger, or eat some of your breakfast back at the castle before you ticked off the princess!" Jasper snapped at Rain, "I don't get why you insist on not eating with others, but you're the only reason you're hungry right now!"

"Why didn't you want to eat in front of us?" Sweetie Belle asked Rainstorm.

"It's...complicated..." Rain said, trying to think of what to say next when Granny Smith came by to check on their progress.

"How y’all doin'?" she asked happily.

"We're doing just fine!" Rain stated optimistically, "Just gotta finish the garden here, and -" he was cut off by the sound of his stomach giving another furious growl loud enough for all of them to hear. "Sorry about that. I haven't had anything to eat all day," he apologized to Granny Smith, who hand waved it immediately.

"Ain't nothin' fer you to apologize fer! Why don't you come inside and get you some grub? We got apple pie, fresh from the oven!" she happily offered him.

"Go ahead Rain," Jasper encouraged him, "We're almost done anyway so, I think we can take things from here!" he said with a grin, and with a nod of agreement from the CMC's, Rain reluctantly followed Granny Smith back to the farmhouse for some food. Granny Smith sat Rainstorm down at the kitchen table and quickly placed a generous slice of apple pie with a fork on a checkered plate in front of him, "What are you waitin' fer, go to town!" she cheerfully exclaimed. Rain looked at the mouth watering pie in front of him, his stomach rumbling once again, but instead of eating right away, he chose to address the elderly mare.

"Believe me, I really want to, but- ".

"Go on, I ain't worried none 'bout a few scars here and there", Granny reassured Rain, cutting him off mid sentence, "That's why you wear that there fancy handkerchief, right? Yer face is scarred up and you either don't wanna scare folks with it, or have 'em buggin' you 'bout stuff that ain't none of their darn business, right?" she asked, a knowing look in her eyes.

"Am I that transparent?" Rain asked in turn, to which Granny shook her head.

"Nah. Just that when you get to be as old as I am, you see enough of the same things over and over again to where's you start pickin' up on these types of things more easily than others. Seen plenty o wars in my day, along with them mercs and soldiers that fight in 'em, and let me tell you, you ain't the first one what come out lookin' like they done lost a fight with a wood chipper and I doubt you'll be the last," she said as she pulled two glasses out of a pantry and a large pitcher of ice tea out of the refrigerator. "I'm over a hundred years old and have had to patch up more than my fair share of war injuries, after all, we Apples have always taken it upon us to look after Ponyville and her townsfolk, since as far back as when we helped found this little village," she explained. "Besides, feedin' you some apple pie is the least I can do fer you fer taken care of my Applejack and her friends," she added as she poured the two of them some sweet tea.

Rain nodded his head, then took off his hat, pulled down his balaclava and began to eat as Granny Smith placed one glass of tea in front of him as she joined him at the kitchen table. As he ate, Granny Smith couldn't help but stare at the scars on his face for a few seconds before paying them no further attention and instead, smiling at the mercenary as he made quick work of the food on his plate. "Thank you," Rain said as he finished the pie, his stomach finally quieting, "I don't just mean for the food either. If you know about why I'm in town then you likely know that I haven't been getting along with your granddaughter or her friends, but you were still kind enough to treat me as a guest. You were even willing to ignore this out of respect, even though you're probably curious about it," he said as he pointed to his mouth.

"Sorry, dearie," Granny Smith apologized, "It really don't bother me none, I was just a bit surprised by the kind of injuries you have."

"You can tell these are different from most battle scars?" Rain asked.

"Well, Apple Bloom's been learnin' how to brew potions with that nice Zecora mare from the Everfree Forest and Princess Twilight so, I've been tryin' to help her learn more 'bout 'em too by getting her books on witchcraft whenever I get the chance - think it might be nice to have an honest-to-goodness witchdoctor in the family someday! Well, I say yer never too old to learn you somethin' new and I don't want to get her a book on something she's already got a book on so, before handin' 'em over, I've been readin' some of 'em myself," Granny took a drink of her tea before continuing, "Read about potion burns and scarring from them books - some even had pictures inside - so, I know you didn't take no face full of shrapnel nor nothin' like that. That's yer business though. Ifin' you wanna talk 'bout it, that's fine by me, if not, that's ok too," she said with a warm smile. Rain thought for a moment, deciding that since she wasn't being pushy about it and he was hoping to get some of his own questions answered too, that there was no harm in telling Granny Smith a little bit about the scars on his face and neck.

"...Mostly, I wear this balaclava for the utilities it provides," Rain said, indicating what he was referring to with a tug on said garment, "Made it myself and paid top bit to have several high-quality enchantments permanently inscribed into it. Air filtration, shielding, togglable scent detection and sound filtration, - even mild water filtration, along with a few other enchantments. Other than that, I don't usually mind people seeing my face like this, I don't really care what other people think of me and if someone pesters me about my scars, I'm more than happy to tell them what I think they should do with their questions. The reason I've been keeping my face covered as much as possible here is that I don't want the elements of harmony to bug me about it so I've been trying to avoid them, my other charges, or Taskforce Sigma seeing my face, out of fear of causing unnecessary drama with them. Because, I've been doing such an amazing job at that so far..." Rain said as he rolled his eyes at himself.

"And how might that stir anything up with them, ifin' you don't mind me askin'?" Granny Smith inquired.

"*sigh* Because this isn't from a battle," Rain said, pausing to drink some of his tea, before continuing. "Long story short, more than a decade ago, Twilight and I were supposed to work on something together for a really important potions exam, and even though she promised to be there on time, she totally bailed on me! So, like an idiot, I tried doing a two-man job all by myself and...let's just say, I was lucky that the only one who got seriously hurt by this was me - well, I guess I'm not the only one that got hurt in the end..." Rain finished sadly.

"And yer still angry at Twilight over it?" Granny Smith asked.

"No. - I mean, yes. - I mean... I'm honestly not sure anymore," Rain said, "At one point, I'd nearly forgiven her for the potions thing, but I swear, every time I turn around, she's finding new ways to prove that she hasn't learned anything from that whole mess! She's still the same spoiled, bratty, selfish, irresponsible, know-it-all today that she was back then - that she's always been! At this point, I doubt she'll ever change!" Rain angrily said. Granny Smith pondered the information quietly for a minute, then asked Rainstorm another question.

"Ever ask her fer her side of the story? The Twilight I know sounds a might different from the one you knew back then, so I can't really see her doin' nothin' like that without good reason, but ponies do change. Might be worth havin' words with her 'bout it all civil-like?" she suggested.

"I've thought about it, but... *sigh* I just don't know if I can trust anything she says to me..." Rain's voice trailed off as he mulled over Granny Smith's advice. After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, he decided to see if he could have some of his questions answered, "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions now?" Rain requested.

"I don't see why not," Granny Smith reasoned.

"I get why Twilight hates me, and I get why most of her friends seem to hate me, but why does Applejack hate me so much?" he asked, "I know I've let my mouth run and said some pretty lousy things to all of them, but AJ seems to hate me especially - like, even more than Twilight herself. Any idea what that's about?" he questioned Granny.

"Well, I've heard some of the things you've said 'bout them - things I'd be lyin' if I said I were fine with -" she said as she shot Rain a stern look that caused him to feel a pang of guilt, "But I could say the same thing 'bout some of the things she's said 'bout you too. Way I see it, y’all are two grown adults and shouldn't be bad mouthin' each other any more than y’all should be lettin' any bad mouthin' get to you. Now as fer the other reason why she ain't none too fond of you, ain't nothin' to do with you personally, she just hates mercenaries in general," Granny Smith explained.

"Why?" Rain asked. Granny Smith was silent for a long time before she finally answered.

"Her parents - my son and daughter-in-law... They died during the Brick Orchard Conflicts..." she said as her voice trailed off.

"Oh..." Rain said, a sad look overtaking his face, "Guess she has every right to hate me and every other mercenary out there... I would too if I lost my parents in the Mercenary Civil War..." he said as the two of them just sat there, in silence for what seemed to them like an eternity, before a panic-stricken Jasper threw open the kitchen door to the outside, his left hand covering a bleeding wound on his head.

"Someone...*pant* came up from behind me - knocked me out and pulled me into the bushes - woke up long enough to see the girls headed toward the southern orchard before I blacked out again!..." Jasper barely finished his sentence, before collapsing and nearly hitting the floor, with Rain just managing to catch him in time.

"Ancestors! That could lead 'em straight into the Everfree Forest!" Granny Smith fearfully shouted as Rain carried Jasper to a sofa in the other room. Thinking quickly, Rainstorm pulled out a golden lighter with the royal seal on it and a health potion, which he poured into Jasper's semiconscious beak, the soldier barely managing to swallow it.

"I've adjusted the Hermes lighter to send mail to Spike, write him a letter telling him what's happened, then just light the letter on fire using the Hermes lighter and it will send it straight to him!" Rain quickly explained as he handed Granny Smith the lighter and a blank piece of paper with a pin.

"What are you gonna do!?" Granny asked frantically.

"I'm going after them!" he proclaimed as he pulled up his balaclava and put on his hat, heading out the door as he did so. He ran south towards the southern orchard, but just before the orchard's trees began, on a narrow patch of dirt road that cut directly in front of it, he saw a familiar colt with a large animal next to him. "Wait...Acestream, wasn't it? What are you doing here, and what's with the morse?" Rain asked, inquiring about why a child would be alone out here of all places.

"I was just morseback riding out here when I saw the girls run into the orchard! They said something about their dog getting dragged off to the Everfree Forest. If you hurry, you might catch them! You can even borrow my morse," Acestream explained as he pointed at the creature, whose body mostly resembled that of an average horse, except for the feet, tail, and head, which were all quite mouse-like. The morse quickly ran up behind Rain, as if trying to hide from the child and he climbed onto the creature. Rain found it quite odd the saddle on it's back wasn't smaller considering the size of the child that had apparently ridden there on it. "That way. There's a path right through the orchard that leads directly to the Everfree Forest... I'd hurry if I were you..." Acestream said as he pointed toward the path through the orchard with his right hand.

Rain was sure it was just his imagination, but he could have sworn there was just the faintest hint of malice in the boy's voice, "Thanks, kid!" Rain shouted as he readied his steed to charge into the orchard when he noticed the sleeve of Acestream's outstretched arm come up just far enough to where the bottom of his new cutie mark should have been visible, yet there was no trace of it.

"You don't have a lot of time, Raindrop," Acestream said. Rainstorm knew he was right, and took off, riding deep into the orchard and on the way to the Everfree Forest. It wasn't until a few minutes later a realization had hit him.

"Wait, what did he call me!?" Rain wondered out loud. He hadn't been called Raindrop since before he left Canterlot all those years ago, how in the world did that kid know that name? What's more, even though he'd written it off as his paranoid imagination, he was now certain that Acestream was missing his crest - or rather, whoever had been disguised as Acestream had missed that relatively new detail.

"What in the world's going on, Rainstorm!?" cawed Huginn as he swooped down to fly next to Rainstorm as he continued to charge forward. Rain reached out and tapped Huginn on the head, causing the bird's eyes to light up for an instant as Rain's memories flooded into him, "So, you think whoever was back there pretending to be the colt from earlier might have something to do with this? If that's the case then we’re almost certainly walking into a trap!" Huginn cawed at Rain.

"Don't care!" Rain replied speeding onward into the Everfree Forest.

"Right! Let's sync our senses then!" Huginn advised. Rain nodded in agreement and stared into Huginn's eyes with his right eye and focused. A second later, the eyesight in Rain's right eye was replaced with all of Huginn's eyesight, as his hearing in his right ear was also replaced with Huginn's hearing. With that, Huginn flew off ahead of Rainstorm.

"Hang on girls, I'm coming!" Rain thought to himself, fire in his eyes and determination in his heart.

Chapter 5: Finished

Chapter 6: Red Rat - Formula Eleven

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Fort Jagged (The Drunkard's Garden), August 3rd, Year: 998, Solaris Era, 1:24 PM, (Four years earlier) -

Rainstorm sat at the bar of his favorite dive bar, The Drunkard's Garden, enjoying a pitcher of ice-cold beer as he watched a little, light-blue pegasus filly, with a short white mane, and unusually tiny wings, drawing on a piece of paper using a red crayon as she hummed happily to herself. "What I wouldn't give to be able to be as carefree as Morning Dew over there," said the bartender, a light-green, middle-aged mare with brown eyes, a long, mid-aquamarine mane, wearing a red short-sleeved blouse, dark-brown belt with brass buckle, and a long brown dress skirt with dark-brown cowboy boots.

"I know what you mean, Wallflower," Rainstorm agreed, before taking another drink of his beer, "All I want is for her to have a normal, happy childhood..." He said, his voice trailing off. Morning Dew continued to hum to herself as she got out a green crayon to use next, stopping for a second to look over at the two adults and beam at them, before she went back to drawing.

"That dress you got her is adorable," Wallflower said with a grin, "She absolutely adores it!" Morning was wearing a yellow, sleeveless dress covered in tiny, white flowers, short, white socks, and little, black dress slippers.

"Ahh, she'd adore just about anything I could give her," Rain said, pausing for a minute afterward before he spoke again, "What she really needs is a family."

"Well, I've been trying to legally adopt her for over a year now, but it's hard getting the go-ahead from the government if you're not married," Wallflower stated with a hint of irritation, "I doubt even a war hero like you would have an easy time of it. Unless, of course, you asked for a favor from a certain- ".

"Not gonna happen!" Rainstorm interrupted Wallflower, "I don't want Princess Celestia involved at all! Besides, if somepony like me started using my connections to royalty to circumvent the law, it would be a bad look for everypony involved," Rain said, dismissing the notion. "Besides...there is an easier way to please the bureaucrats and fast-track any adoption proceedings that would come afterward..." he said as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a small, gold ring, placing it in front of Wallflower.

"Is that a wedding ring? Who are you planning to settle down with? Hahaha!" she laughed a little before noticing Rain looking at her with a raised eyebrow and an unamused expression. "...Sweet, Celestia! You don't mean me do you!?" Wallflower exclaimed before quickly covering her mouth and looking to see if Morning Dew had heard her. The filly paid them no heed as she continued to work on her drawing, using a green crayon now, "Look, we're good friends, but we're not that good...are we?" Wallflower asked Rain in a whisper.

"True, but I don't have any better ideas, and I know neither of us would even entertain the idea of letting somepony else raise her, and it's not like either of us were ever gonna settle down with a special somepony anyway so, why not? It would just be a formality so we could both adopt Morning...and if I'm being honest..." Rain paused for a second, then continued, "I may not be 'in love with you' any more than you are with me, but...I do love you," Rain whispered as he blushed. Wallflower was quiet for a second before she started snickering, covering her mouth as she did so to try to keep from bursting out laughing, much to Rain's chagrin.

"Wow, no wonder your last relationship went down the crapper," Wallflower chuckled.

"Well, fuck you too!" Rain quietly snapped at Wallflower as he reached out to grab the ring off the table, but just before he could, Wallflower placed a hand over it, "...That wasn't a no..." she said, her face now turning red.

"But, if you think I'm just gonna hand over my bar-," Wallflower was stopped mid sentence by Rainstorm firmly shaking his head no.

"I was...thinking now would be a good time to...you know...get out of the mercenary life...stay put, and raise Morning Dew full time," Rain said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Wait, The Walking Maelstrom, The Wolf of Canterlot, The mighty Rainstorm himself, a stay-at-home dad!?" Wallflower asked, bewildered, "...You're really serious about this, aren't you?..." she asked.

"This next job is my last. I'll get it done, get my bits, get back here, and after that, no more mercenary work," Rain said with a determined look in his eyes, "Besides, I'm tired of getting dirty looks every time I cross paths with any of The Knightreavers. Feel like one of these days they may ask me for another pound of flesh...or more," he added as he rubbed a large spot on his upper-left arm through the sleeve of his jacket.

"Pity, I know a number of single mares in town that will be devastated when they find out you're off the market," Wallflower teased.

"Too bad," Rain stated, "I'm serious about this. I feel like... Like it's the right time, you know?" Rain asked her. Wallflower stood there silently for a few moments before finally answering.

"*sigh* And after I swore to myself that I'd never let another stallion hold me down when my second marriage went up in smoke..." she pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a long drag on it before continuing, "Fine...let's do it - get married that is," she said as she stared Rainstorm in the eyes with a serious look.

"Really!?" Rain asked, not sure if he'd heard her correctly.

"Sure. Could be fun," she said before taking another puff on her cigarette, "And if you really impress me, I might even be a good wife and let you consummate our wedding," she teased him.

"I can't lie. A part of me has always wondered what you're like in bed," Rain teased back.

"A big part of you - I bet!" Wallflower chuckled as she gave Rain a playful punch in the arm, "You pervert, keep talking like that...and you might just find out..." she said slyly as she took the ring off the bar counter and pocketed it. "I'll hang on to this until you get back. After all, you don't want to end up in the doghouse for losing my ring before we even exchange vows, do you?" she asked Rain with a wink.

"What are you two whispering about?" asked Morning Dew - who had just walked up to the bar counter carrying the now completed picture to show them - as innocently as possible, and having not heard a single thing Rain or Wallflower had talked about.

"Ah, nothing, kiddo," Rain said dismissively, "We might have a surprise for you after I get back though..." he said as he exchanged a happy smile with Wallflower.

"So, what do you have there, kiddo?" Wallflower asked the filly, who giggled excitedly as she showed them her drawing. It was a crude children's crayon drawing of the three of them, holding hands and smiling.

"It's us, together forever!" Morning Dew beamed. That was something Rain could definitely live with, something he wanted more than anything else in the whole world...

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Ponyville (The Southern Orchard - Just North of the Everfree Forest), April 22nd, year 2, Reformation era, 2:34 PM -

Rainstorm gave his head a violent shake as he rode onward as if trying to shake the memories of the past from his mind. "I don't have time to think about that right now!" he said out loud, "I have to find the girls, pronto!" Rain continued speeding down the dirt path into the Everfree Forest, pushing his poor morse as hard as he could, he felt bad for the creature, though it did seem in far better spirits now that it had put some considerable distance between itself and Acestream - or rather, who or whatever had been parading around as the colt. "You see anything yet, Huginn!?" Rain shouted out toward his feathered companion, who was some distance ahead of him.

"Not yet!" Huginn cawed back to him.

I can't...I can't let it happen again! Rain thought to himself as he came upon a patch of swamp and a giant crocodile-like creature, covered in jagged, stony growths emerged to block his path. He didn't slow down. He barely acknowledged the cragodile as he pulled the shotgun off his back, took aim at the beast, and as it opened its vast maw to let out a terrifying roar, he fired a massive slug. The projectile pierced the roof of the cragodile's mouth and tore through its brain, killing it instantly, "Sorry, but no time to go around you," Rain thought as he had his morse jump across the length of the carcass, to the end of the swampy patch. He sped onward, further and further into the forest, hoping against hope the CMC's would be safe, unable to shake the feeling someone, or something, was watching him.

Twilight wandered down one of the many hallways of her castle home, looking for Rarity and Applejack, all the while still mulling over Boris's words. "The Brick Orchard Conflicts, the slaughter at Fort Jagged, a third world, a human without magic, who's still considered the seventh deadliest warrior in the whole country... Rainstorm...there's so much I don't understand about you...so much I never tried to understand about you before...is it too late now? Have I already waited too long to get to know you? Is there any hope of us ever being friends?" Twilight thought to herself before speaking out loud, "What is your story, Rainstorm?..."

"Uh, Twilight?..."

"Geahh!" Twilight yelped, not having noticed Spike walking up behind her, "You scared the heck out of me!" she protested.

"Sorry," Spike apologized. Twilight could tell he had something on his mind by the concerned look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked him, hoping she hadn't upset the young dragon.

"Well...it's just that, I walked by one of the bathrooms a minute ago and...I think I heard Rarity crying. I tried asking her what was wrong, but I don't think she heard me. I didn't know what else to do..." his voice trailed off as he looked down at the floor.

“Why on Gimlé is she crying?" Twilight wondered before addressing Spike, "Let's go see what's up with Rarity!" she proclaimed as the two headed off in her direction. Meanwhile, Rarity had just left the bathroom, still wiping some residual tears from her face, when she - quite literally - bumped into Applejack.

"Oof! Sorry, darling -!" Rarity was taken aback by just how pale her usually sunbaked friend was, as she had already been deep in thought over Rainstorm's taboo handle of Grand Reaper, and hadn't paid enough attention to AJ's departure. "My word, Applejack! You look as if you've seen a ghost!" Rarity exclaimed.

"T-that there might be a pretty accurate choice of words," Applejack said, still shaken by the possibility of Rain's connection to the war that claimed the lives of her parents. It was then she noticed Rarity had been crying, "What's the matter there, sugar-cube?" she asked. Rarity shook her head slowly, hesitant to divulge her realization about Rainstorm to her.

"I-I shouldn't...it's personal..." she said.

"Oh, I see... you know you can trust me though?" AJ asked.

"Oh, no-no-no-no-no, darling!" Rarity rapidly explained, "I'm not talking about myself, it's...something about Rainstorm..." her voice trailed off. Applejack was about to inquire further when Twilight and Spike caught up to them.

"There you are," Twilight said, relieved she'd found both of her friends. Before anyone else could say another word, Spike let out an enormous belch, bringing with it a puff of emerald flames that almost instantly morphed into a piece of parchment paper with shaky handwriting on it, which Spike caught midair.

"A letter from Celestia?" Rarity asked as Spike quickly read through it.

"N-no, it's from Granny Smith!" Spike stated with panic, "There's trouble at Sweet Apple Acres - big trouble!" Spike shouted, stirring alarm in the three mares.

In a mass of old trees and roots, deep within the Northern section of the Everfree Forest the CMC's struggled to traverse the difficult terrain. They were in search of Applejack's dog, Winona, who they feared was in grave danger, "We really should have gotten help," Sweetie Belle said.

"I know, I know, but when...whatever that thing was, grabbed her, I just...panicked. I never seen her so scared before..." said Apple Bloom as her voice trailed off for a moment before she spoke again, "I'm sorry for draggin' y’all into this mess," she glumly apologized to her friends.

"That's alright," Sweetie Belle said, "It all happened so fast, we didn't really have time to get help, and we certainly weren't going to let you go after her yourself," Sweetie reasoned.

"Yeah, besides we wouldn't have had to look for help if that damn Jasper guy hadn't ditched us!" Scootaloo grumbled angrily as she struggled to free her leg from an old, dead vine that had gotten tangled around her ankle. "Grr, what the Hell is it with me and weeds today!?" she half growled as she finally extricated herself from the foliage. The three went on a little further before a clearing became visible just up ahead.

"This way, maybe Winona's somewhere over in that clearin' over there!" Apple Bloom instructed her friends as they marched forward. A few moments later, they were in a rather large, stony, clearing, about the size of a large sports stadium, several feet deep into the ground with trees dotting it here and there. Apple Bloom spotted what appeared to be a small cave, on the opposite end of the clearing from where they'd entered, "Let's try over there!" she exclaimed, pointing at the cave as she did so. As the CMC's made it halfway to the cave, they heard an ominous sound come from behind them, one that always having lived so close to the Everfree Forest, Apple Bloom was quite familiar with. "Oh, boy..." she said in a barely audible tone as she and her two friends whipped around to see the source of the noise. It was coming from what appeared to be a wolf made of wood and held together by vines, which stared at them with glowing green eyes while bearing its long, thick, splinter-like teeth at them.

The creature let out another howl, which drew more creatures like itself from the woods and into the clearing, resulting in more than twenty-sum of its kind in a large circle around the girls. "Timberwolves…" Apple Bloom said fearfully as the pack began to close the gap between them, growling and licking their chops with each step they took. Suddenly, as if drawn to something, the timberwolves all stared straight up into the sky, in time to be blinded by a flash of piercing-white light that had appeared above the clearing. Not too far away, Huginn, who had taken to the sky above the trees, in hopes of a better vantage point, spotted the light out of the corner of his eye.

"Rainstorm!" he cawed.

"I know, I'm on my way!" Rain shouted his reply as he turned his steed in the direction of the flash of light. The CMC's hadn't been quick enough to look into the sky and get blinded by the light, but being surrounded as they were, had been unable to take advantage of the timberwolves temporary blindness to escape their predicament.

"T-this sucks! They can't see us right now, but we can't even try to get away without running headfirst into one of these stupid things!" Scootaloo said angrily.

"Shhh! They can still hear us!" Apple Bloom frantically whispered to Scootaloo, though it did little good as the timberwolves had started to regain their sight, and were once again making their way ever closer to their prey. Then, just as an especially bold one charged at the girls from the side, something massive pounced it from its left, knocking it to the ground and crushing its skull in its powerful jaws. It was a morse, with Rainstorm riding on its back!

"Rainstorm!" the CMC's shouted excitedly as the merc pulled out his twin pistols and began culling the beasts in quick succession.

"Don't you brats get too excited, cause after I take care of these splintery bastards, I've got a few choice things to say to you, and after I drag your sorry asses back to the farm, you might just decide you prefer the timberwolves!" Rain snapped at the three fillies as he unloaded a few more rounds into another timberwolf, and then another. Rain sensed a timberwolf lunge at him from behind, but with one fluid motion, he dismounted the morse as he performed a backflip and gunned down the monster, landing on his feet several feet behind his steed. Then two more timberwolves attacked Rain's morse from the front and side, but with a swing of its powerful claws, the one in front of it was quickly dispatched, while a simultaneous swing from its tail took out the other one. Rain quickly positioned himself to defend the fillies as he fired shot after shot in different directions, partially to draw their attention to him, as he knew timberwolves always prioritize the most dangerous threat first when hunting. One by one, he and the morse whittled the creatures down till only three remained, who then fled the clearing, back to the trees beyond.

Finally, with the threat neutralized, Rain was able to catch his breath as Huginn perched himself on his shoulder for a quick rest of his own, and the CMC's felt a wave of relief. "What, in Jesus's name were you morons thinking!?" Rainstorm demanded, catching the CMC's off guard.

"I'm sorry, it was all my fault!" Apple Bloom hastily explained, "I saw somethin' wrap itself around Winona and drag her off into the orchard. I panicked and chased after her and we followed until we were in the Everfree Forest and then she disappeared, but by then we were already too far away to get help, and...we couldn't just leave her..." Apple Bloom said as tears started welling up in her eyes.

"And you didn't once stop and think to ask one of us for help!?" Rain barked at the girls, "Did you really think you'd be of any use to her out here all by yourselves!?"

"Hey, don't get mad at us!" objected Scootaloo, "Your dumb friend, Jasper ditched us, and we didn't have time to go get anyone else to come help!"

"You idiots!" Rain bellowed, quickly losing what little patience he had left, "My 'dumb friend' was lying in the bushes, bleeding from a cracked skull, after somebody - more likely than not, who, or whatever grabbed your dog - snuck up behind him and knocked him out!" he angrily explained.

"W-wait, somepony hurt Jasper!?" Sweetie asked, a mixture of shock, horror, and guilt plainly audible in her voice, as well as visible on her face. The other CMC's faces reflected their friend's. They had been fairly mad that Jasper had left without a word, ironically enough, just when they needed an adult the most, but the thought had never once crossed their minds someone may have hurt him, and the revelation made them feel terrible for having thought that way about him.

"Yes, and between that, that weird flash in the sky a bit ago, and the encounter I had earlier, I'd say this whole thing was a setup," Rain reasoned as he thought back to the meeting with the seemingly fake Acestream earlier, "Whoever's behind all of this is probably nearby - watching us as we speak so, we need to get the hell out of here - now!"

"B-but, we can't just leave without Winona!" Apple Bloom pleaded. Rain strongly considered telling her that her dog was in all likelihood, dead, but opted for another approach instead.

"Look, I'll come back and search for Winona - with a whole team of soldiers and even send word to Canterlot to see if they'll spare any search and rescue teams to help if need be, but only if you let me take you girls back right now!" Rain begged the kids' only for Apple Bloom to protest further.

"But, she's always taken care of me and my family! She is family! I can't just- !"

"Think about it!" Rain shouted at Apple Bloom, cutting her pleas short, "It's because Winona's always taken care of you and your family - because she's part of your family - that she wouldn't want you to risk your life searching for her out here! Not to mention, I left your Grandmother and my badly injured subordinate to come chase you three down while there's a maniac on the loose!" he continued shouting, all the while neither him, Huginn, nor the CMC's noticed the morse running off in fear from something just outside the clearing. "Either the person who attacked Jasper is here with us, and likely has plans on taking you three or myself hostage - or worse, or they just used this to lure me away from your farm and are still there, with similar plans for Granny Smith, Jasper, or both! In either case, you should be at home, protecting your Grandmother, like I'm sure Winona would want!" Rain finished, panting afterward as if he'd just run a marathon. The Cutie Mark Crusaders all stared at the ground, sadly mulling over Rain's words, but just as Apple Bloom raised her head and opened her mouth to say something, she saw something entering the clearing that caused her to turn as white as a sheet as all the blood drained from her face. The other two crusaders looked up and mirrored their friend's terrified expression as they all started pointing in the same direction, somewhere behind Rainstorm, who noticed their reaction, "...There's something really big and scary behind me and it's coming right for us, isn't there?" he asked, hoping against hope he was wrong.

Sadly for him, those hopes were dashed when the three nodded yes, prompting him and Huginn to slowly turn their heads to look behind them, "...Oh...figures..." he said glumly as he laid eyes on the source of the CMC's terror. Slowly stomping its way toward them was a massive timberwolf, almost taller than the trees it so easily knocked over with each step it took. This giant timberwolf seemed to be made of more than just wood and vines. It had claws and teeth made out of razor-sharp stone, rib-like stony protrusions along its chest, and all over it's back, were innumerable, long, vines covered in long, hard, razor-sharp, flattened out, leaves, giving them the appearance of razor wire.

"I-is that a dire timberwolf!?" Apple Bloom asked with a yelp, as the thing drew nearer. Applejack and Spike had told her once, about a trio of timberwolves that had merged into a dire timberwolf, and had attacked them, but from their description of the creature, it had sounded just ever so slightly bigger than a morse - a far cry from the behemoth steadily creeping toward them.

"That's no dire timberwolf!" Rain exclaimed, "It's an alpha timberwolf! That cave over there, run for it!" Rain commanded as he turned to make a beeline for the cave, snatching two of the CMC's, one under each of his arms, as Huginn flew ahead of him next to Apple Bloom. "Where the fuck is that damn morse!?" Rainstorm asked incredulously as this was especially poor luck, even for him, "Just when some form of transportation would really come in handy, my damn ride ditches us!"

"Can you really blame him!?" a panicked Apple Bloom asked Rain as the alpha timberwolf continued making its way towards them, slowly at first, but rapidly picking up speed, going faster and faster, until it was in a full bound in their direction. The five of them barely ducked into the cave before the monster reached them, jamming its right foreleg into the cave up to the knee, before slowly pulling out, dragging its massive blade-like claws across the stony cave floor, just missing Rain and the others.

"Holy shit, I do not get paid enough for this!..." Rain said, hunched over panting, as were the CMC's.

"That's it, we're done for!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she laid on her back across the cave floor.

"D-don't say that Sweetie!" Scootaloo said, trying to assure her friend, "I'm sure our sisters will find us soon, and they'll totally cream that ugly, wooden, mutt! Right Apple Bloom?... Apple Bloom?..." Scootaloo turned to see why her friend hadn't responded, only to find her hunched over a spot a little deeper in the cave. Before anyone could ask if she was alright, she whipped around and stared at them, tears in her eyes.

"Quick, over here!" she shouted. All of them rushed over to her and saw a small dog, curled up on the ground, barely moving at all. "Winona..." Apple Bloom said, fighting back her tears with all her will.

"Move back and let me take a look," Rainstorm instructed the filly, who did as she was told. Rain could see something had indeed been wrapped around the poor dog, with enough force to leave her badly bruised and with a few cracked ribs. He also noticed several dozen tiny puncture wounds across the bruises, still bleeding slightly and leaking some sort of clear liquid, "Huginn, you think you can analyze this substance here?" Rain asked the bird as he pointed to the liquid. Huginn nodded his head and walked over to the dog, who while completely unresponsive, was still very much alive, and sniffed at the wound a few times before lapping up some of the liquid, then smacking his beak before turning to address Rainstorm.

"It's some kind of organic toxin - fast-acting and long-lasting," he cawed at Rain, then violently jerked his head a few times before continuing, "Seems to cause almost complete paralysis, but without affecting either the mouth, vocal cords, or lungs. Could prove fatal in a few days by itself, but not likely," he surmised.

"So, is it some kind of... tranquilizer or something?" Rain asked, to which Huginn shook his head no.

"Far from it! Whatever this junk is, not only does it not dull the senses but as far as my analysis can tell, it actually amplifies pain. Just the slightest breeze on her skin must feel like having her flesh scraped off... If she weren't unconscious right now, she'd be yelping in agony..." Huginn cawed sadly.

"...Is there nothing we can do?" Rain asked.

"That's where we finally get some good news! Neither the toxin, nor her injuries are anywhere near severe enough to where giving her a little bit of health potion, and maybe applying some directly to her wounds for good measure, shouldn't be able to fix her up!" Huginn cawed happily.

"I-is she gonna be ok?" Apple Bloom asked, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"She's going to be just fine!" Rain said to her with a smile as he scooped the dog up into his arms with one hand, while pulling out a vial of health potion with the other, popping it open, pouring half of it into Winona's mouth and down her throat, then applying the rest to her wounds. "Now, we just have to give her a few minutes," he informed Apple Bloom, who fell to her knees, crying as the other CMC's rushed over to comfort her.

"*sniff* T-thank you Rain," Apple Bloom said, just managing to choke out her words through all her crying.

"Don't thank me just yet," Rain thought to himself, "There's still that to deal with," he thought as he stared towards the mouth of the cave again, the alpha timberwolf still standing watch over it, pacing only a few dozen feet or so away from it."Hold on... Why hasn't it used it's vines yet?..." he wondered to himself, as he laid Winona back down on the ground, and stood back up, beginning to slowly walk towards the mouth of the cave.

"W-what is it? What are you doin'?" asked Apple Bloom, as she wiped her tears away.

"You see all those vines on that thing's back?" Rain asked her, "I know for a fact they can extend to several times their normal length. What's more, higher-tier timberwolves like that one, can exorcise a high level of fine motor control over those vines - to the point where he could easily reach in here and either slice us to pieces or just pull one of us out one-by-one..." Rain explained.

"So, you're saying we're about to be eaten!?" Scootaloo asked, almost in hysterics.

"I'm saying, we should already have been eaten," Rain retorted, "...I think it's time to test something... Stay put, I swear I won't leave you!" he told them as he headed toward the mouth of the cave. As soon as he got there he tentatively pulled out a telescoping inspection mirror from a pocket on his duster and slowly stuck it out of the cave. Nothing happened. He then gave it a furious shake, but still, nothing happened. He then slowly stepped out of the cave, when the giant timberwolf remained still, he then began jumping up and down while wildly flailing his arms in all directions, screaming numerous taunts and swears at the creature the whole time. "Well, that's strange..." Rain said to himself as he stood just outside the cave's entrance.

"What's strange? You talking to yourself like a crazy pony, or you jumping up and down, acting like a dumbass?" asked Scootaloo, who - along with the other CMC's - had followed Rain to the cave's entrance.

"The alpha over there," Rain replied, absentmindedly, "That should have provoked some kind of res- What the Hell are you three doing up here!?" Rain demanded, the CMC's proximity having just registered in his mind. "Honest to God, don't you three stooges know how to follow even the simplest directions!? What part of 'stay-put', was so goddamn cryptic!?" he shouted at them furiously.

"I thought you might need some help," Apple Bloom explained.

"I wanted to see what you were up to," Sweetie Belle said.

"I just want to go home," Scootaloo stated dryly, having been somewhat impressed with Rainstorm's earlier actions against the timberwolves, beforehand, only to then be left quite mortified by his latest display just a second ago. "I thought you were gonna do something really cool, but here you are... Dancing? Or whatever... You've got a plan on how to get us out of this mess, right?"

"First off, can the attitude, kid!" Rain snapped at Scootaloo, "Secondly, there's one more thing I need to do before I know for sure that my hunch is right. Once that's out of the way, then I can figure out a way for us to get out of here, that is if you can do what I ask you for a change, and please stay put - as in, right here!... In this cave... Which we are currently standing in at this time... The current time being, April 22nd, second year of the Reformation era, at about- ".

"We get it already! We'll stay put! Celestia..." Scootaloo assured Rain as she facepalmed.

"Well, apparently I have to make extra sure you understand because it would seem that plain-damn-Ponish, might not be your first language!" Rain snapped at Scootaloo. With that, Rainstorm slowly started to walk out of the cave, then just as he got about three or four feet out, he made a sharp turn right and began running as fast as he could, much to the surprise of the CMC's. "If my hunch isn’t wrong, then hopefully it will let me by, and if it does, maybe it will let the kids go too," Rain thought as he ran, hoping the alpha timberwolf wasn't hungry and had attacked them because it thought they were a threat, losing interest in them once it had asserted its dominance over them. "At the very least, maybe I can draw it away from them, and Huginn can get them to safety," Rain thought, but just as he made it about twenty or so feet from the cave, with lightning speed, a large vine landed right in front of him with a deafening crack, cutting off his exit. Rain tried over and over again to get past the alpha timberwolf's tendrils, but to no avail, as he was slowly but surely forced back to the cave, where he was forced to roll into it to avoid being sliced into ribbons by the vines.

"...I'm still alive?..." Rain asked with a squeak, as he sat on the floor in the fetal position with his hands covering his head.

"Y-you weren't going to leave us here, were you?" Sweetie Belle asked fearfully.

"Quit goofing off you jerk!" Scootaloo snapped at Rain, "The only reason we're in this mess is that you left us alone to eat some stupid pie, even though we were at a restaurant earlier! And, I heard what Jasper said! You could have eaten breakfast this morning too, but you didn't because of some kind of stupid fight you had with Twilight! Because of that, Jasper got hurt, Winona got kidnaped and nearly killed, we almost got eaten by timberwolves, then you save us, only to get us trapped in some stupid cave, act like some kind of weirdo, and then you try to run off and leave us to die!" she yelled at Rain. Sweetie Belle raised her hand and interjected.

"Most of that's not really his faul- !" Sweetie was immediately silenced by Scootaloo with a glare.

"*sigh* I wasn't trying to leave; trust me. Besides, if I was gonna leave you, kids, I would have had you run out there with me to serve as a distraction," Rain stated rather matter-of-factly, "I figured that damn thing was probably being controlled by someone or something, but I had to be sure. All the jumping around and trying to get past it was to test that theory."

"Wait. So, yer sayin'- ?" Apple Bloom was interrupted by Rainstorm offering confirmation.

"Yep! Everything from Winona getting snatched, to the flash of light, and now this, was part of someone's plan to get us - most likely me specifically - stuck in this cave. Smart bits say someone either wants to kidnap me - maybe all of us - or, someone wants me dead, and in that case, you'll be next," Rain explained.

"Do you think it's whoever attacked our sisters?" Sweetie wondered.

"Being the Elements of Harmony, they've made all kinds of enemies, so I can't be a hundred percent sure, but it wouldn't surprise me. Though...if they have someone or something that can control something as powerful as an alpha timberwolf - especially this easily - it means waiting for reinforcements is off the table," Rain surmised, "I had Granny Smith send for reinforcements before I left so, everyone's probably looking for us already, but we just can't risk waiting here for them to find us, because if the one behind this gets here first, I doubt I'll be able to take both the alpha and its master at once."

"Grr! Like you can take on that alpha one-on-one!" Scootaloo snapped angrily at Rainstorm.

"What the hay's gotten into you, Scoots?" Apple Bloom asked, but just before Scootaloo could reply, Rain was already upon her, his hand reaching out. Before Scootaloo could react, Rain placed his hand on her, gently rubbing her head, before getting down on one knee, and pulling her in for a one-armed hug.

"It's ok to be scared. I am too," He said, just before Scootaloo pushed herself away from him and turned her back to him.

"I-I'm not scared!" Scootaloo asserted through gritted teeth.

"Everyone's afraid of getting hurt, or worse. It's natural and nothing to be ashamed of," Rain tried to assure her.

"That's not it!" she shouted at him, "...I-I promised my aunts I'd wait for them..." Scootaloo said, prompting the others to exchange confused looks. "My parents are animal researchers and monster annalists, that means they're usually away from home - sometimes for months at a time," she explained to the others, "I remember them being gone as long as six months once, but this time, something's different... T-they've been gone for over a year now! After the seventh month, my Aunt Holiday and Aunt Lofty started making trips to go look for them... I...I know they're not gonna find them... I know my parents are..." Scootaloo closed her eyes tight as she fought back her tears, unable to will herself to say the word they all were thinking.

"Oh, Scootaloo..." Apple Bloom said as she approached her friend to comfort her as she knew her pain all too well. Apple Bloom's earliest memory was of a partially bandaged soldier at the front door telling her grandmother her mother and father had died and seeing her grandmother fall to her knees in tears. However, as Apple Bloom approached Scootaloo, she exploded in a furious tirade.

"I promised my aunts that I'd wait for them to bring my parents back! If something happens to me, there won't be anypony waiting for them! They'll be all alone! I...I can't do that to them!" she shouted as she fell to her knees and began striking the ground with her fist, "And what if somehow they do find my Mom and Dad!? I know they'd never forgive themselves if something happened to me while they were gone! They would blame themselves for the rest of their lives, but now I'm about to die here because I...I can't... I can't do anything! I can't protect my friends, I can't keep my promise to my family, I can't even fly!" she couldn't form sentences anymore, she just laid there, her face against the cold floor of the cave, sobbing. Rain stood there quietly for a few minutes as the other CMC's tried to console her. Finally, she spoke again, "I'm just a burden to everypony, if I could fly and use pegasus magic, I could have flown to Rainbow and the others and helped them when the train blew up, or at least, made it to Starlight and the others faster! If I could fly and use magic, I would have been fast enough to rescue Winona from whatever it was that grabbed her and she wouldn't have been hurt so bad, and we wouldn't be here right now! If I could do all the things any other pegasus can do, I could at least go get help, but I can't! I'm worthless!"

"...Kid..." Rain addressed Scootaloo, "I know exactly how you feel."

"No, you don't! You don't know anything about what it's like to -!" Scootaloo fell silent as Rain pulled down his balaclava to reveal his facial scars, causing both her and the two other girls to stare in shock at the gruesome sight.

"Now that I have your undivided attention; yes, I do know how you feel. I come from a world where magic never existed, which means I don't have any magic whatsoever. As a result, the closest thing I could come to it, is witchcraft, so I studied it in school, but there was an accident during an important exam. Several people nearly got hurt - and could have easily gotten killed, a teacher I was good friends with lost his job and had to leave town, Princess Celestia had to bend over backwards to smooth things over with a number of important lawmakers, and I did this to my face," he explained as he pointed to his facial scars. "I then ran away, ended up becoming a mercenary, got into a relationship with someone I really cared about - only to screw it up when I went to fight in a major war and continued to make mistake after mistake...clear up until I met a certain little filly..."

"You mean the one you mentioned at the Hey Burger?" Sweetie asked.

"Yeah..." Rain responded, "...I failed her too. There was a raider attack on our village and...she didn't make it..." Rain's voice trailed off, a weary look in his eyes. "That's when I promised myself, Morning Dew, and everyone else, that I'd never make those mistakes ever again. That I would do everything in my power to protect everyone that I could! So, don't worry, because you're not dying here today, none of you are!" Rain assured the CMC's before reaching into a pouch and pulling out a vial filled with a substance the color and consistency of fresh blood. "Huginn, I'm going to use Red Rat!"

"Y-you don't mean formula eleven, do you!?" Huginn frantically squawked at Rain, "But you already used it recently back at Cedarhoof Manor! You need to wait a little longer before -!"

"We're out of options and out of time, Huginn!" Rain yelled at the bird, "If enemy reinforcements arrive and that thing's still able to put up a fight, we're done! Listen, once I go on the offensive I'll need you to take to the air and be my eye in the sky, but if something happens to me before I can bring the alpha down, you'll have to find the others and get back here ASAP! If I do manage to take it down, but I don't make it, lead the girls back to the farm, then find Twilight and bond yourself to her - and don't take ‘no’ for an answer!" he ordered Huginn before popping open the vial and downing its contents. He then pulled his balaclava back up, then drew his two swords, holding them so the blades pointed backward. The swords appeared to be wakizashis and were nearly identical to one another, save for one having a worn-looking dark-yellow grip, with a tiny lightning bolt engraved near the base of the blade, and the other had a worn-looking, dark-green grip, with a tiny cloud engraved at the base of its blade. He waited patiently for the potion to take effect, ready to strike the moment it did.

"Please...please don't get hurt..." Scootaloo pleaded with Rain, "You don't have to get hurt for us. I don't want that!"

"I have an oath to keep though..." he replied.

"An oath?…" Apple Bloom asked as Rainstorm felt the potion beginning to take effect. He stood there, waiting as his body began heating up and his heart started beating faster and faster until it started beating so fast, that if he hadn't known better, he would have been certain it had stopped beating altogether.

"Until my dying breath -'," he said as a vast amount of what appeared to be steam began escaping his body with a long hiss and he started emitting red, electrical sparks, "- I Shall not yield!" His eyes began to glow even brighter than normal and he charged out of the cave toward the alpha timberwolf with such speed that he was nothing more than a grey blur, Huginn following close behind him. Soon, he was right in front of the monster, which attacked him with its many razor-sharp vines but using the green-handled sword in his left hand, he quickly deflected every one of the vines.

Then Rain aimed the artifact on his right arm at the left foreleg of the creature and fired a thin cable of ash at it, latching on to it above its ankle. The alpha timberwolf let out a furious roar as it lifted its paw to try to remove the ashen construct. This was a mistake, however, as Rain took the opportunity to extend the cable even further and coil it in the air around the suspended limb, before tightening it. Next Rainstorm ran towards the alpha's right rear leg, dodging more piercing vines as he drew closer to his target, and the creature responded by trying to kick at Rain with said leg, once again providing a perfect opportunity for him to lengthen the cable of ash, then coil it around the rear leg as he dodged the kick. Then Rain charged to an area a dozen or so feet behind the alpha and quickly touched his right fist to the ground, severing the cable from his artifact, while simultaneously connecting it to the stone ground, at which point, the monster was already having difficulty turning around to face him. Then Rain focused, willing the cable to heat up and retract, causing the beast's legs to come together as the mildly warm construct began to reach a temperature hot enough to ignite the wood it had dug into while its length rapidly decreased, filling the air with the smell of burning oak.

The alpha timberwolf let out a pained, angry howl as it fell onto its stomach and legs, unable to move from its current location, though its vines remained unrestrained. More vines lunged toward Rain at blinding speed, but to him, it was as if they were moving in slow-motion, and he easily dodged, deflected, or severed each one that came his way. Rainstorm's eyes granted him vision rivaling that of any pegasus, gave him perfect night vision, and meshed quite nicely with his eidetic memory, but at times his mind had trouble processing all that raw data, while his body just couldn't keep up. Thanks to the potion, however, both his mind and his body were on par with his eyesight, allowing him to take full advantage of it. He quickly ran towards the alpha timberwolf's right foreleg, then leaped onto it, the enchantments in his greaves allowing him to defy gravity and stand vertically on the side of the limb.

He struck the beast's leg with the sword in his right hand - which had yellow, electrical sparks surging up and down the blade - leaving a deep cut that sent a surge of lightning-elemental magic through the monster's limb, disrupting the flow of magic within the afflicted area. Then using the sword in his left hand - which appeared to have some form of wind pocket tightly enveloping the blade - he slashed at the limb near the same place as before, swinging his arm inward, leaving another deep cut. Then he flipped the wind sword so that he was now holding the weapon normally, before swinging outward through the second cut, deepening it, then he flipped the sword over in his hand again and repeated the action, perfectly slicing into the same spot repeatedly. Repeatedly he slashed at it until he'd cut more than a third of the way through, then he sheathed the wind sword, replacing it with two, small capsules, each the length of his middle finger, and shoved both of then into the wound before dismounting - all of which happened in just a few seconds. A second later, a violent explosion tore the monster's wooden appendage off, reducing the severed limb to splinters and shattered rock.

"Wow..." Scootaloo said, her voice barely audible as she and the other CMC's watched in disbelief as Rainstorm steadily tore the creature apart.

"W-wait. If he had a potion that could let him do that, then why didn't he take it earlier?" Sweetie asked.

"I think I read about somethin' like this in one of my books," Apple Bloom replied, "I think he took what's called a 'battle supplement'. It gives a small, temporary enhancement to the fightin' abilities of anypony who takes one, but after you do, it'll be awhile before takin' one will have any effect on you again. My books always advise warriors to use 'em sparingly, cause you never know when you'll need another little boost in battle," Apple Bloom explained.

"You call that a 'little boost'!?" Scootaloo asked incredulously, pointing at Rainstorm, who by now had used his shotgun to empty several massive slugs into the left hinge of the alpha timberwolf's jaw, shattering the joint and leaving it barely hanging on by a few tendon-like vines.

"Well...I have read about specialized variants that are tailor made for a specific pony, and can't be used by anypony else. Those can amplify that pony's abilities even further than normal battle supplements ever could...but they're supposed to be really hard to brew. I heard only a master witchdoctor can brew anything like that..." Apple Bloom said in amazement as she watched the mercenary battle against the alpha timberwolf. Though it was starting to regenerate from the earlier damage inflicted upon its jaw, the alpha was still unable to close its mouth all the way and was madly thrashing about, trying to escape the ashen cable binding it's legs, or at least strike back at Rainstorm, but to no avail so far. Rain drew his three-bladed sky-cutter from the sheath on his back, and as he did several massive backflips to put some distance between him and his target, he placed a number of the same type of tiny, powerful explosives along the blades of his weapon. Then, once he was at a safe enough distance, threw it at an angle in order to compensate for the additional weight, causing it to fly in a wide arc through the air, before interring the alpha's mouth from the side, and hitting the remaining joint, causing the explosives to detonate all at once, tearing the monster's jaw completely off.

Rainstorm then caught the sky-cutter midair as he charged the dazed but still regenerating creature, latched onto the roof of its mouth using his artifact, and pulled himself up, till he was staring down its throat. "Finally!" Rain thought to himself as he gazed upon a massive glowing green bulb, with a pulsating orifice roughly the size of his hand, writhing within the creature. With his free hand, he immediately pulled out a large firebomb from his duster, and violently shoved it deep into the bulb until he was shoulder-deep, then he quickly pulled his arm out, leaving the explosive inside. With that, he quickly leaped away, doing more than a dozen backflips, until stopping just a few feet away from the cave's entrance, and merely standing there, putting his hands in his pockets as the creature's jaw finally reattached itself.

"Uh...he's still regenerating..." Sweetie Belle said to Rain as the ash construct subduing the alpha timberwolf disintegrated and it hobbled up, glaring at them.

"Yes, I noticed that!" Rain replied cheerfully as the sparks on his body ceased and his eyes dimmed to their usual luminosity.

"Ok...h-he's starting to get up now..." Sweetie said, rising concern evident in her voice.

"Nothing to worry about, kid!" Rain said smugly as he motioned to the beast to approach them, prompting it to snarl at them and start charging toward them as fast as possible given its missing right paw.

"Uh, why though!?" Sweetie asked as she and the other CMC's started to panic as the monster was nearly upon them.

"Because this S.O.B.'s already mulch. He just hasn't realized it yet," Rain said confidently as the alpha timberwolf lunged at him, likely planning to swallow him in one bite, but it never reached him. With a deafening boom, the monster's head, shoulders, and a bit of the top part of its torso vanished, leaving only a massive flame in their place as the lifeless remains of the creature hit the ground, slowly coming to a screeching halt in front of the merc. The CMC's simply stared at Rainstorm for a while with their mouths hanging open, as Winona, who had woken up just in time to witness the creature's demise as well, sat next to Apple Bloom, happily wagging her tail. He then turned to them, smiling underneath his balaclava and addressed them, "Let's head back now," he said as Huginn cawed to him.

"Get a load of this, Rain!" the bird cawed. As if on cue, Rain's morse came bounding up to them, happily wagging its tail and squeaking excitedly.

"What the hell!? Don't tell me you were over there, hiding behind the damn trees, weren't you, you oversized rat!?" Rain scolded the animal as it seemed to recoil in shame and fear. "Grr, whatever! Let's just go while the going's still good!" he ordered as he placed Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle on the morse's back then drew his shotgun, reloaded it, then leaned down to let Scootaloo ride on his back. "Come on, I ain't got all day," he said to her. Scootaloo, wanting to save face, backed away and tried dissuading him from the action.

"You don't have to do that. I can walk just fine on my-".

"Kiddo, did you not watch what I just did to that alpha timberwolf? Don't test my patience anymore today," Rain advised Scootaloo, who then just quietly did as she was told, and climbed onto his back. They then departed for the Apple farm with an almost fully healed Winona in tow, unaware they had had an audience the whole time.

"Your plan to shear off a few more branches of the Apple family tree may have failed thanks to that signal flair leading Rainstorm to those brats earlier than intended, but it still provided an excellent measure of his current progress!" exclaimed an amused Weiss, who had watched the fighting from the branches of a tree just at the edge of the clearing. "On behalf of my master and for my own entertainment, I'd like to thank you once again for lending us one of your minions for this little experiment," he thankfully addressed a pair of glowing green eyes, staring at him from the trunk of the tree next to him.

"How far has the monkey progressed, would you say?" asked a raspy voice that seemed to be coming from the pair of eyes.

"Hmm...he's making good progress, but I'd say he still has a long way to go before he's ready," Weiss answered while stroking his chin in contemplation.

"I see... Well then, let me know if you would like any further help with measuring his progression," the voice replied before falling silent, and the eyes slowly closed shut.

"Will do!" Weiss chimed happily in response before he disappeared in a blur.

"Nope!" Rainstorm said as he fired his shotgun at a timberwolf that had just leaped out in front of him and the others as they were walking up the path through the Southern Orchard, well on their way back to Sweet Apple Acres. Though the shot hadn't hit anything, it had been more than enough to scare the creature off, eliciting a few chuckles from the CMC's.

"Hey, I think they're starting to learn their lesson!" Scootaloo said smugly as Rain continued carrying her on his back.

"And just in time too..." Rain muttered under his breath.

"You say something?" Scootaloo asked.

"N-nothing. Hey Apple Bloom, remind me to return that morse to Acestream after I drop you off at the farm, ok?" Rain asked the filly as an excuse to change the subject. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both still riding the morse, while Huginn sat perched on its head, as Winona followed next to the merc.

"Acestream?" Apple Bloom asked with confusion.

"Yeah, he's the one who lent me that morse," Rain explained, "He was riding near the Southern Orchard, and told me where you went and what you'd said to him about Winona."

"But, we didn't see Acestream anywhere near the Southern Orchard - let alone speak to him or anypony," explained a confused-looking Sweetie Belle.

"Besides -" Apple Bloom interjected, "- Acestream has a rodent allergy. He can't be within five feet of a morse without nearly chokin' to death," Apple Bloom explained.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Rain asked.

"Positive!" Scootaloo exclaimed, "There was one time Miss Cheerilee asked Fluttershy to bring in some of her animals for class - including some mice. Nopony knew at the time about Acestream's allergy and he was sitting right next to me when he started sneezing and coughing. It got so bad, that they had to take him to Ponyville General to get him treated. Luckily, it wasn't too bad of an allergic reaction, and he was back in class the next day. He said that the doctors ran a few tests and figured out that he was allergic to rodents - especially mice."

"And a morse is basically a giant mouse, so..." Rain stated out loud.

"..So, whoever lent you this morse..." Sweetie added.

"Couldn't have been Acestream," Rain finished as he cocked his shotgun. He had no idea who, or what may be waiting for them at the end of the dirt path they were on, but he was certain that if the imposter was still there, that he'd have another fight on his hands. One he wasn't sure he was up for. However as they marched forward, a sound from behind them caught them all by surprise. Rainstorm spun around, ready to fire on the source of the noise, only to see four familiar faces.

"Wow, wow, wow, it's us!" shouted Rainbow Dash, who was accompanied by both Rarity, Applejack, and Chitny.

"Rainbow Dash!" shouted an elated Scootaloo, who then leaped down from Rain's back, and attempted to run over to her before being stopped by the merc.

"Wait, they have to answer a question first," Rain said. Scootaloo was about to object when the topic of Acestream came back into her head and she slowly stepped backward, positioning herself behind him. "When demons howl, and monsters growl, how shall we proceed?" Rain asked, his shotgun still trained on Rainbow. This left everyone looking quite confused before Chitny calmly answered him.

"We do not cower! With shield in one hand and halberd in the other, we strike out at the enemy. We endure their assault and return the gesture sevenfold. We pierce through them and rend them in twine. That is how we proceed," she answered him, causing him to turn his gaze to her.

"Did they ever leave your sight, even once?" Rain asked, his weapon still aimed directly at Rainbow's head.

"Not for an instant! None of them, sir!" Chitny replied. With that, Rain lowered his shotgun and moved aside for Scootaloo to greet her big sister, as the other two CMC's followed suit, each one embracing their own sister. Rainbow cuddled against Scootaloo for a second, before turning her attention back to Rainstorm.

"What the fuck was all that all about!? she asked incredulously.

"I'll explain as soon as we get out of here," Rain informed Dash, and with that, the group made their way back to the farm where the other Elements of Harmony, their friends, and Taskforce Sigma were waiting for them, along with Granny Smith. Once they'd arrived, Rainstorm and the CMC's went about explaining everything that they'd experienced in the Everfree Forest to them.

"So...you thought we might not be who we appeared to be, so, that weird-assed question you asked Chitny was some kind of test or something?" Rainbow Dash asked Rain, making sure she'd understood everything.

"Yes," Rain confirmed, "It had occurred to me that during this we might end up going up against shapeshifters of one kind or another. So, before we went to bed last night, the task force and I had a meeting to discuss countermeasures. Each of us have a different code question and answer that we'll change every so often to confirm who's who. In the event any of us ask the wrong question or give the wrong answer, we are to assume the worst and subdue whoever it is that misspoke," he explained.

"That's...pretty smart of you," Twilight admitted to Rain, which caught him off-guard.

"Oh...uh, thanks..." he replied awkwardly.

"Why don't we get password question-thingies?" Trixie asked.

"*groan* Do you really think each of you could memorize all of that?" Jasper asked as he laid on the couch, nursing a throbbing headache with an ice pack, "Besides, you ladies have known each other and spent more time with each other longer than we task force members have. You don't need a passcode or anything of the like to know if something's up with one another. Besides, our enemies are more interested in killing you than replacing you," Jasper reasoned.

"Anyways, we need ta get ta the bottom of this," Boris said, "Me and a couple of the guards will find this Acestream kid and make sure he's alright - ask him a few questions while we're at it. He might have seen something that could help us. Fluttershy, I'd like ya ta talk ta that morse. Big fella was with this imposter for who knows how long. That makes 'em our best lead at the moment. Now, I suggest that ya ladies spend at least one more night at the castle -" Applejack opened her mouth to interject, but Boris continued before she could get a word out, "- while Balizna and a detachment of guards stick around here for tonight, to keep watch over your family. In the mornin', we'll get ta work on figuring the best approach ta take next. As for ya, Rain, head back ta the castle and get some rest. Y’all need it," Boris said to Rain, who turned to look at Twilight, who nodded.

"I hereby resend my previous order. I'm sorry, please return to the castle and rest," she said to Rain.

"...I'm sorry too, Twilight. I'm sorry to the rest of you too," Rain said as he addressed the others, before quickly getting up and heading back to the castle, with Huginn and two guards accompanying him. Several minutes later, they arrived at the castle and Rain headed for his room, with Huginn perched on his shoulder. He'd barely closed the door behind him when he fell to his knees.

"Rainstorm, are you alright!? Huginn asked as Rain started to cough. Rain pulled his balaclava down as he coughed, spitting up a decent amount of blood onto the floor. "Damn it, Rain! This is exactly what I was afraid of!" Huginn squawked at him.

"*cough-cough* S-shut up!" Rain demanded before coughing more, "I... couldn't let it happen again..." he said, as images of Morning Dew flashed within his mind. He then slowly climbed towards his bed, and once he managed to drag himself on top of it, he lost all consciousness with Huginn keeping watch over him.

"At this rate, he won't make it for another year..." Huginn thought to himself as he watched the unconscious mercenary sleep, fearing that this mission may prove to be his final one.

"Hmm... I didn't expect this..." Weiss said to himself as he stood in the middle of a large, snowy expanse as a blizzard began to take form. He was standing right where the entrance to the Geokin tomb had been, but there wasn't so much as a trace of the cave. It was almost as if it had never existed in the first place. He walked forward a bit and placed his hand down into the snow and focused, trying to determine what exactly had transpired, but the strange energies swirling around the area made it unbelievably difficult to get any kind of reading. "I could always try to dig down where it was. Just to make sure nothing funny happened, but it seems like it merely collapsed, and with this blizzard coming in, any holes I could dig will get filled with snow and freeze faster than I could dig, unless I use more power or a larger form. In either case though, I'd be putting out far too much energy to suppress and with everyone on high alert, there's no chance I would go unnoticed..." he thought to himself as the snow started to pick up.

The stone in the area was incredibly strong - possibly due to the strange energy permeating Wendigo Wastes - and the stone the tomb had been constructed from was stronger still. Though it wasn't impossible for the ancient ruin to have collapsed as the result of natural phenomenon or a boobytrap triggered by Sombra or Radiant Hope, it would prove extremely difficult to dig through unnoticed even considering the distance from civilization - and that was under ideal circumstances. This was as far from ideal circumstances as one could conceivably get. Weiss thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and turned to leave, "Even if there is anything left in those ruins, they're completely sealed off and there's no way to teleport around here - with or without magic. On top of that, I'm certain those two had nothing from those ruins when they reached the Crystal Empire so, if there was something of use in there, it's still there and can't be reached!" he thought before a sinister grin began to spread across his face and he spoke aloud to himself. "I would give almost anything to see the look of heartbreak on poor little Chrysalis's face when she finds out that she missed out on getting to see the last remaining trace of the Geokin's legacy. I imagine it would be like losing her dear old mother all over again..." he chuckled as he disappeared into the blizzard.

Chapter 6: Finished

Chapter 7: Twilight's Folly

Rainstorm found himself overlooking a sort of beach. There was shallow water that seemed at least ankle-deep as far as the eye could see, a few rocks and other stony protrusions dotting the area, while the cold sea air nipped at him. He looked up at the sky to see that, while it seemed to be daylight out, a stormy overcast blotted out the sky completely, he then noticed he was missing his weapons and some of his clothing. In fact, the only thing he was wearing were his pants, a belt, and a black tank top. "How did I get here?... Where even is here?... W-what was I doing before?... I think it was something important, but I can't..." Rain's thoughts trailed off. He was just having such a hard time focusing, and he felt only mildly aware of his memories, so much so, that he could almost believe there had been nothing to him or his existence prior to his arrival to the strange location, which seemed just as familiar to him as it did alien. He was sure he'd been doing something very important before, but he just couldn't quite put his finger on it...

"How much longer?" a cold voice echoed from somewhere, though Rain couldn't quite make out the exact source. He looked around for a moment before seeing a figure some distance away from him. The figure was fairly tall, had long, unkempt, white hair that obscured most of his face, and had a long tattered dark-grey cloak wrapped tightly around his body. The figure seemed to size Rain up for a minute before he spoke to him again, "How much ... ... ... wait for ... ... ... ...?" Rain struggled to hear what the figure was saying to him, but could only make out a few of his words. For some reason, this made him feel a twinge of sadness, as somehow, he knew the figure was desperately trying to talk to him - that he needed to talk to him and not being able to was soul-crushing for the figure. However, try as they might, their words couldn't reach Rain and for whatever reason, this made the merc feel as though his own heart was breaking.

"Stop wasting your time. It's obvious he's not ready yet," croaked another figure not too far from where Rain was standing. He turned to look at the second figure and saw what appeared to be an old, balding, stallion with a short, pointed white beard with a bushy mustache sitting cross-legged on a small boulder next to him. The elderly figure wore what appeared to be bronze-colored armor, with many varying tools and weapons, along with many other forms of equipment on his belt, as well as several massive, iron chains around his extremities. What stood out about the elderly figure the most though, was that instead of two normal eyes, he had nine, while the only open one seemed to be a normal eye with a red iris, the other eight were closed and appeared to have no eyeballs behind them. This took Rain by surprise and caused him to stumble back a bit, but the elderly figure didn't seem to care. "When you get to be my age, you come to learn the value of patience," the elderly figure addressed the taller figure.

"Useless! ... ... ... those two ... ... ... ... ... ... at ... Jagged!" the taller figure snarled at Rainstorm.

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Ponyville (Tree Castle - Rainstorm's room), April 23rd, year 2, Reformation era, 9:15 AM -

"Holy shit!" Rainstorm shouted as he tumbled out of bed, still fully dressed from the day before, and landed on the floor with a thud.

"Are you alright!?" squawked Huginn in concern. Rain groaned as he took a minute to assess himself. Even without the harsh exchange between his face and the floor, his body was still racked with extreme pain and fatigue from the other day, making moving, or even responding to Huginn difficult.

"I swear if you even think about saying, 'I told you so', or anything of the like, I will pluck you, and eat you for breakfast!" Rain groaned at Huginn.

"I wasn't going to," Huginn cawed, "I know you did what you had to, to save us and the CMC's. Just...try to take it easy, at least for a week," he advised Rain. Just then, they heard a knock at the door.

"R-Rain? Are you alright?" Twilight asked from the other side of the door.

"Yeah...Just fell out of bed... I'm not hurt or anything. Just still kinda out of it from yesterday," Rain answered her.

"If you want to take the rest of the day off, that's fine," Twilight told him, "If I'm not mistaken, the preservation cloth you put over your breakfast yesterday should keep it hot and fresh for about seventy-two hours so I asked Boris to bring it to your room the other day. If you'd like something else though, we can have somepony fix up something for you, or we can pick up something from a restaurant if you'd like. Whatever you want, just let me know, ok?" Rain looked over at his desk and sure enough, his breakfast from yesterday was there. He removed the cloth, and as expected, the food was just as it had been when he'd loaded it onto his plate the day before. Rain replaced the cloth over his food, then pulled his balaclava back over his face and proceeded to hovel over to the door, opening it to face Twilight.

"I-I'm good," he said before nearly falling forward and being caught by the Princess of Friendship just in time.

"Wow, careful!" Twilight said with concern as she easily held Rainstorm up, something that caught him by surprise before he remembered she was an alicorn and thus, had the same enhanced strength as an earkin. "Here, let me get you back to bed," she offered.

"N-no, I'm fine. I'm just having trouble standing...and walking...and I'm too queasy to eat right now...and you could probably kill me by yeeting a marshmallow off the side of my head...but other than that, I'm golden..." Rain said as he wondered to himself just how much of what he'd just stated was a joke and how much wasn't. "Just...help me get to the map room, please?" he asked.

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," Rain replied as he tried to support at least some of his own weight, "Besides, if we don't formulate a plan for what to do next, we'll all end up in far worse shape than I'm in right now," he explained. With that, Twilight helped Rain reach the map room, with Huginn in tow, where the elements, the taskforce, the guards, as well as Starlight, Trixie, and Spike were all waiting. Rainbow Dash jumped up to help Twilight ease Rainstorm into her throne as carefully as possible.

"Easy there, dude," Rainbow said to Rain as he sat down, "Anything I can get for you?"

"No, thanks... Let's just... Get this over with ASAP."

"Right then," Boris said as he revealed a notepad and began going over it. "First off, Acestream's ok. Nothin' suspicious at his place, nothin' fishy where his folks are concerned, and surprise, surprise - they do not, nor have they ever owned a morse, nor even gone morseback ridin’ and had no idea what we were goin' on about. Last time the kid saw you, he and those fillies had just crashed in ta ya, and he'd skedaddled off home while you were fixin' ta throw - from what he described - one helluva conniption."

"They flew a goddamn flying machine into me! Fuck was I supposed to do!? Say, 'Please sir, may I have another'!?" Rain said defensively. Boris snorted in amusement before continuing.

"Next, had Fluttershy talk ta that morse. Go ahead, miss," Boris addressed the yellow pegasus.

"Um, yes... He said that he was bought from a stable in Appleloosa yesterday morning, and he never saw whoever it was that bought him shapeshift directly... He said that while his owner was using a bathroom here in town, he was stolen by somepony matching Acestream's description," Fluttershy explained.

"Ok. Anyone see who rode into town on him?" Rain asked. Both Fluttershy and Boris exchanged concerned looks.

"According to everypony in town and the morse himself...you bought him and rode into town on him..." Fluttershy said.

"We even tracked down the one what sold 'em. Fella described ya ta a 'T', and even handed over a copy of the receipt," Boris interjected, "The buyer introduced themselves as you, said they were workin' a job in Ponyville - Hell, their damn writin' matches yours perfectly! On the bright side though, far as the law's concerned, you're now the owner of one fine morse," he added. Rain rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes before responding.

"Great, if the damn thing can swing growing a spine, he'll be of tremendous use..." Rain grumbled. "Anything else?" he asked as he slammed his hand down next to a mug of coffee RD had been drinking from before his arrival a little harder than intended, causing some of its contents to spill onto the map table, putting a look of shock and mild terror on his face.

"*sigh* It's fine," Twilight assured Rain, "Right after we got back from our first friendship problem at Starlight's old village, I ran every single test I could think of on this thing. It may be made of normal crystals, but the magic that's infused in it makes it just as strong and durable as white mythril - maybe more so," she explained as she used magic to evaporate the coffee that had spilled onto the table.

"Oh...alright..." Rain said, the new information causing him to feel a pang of embarrassment for his reaction the other day.

"Guess I probably should have led with that yesterday, huh?" Pinkie remarked sheepishly as Rainbow Dash snatched up her mug while giving Rain an annoyed look. Rain wouldn't admit it - out loud anyway - but in retrospect, he realized that he too, could have handled the situation better and resigned himself to at least try to be more patient with them in the future, if for no other reason than out of respect for the effort they seemed to be putting forward for him. In fact, as his mind began clearing more and more, he started thinking about how their attitude towards him was such a far cry from what he probably deserved based on his actions and interactions with them since he'd met them at Canterlot. As he continued to think things over, the words of Granny Smith came drifting into his head, maybe he should at least try to come to some understanding with them, and with Twilight in particular. After all, even if they couldn't find enough in common with one another to form a friendship, they did love some of the same people - all of whom most likely could only benefit from the two of them at least managing to be civil around each other.

"Rainstorm!" Boris shouted at Rain to get his attention, "Ya alright, there?"

"Yeah, just thinking about something," Rain explained, "So, aside from me acquiring another mouth to feed, is there any good news?" he asked.

"As matter of fact, da!" Moroz said as he placed the box from the day before on the map table, opened it, and tossed out at Rain, what appeared to be a sort of compact mirror made of gold, with a series of four rotary phone dial-like wheels where the makeup should be. Each wheel was within the other, with several buttons in the middle, as well as surrounding the dials, and it seemed capable of dozens - if not - hundreds of different combinations. "Is present from EPU R&D," Moroz explained, "communication devices - cutting edge! Have two relays - one already installed onboard Quicksilver and other we'll be installing on tippity-top of ugly, giant, crystal star thingy on top of castle. Will provide range as far as Northern Region of Everfree Forest - also, can help keep track of anyone carrying one so, hopefully, no repeat of yesterday's debacle," he explained.

"Question! Why the fuck are we only NOW hearing about this!?" Rain bellowed at Moroz.

"In commotion the other day, it...may have slipped mind... My bad..." Moroz apologized awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head, clearly embarrassed by his blunder. "If it makes you feel better, another shipment arrived today, so we should have enough for everyone here - and they soul-bind to whoever a task force member or element of harmony hands them to, so no worries about an enemy commandeering one and using it against us. In fact, only people who should be able to see or hear anything that comes through those, is user, or someone user is showing it to," he informed them.

"That...actually does make me feel a bit better," Rain admitted, "What's next?"

"Gonna take a team and try ta find the location ya described the other evenin', see if we can find the remains of that alpha timberwolf what attacked ya. Might give us some clue as ta who was controllin' it, and what they wanted," Boris said to them.

"About that..." Rainstorm said, raising a finger, "I may have a theory about that..." The others looked at him puzzled as he took a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing, "The more I think about how the fake Acestream talked to me, more and more, I can't help but feel like he was trying to make me suspicious of him. I mean, at one point he even said, 'You don't have a lot of time, Raindrop' - that was the name I used to go by, which is something not a whole lot of people would know. Furthermore, the fact that he knew to disguise himself as Acestream, suggests that he'd probably been spying on me at the time of the crash the other day, yet he didn't notice the kid get his cutie mark? Sure, he may not have been close enough to see what it looked like in detail, but he had to have been aware of its existence, after all, it ain't like those things are subtle when they form. He matched his appearance flawlessly, kept his aura almost completely suppressed, and knew exactly what to say to get me to go to where the CMC's were. In spite of all that, he accidentally called me by a name most people - especially anyone in this town - wouldn't be familiar with, and forgot to keep his arm covered up, letting me see that he didn't have a cutie mark when that would have been the biggest red flag of them all?"

"When ya put it that way, it does sound a touch suspicious..." Boris commented as he stroked his chin.

"Throw in the fact that I'm sure someone was following me the whole time I was looking for the girls, the fact that someone managed to get the drop on Jasper, but only disabled him instead of killing him outright when they had a perfect opportunity. Then they led me right to where the CMC's were just in the nick of time and had an alpha timberwolf trap us in a cave without sealing the entrance until reinforcements arrived, and all the while, they never made any other attempts on the Apple farm, nor on me after the fight, after my battle supplement ran out," Rain explained. "The more I think about it, the more I think I had it all wrong. They weren't trying to capture or kill anyone, they were testing me - maybe all of us," he surmised.

"Old military strategy," Jasper spoke up, "Poke the enemies defenses with a proverbial stick, gage their reaction, gather data on their strengths and weaknesses -".

"Then once enough data has been gathered, formulate the optimal strategy, and attack," Belizna finished grimly.

"But why telegraph it so much? Why let Jasper go?" Twilight asked.

"When we say strengths and weaknesses, we don't just mean physical, or magical, we're also talkin' ‘bout mental and emotional," Boris explained to Twilight. "Lettin' Jasper live, not only gave 'em enough time ta make sure the CMC's got ta where the enemy wanted, but let 'em see just what kinda person Rain was, what his priorities are, how he thinks...and how the enemy might be able ta exploit that... Tipping their hand the way they did ta Rainstorm was likely part of their little test as well. Heck, if our unsub is in league with the mercs ya fought against, they may have even been seein' if Rain was worth tryin' ta recruit'," he finished.

"*tch* I'm an asshole, but even I have some standards!" Rain barked, "I have my issues with purple-smart, but if I were gonna kill her, I'd have done it ages ago of my own volition, so why would I do it for some bag of dicks, whose idea of an interview involves, spying on me, giant monsters, and using children as bait!?" Rain proclaimed.

"And nobody said that ya would!" Boris hurriedly assured Rain.

"Anyway...if there's even the slightest chance of enemy attack, we will need to fortify Ponyville's defenses," Belizna advised, "Any suggestions?"

"Well, when Boris suggested I survey the town the other day, I took that to heart," Rain responded, "You ready?" he asked Huginn, who had just perched himself on Rain's right shoulder. Huginn nodded and Rain proceeded to pull Huginn's left eye out of its socket with three of the fingers on his left hand.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?" Fluttershy yelled at the top of her lungs, a mixture of shock and horror plastered on her face. Both Rainstorm and Huginn looked at Fluttershy with alarmed expressions before timidly looking over at each other, then looking back at the pegasus.

"...Relax, he's not hurt," Rain said, trying to defuse the situation.

"YOU JUST RIPPED OUT HIS CELESTIADAMNED EYEBALL!!!" she screamed at him again.

"He's not really a crow, is he?" Jasper interjected, eliciting confused looks from almost everyone in the room.

"Ding, ding, ding, give the man a cigar!" Rain chortled, "Well, to be fair, he is part crow...the parts of him that came from crows anyway."

"...Huh?" Fluttershy asked, her rage having been replaced by confusion.

"Huginn is what's called a familiar. An artificial construct made using witchcraft," Rainstorm explained.

"You actually managed to create a familiar!?" asked a shocked Twilight. Rain smiled smugly underneath his balaclava before continuing.

"By using a few animus candles, the right magical array, the right runes, and the right ingredients, you can create a vessel and use a part of your soul to bind your spirit guide to it. Then you just have to name it, and you're good to go. If you know what you're doing and have everything you need, you can actually give a familiar's shell quite a bit of utility, like, for example, a built-in audio and video recorder!" Rain happily explained to Fluttershy, whose anger had rapidly dissipated upon hearing the explanation.

"Oh...sorry..." she said as her face turned a deep crimson.

"Guess I probably should have led with that, huh?" Rain said, catching Fluttershy off with just how gentle the tone of his voice was. "I can't blame you for freaking out. Guess it's not the most wholesome display in the world, is it?"

"So...all the arguments you've been having with - Huginn, was it? - Were actual arguments?" Rarity inquired.

"Yep." Rain answered, "Whenever Huginn caws, I still hear a caw, but I understand what he's trying to say just perfectly," he explained. "We can butt heads at times, but we've got each other's backs when it matters the most," he explained further before lifting up the eyeball and giving it a quick squeeze, causing it to light up. The eyeball then began to project a holographic birds-eye view of Ponyville onto the table, "As you can see, Huginn looked over every nook and cranny of town from above - even recorded data on Sweet Apple Acres while I was there!" he said.

"Take it that means ya recorded that scrap ya had yesterday with the alpha timberwolf too?" asked Boris, to which Rainstorm nodded. Then several red crosshairs appeared, each at a different point on the holo-map around the village.

"I advise building eight, category-two watchtowers, with at least three guards stationed at any given time at each one, and have one tower at each of these marked areas," Rain suggested.

"One at each point of the compass. Simple, but effective," Belizna said as she examined the highlighted areas.

"Not sure why Ponyville doesn't already have defenses like that already," Jasper added.

"Ponyville usually only has to worry 'bout a few monster and bandit attacks every once in a while," Applejack explained, "At least, that's how it used to be... Over the last couple years, things have been gettin' more dangerous. Not really sure why," she said glumly.

"Which reminds me," Rain spoke up, as the holo-map switched over to Sweet Apple Acres, "I think we should also add three more category-two watchtowers...here, here, and here," Rain stated as new crosshairs appeared in a wide triangular with the farmhouse in the middle. "That alright with you?" he asked AJ, who only nodded in agreement and refused to make direct eye contact with him, much to his confusion.

"*sigh* Rain..." Boris said with exasperation, "You're askin' for thirty-three new guards, thousands of bits in construction material and equipment, supplies for all those new soldiers - and that's if ya can get the mayor ta even agree ta any of this... I have no idea how we're gonna get the ok from Canterlot for all this..." Boris told Rain as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I may have a few strings I can pull here and there to get a few extra bodies sent our way. As for getting Mayor Mare to sign off on the towers, I think our resident princess can convince her," Rain said as he looked over a Twilight.

"I...guess I could try..." she hesitantly agreed.

"Tell her it's essential - and don't let her try to weasel out on Sweet Apple Acres! If Ponyville is attacked, they may try to sabotage the town's main source of food," Rainstorm warned Twilight.

"What will ya do, Rain?" asked Boris.

"Huginn collected a sample of some sort of toxin off the Apple's dog yesterday. While he was able to get a decent amount of info from it, there could be more we could learn from a proper, full-scale analysis of the substance, so I'll be in the lab running tests on it, as well as setting up for anything you might find during your search," Rain informed Boris.

"An unknown organic compound with unique attributes!?" Twilight asked, an excited glint in her eye, "Why don't I help you with that analysis?" she asked hopefully, practically giddy with the thought of all the tests she could run.

"Absolutely not!" Rain stated bluntly. "I told you how you can help. I - we need you to get the mayor to sign off on those towers...unless you feel like issuing a royal decree and forcing her to give the ok?..." he asked, the fact Twilight did indeed have the authority to order both that - and request more guards - having just popped into his head.

"*sigh* Fine... I'll go try to convince Mayor Mare to ok the towers..." Twilight said defeatedly, causing Rain to roll his eyes.

"How about me, Darling? If there's any way I can help, I'd be delighted to," Rarity chimed in.

"You can take Chitny, Belizna, Spike, Pinkie, and Applejack and follow Twilight. Spike seems good at keeping Twilight grounded and on task, while adding the voices of three of Ponyville's biggest breadwinners to the matter may help sway the mayor. Plus having two task force members there with you takes care of the issue of me not being able to keep an eye on Twilight myself," Rainstorm explained. With that, the seven of them headed off as Boris chose several guards to accompany him on his errand.

"Just ta be safe, I've asked two guards ta keep an eye on the lab at all times - even while in use," Boris informed Rain, but before Rain could reply, Boris cut him off, "Don't worry, they'll keep out of the way, and they're good at barrier spells so, they'll be safe from any accidents that might happen."

"So, you remember what I said about brewing back during the war all those years ago?" Rain asked.

"Of course. My people are better at rememberin' stuff than even unicorns! Ha, I can still recall the day I was born!" Boris explained before walking out with his guards in toe. Rain was still apprehensive about working on any chemicals in the presence of others, but he trusted Boris knew what he was doing and he figured he likely wouldn't be working with anything all that volatile so, they should be safe.

"As for you and Jasper," Rain said, turning his attention to Rainbow Dash, "You're going to help Moroz install that second relay, ok?"

"I don't see why we can't go with Rarity instead of Applejack and Belizna!" Jasper grumbled under his breath before turning to leave, but Rainbow just stood there, thinking to herself. "You alright, Sweet-pea?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'll be with you in a second..." RD told Jasper as Fluttershy spoke up.

"Rainstorm?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Rain replied as he returned Huginn's eye to its socket, the organ being pulled the rest of the way in by some unseen force once it came close enough with a quiet yet still audible squelch.

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked. Rainstorm thought for a minute before assigning her a task.

"Guess I'm gonna need some morse food now. Take Mángdán and a couple of guards with you to pick some up and a book on morse care if you can find one. After that, you're free for the day as far as I'm concerned," Rain instructed her, to which both she and the old monk nodded yes, before heading off.

"Sure you couldn't use any help in the lab?" asked Starlight.

"From you? Sure, if you can follow my instructions," Rain stated.

"Sure can!" Starlight responded. The two started to head towards the lab when Rainbow spoke up.

"Wait!" she shouted at Rain, who turned to face her. "I...wanted to thank you...for saving Scoots and the others yesterday. We owe you - big time!" Dash said to Rainstorm.

"You don't have to thank me," Rain replied, "I may be many things - many of which aren't so good, but I'm not going to just stand around and let some little kids get eaten, or whatever."

"But still, we all really appreciate what you did. If anything had happened to them, I don't know what any of us would have done..." Dash's voice trailed off as she recalled both the panic she had felt when she'd been told by Spike and the others about Granny Smith's warning when it had arrived the previous day and the relief that had washed over her later that evening when she'd seen Scootaloo unharmed.

"I know what you mean," Rain responded under his breath absent-mindedly.

"Huh?" RD asked, not having quite heard him.

"You're welcome," Rain lied, not wanting to go into his history concerning Morning Dew with anyone else at that time. He and the CMC's had left out what they'd discussed with each other about Morning Dew as well as his facial scars when they'd relayed their experiences in the Everfree Forest the other day. Though he did appreciate that Rainbow and the others seemed genuinely grateful to him, a small part of him still regretted having shared that much about himself with anyone at all. He desperately wanted to avoid going into any further detail about his past if he could. "I may not come cheap, but I don't live my life as a mercenary just for the bits. I protect people, that's all I want to do," he explained.

"You know? You say you're an asshole - and maybe you are - but, I don't think you're all and all that bad of a guy," Rainbow told him with a warm smile. She then turned to leave but Rain stopped her with a question of his own.

"Hey, I couldn't help but notice Applejack's been acting funny all morning. You know what that's about?" Rain asked. Rainbow turned back around and shrugged her shoulders before answering him.

"Don't know. Might have something to do with the lecture Boris gave us yesterday. She said some things that really set him off and he mentioned that you and Shining served under him in the Brick Orchard Conflicts," she said nonchalantly. Rainstorm looked down at the floor, a sad, distant look in his eyes.

"...Yeah...that would do it alright..." he said before turning around and leaving the map room in a hurry, Starlight quickly giving chase after him.

"What the hell was that all about?..." Rainbow said, scratching her head before Jasper called out to her.

"You coming or what, hun?"

"On my way!" RD shouted as she headed out of the map room as the rest of the remaining guards left to begin their patrol of the castle, leaving Trixie alone.

"Guess that leaves the Great and Powerful Trixie with the most important job of all -" she said as she sat down in Twilight's throne and placed her feet on top of the map table, "- guarding the map room against enemy attack!" she said smugly as she folded her arms behind her head and rested her eyes, making herself as comfortable as possible.

Fluttershy and Mángdán, along with two guards were on their way back from Sweet Apple Acres after having bought some morse feed, as well as having checked up on the animal, both of which were being kept at the farm for Rain. "It was so nice of the Apples to not only let Rain's new morse stay at their stable but to give us a bit of a discount on feed," Fluttershy said as she took in the beautiful day.

"Indeed, it was most generous of clan Apple," Mángdán agreed as the two guards walked a short distance behind them, "That morse seems quite pleased with his accommodations, and with the feed they've provided," he added with a warm smile across his face. The two noticed a few weatherponies flying overhead as one pointed in different directions in the sky, seemingly doling out instructions to the others, who then flew off as instructed. "Ah, yes, I nearly forgot. The weather ponies have scheduled a light thunderstorm for later this evening," Mángdán remarked as some of the pegasi began collecting clouds here and there, while others flew new ones in.

"It's supposed to be stormy on and off for the next couple of days if I'm not mistaken," Fluttershy mentioned as the group came upon the train station and noticed an argument happening between an earkin and two griffonesses.

"The fuck's your damn problem, bub!?" snarled the light-brown griffoness who had brilliant, amber eyes, a white head with long, white bangs featuring pinkish-violet tips the same color as the marks around her eyes, and a small, golden-yellow beak, with matching talons. She had on a black choker, short red tank top, a short, black leather jacket, torn, dark blue jeans, and dark-brown, leather, steel-toed boots with an intricate, swirling pattern etched into them.

"Look filly, it's nothing personal, but I don't know you or your friend and even if I did, I don't know where Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, or Pinkie Pie are right now. You can try the castle in the middle of town or Sugarcube Corner. That's all I got and that's all you're getting from me!" said the earkin sternly.

"Why didn't you just say so in the first place instead of getting in our beaks about it!?" angrily asked the brown griffon as she flared up her large wings and her tail quickly darted back and forth in frustration.

"It's fine, Gilda," said the grey griffoness carrying a leather mailbag, who wore a dark-green sweater with black jeans along with white sneakers and black socks. She had turquoise eyes, cyanish-grey cheeks, as well as a white throat and chest, while she had the longer feathers on her head tied in a ponytail behind her head, with light-grey markings across her face. She turned to the earkin and thanked him before noticing the group, "Hey, look!" she eagerly shouted as she tugged at Gilda's arm. Before either of them could say anything further, the two guards took a defensive position to shield Fluttershy and aimed their spears at the two griffons.

"State your business!" one guard shouted at them.

"And don't come any closer, or else!" shouted the other, causing the grey griffoness to back away. Gilda saw this and stood in front of her, glaring at the two guards.

"You threaten Gabby again, and you'll regret it!" she said as she brandished her talons at them, her telescopic claws extending from the tips of her fingertips until reaching nearly over half a foot in length. The guards prepared to charge them when Fluttershy jumped out in between them with her arms held out.

"No! She's my friend!" she yelled at the guards, causing them to exchange concerned looks with one another, before responding.

"How...how do we know it's really your friend though?" one guard asked Fluttershy nervously.

"Just who the hell else would I be!?" Gilda asked incredulously.

"I believe we can trust these young ladies," Mángdán said, directly from behind the two griffonesses.

"The old codger's fast! I know he didn't teleport so, he really had to be booking it to sneak up on us without me noticing it!" thought Gilda as she turned to stare in shock at Mángdán while the guards and Fluttershy looked around confusedly to verify that he was indeed, no longer near them.

"I sense no ill intent from either of them, only concern for their friends," he assured the guards, who nodded and lowered their guard as they offered their apologies.

"Sorry you two, things have been on edge here lately," one of them said addressing Gilda and Gabby.

"We know," Gabby replied, "News about the attack on the Friendship Express reached Griffonstone a few days ago. It's why we're here, to make sure everyone's doing alright."

"Well..." the other guard spoke up, "Their may have been another incident yesterday..." she said as she scrunched up her nose and looked off to the side.

"What!?" Gilda shouted in alarm as Gaby covered her beak in fear, "Where's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie!? Are they alright!? Are -!"

"Easy there. Everypony is safe and unharmed," Mángdán calmly assured them, "Lady Dash is at the castle, assisting in the installation of a communications system, and Lady Pinkie is with the Princess of Friendship and the other Elements of Harmony speaking to the mayor on improving security for the town," he explained.

"What a relief!" Gabby exclaimed as Gilda let out a sigh of relief.

"You say Dash and Pinkie are busy?" Gilda asked Fluttershy, who answered her with a nod yes, "Any idea when they'll be done?"

"It could be some time before either of them have completed their tasks," Mángdán informed her.

"...Then would you mind explaining what's been going on?" Gilda asked the old monk, "My friends were attacked, everyone seems on edge here, and weird shit's been going on around Griffonstone too!"

"Hmm..." Mángdán stroked his chin in contemplation for a moment before responding, "Why don't the two of you head back and inform Master Rainstorm that our task has been completed, then inform him and Lady Dash that we have visitors? I will remain at Lady Fluttershy's side and keep her and her friends safe," Mángdán told the guards, who saluted him before nodding yes and leaving for the castle. Mángdán then turned to the three women with a warm smile and addressed them, "Now the three of you should be free to catch up to your heart's content! Let us fetch something to eat. The two of you must be famished after such a long journey," he advised the Griffonesses. Gilda opened her beak to say something, but as she did so, her stomach let out a loud growl, invoking a slight chuckle from both Gabby and Fluttershy.

"Fine!" Gilda grumbled as she blew some of her feathers out of her face and the four of them walked off to find a restaurant to eat at.

"You want me to agree to what!?" gasped a pale greyish-amber mare dressed in a blue suit with a grey mane, and blue eyes, which looked as wide as dinner plates behind her half-moon spectacles. The large office fell deathly quiet as the shocked, middle-aged mare leaned back into her desk chair, her mouth hanging open. Finally, Twilight broke the awkward silence.

"I know it's asking a lot, Mayor Mare, but given the incident yesterday, I feel it is imperative that we increase the town's defensive capabilities - at once!" Twilight urged her as her four friends and their two bodyguards stood behind her.

"I am confident that we can secure the funding for it from Canterlot and construction would only take a few days," Belizna informed the mayor who by now had closed her mouth and was rubbing the bridge of her nose underneath her glasses.

"That's not the issue here," Mayor Mare replied, "It's one thing for you to have a massive influx of guards at the castle, Twilight, but now you want to build watchtowers all over town and fill them with armed soldiers! A large part of the appeal of a town like Ponyville is the promise of safety - without the need of guards or mercenaries!" she finished before Applejack could interrupt her. The odd bandit attack near Sweet Apple Acres is troubling, but for the most part, is still out of the sight of the general population, and as for the occasional monster attack, they've become almost something of a spectacle. Ponies love to watch the elements of harmony defeat a monster every now and again! But if watchtowers, armed guards, and who knows what else you may want start becoming commonplace on the street, it could invoke panic in the townsponies," she explained.

"Now, darling, nopony here wants to worry the townsponies, but we need this," Rarity tried to reason with the mayor.

"Ponies ain't safe!" AJ exclaimed, "We need ta fortify Ponyville's defenses as much as possible - as soon as possible! My sister and her friends were more or less kidnapped yesterday and would have been killed if it warn't for Rainstorm!" she said, starting to lose her temper. Mayor Mare let out a long sigh as she stood up and walked over to the large window behind her desk to stare over the town before responding.

"...As unfortunate as what happened the other day was, as far as we know, it was an isolated incident. No pony else saw this shapeshifter, and as far as any pony knows, the only one seen riding that morse was somepony matching this Rainstorm's description," she said with her back still turned to them.

"Are you saying that Jasper knocked himself out!?" Belizna growled at the mayor, who didn't seem to care.

"What I'm saying is ‘no pony saw who it was that attacked your friend’. Furthermore, do any of you know anything about this merc?" she then whipped around, walked over to her desk, pulled open a drawer, and pulled out a manila folder, brandishing it in front of them. "Whenever a high-profile individual enters my town, I always endeavor to vet them as best as I can," she said before handing the folder over for Twilight and the others to read. Twilight opened it and the group was immediately hit with a plethora of newspaper clippings, casualty reports, and eyewitness accounts - all involving Rainstorm. "Equestrian mercenaries live by an oath to protect the innocent - or rather, they're supposed to, but if this information is anything to go on than he seems more interested in killing bandits and monsters than protecting life. Over the last few years, he's rarely taken on bounties that didn't fall under 'wanted, dead or alive', he almost never works with others, and he has one of the largest body counts I've ever seen from a freelance merc. Most unsettling of all, however, is his association with the mercenary guild, The Knightreavers, who have been garnering a less than positive reputation as of late."

Chitny and Belizna exchanged nervous glances as Mayor Mare paused to take out a cigarette, lighting it, then taking a few quick puffs on it before continuing, "He's what's referred to as a 'Headhunter' - a merc that prefers to kill instead of protect, and Headhunters have quite a reputation for going rogue. So, maybe before you start heeding his advice, you should do your own research on him, because things may not be what they seem with this mercenary!" she then motioned for them to leave and as they exited the office Twilight was still going over the contents of the folder, an expression of shock, disgust, and rage starting to take shape on her face.

"You alright there, Sugar-cube?" Applejack asked Twilight when she noticed the look on her face.

"I think I need a talk with Rain about this!" she said angrily before stomping off for the exit - AJ, Rarity, and Pinkie chasing close behind her.

"Here we go again!" Spike, Chitny, and Belizna said in unison as the three face-palmed themselves at the same time before heading off after them.

"And...that should do it! Let's see what we got here," Rainstorm said as he and Starlight examined a graph slowly being produced by a large, printer-looking machine, hooked up to a metal barrel with a small, wood-burning furnace underneath it. "Hey you two," Rain addressed the two guards that had been standing watch over them since they'd first entered Twilight's lab, a large room filled to the brim with all manner of magical devices and arcane machinery, "You wanna come take a look at this?" he asked them.

"No thank you, sir. We've been instructed to keep to our posts unless it's an emergency," one guard said, though Rain could tell he was extremely curious about the results of the test on the organic compound he and Huginn had collected from Winona the day before. Their interest in the subject came as no surprise to Rainstorm as they'd mentioned they, along with the other guards patrolling the castle at the moment, had been assigned to guard Doctor Heartstrings at her lab in Canterlot. He knew even if they hadn't been interested in science or the scientific process before being assigned to her, that she would have gotten them hooked on it in no time at all. So, being in much higher spirits than he had been earlier, he decided to give them an excuse to sate their curiosity.

"I order you to come over here and look," he said with a wink. The two guards looked at each other for a second, then smiled before walking over and taking a look at the results of the test.

"Wow..." one guard said as she stared at the readings on the graph paper, "This compound is...unbelievably advanced... We should send a sample to Doctor Heartstrings at once! Err...with your permission, of course, sir," the guard said with a nervous grin.

"We're gonna have to," Rain informed her, "There's no way I can counter this junk."

"What do you mean? I thought you were able to cure that dog the other day?" asked the other guard before he saw the results and realized the issue, "Oh...crud," he said almost under his breath.

"I know, I've never seen a non-magical compound so adaptive before," Rain said as he went over the results in his head again before Boris entered the lab, carrying a medium-sized sack, along with a guard following close behind him carrying a small, wooden crate. "Boris! Able to recover anything?" Rain asked, to which Boris shook his head.

"Barely," he grumbled as the two lab guards hastily saluted him, "Damn thing 'bout timberwolves, their bodies tend ta break down real quick after they kick the bucket. We were able to recover a bit of the core and a few wood and stone fragments, but nothin' else. *sigh* So, you lot have any better luck?" he asked them.

"Depends on your definition of 'luck'," Starlight said as she started going over their findings, "The compound itself seems to definitely be plant-based, and isn't magical in nature, nor does it contain enough traces of magical energy to suggest that it was made using magic - not directly at least. However..."

"It's doubtful it's from a naturally occurring plant," Rain interjected, "Or at least, I hope whatever this stuff comes from isn't very common. Looking at it under a microscope shows that the chemical elements have multiple...snap point structures all over them. This allows them to be combined in such a way that they can mimic virtually any compound you can think of - along with their effects. It can even take on the same appearance and properties as bodily fluids like blood, sweat, and tears..." Rain said, struggling to find the right words to describe what they were dealing with, "It's completely unique to anything I've ever seen before and not only makes it impossible for any immune system to fight them off on its own but means whatever produced them could theoretically mix and match nearly unlimited different mixtures of the compound, resulting in a ton of varying effects," he explained.

"So, what yar sayin' is, not only is the only reason ya were able ta cure that dog the other day was cause whomever - or whatever attacked her didn't feel like killin' her, but that if they hit any of us with a different mixture aimed at killin'..." Boris's voice trailed off as he started running his hand through what little hair he had on his head, prompting Starlight to finish the unnerving train of thought.

"There's nothing anypony can do to cure it. It's impossible to create any kind of antitoxin that can counter it because every toxin generated by this stuff could be the only one of its kind in existence. On top of that, in high enough doses, it seems capable of a high level of magical resistance, which rules out most healing magic," Starlight finished glumly.

"That's why we're sending everything we drum up on this junk to Aunty Vi," Rain informed the others, if anyone can figure out how to deal with this, it would be her!" he exclaimed. He then directed Boris to deposit his sample from the alpha timberwolf into one of the machines in the lab and the guard with the crate to do the same at another device of the same make. "First things first, we need to try to get as much data on any auras that the thing may have encountered prior to our fight. With any luck, it may give us a lead on who or what may have been controlling it, and after that, we can start the chemical analysis, and so on," Rainstorm explained.

"How long ya s'ppose this will take?" Boris asked.

"Hmmm, at least a few hours," Rain grimaced, "Want some lunch while we wait?" he asked.

"Hehe, sounds like an occasion to whip up some of my famous sweet tea!" Boris announced.

"That sounds good, but we may have to make a quick run to the store for the tea itself," Starlight informed him.

"Fine with me! You in?" Boris asked Rain.

"Yeah, I need to get out of the castle anyway," he reasoned. With that, the three of them made for the castle's exit, whereupon leaving they were met by Rainbow Dash and Jasper.

"Wherever it is you're going, please take me with you!" Dash pleaded with them.

"Rough day at the office, so to speak," Jasper explained as he stretched and yawned, "I could actually use a break myself, now that you mention it," he said.

"Take it everything's finished up there?" Boris asked.

"Yep, Moroz gave us the all-clear!" Jasper explained. The group then headed off into town.

Fluttershy had just finished explaining what had transpired over the last few days to Gilda and Gabby as they sat at an outside table along with Mángdán. Gilda seemed to be fuming from the news while Gabby wiped a few tears from her eyes, "T-thank goodness the CMC's are alright," she said, barely able to keep her composure.

"I've heard of this Rainstorm guy before," Gilda told Fluttershy, recalling the stories she'd heard of him, "Griffons are born fighters, so a lot of us decide to either become mercenaries or bandits. I work at a bar in Griffonstone, so I end up hearing stories from both sides, stories about a man dressed all in grey except for the artifact on his arm. One who's said to be a living maelstrom, destroying everything - and everyone - that gets in his way. Scares most people, bandits and mercenaries alike," Gilda explained.

"Well, he can't be that bad!" Gabby exclaimed, "He rescued the CMC's. Doesn't that count for anything?"

"Bah, I don't put much stock in merc yarns anyway. Hell, some of the stories I've heard about him say he brought down a whole fort all by himself and that he's some kind of alien or something! Total bullshit!" Gilda huffed.

"Well, actually..." Fluttershy started to interject when Gilda unwittingly cut her off.

"I'm glad you're ok," she said, catching Fluttershy off guard, "I mean, you and Dash and Pinkie that is," she quickly added.

"Well, I'm not sure how well off I'd be if you hadn't given me some pointers on how to fight. Those pugilism lessons you gave me really made a whole world of difference - and not just in my ability to protect myself and my friends, but in my self-confidence too!" Fluttershy said, beaming at Gilda, who turned her head away just enough to avoid direct eye contact.

"Like I said, you're a natural. I just gave you a few pointers here and there to get you started, that's all," she replied, the faintest hint of nervousness audible in her voice.

"The truth is..." Fluttershy spoke up, eager to speak her mind before her nerves got the best of her, "... You've helped give me the last little push I needed to make up my mind! I've decided to pursue my life's dream of starting a one of a kind animal sanctuary!" she spouted out, her face turning slightly red, but only for a short moment. Gilda stared at her, puzzled for a moment, as Gabby and Mángdán exchanged amused looks, very much under the impression that their presence had been mostly - if not completely forgotten. Finally, Gilda responded.

"Sounds awesome! You better not forget to give me a tour of it once you're finished!" Gilda stated, giving Fluttershy a smile of her own, to which Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

"I'm guessing you mean a private tour?" Gabby whispered to Gilda, causing her face to turn deep-red and for her to grab Gabby by the scruff of the neck, who in turn raised her hands in submission.

"This is very cute and all, but why don't you introduce your friends, Fluttershy?" said a drawling voice from out of nowhere. The source of the voice didn't remain a mystery for long as a snaggletoothed man appeared in a flash of light, wearing a long, brown dress coat with golden trimmings with a left shoulder piece made up of bright-blue feathers, a right one made of what appeared to be bat wings, pants that were half green, and half light-brown, as well as a large, elegant, right dress boot, with a black dress slipper on his left foot. Even stranger than his attire though, was his form - brownish-grey skin, white hair tied off in the back with a black ponytail, with a long, white goatee, white, mismatched eyebrows, mismatched yellow eyes with crimson slits for pupils, a twisted horn on the left side of his head and an antler on the right. On top of that, his striking appearance consisted of a long, red, spiky dragon tail, a massive right arm, reminiscent of a lion's paw, while his left arm was that of a griffon's, all topped off with an equine left ear and a gnoll right ear. "Well, now that we've gotten my description out of the way, how about that introduction? I'm Discord, God of Chaos," the draconequus introduced himself with a deep bow.

"Hi there, Discord!" Fluttershy cheerfully greeted him, "This is Gilda, Gabby, and my bodyguard, Mángdán Kàndào Duō." Mángdán gave a polite bow, seemingly unfazed by the god of chaos's sudden appearance, while Gabby managed a cheerful wave, Gilda looked daggers at him.

"So you're Discord?" she asked him, "Probably one of the most powerful beings in all of Equestria, right?"

"Please...I'm the most powerful being on the entire planet," Discord said, feigning a modest tone of voice in spite of the nature of the boast.

"Then you mind explaining what you're doing here, and not out there trying to find the assholes that attacked Fluttershy and the others!?" Gilda asked with a snarl.

"I don't think I like your tone..." he said, his voice turning into a venomous hiss as a malicious smile crept onto his face and he readied his fingers to snap, before Fluttershy put one hand over his, seeking to lower it.

"Now, Discord, she's just upset about what happened to the others and me. Try to be patient with her and explain," she said calmly, trying to defuse the situation. Discord let out an annoyed sigh and began to explain.

"Fine. In all honesty, I was prepared to seek out and destroy those hooligans, but Celestia asked me not to. I am under strict orders not to overexert my chaos magic except during an emergency. I'm apparently more of a 'weapon of last resort'," Discord said with a disgusted expression while doing air quotes. "I for one am just as annoyed with this as anypony else!"

"I say, screw what some princess says!" Gilda shouted, "We oughta go out there and teach those bastards a lesson right now - and to Hell with what some politician tells you or anyone else to do!"

"Ohhhhh, I may have misjudged you!" Discord gleefully chortled, "Now you're talking my language!" Discord exclaimed as, with a snap of his fingers, Gilda found herself decked out in top-of-the-line armor and holding a massive flamethrower.

"Oh, I like the way you think..." Gilda said with a wicked glint in her eyes.

"Righto! Welp, we will be back in a few!" Discord said as he was about to snap his fingers again, but Fluttershy stopped them.

"No!" she said firmly, "Discord, you promised Celestia you wouldn't use your magic for combat unless she asked you to! And you -" she said turning to Gilda, "- I know it may not seem like it, but I know Celestia has her reasons for not letting Discord fight right now. I'm not asking either of you to trust her, just trust me, please?" she asked the two of them, to which they begrudgingly relented and Discord snapped away Gilda's new equipment.

"Does anyone know where Rainstorm is?" Gabby asked, in part hoping to change the subject and avoid any further trouble, "I'd like to thank him for saving the Cutie Mark Crusaders." Discord rolled his eyes and offered to help.

"I'll find this Rainpuddle for you -".

"Rainstorm," Fluttershy corrected him.

"- Whatever. I'll find him for you. I can at least do that without Sunbutt’s permission, can't I?" Discord said irritably before disappearing in a flash of light, not having noticed Mángdán's attempts to stop him.

"I fear that may prove to be a grave error, Lady Fluttershy!" Mángdán exclaimed as he stood up to leave, "It would be most wise of us to try to find them as quickly as possible!"

Rain, Starlight, and the rest of their group stood in the tea shop, looking through the varying teas and tea accessories while waiting for the shopkeeper to gather the ingredients Boris needed for his Sweet tea. Rain was staring at a teapot designed to somewhat resemble a chilli pepper and chuckled as he thought to himself, "Marcos would get a kick out of this. It's just like the one he told me his Abuelita used to own...". The shopkeeper came out from the back of the shop and handed the last of the ingredients to Boris when she saw something that caused her to let out an annoyed groan.

"Not him again!..." she said as she audibly face-palmed. Rain turned around to see what was the matter and found himself face to face with Discord.

"You seem familiar! Have we met before, perchance?" Discord asked Rainstorm. Just outside, Mángdán was rushing toward the tea shop with Fluttershy, Gabby, and Gilda right behind him.

"I believe I sensed Rainstorm's chi coming from here, but I fear we may be too late!" he warned the others.

"Too late? What do you- !" Gabby was cut off by a cacophony erupting from the tea shop as Discord quickly slithered like a snake from out of the shop with Rainstorm in hot pursuit, firing his shotgun at him.

"You son of a bitch!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as he took several more shots at Discord, before the draconequus slithered up behind Fluttershy, cowering.

"He's mad I tell you, mad -and not in a good way!" Discord exclaimed as Rain tried to line up a clean shot, but was unwilling to risk hitting anyone else.

"Oh, I'm mad alright! You have any idea what that fucker's done!?" he furiously asked a shocked Fluttershy.

"Discord, what did you do this time?" Fluttershy asked sternly.

"I swear, I really haven't done anything this time!" Discord said earnestly.

"He's telling the truth!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she and the others rushed out to try to put an end to the situation.

"Yeah, Discord just poofed in and Rainstorm started firing at him!" Starlight explained.

"Sorry, I let Celestia stop me from smashing that monster into pieces after you turned him back to stone, and it nearly cost us all. I won't give it the chance to hurt anyone else! Now, move!" he instructed Fluttershy, who stood her ground unblinkingly.

"No! I know Discord made a lot of mistakes in the past, but he's learned his lesson and he's my friend!" Fluttershy said sternly, "Whatever he's done, I know we can make things right."

"Whatever he's done!?" Rain asked incredulously, "High treason, conspiracy to commit high treason, numerous acts of terrorism - oh, and before I forget, murder!"

"Now hold on just a minute, buster!" Discord said angrily, "I've done plenty of messed up things, but not once in my nearly two thousand years of living have I ever taken anypony’s life, and I for one, take great offense to such an accusation!" Discord proclaimed.

"Fine, accessory to murder. Close enough!" Rain said as he started walking closer to Discord.

"Whose!?" Discord asked incredulously.

"Mine!" Rain snarled just as he was about to take another shot at Discord, but before he could pull the trigger, the middle portion of the shotgun violently ruptured, the force of it knocking what was left of the weapon out of the mercenary's hands and knocking him to the ground. He growled in pain as his left pinky and ring finger were bent backward from the force of the shotgun being knocked out of his hands, dislocating them. He looked around to see the source of the attack and found Twilight standing nearby, her horn glowing and a look of pure rage on her face.

"You ever aim another weapon at any of my friends - even Discord - ever again, I'll break every bone in your body!" Twilight shouted at him. Rain, not once looking away from Twilight, slowly stood back up as he forcibly popped the joints in his fingers back into place, seething with anger the whole time.

"The fact that you're willing to defend that traitor and even call it a friend, is proof you're still not fit to call yourself a Princess of Equestria - wings or no," Rain hissed at her.

"Coming from a Headhunter, I'll take that as a compliment!" Twilight barked at him.

"I want to put down a monster that ninety-nine percent of the country wants to see turned back to stone and left that way forever, and that makes me a Headhunter?" Rain asked, nearly bursting out into laughter as he did so. By now a crowd of onlookers had started to form around the spectacle as it unfolded, including Lyra and Bon Bon.

"Oh, shit. What are they getting into it over this time?" Lyra thought to herself as she and Bon Bon gently but quickly pushed their way through the crowd to get a better idea of the situation.

"I've seen the reports of what you've done, Rainstorm!" Twilight shouted at him again, "It's well documented that you don't take prisoners and you're well known for doing whatever it takes to complete a job - even if it means torturing ponies! You never show mercy and you never give second chances, that is inexcusable!" she scolded him.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe pieces of shit like Discord don't deserve second chances - oh, I'm sorry - fourth chances? That's what this is you know? His fourth chance," he said looking around at everyone there. "His second chance was when he broke free a few years back and turned this whole damn town into a chaotic hellscape! Does anyone here remember how his third chance went?" he asked before continuing, "Here, let me remind you. Celestia ordered this walking cum stain to hunt down and defeat a certain centaur by the name of Lord Tirek," Rain shouted.

"We know, we all know Discord betrayed us, but if it weren't for Discord, we never would have beaten Tirek, or unlocked the power of the Tree of Harmony," Twilight said in defense of Discord.

"Oh, wake up princess!" Rain yelled, "The only reason Discord came back to our side, was because Tirek took all his power away and he had no choice but to go back to pretending to be our friend - and yes, that's all it is, is an act!"

"How do you know? You've never met him before!" Twilight yelled at him and to her surprise, Rain started to laugh.

"Shining never told you about the invasion of Canterlot, when Discord and Tirek attacked, did he?" he asked Twilight. Though her brother had indeed mentioned he had fought Tirek and Discord at Canterlot that day, he hadn't seemed too keen on going into detail about it. "I'll tell you what happened," Rain said to Twilight, "I was making my way back from my old room at Canterlot Palace - seeing if there was anything there I could use to help try to fend off those two when I hear a commotion outside. I'm thinking to myself, 'shit, it's go time', and I head out across the bridge just in time to see Tirek and Discord standing over Shining and a few of his soldiers, laughing it up. Tirek then turns to me and asks, 'Who’s this whelp?', you're buddy over there -" Rain gestured toward Discord who looked around nervously, clearly uncomfortable with where the story was headed. "- says to him, 'Oh, he's nopony, he doesn't even have any magic!', which I take about as well as you'd expect," Rain said as he went on to recall the brief fight with the two villains.

"They beat you. So, what?" Twilight asked irritably.

"But they didn't stop there," Rain said, "After Tirek beat the shit out of me, he picks me up - keep in mind by now, he's absorbed enough magic to grow big enough to where his hand is as big as my whole torso and waist so, he holds me in his fist and tries to suck any magic out of me that he can, and to absolutely no one's shock, he gets nothing out of me. I then tell him to go fuck himself and he notices Shining trying to get to me. He has his little lapdog hold your brother down and makes him watch, as, with one squeeze of his fist he crushes me!" Rain shouted at Twilight. "I don't mean he just breaks my bones either, I mean I get a mouth full of my own guts - well, the ones that don't go flying out the other end - and then he flings me over the bridge, and that should have been the end of me," Rain said, his voice shaking with anger, "I don't remember how I survived - let alone got patched up from...that, but what I do remember is the look of heartbreak on my best friend's face as someone he trusted forced him to watch his best friend die in about the worst way you can!" Rain shouted as he turned to face Discord.

"W-well, you see, I -!" Discord attempted to speak but was cut off by Rainstorm as he erupted into another tirade, this time directed directly at the god of chaos.

"Do you know what that's like!? To watch someone you call a brother as they desperately try to help you and you both know that there's no hope, that you're both going to die and the only one who can save you - the one person who you trusted to prevent it from coming down to that, to begin with - is the one responsible for making it all possible in the first place? Do you!?" he asked Discord furiously. Discord was about to try to speak again, when Rain continued, "And yes, Shining did trust you, he swore up and down that he had faith in you, that you would stop Tirek and save us all, because he believed that you were a 'true friend', and now he gets to live with that for the rest of his life, just like how I get to live with the memory of that pain and the taste of all of my bodily fluids in my mouth, thanks to you!" He shouted at Discord.

"If that were true, you wouldn't be here right now!" Twilight shouted at Rain, "I've never heard of any magic that can heal damage on that scale, and no pony has ever once told me about this so, where's your proof!?" Twilight demanded.

"Sorry, Your Highness, I forgot to take pictures while I was busy going into shock," Rain spouted off at her, "But trust me, every bit of it happened!"

"Trust you!?" Twilight shouted, almost laughing herself now, "According to this, you attacked your own mercenary guild - which is why they threw you out - and tortured the leader of the raiders at Fort Jagged to death! Sorry, but nothing anypony could ever do could ever justify torture and you clearly have no issues about betraying your allies so, why should I trust anything you have to say!?"

"And you're the poster child for 'trust' and reliability now!? Don't make me laugh!" Rain scoffed at Twilight as the storm clouds that had been gathered throughout the day finally filled the sky enough for the weather team to begin the first of the day's scheduled storms as the first few raindrops started to fall.

"What makes you say that!?" Twilight yelled at Rainstorm.

"Oh, gee, I don't know..." he snapped at her sarcastically as he pointed to his balaclava.

"Ha!" Twilight laughed in disbelief, "That's it? A few minor potion burns that faded away ages ago? Burns that would have never happened if 'mister I'm-so-good-at-witchcraft-that-I-can-create-a-familiar-all-by-my-self', hadn't been so desperate to try to show me up, that he risked everypony's life just to prove a point - before the exam was even due to start I might add! Then you went and broke Celestia's heart by running away instead of just admitting that you couldn't do it yourself and that you should have just waited for me to get there and do it together!" Twilight snapped, she then noticed the look in Rainstorm's eyes and for a brief second, felt a deep pang of primal fear. Rain looked as though he was about to leap at Twilight and strangle the life out of her, and Discord could swear he felt a tingle run down his spine as if a sudden flux of magic had occurred, though he couldn't tell from where it was coming from, it felt vaguely familiar. Rain glared at Twilight for a solid minute before responding.

"A few 'minor burns'? That's what you call this?" his voice was a quiet, terrifying rumble, but only for a few moments before he erupted louder than ever as he tossed his hat aside, "Here's what the Princess of Friendship calls 'a few minor burns'! Come take a look everyone!" he shouted as he pulled off his balaclava. Twilight had to force herself not to scream, but several onlookers did as he slowly turned around so everybody there could get a good look at his face, "Take a look everyone! This happened because Twilight thought a better use of her time than helping me out after she promised she would, was to read a fucking book!" he proclaimed. Everything on his face below the tip of his nose, all the way down to his throat and his collarbone, was hideously disfigured. The pale flesh looked as if it had liquefied, bubbled, then re-solidified, leaving numerous pockmarks and divots all over. His mouth was little more than a gash, his chin seemed misshapen, and his right cheek was vagally transparent, allowing one to just barely make out the teeth within his mouth. Even the flesh around his left external jugular vein seemed to have molded itself around the blood vessel in such a way, that one could easily insert a finger behind it and out the other side.

"Still think this is 'minor'!?" he snarled at her before turning around to see Discord had vanished. Rain let out an angry howl and stormed off to the castle, not having even noticed the stunned expression on Twilight's face.

"Alright, alright, break it up - show's over!" Boris shouted at the onlookers and they began disbanding. He then turned to growl at Twilight, "Ya two just can't help yarselves, can ya? Neither of ya can think ahead for five seconds before openin' yar mouths, huh?" he whispered angrily to Twilight, before heading off to the castle.

"Twilight!" Lyra called out to Twilight, having finally gotten through the crowd, "I... I knew about the exam, and that he got hurt, but...that badly?" she asked Twilight, who shook her head no.

"I... I was never told it was that bad... I always thought he just received minor injuries..." she replied in a hushed tone.

"Is what he said true? Did you skip out on the potion exam over a book?" Lyra asked in disbelief.

"A teacher handed me a new book that I'd been waiting for, for more than a month, a whole week before it was supposed to come out. He let me use an empty classroom and said that the test had been moved back by an hour so, I had plenty of time to read it and make it to the exam..." Twilight said as tears started to fall from her eyes. She then teleported away before Lyra could stop her.

"I'll go get her," Spike said, "I know exactly where she'd go at a time like this."

"I'll go with you sweet-pea, "Jasper said as the two of them headed off, "You head back to the castle, Dash!" he shouted back at RD.

"I was headed that way anyway!" she called back before speeding off, grabbing Rain's hat along the way.

"...We sure picked a heck of a time to visit..." Gabby said to Gilda, neither of whom had been any more prepared for the day's events than anyone else there.

Chapter 7: Finished

Chapter 8: What We Believe Vs. The Truth

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Ponyville, April 23rd, year 2, Reformation era, 1:45 PM -

The rain fell hard on Twilight as she sat curled up, her face mostly buried in her knees save for her eyes as she overlooked a large, jagged hole in the ground near the middle of town. The hole was something of a mini-ecosystem unto itself, with some cattails, various small insects, a few frogs, and even some moss growing here and there. "I thought we'd find you here," said Spike as he and Jasper walked up to her. She merely continued to sit there, staring at the watering hole as the rain continued to soak her.

"Where even is here?" Jasper asked Spike in a hushed tone.

"This is where the Golden Oak library used to be," Spike answered, "This hole and that tree root chandelier back at the castle are all that's left of it. It was...our home back when we first moved to Ponyville... Twilight likes to come here whenever she's feeling sad," he explained before sitting down next to Twilight.

"...I need your advice on something, guys..." Twilight asked Jasper and Spike, "...Do... Do you think he's telling the truth about what happened with Discord and Tirek?..." she asked, all the while still staring at the watering hole. Spike shrugged his shoulders, but Jasper folded his arms, thinking for a moment, then responded.

"Well, from what I've seen he's not perfect," Jasper said to Twilight, "In fact, the first thing that pops into my head whenever I think of him is 'hot-mess', but even so, I doubt he's the type that would lie about something like that. That doesn't necessarily mean it happened, mind you - or at the very least, it may not have happened in quite the way he recalls, but I don't think he would just make up something like this." By now, Fluttershy, Mángdán, Gabby, and Gilda had arrived to check on Twilight, who lifted her head to the sky, then spoke aloud.

"Discord!" she shouted into the air, "I know you can hear me Discord! I need to talk to you, please!?"

"Alright, alright. You don't have to yell," said a very low, squeaky voice from somewhere near Fluttershy. From behind her hair, walked out the god of chaos - only standing an inch tall at the moment - onto her shoulder. With a snap of his fingers, he disappeared from Fluttershy's shoulder and instantly reappeared at normal size, just a few feet behind Twilight.

"Discord..." Twilight said as she turned around just enough to look him in the eyes, "Is any of what Rain said true?" she asked him. He stood there, quietly for a while before responding.

"...Tirek said that nopony would get hurt. He just wanted Equestria's magic for himself and then he'd return to his kingdom, leaving me in charge of Equestria. At the time, I thought I could prove to be a far superior leader than Celestia or Luna either one," Discord said, much to Twilight's frustration.

"Discord, please!?" she begged him angrily, and with a sigh and a somber expression, he relented.

"I'd been keeping an eye on him the whole time, making sure he didn't do any permanent harm to anypony - after all, that had been the only stipulation in our agreement, but when Rainstorm spat in his face -" Twilight, realizing where Discord was going with his story, let out a sorrowful groan and buried her face in her hands as he continued, "- he must have wanted to make an example of him so... Well, in my defense I was just as shocked and appalled as Shining when Tirek crushed him," Discord finished.

"Somehow, I highly doubt that," hissed an angry-looking Jasper.

"It's true! If I'd known Tirek would have done such a thing, I would have dealt with him long before then!" Discord said defensively. Twilight stood up, tears streaming down her face as they mingled with the rain, looking as if she wanted to punch Discord square in the jaw.

"What on Gimlé possessed you to think for even a second that Tirek could be trusted or that you'd be able to rule Equestria better than Celestia and Luna? Why try to take over the country again?" Twilight asked, her voice shaking as she did so.

"The same reason I took over Equestria a thousand years ago," Discord replied, "To get revenge...and create a world without death," he said with a sad look in his eyes. This took Twilight and everyone else there completely by surprise.

"Revenge...and a world without death?..." Twilight asked. Discord nodded and explained.

"Celestia, Luna, and I are gifted with a spark of divinity. Though it's just a spark, it makes it all but impossible for us to get sick, makes us immune from possession, thirst, hunger, even aging, but there are downsides to it. We can't have children, we have to always be wary of losing control of our magic - even more than most ponies, we still need to sleep, and worst of all, because we are among the few with this...gift... We're fated to lose virtually everypony we will ever love or care for..." Discord said, the sadness audible in his voice. "I'd lost the closest thing to a mother I'd ever known, Celestia and Luna lost their friends in the Crystal Empire to Sombra's hex, and then..." then, Discord's voice trailed off, and though Twilight couldn't be sure between the rain and her own tears, she thought his own eyes were starting to tear up, "Then we lost Starswirl..." he said, sounding more lost and hurt than either Twilight, Spike or Fluttershy had ever heard him.

"Starswirl the Bearded?" Twilight asked, thinking of her childhood idol from history class. Discord nodded and continued.

"He left one day with the other Pillars of Equestria - the ponies who protected the land before any of you. He left with them, and...none of them ever came back... We tried sensing their auras, but we couldn't detect them. I tried snapping them to us, and when that didn't work... We knew..." Discord said as he shut his eyes tight from the pain of the memory. "As powerful as I am, even I can't just bring the dead back to life whenever I want... But, I thought maybe, just maybe, if I used all of my power, I could stop anypony else from ever dying again. But Celestia and Luna wouldn't hear of it... No matter who we lost, or how much pain everypony went through, they refused to even entertain the idea..." he said.

"So, you took Equestria by force, to teach them a lesson. But, then why take out your anger on the rest of the country? Why twist the world the way you did?" Jasper asked.

"That's Discord's toll," Fluttershy said, "Whenever anypony uses magic they have to pay some kind of toll. Usually, it's something like stamina, life-force, or some other energy source, but in Discord's case, the more he uses his powers, the more his sanity is taxed and it becomes harder and harder for him to think rationally. After enough downtime, his mind regains its stability, but if he uses too much magic or warps too much of reality too quickly, he can go insane like he did when he took over Equestria a thousand years ago. It's even possible that if he pushes it for too long, his mind could be completely destroyed outright," Fluttershy explained.

"That's why Celestia doesn't want him getting into any fights if at all possible," Gilda surmised, to which Fluttershy turned to her and nodded in confirmation.

"I already know what a magic toll is!" Twilight snapped before Discord continued.

"At the time I thought everypony was having fun along with me. I was already too out of it to realize I was hurting anypony," Discord explained, "When I broke free of my stony imprisonment, it still hadn't crossed my mind that during my mental state back then, that I'd been doing more harm than good, and admittedly, I didn't really care at the time. I was so sure that Luna and Celestia had imprisoned me out of jealousy that I was completely consumed by a desire for vengeance. A desire that after Celestia willingly released me when she asked Fluttershy to try to reform me, I only tried to quell when she agreed to be my friend, but I failed," he said solemnly. "I couldn't let go of my pride or my dream of a world without death, so I convinced myself that Celestia had only set me free to use my power when she deemed it necessary. I still hadn't realized at that point that overuse of my magic had the effect on me that it does, and a part of me hated her, along with all of you - except for Fluttershy, of course - because I felt you were hypocrites, who would rather let your own people die than admit that I should be the one in charge. It wasn't until I saw Tirek do what he did to Rainstorm, and then saw Twilight willingly sacrifice everything - potentially even her own life - to save me as well, that I endeavored to reassess myself and accept the fact that I may have been...wrong," Discord admitted, having had to force himself to say the last word.

"Even if you really believed that you'd be making Equestria better by taking over, how could you think that not only taking away everypony’s magic but giving it to somepony else, could ever be a good idea!?" Twilight asked, nearly in hysterics.

"I thought that even with all of Equestria's magic, Tirek would still be no match for me. I had no idea that he'd ever be able to steal mine as well," Discord said.

"He was infamous for being able to absorb almost any known magic and use it to make his own stronger! Didn't Celestia explain that to you!?" Twilight shouted.

"I thought my powers made me invincible, and that I'd be immune to his," Discord replied, "I never thought he could actually steal all of my magic."

"That's the whole problem with you," Twilight yelled, "You're so arrogant and shortsighted, that even with all of your powers, this still happens to you! You think nothing can ever touch you, and it always comes back to bite you in the ass! It happened when you fought Celestia and Luna, it happened when you fought us, it happened when you sided with Tirek, and it happened when you poofed yourself, Trixie, Starlight, and Thorax over to the Changeling hive! One of these days, you're going to overestimate yourself and it's going to get everypony killed!" she screeched at the top of her lungs before storming off towards the castle. Discord tried to call out to her but fell deftly silent when she turned around and shot him a cold, furious look, before continuing on her way with Spike and Jasper chasing after her. Discord stood there in the rain, a sad, defeated look on his face, as Fluttershy went over to talk to him.

"Discord?..." she asked him, not sure what to say to him. Without even looking at her, Discord slowly opened his mouth and spoke.

"I was trying to say that I was the one who patched Rainstorm up after Tirek threw him off that bridge. As soon as he was out of sight of Tirek, I used my magic to fix him up as best as I could and made sure he landed safely." Before Fluttershy could respond, Discord vanished with a flash of light into thin air.

Rain sat on the floor of his room with his back to his bed and having just wolfed down his breakfast, more out of frustration than actual hunger. He stared at the sky, watching the rainfall and generally doing his best not to think about anything at all, and feeling emotionally drained as he wished he were anywhere else in the whole world than in the same town as Twilight. Part of him realized that from the way she'd gone on, and from how she'd reacted to his facial scars, she truly hadn't known the extent of the damage he'd sustained as a result of the accident all those years ago, but another part of him just wouldn't allow him to admit it to himself. He was too angry and embarrassed at himself for his very public outburst to will himself to let go of it. Suddenly, he heard a tapping at the window, which brought him back to reality and he walked over towards it to see what the source of the noise was. "Let me in!" said a sopping wet Huginn, to which Rainstorm acquiesced and opened the window, allowing the familiar to take shelter from the weather outside.

"I saw you and Twilight get into it. What happened this time?" Huginn asked before shaking the water off his body.

"Discord happened," Rain answered.

"Damn it all..." Huginn swore as he shook his head.

"Hey..." said a voice from just outside the window Rain had opened, "You forgot this," said Rainbow Dash as she poked her head through the window and presented Rainstorm's hat to him. He slowly made his way back to the window and took his hat back, then stared at Rainbow for a minute as he shook the water from the waterproof garment, leaving it quite dry.

"*sigh* I suppose you'd like to come in from the weather, wouldn't you?" he somberly asked her.

"I mean, I could go somewhere else if it's too much trouble, but..." RD's voice trailed off hopefully. Rain sighed again and motioned for her to come inside. She happily flew in, hovering in the air before realizing she was dripping water everywhere, "Oops, sorry. I bet I could dry off using m- !"

"You are not using your 'Patented Rainblow Dry' in my room!" Rain said, cutting her off. "I'll go get you a towel," he said as he headed off for his bathroom, "Wait there, and don't break anything." He returned a few seconds later with a large, white bath towel, and handed it to Dash, who eagerly took it and began drying herself off with it as he sat back down on the floor with his back against his bed.

"How did you know what I was gonna say?" Rainbow asked, curious as to how Rain could know about a joke she'd only made once or twice around a couple of friends.

"You're just that predictable," Rain said, hand waving the question away and going back to staring at the sky through the window. Rainbow Dash didn't quite buy it but decided it wasn't worth getting sidetracked from the real reason she was there.

"So...you ok?" she asked awkwardly.

"What do you think, blue-fast?" he replied hotly, a hint of anger still visible in his eyes. Thinking quickly, RD opted to change the subject for the time being and ask him something else to try to get his mind off the fight.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? - Not related to Twilight, or any wars you've been in, I mean!" Rainbow quickly added upon seeing the look on Rain's face. Rain thought for a moment and thought it might be a nice opportunity to get his mind off his troubles. With a sigh, he replied.

"Fine, but no Twilight, no Fort Jagged, no Brick Orchard Conflicts, and no questions about where I come from, got it?" he asked irritably to which Rainbow Dash nodded her head excitedly before thinking of what to ask him first. After a few seconds, she decided what her first question should be.

"You mind if I ask you about your eyes?" Dash asked, "They look awesome!"

"Already pushing it..." Rain thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. He thought about just throwing her out then and there, but figured that she wasn't really trying to go against the terms they'd just agreed to, even giving him the option to decline so, why not just answer her. "*sigh* When I first came here - to Equestria I mean - I was in bad shape. I actually appeared in the skies above Canterlot during a freak rainstorm in the middle of the night, I would have ended up street-pizza if Celestia hadn't been on her way back from a diplomatic outing at the time, and caught me before I hit the ground. She was able to heal a lot of the damage done to me, but couldn't stop my vision from deteriorating, so she took me to Meadowbrook's Mercy hospital and had them perform a super-advanced medical procedure on me developed by a unicorn named Heycart from way back in the day. The way my eyes are now is the result of the procedure being a success," Rain explained.

"Twi- Err... I've heard that name before," RD said, trying not to mention Twilight's name out of concern it could upset Rainstorm all over again.

"I said I didn't want to talk about Twilight, not that I would feed you to Gummy if you dared to speak her name in my presence ever again," Rain reassured Rainbow, who chuckled at the statement, "Heycart was a genius, centuries ahead of his time, and developed what came to be known as The Three Heycart Achievements. The Heycart Method, for rapidly and permanently obtaining knowledge, the Heycart Enchantments, to allow any unicorn casting them on themselves to become a one-man assault team, and the Heycart Procedure, for giving an individual 'ultimate eyesight'."

"'Ultimate eyesight'?" asked RD, to which Rain nodded.

"Eyesight that could surpass even that of a pegasus. I can see just as ‘bout as well as any pegasus, I can see just as well in near-zero percent lighting conditions as I can in broad daylight, and when I focus hard enough, I can even see a little into the ultraviolet spectrum. Combined with my eidetic memory, it's been a Hell of a combo."

"Wow," said Rainbow Dash, "How much does it cost? I already have really good eyesight, but the other stuff sounds like it would really come in handy during missions with the Wonderbolts," she explained.

"Insanely high," Rain answered, "Besides, the risk is too great. There's only been a handful of people that have received the surgery, and out of them, only two or three actually got the enhanced vision out of it. Basically, what it does is use your existing eyes as a framework to build a completely new set of eyes from, and in the process, it also modifies the structure of your brain and even alters your DNA. In short, there's a whole lot that can - and normally does - go wrong with it, resulting in a ninety-seven percent failure rate, and with this, if you don't walk away with a brand-new set of working eyes, you don't walk away with any kind of eyesight. Throw in the fact that it makes getting an eye transplant impossible because of the alterations to your brain, as well as the fact it has the potential to leave you sterile thanks to it making changes to your genetics, and you can understand why almost no one ever takes a gamble on it. If it weren't for the fact that by essentially replacing your eyes completely as long as it's used on someone with a pair that still has some sight left in them, I doubt Celestia would have even risked it."

"Damn..." Rainbow said, "Then why not just get an eye transplant or something?"

"Because at the time, the portal to Terra was closed, and even though there are usually some eyes donated to Meadowbrooks that they keep on ice, I'm too different to try to even risk transplanting any organs or blood from anyone on this planet into," Rain explained. Rainbow sat there, deep in thought before asking another question.

"Where'd you get that artifact?" she asked him.

"You mean the Ashcaster? I was with an explorer for a while, and she gave it to me as a gift. We didn't last very long, but I hung onto it because of how damn useful it is," replied Rain as he looked over the bronze-colored contraption fastened to his arm.

"How about the dracana swords?"

"A friend of mine made them for me a long time ago," Rain answered. They continued to talk a little bit more, Rain talking about a few of his more minor bounties and other such jobs, Rainbow, about various missions she'd flown with the Wonderbolts. As they continued chatting, Twilight paced back and forth in her room, repeatedly going over the information in her head , as Spike and Jasper watched.

"Hun, you're going to wear a hole in the floor if you keep that up," Jasper advised her, but she hadn't seemed to notice as she continued to pace. Finally, she stopped to look up at the two of them, as if only having just realized their presence and spoke.

"Spike, take a letter," she said to the young dragon, "Jasper, would you mind giving us a moment, please?" she asked the soldier.

"Sure..." he replied with a hint of concern in his voice, "Mind if I ask who you're writing to?"

"Princess Celestia. I have a few questions about Rainstorm. As well as this mercenary guild he's involved with," she answered.

"Oh, are you still on about that?" Jasper asked dismissively, "I doubt the princess could tell you anything about these Knight- whatever's. Instead, you should focus on patching things up with Rainstorm." Twilight groaned in frustration at Jasper's advice before responding.

"I can't think about that until I know more about Rain and I don't think he's in the mood to talk to me - or anypony else right now," she explained. Jasper shook his head and left the room. After walking for a bit, he decided to head towards the kitchen to grab something to drink when he bumped into Boris, near the map room.

"Oh, sorry about that, sir," he apologized with a salute, which Boris returned before Jasper leaned in and whispered to him, "I think we might have some trouble."

"Ya mean more?" Boris asked in a hushed voice, "What is it this time?"

"Twilight's writing to Celestia right now. Asking her for more info on Rainstorm," Jasper quietly informed him.

"I fail ta see the problem here. She might actually be able ta straighten this mess out," Boris reasoned.

"She's asking about his involvement with the Knightreavers," Jasper explained.

"That...could be problematic..." Boris whispered, "No way Celestia would spill the beans herself, but if Twilight starts askin' too many questions, it could ruin the whole damn op!"

"How should we proceed, sir?" Jasper asked.

"For now, all we can do is play it by ear," Boris said, "Anythin' more at the moment, and we risk blowin' it ourselves, but whatever it takes, we can't let Twilight or anyone else find out the truth about this mission."

"I'm starting to think we may need some more help on this," Jasper remarked.

"That's why I've assigned Stone Cold ta help with security. Should be here in a few days," Boris informed Jasper.

"Agent Stone Cold from Shadow Echelon?" Jasper asked, "Things are so bad that you've called in Luna's High Executioner?"

"No, not yet," Boris responded, "And that's exactly why I've called him in - ta keep it that way."

"On the bright side, we've finished bugging the rest of the elements’ homes and workplaces, so we can keep an eye on them and make sure they don't go sticking their noses where they shouldn't," Jasper informed Boris.

"Good. I'll report back ta Celestia so she has time ta think of something ta tell Twilight ta keep her and the others off the trail and in line," Boris said. With that, the two went their separate ways, unaware Trixie had been pressed up against the door to the map room, listening intently to the whole conversation. Once she was sure no one was there, she slowly crept out from the map room, her mind buzzing with what she'd just heard.

"Bugging the places we go without telling us, not wanting Twilight to ask about these Knightreavers - whoever they are - that are involved with Rain somehow, and calling in some kind of executioner!? What in the Hell are they up to!?" Trixie thought to herself and rushed to go tell someone what she'd overheard, but stopped dead in her tracks as she mulled it over in her head. Who could she tell? If the task force Rain was in charge of was acting on his orders, then she'd just be signing her own death warrant by letting him know what she'd found out. She wasn't sure Twilight or the others would believe her after the things she'd done to them in the past, and with task force members almost always with them, as well as the bugs planted who knows where, how could she tell Starlight without them knowing? She was trapped. "Well then, I'll just have to figure out how to tackle this myself," she decided, "Somehow..."

Later that evening Twilight was lying on her bed alone in her room, staring up at the ceiling, when there was a brilliant, albeit momentary, flash of light. She sat bolt upright and saw none other than Princess Celestia herself, standing in the middle of the room, a troubled expression on her face. "Twilight, you needed to speak to me about Rainstorm?" she asked, an unmistakable hint of worry in the tone of her voice.

"Yes, Celestia..." Twilight said as she got off her bed and stood across from the Princess of the Sun, trying to decide where to start. "Celestia...I saw Rain's face..." she said after a minute. A deafening silence fell over the bedroom as Twilight's words echoed within Celestia's head.

"I see..." Celestia sighed as she sat down in a nearby desk chair, resting her elbows on her knees and clasping her fingers together with a serious look on her face.

"'I see'?" Twilight repeated her former mentor's words out loud as if she wasn't quite sure she'd heard her correctly, "Is that really all you have to say?"

"What would you like me to say?" Celestia asked sadly.

"Let's start with, why?" Twilight asked while trying to keep her cool.

"You were young at the time. You had so much to deal with as it was, and you already felt bad enough about letting Rain get injured in the first place, that I was afraid of what learning the true extent of the damage done to Rainstorm would do to you," she explained to Twilight.

"Tell me everything that happened that day, in full detail - and don't withhold any details from me this time!" Twilight demanded.

"You remember Academia Electi?" Celestia asked.

"How could I forget!" Twilight said ecstatically, "He was Headstallion at your School for Gifted Unicorns, and always spoke so highly of me. I still can't believe he had somepony like Jet Set as a nephew." Celestia grimaced at these words - something which Twilight couldn't help but to take notice of, "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Academia Electi wasn't as nice a pony as you might remember. Yes, he never once failed to sing your praises - which might explain why Jet Set and his gang of friends would bully your brother and his friend, Spearhead so much. But, he was well known for having a...less than accepting view of non-unicorns. He was, of course, very respectful to me...most of the time, but he was quite furious when we started trying to integrate earkin and pegasi into the school," Celestia explained, "And he absolutely despised Rainstorm."

"I never knew that..." Twilight said.

"I feared you might confront him about it, and cause yourself undue hardship," Celestia told Twilight, "And both Rainstorm and Shining can tell you that making Academia Electi your enemy is a dangerous proposition. I doubt there was a single day where Rain didn't return to the castle from school without new cuts and bruises. He would always say 'he, Shining, and Spearhead had just been playing', but I knew..."

"Then, why didn't you put a stop to it?" Twilight asked.

"I tried, but even as a princess of Equestria, I don't have absolute authority. I can't just order ponies to do as I desire, based solely on my whims. Other than the physical marks on Rain and the others - which they always claimed were from roughhousing - and my own suspicions, I had no real proof. Without either Rain or the other's consent, or enough eyewitness accounts to force law enforcement to act, we couldn't have any clairvoyants read them to see where the abuse was coming from, and thanks to the influence the education system has over unicorns - especially in Canterlot - my hands were tied. If I'd tried to strongarm the E.E.A. to act, it could have been seen as an abuse of power and would have only caused more trouble for Rain and his friends, as well as you," Celestia explained.

"Didn't anypony see what was happening? Didn't anypony speak up?" Twilight asked sadly.

"Your family feared for you and Shining, so when he begged them to leave it be, your mother and father reluctantly agreed, though your uncle tried to get them to change their minds. Aside from them, Doctor Heartstrings' niece spoke up for them...but...it was around that time..." Celestia's voice trailed off.

"...That Lyra's father committed suicide..." Twilight finished Celestia's sentence for her.

"Between the scandal his death caused, and the emotional stress it caused poor Lyra at such a young age, she wasn't able to corroborate the stories at the time, and no pony would listen to her afterward. In the end, things like this happening meant there was simply never enough traction to get anything done about it," Celestia said frustrated.

"Then why send him there in the first place!? Why put him through all that!?" Twilight asked, her frustration building. Celestia was quiet for a long time as she thought of how to answer Twilight, then she finally spoke.

"One reason was to provide him with the best education available, naturally," she said, "But there was more to it than that - far more. The reason I've never formally adopted anypony is that the first thought that would pop into everypony's head is that they would automatically be the heir to the throne, something that would raise quite a stir, even if it was another pony from Equestria. Not only is Rainstorm obviously not a pony, but he's not even from Equestria or even our planet. Hell, he's not even from our own dimension so, to make any kind of move that would put a complete unknown in such a high position of power and importance - even theoretically - would not only call my decision making and objectivity as a leader into serious question but would also be no different than ordering Rain's execution," she explained.

"Ok, but what does that have to do with anything?" Twilight asked.

"It was my hope that if I put Rainstorm in such a public position to prove his value to society as an Equestrian citizen, while also giving him an opportunity to make as many friends as possible - particularly, friends in high places - that, in time, ponies would come to accept him as one of their own...at which point, no pony would even bat an eyelash if I were to formally adopt him then. Just so long as I made it clear he wasn't the recipient of any preferential treatment or in line for any position of power, I'd hoped that in time, I would finally be able to grant him the one thing he wanted most from me, but that I hadn't been able to grant him yet - to be his mother..." Celestia said sadly. "However, all that was ruined the day of the exam. The day of my worst failure as his caretaker."

"You didn't fail him," Twilight said, trying to comfort her, "He's the one who wouldn't wait for me. He's the one that couldn't wait two measly hours, and tried to brew that potion all on his own!"

"You don't understand, Twilight!" Celestia sternly addressed the Princess of Friendship, "He wasn't trying to show you up... You remember Professor Flintsteel?"

"The Potions Master that used to give Rain such a hard time?" Twilight asked.

"He and Rainstorm had actually become rather close during Rain's time with him after class at remedial potions. In fact, once they'd come to an understanding, Rain's skills with potions began to improve rapidly, which Flintsteel took no small amount of pride in. In time, Flintsteel said that Rain had the potential to be the finest witch that the school had ever produced," Celestia informed her.

"Professor Flintsteel said that? About Rainstorm? I honestly had no idea," Twilight said, surprised, "I remember he was so hard on everypony - even me - but I always remember how he was the hardest on Rain. I had no idea he was even capable of giving praise."

"I have to admit, I was quite shocked by hearing him give Rain such praise myself," Celestia said with a warm smile, before her face took on an even more dyer expression than before, "Sadly, not everypony was pleased by the prospect of somepony like Rain excelling at the school."

"What happened?" Twilight asked. Celestia fell quiet for a long time, struggling to will herself to say the words she needed to, to Twilight.

"Twilight...that teacher that handed you the early copy of that book lied. The potions exam wasn't moved back by an hour, it was moved ahead by an hour..." Celestia said glumly. At first, the words simply seemed to linger in Twilight's mind, not yet sinking in, but slowly, the weight of the revelation began to hit her as her eyes widened and she covered her mouth in shock.

"So...while I was reading that book... Rainstorm was left to take the test all by himself..." Twilight said, her voice slightly trembling. Celestia sighed and nodded yes before continuing.

"To make matters worse, the school administrators decided at a meeting that Professor Flintsteel had been neglecting his other duties by 'pretending' to help Rain improve and that he should be let go for it. Both he and Rain protested - as did I - so, Academia Electi gave us a proposal. If Rainstorm could prove that Flintsteel wasn't lying and had, in fact, been helping Rain improve with his potions, that not only would the professor get to keep his job, with no further questions asked, but Rain would be granted full certification as a witchdoctor, and would formally graduate with top marks. That's when I suggested he be moved up to Advanced Potions," Celestia explained.

"That's why he ended up being my partner," Twilight said with a look of dawning comprehension on her face, "You'd already moved me up to Advanced Potions, but everypony taking the class needs a partner before they're allowed to participate."

"It seemed like such an obvious solution at the time," Celestia said as she rubbed her eyes, "The best student at my school - my personal apprentice, and shining star of the school, would be the absolute best partner possible for my little Rainy..."

"But I messed everything up, and all because I couldn't wait another week to read some stupid book!" Twilight said, closing her eyes tightly as she fought back tears.

"That wasn't the issue" Celestia assured her, "Though the two of you butted heads far more than I thought you would, the results were still as I'd hoped for. Between your talent and Rain's determination, I knew you two would rise to the top of the class in no-time flat - and you did. The error was on my part, as I was sure they wouldn't dare try to sabotage Rainstorm out of fear that they might impede you somehow in the process. I never considered they'd resort to something like that."

"They used my love of reading and my absolute trust in them to get me out of the way, so I wouldn't interfere or get in any trouble. They probably planned to use Professor Flintsteel as leverage to force Rain to attempt the potion on his own from the beginning!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Not quite," Celestia replied, "You may recall that the potion you had to brew for the test required constantly adjusting the heat of the potion while adding varying amounts of multiple different stabilizers to it. A challenge for a single unicorn able to move multiple objects with their mind at once, but for somepony without any form of telekinesis, almost impossible - at least, not with the equipment provided for the exam."

"I remember," said Twilight, "A draught of Fire Stopping. It temporarily pauses fire in its place - basically freezing it in time and allowing you to do all kinds of different things with it. However, it's extremely dangerous to produce," Twilight said, recalling how she and Rain had poured so much time into studying it for their exam.

"Correct. The truth is, I highly doubt that anypony expected him to try brewing it without you, but Rain has always been too stubborn for his own good. He was so scared that Flintsteel would lose his job, that out of desperation, he attempted to brew the potion anyway, and considering the alchemic reaction, he must have been close to succeeding. I doubt even Academia Electi, as foul a pony as he is, would have willingly risked his student's lives - or, at least, not the lives of his unicorn students anyway, but he underestimated Rain," Celestia explained to Twilight.

"That's right..." Twilight said as she remembered more and more details about how the compound worked, "The closer you get to successfully brewing it, the more unstable it becomes until its completion," Twilight said as Celestia nodded in confirmation.

"He must have been very close to successfully brewing it for such a terrible reaction to have occurred," Celestia said before carrying on. "Miraculously, no pony inhaled any of it when it vaporized, otherwise it would have proven fatal, though, a few other students nearby made brief contact with the cloud of chemicals before Flintsteel could neutralize it with his magic, resulting in a few minor injuries. Rain, however, got the full blast of it, and...well, you've seen the results for yourself," Celestia finished. Twilight quietly stared down at the ground for a brief moment before replying to Celestia.

"...And because it happened on Flintsteel's watch, Rain blamed himself and ran away..." Twilight said glumly.

"I'm afraid it wasn't quite as straightforward as that," Celestia responded to her, "Originally, the school had every intention of pressing charges against Rain, claiming that it was a deliberate attack against the other students. However, after hours of begging and pleading from Professor Flintsteel, the school finally agreed that he was primarily responsible for the incident, and instead of having Rain arrested for several counts of attempted murder, settled for expelling him from the school, as well as sacking the professor himself on the spot."

"But, I thought he retired!" interjected a shocked Twilight, "He was only a few days from retiring, wasn't he!?"

"Four days... Four more days, and he would have been able to collect his pension..." Celestia explained, "Word quickly spread about this and as a result, Flintsteel was essentially blacklisted from the education system, while many were led to believe that Rain had severe violent tendencies, turning him into a social pariah overnight. He likely fled Canterlot partially out of guilt for having cost one of his few friends from that school his retirement, and partially to try to separate himself from me as much as possible in the eyes of the public," Celestia reasoned.

"He was protecting you..." Twilight said aloud. "But, how about this Knightreavers guild? Some ponies say they're a rogue guild and that he's one of them, while others say they're heroes and were betrayed by him. Just who are they, and what's Rain's connection to them?" she asked Celestia, who sat there quietly for a moment before standing up.

"With all due respect, I'm afraid it's none of your business," she answered rather matter-of-factly, "What happened between Rain and the Knightreavers is his personal business, and it wouldn't be right for me to go into details about it without his permission." Twilight opened her mouth to object, but was silenced by Celestia holding up a finger, "I can tell you this, however. Though they may in fact be walking down a dark path, the Knightreavers have not broken any laws as far as anypony knows. However, a group of them did, in fact, cross a line that forced Rain and a fellow Knightreaver to take action against the group. After which Rain left the guild in protest of their actions, and they, in turn, declared him an outcast and cut all ties with him," Celestia explained. "Yes, Rain can be ruthless, but not without good reasons, and he would sooner die, than allow an innocent to be harmed - even one who he's not all that fond of," Celestia said with a wink.

"But he tortured that bandit leader at Fort -!" Twilight stopped mid sentence when, for an instant, the look in Celestia's eyes went from warm and loving, to enraged, before going back to normal. Celestia realized this and took a moment to calm herself down before responding.

"...I'm not going to pretend that what Rain did was right, but..." her voice trailed off for a moment before she sternly looked Twilight square in the eye and continued. "Wrong as it may have been, there were extenuating circumstances at play when he did what he did. If you want to learn more about why he did what he did, then you need to ask him yourself, and if he declines, you will have to respect his wishes. Now, I'm going to go have a word with him about all this." With that, Celestia turned on her heels and exited Twilight's room. She had only been walking down the hall for a short while when she came across Rainbow Dash.

"Princess Celestia!" she exclaimed as she stood in attention, "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was just chatting with Twilight. Have you seen Rainstorm anywhere?" she asked RD.

"You just missed him," Rainbow answered, "He left to go talk with somepony about getting more soldiers for the new guard towers."

"The what now?" Celestia asked, the confusion clear in her voice.

"Nopony's told you yet? We decided to have some guard towers built around town to keep an eye on things," Rainbow explained.

"You don't say..." Celestia said nervously, though Dash failed to pick up on it.

"Hey! I bet you could not only get the bureaucrats to send more soldiers here, but sweet talk the mayor into signing off on the towers too!" Rainbow suggested excitedly.

"Oh, no-no-no-no-no!" Celestia said with a nervous expression on her face, "I mean, I'm sure Twilight is more than capable of persuading Mayor Mare to okay the towers! I hardly see why you'd need me of all ponies to convince her! Gee, look at the time, I must be off. After all, I can't talk to Rainstorm if he's off who-knows-where!" and with that, Celestia walked off at a brisk pace down the hall.

"...Did...I miss something?..." Rainbow Dash asked herself out loud. As Celestia made her way to the castle's exit, she couldn't help cursing her terrible luck. Shit, shit, shit, shit! Celestia thought to herself. Getting more soldiers and supplies here is one thing, But Gray Mare won't budge on anything like that! Not without his go-ahead and Faust only knows what he'll ask from Rainy in exchange! she worried as she headed out the door to go look for Rainstorm, the rain itself having ceased for the moment.

*knock-knock-knock* Rain knocked on the door to Lyra and Bon Bon's house yet again. "Damn it. This is where everyone said I could find those two. Where the hell could they be?" he asked himself before he heard a noise behind him and turned to see none other than the two mares he'd been searching for.

"You needed to see us?" Lyra said with warm concern in her voice. Rain was about to respond when he noticed they were dripping wet.

"Forgot to bring our umbrellas," Bon Bon answered, "Now, quick, let me unlock the door so we can get inside before it rains -" Bon Bon was cut short by the sound of thunder followed almost instantly by what seemed like an unyielding wall of rain falling from the heavens, "- Again..." she finished with a defeated tone of voice. Feeling sorry for the two women, Rain moved aside to let Bon Bon unlock the door and all three of them entered. As soon as they closed the door behind them, Bon Bon turned on the lights and addressed Rain. "You need a towel or some- !" Bon Bon was surprised to see that Rain was completely dry. "Oh, yeah. Forgot about your clothes being waterproof," she said.

"I wish our clothes were waterproof," said Lyra. "Wait here while Bon Bon and I dry off and get some fresh clothes," she instructed Rainstorm as she motioned towards a recliner, and Rain did as he was told. A few minutes later Lyra and Bon Bon returned, electing to sit together on the sofa across from Rain, "So, what did you need to see us about?" Lyra asked.

"I need help with something - and, no - this has nothing to do with that little dispute I had with Twilight earlier!" Rain explained before Lyra could interject, "I'm on the clock and need a favor."

"How can we help?" Bon Bon asked.

"You can get ahold of your boss for me," Rain told her.

"Furlong?" Lyra asked in confusion, "Why do you need to speak with him?"

"Because we need some more manpower here. We're gonna try to get the mayor to greenlight some new guard towers here, but it means jack shit without bodies to put in those towers and food to put in those bodies. I was hoping he'd be able to pull some strings here and there - get some of the douchebags in the Senate to agree to it," he explained.

"Afraid that's easier said than done," said a familiar voice, which began to cough. The others lept at the sound, unaware of the intruder's presence beforehand.

"Fuck me up the ass, and call me Patricia! Why do you keep doing that, Furlong!?" demanded an alarmed Rainstorm, addressing the very individual he'd just been inquiring about.

"*cough-cough* That's a fine way to address the pony whose help you're after," Agent Furlong, who was sitting at a desk in the corner of the living room not too far from them, retorted nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry, sir, but he has a point!", Bon Bon shouted.

"Yeah, breaking into somepony's house without their permission - again I might add - and then scaring them is downright creepy!" Lyra scolded Furlong.

"My wife likes it when I drop in on her like this. I don't see what all the hubbub is," Furlong stated before taking a sip of tea from a cup he was holding, "I even made some hot tea for the three of you to warm yourselves up with," he said, pointing to three identical teacups on the table between the sofa and recliner.

"Yes, I see that... AND YOU USED MY TEA TO MAKE IT WITHOUT ASKING PERMISSION FIRST!!!" Bon Bon bellowed. Wait a minute... Rain thought to himself looking down at the tea on the table first, then back up to the cup in Furlong's hand, When we first sat down here, I'm almost sure there weren't any teacups there. What's more, I'm certain he wasn't holding anything when he first spoke up... Now that I think of it, I didn't notice anyone here with us. Did he teleport here without any noticeable aura flash? Even if he did, that wouldn't explain the tea though. Forget him placing it on the table. The kitchen's right across from the living room, Rain thought as he looked up into the kitchen and stared at the stove. The stove was in plain view of us, and I didn't notice a teakettle on any of the burners - let alone it having been used recently, and yet...

Sure enough, there was a teakettle on one of the oven's burners, still emitting the very faint sound of boiling water bubbling from within it. Rain wanted to question Furlong about the strange display but decided his time would be better spent staying on topic, "What do you mean by, 'easier said than done'?" Rain asked. Furlong looked up at Rain then at his two subordinates before letting out a sigh and responding.

"Because having that many extra prying eyes everywhere will make hiding my other agents here far more difficult," Furlong explained.

"Come again!?" asked Bon Bon.

"This whole town is a top-secret S.M.I.L.E. base and training facility," Furlong explained, "In fact, I'd say almost a third of the population either work with us in some capacity or are agents outright."

"And you never told me this because?..." Bon Bon asked, her left eye rapidly twitching the whole time.

"I figured that that had been the whole reason you moved here," Furlong replied.

"So, wait! You're saying that I never got away from S.M.I.L.E. in the first place!?" Bon Bon asked in exasperation.

"How do you think I found you so quickly and easily?" Furlong responded nonchalantly. After the stunning revelation, Bon Bon looked as though a part of her soul had died as she lay back into the sofa to sulk as Lyra patted her on her shoulder.

"So, I take it, Mayor Mare is in on it?" Rainstorm asked.

"Why do you think she always runs unopposed? She's the site overseer," replied Furlong. "With its close proximity to both Canterlot and the Everfree Forest - along with several anomalous areas and artifacts nearby - make this the ideal location to run experiments, train recruits, and serve as a vigil against potential attacks against the capital coming in from this direction."

"But why build a whole town for that? Why have civilians live here if you want to maintain any level of cover? And most of all, why the Hell do I need to be here in the first place when you chuckle-fucks are apparently crawling out of the woodwork in this town!?" Rain demanded.

"Well, in all fairness, this originally was just a civilian sector *cough-cough*. It wasn't until just a couple of decades ago we took over. Hell, the bulk of the first recruits stationed here were already living here. *cough-cough-cough* Turns out when you grow up in a town that's right next to a Dark Forest, it makes for excellent S.M.I.L.E. training," explained Furlong. "As for why you're here, local agents are stretched thin as it is right now. Animals and monsters all over Equestria have been acting up..." Furlong fell silent for a moment and tensed up before continuing, "...And more and more of our agents have been disappearing over the last several months..."

"Guess that explains why there've been more monster attacks here as of late," Rain surmised. "So, why not have 'Overseer Mare' okay the extra construction projects and then sweet-talk the politicians into sending more men and supplies down here? They'd be helping you guys out with security without your precious cover being blown."

"That's actually why I'm here," Furlong said with a sneer, "The only question is whether or not they'll be helping you?"

"*tch* I see how it is," Rain said, returning the sneer, "You're gonna increase security here anyway, but whether or not it will be on an official level - ie, free to help out with my op - or whether it will be more agents - whom I'm guessing won't be under my command - depends entirely on what I can do for you in exchange. Am I right?" he asked Furlong.

"As your namesake!" Furlong exclaimed before tossing what appeared to be a nearly three-inch-long, black USB stick at Rain, who caught it midair. "Go back to Twilight's castle and wait there, in a few hours a mutual friend of ours will arrive to get some help from one of your charges - and you are going to tag along no matter what anypony says, and without letting anypony know what your real objective is! Follow the instructions you're given for the mission and you'll eventually end up at a control console. *cough-cough* That puppy will let you know where to plug it in at, and that's all you have to do. Do that, and you'll have whatever you need for your operation. Deal?" Like I have a choice.” Rain thought to himself before responding.

"Deal!" Rain agreed before pulling down his balaclava to down his entire cup of tea at once before the other three could stop him. He then stood there, his mouth, throat, and stomach in considerable pain from the piping hot beverage.

"Idiot," Furlong said angrily as he took another sip of his tea, "I specifically said you had a few hours, yet you go and guzzle your tea like some kind of mannerless heathen - without even taking the time to enjoy the flavor I might add!"

"He has a point, my dude. You don't have much of a mouth or throat left as it is. Are you trying to hurt yourself?" Lyra asked Rain, who had just swallowed some health potion to erase the pain and heal any damage done. He then pulled his balaclava back up and headed out the door without another word. After his departure, Bon Bon turned her attention to Furlong.

"Sorry, but I don't understand, sir. Why hold the safety of the elements of harmony hostage just to have Rainstorm run some errand any agent could?" she asked sternly. Furlong sighed deeply, then answered her question.

"To save his life," he said, much to Lyra and Bon Bon's confusion.

Rain burst through the front door of the castle and ran straight for his room, practically leaping through the door and immediately looking through his equipment to see what he should bring with him.

"Tell me you're not quitting!" Huginn cawed at him.

"Not at all," Rainstorm informed the familiar, "But if we want those new towers and all the other shit we need, it will require a bit of a side job," he explained as he holstered a silenced sniper rifle on his back where he had once kept his shotgun. Great... Huginn thought to himself as Rain continued going through his supplies. While making preparations, Rainstorm explained to Huginn what had happened at Lyra and Bon Bon's, then the two waited for a bit before deciding to kill the remaining time by walking around the castle for a bit.

"Are you sure you're feeling up to this?" Huginn asked as he sat on Rain's shoulder.

"Yeah," answered Rain, "Still not back to one-hundred percent yet, but I'm feeling leagues better than I did this morning, so as long as I mind myself, I should be good." Finally, they walked past the hallway that led to the front door just in time to see a drenched Celestia throw open the door and enter, a less than thrilled expression on her face.

"Where in the world have you been, Rain!?" Celestia asked as she used magic to almost instantly dry herself. Rain was about to respond when someone called out from behind Celestia.

"Knowing that dumbass, he was probably just out enjoying the beautiful weather!", said the fiery haired individual with a smirk.

"Captain Spitfire?" asked a confused Celestia, "What are you doing here?"

"I need to borrow Rainbow Dash - Wonderbolt's business," Spitfire answered. Before anyone else could respond another interruption occurred.

"Absolutely not!" yelled Boris, who'd just arrived at the scene, Rainbow Dash and Jasper close behind.

"Major general Swinelee!" Spitfire said as she saluted Boris, "Sorry sir, it's an emergency."

"One that will have ta wait I'm 'fraid," Boris replied, "Miss Dash is on lockdown with the rest of the elements so, unless it's a friendship emergency or somethin', it'll have ta wait till we've put a stop ta the enemy - no exceptions," he explained.

"Shame," said Spitfire, causing Rainbow Dash to adopt a disappointed expression, "I was under the impression that she'd be free for Wonderbolt ops, and a friend of mine and Rainstorm's suggested I bring her for this mission," she said, looking at Rain as she spoke. I see...This must be what Furlong was referring to... Rain thought to himself as he opened his mouth to respond, only for Boris to interject. "Sorry, but my answer is final."

"With all due respect, sir, last time I checked, I was the one in charge of this op, and I say it's okay, but under one condition; I come with," Rain hotly stated. Celestia glared at Boris, who quickly responded.

"B-but, Rain, I -"

"Sorry, but my answer is final," Rain said with a smug look in his eyes, before pulling Boris closer to whisper something in his ear, "Look, I can't go into the details, but trust me, we have to do this if we want to upgrade the town's security," he explained, after which, Boris looked to Celestia for her response. She looked as if she was going to object at first, but just as she opened her mouth, a look of dawning comprehension came over her face, then she fell silent.

"*sigh* Normally, it would be best to keep Rainbow Dash here and out of trouble, but she's still a Wonderbolt, and thus, she has certain obligations. Furthermore, I've already thrown quite a bit of my weight around when it comes to resources for this whole mission so, anything that we can achieve without further coercion on my part can only help us at this point," Celestia explained.

"So, you'll let Cra- Er, Dash, and Rainstorm come with?" Spitfire asked, almost calling RD by her Wonderbolts moniker.

"Only if you agree to take another task force member with you," Celestia replied.

"Jasper!" Rainstorm exclaimed, prompting the soldier to nonchalantly shrug.

"I'm supposed to be watching Dashy anyway so, why not?" asked Jasper, "As long as that's okay with you, Boris?"

"*sigh* Sounds like a plan, I guess," Boris relented.

"Then it's settled," Spitfire said. "There's a transport outside waiting to take us to Wonderbolt HQ, and from there we'll head out. You three have fifteen minutes to get ready. Oh, and try to hurry it up before it starts raining again!"

"I just so happen to have everything I need already on me," Rain stated as he followed her out the front door.

"You don't say..." Spitfire retorted as the two started talking to one another on the way out.

"So, how's DeeDee?" Rain asked her.

"Haven't heard from my dear little sister in some time," Spitfire said, "I see you're still hanging onto that trinket she gave you," she added, pointing to the Ashcaster.

"Why in the hell would I part with it?" he asked, "The usefulness outweighs any hurt fee-fees,"

"I love my family, but that doesn't mean they can't be dumb-asses at times. I still think you were the best thing that ever happened to her," Spitfire said with a warm smile, which Rainstorm returned.

"Thanks, 'sis'." While Rain and Spitfire made their way to the transport, Rainbow Dash and Jasper had flown off to their rooms to grab a few things, leaving Celestia and Boris alone.

"I thought tha whole point of this op was ta -"

"I'll explain later," Celestia said, interrupting Boris, "Right now, Furlong may actually be doing us a favor."

"If they don't get killed in the process," Boris said worriedly, a sentiment Celestia clearly shared as evidence by the troubled look on her face.

Chapter 8: Finished

Chapter 9: Assault on Moss Mare Spire

Planet Earth, The National Republic of America, Outskirts of Area 10 (Badlands), July 19th, year 2053 AD, 11:32 AM -

"Oh, gee! I hope nobody finds me out here all by my lonesome!" shouted Dr. Mac Tíre at the top of his lungs as he dragged, what appeared to be a large, metal luggage case on wheels behind him as he walked past the shattered remains of what may have once been a pleasant suburban neighborhood, now reduced to ruins. Though Mac Tíre was still wearing his lab coat and glasses, he now wore battle armor underneath, keeping him safe from both the elements and potential enemy attack. "I sure am glad none of those stupid drones from the Silver Legion are around!" he shouted, "Guess that idiot Alexeev finally decided to give up and admit that, I, Dr. Gideon G. Mac Tíre, am the better scientist!" Just then, something leaped out of the window of a nearby house, landing with a loud, metallic thud. The humanoid creature slowly stood up, revealing itself to be a robot with what appeared to be an assault rifle for a right arm, it seemed to study Mac Tíre for a moment before taking aim at him with its weapon and firing. Mac Tíre barely had time to take cover behind his luggage case before being shot at, though, he merely smiled confidently. All according to plan... he thought smugly, even as the sound of ricocheting bullets intensified as the machine drew closer and closer.

Planet Gimlé, Equestrian Airspace (en route to the Trottacan Jungle), April 24th, year 2, Reformation era, 1:16 AM -

"Helloooooooo? Gimlé to Rainstorm? Are you in there?" Rainbow Dash asked Rain, who had been sitting across from her onboard the Wonderbolts' airship. Snapped out of his thoughts and brought back to reality, he looked around at Rainbow and the other Wonderbolts, all of whom were in their blue and yellow spandex, and fastening on sleek, dark-blue armor plating over top of it.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," Rain answered, "I was just thinking about something."

"Such as...?" Jasper inquired.

"Leave him be," Spitfire ordered as she holstered what appeared to be small, twin sub-machine guns, "I'm sure he's got a lot on his mind. That's all." It was true, a million thoughts had been running through his head during the flight to their destination. Why was he thinking about the past so much as of late? Who was it that was targeting the elements of harmony? What was the nature of the device Agent Furlong had given to him? Did it have something to do with his disappearing agents? And just what had Furlong been doing that allowed him to sneak into Lyra and Bon Bon's house?

It was then something Furlong had said forced its way to the forefront of his mind. Something that - in the grand scheme of things - seemed largely inconsequential, but nevertheless took him by surprise. "Hold up!" Rain shouted as he stood up, "Furlong has a wife!?" he exclaimed in shock. Before anyone else could react, Spitfire practically leaped at him, a look of confusion and shock vivid on her face.

"What do you mean 'Furlong has a wife!?" Spitfire demanded.

"He mentioned it earlier!" Rain explained.

"So that creepy guy has a wife, but I don't?" Spitfire sadly remarked, not noticing one of her fellow Wonderbolts - one with light-blue skin, a light-gray mane, and reddish-purple eyes - giving her an annoyed look. Let it go, Fleetfoot, let it go... she thought to herself angrily as the Wonderbolt sitting right next to her - a pegasus with pale, cornflower blue skin, a dark, grayish-blue mane, and emerald-green eyes - addressed Spitfire.

"Uhh... Sir?" he asked, "Who are you two talking about?"

"let's go over the mission one more time before we arrive," Spitfire said, completely ignoring the question and leaving the pegasus looking a bit confused.

"Let it go Soarin, let it go," Fleetfoot advised him before Spitfire continued.

"We've gotten word that an old military outpost has been taken over by bandits," explained Spitfire, "Old Moss Mare Spire was originally a combination wizard's tower and church built to honor a powerful nature spirit, but was abandoned several centuries ago. It then came back into use after the Evermourn plague as a research outpost to study the local flora and fauna but was abandoned yet again about half a year ago - for reasons that are still under investigation. A few months back, however, a large group of bandits took up residence there and have been using it as a command hub for their ketamine trade."

"So, we're going after a bunch of drug dealers?" Rainbow asked, "Shouldn't we just leave something like that up to regular law enforcement?"

"I'm with Dashy on this one," Jasper added, "Besides, isn't ketamine just some kind of morse tranquilizer, or something?"

"Yes, it's used to tranquilize morses and other large mammals," Rain interjected, "But in creatures like us, it's used as a 'party drug'. In ponies, however, when introduced to their bloodstream, it reacts to their magic and produces a potent, psycho-alchemic reaction. It allows any pony using it to relive any moment in their life, but more positively. You get to relive the worst day of your life, but have everything come out sunshine and rainbows, while the best day of your life gets to be even better," Rain explained.

"Sounds like it would be highly addictive for more reasons than just chemistry," reasoned Jasper.

"It is," Soarin confirmed, "But it's also far more physically and mentally damaging to ponies than it is to other races. In addition to all the normal health risks from being addicted to it, there's the added drawback of the magic toll brought on by the alchemic reaction, which not only breaks down the body but the mind as well. Over time, it will destroy a pony's ability to tell the difference between reality and fantasy, cause them to develop false memories while losing their real ones, then lead to violent psychotic episodes, then finally... their brains just...shut off..." Soarin finished glumly.

"Sounds like you're quite familiar with this stuff," Jasper remarked. Soarin was quiet for a moment, then responded.

"...My big brother... He got hooked and... he didn't make it..." Soarin answered.

"Soarin, I'm so, sorry," Rainbow said, "I never knew you had a big brother, let alone..."

"I don't talk about him much..." Soarin explained.

"Sorry, kid. I didn't mean to pry," Jasper apologized.

"It's cool. You didn't know," Soarin replied with a weak smile.

"Hold on though," Rainbow Dash interjected, "Potions have magic tolls too?" she asked Rainstorm.

"Certain ones, yes," he answered. "The kind and severity vary, and potions like health potions have theirs paid through certain super-condensed protein clusters within the potion itself, but all magic comes with a toll that must be paid. Granted, some of the negative side effects from ketamine use in ponies is likely due to a magical rebound - which is what happens either when you screw up a spell you're trying to cast, like what happened when Twilight botched Starswirl's unfinished spell, or when you lack the physical, mental, or spiritual means to cast the type of magic in question. Rebounds are never anything to scoff at," Rain explained.

"I see..." Rainbow said, "But, that still doesn't explain why this isn't a job for normal law enforcement."

"Two reasons, Crash," Spitfire said, addressing RD by her Wonderbolt's moniker, "One; these bandits are especially tough and well-equipped. Normal cops going in with standard police equipment would get chewed to pieces. The second reason, and why we're not sending in normal mercs, or guards to clean house instead, is because we need as little collateral damage as possible, so we can try to trace where they got their resources from. They managed to establish themselves far more quickly than your usual bandits, and their hardware is military-grade - plus, the strength and overall quality of the ketamine is far more potent than normal...and it's being dealt exclusively to ponies... Because of this, it's possible...that Saddle Arabia may be involved," Spitfire finished grimly.

"Wow..." Rainbow's voice trailed off and a fearful look came over her face, a look mirrored by everyone else in the back of the ship.

"Saddlic blood-magic would explain why this batch of ketamine is so potent and why it's being dealt exclusively to ponies," Rain surmised.

"So...this could be the start of a full-blown war with Saddle Arabia..." RD said, looking a bit pale as she spoke.

"Correct," Spitfire confirmed. "That's why we need to take the Moss Mare Spire back ASAP so, we can start determining whether or not the old kingdom is involved or not." she then took out a small remote control and clicked a button on it, causing a holographic display of their target to appear. The image depicted a large stone building nestled amidst the jungle trees, with a massively tall tower jutting up from the center of the structure, with numerous castle turrets dotting it all the way to the top, countless vines hanging from them. One of the Wonderbolts there whistled loudly at the scale of the construct, while others murmured to each other. "The place is using both arcane and standard radar to pick up any non-friendlies coming in by air, and they have aura-sensitive sensors all over the ground, making it impossible for us to just walk there without setting off security," Spitfire explained.

"That's where I come in," Rain said, "I don't have any magic of my own, so magic-sensitive security won't respond to my presence."

"Exactly," Spitfire confirmed before continuing, " First, we'll drop Rainstorm and his familiar off just outside the enemy's perimeter, then circle around while we wait for Rainstorm to hack the security system so he can prevent them from alerting anyone once they realize what's going on as well as give us clearance. Then, we just have to make sure to avoid as much collateral damage to the site and anything inside of it as possible while we neutralize the hostiles inside." And that's when I'll use the device Furlong gave me... Rain thought to himself. He then stood up and held out his hand to Spitfire, who nodded and took out a plastic baggy containing a hand full of twigs and leaves.

"What's that?" Rainbow Dash asked as Rain pulled out a fist full of the baggy's contents.

"Samples from the terrain I'm gonna be going through," he replied before taking out a small phial filled with a gray, smoky-looking liquid, then threw it hard against the floor, causing it to shatter and release a narrow cloud of smoke, just big enough to obscure his entire body from view for a few seconds. Suddenly, his clothing and armor appeared to absorb the cloud, causing the color of his attire to take on a night camo pattern which blended closely with the foliage in his hand.

"Aww, man," Dash exclaimed, "Why don't we get some kind of cool stealth armor?"

"Funny you should ask," Fleetfoot said, smiling at her as she turned a dial on the armor she was wearing clockwise, causing the blue on it and her spandex underneath to darken to a dark, midnight-blue. Rainbow quickly looked for a dial on her armor, and sure enough, she found one in the exact same place as on Fleetfoot's armor, then turned it counter-clockwise, causing it to turn a bright white. "Clockwise for night camo, counter-clockwise for winter camo," Fleetfoot explained. After Dash adjusted the dial again, she managed to set it to night camo.

"So awesome!" RD exclaimed excitedly.

"New from EPU R&D," Spitfire explained.

"Spitfire, we're here, Ma’am," informed the pilot over the intercom as Rainstorm attached silencers to the ends of his pistols before holstering them again. The airship lowered itself as much as possible, though it was unable to land due to the trees in the way, though this proved a non-issue for the merc and his familiar. Rainstorm opened a sliding door on the side of the airship, with magic runes around the doorway - which prevented any depressurization from occurring when opened - and used the Ashcaster to repel down, using a cable of ash, to the jungle floor below, Huginn close in tow. When the ash cable dispelled, the airship flew off, leaving the two of them alone in the jungle. "Ready?" Rainstorm asked Huginn, who nodded in agreement before the two of them synced their senses just as they had when looking for the CMC's a few days earlier, then headed off to the spire.

Mayor Mare was sitting at her desk, looking over all her files on Rainstorm, lost deep in thought over what had happened hours earlier. She had seen the fight between Twilight and Rain and had heard from eyewitnesses what the fight had been about. While she still had her doubts about Discord living there - or rather, dropping in periodically to annoy the locals and visit Fluttershy - she knew Ponyville was the best place to keep an eye on him. However, the revelation about the details of Lord Tirek's assault on Canterlot Castle and the gruesome injuries inflicted upon the merc, as well as Twilight's alleged involvement with his facial scars, left her confused about a great many things. "*sigh* Maybe I should ask Furlong about him?..." she asked herself out loud.

"I take it you mean Rainstorm?" asked a familiar voice. Mayor Mare looked up to see Agent Furlong standing in front of the door to her office. She smiled as she stood up and walked over to him.

"It never fails to lift my spirits when you appear in front of me like that," she said before the two of them embraced and exchanged a loving kiss. She then backed away and returned to her desk, "Yes, dear," she responded before sitting back down. "...How much of what he said is true?" she asked, a dire look across her face.

"*cough-cough-cough* Here's what I know," Furlong said as he took a seat in a chair in front of Mare's desk, "With the exception of Twilight knowingly leaving Rain to fend for himself during that exam, it's all true."

"All of it?" Mayor Mare asked, to which Furlong nodded before continuing.

"Though, it seemed that Discord is also the one that saved Rainstorm from Tirek's attack - not that he's in any mood to hear that the being he hates the most right now is the same one that saved his life. As for the exam, the staff and faculty covered their tracks well. An investigation was launched, but nothing definitive could be found proving that anyone other than Rainstorm himself and one Professor Flintsteel was at fault - and even then, it couldn't be proven that either one had intentionally done anything wrong. Not that it matters much anyway, as the professor seems to have been nothing more than a scapegoat, while Rain seems to have been outright set up, with most of the evidence against them either being circumstantial at best or...overly convenient for anypony's taste. Of course, the school got its way in the end, as even though pegasi and earkin are still allowed and even - on an official level anyway - encouraged to attend classes there, nopony is brave enough to try," Furlong explained.

"*sigh* As horrible as that is, it still leaves the matter of his reputation as a mercenary in question. From what I've read about him, he sounds like just another headhunter," Mayor Mare stated. Furlong was quiet for a moment before responding.

"I won't lie, he's definitely got a ruthless streak in him, but he's never broken any laws outright," said Furlong.

"How about that bandit leader at Fort Jagged? As bad as he may have been, Rain could have easily killed him quickly as opposed to torturing him to death, and last time I checked, mercenaries aren't allowed to cause undue pain and suffering like that," Mayor Mare countered.

"...Normally, you'd be correct, but...considering the circumstances, he was let off with a warning *cough-cough*. If you need to know what those circumstances were, take a look at these," Furlong said as he handed Mayor Mare a manilla envelope. She opened it and found two legal documents within.

"A marriage certificate, and...an adoption form... His name is on these! What are you saying?" Mayor Mare said in surprise.

"First thing you need to understand is that there's a difference between what we call 'bandits' and what Rockjaw was. A bandit is basically just your run-of-the-mill criminal, they rob ponies, deal drugs, run organized crime - even kill if they have to, but it's all just a means to an end - profit *cough*," Furlong paused for a moment as he suffered a coughing fit, then continued once it had passed. "Rockjaw wasn't a bandit. He was a raider. Raiders are far fewer, but they're also far crueler and way crazier. Torture, murder, slavery...even...the very worst things you can think of...they do it all because it makes them happy. They're evil, pure and simple."

"I know what a raider is, but I fail to see what...!" Mayor Mare's voice trailed off as she started to realize the truth.

"*cough* Starting to get it now? The two ponies he cared for the most...were among Rockjaw's victims. Forty-six-year-old Wallflower Blush...and...six-year-old Morning Dew," Furlong said as Mayor Mare covered her mouth in horror. "I think you of all ponies can understand how grief can fuel vengeance and make you do things you'd normally never do. After all, if it wasn't for your desire for revenge, I wouldn't be here right now." Mayor Mare fell silent for a while, then spoke up again.

"...Are you sure you want me to authorize all of Twilight's new defense proposals?" she asked Furlong.

"I came back to town specifically to authorize an increase in security in person," Furlong explained, "As for doing it Twilight's way, it makes things easier for everypony. Either way, with so many of our agents having disappeared from their posts over the last several months, we need all the help we can get."

"I take it, we still don't have any leads on the cause of the disappearances?" asked Mayor Mare.

"Not yet, but with any luck, Rainstorm may be able to find some answers at Facility Seventeen," Answered Furlong.

"...Moss Mare Spire..." Mayor Mare's voice trailed off, "...That's where the Slipstreams were stationed several months ago when they..." her voice trailed off again before she asked Furlong a question. "I'm not asking you as a colleague or as the overseer of this base, but as your wife...what are the chances that Snap and Allgood are still alive?"

"You couldn't have known that everypony at Facility Seventeen would disappear," Furlong responded, much to Mayor Mare's annoyance.

"That's not what I asked you," she replied sternly. Furlong gave a defeated sigh, followed by a brief coughing spell and then responded.

"Until Rainstorm completes his assignment, I can't say for sure, but... You should prepare for the worst," he informed her.

"Then, are the rumors true? Is Saddle Arabia involved?" Mayor Mare asked.

"I hope not," said Furlong, "Because if they are, then based on the reports on the type of hardware the bandits at Moss Mare are packing, I'd have to say Equestria is quite literally outgunned," he answered, a worried look on his face.

Rainstorm was frozen in his hiding spot in the bushes at the sight before him, I'm seeing things... I have to be... he thought to himself, though he knew his eyesight wasn't failing him. He had made it to the entrance of Moss Mare Spire and found two bandits guarding it - one an earkin, and the other a griffon. This wasn't shocking, but what was shocking were the weapons they were carrying. The two guards were armed with modern-looking assault rifles, which Rain was only too familiar with. Those are Micxor 51G Lances... Cutting edge back in the late twenty-tens and early twenty-twenties... But...those are Earth weapons...the only one I know of on Gimlé capable of producing weaponry like that is..., Rain gave his head a small shake to try to refocus on the task at hand.

This is bad... Huginn thought as he observed Rain from a tree branch above and slightly behind the mercenary as he drew his pistols and took aim. Normally Rain's armor is more than a match for the usual firearms people in this world use. Even enchanted, nothing short of high-power military-grade, enchanted rifles and shotguns at no more than a few feet away can punch through deep enough to cause any real damage beyond some bruises, flesh wounds, or - at worst - some cracked bones. But if he gets shot by one of those..., Huginn thought to himself. Both him and Rain knew he would have only one shot - literally. He had to instantly kill both lookouts before either of them could make a sound because, even if neither of them shot him if they alerted the others, he would be a dead man. Rainstorm focused, took aim at both enemies and squeezed both pistols' triggers at the same time.

Two muffled pops rang out at the same time as, near instantaneously, a bullet punctured both lookouts' skulls, right between their eyes, but before he could even exhale, Rain noticed that both guards were falling forward and would land on top of their guns. "Shit!" Rain exclaimed under his breath as in one fluid motion he holstered his pistols, then fired two ashen cables from the Ashcaster - one from the top port, and the other from the wrist port - and grabbed both weapons from the dead men's grasp just before they hit the ground. He reeled in both cables, drawing the guns to himself through the air and easily caught one while fumbling the other, nearly pulling its trigger. He made an audible "eep" as he got control of both guns, after which he slowly turned to look at Huginn, at which point, they both let out nervous, yet amused chuckles under their breath with one another. "I think I almost crapped my pants," Rain mused.

"If after all that, you'd managed to grab both guns, only to fire one off..." Huginn cawed quietly, still trying not to erupt into laughter.

"I know, right?" Rain whispered back, "Good thing for us, I believe I have an improved muzzle that can silence this thing completely and should fit it just -!" he stopped mid sentence as both rifles crumbled into dust. "...W-what the?..." his voice trailed off as he stared at his hand and noticed it had an earthy smell, mixed with the scent of plant life.

"Did...I miss something?..." Huginn quietly cawed in confusion.

"You and me both... I guess..." Rain whispered as he took a small, empty phial out of one of his pockets and sprinkled what little was left of the gun that was still in his hand into the receptacle, then placing it back into his pocket. "Analysis of the remaining alpha timberwolf samples should be finished by the time we get back to the castle so, I'll get the lab ready to analyze this sample next," Rain explained, "In the meantime, I need to get word to the Wonderbolts about this."

"It's dangerous, but you're right. Using communications so close to the spire might tip off the enemy to our presence, but that won't matter if the Wonderbolts charge in and get mowed down. Besides, we can't risk Rainbow Dash getting killed, the whole reason we're out here is to make it easier to protect her and the other elements," Huginn cawed to Rainstorm who nodded in agreement before taking out one of the communicators he and everyone else at Twilight's Castle had gotten from EPU R&D and set it to connect him with RD's.

Rainbow Dash was waiting with the other Wonderbolts and Jasper when she felt her communicator start to buzz. Surprised, she took it out and answered it, "Hello?" Rainbow asked confusedly.

"Thank God, you're close enough for the signal to reach without a relay," Rain quietly said.

"Does this mean you already got into their security!?" Rainbow asked excitedly.

"We've hit a bit of a snag - put me on speaker," instructed Rain. Dash did as she was told by opening the compact mirror-looking device further so that the top half lay completely horizontal with the bottom part. This caused a holographic projection of the top-half of Rain to appear and seeing this, the others on board gathered around her to listen to the merc.

"You have to know how dangerous it is contacting us like this. This must be serious," Spitfire said grimly.

"I do, and it is," Rain said, "The weapons these bandits have... They're really advanced. Too advanced. If they land a hit on any of you, you're done."

"Are they really that powerful?" asked Spitfire, "Half the reason I sent you down there with just your familiar is that I thought your armor would be more than enough protection for you. Do they have some kind of super enchantments or something?"

"I doubt they use any magic at all - which is our only saving grace," Rain stated, sparking further confusion among Jasper and the Wonderbolts. "The thing is, they're far more advanced than almost any other firearms on the planet. Capable of single-shot, semi-automatic, and even full-automatic fire, effective at short, medium, and long-range. Then, to top it all off, it fires armor-piercing rounds - as in, my kind of armor," he explained.

"Did you fieldstrip one of these things or something? Sound like you know a lot about them," asked Jasper.

"No, I never got the chance. The two I was able to get my hands on self-destructed before I could really do anything with them," Rain said.

"Then how do you know so much about them?" Soarin asked.

"Because there were always plenty of these rifles in the hands of soldiers back where I came from," said Rain grimly. Everyone on board the airship exchanged confused looks with one another until Spitfire spoke up.

"...You're not talking about Canterlot, are you?" she asked. Rainstorm slowly shook his head no, then replied.

"I mean from my homeworld," he elaborated.

"But the only one with any knowledge on how to make weapons like that would be..." Jasper said, his voice trailing off.

"Yeah...it would seem that between the weapons and the chemically superior drugs, the person supplying these bandits...would have to be me," he said,his concern audible in his voice.

"Bullshit!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "Rain can be a jerk, and mean, and yeah - he's pretty violent, but he'd never help bandits out or make drugs that ruin pony's lives or anything else like that!" Spitfire tried to speak up, but Rainbow continued. "Boris said you fell out of the sky as a little kid along with a bunch of junk. Maybe somepony got to that stuff before the guards could collect all of it and found something in that mess that let them recreate these weapons, or maybe somepony else in the military sold us out!? Hell, maybe the same thing that happened that night happened in Saddle Arabia and their scientists managed to reverse-engineered whatever dropped out of their skies! Why would Rainstorm fight so hard to protect the CMC's or help us right now if he was just going to betray us by dealing drugs and weapons to our enemies!?" Rainbow shouted. Rainbow Dash... Rain thought to himself in surprise. Of all the things he hadn't been expecting to happen during this mission, he was honestly more shocked by Rainbow Dash jumping to his defense than he was by coming across Earth weaponry. Before he could answer, Jasper spoke up.

"It could all be part of the long-game," suggested Jasper, catching everyone off guard. "The thought had crossed my mind that everything from the CMC's kidnaping, to the display in front of the townsponies, to even agreeing to come along on this mission, could all be apart of a long-term plan to assassinate one or more of the elements of harmony," he explained. Rainbow Dash was shocked and appalled, Rainstorm had taken care of Jasper after he'd gotten injured the other day, then had gone out to save Scootaloo and the other CMC's lives, she'd talked to him and gotten to know him. Sure, he'd not been very nice to any of them when they'd first met, but he'd been trying to be more kind and patient with all of them - even Twilight, though she admitted to herself that he hadn't had much success in regards to the Princess of Friendship. She was about to interject when she heard Rainstorm give a quiet chuckle.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jasper," he said, still trying to keep as quiet as possible out of fear of discovery.

"Yeah, with friends like you, who needs enemies!" RD exclaimed.

"Rainbow, I was being serious," Rainstorm informed Dash, much to her obvious surprise. "Even if Jasper had suspected any treachery from me, if he still thought I might be in league with any of Equestria's enemies, there's no way in Hell he'd just come right out and say so to my face. So, by him telling me that he had been suspicious of me just now, it shows that he's, at least, fairly certain I'm not a traitor," explained the mercenary.

"It's true, Dashy," Jasper said, "I thought from the start that he might be dangerous, but after keeping an eye on him for a while, my instincts tell me that he's totes on our side!" he exclaimed happily.

"Oh...sorry about what I said, Jasper," Rainbow said, feeling somewhat ashamed of her outburst.

"It's cool, Sweetpea. Besides, I was kinda being a dick just now, so I deserved some ass-chewing," reasoned Jasper.

"And I've known Rain long enough to know he may be an idiot at times, but he's no traitor," said Spitfire.

"But, you make a good point, Rainbow Dash," Rainstorm said. "My world was full of myths and legends about things out-of-the-blue just disappearing into thin air. Everything from treasure to individuals, to whole civilizations, and even entire island nations vanishing overnight. It's possible that countless things throughout the Earth's history have found their way to Gimlé over the millennia."

"Come to think of it, we do have a lot of legends about all kinds of weird, otherworldly things that have fallen out of the sky. That could actually explain a lot of it, Rainstorm," Fleetfoot surmised.

"I never knew you knew so much about Equestrian mythology, Fleetfoot," Soarin said.

"Meh, I like reading about history and legends during my free time, that's all," explained Fleetfoot, prompting Rainbow to snicker at her.

"Nerd," she teased Fleetfoot.

"Hey, swan-dived into any good trash cans lately, Crash?" said Fleetfoot teasing back before the two of them noticed the serious look on Spitfire's face.

"Of course, Dash's other theory has merit as well," Spitfire said, "As disturbing an idea as it is, we can't ignore the very real possibility that the classified knowledge we've obtained from that night has been leaked to the enemy... perhaps even by somepony with a high level of clearance in Canterlot," she explained. Rainstorm tensed up as a chilling thought entered his mind as he stared at her for a minute before speaking.

"So...what kind of information was the military able to acquire from the wreckage that came here along with me?" he asked her.

"Sorry, but I'm not at liberty to say," Spitfire replied, much to Rain's annoyance.

"Can you, at least, tell me if the phrase, 'Project Krishna', sounds familiar?" he asked her again.

"I said, I can't answer you," Spitfire repeated herself, but much more sternly. The two looked into each other's eyes for a while before Rain spoke again.

"Then I'll find out for myself..." Rain said.

"Uh...what's 'Project Krishna'? Soarin asked. Rainstorm looked at him for a moment, then answered.

"If it falls into the wrong hands...then it's the end of all life on the planet," he answered before closing his communicator, leaving everyone there in stunned silence.

"'The end of all life on the planet'? What the Hell is that supposed to mean?" asked Soarin nervously. Rain put his communicator away and turned to face the entrance to the spire and began walking towards it.

"'Project Krishna, isn't that the -?" Huginn started to ask but was cut off by Rain.

"Yeah. It looks like my priorities have changed. I need to make sure that no information on the Vishvarupa System falls into anyone's hands - that includes Equestria's," he told Huginn.

"I doubt there's any information about their weapons here though. Even if these bandits’ bosses have any data on Vishvarupa, I don't think we'd find it here," Huginn tried reasoning.

"Then I'll have to make sure none of the bandits here know anything about it themselves and if any do, I'll have to kill them before the Wonderbolts can take them into custody," said Rain.

"But half the reason for their mission here is to interrogate the bandits here for information about the one supplying them! Do you really think they'll just let you undermine their whole operation like that?" asked Huginn. Rain was quiet for a second before answering him, his voice dripping with venom.

"If worse comes to absolute worse, I'll bring this whole place down with all of us inside!" he said coldly.

"B-but our mission is to protect Rainbow Dash and the other elements of harmony! You promised Shining Armor!" Huginn exclaimed.

"This trumps everything else!" Rain snapped, "If I had to, I'd fight both Shining Armor and even Princess Celestia to the death to keep the secret of that horror buried. Such an evil can never be resurrected - EVER!" Just then, they heard something in the bushes behind them. They turned just in time to see a ferocious manticore leap out at them, but with a single, fluid motion, Rain used an ash cable to whip the creature right in its left eye, causing it to leap back shaking its head and whimper in pain. "Get lost," Rain hissed at the beast before it scurried back off into the jungle, yelping the whole way. He then turned and entered the building, Huginn perched on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the spire, a stone-gray pegasus with a greasy, shoulder-length, dark-brown main, matching short tail, and vivid green eyes seemed to be talking to someone else via a small, crystal ball. The stallion wore various small earrings, rings, and bracelets, along with a small green vest with many zippered pockets, a pair of dark blue jeans, and short black boots. "So, you think there are any other pests headed our way?" he asked the figure on the other end of the crystal ball.

"More likely than not," replied a raspy voice coming from a pair of glowing green eyes appearing within the crystal ball, "You may do with the others as you see fit, Granite Gust. As for the monkey, I want you to capture him alive and get all the information he has about weapons technology you can from him - in particular, I want to know more about this 'Vishvarupa System'. If it's as dangerous as he lets on, it could be worth millions to the right ponies...even billions..."

"Then consider it done, boss!" the pegasus exclaimed, and with that, the eyes faded from the crystal ball and Granite Gust pocketed it and turned to his men. "Well, fillies and gentlecolts, let's roll out the welcome mat, shall we?" he said with a confident smirk.

Rainstorm hadn't been sneaking around the inside of the building for long when a voice came across the intercom, "Hey there, mister monkey-stallion!" Granite Gust's voice cheerfully called out, "I have no doubt you're already inside and that you have friends somewhere nearby so, I'll be nice and make you a deal. Turn yourself in and answer all of my questions, and I won't have my boys kill them when they find them, otherwise..." his voice trailed off. Damn... Rain thought to himself as he took out the small cloth doll he carried with him and gave it a squeeze. When he looked at it he saw the doll was enveloped by a shadowy aura, at which point he returned it to his pocket, Just as I thought. I haven't triggered any security within the spire itself, so I must have been spotted by someone, but who? I was certain the two guards I shot were the only ones there. So, where was...!

Rain's eyes widened as he realized his mistake. The manticore!... he thought to himself as he pulled a pager from one of his pockets. It must have been acting as a guard dog the whole time!... Rookie mistake, Rainstorm!... he thought to himself as he pressed the button on the pager, causing its counterpart in the possession of Spitfire to start buzzing from within her pocket. "Land this bird immediately!" she ordered the airship's pilot, who did as they were told after finding a small clearing nearby just big enough to land.

"You think they intercepted his warning earlier?" Fleetfoot asked as they touched down.

"I doubt it," Spitfire said, "Somepony must have spotted us or Rain and alerted the others."

"Or, that bastard tipped his real allies off, and they're probably on their way to capture us!" said a yellow-eyed pegasus stallion with a dark-brown mohawk.

"Now, Hotstreak, don't go jumping to conclusions," said an older pegasus stallion. He was light-blue gray with a dark-blond crew cut and goatee with streaks of gray in his mane, along with pale-violet eyes. "Besides, if he were going to turn on us, then why give us a fighting chance by warning us about the enemy's hardware?"

"Open your eyes, Air Striker - the rest of you too!" Hotstreak shouted at the other Wonderbolts, "None of us know anything about this dude! At the very least, he could have been captured after he sent us that communication and forced to talk!"

"You're wrong," Spitfire said, drawing the attention of everyone there, "First of all, I've known that stallion for years. He's loyal to a fault - especially to Equestria. He would never betray this country. Secondly..." Spitfire's voice trailed off for a moment as she remembered something from the past.

Spitfire stood there in the middle of Fort Jagged, mouth agape, as Rainstorm stood there amongst a sea of carnage, bodies, and craters strung about in all directions. Rain was naked from the waist up, badly injured, and covered in blood, holding the corpse of a raider by the throat. "Come on, Rain, it's over..." she said nervously as she slowly approached him from behind, "He's dead, they're all dead. You're safe no- !" as soon as she was next to him she stopped dead in her tracks. Though Rain's eyes were still open - as a mixture of blood and tears continuously flowed from them - she could tell he was no longer conscious. She then tried prying the dead raider from his death grip, but despite her best efforts, she couldn't get him to let go.

"What a monster..." a gruff, authoritative voice proclaimed. The voice came from an unusually tall and burly, golden-skinned, pegasus stallion wearing golden armor, who had a black mane in a crew cut with different shades of gray running through it with a matching short tail. His strong orange eyes glared daggers at Rainstorm as he approached, revolver in one hand, sword in the other, almost seeming to be unaware of Spitfire's presence.

"Lieutenant General Thundercall!" Spitfire said in surprise, not having expected him to show up in person. He then took aim at Rainstorm with his revolver and cocked its hammer. "W-what are you doing, sir!?" she asked in shock.

"I've never trusted this bastard!" Thundercall said with a cold anger in his voice as he sheathed, "Ever since that thing landed in Canterlot, I've had a bad feeling about it! I have no idea why it decided to sneak in here, or why it slaughtered everypony here, but -!"

"You think he's responsible for all these civilian casualties!?" Spitfire angrily interrupted him as she positioned herself between the two, "You want to know the reason he broke in here and fought through all these raiders himself!? It's because -!"

"Quite frankly, Captain Spitfire, I don't give a damn!" Thundercall said, cutting Spitfire off mid sentence, "Whatever that thing's reasons were, I doubt they were noble. I've been keeping an eye on it ever since it was little, and everywhere it goes it leaves a trail of corpses in its wake. Now, I order you to stand down!" he growled at Spitfire.

"No, sir," she growled back, "He's an innocent citizen of Equestria, and the whole reason I joined the military was to protect its ponies. Furthermore...he's family... So, I'm afraid I'm unable to follow that order!"

"Please!" Thundercall snapped, "First of all, I'm telling you there's nothing 'innocent' about that butcher! Secondly, that thing is no citizen of this country - and nothing you, Major General Boris, or Princess Celestia can say will ever change that! Finally, on the matter of it being, 'family', just because it was married to your sister for a whopping one month before she finally came to her senses and divorced its ass, does NOT make it family! Now, I won't tell you again, out of my way!" he said as he took careful aim, preparing to fire. Before he could move another muscle, the raider's body flew towards him, though it caused him no harm as he batted it away midair with one swing from his other arm, but when he returned his attention to the two warriors in front of him, both he and Spitfire were shocked to see Rain standing in between them, his eyes and expression still blank.

"R-Rain..." Spitfire said under her breath.

"He's...unconscious!..." Thundercall said in shock, not having realized Rain's condition until just then. His arms are broken...legs too... Is...that one of his ribs sticking out?... Ancestors...the amount of will power it must have taken to keep fighting in this shape... And yet, he's still pushing himself to shield Spitfire...even though he's out cold... He must have sensed the murderous intent I was feeling towards him and thought I was going to shoot Spitfire...so, his body acted on its own to protect her... And here I thought you could only do something like that if you had strong magic in you... he thought to himself as he sheathed his sword. At that moment, a sound from above him caught his attention and he turned around just in time to pluck a heavily battle-damaged Huginn out of the air as he tried to attack him from above. "Your Rainstorm's, aren't you?" he asked as the familiar tried in vain to claw at his armored hand holding it.

He then tossed the bird at Spitfire who caught it and turned away. "I still don't trust him and if our investigation shows that he's even remotely responsible for this raider attack, or any civilian deaths, I'll see to it that he's punished to the fullest extent of the law... That said, however, for now, I'll send for the medics. It's the least I can do...for somepony that was trying to protect my daughter..." Thundercall said before flying off to get help.

"Secondly..." Spitfire said as she returned her focus to the present, "...You can't begin to imagine the amount of pain he can endure... These bandits could torture him for months and he'd be no closer to cracking, trust me on that!" she exclaimed.

"Ma’am, we may have a problem!" shouted one of the pilots from the cockpit.

"What now!?" Spitfire demanded.

"Sensors are picking up seven - no, eight airborne hostiles en route from the spire, and... they're armed!..." the pilot added grimly.

"Who did what isn't important right now," Air Striker said calmly, "What matters is taking down the enemy before they can report our location. Luckily for us, they're past the range of the spire's security, so we can engage them without worrying about Moss Mare's defenses triggering. It's just a matter of getting past their weapons," he said, stroking his chin in contemplation.

"Sounds like you need an expert in aerial stealth combat," Jasper chimed in, "Lucky for you, you're in the presence of one of the best in the business!"

"Now you're talking!" Hotstreak said with a smirk as he headed towards the exit, "Just leave everything to me! Those marrons will be deep-sixed before they even know what hit them!" he proclaimed confidently as he slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand.

"...I think...Jasper was referring to...himself..." said an exasperated Fleetfoot.

"No way in Tartarus am I leaving this up to one of Rainstorm's lackeys! This rookie's probably never even seen any combat before in his li- !" Hotstreak suddenly found himself unable to so much as make a single sound or move a single muscle due to the overwhelming ominous sensation coming from Jasper. He slowly turned his head to meet his frigged gaze and started shaking like a leaf. Jasper stared at him for a moment before smiling warmly at him.

"Don't worry about a thing, any of you. I won't allow any harm to come to you. You have my word!" he said before exiting the airship and flying up high into the sky.

"...W-what was that...horrible feeling just now..." Hotstreak asked, his voice shaking.

"You dumbass!" Rainbow Dash snapped at him, "He's not Rain's lackey, and he's definitely not some rookie! That's Death's Wings Jasper!" she informed Hotstreak, leaving him speechless. As Jasper flew higher and higher into the sky he drew out a small, silver device the size of his hand as he thought about how best to deal with the coming threat. I've heard about the weird firearms that Rainstorm uses. If those bandits have anything of the sort and anyone of them gets a clear shot, my armor won't do much against it, even at long-range... Even if they don't hit me, if any of them get the chance to warn their buddies about us, this could turn really ugly, really fast... Then, for a second his mind wandered back to a few days ago at the Apple family's farm. He was still embarrassed over having been knocked out so easily that day and felt guilty that Rain and the CMC's had been forced to face such danger without his help.

"I won't let them down again!" he said out loud, "I have no choice but to use that!" he said. He then cleared his mind and focused inward, deep into the depths of his very soul and finally spoke, but when he did so, his voice reverberated and seemed to come from somewhere deeper than just his vocal cords alone. "Dance in fatal silence - Muerte Tranquila!" he said under his breath. His short, green feathers started to turn such a dark shade of green that they appeared black, his once dark-yellow beak turned an almost black shade of gray, and a whimsical, swirling, dull neon-green pattern appeared across his body, while his irises took on a matching pattern, his pupils taking the shape of crossbones. With that, he flew still further up into the air, all without making a single sound and headed off in the direction of their would-be capturers.

The bandits in question were closing in fast on the Wonderbolts' airship, each one armed with an Earth assault rifle and using short-range comms to communicate with one another while in flight. "If I remember correctly there should be another clearing up ahead big enough for a small or medium-sized airship to land. Whoever came here with that Rainstorm guy could be waiting there for him to get back. Copy?" the pegasus stallion leading them asked, the other bandits agreeing with rogers over their comms.

"I don't know about this..." said a male dragon who was the third furthest back in the loose formation, "...I thought for a second I sensed a huge spike in someone's magical aura right before it vanished," he said, unaware that the griffoness bringing up the rear of the formation had just been cut in half right down the middle in mid-flight by something moving too quickly to be seen. "I've got a really bad feeling about all this..." he added as another bandit - this one right behind him - was also cut down.

"I don't care about your 'bad feelings'," the pegasus bandit said mockingly through his commlink, unaware that more and more of his comrades were being defeated in the blink of an eye, "As long as we stick together and don't lose the element of surprise, this will be the easy work of ten minutes - maybe fifteen! Copy?... Do you read me?..." he asked in exasperation, waiting for confirmation from the dragon, but a minute past and he heard no response. "*sigh* We've been over this you dumbasses. When I'm done talking, you say 'Roger' so I know you heard me. Remember?..." he asked as he turned around, only to see that he was the only one still in the air. Before he could respond he heard a voice that seemed to come from all around him.

"Actually, 'Roger' is used to confirm you've received and understood your orders. 'Copy' means you heard what the other person was trying to tell you," the voice said cheerfully. The bandit was looking in all directions frantically when he felt something hard and metallic tap him on the back of the head. He whipped around to see Jasper flying in place right behind him, holding the unconscious dragon under his right arm while brandishing a revolver in his left hand. The bandit tried to say something but found to his surprise he couldn't make a noise, and before he had the sense to shoot Jasper, he took a bullet to the forehead, falling lifeless to the jungle floor. Jasper then flew back with his captive to the Wonderbolts.

"I'm baaaaack!" chortled Jasper as he touched down next to the Wonderbolts airship.

"Wow, what's the deal with the new look?" Rainbow Dash asked as she and the others tied up the still unconscious bandit Jasper had brought with him, "I hardly recognized you at first. What gives?"

"Ah, so that's what it looks like," said Air Striker as he stroked his chin, "I've heard stories about Death's Wings Jasper's Muerte Tranquila, but I've never had the pleasure of seeing it in person before."

"'Mutty What?'" asked Rainbow Dash and Hotstreak in unison.

"'Muerte Tranquila'. It's my Arcane Manifestation!" Jasper explained, "Think of it as a way to upgrade your magical skills or your special talent. For example, I can make almost no noise and completely conceal my aura without any effort whenever I want, but I can amplify this ability like crazy by calling upon my Arc-Manifest's name - Muerte Tranquila - to temporarily change myself in such a way as to have complete control over all sound within range. Of course, the boost to my strength and speed ain't too bad either!"

"And by the looks of it, yours is an Amalgam between Mutation type, which alters your physical form, and Field type, which lets you use continuous ranged effects," Air Striker added.

"Righto!" Jasper said as he slowly reverted back to his original form.

"If you can transform like that, then why didn't you go in and disable the security!?" Hotstreak asked incredulously.

"Don't forget, the whole point of sending Rainstorm in on his own in the first place was because and unauthorized magical energy too close to the spire will set off its defenses," Spitfire said, "Even if Jasper can keep other ponies from sensing him, doesn't guarantee the spire's sensors wouldn't detect him. Besides, there's the Arcane Toll to consider."

"Is that like some kind of super magic toll or something?" Hotstreak asked.

"Yes," Air Striker answered, "However, an Arcane toll is much heavier, though, it may not come due right away."

"Trust me, I'll be paying it several hours from now," Jasper informed them, "For now though, we've got a mission to complete!"

"Oh...I knew I had a bad feeling about this..." said the dragon bandit as he started waking up, "So much for bringing the intruders back in ten minutes..."

"So, you were sent here to capture us?" asked Hotstreak, "Let's see what else we can get our new guest to tell us about," he said just as they heard a thunderous roar from somewhere above. All of them looked up in time to see a massive, blueish-white, winged reptilian beast soaring overhead. "S-sweet Celestia, don't tell me that's your mom or something!?" asked Hotstreak fearfully.

"Gee, racism from ponies, who would have ever guessed?..." asked the dragon bandit sarcastically. "That's a drake. They're feral beasts - the same to my people as wild horses are to ponies like you. Damn thing would eat me just as quickly as it would everyone else here," he explained.

"But, I have a dragon friend that turned into one of those, and I've seen other dragons that are like that all the time! What's the deal with that?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"*sigh* My peoples' magic works a lot like pony magic, it's affected by our emotions. On top of that, we can change into our drake forms if we want, though, some have to learn how to do it, while others can't stop themselves from transforming. Dragons like the former Dragon Lord, Torch typically stay in drake-form partially because the larger form of a drake is pretty intimidating - especially to non-dragons, and partially to limit the strain on their own bodies caused by the strength of their own magic. If certain dragons like Torch stayed in his true form all the time, their own magical power would start to rip their bodies apart from the inside out," explained the bandit.

"So, it's just a big, dumb lizard. What's it doing here then?" Hotstreak asked.

"Drakes like tall places to roost," answered the bandit, "Moss Mare Spire's the tallest place around here so, the local drake population likes to take a go at taking over the spire every now and again, but they never get close."

"Why's that?" RD asked as they all continued to watch the drake fly towards the spire. As soon as the massive beast had crossed the threshold into the range of the spires sensors, huge pulses of pale-blue light came surging up the spire, all the way to its pointed top where a large sphere of electrical energy started to form. Within seconds its size was nearly that of the drake and a moment later, it fired at the creature in the form of a giant bolt of lightning, engulfing the creature in electricity and sending its badly charred remains flying off in the opposite direction. "Oh...that's why..." Rainbow said in a stunned tone of voice.

"Well, looks like you're gonna be coming along with us, buddy!" Hotstreak informed the bandit as he started walking towards him.

"You're kidding, right?" Soarin asked in disbelief.

"Think about it," Hotstreak replied, "If that security system didn't lash out at those guys and they were supposed to bring us back to the spire, then their security clearance would probably let us through so long as we're with at least one of them. Right?" he asked the bandit who merely jerked his head away, refusing to acknowledge him. "We've got to try. If that traitor Rainstorm's warned them about us, then -!"

"Hold on! You think that Rainstorm monster is with us?" interrupted the bandit, "We're surprised anyone's dumb enough to work with the Grand Reaper. Do you really think we're as stupid as you!?" he asked incredulously. "Anyone who gets too close to that...thing, is cursed to die a horrible death! No, thank you!"

"Oh, so he's not a traitor, he's just an idiot...and cursed..." Hotstreak said bluntly.

"Didn't take much for you to change your mind, did it?" said an audibly annoyed Fleetfoot.

"I can always tell when somepony is lying to me! He may be a dirty bandit, but he's an honest dirty bandit - at least when it comes to this," explained Hotstreak. "Now, let's get going. The enemy clearly knows we're nearby, so we don't have time to wait for Rain anymore. They may already be destroying valuable evidence regarding who's helping them out, not to mention that they may already be preparing to move their product out of here. That means a ketamine epidemic like Equestria's never seen before, and the country's already got more than enough fires to put out as it is!" he exclaimed.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but Hotstreak has a point," said Spitfire.

"Now, we're tal- ! Hey!" Hotstreak shouted in protest upon recognizing the insult.

"Let it go, Hotstreak, let it go," said Fleetfoot reassuringly as she patted him on the shoulder, though Spitfire seemed to ignore them.

"If they get any of that junk out of here, a lot of ponies could have their lives ruined - or even ended! I'm sure Rain can take care of himself, but he can't be in two places at once. If there's even a chance we can get at least one of us through there to help him, then we have to try!" she said.

"Alright, I'll go!" said Rainbow Dash, "If anything goes wrong, I have the best chance of dodging that lightning blast!" Before she could grab the bandit, Air Striker put a hand on her shoulder.

"No offense, Crash, but I think I should go. I'm fairly skilled at dealing with lightning-based magic, so I might be needed to disable that lightning weapon and besides that, you're too important to risk on some test," he told her, causing Rainbow to scowl as she looked him dead in the eyes.

"If this is about me being the Element of Loyalty, then forget it! I'm a fighter and a grown mare. I don't need to be babied!" She was about to argue further, but Air Striker held up a hand and shook his head before elaborating.

"It's not - or, at least, not in the way you think," he said, "Yes, being one of the Elements of Harmony is a factor, but not in the sense that we have any intention of coddling you - quite the opposite. I'm sure that if it were up to the Captain, instead of being pent up in that damn castle and having to wait for others to fight your battles for you, you'd be wings up and hooves on the ground looking for the terrorists who attacked you. There's a reason more pegasi enlist in the EPU than any other race that calls Equestria home. We're warriors one and all dating all the way back to our ancestors in ancient times. It was our ancestors who were the first to follow the first alicorn, Acusilaus, into glorious rebellion against the Old Empire. It was a pegasus who originally conceived the idea of the EPU in the first place. We know full well that your talents are wasted sitting around and doing nothing, which is why we can't afford to risk losing that talent on this! We're going to need you more than anything or anypony else once we're inside. Understood?" Air Striker asked Rainbow, who stood in stunned silence for a brief moment before responding.

"Alright, sir," she said calmly.

"Then it's decided," Spitfire said, "Sparky, you'll take our new friend here and see if you can get past the spire's defenses, but the moment you so much as think you sense the slightest electrical surge building up from there, abort and return here ASAP! Got it?" she asked Air Striker. He nodded his head, grabbed the captive bandit, and took off for the spire.

While all of this was transpiring, Rain and Huginn were making their way up the spire, fighting off groups of bandits at a time as they went. "Stealth mission,” they said. "'Just have to plug in the stupid device he said'! I'm gonna plug Furlong's head down his neck and out his ass after this!" snarled a very unamused Rain as he took cover behind an arch in front of a door in the hallway he was in as he reloaded his pistols. Huginn was suspended upside-down from the ceiling, his head turned at a one hundred eighty degree angle so that his point of view was normal, giving Rain a literal bird's-eye view of the hallway.

"Careful, we've got six more idiots coming towards us," he cawed at Rainstorm just as six bandits came into view.

"We're still linked, I see em'!" Rain responded nonchalantly at the familiar as he took aim from behind his cover, taking full advantage of Huginn and his shared vision to shoot each of the attackers right between the eyes while avoiding ever entering the path of their firearms - all of which seemed to be more Earth weapons like the ones wielded by the guards from the entrance. Huginn fluttered down from the ceiling to land on Rain's shoulder and the two continued down the hall towards where the now-dead bandits had come from. "Just our luck that they got smart and disabled the damn elevators once they figured out we wouldn't go down easily!" Rain complained as they ran down the hallway, only to run into another bandit, this one brandishing a wicked-looking black sword with a serrated blade.

"YOU POOR FOOL!" shouted the unicorn bandit as she charged towards Huginn and Rain, "You now face the dreaded Demon's Fang - a sword handed down through the strongest members of my clan! It has never once failed to claim an enemy's life so, come and meet your do- !" she was cut off mid sentence as her sword and the hand holding it were pinned to her body. Unfortunately for her, this did not stop her from running, though it did distract her long enough for her to run headlong into an aerial clothesline maneuver executed by Rainstorm, whose expression was unchanged as the two hit the stone floor, leaving the bandit gasping for air. Rain released the ashen restraints pinning her hand and sword and picked up the weapon to examine it as Huginn, who had taken to the air just before impact, returned to his shoulder.

"*sigh* What is it about you swordsmen-types that you always have to give your opponent a breakdown of just how 'badass' your sword is, huh? Gives the other guy all the time in the world to do this to you," he pointed out before turning his full attention to the sword as he turned his back to the bandit and slowly continued down the hallway once again. "You see this, Huginn?" he asked as he stopped and stared at the sword intently.

"Yeah... It's just a cheaply-made sword with a few low-level durability enchantments on it..." he cawed with exasperation, "It doesn't even look like it can cut anything." With that, Rain tossed the sword behind him, causing it to hit the bandit on the head, blade first, bouncing off almost harmlessly and leaving only a small, red mark on her forehead causing her eyes to tear up a tiny bit.

"Thing is barely more than a display piece," Rain said to the bandit, "Stick to half-ass cosplaying at backwater conventions, dumbass," he advised her before heading off at his original pace once again.

"T-to overpower Demon's Fang so easily... Such a thing shouldn't be possible..." the bandit said out loud to herself, "Truly, this Rainstorm is every bit the monster the rumors said he was..." Rain was running down the hallway as fast as he could when he heard a fearsome roar as he passed a window to the outside. He slowly backpedaled towards the window to look for the source of the noise and saw a drake in the distance.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" he said wide-eyed as the beast flew in their direction. "Normally, this might be a good thing, but if that damn creature wrecks the place before we get what we came here for..." his voice trailed off as the drake made its way towards the spire. Just then Rain and Huginn felt a massive surge of magical energy start to rise up from deep beneath the spire, all the way to the top.

"This must be the spire's defenses!" Huginn cawed as more and more energy began to build up somewhere above them. Then, in a flash of blinding light, a lightning bolt shot out from some distance above them, striking the drake and blasting it away.

"Amazing..." Rain said in astonishment, "That's right... This place is supposed to be built over a major faultline. The spire must be designed to soak up the kinetic energy emanated from the constant seismic activity, store it, and use it as a power source - not only giving it plenty of juice but effectively defusing any potential earthquakes in the process..." Suddenly, they heard the sound of a door opening from behind them. They turned to look and saw a stringy looking griffon wearing a face mask and rubber gloves step out.

"How am I supposed to get this junk ready for transport with security going off all the time! I mean, this place was designed to hold back armies of sorcerers for days, I think we can last an hour or two with some big-assed flying gecko taking pot shots at us. Drakes or no drakes, I'm tempted to pull the plug on security for an hour or two so I can get my job done!" he griped more to himself than anyone else as he hadn't noticed the others just yet.

"'Pull the plug on security' you say?" Rain said wickedly as he towered over the fearful griffon as he cracked his knuckles and glared evilly at him. "Please, by all means do go on... I insist..." Back in the command center for Moss Mare Spire, Granite Gust and his henchmen were just now learning how badly their situation had deteriorated.

"Slow down and explain it to me again, calmly this time!" Granite ordered someone over a radio, "Okay... Yeah, I figured that would happen. Then what?... He did what!?... And your artifact had no effect on him whatsoever!?... So, you don't think Demon's Fang works on actual demons and that's why he beat you!?... O-okey... Just...keep an eye out for any other intruders. Over and out. Shit!" he swore loudly, attracting the attention of the other bandits, "That was Star Blitz! Turns out, this Rainstorm asshole may not even be mortal!" he said as he shut his eyes tight and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The bandits looked at each other in confusion before looking back at Granite.

"This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with her trying to attack that guy using that sword of hers, and then getting her ass kicked, would it?" one of them asked.

"How did you know?..." Granite asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Figures," another bandit said, "That prop sword's faker than my ex's tits!"

"Wait, Demon's Fang is fake!?" Granite shouted in surprise.

"I thought it was obvious... She bought it last month in Los Pegasus for, like, fifty bits, remember?" asked yet another bandit. "You... You didn't actually believe all that horseshit she was going on about, with it being forged by Nightmare Moon using her own blood and it being a clan heirloom, or whatever her origin story for it was this week, did you?..."

"*cough-cough* How's the team we sent to collect Rain's partners coming along?" Granite asked, quickly changing the subject.

He believed every word of it... the bandits thought in unison, feeling a great deal of embarrassment for their leader.

"Well?" Granite a bit more impatiently asked again, this time as he walked over to the center of the room. At the room's center was a glowing crystal ball nearly the size of a basketball resting on a waist-high, thin pillar, which resembled vines made of stone, and surrounding it were two cheap metal folding chairs, and one cheap, worn-looking lawn chair. A unicorn sat in each chair, staring intently into the crystal ball.

"I'd rather not. You'll just yell some more," said a unicorn mare sitting in one of the chairs, invoking an annoyed, angry look from Granite.

"Dead," answered a unicorn stallion sitting to her right, "Except for one, they're all dead,"

"Oh, goody!" Granite said through gritted teeth. "Any more wonderful news?" he said sarcastically.

"One of Rainstorm's allies seems to have captured our survivor and they're headed this way," explained another unicorn mare sitting in front of the crystal ball.

"*sigh* I know I'm going to regret asking this... Could you bring up a visual?" Granite asked. The unicorn nodded and looked back at the crystal ball, her horn lighting up as she did so. A moment later a holographic image of Air Striker flying towards the spire carrying the tied-up dragon bandit in his arms. Granite Gust recognized Air Striker's Wonderbolts armor immediately and threw his radio across the room.

"Celestia, damn it all!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs, "He came here with the Wonderbolts - the fucking Wonderbolts!"

"Boss, what should we do!?" asked one of the unicorns around the crystal ball. Granite rubbed the back of his head nervously for a moment as he racked his brain to try and think of a solution.

"H-how far out are the transport ships!?" he asked one of his bandits.

"The first one should be here in about ten to fifteen more minutes!" he answered. Granite began grumbling and messing with his mane.

"We could just revoke Snaggle's security clearance," offered one of the crystal ball unicorns, causing everyone there to look at him in shock.

"But, if we do that the spire's defenses will fry him along with that Wonderbolt, won't it?" asked another one.

"No, no, he might have something there..." Granite said, the gears in his head starting to turn. "As long as we can keep Rainstorm on his own, we should be able to keep him from shutting down security, but if he gets any outside help, there's a serious chance we could lose Moss Mare to the Wonderbolts. If that happens... After G.E. went to all the trouble of taking this place personally...'' The other bandits all looked as if they had just seen a ghost.

"Wait, you mean G.E. - the G.E. took this place themselves!?" asked one of the bandits fearfully.

"Yeah. It seems this whole operation is directly endorsed by The Endeavor itself," Granite explained. At this, everyone there broke out in a cold sweat.

"I-I always thought The Endeavor was just an old pony's tale..." one of the bandits said in a hushed voice.

"Nope, it's as real as they come," said Granite, "And this is my chance to impress them! Of course, if we lose this place, we'll have more than The Endeavor to worry about. G.E. doesn't accept failure - not from anypony. They probably already know that Snaggle already let himself get caught, which means, even if we beat these assholes, get the info they want, and figure out this weapon system G.E.'s so damn curious about, they'll still kill the poor bastard in the worst way possible. In the end, lightning strike's a lot quicker and a lot less painful a way to go," he finished grimly. The other bandits looked at one another for a moment, then looked back at Granite and nodded in agreement.

Several floors below, Rainstorm was dusting off his hands, content with his work. "Thank you, my good sir, that was quite the informative little discussion!" he cheerfully chortled to the griffon bandit, who was badly beaten, barely conscious, as well as bound and gagged with the rope with which he was also being suspended by the wrists and ankles from a ceiling fixture that most likely had been intended for a large chandelier or similar such apparatus. Rain playfully gave the semiconscious bandit's beak a boop, causing him to sway ever so slightly through the air and emit a groan, invoking a chuckle from the mercenary.

"Bit much, don't you think?" cawed an exasperated Huginn from Rain's left shoulder.

"Hey, he's alive this time, ain't he?" asked Rainstorm defensively as he turned to leave the room. They were about to return to the hallway when Huginn noticed one of the crates of ketamine was open.

"Hold on a minute," Huginn cawed to Rain, “I should analyze that junk. It might tell us more about who made it and where it comes from."

"Good thinking. I'll keep an eye out for anyone while you're doing your thing." Rain returned to the hallway and leaned out of the window. The night sky was nearly cloudless and brimming with countless stars as a gentle breeze blew a whiff of the sweet night air directly into his face. Thanks to the physical and mystical design of his filtered balaclava, though it blocked quite a few allergens, toxins, and other harmful airborne substances, it did not restrict his ability to talk or breathe in any way nor did it hamper his sense of smell in the slightest. He took in a deep breath of fresh air and sighed as he thought about what his next moves should be. That guy said that not too far from here, there's a secret passage that leads to the systems control array. If I go there and remove the coupling for this "Thunder-god system's" friend-foe directory, then the failsafe should kick in and prevent the weapon from being fired at all. Once I do that, the others can swoop in and clean house while I get Furlong's data... Once I've made sure it's not what I think it is... If it is, however, I may end up having to- ! Rain was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard a deafening squawk coming from the room behind him as his vision and hearing returned to normal.

He ran into the room and found Huginn lying on the floor next to the crate of drugs in a puddle of blood. "Huginn!" he called out to him as he rushed to his side to assess the damage, but it was too late. The bird lay there, a mixture of blood and foam bubbling out of his open beak with his legs sticking straight up in the air, while his vacant eyes were staring wide open. "Damn it all!" Rain said angrily as he continued examining Huginn's dead body. As he did so, he noticed the blood around the familiar was bubbling as well, and holding a finger near it, he noticed a great deal of heat emanating from it. "I should have figured this shit would have some kind of protective measures against attempts at chemical or alchemical analysis! Sorry, buddy," Rain apologized to Huginn as he pulled out a pouch and unceremoniously stuffed Huginn's remains into it, then tied the pouch to his belt and collected a sample of the drug before leaving the room.

"Well, at least, it can't get much worse..." he thought out loud to himself just before another surge of energy started building up through the spire. "Ohhh, why did I have to go and shoot my goddamn mouth!?" he furiously asked himself out loud as he went back to the window once more to try to see what was happening. Looking out he could see a faint speck off in the distance, "Dear God, don't tell me...!" he said panic-stricken as he could just make out two tiny figures in the distance, one appearing to be a pegasus in dark armor, though they were too far off to discern any further details. Before he could react further, a massive lightning bolt shot out from the top of the spire once again and in an instant, the two figures were gone. All Rain could do is stand there in shock, hoping against hope neither of the two figures had been Rainbow Dash or Spitfire.

Chapter 9: Finished

Chapter 10: Rain Vs Rán

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, the Trottacan Jungle, April 24th, year 2, Reformation era, 1:47 AM -

"You think you'll get away with this?" snarled the dragon bandit, Snaggle as he struggled against his restraints as Air Striker continued carrying him through the air towards Moss Mare Spire.

"Will you stop squirming around, please?" he annoyedly asked the bandit, "If you're not careful, I could end up dropping you. As long as you don't try to hurt anypony, I promise I won't hurt you, so just relax will you?"

"Yeah, right! All you war horses know how to do is hurt and kill people from other races you think are weaker than yours! Then, when the going gets tough, you cower behind that demoness you worship as a goddess!" Snaggle snapped back.

"Where the Hell is all this coming from!?" asked Air Striker.

"Just because most of my people have forgotten the old ways, doesn't mean there aren't some of us left!" Snaggle exclaimed. "I grew up with a traditional dragon upbringing. I know all about my people's proud history - Hell, my earliest memory is staring at clan heirlooms dating as far back as the Golden Age of Dragonia! I grew up with the horror stories about how your people eradicated most of mine and left our whole land in ruins! That's the whole reason I joined up with Granite Gust's posse in the first place, to help return the favor! You destroyed my people's civilization and culture, so now I'll help do the same to yours!" he finished with a sneer as, unbeknownst to Air Striker, he pulled a small, thin, flattened, needle-like object with several grooves along either side of it from the lining of his belt.

"Wasn't it your people who attacked Equestria first? Also, you're going on about how we've 'hurt and killed people from races we think are weaker than ours', but from what I recall from history class, wasn't Dragonia's Drakado at the time supplying slave labor to places like Saddle Arabia and expanding your nation's territory by conquering other nations and even wiped out a few people in the process? I'm not saying Equestria hasn't done some pretty bad things, or even that Celestia is always in the right, but your empire was acting no better. We tried treating with you, but you didn't want to hear it and in the end, we had no choice but to destroy your kingdom before you destroyed ours," Air Striker explained. Just then, the spire lit up with electricity.

"Looks like both our numbers' just came up!" Snaggle exclaimed as he slid the needle across his restraints, causing them to come undone. This caught Air Striker completely off guard and gave a now-free Snaggle the time to fly around and grab him from behind.

"*Grr* W-what are you doing!?" Striker asked as he struggled to break free, the spire charging energy the whole time. "You'll only get yourself killed, you fool!"

"We'll see about that..." Snaggle said with a sneer. Just then, the spire's weapon fired, "Banzai..." Snaggle hissed into Air Striker's ear just as the two of them were engulfed by electricity.

"Air Striker!" Rainbow Dash screamed at the top of her lungs as she started to take off in their direction, only for Spitfire and Jasper to grab hold of her.

"Stand down, soldier - that's an order! commanded Spitfire, who was still trying to keep Dash from flying away as she argued.

"But he could be hurt! If we hurry, we might still be able to- !"

"Dashy, he's gone!" interrupted Jasper, "There's no way he could have survived a direct hit from something like that, and even if he did, if you go out there right now, you'll only get yourself killed!"

"B-but..." Rainbow's voice trailed off as she stopped struggling, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

"Knock that shit off, Crash!" demanded Hotstreak as he stormed up to RD and grabbed her by the scruff of her armor. "If the next words that come out of your mouth have anything to do with you blaming yourself, I swear I'll slug you! And cut it out with the damn tears too! If you've got time to cry, then you've got time to act!" he yelled. Rainbow was about to shout at him for his callous attitude until she noticed the tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Oh... Rainbow thought to herself as a pang of guilt hit her. Though Hotstreak was the second-newest member of the Wonderbolts, behind her, he had already been with them two years before she had joined and was likely far closer to them than she was. In spite of that, here he was, trying his best to stay focused on the task at hand even though his heart was clearly breaking.

"You're right, I'm sorry. It won't happen again," she said. With that, Spitfire and Jasper let go of her.

"See that it doesn't," Spitfire ordered, to which Rainbow saluted and gave a nod of agreement. It was then that Rainbow Dash's communicator started vibrating again and she answered it.

"Hello?" asked RD.

"Mary, mother of God!" Rain exclaimed, "I thought you'd died! Please, tell me that Spitfire is still with you!?"

"I'm still here, Rain," Spitfire answered, "But Air Striker got caught up in that blast..." Air Striker?... Rainstorm thought to himself. If that's the case, then that means... Rain was quiet for a moment before answering.

"I understand, Spitfire" he responded.

"So, how are things on your end?" Spitfire asked just as the sound of a struggle breaking out on Rainstorm's end.

"You know? Same old, same old..." he replied as he used an ash cable he'd attached to the ceiling to rapidly pull a bandit he'd latched onto the other end of it headlong into it, knocking him out. "Winning friends and influencing people, rubbing elbows, giving advice on proper cosplay etiquette - just being helpful, same as always..." Rain said nonchalantly as the ash cable dissipated and the bandit dropped back to the floor with a hard thud.

"Any closer to completing your objective?" asked Spitfire.

"I have an idea or two..." said Rainstorm thinking back to the intel he'd gotten out of the griffon earlier. "I gotta get off. I've already taken a big enough risk contacting you from inside the base as it is. I can't risk breaking radio silence any longer,"

"Understood. Take care," Spitfire said. Rainstorm nodded before hanging up. Rain took off running down the hall until coming across a set of stairs heading up, which he proceeded to use, unaware Star Blitz had been hiding behind a nearby pillar next to the room with the tied-up griffon bandit. A few moments later, back in the command center, Granite Gust had just picked his radio back up when Star Blitz contacted him again and after giving him an update, he turned to his other henchmen and relayed the information.

"And Gunter's out cold?" asked one of the bandits.

"Yep, and it doesn't seem like he'll be coming to any time soon," said Granite.

"Any idea what Rainstorm might have gotten out of him?" asked another.

"No..." Granite said as he ran his hand through his mane. The situation was starting to seem completely hopeless.

"Perhaps now you'll let me take care of our little intruder?" said a sultry voice somewhere from behind Granite. The voice was coming from a unicorn mare making her way up the stairs wearing dark-violet robes which clung snuggly to her body, a long, matching cape, and silver chest plate with a matching belt on which she carried six silver flasks, each with the same coat of arms depicting an armored morse rearing back on its hind legs and being ridden by a unicorn wearing both armor and wizard's robes carrying a wooden staff. She also wore a hood, silver greaves, silver gauntlets, and a silver mask with the design of a beautiful mare's face with slits for eye-holes, and a hole where her pale, pinkish-white horn protruded from.

"We've been over this, Rán. We need him alive!" Granite said, addressing the robbed unicorn, "Your special talent isn't exactly the taking-prisoners kind." Rán cocked her head ever so slightly to one side for a second before slowly walking up to him, her hips noticeably swaying with each step, until her body was pressing directly against his, causing his face to turn a deep-crimson.

"Let me assure you, Master Gust, that I can and will capture Rainstorm alive, and extract every. Single. Ounce of information out of him, by any means necessary..." Rán said as seductively as possible while dragging a finger up Granite's chest, "...But...in exchange...after we've gotten everything we can out of him..." her voice trailed off as her finger reached his neck, only for her to then make a quick motion with it across his throat in a slicing gesture. Granite quickly backed away from her, sweat starting to trail down his face.

"A-alright, alright already!" he shouted, clearly flustered. Just stop doing... that! Go. Take him down. Not. Out! Get everything you can from him, and after that, I don't care what you do with him, or to him! Just...get to it already! And no fuckups!" he barked. Rán bowed her head slightly and teleported away, leaving the other bandits in the room staring at Granite. "What the Hell are you idiots looking at!?" Gust shouted, prompting the bandits to return to their original tasks. Gross... Granite thought to himself as he shifted uncomfortably. Down below, Rainstorm had found the systems control array for the spire - a large, cylindrical chamber with a massive, open pipe running all the way to the top floor with several dozen different small pipe-looking structures within, each with worn, Ponish words on the side.

"Alrighty then..." Rain said aloud to himself as he looked over the different couplings in the pipe. "Must be from when this place was originally constructed. Guess whoever made this place decided not to close it up completely just in case they needed to disable this place for maintenance... Or in the event of enemy invasion," Rain theorized as he noticed one of the couplings had the words, 'Kinetic Absorption' written along the side. If I remove that, then the next quake that passes through here won't get dissipated, meaning, the whole place could collapse... he thought to himself but changed his mind at the last minute. Can't deep-six this place until I know for sure the data's here, and even then, I should probably make sure to wipe any and all drives before doing anything too crazy... Still, good to know about, just in case... It was then he found what he was looking for. "Gotcha!" he said triumphantly as he reached out for the coupling marked, 'Thunder-god Friend-Foe Identification', and with a bit of fiddling around with it, managed to detach it from its receiver without breaking it.

With that, Rain pulled a second sack out of one of his pockets and shoved the object into it, using the drawstrings to tie the sack shut and then tying it to his belt. Tempted to destroy it, but knowing my luck, something would go sideways and I'd need to get this, 'Thunder-god system' up and running again... he thought to himself as he made his way for a small, square hole at the back of the chamber, just big enough for him to crawl through. He pulled himself through the hole and into a medium-sized broom closet, then used an ash cable from the Ashcaster to move a large, heavy stone block into the hole by attaching one end of the cable to the back of it and the other to the floor of the chamber he'd just exited, then retracted the cable until the block was perfectly in place. "Perfect!" he said confidently while dusting his hands together, still amazed by how well the block meshed with the secret entrance to the chamber, "That birdbrain should be out for, at least, a few more hours, and without him, there's no way the others will know about this passage he found to the control systems," he said under his breath. As he exited the broom closet, he hit another button on the pager he was carrying, just as alarms started going off throughout the spire, "For fuck's sake, what now!?" he irritably asked. Meanwhile, Spitfire informed the other Wonderbolts of the all-clear.

"So, we can finally move in?" asked Hotstreak.

"Correct!" Spitfire confirmed before they all heard a noise from somewhere above them. They didn't have to look around long before discovering the source of the sound as seven medium-sized airships flew overhead, straight for the spire.

"Those look like cargo shuttles!" Jasper exclaimed.

"They must have called them in to transport the product out of here!" Fleetfoot surmised.

"Then, you know what to do Wonderbolts!" proclaimed Spitfire, "Roll-out!" she shouted before taking to the air, the others following close behind her. As they drew closer to the airships, they noticed each one was retrofitted with a pair of manned ball turrets in between the two, small wings at the front and back of each side of the craft.

"They've got gunners!" Soarin warned the others via their short-range comms just as a bandit occupying the starboard-mounted ball turret on the nearest airship noticed them and swiveled around to open fire on the Wonderbolts. The Wonderbolts dispersed their formation as they narrowly evaded the rounds flying at them through the air.

"At least, those guns don't seem to have a lot of range on them," RD said as they found a safe distance at which to follow the airships.

"It's not just their guns that are short-range, Dashy" Jasper responded, "Those transport craft aren't designed for long-range travel so, either these bandits have another base close by, or -,"

"Or, that!" Hotstreak interrupted Jasper to point out something behind them. To their dismay, some distance away, they saw a large, nearly pitch-black ship with a barge-like design, a large propulsion cone jutting out from the back, and a dozen large guns on each side. It was floating through the air, suspended by a massive, armored blimp, with a large, metal band featuring numerous magical runes engraved upon it, and three large gossamer flight rings embedded into different points of the band on both sides.

"SWEET CELESTIA, WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM!?" Rainbow Dash yelled in surprise at the top of her lungs. The others seemed to be equally at a loss for words with many of them just staring open-mouthed at the sudden appearance of the huge craft.

"Don't tell me that thing teleported here!" Fleetfoot exclaimed.

"How it got here isn't important right now!" shouted Jasper, "What's important is making sure none of those transport ships make it back to that carrier because once they do, they’re home free! There's no way we can take on that carrier on our own!"

"Jasper's right! Takedown those transporters at any cost!" ordered Spitfire. With that, Rainbow charged at the nearest transport ship from above, in hopes that the lower-oriented ball turrets wouldn't be able to hit her.

"Gotcha!" she said as she touched down on the roof of the air vehicle, but before she could even draw her machine pistols the starboard-mounted turret repositioned itself to a higher orientation, aiming its center-mounted gun straight at her. "SHIT!" shouted RD at the top of her lungs as she took off to avoid being shot, but she was caught off guard. Just as a volley of lead was about to hit her, she felt someone grab her and heard the sound of bullets ricocheting off of something metal. She looked up to see she was being held by Jasper, who was holding some sort of round, metallic shield, protecting both of them from enemy fire.

"That was a close call, Sweet-pea!" he said cheerfully as the bullets continued to bounce harmlessly off the shield for a few more moments before the airships were out of the turrets’ range.

"Where did you get that shield?" Rainbow asked in surprise before Jasper turned loose of her.

"Oh, you mean this old thing?" Jasper asked as the shield uncoiled itself to reveal it was actually a metallic, silver vine, which retracted itself into a silver corsage around Jasper's wrist. "It's an artifact I got a long time ago, called the Silver Rose. It's pretty handy in situations like this!" he happily explained, "In fact, you want to see just how handy it can be?" he asked her.

"You got a plan?" Dash asked in return.

"I've got a plan," he informed her before explaining his plan to RD. After which, Rainbow Dash took off for the ship again as the other Wonderbolts engaged the other airships.

"Remember everypony, the supports for those turrets seem to be some sort of hydraulic arms on some kind of track, so they can slide up and down and turn around in all sorts of different directions," reminded Fleetfoot after observing Rainbow's near miss, "They may be short-range guns, but the can apparently be aimed in almost any direction, so be careful!"

"Yeah, yeah. We hear you, mom!" Hotstreak responded as he charged towards one of the transports, rapidly punching his left hand into his right repeatedly as he did so. Soon, the air around his left hand began to glow a dull-orange, then quickly turn a bright-yellow before his entire hand appeared to be engulfed in flames, then with a fierce battle cry, he charged from the left at one of the transports - straight for its port-mounted turret! As the gunner inside fired on Hotstreak, he shielded himself with his glowing fist, which the bullets harmlessly bounced off of, before finally closing the distance enough for him to punch the gun itself with enough force to knock it back into the turret itself and cause the whole ship to shake. He then drew his machine pistols and proceeded to shoot out the tiny, gossamer rings located on both of the small forward and backward-facing wings at point-blank range. "Vehicle force fields can't be triggered by gunfire from this close, losers!" he said with a sneer as the last ring fell apart and the ship started to go down.

"...You... You know they can't hear you...right?" Soarin asked with a tone of confusion evident in his voice.

"Y-yeah, I knew that..." replied Hotstreak as his face turned even redder than normal. Soarin rolled his eyes as he flew close enough to one of the transports to press his hands up against it, just out of the turrets' line of sight. Once he had, he closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply, then he started to slowly pull his right hand away from the airship, drawing magical energy away from it in the process, causing the ship to lose power. He then focused his hand full of stolen magical energy into a point floating just above his hand that was roughly the size of his palm, took aim at the back fo the transport, and fired a blast of kinetic energy through the back of the ship and into the back of the pilot's head, causing the back of his skull to violently rupture and his lifeless body to be knocked forward against the controls. As a result, the ship quickly headed towards the ground, doing multiple forward flips all the way down until crashing in a fiery explosion, killing all on board.

"...Whoops..." Soarin said quietly under his breath as he hovered in mid-air and in stunned silence, having only meant to bust into the craft so as to knock everyone out.

"Dude, your special talent is insane!" Hotstreak exclaimed.

"Quit flapping your gums and get back to work!" ordered Fleetfoot as she narrowly avoided being shot out of the sky as she closed in on a turret on one of the crafts, eventually making it to the side of its gun, where she then proceeded to grab onto it. The gun then began to ice over and soon the whole turret was covered in ice. She then attached a small explosive device near the now frozen joint that connected it to the ship and flew away seconds before it detonated, shattering the turret, nearly punching a hole in the side of the craft, and sending the badly-injured bandit gunner falling to her death. Then, she took out the rings on the side of the turret she'd just destroyed. At the same time, Rainbow Dash was flying around underneath the first ship, well within firing range of the guns.

"Ha, ha! Come on, try to hit me!" She chortled as the turrets’ gunners did their best to do just that, but to no avail, completely unaware of Jasper. Coming in from above, he landed on the ship's roof facing its portside. Before anyone in either the turrets or the airship itself could respond, Jasper quickly drew his arm inward for an outward strike and as he did so, a metallic, silver vine covered in numerous, blade-like thorns rapidly extended itself from the Silver Rose. In less than a second, it was dozens of feet in length and a second later, he'd swung out with it, slicing the vehicle completely in half from stern to bow instantly! He caught himself in the air before he could go down with the ship and hovered there for a moment, the vine of his artifact having already fully retracted as Rainbow came up to him. "That. Was. AWESOME!" she squealed excitedly at him, I have got to get me an artifact!" Meanwhile, Spitfire had managed to outmaneuver the gunners in the turrets of her own target, getting underneath the craft near where she believed the middle of the rear of the cockpit to be located.

"Considering the model of this bird, the core should be about here so..." her voice trailed off as she quickly drew her machine pistols and pushed their muzzles directly against the bottom of the ship, all the while the air around her seemed to rapidly heat up. When she fired, the rounds flying out of her weapons seemed to turn red-hot and molten the instant they exited the guns, easily tearing through the bottom of the vehicle and clear through its magical core, causing numerous sparks to arc from it and the ship as a whole to begin to violently rattle and shake. She then disengaged her target, allowing herself to fall away from the airship just moments before it exploded into hundreds of pieces in mid-transit. It was then she noticed that while she and the others had been preoccupied with their own airships, one had nearly made it to the spire, "Crash, call Rain, tell him one of these things is on its way!" she ordered.

"Guess there's no point in maintaining radio silence anymore, huh?" she asked as she flipped open her communicator to contact Rainstorm while still dodging enemy fire from another airship. Rainstorm felt his communicator vibrating from inside one of his pockets and pulled it out to answer.

"Am I to take it you guys are the reason for the damn alarms going off all over the place!?"

"What? No," Rainbow responded, "I don't know why alarms are going off on your end, but we've got a huge problem!"

"What, another one?" Rain asked nonchalantly.

"There's a transport craft that should be landing at the spire soon, and we're too busy with taking down the others to do anything about it ourselves!" she explained.

"Transport craft aren't too quick. Should be easy enough for you guys to handle it on its way out. What's the catch?" Rain asked.

"We can't risk it. There's an air carrier that literally just appeared nearby out of thin air! If it uses some kind of teleporting magic, or something- !"

"Then even if you clear out the others, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to stop the thing from either getting ported back to the main ship once it's loaded up, or it might be able to remotely transfer the product directly to the carrier once the transporter touches down here," he said, cutting off Rainbow Dash. "So, you need someone to deep-six that bird before anyone even gets the chance to start loading it,"

"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash confirmed as her voice trailed off.

"*sigh*... I'll see what I can do," Rain said before hanging up. Yeah, I'll just do that, along with twelve billion other fucking things, because I clearly don't have enough to deal with as is... he thought to himself as he continued down the hall he was in. Just as he came to a fork at the end of the hall he was in, he heard a mass of footsteps heading towards him from multiple directions, prompting him to duck into an empty room to his left just as one group of bandits turned the corner and ran right past his hiding spot.

"Hurry - just got word from Granite that one of our transports is about to land!" said a bandit guard as he motioned at the others to head down the left of the fork at the end of the hall, "Moment it lands we need to get it loaded up, and back to the Obsidian Cloud, ASAP!" he shouted at the last of his comrades before following after them. A moment later, Rain slowly poked his head out of the room to look around and make sure the coast was clear before fully exiting the room.

"Meh, I'll give it a look," he said to himself before taking off after the bandits. Meanwhile, in the command center, Granite Gust was having yet another conniption.

"I thought we kept the alarms from going off for Rainstorm! Why the Hell are they going off, and why now!?" he demanded to know as one of the unicorns at the control crystal used her magic to shut off the alarms while another scanned the spire's security.

"One of ours just called in some sort of strange phenomenon on the third floor!" he informed Granite while keeping one hand over the commlink in his left ear, "The building's too big for us to scan every square foot of it in a timely manner with the crystal, but as long as it's one of our guys we can lock on to their aura and see everything happening around them so, I'll just lock on to Flappy..." his voice trailed off as he focused his magical energies onto the crystal.

"Hold up!" Granite Gust said as he raised one of his hands, "We have a guy named, 'Flappy?' Who the Hell names their foal 'Flappy'!?" he asked incredulously, causing the unicorn to roll his eyes as he continued his work.

"Found him!" he exclaimed, "Now, let's see who's harassing you..." The crystal then began to project a holographic image of several bandits hiding behind corners, doorways, crates, and whatever else they could use as cover, poking their heads out only long enough to take a few shots at something just outside of the hologram's range of sight.

"What are they shooting at?" asked Granite confusedly.

"Hold on. Now that we know where to look, I should be able to- !" the unicorn stopped mid-sentence as the holographic image panned to the left to reveal a phantasmal, vaguely humanoid entity that appeared to be made of pale-blue light and electricity steadily marching towards the bandits, striking them one at a time with - what, at least, seemed to be - its arm. With each blow, the bandit was sent flying off in the opposite direction with a large, smoldering burn at the point of impact, and a massive amount of electricity surging through the bandit's body, and with each strike, the entity's form seemed to slowly, but surely become more and more solid. Finally, the only remaining bandit was a particularly burley, dark-brown minotaur bull, who emptied round after round into the being, and upon noticing the bullets were merely phasing through it, threw his weapon to the ground in rage and charged towards the entity and upon grappling it, was engulfed by light and electricity. As a result, the stone pillar the crystal sat upon began to spark, and with a loud "pop", the hologram vanished, and the crystal was filled with static. "...I...think it just killed Flappy..." said one of the unicorn mares sitting around the crystal ball.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that minotaur was Flappy!?" Granite Gust said, bewildered.

"...Boss, I think you're missing the point..." said another unicorn.

"Err, right..." Gust responded as he turned his full attention to the issue at hand, "So, obvious question; What in Tartarus is that!?"

"Not sure, but...the electrical energy it's giving off is highly similar to the energy generated by the spire," said one of the unicorns.

"Shit, is this some kind of defense mechanism Rainstorm managed to switch back on!? Are we completely blind now!? Have any of the transporters landed yet!?" Granite demanded to know.

"In order; Not sure, no, just a mild circuit overload - I can reroute and get an image back up in a few seconds, and one's about to touch down. Just let me lock on to one of our guys on standby at the landing pad and...bingo!" the unicorn exclaimed. Sure enough, there were several armed bandits standing within one of the pepperbox turrets that hung from the side of the spire, suspended only by the long bridge, just wide enough for three or so people to walk down side-by-side, which also connected it to the spire itself. Unbeknownst to all other parties, however, Rainstorm stood at the entrance to the bridge, carefully peeking out from cover, as he observed the last of the bandits that had been carrying a crate of drugs place the illicit cargo down on the path, noticing not a single crate had been brought into the turret. Before he could question it any further, the bandits that had been inside the turret all ran out at top speed as the sound of mechanical whirring filled the air while the conical roof of the turret split open into three parts, revealing themselves to be suspended from massive, mechanical arms on rails that allowed them to fold themselves, one on top of the other, opposite from the bridge. As the roof was opening up, Rain could see an aircraft in the distance quickly closing in.

Well, that explains where they were planning on landing the damn things... he thought to himself as he drew his wind drakana sword and a vial filled with a glowing, blue liquid. He then emptied the vial onto the blade, causing a tight, powerful air pocket to envelope it, he then gripped the sword in his mouth by the handle as he drew his sky-cutter and placed several alchemic bombs along each of the blades. "No redos... That's all the distilled magic I had to my name so..." he said to himself under his breath as he carefully placed the end of his blade through the central ring of his sky-cutter, causing the weapon to spin with such incredible speed that it nearly vanished. He then grabbed the handle of the drakana with both hands, focusing with all his will on the energy humming through the blade and what he wanted it to do. Then, just as the craft began its descent onto the platform below, opening the hatch at its back before it had even landed, he turned the corner and swung the sword with all his might and will. This transferred the wind from the sword to the sky-cutter and propelled the weapon much further and far more accurately than he could have otherwise, causing the sky-cutter to fly through the hatch and towards the cockpit doors, lodging itself in the ship's core which separated the two doors.

This triggered a massive explosion fueled by the three-way combination of the explosives igniting, the core overloading due to the damage dealt by the sky-cutter, and the magical energy that had escaped the core mere moments before the explosives going off dealing additional damage to the ship and supercharging said explosives. The resulting blast was so intense it completely pulverized the platform and what little of the bridge remained quickly crumbled and fell away, leaving only five of the bandits stationed there alive. They only escaped because they were just far enough from the explosion to avoid grievous injury and were able to fly. Their survival was short-lived, however, as they were so off guard from the explosion that they didn't have time to react before Rainstorm replaced his sword with his twin pistols and proceeded to shoot them each in the head, two at a time until only the fifth bandit remained. The last bandit was able to react just fast enough to get a single shot off at Rainstorm just as a bullet from one of the merc's guns managed to blow a sizable hole through the bandit's neck, nearly decapitating him as his corpse fell from the sky. The bullet the now-dead bandit had fired at Rain flew past his face so close he could feel the heat from it, "And...now I have to buy a new sky-cutter," Rain said annoyedly as he backed away from the doorway and started to head off towards the center of the spire and the next set of stairs. As he walked, he flipped open his communicator to let the Wonderbolts know what had happened.

"Was the huge explosion you?" Dash asked as soon as she answered her communicator.

"Probably..." Rain said smugly, causing Rainbow to chuckle.

"Looks like that's the last of the transports then!" Dash exclaimed as Spitfire took out the last remaining shuttle before flying over to her.

"Alright, then we'll join you at the spire ASAP!" she said, Rain nodding in agreement as he turned a corner and entered a large, eight-way cross-section where he came face to face with Rán, who was standing there with her arms crossed, impatiently tapping her foot.

"You're late!" she snarled at Rainstorm who merely rolled his eyes at the mare.

"Sorry, I'm gonna have to call you back..." he said just before hanging up and pocketing the communicator, "Sorry, is there something I can help you with, miss?..." he asked as he failed to stop himself from admiring the mare's curvaceous figure.

"Rán, and there is something you can help me with..." she replied in her sultry voice as the clasp on one of the flasks on her belt opened and a large amount of water - far more than what would appear possible by its outward appearance - started pouring out of it and pooling around her feet. "You can die," she said coldly as all the water that had pooled around her started to form a sphere of water in the air right in front of her, which started to contract, and as the sphere of water grew smaller, the water within seemed to bubble more and more until it looked as though it were boiling and just smaller than a basketball. Then with a furious battle cry, she launched the projectile at high-speed towards Rainstorm, who just barely rolled out of the way before impact, resulting in it hitting the wall behind him, rupturing and filling the cross-section with steam, which, moments later, began reforming the sphere. When the steam condensed back into the water sphere, she could see her quarry had eluded her, "Mmmm...hide and seek... My favorite..." she cooed as she looked around, trying to determine where her prey could have run off to.

"Shit, that was close!" Rain whispered to himself from his hiding place among the rafters above the moderately-sized dining room he'd leaped into to avoid Rán's attack. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, as he mulled over the encounter, Ok, those water balls are definitely filled with boiling water... Really, really hot boiling water... Never even touched me and I feel like I've been sitting in a sauna for more than fifteen minutes... If one of those make a direct hit on me, it won't matter if my armor can take the impact or not... The heat alone will kill me... he thought to himself as the door to the dining room was reduced to splinters by an aqua-colored kinetic blast and Rán sauntered into the room, the reformed water sphere floating right next to her.

"Oh, Raindrops! Come out, come out, wherever you are!..." she called out in a mocking tone.

"Yeah, I'll be sure and do that right away..." Rain said so quietly under his breath that he little more than silently mouthed the sentence. He then closed his eyes and focused on the situation, looking back on everything he'd noticed about the attacker. First thing of note, she knows my old name - huge red flag... Possibly the shapeshifter from the other day?... No... Lacks the same sort of...malignant presence the shapeshifter had... Could still be in league with them... Next is that water ball... That kinda thing is typically the work of multiple spells working in concert with one another and would normally cause a significant spike in aura output, as well as cause her to light up like a Goddamn Christmas tree, but not only does she seem to have barely put any effort into it, no aura flare - not even her horn is glowing... Artifact? Maybe... That or her special talent... Either way, big trouble... And the water... a lot of it to come out of a flask that size... Judging by the markings, those must be Thor's Horn flasks - custom made by the looks of them... That means they could be carrying up to two gallons of water each so, counting the one already in use, that means twelve gallons at least... Also, given the coat of arms, plus how pricey Thor's Horn flasks are to begin with - let alone how much more expensive a custom one would be - either she's had a run-in with money or she comes from money... In fact, that coat of arms looks familiar...

"Ahh... Found you!" she said coldly as she gazed in the direction of Rain's hiding place, "I'd come out if I were you unless you want me to turn this whole room into a steam cooker!"

Damn!... he thought to himself as he used the Ashcaster to repel down to the ground. "Ok, care to talk this out? I am open to surrender..." he said smugly.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" she laughed menacingly - to the point of sounding a bit forced, causing Rain to lift an eyebrow. "Granite Gust wants me to bring you to him alive so you can tell him what this, 'Kershma' or 'Vizpapa' or, whatever it is you called it outside is and where he can get his hands on it, but I honestly don't care in the slightest!"

"Wait, none of you know about the Vishvarupa System!? Not a single one!?" Rain asked in shock.

"Haven't a clue, and that's the only reason we've gone easy on you until now," Rán answered, "I, on the other hand, couldn't care less if I tried! I'm only here because the Master told me you'd come here eventually, and so you have,"

"'The Master'? Who the Hell's that?" Rain asked as he subtly took a firm grasp of a chair next to where he'd come down at.

"Sorry, but I'm done answering your asinine questions. Now be a good, little monkey, and die!" she yelled as she fired the water sphere at Rainstorm again, only for it to be met halfway through the air by the chair Rain had just thrown, causing the sphere to rupture on contact and causing the chair to fragment and steam to fill the room. Rain took the opportunity to duck out of the room, leaving a bomb behind for good measure - right behind Rán! A moment later, just as he'd turned the corner, the bomb went off, blowing away the steam, but not his assailant, who had protected herself with a powerful force field, "Really? A sneak attack? You actually thought that would work against me!? Please, I've been training for years to kill you! You'll have to try better than that!" she yelled after him.

"Years, huh?" Rain asked himself under his breath as he readied his pistols from behind the corner while Rán began gathering the steam and moisture for another sphere. Before she could gather enough for an attack, Rainstorm whipped around to face her and began firing both pistols at her. The force field surrounding her body closely like an aqua-colored, halo of light held true, absorbing the force of the bullets enough to where they were unable to cause any damage, all the while, the sphere had been taking shape again. Then the sphere began to condense and boil, afterwards firing at high-speed at Rainstorm, who, once again, barely managed to leap out of the way enough to avoid injury. This time, however, the steam released began to swirl around him, leaving him unable to see anything in front of him, Damn it! I need to get out of this!... he thought to himself just before he felt something small and hot strike him in the chest and explode with surprising force, knocking him backwards out of the cloud of steam.

He flew back several feet landing hard on his back and sliding a few more feet and though he'd, fortunately, managed to hang on to his guns, it was of little consolation as the taste of blood filled his mouth, "Ready to give up and die yet?" Rán asked, her voice dripping with malice as a much tinier water sphere took shape next to her. Rain quickly sat up, taking a shot at Rán, directly between her eyes, only for the small sphere of water to both widen and flatten out, hovering right in front of her at an angle, causing the bullets to fragment on impact with the water. "You can never hit me with a mere bullet! My magic - especially my special talent - is the perfect counter for you, your skills, and any tools or tricks you might have up your sleeves!" she boasted as Rainstorm continued firing into the water barrier with one gun as he holstered the other, and drew something in its place. "I'll be nice though, and give you a choice - you can either let me boil you alive, or you can shoot yourself - your choi- !?" she stopped just before finishing her sentence as she noticed something bounce off the wall next to the ground to her left and land right next to her feet. "What th- !" a loud boom and a blinding flash of light filled the hallway, accompanied by a thick cloud of smoke, catching Rán completely off guard and when the cloud of smoke dissipated, she saw that Rainstorm was gone, "GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD!!!!!!", she screamed as she took off down the hall to find him, her voice no longer holding the sultry tone from before.

Rainstorm ran down the hallway as fast as he could, while trying to think of what to do about his current predicament, "Ok, good news - from the way she spoke, it doesn't seem like they know anything about the Vishvarupa System so, at worst, all I'll have to do is scrub the files to make sure there aren't any references to it before I hand them over, just to be safe. Bad news - she seems to really want me dead!" he said aloud to himself as he heard Rán screaming from somewhere nearby. She's said she'd been training for years specifically to fight me... And by the sounds of things, she's got quite a temper... That last water ball wasn't nearly as hot as the other ones and didn't hit me with anywhere near the same force, though I've got at least a few cracked ribs, blisters, and I bit the hell out of the inside of my mouth when I hit the floor... he thought to himself as he winced and put his hand up to his cheek. So, it seems that she can make those water balls quicker and smaller but at the cost of heat and power... She's got a grudge against me... She knows my old name from Canterlot... Canterlot... Temper... That's it!... he thought to himself excitedly. He made his way to a window and decided to make his final stand there, whistling as he waited for Rán, which didn't take more than a minute or two for her to find him.

"*gasp* F-found you, you - *gasp* - little shit!" she barely choked out as she tried to catch her breath.

"By all means, take your time!" Rainstorm said cheerfully, "As much as I'd like to hear a gorgeous woman like yourself gasping, this is hardly what I have in mind," he said slyly.

"Oh, stow it!" Rán snapped back at Rainstorm, "Patronizing me is by far the worst thing you can do, given your current situation!"

"But I'm not patronizing you. You really are quite beautiful - I mean, look at you! That figure of yours is jaw-dropping, and if you weren't trying to kill me, that voice of yours would be making me weak in the knees - plus, I'm sure underneath that mask, your face is a sight to behold! By all accounts, you're a class act! Can't imagine what I could have ever done to piss off a goddess like you?" he said, making it as obvious as possible that he was eying her up and down.

"'Underneath that mask, your face is a sight to behold', huh?..." she repeated Rain's words, sounding quite sad as she did so, "You can say that again," she said as she reached for the side of her mask and pulled it back just far enough for part of the left side of her chin to be visible, revealing it to be heavily scarred.

"Are those alchemical burns?" Rain asked as Rán slid her mask back into place.

"Recognize your handy work?" Rán asked, her voice a blend of sadness and fury, "Because of you, I lost so much more than my good looks! All I have left is the burning need for vengeance against you! However, since you find me so attractive, I'll grant you one last favor - I'll tell you the real name of the mare who kills you - 'Summer Seabreeze'! Now, do you remember me?" she asked smugly.

"Nope," Rain answered bluntly.

"Yes, I- wait, what!?" Rán asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I've never heard of you in my life," Rain said again, much to Rán's frustration.

"You know?... Rich, popular, from a noble unicorn clan, bullied you in school a lot?" she asked, in an attempt to jog his memory.

"Lady, do you have any idea just how little that narrows it down?" Rainstorm asked incredulously.

"Fair point..." Rán admitted, "Most beautiful filly in school, pinkish-white skin, mostly black-blue mane, dark-brown eyes, came from house Stormrider - never missed an opportunity to talk about it!?" she asked, her temper starting to get the best of her.

"Ohhhhh, Summer!" Rainstorm proclaimed happily as he brought his right fist down onto his open left palm, "I remember you now! You were that really plain-looking filly that kept following me around while trying not to be noticed by me! Always thought you were a bit of a loser rea- !..." Rain stopped mid-sentence as Rán began glowing and all the flasks on her belt opened up and began pouring their contents out.

"'Plain-looking'?... 'Loser!?'" she asked as she clasped her hands together and all the water in her possession began to form an enormous water sphere, "TAKE THIS, YOU STUPID JERK!!!!!!!!!! she bellowed loudly enough for her voice to crack, as she prepared to fire the sphere.

"I'm sorry..." Rain barely managed to squeak out before Rán launched her attack.

Outside of the spire, down below, Hotstreak had only managed to fly within a few feet of the nearest window before an electric shock sent him flying back with a yelp. "Knock it off already, you dumbass!" Spitfire ordered as a defeated-looking Hotstreak landed a few feet behind her, his ears drooping in his disappointment, "As long as this place is still being powered, nopony from the outside can just fly through the windows - security system, or not! That's why we had to have Rain go through the entrance instead of just scale the spire with his artifact," she explained.

"Wait, why isn't it hooked up to the security system?" Hotstreak asked.

"Technically, it's not a security feature," Fleetfoot interjected, "According to the intel - which somepony wasn't paying attention to - this place was made back in 'ye-olden-days', and back then, normal window shutters and even glass window panes themselves and the like weren't used that often on larger buildings like this. Normally, it was easier and cheaper to just use a one-way deflection enchantment on the windows to keep bugs and dust and stuff out. With the amount of energy in this spire, it likely overcharges the enchantments, which is why they also make a good additional layer of protection. Don't know if it's an intentional design choice or just an unforeseen side-effect that just happened to pan out for whoever built the place, though..." Hotstreak was about to respond when they heard an enormous explosion from above. The Wonderbolts looked up just in the nick of time to barely avoid tons of stone debris falling from above by running into the building before a massive chunk of wall blocked the doorway.

"What the Hell was that!?" asked Soarin. That's when Rainbow Dash noticed something among the rubble that had come in with them, a familiar grey hat.

"Oh, no..." Rainbow Dash said fearfully as she picked up Rainstorm's hat, noticing a few droplets of fresh blood trickle out of the hat as she held it.

"*sigh* Better hang on to that, Crash," Spitfire said with exasperation, "Last thing I want is to have to listen to Rain whine about losing his hat all the way back home," she said as she started heading further into the spire.

"B-but, that explosion- !" Rainbow was cut off by Spitfire holding up a hand - a gesture instructing RD to be quiet.

"-Is just a sign that Rain's having a good workout. I've seen that stallion survive things nopony else could... There's no way he'd ever die in a place like this," she informed Rainbow rather matter-of-factly. "Now, hurry up! Don't want our comrades to have all the fun,"

"No, Mam!" Dash said as she followed behind, but then took notice of Spitfire's words. "Our comrades"?... But the only other pony already here is Rainstorm... she thought to herself as she caught up with the Wonderbolts.

Back where Rán and Rain had been fighting each other, Rán began to get back up, having been knocked back by the force of her own attack, the thick clouds of smoke that had once been solid, enchanted stone choking her as they were blown away with the wind out the massive hole in the spire's exterior wall she had created - along with any steam that might have been left. "Awww, I overdid it again!..." she grumbled to herself as she stood up, looking around at all the devastation. A large hole several feet wide and a few dozen feet tall allowed Luna's moon to shine through, while smoke and steam continued to escape from the hole in the floor, which was still partially obscured, and seemed to reach back at least, several feet. The only noises she could hear were the sounds of fighting on the lower floors and the occasional shifting of rocks and debris from her attack. "That's right!" she said aloud as her head frantically darted from left to right, looking for any trace of the merc, and there, in the corner to her left, she saw it, Rainstorm's disembodied left arm, still dripping blood. Rán squealed with excitement and delight as she ran over to inspect her prize.

Upon reaching the limb she picked it up, holding it in her own hands, noticing it still felt warm, and to her surprise, eliciting a twinge of guilt from herself. Knock it off, Rán!... she ordered herself, Why should I feel bad?... That bastard took everything away from me!... Why should I feel bad for him?... It's not like I still have that stupid crush on him anymore!... Right?... she thought as she cradled the arm somewhat tenderly and felt her eyes threaten to tear up until she noticed something strange. "Hold on..." she said as she looked at the arm more thoroughly, "This arm doesn't look like it was torn off by an explosion... It looks like it was cut off! But ho- !?" she never got the chance to finish her train of thought as something ripped the severed limb from her grasp and before she could turn to look in the direction the arm had been pulled, the floor beneath her ruptured with a terrible force, propelling her face-first into the ceiling! She had had just enough time to recast her force field spell, but not enough time for it to reach full force before face planting into the ceiling above. When she came back down, landing on the floor below the one she had previously been standing on, her spell was broken and all the wind was knocked out of her. Then, as Rán began to try to pick herself off the floor, she felt an excruciating pain as a bullet tore through the right-side of her horn and ricocheted off her mask, and she screamed in agony and looked up to see who had attacked her.

"So, remind me, Drizzles? What was that you said about me never being able to hit you with a mere bullet?" cheerfully asked Rainstorm as he used a preservation cloth to secure his severed arm into place before applying half of a syringe of healing potion to it, and the other to the rest of his arm, then unceremoniously tossing the empty needle away. He then proceeded to fashion a sling for his arm out of some bandages he had with him while Rán cursed him out.

"You're alive!? How!? That blast should have ripped you to pieces!" Rán demanded as she writhed in pain while covering the bloody stump that was once her horn.

"Well, I figured you had a bit of an anger issue and that you and I had history from back at Canterlot, so I figured I could use that and the fact you clearly wanted me dead to lure you into a trap. I'll admit, the initial plan was to get you mad enough to where you wouldn't be able to think straight, get in close with the Ashcaster, seal up your other flasks, and get you to use up the water you already had and as soon as you were 'out of ammo', move in and try to put a bullet in the back of your skull at point-blank range. That's the difference between force field spells and barrier spells, barriers are better at countering energy-heavy attacks such as other spells and can be more easily extended to cover a wider area to protect more ground, but generally aren't as tough or as flexible as force fields. Force fields are tougher and better at protecting from kinetic-heavy attacks, such as from bullets and explosions, while allowing far more flexibility while in use, but that means your attacker can get in close and at point-blank range, they tend to be a lot less effective." Rain explained.

"But the explosion!" Rán exclaimed.

"After you decided to go apeshit on my ass and launch that water ball at me, the size of the damn thing not only made it slower but blocked your line of sight, allowing me to jump out of the window just in the nick of time, though some of the debris from the explosion did manage to scrape my head up and knock my hat off in the process. I then just used the Ashcaster to yank myself back in through the hole in the wall, but I couldn't see if you were still in one piece or not so, I decided to lay a trap for you using my arm, just in case,"

"Wait...you cut off your own arm!?" Rán asked in utter and complete shock.

"Hurt like hell but it bought me enough time to duck down to the floor right below where my arm should have landed and use some ash cables to pin all my remaining bombs to the ceiling right below where my arm should have been. Then, all I had to do was get back up, and try to snatch my arm before setting the bombs off. You can figure the rest out on your own," he finished.

"I can't believe you did that!" Rán shouted, "What kind of madstallion would cut off part of their body to use as bait for a trap just to shoot off my horn!?"

"To be fair, I was trying to put a bullet through your brain, not your horn. As for the trap I set, yes, I was willing to cut off a part of my own body to win. Why do you think that in spite of the fact I don't have any magic at all I'm counted as the seventh deadliest warrior in Equestria? It's because I'm willing to go to the lengths necessary to win. Now, you can either tell me about this 'Master' of yours, or I can shoot off more parts of your body - ones that unlike your horn, won't grow back!" Rain asked as he drew his pistol back out and took aim at Rán.

"Go ahead and shoot me!" Rán demanded, "You think I'm the only enemy you made the day of the potions exam!?"

"What are you talking about? I thought you were someone from school who just hated me for being human or something," Rain shouted.

"You moron, you really don't get it, do you!? The day you failed with that potion, it wasn't just your stupid face that got messed up!" Rán yelled back at Rainstorm, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

"N-no way! Princess Celestia said that nobody else got hurt in the accident!"

"Oh, is that what she told you?" Rán hissed at him, "Everypony stupid enough to be standing around you that day had their lives destroyed - some of them didn't even make it out alive! But it was all covered up! And what of poor little Raindrops? Other than his face looking like shredded carrion, he gets nothing. No trial, no punishment, not even so much as a lecture - NOTHING! Our lives were uprooted while yours carried on like nothing happened. Well, guess what!? I'm just one of several ponies whose lives have been wrecked by you not knowing your place and just accepting one bad grade like a good stupid little monkey! You and that bitch Twilight Sparkle are dead ponies walking, and even if you kill me there's no way you can fend off the others! You hear me!" Before she could carry on berating Rainstorm any further, the floor beneath Rán began to sink to one side, causing her to tumble out of the spire, along with several large pieces of debris and before Rain could do anything to save her, she disappeared into the night. Rainstorm just stood there, staring in the direction Rán had fallen wide-eyed, his head buzzing with what he'd just been told. Finally, he gave his head a shake and stumbled off to find a place to lay low for a few minutes while he reassessed the situation and planned his next moves.

Meanwhile, having just observed the whole fight via the control crystal, Granite Gust and his men stood there, mouths agape, at what had transpired. "'Bring. Him. In. ALIVE! What the actual fuck was so hard to understand about that order!?" he shouted through gritted teeth.

"M-maybe we should just get out of here while we can?" one of the bandits offered. "Rán was really strong and was trying to kill him and still lost, the Wonderbolts are on their way up here, and then there's that weird ghost thing that's raising all kinds of Hell! I think it's time for us to cut our losses. Granite opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the small crystal ball in his pocket vibrating, he pulled it out and upon staring into it, was immediately met with raspy screeching from the other end.

"I TOLD YOU TO CAPTURE THE MONKEY AND DESTROY THOSE WONDERBOLTS!" GE screamed at him. Granite tried to reply but was cut off again. "IT'S A MONKEY, A CROSSBRED PIGEON, AND A HAND FULL OF HORSEFLIES! ANY IDIOT SHOULD BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT!"

"Look, we're trying, but these aren't just a ragtag band of raw recruits, Boss, one's a legendary mercenary, another's a war hero with more kills under his belt by himself than most strike-teams have combined, and the rest are the freakn' Wonderbolts! We've sacrificed a lot of our guys just trying to fend them off so, ma- "

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR EXCUSES OR HOW MANY OF YOUR PATHETIC FLUNKIES HAVE TO DIE!" she screamed at him.

"Now just hold on a minute, GE!" Granite shouted back, much to everyone's surprise, "Yeah, my guys are rough around the edges, but they're not pathetic! They've been dying left and right just so you can have your damn information and hang on to this stupid tower! Some of these dumbasses are my friends and all of them have done pretty damn good just to make it this far! Seems like this place is super-valuable to them, and based on some of the shit we found around here, I'd say this was some sort of government base or something so, maybe if you hadn't decided to have us set up shop here in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"FOOL!" GE roared back, as the whole spire and even the jungle itself seemed to shake with their rage, "MY REASONS FOR TAKING MOSS MARE SPIRE ARE MY OWN - SOMETHING YOUR BROTHER WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD!" which upon saying caused Granite's eye to twitch angrily and his men to exchange fearful expressions, "FURTHERMORE, WITH THE WEAPONS I PROVIDED YOU, YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THEM EASILY SO, YES, YOU AND YOUR BANDITS ARE PATHETIC - AGAIN, MUCH UNLIKE YOUR BROTHER AND HIS WARRIORS! AND FINALLY, YOU CAN CONSIDER ALL YOUR LIVES FORFEIT! ONCE I ARRIVE, I WILL EXTERMINATE THOSE VERMIN AND THEN, YOU AND YOUR BANDITS! THE SPEED AND AMOUNT OF PAIN INVOLVED WILL BE DETERMINED BY HOW MANY OF THE INTRUDERS ARE LEFT ONCE I GET THERE! UNDERSTOOD!?" she yelled at Granite, who was red in the face with anger.

"Oh, I understand perfectly..." he snarled before tossing the crystal ball over his shoulder, where it shattered into pieces upon hitting the stone floor. "Change of plans, folks!" he said as he slowly made his way to the stairs, "Prep our take off, evacuate our weak and injured, take what we can, but if you have to, leave the product behind!"

"But GE..." a bandit started to interject before a furious glance from Granite silenced him.

"Is no longer necessary to further my position within the Endeavor! If we can get Rainstorm and hand him over to the Board of Directors themselves, I'll be a shoo-in for a position as a Local Manager - at least! And if we can get something useful out of him beforehand, I might even make Regional!" he exclaimed.

"B-but I heard getting a meeting with the Board is next to impossible!" one of the bandits said.

"Oh, they'll want a meeting for this!" Granite responded, "And if I can, at least, make Local Manager, GE won't be able to touch us! Not unless they want to fall out of favor with the Endeavor and even GE isn't tough enough to go to war with the Endeavor - and they know it!"

"So, where are you going?" asked another bandit.

"It's like the old saying goes," Granite replied as he started to head down the stairs, "If you want something done right, do it yourself!"

Chapter 10: Finished

Chapter 0: The Falling Rain

Whether called the Aether, the Weave, Strings, or whatever else, the foundation of the multiverse holds great knowledge and power for those who can tap into it. Using a fusion of their own energy, emotion, and willpower certain individuals can access information about their world or others, alter the frequency of strings - dictating the form and function of reality itself and so, enable the individual to affect themselves and their environment or even travel through time, space and even other universes. This is what is often called "magic". Be warned though, just as a virus can alter a living creature's DNA, or can infect a computer's programming, so too can the Aether be negatively affected. Should this vast extradimensional framework become corrupted by some sort of malignant force, existence itself as we know it could be destroyed forever…

Planet Gimlé, Equestria, Canterlot, July 8th, Year: 980, Solaris Era, 12:04 AM, (Twenty-two years earlier)

The night was almost eerily calm throughout the sleeping metropolis as a strange four-legged, thin creature with wings pulled a small but beautifully constructed white and gold chariot across the sky. On this chariot rode three winged humanoid beings, two of them - male - stood approximately five feet tall and wore golden colored armor which largely resembled what was worn by ancient Greek warriors long ago on Earth. At first glance, the pale white beings seemed almost like normal humans, but upon closer inspection appeared to have equine ears almost on top of their heads, their hands had four fingers instead of five, each of which ended in a sturdy nub instead of fingernails, and short tails, with medium-length hair covering those of the males.

The third being, sitting behind the first two, looked much like her companions, but had much larger wings and stood more than seven feet tall, with a single six-inch horn protruding upward at a slight angle at the top of her forehead just before her hairline, while her entire body, as well as her breathtakingly deep-violet eyes, emitted a very dim glow. The long flowing hair on both her tail and her head seemed ethereal, resembling an aurora which contrasted vividly against her beautiful long white dress which had a golden belt around her waist with a violet stone as the centerpiece, and an ornate, golden sword hanging off her left hip. She also wore twin golden armbands, each with a small stone of their own, and a matching bertha, also bearing a small violet stone with a gap beneath it big enough to show what looked like a runic sun tattoo on her chest. This was her crest, a special seal which manifested itself upon the arm or torso of a 'pony' when she or he discovered that key part of them which in some way tied to their destiny.

This particular crest was embroidered on numerous flags, buildings, and signs throughout the city as a testament to the ruler of the land. Her name was Celestia Solstice, crown princess of the nation of Equestria and despite being referred to as a princess, she was the high ruler of this great empire and its sworn protector. Long ago in the name of that oath, she had banished her only remaining family, her beloved little sister Princess Luna, who had been consumed by an evil force, turning her into Nightmare Moon and threatening the entire world with an everlasting night. Unable to free her sister from the sinister presence, even with the awesome might of the Elements of Harmony, she only had two options at the time - trap both the entity and Luna on the moon for a thousand years or kill them both. She chose the former hoping an ancient prophecy would come to pass and the true wielders of the Elements would finally emerge to unleash the full potential held within the artifacts, allowing them to safely free Luna from the evil which had corrupted her. Just twenty more years... she thought as she gazed up at her sister's moon. Every time she saw the pattern of craters forming the shape of an alicorn's face - her sister's face - it was all she could do to keep from bursting into tears.

She was the big sister, she was supposed to be there for her, she was supposed to protect her!... But she had failed in every sense of the word. Now she had to hope the prophecy was true, otherwise, she and Nightmare Moon would be forced to finish what they had started nearly one-thousand years ago...one way or the other. The thought made Celestia's blood run cold and her stomach turn. Would she be able to do what was necessary if it came down to it? Did she even have the power to do so if she had to?

"Your Highness!?"

"Geahh!" Celestia yelped in surprise as the words of one of her royal guards finally broke through to her, snapping her back to reality. "Yes, what is it?" Celestia said sweetly, regaining her composure.

"I merely asked if you were alright. You seemed to be lost in thought and I figured you were worried about our visit to Saddle Arabia." said the guard with obvious concern in his voice.

Yet another troubling issue that will one day need to be resolved... she thought to herself as she let out a sigh. They had just returned from a seemingly fruitless diplomatic trip to Saddle Arabia, the powerful rival nation far to the south of Equestria, past the Dead Lands, where pony kind had gotten their start. There, their ancestors had been "created" by the then acting Sultan of the time's sorcerer-priests to serve as a slave race for the royal hierarchy before rebelling centuries later and fleeing north. Though most past and present Saddle Arabians were - and still are - kind, honest, hard-working, and selfless "m'hern" in accordance with their religious beliefs; their leadership had always been largely problematic. Although one of the colt princes she had met during her visit - Prince Haakim - was different. Despite the fact he was only eight, Haakim showed both kindness and wisdom well beyond his years, which gave Celestia some hope, though not much, due to the constant and bloody power struggle between the current Sultan's one-hundred and seventy-five potential heirs to the throne, but if he could somehow survive and rise to power...

Once again, Celestia was jolted out of her thoughts, as were her guards, this time by the sudden and severe shift in atmospheric pressure and electrical charge in the air signaling a terrible storm had arrived. Being an alicorn she had the same ability to sense such disturbances as the two pegasi with her. Though natural storms not created by pegasi did still occur, this was far too immense and far too quick to be natural or pony-made. Suddenly, completely out of thin-air, thick dark thunderclouds appeared, lightning began flashing constantly in all directions, and it started raining heavily. As the first few drops hit Celestia's face, she was taken aback when she felt an uncomfortable amount of heat from the rain. Celestia and the naturally and decoratively armored thestral pulling her chariot were more than capable of withstanding far greater amounts of heat, and so had no fear of any kind of pain or injury from the scalding rain.

However, that didn't mean it couldn't, at least, cause quite a bit of pain for normal creatures as evidenced by the pained, high-pitched yelping of her once proud guards as the rain stung what little skin of theirs that was not protected by armor. Being safe from any harm the hot rain might cause, Celestia looked up and to her shock saw through the clouds a massive aurora. What could be causing this!?, the alicorn thought to herself, knowing the deceptively beautiful display was, in fact, an alarming sign. Before Celestia could ponder the cause of this unsettling phenomenon any further, she spotted something falling out of one of the clouds high above the city. As she made use of the hawk-like vision also shared between alicorns and pegasi, she focused on the small object. "What in Equest-!?" She stopped mid-sentence as she realized what was falling toward the ground. Without a second to spare she bolted from the chariot at the object before either of her guards could even utter a single word.

Flying at amazing speed the princess of the sun soared in the direction of the plummeting object. "Got to make it! Got to make it!" she said out loud to herself as she raced forward and just a few stories above the ground she caught it. "It" turned out to be a small, pale, naked, male child with light brown hair who was covered in large red patches of skin. She could sense familiar and extremely dangerous energy throughout the boy's body. The energy was much like what the sun itself produced and if it remained within the child for much longer, he would suffer lasting injury, or worse. Using her solar magic, she quickly absorbed and negated the degradative force threatening to kill the young boy, but then noticed his eyes were starting to cloud over. Try as she might with her powerful magic, however, she was unable to heal the damage.

With the storm having disappeared moments ago as quickly and mysteriously as it had appeared, Celestia's royal guard finally caught up to her, "What the Hell is going on Princess!?" asked one of the guards. Celestia took a second to quickly look around and noticed the boy wasn't the only thing that had fallen from the sky. Scattered around the streets were copious amounts of debris. From piles of twisted metal, chunks of what might have been at one-point buildings serving some unknown purpose, what appeared to be the remnants of mysterious vehicles, what seemed to be once dangerous and strange weapons, now shattered and hopelessly defunct littered the streets. Even hideously disfigured corpses now warped and charred beyond all recognition could be seen among the carnage, all of which gave off the same sun-esque energy she had just pulled from the figure lying unconscious in her arms. She gave her head a quick shake.

"I don't know," said the princess. "But there's no time to waste! You - send for a crew to collect...this!" she ordered one of the pegasi while gesturing toward the wreckage with her head. "And I want full hazard protocols in place! No telling how dangerous any of this stuff is!" she shouted as the first guard took off. "And you!" she turned her attention to the other pegasus. "I need you to send word ahead to Meadowbrook's Mercy and tell them to prep for the Heycart procedure at once!"

"B-but your highness." the guard stammered, "Even with all the resources and talent available at the hospital, the odds of that procedure being successful are -"

"I know full well what the odds are." Celestia interrupted the guard. "But he'll go blind anyway if we don't try, besides I don't think we'd be able to find a compatible donor - let alone a willing one - so this is our best shot and that's all there is to it!" Celestia exclaimed.

The guard looked down at...whatever this "colt" was. From its head down to its feet, though he shared many pony features, he was clearly not a pony. "What is he?" the guard asked.

"Somepony who needs our help," Celestia stated, the compassion audible in her voice.

The guard relented realizing the truth in his princesses' words, he then bowed and took off for the hospital shouting "As you command!" as he sped off into the night, Celestia followed right behind him. She was fairly certain "what" the boy was and doubted that even if they found somepony who would be willing to give their eyes to him, a transplant with a creature so alien to them would have much chance of success. As she headed toward their destination she looked down at the small child, who judging by his size and youthful appearance, likely couldn't be very old at all.

Celestia gave him a worried smile, "Just what is your story?" she wondered aloud. "Where did you come from? And what happened to you to cause you to fall out of the sky? Eh, little raindrop?"

Unbeknownst to all, a mysterious figure sat on one of the many rooftops, having been quietly observing the whole event from the beginning. "So this is your play, Aetherealite?" asked the figure out loud in a raspy voice as if addressing some unseen individual. The figure was completely covered in a large, black, and shredded looking cloak which seemed to flow around him like thick clouds of smoke. He let out a long and unsettling laugh, "My, aren't we desperate if out of all the beings in all the universes, that's who you go with!?" He shouted gleefully. Surely "she" must know that with "that one" in particular that her plan could backfire on her horribly? He thought to himself. What's more, he knew he could have easily murdered Celestia and the boy, along with anyone who might get in the way, however... where would be either the fun or the sense in wasting two possible unwitting pawns so needlessly? After a few moments of silent contemplation, he spoke again. "Very well, I'll let this sad little farce of yours playout," he said. "Besides, I might be able to use him as my replacement model, the current one doesn't have much mileage left on it anyway."

Then with one last wicked laugh, he spun around, vanishing in a flash of greenish-yellowish and black flames.

Story: Begins