Harmony: Heroes of Gimlé - Arc I: Rainstorm

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