There were many places a lone guard could find trouble in Equestria. Some were places that a guard might want to find trouble, a good bar fight, a brothel to 'investigate' for a little while, or a bust that had an uncounted pile of bits that were fated for the evidence lockup. All of these might be the type of trouble a guard could want. However, in the case of this guard, she would give money to be in literally any other type of trouble. She had known Everfree was a dangerous place to walk alone, but she had thought she would be safe. If you stuck to known trails then it was relatively safe if you kept moving and didn't get caught at night. The setting sun at the guards back reminded her that she had failed in that respect. She still had a couple hours trot to even get to Ponyville, and since the borders of Ponyville were the Everfree forest... Well her chances weren't great. Even if she was still in her guard armor.

She heard a rustle from the trees above her and jerked her head upwards. She saw a few leaves rustling, but the thick foliage hid any potential predators from her sight. She let out an unconscious shiver at the thought of what lurked in the Everfree. While her armor might help against most of the creatures in the forest, there was one that would target her. It didn't have a name, but it was called many things. Some called it a monster, but the survivors of its attacks begged to differ. A monster was dangerous, but not intelligent. The thing that hunted them struck like lightning, striking down whichever pony was unfortunate enough to be in charge. Before harassing the guards until they were either dead or running for their lives. Only the first squad sent after it had seen it. Back then it was a rumor, a strange bipedal creature in gleaming metal was seen wandering the Everfree. According to their report upon being asked to follow it to the station it had attacked, striking down guards with a long blade from its back. But all the descriptions were lacking in details. From the report, it sounded like the armor and body were melded into one creature.

The guard shuddered again and began moving again, trying her hardest to stay calm. The guards attacked had technically been hunting it, so there were a few hopeful murmurs that the creature simply hunted hunters. Some sort of deranged sport it enjoyed of cutting down those sent to capture it. So maybe she could escape it wrath by being honest and simply trotting through the forest safely, and avoiding the other creatures that nested here.

The roar from the side of the trail ended that hope. She watched while stuck in place, as the trees shook from a massive creature moving towards her. From the bushes on her left, a serpentine head slithered through the brush. She gulped as another came forth, and a third rose over the bush, towering over her. "H-H-Hydra...."

It roared, forcing her mane back as the enchantments around her flickered, making her white coat flicker on and off, turning her into a rainbow of colors as the enchantment attempted to correct itself from the massive burst of wild magic the hydra emitted. She heard a voice call from behind her, in the country tinge that her cousin favored. "Move you damn idjit!"

She listened, backpedaling as a flash of green and gold flew by her, a blade whistling as it slammed into the teeth of one of the hydra's heads. The guard stared at the creature in front of her. By all accounts, it should be as anxious for her death as the hydra. The green body, the black bodysuit under its armor, and the golden crest on its head. This was the creature that had killed the guards that hunted it. And it had just saved her life. It didn't giver time to think as it twisted the blade. With a crack, the hydra's jaw slammed shut, but the blade was gone. In an arc of light, it sang through the air, sending the head of the hydra rolling, while red blood flowed from the stump.

Everypony knew that was only a stopgap measure, however. Already, the stub was healing, as two heads began to emerge from the severed neck. The creature didn't slow down, taking a few backflips to stand beside the guard and glance down. Though the mask hid his features she could feel it smirk down at her. "I hope Y'all brought a camera, cause this is gonna be beautiful." The guard now knew the creature was male, as he lowered himself into a nearly crouching stance. His right arm rose, and with a whirr, a trio of blade shot from his arm into his hand. His left hand rested on the blade of a small sword sheathed at his back, lightly resting, but ready to strike.

The creature ran forward as the hydra stepped out. A head struck, darting forward quicker than an arrow. The guard thought it was over, the creature would be gobbled up like a snack before the hydra moved on to her. Instead, the creature jumped, running along the neck while throwing his three blades. The guard watched as the blades impacted a neck rising, forcing the creature to flinch back. As it stepped back the creature jumped again, and his left hand tightened around his sword. "Come on y'all!"

And then he moved like lightning. In but a moment he was on the creatures back, and his blade had been drawn. He slid it back into place, and with the final click, another head was severed. It fell to the ground with little ceremony, as another fountain of red began to rain over the earth. Before it could even begin to regrow he reached for the larger blade on his back. "I ain't done yet!" He drew the large blade, and a golden dragon appeared. "FEEL THE BITE OF A DRAGON!" He slammed the sword down, piercing the hydra's back. THe was a wet sounding gurgle from the hydra as it began to sluggishly sway, before falling into the dirt.

The guard imagined a hydra dying would be different. A final cry, an act of defiance. Instead, it simply lay there, as dead as any other creature. The creature stood tall on its back, and raised its sword up to its own body, and pinched it between his thumb and forefinger. With a grinding noise, he wiped the blade clean, sparks flying from the contact of metal on metal. He turned to look at the guard. "Now then, what in the sam hell are you doing here?" The guard did the only thing she could think off. She fainted.

***

The guard woke up in a cave, a small fire crackling in front of her. She stared at it for a moment before jumping up, tripping over a small blanket put over her. "W-What in the hay?!"

A voice called out from behind her. "Easy now. I don't think ya got hurt none, but you were conked out for about an hour. It would be a crying shame to kick it after being one of the few ta' see me in action without gettin' hurt."

The guard froze, slowly turning to face the creature staring her down. It was a biped, with strange armor. His two swords were still on his back and were visible as he sat against the wall. He was spinning one of his strange throwing blades between his fingers, seemingly ignoring her. She gulped once before trying to stutter out a question. "Why?"

The creature paused. "Now I know you just went through an ordeal, but it ain't proper to ask questions before you introduce yourself." he paused spinning his blade as he thought, before sighing. "Then again, I took ya to one a' my places without buying you dinner, so Ah guess it's fair." She paused as she noticed his fluctuating accent. At times it was thicker than oil, but sometimes it digressed into the background. He stood up before walking towards her. "Ah guess I'll start introductions then, not that anyone in guard armor ever asked." He reached out an empty hand, keeping it in easy reach of the guard's own hoof. "Been going by Sparrow. Mostly since my own names fallen right outta my own fool head. Nice tah save your hide."

The guard looked at the creature that had killed around twenty guards. The one which had a thousand bit bounty on its head. The one that had just saved her life. A little politeness might go a long way. "I'm Babs Seed, n-nice to meet you, Mr. Sparrow."

He laughed as she extended a hoof, and shook it once. "Ah ain't no mister Babs. And since yah were kind enough not to actively talk about sending my pretty mug to yah prison, I feel happy enough to meet the second friendly face here." He stood up and walked back to a strange black bag. He opened it up and withdrew a smaller blue box from it. He reached in and grabbed a couple of simple packages made from fabric out. He unwrapped one and passed it to her. "Y'all are gonna need to stay the night. Ah can't git yah to Ponyville safely at night. If it was just me Ah'd be fine, but with yah slowing me down..." He waved his hand side to side. "Ain't a sure thing."

Babs wanted to be offended, but after seeing him deal with the hydra, she believed him. "N-no, it's fine. I'm just surprised you would save a guard." She paused before kicking at the ground with a hoof. "And that you can speak."

That seemed to cause Sparrow to pause before he sighed. "Damnation and Hellfire. Ah bet that your first group of boy scouts lied through their teeth 'bout first contact then." He shook his head back and forth as he flipped his blade in the air. Babs was transfixed as part of his arm opened up, catching the blade and sliding it into his arm.

She stared before a thought hit her. "You're a golem, like the ones from the crises a few years ago."

It was meant as a statement, but it didn't seem to faze Sparrow, who only chuckled. "Nah, though with all my fancy augmetics I could see how yah'd think that." He reached up to his helmet, pulling it off to show a scarred visage, A latticework of metal snaking through his exposed skin. his entire jaw was a solid metal plate, his eyes lay exposed, with a thin connecting rod hooking his jaw to a thicker metal plate on his forehead. Babs stared as Sparrow poked his jaw. "There was a bit of a familial dispute. Mah brother nearly killed me. Though I managed to escape scot-free, but when I went somewhere to relax and enjoy my escape..." He paused, looking down at his hands. "There was a bomb. Mah folks blew up a whole mess a' folks just to kill me. Managed to get a deal to stay alive. But I weren't allowed on Earth after that. Got sent here. So here ah sit, with mah few friends, and even fewer tools."

He looked down, running a finger over the side of his face. Bab flinched when she realized it wasn't just a metal plate over his jaw. It was his jaw. Looking over his body she began wondering how much of the creature was left. A glance at his eyes prompted a subject change. He looked sad... the worries and hardships of life etched onto his face deeper than most of his scars. "Uhm ,what actually happened at first contact?"

Sparrow paused, before shaking his head and passing her one of the packages. "Lots, but first, here." She took the package and opened it, finding a small collection of plants that could probably make a decent salad. He opened his own package to withdraw a slab of meat. Spearing it on a stick he placed it over the fire. "Hope y'all don't mind, but fresh hydra's good food for me." Babs flinched away from the meat, and thoughts raced through her. Was that to be her fate? Speared over the fire as another meal? Looking at her meal she noted he had picked a bad spread for fattening her up. The salad was the pony equivalent of hard tack. Full of energy, but not a ton of fat. Honestly, it looked a lot like a guard salad.

She threw caution to the wind and tried to fill her voice with steel and fire. "A-are you g-going to eat m-me?" She failed horribly.

Sparrow laughed, hard and fast. Trying to keep his meat above the flame while doubling over. "JE-HE-HESUS GIRL! Y'all don't hold back from the serious questions, do ya now?" He slowly recovered, straightening up and looking over his meal for scorch marks before placing it back over the fire. He sat down reclining slightly on the cave floor. "Nah, don't much like eatin' things that talk back."

Sparrow's eyes were looking at the meat and his cheek muscles were quirked up in what seemed close to a smile. Babs knew she was technically a hostage and took his moment of distraction to check her armor. She raised a hoof to her hidden sword. Guards armor hid a few weapons, mostly just to be approachable, but it helped in situations like this. Sparrow let out a breath and spun his hydra around aimlessly. "But ta' answer yah question, first contact was a mess. When the guards first saw me they decided ah was a dangerous golem, and tried ta 'deactivate me'." He pulled the meat out of the fire and looked it over before nodding. "As you can imagine, ah took exception to that. When folk try ta kill me, ah kill 'em back. Let the one smart enough to run live. Guess he started telling tales."

He pulled the meat off the stick before taking out his shorter blade and cutting it into fine pieces. "If y'all would excuse me, eating with this thing is kinda... horrific." He turned his back to Babs, and she heard a hiss as a small section of metal was removed. He placed a slim sheet of metal to his side, before the sound of chewing followed for a moment. He inclined his head towards her, but kept from facing the young guard. "Ah apologize for my rudeness here. Ah know its bad form to eat while facing away from yah guest, but yah really don't wanna see under this mask."

Babs stared for a moment. This creature... Sparrow. He was hurt. Wounded beyond all measure. But. He had proven himself a killer. One who had no qualms killing every guard sent to capture him. Her hoof moved. Instead of the hidden blade, her hoof moved to a small shock blade tucked into a vambrace. While not an issued piece of equipment, it did give her a non-lethal response to situations like this. She readied it as the chewing stopped. She slowly drew it, while Sparrow grabbed the metal plate, and with a hiss, reattached it. And as he moved from his sitting position, she threw it.

There was a flash of gold, and a sudden blast of wind. Babs stared in confusion as the glint of metal flashed in her sight. She saw a blade standing still an inch from her nose. She heard a discharge of static behind her, displaying that her shock blade was somewhere behind her. However, she couldn't bring herself to care. Sparrows eyes were hard, glaring at her as the blade was still. Not even a tremor in his arm as he stared into her soul, teasing out every mystery he could. The staredown was impossible for Babs to time. Fear gripped her, making every second seem like an hour.

Finally, Sparrow lowered his blade, as his cheeks rose. "Ah know you're probably scared, but ah would advise you to refrain from that. Ah really don't like killin' folk."

Babs flinched as Sparrow moved, sheathing his blade and standing in one fluid motion. He moved to his helmet and picked it up, sealing it back in place with a hiss. She finally moved again as he sat back down. "But you've killed guards! You're on the most wanted list!"

He shrugged. "Don't rightly care. Ah kill those that try and kill me, and save those that need saving."

Babs sat on her flank, staring at the creature in front of her as he reclined in front of her. "But that's not reasonable?! You should find a better way, a way that lets everypony win!" She stomped a hoof on the ground, trying to prove her point.

Sparrow chuckled, before lowering his head. "Ah tried being reasonable once, didn't much care for it." He ran a thumb over where a mouth would be. "Don't you fret none about it. Go ahead and rest up, we leave for Ponyville at dawn. That'll cut down on the damn cockatrices what been moving about." Babs stared as Sparrow lowered his head fully, and seemed to fall asleep. She watched as a metal cylinder appeared beside him, and clattered to the floor.

He roused slightly, grabbing the cylinder and staring for a moment. Babs stared at Sparrow he quirked his head to the side before he let out a bark of laughter. "Ha, fighting for our duty huh, good joke." He leaned back and nodded to Babs again. "Go on to bed now little soldier, it's gonna be an early morning tomorrow. Babs watched as he leaned back and went back to dozing. She stared for another moment, before lying down. She could try and figure this out later. For now, she was just glad to be alive.

Author's Note

Note: The end of this chapter was made while drunk. I have no answers, only booze and sadness. Like everyone else.