A deep sigh escaped Ules as the last of his fear and anxiety finally calmed. He had been standing at the edge of a pit for the past five minutes, thinking it better to let his worries run through him now rather than later. Taking a few breaths more, he no longer found the steep vertical plunge as intimidating as it was.

The drop in question went as far down as 200 feet. Although the pit was deep, it was also quite wide, large enough that the sun could illuminate most of the bottom. It was thanks to this extra light that Ules could see what laid below.

Behind him, several feet away and leaning against the trunk of a young apple tree, was Reyes. He had taken one of the fruits from his wooden backrest and was contently munching away, watching his older companion with mild interest.

"Ish thish the plaish?" Reyes said, ejecting wet apple bits onto the grassy rock.

"Stop talking with your mouth full. It's fuckin' gross," Ules replied. "But yeah, this is it."

Ules reached into his pockets and pulled out the ruby amulet from his left, and a sapphire one from his right. While they both had an ominous glow, a bit undercut by the pocket lint dotting them, the blue amulet also had tiny streaks of frost that have yet to melt.

Lightly tossing the ruby amulet up once and catching it, he half-turned towards his companion. "Reyes," Ules called.

Too focused on his second apple, the younger gentlemen looked up like he was caught grabbing a cookie from the cookie jar. "Huh? What?" he said, sitting up in a panic.

Ules raised an eyebrow. "That thing fuckin' talkin' to you or what?"

"W-what?" Reyes stared at him for few seconds before glancing at his apple. "Oh. Uh, no... Did you say something?"

"I was, 'til I saw you giving that apple goo-goo eyes."

"I was not!" the young man said, forming a scowl. He looked at the apple again and the intensity on his face dissolved. "I'm just hungry..."

"Well, if everything goes alright, you'll have all the normal people food you can eat."

The young man sighed. "Fine."

Ules showed him the amulets in his hands before tossing them over, both landing in his companion's empty hand with a satisfying clap. "Hold those for me. I'm gonna be pushing myself in a sec and I might say something I didn't mean."

The amulets felt a little heavier now that Reyes' was actually holding it. He glanced up at Ules, saying, "Are you sure it's better that I hold them?"

"It'll be fine," Ules said, turning around to face the pit. "Just make sure you're not stuffing another apple in your face when we get the signal."

With a skeptical groan, the young man laid his back against the tree and put the amulets into his pocket. He looked at the red fruit in his hand wistfully, muttering, "If only all it took to set everything right was you."

As Reyes was mid-bite into the apple, he noticed a growing red light coming from his side. He looked over and saw the light was coming from the ruby amulet, having slipped out when he leaned back.

Red, misty wisps sprouted from the center of the red jewel and impaled themselves into the apple. The red of the fruit grew brighter and more intense, while, at the same time, it became less solid and more intangible. Before the human realized what was going on, he chomped down on air as the apple became nothing more than a red ball of light.

Reyes sat motionless as the light of what used to be a fruit was drained through the incorporeal tendrils stabbing into it, and into the jewel of the ruby amulet. After a long two seconds, the ball of light had been completely absorbed, and the red tendrils retreated back into the amulet. The ruby no longer glowed, seemingly inert.

Wide-eyed and dumbfounded, the young man stared at the ground as if what happened really did just happened. He looked up at his companion, but saw that he still had his back turned, both arms extended out over the pit and glowing an intense dark purple.

He wanted to say something but didn’t want to break Ules' concentration. That, and he knew his friend would be less than happy. So, in this conflict of interest, he said the one thing his brain could process.

"Uhhhh..."

"That's it!"

As Leers saw the rainbow mare hurtling towards him, he shielded himself with his good arm and braced for impact. Seconds passed, but he could still feel that his consciousness had not been knocked out of him. He opened his eyes, and, to his relief, he was still on the wagon and not writhing on the ground. A quick breeze brushed past his cheek, prompting him to look up, seeing the angered pegasus had been partially suspended in place, a few feet before she could reach him.

She beat her wings and threw out punches like crazy, trying all she could to land even one blow. However, nothing she did could overpower the little glow of pink tugging at the tip of her tail.

"Why. Can't. I. Hit. YOU!?" She growled between each swing of her forelegs. Glancing back, she saw the color of magic holding her back, and then glared at her alicorn friend. "Let me go Twilight! I need to teach this chump a lesson!"

Twilight turned her head just enough so that their eyes could meet. "We need his help for the next artifact," the princess said flatly.

"As much as ah hate to disagree --" began Applejack, flashing a brief glare back at the human, "-- he insulted the apple family legacy. That there's grounds for a woopin,"

"And I'll have you know that I've worked hard to build up the popularity of my boutiques," Rarity loudly proclaimed. "To call their successes mere flukes? The nerve!" She gave a proud 'Humph!' as she closed her eyes and looked away with her chin raised.

"He said my parties are only appealing to young foals!" Pinkie said, pointing an accusatory hoof. "They are not! I give each party excruciating amounts of thought so they can bring joy and smiles to everypony. The balloons and cupcakes are just my schtick!"

"Worst of all, he almost made Fluttershy cry!" Rainbow Dash added.

"N-no, I'm fine..." the yellow pegasus said, followed by a sniff. She tried to give the rest of her friends a smile to reassure she's fine but ended up pressing her quivering lips together. The human entered her field of vision and her eyes began to water again. She instinctively looked away, her voice shakier than before. "I-I'm okay, r-really..."

Pinkie Pie and Rarity walked beside her and started cooing words of encouragement as they occasionally sent disapproving stares back at the wagon's occupant.

"You see Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, "he deserves a good smack across the head."

The alicorn turned around and, in a loud, booming voice, she yelled, "I KNOW!"

The caravan stopped, and an audible whimper came from the yellow mare. They all stared at Twilight with various degrees of disbelief. Even the element of loyalty had paused her attempts at giving the human what for.

"...I know..." Twilight said again, this time in a murmur. She could feel their eyes digging into her as she took another breath. "But he's promised his cooperation. Pinkie Promised, even." They all gave each other doubtful glances.

"Once we're done with our mission, we can see him punished for every crime he's ever committed. Please girls, just tolerate him a bit more. It'll just be for a little while longer."

After several seconds of silence, Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and gave a reluctant, but concurring groan. "And how much longer is, 'a little while longer,'?" she asked.

Relieved, Twilight sighed of and turned back ahead. She pointed a hoof forward, saying, "Not much." They all followed her hoof and gawked.

Another mile ahead was a sheer cliff face, extending far and wide on either side, and fading into the horizon. It was steep, sparse of any green, and mind-boggling how they didn't see it sooner.

"I can feel the amulet in my hands now." Everypony glanced back at the human. His peered at the cliff while clutching his hand into a fist, stopping only when he noticed them staring. "Hm?"

Rainbow Dash approached Leers so that her face was a few inches from his. "Shut," was all she said.

Without arguing, he brought his left hand to the right side of his mouth, 'zipped' it to the other side, rotated it in a locking motion, and flicked the nonexistent key off the side of the wagon. The pegasus squinted at him as she backed away.

"Alright," she said, flying up next to Twilight. "Let's get this done so I can officially beat him up."

Author's Note

Little shorter this time.

I may delay the next chapter another week since I've got stuff ramping up for me, but who knows. Maybe, I'll find the time to do it anyway.