Taken

One week had passed since the group's settlement at the prison. With Jerry keeping on watch, the group did what they could. Sophia and Lizzie were playing with Neytiri, while the adults chattered with one another.

"Have you guys seen Max?" Carol asked.

"No, we haven't." Leon said.

Carol walked away to talk to another person.

"Psst!"

Leon heard Newton and Peter telling him to come over.

"What?" Leon said. "Is it about Max?"

"Yeah. I know what happened to him." Peter said.

"Did he?" Leon said before motioning a gun to his head.

"No. I found a note left by him to his parents."

"But why didn't you show this to Carol and Dana?"

"If Carol and Dana knew, they would be freaking out. And we would not want to be freaking out." Newton said.

"Let me see that note." Leon said.

Dear Moms,

If you are reading this right now, you know I have already left. I have joined the ponies to bring Chloe back to life. Do not try to stop me. We can be a family again.

"Oh no." Leon gasped.

"We have to rescue Max." Peter said.

"I'll go get my sister. You guys gear up." Newton said.

Peter and Leon armed themselves by looting the armory of the prison. Peter attached a silencer to his pistol.

"What did you do to Chloe's body?" Leon asked. "Didn't you have it with you?"

"I did, but when we were escaping the infected, I had to leave her body behind."

"It's just that I don't know how these ponies are going to resurrect Chloe."

"The answer's very simple." Peter summarized. "They're not."

"Okay, we have enough ammo, army knives to conserve ammo, food, water, flashlights, first aid kits, and smoke grenades."

Newton came in with Neytiri.

"I heard what happened. Let's go get Max." Neytiri said.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Jerry asked as he saw Peter, Leon, Newton, and Neytiri leaving the prison.

"We're searching for more survivors." Peter lied. "They need to know how safe this place is."

The group left.

"Good lie." Leon said.

"Okay, considering that Max went with the ponies, we need to find out where the ponies main base of operations is." Newton added.

"The mayoral office?" Peter suggested.

"Why there?"

"If any place is to be for a political figure, then it has to be there."

The steps of the mayoral office stood in front of the four group members.

"There it is..." Newton said.

"The dreaded..." Peter continued.

"... new base for the ponies." Leon added.

"Guns loaded?"

"Check."

The four approached the mayor's office as if they were going to breach it. Peter slowly opened the door. Nothing was inside. The group readied their weapons as they made their way in.

"Check the mayoral office."

The group got into breaching position again. Peter slowly opened the door. There was a light amber colored female earth pony with a light gray mane talking to her two bodyguards.

"Now?" Peter whispered.

Leon nodded.

"So how's the plant coming along?" The light amber pony said.

"Well, it's thriving Mayor Mare. You think people will see it, but it's still the same size, just producing more spores." One of the mayor's bodyguards said.

"I wonder how things are going back in Equestria." The other bodyguard added.

"Twilight never made an official response. But I hear from other ponies that she purged every Storm Creature in existence." Mayor Mare said.

"Weren't there rumors of the Storm Creatures freeing the Legion of Doom?"

"You mean Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, I heard these rumors."

WHAM!

The door burst open. Leon and Peter came in armed.

"What the-"

The two bodyguards were gunned down. All that was left was Mayor Mare. Newton and Neytiri ran up and held her down.

"What is all this hullabaloo?" Mayor Mare said.

"You know us, Mayor." Leon stated.

"The Storm Prince. Son of the most dangerous creature in Equestria."

"More like a somebody trying to find a home."

"Wait, isn't this mare known to be working with Twilight?" Peter suggested.

"Where is Twilight and her friends?" Newton demanded.

"Screw you! And screw your comrades too!"

BLAM!

The mayor was shot in the leg.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk! Give me a map of your area!"

Peter took out a map of his town. As his group gathered around, Mayor Mare was handed a pencil by Newton.

"You live in this place called Portland?" Leon said. "No wonder why it feels so close to our region."

"Maine's more of a cold state rather than hotter regions like Florida or Arizona." Peter explained.

"Ok, I marked the location, can you let me go now?" Mayor Mare said.

"You sure this is correct?" Newton demanded.

"I'm sure. Now let me go!"

Peter raised his gun at Mayor Mare but was stopped by Leon.

"She's already down. She can't chase us or warn any of her allies." Leon said.

"You'll never know!" Peter defended.

"No." Leon said.

Peter grunted as he binded Mayor Mare's hooves together and shoved her in the cabinet.

"There, that should teach her." He stated.

"Deering Oaks Park." Neytiri read the marked location.

"Let's go!" Newton said.

The group arrived at the park. Only to find it empty. The group first examined the area.

"Mayor Mare tricked us!" Peter said.

As the group discussed what to do next, footsteps were heard. The group hid behind some bushes. Three figures were spotted in the distance. Leon took out his binoculars to examine them.

"A dragon, a hippogriff, and another human." He whispered.

"Let me see." Peter said, taking the binoculars.

Peter got a closer look at the human the creatures had.

"Max..."

"Wait, they have Max?" Newton gasped.

"I'm going to go get him..."

"No, wait!" Leon interrupted. "I want to observe them. Maybe they could lead us to wherever the creatures are hiding out."

The creatures brought Max to the edge of the pond in the park.

"Hope you can hold your breath." The dragon said.

"Wait, what are you-" Max began.

The hippogriff held hands with the dragon as she laid her claws on the medallion around her neck. Magically, the two transformed themselves into sea creatures. The two jumped into the water.

"Jump in, the water's fine!" The hippogriff said.

Max sighed while taking off his clothes. As he stripped down into just his pants and underwear, he jumped in with the two creatures.

"Now hold onto me." The hippogriff-turned seapony said.

Max held his breath as he latched onto the seapony. They both dove underwater just as Peter's group arrived at the edge.

"How are we going to go after them now?" Peter asked.

"Don't you have the spellbook we used to get back here?" Newton asked.

"Oh yeah."

Peter took out the spellbook from his backpack. As he skimmed through the pages, he found the spell he was looking for.

"Here it is, the spell that allows you to breathe underwater."

Peter showed the spell to everyone.

"Okay, let me try." Newton said.

Newton casted a large bubble surrounding him and his friends.

"Well, did it work?" Peter asked.

Leon placed his hand on the bubble. It immediately popped.

"Let's try again."

Newton casted the bubble spell. This time, the bubble didn't pop.

"Strange, I thought this would go over our heads." Peter said.

The group made their way to the pond. As they dove under, they saw a large underwater fortress guarded by creatures turned into sea creatures.

"Oh no, how are we going to get past?" Neytiri asked.

"Newton, can you cast spells outside the bubble?" Peter suggested.

Newton moved a tiny rock outside the bubble to prove his worth. The group made their way so that they could see the fortress but out of sight from the guards.

"Okay, what now?" Neytiri said.

"I got an idea. But it's a stupid one." Peter sighed.

The guards saw the bubble the group was in approaching the castle. As the guards approached them, they were stunned to see their fugitives standing front of them.

"No way, this is too darn easy." One of the guards said.

"You caught us, oh no." Neytiri said sarcastically.

"Isn't there some sort of bounty on our heads?" Peter asked. "If someone turns us in?"

"Yeah..." One of the guards said.

"And if we turn ourselves in, we get the reward." Leon added.

The guards laughed.

"You think you get a reward for turning yourself in? What is it? Freedom?" The guard teased.

"Get them, boys."

The guards escorted the group inside the castle. Since there were only two guards watching them, one on the front and one on the back, Peter waited until they resurfaced in a chamber of the castle.

"I got to admit, you were pretty clever with that bubble spell." The guard said.

"Of course." Newton said.

Peter had a hidden handgun attached to his pocket. He waited until both guards positioned themselves in front of the group.

"Okay, what should we do while we wait for more guards to arrive?" One of the guards asked.

Peter grabbed the gun and shot both guards before they could react.

"Good work." Leon remarked.

The group hid the bodies of the two guards.

"Wait, I got an even better idea!" Peter said.

Disguised as guards, Newton and Neytiri escorted Peter and Leon around.

"Wouldn't the guards recognize your face?" Neytiri asked.

"Rarity disguised herself as a guard and everyone believed her as a guard." Newton said. "I didn't though."

"Why didn't you believe it?"

"Because of her face. I've never seen Rarity as a royal guard member. If she were, she would've signed up, trained with fellow guards, and considering training with guards is what I do for a living before I defected, I know she was tricking us."

"But if you know she was tricking you, why didn't you inform the guards?"

"I was still loyal to the Mane Six. Before I saw with they've done to the Storm Kingdom. I use to look up to Twilight as some sort of hero. I had to learn a ton of spells if I want to be like her. And..."

Newton had red markings over his cheeks.

"I had some sort of... crush... on her."

The three gasped.

"You... had a crush... on some creature... who was evil?" Peter said.

"That was before. Now, I'm just a wanted stallion."

"Jeez, I never realize that my friend had a crush on our enemy." Leon said.

"We need to move." Peter said.

The group continued on. If any of them had looked up, they would've seen a lanky alicorn looking down at them with a smug face.