A Roegadyn in Equestria

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 65: Rider On The Rails.

*Point of view: Third Person*
*Location: The Griffin Empire. In the Mountain region to the south of the Capital*
*Time: Four in the afternoon. One month before the Grand Galloping Gala*

Out in the middle of the wilderness where there was a flat plateau nestled between a couple of tall hills, at approximately three thousand feet above sea level. A pair of vultures were pecking away at the carcass of a small dead rodent for a couple of seconds before a sudden Thunderclap erupted out of seemingly nowhere. The loud noise caused the two birds to fly off in a hurry, while carrying the remains of their meal just in time, as a bright flash occurred just several feet off the ground.

What occurred within a few seconds, was the site of a growing tunnel comprised of swirling yellow and purple lights. There was a loud torrent of blowing wind emanating from the rip in space as voices could be heard yelling from deep within. One was of a young man, while the next couldn't have come from anything else then an old man with a deep raspy voice. They were grunts and apparent thuds being repeatedly made as they went at one another with a string of verbal abuse.

“Fucking asshole!

“That's Mister Fucking Asshole to you! I've done a lot to earn that title and I deserve the respect!”

“Let go! I'm not staying in this hell hole any longer!

“We have a contract! I ain't letting my investment just walk away from me! I'm taking what I'm owed!”

“Fuck off! This is what you’re owed, take this! *Thud* Take that! *Thwack* And take another one of these! *Bonk*

“Now you're just making a fool of yourself! Do you really believe you could really-. GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh! Why you yellow livered sack of-.”

“HA! How do you like a metal toed boot to the nuts! How about I throw in one of these! I call this, The Atomic Nutcracker!”

“No! Not the Power Fist! You wouldn’t dar-. Gahhahaaaaaaaagh!”

“Not so tough right now, huh? Count yourself lucky I took off the metal spike. Otherwise, you would have another hole to piss out!”

“That's enough! No more playing nice! Haaaaaah!!!!”

“Hey! let go of that! Do you have any idea what I went through to get this?!”

What came next, was a huge fiery explosion that quickly started to approach the exit of the tunnel at a frightening speed. Next was a flaming body as it was flung out of the tunnel and tumbled several meters until he went off the edge of the plateau and landed on a piece of ground that was jetting off of the side of the cliff nearly a dozen meters below. As it was traveling, the flames would fly off while in the motion of rolling. It wasn't until the long drop that most of it was extinguished and only left a few burning cinders that were barely still lit.

At the same time this was happening. Another object came flying out and was going at a greater distance until it was clear over one of the mountains towards the south. Whatever the object could have been, it was approximately seven or eight inches long in diameter and resembled a brown tube in shape. When taking in the sight of the swirling lights that just erupted of flames.

One could tell that it was beginning to close in on itself as the edges were picking up speed and shrinking inch by inch. This continued only for another two or three seconds until it caved in on itself and emitted a strong shockwave that blew quite a bit of the smaller pieces of rocks away and left an impression on the ground of several circles going outwards.

Back down on the small cliff that the body was laying on. It started to show signs of stirring with the way it was on its back and the gloved fingers on the right hand were now twitching. Once all of the black smoke finally was finished obscuring the rest of his form. It revealed a man wearing a strange outfit and a helmet with a mask that covered up his entire head. In a strange way it closely resembled something that was a cross between an old army helmet and a gas mask.

On closer inspection, the chest was covered with a steel plate that hugged his form well enough to give the impression he was pretty well built. Aside from that everything else looked to be made out of a leather-type of material and miraculously, it survived the odd explosion from just moments ago. Unfortunately for the man, his right leg was twisted at an odd angle and blood could easily be seen staining the clothing that was close to the knee.

(Here is a picture of how he looks now.)

After releasing a loud hiss of pain and trying to hold up his upper half by placing his elbows on the rocks. He was able to lift his head enough to take in his current appearance and loudly exclaimed in an over-the-top fashion. “Not again! I fucking hate it when I get the crippling effect! It's a good thing I stocked up on-. Aaah SHIT! I can't believe that stupid old geezer ripped it off!”

He then rolled his head a little bit before letting out a very loud exasperated sigh of annoyance, as he started to reach down with his right hand towards the now busted up leg. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to reach for what he wanted to. So instead, his fingers hooked around some of the pants leg fabric in order to pull his boot closer. But by doing this. The man released another series of pained grunts as the sound of crunching bones could be heard while doing this.

After some grueling work on getting whatever he wanted done. His hands index finger slipped into the gap between the top of his boots and leg to produce a single syringe with a pressure gauge near the handle and a pair of small hoses from the container that led to the gauge itself. Not even a hint of hesitation went by as he then Jam the unnecessarily long needle into the side of his injured leg. Once that was done, the item went straight to work and released a loud hiss, as the gauge dropped within seconds to show that something was injected straight into his leg.

As his leg was beginning to twitch and miraculously pull itself back into the right position. He could be heard letting out another set of grunts that only dwindled until it was completely switched out with pure relief. He then started to talk again with a Texan tone to his voice, as he let out a small laugh. Haha! And Preston really thought I was being silly by keeping a spare stem pack in my shoe. Just great. Now I’m without my Pip-Boy, but I'm also fresh out of stim packs. Survival mode just got a lot harder.”

“I can't even tell if there's radiation until I start to feel like I'm going to throw up. And obviously, if I'm at that point, I may as well be dead. Oh well, at least I maxed out those stats for surviving radiation. As long as I'm not standing next to a drop zone, I should be fine... Oh, that's right. New world. Well, I better stop staring at my weirdly reattached leg and take a look at what I got myself into this time.”

And true to his word, he did just that. Once he turned his head, everything about him became as still as a statue as he took on the site of the many small hills and mountains that were off in the distance. The rolling greens of wide-open lands and patches of forest filled his vision and caused a small sob to escape his lips before he recovered.

He then quickly got back onto his two legs and started to jump for joy as he threw his arms straight up into the air and started to spin in place. While also screaming to the heavens and a kid like fashion. “I did it! I did it! I'm finally out of that place! No more radiation! No more ghouls! No more Rad Scorpions trying to crawl up inside my sleeping bag!”

That was when his voice turned oddly serious for a split second as he said the next part. “No… Seriously. That's happened to me at least a dozen times. It's really awkward when you're in bed with a girl and you wonder what exactly is poking you in the middle of the night.” He then shivered for a second and was moving his arms as if he were trying to knock off something imaginary from his own body, before he returned back to his carefree nature. “I can't even remember what it's like to breathe clean air.”

His hands both went up and started to frantically go at the straps that kept his helmet in place and ripped it off as soon as he was able to get the last one undone. When he did this, he took in a deep breath and held it in for several seconds before letting it out and talking again.

“Ah! The way the clean air tastes! Even the way it blows through my hair feels so much different… Huh? Hold on… Did I really let my beard go that much?” His left hand started to feel the sides of his face and then to the underside to discover that he had quite a bit more facial hair than he remembered before leaving that last settlement.

Being curious, he pulled off that hands glove and started to feel his face once again. But stopped when his fingers ran all over and discovered that he had hair and spots that he knew he didn't the last time he checked. It also became quite apparent with his eyes going wide, when he pulled his hand away and started to turn it over while in front of his own face. Said eyes were going as wide as dinner plates as he held out his arm completely before shouting in a panicked voice. “What happened to my hand? It's orange! It’s-It's also got fur all over!”

While in that state. He reached down with his other hand and pulled out his machete and held it up so that the reflective surface could be used as a makeshift mirror to look over himself. Once he did, he ended up dropping the machete before he started to stumble backwards until his body was pressing up against the rocky cliffside. In a way, it was as though he was trying to back pedal away from his new reality.

He even started to hysterically cry as both of his hands ran down the sides of his face in order to stretch it when he spoke. “It can't be! My face, my face! My beautiful-beautiful face! I'm an ugly, stinky, Pony! Pony faaaaaaaace!!! He then slumped down as his legs slid away so he was now in a seated position before kicking them up and down in a comedic fashion.

(Play this for the way he is freaking out for the "Emperor's New Groove" llama face clip.)

From his perspective, his entire body ended up shifting to another species completely. His once smooth skin was now replaced with almost every inch being covered with orange fur. Aside from some key differences due to his new race, he still retained a few of his normal features. Which also included his brownish blonde hair that went down and past his shoulders. When looking down, he gave a quick sigh of relief upon seeing the set of boots on his feet and took much delight at the sensation of wiggling his toes. Although, now he was aware of his current condition.

Upon doing some further, personal exploration. That got a very subtle nod of approval. He also discovered a tail as it was coming out from just above his tailbone. At first, he thought it was a fake and started to poke at it absent-mindedly, but as soon as it twitched. There was no longer any denying that it belonged to anyone but him. He also wondered if he was able to eat normal food and ran his tongue across his teeth. This ended up revealing that he kept his original teeth, which meant that he could still eat everything he used to in the past.

It took him a good several minutes to come to terms with his current form. But when the time came for that he ended up slapping himself across the cheeks. He then said, “Okay Engineer. Time to go through all those useless steps so I can get over this extremely weird life crisis!” From there, he took in a quick set of breaths to get himself psyched up. Then went on to aggressively denying what was happening to him for several seconds and stating how this just couldn’t happen and it was complete bullshit.

This was quickly taken over by anger at the ones who sent him there, as well as to the guy he just nut kicked only a short time ago. Next up, was bargaining to anyone who could possibly hear his voice as he got down onto his knees and through his arms into the air. He even went so far as to bow his head so fast, that he ended up smacking his forehead onto the rocky ground below and making himself go dizzy as his eyes went crossed.

Only to instantly lay on his side and crawl into a fetal position as he fell into a deep depression. While at the same time, muttering to himself in such a way that he was going full-on emo. He even went so far as to say that he would have been better off as a worm. Oddly enough the air around him actually turned dark with the level of negativity he was giving off. After going through an exceptionally long bout of this stage compared to all the others.

The now identified person as being called Engineer. Perked right back up and had a stoic expression before loudly proclaiming in the most grown-up voice he could muster. I will be a pony! And I will be damned proud of it! You hear me I’m gonna make the most of this and I’m gonna have fun with having a horse’s-.” Unfortunately, he stopped the ground a little too hard and ended up slipping, which interrupted that last part of the sentence.

Once he got back up and shook off whatever was going on with him both figuratively and literally. He took quick stock of his current predicament and looked over everything he had on hand. After going over to pick up his dropped machete. He got himself comfortable and sat cross-legged and began to place out his items in a neat row so that he was sure he wasn't going to leave anything out.

First off, was the machete of course on his far left. This was immediately followed by the next item being a large handgun and enough bullets for all the chambers to be loaded and an extra set on the side. He then said out loud, “At least I got you. Kellogg's pistol is my all-time favorite hand gun.”

He then moved to the next item. “Oh, sorry I can't forget about you, don't get jealous now! I bet that guy from the movie with that book that would bring back the dead wishes he had a Boomstick like you.” That was when he quickly pulled from underneath his jacket, what would appear to be a type of automatic shotgun with a round clip attached at the bottom and an extended barrel. This one also had a full clip, but he only had three extra shells on the side.

Next to be added to the row, was a few metal tins that resembled the kind that would hold breath mints. One looked quite plain, while the second had a crayon drawing of some purple grapes. Next to that was quickly put down a stick of meat all bundled up in a leather wrapping and a piece of tape placed on it with the words, “Rag Stag Jerky.”

After seeing the last item to be put down so far. Engineer nearly snatched it back up but reluctantly put it back down and turned away as he said, “I can’t! That's for emergencies only!” There was even a small bottle that held close to thirty ounces of water with markings that said, “Distilled Water.”

His hands began to fish around for the rest of his pockets in order to find anything at all. So, over the course of the next minute or so. The Earth Pony pulled out a handful of gold coins which he was positive had somehow replaced some of his bottle caps that he had on hand. There was also a handwritten booklet that resembled one of those Wastelanders Survival Guide magazines. Except this one had the words, Ex-Wastelanders guide to surviving in the inside and outside of Equestria.

The paper itself looked pretty well worn out and stained with various colored fluids, which he could only assume was water, mud and perhaps just a few drops of blood near the top right-hand corner of the page. The sloppy drawing depicted a very low-grade version of himself on some type of map and an arrow pointing off to another one. Said other land showed sunshine and rainbows depicted everywhere in colors.

Upon seeing the whole picture, he had this look on his face that just screamed what the fuck. He even contemplated for just a brief moment whether or not he made a good idea with accepting the opportunity to come over. Somehow, the thought that this world might end up being worse became the forefront of his thinking.

After he was sure that everything was taken off, aside from the clothing from his back. Engineer picked up the magazine again and opened it to the first page. Once this was done, he ended up falling over as if he got sucker punched in the face and screamed the following in a child's voice as he keeled over and waved a finger in the air before blacking out.

“Brain Blast! Gotta Jet! Carl, Get that lama out of the lab.” Now that he was laying on his back. His eyes fluttered open several times to show that an assortment of rainbow colors was being emitted and multitudes of images were quickly being displayed. These clearly showed places and persons of interest. There was even one that lingered on a large being in a white set of robes.

This went on for about a good half hour. When he came too. He sprang back up like a Jack in The Box with his legs spread apart and palms pressing on the floor in front of himself. He then exclaimed, while shaking his head and causing his lips to do that weird sound people make when doing so.

“By Faust tits, this place is fucking nuts! ... ... Okay well… it’s a better type of nuts compared to the other place. Really, I am fine without the irradiated monsters. But I'm really going to miss my companions. Uh-oh. I hope Codsworth doesn't have a meltdown about my disappearance.”

He started to tap the left side of his head before continuing. “Let's see, let's see! I've been sent to a world with colorful ponies and other assortment of mythological creatures. I'm obviously an Earth Pony... now I really feel jipped. Why can't I have a horn or wings? Wings would be real helpful right about now!”

That was when he took the opportunity to slightly lean over to his left so that he can get a little bit of a look at how far up he was from the bottom. From what he saw. The mountain gave him the impression that if he was to jump off, then it would take him a good eleven seconds to hit the ground. Once he was positive on the height, he started to shake his head very enthusiastically about not trying that mode of travel.

Once everything was gathered back up again and placed into their correct pockets, and or placeholders. Engineer brought his hand up to his eyes in order to act as a visor and looked around for any signs of civilization. Luckily for him, just at the very edge of what he was able to perceive from his current vantage point. There was a small settlement at the very bottom of the mountain and close to maybe two hours of walking.

Unfortunately for him, it was still too far to be able to tell exactly what sort of buildings they were. But there must have been close to a dozen or so and he could easily see some short stacks of white smoke coming from a few of the buildings. This meant that it was not abandoned and they were clearly some residences still living there.

After making sure everything was secure and placed his helmet back on again. He started to make his way down the side of the cliff by grabbing on to some rocks and situating his feet for some stable foot holds. As he was going down, he ended up saying to himself, “I'm really glad I maxed out all of my stats. If I'm lucky, I can get there before sundown. Here's hoping that I don't get shot on sight. Ugh... it would be a real nice change of pace.”

*Point of view: Engineer*
*Location: The Griffin Empire. Unknown settlement*
*Time: Five Forty-Five in the evening*

It took quite a bit of work and getting past a couple of rabid looking dogs that seemed to be both way too large and skinny to be normal. But luckily, he didn't have very much trouble and easily dispatched them with his machete. He of course knew quite well not to waste any bullets as he had only a finite amount. Whereas his missing item, mysteriously kept a hold of the bulk of his gear.

Just as he was pushing his way through a couple of bushes that was on the outer edge of the clearing for the small town. He grumbled to himself in a clearly agitated voice that was just above a whisper. “I really need to get my Pip-Boy back and pronto. I forgot what it's like to actually need pockets to hold all my stuff. I guess I should be lucky that I didn't have myself equipped with the heavy artillery. If I at least had the junk jet, then I could just grab random shit off the ground and shoot that as ammo.”

When he got to about twenty paces into the open clearing. An arrow shot out from between one of the two buildings that were situated fairly close together and got stuck in the ground only a few feet away. This caused Engineer to quickly throw up his arms in a surrendering gesture, while calling out in the most innocent cowboy voice he could muster up on the spot.

“Whoa! Just hold on there partner! I'm not here to cause any problems! I plum went and got myself lost out here in the woods. I saw the town from the hill just over yonder!” While saying that. He gestured with his right hand so that his thumb was pointing behind himself and in the way he came.

A few seconds passed with nothing but silence following. This was before a group of six Griffins came out from behind some hiding places that consisted of a couple of barrels and the backside of one of the fences that was attached to a house. There were even two Earth ponies thrown in and each and every one of them was wearing some pretty shabby equipment. Most of which was covered in dirt and grime to the point that he literally thought that was what they were made of.

Half had an assortment of melee weapons, which included knives, swords and shields and a two-handed axe. The others, which were only two, held onto bows and arrows. What stood out immediately to him was the fact that each one was of the female gender. While the only one in the group who was brandishing the axe stepped a little closer, which brought them to about thirteen meters apart. She was an earth mare and mostly of dark green, while her mane and tail where that of red. She even had it cut so much that it was pretty much standing up as a messed up mohawk.

The mare then spoke up as she hefted the axe over her right shoulder and gave him a confidence smirk that had a hint of maliciousness behind it. “And what's a tall glass of hard cider like yourself doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”

After hearing the question. His mind began to race as it frantically went through the amount of information that was shoved down his throat for any type of answer to give. By the end, he got what he needed and smirked from behind his face covering at what he was about to do next. He then started up a back and forth with the mare, as he lowered his arms and started to pace back and forth, while also looking really disappointed.

“What am I doing here? What am I doing here?! Did you really just ask me that question? I knew it! I just knew it! I kept saying that I wanted to work with professionals! But nooooo~. Work your way up they said, make new connections they said! Build up your reputation in a new land they said! It will be good for you they said! When I get back, I’m going to make sure that they can’t sleep at night for a week by the time I’m done!”

“Wha? What?! Huh...”

“The one you work for went through my secretary to set up our meeting. If it wasn't bad enough that the map I was given was so badly made that it could have only come from a three-year-old with a broken piece of crayon could have made. But not even the passphrase was properly communicated! Oh, please! Please don't tell me that you don't even know I was supposed to be here!”

The mare was visibly getting more and more confused as her posture was beginning to slouch as she responded, or at least she attempted to. “Ah... I..I... um.”

“Did you or did you not get told that I was supposed to be here to meet up with you for the job? This is another reason why I don't like amateurs! I still haven't even been told my temporary boss's name yet out of security purposes! Okay, you know what, fine! I'll start from the beginning.”

That was when he started to overly exaggerate his body motions to do a sort of pantomime, as he was talking in a slow fashion that gave the impression that he was trying to talk to someone who spoke a different language at the same time, conveying his irritation at the start.

“I... I'm here to... help you all, under the request of your... boss.” When he was finished, he already had his arms out to his side as if presenting what was just said in a way that made it seem so obvious. But from behind his covered face, he was beginning to sweat a little as he was mumbling the following within his head.

“Please-oh-please-oh-please-oh-very much pleeeeeease! Let my Charisma check work! Unlike my other world, this one is primarily filled with females, so I should get the Lady Killer perk activated.” As this was going on. The one he was talking to was looking visibly disturbed and glancing over to the rest of the girls, who were all giving her a mix of shoulder shrugs or winceful expressions to show that they had no idea what was going on.

The mare then lowered her axe out of frustration and stabbed the head into the ground, before giving out an exhausted sigh as she started to reluctantly reply to him. “Buck it! Those idiots back at the hideout don't know their heads from their asses... I could just guess who made the map. I swear! That mare’s been reading too many mystery novels. And what's with that code phrase about being lost in the Hills? Did it even cross her mind that's pretty much the first thing a lost person says? It won't work if just any random Pony uses it...”

On the outside, Engineer was as cool as a cucumber as his hands were resting on his hips. But on the inside, it was a whole other matter. There was this mental image of him crouching down on his knees and holding his hands together, while looking up into some odd light shining down in the darkness. His mental self then said the following while having a voice that was a mix between happy sobbing and hysterical.

“Thank you developers for the Charisma system! Oh, thank you-thank you-thank you- thank you! I was scared it wasn't going to work! Gullible ponies plus maxed out charisma, plus all the perks is a godsend! If this works as well as I think it will, I could probably get her to sell the family farm for two coins! Hell! I can probably talk her into getting a farm and then selling it to me with my maxed-out skills! Nope, nope! I better not get too far ahead of myself. She might just be really dumb.” That was when their conversation heated back up again with the mare starting things off.

“We got things pretty much wrapped up here, so I guess you're just a little late for the party. All the goods already got shipped out and we just got this last little loose end to tie up. But tell you what. We'll let you do it and we'll even give you a little something else to do, seeing as we're paying for your services and all.” That was when she and the rest of the females in the group began to relax as confused expressions slowly morphed into broad smiles and sultry filled eyes.

Engineer quickly held in a loud gulp from being let out, as his eyes went comically wide from behind his mask. He then thought to himself, “SHIT! Even I could tell what is going to happen without that book filling me in on how this world works! What's really scary is how attractive I find them all right now. Especially with the way I freaked out about my own face earlier. What else did that stupid thing do to me?” He then said to the, “How about we get the job done. Then we could think about how to set up my overtime.”

The mare gave a subtle nod in the general direction of the town and Engineer went along with her, as the rest of the girls took on positions from the rear. Now that there weren't any arrows or axe’s pointed at his head and passing the outer set of buildings. The rest of the town's condition gave a pretty good picture as to what he was walking into. The buildings were in pretty rough shape, but this was not due to time or neglect. Instead, there were broken windows and carts toppled over with fresh produce still on the floor.

Over by one of the doors leading to a small house. The corpse of a Griffin could be seen just outside and laying on the porch. Judging from the amount of blood that was mostly centered on the back of their shirt. Engineer could easily surmise that this was done with a small set of blades after taking a good hit in the back and trying to run away. There were a few others for a total of eight all over and in various positions.

The group was currently making their way to the other side, where there was a larger building that must have been the town hall or a storage area for goods. Unfortunately, it was hard to tell with how shoddy the workmanship when it came to its construction, as it looked really plain and didn’t seem to have much thought for the design.

Anyway, it resembled a barn, but the double doors were still a little too small to allow a wagon to go through. But before they made it all the way over, he asked the mare from before a quick question. “Care to run me through the overall strategy you implemented? Just want to make sure I'm on the same page and don't leave anything that stands out if there’s anyone that looks into what happened here.”

The mare gave him a cocky look as she appeared quite proud of herself and used her large axe in order to point at various spots as she replied. “We went ahead and steered a couple of the local monsters towards the town for a few days. After a while, a lot of the townsfolk evacuated. Obviously, they're going to go tattletale to the authorities, but the Army shouldn't get here for another one or two days.

Once it was down to only a handful of Griffins, we snuck in just before dawn and took care of the stragglers. We're really lucky that they weren't ready for us and we caught them off guard before they could put up much of a fight. A good thing too. I heard that some were close to rank D. The whole plan may have gone out the window if they came at us in their own group.”

Unknown to them, engineer was now scowling from behind his mask. But he managed to keep his voice the same way as before, as he gritted his teeth and asked the next question. “I was never filled in on the objective. I was told it was a need to know and I would only find out once I got here. I take it those back at your hideout don't want their plans getting leaked if they're hired help doesn't even make it to where they need to be.”

The mare gave a huff of annoyance, as she used her free hand to scratch the back of her head when she came to a dead stop. She then said rather annoyedly, “I was really hoping that you would at least know that much so we can finally find out.” After, he tilted his head slightly to indicate that he was confused and the mare continued as she started to walk again.

“Our boss said that they're supposed to be a treasure vault underneath the town. But we can't find it anywhere we look. They're supposedly a map that belonged to the leader of this town.” She then looked over her shoulder and gave a, I'm angry at you look, towards one of the other girls in the back and that one in particular shuffled around until she was hiding behind another one before the mare went on. “One of us got a little too excited and stab happy. We were going to use the map but it ended up getting destroyed… So now we have no way of finding the stupid vault.”

He ended up nodding to this and stayed silent for a few more seconds until they were now standing in front of the double set of doors. He then said, “And what about this last little issue you mentioned earlier?”

This got a wide smirk from the mare, as she went right up and kicked the center where the two doors met and caused them to swing wide open. Once that was done, the interior was quickly exposed and this showed off a warehouse with most of the goods stacked up neatly in boxes along the walls so that the center was pretty much cleared of any obstruction.

However, due to the size of the roof there was a single support beam that was rounded off and easily three feet thick. But what really got his attention, was how there was another mare all tied up so that she was on her knees and back against the pillar. Her wings were tightly bound up as both arms were forced to go behind herself and locked to one another by a thick chain connecting to equally thick cuffs.

Her head was hanging low and he could easily see the knot belonging to a blindfold being tied at the back of her head. She wore something that was similar to a safari outfit, but there were some large rips in the clothing that suggested that she was beaten up quite recently and undergone some manner of torture. This was made only more apparent as she was pretty much out cold and visible blood stains were already dried on her fur and clothing.

Because of the way that he was standing in the door, while most of the mare's were either at his right side or at his back. None of them were able to see the way the red lenses on his helmet began to give off this faint red glow that lasted a few seconds. His muscles began to tense up from underneath his clothing as his eyes carefully took in everything around himself. From inside, something was beginning to stir that he just couldn't place of finger on.

That was when the sun decided to set so that it was directly behind himself. Once the Sun was finally over the tip of the mountain it was crossing, his lips began to curl into a small smile. Then it turned into a big one. From there, it somehow grew even bigger until it was something that could cause children to run screaming in fright. His blood could literally feel as though it was boiling under his skin.

As this was happening and everything was beginning to get dark. The one with the axe called out to a few in the group to light up the building. When they walked right by Engineer. he slightly lowered his head and started to talk in a more serious voice. “What's the plan?” This caught the mare off guard slightly. This was either the question or perhaps the way it was said. But she raised an eyebrow to him with a somewhat shocked expression, before it turned into a mischievous smile.

She then motioned towards the bound-up Pegasus before she answered. “This one got to get a good look at the map before she destroyed it. This here is the famous Daring Do. If I were to go off on her reputation alone, then I'm sure that she's memorized it down to the letter. We got time, but all our attempts to get her to sing has got us nothing. Do you think you got something under that belt of yours that we may have not tried?”

She was expecting an answer, but at that moment as all the torches in the room finally got lit. They were suddenly extinguished without any type of wind being the cause. And in the next second alone, the following happened to him. Flashes of events went by in his mind. How he found himself in a home that came from around 1950. But had some futuristic pieces of technology here and there and a rocket propelled sphere that was acting as a robotic butler.

He then found himself standing in an open door and talking to a man wearing a yellow coat and hat. Oddly enough, the character seemed quite old and with silver hair slicked back that could be seen just below the rim of the hat itself. After signing some paperwork that had some information on himself. He was presented another that required his signature and the man at the door relayed that it was a contract to ensure, that not only would he be protected from the upcoming nuclear holocaust, but so would his wife and child.

Then the images show him along with a woman carrying a small baby wrapped up in some cloth, as they ran up a dirt trail and pass the gate being manned by guards with guns. The next image to be shown, was him, the female and the child walking in a room full of weird pods lining the walls of the wide hallways.

He was then placed inside of one of the pods in the same way his wife was directly across, as she was still holding on to their child when the doors closed. But just as everything started to feel cold. The very same man he saw that gave him the contract to sign, walked by the round window showing the outside world and he gave a malicious smile before slowly moving on and going out of sight.

The next string of images went by so quickly that it was nearly impossible to make any sense of them. Waking up to a world that was covered in poison. Animals that had been horrifically mutated into huge monstrosities. Humans with shriveled up skin that would attack on site and without any type of intelligence. Humans that would steal, kill and torture others as though it was a normal Monday morning and without any type of remorse whatsoever.

He would be found in varying states with limbs broken and being heavily affected by the ambient radiation in the air, which would slowly kill him if precautions were not taken. Hundreds upon hundreds of uses by the same needle as before and pumping his body full of chemicals in order to survive. Having to fight off the previously stated monstrosities that could only be described as the devil walking on Earth. With long curved horns, teeth and powerful arms with razor sharp claws at the end. A long tail that could easily break a man's spine if struck by it directly.

Constantly seeing dead bodies around every corner and digging through trash in order to find that small, almost insignificant item that could save his life. Every single day a fight for existence to live beyond the next fifteen minutes as anything and anyone would be willing to take his life without so much as a second thought.

A gut-wrenching scream of agony started to ring through his thoughts as the last few images showed a mighty explosion. Then himself holding on to a bloody corpse of an old man in a lab coat. There was also a figure wearing a black business suit and holding onto a cane standing a short distance away and showing a bright glistening smile with his teeth.

Back in the outside world. He started to talk again. However, there was a dangerous edge to his voice, that instantly caught the attention of all of the bandits that were now inside of the building. “I have a few ideas... but first-. This was when he suddenly cut himself off and through his arms out to the side. Which led to the axe wielding mare to be flung to the far wall and into a stack of crates that was easily four meters away.

(Play this song for the scene.)

His back was beginning to arch as his legs were forced to be spread apart a little. His head was quickly thrown back as his mouth was hanging wide open as he roared from inside of his mask. “HAAAAAAA! HAAAAAAAAAA!” The yell produced was what one would make if they were to be holding on to a microphone and screaming into a deep cave for the countless number of echoes to reverberate back even louder and deeper.

Flames flicker to life at the bottom of his boots and quickly erupted into a torrent of flames that would blow away the wind and cause everything inside of the building to be rattled. As the fire grew hotter and hotter so that anyone could feel the heat from clear across the room. The Flames snake their way up his legs and enveloped his entire body within seconds as everything he had on burned to cinders.

As soon as not only the clothing but all of his gear was gone. His orange body burned away all of the hair in patches as his skin could be seen boiling over and evaporating instantly. But instead of normal flames. These had traces of blue and green thrown in at random intervals as they erupted from multiple spots of his now cooking body. All the while, he had not broken from his screaming for even an instant as it went on.

Once all of his flesh was entirely destroyed. His internal organs exploded from the build-up pressure of heat within, before shriveling up and then burning to ash. Oddly enough, the last bit turned out to be his eyes as they popped only to leave a set of empty black eye sockets in the skull. The only thing that was left of the Pony, was the site of a standing bleached white skeleton. But still the flames remained brightly burning hot. That was when the screaming started to resemble that of a drawn-out maniacal laugh that had a strong presence of pain mixed in.

The next action to take place, was a strange black set of smoke that would first come off of the ground to cover every last inch of his skeletal form and slowly pull itself together until it took a more physical state. Everything from the neck down was now suited in a very form fitting black leather that strongly resembled a biker’s outfit. Thick gloves were covering his hands and there were multiple spikes running down the arm guard that were roughly half an inch long, while the hand itself had a couple on the back of the fist and one on each knuckle. There were also a set of three, one-inch-long studded spikes that came poking out from the shoulders.

(Here is a picture of how he looks now, but imagine him in Anthro form.)

Once the clothing was fully on. The fire that was exiting from any small gaps that it could find as exits all died out, but only left his head to be the one part of his body that still had burning flames erupting. By this point, his screaming finally came to an end and he lumbered over to Daring Do and got behind her pillar. All the while leaving seared hot boot prints whenever he lifted up his boots.

His black leather gloved fingers gripped on to the cuffs on both wrists and they instantly began to give off this orange glow that was beginning from the inside going out. This was before the pieces of the now glowing metal dripped onto the ground with a heavy sizzle has it made contact with the cold surface. At first it was a couple of drops then it all flowed off as easily as water.

Miraculously enough, Daring Do's hands had hardly any markings at all from this, aside from her past attempts to try and pull her hands free, which left some heavy bruising and small cuts from the edges. Now holding on to the length of chain that had both ends being gripped by him. He ended up opening his mouth and spewed some flames on to said chains. As most of this flowed over the item and onto the floor. The rest of it started to contort and run through the different links. The change was instantaneous as it now glowed as if it just came freshly forged and grew in length as additional links sprouted from the next.

He then released it so that only is right hand was holding on and whipped it around the air a few times. This left several deep slashes in the ground before he swung it in a way that it would normally have struck his back. But instead of doing him any harm, it then wrapped itself in a way that would make one believe it was alive, so that it was draped over his left shoulder and going down to his right hip a couple of times.

When all of this was happening from the moment, he sent that one mare flying and ending as he completed the last touches of his attire. The axe wielding one recovered and was holding herself up, while trying to pull her ass out of the crate she was half stuck in and was now looking at his new horrific form with horror plastered all over her face.

Of course, the rest of them weren't in any better shape as three already peed themselves and still in the act as it was dribbling down their legs and onto the floor. One fainted on the spot, as another wasn't so lucky as she literally was scared to death and was now dead as a doornail with her hand over her chest. Two of them attempted to run but stumbled into one another and fell face first. But what they all had in common was the way that they were screaming so loud that it was within the possibility of awakening an entire graveyard from miles away.

As he stood there silently. The flames on his head sizzled and crackled in the lack of sound, before the group attempted to run for the exit, while also screaming at the top of their lungs about monsters and demons. But just as the group was just about to crush the threshold and gain their freedom from this hellish nightmare.

The ones in the front came to a screeching halt and screamed frantically for the others to stop as well. This was because there was a wall of flames that sprouted out of nowhere and blocked their exit. Soon, said flames ran across the interior of the building and covered nearly every surface with the other worldly flames that still had that strange mix of green thrown in now and then. Although there was still that heat that was hot enough to be felt from several feet away to them, nothing within was actually getting burnt.

It was quite unfortunate though, that the others did not heed the warning and pushed just enough to send one of their members through the wall of flames. But instead of ending up on the other side and frantically needing to look for a way to douse the flames that would have already been clinging on to them. The mare was already a blackened, and charred corpse before landing on the ground with only a few pieces of the armors still showing.

Obviously being able to tell that there was no way of running. A few of the braver ones... scratch that... make that the stupid ones, attempted to fight back. There was three in total and the first one to go at him, was a Griffin and she held onto a pair of knives and leaped into the air so that she could stab the blades downwards. Each one sunk into where his shoulders should be until they were all the way to the base of the handles. The Griffin had a satisfying grin on her face at this, but it only lasted a second before she had a look of shock and screamed in pain as she leaped away.

She then crumbled down to her knees after bringing both of her hands up and finding that the flesh had been burned so badly, that she was able to see the bones in her palm's. As for the two knives she used. They could still be seen stuck in his shoulders, but they were now glowing red hot and liquefying at a frightening pace. His flaming skull slowly turn towards his left shoulder and then over to the other at an agonizingly slow pace to show that he was examining the damage, before turning his attention back to the girl’s.

He then raised his left hand and started to wag his finger, while slightly tilting his head and saying the following in the same voice as from when he was screaming. But in a very intimidating way as it was now very low. “Nah-Ah~.” The second one to attack, pulled out her bow and shot an arrow straight for his chest.

The arrow itself went in quite deep but it did not get destroyed so quickly as the daggers. Instead, he gripped onto it with his right hand and yanked the arrow free from the leather. The metal tip itself, along with several inches, was now white hot and he played with it for a bit by twirling it between a few fingers a few times.

This lasted a few seconds before he whipped his hand in through the arrow straight at the one who fired it first. The crudely made projectile itself went cleanly through the very center of her rib cage and buried itself so deep, that it nearly came out the other side of her body. The Griffin screamed for a few seconds before her voice left her.

By the end, all that was left was her in this frozen state as her jaw was left wide open to show that she was in the middle of a silent scream before falling over, while in the same state and clearly dead. The piece that was glowing before quite literally cooked her organs and seared the oxygen within her own lungs within seconds, so she ended up dying before she even finished taking her last breath.

The last one was carrying a small shield and an iron sword that was barely two feet long. He then made a mocking gesture by laughing and allowing is teeth to clatter against one another whenever his jaw moved. He also raised his right hand as if to grab something in the air and a burst of flames came out of his palm to reveal his machete. Just like with his body, this item was quickly overtaken by flames and the blade turned jet black and started to extend. The metal started to have these engravings that resembled tiny skulls and connecting arms that would run up the length of the flat side of the weapon.

Once the transformation was completed, only the very edge was glowing hot and giving off a few licks of flames as the machete grew an extra foot and a half. This meant it was longer than his own leg and it had a heavy goth feel. Even the handguard itself turned into a silver skull as the rest of the blade was coming out of its open maw.

He then gave it a few cautionary swings and allowed the sound of the heat coming off of it to fill the air. It was immediately brought up so that it was able to be examined by him closer as he spoke the following in an oddly chipper accent, that was really close to someone who lived in Australia. “You call that a knife? Now THIS, is what I call a knife?”

It was then raised up and swung down. After seeing it coming at her the Griffin raised up the shield in order to block it. But the blade went right through just as a hot knife through butter. His newly forged demonic machete not only cleaved through the protective item, but also her left arm and chest, as it traveled through.

Only a second later, the body fell apart, while still on its legs. The sections that the weapon came into contact with, was burning hot and cauterized everything. This left the Bandit to scream and agony for a few more seconds until she finally succumbed to the injury of being cut into multiple pieces.

He then went over to the one that attacked first with the daggers and stood right in front of her, while looking down at the now crying girl. He then tilted his head slightly and caused his jaw to bend just enough to give the impression he was smiling. This was before he said the following as he started to repeatedly stab her in the chest.

“Stabby-stabby-stabby!” First it was the left lung, then the right shoulder. Next was the stomach and left thigh. He continued this a few more times until she was pretty much a used-up pin cushion and she crumpled onto the ground with a horrified expression frozen on her face. Along with there being stab wounds that gave off a faint glow as the flesh and armor around it was burned.

The one with the axe, was so horrified by everything that she had neglected to get out of her current stuck position and watched as he continued with the rest. All the while, she was crying and dripping snot from her nose. The scene then focuses on her eyes as they gave a bleary reflection of the following events. At the same time, the shadows of said actions were being displayed on the wall behind where she was.

The others were then literally torn to bits when he grabbed onto the next member of their group and held her over his head. From there he gripped on to the girl from somewhere on the upper back and one of the legs near the thigh, and pulled so hard that they tore apart right where the hips connected to the torso.

Another had her arms ripped out of their sockets and used to bludgeon her to death. He then took a hold of the chain that was on his outfit and easily slipped It off and flung it in order to grab on to another's neck. The chain wrapped around a few times, before he yanked and caused the line to go tense, thereby causing that one's head to literally be torn off as it's spun like a top.

This went on for a few more until it was down to the last member aside from herself. This one was gripped onto by his left hand and held so that she was now dangling several inches off of the ground, thanks to his fingers taking hold of her skull. The Griffin screams got louder and louder until they were a full-on shriek, as she was also begging for her life.

The sound of which was easily on-par with what could possibly cause crystals to shatter before her head was crushed in by his fingers. But not before he said, “Say hello to those that begged YOU to stop…” This not only caused her screaming to stop, but within a fraction of a second, the bones could be heard crunching multiple times before allowed squelch sound was made and the body was dropped.

The next thing to happen, was his figure slowly approaching after putting his toys away. The wall behind her got brighter and brighter as he did this, until the reflection on her eyes was filled with nothing but his Pony skull that was still on fire. He then said in a deep hollowed out voice that was filled with tiny sounds of embers burning behind it. “You and I… are going to have a few words... And don't worry... I plan to show you many… many of my techniques. And I know A LOT!” The last thing to happen, was the mare screaming at the top of her lungs before the scene went black.

*Point of view: Third Person*
*Location: Canterlot castle. In the lower floors*
*Time: Ten-thirty at night*

The party came to an abrupt halt not too long ago and most of the partygoers were already sent home. As for the ones who came in from out of the country. They had assigned sweets in the guest area of the castle itself and most were already in bed or at least doing something in their rooms until they were ready to sleep. This however didn’t affect the guards who were still on duty and staying at their posts, while others were constantly on patrols.

Down in the lower recesses of the castle, where the Royal Vault was kept. Two guards were on duty, while standing on either side of an overly elaborate and well decorated door. Said door was more than big enough for an entire Freightliner truck to drive right on through with more than enough clearance on both the sides and roof.

One guard was a Unicorn and holding on to a long spear. While the other was a Pegasus and she was also using the same type of weapon, but being held in the opposite hand so the two were mirroring one another. The two mare’s were standing at attention and looking straight ahead with a passive gaze for several long seconds. This was until the Unicorn started to talk without moving anything aside from her mouth and this caused the both of them to start talking to one another.

“So...”

“Yeah?”

“This year’s party turned out to be pretty exciting from what one of the other guards said.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep. I sort of regret volunteering for this assignment tonight.”

“Is that so?”

“Don't you have anything else to say?”

“Nope.”

“Are you just doing that to mess with me?”

“Maybe.”

“Whose ass were you eating out only last night?”

“... ... ... okay. But still, this is really boring.”

“I agree with you there.”

“Nothing ever happens down here.”

“That's true.”

“What do you say we go out for some drinks when our shifts over?”

Nothing nut silence could be heard.

“Hey! Don't pretend that-. *Yawn* that you... didn't hear me. *Yawn* I'm so bored I could barely... keep my eyes-.”

And with that, the two were completely silent and slumped against the walls before sliding down. Only a few more seconds past before something came down from the ceiling that was being suspended by a set of wires. This turned out to be a short, yet muscularly built person. They were wearing a form fitting black outfit that resembled a ninja, with only a slit going across the mask that allowed a pair of eyes to be shown. The left eye could be seen blackened as it was kept closed. there was also a long bushy tail that was fairly unkept that could be seen.

He was only a foot off of the ground. He had a little black box being cradled in his left hand. As what appeared to be a lid was gripped on with his thumb and the index finger in the right. It was giving off a faint smoke that was traveling straight down and disappeared only a few seconds after leaving the container.

The one hanging then placed said containers lid back on and reoriented themselves so that they can land on their feet and unhook the wires from their belt. From there, the mechanism made a loud whirling sound as it retracted towards the ceiling above and into an air vent that was left wide open and somehow it turned out to be big enough to allow someone in his size to crawl through.

He then called over his shoulder in the direction of the hallway that was directly in front of the door, where it branched off into a T intersection with a gravelly voice. “Hey! Let's get going already before another guard comes and we are found out!” Not even a second later, two more figures came out from around both corners.

One was nearly twice the height of the one near the door, but he was awfully skinny yet he was wearing the same attire. Along with sporting his own tail that seemed a bit thin to go along with his physique. Moreover, was the way he kept on darting from one wall to the other as he was pressing his back firmly against it with his arms and legs spread out. However, as he was doing this, he nearly tripped a couple of times, while flailing his arms in a slightly comedic fashion.

As for the third figure of the group. He was quite a fair bit taller than the other two, along with being quite round. Unlike his friend, he was only walking down the hallway, while holding his arms up in front of himself in a gesture to show he was attempting to be sneaky while tiptoeing.

As for his tail, it was a bit shorter but was very fluffy to the point that it may as well have belonged to a raccoon, but still gave off the same look as the other two. By the time they all got together and in the light. The coloring of their tails could be seen as light brown, light blue, then light green from the order that they revealed themselves.

From this point on, the three of them will be referred to by their tail colors. Brown quickly spoke up as he threw his arms to his sides in an aggressive posture, before pointing at blue and speaking up in the gravelly voice of his. “What are you doing???” Blue placed both of his hands onto his hips before leaning in a little to reply in a whisper.

“We're sneaking around, aren't we? What else do you think I'm doing? I sure ain't knitting a sweater.” Brown quickly gave himself a facepalm before running his hand down his face, while also grunting in frustration. He then said, “Stop messing around and we're the only ones down here that aren't knocked out! No more messing around, let's get this door open.”

That was when he reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out a small item that resembled a key with a red pointed gem affixed to the end of a silver handle. It was brought close to the keyhole for the door and a red lightning bolt shot out and into the mechanism just inside of the opening. The locks could be heard undoing themselves as a multitude of clicks and thuds were made. This was accompanied by the entire frame being encircled by the very same red lightning for several seconds before it died off.

During all of this, the three were standing side by side with the larger one on the right and skinny one on the left. Their eyes were going wide as each tail was wagging furiously. They also said the same thing in unison in an awe-inspired tone of voice. “Wow... pretty colors~.”

The door finally started to swing open with a loud creaking sound, which instantly got all three to wave their arms in a placating gesture, while also shushing the inanimate object as if pleading with it would cause the noise to halt. By the end, it gave a very loud slamming sound as it was opened at a ninety-degree angle.

One of them which, turned out to be Blue. Reached up to his hood and pulled off a piece in order to release a long furry ear that was a bit sharper than the average Pony. It flicked a few times as the other two watched in nervousness. Once the blue tailed one released a sigh of relief, he was holding in did the other two reciprocate and do the same thing, while also wiping their brows. Once they were sure no one was coming, all three rushed inside.

Brown and Blue were going from one spot to the next as they were walking around large mounds of separated coins. Along the walls were many portraits and statues that easily were over a thousand years old in some cases. Magical artifacts were set on display in either glass cases or on top of pedestals. Brown came across a pair of boxing gloves that were made of iron and covered with various gems that gave off a series of colors that just called to him.

Blue was admiring a picture of a mare with wings and a horn that looked a lot like the princesses inform, but her mane was red, while her fur color was white. But before either of them could reach for the prospective items that gain their attention. Green pick them both up by the scruffs of their necks and brought them over to a section of the wall with small doors lining it. At first, the two of them tried to fight but quickly gave up and just allowed themselves to be limp in his arms and gave small grumbles of annoyance.

Green then spoke up for the first time with a surprisingly gentle and soft-spoken voice. “We were instructed that all the items in here have a magical protection and the key only works on the front door and the cabinet that has the item we’re meant to steal.” The other two relented and gave some half-assed shrugs along with apologies, before quickly glancing back at the two items for a moment as they were now put back on track.

Brown was about to use the key once more, but it was snatched up by Blue who pulled down his mask just enough to stick out his tongue to blow a raspberry. He then said, “Give someone else a try! Now let's see... How does this work again?” All the while, he was turning the item over repeatedly while also bringing it close to his eye.

Brown started to growl in the same way that a dog would before Green interrupted. “All we have to do is put it near the box and it will glow. Then we just have to touch the lock and it will open and we can go.” Blues eyes gave them the impression that he understood it and started to frantically wave around the key along the many rows of boxes that was close to fifty in total. As it was five going up while the rest was going left to right.

Soon, the one that they were searching for was located and immediately opened. The item was snatched up and placed into a duffel bag and thrown over Blue’s shoulder, as they all made a break for the door while also making sure not to touch any of the loot or they might trigger the alarm. Luckily, Green snatched up Brown just as he was about to collide with a stack of coins that he was not watching out for on the way.

Once through, Brown stopped Blue in place and took the key back and used it to lock the door up again before continuing with their escape. A few minutes went by as the trio ran around one corner after another. Eventually, they began to slow down as Green was now breathing heavily. But the other two didn't really notice it too much and were able to keep on going and essentially left him behind after rounding yet another corner.

But when they did, the duo ran face first into a patrolling Guard, which not only startled the two of them but herself as well. The two of them quickly turned on the spot and ran back the way they came, while leaving behind a very confused Earth Pony mare. She ended up giving chase after giving out an order to stop and they all went back around the last corner that the two made.

Unfortunately for her, Brown and Blue knew that Green was right there and avoided running into him. But she on the other hand, wasn't so lucky and after colliding she was sent tumbling back several feet and bang the back of her helmet into the stonewall, thereby knocking her out cold.

Brown and Blue peaked out from either side of Green after that happened. Even though it was only their eyes exposed, the two of them were having this, “Oh no” expression. As Green looks completely mortified and was holding out his hands as if wanting to not believe that he had hurt someone. The big one then started to walk forward a little, while sort of leaning in as he spoke in a very concerned voice to the others. “Oh dear... uh. Do you guys think that she's okay? That looked like a nasty tumble. Shouldn’t we go and find a doctor?”

Brown quickly stepped up so that he was on the left side and pointed at the Guard. While also giving a scowl with his one good eye and speaking in his rough voice. “We're supposed to knock them out! We're all criminal masterminds after all.” Blue appeared on the right and quickly retorted to that, with a sing song voice while tilting his head back and forth.

“Err… Technically we only started yesterday. Soooo~. I don't think we could be counted as-.” The Guard mare was beginning to stir and this caught the attention of all three, as their eyes went as wide as dinner plates, before looking to one another in rapid succession and pointing at the Guard at the same time.

As this was going on. They were making constant hand gestures as to what they should do, while the other one receiving them would reciprocate with not knowing. That was when Brown got a little closer and raised his right fist and pulled it back, so that it was ready to be thrown for a punch. He then said with a steely tone, “What’s wrong with yah! We just got to make sure we knock her out so there's no witnesses! Here, I’ll show how it’s done”

The mare was still pretty out of it and had not opened her eyes yet. She even made a few feminine moans that caused all three's eyes to have this unsure look about them. But a second later, both Blue and Green were making hand gestures to push Brown into continuing. He then through his punch, but as soon as he had gotten close to halfway through his swing. He ended up jerking back and hopping on his left foot, while spinning in place and making some pained whimpering noises. He then said in an obviously fake voice, “Ouch-Ouch! I pulled a muscle; I pulled a hamstring! Ouch, I can't do it! One of you knock her out instead.”

Blue came up with a confidence smirk that could be seen through the cloth on his mouth, as he ready for a strong downward sweep with his arm and fully intending to do a karate chop on the mare's slightly exposed neck. But before he could do it, he ended up stumbling back and frantically waving his arms before speaking in a panicked voice. “I-I can't do it either! She hasn't done anything to deserve me hitting her!” He then pointed over to Green and the two smaller ones instantly got behind him in order to try and push towards the Guard.

However, no matter how hard they pushed or how much their feet kept on skidding on the floor with them going nowhere. Green just stood in place perfectly still and glancing between his buddies and the mare on the floor before taking another look around at the surroundings. He then said, “Umm… Guys? Why don't we just put her in that closet?”

Once that was uttered. The other two began to glance around until their eyes laid squarely on a door that was halfway open and revealing some cleaning supplies, that could be seen just Within. They then said the following in unison, with each one arching an eyebrow and slightly tilting their head. “That's conveniently placed.”

After several minutes’ past, the three were in the middle of closing a door and revealing that the mare was tied up using a number of rags that were linked together to make an improvised rope. Unfortunately, she woke up at some point during this process. So Blue ruffled around and found a roll of duct tape and gag the mare. As Brown and Blue were already sneaking on a head. Green paused after a few steps away from the door and went right back. His form mostly obscured the door itself for a few moments, before he hurried along to catch up to his friends.

But when his body moved away and revealed the room that was holding the mare hostage. A knew item was now hanging off of the door handle in the shape of a small wooden plaque. On it, was a curved arrow pointing to the center of the door itself and right below that, were the words hastily drawn on that said, “Please let guard out.” And right below that, was the following words that said, “P S. Tell her we're sorry. P P S. Also, I hope she's not hurt.”

From there, the trio snuck from one lower floor to the next one above, while avoiding the regularly posted security details that would make their assigned rounds. There were a few occasions where a group of guards would be coming their way, but the hall that they were inside of had nowhere to hide.

So, Brown and Blue would jump up and somehow claw onto the walls so that they were literally right above the archway that connected one hallway to the next. Green would then jump up as high as he could so that the other two can grab on to his arms and hoist him up just in the nick of time when the approaching Guards would pass by.

Of course, this meant that all of the heavy lifting was done by the two smaller members of the group of three as they were clearly sweating and shaking as they were both gripping the wall and keeping their larger friend from falling. When this had to be done for the third or perhaps fourth time. Blue spoke up right as the last group of Guards were out of earshot by talking in a whisper, that was heavily lace with him putting a lot of effort into holding up all the weight.

“You…. Nugh! Really need to cut down on the breakfast.” Brown was the next one to speak up as he was in the same position, but with an incredulous tone. “Just the breakfast? After this job we're going to help you with that diet you've been saying you're going... to start. We need to get out of here. Gerr... I don't know how many more times I can handle doing this!” Green was looking awfully apologetic as he replied with his eyes clearly showing that he was embarrassed. I'm really sorry that I'm big boned. Just got the other two the perk up as they started to scan the room hurriedly as if something green said caused an instinctual reaction.

As a result, they all lost their grip on the wall and fell to the floor below that was about fifteen feet down. Brown was the first one to land, as Blue fell directly on top and elicited a small cry of pain from him. But a fear-stricken expression appeared on Blues mask as he quickly got up and scurried out of the way just as green fell. Fortunately, the larger of the three didn't look hurt at all as he looked around and asked the one that was off to the side a question, while tilting his head. “Uh, what happened to-.”

The question that was being spoken was interrupted by a small murmur coming from underneath Green that lasted a few seconds, before the arm of Brown could be seen reaching out and slamming the floor with his hand repeatedly. Blue instantly tried to help Green get up and when they did, they found Brown lying face down with his arm still padding the floor but now at a weaker tempo.

He then lifted his head, that strangely had this suction sound as it was being peeled away from the marble floor. He then said in a wibbly wobbly tone of voice that was going in and out from his usual rough voice to that of a little child. “I... think I saw Mommy and Daddy... and they wanted to know if I was up for going to the zoo...”

Seeing as he was completely out of it after getting squashed, the two immediately grabbed the hold of both arms and started to rush down the hallways. After this went on for a little while, they finally came across another set of stairs that would lead them to the upper floor and hopefully to the nearest exit that they could take to get out of the castle.

Once at the top of the steps. Both Blue and Green were frantically trying to pick a Direction and going in opposite ways, before they realize that they were stretching their friend a little and went straight ahead from the stairs instead of going left or right. This led them through the kitchen and Green had to resist from stopping to try some of the leftover goods that were unable to make it to the party.

Once they passed the kitchen. Blue released his friend and ran up ahead to open a set of doors and peaked to see what was on the other side. But when he did, he froze before slamming the door as quietly as possible and pressing his body against the whole thing with his arms and legs spread. His eyes were even bugging out, as he was breathing quickly and only getting faster to the point that he was pretty much hyperventilating and sweat was also forming on the outside of his mask

He then tried to stutter out his words, but they came out as nothing but broken gibberish, before Brown finally recovered and looked at him with a dead pan face. Brown then asked in a very tired tone that just said he was over all of this and wanted to get out. “Spill it already. What did you see?” Blue was looking even more panicked by now as his voice came out so raspy, that it even shifted to small squeaks, before Brown came up and grabbed on to his shirt.

Blue then pointed at the door and managed to squeak out the following. “It's-it's the Princesses! They're on the other side of the room where that door connects!” Brown then grabbed on to Blues head where the right ear should be and hopped up just high enough that he got a hold of Green’s shirt to pull him down, so that he can do the same with his head and brought them in close. “You blunder heads! We went the wrong way because of you two! We were told specifically to take a certain route so we would avoid the party hall!”

While clearly showing signs of pain on Blues Part. He quickly started the point repeatedly at a wall nearby where there were some hooks. On said, hooks. There just happened to be three sets of clothing that miraculously appeared to be just the right sizes for all three for them to take on the role of waiters. Upon noticing that, all three frozen place and had gleeful expressions crossing their eyes, as they quickly went to changing their outfits after diving behind a set of counters once they grabbed on to their perspective disguises.

As they were doing this. Blue told them the state of the next room and that the party was done. So, all they had to do was sneak past the princesses and leave right out of one of the exits. But Green spoke up after he was done changing and the three were still out of sight. “We got the uniforms, but we're going to stick out so badly when we step out there.” Brown's voice could be heard speaking up as he had this confident tone in his voice. Haha! And that's why we went and got these.”

Blue was the next one to talk after a few seconds and he sounded really excited. “Oh duh! I forgot all about these! We just have to picture in our minds and we'll look just like any of the castle staff. Hold on, why didn't we just use these from the start?”

This got a quick reply from Brown. Along with a not too subtle smacking sound and allowed “Oof” coming from Blue. “That's because we got the knockoff brands. They'll only work on our faces. Also, the only go for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. There's no way we can afford three of the genuine articles, especially with our budget.”

They all stood up and showed themselves to be Earth ponies with the same coloring as their tails. Brown still had his one messed up eye. Very thick bushy eyebrows could be seen and his sideburns went straight down and curved forward to meet his mustache for a type of handlebar look. Although, he had this very grumpy expression and facial features that gave the impression that he was a bar brawler.

Next up was Blue. He had a clean face and a very wide smile and a slightly pointed snout they gave him this shifty fox type of sharp look. Without his full body covering from his other black outfit, he looked rather thin and could have easily been blown over by a common gust of wind.

When it came to Green, he was standing behind the other two and his mane was so short, that it was on the same length as the rest of his body hair. In fact, if he was to be compared to a human, then he might have been bald. He even had this face that no doubt had the effect of causing any grandmother to see it to have the uncontrollable urge to pinch his cheeks.

They then took the duffel bag and placed it into one of the garbage cans that was off to the side of the kitchen that was already emptied out only a short while ago. They then made their way out into the party room. Luckily for them, it seemed as though the two princesses were quite absorbed in some matter and paid little mind to them as they went up the steps and exited through the front doors. All the while, smiling and sweating so badly that their shirts were getting very damp with the amount of moisture by the time they got out.

*Point of view: Third Person*
*Location: Canterlot train station*
*Time: Six Fifty-Five in the morning. The day after the grand Galloping Gala*

On top of the train station that was constructed with a long glass roof that ran along the sides of the train so that it would cover up the areas the passengers would stand. There was somebody standing near one of the doors that would lead to a set of stairs leading down into the structure. This person turned out to be Engineer, as he was still wearing his ranger outfit and head fully covered with his helmet.

Aside from the engine keeping itself warmed up for the rapidly approaching time for departure, along with the many passengers that would be disembarking before the next set came on board. There was this odd sound being emanated from a device being held in his left hand that was giving off this weird type of static, that would fluctuate as he waved the device around. As he was bringing it back again from his left all the way to his right side. The noise it gave off would slowly turn to that of a musical note that resembled a dial tone, that would only get stronger and stronger before dropping again.

Just a little ways off. there was a voice of a female calling out along with the sound of flapping wings just over to his right-hand side and nearly twenty meters away. Engineer just kept on waving the item a few more times and only stopped once the musical note became constant. This was just as the owner of The voice from only a moment ago could be heard much more clearly and he turned his head in its direction.

(Here's a picture of Daring Do.)

Who came over a wall after pulling up from a low dive beforehand. This turned out to be none other than Daring Do herself. Although, her outfit was pretty beat up with all the small rips along the fabric. But what she did have on was a thick leather belt with a couple of pouches attached that would click shut thanks to a clasp. On the right side of the belt, there was another strap that went down and enclosed her right thigh for a holster with a pistol securely fastened so it wouldn't fall out during flight.

From a quick glance, it had this copper color going on and resembled something that was put together using spare parts and copper pipes. It even had a revolver designed to it with six shells that could be loaded at once. On the other side of the belt. It had a similar holster, but this one held onto a seven-inch combat knife. When it came to her landing, she stuck it like a pro that was trying to make an entrance for a group of fans as she got down to one knee and had this big smirk on her face.

It didn't take her long to get back up and get right alongside of Engineer as she had her hands on her hips and giving him this, I’m so pissed off at you look. She then huffed before speaking in an irritated voice while also taking a look at their surroundings. “You could have at least waited for me! What's the big idea of running off? You could have at least come next door and knocked to give me a heads up. I literally had to grab the first thing I saw so I can get dressed in time to catch up to your ass.”

Engineer started to talk with his voice taking on a cowboy feel to it. “What's wrong with looking a little dirty? You're an adventurer that likes to go diving into ruins. Besides, that's still covering up a decent amount of your body.” Daring Do immediately replied to that while pulling on the bottom of her shirt to give it a small stretch in order to draw his attention to it.

“I got a certain level of reputation to uphold buster! There's ruin diving and then there's a mare that just got roughed up while having a good time in a random back alley. Also, I'm supposed to be in my civilian clothes while out in public. I already told you that I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile so that my private life doesn’t get destroyed by those that I make enemies of.”

He gave a quick chuckle to that before slightly leaning in so that he was a couple of inches away from her face and started to talk with a sultry tone. “Oh, I wouldn't go that far. Now if you really want to look the part of a girl who's had a good time, then I wouldn't mind lending my experience in-.” His sentence got immediately interrupted as she whipped out her pistol and place the barrel right up against the side of his helmet and used her thumb to pull back the hammer pin.

She then said with a small yet innocent smile, despite the situation. “Keep it in your pants lover colt. I ain't that easy.” The pistol was playfully pushed away and a nonchalant manner by the back of his left hand, as he returned his attention to the device that was immediately switched over to his right only a moment before they're little spat. After getting his bearings once again. The two of them began a back and forth, while he was gesturing to the back-end of the train that was currently parked just below where they now stood.

“I finally tracked down the little devil. It's in the baggage car right there.”

“Are you sure that little doohickey of yours is working right? We've been chasing after your Lost property for close to a month now.”

“Yep, I'm sure all right. Here, check for yourself.” That was when he tossed the item over to Daring Do and she gave it a once-over before handling it in the same way he was.

“So, if this thing makes a lot of beeps, it means we're getting closer?”

“Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner folks, give the beautiful mare a shiny, Nuka Cola World doll!”

“Hardy-har-har! You know that I don't get half the things you say, right?”

“Yep, I know that for sure! It's the mystery that keeps you coming back, isn't it?”

“Gerrr... you wish! I'm only repaying you for that... thing. So, when we're done here and you get your precious little toy back. Then you can kiss me goodbye.”

“Ooh~. So, I get to have a kiss now, huh? I would have preferred it sooner, but better late than never.”

“I can't get over how much of a mare you sound. This is seriously confusing me to no end.”

“Sooooooooo~. Is the kiss still on the table?”

Daring Do released a few more grunts of annoyance at his antics, before turning away and stomping her hoof along one of the metal railings that would be between the glass roof sections. She also tried really hard to make sure that he wasn't able to see her face, as she had this slight blush crossing her features before she tossed the device over her shoulder haphazardly, so that it would be quickly caught by Engineer after fumbling with it for a few seconds.

He then called out to her in a bit of a huff, as he held up the device in his hand and waved it around. “Watch it there! You got any idea how difficult it was to put something like this together with what I had on hand? We're really lucky that those Bandits had a radio. Otherwise, I'd be breaking into every house I see and rummage through all their drawers until I found it, and we have no idea how long that would have taken.”

That was actually quite true. Because after he was done with spending the whole night using various means of interrogation on that one leader and gaining a handful of knowledge that wasn't in the book. Engineer eventually finished her off and went through all of their belongings. He also got his hands on a radio that was stashed away in one of the other houses and broke it open for his components to create a receiver that would be tuned to his Pip-Boy.

During his time in his previous world. He did happen to come across a few nearly intact versions of his equipment and did a little experimenting to figure out how it worked. So, this meant he had a decent grasp on the signal to piggy back on when it came to the built-in radio. It was also really fortunate that much of the everyday items in circulation were not sophisticated enough to be much of a hindrance when it came to interference.

It was only after the sun came up that he eventually turned back into his normal form and had to rest for several hours before he could even move his body. But after he got back enough strength and started to look in on Daring Do. He found that she was pretty beat up, but her life wasn't in jeopardy. So, he did the best he could by rummaging around the rest of the houses for any first aid supplies and went to work at patching her up.

More time passed and the sun was about to go down again. When she finally came too, and nearly attacked him when she realized she was not restrained anymore, but was quickly subdued by him after a few seconds of tussling. After that they had a little question and answer session and eventually, Daring Do Believe that he wasn't there to hurt her, but was a little more than shocked that he was able to take down all of the bandits on his own.

Luckily for him, he went ahead and buried the bodies just before she woke up, so he didn't have to explain the whole being barbecued deal as well as the condition of their leader. It also gave him a little time to process the weird transformation. But no matter how much effort was put into it, he wasn't able to transform again while the sun was up.

Although, he did feel something when it got dark, but he didn't transform while Daring Do was around. This was because that new survival manual downloaded a few names into his mind and he didn't want to be labeled as a new supervillain just like that one guy called Lord Tirek.

Afterwards, he helped her in unlocking the treasure vault that was hidden and they immediately got out of there just in the nick of time. Although, when he heard the word vault. He instantly thought she meant another one of the underground sanctuaries. But was a little disappointed when he got to see it was a regular underground room that had a couple of knick-knacks here and there that he wasn’t all that interested in.

In fact, they were just over the first hill when they had to duck into some tree cover when a large battalion of griffins came flying over their heads. It also became quite obvious that Daring Do didn't want to talk to them as she was very adamant about getting out of there. So, he was pretty sure that she wasn't even meant to be there in the first place.

They traveled over land and sea, until they finally came to Equestria and track down the signal to the city on the side of the mountain called Canterlot and decided to rest for the night at one of the middle-class hotels. However, when he woke up that morning and checked his tracking device. He found that his Pip-Boy was already on the move and deduced it was heading towards the train and he rushed out of the hotel by jumping out of the window and was making his way across the roofs until now.

Back to the moment at hand. He put the item into his back pocket and made a sprint for the train just as it was starting to pull out of the station and Daring Do was hot on his heels. Once on the very back car. They waited until they were a little ways away before making their move. This was so they wouldn't get caught by the authorities that were watching from the station.

Luckily, the train was pretty loud thanks to the railings scraping along the steel wheels underneath the train. This meant that they were able to open the very back door and slip in without being noticed by anyone inside. Once in, they found a bunch of large and small baggage stacked up neatly into piles. But in the center was a single table and four Griffins sitting around it as they were playing cards.

Three were obviously females, while one was a male. However, one of them, which turned out to be one of the girls was wearing some armor, while the others had only clothing. He was slowly sneaking up after crouching low and making sure that Daring Do stayed back for the time being. He went around a trunk that was big enough to be considered a walk-in closet and it also appear to have a symbol printed on all sides with what appeared to be three blue diamonds.

He ended up arching an eyebrow and thinking the following to himself, while staring at the oversized luggage. “Geez! That things big enough to hide a fully grown Super Mutant. Whoever owns this must have taken half of their house with them. I bet if daring and I take off all our clothes and gear and stuff it inside this thing, there would still be enough room for some Hanky Panky... hmm... note to self. One day, buy a big trunk, then set up a scenario where we get locked inside and take advantage of it.”

His internal musing was interrupted when a small pebble must have struck the back of his head and this made him look behind. When he did, he saw Daring Do giving him the stink eye that just said, that she had an idea on what he was thinking about and shot back with an accusatory finger. Said finger was also accompanied by a thumb that was being raised and she made the motion of pretending it was a gun.

He then returned his attention to the front of himself as he quickly thought, “Okay, we've only been together for a month and she already knows me so well. Now all I got to do is wear her down.” He then released a small sigh as he went back to sneaking and lamented on his decision about not using his Charisma abilities in order to get further along with the adventurous mare.

When he got a little closer, he started to hear one of the Griffins talking to the others and this turned out to be the one with armor as she started to laugh a little bit with amusement. “It went so well! Hah-Ha! Those three chumps believed every word we said. Also, there's going to be no way to tie the crime to us.” That was when the male Griffin of the group spoke up, as he started to deal the cards.

“You're right boss! We just had to sit back and wait for the goods to come to us. What's more, it only cost us two bits. Hahaha!” While they were picking up the cards and setting up their hands. One of the other Griffin spoke up. “I can't believe they were so gullible to think that we would literally pay them three thousand bits. That bag was filled with nothing but washers we got at a hardware store for dirt cheap and we just had to show them a couple of real bits and toss them in the bag without showing them the rest. Hahaha! I suppose we shouldn’t have expected any better from their kind.”

The final Griffin spoke as she threw down a couple of cards in order to draw a new set. “Only thing I'm complaining about, is that we have to come all the way out here! I hate Equestria. Can't wait till we get back to the Empire. This whole trip wouldn't even need to be done if we got the thing before it went overseas.” This was when the leader spoke up again as she looked over her hand after replacing three of her cards.

“Who would think that we had a high roller in the crowd when it came to that auction house. All that pony had to do was say that he works for this Sir Fancy Pants fella and he was pretty much handed the prize with almost no questions asked. Our girl couldn't even get a bid in that was high enough. Especially with the way that pony kept upping the price by leaps and bounds.”

It was the male that spoke up again as he arched an eyebrow and started to point at the black sack that was hanging off of their leader’s hip. “You don't suppose they already had an idea what this is, do you?” The leader scoffed at the idea and started to pat the bag before rolling her eyes and giving her own reply. “We're not paid to think. As long as there's someone out there to kill and things to steal for our employer. Then I won't ask any questions so long as we're getting paid. But I did hear a rumor that the minister of science was really interested in it.”

She then had this look of curiosity that was quickly growing as she started to smile and allow her eyes to drift down to the bag. She then dropped the cards and snatched up the bag, before dumping the contents onto the table and causing the rest of the Griffins to voice their disapproval at ruining the game. Over with Engineer, his eyes went wide upon witnessing his Pip-Boy just sitting less than four meters away.

He would have cried from happiness alone at the sight, if it wasn't for the leader beginning to fiddle around with it. At first, it didn't bother him too much, but after a few seconds. He heard the unmistakable sound of it powering up and along with another sound to indicate that the selection progress was being scrolled through. This was immediately followed with the leader having a scrunched-up expression, while trying to read what was displayed.

What he heard next out of the female Griffin's mouth, caused him to literally scream in his mind. “What's a… Fat Boy?” She then turned another dial and this produced the so-called fat boy that was now laying across the table after coming out of nowhere. This startled them all into letting out their own versions of squawks. The so-called Fat Boy was a long catapult system, which could be held like a rocket launcher. It was designed to be loaded with handheld mini nukes that could be launched at a distance and destroy their targets with a devastating explosion.

What made this one so particularly dangerous. Was the fact that the loading mechanism was augmented to be loaded with a set of six that could be fired all at once. If someone was to say that it couldn't get any worse, then they would be sorely mistaken. This was because it was already fully loaded and primed with a six pack of mini nukes that only required someone to pull a trigger and completely demolished the train, along with all of the passengers in a fiery nuclear explosion that could be seen from all the way back in the city.

Once he saw one of the Griffins making towards grabbing the weapon. Engineer immediately leaped into action and pulled out his machete before any of them knew he was even there. One downward swing literally chopped off both of the Griffin's hands a few inches above the elbows. The next was in pure shock and was unable to react as Engineers weapon came around and decapitated him.

The third Griffin managed to pull out a dagger, but he yanked up the blade and started to cut her. This started from the stomach and the edge of the blade ran along her body and stopped only after slicing her throat wide open. The Griffins beak also ended up getting cut so that it was splitting near the tip when the blade left her body as this was going on.

The leader was practically getting showered by all of the excess blood that was spewing in her direction. The Pip-Boy was still in her left hand. While the right tried to grab onto her short sword. But thanks to all of the red liquid dousing her, she was unable to get a good grip and the handle kept on slipping between her fingers.

He then spun around and delivered a strong back-kick, that landed squarely on her chest and this sent the Griffin flying towards the door that would lead to the next car over. He also saw as she went through, that his precious Pip-Boy was tossed so it rolled a bit further away as she crumpled onto the ground. Obviously out of it and unable to get up due to the strong strike to her chest. He made his way over slowly and put away his machete, before taking out Kellogg's pistol and had it pointing towards the Griffin's head.

Once he was finished strolling into the next car. He was already preparing himself to pull the trigger, while still aiming right for her forehead. He also felt a smirk coming to his lips as he couldn't help but to say the next line and the manliest voice he can muster. “The Commonwealth says hello!”