Applejack’s eyes fluttered open, and she groaned for a moment before sitting up, tossing her sheets aside as she began to get ready. Outside her bedroom window she could see Twilight’s sun beginning to rise over the horizon, causing a chilly blue to cover the lands. The farmpony quickly put on her hat, freshened herself up, and trotted to Apple Bloom’s room.

“Apple Bloom,” she called, knocking on her sister’s door with a forehoof, “I’m makin’ a quick run to the market, ya want anything specific?”

“No thanks!” came back the tired sounding reply. No doubt she was still tuckered out from yesterday.

“Alright but I expect ya ta be up in the next five minutes! Ya got school!” Applejack said loudly. “I even got yer permission slip signed for ya on the kitchen table! Sugar Belle said somethin’ about ya’ll havin’ a field trip last night!”

“Alright!” yawned back her sister, muffled by the door.

Applejack shrugged and continued on down the stairs. She grabbed her saddlebags and a small list of items she’d made yesterday. Flour, sugar, some non-apple fruits, and the sorts.

Most of it was for Sugar Belle. The pony loved her baking, that was for sure.

With everything set, the orange pony left the house behind her and headed on down the trail towards Ponyville proper. However, she only made it a few dozen paces, before somepony came into view over a hill ahead of her.

She was a bubblegum pink coloration and was literally bouncing as she made her way towards the farmhouse. A large box leapt up and down on her back with each hop she made as she continued along the trail.

Applejack smiled at the familiar face.

“Well howdy, Pinkie!” called the mare, waving a hoof.

“Hey Applejack!” Pinkie called back, bouncing further towards the house, before she finally stopped. “It’s been a few days since I’ve seen ya! How are you?”

“Right as rain, Pinkie!” offered the farm pony with a smirk. “Whatcha got there?”

“Oh this?” Pinkie said, looking at the box on her back. “This is a cake I baked for Sugar Belle and Big Mac’s baby!”

“Uh… Pinkie, that baby ain’t even been born yet,” Applejack deadpanned.

“I know, but it's their six-month anniversary since they were conceived! That means they’re about halfway to their first birthday!” Pinkie explained. "And that's worthy of a cake!"

“Right…” Applejack nodded. “Well, I was about ta go to the market for a little bit. Ya wanna come with me?”

“Of course I do!” said the pink mare with her ever present smile. “Just let me drop off this cake and we’ll hit the road!”

“Sounds great ta me!” Applejack responded brightly.

After the party mare had left Sugar Belle’s cake in the fridge, (along with a birthday card for her baby-to-be) the two continued down the trail towards Ponyville.

“Gosh it feels so nice to see you again!” Pinkie said, her voice oozing with positivity.

“Likewise, Pinkie,” affirmed Applejack, “what’ve ya been gettin’ into these past few days?”

“Oh well, Mr. and Ms. Cake are gonna unveil a new lineup of Rainbow Frosted cupcakes to honor the Elements of Harmony and Twilight’s sixth month as ruler of Equestria,” she explained happily.

“Is six-month anniversaries a new trend now?” asked Applejack with confusion.

“Wellll, between you and me, I think they’re just milking it after that last batch sold so well,” said Pinkie slyly.

“Anything else?” Applejack asked.

“Hmmm,” Pinkie pondered for a moment. “Oh right! Cheese Sandwich said he’s considering settling down in Ponyville! I got his letter just last week!”

“Cheese? I thought he was the wanderin’ type,” Applejack pointed out.

“He was, but he’s decided that as much as he loves making ponies smile, he wants to raise a family some day!” she explained. “Isn’t that sweet?”

Applejack’s mind briefly flashed with the image of pint-sized Pinkies and Cheeses, bouncing off the walls and sending sugar and confetti spiraling about.

“Uh… yeah!” she affirmed with a nod after a moment to ponder the horrors in store for Ponyville.

“But enough about me, how about you?” Pinkie asked with a smile. “How was the trip?”

“Well, the trip was good n’ all. Had a bit of trouble at first, but other than that, everypony enjoyed themselves,” Applejack explained.

“Yeah, Rainbow Dash said something similar,” Pinkie said, before her voice took on an inquisitive tone. “She also said some super cool stallion rescued Scootaloo from falling into a river.”

"When did ya run into her?" Applejack asked, confused.

"Oh, I ran to her house this morning to say hello!" Pinkie said casually.

Applejack pushed aside the pony's speed-busting antics and focused on her annoyance towards Dashie.

“Why that big mouth,” huffed the farmpony, rolling her eyes. “Er, I mean, yeah… He did save her n’ all-”

“And then he left, disappearing into the forests like some super-secret action pony of mystery!” Pinkie concluded.

“I guess that’s one way ta put it,” shrugged Applejack.

“What’s his name?” asked Pinkie.

“Didn’t Rainbow tell ya?” asked the farmpony.

“She went all quiet after realizing she’d said too much!” Pinkie squeaked. “Which is how I know he’s gotta be some super-duper secretive spy! Or an adventurer like Daring Do!”

“Look, I’ll tell ya his name, but Pinkie he-… he’s not here right now,” said Applejack, technically telling the truth.

“Where is he?” squeaked the party pony, knowing her friend wouldn’t lie.

“Pinkie, he's not just a pony ya can jus' approach!” the farmer growled. "He'd also be extra annoyed if I went around tellin' other folks about him."

“Aw come on Applejack, even if he is a grumpy pants, he still deserves a ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Mr Grumpy Pants! Thanks for saving Scootaloo!’ Party!” said Pinkie, pulling off the mouthful of words with casual flawlessness.

“Alright how about this, I tell ya his name, but you have to Pinkie Promise me ya won’t go huntin’ for him,” Applejack said sternly. “He’ll turn up when he wants ta turn up, ya understand?”

“But Applejack-”

“He deserves his privacy, Pinkie,” she added, equally as stern, not going into detail on why he remained so private.

The two remained silent for a few moments as they trotted along.

“...You’re right,” Pinkie finally sighed, obviously disappointed. “If he wants his privacy, I shouldn’t go snooping for him, even if I wanna be his friend and even if he does deserve a super fun party.”

Applejack’s face softened.

“He’s gonna love to meet ya, Pinkie, I promise,” she responded simply. “He’s just goin’ about life in his own way right now.”

“I guess we all are,” laughed Pinkie, her tone lightening back up at her honest friend’s assurance.

“Alright you little motherfuckers, you’re about to be my dinner,” a gruff voice hissed.

The Courier currently stood over a rushing stream. A large, sharpened stick was gripped in his hands as he waited, completely still. He held his breath, watching the stream flow on and on all the while. Eventually, he spotted movement in the slightly murky waters, and thrusted his spear downwards.

“Fuck yeah!” he growled to himself as he impaled a bass, tugging it up and out of the water as the creature wiggled about.

He quickly tugged it in close, yanking it off the end of the spear before he held the creature upside down by the tail.

Six smirked at his catch as he examined it. A five pounder at least. Not often he got to enjoy fish, but today was going to be one of those days!

He pulled out a knife and quickly severed the animal’s head with one powerful slash. The human picked up the head and walked along, going into the trees and away from the stream.

Currently, Six was in what Applejack called the Everfree Forest.

Honestly, didn’t seem that bad.

Maybe it was his bulky frame scaring off potential predators, or maybe it was just good luck, but he hadn’t had any issues yet.

He was even able to light up a fire out here, as he soon returned to a clearing the center of which had a boiling pot of water in the middle of a firepit. He smirked as he looked inside it, poking at the potatoes and carrots with his knife.

The stew was almost done, just needed some meat. That’s where the fish came in, of course.

Cooking fish wasn’t exactly something he was used to, so he just diced the body on a sturdy stone and scraped most of it into the pot, letting it simmer along with his other foods. He buried the bass’ head in a small compost pit nearby and took a seat on a nearby stump.

Behind him, shoved inside the hollowed-out trunk of a dead tree was his reclaimed bags and gear. He still had them stashed in this new campsite, but he was just thankful now he seemed to have a permanent location for them.

As he watched his concoction boil, he took a bite of a leftover piece of raw bass and nodded to himself.

Not bad.

Better than Radroach.

Tasted a bit like Lakelurk, but that made sense.

Oh well, he’d critique the taste later.

For now, he just needed something in him after yet another all-nighter.

As he waited, he soon fiddled with the All-American, taking out the magazine and checking the rifle's chamber. It wasn’t a full field strip, just a quick look for debris after it had been sitting in a dirt cave overnight. Once he was satisfied, he sat the weapon aside.

He then did the same with one of his .45s too, taking it out of its holster and checking the slide and magazine. His actions were very similar to a certain Canaanite he’d met long ago. One who’d taught him everything he needed to know about this particular make of pistol.

Whenever he was finished, he nodded to himself and reinserted the mag. He made sure the safety was on before he placed it back into its rightful holster.

He scratched at his neck for a moment. He would’ve considered a full-on breakdown and cleaning for the weapons, but at the moment, he was preoccupied with his thoughts, and a lot of other things.

Six soon inserted the assault rifle into the hollowed-out stash with the rest of his gear, and then went back to check on his stew, which had seemingly gotten close to finishing by now.

Done enough, good enough to eat by now, anyways.

Wish he had salt.

As is, only the fish’s natural sodium helped flavor the rather plain meal.

Carrots were sweet at least.

Potatoes were a bit mushy.

Still ate it though, right out of the pot. Didn’t care it was close to boiling hot. Filled him up all the same.

He slurped down the remnants in the span of only a few minutes, and his stomach finally ceased rumbling and growling at him.

It’d be growling again by tonight, but the fucker would just have to accept it, as it had so many times before.

As it stood, he lit up a post-meal smoke, examining his diminishing cigarette stockpile as he did. That’d probably be the… third thing on his list to buy with the bits he had.

He put out the fire as he puffed down the cancer stick. After that he then began to trek his way through the woods, deciding suddenly he might as well explore about with his free time.

The mailman left the campsite behind him, ready to wander once more now that he finally had a worthwhile map in his possession.

Applejack placed a large sack of baking powder soda and flour into her saddlebags. She tipped the mare at the store’s register and soon exited, meeting back up with Pinkie as she trotted her way through the streets of Ponyville.

Given it was early in the morning, only a few dozen other ponies were out and about, either headed to work or school. The air was chilly, a faint breeze rushing through the town, courtesy of the weather team.

“Applejack, what’s Six's favorite type of cake?” asked Pinkie as she hopped alongside her fellow earth pony.

“Pinkie, I’m not really sur-”

“I know, I know! I’m not gonna press too hard. But you said you wanted to do a whole introduction to the town with Mayor Mare, right?” the pink party pony interrupted.

“Well yeah-”

“I’m gonna be doing confections for it anyways!” pointed out Pinkie with a bright smile.

“I guess, but would ya let me check with him first?” Applejack finally finished her sentence.

“Right, sorry!” Pinkie said with a small giggle. “If he doesn’t want any cake or a super big party, that’s a-okay with me! But he still deserves a little reward, saving Scoots and all!”

“If he were to take any type of reward for anythin’ I ain’t sure it’d be cake he’d want,” mused the farm pony.

“Why? Is he more into pie?” Pinkie asked. “Or maybe he likes pudding?”

Applejack just huffed, giving a good-natured smile as she did.

While the two continued on their way, Scootaloo zoomed by on her scooter. Pinkie gave the filly a passing wave, but Scoots wasn’t able to return it as she zoomed off towards school.

Her wings buzzed loudly all the while as she continued on, ramping off of a stray piece of wood conveniently balanced on some boxes nearby. Of course she wound up sending herself high into the air.

“Woohoo!” she called to herself, enjoying the serious airtime before she stuck the landing. The filly continued along. If she had a watch, she’d be looking at it in panic.

“Can’t be late,” she huffed to herself, leaning in as the trail led into the outskirts of the town, towards a variety of grassy hills and fields.

After a few more minutes, she crested a hilltop, and saw the school just a ways down the trail. She smirked to herself upon seeing this.

“Aw yeah, I got this in the ba-” Scootaloo began, before her scooter's wheel hit a particularly sturdy rock she didn’t see.

“-aaaAAAAGGGHHHH!!!” the filly managed, her scooter losing control as she nearly rammed into the white picket fence leading up to the schoolhouse.

As it stood, she banked hard to the left, away from the wooden obstacle. She groaned though, as this fully threw off her balance, and she slammed down, rolling along. Plenty of “ouch’s!” “oof’s!” and “ow’s!” rang out as she tumbled, finally coming to a stop just outside the school premises.

Cheerilee was standing outside, motioning for her soon-to-be tardy students to enter, when she watched the whole ordeal. Of course, the pinkish-purple mare rushed over immediately, her face one of worry.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright, Scootaloo?” she asked.

Scoots just sat there in the dirt, looking up at her teacher with a sheepish grin.

“Hehe, nailed it,” she said shyly before patting the side of her helmet with one of her forehooves. The sturdy plastic no doubt saved her from a rougher injury.

Cheerilee sighed at her student’s antics.

“Come on dear, let’s get you inside and cleaned up,” she offered compassionately.

As the older mare led her student inside, Dinky watched from the sidelines.

The unicorn frowned at seeing her fellow classmate get into such a crash.

While she wasn’t exactly close with any of the CMC, she was still a blank flank, and their attempts at helping her get her Cutie Mark didn’t go unappreciated. She followed behind, entering inside the packed classroom.

“Scootaloo, what happened!” Apple Bloom called, rushing over to her hurt friend. Sweetie Belle soon joined in.

“Now girls, give her a bit of space,” huffed Cherrilee sternly, grabbing a medkit from out of a nearby cabinet. “She had an accident on her scooter, nothing that bad, thankfully.”

“Yeah, I’ll say!” Sweetie said with a bit of relief. “I’d hate for you to miss the trip to the dam.”

Dinky herself listened in, thankful, but not saying anything. She almost felt like she existed in the background at times like these.

“I’m fine, girls,” Scootaloo said with a smirk. “I’m tough like Six!”

“Who’s Six?” Cheerilee asked with curiosity, leaning down to rub a bit of alcohol on the small bruises the filly received.

“Oh uh… he’s a comic book hero!” said the orange pegasus, trying to cover for herself.

Sweetie and Bloom nodded along.

Some of the other kids laughed.

Dinky cocked an eyebrow.

Six?

...

Her brain flashed back to last night.

‘Oh Dinky!’ she heard her mother’s voice say, ‘I wish you could’ve met Six! He was the nicest monster I’ve ever seen!’

At first, she figured her mother had seen some type of strange dragon. Perhaps a minotaur, even. But now…

She sidled up to the Crusaders, waiting until after Cheerilee finished cleaning off Scootaloo. Their teacher backed away, putting the med-kit back up as the little unicorn spoke.

“You’ve seen him too?” she asked, her tone uncertain.

“Seen who!?!” squeaked Sweetie Belle in shock, before the other two Crusaders shushed her.

“Six,” huffed Dinky, as if it was obvious.

“I- We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sweetie continued, looking away.

Dinky just deadpanned; her fellow unicorn’s lie obvious.

The CMC looked between each other with uncertainty, before Scootaloo stepped forwards.

“What do you know about Six?” she asked.

“Sit at the back of the class with me, I’ll explain everything,” Dinky said, her tone hushed.

The Crusaders nodded; their expressions serious.

Six stomped over a small creek, taking a deep swig from a Sunset Sarsaparilla before he shoved the empty bottle back under his duster. As he walked, his equipment rattled a bit.

While the All-American and Knock-Knock were left behind back at the camp, he did carry some extra gear he’d taken from his duffle bags. He traced his hands under his jacket and smirked to himself as he felt something particularly devious resting pressed up against his spine.

He’d like to see any woody fucks take him now.

Not that they could before, of course!

He continued on, letting go of the weapon. As he trudged along, something hefty rattled against his right leg. It was hitched to his belt and obscured just under his duster. The added weight wasn’t an issue though, and he continued on throughout the forest without issue.

He’d reached closer to Ponyville by now, and as he could see the forest breaking up into clearings ahead, he pulled out his map, looking it over intently.

…

“They have a fucking dam here too?” growled the Courier in surprise, huffing as he noticed Ponyville Dam emblazoned on the map.

Different alien planet and still the same damned thing!

“I swear to God, if I see a ‘Coltifornia’ I am going to kick someone’s teeth in,” he cursed to himself as he began to head towards the dam in question, pinpointing it from his current location after a few minutes of examining the map.

A part of himself didn’t feel like going.

A different part of him wanted to sleep.

Another part wanted to just sit down and eat some Cram.

The loudest part told the other voices to shut the fuck up.

They did, and he continued on, curiosity outweighing his annoyance.

Scootaloo listened intently to Dinky. It was perhaps one of the few times she’d majorly paid attention to the filly’s existence. Scoots was practically hooked to the unicorn as she explained her mother’s strange night with a human.

“At first, I thought she was joking or had mis-seen something since her eyes aren’t the best... but the name, Six, that’s just too much to be a coincidence,” explained the little unicorn in thought.

“His real name isn’t Courier Six,” Scootaloo pondered to herself, her tone quiet, as ideas for what his true name could've been surged through her head.

Cheerilee droned on about the field trip at the front of the class, but neither the CMC nor Dinky were listening to what had once been an exciting prospect.

“Yeah, mom wondered what it was too,” offered Dinky. “She said she last saw him at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Yeah, he was there last night for the job,” Apple Bloom explained.

“Six was with you and you didn’t say anything?” Scootaloo squeaked.

“Scootaloo, we’ve not seen each other since last night,” reminded the farm filly.

“R-right,” the orange filly acknowledged. “I’m sorry, I’m just so excited he’s here!”

“Hey uh… think he’ll spend time with my mom again?” Dinky asked. “She seemed to really like her time with him, and since she doesn’t have many other friends, I figured-”

“Miss Hooves!” exclaimed Cheerilee, getting the attention of the fillies, who just now realized a large portion of the foals had gathered at the front of the classroom.

“I am going to need your permission slip for the field trip!” Cheerilee explained.

“Oh right, that’s today,” Dinky said with a huff. “Of course, on the day I get a vacation, mom finds a monster.”

“Don’t worry, Dinky,” offered Apple Bloom, “I’m sure Six would love ta see yer mom again.”

Dinky nodded with a smile to the Crusaders, and then moved her way up to the front of the class, giving Cheerilee her ticket.

“Girls, you think I can skip it by pretending I didn’t get a slip?” Scootaloo asked.

“Do ya even actually have one?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Well, yeah, my aunts kept up with my schoolwork and everything,” Scootaloo admitted.

“Honestly that’d be kinda slappin’ them in the face if ya didn’t go,” the farm filly shrugged.

“But it’s Siiix,” whined Scootaloo.

“Hey, I’m jus’ here because it’s better than cartin’ off a whole load of apples,” Apple Bloom shrugged. “My brain’s all fizzled from the trip. An easy walk through the dam fer a few hours isn’t a bad rest up.”

“And we can get ice cream at the concession stand there!” Sweetie said with a smile. “My parents said so, anyways!”

"I hope they’re right! A cold helpin’ of chocolate is what this filly needs!” Apple Bloom giggled.

Scootaloo sighed, drawing her fellow Crusaders’ gaze to the orange filly.

“Look Scoots, it’s up ta you,” Apple Bloom pointed out, “I understand if ya wanna skip, but I don’t think you’ll get far if you go out on a wild goose chase fer Six.”

“You’re right,” Scootaloo huffed. “I wouldn’t mind spending a bit more time with you girls."

“Me neither,” chuckled Apple Bloom.

“Thank Celestia, it's the weekend tomorrow,” Sweetie added.

Her fellow Crusaders nodded and muttered words of agreement amongst themselves.

From there, the rest of the class was called up to the front, handing in their slips and tickets.

“Alright, now the school carriages should be by soon enough,” explained Cheerilee, ushering the students outside in an orderly fashion.

The foals who didn’t have any slips were let out for the day, and Scootaloo looked on, a faint hint of jealousy on her face as they frolicked away from the schoolhouse. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon being some of the notable ones among them.

“Remember, iiicccee creeaaam,” encouraged Sweetie.

Scoots actually giggled, cheered back up.

The CMC laughed among themselves as Dinky watched them from the sidelines. She was gonna make extra sure to keep an eye on the trio for the trip.

Soon enough, the carriages arrived, painted a bright yellow and pulled by burly looking stallions and mares, the fillies were packed in. Dinky made sure to squeeze into the one the Crusaders entered, sitting beside them as they talked amongst themselves. The filly allowed herself to blend into the background, not saying much, and merely listening in for the time being.

Operation Background Filly was a go!

The ride there wasn’t very noteworthy. The CMC just discussed minute things along with their weekend plans, laughing here and there.

Apple Bloom was happy she didn’t have to break her back dealing with apples.

Sweetie was still excited for ice cream.

Even Scootaloo was getting cheery as they continued on down the trail.

Eventually their school carriage began climbing uphill and winding this way and that as it continued along. Dinky could see the dam in the distance. Truthfully, as big as it was, it wasn’t that impressive of a sight, compared to something like Hoofer Dam anyways.

Despite that, ever since the Mysterious Mare Do Well incident, it had an uptick in tourism. Which is probably why they were here in the first place.

The school carriages stopped on an overlook a few feet away from the dam proper, and the ponies began hopping out.

Recently there’d been a bit more construction that had taken place here, adding in a few safety guard rails and a small confection stand, along with several small wooden tables out front. Dinky saw the menu from her carriage and noticed they served ice cream.

Guess Sweetie was right in that regard!

Everypony was ushered out and formed into a small group, with Cheerilee standing in front of them, eyeing up to make sure she counted all her students correctly. She then began the teacher spiel soon after she’d finished.

“Now don’t any of you go wandering out of sight, understand?” she questioned sternly.

A wave of “Yes Ms. Cheerilee” followed, being said by most of the class.

“Good,” said the older mare, giving a smile.

Dinky just scanned around, only finding a few dozen other ponies that were there that weren’t part of the field trip, not including the carriage pullers, at least. The little unicorn tried to see if she could recognize any of the ponies amidst the small crowd.

Hmm, Golden Harvest was here.

Lyra and Bon Bon were sitting off to the side, enjoying a milkshake together. The romantic kind with two straws in it.

Other than that, Dinky didn’t see any faces she truly recognized, and thus went back to just blending in with the crowd of fillies as Cheerilee moved them along.

“Now, can any of you tell me why Ponyville Dam is so important?” she asked the group.

Keeps the town from flooding and provides non-magical power.

“Not only does it keep the town from flooding, it also is one of the few non-magical power sources to the town!” explained the teacher after a few moments.

Yep, just another boring old field trip.

Courier Six stomped through a low bush, letting it shatter into useless twigs beneath his heels as he moved ahead.

The Everfree was far behind him, and at this point he moved beyond the forested edges of Ponyville. He only saw a small handful of wandering ponies as he went.

Some were having picnics. Others were hiking. Some were just relaxing under trees and on stumps.

It was a weird sensation.

This… “normalcy” wasn’t exactly one he was used to.

It was as if he was watching some strange show, peering into another universe without the acknowledgement of the individuals. He could follow them, trace their every move, and they likely wouldn’t notice.

Weird thoughts.

They were shoved to the back of his mind as he continued on.

As he ducked back fully into the trees, he noticed the terrain was getting steeper and far more rugged. An annoyance, to be sure, but he could manage.

Sometimes he’d have to use his hands to drag himself up small, rocky inclines, but overall, it wasn’t any worse than dealing with the cliffs of the Mojave. Pieces of him even missed those a bit, too.

Whenever he tugged himself up, he stayed low down, on his hands and knees. He crawled along, peering out through the thickets and bramble. Could see a trail winding along below.

Trail to the dam, probably.

He continued to hang back, shoving his way through and around bushes and smaller trees as he got to a safe roosting point. It wasn’t a proper clearing, that’d be too risky. Instead, he laid flat on his stomach and peered down with a pair of binoculars retrieved from beneath his duster.

With them he was able to see the Ponyville Dam in all its glory.

Hoover was more impressive. This one didn’t even have any howitzers!

Had ice cream and cakes, though. Confection stand said that, at least. Filled up on fish and carrots and potatoes, sadly.

He watched as a class of foals moved along the dam at a slow, steady pace.

Wait…

Was that the kid?

He leaned, as if that would somehow help his vision with the binoculars he already had.

Yep, that was Scootaloo.

Bunch of other kids too.

Right, schools. Those existed.

He tried reading their lips as they spoke.

Didn’t really work out, he only caught a small bit of the conversation.

Down below and out of the Courier's sight, Dinky sipped on a small chocolate shake. She’d brought a few bits with her, so she was able to grab a little something extra from the confection stand.

She was seated at a table next to Lyra and Bon Bon, and as she looked into her drink, she magically gripped the straw and stirred the thick mixture. All the while she could hear the married couple going on about romantic trips and gifts and blah, blah, blah.

Boring adult stuff.

Dinky sighed, leaning her head down to rest on the table with a sigh.

After precisely twenty minutes of Operation Background Filly once she'd gotten off the carriage, she'd given up, having the feeling the CMC weren't going to let anything else slip. Since their minds were on the weekend, the unicorn might as well take a break and have something nice and cool.

A part of her just wanted to have a muffin.

Another part wanted a proper vacation.

Currently though, she just watched the CMC walk along the dam from her table vantage point, sipping on her chilled shake occasionally.

“And these safety rails were installed after the tourism boom the Mysterious Mare Do Well’s visit offered!” Cheerilee explained, pointing to the newly added guard rails on either side of the dam.

The CMC stood at the back of the group, only half paying attention to the tour.

“Wooow so cool,” offered a sarcastic Scootaloo with a good-natured smirk, to which Apple Bloom and Sweetie giggled.

“It might not be the most excitin’ place ta be, but I’m glad I’m with you girls,” stated the farm filly after she’d stopped chuckling.

“I’ll admit, it is nice just taking time to breathe,” Scootaloo nodded, looking down at Ponyville, getting a nice view from the dam. Felt almost like she was soaring through the sky in a way, with the breeze hitting her mane.

“You all wanna go grab some ice cream?” Sweetie offered, getting the pegasus' attention before magically raising a small cloth sack of bits. “My treat!”

“I’ll spot ya back later,” Scootaloo giggled, before the CMC broke off from the group of ponies.

Cheerilee for her part, just continued occasionally glancing back at the students. Some looked enamored and others looked bored. She didn't notice their or Dinky;s abscence by this point.

High above, Six watched Scootaloo break away from the class with his binoculars.

Only then did he realize he was peeping at a group of children without their notice.

“Not creepy at all,” he just sighed to himself, sitting down the binocs for a moment.

After a few seconds of giving his eyes a rest, he suddenly heard something rumbling from the trees behind him. His eyes widened, and he reached for a .45 pistol as he turned onto his back, checking to see what was fast approaching.

The human’s shock grew as a massive creature slammed through the foliage and leapt right over him. As it glided by, everything seemed to slow, and the Courier noticed just how much it looked like a Yao Guai.

He also noticed how different it looked from a Yao Guai.

Same bearish structures, but the fucker had its fur still. More importantly, it had four massive, powerful looking arms and, it faintly looked insectoid, giant stinger, big ass pair of wings.

Looked like something the Big MT cooked up.

Time seemed to go back to normal as it flew by him, down the cliff. He sighed in relief, letting his hands fall limply by his side as he laid in the dirt…

Then he heard a loud crashing sound from down below.

And then the screams started.

Dinky nearly fell out of her seat as she looked over in shock.

One of the carriages was crushed into useless hunks of wood, and immediately the ponies began to scatter away from the massive beast that caused it. A Bugbear emerged from the wreckage, causing the little unicorn to drop her magically held shake in sheer shock!

Bon Bon jumped into action nearby, yanking Lyra down and shoving the table over so it would act as makeshift cover.

The filly didn’t exactly notice though, as she was frozen in fear at the huge beast, which was currently roaring as a crowd of screaming ponies obviously bolted away from it. Screams of panic filled the air as they ran this way and that, collapsing into a fray of fleeing forms like a pack of scurrying bugs revealed from underneath a rock.

The monster growled, rushing towards a nearby fleeing stallion and swatting him away, sending him tumbling in a cloud of dust when he landed. The creature slowly made its way over to his dazed frame, its jaws opening wide.

Suddenly, a golden blast of magic hit the beast on the back, making it pause in annoyance.

Dinky turned to see a certain aquamarine unicorn glaring down the monster.

“Lyra, that isn’t going to work!” Bon Bon shouted from behind the nearby table.

“I’m not just going to let it eat everypony, Bon Bon!” growled back Lyra, her horn glowing with magical energy.

The couple’s quarrel was interrupted by the beast roaring and rushing the unicorn down. Bon Bon acted quickly, grabbing the table and rushing forwards. As the monster was about to snap its jaws down onto Mrs. Heartstrings, Bon Bon shoved the wooden table into the creature’s maw, leading it to bite down uselessly on the wood stuck in its mouth.

The secret agent then grabbed her wife and hoisted her up onto her back, rushing over to find more cover as the beast clawed at the furniture stuck in its mouth.

“Hey!” Lyra shouted.

“Planning first, fighting later!” shouted back her wife.

Dinky for her part watched the entire display wide-eyed, shocked that Bon Bon could move like that. Her attention was turned back towards the pissed off monster when it growled and bit down even harder, shattering the table with its powerful jaws.

Oh crap!

Dinky picked a direction and just bolted, rushing past the Bug Bear. If she could reach the trail, she could get back to Ponyville proper and get some help! Maybe the Wonderbolts or the guards could take this beast!

As she ran by, the Bugbear noticed, and looked over to see a large wooden piece of debris from the carriage just a few feet away. It growled as it readied itself on two legs, before grabbing and hucking the section of the cart at the fleeing filly.

The large segment slammed down just behind the small unicorn. She shakily moved forwards, before soon tripping from the near impact, falling flat onto her face before she rolled over, trying to get a good look at the beast’s next move!

It was then she spotted another large chunk of the cart flying right at her!

Dinky screamed, her eyes forcing themselves shut as she huddled herself into a ball, trying to find some form of protection from the incoming projectile!

CRACK!

…

Nothing.

No searing pain, nor sensation of impact.

The only thing she noticed was that her vision had gotten a bit darker, as if a shadow had fallen over her.

Her muzzle soon twitched as she felt small pieces of dust and what felt like wood chips fall onto it.

Dinky snorted, slowly opening her eyes after she finally realized she wasn’t dead. She noticed a large, burly looking trunk of muscle in front of her.

It wasn’t a stallion’s, or a pony’s at all for that matter.

It was covered in fabric and ended in a rugged, dirt caked boot.

Her gaze slowly shifted up, seeing what looked like a strange jacket, with several stars and stripes adorning the back of it in a configuration she’d never seen before.

As she examined the figure further, she could see its right arm held outstretched in front of it, as if it had just punched something. A huge, sturdy looking metal gauntlet adorned its hand.

After a moment, the head of the bipedal figure turned towards her, and she cringed back as a pair of red eyes looked into hers.

“Get the fuck out of here,” it growled.

She shrunk back in shock and awe.

“NOW!” it bellowed.

Dinky complied, jumping up to her feet and scurrying away to safety behind some foliage nearby.

She wanted to leave, to run back to her home and crawl into her bed and sleep all this off like a bad dream. Something forced her to stay though, as she hid herself in the bushes and turned back around, watching the lone figure standing against the Bugbear.

Maybe it was to make sure he would be safe too. Maybe it was just morbid curiosity at what would come next.

Regardless, her bipedal savior straightened out his back and puffed out his chest, making himself look big as he glared down the beast.

She saw his left hand reach under his duster in a lightning-fast manner, before he pulled out a strange looking object. As she examined it further, she realized it was a series of vials, held together with leather and tipped with a needle.

Dinky watched the creature inject the vials into his own neck, before it tossed it aside and pulled out an L-shaped, metal object so quick it almost made the unicorn’s head spin.

Even with the quick-draw display, the Bugbear didn’t back down; instead, it just roared at the new creature, and then charged.

Dinky’s ears flattened against her head as miniature explosions rang out.

It wasn’t the sound of thunder.

But it was damn sure close.

Author's Note

This one took a bit out of me! After the next chapter, expect a break from the daily uploads, just for a bit!

Hope you all enjoy this!